District Attorney Ray Tonkin announced the promotion of Assistant District Attorney Sarah A. Wilson to the position of Senior Deputy District Attorney.Attorney Wilson has served in the district attorney’s office for nine years as an assistant district attorney. During her service, Attorney Wilson has prosecuted numerous types of cases from DUI to child abuse. In the position of senior deputy district attorney, Wilson will directly oversee child abuse investigation and [...]
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الجمعة، 20 يناير 2017
This is Why Navient is Under Fire for Slighting Student Loan Borrowers
If you’re one of the 44 million borrowers in the U.S. paying off student loans, listen up.
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is suing student loan servicer Navient Corp., and this news might affect you in a big way.
The CFPB claims Navient “illegally cheated many struggling borrowers out of their rights to lower repayments, which caused them to pay much more than they had to for their loans.”
The CFPB is seeking to recover “significant relief” for borrowers who may have overpaid as a result.
If you’re confused (like we were!) about how your loans ended up in the hands of Navient, here’s the deal:
In 2014, Sallie Mae, the original student loan servicing giant, split to become Sallie Mae and Navient. While Sallie Mae moved toward becoming a consumer banking business, Navient was launched specifically to take over the management and servicing of federal (and some private) student loans.
Does This Lawsuit Affect Me?
Who exactly will qualify for compensation in this lawsuit?
That remains to be seen, but the preliminary statement from CFPB Director Richard Cordray explains that many troubled borrowers were guided into forbearance, rather than income-based repayment plans. (Forbearance is an easier, and as a result, cheaper option for loan servicers to implement than income-based repayment plans; learn more about these options in our handy-dandy guide to student loans.)
While Navient may have saved some money in operating costs, Cordray explains, the real benefit to the company came through the nearly $4 billion in extra interest on these loans that allegedly accrued over a period of about five years.
While many affected borrowers reached out to Navient during this time, the suit says that the company was negligent in helping borrowers understand their options and instead extended the length of forbearances.
For those who were able to enroll in income-based repayment plans, Navient failed to appropriately notify borrowers of various deadlines that could have allowed them to maintain lower payments, a lower principal balance, and benefits like interest subsidies and any progress previously made toward loan forgiveness.
And as if we’re not all fed up enough at this point, CFPB alleges that Navient misreported loan forgiveness for borrowers (including veterans!) under the Total and Permanent Disability program by using reporting codes meant for cases of default. That means many disabled borrowers could also be dealing with damaged credit, which can seriously hurt their chances of buying a house or car, or even renting an apartment.
The bottom line here is that the lawsuit alleges Navient grossly disserviced its borrowers by neglecting to help them understand their options and taking the easy way out in numerous avoidable situations at the expense of its already struggling borrowers.
So uncool, Navient.
Here’s What You Can Do if You Have a Navient Student Loan
The lawsuit is still in the early stages, so check back for details on who will be affected as the story unfolds.
In the meantime, there are a number of steps you can take to ensure that you will have the best chance of recouping your losses.
Check Your Credit Report
Get a copy of your credit report, and check it for errors relating to your student loans. If you think you’ve been unfairly penalized, here’s how to report the errors and go about having them removed.
Understand All Your Repayment Options
Take a few minutes to make sure you fully understand your options — knowledge is power, and power is the ability to push back when your loan servicer tries to coerce you into a situation you don’t feel comfortable with.
Put It in Writing
If you think you are one of the borrowers affected by Navient’s shady dealings, file a complaint with the CFPB, the U.S. Department of Education or directly with Navient (although legend has it the company is terrible at following up on complaints… shocker). We’re not sure yet what the process will be for repayment to the borrowers, but it couldn’t hurt to get it in writing so when the time comes, you have proof of your situation.
Your Turn: Have you ever felt cheated by your student loan servicer?
Grace Schweizer is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
The post This is Why Navient is Under Fire for Slighting Student Loan Borrowers appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Need a Little Extra Dough? Pizza Hut Needs 11,000 New Employees
Wanna love your job almost as much as you love pizza?
Good news: This might actually be possible.
Pizza Hut has big plans to hire more than 11,000 folks across the country, according to this recent press release.
Why is Pizza Hut Hiring So Many People?
Even if you’re not into football, you probably know Super Bowl Sunday is coming up in about two weeks. Hey, I just show up for the buzzworthy commercials.
And the pizza.
The number of Pizza Hut orders spikes on this Sunday evening. That’s why it needs first-, second- and third-string players to tackle the high demand.
The Super Bowl is a big deal, apparently, but these jobs are permanent, as Pizza Hut says it’s making an effort to improve customers’ experiences — all day, every day. It has also pledged to open more U.S. and international locations.
Who Does Pizza Hut Want to Hire?
Positions range from pizza-makers to delivery drivers to managers.
“The Pizza Hut system is looking for 11,000 new go-getters to give our fans as positive of an experience as possible,” said Kelly McCulloch, senior director of human resources.
Interested? Learn more about the hiring spree via the press release.
And if you’re interested in snagging a job, visit Pizza Hut’s job page.
Not feeling so cheesy? We have more jobs on our Facebook jobs page.
Your Turn: Does a job at Pizza Hut sound appetizing to you?
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 Need a Little Extra Dough? Pizza Hut Needs 11,000 New Employees appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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This Popular Google Docs Feature Will Soon Disappear. Here’s How to Keep It
The free document templates you can find in Google Docs are really useful.
These templates can serve as a helpful starting point if you’re putting together any kind of report, a presentation or even a resume. When you create a new document, spreadsheet or slideshow, you can use these templates as a shortcut to getting the look and format you need.
Here’s the bad news: Most of these public templates are about to disappear.
If you want any of these templates, you need to download them really soon.
Time is growing short. You have hundreds of publicly shared templates to choose from, but the vast majority of them are going to vanish — possibly in a week or so.
“We’ll let you know the exact date with a message in the old gallery, but it will not take place before February 1st, 2017,” Google said in a recent message to Google Drive users.
After Feb. 1, though, all bets are off.
Why Are You Taking My Free Things Away?
So, why is this gallery of cool templates going bye-bye? According to education tech website Control Alt Achieve, Google is switching to a new collection of publicly available templates because it wants to “add features that have been missing” from its old selection of templates. That includes the ability to “add your own custom templates for your domain.”
You can find the new free templates at the homepages of four Google apps:
The new templates, it must be said, are quite nice-looking. They’re designed by experts. They’re crisp, clean and professional.
So what’s the problem? Well, there aren’t nearly as many choices as there used to be.
“Unfortunately, the new template galleries offer only a fraction of templates from which to choose. For example, the new Docs template gallery offers 29 as opposed to the hundreds it used to provide,” wrote business and tech website NewCo Shift.
Meanwhile, Google is phasing out the old selection of templates.
OK, What Should I Do Now?
Take a glance at Google’s new templates, and see if they’ll suit you. The new selection might be enough for you.
But if you want to see the huge gallery of old templates that’s about to disappear, with its wealth of formats and styles, check it out here.
You can sort through the selections by type. Search for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms or drawings. Then, you can further narrow down your choices using categories.
Open any template you’re interested in by clicking the “Use this template” button.
Once you do that, it’s saved to your Google Drive.
Now it’s yours forever. But you’re running out of time to do this.
Your Turn: Do you use Google Docs’ public templates for anything?
Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. A freelance writer on the side, he likes Google Docs’ free invoices. Because they’re free.
The post This Popular Google Docs Feature Will Soon Disappear. Here’s How to Keep It appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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That Nigerian Prince was a Scammer. This $586 Million Settlement is Real
Western Union has been helping people move money since 1871. But in the internet age, the wire-transfer giant has become known not just for providing financial services, but also for being the preferred financial service of Nigerian princes asking for your money by email.
And for every person who can see a money-laundering scam a mile away, there’s another person who falls for it. After all, good scammers are professionals.
Now, Western Union is in trouble. And it owes big money to its customers.
What Western Union Did to Owe $586 Million to Its Customers
In a global settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, Western Union will make amends with customers and shore up its anti-fraud practices.
The FTC reported in a blog post that between January 2004 and August 2015, the company received more than 550,000 complaints from people who had been scammed into completing a Western Union money transfer.
Western Union failed to act in the best interest of the customer by failing to flag transactions it suspected to be criminal, according to the FTC.
Western Union is in So Much Trouble
It gets worse: Internal reports indicated that Western Union’s own agents participated in fraud schemes that hurt customers.
“There were warnings from U.S. and international law enforcement about the fraud,” Bridget Small of the FTC explains in a blog post. “And yet, the money kept rolling on through.”
The consequences? Western Union will return $586 million through a process that will be announced later. (Monitor the FTC’s blog for more information.) According to the FTC, Western Union also agreed to:
- Block money transfers sent to any person who is the subject of a fraud report;
- Provide clear and conspicuous consumer fraud warnings on its paper and electronic money transfer forms;
- Increase the availability of websites and telephone numbers that enable consumers to file fraud complaints;
- Refund a fraudulently induced money transfer if the company failed to comply with its anti-fraud procedures in connection with that transaction.
Pretty long to-do list.
As it informed consumers about the settlement, the FTC’s blog gave a reminder that it’s illegal for telemarketers to ask for payment via Western Union.
“Scammers love using money transfer services because once you send the money, it’s gone forever,” Small wrote.
We’ll share more information about the settlement as it becomes available.
Your Turn: Has a scammer ever asked you to send money through Western Union?
Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder.
The post That Nigerian Prince was a Scammer. This $586 Million Settlement is Real appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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C.F. Martin at National Association of Music Merchants show
The latest announcement by C.F. Martin & Company should prove to be music to the ears of the tens of thousands attending the National Association of Music Merchants annual winter show in Anaheim, California through Sunday.The popular Nazareth-based guitar company announced that it would unveil the new Dwight Yoakam DD28 Signature Edition guitar and a D-28 John Prine Signature Edition at the popular event, the largest music industry convention in the world.C.F. Martin & [...]
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4 Common Tax Season Scams — And How to Avoid Them
When tax season rolls around, there are plenty of scammers waiting to take advantage of consumers. From sky-high tax preparation fees to outright tax scams, fraudsters are increasingly sophisticated.
Each year, thieves and criminals hoodwink millions of people. Tax season is a golden opportunity to make money and prey on unsuspecting individuals; many are easy targets because they were too trusting or too intimidated by tax lingo.
By being aware of their tactics, you can get through tax season unscathed. Here are four common scams and how to avoid them.
1. Tax Preparer Fraud
Many people pose as fake tax preparers to take advantage of customers. Faux preparers promise big refunds and instant payouts, and prey on disadvantaged people, such as the elderly or low-income families.
With tax preparer fraud, they often will file your return but will file it with inflated and inaccurate numbers to get a big refund — of which they take the majority. When the IRS discovers the error, you are responsible for paying back the refund, even if you had a professional handle your taxes.
Services that charge a percentage of your refund, rather than a flat fee, are a major red flag. The tax preparer has a financial incentive to fudge your returns to get the biggest refund possible.
Always review a return personally to ensure the information is accurate, particularly when it comes to your deductions and income claims. If the refund amount seems too good to be true, it probably is.
2. Ridiculous Tax Preparation Fees
As mentioned above, quick tax preparation shops pop up every year, many of them unlicensed and untrained. To get your refund, you end up paying exorbitant tax preparation fees — meaning, scammers might end up with huge percentages of your refund. While you may need the cash, you can lose out on thousands by relying on these services.
If you use a reputable tax preparer, you can access your refund in just one week. That small delay can help ensure you receive all of the money you deserve.
You can also take advantage of free filing sites for your annual return.
3. Telephone Scams
One of the most effective hustles is a telephone scam. Victims will receive a call from someone pretending to be an IRS representative who says that the individual owes thousands of dollars in taxes and risks going to jail if they don’t pay. They may even threaten you with legal action.
These calls can be convincing. The caller may have your social security number, your address and know where you work. There might even be background noise that makes it sound like they’re calling from a legitimate call center.
Once the victim hangs up, they may get another call, purportedly from the police, in order to make the scammer’s claim seem legitimate. The scammer may even be able to rig the call so the phone number appears as the police station on caller I.D.
If you get one of these calls, do not respond and hang up immediately. Keep in mind the IRS does not call about owed taxes out of the blue, nor will they threaten you with deportation or legal action. The IRS will not ask for payment via debit card, gift card or wire transfer; if you do owe money, they will send you a notification in the mail.
As tax season continues, report any fraudulent calls to the Treasury Inspector General at 1-800-366-4484.
4. Phishing
Phishing is when a bogus company sends you emails or sets up a fake website that looks like an official tax preparation service or the IRS’ page. They may claim you messed up your return, forgot to enter income information or missed out on your refund. They’ll prompt you to enter your information to “correct the mistake,” but it’s just a ploy to get your personal information.
Once they have your information, they can steal your identity. They can file a tax return in your name — and claim your refund — or open a line of credit.
Double check all emails and websites before you click to make sure it’s the real deal. If you’re not sure, open a new window and search for the tax preparation service’s phone number — don’t use the number listed on the email or potentially fake site. Remember, the IRS will communicate via regular mail, not email.
How to Avoid Tax Preparation Scams
Tax season is stressful enough on its own without worrying about inflated tax preparation fees or other scams. By being aware of some of the most common scams, you can be prepared to handle them if they happen to you. When in doubt, proceed with caution, and call the IRS directly if you are not sure if a communication is legitimate.
For more information on taxes, check out this article on how to boost your taxes before you file.
Your Turn: Have you experienced any of these tax season scams?
This post originally appeared on Student Loan Hero.
The post 4 Common Tax Season Scams — And How to Avoid Them appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Will Trump be good or bad for investors? Experts are divided
It’s very difficult to make any sense of what Donald Trump’s inauguration as US President will mean for investors in 2017. Views among investment experts range from good to bad to “we have no idea”. Here is a selection of four different views from industry experts.
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How to Become a Marketer Who Thinks Strategically
One of the greatest challenges a new marketer will face is getting into, and staying in the right mindsight.
By its very nature, marketing is highly tactical. There are countless ways to engage your audience.
Unfortunately, most of the tactics tend to be done in a vacuum without any thought to strategy.
They’re reactionary, which can bring diminished results and less-than-desirable returns.
In the B2B space, only about a third of marketers actually have a documented strategy to drive their business forward.
That’s why more than half are struggling to create marketing campaigns that actually engage an audience and produce a substantial return. Those diminished returns tend to drive marketers back to traditional channels like banner ads.
But even display advertising without a strategy isn’t necessarily going to perform the way you want it to.
To get the best results, you need to take a proactive and strategic approach to your marketing. Here’s how you can start thinking like a strategic marketer.
See Beyond Urgency
If you’re constantly in reactive mode, chasing fires and responding to things as they come up then your resources will remain tapped. You’ll never have the opportunity to plan ahead or develop campaigns based on research.
I hear about this all the time with brands who suddenly realize that a holiday or promotional opportunity “snuck up on them.” They scramble at the last minute to put together email campaigns, promotions, social initiatives, display ads, and even direct mail campaigns.
The first step toward strategic thinking is to get your mind out of urgency/emergency mode.
Without proper planning, you wind up with last minute marketing efforts – like this mattress company that tossed together an offensive commercial to promote their product on 9/11.
Marketing must be considered a strategic imperative if you want to actually see results. Reactive tactics are not a strategy and are much riskier when the time isn’t taken to research and measure potential outcomes.
Strategic marketing looks months ahead of the current situation, planning well in advance so you have time to research, plan, create assets, review and deploy effectively.
Take the Time to Calculate Risks
Throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks is not strategic thinking. That’s just hoping you’ll get lucky with results, and it’s incredibly wasteful especially if you have limited resources.
Strategic marketers look forward and can often see the repercussions of their plans more clearly than tactical marketers. They also don’t charge blindly forward because an idea sounds good. They take the time to carefully consider the downside of every action.
“What happens if this or that happens after we execute. Can we live with outcomes X, Y or Z?”
Weighing the risks of campaigns and potential outcomes provides insight into next steps. This makes it that much easier to pivot to another brand in the strategy rather than scrambling to find a solution when the single tactic doesn’t perform as expected.
Be Capable of Execution
I’ve met my fair share of strategic marketers that have impressed me with creative prowess. Among them have been some of the most creative minds, yet struggled tremendously with executing the ideas they developed.
Strategic marketers don’t overthink or worry incessantly about outcomes. They’re not afraid to pull the trigger once their strategy is constructed. They recognize that no strategy is 100% sound, and change is likely.
You need to have the confidence to pull the trigger and know that no strategy is perfect. Becoming a strategic marketer means never procrastinating.
Get your strategy developed and don’t be afraid to execute it.
Just remember that once a strategy is executed, the cycle begins again. There’s no finish line.
Be Willing to Detach From Your Ideas
The most effective strategic marketers I’ve met have always been able to see beyond their own brilliance. They cut through the fat and are willing to discard their own ideas when better ideas come from outside, and they’re willing to consider the ideas of others – no matter how crazy those ideas might seem.
Don’t get caught up in your preconceived ideas and plans. A smart marketer knows to leverage the skill and brilliance of others through group ideation and brainstorming to fuel more robust marketing strategies.
Rob Carpenter from Hitshop shared with Moz how his team takes content brainstorming and ideation to the next level:
When we think we have a good idea, we use Publicate to flesh out an idea by compiling all of the content out there for that specific topic (especially those that rank for the key term we are aiming for). In Publicate we can add notes to each piece of content we curated on what elements of the post we could expand on, and what we can say differently. We also mark which posts we want to link to and quotes to include in our piece. This step is extremely important for helping us create not just ‘good, unique content,’ but content that is 10x better than what is currently available.
Make Decisions Based on the Data
In my opinion, data is the heart of business. It should be at the center of decision making for any kind of business or marketing strategy. It provides insights to answer key questions, while raising other questions you may not have considered.
Later, that data will help change the direction of your strategy. Initially though, that data is necessary to create the strategy.
Strategic marketers rely on a lot of data to build their long-term strategies. This could include:
- How long audiences engages with certain topics
- Which products are abandoned most often
- What are top products during different seasons
- How long does it take the average prospect to convert
- What type of content or advertising do prospects respond to best
- How can audiences be segmented for the best engagement with email marketing
- How does the consumer respond to direct mail campaigns post purchase compared to the same campaign used on prospects that have not yet purchased
Find the data to answer your most important questions, then identify the data you have and use that to start building your strategy. Leverage it to define your goals and the tactics you’ll use to reach them. A strategic marketer can use the data and information they compile through research to work out the costs of campaigns and define whether the efforts are justified.
Your data is a key part of risk assessment – something every marketing and PR campaign needs. It’s a loop that constantly feeds back to the beginning, using the data to establish then continue to drive the strategy forward
Know the Target and Create Goals
Anyone can set a marketing goal, but the most strategic marketers set goals that are realistic, achievable and are based on business goals.
Like these organizational goals for B2B content marketing compiled by CMI and Marketing Profs based on survey respondent data.
Setting goals might sound simple, but it’s something of a mix of art and science. Like anything, it takes practice. That comes from constantly refining existing goals, refocusing, pivoting and a willingness to try some weird stuff.
How do you set goals for something as fluid and changing as a marketing strategy? Practice. And find someone who has been doing it for a while and apply what they’ve learned.
Shanelle Mullin, Content & Growth at ConversionXL, shared some smart advice with Kissmetrics on creating goals for your marketing strategy.
The key to setting achievable marketing goals is to spend time evaluating your current position. Many startups set lofty, unattainable goals and end up discouraged, which can be detrimental in the early days. On the other hand, some startups set easy, insignificant goals and end up missing out on growth potential.
Take the time to really understand your growth levels to date. If you run a popular blog and traffic has increased by 8-10% for the last four months, you know that a 12-15% month-over-month increase in blog traffic is a challenging yet attainable goal. Don’t be the startup that shoots for 20% or the startup that considers anything above 8% a win.
In terms of what types of goals you should be setting, it depends heavily on what stage your startup is in. Early on, focus on engagement goals and collecting feedback to validate your product or service. Later on, focus on growth metrics. There are no universals when it comes to metrics, unfortunately. What’s important is that your core goals are tied to major business objectives.
The single most important thing to remember about marketing goals is to stay focused. Choose 1-2 core goals that impact the bottom line and 3-5 supporting goals. Anything more than that will distract you from what’s most important (as will changing goals too often).
When you identify those primary and secondary goals, you can break them down into milestones that will help define the roadmap of your marketing strategy. That map plays a major part in defining the tactics you’ll use along the way.
Follow the Course; Don’t Chase the Glitter
Ideation and brainstorming are a critical part of creating a marketing strategy, but that doesn’t mean that every idea is going to pan out.
Likewise, your research is likely to reveal what competitors and other businesses are doing to market themselves.
With all the options and potential ideas, it’s pretty easy to get lost in transit without a mapped plan.
I liken it to steering a ship; if you spin the wheel every time an a glimmer on the horizon catches your eye, you’re going to zigzag across the ocean and never really get anywhere.
Even with a documented marketing strategy, it’s easy to get off course trying to do the next big thing everyone things is a trend for the year. Experimenting is OK, but not at the expense of your plans.
The most successful marketers know to stick to their strategy, and work those experiments into that strategy.
Establish Your Measurements for Progress and Success
Effective marketing goes well beyond ideation and deployment. Success isn’t automated, and as I mentioned there’s no such thing as a perfect strategy.
More often than not you’re going to have to make changes on the fly and refine your strategy. Knowing when to do that, and why, comes from constantly measuring the performance of your campaigns.
Just like you use data to form the basis of your strategy, you’re constantly using data and analytics to monitor the health of your marketing campaigns.
Know what success looks like, and identify how you’ll measure that success as part of a marketing strategy.
Document Your Strategy
It continues to surprise me how many marketers don’t document their marketing strategy, instead choosing to fly blind from memory.
There’s a lot that can go wrong when your strategy isn’t documented.
It’s more than just a roadmap detailing what you do to get to the next step. It’s a living document that ties together a lot of moving parts, and a lot of people. Some of what would be included in a sound documented strategy…
- Who the audience is, and how to reach them
- The tactics to be used
- The USP(s) to connect with the audience
- Who is involved, who is responsible for what aspects of the strategy
- How marketing materials are distributed, or where the audience is engaged
- How success is measured
- Conversion strategies used
- Promotions, pricing and incentives
- Communication requirements and reporting
There’s a great deal more that can and should be included, and that’s a lot to be floating around – especially with multiple people or teams involved. With all the moving parts, lacking a documented strategy invites error and mistakes.
Conclusion
Among all the aspects of being a strategic marketer, there’s one thing that remains consistent: looking forward.
If you want to think like a strategic marketer, you have to look beyond now.
Don’t get caught up in the urgency. Plan ahead, look to the future, and develop a rolling strategy that is built around proactive outbound and inbound practices, rather than the reactive deployment of tactics.
What mental practices have you tried in order to think strategically?
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Millions of BT customers to be hit with price hikes, but you can cancel penalty free
BT’s ten million customers will be hit with inflation busting price hikes from 2 April as the provider has today announced it’s upping a range of broadband, home phone and BT Sport prices, as well as certain call costs.
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HFC and John Lewis to pay £4m redress for overcharging customers in debt
Thousands of customers of HFC Bank and John Lewis Financial Services, which are both now part of HSBC, are due redress after the firms overcharged people in debt.
Between 2003 and 2009, customers of HFC and John Lewis who fell into arrears were referred to the firms’ nominated solicitors who added a 16.4% “debt collection charge” to the balance.
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Energy complaints figures published to help small businesses get the best deal
Citizens Advice has launched its first ever complaints league table for small business customers to check how energy suppliers compare.
The charity says small business owners can use the independent comparison data to make informed choices about their gas and electricity supply - which could help them avoid delays and expense sorting out problems.
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This Company Will Give You Up to $3K for Opening a Retirement Account
What are your financial resolutions for 2017? Do you want to start a side gig, create a solid budget or save more money?
Maybe you woke up on January 1 determined to accomplish all of these in the next 12 months. But nearly three weeks later, you can’t imagine why you ever thought that was a good idea…
If you’re already prepared to to give up on your New Year’s resolutions, let me offer you a lifeline.
I’ve got a super-simple way to start saving for retirement — and earn up to $3,000 while you’re at it.
Why Open an IRA
First, if you don’t know, an IRA is an “individual retirement arrangement” and lets you save for retirement with a tax break on up to $5,500 a year in contributions.
Generally, advisors recommend contributing to a 401(k) first if your employer offers it, especially if they match your contribution.
After that, an IRA can be a smart way to save beyond a 401(k)’s contribution limits, or a way to save for retirement if you don’t have a 401(k) option.
You may consider opening an IRA for several reasons:
- You’re moving jobs, and your new employer doesn’t offer a retirement savings plan.
- You’re moving jobs, and your new employer’s 401(k) plan sucks.
- You’re leaving your job to work for yourself or stay at home.
- You’re already self-employed or don’t work, but you want to start saving for your future.
How to Earn Up to $3K for Opening an IRA
Right now, Lending Club is offering a huge bonus for new and existing accounts. Open a new IRA account, and you could earn up to $3,000!
Lending Club is unique because it uses a peer-to-peer lending model.
Instead of investing in stocks, when you open an IRA with the company, you invest your money in quality borrowers looking for low-interest loans. And lenders still see returns between 5% and 7%.
Plus, if you’re leaving a job with an existing 401(k) or 403(b), you can roll it over into a Lending Club IRA.
Here’s how it works…
1. Deposit between $5,000 and $100,000 in new funds (can include a 401(k) rollover) before April 30. Remember: You can transfer funds from an existing retirement account — these funds don’t have to come straight out of your pocket.
2. Invest the funds into Lending Club Notes before June 30.
3. You’ll receive a bonus between $150 and $3,000 (depending on the amount you invested) to your Lending Club account by August 31. You can’t withdraw the bonus funds as cash, but you can also use them to invest — and continue to grow your retirement savings!
Your Turn: How are you saving for retirement?
Disclosure: Here’s a toast to the affiliate links in this post. May we all be just a little richer today.
The post This Company Will Give You Up to $3K for Opening a Retirement Account appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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The Key to Financial Success Is Being Accountable to Yourself
Over the years, I’ve written about literally thousands of tactics for spending less money, earning more money, and putting that extra money to work to eliminate debt, build an emergency fund, save for retirement, or succeed at other goals.
At a glance, most of those tactics seem really, well, simple. It’s not really rocket science to realize that making coffee at home is going to cost less than buying it at Starbucks, or that grocery shopping with a grocery list is going to cost less than just wandering into a grocery store with a vague idea that you need to cover several meals. Sure, you might not have thought of the idea, but when you hear it, it usually feels like common sense.
Yet, time and time again, people don’t do those things, or at the very least, they don’t put the pieces together very well.
One person might dive deeply into frugality and make a lot of smart moves to spend less at the grocery store and cut down on an electricity bill… but then that same person will blow $800 on a new television without skipping a beat.
Another person might work their tail off to get a small raise at work and then celebrate by spending all of the extra money they’ll make from that raise for the next two years in a weekend of partying and shopping.
Yet another person might get a big tax refund check in the mail, think about using it to pay off a debt, make one slightly bigger than usual payment, and then use the rest to refill their liquor cabinet and go out on a date.
Then, all three of those people think about their financial decisions and wonder why exactly they’re not seeing any sort of lasting success. “I’m being so diligent with frugality… why can’t I get ahead?” “Even with this raise my credit card bill still seems insurmountable.” “Even with that giant tax return check, my debt mountain is still huge.”
The thing that’s missing in all of those stories – and countless other personal finance stories, including my own at times – is personal accountability.
If you make a good financial move that leaves more money in your checking account, that’s great, but if you don’t follow through with that move and actually use that money for something positive, it’s basically just cutting one area of overspending to fund a different area of overspending. It’s robbing Peter to pay Paul, as my father used to like to say.
Even worse, people often find things to blame. They’ll blame their parent’s generation for “robbing the economy blind.” They’ll blame their boss for not paying a salary that they feel they deserve. They’ll blame the government because the government’s convenient to blame for everything. They’ll blame their spouse, their child, anything other than their own personal mis-steps.
Here’s the truth, and it’s painful. The biggest part of the reason that you’re in a financial situation that you’re unhappy with is you. If you can’t accept that, then you’re not going to be able to make financial change happen in your life.
Your financial problems are the result of your missteps. Laziness (in many forms). Overspending. Misplaced trust.
It’s okay to have those character traits. We’re human. I have them, too. I’m lazy sometimes. I definitely overspend sometimes, particularly on my hobbies. I’ve misplaced trust more times than I can count.
The key to any measure of success I’ve found in my life is that I stepped back, looked at myself, recognized that I was messing up, and genuinely tried to fix it. This wasn’t just a one-time thing, either. I do this a lot.
I look hard at my life all the time, and not in a back-patting way. I’m looking for the ways that I’m messing up, and I try to think of how exactly I can fix those things.
The purpose of this self-reflection isn’t to beat myself up. That’s not the goal. The purpose is to make sure that I’m on a steady path to being a better person than I was in the past. The purpose is to make sure I’m a better person in 2017 than I was in 2016, and a better person in 2018 than I was in 2017, and a better person in 2019 than I was in 2018, and so on. That doesn’t mean I was bad in the past, just an acknowledgement that I am not perfect and I can be better.
The truth of the matter is that if my life isn’t what I want it to be, it’s because of my own choices and my own mindset. If I let other people down, it’s because of my own choices and my own mindset. When I don’t have the opportunities that I want, it’s because of my own choices and my own mindset.
I can fix those choices and that mindset, but it’s not easy. It takes work and self-reflection. I have to be able to look at myself in the morning and in the evening and know that I did my best to succeed at the challenges in my life and the dreams I have for myself. Without that, what am I? Without self-reflection, how can I ever hope to improve?
Here are three of my most valuable tools for self-reflection being accountable to myself.
I journal every day, with a goal of evaluating my mistakes with full honesty. My journal entries often seem like they’re pretty hard on myself, and they are, but the purpose isn’t to just list my many faults. The purpose is to dig into those faults, figure out why they’re happening, and figure out what I can do to fix that flaw and improve upon that area of my life.
Let’s say, for example, that I spent my entire hobby budget in the first week of the month. This leaves me with three weeks without any hobby spending – I way overspent, in other words. Why did that happen? I can start digging into the reasons.
Let’s say I overreacted to a mess that one of my children made, or I didn’t talk to my wife very well after she had a rough day at work, or that I bought too much unplanned stuff at the grocery store. Why did those things happen? I can start digging into the reasons.
I find that doing this in my own handwriting, in a paper journal with a pen, is the best way to do this, even though it does take longer. Taking the time to actually write words on paper forces me to think more deeply about what I’m writing, which is the whole point of this exercise.
I start every day off with a stark, strong reminder of the things I’m trying to improve in my life, and I try to keep them in mind throughout the day. One of the very first things I do each day is to sit down and look at my goals for the day. I spend a few minutes thinking and focusing on those goals and I try to embed them in my mind so they’ll stick with me throughout the day.
Right now, for example, my focus is on eating smaller and smarter meals. The food choices I make are pretty good; my problem is quantity. Each day, I get up and think about this. “Just don’t put so much on your plate,” is what I’ll tell myself. At the end of each day, I think about whether or not I pulled that off when I’m writing in my journal and, if I failed, what exactly I could do better.
When I do make a mistake, I think not of myself, but of the stakeholders I’m letting down. My wife. My children. My dog. My parents. Yes, I let myself down, but I let down many of the most important people in my life.
I’m very intentional in terms of not falling into a “I messed up, I’m worthless” mindset of beating up on myself. That doesn’t help. Instead, I think of those stakeholders as a reason to do better in the future. “I have to do better because of my wife and my two sons and my daughter.” I’m accountable to myself, but I’m also accountable to them. For all they add to my life, the least I can give them in return is a concerted effort to be the best that I can be.
The key thing to take home from this post is that you’re human. You make mistakes. You’re not perfect. However, you can be better tomorrow than you are today, and the path to getting there involves reflecting on your mistakes and asking how you can fix them. When you mess up, it’s on you; the question then becomes how you can reduce the impact of your mistakes and avoid repeating them in the future.
Good luck.
Related Articles:
- The Single Most Important Thing You Can Master for Financial, Professional, and Personal Success
- You Already Have All the Skills You Need to Succeed
- Treating Your Financial Goals as a Part-Time Job
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What Happens to Your Student Loans If You Die?
It’s no secret that millennials are drowning in student loan debt.
These days, nearly half of student borrowers are behind on their loans. Bachelor’s degree recipients who graduate with debt owe an average of $33,000. Between 2008 and 2014, total student loan debt rose nearly 85%. It’s gotten so bad that most millennial college grads regret how much they borrowed.
Not only that, but older Americans are now carrying unprecedented amounts of student debt into retirement. The number of Americans age 60 and older with student loan debt has quadrupled over the last decade, according to a new report from the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Bearing that in mind, here’s a question to ponder: What happens to your student loans if you die?
It Depends on the Kind of Student Debt
The fate of your student loans depends on whether you have federal loans or private loans.
If the borrower of a federally backed education loan dies, the loan gets canceled, and the government discharges the debt, according to the Federal Student Aid Office of the U.S. Department of Education.
That means if all you have is federal student loans, your family won’t have to pay the debt.
That goes for Direct Subsidized Loans, Direct Unsubsidized Loans, Direct Consolidation Loans, Federal Family Education Loans and Federal Perkins Loans.
Your survivors will have to provide proof of your death to your loan servicer. Acceptable forms of proof include an original death certificate, a certified copy of the death certificate, or a complete photocopy of same.
To pay for your education, your parents may have taken out Parent PLUS Loans, which are also federal loans, but in this case the parent is the borrower instead of the student. If the student dies, the parent won’t have to repay the loan. If one parent dies but both parents are responsible for the loan, the surviving parent will have to keep paying it back. If only one parent is responsible for the loan and that parent dies, no one has to pay the money back.
Private Student Loans: A Different Ballgame
It’s different with private loans. If you received a student loan from a private lender, like a bank, your unpaid balance is more likely to become your family’s problem.
Millions of college students are in this boat. The number of private student loans has been increasing, the nonprofit Institute for College Access & Success reported in 2016. In the 2011-12 school year alone, about 1.4 million undergrads took out private loans for help pay for college.
Some private lenders will forgive the debt if you die, but most won’t be that lenient.
“Some lenders of private (non-federal) student loans offer a death discharge if the borrower dies. These include Sallie Mae, New York’s Higher Education Services Corp., Wells Fargo and Discover,” reports Edvisors, an online resource for paying for college.
That’s not the norm, though. Other lenders will come searching for money in a couple of likely places: your estate and your loan’s co-signers.
Your estate: Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be mega-rich to have an estate. Your estate includes assets you own such as cars, bank accounts, jewelry and your home (if you own your home).
Your creditors — your lenders and credit card companies — expect to be paid by your estate. They can file a claim in probate court, which oversees the handling of your estate. Because it may take a while to sort out your finances, creditors may agree to settle with your estate for less than the total debt.
Each state has its own laws governing estates. If you’re married, jointly held property like a home or joint bank account should be safe from creditors.
Your loan’s co-signers: If your parents or any other relatives co-signed your college loans, they could be on the hook for your debt if you die before the debt is paid off. And 9 out of 10 private loans have a co-signer.
If that’s the case, your survivors should look into your lender’s compassionate review process. On a case-by-case basis, some lenders will waive the co-signer’s legal obligations if the co-signer is on a fixed income and simply isn’t capable of paying off the debt.
If the co-signer is capable of making loan payments, the lender is less likely to forgive the loan.
Making matters worse, the death of the student borrower can trigger default, meaning the entire balance of the loan comes due immediately, student loan expert Heather Jarvis told The Penny Hoarder.
“Many private loans not only lack discharge provisions, but include provisions that trigger default upon the death of the borrower and/or co-signer of the loan, triggering acceleration of the balance and assessment of fees,” Jarvis said.
Additional things to know about discharge: Federal loans are dischargeable, but it isn’t automatic: Survivors must submit an application with the death certificate, and the discharge is likely taxable as income to the estate of the deceased borrower.
“Many private loans not only lack discharge provisions, but include provisions that trigger default upon the death of the borrower and/or co-signer of the loan, triggering acceleration of the balance and assessment of fees,” she said.
A Mighty, Protective Shield of Life Insurance
You can take steps to protect your family from financial hardship in case of tragedy.
Consider buying life insurance as a safety net if your family is co-signing some hefty student loans. You’ll want to purchase a life insurance policy that would cover the cost of any outstanding debt if you were to die unexpectedly. That way your relatives won’t be burdened.
Of course, most millennials — the people who are most likely to have college debt — don’t have life insurance, often because they think it’s just for older people.
Plus, millennials are delaying the kinds of milestones — like getting married or having kids — that usually get people thinking about things like life insurance. And fewer millennials are working full-time for companies that offer traditional benefits packages including life insurance.
Millennials and Generation Xers also overestimate the cost of life insurance, according to a recent report by insurance association LIMRA.
In some cases, it may be up to parent co-signers to insure their college-age offspring, just in the case the worst happens.
“Increased life insurance can help manage these costs,” Jarvis said.
Your Turn: Should private lenders be allowed to collect on student loans after the borrower dies?
Mike Brassfield is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. When he’s not working, he’s reading or being a dad. He can be reached at mike@thepennyhoarder.com.
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Remortgaging rockets as homeowners grab low rates
More than 380,000 homeowners switched to a new product last year to take advantage of current low mortgage rates.
Data from conveyancing firm LMS shows the total value of all remortgages was £65.7 billion in 2016 - 21% higher than the previous year.
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Deal of the week: Amazon launches reward credit card
Online retailer Amazon has this week launched a new credit card offering rewards for spending on its own website and elsewhere.
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Co-op rapped over unclear insurance quotes
The Co-op has been ordered to clarify its car insurance quotes after 120,000 customers received unclear information from the firm.
Regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has told the insurer to change its practices, which do not comply with new rules it introduced last August.
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