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Monday Night Finance- Volume 43

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Monday, 07 December 2020 / Published in Monday Night Finance

Monday Night Finance- Volume 43

Simple Tips for a Green Christmas

Christmas has become a major consumer event throughout the world. Not only do people purchase gifts for loved ones, but they decorate their houses with trees and lights. Furthermore, many people wrap their gifts with wrapping paper and many toys come in packaging. As a result, all of this Christmas joy can sometimes come with a little bit of an environmental hangover for Mother Earth. If you want to have a great Christmas but want to do so in a sustainable manner, check out this post.

If you’re overwhelmed or turned off by overly green tactics, don’t worry. I’m not into deprivation, being a scrooge or green shaming. You can still celebrate Christmas your way, and you’ll still make a big impact (even if you’re not 100% green). ~Chrissy at Eat, Sleep, Breathe FI

Chrissy from Eat, Sleep, Breathe FI runs through her top tips for having a “green” Christmas. The number one way to make your Christmas more sustainable is by reducing the number of gifts you purchase. This might not be an easy conversation to have with loved ones- so Chrissy gives you a script you can follow. While you may be able to reduce some of the gifts you give, I’m sure there will be some people you want to share presents with. In those cases, you can try to gift experiences (like taking your nieces to the movies) that won’t ultimately end up in the landfill. Chrissy also gives lots of great ideas for other eco-friendly gifts. Beyond gifts, you’ll want to make sure that you examine your holiday meals. Can you make a plan for leftovers so no food goes to waste? Are you eating sustainably? Finally, Chrissy lists ideas for sustainable gift wrapping and Christmas cards.

When Can I Retire? 4 Focus Areas To Help You

Who hasn’t dreamed of walking up to their boss and telling them, “I quit!” after a tough day at work. If you’re ready for retirement, you could enact that scenario whenever you want. However, how do you know if you have enough money to retire? And is money the only thing you need to worry about? Do you have an emotional plan for exiting the workforce? If you’re thinking about removing yourself from the rat race but aren’t sure if you’re ready or not this post is for you.

Although you want to run away from your job towards retirement, the answer to when can you retire should also be based on what you want to do in retirement. Ideally, it would be best to have a good idea of the list of activities or projects you want to tackle in retirement. ~Financial Freedom Countdown

Financial Freedom Countdown lists four areas in your life that you need to prepare for to retire. The first is obvious- are you financially ready to retire? The article goes into great detail about how to calculate how much money you will need in retirement. But money is only part of the equation. Are you emotionally ready to retire? Retirement will mean potentially losing your identity if you have worked at your job for a long time. You may also lose the built in social-network of visiting with coworkers every day. Planning to fill these social and emotional voids are just as important as filling your financial gap. Your retirement The final focus area, “retirement activities” is the plan for how to fill these voids in your life.

BlockFi Visa Credit Card gives bitcoin rewards

Do you have a rewards credit card? Rewards cards can be a valuable way to earn extra money or travel rewards– especially if you pay your balance off in full each month. If you are in the habit of not carrying a balance on your credit card, then credit card rewards are literally free money (if your card does not have an annual fee). There are lots of different types of reward credit cards. Some are linked to miles at specific airlines, points at certain hotels, or cash back. Other rewards cards are more flexible and allow you to redeem your award many different ways to maximize your reward.

Would you like to earn bitcoin each time you make a purchase with a credit card? Then you should sign up to BlockFi and get on the waiting list for the first-ever crypto rewards credit card. ~Compounding.Works

In this article Compounding.Works introduce us to a new type of reward credit card that will be launched soon. This card, the BlockFi Visa Card will give you 1.5% of your purchase price back in a BitCoin wallet. BitCoin has gained over 160% in value in the past year; making these rewards potentially quite a big more valuable than a cash-back reward. The card will have a $200 annual fee. For more details about how to join the waiting list for this credit card, check out the article.

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Barbara Ann Feeney
16-05-2016

I switched from pencil and paper on grid accounting paper, then to a Google spreadsheet, then to CountAbout. Really happy with how this app makes it easy to track how I doing, staying (or not) on budget.

 
‏@davepurcell
15-11-2016

I rarely tweet endorsements, but -- after years of using/hating Quicken, Countabout is awesome for tracking home budget/finances. Thx!

 
David M.
16-07-2016

CountAbout is as easy to use on my mobile as it is on the desktop and it provides me with the same or better information than Quicken.

 
Nate E.
05-02-2016

Fantastic! I finally found a great replacement for Quicken! CountAbout is entirely cloud-based, so you can access it from whatever OS you happen to be using. And the mobile app isn't hamstrung like Quicken's. No looking back for me, this is a great app and a great service!

 
My Bank Tracker
24-11-2016

...you won’t be bombarded with ads when you log in. Mint, for example, uses targeted ads to help keep the platform free. All in all, CountAbout could be a good choice for Quicken and Mint users who want to start fresh with their finances without losing their past transaction history.

 
Mark Goldfarb
20-01-2017

I love the software – nice and clean – the categories was a must have that your competitors are lacking.

 
Widgets to Compare Monthly Spending in Active Categories
17-02-2017

Huzzah! I can add widgets now and already made one to compare my monthly spending in my active categories to my budget. Excellent. That tool is one of my favorite features in a personal finance product.

 
Shirley Hou
CountAbout was Perfect
15-03-2017

I was looking for finance software to use as treasurer of the parent-teacher association at my child's school. CountAbout was perfect - it had all the register features and download capabilities that I was familiar with from desktop Quicken, but it has the advantage of being in the cloud so I can use it from any computer.

 
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Steve P.
22-09-2017

My search for a cloud-based alternative to Quicken is over! Very easy to transfer my Quicken data and customize my account. Thank you CountAbout!

 
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Jim Powell
17-03-2018

Vastly superior to the execrable Quicken, which caused me to have to choose a new bank password every time I used it. CA is fast, simple, and all you need unless you have a complicated investment portfolio. Its almost fun!

 
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Jeffrey Wilk
02-04-2018

Great product and great customer service. Thanks!

 
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Nancy
10-08-2018

I love CountAbout! I have hated Quicken for years, but didn't have an alternative. Now I do! I love that the cost is only $9.99 per year for the basic service (which is all I need). You can upgrade for more features, if you need them. But for personal use, the basic plan is just fine. When I found CountAbout, I gleefully gave Quicken the boot and I haven't looked back or missed it at all. Bye bye Quicken!!!

 
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Dana Linder
29-03-2019

This is an incredibly well thought out program.

It imports QIF files perfectly. I tried a number that failed miserably.

It has a function that emails reminders about scheduled transactions. That is an extremely useful function that I hadn't seen anywhere.

Tech support is second to none. All my questions were answered in detail within hours (sometimes minutes).

The companion phone app is very simple. You can browse, search, enter transactions and see scheduled transaction. That's really all you need on the phone.

It's one failing for me is that I have a transaction that I have a transaction that occurs on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, and it's not possible to set that up. It's easy enough for me to change the date of next transaction when I enter the current one.

I am extremely impressed with the company. The trial is free for 15 days. You have nothing to lose.

 
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Keith Hurst
22-05-2020

I've been trying to ditch Quicken for years, finally a worthy replacement, but it's so much more, so clean and intuitively designed. I was really surprised and delighted to find a full featured iphone app that meets all my needs.

 
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Amanda Sherlock
25-08-2020

I started using Quicken in 1987, before I had my own PC. I continued using it for years, frustrated by the frequent breaks in the synchronization. Finally I took the leap and used Mint for a year or two. Free software is worth as much as I pay for. Finally, in 2019 I found Countabout. The synchronization is great and I am happy to have a product that's easy to use and reliable. The customer support is excellent and very responsive to my questions.
There aren't as many bells and whistles as Quicken but the simplicity outweighs the complications.

 
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Richard Luna
03-02-2021

I'm a one-person real estate brokerage and having accurate financial records and being able to easily search transactions and generate reports is crucial. I'd been using Quicken for Mac for 10+ years and wanted to migrate to using a Chromebook instead of a Mac, to do that I had to find a replacement for Quicken.

The replacement had to be online; available from my phone, tablet, etc., and no software installations almost every year. I immediately dismissed any 'free' financial software (Mint, etc.) - I believe that you get what you pay for and there is no such thing as 'free.'

I settled on Tiller and CountAbout and subscribed to both; I quickly decided that a spreadsheet is not what I wanted. I wanted something that worked a lot like Quicken and CountAbout fit the bill. It took me awhile to fully embrace it but once I did I've been very happy and would not go back to Quicken even if they offered a fully online version. The few times I've had a question about using CountAbout I've always gotten a response by the end of the day - and often in an hour or less. If feels like I'm working with a small enterprise that's interested in putting out a superior application, improving it and solving issues and responding to questions. I'm very satisfied!

 

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CountAbout® is an easy-to-use online personal finance application that imports data from Quicken and Mint and automatically downloads data from banking, credit card, and retirement accounts. With no software to install, we’re anywhere you have an Internet connection. Our platform is stable, secure, and totally private. Our dedicated customer service team is friendly, knowledgeable, and quick to respond.

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