Yeah, probably, to an extent. Or it can at least remove some unhappiness. We can all agree on that, right?

Better question: “at what $ amount can money no longer buy happiness?”

There’s been a number of studies that have attempted to answer this question by pinpointing a magical income number at which happiness is much easier to obtain.

A Gallup poll in 2010 pegged $75,000 as the magic household income at which happiness couldn’t be further influenced by additional income. I took a poll in September of 2010 where 75% of you said you needed over $75,000 to reach peak money/happiness (money hungry wolves!).

A more recent Marist College poll came to the conclusion that $50,000 was a key happiness landmark. Now don’t you feel greedy?

So there you go… just earn $50,000, keep your salary increases to the rate of inflation and every year you’ll have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny f’ing Kaye. No?

Are these Money and Happiness Studies Legit?

I always find these money and happiness studies interesting, but they always leave me with a bit of a “hungry-for-more” feeling.

I am always left questioning three things:

1. Causation vs. Correlation: Perhaps confidence, location, gender, race, education level, or even age is a bigger determinate of happiness than income? In aggregate, those who achieve more than $50,000 in income are happier than those who achieve less. But is that happiness determined by the income or are there other factors that led to the lower happiness/income or higher happiness/income? A correlation between income level and happiness does not mean that the income level led to the happiness. Exhibit that even though the U.S. is the wealthiest nation, it’s citizens are not the happiest.
2. The Impact of Location: How does location impact happiness at different income levels? $50,000 will take you a long ways in Fort Wayne, but not very far in San Francisco. You can’t paint a broad brush across the entire U.S. when expense levels can vary so much by geography. What is the magic number when adjusted for cost of living? Nobody is looking at this.
3. The Impact of Expenses: How do spending habits influence happiness? Is someone who spends much more than peers in their geography less likely to be happy? Nobody is looking at this either.

What Can we Learn From Income and Happiness Studies?

Despite their weaknesses, I think that these studies do help add some credibility to the following assertions:

1. Meeting basic needs does influence happiness: just scraping by to put food on the table and pay for other basic needs is going to have an adverse impact on happiness. It would be hard to find people who disagree with this, but the numbers in these studies back this assertion.
2. Stuff does not equal happiness: at a certain level, more buying power (more stuff) does not lead to more happiness. Therefore, if happiness doesn’t increase infinitely with income, one would have to assume that stuff does not lead to happiness. So stop buying all that stuff!
3. Take comfort in enough: who doesn’t want to be happy? The pursuit of money for the goal of increasing happiness is something that most of us have bought in to. As a wage earner, take comfort in knowing that you don’t have to earn all that much to influence your happiness. $50,000 or $75,000 per household (divide by two for your personal number in a two-income household) can be reached by just about everyone.

A Challenge to Researchers

I have a theory. We know that expenses are very strongly influenced by geography. We also know that the ability to meet expenses has an impact on happiness levels. So instead of looking at income (which varies by geography), maybe we should look at a different number: personal savings rate.

A household that makes $75,000 and spends $100,000 is probably going to be pretty unhappy, right? And one that makes $50,000 with only $10,000 in expenses? Much happier (in most cases). But the money/happiness studies don’t consider expenses at all. Looking at a household’s personal savings rate in relation to happiness already goes one step beyond income – expenses and geography are automatically factored in.

I would be willing to bet there is a stronger correlation between personal savings rate (maybe even expenses) and happiness than there is between income and happiness.

So then the question becomes: at what personal savings rate is happiness maxed out?

What do you think?

Related Posts:

• Money Can’t Buy Happiness, but it Can Buy..
• What would you do if Money were Not an Issue?
• Finding Happiness in Financial Goals
• Money Vs. Career Satisfaction

Income & Happiness Studies: How much is Enough? is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

That’s a lot to accomplish in one blog post, so let’s get started…

Falling in Love All Over Again

I grew up with a hearty love for the outdoors.

Almost every waking minute was spent climbing trees, chasing frogs in the neighborhood creek, or visiting the local nature center or hiking trails. Oh, and riding a goofy looking (by today’s standards, it was kick-ass back then) single-speed Raleigh banana-seat bike, outdoors of course. I was like most kids in the early 80′s – in love with nature and the outdoors – whether I consciously knew it or not. It happened… naturally.

I didn’t watch much TV when I was younger, but when I did, one of my favorite television show (outside of WWF big time wrestling) was Marty Stouffer’s Wild America on PBS. Marty was a lumberjack-looking bearded fellow who would chase down and film wild animals in the good ole’ U.S. of A. Seeing the battle between life and death in untouched wilderness was mesmerizing.

I was not, however, raised with an environmental conscience. My parents (members of the the most wasteful generation on the planet, the Boomers) didn’t recycle much, built a large home in the burbs with a big commute, ate standard meat and potato fixings, and bought me most of clothes, toys, and video games my entitled, bratty-ass demanded.

Somewhere around middle school through high-school I got completely absorbed by video games, grunge music, and cable TV, minimum wage shit jobs, uninspiring school work, and teen angst. Looking back, it wasn’t the best period in my life and the fact that I spent very little time outdoors was undoubtedly a strong contributor.

In one of my social science courses in college, I read Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael. Being forced to read it in class, it didn’t really have an impact. But a year later, something was calling me back to the book. I hunted it down and immediately consumed it all in a day. This time, the message sunk in like a huge punch to the face: “This lifestyle that our recent ancestors have designed and we have adopted is far from natural, and it could end up destroying the entire planet.”

As I was dealing with the environmental ethical dilemmas presented to me in Ishmael and other books I started absorbing, I realized that I missed being outside. I began biking for the first-time in years. I re-discovered some of the nature trails I loved when I was younger and hiked them frequently. And I started to realize the healing power that nature provided. Every time I got outside to do something, my stress levels would go down, my angst would subside, my thoughts weren’t as cluttered – I was living in the moment.

This spiritual gift from the planet (which had already provided me life, food, air to breathe, shelter, and water to drink) grew my appreciation for the earth. I wanted to give back. I interned at an environmental protection group. I started thinking big picture about my impact on the environment and started doing little things to reduce my impact. I recycled whatever I could, made sure lights and the TV were turned off when I left my dorm room (where utilities were not an added cost), started taking shorter showers – the easy stuff.

Making the Impact Reduction/Wealth Connection

My focus has since grown with each passing year, with the more I learn about the impact of my consumption behaviors and how I can cut back. Some of our accomplishments include:

• Driving our electricity consumption to less than a third of the average household for my state (I eventually want to purchase a solar array and get this below zero).
• Keeping our non-recyclable waste down to around 3-4 gallons of volume per week (my goal is zero).
• Selling off our second car to become a one-car family and busing/biking to work (as soon as wife stops drive to/from school, our annual miles will be less than 3,000).
• Getting rid of half my personal belongings while selling on Craigslist, in a garage sale, or donating 100% of it.
• Moving to a smaller home instead of a larger one (and wanting to go even smaller).
• Switching to a vegetarian diet (HUGE impact on the planet and on personal savings).
• Eating almost 100% organic food (I want to grow my own and purchase more from local producers).
• Consuming much less to the level of keeping our combined expenses to less than $20k per year.

I’ve come a decent ways vs. the standard, but I also have A LOT of room for improvement. I am continually striving to do better. And I put an immense amount of pressure on myself to do so. There’s no going back for me.

If you are just starting out, don’t get discouraged. Most of us were born following in the footsteps of the wasteful Boomer legacy. We all have to start somewhere.

You’ll notice that each of the improvements I’ve highlighted have the benefit of not only reducing my impact on the environment, but also driving my expenses into the ground and my personal savings rate to rare levels.

As my interest in personal finance has grown at the same time, what I’ve come to realize is that impact reduction and personal wealth are 100% correlated.

My Hard-Line Approach

When you live in one of the most wasteful, consumer-driven countries on the planet, it is expected that you will follow suit. When you don’t, you are provided with an immense opportunity to prosper. There is a very tight marriage of impact reduction and personal finance.

That’s why you’ll find a gigantic eco-savings category of articles here. It’s why I laid down the electricity savings challenge (more than a dozen of you have started monitoring your energy, FTW). It’s why I had a dramatic counseling session with Mother Earth. It’s why I hate Black Friday. And it’s why you’ve seen me take a very hard-line approach to the negative impacts of wasteful consumerism and those who advocate on its behalf.

Despite a few snapperhead troll reader’s efforts to make my environmental stance a political debate and tell me what an idiot I am, nothing about the following stance is political:

Humans have an ethical responsibility to their fellow humans, future generations, and themselves to reduce their negative impact on the very thing that gives them life – the earth. And in the process of doing so, they will prosper economically and spiritually. If they don’t, the consequences to the planet, themselves, and the human race will be catastrophic.

I don’t care if you are Republican, Democratic, Green, Socialist, Libertarian, American, Chinese, black, white, red, yellow, purple – if you can get behind this line of thinking, you are part of the solution. If you can’t, what better alternative do you have to provide? I beg of you to tell me.

Some who share these beliefs have thrown up their arms with a sense of hopelessness when they see or hear of all of the environmental degradation. At times, I have been there myself.

I still think there is hope. There is a small, but quickly growing movement. But the window of opportunity is quickly closing.

Do you need some motivation to join the movement or take it to the next level? Check out the Story of Stuff and read Ishmael. Then get out and start doing things.

It starts with YOU. No more chirping. Start taking action. Save your money while reducing your impact and everyone wins – especially YOU.

Impact Reduction Discussion:

• What is your personal story on why you want to make a difference by reducing your impact on the planet?
• What things have you done that have the dual benefit of reducing impact/increasing wealth?
• What are you pledging to do this year to make a difference?

The Marriage of Impact Reduction & Personal Wealth is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

In the Spring of every year, the U.S. National Park Service hosts “National Park Week“. I love highlighting this because the U.S. national parks are truly a great treasure and, hey, it’s free.

This year’s National Park Week will be April 21-29. During the week, you can get free entrance and admission at over 100 national parks that otherwise charge a fee to get in. With this event, all 397 national parks do not charge entrance/admission, commercial tour, or transportation fees.

If this mild weather keeps up, you may want to avoid the weekends.

For a complete list of the parks that are waiving fees, the NPS has put together a free park entrance list.

Almost three-quarters of national parks do not charge entrance fees at all, but the most popular ones do. Here are a few of the most popular parks where you would otherwise have to pay to get in that are participating:

• Bryce Canyon National Park (Utah)
• Yosemite National Park (California) – I’ve been to Yosemite in late April, and it’s the best time to go!
• Zion National Park (Utah)
• Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona)
• Grand Teton National Park (Wyoming)
• Yellowstone National Park (Idaho)
• Glacier National Park (Montana)
• Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado)

National Park week does not cover tours, camping, concessions, or third-party fees, unless the individual park states otherwise.

Be careful with high parks that are at a high altitude, suffer from spring-time flash floods, or are in northern locations this time of year. The weather has been very mild this year, but that doesn’t mean it will continue. Check with the park that you’re interested in visiting to identify with roads and campsites may still be closed.

2012 Free National Park Days

If you can’t make it out in April, you can also take advantage of 3 other free national park entrance fee days this year:

• June 9 – Get Outdoors Day
• September 29 – National Public Lands Day
  
• November 10-12 – Veterans Day weekend

Free Entrance to National Parks Year-Round?

National park passes are often of of the free things you can get from the library. Check with your library for restrictions on how long you can reserve the pass. You may have to book it a few months in advance.

National Park Discussion:

• Have you been to a national park during free National Park Week or on a free day?
• What is your favorite national park?
• What national park do you want to visit next and why?

Related Posts:

• Is the REI Membership Worth it?
• 20 Backpacking Tips
• How to Play Disc Golf
• Backpacking Gear & Supplies Tips

2012 National Park Week Offers Free Admission to All 397 National Parks is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

A rare bald eagle soared over head. Was it a sign?

The hill, frequented by tourist hikers, was busy on this particular day.

As we finished up our picnic lunch, I anxiously awaited for the foot traffic to clear out. A tiny $3,000 stone on top of a white gold band lay tucked away in the pocket of my shorts.

As the last hiker turned the corner, I got down on one knee and pulled out the engagement ring. “Will you marry me?”.

How Much should you Spend on an Engagement Ring?

4 months earlier…

I knew that I was ready to propose. The only question left in my mind was, “how much should I spend on an engagement ring?”.

I did my research, like any smart young naive man would do. Three months salary? That sounds about right. It was my first job out of college and I was pulling in a whopping $35K. Three months salary would put me right around that $3,000 mark – most of what I had saved at the time. Thank you for the kind recommendation, De Beers.

I spent months researching color, clarity, cut, and certification. I wanted the perfect engagement ring. I visited dozens of jewelry stores before settling on just the right diamond online (from a certified, reputable source, of course) and adding it to a gold band from a local jeweler. Was I ready?

Let’s refer to the engagement proposal checklist…

• 3 months income saved? check
• diamond engagement ring purchased? check
• date or location of significance? double check
• unsuspecting element of surprise so she can’t say no? check!

Indeed. I was ready to seal the deal.

The Ridiculousness of Tradition: Why Settle for a Cheap Engagement Ring when you should not Spend Anything?

My wife and I are still happily married to this day.

However, I look back upon the engagement and proposal process with a bit of embarrassment, even shame.

I didn’t think to question the engagement ring tradition at all. This is ironic, in that just 10 months later, we would wrap up a cheap wedding that only cost us $2,500. One of our primary goals was to ignore all of the average wedding cost recommendations and avoid tradition as much as possible.

That’s right. I spent more on the engagement ring than we did on the wedding.

I spent my savings on a tiny material item that had no family history, no sentimental value, and had a negative impact on the environment to unearth.

And I did it because it was ‘the thing you do’. In fact, more than 80% of American brides-to-be receive a diamond engagement ring. Average cost? $3,200. By the way, this ‘tradition’ didn’t evolve until the 19th century and really didn’t take off De Beers disovered mines in South Africa that drove the price of diamonds down and the ensuing 1930′s and 1940′s advertising campaigns to convince the American public.

Since then, my wife and I have changed quite a bit. We’ve evolved. Material possessions mean absolutely nothing to us these days. We’ve spent a good part of the last year selling off about half of our possessions – many of which we were emotionally attached to at one time.

Just the other week I decided to cancel the $30/year jewelry coverage we had added on to our homeowners insurance policy to cover the ring, in the event it were lost or stolen. If we lost it, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. We wouldn’t try to replace it. So why pay insurance on it?

I even went so far as to propose to my wife that if she ever decided she wanted to get rid of the ring (perhaps to unleash the $3,000 weight off her hand), she had my support. It has nothing to do with the cost – we are doing well financially these days – rather, the glitzy piece of jewelry does not represent us anymore. Looking back, it never really did.

Reconsider the Engagement Ring & Proposal Process

What might be even more shameful than buying a $3,000 engagement ring, in retrospect, is that I bought in to the whole engagement tradition.

When you would like someone to make a LIFELONG commitment to you, is it fair to approach that moment with an element of surprise and an expensive piece of jewelry?

How ridiculous is that?!

The marriage decision should be a careful evaluation and discussion of life goals and values over a period of years.

There should be no element of surprise. There should be no $3,000, $10,000, or $20,000 engagement ring carrot.

If you need any band at all, why not just make it a wedding band? Something that you can pick out together. Something with significance.

Besides, what percent of engagements have ended in complete failure?

Most expensive traditions that have been adopted in this country have been born of or at least amplified by corporate interests – Valentine’s Day, spending hundreds on Christmas gifts, having at least 2 cars per family, the diamond engagement ring, spending 3 months of salary on an engagement ring, every aspect of the traditional wedding, building a home, getting a 3-4 bedroom with a 3-car garage, the Disney World family vacation, taking out a mortgage on a home, getting multiple degrees and taking out student loans, even funerals! Sounds like the picture perfect American life.

Perhaps the number one variable of one’s financial success over life is their willingness to turn their back on tradition?

Engagement Ring Cost Discussion:

• How much did you spend on your engagement ring? Why?
• What is your engagement ring story? (good or bad)
• If you are still married, does the engagement ring mean anything to you or your spouse

Related Posts:

• The Cost of Being a Bridesmaid or Groomsman
• Who Should Pay for the First Date?
• Do you Need Wedding Insurance?

How much should you Spend on an Engagement Ring? How about Nothing? is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

I honestly did not know it existed until recently. So I decided to do a little digging to find out more.

It’s not surprising that wedding insurance is gaining in popularity. The average wedding cost in 2010 was over $24,000. That’s a lot of cash. And a big financial risk if something goes wrong.

What is Wedding Insurance and what does it Cover?

Wedding insurance covers you on losses in the event that you lose your non-recoverable deposits and purchases if covered circumstances beyond your control cause you to cancel or postpone your event or spend additional money.

What kind of things could be out of your control?

Well, let’s say a tornado or fire takes destroys the location you were going to have your wedding – that was pretty much out of your control, and it would likely lead to you having to cancel your event.

Another example might be your wedding dress not being delivered in time for the wedding, causing you to postpone the event.

Or maybe you get violently ill right before the wedding or have a heart attack – weddings are stressful occasions, right?

Outside of cancellation or postponement losses, wedding insurance could cover:

• damaged or lost apparel or rings
• lost or stolen gifts
• wedding photo damage or lack of clarity
• having to pay extra for a last minute change in caterer or other service provider

The key to having the insurance cover your losses is that these circumstances must be out of your control.

Do your research, as what is covered under each wedding insurance policy will vary.

You can also add liability coverage, which can protect you if someone gets seriously injured or otherwise at your event and decides they want to take legal action against you. Liability coverage usually adds to the cost of your premium.

What Does Wedding Insurance Not Cover?

Don’t expect wedding insurance to cover all unexpected costs associated with your wedding.

Wedding insurance does not cover “change of heart” (cold feet) cancellations. Some wedding insurers may offer an additional “change of heart clause”, but it will likely cost you dearly.

A recent study in New York showed that 6.5% of couples who applied for marriage licenses ended up getting cold feet. There is a good reason why most wedding insurers don’t cover this – it’s all too common and it would probably make it prohibitively expensive for most couples. So be nice to your spouse-to-be, or you are SOL.

It also does not cover loss that results from existing medical conditions. If your father-in-law has a history of seizures and has one right before your wedding, you would be out of luck on recovering costs associated with postponing.

Also, if you decided to dive into a mud pit in your tuxedo and don’t get your deposit back when you return it… probably not covered.

How Much Does Wedding Insurance Cost?

It really varies. There are plans out there for $100 or less that have deductibles and no additional clauses or liability. If you want liability or no deductibles it could cost you from a few hundred for $10,000 of coverage to an upwards of $1,000 if you have $100,000 of coverage or more.

How is Wedding Insurance Different from Event Insurance?

Wedding insurance is really just one of many variations of event insurance.

If you decide that wedding insurance makes sense for you, search around for “event insurance” in addition to “wedding insurance”. Most event insurance providers have policies that cover weddings, and broadening your search will give you more options for finding the lowest cost.

Do you Need Wedding Insurance?

I can’t answer this question for you, but I’ll give you a few things to chew on.

If you have a $100,000 wedding, it might be a necessary evil to get wedding insurance. The alternative of course, is to not have a $100,000 wedding, or even an “average” $24,000 wedding.

I previously highlighted how I had an awesome, but cheap wedding for only $2,500. I didn’t have any thought about wedding insurance. I didn’t even know what it was or if it even existed at that time. Our wedding was so cheap it would not have mattered. If I could do it, there is no reason you can’t as well.

I also question the likelihood of a complete wedding cancellation due to a lost dress, tuxedo, or ring. If you have dozens or hundreds of guests make the trip to your wedding, are you going to completely cancel everything at the last minute because your ring didn’t make it in on time? If you did, I certainly wouldn’t come back.

Also, if you did decide to postpone due to an unforeseen circumstance, you would typically only lose deposits. I would think that many vendors would not charge you a deposit if you were to reschedule with them. If you’re a skilled negotiator, your odds there are pretty good. And you can always negotiate a lower deposit beforehand.

Keep in mind that your home or auto insurance policies may cover some of the items you are worried about losing. Most home insurance policies will allow you to add specific items to the policy for a very low cost.

Wedding Insurance Discussion:

• Have you bought wedding insurance? Did you end up using it?
• Would you buy wedding insurance? Why or why not?

Related Posts:

• The Cost of Being a Bridesmaid or Groomsman
• Who Should Pay for the First Date?
• The Top 7 Financial Bloopers Young Professionals should Avoid

Wedding Insurance: Do you Need it? is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

“If you wouldn’t do your job for free, then find a new one.”

I’m not sure who originally came up with this notion, but I’ve heard a number of my colleagues and a number of writers say it recently. Or similarly, they will say:

“If you don’t love what you do, then quit.”

There are idealists. And then there are IDEALISTS,  I suppose.

I’m not sure where this meme came from, but it’s been spreading like wildfire in the workforce.

The ideology goes something like this:

1. We spend a minimum of 8-12+ hours per day doing our jobs.
2. Life is short and precious.
3. If you don’t love what you do, you might as well move on until you find something that you do love.

And when they say “love”, they mean, you love it so much, you’d do it for free.

Novel concept, right?

Now, obviously, there is recognition that in order to survive you need to make an income. I *think* that those who repeat this meme want you to assume that you are financially independent. In other words, money is not an objective (otherwise, who would do a job for free?). That kind of goes back to the older meme:

“What would you do if you didn’t have to worry about money?”

Admittedly, that’s a bit different because we’d all play Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!, watch football, drink beer, and dine out at luxurious restaurants, no? That’s why the newer memes are more focused specifically on careers.

And they sound great, in theory. But there are obviously fears, doubts, and other considerations that one may decide to take into account before dumping their job. For example:

• Is it realistic in this economy to leave a good paying job?
• Is it realistic when you’ve spent years of your life and hundreds of thousands of dollars only to find that you do not like your career?
• Is it realistic when you have a job and so many others are struggling to get one?
• Is it realistic when “the grass is always greener”?
• Is it realistic when you have a family to support?
• Is it realistic when you are tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt?

It always seems to come down to money.

Or maybe money is just the excuse that is preventing us from taking risks and living more fulfilling, satisfied lives.

We can save that discussion for the comments.

For starters, I’m curious to see how many of you are actually loving your jobs so much that you’d do it (within reason) for free. Please fill in some color commentary on what you do if you answered ‘yes’. If you answered ‘no’, what kind of job would you do for free?

Related Posts:

• The Two Paths to Financial Independence
• 70% of Americans want to be Self-Employed
• 55 Marketable Hobbies you can Get Paid for

Would you do your Job if you Didn’t Get Paid for it? (reader poll) is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

If you use it right, however, it can sure buy you a lot of things that can contribute mightily to the ease of which you can realize happiness.

Placing a value on things that you can buy with the money you earn is a practice that we should all do now and then to help us focus and figure out how we should piece together our budget.

I put together a personal top 10 list of things that money can buy – in ascending order.

I’d strongly encourage you to do the same. It was eye opening for me and it might be to you too.

Here’s my list….

10. Entertainment

As Americans, I think we place a little too much value on being entertained. And I think there’s something negative to be said for our constant feeling like we can’t just relax and be comfortable in a low stimulation state.

That being said, without books, movies, music, and other arts, life just wouldn’t be the same. Does entertainment alone make one happy? Probably not. But it can sure add some zest to life and give us something to look forward to.

9. Travel

Traveling can be a great way to unwind, de-stress, and re-focus. It can allow us to connect to nature and to connect to other cultures, broadening our worldviews. The key with travel is making sure you stop and really take in the experience. Running from one destination to the next to check things off a list can only leave you feeling empty.

8. Education

Surprised education isn’t a little higher on the list? When you take away the earning impact of an education and let it stand on its own merits, it loses a little value. Sure, it could lead you to a more interesting career, but the grass is always greener on the other side. And I can’t recall much happiness or enjoyment that came from cramming for an exam. But without some sort of passion for learning – self taught, on-the-job, or traditional, it’s hard to imagine a rewarding life.

7. A Roof Over your Head

Someone I knew once referred to a house as “four walls”. That stuck with me. I’ve seen people in beautiful homes be absolutely miserable and people in run-down 1 bedroom apartments be wonderfully happy. It’s hard to imagine a happy life, however, if you don’t have a roof over your head that you can call home.

6. Insurance

Insurance is much more than a piece of paper. It can buy you freedom from worry and stress that you suddenly might lose everything you have worked so hard for due to random chance or bad luck. And to me, that’s worth a lot.

5. Pets:

Some of you may deem this one as over-rated. To those people I’d ask you this: “how many people in your life have loved you unconditionally and absolutely cannot stand to have you be away from them?”. Pets come with a price tag. Sometimes a big one.

4. Food/Drink:

Anyone alive today has been able to get by on enough food to survive. But food can be so much more than survival. I’ve written in the past that there are a lot of things that I can sacrifice and do without. Tasty/healthy food & drink is not one of them. I’m not willing to sacrifice quality to save a few bucks. Great food and spirits and the experience that comes with sharing with others can definitely enrich your life and contribute to your happiness.

3. Health:

You need money to eat healthy, afford exercise equipment, gym memberships, health insurance, and proper medication. Your health is definitely one of those things that won’t lead to happiness on its own, but in its absence, life can be absolutely miserable. Money can help prevent that, or at least prolong it.

2. Time:

This one comes with a big caveat. Time is all about what you do with it. There are extremely wealthy people who have been able to afford to dedicate their entire lives to their own self pursuits who are miserable. For those who use it wisely, there can be no other thing that could contribute more to your happiness. Without time, many of the other things on this list would not be possible.

1. Freedom:

This is #1 for me. Without freedom, you have nothing. If you have to give up all of your time, health, relationships, healthy food, travel, experiences and everything else because you don’t have a little bit of freedom from the need to earn money to afford those things, then what do you really have in life?

Discussion:

• What would you add or drop from this list and why?
• What would your top 10 list of things money can buy look like?

Related Posts:

• Can Money Buy Happiness?
• Money & Happiness Poll
• Get Paid to do what you Love

Money Can’t Buy Happiness – But it Can Buy 10 Things that Help you Realize it is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

Why is it to your benefit to know which part-time jobs have benefits?

Shit happens. Jobs get downsized, you may choose to retire early but don’t want to foot the bill for health care, or you may decide to go back to school.

Industries that Offer Good Part-Time Benefits

To make some broad generalizations, the following industries tend to offer pretty good part-time benefit programs:

• health care
• blue collar (usually unionized)
• army/military
• state/federal/municipal governments
• retail (non food-service)

I’m going to highlight a few national employers to consider. Note that not all health insurance or retirement plans are created equal. Just because you may be eligible for ‘medical insurance’, does not mean you will have a free ride. All of these employers will have slightly different plans that will require varying premium coverage by you. It pays to research extensively beforehand.

That being said, some of the benefits offered by these employers are quite generous and fairly surprising.

Starbucks

Starbucks benefits usually get mentioned in any part-time benefit discussion. And for good reason. Benefits include:

• Medical, dental, and vision plan for you and your dependents.
• A 401K match of 100% on the first 3% or 6% (varies by year).
• Life Insurance.
• Vacation, Holiday, and sick time.
• A pound of coffee per week!
• Discounted stock.

In order to be eligible, you must maintain at least 240 hours per calendar quarter (or about 20 hours per week). Kudos to Starbucks for offering such a great benefits package for part-timers!

Trader Joe’s

Part-time “Crew Members” are eligible for medical, dental and vision coverage after meeting the eligibility requirements. Most Crew Members qualify after a couple of months, according to Trader Joe’s career page.

However, one should be aware that ‘part-time’ can be up to 40 hours per week. I still haven’t seen a sad Trader Joe employee.

Trader Joe’s employees are also paid very well. According to employee surveys at Glassdoor, crew member wages at Trader Joe’s can be up to $19/hour! And CNN reported,

“assistant store managers — can make in the low six figures, and full-time crew members can start in the $40,000 to $60,000 range. But on top of the pay, Trader Joe’s annually contributes 15.4% of employees’ gross income to tax-deferred retirement accounts.”

Wow!

REI

Want to spend a lot of time hiking and biking and less working? With REI, you can. Less than 20 hours will get you a 60% subsidy towards medical insurance for you and your family, which is virtually unheard of. Over 20 hours will earn you a more comprehensive plan.

REI benefits also include:

• 50% off gear (a big one for me).
• Vacation, PTO, and 8 paid holidays.
• A retirement contribution of 5% of earnings and up to an additional 10% depending upon company profitability. Employees are not required to contribute their own pay in order to receive the REI contribution.

Hmm… note to self. Live near an REI in retirement.

Fedex/DHL/UPS

The shipping carriers don’t readily supply full details of their benefits on their website or the qualifications to receive them, but their reputation is well earned.

All three offer medical, dental, vision, and 401K.

UPS, in particular, also offers vacation, stock purchase incentives, and a defined benefit pension.

The great part? They offer this to all employees, not just full-timers.

Note with FedEx that their ground shippers are considered independent contractors and don’t receive company benefits.

Lowe’s

Lowe’s benefits are the same for part-timers as they are full full-timers and you are eligible immediately. Those benefits include:

• health insurance, vision, and dental
• vacation
• 6 paid holidays
• discounted stock
• 401K match up to 6%

You can get some great benefits all while beefing up on useful Bob Vila superpowers. Win-win.

Just wear some good shoes, you’ll be standing on concrete all day long.

Part-Time Jobs with Benefits Discussion:

• What other part-time jobs have great health insurance and other benefits? Share the details!
• Have you stayed on part-time with one of these employers because the benefits were so great?

Related Posts:

• How to Reach Health Insurance Nirvana
• What is an HSA?
• What is a HDHP?

5 Part-Time Jobs with Health Insurance & Benefits is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

The wisdom shared by her patients in their final moments, and then by Bronnie, are priceless. They can serve as a guide on not how to embrace death, but how to live life while you have the opportunity.

To summarize, here are the 5 most common regrets of the dying, according to Bronnie:

1. “I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

This was the most common regret people had. And it makes sense. We only live one life and if you’re not living it true to yourself, it seems like a great missed opportunity. This is something that I have slowly been coming to grips with over the years. Still have a long ways to go though…

2. “I wish I didn’t work so hard.”

Bronnie said that she heard this from every male patient she worked with. Today, we are all overworked. If you love what you do, this might not be a regret. But most people do not. And when you’re in those final moments of life looking back, I can imagine that your view of the pursuit of income through work that was not satisfying to you might seem like a misuse of precious time.

I love Bronnie’s follow-up advice: “By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.”

3. “I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.”

Suppressing feelings to keep peace often led to bigger problems, including health issues.

4. “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”

In the end, all that matters is love and relationships.

5. “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”

Most realized that happiness was always a choice. And they did not permit themselves to be happy.

Added Thoughts

Why raise this topic at all on a personal finance blog? Because the two biggest regrets that Bronnie mentioned are very closely related to personal finance.

Having the courage to follow your own passions and not placing such an emphasis on income for the sake of income are very closely related and both are tied to the hip with personal finance.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: the pursuit of money is empty unless it buys you the freedom of time and experiences. A bigger bank account, nicer car, and bigger home mean nothing when you are slaving away 80 hours a week or on your deathbed.

Thanks for the reminder, Bronnie.

Related Posts:

• Finding Happiness Along the Way to Long-term Financial Goals
• Can Money Buy Happiness?
• How to Pull Away from the Rat Race
• 55 Marketable Hobbies you can Get Paid for

The 5 Biggest Dying Regrets is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

But there’s a new strategy that I just devised that I’m going to try out for a while.

It’s simple, fun, and if carried out with a little discipline, should be amazingly effective. You may want to give it a try too!

I call it the “Spend what you Sell Strategy” (SWYS). Let me explain…

What is the single biggest problem with traditional decluttering strategies?

You keep accumulating new stuff! All organization, selling, trashing, and other decluttering strategies only focus on the outgoing component. Rarely do they also tie in to what you accumulate. The ‘SWYS’ strategy does just that.

Here’s how it works:

1. Sell stuff you no longer need and want to get rid of.
2. Record what you sell and how much you sold it for in a spreadsheet. Sum it all up.
3. Simultaneously keep a list of things you want to buy. Don’t include food/entertainment/utilities. Just material possessions.
4. Create a third list of stuff you actually buy. Your sell list minus your bought list equals your balance to purchase new things.
5. This is the key component: Only spend the equivalent amount that you have sold. Don’t go over that amount.

In Action

I recently tried this strategy out last weekend. I realized I had a few huge items just sitting around that we weren’t using – a guest bed that only gets used a few times a year, a couch in the basement, a dresser, a fake tree, a luggage set, etc.

At the same time, we wanted to turn our guest room into a more functional room and thought a futon, storage unit, and rug would do the trick.

I was able to make $335 by selling all of the used possessions on Craigslist and the new items cost $320. I got rid of clutter, made my house more functional and enjoyable, and still came out ahead financially. Win, win, win!

Why the SWYS Method is so Effective

Outside of collectible rarities, used material possessions rarely accumulate in value. This is a key component to this system being so effective. The SWYS strategy simultaneously has a few great benefits:

1. It declutters: It forces you to sell off stuff and declutter. You’ll eventually need to buy some new things at some point.
2. It is frugal: It’s incredibly frugal! You’re essentially creating a bank account from stuff you already own.
3. It encourages mindfulness: You’re forced to really evaluate what you are buying (you can only sell off so much stuff). It also creates a ‘holding period’ between adding an item to the list and actually buying it. This will really cut down your impulse purchases.
4. It’s very efficient: Because new stuff costs more than used, you’re eventually going to hit a point where you’ve sold off everything you no longer need. Wouldn’t that be a great problem to have?
5. It’s very fun and motivating: It’s kind of like running a mini business!
6. It’s accountable: You record and keep track of everything you are buying and selling. This allows you to see progress (selling) and your consumption habits (buying).
7. It’s sustainable: This strategy motivates you to find a buyer who will use what you are selling versus simply tossing it in the trash and sending it to a landfill.

To Help you Get Started

Here is replica of the Google Doc spreadsheet that I am using to keep track of everything. You can log in to your Google account to make a copy, or you can download as an excel sheet.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Spend what you Sell Strategy Discussion:

• Have you tried anything like this?
• What decluttering strategies have worked for you?

Related Posts:

• Why Getting Rid of Clutter is Hard
• Craigslist Cars
• 3 Simple Strategies for Getting Rid of Clutter

The Spend What you Sell Strategy Gets Rid of Clutter & Makes you Money is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.