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الثلاثاء، 13 سبتمبر 2016

WIN a $50 Kalypso TwistZ Jewelry Gift Card

Giveaway Sponsored by Kalypso TwistZ We’re excited to partner with the direct sales company, Kalypso TwistZ for this fabulous giveaway! One lucky winner will receive a $50 Kalypso TwistZ Gift Card – so they can add some new bling to their wardrobe. Kalypso TwistZ offers.925 Sterling Silver interchangeable jewelry that is fashion forward, on trend, and above […]

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Lush, Nordstrom and Others are Hiring Seasonal Employees (Plus Discounts!)

I cringe for my bank account’s sake each time the holidays swing around.

Between traveling to see family and purchasing way too many presents, it’s a rough time for that sucker. And the sad thing is, it all seems so inevitable and uncontrollable.

However, this holiday season, I finally have a job. I also found a wealth of seasonal jobs last month.

This month, I found even more, but all of these places also offer store discounts.

Yup — if you work at these places part-time, you can temporarily get discounts on products including cosmetics, chocolate, groceries and even shoes.

So, this is my motivational speech to you: Don’t let the holidays get your bank account down. Rather, earn some money, and save on presents. Plus, you might even be able to splurge on yourself for once.

8 Companies Hiring Seasonal Workers Now

Hold your breath — or don’t — because this is a long, but juicy, list. For your skimming ease (yes, I know you won’t hang onto my every word), I listed the companies alphabetically.

Oh, and we found some gems for you Canadians, too!

1. Famous Footwear

Have an affinity for shoes? Me too. This affordable shoe retailer is hiring 76 pages worth of seasonal associates across the nation.

As an associate, you’ll engage customers, maintain order in the store (like putting away all of those dang shoe boxes!) and process shipments. You should be passionate and personable.

You’ll receive “competitive” pay, and, because the company inspires people to take the next *step* (get it?), it offers plenty of room for advancement if so desired. You’ll also receive a 30% store discount.

Peruse the list of seasonal job openings to see if your area retailer is hiring.

2. Gap, Inc.

Gap, Inc. is HUGE. In case you didn’t realize how huge, it encompasses the Gap franchise (think: Outlet, Kids, Body… ), Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta and Intermix. Which means, hello, seasonal jobs — 204 pages of seasonal jobs listings, to be exact.

Most of these positions are for sales associates, which require you to interact with customers, follow instructions to meet deadlines, work flexibly (nights, weekends, holidays) and lift up to 30 pounds. Prior retail experience is preferred, though not required.

Although the pay isn’t listed, you will receive shopping discounts for Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy. The specified percentage is not listed and likely varies by store.

You can find the positions on the company’s career page. Just search “seasonal.”

3. Godiva

With this seasonal gig, you can have your chocolate and eat it too. Across the nation — and Canada — Godiva stores are hiring chocolatiers. I wouldn’t mind adding that title next to my name: Chocolatier Carson.

As a chocolatier, you’ll act as a brand ambassador by addressing customer questions and recommending products. You should be outgoing and willing to push yourself to meet and exceed sales goals.

Experience in retail is preferred, though not required. You should be flexible in your scheduling (think: holidays), but it seems worth it.

The benefits include hourly pay with bonus potential, “generous” employee discounts, education assistance and opportunities to grow within the company if you so wish.

Godiva suspects the seasonal gig will last through February (think: Valentine’s Day!). There are 53 pages of locations hiring chocolatiers, shift leaders and boutique managers, so we surely hope you can find your town (or the neighboring one) on the list.

4. L.L. Bean

Hello, new Bean Boots! L.L. Bean is hiring seasonal employers — who will receive 40% off merch.

These seasonal jobs are located across the U.S. and include openings for retail managers, sales reps (one even for the bike, boat and ski sector), maintenance technicians and sales associates.

Benefits include that hefty employee discount, access to the 401(k) plan, holiday pay for holidays worked, premium pay for third-shifters and, for those in Maine, access to a fitness center and employee store.

The site states an influx of opportunities will be posted late fall, so keep checking back.

5. Lands’ End

I like this company for its lifetime warranty. I like it even more because it’s hiring seasonal workers.

Each position offers ”competitive” pay (although the listings are not specific) and flexible hours. The amount isn’t specified, but there are also employee discounts for Lands’ End and Sears swag, though.

You’ll also get access to the Comer Center, a fitness and wellness complex exclusively for employees.

The positions are concentrated in Wisconsin, so start applying, Wisconsinites. (Or Cheeseheads…or is that offensive? Sorry.)

6. Lush

Unleash this bath bomb of seasonal jobs. This cosmetic retailer — the one that smells so delicious when you walk by in the mall — is hiring seasonal workers across the United States and Canada.

Your job will be to mill about the store, helping customers decide which product smells better. (It’s a hard decision, people.) You should be able to work with customers, drop a little Lush knowledge and lift 30 pounds. Some retail, customer service, beauty or cosmetics experience is applauded.

The best part? As an employee, you’ll get 50% off ALL products “so you feel fresh everyday.” Heck to the yes.

Search for retail positions on Lush’s site. You can even sign up for job notifications if nothing’s open near you yet.

7. Whole Foods

This popular grocery chain is a little pricy, but we still love it. And we’d consider snagging a solid job there, too. Maybe one day we’d earn six figures?!

Right now, Whole Foods Market is hiring seasonal workers, which could be a great in for something more full time. Open positions range from grocery service team members and cashiers to meat service team members and bakery employees.

No matter the position, each position receives a 20% store discount and flexible work schedule, which is awesome for those big feasts you’re about to host. There aren’t a ton of positions open yet, but keep checking back in.

8. Nordstrom

Each day, it seems like Nordstrom unfurls more and more job openings across the U.S. and Canada.

There are a number of listings for visual merchandisers, who act as brand ambassadors for the store. Their job is to understand and execute effective visual merchandising strategies.

If you know what this means, you’re already on the right track. You should also have a high school diploma, keep up with current fashion trends, pay attention to detail and know your way around a toolbox (think: drills and box knives).

Pay is described as competitive, and even seasonal job postings note the awesome benefits: medical insurance coverage, a merchandise discount (yes!) and an employer-matched 401(K) savings.

I reached out to see if the benefits were too good to be true and received a generic response from its careers email. For now, I’ll assume the listing is accurate.

For more seasonal jobs, check out last month’s post: 9 Companies Now Hiring Seasonal Workers — Including Work-From-Home Jobs. You can also follow our Facebook Jobs page and stay up-to-date with the latest listings!

Your Turn: Have you snagged a sweet seasonal job with employee discounts?

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. If she had the time, she’d totally snag a job at Lush.

The post Lush, Nordstrom and Others are Hiring Seasonal Employees (Plus Discounts!) appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.



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Get 7 Weeks of All-You-Can-Eat Pasta for Just $100 at Olive Garden

Do you like discounted food?

How about all-you-can-eat deals?

What about pasta?

If you answered “yes” to all three of the above questions, then have I got a bargain for you:

This Thursday, September 15th, 2016, you can snag an Olive Garden Never Ending Pasta Pass, good for seven full weeks of Never Ending Pasta Bowls, for a mere $100.

That’s a heck of a lot of noodles.

What Your Pasta Pass Will Get You

For $100 plus sales tax, a Pasta Pass entitles you to unlimited Never Ending Pasta Bowls any day of the week from October 3, 2016, through November 20, 2016.

Each Never Ending Pasta Bowl includes your choice of one type of pasta, one sauce and one topping from this limited-time-only menu. With 5 to 7 choices in each category, you could come up with as many combinations as your stomach can handle. Vegetarian and gluten-free options are also available.

The Fine Print

Passholders must be 18 years of age or older, and passes are only valid for dine-in orders at Olive Garden locations in the United States (with the exception of Puerto Rico).

You may only purchase one pass per transaction but can assign that pass to yourself or to another recipient who loves (and we mean loves) pasta.

If you’re thinking you can get sneaky and share one Pasta Pass among friends, think again. You must enter the passholder’s name when you make your purchase, and Olive Garden reserves the right to ask for ID each time you use your Pasta Pass.

That said, passholders and anyone else at their table will be entitled to free Coca-Cola soft drinks with unlimited refills. (You’ll need something to wash down all that food, after all.)

If endless pasta doesn’t fill you up and you want any additional menu items (desserts, appetizers, alcohol, etc.), you’ll have to pay for those yourself.

And, as always, even if your meal is free, it’s common courtesy to leave a tip for your server based on the meal’s retail value.

How to Snag Your Pasta Pass

The Never Ending Pasta Pass sale begins at 2 p.m. ET sharp on September 15, 2016, at this page, but the link to the sale will be live starting at 1:30 p.m. ET. Last year, all 2,000 Pasta Passes were snatched up in one second, so we recommend getting there sooner rather than later.

This year, Olive Garden is upping the total number of available Pasta Passes to 21,000. Passes will be available for one hour or until they sell out.

If you miss the online sale, you can bid for 21 additional Pasta Passes in a charity auction. Olive Garden will donate all proceeds from this auction to the hunger-relief organization Feeding America.

So, what are you waiting for? Mark the time and date on your calendar, brace yourself for full carb impact, and let us know…

Your Turn: Would you purchase a Never Ending Pasta Pass? How much pasta could YOU eat in seven weeks?

Kelly Gurnett is a freelance blogger, writer and editor who runs the blog Cordelia Calls It Quits, where she documents her attempts to rid her life of the things that don’t matter and focus more on the things that do. Follow her on Twitter @CordeliaCallsIt.

The post Get 7 Weeks of All-You-Can-Eat Pasta for Just $100 at Olive Garden appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.



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This Company is Hiring Work-From-Home Travel Agents in 43 States

Are you a cruise aficionado?

Want to channel your love into a work-from-home job?

Well, World Travel Holdings (WTH) is hiring travel sales agents to work from home in 43 states.

Here’s what you need to know…

How to Snag This Work-From-Home Travel Agent Job

In this role, you’ll be responsible for selling travel packages (from the introductory video, it sounds like mostly cruises). You’ll take inbound calls, follow up with current clients and book their vacations.  

The company provides your computer equipment and six weeks of training, so you don’t need much to get started.

To be eligible, you must live in one of these 43 states and have a year of sales and service experience. You’ll also need good time management and communications skills, and be technically savvy and passionate about travel.

Once hired, it’s important to note you won’t be working a typical 9-5.

“Your schedule will change approximately every 12 weeks and it will include nights, weekends and holidays,” the listing states. “You must be available to work full-time (35-45 hours/week) between the hours of 8 a.m. EST and 1 a.m. EST.”

As for pay, the listing states: “Our compensation plan rewards great performance. You are guaranteed an hourly base pay or booking incentive, whichever is greater.” (I followed up for more details, and will update here if I hear back.)

After 90 days of employment, you’ll be eligible for benefits like medical and dental insurance, a 401(k), travel discounts and paid vacation.

All that said, I urge you to read the reviews on Glassdoor before applying — as they’re quite mixed. You’ll be able to work from home, yes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean your work-life balance will be in tune.

Most employees enjoyed the convenience of telecommuting, but called the hours “difficult” and metrics “unfair.” Several also said they’re frequently asked to work on their days off.

So take these reviews into consideration when deciding whether World Travel Holdings is right for you.

And if you work for this company (or have in the past), please let us know what you think!

Your Turn: Do you think this travel job sounds fun?

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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Thursday is Free Queso Day! Here’s Where to Get Your Freebie

If “eating more cheese” is always at the top of your to-do list, get ready to visit your local Moe’s Southwest Grill this Thursday.

For the seventh year, the Tex-Mex chain is celebrating Free Queso Day.

To join in the gooey, tasty fun, visit your local Moe’s and ask for a cup of Moe’s Famous Queso and chips — no purchase necessary!

Every Moe’s order comes with free chips and salsa, but queso is a special treat. On a regular day, 6 ounces of queso would cost you $3.49.

Want More Free Queso? Hashtag It

But don’t stop there! Once you’ve got your free chips and queso, use #FreeQuesoRocks on social media. Moe’s will pick three lucky winners to receive free queso for a whole year!

Using the Moe’s geofilter, available in select locations, in a Snapchat photo or video might help your chances — although that’s our guess, not advice from the chain. Moe’s is on Snapchat at @Moes_hq.

Will You Go to Moe’s?

The company said in a press release that the event thanks loyal customers for visiting time and again, while also introducing one if its favorite menu items to new guests.

There are 650 Moe’s Southwest Grill locations across the country. Some Moe’s locations will also have free limited-edition Free Queso Day T-shirts up for grabs, according to the company’s Facebook event.

While you’re at Moe’s, download its rewards app to earn free burritos!

Your Turn: Do you live for Free Queso Day?

Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder.

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Financial and Personal Success and the Cardinal Virtues

Over the years, I’ve come to understand that financial success isn’t a cause, it’s an effect. What I mean by that is that there are certain fundamental things you can cultivate in your life that, once cultivated, will cause financial success to occur almost effortlessly.

The problem with that approach is that modern society encourages what amounts to the opposite of those core values. It encourages people to spend to keep up with the Joneses, to artificially and temporarily improve self image, to give into every little temptation without considering the drawbacks, to toss self-control to the side of the road. The reason for that is that encouraging those values makes it much easier for companies to sell products to consumers.

Part of that is why I find so much value in reading and thinking about philosophy, science, and the classics. In those domains, different values reign supreme. The focus is on the value of things like self-reliance and internal reflection. Thinking about those things deeply over time has caused some changes in my core values and virtues, and I believe it is those changes that has made financial change in my life relatively easy.

At the core of that are the cardinal virtues. As summarized by Wikipedia:

The cardinal virtues comprise a quartet set of virtues recognized in the writings of Classical Antiquity and, along with the theological virtues, also in Christian tradition. They consist of the following qualities:

Prudence: also described as wisdom, the ability to judge between actions with regard to appropriate actions at a given time
Justice: also considered as fairness, the most extensive and most important virtue; the Greek word also having the meaning righteousness
Temperance: also known as restraint, the practice of self-control, abstention, discretion, and moderation tempering the appetite; especially sexually, hence the meaning chastity
Courage: also termed fortitude, forbearance, strength, endurance, and the ability to confront fear, uncertainty, and intimidation

These virtues derive initially from Plato’s scheme, discussed in Republic Book IV, 426-435. Cicero expanded on them, and Saint Ambrose, Augustine of Hippo, and Thomas Aquinas adapted them.

You’re probably already seeing how focusing on these virtues would lead to personal and professional success in modern life. Let’s give each virtue a bit of individual attention and figure out what it means today, how it can help with your financial and personal and professional standing, and how you can grow that virtue in your own life.

Prudence

Prudence refers to the ability to govern oneself through reason. As described above, it’s the ability to judge between actions with regard to appropriate actions at a given time.

My perspective on prudences is, in practical terms, being able to judge which of the choices before you offers the best net benefit for your life, both short-term and long-term.

Whenever I make a judgment call between buying two different products or buying nothing at all, I’m using prudence. Whenever I’m deciding how to use an empty hour of my time, I’m using prudence.

To many, this may seem like a natural thing, but what often happens is that people make comparative choices based on faulty reasons. Part of prudence is actually understanding what the true benefits and drawbacks are for the options in front of you. In order to truly cultivate prudence, you need to have a strong understanding of what the value of various things are in your life over a longer period than just your immediate desires.

That’s why prudence sometimes gets a bad reputation in the context of the modern world. For many, prudence often means caution because it often tells people that there isn’t enough value in a particular course of action to be worth the risk or the drawbacks. To people without any sense of prudence or people who are inflating the momentary value of something, prudence can look like an overabundance of caution.

To them, I say so what. You have to make your own choices about what you value and about how to maximize that value.

Let’s look at cultivating prudence in your day-to-day life.

Four Strategies for Cultivating Prudence

Stop worrying about what other people think, especially people you don’t know or barely know. We often drastically overvalue what others think of us. We fall prey to the spotlight effect and believe that others are thinking of us when they’re not. Even when they do think of us, those thoughts are often so shaded by that person’s own experiences that there’s very little we can do shape it without building a long term relationship with that person.

So don’t worry about it much at all, particularly with regards to people in passing. Be polite and don’t intentionally attract negative attention to yourself, but don’t waste a second of your time and money trying to make people be impressed by you. The only kind of “impressed” that matters over the long term are matters of character anyway.

Think about the benefits and drawbacks of recent choices you’ve made when you’re outside of the situation, and don’t be afraid to criticize yourself or conclude that you made the wrong decision. For example, let’s say you were in a bookstore and impulsively decided to buy a book. That may or may not have been a good choice, but it’s pretty hard to really decide that when you’re standing in a bookstore, which is an environment cultivated to persuade you to buy that book.

Instead, think about that decision later on, when you’re out of the bookstore and the “happy glow” of the purchase has faded. Did it really make sense to buy that book? Why or why not? Did the drawbacks – the spent money, for example, or the fact that you could get the book at the library – outweigh the benefits?

People often say “don’t give it a second thought,” but prudence is really built on the back of doing just the opposite of that. Give your actions a second thought or even a third one. I often practice this while driving somewhere as it gives my mind something to think about and improves my reasoning when it comes to making choices in the heat of the moment.

Give a lot of consideration to the long term benefits and drawbacks to your choices, as most people tend to think mostly of the short term. Humans are naturally short term creatures and thus, when we’re evaluating something, we tend to overemphasize the short term benefits and drawbacks and minimize the long term benefits and drawbacks. One thing we often do is push the drawbacks far down the road as an excuse to reduce their weight on the current decision; for example, we’ll put an expensive purchase on the credit card so we can minimize the negative short-term impact of the purchase.

In order to really give decisions a fair shake, you have to break that habit of minimizing the long term. One tool I find really useful for this is to figure out your true hourly wage and use that as a comparison tool. “If I buy this, I’ll basically have to work thirty more hours to make up for it… is it really worth thirty hours of work?”

Establish goals for yourself, so that you have a stronger sense of many of the benefits and drawbacks that may come from the choices you make. This is another tool I use to bring the long term into my decision making process. I maintain some real tangible goals for my life, both short term and long term, and I often evaluate decision based on how they’ll impact that goal.

For example, let’s say you have a long term goal of simply maintaining your weight and current fitness level. You’re at a restaurant and have some choices on the menu – a really tasty and unhealthy and expensive dish and a somewhat less tasty but much more healthy and less expensive dish. Which do you choose? If your goal is truly important to you, having that goal adds a lot of weight to the side of the less expensive dish. Without that goal, it becomes much more of a toss-up.

Justice

Justice is simply the administration of fairness, which might seem like a strange concept to talk about on a personal finance site. Fairness? How does that connect to anything in finances?

I think it’s easier to see this when you flip it on its head. The opposite of justice is injustice and unfairness. Unfairness comes from situations where someone involved in the situation is not being impartial and are incorporating other values largely unrelated to the situation.

People often like to say that “life isn’t fair,” and that’s absolutely true. It isn’t fair. At the same time, people want to be treated fairly. That’s the attraction to justice. People want justice for themselves and often want it for others.

That’s why, over time, people that seem fair to others tend to build a strong social network. They’re respected in the community by everyone. You probably know a few people with a strong sense of justice who typically are fair to everyone around them – and the truth is that you probably think highly of those people. To use an example, Fred Rogers is probably as close to a universally loved person as there can be and a big part of that is that he embodies a gentle form of justice. When you think of the idea of “fairness,” it applies so strongly to Fred Rogers that you’re probably nodding your head as you think of it.

Having a strong internal sense of justice and living by that internal sense in every waking moment is going to build a positive reputation for you, one that permeates throughout all of your personal and professional relationships. It will help you in times of personal need, help you to build your career, and help you to have an amazing social circle to boot.

Let’s look at cultivating justice in your day-to-day life.

Four Strategies for Cultivating Justice

Expose yourself to lots of different life situations. Everyone has different lives. We’re exposed to different things on a daily basis and those situations often go a long way toward shaping how we judge things. We build up biases over time, both good and bad.

The catch is that the less exposed we are to how someone else lives and the issues that someone else has to deal with, the easier it is to build up a false sense of justice. We’re already experts on the rights and wrongs of our own life, but how do we know that those rights and wrongs apply to someone else’s life?

For example, I live next to a single mother. I know her life is challenging and I also know she’s doing an amazing job of raising two young women. Having said that, I sometimes personally feel that too much responsibility in their household is shouldered by the older of the two daughters. That judgment is entirely based on my own experiences growing up and as a parent as well as my fairly limited observations of what’s happening over there. But is that judgment fair? When I actually look closer, what I truly see is that both of the young women in the house are very responsible people and they’re growing into magnificent adults. They’re just following a path to get there that’s different than what I expected.

While you’re doing this, look for situations where you have an instinctively negative reaction or an overly strong positive reaction. Those are biases and it’s almost always beneficial for you to dig through those biases and figure out why you have them and whether they really make sense.

Ask yourself why you react to situations in the way that you do. Let’s look again at the situation of the mother and two daughters who live next to us. My initial poor judgment of their situation was based on a very small number of observations, ones that didn’t match what made sense to me about children of a particular age and their parents. However, when I look closer, what I see is that the child actually has a different personal character than what I expected. She’s grown up and adopted a higher level of maturity than I would have expected for her age.

When I first looked at their family, I expected them to match the childhood and parental experiences that I had, and when it didn’t match, I immediately assumed there was something bad about it. That kind of assumption is rarely true. Just because something is different doesn’t mean it is bad. My bias here was that I was thinking of a family situation in a somewhat negative way simply because it didn’t match my own. That’s obviously unfair to that family.

You can go through a similar process for any of the negative or overly strong positive reactions that you notice within yourself. Why did you have that reaction? Look closer and ask yourself if it really makes sense.

When you figure out biases that you have, learn more about them and figure out whether those biases actually make sense. Rather than simply persisting in my sense that the family next door is doing something wrong, not only did I look a little closer, I did some reading on the realities of single parent households. What I learned is that the dynamic in such homes is often different than two parent households, but not necessarily bad. As a matter of necessity, the older child is handed more responsibility at an earlier age in many single parent households, and a good single parent can often cultivate that situation into raising some outstanding children.

My initial observation of the oldest child handling a great deal of responsibility felt negative, but as I learned more, it turned out to be neutral at worst and most likely positive.

Think about the biases you thought about above. Look closer at them. Do some investigation from outside your normal areas. Watch and learn without judging.

Actively work on eliminating your negative and unhelpful biases. If you find that you’re being unfair toward something in your own judgment – whether overly positively or negatively – try to actively work against that bias, particularly within your own mind. Choose to do things that you would do if you didn’t hold that bias at all, or even slightly held the opposite view.

Quite often, you’ll find that bias melting away.

Temperance

Restraint. The practice of self-control. Abstention. Discretion. Moderation tempering the appetite.

Those things probably don’t sound like fun. They cultivate images in your mind of things like a strict diet or a religious discipline.

When I see them, however, what I see is a tool that I can use to find a better way to live.

I’ll give you an example: a money free weekend. The idea is simple: you just avoid spending any money outside of absolute emergencies from the time you get off work on Friday to the time you return on Monday. Ideally, you also minimize the amount of already-bought resources that you use, like gas in your car.

It’s a challenge, to be sure. It absolutely requires temperance to make it work.

However, along the way, you start to learn things about yourself. You discover many new things to do that you may not have tried before. You discover that you really can live without other things that were otherwise just part of your routine. You also discover that you have internal strength. You can do this.

Temperance doesn’t just mean making a hard choice right now. It also means making that hard choice easier going forward because you usually realize that the hard choice wasn’t as hard as you thought.

Let’s look at cultivating temperance in your day-to-day life.

Four Strategies for Cultivating Temperance

Try some “thirty day challenges” on for size. A “thirty day challenge” is almost exactly what you might expect. It simply means that, for one month, you’re taking on some sort of personal challenge or change in your life.

For example, you might choose to eat vegetarian for thirty days. You might choose to spend no money at all on hobbies for thirty days. You might choose to stop going to the coffee shop for thirty days.

The purpose of such challenges isn’t to permanently eliminate a behavior from your life, but to cultivate a stronger sense of moderation of that behavior. You’ll go to appreciate it more and you’ll also grow to understand that spreading it out increases your enjoyment rather than reduces it.

(You can also use thirty day challenges to build new positive routines, like an exercise routine, of course.)

Put an overall budget on your weakest spending area. Look for the areas in your life where you tend to make the most reckless spending choices, then put a budget cap on spending in that area. For me, that would easily be hobby and entertainment spending.

Simply say that, for the next few months, I’m only going to spend, say, $50 or $100 on going out on the town. You can spend that $50 or $100 however you like during that month, but once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Perhaps you’ll go out less often. Maybe you’ll find less expensive things to do when you do go out. What you’ll find, though, is that it’s not as hard as you think and that you’re getting more value out of each choice, which is really the goal of temperance.

Intentionally try new things that feature some attribute you’d love to cultivate in yourself. We all have positive traits that we’d like to cultivate in ourselves, but there’s always a reason not to do it. It’s hard. I don’t have the time.

Ignore those things for a while. Intentionally try some things to cultivate that attribute that you want. That might mean giving up some other things for a while. It might mean seriously challenging yourself.

In doing so, though, you’ll find that giving up smaller things for something important to you is often incredibly worth it once you get going.

Say “no” sometimes, even to friends. One of the trickiest parts of temperance is the simple act of saying “no” to others. A person might have decided to cut back in some area of life, but when a friend or even a random person invites you, it’s hard to say “no.”

Practice it. Figure out how to say “no.” It’s hard, of course, but most things in life worth doing are hard. Beyond just saying “no,” find ways to redirect that request into something else. If a friend wants you to go out, redirect that into something else if you’re trying to practice temperance regarding nights out on the town, for example.

Courage

Courage is perhaps the most important of the four cardinal virtues when it comes to personal finance and professional growth.

It takes courage to take on a big challenge. It takes courage to keep following through, even when it’s hard. It takes courage to stand up for something when the social order in your life is against it. It takes courage to create change in your life. It takes courage to not do things in the way that society encourages us to do them.

It takes courage to be financially responsible, in other words. It takes courage to be frugal. Society works against those things. The social circles of many people do, too. Often, our own conflicting desires work against it, too.

Let’s look at cultivating courage in your day-to-day life beyond the obvious mantra of “just do it.”

Four Strategies for Cultivating Courage

Don’t instinctively say “no” to something difficult; consider it rather than reflexively avoiding it. We often just react with an immediate “no” to things outside of our comfort zone. When we feel that way, one of the most courageous things we can do is stop for a minute before responding in the negative and really think about that choice.

Rather than letting the negatives just blow away the positives immediately, stop and focus on the positives of taking on this challenge.

I’m reminded of my mother, who had wanted to visit Niagara Falls for many years. She has an intense fear of heights, however, and crossing the walking bridge to get to the Maid of the Mist boat tour of the Falls filled her with an intense fear and at first she instinctively said, “Nope, not doing this.” However, she followed that up with courage. She stopped for a few minutes, thought about the positives and negatives, and then bit her lip and crossed that bridge. The tour turned out to be the highlight of her entire trip.

Talk to yourself with positive words, not negative and fearful ones. When you tell yourself “no” and “I can’t do this” and “I’m going to fail,” you’re reacting with pure emotion and creating completely imaginary reasons to back away from a challenge. Negative words create a false “con” when you’re listing the pros and cons of a choice and can push you away from something worthwhile.

Instead, think of a personal challenge with positive words. Think of the benefits of actually doing it. Tell yourself that you can do this. Tell yourself that you’re going to succeed. Tell yourself that even if you fail, it doesn’t really matter much at all and that trying matters much more than that (which is almost always true).

Negative words add a “con” to any sort of pros and cons list; positive words add a “pro.” Neither one is real, so try adding “pros” to the equation rather than “cons.”

Take small steps at first and see the positive results. If you’re new to climbing a mountain, don’t head to Everest. Instead, climb some tall hills first, then perhaps a small mountain. Work your way to the big challenges.

The same thing is true for almost every challenge you might face in your life. Focus on small steps rather than big ones. Sure, it might be the first step in a long journey to achieving the big goal, but make that your focus, not the giant goal.

I often like to take my biggest goals – the ones that seem impossible – and break them down into smaller and smaller and smaller pieces until that first step doesn’t seem that scary, at which point I can muster the courage to take that step. The courage for each step after that is easier to muster.

Identify and kill procrastination. Procrastination simply means that you’re taking a challenge and choosing to wait until later to deal with it. In other words, it’s a rather uncourageous way to deal with a challenge in front of you.

Whenever you find yourself putting off something that you could do right now, stop and ask yourself why you’re delaying. Are you really doing something else worthwhile instead? If you’re not, why are you delaying this task? Why not do it right now?

Final Thoughts

If you spend time cultivating the four cardinal virtues in your life, you’re going to suddenly find it much easier to achieve financial success. It suddenly won’t seem nearly as hard or nearly as scary to cut back on your spending or to start investing. You’re going to find that you have new goals and new approaches to almost everything in life. The benefits go far beyond finances.

For many, sincerely adopting these virtues can be a challenging change – but it’s a really worthwhile change. It makes every obstacle in life so much easier if prudence, justice, temperance, and courage comes straight from the heart.

Good luck.

The post Financial and Personal Success and the Cardinal Virtues appeared first on The Simple Dollar.



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Funds that charge performance fees fail to deliver

Eight of out 10 UK funds that charge investors a performance fee have failed to beat the global stock market over the past three years.

Eight of out 10 UK funds that charge investors a performance fee have failed to beat the global stock market over the past three years.

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Funds that charge performance fees fail to deliver

Eight of out 10 UK funds that charge investors a performance fee have failed to beat the global stock market over the past three years.

Eight of out 10 UK funds that charge investors a performance fee have failed to beat the global stock market over the past three years.

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Retirees rejecting turbo-charged annuities

Two-thirds of people accessing their pensions are failing to take up guaranteed annuity rates that pay recipients a super-charged income, according to Just Retirement.

Two-thirds of people accessing their pensions are failing to take up guaranteed annuity rates that pay recipients a super-charged income, according to Just Retirement.

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Live Here, Not There: 10 Cheaper Alternatives to 6 Expensive U.S. Cities

If you’re daydreaming of moving to one of the country’s hippest cities — but worry you can never afford it — I’ve got some alternatives to help you save money.

Little-known cities around the country can be the best places to live, offering similar culture, demographics, creativity and innovation that spawned the likes of “Portlandia,” but with much smaller price tags.

I compared some of the nation’s favorite cities to those with the lowest cost of living and best quality of life to suggest some alternatives for those pricy metropolises.

Before you resign yourself to living behind a couch to be at the center of the action, consider these cool cities — where you can probably afford a whole room of your own.

Note: For consistency in cost of living estimates, I referred to numbeo.com for every city. Also, I know many small towns have a lower cost of living than most cities, but this list is to help you get the city life you want — without going broke.

1. Instead of Chicago, Live in Madison or Milwaukee

Best Places to Live

Andrew Jalbert / Getty Images

If you love the cheery disposition of Midwesterners and some snow in the winter, you can get both in Wisconsin — without giving up the amenities and hustle of the city.

While you’ll pay an average $1,626/month to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Chicago, you’ll pay about $1,071 downtown Madison, and about $841 for the same size spot in Milwaukee.

Plus, grocery prices are 15% higher in Chicago than Milwaukee — and a whopping 24% higher in Chicago than in Madison.

In Milwaukee, you can experience the lakefront and similar industrial history you’d find in Chicago.

In Madison, you can enjoy access to a Big 10 university, state government and an arts and entertainment scene rivaling the big city.

If you want the best of both, these cities are just about a 90-minute drive apart — not much more than you might spend commuting from one Chicago neighborhood to another on the L train!

2. Instead of Denver, Try Salt Lake City, Bozeman or Boise

Best Places to Live

Darrin Klimek / Getty Images

If you love living in the mountains, but dread Colorado’s skyrocketing cost of living, turn your sights north to the cozy college towns of Bozeman, Montana or Boise, Idaho.

Both Boise and Bozeman rival Denver as a ski bum haven. Bozeman’s rent is 30% cheaper than Denver’s, and Boise’s rent is about half the Mile-High City.

And if you don’t mind the high desert in the summer, you can get your ski fix and breathtaking mountain vistas from Salt Lake City, too. You’ll save 38% in rent!

To be honest, I love SLC so much I don’t even want to tell you about it. The city’s history of religious conservatism keeps it off the radar of every bright-eyed millennial — for now.

Cultural shifts and relaxed laws since the turn of the century combine with a glorious mountain-valley location and impeccable city planning make it perfect for anyone who wants the buzz of city life and the freedom and beauty of the Wild West.

Some even think Salt Lake City is the next Silicon Valley — so get there fast, before the secret gets out to everyone!

3. Instead of Nashville, Look at Oklahoma City or Louisville

Best Places to Live

tracemb / Getty Images

I don’t know if we can give Taylor Swift full credit or what, but something is drawing the cool kids to Nashville in recent years.

While the southern city comes in much cheaper than our nation’s major metros, it’s not the most affordable in the region.

You could live in nearby Louisville, Kentucky, or Oklahoma City and pay almost 40% less in rent. Both beat out the country music capital among the nation’s best cities for jobs.

If you prefer to stay in Tennessee, I hear Chattanooga is wildly underrated, and rent is 43% less than in Nashville.

Or, if you’re not averse to suburbia, check out Tennessee’s suburbs, some of the best towns for raising a family.

4. Leave Austin, and Move to Tulsa

Best Places to Live

Alex grichenko / Getty Images

Texas is a great state for freelancers. But moving to the blooming center for technology and the arts is going to cost you…

If you’re freelancing, you can work from anywhere, right? Might as well save money while you’re at it.

Less than 500 miles north, the arts and entertainment scene in Tulsa, Oklahoma, rivals that of Austin.

You may not have heard of the local favorites yet, but don’t forget (‘90s kids!) it was once home to Hanson. Just sayin’.

But if your taste has evolved beyond nostalgic boy bands, Thrillist says, “Rich in oil money and art-deco architecture, Oklahoma’s cosmopolitan second city has always been the state’s artsy kid.”

And the savings? You’ll pay about 39% less in rent in Tulsa than in Austin! Get a one-bedroom in the city for $854 per month on average.

5. Instead of San Francisco, Give Seattle a Shot

Best Places to Live

Ryan McVay / Getty Images

I admit, for these last two, comparisons are tough. San Francisco and New York are the most expensive cities in the U.S. because they’re in crazy-high demand — and with good reason. They’re pretty much unequaled.

But we’re creative, so let’s give this a shot.

With giants like Amazon, Microsoft and Boeing operating in the area, Seattle is one of the best cities for jobs in the nation.

Seattle will give you the moderate climate and West Coast life San Franciscans enjoy. It’s also equally gray most days and has just as many steep hills to challenge its abundance of cyclists.

A one-bedroom apartment in Seattle will cost an average $1,776 per month, compared to… wait for it… $3,352 in San Francisco. Yikes. You’ll also spend 17% less on groceries in the northwestern city.

6. Instead of New York City, Try Washington, D.C.

Best Places to Live

BackyardProduction / Getty Images

No city in the U.S. can fully match the culture, history and opportunity you’ll find in New York City. Unfortunately, all that comes with an unmatchable price tag, as well.

To save money, consider Washington, D.C., which I’ve I’ve heard — adoringly — called the “New York for Nerds.”

I’ve also heard it called the “Hollywood for Ugly People,” so maybe it could rival L.A., too? Or maybe that one’s not so adoring…

You’ll pay 23% less for rent in our nation’s capital than in New York and about 13% less in overall cost of living. Climate is similar, and job markets are comparable, with D.C. a little ahead.

Though Bostonians may reject the comparison, I have to mention Beantown, which matches New York’s rich history and culture on smaller scale with a 20% lower cost of living.

Or look north, and consider moving to Canada. Rent in Montreal, Quebec is one-third of New York’s, and overall cost of living is about half.

More Cities to Consider

If you’re not concerned with geography or climate, but just want to enjoy a buzzing, inspiring and progressive city, here are more, even lesser-known, little cities that pack big value:

  • Asheville, NC
  • Savannah, GA
  • Athens, GA
  • Columbus, OH
  • Ann Arbor, MI
  • Duluth, MN
  • Scottsdale, AZ
  • St. Petersburg, FL (home of The Penny Hoarder!)
  • Topeka/Lawrence, KS
  • Spokane, WA
  • Omaha, NE
  • Knoxville, TN
  • Birmingham, AL

The list could probably go on for days, so add yours in the comments… I hope this inspires you to think outside the box before your next move!

Your Turn: Is your city a smart alternative to a more expensive one? Why?

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

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This Free Retirement Tool is Perfect If You Don’t Have a 401(k) at Work

Although he’s still in college, John McKinney wanted to start slowly saving for retirement.

Six months ago, he opened a myRA account, a new retirement savings account from the U.S. Treasury Department.

A senior at Western Kentucky University, McKinney works part time while going to school, so he doesn’t have access to a 401(k) account just yet. He contributes roughly $30 a week to his myRA account.

“They’re good for people who are just now entering the workforce or are employed somewhere without benefits,” he said. “I also am relatively new at being financial responsible, so using myRA keeps me from using the money, as opposed to a savings account that is easily accessible.”

The myRA account is designed for people who don’t have access to an employer-sponsored retirement savings plan and to be less intimidating than private-sector Roth IRAs for new or first-time savers. The accounts also cost nothing to open and have no fees.

You can easily sign up online and link your myRA directly to your bank account — or set up direct deposit through your employer.

Nearly one-third of non-retired people have no retirement savings, according to a 2015 Federal Reserve Report. The Treasury Department piloted these plans with 60 employers back in December 2014, before making myRA accounts available nationwide in November 2015.

“MyRA is designed to remove common barriers to saving, and give people an easy way to get started,” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew in a statement. “MyRA has no fees, no risk of losing money and no minimum balance or contribution requirements. To make saving easier than ever, you can now put savings into myRA directly from your bank account.”

Here’s what you need to know about these new accounts.

MyRA Accounts, Explained

myRA

Image from myra.gov

A myRA is technically a Roth IRA and subject to the same rules and regulations as Roth IRAs offered through an investment management company.

These accounts were designed to be a bridge to other retirement saving options and intended to be starter accounts for first-time savers. There are no minimum contribution requirements to open an account — you can save $1 at a time if you have to!

The money you deposit into your myRA account is invested in a new U.S. Treasury retirement bond, which will not lose money. These investments earned 2.04% interest in 2015.

This makes the myRA account unique. Roth IRA accounts grow and shrink with the market, and allow you to invest in an array of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other options.

“The investment in your myRA account will not lose money (unlike investments in stock and other investments tied to the market),” according to the myRA website. “MyRA … places priority on the stability and preservation of your money rather than on the opportunity to earn higher returns with greater risk.”

You can make myRA contributions by setting up an automatic direct deposit through your employer, recurring or one-time contributions from a checking or savings account or even directing a portion of your federal tax refund to the account — all after-tax contributions.

If you need to access money in your myRA account, you can withdraw it tax- and penalty-free. But keep in mind, interest earnings may be taxable if you withdraw them — also true for a private Roth IRA.

Eventually, account holders must transfer their myRA savings to a private Roth IRA. These accounts max out at $15,000, unlike private-sector Roth IRAs — which let you keep saving until you retire.

Just like a Roth IRA, you can contribute up to $5,500 per year to a myRA account — $6,500 per year if you’re over 50. To be eligible to contribute to either account, you must be earning income in the U.S. and earn below $132,000 as a single person or $194,000 if you’re married.

You can even have both kinds of accounts if you want, but you’re still subject to the total IRA annual contribution limit.

If you’re married and at least one person is earning income, you can both save in separate myRA accounts — a good option for stay-at-home moms and dads!

A Big Draw: The Stability of U.S Treasury Bonds

myRA

DonkeyHotey under Creative Commons

For Annabell Minturn, a myRA account was a good option while she was a full-time student at the University of Kansas and working part time as a tax professional for H&R Block.

Her goal is to save about 10% of her income this year. She plans to make several one-time contributions of roughly $500 each to her myRA account this year, while she finishes a master’s degree.

Minturn says she liked the stability of the account’s interest earnings, since it’s backed by U.S. Treasury bonds. Her only complaint was about the myRA account website, which is run through Comerica bank.

Once she got her account set up, though, it was easy to make deposits, she explains.

“The website is incredibly simple and featureless,” she says. “Their customer base is people who don’t have retirement savings and these are naturally going to be younger people for the most part. We are digital natives, I bank exclusively online, yet it’s literally the worst banking website I’ve seen.”

Starter Accounts for New Savers

myRA

Image from myra.gov

So, how do you know if a myRA account is right for you?

These accounts were never intended to take the place of existing retirement saving options such as 401(k) accounts and Roth IRAs. They were intended to help bridge the gap to those accounts for people who have little or no savings.

If you have access to a 401(k) at work, especially one offering an employer match, use it. If you don’t, you’re leaving free money on the table.

And if you already have a Roth IRA, chances are you’re already in the habit of saving for retirement, so a myRA likely wouldn’t make sense for you.

If you’re just starting to save for retirement, or aren’t earning much money but want to start saving something, a myRA account might be a good fit for you for now, and you can eventually roll the money over into a Roth IRA.

Your Turn: Have you started saving for retirement?

Sarah Kuta is an education reporter in Boulder, Colorado, with a penchant for weekend thrifting, furniture refurbishment and good deals. Find her on Twitter: @sarahkuta.

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Savers risk leaving their spouse short at retirement

An increasing number of couples are not making any provision for pension payments to continue to the surviving partner in the event of their death, according to new research by Aegon.

An increasing number of couples are not making any provision for pension payments to continue to the surviving partner in the event of their death, according to new research by Aegon.

While 75% of over 75s have made pension provisions for a spouse, this number falls to 47% among those aged 45-54.

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House price rise slows down, but no crash post-referendum

House prices have risen by 8.3% in the year to July 2016 – down from 9.7% in June – putting the value of an average property in the UK at £216,750, according to the first official report since the EU referendum.

House prices have risen by 8.3% in the year to July 2016 – down from 9.7% in June – putting the value of an average property in the UK at £216,750, according to the first official report since the EU referendum.

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Why Landlords Do a Credit Check (and What They Look For)

Unfortunately in life, your past mistakes often have the uncanny tendency to haunt you, long after you made them. This is especially true when it comes to financial mistakes and your credit. Credit problems, in fact, have the ability to hang around on your credit reports for sometimes up to a decade.

Because your credit is routinely used by others to judge whether or not they want to do business with you, any problems on your credit reports can make certain aspects of your life much more difficult and expensive. One of those times is when a landlord checks your credit during your search for an apartment or rental home.

What Do Landlords Look for in Your Credit?

Many businesses rely on your credit to assess the risk of doing business with you. Landlords are no exception. When landlords check your credit for tenant screening purposes, what they’re actually doing is trying to determine whether you’re likely to pay your rent late (or perhaps even not at all). Tenants who don’t pay their rent as agreed can cost landlords tons of money and even more aggravation. These are inconveniences any landlord naturally wants to avoid, if possible.

When checking your credit, landlords will generally request what is known as a tenant screening report from one of the credit reporting agencies (and often you’ll be required to pay for the report yourself as part of an application fee). Tenant screening reports typically contain much more information than a standard credit report and provide landlords with information to help them make informed decisions about new rental applications.

Your credit is certainly not the only thing a landlord will consider when reviewing your rental application; however, even if the rest of your application shines, your bad credit could still cost you the opportunity to sign a new lease. Here are a few of the red flags landlords may look for on your credit reports that could potentially cause your application to be denied.

1. Public Records and Major Derogatory Events

Previous evictions, foreclosures, judgments, and bankruptcies can all make renting a new place to live quite challenging. Collection accounts, repossessions, and charge-offs can also spell trouble for you when you’re filling out a new rental application.

Unless such issues are in the past and you have a good explanation as to why they happened in the first place (e.g., a job loss or illness) a new landlord is more likely to turn you down if they see any of these problems on your tenant screening report, especially if they’re fairly recent.

2. Debt Problems

If you’re overextended financially, as demonstrated by a large amount of debt on your credit reports, you may have trouble getting your new rental application approved as well.

Just like a mortgage lender, landlords will often calculate your debt-to-income ratio (DTI), which is the percentage of your monthly income already committed to other outstanding debts, to determine how much money you have left over each month for rent. If your DTI comes in at over 45% to 55% (depending on the landlord), you could potentially be turned down for a new rental even if the rest of your credit checks out. Point being, if you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it.

What You Can Do If Your Credit Costs You the Opportunity to Rent

If your tenant credit check comes back with some blemishes that cost you the apartment, it doesn’t mean you’re out of options. Here are a couple of strategies to try:

1. Offer to put more money down.

If you offer to pony up several months of rent in advance, it may make a landlord willing to take a risk in renting to you, even if your credit problems are concerning. Putting extra money down lessens the landlord’s risk in the event you ever stop paying your rent as agreed in the future.

To a landlord, money talks… and loudly. I once had an applicant whose credit was so bad I told him the only way I’d rent to him was for him to pay the full amount of the lease in advance.

2. Search for another landlord.

While tenant credit checks are commonplace when it comes to rental applications, not every landlord will perform a credit check during their tenant screening process. Even those who do might still be willing to accept an explanation of your past credit problems, especially if you’re applying to rent from an individual owner rather than a larger property management company.

If you can prove that your credit mistakes are behind you and demonstrate that you’ve taken steps to turn over a new financial leaf, then you may be able to convince a landlord to take a chance on renting to you in spite of your previous credit problems.

Related Articles:

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Overdraft Fees: What Banks Charge

It happens to the best of us: You write a check or make a purchase on your debit card only to find out later that you didn’t have enough money in your checking account to cover it — maybe you forgot about a quarterly payment coming due or your paycheck was delayed; maybe you’re just plain broke. Whatever the reason, the cost of that transaction put your checking account in the red, and once that happens, you’re going to get hit with an overdraft fee. And, if you happened to make a few more transactions before you realized what was happening, you may even rack up another overdraft fee for each and every one of them.

No one likes overdraft fees, to say the least. However, overdraft protection does prevent an even worse scenario: bouncing an important check. If your rent check bounces because your account was short by $50, you’ll not only have an angry landlord on your hand, you’ll also get hit with a bounced check fee that puts most overdraft fees to shame.

Still, when it comes to overdraft fees, not all banks are created equally. Many banks allow you to link up a savings account to minimize the damage. Sometimes you can even get overdraft fees waived, but if you rack up too many, don’t expect your bank to be sympathetic for long. So if you go over your balance, what can you expect to pay for the privilege of that credit cushion? The answer might have you shopping for a new bank.

Why Do Banks Charge an Overdraft Fee?

So why do banks charge this fee? There’s the obvious, punitive answer: They don’t want you overdrawing your account, so they make it expensive and inconvenient to do so. However, they can’t make it too expensive or too inconvenient, or you’re going to start searching for another bank.

The other answer is that it costs them money every time you overdraw your account. And, of course, they’re extending you credit and taking on some risk in doing so — there’s always the chance that you might overdraw your account and never put the money back in.

Does Every Bank Charge Overdraft Fees?

In a word, no. Some banks allow you to treat an overdraft like a loan and pay interest on it, which can be significantly cheaper, even for the rare offender. Capital One 360 and Everbank are two options for people who scoff at the very idea of paying overdraft fees.

Still other banks don’t allow you overdraft at all. However, this can often be the absolute worst deal. For example, Schwab Bank doesn’t let you overdraft, but will charge you a $25 insufficient fund fee anyway if you try — and will do so up to four times in a day. So in addition to the embarrassment of having a transaction declined at the register, you’re going to pay for the privilege.

Most banks allow you to link a second account to your checking account and take money out of that if you overdraft. However, even these banks are going to charge fees for that service, and either way, you can only do that so many times in the month before federal regulations prevent you from taking more out of your checking account.

How Much Do Banks Charge for Overdraft Fees?

Here’s what some of America’s most popular banks are charging for overdraft fees — and how many times a day they’ll charge you if you keep overdrawing your account without realizing it:

  • Ally Bank: $25, once per day.
  • Bank of America: $35, up to four times per day.
  • Capital One 360 Bank: No overdraft fee; interest owed on overdrawn balance (currently at 11.5% APR).
  • Chase Bank: $34, up to three times per day.
  • Everbank: No overdraft fee; interest owed on overdrawn balance (currently 9.4% APR).
  • Navy Federal Credit Union: $20, up to three times per day.
  • PNC: $36, up to four times per day; plus $7 a day if account remains overdrawn for five straight days.
  • TD Bank: $35, up to five times per day.
  • U.S. Bank: $36, up to four times per day.
  • Wells Fargo: $35, up to four times per day.

Thinking of switching to a more forgiving bank? Check out our reviews on the best free checking accounts and the best savings accounts.

Related Articles

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Inflation unchanged as rising food prices offset by falling hotel costs

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate of inflation rose by 0.6% in the year to August, figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal today.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate of inflation rose by 0.6% in the year to August, figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal today.

This is unchanged from July.

While food prices and airfares are rising, hotel accommodation prices are falling, and there have been smaller increases in the prices of alcohol, clothing and footwear than a year ago.

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Plastic £5 note launches: what you need to know

A new £5 note featuring former Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill launches today, becoming the first Bank of England note to be printed on polymer – a thin flexible plastic.

A new £5 note featuring former Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill launches today, becoming the first Bank of England note to be printed on polymer – a thin flexible plastic.

A number of key features behind the introduction of the plastic note are as follows:

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When Should I Hire on a Manager?

By Deborah Sweeney Often, if you’re running your business from home, the idea is to run it yourself. There are many benefits to being the only employee – you only have to manage yourself, you don’t have to pay other people, and your business is being run exactly how you envision it being run. But as […]

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