Liquorland now requires middle-aged customers’ ID

BLAME it on the Botox Generation: buying booze under the age of 40 now requires a photo ID.

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Thousands to get refund from Westpac

WESTPAC will offer more than 10,600 of its customers refunds after charging them for loan protection when they did not have a loan or did not want to be covered.

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Big banks rake in a record profits again

THE big four banks have raked in a record $30 billion in combined annual profits, all while preparing to hike interest rates.

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Profit plunge looming for Woolworths

WOOLWORTHS shares have been smashed after the supermarket warned its first half profit could plunge by up to 35 per cent on weak grocery sales.

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This is the ultimate first world problem

IT’S the ultimate first world problem, guaranteed to make you grit your teeth with frustration every time. Why hasn’t anyone solved it yet?

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9 Smart Ways to Deal with Financially Toxic People

Do you have friends, family, business associates or even clients who are financially toxic people? You know, those people who seem to live in – or on the edge of – financial disaster, but do it so effortless that it almost seems normal?

While you may think that your association with them is harmless, it isn’t. Surround yourself with enough financially toxic people, or have one or two of them really close to you, and you may find your own financial situation being sabotaged.

Since it’s not always possible to completely eliminate financially toxic people from your life, here are 10 smart ways to deal with them that will lower their impact on your life.

1. Keep Your Time With Financially Toxic People to a Minimum

Because financially toxic people are often important in our lives, it’s impractical to completely end your association with them. But you can keep the time you spend with them to a minimum.

Bad habits, negative behaviors, and destructive psychological vibes are usually transferred from one person to another in a gradual, almost imperceptible way. It happens most effectively when you spend a lot of time with toxic people. The negative or self-destructive way that they talk about money, the freewheeling way that they spend it, and a complete disregard for saving and investing it, can negatively affect your own attitude toward money.

A good example is when you’re at a time in your life when you are either trying to get out of debt, or save money for an important goal. If you spend too much time with people who spend money freely, you’ll lose your focus. You’re being pulled away from your goal, while the toxic person is just doing what they do naturally.

Carefully control the amount of time you spend with anyone you consider to be financially toxic. This is especially important if you are working on major financial goals in your own life.

2. Keep the Number of Toxic People in Your Life to a Minimum

It’s been said that you’re the average of your five best friends. Are any of your best friends of the financially toxic variety? If they are, then they’re dragging your average down. And if there’s more than one, you’ll be down even more, get it?

If three of your five best friends can be considered financially toxic, then there’s at least a 60% chance that you are engaging in some seriously toxic financial behavior yourself. You can’t even keep it from happening – you just do it because it’s normal in your social circle.

Everyone of us have people in our lives who are financially toxic, and sometimes you have no choice in associating with them. But as a matter of your own financial self-preservation, you need to make sure that the number of them who you consider to be friends is at an absolute minimum. Zero would be even better, if that’s possible.

3. Use Them as an Object Lesson in What NOT to Do in Your Own Life

If you do have financially toxic people in your life, use them to some sort of advantage. Observe their financial situation, and their financial behavior. Recognize the toxic influences. Then mentally record how the negative behavior results in the poorer outcomes. Use that behavior as a lesson for yourself in how not to do things.

Sometimes the best way to learn good financial habits to see what happens to people with bad financial habits. In that way, your financially toxic friends will be doing you an unconscious favor.

4. Don’t Try to Keep Up With Their Spending Habits

This is a very easy trap to get caught up in, not the least of which because conspicuous consumption has become something of a social norm in our culture. As a way of fitting in with the group, you might adopt their spending habits. When you do, that takes you completely off of your own financial game. The more time you spend imitating someone else’s spending habits, the farther you are moving from your own goals.

This is where it’s important to understand that financially toxic people often overspend as a way of denying their own financial problems. For example, they may spend money freely as a way of convincing themselves that they don’t have a serious debt problem.

If you have well-established financial goals, you can’t let yourself get distracted in the web of someone else’s coping strategy. It hasn’t helped your financially toxic friends, and it can’t possibly help you either.

5. Ignore Their Financial Advice

Yet another coping device of the financially toxic set is the “do as I say, not as I do” routine. Financially toxic people often pontificate with financial advice, even when no one asked them for it. Spouting off solid-sounding financial advice is another tactic that makes them feel better about their own tattered financial circumstances.

It’s unlikely that you’ll gain any financial wisdom from people whose financial situations are a total wreck. You wouldn’t turn your money over to an investment advisor with a long history of underperforming the market, so why would you trust the financial advice of a person drowning in money problems?

When you’re around financially toxic people, you should work to keep the conversation away from anything that is remotely financial. The advice will be a complete waste of your time.

6. Don’t Do Business With Them!

If you jump in the water with a drowning person, there’s a very good chance that you’ll drown too. And so it is with business dealings. Doing business with people who have serious financial problems has the potential to spill over to you.

Of course, what I’m talking about here are more intimate business arrangements, like partnerships and joint ventures. The financially toxic partner’s money problems will impair his ability to uphold his responsibility in the venture, and eventually lead you into a money losing situation.

That makes a strong case for doing good background check on anyone you are looking to partner with in business. At a minimum, this should include getting a copy of the current credit report. But it’s not a bad idea to review independently prepared financial statements as well as a series of recent bank statements. If they don’t look right, find another business partner!

Never do business with someone whose financial situation you haven’t thoroughly investigated first.

7. And NEVER Lend Them Money

There’s a reason why banks and other lenders run credit reports on new loan customers. Experience has shown that if a borrower has a history of defaulting on loans to other lenders, there’s an excellent chance that the outcome will be repeated.

And so it should be with you. If you shouldn’t do business with financially toxic people, you shouldn’t lend money to them either. Doing so is just inviting trouble. If they can’t repay the loan, not only will you be out the money you loaned them, but it will almost certainly end any personal relationship that you had with them before.

8. Recognize That They May Have a Hidden Agenda

Financially toxic people are usually more than casually aware of their own monetary distress. Given the human tendency to resent people who are a better position in life, there may be more than just an accidental effort to tear you down. It happens in situations where people come to view their own circumstances as insurmountable. Their reaction to people who are in a better place is often to try to tear them down, and in doing so to bring you down to their level.

This effort isn’t always obvious. In fact, some people are so good at hiding it that you won’t even know that it’s happening.

The clues are subtle, and often look something like this:

• You find yourself feeling a little bit down after meeting with your financially toxic friends
• You notice disinterest anytime you share good news
• The friend has an obvious tendency to discourage you from following through on your own plans
• He or she can usually quickly reel off a list of a half-dozen or more reasons why whatever you’re contemplating won’t work
• When you share your plans or good news, the conversation is quickly redirected into a financially toxic subject

Though the methods may be subtle, the financially toxic friend has one objective: to sabotage your efforts to continue moving forward toward greater prosperity. He has no sense that he can join you in your quest for a better future, so he pulls out all stops to prevent you from moving forward.

9. Stay Focused on Your Own Agenda

We all have financially toxic people in our lives. Most times we can only minimize our contact with them, but we can never eliminate them completely. For that reason, you must stay focused on your own agenda. That means never allowing yourself to get sucked into the financially toxic party’s plans.

You must recognize that despite any other common ground that you may share, your financial destinies are heading in very different directions. Yours is the higher road – the superior direction. Never allow it to be compromised by someone who is going the wrong way.

There’s a secondary benefit to this strategy, that is, if the financially toxic people in your life are willing to seize on it. Because you are on the right path in your life, you have the potential to be a positive influence on the people who aren’t.

Recognize your way as the better way, and never be prepared to surrender it or even to water it down for the benefit of financially toxic people. It’s a win for everyone involved.

This post originally appeared on Credit.com.

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No Credit History? No Problem. Here Are 6 Ways to Build Your Credit From Scratch

You need good credit history to be approved for new credit accounts, but you need active accounts to build good credit history. Sound like a familiar dilemma?

This Catch-22 is common, whether you’re new to the world of credit or your positive accounts have been idle too long for them to appear on credit reports.

Regardless of the reason, if your credit file is thin or non-existent, here are some of the best ways to build your credit history.

1. Start Slow

Building credit history is like building muscle: You have to be strong enough to walk before you can run.

If you try to apply for a bunch of credit cards at the same time right off the bat, you don’t just risk rejection. Your credit score might actually suffer, because every time you apply, your would-be creditor makes a hard inquiry on your report.

Since overdoing it at the start is a rookie mistake, multiple hard credit inquiries within a short time can negatively impact your score. Plus, it’s easy to get in over your head with credit card debt if you’re charging purchases to multiple cards at the same time.

Starting slow will encourage you not only to be a responsible credit user, but also to carefully choose which cards you apply for — and many have great benefits.

Here are some of the best cash-back credit cards to apply for once your credit is stronger. Prefer to travel? Here’s how to choose the right travel rewards credit cards for you.

2. Piggyback (Responsibly!)

If you have a trustworthy person with great credit in your life, you could ask to become an authorized user of one of their accounts. (If you’re young and starting out, a parent’s account is a good option.)

But be careful: If the account holder doesn’t pay the bill, your score could also get hurt. Plus, you might not be able to remove yourself from the account, tying you to a negative credit impactor.

Ask the card issuer exactly what will be reflected in your history. Also, make sure not to go wild with someone else’s credit card!

3. Try a Secured Card

A secured credit card is similar to a debit card — you put down a collateral cash deposit and can use that amount in credit.

However, unlike a debit card, secured cards — at least, good ones — report your payment, balance and other relevant behavior to credit bureaus. The creditor might reward your good standing with a credit line increase, and you’ll build some credit history.

You can also  check with your credit union or bank about getting one of their credit cards, but shop around — some charge exorbitant fees or, worst of all, don’t report to the major credit bureaus.

4. Ask Your Bank for a Loan

Banks and other small private lenders might offer you a low-risk loan, even if you have little or no credit.

For instance, you could purchase a CD from your bank using one of these loans. You wouldn’t own the account until you paid it off, but once you did, you’d have some savings and a credit history boost, just for the price of the fees and interest on the loan.

5. Talk to Your Lenders

It always pays to ask questions.

To set up an account, some lenders might be willing to review nontraditional data, like your rental history, or utility or installment purchase plan payments. You can then use your new account to begin to build a more “traditional” credit file.

6. Keep Using Your Plastic

Most of us know bad credit information falls off reports after seven years.

But did you know good information falls off after 10 years?

Even consumers with good credit history are at risk of losing it if they pay off all of their accounts and don’t touch them again.

Instead of celebrating by cutting up your cards once you pay them off, use them — but keep paying them off.

You could even set up autopay on each card for a small monthly bill, like Netflix or your cell phone plan. Then, pay off your cards in their entirety each month.

You’ll reap the credit rewards and keep your history active — without paying a cent of interest!

Your Turn: What tips do you have for building and maintaining good credit history?

Jamie Cattanach is junior writer at The Penny Hoarder and a native Floridian. She’s passionate about learning, literature, chocolate and finding ways to live the good life as cost-effectively as possible.

The post No Credit History? No Problem. Here Are 6 Ways to Build Your Credit From Scratch appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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5 Tools to Turbocharge Your Online Shopping

These browser extensions and online tools can help you save big this holiday season – and beyond.

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EU bans mobile phone roaming charges: what does it mean for you?

Tom Wilson

woman on phone.jpg

UK mobile phone users will no longer be charged extra to use their phones on the continent, after the European Parliament voted tot end roaming charges from June 2017.

You can read our roundup here of the best ways to cut your phone costs while travelling, but here’s a quick Q&A on the ban on fees that has just been announced and what it means for you.

So I won’t be charged to use my phone abroad?
You will still pay to use your phone, but it won’t cost you any more than it does in the UK.

EU bans mobile phone roaming charges: what does it mean for you?

Feed Copy: 

You can read our roundup here of the best ways to cut your phone costs while travelling, but here’s a quick Q&A on the ban on fees that has just been announced and what it means for you. So I won’t be charged to use my phone abroad? You will still pay to use your phone, but it won’t cost you any more than it does in the UK. When do the changes take place? The full ban on roaming charges takes place on 15 June 2017. But the changes are being phased in, so from 30 April 2016 mobile phone companies can only charge up to 3.5p a minute extra for calls, €0.02 extra for a text, and €0.05 extra for a megabyte of data. How much do providers charge at the moment? Thanks to EU legislation, there are already limits to what you can be charged to use your phone in Europe. However, they remain quite expensive. Your phone company can charge you up to 16.5p a minute to receive calls, 4.3p a minute to make calls, 5.1p for a text, and 17p per megabyte of data. How about the rest of the world? If you’re travelling outside Europe there are no limits on the rates you can be charged to use your phone, but your provider is obliged to cap your data charges to £42. However, if you reach this limit, you’re free to opt out. How can I avoid these charges? The easiest way to avoid a huge bill is to turn off data usage when you’re abroad, and use wifi whenever you can. However, Three customers can roam at no extra charge through its ‘Feel at Home’ scheme. It’s not available for all destinations, but it includes Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Macau, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland and the US.

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Want Free Doughnuts, Pizza and Coffee? 15 Scary-Good Halloween Freebies and Deals

Who says kids get to have all the fun on Halloween?

This year, a number of scary-good deals and freebies will make the holiday a delight for kids of all ages.

So whether you want to fill your trick-or-treat bag with burgers, burritos, ice cream or more, get your costume ready and check out these 15 fun promotions.

1. Chipotle

Jason Epping under Creative Commons

Chipotle’s annual Boorito promotion is back, this time with a twist.

The national chain will still give you a $3 burrito if you show up in costume from 5 p.m. to close on Halloween, but this year they’d also like you to “add something unnecessary” to your get-up. It’s their way of raising awareness of the unnecessary additives found in most fast food (additives they say they keep out of their offerings).

So, what qualifies as “something unnecessary”? It could be as simple as throwing a cowboy hat on your vampire costume or trading one element from your costume with one from a friend’s so you both look a little strange.

2. Krispy Kreme

Scott Aleman under Creative Commons

Get a free doughnut when you wear a costume to Krispy Kreme on October 31. Go for their classic glazed or try one of their limited-time monster- or pumpkin-themed creations.

3. iHop

Kids under 12 can create their own free scary face pancake the day before Halloween (October 30) from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

4. Baskin-Robbins

As part of their “Celebrate 31” promotion honoring the chain’s 70th birthday, Baskin-Robbins will give you one scoop of any flavor for $1.31 on October 31.

5. SONIC Drive-In

Snag a 50-cent corn dog all Halloween long at SONIC locations, no costume necessary.

6. Sbarro

Dressed-up kids and adults can get a free slice of cheese pizza (with a $5 purchase) at participating Sbarro locations on Halloween.

7. Chick-fil-A

Kim Jones under Creative Commons

Register for a 2015 Chick-fil-A calendar card and you’ll be eligible for freebies during each of the remaining months of 2015 — including a free Greek yogurt parfait and large soft drink through October 31.

8. Wendy’s

Purchase a Wendy’s Halloween coupon booklet for $1 and get five coupons, each good for a Jr. Frosty. Even sweeter, proceeds from booklet sales go to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

9. Bass Pro Shops

Want something that won’t give your kids a sugar buzz? How about free fun and photos with the characters from the upcoming Peanuts movie?

Participating locations of the national outdoorsy chain will host activities like crafting, a costume parade, a photo opp and more throughout the week of Halloween. Check out their online ad for further details.

10. Bubba Gump Shrimp

Praytino under Creative Commons

Get a free kid’s meal with the purchase of an adult entree when you use this coupon. (You can only use one coupon per table.)

11. Sizzler

Kids ages 10 and under in costume get a free kids meal with the purchase of an adult entree and beverage. Offer is good from October 26 to 31.

12. Spaghetti Warehouse

Kids 12 and under get a free kids menu meal with the purchase of an adult entree.

They don’t need to be in costume, but there will be a costume contest at 5 p.m. and winners will receive Spaghetti Warehouse gift cards valued from $50 to $100.

(So yeah, you’ll probably want to dress them up. Here are 6 easy ways to do it without spending a small fortune.)

13. Baja Fresh

Kids in costume get a free kids meal (with purchase of an adult entree) from October 27 to 31 at this fast-casual Tex-Mex chain centered in California.

14. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

Jason Walsh under Creative Commons

On October 30 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., get Buy One Get One pumpkin drinks at participating locations as part of this California chain’s Spooktacular Open House event.

15. White Castle

It’s not technically Halloween-related, but White Castle has a coupon that lets you try any slider for free with any purchase. It expires on October 31, so if you’re still hungry after sampling all the other goodies of the day, it could sate your appetite.

Your turn: Are you going to check out any of the above deals? Are there any other fun promotions in your area that didn’t make the national list?

Kelly Gurnett is a freelance blogger, writer and editor who runs the blog Cordelia Calls It Quits, where she documents her attempts to rid her life of the things that don’t matter and focus more on the things that do. Follow her on Twitter @CordeliaCallsIt.

The post Want Free Doughnuts, Pizza and Coffee? 15 Scary-Good Halloween Freebies and Deals appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Why the Bulls Still Rock Apple Stock

Apple looks poised to continue its uninterrupted run of success with yet another earnings beat. 


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Why You Should Buy Longevity Insurance

New rules have made deferred-income annuities more attractive for elderly investors.

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How to Create Your Personal Wealth Plan

Confronting old beliefs about money and crunching numbers are among the most important first steps.

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How to Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking

Follow these tips to give a standout presentation at work.

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Learn from the Best: 6 Skills All Great Writers Have (and How to Learn Them)

If you want to be a successful online marketer, there’s one thing you must be able to do:

you must be able to write.

Writing is involved in almost every type of content creation there is.

Emails, blog posts, and books are all primarily written content.

But even for videos, podcasts, and courses, you need to write content as well as scripts.

I’ll be honest with you:

If you’re a terrible writer, it’s unlikely you’ll be successful.

It’s harsh, but it’s true.

The good news is that you probably aren’t a terrible writer. It’s pretty hard to be one.

But at the same time, it’s hard to become a great writer.

Even after years of writing, I still wouldn’t say I’m a great writer—maybe a good one.

The key thing that you need to know is that you can improve your writing skills.

By studying the works of great writers, you can learn what makes their writing great.

And with practice, you can improve the effectiveness of your own writing, which means more traffic, subscribers, and customers.

Although you could spend dozens of hours doing that research yourself, you could just let me show you which skills are the most important when it comes to writing.

I have studied a wide variety of top notch writers (who are also great marketers) over the years and noticed that they all have certain skills in common.

In this article, I’ll break down these skills, showing you examples of them in action and ways to develop them.

By the end of this post, you should have a concrete game plan of how to become a better writer for the benefit of your business. 

1. Having a big vocabulary doesn’t make you a great writer

When most people picture great writers, they think of them crafting sentences full of obscure words such as aphesis and esculent.

But the people who use words like that are usually terrible writers.

The measure of a writer is not how big his or her vocabulary is. As long as you have a decent vocabulary and understand the fundamentals of grammar of the language you’re using, you can be a good writer.

Even if you’re just learning a language, don’t think that you can’t be a good writer just because you don’t know every word of it.

There are plenty of successful bloggers who write in their second language (e.g., Bamidele Onibalusi).

Is their writing perfect from a grammar and vocabulary perspective? No, of course not.

But even without an extensive vocabulary, they’re able to create content that people love to read.

There’s actually a way for us to quantify the complexity of writing. It’s called the Flesch-Kincaid grade level scale.

It looks at the length of words, and a few other factors, in order to determine at what grade level people could understand your content.

By copying a few sample blog posts into this readability score calculator, I was able to create this chart:

The three other writers on this list are all great writers in my opinion, or at least very good.

Notice that Brian and Ramit both write at about 4th grade level, as do I. That means the average 10-year-old could read most of our content because it’s not very complex.

Even though Michael Hyatt writes at a more sophisticated level, it’s still only at a grade 7 level.

The big question then becomes: Why?

The reason why great writers use simple words and phrases is because they write for the reader, not themselves.

They may appreciate the intricacies of the English language, but most readers don’t care about that. They want their information in the simplest and easiest to comprehend way.

Obviously, it’s much easier to read and understand short simple words than to figure out what the heck clandestine means (if you are curious, it means “done in secret”).

Oh yeah, there’s one other benefit to writing simply: you can write much faster.

Instead of searching for the “perfect” word, you use plain language—typically the first words that come to mind. These words are usually the words that your audience understands easily as well, so they’re really the perfect choice.

How can you apply this? This is a very simple skill to develop: just write. When you’re writing something, write down the first things that come to mind instead of searching for more complicated words instead.

Don’t worry if you make mistakes; you can always fix them when you edit.

2. Do you care how your readers feel?

Poor writers do a variety of things.

Some write what they themselves would want to read.

Others write to sound as intelligent as possible.

Either way, it’s not about the reader. Instead, it’s more about “look at how smart and awesome I am.”

Very few people are interesting enough to make this strategy work for them.

When writers focus on themselves, their writing is not compelling to the reader. These kinds of writers either improve over time as they recognize their mistakes, or they blame the readers for not recognizing good content.

I have to ask you a tough question now:

When you write content, do you think of the reader first or do you think about how to make yourself look the best (as the author)?

It’s not necessarily one or the other. Your answer could be somewhere in the middle (i.e., sometimes you focus on yourself).

The simple solution: If you’ve recognized an opportunity for improvement here, it’s easy to take advantage of it, at least in theory.

The answer is to develop empathy.

Empathy basically means that you can understand your readers’ perspective: their problems, interests, personality, and other relevant aspects of their lives.

It takes time to develop empathy, and I’m not sure if you can ever master it completely.

But empathy really shows in great writing.

The best writers use empathy both to understand what readers need to hear (solve their problems) and to determine the best way to teach them.

Some audiences need to be shown direct solutions; others need step-by-step directions; while others need a gentle prod in the right direction.

Examples of empathy in action: When writers truly understand their audience and then focus all their attention on writing that will help the audience as much as possible, it shows.

Take a look at this post from Seth Godin. He mentions the word “you” or its variations 10 times in about 100 words. This post is all about the reader.

The post is about being passionate about your work.

Many bloggers write on this topic. Most would have focused on how their own corporate experience led them to the epiphany that they needed to care more.

But that would have fallen on deaf ears.

Instead, Seth focuses on the reader’s life. He explains the problem using the language that the reader would use to describe the problem in detail.

And then, he offers a simple, one-line solution.

Or how about James Clear? He’s another great writer.

His posts aren’t based on the numbers in Google’s Keyword Planner. They are based on questions that he gets from his readers.

He knows that for every person who expresses frustration or identifies a problem, there are a hundred other people in his audience with the same issue.

So James uses his readers’ language so that other readers can relate to it and feel that the content was created specifically for them.

There’s no other way to do that other than by writing solely for the reader.

The hard part – How to develop empathy: Telling you to develop empathy is easy, but actually doing it isn’t so easy: it takes a lot of conscious practice.

But it’s not all or nothing either. Just because you don’t perfectly understand your audience doesn’t mean you can’t partially understand them.

And as you get better at empathizing with your audience, your writing will improve.

To practice this skill and develop empathy, I suggest the following five-step process. Perform it every time you create content:

1. What problems (and related problems) do your readers have around [topic of choice]?

2. How significant are these problems (very serious? or just minor pains?)

3. How do you think your readers would describe these problems?

Use steps #1-3 to outline your post. Create an intro and headlines that a reader would not only understand but would see and think, “I was just wondering about that!”

4. After writing the content, look at every single sentence/paragraph and ask yourself: “Does my reader actually care about this?” If not, either rephrase it, or take it out completely.

5. Study all comments you get on your content (whether it’s a blog comment, review, email, etc.). Try to understand why a reader says they do or don’t like it.

Create a simple checklist using these five steps, and follow it every time you write.

If you do, you’ll notice that your content will start to resonate with readers more and more.

Your audience will be more excited to read your posts, and they’ll be more engaged. You’ll get readers’ comments telling you their thoughts and opinions, which will be full of great ideas for more content (I get great suggestions all the time from my readers).

Ultimately, when it comes to your business, this type of resonance is very important because it tells the reader that you understand them.

If you create a product, they know that you’ve created it just for them and that it will meet all their needs and wants. Developing empathy is a skill that will have a long-term impact on your revenue.

3. Great writers aren’t born overnight

Think of the great writers in history: Shakespeare, Hemingway,…Neil Patel (maybe one day).

Whomever you think of when you think of great writers, it’s important to realize that they were not born that way.

Although writing is more abstract than mathematics or programming, it is a skill like any other and can be developed.

At one point or another, all writing greats could barely string a sentence together.

However, they all shared one thing: a drive to be a great writer.

Right now, you need to check if your motivation to become a better writer is enough to get you to the level you want.

If you really want to be the best writer you can be, you’ll have to write many hours, every single day. That’s what it takes to be the very best.

If you want to be one of the best writers who is also a marketer, that’s still hard, but not quite as difficult. You’ll still want to practice at least 10-20 hours a week.

But the most important thing you need to determine is this: do you really want to be a better writer?

Determine your goals, and then figure out what you’ll need to do to get there.

For example, if you want to be a blogger, start by taking a look at your favorite bloggers.

If you scroll down to the bottom of Quick Sprout’s blog page, you can click on the “last” button to see my oldest posts.

And if you do, you’ll see that my first post on this blog was written in 2007:

If you wanted to reach my current level of success, are you prepared to write about 2-3 posts a week for 8 years?

And then write over 300 guest posts as well?

If you are willing to put in that work, I guarantee that you will be very successful.

How to put in your dues in a systematic way: If you simply say out loud, “I’m going to write a blog post every day for the next three years,” chances are that you won’t.

You need to develop your own system that keeps you accountable.

Step 1 is to determine what you need to do to become the writer you want to be.

Create a new document that clearly states what you think you need to do.

For example:

Step 2 is to determine a schedule that you can stick to. This is formed by your personal schedule. If you have more time to spend on writing, you have more flexibility.

Here’s what it might look like:

I will write and publish a post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, no matter what.

You have the plan, but you need to make sure you follow through with it.

Step 3 is to find a way that will hold you accountable.

It’s really easy to just not write a post because you’ll barely notice the difference in the short term. But in the long term, it can make a huge difference.

So, how will you hold yourself accountable? There’s no wrong answer, but make sure that there’s a serious consequence if you don’t follow through with your plan.

For example, you could say that if you miss a post:

• you will donate $50 to a charity
• you will do something that you don’t like
• you will email a friend or family member revealing an embarrassing secret

When you’re feeling motivated, you’ll have no problem writing. But when you’re not feeling motivated, this accountability plan will keep you on track.

Now you should have a simple but solid writing plan:

You should print this out and put it somewhere where you will see it at least once a day (at least until you develop good habits).

Finally, step 4 is to forget about the result, and focus on the process.

The reason for this is that in order to get the most out of your writing, you need to focus on writing itself as much as possible.

The whole point of this writing plan is for you to not focus on the results.

You don’t need to worry, thinking: “Am I doing enough to become a successful writer?” because you’ve already determined exactly what you need to do.

If you just focus on adhering to your plan, you’ll know with nearly 100% certainty that you will become a very good and successful writer when you are done.

So, don’t worry about traffic stats and other metrics while you write; just focus on writing well—the result will come.

4. “I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time”

That quote has been attributed to many great writers, but it appears to have been first said by Blaise Pascal.

Regardless of who said it, the meaning is incredibly powerful.

When we talked about using simple words in writing, I advocated writing down the first words that came to mind.

When you do this, you’ll often end up using more words than you need to.

And the reason why this is a bad thing is because it dilutes the value in your content.

Think of it this way: your content has a message that has a certain value to your readers.

I would define the intensity—or quality—of writing using a simple formula:

Intensity = Value / Length

The longer your content is (if the value is held constant), the lower the intensity.

If you really want to inspire your readers to take action, your writing needs to blow them away.

It needs to provide value at a fast enough rate so that it feels to them as if a light bulb went off in their heads. In other words, your writing needs to be of a high intensity.

The more unnecessary words you have, the lower the intensity of your writing will be, and the smaller the impact your content will make.

Again, we can look at Seth Godin for a perfect example of high intensity writing. He makes every single word count.

Despite writing very short posts, he delivers a ton of value to his readers, which results in significant emotional reactions from them:

As you’ve noticed, I take a very different approach with my posts.

They are very long, usually at least 4,000 words. Since they are so long, I need to pack them with value.

Where Seth’s content is more strategic (broad thinking), my posts are more on specific tactics and ways to implement them, which takes more time to explain.

But although my posts are between 4,000 and 6,000 words, they are usually much longer when I first write them. I edit them down and remove as much “fluff” as I can.

With blog posts, you have a lot of flexibility with length. In other forms of writing, you don’t.

In emails or landing pages, you typically only have a limited amount of space (often fewer than 100 words) to get as much value across to your readers as possible.

Notice in the above example that every sentence either describes a feature or a benefit of the product.

How do you cut out the “fluff”? Like with these other skills, it takes practice to become a good editor (you could hire one if you wanted).

To practice, go through your content, sentence by sentence, and ask yourself if there is a simpler way to get your message across.

For example, the sentence:

There are some marketing channels that are better than others, like email marketing.

could be reduced to:

Email marketing produces the best ROI of any marketing channel.

That simple change took the sentence from 13 words to 10 words, and made the meaning of the sentence clearer.

That’s a 23% decrease in length. If you originally wrote a 3,000-word article and decreased every sentence by that percentage, you’d end up with a 2,300 word article.

Although it’s shorter, it will make a bigger impact on your readers because of its increased intensity.

Here’s a brilliant article on specific edits that you can make to make your writing more powerful to get you started.

5. I’ve never seen a great writer that doesn’t have this

What do typical writers do to prepare for an article?

They do a bit of research on Google and then compile what they learn into an article.

This isn’t a bad thing, but it’s a recipe for producing content that is very similar to what’s already out there.

The best writers I’ve seen can write about any topic in their niche and put some kind of unique spin—angle—on it.

Besides being unique, that additional something is also insightful and adds to the value the reader gets.

In Breakthrough Advertising, a legendary copywriting book by Eugene Schwartz, he notes that great copywriters have a wide array of experience.

You might consider them jacks of all trades.

Great writers read and practice things in all sorts of fields. If I had to boil it down to specific traits, they all possess high levels of curiosity and an open mind.

They can write an article about social media marketing and use an example of hiking up a mountain in a way that makes the point they are making clearer to the reader.

One marketer that does this really well is Bryan Harris at Video Fruit. He often shares personal stories in the introduction of his posts. But he always finds a clever, insightful way to tie it back to the point he’s making:

Another well-known marketer, Ramit Sethi, often mentions real life stories in his blog posts and emails.

For example, in an email about “unconventional ways to win,” he mentions both baseball and government officials as examples:

The great power of connections: The reason why these unexpected connections are valuable is because they can relate your thoughts using a different language.

Some points will be difficult to explain no matter what niche you are writing for.

For example, maybe you’re trying to explain to your readers how to write in a conversational tone and why it’s more interesting to their readers.

If your readers don’t understand your explanation, reading it over and over again won’t help them.

But often, when you make a point in a different context, it becomes much clearer.

With regards to writing conversationally, for example, you could tell a story of being bored at a lecture when a lecturer simply read his slides to his students instead of talking to them. That’ll illustrate your point in a way that’s recognizable to most people.

So, how do you do it? The very nature of this skill is abstract. You’re making connections that other people don’t think of naturally, and that’s what adds a unique angle to your writing.

In order to do this, you need two things:

1. Experience - The more experiences you have in life, the more connections you can make.
2. Practice - At first, you won’t make these connections naturally. When you write about a complex topic, force yourself to come up with five connections you could use to explain your point. Over time, you will naturally notice good opportunities.

And when I’m talking about experience, I mean different experiences.

Always be ready to try something new:

• travel
• take a cooking class
• reconnect with old acquaintances
• take an online course in a subject you’ve never studied

Basically, now you have a very good reason to learn or try anything you’ve ever wanted.

6. Want to become (and stay) a great writer? You need to have this…

The final skill that the best writers (in a marketing context) have is adaptability.

Each content medium has its own quirks. Although your writing style will be more or less the same, the best writers know how to tailor their writing for each medium.

When I say medium, I’m talking about forms of content such as:

• blog posts
• emails
• Kindle books
• social media

I could give you many examples, but let’s look at Danny Iny, founder of Firepole Marketing.

He’s written multiple courses in the past:

But he’s also written hundreds of blog posts and guest posts.

On top of that, he actively engages with his followers and customers on social media:

And if that wasn’t enough, he just released a new book, in addition to several others:

On top of knowing how to write for different formats and audiences, great writers keep up with change.

Take me as an example. If you look at older Quick Sprout posts, you will see that many are only 500-1,000 words.

But as blogging has developed, good writing practices for the topics I cover have changed.

I noticed that longer posts performed better, and now almost all my posts are 4,000+ words long. I try to make every post the definitive post on that specific topic.

How do you develop adaptability? By definition, you need to learn how to respond positively to changing circumstances. And in the marketing world, things change fast, which makes it even more important.

The first key takeaway for you is this: adaptability comes second. First, you need to hone your initial skills.

In practical terms, this means that you should pick one main format of writing and focus as much of your attention on it as possible. That’s how you’ll learn all the ins and outs of it.

For most, blogging is a great place to start.

Once you’ve put in the time and effort to fully understand how to write great blog posts, you can move on to the next format, be it email, social media, or something else.

In the initial period, you can still write emails or other content, but most of your focus will be on the first format you’ve chosen. Then, you’ll shift that focus to the second medium.

The second key takeaway is that you always need to be looking for what’s next, whether it’s a new medium or changes happening within an old format.

When you see a new type of content becoming popular (e.g., lately video content and podcasts), give it a try because you can always learn something from it to become a better writer.

You should always be testing different ways of reaching your audience.

Conclusion

Being a great writer will be very valuable for the foreseeable future, no matter which industry you work in.

And even if you’re not an experienced writer today, you can become one with practice: all great writers had to start from some point.

If you follow the steps I laid out in this post, I guarantee that in a few years, you will be an excellent writer.

You can use those skills however you please, whether it’s to get more followers, subscribers, a better job, or take your sales to a new level.

If you have any questions about these skills or want to share a story about writing, leave me a comment below.

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4 Retirement Risks That Can Be Reduced

Try these strategies to make your retirement plan stronger.

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Pretending to Be Rich

Recently, I had a great email exchange with a reader whom we’ll call “Tim” about the incoming financial struggles of his in-laws as they age. His mother- and father-in-law are in their early seventies and have virtually nothing put away for retirement. Before too long, they’re going to be unable to work and because his spouse is an only child, his in-laws are expecting that Tim’s family will take them in. On the other hand, Tim’s parents are in their early sixties and already retired and will almost assuredly never become a financial burden to Tim and his spouse and children.

I asked Tim what he thought the difference between the two situations was. Was it income? Was it planning ahead? What caused the difference in the two situations? He put it very simply.

“My parents didn’t spend their adulthood pretending to be rich.”

It was such an insightful statement that it left me thinking for days.

In some ways, Tim’s parents parallel our own parents. My mother and father are retired now – my mother’s in her early sixties and my father in his early seventies. My father actually retired almost a decade ago. They’ve never spent much money in their lives. When I was little, they were very frugal, often not even by choice, so living on a small income is naturally easy for them.

My wife’s parents are doing things differently. They are about the same age as my parents, but neither one intends to fully retire for many years, though they are saving for it. Instead, they travel quite a bit under the reasonable assumption that they might not be in adequate health to do so when they are older. They’ll be able to retire for a few years when they are substantially older, but they likely won’t do so until they need to for health reasons.

When you get right down to it, the big reason that many people don’t save for the future is that they would rather spend their money now. They have things that they want today – houses, cars, consumer goods, travel, clothing, electronics, and so on – and those things come before things like saving for retirement.

In truth, a balanced financial life that involves living within your means includes things like saving for retirement. A normal financial life should include saving at least 10% for the future before anything else, because without that, you’re walking a high wire without a safety net during the later years of your life when you are in declining health. That was the only way that people found financial security in the past.

The last generation or two have been able to get around that thanks to pension programs and Social Security. Those things have essentially taken the place of retirement savings for many people in retirement today. So, during their adult lives, many of them have never needed to actually save for retirement.

That safety net is gone for most of us who are currently in the workforce. I know no one that has a traditional pension – the best that any of my friends have is a individual retirement plan that is contributed to by his employer regardless of whether he donates, but that contribution plus Social Security would still make for a very meager retirement.

What does all of this mean? If people want to be able to do anything in their later years besides working until they die, then they have to start living a balanced financial life that includes at least 10% contributions to retirement. Period. There is no special magic trick that makes it possible to not do this. Yet by any accounts, most Americans do not save adequately for retirement.

Why do people not do that? It’s simple. Most people place a much higher priority on the things they want right now in order to live an affluent lifestyle. People have a stark choice between the biggest excesses in all of their spending, the least important things they choose to spend their money on, and saving for retirement, and over and over again they choose those least important items. They choose things like a double mocha latte or the latest iPhone over the security of their future selves.

People live as though they have more income than they actually do, and in order to do that they cut out retirement savings (and sometimes even get into credit card debt).

In other words, it’s exactly like my reader described. Many people spend their life pretending to be wealthier than they are.

Why do people do that, though? What’s the reason?

Some people do it to impress others, but that’s a questionable reason due to the spotlight effect. In reality, few people even notice the car you drive or the clothes you wear, and even fewer really care.

There are many techniques for overcoming the spotlight effect, but they all boil down to one thing: spend your spare time improving yourself, so that you no longer have to feel as though you need to “fake it until you make it.” Instead, you have real value to add, so you don’t need to put up a false front about yourself.

Some people do it for the purposes of retail therapy, because spending makes them feel better about their situation. Doing this converts shopping into entertainment, which not only is an expensive form of entertainment but also eats up time from many other forms of entertainment.

There are several good strategies for overcoming retail therapy, including keeping constant reminders of your big goals, automating your savings, talking to your friends during rational moments outside of those shopping splurges, focusing on friendships that don’t engage in retail therapy, making your spending tools difficult to access, and actively seeking non-financial outlets for your emotional peaks and valleys.

Some people are heavily influenced by the media and take their cues for how to behave and what to buy from television, magazines, and other sources.

The key to solving this challenge is by changing your media diet. For me, the biggest key was simply watching less television, which is something I did gradually over the years until now where my television watching is minimal. Most of my reading is in the form of books, too, so I don’t see many magazine ads.

Some people are heavily influenced by their friends and neighbors and take their cues from their spending habits. After all, in the words of Jim Rohn, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

The best strategy here is to never live in a neighborhood where you have the lowest income – you should be above average in income in your neighborhood, so you never have the need to spend to “keep up with the Joneses.” You should also re-evaluate your social circle and make an effort to spend more time with friends who don’t choose to spend as much.

Some people would rather “live it up” while they are young and healthy rather than saving money for when they are old and perhaps not so healthy. They believe their “future selves” will take care of it.

The problem here is that you simply don’t know what your future will bring. Employment options tend to change when you get older, as do your physical limitations, and with the rapid changes in technology, it is really, really hard to guess what life will be like twenty years down the road. Retirement savings isn’t just money to live off of when you’re old. It’s money to ensure that you can survive during your later years when the “rules” of your life have changed quite a bit, both in terms of your own situation and the changes in society.

All of these things are simply excuses for people to pretend to be rich right now and thus, by extension, not save adequately for their future. Do any of them ring a bell for you? Most of them did for me in the past, but I’ve made a conscious effort to reduce their impact and I can’t help but see the positive effect those changes have had on my spending. I don’t feel nearly as compelled to spend as I once was, yet I don’t feel as though my life is “deprived” in any way. I feel at peace because I know my future is taken care of, which is really nice.

Don’t pretend to be rich. It might feel good in the moment, but that feeling doesn’t last. It leaves you with stress when you reflect on your life and it leaves you with limited options even just a few years down the road.

The best thing you can do is start saving for retirement today. Don’t give yourself time to talk yourself out of it. Sign up for a retirement plan at work (a 401(k) or something similar) or sign up for an individual retirement plan through your investment firm of choice (I use Vanguard) and start contributing immediately. Then, choose to live a little less “rich” than before.

You’ll never regret it.

The post Pretending to Be Rich appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Good news for higher earners as government delays pensions tax tweak

Rachel Lacey

pension plan.jpg

Higher earners breathed a sigh of relief today as a government announcement on how to reform tax relief on pension contributions was delayed.

Higher earners breathed a sigh of relief today as a government announcement on how to reform tax relief on pension contributions was delayed.

Good news for higher earners as government delays pensions tax tweak

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Higher earners breathed a sigh of relief today as a government announcement on how to reform tax relief on pension contributions was delayed. Earlier this year the government launched a consultation on pensions tax relief which closed on 30 September. The consultation sought to establish whether the current system of tax relief should be maintained or whether a new, more cost-effective way of incentivising retirement saving could be introduced. Under the current system, the tax relief on pension contributions is linked to the rate of income tax you pay, effectively rebating the tax you have paid on that money. This means it costs basic rate taxpayers £80 to save £100, higher-rate taxpayers only need to pay £60 to save the same sum while additional rate payers contribute just £55. The consultation looked at a new 'flat rate' savings incentive, which would see all savers receiving the same rate of tax relief, irrespective of how much income tax they pay. The government is also considering the introduction of a ‘pension Isa’, with limited upfront incentives but tax-free withdrawals. A response confirming the government’s intentions was expected in the November Spending Review; however, chancellor George Osborne has now indicated that the government’s response will not be published until the 2016 Budget. Tom McPhail, head of retirement policy at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The government’s decision not to respond to its consultation until next year is a reflection of the complexity of the pension tax system and the challenge in introducing any reforms. We welcome the fact that they are taking a measured approach rather than rushing at the problem.” The delay grants higher earners – who are likely to see the level of tax relief applied to their contributions slashed – a temporary stay of execution. He added: “This is a mixed blessing for higher earners. A quick response would have meant no change. The fact that they want more time to work on it suggests they are still pursuing fundamental reforms; I believe these are likely to lead to cuts in the tax breaks offered to higher earners.” Jon Greer, pensions technical expert at Old Mutual Wealth, said: “This is a signal of intent from government that indicates it is seriously considering a major overhaul of pension tax relief. The Green Paper has been positioned as an open consultation, but [this] confirmation that it will form part of Budget 2016 suggests that we can expect significant reform next year.” McPhail said that higher earners must seize the opportunity to maximise their pension contributions while the tax breaks were still available. He added: “Over the next 6 months we’re likely to see a rush of higher earners looking to make the most of the current system while they still can.”

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5 Ways to Invest in LGBT Rights for Great Returns

Many businesses are starting to realize that supporting LGBT rights makes good business sense.

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How to Answer 'Why Are You Leaving Your Current Employer?' in an Interview

And how to gracefully explain why you left your last job.

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Rental Rates on the Rise: What to Expect in 2016

Property managers predict rates will increase by 8 percent next year.

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7 Credit Card Perks for Small Business Owners

You won't get these sign-up bonuses and introductory APRs with consumer cards.

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House prices rise but changes to stamp duty affect £1 million-plus properties

Hannah Nemeth

rising house prices.jpg

Average house prices have continued to rise but changes to stamp duty has had an impact on higher-value properties, according to the latest data for England and Wales.

Average house prices have continued to rise but changes to stamp duty has had an impact on higher-value properties, according to the latest data for England and Wales.

House prices rise but changes to stamp duty affect £1 million-plus properties

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Average house prices have continued to rise but changes to stamp duty has had an impact on higher-value properties, according to the latest data for England and Wales. Average house prices rose by 5.3% in the year to September 2015 and the average price of a house now stands at £186,553 – £9,254 more than it was a year ago, the Land Registry House Price Index for September has revealed. The Land Registry’s index, which is the only one based on actual sold prices, also showed that London properties had a monthly increase of 1.8%, as compared to 1% in England and Wales. The annual change for London stands at 9.6% – considerably higher than most other regions. The average price of property in London is £499,997 – £136,556 more than the average for England and Wales. The London borough with the highest annual price rise was Newham – up by 13.6% – while properties in Hounslow showed the slowest annual growth at 2.1%. Outside London, the North East saw the only annual price decrease of 0.3%, with Darlington showing the most significant annual price fall, dropping by of -5.1%. Impact of changes to stamp duty New stamp duty rules at the turn of the year, whereby properties sold for between £925,000 and £1.5 million are taxed at 10% and those over £1.5 million are taxed at 12%, had an impact on the number of properties sold in these price brackets. The number of properties sold in England and Wales for more than £1 million dropped by 9% to 1,413 from 1,555 in the year from July 2014. The number of properties sold in London for more than £1 million in July 2015 fell by 16% to 884 from 1,057 in July 2014. On a positive note, the number of properties that were repossessed from April to July 2015 averaged 519 a month. This is a considerable drop compared to the same period a year earlier, when they averaged 932 a month. Jonathan Adams, director of prime central London estate agency Napier Watt, said: “The Land Registry House Price Index recorded a modest monthly rise in the national average price in September. However, the number of property transactions decreased, suggesting that the market is perhaps not as healthy and functioning as well as it could be. “The breakdown of transactions by price range is revealing, highlighting a fragmented market in London with higher-value properties struggling to sell. There were 288 £2 million-plus purchases in July 2015, compared with 370 in the same month last year. But in the £1 million to £1.5 million range, the number of transactions rose from 821 in July last year to 840 this year, underlining the impact the increase in stamp duty on purchases over £2 million has had on the market. “Buyers are being more cautious: properties that are nicely finished and realistically priced are being snapped up, even under sealed bids, while those that are overpriced and not that special are lingering.”

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Why Freelancing Can Be Safer Than a 9-to-5 Job

By all accounts, the way we work is changing. A recent study of workplace trends by work-for-hire site Elance showed that, over the last two decades, Americans have increasingly transitioned away from the traditional employer-employee workplace toward contract or freelance employment situations.

Of course, part of that trend has been driven by companies trying to shed the costly benefits associated with full-time employees, such as health insurance and retirement plans. But another factor is a growing interest in flexible work arrangements, especially among millennials. Either way, the freelance economy is now made up of 53 million Americans, or 34% of the U.S. workforce, according to the Elance survey — up from 30% in 2006.

In most cases, these workers fall into one of five categories: independent contractors (workers who perform contract work on a project basis); moonlighters (full-time workers who freelance on the side); diversified workers (those who earn a living with a combination of traditional and freelance employment); temporary workers (who complete temporary projects with an end date); and freelance business owners (workers who identify as small business owners and freelancers). Since freelancers and the capacity they work in remain wide and varied, the key to identifying each type of worker is complex.

The Upsides and Downsides of Freelancing in America

Still, freelancers of all types have much in common when it comes to both advantages and disadvantages.

Out of that survey’s 5,000 participants, half complained of a lack of stable income, while 47% complained they had difficulty finding work. Meanwhile, 31% complained about not getting paid on time, 23% said it was difficult to know which skills are in demand, 21% worried about finding affordable benefits, and 13% complained about paperwork and administrative overhead.

But freelancers agreed on the positives as well. Of those surveyed, 77% said the best days of freelancing are still ahead of them, while 65% noted they felt freelancing was respected more than it was three years ago. More than three quarters (77%) said they make as much or more money than they did before they started freelancing.

And when the survey asked individuals to identify why they chose freelancing, the results were telling. Despite the drawbacks, many freelancers embraced their work situations due to one common theme — freedom.

Here’s how a handful of respondents replied when asked why they chose freelancing:

“Freedom to set my schedule and work on opportunities that interest and challenge me.”

“I have more control over where I work, when I work and what I do for my work.”

“I choose to be in freelance because I’m able to work my own hours, determine my own salary, and be creative in my work.”

“I prefer the freedom to choose what sort of work I do without my schedule being controlled and my choices being commanded by someone else. I can express myself and be appreciated for it as well as bring beauty to the world by way of my work. It also is less stressful than an office environment and allows me the time necessary to take care of my farm.”

Why Freelancing May Be Safer Than a 9-to-5 Job

Traditional workers can’t always wrap their heads around why anyone would choose to freelance for a living. Without a steady roster of clients or a guaranteed wage, the idea of freelancing can even seem risky and downright dangerous to some.

But not everyone who works on their own feels that way at all. In fact, many self-employed individuals and freelancers feel that being a freelancer is actually safer than full-time employment. Here’s why:

Freelancers typically have more than one job going at a time.

Part of the beauty of self-employment is being able to work for more than one client. Any experienced freelancer will tell you that having multiple clients makes it easier to stagger work and keep the dollars coming in through multiple income streams.

Traditional workers can lose their entire income with one layoff.

While freelance work comes and goes all the time, losing a freelance assignment isn’t nearly as heart-wrenching or crisis-inducing as getting laid off or fired from a full-time job. Full-time workers who lose their jobs may see their family’s entire income evaporate overnight. Meanwhile, freelancers generally have more than one client (and income stream) at a time, and the chances of getting let go by several clients all at once are slim.

And while freelance work can dry up in a hurry during an economic downturn, there’s no guarantee that a full-time job is safer in such circumstances. During the last recession, more than 3,000 American companies conducted mass layoffs — just in February 2009 alone — according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The sky is the limit.

A reliable salary is undeniably comforting, but freelancers, like all entrepreneurs, have the opportunity to take on as much work (and earn as much extra money) as they possibly can.

Forty-two percent of respondents in the eLance survey said they earn more money freelancing than they did before. Just make sure you have the discipline to save those excess funds to cushion any lean times.

While individual freelance work may not be all that stable, many self-employed workers choose to see their situation as a total package. Jobs will come and go, but most freelancers feel confident in their ability to replace expired work and find new work over time — 65% of the survey’s respondents said the Internet has made it easier to find freelance work. And in the end, the freedom that comes with their work situations appears to make it all worth it.

The Bottom Line

This shift in workplace structures is unlikely to stop any time soon. A recent report from Intuit predicts that freelancers could make up as much as 40% of the workforce by 2020, and that full-time jobs with benefits will be increasingly hard to find. Meanwhile, self-employment, personal, and micro businesses will thrive in the years to come, offering freedom from the chains that normally bind full-time employees, plus the potential for higher incomes and more autonomy.

If you haven’t considered a freelance gig yet, now may be the time to start thinking outside the box. Like it or not, the freelance economy is coming, and those who are ready will flourish.

Do you know someone who freelances for a living? Do you worry about the implications of a freelance economy in the future? 

Related Articles

• 50 Side Businesses You Can Start On Your Own
• 10 Work-From-Home Jobs for 2015
• Self-Employed? How and When to Use an SEP IRA

The post Why Freelancing Can Be Safer Than a 9-to-5 Job appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Four Simple Tips to Help With Work-at-Home Mom Overwhelm

By Caroline Pigott I’ve learned there’s working from home, and then there’s working from home with kids.  I wasn’t yet a mom when I began working for myself. I had no distractions and no time restraints – not counting client deadlines, of course. Fast-forward five years and two kids later and my work-at-home life had […]

Source The Work at Home Woman http://ift.tt/1PTYERP