(popculturegeek.com)

Ever since 2004, viewers have loved the NBC reality show The Biggest Loser. Now in its tenth season, the show revolves around a simple concept: overweight contestants compete for a $250,000 grand prize by striving to lose the most body fat by the end of the season. Unlike other reality shows, there’s no politics or favoritism. The scales don’t lie, and the winner is, very simply, the biggest loser.

At a time when we tend to set goals for the new year, there’s something to be said about extracting some strageties and principles that help The Biggest Loser contestants succeed – and apply them to money management. Who knows, following the tips below might help you achieve not only your fitness, health and weight-loss New Year’s resolutions, but your financial ones, as well.

Adopt Modest Goals Early On

When you weigh 400 pounds, losing a mere ten of them might not sound very significant. Yet participants on The Biggest Loser know that weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint. By losing weight in ten- or twenty-pound increments, contestants gradually build up the confidence and motivation to keep moving. Those who condemn themselves as failures for not immediately losing tons of weight inevitably wind up losing the contest – and giving up.

Many people make similar mistakes when they begin overhauling their financial lives. Unhappy with their current position, they make unrealistically large commitments like “cut my expenses in half.” Noble as this goal may be, it is virtually impossible to make such a drastic change with no momentum behind you. It’s better to set more reasonable targets (say, eating out one less day per week) and string together a series of small victories before attempting massive changes.

Measure Progress

(mufan96)

There is no uncertainty about who is making progress on The Biggest Loser. No matter what a contestant says, the truth is always laid bare when they step on the scale. Fail to weigh in at a certain target, and you risk being eliminated from the show completely. This serves as a powerful motivator to put in the needed work and dietary changes in the weeks before weigh-in.

Those struggling to get their finances in order need to measure progress as well. Vague goals like “saving more money” or “spending less” are unhelpful because they don’t set clear expectations. Does tossing a stray $5 into your ING Direct account really mean you’ve achieved your goal of “saving more money?” No – for financial progress to be made, it must be measured. Set specific, numeric goals in areas of improvement – for example, saving an extra $50 per week, or cutting your grocery bill by 15%.

Be Held Accountable

(mary_thompson)

It might seem like the biggest reason for contestants to lose weigh is the $250,000 prize offered to the biggest loser. Yet perhaps an even larger motivator is the fact that millions of people are watching them every single week. Accountability is a key ingredient when it comes to achieving difficult goals. Very simply, we are more likely to follow through on something if we know others are paying attention to us.

Use this principle to your advantage when it comes to personal finance. Instead of keeping your goals a secret, publicize them. Tell your friends and family about the positive changes you intend to make. Go into detail about all of the new, more disciplined behaviors they can expect to see. This way, you (like The Biggest Loser contestants) have an audience to avoid letting down.

Have Personal Discipline

(mary_thompson)

Despite all the advantages of being on a highly-rated cable TV series, each season’s biggest loser wins by putting in a ton of hard work. Besides complying with a new calorie-starved diet, contestants are put through a strenuous exercise regimen of up to six hours per day. Kai Hibbard, a Season 3 finalist, reports that participating in the show led her to develop an eating disorder that remains to this day. Whether you think the show goes to extremes or not, it shows that losing lots of weight requires lots of work – and personal discipline.

Balancing a checkbook isn’t as hard as losing 200 pounds, but personal commitment is just as critical. It’s easy to read about getting your money in order and vow to make changes. To follow through, you’ll need discipline to resist the poor choices that landed you in this predicament and stay on your new path.

Keep a Positive Attitude

(tiarescott)

That said, there’s a fine line between having personal discipline and beating yourself up. Each season’s biggest loser has their moments of self-doubt. But overall, they find ways to celebrate their progress and keep moving. It could hardly be any other way. When your goal is to lose hundreds of pounds, there’s simply no time for self-pity given all the work that needs to be done.

Sadly, self-pity leads many to fail at achieving their financial goals. Rather than getting down to work, these people are preoccupied with scapegoating “the system”, comparing themselves to others or finding reasons to flounder. Take a cue from The Biggest Loser and stop the blame game. Truth be told, it makes no difference at all why you aren’t succeeding financially – all that matters are the best steps forward and how to take them.

(source)

The holiday shopping season is in full swing — but that doesn’t mean you should be throwing your hard-earned money at retailers without at least trying to find the best deals or ways to save.

If you use an Android phone, you’re in luck: thanks to a number of shopping apps available for your phone, you can do just that, earn special coupons, store shopping lists, and more.

In addition to the six shopping apps for Android phones (and iPhones) we recently featured, here are a few more Android apps that will help you save this holiday season:

Milo

If you’re the type of person who prefers in-store shopping to going online, Milo is the application for you. Milo has established relationships with both local and national retail locations and brings you the most up-to-date inventory, sale and pricing information available. Search for an item in Milo, and you will find every store in your area that carries it, how much it costs at each location, and consumer reviews to help you decide if the product is right for you. You needn’t waste precious holiday shopping time chasing a sold-out deal all the way across town again. Additionally, the desktop version of Milo.com allows you to set price alerts on items that you find to be too expensive at the moment. If the price ever falls below your alert threshold, you will receive a notification and a chance to take advantage of the sale.

RedLaser

(source)

Redlaser, which just recently launched on Android, is perhaps the most talked-about barcode scanning application on the market, receiving rave reviews from Fortune, MacWorld, NewsWeek, the New York Times, Fortune, and many more. It uses the phone’s camera to find competitive prices of almost any product you can find on a store shelf. Camera lens foggy? No problem – if the bar code won’t scan, RedLaser allows you to manually enter the code and access the same bargain-hunting information.

The true genius of RedLaser shines through in its unique additional features. For example, fans of literature can save money by scanning books at any book store and locate them at local libraries. If you or a loved one is allergic to any food, RedLaser takes all the guesswork out of grocery shopping. Simply scan the bar code of any food on the shelf and the powerful app can check the contents of the product against your list of food allergens. The makers of RedLeaser offer a software development kit (SDK) that lets any developer create additional features to the program, so the updates and possibilities are endless.

Craigsnotifica

(source)

For the true bargain shopper, there’s no greater joy than getting a barely used item for dirt cheap. Craigsnotifica is a tool that makes Craigslist easy and fun to browse from your phone. Focusing on your local Craigslist area, Craigsnotifica lets you set notifications on items you want so that you’ll never miss another killer opportunity again. Using the simple interface, you can set tracking pins on categories or specific items, and designate a price range you would be comfortable paying. You can even enter keywords and phrases you want to monitor, such as “Les Paul Guitar.”

When someone in your area lists one of your desired items, you will be notified instantly and given the chance to contact the seller. These alerts come with full pictures and information so that you can be sure of the item before you bother responding.

(_rockinfree)

Every holiday season, financial pundits start preaching the “shopping around” religion. It’s all good advice: compare prices, find the lowest one, save.

But what does it actually mean? Too often, we are told to “compare prices” – without any specific techniques that identify savings opportunities. Since most people equate shopping around with visiting every store in town and squinting at price-tags, they just don’t do it.

Comparison shopping, of course, need not be neither difficult nor uncomfortable.

Here are some simple ways every consumer can comparison shop this holiday season:

Find Out Which Stores Match Sale Prices

One of the hassles of hunting for holiday bargains is driving to far-away stores to buy something for the sales price. Who wants to drive halfway across the state to save money? Well, in some cases, you actually don’t have to. DealNews.com maintains an annual list of which retailers offer price matching. As they explain, “you may find that another store has stock, or is less crowded, or otherwise suits your needs” better than the store you originally considered.

In order for this strategy to work, you will need to hang onto every sales circular you get your hands on. This way, when a seemingly unbeatable offer comes along, you can take it to a nearby, more convenient store that promises to match. The only caveat is that each store offering this will require a real flier as proof.

Investigate Free Shipping Offers

(cliff1066™)

Before rushing to buy something in person, check whether a better price is available online. “But what about shipping,” you might ask. If you pay $15 to get it, it’s not really such a great deal, is it? Fortunately, many online retailers offer free shipping on orders above a certain threshold, often at $50, or even as low as $25. This, again, is where keeping sales fliers comes in handy. As soon as you spot a good deal, you can immediately research it online and do quick comparisons.

Use Comparison Shopping Aggregators

(Auswandern Malaysia)

If you’re pressed for time, online price aggregators are your best friend. Think of them as the 85% solution – rather than painstakingly visiting ten or fifteen different websites and extracting their prices by hand, visit PriceGrabber or Milo instead. Just type in what your looking for, and watch an ordered list of prices (from lowest to highest, or vice-versa) appear before your eyes.

No waiting, no hassles, just instant, usable answers about which websites are selling your items for less. The sites don’t guarantee that they are pickign up every deal and price on the face of the planet, of course, but that’s a caveat many time-strapped shoppers might be willing to live with.

Try Social Buying Sites

(Taekwonweirdo)

One option today’s shoppers have that was not available even five years ago is social buying. Sites like Groupon.com allow like-minded shoppers to team up virtually, qualifying for the oft-discussed but rarely-obtained “bulk discounts” we all know retailers offer. Prior to social buying sites, it was difficult to actually qualify for these offers (after all, what if you don’t know 50 people who want a horse stable membership?)

On Groupon and other social buying sites, users self-select into groups of similar buying desires and form a unified force that businesses feel compelled to offer discounts to. In this way, a powerful group of people can literally create their own discounts, above and beyond the cookie-cutter ones that retailers print in the newspapers.

Act Quickly Once Good Deals Are Found

(Aaron Geller)

There is a tendency in human nature to delay making decisions. We hold out for the “perfect” choice that (we think) we’ll recognize once it pops up. While striving to make an informed choice is a good idea, comparison shopping does have a point of diminishing returns. Wait too long, and the good deals you were considering may have vanished.

Holiday shoppers are especially prone to this. Don’t repeat their mistakes. By all means, use online tools and newspapers to do a full analysis of what’s out there. But once you spot a deal you’re comfortable with, don’t wait – pounce on it!

Consider Opportunity Costs

(Rob Lee)

Too many shoppers focus only on the price-tag of an item, ignoring the hidden, implicit costs of chasing a deal. These include:

• Gasoline
• Waking up excessively early (3AM Black Friday deals, anyone?)
• Putting up with obnoxious and/or violent customers
• Time spent driving or comparing

Clearly, different people have different thresholds of comfort about each of the above. The point is, when implicit costs are factored in, the “great” deal you think you’re getting may actually turn out to be a wash – or even a waste! That’s why it’s important to assess the situation objectively, considering all the costs of a deal rather than just the stated price.

(public.resource.org)

Unless you’ve been living under a rock in the past few years — or somewhere with no Internet connection — you are by all means aware of the concept of Cyber Monday, the Monday after Black Friday. What separates it from Black Friday – an in-person sales day – is that it occurs online (which basically means most people shop while at work — yes, you know who you are).

Last year, ComScore found that excluding travel, consumers spent $887 million online on Cyber Monday 2009: the second highest spending day of the year.

While we are still to see what the bottom line will be this year, there are some hints where the best deals can be found. Here are five suggestions:

Amazon.com

As one of the web’s leading retailers, Amazon is a major participant in Cyber Monday sales. Discounts on virtually every product category – from books to DVDs to computers – are available throughout the entire day. This year, Amazon’s Cyber Monday deals can be found here. The page will be live starting November 22 and include Black Friday deals as well.

Additionally, Amazon notes that followers of the company on Facebook and Twitter will be made aware of the latest deals and offers through these channels. In 2009, the first Cyber Monday deals went live online at around 3AM Pacific time. New deals are added throughout the day, so don’t assume what you see at any given time is the last of what’s coming.

Walmart.com

(mjb84)

Retail giant Walmart takes the concept of Cyber Monday even further by holding an entire “Cyber Week” of sales, beginning on Cyber Monday. In addition to its special deals this year, Walmart offers free shipping, as well as the option of ”site to store” delivery that lets you order things online and pick them up at the Walmart nearest you. It all begins on Monday, November 29 and runs through Friday, December 3.

Target.com

(taberandrew)

Competing retailer Target is another undeniable presence on the Cyber Monday scene. But rather than freely offering its best sales for all to see, Target takes a more exclusive approach. The company’s Cyber Monday webpage describes “e-mail steals”, which are only disclosed to those who sign up. A signup page is available here. In exchange for some basic information, Target will proactively notify you when sales of interest go live by your choice of e-mail or SMS text message.

Like Walmart, Target extends its Cyber Monday deals beyond Monday itself – although not for a full week. Instead, Target will be running a number of “2 Day Sale Deals” starting on November 29.

BestBuy.com

(MNgilen)

Electronics powerhouse BestBuy takes a similar approach, running a two-day sale. The BestBuy website devoted to Cyber Monday deals reminds us that savings will be available on every single product category: from TVs and home theaters to GPS units and digital cameras, as well as movies and MP3 players. As an incentive to place expensive orders, BestBuy is promising free shipping on all purchases $25 and up, as well as financing deals on larger-ticket items.

Once the main two-day event is over, the company pledges to offer “more Cyber Specials all week long.”

CyberMonday.com

(DeclanTM)

When in doubt, consumers can always check out the official Cyber Monday website – CyberMonday.com – for an overall view of the best deals and offers from 550 different merchants. Organized by Shop,org, the site servers as an aggregator where Cyber Monday discounts from all the leading retailers can be found in one place. This is ideal for busy shoppers who know exactly what they want, but don’t want to compare prices from fifteen different stores, one by one, before ordering.

It’s also perfect for those who simply love the buying process and will happily view every bit of sales material put in front of them. CyberMonday.com will notify you of sales via your choice of e-mail alerts, Facebook or Twitter.

Duane_Brown

Social media has touched almost every corner of the Internet, including commerce. Using social buying websites like Groupon.com, consumers who don’t know each other can band together anonymously to qualify for hefty group discounts on costly purchases.

You usually won’t see discounts on basic necessities, but for the little extras in life – things like wine tastings, restaurants, spa services or theme park admissions – substantial savings are the norm.

Should you try them out this holiday season?

The Concept

Many businesses offer discounts for buying in bulk. Stores like Costco and BJ’s operate on this business model, and countless other companies are willing to lower prices for large orders. The problem is that this is often useless to individual consumers. You may know the local winery or pizza shop will slash the price if fifty people order with you, but can you really find 50 people to have dinner with you?

Sites like Groupon let total strangers pool together anonymously over the Internet to qualify for group discounts at their favorite local businesses. Once signed up, you can also rally people you do know to participate. When a certain number of people have signed up or agreed to buy, the business offers the deal.

Gregg Pupecki, sales and marketing director of Wendella Boats & Chicago Water Taxi, told USA Today that “Groupon is one of the best sales and marketing tools to come out since the Internet,” after selling over 5,000 discount tickets on its first promotion – and 20,000 on the second.

How Big Are The Discounts?

(House Of Sims)

Participating in a social buying website might seem like a lot of work if we were talking about $1 or $2 savings. But in most cases, the discounts made available by these communities are substantial – 50% or more in some instances. LivingSocial.com as another example. Tracey Wilson, the chief executive officer of Red Velvet Cupcakery, offered $50 gift cards for $25 to users of LivingSocial three times per year. And the users responded: these three promotions alone dr0ve “about as much as a week’s gross sales of $20,000 to $30,000,” she told USA Today.

Drawbacks

(davidrossharris)

Of course, not everyone has an equal shot at reaping the rewards of social buying. Keep in mind that the types of businesses that participate are usually local retailers. If you live in a sparsely populated area, it might be tough to find Groupon or LiveSocial-type deals unless you want to drive 50-100 miles for your discount, at which point the entire exercise could become pointless.

Then there’s the chance of finding a deal you would love near you, but not getting it because too few people signed up. Other times, deals will go live, but because they’re so popular, you may find it challenging to redeem the coupon for which you already paid.

You can also find yourself feeling rushed to act immediately, or else lose out on the deal. And of course, whether a deal is really a deal is always a matter of opinion. To some of us, a $200 spa treatment reduced to $85 will still seem pricey; to others, it will be a steal.

Holiday Shopping

(Paul Stevenson)

The idea of using social sites to save on and simplify holiday shopping is not new. In fact, many consumers are already counting on it as part of their shopping strategy. Meredith Barnhill, an avid Christmas shopper who got creative in her attempts to spend less while still giving lots, recently told CNN that in addition to creating a gift shopping list, she is “relying on coupons and deals” from Groupon and LivingSocial.

With customers rushing to use 50%-90% off group discounts on their holiday shopping, group buying websites may even alter the holiday shopping experience for good.

Clearly, this is a trend many consumers have embraced. If you are looking for a creative way to trim holiday shopping costs, social buying sites are worth considering.

(FX Network)

Sports fans can’t get enough of The League, the hit FX comedy about a friendly fantasy football league. The show just launched its second season on September 16 and figures to be a runaway success. But while The League isn’t just about friends and pigskin (featuring guests like Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco) – and refusing to grow up.

Careful viewers can come away from the next episode with not only some good laughs, but usable personal finance advice.

Remain Steadily Employed

It’s somewhat curious that Pete Eckhart, the imaginary fantasy league’s 3-time defending champion, has no known job. With season two underway, he is still the only character whose occupation is a total mystery. In lieu of employment, all we see from the recently divorced Eckhart are his repeated attempts at tricking the others into making lopsided trades at the game table.

But – obvious as it may sound – remaining employed is actually half the battle when it comes to financial success. Assuming you put a system in place for automatically paying bills, saving and investing, steady income is all you need. By remaining employed, you literally put yourself on a conveyor belt to financial freedom.

Get Involved

(YGX)

Episodes in The League’s new second season involve Rafi, Ruxin’s obnoxious brother-in-law, the newest member of the league. It’s immediately clear that Rafi is not participating by choice – rather, it was Ruxin’s wife Sophia (and Rafi’s sister) who made the push for him to join. The only problem? Rafi has absolutely no passion for football or even a basic working knowledge of the game’s rules. His being there serves more to annoy and frustrate everyone else than to add any real value to the group.

There are plenty of “Rafis” in the world of personal finance, as well. People who are not currently managing their money very well – and who would benefit most from learning how – sometimes resist it more than anyone. A single book or article could put them on the right track, but they’d rather scapegoat people or drag their heels than read it. Don’t be that guy (or gal). Make personal finance something you’re enthusiastic about and happy to do, not a despised chore.

Stick To Your Plans

(Steve Snodgrass)

Speaking of Sophia: we’re all in favor of faithful marriages, but viewers of The League see this character take it to almost laughable extremes. Time and time again, Ruxin’s seemingly innocent behaviors are condemned by the always-pure Sophia, who does not even allow Playboy magazines inside their home (because to her, it’s cheating.) This is just one of many battles between the Ruxin (a permissive Jew) and Sophia, a hard-line, by-the-book Christian forever set in her ways.

It’s easy to point that Sophia takes commitment and sacrifice a bit too far. But we can all take a page out of her book when it comes to sticking to our financial goals. In personal finance as in life, temptation is always there. Like an an excuse to flake out on your budget or spend money you don’t have. Instead, resolve to stay focused. Resist the inevitable urges to stray from the path you know you should be on.

Be Self-Reliant

(bfishadow)

If anyone on The League is a poster child for dependence, it’s Taco McArthur. The younger brother of fantasy league commissioner Kevin, Taco is somewhat like Rafi: having virtually no knowledge or interest in football, but participating anyway because no one else cares to have him around for very long. When he isn’t hooking up with strange women, he survives on charity from Kevin and frugal life choices like barter and making his own food. He’s an eclectic and interesting character (who also dabbles in martial arts) but relies solely on others to get by.

To become a master of your money, you must also become a master of yourself: that is, you need to be self-reliant. This means not only having steady employment (see our first point) but also taking full responsibility for every aspect of your financial life. Setting goals, establishing habits and making smart day-to-day decisions are all examples of this.

Give Credit Where It’s Due

(Beneath_B1ue_Skies)

It was a running joke on season one that Kevin’s fantasy teams were secretly piloted by his much more football-savvy wife, Jenny. When season two began, it became clear to everyone that she was the real brains of the operation. Despite not even being a league member, Jenny’s eagerness and deep understanding of football were just about the only thing sparing her husband’s teams from embarrassing mediocrity.

Naturally, Kevin didn’t go out of his way to make this any more obvious than it already was. But in real life, few of us ever succeed totally on our own. Though it’s important to be as self-reliant as possible, most receive some form of help along the way and it is only graceful to acknowledge the people who assist us on our financial journeys.

(Uriel 1998)

Halloween is less than two weeks away and the mad dash to buy costumes has begun. Seasonal retailers like Halloween City (which sprout up everywhere in September and vanish on November 1st) offer convenience, but also high prices. The same is true of most party and costume stores you might find around town. When you buy new, you usually pay more.

So what’s a budget-savvy parent to do about buying a costume their kids will enjoy wearing — but will ultimately be worn just once, maybe twice, tops?

Here are some creative ways to trim your Halloween costume costs this year:

Buy Used

The most straightforward way to save is to buy used Halloween costumes. After all, Halloween costumes are, by definition, only worn once per year. That means most of the “used” costumes you find at the local Goodwill or on Ebay or Craigslist are probably in excellent, like-new condition.

In fact, if you buy the costume alone and tell your child that you “just threw the packaging away”, they may not even recognize the difference.

Make Your Own

(philip pannenko)

Then there’s the old standby of generations past: DIY. Frugal (and creative) parents have been hand-making their own costumes for decades, and if you’re up for the job, there’s no surer way to save.

 Just figure out what kind of costume your child is looking for. Then, simply search the web for “how to make a ___ costume.”

If the costume you’re trying to make is at all common (say, a superhero or a character from a recent movie) you will have more videos, instructional tutorials and illustrated walk-throughs than you know what to do with. Most of these will also include detailed lists of materials and suggestions on how to inexpensively obtain them.

Groupons

(orijinal)

Groupons are another creative and simple way to buy Halloween costumes for less. For those new to the Groupon concept, the company negotiates discounts of at least 50% (often more) with retailers and offer those deals to their daily email subscribers. A deal is activated only when a minimum number of people sign up to buy.

Groupon deals and offers are made available every day for virtually every conceivable product category: including Halloween costumes. Keep a close eye on Groupon and other group-buying website deals (LivingSocial.com, Tippr.com) for offers for costumes, costume-making supplies and even candy from local, brick-and-mortar businesses in your area.

Costume Swaps

(Uriel 1998)

Still another way to make Halloween happen on the cheap is to hold a costume swap. Chances are, other parents (including relatives) that you know have old costumes too. But remember: a costume is only “old” to the person who wore it the previous Halloween. Five or ten parents can easily meet up and swap their “old” costumes with those of others, and everyone goes home with something different for their kids to wear this year.

Admittedly, it may take some maneuvering to pull this off. The Barbie costume Aunt Suzie bought for her daughter last year is not going to fly with your 10 year old son. But if there are enough parents with sons and daughters of similar ages, swaps can work extremely well.

Online Specials

(BitBoy)

As usual, there are always a few good deals to be found on the Internet. Aside from Groupon, you always have the option of searching to see what the top online party stores have to offer. Two-for-one deals, free shipping offers and time sensitive “buy before Friday” type promotions are there for the taking right up until October 31st.

Of course, there are also plenty of online retailers selling for prices just as high as the store around the corner. It’s up to you to shop around by comparing the prices you find online to what’s available via Craigslist, used stores in the neighborhood and hand-me-down opportunities within the family.

Here are five websites to visit before you shop online that will help you find the best deals possible.

(joyosity)

With MLB’s regular season now over, we approach what WFAN sports radio host Steve Somers calls “Serious October Baseball.” In baseball (as in other sports) the atmosphere inside the stadium is most electrifying during the post-season. Raucous crowds and championship hopes send heart-pounding action through all nine innings.

Unfortunately for most fans, though, playoff tickets are not easy to get. Even when they are available, they tend to be astronomically expensive. Here are a few ways the average fan can get playoff tickets on the cheap:

Scalpers At The Game

The time-honored way of getting cheap tickets is finding a scalper at the stadium on game day. It works in the regular season, and done correctly, it works during the playoffs. More often than not, it comes down to when you buy. A common (and mistaken) approach is to show up at the stadium an hour before game time and desperately seek out scalpers with hat in hand. This is exactly the type of person a scalper wants to find, because they will pay seemingly anything to get through the turnstiles.

Instead, turn the tables on them by waiting until the game is just about to begin – maybe even midway through the first inning. By this time, the scalper is no longer licking his chops in a crowd of eager ticket-seekers. Now, he’s starting to fear that no buyer will emerge. If there’s any way to get discounted tickets from a scalper, this is it.

StubHub

(David Berkowitz)

If you simply cannot stomach the possibility of driving to the stadium and not getting in, there’s always StubHub.com. StubHub is essentially an online community for scalpers and ticket seekers. Those with tickets to sell can post them online, set a price and let StubHub (the impartial third party) handle all the payment details. The buyer immediately prints out the tickets from their home computer and uses them to enter the ballpark.

While not all of the playoff tickets posted on StubHub will be a cheap, a surprising number of them are good deals. After all, different sellers have different motives for selling. The die-hard Yankees fan with ALCS tickets might get roped into a last-minute business trip and forced to sell at a discount. That’s where you swoop in and take advantage.

Auction Websites

(Nadya Peek)

Another option for obtaining discounted playoff tickets are auction sites like eBay. In fact, there is an entire section of eBay – eBay Tickets – dedicated solely to connecting buyers and sellers of tickets (including playoff games.) As on StubHub, there is no guarantee that all tickets will be discounted. But again: you never know why someone is selling. The only way to find deals on eBay is to get involved in the bidding.

Predictably, you are not going to find home plate seats for $100. But you might be surprised at the prices for other seats around the ballpark, and if you act quickly, you can snap up your tickets well in advance.

Season Ticket-Holders Who Cannot Attend

(Eddie~S)

There is always the old-fashioned method of asking around the family or the office. Most of us (whether we realize it or not) know season ticket-holders to the major teams in our areas. Now, playoff games are an unlikely time for season ticket-holders to relinquish their seats. But as always, things come up. Your best bet is to put the word out at the beginning of a playoff series that you are in the market for tickets.

That way, a season-ticket holder who cannot (or would rather not) attend sees you as a guaranteed payoff for their tickets – whether or not it’s the full market value.

Team Discounts & Promotions

(Sue Elias)

Sometimes (but not always) the teams themselves offer discounted and promotional playoff tickets. A current example involves the Tampa Bay Rays, who are offering – for a small premium – guaranteed access to playoff seats. Fans who don’t want to pay the $100 premium had the option of entering a random lottery drawing and getting guaranteed seats if they won. The Rays (like many other teams) also promise guaranteed playoff seats to fans who pre-order season ticket packages for next season.

Rays playoff tickets, we should note, are extremely affordable: $30 for upper deck and $160 for field-side box seats.

(Andrew Feinberg)

Tech geeks and Facebook enthusiasts are filling America’s theaters to see The Social Network, a film about Mark Zuckerberg and the founding of the now ubiquitous social networking site. We won’t spoil the plot for you, except to say that it does not paint Zuckerberg in an especially flattering light. Facebook’s founder (though wildly successful) is portrayed as being selfish, stuck-up and disloyal to his closest friends. (Not surprisingly, Facebook far from endorses the movie: Zuckerberg, according to the New York Times, has called the movie “fiction.”)

But while the movie is hardly a sterling example of etiquette, it does offer some outstanding big-picture lessons about personal finance and money management.

Be Decisive

For all Zuckerberg’s unsavory traits (and the movie portrays plenty) there is no denying his decisiveness. When the idea of allowing Facebook users to list their relationship status on their pages sprang to mind, he didn’t scribble it down in a notebook and tell himself he’d do it later: he ran to his dorm across a snowy field in flip-flops to code it right away. When he decided to expand Facebook, he immediately dispatched marching orders to his team about infiltrating other Ivy League schools.

When it comes to our financial affairs, many of us are not nearly as decisive. We’ll skim through articles about investing or retirement planning, but how many of us would immediately invest into an index fund or set up an IRA? If you already have, great! If not, resolve to be more decisive about your money. As soon as it becomes clear that you ought to be doing something, get down to doing it.

Take The Long-Term View

(deneyterrio)

For all his good intentions, Eduardo Saverin (Mark’s then business partner and best friend) failed to see the big picture of what Facebook was becoming. Like any good businessperson, he looked at Facebook’s exploding user-base and saw something to be monetized. Thus, he constantly pressured Zuckerberg to start hooking up with advertisers and capitalizing on the popularity of the website. But Zuckerberg staunchly resisted. After all, he said: thousands of people were falling all over themselves to join Facebook every day, just the way it was. Cluttering up the site with ads could have destroyed Facebook’s growth for a relatively pitiful amount of money.

A similar lesson applies to you and your financial life. Like most people, you probably have long-term goals: maybe it’s home ownership, a new car, or the dream of some day starting a business. The only way to reach these goals is by making sacrifices in the short-term. Sure, you could theoretically spend your latest raise on a $5,000 wardrobe, but how long will that delay your dream of owning a home?

Keep Costs Low

(Robert Scoble)

One aspect of The Social Network that isn’t getting much attention is how little money Facebook spent early on. Facebook (today worth over $25 billion) required just $19,000 in startup capital before getting VC funding. $19,000 is no small sum in most situations, but in light of what Facebook ultimately became, it’s barely a drop in the bucket.

The way Facebook stretched that money so far is by using it only for what mattered most: servers, good ones and lots of them. This concept is one we can all follow. In his New York Times best-seller I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Ramit Sethi tells readers to “spend extravagantly on the things you love, and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don’t.” If you can live with bargain brand toilet paper or peanut butter or taco shells, for instance, there will be more money to spend on the entertainment, clothes or hobby that you truly love.

Do Your Homework

(SimonDoggett)

In The Social Network, Mark Zuckerberg is often seen bragging about how smart he is. If Harvard’s network security team really knew what they were doing, it wouldn’t have taken them four hours to shut Facemash (Zuckerberg’s first website) down. If the Winklevoss brothers were truly Mark’s intellectual peers, they would’ve built Facebook instead of just thinking of something similar. It’s easy to dismiss all of this as arrogance, but that arrogance was well backed by intelligence.

In personal finance as in business, it really does pay to be knowledgeable. Your financial life is important. While money isn’t everything, the decisions you make about mortgages, savings and investments play a major role in shaping what kind of lifestyle you have. Luckily, you don’t need to be a Harvard-educated genius to make smart financial decisions. Just do your homework. Educate yourself on key financial topics by reading books and articles. Be open to constructive criticism and continuously examine whether you’re on the right track.

(Dana Beveridge)

Technology buffs and science fiction fans have long been captivated by futurists. For those new to the topic, futurists include scientists and inventors like Ray Kurzweil and Faith Popcorn, who make predicting the future (including the future of the human race) their life’s work. Through their inventions and technical writing, these forward thinkers peer centuries into the future and attempt to tell us all what lies ahead long before it arrives.

While it remains to be seen how accurate all of their predictions are, the futurists – with their focus on anticipation and study of the past – have personal finance lessons to teach us all:

Study The Past

Most futurists do not simply sit back in armchairs and theorize about the future off the top of their heads. Their predictions of what lies ahead rely greatly on what has happened already.

In his 1990 book The Age Of The Machines, Ray Kurzweil successfully predicted that the Internet would see explosive growth in the years to come. Had it not been for Kurzweil’s intense, life-long study of technology, his 1990 prediction about the web would not have carried nearly so much weight.

Consumers would benefit from a similar appreciation for the past. A few weekends spent reading books or articles on various personal finance topics (from debt management strategies to types of mortgages, for example) can go a long way toward helping you make smarter financial decisions. Learning from your past mistakes, and those of others, is also critical to financial success.

Think Several Steps Ahead

Popular futurist Faith Popcorn earned fame for her 1992 book The Popcorn Report: Faith Popcorn on the Future of Your Company, Your World, Your Life. Popcorn used this book to express her many expectations of the future, including the rise of electronic shopping from home by “cocooned” shoppers, higher environmental consciousness and fears about healthcare.

Relatively few people discussed these topics in 1992. In order to predict how big they would become, Popcorn had to think several steps ahead of the general public at the time.

Anticipation and forward-thinking is invaluable to the everyday consumer. When renting an apartment or taking out a home mortgage, for instance, ask yourself:

• Will my income stabilize, rise, or fall three months, six months, and a year from now?
• Do I foresee needing to move in the near future?
• What happens if my adjustable-rate mortgage adjusts upward? (What if it adjusts all the way to its cap?)

Someone thinking of doing a credit card balance transfer, on the other hand, might ask himself “what happens when the promo period is over and this 0% teaser rate shoots to 22%?”

The key is that you think over future scenarios and potential problems now instead of hoping to never encounter them.

Be Open To Constructive Criticism

(windy_)

Many futurists are also scientists. Others are not, but do have scientific interests and backgrounds of some kind. As science-minded people, they know how valuable criticism is to the advancement of knowledge. Instead of walling themselves off from scrutiny, they embrace it – knowing that the key to their next breakthrough could lie outside their own work.

Consumers are usually much less welcoming of constructive criticism. Suggestions to change this or that aspect of their financial lives are often ignored, resented or even rejected. But as in science, what matters far more than who criticizes you is the merit of their criticism. In other words: if your Uncle Bob gives you a stern lecture about making sure you don’t overdraft your checking account again, ignore his tone and the fact that he’s your uncle and think honestly about whether he might have a point.

Be Humble If You Succeed

(House Of Sims)

No futurist gets every prediction right. For all of Faith Popcorn’s correct forecasts, her incorrect ones still caused Ed Chung of St. Norbert College to write a scathingly critical scholarly paper called “Burned Popcorn And Broken Crystal Balls: Beware of False Prophets Bearing Food.” In it, Chung denounced Popcorn as a “fortune teller” rather than a scientist. It was no doubt a humbling experience for Popcorn to be portrayed in this unflattering way. Yet humility is another key virtue of science – you are only as good as your last correct discovery, experiment, or prediction.

The same applies to financial success. If you dedicate yourself to studying money and practicing correct behavior, you will probably succeed – maybe more so than your friends or family. If this occurs, do not gloat, brag or otherwise rub it in anyone’s face. Besides the fact that it’s impolite and ungraceful, you are not guaranteed to stay financially successful forever.

Keep Breaking New Ground

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The loudest impulse in every futurist’s mind is to keep breaking new ground. They are never content with their most recent discovery or theory being proven right. As soon as this occurs (and often before) they are off and running on their next big hunch. By constantly pushing back the frontiers of their ignorance, these theorists help add to the growing store of human knowledge and thought.

Here, again, consumers do not always follow the same approach. Many of us are okay with reading about personal finance and calling it a day without actually implementing anything we learned. Others execute some of what they learn (such as paying more than the minimum on credit card balances) but stop short of the total overhaul that their finances need. Set your sights higher than that. Instead of being happy with marginal improvements, try to manage all of your money as intelligently as possible.