Is adding up the inflation and unemployment rates the most effective way to judge our misery? Learn all about the Misery Index at HowStuffWorks.
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الخميس، 19 مايو 2016
How the Misery Index Works
Is adding up the inflation and unemployment rates the most effective way to judge our misery? Learn all about the Misery Index at HowStuffWorks.
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Source Business & Money - HowStuffWorks http://ift.tt/22hxhFU
Business Briefcase: Here's a twist for a food and wine pairing
New food truck’s enticing menu will complement local winery’s servings A local family is grabbing the keys and hitting the road with its new food truck this weekend. Executive Chef Jason Mahalik, his wife Jodi, and their oldest son, Matthew, are ready to feed crowds. The Casaculinarian truck will visit at Mountain View Vineyard, Winery [...]
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Source Business - poconorecord.com http://ift.tt/1XD0oTt
Time Warner Cable’s CEO is Getting Paid $92 MILLION to Leave His Job
It must be nice to be Rob Marcus, former CEO of Time Warner Cable (TWC).
His company’s ownership just transferred over to Charter Communications, and the sale means that after two years as CEO, Marcus is out of a job.
But don’t feel too sorry for him. He’s getting a generous parting gift — also known as a “golden parachute” — of $92 million in severance pay, reports Fortune.
What Did He Do to Earn $92 Million?
Marcus spent most of his time trying to finalize a mega-merger with Comcast that the government eventually blocked.
But he also worked to raise Time Warner’s stock prices, both in his previous role as COO and his most recent job as CEO. Since 2009, TWC’s stock value has increased by 800%.
While he’s hanging out at home figuring out his next move, Marcus will receive his severance over 24 months, and keep his health benefits, financial services and — yes, really — free cable.
Why Do CEOs Get Paid So Much to Leave Their Jobs?
Turns out, there’s a reason Marcus and other CEOs get paid millions to leave their posts: It’s a matter of saving face.
A golden parachute of millions of dollars is a company’s effort to make a graceful transition from one corporate leader to the next.
“It allows the CEO to go quietly into the dark night,” University of Pennsylvania Wharton School finance professor Luke Taylor explained to the school’s online business journal.
“If you are worried the CEO will sue the firm or work for a competitor, you can just pay the guy off.”
These payoffs aren’t always due to drama.
When Jack Welch retired as CEO of General Electric in 2001, he took home a $417 million severance package. After Procter & Gamble bought Gillette in 2005, Gillette CEO James Kilts stepped down and took home $153 million.
Ultimately, we don’t know what happens in the board rooms where these agreements get finalized.
All we know for sure is that we’d love to be CEO if it means a safety net like this on our way out.
Your Turn: What would you do with $92 million in severance?
Lisa Rowan is a writer, editor and podcaster living in Washington, D.C.
The post Time Warner Cable’s CEO is Getting Paid $92 MILLION to Leave His Job appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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This Couple Had 8 Beautiful Weddings in 8 Different Countries for $15,000
Some people dream of traveling the world.
Some people dream of having a beautiful wedding.
Some people — me included — dream of both. But few get a chance to make it happen.
One notable exception? Brett and Amelia Irwin, from South Africa and the U.K., respectively.
When Brett’s brother scheduled his wedding during the same month they’d planned to have theirs, the couple scrapped their plans for a big wedding… and instead had eight intimate ceremonies in eight different countries.
And they did it all for what they’d planned to spend on a traditional wedding: £10,000 (about $14,600).
Would You Like to Get Married Around the World?
“It seemed perfect and was the answer to all our problems,” Amelia told The Daily Mail.
“We didn’t have to pay for others to eat, drink and party and were able to spend the wedding money on ourselves while travelling the world.”
So, after a courthouse ceremony in England, they took their wedding savings (and their 5-year-old son) and held seven more weddings in France, Russia, China, Nepal, India, Mauritius and South Africa.
Though friends and family joined them in several locations, Amelia said their South African wedding was her favorite “because all of Brett’s family were there.”
Which shows, ultimately, it doesn’t matter where you get married or how you much you spend — what matters is who you celebrate with.
Keep that in mind if you’re planning a wedding, and make decisions based on your priorities — not what you think a wedding should be.
You don’t have to spend $2,141 on flowers or get a 5-foot tall cake to have the perfect day… You could have a tiny wedding or a food truck wedding or a delayed reception, instead.
“We will never have a traditional wedding,” Amelia explained to The Daily Mail..
“We live to travel and I would far rather spend the money on travelling than on a party for a day.”
Your Turn: Would you prefer a big wedding at home? Or several around the world?
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.
The post This Couple Had 8 Beautiful Weddings in 8 Different Countries for $15,000 appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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All That and a Bag of Chips: Get Free Lay’s With Your Photo on the Bag
Move over, Wheaties.
We found a way to put your kid’s face on a bag of potato chips — for free.
Through Lay’s One Million Summer Moments promotion, you can get a bag of Lay’s potato chips customized with your favorite Instagram photo.
Whether it’s a photo of you, your pet or your entire extended family, you can totally be on a bag of chips.
Yes, this is silly… but it’s also sort of awesome. And it’s summer, so just roll with it.
I’m already creating a bag for my dad for Father’s Day. You’re welcome for that brilliant idea. (Maybe get him something else to go with it, though…)
How to Get Your Free Bag of Lay’s Potato Chips
To create and order your free bag of chips, follow these steps:
- Go to Lays.com before July 9 and click “Create Your Bag.”
- Enter the two promo codes. If you’re a Lay’s fan already, you may have seen these on specially marked bags of chips. If you don’t have your own, enter LAYS and SUMMER.
- Authorize the connection to your Instagram account, select the photo you want on the bag and even add a caption if you want. I chose a glowing photo of my niece in the tutu she wore for her first dance recital that’ll make my dad swoon!
- Choose your flavor: Original, BBQ or Sour Cream and Onion.
- Enter your shipping address.
That’s it!
Once your order is approved, you should receive your bag in the mail. The details don’t specify a size, but in past years it’s been a full size bag of chips! We expect it to be enough to accompany your lunch, at least.
Keep collecting codes, and you can also enter Lay’s sweepstakes to win paddleboards, grills, beach towels and other summer-fun fare.
Your Turn: What image will you put on your free bag of potato chips?
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).
The post All That and a Bag of Chips: Get Free Lay’s With Your Photo on the Bag appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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'Bulb' is the new provider on the energy block, but how does it stack up?
‘Bulb’ is the latest provider on the energy block; it’s unique selling point? Promising to provide renewable energy at an affordable price. Moneywise looks at how it stacks up.
Launched this week, Bulb offers one tariff, which is available for dual fuel customers – those who use both gas and electricity – and to electricity-only households.
Source Moneywise http://ift.tt/252XBVT
Pension incomes vary by up to £12,000 a year
There is huge regional variation across the UK in the amount of pension income a retired household can expect, according to Fidelity International's Class of 2015 research.
Source Moneywise http://ift.tt/252XBFn
Revealed: the amount of income pension savers can safely withdraw
Savers who took advantage of the pension freedoms when they were introduced last April have had a rough ride, with the FTSE 100 index losing 9% over the period.
Source Moneywise http://ift.tt/20aK4In
18 Ways to Use ‘Old’ Food
Just yesterday, I posted a discussion about some of the challenges of old foods. I mostly lamented how, when you find foods that are too old to still use, you have to throw them out, which is effectively money down the drain.
Yet, quite often, when you do discover old food, it’s still edible and perfectly safe to eat. It’s just that the texture has changed in an unfamiliar or unappealing way.
Thus, the trick of using “old” food is to use it in a way where the change in texture is no longer a problem or, in some cases, is even beneficial.
Here are 18 of my favorite strategies for using “old” food. I might not want to eat these items in their current state, but I’ll happily use them and eat them in an altered state. Since there are simply more ideas than I could ever fit into a single post, I may turn this into a series of posts over time if readers find value in it!
Bread
Bread goes bad. It’s not meant to last forever. Sometimes, when you leave it in a closed environment with moisture, mold will develop. On the other hand, if you leave it in a dry open environment, the bread will usually dry out, seriously damaging the texture of the bread. You don’t really want to use it on sandwiches or anything like that when it’s all dried out like that.
So, what can you do with dried bread?
Make breadcrumbs. Just take bread that’s already dried out and toss it in the oven a bit longer to make it really dry. I usually put a bunch of slices on a baking sheet and toss them in the oven at about 350 F for a few minutes until it’s extra dry. At that point, it’s very crispy.
Then, I’ll break the very dry and brittle bread into small pieces in a blender and pulse them until they’re broken down into small crumbs – delicious little breadcrumbs.
So, what can you do with breadcrumbs? You can do countless things. You can use them with eggs to make a breading for fish, chicken, or pork. You can fry them in a bit of olive oil to make a great salad topping. You can mix them with ground beef to make wonderful meatballs or meatloaf. They also pop up as an ingredient in infinite recipes.
Just store your breadcrumbs in a sealed container in the pantry and use them whenever you have a purpose for them.
Make a breakfast casserole. One of the best ways to “cover up” the dry nature of old bread is to simply coat it with something – in this case, some eggs. Just turn that old bread into the basis for a breakfast casserole.
Take some pieces of dry bread and dip them into beaten eggs and layer the bottom of an 8″ by 8″ or a 9″ by 13″ pan that’s lightly oiled or greased. I usually use six eggs for a smaller pan and a dozen for a larger pan. Add some toppings above the bread – cooked bacon or sausage, perhaps, or onions and green peppers that are chopped – and pour the remaining eggs on top. Sprinkle some cheese on top and bake at 350 F until the eggs are cooked through.
This makes for a splendid breakfast and one that you can fully prepare the night before and allow to sit in the fridge overnight before baking in the morning.
Make French toast. Since you’re already dipping the dry bread into eggs anyway, why not do the same thing and make it into a sweet dish rather than a savory one?
Just dip the stale bread into eggs with a bit of sugar mixed in and leave the bread in there for a few seconds to let the egg soak into the bread, making it almost mushy. Then, toss it in a skillet over medium heat with just a bit of butter, cook until one side is slightly browned, then flip it and cook until the other side is slightly browned. Remove it from the heat, add some maple syrup on top, and enjoy an amazing sweet breakfast. Or dinner.
Bananas
We’ve all seen bananas go from bright yellow to yellow with a few darker spots to a mostly brown super-soft mess that you really don’t want to peel and eat. Yet those brown bananas are incredibly delicious, as many of the flavors and sugars are unlocked as the bananas break down. While the texture of a browning banana might keep you away from merely peeling and eating it, it can still provide a great ingredient for something else.
Make a smoothie. Just add some of those overripe bananas to the blender – peel them so that the banana pulp goes straight in – along with some cold milk and perhaps a bit of honey and you’re going to have a tremendous banana-flavored smoothie. Just puree it until it’s all smooth, pour it into a cup, and enjoy.
On that basic backbone, you can add all kinds of things. Add in some chocolate. Add in some strawberries. Add in some plain yogurt. Add in greens if you’d like. Almost anything works on a backbone of overripe but ultra-flavorful bananas.
Make banana bread. Banana bread is a delicious use of overripe bananas, as it takes advantage of their exposed sweetness to create a sweet bread that is to die for.
Personally, I like to use this recipe from AllRecipes, as it’s simple to follow and produces a very easy and very moist and tasty banana bread loaf, one that is wonderful to eat warmed up with just a bit of butter on it. Sublime!
Make banana pancakes. This is another great way to use up old bananas. Just cut the old bananas into small pieces, then make an ordinary batch of pancakes and toss the banana pieces right into the batter.
What happens here is that the bananas, in their super softened state, send out a lot of their sweetness and flavor into the batter, making the pancakes sweet and filling them with the wonderful flavor of bananas through and through. I sometimes add chocolate chips to the batter as well for an extra treat.
Overripe bananas are actually perfect for making banana bread.
Vegetables
We often make lightly seasoned steamed vegetables as a side dish for our meals. It’s an incredibly cheap side dish, often costing less than a quarter per person at our dinner table, and it’s a great way to get vegetables into our diet. However, we usually have some left over vegetables – they’re already cooked, but they’re only lightly seasoned so they’re still pretty flexible. We usually toss these leftovers in the freezer just to hold onto them for now.
At the same time, we’re often flooded with vegetables from our garden during the summer. While we sometimes give away some of our excess and we store some of them for the winter by freezing or canning them, we still sometimes run into the issue of vegetables that don’t get used before they’re on the verge of no longer being good.
What can we do with these things?
Make vegetable stock. This one’s about as easy as can be. Take all of your leftover vegetables – almost any combination will do – and put enough of them in a slow cooker so that it’s about 2/3 full, then add enough water so that the pot is now 3/4 full, leaving perhaps an inch or two of water above the top of the vegetables. I usually add some salt here to taste along with some ground black pepper (or even some straight-up peppercorns), along with some herbs (another way to use old foods – dump in lots of your aged herbs). Turn it on low and let it simmer all night or all day, whatever works well for you. Then, strain that mix right into a container of some type – the liquid is what you’re going to want to save here.
That liquid is vegetable stock, and it can be used as the backbone for almost any soup you might make or any stew you might make or any casserole you might make. Basically, if a savory meal uses water, you can substitute in the vegetable stock and it’ll taste better. You can easily freeze the vegetable stock until you’re ready to use it. You can also toss meat scraps and bones into the stock as it’s cooking to make beef, chicken, pork, or seafood stock, depending on what you have. Those types of stocks are a bit more restrictive in their use, but they can certainly be a home run in the right dish.
Make vegetable soup. This is actually really similar to making stock, except I worry more about making sure the vegetables themselves match in terms of flavor, I don’t cook it for nearly as long (as I don’t want the vegetables turning to mush), and I don’t strain it at the end.
This is something that we make a lot of in the fall, as the days are getting colder, the vegetables in our garden are starting to slow down a little bit, and school is back in session which makes our schedules much tighter than before. You can just add the vegetables, some vegetable stock (if you have it), and appropriate seasonings to a slow cooker and let it simmer all day for a great evening meal.
Make compost. What do I do with vegetables and fruits that are too far gone? What do I do with the vegetable pieces that are strained out of the stock? Simple. I make compost.
We have a big compost bin in our backyard to which we add all of our fruit and vegetable scraps. If it’s dry, we water it. Every once in a while, we turn it over with a shovel. Each fall, we stop adding stuff to it for a month and then spread it on the garden just before winter. Each spring, we do the same, really encouraging it to get going on the first few warm days and then spreading it all over the garden right around planting time.
That stuff makes for garden gold. It helps everything grow incredibly well in that coming season, turning an ordinary garden into a thriving jungle of plants. This is basically how we can get basket after basket of tomatoes each year off of just a few plants and how we often have more carrots and pumpkins than we know what to do with. Compost really is the secret.
Tortillas
My family loves tacos and burritos – Americanized versions of Mexican dishes, in other words. We’ll take tortillas, fill them up with what we have on hand, add some flavorings, and enjoy them immensely.
Of course, at the end of the day, sometimes we find ourselves with some leftover tortillas and no plans to use them. We’ll have an open bag of tortillas with six or seven left over in there and we know that they’re in danger of drying out and becoming unusable.
So, here’s what we do to solve that problem.
Make tortilla chips. Just coat some tortillas with a bit of olive oil on both sides, cut them into eight roughly equal wedges, sprinkle some salt on both sides, and bake them in the oven at 375 F until they’re crunchy – I usually just trust the taste test by grabbing one and trying it out.
These usually turn out to be far better than the tortilla chips sold in stores. They tend to be amazing when dipped in salsa or even eaten completely plain. I make these with both flour tortillas and corn tortillas and they’re both delicious. You can even experiment by splashing a hint of lime juice on them before baking or sprinkling on a bit of chili powder.
Make simple quesadillas. Another great use for old tortillas is to simply lay them out flat, brush some olive oil on them, put some ingredients in the middle – cheese, onions, cooked hamburger, diced cooked chicken, salsa, whatever works – and put another brushed tortilla on top, then put that sandwich in a hot skillet for a few minutes, flipping it halfway through, until there are brown marks on both sides of the sandwich and the insides are warm, then serve it.
It’s a very cheap meal, and since you tend to want your tortilla crispy in this type of meal, a slightly aged tortilla won’t make any difference at all. We have these often when we have leftover tortillas.
Make tortilla pie. If you have a bunch of dry leftover tortillas, simply make a tortilla pie out of them. We often sarcastically call this “Tex-Mex lasagna.”
It’s easy. Just brush the insides of a 9″ by 13″ pan with olive oil, then take a few tortillas, spread refried beans on one side, and layer the bottom of the pan with them. Add a thin layer of cheese, a thin layer of vegetables (salsa is good here, as are diced tomatoes and onions), and maybe another thin layer of cooked beans if you’d like (I like black beans). Then repeat all the layers, starting with the tortillas. Do this three times, then cover the top with a bit more cheese and bake it all for 30 minutes at 350 F, then let it rest on the table for 10 minutes or so before serving.
This makes for a great little casserole that is often a wonderful way to use up older items. In late summer, we’re often throwing tons of our leftover tomatoes into dishes like this one.
Wine
Sarah and I love to drink a glass of wine with our meals most evenings. We’re not too picky about it, as long as it tastes good with the food, and we tend to prefer wines from local vineyards.
Neither Sarah nor I are big drinkers, though, and we often find ourselves with a portion of that wine bottle left over at the end of the evening. When that happens, we don’t want to let it go to waste, but it’s usually not great to drink, either. What can we do with it?
Make a beef-oriented dish with red wine. One of our favorite uses for leftover red wine was to simply use it in a slow cooker meal that involved beef. We’d often make a pot roast or a stew and simply use our leftover red wine as part of the liquid in the recipe. This always adds a wonderful accompanying flavor to any delicious roast or beef stew.
This basically works with any roast or stew recipe you might find, whether it’s one for the slow cooker or one that you prepare that very evening.
Make shepherd’s pie with either kind of wine. Another dish that uses wine quite well is shepherd’s pie. Either kind of wine works well in this dish, depending on the exact vegetables and ingredients in the meal.
For example, if you’re making a shepherd’s pie mostly full of darker root vegetables and with ground beef as a key ingredient, red wine works well. If your shepherd’s pie involves many lighter vegetables, a white wine works well as an ingredient. Just use those wines as part of the stew that you cook under the potatoes – it’s one of those meals that you basically can’t mess up because it’s just a matter of throwing ingredients together.
Make a fish or poultry dish with white wine. If you’re cooking fish or poultry, using some leftover white wine in the recipe can add a wonderful flavor to the broth. Putting some white wine directly into dishes like chicken noodle soup or chicken and dumplings makes for an excellent meal.
One of my favorite things to do is to make a seafood stew with tons of leftover white wine in it. I’ll put in fish, shrimp, and whatever else I have easy access to (with my father being a semi-retired fisherman, I often have fish easily available).
Herbs
What about those dried herbs that have sat around for a bit too long and just aren’t as flavorful as they used to be? The trick with those herbs is to use them in places where the dish won’t mind having a lot of little flecks of herbs in it, either because they’ve been cooked away or they’ve been removed somehow.
Here are three ways I love to use stale herbs and still get great value out of them.
Make any kind of stock for future dishes. Stale herbs are used in abundance when I make stock. What happens here is that, because the stock cooks all day, the little dried pieces break down and essentially vanish into the broth. If any larger pieces manage to survive, they’re strained out.
It’s easy to make stock, as mentioned above. Just take lots of vegetable scraps and, optionally, scraps of a particular type of meat and just let it all cook together all day long with a lot of water and some salt to taste. Dump in lots of your spare old herbs, too.
Make a seasoning mix or rub. If you have an abundance of a few particular seasonings that go well with specific dishes or meats, combine them to make a seasoning mix or a rub that you can easily use in recipes.
I find that combining older herbs directly with salt tends to preserve the remaining flavor and amplify it a little bit, so the mixes I make with older herbs tend to use plenty of salt. That way, I don’t have to add any additional salt to the actual meals I make with those mixes.
Make a flavorful salad dressing. Just take some olive oil and mix your leftover herbs directly into the oil. I’ll often take this mix and let it sit in the refrigerator for quite a while, letting the flavors remaining in the herbs soak out into the oil. I don’t hesitate to use a lot of herbs here as it usually mixes wonderfully with the salad and you don’t even notice it.
Herbs soaked in oil tend to let out all of their remaining flavors into the oil over time, so old herbs can still have a lot of value if you use them this way.
Final Thoughts
If you’re smart, almost any old food that’s still edible can be used in some sort of useful culinary manner in your kitchen. It’s simply a matter of figuring out how to maximize the good elements that still remain while minimizing the bad elements.
Good luck in your future kitchen experiments!
The post 18 Ways to Use ‘Old’ Food appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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How to Start Investing When You Don’t Have a Lot of Cash
For too long, we’ve been taught that investing is a privilege reserved for rich people.
But you shouldn’t wait until you’re rich to invest. In fact, the right time to start investing is before you’re rich.
You might say, “but I don’t have any disposable income.”
Here’s the thing: If you invest smart, money you invest isn’t disposable. You’re putting that cash to work to make you more dollars in the long term. The sooner you start, the better.
Here’s why.
Why You Should Start Investing as Early as Possible
Investing is all about time. The longer you stay in the game, the more likely you are to enjoy the returns the stock market is expected to produce (around 7% a year, adjusting for inflation).
The earlier you invest, the more returns you can potentially earn. You can then invest those returns, which can earn further returns. That’s the magic of compound returns.
In fact, if you start investing when you’re 22 as opposed to 32, you could earn more while investing less money because you started investing younger. Think of it as a reward for being fiscally responsible.
OK, so you’re sold. You want to start investing — but where do you begin?
Know Your Investments
While it’s great to be educated about the stock market, I don’t actually mean you have to know the ins and outs of every single stock, bond and commodity being traded. Rather, know how you should be investing.
Think about your objectives: to maximize your money and save yourself time. The best way to do this is through passive investing, a type of investing that’s both simple and cost-efficient.
Forget the flashing computer screens and yelling traders. Instead of trying to predict the stock market and buy or sell stocks of individual companies every day, in passive investing, you buy index funds and hold them for a long time. It’s not as exciting as a trip to the casino, and that’s exactly why it’s been proven reliable over time.
While there are different kinds of index funds, ETFs are some of my favorites because of their extremely low cost and tax benefits. There are thousands of index funds to choose from, so check out free online resources to educate yourself. Some websites I like are Money Under 30, The College Investor and Bogleheads.
Then, if you want help putting together a portfolio that’s right for you, try an online, automated financial advisor. Online automated financial advisors are a low-cost (or no-cost) option that can be great for for newer investors, since traditional financial advisors typically have high fees and account minimums which may not always work in your best interest.
Again, remember your goals: You want to grow your money, not spend it paying other people.
Pay Yourself Instead of Cutting Back
I often hear people who are new to investing say they simply don’t have any money to invest. The common advice here is to say “cut one thing out — your morning latte, or your gym membership!”
While it’s great to be financially fit, the problem with this line of thinking is that you’re now associating investing with deprivation, which is a) no fun and b) probably not a sustainable way to save money.
That’s why I recommend “paying yourself” instead. Every time you accomplish something unrelated to your finances, pay yourself for your hard work by putting money in your investments.
So, if you crush it at CrossFit, put $10 into your Roth IRA. If you rocked that presentation in front of your boss, put in another $20.
Speaking of IRAs…
Open up a retirement account. Now.
The word “retirement” leaves a bad taste in some people’s’ mouths. You might picture endless hours of board games and bland food.
But retirement no longer means the stage in your life when you’re too old to work. It means having the financial freedom to do whatever you want. That could mean traveling the world or even starting your own company.
Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) are designed to minimize taxes so you can maximize your money. Different types of IRA accounts each have different rules and contribution limits: a traditional IRA, Roth IRA, and a SEP IRA.
To find out which IRA is right for you, click here to read the IRS guidelines. You can open up an IRA account with a brokerage firm, or online automated financial advisor.
Your employer might offer a retirement account like a 401(k) and 403(b), which is great — with a caveat. These accounts do have fees, so make sure the fees don’t outweigh the match your employer provides.
It’s possible to have both a 401(k) and an IRA. If you can contribute enough to both receive an employer match and max out your IRA, that’s great!
However, participating in both a Traditional IRA and a 401(k) may have some tax deduction consequences. Read more about that here and consult with a tax advisor before making any decisions.
Know Your Goals
Having solid goals is crucial.
It’s important not to get too caught up in the daily fluctuation of the stock market, and understanding your big-picture goals will help you be a smarter investor.
Do you want to buy a $200,000 house? Have a rainy day fund of $10,000 in a year and a half?
Think about how much you’ll need to invest to reach those goals within a specified time frame. Some free financial planners will calculate this for you, but if you want a close approximation, play around with this compound interest calculator.
Keep separate accounts for different financial milestones so you can track your progress toward each one. This way, instead of building up to a vague dollar amount, you can actually see how close you are to achieving your concrete goals.
Worried you’ll stagnate when it comes to putting money into your accounts? Set up auto-deposit from your paycheck or checking account so that you don’t have to think about it.
This way, you won’t even feel the money coming out of your account — because you’ll never see it.
Keep Calm and Invest On
Millennials tend to keep their cash as cash instead of investing it because it comes across as “safer.”
You might have some hesitations about investing because you saw people going through financial turmoil in episodes like the crash of 2008. But while I understand it may be tempting to save money without investing it, you could be missing out on an opportunity to make money.
Crashes happen, and if you look at the stock market over the last hundred years, chances are your investments will bounce back in time (if you’re investing passively). Although incidents like The Great Depression don’t happen every day, the stock market will ebb and flow regularly. So don’t be surprised — or worried — when it drops.
History has shown that it’s very, very likely the stock market will eventually bounce back — it always has, even after 2008.
And, because with passive investing you’re trying to grow with the stock market as opposed to beat it, your investments will recover as well.
Note: Passive investing is not day-trading. You’re not making huge buying and selling decisions on a day-to-day (or hour-by-hour) basis.
While there will be daily dips and bumps in the stock market, passive investing isn’t about making daily trades. It’s a long-term strategy, so it’s important to think of your investments over the course of a few years as opposed to an endeavor you track every day.
Don’t hop on day-trading forums, listen to your friends’ freakouts or beat yourself up when your account occasionally slides downward.
The Bottom Line
Investing is your friend. The sooner you start, the more money you have the potential to earn, the closer you are to financial freedom.
What does financial freedom look like to you? That’s an adventure you’ll choose for yourself.
Your Turn: When did you start investing? What was your biggest challenge?
Vicki Zhou is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of WiseBanyan, the world’s first free financial advisor. An engineer turned entrepreneur, she enjoys helping people get their money on track, cheering for women in finance and tech, and exploring the best nearby culinary delights.
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Seven ‘Cheats’ to Trick Yourself Into Exercising
In a perfect world, we would all eat nine servings of fruits, veggies, and grains every single day. We would grow our own (organic) produce, roll noodles from scratch, drink only purified water from a local mountain spring, and practice our yoga poses while we watch TV. And of course, we would all exercise at least an hour each day – taking special care to rotate between cardio, core-strengthening exercises, and weight lifting to improve our bone strength.
Sadly, most of us don’t live in a world where our health is always the top priority. Not only do we have to work to make a living, but we have mouths to feed, homes to care for, and a constant stream of household chores to contend with.
Many of us have the resources to put our health first, but not the time. Then there’s that tricky thing called motivation. While we know, deep down, that exercise is the best way to care for our bodies, those same bodies are too tired and worn out to execute on it.
Plus, the new season of “Game of Thrones” is out. Or maybe it’s the leftover birthday cake in the fridge. And since you still have that six-pack of Sun King Cream Ale in the fridge, you should probably drink it.
Whether you hate exercise or just can’t find the time, any excuse seems logical and valid when you’re trying to avoid it.
The Deception Workout
But, what if you could deceive yourself into exercising – at least part of the time? For a lot of people, that’s the only strategy that works.
I should know, because I’m one of them. I like being fit, but I hate exercising. I love being outdoors – but would rather spend that time laying in a hammock. I’m a 36-year-old adult, but I still have to set up a system of rewards to get myself to break a sweat at all. I might as well make a sticker chart for myself, gold stars and all — I probably would if it worked.
Instead, I have implemented a few strategies that help me stay on track. First, I push mow our grass. Not only does it help us save money, but it forces me to get my heart rate up for at least an hour once per week. Another thing: I don’t let myself shower each day until I do a workout video. Depriving myself of a shower is the best way to force myself to endure T-25.
Why? I have no idea. But it works.
How to Trick Yourself into Breaking a Sweat
Regardless, we all have to do what works, right? At the end of the day, the outcome is what matters much more than whatever it took to get us there. Here are some other ways people trick themselves into exercising and keeping themselves in the best shape possible.
Run (or skate) far, far away.
This tip comes from someone I know, and I think it’s both funny and smart. If you want to log a certain number of miles each day but have trouble staying motivated, have someone drop you off far from home. That way, you’ll be forced to run, bike, skate, or walk all the way home, simply because you have no other choice. Just try not to get pissed at the person you asked to abandon you on a random street corner, m’kay?
If you’ve ever wanted to run a certain number of miles but found yourself circling the block and returning home instead, this is something you should try. Worst-case scenario, you’ll be tired as a dog when you finally make your way back.
Make an ‘exercise date’ with friends.
If you have trouble finding motivation on your own, it might help to get your friends involved.
“Take classes or do group training with friends,” says Rick Richey, master trainer for the National Academy of Sports Medicine and owner of the Independent Training Spot in New York City. “The energy, group dynamic, and music may help time fly. It might feel more like hanging out than working out.”
With someone to talk to, you may even wind up exercising longer than you would otherwise – and you’ll probably have a lot more fun!
Think while you work out.
If you’re someone who likes to think through problems or brainstorm ideas for hours on end, a good workout is the perfect time to think with a clear head.
A woman I spoke to named Stefanie Parks says she uses this strategy to work out more often and longer than she would otherwise.
“As someone who works in marketing, there are many times I have to think of a new strategy or campaign,” she says. “I always tell myself that I need to go for a run in order to think these things through because if I just sit at my desk while brainstorming, I’ll likely get distracted too easily.”
Even when Stefanie doesn’t feel like running, she forces herself to run until she is done thinking through her idea or solving her problem at work.
“This typically keeps me very focused and motivated, but there are many times that I end up running for longer than I originally planned because I need more time to think,” says Parks. “I love that I get to kill two birds with one stone.”
Walk everywhere you can.
If you can’t lift weights or get to the gym, you could probably improve your health by walking more often. Perhaps that means leaving the car at home for a trip to the store, or walking to work if you live close enough. Or maybe it means parking as far out in your employer’s parking lot as you can, just so you’ll be forced to get in some additional steps on your way into the office.
Treat walking as if it were your only means of transportation, says Katharine M. Nohr of Nohr Sports Risk Management. In the meantime, bypass the elevator and take every staircase you see. Rarely use the elevator, and you’ll walk a lot more steps over time.
If you have a pet, you could also use their needs as an excuse to walk longer or more often. Even older dogs can benefit from a few trips around the block each day, and if you live in the city, you likely need to walk your pets anyway.
Get on a bicycle – even if it’s an electric one.
If one of your biggest obstacles to exercising is simply finding time to do it, the secret is to embed your workout into your daily routine. And an easy way to do it is by converting the dreary downtime of your commute into something more productive – like a bike ride.
Jon Gorey, our editor here at the Simple Dollar (and an admitted exercise slouch), says he used to bike to and from a job in Boston, which helped him squeeze about 40 minutes of moderate exercise into most weekdays.
“I’ve never belonged to a gym, but I do like running outside or biking. It’s just hard to find the time to do it,” Gorey says. “Biking to work was perfect because it would have taken just as long to drive there or take the subway, so I wasn’t really losing any time out of my day.”
He admits it wasn’t a year-round solution, though. “It wasn’t really feasible in the dead of winter or on the hottest summer days,” Gorey says. “Otherwise I’d show up to the office completely soaked.”
If your commute is a longer than a few miles — or you don’t want to arrive at work dripping with sweat — you could consider an electric bike. While an electric bicycle probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of exercising, there are health benefits that come with riding one regularly.
A lot of e-bike riders aren’t always in the best shape, says Jonah Bliss of e-bike producer, Evelo. By getting on an e-bike regularly, however, they can gradually transition to a point where they’re using less power.
“The more they use the bike, the more comfortable they are using it more and more manually,” he says. “After time, they start to lose some serious weight and gain core and leg muscle.”
While riding an electric bike can make you feel like you’re not exerting much effort, you’re still probably working harder than you think — and certainly more than you would be driving. Plus, the energy and effort you do put in can help you build muscle and burn calories. And like Jonah said, most people get to the point where they are using a lot less of the electric power than they realize.
Taking an electric bike to work is also a lot more economical and environmentally sound than, say, driving a new car. Not only will you get your workout in, but you’ll save money, too.
Insource all of your housework.
If you have a housekeeper or gardener, it might be time to give them the boot. By completing most of your chores on your own, you can burn some serious calories and get in a lot more steps over time.
Working around the house, both inside and outside, is a great way to ‘trick’ yourself into exercising, says Elizabeth Jenkins of Source Capital Funding. And if you work on a project that boosts your home’s value, you can improve your health and your net wealth at the same time.
What chores help burn the most calories? Start by cleaning your home inside and out – vacuuming and sweeping the floors, dusting the blinds, cleaning the windows, and sanitizing the kitchen and bathrooms. Other calorie-burning chores you could do yourself include starting and maintaining a garden, painting the interior or exterior of your home, updating your basement or living area with materials you purchase yourself, or landscaping your yard with your bare hands.
What you do doesn’t matter nearly as much as the fact that you’re doing it.
Reward yourself.
What do you really like? What do you really want? Whatever is it, you can always withhold it until you feel you have earned it with your own sweat and tears.
Maybe you desperately crave a new outfit, but decide to wait until you can fit into one a size smaller. Do you love ice cream? “No scoop for you!” (At least, not until you walk 10,000 steps.) And that new season of “Game of Thrones” we mentioned? Use it to your advantage: Only let yourself watch it while you’re on the exercise bike.
Heck, maybe you just want a nap. Stop right there, and don’t let yourself hit the pillow until you’ve rocked to the oldies for at least 45 minutes, got it?
While it might seem weird to treat yourself for good behavior when you’re a full-fledged adult, this strategy really does work for some of us. And at the end of the day, the fact that it works – and gets you moving – is really all that matters.
The Bottom Line
When you really think about it, exercise has so many benefits it’s hard to keep track. Not only does regular exercise improve our physical health, but it keeps our mental health in better shape, too. It helps boost our energy levels and keeps our minds sharp and focused at work. Exercise helps us look better in our clothes. And it helps put many of us in a much better mood. (Just ask my husband.)
Of course, regular exercise comes with financial benefits as well. When you’re in better health, you tend to spend less money on health care. Plus, you’re more likely to avoid chronic health conditions that are costly down the road.
There are dozens of reasons exercise is a good idea, and almost no good arguments to the contrary. So who cares if you have to trick yourself to do it? Or even lie to yourself? Your body (and pocketbook) will thank you the same either way.
How do you trick yourself into exercising each day? What’s your ‘secret’ to keeping up with your workout routine?
Related Articles:
- T25: The Best $125 I’ve Ever Spent?
- Five Ways to Get Your Workout Without a Gym Membership
- Exercise Your Right to Negotiate at the Gym
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The Shockingly Huge Cost of Only Making the Minimum Credit Card Payment
Credit cards are both a blessing and a curse.
A blessing if you can use them responsibly; a curse if you can’t.
A crazy 45% of millennials fall into the second category, since they only make the minimum payments on their cards, according to a National Endowment for Financial Education survey.
Only making the minimum payment? That might be the worst idea ever.
Everyone gets into tough spots — and if some emergency is barring you from paying off your card right now, I’m not talking to you.
But if you’re one of the 74% of millennials who claim you’re “good at dealing with day-to-day financial matters” — yet only pay the minimum so you can afford fancy cocktails or new jeans — it’s time to get your head out of the sand.
How Much Making the Minimum Payment Could Cost You
It can be tricky, because making the minimum payment seems smart.
You’re not getting hit with late fees, and your credit report isn’t getting dinged by late payments.
Good and good… but not good enough.
Making only the minimum payment on your credit card will cost you a LOT of money.
Just how much? Get ready to be shocked.
Using this credit card interest calculator from Bankrate, I plugged in some fairly typical numbers: an interest rate of 15% (which will be higher if you have poor credit), and a minimum payment equal to 2% of your balance.
$15,851 in interest on $10,000 in purchases?! Holy omg.
Unless you want to pay more in interest than you initially owed — and be a grandma by the time you finish — making more than the minimum payment is absolutely crucial.
How to Get Rid of Credit Card Debt
Since you’re now motivated to pay off your credit card debt, here are a few suggestions.
First, look at your card’s terms and conditions to determine your specific numbers, then plug them into the calculator. (You might wanna sit down first.)
Then, read these articles:
Lastly, stay committed.
If you need extra inspiration, just run the calculator again.
Think about how it’ll feel to get rid of high-interest debt — and also have some extra thousands of dollars in your pocket!
Your Turn: Are you surprised how much interest you can rack up with credit cards?
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.
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6 Simple Ways to Save Money with a Slow Cooker
You walk in the door after a hard day’s work.
Instead of staring into a cold, empty refrigerator, you smell the delicious aroma of homemade beef stew, hot and ready for you to eat.
Believe me, there’s no question a slow cooker can make dinner a lot easier and more convenient.
But did you know this trusty kitchen sidekick can also help you save money?
For a small investment — typically between $10 and $40 depending on the size and model — you can feed your family all kinds of meals and beverages on the cheap.
You can also use your slow cooker to make crayons, homemade playdough and soap — plus, you can even control some models with your smartphone!
Dejan Dundjerski/Shutterstock
Here are a few of my favorite ways to save money using my slow cooker — my best friend in the kitchen.
1. Trick Yourself Into Avoiding Restaurants
We all know one of the most tried and true ways to save money is steering clear of restaurants and bars, and cooking at home instead.
It’s easier said than done for busy — and hungry — people.
But you can trick yourself into avoiding the tempting after-work happy hour by dumping a few simple ingredients into your slow cooker before you leave for work in the morning.
A meal at your favorite restaurant might call your name, but you won’t want to let the delicious meal you prepared earlier in the day go to waste — or get overcooked.
It’s also a completely legitimate excuse to give your friends and co-workers, without explaining you’re trying to save money by eating out less. I can say from experience: No one argues with your slow cooker!
If you’re dining out with a partner, dinner can easily cost you $50 — or $25 per person.
Erin Chase, who started $5 Dinners, has a whole website full of slow cooker dinners that cost less than $5 total to make. Of course, prices vary and she always buys items when they’re on sale.
Chase says cooking meals that cost $5 or less has become a bit of an obsession. Since starting the blog, she can’t help but run through ingredient prices in her head during meal planning.
Holbox/Shutterstock
Some of my favorites from her site are Mexican carnitas (which makes four servings — can you say leftovers?), slow cooker beef and vegetable soup and shredded orange Thai beef tacos.
2. Save Money on Ingredients
One of the best things about slow cooking is it allows you to use cheaper ingredients, including less expensive cuts of meat, a whole chicken or other chicken cuts instead of only breasts, and bulk items, such as dried beans.
Cook a whole chicken on Sunday and use it the rest of the week in a variety of recipes, or shred and freeze for later.
Across U.S. cities, the average price per pound for a whole chicken is $1.46. Compare that to $3.27 per pound for chicken breasts and you’re talking big savings, especially if you’re like me and chicken is one of your go-to meal starters.
With a whole chicken, you can also make homemade chicken broth using the leftover parts (bones, skin, neck, gizzards and others).
Photosiber/Shutterstock
Try it yourself with this chicken thighs with artichokes and sundried tomatoes recipe or this one for French dip sandwiches made with beef chuck roast.
Dried beans require more effort than canned beans, but the cost savings are worth the extra labor. Generic canned black beans will cost you 42 cents per cup, compared to 19 cents per cup for cooked, dried black beans.
I usually buy a two-pound bag of dried black beans, rinse them thoroughly and soak them overnight. The next morning, I drain and dump them in my slow cooker, adding a few seasonings depending on how I’ll use them.
Three hours later, I’ve got a delicious pot full of seasoned black beans for half the price of canned beans. I freeze whatever’s leftover, which makes meal planning even easier.
Here’s a basic slow cooker dried bean recipe to get you started.
3. Make Vegetarian Meals
Your slow cooker can also open up a whole new world of vegetarian recipes, which are generally much cheaper than meals made with meat.
Margouillat photo/Shutterstock
Instead of thinking of them as side dishes, I frequently make beans and lentils the spotlight of my slow cooker meals.
I make this lentil masala recipe when I’m craving Indian food and this mushroom stroganoff when I want a little comfort food.
Take chicken masala versus lentil masala: A pound of chicken makes roughly two cups of meat and is roughly $3.27. Compare that to a pound of dry lentils, which costs $1.54 at my local grocery store and makes four to five cups of cooked lentils.
Per cup, cooked lentils will cost you $0.34, compared to $1.64 for cooked chicken. Anyone who cooks regularly or for large families will tell you those types of savings add up quickly!
4. Take Advantage of Your Freezer
We’ve all been there.
You and your partner are standing in the kitchen starving, debating what to make for dinner. Inevitably, someone throws up their hands and says, “Ugh! Let’s go out!”
But with a little preparation and a slow cooker, you can have a freezer full of homemade meals and take the anxiety out of the “What should we eat tonight?” conversation.
One of my favorite freezer meals is white chicken chili. After making a big batch in my slow cooker, I scoop this hearty soup into freezer bags and stack them flat on top of each other.
When I’m struggling for a lunch or dinner idea, I pop out a bag, simmer the soup and add fresh avocado, sour cream, cheese and tortilla chips on top.
Francesco83/Shutterstock
Another go-to is slow cooker spinach lasagna. After cooking, freeze in individual-sized portions for an easy weeknight meal.
5. Plan, Plan, Plan
The slow cooker is also a great motivator for meal planning, which can lead to fewer impulse buys and smaller grocery bills.
Scope out weekly ads for meats and other sale items and build your meals around the best deals.
Bell peppers on sale this week? Check out this recipe for slow-cooker peppers stuffed with brown rice, black beans and lean ground beef.
zi3000/Shutterstock
Or, shop your pantry. Check what you’ve already got in stock and build your own recipe. It’s a great way to use some of the random stuff you’ve stashed away in the freezer, pantry and spice cabinet.
Of course, having a plan — and the ingredients on hand to execute it — is another way to steer yourself away from the takeout menu.
You’ll also cut down on food waste by buying exactly what you need for your slow cooker recipes.
6. Get Creative in the Kitchen
The slow cooker isn’t just for dinner. Try using it for other meals — and even non-edible options!
Oksana Mizina/Shutterstock
I love waking up to the smell of these strawberry overnight oats.
Throw some onion, carrot, celery and spices together with some water and make homemade vegetable stock you can freeze for up to three months.
Round up your kids’ broken or used crayons, take off the labels and toss them in a disposable muffin tin. Drop ‘em in your slow cooker for an hour or two and, voila, you’ve got new crayons that didn’t cost you a dime.
Stephanie O’Dea’s using her slow cooker every day as her New Year’s resolution. On her blog, she says her kids had a blast with this project.
Or, with a little flour, cornstarch and food coloring, make your own slow cooker play dough.
You can even use your slow cooker to curb your expensive coffee habit (read: those $5 lattes and mochas from Starbucks or the local coffee house) by making your own peppermint mochas, pumpkin spice lattes or chai tea.
Your Turn: What are your favorite slow cooker tricks for saving money?
Disclosure: You wouldn’t believe how much coffee The Penny Hoarder team goes through. This post contains affiliate links so we can keep the grinds stocked!
Sarah Kuta is an education reporter in Boulder, Colorado, with a penchant for weekend thrifting, furniture refurbishment and good deals. Find her on Twitter: @sarahkuta.
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