Category Archives: Personal Finance

In this week’s essay I will be writing about the pros and cons of buying an old or new car, what I mean exactly for an old and new car is 30 to 40 years and 1 to 7 years. The source of this essay I will be linking down below.

The article that I used as the source of this essay discussed the advantages of older cars, not cars that are 10 years old but instead like 30 to 40 years old. Some of the advantages of older cars discussed in this article are: the glass headlights in older cars are more durable and cheaper to replace around twenty five dollars, glass headlights do not yellow or haze over like the plastic ones today, another advantage is the the longevity of older cars, this is because more metal is used in old cars, unlike new cars which are mainly made of plastic. The writer of this article also noted the fact that future cars will not be like classic cars because they are very difficult to operate.

In my personal opinion I prefer newer cars for a few reasons, one newer cars have a lot of big advantages over older cars, two, older cars when they break down and need something replaced thet part that needs to be replaced may not be available anymore because the car is older and no one manufactures the model of car anymore, three, new cars are more reliable than older cars, and four older cars most likely have a lot more mileage than a car that is newer, just because older cars have been driven more, and it’s not a good idea to buy a used car with a lot of mileage.

Conclusion

In this essay I wrote about the pros and cons of buying an old or new car. 

Source: https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2012/04/23/plastic-not-so-fantastic/

In this week’s essay I will be writing about a car make and model that is practical for me. Because I am under driving age and pretty uneducated when it comes to cars this opinion may change in the future. What I will be getting into in particular in this essay is: the monthly car loan payment I would pay if I paid a 25% down payment, gas costs, repair costs, and other costs.

The car make and model that I chose was the 2012 Nissan Rogue( an SUV),  that costs about 13,000 dollars and has about 80,000 kilometers on it. The reason why I chose this type of vehicle is because I live in the mountains and small cars are not that safe to drive on the roads of my area.

After choosing the vehicle that was suitable for me I calculated the monthly car loan payment if I paid a 25% down payment and got a four year loan, and a three percent interest rate(that interest rate is probably wrong). The sum I got from that calculation was a 175 dollar monthly payment if I do get a car loan.

My yearly gas cost will probably be much different when I do buy a car, this is just the amount I will be spending on gas if I do buy a car now which I am too young to do. In my area the gas price per liter is about 1.39 dollars, so approximately I will be spending if I drive about 12,000 miles per year my gas cost will be about 1,450 dollars, and if I get good insurance my cost will be about 3282. Combining these costs with the average repair costs(the average repair cost is about $528 dollars for the car I chose), my total cost will be approximately 3,810 dollars.

Conclusion

This is my essay on the car make and model that is practical for me, which is the 2012 Nissan Rogue.

When I was younger I used to dream about buying a fancy sports car, but over the years I have realized that plan was foolish and impractical, a sports car is definitely not practical, unless you are wealthy and can afford it.

Now instead of thinking of buying a sports car I instead look for a practical used car, that has good gas mileage(some cars are real gas hogs and can waste you money), low mileage, no compact or small cars for safety since I live in the mountains and the roads in my area are very steep and hilly, and reliability. Since I live in the mountains a small car would be very risky to drive so a bigger vehicle with four wheel drive such as a SUV or Truck would be more safe, but usually a truck does not have good gas mileage, there are some that are but a lot aren’t. There are more SUVs that are better on gas, so my ideal car would be a six seater SUV, that is good with gas and is reliable.

Reliability is very important. In my area people have to fix their breaks more often than someone who does not live in the mountains, because of all the steep roads, which is a problem. My family has two cars, an SUV and Truck. The SUV is the family car, and so far it has been pretty costly when it comes to repairs and gas, but it’s reliable on the steep roads of my area, and safe to drive. The Truck is the vehicle that my Father uses, it is a lot nicer than the SUV because it is newer, and so far it has been good with repairs, gas, and its reliable, but it’s not a practical everyday car. Both of these vehicles were bought used.

Another thing that is very important is insurance. Cars such as sports cars most likely have higher insurance costs than most vehicles. Having insurance is very important especially if your car needs a serious repair. In my area big repairs are more common because of the dangerous roads, and accidents are somewhat common, especially when it’s winter.

Conclusion

This is my essay on what I would consider before buying a car.

In this essay I will be writing about the different tax preparing methods, and what tax preparing method I would choose. And what I think about tax refunds. (disclaimer: I am not from the US, so I had to pretend that I was from the US to write this essay properly).

Preparing Taxes

There are many different ways to prepare your taxes. The different ways are: having your taxes prepared by a professional tax preparer, an online tax preparer software, and finally do it by yourself. I would choose a combo of the first and last option, this is because getting an online tax preparer does not sound that safe to me, because there is the risk of getting hacked, which is not good. Having a professional help you prepare your taxes can be quite helpful since it saves “your” time to do other things; but most likely I would be preparing my taxes by myself. Doing it by hand is probably the safest and cheapest option, out of the three.

Tax Refund Advance

What is a tax refund advance? A tax refund advance is a short term loan that allows you to borrow money from your tax refund before you actually receive the money. Usually this type of loan has a high interest rate. The interest rate for this type of loan can be very high, maybe even up to almost 40%, which is ridiculous in my opinion. But there are still many other tax refund loans that are only 0% APR. 

In my opinion if the tax refund advance option has an interest rate involved, then I would only ever use it if I need money right away, for an important reason; other than that if the interest rate is very high, like almost 40% high, then what is the point to lose a good amount of money in order to use part of it right away.

Conclusion

This is my personal finance essay on tax preparation and tax refund advance.

My Name: Dreamer

Summary

I have worked for over four months at a successful supplement store.

I can clean.

I can cook and bake.

I am a fast learner.

Education

Kindergarten through grade 7.

8th and 9th grade in progress.

Skills

I can cook and bake.

I am good at cleaning.

I am a fast learner.

I can swim well.

Jobs I Have Done

I have worked for over four months at a successful supplement store.

I have walked dogs and babysat, more than once,

In this essay I will be describing what type of business firm I will be using for my bracelet business.

The Forms of Business Firms

There are many different forms of business firms. Determining what type of business firm you should have is by the size of your business, how many employees will your business have(so far for my business will not have any employees), and finally I would look into the different business firm forms, such as, LLC, Partnership, Corporation, Sole Proprietorship and etc. These things will help you determine what business firm you should use.

The Type of Business Firm I Chose

The form of business firm I chose was Sole Proprietorship. The reasons why I chose this type of firm over the other ones is because it has single ownership(I will be the only owner of my business), direct control over the firm, unlimited liability, and generally a small size firm.

This type of firm would work well with my type of business since, one: my business will be a small business, two: I am the only employee and owner of the business, and three: this firm is  generally a small firm, which would work well for me since my business will be small.

Conclusion

This my essay on what business firm I will choose for my business.

My business plan for my bracelet business comes in four steps, one: getting the materials, two: start making the bracelets, and three: advertising and selling the bracelets, which is the most important.

Step 1# Finding Materials

Finding the materials used for making bracelets is not very difficult, I will buy most of the materials from online stores such as amazon.

If I do find a good deal for crystal beads and clear string at a local store in my area, then I will buy from that store.

Step 2# Making The Bracelets

Making the bracelets will not be hard, it is beading after all and I have done this many times. If I do have trouble though, I will just go on youtube and watch a few bracelets making tutorials, this most likely will not happen.

At first I will make about twenty to twenty five bracelets to see how they sell, and if they sell well I will make more, I don’t want to make too many bracelets without selling most of them.

Step 3# Advertising and Selling 

The way I will advertise my product is by posting ads on facebook, instagram, and at the local community center in my area. My ad will include where I will sell my bracelets(which is at the local farmers market), or how to get a private order(this part will include my number and email), and a picture of my product.

Like I said, I will sell most of the bracelets at a local farmers market at first, but when my bracelets get more known I will start accepting orders from people. Hopefully my business will grow enough so I can start selling online.

Conclusion

This is an overview of my business plan.

The Entrepreneur that I admire is Warren Buffet. Buffet, he is almost ninety years old at the moment.

Buffet is considered one of the most successful investors in the world, and is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway; he is the fourth richest man in the world with a networth of 89.4 billion USD.

Background

Buffet was born on August 30th, 1930, and was the son of a congressman, Howard Buffet. He  was born in Omaha Nebraska. He expressed an interest in investing and business at a very young age after he read a book called One Thousand Ways to Make $1000, at only seven years of age.

He had many small business ventures as a child, these included selling chewing gum, coca cola bottles, and weekly magazines door to door. During highschool he made money by selling newspapers, golf balls, and etc.

Buffet began investing at a young age also, at age eleven he bought his very first shares. He also was a serious saver, at only fourteen years old he had $1,200 saved up, which was a lot of money at the time. After he graduated he had $9,800 in savings(about $105,000 today).

 He was also quite intelligent, he went to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Business School of Columbia University.

The Obstacles He Overcame

Buffet overcame many obstacles, he made mistakes when he came to investments and lost money. But overall he was very successful when it came to his investments.

One of the obstacles he overcame was during the 2007/2008 financial crisis Buffet lost about $25 billion dollars, which left his income at $37 billion dollars, he overcame it though and now by 2020 his net worth is a staggering $89.4 billion, so obviously he overcame that obstacle.

Conclusion

Warren Buffet is a very successful entrepreneur, that I admire.

Running a small business when you are young is a great way to make money. In this essay I will be describing two achievable business ideas, that I could do sometime in the future.

My Two Business Ideas

The first business I could run is a jewelry business. I have had this idea since I was only ten but I never took it seriously.

 My jewelry business will sell crystal bead bracelets; the reason why I chose this type of jewelry is because it is not that hard to make and I can buy the crystal beads online.

The two ways I could start selling these bracelets are at the local farmers market in my area or I could receive requests for my products once they are known.

My second business idea is dog walking. There are a lot of dogs in my area that have pretty busy owners; I have done dog walking before so I have some experience with it. 

The way I will promote my dog walking business is by posting an ad at the local community center in my area. 

The ad will include my email, phone number, how much I charge per hour, my name, and what days I am available; this will make it easier for my customers to get in touch with me and know what my business is all about.

Conclusion

In this essay I described two small businesses I could run, jewelry and dog walking.

In this essay I will discuss the differences between american credit card debt and private debt.

A credit card is a card similar to a debit card, you can use it to buy things without carrying cash with you. But if you spend more than the amount in your credit card account you have to pay back the credit card company the money you owe, and if you are late they will charge you interest, so you now owe the credit company the late fee(interest), and the money you originally owed.

Private debt on the other hand is non bank lending. This is where loans are not handed out by public markets, unlike credit cards. So, simply you borrow money from an individual person, not a bank. A way to get into private debt, is if you lend money to someone but did not have the money to do so, so the person that you lent money to goes between you and a person, bank, or company that you owe.

The difference between these two forms of debt are. Credit card debt deals with a bank, if you are late to pay back the loan, the bank will send you an extra fee ‘interest. Private debt does not deal with a bank.

Conclusion

My personal opinion on this topic is, make sure to have enough money to loan money or buy something. I think it is a much better idea to save up money to buy something or to give out loans. Don’t spend money that you don’t have.