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الجمعة، 15 يوليو 2016

How Much Does a Root Canal Cost?

What’s more fun than a root canal? Needing one but having no idea how much it will cost. Not only do you have the stress of a procedure whose very name is synonymous with unpleasantness — you also have the added stress of wondering how much it will cost and where you’ll come up with the money. And depending on whether you have dental insurance and who your insurer is, you might be footing the entire bill yourself.

How Much a Root Canal Costs

The cost of a root canal varies depending on where you are in the country — and which tooth needs it.

Molars are significantly more expensive than bicuspids and front teeth. That’s not an access issue — it’s because front teeth have one canal, while your back teeth can have as many as three. If all of them need work done, you’re actually getting a bulk discount on the molars.

So what are you going to pay for a root canal? The short answer is somewhere around the neighborhood of $1,000, depending on which tooth needs it, among other factors. Here are the average prices of a root canal by tooth:

  • Front teeth: The cost will range anywhere from $300 to $1,500, but a more typical range will be $900 to $1,100.
  • Bicuspids: The cost of a bicuspid root canal is a little steeper, ranging from $400 to $1,800 with a typical cost of $900 to $1,100.
  • Molars: Here’s where things start getting really expensive. For a molar root canal you’re looking at spending between $500 to $2,000, with typical costs between $1,000 to $1,300.

What does that include? An X-ray and the procedure itself. You’re probably going to be looking at extra costs, though, including follow-up visits (about $50 to $100 each) and a dental crown (anywhere from $300 to $3,000, depending on which tooth you had done and how nice you want the crown to be). If you’re lucky, you might get away with just needing a filling, which is going to run you between $50 and $300.

Will Insurance Cover Your Root Canal?

If you’re among the 64% of Americans who have dental insurance, according to the National Association of Dental Plans, how much is your insurance going to cover? That depends on your policy.

Dental insurance will often cover 100% of routine costs — but only about half of what you’ll owe for major procedures like a root canal. What’s more, there might be a waiting period on your insurance, meaning you have to carry the policy for a certain amount of time before you’re eligible to get more extensive – and expensive — procedures like a root canal. You might be tempted to wait until you get full coverage, but that would be a mistake.

How to Save Money on a Root Canal

While you don’t want to bargain shop or get the discount root canal procedure, you might want to look into getting the procedure done at your local dental college to save a bit of money. Dental schools are always looking for people for their students to practice on — and they’re not letting just anyone do a root canal. What’s more, there will be a qualified dentist or endodontist on hand to make sure that you’re getting the best care.

Other than that, you can always wait for deals on Groupon or other social shopping sites, or even ask for a discount for paying your entire bill in cash. Even saving just 10% can be significant on a big procedure like a root canal.

Why You Shouldn’t Put It Off

We don’t want to scare you too much, but if you’re thinking of putting off a root canal, you might need a little scaring. That’s because delaying a root canal procedure can have serious complications.

What you basically have right now is a tooth that’s infected down to the root. It’s not going to get better on its own, but it will probably get a lot worse. In a worst-case scenario, you can get a full body infection putting you at risk for heart attack, stroke, or death.

The good news is that once you get a root canal — which, contrary to popular lore, is actually not a painful procedure — you’re going to start feeling almost immediate relief from the pain of the infection. There’s not really a price you can put on that. Bottom line, if you need a root canal, start looking into getting it done sooner rather than later.

Related Articles:

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Firstrade Review – Simple and Straight Forward Trading

One of the early online investment brokerage platforms, Firstrade offers first rate service. They provide all of the resources that you need as a do-it-yourself investor. That includes tools, calculators, and educational videos and articles, that will help you to be a better investor.

FirstTrade reviewThe platform also offers an aggressive fee structure, that while not the lowest in the industry, is well below many of the more popular brokerage services.

About Firstrade

Firstrade was started in 1985, as First Flushing Securities, mainly serving the needs of the local investment community. Along the way, the company grew through organic growth, but recognized the benefits from tapping the capabilities of the Internet. The company finally launched Firstrade.com in 1997, at a time when there were only a few online stockbrokers available on the web.

It is now one of the leading discount online brokerage platforms, and offers a full line of investment products and tools to help investors take control over financial futures. The platform combines proprietary trading technology with an intuitive user interface and high-level customer service and mobility applications. They offer extended hours trading, as well as a one-second trade execution guarantee.

The platform offers trading in stocks, options, and more than 11,000 mutual funds, as well as exchange traded funds, bonds, US Treasury securities, agency bonds, and certificates of deposit.

The platform has been recognized by Barron’s, SmartMoney, Kiplinger’s and Forbes for outstanding service.

Firstrade Features and Benefits

review of firstrade features and benefitsMinimum initial deposit/account balance. Firstrade has no minimum initial deposit or account balance requirement, except that there are cleared funds in your account before you execute your first trade.

The one exception is margin accounts, where you are required to have minimum equity of $2,000 in the account.

Available Investments. You can invest in stocks, ETFs, bonds, certificates of deposit, other fixed income investments, mutual funds, and options.

Available account types. You can open regular investment brokerage accounts (both individual and joint), as well as various types of IRA retirement accounts. They also offer custodial accounts, investment club accounts and ESA education planning accounts, including Coverdell accounts.

IRA accounts include traditional and Roth IRAs, 401(k) rollover accounts, and SEP and SIMPLE IRAs. Firstrade also allows you to open up profit-sharing plans and money purchase plans.

Accounts are also available for certain businesses, including corporations and LLCs, partnerships and LLP’s, and sole proprietorships. You can also open an account for a trust, estate, or conservatorship.

Eligible account holders. Firstrade accepts US residents, but also permits international accounts. However with international accounts, availability is limited to certain countries. US citizens living permanently abroad must make application for domestic accounts.

Extended hours trading. You can trade through your Firstrade account in premarket trading from 8:05 AM to 9:25 AM, and in aftermarket trading, from 4:05 PM to 5:25 PM. Only limit orders are allowed in extended hours trading.

Mobile App. Firstrade’s mobile app is available for both Android and iPhone. The app allows touch ID for iOS devices, equity ratings and fundamental data, advanced charts, portfolio dashboard, enhanced order status view, and improved trading and research interfaces.

Transferring funds. Both deposits and withdrawals can be accomplished through ACH funds transfer, which is the electronic transfer of funds between financial accounts. You must execute an electronic funds transfer (ACH) agreement, and then attach a copy of either a voided check or the most recent bank statement from the external account. Once you have established the link, you will be able to transfer funds between your Firstrade account and the linked external financial institution.

You can deposit up to $100,000 into your account over seven calendar days, using an ACH transfer. You can withdraw up to $50,000 over seven calendar days using ACH.

Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIPs). You can sign up for the DRIP program, and any eligible stocks that you buy are automatically enrolled for dividend reinvestment. The stocks must be priced above $4 per share, and includes only select foreign securities. You can enroll or unroll in the DRIP plan at any time you like.

Tax Center. This is something of a library, in which Firstrade provides information, articles and charts that give investors the information that they need in regard to the tax consequences of their investments. For example, there is a page that enables you to get whatever tax forms that you need. There are also articles to explain topics such as capital gains and losses, cost basis, wash sales and short sales.

The Tax Center also provides valuable information, such as income tax brackets, and a discussion of the merits of taking a tax loss. That’s a discussion that doesn’t come up often, but every investor will face that decision at some point.

Asset protection. Your account is protected by SIPC, which will cover your account for up to $500,000 in cash and securities, including up to $250,000 in cash. Firstrade’s clearing firm, Apex Clearing Corporation, also provides “excess SIPC” coverage of up to $37.5 million per depositor for securities, and up to $900,000 for cash. Both types of coverage are to protect your account from broker failure, and not from declines in value due to market factors.

Account security. Firstrade maintains physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards to guard personal information. Personal account information is placed on the secure portion of the website, where industrial-strength firewalls and encryption technology are used to protect the information. The servers have been enabled with secure sockets layer (SSL) technology to prevent unauthorized parties from accessing the information. They also use digital certificate services to encrypt the information exchanged between customers and the platform.

Firstrade also offers the Firstrade Online Protection Guarantee. If unauthorized activity is conducted online in your Firstrade account, Firstrade will cover 100% of any losses due to that activity. (There are terms and conditions attached to this guarantee.)

Firstrade pricing review

Firstrade Tools and Calculators

Firstrade has dozens of tools and calculators available throughout the website. Some of the more noteworthy ones include:

Video Commentary. You get daily, weekly and quarterly video discussions on a specific topic, asset class or security from trusted independent analysts. This includes Morningstar Minute, Morningstar DividendInvestor, and Morningstar ETFInvestor.

Analyst Reports & Ratings.This gives you access to Morningstar 5-star ratings and comprehensive research reports.

Advanced Screener. This tool enables you to narrow down your investment choices using predefined screeners. For example, you can screen for high-yielding quality stocks, large-cap growth stocks, or bargain-basement small caps. You can choose from dozens of criteria, to meet your own requirements.

Financial calculators. These are online calculators that enable you to crunch numbers for a large number of financial concerns, including:

  • Current net worth
  • How much you should be saving for college
  • How much you can contribute to an IRA
  • How much retirement income an IRA will provide
  • Should you convert to a Roth IRA
  • The value of your qualified plans at retirement
  • How much you will need to save for retirement
  • Calculating if your current retirement savings are sufficient
  • Becoming a millionaire
  • How to allocate assets
  • Calculating the return on a real estate investment
  • Calculating the value a call or put option

Investment Glossary . This provides definitions of a comprehensive listing of virtually every investing term that was ever invented. This will be of real value to new and intermediate investors, but it might even be a benefit to more experienced investors. After all, every now and again come we all come across a term or concept that we’ve never heard of before.

Educational Videos. This is a library of instructional videos that will help you with basic investing procedures. For example there are videos available that will show you how to place option trades, create trailing stop orders, understand margin trading, and learn the intricacies of exchange traded funds.

Upcoming IPO announcements. Firstrade has a dedicated page that lists upcoming initial public offerings on a monthly basis. This will give you an opportunity to be aware of these opportunities, so that you can do your research, and invest in these new issues when they become available.

Firstrade Fees

Firstrade performs many services as an investment brokerage, but here are the most commonly charge fees associated with the service:

Stocks. Firstrade has a commission fee of $6.95 per online trade, with unlimited shares.  This puts them slightly above companies like TradeKing, but right at the same price as other brokerages like Scottrade.

Options. The commission fee for online trades is $6.95, plus $0.75 per contract, again with no minimum.

Mutual funds. No Transaction Fee mutual funds can be traded commission free. This is also true of load funds. On no-load funds, the commission is $9.95 per trade

Fixed income investments. Firstrade charges $30 to trade a primary market certificate of deposit. However, on virtually every other type of fixed income investment, trades are executed on a net yield basis, and do not include a dedicated commission fee. This includes trades involving U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds, municipal bonds, agency bonds, zeros and strips, and secondary market CDs.

Broker assisted orders. If you use a Firstrade representative to complete a transaction, there is a charge of $19.95 per trade, except on mutual funds that have load fees. Options are also $19.95, plus $0.75 per contract.

Margin interest rates. Firstrade chart has a sliding scale for margin interest rates, the higher your account balance the lower the interest rate. At the low end, the margin interest rate is 4.50% on account balances of at least $1 million. The high rate is currently 7.75% on accounts balances of less than $10,000.

Other brokerage fees. This includes non commission related charges, including:

  • Paper trade confirmations, $2 per confirmation
  • Paper account statements, $5 per statement
  • Margin call notice, $25
  • IRA termination fee, $50
  • Wire out funds – domestic, $30; international, $50
  • ACAT (outgoing transfers, full), $75
  • ACAT (outgoing transfers, partial), $50
  • Account verification fee, $15
  • Dormant processing fee, $100
  • Stock certificate fee, $300-$600

Firstrade Caveats

review of firstrade caveatsFirstrade is a solid trading platform that has just about everything that you need. The only exceptions we came across are the following two:

Limited interest on cash balances. In order to earn interest on your cash balance, you must maintain a minimum of $25,000 in your account. Not to worry if you have less – the interest rate on cash balances is just 0.01%, so you aren’t missing out on much (for example, if you have an account cash balance of $10,000, you will earn just $10 in interest IF you keep the money in the account for an entire year!).

No investment management available. If you prefer to use professional services for your investment portfolio, rather than going the do-it-yourself route, Firstrade does not offer this service, as some of the other major investments brokerage firms do.

Will Firstrade Work for You?

Firstrade is anxious to get your business. They are currently running several promotions if you open an account with them:

  • Triple 100 Promotion – If you open a new account you receive 1) 100 free trades, 2) up to $100 in transfer rebates, and 3) $100 cash back. You must deposit at least $100,000 in order to get all three promotions.
  • Refer a Friend – Firstrade will pay you $50 for each person that you refer to the platform. The friend must open up an account and deposit at least $5,000 within the first 30 days, and execute at least one stock or options trade within that time.
  • Wire Transfer – You will receive a rebate of $25 if you wire funds into your account from another financial institution, consisting of at least $25,000.
  • Switch to Firstrade, Get up to $100 – Firstrade will rebate your account transfer fee charged by another broker for up to $100. You must open up a qualifying account online, and transfer a minimum of $10,000 within 30 days. You’ll also be required to maintain at least $10,000 in the account for at least 12 months.
  • 12 Free ETFs – You can trade commission-free on 12 of Firstrade’s most popularly traded ETF’s. Firstrade has a list of the 12 eligible funds, and they cover a small, mid-cap and commodity funds, as well as emerging markets and short-term and long-term bonds. You must purchase at least 10 shares in each fund, and hold each fund for a minimum of 30 days.

Firstrade is an excellent choice for a do-it-yourself investor, who simply wants the tools and information available to be an efficient and profitable investor. The site offers an excellent balance between price and service, and can be a good platform for either a buy-and-hold investor or an active trader.

It may not be the best platform for a new investor, since it lacks professional investment management alternatives. Although it does provide the tools and resources in order for a new investor to gain greater knowledge and more experience, and to do so with very reasonable fees. And the fact that there is no minimum initial account deposit requirement doesn’t hurt new investors either.

Whether you are a new or experienced investor Firstrade is worth a close look.

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The Spirituality of Silicon Valley

The Spirituality of Silicon Valley

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This Site is Hiring a Work-From-Home Writer — and the Benefits are Unreal

If you’re a regular Penny Hoarder reader, you’ve probably heard of — or used — Student Loan Hero.

We’ve written about this nifty online service before. Student Loan Hero has helped thousands of current and former students pay off more than $1 billion in debt, and its website is packed with information and advice.

Now, it’s hiring a work-from-home, full-time content writer — with some really amazing benefits.

The Job Description

It’ll be your job to contribute to the cause of helping people pay off their student loans. Your responsibility? Write useful blog posts that dole out advice and answer reader questions.

You should have at least two years of online writing experience — we’re looking at all of our work-from-home freelancers! — and you should feel comfortable writing about student loans and personal finance.

Your writing could also be featured on other sites like Forbes, Huffington Post and Entrepreneur.

9 Mind-Boggling Employee Benefits

The salary is competitive, based on experience and location. And the employee benefits are… well, just take a look:

1. This position is fully remote. You can work from the comfort of your home or the shoreline of Tahiti. (We wish.)

2. Speaking of Tahiti, you’re granted unlimited vacation days.

3. And if you can’t focus, Student Loan Hero will reimburse you up to $500 per month for a remote office space.

4. Set your own work hours. If you’re at your sharpest at 3 a.m., have at it.

5. Receive a 100% match of up to 3% of your annual salary to pay off your own student loan debt. If you’re in the clear, start a retirement account instead.

6. You’ll get to own part of the company — 0.05% to 0.15%.

7. If you’re a bookworm, you can receive up to $100 per month for any continuing education, including courses and books.

8. You’ll get a $2,000 technology stipend for a new laptop or whatever might help you work.

9. Health is important, so you’ll get up to $450 per month to cover health insurance and gym membership fees.

With these benefits, this full-time work-from-home position surely won’t be open for long. Read the full listing, and apply online or via LinkedIn.

Your Turn: What’s your favorite benefit with this job?

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. After recently completing graduate school, she focuses on saving money — and surviving the move back in with her parents.

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This Company is Hiring Work-From-Home Reps Nationwide (No Degree Required!)

Commuting sucks. Working in your PJs doesn’t.

Which is why I’m always on the lookout for work-from-home jobs for you.

Recently, I found an opportunity with Sitel, a global telemarketing and outsourcing business. It’s looking for Work@Home agents all across the country.

Here’s what you need to know.

How to Get Work-From-Home Sitel Jobs

Like many work-from-home opportunities, this is a customer service position.

Using your phone skills, you’ll support “global Fortune 500 companies in the insurance, retail (clothing, toy) travel & leisure, sport and telecommuting industries.”

You must have prior customer service and sales experience, plus the ability to excel in a self-motivated and fast-paced environment.

Your home office must have wired internet and be distraction-free. “We have a zero tolerance policy for noise,” warns the job listing.

After a paid training, you’ll work a set schedule of 31-40 hours per week. Full-time employees will be eligible for medical and dental insurance, a 401(k) plan and holidays and vacation.

Stick with the company, and you could move up; the listing notes 70% of leadership roles are filled from internal promotions.

Though that all sounds great, I do want to warn you: While looking at the company’s reviews on Indeed, many were positive, but some were very negative.

Common complaints included poor management and pay, which appears to start $9 per hour. (I’ve reached out to Sitel for confirmation and will update here if I hear back.)

“The pay is not worth the work you do or the abuse you take from angry customers,” said one former employee.

“You are not a person, you are a number. Your family/personal life does not matter,” lamented another.  

On the other hand, other reviewers appreciated the job’s flexibility.

“This is a great place to work if you are a stay-at-home mom, college student or are just looking for work at home opportunities,” said one, while another called it a “flexible rewarding job.”

My advice? Read through the reviews and decide for yourself.

And if you’re familiar with this company, please let us know what you think by leaving a comment!

Your Turn: Will you apply for these jobs?

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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Happy National Ice Cream Day! Here’s Where to Cool Down With a Cheap Treat

So here’s the scoop:

President Ronald Reagan proclaimed July as National Ice Cream month back in 1984. Since then, it’s been our patriotic duty to indulge in cones, cups and sundaes, whether for dessert or as an anytime treat to cool down in the summer heat.

Even better, Sunday, July 17, is National Ice Cream Day. And you know what that means?

FREE ice cream. YUM!

To celebrate, we’ve found you the best places to get free or discounted frozen treats on Sunday. Make sure you stop by these spots for a scoop (or two) — and don’t forget the sprinkles!

1. Friendly’s

Friendly’s has been celebrating #Sprinklefest all summer long, offering $1.99 single scoops, $2.99 double scoops, as well as $2.99 Sundae Funday cones.

Don’t worry if you’re too busy hitting up other ice cream shops on Sunday to make it there — this deal lasts all the way through Labor Day!

2. Carvel

Carvel is offering customers buy-one, get-one-free soft-serve cups or cones for any flavor on July 17.

The offer is good for any size, too — so go big or go home!

3. Baskin Robbins

In honor of the United Service Organization’s 75th anniversary, Baskin Robbins is donating 75 cents from every ice cream float sold on Sunday back to the USO.

Even better, you can upgrade to a free, freshly baked waffle cone with the purchase of a double scoop of your favorite flavor all month long. Do well and eat well!

4. Dairy Queen

Sign up for the Blizzard Fan Club and DQ will thank you with a buy-one, get-one free ice cream cone offer.

The best part? The rewards program also sends you a special treat on your birthday, making the sweet savings last all year long.

5. Your Pie

Your Pie may be famous for its pizza pies, but did you know it also serves gelato and is giving it away on Sunday?

And make sure to snap a photo of it — if you post it on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter using #ypfreegelato, you could win free ice cream twice a week for the rest of 2016!

6. PetSmart PetsHotel

PetSmart PetsHotels will be offering free doggie ice cream sundaes all day long on Sunday while supplies last.

I don’t know about you, but I know there’s nothing cuter than a pup stealing a lick off an ice cream cone — especially one safe for his tummy!

7. Cumberland Farms

Cumberland Farms convenience stores just rolled out a brand new line of ice cream sandwiches to celebrate National Ice Cream Day.

From now through September 6, customers who purchase a 20-ounce Mountain Dew or Pepsi will get a free ice cream sandwich of their choice.

8. Monkey Joe’s

If the kids are coming with for the ice cream festivities, make sure to stop by Monkey Joe’s. The indoor play center is offering free ice cream along with prizes and giveaways throughout the day.

What better way to work off the sugar rush than in inflatable play areas?

Your turn: Where will you be headed for sweet treats on National Ice Cream Day? Tell us in the comments below!

Kelly Smith is an editorial intern at The Penny Hoarder and a senior at The University of Tampa. She is not ashamed to admit that her local Twistee Treat knows her order by heart.

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Nothing to Sneeze At: This Card Could Save You $90/Month on QNASL

Do you suffer from congestion, sneezing or an itchy and runny nose from seasonal or pet allergies?

If you use the popular aerosol nasal spray QNASL for allergy symptoms, you could be eligible to save money on your prescription through the QNASL Savings Program.

As a program member, you’ll receive a savings card entitling you to up to $90 in savings per fill — as little as $15 out of pocket per month.

Click here to learn more and sign up.

Who’s Eligible for the QNASL Savings Card?

If you have commercial insurance — whether you or your employer pays the premium — or you pay cash for prescriptions, you could be eligible for the savings.

You’ll also need a prescription for QNASL, since it’s the only nasal spray included in the program. No generic version exists, so look for that name.

You aren’t eligible for the QNASL Savings Card if Medicare, Medicaid or any other state or federally-funded programs can help cover the cost of your prescriptions.

Interested? Sign up here.

Your Turn: Do you use QNASL to treat your nasal allergy symptoms? 

Disclosure: Here’s a toast to the affiliate links in this post. May we all be just a little richer today.

The post Nothing to Sneeze At: This Card Could Save You $90/Month on QNASL appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.



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100 Fun and Lucrative Summer Jobs for Teens

It’s almost time for summer, which means it’s time to think about summer jobs.

If you’re a teen looking for work — or if you’ve got a teen in your house who should be looking for work — here’s a list of 100 summer jobs for teens.

Teen jobs traditionally pay around minimum wage or a little bit more, so expect to earn anywhere between $2,000-$5,000 (pretax) for a summer’s worth of work, depending on the type of job you get and whether you work full or part time.

You can also, of course, create your own job — and we’ve got plenty of resources to help you there.

We’ve divided the jobs into categories to help you quickly find the type of job that might be most interesting to you. What will you do for work this summer?

Sitting: Children, Houses, Pets and Plants

Babysitting is a classic teen job, but there are a lot more opportunities for teens to earn money by helping friends and neighbors care for kids, pets and even houses!

The Jobs

1. Mother’s Helper: A good option for younger teens, this is a great way to get started as a sitter.

Watch or play with children while a parent is in the home getting other work done.

2. Babysitter: Watch babies or children while their parents are away. You need CPR training and a safe sitter course, both of which are available through the Red Cross.

Becoming a family’s regular sitter can often put a lot of money in your bank account, since many parents will need full-time childcare while their kids are out of school all summer!

3. Pet Sitter: Watch and feed pets while the owners are away. This gig can last anywhere from a long weekend to a few weeks or more.

4. Dog Walker: Walk dogs while families are at work or on vacation. You must love dogs — and be willing to scoop up their poop!

5. Plant Sitter: It’s not a very high-paying gig, but every dollar counts! Water plants while owners are away.

Instead of saying “I charge $10 an hour” for this one, expect that a family will offer you something like $25-50 for taking care of their plants over a period of time.

6. House Sitter: For the older teens, this is a great job for summers in between college. You get paid to live in someone else’s house while they are away.

This job might include pet or plant sitting as part of the job description; it will probably include light cleaning and maintenance so the owners don’t come home to dust and mildew.

What You Can Earn

There’s generally a “market rate” in your area for sitting jobs, and it could range from $10 an hour to $25 an hour depending on your location and your experience.

Talk to other sitters, or to parents in your area, to find out what’s reasonable. Don’t be afraid to negotiate for the rate you think you deserve!

How to Get the Jobs

A lot of these jobs are filled through word-of-mouth; a friend of your parents might be going on a trip and needs someone to feed the cat.

But be proactive! Put up flyers, put out the call on Facebook and make sure the adults you know are aware that you are ready and able to work.

Making: Turn Your Talents Into Cash

If you can make something that’s beautiful or useful, you’ve got yourself a job opportunity.

The Jobs

7. T-Shirt Designer: Have a knack for art and design? Want to turn your favorite TV characters’ names into a Helvetica T-shirt?

Start designing and selling T-shirts on sites like District Lines, Spreadshirt, Teespring or Etsy.

8. Seamstress or Tailor: If you can make and alter clothes, you’ve got a skill you can monetize.

Alter pants for friends and family, or sell original clothing items on Etsy or at flea markets and craft shows.

 9. Doll Designer: There’s a big market for customized dolls out there — maybe you saw the recent story of the woman who repainted Bratz dolls’ faces to look natural and makeup-free — so if you have a talent or interest here, start making and start selling!

 10. Woodworker: Make chairs, crafts, walking sticks or other wood items and sell them on Etsy or in person.

Put up signs in your local area announcing your talent and seek out commissions.

 11. Webcomic Artist: If you want to get started as a webcomic artist, there’s no time like the present.

It might take a few years to build up an audience willing to pay for books, T-shirts and other webcomic-related merchandise, but why not spend a summer developing your webcomic and seeing if this could be a career for you?

Emma T. Capps, for example, started her webcomic The Chapel Chronicles when she was 14, and now, at 17, she teaches comics workshops and her work is featured in Dark Horse Presents.

12. Photographer: Whether you take (and sell) stock photography, start a small business taking photos of weddings or babies, or even sell your iPhone photos, there are plenty of opportunities to make money with your camera.

What You Can Earn

You have the opportunity to set your own price for these gigs, but be aware more people are likely to buy an $18 T-shirt than they are a $45 T-shirt. Check out what other people are charging for similar items; custom dolls, for example, can easily sell for over $100 each on Etsy.

Read our guide to starting a freelance business for more info on pricing and making a profit.

How to Get the Jobs

You’re creating your own job, so the big hurdle here is promotion.

Tell your friends and family, post your work to social media sites and continue to promote your efforts every day.

Writing: A Penny — Or More — For Your Thoughts

If you are at all familiar with books like Eragon or The Duff, you know that teen writers are in demand — but you don’t have to be a novelist to get paid for your words.

The Jobs

13. Article Writer: Plenty of markets offer opportunities for teens to pitch and sell articles, personal essays and other work to online magazines and websites.

Check out teen blogs like Rookie, or visit the websites you read every day and look at their submission guidelines. You can even pitch The Penny Hoarder! 

14. Local Newspaper Reporter: If you live in a town or neighborhood with a small local newspaper, there might be an opportunity for you to work as a junior reporter.

This could be an internship or it could be a paying gig — and you won’t find out until you ask.

15. Blogger: Popular blogs make money through ads, selling merchandise and turning blog content into books.

Start your own blog and build your audience, or consider paid guest post opportunities at other blogs, starting with our list of 7 blogs that pay $100+ per post. When you pitch editors, don’t emphasize your age — instead, focus on your idea and why it’s a great fit for their site. 

16. Author: Got a novel that’s almost ready for publication?

Use resources like the New Leaf Literary Tumblr to learn how to query and submit your work to an agent, or self-publish your book on Kindle (with your parents’ help) and earn money on each sale.

17. Transcriptionist: If you are skilled at quickly transcribing audio or decoding somebody’s handwriting, look for transcription jobs online.

Ask your parents to see if they know anyone who needs transcription done — I spent one teenage summer transcribing handwritten music for a family friend, and that’s the kind of job you’ll never see on an online job board!

18. Proofreader: Do you know when — and how — to use commas? Can you quickly identify misspelled words?

Look for proofreading companies that hire teens, or follow my transcription example and find an adult who needs a big document proofread with a careful eye.

What You Can Earn

Payment varies widely; expect about $25-100 for an article or a guest blog post.

Transcriptionist and proofreader gigs might earn around minimum wage or a few dollars more, depending on your experience and where you work.

One of our writers earned $2,000 self-publishing a book on Amazon.

How to Get the Jobs

Follow submission guidelines for articles and blog posts; follow Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing guidelines; learn how to query an agent; apply for proofreading and transcription work directly.

Cleaning: Gather Your Singing Birds and Get Ready to Scrub

It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it — and get paid for it. 

The Jobs

19. House Cleaner: Got a knack for getting dirt off surfaces? Look for house cleaning jobs in your area, or set out as a house-cleaning entrepreneur.

20. Hotel Housekeeper: Ever wonder who cleans up your room when you stay in a hotel? If you apply for this job, it could be you!

21. Pool Cleaner: Get the scum out of pools so people can enjoy their swims.

Look for companies hiring pool cleaners, since you’ll need special training to handle the chemicals involved.

22. Car Washer: Offer to wash cars for your friends’ parents or other adults you know, or see if the local car wash is accepting applications.

23. Janitorial Work: Cleaning toilets may not sound like fun, but it’s a paying job and you might end up with some really great stories!

24. Dishwasher: Do you like washing dishes? I spent part of one summer washing a lot of dishes in a college cafeteria. (Ask me if there were water fights.) 

What You Can Earn

Minimum wage or a few dollars more.

How to Get the Jobs

Find out whether the business prefers in-person applications or online applications, and apply accordingly.

As with many teen jobs, if you know someone who already works there, your application might get a little boost.

Teaching: Train Scholars, Earn Dollars 

Tutoring and teaching younger children is another classic teen job. Whether you are a pianist or a pre-Calc expert, there is a tutoring opportunity for you. 

The Jobs

25. Music Teacher: I taught piano lessons as a teenager, and it was a great way to make money.

If you play the piano or another instrument, you’ll find opportunities to teach kids about Middle C, Every Good Boy Does Fine and other fundamentals of music.

26. Dance Teacher: If you are a talented dancer, see if you can provide lessons to neighborhood kids, support instructors at a community center or work as a teacher’s assistant at your local dance studio.

27. Art Teacher: Put on your paint shirt and teach kids how to put a brush to canvas. Or get out the clay and have fun sculpting!

28. Tutor: You can find tutoring opportunities in nearly every subject, from Pre-Algebra to French.

29. Conversational English Tutor: Help peers, younger children or senior citizens learn English and practice conversational speaking.

30. SAT/PSAT Tutor: Who better to hire as a SAT/PSAT tutor than someone who just took the tests?

31. Swimming Instructor: Help kids improve their butterfly strokes, or simply help them overcome their fears of putting their heads in the water!

As with babysitting, you’ll need to be fully CPR trained. Visit your local swimming pool and ask about job opportunities.

32. Riding Instructor: Start young children on a life-long love of horses by working as a riding instructor.

If this job appeals to you, you’re probably already familiar with the local stables, so ask how you can apply for an instructor job.

What You Can Earn

As with babysitting, there is probably a tutoring market rate in your area.

You could earn anywhere from $10-$50 an hour, depending on your skills, expertise and ability to promote yourself and negotiate.

How to Get the Jobs

Some of these jobs, like swimming and riding instructor, require applications and interviews. Others, like piano teacher or art teacher, you can create yourself.

If you are putting out your shingle as the best oboe or Algebra teacher in town, work on promoting yourself to people you know, putting up flyers in places where parents gather and making sure everyone on social media knows that you are ready to teach!

Performing: Turn Those Stars in Your Eyes Into Dollar Signs 

If you like being on stage, we’ve got some job ideas that you are going to love. 

The Jobs

33. YouTuber: We’ve all seen YouTubers who came out of nowhere and became stars. For example, this 8-year-old girl makes $127,000 a month with YouTube cooking videos.

There’s no guarantee you’ll go viral, but if you are interested in making YouTube videos, why not give it a try?

34. Vine Creator: You probably knew — and your parents didn’t — that there are plenty of teens making money with six-second Vine videos. Many of them make money via paid product placement or sponsored Vines.

Check out this Complex article for more info.

35. Band Member: Yes, it is possible to spend your summer starting a band, writing songs, making a few GarageBand demo tracks and playing gigs. It takes a lot of work to hustle for gigs and sell merch afterwards, so be prepared. 

36. Event Pianist: Can you play soft, unobtrusive jazz music for an hour or two at a time? Offer your services as an event pianist for art openings, wine tastings and parties, and get ready to make some beautiful background music.

This was another one of my many teenage jobs, so I know the gigs are out there!

37. Choral Accompanist: Lots of choirs need piano accompanists, from community choirs to church choirs. Turn your accompanying skills into cash!

38. Church Organist: A lot of churches use organists every Sunday. If you play the organ, look for church jobs or offer to fill in while the regular organist is on summer vacation.  

39. Actor: It is possible to find paid acting gigs at professional theaters, so look for what’s available and go audition! 

40. Dancer: Those professional theaters also sometimes need young dancers, so see if there are any jobs out there for you.

41. Pit Orchestra Performer: Community theaters sometimes hire pit orchestras for their summer musicals, and are happy to pay talented teens to play in the pit.

42. Magician: Can you pull a rabbit out of a hat? Are you skilled with illusions?

Perform the magic trick of turning talent into cash by performing at kids’ birthday parties and other events.

43. Party Princess (or Prince): Want to play Cinderella, Belle, Gaston or Elsa at a child’s birthday party?

Read our party princess guide for more information, then look for a character company in your area and ask for an audition.

44. Mascot: Become a team mascot, wear a hot dog suit and stand outside a local restaurant or get a job working as a familiar character such as Uncle Sam. 

45. Podcaster: We know that some of you are Welcome to Night Vale fans. Why not start a podcast of your own?

We’ve got tips on how to monetize your podcast and turn it into a real job, just like the Night Vale team did.

What You Can Earn

This is going to vary widely between gigs, but here’s what we know:

  • A party princess could bring in around $40-$50 per hour plus tips
  • An event pianist might bring in $100 for the evening plus tips, depending where you live. Always put a tip jar on the piano!
  • A talented magician can bring in $150-$500 an hour, so practice your coin tricks!
  • YouTuber, Vine star and podcaster are all dependent on how popular your media becomes, so get ready to put out a lot of new content on a regular schedule and promote, promote, promote.

How to Get the Jobs

Some of these jobs, like party princess, actor or pit performer, might require auditions and applications. Others, like podcaster, band member or magician, require you to develop and promote your own work. 

The Great Outdoors: With the Sun on Your Face and Dollars in Your Pocket

If you like spending your summer days outside, there are plenty of ways to enjoy the beautiful weather and earn money at the same time.

Try one of these outdoor jobs:

The Jobs 

46. Lawn Maintenance: Mow grass, pull weeds and do whatever it takes to keep a lawn looking tidy.

This can be an entrepreneurial opportunity for you, too; talk to family friends, put up flyers and advertise yourself as the best teen lawn service in town.

47. Landscaping: This might include lawn maintenance, and might also include planting bushes and planning gardens.

You’ll probably want to work with a professional landscaping company, unless you are the rare teen with landscaping knowledge and experience.

48. Lifeguard: Wear a whistle and help kids practice water safety in and around swimming pools. CPR and lifeguard training are a must for this one, as you never know when a pool accident could happen.

49. Corn Detasseler: This is just what it sounds like: Go into cornfields and pull tassels off corn.

“Detasseling is tough,” says Pioneer. “It’s a hot, muddy and sweaty job, but it’s a great way to work for a few weeks in the summer and reap the financial reward. “

50. Apple Picker: Go into orchards and pick apples off trees. You might also get to make or serve doughnuts and cider to orchard visitors.

51. Agriculture Work: Corn detasseling and apple picking aren’t the only agriculture jobs that are available to teens.

Depending on what crops grow in your area, you might find all kinds of agriculture and harvesting opportunities. One person we talked to had a summer job as a kelp harvester!

52. Construction Work: Look for construction jobs in your area that hire teens.

Some types of construction jobs are only available to people over 18, but others are appropriate for younger teens. Check out OSHA’s Young Workers in Construction site to learn more about job opportunities.

53. Camp Counselor: Sing camp songs, teach crafts and become a kid’s hero for the summer.

These kinds of jobs fill up far in advance, so if you missed the application period for this summer, put it on your to-do list for next year. 

54. Sign Spinner: You’ve seen them on street corners or on YouTube, spinning and flipping their signs. If you’d like a job where you can stand on a corner and rock out with a sign all day, look for sign-spinning jobs in your area and get ready to demonstrate your skills.

Less interested in the dancing aspect? Look for sign-holder jobs, which are like sign-spinner jobs but don’t involve spinning.

55. Paper Route: Here’s another classic teen job. Check your local paper’s website to see if they have any open delivery positions.

Be aware that some delivery routes require you to have a car, and many delivery routes require very early morning wake-up times.

56. National Park Worker: If you live near a national park, you might already be aware of the summer jobs available there.

If not, visit the park’s website and look for job opportunities, or check out the National Park Service’s Jobs For Students. 

57. Zoo/Aquarium Assistant: If you’ve got a zoo nearby, you’ve got job opportunities. Zoos hire teens for seasonal jobs ranging from “landscape attendant” to “birthday party host.”

You probably won’t get to feed the red pandas, but you’ll still get to see animals and work in a fun environment.

58. Tour Guide: “And to your left, we have the original foundation of City Hall…”

See if there are any tour guide opportunities in your area, and get ready to become very good at walking backwards. 

59. Amusement Park Worker: Yet another classic teen summer job. Visit your local amusement park’s website and apply to serve popcorn or help people throw softballs at milk bottles. 

60. Fair Worker: Fairs offer so many opportunities to earn money! Dress up and speak in Ye Olde English for a Renaissance Faire, or use your 4H skills to raise and sell an animal at a county or state fair.

Work the funnel cake machine, assist at the carousel or take tickets at the gate — the job opportunities are practically endless, though most fairs won’t last a full summer.

61. Sports Scorer/Timer/Referee: Summer sports leagues need people to keep track of scores, start and stop the clock and serve as referees.

What You Can Earn

These jobs will generally be in the “slightly above minimum wage” range, and can go even higher depending on the hiring organization.

Expect to earn up to $10 an hour as a corn detasseler, amusement park worker, lifeguard or camp counselor, according to Glassdoor. One of our Penny Hoarder writers reported that apple pickers can earn up to $28 an hour.

How to Get the Jobs

Go online and look for application instructions. As we noted earlier, having a friend who works there can often help your application.

Working for the Man: Would You Like Fries With That?

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the following jobs are teen summer staples. 

The Jobs 

62. Retail: Stock shelves, help customers find merchandise and ring them up at checkout.

These jobs often come with a nice employee discount, so look for retail gigs at your favorite stores. 

63. Food Service: Prepare food, serve food, ring up customers’ orders, bus dishes and clean up afterwards.

Server jobs at nicer restaurants tend to come with the best tips; here’s how to give yourself the best chance of earning more tips no matter where you work.

64. Receptionist: Answer phones, direct people’s calls and greet people when they enter the building.

The receptionist is often the first person guests see or speak with when they contact a company, so you have to be ready to present yourself professionally at all times.

65. Administrative Work: Type documents, file paperwork, enter numbers into a 10-key system and perform other clerical jobs for a busy office or small business.

One woman we spoke with used to do this type of admin work at a spa, so think outside the box here!

66. Movie Theater Worker: Take tickets, serve popcorn, clean popcorn off the floor and become very familiar with every summer blockbuster. 

67. Gas Station Worker: Manage the register at a gas station.

If you live in New Jersey or Oregon, the two states that don’t let drivers pump their own gas, you might even get to fill ‘er up. 

What You Can Earn 

Minimum wage or a few dollars more. If you get a server gig at the best restaurant in town, though, you can expect great tips. 

How to Get the Jobs

Visit websites and look for application instructions, or walk into the stores/restaurants/movie theaters/gas stations and ask about open positions.

If someone hands you a paper application, be ready to fill it out right away; have your Social Security Number memorized and carry copies of your resume — and a pen — with you.

Calling All Entrepreneurs: Be Your Own Boss 

If the idea of “working for the man” made your skin crawl, it’s time to think about working for yourself.

As an entrepreneur, you have almost unlimited options — want to start a laundry service for new parents? a dating service for high school students? — but here are a few prompts to get you started:

The Jobs

68. Personal Assistant: Help busy adults handle their personal filing, scheduling, shopping and more.

Your job is to make their lives run smoothly and easily, so be prepared to demonstrate how you can make that happen.

69. Personal Organizer: This is kind of like a housecleaner job, except without the scrubbing. Help people decide what to keep, what to throw away and how to organize it all.

Study the KonMari method for inspiration, or create your own organizing system.

70. Computer Repair and Assistance: If you know how to get data off a crashed hard drive, or if you know how to help a family friend switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox, you have a job opportunity.

71. Mystery Shopper: This isn’t strictly an entrepreneurial job, since you’ll be working for a mystery shopping company, but we’re putting it here because this job lets you set your own hours and work as your own boss.

As a mystery shopper, you go into stores and ensure that, for example, employees are completing customer checkout steps correctly. The Penny Hoarder’s founder, Kyle Taylor, has a lot of mystery shopping experience, so read his guide to mystery shopping to learn more.

72. Crowdfunder: Want to get a big project off the ground, like an album, a novel or a robot dog? See if you can fund it on Kickstarter.

If you are under 18, you will need your parents to set up your Kickstarter accounts and accept the payments on your behalf. Read our Kickstarter guide first, to make sure you don’t accidentally lose money on your project!

If you’d like to do a series of smaller projects, such as writing and publishing one short story per week, check out Patreon. They welcome teen creators!

73. Startup Founder: Don’t like any of the jobs you see on this list? Make your own!

If you have an idea and a way to monetize it, launch your own summer startup and see how much money you can earn. Get a few friends involved and share the work — and the profits! Think how good “startup founder” will look on a college application. 

What You Can Earn

It’s up to you — you’re the entrepreneur! Read our guide to starting a freelance business to help you understand what to charge and how to factor for items like taxes and cost of materials.

How to Get the Jobs

Entrepreneurs create their own jobs, and then market themselves to potential clients. Be ready to promote your home organization business, your Kickstarter or your startup.

Make Money Online: Not a Scam!

Make a few bucks here and there by taking surveys, or become an app or web developer and set your own price. 

The Jobs

74. Survey Taking: Got a little free time? Take a few surveys and make some extra cash. Or power down and see how many surveys you can complete in four hours.

Not all survey sites accept people under 18, but some do. Start with our list of paid survey sites, or check out this list of survey sites for people under 18.

75. Mobile Money-making Apps: Take a look at our list of money-making apps that let you earn money by playing games or doing tasks on your phone.

This won’t make you a lot of extra money, but you can make a few extra bucks!

76. App Developer: Making money by playing games on someone else’s app is fun, but you can make even more money by creating and developing your own apps and selling them on the iTunes App Store or Google Play.

Maybe you’ll create the next Flappy Bird or Crossy Road! 

77. Website Developer: If you know how to build a website from the ground up — or even how to use WordPress to create a unique and attractive website — you have a marketable skill.

Or put that skill to the test finding bugs in other people’s sites — this 10-year-old earned $10,000 for finding a bug on Instagram!

78. Theme Designer: Lots of people pay money for premium Tumblr themes. If you can design a beautiful theme, you might be able to make money by submitting it to Tumblr so other users can purchase it.

We confirmed with Tumblr that they’ll accept themes from teens, although if you’re under 18, you’ll need a parent/guardian signature on the contract. The more themes you create, the more opportunities you have to make sales.

What You Can Earn

Surveys and money-making apps are going to give you just enough extra cash to go to the movies once a month, unless you are willing to put in a lot of time and effort. S

elling apps on iTunes and Google Play might only make you a little bit of money depending on how popular your app becomes, but a completed app is great to add to your resume/portfolio and might help you get a developer job in the future. 

You should be charging at least $25 per hour for website development (professionals charge $40-$75 an hour), and making money on a Tumblr theme depends on how many people buy your theme.

How to Get the Jobs

Sign up for survey sites or mobile money-making app sites. If you are a developer, you can make your own job.

Reseller: Becoming a Retail Arbitrage Expert

“Retail arbitrage” is when someone buys an item and then resells it at a profit. Believe it or not, this is a perfectly legit way to make money — ask Kyle Taylor, who resold books, toys and more to help pay his way through college!

The Jobs

79. Book Reseller: If you’ve already started college and have textbooks to sell, you can make good money reselling them to sites like BookScouter or Amazon Textbook Buyback.

If you don’t have textbooks to sell, start scouring used bookstores or yard sales for volumes in good condition, and then sell them online at a profit. Read our book reselling guide for tips on which books to resell, and which to leave on the shelf.

80. Toy Reseller: Just like book reselling, toy reselling involves selling toys online at a profit.

If you already have a bunch of old toys to sell, great! If not, it’s time to hit the yard sales. First, read our toy reselling tips so you know how to make a profit. 

81. Clothing Reseller: Yes, you can resell clothes just like books and toys!

Read our guide to consignment selling and then start cashing in on fashion.

82. Gift Card Reseller: Here’s one you might not have thought of: buying discounted gift cards online and reselling them at face value.

We’ve got both a guide for buying discounted gift cards and a guide for reselling gift cards for you.

83. Flea Market Worker: Want to sell in person? Get a table at a flea market and start selling used items, handmade crafts and other treasures.

Read our flea market guide to get the most out of your wares. Depending on the flea market rules, you might need to work with an adult — or someone over 18 — but that doesn’t mean you can’t share in the profits!

84. Yard Sale Organizer: Plenty of families want to have summer yard sales, but balk at the hassle of setting everything up, pricing the items and managing the table for an entire weekend. Why not offer your services as a yard sale organizer?

You guessed it: We’ve got a yard sale guide to get you started. 

What You Can Earn

Kyle Taylor earned about $750 a month selling used books, and your earnings will likely be dependent on how much you sell and whether you find great items for resale.

How to Get the Jobs

Find something to resell and start selling!

The Family Business: Keeping Money in the Family 

Parents are often a teen’s first employers, starting with the exchange of allowance for chores. Here are a few more “grown-up” job opportunities.

The Jobs 

85. Help the Family Business: If you have a family business and your parents or relatives haven’t already approached you about working in the business, take the initiative and ask if they can use your help.

86. Cook Family Meals for Extra Allowance: Know how to cook? Offer your parents a trade: you’ll handle all the family meals for the summer — that means shopping, cooking and cleanup — in exchange for what you agree is a fair wage.

Your parents may want menu approval to ensure you don’t plan to serve frozen pizza every night!

87. Ask Parents What They Need Done: Chances are, every parent has a long to-do list of jobs: cleaning out the garage, scrubbing behind the refrigerator and other time-consuming and labor-intensive tasks.

Tell your folks you are ready to take on this work for a little extra cash.

What You Can Earn

If you are working for the family business, you deserve at least minimum wage.

For odd jobs, work out what feels fair. Cleaning out the garage should be worth at least $100, right?

How to Get the Jobs

Talk to your folks.

Volunteer Work: Do Good and Good Will Follow 

Not all summer jobs have to be paying gigs.

Get a volunteer job and give back to your community — and did we mention it’ll look great on your college applications? 

The Jobs 

88. Political Campaigning: Election season is in full force, which means that there are plenty of opportunities for you to support political candidates. Door knocking, phone banking and other jobs abound!

89. Docent: Do you like history, science or art? Become a docent at a local museum.

When I was a docent, we got to dress up like local historical figures and share our stories with museum guests. 

90. Intern: Get to know the working world and test out a potential career by interning at a local business.

If you can find a paying internship, great — otherwise, expect to work in exchange for school credit or the all-important “learning experience.”

91. Library Volunteer: Libraries often need people to read to children’s groups or provide other volunteer services. Talk to your local library about opportunities.

92. Nursing Home Reader: When I was a teenager, I read the newspaper — and a few novels — aloud to nursing home residents. There might be an opportunity for you at your own local nursing home. 

93. Service Project: If you’re interested in building houses, cleaning up highways, or giving back to your community in a structured group environment, consider signing up for a service project.

If you don’t see the type of project you’d like to complete, organize your own! 

What You Can Earn

The feeling of knowing you helped your community, plus a few great lines on your college application or resume.

How to Get the Jobs

Some volunteer jobs can be as competitive as paying jobs and require applications and interviews. Other volunteer jobs, like political campaigning, take everyone who wants to help.

For 18-Year-Olds: Achievement Unlocked! New Job Opportunities! 

Once you turn 18, a whole world of job opportunities opens up to you. Here are some jobs you might want to consider for this summer.

The Jobs

94. Mechanical Turk: 18-year-olds can join Amazon Mechanical Turk, a site that lets you perform simple tasks — like identifying whether a comment is positive or negative — for money.

Read our guide to maximizing your Mechanical Turk income to learn more.

95. Uber Driver: Once you turn 18, you are eligible to drive with Uber. You’ll use your own car to provide rides to people who need them.

Drivers can make up to $19 an hour, the company says, but this will largely depend on where you live. You do, however, have to pay for your own gas. 

96. Call Center Worker: Call center jobs are often viewed as boring, but they are solid ways to make money.

Not all call center jobs are outbound telemarketing jobs; you can also work in a call center that receives calls from customers.

97. WWOOFer: Want to spend your summer traveling? Sign up for WWOOF, which stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.

Receive food and accommodation in exchange for farm labor, and learn more about different parts of the country — or the world. 

98. Website Tester: Companies like User Testing hire people to test websites remotely and write short reports about their functionality.

Check out one writer’s report on working as a website tester. 

99. Content Writer: Companies like Crowdsource hire people to write short how-to articles and other copy for the Internet.

If you are a fast researcher and writer, you can earn up to $750 a week writing for content sites.

100. Fanfic Writer: You don’t have to be over 18 to write fanfic, but you do have to be over 18 to write for Kindle Worlds, where writers get paid for writing fanfic set in universes such as The 100, Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars. 

What You Can Earn

Up to $19 an hour as an Uber driver, minimum wage or above at a call center, varying wages for Mechanical Turk and online website testing or content jobs.

How to Get the Jobs

Apply online, pick a country to WWOOF in, write an amazing story about Spencer Hastings going to a murder mystery dinner where she finds herself solving an actual murder.

Your Turn: What jobs did you have as a teenager? If you are a teen, which jobs sound the most interesting?

Nicole Dieker is a freelance copywriter and essayist. She writes regularly for The Billfold on the intersection of freelance writing and personal finance, and her work has also appeared in The Toast, Yearbook Office and Boing Boing.

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Chart: How Much Will Your Car Cost to Maintain Over the Next 10 Years?


For some people, a car is an extension of their personality. For the rest of us, though, it’s just a necessity — and it can be a costly one.

“On average, Americans spend 5% of their income on purchasing a car and another 5% towards on-going vehicle maintenance and insurance costs,” reports YourMechanic.

To help you find the best deal, YourMechanic compared dozens of vehicle brands and models to find those with the highest and lowest maintenance costs over 10 years.

Here’s what they found.

1. All Cars Cost More as They Get Older

There’s a shockingly clear correlation between the age of a car and its rising annual maintenance cost.

If you’re driving a beater, you’ll want to weigh your long-term cost of maintaining an old car versus buying a new one. Even if you take a hit upfront, you could save thousands of dollars over the life of your car.

Cheapest car

2. These 3 Car Models Cost the MOST to Maintain

The most expensive models to maintain aren’t always the cheapest to buy new. Several imports and luxury models make the list.

Topping the chart are the Chrysler Sebring, BMW 328i and Nissan Murano.

Cheapest car

3. These 3 Car Models Cost the LEAST to Maintain

The least expensive models to maintain are:

  • Toyota Prius, which costs $25,035 to buy new.
  • Kia Soul, which costs $16,750 to buy new.
  • Toyota Camry, which costs $23,905 to buy new.

These manufacturers’ suggested retail prices are approximate, as vehicle prices vary depending on features.

Cheapest car

4. This Car is the Best Deal Overall

So where do you get the most bang for your buck in the end?

When you look at the lowest cost to buy, combined with the lowest maintenance cost over 10 years of ownership, the winner is the Kia Soul.

Even though it’s one of the cheapest to buy new, data shows the vehicle to be reliable and cost-effective over time.

You can buy a 2016 Kia Soul and drive it for 10 years for just $21,450, according to YourMechanic.

Even when you take into account that the hybrid Prius gets almost double the gas mileage of the Soul, you may still prefer Kia’s crossover.

With gas figured in (at the current price of $2.28 and average mileage each year), the Soul will cost you $32,830 over 10 years, and the Prius will cost $35,244.

The Soul’s lower cost and more ample space means the vehicle could be a better choice, especially for a family on a tight budget. The lower purchase price could also mean a smaller auto loan, which could save you money in interest payments over the years.

A lot of factors weigh in your choice of vehicle. But maybe these numbers will help relieve some hesitance about buying that family-friendly vehicle if it’s the right choice for you.

Your Turn: Where is your car on the lemon index?

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 Chart: How Much Will Your Car Cost to Maintain Over the Next 10 Years? appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.



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How to Easily Add Gamification Techniques to Your Content

Humans love games.

You love games. I love games.

How to Easily Add Gamification Techniques to Your Content

Games are fun: they’re engaging and mentally stimulating. Our fondness for games is hardwired into our brains.

Want proof that we love games?

As of 2015, the iTunes App Store had over 396,000 gaming apps, which had almost doubled since July of 2013. People are downloading games. Chances are, you have a game or two on your smartphone right now. Maybe you even played it today. (I know I did.)

On top of this, over three quarters of American households own video games. VentureBeat put the number of American homes owning a gaming device at 80%.

And it’s not just kids playing video games, either. In fact, the average age of gamers is 37. When was the last time you played a video game?

If you’re looking to increase engagement, boost brand awareness, and generally make your content more enjoyable, gamification is a strategy you’ll want to implement.

Gamification is a pretty nasty-sounding word, but don’t worry. I’m going to break it down nice and easy.

Here’s what I want to do in this post:

  • explain what gamification is and
  • provide some examples of the ways to apply it.

I also want to be clear about one thing: gamification doesn’t always mean playing games. Gamification is a broader principle that’s about content engagement.

If you were expecting a tutorial on creating Flappy Bird or adding Words With Friends to your blog, that’s not necessarily where I’m headed.

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(If you stick with me to the end of the post, however, I’ll show you some real games to get you inspired.)

In this post, you’ll learn some cool stuff. Gamification is a game changer, and I’m going to give you a game plan that will help you improve your game. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

It’s game time. 

What is gamification?

Here are some definitions of gamification.

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Most people tend to agree that gamification is about game dynamics or game elements.

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Badgeville describes the term as

“the concept of applying game mechanics and game design techniques to engage and motivate people to achieve their goals. Gamification taps into the basic desires and needs of the user’s impulses which revolve around the idea of status and achievement.”

Although gamification could be considered to be another catchy buzzword, the concept isn’t exactly new.

In fact, it can be traced back to 2003 when it was coined by computer programmer and inventor Nick Pelling.

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However, it didn’t really catch on until 2010. That’s when it gained traction from Gartner’s prediction that more and more companies would begin gamifying processes to better appeal to consumers and increase customer retention.

Look where we are now. Gamification is everywhere.

The beautiful thing about gamification is that it’s fairly easy to implement. Plus, you can choose from a wide variety of approaches to make sure they mesh with your content.

Here are some specific gamification techniques you can experiment with.

Leaderboards

An innate desire that most humans have is the urge to compete.

Deep down, many of us want to outperform the next guy and be the top dog.

Leaderboards have long been a way of achieving status in the gaming world.

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Not much has changed even if today it’s Clash of Clans instead of Pac-Man.

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One method I’ve found to be effective at boosting engagement is having a leaderboard around my content.

Let me explain. Say you’ve got a message board where your online community communicates and exchanges ideas.

You could build a leaderboard that ranks each member by the number of their comments, replies, thanks, or other elements.

If a particular person was in fifth place and not far behind the leader numbers-wise, this could definitely motivate them to keep commenting and engaging further.

This technique is in play on CoreJoomla.com:

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Github has a scoring system that follows a similar model:

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Leaderboards don’t always have to track person-to-person competition. You can use a simple leaderboard approach for featuring your articles.

My simple content leaderboard on Quick Sprout shows users what blog articles are most popular, encouraging them to click through and read the blog.

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Leaderboards can take many shapes and forms. It depends on your creativity.

Quizzes

Let’s be honest. We can all be a tad narcissistic at times.

We like to unearth information about ourselves, figure out who we are and what we value, and often share it with others.

Quizzes cater to this narcissistic tendency and can be highly effective at reeling in your audience.

The best part is that many people will want to get their friends involved, which translates into more traffic.

Studies found that 8 of the top 10 most shared articles were quizzes. According to Buzzsumo, “on average a quiz gets shared 1,900 times.”

That’s a lot of sharing.

Whenever you’re creating content, see if you can incorporate a quiz to encourage audience participation.

They are fairly easy to design, and you can use a platform such as ProProfs Quiz Maker to create them.

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One of the most popular quizzes of all time is “What is The Color of Your Aura?” which gained about 4 million shares:

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You may not believe in auras, and you may despise the Papyrus font, but aren’t you still a little intrigued about the color of your aura?

Some of the most popular quizzes come from BuzzFeed. No surprise there.

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What might surprise you, however, is how appealing such quizzes actually are to people.

You may be busy, stressed, and have a ton of things on your schedule for today. But a quiz about something as inane as serving sizes is somehow compelling. You want to play.

Why? Because there is a subtle challenge to your smartness. You want to prove—whether to yourself or to others—that you’re darn good at knowing serving sizes.

So, you take the quiz.

BuzzFeed wins. They’ve successfully persuaded you to spend four minutes doing something on their site.

The Telegraph is also an expert at producing compelling quizzes:

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If you haven’t tried it yet, I encourage you to use a site like ProProfs to make a quiz. It only takes a few minutes, and the results are huge.

Badges

People also like to be rewarded for their efforts.

I remember when I was in elementary school, my teacher would give me a star sticker as a positive reinforcement for doing something well.

Whenever I amassed five stars, I would get a reward.

Giving audiences virtual badges has become a popular way to reward people for the time and energy they invest.

These badges tend to make people feel legitimized, and users can show them off to their friends.

If you were trying to encourage readers to comment on your blog posts, you could give readers certain badges for the number of comments they left or for the length of time they contributed to a discussion.

Many websites have implemented badges as a form of verifying celebrity status. Quora, for example, gives you a blue checkmark on your profile pic if you’re someone famous.

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You can gain similar status on some sites simply by being active, being helpful, and being respected.

Search Engine Journal, a content-based site, applies gamification to the way it ranks its contributor base.

Authors who contribute frequently with top-rated content are recognized with a “VIP contributor” badge on their profiles.

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Leveling

This is similar to badges because it exploits people’s desire to achieve a certain status.

But rather than using digital icons as rewards, you assign your customers, readers, etc. different levels according to their level of involvement.

Maybe there are 10 different levels—10 being the highest. This could definitely motivate someone to participate and to become a more involved member of your online community.

Credit Karma uses a variety of gamification techniques. They use the leveling feature on several of their interactive pages:

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Challenges

Who doesn’t love a good challenge?

Testing ourselves pushes us to grow, progress, and become better versions of ourselves.

You could challenge consumers to post pictures on Instagram showing unconventional ways of using your product.

Or maybe at the end of a blog post, you create a scenario and ask your readers a question to see what they would do in a difficult situation.

Many people will be compelled to take you up on a challenge, and you’re likely to see a significant increase in engagement.

Moz used a gamification challenge feature to help users decide which tool they needed for a specific SEO issue.

By clicking the checkbox of the issue they are interested in, users can get an instant display of the tool they should look into.

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Health challenges are a popular gamification feature. Some health challenges allow users to track their progress and customize their settings.

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Progress bar

Perhaps one of the most straightforward gamification techniques is to simply display a progress bar as a person completes a form or reviews a product/service.

This shows people what percentage of the process they’ve completed as they move from step to step.

For instance, if they’ve filled out two of five pages, the progress bar would say “40% done.”

People hate to leave things incomplete, so the desire to complete a process can serve as motivation to follow through to the end.

You can use progress bars almost anywhere. As long as the user is focused on completing a task, there’s room for a progress bar.

I even use one on my SEO analyzer tool:

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I like the way LinkedIn utilizes its “Profile Strength” feature:

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This kind of progress bar motivates users to do whatever it takes to get to the all-star status. The result for LinkedIn is higher engagement levels and more interaction on the site.

One of the most common goals on a website is to get users to join a mailing list or download something. The idea, of course, is to gain the user’s email address.

LeadPages is an expert at conversion optimization, and its progress bar is genius:

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When you see the progress bar, it encourages you to complete the signup process.

Actual games

Yep, you can add actual games too.

Why not? Like I said at the beginning of this article, humans love games. Even if the game doesn’t have much to do with your content or product, it will still keep people engaged with your site.

More engagement, regardless of the reason, is a good thing.

Here’s how and where you can add games:

  • Build a mini game instead of a normal blog post. This doesn’t need to be anything complicated. Just create a small game, and see what happens to traffic and engagement.
  • Add a game to your 404 page. It turns “oh, snap” into “oh, cool.”

Let me show you some examples of this…

Blue Fountain Media added a game to their 404 page. And seriously, who doesn’t want to play a rousing round of Pac-Man?

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It even has 8-bit sound!

Hey, what about your 500 page? Don’t let it get left out of the games!

My favorite 500 page is this one from Worthwhile:

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If you’re not careful, you can squander a solid fifteen minutes making that guy jump.

Google has implemented its fair share of games over the years.

If you’re bored, you can spend a lot of time playing Google Snake:

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Or Google Gravity:

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And you can spend way more time than you meant to trying to figure out Google Guitar:

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Conclusion

Gamification is no doubt an effective way to enhance your content and increase audience engagement.

It’s even been found to boost conversions up to 7x!

By experimenting with various techniques, you should be able to pull more of your audience in and motivate them to engage more frequently and on a deeper level.

Is there a specific gamification technique you’ve had success with? Is there one you’d like to try?



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