The Pocono Mountains won the Department of Community and Economic Development’s Destination of the Year award for 2015.The region received the honors as “a Pennsylvania community, county or multi-county region that exemplifies high levels of community hospitality, cohesive destination branding and coordination between community partners to deliver on the brand promise,” according to the department.“It was a good year for our industry in general, [...]
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الجمعة، 20 مايو 2016
5 Ways to Prevent Your 70-Year-Old Self from Hating You
How often do you think about your future self?
Often? Seldom?
Wherever you’re at on that spectrum, my bet is that you’d be better off thinking about your future self more often.
Before you do anything, it’s helpful to ask yourself: “Is this going to benefit me more now or in the future?”
If your answer is that you’ll be benefited more now, you may want to reconsider your options.
You can apply this advice to many different areas in life, but let’s focus on how it can help you manage your money better and make you a better investor.
Here are several ways to prevent your 70-year-old self from hating you . . . .
1. Get life insurance for you and your family.
If you’re married, make sure you and your spouse have adequate life insurance policies. Coverage of ten times the annual salary of an income producing spouse and $250k – $500k for a stay at home spouse (you don’t realize how much money they save you until they are not there to do all the things that they do).
If your spouse is the breadwinner in the family, imagine the financial devastation that would ensue if they passed away. Not only would you have to deal with the emotional toll of losing your partner in life, but you’d also have to find a way to survive on your income alone.
Life insurance is a great way to transfer the risk of losing your spouse’s income to insurance companies.
Don’t assume that your place of employment provides you or your spouse with adequate coverage. I remember a friend who once figured that his policy worth $10,000 provided by his employer should allow his family to bury him if he passed away. While that’s true, what about his family’s income loss? What about his wife and children? They would still need to eat!
Don’t let the loss of a loved one be any more devastating than it has to be – buy life insurance! It’s worth it.
2. Harness the power of compounding over time.
Albert Einstein has been quoted as saying, “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it . . . he who doesn’t . . . pays it.”
Well said Mr. Einstein.
The ability to compound adds an incredible financial advantage. As interest or earnings are added back to the principal, your money can start growing exponentially over time.
Did you catch that? Time plays an important role. The less you have of it, the less potential you’ll have to see exponential growth in your portfolio.
If you want your 70-year-old self to love you instead of hate you, take advantage of the power of compounding early in life.
Hint: That means start now.
Here’s what Marcio Silveira, CFP(R), CFA of Pavlov Financial Planning says about the power of compounding over time:
When you have time on your side you can benefit from the amazing exponential power of compounding investments. To let it work for you simply stay the course with a globally diversified stock portfolio, very low investment expenses (achievable with index-tracking exchanged traded funds), and minimal taxation (achievable with Roth IRAs). You will be shocked with how much money you will have accumulated.
Whether you’re nearing retirement or are decades away, it’s a good idea to start investing now and harness the power of compounding with the time you have left.
3. Find new business opportunities and build a solid career.
Just about every day I see new business opportunities. It took me a long while to get to that point, but the more I practiced, the more I saw them.
You know what they all have in common? They require work – usually hard work.
There are three things you can do when you see a good opportunity: (1) give up because it looks like hard work, (2) put it on your to-do list and get it done, or (3) delegate it to someone who can get it done for you.
The first option is taken all too often. Thomas Edison was once quoted as saying, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” So true.
The second option is great when you don’t have the capital to pay others or when you think you’re the only one who can accomplish the task.
The third option is very powerful as it can allow you to focus on what you do best and still get the job done. It frees up your time, promotes business growth, and can feed a lot of fantastic hard-workers out there.
As you explore new business opportunities, one of them might turn into a valuable career – you might even find a couple of great new businesses.
It’s important to keep your mind open. Eric Roberge, CFP(R), founder of Beyond Your Hammock, says about business opportunities:
New business opportunities are everywhere. Keep your mind open and listen for the ideas that speak to you. If it sounds different, a little scary, and it grabs your heart . . . jump on it.
Great advice. Try new ideas and don’t be afraid!
4. Review your beneficiaries on a regular basis.
Did you know that a beneficiary on an asset like an IRA account usually overrides who’s named in your trust?
That’s why it’s so important to review your beneficiary designations.
I’ve heard pretty horrible stories, one from one of my clients, where because someone was a beneficiary on an account, they got the money instead of someone else who was the intended beneficiary on the will.
Don’t let this happen to you or your family. It can tear them apart.
Katie Brewer, CFP(R), of Your Richest Life financial advisory firm, shares a nightmare scenario:
What could be worse than having your family notified that your ex-husband received a big chuck of your 401(k) after you died because you forgot to fix some paperwork? Unfortunately, that scenario could happen if you didn’t stay on top of your retirement account and life insurance beneficiary designations . . . . It’s incredibly important to make sure that you know who you’ve designated as your beneficiary and check it every year.
The good news is that it doesn’t take very long to review beneficiaries on your accounts. Take a few minutes to call your financial institutions and ask them who is currently listed as beneficiary on each account.
5. Stay away from unreasonable and unnecessary debt.
Debt can really hurt you.
There are times where going into debt would be reasonable and necessary. Then there many more times when it’s not.
Stay away from payday loans. The interest rates are usually outrageous, and many times they’re unnecessary when you could just sell a few expensive household luxuries (like that flat screen television or surround sound system) and have enough money to pay some bills.
Stay away from vehicle loans, too. Did you know that dealerships make a lot – if not most of – their money from vehicle financing? Do what I did, and drive a used, paid-off car. That way, you won’t have to pay any interest and can use the savings to bolster your retirement accounts.
Cristina Guglielmetti, CFP(R), president of Future Perfect Planning, reveals how you can encourage yourself to stay away from unreasonable debt:
When faced with the decision to buy something on credit that you might not need, consider the full cost of the purchase over time (many online calculators are available allowing you to determine the full amount to be paid including interest); then do the reverse and determine how much the excess payment will add to your retirement funds. Often the comparison is enlightening, and provides enough incentive to pass up the unnecessary loan, or at least to choose a lower-cost option.
These are just a few ways you can prevent your 70-year-old self from hating you.
One day, it’s likely you’ll turn 70 years old. Once you do, you’ll want to look back with a sense of accomplishment. Moreover, your circumstances will have been determined by everything you did in anticipation of your latter years – put your future self in a secure financial position!
According to Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, age 70 falls within the stage of needing to look back on life and feel a sense of fulfillment. Success at this stage leads to feelings of wisdom, while failure results in regret, bitterness, and despair.
Take action now and make your future self a happy self. You’ll be glad you did.
This post originally appeared in Forbes.
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This is America’s #1 Financial Regret — and It’s Totally Avoidable
We all make mistakes when it comes to money. But that doesn’t mean I don’t try to learn from them.
Which is why a new survey from Bankrate caught my eye. It asked more than 1,000 Americans a simple question: What’s your biggest financial regret?
The results should serve as a lesson to us all…
Our Biggest Regrets About Money
So, what topped the list?
At 18%, “not saving for retirement early enough.”
As age increases, that number does, too: 27% of respondents over the age of 65 cited this as their biggest mistake.
I’m not surprised, since a record number of retirement-age Americans are working — mostly because they can’t afford to retire.
Gah! When are we going to realize that few things are more important than investing in the future?
The money you spend on that pair of jeans or that round of drinks could grow into a small fortune by the time you retire.
So, learn from these people, and start saving for retirement now.
If your company offers a 401(k), sign up; if it doesn’t, create an automatic withdrawal into a Roth IRA.
Even $1 a day or $25 a week could make a HUGE difference in the end.
As for the other responses, here’s the survey in full:
Two other regrets that stood out to me?
1. Not Saving Enough for Emergencies
Just like with saving for retirement, this is hard but essential.
I finally created an emergency fund with Digit, and I feel so much more secure with it in my back pocket.
2. Taking on Too Much Student Loan Debt
First off, if you’re still in high school, make sure college is the right decision for you.
You might want to consider a year of service, apprenticeship or high-paying career without a degree.
If you do decide to go, choose your college carefully.
Look into scholarships or international universities, and pick the one with the best value or ROI — rather than the one with the cutest coeds.
And, if you’ve already graduated and are suffocating under a mountain of debt, consider refinancing your student loans.
Life is too short to live with regrets — but too long to ignore what’s ahead.
Invest in your future self today; I guarantee that’s one thing you’ll never regret.
Your Turn: What’s YOUR biggest financial regret?
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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5 of Your Favorite Foods Will Be Cheaper This Summer
Since I was a kid, my mom’s been bemoaning the rising price of milk.
As an adult, I’ve watched the trend continue in recent years. I’ve come to expect shelling out nearly $4 for a gallon.
For a childfree 20-something who doesn’t even enjoy the creamy beverage, the price isn’t too scary. But for a family with several young children who can’t seem to get enough of it? Every spike in dairy prices means a hit to your grocery budget.
Good news! The price of several of our favorite foods — including milk — is dropping this year, Time reports.
So breathe easy this summer, and eat up. Look for lower food prices on these five items at the grocery store, according to Time:
1. Milk
I know some dairy farmers who won’t love this news, but I know more Midwestern families that will delight in hearing milk prices are finally falling.
Milk supply has grown due to several factors in recent years, driving prices down about 7% from a year ago.
I won’t see the sub-$2 price of my youth, but a gallon of milk is down to an average of $3.15 around the country.
2. Cheese
Tied to the oversupply of milk — which is tied to an oversupply of beef, which we’ll get to shortly — is what the Wall Street Journal calls “a glut of cheese so big that every person in the country would need to eat an extra 3 pounds this year to work it off.”
Are you up to the challenge?
If that sounds like too much, note you’re already probably eating about 36 pounds of cheese per year, according to the WSJ.
Set the Kraft singles aside, and deck your burgers with real cheddar this summer. The price for a block of it fell to a six-year low of $1.27 per pound last week.
3. Beef
Depending on how you like it, the retail price of beef has fallen between 2-10% since this time last year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Ground beef costs an average $3.82 per pound, down from $4.23 last April.
If you haven’t already connected the dots: A few years ago, beef prices jumped, causing farmers to increase the size of their herds. That means more cows, which means not only more beef, but also more milk — and, therefore, cheese.
This general cow surge across the U.S. means we get to enjoy lower prices at the grocery store this year.
Now, moving on to the rest of Old MacDonald’s crew.
4. Eggs
This year’s 13% drop in egg prices is actually a recovery to somewhat normal costs.
This time last year, the nation’s chickens — especially egg-producing hens — were ravaged by a bird flu outbreak. Egg prices hit record highs last August, but are coming down now that Henny Penny and crew have recovered.
Expect a dozen grade-A large eggs to run you just $1.79 this summer, as low as $1.48 in the Midwest, according to BLS data.
5. Pork
The same surplus in grain and corn — used for feed — that was a boon to beef production has affected the pork supply, as well.
Your bacon won’t be cheaper. Anecdotally (and grumpily) I’ll assume you have hipsters or something to thank for its rising value. But other pork products do have kinder price tags.
BLS data says pork chops are 2-3% cheaper and ham is down 3-5%.
Plan Your Summer Meals
These dropping prices are refreshing, but you can always do more to cut your grocery bill if your favorite foods aren’t on this list.
Pull out your smartphone when you get home, and save money with these seven apps.
Follow these five tips from a mother who feeds her family of five on $64 per week.
Prefer the organic, free-range or otherwise-more-sustainable versions of these foods? Keep an eye out for a cheaper version of Whole Foods opening in your area in the next few months!
Your Turn: Have you noticed food prices dropping in your area this year?
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).
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This Wedding Guest Gave $145… and the Newlyweds Asked for More Money
Today in “weddings are the worst” news, a blatant cash grab has us fired up.
A message-board thread that’s been read around the world shares the uncomfortable aftermath of what was probably a lovely, joyous wedding celebration.
The original poster (OP) attended an ex-colleague’s wedding, for which the happy couple requested cash gifts. The OP wrote a check for 100 pounds (about $145 USD), but afterward received this email from the couple:
“We were surprised that your contribution didn’t seem to match the warmth of your good wishes on our big day. In view of your own position, if you wanted to send any adjustment it would be thankfully received.”
Wait, WHAT?!
This is Why We Don’t Talk about Money
The OP — appropriately named “Puzzledandpissedoff” — asked for advice, revealing that the reference to “your own position” in the email likely implied the recent inheritance they had received.
We talk about money more than ever: How we don’t have enough, how we’re trying to scrimp and save for a better future. We’re not afraid to share the amazing bargain we got at the grocery store or online.
But money is still a taboo topic.
When I wrote about my huge, unexpected tax bill, I second-guessed admitting that money I had received from my family was a major reason I could pay the bill without altering my lifestyle.
Maybe an ex-coworker shouldn’t have known about this person’s inheritance. Or maybe, after countless hours spent together in the office (and probably countless hours dealing with estate paperwork), the OP felt comfortable discussing finances.
And now, that openness has turned into a guilt-trip from an entitled newlywed.
“It’s unlikely I’ll bump into the [bride and groom] much in the future as I’m retired now, which is probably just as well,” the OP updated after hundreds of supportive comments from the crowd.
So, how did the OP respond to the email?
With a simple, one-line question: “I assume this was some sort of mistake?”
This Situation Gives Weddings a Bad Name
In the age of an anything-goes nuptial celebrations, this cash grab makes weddings look bad.
In light of crazy-expensive, peer pressure-induced wedding costs, intimate tiny weddings are in vogue. Some couples ask for modest contributions toward wedding costs instead of gifts.
One of my friends asked for volunteers to bring homemade pies to her wedding for the dessert table — who doesn’t like homemade pie?!
But weddings still run the greed gamut. For every home-made, DIY, budget wedding, there’s a traditionalist who just sees dollar signs at the end of the night.
Yes, wedding celebrations were designed to set up the happy couple for financial success in their new life together.
But simple gratitude goes a long way, and every penny counts.
I’m glad the OP is keeping any additional cash in her pocket, instead of giving it to these dummies.
Your Turn: How would you respond to this post-wedding cash grab?
Lisa Rowan is a writer, editor and podcaster living in Washington, D.C.
The post This Wedding Guest Gave $145… and the Newlyweds Asked for More Money appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Watch Sky Sports or BT Sport for Premier League football? Cancel over summer and save
The Premier League ended this week, with Manchester United v Bournemouth the last game of the season on 17 May.
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A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Authenticity and Transparency to Improve Trust
Authenticity and transparency are two of the latest marketing buzzwords thrown around.
Just because a word is catchy doesn’t mean it’s meaningless, but it also doesn’t necessarily mean it’s meaningful.
There are plenty of buzzwords that lost their meaning.
But these two are different, I believe, because they represent two aspects of modern marketing that can have a great effect on your results, especially when it comes to content marketing.
Entire blogs have been launched with these two principles as guides for every aspect of those blogs.
Take, for example, Groove’s blog, which I often mention. The transparency and authenticity in their content marketing have helped the company grow their revenue to well past their initial goal of $100k per month.
That being said, most marketers have no clue how to use these concepts effectively in their content.
It’s about time we fix that. I wrote this post in order to teach you about authenticity and transparency as well as to show you when and how to use them.
But before we get started, there’s one more thing you need to understand…
Transparency and authenticity are not the same: Both of these are independent aspects of content even though they are often confused with each another.
Transparency refers to how much you’re willing to share. For example, when talking about revenue numbers, you could use:
- Low transparency – We had a good month of February.
- Medium transparency – We had a profitable month of February, with a profit margin of 20%.
- High transparency – We made $10,000 during February, with a net profit of $2,000.
Hopefully that makes the concept crystal clear. The more detail you share, the more transparent you are. If it seems like you’re hiding important details, you’re not being transparent.
Authenticity, on the other hand, has nothing to do with how much you share. It is about what you share.
Being authentic means being true to who you are as a person, writer, or company.
It means writing what you believe even if it might be unpopular or controversial. For example, you don’t see me writing posts on black or grey hat SEO techniques like building private blog networks (PBNs).
I believe that for almost all business owners and marketers, a white hat approach is better. So, although I could get extra traffic by covering those shadier tactics, I choose to write on my honest viewpoints.
If that all makes sense, we can dive in. If it’s not totally clear, it will become clearer in the coming sections.
Step 1: Understand why readers respond to transparency
There are two key elements of effective content that transparency can affect:
- Value
- Trust
People value content for many reasons but mainly for its usefulness.
Transparency can help make content more useful. By providing personal examples and experiences in detail (high transparency), you help the reader see your advice in action.
Not only that, by writing about personal experiences, you can provide context for the reasons—the why—behind your decisions.
It can go far beyond just sharing personal numbers, even though that’s a great start.
For example, Buffer not only shares revenue numbers but also explains what those numbers mean as well as what the team does to improve them.
If I were launching a similar business, I could learn from those insights.
And then there’s trust.
While it varies, many online readers are rightfully skeptical.
People will claim anything if they think it will help them make sales. When someone is reading a product review or case study, their skepticism radar is at full alert.
Earning a reader’s trust isn’t easy, but transparency goes a long way.
Think of it this way…
Whom do you trust more: a complete stranger or someone whom you know pretty well?
In 99% of cases, you trust the person who is more open with you. You feel that if you know someone better, you can more easily predict their intentions and behaviors.
But that also brings up a good point. If you’re a terrible person, transparency will not be good for you. Hopefully, you and your company are not terrible.
Is transparency always good? The unfortunate part of transparency getting so popular is that people who don’t understand it try to use it.
Technically, telling your readers what you ate for breakfast is highly transparent, but unless you have a food blog, it won’t add any value to your content.
Step 2: Understand why readers respond to authenticity
One of the main reasons why I believe authenticity is often confused with transparency is that they both affect the same element of content:
Trust.
Inauthentic content marketers are a lot like politicians who flip-flop on their opinions, depending on whom they’re speaking to.
If you pander to a specific audience, you could be departing from what you really believe in order to please them.
When such a politician tries to convince you that they care about an issue close to your heart, do you believe them?
Of course not.
But when you feel that someone truly believes in what they’re saying (being authentic), of course, you will trust them.
That air of authenticity is developed over time by not only speaking about your actual beliefs but also following up with action.
I said earlier that I believe white hat SEO is the best approach to SEO in most situations.
But what if my readers saw that I wrote a guest post “X reasons why black hat SEO is the best”?
How could they trust anything that I write, including the content about white hat SEO?
Being inauthentic often happens by accident when you’re trying to appeal to different audiences. However, the result is often that you lose the trust of your most loyal readers or have a low conversion rate when you try to sell something.
If you find yourself writing for a different audience but don’t feel that you can voice your honest opinions, don’t write at all. You will not only attract the wrong audience but also damage the trust you have with your existing audience.
Does that mean you can never change your mind? No, it does not. And this is also where transparency starts to intertwine with authenticity.
The best way I can explain this is by giving you another example.
Back in 2014, Google absolutely slaughtered PBNs. With the exception of the highest quality networks, many black hat SEOs lost all their rankings overnight.
Wouldn’t that suck if you were a vocal supporter of PBNs?
Spencer Hawes, who runs Niche Pursuits, was that very type of blogger. He supported PBNs because he was able to get great results with them, and so were his readers.
And then he got hit—hard.
Remember that authenticity is about honesty. If you honestly change your mind about something, it’s okay to change your viewpoint.
Spencer wrote this post that went viral in the SEO world, saying he’ll never use PBNs ever again.
He did a 180 overnight.
The reason why Niche Pursuits is still going strong is because of the transparency Spencer showed.
He could have hid the consequences he suffered as a result of those Google actions, but instead, he showed them to his audience.
He then explained in as much detail as he could what was going on inside his head and why it made sense to focus on white hat SEO techniques from that point on.
If he, all of a sudden, just flipped on the subject without an explanation, most of his readers would’ve felt wronged.
But because he had always been authentic and explained his change of heart so well, readers didn’t feel tricked. Instead, they understood that his opinion genuinely changed and that he was pivoting to reflect that.
You shouldn’t be changing your opinions frequently on a whim, but as long as you’re honest, readers won’t feel deceived. You may still lose some readers, but that’s the price you pay for long-term loyalty and success.
Step 3: Decide on a level of transparency
At this point, you should have a good grasp of the concepts of transparency and authenticity.
Now, you need to put that knowledge into practice.
You need to establish what you are and are not comfortable sharing.
Common things to consider are:
- Personal information – your name, address, etc.
- Business information – revenue, profit, behind the scenes problems
- Personal business information – your business’ processes and suppliers that your competitors could potentially steal
Transparency can be a great thing, but I realize that not all people are comfortable giving out their real names as I am.
Decide on what you are and aren’t comfortable revealing, and then stick to that when you’re creating content in the future.
Step 4: Authenticity is binary
The question “Do you think he/she is authentic?” is a yes or no question. There’s never an answer: “He’s kind of authentic.”
Unless you are, or want to be, a terrible person whom no one likes, I recommend being authentic.
This is actually the last part of this post involving authenticity. You’ll never need to force yourself to consider it once you decide that you care about authenticity.
Assuming you’re trying to be authentic, all you need to do is pay attention to how you feel while writing content. Do you feel like you’re lying? If so, you’re not being authentic.
Step 5: Inject transparency into content (when it makes sense)
The tough part about transparency is knowing when to use it.
The key is to recognize the most important parts of your content where you can add value through additional transparency.
It takes experience to recognize them, so I’ll show you a few great examples.
Example #1 – The Groove blog: Groove is always the first example I think of when it comes to transparency.
At the time of their launch, very few blogs for entrepreneurs revealed intimate details about revenue and profit.
Groove proceeded to share everything, including their business processes, reasons behind certain decisions, and even the results of hiring a business coach.
Since then, many others have followed suit, using this type of transparency.
My public $100k challenge is an example of it.
Example #2 – Domino’s Pizza: If you live in the US, you’re familiar with Domino’s, which is a popular pizza chain.
However, they weren’t exactly known for their high quality pizza.
What they did was create a video where they went behind the scenes and publicly read out their worst customer complaints.
In that video, they show what work went on behind the scenes to improve their pizza.
After seeing that display of transparency, most previous customers would give them another chance.
It can be a good thing to put your weaknesses right in the open and confront them head on as long as you actually try to fix them.
Example #3 – Patagonia: Patagonia is a large business that sells clothing.
You may or may not know that there is a lot of concern over clothing being produced in sweatshop conditions, even by major businesses.
Patagonia responded by creating a footprint map, where they show exactly where they source all their materials from.
They revealed the working conditions of their employees and contractors in order to show that they have good business practices. This is again the part where you have to be a good person or company to use transparency effectively.
If there is a common worry within your industry, consider being fully transparent while showing that you don’t participate in bad practices.
Conclusion
Authenticity and transparency may be popular buzzwords, but they’re also concepts of real value.
I hope this post helped you understand the difference between the two concepts. As you can see now, although they often interact, they are two completely independent principles.
At this point, go back and answer the questions in steps 3-5 if you haven’t already. Once you’ve done that, keep those answers in mind as you create content in the future.
Finally, if you’ve used either transparency or authenticity (or seen them) successfully, I’d like to hear about it in a comment below.
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Term, Whole, and Universal Life Insurance: What’s the Difference? What Do I Actually Need?
At some point in their lives, many people come to the conclusion that they need to have a life insurance policy. Perhaps you’re like me and that realization occurred when you first had children. Maybe some other life event occurred and caused you to consider it. Or perhaps you’re just following the advice from a personal finance book.
Whatever the reason, you’ve made the decision to buy life insurance. I won’t get into whether or not that’s a good decision – in a very brief nutshell, it is if you have dependents but otherwise it might not be. Instead, I want to look at the next step in the journey: figuring out what options are available to you and which one is best for you.
For starters, most life insurance packages tend to fall into one of three groups. You’ll find term life insurance, whole life insurance, and universal life insurance. Let’s look at them one at a time.
Term life insurance is the simplest to understand and it’s also the least expensive. When you buy a term life insurance policy, you sign up for insurance that will cover you for a particular term – a number of years, in other words. Over the course of that term, you’ll pay in a certain amount of money to the insurance company each year (or quarter or month, depending on your arrangement) – that money is called the premium. If you happen to die during the term, the person(s) you indicate as the beneficiary of your policy will receive the benefit of your policy.
So, for example, you might have a 20-year term life insurance policy that provides a $500,000 benefit to your spouse or to your children in the event of your death in that 20-year period. To maintain that insurance, you’ll have to pay in some amount each year. Although that premium is locked in for the length of your policy, it does vary a lot from person to person.
The biggest drawback of term policies is that if you live to the end of the term, you walk away with nothing. The policy only covers you for the number of years designated in your agreement at the start of the policy.
- Related: Term Life Insurance: The Basics
Whole life insurance takes term insurance, gets rid of the “term,” and combines it with an investment package. Whole life insurance is a lifetime insurance package that offers a benefit upon your death to whoever you designate. Often, a whole life insurance package offers a certain minimum benefit, but that benefit might grow over time because a whole life insurance package also features an investment component.
Over the years, your policy begins to grow a cash value, which you’ll be able to borrow against later on if you so choose. You can even choose to receive dividends from that investment portion later on, though the dividends are usually small unless the insurance package is very large. Some people eventually start using the cash value of the insurance to directly pay the annual premium, meaning they have a policy that lasts for the rest of their life without any annual costs to them.
The catch for all of this is that the monthly or annual premiums – the amount you pay in each month or each year – are much, much higher than term insurance for the same benefit.
Universal life insurance also lasts a lifetime, but it has the capacity to adjust the benefit later on. Universal insurance is actually very similar to whole life insurance, except that you have the capacity to adjust your benefit upwards or downwards later on depending on your changing insurance needs.
However, this comes with a cost. The premiums you pay also adjust with universal life insurance depending on current interest rates. The rates are typically much closer to the higher whole life rates than the term rates – in fact, universal life insurance rates are sometimes even higher than whole life insurance rates.
Isn’t the investment portion of whole and universal life insurance a great benefit? It can be, but you pay a lot for it. Your premiums are going to be much higher than they would be for a term policy.
Another big problem is that the investment portion of such policies is almost always very slow to grow at first. There are several reasons for that, but one of the big reasons in many cases is that during the initial years of such policies, some of your premiums are going to pay off the commission of the person who sold you the policy. That money cuts into how much can be contributed to the investment.
So what should you do? Here’s my advice.
If you have no insurance right now and you’re an adult, get a term policy. Get one with a term long enough to cover your children reaching adulthood or until you expect that you’ll have enough assets that your spouse will be fine without you. I chose to get a 20-year policy, which covered the years until my children leave the nest, at which point the financial burden on my wife in the event of my death would be much smaller.
The reason here is simple. A term policy is going to be far less expensive than a whole life policy or a universal policy and you’re likely looking at this policy during a point in your life where your money is already being crunched hard. You’re likely facing student loans, a mortgage, the cost of children… I know how hard of a crunch all of that can be.
The thing you need to keep in mind is that you’re wanting this insurance mostly to cover you until that crunch period is over with. Ten years, 20 years, maybe at most 30 years from now, you won’t have that mortgage. You won’t have those kids to take care of. You won’t have those student loans. Your financial state will be much more stable.
If you currently have a whole life or universal policy that you’ve had for several years (or more), stick with that. At this point in the policy’s life, it’s built some level of cash value inside of it which can be a useful asset going forward. While the annual cost for the policy is higher than a similar term policy, you’ve already made it through the “rough years” with this policy, so stick with it.
What if you have kids? I genuinely do not think that most families need to purchase life insurance for their children, unless it’s a very tiny policy to cover funeral expenses. Remember, children do not have dependents, so the only thing that needs to be a concern if they pass on is their funeral costs.
Yet many people buy a universal or whole life policy for their children anyway. Why do that? There are actually a few reasons for it.
First of all, doing so serves as life insurance in case they do die young and thus alleviates funeral expenses for you. This is something that a term policy could handle anyway.
Second, buying such a policy when the person is a child means that you, as a parent, are the one that’s going to pay for the “rough years” of the policy where the cash value isn’t growing very fast. By the time you hand over the reins of the policy to them in adulthood, the cash value will be growing nicely and it will be a good deal for them to continue the policy.
There’s also the advantage of obtaining a policy before a long-term health problem would be exposed in the child, which would make it very difficult for them to get life insurance later on.
Are those reasons enough to get your child such a policy? It really depends on your financial state. If you’re struggling to make ends meet and keep the bills paid, I wouldn’t view such a policy as a priority, but if you are in a healthy financial state and spend significantly less than you earn, there are good reasons for making such a purchase.
So, what’s the next step?
If you’ve decided that a particular type of policy is right for you, spend some time independently figuring out how large of a policy you’d like to get. If you have dependents and are getting a term policy to care for them after your passing, you’ll probably want a term policy with a sizable benefit to ensure that those people in your life don’t suffer for your death. While it’s hard to figure out the “right” number here, I’ve found that this calculator at lifehappens.org has some pretty sensible results. Just put in the numbers that it calls for and it’ll give you a good estimate of how much life insurance you should get.
Once you have a benefit number in mind, consider how long you want the term to be. My suggestion is that if you’re a parent, you should get a term that covers all of the years until your children would graduate from college.
With those numbers in hand, start shopping around. Get quotes from several different insurance companies, then research those companies to find out how stable they are and how long of a history they have. For most policies, the state will step in to back up the policy if the company goes bankrupt, but for larger policies, you’re going to want to be very confident in the long-term health of the company.
Insurance salespeople will promote all kinds of products to you. Take them with a grain of salt. Keep your eye on the ball and keep it simple. Most of those extras that they’re promoting really have no value to you at all, no matter how sweet they make them sound.
Good luck!
Related Articles
- Best Life Insurance Companies
- The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Term Life Insurance Policy
- How to Save for Your Child’s College Education
The post Term, Whole, and Universal Life Insurance: What’s the Difference? What Do I Actually Need? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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Blog on a Budget Without Looking Cheap: Our Favorite Blogging Tools
A personal blog can boost your online business, host a writing portfolio or just showcase your thoughts and stories.
Whatever your reason for starting a blog, you’re faced with an overwhelming number of options to do it.
You don’t want to go the cheap route and wind up with an amateur-looking blog.
And you don’t want to waste money on something you could get for free — or do yourself.
For four years, I ran a blog that helped me make money, land freelance writing gigs and build an audience. I spent less than $500 in the lifetime of the blog.
Here are some of the best tools I’ve discovered to help you blog on a budget — without looking like a beginner.
How to Create a Website With Squarespace
In recent years, Squarespace has become a new favorite all-in-one publishing platform.
It offers a beautiful, professional-looking, easy to manage website.
With Squarespace, you can manage everything you need in one place: hosting, domain, theme, design and functionality.
Squarespace offers the right balance between professional design, autonomy and simplicity at a reasonable price.
You can have a Squarespace website up and running for $12 a month, or $96 a year– including your blog, design, domain and even one item to sell.
Look Professional Using WordPress
WordPress is another all-in-one option.
Like Squarespace, it allows you to choose your domain, theme and manage your blog in one place.
Unlike Squarespace, a basic WordPress blog is free.
But sticking with the all-free version is an amateur move — and it shows.
If you want to keep your WordPress blog easy to manage but step up your style, these are affordable ways to do it:
Buy a Custom Domain
It costs $18 a year to own a domain and integrate it to WordPress.
You can buy directly through WordPress, but I recommend owning your domain through a domain registrar like GoDaddy for flexibility — especially if you want to grow.
Pay for WordPress Premium
For $99 a year, this upgrade allows you to change a free theme’s design, so you stand out from every other new blogger.
It also removes the random ad WordPress sometimes shows at the bottom of your site.
Buy a Premium Theme
For a professional-looking site with more design options, purchase a Premium theme, which will cost you anywhere between $18 and $175.
How to Save Money on a Self-Hosted Blog
Once you’re comfortable with blog management, you might be ready to take the leap to a self-hosted blog for increased autonomy and flexibility.
Because it’s the most common and easiest to use, I recommend a self-hosted blog through WordPress.
WordPress.org is home to resources and support to help you use WordPress to manage your blog.
To create a self-hosted blog with WordPress, you need to put together (and pay for) the services the all-in-one sites take care of for you.
Main pieces include:
- Hosting: Where will your site’s information be stored?
- Design: What will your site look like? If you don’t want to hire someone to design it from scratch, you’ll have to find, download and install a theme.
- Functionality: Free blogs include some functions you might take for granted, like a comment system, spam protection, backups, sharing, analytics and more. You’ll have to add these manually to your self-hosted blog.
Where to Get the Best Blog Hosting Deal
You’ll find endless blog hosting options, but most blogs use one of a select few:
- HostGator: Introductory rate is $5.95/month, paid for a three-year term ($214.20).
- Bluehost: Introductory rate is $3.49/month, paid for a three-year term ($125.64).
- GoDaddy: Introductory rate is $3.99/month, paid for a three-year term ($144.64).
You’ll use the host to manage your website’s back end, including your domain.
Be ready to make a commitment to your blog, and purchase the standard three-year term at the introductory rate.
Once you start paying annually, the rate will about double — so you’ll save a ton of money paying upfront.
Each of these platforms offers easy WordPress installation with a click.
You won’t have to learn code to build the site and start blogging.
How to Save Money on Blog Design
Unless you have a sweet hookup or an established brand and business, don’t hire someone to design your website from scratch.
It’s a time-consuming and expensive process with little benefit for most bloggers.
Instead, use a theme as a template for your site’s design.
A WordPress install will come with a few free themes you can tweak as you please, but everyone else will probably use these.
To set yourself apart, choose from thousands of WordPress themes. You’ll find them at any price point you want — from FREE to hundreds of dollars.
Bloggers I love overwhelmingly use these themes, which you can buy for under $100 each:
- Genesis: This premiere theme from Studiopress is the base of operations for a ton of additional designs called “child themes.”
- Thesis: The popular theme from DIYThemes uses a unique visual template editor that lets you control your site’s design and functionality without touching any code.
- X Theme: This theme comes with four entirely different, yet totally customizable “Stacks.” Each one is easy to manipulate for a completely unique design.
I also found these themes from Paul Jarvis. They’re all simple to use and focused on content.
And they come at a good price:
- Ponder: FREE! A theme that showcases your words — and only those — on the front page.
- Contents: $39 as of this writing, but looks like it’ll increase to $49 soon. A visually appealing blog for writers.
- Nada: $39 as of this writing, but looks like it’ll increase to $49 soon. A theme with no features — easy to use and fast to load.
- Photos: $39 as of this writing, but looks like it’ll increase to $49 soon. Designed for photographers.
Free Ways to Customize Your Self-Hosted Blog
Because WordPress is an open-source program, developers create plugins to add almost any function you need to your blog.
Most plugins are free, and you can install them with one click through WordPress — an affordable alternative to hiring a developer.
These are my favorite free WordPress plugins:
- WP Editorial Calendar: Get a calendar view of your publishing schedule.
- SEO by Yoast: Easily optimize each post with keywords, a title and a description to increase search traffic.
- Bottom of Every Post and Top of Every Post: Use one of these to add text to each post. Encourage readers to subscribe, share or check out a certain page on your blog.
Because plugins add code to your site, they can affect the functionality of your theme and the loading time of your site. Choose tested plugins that will give you the most benefit — and use them sparingly.
Regardless of where you host your site, here are some more ways to look professional and keep expenses down:
Where to Find Free Design Tools
Customize your blog to showcase your personality or personal brand.
Use a custom header, buttons and logos.
If you want to create your own, use a free photo-editing site. These are my favorites:
- Canva: Canva is a graphic design tool made especially for social media and blogging. Create and download your images for free, or add premium elements for $1 per download.
- PicMonkey: Touch up photos or create a design from scratch with this free tool. For more options, upgrade to PicMonkey Royale for $4.99 a month.
If you want to outsource design, but still save money, try 99Designs or Crowdspring to find quality, affordable designers.
On each of these platforms, designers will offer ideas, and you choose your favorite. Cost will vary, but this could be a smart way to save money by testing a number of lesser-known designers versus hiring someone outright.
Where to Find Free, High-Quality Images
In addition to your header, wow readers with images all over your blog.
Be sure to include them in sidebars and blog posts. And don’t forget your headshot!
You don’t have to be a photographer or dish out a lot of money to do it. Here are some places to find free high-quality photos:
- Creative Commons: Through this search engine, you can find photos licensed for free use around the web. Note the specific license of photos you choose, and attribute accordingly.
- Pexels: This free stock photo site has a limited selection, but you can download high-quality images for free without attribution.
- Unsplash: All photos on this site are licensed under Creative Commons Zero — you can use them however you want, for free, without attribution or permission.
- Death to Stock: Subscribe for free for a pack of lifestyle imagery in your inbox each month.
- MorgueFile: Browse the archives for unique, high-quality free photos. You can also use this site as a search engine to find paid photos on a variety of sites.
Free Tools to Help You Create Better Content
One simple way to look professional without spending extra money is to write great blog posts. These tools can help you do that:
- Soovle: Use this keyword tool to find the most-searched words and phrases. Include those in your headlines and content to help more readers find your blog.
- HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator: This tool helps you find headlines and blog post ideas on what you want to write about.
- CoSchedule Headline Analyzer: Enter your headline idea into this tool to find out whether it’s strong enough to catch readers’ attention.
- Grammarly: Install this browser extension to check your writing for small mistakes you and your spellcheck might miss.
- Hemingway: This free editor helps you clear your writing of complicated, meandering sentences. Readers will appreciate your more concise posts!
Free and Easy Ways to Promote Your Blog
Whew! You have a blog.
Now you need readers. Building a website is challenging, but promotion is a never-ending feat.
Thankfully, it doesn’t have to cost any money — just time. Use these free tools for blog promotion:
- Mailchimp: Use this service to set up an email list to communicate with your readers outside of your blog. It’s free up to 2,000 subscribers.
- Hootsuite: Save time by writing and scheduling social media posts all at once. Hootsuite lets you schedule posts for Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and more. You can also read these platforms feeds all in one place.
- Buffer: Also for social media management, but limited compared to Hootsuite. I love Buffer for its cleaner interface and integration with other apps. It’s great for sharing interesting posts and resources.
- Google Docs, et. al.: Networking and guest blogging is your strongest promotional tool as a new blogger. Use Google Docs, Spreadsheets and Drive to keep track of your efforts and collaborate with people in your network.
Your Turn: What tools do you use to save money on your blog?
Disclosure: A toast to savings! Thanks for allowing us to place affiliate links in this post.
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more.
The post Blog on a Budget Without Looking Cheap: Our Favorite Blogging Tools appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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The 10 Best (and Worst) Cities for Single Moms. Is Yours on the List?
I’m not going to pretend for a second I know what it’s like to be a single mom.
So I’m just going to skip over this whole intro part and get right to the news: WalletHub recently released its list of 2016’s best and worst cities for single moms.
To create the list, the site compared the 150 most populous U.S. cities across two key dimensions: “single moms’ economic and social well-being” and “child-friendly environment.”
The first dimension includes factors like median annual income for single moms, financial insecurity of single mom households and access to affordable housing.
The second includes the ratio of childcare workers to children, and access to child care, playgrounds and parks.
Here are the 10 cities that scored the best — as well as the 10 worst.
The 10 Best Cities for Single Moms
- Scottsdale, Arizona
- Madison, Wisconsin
- Fremont, California
- San Francisco, California
- Seattle, Washington
- Pembroke Pines, Florida
- Irvine, California
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- Overland Park, Kansas
The 10 Worst Cities for Single Moms
- San Bernardino, California
- Fresno, California
- Detroit, Michigan
- Stockton, California
- Los Angeles, California
- Newark, New Jersey
- Laredo, Texas
- North Las Vegas, Nevada
- Santa Ana, California
- Oxnard, California
A Few More Interesting Nuggets
The study pulled out some other interesting numbers, such as the city with the…
- Highest median annual income for single moms, adjusted to cost of living: Gilbert, Arizona
- Lowest median annual income for single moms, adjusted to cost of living: New York, New York
- Lowest percentage of single moms with underaged children in poverty: Pembroke Pines, Florida
- Highest percentage of single moms with underaged children in poverty: Brownsville, Texas
- Lowest cost of a babysitter: Fort Wayne, Indiana
- Highest cost of a babysitter: San Francisco, California
You can also check this map for a visual representation (blue is good; orange, not so much).
Source: WalletHub
Financial Advice for Single Moms
If you’re struggling, don’t be afraid to lean on your local resources.
“Both state and national programs that offer support and resources are invaluable to single parents,” says Alyssa R. Martina, lecturer at the University of Michigan law school, and a former single mother.
“Most counties around the country have financial assistance programs to help families in need.”
Specifically, Martina recommends exploring programs through the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and your local school district.
She also encourages single moms to invest money — even if you think you can’t.
“Start small but start anyway!” she says.
“Put aside a little bit of money each week for your rainy day fund and try to commit to investing a portion of it every quarter. It will add up and in a few years, you’ll be grateful that you had the discipline to save and even invest a little.”
If you’d like more advice, here are a few posts that might interest you:
Your Turn: Do you live in one of these cities? What do you think?
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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The One Site We Always Check Before Shopping at Walmart
Finally, we’ve got a mole in Walmart — someone to let us in on the scoop and show us the ins and outs of sales and coupons.
I can’t confirm the mastermind behind I Heart the Mart is an undercover Walmart employee selling secrets to the internet, but I see no other explanation for the downright insane tips and tricks the site has to offer.
In reality, I Heart the Mart is a blog run by a handful of deal hunters who share their Walmart steals with a bunch of strangers online.
Recent deals I’ve seen include $5.97 packs of diapers (those things really add up!), a Leaning Tower of Pisa Lego set ($29.99 is a lot cheaper than a ticket to Italy) and a strawberry-shaped cat bed (we’ve already established I’m a thrifty cat lady).
Here’s this resource can help you save even more money at the place you’re probably already shopping.
1. Unadvertised Walmart Deals
While many of the deals at Walmart go out in their flyers and on the website, plenty of others are just waiting on the shelves to be discovered.
Rather than trolling the aisles looking for goodies, head to I Heart the Mart to get the scoop on these diamonds in the rough.
Whether it’s groceries, personal care products or baby items, there are deals to be had if you know where to look — and now you know.
2. Walmart Price Matching
While I Heart the Mart will thrill any die-hard couponer, it’s also a good resource for those new the money-saving game.
The Price-Matching 101 post walks you through the basics of price matching, with personal examples and tried-and-true tips.
I’ve always been reticent to try price matching. What if I do it wrong? What documentation do you need?
But this primer lays out the basics of how it works and even what to say and bring with you.
3. Recipes and Crafts
Wondering what to do with your loot? The site’s got you covered there too.
The recipe section provides quick-to-make ideas using ingredients from Walmart. You’ll find ideas from chicken pot pies to strawberry mousse.
Meanwhile, if you’ve ventured into the craft section on your money-saving shopping trip, this blog has ideas for that, too.
Is it the night before Easter and you forgot to buy baskets? Make one out of candy! I’d do this even if I had an Easter basket.
Did you get a deal on 1,000 pipe cleaners for $1? Good news: The blog’s got 25 crafty ideas for you.
4. Nightly Recaps
Most nights you’ll find a roundup post featuring the best deals of the day.
If you aren’t up for a deep dive into Walmart lore, just check this post for the highlights.
This is also a good place to check if you’re heading out the door and finalizing your shopping list. Many of the sale items are pantry staples or personal care items, which don’t spoil quickly.
Add a couple of deals to the end of your list and save some serious dough.
5. Walmart Coupons
I have to admit: I’m not usually up on my couponing game.
I don’t have the patience to check the paper or online sources (though there are plenty of great ones).
Luckily, I Heart the Mart does the legwork and rounds up the best coupons for you, along with tips about any restrictions and ways to optimize your coupon use.
Most of the deals expire within a week, so check the site within a few days of your trip to the store.
6. Deal-Stacking Advice
The writers at I Heart the Mart have mastered the art of stacking discounts to get crazy deals.
For example, they’ll link to coupons to stack on top of current price roll-backs (temporary discounts).
Basically, you’re using coupons on sale items. And it’s just crazy enough to work. It’s also how you end up with 50-cent cans of Chef Boyardee and $2 tubes of toothpaste.
7. Walmart Deals Under $1
What is it about the magic of getting something for less than $1?
Whether it’s a trip to the dollar store or a steal at the megamart, shoppers love it.
Head to the Under $1 @ Walmart section for deals less than a buck. Some of the items even end up being free with a printable coupon.
Recent thrifty winners included hot dogs, baked beans and two liters of 7-Up. Is it just me, or is there a BBQ theme happening here?
Your Turn: Have you checked out I Heart the Mart?
Lyndsee Simpson is a writer and editor living in Washington, D.C. She’s stocking up on strawberry-shaped cat beds and pipe cleaners.
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