Cara Reynolds – SUM180 Community Manager

I continue to find new and interesting ways to find money. Last week a friend told me about a site called missingmoney.com. Their mission as stated on their website is “State and Provincial governments working to safeguard and return your lost funds.” The site is easy enough to navigate and in less than 30 seconds I found money in an old Pay…[Read more]

As I was working to follow my SUM 180 advice about increasing my savings account, I realized I had to change my browsing habits. Too often a window shopping trip to a local shop turned into a buying trip.

It was easy for me to skip the mall – I have no patience for traffic and prefer to shop local anyway. However, I still regularly walk by…[Read more]

One of the three steps in my SUM 180 plan was to increase my rainy day fund. I don’t think of myself as a shopper, but then I took a closer look at my bills. I reviewed my PayPal statement and saw a lot of Etsy purchases. I looked at my sewing table and noticed that I had enough fabric to fuel years of sewing projects.

I realized that there was…[Read more]

One of the three steps in my SUM 180 plan was to increase my rainy day fund. I don’t think of myself as a shopper, but then I took a closer look at my bills. I reviewed my PayPal statement and saw a lot of Etsy purchases. I looked at my sewing table and noticed that I had enough fabric to fuel years of sewing projects.

I realized that there was…[Read more]

One piece of financial advice that has stuck with me over the years is the idea that shopping can be entertainment. If you’re bored and want to get out for a few hours, why not hit the mall? If you’re working on something boring and want to browse Etsy or Talbots.com, why not?

I thought I went shopping when I needed something specific, but then…[Read more]

A friend of mine has an LL Bean credit card. She lives in Arizona but has family in Maine. She visits the flagship store when she visits family, but uses the credit card all the time – responsibly, of course. She is a frugal person, so don’t get the idea that she’s shopping all the time for the latest ombre, hi-low dress. She and her husband live…[Read more]

In 2000, I left the more traditional work world to join an Internet startup. Ever since then, my benefits package has been much more focused on stock options that 401k matches. After I went through my fourth acquisition and still willing to sign on with yet another new company, I knew I was hooked on the entrepreneurial approach to work. I wanted…[Read more]

I have two high school girls and a small 529 account. I was told that putting $$$ into the 529 is not a good idea when you plan to use the money within a few years. Is this true? If so, is there an investment vehicle that you would recommend to save for college on a short (3 year) time horizon?

My favorite hobby is to try new restaurants. Eating out and exploring new restaurants is something I do frequently and my personal budget shows that. Fresh from my Sum180 interview and faced with the “where should we eat tonight?” question left me considering different alternatives. If we started to explore “off the beaten path” ethnic restaurants…[Read more]

There is something about back-to-school. While it has been 25 years since I went “back-to-school”, this time of year gives me renewed energy and focus. I shop alongside my children for new pens and journals. I organize my office and desk. So when I received my Sum 180 plan I viewed it as my “homework.” I printed the 15-page document to focus o…[Read more]

THANK YOU Sum180. You turned a task I dreaded for a long time into a manageable (dare I say enjoyable?) process. As a busy mom with a full time job, I put off the task of getting control of my finances. I had lots of great reasons to delay but the biggest hurdle was I just didn’t feel comfortable calling an investment advisor. I feared judgment a…[Read more]