China's economy is showing new signs of trouble Tuesday, with growth reaching a 25-year low in 2015.
Source CBN.com - Finance http://ift.tt/1nvz23r
الثلاثاء، 19 يناير 2016
Hotel Rewards Cards for People Who Hate Hotels
Hotel credit cards let you earn points for free hotel stays, room upgrades, and more. With the right card, you could even book a week-long vacation without paying a single cent out of your own pocket, which is pretty amazing if you ask me.
Unfortunately, there is a catch. Like it or not, the points you earn through hotel cards can be extremely difficult to use. Not only do you have to search for “award availability” to book a free room, but you may also need to navigate other exclusions or jump through additional hoops along the way.
Plus, hotel points are generally only good for staying at one specific hotel chain – or a number of properties that fall under one hotel group. And, what if you don’t happen to like any of them? Or, what if you want to stay in a specific destination, and your hotel card doesn’t have any properties there?
And finally, what if you just hate hotels and would rather stay in a condo, beach house, or vacation rental apartment – or camp out under the stars in the most beautiful outdoor spot you can find?
In that case, you could end up stuck with a whole lot of hotel points you can’t use. The crazy thing is, this actually happens all the time.
Hotel Cards for People Who Hate Hotels
At the end of the day, hotel cards are perfect for people who are loyal to a specific hotel brand and extremely flexible as far as dates go — but not that great for everyone else.
If you find the monotonous sterility of a chain hotel a bit depressing, you can use rewards points to book local vacation rentals, bed and breakfasts, or campgrounds. Photo: Hernán Piñera
Fortunately, a handful of flexible cards offer rewards you can use to break up the monotony and stay any crazy place you can dream up. Here are a few travel cards that could easily be used as hotel cards if you know how to use the perks:
Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®
The Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® doles out points that are redeemable for any type of travel, including hotel stays, motel stays, certain types of rental condos, train tickets, and more. With this card, you’ll earn two points per dollar spent on all purchases, plus an epic signup bonus worth a ton of free travel on its own.
The best part about this card’s rewards is that you don’t have to commit to a specific hotel chain or loyalty program. Simply sign up for the card and redeem your points for any type of travel – even travel booked through sites like Expedia or Travelocity. Better yet, the $89 annual fee is waived the first year, meaning you can check out the rewards for a full 12 months before making a commitment.
And yes, you can totally use the “miles” earned with this card to book alternative lodging options through Airbnb, campgrounds, and more. If you’re interested, here are some additional details to ponder:
Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®
Highlights:
Capital One® Venture℠ Rewards Credit Card
Much like the Barclaycard mentioned above, the Capital One® Venture℠ Rewards Credit Card lets you earn flexible travel credit without a commitment. You’ll also earn an unlimited two miles per dollar spent on all purchases – and all without keeping track of special categories or rotating bonuses.
Fly with any airline and stay in any hotel or lodging option of your choosing – and do it all without worrying about blackout dates or exclusions. Simply shop around for the best price and book the hotel, motel, condo, or vacation rental that fits your travel goals – even if your travel goals involve getting as far away from hotels as possible. It’s as simple as that. Better yet, this card also comes with a signup bonus that can help you get started.
And if you’re not a fan of traditional lodging options like hotels and motels, this card will put you in a good spot. As long as your purchase is coded as “travel,” you can use Capital One’s “purchase eraser” to redeem your points – paying off your HomeAway vacation rental or bed and breakfast stay. That means you can use your points for a broader range of options than you’d be able to with a traditional hotel card, and that you’ll ultimately have more flexibility.
More details:
Capital One® Venture℠ Rewards Credit Card
Highlights:
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Consistently applauded as the nation’s top rewards card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers utmost flexibility. Cardholders earn 2X points on all travel and dining purchases, plus one point per dollar spent on everything else. Further, the points you earn belong in the valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards program, which means you can use them to book any hotel or lodging option at a 20% discount, transfer them to a slew of popular hotel and airline loyalty programs, or redeem them for straight-up cash back at one cent apiece.
And since it’s easy to redeem Chase points for cash back, you can use them for any travel scenario you can dream up. Use your points to pay for a tent and camping space for a week this summer, or rent a Winnebago and criss-cross the country. With cash back, the options are virtually limitless.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Highlights:
Final Thoughts
While these cards make it easy to use your points to stay off the beaten path, plenty of other cards will do the trick as well. American Express now has a partnership with Airbnb, for example, which means you can use your Membership Rewards points to book directly on the site.
And any regular ol’ cash-back card will work for flexible lodging options as well. Because, with cash back, you can book anything you want – with no worry of exclusions, “award availability,” or fine print.
At the end of the day, the right rewards credit card will be different for everyone. But if you absolutely abhor hotels, it’s good to know there are plenty of other options to consider to score free lodging on your next trip. You may just need to think outside the box.
Have you ever had a hotel credit card? Or, do you prefer flexible rewards?
The post Hotel Rewards Cards for People Who Hate Hotels appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
Source The Simple Dollar The Simple Dollar http://ift.tt/1V66Lej
Forget Book Club. Here’s Why You Should Join a Money Club
No matter how smart and savvy you are in other areas of life, financial issues can still be intimidating.
Don’t worry: You’re not the only one who feels that way.
Still, these issues are tough to bring up — even among friends.
In fact, the Women’s Institute for Financial Education (WIFE) developed the concept of the Money Club. It offers a place for friends to discuss money goals and hurdles.
Similar to a book club, money clubs bring together the energy, experience and knowledge of a group of friends (or co-workers or other acquaintances).
Joining a space where you’re invited to air your financial grievances can help you find answers to questions you otherwise don’t want to ask.
How to Start a Money Club
When 31-year-old lawyer Thea started a money club with friends in her Brooklyn, New York, apartment, she was surprised to find “almost all of them knew someone else who was in the same, financially adrift boat,” she told Learnvest.
WIFE offers steps to start a money club, plus meeting guides and other additional tips for running the club.
You can also register your club to receive discounts on books and connect with other money clubs across the country.
If you prefer to keep it informal, follow Learnvest’s five steps to start a money club with friends in your area.
And of course, they’re not just for women; men can totally start or join a money club, too.
What to Talk About in a Money Club
Issues in Thea’s group ranged from paying off credit card debt to deciphering a 403(b) retirement account.
“We left that meeting with the same sense of empowerment we often feel in other areas of our lives, but that was usually missing when it came to our financial life,” Thea told Learnvest.
If you’re unsure how to break the ice at your meetings, consider these topics:
- Saving for special goals — like travel or a wedding
- Creating or contributing to a retirement plan
- Ask everyone to share money-saving hacks and tips
- How to save money raising kids
- How to teach your kids about money
- Take on a group money challenge or budgeting plan
- Flush out bad financial habits
- How to get the most out of your bank account
- How to ask for a raise or get a better job
Your Turn: Would you consider starting a money club for support with your financial goals?
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 Forget Book Club. Here’s Why You Should Join a Money Club appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/1OuzuHW
Would You Move Overseas to Avoid Paying Your Student Loans? These Grads Did
The exorbitant price of college is creating a culture of massive student loans for young Americans.
But a few members of the late-twenties-early-thirties crowd have figured out a clever, if extreme, workaround: moving overseas to dodge their debts.
That’s right. These students book a one-way ticket to Europe and simply tell their their five- and six-figure debts, “Bye, Felicia.”
Vice’s Alexander Coggin reports on four such debt dodgers he met in his “adopted city” of Berlin.
Sounds crazy, right?
Turns out, the plan is actually fairly fool-proof. Loan companies have few tools to collect payments once you’re across the pond, no longer paying U.S. taxes.
That’s especially beneficial in the case of student loans, whose delinquency consequences include such nasties as wage garnishment and tax refund withholding.
Debt Dodgers Flee to Europe
Maybe this is a smart method of evasion, but is it justified?
One of the students Coggin interviews, “Brian” (all names in the article have been changed), says he feels it’s “some sort of civic duty not to pay them back.”
He says his education’s cost was too high in the first place and it should’ve been provided to him.
Other interviewees seem less entitled, citing a sense of shame and fear for their actions’ consequences — especially if their stateside parents cosigned.
“The only reason I’ve ever worried about the debt from the private lenders is because it affects my parents,” says Vanessa.
Another student, Mario, says his parents signed their home over to his sister. They feared it’d be taken from them as he defaulted on his loans overseas.
Homeland Consequences
Even the best loopholes have consequences.
Although the plan is fool-proof for the primary debt holder, cosigners back home are still on the hook.
Plus, it’s a little bit like The Lion King: If you run away, you may never return. If you do, those collectors will be waiting.
“Debt collectors haven’t badgered me in Berlin… but when I go home, my phone rings non-stop. It rings like every hour,” Vanessa confessed.
All of this says nothing, of course, about whether or not it’s wrong to essentially steal your student loan money — even if it’s from a giant corporation supporting an inflated industry.
Not Quite Ready to Catch a Flight?
If this particular method of dealing with student loans doesn’t seem quite right to you, you have other options.
Some of the article’s commenters suggest the obvious: Make the debt-dodging Eurotrip before you take out the loans and take advantage of Europe’s low cost of education.
Luckily, we have your back, too. We’ve recently reported on schools lowering (or abolishing) tuition costs for worthy students, as well as good jobs that don’t require degrees.
You could even consider taking an apprenticeship, instead of paying for college.
Of course, if you’ve already taken out student loans, don’t forget that it is possible to repay them if you make a plan — and stick with it.
This woman paid off $28,000 in loans in just three years, making only a $30,000 a year! This guy even paid off his loans before graduating.
Your Turn: Would you move overseas to avoid paying your student loans, or do you think these ex-students are wrong?
Jamie Cattanach is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She also writes other stuff, like wine reviews and poems — you can read along at http://ift.tt/1RiB7sH.
The post Would You Move Overseas to Avoid Paying Your Student Loans? These Grads Did appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/1KprvrI
Mis-sold Sentinel card protection? You’ve got eight weeks to claim compensation
More than a hundred thousand people who were mis-sold worthless card security policies have just eight weeks left to claim potentially £100s in compensation, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned.
Source Moneywise http://ift.tt/1ODKTDl
Do You Know These 4 Crucial Facts About Your Money? If Not, You’re Making a Big Mistake
Here’s a smart way to work toward the financial goals you’ve set for this year.
If you want to make progress on goals like paying down debt, saving for special occasions or making extra money, start by getting a clear picture of what’s going on with your money.
You may think you’re making good progress saving money.
But when you look at the full picture and see how quickly your funds actually would be drained if your income stopped, you might learn you’re not really on track to reach your financial goals.
To help you get the full, clear picture, Holly Johnson at The Simple Dollar lists seven things you should know about your money.
Here are the top four things you should know:
1. Your Net Worth
“We all like to think we know where our money is and how well we’re doing (or not), but seeing it in plain black and white tells a much more accurate picture,” J. Money of Budgets Are Sexy told The Simple Dollar.
If your finances are fairly simple, you can determine your net worth with a pen and paper.
List your assets — savings, retirement accounts and the major things you own.
Then your liabilities — money you owe on loans, debt or mortgage.
Assets – liabilities = your net worth.
If your finances more complicated — if you have several investment funds or other assets — find your net worth using a free calculator like this one from Personal Capital.
2. Where Your Money Goes
Do you really know how much you spend on groceries, entertainment, utilities and other expenses each month?
If you don’t carefully keep track of your expenses, a few major money drainers could cost you your savings — and, subsequently, goals like travel, a new home or a new job.
Try this family’s free budget template to get your expenses in order.
3. How Long Your Emergency Fund Could Last
Once you know how much you have and how much you spend, you can figure out how long you can last if you’re hit with a financial emergency.
“Everyone should know that their income is not guaranteed,” Well Kept Wallet financial expert Deacon Hayes told The Simple Dollar.
4. Your After-Tax Income
Do you know exactly how much you’re bringing home each paycheck?
If you calculate your budget based on your before-tax salary or wages, you’re leaving a big gap.
Unfortunately, that’s how many of us do it.
Why?
Frankly, when you’re budgeting in your head, it’s just easier to use before-tax income than to figure out how much to plan for after taxes.
If you’re paid a salary, check your next pay stub (or bank statement). Note how much money you actually bring in.
If you’re paid hourly, work fluctuating hours or rely on cash tips, use this bartender’s smart system for balancing your budget.
For more tips and to read the full list of things you should know about your money, head over to The Simple Dollar.
Your Turn: Do you know these things about your money? What tips do you have for reaching your financial goals?
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 Do You Know These 4 Crucial Facts About Your Money? If Not, You’re Making a Big Mistake appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/1ZKciOs
Government to cap pension exit penalties
George Osborne has confirmed the Treasury will introduce a cap limiting the exit penalties savers are forced to pay when they leave a pension.
Following the introduction of pension freedoms in April last year, all savers are able to access their pension pots from the age of 55. However, in some cases, excessive early exit penalties are making the costs prohibitive.
Source Moneywise http://ift.tt/1ODxJGf
Building Momentum
I want to start off by sharing two stories with you that might not seem to have very much in common, but they actually turn out to have a lot in common.
Let’s roll the clock back to the middle of 2006. Back in about that timeframe, I launched the “beta” edition of The Simple Dollar on Blogger, which was probably the best free blogging platform available at that time. The initial design, which I made myself, made the site look sort of like a dollar bill.
Anyway, right off the bat I started writing a few short articles a day on personal finance topics. The articles were very brief, usually a few paragraphs long, but I posted multiple times a day back then. The articles mostly focused on money-saving tactics that were working well for Sarah and I as we turned our financial lives around.
When I launched the site, I sent a link to the site to a bunch of friends and the first day saw a lot of traffic… that dwindled to very little on the second day. And the third day. And the fourth day.
The site simply didn’t get much traffic at first. A day with five visitors was pretty sweet for the first month of so. It was kind of disheartening, actually.
But I kept writing. Once or twice a week, I would write a longer article that really expounded at length on something specific, and I’d share that article on websites where frugal people hung out (back in those days, it was mostly on individual message boards that are now largely defunct).
Slowly, ever so slowly, the traffic started building. During the second month, I was getting maybe 20 or 30 visitors a day. During the third month, i was getting about 100 unique visitors a day. And as long as I kept writing, the traffic went slowly up and up and up.
Eventually, after I had a few thousand articles written and had shared many, many links in many, many places, the site was popular enough that I felt okay making the leap into full time writing. For the first half of that journey, the site basically made nothing at all. That’s more than a thousand articles from which I made pennies. But the momentum slowly built from there until it was bigger than I could have ever imagined.
Let’s turn the page and look at another story.
As I’ve mentioned many times, Sarah and I started our financial turnaround in 2006. It was that turnaround that was the reason for starting The Simple Dollar, after all.
We had a nice big burst of success right at the start. I sold off a bunch of vintage trading cards (baseball cards and Magic: the Gathering cards) as well as most of our DVD collection in order to pay off some of our credit card bills quickly, which took some of the edge off of our financial situation.
After that, though, progress was slow to say the least. Even though we were living very frugally, it still took months to pay off each debt and it took more than a year before we reached a point where we had no student loan, credit card, or automobile debt.
Then we decided to buy a house, which meant that we took on a lot more debt. Again, we inched along, paying off that debt as fast as possible, and paid off our house in full by 2011.
What happened along the way, though, was that our progress slowly started going faster and faster and faster. Every time we made a big payment on a credit card and then avoided adding to that balance over the next month, the minimum payment the following month was much lower and thus more of the next big payment went to the principal of that loan. This was especially noticeable on our mortgage, as we made triple payments most of the time as we were paying off that debt. Each month, our statement showed that the interest we owed that month was lower than the month before, which meant our triple payment saw even more of that money go straight to the principal than had occurred the month before.
Our net worth didn’t improve in a straight line. It improved in a curve that was angled upward.
This trend continued when we had all of our debts paid off in 2011. At that point, we started socking away money like mad into retirement accounts and even into taxable investments.
And our curve kept on curving upward.
In other words, our continued commitment to frugality and doing productive things with our money didn’t just cause our net worth to plod steadily upwards. Instead, our efforts created a kind of momentum, where success built on top of success.
Momentum. It’s the word that both of these stories have in common. It’s also a word that has a lot to do with success in practically anything you take on in life.
Momentum and Debts
I want to stop here for a second and look very specifically at what I mean when I connect momentum and financial success. As I mentioned above, every time we made a big payment on our mortgage, we noticed that our next statement indicated that we owed notably less money in interest and that meant notably more of our next normal payment went toward the principal.
In other words, paying off our debt actually accelerated with each big payment.
Let me show you what I mean with a specific example. Let’s say that today you signed off on a $200,000 mortgage at 4.5%. Such a mortgage would come with a monthly payment of $1,013.37.
If you made normal payments on that loan – $1,013.37 each month – it would take you 30 years to pay off that loan. The first payment would contribute $263.37 toward paying off the balance of the loan and $750.00 in interest. At the end of that first month, your balance would be $199,736.63. Next month, your $1,013.37 payment would knock $264.36 off of the balance after paying $749.01 in interest – about a dollar better than the month before. The new balance would then be $199,472.27. The progress is slow, but it’s still accelerating a little bit. Each month, a little more of your payment is going toward the principal instead of the interest, which means the equity you have in your home is going to grow faster and faster, little by little. Each month, the money going toward interest would go down by $1, and that number would slowly grow. After several years, it would be dropping by $2 per month, then by $3 per month. That money represents your equity in your home growing faster and faster as you move toward the actual payoff date.
Now, what if you made double payments? Instead of paying $1,013.37 each month, you paid $2,026.74 each month. Instead of waiting 30 years to pay off your mortgage, it would actually be paid off in ten years and four months.
Your first payment under this faster schedule – $2,026.74 – would contribute $750.00 toward interest just like the normal schedule, but it would also contribute $1,276.74 toward the principal, leaving you with a balance of $198,723.26. The next payment, then, would contribute $1,281.53 toward the principal – an improvement of about $4.75, rather than the $1 during the normal payoff schedule – and the interest would drop by $745.21, leaving you with a balance of $197,441.73. Again, momentum is on your side. Each month, the money going toward interest would get smaller and the money toward principal would get bigger, but it would happen much faster in this case. Within a year and a half, each month would see $5 more going toward your home equity than the month before. Within six years, it bumps up to $6 each month, and so on.
These effects are small, but they’re cumulative. Whenever you make even a single extra payment on a debt, you’re ensuring that every subsequent payment of even just the normal amount will contribute more toward the principal than before, making the debt pay off faster and making sure less of your money goes toward interest.
That’s momentum at work.
Momentum and Investments
A similar phenomenon exists with investments, but in that case it works even more in your favor.
Let’s say you contribute $5,000 to an investment earning a 7% return on your money. During the first year, you would earn $350 in returns on that investment, bringing your balance up to $5,350. Sounds good, right? The next year, you’re going to earn money on that original $5,000 – another $350 – as well as earning a return on your $350 in returns from the first year – $24.50. Another way to look at it is that now you’re now going to earn a 7% return on your $5,350 rather than just $5,000. Your total would now be $5,724.50.
Of course during that second year, you would have deposited another $5,000 and, over the course of that year, the new $5,000 earns a 7% return, giving you another $5,350 to work with. Your total balance is now $11,074.50. You deposited $5,000 at the start of one year and $5,000 at the start of the next year and you’ve already earned $1,074.50 in returns by the end of the second year. The best part? Those returns will start earning returns themselves.
In year three, your contributions – totaling $15,000 ($5,000 each from year one, year two, and year three) – will directly earn $1,050 in returns, but your returns from year one and year two – $1,074.50 – will themselves earn $75.22. So, your balance at the end of year three is now $15,000 (your contributions) plus $1,050 (your returns from $15,000 during year three) plus $1,074.50 (your returns on $5,000 in year one and $10,000 in year two) plus $75.22 (your returns from that $1,074.50 during year three). That’s a new balance of $17,199.72.
Over the course of those three years, depositing $5,000 at the start of each year, your money would have earned $2,199.72 without you lifting a finger – and that money is only going to accelerate in future years, even if you stop contributing.
Let’s say in year four you contribute nothing. You’d still have $17,199.72 in that account and it would still earn a 7% return. Your balance at the end of the year is $18,403.70 – you made $1,203.98 just by sitting on your duff. In year four, your $18,403.70 would grow by 7% to $19,691.96, meaning that you made $1,288.96 just by sitting on your duff. Notice that even if you don’t contribute a dime, your investment earned more in year four than it did in year three. It would continue to earn more and more and more each subsequent year.
And if you keep contributing, it accelerates even harder and faster.
Momentum is at work here. Your efforts keep paying off down the road.
Combining Investment and Debt Momentum
Obviously, these two pictures – momentum in paying off debt and momentum in investing – combine together incredibly well.
Let’s look at scenario one, where the person uses $1,013.37 each month to make normal payments on their mortgage ($200,000 at 4.5%) and then decides afterwards to invest that much each month (to make math easy, we’ll assume that when the person invests, that person is investing a year’s worth of money at the start of each year).
At the ten year mark, this person still owes $160,178.87 on their mortgage and has no investments.
At the twenty year mark, this person still owes $97,779.45 on their mortgage and has no investments.
At the thirty year mark, that person has a net worth of zero – no debts, no investments.
At the forty year mark, that person has no mortgage and $168,014.09 in investments. Finally, that person is really preparing for the future, but the person that started the journey at 25 is now 65 and just getting started with savings.
Now, let’s look at the same person, where the person uses $2,026.74 each month – a double mortgage payment – to make payments on their mortgage and then decides, once the mortgage is paid off, to invest that much each month into an investment earning 7% (to make math easy, we’ll assume that when the person invests, that person is invest a year’s worth of money at the start of the year).
At the ten year mark, this person owes $7,015.22 on their mortgage and has no investments. Compare that to the “single payment” person, who still owes $160,178.87 on their mortgage at this point.
At the twenty year mark, this person has no mortgage and $341,647.28 in investments. Seriously. Compare this to the “single payment” person, who still has $97,779.45 on their mortgage and no investments.
At the thirty year mark, this person has no mortgage and $1,031,622.09 in investments. Yep, this person is a millionaire. Compare this to the “single payment” person, who has no mortgage… but no investments, either.
What about the forty year mark? This person has no mortgage and $2,388,906.94 in investments. The single payment person has no mortgage at this point and $168,014.09 in investments – not bad, but it really, really pales to the other person.
That’s the power of momentum (and compound interest).
The Two Key Ingredients
There are two key ingredients to making this kind of momentum work in your life.
The first ingredient is a commitment to life lived a little leaner. In order to make that double mortgage payment, that person is going to have to make some serious decisions about how he or she is going to spend money in their life.
The thing is, people always think about the most unwelcome sacrifices first. They think about the unnecessary stuff that they really love and value and how they don’t want to let go of it.
Then don’t! That’s not what frugality is really about! Don’t let go of the things that provide so much value in your life that you’re upset letting go of them.
Instead, look at everything else. Live like a cheapskate with regards to everything else in your life. Unless your home energy use is vital to your life, look for ways to cut back on it. Unless the brand of laundry detergent is a big part of maintaining your self-image, buy generic laundry detergent or make your own laundry soap.
Then, use that money to start making real financial changes to your life, which brings us to the second ingredient, discipline
Discipline is absolutely vital when it comes to making changes in your life. Discipline simply means that you stick with a positive routine even when there are temptations to do something else. You stick with it even when the rewards seem small today, because you know the rewards will be big tomorrow. Discipline means you stick with it even when it is the last thing in the world you want to do.
Many people fail at changes in life because they lack discipline in some particular area. I could write a litany of solutions to this self-discipline problem (and, in fact, I will do so in the near future), but here I’ll simply point out the single most useful strategy I’ve found for self-discipline.
I simply treat each day as an isolated event, one in which I can either succeed or fail at the entire goal. Today is the single day where I either succeed or fail at my financial plan. Today is the single day where I either succeed or fail at my exercise plan. Today is the single day where I either succeed or fail at my career plan.
It is absolutely imperative for the whole plan that I take care of what needs to be done today. Maybe it means keeping my spending in check. Maybe it means going to the gym. Maybe it means taking on some kind of extra creative task. Whatever that extra step is, success hinges on doing it today. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not whenever I feel like it. Today.
So, if you want to build momentum when it comes to your financial life, you need to first commit to making some changes with how you spend money, then you need to have the discipline to stick with those changes through thick and thin.
If you do that, then you’ll have more resources to commit to things like paying off your debts or investing for retirement, and when you have more resources to commit, money momentum begins to really kick into high gear, as you can see in the example I described earlier.
Remember that example?
What about the forty year mark? This person has no mortgage and $2,388,906.94 in investments. The single payment person has no mortgage at this point and $168,014.09 in investments – not bad, but it really, really pales to the other person.
The much more successful person applied just two ingredients. They used a commitment to spending less money to be able to pull off a double mortgage by cutting back on things like home energy use, the constant desire for a new car, and so on – the things that were less personally important – and paired that with the discipline to maintain those changes. The end result was a millionaire’s life, even at the thirty year mark. If the commitment were even bigger – say, a 2.5x mortgage payment – then that person is probably retiring quite early and can live whatever life they dream of.
Committing to spending less and using that money for financial change, then using discipline to stick with that change, results in some incredible financial results.
Good luck with building your own momentum.
The post Building Momentum appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
Source The Simple Dollar The Simple Dollar http://ift.tt/1P2NGJF
UK inflation hits 11-month high
UK inflation registered its second consecutive month of growth in December, after remaining close to or below zero for much of last year as steep declines in the price of oil - which has reduced transport costs - begins to work its way through year-on-year comparisons.
Source Moneywise http://ift.tt/1PnZEcT
This Guy Negotiated His Way to Paying HALF the Normal San Francisco Rent. Here’s How He Did It
I remember my first trip to San Francisco.
As soon as I saw its glittering lights on the horizon from Interstate 5, I was already prepared to pack my bags and move.
I hadn’t even started exploring yet.
Of course, my hopes expanded during the few days I spent strolling the city’s streets, drinking fantastic coffee and falling in love with all its open-minded people — before being quickly dashed when I took a peek at its apartments on Craigslist.
San Francisco: The Cost of Living
As you may know, San Francisco is one of the most expensive American cities.
The median rental price is the highest in the country at over $3,500 a month, according to Zumper, — and that’s for a one bedroom.
I met one guy who camped on a hammock in Golden Gate Park before squatting in a cinderblock office for a year in his journey to become a Bay Area resident.
But as it turns out, negotiation tactics — and making a fantastic first impression — are still worth their weight in gold… even in a city where you easily could spend pounds of it.
Davis Nguyen was able to secure a private bedroom on a safe, quiet, popular San Francisco street, just 15 minutes from his downtown workplace.
Better yet? He’s paying $1,050 per month — less than half of the $2,500 median price of this kind of rental.
How’d he pull it off?
Be a Better Renter, Get a Better Price
It turns out, when it comes to renting a home, a little preparation can go a long way. Nguyen approached the extremely competitive San Francisco rental market with a lot of preparation.
He took his time, knew what he wanted and made a fantastic first impression.
Nguyen gave himself four weeks before starting his job to find the perfect place, even though he wasn’t making an income and was forced to couch-surf.
He viewed the money and time spent “as an investment,” he says — “If you wouldn’t take the first job you happen to get an offer for, why would you do the same for a place you will be spending the next few months or years?”
He and his housemates also arrived at each crowded open-house with a “Get to Know Us” packet. It included a personalized cover letter, as well as a short biography and resume for each applicant.
Along with personal phone calls with each potential landlord, this tactic scored Nguyen and his friends an offer at every house they viewed.
In a seller’s market, these methods put the power back into their hands: Landlords wanted them as tenants.
How to Get a Better Rental Price, No Matter Where You Are
“If I can negotiate rent in San Francisco, I am certain no matter where you are living or moving to, you can negotiate, too,” Nguyen says.
Have a look at the full explanation of his strategies.
Next time you move, your preparation just might cut your rent in half.
Your Turn: Which of these strategies will you use next time you move?
Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She also writes other stuff, like wine reviews and poems.
The post This Guy Negotiated His Way to Paying HALF the Normal San Francisco Rent. Here’s How He Did It appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/1S1LqU6
Think You Can’t Afford a Vacation? Try These 16 Painless Ways to Save $1,000 by Summer
Do these cold, short days have you dreaming about summer vacation?
While you read travel site reviews, compare car rentals and shop for airline tickets, start a dedicated savings account now so you can prepay part or all of your vacation costs.
Following are 16 easy ways to save potentially $1,000 in the next four months.
1. Hold a Yard Sale
Potential Savings: Will vary, around $250
Make room in your closet by decluttering.
No need to make it a big project. Just ask yourself as you move around your home, “Can I get rid of this?”
Put several boxes in an easily accessible spot, and toss in what you find for your yard sale.
2. Cancel Your Gym Membership
Potential Savings: $164 ($41 a month)
The average gym membership cost $41 a month in 2014, according to Christian Science Monitor. And that’s not counting the initiation fee.
Check out cheap options at your local community center or pool. Or, for the cost of a pair of sneakers, go outdoors and walk or run.
3. Sell Your Old Smartphone
Potential Savings: $15 or more
While you’re decluttering, ditch your old phone.
Through Apple’s Reuse and Recycling Program, I found an estimated value of $15 for an old 16GB iPhone 4, locked with AT&T, in average condition. Newer models will net more.
Apple reimburses with gift cards, so net your summer savings by selling the gift card.
Plenty of other sites offer cash, including Gazelle, NextWorth and Glyde. Or list your products on Craigslist or eBay.
Before selling, erase all personal data from a mobile phone. Lifehacker explains how to securely wipe various types of phones.
4. Get a Cheaper Cell Plan
Potential Savings: $300 or more
Consumer Reports says the average customer of a big four carrier (Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon Wireless) pays $90 a month for an individual cell phone plan, $111 for iPhones.
But competition among carriers is escalating, meaning potential savings for consumers. Before comparison shopping, check service maps on companies’ websites to be sure you’ll get the reception you want.
Consider a contract-free prepaid service, or one of the discounted or free cell phone service providers.
5. Trim Your Cell Phone Data Use
Potential Savings: $60
Downscale your data service for more savings. You may find that dropping just one tier from your current plan will save you $15 a month, or $60 total in four months.
6. Be a Mystery Shopper
Potential Savings: $1,600
At The Penny Hoarder, Kyle Taylor explains how to be a mystery shopper. He describes his experience:
I’m usually paid $8 to $25 per mystery shop, plus reimbursement for my purchases. There have been months where I earned more than $5,000, but most months I earn an extra $400 to $500 a month for mystery shopping.
Making $400 a month would net you a nice $1,600 in four months. If mystery shopping is not your thing, consider these odd and unusual ways to make extra money.
7. Raise Insurance Deductibles
Potential Savings: $100 or more
If you agree to pay more out of pocket when making an insurance claim, you can save a lot on your premiums.
For example, raising your car insurance deductible to $1,000 can save you 40% or more on comprehensive and collision premiums, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
You can apply the same concept to your homeowners policy, increasing your savings.
8. Save Your Pocket Change
Potential Savings: $50 or more
You probably watched your parents do it. Now you should do it: Empty your pockets or purse every day.
If you hold onto just $12 a month, you’ll have nearly $50 after four months.
(TPH Editor’s Note: Apply this to your digital change, as well! Here’s how.)
9. Get a Smaller Cable TV Package
Potential Savings: $200
Average cable bills now hover around $100 a month, according to the Leichtman Research Group.
Now cable companies are offering smaller packages that can save you money. Cut your bill in half, and you will save $200 over four months.
10. Cut the Cable Completely
Potential Savings: $400
Going cable-free is no longer radical. Commercial-free cable alternatives include services like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Find out how to select the right cord-cutting service.
Think life without cable will make you the neighborhood oddball? Guess again. People are cutting the cord in record numbers.
11. Open a Bank Account
Potential Savings: $50 or more
Banks want your business, says Money Crashers, adding that some are offering cash to entice you to open an account. Money Crashers lists sign-up bonuses for several new accounts, including some offering up to $300 or even more.
Read the fine print, though. There may be lots of hoops to jump through to claim your reward.
12. Quit Buying Bottled Water
Potential Savings: Varies, but substantial
How costly is bottled water compared to tap? According to the Natural Resources Defense Council:
In California, average tap water costs about $1.60 per thousand gallons (about one tenth of a cent per gallon), while it has been reported that average bottled water costs about $0.90 per gallon — a 560-fold difference.
13. Drink Tap Water at Restaurants
Potential Savings: $80
For the four months of your savings program, order tap water in restaurants instead of other drinks.
If you typically spend $20 a month in restaurant beverages, you’ll save $80 in four months.
14. Automate Savings
Potential Savings: $200
One of the marvels of online banking is your ability to set up and change automatic savings deposits on the fly.
Establish a small transfer from your checking to savings — $50 a month, for example. Break it down by smaller weekly amounts if it’s easier.
Here’s a promise: You won’t notice the money is gone.
15. Get a Part-Time Job
Potential Savings: $800
Take a part-time gig to scrape up some savings.
If you net $10 an hour for 20 hours a month, you’ll have $800 saved — before taxes, of course — when your four months are up.
16. Sell Clothes on Consignment
Potential Savings: $60 to $80
Give closets an early spring cleaning, and take clothes in good shape to a consignment store. You probably won’t make a fortune, but $15 to $20 a month isn’t out of the question.
Your Turn: What are your favorite ways to save money for a special goal?
This post originally appeared on Money Talks News. Since 1991, MoneyTalksNews has been producing both video and print to help you make more, spend less and avoid rip-offs.
The post Think You Can’t Afford a Vacation? Try These 16 Painless Ways to Save $1,000 by Summer appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/1lqcNtY
7 Side Businesses You Can Start Today
By Kimi Clark Finding a side business to start while you’re working full time or focused on another project is challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. There are many good options out there, so we’re sharing a few with you below … maybe even some you hadn’t thought of yet. 1. Birthday Party Planner […]
Source The Work at Home Woman http://ift.tt/1ZJpV0l
Source The Work at Home Woman http://ift.tt/1ZJpV0l
الاشتراك في:
الرسائل (Atom)