Wednesday's ETF Movers: PJP, XOP

In trading on Wednesday, the PowerShares Dynamic Pharmaceuticals Portfolio ETF (PJP) is outperforming other ETFs, up about 0.8% on the day. Components of that ETF showing particular strength include shares of Heron Therapeutics (HRTX), up about 19.6% and shares of Depomed (DEPO), up about 1.4% on the day.

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Wednesday Sector Laggards: Oil & Gas Exploration & Production, Metals & Mining Stocks

In trading on Wednesday, oil & gas exploration & production shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 3.1%. Helping drag down the group were shares of Sandridge Energy (SD), down about 13.4% and shares of Halcon Resources (HK) down about 12.5% on the day.

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Nike Earnings Preview: US, China Key To Growth

Nike has guided for a low single-digit growth in revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2016, with a 50 basis point expansion in the gross margin, on account of a shift to higher margin products in the sales mix and improved performance of its higher margin businesses. The company expects its overhead expenses to rise owing to investments undertaken by the company in its DTC business and e-commerce channel. We expect the company’s earnings to be in line with its guidance, given the company’s commentary.

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Star Wars Presence In Disney Infinity 3.0 May Aid Video Game Sales, But Significant Growth Unlikely

Disney last month released Infinity 3.0 priced at $64.99 for a starter pack. The Infinity game series has seen tremendous success since it was first launched in August 2013. It helped revive Disney's loss making Interactive Media division. Now with the Star Wars presence in its 3rd generation, there is a lot of buzz around the video game. What is important for Disney is the video game sales. In the June quarter Disney witnessed a decline in unit sales, which weighed on the segment's top line as well as operating income. However, Infinity's overall positive trend and Star Wars brand image may just be enough for Disney to revive the sales.

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Wednesday Sector Leaders: Hospital & Medical Practitioners, General Contractors & Builders

In trading on Wednesday, hospital & medical practitioners shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1%. Leading the group were shares of Civitas Solutions (CIVI), up about 3.1% and shares of Tenet Healthcare (THC) up about 3% on the day.

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BlackBerry Earnings Preview: Will Core Software Sales Pick Up?

BlackBerry is betting its financial turnaround on the software unit, which primarily sells enterprise mobility management and secure communications software, as it looks to offset the impact of plummeting service access fee revenues and slow uptake of its flagship smartphones. The company has set an ambitious software revenue target of $600 million for FY'16, but it appears to be off to a slow start, as a bulk of its Q1 sales ($137 million) came from one-time patent licensing revenues, while its core software assets remained under-monetized.

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Ex-Div Reminder for Royal Bank of Scotland Non-cumulative Guaranteed Trust Preferred Securities

On 9/25/15, Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc's 6.25% Non-cumulative Guaranteed Trust Preferred Securities (NYSE: RBS.PRI) will trade ex-dividend, for its quarterly dividend of $0.3906, payable on 9/30/15. As a percentage of RBS.PRI's recent share price of $25.27, this dividend works out to approximately 1.55%, so look for shares of RBS.PRI to trade 1.55% lower — all else being equal — when RBS.PRI shares open for trading on 9/25/15. On an annualized basis, the current yield is approximately 6.18%, which compares to an average yield of 4.78% in the "Banking & Savings" preferred stock category, according to Preferred Stock Channel. Click here to learn which S.A.F.E. dividend stocks also have preferred shares that should be on your radar screen »

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Bank of America Trust Originated Preferred Securities About To Put More Money In Your Pocket

On 9/25/15, Bank of America Corp.'s 7.12% Trust Originated Preferred Securities (NYSE: MER.PRE) will trade ex-dividend, for its quarterly dividend of $0.445, payable on 9/30/15. As a percentage of MER.PRE's recent share price of $25.82, this dividend works out to approximately 1.72%, so look for shares of MER.PRE to trade 1.72% lower — all else being equal — when MER.PRE shares open for trading on 9/25/15. On an annualized basis, the current yield is approximately 6.90%, which compares to an average yield of 5.74% in the "Financial" preferred stock category, according to Preferred Stock Channel. Click here to learn which S.A.F.E. dividend stocks also have preferred shares that should be on your radar screen »

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US stocks move lower in midday trading

 Major U.S. Market Indices Value Over Time | [...]

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Dow Analyst Moves: HD

The latest tally of analyst opinions from the major brokerage houses shows that among the 30 stocks making up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Home Depot (HD) is the #11 analyst pick. Home Depot Inc also comes in above the median of analyst picks among the broader S&P 500 index components, claiming the #218 spot out of 500.

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First Week of May 2016 Options Trading For UBS Group

Investors in UBS Group AG (NYSE: UBS) saw new options begin trading this week, for the May 2016 expiration. One of the key inputs that goes into the price an option buyer is willing to pay, is the time value, so with 240 days until expiration the newly trading contracts represent a potential opportunity for sellers of puts or calls to achieve a higher premium than would be available for the contracts with a closer expiration. At Stock Options Channel, our YieldBoost formula has looked up and down the UBS options chain for the new May 2016 contracts and identified one put and one call contract of particular interest.

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Don’t Sell Yourself Short: Here’s How to Make More Money Selling Stuff on Craigslist

Craigslist can be a great way to make some cash. But selling your stuff for more than a few bucks can be tricky in a crowded online forum.

I start out so optimistic about my postings, but end up reducing the price over and over until I’m basically giving stuff away. Well, not anymore.

I’ve done the legwork to figure out how to put together listings that showcase how great your items are and get the price you deserve. Here’s how to make your items stand out from the rest and bring in a little extra money on the side.

Snap Photos in Natural Light

You don’t need to invest in expensive equipment, but take the time to capture a good photo. Natural light is your best friend. If you have to wait until the weekend to take a photo during the day, so be it.

One seller found out the value of good photos when he posted a chair he found on the street. Thanks to excellent photography and a detailed listing, he made $75!

Clean Up the Background

People want to buy items that come from a clean, well-kept home. I don’t know about you, but those terms do not always describe my apartment. However, it’s easy to fake.

Remember how you cleaned your room as a kid — by stuffing all of the clutter under the bed?

Take a few minutes to tidy up the portion of your home that will appear in the shot, and you’ll come away with more attractive photos that keep the emphasis on the item for sale.

Post Multiple Photos

When I’m looking at Craigslist posts and I come across a listing with only one photo, I immediately think the seller is trying to hide something. Plus, it just makes sense to post a handful of photos. After all, pixels are free!

Take pictures from a variety of angles and focus on details potential buyers will be interested in. Most phones and tablets have high-res cameras, so snapping a bunch of shots is easy.

Be Honest

The vast majority of items sold on Craigslist are used. People get that.

If the item you’re selling has a few imperfections, it’s still worth listing. But be upfront about any flaws. Chances are, potential buyers will discover any damage when they come to see the item anyway.

I once came across a post on Craigslist made by a disgruntled buyer who tried to warn others about a couch he’d seen the previous day. “Don’t bother!” his post screamed. Apparently there was a pretty serious stain the seller had strategically left out of the listing photos.

Save potential buyers a trip, and save yourself the hassle and potential embarrassment, by coming clean about the condition of the item you’re selling. Also, karma is real.

Use Keywords

Most people navigate Craigslist by searching for an item they have in mind. So as you’re composing your listing, think about who might be looking for this item and what they might type in the search bar.

Be sure to mention the brand name and model. It’s worth doing some Internet research to track down this information.

If your item is old, maybe add the word “vintage” or “antique” to pull in people looking for things with character. You get the idea. Make your posts findable, and you’ll bring in more potential buyers.

Offer to Deliver

The worst part about buying things on Craigslist is picking them up, especially large items like a table or couch. If you have a vehicle big enough to haul the item, add that information to the listing.

And don’t be afraid to charge extra for your time and gas. This option will greatly increase your pool of potential buyers and might net you a little extra cash in the process.

Price It Right

Negotiating comes with the territory on Craigslist. So when you’re pricing your items, aim a bit higher. That way, when someone makes a lower offer, which they probably will, you have room to bargain.

However, keep in mind people go on Craigslist to find deals. So, yes, you paid $200 for that coffee table and it’s still in great shape. But unless it’s a collector’s item, no one is going to buy it for $150.

Click around to get a sense of what similar items are going for and price your item accordingly.

Share on Social Media

Whenever I post something on Craigslist, I make sure to share the listing on Facebook. Many of the people in my network live nearby, and someone might be interested in what I’m selling.

If it’s a big ticket item, you might also consider asking your friends to share your post, thereby taking advantage of an even wider network of locals.

Be Safe

Part of getting good at Craigslist is being safe in the process. The Internet is home to plenty of creeps, so be sure you’re using common sense.

• Take advantage of the Craigslist feature that makes your email anonymous.
• If you know you’ll be replying to emails from strangers, consider changing the settings on your email so it only lists your first name.
• Meet in a public place, like a coffee shop or gas station. If that’s not an option, at least be sure you have a friend or family member with you when the person comes by.

Whatever steps you decide to take, listen to your intuition; if you’re getting a sketchy vibe from someone, don’t hesitate to stop the interaction.  

Your Turn: Do you sell and buy things off of Craigslist? How do you make the most from your sales?

Lyndsee Simpson is a writer and editor living in Washington, D.C.

The post Don’t Sell Yourself Short: Here’s How to Make More Money Selling Stuff on Craigslist appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Commit To Buy Becton, Dickinson and Co. At $120, Earn 3.4% Annualized Using Options

Investors eyeing a purchase of Becton, Dickinson and Co. (NYSE: BDX) stock, but tentative about paying the going market price of $139.06/share, might benefit from considering selling puts among the alternative strategies at their disposal. One interesting put contract in particular, is the March 2016 put at the $120 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of $2.00. Collecting that bid as the premium represents a 1.7% return against the $120 commitment, or a 3.4% annualized rate of return (at Stock Options Channel we call this the YieldBoost).

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See How Alcoa Ranks Among Analysts' Top Metals Picks

A study of analyst recommendations at the major brokerages shows that Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) is the #27 broker analyst pick, on average, out of the 50 stocks making up the Metals Channel Global Mining Titans Index, according to Metals Channel. The Metals Channel Global Mining Titans Index is comprised of the top fifty global leaders from the metals and mining sector. The companies listed in the Metals Channel Global Mining Titans Index are not fixed, but instead variable — updating on a continuous basis to reflect the changing market environment with respect to commodity prices, government policy and market volatility.

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Broker Darlings of the Dow: Home Depot Ranks As a Top 15 Analyst Pick

A study of analyst recommendations at the major brokerages shows that Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD) is the #11 broker pick, on average, out of the 30 stocks making up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, according to ETF Channel. Home Depot Inc also comes in above the median of analyst picks among the broader S&P 500 index components, claiming the #218 spot out of 500.

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First Week of May 2016 Options Trading For Dollar General

Investors in Dollar General Corp (NYSE: DG) saw new options begin trading this week, for the May 2016 expiration. One of the key inputs that goes into the price an option buyer is willing to pay, is the time value, so with 240 days until expiration the newly trading contracts represent a potential opportunity for sellers of puts or calls to achieve a higher premium than would be available for the contracts with a closer expiration. At Stock Options Channel, our YieldBoost formula has looked up and down the DG options chain for the new May 2016 contracts and identified one put and one call contract of particular interest.

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First Week of May 2016 Options Trading For Mead Johnson Nutrition

Investors in Mead Johnson Nutrition Co (NYSE: MJN) saw new options become available this week, for the May 2016 expiration. One of the key data points that goes into the price an option buyer is willing to pay, is the time value, so with 240 days until expiration the newly available contracts represent a possible opportunity for sellers of puts or calls to achieve a higher premium than would be available for the contracts with a closer expiration. At Stock Options Channel, our YieldBoost formula has looked up and down the MJN options chain for the new May 2016 contracts and identified one put and one call contract of particular interest.

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3 REITs to Weather Any Fed Action

Last Thursday, Janet Yellen told investors the same thing she always says. They, in turn, took the news as they usually do. They panicked and sold everything.

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IMF-Backed Reforms Could Grant Ghana A Debt Reprieve

With a World Bank guarantee and an IMF programme, Ghana’s government may finally have a little breathing room to fix the country’s sputtering economy, as officials go on the road to market a new $1.5 billion eurobond.

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Volkswagen boss resigns over scandal

BREAKING: Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn has stepped down from the company over the emissions scandal.

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5 Advanced Formatting Tips to Maximize Time on Site and Conversions

You get it, right?

You need great content if you’re going to use content marketing to build your website’s traffic.

But that’s not enough by itself.

If you just used plain text in all your posts, barely anyone would read them, no matter how good your writing and message were.

You need to make it readable.

And by readable, I mean two things:

1. Content that is easy to read: the content is clearly separated in such a way that lets the reader quickly read it without getting lost or confused.
2. Content that is fun to read: People read best when they are interested and engaged. The way you format content can affect the reader’s experience.

Some of this relies on picking the right topics and writing well.

However, a large part of making content as readable as possible is formatting it.

Marketers with web design backgrounds have no problem doing this…

But most marketers don’t have a background in web design.

Most learn to write better first but then never bother to learn how to format their content better.

Now’s your chance to get started.

First, you should read my article on basic formatting techniques to get your readers spend more time on your content.

Then, you should come back to this article and learn about these 5 advanced formatting tips that will take your content to the top levels of readability. 

Tip #1: Designing a background that stands out

A large part of attractive formatting is finding ways to make your content stand out from the millions of other pages published on the Internet every day.

One tactic that automatically makes your content stand out, and also makes it more readable, is to create different backgrounds for different sections.

Having a color change, in addition to a well-written subheadline, makes it easy for anyone scanning the page to look for specific sections they might be interested in.

If you’ve never done it before, it might seem complicated. In reality, it’s fairly easy, and for most projects, you won’t even need to hire a designer (it will take some time, though).

First, pick the right colors: Typically, you’ll want 2 (max 3) different background colors.

You need to pick the right colors so that they:

• look good together
• are sufficiently different

Of course you want the colors to look good; otherwise, they will distract the reader in a negative way.

Additionally, if the colors are too similar, it will be hard for readers to tell that a new section has begun.

Finally, the colors should fit your overall branding color scheme so that people associate your brand with your content.

If you’re naturally good at picking colors, that’s great. But for the rest of us, I recommend a tool such as Paletton.

To use it, first click the “add complementary” button under the “monochromatic” default setting.

After that, you have two main options:

• click and drag either of the outside circles to change color schemes
• click and drag the center circle in and out to change the hue (brightness)

Ideally, pick one color that matches your brand (like green for Quick Sprout), and the tool will automatically suggest a good complementary color.

I recommend not going too bright with your colors; otherwise, your content will be harder to read. Likewise, you don’t want to go too dark either. Pick nice neutral colors.

Once you like the look of the preview on the right hand side, click each color individually. When you do, a popup will show you all the information about the color. Copy down the color code for use later.

Now, you need to apply that color to different sections of your content.

Second, apply CSS to each section of your content: Even if you don’t know any CSS, you can still probably handle this (although this would be a good time to start learning HTML and CSS as they are handy for any marketer, SEO, or business owner.)

Let’s take a look at one of my advanced guides. If you ever want to see advanced formatting in action, just look at any of the Quick Sprout guides.

You can see what’s going on behind the scenes by right-clicking anywhere in the content and then clicking “inspect element” (in Chrome):

A little console will pop up at the bottom. The HTML code is in the left panel, and the CSS is on the right.

You can assign CSS properties (that control the way your content looks) by either the “id” or “class” of an HTML tag (usually a “div”).

In this case, you can see that the CSS property that controls the background color of the top section is attached to the div class “step-g”.

You can specify the background color of a section by using the property:

background: color number

And you can set the text color using:

color: text color

Using the inspector, you can even change the color codes to see what the background would look like without actually applying the change:

Ready to do this for your content?

First, go into your post or page, and select the “text” tab if you’re using WordPress (or an equivalent button to bring up the HTML of the content):

This is where you will put in a lot of your time and effort.

You need to create divisions (“div”s) for each different section in your content.

While you’re doing that, assign a class to each division. For example:

<div class=“blue-background”>content here</div>

The simplest way to do this is to alternate background colors, e.g., apply the class “blue-background” to one section, then “orange-background” to the next, and repeat.

When you’ve done that for all your sections (or at least a few for a test), save your content. That’s the HTML part.

Now we need to add the CSS code for any visible changes to happen.

Go to “Appearance > Editor” in WordPress, where your theme files are stored.

You should be using a child theme so that you don’t lose any custom CSS when you update your theme in the future. If you don’t have one, create a child theme right now.

All you need to do is add your code in your child theme’s CSS file (hint: it says “.css” at the end of the name at the top). It should look something like this:

.blue-background {

background:#678EF9;

color: #FFF;

}

Make sure you have both sets of brackets – { and } – or you could cause some issues for your site.

When you’re done, click “Save.”

If everything went right, your content divisions will now have their own beautiful backgrounds.

Alternatively, create an image file to use as the background: If you take a close look at some of the Quick Sprout guides, you’ll see that the backgrounds are a little bit more complex.

You’ll see dotted lines and custom images in places that don’t seem easy to replicate:

You can make backgrounds like this one, but it will be harder. You may want to consider hiring someone to help you.

If you inspect any of these backgrounds in my guides, you’ll see that the CSS still contains a “background” property. But instead of specifying a color, it specifies a URL.

If you right-click the background URL and click “open,” you can see the background image:

I bet you can tell how it all fits together now.

These backgrounds aren’t necessarily complex—you just need to make sure they line up properly, which can be difficult.

Another potential downside is that there’s no easy way to make it responsive, which is why these guides are all static pages—they don’t scale to the screen size.

If you do want to try something like this (even for just a few sections), create a background in a program such as Photoshop, GIMP, or Canva.

I like Canva because you can find and insert a lot of great elements quickly.

Create a custom canvas that’s the size of your section, and pick the “lines” button from the menu on the left:

In this example case, I chose a dotted line.

It will appear on your canvas on the right, and you can easily drag it to change its size, position, and even color.

As you can see, it’s pretty simple to make.

The hard part is lining it up with all your text and making your own custom images. That is where you might need to hire a designer if you’re serious about creating a top-notch design.

When you’re done, download the picture using the button at the top:

Then, upload that URL to your CDN or media library.

Finally, instead of specifying a background color in your child theme’s CSS file, specify the background URL:

   background: url(‘put URL here in the quotes‘) center top no-repeat;

And, voilà! You have your advanced backgrounds in place.

Tip #2: Attractive images don’t need to cost a lot

Very few people enjoy reading a giant block of text (maybe if they’re on a dial-up?).

The most common way to break up text is to use images.

But if you use the same stock photos everyone else does, your content will look like everyone else’s.

If you want your visitors to spend extra time on your content and be impressed enough to sign up for your email list, you need to find a way to stand out.

So, how do you stand out?

You need to have high quality pictures not found all over the web.

That leaves you with two main options.

Option #1 – Make full use of icons: This option is the simplest. It involves finding images that for some reason aren’t used very often.

In another one of my extensive guides, you’ll see many icon-like images that add a lot to the overall look of the content:

Sure, you can get these custom-drawn if you’d like, but there’s a simpler way that will work for most projects: go to the Noun Project.

Search for a general word that describes what you’re looking for, and you’ll get a ton of relevant icons in the results:

Although anyone can use these, I suspect the main reason that they are still relatively rarely used is because they aren’t free.

You have the option of using them free, but you have to credit the creator, which isn’t something you really want to do in the middle of your content.

However, you can also just buy a monthly subscription for $9.99 and use as many icons as you’d like. It’s a great deal provided you produce enough content for which you can use the icons.

Option #2 – Hire a designer: The other way of getting unique images is to make your own. 

If you don’t have the design skills, you’ll need to hire a designer.

I get why marketers don’t like hiring designers: they’re an extra expense.

The best designers are expensive, while there are many terrible cheap designers.

You should be looking for a solid designer who might be lacking experience and doesn’t charge very much.

If you look for recent graduates, you can often find someone who is looking to build a portfolio and will work for under $10 per image (depending on complexity).

Post a job on any of the obvious freelance marketplaces for designers:

• Upwork
• Freelancer
• Guru

A final option is to make your own custom images, perhaps incorporating icons into your pictures. I wrote an in-depth post on making your own custom images that you might be interested in.

The science of picking the right fonts

It’s easy to see how picking the right font and font style can make a big difference in readability.

Change your website’s font size to 8, and see how many people will still read it. My guess is not many.

Or change your font to cursive, and you’ll see how quickly that’ll get annoying to read.

Finally, change your font to bright yellow if you want to give your readers headaches.

Those are the three factors you need to worry about: font size, type, and color.

Your body font should be at least 14 pixels. Many recommend at least 16px for maximum readability.

Your subheadlines should be at least a few pixels larger than your body copy, and they should be bolded.

All of that is pretty standard.

Where you have an opportunity to be a little more unique is in the font typeface and the color.

Picking the right font typeface: If you pick the same type typeface as everyone else, your content will look like everyone else’s. If that’s your goal, just stick with Times New Roman or Arial.

Of course, you also have the option of using different fonts for different pieces of content.

But if you’re trying to make a really distinctive blog post, guide, sales page, landing page, or some other piece of content, spend a few minutes to find a unique font.

There are over 682 fonts on Google Fonts alone, most of which are rarely used by others.

One way to help your subheadlines attract even more attention is to pick different fonts for your headlines and your body copy.

This is something I’ve done in many of my guides:

This is called font pairing. It improves readability just like complementary colored backgrounds do.

The two most common types of fonts are serif (with the hooks on the letters) and sans-serif.

A popular strategy is to mix one serif font with a sans serif font, creating even more contrast:

How to pick your font: I don’t recommend that you simply look through fonts all day long until you find the one you like. You have better things to do with your time.

Luckily, there’s a better way.

Your first option is to use Font Pair.

The site consists of font pairings chosen by experienced web designers. They’ve done all the hard work for you.

Start by picking a type of font combination on the top menu bar:

You’ll get a list of attractive font combinations.

The best part is that it’s easy to decide if you like them because the site shows you what they look like.

The heading, which is the name of the two fonts, is written in one font, while the example text in the paragraph below is in the second font.

Both fonts are displayed below the listing:

Your second option is to look at Typewolf—“The Site of the Day” section in particular, which features many different websites every day.

Essentially, design experts pick the sites with the best looking font and design. If you see one you like, you can find out the font names right there:

Finally, don’t be afraid to use color: Bolding subheadlines is a great way to make them stand out, but it’s not the only way.

In my advanced guides, I often made subheadlines stand out by choosing a high contrast color that went with the rest of the content.

This is especially important if you’re using colored backgrounds as black text may not stand out as much as it usually does (depending on the background color).

Tip #3: Guide your visitors by using color

When it comes to directing your readers’ attention, color is one of your greatest weapons.

If a page is all white but there’s a colored circle anywhere on it, guess where a person looks first? At the circle, of course.

Derek Halpern, the guy behind Social Triggers, reviewed all the research behind colors and action and came up with one conclusion:

Pick one “action” color for your website and train your readers to pay attention to it. Other than that color, your website shouldn’t have much color.

If you’re interested in the full analysis, here it is:

You can use this principle to make your email opt-ins and important links stand out more to improve your conversion rate.

The color that you pick doesn’t matter in most cases (there might be small differences). Just pick one color (two max), and go with it.

One great example is, not surprisingly, the Social Triggers blog.

The latest design is mostly black and white…except for the opt-in forms. Those are in a distinctive blue that draws your attention.

He has one in the sidebar that you see right away…

And he also has one at the end of the article.

This is a great place for an opt-in form because as the readers scroll down toward the end, they automatically have their attention shifted to the sign-up form.

You can do this for email opt-in, social sharing buttons, and even purchase buttons.

Be careful with backgrounds: If you do incorporate colored backgrounds for readability purposes, you need to make sure that your opt-in forms and other important elements have a high contrast.

If I had a green background and then a slightly darker green opt-in form, it wouldn’t draw much attention.

Always consider the end action you want your reader to take when picking background colors for your content.

Tip #4: Nothing is more entertaining than rich media (use it free)

You might know that I’m a huge fan of premium forms of content such as infographics.

Sure, they cost more to make, but when they are done right, readers love them.

One reason for this is that written content has many limitations. It’s often much easier to show something than it is to explain it.

Using images to explain complex data is a great way to make it easier for a reader to consume the information and make it more fun as well.

People process images 60,000 times faster than text.

But other types of media, such as video, are also more engaging than text.

Readers will often spend several minutes either watching a video or examining a great infographic.

The problem is that they take a long time to make. Or they’re very expensive to make if you hire someone to take care of the whole thing for you.

However, I have a couple of solutions for you that very few content creators seem to take advantage of.

Option #1 – Take advantage of embedding: Some topics are perfect for being taught through video.

Any complex procedure with several steps would take hundreds or thousands of words to explain, which would take a long time to read. The same procedure could be explained in minutes in a video. Additionally, it’s easier to understand this type of information when it’s presented in a video format.

Instead of making your own video every time you mention something that needs an explanation, why not use a highly rated YouTube video that someone else has made? You can find great videos on nearly every topic.

Instead of your readers going away from your site to look for more information, you give it to them in a video form right on your page.

The best part is that it only takes a minute to do.

Type in your keyword in the YouTube search box:

Then look through the top few results with the most views.

Click on them, and look at the ratings and comments. If you find one that’s almost 100% positive, you know it’s a solid video.

To embed the video, click on “share” below the name of the video creator, then click “embed.” Finally, copy the embed code—that’s the HTML you’ll paste within your content.

Here’s an example of how I’ve used an embedded video in one of my posts:

In this particular article, which was a list of Gmail plugins, I couldn’t do a thorough walk-through of all the plugins (or the post would have been much longer than the 5,000 words it already was).

I also knew that you would probably be interested only in particular plugins. By embedding the video of this particular plugin, I gave you the opportunity to read the short description of the plugin first to see if you were interested and then watch the video for a more detailed look.

Option #2 – Infographics can be overwhelming: Although infographics are a great way to communicate complex information, you can’t post a giant infographic along with a long article and expect the readers to take in both.

Besides, that would be prohibitively expensive.

What you can do, however, is take snippets of infographics that other people have published and mix them in with your content.

This breaks up your content with an image that is much more valuable than any standard stock photo you could find.

I don’t know a single infographic creator who would mind you using their work as long as you include a link:

The above picture would be perfect for any post about content marketing, and it came from an infographic I previously published.

Either download the infographic and crop it, or use a plugin such as Snagit to cut out a specific piece:

And there you go: a high quality engaging picture with virtually no effort or expense on your part.

Tip #5: There’s nothing a visitor trusts more than this (highlight it!)

Everyone loves to give advice, whether it’s in blog posts or person to person.

As you know, most of it is useless or not very convincing.

If a casual acquaintance offers you career advice, you’d probably listen, but not very well.

But if Elon Musk offered you career advice, you’d forget about everything else and pay full attention to him. Why? Because he’s highly successful—he’s an authority.

The same goes online: when you feature content from experts, readers pay close attention to it.

But most of the time, it’s hard to spot expert content in posts.

With good formatting, however, you can make it a lot easier. You want to make any input from experts the center of attention.

Even skimmers will slow down when they see it.

Here’s one example from Backlinko, where Brian makes an expert quote blatantly obvious with a bright green background:

And here’s another one from Authority Hacker, featuring a quote from a legendary book.

How you can make expert content stand out: There are tons of ways you could make an expert quote or contribution stand out in your content.

I really like how Brian does it, and it’s probably the simplest way for you to do it as well.

Once again, you’ll need to know some basic CSS to do this. The good thing, however, is that after setting it up once, you can reuse it over and over again with no extra work.

Here’s what a basic one would look like.

First, you’ll need the HTML:

<div class=“expertbox”>Type in your expert content here.</div>

For a very basic box, that’s all you’ll need.

If you want to put an image of the expert, which is a nice touch, you’ll need to add another “div” within the main box:

<div class=“expertbox”>Type in your expert content here.<div class>put image in here and name</div></div>

Next up, you’ll have to add CSS into your child theme stylesheet (refer back to Tip #1 for help with this) so that your box looks the way you’d like.

At the very minimum, you’ll need to add something like this:

.expertbox {

border: 1px dashed #A9D6A9;

background:#D8FFD8;

padding: 1.6em 1.6em 2.4em 2.4em;

}

Of course, you can pick your own colors, and you’ll probably need to play around with the padding values so that your text is positioned in your box the way you want it.

Conclusion

Formatting can be the difference between only your mom reading your content and thousands of people taking in your every word.

It’s often brushed aside in favor of spending more time on creating content and promoting it, but that’s a mistake.

Although those two parts of content marketing are important, so is formatting.

And because so many people ignore it, you can stand out if you push it to its limits.

If you follow just a few of the advanced tips in this article, you will ensure that your content is better than your competitors’ in the eyes of your audience.

Do you have a favorite formatting technique? I’d love it if you shared it in the comments below.

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NUGT, FUTS: Big ETF Outflows

Looking at units outstanding versus one week prior within the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, the biggest outflow was seen in the Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 3x Shares (NUGT), where 14,800,000 units were destroyed, or a 6.7% decrease week over week. Among the largest underlying components of NUGT, in morning trading today Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) is up about 0.9%.

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ITB, GDJJ: Big ETF Inflows

Comparing units outstanding versus one week ago at the coverage universe of ETFs at ETF Channel, the biggest inflow was seen in the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB), which added 3,700,000 units, or a 4.6% increase week over week. Among the largest underlying components of ITB, in morning trading today D R Horton (DHI) is up about 1.6%, and Lennar Corporation (LEN) is higher by about 1.4%.

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12 'Greenest' 2015 Cars

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Volkswagen's EPA Emissions Scandal Has Some Debt Traders Pricing In A Junk Rating

Bondholders are increasingly leery of the German automaker, with some indicators signaling investors believe the company's debt ratings could fall below investment grade.

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First Week of November 20th Options Trading For Enbridge

Investors in Enbridge Inc (NYSE: ENB) saw new options begin trading this week, for the November 20th expiration. At Stock Options Channel, our YieldBoost formula has looked up and down the ENB options chain for the new November 20th contracts and identified one put and one call contract of particular interest.

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First Week of May 2016 Options Trading For Vulcan Materials

Investors in Vulcan Materials Co (NYSE: VMC) saw new options become available this week, for the May 2016 expiration. One of the key inputs that goes into the price an option buyer is willing to pay, is the time value, so with 240 days until expiration the newly available contracts represent a potential opportunity for sellers of puts or calls to achieve a higher premium than would be available for the contracts with a closer expiration. At Stock Options Channel, our YieldBoost formula has looked up and down the VMC options chain for the new May 2016 contracts and identified one put and one call contract of particular interest.

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First Week of LUK November 20th Options Trading

Investors in Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE: LUK) saw new options begin trading this week, for the November 20th expiration. At Stock Options Channel, our YieldBoost formula has looked up and down the LUK options chain for the new November 20th contracts and identified one put and one call contract of particular interest.

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First Week of EFX November 20th Options Trading

Investors in Equifax, Inc. (NYSE: EFX) saw new options begin trading this week, for the November 20th expiration. At Stock Options Channel, our YieldBoost formula has looked up and down the EFX options chain for the new November 20th contracts and identified one put and one call contract of particular interest.

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First Week of HLS November 20th Options Trading

Investors in HealthSouth Corp. (NYSE: HLS) saw new options become available this week, for the November 20th expiration. At Stock Options Channel, our YieldBoost formula has looked up and down the HLS options chain for the new November 20th contracts and identified one put and one call contract of particular interest.

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Interesting BXMT Call Options For November 20th

Investors in Blackstone Mortgage Trust Inc (NYSE: BXMT) saw new options become available this week, for the November 20th expiration. At Stock Options Channel, our YieldBoost formula has looked up and down the BXMT options chain for the new November 20th contracts and identified the following call contract of particular interest.

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Wednesday 9/23 Insider Buying Report: BOX, MFRM

Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned cash to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.

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Nasdaq 100 Movers: JD, CTXS

In early trading on Wednesday, shares of Citrix Systems (CTXS) topped the list of the day's best performing components of the Nasdaq 100 index, trading up 1.8%. Year to date, Citrix Systems registers a 15.2% gain.

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S&P 500 Movers: KMX, QRVO

In early trading on Wednesday, shares of Qorvo (QRVO) topped the list of the day's best performing components of the S&P 500 index, trading up 3.6%. Year to date, Qorvo has lost about 30.3% of its value.

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Dow Movers: CAT, INTC

In early trading on Wednesday, shares of Intel Corp (INTC) topped the list of the day's best performing Dow Jones Industrial Average components, trading up 0.5%. Year to date, Intel Corp has lost about 20.6% of its value.

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Agilent Technologies Goes Ex-Dividend Soon

Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on 9/25/15, Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: A) will trade ex-dividend, for its quarterly dividend of $0.10, payable on 10/21/15. As a percentage of A's recent stock price of $35.09, this dividend works out to approximately 0.28%. Click here to learn which 25 S.A.F.E. dividend stocks should be on your radar screen » or click here to find out which 9 other stocks going ex-dividend you should know about, at DividendChannel.com »

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MFA Ex-Dividend Reminder

Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on 9/25/15, MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE: MFA) will trade ex-dividend, for its quarterly dividend of $0.20, payable on 10/30/15. As a percentage of MFA's recent stock price of $7.31, this dividend works out to approximately 2.74%, so look for shares of MFA Financial, Inc. to trade 2.74% lower — all else being equal — when MFA shares open for trading on 9/25/15. Click here to learn which S.A.F.E. dividend stocks also have preferred shares that should be on your radar screen »

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Ex-Div Reminder for SeaWorld Entertainment

Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on 9/25/15, SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: SEAS) will trade ex-dividend, for its quarterly dividend of $0.21, payable on 10/6/15. As a percentage of SEAS's recent stock price of $17.65, this dividend works out to approximately 1.19%, so look for shares of SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. to trade 1.19% lower — all else being equal — when SEAS shares open for trading on 9/25/15. Click here to learn which 25 S.A.F.E. dividend stocks should be on your radar screen » or click here to find out which 9 other stocks going ex-dividend you should know about, at DividendChannel.com »

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The Best College Lists: Top Three Contenders

There are too many college lists. Which are the best ones for you? I pick the best of the best.

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Earnings Quality Often Lost On Wall Street Analysts

The cat is out of the bag. CFOs admit that they manipulate accounting rules to “misrepresent earnings.” They also say that Wall Street analysts play along. The gory details are in this recent paper, “The Misrepresentation of Earnings”, which was featured on MarketWatch.com.

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Stocks Gain As U.S. Market Shrugs Off Yet Another Weak China Reading

U.S. stocks flash early signals for gains on Wednesday, defying what’s so far been sloppy two-directional trading in Europe and hefty declines across most Asian stock markets after more Chinese factory data revealed that growth engine is sputtering.

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Here's Why Ralph Lauren Could See Better Days

Premium lifestyle brand, Ralph Lauren , has not been seeing its best days of late. While the stock attained a high of about $186 as early as December 2014, it has come plummeting down ever since to trade at rates, as low as $105 in August, with the latest quote standing at about $110. However, we believe that Ralph Lauren could very well be trading at a discount and here?s why. In particular, we look at the different reasons that are contributing to this development and analyze how long this could last.

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Why We Believe Akamai's Average Revenue per Media Customer Could Cross $1 Million By 2022

We expect the company to grow its media customer base as well as revenue per media customer (which is a mix of content delivery and value-added solutions) significantly over the next six to seven years. In this analysis, we?ll look at factors driving growth in revenue per customer. The figure stood at an estimated $669,000 in 2014 and we expect it to cross $1 million by the end of our forecast period. This growth will be driven by the secular trends of more business being conducted online, increased online content and traffic, and increased demand for faster and more secure content delivery. Strong growth in Akamai's value-added services, such as security solutions and app accelerators, will also contribute to the increase in revenue per customer.

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Here's How Recruiters Really Fill Jobs

A survey of recruiters reveals what they look for in job candidates.

Source U.S. News - Money http://ift.tt/1Ffhh08

How to Save Money on College Textbooks

College students settling into a new semester can check out used books and earlier editions.

Source U.S. News - Money http://ift.tt/1MIVeRS

3 Tips for Handling an On-the-Spot Job Offer

You just interviewed, and now you have 24 hours to give a yes or no.

Source U.S. News - Money http://ift.tt/1LNPRv0

Why You Won’t Run Out of Money in Retirement

These safeguards will prevent you from spending your savings too quickly.

Source U.S. News - Money http://ift.tt/1Jpvt1v

10 Weird Ways to Make An Extra $565 for Christmas

Believe it or not, the holidays are almost here! And if you’re stressing out about money, trust me –  you’re not alone.

We want the holidays to be as stress-free as possible, so we’ve put together a list of 10 ways you can bank some extra cash.

Just take 2 hours and complete everything on this list and you’ll be $565 richer. Pretty cool, right? 

1. Download These Apps
Earnings: $80+

There are a number of companies, including Google, that will pay you to install their app on your cell phone. And they’ll pay you for every month you keep them installed.

The apps collect data from your cell phone and help companies better understand web and mobile usage better — such as what times of day people browse, how long they stay on websites and use apps, and what types of sites and apps are popular (or not).

Here are my favorites (install all of them and earn $80+ before the holidays):

– Digital Reflections – When you sign up for this they will send you $5, plus they’ll send you an additional $20 after you use the Digital Reflection Panel meter for 10 days.

– Media Insiders Panel – If you install their app, they’ll pay you $5/month per device. And you can install the app on up to 3 devices. Plus they’ll send you a $5 bonus after the 12th week. (Totals $185/year)

2. Become a Nielsen Family
Earning: $20

You’ve head of Nielsen, right? Yep, the same company that tracks TV ratings. They’ve got a new app that will pay you to scan the groceries in your fridge.

Once you sign up to become a Nielsen Homescan family, the company will send you a free scanner or you can use your smartphone. Every time you go shopping, you simply scan the barcodes on the back of each product and send your data off to Nielsen.

If you want to give it a try, you can fill out the application here: Nielsen Homescan Application (you can’t download this one from the app store; you’ll need to visit their website first).

As an active participant, you earn gift points which you can redeem for different types of merchandise. You can choose electronics, jewelry, household items, and even toys for the kids. The longer you stay on the panel, the more opportunity you have to earn points towards prizes. You also receive entries for the panel’s many sweepstakes. Prizes include money, vacations, and brand new vehicles.

 

 

3. Change Search Engines
Earnings: $20

If you spend a lot of time searching online, you might want to think about leaving Google/Yahoo and make Swagbucks your default search engine.

Why? Swagbucks wants to pay you for your searches!

You can earn SBs through Swagbucks every time you make a search — credits you can cash in for gift cards to a variety of stores like Amazon, Toys ‘r Us, and Starbucks. I usually only make an extra $5-$10/month, but it all adds up, right?

 

4. Go on a Scavenger Hunt Around the Mall
Earnings: $20

Do you like scavenger hunts? Download the Shopkick app and take it to the mall. Their app will rewards you with points for scanning certain products at hundreds of different stores (you don’t even have to buy them!).

Just to give you an example, my local Target is offering 30 Kicks just for me to walk in the store (the app uses your phone’s GPS to know you’ve arrived), plus I can earn up to 605 Kicks by scanning the 30 items on their “scan list.”

It only takes 1250 Kicks to get a $5 gift card, so if you scan all the products on the list at 8 different stores, you should have enough for a $20 gift card!

One reader told me her and her husband have made it into a game. They both downloaded the app and now they race every time they’re at the store to see who can get all of the scans first.

5. Sign Up for Free Gift Card Promotions: $10

Believe it or not, there are sites that will give you free gift cards just for signing up with them.

One of my favorites is Ebates, the cash-back shopping site. They’re giving away $10 gift cards if you sign-up as a new member and earn your first cashback rebate. You can choose either a $10 Target, Walmart, Macy’s, or Kohl’s gift card.

You do have to wait 30 days. But, it’s free money so can you really complain?  

 

6. Open a New Checking Account at Chase
Earnings: $250

I hate to be the one to break it you, but chances are your bank is ripping you off. The top 10 banks in the US charge an average of $7.50/month for an account. That’s insane!

You should try switching to an online bank. They have lower overhead costs and are able to pass those savings along to consumers. There are a bunch of great online banks, but my favorite is definitely Chase because they’re currently offering Penny Hoarder readers $250 just to open an account.

 

7. Get Cashback on All Your Shopping from SendEarnings
Earnings: $80

Are you familiar with cash-back shopping sites like SendEarnings? They’ll give you a cash rebate if you do your online shopping through their site.

You just need to create a free account and then use their site to shop at your favorite places like Target, Amazon, and Kohl’s (there are 1000s of stores on there – those are just a few). SendEarnings will then give you up to 25% cash-back on whatever you purchase! Crazy, right?

I use this year round, but it’s especially helpful at Christmas time. Consider that the average family spent $801 in gifts last year and you can see how fast this would start to add up. Use this site for your Christmas shopping, average around 10% in cash-back rebates, and save at least $80 this year!

 

8. Sell Some of Your Old Stuff
Earnings: $50

We’ve all got way too much extra junk just sitting around. Get rid of some of it and use the extra money for your Christmas shopping.

You could of course have a garage sale or sale some stuff on Craigslist, but one of my favorite ways to get rid of stuff is to use the Bookscouter app.

You scan your book’s barcode with your smartphone and Bookscouter will let you compare the payout of 20+ different buyback companies. Cool, right?

Once you’ve found the buyback company offering the most cash, you just fill out a little information about where you want your payment sent and prepare the books to be shipped. Most of the buyback companies offer prepaid shipping labels too, so there aren’t any costs associated with this.

 

9. Watch More Television
Earnings: $15

Alright, just hear me out on this one. It’s definitely possible to get paid to watch TV… There’s a new company called “RewardTV” that pays you to answer trivia questions about last night’s TV shows.

Do you know who they killed off in Game of Thrones last week? Tell them about it and they’ll pay you.

Did you know which contestant got kicked off “The Voice” this week? They’ll pay you.

You’re not going to get rich doing this, but it’s a fun way to make an extra $15-$20/month. Pretty cool, right?

 

10. Take 10 Surveys from Ipsos Panel
Earnings $20

The Ipsos I-Say Panel is one of the only legitimate paid survey apps out there (they’re the same company that does most of the political polling during elections).

I’ve heard some of the top-end surveys can pay up to $95, but those are rare and can take awhile to complete. Most surveys pay a buck or two and only take 10-15 minutes. Also, Ipsos rewards you with points which can then be redeemed for Paypal or gift cards to Amazon, iTunes, etc. (example: 1000 points can be redeemed for $10 Paypal). Use the link above to fill out an application and then they’ll send you a link to download the app.

 

We hope this list makes your holidays a little less stressful. Have a Merry Christmas! And thanks for being a reader!

The post 10 Weird Ways to Make An Extra $565 for Christmas appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Fidelity cuts index tracker fund fees

Tom Wilson

Cutting money with scissors.jpg

Passive investors will see their costs fall even further, as fund manager Fidelity announced it is slashing the charges on its index tracker investment fund range.

Passive investors will see their costs fall even further, as fund manager Fidelity announced it is slashing the charges on its index tracker investment fund range.

From 1 October, investors buying the Fidelity UK trackers through the firm's own Personal Investor platform will pay just 0.06% in fund fees.

Fidelity cuts index tracker fund fees

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Passive investors will see their costs fall even further, as fund manager Fidelity announced it is slashing the charges on its index tracker investment fund range. From 1 October, investors buying the Fidelity UK trackers through the firm's own Personal Investor platform will pay just 0.06% in fund fees. The US tracker will cost just 0.07%, Japan 0.1%, Europe (excluding UK) 0.1%, pacific ex Japan 0.13% and emerging markets 0.21%. The global tracker, which includes the UK, will cost 0.13%. Fees for Fidelity's trackers will also fall for investors on other platforms, though they will remain around 0.01%-0.02% higher than through Personal Investor. Investment charges have a major bearing on long-term portfolio performance, and low cost tracker funds have been growing in popularity. The Investment Association estimates a record amount of passive investments were sold to retail investors in 2014, rising 44% to £4.9 billion. The prices cuts are the second from Fidelity in little over a year, after previously reducing investment fees in May 2014. John Clougherty, head of UK retail at Fidelity Worldwide Investment, said: "There are still too many investors sitting in index funds with high charges, it has been pleasing to see that following our move last year, we have seen the cost of index funds start to come down. With our own range growing in scale, we are able to offer further price reductions for the benefit of UK investors." However, investors should be mindful that a firm's own fee for its funds is just one of many they face. If buying via a fund platform, they will also have to pay the platform's fees too - and these can vary considerably depending on how big an investor's portfolio is. Fans of low-cost passive investments may be interested to learn the world's second largest ETF provider Vanguard is looking to launch its own platform for UK investors, according to reports in IFA trade magazine Money Marketing today.

read more

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7 Super Simple Strategies For Early Retirement

“I’m never going to be able to retire.”

Have you ever mumbled this to yourself?

If you have, you’re not alone.

Over 1/3 of all Americans don’t believe they’ll have enough money to live off of in.

Ouch.

With all the pessimistic view on, then how in the blue blazes are there outliers that are able to buck the trend and retire in their 30’s?

While they may be on the extreme side of retiring early there’s a lot to be learned from them.

So yes, even if you are one of pessimistic souls that believes that you can’t retire early, here are 7 simple early retirement strategies you can implement today.

1. Know Your “Numbers”

Your “numbers” are the amount of money that you will need live on in retirement. There are two of them,

1. The annual amount of income you will need to live on in retirement, and
2. The size of the retirement portfolio that will be needed to generate that income.You have to start with the income number, since that will determine how large your investment portfolio needs to be.

Calculating your needed retirement income

The conventional wisdom is that you should plan to be able to retire on an income that is 80% of your pre-retirement income. That’s not bad since it will keep it simple, but you may want use that as a starting point only.

Depending on what your plans are for your life in retirement, the actual number could be higher or lower. For example, if you expect that health insurance will be more expensive than it is now, you’ll have to make an upward adjustment. If you expect that your housing will be lower, due to either downsizing to a less expensive home or paying off your mortgage, you can make a downward adjustment.

Once you have your income number figured, you can then calculate the size of the investment portfolio that will be necessary to produce that income.

Calculating your needed retirement portfolio amount

This is where another convention comes in handy. It’s called the safe withdrawal rate, and it’s loosely based on the idea that if you withdraw 4% of your investment portfolio each year as income, your portfolio will never run out.

This connection is probably based on the expectation that the portfolio will produce an annual rate of return of somewhere between 6% and 10%. That means that not only will there be enough income to cover your withdrawals, but enough return that your portfolio will keep growing.

Using the 4% safe withdrawal rate, we can calculate that whatever your necessary annual income number is, you can multiply it by 25 to determine how large your portfolio will need to be. 4% is 1/25 of your portfolio, so if you create a portfolio that is 25 times larger than the annual income requirement, you’ll arrive at your investment portfolio number.

So let’s say that you will need $40,000 in investment income to retire. In order to calculate how large your portfolio will need to be to produce that income within the scope of the safe withdrawal rate, you can simply multiply it by 25. In this case, $40,000 X 25 = $1 million.

But we’re not done yet.

Calculating inflation into the mix

You’ll also need to factor inflation into your plans. If you’re 30 years old, you want to retire at age 50, you’ll have to calculate – approximately – what inflation will do to your needed $1 million investment portfolio over the next 20 years.

There’s no way to know what inflation will be in the future, but you can estimate it based on past history. You can do that by going to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator, and tracking what inflation has done over the past 20 years.

Using the inflation calculator, we can see that $1 million in 1995 will require $1.54 million to maintain equivalent purchasing power in 2015. We can project that number forward 20 years to 2035, and use $1.54 million – or roughly $1.5 million – as the target number for your investment portfolio.

And not to make matters even more complicated, but you may also need to plan for contingencies in your income number too. If you plan to purchase a boat or an RV, that will have to be reflected in the size of your retirement portfolio.

2. Lower Your Basic Cost of Living

Simply put, the less money you need to live on, the more you’ll be able to save, and the sooner you’ll be able to retire.

Keeping your basic cost of living to a minimum will provide you with the extra cash that you will need to save for retirement.

But at the same time, it will also condition you to living on less money, which will certainly help once you reach retirement itself.

This may mean driving older, less expensive cars, avoiding restaurant meals and costly entertainment, and keeping vacations close to home, or not taking them at all.

Todd Tresidder at FinancialMentor.com wrote about an unconventional yet powerful idea to lower cost of living:

Consider moving from a high cost of living area like San Francisco, New York, or any other major city or coastal area to a low cost alternative such as the South, Midwest, or even a foreign country. The cost differential can be as dramatic as night and day so don’t dismiss this possibility lightly.

Several things to consider before moving include proximity to family, friends, and important medical providers. Are there other retirees to connect with, and how does the lifestyle fit your retirement interests?

Consider visiting the area first and renting for awhile so that you can try before you buy. There are many low cost alternatives for retirement living including moving abroad so try visiting and renting at several until the fit feels just right.

Would you be willing to relocate to keep costs down? It just might be the very thing that makes or breaks your retirement.

Retiring at the rip old age at 30, Pete who runs the wildly popular blog Mr. Money Mustache knows a few things about reducing your spending.  He says,

Our giant culture-wide misconception that reducing our spending will lead to a less happy life. In practice, the reverse is almost always true: voluntarily scaling back luxuries, increasing the level of challenge in your life, and banking the enormous surplus of money that results is probably the fastest way to gain control, satisfaction, and happiness.

So the answer to early retirement is much easier than most people think: really understand and streamline your spending, and use the savings to invest heavily in a low-cost index fund like Vanguard’s LifeStrategy or Betterment. Once you have 25-30 times your annual spending invested in this account, you can quit working forever.

If you save 50% of your take-home pay and live on the remainder, your entire mandatory working career only needs to be 17 years. After that, you’re financially free and can do whatever you want – continue work, all play, or a healthy mixture of the two.

Mr. Money Mustache also explained the difference between conventional advice and his radical, but effective advice:

For almost two years, I’ve been preaching a different brand of financial advice from what you see in the newspapers and magazines. The standard line is that life is hard and expensive, so you should keep your nose to the grindstone, clip coupons, save hard for your kids’ college educations, and save any tiny slice of your salary that remains into a 401(k) plan. And pray that nothing goes wrong in the 40 years of career work that it will take to get yourself enough savings to enjoy a brief retirement.

Mr. Money Mustache’s advice? Almost all of that is nonsense: Your current middle-class life is an Exploding Volcano of Wastefulness, and by learning to see the truth in this statement, you will easily be able to cut your expenses in half – leaving you saving half of your income. Or two thirds, or more.

He also explains how to practically cut expenses:

Here’s how to cut your life costs in half. Start by getting rid of your Debt Emergency if you have one. 

Live close to work. Move to another city if you enjoy adventure. Don’t borrow money for cars, and don’t buy stupid ones. Ride a bike wherever you can. Cancel your TV service. Stop wasting money on groceries.

His list goes on and on. It’s definitely worth a look!

If you’re serious about early retirement, you’ll need to embrace all the steps that will be needed in order to make it happen. I put together a list of 15 Reasons Why You Won’t Be Able to Retire Early to outline habits and mindsets that will sabotage efforts to retire early. Not coincidentally, how you spend your money is a big part of those habits and mindsets.

3. Stay Out of Debt

Debt is another one of those bad habits that will sabotage your early retirementefforts, and a big one of that. Debt reduces your cash flow, and that will cut into the amount of money that you’ll have available to save for retirement.

There’s also a toxic mindset associated with debt when it comes to retirement. If you get too comfortable with debt, there’s a very good chance that you’ll carry some, or even a lot, into retirement. That will only raise your cost of living, and make early retirement far less certain.

Todd Tresidder at FinancialMentor.com highlights the importance of eliminating all consumer debt in preparation for retirement:

Credit card debt is wasteful and expensive. Pay off your highest interest balances first and use the money freed up as each card gets paid off to accelerate the payoff of the remaining cards. Never spend more in a month than you can afford so that no new debt is accumulated.

Never settle for making just minimum payments on credit cards because it is financial suicide on the installment plan: it makes compound interest work against you instead of for you. The sooner you stop overspending and pay down existing debt, the sooner that money can be redirected to investments so that you’re financing your retirement as a wealth builder instead of the bank executive’s retirement as a debtor.

Todd brings up an excellent point: it’s a good idea to ensure compound interest is working for you, not the financial institutions.

Not only do you need to get out of debt, you need to stay out of debt and put the savings toward your retirement plan.

4. Don’t Buy a House That Will Own You

Have you ever heard of the term house poor? That describes the condition of living in a beautiful house, but one that costs so much that it leaves you very little money to do anything else. Being house poor is not a positive state of existence when you’re planning for early retirement.

Not only is your house a long-term expense that will have a major impact on your cash flow, but it is also the kind of purchase that can set the spending tone in your life. For example, a higher end home will require more costly maintenance, more expensive furniture, typically higher utilities, and higher maintenance costs, particularly in regard to landscaping.

When it comes to housing and early retirement plans, you’ve got to be guided by the less is more doctrine, as in less house result in more savings.

5. Save More Than You Thought You Ever Could

If you plan to retire in 40 years, you can probably get away with saving 10% or 15% of your income every year. But if you plan to retire in 15 or 20 years, you have to up your game. 30%, 40% or even 50% will be more likely.

You shouldn’t allow yourself to be limited by employer plan contribution limits either. Contribute to a traditional or Roth IRA if you can qualify. Save money outside of your retirement plans.

If you’re self-employed, consider setting up your own 401(k) plan, also known as a Solo 401(k) plan. The contribution limits on these plans is incredibly generous. In fact you can even set up one of these plans for a side business, and really accelerate your retirement savings.

One big advantage of a solo 401(k) plan is that under IRS regulations, 100% of the first $18,000 ($24,000 if you‘re 50 or older) of your income can be contributed to the plan for 2015. And since you’re also the employer, you can contribute an additional 25% of your total income.

For example, if you earn $60,000 from your business, you can contribute $15,000 ($60,000 X 25%) to the plan as employer, plus up to $18,000 as an employee. This will give you a total contribution of $33,000, on an income of $60,000. Do you think that might get you to early retirement faster?

6. You May Need to Increase Your Income

If you don’t believe that you will be able to achieve your retirement portfolio number by the time you will to retire, you may need to increase your income. But if you do so, make sure that 100% of the extra income actually goes and retirement savings.

There are several possibilities here. You can work to get a better paying position, or you can take on a part-time job. You can also set a side business (where you can set up that Solo 401(k) plan), or simply take side work based on any special skills that you have.

You don’t have be locked into one method either. You can work a part-time job for a while, run a side business for a time, then do side jobs.

7. Make “Balance” Your Investment Guiding Principle

Be reasonable in your projection of your anticipated rate of return on your investments.  An unrealistic rate of return (ROR) on your investments could cause you to save too little under the misguided assumption that you’ll make it up in returns. As well, if you set the ROR bar too high, you may find yourself speculating to make those returns a reality.

Warning: Speculating is not investing. You could end up losing money, and that will put an end to your early retirement plans.

What’s reasonable when it comes to ROR?

The average annual rate of return on the S&P 500 Index has been in the ball park of 10% since 1928. Investing in index funds based on the S&P 500 should get you that kind of return over the coming decades.

If you assume a 10% average annual rate of return on your stock holdings, you can expect an overall rate of return on a portfolio comprised of 80% stocks and 20% fixed income securities to be in the neighborhood of 8% (since fixed income investments currently pay close to zero in interest!). So use 8% as your anticipated rate of return on your investments for planning purposes. It’s reasonable.

Calculating Your Strategy to Hit Your Retirement Portfolio Number

Bankrate has an excellent 401(k) savings calculator that will allow you to determine exactly how much money you‘ll need to save each year in order to make early retirement a reality.

We’ll use it to calculate how much you will need to save each year in your 401(k) to enable you to hit your retirement portfolio number.

Let’s assume that you’re 30 years old, earning $60,000 per year, you want to retire at age 50, and you currently have $100,000 invested in your 401(k) plan.

As discussed in Strategy #1 above, you will need $40,000 a year in income, which will require an inflation-adjusted portfolio of $1.5 million. Using the Bankrate 401(k) savings calculator, how much will you need to contribute to your 401(k) plan each year?

• Percent to contribute: 30% ($18,000)
• Annual salary: $60,000
• Annual salary increase: 2%
• Current age: 30
• Age of retirement: 50
• Current 401(k) balance: $100,000
• Annual rate of return: 8%
• Employer match: 6%
• Employer match ends: 50%

Saving 30% of your income in your 401(k), or $18,000 per year (the 2015 401(k) plan contribution maximum), your 401(k) plan will grow to $1.424 million by the time you reach age 50. That’s a little bit shy of the mark of $1.5 million that you will need, so you will have to plan on saving money outside of your retirement plan in order to reach the goal.

It’s certainly a tall order, but it is doable. By using all seven of these strategies, you’ll make it happen.

This post originally appeared in Forbes.

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