CEO’s legendary offer to workers

WHAT a legend. A CEO has decided to sign up all his employees to a scheme that will change their lives.

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Sierra Nevada Corp. to help produce Turkey’s first regional jet

Sierra Nevada Corp. has announced creation of a new Turkish subsidary, TRJet, to produce Turkey’s first regional jet.

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Kerkorian negotiated blockbuster deals but shunned limelight

Kirk Kerkorian, who died Monday at 98, was never comfortable in the spotlight. Despite his status as one of America’s most successful billionaires, having owned a Hollywood movie studio and some of the Strip’s glitziest resorts, Kerkorian was reserved, unpretentious and media-shy.

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Segway Las Vegas seeks return to Strip sidewalks

Segway Las Vegas wants to again use its electric two-wheel devices on the Strip. Or more specifically, the Strip’s sidewalks. But it faces a rocky road of opposition.

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Murdoch confirms Fox CEO handover

RUPERT Murdoch has confirmed he will hand over the CEO title at his entertainment empire 21st Century Fox to his 42-year-old son James.

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Snapchat Starts Selling Sponsored Geofilters; McDonald’s Steps Up First

More than 1 million snaps a day include location-based stickers. Now brands will be able to create and sponsor their own. The post Snapchat Starts Selling Sponsored Geofilters; McDonald’s Steps Up First appeared first on Marketing Land.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Woolworths CEO to step down

WOOLWORTHS chief executive Grant O’Brien will step down after almost four years at the helm of the supermarket giant.

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Plans announced for electric-charging stations between Las Vegas, Northern Nevada

Gov. Brian Sandoval and NV Energy officials held a news conference Tuesday to announce an initiative to install electric-charging stations in key rural communities along U.S. 95 corridor between Las Vegas and Northern Nevada.

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Buffett arrives in Australia with a bang

HE’S the world’s most famous investor, and the Oracle of Omaha has finally arrived down under with a bang. Warren Buffett isn’t messing around.

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Marketing Day: Twitter Introduces Autoplay Video, Pinterest Updates Search & More

Here’s our recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on Marketing Land and other places across the web. From Marketing Land: European Court Says Internet News Portal Is Liable For User-Generated Comments Unlike U.S. law, European court says a website accepting comments is...

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Hobby Lobby’s fourth Nevada store slated to open early August

Construction is under way on Hobby Lobby Stores Inc.’s fourth Nevada store.

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Familiar names appear in money laundering report

Don’t be surprised in you hear a lot more about the flow of big money from foreign jurisdictions into the U.S. via some highly questionable casino transfers.

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European Court Says Internet News Portal Is Liable For User-Generated Comments

Unlike U.S. law, European court says a website accepting comments is more than just a "passive, purely technical service provider." The post European Court Says Internet News Portal Is Liable For User-Generated Comments appeared first on Marketing Land.

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The Young and Investless

Recent polling shows a big majority of Americans think it will be more difficult for this generation of Millennials to achieve the American dream of climbing the economic ladder.

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9 Weird Things You Didn’t Know You Could Borrow From the Library

Did you know you can check out more than books and DVDs at your public library?

Literacy isn’t the only thing on a public library’s agenda. Libraries aim to improve access information and provide education for everyone in their community. And book learnin’ on how to become a carpenter or play the guitar can only take you so far. To truly master these crafts, you need tools and instruments. That’s where public libraries can help.

To offer their patrons of all income levels more opportunities to learn and get involved in their communities, check out a few weird and unusual things you may be able to borrow from your public library.

1. Passes to Museums and Zoos

Many public libraries circulate free passes to local museums, zoos, state parks and other activities. These often cover the whole family, and some require a child under 18 to be part of your group.

Libraries that offer museum passes often have a limited number available and loan them out on a first-come, first-served basis. It might be tough to snag one, especially during school vacations and over the summer. If you’re itching to go for a museum for cheap, you can also use free and discounted museum days to your advantage.

2. American Girl Dolls

Can’t fathom spending $115 or more on a doll? Check your public library to see if you can borrow one. Though this isn’t a common library item available for checkout, the few library programs across the United States that lend dolls to young patrons are extremely popular and limit the rentals to one week. Some even include a journal so you can see where else the doll has been.

The Arlington Public Library in Virginia has an American Girl Lending Program. You can also borrow a doll from East Village branch library in New York and the Allegheny County Library Association in Pennsylvania. Some of the dolls arrived at their temporary library homes via private donations and others were donated by the American Girl company itself.

3. Telescopes

Budding engineers or scientists who don’t want to drop hundreds of dollars on instruments and tools can sometimes borrow them from their local library.

Many libraries loan out science tools such as microscopes, binoculars, meters, globes and even human and animal skeletons.

“Sometimes you need tools in order to do cool science projects,” Celeste Choate, the Ann Arbor, Michigan associate director for services, collections and access told USA Today when the library began to to circulate science tools. “Not everybody can afford a pH meter.”

4. Musical Instruments

Different libraries loan all sorts of instruments to patrons, from banjos to guitars to electric keyboards and more.

The Ann Arbor Library circulates the most comprehensive and unusual collection of musical instruments, which includes an LSDJ Game Boy (a modified game boy that makes music), Otamatones (a Japanese instrument that’s nearly impossible to explain) and Boomwhackers (percussionists will love ‘em.)

Some libraries, such as the Seattle Public Library, have music practice rooms you can reserve where you can make all the noise you want as you learn to play.

5. Hammers, Drills and Rakes

Tackle a few DIY projects or finish those nagging home improvement tasks without dropping your entire paycheck on tools. Many libraries have a few basic tools on hand and others, like the Oakland Public Library, have more than 3,500 tools, books and how-to videos and DVDs available for loan.

In fact, tool lending libraries extend beyond public libraries. Dedicated tool libraries in New Orleans, Louisiana; Portland, Maine; and Phoenix, Arizona loan or rent tools. Use this list of tool lending libraries to find one near you.

6. Board Games and Puzzles

Fine-tune your mad Scrabble or Monopoly skills at your public library. Several libraries keep board games collections for patrons to play. Some allow you to check them out, but others require you play within library walls to minimize lost pieces. Several libraries also circulate video games.

7. Cake Pans

Bake up a Darth Vader, Elmo or T-Rex cake for a special occasion without buying the pan. A lot of libraries have extensive cake pan collections; this one is more common than you’d think! Here’s just a handful of libraries that loan cake pans:

• Keokuk, Iowa
• North Haven Memorial Library, Connecticut
• Coventry, Rhode Island
• Somerset, Massachusetts
• Andover Public Library, Kansas
• Albuquerque/Bernalillo Library, New Mexico

If you’ve got a theme party coming up, it’s worth a call to your local library to see if they have a collection you can borrow from.

8. Pedometers

Community health organizations or health care companies often donate pedometers to libraries to encourage participation in their initiatives that promote health and wellness. See if your library is one of them.

While you’re at it, you might as well check your library’s audiobook database so you can listen while you log your steps. Many public libraries partner with a company called Overdrive to offer audiobooks that download to your iPhone, Android or other MP3 device, then magically disappear when the rental period ends.

9. Wi-Fi Hotspots

Cutting out Internet can help you save significantly on monthly expenses. But if you work from home or are on the job hunt, it’s not easy to go without. While most libraries have public computers, you’re limited to using them during the hours the library’s open. That’s why some libraries have come up with a way to lend Internet access to patrons.

The New York Public Library allows patrons without home Internet to check out wi-fi hotspots for six months. (But keep in mind this program is really intended for patrons who can’t afford Internet, not for those who don’t feel like paying for it.) Other libraries — including those in Chicago and Seattle — lend wi-fi hotspots for shorter three-week periods.

Tips for Checking Out

If you don’t have a library card, you won’t have access to any of these items. So get one! Also keep in mind that many of these bizarre collections are quite popular — the library wouldn’t offer them if there weren’t a need or interest in them. So check with your library to see if you place a hold to get your name on the waiting list. Even when you do reserve materials, be prepared to wait awhile. That waiting list could be months long.

Some libraries do not allow holds to be placed on popular items. So the best way to snag that highly sought-after museum pass is to be the first in line when the library opens.

Lastly, nothing from the library is truly free if you don’t return it on time. The fines for these overdue items may be much heftier than returning a book or DVD a day late. Double-check the rental period — which is often different than for books — and be sure to return everything on time.

Your Turn: Have you borrowed anything weird or unusual from your library? Let us know in the comments!

Disclosure: We have a serious Taco Bell addiction around here. The affiliate links in this post help us order off the dollar menu. Thanks for your support!

Betsy Mikel is a Chicago-based freelance copywriter. She loves biking all over every city she visits to find its best taqueria.

The post 9 Weird Things You Didn’t Know You Could Borrow From the Library appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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5 Ways to Bounce Back from a Busted Budget

Getting your budget back on track can seem insurmountable. Photo: Archives New Zealand

It happens to the best of us. Everything is going great, then all of a sudden, something knocks your budget completely off track.

It can be anything, really – a sudden job loss that drastically reduces your income, a surprise home repair, or a medical issue. And depending on the severity of your budget crisis, the impact can last for months – or even years.

At the moment, this feels like the story of my life. For two months in a row now, my own family budget has gone directly down the tubes. In May, our water heater busted and we had to get a new one. A day and $650 later, we had hot water and a budget that was proportionately in the red.

Then this month, we had a surprise air conditioning repair bill to the tune of $1,100. I was not happy. But the bad news didn’t end there. A few days after that, we lost a few bricks on our chimney and had to pay someone $900 to rebuild it. Again, I was not happy.

Unfortunately, busted budgets are an inevitable fact of life. If you have a house, kids, a car, or do anything other than sit in your house all day, you’re exposed to risks and repairs – and some of those things can cost money.

Five Ways to Recover from a Busted Budget

But that doesn’t mean you should admit defeat and stop trying. Busted budget aside, you can still be a budget hero the other 90% of the time. Here’s how:

1. Open targeted savings accounts

If you want to prepare for various types of emergencies, it might be smart to open targeted savings accounts and start tucking money away. For example, you could start one for any event that happens fairly often – things like home repairs, car repairs, school supplies, or medical bills.

Opening separate accounts for all of these expenses might be the best way to start preparing for each of them – even if you can only stash away small amounts of money at first.

• Related: How to Find the Best Savings Account in 2015

2. Build your basic emergency fund

Another tool that can help you weather any financial storm is an adequately funded emergency fund. Most experts suggest you keep at least three to six months of expenses in an account you can get to easily, but you may need more or less depending on your situation.

If you want to start building your emergency fund but don’t know where to start, start small. Even $50 per month can add up quickly if you contribute regularly. Just make sure not to touch it unless you have a true emergency.

• Related: 20 Reasons You Need an Emergency Fund

3. Analyze your monthly budget

If you keep going over budget for reasons other than an emergency, it might be wise to reevaluate your budget altogether. My husband and I did this a few years ago when we kept going over our grocery budget. After some thought and planning, we bumped it up $100 per month and haven’t gone over since.

Remember, a budget is meant to keep you on track, but you shouldn’t set yourself up for failure. Sometimes you might just need a little more wiggle room to make it work.

• Related: How and Why to Start a Zero-Sum Budget

4. Look for ways to cut back

If you’ve overspent on home repairs or other emergencies recently, you might want to look for ways to cut back so you can recoup those funds over time.

For starters, look for the low-hanging fruit. Things like your grocery spending, cable TV bill, and entertainment spending are generally easy to curb. And you never know – you might actually enjoy your life more without all of the “extra” expenses.

• Related: Five Things I Was Willing to Give Up to Save Money

5. Try to earn some extra cash

Cutting back is great, but there’s another way to create the same effect – earning more money. If you want to find a way to recover from that $1,000 hospital bill or furnace repair bill, you could always look for ways to earn the money you lost.

Maybe you could start a side hustle in your spare time, or perhaps you could build a full-fledged side business out of your own home. Either way, there are endless ways to make some extra cash. Mowing lawns, babysitting, and tutoring are great ways to get started making extra money, just to name a few.

Recovering from a Busted Budget with Style

Let’s face it – busted budgets are part of life. In fact, the only people who never experience a busted budget are the ones who have no idea where their money is going in the first place. Trust me, you don’t want to be that guy.

Yep, the fact that you even know your budget is messed up means you’re already ahead of the game. So don’t let a crazy month or two ruin your finances completely. Just get back on the wagon and keep trying – no matter what.

Have you ever had a busted budget? What kind of surprise bills have you endured lately?

The post 5 Ways to Bounce Back from a Busted Budget appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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5 Ways to Get Credit Bureaus to Remove Errors From Your Report

There is right way and a rushed way. Set yourself up for success with these tips.


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Proposed downtown Stroudsburg apartment project still under consideration

The height and unit total has changed since the initial proposal and is currently projected to be 65 feet tall with 59 units.

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Google Play Gaining Ground Against Apple, As Android App Downloads Outnumber iOS 2-to-1

Google Play downloads reached 50 billion in the last 12 months, while Apple's app store downloads totaled 25 billion. The post Google Play Gaining Ground Against Apple, As Android App Downloads Outnumber iOS 2-to-1 appeared first on Marketing Land.

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Twitter Introduces Autoplay Video; Will Only Charge For Ads 100% In View For 3 Seconds

Twitter says brands testing autoplay saw a seven-fold increase in completions of Promoted Videos. The post Twitter Introduces Autoplay Video; Will Only Charge For Ads 100% In View For 3 Seconds appeared first on Marketing Land.

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Trustee for Caesars senior lenders sues for $6 billion

Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment Corp. was sued for more than $6 billion by a representative for noteholders who are the lone creditors backing its controversial plan to overhaul $18 billion in debt.

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101 ways to save money this summer

While most people look forward to the summer months as a time for outdoor play, vacations and relaxing activities, it can wreak havoc on your finances if you aren’t careful. If you want to enjoy your summer this year without draining your bank account, here are 101 ways to cut costs.

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How to Afford Summer Camp for Your Kids, Even If You’re on a Budget

If you’ve got kids, you know that summertime is less about relaxation and more about figuring out how to keep the kids entertained!

Childcare expenses also often skyrocket during the summer, as working parents need to ensure their children are supervised during the day. Summer camp is a great solution to the entertainment/supervision conundrum, but summer camps can be really expensive.

If you’re thinking about sending the kids to camp this summer, Get Rich Slowly has some great suggestions to help you save money on your camp expenses.

Scholarships, Gifts and Piggy Banks  

The first thing you want to do is see which summer camps offer scholarships. Many camps provide scholarships to families who need that extra financial boost, so check the camps in your area and start sending in applications.

Pay attention to camps that offer sibling discounts; sometimes a camp will let you save a little money while supervising all of your children simultaneously! It’s a win-win.

Consider asking your children’s grandparents for a financial gift. Most grandparents want to contribute to their grandchildren’s lives, and helping pay for summer camp is a lot better than buying the latest toy!

Don’t forget about asking your children to dip into their own piggy banks or allowance money, especially if they’re the ones begging you to let them go to an expensive camp. But don’t be surprised if your kids suddenly become interested in a more affordable option. As Get Rich Slowly writes: “it is amazing how kids’ wants change when it’s their money that will be paying for it.”

Summer Camp Alternatives

If summer camp is out of your financial reach this year, consider these summer camp alternatives:

• Free or low-cost day camps run by churches or local athletic organizations
• Day-long kid activities hosted at the public library
• Summer school or enrichment programs at your child’s public school

Check your local paper and visit local organizations’ websites to learn what affordable kid opportunities are available.

Get Rich Slowly also suggests that you start budgeting now for next year’s camp expenses. Get a jar and start tossing in your loose change, or sign up for one of the many bank programs that helps you save small amounts of money every week. The more you save, the more you’ll be prepared for your family’s expenses—including summer camp!

Want to learn more? Read the full story at Get Rich Slowly.

Your Turn: Are you sending your kids to camp this year? How did you budget for the camp expenses?

Nicole Dieker is a freelance writer focusing on personal finance and personal stories. Her work has appeared in The Billfold, The Toast, Yearbook Office, The Write Life and Boing Boing.

The post How to Afford Summer Camp for Your Kids, Even If You’re on a Budget appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Pinterest Streamlines & Simplifies Its Search Interface

New search enhancements from Pinterest make finding the right type of information quicker and more accurate thanks to the first ever inclusion of spellcheck. The post Pinterest Streamlines & Simplifies Its Search Interface appeared first on Marketing Land.

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Instant Digital Gratification: Taking The Consumer To The Checkout In Rapid Fashion

Columnist Brian Rigney offers three ways for retailers to deliver rich consumer experiences in the moments that matter. The post Instant Digital Gratification: Taking The Consumer To The Checkout In Rapid Fashion appeared first on Marketing Land.

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What People Never Budget for (But Should)

Did you remember to include taxes, car repairs and weekend getaways?

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How to Retire Overseas in 7 Steps

Try these strategies to launch an affordable and exciting retirement abroad.

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How to Maximize Your 401(k) When You're on the Verge of Retirement

Keep your nest egg working in your favor with these five tips.

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Billionaire Las Vegas mogul Kirk Kerkorian dies in Los Angeles

Billionaire financier Kirk Kerkorian, one of the founders of modern Las Vegas whose name is synonymous with some of the Strip’s best known hotel-casinos, died Monday night Los Angeles after a brief illness.

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Practical Conversion Tips For Creating Mindless Forms

How do you get your site visitors to fill out those online forms? Columnist Tim Ash provides some tips based on understanding the human brain. The post Practical Conversion Tips For Creating Mindless Forms appeared first on Marketing Land.

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Qantas TV won’t be “low-bro” show

AUSSIE supermodel Miranda Kerr and other celebrities are expected to make cameo appearances on a new Channel 9 documentary series about Qantas.

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Why You Should Value Your Weaknesses in the Workplace

Here are two ways to make the most of your negative traits.

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Want to Resell Your Clothes Online? Try Instagram

If you’re looking to sell clothes online, you’ve got a lot of options. You can set up a Poshmark closet, sell “pre-loved” clothes on Twice or try your hand at Threadflip, Tradesy and even Ebay.

These types of online consignment shops help you match old clothes to new buyers, but they also often take a cut of your earnings, or offer you store credit instead of cash. So fashion and money-savvy entrepreneurs are cutting out the middleman and selling their clothing online themselves. What interface are they using? Instagram.

How to Sell Clothes on Instagram

The app lets you share photos with friends and followers. But how do you start selling clothes on Instagram? Well, it turns out the social media platform becomes a great storefront as long as you provide potential buyers with a few key pieces of information:

1. Pictures of the clothing you have for sale
2. Measurements of each item for sale
3. How to contact you and claim an item for purchase
4. How to pay you
5. How the clothing will be shipped

Luckily, you can type all of that information right into the Instagram interface. Your Instagram profile is a great place to include your store’s payment, shipping and return policy, as well as your email address. When you upload clothing photos, add the measurements and pricing right into the photo caption.

Let people know that they can claim an item by leaving a comment on its Instagram photo, along with a contact email. Then, once you’ve confirmed that the item is still available, you can ask the person for shipping information and let them know how to pay for the item through PayPal or another P2P payment service.

Need some more tips? Here’s a suggestion from StyleCaster, which recently profiled this Instagram clothing sales technique: “Create a shopping policies post, giving it its own unique hashtag so you can refer to it in every future post. Think of things like shipping, when payment is required, if you are or aren’t willing to ship internationally.”

StyleCaster also suggests including the shipping amount in your listed price, offering bundle discounts to attract buyers and move merchandise, and tracking your sales by sending invoices to customers.

Join #ShopMyCloset

Instagram clothing resellers use special hashtags to draw buyers to their wares. Search the Instagram hashtag #ShopMyCloset to see how other resellers are displaying and advertising their items.

For example, Instagram store ShopLexisFinds includes “PP and US only. See policies. All sales final. Ship within 48hrs” in her profile (the PP stands for “PayPal”), and includes flash sale opportunities for buyers who regularly check out her page. She also updates her photos with the word “Sold” as items sell, letting potential buyers know that other people are interested in her cute outfits and they have to act quickly to get what they want.

When you’re ready to sell your own Instagram clothing, make sure to add the #ShopMyCloset hashtag to your own posts, as well as other popular resale hashtags such as #Instashop. That way, people who want to buy your clothing will know how to find you.

How Much Do Instagram Resellers Make?

It’s tough to say exactly, but it could be a significant amount. StyleCaster profiled consignment store owner Ashley Steenhoven of Bloom Designer Finds. Steenhoven “totals between 30 to 40 sales a day from Instagram, which generate almost a quarter of her revenue.”

As with any other resale project, your success is likely to depend on three factors:

1. The quality of your merchandise
2. The prices you offer
3. The time you can put into promoting and publicizing your store

So take a look at other Instagram shops to make sure you’re offering equally valuable clothing, and try to match the prices you see online. Then let your friends, family and social network know about your new store. The #ShopMyCloset hashtag will help, but you’ll need to do some promotional work on your own to start closing those sales.

Lastly, don’t forget to practice your Instagramming technique so your clothes look as attractive as possible! Instagram is designed to make your pictures look great, so use that aspect of the service to make your clothes look gorgeous and draw in those buyers.

Your Turn: Have you ever bought clothing off Instagram?

Nicole Dieker is a freelance writer focusing on personal finance and personal stories. Her work has appeared in The Billfold, The Toast, Yearbook Office, The Write Life and Boing Boing.

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Handling the Hardest Moments of a Financial Turnaround

It’s an experience common to a lot of people. You overspend for years and don’t really think about your finances. Something changes and you begin to take notice. You start turning that ship around. You struggle, and sometimes you succeed and other times you end up reverting back to the same old habits.

I was lucky to be in that “succeed” camp. Part of the reason, I believe, was The Simple Dollar – getting into the regular routine of writing the site forced me to think again and again about my financial state, and that process helped me to overcome some of the biggest challenges of my financial turnaround.

Looking back, I can identify four key moments that offered the most challenge to my turnaround. Two of them happened just once; good solutions and the passage of time helped to fix them. Two others recurred fairly often; good solutions and knowing how to use them again and again helped those moments to pass.

At some point during your financial turnaround, you’re likely to hit all four of these moments. In fact, it’s pretty likely that you’re already facing the first one. Let’s look at all four in turn, along with some strategies for taking care of them.

The “Financial Bottom” Moment

For me, this moment occurred in April 2006. I came home from work one day and got the mail, which contained several bills. When I sat down to pay those bills, I looked at our checking account balance and came to the quick conclusion that I didn’t have nearly enough in there to pay the stack of bills in front of me, and it was almost two weeks until either Sarah or I got paid again.

That was the moment when it really hit home that we were in real financial trouble. We had tons of credit card and student loan and auto loan debt. We spent money in very irresponsible ways. We were barely saving for the future and what we were saving was actually being overrun by our debt accumulation. We lived in a tiny apartment with no hope of living elsewhere without some serious changes.

Not only that, we had a tiny baby at home, one that Sarah and I together were learning to take care of.

That night, as I was rocking that baby to sleep, I cried. I felt as if I was letting him down with my terrible financial choices. I didn’t really know what to do, though. I felt very trapped in that moment, as though I was in a hole so deep that I couldn’t realistically dig out of it any time soon.

Here were three key things that helped me get out of this financial bottom, and can help you with yours.

No Matter What, Do Not Escape By Spending More Money

Many people respond to troubles of any kind in their life with “retail therapy” – they go shopping and buy things that they want because it gives them that little burst of pleasure that one gets from fulfilling a desire. Often, the desire that’s fulfilled is a fleeting one; it’ll be forgotten in a few days if nothing is done about it.

Sometimes, that can be okay. There are other kinds of stresses in life that can be aided by a bit of retail therapy.

With money problems, retail therapy doesn’t help. In fact, all retail therapy does is make the problem worse. You’ve chosen to take some of your money and spend it on a very fleeting desire. This means you have less money than before, which makes a financial panic worse once you step back from that retail therapy.

If you need a short-term coping mechanism, find something – anything – else to do. Anything that doesn’t involve opening your wallet is a good coping mechanism. Spending money isn’t.

Do Not Believe You Are a Failure

Many people buy into the idea that a personal finance hole is an indication of some kind of personal failing and that, because they are inherently flawed as a person, they’re never going to dig out of it.

That’s nonsense. You are not a failure. You are not flawed as a person.

The only thing that’s happened here is that you were given a number of tools before you really knew how to use them. College students – and many other people – are often handed credit cards without any real sense of the ramifications of debt. By the time they figure out the drawbacks of such debt, they’re often stuck in a lifestyle that’s difficult to simply overturn and they’ve usually got a pile of debt hanging over their head.

Again, that has nothing to do with you being a failure. Would a six year old be a failure if someone handed them a butcher knife without teaching them anything at all about it and they cut themselves with it? No. They would be someone who had a tool before they knew how to use it.

Credit cards (and other debts) are tools that people can use to do a lot of damage to their finances before they really learn how to use them. Similarly, there are many vital tools – such as 401(k)s – that people shy away from because they’re only shown the immediate drawbacks and not the long term benefits.

You are not a failure because of those things. You are just a person who has taken their first few steps into learning how those things really work. Unfortunately, those first few steps sometimes happen after you’ve already hurt yourself with those tools.

Remember That You Have a Lot of Valuable Assets Already

It’s easy to look at your bank accounts and your investment accounts and think that you have nothing – or that you have very little. That’s not true.

You have your health. You have your mind. You have your education and knowledge. You have your work experience. You have your skills, both the ones for your career and the transferable ones. You have time, too.

Those assets add up to a lot. They add up to the ability to turn your time, energy, and skills into money – and some skill sets can do that quite well.

Not only that, you have your mind, which is going to be what you’ll really need to figure out the next steps forward.

Really, that’s all you need to dig out of this hole. You already have all the tools you need. The challenge is figuring out how to use them.

The “I Don’t Know Where to Start” Moment

Once you’ve reached that financial bottom, you recognize it, and you overcome the shock of realizing the situation you’re really in, there comes a point before too long when you’re simply feeling overwhelmed by the challenge ahead of you.

You look around and all you see are bills and payments for the bad choices you made in the past, and often the sheer number of them is overwhelming. When you look at your overall situation, it can be hard to figure out where to start.

Here’s where to start.

Hit the Library and Read Some Key Books

This is the first step you should take. In fact, it was the first step I took.

This is your education on the ins and outs of personal finance.

Yes, there are a lot of good blogs out there on personal finance issues – The Simple Dollar being one of them, in my opinion – but the articles on blogs often just hammer home on a single point in each post without giving you the larger perspective that a book can give you.

Right now, you need that bigger perspective.

So, what books do you look for? There are many, many books in a typical library’s personal finance section. Here are a few I recommend grabbing.

Of all of the books I’ve read, Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin has had the biggest impact on my own thinking about personal finance. It takes a “whole life” approach, looking at the many intimate ways in which spending and finances connects to every aspect of your life, and offers a way to build a strong life free from financial burden.

If you’re facing a big debt crisis, The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey is a solid choice. Here, the focus is on developing a smart plan for getting yourself out of debt and the author serves as a strong “coach” for helping you achieve just that.

If you’re suddenly panicking over retirement issues, The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing by Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindauer, Richard Ferri, and Laura Dogu is my recommendation. It does a wonderful job of outlining a sensible retirement strategy no matter what stage of the game you’re in.

What if you simply want a big pile of tactics for cutting back on your spending? I’d recommend The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. The book is a bit old and thus some of the articles don’t perfectly match modern life, but there is still no better book out there for flooding you with countless ideas for how to trim back on your savings. Even if the idea doesn’t perfectly match your lifestyle, it will likely inspire you.

Make a Full List of All of Your Debts and Bills

This is usually painful, but it’s a key step in getting started on fixing your financial state.

Go through all of your bills that you pay each week, month, quarter, and year. You can find these by going through your mail, your online banking, and your credit card statements. You want all of them, even if it’s just a dollar a month.

Once you’ve found all of these bills that you pay regularly, list them all in one central place. You can do this on your computer or on a blank piece of paper. Have a column for the name of the bill and, next to that, columns for the frequency of each bill – monthly and yearly are the most common, but you may also need quarterly and weekly columns, too.

Why do this? It gives you a picture of your required expenses. These are the things you have to pay, either because you need the things they provide (like rent and utilities), because you signed up for a service (like a gym membership or Netflix), or because you spent money you didn’t have in the past (like a car loan or a credit card bill).

The first category – you can’t do much about those things, for the most part. The second category – the services you’ve signed up for – is a great place to start cutting. Do you really need those bills? Do you really need both cable and Netflix? Do you actually use your gym membership? Cut all you can from there by canceling unnecessary services.

Assemble a Debt Repayment Plan and a Net Worth Calculator

So, what about that third category – your debts? Those deserve special attention.

The best way to pay off your debts is to build a debt repayment plan and follow it to the best of your ability. A debt repayment plan is a really simple tool that can make it easy to figure out what to pay off first.

Ideally, you’re committing more each month to debt repayment than the minimum payment on each debt. Your best approach is to always throw that extra amount into one single debt rather than spreading it across a lot of debts. Which debt, though? That’s what a debt repayment plan tells you. It’s simply a list of all of your debts sorted by interest rate, with the highest interest rate at the top. Each month, you should make minimum payments on every bill but the one on top of the list, and then throw everything you’ve got at the one on top. The result will be that the top bill is paid off as soon as possible, in which case you cross off that top bill and move on to the next bill in line.

Another tool I started back then and still find really valuable is a net worth calculator. Your net worth is a number that sums up your personal finance state all at once – it’s simply the sum of the value of everything you own (and the money in your accounts) minus all of the debts you owe. Your net worth is easy to calculate with a spreadsheet, but the real value in calculating your net worth is that it lets you see your positive progress over time. Start calculating it as soon as possible, then calculate it again every month or every quarter. Keep those calculations so you can look at them later.

The “I’m Tired of Frugality” Moment

Most people quickly discover that cutting back on expenses is a great way to free up money to pay the bills and pay off debts, so they dive in with a fervor. They’re cutting back left and right and living really lean and enjoying watching their debts melt away.

Of course, with every change comes a bit of backlash. Before long, people often reach a point where they start to miss their old lifestyle choices and begin to grow “tired of frugality.” It happened to me, too.

I found that three strategies really helped with this.

Get Out of the House and Do Something Active (and Free)

I found that most of my negative thoughts about frugality – and my biggest desires to fall back on my old spending habits – came about when I was sitting at home without anything to do. As the old saying goes, “the devil finds work for idle hands to do,” and that’s certainly true here.

At home, I would often fall into thoughts about the things I’d like to be doing and spending my money on. Even worse, at home, I would have time to shop online for things and it was oh so easy to click the “buy it now” button.

The best way to avoid those thoughts, I found, was to keep busy. I went on a lot of walks. I started geocaching during the infancy of the hobby. I went on a lot of hikes. I got exercise. I found outdoor projects to work on which later grew into some volunteerism.

These things kept me simultaneously busy and healthy, and it kept me from spending money or even thinking about it.

One big key is to do this without your cell phone. Put it down. Turn it off. Don’t let it be a distraction to you, because your smart phone is an easy tool to convince yourself to spend money and to do it easily.

Deconstruct Your Want List

If you’re sitting there thinking about the things that you’d like to spend money on, don’t just think wistfully about the positives. Break those things down with some serious focus.

Most of the time, when desires float through your head, you only look at the positive side of those desires. You would have fun with whatever that desire is or receive some sort of pleasure from it. What isn’t usually captured is the drawbacks of that desire.

So, go through the things you’re wanting to have that you’re denying yourself out of a sense of “frugality,” but instead of thinking just about the positives, think about the negatives. Will you remember this treat at all in a few days? Will you use this item for just a while and then never use it again? Is there a way to rent this item or borrow it instead of paying money for it? Do you already have something that does more or less the same thing? Do you gain anything worthwhile by buying this instead of a lower-priced version or a used version?

Put your want list through the charcoal filter of good sense and see what comes out on the other side. You’ll find that quite a few things just drop away.

Decide on One Singular Thing That You Want More Than Everything Else – And Have It

If you do decide to splurge – and that’s okay, every once in a while – figure out the one thing that you want the most after deconstructing that list of desires. Splurge on just that one thing.

However, before you do it, wait a little bit. Give it some anticipation so that you can enjoy the buildup a little.

After you decide to go for it, give yourself as much time as possible to enjoy whatever it is that you spent your money on. Savor it. Let the enjoyment last for as long as possible.

When it fades, rather than just jumping to the next thing that you want, remember the joy you got from this splurge. Keep it in your mind and make it last. Squeeze every drop of juice from this rock.

I find that when I do this, I get far more enjoyment out of single purchases and events than I do if I just load up my life with them. It’s also a lot healthier on my wallet.

The “My Progress Is So Slow” Moment

As the days and weeks and months roll forward, it’s easy to start getting a sense that your destination will never come. You’ve been working on debt freedom for years, yet debt freedom is still years away. You’ve been saving for retirement for years, but you’re still decades away from having enough to quit.

Those moments are rough. Rather than being tempted by desires, you’re beaten down by the seemingly endless grind.

Here are three ways I get through those low moments.

Take a Real Look at How Far You’ve Come

This, right here, is why I keep a net worth calculator and calculate my net worth each month.

If I ever feel as though I’m not making any progress, I can just pull out my most recent net worth calculation and then go back and compare it to my net worth in, say, June 2006.

In June 2006, I had a negative net worth. Today, I don’t even have any debts and I own my house – those things alone, ignoring my other investments, blow away my net worth from 2006. Over the course of nine years, I’ve made more progress than I can hardly believe.

Seeing raw proof of how far I’ve come makes me feel much, much better about the journey.

Spend Some Time Focusing on Shorter-Term Goals

Sometimes I get far too caught up on big long-term goals. I think about financial independence, which is years away. I think about buying that house in the country, which is (probably) years away. And I can’t help but wish there was something for me now rather than years down the road.

When I feel that way, I start focusing on short term goals. What do I want to achieve today? What do I want to achieve this week? I focus on knocking those things out of the park.

For one, when I’m bearing down on something that can be done in the short term, I think almost entirely about that short term focus.

For another, actually achieving those short term goals leaves me with a strong sense of accomplishment, which is almost the perfect antidote for that negative feeling about being so far from the big goals. Even better, many short term goals often lead into those long term goals.

Look at Your Month-Over-Month and Year-Over-Year Progress (or Start Preparing to Do So)

This is another reason for keeping net worth numbers.

If I compare my net worth to where it was a year ago, I can see real progress. Our family’s net worth over the last twelve months went up almost as much as our total income in 2014. That’s amazing, and it’s proof of how we’re racing toward our targets.

Even early on, when we were mostly just eliminating debts, the change from month to month and year to year in our net worth was inspirational. It was real proof that we were making changes in our life and, if we looked close, we could see it in our day to day life, too, in the form of lower stress and more contentment.

The simple step of comparing your net worth to what it was a year ago not only can provide reinforcement that you’re doing the right thing, but it can also provide evidence that you can always do better. For me, it’s just the right push to keep me going on my journey.

Final Thought

We all reach difficult moments in our financial journey. The key thing is to not allow those difficult moments to become impenetrable roadblocks that keep us from making future progress.

Good luck in wherever your financial path may take you.

The post Handling the Hardest Moments of a Financial Turnaround appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Connexity Buys PriceGrabber In CSE Consolidation

Company says the merger makes it second largest retail lead generator, behind Google. The post Connexity Buys PriceGrabber In CSE Consolidation appeared first on Marketing Land.

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5 Cheap (But Memorable) Father's Day Gifts

Store-bought items are nice, but time spent together is better. 

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7 Smart Money Saving Tips for Your Summer Vacation

You can cut costs on food and activities no matter where you're headed.

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Aviva launches investment platform

Michael Trudeau

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Insurance company Aviva has launched an investment platform for private investors.

Insurance company Aviva has launched an investment platform for private investors.

Aviva launches investment platform

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Insurance company Aviva has launched an investment platform for private investors. Investors can now open a general investment account, Isa or Sipp with Aviva and access a limited range of educational tools. The platform is currently in a state of 'soft launch', which effectively means it is open for business but not courting a huge amount of publicity while Aviva tests how it performs 'in the wild'. The Aviva Consumer Platform carries no set-up charges, and no exit charges if you decide to move your investment to a different platform. Investors will pay 0.4% for the first £50,000 invested, 0.35% for the next £200,000 (£50,001-£250,000), 0.25% for the next £250,000 (£250,001-£500,000) and 0% on anything over £500,000. Equity trades cost £7.50 a go. Fund charges will apply on top of this. Thumbs up Steven Nelson, researcher at platform specialist the Lang Cat, points out that Aviva's platform stacks up well on the lower end of the investment scale, coming out relatively inexpensive for Isa portfolios up to £50,000. Above that it begins to lose its competitive edge to the likes of Interactive Investor and Halifax Share Dealing. "All in all, from a cost point of view there's little to disagree with here. A relatively simple charging structure - although we'd prefer fewer tiers - with no extra costs for drawdown or transferring out gets a thumbs up," Nelson says. "We do find the fact that the entry charge for a D2C Isa with Aviva is 60% higher than that on its adviser platform - 0.25% compared to 0.4% – a bit weird." Aviva is the latest entrant in an increasingly competitive platform market, having planned its entry for around a year. This article was written for our sister website Money Observer

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12 Ideas to Help You Stick to Your Budget

Creating a spending plan can help you trim costs.

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Audio: Should You Shop With Friends?

Social shopping apps raise privacy concerns. 

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For Search & Social, Headlines Are The Top Drivers Of Traffic

Survey by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism finds that headlines are a stronger source of clicks for people consuming news via search than social media. The post For Search & Social, Headlines Are The Top Drivers Of Traffic appeared first on Marketing Land.

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Google’s Universal Analytics Two Years In: Hype Or Revolution?

Still on the fence about migrating to Google Universal Analytics? Columnist Nick Iyengar outlines six reasons why an upgrade should be a priority for your organization. The post Google’s Universal Analytics Two Years In: Hype Or Revolution? appeared first on Marketing Land.

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How to Beat Summer Slow Down

By Dawn Berryman Summer tends to be a slower time of the year for business. This can be disheartening if you own your own business and rely on the income for your family. However, just because orders aren’t rolling in doesn’t mean that you can’t be productive. Summer is a great time to catch up […]

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UK back in inflation

Rebecca Jones

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Fears that the UK may be heading for a period of prolonged deflation have eased as inflation returned, to 0.1%, in May from a contraction of 0.1% in April.

Fears that the UK may be heading for a period of prolonged deflation have eased as inflation returned, to 0.1%, in May from a contraction of 0.1% in April.

UK moves out of deflation

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Fears that the UK may be heading for a period of prolonged deflation have eased as inflation returned, to 0.1%, in May from a contraction of 0.1% in April. The consumer prices index (CPI), which measures the rate of inflation in the UK, rose by two percentage points in May compared to April, dragging prices back into positive territory after a spell of disinflation that was largely blamed on falling energy and food prices. Reversing this trend, the largest upward contributions to inflation in May came from transport and food and non-alcoholic beverages. Overall, transport rose 0.6% between April and May 2015, compared with a fall of 0.7% a year earlier. Air fares played a large role in increasing transport prices due to the timing of Easter, which meant that fares rose between April and May, having fallen a year ago. The price of petrol also increased, rising by 2.5 pence per litre between April and May, while diesel rose by 1.5 pence per litre. Contributors The price of food and non-alcoholic beverages did in fact fall in May; however, the decline of 0.1% was less than a fall of 1.1% between April and May 2014, leading to an effective gain on the 12-month rate. The largest downward contribution to CPI in May came from recreation and culture, as prices fell by 0.1% compared with a rise of 0.4% during the same period last year. The biggest price falls were seen in games, toys and hobbies (notably computer games). There was a smaller downward contribution from alcoholic beverages and tobacco, particularly wine, with overall prices falling by 0.04% between April and May. While inflation is no longer contracting, many have warned against over-enthusiasm as prices continue to remain suppressed throughout the UK economy. Kathleen Brooks, research director at forex.com, says: 'Although the UK's dalliance with deflation was shortlived, we are not out of the woods yet. Producer prices, which are a good indication of pressure in the UK's inflation pipeline, remain mired in deflationary territory. "Input prices fell 0.9% in May, while the market had been looking for a rise of 0.6%. This pushed the annual rate down to -12%, erasing a recent attempt at recovery." Core inflation Ben Brettell, senior economist at Hargreaves Lansdown, also observes that core inflation - which strips out cyclical factors such as energy and food - rose by just 0.9% in May, undershooting analysts' forecasts by 0.1%. "Core inflation shows that, even accounting for the dramatic fall and partial rebound of the oil price, inflationary pressures in the economy remain weak. Consequently there is still little pressure on policymakers to raise interest rates in the short term, with the first rise pencilled in for the first half of next year at the earliest," says Brettell. Others, however, take a contrary view. These include Kevin Doran, chief investment officer at Brown Shipley, who believes that official figures do not accurately reflect the state of inflation in the UK. "If you look in the right places it's perfectly clear that there is an abundance of inflation, particularly in asset prices, with talk of bubbles in house, bond and equity markets not farfetched," he says. "With inflation rebounding out of negative territory, we could now see a steady rise as asset price inflation filters across and into real world inflation. Importantly however, I haven't seen markets pricing a further rise and its potential risks correctly. I for one am avoiding fixed income, in part because of naïve inflation projections." This article was written for our sister website Money Observer

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