... where my idea of splurging is feeding my cat Fancy Feast. As a full-time student with a limited income stream, follow my journey in obtaining financial awareness and prosperity.
Hey guys, just a heads up that Broke-Ass Student has moved to a new home. This site will remain open for a few more weeks but will no longer be updated.
Please visit my new home at www.brokeass-student.com for further adventures and content.
* photo by eilidhmacaskill
(Broke-Ass Student has moved to a new home! Please visit www.brokeass-student.com for further adventures and content)
Oh ... my ... lord ...
*collapses in an exhausted heap*
Who would have known coding would be such a bugger? I've been struggling with broken templates, broken aboutme widgets, broken adsense deluxe addons for the better part of the day, incomplete posts being hacked away at the knees for no apparent reason. Argh!! The new site is up and barely breathing at least. I'm still in the process of tweaking things about. A few urls need to be redirected, but you can sneak a peek at Broke-Ass Student's New Home.
A huge heartfelt thank you to Nikhil Agarwal and Jim for their patience and kindness over the past few days. Nik sent me a wonderfully detailed and concise email on how to start this whole daunting process. It was heaven-sent, and he had me zipping along like a pro in no time. Jim was nice enough to extend his knowledge and take time off his work schedule to tweak my new template theme a bit. You guys are awsome!
Still so much to do ... but for now. * big yawn * ZzZZz.
And before I go, a bit of exciting news to throw in the mix. Bankrate.com just featured an article about online savings accounts, with Broke-Ass Student briefly mentioned. Thanks to Laura Bruce for an enlightening and enjoyable conversation on the phone last week.
Ok folks, bed time. * shuffles off to sleep *
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(Broke-Ass Student has moved to a new home! Please visit www.brokeass-student.com for further adventures and content)
... I provide you with some really bizarre linkage! Enjoy.
Don't like to swallow drugs?...Now you can "smoke" them! Ooh, trippy.
Learn the fine art of getting bumped off a flight and collect some yummy vouchers in the process.
The newest rage in hair treatment incorporates bull semen. Nothing like developing that sexy shine, ladies!
Before they were despots. Learn about the wacky ways of some infamous dictators before they attempted world domination. If only they had kept their day jobs.
Susan Smith's horrifying account, "I won't be happy until I lose my legs" (A story not for the squeamish)
Ethiopia becomes the only place on the planet where scientists can witness a continent splitting apart on dry land. Experience continents on the move.
A sleep walking woman is found having sex with strangers. If that's not disturbing enough,
"... there are some extraordinary cases of sleep walkers leaving their homes, driving cars, or engaging in behaviours that they would not usually. In 1987, Ken Parks, drove 23 kilometres from his home in Pickering, Ontario, to his in-laws house, where he strangled his father-in-law unconscious, and stabbed his mother-in-law to death. He was acquitted of murder because he was sleepwalking at the time."
What was the first thing sold off eBay? A broken laser pointer, of course!
On a side note, I've just finished reading David Bach's "Smart Women Finish Rich". It definitely warrants a second and third browsing through in order to properly digest every scrumptious morsel. I found the book to be particularly insightful and engaging. I actually enjoyed it more than his "Automatic Millionaire" (which is very light reading - AM took me a little over an hour to finish). I'd recommend "Smart Women Finish Rich" to anyone, whether male or female. It's one of those gems I'll need to purchase off eBay, for a welcome addition to my at-home collection.
Currently I'm tearing into "The Millionaire Mind" by Thomas Stanley. I plan on bringing a copy to the gym tomorrow to peruse through while exercising my little buns off.
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(Broke-Ass Student has moved to a new home! Please visit www.brokeass-student.com for further adventures and content)
Hi guys, it's about that time I've been anxiously anticipating. Broke-Ass Student will be moving to her new home this weekend. I want to have this project completed as soon as possible.
If anyone has experience with building a website/webhosting/domain transferring - I'd love to hear from you! I'm still computer illiterate and kind of going at this blindly right now. You'll definitely have an eager pupil who's ready to learn how to most efficiently tackle this project. Right now I have a domain parked with GoDaddy, and am looking into a basic DreamHost package.
I also have some concerns how this transfer will affect my search engine rankings. My objective is to keep my Typepad account open an extra month after my new site goes live, just to properly redirect traffic to the new domain. But since I'm planning on taking all of my old content and archives to my new home, I'm not sure how Google will like this.
If anyone feels they can help this poor newb make this transition as seamless as possible, please let me know. I'm all ready brimming with questions.
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(Broke-Ass Student has moved to a new home! Please visit www.brokeass-student.com for further adventures and content)
Today I set aside the earlier bulk of the afternoon to take a field trip to my library and stock up on reading material. Here are some of the treasures I extracted.
Currently Reading:
Currently on Request from Scattered Local Branches:
What I've Finished Reading:
I also curled up in a comfy chair in the corner for an hour and browsed through some articles in Money Magazine, Kiplingers and Business Week.
I ♥ my library.
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(Broke-Ass Student has moved to a new home! Please visit www.brokeass-student.com for further adventures and content)
Popular Science has released six of the freakiest ideas in science. Cue the bearded woman and step right up to behold a freak show of awry proportions!
Why, God, Why??
Check out The Scariest Ideas in Science and prepare to be deliciously frightened.
* shivers and crawls under her blankie *
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(Broke-Ass Student has moved to a new home! Please visit www.brokeass-student.com for further adventures and content)
Baby step #12 - Concentrate refocusing energy on current blessings and wealth, as opposed to breeding negativity by focusing on what you believe you lack.
When one continually feels a certain way, they believe it and consequently create a reality for themselves.
I can’t do it. It’s too difficult. I’m not sure. I’ll never be able to. I can. I’m able to. I will succeed, and this is how.
To believe you’re poor and impoverished will create a similar reality. However, if you recognize how extremely wealthy you are (through good health, family, friends, love, laughter, career satisfaction, experiences, and memories), you start feeling an enhanced sense of gratitude for every blessing in your life. By becoming satisfied in other areas, you also willingly invite further wealth into your life through positive energy and emotion.
What type of reality are you currently creating?
Manifest Wealth Through Positive Reinforcement
There is much more to accumulating wealth than mere dollars and cents or calculating figures and spreadsheets on a table. It’s a deeply rooted spiritual and emotional mindset. Mentally, we may find ourselves caught up in the wrong endeavors. Instead of focusing on the blessings in our life and expressing gratitude for the necessities we have, we tend to obsess over what we feel we lack. This creates a destructive mental chain of misery – which in turn manifests dissatisfaction, greed, and the insatiable desire of never having enough and always wanting more. Through recognition of our blessings, see how leading a happier life has never felt so simple.
It only takes a quick glance through some of the past articles posted this week (such as the corruption of wealth) to receive a glimpse of the tragic burden wealth has brought upon some individuals (most notably, lottery winners who fell into unexpected earnings.)
But the money itself isn’t the problem here.
These individuals appeared mentally unprepared to cope with the huge influx of money that suddenly befell them. Spiritually they were unable to assimilate money into their lives in a positive fashion, and their wealth spiraled out of control. It festered into an excruciatingly chaotic and destructive force. Some of these individuals may have forgotten to respect and appreciate what they had previously, or perhaps it was a lesson they never learned to begin with. By failing to respect the unexpected gift of wealth, they weren't able to utilize it in a beneficial or enlightening manner. It deteriorated their lives.
Gratitude For Every Penny
Because money is such a powerful universal force, it demands immense respect. But consider your own habits. Are you respecting your income properly?
Do you currently feel appreciative and satisfied with what you have? Are you consciously aware of your expenses? Is your money thrown all over the place in disarray and crumpled in your wallet, or is it neatly folded together? If you searched through your home, would you find enough change in your cushions to service a Laundromat for a month? Are you making irrational purchases without realizing where portions of your paycheck are being funneled?
One of my best friends recently bemoaned to me how she had no idea where her money was draining away to. Christmas had come and gone, of course. But she anticipated the expense and prepared for the holidays by budgeting for gifts. She didn’t believe that was where the problem lay.
I asked her to briefly walk me through one of her days. Besides regularly buying food at work, she suddenly realized she also spent over $1 on bottled water at the gym almost every day. Surely an insignificant purchase, she mused?
When we calculated the expense of the bottled water alone, we were shocked to realize she was spending over $350 a year on just water at the gym. That’s almost $1,000 over a three-year period. It suddenly dawned on her that it would be more practical to bring a thermos and fill it herself at the water fountain. She realized she could more wisely utilize that money, and scoffed at her ineptitude in just that tiny little area. She also realized how easy and cost-efficient it would be to bring lunch to work more often.
But, ironically, a trivial bottle of water began to represent a foolish expense that wasn’t in line with my friend's personal goals. From that day forward, it became a trigger point. A seed was planted in her mind that blossomed into a conscious awareness of how she was choosing to spend every portion of her money.
I am pleased that my friend, who used to be extremely intimidated by personal finances, (the mention of the stock market would literally send her running and squealing), is now willing to learn about retirement funding and proper investing. She has found a wiser approach on how to respect her money further. For the first time, she is taking firm control of her personal finances instead of allowing them to control her.
Mentally walk yourself through a day or two of your normal expenses. What careless spending will you uncover?
For those still unconvinced of their inherent wealth and would rather look at their concrete net worth, take a peek at how well you rank with the global wealth rich list. Were you surprised?
~†~ Baby Steps are Key ~†~
Manifest positive emotion through continued gratitude - recognize and respect your blessings
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(Broke-Ass Student has moved to a new home! Please visit www.brokeass-student.com for further adventures and content)
A bleak future for our planet is being direly warned. Global warming is much more serious than previously predicted - research now shows that tragic devastation that once was predicted as 'likely' to occur is now 'almost certain' to occur this century, The Guardian reports.
A new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will be released to the general public on February 2. The report, according to CNN, is written by over 600 scientists, reviewed by another 600 experts and edited by bureaucrats from 154 countries, and will release its first phase in Paris next week.
"A draft copy of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, obtained by The Observer, shows the frequency of devastating storms - like the ones that battered Britain last week - will increase dramatically. Sea levels will rise over the century by around half a metre; snow will disappear from all but the highest mountains; deserts will spread; oceans become acidic, leading to the destruction of coral reefs and atolls; and deadly heatwaves will become more prevalent.
What impact will this mean for us and our children, and what are the effects?
"The impact will be catastrophic, forcing hundreds of millions of people to flee their devastated homelands, particularly in tropical, low-lying areas, while creating waves of immigrants whose movements will strain the economies of even the most affluent countries.
'The really chilling thing about the IPCC report is that it is the work of several thousand climate experts who have widely differing views about how greenhouse gases will have their effect. Some think they will have a major impact, others a lesser role. Each paragraph of this report was therefore argued over and scrutinised intensely. Only points that were considered indisputable survived this process. This is a very conservative document - that's what makes it so scary,' said one senior UK climate expert." (As a sidenote here, I wonder why they chose not to address his name?)
There is some comfort, however. The panel believes the Gulf Stream will go on bathing Britain with its warm waters for the next 100 years. Some researchers have said it could be disrupted by cold waters pouring off Greenland's melting ice sheets, plunging western Europe into a mini Ice Age, as depicted in the disaster film The Day After Tomorrow."
How serious is the current damage, and is there still hope to rectify our mistakes?
"'However, there is still hope', said Peter Cox of Exeter University. 'We are like alcoholics who have got as far as admitting there is a problem. It is a start. Now we have got to start drying out - which means reducing our carbon output.'"
It will be interesting to see what data the final report will actually contain. I do feel in general that it's imperative to build awareness on environmental issues in order to further preserve the planet and support delicate ecosystems from becoming extinct. Societies need to start becoming educated and taking drastic steps to recover these crucial ecological chains today, while we still have opportunity to reverse some of the inflicted damage.
Like the fascinating and complex make-up of our human bodies, nature is incredibly self-healing if given an opportunity to regenerate. And no amount of money in the world will matter if beautiful Mother Earth crumples around us as a direct result of greed and ignorance. I also believe strongly in our duty to provide for our future children - not to fail them and rob them of so much.
Due to the critical essence of this topic in general, one of my objectives is to pro-actively search for viable solutions and provide that knowledge for my readers. Therefore, you'll most likely see more tidbits on environmental issues and conservation cropping up on this blog. Every contribution we choose to make may literally produce a world of difference for our generation and the next.
Get active. Become educated. And be the change.
~†~ Baby Steps are Key ~†~
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Sources: Guardian Unlimited - Global Warming: the Final Verdict, CNN - Smoking Gun Report to Say Global Warming Is Here
Here are current rates of some online savings accounts, as of January 23, 2007.
iGObanking 5.30% APY ($1 to open, no minimum, no fees, FDIC insured, compounded daily)
Grandyielddirect 5.27% APY ($1 to open, no minimum fees, FDIC insured, compounded daily)
E*Trade 5.05% APY ($1 to open, no minimum, no fees, FDIC insured, compounded daily)
EmigrantDirect 5.05% APY ($1 to open, no minimum, no fees, FDIC insured, compounded daily)
HSBC Direct 5.05% APY ($1 to open, no minimum, no fees, FDIC insured, compounded monthly)
ING Direct 4.50 % APY ($1 to open, no minimum, no fees, FDIC insured, compounded monthly)
iGObanking Customer Service and Added Security Measures
Since opening an online savings account with iGObanking roughly a month ago, I have been very satisfied with their customer service. Last week I transferred a small amount from my local checking account into my iGObanking savings account. The transaction took approximately four business days, and I received two complimentary emails during the process to reassure me of the status on my pending transaction.
iGObanking automatically logs your IP while signing up. It asks if you'd like to set that particular computer as your 'default'. This means if you log on from a different computer, the iGObanking online system will recognize the foreign IP and take security precautions by asking additional questions upon login. I know many people who still feel wary of using online banking in general. I feel, therefore, this is actually a benefit for additional peace of mind.
Uhh, until I found myself locked out of the system - and my account.
I logged onto the iGObanking site from my work computer a few days ago. The system didn't recognize the computer I was trying to access my account from. It prompted me to answer security questions I had been asked during the initial signup process (three in total). Except, bugger me if I couldn't remember the answer of the last one. One time, failed, twice, three times ... bam! I received a message that, after four unsuccessful login attempts, my account was now locked. I would need to contact a customer service representative to remedy the situation.
Grumbling, I tried to log in again from my home computer later in the day. After receiving the same message, I shrugged and figured it would be an ideal opportunity to test the quality of iGObanking's customer service. I called the toll-free number on their website and patiently awaited the next available CR.
I was placed on hold for five minutes before receiving a very pleasant middle-aged woman, who allowed me to explain the entire situation. After I sheepishly told her I was locked out of my account after logging in from a work computer, but had forgotten one of my security questions, she chuckled and said it wasn't an uncommon occurrence. She reassured me it would be easy as pie to fix. After asking my basic info (name, address, ss #, telephone) for verification purposes, my account was promptly unlocked. She gave me a new password and instructed me to wait five minutes, log in again, and reset my security questions.
A few minutes later, I had three new questions (with the answers committed firmly to memory this time!), and I was happily cruising through my online account again. Very simple, and very well-handled. The whole ordeal took less than ten minutes to fix, and I am extremely pleased with the quality of iGObanking's courteous and efficient customer service.
iGObanking Customer Service Hours
If you experience problems or have questions with your iGObanking online savings account, a customer representative can be reached during regular business hours (Monday - Friday - 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST) at 1-888-432-5890.
Read my experience on the process of opening an account with iGObanking.
Still unsure? Check out the advantages and disadvantages of online bank savings accounts.
~†~ Baby Steps are Key ~†~
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(Broke-Ass Student has moved to a new home! Please visit www.brokeass-student.com for further adventures and content)
Some thoughts from Stevers at the Stever Robbins Company:
"A Fable that Starts True: Extraordinary People Producing Ordinary Results
A young man—college student—with a goatee and headphones sat across from me on the subway. Hunched over a book, he was wearing cargo pants, a T-shirt, several bracelets, and many necklaces. The knapsack in his lap proclaimed (in hand-written magic marker), “Life is a verb, not a noun.” A button on the knapsack: “Reading is Sexy.”
I looked around. Everyone else was wearing sensible clothes. Khakis. Button-down shirts. Gap shorts. Me? Khaki shorts and a generic polo shirt. Clothes, happily devoid of personality. The young man had more personality in his little finger than the rest of us had together. Pondering, I wondered if he would ever end up as Boring as the rest of us.
Step-by-step, he’s molded into Everyman
It would begin on the first day at work. “Wearing a goatee isn’t really appropriate for this office,” he would be told with a smile by the kindly secretary who wants to see him succeed. The next day, he’s cleanshaven. Bracelets, she informs him, aren’t really right for work. And why not leave the necklaces at home, too.
The next day, he shows up, feeling a bit less like himself, feeling like he’s holding back. But, eager to do a good job, he cuts his hair. He shoves the backpack under his desk and buys a smart, leather folio. He shows up “dressed for work.” A colleague sees his old knapsack under his desk, smiles condescendingly, and offers helpful advice, “As an expert at copy-writing I can assure you that technically, ‘life’ is a noun. The verb form would be ‘live.’”
A few weeks later, he finds his childhood hero is speaking in a nearby town. He wants to take a day off and go. “Sorry, kid. You haven’t accrued enough vacation time, yet.” He sighs, understandingly … and in that moment, his Life really does begin to transform from a verb into a noun.
Next comes his yearly review. His best idea saved the company a cool million, but some of his ideas are a bit … out there. We helpfully give him the Tried-and-True industry handbooks, so he can tone down the wacko ideas. He learns quickly what is and isn’t possible. And since he did a good job, we give a whopping 5% raise. (That is $1,750 given his $35K salary. We’re glad he’s not a $200K person; we’d be shelling out ten grand. He doesn’t notice that his raise amount has far more to do with his age than with the value of his idea. We don’t notice, either.)
Within a couple of years, our young friend fits right in. He wears the right clothes. He cancels his dinner dates for Oh-so-important client meetings. He knows the conventional wisdom, and can self-censor his wacko ideas in the bud. He spends his time working, attending industry conventions, and absorbing the Status Quo. He’s a success. And he’s quite unlikely to be an agent of innovation, creativity, or newness. Mission accomplished!
Conformity is our boon and our curse
The problem is conformity. We love it. We like people who look like us, who dress like us, who care about the same things, who live similar lives. It’s hard-wired, you know. Given two identical college applications with different candidate names and pictures, we prefer the one who looks and sounds like us. And never mind the Internet “revolution.” We’ve now made it possible to read only news that agrees with our existing beliefs, communicate mostly with people we know will agree, and read commentary that comes straight from our comfort zone.
Conformity has its good side, of course. It’s very easy to manage. You only need to learn one way of dealing with people, and, well, that’s that. You can pretend everyone’s the same, and since we all agree dress, emotion, purpose, and rewards in the workplace are pretty much standard, we’ll play along enough for us all to happily work together…limiting ourselves to the lowest common denominator of our uniqueness.
But we innovate, create, and find new ideas come people interact who think differently. People nudge each other outside their comfort zones, and if the environment is right, they can end up breaking existing molds and creating Great New Things. But innovation means helping people cultivate their differences and then bringing them together in ways that spark creativity.
When we all wear the same work uniform, we send the message: differences in expression aren’t allowed here. When we all work in identical cubicles, we send the message: individuality is limited to two 8×10″ pictures above your keyboard tray. When our idea of flex-time is letting someone come in at 8:15 instead of 8, we send the message: no matter what your own rhythms, they matter less than having your body here.
And guess what’s the worst of all? Hiring for “fit.” You know what happens when you hire only people you feel comfortable with? You get yet another carbon copy of the Standard Employee you already have way too many of. The candidate who makes you feel a little uncomfortable, who thinks a bit off-the-wall, will bring you genius, if you treat them right.
So bring some extraordinary results into being by bringing together ordinary people, just not your definition of ordinary. Practice stepping outside your comfort zone. Wear some clothes that you’d never normally wear. Don’t be my friend who, at age 60, confided that the only thing he can wear comfortably is a suit and tie (even at home). Go someplace new. Try a new cuisine. Stretch yourself. Find out what happens. Learn from it. Meet some people outside your normal sphere. Go to Burning Man.
But why stop there? Instead of looking oddly at the young man in your office who pierced his nose, go get something pierced yourself. Your belly button is a good choice; you can always tuck in your shirt when you want to be discrete. But above all, remember that conforming to the norm leads you nowhere but the norm. It makes for boring business and a boring life. If you’re going to dream big dreams, matter to the people around you, and create breakthroughs whereever you go, start by piercing your belly button. Khakis and a polo shirt in a gray cubicle just aren’t going to take you anywhere extraordinary."
Source: Innovate, Compete, Win.
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