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الخميس، 30 يونيو 2016

This Bank Will Actually Pay Your Kids to Read Books This Summer

Reading is awesome.

I mean, I’ll admit I’m not a totally unbiased source. I am a writer, after all — and I grew up with my nose almost permanently pressed into a book.

But there’s nothing quite like escaping your own life to get into a good writer’s story or headspace. Plus, reading’s got all the makings of a fantastic hobby: It’s cheap, portable — and best of all — it goes great with coffee.

But the love of reading — or a complete disinterest in books — starts early.

If you want to pass your bookwormishness on to your children, you’ve got to get them interested now. And since reading is a skill sure to help your kids in their future careers, it’s a worthwhile project.

So we were so excited to find out about this cool promotion from TD Bank.

TD Bank’s Summer Reading Program: Free Money!

If you’ve got a child in kindergarten through fifth grade, listen up: Your kid can earn $10 this summer, just by reading.

Once your child has read 10 books (psst — here are 11 ways to get ‘em for free!), print out this form and fill in the completed titles.

Bring the completed form to your nearest TD Bank by Aug. 31, and the bank will deposit $10 into your new or existing Simple Savings account.

The cool part? There’s no maintenance fee on the savings account for the first twelve months — or if the account holder is under the age of 18. So this is a great way to introduce your child to the world of saving, too!

Good financial fitness is probably the only thing higher than a love of reading on the list of “things best learned young”.

So take advantage of this opportunity to teach both to your kids at the same time. Here are the deal’s full details.

And while you’re at it, here are some other posts we have to help you teach your kids to become boss Penny Hoarders:

Happy summer reading!

Your Turn: What was your favorite book as a kid?

Jamie Cattanach is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder and lifetime bookworm. Her writing has also been featured at Word Riot, DMQ Review, Hinchas de Poesia and elsewhere. Find @JamieCattanach on Twitter to wave hello.

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This Woman Will Make an Extra $15K This Year — From Clothes in Her Closet

Ever opened your closet door, stared at a bursting rack of clothes and thought, “Ugh, I’ve got nothing to wear”?

I know I have.

But what if instead of seeing the same ol’ boring weekday-wear, you saw a whole new wardrobe?

Caitlin Skidmore found a way to do just that. After a yearlong breakup with shopping, she realized she already had everything she needed to wear a new, fashionable outfit every day.

She learned a ton, saved time and money — and launched a five-figure business to help other women learn to do the same.

Here’s how.

“Breaking Up” With Shopping

Although her shopping habit wasn’t destroying the young couple’s financial life, Skidmore knew the money she spent on clothing could be better spent elsewhere. The expense wasn’t serving her well.

“I was always buying stuff, but I felt like I had nothing to wear,” she says.

Skidmore worked full-time at a nonprofit that helps families break the cycle of poverty, and her work made the superfluity of her shopping extremely clear.

“As I sat across the table from a young dad who wept, telling me how he’d sold everything they had to try to keep food on the table for his wife and babies, my heart was broken,” she writes.

She wanted to recapture the time and energy she spent on getting dressed so she could spend it helping others instead.

So a few weeks later, when her pastor challenged the congregation to “give up something good for something eternal,” she and her friend Kat had an idea: They’d stop shopping.

For a whole year.

So she did. And in the process, she discovered something amazing: 365 “new” outfits already hanging in her closet.

“What I learned changed my entire life,” Skidmore says.

And suddenly, she’d found a unique way to help others change their lives, too.

From Blog to Business

During the shopping ban, Skidmore chronicled her daily outfits — and what she was learning — on a blog called Greater Than Rubies.

Each day, she’d “shop” her closet for a “new” outfit. Then, her husband Troy would take a photo and she’d write a post about what she was learning.

But after the year was over and she’d learned how to wear and style every piece in her closet, she wasn’t sure what to do next.

She knew she had valuable information that would help others. Her blog had attracted attention from women around the world who wanted to learn how to remix their own closets.

But she wasn’t sure how to get her knowledge out there. She’d always loved fashion, but she didn’t have any relevant work experience as a stylist or personal shopper — the closest she’d come was the obligatory retail job so many of us take when we’re young.

Then she discovered Zero to Launch — an online course from financial advisor and best-selling author Ramit Sethi that teaches everyday people how to launch extraordinary online businesses from scratch.

She’d already learned a ton from signing up for Sethi’s free newsletter, so she had faith in his knowledge and technique. She took the plunge and bought the course in spring of 2014, two years after her year without shopping.

By fall, she’d launched her business — and earned $5,000 before the year’s end.

Building a Successful Business from Scratch

After completing Zero to Launch, Skidmore’s blog blossomed into a newsletter and a set of e-courses.

It also became a networking tool and earned her one-on-one “luxury” clients, speaking engagements and publication in local papers.

Her courses come in two tiers (with a third currently under construction), priced at $17 and $49 — but she makes about $1,000 every time she does a lecture.

And when a woman hires Skidmore to do a one-on-one closet review, she could earn anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars.

And even though she hasn’t done much targeted advertising yet, she’s doing quite well.

“This year, I’m on track right now, to do about $15,000, but the end of the year is always bigger for me,” Skidmore explains. “I think I’m going to get closer to $20,000.”

How to Start a Business Doing What You Love

Skidmore credits the bulk of her success to Sethi’s course.

“I haven’t really taken any other courses or classes or whatever other than Zero to Launch,” she says. “I use what I learned from it… in all the different pieces of my business.”

She says the course made it simple to start earning: By simply following the steps laid out in the course, “at the end, you will have an automated product.”

“It gives you a really easy road map,” Skidmore explains. Every other week, she’d get a new piece of the “map” to work on, from determining the product itself to making sure she could find an audience.

For instance, one lesson suggested searching Amazon for books in your prospective business category. However, instead of looking at the five-star winners, Zero to Launch suggested looking for ones with three to four stars.

“Look at what people are saying,” Skidmore says. “What did the books not have that they really wanted? Or, what were the things that they really liked?”

By understanding what products are already available — and what pain points aren’t yet being addressed — you can craft a business that fills a verified hole in the market.

But the most important thing Zero to Launch did for Skidmore? It gave her the confidence that her product was worthwhile.

“Honestly, after that year of blogging, I was like, ‘Do I want to do this? It feels so shallow to always talk about clothes,’” she says.

As a result, she felt even more uncomfortable when faced with the prospect of selling her advice.

But through Sethi’s course, she learned that “sales” doesn’t have to automatically mean “sleazy.”

“If you have something that you know will help people and you don’t offer it to them, you’re doing them a disservice,” Skidmore says.

“You need to be honest,” she explains. “You need to make something that’s amazing and then offer it to people. If you allow your fear of selling to hold you back, you’re not really serving the people that need it.”

By following that advice, Skidmore was able to transform her hobby into her livelihood. After seeing her mounting success, the couple decided to move to one income so she could work on Greater Than Rubies full time — although she remains on her nonprofit’s board.

Now that Skidmore spends the bulk of her time unabashedly talking about clothes, she’s realized how dressing well directly impacts her students’ lives.

“It literally impacts everything,” she says. “It impacts your energy. It impacts your finances. It impacts how you feel about yourself. It runs the gamut. If you can do it a little bit better, you impact every area of your life.”

And helping people “do it a little bit better” is Skidmore’s favorite part of her job. Even though fashion might seem nonessential, her advice makes real changes in these women’s lives.

“I love seeing women get so excited: Oh my gosh! There are so many things in my closet. I just never thought about how to put those together,” she says.

And since Skidmore followed her passion, had faith in her ability and worked hard to realize her dreams, she gets to see and experience that thrill every single day.

Your Turn: Which of your hobbies would you turn into a full-time business?

Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links. We’re letting you know because it’s what Honest Abe would do. After all, he is on our favorite coin.

Jamie Cattanach is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Her writing has also been featured at Word Riot, DMQ Review, Hinchas de Poesia and elsewhere. Find @JamieCattanach on Twitter to wave hello.

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This Work-From-Home Job Comes With a Computer and Paid Vacation!

Another day, another sweet work-from-home job!

I found this one while scrolling through the amazing Work at Home Mom Revolution blog (which is definitely worth a bookmark!).

It’s a part-time job with Digication, an educational technology company. Your main focus will be customer service, though you’ll get to help with other projects when you have the time.

Plus, the company provides you with a computer AND a week of paid vacation!

Here’s how to apply.

How to Get a Work-From-Home Job With Digication

In this role, your main responsibility will be responding to “customer-generated tickets, calls and emails,” and, when time allows, assisting with other projects like “video editing, blogging, photo editing and documentation and training projects.”

You’ll work from home for 20-25 hours per week, arranged around your existing schedule “when possible.” The pay is $12-$15 per hour. 

To be eligible, you need to be a high-school graduate with strong customer service, problem-solving, time-management and communications skills.  

In return, the company will provide you with a computer, monthly internet stipend, one week of paid vacation and “excellent company culture.” 

More than 100 people have already submitted their resumes and cover letters, so if you want a shot, you’d better apply soon.

Your Turn: Will you apply to this flexible work-from-home job?

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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Is GOP Tax Reform Plan the Answer to Our Economic Woes?

Is GOP Tax Reform Plan the Answer to Our Economic Woes?

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Here’s How I Make a Good Living Without Working Full Time

Maybe you hate full-time employment.

Or, like me, maybe you find jobs interesting for a few months at most, and then you’re ready to do something else.

But hey, you still have to pay the bills, right?

So can you survive without a full-time job, or even with no job at all? You can if you develop enough other sources of income.

But it’s not that simple. You also have to know how to handle the ups and downs of life without a weekly or monthly paycheck.

I’ve worked full time for only a few months in my life (I’m 52), so naturally I’ve had to learn a few strategies for getting by without a regular paycheck.

Here’s how I manage to avoid jobs most of the time and still pay the bills. Of course, your results may vary, but here is a basic outline for how to live the jobless lifestyle:

  • Control expenses
  • Diversify income
  • Have money saved
  • Keep adding income sources
  • Use temporary jobs for specific goals
  • Go into debt the right way
  • Plan for loss of income

Let’s look at these strategies one at a time.

1. Control Your Expenses

If you want to avoid jobs, it helps to be a bit frugal.

But looking for ways to spend less doesn’t have to mean sacrificing anything important. It can be a way to have more of what really matters.

So if you want a richer lifestyle through frugality, watch how you spend your money.

And when it comes to living without a regular job, you don’t always have to think in terms of pinching pennies.

You just have to control your expenses so you spend less than you make. If your income doubles and you spend 50% more, you’re fine, right?

When my wife and I had a higher income, we had a house cleaner, but when our income dropped, we eliminated that luxury.

On the other hand, even when we made six figures, we had a small house that was cheap to heat and maintain, because some expenses are more difficult to eliminate quickly. Here’s the important rule:

Keep your fixed expenses (those you can’t reduce or eliminate quickly) low and you’ll be able to weather the ups and downs of irregular income.

2. Diversify Your Income

It helps to have many sources of income, so the loss of any one of them won’t send you scurrying for a job. You might write for content websites, sell used books, rent out rooms in your house and make money collecting returnable cans and bottles.

Last year, like the year before, my wife and I had more than 20 sources of income and not one of them accounted for more than 25% of our total income. Since we controlled expenses and lived on about 75% of our income, we could have lost any one income source and we would still have been OK.

As I explained in my post on income diversification, you should also aim to diversify the types of income you have coming in.

Here’s an example of some of the things we’ve done in recent years in each of the following four types or categories:

1. Business (including freelancing): I make a little money from my websites, I write for blogs, and we both have some royalty income from books.

2. Investments: We lend money to house-flippers, invest in Lending Club loans, have rental income, we accidentally flipped a condo for a profit and we made money twice in the last three years by selling our home and buying a cheaper one.

3. Money-Making Projects: We’ve had a couple successful garage sales, I made $4,000 last year from credit card and bank sign-up bonuses and more than once I’ve sold stuff taken from a dumpster.

4. Temporary Employment (more on this in a moment): My wife occasionally finds work teaching adult education classes and I briefly had a few jobs four years ago.

You can find many more ways to make money here on The Penny Hoarder, including 103 ways to make money at home (yes, I’m writing this at home in pajamas).

Of course, unless you have a “regular” and successful business (which sounds like a job to me), all of the examples given so far provide somewhat unpredictable income.

That’s why you should…

3. Always Have Money in the Bank

If you have enough money saved, ups and downs in income are not as big a deal.

A few years back, Google search algorithm changes caused our the income from our websites to drop in half in one day, and it continued to slide from more than $10,000 per month to about $200 per month now.

Honestly, I was stressed about that “little” change in our lives. But at least we had saved money during the good times.

You have to decide how much is enough for you, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable if we didn’t have enough savings to pay the bills for a year or two.

And even with money in the bank, my wife and I don’t wait for this or that income stream to dry up before acting. Instead we…

4. Keep Looking for New Sources of Income

I recently renovated and rented out the other half of the duplex we bought a few months ago (we live in the other half). It generates cash flow of about $400 per month.

Now I’m considering discounted closed-end municipal bond funds as a way to make 6% or better on some other investment money.

You don’t need to get too stressed out about it, but you should keep your eyes open for ways to add to your income sources.

In fact, while this article is about a life without regular employment, there are times when you might want to consider getting a paycheck for a while. That’s why I will sometimes…

5. Consider “Employment Projects”

I like to consider jobs as temporary projects. Apart from when you just have no other way to pay the bills, you can use them in two ways:

1. To generate low-stress income while you figure things out

2. To prepare for future income possibilities

When our business income was falling like a rock, I freaked out a bit, so I worked as an electric tram driver and later as a security guard. I even worked full time for two weeks at one point.

I discovered that working and having even a small paycheck helped me relax while I figured out what to do next.

It was even fun… but then it got old after a couple months. I quit those jobs and began freelance writing and making money in other ways.

Use jobs to settle your mind and to provide temporary income while you make other plans.

One of those “other ways” I made money was working for an investor who flipped houses. I was paid only $100 cash per day, but I discovered I like to paint.

That and the other skills I learned later helped me flip a condo, fix our next home (which we sold for a profit) and renovate our current duplex rental unit. We also make 10% annual interest lending money to the investor.

Use jobs as a way to learn valuable skills and to make contacts. You can also use a job as training to start your own business.

However you use your jobs, if you do it right, they will be temporary.

6. Have Only Good Debt

Bad debt” is money you owe for consumer items or anything that doesn’t improve your financial situation.

“Good debt” is income-producing or money-saving debt, such as borrowing for education that improves your ability to make money, borrowing for rental real estate, and even borrowing for your own home — assuming doing so actually cuts your costs versus renting.

The only debt I have at the moment is about $10,000 on a couple of credit cards, but that’s actually good debt. I’m in the zero-interest teaser period, and the money is parked in bank accounts that pay 5% annual interest. Hey, it will only add about $500 to our income this year, but every little bit helps.

Aim to have only good debt if you want to live without a regular job.

7. Plan for Changes

Sometimes you know you’ll be losing income, like when you plan to tell the boss goodbye. See my guide to how to quit your job to prepare for that.

But also prepare for unexpected losses of income. For example, if we move and sell our duplex, I have a list of potential ways to replace the income.

If I can’t keep up with my freelance writing (I’m tired of staring at the computer — and that income is down 50% already), I’ll dig out my plans for making money in other ways.

Just about any income stream can slow or dry up unexpectedly, so make contingency plans.

What will you do if you get injured and can’t work for a while? What will you do if this or that source of income disappears? What if you sell an investment; where will you put the money to generate income?

If you ask yourself the right questions and make a few contingency plans, you’ll have less stress when life happens.

Do that and use the rest of the strategies here, and you can ride the ups and downs of income without ever resorting to a nine-to-five position.

Your Turn: Do you think you could learn to live without having a regular job?

Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror, and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (so far).

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How Stoicism’s Principles Can Help You Transform Your Financial Life

Some of you may remember that, a few years ago, I wrote a three part series on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay Self-Reliance. I read it for the first time almost twenty years ago and not only has it had a tremendous impact on my life ever since, it’s also triggered a lifelong interest in philosophy and how it can impact how I choose to live my life.

Perhaps more than any other topic, I’ve found incredible amounts of personal value from the philosophical school of thought known as stoicism. Stoicism actually has a great deal in common with Emerson’s writings, but the tradition started much earlier with the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Personally, I find stoicism invaluable for navigating the modern world while maintaining any semblance of self-control. I consider the ideas within stoicism to be an essential part of my own financial life (and personal life, as well).

I’ve discussed stoicism in brief in several places over the years (mostly reader mailbag questions). Today, I’m going to dig a little deeper into stoicism – or at least my interpretation of it – and show how it is really useful in terms of helping me to make sense of the world and maintain the self-control needed to find financial, professional, and personal success.

What Is Stoicism?

Google actually offers up a pretty good definition of stoicism:

an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded at Athens by Zeno of Citium. The school taught that virtue, the highest good, is based on knowledge, and that the wise live in harmony with the divine Reason (also identified with Fate and Providence) that governs nature, and are indifferent to the vicissitudes of fortune and to pleasure and pain.

I tend to think of stoicism as the separation between the way the world happens to be and my emotional response to it. In other words, I strive to separate the things I can control – my internal emotions and thoughts – from the things I cannot control – the rest of the world.

It is through that control of internal emotions and thoughts that you can begin to see the real truth of things.

Take a bottle of soda, for instance. It’s neither good nor bad. It’s going to taste sweet and fizzy when I drink it, but the cost of that comes in the health effects – it’s going to cause me to gain weight and won’t have a good impact on blood sugar levels, either. It is what it is – neither good nor evil.

Yet, if I were passionate about drinking soda, I would personally hone in on the good. I would have an emotional response driving me toward the soda.

On the other hand, if I were focused intensely on my personal health, I would personally hone in on the bad. I would have an emotional response driving me away from the soda.

Those responses would mostly appear as gut feelings. I might be enticed by the soda… or I might be disgusted by it. In either case, my emotions are guiding me.

Those emotions, though, they’re inside me. I can control them if I so choose. It’s not easy to do so, especially at first, but when I do get them under control, I can make the decision to drink that soda in a more rational way. In the end, it’s a cost-benefit thing – I will enjoy the experience of the fizzy drink, but I won’t enjoy the health consequences – and I can decide for myself internally whether the cost is worth the benefit.

Once you start taking that kind of perspective about everything, it starts to become the natural way of viewing the world. You start to realize that your emotions and desires tend to mostly lead you into doing things that don’t really benefit your life and often are a detriment to your life. They guide you into experiences that may have huge negatives and guide you away from experiences that may have huge positives.

Let’s dig in a little deeper and look at some of the stoic principles that I personally find very useful.

Principles of Stoicism That You May Find Useful

While the key principles of stoicism are few and straightforward, they imply many other ideas, many of which can be useful in a modern life that isn’t strictly stoic but simply strives to build a better life for oneself. Here are some of those principles.

Acknowledge that all emotions come from within and that we create our own feelings

You decide if you like something. You decide if you want something. You decide if you don’t like something. Those are decisions that are up to you, not up to the person, place, thing, or idea in question.

Yet, so often, we react so automatically to things with a simple emotion or desire that we don’t even recognize that our response comes from within. We basically attribute it to that product.

Think about how you feel when you see your favorite food in the world on a plate in front of you, or when you see your favorite person again that you haven’t seen in a while. Those are feelings and emotions inside of you, created by you, but they’re such immediate responses that they feel automatic. They feel almost like they’re created by the thing that you like.

The same thing occurs during every single buying situation. You might deeply want something, but that want is something inside of you, something you created. You created it and it’s an entirely internal thing, so you can just as easily stop it if you so choose.

This is such a huge key to personal and professional and financial success. You create your emotional responses, and you can turn them off if you choose to do so. They’re all within you.

Find a respected mentor

When we take emotions out of the equation, our decisions are often reduced down to being based on our understanding of the world, namely the consequences of various options for us and for others.

Over time, experience teaches us quite a lot about these potential consequences of our decisions, but it’s never perfect, especially when we’re younger.

This is why a mentor is so valuable. A mentor can help us walk through the consequences of various choices that face us in life. A professional mentor can help us make good career decisions, for example. A trusted life mentor – perhaps an older relative that you trust, a pastor, or just someone you respect in the community – can do the same thing for your personal decisions.

Mentors play a powerful role in helping you make decisions outside of the influence of your emotional responses. They usually don’t have an emotional stake in your choice, so they can usually look at the options for what they are and help you walk through those options. They can be invaluable, especially when you can tell that emotion is clouding your judgment.

Know that failure happens, but life goes on

One of the most powerful emotions is fear. People are afraid of lots of things: damaging relationships, damaging their career, missing out on something, and so on. The idea of failure seems very negative for most people.

The thing is, fear is just another emotion. It’s an emotion that tells us that we should never take a risk, that we should avoid failure at all costs.

If we do that, though, we miss out on tons of opportunities. Opportunities in life almost always come with some risk of failure, and that’s okay. Failure happens. It’s really okay to fail sometimes, as long as you learn something from that failure.

Fear of failure should never hold you back from taking on challenges. Instead, if a challenge or opportunity presents itself, you should evaluate what the actual drawbacks of failure are, how likely they are, and whether you could handle a worst case scenario. Nothing cuts through fear like looking at the reality of what could happen if things don’t go quite right and directly comparing that to the real benefits of taking that risk.

Fear is an emotion, like any other. When you realize that and step away from it, many professional, personal, and financial risks look very different.

Read and learn with purpose and apply your new knowledge

Part of the value of stoicism comes from being able to evaluate people, places, things, situations, and ideas without emotion interfering with that judgment. To do so requires knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge.

Thus, one of the strongest ways to become a better person in terms of properly evaluating the world is to become smarter, to build up your knowledge, and to be able to apply that knowledge in the world.

If you feel uncertain and afraid about financial decisions, for example, the best response isn’t to quake in fear and postpone those decisions. The best response is to learn. Go to the library and check out some books on investing and personal finance. Learn more about those issues so that they no longer seem scary and unknown. If you do that, it becomes much easier to remove the emotion from those kinds of decisions and to truly make the best decision for you.

Be brutally honest with yourself

No one is perfect. We often hold inflated views of ourselves, though, because it feels good to think that we’re above average and highly competent.

The problem is that one’s inflated view of oneself can lead them to not bother to improve themselves, and that leads to gradually falling behind others while still maintaining that self-impression of being above average. When that happens, you begin to get passed over in many aspects of life – job promotions, relationships, and so on – and it doesn’t make sense to you. That can cause anger, jealousy, and many other negative reactions that mostly serve to cover up the reality of what’s happening.

The best solution is to be brutally honest with yourself. How do your skills line up next to your peers? In what areas do their skills exceed yours? In what areas are you more skilled? In what areas can you improve yourself?

This does not extend to “brutal honesty” with others. “Brutal honesty” with others is a cover for being cruel, which has tons of negative social consequences that no one wants in their life.

Reflect on your time use

It should be obvious by now that stoicism ties heavily into self-reliance and self-improvement. Stoicism requires you to put emotions aside, see the world for what it is as much as possible, and be brutally honest with yourself about your place in the world and the attributes you have on offer. This almost always results in a strong drive to improve yourself through acquiring knowledge, getting in better shape, and other aspects of self-improvement.

The challenge for many people is finding the time to do this, and, quite honestly, time management itself is a great area in which you can improve yourself. It often directly leads to more time that you can use for improving various aspects of your life.

Take a strong, serious look at how you use your time. One great way to do this is to do a time diary. I use time use trackers like Timing to keep track of how I’m using my time. This almost always shows me, in very clear terms, how well I’m using my time. Many days, I set personal goals for time use and this type of time tracker helps me keep on task.

Reflect on your money use

Literally everything I said above also applies to money use, so I’m largely going to repeat the same section above because, well, it applies so well to the connection between stoicism and money.

Take a strong, serious look at how you use your money and whether or not it really makes any sense. One great way to do this is to use a spending tracker. I personally use You Need a Budget for this; the older version (version 4) allows you to track your spending offline and doesn’t require a subscription. Tracking my spending almost always shows me, in very clear terms, how well I’m using my money and whether I’m wasting it or using it in ways that will continue to bloom in my life.

Reflect on your purpose and whether you’re actually doing things in line with that purpose

Thinking about one’s purpose in life is a rather deep question, one that often doesn’t have an easy answer. It’s something I’ve thought about a lot over the years, and I’ve come to a small handful of conclusions about what my own purpose in life is – it mostly boils down to helping others and improving myself. When I do things, I prefer to have them fall into one of those two categories.

Once you’ve really honed in on a central purpose or two, start looking at the ways in which you spend your time and ask how they’re helping you achieve that central purpose in life.

What I’ve found is that, time and time again, when I spend time on things that are more closely related to those two or three central purposes in life, I feel good, and when I do things that aren’t related to those central purposes, I feel bad. Thus, using those purposes as a general guide for how to spend my time and how to spend my money makes a lot of sense.

Kill procrastination, for it is your enemy

As I mentioned above, once you start digging into stoicism, time management becomes more important to you. The biggest reason for that is that you don’t want to waste time, because time wasted is time not spent on the things that are closest to your central purposes in life.

Unsurprisingly, this all points a very negative finger right at procrastination. Procrastination means you’re postponing doing something that’s important in order to do something that’s urgent but perhaps not nearly as important, which is a perfect example of letting emotions run your decision-making process. You want to do something else because the important thing perhaps isn’t as “fun.” The end result is that you end up underperforming on the important task.

The best approach is to start in on important tasks as soon as you know about them. Start saving for retirement now. Start working on that project now. Even if the initial steps aren’t perfect, most of the time they’re far better than doing nothing during that time.

Be present in each moment

When we take ourselves out of the moment, we allow ourselves to operate on instinct, and instinct is often heavily guided by emotion. We don’t respond to things rationally and instead rely on the most instantaneous of reactions to deal with situations. In short, we make better decisions and take more away from situations if we’re present in the moment.

The solution here is easy: whatever it is that you’re doing at the moment, focus on it. Don’t let your mind wander. Don’t spend your time thinking about something else – if your mind is on another topic, write it down and think about it later when you can focus on it instead of splitting your attention.

If you’re present in the moment, you’re far more likely to build strong relationships and make good decisions, including your spending decisions. If you’re distracted in the moment, you’re far more likely to make poor spending decisions and take less away from the moment.

Incidentally, this is why my cell phone is actually completely turned off a lot of the time.

Ask yourself “why” when you have an emotional response

Even as you find yourself moving more and more into these practices, you’ll find yourself responding emotionally to things from time to time. You’ll crave something. You’ll get upset by something. You’ll get angry.

Those emotions are completely normal. The goal of stoicism is not to be emotionless, but to understand those emotions, know where they came from, and thus have a better capacity for making good decisions when something similar comes around in the future.

Whenever I’m trying to figure out a desire or an emotional response, I usually use a technique that I call “the five whys.” I ask myself why I’m feeling that way, and then why the answer to that question is the way it is, and then why again, and again, and yet again.

Almost always, by the fifth “why,” I’m getting somewhere. I’m usually face to face with some sort of real challenge or conflict in my life, something that I can actually process or deal with or think about. When I fix that problem, then inevitably the overly powerful emotional response goes away, which enables me to make more rational choices after that.

Remember that the greatest virtue is a rational life

Decisions made on impulse and emotion usually end up having negative consequences – for your wallet, for your health, for your career, for your relationships. Emotion clouds us from seeing the potential pitfalls in a decision or from seeing some of the long term benefits.

Ideally, we make the best decisions possible in each situation. That’s an ideal, of course, one that we’ll never perfectly reach, but one that we can strive for and move closer to over time.

A rational life is one that leads us to fulfilling that grand purpose we have for ourselves as much as possible because we’re making decisions that lead us toward that grand purpose. Almost always, that means making smart financial decisions that are in line with our life dreams, such as saving for the future and spending less than we earn as a consistent practice. It’s all about making rational decisions as we work toward our higher purpose in life.

Further Reading

If you find stoicism to be as interesting and valuable as I do, there are several books well worth reading on the subject.

The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holliday is probably the best single volume modern introduction to stoicism. It focuses on how modern people can use the things they can control to overcome the obstacles in modern life.

Letters from a Stoic by Seneca is a great collection of essays on the classic elements of stoicism: that the universe is governed by rational rules; that a content life is achieved by a simple and rational life with duty toward a central purpose; that human suffering and failure is a part of life and can teach us many things; and that study and learning and thoughtful conversation are incredibly important.

The Enchiridion of Epictetus is something of a practical handbook on how to life a stoic life. Much of the content lines up pretty well with what you’ll find in this post, incidentally, as it boils down to understanding your emotions, living a simple life in accordance with your purpose, keeping learning central in life, and using what you have to achieve things in life.

I’d also strongly recommend Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, who was a second century AD Roman emperor. These are actually his personal notes, as he didn’t seem to intend them for publication, but it’s a very practical look at how a person can apply the principles of stoicism in life. Marcus Aurelius was clearly committed to stoicism and his writings are very insightful.

Final Thoughts

I don’t expect anyone to fully subscribe to a life of pure stoicism, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a great deal to learn about personal growth, personal finance, and achieving your goals in stoicism. I find that the more I read and reflect on the topic, the more ideas I have with which to improve my life and make better decisions, especially in the face of challenges, temptation, and tragedy.

I invite you to take the time to not only reflect a little bit on stoicism and how it can help your own life, but also to dig into some of the additional readings I’ve linked to. Stoicism has helped me personally in my journey from a financial disaster and professional dissatisfaction to a much better life, and I believe these principles can help you, too.

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Credit cards turn 50

This week is the 50th anniversary of the first credit card launch in the UK - Barclaycard, which first launched from a boot factory in Northampton on 29 June 1966.

This week is the 50th anniversary of the first credit card launch in the UK - Barclaycard, which first launched from a boot factory in Northampton on 29 June 1966.

Despite plastics’ humble beginnings, launched by a team of just 30 people, in the first year more than one million people signed up for the card, which had just a £25 credit limit.

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5 Weird Facts About Selling Human Hair From a Professional Hair Broker

You’ve probably heard of donating your hair to charities. But did you know you can actually sell your hair to companies that make wigs for profit?

It turns out, you might do more good selling it than donating, according to one industry insider.

Carol, a professional hair broker, shared the hairy details on Cracked. The human hair market is weird, to say the least.

If you’re interested in profiting from your luscious mane, here are some strange and useful facts to keep in mind:

1. Why People Sell Their Hair

Most people are selling their hair out of desperation.

Carol says few people resort to selling hair just for a few extra bucks. “Some people are obviously living paycheck-to-paycheck, and some are homeless.”

Sometimes, she admits, “some of the best hair comes from people with nowhere else to turn.”

That’s because the best hair is untreated and undyed — and in plentiful supply. People who are desperate for money generally haven’t dyed, treated or cut their hair in a while, so they may have the best stock of highly sought-after natural colors.

2. What Happens When You Donate Your Hair

If you’re feeling altruistic and think you’re better off donating your mane to an organization like Locks of Love… think again.

“The odds of your hair actually becoming a wig that actually gets put on a sick person’s head are pretty slim,” writes Carol.

The charities tend to be much less efficient than businesses selling wigs for profit, which are diligent about standards for the hair they accept and have access to a wider client base who can use the hair.

Locks of Love receives more than 2,000 donations each week, and tosses as much as 80% into the trash, reports the New York Times.

Donating to the charity makes people feel warm and fuzzy, company president Madonna Coffman told the Times. But many don’t know the hair donation guidelines and send in unusable hair.

“Even hair that survives the winnowing may not go to the gravely ill, but may be sold to help pay for charities’ organizational costs,” the Times reported.

3. Your Hair Probably Isn’t Good Enough

“You need pristine hair to turn a profit,” writes Carol.

If your hair is permed, dyed or bleached — even by the sun — it’s useless. Treated hair just doesn’t make good wigs.

Even if your hair is burned over time from regular blow-drying or straightening, it could be too weak to make a wig.

“We even know when sellers don’t eat meat, because of how much less hair they have.”

So if your hair is thin, dull or damaged, think about staying inside and taking your vitamins before trying to hawk it.

4. Even Hair Is Cheaper From Overseas

Around the world, black hair is in the highest demand, but it’s also in the highest supply.

“There are so many people selling their dark locks in Brazil, China and India that it’s devalued the hair,” Carol explains.

India exports more than $300 million in hair every year, and the industry is tainted with questionable standards and practices. Those factors drive prices for dark human hair down.

This saturation means in the U.S., straight hair from white women in other colors will fetch a better price than dark hair. Carol points out the “weird nuances of the global human-hair market” mean fewer opportunities for black and Hispanic women in the market.

5. They Know When the Hair Didn’t Come From Your Head

The market, in general, is looking for human hair.

“If I can stop just one person from needlessly shaving their pet or farm animals, this whole article will have been worth it,” Carol writes.

Don’t send in pet hair, and especially don’t send in pet hair and try to pass it off as human hair. They’ll know.

Finally, Carol cautions, they only want hair that comes from your head. “I field at least two emails a week from women trying to peddle their (pubic hair).”

Your Turn: Have you ever considered selling your hair to make extra money?

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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10 Companies That Will Pay You Just to Use the Internet

If you’d like to earn some extra pocket cash — and who wouldn’t? — the internet is a treasure trove of viable options to do just that. With a connection to the web, you can jumble together an array of part-time jobs – from renting out a room in your home on Airbnb to running errands or shopping for your neighbors through apps like TaskRabbit, Postmates, or InstaCart. Heck, you can even buy and resell items (or sell your old stuff) through sites like Craigslist, eBay, and some newer niche outlets.

Still, your options for earning money online aren’t limited to just part-time work and internet resale – and not even close. Thanks to innovative new technologies, the creativity of certain start-ups, and marketers’ eternal desire to better understand consumers, some websites will actually pay you just to use the internet – whether that’s for searching the web, taking surveys, or conducting extensive online research.

10 Websites That Will Pay You to Use the Internet

Want to know who these companies are? If you have a ton of time to kill, you could make some serious side cash – or at least a few hundred dollars’ worth of gift cards every month.

Many of these companies simply want to track your behavior online so their clients can better advertise to people in your demographic. Keep in mind, that means not everyone will qualify for some programs — a company may be looking specifically for 25- to 34-year-old men in a certain region or income bracket, for example.

Even so, it doesn’t hurt to apply. So sit back, open your browser, and learn all the different ways you could be earning money for surfing the web.

Wonder

If you have excellent research skills and want to earn some extra cash, Wonder might be the perfect fit. We wrote about Wonder several weeks ago, and here’s how it works: Basically, Wonder invites anyone – journalists, corporations, or even individuals – to pay a flat fee for a properly researched answer to their most burning questions. In most cases, users pay this fee because they don’t have the time to do the research themselves, or because they want to make sure they get it right for an important presentation or report.

On the employment side, Wonder researchers pull out all stops to create accurate and comprehensive responses to any question posed. Wonder doesn’t have any formal education requirements for the researchers it hires, but it does prefer candidates with excellent research and English writing skills. If you’re interested in learning more, you can look into becoming a researcher on AskWonder.com, or read more about the company in our in-depth review.

Swagbucks

For an easy way to earn, try Swagbucks. This website will literally pay you to search and play around on the internet, with almost nothing more extensive required on your part.

The set-up works like this: Once you sign up for Swagbucks, you’ll download their search bar onto your computer. From there, you’ll earn points for shopping online, watching targeted videos, searching the web, and taking surveys. Once you rack up a ton of points, you can exchange them for gift cards to popular retailers like Amazon.com and Walmart.

So yes, Swagbucks pays you in gift cards and not money. But most people can turn those gift cards into cash if they’re creative – for example, you can score some Walmart gift cards and use them for groceries, then turn around and reduce your grocery budget that month. That’s pretty swank if you ask me!

Opinion Outpost

You know what they say about opinions, right? They’re like armpits (and other less savory body parts) – as in, everybody’s got ‘em. The good news is, Opinion Outpost will actually pay you for voicing your mind and taking their surveys. That’s right: Whoever said your opinion didn’t matter was dead wrong.

All you have to do to get started is sign up with an email account or social media account. Once you do, you’ll be selected for surveys you can complete in exchange for cash or gift cards to retailers like iTunes or Amazon. Plus, you can also earn entries into occasional cash drawings for as much as $10,000.

User Testing

User Testing is another online survey site that rewards its members for giving their opinions on marketing tactics and products. Worldwide, more than 34,000 customers and companies rely on UserTesting to figure out marketing techniques and strategies and to gain insight into the minds of their users.

Signing up is free and easy. Just for visiting a website or testing a new app, you can get paid $10. Of course, participating in multiple campaigns can help you earn more and more cash over time. And each time, you’re paid $10 for about 20 minutes of work or less. It doesn’t get any easier than that.

SmartPanel

Earning nominal amounts of cash is easy with Smart Panel. Once you complete a three-minute questionnaire to see if you qualify, you can get paid for everything from living and breathing to using your phone or computer like you always have.

For starters, you’ll get $5 just for meeting their qualifications. After that, you’ll get another $5 per month just for keeping the app installed. Beyond those initial payments, you’ll earn small amounts of cash just for using your phone or computer as you always have – and letting Smart Panel analyze your search results. According to Smart Panel, you can earn up to $110 in 12 months and up to $230 in 24 months – for doing almost nothing.

mobileXpression

While mobileXpression doesn’t dole out a set rate of cash, installing the app and answering an array of questions does put you in the running for all kinds of rewards and free merchandise. Once you install the app on one of your devices and keep it installed, you can earn everything from Amazon gift cards to electronics like iPads or flat-screen televisions, just for searching the web as you normally would.

The requirements are simple: First, you need a device that’s compliant with their software, and second, you must sign up and meet the program’s qualifications. After that, the software works independently on your device, analyzing and researching your usage with no extra effort on your part.

Inbox Dollars

If you love watching online videos (who doesn’t?), Inbox Dollars wants to pay you to live your dream. Plus, you can also get paid for taking surveys, reading emails, playing games, shopping online, and even searching the web. Does it get any better than that?

According to the company, its users have earned more than $43 million to date. Plus, signing up is free and easy: Simply enter your email, create a password, and you’ll even get $5 in bonus cash for joining. After that, the amount of money you’ll earn is based on how many tasks you can complete.

Small Business Knowledge Center

This is a weird one, but it works nonetheless. Basically, a company called the Small Business Knowledge Center will pay you (in gift cards) for your junk mail – both the physical kind that comes in your mailbox, and even your email spam.

You might be questioning the sanity of a company that pays for stuff most of us throw away, but it is legit. Clients in the financial services and insurance industries “use this information for competitive intelligence and product development purposes,” according to the SBKC website.

If you sign up and qualify, you’ll be rewarded with gift cards just for sending your pesky junk mail! Who knew?

MyPoints

You heard it here first, folks: MyPoints is yet another cash-back site that will reward you for shopping online and printing coupons. If you already do most of your shopping online, for example, you can score meaningful benefits on everything you buy, earning points you can redeem for gift cards and more.

Plus, you can sign up for the chance to win an Amazon gift card or earn one right away for spending at least $10 at a selected online store, such as Walmart.com, Target.com, or Amazon.com. If you need to buy stuff anyway, then this is a smart way to rack up rewards at the same time.

RewardTV

If you watch a lot of television, you have to try this out. RewardTV will pay you to log onto their website and answer fun trivia questions about your favorite shows.

Not only can you earn ongoing participation rewards, but you can earn entries into drawings for prizes that range from three years of free gas to $10,000 in cash. You won’t earn a lot here — maybe $10 to $20 per month — but it’s still a fun way to kill a few afternoons if you’re a TV buff.

The Bottom Line

If you want to earn some extra cash, the internet has paved the way to more options than most people realize. Just by answering survey questions, watching television, or doing your regular online shopping, you can earn real cash rewards or, at the very least, gift cards that can be used to buy the stuff you want.

Every site we covered here is absolutely free to sign up for, although not everyone will qualify all the time. Still, if you want some almost-free money for doing stuff you were planning to do anyway, it’s hard to complain.

What is your favorite way to earn money online? Have you ever used any of these sites?

Related Articles:

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Being Too Nice Might Be Costing You Thousands. Here’s How to Toughen Up

This past winter I made a bad, bad, bad business decision in hiring a launch company for my new book. Being a small business owner myself, I tend to be lenient towards other small business owners and to avoid questioning them or negotiating fees.

This terrible decision ended up losing me $6,500 — at a time where I had put off my paying clients for four straight months to work on the book. Ouch… that hurt.

After some soul-searching, I started to realize I’d always been nice in a way that empties my bank account faster than a keg at a college party. For example:

  • I once hired an assistant out of sympathy — choosing him over 90 other applicants, many of whom were better qualified — and ended up paying a lot for little actual work.
  • Whenever I’m presented with a “Pay What You Want” situation, I pay way more than average, because the seller is “an entrepreneur like me.”
  • Whenever a potential reader emails me with a sob story about how they can’t afford $4.95 for one of my books, I send them the book for free.
  • When my husband and I sold our first house, three people jumped to buy it. But instead of holding a bidding war, we gave it — at the original price — to the first person who looked at the house, because she told us she wanted to raise a family there. At the closing, this woman threw a literal screaming-and-crying fit over a small issue with the contract.
  • I’m an extra-big tipper because 30 years ago I waitressed for six months, so “I know how it is.”
  • And of course, there was the issue with the book launcher who bullied me when I asked, “Um, what exactly are you guys doing for the $6,500 I paid you?” — and I let him.

This last situation was the smack in the face I needed to finally smarten up.

I realized that “nice” people often spend (and neglect to save) because we fear harming someone else, because we feel guilty or because we don’t want to look stingy.

And we’re afraid if we question service providers, they’ll feel insulted.

All of this makes us put strangers ahead of ourselves and our loved ones, financially speaking.

I now know we need to put ourselves and our families first — because if we don’t, we end up strapped for cash and feeling desperate.

Consider this: We can be of more help to others when we’re feeling abundant, peaceful and financially organized than when we’re harried, stressed and broke.

This isn’t about being tightfisted or not giving of yourself to others — it’s being deliberate about what you share with whom, using your cash where it will have the most impact and not doling out cash out of a sense of guilt.

If you’re ready to learn from my mistakes and stop being too nice, here are five ways to toughen up — and start rebuilding your bank account.

1. Negotiate a Raise From Your Employer or Clients

We’re often afraid to ask to be paid what our work is worth — but your livelihood is at stake here!

If you can prove the value you’re bringing to your employer or client has risen with time — maybe you’re bringing in new customers, you created a lucrative new product or system, or you’ve helped your employer cut costs — try to negotiate for a bigger check.

For example, when I was a fairly new writer, I asked my editor at Family Circle for a raise. At the time I was earning $1 per word, and I had written several articles for them that garnered great feedback.

The editor boosted my rate to $1.50 per word and asked me not to tell anyone, because I was now their highest-paid writer!

2. Watch Your Bank Statements Like a Hawk

Going through your finances every week with a sharp eye may make you feel mean and cheap, but remember: This is money you earned that might be put to better use for you and your family.

Be vigilant about terminating subscriptions, canceling payments you’d forgotten about and cutting out expenses that don’t serve you.

I did this recently and discovered several charges and subscriptions I didn’t even know were being sucked from my account — a whopping $80 per month’s worth. (That’s date night right there!)

3. Be Hardcore About Hiring

Before hiring a professional or a service of any kind, from graphic designers to landscapers, ask the hard questions — and don’t worry about offending them.

What exactly will they do for you, when, how, and for how much? I’ve discovered real pros welcome these questions. If they become angry, say “sayonara, suckers” and find someone better.

Someone you hired doing a less-than-stellar job? Tell them to shape up, or cut them loose. Don’t feel bad about expecting good service from the people and companies you’re paying!

I ended up cutting the book launch company loose and hiring someone who was cheaper and better — and who had good answers to all my questions.

4. Demand Good Service From Stores

If you’re like I used to be, when you’re making dinner and you discover one of the bell peppers you bought yesterday is moldy on the inside, you just toss the offending veggie and move on.

No more! These small wastes add up, and you have the right to expect usable products in exchange for your money. Bring that nasty thing back and ask for a refund or replacement.

Last fall I spent more than $200 on jeans and a cardigan that lasted only a few wears before they both developed ugly pills in the fabric. I let them sit in my closet for months, thinking somehow I would fix them… until I finally got sick of feeling peeved every time I opened my closet and saw the items hanging there, mocking me.

I contacted the headquarters of the store where I bought the clothing and explained my situation. Even though it was well past the return deadline, the company offered me a gift card in the amount I spent on the defective clothes.

5. Reward Only the Best Service

You don’t need to tip 25% because you know the server earns minimum wage, buy your kids’ teachers expensive gifts you can’t afford because you know they don’t earn much or leave a big check for the garbage collector at Christmas because you’d feel guilty otherwise.

Gift big when the service warrants it. Otherwise, the usual amount or a token gift of appreciation is perfect.

Sure, it’s nice to be nice — but not when it hurts you financially. Learn from my mistakes, and don’t wait until your bank account is drained dry before finally standing up for yourself.

Your Turn: Are you “too nice,” and has it hurt your bank account? What have you done to change your tendencies?

Linda Formichelli has been a full-time freelance writer since 1997. She’s the author of How to Do It All: The Revolutionary Plan to Create a Full, Meaningful Life — While Only Occasionally Wanting to Poke Your Eyes Out With a Sharpie, which will be FREE on Amazon.com for three days starting June 30, 2016 (Kindle format only). Go grab your copy before the price goes back up!

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