Donna Freedman

FinCon19 wrap-up, and a related giveaway.

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I’m back, sort of. Before attending FinCon19, I spent five days in Washington, D.C. with my daughter, who had five nights’ worth of free lodging. (Love those travel rewards credit cards.)

We mostly* hit the free museums, gawked at the architecture like a couple of tourists, and ate nearly every meal at the hotel (yay free breakfast!) and from our fridge (it was a full-kitchen Marriott Residence Inn, and there was a Safeway about five blocks away). This frugality allowed us to indulge in Thai and Ethiopian restaurants the rest of the time.

Then it was off to FinCon19 (aka the 2019 Financial Blogger Conference), where I ran nonstop for four days: attending programs, meeting with a bunch of writers and potential employers, and moderating a panel on why freelancers should quit undervaluing their worth.

The conference was a bit overwhelming, especially compared to the first-ever FinCon, which had fewer than 200 participants. This time around it was 2,500 attendees, and the noise and the swirl left me feeling pretty worn-out. At times I would dip out of the crush and head back up to the hotel room for 10 minutes’ worth of peace.

Overall, though, it was an absolute blast. I hung out with old friends and met some new ones, shared tips with newbies and was given great advice by veterans, attended some receptions (especially the AARP one, which was crammed with amazing women writers), and most of all, felt like a professional again.

I’ve been making a living as a writer for 35 years. Living way up in Anchorage makes me an outlier, though, far from easy access to writer meet-ups. Too, I tend to isolate myself: Sometimes I need help, or advice, or simple fellowship but don’t reach out to others.

(About that last: Had a very rewarding chat with Jackie Lam of Hey Freelancer and Sarah-Li Cain of Beyond The Dollar, who both told me to Facebook-message them any time I’m having One Of Those Days. Bless their hearts.)

Bonus: The conference yielded a moderate** amount of swag for a future giveaway, plus a very nice stand-alone item that I’ll be giving away at the end of this article.

 

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#GeekyThingsAboutMe.

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I saw the #GeekyThingsAboutMe hashtag on Twitter recently and identified pretty heavily.

Not that I’m into manga or Funko Pop figurines, or that I decorate the kitchen with comic-book themes, or that I organized a party for the 50th anniversary of “Doctor Who” (complete with Dalek bread), or that I was a regional spelling bee finalist* (to name a few examples).

However, I do have some geeky/nerdy tendencies. They say the difference between a geek and a nerd is that geeks or more social and nerds tend to be more introspective.

Both groups can be a bit insufferable, due to their encyclopedic knowledge of Harry Potter/DC Comics/whatever, and due to their frequent need to share that knowledge.

I try not to be too terribly insufferable. However, when someone shares an interesting story or fact, I do often want to say, “Ooohhh, and did you also know that (related fact)?” Sometimes that engenders even more conversation. Sometimes I just get blank stares.

For example, when my daughter was buying ginger beer to make Moscow Mules for a party, I mentioned that “ginger beer” was Cockney rhyming slang for “homosexual.” Blank stares for sure that time.

 

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Back-to-school shopping: Kids under pressure.

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Who among us has ever heard – or said! – something like this during the back-to-school shopping season:

“You don’t understand, Mom/Dad – everybody is wearing/carrying [expensive item] this year! Do you want people to laugh at me?”

Back in the day, you just knew that having the right jeans would determine the course of your school year. Having a parent overrule your choices felt devastating – especially if it really did make you the target of your school’s mean girls or rude dudes.

Right now, your kid might be pleading for a new smartphone or a pair of shoes that cost more than the rent on your first apartment. Remembering our own school days is one reason that our kids have a pretty good chance of getting at least some of what they want. (More on that in a minute.)

Another reason? Social media.

Not only are young people checking out their classmates’ social media updates and haul videos, they’re exposed to “an entire army of influencers telling your child what they ‘need’ to have this year,” according to Kelsey Sheehy of the NerdWallet personal finance website.

NerdWallet recently surveyed a couple of thousand parents on the subject. Six in 10 respondents said their kids are influenced by social media; slightly more than that (67 percent) said their children’s friends were major influences.

And just over half (51 percent) of the parents caved to the pressure and splurged. I can’t blame them. Much.

Caving is potentially self-destructive, with regard to family finances, and potentially setting their kids up for Entitled Monsterhood. But it’s also understandable.

 

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7 free financial resources.

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My buddy Cameron Huddleston’s new book, “Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations With Your Parents About Their Finances,” is a guide to negotiating that potentially awkward and/or painful subject of your parents’ finances as they age. (She recently sponsored a giveaway of two copies.)

In conjunction with the publication of her book, Huddleston has created a pair of great (and free!) financial resources.

The first is a document called the “In Case of Emergency Organizer: A Fill-in-the-Blank Financial Inventory to Give Your Loved Ones the Information They Need,” and it’s one-stop-shopping as far as financial information is concerned.

This PDF is write-able, i.e., you can type into it from your computer, tablet or smartphone. Then you can either print it out or send it as a document to your kids or whoever needs to have this info. Or you can print it out as a blank document and fill it in with a pen. #oldschool

Obviously you’ll need to lock it away safely, and make sure the person to whom you send it is careful with the document as well. After all, it will contain your Social Security number, bank account number(s) and other identifying information. But it sure beats your kids (or whoever) scrambling to find this stuff during a crisis.

Consider filling one of these out yourself as well, even if you’re young and hale. Suppose you became very ill, or were involved in some sort of accident: Would your relatives, or even your partner, be able to deal with things like temporarily paying your bills or finding your health insurance information?

 

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Savings.com giving $1k for back-to-school shopping.

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Win a $1000 back to school shopping spree!

 

 

Yes, the first day of school really is imminent. Here in Anchorage it happens on Aug. 20.

To help with your back-to-school shopping needs, the coupon and deal blog Savings.com is giving away a $1,000 back-to-school shopping spree.

Here’s the beauty part: You don’t have to have kids in school, or even have kids at all, to enter the #HallmarkBTSSavings giveaway.

The shopping spree is in conjunction with a recent appearance on the Hallmark Channel’s “Home & Family” show. Sara Korab, head of community development for Savings.com, showed up to talk about how to save money this back-to-school season.

Will the “spree” be in the form of $1,000 worth of discounts, or will you be limited to certain stores? Nope. The winner will get a $1,000 check, to use however he or she chooses.

 

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To (bleep) with the (bleeping) latte factor.

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The “latte factor” – the notion that if you don’t spend five bucks on coffee every workday you’ll have a million dollars 40 years from now – has gotten on my nerves since the moment I first heard it.

The basic idea is kinda-sorta accurate: If you spend $5 here and $5 there without paying attention, that’s a whole lotta opportunity cost. Think of what that whatever-it-is-per-week could do for you elsewhere.

So yes, that’s factual. But it’s also fictitious, as personal finance writer Jean Chatzky pointed out in a taut, blistering article called “Newsflash: The f***ing latte is a f***ing metaphor.”

“(Coffee) is just an example of something you don’t have to buy, but that you choose to buy. It’s a discretionary purchase that you make with your discretionary income,” Chatzky wrote.

“The real point here – the one I tell parents is the most important financial lesson to instill in their kids – is that money is a limited resource. And we all have to choose how we want to use it.” [emphasis added]

Hear, hear, Ms. Chatzky, and may I buy you a Grande misto an inch of 2% milk and two Sweet’n Lows at the Financial Blogger Conference next month?

 

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Giveaway: $10 Starbucks card.

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Baby, it’s hot outside. The summer has been/is still quite brutal in many parts of the Lower 48. While I can’t change the weather, I can offer a palliative.

Could anyone use a $10 Starbucks card?

Even a non-coffee-drinking weirdo like me has to admit that Starbucks has some mighty tasty and refreshing cold beverages. I can go years without setting foot in a Starbucks shop, but when I’m on the road in the summer and positively wilting from the heat, the familiar mermaid logo is rather like a siren’s call. Come on in! We have ice! And iced drinks!

 

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Amazon Prime Day: Black Friday in July?

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Have you taken advantage of Amazon Prime Day, or are you ignoring it completely?

If you were interested in buying a Kindle, an Echo speaker, a Fire Tablet or TV stick, a Blink security camera or any other tech that Amazon makes, this could be a good time to do it.

(You have until 2:59 a.m. Tuesday, July 16, to make up your mind.)

According to Cnet.com, some prices hit rock bottom during the sales promotion. That Fire TV stick was just $15, and the Echo Show 5 was priced at $50. In addition, while the Amazon Echo dropped down to $22 (from as high as $50), you could get an Echo for free if you bundled it with stuff like Ring Video Doorbell Pro or the AmazonBasics microwave.

Non-Alexa household, here. In fact, I have to admit that I spaced the date until Amazon Prime Day was more than half over. And I’m okay with that, because I agree with Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst with Bankrate.com: Any spike in sales is good news for Amazon shareholders, “but not necessarily for consumers as a whole.”

The hype surrounding Amazon Prime Day is not unlike that of Black Friday (or Gray Thursday, or Cyber Monday). We’re being set up for a major, collective case of FOMO (fear of missing out). What if we miss the best deals ever? What if everyone else gets the cool gear and we don’t?

Yeah, and what if the prices aren’t as good as they look?

 

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Saved Savings Challenge: How did you do?

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I decided to count my Saved Savings Challenge monies right up until July 1. The grand total was:

 

$286.02

 

That’s a lot more than I thought it would be. That’s because I figured since I don’t do much shopping, my saved savings wouldn’t be super-high.

Shows what I know.

Among the savings were some obvious ones: using coupons, cashing in Walgreens Balance Reward scrip to pay for needed purchases, getting a payment from the Mr. Rebates cash-back shopping site.

Also some that wouldn’t work for everyone: using a rewards credit card that gives 2 percent cash back for my purchases, picking up a package of Reynolds Oven Bags for $1 at the thrift store, ordering discounted gift cards on the secondary market (saving just over $51). Not everyone has access to thrift stores, or wants to deal with discounted gift cards, or can’t/won’t) get a rewards credit card.

Depending on whom you ask, at least two of my hacks might not be considered “saving” at all. For example, I included the money I didn’t spend after talking myself out of going for fast food* on several occasions. And I was tasked to review a local musical that I’d otherwise have paid to see, thereby “saving” on the $28 ticket. (Getting paid to go, too.)

 

 

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Tree music.

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This morning I awoke to the smell of smoke and the sound of a window closing. Earlier this month a lightning strike started a Kenai Peninsula fire whose smoke has played peekaboo with us ever since.

Today the smolder was so pronounced that for a split second I thought something in the house was burning.

For a few hours I was captive in the house, due to my asthma. During that time I positioned myself close to the ceiling fan because it was Alaska-style hot, i.e., in the 70s.

Ultimately the wind started blowing from the north, which quickly de-smokefied our yard. DF took this as a sign that he should wash the new-to-us fitted sheet* he’d just gotten for $1.50 at his church’s thrift store: Relentless sun + strong breeze = a good wash day.

In midafternoon I spotted DF sitting on our back deck with some iced tea. Briefly debated starting on the next article, then said to heck with it and poured some tea of my own. There we sat in a couple of old chairs, sipping our drinks, looking out over our raised garden beds and listening to the tree music.

 

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