School hiring "subject to charter approval"

Multiple job listings for teaching and administrative positions at the planned Winding Brook Waldorf Methods Charter School are available for application online, despite the school not yet being chartered.The charter school, which had its application denied by the East Stroudsburg School District in late February, has listed positions on job site Indeed.com for a school principal, special education director, fiber arts teacher, music teacher, foreign languages teacher and lead [...]

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Full-service family restaurant coming to Days Inn

Huddle House restaurants’ first franchise inside a hotel will be at the Days Inn in East Stroudsburg, the company announced Thursday.The new Huddle House, owned by franchisee Surendra (Sam) Shah, will become the largest in the system with a footprint of about 5,000 square feet. It is expected to open this November.Shah has owned the Days Inn location for 15 years and says Huddle House is the perfect option for conversion of the hotel's existing Mexican restaurant. He [...]

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Route 2001 construction on track

Work continues at the site of a $30 million road-widening in Lehman Township. The five-year project will reshape State Route 2001, known also as Milford Road. According to a PennDOT representative, construction moves forward as planned.“It’s on schedule to be completed in 2020,” said Michael Taluto, safety press officer for the fourth engineering district. “They’re currently working on utilities at the present time.”Taluto also said the [...]

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7 Costly Mistakes You’re Making With Your Travel Rewards Card

Travel rewards credit cards have been pretty magical for me.

Over the past 10 years, they’ve helped me visit destinations I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say my life would be a lot different without them.

Do you have a travel rewards card? Awesome, but chances are you’re not making the most of it.

Here are seven mistakes I’ve made — and some you might be making right now.

1. Carrying a Balance

Just NO.

If you have a travel rewards credit card, please don’t carry a balance.

These cards have higher APRs than other cards, so any interest you accrue will completely negate the benefits of your rewards.

Use your card like a debit card, only spending what you can pay off in full each month.

If you can’t, then the answer is simple: Don’t get one. (Here are six other ways to earn frequent flyer miles!)

2. Making Purchases With Cash

If you know you can be responsible with a travel rewards card, then use the bejesus out of it.

After all, why buy something in cash when you could put it on your card and earn rewards like miles or cash back?

Sometimes when I’m out with friends, I offer to pick up the tab and have them pay me back in cash. It makes the server’s life much easier — and I earn a boatload of rewards.

3. Not Using All Your Card’s Benefits

Rewards cards come with a slew of benefits many people aren’t aware of, so make sure you know your card and its perks!

Some common benefits include coverage for:

Lost Luggage

Did the airline lose your bags? If you paid with a travel rewards card, you might be able to get reimbursed for the purchase of emergency supplies.

Here’s a list of cards and their lost luggage benefits.

Trip Delays

Unfortunately, airline delays are a way of life. If you’re stuck for a while, more than a dozen cards will reimburse you for expenses including taxis, hotels, food and toiletries.

Rental Cars

Don’t believe what the rental car agents tell you — the vast majority of credit cards include insurance.

To be certain about what coverage is offered, check with your card issuer before you get to the rental agency.

4. Using Your Points to “Buy” Flights or Merchandise

Yes, you can use your points however you like.

But if you want to get the most out of your miles, don’t use them to “buy” flights or merchandise.

Some travel rewards programs have booking engines, similar to Kayak or Orbitz, where you can buy flights using points instead of cash. But if the option’s available to you, a much better option is transferring your points and booking directly through an airline.

I’d also advise against redeeming points for gift cards or other merchandise, since it won’t give you much bang for your buck, either.

5. Booking Late or Poorly

Rewards seats fill up fast — so if you want the best selection, book as soon as seats open up, which is often a year ahead of time.

The closer in you get, (usually) the more expensive the flights will be.

To ensure you’re maximizing your rewards, it’s also wise to do research before booking.

For example, several airlines offer free “stopovers” on award tickets. So, instead of just flying from LA to Auckland, New Zealand, you could include a weeklong stopover in Singapore on the way — for the same number of miles. (I’ve traveled this route, and it was awesome!)

Or, look into “open jaws,” which allow you to avoid backtracking by flying in and out of different airports. You could fly from New York to London, then return from Paris to New York, taking local transport to get between the two cities.

If you don’t have the time or know-how to figure this out, try a mileage booking service like PointsPros, who will do all the heavy lifting for you.

6. Paying Foreign Transaction or Annual Fees

Fees suck, so I do my best not to pay them.

It’s becoming easier and easier to find a card without foreign transaction fees, allowing you to travel internationally without worrying about unexpected charges.

And you might think annual fees are unavoidable, but they’re not.

A month before your annual fee is due, call your credit card company and tell them you love the card but don’t want to pay the fee — and therefore, might have to cancel.

Often, the representatives can offer you a “retention bonus,” either in the form of extra rewards points, a statement credit or fee waiver.

If they won’t waive it, you can ask to downgrade to a card with no annual fees. This strategy preserves your line of credit, while still freeing you of expensive fees.

7. Letting Your Points Expire

This is one of the most egregious travel rewards mistakes, yet it happens all the time.

For rewards cards that earn card-specific points, like Chase’s Ultimate Rewards or AmEx’s Membership Rewards, your points won’t expire as long as the card is active.

For cards that earn points with an airline or hotel, your miles will remain even if you cancel the card — but then you need to keep track of their expiration dates.

I use AwardWallet to warn me when my miles are about to expire. Then, to reactivate them, all I have to do is make a small purchase through the airline’s shopping portal.

Avoid these common travel rewards mistakes, and you’ll be flyin’ high in no time!

Your Turn: Have you made any of these mistakes? Which ones did I miss?

Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

The post 7 Costly Mistakes You’re Making With Your Travel Rewards Card appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Savings update: interest rate cut will be bad news for savers

Sylvia Morris

falling-rate.jpg

Savers could face lower interest rates this summer. Last week Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, hinted that base rate could be cut from its current 0.5% to 0.25% in July or August.

Savers could face lower interest rates this summer. Last week Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, hinted that base rate could be cut from its current 0.5% to 0.25% in July or August.

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A 30-Day Master Plan for Marketing Your Brick-and-Mortar Business

Many small business owners today think that owning a brick-and-mortar business excuses them from having to learn and master digital marketing.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, mastering SEO and local optimization for your locally run business will bring a higher ROI than just about any other marketing activity you use.

It’s one of the quickest ways to quickly and simply (notice I did not say easily) get your business in front of thousands of new eyes and earn customers for life. With a few simple steps, you can set yourself on the path to long term digital marketing success.

But how do you start marketing your brick-and-mortar business in the digital world? What steps do you need to take over the next 30, 60, or 90 days to successfully grow your online reach and increase sales like you have never seen before?

I’m glad you asked.

In this article, I’m going to give you a step-by-step and day-by-day plan for marketing your brick-and-mortar business.

Thirty days from now, if you follow the steps I’ve outlined below, you’ll be well on your way to having a successful and profitable local marketing plan in place.

The basics: Days 1-10

The irony of digital marketing is that the simplest steps are often the most important.

Sure, PPC advertising, advanced Facebook campaigns, and AdWords can play a huge role in boosting your sales. But what’s next?

For brick-and-mortar business owners, particularly owners who don’t think they are very “tech savvy,” following these simple steps for the first ten days alone will result in a huge increase in the number of sales they see from their marketing budget.

Step 1: Create a platform

Something I have found with many brick-and-mortar businesses is that the owners think that having a website is an unnecessary luxury.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

Having a place for all your customers and fans to congregate is one of the simplest and most important steps on your path to success.

The first step to mastering local SEO is the simplest one. Give your audience a place to find you!

Notice that almost none of these shops have websites that come up in Google…

For the first 10 days of this master plan, focus on building your website and ensuring it has a great design. After that, focus on 1-2 social media platforms.

That’s it.

Creating presence on a couple of platforms that are easy to navigate and even easier to find is the first key to your marketing success.

Once you develop your website, set up your Facebook page and a Twitter or Instagram account. Then, the real work begins.

And what is that “real work?”

Creating quality content.

Step 2: Start creating high quality content

One of the fallacies many entrepreneurs believe is that simply having a website with some on-page SEO is enough.

But that’s not how Google works, and that’s not how people work either.

If you want to attract new customers and build a loyal fan base, you need to place a premium on creating and curating high quality content.

Look at the bottom of the image above. Ramit has 241 PAGES of content on his blog.

I’ve got 162 pages of blog articles on Quick Sprout.

Content is huge.

But how does this apply to marketing a brick-and-mortar business? Here’s how…

Let’s say you own a coffee shop in Boulder, Colorado.

You take the first 2-3 days and pay to create your website—design it to look great and navigate easily. Then you set up your Facebook page.

Now, it’s time to start populating your website and your social media with killer content.

Continuing with the coffee shop example, the next step would be to start writing articles or filming videos based on your niche.

You could write an article about the best locations for growing coffee or about 3 unconventional brewing methods you can try today, or you could film a video showing people how to do cappuccino art.

The list of things you can do is endless.

By creating this content you will improve your chances of ranking on Google, and you will also start providing free value to customers, which will increase their trust and their desire to give you their business.

Step 3: Increase the number of your email subscribers with a lead magnet

Now that you have a great website and are regularly uploading content and sharing it via social media, it is time to increase your email subscriber list. That’s where the real money is made!

The key to a successful lead magnet is to offer something that a customer would be willing to pay for—but free.

An excellent example of a lead magnet is from Lucky Brand (above).

Back to the coffee shop…

A great marketing method used by many successful brick-and-mortar owners is the free giveaway.

If someone has found your site or is in your store, offering them a free coffee or pastry (which they would normally pay for) in return for access to their email is a win for both parties.

They get something free. You get a direct line to market your company.

Once you have collected the email, you can start sending updates about specials you are running, events you are putting on, and other cool things happening with your business.

Anytime you have a special event or a 2-for-1 deal, people will actually know about it. They will then take advantage of it.

Mastering local SEO: Days 10-25

Many brick-and-mortar business owners make another mistake when delving into the world of SEO. They don’t fully understand the difference between “regular” and “local” SEO.

The biggest difference is that local SEO contains a geographical aspect. This geographical information is crucial in “convincing” Google that you’re a bona fide local company serving local people.

The entry into local SEO may seem a little bit more complicated than normal SEO. Why? Because it’s no longer just about the keywords. There’s an element of mystery.

The result? You may have experienced this yourself. Few businesses execute local SEO efficiently.

However, in my opinion and experience, local SEO is easier. Why? Because there is less competition!

Don’t worry. I’ll remove some of the mystery and help you understand how it works.

Here are some of the essential ways to get started on your path to local SEO mastery.

Step 1: Set up Google Search Console and Analytics

These two tools are absolutely instrumental for successful on-page SEO.

There is a ton of information you will be able to gather about your website from these tools. Using them effectively will allow you to run tests, analyze the results, and make changes as necessary.

Here’s how to set up Google Analytics.

• First, create an Analytics account here.
• Sign in to your new account.
• Select “Admin.”
• Select an account from the “account” column.
• Select a new property from the “property” column.
• Click “Tracking Info” and then “Tracking Code.”
• Copy the ID.
• Insert this number into your website’s code.

Here’s how to set up Search Console:

• Create a Search Console account here.
• Log in to your new account.
• Click “Add a site.”
• Add your website’s URL.
• Copy the ID.
• Add it to your website’s code.

Step 2: Make sure you have the correct NAP data on your site

While this may not seem like a big deal, it is one of the quickest ways to accidentally shoot yourself in the foot with your SEO pursuits.

What’s NAP?

It’s the Name, Address, and Phone number of your business.

If you do not have the EXACT same Name, Address, and Phone Number on your website that you have on your Google My Business account, you will basically ruin all the hard work you have put into mastering local SEO.

Let me give you a few pointers on doing the NAP portion right.

Make sure the phone number listed is your local number (no 1-800 numbers).

Make sure the NAP info is listed as text on the page and not as an image. You need web crawlers to read the information. They won’t be able to do that if it’s in an image.

Include the NAP info in your website footer if possible. This means it will be visible on all pages.

If you’ve had a different name, address, or phone number in the past, find the variations anywhere on the web and correct them. You don’t want to confuse users or web crawlers. NAP consistency is important!

Step 3: Optimize your meta descriptions and title tags

For on-page optimization, this is one of the most important steps you can take.

The first step is to make sure your title tag includes these three things:

1. Your city
2. Your state
3. The keyword you’re trying to rank for

It is easy for this to come across as spammy and artificial, so put some time and effort into this before you hit “Publish.”

For example, these websites are perfectly setup for local SEO success:

If you’re looking for some more inspiration, check out this article for a list of local SEO-optimized title tags.

Next, you want to optimize your meta description.

The meta description is what appears beneath your title tag. It explains a little bit about your company and what you do. The meta description appears in the SERPs to help users understand what they’re about to click on.

I recommend that you include your city, state, keyword, and phone number for maximum efficiency.

A meta description doesn’t technically improve your SEO. It’s designed for users. However, user behavior does influence SEO, so it’s still important to optimize this bit of information.

Step 4: Include your hours of operation and directions

According to one study, Google said that 54% of smartphone users who search for a local business are searching for the hours of operation. And 53% wanted directions.

The simplest thing to do is simply put an “Hours of Operations” or “Business Hours” heading and image next to your maps widget.

This will make life easier for your customers. Plus, it will make Google love you.

Step 5: Leverage the power of social proof

While it doesn’t directly influence your local SEO ranking, including customer testimonials really helps. Adding BBB ratings, integrating Yelp, or citing other highly trusted sources will build customer trust.

In the example below, The Worthwhile Company cited their “Small Business of the Year” award from the local chamber of commerce. Information like this helps local residents to feel a greater degree of trust in the business.

Social proof also decreases your site’s bounce rate, increases the views on your site, and likely increases your opt-ins—all things Google is looking for.

Reaping the rewards and keeping the customers: Day 25-30

By following all the above advice, you will likely see an increase in your SEO ranking and the number of emails you collect within the first 30 days.

Things will move slowly at first.

That’s okay.

These things take time. Slow and steady wins the race.

The final step is to continue producing great content that you can rank on Google. Educate yourself on more advanced local SEO tactics you can start implementing. Most importantly, keep your customers happy.

The more satisfied customers you have, the more people will share your site with others, the more email opt-ins you will receive, and the better your business will be.

All that’s left to do is sit back and reap the rewards of a job well done.

And of course, keep on hustling.

Conclusion

To many entrepreneurs, SEO seems like a black box. And local SEO? It’s even more of a mystery.

Often, it’s viewed as something to be feared, something far too complicated to get involved in, and something that you sure as heck don’t have the required experience to excel at.

My hope, however, is that after reading this article, you’ll realize that SEO is just like any other skill. With a few simple tweaks, you can massively improve your local business’s results for years to come.

So, take this advice, and implement it. You’ll see the results for yourself.

What’s your experience with using digital marketing to drive a brick-and-mortar business? Share your worst mistakes or best tips!

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Questions About CNBC, Discounted Meat, Apartment Cooking, and More!

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Certifications for my career
2. Cooking in tiny efficiency apartment
3. Pay-as-you-go cell phone companies
4. Vehicle depreciation question
5. Selling old books
6. Repairing a leaky tent
7. Can’t trust husband with money
8. Feeling pointless
9. Breaking out of partying mindset
10. CNBC problems
11. Discounted meat
12. Steam sale thoughts and regrets

One of the interesting parts about being a freelance worker is that your “work time” isn’t so much based on hours or on when you’re scheduled to work, but on project delivery. You have a contract that doesn’t specify when you work, but on what you deliver.

That gives you a lot of freedom, but it can also lead to a lot of stress. I can work whenever I want during a given day, which is good. However, in order to have time off, I have to work “ahead,” meaning I have to complete the things on my various contracts before I can have that time off (or else risking forfeit of that contract). That includes emergencies and sick time.

This means that I need to have a good work ethic and, if at all possible, I need to have some work done in advance.

Most of the time, this isn’t a problem for me. I keep some articles written in advance and everything is good. If an emergency comes up, it’s okay – I just pull out articles I already have written and use those.

However, in the early part of each summer, a pair of things come together to make it very difficult. May and early June usually sees a cavalcade of school activities, graduations, weddings, and other events, plus that’s my wife’s professional crunch time, which means it falls on me to keep up lots of obligations and appointments. This often drains all of my work done in advance.

Then, we usually have a family summer vacation planned, one that I don’t want to interrupt with work. There’s usually a month or so between the early part of summer described above and our family’s vacation.

During that month, I basically work nonstop, and that’s the period I’m in right now. I had to use most of my “backup” writing in May and June, leaving me July and early August to get all of the writing done for July and for our family vacation in August.

On top of that, my wife and kids are at home during this month, meaning they’re constantly wanting me to do stuff with the family – and I want to do it, too, but doing so directly means that I’m going to be even more crunched when I sit down to work.

When someone asks what the hardest part of my job is, my answer is usually July.

Q1: Certifications for my career

How do you know if a particular certification will be helpful for getting a job or a promotion? I work as a sysadmin for a university with a large research park and lots of businesses nearby. I would like to be able to at least try to move up in my career into a position with better earnings but I want to have a resume that will actually get me interviews and job offers before I start. Some certifications seem to be good and others are not so much, but how does one know the difference?
– Kevin

The first thing you need to do is define exactly what position you want. Head out to some job boards and figure out what position you eventually want to be in. Once you’ve found those, see what kinds of requirements and desirables the job listings have. What things are they looking for?

Those things should become your checklist. You should make sure you have all of those things – or as many as possible.

Often, especially in the IT field, there are specific certifications that are frequently requested on job postings. Those certifications are ones you should definitely get.

If you’re part of any kind of professional group related to your career, ask within that group what kinds of certifications are respected and go after the ones that make sense for you.

Q2: Cooking in tiny efficiency apartment

I just got a new job in a city where I don’t really know anyone. In order to save money I got a tiny one room efficiency apartment (about 300 square feet) that has a toilet+shower+sink in the corner and is otherwise unfurnished. So far I have just been eating out but that’s going to get expensive fast. Suggestions for eating at home in these conditions?
– Jeffrey

Get a microwave and a hot plate (or two) and a small fridge and perhaps a toaster oven. You can stack these (except for the hot plate) within a simple shelving unit to minimize floor space, and you might want to get a simple standalone cupboard for your dishes and kitchen tools that has a small surface on top for food prep (even just space for a cutting board will do). With just those things and a few basic kitchen tools (and a small table) you can make a ton of different dishes in that space, everything from pasta meals to steaks to scrambled eggs and so on.

I was in almost this exact situation in college. I ended up making a lot of pasta meals for myself in a saucepan, where I’d just boil some water in the saucepan over the hot plate, cook a few ounces of pasta, drain it over the sink with a colander, then add some sauce to the pan and then serve it to a plate (or even eat it straight from the pan if you’re alone, I suppose). You can cook some garlic bread on the side with the toaster oven and steam some vegetables in the microwave. That’s just one example, but it’s one that I relied on probably 3 times a week during those days.

Naturally, there are some things you won’t be able to cook – you won’t be able to roast a turkey, for example. However, the vast majority of things you might cook at home can be done with this setup.

If you’re struggling for ideas for dishes in this setup, spend some time reading recipes and asking yourself whether you could do it with the equipment you have. You’d be surprised how many you’ll be able to pull off.

Q3: Pay-as-you-go cell phone companies

Looking for a recommendation on cell phone pay as you go companies. What one do you recommend?
– Tammy

I’ve had good experiences with two companies in the fairly recent past.

Republic Wireless basically offers unlimited texting and calls for $10 a month and charges an additional $15 a month for data, though they actually break this down into chunks of about 66 MB per dollar. Republic uses Sprint’s cellular network and hands off to wi-fi whenever there’s an open wi-fi point, so if you’re in an area that has good Sprint coverage, that’s a good option. The drawback is that they only have two phones to choose from, two middling Android models.

Ting offers a more modular plan. They don’t offer a strictly unlimited plan like Republic does and their rates are a little higher, but in exchange for those drawbacks, you get access to the Verizon network (which is better in many areas of the country) and you get a much larger choice of devices to use. Verizon is strong around here and Sprint isn’t very good, so in my area I’d definitely choose Ting.

If you want to get a look at what coverage looks like in your area, check out these maps over at OpenSignal. They’ll provide a pretty clear picture of which option is better for you.

Q4: Vehicle depreciation question

So, I was reading the federal guidelines on car depreciation and it said that cars depreciate in value $0.24 per mile driven. So I started doing some math and that just doesn’t seem right for a lot of cars. Let’s say I drive my car to the 200,000 mile mark. That means it depreciated $48,000 even though I only paid $21,000 for it new. How is that even possible?
– Larry

That’s because not all cars are made the same. The $0.24 per mile driven in depreciation is averaged across lots of different makes and models of cars.

For example, in the example you gave, you’re probably driving an entry-level sedan of some kind, which can easily get 200,000 over the lifetime of the car if you follow the maintenance plan. For that car, the actual depreciation is $0.10 per mile (assuming you paid $20,000 for it new and it’s now worthless). If you drive it more than that or get some trade-in value for it, then it’s actually depreciating less than $0.10 per mile.

On the other hand, what if you buy a Lexus SUV with all kinds of options? That’s probably running you $50,000. Then, let’s say you sell it for $15,000 when it reaches 100,000 miles. During that lifespan, you’re spending $35,000 on the car and driving it 100,000 miles, meaning you’re actually experiencing $0.35 per mile in depreciation.

The $0.24 figure is just an average that the federal government uses for calculations. You can certainly do better than that with some car purchases.

Q5: Selling old books

For many years my home has been stuffed with books on shelves that I have read. I finally realized that I’m never going to read most of them again and they just take up space. I am trying to figure out how to sell off a few thousand old books. The local used bookstore made me an offer but it seems kind of low ($0.25 per book). Ideas?
– Cammy

The reality is that for many of your books you’re going to struggle to find a buyer. Remember, money is just a means of exchange, and an item is only worth a certain dollar amount if someone is willing to pay it.

My suggestion would be to go through your shelves and select everything that might have individual value, then make a giant list of those books and sell them on Craigslist for something like $2 each. Maybe offer them for $2 each or 6 for $10, for example.

For all of the books that don’t sell in this way after a week or two, take them to that used bookseller and get the $0.25 he or she was offering you. That way, you’ll get at least some value from the books.

Q6: Repairing a leaky tent

We were camping in a tent last week when a storm came through in the night and we slept through most of it until the end when we woke up and everything was soaked. Turns out our tent has a pretty serious leak somewhere. I read some guides online to fixing it but it seems like a ton of work. Should I just replace it?
– Danielle

I’ve had tents leak many times. Almost always, it’s been due to a little rip on a seam somewhere which is easy to fix with seam sealant that you can buy for a few bucks a bottle at a well-equipped outdoor supply store.

All you have to do is open up your tent and inspect all of the seams carefully for any loose threads or tearing. When you find such a spot, clean it thoroughly and then apply the seam sealant to the spot and let it dry according to the directions. This will fix that leak nicely.

It’s really not all that hard. I can’t remember this process ever taking more than an hour or so, which is a far better deal than buying a new tent.

Q7: Can’t trust husband with money

My husband and I share a single checking account. Both of our checks go in there and we use debit cards to pay for almost everything. The problem is that my husband buys a lot of stuff without really thinking about it, which causes overdrafts on a monthly basis and makes bill paying really tricky let alone saving for the future.

Whenever I bring this up he says that he forgot and if I try to suggest doing something different he gets mad and brings up how he makes more than I do and lots of other things like shared household chore responsibilities.

Do you have any suggestions for a reasonable solution?
– Claire

My suggestion is to wait for a time when you’re not in any sort of overdrafting situation and there’s no financial problem, then suggest that you move to a situation where he has a “free spending” separate checking account with a debit card attached to it that he can use for whatever he likes and then gets rid of the debit card for the main checking account.

It sounds like you’re the one that manages the bills and that the problem isn’t so much that he buys things but that you can’t really plan around them. The best solution is to put a certain amount each month into an account just for him to spend freely, then you handle the management of the main account more carefully.

The purpose for this isn’t to keep him from spending, but to make sure that there aren’t overdrafts and other problems in the account. Also, an account with just money for him is one where he can look at the balance and know that any expenses are entirely due to his choices.

Q8: Feeling pointless

After a few years of spending like crazy after college, I decided to start turning things around in 2011. I started contributing to retirement and making double payments on my highest interest debt which was a credit card. Five years later I have paid off that credit card and two student loans and save 10% a year for retirement but my debts are still enormous.

I am so tired of this. I feel like I am never going to get ahead no matter what. The debts are still so huge.
– Alicia

Since you didn’t provide me with any numbers to look at, I’m going to have to just make some guesses about your financial state.

My guess is that your debt load was enormous when you started and now it’s merely very big. Similarly, my guess is that you had no retirement when you started and now you have something approaching a year’s wages in there.

The number you should really be looking at is your net worth, which is all of your assets (your home, your car, your savings, your retirement) added together, then all of your debts subtracted from that. If you’re following the recipe you describe here – putting 10% away for retirement, making double payments on your highest interest debt, not adding any more debt to the mix – your net worth should be going up by leaps and bounds every year.

The number that really matters for financial success is your net worth, particularly how much your net worth is changing each year. The bigger the bump in your annual net worth change, the better off you are.

Q9: Breaking out of partying mindset

I am 54 and my son is 26. He lives in an apartment a few miles away. He graduated in 2012 and got a pretty good job but he spends all of his spare time partying. At his age I never really got into that but he’s young.

The other day I stopped by and he had a bunch of mail out on the table with overdraft notices and a credit card statements. I looked at it quickly and it had a bunch of charges for restaurants so he must eat out every single meal when he’s not eating at my house. Lots of bars and clubs and such and some liquor stores.

I feel like he’s locked into this partying lifestyle and wasting these years of his life. I don’t know how t help him out of it other than to just wait it out with him. Not really a confrontational type of guy. But waiting it out is hard especially since his hole is just going to get deeper.
– Larry

You’re probably right that he’s locked into a partying cycle. You’re also probably right that anything confrontational won’t help at all.

If I were in your shoes, I’d probably talk to him one day about how he’s a man now with a real career and a future ahead of him to take care of, and then give him a good book on personal finance. The right book depends on what his personality is like, but something like I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi is probably a solid choice here. (I’d recommend my own book, but I’m not sure it’s the perfect choice to speak to your son at this stage in his life).

He really has to find his own way here. The best role you can fulfill is that of a very gentle guiding hand that’s not looking to correct, but looking to help him build a great future for himself. Good luck.

Q10: CNBC problems

What is the value of CNBC? I was at the airport for several hours and found myself in a bar working on my laptop at a back table. The TV showed CNBC all day long and I found myself watching it. What is the point of showing these guys all day long talking about how this specific stock is hot? I mean do they think I’m going to suddenly go call someone and put a bunch of my money into that stock? A financial network could be useful to people and provide good ideas for financial success but this is just junk.
– Alan

I agree with you on many counts here. I don’t think there’s a lot of value in most programming on CNBC. I mostly feel like it’s sales pitches for various financial firms and individual brokers who are trying to sell their services more than anything else. I think buying and selling individual stocks is a fool’s game. I basically don’t watch CNBC or Fox Business at this point.

At the same time, I’d love to see a network that was based on genuine self-improvement in the various spheres of life – financial, professional, and so on. I don’t know how big the audience would be for such a network, but I’d certainly be interested in it.

CNBC, though – it’s not worth the time, in my opinion.

Q11: Discounted meat

Is it safe to eat discounted meat?
– Ellie

Generally, yes, discounted meat won’t kill you. Usually, discounted meat is meat that’s still okay to eat, but has perhaps discolored a little due to oxidation or other factors.

I would always very thoroughly cook any discounted meat that I bought. I wouldn’t eat it until it’s very well done, and I would base the “well done” aspect on actual temperature to make sure anything bad was killed.

In general, you’ll know if meat is genuinely bad – it won’t pass the visual test or the smell test. If it does, then just cook it thoroughly. That’s about the best anyone can do.

Q12: Steam sale thoughts and regrets

So I bought a bunch of computer games during the summer Steam sale. I felt like I was getting a bunch of bargains but when I totaled it all up I spent over $100 (got 12 games). I kind of have this feeling of buyer’s remorse, though. Was this a good move? How do you judge buying things on sale like this?
– Kevin

If that money was budgeted and planned to be spent on computer games in June and July, then there’s no problem. If you went above and beyond your “electronic entertainment” budget, then there is a problem, but you can fix it by keeping that spendin very low until you “catch up.”

Honestly, spending a bit over $100 on something over a two week period isn’t going to be a financial crisis, especially assuming you actually get adequate enjoyment out of those games. For me, a computer game is worth it if I can lower the cost per hour to less than $1, meaning I play it for more than an hour for every dollar I spent on it.

Of course, if you buy these games and never play them, then it’s never going to have been a wise financial move. Games that just sit around unplayed are never worthwhile, so if you want to make this purchase worthwhile, actually play these games.

Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.

The post Questions About CNBC, Discounted Meat, Apartment Cooking, and More! appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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The Average Wedding Doesn’t Cost $30K — Thinking It Does Could Cost You

Been invited to a lot of weddings lately?

No surprise: We’re striding steadily toward peak wedding season, and love — or at least “I do” — is everywhere.

But in between dancing the Cha-Cha Slide and taking advantage of the open bar, you might find all those white party favors are turning your thoughts a little green.

No, I don’t mean with envy — although maybe that, too.

I’m talking money, honey, and how much of it we spend on getting hitched.

Weddings are Expensive — But How Expensive?

It’s pretty well-established that weddings are expensive. But it turns out some of our go-to figures for the “average” cost are bogus.

In fact, the amount most of us spend on our day of matrimonial bliss is probably orders of magnitude below the figure published by publications like The Knot every year.

That’s what Slate writer Will Oremus discovered when he crunched the numbers. Although his piece is a few years old, its findings hold true — and they’re super important for newlyweds-to-be.

Here’s why the “average” wedding cost is all wrong.

Selection Bias

First of all, that “average” cost you’re citing? To get it, someone (well, a lot of someones) had to self-report their expenses.

And the couples excited enough about their weddings to take part in that kind of survey are probably more willing — and able — to spend a decent chunk of change on their special day.

Almost all the “average wedding cost” data on the Internet — even the stuff published by names like Reuters and CNN Money — comes from the “Real Weddings Survey” conducted by The Knot and The Wedding Channel, writes Oremus.

That means those figures are “drawn from the sites’ own online membership, surely a more gung-ho group than the brides who don’t sign up for wedding websites, let alone those who lack regular Internet access.”

Just by virtue of the fact that this is the easiest way to get the figures, the studies inadvertently skew the numbers “before they do a single calculation.”

“The big wedding studies have excluded the poorest and the most low-key couples from their samples,” writes Oremus.

“This isn’t intentional, but it skews the results nonetheless.”

Mean vs. Median

The other problem with our go-to wedding cost benchmark?

The average of a given set is more easily skewed by an outlier than other statistics, like the median.

In case you’ve forgotten most of your sixth-grade math (like me), here’s a quick review:

The mean, or average, is what you get when you add together all the examples you’re talking about — in this case, all the self-reported wedding costs — and divide them by the number of examples.

I’ll let Oremus, who’s doubtless better than me at math, take over:

“So if you have 99 couples who spend $10,000 apiece, and just one ultra-wealthy couple splashes $1 million on a lavish Big Sur affair, your average wedding cost is almost $20,000 — even though virtually everyone spent far less than that.”

($10,000 x 99) + $1 million  = $1,990,000. Divide that by the 100 couples who responded, and you get $19,900 — not exactly a representative figure, right?

But the median is the number smack-dab in the middle of a set — the one about which you could accurately say, “half of couples spent more, and half spent less, than this number.”

And as it turns out, the median wedding cost is much lower than the average. Here’s Oremus again, using The Knot’s numbers:

“In 2012, when the average wedding cost was $27,427, the median was $18,086. In 2011, when the average was $27,021, the median was $16,886. In Manhattan, where the widely reported average is $76,687, the median is $55,104. And in Alaska, where the average is $15,504, the median is a mere $8,440.”

I’m not saying $18,000 is a cheap soiree, but it’s a long shot from $30,000, right?

And bear in mind, these numbers still come from the affluent and enthusiastic people who do things like respond to wedding cost surveys.

Why Soon-to-Be Newlyweds Should Care

You may be thinking, “OK, so it’s not as high as I thought it was — but it’s still five figures and it’s still a huge expense. Who cares if the actual cost of most weddings is lower than I thought?”

Well, you should care, because the industry uses those numbers to price their services.

“Complain about a reception venue’s $250 ‘cake-cutting fee,’ or its $10,000 food and drink minimum, and you’ll be curtly informed that it’s standard in the industry,” writes Oremus.

“Photographers who charge $2,000 for an evening’s worth of snapshots point out that The Knot’s reported average is $2,379, so you’re actually saving $379.” (emphasis added)

And if you believe the “average” wedding should cost $32,641, as most recently reported by The Knot, the $13,000 you spend on your soiree will feel downright frugal — even though it’s still a giant sum.

Want to Save Money on Your Wedding?

Now that we’ve dispensed with the illusion your wedding should cost more than your first salary, here are some ways to get seriously frugal on your big day.

Here are 101 creative ways to save money on your wedding, which cover everything from the ring to decor.

Another creative idea? Put off your reception.

And while you’re waiting for the party, put these 20 gifts on your registry to save a ton of dough down the line.

After all, it’s not about the party, it’s about the person you love. And although it’s hard to come by, true love does have the perk of being 100% free.

Your Turn: What did YOU spend on your wedding?

Jamie Cattanach is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. If she ever gets married (doubtful), she’ll probably elope.

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Extra Energy's customer service and billing process to be investigated

Helen Knapman

Extra-energy-logo.jpg

Extra Energy is to be scrutinised by energy regulator Ofgem, amid concerns it hasn’t treated customers fairly.

Extra Energy is to be scrutinised by energy regulator Ofgem, amid concerns it hasn’t treated customers fairly.

An investigation is being launched following Ofgem’s monitoring of the market and information provided to it by the Citizens Advice Service and the Ombudsman Services regarding Extra Energy's billing, customer service and complaints handling processes.

read more

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How Much Does Everyone Get Paid to Make a $200 Million Movie?

We know blockbuster movies come with huge budgets. But where does all that money actually go?

To make that movie a blockbuster, a lot goes into advertising, to be sure. And sets, costumes and high-tech gadgets don’t come cheap, either.

But a lot of that budget goes into the hands of the people involved, too — more than you might guess.

Vanity Fair recently broke down how much everyone working on a $200 million movie earns, based on a hypothetical blockbuster budget, and presented it in the most epic way possible.

Vanity Fair notes this disclaimer: “Not every budget breakdown is the same, and some roles are subject to wider fluctuations than others. This is here to serve as approximations based on a hypothetical film which has never been made.”

If you’re not sure what a $200 million movie looks like, here are some reference points: This summer’s “Ghostbusters” reboot comes with a $154 million price tag, “Batman v. Superman” cost $250 million, “The Jungle Book” $175 million and “Finding Dory” is estimated at Pixar’s typical budget between $175 million and $200 million.

Actor Pay

You won’t be surprised to learn there’s a huge range in actor pay, even among the leads. The top-billed talent can make or break a movie, and the people negotiating their pay know that.

The top three actors in this hypothetical blockbuster earn $12 million, $4.5 million and $1.5 million.

The range for supporting actors is just as wide, from $10,000 to $400,000. The “best friend” role is listed as earning $75,000.

via GIPHY

Day players — supporting actors with small speaking roles who are hired by the day — earn between $2,000 and $20,000.

Extras earn $148 each, just a little over a typical day rate around $100.

Some fun surprises: One day player is listed as “had a scene with the female lead but was cut,” earning $1,920. Kind of a bummer, but not a bad paycheck for a day’s work.

There is a cat listed in this hypothetical film, who made $13,000, in case you were wondering if there’s a way to get your pets to earn their keep.

via GIPHY

Writer, Director and Crew Pay

What about the faces behind the scenes? Some roles you probably recognize earn the most:

• Director: $4 million

• Producers: $1 million each

• Writers: $250,000 to $3.25 million each

• Editor: $924,000

Even those positions you rarely think about when choosing which movie to see — unless you’re a major movie buff — earn a pretty penny from these films.

• Production Designer: $779,688

• Costume Designer: $315,000

• Camera operators: between $50,000 and $100,000 each

• Assistant Editors and apprentices: about $100,000 each

If you’ve ever spent a minute skimming the credits, you’ve probably seen some of these weird titles that sound a little risque but totally are not. Here’s what they do and how much they make:

This hypothetical film’s Gaffer — chief electrician on the set — makes $125,468.

The Best Boy, second in command to the Gaffer, earns $64,475. I’m just going to throw this out there, Hollywood: “assistant gaffer.”

via GIPHY

The Key Grip — who supervises the grips, who are team members responsible for building and maintaining the equipment that holds the cameras — makes $113,920. Grips make between $20,000 and $60,000.

Production Assistants (PAs), the entry-level players who do everything from paperwork to crowd control to hauling equipment, will earn between $15,000 and $30,000.

This blockbuster’s Parking Coordinator, who organizes the PAs who keep the streets clear for filming on location, earns $35,040. However, those parking PAs are among the lowest paid on the set, making about $125 for a 12-hour shift, the New York Times reported in 2006.

Scale Pay

How much can you make working on a movie set? These blockbuster numbers are pretty spectacular, but they’re not typical of most workers’ pay in the business, even in Hollywood.

Compare these numbers with the scale pay for actors set by the Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG-AFTRA). A day player would earn a minimum of $933 per day, with a longer contract earning a weekly performer $3,239 per week.

For a low-budget film, cut those rates almost in half. Still, even for a 12-hour day, that rate comes out to about $40 per hour.

Show business isn’t the worst business to be in… as long as you’re working.

via GIPHY

Your Turn: Have you ever worked on a movie set? What was it like?

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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Do Target-Date Retirement Funds Hit the Mark?

Target-date retirement funds were originally created by Barclays in 1993 as a way to make it easier for regular investors to get access to a high-quality, highly diversified investment portfolio.

These days they are widely available in 401(k)s and other employer plans, as well as IRAs and regular investment accounts.

They’ve greatly simplified investing in many ways, but are they always the right choice?

This is an especially important question given that they’re often the default investment option in company retirement plans, meaning that unless you specifically choose to do something else there’s a good chance you will automatically be invested in a target date retirement fund.

In this post you’ll learn how these funds work, and the biggest pros and cons of using them, so you can make the right choice for your specific needs.

What Are Target-Date Retirement Funds?

Target-date retirement funds are a kind of all-in-one mutual fund. Each one is a single fund that is composed of multiple other funds.

Let’s look at Vanguard’s Target Retirement Fund 2050 as an example. Here’s the current breakdown of the other funds it invests in:

• 54% in a Total US Stock Market fund
• 36% in a Total International Stock Market fund
• 7% in Total US Bond Market fund
• 3% in Total International Bond Market fund

At a basic level this is incredibly helpful because instead of having to choose your own set of mutual funds, set up contributions to each, and manage them as they rise and fall in value, you get access to essentially the entire world of investments with just a single fund.

Not only that, but target date retirement funds automatically get more conservative as you get closer to retirement, and even once you’re in retirement. You don’t have to do anything, and your investments automatically adjust as you age.

But are they always a good idea? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of using a target-date fund for your retirement.

Pros of Target Date Retirement Funds

Simplicity

Target date retirement funds take a lot of the difficult and confusing investment decisions off your plate and allow you to focus on the thing that matters most: making contributions.

Rather than having to analyze the entire lineup of mutual funds, ETFs, and other investments available to you, decide on the subset in which you want to invest, and then set it all up and manage it over time, you get to pick a single mutual fund that does it for you.

As investment great Peter Lynch once said, “The simpler it is, the better I like it.” Target-date retirement funds make things as simple as possible.

Diversification

Of course, simplicity means nothing if the underlying investments aren’t any good. Who wants a simple and ineffective investment strategy?

Not all target date retirement funds are good (more on that below), but one thing they pretty much all offer is diversification.

Diversification is simply the process of spreading your money out over many different investments. And it’s often referred to as the one free lunch in investing because it’s the only way to decrease your investment risk without decreasing your expected return.

Looking at the Vanguard example above, you can see this in action. With a single fund, you get access to both U.S. and international stock markets and U.S. and international bond markets.

That’s about as diversified as you can get.

Automation

Target-date retirement funds automatically rebalance on a regular basis, so you don’t become over-invested in one area and under-invested in another as market values change over time.

They also automatically get more conservative over time, ensuring that your investment risk decreases as you near retirement (though, as with all investments, the risk never fully disappears).

That automation means that good things are happening to your portfolio without you even having to think about it.

Cost

Many target date retirement funds offer all of these features at a supremely low cost. And since cost is the single best predictor of future returns, that’s a very good thing.

Cons of Target-Date Retirement Funds

Of course, it’s not all roses and sunshine when it comes to target-date retirement funds, so now let’s look at some of the potential downsides.

Cost

As with all good things in the financial industry, once something catches on, there are always other companies who jump on the trend with the main goal of making a profit.

While most target-date retirement funds are fairly cheap, there are plenty of high-cost target date funds out there, too — so you have to be careful. You can review this article to see which specific costs to watch out for.

Just remember, the more you pay, the less likely you are to see positive returns.

Impersonal Asset Allocation

All target-date retirement funds have a year in their name that is meant to correspond to your estimated year of retirement.

For example, I’m 31. Assuming I retire at 67, that will be the year 2052. Which means that I “should” probably pick something like Vanguard’s 2050 fund mentioned above.

The problem with that assumption is that it takes nothing about my personal goals, needs, values, or circumstances into account. Depending on my personal situation, that 2050 target-date retirement fund may be more aggressive or more conservative than my investments should be.

You could see this problem in action during the 2008 market crash, when target-date retirement funds got a bad rap because many people didn’t understand how aggressively they were invested and lost a lot more money than they were expecting.

Asset allocation is a decision that should take many factors into account, including but not limited to your expected retirement date. For that reason, I encourage people to FIRST decide on their asset allocation, THEN pick a target-date retirement fund that closely matches it, even if the year in the fund’s name doesn’t match when you expect to retire.

No Guarantees

While target-date retirement funds automate a lot of the good behaviors any investor should be implementing anyways, there is still no performance guarantee.

Just as with any investment, there will be big swings in every direction. And there will certainly be days, months, and even years where your target-date fund produces a negative return.

This isn’t really a downside of target-date funds as much as it’s a reality of investing in the stock market. It’s just important to understand that these funds are no different.

Lack of Control

You can’t implement your specific investment preferences with a target-date retirement fund, unless you find one that closely matches what you would have done anyways.

For most people this really shouldn’t be a problem, since the truth is that none of us are particularly good at forecasting which specific investments will outperform over any given period. So the odds of your particular strategy outperforming a good target-date retirement fund are a coin flip at best.

But if you have a specific plan you want to implement, such as a socially responsible investing strategy, you’ll probably have to look elsewhere to do it.

Tax Efficiency

If your investing extends into taxable accounts, there are certain strategies you can implement to minimize the tax hit on your investments.

Because target-date retirement funds are all-in-one, they make it difficult or impossible to implement these strategies. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll end up with a big tax bill, it just means that they likely won’t be optimal.

Keep in mind that for the majority of investors, most of whom save for retirement in a tax-advantaged account such as an IRA or 401(k), this will be a small to non-existent downside.

My Take

If you have access to a low-cost target-date retirement fund and both understand and like the investment strategy, it should probably be your default option.

It’s not that you’re guaranteed to outperform all other options that way (you’re not). It’s that it’s impossible to know ahead of time which strategy will outperform and a good target date retirement fund will have as good a strategy as any.

Add that to the fact that they’re incredibly easy to both set up and maintain and they’re a fantastic option.

Matt Becker is a fee-only financial planner and the founder of Mom and Dad Money, where he helps new parents take control of their money so they can take care of their families. His free book, The New Family Financial Road Map, guides parents through the all most important financial decisions that come with starting a family.

Related Articles:

• The Best Retirement Account You’ve Never Heard Of
• Four Ways to Use a Roth IRA That Have Nothing to Do With Retirement
• What Is Index Investing and Why Does It Work?

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This Artist Earns $225,000 a Year Selling Quirky Vintage Plates

When you think of antique plates, what comes to mind?

Do you think of “demure ladies posed in proper positions and big fluffy dresses,” as artist Angela Rossi does?

Rossi envisions another, weirder life for these old plates, which she collects, upcycles and sells on her website Beat Up Creations.

Think Pee-Wee Herman’s image beneath a floral spray, a mountain lion posed in a three-piece suit or a portrait of Spock on a bed of pink and yellow roses.

This isn’t just an obscure side hobby. Over the past six years, between her Etsy sales and wholesale income, she’s earned an average of $225,000 a year in revenue.

And her customers are impressed. She has more than 3,200 reviews on Etsy with a five-star rating.

How Did She Start This Business?

Image from Beat Up Creations

Rossi came up with the idea when her mother retired as an antiques dealer and she saw the vintage plates her mom was parting with.

“They were all beautiful with hand painted details, gold accents and delicate porcelain, but in reality they did not exactly match my modern, urban style,” she says.

“So, were they useless? No, I must make them cool again… alas, the idea began.”

Now Rossi turns trash into treasure, creating unusual plates, teacups, prints and sculptures, which she then sells online.

She makes good money with her designs. The Yoda and the Nymphs Portrait Plate goes for $110 while a Pee-Wee Herman plate goes for $125.

For unique plate collectors on a budget, Portrait of a Shih Tzu is only $39, and a pack of playing cards with even more quirky animal portraits is only $15.99.  

Humor Inspires Her Art

Image from Beat Up Creations

Where does Rossi find all the creative ideas for her designs? Humor guides her work.

“I love the idea of taking a traditionally formal piece and bringing some humor to it,” she says. “It is really about revitalizing these beautiful vintage plates, altering them to be a bit more fun and contemporary.”

Many of her works feature animals in human clothing, from a three-piece suit-clad mountain lion to a raccoon dressed as a young boy for a school photo.

“I am definitely inspired by pop culture, anthropomorphism and classic antiques,” she says.

“I tend to view people as animals and can usually remember a person by the animal that they remind me of rather than their name or other quality. It came naturally for me to want to use anthropomorphic creations on the plates.”

How She Finds Her Materials

Image from Beat Up Creations

Rossi discovers her vintage and antique plates at antique stores, thrift stores and estate sales, incorporating her mixed media portraits into each plate’s design. She spends about $30,000 a year buying plates.

While she scouts vintage plates from certain stores, Rossi’s sculpture components can come from anywhere. She uses broken china and jewelry, doll parts and even trash to craft her unique 3D creations.

Growing the Business

When she began her business, Rossi wasn’t expecting to sell many items. In fact, she didn’t plan to sell a single one.

“I never expected to sell one thing, seriously,” she says. “Crafting was always just a side hobby that I never gave much thought to.”

That changed when she listed her first sculpture for sale on Etsy. Within a few hours, someone bought it.

“I was ecstatic,” she says. “This was the first time anybody showed interest in my crazy things. I come from a family of classically trained painters and I was definitely a black sheep that was considered inartistic.”

A year after she opened her Etsy store, she’d sold more than 1,000 items, including plates, art prints and sculptures.

Now her business is mostly wholesale, with her products sold in 150 stores around the globe. She also has a dozen licensing contracts and sells a few hundred plates each month.

Advice for Aspiring Upcyclers

Image from Beat Up Creations

Rossi advises people who are interested in recycling and upcycling their own crafty creations to give it a go.

“Do it, do it now!” she says. “Give it a try, if it doesn’t work out then it doesn’t work out… There really is no startup cost unless you consider the hefty 20 cents to list an item on Etsy.”

She also finds joy and creativity in transforming trash into treasure.

“Upcycling, for me, means taking unloved, thrown out and abandoned items and altering them into something cool and contemporary,” she says.

“I see a bright future for all the world’s discarded ‘junk’ if artists and designers continue to make amazing inventive upcycled objects.”

Your Turn: Have you started a business some people might consider unusual? We’d love to hear about it!

Kristen Pope is a freelance writer and editor in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

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