Eino (A-know) Anttila lived through the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and the '60s. He’s seen a lot in his 94-year lifetime.But he’s never seen his beloved Chicago Cubs win the World Series. Now, after almost a century, he might be getting close.The Cubs, who play baseball, are a step away from competing in the Series. If the team beats the Dodgers, Chicago will advance to the World Series against the Cleveland Indians. The Cubs lead [...]
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الجمعة، 21 أكتوبر 2016
4 Little-Known Mistakes You’re Probably Making on Your Cover Letters
Cover letters are the bane of any job seeker’s existence.
For them to be good — good enough to maybe hopefully land you an interview — they need to be really good. And customized. (Groan.)
You probably already knew that, but you might not know what sets excellent cover letters apart from the rest. But Sara McCord does.
During her career, she’s read hundreds of cover letters — and says she can determine if one is good or bad in a mere three minutes.
Based on her advice in The Muse, here are four fatal cover letter flaws:
1. Using a Totally Lame Greeting
Truth time: Have you ever started a cover letter with “Dear Sir or Madam” or “To Whom It May Concern”?
“When a hiring manager sees any one of these things,” McCord writes, “she reads it as, ‘I didn’t take my time with this, and I don’t really care about working here.’”
And it probably gets your application tossed in the recycling bin.
No word on whether, “Dear hiring manager” is also a no-go (which I’ve definitely used before), but it seems like looking up the hiring manager’s name is the best bet.
2. Reeking of Desperation
Who knew? Just like with dating, sounding too desperate can turn hiring managers off.
“You don’t need to thank the hiring manager so incredibly much for reading your application — that’s his job,” McCord writes.
“If you align considering your application with the biggest favor ever, you’ll make the other person think it’s because you’re desperate.”
Note to self: Don’t gush.
3. Opening With a Sucky/Boring Sentence
I don’t know why I’ve never thought of this before, but the first line of your cover letter is like the lede of a story; you want to draw your reader in.
And saying “I’m writing to apply for XYZ job” just ain’t gonna do the trick.
“When a hiring manager sees that, she won’t think, ‘How thoughtful of the applicant to remind me what I’m reading!’” McCord quips. “Her reaction will be much closer to, ‘boring,’ ‘meh,’ or even ‘next!’”
Here are some examples of opening lines that will definitely grab their attention.
4. Airing Your Laundry — Even if It’s Clean
Your cover letter isn’t a place to simply list your skills and experience (that’s what your resume’s for).
A cover letter should highlight your personality, as well as how your background jives with the job.
“If you write a laundry list, it’ll blend into every other submission formatted the same way,” McCord explains. “Sure, you might still include lists of skills, but break those up with anecdotes or splashes of personality.”
Check out her full post for some great examples.
Your Turn: Did any of these cover letter mistakes surprise you?
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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If Someone Steals a Base During the World Series, We All Get Free Tacos
So your favorite baseball team didn’t make it to the postseason? It’s OK — neither did mine.
But even if you’re not invested in this year’s World Series matchup, there’s a good reason to pay attention: potential free food.
When someone steals a base during the World Series, Taco Bell will reward fans with a free Doritos Locos Taco.
How to Get Free Taco Bell, Courtesy of the MLB
If a player steals a base in the first two games of the World Series, which starts on Tuesday, Oct. 25, head to Taco Bell on Wednesday, Nov. 2 for your reward.
If a stolen base happens in game three through seven, you can pick up your free taco on Thursday, Nov. 10. The tricky part: You need to visit your local Taco Bell between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Don’t want to stay up late watching baseball? You can always check Taco Bell’s Steal a Base, Steal a Taco website for confirmation of your free taco payday.
The Doritos Locos Taco usually costs $1.49. One taco per fan, regardless of how many bases get stolen.
There’s no guarantee you’ll get to redeem this crunchy reward. Last year, Kansas City Royals player Lorenzo Cain stole a base and earned the gratitude of millions of Penny Hoarders. But prior to that, the last “taco hero” was the San Francisco Giants’ Angel Pagan in the 2012 World Series.
What are your odds for this World Series? I’m not a betting woman, but here are some stats. The American League contender, the Cleveland Indians, have stolen a collective three bases in the postseason alone.
While the National League Championship Series is still playing out, both teams look like solid options.
The Chicago Cubs have stolen three bases in postseason play, with two from powerhouse third-baseman Javier Baez. The Los Angeles Dodgers have stolen a whopping nine bases in the postseason alone, with three from right-fielder Joshua Reddick.
Tensions can run high during World Series play, but one thing’s for sure: These teams will do anything for the title. I’d expect at least a few stolen base attempts.
So it might be worth keeping your eye on this World Series, if for nothing else but the taco potential.
Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder. She is actually sort of a betting woman.
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First 50 Funds update: M&G Property fund re-opens for business
The M&G Property Portfolio, which is one of Moneywise’s First 50 Funds for beginners has become the latest commercial property fund to reopen its doors. Trading will resume at noon on Friday 4 November.
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Making Today a Part of Your Meaningful Life
“Modern man is conditioned to expect instant gratification, but any success or triumph realized quickly, with only marginal effort, is necessarily shallow. Meaningful achievement takes time, hard work, persistence, patience, proper intent and self-awareness. The path to success is punctuated by failure, consolidation, and renewed effort.” – Mark Twight
As my children grow older, I’ve been having more and more conversations with them about life. What does it mean to be an adult? What does it mean to be a good person? What kind of life do you want to have?
Often, those conversations end up running around in my head for days and weeks afterward. Sometimes, they end up forming articles for The Simple Dollar, because they end up making me think about my own personal choices about how I spend my money and my time.
About a week ago, I told my children that the best life you can live is one where you work hard to achieve something or make real progress on something that’s important to you and to the world and, along the way, do some things that are truly meaningful to you personally. Naturally, my oldest wanted to know my own answer to that question. What do I work on that helps me make progress or achieve something that’s important to me?
I actually had an answer to that. For me, the thing I’ve achieved is putting out a ton of useful advice written in an earnest and friendly way for people struggling with different phases of their financial life, from people struggling even to get food on the table, from people trying to figure out their debts to people unhappy with their careers to people wanting to retire early. That’s something that’s meaningful to me in a very deep way. The messages I’ve received from readers over the years have made my work feel truly meaningful.
What else in my life is truly meaningful? My family. I chose my career path so that I could spend more time with my children as they grew up. My community. I also have a ton of internal things that bring meaning into my life – learning new things, understanding the world better, and exploring the world (particularly nature) are all deeply meaningful to me.
So I talked to them about those things. Helping people make their lives better through their own actions is incredibly meaningful and also beneficial to the world. Spending time with my family and community is incredibly meaningful to me personally. I get a ton of personal value out of learning new things, out of exploring the world around me, and out of intellectual challenges.
At the end of my life, if I can look back on it and say that I did my best to help other people with my words, that I did my best to be a good father and husband, that I did my best to raise the quality of my community, that I did my best to explore and understand the world and to share the fruits of that exploration, and that I spent my extra time on intellectually challenging and meaningful things, I’ll be happy with my life.
The things I spend my money or time on that fall in line with those goals are things that I won’t regret. The things I spend my time or money on that don’t fall in line with those goals? I’m going to regret them.
In an effort to try to relate all of this to my children, I talked about my day a little bit. I told them of the things I did that day that were in alignment with those things. I wrote a really good article. I exchanged some Facebook messages with readers who were struggling with their financial life. I spent a few hours at the park with my children, getting some exercise and exploring a little bit. I read a couple chapters of a really challenging book that forced me to think about the world. Those were all right in alignment with my goals.
But what wasn’t in line with those goals? I played some mindless computer games that were what I call “empty fun” – enjoyable in the moment but forgotten shortly thereafter. I spent more money on food than was necessary. I spent some time reading a bunch of websites that were, in the end, forgettable and pointless as well. None of that helps me with anything that actually matters to me in my life.
Since then, I’ve asked my children these four questions each night before bed – and I’ve challenged myself to answer the same things.
What do you want to do or achieve in your lifetime? Yes, this question gets repetitive, and it’s easy to settle into a repeated answer given without thought. The purpose isn’t the answer, though. The purpose is to think about it every single day so that you can sometimes have deeper insights and so you’re aware of your own changing values.
My children give interesting answers here. At first, they didn’t really know what to say and their thoughts were all over the place, but I’m finding that by asking this over and over again, they’re beginning to chip out some real truths about what they value. I see the same thing in me, though to a lesser extent because I’ve thought about these issues.
What have you done today toward those things? Actions. Today. Those are the key elements here. It’s not things you thought about doing. It’s not things you might do tomorrow. It’s today. What did you do today toward making your life achievements happen?
For me, some things are routine. Writing is part of my daily routine, for example. Where I’m challenged is both in making sure I’m moving forward in other areas and also in areas that provide a foundation for all of that stuff, like personal health and personal finance.
What did you do today that didn’t guide you toward those things? This question makes me face my spending mistakes and my time use mistakes. I usually know what they are, and reflecting on them again outside of the moment helps me weed them out. My goal is to minimize the stuff in life that doesn’t add up to anything meaningful and the best way to do that is reflect on it daily.
What can you do going forward to maximize the valuable things and minimize the useless things? In other words, what needs to be done tomorrow to make it more successful than today in terms of those lifelong things?
These four questions have provided the foundation of almost-daily family conversations ever since. While I don’t typically talk about every cent that Sarah and I spend, I do reflect on them, and I’m extremely open about my time use.
If I can’t look at myself honestly, who can? Who will? The truth is that no one will. Although these conversations are useful, it’s my careful consideration of my own life that will make my life better.
I want to teach my children to be able to look at themselves and their choices honestly, too. It’s something that’s useful for any person to have in their life, as it helps you to shape a life that’s meaningful and rich rather than an empty treadmill.
What if those steps toward the things that have meaning seem dull and unenjoyable? Anything worth achieving in life isn’t easy, and often those individual steps are hard. They don’t provide easy pleasure, but what they do provide is meaningful pleasure. Exercising until you’re completely worn out might not feel fun, but there’s going to be this deeper sense there that you’ve actually done something real, and then that hard work pays off the next time you do something that requires physical exertion (like playing soccer with your kids or simply taking on the tasks of everyday life).
If you can’t find that deeper meaning in the challenging steps in life, perhaps you haven’t yet figured out what it is that you want to achieve in life. Without that central guiding sense of where you want to go, it can become even harder to really challenge yourself, because it’s from that central sense of where you want to go that the deep feeling of joy in doing something challenging today comes from.
Every time you spend an hour or you spend a dollar, you have an abundance of choices. Will you spend it on something that’s transient – something that’s perhaps immediately fun but is forgotten in the next hour? Or will you use it on something that’s meaningful, something that lasts? We’re faced with that choice again and again. I’ve found that spending it on something meaningful is virtually always the right choice, because it lifts up everything else in life. It guides my money use, my time use, and my energy use. I’m far from perfect at it, but the better I do, the better life seems.
If you’re finding this to be a challenge in your own life, ask yourself those four bolded questions from above.
What do you want to do or achieve in your lifetime?
What have you done today toward those things?
What did you do today that didn’t guide you toward those things?
What can you do going forward to maximize the valuable things and minimize the useless things?
Ask yourself those things again and again, about every dollar you spend, about every hour you spend, about every ounce of energy you spend. Use those questions as motivation to get up and do something meaningful.
You will never, ever, ever regret it.
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401k Contribution Limits for 2016
If you work for a traditional employer, there’s a good chance you’re saving for retirement in a 401k (or some variant, such as a 403b for employees of nonprofit organizations). While this type of account isn’t as meaty as the defined pensions offered to previous generations, you can still leverage your 401k’s benefits to invest for a comfortable retirement.
The good news is, 401k contribution limits are quite high — more than triple the contribution limits for IRAs — allowing you to sock away a significant amount of money for retirement every year. The rules change often, however, so it’s important to stay up to date with changes if you want to max out your contributions each year.
Since your 401k contributions are tax advantaged, you may also save on your tax bill by contributing as much as you can. As an added bonus, many companies offer an employer match – meaning they’ll match any contributions you make, up to a certain percentage of your salary. While you need to save some of your own money to receive the match, it’s one of the closest things to free money you’ll ever find.
Below we’ll look at the 401k contribution limits for 2016, plus the benefits and drawbacks that come with these common retirement plans.
401k Contribution Limits for 2016
Before we dig in any deeper, let’s look at the contribution limits for this year — the maximum amount you can dump into your 401k for tax year 2016. These limits do not include any funds you receive as an employer match, however.
| Age Bracket | Maximum Contribution for 401(k) |
|---|---|
| Under 50 | $18,000 in 2016 |
| Ages 50 and over | $24,000, including base maximum and $6,000 as an annual "catch up contribution" |
How Much Should You Contribute?
Now that you know the maximum allowable contribution limits for your 401k, you need to figure out the right amount for your own financial situation. Obviously, contributing more to your 401k plan or even maxing it out can help you grow your nest egg faster and retire sooner. On the other hand, you still need to have enough cash in your take-home paycheck to live and cover your monthly expenses.
A lot of workers base their 401k contribution on a percentage of their income. Most financial advisors suggest contributing at least 10% of your income to your tax-advantaged retirement plan, although it’s smart to boost that percentage incrementally if you can afford it.
At the very minimum, you want to make sure you’re contributing enough money to get your full employer match. If your company matches contributions up to 5% of your salary, for example, you should consider a 5% contribution to be your bare minimum. Remember, your employer match is essentially free money. With the help of those matching funds, your nest egg can grow and compound much faster than it would otherwise.
Your 401k: Downsides and Drawbacks
While saving for retirement in a tax-advantaged 401k plan is certainly better than nothing, there are some notable downsides to consider. These drawbacks can vary from plan to plan, which is why it’s crucial to explore each of these issues before you start contributing more to your company’s plan.
First off, some 401k plans often come with limited investment options. We intentionally say “some” investment plans work this way, because each plan is different, and yours might be great. Where some plans offer an array of investments to choose from, others only offer a small sampling of high-priced mutual funds. And if you don’t like those options, you’re mostly out of luck – unless it’s a very small company and you can convince the top brass to change the investment options. Remember, investing in an employer-sponsored 401k plan means you’re stuck with the options your employer chooses.
Second, some 401k plans are expensive to use and operate. These expenses are passed down to you, the consumer, in the form of expense ratios and administrative fees. Unfortunately, these higher fees can methodically chip away at your earnings over time, leaving you with a smaller 401k balance in the end.
If you find your 401k offers limited or expensive investment options, it might be smart to consider contributing enough to your 401k to get your employer match, but stashing the rest of your retirement funds elsewhere.
- Related: What to Do if Your 401(k) Stinks
Other Retirement Accounts that Make Sense
If you’re not in love with your work-sponsored 401k due to minimal options or high fees, it can make sense to invest at least part of your retirement savings elsewhere. Two different types of accounts – the Roth IRA and the traditional IRA – make it easy to save for retirement with any combination of investments you choose.
With a traditional IRA, your contributions are tax-advantaged in the same way as your 401k contributions are. You can take the tax deduction in the same year your contribution is made, up to certain limits. The best part is, you get to choose a brokerage account and the type of funds to invest in when you open your own traditional IRA. This includes the option to stash your money into low-cost index funds and call it a day.
With a Roth IRA, you also get to choose a brokerage account and your own investments. The big difference is, the tax break comes in retirement, not this year. When you invest in a Roth IRA, you use after-tax money to fund your account. On the upside, you won’t have to pay taxes on your distributions once you reach retirement age. As an added bonus, you can withdraw your contributions (not your earnings) from a Roth IRA at any time without paying a penalty or taxes.
The Best Way to Save for Retirement
No matter how you fund your retirement, the best time to start saving is now. For every year you fail to save, you could miss out on significant gains and compounding that might make retiring easier.
Even if you need to start with small contributions at first, you can always boost your contributions as you mature in your career and your income grows. The most important lesson to remember is that you have to start early if you want to give your money time to grow.
At the end of the day, the best way to save for retirement is slowly and over a lifetime. A 401(k) won’t help you get rich overnight, but it can help you grow wealthy if you have enough time on your side.
Related Articles:
- Roth IRA or 401k? You May Not Have to Choose
- How to Roll Over a 401k
- What to Do With Your 401k When You Change Jobs
- How to Choose Investments in Your 401k
- The $15 Retirement Plan
How much did you contribute to your 401(k) last year? How do you plan to boost your earnings next year?
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Insomnia Cookies Gets its 100th Store and You Get a Free Cookie
It’s National Cookie Month and National Dessert Month. What, you haven’t celebrated this revered holiday duo yet?
Now’s your chance.
Insomnia Cookies, known for fueling college students with warm cookies until the wee hours of the morning, is celebrating the opening of its 100th store this month.
Of course, that celebration involves cookies.
Buy Anything at Insomnia, Get a Cookie Free
On Monday, Oct. 24, visit Insomnia Cookies to receive one free traditional cookie with any purchase. The offer runs from opening at 9 a.m. on Monday until 3 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 25.
If you’re ordering online for delivery, don’t forget to choose your free cookie at checkout! Delivery minimums still apply.
Insomnia Cookies has stores in 29 states, and traditional cookies typically cost $1.65.
Sure, you could pick up a whole pack of cookies at a convenience store for the same price. But would they be fresh out of the oven? No. They wouldn’t.
Your Turn: Will you visit Insomnia Cookies on Monday for a free cookie?
Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder. She can never eat just one cookie.
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Five Jobs Where You Can Dress Like a Slob
A long time ago when the earth was green and internet startups were the newest thing, I had a boss who preferred a casual dress code. Perhaps “preferred” is putting it too mildly: I once heard him threaten to cut a reporter’s tie in half if he didn’t remove it immediately. He was holding scissors at the time, so we all took him very seriously. That was the last time I saw a coworker wear a tie at that office.
In fact, it’s only a small exaggeration to say it’s the last time I saw a writer wear a tie, in general. Thanks in part to the tech industry and its focus on creativity over conformity, it’s now pretty rare to see so-called knowledge workers wearing a suit … or clothing that’s seen an iron. In other words, outside of a few industries like finance and law, today’s white-collar workers are often more likely to be collarless, wearing a t-shirt, and wiping their Cheeto-dusted hands on their cargo shorts. You’re lucky if we’re wearing shoes.
That’s not just a liberating development to workers who dread dressing up – it can be a big money saver. The average American household spent $1,846 on apparel in 2015, and those in the prime of their career, aged 35 to 54, spent about $2,600 on clothes plus another $500 on footwear — more than $250 a month. It’s not hard to imagine that figure dropping dramatically if you could just wear jeans and t-shirts every day.
Of course, not every job allows this kind of latitude when it comes to attire. If you’re really committed to getting some use out of your collection of band t-shirts, you need to target the right occupations. At these jobs, it’s A-OK to dress like a slob almost all the time:
1. Writer
Whether your official job title is reporter, blogger, copywriter, or contributing editor, if you work with words – especially in an online environment – you probably don’t need to worry about keeping that suit pressed. Generally speaking, creative jobs are more likely to allow you to wear super-casual office attire. When your thoughts matter, your appearance often doesn’t.
2. Software Engineer
Highly technical jobs are also likely to be perfect for folks who proudly fly their slob flag. Software engineers, analysts, and developers are famously lax about their personal dress code. They can afford to be: companies who rely on the smarts and skills of these workers can’t afford to be picky about what they’re wearing. They’re lucky they can afford them at all – unlike most of the other jobs on this list, these super-techies command salaries that easily reach six figures.
3. Graphic Designer
At the intersection of technology and art, we find these creative workers. While their attention to aesthetics can make them more appearance conscious than, say, your average software engineer, they’re still unlikely to turn up at the company picnic wearing a tie – and, more importantly, not expected to.
4. Tech Support Specialist
Quick: Who’s the one person in the office everyone has to suck up to, no matter how imperious they are with everyone else? If you said tech support specialist, you’ve probably recently seen your sharply dressed CEO groveling in front of an IT person wearing Tevas with socks. When you’re the person who knows how to get things working again (as well as everyone’s browser history and chat transcripts), you can command respect, even when dressed for gym class.
5. Telecommuter
Perhaps the ultimate job type for people who don’t want to dress up for work, telecommuter has the added advantage of being an entire category of gigs as opposed to one specific job. You can work from home full-time in nearly any field that requires workers to spend the bulk of their hours on the computer or on the phone.
In fact, FlexJobs, a job search site for telecommuters and part-time workers, says that work-from-home jobs are now available for workers at every point in their career, from entry-level to executive. The industries with the highest concentration of telecommuting gigs in 2016 were medical and health, HR and recruiting, computer and IT, and education and training, according to the service.
In other words, it’s not all customer service and virtual assistant jobs. So, if you like what you’re doing at work, but would prefer to do it in pajama pants, now’s the time to see if you can trade up. You could score a full-time work-from-home job – or at least convince the boss to let you try a day or two a week from your home office.
Related Articles:
- The Deceptively Tiny Wardrobe
- The Ins and Outs of Self-Employment and Working From Home
- Why Avoiding Fashion Trends Might Be the Hottest Look of 2016
- The Ultimate Freelancer’s Guide to Getting Jobs, Getting Paid, and Getting Ahead
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Annuity rates bounce back
There’s finally some good news for retirees looking to use some, or all, of their pension to buy a guaranteed income.
In the last four weeks annuity rates have increased seven times, pushing up the income retirees are able to get by 3.4%.
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Deal of the week: Mastercard and Android customers get free coffee and tube travel on Monday
On Monday (24 October), Mastercard customers with an Android phone that has Android Pay loaded onto it will be able to get a free coffee in a Café Nero throughout Great Britain, and if you’re in London you’ll also get your travel for free too.
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Nearly half of Moneywise users want their children to inherit their estate
Nearly half (47%) of Moneywise.co.uk users would pass the majority of their estate on to their children when they die, according to our latest poll results.
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