Joy Taney, 28, of Shawnee-on-Delaware, was crowned winner of the reality show Skin Wars: Fresh Paint's week 8 episode, taking home a grand prize of $10,000.The episode aired Wednesday on the Game Show network.When asked what would come next, Taney said she hopes to continue working on various new projects including an original comic series.
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الخميس، 4 أغسطس 2016
New hours for PMC's Immediate Care Centers
All four of Pocono Medical Center’s Immediate Care Centers will provide its comprehensive services during the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 365 days a year, beginning immediately, PMC has announced.The new change in hours will apply to all of Pocono Medical Center’s Immediate Care Center locations throughout the region including East Stroudsburg, Bartonsville, Brodheadsville, and Tobyhanna.Pocono Medical Center’s Immediate Care Centers provide treatment, close [...]
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Three CRNPs join St. Luke’s Monroe Family Practice
BETHLEHEM — St. Luke’s University Health Network announces three well-known Pocono-area certified registered nurse practitioners to the St. Luke’s Monroe Family Practice, 1619 N. Ninth St., Bartonsville, where they join John Brinker, DO, and Bruce Davis, MD.The office is the new second location for Monroe Family Practice. The primary location remains at 1803 West Main St., Stroudsburg.Dolsie Allen, William Gregg and Antonette “Anne” [...]
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Source Business - poconorecord.com http://ift.tt/2aEiHUf
Pocono Medical Center donates AED's to local organizations
Pocono Medical Center recently presented donations of AED's through the Moyer Foundation to the Effort United Methodist Church and Pennsylvania Treatment and Healing (PATH).The Effort United Methodist Church approached State Rep. Jack Rader and his office who in turn reached out to Pocono Medical Center given the organization’s reputation for unparalleled support of its community and its vision of building a healthier community. Beyond its worship services, the Effort United [...]
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Are You a Sustainable Foodie? This Work-From-Home Job Pays Up to $30/Hour
Before you put that piece of steak in your mouth, do you pause to ponder where it comes from?
Even better: Do you read food labels like they’re the hottest gossip column around?
Maybe you just opt to go to your farmers market for local finds. Or research eggs. Lots of eggs. Perhaps you have your own backyard chickens, or that’s just a future #goal.
If any of this describes you, you’re already partially qualified to be a work-from-home customer support team member with Food Revolution Network.
Nope — it’s not Food Network. It’s Food Revolution Network, a website committed to educating the public about healthy, sustainable and humane food sources.
Work From Home for the Food Revolution Network
Unfortunately, you won’t be taste-testing veggies or hunting down the best sustainable farms around.
As a customer support team member, you’ll communicate with customers, subscribers and members of the community to represent the ideals of the website. You’ll happily assist customers who have technical issues or questions.
You’ll also troubleshoot any technical issues and process sales, returns and purchases, using tools like HelpScout, SnapEngage, WordPress and Google Apps.
And you’ll do all of these things from the comfort of your home. Cow-jumping-over-the-moon flannel pajamas and scrambled pasture-raised eggs aren’t required, but we’d like to think they are.
Who Food Network Revolution Wants to Hire
OK, so you like to know where your food comes from. That’s a start. The Food Revolution Network wants organic, non-GMO, plant-strong, fair-trade foodies on its team.
A good personality is a plus, too. A sense of humor is required, especially during tense and challenging times. And no, that doesn’t mean nervous fits of giggles.
You’ll be required to work 30-40 hours a week during “critical periods.” The job is described as “seasonal,” and the website is looking to have people with flexible schedules on hand when the Food Revolution Network gets busy.
As with any job, you should be willing to learn on the fly and adjust accordingly.
Oh, are you waiting for the pay? You’ll earn $15-$30 an hour depending on experience. Not too shabby, right?
And here’s a fun fact I couldn’t resist: John Robbins, one of the founders of the website, was in line to inherit the Baskin Robbins empire, founded by his father. (There was an ice-cream-shaped pool in his backyard as a kid.)
Instead of taking over the family business, he diverged and started writing about healthy foods and healthy living. Weird, right?
So, after you tend to your vegetable garden and feed your chickens, apply to this work-from-home gig today.
Your Turn: Do you work from home? Tell us about all your perks!
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.
The post Are You a Sustainable Foodie? This Work-From-Home Job Pays Up to $30/Hour appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Wake and Bank: This Guy Gets Paid Thousands to Roll Elaborate Joints
To many people, a successful stoner is an oxymoron. If you’re one of those people, please let me introduce you to Tony Greenhand.
Now that recreational weed is legal in his state, this 26-year-old Oregonian has made a business doing what he loves: rolling joints. Joints so intricate some have called him the “Monet” of the industry. And so in demand that he’s paid big bucks to roll them — as much as $7,000 for a set.
Here are the details on this kid’s dope business venture…
Tony Greenhand and His Smokable Weed Art
For more than 100 years, our nation’s had a strong stigma against marijuana — but the tide seems to be turning.
Recreational marijuana is now legal in Alaska, Colorado, Washington D.C., Oregon and Washington, and 20 other states allow medical marijuana. In these locations, cannabis-based businesses like Greenhand’s are literally growing like weeds.
Greenhand sells “smokable art” in the form of elaborate joints rolled to look like animals, cartoon characters, food and even celebrities.
Although he says he’s been rolling joints since he was a teenager, it was merely a hobby until three years ago, when a friend urged him to post one of his creations on Reddit.
Weed enthusiasts were enthralled — Doritos bags across the world were dropped — and soon, his fame, clientele and social media accounts exploded.
He has nearly 100,000 Instagram followers, where you can see the components of one of his biggest commissions: an arsenal of smokable weapons that fetched a cool $7,000. The AK-47 alone held a whopping half-pound of marijuana inside of it, according to Vocativ.
Some projects take less than an hour, while others take “multiple attempts over the course of a week,” Vocativ reports.
Because of the varying legality of his art, Greenhand’s customers must come to Oregon to pick up the finished products — or he mails hollow joints for customers to fill themselves.
He charges $50 per hour for most projects, but also accepts trades. Vocativ reports he’s into “anything spectacular,” like diamonds, exotic animal parts, fossils or “jarred specimens.”
Though Greenhand wouldn’t reveal how much he earns per year, he told Vocativ it’s enough for him to “live comfortably.”
Surprised he’s been able to make joint-rolling into a career? You’re not the only one.
“It doesn’t even sound real when I say it,” he told Vocativ.
Your Turn: What do you think of Greenhand’s work?
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 Wake and Bank: This Guy Gets Paid Thousands to Roll Elaborate Joints appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Digitally-savvy users most likely to be victims of fraud
New research from credit reference agency Experian, found that almost one in four (23%) ID fraud victims in 2015 came from the 8% of the UK population that uses mobile and social media the most. This group also saw the biggest increase in ID theft, rising by 17% over the previous 12 months, suggesting a lack of protection against identity theft.
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1.5% cash Isa launched for police officers and their families
A new market leading 15-month cash Isa paying 1.5% interest has launched today, but the catch is that it’s only available to active and retired police officers and their families.
The limited-issue account has been launched by Police Mutual to celebrate the credit union’s 150th anniversary.
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Connected: Developing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Connections to Your Key Financial, Professional, and Life Goals
Goals are a major part of my life. I’ve found, particularly over the last ten years, that setting personal and professional goals and achieving them have improved my life in virtually every conceivable way, from our financial state to the relationship I have with my kids, from my understanding of the world to my professional state and the opportunties it provides. Goals work.
But sometimes they don’t work.
I’d estimate that the majority of the goals I have set for myself over the last several years have been failures. There have been a lot of reasons for that.
For one, sometimes I simply bite off more than I can chew. I’ll take on a goal and simply not have adequate time to devote to that goal because of my other commitments and goals in life.
For another, sometimes the goals I create have unrealistic expectations that I’m just not capable of achieving. I simply can’t make the benchmarks I set for myself and the goal falls apart.
One final reason for failure – and this is a huge one – is that I end up feeling really disconnected from the goal. I know that the goal matters to me deeply – or at least the outcome does – but I just don’t care about it. I’m not excited by the journey, perhaps, or I’m not excited by the destination. I simply don’t feel connected to the goal; it doesn’t feel like it’s really a core part of my life.
I refer to this type of failure as “disconnection,” and defeating disconnection is what I want to talk about today.
The simple fact of the matter is that you are much more likely to succeed at goals when they are deeply connected throughout your life. If you’re connected to a goal socially, spiritually, professionally, mentally, physically, and so on, that’s a good thing. The more connections you have, the better. The stronger and deeper the connections, the better.
A goal needs to feel like it is part of your life, like it is part of your daily routine, like it is part of who you are right now. A goal that feels “separate” is a goal that you’re going to be willing to cut out of your life.
A few questions are going to pop into your mind here.
First of all, how does one build these kinds of connections? In other words, if you define a goal for yourself, how do you make it into a highly connected goal? What are the strategies for integrating that goal into your life and actually making it a part of who you are right now?
If you extend from that, how does one create a goal that is likely to have more of these types of connections? If you’re starting from scratch, what kinds of goals are more easily integrated into your life?
I’ve spent a lot of time trying to answer those questions in my own life over the past several years, and I’ve come to a few really valuable conclusions. Perhaps the most valuable of those conclusions is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic connections.
Intrinsic and Extrinsic
So, as I was discussing earlier, each goal you set has some number of connections to your life – some strong and some weak. The greater the number of connections, the more naturally a goal fits into your life; in fact, working toward a highly connected goal feels pretty much like normal day-to-day life.
Naturally, you’re going to want a goal that either naturally has a lot of connections or makes it easy to put those connections in place.
What I’ve found over the years is that there are really two broad groups of goal connections, and those connections function very differently from one another.
First, you have intrinsic connections. Intrinsic connections are ones that are connected to the journey itself – the specific things you have to do to get to that goal. For example, an intrinsic connection to a fitness goal might be discovering that you enjoy a particular type of exercise. In general, I’ve found that intrinsic connections provide the motivation to continue work towards a goal. They’re the ones that you tend to build routines around and naturally incorporate into your life.
Of course, those types of connections usually aren’t visible to you at the start of a goal, and that’s where extrinsic connections come in. Extrinsic connections are connected to the goal itself, typically to the benefits of completing the goal. For example, an extrinsic connection to a fitness goal might be a picture that you have of your fit body. In general, I’ve found that extrinsic connections provide the motivation to start toward a goal. They’re the ones that get you going at the start and can sometimes help keep pushing you through the harder moments.
In other words, almost every successful goal I’ve had started with extrinsic connections, which pushed me into the goal deep enough that I found intrinsic connections. The mix of the two – primarily the intrinsic connections, but the extrinsic ones kept helping, too – kept me going forward until I found overall success with the goal.
So, let’s take a deeper look at each of these types of connections and how you can use them to achieve your own goals, financial and otherwise.
Extrinsic Connections – The Motivation to Start
I’ve found that, time and time again, extrinsic connections are the ones that you really need at the start of a goal. Quite often, at the start of a goal, you simply don’t have intrinsic connections. You haven’t discovered them yet.
I tend to look at extrinsic connections as being like the scaffolding around a building. You can’t build a building out of scaffolding and this scaffolding won’t ever actually be a part of the finished product, but without that scaffolding, you can’t build the building.
Here are some of my favorite types of extrinsic connections that get me going when it comes to a goal.
Finding pictures of that goal and posting them everywhere. This is one of my favorite extrinsic connections to a goal. I simply find (or Photoshop) a picture that depicts the end result that I want for my goal, then I put that picture all over the place.
I’ll put it on the lock screen of my phone – and as the background. I’ll set it as the screensaver on my computer. I’ll hang one from the rear view mirror in my car. I’ll tape one to the bathroom mirror that I look into each morning.
I’ll see that picture over and over and over again, and it will constantly remind me of what I want to be working toward today.
For example, when I was first trying to establish a strong connection to our personal finance goals, I found this wonderful little picture of a house in the country, because that was the big thing that Sarah and I wanted. I actually Photoshopped Sarah and I into that picture, then I put copies of that picture everywhere. It became a vivid and constant reminder of what I was working for.
Reading or viewing motivational things related to that goal. Early on in my personal finance journey, it was extremely helpful to know that other people actually had followed this path. People had gone through their debts, paid them off relatively quickly, and found themselves on the road to financial success.
From that point, it’s really easy to move that over to yourself. If that person can do that, then I can surely do this, after all. It makes that other person simultaneously into an example of how you could succeed as well as something of a source of competition, too.
For example, if you read a story about someone that managed to pay off all of their debts, it can provide something of an extrinsic connection to that goal. You see that it is possible and that ordinary people can do this; it’s something that really is within the reach of your life.
Maintaining a chart showing your progress toward that goal. Even to this day, I love looking at my spreadsheet that tracks my net worth growth over time. It’s still pointing upwards and it still includes those parts of my life where my net worth was negative.
Why do I look at that chart? It connects me to where I’ve been regarding that goal, as well as where I’m going and where I want to go. That upward trendline pushes me forward like a stick in the middle of my pack.
For a long time, I actually used the graph of my financial progress as a big visual reminder, putting it everywhere. Since then, I’ve switched to another reminder of sorts (pictures of my children), but I still find that this simple picture of my progress makes me feel connected to my goal in a deep fashion.
Having an intervention from a loved one. My wife provides a pretty regular extrinsic connection to my goal, not just because I want to have the rewards of this goal to share with her, but because she directly pushes me to take positive steps and make progress.
We often sit down together to look at our progress (and our missteps) and when she identifies a misstep, it makes me feel a ton of emotions. Some of them are negative – frustration, mostly – but many of them are positive. I want to do better. I know I can do better. I focus on those emotions. I use them to connect myself more strongly to that goal so that I make better choices every day.
This all works because my wife and I have a strong relationship. I genuinely want her to have a joyful future, full of lots of wonderful things, and we both “intervene” with each other for those reasons. We encourage each other to do better than we did before and to connect each other to these big shared goals.
Considering the benefits to other people of your success at this goal. While intervention is a direct extrinsic connection to a goal, simply thinking about how your success at a goal will positively affect the other people in your life is more of an indirect – but still powerful – extrinsic connection to a goal.
For example, when I think about financial independence, I can’t help but think about how it will positively affect our children in early adulthood. We can show up when we’re helpful in their lives and then disappear when they need their day-to-day lives back again. We can be just as involved in the lives of our children and grandchildren as they want because we won’t be strapped down by jobs or careers.
That’s a positive vision of the future, one that relies a lot on how our positive financial choices will benefit many people that Sarah and I care deeply about. Our choices now and our progress toward our goals really can make the lives of our children (when they’re adults) and our grandchildren a lot better. For me, at least, that is a very powerful extrinsic connection.
Sharing the goal and the positive results and progress on social media. If you want to generate a lot of extrinsic connection to a goal, share your goal with friends and family far and wide. Put that goal up on social media – Facebook, Twitter, whatever you prefer – and start uploading a weekly or monthly update on your progress.
Doing that is incredibly scary, but it gives you this deep connection to your goal because you know that a lot of eyes are on you. The comments that friends and family give can provide a huge amount of motivation and connection to your goal.
In fact, it was this type of motivation that originally encouraged me to launch The Simple Dollar. Having a personal finance blog formed a strong extrinsic connection to my personal finance goals, one that still persists to this day. Simply writing about what’s happening with my finances to an audience really makes a difference in terms of connection.
Intrinsic Connections – The Motivation to Continue
On the flip side of extrinsic connections are the intrinsic ones, the ones that actually help you push through the challenging steps and the drudgery that comes with achieving a goal. Extrinsic connections are great for helping you start, but these are the ones that help you keep going. They’re all about integrating all of those key steps into your normal life.
Here are some of my favorite types of intrinsic connections that keep me involved with a goal through thick and thin.
Finding things you enjoy doing that happen to directly lead to that goal or synergize with positive steps toward that goal. There’s nothing better than doing something that you love anyway and realizing that it actually supports and helps you move toward a big goal in life. That turns the day to day progress toward a goal from drudgery to joy, which is about the most powerful intrinsic connection you can make to that goal.
My favorite example of this for personal finance goals is cooking. I love to prepare food for my family, but I would often talk myself out of it under the idea that I wasn’t good at preparing food. Once I actually convinced myself to do this a few times solely because it saved money, I began to actually appreciate the joy that making meals for my family brought me and now it’s something I relish in many ways, far beyond the fact that it’s far cheaper than eating out all the time.
But how do you find these things that synergize so well with your goal?
Trying many different practical steps and sticking with the ones that click well. Keep trying lots of things. Try everything you can related to your goal and see which ones just “click” with you, because the reason that something is going to “click” is because it also syncs up well with other aspects of your life and other aspects of your personality.
This is why I continually try new frugal tactics even though we’re making great progress toward our goal. I’ll try any fun thing that’s free or inexpensive. I’ll try almost any strategy that saves money around the house.
Most of them are things that I know I’ll drop, but some of them will just “click” with me. I’ll want to do them, either because they’re enjoyable on their own or because they replace something else due to the fact that the price of the new thing is lower without any other real drawbacks. Those things tend to make me feel that I’m really making forward progress with my big goals.
Spending time with people who are also on that journey. I’m a firm believer that most people tend to wind up being pretty similar to the people they spend the most time with, so I try to spend time with people who are working toward the same goals that I am.
Most of my friends are frugal. It’s pretty rare to find a group of friends in their thirties who are all debt free and who are all moving straight toward an early retirement. I fully expect that everyone in our core group of friends will be retired by the time they’re 55 or so.
In a way, that’s an extrinsic connection, but it also becomes very intrinsic, too. Our conversations are all openly about the things we need to do to stay on this path. We swap ideas, not in a congratulatory way, but in a normal “we’re heading toward this goal” way. Plus, it becomes much more fun when the people you enjoy hanging out with are also pushing toward the same goals that you are.
Finding a set, routine time during the day to actively work on the goal. If you pencil in some element of your daily routine and make it stick, like, say, a pre-breakfast exercise routine or a commute that avoids tempting places to shop, you’re going to be much more likely to stick to it. You’re building an intrinsic connection to the goal, in other words.
A great example for this type of connection comes at dinnertime at our house. I don’t just say that “supper is at 6 PM.” I say that supper actually starts that morning with a prep period, then it also starts at about 5 PM for me. That’s because I use that time to prepare our evening meal. The routine is that I start on supper quite early most nights and I don’t leave it for the last minute. That way, I have plenty of space in my life for home meal preparation, which is a big money saver (and something that’s enjoyable).
Simply put, I make sure that my day has room for frugality, that I’m not backed into corners where I’m forced to spend money just to make it through the day.
Reading about practical, applicable steps toward achieving that goal. Even after almost a decade of financial progress, I still read through personal finance books, looking for little tips that will help me on my way. Why? I’m simply finding a new strategy to try out forms yet another intrinsic connection to the big goal.
Every time I read about one of those strategies, there’s a good chance I’ll try it. That, in itself, is a minor intrinsic connection. If I try a strategy, there’s a good chance it’ll be useful and stick around. That’s an even stronger intrinsic connection.
Even if the strategy itself doesn’t work, the process of trying it and evaluating it ties you closer to your overall goal and makes the goal feel much more real.
Intentionally thinking positive thoughts about the steps needed to approach your goal. This is a bit of “power of positive thinking,” which doesn’t itself amount to much, in my opinion. So why is it here?
The truth is that the more positively you think about something, the more likely you are to actually do it and the more likely you are to walk away from it feeling good. That’s going to build intrinsic connections to the overall goal.
It’s not the positive thoughts themselves that matter, but the actions that the positive thoughts lead to. A positive thought, all on its own, is useless. A positive thought that gets you off the couch? That’s useful.
Final Thoughts
As you add more and more of these strategies to your life centered around your goals, you add more and more extrinsic and intrinsic connections to that goal. That goal begins to feel more and more like a natural and normal part of your life. When that happens, progress toward the big goal – and achieving the big goal itself – become a natural conclusion to your everyday life.
That’s the value of connections. It’s not that they achieve something momentous on their own. It’s that they slowly absorb that goal into the normal flow of your life, changing things around so that this goal that seemed so hard at the start is actually just part of the normal flow of things.
When that happens, success is going to be right in front of you.
The post Connected: Developing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Connections to Your Key Financial, Professional, and Life Goals appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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Bank of England cuts base rate to 0.25%: what it means for your finances
In a long-expected move, the Bank of England (BoE) has today announced a cut to the UK base rate, taking it from 0.5% to 0.25% - the lowest it’s ever been.
It’s the first time the base rate has changed since March 2009, when it dropped from 1% to 0.5%.
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Who Knew You Could Make Money Selling Empty Designer Boxes?
We all know designer names like Dior, Chanel and Burberry sell for big bucks.
But did you know that even the packaging can fetch a hefty fee?
Pinky Li under Creative Commons
The New York Post recently reported on the intriguing phenomenon of luxury dumpster diving — and the impressive sums sellers get for name-brand bags and boxes that would otherwise remain in the garbage.
How much, you ask? “A store-signature purse dust cover can sell for $150 or more,” the Post reports.
Yeah, we were shocked, too. Here are the deets.
How to Make Money Dumpster Diving at Chanel or Tiffany
mckrista1976 under Creative Commons
After glossy designer boutiques in Manhattan’s most famous shopping districts lock up for the night, clever scavengers emerge and congregate under the giant neon lights of the names they’re looking for.
And more often than not, they find those names… printed on “designer detritus — empty boxes, paper shopping bags, hangers, shoe and purse dust covers” that apparently share a fraction of their usual contents’ desirability.
A trash picker named Charles estimates an empty, black Chanel box could sell for $40. In perfect condition, it could fetch $60.
Although some stores slash through logos or otherwise mar their would-be valuable trash, the pickers seem to do fairly well — at least well enough to continue showing up.
But one has to wonder… who’s buying this luxury trash, anyway?
samantha celera under Creative Commons
As it turns out, some folks have very good reasons to do so.
For instance, consignment store owners can use the boxes to recreate the experience of shopping at a high-end store.
Or real estate agents might use brand-name purse bags to help stage a house, creating an imagined life of luxury to woo potential homebuyers.
Other uses are even more creative. One luxury dumpster diver, a Brooklynite who calls herself Kytten Mayles, laminates Chanel shopping bags to create artwork she sells for $100 apiece.
Not bad, right? I mean, I kind of get it — I’ll admit I kept the beautiful blue box my Tiffany glasses came in long after they were bent and their lenses scratched.
Would You Dumpster Dive for Extra Cash?
Sherwin McGehee/Getty Images
Feeling brave? Try the dumpster-diving side hustle for yourself.
You can make tons of money, even if you don’t live anywhere near a Tiffany store — this guy sometimes makes $2,500 a night!
Even if you’re not quite ready to poke through other people’s trash, you might be surprised at how much potential cash is sitting in your own garbage can.
Worst case scenario, you discover some interesting stuff about your neighbors (or yourself) — and require a really long and thorough shower before bed.
Happy hunting!
Your Turn: Would you dumpster dive at a luxury store to sell its empty packaging?
Jamie Cattanach is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Her writing has also been featured at The Write Life, Word Riot and elsewhere. Find @JamieCattanach on Twitter to wave hello.
The post Who Knew You Could Make Money Selling Empty Designer Boxes? appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Ask GFC 004: How do You Make the Best Use of Bankruptcy?
Welcome to another Ask GFC! If you have a question that you want answered you can ask it here.
If your questions get featured on GFC TV or the GFC Podcast, you are the lucky recipient of a copy of my best selling book, Soldier of Finance, and a $50 Amazon gift card.
So what are you waiting for? Ask your question now!
This GFC TV question came to us from Beth, and it’s an important one in regard to personal finance, since thousands of households file for bankruptcy each year:
My question that I’d like covered is this: How does a person/couple make the best use of a bankruptcy? More specifically: What are the top priorities when it comes to getting financially educated? When the bankruptcy is discharged, what is the best way to a secure financial future? I’m currently working on an ebook about getting through a bankruptcy. My husband and I filed bankruptcy without having a clue about how it would affect our lives. We honestly did not know how to be bankrupt. Sounds strange I know.
I’ve done hundreds of hours of reading and I’m just now realizing that a bankruptcy is not a fresh start unless some major work is done inside the time of the plan, and maybe even before filing. It’s been quite devastating in all areas.
I’ve really needed a book to help me emotionally and financially. With information that is never provided by a lawyer. I’ve yet to find that book so I’m writing it, and I really need some expert advice so I thought this opportunity to hear from you would be awesome!
Thanks Beth! First of all, brilliant idea on writing a book on the topic. I’m not familiar with such a book myself, which might make it an excellent topic for you to take a stab at. And no one could do a better job of it than someone who has gone through it.
There’s the legal version of bankruptcy – which I suspect is what most of the published books are about – and the view from the front line, and that’s what needs to be covered. Take notes as you go along, and build the book around your real life experience. I think it will be a winner.
Bankruptcy is a broad topic, so let’s try and break it down in stages.
Bankruptcy: The Big Picture
The best description of bankruptcy that I’ve ever heard is that it’s a credit timeout. That is, it’s a time when the spigot of easy credit is no longer available to you. On a more technical level, it’s a legal process that enables you to get out from under certain debts (but not all), providing you with an opportunity to regroup, and to move forward in life without all of the constraints that debt creates.
Basically, it enables you to wipe the debt slate clean, so that you can start fresh. That’s the good part.
The darker side is that it can also put you into a financial straitjacket, at least for a time. Upon filing for bankruptcy, certain options will either be closed to you, or very difficult to come by. This can apply to several fronts in your life, including employment, getting new credit, buying or renting a home.
Bankruptcy affects each of these areas in various ways. You need to consider what they are, and what you can do to prepare for them.
Employment After Bankruptcy
First of all, rest assured that you cannot be fired from your job due to a bankruptcy. If they do, you may be able to bring a wrongful discharge lawsuit against them.
The primary issue with employment is applying for a new job with a bankruptcy on your credit report. Government agencies cannot discriminate against you for bankruptcy, but private-sector employers do not have that limitation.
In applying for some jobs, bankruptcy might not matter, particularly if it is a few years old. But in certain jobs, generally those where you are handling money, a bankruptcy may disqualify you. This can include jobs in accounting, bookkeeping, banking, investments, or any position with financial responsibility.
It’s virtually impossible to hide the bankruptcy from an employer. Most job applications specifically ask if you’ve filed for bankruptcy within the last seven years. If you say that you haven’t, and the employer discovers that you have, your application will be ended. In addition, a bankruptcy filing will come out when the employer pulls your credit report. A chapter 7 bankruptcy remains on your credit report for up to 10 years, while a chapter 13 stays on for just seven.
If you are considering filing for bankruptcy, you should plan on staying in your current job for as long as you can after-the-fact. Your prospects for gaining new employment will improve as each year passes. If you do need to find a job, the best course of action is to disclose your bankruptcy upfront, and state the reasons why.
The employer may be sympathetic based on your honesty and the reasons behind the bankruptcy. You can also offer that the bankruptcy enabled you to be relieved of financial obligations, enabling you to do your job without being consumed with debt concerns.
Applying for Credit After a Bankruptcy
It’s important to understand that while bankruptcy will relieve you of most debts, there are exceptions. In fact there are a total of 19 debts that are not dischargeable. For most people, the most important non-dischargeable debts are student loans, tax debt less than three years old, or unpaid amounts due for child support. But the most common debts, including credit cards, car loans, mortgages, installment loans, business loans, and medical debt, can be discharged.
As to new credit, you may be surprised to learn that there are some lenders who will grant you credit fresh out of bankruptcy. But these are primarily of the subprime variety, that will charge stiff fees and interest rates, and usually for very short-term loans. These include payday loans, and even certain subprime auto loans. You may also get offers for secured credit lines, and eventually unsecured lines with very low credit limits, like $500.
As far as all the pretty mainstream credit cards, with zero rate introductory offers or rewards programs, you can forget about those for a few years. The same will be true for low rate auto loans. If you need to apply for a mortgage, you will typically require a minimum of two years to have passed since the bankruptcy, but it could be longer.
The best strategy after-the-fact is to figure out how to live without credit.
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You need to go for a period of time when credit is completely off your radar screen. That means paying by cash, not buying anything that you can’t pay cash for, and maintaining a strict habit of saving money regularly.
This point is critical: you need to go from relying on credit, to relying on savings.
Excessive credit use the primary cause of bankruptcy. Saving money is the best solution. You should seize on the bankruptcy as a chance to make this conversion in your life. It will probably be the biggest guarantee that you will never be in a bankruptcy situation again.
Buying or Renting a Home or Apartment After a Bankruptcy
As written above, you will generally need a minimum of two years to pass after your bankruptcy before applying for a mortgage to buy a house. The rules are less standard when it comes to renting. It will depend upon the landlord or the apartment complex as to how it will affect you.
The best strategy when it comes to your housing situation is to stay where you are living for at least two years after the bankruptcy. Generally speaking, once two or three years passed, your chances of getting a rental or a mortgage will improve.
If you absolutely need to find another place to live, renting will be preferred to buying. This is because owning a house brings greater expenses, particularly in regard to repairs and maintenance.
If you need to find a new rental, you may need to have a cosigner on the lease, or be prepared to offer additional security. Offering an extra month or two of security can go a long way toward comforting a nervous landlord.
Filing for bankruptcy should never be taken lightly, or seen as a get-out-of-jail-free card. Yes, it can relieve you of crushing current debts, but it will also create new obstacles in your life. Understand what those obstacles are, and carefully evaluate if that will be better than finding some other way to deal with your current debts.
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Own an LG Washing Machine or Garmin Watch? You Might Qualify for Free Cash
Is there anything better than making sun tea in the summertime?
It’s practically a tradition in my household. But, like a lot of people, I struggle with my weight and try stick to low-calorie beverages whenever possible.
That’s why I was excited to see Stevia in the Raw sweetener for the first time. The package stated the sugar-substitute was “100% Natural Zero Calorie Sweetener.” Sweet!
Then a few months ago, I discovered the Stevia in the Raw manufacturer decided to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of falsely labeling its product as “natural.” I immediately filed a claim form to recoup some of the money I’ve spent on the sweetener over the years.
No receipts were needed — and filing took me less than five minutes.
The Stevia settlement is now closed, but check out these six other open class-action settlements I found for you this month!
1. Vitamin Shoppe Supplement
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If you bought Vitamin Shoppe’s Reservie Trans-Resveratrol supplement, you could get up to $25 from this class-action settlement.
The false labeling lawsuit accused the manufacturer of omitting the cheaper, non-organic ingredients from the product label to trick customers into believing the dietary supplement contained organic ingredients.
No proof of purchase is necessary, but you must file a claim no later than Sept. 23, 2016, to qualify.
2. Garmin Sport Watch
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Did you buy a Garmin Forerunner 610 watch thinking it would be rain- and sweat-proof like it’s advertised? If so, you could get an extended warranty, replacement watch and/or even some cash!
The Garmin suit alleged the sport watch is defective and falls short of the advertising claims of helping runners “be the best [they] can be in preparation for a marathon.”
Class members have several options they can choose from, but need to file a claim by Sept. 28, 2016, to receive any benefits.
3. Decennial Census Background Check
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If you applied for a 2010 decennial census job, but the criminal background check prevented you from advancing, you might qualify for this settlement.
A lawsuit accused the U.S. Census Bureau of discriminating against African-American and Latino applicants by using certain background check procedures to screen job applicants, violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
If you file a claim for the census settlement, you can either participate in a records assistance project to help resolve issues or mistakes in your criminal background record or receive advance notice for when hiring begins for the 2020 census.
If you’re interested in either of these benefits, you have until Sept. 10, 2016, to file a claim.
4. LG Front-Loading Washer
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If you own an LG front-loading washing machine, you could qualify for either $35 in cash or a $105 washer rebate certificate from this recent settlement.
LG decided to settle an eight-year litigation battle over accusations that its front-loading washers have a design defect that causes mold and bacteria to build-up, creating noxious odors.
To benefit from this settlement, you must file a claim with either a picture of the washer’s serial number or a receipt by Oct. 10, 2016.
5. American Express Interest Rates
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American Express cardholders whose accounts’ fixed annual percentage rates either increased or changed to a variable rate between 2005 and 2010 could get $32.50 from a class-action settlement.
Credit cards issued by AmEx with a fixed interest rate were not supposed to increase or change in any way unless the account was delinquent, according to the lawsuit.
To collect your cash, all you need to do is file a claim before Aug. 30, 2016.
6. Global Marketing Research TCPA
People Images / Getty Images
Did you get a call from Global Marketing Research Services without your consent? If so, you could get $15.
Global Marketing Research states that it made calls of a political nature to voters who included their phone numbers when they registered to vote, and therefore denies any laws were violated.
However, you can still claim your $15 from this settlement. Just file a claim form by Sept. 30, 2016.
Your turn: What settlements are you going to claim this month? Let us know when you get your checks!
Melissa LaFreniere is the News Editor of TopClassActions.com.
The post Own an LG Washing Machine or Garmin Watch? You Might Qualify for Free Cash appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Risky Business? Airbnb, Uber, and Insurance in the Sharing Economy
The sharing economy — which includes ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft and home-sharing platforms like Airbnb, among others — is bigger than ever. The number of travelers booking their lodging through home-sharing sites this summer doubled compared to last year. And while 17% of Americans were using some form of the sharing economy last year, be it Uber or Airbnb, that number has now more than doubled to 36%.
Pew Research found that 72% of Americans have used some form of the sharing economy (Pew’s definition includes peer-to-peer commerce sites, such as ticket resale outlet StubHub and craft marketplace Etsy), even though most of them weren’t familiar with the term “sharing economy.”
It’s mostly younger Americans who are propelling this new, digital economy — and in fact, a quarter of those surveyed haven’t used any of these services, according to Pew Research.
But the fast-growing numbers don’t lie: The sharing economy is here to stay. And if you’re going to participate, driving strangers in your car for cash or renting out a spare bedroom to make money, you need to know the lay of the land when it comes to insurance.
Are You Insured When You Share?
Whether you’re the sharer or the sharee, this is the first question you should ask before participating in the sharing economy: Are you insured?
For property owners renting out an apartment through Airbnb or HomeAway, are you liable for what other people do on or with your property? For those who rent the property, who will cover you in the event of your own liability or someone else’s?
These are questions you need to answer before you do anything else. Begin your search with the terms of service associated with the platform that you’re using.
For example, Uber offers a $1 million liability policy. However, when you examine the policy, there’s more to it than just that.
The policy Uber offers its drivers is primary to personal auto insurance, but secondary to commercial insurance. This means that if you just have regular old car insurance, Uber is your insurer of first resort. For those with a commercial insurance policy, however, Uber’s insurance will only kick in after your commercial policy pays out. With more and more freelancers in the gig economy incorporating and sticking their assets in an S-Corp or LLC, that’s an incredibly significant data point.
Similarly, Airbnb offers $1 million in both property and liability protection for U.S. hosts who share their property through the service. That sounds generous, but it doesn’t cover everything. And while you might not be terribly concerned about the possibility of sexual assaults or acts of terrorism on your property, you should know they won’t be covered by Airbnb’s policy.
So what should you do to be completely covered?
Can You Get Additional Insurance?
There’s one big problem with insurance and the sharing economy: The former hasn’t quite caught up to the latter. That’s why leading sharing economy platforms have such robust insurance policies built in — you’re going to have a really hard time getting anything from your current insurer.
For example, your homeowners policy probably only covers you and people who regularly reside in your house. What’s more, both automobile and homeowners policies generally include clauses forbidding you from using either for commercial purposes. If you incur expensive damages — a crashed car, a house fire — while operating as a business in violation of your policy’s terms, your insurer may not have to pay out.
Insurance companies have an interest in entering the marketplace. Bad press, however, has disincentivized them from offering “gap coverage” for people participating in the sharing economy who don’t want to bank on a Silicon Valley startup providing them with adequate insurance protection.
So what’s a responsible member of the sharing economy to do? There aren’t a lot of options, and most of them aren’t terribly attractive, either:
- Commercial insurance: Commercial insurance policies are meant for real-deal businesses, but you can still buy them as an individual and get the kind of coverage businesses have. The downside is that they’re far more expensive and esoteric.
- Specialty insurers: HomeAway partners with specialty insurer CBIZ to write homeowners policies for people who rent out their homes often. You can also ask your insurance agent about a dwelling policy or customized B&B policy, which can offer adequate coverage at a small premium to regular homeowners insurance. Likewise, small start-ups like Peers offer policies specifically designed for the sharing economy, albeit without the stature and reputation of an industry giant like State Farm or Allstate.
- Get proof of insurance: Asking for proof of insurance from everyone who gets into your car might not be a realistic option, but if you’re renting out your home it can be a way to cover yourself.
- Security deposits: Your platform might allow you to request a security deposit when renting out your home. It might not be big enough to cover extensive damage, but it can deter renters from causing damage in the first place.
The bottom line is this: For nearly everyone in the sharing economy, this is largely an academic question at present. You’re probably not going to run into the kinds of disasters that would require gap coverage, but even if you did, that gap coverage doesn’t exist for the most part.
This puts those in the sharing economy in a caveat emptor situation. You need to look at the terms of the insurance policy on whatever platform you’re using. Then you need to make a calculated decision about the risks and their consequences.
Related Articles:
- Best Car Insurance Companies
- How to Make Money as an Airbnb Host
- The Best Homeowners Insurance
- Is Uber Financing a Bad Idea?
The post Risky Business? Airbnb, Uber, and Insurance in the Sharing Economy appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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New "Red Devils" savings account for Man Utd fans
Virgin Money has launched an easy-access savings accounts in partnership with Manchester United, paying savers 1.05% interest a year with a few extra perks – but it can be beaten.
Savers can deposit between £1 and £30,000, either in branch or via Virgin Money’s website.
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What Do I Do After Incorporating My Home-Based Business?
By Deborah Sweeney We’ve talked about the benefits of incorporating your at-home business before, but what comes next? Incorporating your business is a huge step. Once you’ve made the jump into creating a Corporation or LLC, you want to make sure you’re taking the correct next steps. You’re a legal entity, your assets are protected, your […]
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