Queercents

We’re taking a pause over the long holiday weekend, so check back on Monday! In the meantime, the Queercents family hopes you’ll stay free from debt and carry on the path towards financial independence! Happy July 4th to our readers in the US. And to the rest, feel free to browse our archives – we have written 2,200 posts over the last few years.

My recent favorites (three excellent series) are listed here:

Financial Implosion
Alex Taylor has documented the path to bankruptcy and foreclosure (and back!) and provides readers with the lessons learned from personal financial disasters. “Climbing out of the dual financial pits of foreclosure and bankruptcy wasn’t just a matter of luck. Getting out of the pit required a combination of better decision making and planning.” Taylor hopes that by sharing this story, others will be able to make better decisions for themselves.

To date, there are 28 installments in this series – be sure and start from the beginning! It’s a fascinating story with many lessons shared.

Your Gay Best Friend Who’s Good With Money
Clint Osterholz started this video series to help Gen X and Y get their finances in order. Clint said he was tired of seeing his friends struggle to pay their bills. “I feel that a lot of people my age are terrible at personal finance. Young gays are even worse at managing money. While straight friends are building nest eggs to start a family or buy a house, many of my gay friends are blowing their paychecks on partying, clubbing, dancing, and drinking. I think it’s good to develop the sugar daddy within. Rather than having life plans that involve getting discovered, striking it rich or dating a wealthy older person; I feel my viewers benefit from practical ideas-presented from a tone that isn’t judgmental and accepts that we all make mistakes.” Read the rest of this entry »

In the July issue of The Advocate, Jennifer Hatch reports in the finance column that:

The biggest unknown in your financial future isn’t the market’s performance, it’s how long you’re going to live.

Financial advisors have dubbed this the longevity risk. Thanks to advances in health care, the average life span has been extended and poses a new threat to Baby Boomers: outliving your money.

How much do you need to save by the time you retire? Fred Yager at ConsumerAffairs.com writes, “There are a lot of ‘guestimates’ but the low end number seems to be around $450,000. Anything lower than that and it becomes a real struggle. To live really comfortably, you need close to $1 million in savings.”

So how best can you predict your life expectancy? Hatch mentions a site called LivingTo100.com:

This free site can — by posing 40 questions about your habits and health history — predict your life expectancy, giving you a better sense of your post-career financial needs. I logged on, took the test, and learned that I can expect to live until the ripe age of 95. The site also provides advice on how, with a few changes (like flossing daily to lower my risk of heart disease), I can extend my life expectancy to 98! Read the rest of this entry »

Until I read this book, I believed that individual investors shouldn’t be buying individual stocks. Jumping into the market can be daunting, especially this particular bear market.

So if you’re interested in learning more about buying and selling stocks or still learning like me, then here’s an excellent site that simulates the online trading experience. It’s called WeSeed and it’s designed to help people develop their investing skills without the risk of losing real money.

Everything else about it is real:

WeSeed has real stocks, real prices, and real companies. It’s the money that isn’t real, which means you don’t have to worry about that pesky thing called risk. By creating a safe, risk-free area that has all the other real parts of the stock market, WeSeeders can explore and feel free to make mistakes.

They encourage you to start with something you know and the home page breaks up companies into mini-markets: Read the rest of this entry »

Clint, our resident vlogger is moving on. We enjoyed his series and trust that viewers did too, but this means there’s a gap to fill. We need video!

Does anyone want to contribute to Queercents by vlogging about money? These spots can be professional and informative like Clint’s version or less professional and with more skin like Davey did in his Ten Money Questions interview. They can even be street interviews in the vein of The Daily Show. We’re not picky; although they do need to say something about money and personal finance.

If you’re interested, send an email to: nina [at] queercents [dot] com and tell me why.

Photo credit: stock.xchng.

If you’re a student or recent college graduate and have been watching Clint’s vlogs over the last couple of months, you might also be interested in the videos and information at DollarsfromSense.com.

They’ve got the basics covered and do so with a well-organized and interactive website. What do I mean by the basics:

Do you need to better understand the risk-vs.-return ratio?
Do you need to better understand the importance of diversifying investments?
Do you need to better understand the importance of saving for retirement?
Do you need to better understand the importance of employer-sponsored retirement plans?

If so, click over and experiment with different financial variables, learn how to compare investment opportunities and manage credit and debt. There is a difference between saving and investing:

Saving: The act of putting money aside for future use.
Investing: The act of making it grow. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I put out a call for a travel writer and voila, a travel writer appeared. Eric Olson is excited to be joining the Queercents family as he will be providing commentary and insight on frugal traveling. Eric prides himself on creating itineraries highlighting LGBT owned and friendly businesses. He is currently a travel columnist for Just Out newsmagazine based in Portland, Oregon.

In his pitch, Eric provided ten reasons why he should get the travel slot. Here are 3 that prove his passport is always on stand-by.

1. Quite honestly, I believe Guinness beer should only be consumed in Ireland, and key lime pie should only be eaten in Key West, Florida… and yes, you can do it on a budget, and I can tell you how!

2. I strongly believe that there is more to queer travel than traveling to the White Party or staying in a four-star hotel that has been heavily marketed to the “upscale queer traveler.”

3. My next trip this summer will be a RSVP Cruise to Alaska (my partner made me do it). Think of the blogging opportunities… an entry titled, “The frugality of a gay cruise; does it exist?

If it does exist, I’m sure Eric will tell us about it. Please welcome him to Queercents.

In the Vanity Fair article about Fannie Mae’s Last Stand, the slang term “housers” was used to describe the Fannie people who believed that better housing is the cure to all of society’s ills.

Most housers were likely supportors of the ownership society; a model encouraged by George W. Bush that values personal responsibility, economic liberty, and the owning of property. Some would argue this was purely a political strategy. For example, see this article in The Nation:

Well before the ownership society had a neat label, its creation was central to the success of the right-wing economic revolution around the world. The idea was simple: if working-class people owned a small piece of the market–a home mortgage, a stock portfolio, a private pension–they would cease to identify as workers and start to see themselves as owners, with the same interests as their bosses. That meant they could vote for politicians promising to improve stock performance rather than job conditions. Class consciousness would be a relic.

While others (this article at Cato.org), define an ownership society in economic terms: Read the rest of this entry »

Rhea at The Boomer Chronicles pointed readers to a community group for AARP members who are LGBT:

AARP has developed the online Prism Network to make lesbians and gays feel more at home within the organization. It’s a great idea. AARP, for instance, is offering members a free membership for a spouse or partner. Here’s the link for the AARP Prism Network.

Last year, Newsweek discussed issues faced by many aging gays in Invisible And Overlooked:

“In many ways, this population is a mirror opposite of what the mainstream aging community looks like,” says Karen Taylor, director of advocacy and training for the New York-based Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders, or SAGE, the nation’s oldest senior network. “The average senior in the United States lives with one other person; two-thirds of LGBT seniors live alone. If you don’t have those informal support networks built into your life, then everything else becomes a bigger issue. Who forces you to go to the doctor? What happens if you fall?” Read the rest of this entry »

Last night, we watched an independent film called Outsourced. I thought it was a documentary when Jeanine first put it in our Netflix queue, but the Seattle Times review explained that it was, “a thoughtful satire that looks at the human face beyond contemporary frustrations associated with the global economy.”

With the backdrop of a Mumbai call center, it ended up being a light, romantic comedy. The call center manager (an American) tries to explain our business practices and consumerism to the confused new employees. As he falls in love with one of them, there are lessons to be learned about globalization, work and life. It’s a pleasant and warm surprise of a story.

Jeanine thought I would like it because it had something to do with “business.” For some reason she thinks I only see the world through the eyes of capitalism. For example: whenever we’re at a locally-owned restaurant, I’m always pointing out who I think is the likely proprietor. She wonders why I feel the urge to observe and make a guess. I find it interesting when you see people doing their “work” in a different way than those around them. You can typically spot owner/operators because they treat work differently and it shows.

In an article at The Ingenesist Project, the author explains why a person’s work has psychological and spiritual value that must be respected. He references Buddhist Economics, a theory by E.F. Schumacher, an Oxford economist and protégé of John Maynard Keynes.

Schumacher was among the first to argue that economic production was too wasteful of the environment and non-renewable resources. But even more than that, he saw decades ago that ever-increasing production and consumption — the foundation of the modern economy — is unsustainable. Read the rest of this entry »

The IGLTA often reports on how much money gays and lesbians spend on travel. Well, we’re on the cusp of summer vacations and still looking for a travel writer for Queercents. We are ready to log some miles and need a guide! We need someone to write about deals and destinations.

If you’re well versed in taking trips on a budget and willing to share your tricks of the trade, then send an e-mail to: nina [at] queercents [dot] com and explain why this slot should have your name on it.

Keep in mind all contributors are volunteers (sorry, no travel stipend!). That said, we’re gaining visibility with our weekly press releases and we’d be happy to create some buzz about you. That’s the best we can offer… consider the assignment a summer fling. Aren’t most people are up for some short lived love?

By the way, we’re not too demanding, but it helps if you’re familiar with WordPress blogging software… we’re all about self-sufficiency and uploading your own content makes it easier on moi!

Of course, if you want to write, but travel isn’t your thing, we’re always looking for additional contributors. Just tell me what moves you about money and you’re likely to be asked to come aboard.

Photo credit: stock.xchng.