Impact of Rising Rates Spreads Through Mortgage Industry
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الثلاثاء، 20 ديسمبر 2016
5 Ways To Protect Yourself From Familiar Fraud
5 Ways To Protect Yourself From Familiar Fraud
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Now Hiring: 5 Companies Looking for Work-From-Home Reps (Benefits are A+)
Wouldn’t it be nice to check off a New Year’s resolution before January 1?
You’d eliminate a huge cloud of pressure and receive the satisfaction of checking off a task from your list — my favorite. Plus, you can deliver the good news to your prying aunts and uncles at the dinner table.
And major bonus? You won’t have to return to the office in 2017. Rather, you’ll be working from the coziness of your home.
5 Work-From-Home Customer Service Jobs Open Right Now
Make a list and check it twice. You’re going to want to apply to these work-from-home jobs before the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve.
1. Bold Leads is Hiring a Customer Success Champion
BoldLeads creates software that connects real estate agents with homeowners who are looking to sell. It needs a customer success champion who will work with clients via phone calls to help them use the software efficiently and effectively.
You’ll also be the bearer of good news by gathering success stories and best practices. You’ll hopefully increase client renewal rates.
To succeed? You’ve got to be outgoing and full of energy; you need some written and verbal communication skills; and you should have at least a year of customer success/support experience. You also need some understanding of real estate.
The pay is $18 an hour, and the job listing says you’ll get some benefits.
For more information, visit We Work Remotely. You can apply for the job at applicants@boldleads.com — but read the directions first.
2. Dyson is Hiring a Customer Experience Specialist
Yup, it’s Dyson — like the vacuum.
The big brand needs an online advisor to assist in the customer service realm. Your main jobs include providing online customer service via email and live chat, monitoring social media for actionable content and questions and filling in other areas as needed.
You need a high school diploma and a minimum of two years in customer service. Plus, a year or more of experience in online customer service would be nice. You should also be social media savvy.
Pay has been deemed “confidential” on its site, so read about all the qualifications then apply. And inquire about pay. Maybe even negotiate.
3. InVision is Hiring a Customer Success Manager
We wrote about this company in another work-from-home round-up when it was seeking an agent. Now, it needs a customer success manager.
InVision describes itself as a design collaboration platform (that doesn’t require a single line of code — score!). More than 2 million designers, product managers and marketers use its product, including big names like Twitter, Uber and Evernote.
It was also voted one of Glassdoor’s best places to work in 2017.
As its customer success manager, you’re in charge of helping people utilize the InVision platform by showcasing best practices and engaging with the design community.
You need design experience. You should know your way around Photoshop and Sketch, for example. You should also be experienced with InVision and other prototyping tools.
The salary is competitive and the benefits are nice: stock options, premium health coverage, a Macbook Pro, membership at a health club of your choice, unlimited books from Amazon, unlimited Starbucks card (?!) and half-day Fridays.
Read all the information on InVision’s Workable page. Qualified? Apply, and start sippin’ that sweet Starbucks sooner than later.
4. Part My Ride is Hiring an Operations Generalist/Customer Champion
Are you a gearhead? Even if you’re not, this seems like a pretty sleek work-from-home gig.
Part My Ride is a startup automotive company that sells used auto parts online. Right now, it needs a “high-level, strategic thinker and problem solver” to jump in as a customer champion.
Your job will include handling phone calls, chats and emails; processing orders; following up with customers; and anything else that might pop up.
You’d work full time, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central or Mountain Time. I reached out about pay, so I’ll update this if I hear back.
Interested? Find more information at Remote OK, and email your resume along to jobs@partmyride.com.
5. Tapingo is Hiring a Support Associate
Tapingo delivers food on college campuses in the U.S. and Canada, but now it’s looking to expand and is on a mass hiring spree.
As a work-from-home support associate, you’ll resolve customer issues, operate the company’s management system and generate recurring reports — to name a few responsibilities. You ought to be a self-starter who can handle customer complaints gracefully.
Oh, and you’ll work alongside some insanely awesome people like an astrophysicist, a world-champion swimmer and an ex-Google mate. No pressure, though.
The salary is deemed “competitive,” and the benefits seem incredible: stock; Apple or PC equipment; paid time off; medical, dental and vision insurance; and life insurance and disability benefits.
Take a look at all the fun stuff on its website and apply there!
Your Turn: What are your New Year’s resolutions?
Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. After recently completing graduate school, she focuses on saving money — and surviving the move back in with her parents.
The post Now Hiring: 5 Companies Looking for Work-From-Home Reps (Benefits are A+) appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Here’s Why You Should Camp Out in Front of Your Computer This Thursday
Whether you’re a gamer yourself or just have a few left on your holiday shopping list, listen up!
The Steam winter sale is this Thursday, Dec. 22 — and if its other sales are any indication, the deals will be pretty darn good.
Why the Steam Winter Sale is Big News for Gamers
Steam is a desktop gaming platform and community with a huge selection of purchasable games to stream or download. It runs three big annual sales: summer, autumn and winter.
Of these, the winter sale is largely considered the best; Game Rant called last year’s event the “biggest PC game sale of the year.”
And while Steam has yet to release any information about specific games or their sale prices, it’s not afraid to discount new, popular titles.
For instance, this year’s autumn sale included “Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare,” which Activision just released Nov. 4. Some titles were marked as much as 90% off.
With the recent release of the much-anticipated “Final Fantasy XV,” I know I’ll be logging on to Steam first thing Dec. 22 to see what’s available. The platform hosts tons of smaller, indie gamemakers’ creations, too — which are already pretty cheap, even at full price.
And if all of this is Greek to you, don’t be afraid to ask the gamer on your list if there’s a game they’ve been eying. Though it might lack the surprise of unstuffing a stocking, a longed-for game is an awesome interactive gift.
Bonus for procrastinating Christmas shoppers: All you have to wait for is the download time, so no need to worry about rush shipping or your present arriving too late for the holiday.
That’s what we call a win!
Your Turn: What games do you think will be part of Steam’s 2016 Winter Sale?
Jamie Cattanach is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Her writing has also been featured at The Write Life, Word Riot, Nashville Review and elsewhere. Find @JamieCattanach on Twitter to wave hello.
The post Here’s Why You Should Camp Out in Front of Your Computer This Thursday appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Not Just for Online Shopping: Here’s How to Earn Cash Back in Stores, Too
When it comes to earning cash back, Ebates has been my go-to site for online purchases for pretty much as long as I’ve been making online purchases.
It’s been around for forever (OK, since 1998, but sometimes that feels like forever), and I’ve found it consistently has the best selection of retailers and highest payback percentages for my purchases.
It also regularly offers promotions like extra cash back at certain retailers for a limited time and this year’s Black Friday double cash back offer. As a result, checking Ebates before I make a purchase on any website has become a no-brainer for me.
What I didn’t know until recently is that you can use Ebates when you shop at physical retail locations, too. In fact, you’ve been able to since July 2016.
Color me both delighted and annoyed that I haven’t been taking advantage of the offer all this time…
How to Earn Cash Back in Stores
As of July 13, 2016, Ebates offers an In-Store Cash Back Program in addition to its traditional online cash back benefits. And earning this in-store cash only a takes a couple more steps than getting it online.
First, sign into your Ebates account. (If you don’t have an account, sign up here — you’ll get a $10 welcome bonus.)
Then, add your credit and/or debit card information to your Ebates account by visiting this page and clicking on the “Add a New Card” button in the top left-hand corner.
Check out all available in-store offers here, and when you find one you like, click the “Link Offer” button to attach that offer to whichever card you plan to use for your in-store purchase.
The best thing about this program is that you can use it on the fly. If you have the Ebates app on your smartphone, you don’t need to worry about activating any offers before you head out for your next shopping trip; you can simply link them to your card while you’re at the store.
So if you’re browsing the mall and happen to find yourself eyeing something in a store on Ebates’ list, you can activate the in-store offer right then and there.
That’s how Jamie Ernst of Buffalo, NY maximized her savings on a recent trip to American Eagle. “When I was in the fitting room and realized I was going to buy something,” she said, “I put in my debit card info quick so it would be ready when I checked out.”
Ebates’ 2.0% cash back at American Eagle netted her $1.57 on a $78.48 purchase, which she admits isn’t a fortune, but as any Penny Hoarder knows, “it was better than nothing!”
If you’re a frequent shopper of a retailer that participates in the Ebates In-Store Cash Back program, or if you have a big haul coming up (think: holiday presents or back-to-school shopping for a large family), your savings could add up quickly — especially when combined with the savings you’re already accumulating using Ebates for online shopping.
Ebates In-Store Cash Back Participating Retailers
As of the time of writing, there are 32 In-Store Cash Back offers for popular retailers, outlet stores and restaurants such as:
- GNC (10.0% cash back)
- Petco (8.0% cash back)
- Buy Buy Baby (8.0% cash back)
- Old Navy (4.0% cash back)
- Dick’s Sporting Goods (3.0% cash back)
- Salt Grass Steakhouse (10.0% cash back, increased from an original 5.0%)
You can view all current offers here. Be sure to click the “See Details” arrow under each retailer for any fine print such as maximum uses per person, expiration dates and any other limitations.
One item you’ll find for all in-store offers: If you use a debit card, you must have the cashier process it as a credit card.
In other words, when they (or the swipe screen options) ask you if the transaction is debit or credit, always choose credit. That means you must sign for your purchase, rather than entering your debit card’s four-digit PIN, for it to qualify for Ebates cash back.
Take the Savings One Step Further…
There’s no limit to the number of cards you can link to your Ebates account, so get the most bang for your buys by linking your rewards credit cards or store cards to get extra savings on your purchases.
You can use Ebates In-Store Cash Back in combination with store promotions and sales, and many offers allow a generous number of uses per person.
For instance, Petco’s 8.0% cash back, which is good through December 25, 2016, has a limit of 10 uses per customer. As long as you re-link your card to the offer before each new purchase, you can use this offer 10 times before the expiration date — that’s a lot of pet food, treats and other supplies you can stock up on for the New Year!
Your Turn: Have you used Ebates In-Store Cash Back Program yet? What do you think of it?
Disclosure: Here’s a toast to the affiliate links in this post. May we all be just a little richer today.
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 Not Just for Online Shopping: Here’s How to Earn Cash Back in Stores, Too appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Hey Disney Fans! Your Family Could Be in a Commercial (Pay is $1K/Day!)
Calling all couples and families with a downright goofy love of Disney!
Disney is holding online auditions for a commercial and photo shoot in Miami in January.
It’s looking for couples and families of all shapes and sizes; all ethnicities and ages, same sex or opposite sex, and biracial families are encouraged. Kids must be 5 years old or older.
You can even bring the grandparents, aunts and uncles along.
Pay is $1,000 per person per day!
You should be available Jan. 8 through 12. A fitting will happen on Jan. 8 or 9, with shooting scheduled for Jan. 10 and 11 (for a total of three days’ work).
You’ll be reimbursed for some travel within Florida, so this gig is the best deal for anyone who lives in the state or plans to travel anyway. But even if you have to fly in, the pay should be enough to cover any last-minute travel expenses.
At about $3,000 per person, you can probably afford a quick layover in Orlando for a surprise Disney vacation for the family.
This has to be the most fun way we’ve seen yet to recoup those holiday costs!
How to Audition
Your love of Disney is the top requirement for this gig, so don’t be afraid if you don’t have acting or modeling experience.
To throw your hat in the ring, you’ll send photos and contact information of everyone auditioning and a quick, self-made video explaining what you all love about Disney to the email listed here.
And if you’re worried you won’t be good enough, just remember that inspiring Disney quote: “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
Your Turn: Do you love Disney enough to get paid for it?
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).
The post Hey Disney Fans! Your Family Could Be in a Commercial (Pay is $1K/Day!) appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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BT phone and broadband complaints rocket
Complaints about BT broadband, home phone and Pay TV have rocketed in the three-month period from July to September, according to the latest complaints data from the regulator.
Gripes about the provider’s sub-brands Plusnet and EE have also risen.
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Building a Lifetime of Positive Financial Influences
The United States has a paycheck-to-paycheck financial culture. The truth is that 76% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, with virtually no emergency savings to their names, and roughly half of all Americans will die with virtually no assets, not even a house.
This is considered the norm in America, and that norm pervades a lot of the elements of day to day life. People spend until they can’t find any more money to spend and they follow people in the media who spend even more than they do. Most people have a social circle full of those who spend in the same way. It’s an endless cavalcade of spending on whatever the flavor of the moment is – restaurant expenses, drinks, gadgets, shiny cars, nice clothes, a huge house, and on and on and on.
When someone decides that this routine isn’t for them – a decision I made several years back – it can be hard to pull yourself away from this routine for cultural and social reasons. Most of your friends likely have no interest in changing their spending habits. The vast majority of news and culture focuses on continually spending more and more money, too.
The truth is that the road to financial independence can look like a very lonely one. Many of the things that are obviously things that you can give up when you look to cut your expenses are social expenses – going out to eat, going out for drinks, and so on. This can cut into your social life, and it’s a tradeoff that many people struggle with. Even worse, there are often few positive role models out there for people making good choices with their money. Watch the news and you’ll see an intense focus on people with exorbitant wealth and the incredibly flashy ways in which they use that wealth, with almost no attention to the ordinary person making ends meet with smart moves.
Our thoughts are greatly shaped by the people around us. As Jim Rohn famously said, we are the average of the five people closest to us. We are also greatly shaped by the media sources we absorb, from the content itself to the perspective behind it and the advertising shipped with it. If we can shape those influences to push us toward having thoughts that are as conducive as possible toward financial independence and personal growth, it’s going to do nothing but help us on our road to financial success.
There are three main strategies I’ve found in fighting that sense of social isolation and building a positive network of people and information around you on the road to financial independence. The first is meeting people with positive financial mindsets through community involvement. The second is to change how I socialize so that I’m more likely to find people with whom I share financial perspectives. The third is to intentionally look for media that shows me thoughtful perspectives. Let’s look at each strategy in turn and see how they all fit together.
Meeting Positive Financial People
The first prong of this strategy is to simply meet people with positive financial habits and viewpoints and put yourself in position to build positive relationships with them.
The biggest question people often have is how do you find other people that have positive financial views? What do frugal people do with their time that’s social? In general, they’re not going to bars and they’re not going to clubs – those places are expensive. Where do people who are planning for financial independence go to socialize?
I’ve found a few answers to that very question over the years. Here’s how you find those people. Note, of course, that you’ll also find some people who aren’t geared toward good financial choices at these things; you’ll just find a pretty high proportion of people with a good financial mindset at these events.
Volunteer Whenever I volunteer for anything, particularly things that are not directly connected to sporting events, I often find a lot of people who are at the very least frugal in their lifestyle choices and I find a surprisingly large number of people gearing up for financial independence.
If you don’t know where to start, look for the food pantry or clothing pantry in your area, or check out your local Habitat for Humanity group. You can often find pointers to these groups on your community website.
Library programs Many local libraries sponsor a number of programs that are free and of interest to the community. There are probably a dozen book clubs sponsored by libraries within fifteen miles of my house, along with lecture series and discussion forums and other events. Plus, there are always library volunteer programs.
Visit your library’s website and see what kinds of programs they have and join one of two that seem interesting. Almost all library sponsored book clubs are very welcoming, and you can probably find a club that matches your interests. If not, look for any other meetings hosted by the library and see if any of them click with you. Many libraries have investment clubs of some kind as well – those are almost always loaded with people with financial independence goals paired with a reasonably frugal lifestyle.
Civic organizations, such as Toastmasters People who participate in civic organizations tend to be doing it for two reasons: personal growth (mixed with giving back to the community) or career networking. It’s pretty easy to figure out who’s who in those groups, and the people who are in the personal growth/giving back to the community side of the coin often tend to be oriented toward financial independence.
Toastmasters is a great example of that dichotomy. Some people are there to simply become more well-rounded people; others are there to use it for a career boost. You’ll usually find more financial independence mindsets in the group focused more on personal growth. (That’s not to say that people interested mostly in personal growth aren’t career oriented; it’s just that they realize if they become better and more rounded people, better outcomes will naturally come their way.) You’ll likely also find personal growth and financial independence minded people at other civic groups such as the Lion’s Club.
Churches and other religious organizations are also often a haven for frugal and financially sensible people. There are some, of course, who preach things like the prosperity gospel that are far out of alignment with frugal and financially independent values. A good way to start is to talk to the religious leader of that organization and find out what they believe and what values they espouse.
Meetup.com This is absolutely the best tool around for finding hobby-specific interest groups in your area. All kinds of groups in your community, many of which you’d never hear about otherwise, are listed on Meetup. Whatever hobby you might have, you can probably find something on Meetup if you live in a metro area.
While Meetup is a great way to find groups devoted to your interest, it’s not necessarily a direct ticket to people making good financial choices. Groups like these tend to attract people with their financial life in balance, but it’s far from a universal thing. It’s just that Meetup groups tend to have their focus on doing things rather than acquiring things and on personal growth and community spirit rather than attaining pure pleasure, and those types of environments tend to attract people who are committed to building a better long-term life.
Improving Socializing
You’ve now found some sources for meeting financially responsible people with a personal growth mindset in your daily life… so what’s next? For many people, particularly introverted people, knowing how to move from simply being in a room of people with similar interests and values to building strong social relationships with them can be a challenge. (I know… I’m definitely an introvert.)
I’ll start off by suggesting two books that have helped me enormously with moving from feeling really uncomfortable in group situations where I didn’t know many people to being able to enter a room and build at least a few good relationships.
First, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (check the link for my detailed summary of the book) is useful in terms of the mechanics of how exactly to, well, win friends. I honestly believe this book was written for introverts like myself who find it difficult to strike up conversations with unknown people and the book breaks it down mechanically, something that’s really, really useful for introverts and can seem a bit… mechanical for extroverts. If you feel nervous starting a conversation with someone you don’t know but you really want to unlock how to do it so that you can build some new friendships, this is the best book I’ve ever found on that subject.
Second, Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz (again, check the link for my detailed summary of the book) is useful for discussing how to maintain friendships and connections once you’ve built them. Again, it feels like a guide written for introverts, because it really spoke to me in terms of maintaining social relationships but for others it can seem a bit mechanical. I feel like it pairs very well with the Carnegie book above.
Here are a few of the key strategies I’ve found that really work well for building relationships with unknown people and following up on them.
Be positive I try very hard to be at least 90% positive with the comments I make in mixed company. If I can’t find something positive to say, I usually don’t say it. I especially avoid being critical of people who aren’t present, though I may lightly self-deprecate and occasionally make a joke with someone who is present.
Negativity almost always pushes people away, especially when it’s a repeated habit. The guy or gal who criticizes everything might get a few listeners at first, but those are rarely going to build into real connections (it can happen, but it’s rare).
You don’t need to be “fake positive,” either. Just look for genuinely positive things to say.
Ask questions and listen to answers If you’re struggling with something to do to extend a conversation with someone you find potentially interesting, ask a question. Ask them a question about themselves that isn’t deeply intrusive, and take advantage of the fact that you’re both at this event to find a useful question to ask.
For instance, if you show up at a meeting of a book club and you’re mingling afterwards, don’t be afraid to go up to someone who made a good point and tell them so, and then ask them what other books in the genre they’ve liked. Following positivity with a question almost always puts the other person in a positive mindset, and if you’re both positive, then you’ve done a lot to open the door to a potential friendship. (Remember, not everything will blossom into friendship, so don’t feel bad if it doesn’t.)
Avoid sticky subjects One of the worst ways to throw a potential friendship away is to delve into a sticky subject and find that you have differing viewpoints on it. Just avoid subjects of potential controversy where you may have different opinions unless you’re at an event where it’s almost required for you to have similar viewpoints.
The thing to remember with sticky subjects is that they’re often greatly informed by the circumstances within which that person grew up. People from different backgrounds are simply going to value different things differently than others, and that’s okay. The problem comes when you haven’t established a strong relationship with someone and you find out that you disagree on a single key value, which will probably put that relationship in a rough place when it doesn’t need to be there. Give it time and build to real conversations on sticky issues when you know each other well and understand each other’s values.
I can talk frankly with my closest friends about my political and religious viewpoints, even if they disagree with me, because even if we do disagree on some things, we know each other well enough over a long period of time that we understand that we do share more values than we disagree on. We may not have found that if we dug right into sticky areas upon our first or second meeting.
Pave the way for meaningful follow-up If you find that you’ve had a great conversation with someone, find an avenue to follow up. Suggest becoming friends or followers of each other on social media and, if you have a smartphone, do it immediately.
Another strategy I follow is to make a note of a reason or two to follow up with that person. I’ll use Evernote to write down a thing or two that we were talking about that I can follow up on and then, in the next day or two, I’ll use that as a starting point for a subsequent conversation on social media or via text or whatever method of communication we’ve exchanged. It provides a great way to follow up with a subsequent conversation.
Making Better Media Choices
The third strategy that I use is to be very careful about what media I absorb. Television, radio, books, film, magazines, newspapers, websites, social media – all of it is a powerful influence over the way we think, but we have the power to control that influence by choosing what media sources we actually bother to give our valuable attention to. Here are some tactics that have greatly helped in terms of selecting media options that encourage financially smart moves and personal growth.
Less “quick” media, opinions, or headline news I almost never watch or read the “news” any more, for several reasons. One, the current events of the day have basically no impact on my daily life. The ramifications of those events might have an impact, but those ramifications are rarely very clear in the first few hours after an event, and that’s what the news reports before they move on to something else. There’s very little value in that. Two, what passes for news is often deeply intermingled with opinion. Sometimes, pure opinion is presented as fact; at other times, the person writing the article presents only carefully selected facts to push you toward a particular conclusion. This, again, is most prevalent in opinion columns and “quick” news sites.
Anything that packages a complex issue into a brief sound bite isn’t worth my time. Anything that presents people yelling at each other isn’t worth my time. Anything that talks about a new development or a new product release isn’t worth my time because there hasn’t been adequate time to evaluate it. Anything that tries to encourage me to buy things or be jealous of the things that others have isn’t worth my time. Anything that presents a particular perspective on an issue without being very up front about the fact that it is a particular perspective isn’t worth my time. I just avoid all of it.
More (and better) books and long-form articles Instead, I invest my time in trying to understand the things that affect my life as deeply as I can. I constantly try to understand why I make the choices that I do, what my sense of right and wrong is, and where that comes from. I try to understand as deeply as possible the core issues affecting the world, and those core issues aren’t talked about on headline news.
Understanding those issues comes from quality reporting and deep thinking, and those things are usually slow and they usually are long. I tend to trust well-sourced books and long articles, or books and articles that carefully walk me through their logical process. I get far more value out of a book that carefully explains an investment strategy than a talking head on CNBC telling me about the hot mutual fund of the day. I get far more value out of a book on philosophy and values than from a moralistic rant on a political website telling me how half of the world is flatly wrong. I get far more value out of a well-reported long article on how someone different than me lives than I get out of a reality television program. I consciously choose to spend my time on the things that give me value in life and I try to avoid spending time on things that do not.
Selective blogs, podcasts, and social media These things tend to be a very mixed bag, with a few examples being very good (like NPR’s Planet Money podcast) and most not being worth the electrons used to transmit them. Again, the key isn’t timeliness, but thoughtfulness. The key isn’t anger, but levelheadedness. The key isn’t insisting that you’re right and they’re wrong, but in everyone trying to understand all sides better.
Mostly, I use these tools as recommendation engines of a sort, as the better items push me toward well-researched and well-considered books and long articles on things that genuinely matter to me.
It all really comes down to a single question: what media is worth my time? For me, the answer comes down to whether or not it actually impacts my life and my true understanding of the world and the issues in it. An awful lot of media doesn’t do that at all. If I spend an hour or two reading something or watching something, it better have contributed something positive to my life; if it doesn’t meet that threshold, it’s really not worth my time. I generally find those values in books, long-form articles, music, and occasional movies and television series without commercial interruption. Most of the rest of it is just filler that usually just confuses my values and doesn’t contribute to my understanding of the world.
Final Thoughts
The goal of all of this is a very simple one. It’s all about filling my life with influences that encourage me to continue on the path to financial independence while still having fun, being social, and enjoying life. By intentionally finding people who share those key values with me and throwing out media sources that don’t share those values, I can live a life where financial independence seems to be the norm, not the exception.
I find it in civic organizations and volunteering, not in going to clubs. I find it in dinner parties with the people I meet from those experiences. I find it in well-researched and well-written books and articles, not from headline news and reality television. Those are the things I consciously choose to fill my life with, and because of that, good financial decisions, frugality, personal growth, and trying to understand the world and make it a better place feel like the norm to me. And when those things feel normal, you’re far more likely to stick with them.
Your path to financial independence is guided by the people you spend your time with and the media you absorb. Make sure those things are actually helping you along that path, not hindering you. Good luck!
The post Building a Lifetime of Positive Financial Influences appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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MBNA to be bought by Lloyds – but no immediate change for customers
Credit card provider MBNA is to be sold by Bank of America to Lloyds Banking Group, in a move costing £1.9 billion.
The transaction is expected to complete by the end of the first half of 2017, although it is subject to competition and regulatory approval.
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UK £5 note firm sold to Canada
The UK company Innovia Security, which contributes to the making of the new polymer £5 note, has been sold to CCL, a Canadian company that makes labels, for 1.13 billion Canadian dollars – or £680 million.
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Savings update: bag a top deal for Christmas
Banks and building societies continue to juggle their rates on both fixed and variable rate deals.
Aldermore Bank has edged up the rates on its fixed-rate cash Isas and now pays a top 1.2% for two years.
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Don't miss the last Christmas delivery dates
Today is the last day to get your Christmas cards posted if you want to send them second-class and have them arrive before Christmas Day on Sunday.
The last day Royal Mail recommends for posting first class is tomorrow, Wednesday 21 December.
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New Year’s Credit Resolutions That Could Change Your Life
If you think this article’s title sounds a little dramatic, that’s by design. But the truth is, the condition of your credit actually has a massive influence over your life. Having bad or even mediocre credit can easily cost you hundreds of dollars a month, thousands of dollars a year, and tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your life.
Your credit reports and credit scores are relied upon over and over again by companies deciding whether or not they wish to do business with you. The health of your credit is relevant when you apply for a loan, fill out a credit card application, try to lease an apartment, open a new utility account, take out a new insurance policy, and sometimes even when you apply for a job. The importance of your credit simply cannot be overstated.
Now that you realize that your credit matters, it is a great time to figure out how you can improve it. Here are four killer New Year’s credit resolutions that can help you improve your credit in 2017.
Resolution #1: Check Your Credit Reports Often
It’s your personal responsibility to make sure the information contained in your credit reports is accurate. No one else is going to be as good of a steward of your information as you will be. Thankfully, keeping an eye on your credit reports is easier than ever, and free.
First, thanks to federal law, you have the right to access all three of your credit reports for free every 12 months at AnnualCreditReport.com. Additionally, there’s no shortage of websites that will grant you free access to one or more of your credit reports every month if you agree to view advertising for credit services (loans, credit cards, and the like). Point being, there’s simply no excuse to not become more engaged with your credit reports.
Resolution #2: Don’t Let Credit Errors Slide
If you check your credit reports and discover an error, you should do something about it. The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to dispute suspected errors with all three of the credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian.
You can dispute errors all on your own or to hire a professional to do the work for you. If you do choose to hire someone, just make sure to do your due diligence ahead of time and confirm that the company with which you work is trustworthy.
Resolution #3: Make On-Time Payments a Priority
It doesn’t take a credit expert to know that late payments are a really big deal on your credit report. One of the most important factors considered in the calculation of your credit scores is whether or not you make timely payments on your credit obligations.
Earning great credit is going to be an impossible task until you break the late payment habit. And even when you do break it, you’re going to have to wait seven years for the record of your late payments to be removed from your credit reports. So, start now!
Resolution #4: Tackle Your Credit Card Debt
Your credit card debt is another extremely important consideration when your credit scores are calculated. The fact is, credit card debt lowers your credit score, even if your payments on the accounts are always on time. That’s because credit card balances eat into your credit utilization rate, or the amount of your available credit limit that you’ve used up, and that’s the second biggest factor in your credit score.
Making a plan to pay off your credit card debt and to never again revolve balances from month to month is one of the smartest credit score moves you can make. The fact that you may save a ton of money on interest fees is an added bonus, as the average annual percentage rate (APR) for a general use credit card is a brutal 16%.
Resolution #5: Stop Applying for Credit Unnecessarily
Credit scoring models don’t like it when you apply for credit excessively. Apply too often and your credit scores could take a downward slide.
This doesn’t mean you should never apply for credit again. But what it does mean is that you should apply for credit only when you actually need it, and not simply to save 20% off your purchases during the holiday season by opening a bunch of new store credit card accounts.
Related Articles
- What Is a Good Credit Score?
- Here’s How Much Your Credit Score Can Cost You on a Mortgage or Auto Loan
- Don’t Let Holiday Shopping Crush Your Credit
- How to Raise Your Credit Score
John Ulzheimer is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring, and identity theft. He has written four books on the topic and has been interviewed and quoted thousands of times over the past 10 years. With time spent at Equifax and FICO, Ulzheimer is the only credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry. He has been an expert witness in over 230 credit related lawsuits and has been qualified to testify in both federal and state courts on the topic of consumer credit.
The post New Year’s Credit Resolutions That Could Change Your Life appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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Robo-advisers do not spell out charges clearly, report warns
Robo-advisers fail to communicate their services effectively, claims a new report by the Financial Services Consumer Panel and Boring Money.
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How to Set Realistic Goals for Your Work-at-Home Business
By Kimi Clark As a business owner, it’s so important to set realistic goals. And if you work at home, it’s imperative to your success! But how do you set goals that are more than just a series of wishes, wants, and dreams? Goals that you will actually work towards? By looking at the right […]
The post How to Set Realistic Goals for Your Work-at-Home Business appeared first on The Work at Home Woman.
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China tipped to be best-performing stock market in 2017
Investors are backing China to deliver the highest equity market returns in 2017, according to a poll carried out by Moneywise's parent company Interactive Investor.
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