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Monday Night Finance- Volume 45

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Monday, 21 December 2020 / Published in Monday Night Finance

Monday Night Finance- Volume 45

Budgeting for Holiday Gifts at Every Price Range

With just a few days until Christmas, you may be racking your brains trying to figure out what to get for your coworker Steve down the hall. Maybe you’re trying to decide if you should get Steve a present at all. And if you are going to get him something, how much do you want to spend on it. Or perhaps you’re trying to figure out how to come up with a holiday gift budget. Do you know how much you want to spend on family, friends, and coworkers? If you’re struggling to figure out your last few items on your holiday shopping list, check out this article by Darcy of We Want Guac.

There is no more applicable scenario of “it’s the thought that counts” than when it comes to gift-giving. The most treasured gifts are those that are meaningful, and to reach meaningful they have to first be thoughtful. ~We Want Guac

Darcy breaks out her gift ideas into tiers ranging from zero dollars to over $50. Some of her most creative ideas were less than $10. She pointed out that you can construct a candy bouquet, which might cost over $30 professionally, for about $5. Darcy also gave some great stories about upcycling items she found in thrift stores. If you have more money and want to buy a more expensive present, you have more options. Darcy shared some pictures of gift baskets she constructed herself that looked amazing. For $25 she was able to combine books and treats and wine into an aesthetically pleasing gift. I think the moral of the story is that presentation can make a $5 gift look like a $50 gift and a $25 gift look like a $125 gift.

9 Money Lessons To Get You Ready For Financial Literacy

Are you financially literate? If so- you might be in the minority. Stephanie Faris of Money Under 30 reports that the number of financially literate individuals under the age of 35 keeps decreasing. While in 2009, 30% of 18-34 year-olds could answer 4 out of 5 financial literacy questions correctly. In 2018, it dropped to 17%. Why is financial literacy important? Financial literacy is a necessity for saving and investing enough to have a comfortable retirement. Today’s millennials will likely not be able to draw a pension like their parents and grandparents did.

History. Geometry. Science. All these subjects are important, which is why they’re taught in most schools. By the time you graduate, you can solve quadratic equations, but can you balance your checking account? ~Money Under 30

This article breaks down nine simple concepts of financial literacy that will help put you on the path towards a brighter financial future. The first one? Balancing a checkbook. Unlike ancient days where there were paper records for all of your transactions that needed to be recorded, most money flows into and out of checking accounts electronically. Therefore, the article recommends using a budgeting app, such as CountAbout to monitor your checking account. Beyond balancing the checkbook, the article provides resources to learn about managing credit, opening banking and investment accounts, and saving for retirement. Finally, it provides a list of companies that can help you on your financial journey.

Why You Should Be Streaming on Twitch

We often cover side-hustles on Monday Night Finance. Side hustles are a form of self-employment that you can do outside of traditional, “W2” employment to help you earn extra income. We’ve covered the usual suspects, such as Uber, DoorDash, Fiverr and blogging. However, have you ever considered supplementing your income by playing video games? While this seems far fetched, streaming services, such as Twitch, have made this a possibility.

Do you love playing video games? Have you considered trying to turn your passion for gaming into a full-time job? Well, that’s probably not going to happen with streaming on Twitch, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stream anyway. ~Partners in Fire

In this article, Melanie of Partners in Fire breaks down what Twitch is and why you should be streaming on this platform. Twitch is a platform where you can live stream events to your followers. A lot of people stream themselves playing video games, but in fact, you could stream nearly anything. Beyond the potential for making income, streaming on Twitch has many other benefits. It can give you a social outlet and help you build community during the social isolation of the pandemic. If you are interested in monetizing your Twitch performances, the article is a great resource on how to start making money. To make money on Twitch, you first need to become a Twitch affiliate. This requires that you have 50 subscribers, stream for 500 minutes over 7 of the past 30 days, and have an average of three live viewers at a time. This last requirement is the most difficult, and Melanie links to additional information on the best strategies to achieve this. Once you become an affiliate, you can make money by adding more subscribers, receiving “cheers” from your followers, and add revenue displayed during your gaming.

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What you can read next

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Reviews

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.

Never lose track of your finances, or the big picture, with CountAbout. Sign up for a free 15-day trial today.

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