Nearly 20% of Americans Struggle to Pay the Rent. Here’s Why

I recently had a conversation with my parents about why my generation financially struggles.

Like many baby boomers, they assumed it was the result of poor decisions or laziness.

But I told them the truth: Rent is astronomical, we don’t get paid as much as they did — and we have zillions of dollars in student loans.

Like good parents, they believed me. But now I also have proof.

Apartment List recently analyzed census data from 1960 to 2014 to “understand how rent and affordability have changed over time.”

The findings?

“Inflation-adjusted rents have risen by 64%, but real household incomes only increased by 18%,” writes Apartment List director of data science Andrew Woo.

WHAT? Give me a sec while I pick my jaw up off the floor…

Why It’s So Hard to Pay Your Rent

So, yes, incomes have risen — 15-25% since 1980, Woo says — but rents have risen “twice as fast.”

That’s a huge burden on the 37% of Americans who rent — which, by the way, is a higher percentage than ever before.

Of these people in rental housing, 74% are under the age of 44, and 51% are under 30.

Nearly half of renters (49%) are considered “cost-burdened,” Woo explains, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent.

That number has almost doubled since 1960, when 24% of renters were cost-burdened.

Throw in the average student loan, which is 56% higher than just 10 years ago…

Then child care costs, which have risen more than 70% since 1985…

The cost of living is overwhelming.

And it’s an understatement when Woo notes: “Nearly half of [renters] are struggling to pay the rent.”

Here are the grim findings in picture form.

So, what if things had gone differently? If rents had risen, you know, at the rate of inflation?

“The average renter would be paying $366 less in rent each month,” Woo writes.

$366 per month. $4,392 per year.

That’s more than enough to make a typical student loan payment, almost enough to fully fund a Roth IRA and — in a few years — enough to make a down payment on a house.

So, what can you do (besides bang your head against the table)? Here are a few posts that might help:

• Want to Save Money on Your Rent or Mortgage? Move to One of These Towns

• Your Rent’s Probably About to Go Up. Here are 5 Ways to Pay Less

• Fire Your Landlord and 10 Other Ways to Save on Rent

• Rent Eating Your Paycheck? Here’s How to Pay Less, Without Moving

• Think You Can’t Afford to Buy a House? Bet You Didn’t Think of This Program

Your Turn: How do you afford your rent?

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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Want to Save Money on Plane Tickets? Fly on These Days

So we’ve talked about when you should buy plane tickets.

And how to get them for nearly free.

But when is it cheapest to fly? On a Sunday in July? Or a Saturday in January?

As research from Hopper and Marketwatch determined, both the day of the week and month of your flight can make a significant difference in the price.

Here’s what you need to know.

The Cheapest Days to Fly, According to Science

In its analysis, Hopper (which, by the way, is my favorite tool for predicting when you should buy your ticket) “looked at flights over the last year that were planned at least two weeks in advance.”

And?

Turns out, you could pay nearly 10% more to fly on a Sunday than on a Tuesday or Wednesday, and nearly 30% more to fly in July or December than in January or February.

Like any business, airlines price their services based on demand, and since mid-week (and Saturday!) and mid-winter travel are less popular, flying then is cheaper.

Here are the full results:

Of course, there are always exceptions — which is why I love using airfare search engines that allow you to be flexible with both your dates and routing.

My favorite is ITA Flight Matrix. You can’t purchase flights on the platform, but you can search a wide variety of options at once.

Or, try Google Flights for a less-flexible but more user-friendly version of the same technology.

Other smart ways to get cheaper flights?

Use alternate airports, keep an eye on flight sales and always search discount airlines (I like to use WhichBudget).

And to save money once you get there, check out these posts:

• 16 Simple Ways to Save Money on Travel in 2016

• 10 Smart Accommodation Options That Save You Hundreds

• Traveling on a Budget? 8 Tricks for Saving Big on Food

Your Turn: Did you know which days of the week were cheapest to fly?

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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Surprising Things You Need to Put in Place in Order to Save Thousands of Dollars on Digital Marketing

It wasn’t that long ago when an entrepreneur’s marketing options were limited to flyers, tacky magazine ads, or expensive TV commercials.

However, with the advent of the Internet, the number of marketing options available to both budding and experienced entrepreneurs has become staggering.

Sometimes, when I’m surfing the web—it’s what I do a lot—I find myself thinking, “Wow! So many tactics! So many choices!”

If I were just getting started in digital marketing, I would be in a total freakout mode. Where do I start? Which one should I pick? What do I need to do first?

But it gets worse. Few businesses have the luxury of trying a lot of tactics. Marketing costs money—quite a bit of it, actually. And if you’re just testing out a bunch of tactics, you’ll run out of money before you run out of tactics.

Thankfully, with a little bit of know-how, you can achieve more marketing success than you ever imagined, even on the tightest budget.

How do you go about shaving thousands of dollars off your digital marketing costs without sacrificing the quality and results of your marketing campaigns?

Seems like a tough call, right?

Maybe not as tough as you think.

I’ll show you how.

First, some ground rules

Before I delve into all of the juicy strategies for increasing the success of your digital marketing while saving money, I want to discuss the most important principle of this whole article.

Here it is: less is more

The ultimate goal of all the points I list below is this: eliminate the fluff from your marketing strategy, and focus only on the things that work.

This is why I recommend minimizing your approach and using the 80/20 rule. This rule dictates that

80% of your results come from 20% of your marketing.

You need to understand that this means that you’ll have to give up good marketing opportunities—but only so that you can take advantage of the great ones.

If you are looking to save thousands, you want to put your focus and your money only into the opportunities with the highest yield. That way you can not only save money but also increase your results.

With that in mind, let’s begin.

1. Create a rock-solid strategy

I know that the title of this article promised to teach you “surprising” things you need to put in place for a great marketing strategy. Some of you may be scratching your heads right about now, wondering why I put something so seemingly obvious as a rock-solid strategy as the first point in this article.

Quite simply, I put this first because most people don’t do it!

We live in an era when entrepreneurship has such a low barrier to entry that many first-time business owners and online marketers just throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks.

They don’t ever take the time to develop a proven plan of action with contingencies, review processes, and clearly defined goals.

Sure, it may not be the most exciting part of digital marketing, but it sure is the most important.

Before you even begin to try to save money on your digital marketing, you need to have a clear strategy in place.

Are you wondering how to create a strategy? Here are some questions you should ask yourself:

• How much will I spend? This question is essential since it prevents you from spending money on low yield opportunities.
• What are my goals? Do I want increased traffic, sales, SEO ranking? Everyone wants revenue as the ultimate goal. Back down from this top-level goal, and figure out what KPI-related goals will get you there.
• What competencies do I have that can help me determine which channels to use? Am I good at SEO, copywriting, ad design? Use your existing skill set and resources to determine which marketing channels you’ll be focusing on.

Don’t just ask these questions. Answer them. And write your answers down.

There. Now you have a strategy.

Remember, like the Navy SEALs say,  “The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle.”

Or in our case, “The more you plan in marketing, the less you spend on useless garbage and experimentation.”

Trying out new marketing tactics like Kim Kardashian tries on new outfits will only waste time and money.

Get your strategy in place, and the smart tactics will follow.

2. Hire a team of experts for your niche

While it’s common sense to allocate a sizable amount of your budget to hiring experts and consultants with experience in digital marketing, it’s paramount to hire the right experts.

Who are the right experts? People who have experience in your specific niche.

Just because someone is good at digital marketing doesn’t mean they are the best fit for your company.

Remember, you need to find the best options, not just good ones.

How would you like to have the guy in the middle working with you on your music label?

If you run a copywriting firm and are looking to rank higher on Google, what should you do? Hire an SEO expert with a portfolio full of previous clients from copywriting firms for whom they were able to boost rank and quantifiably improve results.

This will ensure you are hiring someone who not only knows the trade but understands how to optimize in your niche as well.

3. Set up a tiered approach to your marketing

It’s easy to get caught up in pursuing all the latest marketing fads and trends. The result, however, is not fun. You spread yourself too thin instead of focusing on one thing and mastering it.

This is why I recommend a “tiered” approach to marketing.

What exactly does this mean?

Basically, create a list of 3-5 digital marketing mediums where you have a certain amount of strength and expertise or affordable access to people who do.

Next, decide what strongest one is—the one you believe will have the highest ROI based on the data for your industry.

Master that one.

I mean really master it. Don’t be content with a novice status. You’ve got to nail this thing!

Once you master the first medium (I’d say Facebook Ads), you can move on to the next one.

Keep doing this until you have mastery over several forms of digital marketing.

If you take this approach, you’ll be able to understand the best practices for each medium, know how to optimize your investments within each medium for maximum ROI, and automate your marketing systems.

You’ll be amazed at the impact. Not only are you gaining solid ROI, but you’re also building a foundation for future marketing efforts.

For example, let’s say you own a landscaping company in Tennessee. You understand Facebook marketing, AdWords, and have a basic grasp of SEO.

Your approach may look something like this:

• Master Facebook marketing with a budget of $1,500/month and an ROI goal of $2,250 a month.
• Once you hit your ROI goal and have created systems or hired experts that allow you to continue this marketing, move on to AdWords.
• Using the ROI from Facebook, invest into AdWords marketing with a budget of $750 a month and an ROI goal of $1,500.
• Now, you have mastered both mediums. Plus, you’ve been able to boost your ROI within each. You are now spending a total of $2,000/month for digital marketing between the two mediums but netting $5,000/month. You’re already winning. But don’t be content.
• You can now systematize both your Facebook and AdWords marketing based on the mastery in each field. Use a set amount of the profit from the marketing to fund your next step, maybe SEO.
• And on and on it goes until you start dominating each marketing medium.

You see, most people (myself included) dive into a new project and focus on far too many things at once, blowing their budgets and diminishing the potential for their ROI.

By limiting yourself to a single medium at a time, you’ll be able to master each one and save yourself time and money in the long run.

4. Analyze your metrics, and be willing to adjust

If you’re familiar with Murphy’s Law—”anything that can go wrong will go wrong”—you understand the struggle many digital marketers face.

Even if you have a rock-solid strategy, completed an 80/20 analysis of your business, have a team of experts at your disposal, and you are focusing on one medium at a time taking a tiered approach, you can still fail at your digital marketing efforts.

Which makes this point the most important.

Analytics.

And pivoting.

Marketers must know their numbers. Become BFFs with Google Analytics or whatever analytics platform you choose. Know your numbers. Understand them. Interpret them.

The only way you can make smart marketing decisions is with data!

For example, if you have an analysis system in place, you’ll be able to see why your conversion rates significantly increased between the 15th and 22nd of June. Then, you would be able to replicate the process moving forward.

You wouldn’t know any of that if you aren’t tracking your progress and monitoring your analytics!

To be successful in digital marketing and save yourself thousands of dollars, you need an efficient way to analyze your efforts.

This happens through knowing data.

For example, let’s say you have gone against my previous advice and are trying to master Facebook marketing and AdWords at the same time.

After you’ve run a few campaigns and been investing for a couple of months, you decide to take stock of your efforts.

Let’s say you are spending $10 on AdWords a day and are earning back $10.50. That’s a positive ROI. Great!

But when you look at your Facebook marketing, you notice that you are actually losing money on the ad campaign. You’re earning more likes but seem to be hemorrhaging more money.

This presents an interesting conundrum.

On the one hand, logic would say to ditch Facebook marketing and double down on AdWords. However, depending on your niche and your vision for your company, those likes and views may be worth more than the pennies you are earning from AdWords (especially if you earn money from affiliates or sponsorships).

Without a clearly defined goal and an understanding of your ultimate vision for your marketing, you’ll be like a ship in a storm with no anchor, getting tossed around by the waves of emotion and confusion.

That’s why it’s important to know your numbers, analyze your data, and make strategic pivots based on what you discover.

Once you’ve clearly defined your goals and selected a marketing medium to pursue, don’t be afraid to discard other campaigns and move on.

If you are not seeing the results you want after a reasonable amount of time, pivoting is your best option.

5. Build a personal brand

I’ll let you in on a little secret:

People rarely buy from a company; they buy from a brand.

Others have made this point and even written books about it (so maybe not that much of a secret, after all).

It’s true.

A company is about profits, losses, products, management, revenues, and shareholders. How boring is that?

A brand is about excitement, engagement, smiles, experiences, and personality.

You’ll understand this dichotomy if you recall the old Apple ads.

Think about it: there are thousands of companies failing every year. While there could be a great number of reasons for their demise, one of those reasons is poor branding.

People like to buy from people they trust.

I want you to take a look at the branding behind 3 SUPER successful online entrepreneurs.

Here is Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income:

Here is Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You to be Rich:

And here is, of course, the 4-hour emperor, Tim Ferriss:

Do you notice anything in particular about these blogs…other than the fact that the owners are multi-millionaires?

All of them are about PERSONAL brands. They are focused on the face behind the site, not some ambiguous logo that people can hide behind.

I’m not saying that every business needs to have a figurehead like Ferris or Sethi. What I am saying is that your brand needs personality.

Before you invest a cent into digital marketing, you need to make sure your brand has attitude, emotion, and an authentic feel.

And then, by all means, build your personal brand too—the brand of you.

As an ambassador for your businesses, you can use your personal brand to drive your business.

The better you brand yourself, the less business-focused digital marketing you’ll need to do. People will find you, and they will want to buy from you without needing to be persuaded to do so.

I’ve spent thousands of dollars on courses and seminars I knew very little about. Why? Because I trusted the person selling it and knew their track record as a top performer.

Conclusion

Saving money with digital marketing is more straightforward than many “gurus” would want you to believe.

To have a bigger marketing impact you don’t need a bigger budget.

What does it take instead?

It takes discipline.

It takes discipline to pick a single marketing medium at a time and stick to it.

It takes discipline to invest all your money into your personal brand and continue doing so even when you aren’t seeing an immediate ROI.

It takes discipline to develop a strategy, hire the experts to execute it, and then trust them to do their jobs even when results aren’t coming as fast as you want.

Like most things in life, mastering digital marketing on a budget is simple but not easy.

If it were easy, everybody would do it.

Tactics are tempting, but it’s the rock-solid strategy—driven by experts, strategically structured, backed by data, and built upon a personal brand—that will get you places!

How have you learned to save money while also improving and expanding your marketing reach?

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The Trap of Spending in Anticipation of Becoming Rich

When I first graduated from college, I was lucky enough to get a pretty good job almost immediately. In fact, my first day at that new job was literally nine days after my college graduation day.

My starting salary at that job blew away my earnings up to that point. In fact, it was higher than the earning level of my parents at the time.

Even better than that, it was pretty clear that this job held some real opportunity for advancement. Although it was a one-year contracted position, I was actively working with a lot of prominent people in my narrow field and I knew that I would be making a ton of connections and building a lot of skills and gaining a lot of experience in that year.

In short, not only was I making solid money right then, I genuinely believed I would be making a lot more money just down the road.

The problem? I spent money under that assumption. I truly believed that I would be earning far more in the future and that, over the course of my adult life, I would make a ton of money, so I spent as though all of those future earnings were a given.

In short, I bought into the “future self” fallacy. I spent in anticipation of future income, not in terms of my real income.

What happened? By 2006, we were in such a financial pickle that we were having difficulty keeping our bills paid, at which point we underwent a serious financial turnaround (which is why The Simple Dollar was born, as a tool to help us track our turnaround and share what we learned).

The Assumptions of the ‘Future Self Fallacy’

As I see it, there are three big categories of assumptions that come along with the “future self fallacy.”

First, it assumes your physical, mental, and spiritual health remains great. It assumes you won’t be taken down by a physical illness, by an accident, by a mental health issue, or by other fundamental changes in your personal state. In other words, it assumes that you will personally continue to be able to function at your current job.

Second, it assumes steady employment and progress in your field. You’re going to keep your current job. You’re not going to be affected by the machinations of other people in the workplace. You’re also going to do well enough at your current job to parlay those new resume bullet points into a better job with better pay and benefits, and then do that again, and probably again after that.

Third, it assumes perfect life stability. You don’t get married or get divorced. You don’t have children. If you do have children, they’re all perfectly healthy and don’t have ongoing physical, mental, or emotional problems. You don’t have to care for an ailing parent. You don’t get into a car accident where someone else dies and you’re liable.

Assumptions Meet Reality

Of course, that’s not a realistic view of anyone’s future unless you are extremely lucky.

People change careers all the time and start over when their current career doesn’t work out. People lose their jobs constantly, too, and find themselves forced into career reboots.

People don’t have perfect health, either. They have accidents. They get sick. They suffer from mental illness.

Life constantly intervenes in ways that you don’t expect. There are positive changes, like having a spouse or having kids, but even those changes can derail the career and income plan. Life also deals out a lot of negative changes, as per Murphy’s Law. Things don’t go like you expect them to go.

The truth is that no matter how hard you plan and no matter how hard you believe in it, your bright shiny future has a very good chance of being derailed in some way. And if that bright shiny future gets derailed and you find yourself not making money hand over fist like you believe that you will… well, let’s just say it’s going to be tough.

The ‘Future Self Fallacy’ Meets the Realistic Future

Often, when the “future self fallacy” meets the realistic future, financial disaster happens. That’s essentially what happened to me.

I had these very bright visions of this great future ahead of me, with high wages and lots of opportunities.

In my career, however, I was involved with a three person project with one member of that team essentially choosing not to work. This didn’t turn into complete failure, but it did turn into a project that treaded water for a while as we were missing some key skills from our team that we really needed. I was eventually given a choice of having a long-term job at a pay rate not much higher than I was making or heading off into the wild blue yonder to see what I could get.

At the same time, I got married, had a child, then another child. Rather than taking the risky choice, my life changes more or less dictated that I take the safe route. So, while my income did go up a little, I no longer had the opportunities for huge jumps in wages that I once dreamed of.

In short, I found myself without the big income I was expecting, but also having a lot more expenses than I was expecting.

For years, I spent money with visions of that ultra-bright future, but suddenly that ultra-bright future wasn’t happening and financial reality caught up to me painfully. It took a very difficult financial turnaround to fix things and get things on the right track.

The reality is that spending in anticipation of having a huge income or being rich without big expenses causes you to dig a big financial hole for your future self, one that your future self probably can’t deliver on. If you spend assuming an optimistic future and the more realistic future actually occurs, you’re going to actually end up with a pretty depressing future, because that realistic future is also going to be saddled with the debts from your over-the-top spending.

A Better Approach

A much better approach: use some of what you have now – money, time, energy – to make things better for your “future self.” You might be expecting an ultra-bright future, but in all likelihood you’re going to have a much more realistic future, one where some of your dreams came true, but others were dampened and some burdens you weren’t expecting were thrown on your shoulders.

Right now, you have decisions you can make that will either add to the burdens on the shoulders of that future version of you… or it can subtract from those burdens.

You can choose to spend money wastefully on the little pleasures of the moment… or you can scale back a little and find other ways to have fun and enjoy life.

You can have the expensive car and the expensive apartment or the expensive house… or you can live a little more modestly, still have everything you need, and not saddle your future self with a lot of debt.

The goal is not to live in some kind of self-imposed austerity today. Instead, the goal is to simply tone down the spending today and simultaneously lift the burden off of your future self down the road.

Remember, that future self of yours won’t be as energetic as you are today. That future self may have physical or mental ailments. He or she may be burdened with unexpected life changes or with a career that hasn’t panned out.

Burdening that future self further with poor spending decisions today is going to make for an even bleaker future.

On the other hand, making sensible spending decisions today lightens the load on that future self, making that future brighter no matter what happens in the interim.

‘But What If My Future Is Bright?’

This is a typical response to this type of discussion and there’s an easy answer to it: if it turns out that your future actually does turn out great, then your smart choices right now just multiply the possibilities.

Not only did your career and your life pan out incredibly well, you’re also not saddled with paying back the expenses of your overspending earlier in life. Your options are even broader. You can take big career jumps without worrying much about the money. You can retire early. You can basically do whatever you want.

The world becomes your oyster simply because you didn’t shackle your future self with extra financial burdens.

Final Thoughts

Here’s the truth: No matter what happens, your “future self” is not going to want to deal with the burden of paying for your unnecessary spending, period. At that point, you will barely even remember the things you spent all that money on. All you’ll face are the bills from it and it will be nothing but a burden.

It’s easy, too. Rather than living an expensive life today, cut back a little bit. Live a modest life, especially in areas you don’t care much about, but it doesn’t have to be an impoverished life. Drive a late model used car instead of the shiny newest model. Live in a more modest apartment rather than the best place you can possibly afford. Go out a little less and have some dinner parties – maybe even potluck dinner parties. Find some hobbies that don’t require you to constantly shell out cash.

You’ll be perfectly happy with your life and your future self will be thrilled with your smart choices and the opportunities that those smart choices gives you. It’s a win-win.

Good luck!

Related Articles

• The Dance Between Your Present Self and Your Future Self
• Seven Things Everyone Should Know About Their Money
• Making a ‘Future Self Friday’
• Two-Sided Coin: Save for the Future or Live for Today?

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My Credit Was a Mess. This Company Helped Me Untangle It in 5 Minutes

A friend recently told me he’s given up on checking his credit score because just thinking about it gives him anxiety.

He’s not alone.

At 30, my own history with credit cards, student loans and medical bills isn’t quite as sordid as his — but it’s pretty bad.

Student loan interest is piling up. Hospital bills are out to collection agencies. No one will give me a credit card. I landed a loan for a new car by the skin of my teeth. My security deposits for car rentals and apartments are through the roof.

I want to fix it, but I don’t even know where to start.

I understand why some people prefer to never think about their credit score.

When you do finally decide to face the music… how do you even do it?

Today I’m breathing a little easier, because I found an app that’s answering all the questions swirling in my head, keeping me awake at night and threatening a panic attack every time I authorize a credit check.

It’s called Credit Sesame — and it tells you how to fix your credit score.

I signed up online, but you can do the same through the smartphone app, and you’ll have all this information at your fingertips in about five minutes.

1. What Is My Credit Score?

The first and most basic thing Credit Sesame offers is your credit score.

It goes beyond the number, though, and explains what it means.

The first page I see when I log in to my Credit Sesame account shows my score at the top: 528.

It’s also color-coded red (where green is good, yellow is moderate and red is bad), graded with an F on a scale of A-F and, in case I wasn’t completely sure, noted as POOR.

It’s a pretty swift kick in the pants.

If your credit score is good — A, green, EXCELLENT — the landing page is a lovely pat on the back whenever you log in.

2. Who Do I Owe Money?

My landing page also shows me a quick view of my total debt: $58,423.

One click takes me to my Debt Analysis, which breaks down what I owe into auto loans,  student loans, home loans, credit cards and other loans.

For each, I can see the name of the lender, amount owed, the interest rate and my monthly payment.

If you have decent credit and have always responsibly managed your money, this might not seem profound. But for those of us who’ve been flying by the seat of our pants throughout adulthood, having everything explained simply in one place is a vital first step.

I spent the better part of my 20s ignoring my credit report, certain it was too complicated and expensive to fix anyway.

This service helps me see exactly what is hurting my credit score, so I can begin to take steps to fix it.

3. What Affects My Credit Score?

Image from Credit Sesame

In addition to a round-up of my debt, I can also see my Credit Score Analysis.

It includes my payment history, which lists any negative marks from late payments or collections on my credit report.

Credit Sesame even explains my payment history has a 35% impact on my credit score, which is more weight than any other category:

• credit usage: 30%
• credit age: 15%
• account mix: 10%
• credit inquiries: 10%

My credit usage and payment history are also both graded “F.” Improving those grades should have a huge impact on my overall credit score.

4. How Will My Credit Score Affect Me?

Why is it important to improve my credit score, anyway? I don’t like using credit cards, and I’m not interested in homeownership.

Unfortunately, my bad credit is hindering me in other ways.

Banks and credit card companies aren’t the only ones who look at your credit score. I have to authorize a credit check whenever I want to move into a new apartment, rent a car with my debit card and buy a new phone.

Each time, I’m slammed with the highest possible security deposit — or worse, not approved at all.

Some employers even include a credit report in your background check. I’m not on the market now, but I certainly don’t want to miss a future job because of unpaid bills!

Plus, as much as I don’t love credit cards, I know having one would make my frequent travels much easier, more secure and more affordable. So I’d at least like to have the option.

5. What Can I Do Right Now to Improve My Credit Score?

It’s great to get this information all in one place. But the best part about Credit Sesame is it actually offers personalized advice on steps I can take to improve my credit score and reduce my debt.

I’ve read plenty of tips to improve my credit before, but they’re mostly irrelevant to my situation.

Increase my credit limit? Thanks, but I can’t even get approved for a credit card.

Refinance my student loans? Maybe, but with my abysmal credit score, I still don’t qualify for a good deal.

And I’m not aiming for a great mortgage rate or anything lofty. For now, I just don’t want to be treated like crap when I sign a lease for a new apartment.

That’s why Credit Sesame’s personalized recommendations are helpful.

The app offers more than generic credit-building tips. It tells me which are best, based on my situation.

For example, my credit garnered me a hideous 9.9% APR on my car loan two years ago. Credit Sesame recommends a refinancing company that might get me a lower interest rate, and tells me my odds for being approved.

It does the same with credit card offers.

Because my credit usage is 0%, Credit Sesame recommends a few cards that could help me build credit.

My approval odds, based on a comparison with other similar Credit Sesame users, are best for a secured credit card. I would make a cash deposit and have a card with an ultra-low limit, around $200.

The easy-to-digest information helps me decide which steps have the best chance of improving my credit score.

It looks like the most important step I can start with is:

• Address the negative marks on my credit report due to late payments. Clearing those should boost that heavily-weighted F grade and have a major impact.

To get started, Credit Sesame recommends a free credit repair consultation.

Once I have this basic issue cleared up, I can move on to other recommendations to achieve additional goals:

• Apply for a secured credit card to improve my usage score. This will help me eventually qualify for a better credit card — I’m aiming for one with travel rewards!

• Refinance my auto loan to get a lower interest rate. This could save thousands of dollars over the life of that loan.

• Refinance my student loans to reduce my monthly payment. This would help ensure consistent payments, so I don’t get behind.

Relieve Your Anxiety About Debt

Let’s be honest: Most of us with poor credit probably aren’t financial geniuses.

Yet a lot of financial services provide sophisticated information, requiring hours of Googling to untangle. Understandably, most of us give up before we reach any helpful solution.

It’s incredibly relieving to find a service that can actually help me break down this overwhelming information.

Credit Sesame is transparent and careful to explain how it finds your credit score and determines your recommendations and odds. It doesn’t make outlandish promises or aggressively push you toward a particular solution.

It offers real advice you can use — one step at a time — to get out of a very confusing hole.

Your Turn: Do you know what’s affecting your credit score?

Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links. Adding these links helps us keep the lights on in The Penny Hoarder HQ, which makes it a lot easier to play shuffleboard after a long day of deal-seeking!

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).

The post My Credit Was a Mess. This Company Helped Me Untangle It in 5 Minutes appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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You’ll Never Guess Taylor Swift’s New Side Gig

Even Taylor Swift, Queen of the Millennials, diversifies her income with a side hustle.

The inescapable country-turned-pop singer has released a line of greeting cards with stationery store Papyrus.

“This limited edition release consists of 10 cards available at U.S. Papyrus stores and online,” a representative confirmed on Twitter last week.

@wondrlandswift This limited edition release consists of 10 cards available in US PAPYRUS stores & online https://t.co/AVd4MJekgr

— PAPYRUS (@Papyrus_Online) June 22, 2016

The Swift-designed greeting cards retail for $5.95-$7.95 each, and a box set of 20 “I Love New York”-themed note cards is priced at $15.95.

Papyrus didn’t exactly announce the partnership, but responded to fans on Twitter, even offering to complete orders by email for customers in Asia and other locations where the cards are not available.

Half the designs sold out shortly after being made available online, according to Papyrus’ Twitter account, but the company anticipates restocking them.

Why Would Taylor Swift Design Greeting Cards? 

Swifty is no stranger to the DIY scene: She frequently Instagrams her latest creations, which have ranged from watercolor paintings to embroidery to, yes, Christmas cards.

She previously had her own virtual greeting card app, but since the app is long gone (RIP), T-Swizzle’s leveled up to IRL correspondence.

Here’s the point: Taylor Swift knows how to play the side-hustle game.

This woman is one of the top-selling artists of our time and has numerous collaborations with major brands (Keds, Diet Coke).

But a greeting card line? That’s totally outside the realm of the entertainment industry — meaning it could still be a stream of income for the singer even if she left the music industry altogether.

Smart move, Swift.

Taylor Swift: Your Inspiration to Finally Start Your Own Side Hustle

If you’ve been stalling to diversify your own income, let Tay Tay’s spangled birthday cards be your catalyst.

“Let’s face it: It’s not safe to rely on one or even two ways to make money,” Penny Hoarder contributor Steve Gillman, master of the multi-faceted side hustle, has declared.

Swift could lose her voice, Little Mermaid-style, at any time (heaven forbid!). Designing greeting cards isn’t a major fallback plan for the high-earning pop star, but it’s another profitable use of her talents.

Likewise, you could get downsized, fired, injured or endure some other major change that dramatically decreases your income. What then?

Having a side hustle — whether it be pet sitting, selling crafts online or hawking Craigslist finds on eBay — can provide a cushion when you need it most.

You may not have reached pop superstardom (yet), but you can think bigger when it comes to how you make money.

Let Taylor Swift show you the way.

Your Turn: Do you have a creative side hustle? Tell us about it!

Lisa Rowan is a writer, editor and podcaster living in Washington, D.C. She owns every Taylor Swift album but is not really sure how that happened.

The post You’ll Never Guess Taylor Swift’s New Side Gig appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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FTSE 100 leaps investors' predictions

Gary Adams

Ftse-leaping.jpg

After closing at a 10-month high yesterday (30 June) at 6,504.30 points, the FTSE 100 index of the largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange has continued its rally. At the time of writing this morning (1 July) it was sitting at 6,532.19

After closing at a 10-month high yesterday (30 June) at 6,504.30 points, the FTSE 100 index of the largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange has continued its rally. At the time of writing this morning (1 July) it was sitting at 6,532.19

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Bank of England governor hints at summer interest rate cut

Moira O'Neill

Bank-of-England.jpg

The Bank of England is likely to cut interest rates over the summer to cushion the blow to the economy from the Brexit vote, its governor, Mark Carney, has indicated.

The Bank of England is likely to cut interest rates over the summer to cushion the blow to the economy from the Brexit vote, its governor, Mark Carney, has indicated.

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Grab July's Moneywise, on sale now

Moneywise staff

MWfan-july.jpg

Don’t miss our First 50 Funds for beginner investors in the July edition of Moneywise magazine, which goes on sale in WH Smith stores today.

Don’t miss our First 50 Funds for beginner investors in the July edition of Moneywise magazine, now on sale in WH Smith stores.

Editor Moira O’Neill has picked out 50 simple low-cost fund ideas suitable if you’re a novice investor starting an investment plan, whether you want to grow your wealth or boost your income.

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