How to Have a Successful Garage Sale

It’s time to clear the clutter if your garage is so full there’s no room for the car or your basement has boxes that haven’t been opened in years.

Here are tips for having a successful garage sale:

• Get organized ahead of time
• Decide on your advertising strategy
• Check to see if a permit is needed
• Invite your neighbors to participate
• Make your items easy to see—clothes on hangers, items on tables
• Plan how you’ll manage the money (cash box, carpenter apron?)
• Have plenty of change on hand
• Decide on a discount strategy for end of day or on specific items
• Prepare to handle leftover items

Join the Compass Catholic blog for more on having a successful garage sale.

Get Rid of Your Mortgage

You may think that keeping your mortgage for the tax benefits is a good idea, but the money you get in tax benefits comes nowhere near covering the amount of money you pay in interest.  To pay off the mortgage early, try making one extra payment each year or each quarter. You can also try making bi-weekly payments (if your mortgage company will accept them). Another way to pay off the mortgage early is to funnel any windfalls to the mortgage (bonus, tax return, inheritance, etc.)

If you make anything other than the normal payment at the normal time, be sure to check with your mortgage company to be sure you understand how they will handle additional payments and how you designate the extra money you are paying. Once that is set, check your monthly statement to be sure your extra payment has been applied appropriately.

Join the Compass Catholic blog for more on getting rid of your mortgage.

Money and Generation Z

The post millennial generation is going their own way in how they earn and spend money. Part time gigs, flexible hours and non-traditional jobs are more important that a traditional full time career. They avoid credit cards and use debit cards instead, and hopefully understand the differences. Being digitally savvy, they prefer online banking and investing but many not realize the difference between an online bank and a brick and mortar bank that is FDIC insured. Debt avoidance is good, but what happens when there is no credit history and they try to get a mortgage?

Join the Compass Catholic blog for more on Money and Gen Z.

How to Manage Money in Your 20’s

Managing money well is not complex but it can be difficult if you aren’t paying attention to income and spending. Join us for tips on how to manage money well while you are in your 20’s. Your 50 year old self will thank you.

The Compass Catholic blog has more about millennial money management.

What is Your Treasure?

We all own lots of stuff.  If we had only one small bag in which we would carry our most precious items, what would we put in the bag? When you decide what’s in the bag, you’ll know what is important to you and when you know what’s important to you, you can discover the hidden treasure behind that item.

Join us for a discussion on ways to find those hidden treasures in life that we take for granted. The Compass Catholic blog has more about hidden treasures.

The Spiritual Cost of Debt

Over spending and the resulting debt can have a negative impact on the family when mom and dad are stressed by the bills and the kids are learning how to fund a lifestyle they can’t afford.

All the consumerism in our society has an impact on our faith. Join us for a discussion on the spiritual cost of debt and read the Compass blog for more.

Lifestyle Inflation—How to Avoid it

Lifestyle inflation means spending a little more than you make in an effort to keep up with neighbors, friends and relatives who seem to have more than you do.

The problem is that no material things will provide everlasting happiness and it is easy to get off track when we try to keep up with the cultural norms.

Join us for a discussion on ways to avoid life style inflation, and the Compass Catholic blog has additional information about how to spend sanely.

Lifestyle Inflation - What is it?

So, you got a raise!  Is it time for the bigger car, larger house, fancier vacations and more stuff for the kids? As your salary increases it’s easy to justify treating yourself and your family to nice things. You work hard. You DESERVE to have nice things. And once you get on that merry go round it’s hard to get off.

For more about Lifestyle Inflation, here’s the Compass Catholic blog.

Retiring? What will you do with your 401K?

Planning for retirement can be a fun time as you prepare for a new season of life. It can also be a time of many financial decisions which will have long term impacts. Making the wrong decision about your 401K can jeopardize your financial stability, so make this decision very carefully with lots of pre-planning.

Join us as we talk about the decisions to consider.

The Compass Catholic blog has additional information about retirement planning.

Thinking About Investing? Start Here!

If you are a beginning investor, there are lots of considerations to put into your plan. What is your long term goal? What is your time frame? How much risk are you willing to accept? What type of investments do you want to own (or NOT own)? Join us as we talk about the decisions to consider.

The Compass Catholic blog provides additional information about developing your investment strategy.