Coffee & Closers

The mobile app revolution has put personal assistants in our pockets. And while there are thousands of apps that focus on trying to simplify things, many of them end up taking up more of your time than the task itself. The below apps are my personal favorites and are the best in the field for their specific categories.

1.) Evernote  This is the last organizer that you will ever need. You can keep all of your notes in one place and they can be be packed with pictures, web clippings and audio files. It organizes all of your multimedia and then syncs the data across all of your devices. There is a powerful search tool within the app to help you find specific notes as well as words within notes that you have created.

2.) Flipboard This is still the prettiest app in the entire app store. It was designed by the team who built the first iPhone and this is evident by how seamlessly the app functions. Flipboard is your personalized digital magazine that is populated with  your social network data as well as any relevant publications that you like to read. Personalize it by filling it with the newspapers, blogs and magazines that you love and the app will push relevant stories to you. It is a single place to view all of the stories, feeds and photos that are important to you.

3.) Mint  Mint is the one stop shop for all of your finances. It aggregates your banking accounts and investment accounts as well as any credit card and loan data that you may have. It provides a snapshot of all of your finances and gives you real time balances. Mint also provides you with budgeting tools and analytics so that you can see if you’re spending too much money on late night tacos or are not saving as much as you should be.

4.) Hipmunk  Booking trips can be a painful process. And while I still do not think that there is a perfect app for searching and booking travel plans, Hipmunk is the best that I have found. It has a  simple, sleek design and it searches multiple travel sites and only provides you with the output data and best available flights. Hipmunk also has a proprietary “Agony” metric that they use to filter flights which combines price, flight duration and number of stops.

5.) Pocket   Pocket lets you bookmark webpages, articles and videos to view at a later time. I used to constantly email myself links to articles that I wanted to read but did not have time to read at that specific moment. Pocket is the solution to that problem and it syncs all of the content across all of your devices.

6.) Checkmark  This is a location based reminder application that works better than Apple’s existing reminder function. You can set specific location and time reminders so that when you are walking past your dry cleaner it alerts you to grab your clothes. Or you can set an alert to go off 15 minutes after you arrive home. The app is $4.99 and worth every bit of that.

7.) Buffer – Buffer allows you to enter your social media updates into a queue to be released at specified times. If you have great content that you want to share on Twitter or Linkedin but you want to share it at different time intervals, Buffer lets you manage this process and edit your updates as you wish.

The value of having a good mentor cannot be quantified. Bill Gates had Ed Roberts, Warren Buffett had Benjamin Graham, and President Bill Clinton and Maya Angelou had wonderful teachers as their mentors. Many of the most successful people are quick to give credit to their mentors for the significant roles they played in their lives. An effective mentoring relationship takes time and effort. Your mentors will also change throughout your life. As you gain more responsibility in your career, it is vital to seek advice from those who have succeeded in similar roles. Below are some tips and resources for how to foster a successful mentor relationship and become a great protege so that you can one day be a great mentor yourself.

Find a Mentor: The best mentors are people that know you or are willing to get to know you personally and that can help you accomplish a certain set of goals. Within your organization, seek out an individual at least two levels higher than you that has a set of experiences that you can learn from and that can help achieve your objectives. Don’t evaluate a mentor solely based on their title and job rank. Do additional research to be sure they have the necessary qualifications that will help you succeed and that they will be interested in helping you achieve that success. Also, mentoring is not monogamous; you can have more than one mentor and you can gain from finding others outside of your current company.

Set Expectations: The best mentor/mentee relationships benefit both parties. Set expectations in the first meeting in regards to the objectives of the relationship. Clarify how often you will meet to accomplish these goals. As the mentee in the relationship, you may not feel that you have much to offer the mentor. Not true! You can provide a “boots on the ground” perspective of what is going on in the organization that senior level executives are not privy to on a daily basis. Often times mentors want to impart knowledge and wisdom on you for the simple satisfaction of knowing that they helped you succeed. Be sure to fully understand how you can deliver on that need.

Drive the Relationship: As the protege in the relationship it is your responsibility to drive the relationship forward. The burden is on you to find convenient times to meet. Be sure to have an agenda of what to accomplish at meetings while keeping the environment open and conversational. Do any appropriate pre-work and any additional follow up that needs to be done after the meetings. Reach out often with relevant pieces of information that can help deepen the relationship. Don’t wait to be tapped on the shoulder for a meeting invitation. This responsibility falls on you. Finally, remember to thank your mentor for their time. And if they help you accomplish something great, be creative in the way you show your gratitude.

Maximize the Time Spent: Be honest. Your mentor will not be able to help you achieve your goals if you are not honest with yourself and with him/her in regards to what you are trying to accomplish. Do your homework before bringing up a challenge that you want to tackle together and present the possible solution sets that you have already thought about. Finally, be positive. It is amazing how much more you will get of a relationship if you attack it with a positive attitude. Do your best never to complain, rather speak of how you think your current situation can be improved from its existing state.

If you don’t have a mentor, find one. Studies show that mentoring leads to faster career progression. Fostering a good mentor relationship at an early age can prepare you to be a successful mentor for a young professional later in your lifetime.

“The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest“ – Albert Einstein

Put another way, the earlier you begin saving and investing has a direct and dramatic effect on the amount of wealth that you will have later in life. There are simple things that you can do that will have profound impacts on the amount of money and wealth you can accumulate over your lifetime. For example, if you put $5,000 a year into retirement accounts starting at age 22, and you earn an annual rate of return of 8%, you will have $1.5 Million at age 62. If you were to wait to begin investing until age 32, you would accumulate less than half that amount. And the more you contribute simply amplifies the compounding. The most advantageous financial decision you can make at a young age is to save and invest early. There are many ways to do this, and I have included some tips below along with some other important financial tenets to follow throughout your 20’s to help ensure financial freedom.

Utilize Your Employer’s 401K Plan: Most large companies offer matching programs for retirement contributions made by their employees up to certain thresholds. So if you contribute a certain percentage of your paycheck to your retirement plan, say 6%, your company will contribute that much as well. If you do not take advantage of this, you are literally leaving free money on the table. You are willingly forfeiting a free bonus, in this example a 6% annual bonus. To the extent that you are capable of contributing more – do it. While you’re not getting matched with company dollars beyond that specific threshold, you are still investing money on a pretax basis and reducing your annual taxable income.

Invest: If you have already maxed out your 401k contributions, or your employer does not offer such a plan, or you simply want more robust investment options, a Roth IRA is a very powerful tool. This allows you to invest and have your earnings grow tax free until retirement. While you can only contribute $5,500 per year to this vehicle, this is another fantastic way to begin accumulating financial assets. Another benefit of a Roth IRA in comparison to a traditional IRA is that you may withdraw your contributions penalty-free at any time for any reason. This is yet another reason to begin investing today.

Automate Your Savings and Investments: Set up your paychecks so that the money you intend to save and invest gets automatically deposited into your savings and investment accounts. This will help you establish a routine and budget your expenses. Even in this is only 5-10 percent of your paycheck and it seems insignificant to you, it will compound over time. I would encourage you to save and invest as much of your income as you can, and many investment professionals stress the 80/20 rule; Live on 80 percent of your income, save and invest the rest.

Build Credit: Good credit is essential for achieving favorable financing throughout your life. Your credit rating helps determine rates on auto insurance, credit card interest rates and mortgage rates. Credit cards are good ways to establish credit. Never carry a monthly balance and pay the amount in full each month to help ensure a good credit rating. Having no credit is not as damaging as having bad credit, but it can still severely hinder your ability to secure a large home or auto loan.

There are many ways to achieve significant wealth. In my day job I manage money for some very wealthy people, and many of them can attribute much of their wealth to being diligent and savvy champions of their own finances and investments. Wealth is not the same thing as income. Wealth is built by accumulating assets, not by spending them. A fantastic, best-selling book that hammers home these principles is The Millionaire Next Door. If you can employ these principles you will begin to feel empowered and you will take control of your financial future.