Hardly a hot financial topic, but always an important one –- saving for retirement is often relegated to the back burner. The following five reminders are here to help you keep things simple and steady as you save for retirement. That way, you’ll never have to be concerned about what to do after you retire, except enjoy yourself during your golden age.

5 Golden Rules To Save For Retirement

Golden Rule #1: Start Saving If You Haven’t Done So Yet

I remember when I first heard about IRAs, 401Ks and thought…”boring! I’m too young to save now”. Then when the NASDAQ crashed in 2000, I remember how my boss at the current PR firm I was working at came screaming down the stairs saying “save as much as you can when you’re young!” I’ll never forget how insistent he was then. Right there and then, I vowed to start saving as much as possible.

Besides apathy, I think fear of not knowing how to invest your money can really get in the way. Don’t let it –- start socking the money away right now, and get help from your online stock brokerage to find an investing plan. You can start with a safe and basic money market account first, if you’re worried about what to do. Just start getting the money in there.

Golden Rule #2: Save As Much As You Can, When You Can

Ah yes, the daily addictions of Starbucks, your favorite and expensive Whole Foods products, and your love for movies. Or whatever your “vice” happens to be. Chances are, you can cut out all but your most favorite of life’s little pleasures and just put the money you save away for a rainy day, or for those “golden days” when you retire. Not to say that you can’t indulge yourself in a few luxuries, but pay attention to how often and how much you are spending. Perhaps you’ve got a Netflix subscription you aren’t using, or magazines you don’t have time to read; or perhaps you really aren’t using all those cell phone minutes you thought you would. So cut them back.

Expense tracking is a great way to see exactly where your money is going. Fire up Microsoft Excel and create expense categories that make the most sense to you, for monthly expense tracking. After 2-3 months you’ll get a pretty clear picture of where your money is going, and where you can cut back your expenses. Assuming you haven’t maxed out your credit cards and don’t have to worry about erasing debt, any money that you can save should be siphoned into your retirement savings.

Added health benefit of cutting expenses: I will bet that cutting back on any of your extraneous food expenditures will benefit your diet as well! What we purchase as snack foods or dinners out tends to be full of empty calories and useless to our wallets. Do you think Whole Foods desserts are really that healthy? Think again!

Golden Rule #3: Accounts With Tax-Advantages Are The Way To Go

The old-style pension plan was a guarantee for a good life after work for anyone who put their blood, sweat and tears into a company for years. Alas, those days are long gone, and the U.S. financial policymakers designed the tax-advantaged 401K as a vehicle for retirement. And not long after that came the IRA. We now have to fund our own “personal pension” and must save for retirement by getting the most out of these tax-advantaged accounts. The two types to consider are the traditional IRA and the Roth IRA.

Traditional 401K and IRA plans offer you the ability to save your money tax-deferred. You put the money in, and it grows tax-free. Of course you’ll take a tax hit when you withdraw the money after retirement. Traditional plans have the advantage of reducing your income at the time of funding. However you will be heavily penalized if you withdraw from a traditional plan before you reach retirement age; so you wouldn’t think of doing that, right? Good.

Roth IRA plans also offer a flexibility that traditional plans don’t. You will be taxed as the money is put into the account, but down the road you won’t be taxed upon withdrawal. Many see this as a huge advantage due to inflation -– the taxes taken out now will be less than what you’d expect to pay out later, after you cash out your traditional plan upon retiring. Roth accounts also have special Roth IRA withdrawal rules that allow you to withdraw money under certain circumstances without penalty.

Golden Rule #4: Change Your Portfolio to Match Investment Goals

If you start investing during your younger years, time is definitely on your side, as with any type of saving. Not only will you be building up principal and benefiting from the compounding effect of starting early, you also have the opportunity to be more aggressive/growth-focused with your investing strategy. Not that you have to be aggressive, but you don’t have to be as concerned as someone who begins saving for retirement later in life.

If you are someone who has started later — don’t worry, now is better than never. You may or may not want to focus on a moderate to conservative/income-focused strategy with investments (like a low-fee or no load mutual fund) in order to preserve more principal or to hedge your risk in case of a falling market. This more conservative approach can be effective if you prefer an approach to investing that is more hands-off. On the other hand, if you enjoy watching the market more closely, then you might be able to be more aggressive in your plan.

Golden Rule #5: Reassess Your Portfolio At Least Once a Year

At the very minimum, you should reassess your portfolio yearly to make sure you are matching your goals. Of course, paying attention to the general economic status of the United States will also help you tune your investing plans as you go. Now that you’ve got some more tools in your arsenal to go after your financial planning goals for retirement, get to saving if you haven’t already, and adjust your plan as necessary.

David Hamilton (aka FPT Guy) is owner and author of Financial Planning Tips, where you can find information on a wide variety of topics on personal finance. Besides being passionate about his finance blog and helping others keep their finances in check, David also enjoys playing music, staying healthy, spending time with family and friends, and traveling the world.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

5 Golden Rules To Save For Retirement

For an online brokerage that has great pricing as well as great ongoing promotions, check out OptionsHouse. Their services are for the active stock and options trader and investor. You can take advantage of their top-notch suite of tools (including Virtual Trading) and they’ll give you 100 free complementary trades when you open a real trading account, if you decide to get started with trading. They also have a few other promotions that make signing up for this stock and options trading brokerage worth a look. Remember that their pricing is some of the best around for stock brokers, with a flat rate of $2.95 per stock trade, and $5 for up to 5 contracts (or $8.50 plus .15/contract).

OptionsHouse Free Trades & Other Promotions

Note that some of the offers can’t be taken together when you sign up for an account, so make sure you review the information carefully. Here’s a full list of current promotions from OptionsHouse, but we also discuss them below.

100 Commission Free Sales

There’s nothing more exhilarating than making a successful trade, except maybe if you make that trade for free? All new OptionsHouse customers have the opportunity to trade without spending a cent. Get 100 free trades when you sign up for an OptionsHouse brokerage account Just fund your new account with $3,000 or more and enjoy your next 100 trades at no cost. You’ll need to execute the trades within 60 days of funding your account, otherwise they will expire unused.

90 Days of Free Investment Coaching

If you’re new to options investing or if you need to beef up your learning in this area, you can take advantage of one of the most comprehensive knowledge centers for free for the first 90 days upon opening a new OptionsHouse account and placing at least $1,000 in your cash account or $2,000 for margin accounts. It’s a great opportunity to receive professional stock and options trading advice for zero cost.

Refer A Friend

OptionsHouse will reward you for letting your friends know about their trading platform. If you recommend OptionsHouse to a friend and they open an account with this brokerage, then you get your choice of $50 or 10 free trades. Not only does your friend get the benefit of a great brokerage, but you also get paid for doing nothing more than you would have done anyway!

90 Day Subscription to Morningstar

As if having an OptionsHouse brokerage account wasn’t enough. Now, OptionsHouse offers the power of its online brokerage combined with the unparalleled research and in-depth analysis of Morningstar to give you unlimited access to a complete online resource — research, articles, forums, Options Investor Guide, the OptionInvestor weekly report and the StockInvestor monthly newsletter. This is all FREE for 90 days after funding your new OptionsHouse trading account with $1,000 for a cash account or $2,000 for a margin account.

ACAT Transfer Rebate: $100 To Switch Brokers

If you’d like to consider switching brokers, you’ve got the extra incentive of receiving up to $100 if you move your funds over to OptionsHouse. Some brokers refund you for any fees incurred when you do the switch, and OH is no exception. You can move your mutual funds, options and stocks over without having to worry about transfer fees.

Wire Fees Rebate

You can open a brokerage account and get same day funding through OptionsHouse’s electronic transfer features. But as a new customer, you can also receive a wire fee rebate if you so choose to take advantage of this promotion. Your wire transfer fees will be covered up to $25. If you’re interested, you can get more information about this offer through this link.

And for more details about this highly regarded online stock broker, you can check out our OptionsHouse review here. If you’re an active investor or trader, it may be worth looking into this online firm. The extra benefits are certainly a great bonus as well!

For those interested, here are more free online stock trading promotions.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

OptionsHouse Free Trades & Other Promotions

What’s another cheap meal you can cook at home? How about baked beans?

You can do a lot with baked beans. There are so many versatile ways we can use them, and they just sit in the cupboard until they are needed. They’re great if you are on a budget as well, because they are always cheaply available. Quite often they can be even cheaper if you buy them in bulk, so bear that in mind.

But let’s get back to how you can actually use them. If all you can think of is the standard beans on toast, think again. Here are some more ideas:

1. Beans on toast with a twist. Add some raw chopped up onion and your choice of some hot sauce –- anything spicy you have a taste for. Mix it all together and serve it on hot buttered toast as you would normally. Test your taste buds with that!

2. Bulk out a cottage pie by adding in a tin of beans as well. Mince can be expensive and if you are on a tight budget you’ll want to make sure your meals go as far as they possibly can. One key way to do this is to add some baked beans to a dish. Cottage pie is ideal. Once you have cooked your mince, add some chopped onion, a tin of beans and some frozen peas and sweetcorn. Stir it all in together and look forward to a bulked out and very tasty meal when you serve it up.

3. Try a sausage casserole. You’ll need to partially cook your choice of sausages first, otherwise you will end up with insipid looking meats. But once you have done that you can chop them up into chunks, sling in a tin of baked beans, add some mixed up gravy and some roughly chopped onions. Cover the oven dish and cook it on a low temperature for a couple of hours for perfection.

4. Make a baked bean sandwich. Some people swear by these, especially when toasted. Butter two slices of bread and put them butter side down on your sandwich toaster. Add some beans and grated cheese and two more slices of bread to finish off. Toast and enjoy!

5. Have corned beef hash with beans. This is another favorite because you’ve got the means to bulk it out again. And corned beef and beans always go nicely together. Whatever recipe you have for corned beef hash, just stir some beans in as well.

As you can see, there are plenty of things you can do with a tin of baked beans. Beans get bad press sometimes because they are thought of as student food and food for those who are budgeting as much as they can. But there is so much more you can do with them that you really should get your thinking cap on to find as many recipes as you can that use them.

I tend to think of them as a basic ingredient that can be used in lots of different ways –- just as chicken or beef can be. Once you start thinking along these lines, you will see the benefits of stocking up your cupboard with the basics.

If you are trying to beat debt by cutting down on your food bills to free up some more cash each month, think about being creative when using the simpler ingredients. Don’t underestimate the power of beans!

For more food ideas that will allow you to stretch your budget, check out our other articles!

• Different Ways To Cook Potatoes: In Salads, With Shallots
• Using A Can of Tuna Fish: Great Tuna Dishes

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Cooking Beans: 5 Things To Do With Baked Beans

It’s time for an update on the investment markets. I’ve got a set of new INO.com investment videos that may be of interest to market traders. Before we get to introducing these videos, I’d like to mention that the trading tool used to analyze recent market events is the INO tool called MarketClub. I’ve previously reviewed the MarketClub trading system here, but you can certainly see it in action in the videos below.

Will The Dollar Index Rally? Tracking a Leveraged ETF for the Euro

Here are some short videos for your viewing pleasure:

Video 1: Is the Dollar Index (USDX) about to rally? The USDX is a measure of the dollar’s value against a basket of other currencies.

It is a weighted geometric mean of the dollar’s value compared with the following currencies:

• Swiss Franc (CHF) 3.6% weight
• Swedish Krona (SEK), 4.2% weight
• Canadian Dollar (CAD), 9.1% weight
• Pound Sterling (GBP), 11.9% weight
• Japanese Yen (JPY), 13.6% weight
• Euro (EUR), 57.6% weight

Using Fibonacci retracement methods, Adam Hewison (INO.com’s expert trader) shows us that this index may recover. While there are some mixed signals in technical analysis indicators that show a shakiness in the USDX, the expectation here is that it will go back up.

Video 2: A look at the Proshares UltraShort Euro (EUO). This is a leveraged ETF that lets you go short the Euro and long the US Dollar when you take a position in it. As a leveraged ETF, it gives you twice the leverage and movement made by its benchmark. If you suspect that the Euro will be declining further, then this is an investment you can look into. More about the weak Euro here.

Video 3: Is the Euro on shaky ground? Recently the Euro has experienced a rally. This summer, we are seeing a rise in the Euro, which you can view via the EURUSD chart. Again, using Fibonacci retracement methods, the signals show that the Euro vs Dollar relationship is headed towards a one to one parity.

Video 4: Technical trend indicators turning negative for the Euro. INO.com’s trading signals (called Trading Triangles) are flashing red for the Euro. We’re looking for a one to one ratio between the Euro and the US Dollar. This may be an opportunity to go short on the EURUSD.

Video 5: Death cross pattern in the S & P 500 chart. An interesting pattern emerges when you review the S & P 500 Daily Candlestick chart. When the 50 day moving average (DMA) is plotted against the 200 day moving average, a death cross pattern becomes evident. The 50 DMA fell below the 200 DMA in early July and this sort of thing could signify another downtrend for the market.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Will The Dollar Index Rally? Tracking a Leveraged ETF for the Euro

How has the summer been treating you? On our end, it’s been great. Nice warm CONSISTENT weather, nothing too hot nor too cold. Kids have been attending their summer schools and next week, my eldest is attending his first computer camp. The interesting thing about these summer camps that I’ve learned thus far is this: some can be pretty cheap while others cost an arm and a leg.

Kid Summer Camps: The Cheap and Not So Cheap

This year, we opted to splurge a little to try out the rather expensive computer camp. It’s set up for 7 to 12 year olds and is all about teaching kids develop their own video games. Yes, what kind of parents are we to be sending our kid to build these games, you may ask? After all, too much video gaming can be a hazardous thing. But we’re not having him play the game, we’re having him develop it, which should be good for his creativity. Plus I’ll let you in on a family fact: the spouse had at one point, devoted his career to the video gaming industry. So I can make the excuse that it runs in the genes?

Then again, if you think about it, most families will find themselves paying more for summers than they do for the rest of the year. Why? Because summers equate to family vacations. And many people end up trying to figure out how best to keep their kids preoccupied during this time of year. During the year, kids go to school (and that’s public school for most of us) where tuition is free. While for summers, the kids spend it in fun camps and other summer fun activities. But for those who want a fancier family experience, there’s always travel for everyone. In our case, it’s usually a trip abroad to visit relatives, and airfare can be pretty hefty when we account for 4 round trip tickets halfway around the world.

So to take things in perspective, computer camp may not be that bad. Although a sports camp or other local community kids’ summer program is probably much more affordable — usually under a hundred bucks or at most, a few hundred dollars for many weeks of fun. Now if you’ve got our own local waterhole or cave network around where you live, then consider yourself lucky. Nature is something you won’t need to spend on. Here are some other cheap ways to enjoy the summer.

Quick Roundup

• Mike Fanelli: There Is No Shortcut To Making Money
• Saving Money Today: Organizing 101: Filing Your Bills Neatly
• Lazy Man and Money: My New Career: Stealing Cars in Oakland
• One Mint: Decoupling is evident in the long run
• The Simple Dollar: Ten Big Mistakes #3: Lifestyle Funded by Credit Cards
• Nerd Wallet: Carnival of Personal Finance

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Kid Summer Camps: The Cheap and Not So Cheap

Want to start saving more money? Try DIY home improvement jobs!

How many times have you glanced around your home and thought, “That room really needs painting,” or “I should really get around to redoing the bathroom”.

If you’re like the rest of us, you will no doubt have had a few instances when this has happened. But the thing you need to ask yourself is whether or not you can do the necessary job yourself, or whether you need to call someone else in to do it for you.

5 DIY Home Improvement Jobs You Can Do To Save Money

To keep more of your money in an account that earns top savings bank rates, you can certainly attempt to tackle your own projects yourself, rather than hire someone to do the work for you. The following five jobs could be considered as pretty doable DIY home improvement jobs. Always make sure you are happy to do the job before you take it on though –- some people hate DIY (or do-it-yourself) of any kind, and in this case, they would rather spend the money on someone who does it for a living.

1. Painting – both interior and exterior. If you aren’t happy about going up a tall ladder, then get an expert in to do the upper levels of your home. You could still save money by doing the lower levels yourself, if you wish.

2. Laying a new lawn – provided you have access to a good step by step guide (which you can find on the internet), you can do this yourself quite easily. The biggest thing to remember is to prepare the surface you want to turf before you actually start working on it.

3. Tiling – this may not be ideal if you have lots of areas that require some time-consuming work where you have to cut tiles into various small pieces. But if you only have a simple area to cover with whole tiles (like a splash back for example), then you’ll be fine. Just make sure you have the right tools to do it with.

4. Landscaping your garden – just as long as you don’t need any brick walls built or complicated water features installed, you could do much of the landscaping work yourself. And even if you are looking to set up a proper wall or something similar that you know you can’t tackle, you can always get an expert to do just this bit for you. You can do the rest of the work yourself, step by step, which will help you save loads of money.

5. Installing raised flower beds – Here is another great job for the garden, that anyone can do –- and it doesn’t even matter if you aren’t that good with screws or nails, since you won’t see them by the time you’re finished. All you have to do is to get lengths of chunky wood to form the beds, and some brackets to attach them together. You can then stain the wood to give the frame some outdoor protection, and hey presto you’ve got a lovely raised bed you made yourself.

Believe me, there are some great ways to save money when it comes to tackling certain jobs around the home. Take note though, that it might require a bit of patience to get to the end result because you are bound to be slower than some of those who do these jobs for a living.

But as you can see there are some tasks which are relatively simple and don’t require much knowledge to tackle successfully. Provided you don’t try and rush it, you can get a great sense of achievement by doing stuff yourself.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

5 DIY Home Improvement Jobs You Can Do To Save Money

Billing itself as “The World’s Most Prestigious and Versatile Credit Card,” Barclays’ Visa Black Card has garnered a lot of attention in recent months. What does this card offer to its users and who can benefit the most from it?

If you like the idea of exclusive deals, then the Visa Black Credit Card might appeal to you. Barclay claims to limit this particular card to 1% of U.S. residents. And it’s made of patent-pending carbon, which makes it stand out from the plastic cards up for grabs elsewhere.

How much will this exclusivity cost you? You can expect to pay an annual fee of $495. Since this annual fee is substantially higher than run-of-the-mill credit cards, it’s worth noting that membership gives you access to a rewards program and 24-hour concierge service.

Visa Black Credit Card Review: Concierge Service & Rewards

First, the good: the concierge service can help you with travel arrangements, restaurant reservations, and more, whether you need it for your business or not. For instance, you can learn more about local events, arrange for gifts or flowers, set up conference services, and gain assistance in tracking down the right gifts.

This can be of help when you’re away from home or vacationing — you won’t have to pay extra for flaky Wi-Fi access or waste time hunting for a place to eat if you can call the concierge service. You can email in your requests if that’s easier than phoning, too.

As for the rewards program, how does 1% cash back on your purchases or airline points without blackouts or restrictions sound? To be honest, it may be hard to make up or justify the annual fee on this card unless you use it often. At any rate, you can redeem your rewards by logging into your account or by calling customer service for a Redemption Specialist.

For alternative cards that offer better rewards and/or no annual fees, check out this list of top rewards cards:

For additional options, here’s where to check out some great cash back credit cards; most of these have no annual fee!

Visa Black Credit Card Terms

To sweeten the deal, the Visa Black Card offers luxury gifts and a Travel Lounge Priority Pass. If you spend a lot of time in the air, you’ll be able to stop by airport lounges in more than 100 countries, over 600 airport lounges total.

What about the APR? It’s going to be 13.24% at the account’s opening. Not necessarily the lowest rate card out there. The APR will vary based on the Prime Rate. For cash advances, the APR is 21.99%, variable based on the Prime Rate.

In the event you’re already carrying a balance on another card, you have the option of transferring that balance over to the Black Card. For six months, that balance won’t accrue any interest. After the introductory period, your APR for balance transfers will rise to 13.24% based on your credit history. Now if you’re interested in seeing other cards of this sort, here’s where to check out some top balance transfer cards.

Additional Benefits of the Visa Black Card

Book your travel fare with the Black Card and you’ll receive worldwide travel insurance worth $250,000, if your travel’s eligible. Afraid of losing your bags? There’s baggage delay insurance, which covers $100 a day for 3 days. And if you’re renting a car, there’s a collision damage waiver. No one expects trouble when they book their travel itinerary, but the Black Card has you covered with trip interruption/cancellation insurance.

Your purchases have some coverage, too. Purchase Security means that you have 90 days to make a claim on eligible items; you’ll see the item replaced or repaired, or you’ll be reimbursed, up to $500 per eligible claim. With the Warranty Manager Service, you’ll be able to access warranty registration and Extended Warranty Protection for things you purchase. For the Extended Warranty Protection service, that means your purchase’s original warranty period will be doubled, up to a year’s time.

Is this the right card for you? For the average consumer, it may be possible to find less exclusive credit cards with more favorable APRs, which is important if you tend to carry a balance. However, despite the substantial annual fee, you might be able to make the card pay for itself if you’re already predisposed to be a heavy duty credit user who pays off the balance each month.

I would suggest that you compare your credit cards against the services offered by this particular card. Will the upgrade in benefits justify leaving your other cards behind? Don’t forget to look over the Terms and Conditions, which will disclose the penalties as well as the benefits of the Black Card.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Visa Black Credit Card Review

If you have ever looked into making money online you may have already come across HubPages. I came across the site HubPages.com just over two years ago, and even though I haven’t created many hubs since then (my total count is currently seventeen) I have plans to add a lot more.

Make Money With Google Adsense & HubPages

Why is this you may ask? Well I have discovered that it is well worth creating these short articles known as hubs, mainly because you can add Google Adsense to them. And that means you can earn an income from your writing that keeps accumulating over the long term.

Now I should say here that this is one of those classic situations where you get out of it what you put in. It’s no good just writing one hub, associating your article with Adsense and then expecting loads of money to come rolling in. It doesn’t work that way. But it is definitely worth writing as many hubs as you can and starting to make a name for yourself on HubPages, because this is where the real rewards lie.

How Much Can You Earn From HubPages?

I know someone who is making over $100 a month in Adsense revenue from the hubs she has put up on the site over the last year. Actually that was the figure she gave me after just six months on the site –- and I have every reason to believe it will be higher now. She finds articles on all kinds of subjects that are easy to write, and puts them on the site. Some are around 400 words or above, while others are quite a bit longer. But they all give her the opportunity to earn some cash.

Now $100 a month may not sound like a lot. But I have realized that this is a numbers game and the more hubs I add to my collection, the more I will earn from Google Adsense.

To this end I have come up with a plan to start adding one hub a day to my total. Now believe me when I say that 400 words or so a day is not a lot to write. As it stands, the article you are reading (including the title) is 400 words long right about NOW. It isn’t much really, is it? And yet you have the chance to publish such articles for free (and as many as you like as well) to ensure that you can start to build your revenue stream.

Monetizing Your Hubs

Along with Adsense, you can also add eBay ads to your hubs if you can get accepted as one of their affiliates. I tried and didn’t succeed –- they seem to be quite picky about whom they accept. But I was able to get an Amazon affiliate account and thus, some of my hubs sport Amazon ads on them as well. From my experience though, I have found that my best returns have been from Google Adsense. Try each method yourself and perform some experiments to see which ones work for you. Things could vary depending on what you want to write about.

So you see, if you are looking to get started with Google Adsense but you don’t have your own website yet, you can give HubPages a try first. It might just be the best way to start.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Make Money With Google Adsense & HubPages

Barbecues are fun and sociable occasions. But if you are hosting one, you can easily spend a lot of money on it.

It doesn’t have to be like this though. You can budget for a barbecue just like you can budget for anything else. Some people can be good at budgeting all the time. But when it comes to buying food for a barbecue they just go out and blow the budget big time. This is why you need a plan of action to follow before you start. Not all dishes have to be terribly expensive!

5 Fun Food Ideas For A Cheap Outdoor BBQ

Here are some good pointers for bulking out the meal.

1. Serve up a cold rice salad. Rice is filling and it works well to bulk out a salad. You can add in whatever ingredients you like -– sweet corn is a great choice and you can use it cold out of the tin as well. Just make sure you cook the rice not long before you need it, but allow enough time for it to go cold. Cook it in plenty of water too so that it soaks up whatever it needs.

2. Provide chicken wings and drumsticks. They’re cheaper than chicken breasts. You can buy a dozen wings and drumsticks at a time and they’re really cheap. They’re awesome finger foods! Cook some plain and add marinades to the others. Garlic butter, mixed herbs, barbecue sauce and plenty of other options all work well.

3. Grab a large French stick and make your own garlic bread. Making your own is much cheaper than buying it and you can add your own personal touch in the process. It usually only works out cheaper if you already have your own garlic though.

4. Buy hamburgers in bulk. You can buy them cheaper per unit this way. The same applies to sausages and any other meat items. Look out for special deals during the summer too. Some supermarkets offer two or three meat packs for a set amount of money for instance. These are usually ideal for barbecues.

5. Cook some new potatoes and add them as a side dish. If you grow your own potatoes, you can dig them up out of the garden on the day you need them. Just toss them in a little butter and add some chopped chives to the top. Alternatively you could make a home made potato salad to serve alongside the other dishes. Here are some different ways to cook potatoes.

The thing to remember is that a barbecue is not all about cooked meat. Watch out for discounted fish dishes as well –- sardines are usually cheap and ideal to cook on the bbq if they’re fresh. Or you can think about incorporating great tuna dishes to your spread as well.

If you provide enough side dishes, such as salad, rice and potatoes as described above, you’ll find that your meat will go further anyway. Throw in the usual condiments and a nice cool dessert for after your meal and you’re on your way. How about a mixed summer fruit bowl with cream, for example?

Another tip to remember when you want to serve up a smashing barbecue is to do as much as you can yourself. You will always pay more for chicken that is already marinated, but the odds are that you already have all the ingredients in your cupboard that you need to make your own marinated chicken.

The moral? Don’t spend more than you have to!

Some reads around the blogosphere:

• Credit Karma Blog: What’s The Deal With Debt and Your Credit Score?
• Lazy Man and Money: Tips on Buying a Laptop…
• Funny About Money: Carnival of Personal Finance
• My Journey To Millions: Carnival of Personal Finance

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

5 Fun Food Ideas For A Cheap Outdoor BBQ

If the idea of investing intimidates you, then you might be interested in a company that allows you to buy stocks online without a premium price tag. Or maybe you’ve already tried a few online stock brokerage firms, but you want the simplicity of automatic investing.

This time out, let’s take a look at ShareBuilder. ShareBuilder is offered by ING Direct, which is popular thanks to its online savings account and Electric Orange checking account. There are several types of ShareBuilder accounts including:

• Individual or joint accounts
• Retirement accounts: traditional, Roth, or rollover IRAs
• For children: Educational Savings Account or a custodial account

You aren’t limited to one type of account. If you have several goals, then you’re welcome to have multiple accounts with just one log-in. This is a convenience compared to having accounts all over town or the country.

ShareBuilder’s Pricing

Once you figure out which type of account you’d like, you need to pick out a pricing plan. The Basic account charges you $4 per scheduled investment and there’s no subscription fee. You might prefer this account if you’re a novice investor or you don’t plan to invest very often. Tools you can access are PortfolioBuilder and Gain & Loss Tracking.

With the Standard account, you’re allowed to have 6 scheduled investments for $12 each month. You’ll also be able to use various investing tools as much as you’d like. These tools include PortfolioBuilder, Gain & Loss Tracking, and Stock Grades. ShareBuilder is offering a free one-month trial of the Standard Account. This can allow you to get familiar with ShareBuilder’s features without committing a lot of cash to it.

The Advantage account gives you up to 20 scheduled investments for $20. In addition, you can explore all the investment tools, such as the ones mentioned above, the Stock Reports and IPO Priority Notification.

There’s no account minimum, and you don’t have to lose money to inactivity fees. You can fund your account with automatic electronic fund transfers from your checking or high yield savings account.

Or you can mail in a check, wire the deposit, or even fund it through a payroll deduction. If you already have a brokerage account, then ShareBuilder will allow you to transfer funds from it for free. You might even be eligible for a $100 bonus if you transfer a minimum of $500 from another brokerage and you fill out the form.

There are more than 7,000 stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs for you to choose from. You can make your investment choices in real-time during market hours. If the market’s open, you can buy and sell in seconds. That way, if you spot a buying opportunity, you can act on it quickly.

Real-time trades cost $9.95 per online trade. And if you want phone trades for real-time and mutual fund trades, they will cost you $19.95. Here’s where to go to get more info. Also, note that at times, ShareBuilder holds promotions that you may want to take advantage of.

Automate Your Investing

To make your investments grow on a regular basis, you can opt to automate your investing. Choose from weekly, biweekly, or monthly investments. You can even buy your stocks in specific amounts. If you go the automatic route, your investments will happen on Tuesdays.

Research and Tools

If you aren’t sure where to start your portfolio, the PortfolioBuilder tool can help. It can assist you with a personalized portfolio and a profile analysis that can examine your risk tolerance. When you’re ready, you can use the portfolio for your automated investment plan.

Research tools include stock, ETF, and mutual fund finders; the Quick Fund Selector; a watch list; and a tool to help you check historic prices on certain stocks that may interest you.

When you provide your email address and name, ShareBuilder will send you a guide that covers the basics of investing.

As with many investments, you need to remember that your account can lose money. Plus, securities aren’t insured by the FDIC the way checking and savings accounts are backed by the government.

But all in all, getting started with buying stocks doesn’t have to be an ordeal. If you’re willing to try online investing and you don’t want to pay a ton of fees, then check out ShareBuilder. Over time, your investments here can be worth quite a bit.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Sharebuilder Broker Review