Money Blue Book

Yesterday I had dinner with an Indian friend of mine at a pretty nice Chinese restaurant. I’ve known him since we were little kids in junior high school. Every time we’d get together for a meal, we’d usually end up eating a vegetarian meal since he’s a vegetarian. Now, I’m a meat lover myself, preferring a nice pork, beef, or seafood laden meal to something bereft of all finger licking goodness. However, everytime my friend and I go out to eat, I’d always find myself ordering a vegetarian dish out of courtesy.

Vegetables Dishes Are Cheaper Than Meat Dishes

What I didn’t realize or notice until recently was that he was actually saving a rather large sum of money by sticking to a vegetarian diet, albeit unintentionally. It’s not a secret that vegetables, tofu, and fruits simply cost less than meat products such as chicken, pork, beef, and seafood.
While we were at the Chinese restaurant, I glanced down at the menu and compared prices. Since were were both going to share our dishes, we were obviously going vegetarian. Prices for vegetarian dishes such as ma-po tofu or the bok choi with black mushrooms were only $8.50 each. Keep in mind that this was a pretty nice restaurant in a very nice part of town. A quick flip back to the meat entrees showed prices such as $12.50 for a chicken entree, and a$13.75 for a beef dish. Yes, it’s only a few dollars, but in the aggregate and over the years, a dollar here and a dollar there can really add up into major money.

Vegetarian Groceries Are Cheaper Too!

I tagged along with my friend when he went grocery shopping one time and noticed the exact same thing. Even his grocery shopping habits resulted in a much lower final bill compared to mine. While I was buying pepperoni pizzas, salmon, and chicken breast, he was buying chickpeas, lentils, and carrots. The price difference between meat and vegetable products was quite astounding!

This got me thinking. I wonder how much I could truly save if I switched to a vegetarian diet, at least part time? Obviously I could not give up meat altogether (meat tastes too good!), but I knew I could at least adopt a semi vegetarian palate when I went out to eat. Rather than sit down and calculate with abstract numbers, I decided to embark on my social experiment. If you are curious , I would suggest adopting this approach to find out for yourself. You’ll be surprised at how much you could save if you adopted such a diet. Besides, vegetables and fruits are very nutritious and good for you! It’s a win-win plan.

The wealthy seem to have all sorts of advisers and planners helping them manage their vast fortunes. But what about the rest of us regular folks who don’t have the extra millions of dollars to throw at legions of planners, accountants, and managers? Some of us can rely on planners, but I think it’s very important we all learn to educate ourselves about individual financial planning.

Financial Planners Are Also Salespeople

Recently I took a look at my mother’s retirement and investment portfolio and was appalled at the funds she had invested in. Apparently, all of her investments were made at the advice of financial planners and account managers that recommended the products. The most glaring aspect was that many of the mutual funds she had put her hard earned money in were front loaded, with unjustifiably high expensive ratios, which meant her brokerage firm took a cut of her money immediately after it was invested in the particular fund and that it also regularly extracted a disproportionate percentage of her investment to cover fund expenses. Some financial adviser obviously profited from this setup and likely received a healthy commission for recommending it to her.

Although we often forget, your personal financial adviser also functions as a salesperson, oftentimes just trying to get his or her commission groove on. In this day and age, with the growth of no loaded funds and exchange traded funds (ETF’s) that offer exceptionally low expense ratios, there is no reason why she should have invested in either a front or back loaded fund. That is why it’s so important to be financial educated and informed. It’s like getting your car repaired. If you know what the basic process and car components involved are, you’ll be better informed about what the mechanic is doing or is failing to do to your car.

Most of the major cell phone carriers offer deeply discounted savings for large companies or groups, including schools. If you work for a major business, corporation, or attend college or graduate school, chances are you may be entitled to a hefty discount towards your monthly wireless mobile phone bill. Many businesses and schools have negotiated employee and student discounts with the major wireless carriers. Even alumnus and employees at certain major universities may be entitled to discounted rates due to their current or previous association with their schools.

But for some reason, many people are not aware that these discounts exist, and the cell phone providers certainly aren’t motivated to advertise these great discounts, particularly for existing customers. Oftentimes, the only thing you’ll need to have to claim these discounts is a valid work or school e-mail address from a participating business or school. I encourage you to visit the links below and check to see what discounts are available to you. Believe me, you will be pleasantly surprised as I was! I was able to get 19% off with Verizon Wireless using my existing graduate school e-mail address. I did not realize that I qualified for such a high discount until I typed in my school e-mail address on a whim. Try it!

Remember to renew your student or employee discount promotional rate periodically since they usually don’t renew automatically. Most of the mobile phone discounts are good for a year – just submit a new discount request again when it expires.

	Verizon Wireless: Enter your work email address to see if you qualify for discounts. Verizon Wireless will send you an email that will help you determine your eligibility for promotional rates (personal email addresses not accepted).
	AT&T has business agreements with thousands of corporations, government agencies and educational institutions to offer wireless products to their employees and families at a significant discount.
	Sprint: has business agreements with hundreds of corporations and government agencies to offer wireless products and services at a significant discount when purchased online or over the phone.
	T-Mobile: Employees of contracted T-Mobile Business Customers may request a corporate discount. The discount ranges from 0% to 15%, per Business Customer monthly volume.

I currently use Fidelity Investments as my investment brokerage firm. I have nothing but good things to say about the service they offer. Their selection of mutual funds is broad and their fees are reasonable. Their customer service is also top notch. I have a habit of occasionally bombarding their customer service department with random questions about my account and fees. I almost always receive a prompt reply. Occasionally it will be a few days before I hear from customer service, but they usually provide me with an excellent explanation or solution to my brokerage and investment related questions.

New Fidelity Account Promotions – Earn Free Frequent Flyer Miles For United Or American Airlines

Currently, Fidelity has several promotions for new customers, including offers for up to 25,000 United Airlines or American Airlines frequent flier miles for opening an account with new equity. The equity can be cash, stock, bond certificates, or transfers of the same from another broker. The Fidelity account must remain open for at least six months. The miles earned is determined by the amount of the initial deposit, which must be made within 90 days of account opening. Please carefully read all of the terms and conditions before proceeding.

United Airlines Mileage Plus Offer – Expires December 31, 2008.

American Airlines AAdvantage Offer – Expires May 31, 2009.

Another Amazing Fidelity Sign-Up Cash Bonus Offer

Fidelity also has another offer for $100 for adding $10,000 in cash or assets to a new or existing account. I had an old pre-existing Fidelity Investment account and still qualified for the easy 100 bucks!