5 Employee Benefit Trends to Watch in 2016

Employers are beefing up wellness programs and making retirement administration fees more visible.

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4 Transportation Stocks Ready to Roll

The transportation sector has trailed the market this year, creating value in these stocks.

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Will 2016 Be a Good Year for Stocks?

Since 1946, the final year of a U.S. presidential term has also been a very good year for the stock market.

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6 Ideas for a Fun and Frugal New Year's Eve

You don't have to spend a lot to ring in 2016. 

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Opportunity Lurks in the Energy Sector as Oil's Rout Continues

Oil is trading at less than $40 per barrel, but some analysts see a slight turnaround in 2016.

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3 Overseas Retirement Spots With Great Weather

These cities have pleasant temperatures during every season.

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6 Ways to Maximize Social Security Benefits

Try these strategies to get bigger Social Security payments.

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What Happens to Your Debt After You Die?

Here's where that money goes after you go.

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10 Painless Ways to Save More for Retirement

Try these strategies to boost your savings rate without significant sacrifices.

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How to Save on Thrift Store Outfits

You can find even the fanciest outfits for less when you shop secondhand. 

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7 Money Mistakes to Avoid in 2016

If you don't want to live paycheck to paycheck, follow this advice. 

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Investing Terms and Conditions of Use

These Investing Terms and Conditions of Use may be modified at any time and from time to time, and were last updated on December 15,...

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10 Retirement Resolutions for 2016

Take these steps to improve your retirement readiness next year.

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6 Steps to Wow the Big Boss at Your Company Holiday Party

Overcome your fear and introduce yourself to the corporate bigwigs at this year's holiday party.

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5 Signs Your Boss or Co-Worker Is an Office Bully

Constantly teasing employees about traits they can't change can be a form of workplace bullying.


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Yieldcos Offer a Bright Spot for Solar Investors in 2016

An institutional investor-led slump could be a bargain opportunity for retail investors.


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Who Invests Better: Men or Women?

These trends show that women and men's investing habits are getting closer.

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3 Business Gift-Giving Ideas for the Holidays

Sponsoring an event or class can be a great gift for a larger group of clients and their employees.

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Last-Minute Holiday Shopping Tips

With some careful planning, you can stay on budget. 

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It's the 'Good Season' for the Stock Market

Statistically, this six-month period offers the best returns for the stock market.

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7 Ways to Ruin Employee Morale During the Holidays

Assuming that everyone celebrates a certain holiday can make workers feel uncomfortable and isolated.

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Why Buying Airline Miles Is Almost Never Worth It

Rewards programs should save you money. They shouldn't compel you to spend more. 

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5 Big Money Mistakes Freelancers Make

Protecting your profits costs a lot. Not protecting them could cost you plenty, too.

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Gamer Gifts: Buy 2 Games at Target, Get a $50 Gift Card — Just in Time for Christmas

Want to stuff some stockings with a new adventure or two?

Although it may not be the first vendor you think of for video games, check out Target if you’re in the market.

The store’s running a pretty sweet deal: Buy any two select video games and get a free $50 Target gift card.

You can use that free $50 as another (nice!) gift — or keep it for yourself! Since most games cost about $60, use the gift card and you could get one for yourself for just about $10.

The deal includes popular titles like “Far Cry 4” and “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege” for PS4 and Xbox One, so you don’t have to worry about your giftee being disappointed.

Plus, some of the games are already on sale, saving you even more.  

Save Even More at Target

We Penny Hoarders love Target — even though it can be dangerous territory!

Here are some Target tips for you before you disappear down the rabbit hole with your new $50 gift card.

The best part? Even if you return the item, you get to keep the gift card! What’s not to love?

Hurry, though: This offer expires Dec. 19 at 11:59 PT.

Your Turn: Will you take advantage of this awesome Target deal?

Jamie Cattanach is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder and a native Floridian. She’s been known to go to Target for paper towels and end up with a full cart (and empty wallet). You can wave hi to @jamiecattanach on Twitter.

The post Gamer Gifts: Buy 2 Games at Target, Get a $50 Gift Card — Just in Time for Christmas appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Wanna Win Christmas This Year? Buy Home Alone at Target and Get This Awesome Freebie

Brace yourselves, 90s kids — it’s been 25 years since “Home Alone” first hit theaters.

Let it sink in for a second.

Yup, it was 1990 when Kevin McCallister first took over the big screen and convinced every eight-year-old we could totally fend for ourselves, and take on a couple of mischievous buffoons while we were at it.

The movie instilled in our generation an obsession with ziplines, the Talkboy and the screaming aftershave joke I’m sure our parents adored.

Two and a half decades later, 90s kids have not grown up. We still kinda want to be as cool as Kevin — and we’re pretty much still learning to take care of ourselves.

Get Kevin’s Hat Free at Target

Last year I got a sweater with a big bird knitted on it… You can get beat up for wearing something like that. 

Wanna win Christmas this year? Supply the party with this classic crowd favorite — and show up in a style everyone will envy.

Buy the 25th Anniversary Edition box set of Home Alone and Home Alone 2 on Blu-ray, and Target will throw in a knit hat just like the one Kevin wore in the first movie.

Don’t worry: It fits on an adult head.

Even this one. (Courtesy of Chris Lay.)

The package is just $14.99 online or in the store. You could probably afford to pick one up as a gift — and keep one for yourself.

More Home Alone Swag

Leave it on the doorstep and get the h*ll outta here.

There’s still time to order Christmas gifts. Got more nostalgic movie buffs on your shopping list?

For diehard “Home Alone” fans, pick up the Ultimate Collector’s Edition package: All five (yes, there are five) Home Alone movies on DVD, including 1 and 2 on Blu-ray.

The pack also comes with booby traps from the movie and a map of the McCallister house, all in a limited-edition paint can package.

Just don’t make the mistake of leaving your kids home alone, with those booby traps lying around.

Well, what else could we be forgetting? … KEVIN!

Don’t leave anyone out. For those who don’t have a Blu-ray player, you can also get Home Alone on DVD from Target — it’s only $7.99, and ships free.

You still have time to get any of these shipped free and delivered by Christmas Eve — but I recommend going to the store to pick them up.

Why?

So you can look the cashier right in the eye and say…

Keep the change, ya filthy animal!

Your Turn: Which holiday traditions from your childhood do you still love to celebrate?

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

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She also writes about writing, life, comedy and love for blogs and books and sometimes things people care about, like Huffington Post and that one time she had an article published in the Onion.

The post Wanna Win Christmas This Year? Buy Home Alone at Target and Get This Awesome Freebie appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Is Christmas Shopping Thinning Out Your Wallet? Fill Up on These 7 Food Freebies

As you’re probably well aware by now (hello, mid-December), holiday shopping can easily become a source of financial strain.

Even if you checked off mom, dad, your significant other and the kids weeks ago, that shopping list can be deceptively long — did you remember that cousin you only see on holidays? Your cubicle buddy at work?

But hitting the shops isn’t all bad.

Get Free Food in December 2015

You can score some sweet freebies while you’re out and about playing Santa.

But hurry! Some of these offers expire soon.

1. Jack in the Box Breakfast Burritos

Burritos are awesome busy food — they travel well without too much mess. Plus… they’re burritos. Yes, please.

Good news: Jack in the Box’s breakfast burritos are buy one, get one free when you present this coupon. This offer expires Dec. 15 — that’s today.

2. Ikea Coffee

Is a lucky someone on your list getting a new couch or lamp this Christmas?

If you join the free Ikea Family loyalty program, you can grab a pick-me-up, gratis — free coffee in Ikea’s restaurants through Dec. 16.

Don’t forget the meatballs and lingonberry sauce!

3. Target Café Drinks

Are you a Target REDCard holder?

When you’re grabbing those last-minute Christmas gifts, swing by the café for a free 16-ounce JambaGO smoothie, small ICEE or soda. This offer’s good through Christmas Eve.

4. Steak ‘n Shake Milkshakes

All that shopping working up your sweet tooth? Steak ‘n Shake’s holiday shakes have returned, just in time.

Better yet? When you buy one regular-sized eggnog, white chocolate, peppermint chocolate chip or (omg) cookie butter shake at participating stores, you’ll get a second one — free!

Just present this coupon and bring a friend… or not. You’re already being generous buying all those gifts, right? This deal’s good through Dec. 20.

5. Sonic Boneless Wings

Who doesn’t love boneless wings?

Every Monday night through Dec. 20, Sonic’s are buy one, get one free — and they have a ton of great flavors to choose from!

6. Auntie Anne’s Pretzels

If you have access to a Santa suit — and you aren’t afraid to share somewhat-embarrassing photos of yourself on social media — you could score some free Auntie Anne’s this December.

Just snap a photo, share it to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, and tag Auntie Anne’s with the hashtag #Snack4Santa. Good through Christmas Day.

7. Ruby Tuesday Kids’ Meals

If you wrangled up the fam to hit the mall, you might be too tired and frazzled to cook a meal at home.

If it’s a Tuesday night, you’re in luck — get a free kids’ entrée for every adult entrée you purchase after 5 p.m at participating locations.

Your Turn: What other awesome food freebies are going on this month? Let us know in the comments!

Jamie Cattanach is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder and a native Floridian. She’s passionate about learning, literature, chocolate and free stuff. You can wave hi to @jamiecattanach on Twitter.

The post Is Christmas Shopping Thinning Out Your Wallet? Fill Up on These 7 Food Freebies appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Don’t Make It Weird: A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Away with Regifting

Looking for clever ways to save money this holiday season — without looking cheap?

I’ve been broke for a lot of Christmases. One of my favorite tactics for giving quality gifts without spending a lot of money? Regifting.

You may recoil at first. But think about it. You get gifts every year you don’t want or can’t use.

Holding onto them is polite, but it just adds clutter to some deep corner of your closet. You could also return them to get cash or something else for yourself, which could help you save money on something you need.

Regifting, however, can help you save money on something for someone else. It’s generous and thrifty — but you have to do it right.

The gift should be something the recipient actually wants. Otherwise, you’re just passing your clutter issue onto them.

Most importantly, it shouldn’t look like a regift.

Tactful regifting is all about covering your tracks. What the recipient doesn’t know can’t hurt, right?

Follow these tips from Money Talks News to ensure the gifts you re-give this holiday season are as much of a hit as something you actually bought yourself.

Make Sure It Looks New

A gift should be in its original packaging and in good shape.

If you’ve had it in your closet, attic or basement for a while, it might be layered in dust or grime. It’s not acceptable to just brush away the dust and stick it under the tree.

If you want to store gifts from year to year, or even from a birthday earlier in the year, store them somewhere they’ll keep nicely.

Remove Any Sign the Item is Recycled

Give the gift a good once-over before wrapping and handing it over.

Make sure the flashing lights on this year’s ugly Christmas sweater from your aunt don’t distract you from seeing your initials monogrammed among the madness.

Did your grandma add “To: Nicole, Christmas 2015” in the cover of every book she gave you? Looks like they’re yours for life. (Or, if you need to declutter, maybe thrift store fodder.)

You don’t want to miss some glaring clue the gift was intended for anyone but the recipient.

Keep Track of Who Gave What

Don’t accidentally give a gift to the person who gave it to you!

If you save gifts for months at a time, you could easily forget which distant aunt bought you a generic gift basket… especially if it seems like the perfect present for her a year later.

Stick a note on any gifts you know you’ll be regifting in the future so you know where they came from.

Also keep track of who will be at which parties, and who might run into each other after Christmas. You don’t want coworker Kathy going into the office wearing the bracelet your boss gave you.

For more tips, read the full article at Money Talks News.

Your Turn: Have you ever been caught regifting an old Christmas present? Share your story and tips to help others avoid the same mistake!

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more.

The post Don’t Make It Weird: A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Away with Regifting appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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House prices rise by 7%

Helen Knapman

rising prices.jpg

The average UK house rose in price by 7% in the year to October, taking the price of a home to £287,000.

The average UK house rose in price by 7% in the year to October, taking the price of a home to £287,000.

The data, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), also indicates that prices rose by 0.8% in the month of September alone.

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Spa Castle goes to bat again with central sewage request in Pocono Twp.

The stakes are high as Pocono Township commissioners hold a public hearing Thursday on Spa Castle’s request to connect to the township central sewage system for a planned water park resort.If the township votes a second time immediately following the 6 p.m. hearing at Northampton Community College to reject C. Castle LLC’s request, the company might have to scale back the size of the project. At least that’s what Tim Edinger of T&M Associates — the [...]

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Threadneedle fined for misleading authorities

Michael Trudeau

Big gavel.jpg

hreadneedle Asset Management, now known as Columbia Threadneedle, has been fined more than £6 million for falling short of regulatory standards and then misleading authorities over the steps it had taken to remedy the problem.

Threadneedle Asset Management, now known as Columbia Threadneedle, has been fined more than £6 million for falling short of regulatory standards and then misleading authorities over the steps it had taken to remedy the problem.

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The Big Questions and the Little Expenses

Your Money or Your Life is, without a doubt, my favorite personal finance book. To say it had an enormous impact on me and how I thought about my money is a serious understatement.

I first picked up the book during our lowest financial point, when Sarah and I were struggling to plot a way forward to achieve the things we wanted in life, and it helped me to start making what seemed like hard choices. Those choices actually turned out to be easy ones after a while.

I’ve read the book many times since and each time it has filled me with ideas and inspiration about how to move forward with our finances. In fact, whenever I feel like I’m struggling with whatever the next step is in our financial journey, I’ll leaf through the book and inevitably find some real food for thought.

Yesterday was no different. Lately, I’ve really been struggling with figuring out why I’m here and what I should be doing with my life. What have I done with my life to make the world a better place? What can I yet do with my life to improve the world?

We’ve managed to put ourselves in a place financially where we can consider making choices that don’t involve a high income. Right now, we live off of Sarah’s salary and put all of my income into savings, so if either Sarah or I took a salary hit, all it would do is slow down our savings rate. It wouldn’t affect our day to day life.

What does that mean? What can I do with whatever skills I have to really hit a home run with my personal responsibilities? What can I do to make the world a better place?

As those thoughts coursed through my head, I stumbled upon page 109 of the book, which charged me with considering three questions regarding how I choose to spend my money.

Did I receive fulfillment, satisfaction and value in proportion to life energy spent?

Is this expenditure of life energy in alignment with my values and life purpose?

How might this expenditure change if I didn’t have to work for a living?

Let’s stop right here and explain a few concepts.

What Is “Life Energy Spent”?

It’s a term that seems very nebulous and “New Age-y” at first, but it actually refers to something very specific. How many hours of your life did you have to devote to work or work-related activities in order to pay for this item?

Let’s say you make $10 an hour (after taxes and other expenses) at your job and you spend $100 on some kind of entertainment. That means you worked for 10 hours in order to be able to afford that entertainment. Was that $100 entertainment really worth ten hours of your life?

It goes even further than that, because the underlying assumption is that your “hourly wage” includes every hour you spend on anything associated with work and subtracts out every work-related expense.

So, let’s say you work 8 hours a day, but you have an hour long lunch that you often eat out with coworkers and you have a 45 minute commute each day. You also have to dress a certain way for work and you have other functions once a month that eat another four hours, plus two trips a year that devour an entire weekend.

So, your normal work hours add up to 40 hours a week, plus another 5 for lunches, plus another 7.5 for commuting, plus another 2 hours (on average) for travel and buying clothes, plus another hour for the monthly special events. (I’m not even including working at home here, which many people do.) That’s 55.5 hours per week.

You might make $20 an hour on paper, but you spend $10 each day on lunch, about $5 each way commuting (on gas, car maintenance, etc.), and perhaps $2 a day on clothing on average. Then there’s taxes, which eat a quarter of your pay. So, your $160 earned per day drops down to $98 per day. Multiply that by five and you’re earning $490 a week.

Thus, your “true hourly wage” is $490 divided by 55.5 hours, or $8.83 per hour. Every hour you invest in work-related things earns you only $8.82 that you get to keep for yourself.

So, when you spend $100 on entertainment, that means you’re burning up eleven hours and twenty minutes of your life. Is that entertainment really worth it?

This isn’t a call to just cut all spending that isn’t strictly necessary out of your life. That would lead to a pretty miserable life.

Instead, what it does is encourages you to think about what you’re actually spending when you buy frivolous things. Is the joy you’re getting out of that Applebee’s burger worth four hours spent at work or commuting? Especially when you could just eat something for way less cost at home?

Most of the time, it should lead you to realize that it isn’t worth it, leaving treats for special occasions rather than as an everyday thing.

Is that Applebee’s burger really worth another four hours of work? Photo: Yelp

Matching Spending Up With My Values and Life Purpose

Asking whether you’re getting enough value out of that expenditure to make it worth the life energy you spent is an incredibly valuable question, but in a way, it’s a question that looks backward. You’re asking yourself whether or not an expenditure you made in the past – spending your life energy working at your job to earn money – is worth trading for something you want in the present – giving that money for an item or an experience you desire.

It was really that second question that caught my eye, though. Let’s look at it again.

Is this expenditure of life energy in alignment with my values and life purpose?

To me, this is a forward thinking question. It is a meaningless question unless you’ve figured out your values and life purpose, and those things are inherently about the present and everything beyond – the rest of your life. Your life purpose is not likely to be fulfilled any time soon and, ideally, your life’s values will be expressed throughout the rest of your life (starting today, of course).

This brings us around to the big question: How does one define their values and life purpose in any sort of meaningful and real way?

For me, it has come down to a simple recipe.

First, if others were to describe me in five words, what would I want those words to be? Helpful. Humorous. Kind. Responsible. Thoughtful. Those are words that come to mind when I answer that question.

The follow up to that idea, then, is how exactly do I implement those things in my life? For me, I find it easiest to look at those traits in the form of a question when I look at the things I’m doing.

Am I being helpful? Am I making others smile or laugh? Am I being kind to others? Am I being responsible to those around me and to the greater world? Am I being thoughtful about what I’m about to do or say or am I just operating on instinct?

Those questions become a good filter about how I’m living my day to day life. If I’m taking actions that don’t fall in line with those things, should I really be doing them?

Second, when I look back on my life from the vantage point of old age, what will I want to have accomplished? This is essentially how I figure out my life purpose.

For me, my life purpose is spending my time and energy finding ways to help people live a better life. This flows through writing for The Simple Dollar. It also flows through the charity work that I do and even some of my leisure activities that I choose. I make it my goal to do things that make the lives of others better and I’d like to believe that I succeed at that most of the time.

That’s not (necessarily) going to be your life purpose. Yours could be literally anything – helping progressive or conservative candidates get elected to office or helping to clean up the environment or anything else.

This seems like kind of a nebulous thing to think about, but there is a lot of real and tangible purpose behind it. It’s all about figuring out how you’re going to make your mark on the world, and making your mark on the world starts with the choices you make today.

For some people, figuring these things out can be a real struggle. It took me perhaps a decade and a half of reflection and experimentation in life to figure these things out for myself. What I found is that I just followed the things that really rang true in my life. If I did something and it felt good to me, not only in the moment but for a while afterward, then I knew that I was at least somewhere close to those values. Trust your sense of doing something that has lasting meaning for yourself, as those things are pretty close to your true purpose in life. Try lots of things and see what resonates with you, then start zeroing in on those things that do resonate.

Moving Life Goals and Values Into Everyday Life

To put it simply, my goal is to maximize the things in my life that are in line with my purpose and values and minimize the things that do not. That sounds like a grand and nebulous thing, but it’s actually a very practical thing on a day to day basis.

I try to look at every single thing I spend time or energy or money on during the day and ask myself whether it’s in alignment with my purpose and my values. When I’m writing an article for The Simple Dollar, for instance, it’s clearly in line with my purpose and values. It also feels good, particularly when I can see that something I’ve written has helped someone put their life on a better track.

I feel the same way when I do a good job as a parent or as a husband. I feel that way when I get involved with a community project. I feel that way when I make someone laugh without hurting the feelings of someone else.

Those things feel real to me. They feel right to me.

So, I use those experiences as a guideline for my spending. I spend money and time and energy on things that lead to those kinds of experiences, and I try to avoid spending money and time and energy on things that do not.

I even do this with my hobbies and with entertainment. For me, hobbies and entertainment have much more value if they make me think or if they help connect with and improve the lives of others. This is why I find board games to be a powerful pull, because the good ones make me think but they also give me an opportunity to be sitting around a table with my children or my wife or with other friends and family, to bring a smile into their life or something similar.

It is on this point that I actually feel frustrated by people who respond to frugality and cutting back spending with the impression that it’s going to make life “terrible” or “boring.” I literally can’t conceive of anything better than having as much time and energy as possible to devote to the things that really matter to me. The cost of that is to spend less money and time and energy on the things that don’t matter to me.

I try to choose work that brings forth those values. Helpful. Humorous. Kind. Responsible. Thoughtful. Making the lives of others better.

That’s why I enjoy writing for The Simple Dollar so much and why so many of my other projects are about making the lives of readers and viewers better.

I try to choose leisure activities that brings forth those values. Helpful. Humorous. Kind. Responsible. Thoughtful. Making the lives of others better.

That’s why I try to choose thoughtful entertainment for myself and social entertainment for my friends that encourages us to interact with each other.

I want to spend more and more of my time and energy on those things. So, how do I do that?

Values and Goals and Money

As always, The Simple Dollar is a personal finance blog, so what does this have to do with money directly?

First of all, making an effort to choose work and leisure activities that are in line with my values serves as a really powerful filter that throws away a lot of unnecessary spending. Does having a brand new computer do anything for those values that I have? Not really – I just need a computer that’s good enough to occasionally edit video and write articles. I don’t need a workhorse. Do I need lots of new clothes or a shiny car for those things? Nope, not at all. Do I need to eat out three times a week to match those values? Nope, not at all.

Expenses like those – things that might be appealing to some and in line with their values and goals but don’t line up with my personal values and goals – are the kinds of expenses that are easy to incur if you don’t think about them. They’re the kind of things that other people seem to deeply enjoy but when you spend the money… it really doesn’t do much for you. That’s because that expense is not in line with the things that you value. Those are the expenses I try hardest to cut from my life – expenses that are in line with the values of others that might be pushed onto me in some way but don’t resonate with me at all.

Second, most of my long-term savings goals are all about being able to do those core things more than I’m doing now rather than about distractions. When I “retire,” it’s not to go live on a beach somewhere. It’s going to be about finding progressively better ways to help others with the skills that I have without the need to worry about income. That is my goal in life, and knowing that I will be able to better achieve that goal if I save up the money to retire early is a pretty powerful motivator for retiring early.

I challenge you to look at your retirement not as time where you do nothing, but as time that you can devote to chasing after whatever your life goal is without money being an obstacle. Your work should be all about saving for that (after you’ve met today’s expenses). To me, this is a beacon’s call toward early retirement.

Third, as you remove financial shackles from your life, you have more and more freedom to choose work that is in line with those values now while still earning a good income. In 2006, I worked at a job where I enjoyed the other employees and enjoyed the actual projects that I worked on. What I grew to hate was the bureaucracy: the paperwork, the lack of true direction moving forward, and so on. I felt like I went to work for eight hours a day, five days a week, so I could spend maybe one hour of that week working on something cool and exciting. It left me feeling pretty empty.

During 2006 and 2007, Sarah and I were executing our financial turnaround and removing those shackles from our life. At the same time, I started The Simple Dollar and began to share those changes with anyone who wanted to listen, and by 2008 the combination of putting so much effort into The Simple Dollar and the removal of so many financial shackles from my life enabled me to start doing it full time.

I was able to start working full time on something more meaningful and more in line with my core life values because I didn’t have financial shackles holding me in place at my previous job. I could handle some financial risk because we weren’t pushed up against the wall with debt payments and unnecessary expenses.

• Related: Financial Independence and Career Choices

Finally, central life goals make for really, really compelling savings goals. When I think about why we’re saving for the future, I come back immediately to those central things I care about most. I want to be able to spend my days volunteering locally. I want to be able to devote the time to write the books I have inside of me, getting those thoughts down on paper and organized, so that they can bring something into the hearts and minds of others.

Those things are really, really exciting to me because they’re deeply entwined with what I feel is my purpose in life. They feel alive to me, and knowing that my savings are moving me toward those things adds a ton of motivation to saving money now instead of spending it on more frivolous things.

Final Thoughts

Figuring out your purpose and values in life has incredible financial value. It enables you to start making much smarter decisions about spending. It makes saving for the future much more exciting. It helps you make career choices that feel exciting to you rather than just another way to make a buck.

Thinking about things like a “life purpose” and “values” can be nebulous and seem vague and unimportant, I know. Yet, I’ve found that when you really figure it out, it becomes incredibly powerful and important and clear. It adds a clarity to all of your decisions and makes it so much easier to make good ones about how to spend your time and energy.

Good luck!

The post The Big Questions and the Little Expenses appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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10 Job Titles That Have Been Around for 2,000 Years

Some jobs are so critical to everyday life that they've never gone out of style. Learn about 10 job titles that have been around for 2,000 years.

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10 Job Titles That Have Been Around for 2,000 Years

Some jobs are so critical to everyday life that they've never gone out of style. Learn about 10 job titles that have been around for 2,000 years.

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4 Steps to Attract Recruiters to Your LinkedIn Profile

A new feature will change how job recruiters search for and identify good candidates.


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10 Painless Ways to Save More for Retirement

Try these strategies to boost your savings rate without significant sacrifices.

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7 Money Mistakes to Avoid in 2016

If you don't want to live paycheck to paycheck, follow this advice. 

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6 Steps to Wow the Big Boss at Your Company Holiday Party

Overcome your fear and introduce yourself to the corporate bigwigs at this year's holiday party.

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5 Signs Your Boss or Co-Worker Is an Office Bully

Constantly teasing employees about traits they can't change can be a form of workplace bullying.


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Yieldcos Offer a Bright Spot for Solar Investors in 2016

An institutional investor-led slump could be a bargain opportunity for retail investors.


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Who Invests Better: Men or Women?

These trends show that women and men's investing habits are getting closer.

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3 Business Gift-Giving Ideas for the Holidays

Sponsoring an event or class can be a great gift for a larger group of clients and their employees.

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Last-Minute Holiday Shopping Tips

With some careful planning, you can stay on budget. 

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It's the 'Good Season' for the Stock Market

Statistically, this six-month period offers the best returns for the stock market.

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Why Buying Airline Miles Is Almost Never Worth It

Rewards programs should save you money. They shouldn't compel you to spend more. 

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7 Ways to Ruin Employee Morale During the Holidays

Assuming that everyone celebrates a certain holiday can make workers feel uncomfortable and isolated.

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5 Big Money Mistakes Freelancers Make

Protecting your profits costs a lot. Not protecting them could cost you plenty, too.

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Self-Employed? You Still Need to Think About Retirement. Check Out These 5 Options

If you’re self-employed, a freelancer or work part time, investing for retirement can seem challenging. A Money Girl reader named Shawnna wrote to ask:

“I run a daycare from my home and only make enough to pay bills. I plan to continue my daycare for the next seven or eight years until my youngest child is halfway through college, when I’ll be in my late 40s. Will that be too late to start saving for retirement — and what’s the best way to invest when you’re self-employed?”

Just because Shawnna doesn’t have a traditional day job with a 401(k) doesn’t mean she doesn’t have great options to save for the future.

In this post, I’ll cover five of the best retirement accounts to consider when you’re self-employed.

Using them could make the difference between having a comfortable, happy lifestyle in retirement — or just scraping by.

What Is a Retirement Account?

If you’re a regular Money Girl reader or podcast listener, you know that I love retirement accounts. I recommend them because they come with fantastic tax breaks that save huge amounts of money.

But they’re all a little different, so I want to make you comfortable with the basics of some of the most popular types.

A common mistake that many people make is thinking that a retirement account itself is an investment. That’s not the case. It’s a special financial “bucket” where you hold investments or cash that get special tax treatment.

Once you contribute money to a retirement account, you might choose to invest it in vehicles like stocks, bonds, mutual funds or exchange-traded funds. Or you can even keep it in a money market fund or certificate of deposit (CD) within a retirement account.

Some of the most common retirement account rules include having to pay a 10% penalty if you take early withdrawals before reaching age 59 1/2 and limits on the amount you can contribute each year.

Depending on your work and financial situation, you may qualify for several different types of retirement accounts all at once. The more accounts you contribute to, the bigger the nest egg you can accumulate for retirement.

Here are five types of retirement accounts you should be familiar with when you work for yourself or don’t have a retirement plan at work:

1. Traditional IRA

An IRA is an Individual Retirement Arrangement, which means it’s a plan for individuals only.

You can’t own an IRA with another person, not even a spouse. You manage every aspect of an IRA, such as opening the account, sending contributions and deciding how to allocate your money.

With any type of “traditional” retirement account, your contributions are tax-deductible. For instance, if you earn $50,000 and contribute $5,000 to a traditional IRA, you’re taxed on $45,000 of income only — not on $50,000.

Plus, all investment gains in a traditional IRA are never taxed until you take a distribution. On the other hand, investment gains in a regular, taxable brokerage account get taxed every year.

Who Can Use It

Anyone with earned income under the age of 70 ½ — including the self-employed and minors who have jobs — can use a traditional IRA. Even non-working spouses who file taxes jointly with a working spouse qualify for a spousal traditional IRA.

Pro

A traditional IRA allows you to save for retirement and cut your taxes in the current year.

Con

If you (or a spouse) also participate in a workplace retirement plan — like a 401(k) or 403(b) — some or all of your contributions to a traditional IRA may not be tax deductible.

Another negative is that it has a low annual contribution limit, compared to other retirement options for the self-employed.

2015 Maximum Contribution

You can contribute up to $5,500 ($6,500 if you’re over age 50) to an IRA, as long as you have that much earned income.

2. Roth IRA

A Roth IRA is subject to all of the major rules that apply to a traditional IRA — except when it comes to taxes and withdrawals. Your contributions to a Roth IRA are taxed up front, but your withdrawals during retirement are completely tax free.

And speaking of withdrawals, you don’t have to take any money out of a Roth IRA as long as you live. With a traditional IRA, on the other hand, you’re required to start drawing down the account after you reach age 70 1/2.

Additionally, you can withdraw contributions to a Roth IRA before retirement without triggering tax or penalties. However, this doesn’t apply to earnings in the account, which would be subject to tax and the 10% early withdrawal penalty if you’re younger than age 59 1/2.

Who Can Use It

Anyone with earned income, including the self-employed and non-working spouses, qualifies for a Roth IRA.

Pro

A Roth IRA allows you to save for retirement and avoid paying tax on decades of earnings and growth in the account. You get the full tax benefit even if you (or a spouse) participate in a retirement plan at work.

Con

A Roth IRA has contribution limits based on your income and tax filing status. If you make over a certain amount, you may not qualify to contribute.

2015 Maximum Contribution

You can contribute up to $5,500, or $6,500 if you’re age 50 or older. This is the total limit for all IRAs.

For example, you could contribute $2,000 to a traditional IRA and $3,500 to a Roth IRA in the same year, but not $5,500 to both IRAs.

3. Solo 401(k)

While you’ve probably heard of a 401(k) plan offered by big companies, you might not know that you can also have one when you work for yourself.

They go by different names, such as a solo 401(k), an individual 401(k) or a one-participant 401(k). You can have a traditional or a Roth solo 401(k).

As both the employer and the employee in your business, you can make both kinds of contributions to a solo account.

That allows to you contribute more with a solo 401(k) than any other type of retirement account.

Who Can Use It

Anyone who is self-employed with no employees other than a spouse.

Pro

Since a solo 401(k) offers high contributions limits, it’s perfect when you have high self-employment income. Unlike a Roth IRA that imposes income limits, you can contribute to a Roth solo 401(k) no matter how much you earn.

Con

The only downside to a solo 401(k) is that if your long-term business plan is to hire additional staff, you’d have to complete IRS paperwork to convert it into a regular 401(k).

2015 Maximum Contribution

On the employee side of a solo 401(k), you can contribute as much as 100% of your salary up to $18,000 or up to $24,000 if you’re 50 or older.

As the employer, you can contribute up to 25% of your net earnings, as long as your total contributions (including your salary deferrals) don’t exceed $53,000, or $59,000 if you’re age 50 or older.

Be aware that if your business is a side hustle — like freelance writing or weekend photography — and you also participate in a 401(k) at a second company, the total employee contribution you can make to both plans is $18,000 or $24,000 if you’re age 50 or older.

You can also have a solo 401(k) in addition to a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA. However, depending on your income and tax filing status some or all of your contributions to a traditional IRA may not be tax deductible.

4. SEP-IRA

But what if you’re a small business with employees? One of the easiest and least expensive retirement plans to administer is the SEP-IRA, which stands for Simplified Employee Pension. It’s an option for any size business or those who are self-employed with no employees.

With a SEP-IRA, contributions can only come from an employer. Employees can never contribute their own money.

So, as the business owner, you choose the amount to contribute each year. However, you must give all employees the same percentage.

For example, let’s say you have a small web design business with one employee named Jack. If you choose to contribute 15% of your pay to your own SEP-IRA, you’d also have to contribute 15% of Jack’s pay to his SEP-IRA.

But if you have a bad year with little profit, you can choose not to make any contributions. Employees are always vested in their SEP-IRA account, which means if Jack leaves your employment, he can take his retirement money with him.

Just like with a traditional IRA, when you take money out of a SEP-IRA before age 59 1/2, you’re subject to income tax plus an additional 10% early withdrawal penalty.

Who Can Use It

Anyone who is self-employed with or without employees, whether you’re set up as a sole proprietor, partnership or a corporation.

Pro

The major advantage of a SEP-IRA is the flexibility to make contributions in years when your business cash flow allows it and to opt out when money is tight.

Con

The main downside to a SEP-IRA is that you must contribute an equal percentage of income to all employees. Also, there isn’t a Roth option or a “catch-up” provision that allows you to contribute more when you’re over age 50.

2015 Maximum Contribution

You can make SEP-IRA contributions for each of your employees (including yourself) up to 25% of each employee’s compensation for a maximum amount of $53,000.

You can also have a SEP-IRA in addition to other retirement accounts, such as a traditional IRA or Roth IRA. You can even have a 401(k) or 403b with another employer.

However, the total amount you can contribute to an employer plan plus your SEP-IRA is limited to 100% of your compensation up to $53,000.

5. SIMPLE IRA

A SIMPLE IRA is another retirement account option for any size business. It’s an acronym for Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees.

Unlike with a SEP-IRA, employees can put their own money in a SIMPLE IRA through payroll deductions. In addition, the employer must contribute to their workers’ accounts each year as either matching funds or as nonelective contributions.

Here’s how the matching option works: The employer must match what the employee contributes on a dollar-for-dollar basis up to 3% of their compensation.

The nonelective option means that the employer has to pay up regardless of whether the employee contributes any of his or her own money. The employer is required to give the employee 2% of their compensation up to a limit each year.

For instance, if you make $50,000, the employer would be obligated to kick in 2% (or $1,000), regardless of the amount you contributed. Again, the employer gets to choose between these 2 options — they never have to pay both matching and nonelective contributions.

You’re always 100% vested in (or have full ownership of) all the contributions you and an employer make to a SIMPLE — and you can stop making contributions at any time during the year.

Who Can Use It

Anyone who is self-employed without employees or with fewer than 100 employees, whether you’re set up as a sole proprietor, partnership or a corporation.

Pro

The major advantage of a SIMPLE IRA is that it’s generally easier to administer than a regular 401(k).

Con

The major drawback to a SIMPLE IRA is that if you do have employees, you’re generally required to contribute to their accounts. Also, the contributions limits aren’t as high as other retirement options for the self-employed.

2015 Maximum Contribution

A SIMPLE IRA is funded by both employee and employer contributions. As an employee, you can contribute $12,500, or $15,500 if you’re age 50 or older.

And as I mentioned, from the employer side, you must choose to make contributions as either a flat 2% of compensation or up to a 3% matching contribution.

If you use a SIMPLE IRA for your business you can also contribute to a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA, or to a retirement plan at another company.

The retirement plans that I’ve covered are the most common, but this isn’t a complete list. Check out IRS Publication 590, Individual Retirement Arrangements and Publication 560, Retirement Plans for Small Business, to explore options for your business endeavors.

If you’re like Shawnna and are having trouble saving for retirement because your business is just getting started or has irregular income, it’s still important to get in the habit of saving as early as possible.

Open one of the retirement accounts I covered here and begin setting aside even a small amount on a regular basis.

While it’s never too late to begin investing for retirement, you’ll thank yourself later if you get a head start now!

If you need help setting up a retirement plan or aren’t sure how to use multiple retirement plans properly, be sure to contact a qualified tax accountant. Paying a professional to help you maximize tax benefits for your business and retirement accounts will pay off.

Your Turn: Are you self-employed? Will you use one of these accounts to save for retirement?

This post originally appeared at Quick and Dirty Tips, a network of podcasts and digital content offering short, actionable advice from friendly and informed authorities. Laura Adams, host of the free Money Girl podcast, is a personal finance expert and award-winning author.

The post Self-Employed? You Still Need to Think About Retirement. Check Out These 5 Options appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Government slashes Pensioner Bond returns

Tom Wilson

pensioner bonds.jpg

Savers who purchased one-year ‘Pensioner Bonds’ from National Savings & Investments (NS&I) will see interest rates plummet when the products start maturing in January.

Savers who purchased one-year ‘Pensioner Bonds’ from National Savings & Investments (NS&I) will see interest rates plummet when the products start maturing in January.

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Sell your annuity from 2017

Rachel Lacey

sterling.jpg

Some five million retirees will be able to sell their annuity income for a cash lump sum from April 2017, according to plans revealed by the government today.

Some five million retirees will be able to sell their annuity income for a cash lump sum from April 2017, according to plans revealed by the government today.

The move should level the playing field with people retiring after April 2015 who are no longer forced into buying an annuity and are able to use their pension savings as they wish.

Sell your annuity from April 2017

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Some five million retirees will be able to sell their annuity income for a cash lump sum from April 2017, according to plans revealed by the government today. The move should level the playing field with people retiring after April 2015 who are no longer forced into buying an annuity and are able to use their pension savings as they wish. Commenting on the announcement, economic secretary to the Treasury, Harriett Baldwin, said: “I’m delighted that we’re extending our landmark pension freedoms to over five million people with annuities from April 2017. People who’ve worked hard and saved hard all their lives should be trusted to make the right decision for them and with the help of the regulator we will ensure these people have the right information to do that.” The government will continue to work with the Financial Conduct Authority, during 2016 to ensure the new ‘second hand’ annuity market is sufficiently regulated. There will be a requirement for those with annuities above a certain threshold to seek independent financial advice before selling up and a brokering service will also help people to shop around for the best deal. However, while the news will undoubtedly be welcomed by existing retirees, experts are advising frustrated annuity holders to think carefully before cashing in an income that is guaranteed for life. Andrew Tully, pensions technical director at Retirement Advantage, said: “On the face of it this sounds like great news, extending the pension freedoms to existing annuity customers is a logical step. But, and this is a big but, people might not receive the sort of cash they expect once you actually do the sums. While some people may find the idea attractive, those who have been sold a poor value annuity and then trade it in won’t necessarily get better value.” This is because those purchasing the annuity will expect sellers to be medically underwritten to get a picture of how long the income stream can be expected to last. You will also need to pay income tax on your lump sum, reducing it further. As a result Retirement Advantage has calculated that sellers could see as much as 40% wiped off the value of their payout. Before considering a sale Tully said annuity holders would need to consider their current health and life expectancy, the cost of the trade – including tax, health checks, admin, profits and the cost of advice – and how they will replace their lost income if it is relied upon. Finally they will need to consider whether a lump sum would impact on their ability to claim any means-tested benefits.

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How Vitamin Supplements and ‘Super Foods’ Can Devour Your Savings

I struggled with severe gastrointestinal issues for most of my youth. I’m not sure if I was lactose intolerant, sensitive to gluten, nervous, allergic to certain foods, or some combination of all of those factors. But whatever the issue, there was something rotten going on.

Things got worse when orthopedic issues started to crop up in college. A litany of knee surgeries and sprained ankles left me in a lot of pain. I was taking specially made ibuprofen pills that felt like a chalky football when swallowed. I was 22 going on 90.

Right around this time, I changed my diet. I figured it was the simplest change I could make if I wanted to improve my health. I moved toward a whole-foods diet, cutting out most of the processed junk I ate for the majority of my life. I first got obsessed with the Paleo diet, then a low FODMAP diet, and even the Ketogenic diet, in which you eat upwards of 90% of your calories as fat.

After much tinkering, I found success eating via the 80/20 principle: Get 80% of your calories from whole, real, high-quality foods, and don’t worry so much about the other 20%. I started feeling a lot better. My joints ached less and my digestion issues disappeared.

But feeling better wasn’t good wasn’t enough for me. I wanted all my issues solved, and I wanted them solved yesterday. I wanted to feel perfect. That’s when I started getting into trouble.

The Vitamin Supplement Rabbit Hole

A daily multivitamin was no longer good enough. I thought I could find those vitamins from higher-quality sources if I supplemented each vitamin individually. This was more expensive, but that was irrelevant. I soon expanded out from traditional vitamins and tried every supplement on the market.

“Fermented Cod Liver Oil? Gotta be the next superfood.”

“N-Acetyl Cysteine? Yes, please.”

“Phenylalanine? That’s not a toxic chemical? Then sure, I’ll buy a bottle!”

The harder to pronounce and more obscure, the better. Sometimes, the more expensive the better. The latest probiotic had to be effective if it was $70 for 30 pills, right?

I was soon taking baggies of up to 20 pills to work and downing them with my morning coffee. I was starting to feel a lot better, but I ran into a problem. I was changing so many variables at once that it was impossible to determine what was actually helping me.

When doing any sort of experiment, you need to control your variables. If you take three (or 20) supplements at once, there’s no way to determine the effect each pill is having.

Unfortunately, at this point, my obsession with supplementation was almost as much about novelty and excitement as it was about improving my health. I would read one article about how Chinese Skullcap Extract would supposedly deepen my REM sleep and it’d be on its way from the Amazon warehouse the next day.

It’s like how technophiles line up for Apple products. If there had been a $200 bottle of L-Theanine and you had to wait in line to get it, I probably would have bought a sleeping bag and posted up outside of The Vitamin Shoppe.

I would even read books that said, “Here’s a supplement we recommend for this condition, but make sure you don’t just buy it and use it without getting your blood levels checked first.” I would promptly buy it and use it anyway. I knew what was best for me, not some dumb book.

Photo: Shannon Kringren

The Downside of ‘Bio-Hacking’

My obsession with supplementing didn’t stop once I started feeling better. I then became obsessed with optimizing my mental performance, or “bio-hacking,” as some people call it.

I thought there were pills that could help me get my brain to fire on all cylinders at all times. And while there certainly are for some people, going down this rabbit hole in a haphazard manner can become a serious money suck.

I thought I needed Theanine for mental clarity, L-Tryptophan for deeper sleep and even caffeine pills at times for amped-up focus.

But I felt like I was advancing myself as a person by always looking for the next best neurological optimizer. Every bit of money I spent felt justified since it was in the pursuit of perfecting my own brain. I was obsessed.

Unfortunately, I still wasn’t tracking what was helping and what wasn’t. I just took the pills and hoped for the best. I finally wanted to get some hard numbers showing where I was at, which led me to see a specialty doctor. This, I thought, would finally solve all my issues. I’d know exactly what I was deficient in and then work to improve those areas.

This doctor assessed me for 45 minutes and then suggested a litany of blood tests for nutrient levels and food allergies. All for a mere $325. He didn’t take health insurance, but that didn’t bother me.

I was so pumped. I was finally going to see what was wrong with me in granular detail. The next supplements I bought would be targeted, basically turning me into that super-thinker from the movie Limitless.

I got the tests back and … everything was normal. Huh? This was upsetting. I needed something to optimize!

Worse, I was supposedly highly allergic to eggs, dairy, red meat, grains, and many fruits. The doctor suggested I cut those out for three months and then check back with him (for another $325, 45-minute follow-up, of course).

I instead checked into the science of the IgE blood tests I got and found some troubling information. Everything I read suggested the tests I got are not very accurate and shouldn’t be used to drastically alter your lifestyle. This made sense to me as I was eating plenty of eggs, meat, dairy, fruit, grains and everything else that was supposed to be destroying me from the inside. But all my numbers were fine. So how bad were all those foods for me?

This was my ultimate wake-up call. What was I really doing by obsessing over all this stuff? If I felt OK and my blood work was OK, then maybe it was time to start using my energy, free time, and money in pursuit of other things.

The money aspect was most troubling. Between the start of my obsession in 2012 and the end in early 2015, I earned about $60,000 after taxes. Even though I was living at home for part of this time, I had essentially no savings. That’s partly because in those years I spent… $4,000 on vitamins, supplements, and blood tests! That was about 6.5% of my total take-home earnings!

I knew it was a lot, but it blew me away when I actually went back and calculated it.

As a percentage of income, that’s over half as much as the 10% the average person spends on food. The difference is that food is necessary to live. Neptune Krill Oil? Not so much.

I stopped seeing those doctors. I stopped buying large quantities of any new supplement I heard about on a podcast. It was time for a different approach.

A More Sane Approach

Once the dust settled on my thousand-dollar-plus doctor bill, I went cold turkey on supplements. It was time to get a baseline for how I felt without taking any pills.

Turns out I felt pretty much the same. I haven’t bought a supplement since. I still have a lot of vitamin D and magnesium, so I’ll take those from time to time, especially during the winter. But that’s it. Gone are the days of handfuls of pills three times a day. It was severely hampering my ability to save money and it was having no tangible effect on my mood or energy levels.

I’m still tempted to make purchases, especially of so-called “super foods.” These feel less like supplements, but they are almost the same thing.

Remember acai? The berry that was supposed to make you lose 10 pounds and look 20 years younger? Or pomegranate juice, which got in trouble for throwing caution to the wind for pretty much claiming they stopped heart attacks?

The trend-of-the-month-type foods (looking at you, kale) are not bad in their own right, but they are often not as healthy as they claim and often come with inflated prices. No one plant or compound is a panacea. Everything needs to be approached from a holistic standpoint. Take the time to carefully add new foods to a basic, balanced diet that you are able to stick to long term. Then monitor how you look, feel, and perform. If you don’t notice a difference, it might not be worth the money.

Final Thoughts

The process of discovering that “simpler is better” was similar to the realization I had with investing. It’s not cost-effective to try to beat the market by buying up what you think are the hottest stocks. That’s akin to nonstop supplementation and testing. It’s more effective to steadily dump your money into a low-cost index fund, which is like finding a healthy diet that works for you, sticking to it and getting regular checkups.

As the old saying goes, “Perfect is the enemy of the good.” The next time you see a pill, food, or doctor saying they know how to make you feel like an Olympic athlete and look like a supermodel, run the other way.

The post How Vitamin Supplements and ‘Super Foods’ Can Devour Your Savings appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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The un-Australian boomerang market

WE’VE all heard about selling wine to France. Now a foreign firm is beating us at our own game — selling boomerangs to Australia. And these actually work.

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New twist in VW diesel scandal

THE German car giant is in for a head-on clash with Australian lawyers after saying some V6 diesel engines added to the class action aren’t affected locally.

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8 Holiday Gifts That Will Help Your Friends and Family Make and Save More Money

You probably know a friend or relative who wants to become a Penny Hoarder, but has something standing in their way — a low-paying job, a disorganized budget or a small business dream that has not yet become a reality.

This holiday season, give that person one of these eight gifts to help them with their finances.

These presents could help them build a better budget, achieve their career goals and start hoarding those pennies!

1. Your Money or Your Life

Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez’s “Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence” is probably my favorite financial book of all time.

It got me seriously thinking about how much I was earning, how much I was spending and how to bring my earnings up — while keeping expenses down.

We’ve included the Amazon link to get you pointed in the right direction. If you’re going to save money by buying a used copy — total Penny Hoarder move — purchase the most recent edition.

Robin and Dominguez regularly update the book, so it always has accurate and useful information for future Penny Hoarders!

2. You Need a Budget

If your loved one wants to get on the penny hoarding bandwagon, but needs extra organizational help to track those pennies, give them You Need a Budget.

YNAB operates on four financial rules.

The first is “give every dollar a job:” spend it on short-term expenses, save it for upcoming expenses or put it toward the future.

It’s a great tool for people who want to manage their money, but feel their pennies slip away before they have a chance to put them to use.

3. The $100 Startup

Inspire your loved one to earn more money with Chris Guillebeau’s “The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future.”

This book gives people the tools to a create small businesses or side hustle based on their skills and interests. Guillebeau also emphasizes you don’t need a lot of cash or extra resources to start a new business.

Sometimes, you just need $100.

4. Quicken

Financial software Quicken has been around for decades.

It’s still an extremely popular choice for people who want to manage their money, track their spending and plan for the future.

Today’s Quicken includes a mobile app, bill pay features and other tools to help keep your loved one’s finances organized.

5. FreshBooks

If you think your gift recipient will take Chris Guillebeau’s advice and start a small business or side hustle next year, give them the gift of FreshBooks, a small business accounting software program.

FreshBooks helps create and track invoices, manage and track expenses, and even track the time you’re putting toward a project.

It’s like having your own virtual accountant.

6. Financial Planner

Since we’ve brought up accountants, consider giving your loved one a session with a CPA or financial planner.

Many people don’t appreciate the help of a good financial planner until they get the chance to sit down and discuss everything from next year’s taxes to their children’s college educations.

If you have a friend or relative who says things like “I wish I knew more about investing” or “I wish I knew how much I should be saving for retirement,” a financial planner might be the best gift you can give.

7. Professional Development

Give the gift that keeps on earning by paying for a loved one’s professional development.

Talk to them about what skills they want to learn to become better at their job or small business — then offer to pay for a course that teaches those skills.

These courses also are great places for people to connect with industry peers. Professional development courses are good opportunities for both learning and networking.

8. Gift cards

If a loved one is trying to get their finances in order, it probably means they aren’t making a lot of discretionary or personal purchases right now.

Give them a gift card to a favorite store, so they can treat themselves without affecting the budget they’re carefully crafting.

If they decide to sell that gift card online and put the money into savings, they’re well on their way to true Penny Hoarder status!

Your Turn: If you’re looking to improve your finances next year, what gift would you most appreciate? Would you like any of the items on this list?

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

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

The post 8 Holiday Gifts That Will Help Your Friends and Family Make and Save More Money appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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