Considering those five- and six-figure sums you’re preparing to dish out,isn’t it worth taking a few minutes toanswer eight questionsthat might help you financially prepare for this major decision?
How to Choose a College While Keeping Cost in Mind
If you answeredthatquestion with a resounding “yes,” head over to theWall Street Journalto take the full eight-question quiz.
It’ll only take you about a minute to complete, and 10 minutes to read through the helpful stats you’ll access with each answer you provide — whether you’re correct or not.
There’s a ton to learn, including the right answers to questions you didn’t even knowhadright answers, like “What is the maximum amount students should borrow to attend college?” (I got that one right by chance, but I won’t spoil it for you!)
And if you’re a 4.0 student, you might be happy to learn thattop-tier and Ivy League schoolslike Princeton and Stanford have deeply decreased — and sometimes eliminated — the cost of their tuition for worthy scholars.
Don’t forget: You can find flexible side gigs to help you pay your way through college.
This guy paid off his debtbeforehe graduated just by blogging, and this college student earns $35,000 a year as a freelance writer.
Your Turn: What did you score on this WSJ quiz?
Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She also writes other stuff, like wine reviews and poems.
I don’t know about you, but my curiosity is seriously getting the best of me.
Who the heck won the Powerball last week?
TheTennessee couplehas come forward, but there’s still radio silence from California and Florida.
And, of course, as eager as I’d be to pocket that massive payout, I can understand the silence.To make the most of your winnings, there are somefinancial ducks you’d best get in a row.
Is Being a Millionaire All It’s Cracked Up to Be?
But some consequences of a full-to-bursting bank account aren’t purely financial.
Business Insiderrecently highlighted some responses on aQuora threadasking young millionaires what it really felt like.
Granted, the responders are different from the Powerball winners. They’re A) self-made, and B) under 25. We’ll have to wait and see about the Cali and Florida winners on the latter!
Plus, $1 million, or even $10 million, isa lotdifferent than the $327 million each winner will take home after taxes, if they choose the lump sum.
By the way… man, I wouldn’t complain if I had that check coming to me, but it’s afarcry from the $1.6 billion promised!
Back to the more-than-$64,000 question, though:Is being a millionaire really all it’s cracked up to be?
What It’s Really Like to Be a Millionaire
Well, yes and no.
Responders cite awesome life changes like being able to give more freely to charity and tackle their bucket lists with gusto.
But it turns out having so much cash can lead to some unexpected snafus, from awkward run-ins with cab drivers and teachers to a sudden inability to tolerate flying coach.
Not to mention, of course, dealing with money-hungry friends and relatives who become sudden, ardent flatterers.Mo’ money, mo’ problems.
But some of the most surprising insights from these millionaires are good news for the rest of us.For instance, one anonymous responder realized she could’ve been just as happy on a modest salary.
After realizing she was free to focus on her long-term goals, the anonymous responder writes, “surprisingly, the goals I identified,” like learning how to be a better photographer and cooking Thai food well, “don’t require much money.”
“The weird thing now,” one responder writes, “is that I can spend more and it doesn’t really make a difference financially, but it still does psychologically.
“For example I booked a really nice (and somewhat expensive) hotel, and then I caught myself being reluctant to use the mini bar because some voice deep inside my head told me that mini-bars in hotel rooms are a ripoff.”
So if you’re still bummed you didn’t hit the jackpot,head over to the threadand take a little peek at what life would really be like.
You might be surprised.
Your Turn: Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be a millionaire?
Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) is neither under 25 nor a millionaire (yet), but sheisa junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She also writes other stuff, like wine reviews and poems.
By Holly Reisem Hanna Last week I had the pleasure of attending my fifth cabi Scoop! Yes, you heard me correctly – fifth! I was introduced to cabi back in 2010 where I got to experience the brand firsthand at their fall 2010 Scoop Fashion Show. It was there that I fell in love with […]
Source The Work at Home Woman http://ift.tt/1RZhpGn
3.2 million people have yet to file their self-assessment tax return and with just over one week left and failure to do so resulting in a fine of up to £1,600, Moneywise explains what you need to know.
3.2 million people have yet to file their self-assessment tax return and with just over one week left and failure to do so resulting in a fine of up to £1,600, Moneywise explains what you need to know.
Drivers continue to benefit from falling fuel prices, with Tesco and Asda announcing they’ve cut diesel prices to 97.7p a litre from today.
Drivers continue to benefit from falling fuel prices, with Tesco and Asda announcing they’ve cut diesel prices to 97.7p/litre from today.
Petrol users can also buy fuel at less than a pound a litre, with Asda also offering unleaded petrol at 99.7p a litre at any of its 297 fuel stations since December.
You can find literally any type of audienceon YouTube, which means that just about any business can find a way to benefit from marketing on it.
And while other video sites have decent levels of traffic, most businesses could start today on YouTube and do fine because it’s far from saturated.
In truth, few businesses actually invest in YouTube marketing.
Why?
Because it’s difficult. Compare a video and a blog post about the same topic and of similar quality levels, and the video will cost more.
Smart businesses know that the cost can be worth it, but the higher barrier to entry scares away the rest.
If you’ve been considering marketing on YouTube, or you’ve just started and haven’t really found your feet, this post is especially for you.
I’m going to show you all the key components of creating a YouTube channel that thrives. Your videos will get views, and those views will lead to subscribers and sales for your business.
Video is still content, so you need to start with an audience
You should treat a YouTube content strategy just like you would treat a content strategy on any other channel.
Your content needs to be created for a specific audience you want to reach.
The more you define your niche, the more your content will resonate with viewers.
At this point, there are three main aspects you need to determine.
Aspect #1 – The type of person:First up is the type of person you want to create content for, which should be the sametype of person who buys your product(s).
For example, if I were creating a channel from scratch today, I would be creating content for business owners and marketers because they are also the ones who buy my training courses and hire me as a consultant.
Try to get even more specific than that. For example:
beginner marketers
expert marketers
marketers in North America
You can often narrow your audience by being more specific about their knowledge level of your topic and location.
A narrow audience is a good thing because it allows you to make your content justthat more targeted.
You can’t create content for beginners and experts at the same time, so if you try to, at least half will always be dissatisfied.
Aspect #2 – What do they want to do?The second part of defining your audience is to specify their main goals.
Are they trying to make more money? make their home look better? learn to cook better? get in shape? And so on…
Determine the things they care about the most. Ideally, it will relate to your product as well, but it’s not always necessary.
For example, I could create content for“expert marketers who want to get in better shape.”
Even though those videos wouldn’t be directly related to my products, they still attract the attention of my target market. This would allow me to get my marketing advice in front of them and, eventually, my products as well.
The main point of content marketing, including videos on YouTube, is to attract the attention of your target audience.
So, if you see a need that hasn’t been filled, jump on it regardless of whether it’s directly tied to your product.
Aspect #3 – How do they want to consume it?Finally, you just want to do a common sense check and determine whether the audience you’ve nailed down actually wants to get their solutions in the video form.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be the whole audience, but it should be a large part.
Video is great for certain types of content:
tutorials
overviews of strategies
education on a specific topic
demonstrations
product reviews
Marketers, and just about any audience, would love to get fitness tips through videos. It makes sense because it’s the simplest way you can show movements and explain complex topics.
But it won’t suit all types of content.
For example, let’s say your audience wants to find resources.
You can’t exactly put a list of tools and resources in a video because it’s not easily scannable.
Once you’ve come up with an audience with a specific need that can be fulfilled with video, you’re good to move on to the next step.
3 Steps to videos that attract views
Marketing on YouTube has a lot of similarities to SEO.
To get views, one of your main goals will be to rank in YouTube’s searches without putting in more effort than your initial promotion.
Youcouldtry some black hat tactics, just like in SEO, to get the extra views, but that’s never a long-term solution.
Instead, you need to create videos people actually want to watch. There are three steps to it.
Step #1 – Accomplish or entertain, pick one:Ask yourself why someone watches a video. There are really only two reasons why.
Either they want to learn something to solve a problem, or they want to be entertained.
You need to make sure that your video accomplishes at least one of these, if not both.
The reason why understanding this is so important is because it will shape how you make your videos.
Does the viewer care about an in-depth history to the problem? Again,no.
They want their solution delivered as concisely as possible.
Your goal is to make your videos as useful as possible because that’s what’s going to bring you subscribers and long-time viewers.
Step #2 – Quality always comes first:Even though YouTube is far from saturated, one aspect that really impresses me is thequalityof the videos put out by popular channels.
They’ve quickly figured out that viewers won’t watch low quality videos.
Compare this to blogging: the standard level of content has only gotten to a high level in the past few years, and there are still plenty of businesses producing ugly content without much value.
There are two main types of high quality videos that you’ll come across and that you’ll probably want to produce yourself.
Let me clarify what I mean by quality: I’m talking about how good the video looks.
High quality videos look professional: they have good lighting, aren’t blurry, and look like someone invested some time and effort in them.
The first type is the classic white background. Derek Halpern often uses it in his videos:
Not only does it look professional, but it keeps the focus on you rather than some random things in the background.
The other kind of popular video is the whiteboard video, where narration is done alongside drawings on a whiteboard:
These look great and are an entertaining way to explain complex products.
How do you make videos like these?
Well, the white screen background (you could also go with a green screen) type of video is pretty easy.
It’ll cost you a few hundred dollars in a photography store to get set up the first time (for a low cost version), but that will last you a long while.
Here’s a great video on how to get your own setup:
Once you have the screen in place, you just need a decent camera, and you’re good to start filming.
The whiteboard videos are a bit trickier unfortunately.
If you don’t have the illustration skills yourself, you don’t have any choice but to hire someone to do it for you.
Create a job posting on any of the major freelance sites to find a whiteboard explainer video creator or designer, and you should get a few applicants with experience:
On top of filming a high quality video, you will also need to edit it.
Good editing allows you to make the video flow nicely from one section to another to keep the viewers’ attention.
Again, you’ll need to hire a freelance video editor if you don’t have the skills yourself.
Step #3 – You need to make a name for yourself:Having your own YouTube channel is a lot like having your own TV show. You need subscribers who will watch your videos on a regular basis.
That’s why a single video, no matter how good it is, is not enough for YouTube marketing success.
Compare it to the pilot episode of a TV show. Even if it gets good ratings, that doesn’t ensure that it gets picked up for a second season.
You need to commit to making regular videos for your channel.
Take Derek Halpern, whom I mentioned before. He has close to 90 videos on his channel from my quick estimations.
He created those over a period of a few years.
This does a few major things.
Firstly, it gives him the chance to accumulate subscribers. Even if your first video doesn’t impress a viewer enough to make them subscribe, maybe another one of your videos in the sidebar will.
On top of that, every time a subscriber sees a video, there’s a good chance they will share it. This will lead to more views every time you release a new video.
The number of views your videos will get is not linear. It will start slowly, but like a snowball, it will grow exponentially over time.
If you’re going to do whitehat video marketing on YouTube, plan to give it a year or so before you see real results—but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible to get them sooner.
Start with basic video SEO
The next step of making your videos work for you is optimizing them for search.
Your primary goal is to get a video to rank in the results of YouTube searches, but it’ll have an added benefit of ranking in Google results as well:
Videos often show up in Google results, and it can drive a decent number of views to your video.
I wouldn’t rely on showing up in Google because videos don’t show up in all searches. However, it can be a nice boost to your views, and you can maximize your chance of showing up in searches by targeting phrases with the following keywords in them:
tutorial
review
test
what is ____
video
explanation
how to ____
walkthrough
Now back to YouTube optimization. There are two major parts of the ranking algorithm that you need to optimize for.
Part #1 – Your video information:The first thing YouTube looks for is whether your video is relevant to a search.
It’s a fairly simple search engine; it looks for keywords in three areas of your video:
the title
the description
the tags
You don’t need to—and shouldn’t—keyword-stuff.
Include your keyword once in the title, once or twice in your description, and in the tags if it makes sense.
Here’s an example of the description from Brian Dean’s “advanced SEO” YouTube video that he ranks highly for:
He mentions the keyword at the very start and the very end of it.
But notice there’s a lot more to the description than just the keyword.
YouTube doesn’t have much to work with when it comes to ranking videos. The title is only a sentence long, and tags can’t be weighed too heavily because they contain limited information.
This makes the description the main source of additional information for YouTube’s algorithm.
By including a detailed description of the video, you’ll naturally include related terms the algorithm can use to understand the topic of your video. This will make it easier to rank for relevant terms.
Part #2 – User engagement and feedback:Not surprisingly, YouTube’s algorithm has taken an approach to ranking videos that’s similar to Google’s approach.
Instead ofjustusing the basic information an uploader provided with a video, it also looks at how users interact with your video.
The simple concept behind it is that if users are indicating they really like your video, it’s probably a good one to show to more people. Naturally, the algorithm ranks it higher.
So, what does it look at?
There are a few major areas of user feedback YouTube can consider when evaluating a video.
The first is how much of the video most viewers are watching.
If they all drop off after the first 10 seconds, that’s a bad sign. But if 50%- 60% of your viewers watch the whole video,that’s fantastic.
You can check this in your account’s statistics, where you’ll see a graph similar to the one above.
Where else can YouTube get feedback from?
Overall views -From YouTube’s perspective, if a video is getting a lot of views without its help in the search rankings, it must be good. More views typically lead to better rankings (as long as the audience retention is good).
Rating (thumbs up and down) -Users can also rate a video by giving it a thumbs up or thumbs down. The higher this ratio is, the better.
Views to subscribers –If a video is really good, a lot of people who view it will click the “Subscribe” button underneath. Similarly, no one will subscribe after watching a bad video.
Views to favorites or social shares -Just like with subscribing, people will also share a video only if they like it.
Comments -If a video is inspiring a lot of comments, itmaybe good. YouTube can’t put much weight on the comment count since comments could be negative too.
Using all these factors, YouTube comes up with an appropriate score for each video to decide how to rank it.
The biggest thing you can do to optimize these engagement factors is to make high quality videos (as discussed above).
There are a few other small things you can do as well, which I’ll show you throughout the rest of this post.
Views rule YouTube rankings
While there are several factors that contribute to YouTube rankings,quality viewsare the most important.
When I say “quality views,” I mean a situation when the average viewer watches most of the video.
For almost any term you search, the results will have one thing in common: all the videos will have a lot of views. Here is an example:
For “advanced SEO,” the lowest view count of the top results is over 3,600.
It’s important to understand what “a lot” is to an algorithm.
The difference between zero and 2,000 is greater than the difference between 2,000 and 200,000.
Once you have a few thousand views, you have what you need to rank.
Why?Because now YouTube has a large enough sample size to compare your video’s engagement to the others’. Things such as retention and rating become viable ranking factors.
The takeaway:
You don’t need to get hundreds of thousands of views to rank well, but you do need to find a way to get your first few hundred and, if possible, first few thousand on each video.
As you get more and more subscribers, you don’t have to focus on promotion as much because your videos will automatically get thousands of high retention views from your fans.
When you’re starting out, you have many options to promote your videos. I’m going to show you four of the best ones.
Option #1 – Cross-promotion:If you already have a bit of a name in your niche, cross-promotion is a great place to start.
The idea is to participate in a video hosted by the top YouTubers in your niche in order to get exposure to their audiences.
Rand Fishkin does it often:
At the end of this video, you should be able to ask the viewers of the channel your video is featured on to subscribe to your channel. Make sure you place a link for it in the description.
To find these channels, search for big keywords in your niche on YouTube, and check out the number of subscribers the users on the first page have.
For example, I could take a look at Josh Bachynski’s channel as he ranks highly for “advanced SEO”:
Clicking his name under the video will take you to his profile, where you can see his subscriber count in red:
Obviously, the bigger the number, the better.
Try to target at least 20-30 users with a solid base of subscribers. Find their email addresses, and send them a pitch offering to create a video for them.
Ideally, you’ll get at least a few guest opportunities.
Option #2 – Promote your videos to your email subscribers:If you’re producing high quality videos, why wouldn’t you share them with your audience?
Better yet, why don’t you create a blog post to accompany each and embed the corresponding video into the post? This is exactly what Derek Halpern often does:
Then, readers can choose whether they want to read your post, watch your video, or do both.
When they watch the video while it’s embedded on your site, it still counts as a view.
If you have a couple of thousandemail subscribersalready, you can get your YouTube channel going really fast if a good portion of those subscribers watch your videos as well.
Option #3 – Email outreach:Videos on YouTube are just like any other type of content. One of the most effective ways to promote them is with email outreach.
Make a list of top bloggers in your niche, and send them an email about the video.
Ask them to share it with their audience if they think their audience would enjoy it, but also explain why you think the audience would.
Option #4 – Advertising:YouTube also allows businesses to buy ads on the site topromote their videos:
The average cost is about$10-$30 per thousand views. With practice, I think you could get the price down even further.
If you’re spending a few hundred dollars (at the minimum) to make a video, doesn’t it make sense to spend $50 to promote it initially?
I think it does, particularly when you don’t have many subscribers.
Don’t waste those views! Here’s how to make them count
At this point, you should have a pretty good idea of how you’re going to make videos and get those initial views.
Assuming your videos are solid, you should be getting a stream of organic traffic from YouTube itself.
But remember what the whole point of creating a YouTube channel is.
It isn’t to get views. It’s toincrease your business’ sales.
To do this, let’s take a step back and consider where YouTube would fit within yoursales funnel:
It’d be right at the top.
It’s the marketing channel where you get the attention of your potential customers.
But the next step has to be to get them onto your website and onto an email list.
Part #1 – include a call to action to get subscribers on YouTube:When you want to get someone to do something, you need to ask them to do it.
In this case, you want your viewers to subscribe to your channel.
Subscribers will get notified of your latest videos, and a decent portion of them will watch all your videos as you release them.
Not only does this help you rank better, but it also gives you another opportunity to get these people to your website.
And sure, some viewers will subscribe to you without any prompting, but most won’t. A call to action will significantly impact your viewer-to-subscriber conversion rate, which is why all top YouTubers do it.
You have a few different options for a call to action; I recommend testing them all with your audience.
The first option is to create a nice big “Subscribe” button at the end of your videos.
You can see why that’d be effective.
To add the button, you’ll need to modify your Google Adwords settings to allow you to have access to the CTA (call to action) panel in YouTube itself.
Here’s a great video that shows you the entire process:
Your next option is to simply use annotations on your videos, which you can configure when you upload your videos.
For example, look at the way “BBALLBREAKDOWN” uses annotations to prompt viewers to either subscribe or watch another video hosted on the channel:
Finally, you can also take a few seconds at the end of the video to ask viewers to subscribe. Thiscanwork better because most viewers won’t shut off the video while you’re (or your narrator is) still talking.
Part #2 – put a link to a landing page in the description to capture email addresses:In order to get people to your website, you’ll need a link somewhere.
You can test adding it to your videos, but the best place is your description.
You should add a link to a landing page for a relevant newsletter to all your video descriptions:
By now, you know just about everything you need to know about building a successful YouTube channel.
However, there are a few final tips that I’d like to give you that can make abigdifference in your success.
The first is that building a successful YouTubecantake time.
If you have a large email list or existing relationships with influencers to leverage, you can get thousands of views in no time.
But if you don’t, like most businesses, expect to create great videos for at least a few months before you start getting thousands of organic views. Don’t give up if a few videos fall flat—keep going.
The second tip is that you will get negative comments from time to time.
There are two types of negative comments, and you should handle them differently:
troll comments -these are not serious comments; they are made just to get a reaction out of you. There’s nothing you can do about them except ignore them.
honest comments -when you first start out, you have a lot of room to improve. If someone says something legitimately negative about your video, take it as an opportunity to learn and improve your future videos.
My final tip is to remember YouTube is a marketing channel. Like with any other marketing channel, you should notbuildyourbusinesson it.
Instead, always look to drive those YouTube users back to your website so that you can grow your email list. This way, even if YouTube bans your account for some reason, your business will still be fine.
Conclusion
YouTube is a fantastic marketing opportunity for businesses interested in content marketing.
Almost all audiences use YouTube, and there really isn’ttoomuchcompetition yet.
I’ve shown you everything you need to know, including the type of videos you should be making, how you can get consistent, how to get free views to them, and how to turn viewers into customers.
Now, you need to take action.
If you’ve been considering YouTube marketing, pull the trigger. Create a plan based on this post, and create your first video as soon as possible.
If you have any questions about how to determine whether YouTube is right for your business or how to make the most of it, let me know in a comment below.
I’m from one of the snowiest parts of the entire country: Central New York. With all thesnowwe got while I was growing up, you’d also think we had a lot of snow days.
It was quite the opposite, though; we were so equipped for snow, school rarely closed. When it did, it was a cause for massive celebrations… for the kids, at least.
For theworking parents, it was another story.Their workplaces weren’t closed — what were they supposed to do with us rambunctious youngsters?
With themassive blizzardthat’s about to hit the East coast, you might be feeling the same way.
“The good news is that snow days fall into the category of what Donald Rumsfeld called ‘known unknowns,’” Vanderkam writes.
“You don’t know when they’ll happen, or how often, but if you live in a snowy climate, they’re inevitable. So you can plan for them.”
She offers nine ideas for snow day domination. Here are our favorites:
Open Up the Conversation at Work
More than likely, other parents at your workplace face the same issue — so start talking about solutions ASAP.
“Figure out whose jobs can be done remotely, and what equipment these people will need,” she writes. “If people must work in the office at certain times, figure out how shifts can be swapped.”
Check the Forecast
You’ll often know about snowstorms a few days ahead of time. So do your best to prioritize your work based on the forecast; move important meetings and tasks to before or after the storm.
“Even if you can’t shift work, knowing what’s coming gives you a few days to create contingency plans,”she writes.
Create a Snow Day Co-Op
If you’re like many people, and don’t have the flexibility towork remotelyor switch your schedule around, then try finding nearby families in similar situations.
“Each family takes the others’ kids in turn,” Vanderkam explains. “Three families means that each family only has to cover a third of the snow days, andif you split with your co-parent, that means you’re responsible for just one out of every six.”
Snow days comprise some of my favorite childhood memories.
Though they’re undoubtedly more stressful as aworking parent, planning ahead means you might be able to enjoy them a little bit, too.
Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.
Rogue landlords face a crackdown after the government has announced it will hand out £5 million worth of funding to help councils take them on.
Rogue landlords face a crackdown after the government has announced it will hand out £5 million worth of funding to help councils take them on.
The funding will be shared out between 48 councils, so they can tackle irresponsible landlords who force tenants to live in squalid and dangerous accommodation.
In December, workplace review site Glassdoor released its eighth annual Employees’ Choice Award winners, whichare ranked based on employee reviewsat the site over the past year.
Rankings are based on the Glassdoor “Job Score”, determined by three factors:
number of job openings (listed on Glassdoor)
median base salary
career opportunities rating (based on employee reviews)
Here are some of the top jobs for the year, including the salary and themost popular companieshiring for each position.
These are the five best jobs in America in 2016, according to Glassdoor:
1. Data Scientist
Median Base Salary: $116,840
A data scientist helps a company put numbers behind its decisions.
In this position, you may develop systems for collecting info about customer and product trends, or work within existing systems to collect, analyze and report the data.
Most listings require at least a bachelor’s degree in a relevant technical field, and many prefer a master’s degree or Ph.D.
Top Companies for Data Scientists:
Facebook
Twitter
Airbnb
2. Tax Accountant/Manager
Median Base Salary: $108,000
A tax manager works with their company and third-parties to provide tax, business and bookkeeping services to clients.
You may help with things like preparing tax returns, general accounting and financial planning.
You’ll typically need a bachelor’s degree in accounting, a CPA license and some years’ experience preparing tax returns, depending on the level of the position.
Top Companies for Tax Managers:
Deloitte
PwC
EY
3. Solutions Architect
Median Base Salary: $119,500
The solutions architect is a liaison between a company and its clients to develop tech solutions that meet business needs.
You’ll field client requests and help your company understand a client’s goals.
Most postings require a bachelor’s degree in business administration or a related field and between three and 10 years’ experience.
Top Companies for Solutions Architects:
Cerner
Hewlett-Packard
EMC
4. Engagement Manager
Median Base Salary: $125,000
An engagement manager is responsible for managing a company’s relationship with a client throughout a project.
Companies provide a variety of business and tech services to clients, so education and experience requirements for these positions vary.
Most are looking for at least a bachelor’s degree in computer science or business administration, though many prefer an MBA and several years’ experience.
Top Companies for Engagement Managers:
McKinsey & Company
Infosys
Mu Sigma
5. Mobile Developer
Median Base Salary: $90,000
Finally, a position whose title seems to explain its job description!
A mobile developer works within a company to design, create and implement mobile apps for Android, iOS and other mobile platforms.
You may work for a software company that wants to expand its existing product for mobile devices. Or you could work for a mobile app design company.
Not all of these postings require a degree, though all ask for about five years of app development. So this may be a field to break into as a side hustle!
Top Companies for Mobile Developers:
Peterson Technology Partners
Mobiquity
Astea International
For the top 25 jobs in America in 2016, see the full list atGlassdoor.com.
Your Turn: Did your job make the list? Do these jobs make you think about changing careers?
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more.
I can’t even tell you how many emails and Facebook messages I’ve received over the last few weeks talking about the downturn in the stock market. People are worried about their retirement savings, about their down payment savings, about everything. “What should I do?”
I touched on this a little bit in Monday’s reader mailbag. Here’s a question from a reader and my answer to it, which is pretty relevant right now.
Maybe it is just my personal mindset but I don’t understand why people get really panicked when the stock market drops a little. It’s not as if America is on the verge of collapse any time soon. The value will come back. I mean, I understand why the market drops a little sometimes – people buy in too much and then decide to sell because of some bad news or something. What I don’t understand is the fear and panic that goes on when it happens?
– Erin
For starters, some people have a lower risk tolerance than others. When they see the value of their investment jumping around like that, they get nervous and want their money to be somewhere that doesn’t jump around like that.
For others, they buy completely into the panicked tone that some financial writers get into when the stock market gets jittery. If you read mainstream financial news online right now, much of the talk seems very panicked and scary, as it always does when the stock market drops a little. Some really buy into this and whip themselves into frenzied fear.
Still others are really risky investors and speculators who are doing things like buying derivatives and selling things short. A poorly timed market drop can be extremely painful for someone who is leveraged like this – like “lose all of your money in a few days” kind of painful – though a person in that situation can make a lot of money very quickly if things go well.
If you add those factors together, it becomes clear why the fear factor exists. It just doesn’t add up to enough for most people to really do anything with their money. Just stay the course. Eventually, the market drops enough that everything appears to be on sale.
While I think this is a great answer as to why different people are panicked about the current stock market downturn (I actually think the panic tone of CNBC and the financial media is a big cause), it doesn’t really explain why I’m personally not worried and why, frankly, I don’t even really pay any attention to downturns like this.
First and foremost, I don’t read the financial “news.” I don’t watch CNBC at all. I don’t read current financial publications, or if I do, I skip the majority of the articles.
Why do I do that? Doesn’t that run counter to the idea that I’m a personal finance writer? Shouldn’t I be up to date?
The truth is that all of that stuff that I skip has an extremely short term focus and I don’t have a short term focus at all. I am not a day trader. I have zero interest in being a day trader. I have zero plans to touch any of my investments for a very long time.
What I do read are books on personal finance and investing. Books tend to have a long-term perspective on investing and personal finance. They also have the space to make a reasoned argument and, because they’re written over time, they’re not nearly as prone to be influenced by the ups and downs of the stock market. Of course, some books do fall prey to speculation, but those books are pretty obviously flawed.
After all, I’m more concerned with what my investments and finances will be like when I’m 70 than what they’re going to be like next month, because I’ve worked hard to build a life foundation that makes me very sure that things will be quite stable a month from now.
Still, shouldn’t a big downturn in the stock market alarm me? Just like everyone else, I’ve lost about 9% of the value of my stock market investments since the start of the year. Doesn’t that freak me out?
Again, not really.
The key thing to remember is that at this point in my life, I’m in the wealth accumulation phase. I’m saving up so that I can eventually live off of my investments, but I’m not there yet. I don’t need to live off of those investments yet.
So, the truth is that I see these kinds of short downturns as an opportunity. Right now, I can buy a share of Vanguard Total Stock Market Index for 9% less than what I would have paid for it three weeks ago. Since my focus isn’t on the return I’ll get this year or next year or even ten years from now, all that I can really be confident about is the price at which I’m buying right now. All of my investments will essentially be sold at some vague point far down the road, so all I care about is that, right now, I can buy a share of that index fund for 9% less than what I could pay three weeks ago. That’s a sale, one I’m tempted to take advantage of. I actually want to put in more money rather than put in less or take money out.
For me, it’s similar to the feeling I get when I see something on sale two weeks after I bought it at a higher price. I don’t worry that the world is collapsing. Instead, I wish I had been able to buy it at this price. Just like buying something at the store, I’m not focused on making a profit by selling it in a month or two. I’m interested in the fact that I’m getting more value for my dollar at the sale price.
Think about it: the only time you should really be happy that stock values are going up is if you’re planning on selling soon. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter to you – if anything, it’s a downer because it means that if you’re buying more soon, you’re going to be paying more for it. The reverse is true when prices are going down – you should only be sad about it if you’re going to be selling soon, and if you’re going to buy soon you should be thrilled about the downturn because you’re going to save some money or get more shares for your dollar.
But what about those people who are already retired and living at least in part off of their investments? Shouldn’t they be panicking?
They might have a little more reason to be nervous, but even then, they shouldn’t care that much. If the stock market downturn is making them nervous, that means they have too much in the stock market. If they can’t “retire” without having that much in the stock market, then they retired too early and without proper planning. It’s a sign that they may have to return to work, not that they should make panicked moves with their investment. (Seriously, the worst thing you can do is make an investment change in a broad way because of short-term trends in the stock market.)
The truth is that even retired people shouldn’t be invested in stocks unless they’re in it for the long haul.
To sum it all up, for most people who aren’t on Wall Street or involved in day trading, the stock market should be a long term investment, period. Stocks are an investment that has relatively steady growth only when you’re looking at relatively large time periods, like 15 or 20 or 30 years. Over shorter time periods, it’s volatile – it’ll go up 15% a year for a while, then drop 30% in a year. It will have months where it goes up 3%, then up 4%, and then drop 9%. That kind of volatility only becomes relatively steady if you step back and zoom out from the charts, at which point stock markets in stable countries show a pretty steady upward growth trend over time. That’s because those markets represent capitalism, innovation, and increases in worker productivity when you look at the long term. Over the short term, you’re looking at a big mix of things, positive and negative.
I’ve always liked Burton Malkiel’s “random walk” explanation for this. Say you have a guy walking up and down a sidewalk who’s predisposed to take a step forward 55% of the time and a step backward 45% of the time and he does them completely at random. Over the long haul – a lot of steps – that guy’s going to make significant progress down the sidewalk. But if you zoom in and look at small groups of steps, there are going to be periods where he looks like he’s headed purely in the wrong direction.
That’s where we’re at now – the stock market is a “random walker” and we’re seeing a short-term trend of backwards steps from it.
However, since I’m looking at the long term, I honestly don’t really care all that much. In fact, the only comment Sarah or I have made about it is to joke about how much we’ve lost on paper in the last month, but we both laugh the whole thing off because we know we’re in it for the long term.
Expensive as in last time I went, my friend and I spent more than $30 just for our two tickets and a small popcorn— we’d brought our own drinks in my bag.
I don’t know about you, but I’mnotdown for spending $30 for a chill evening with a movie — unless a bottle of wine is involved.
So I was super pumped to hear about this deal.
Regal eGift Card Deal
Through Feb. 4,if you spend $10 on a registered Visa card at your local Regal Cinema, you’ll receive a $10 eGift Card for Regal.
So, basically, you can spend $10 for free at Regal for the next two weeks.
Get the Deal
Sound good? Getting the deal is super simple.
Just register the Visa card you want to useat this site.
Probably not what Google says when you search your vehicle’s make and model.
Your fuel efficiency might suffer from your driving habits, especially if you speed, frequently brake or overload your car with heavy cargo.
If you optimize your driving habits, you could push your fuel efficiency way up — and save money.
Hypermiling and Ecomodding
Most of us know about fuel efficiency tricks like drafting behind big trucks, avoiding excess speeding and maintaining a constant velocity.
But there’s a whole community of so-called “hypermilers” and “eco-modders,” who take optimizing their vehicles and driving habits for the best fuel efficiency to the next level.
There are two types of optimization, explains Darin Cosgrove — or “MetroMPG,” as he’s known onEcomodder, the online community he co-founded.
“Hypermiling is about strictly using driving techniques to save fuel,”Cosgrove says, while “ecomodding means making changes to the vehicle itself to improve its efficiency, regardless of driving style.”
Pretty cool ideas, right? We think so, too — but some folksreallygo to extremes.
Competitive hypermiler Wayne Gerdeswas featured in a recent Mother Jones article. Heachieved 59 mpg in his Honda Accord — a vehicle normally rated for a mere 27 mpg city or 37 mpg highway.
Some of his methods included lightening his car’s load — even removing his keys and wallet. He also makes extreme turns at high speeds to avoid braking.
Budget traveler Jema Patterson ofHalf the Clothestook advantage of gravity by driving 160 miles from Crater Lake to Eugene, Oregon —with her manual-transmission car off and in neutral.
She took this dangerous measure to save fuel while she was a poor college student… but even if you’re totally broke, we don’t recommend it!
Even if you’re not ready to get out your riveter or give up braking,take some tips from hypermilers and ecomodders to save money on gas.
Cosgrove makes the following recommendations to those looking to get serious about saving at the pump:
“First, you need feedback,” he says, “because you can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
Cosgrove says to make a record of each time you fill to see frequency changes as your fuel efficiency goes up.
Make sure you have an mpg gauge installed — aftermarket options are available if your car doesn’t have one.
“Some people call these a ‘game gauge’ because they let you turn your regular commutes into challenges,” Cosgrove explains. Try to beat last trip’s high score!
Another important rule:Don’t idle!
“If you’re going to be stopped for more than 10-15 seconds and it’s safe to do so, shut off the engine,” Cosgrove says.
Similarly,start to pay attention to your braking.
“Only fools rush in,” Cosgrove remarks. “Every time you hit the brakes, you’ve made a mistake: You’ve converted gasoline into brake dust.People waste more fuel with the brake pedal than the gas pedal in city driving.When you see a stop ahead, lift off the gas sooner and coast in.”
In fact, taking it slow is a good idea all around —slowing down on the highway will have the biggest impact on your fuel consumption.
“Generally, cars are most fuel efficient just after top gear has engaged, usually in the 40-50 mph range,” Cosgrove says.
So if you want to save some pennies, leave a little earlier and stay firmly in the right hand lane. Just make sure to obey the minimum speed requirements in your area!
Don’t forget: Routine car maintenance (regular oil changes and tire rotations) can take your investment much further in both machinery and miles per gallon.
Your Turn: Will you apply any of these hypermiling or ecomodding tips to your own vehicle and driving habits?
Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She also writes other stuff, like wine reviews and poems. You can follow along at http://ift.tt/1RiB7sH.
People aged 18 to 34 - dubbed the millennial generation - who enjoy a positive parental influence around money have twice the savings and half the debt as those who don't
People aged 18 to 34 - dubbed the millennial generation - who enjoy a positive parental influence around money have twice the savings and half the debt as those who don't, according to Experian's Millennial Me & My Money survey.
