‘He started foaming at the mouth’

ANGRY pet owners have called on Coles and Woolworths to stop selling a toxic flea spray after a cat suffered a severe reaction.

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‘This is Australia, not Syria’

OPTUS has come under fire on social media after featuring an advertisement written in Arabic at a shopping centre in Sydney.

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Ad agency in Facebook stoush

LAST week a Sydney ad agency denied it was encouraging sexism by employing an all male new team. Then things got a whole lot worse.

Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1S0rAqp

a2 milking formula gold mine

AN Australian milk producer is cashing in big time on the lucrative baby formula market. But how much of it is actually reaching Aussie mums?

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5 Steps to Achieve Financial Greatness

Money is a powerful thing.

Its very existence allows us to focus on what we do best while having just about every other need met through the spending of the money.

Think about it. Say you’re an excellent plumber. You may not be good at accounting, raising chickens, or building vehicles, but because you’re an excellent plumber you earn enough money to have all of those other tasks done for you. It’s a beautiful thing.

Unfortunately, the existence of money just isn’t enough – you need to know how to manage your money. In other words, you need to achieve financial greatness. You need to know some foundational things about how money and business work to do well in this life.

How do you achieve financial greatness? For this article I’ve partnered up with Lewis Howes, former professional football player turned entrepreneur.

Howes built a multi-million dollar online media company, speaks all over the world, and has advised billion-dollar brands.

Howes has a new book, a New York Times Best Seller, The School of Greatness and has been gracious to lend his tips for this article.

Are you ready to achieve financial greatness? Of course you are! Let’s begin.

1. Create a vision.

A powerful vision emerges when we couple our dreams with a clear set of goals. – Lewis Howes, The School of Greatness

There’s nothing quite like the power of creating goals that are based on your dreams. Sometimes, I think people get stuck living moment to moment instead of just sitting back and looking at the big picture.

So I ask you, what do you want from your life? What are some of your goals and ambitions?

If it’s too difficult to think about the long-term (think 10 or 20 years down the road), then why not create some goals that are attainable in the short-term? That’s exactly what Howes did at first:

When I was broke and living on my sister’s couch (after my football career ended in injury), I had no clue how I was going to make money. But I did know that I was going to do something huge to change the world and people’s lives for the better. Originally my vision was just to get off the couch and get my own apartment. Once I managed to do that, I set my sights on a bigger vision, and made goals to achieve it. This pattern is what led to my eventual success in business. – Lewis Howes

You see, Howes developed a pattern of behavior that lead him to financial greatness. Financial greatness didn’t happen overnight. Instead, he took it one step at a time and made a habit of creating goals.

2. Cultivate a champion’s mindset.

It actually only takes a little more effort to believe in yourself than it does to put yourself down. – Lewis Howes, The School of Greatness

A champion’s mindset involves a lot of positive thinking. If you’re beating yourself up all day long about this or that, do you really think you’ll have the strength to achieve the level of financial greatness you desire? Forget about it!

Now, this doesn’t mean that you need to be unrealistic. Instead, focus on the realistic positives. You’re breathing, that’s a positive! Start there. The fact that you’re alive means that you have almost unlimited potential to create change in your life. Don’t feel like you’re stuck. Maybe you had a physical injury like Howes did. Should that stop you from pursuing new dreams? Of course not! Howes didn’t let it keep him from pursuing new dreams.

Want some more inspiration? Check out Nick Vujicic at LifeWithoutLimbs.org – a man born without limbs who didn’t let his physical disability hold him back.

You see, what you believe about yourself matters. If you believe you’re a nobody, you’re not going to go very far in life. If you believe you have something to offer others, you will. And you know what? They’ll reward you by making you financially prosperous. You must absolutely believe in yourself. Howes did:

If I didn’t believe I was capable of creating a job for myself, paying off my credit cards, and generating enough income to live the lifestyle I wanted, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. Mindset is everything when it comes to creating abundance from scarcity. – Lewis Howes

3. Develop hustle.

It can be a beautiful journey if you give yourself permission to hustle like a maniac, to die on the treadmill, because what else are you here to do other than make the most of what you can be? – Lewis Howes, The School of Greatness

Hustle is what I’m all about. In my career, I’ve built a successful online business and a successful financial firm. I continue to run both businesses, and believe me, it takes a lot of hustle.

How do you develop hustle? My tip is to make the most of each and every moment you have. Don’t feel like you have to get everything done at once. Instead, focus on one task at a time and move onto the next when you complete it.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take breaks. Breaks are important – even for those who achieve financial greatness. In fact, breaks are a key component to achieving financial success. Don’t view breaks as a waste of time. Instead, view them as part of your work to recoup your energy and hit the ground running.

Now, hustle doesn’t turn into financial greatness unless you know how to focus on doing the right things in business and life. You can work really, really hard at a minimum wage job and go nowhere. Alternatively, you can focus your energy on where the money is at and make a fortune. Consider how Howes focused on the right type of work and realized tremendous results:

The first time I ever did a webinar, I was clueless and a nervous wreck. I had met a guy at a conference who had a huge following and he’d invited me to present on a webinar he was hosting for his audience. I happened to know more than most people at the time about LinkedIn, so I was coming on as the expert. I was so scared of messing something up that when the webinar finished I just sat there (sweating in my underwear) and didn’t touch my laptop. When I finally checked my PayPal account to see if anyone had bought the bootcamp I offered, I saw $6,200 in it. I might as well have won the lottery. I ran around the house screaming and throwing the cats in the air. Then I spent the next two years doing webinars weekly, if not daily, and made a few million. The hustle pays off.

4. Practice positive habits.

True greatness comes from the intentional act of doing something over and over and over again. – Lewis Howes, The School of Greatness

When I look at some of my clients who have a large net worth, there’s usually one thing they have in common. Do you know what it is? It’s that for years and years they practiced sound financial principles that propelled them to the zenith they’re at today.

They spent years and years depositing a portion of each paycheck into their retirement account – after they created a good retirement plan. They spent years and years paying off their debt and saving money. They spent years and years finding the right job for them – and when they found it they stuck with it.

One of the best ways you can achieve financial greatness, like Howes indicated, is to be intentional. You must intentionally seek out sound financial advice if you want to win with money. Then, you must intentionally put that advice into practice.

5. Build a winning team.

Always find ways to create a win-win in every relationship in your life. – Lewis Howes, The School of Greatness

As Donald Trump might say, this is “huuuuge!”

Now, some people are pretty difficult, but why burn a bridge if you don’t have to burn it? If someone is on your team and they’re not doing well, lead. Show them how to do their job by example. Work alongside them instead of kicking them out the door. Who knows, they just might turn into the best team member you’ve ever had!

If you don’t have a winning team yet, and need to build one, consider the applicants carefully. It might be best for you to actively seek out team members yourself rather than just letting anyone apply. Ask friends and family who they would recommend. Seek team members in a natural way and don’t just randomly select from a list of applicants.

When you have a winning team, guess what? You win! Your team will be there for you and help you accomplish things you could never have done on your own. If you find yourself increasingly busy, ask yourself which tasks are worth outsourcing to others. You’ll not only create more time for yourself, you’ll be one step closer to financial greatness.

Greatness is within your reach. Can’t you feel it?

This post originally appeared on Forbes.

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Uber at your doorstep

Uber car service is on a drive for Pocono customers after winning two-year regulatory approval in January to operate in most parts of Pennsylvania.For Northampton Community College student Matthew Ryan, Uber provides an opportunity to put his 2013 Hyundai Sonata to work transporting customers.“It gave me something to pay for my car I just bought in July,” Ryan said. “My sister was going to do it because she wanted extra cash. It didn’t really work [...]

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Can the ‘McPick 2’ menu save McDonalds?

MACCAS’ latest bid to revive slumping sales sounds like a bad sequel, but it sure is cheap. Can the McPick 2 menu lure back customers?

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HUGE FREEBIE! How to Earn $12.65 By Buying Milk, Eggs and Vegetables

Anyone who has ever cut coupons knows how extremely rare it is to find a coupon on staples like milk, bread and eggs. It’s sad, but most coupons are for processed foods that aren’t good for your health — or your budget.

Which is why we LOVE the smartphone app, Ibotta.

Ibotta is a rebate app that very cleverly allows you to take a picture of your grocery store receipt. In return, they give you cash rebates on your purchases.

Many of the rebates are for healthy foods and the best part is that in some cases, you don’t even have to buy a specific brand. For example, this week they’re offering a 20-cent rebate when you buy an onion. Any onion. Any brand. Any size.

Cool, right?

How to Earn $12.65 from Ibotta This Week 

To make it even better, this week Ibotta is offering a HUGE bonus for new users – an extra $10 when you redeem your first 10 rebates!

Check out some of the rebates that are available:

50-cent rebate if you buy green beans

50-cent rebate if you buy squash

25-cent rebate if you buy any brand of eggs

20-cent rebate if I buy frozen vegetables

20-cent rebate if you buy strawberries

20-cent rebate if you buy milk

20-cent rebate if you buy bananas

20-cent rebate if you buy a red bell pepper

20-cent rebate if you buy an onion

20-cent rebate if you buy broccoli 

And there are a ton more! So here’s the math: if you buy all 10 products, you’ll earn $2.65. Plus, you’ll get a $10 bonus, totaling $12.65 in free cash!

How does Ibotta work?

Step 1: First you need to download the Ibotta app here. It’s totally free and it takes about 15 seconds to sign up.

Step 2: The app uses your smartphone GPS to locate the grocery stores around you. Pick your favorite and then browse through the rebates to find the ones you want to use.

Step 3: Before you go to the store, you’ll need to “unlock” the rebate. Usually it’s just a matter of reading a quick fact or watching a 15 second ad about the product. It’s pretty easy and won’t take you much time.

 

Step 4: After you get home from the store, click the redeem button on the Ibotta app and use your smartphone’s camera to take a picture of your receipt. Within 24 hours, you’ll see cash sitting in your Ibotta account which you can withdraw at anytime via Paypal or Venmo.

Want to make the deal even better? Take a few minutes and download the other rebate apps, SavingStar and Checkout51. They often have similar rebates, so if you download all of them, you can often score three rebates on the same item.

Your Turn: Have you tried Ibotta? How much have you saved so far?

The post HUGE FREEBIE! How to Earn $12.65 By Buying Milk, Eggs and Vegetables appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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You Won’t Believe How Much the Average Shopper Spends on Black Friday

You may be a veteran Black Friday shopper with the inside scoop on the greatest deals and strategies — but how much do you really know about the day itself?

For example, did you know that certain retailers create low-quality versions of their products to sell on Black Friday? Or, can you name which generation goes nuts on Black Friday (nearly three-quarters of its members participate)?

Knowledge is power, so we’ve rounded up nine of the most interesting Black Friday facts and shared them below:

1. More Than 40% of Americans Shop on Black Friday

Sure, you knew Black Friday was popular, but did you know it was this popular? Last year, 133.7 million people shopped during Black Friday weekend. That’s almost 42% of Americans.

Wondering how to stay sane amidst the hustle and bustle? Start by reading this.

2. Black Friday Can Be Deadly

You’ve probably joked about toy rage and trampling before, but the scary, sad fact of the matter is people actually have died shopping on Black Friday. In the past nine years, Black Friday has caused seven deaths and 98 injuries, Black Friday Death Count reports.

If you’re nervous about battling it out in the stores, don’t forget to check out the Black Friday bargains online.

3. The Day Owes Its Name to Philly Cops

You probably heard “Black Friday” originated from an accounting term: the day retailers’ profits finally went into the black. But, the name really came from Philadelphia cops, who were frustrated with traffic and smog caused by the mass of shoppers. Retailers didn’t like the negative connotation, so they spread the accounting rumor.

In search of more truth bombs? Check out this list of busted Black Friday myths.

4. Stores Manufacture Low-Quality Items Just for Black Friday

Spot an amazing deal on a TV, laptop, tablet or other electronic device? Proceed with caution: It might not be the real thing.

“Some products advertised at deep discounts on Black Friday are what’s known as ‘derivative products’ — items made by the same manufacturer that look almost like the standard model but with a few very important differences,” Time reports. “These products are generally manufactured more cheaply, sometimes with less-expensive components.”

To determine if you’re getting a derivative, Time recommends checking the model number, which will differ slightly from the regular product.

You can’t be too careful when it comes to your money: Before heading out on Black Friday, arm yourself with more tips from the experts.

5. The Average Shopper Spends Almost $400

Can you believe it? Shoppers spent an average of $380.95 on their Black Friday shopping last year, according to a survey from the National Retail Federation.

Don’t let your holiday shopping get out of control: Create a Black Friday budget before doing anything else.

6. Black Friday Might Not Be the Cheapest Day of the Year

Eek! You’ll find plenty of bargains on Black Friday, but don’t automatically assume everything is at its lowest price. The cheapest day of the year may be later in the holiday shopping season.

With that in mind, here’s a list of items you definitely shouldn’t buy on Black Friday.

7. Millennials Are the Biggest Black Friday Shoppers

Would you have guessed millennials are the generation most devoted to Black Friday? We wouldn’t have. Last year, a surprising 74.3% of millennials shopped over Black Friday weekend.

If you’re part of this tech-savvy,bargain-hungry crowd, here are X apps to download for Black Friday.

8. It’s the Busiest Day of the Year for Plumbers

It may no longer be the busiest day of the year for retailers, but Black Friday still reigns supreme for another industry: plumbing.

“Often, the case is that a house already has partially clogged drains that go unnoticed, until holiday guests arrive and overwhelm the system,” explains Roto Rooter.

Want to earn money on Black Friday, instead of spending it? dvertise your handyman services in the weeks leading up to the holiday.

9. Most Shoppers Actually Stay Home

If you only go for the bargains — and not for the Black Friday experience — you might as well stay home and shop online. Last year, just 28% of shoppers planned to go into stores over Black Friday weekend.

If you’re planning to shop from behind your laptop, save money and headaches by downloading these 7 browser extensions.

Your Turn: Did any of these facts surprise you?

Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

This post originally appeared on our special Black Friday site.

 

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Silvio Calabi: Subaru Forester has personality to spare

The cabin of a car, particularly from the driver’s angle, is sometimes called the greenhouse; the cabin of Subaru’s Forester mini-ute really does feel like a gardener’s hothouse, especially when the shade of the enormous sunroof is peeled back and the seat has been inched upward till your hair is just three fingers from the roof. Plant nurseries stay put, though, so really the sensation is of being in some kind of mobile observation turret, with a broad view on [...]

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25 Things You Can Make Yourself to Save Money (Including Home Decor, Cat Condos and Hiking Gear)

You might think, “I’m not an artist or craftsman.” No worries, these DIY suggestions are for some of the simplest things you can make to easily save money.

For example, to save $400 by making a king-size bed, I just put together two single mattresses and lashed the frames to each other. And by the way, if you are going to make a few things, starting with the big stuff is not a bad idea, since that’s where you’ll save the most money.

But you can also do a number of small, simple projects to save money. Here are some examples of both types.

Make Your Own Clothes

Yes, making your own clothes can be expensive and complicated. But there is a way to keep it cheap and simple: Just modify existing clothing.

1. Bleach Painted Shirts: It takes about five minutes to learn how to paint clothing with bleach, and you can make some pretty cool designs. Use your old t-shirts or buy them for a dollar at thrift stores and then get out the bleach!
2. Distressed Jeans: There’s no need to pay big bucks for beat-up jeans when there are so many tutorials online about how to make distressed jeans.
3. Studded Clothes: Adding studs to clothing is a cheap way to remake old clothing you no longer wear, or to modify thrift store purchases.

Make Your Own Furniture

Making your own furniture to save money might sound intimidating, but these simple projects require minimal tools and skills.

4. Tub Tables: While waiting to find new furniture after our many moves, my wife and I have used plastic tubs with nice cloth covers as end tables. Buy $1 per yard material in the discount bins at Wal-Mart. Two yards will cover a large tub and drape to the floor. Plus, the “tables” double as storage space.
5. Bed Frames: I made a bed frame (for a spare bedroom) with 2-by-4s and plywood. Keep it simple and have the plywood cut for you at Home Depot. You can easily cut the other pieces using a hand saw. Screw and glue the side bars and legs together and it will be rock solid. Hide the whole thing under a dust ruffle and only you’ll know.
6. Desks: Check out 20 DIY desks at Homedit.com. The ideas get more creative (and cheaper) as you scroll down. For a simple standing desk, find the right size table to anchor on top of your existing desk. This worked well for me because I could still use all of the space on the lower desk, and even drop the monitor and keyboard down to that one when I wanted to sit.

Make Your Own Patio Decor and More

Outdoor furniture and decor doesn’t always need a perfectly-finished appearance, so it’s a great opportunity for DIY projects.

7. Wooden Benches: I’ve made benches from 2-by-4 lumber for less than $15, and I can tell you that it’s almost as simple as it sounds (but use screws, not nails). If you want to save even more, make a bench from recycled lumber.
8. Cement Block Planters: Cement blocks start at about $1.25, and can be stacked in various ways to create flower gardens.
9. Fire Pits: I’ve done a basic fire pit with free rocks I’ve collected, and it looked great for the setting. For a professional-looking one that will still save you money, use fancy blocks.
10. Barbecue Grills: Cement block grills are simple, or you can use bricks for a better look. You’ll find plenty of block and brick barbecue ideas on Pinterest.

Make Your Own Cat Stuff

If you like to spoil your cats like my wife and I, you know it gets expensive. A basic “cat condo” can top $100, and a scratching post can cost $40. Here are some things you can make to keep the cats happy for less.

11. Cat Scratching Posts: Screw a 30-inch-long piece of 2-by-4 lumber to a 2-by-2-foot piece of plywood (from the bottom). Our cats like this “raw” version and the ones I carpeted. For the latter you’ll need a staple gun, some carpet samples and a carpet knife.
12. Cat Toys: Our cats have made it clear that they won’t play with anything that costs more than a dollar, so we just tie objects to yarn. They love these toys! For more elaborate fun, save boxes and cut various holes, windows and doors in them.
13. Outdoor Cat Enclosures: In a previous post, I explained how you can make money building cat enclosures, but you can save money by building one, too. Why spend $2,000 for one? The photo in the post shows the 8-by-8-foot cat enclosure I built for $110.
14. Cat Furniture: I took an old TV cabinet, nailed some scrap lumber to it for platforms and covered everything with carpet. The cats could go inside it, come out through a hole in the back and climb up three levels of platforms. Total Cost: about $3. Just use anything you have and make it look cool by covering it all with carpet samples you can often buy for $1 each at carpet suppliers.

Outdoor Gear

It’s great to have the newest outdoor gear, but it’s also expensive. And not everything needs to be high-tech. Here are some cheap ways to make simple gear.

15. Superlight Backpacking Stoves: Plenty of online tutorials will show you how to make your own lightweight backpacking stove. I’ve done this to cut weight (mine weighed one ounce), but it can also save you a lot of money.
16. Backpacks: I’d never make a conventional backpack. It requires a sewing machine, for starters. But I did discover that a lightweight duffle bag tied to an old aluminum backpack frame makes an affordable, light backpack.
17. Walking Sticks: Expensive trekking poles are nice, but I’ll leave things behind if they’re not attached to me, so I stick to making walking sticks for the trail. If you already have a knife, your net cost will be zero.
18. Hand Warmers: Cut five holes in old socks and put them on your hands. You can wear gloves over them but still have protection for your wrists and hands when you need your fingers free. It doesn’t get more simple than that.
19. Balaclavas: Cut a sleeve from any stretchy old thermal shirt, sew or tie one end shut, pull it over your head to mark the right spots and cut out three holes for eyes and mouth. Mine weighed one ounce — lighter than anything I could buy (I hike light).
20. Insulating Vests: I cut a hole for my head in a 4-by-2-foot piece of polyester batting (the kind sold in rolls). I wore it like a tunic under an outer layer, and it kept me warm on numerous cold-weather adventures, including traversing glaciers above 20,000 feet.
21. Other Gear: See the section on making outdoor gear on Backpacking.net.

More Things You Can Make to Save Money

Here are a few more ideas for things you can make, gathered from around the Internet.

22. Money Clips: You can make a money clip from a spoon (pretty cool). I’ve also just removed the clip from an old cell phone holder.
23. Wall Hangings: Dave Pollot modifies thrift store paintings by adding pop-culture references to the picture. He sells them for up to $800, but you can also do this as a way to cheaply decorate your walls.
24. Lamps: Some of the 21 DYI lamps on ViralNova.com are elaborate and probably expensive to make. Others could cost you just a couple bucks in materials, and look really awesome.
25. Bread: You don’t have to be a baker to make good bread. In fact, using a bread machine is about as simple as throwing the ingredients in the machine and turning it on.

Your Turn: What have you made to save money?

Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror, and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (so far).

The post 25 Things You Can Make Yourself to Save Money (Including Home Decor, Cat Condos and Hiking Gear) appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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This is a Weird Thing to Do at Work, But It Could Help You Earn More Money

Do you feel like other people in your office are better at building their network, getting their ideas heard during meetings and moving up the career ladder? Do you want to know how to get involved and get included?

The Harvard Business Review has one suggestion: visualize money. Believe it or not, taking some time to think about money can help you be a better team player.

Why Visualize Money?

The Harvard Business Review completed studies suggesting that people who took the time to visualize money felt more connected and more social at work:

Our research, focused on the workplace context, finds that simple thoughts of money can reinforce ostracized employees’ perceived belonging in the organization. Such perceptions lead ostracized employees to maintain, rather than withdraw, their prosocial tendencies at work.

In other words, if you feel left out or like you’re not fully part of the team, start thinking about money. You’ll begin performing more “prosocial” activities — engaging with coworkers, providing suggestions during team meetings, listening and responding to your team’s needs.

And, according to Inc., being a team player is one of the five habits of people who always get promoted. So, thinking about those dollars might help you earn more!

Visualize Money, Earn Money

Why does visualizing money work?

First, it’s a reminder of why we go to work every day, and why it’s important to speak up in meetings as well as engage in social activities, like team lunches or happy hour.

It also works because, as the Harvard Business Review puts it, “simple thoughts of money can provide a sense of strength.” Think about money and you’ll feel prepared to take on whatever challenges you and your team are facing.

If you think about money, you’ll be reminded of why you do the job you do.

You’ll be better prepared to find opportunities to improve your work, speak up in meetings and build connections with your co-workers. This, in turn, makes you a better employee — which often leads to more money!

Your Turn: Have you ever done visualization exercises? Do they work? Would you try visualizing money?

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

The post This is a Weird Thing to Do at Work, But It Could Help You Earn More Money appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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6 Steps to Your First 100 Email Subscribers (The Easy Way)

If you want to maximize your business’ profit, there’s one thing you need to know: email marketing has a return on investment (ROI) that beats any alternative—by a lot.

I mention it fairly often, so you might already know that. But then why haven’t you started?

Or if you have started, why aren’t you getting great results? It’s not necessarily your fault; in fact, it probably isn’t.

The fault lies in the fact that you don’t have the right system in place. Every blogger will tell you how important email subscribers are, but few will actually give you an actionable strategy you can follow.

Now, there are many ways to get email subscribers.

Some are better than others. For example, you can run contests and get hundreds or thousands of subscribers, but most of them will just be looking for something free.

All those successful companies profiting from email marketing have email lists that are not only large but also high quality.

A good portion of those subscribers will actually buy something at some point if the offer is good.

Today, I’m going to teach you one single strategy. You can use this strategy to get your first 100 subscribers. And the best part is: it’s simple.

Not simple in the sense that it won’t take hard work or any knowledge, but simple in that if you have the knowledge and tools needed for success, this is about as straightforward and practical of a strategy as you can get.

Throughout the post, I’ll highlight why this is a great starting strategy and how you might want to adapt it so you can continue to use it effectively once you have your first subscribers.

Sounds good?

Let’s start… 

Step 1: One piece of the right content

Think about everything you’ve read about getting email subscribers.

Most tips or strategies focus around continuous content creation.

It’s a bit overwhelming to think that you need to produce 25-50 pieces of content just to get started.

Yes, consistency is important, but more so down the line. Right now, you don’t need to worry about that.

It’s like trying to run before you’ve learned to walk.

Baby steps. Let’s keep it simple.

With this strategy, we’re looking for one post.

Seriously, one fantastic piece of content.

Even on a brand new blog, you can get hundreds of subscribers with one post if you have the right content and a few other things (which I’ll show you later).

The guys at Groove were able to get over 5,000 subscribers from their first post in just a few weeks:

 

Those results aren’t typical, but they show you what one great post can do.

But I’m not just going to tell you to create a great post. I’ll take you through the whole process. 

First, pick your topic (an appropriate one): Something that content marketers don’t mention very often is that different types of content have different purposes.

A full content marketing strategy will do all those things.

But here, we’re concerned with one thing and one thing only:

Getting subscribers (leads).

Certain types of posts will establish you as a thought leader or help you establish your brand, e.g., writing about controversial topics.

Sometimes they also produce subscribers, but it’s typically not their main purpose.

Other content is more sales oriented, e.g.,  case studies. And while these might produce some very high quality leads, they usually won’t produce as many as most other types of content will.

So, what we want to focus on are types of content that will help you gain as many subscribers as possible with your post.

This includes:

• In-depth list posts - I have found these to be one of the best types of posts when it comes to getting email subscribers and traffic.
• “Definitive” guides - Incredibly in-depth and useful guides that attract a lot of traffic and subscribers.
• Interesting, unique research and analysis – In some niches, audiences are hungry for unique analysis.

I highly suggest that you focus on the first two here because doing interesting, yet high quality, research and analysis is difficult. It’s also much less consistent than the other two.

To find ideas for these posts, you have a few different options.

Option 1 – Look at commonly asked questions on forums: Definitive guides are great because they cover every single aspect of one particular topic.

They are also best written about topics that are commonly misunderstood.

One way to reverse-engineer the best guides is to visit forums in your niche.

For example, say you wrote an SEO blog. You’d probably go to the SEO section of the Warrior Forum.

Then, you’d look through the first few hundred threads:

What you’ll notice is that there are a few questions that keep coming up over and over again in slightly different forms.

In the picture above, it’s clear that people want to learn how to create more backlinks.

Here’s a good title for your guide:

The definitive guide to building high quality backlinks

If you look in the Quick Sprout sidebar, you’ll see that I created a resource for this very topic in the past:

That doesn’t mean you couldn’t create your own in-depth guide.

As long as it’s really high quality, people will appreciate it. Some just need to hear things in different ways, so even if your guide isn’t the first one on the topic, it can still be useful.

Option 2 – Look at top posts on Reddit: Unlike forums’ posts, Reddit posts are voted on. You can see the most appreciated content in each subreddit (category).

If you’ve never used Reddit before, read my definitive guide (what a coincidence!) on Reddit marketing. It’ll walk you through all the basics.

Once you’ve done that, you will know what subreddits are and how to find a relevant one.

Then, sort it by “top” to see the most upvoted posts:

That picture is from the social media subreddit.

People upvote for two reasons:

• to appreciate a submitted resource 
• to agree with something

I put a box around a top thread “A guide for the new Social Media manager?”

In this case, it’s someone looking for help. More importantly, there are at least 13 other people (it has an overall score of +14 on the left) who want to know this information.

Now you have a great topic idea:

The complete guide to social media for the new social media manager

Alternatively, you might see a link to a really good post that someone else created.

Then, create a better one, or create a guide on a closely related topic.

Option 3 – Look at your competitors: Another way to find content that produces email subscribers is to look at your competitors.

Just search for “top (your niche) bloggers”, and you’ll find a ton.

Go through their blogs, and look at their sidebars.

You’ll often see that they highlight 2-3 pieces of content:

The higher up on the sidebar it is, the more likely that it’s performed really well on the blog.

Again, you can create a better version of it or create a guide on a similar topic.

Brian Dean (Backlinko) isn’t the best competitor to look at because he spends a ton of time on every piece of content. It’s going to be hard to make things better.

However, you could still create related resources. He has a high converting guide to ranking any keyword. You could create:

• The definitive guide to ranking any local keyword
• How to rank any longtail keyword

You’ll often find some competitors that produce good, but not great, content.

So when you find a good guide, you can create one on the same topic, but make it way better:

For example, that Instagram ads article above got thousands of shares and several comments, which are okay indicators of the number of subscribers it attracted.

It wouldn’t be too difficult to create a “Complete guide to Instagram ads.”

Do you have one solid idea for a guide now?

Great, let’s move on…

Second, write your content (make it great): Some of you reading this are already pretty good writers.

If you don’t think you are, you can learn. Here are some great resources on writing better:

• 12 Content-Writing Secrets of Professional Writers
• How to Double Your Writing Speed Without Lowering Its Quality
• The 8 Underused Components of Compelling Content That Readers Love

Remember when I said that this was a simple guide? It is, but this step in particular takes some experience and effort to execute well.

To truly create a top-quality definitive guide, expect to spend at least 10 hours.

It may take you well over 20 or 30 hours, depending on the topic you choose.

Don’t get discouraged because this is one of the most important steps in this process. The better you make your content, the more you will get out of it.

I expect that for most of you, those first 100 email subscribers will be your minimum.

If you go all out and create an absolutely epic piece of content, you might be able to get hundreds, or even thousands, of subscribers over time from this single piece of content.

So, don’t worry about how much money you’ve spent or how much time it’s taken to write this in-depth post. Just focus on creating the best piece of content possible.

Finally, take its design to the next level: Part of how readers receive a new piece of content, especially from a blog they don’t know, is how it looks.

The value of the content is the most important factor, but design is also significant.

If you haven’t yet, take a couple of minutes to scroll through my Quick Sprout guides. You’ll find them in the sidebar:

I hired a professional designer to create the layout, and it’s pretty much as good as it can get.

Notice how the design makes the content feel even more valuable:

Again, more is always better if possible.

If you can afford to hire a web designer for your content, that’s great. It will earn you extra subscribers consistently over time.

However, if you can’t, that’s okay.

You can do a lot of simple things to improve your formatting, which will result in better user engagement. Your post will stand out from the average post, which is the main goal of formatting.

Here is a post I wrote on 9 different simple formatting tactics.

If you’ve already done those simple things and are looking for something more, refer to my post on 5 advanced formatting tips. In it, I show you, step by step, how to implement a lot of the formatting you see in my guides.

Step 2: One incredible lead magnet

Given how long it can take to create content of this level, you may not get to Step 2 for a week or two.

The good news is that the remaining steps take considerably less time to implement.

Now that you have your content ready to go (don’t publish it yet), you have to start optimizing it for email conversions.

If you just have a box in your sidebar asking people to subscribe, you’ll most likely have a conversion rate of under 1%.

 

That means that to get 100 email subscribers, you would need 10,000 visitors.

That’s quite a bit.

But what if I told you that you could get a conversion rate of 5-10%, without much trouble?

All of a sudden, you only need 1,000-2,000 visitors to get your 100 subscribers.

That is a lot easier, especially for a new blog.

How do you do this? You use a lead magnet that is optimized for the piece of content you just produced.

The most effective type of lead magnet: A lead magnet is simply something of value that you give away in exchange for information (usually an email address).

The more valuable something is, the higher your conversion rate will be.

Many websites offer one lead magnet to all their visitors, which is a mistake.

Why?

Because readers are interested in different things.

For example, let’s say I write about Facebook advertising and Adwords advertising. Some readers will be interested in both, but many will not be.

If I offer a lead magnet about Facebook advertising to readers of both posts, which post will convert higher?

It’s pretty obvious that the Facebook posts will convert higher.

A relevant lead magnet is automatically more valuable.

Value is defined by the readers. You want to give them something they’re interested in.

And you’re going to leverage relevance as much as possible by creating a post-specific lead magnet, also called a content upgrade.

When you get readers to go to the post you just created, they’ll be the ones interested in that specific topic.

If you wrote a guide to becoming vegan, you’d want to create a lead magnet that takes it further. Maybe it’s a summary of vegan tips or a helpful free tool for vegans.

Let’s look at an example of a content upgrade in action.

Bryan Harris wrote a post about lead magnets:

Later in his article, you’ll see a light blue box that stands out to his readers.

It offers them a free download of content upgrade examples. Anyone who is new to lead magnets would be interested in examples to help understand them better.

When readers click the link, they must enter their email addresses into a pop-up to get the download.

The best types of content upgrades: In order to maximize your conversion rate, you need to create the most valuable bonus possible.

Bryan Harris has claimed to have gotten over 20% conversion rate with his content upgrade, but that’s not typical.

If you’re able to get that conversion rate, you only need 500 visitors to your website to get your 100 subscribers, which is fairly easy.

The two things that determine how effective your lead magnet is are:

• relevance to the topic at hand
• value of the type of upgrade

A simple checklist is probably the easiest content upgrade to make. And while it will do okay, you won’t be maximizing your conversion rate because people don’t value checklists highly.

It’s an option if you have nothing else to offer, but try to offer something more useful. Summaries of guides fall under a similar category.

One type of highly effective content upgrade is something exclusive—templates or other content.

For example, in a post about how to design really attractive sidebar icons, Harris offered a slide template that readers could download and edit to use on their own sites:

Do you understand why this would be really effective?

First, the reader reads about how these icons in the sidebar have performed really well for Bryan.

Then, Bryan offers to give the reader the icon template FREE.

When most of the readers read the post, they get excited about the results these icons could generate for them on their own sites.

There is just one problem—they look difficult to make.

By solving that problem with a free template, Bryan not only made his post more actionable (always a good thing), but he also saved his subscribers time and frustration figuring out how to make one.

Whenever you solve a real pain, people will be willing to pay for it. Give it away, and you’ll get an incredible response.

If I wanted to maximize my conversion rate for this very post, I could I offer:

• A checklist of the 6 steps – Would do okay. It would probably convert around 4-6%.
• A detailed case study of how I applied this strategy on a new site - Would do amazingly well. One detailed, cohesive example would answer any remaining questions that a reader might still have after reading this post.
• Access to an exclusive list building tactic to get 100 high quality subscribers for $20 - Would do even better! Although I don’t think I could deliver this.

Get the point?

Create a relevant high value lead magnet—specific to the content you’ve already created—and you’ll have a very high chance of success.

Step 3: A conversion optimized layout (that anyone can use)

The lead magnet is the biggest key to a high conversion rate.

Do that right, and you should be okay.

If you want to maximize your opt-in rate, though, you’ll want to make a few easy changes to your content layout.

You probably don’t have the traffic to test your best layout yet. However, you can still implement some general best practices to see good results.

Part 1 – Make content the main focus: You’ve gone through the effort of making a really good piece of content.

You need people to read it in order for the content upgrade to be as effective as possible.

First off, make sure that your content is the first main thing that a reader sees when they load the page. If it isn’t above the fold, many will close the page right away.

On top of that, although sidebars are effective elements for certain things, you don’t want them attracting too much attention.

Make your actual content stand out by including an attractive picture or a headline in a color that stands out. On the NeilPatel.com blog, the featured picture draws the reader to the content right away:

Part 2 – Make your offer(s) in the content: The lead magnet is highly related to the content, so it makes sense to offer it in the content as well.

The reason why this is so important is because most readers nowadays are sidebar- and header-blind. While some still look at them, most will automatically try to find the content they came for and ignore the rest.

Since your offer is going to be embedded in the content, you can be sure that almost everyone will see it.

You should try to highlight it with a box that stands out and put one both near the start of the post and at the end:

The top one will convert at a higher percentage; however, those subscribers may not be as high quality as the ones who read through your whole post first.

Either way, you want to capture both groups of quality leads (even if one’s better than the other).

The great thing about these opt-in calls to action, as opposed to others, is that they appear natural. They fit right into the text at appropriate times, which helps them get a high view and click rate:

Part 3 (optional) – Use extra opt-in forms: In addition to the options I described above, you can also use pop-ups or other lead collection tools to grow your subscriber list.

These are more controversial because while they do often improve conversion rates, they can also detract from the reader’s experience.

It’s up to you if you want to try them. You’ll be perfectly fine with implementing just the first two parts of this section.

Pop-ups are the most extreme option They are usually triggered to take over your reader’s screen after a set time period:

If you want a less invasive option, you can use Hello Bar, which adds a simple sign-up strip along the top of the screen:

Step 4: Four sources of traffic to start with

You’ve done most of the hard work at this point. Congratulations!

But you are not done yet.

If you don’t promote your post, not many people will see it. Remember, you need to get about 1,000-2,000 visitors to your post.

This can be done in multiple ways within a fairly short period of time.

The tactics in this section are tough to scale, but they are great if you’re just getting started.

Feel free to try any or all of them, and you can combine them all if you want to maximize your traffic (and email subscribers).

Source #1 – Forums: Almost every niche has at least one active forum with your target readers.

Since you can easily add content to a forum, it’s a good opportunity to drive traffic back to your site.

Just Google “top (niche) forums,” and pick the 1-3 best ones:

It’s really important that you avoid being seen as a spammer when linking to your post.

First, become an active member of the community. Make at least a few dozen helpful posts.

When you finally do post your link, make sure to give it context.

Explain that you noticed that a lot of the members of the forum were having trouble with a particular problem, and you wanted to solve it.

Alternatively, you can also format the entire post for the forum and just leave a link alongside it. You won’t get as many clicks, but some forums are very strict about how you can post your link.

Source #2 – Individual email outreach: If you take a random group of 100 readers in your niche, you’ll get that 5-10% conversion rate we were talking about.

But if you emailed the most interested ones, you could double or triple that rate easily.

The good news is that it’s easy to find these readers because they are the most likely to share or comment on posts.

First, enter the main topic of your post into Buzzsumo’s top content tool:

Then, click on “view sharers” on any recent relevant article, which will bring up a list of people who shared that article on Twitter, for example:

Find these people on Twitter.

Look for a website address in their description, where you might find an email address to contact them.

Alternatively, click on the post itself before viewing the shares, and look at the comment section.

For example, here are a few comments from one of my posts on Quick Sprout:

You could click on the names to go to those readers’ sites, and then contact them.

You can either use their “contact” form or sign up to their email list to get their email addresses. The second option is better, but it’s not always possible:

When you do email them, use a message like this:

Subject: Hi (Name), I thought you’d like this…

Hi (Name),

I noticed that you commented on (author’s name) post about (post topic) a little while back.

It was a great post, and it actually led me to creating a related post about (topic).

It’s very in-depth and features (something that is interesting like a secret tactic).

If you get a minute, check it out. I think you’d enjoy it.

Here’s the link: (URL)

Cheers,

(Your name)

Source #3 – Reddit and other aggregators: Reddit is a great source of ideas. But even more valuable is the fact that most of its communities are capable of sending hundreds of visitors to any good post.

If you find 2-3 fairly large subreddits and your content is upvoted a decent number of times, you can get more than 100 subscribers just from this.

Again, read my guide to using Reddit for marketing properly if you want to be successful.

The key part of a successful post is to genuinely try to add to the community. Add a detailed summary along with the link in the post:

In some subreddits, you are required to paste your entire post.

Source #4 – Guest-posting: Finally, if you’re not a huge fan of promotion, you can get your first subscribers using guest-posting.

Instead of posting your content on your site, you’re going to post it on a leading site in your niche. I’ve written many times about guest-posting successfully; here is a very thorough strategy.

With guest-posting, you leverage the natural traffic that other sites already have to convert those readers into your subscribers.

Ideally, you want to post a link to your content upgrade offer somewhere near the end of the post in the author bio:

That link should point to a landing page on your domain that offers the content upgrade.

There are a few things to note here.

First, not all blogs will allow you to post links to landing pages. Clarify this ahead of time.

But they’re getting free content, and it makes sense that you should get something out of it as well (and not just “exposure”).

Secondly, since you’re limited with where and how you can post the content upgrade, your conversion rate will go down.

If a blog is popular enough, you may still end up with more subscribers, but just be aware of that.

Step 5: Plan ahead – don’t waste your first 100 subscribers

If you’ve done everything up until now, you’ll have your first 100 subscribers within a month.

It may take a few forum posts or emails on a consistent basis, but you’ll get there if you’re willing to put in the last bit of effort.

This is where I see many new blogs make a huge mistake.

They go through all the effort of getting new subscribers, and then they don’t do anything with them.

There’s not much of a point of collecting email addresses if you don’t email those subscribers.

And I understand that you don’t have a full email sales pipeline set up yet, but at the very least, send all subscribers a welcome email so that they get used to your name.

Additionally, these 100 subscribers are your first chance to learn about your target audience. In the welcome email, you should include some sort of survey or question you want them to answer.

For example, Derek Halpern links to a survey in his welcome email and also tells subscribers to expect new content in the future:

This is your chance to tell them what to expect.

Step 6: Where to go after your first 100 subscribers

Your first 100 subscribers is a big milestone.

It takes some bloggers many months to get there.

If you follow this strategy, I don’t think it’ll take that long.

But now that you have a few subscribers, you have a few different options.

Option #1 – Rinse and repeat: Although 100 subscribers is good, it’s not a huge number.

One option is to simply repeat this strategy 5-6 times.

By the end, you’ll likely have over 1,000 subscribers. Your first posts will mature and continue to collect leads. But the more you create, the better your chances of producing one that will perform extra well will be.

This is a good option.

Option #2 – Start blogging consistently and using your audience to grow: The other option is to treat this first piece of content as “pillar content.”

It forms the base for writing about other related topics you know your email subscribers (from that first post) will be interested in.

You can start focusing more on producing consistent content for your blog and then sending an email to your subscribers each time you publish a new piece.

You might already know what my emails notifying my subscribers of a new post look like. They are quite simple:

If your content is good, your subscribers will share it, and your following will grow.

Conclusion

There is no wrong way to get email subscribers.

But some methods are better than others.

The best one for you is the one that works.

I’ve outlined a pretty straightforward 6-step process in this post.

If you follow it, you should be able to get your first 100 subscribers (at least). It will take hard work, but it will pay off over time.

Think of it as an investment.

And although it’s a fairly simple strategy, I realize that there are some tricky parts. So, if you have any questions, just ask them in a comment below.

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NatWest Isa savers hit by rate cuts

Tom Wilson

natwest.jpg

NatWest has announced it is halving the rate on its instant access Isa to just 0.25% for some savers, following a rate cut by NS&I.

NatWest has announced it is halving the rate on its instant access Isa to just 0.25% for some savers, following a rate cut by NS&I.

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Tom Wilson

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One-in-eight drivers (12%) have been charged more than quoted by garages for MOTs, services or repairs, according to a new survey.

One-in-eight drivers (12%) have been charged more than quoted by garages for MOTs, services or repairs, according to a new survey. Just 3% of drivers say their final bill was lower than their initial quote.
 

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Don’t Get Scammed on Black Friday: How to Identify Deals vs. Duds

If you wake up at 3 a.m. to line up in front of Wal-Mart or combat your turkey coma to spend an hour propped up in bed clicking around Target’s website, it’s for a good reason.

Even if your spouse looks at you strangely from the other side of the mattress, you know you’re getting the best deal possible on something you need and would buy anyway.

These deals aren’t going to repeat themselves, and they’re too good to miss!

Or are they?

Not Every Deal is a Bargain

Turns out, maybe not.

While some Black Friday deals are unbeatable, some are just OK. You might already be able to get an item for the sale price, or cheaper, on Amazon.

Some vendors even have the items listed at the same discounted price in stores right now. But in the Black Friday ads, they list the MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) in bright red to inflate savings percentages. More like MSRPointless.

In fact, many “deals” are actually a complete rip-off: Did you know that some companies create custom items just for Black Friday sales? And I don’t mean exclusive limited editions.

Some retailers flood their sales floors with “derivative products” that look like the real deal. Think TVs with screens with fewer pixels or computers with slower processors.

“Black Friday is about cheap stuff at cheap prices,” DealNews.com’s CEO, Daniel de Grandpre, told BankRate.

These slightly-less-awesome items can be made more cheaply and sold at a jaw-dropping discount. They get consumers in the door, but burden them with subpar stuff.

Even the good deals aren’t necessarily “one-time-only.” If you think you’re seeing the same Black Friday deals year after year, you probably are.

Retailers rerun the same (or even better!) deals each year — which means waiting an extra year might save you a few extra bucks, due to inflation and a potentially lower sale price.

How to Become a Black Friday Sleuth

So how do you know if it’s a deal or a dud?

Know The Likely Suspects

It turns out there are some noticeable trends regarding which deals are bogus.

Doorbuster TVs, tablets and laptops are more likely to be derivatives with fewer HDMI ports or lackluster specs and tools for dad are offered at a better discount in June.

Seasonal items, like winter clothing and decorations, or easy and popular gifts, like chocolate, flowers or vacation packages, also won’t be as steeply discounted. Vendors know you need those items right now, and are willing to pay for them.

Check out The Penny Hoarder’s list of what not to buy this Black Friday, and steer clear of the TV aisle!

Beware of Repeat Deals

Need a new cookware set? I bet Rachel Ray’s 15-piece set is going to be available at Wal-Mart this year for $89. Just an educated guess.

Before you pull out your credit card, check last year’s ads, Amazon or current in-store prices for the item you’re eyeing — is that Black Friday deal really so special?

Creating pressure to purchase right now is a standard psychological trick in the sales industry. How many “limited time offers” are still on infomercials three years later? Ever been subject to a landlord’s claim that the potential next tenant is coming with cash on hand, so you’d better sign now?

Keep informed and shop around — that knowledge could be cash in your pocket.

Check the Model Number

Want to make sure that new laptop is really the one you want? Check the model number.

Manufacturers may create new derivative products for Black Friday, but they have to use a unique model number to differentiate the product  — these numbers can’t lie.

Check Reviews

If you’re like me, you exhaustively — or annoyingly — check reviews every time you purchase anything, even a lamp or a dress. Heck, I check reviews before I go out for ice cream.

You should probably not try to be like me.

But when it comes to Black Friday, reviews are your friend. Before you blindly buy the laptop or TV at the biggest discount — you know, the one proudly displayed on the first page of the flyer? — check its reviews online. Even a great sale price is too much to pay for a bad product.

Plus, if there are no reviews or the product doesn’t exist yet, that’s a good hint — though no guarantee — the item might be a derivative.

Avoid Rebates — Or Actually Use Them

That bold-print sale price might have a fine-print catch: it might include a mail-in rebate. Or, maybe the discount isn’t that great, but the purchase of a specific item comes with coupons or gift cards for future use.

Of course, we penny hoarders love rebates, cash-back programs, discounted gift cards and other easy ways to save a few bucks. Vendors love them for a different reason: research has shown that statistically, you’re unlikely to follow through with mailing in a rebate. They get the marketing benefit of a shocking sale price with none of the profit cut.

So make sure you’re taking retailers up on those well-advertised offers! If you know you’re the type to forget, skip these deals for regular, discounted prices.

Be vigilant this season: make sure your Black Friday haul is worth your while. Good luck, penny hoarders!

Your Turn: How do you find the best Black Friday deals — and avoid the duds?

Jamie Cattanach is a 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. You can wave hello to @jamiecattanach on Twitter.

This post originally appeared on our special Black Friday site.

The post Don’t Get Scammed on Black Friday: How to Identify Deals vs. Duds appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Questions About Freezer Bags, iTunes, Work Boredom, Old Debt Guilt and More!

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Replacing an old credit card
2. Handling wants without spending
3. Diverging financial perspectives from husband
4. Guilty about really old debts
5. Bored at work
6. Money needed to retire early?
7. Value from iTunes gift card
8. PersonalCapital.com
9. Personal finance education in schools
10. Retirement savings in December?
11. Why not reuse freezer Ziplocs?
12. Minimizing television exposure for kids

As I watch my children growing older, there are moments when I wish I had held them more or done something more so I could recall what they were like when they were younger.

I have lots of memories and photos and videos. For me, the best ones are of the little things, like how our kids used to love to climb into bed with us if they woke up too early in the morning (our youngest one still does sometimes, but it’s not hard to see that it won’t be for much longer).

Part of me is quite sad that they will never be toddlers or small children again. They’ll never get to go through that period in their life without worry, with full trust in the world around them and the full sense that if something isn’t right someone will come in and fix it.

But then they’ll say or do something amazing, showing me that they have built an understanding of the world or that they have great empathy for someone or something else, and I’ll realize that this was my job, to build them as best I could into wonderful functional adults.

I might not have any two or three year olds running around my house any more, but I have some older ones that are developing into great people.

Q1: Replacing an old credit card

I replaced my old Visa card with a Chase Freedom card. Now I use my Chase Freedom for everything because it gives cash back. My old Visa card account is still open, I’ve had it since I was 18 and am now 29. Should I close it? I barely ever use it and it is charging me $1.50 per month just to have it around.
– Fred

It really depends on your credit usage and your other card. If you’ve had the Chase Freedom card for more than a year or two, then you’ll have a long enough credit history if you close the old one, so that won’t be an issue.

Do you carry a high balance on your newer card with any regularity? If so, you might want to ask for a credit limit increase before you cancel the old one so that your debt-to-credit ratio stays level.

Another factor to consider is whether or not you’re going to be taking out any loans in the very near future. If you are thinking of borrowing for a house or a car in the next few months, you’re probably better off leaving things as they are for the moment and closing the old card after the loan is in place.

If none of these things really apply to you, then I’d feel fine canceling the old card.

Q2: Handling wants without spending

How do you handle not buying stuff that you want? I have wanted a tablet computer for a month or so now and I feel like I am cheating myself somehow by not buying it. Do you just not get a sense of wanting stuff or what?
– Damon

My best strategy for this is to simply have a monthly spending allowance. I allot myself a certain amount each month to spend on whatever I want and I don’t worry about it within that amount.

Let’s say you choose to do the same thing and allot yourself $100 a month (it might be more or less, depending on your situation). You’re eyeing a tablet that costs $300. So, put half of your “fun money” away each month for six months and you can buy your tablet guilt free.

One big thing I like about this strategy is that, when I do it, I often arrive at the conclusion that I don’t actually want the item in question. So, in that scenario above, you might realize at the four month mark that you don’t really want or need a tablet after all, at which point you have $200 set aside for something else fun.

I’ve been using this approach for years and it’s been wonderful. I often find myself convinced that I don’t really want or need some of the more expensive items out there that I might be initially inclined to save for and that ends up being a great thing.

Q3: Diverging financial perspectives from husband

My husband and I got married about five years ago. We had a lot of the same interests and the same philosophy on spending. We bought nice cars and live in a really nice house that’s full of nice stuff.

About a year ago the debt started really bothering me so I started Googling stuff and found your site. I read almost everything you’ve written and read your book and a few others and now I feel very differently about money. I look at all of this stuff and this house and our debt and I honestly feel sick to my stomach.

The problem is with my husband. He feels the same way he always has about money and he just looks kind of baffled at me when I talk about getting out of debt and financial independence. I want him to feel like I do about things but I also think it’s unrealistic to expect him to change his mindset just because I do.

I’m just looking for ideas for how to make this work. Suggestions?
– Madison

Right now, you’re sitting in a situation where your perspective on personal finance has changed significantly in the last few years, while your husband’s perspective remains more or less where it was when you got married. You are the one who has changed, not your husband.

It is very, very easy in a situation like this to become convinced that you are right and that you know what’s best for your husband and that your husband is wrong and that he does not know what is best for himself. You can quickly dissolve everything into a “I’m good, you’re bad” kind of dichotomy, and that’s really dangerous.

The thing is, you’re two people who care about each other very much who just happen to have views that are a little different about how couples should manage their finances. This is a situation where compromise can really, really come in handy. You need to articulate to your husband that spending less and saving for the future is really important to you… but you need to understand that many of the routines of the life you’ve had up to this point are really important to him.

You need to look for ways where you can have both things. You don’t need to immediately shift everything in your shared life to an ultra-frugal hypersaver state, nor do you need to keep spending like you once were. Focus instead on continuing spending on the things you both really care about and look for things that are less important to cut bac on.

Talk about these things together. Don’t expect perfect resolutions overnight. Also, don’t expect that things will go smoothly, either. It will take time, and there will be bumps. The key is to talk about those bumps and avoid the sense that the other person is the bad guy.

Q4: Guilty about really old debts

In the early to mid 1990s, I filled up several credit cards with stupid purchases. Then I did something even more stupid – I basically ignored the bills. I heard from bill collectors and the like and just ignored all of it and eventually they stopped bothering.

I finally got my life straightened out a few years back and since then I have been trying to fix all of the stuff I messed up back then (My Name is Earl ha ha).

I feel like I should pay back these debts but I don’t even know how to do it. Most of the issuers aren’t even in business any more as far as I can tell. Where do I start?
– Shawn

The truth is that you’re probably not even going to be able to repay those bills even if you wanted to. It’s likely that most (if not all) of these accounts no longer even exist in bank databases anywhere, particularly if they were with banks that no longer exist (probably because they were bought up by Chase or Citibank or Bank of America). Your account was sold to a debt collector that eventually gave up on collecting that debt. It’s basically gone at this point.

Not only that, even if you were able to dig these things up, they would cause a very negative blight on your credit report that is not at all reflective of the person you are now. It would cause a real negative impact on your financial state right now in the form of higher insurance rates, worse interest rates on car loans and mortgages, and possibly even an impact on things like getting an apartment or a job.

If you feel guilty about having done this and want to “pay it back,” I’d figure out how much you owed and make a commitment to giving that much to a charity.

Q5: Bored at work

Up until three years ago, I was the sole IT person at a 750 person business. I was constantly busy and feeling burnt out, but I did enjoy working for a relatively small business. So I applied for a job at a smaller business and became the IT Director for another business, this one with about 150 people.

Unsurprisingly, my work load has dropped by about 75%. I spend most days pretty bored at work. For the first year, I invented a lot of things to do, such as setting up templates for all of the computers and making everything remotely manageable and setting up a hardware workshop so I could just replace parts rather than buying new computers. But now I mostly just sit here. I can’t even conceive of things that I could do.

While I’m glad to have a job like this, I’d like to be able to do something. Part of me wants to walk away from this job and find something new to do.

Do you have any suggestions for me?
– Tim

If you have this spare time at work, you should be using it as a great opportunity to build new skills. Teach yourself how to program and dig into an open source project that’s useful to you. Get a bunch of certifications and do your studying while at work.

You can also do things that will save money over the long run for the business. Carefully look for IT spending opportunities that will really maximize the bang for the buck. Look for vendors that can offer you even better prices than what you’re getting now.

Look for new tools to do the things that you are responsible for, learn them inside and out, and deploy them. Spend time learning exactly how people are using their computers and look for ways to make that easier and more reliable for people in the company.

I worked in IT for a while and there are always things you can be doing. You have 150 employees in your business, all of which have some type of IT needs. How can you fulfill those needs as well as possible?

Q6: Money needed to retire early?

How exactly do you figure out how much money you need to have saved/invested to reitre early?
– Jane

There are a lot of ways to calculate this, but unfortunately none of them are guaranteed. All of them have drawbacks and caveats.

The most well known answer to your question comes from the “Trinity study,” which says that for a 30 year retirement, a 4% withdrawal rate is adequate in virtually all cases. A 4% withdrawal rate means that you’re just taking out 4% of the balance of your investment and living on it each year, so you’ll actually need to have 25 times your living expenses in order to make this work. The drawback, of course, is that this only works for a 30 year timeframe.

Different sources recommend different withdrawal rates. Personally, I would like to reach a point where the dividends or other income from my investments add up to enough to live on so that I have no reason to ever touch the principal. It can just sit there continuing to earn me money year in and year out.

For me, that means something around a 2% “withdrawal rate,” since most of my investments pay out dividends at about a 2% rate. So, if I wanted $50,000 a year to live on, I’d have to divide that by 0.02 and that would give me $2.5 million. That’s how much I would have to save in order to live off of the dividends at $50,000 a year assuming I earn nothing else.

As you can see, it’s tricky. My only advice to you is to not buy into the most optimistic projections. Stick with a pessimistic viewpoint, even if it means working for a few more years. It’s far better to work a few more years right now than to be stuck later on with a dwindling set of investments and a decade of no work record.

Q7: Value from iTunes gift card

My sister gave me a $25 iTunes gift card for Christmas last year and it’s still sitting here in a drawer. I don’t buy anything from the iTunes store so it seems like a waste but I feel really cheesy just regifting stuff or selling it. What are some good things to use an iTunes card for that I’m not thinking of?
– Clarisse

One of the few paid apps that I like in the App Store is Paprika. It is just such a good recipe manager from top to bottom. I consider it worth the few dollars it costs.

Another vital tool that I use all the time is a password manager like 1Password (my preferred one). It helps you generate super-secure passwords for all of your most important accounts and keep those passwords secure themselves, too.

Aside from that… are you a Netflix subscriber? If you are, you can always add a month of Netflix to your account using an in-app purchase, which would thus use your iTunes credit.

Those are the best uses of iTunes credit that I can think of.

Q8: PersonalCapital.com

Do you have an opinion about PersonalCapital.com? I’ve been hearing a lot about it lately from other bloggers and am wondering if it’s worth doing (I am only interested in its free component). Currently I use a Google spreadsheet to track my financials and it works, but would there be any benefit to setting everything up via Personal Capital? One obvious benefit is I wouldn’t have to log into each of my financial accounts separately, but then there’s the additional risk that my account information is more exposed. I understand it also tracks spending and investments which may or may not be helpful to me. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
– Jennifer

I absolutely don’t trust any personal finance tool that requires you to turn over login credentials for all of your personal finance accounts. That’s too much data in one place, I don’t care how secure those places are. I just don’t feel secure having all of my login information in one place.

This applies to Personal Capital. This applies to Mint. This applies to any and all services that follow that same philosophy of using all of your account details to scrape information from your accounts.

Because of that, I’m not interested in signing up for PersonalCapital and I changed all of my passwords after trying out Mint several years ago. They just don’t provide anything to make it worthwhile, at least for me.

Q9: Personal finance education in schools

Why do you think there is such lousy personal finance education in schools? Most states don’t have it at all and those that do present it in about the worst possible way.
– Jerry

I think that most schools today are primarily focused on either simply pushing students through to graduation or preparing them for college entrance exams. Neither of those things is supportive of personal finance education, nor is it supportive of any subjects that don’t appear on college entrance exams. In some schools, sports are a major focus as well.

Having said that, I do understand why schools approach things in this way. Their budgets are tight these days and that means cutting out every subject that isn’t required in the state standards.

What’s the solution? Without a serious change in the commitment that our society gives to high school education, there isn’t one. It relies on the parents to teach their children basic life skills and if they can’t do so, then their kids are going to have to learn it on their own.

That’s the truth. There aren’t resources available to teach personal finance at the high school level, so the responsibility for teaching it falls on the parents.

Q10: Retirement savings in December?

My father always waits until December to put money into his IRA. His argument is that there is an opportunity cost to locking away the money in there so he should wait until the last minute. But ignoring opportunity cost isn’t that a bad way to do it? Shouldn’t you put equal amounts in throughout the year?
– Devin

The best way of all is to contribute right up to the max as early as you can in the year. That way, you’re going to ride a year’s worth of growth in the stock market. Remember, most years are a positive in the market, so if you wait until December to contribute, you miss all of that growth.

The problem with that “best way” is it requires people to have all of that money at the start of the year rather than at the end of the year. That’s why most people contribute slowly throughout the year as they can afford it, usually through direct deposit. That way, at least some of the money can take advantage of growth throughout the year without putting a huge financial crunch on you at the start of the year.

Waiting until the end? It’s only the best move if you’re lucky and the year was one of those years where the market went down for the year, which is less frequent than positive years.

Now, what about opportunity cost? Of course, if you lock up money in a retirement account, you do lose the opportunity to use that money elsewhere. I agree with this to an extent – if you’re making your budget super tight in order to be able to afford to put away money earlier in the year, that’s a mistake. However, if money is not super tight for you, you’re probably better off putting the money in as early as possible in the year.

Q11: Why not reuse freezer Ziplocs?

In your recent food posts you have been discouraging use of freezer Ziplocs and encouraging instead that people use plastic containers. Why? The Ziplocs are cheaper and you can actually reuse them a bunch of times.
– Joe

My experience with freezer Ziploc bags has been widely varied. Sometimes, they seem to hold up well and can actually be used a few times with a washing. At other times, they already have holes in them after the first thawing, which means I don’t want to use them again.

At the same time, I’ve never had a plastic BPA-free freezer container completely fail me. The worst thing I’ve seen from such a container is some lid warping over a long period of time – many, many uses. I’ve had containers that have seen regular use for almost a decade now and they’re still going strong.

Given that it only takes between 4 and 6 uses for a freezer container to start saving money over a single use Ziploc, I’d rather just skip the Ziplocs and jump straight to freezer containers for my freezer needs.

Q12: Minimizing television exposure for kids

What strategies do you use to minimize TV time for your kids? Most of the stuff on TV is junk with lots of commercials and many of the programs are basically commercials too but the kids just constantly ask to watch.
– Mary

Before I get started on this, I will say that ownership of a television is an area where Sarah and I disagree. If it were up to me, we wouldn’t own a television at all, but she often watches television while doing professional busy work in the evenings, so I basically just view the television cost as one of her hobby expenses.

That being said, a television is sitting in our family room and it is definitely an attraction for our children. We usually allow them to watch a bit of television each day after school – maybe thirty minutes or so of a program they choose together – and then a bit more on the weekends.

They can earn more in various ways. Being helpful and going above and beyond normal household responsibilities will earn them some more television time, as will long sessions of playing outside. We also tend to relax the limits a bit on weekends where the weather is terrible.

There’s also a “lazy parent” factor as well. It’s really easy to just let them watch television when I have other things that I need to get done. For example, just this past weekend, I was trying to get extra writing done for the Thanksgiving holiday, but in doing so I basically opened the door to them spending some extra time watching television. I had to find a good balance between doing my own work and encouraging them to do other things with their time.

I’d estimate that our children watch between 4 and 7 hours of television per week, with our daughter on the higher end (she’s the most television-prone of our children) and our youngest son on the lower end (he’s probably the least interested in television).

I think the key is to just keep encouraging and suggesting other things to do rather than directly demonizing television. The children aren’t really dissuaded by negative comments about television, but they will often choose other things if I suggest them and encourage them.

Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.

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