Our users had wanted to update permissions for hundreds of report and dashboard folders in Salesforce. Rather than manually modifying the folder permissions through the Salesforce UI, we can mass update these permissions using the Metadata API through Workbench, an unofficial Salesforce tool.

My deepest gratitude to Roger Mitchell, our brilliant mentor and developer, for the guidance.

These instructions are specific to MacOS X.

 Pre-requisites:

• A code editor like Sublime Text or Visual Studio Code.
• A basic understanding of HTML and/or XML.

 Preparing your package.xml:

• Use Workbench (Queries > SOQL Query) to export a CSV of folders whose permissions you’d like to update.
  • SELECT DeveloperName, Type, AccessType, Id, ParentId FROM Folder
  • Prepare the spreadsheet:
    • Remove all rows where ParentId != NULL. This is because subfolders get their permissions from their parent folders.
    • Separate the rows based on the permissions you’d like to update to. For instance, perhaps one tab contains rows of folders whose permission you’d like to update to “All Internal Users”.
• Create a package.xml based on the attached template here. This package.xml should contain folders whose permissions you’d like to update.
  • In the package.xml, create additional rows with the <members> tag that contain the DeveloperName of the folder.
  • You may create additional <types> as you see fit, such as Insights (for Einstein Analytics folders), Email, and Document.
  • Save the package.xml.

 Modifying your retrieved XML files

• In Workbench, navigate to Migration > Retrieve.
  • Choose the package.xml you’ve modified earlier, and click Next. You may ignore Package Names and Single Package.
  • Click Retrieve.
  • Download the .zip file.
• Unzip the .zip file. You should have a folder called “unpackaged“.
• Drag the entire folder to your favorite IDE: VS Code, Sublime Text, etc.
• 
  • You’ll see a list of folders and their corresponding XML files, containing the current state of permissions for the folders.
  • Modify each .xml file with permissions that you desire. For example, you may assign View, EditAllContents, or Manage to All Internal Users:
    • <folderShares>
<accessLevel>View</accessLevel>
<sharedTo>AllInternalUsers</sharedTo>
<sharedToType>Organization</sharedToType>
</folderShares>

• • Save all .xml files with the updated permission changes.
• Zip up the unpackaged folder containing the updated XML files.
• Open Terminal, and run this command to delete the hidden __MACOSX file from the .zip file (or else you’ll run into an error when deploying):
  • zip -d unpackaged.zip "__MACOSX*"

 Deploying folder permission updates

• In Workbench, navigate to Migration > Deploy.
  • Upload the unpackaged.zip file.
  • If you’re deploying to Production, check “Rollback on Error” and select RunLocalTests for Test Level.
  • Click Next, and wait for the deployment to be completed.
• Double check through the UI that the permissions for your folders have been updated.

In Conclusion

As a Salesforce admin, there’s no easy way to mass update folder permissions currently through Salesforce’s UI. The simplest way to do this is to utilize the Metadata API is through Workbench. Be sure to test this through a sandbox before deploying permission updates in Production.

The post Salesforce: How to Use Workbench to Mass Update Folder Permissions for Reports and Dashboards originally appeared on Clement Z. Chan.

Updated: Oct 7, 2018. I’ve updated this guide after actually trying to make a booking.

There’s surprisingly not a lot of literature online when it comes to flying on award flights to Madagascar. Travel guides for Madagascar are just as sparse, which is telling of how remote and untouched this African island nation is.

I did some quick research over the weekend as Matt has managed to convince me that it’s worth a visit as our “big trip” in 2019, given how unique its flora and fauna are. Think lemurs, the extraordinary and alien-like baobab trees, and more.

A quick Google Flights search shows that both prices and flight duration vary wildly: from $916 roundtrip for a 52-hour 45-minute flight with FOUR stops (operated by Delta and Kenya Airways), or $2,306 roundtrip for a 19-hour 55-minute trip via South African Airways—all these in economy.

I think we can do better than a 52-hour flight, no matter how “cheap” the $916 flight is.

But I’d also love to use the miles and points I’ve accumulated over the years. The examples below are New York-specific since that’s where I live, but you can make them work for you too from other areas in the US.

American Airlines miles

• Economy: 80,000 miles round-trip on Qatar Airways
• Business: 150,000 miles round-trip on Qatar Airways
• First: 240,000 miles round-trip on Qatar Airways

You’ll be flying from JFK → DOH → JNB. As you may have noticed, American Airlines miles can only take you as far as JNB. You can then take a flight to TNR for ~$800 round-trip in cash via SA Airlink.

Alternatively, from JNB, you can use 30,000 ANA miles to fly from JNB to TNR in Economy, or 55,000 ANA miles on Business. Since it’s a short 3-hour flight, I think flying in Economy makes more sense.

Not the best option, but worth considering if you’ve plenty of AA miles to burn. Taxes and fees from JFK → DOH → JNB came up to only $15.70 one way.

Earn American Airlines miles

• Citi AAdvantage Executive
• Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select
• Citi AAdvantage Gold
• Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red

Flying Blue miles

• Economy: 80,000 miles round-trip on Kenya Airways
• Business: 200,000 miles round-trip on Kenya Airways

While you can fly directly from JFK → NBO → TNR, unfortunately, there’s a fuel surcharge of $1,018.82 that you’ll still have to foot out, which makes this somewhat of a bad deal.

Transfer Points to Flying Blue miles

• American Express Membership Rewards (1:1)
  • You can earn MR points through cards like:
    • American Express Everyday
• Chase Ultimate Rewards (1:1)
  • You can earn UR points through cards like:
    • Chase Freedom
    • Chase Sapphire Reserve
    • Chase Ink Business Preferred

United miles

• Economy: 80,000 miles (on Saver Award) round-trip on Ethiopian Airlines
• Business: 160,000 miles round-trip on Ethiopian Airlines

This 33-hour flight from JFK → CAI → ADD → TNR seems challenging, but the total taxes and fees only come up to $119.53 round-trip.

Transfer Points to United miles

• Chase Ultimate Rewards (1:1)
• Starwood Preferred Guest (2:1)

Virgin Atlantic miles

• Economy: 40,000 Virgin Atlantic miles from IAD → DSS round trip, and 40,000 Virgin Atlantic miles from DSS → JNB round trip
• Business: 50,000 Virgin Atlantic miles from IAD → DSS round trip, and 50,000 Virgin Atlantic miles from DSS → JNB round trip
• Economy: 100,000 Virgin Atlantic miles from JFK → JNB round trip
• Business: 150,000 Virgin Atlantic miles from JFK → JNB round trip

There’s a sweet spot for flights from Washington, D.C. to Dakar, Senegal that’s a complete steal at 50,000 Virgin Atlantic miles on Business Class to get to the African continent. You’d then need to follow it up with an intra-African flight to get to Madagascar.

Since we’re in New York, we’ll have to position ourselves via a cheap flight to IAD or just hop on an Amtrak train.

Unfortunately, as of October 2018, I learned that Virgin Atlantic has started to pass fuel surcharges from SAA.

• Economy: ~$500 in fuel surcharges from IAD → DSS round trip, and ~$420 in fuel surcharges from DSS → JNB round trip. That comes up to nearly $1,000 in fuel surcharges.
• Business: ~$570 in fuel surcharges from IAD → DSS round trip, and ~$500 in fuel surcharges from DSS → JNB round trip. That comes up to nearly $1,100 in fuel surcharges.
• Economy: ~$500 in fuel surcharges from JFK → JNB round trip.

In addition, award availability for business class (especially for the JFK → JNB route) is practically non-existent, which makes this option just as unviable either way. There’s slightly better availability with the IAD → DSS → JNB route, but the best I could find was 1 seat in coach and the other in business.

I’ve also spent hours on the phone with the Virgin Atlantic customer support, and was told that they could only see availability 10 months and 3 weeks (~325 days) in advance—which by then any scarce availability would’ve been taken up by South African Airways members.

Just like using American Airlines miles, you can’t use miles to fly on SA Airlink (as far as I could tell), so you’ll have to pony up ~$800 round trip to fly from JNB → TNR.

Transfer Points to Virgin Atlantic miles

• American Express Membership Rewards (1:1)
• Chase Ultimate Rewards (1:1)
• Citi ThankYou Rewards (1:1)
• Starwood Preferred Guest (1:1)

There’s usually a transfer bonus from Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou to Virgin Atlantic once a year, so taking advantage of these deals will make this pretty sweet.

Transfer Points to ANA miles

• American Express Membership Rewards (1:1)
• Citi ThankYou Rewards (1:1)
• Starwood Preferred Guest (1:1)

In Conclusion

Taking advantage of the Virgin Atlantic sweet spot + intra-Africa flight with ANA miles seems like a no-brainer, especially if you’re based on the East Coast or live in D.C.

Despite the attractiveness of the Virgin Atlantic sweet spot, Virgin Atlantic has started to pass fuel surcharges from SAA, which makes this option untenable. Award availability is also sparse and difficult to come by. Plus, you’ll still have to pay an additional ~$800 to fly to Madagascar from Johannesburg via SA Airlink.

Using up my American Airlines miles would be my next best option, at a cost of having to pay ~$800 via SA Airlink for a short three-hour flight from JNB → TNR. (Unfortunately, the lack of competition is the reason for the exorbitant flight prices.)

We’ve always been a fan of visiting off-the-beaten-path places (Alaska’s Dalton Highway comes to mind), and Madagascar—with its unique wildlife and picturesque sights—seems to fit the bill. The challenge of getting there makes it all the more fascinating.

The post A Guide to Award Flights to Madagascar originally appeared on Clement Z. Chan.

As a community manager or a Salesforce admin, you may need to automatically add new users to a group on Chatter or Community Cloud.

While you can use Visual Workflow (Flow) or an Apex trigger to achieve this, the good news is: you can do the same thing with Process Builder! As Salesforce admins always say, you can accomplish many things with clicks, not code.

 Objective

When new users are created, they are automatically added to a specific group on Chatter or Community Cloud.

Estimated Time

~15 minutes

 Requirements

• Working knowledge of Process Builder
• Your community is small- to medium-sized (Process Builder has scalability issues)

Create a Process in Process Builder

1. Visit Setup-> Process Builder.
2. Give the process a name. Under “The process starts when” field, select “A record changes.”
   
3. Next, select an object that starts the process. Click “Add Object”, select the User object, and keep it as “only when a record is created”. Hit “Save.”
4. Click “Add Criteria” and fill it in as follows:
   
5. This next step would seem surprisingly unintuitive (I’ll expand more on this in the section below). Under “Scheduled Actions“, click “Set Schedule” and set it as the following:
   

   Salesforce: Process Builder — Scheduled Actions for Adding New Users to Group

6. Under the same “Scheduled Actions” box, click “Add Action”. Select “Quick Actions” and give the action a name. Under Filter Search By, select “Type”, followed by “Create a Record”, and “New Group Member.” Set the Quick Action Field Values as the following:
   1. – Related Record ID: enter your Chatter / Community Cloud group ID here. It will look something like this: 0F91I000000kJRqSAM
   2. – Member ID: select “Reference”, and look for User ID.
7. You’re set! Remember to activate this process.

Here’s how the final process looks:

It would be remiss of me to not test it out to make sure it actually works:

Why Scheduled Actions Are Used Instead of Immediate Actions

If you use Immediate Actions like I did and tried to create a new user, you’ll run into an unhelpful error message:

“Workflow Action Failed to Trigger Flow. The record couldn’t be saved because it failed to trigger a flow. A flow trigger failed to execute the flow with version ID xx. Contact your administrator for help.”

You may also receive a detailed flow error email that may include something like this:

“Error element myRule_1_A1 (FlowActionCall).
DML operation on setup object is not permitted after you have updated a non-setup object (or vice versa): CollaborationGroupMember, original object: User”

The User object is considered as a setup object, while CollaborationGroupMember is a non-setup object.

According to the official Salesforce documentation:

“DML operations on certain sObjects, sometimes referred to as setup objects, can’t be mixed with DML on other sObjects in the same transaction. This restriction exists because some sObjects affect the user’s access to records in the org. You must insert or update these types of sObjects in a different transaction to prevent operations from happening with incorrect access-level permissions.“

The workaround of using a scheduled action (that also executes immediately) instead of immediate action allows the process to run in a different transaction, thus making our process work.

Wrapping Up

While you can use programmatic options like Apex triggers to automate adding new users to a Chatter / Community group, declarative tools like Process Builder can do the same thing.

The post Auto-Add New Users to Community Groups with Process Builder originally appeared on Clement Z. Chan.

Ever wanted your Community Cloud groups on the Customer Service (Napili) template to look different from one another?

With Salesforce’s Spring ’17 release, you can now customize each group! Specifically, you can customize components, actions, the publisher, and related lists in groups.

There wasn’t any documentation on how to actually do this. Unfortunately, it does take quite a few steps to customize your groups. It involves using Group Record Types and Page Variations in the Community Builder.

 Objective

• Personalize groups on Community Cloud with Group Page Layouts and Group Record Types
• Use Page Variation in Community Cloud to use different components in individual community groups

Estimated Time

~30 minutes

 Requirements

• Some Salesforce Admin experience
• Some familiarity with Community Builder on Community Cloud

Background

As the community manager at my current org, I had a hard time encouraging users to use the Question publisher when they post their questions. Because the Post publisher appears first by default, naturally a user’s inclination would be to use that instead.

While it’s easy to make this change for feeds with Global Publisher Actions, it’s a more intricate process to do this for groups.

Let’s take a look at a possible use case. Using the example laid out in the Spring ’17 release notes, you may have a group dedicated to customer service and want the publisher to default to Question:

Customizing Publisher Actions for Individual Community Groups

Set Up Group Page Layouts

If you want to customize groups to show different publisher options first, you must first set up a group page layout:

• Navigate to Setup and search for “Group” on the left sidebar.
• 
  Click on Group Layouts under Groups (Customize -> Chatter -> Groups -> Group Layouts). You should see an existing page layout called Group Layout pre-created for you by Salesforce.
• Click New.
• 
  Fill out a name for your new group page layout and hit Save.
• 
  Under Salesforce1 and Lightning Experience Actions, click on the “override the predefined actions” link.
• You should see a list of default actions listed. You can then re-arrange the publisher actions so that Question comes before Post. Click on Salesforce1 & Lightning Actions at the top, and drag the Question action to the publisher actions below:
  Salesforce seems to tempt you with publisher actions such as Poll in the list of Salesforce1 & Lightning Actions. Even when dragged to the action panel below, they will not appear in the Customer Service (Napili) template as of Spring ’17.
• Hit Save.
• Edit the default Group Layout, and drag the Change Group Type action into the action panel.
• Hit Save.

Set Up Group Record Types

To do this, you’ll have to create two different record types (if you don’t have a group record type yet):

• Navigate to Setup and search for “Group” on the left sidebar.
• 
  Click on Record Types under Groups (Customize -> Chatter -> Groups -> Record Types).
• Click New. You’re creating a new “default” record type for groups that should have a “default” look.
• Give a name to your “default” record type under Record Type Label. For instance, I used the name “General.”
• 
  Check the Active checkbox.
• Enable this record type to a profile by selecting the checkbox under the Enable for Profile column. Feel free to also check the Default column if applicable.
• Hit Next.
• Apply a group page layout to your profiles.
• Click Save.

Change a Group’s Record Type

• Go back to your community.
• Navigate to a group where you want the newly created group page layout to be applied.
• Because you have dragged the Change Group Type action to your default Group Layout, you should see the Change Group Type link after clicking on the dropdown arrow:
• Select the desired record type you want to assign to this group, and hit next.

Customizing Components for Individual Community Groups

• Navigate to Community Builder.
• Click on the dropdown arrow at the top, and click on Group Detail under Object Pages:
  
• Click on the gear icon at the top:
  
• Click on the Page Variations tab.
• Click on New Page Variation if you want to start from scratch, otherwise duplicate the default Group Detail as your base to start with.
• Add or remove components to your liking. Some ideas: perhaps you want to add a dashboard component for an internal employee group.
• Click Publish on the top-right when you’re done.
• Go back to the Page Variations page and click on the dropdown arrow in the Actions column. Select Set Audience Criteria.
• Toggle to the Record Type tab on the left.
• Choose a group record type you want to associate with the page variation you just created, which in turn is associated with the groups you have assigned this record type to.
• Click Save.

Wrapping Up

Customizing your Community Cloud groups is currently a multistep process involving group record types. It’s not exactly the easiest for a Salesforce Administrator. But the fact that you can do this declaratively without knowing how to code still makes it worth learning to reenforce your knowledge on record types.

The post How to Customize Groups in Salesforce Community Cloud originally appeared on Clement Z. Chan.

57% of Americans—approximately 138 million adults—are struggling financially, according to CFSI’s Consumer Financial Health Study.

It’s easy to quote a statistic, but the lives of these individuals that make up that staggering number can be difficult to imagine.

It’s the vulnerable neighbor who works the late night shifts, the friend from school who goes home hungry, the tempers that flare between married couples.

For those who live from paycheck to paycheck, this is often their reality.

How I Coped with Below Average Financial Health

As a new immigrant to America two years ago, my husband was supporting our new family of two solely on his paycheck while I looked for hints of employment for nearly a year. We shared a three-bedroom apartment with two others, and started shaving our expenses down to just the bare necessities.

Takeouts and eating out morphed into cooking. Impulsive clothes shopping negated to the ether. We even found a way to save on laundry expenses—from using the coin-operated dryer to drying them on racks in our room.

Even then, our household income barely covered our monthly expenses.

At the back of my head—while filling out job applications or in the shower—my mind was constantly mired in the moors of financial uncertainty.

The Psychology of Scarcity

It’s this very psychology of scarcity that affects millions of other people around the world.

According to Eldar Shafir, a Princeton University psychology and public affairs professor, people have limited cognitive space. When you devote your attention completely on one thing, there’s just not enough mental bandwidth to process other things.

As a result, this mental deprivation causes low-income people to be more prone to decision-making errors than those who are better off financially.

They are often less attentive parents than those who have more money, they’re worse at adhering to their medication than the rich, and even poor farmers weed their fields less well than those who are less poor. — Eldar Shafir

It could be why 62% of those who are financially unengaged don’t know how long they could last in the event of a sudden loss of income.

What Financial Health Means to Me

Those who are poor disproportionately pay more in the fringe services that they utilize.

Shockingly, in the US, there are more payday loan lenders than there are Starbucks and McDonald’s outlets combined.

Predatory fringe services like payday loan lenders can charge an APR of nearly 400%. Refund anticipation loans—offered by commercial tax preparers like H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt—also charge high interest rates and fees for these short-term loans.

To me, financial health means being mentally liberated from the daily anxiety of whether you have enough money to put food on the table. This can be alleviated if low-income people are not paying exorbitant fees and interest rates that their higher-income counterparts are not subjected to.

There are many opportunities to design financial products that help this oft-forsaken segment of our community.

I know what that feels like—when my mind gained just a bit more clarity, when the invisible rocks weighing down on my mind were finally set free.

It’s time for millions of others to feel the same.

The post What Financial Health Means to Me originally appeared on Clement Z. Chan.

The file-and-suspend strategy—or rather, a loophole—to claim additional Social Security benefits is closing up on Apr 29, 2016. This can be difficult to wrap your head around, so I’ll try to distill it in the simplest way possible.

Who’s Eligible for File-and-Suspend?

The file-and-suspend strategy applies to a very specific subset of married couples:

• One of the spouses must have reached full retirement age (66) before Apr 29, 2016
• The other spouse should be around full retirement age
• Both spouses are delaying receiving Social Security benefits till age 70 to accumulate retirement credits, which can permanently increase their benefits by 8%/year

If one of the spouses has reached full retirement age (66) before Apr 29, 2016, he or she will be eligible to initiate this strategy. The other spouse should ideally be around full retirement age as well.

If you’re of this age, or know someone (like your parents, relatives, neighbors) who’s of the right age for this, they should take advantage of this strategy.

How Does File-and-Suspend Benefit You?

Usually, in order for your spouse to file for spousal benefits, you must have already filed to claim your retirement benefits.

The existing loophole allows you to file and immediately suspend taking your retirement benefits, allowing these benefits to grow till they reach their full potential at age 70… while your spouse is able to file for spousal benefits (recommended to do so at age 66, when spousal benefits are maxed out).

If you’ve been delaying receiving your retirement benefits till age 70, this is good news (albeit short-lived since this is going away on Apr 29, 2016). By initiating file-and-suspend, your spouse can file for spousal benefits that he or she otherwise would not have been able to do.

The spousal benefits that your spouse can claim is not chump change—this can be $1,000 – $2,000 per month.

How to Initiate File-and-Suspend

The spouse who has reached full retirement age (66) should do the following:

1. Visit this Social Security page and click on the “Apply for Retirement Benefits” button.
2. Proceed through the online application’s questions. You’ll be asked for things like:
   1. personal details
   2. current and former spouses’ names and dates of birth
   3. your employment and self-employment details for this year and last year
   4. citizenship status
   5. direct deposit information, and more
3. When asked when to start your benefits, select the soonest possible month and year.
4. In the remarks section, type in “I want to file and suspend my benefits until I reach age 70.”

Expect to receive a phone call from Social Security within the next few days. They’ll call to confirm that you’re indeed filing and suspending your retirement benefits.

Why You Should Initiate File-and-Suspend Online

While this sounds like a clandestine maneuver, this online application is more effective and creates a paper trail.

Visiting Social Security’s office to file-and-suspend has anecdotally been problematic. Misinformation has been distributed by Social Security’s staff, and sometimes, they may not complete the strategy correctly on your behalf.

Conclusion

If you’ve reached full retirement age, or know married couples where at least one of the spouses has reached age 66, initiating file-and-suspend is a no-brainer.

There is no disadvantage to this strategy—in fact, if you’re eligible, your spouse stands to gain thousands of dollars per year of extra benefits from it. But do hurry, as this loophole is closing soon on Apr 29, 2016.

The post File-and-Suspend Social Security Loophole Closing on Apr 29, 2016 originally appeared on Clement Z. Chan.

Prices of products and services fluctuate all the time. It’s almost always the simple economics of supply and demand.

But how can we take advantage of price drops after we’ve made a purchase? Depending on the merchant’s policies, we could either:

1. Request a refund for the price difference
2. Cancel the purchase (if it’s refundable) and repurchase it at a lower price

Realistically, not all of us monitor prices after we’ve completed an order. It’s a hassle to keep track of, and we could be unaware of the store’s price protection policies.

Fortunately, there are tools out there that can do this automatically for you.

Paribus

For general purchases online, Paribus tracks price drops through the receipts you receive in your email inbox.

If it detects a price drop, the platform files a claim automatically on your behalf. Once the merchant issues a refund, Paribus charges a 25% fee of the refund.

Since I wouldn’t have known of the price drop anyway without Paribus, the result is still a net savings.

My successful claims since 2015.

While saving $12.05 is nothing to shout of over the span of one year, hey, it’s still money saved without lifting a finger.

Paribus also tracks many popular merchants at the time of writing, such as:

• Amazon.com
• Macy’s
• Best Buy
• Target
• Staples
• Walmart
• GAP
• J.Crew

A successful claim at Target.com with Paribus recently.

Autoslash

AutoSlash tracks your car rental reservations to monitor price drops or by applying discount codes.

Best of all, the service works for major car rental companies in the US (some with footprints around the world) such as:

• Alamo
• Avis
• Budget
• Enterprise
• Hertz
• National
• Sixt
• Silvercar

You can track car rental prices via two methods. Either:

1. Make your reservation through AutoSlash, who would then rebook the reservation if there’s a price drop; or
2. Track a rental you’ve booked elsewhere (directly from a car rental company)

I usually take advantage of the many promotional codes that are available for Hertz or Avis, which greatly reduce prices.

So I was curious to see if AutoSlash could beat what I thought were already deeply discounted rates.

And they did!

For less popular cities in the US, they weren’t able to beat the rates I found. But as always, YMMV.

Yapta

Though Yapta touts itself as an airfare and hotel room price tracker, in reality, the latter is only available through its paid corporate service.

Its free service only tracks airfares, and emails you alerts whenever it detects price drops within a threshold you specify.

Unfortunately, this service isn’t automatic like Autoslash and Paribus. You’ll have to remember to manually track the airfare you just purchased by visiting Yapta.

In addition, airlines often charge change fees, which may make your savings moot if the price drop is not substantial enough.

TripBAM

To track a drop in hotel rates, TripBAM is an option you may consider.

You can choose to track hotel rates within a particular area, or a specific hotel you’ve already booked.

Since it only tracks in USD, you’d have to convert the local hotel’s currency to USD and enter it with TripBAM. You may then choose to receive email alerts whenever the price drops more than what you specified.

TripBAM also only tracks prices of major chains and popular local hotels, so you wouldn’t be able to track hostels or smaller boutique hotels.

In Conclusion

Many online platforms exist to track the price drops of products and travel-related services you’ve purchased.

While some are more hands-off than others, even those that require manual input are worth considering for the potential savings they can bring.

Which among of these tools have you used and liked?

The post Save Money Automatically With These Price Tracking Tools originally appeared on Clement Z. Chan.

Like snowflakes and DNA, every individual is different.

We have different interests, priorities, and values in life. But the one thing that’s crucial for everyone is to plan for retirement.

In sharing our plan, I hope you’d be inspired to start funding for your retirement as well.

How We Inadvertently Embarked On Our Journey to Financial Independence

Two things have objectively helped me in my quest towards financial independence (FI):

1. Marriage:
   • The Married Filing Jointly status allows us to combine our various tax deductions.
   • Being married to someone who shares similar values helps as we’re both content with our current lifestyle.
2. Migration:
   • The value of the USD is 4x the value of MYR, and is equally a big factor.
     • Though this is offset by living in NYC, “the most expensive place in the world to live” with the highest tax rates in the country.

Apart from the culture shock that a new immigrant typically faces, one of the most challenging things I’ve faced here is trying to gain employment.

In a city of 8.4 million residents, “stiff competition” doesn’t even begin to describe it.

I continued working remotely for Groupon Malaysia and did some freelance writing gigs on the side, but they barely covered rent.

1. Living Within Our Means

With Matt supporting the both of us mostly on his salary, we went on frugal mode by necessity:

• We stopped the laundry pick-up service (~$20 every two weeks) we were using and started using the coin-operated washing machine in our basement ($1.50). The dryer was barely working, so I did what most Malaysians did to dry their clothes: we bought a clothes rack.
• We started cooking more often dd home while religiously following recipes from Budget Bytes and Good and Cheap. Our groceries these days cost us around $300 per month for the two of us (with the occasional meal out). This saved us from having to spend:
  • ~$7 per person: takeouts from the nearest Dominican and Chinese restaurants
  • ~$15 – $30 per person: a nice meal at a sit-down restaurant
• I was spending quite a bit on clothes in Malaysia (perhaps also an understatement), but survival took precedence here. The only new article of clothing I purchased at the time was something for the winter: a peacoat.
• We live with roommates, which is significantly cheaper than renting a 1BR or studio apartment.

In short, we started to live simply.

There are always free or inexpensive things to do in the city, assisted by the city’s IDNYC. We also enjoy each other’s company and prefer to hang out at home than at a bar.

And when I found a job, our frugal lifestyle didn’t change, out of habit.

We still dry our clothes in our room. We still cook more often than we eat out. And most importantly, we’re thoroughly content with our existing lifestyle.

2. Avoiding Lifestyle Creep

Lifestyle creep happens when you start to incrementally spend more when you have extra income.

Perhaps you’ll buy new clothes to treat yourself, upgrade your phone when it’s still working fine, or eat out just a little more often.

Before you know it, you begin to slowly adopt this new lifestyle and you start to get used to it.

This is something I try to be mindful of because it’s an easy spiral down into an expensive lifestyle. (Though admittedly, we’ve succumbed to it more than a few times.)

3. Significantly Increasing Savings Rate

Your savings rate is the most important determinant of how early you can retire.

With the additional income while still maintaining the same lifestyle, we shoveled much of any extra money into our retirement accounts, investing in low-fee index funds.

I honestly didn’t think much of it when we started our frugal mode. But our recent calculations pointed towards a savings rate of about 40% – 50%.

This is something we didn’t expect, given that we live in NYC with a ridiculously high cost of living.

Our Projected Year to Financial Independence: 2029

Using FIRECalc—a different flavor of a retirement calculator geared towards those who want to retire early—the projected year for us to safely retire early is 2029.

This is 13 years from now.

The numbers were crunched while taking into account the following:

• Our annual spending amount is adjusted for inflation, so our purchasing power (i.e. our current lifestyle) is preserved.
  • This assumes our expenses will remain the same for the next 72 years.
• We continue to maximize our 401(k) and Traditional IRA contributions every year until 2027.

Graph of a Monte Carlo simulation that projects our plan has a 100% success rate based on historical data

Using historical data, FIRECalc factors in financial calamities and volatilities to ensure that our plan can withstand the worst shocks to the stock market.

What was fascinating to me was the Monte Carlo simulation (that models the probability of different outcomes) that showed that this plan has a 100% success rate, assuming my death at 100 years old.

Possible Wrenches

Like many things in life, life may not go as planned.

An online calculator like FIRECalc doesn’t take into account unexpected events that cost money:

• Medical emergency
• Taking care of my youngest brother who has Down Syndrome
• Raising a child, if that ever happens (child care costs in NYC range from $1,300 – $2,500 per month)
• Round-the-world travel plan

I still bank on doing a year-long sabbatical in the coming years. While this will undoubtedly push back our FI plans by a few years, I want to do these travels while I still can.

Since my mum’s passing from cancer three years ago, this has put me on a slightly hypochondriac + YOLO mindset.

What Does Financial Independence Mean?

For us, financial independence means being able to pursue whatever we want.

It means being unshackled from jobs that hold you hostage so that you can pay your day-to-day bills.

It doesn’t mean we have to stop working. It means giving you the freedom to pursue the things that you love to do but not able to now.

For instance, Matt has always loved pandas (I suspect he loved them more than me). His dream is to work with pandas in a zoo, like cleaning up their poop, feeding them bamboo, playing with them, etc.

Being financially independent will give him the opportunity to pursue this very work that he loves.

For me, I’d like to continue to keep my mind active by mastering Mandarin and Japanese, or even learning how to code.

Takeaways

Saving at 25 vs saving at 35 (Business Insider/Andy Kiersz)

To achieve financial independence, we’re taking advantage of the magic of compounding interest by investing in low-cost index funds. This helps us build a passive stream of income to fund our potential early retirement.

If you don’t have an emergency fund that covers at least three months of your expenses (we saved for six months’ worth), start that first.

We’ve also cut back on plenty of expenses we don’t consider necessary. At the risk of sounding like a Zen master, we’re content with the things we have now.

Whether you’re looking to retire early or at a traditional age, the most important thing you can do now is to do an automatic deduction to your retirement or brokerage account. Either your bank or retirement account should allow this.

It’s not too late to begin now. And with long-term investing, the earlier you start, the more likely you’ll have a successful retirement.

Resources

• r/financialindependence: a helpful FAQ on how you can get started
• FIRECalc: early retirement calculator
• Bogleheads: index investing Wiki

The post This is How We Plan to be Financially Independent by 2029 originally appeared on Clement Z. Chan.

While the word “deadbeat” has all the negative connotations of a bum, you may be surprised to learn that the credit card industry sometimes uses the term differently.

For them, a credit card deadbeat is someone who pays their statement balances off in full and on time every month.

Deadbeat in the Eyes of a Credit Card Company

Since credit card companies make money off the extremely high interest rates they charge on unpaid balances, customers who pay their balances in full are considered not as unprofitable.

While credit card companies still earn some revenue from the interchange fees they impose on merchants, their profits on these fees are tiny compared to the interest rates they charge on unpaid balances. (In 2009, First Premier even charged a ridiculous APR of 79.9%.)

And to these credit card companies, these less-than-profitable customers are sometimes considered internally as deadbeats.

Why You Should Be a Credit Card Deadbeat

Being a credit card deadbeat has many advantages:

1. It saves you money

A credit card is not a free line of money. In fact, it’s dangerous when you make such an assumption and discover too late that you don’t have the means to pay back.

But paying off your balances on time each month means that you avoid paying the high interest rates that can often reach up to 30%.

2. You can take advantage of rewards programs

By being a credit card deadbeat, you can often gain by taking advantage of a credit card’s rewards program.

Earning miles, points, or cash back for something that you’re purchasing is a no-brainer, but only if you pay off your credit card in full each month.

3. You can improve your credit score

By paying off your credit card balances in full each month, you’re proving your creditworthiness to your creditors. This can have a positive impact on your credit score if you keep this up regularly.

Click here to read my guide to building your credit history.

Final Thoughts

Being a credit card deadbeat is advantageous to the average consumer.

By paying off your credit card balances in full each month, you get to avoid the high interest rates while earning some miles, points, or cash back in the process.

The post Why You Should Be a Credit Card Deadbeat originally appeared on Clement Z. Chan.

Whether you’re a new immigrant, in college, or have limited credit history for any reason, you can gradually build your credit from scratch.

Take it from someone who has built his credit score to the mid-700s in just six months. (Even though I have a good credit history in Malaysia, this doesn’t get transferred to the US, unfortunately.)

Here’s how you can start to build your credit history:

Get a Credit Card

Volff / bigstock.com

Is this familiar to you?

Banks would tell you that they can’t issue you a credit card until you build your credit history. But how can you do this when it seems like no banks would give you a credit card?

Despite the Catch-22 situation people with no credit history often find themselves in, there are credit cards you can apply for to gradually build your credit profile.

1. Starter / rebuilder unsecured credit cards

• Capital One’s QuicksilverOne
  • Capital One is well-known for being lenient to those who are building credit. They’re most likely to get you started on their QuicksilverOne credit card (which comes with a $39 annual fee unfortunately, but it’s the price you have to pay). For a better chance at being approved—this is just from my experience—you should apply for it in person.
  • You’ll also most likely be given a $300 credit line. Make sure you pay your balance off in full every month, and your credit line will be increased automatically after 6 months.
  • It also comes with 1.5% cash back on every purchase.
  • This was the credit card I started off with.
• Discover’s Discover it
  • Discover isn’t likely to approve your application until you have a bit more credit history. After using Capital One’s QuicksilverOne for a few months, you may consider applying for this card.
  • This card offers 1% cash back, and 5% cash back on changing categories every quarter.
  • You also get free FICO score monthly.

2. Secured credit cards

dny3d / bigstock.com

• If for whatever reason your QuicksilverOne application is not approved, you should consider applying for a secured card like Capital One’s Secured MasterCard. It reports to all three major credit bureaus, unlike some other secured cards.
• If the secured card you’re applying for doesn’t report to the three major credit bureaus, you won’t be able to build your credit.
• Almost anyone can qualify for a secured credit card, as your line of credit is backed by an equal amount of collateral cash deposits. This means for a $200 credit line, you have to deposit $200 in cash. As such, the card issuer bears no credit risk.
• Secured credit cards usually don’t offer any rewards.

3. Student credit cards

• If you’re a student, you have a higher chance of getting approved for credit cards that are specifically targeted for students, like the Discover it Students, Capital One’s Journey Student Credit Card, or Citi ThankYou Preferred Card for College Students.
• These cards may offer rewards.

Be Added as an Authorized User

JJ-photo / bigstock.com

One of the quickest ways to improve your credit score and history is to be added as an authorized user on a credit card by someone with an excellent credit. That can be your spouse, relative, or friend, should they agree to it.

This should also be people who constantly pay off their credit card’s balance and keep a low balance as their credit history would be reported on your credit report. This would improve your credit by increasing the Average Age of Accounts.

The converse is true: if they miss a payment, this would be reported on your credit report and affect you negatively.

The primary user you ask this favor from should know that adding an authorized user would not hurt his or her credit. But the primary account holder would be responsible for any charges incurred by the authorized user.

Caveat

American Express no longer reports the primary cardholder’s account age on the authorized user’s credit report. Instead, the authorized user’s account age is when he or she becomes an authorized user.

Be a Responsible Credit Card Owner

bioraven / bigstock.com

Once you get your own credit card, follow some of these tips to build your way to an excellent credit history:

• Keep your balances low: below 30% of your provided credit line (preferably less than 10%) as this is one of the factors that influences your credit score.
  • For instance, if you’re provided a $300 credit line, make sure that your balance is always less than $30.
  • To keep your balance low, you may have to make multiple payments to your credit card per month. You don’t have to wait till your statement closes before you pay your credit card.
• Pay your statement balance in full on time every month. Set reminders or automatic payments if you have to. Late payments of more than 30 days will be reported to your credit report and stay there for seven years.

Conclusion

For someone with no credit history, it’s not impossible to build your own credit. It would be a slow journey however; you may have a “thin file” if you have fewer than three trade lines. Plus, it may also take up one year or more to prove your creditworthiness to lenders.

What matters most is to keep paying off your statement balances in full on time—you’ll get there, slowly but surely.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me below.

Main image: Alberto Zornetta / bigstock.com

The post How to Build Credit With No Credit History originally appeared on Clement Z. Chan.