Walk With Money » Paypal

Pay What You Want

admin — Sun, 23 May 2010 00:20:02 +0000

Let’s say you go to a restaurant somewhat regularly and each time you go, you spend about $10 on your meal. One day, rather than receiving a bill, you’re simply directed to a box on your table that said “pay what you want for this meal.”

How much would you put in?

Would you put in anything at all? Would you put in the usual $10? Would you put in less than that? More? Does it depend on the specific circumstances in your own life at the moment?

What is that meal worth to you?

The interesting part is that this is really all about negotiation. When a restaurant puts a price on the menu, they’re telling you what value they expect for the meal. You can either accept that value or simply go elsewhere.

Now, let’s say you prepare a meal at home. You choose what meal you want to make. You also choose what ingredients you want to use and how much labor you want to put into it. The end result? You pay a much more reasonable price for your meal.

The lesson here is simple. The more you do it yourself, the better the bargains are and the more your spending is in line with what you value.

The same principle holds true with, well, almost everything. Take The Simple Dollar, for instance. Almost all of the people who read The Simple Dollar pay nothing for the articles posted here – I make income from the site indirectly through sidebar ads and other writing opportunities brought on by what’s posted here.

But if I place a “Donate” button here…

<img alt="" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" border="0" height="1" …

The Art of the Group Gift

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:20:23 +0000

By Sierra Black

Last year, I gave a friend of mine a laptop. Another friend received a guitar. I got a trip to California.

Are we all fabulously wealthy? No way! Our circle of friends makes liberal use of "group gifts." By pooling everyone’s resources, we can give people a high-end gift they will really use and love, instead of a pile of tchotchkes that will be put aside and forgotten once the party is over.

A group gift is a pretty simple concept: everyone pitches in the $10-$30 they would have spent on a birthday or holiday gift for Susie, and Susie gets something expensive that she really wants. While simple, group giving can also become a sticky situation if done badly. Here are some guidelines for group giving.

Be clear who is organizing the gift. Too many cooks can spoil a sauce, so let one person handle the communications and payments.

Be sure the gift is something your friend or family member really wants. Nothing’s more anticlimactic than coordinating efforts between 20 people only to have the recipient open your gift on Christmas morning and sincerely say, "Oh, you shouldn’t have."

Ask nicely. Not everyone wants to contribute to your fancy present, no matter how great an idea it is. People may be strapped for cash, or planning their own gift, or simply not interested. Be sure that your invitation to chip in doesn’t come off as a guilt trip.

Make it easy. Set up a PayPal or other electronic account for people to send money to, or give them an address they can drop it off at. Choose the methods that work best for your group.

Plan ahead. Especially at the holiday season, when everyone is gift shopping, it’s important to let people know early if you want to do something as a group. It might be awesome to surprise Mom with a trip to Disney under her Christmas tree. But if you wait till Christmas Eve to ask your siblings to join you in paying for …

Tips On Buying A New Computer

admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:20:12 +0000

A computer these days is almost a necessity for everyone, and an expensive necessity at that. Whether for fun or for work, it is not uncommon to see multiple computers in a household. More and more people are even purchasing laptops for their size and convenience. Purchasing a computer can be tricky and intimidating with all the jargon salesmen might throw out at you when in the store. With such an expensive purchase, you want to be precise and happy with your buying experience.

I had a Gateway laptop going into college and used it all the time for school, work, music, and games. After 5 years though, the computer had it, and was so outdated that it became almost unusable. As a result, I decided it was time to buy a new one.

Four Computer Buying Tips

Here are 4 tips when buying a new computer and the process I used when buying mine.

1. Decide What Kind

This may be the biggest decision and can also affect the costs, depending on if you want a desktop or laptop. If it is going to sit in a permanent location at home and be used by multiple people, a desktop may be your best bet for price and performance. If you want something smaller or something you can travel with, a laptop may be for you. I decided I was done with PC’s and still wanted a laptop so I went for the MacBook Pro. Even though more expensive then a PC, it is more efficient and less virus prone.

2. Save Money

Buying a computer is very expensive and an item you probably will need to save up for in order to purchase. Creating an online savings goal may be the best way for you to keep organized and on track with your savings progress. You can contribute money over time until you reach you goal. BudgetPulse has a new savings goal function that is perfect for this (Disclosure: I am the Marketing Director of the BudgetPulse). You also have the ability to make the goal public and then can contact family and friends who could directly contribute money helping you out through Paypal or Amazon.

I bought …

How to Close ING Direct Subaccounts

admin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:20:39 +0000

In my ongoing quest to simplify our personal finances, I started cleaning up some of the connections in my Financial Network Map. The target today was my ING Direct account, which played host to both my CD ladder and my bank account firewall, two financial constructs that have proved invaluable in my financial planning and protection schemes.

What I didn’t disclose to you all earlier, when talking about the bank account firewall, was that I created a firewall account for each individual external account. Creating ING Direct subaccounts is and was so easy, I created one for each external connection. I had one for Paypal, one for E*Trade, one for … the list went on to the tune of about half a dozen accounts. Along the way, I also created a checking account to take advantage of a free money promotional offer that has since expired. Between the CD ladder, the five external accounts, the checking account, and the main online …

PineCone Research Application Link (Paid Online Surveys)

admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:20:08 +0000

Here is an updated application link at Pinecone Research, which is again accepting new members. (May expire at any time, so apply now if you’re interested!) Looks open to all, but certain demographics will get more surveys. Only one person per household can sign up.

PineCone Research remains one of the better paying and reliable survey companies, with a payout of $3 (check or PayPal) for each 15-minute online survey. The hardest part is getting accepted, as they only take applications intermittently. I shared my thoughts on Pinecone and paid surveys in general here. I call them Bored Money – not terribly efficient but you can do it at your leisure and occasionally …

Creating a Completely Automated Financial Household

admin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:20:12 +0000

Meet Bill and Jan. They are my imaginary couple that loves putting their personal finances on auto-pilot. They don’t worry about bill due dates, they never visit the bank, and only check their balances online once a month if there are no e-mail alerts sent to them. (Apparently they also don’t have lips or eyes, so it works well for them…) Let’s take a look at how they do it!

Income
Bill and Jan both elected to receive their regular income via direct deposit, so there are no checks to deposit. Even though Jan does some freelancing, she gets paid via PayPal, which she sets to automatically sweep any money into their bank account at the end of each business day. This feature is called Auto Sweep and is not heavily advertised, you must contact PayPal directly to enable it.

Long-Term Savings
Like everyone else, their 401(k) plans are funded via an automatic deferral each payday. For their Roth IRA, they simply take out $500 per month via an automatic transfer from their checking account for 10 months, which can be set up easily at Vanguard.com or any other major mutual fund provider. If you like individual stocks or ETFs, try automatic investing at Sharebuilder.

Short-Term Savings
For their annual vacation and other savings goals, they have an automatic transfer from their checking to an online savings account like the original ING Direct.

They do keep a certain buffer amount in their checking account, similar to this simple …