Tax Identity Theft
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الاثنين، 23 يناير 2017
Do You Carry an EpiPen? Here’s How to Get a Generic Version for Free
The people have spoken, and it’s nice to know someone’s listening.
After months of back and forth over the price of lifesaving EpiPens, we might finally be nearing a point of affordable pricing as competing manufacturers introduce alternatives for people with severe allergies.
Last week, Kaleo Pharma announced that its version of the device, the Auvi-Q Auto-Injector, will come back on the market. The move follows a self-imposed recall stemming from concerns over the accuracy of its dosage delivery system in late 2015.
The device will be available by prescription nationwide by Feb. 14, 2017 and will have a cash price of $360 — but many people won’t have to pay a cent.
It’s Been a Whirlwind Year for the EpiPen
Here’s how the controversy surrounding EpiPen prices went down:
- In mid-2016, Mylan, the pharmaceutical company behind the original EpiPen Auto-Injector, raised the price of the lifesaving device to upward of $600 for a two-pack. Obviously, this caused some outrage.
- By December, the company announced that it was releasing a generic version that would cost closer to $300. Baby steps, Mylan!
- Just a month later, CVS Pharmacy swooped in with a generic version of the EpiPen’s top competitor, Adrenaclick, that costs as little as $0 with coupons and insurance coverage (and at most $109.99).
But now, we have more good news in the quest to make lifesaving device accessible to everyone.
You Might Be Able to Get Auvi-Q for Free
With the news of Kaleo’s auto-injector came the launch of a new program, Auvi-Q AffordAbility. Kaleo describes it as the “first-of-its-kind access program” for people with life-threatening allergies who rely on epinephrine auto-injectors to treat anaphylactic shock.
Through the AffordAbility program, more than 200 million Americans with private insurance will have access to the Auvi-Q Auto-Injector for as little as $0 out of pocket — even those with high-deductible plans.
For people who are uninsured and have a household income of less than $100,000, the Auvi-Q Auto-Injector will be available for free.
…But It Isn’t Free to Everyone
According to Forbes, the device will cost insurance companies a steep $4,500. And no, that’s not a typo (I triple-checked).
Apparently, Kaleo is depending on a complex pricing scheme that allows it to hand out Auvi-Q for next to nothing.
While some insurance companies may begin to block out Auvi-Q completely at that price, the ones that do pay will hopefully profit enough to sustain the production and free distribution of the auto-injector.
The pharmaceutical company is confident that most insurers want to “support innovation” and gain their members’ trust.
Kaleo CEO Spencer Williamson says, “We are very encouraged by the number of plans that we believe are going to cover Auvi-Q.”
Auvi-Q Gets Personal
Kaleo says its desire to make Auvi-Q available comes from personal experience: The device, which talks users through the entire injection process, was invented by Eric and Evan Edwards, twin brothers who have had life-threatening allergies since childhood.
We can only hope this marks the end of the EpiPen price gouging.
Your Turn: Will Auvi-Q make treatment for those with severe allergies more affordable? Let us know in the comments below.
Grace Schweizer is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s just glad this overpriced EpiPen nonsense is over.
The post Do You Carry an EpiPen? Here’s How to Get a Generic Version for Free appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Trump Has Suspended FHA Mortgage Fee Cuts. Here’s What That Means
Millions of homeowners’ wallets took an unexpected hit last week, following a new executive action announced just hours after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Homeowners with Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed mortgages were anticipating a 0.25 percentage-point rate cut on insurance premiums to take effect Jan. 27. The move would have lowered overall payments by an average of $500 a year for millions of homeowners.
Those plans are now “suspended indefinitely,” according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Why FHA-Backed Loans are Important
FHA-insured loans make it possible for first-time homebuyers to qualify for a mortgage, even if they have bad credit or don’t have a lot of cash for a down payment.
The FHA-backed loan program is an important consumer option in the home loan market because it mitigates the risk lenders face when they make loans to homebuyers who might not otherwise qualify for them.
Homeowners are required to purchase two kinds of insurance to qualify for a FHA loan. One of the insurance premiums is paid upfront, while the other is rolled into the monthly mortgage payment.
Those monthly premiums are often quite high and can be a burden to cash-strapped families. The expected 0.25 percentage point rate cut would have reduced monthly payments and given struggling homeowners some extra breathing room.
What to Do If You’re Affected By the FHA Mortgage Fee Reversal
If you’re impacted by the president’s decision to reverse the FHA’s insurance premium rate cut, there’s not a lot you can do about it except contact your state and local representatives and (nicely) vent about it.
Those of us expecting to save an extra $500 per year will simply have to figure out how to make it up somewhere else, but I have faith my fellow Penny Hoarders.
You can make that much in a month if you’re good at decluttering, writing or even just sleeping.
If that sounds like too much work, just give up coffee.
Your Turn: Does the FHA insurance premium cut reversal affect you?
Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s really good at sleeping.
The post Trump Has Suspended FHA Mortgage Fee Cuts. Here’s What That Means appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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This Free Tool Actually Helps You Make Back Money You Spent on Amazon
Do you shop on Amazon?
Me, too — and I used it a lot for my holiday shopping.
That coffeemaker I wanted to get my mom, but waited too long to order? Well, Amazon was the only place that could get it to me on time. (Thanks, Prime! Sorry, UPS!)
It probably won’t make up for all the purchases you made, but we found a tool that will actually pay you back for some of the Amazon shopping you’ve already done…
…at least, that’s how my brain likes to see it since I got my bank statement at the end of last month.
How Can You Get Paid to Shop on Amazon?
This is such an easy, passive way to rake in an extra $36/year.
ShopTracker is operated by The Harris Poll, a survey company that measures U.S. public opinion.
In this case, it wants to see what products Amazon users purchase. When you sign up for ShopTracker, it keeps your private information, well, private.
All it wants to see is your order information, including the order date, product title (i.e. Cuisinart DGB-900BC Grind & Brew Thermal 12-Cup Automatic Coffeemaker), category, ISBN number, release date, condition, seller, list price per unit, quantity and other details.
Can You Sign Up for ShopTracker?
Before you start the simple download process, let me give you the basic requirements:
- This will be a waste of time if you don’t shop on Amazon.
- You must be 18 and live in the U.S.
- You’ll need at least a Windows 7-compatible PC. If you have Windows XP or a Mac, it won’t work.
All good? Time to download.
How to Download ShopTracker and Start Earning Extra Money
The download process takes 3 minutes — tops.
Navigate over to ShopTracker, and enter your full name, birthday, street address, zip code and gender. This is the most personal the information will get.
Next question: How often do you use Amazon to make purchases? The Harris Poll is just making sure you qualify, so no need to lie to yourself on this one.
Second question: What type of Amazon account do you have? If you don’t have anything special, no worries — just select “None of the above.”
Finally, does your household have more than one Amazon account? If the answer is no, you won’t be disqualified. My whole fam shares a Prime account, so go ahead and be honest.
That’s the end of the questions! The next screen will let you know if you’re qualified to sign up.
If you do qualify, it’ll outline the details: You’ll get a $3 Visa gift code in your inbox each month. Once you accept it, the app automatically syncs to your Amazon account — so you don’t have to do anything, really.
Next step is to continue the download process. You’ll install the app and log into your Amazon account. Within 48 hours, you’ll get that Visa code, which you can accept.
If you keep this going for a year, you’ll get an extra $36. It’s not a ton, but it sure beats getting nothing back, right?
Your Turn: What will you buy with the extra money from ShopTracker?
Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links. We’re letting you know because it’s what Honest Abe would do. After all, he is on our favorite coin.
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 This Free Tool Actually Helps You Make Back Money You Spent on Amazon appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Amazon is Hiring — and Opening New Fulfillment Centers in These 3 Cities
Remember Amazon’s big plans to fill 100,000 jobs in the next year and a half?
These jobs span the online retail empire, and not all 100,000 of those jobs require super-impressive tech skills, according to the original press release.
In fact, many of these new Amazon jobs are in fulfillment centers, which are opening in cities across the U.S. right now.
Where are These New Amazon Jobs?
Amazon’s Jan. 12 press release boasted fulfillment centers under construction across the country, from Texas and California to Florida and New Jersey — adding to its existing 80-plus centers worldwide.
Since then, Amazon has announced that new centers will pop up in North East, Maryland; Coppell, Texas; and Aurora, Colorado.
Stay tuned with Amazon’s latest press releases.
The Benefits of Working at an Amazon Fulfillment Center
All the jobs Amazon has been boasting about are full-time — which means full benefits.
And there are so many perks, including:
- “Highly competitive pay”
- Health insurance
- Disability insurance
- Retirement savings plans
- Company stock
- Up to 20 weeks of paid leave
Amazon also has something called a Career Choice program, which preps employees for other in-demand Amazon (and otherwise) jobs.
Basically, the program pre-pays 95% of college tuition, so long as you’re taking classes that pertain to in-demand, high-wage fields, even if they aren’t relevant to a future Amazon career.
More than 9,000 employees have already taken part in the program.
Find out more about benefits (for part-timers, too!) right here.
Is a Fulfillment Center Coming to My City?
Right now, the Amazon jobs page says more than 4,000 positions are available across the U.S. (plus international opportunities in the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland).
Visit the Amazon jobs page for fulfillment centers, and click “View Open Jobs.”
For more of the latest and greatest job opportunities, be sure to *like* our Facebook jobs page.
Your Turn: What’s your most recent Amazon purchase? I bought some twine for a DIY project.
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 Amazon is Hiring — and Opening New Fulfillment Centers in These 3 Cities appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Kroger Has 10,000 Jobs on Its Shopping List. Here’s How to Bag One of Them
Big companies are making some big hires this new year.
Now Kroger.
This Monday, the popular grocery store chain announced plans to hire about 10,000 additional permanent employees.
Kroger Offers Employees Awesome Benefits Too
Last year, Kroger landed in our round-up of 10 grocery stores that offer employees amazing benefits.
Kroger has a “Total Rewards” package it describes as highly competitive. Make sure you ask about benefits if you apply!
We mentioned a few of the benefits employees might be eligible for in our post, including…
- Medical plans
- Life insurance
- Discounted home and auto insurance
- Adoption benefits
- Retirement options
- Stock options
- Tuition assistance and college scholarships
- Product discounts
- Fitness tracking devices, discounted gym memberships or coaching plans.
Plus growth. Even if you snag a part-time gig in the beginning, there’s a possibility you can work your way up.
“Kroger is a place where you can come for a job and stay for a career,” says Tim Massa, Kroger’s vice president of human resources and labor relations.
He adds that 70% of store managers start as part-time clerks.
How to Bag One of These 10,000 Kroger Jobs
Massa says Kroger is looking for folks “who are passionate about people and about food, and who want to make a difference for our customers, communities and each other.”
If you’re interested in finding a job in your area, check out the Kroger jobs page and search by your zip code. If you don’t find your dream job on your first search, set an email notification to get automated updates.
Not hungry for a grocery gig? Find more job opportunities on our Facebook jobs page.
Your Turn: What’s your favorite grocery store?
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 Kroger Has 10,000 Jobs on Its Shopping List. Here’s How to Bag One of Them appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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When will UK interest rates rise?
The UK base rate remains at a historic low but analysts are already looking to the future, with some expecting interest rates to rise sooner rather than later.
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GFC 082: Why We Told a Millionaire They Couldn’t Retire Twice
Congratulations! You finally reached it, millionaire status. For many retirees reaching the point where you have over $1 million of investments is quite an accomplishment.
Many people work decades saving and scraping along the way and don’t reach this milestone but you got there and you’re on cloud nine because the sky’s the limit.
That was the case when we encountered a potential new client. This individual had accumulated over $1 million of investments and he was ready to call it quits.
He became disenchanted with his current job and looked forward to the next chapter of his life, retirement.
He felt confident with his financial situation and was just waiting for the green light from us to tell him the good news.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get it.
Not even close.
Not only did we tell this optimistic, soon to be retiree that he couldn’t retire with his $1 million, we told him the exact same thing over a year later.
Why exactly did we tell this investor who had over $1 million in his retirement portfolio that he couldn’t retire? Find out on the latest podcast episode.
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
- The Financial Success Blueprint™ – my firms unique financial planning process
- Can you retire with $2 million?
- How to invest $1 million.
The post GFC 082: Why We Told a Millionaire They Couldn’t Retire Twice appeared first on Good Financial Cents.
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Questions About Flipping Houses, Scentsy, Journaling, Intermittent Fasting and More!
What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Where should retirement savings go?
2. Buying furniture on credit
3. Buying a house to flip
4. Bonus issue
5. You Need a Budget recommendation?
6. Scentsy and other marketing schemes
7. Intermittent fasting?
8. Leveraging outside interest for raise
9. Overvaluing the now
10. Earning money in Roth IRA
11. Options for journaling
12. Thoughts on prayer
One of the biggest self-improvement projects I’ve ever had for myself is to simply become more focused in my professional productivity. What I mean by that is that I have a certain amount of tasks to complete in a week and some of them require some brainstorming and thinking time, so what’s the most efficient way I can get all of those tasks done with quality results? The reality of my life is that my “work hours” are defined not by the clock, but by the projects I need to get done. If I can get a day’s tasks done in four hours, I can stop working at the four hour mark. If they take me twelve, then I need to work twelve. Thus, more efficient work directly results in more free time for other things in my life.
I’ve figured out that I’m much more productive on work projects in the morning and that my productivity really starts to decline in the afternoon. I’ve figured out that it comes in waves and that I really need a 10-15 minute break every hour or so, unless I can slip into a “zone” where I more or less lose track of time but I’m really productive. Thus, my goal on many days is to slip into that “zone” state if at all possible, but I simply can’t quite pull it off every day. I’ve figured out that there are certain little things that I can do that really help, like meditate/pray and get some exercise and get very hydrated and eat enough so that I’m not hungry but not overly full and turn off my cell phone and close my web browser and put on some ambient techno music. Lately, I’ve figured out that drinking a cup of coffee immediately followed by a cup of green tea can help a little bit.
It’s a constant experiment, though, and it’s something I take notes on. I know that I’m far more productive today than I was eight years ago or so, and that’s largely due to trial and error and sticking with the things that work. I can get about as much done in 4 hours today as I did in 7 or so hours several years ago, which makes a huge difference in my life.
The key, more than anything else, is experimenting, keeping track of what works, and repeating it.
Q1: Where should retirement savings go?
I left my job in 2011 to attend graduate school. I rolled over my 401k proceeds into an IRA and did not contribute any additional money during the two years I was in school. When I started my new job after graduation, I had to wait a full year to contribute to my company’s retirement plan. In the interim, I contributed $100/month to my rollover IRA. I’ve continued to do this for the last few years, and have also been contributing 7% of my salary to my employer 401k. My question is whether I should continue to contribute $100/month to my IRA as I have been, or if I should direct that instead to either my employer 401k or open a Roth IRA instead.
– Jeanine
The first question you need to ask is whether or not your employer is matching any of your 401(k) contributions. Are you getting any matching at all?
If you’re not getting any matching, you should open up a Roth IRA and channel all of your retirement savings into that. Try, if you can, to hit the annual contribution limit of $5,500. If you want to save more than that, turn back to your 401(k).
If you are getting matching, contribute as much as you can to get every drop of matching funds from your employer. If you want to save more, open up a Roth IRA and contribute there.
The reason for this is that you should try to balance your pre-tax and post-tax retirement savings, and it sounds like everything you have right now is pre-tax. A Roth IRA is a post-tax vehicle, which means you won’t have to pay taxes on what you withdraw in retirement, which means your tax rate in retirement will effectively be lower (since you won’t need as much pre-tax income, like work income or money from a 401(k)).
Q2: Buying furniture on credit
My wife and I are looking to purchase several new pieces of furniture for our living room. We aren’t buying anything super high-end and have plenty of cash saved to make the purchase, but we were considering opening a new credit card through our bank with no interest over x number of months and paying the full amount off before the interest kicks in. We are young and have little credit history—so the thought is that every little bit might help increase our score (as long as the credit limit is high enough on the card). Do you have any opinion or thoughts on this?
– Kevin
I don’t see any problem with doing this provided that you spend significantly less than what you have saved for this. Don’t spend more than you have saved; don’t even spend everything you have saved. Then, I’d make minimum payments on the card until a month or so before the zero interest period ends, then I’d pay off the whole thing.
The benefits here are twofold. One, you’ll build credit by having that credit card and by making your minimum payments on it. Two, because it’s zero interest, you’ll be able to leave your money in savings where it will still earn a little bit for you before you pay off the card.
Just don’t spend as much as you have saved. You’re going to want to have some “extra” for an emergency fund if something goes haywire in your life.
Kevin has a second question.
Q3: Buying a house to flip
My wife and I currently rent our home for $850 a month. We chose to rent when we moved here because we didn’t know the area and knew that we would likely have to move again in 3-4 years. I have found a small home that is livable but in need of renovation that is currently priced at $65,000, which would of course mean a much lower monthly payment than our current rent. And, with the money we save, we could put some sweat equity into the home and likely flip it for a moderate gain or rent it out (we live in a fast-growing area where rentals are in demand). However, I’m still hesitant to purchase, because we will likely be moving in less than 2 years. How would you proceed in this situation?
– Kevin
If you have a passion for home improvement and that would become your main hobby, then go for it. If it’s not something that excites you and not something you’d want to do most days after work, then don’t go for it.
House remodeling and flipping is a great hobby for someone who loves those kinds of tasks. I have a friend who is happier than a clam when he’s in the midst of a home remodeling project, for example. For me? It’s something I’ll do if it needs to be done, but I don’t get excited about it (I don’t particularly hate it, either; it’s more like indifference, as I can appreciate it but it’s not the thing that lights my fire).
If you don’t have that passion, this is going to end up being a bad move, as you’re going to feel obligated to invest a lot of time into something that you’re not passionate about for fairly modest gains (you’re going to invest a lot of time and quite a few materials; you’ll get a return but not a huge one for the time you’ve invested). If you’re passionate about it, then you get additional joy from the time invested and that makes the whole project “worth it;” if you’re not, then it’s not worth it.
Q4: Bonus issue
A bit of background, I make just under what would qualify me for HCE which is good that I can put 24K into my 401k (i’m over 50). Recently our bonuses got much larger and last year it was going to put me over the HCE max which meant I was going to be limited to 3.2% of my salary (that’s the average put in where I work).
So dropping from 24K going into 401k to just over 3K was a big issue. Around this time I was offered another job which I considered, talking to the owners of the company I had said that the 401k issue was a big concern for me. They suggested that my bonus be paid to my wife (she also works here) instead of me. Hey, I’m fine with that, they asked me to sign a paper saying to pay her my bonus, which I did.
Is this legal? If not, would it be me or them that would get into trouble?
– Stephen
I was unsure about the legality of this arrangement, so I asked a friend in the legal profession who informed me that it’s likely in a gray area and it depends on the locale and the wording of the agreement.
I would consult a lawyer in your area regarding the legality of the arrangement; lawyer-client confidentiality should keep you safe here, and this is what my legal-minded friend suggested as well.
That’s usually the best route when you’re unsure as to the legality of an arrangement. Check with a lawyer before you sign anything that you’re unsure about.
Q5: You Need a Budget recommendation?
I’ve just read your article where you use YNAB. Now that YNAB has changed to a subscription based, do you still recommend YNAB to new users?
– Carrie
I still use You Need a Budget, but I don’t use the subscription version. I continue to use the older version, YNAB 4, which is still available here. They are no longer officially supporting the old version, however.
I do not and will not use the new subscription version of the product. It has transformed into software that stores your financial data in the cloud, and I have no use for such software. No matter how good their security is – and it is quite good – it simply becomes another potential failure point for identity theft, and I do everything I can to minimize those. A “failure point” is simply any company that potentially has access to your data in such a way that they could be hacked, and every new account you have is another potential failure point.
If the old version ceases to work for me, I’ll go back to using my old PearBudget spreadsheet. I have no interest in sharing my financial data in the cloud with any company more than I have to.
Q6: Scentsy and other marketing schemes
I am curious what knowledge you have with companies such as Perfectly Posh, Scentsy, Thirty-one, being at home businesses that actually make you money. Is it possible? My wife has been part of Perfectly Posh for over a year. I’m not sold on the fact that she’s making money and not just losing money.
– Philip
Perfectly Posh, Scentsy, and many other similar companies all fall under the umbrella of multi-level marketing or network marketing organizations. In a nutshell, those organizations are very difficult for the people on the ground actually selling the product to make a lot of money from unless they are exceptional salespeople, in which case they can find much better paying gigs in actual sales departments.
There are a lot of reasons for this, but the key reason is that such organizations tend to reward those who recruit new salespeople much more than it rewards the salespeople. The people doing the selling on the ground almost always have to invest in the products themselves and then sell those items at a markup in order to make money, but they’re usually losing some portion of that markup to the person that recruited them.
So, let’s say they want to sell items that are listed at $500 in the catalogue. They either have to sell from the catalogue, which is difficult because there’s no product to show and the buyer has to wait for the item to come in, or they have to invest in the product themselves. So, that person has to invest in a bunch of product that they may or may not sell – they may have to spend $300 on that product, then store it in a room somewhere while they sell it. There’s also usually a cut for the person that got them into selling – let’s say it’s another $30. So, they’ve invested $330 in items that they have to sell. If they sell every single item, they’ll make $170. Every single unsold item cuts into that profit. Every single item that they use for promotion or demonstration cuts into that profit. All of the time they invest in selling that stuff reduces the income per hour.
What usually happens is that sellers are lucky to break even and, even if they do, they’ve invested so many hours that their hourly wage is measured in pennies rather than dollars. Not only that, there’s a good likelihood that they’ve pressured their friends into buying things that their friends do not really want, which can strain friendships.
It’s just not worth it. However, if your wife has sunk money into product that she has on hand, she needs to sell most of it to recoup what’s already invested.
Also, be aware that such companies use lots of tricks and misdirection to disguise the details of this arrangement and make it look better to new salespeople and outsiders. They use a lot of positive psychology and other techniques to make this feel like a “real business.”
If your wife does manage to easily sell all of this stuff without dinging her friends, then she’s a good enough salesperson that she should get a real sales job and make a lot more money than she could ever make through this system.
Q7: Intermittent fasting?
I’ve been researching intermittent fasting diets to improve my health and cognition. I did a search on The Simple Dollar and noticed you haven’t covered this yet. So, I thought I’d just shoot you an email and the attached article in the hopes that you would consider writing on it.
http://ift.tt/2jc4NN0
– Nina
Intermittent fasting is one of many topics that I have considered writing about on The Simple Dollar but I was unable to find enough real evidence or personal experience to really warrant it as a tool for self-improvement or reduced spending.
There is some evidence that intermittent fasting can help with weight loss and health improvement, as summarized in this JAMC article, but the question remains whether it is as effective as simply dieting as normal.
I sometimes intermittently fast just as part of a normal day. I’ll skip breakfast and lunch and eat a fairly large dinner with my family. I don’t notice any real benefits from it, though, other than it definitely reduces my calorie intake for the day provided I don’t just pig out at dinnertime.
Q8: Leveraging outside interest for raise
I have 9-10 years experience in my field and have been at my current employer for almost 3 years. In those 3 years, I have quickly earned a lot of responsibility, rising into a leadership role (although not formally recognized as a promotion), added an extracurricular role by joining the hiring committee, and my company has steadily increased my pay during the 2 yearly performance reviews I’ve had. I enjoy genuine friendships with several coworkers, something lacking at past companies.
The local job market in my field is quite strong currently, especially for those at my experience level. I receive regular inquiries from job-recruiters (usually through LinkedIn, but occasionally they call my office voicemail) and I typically do reply with a short and polite, professional note saying thanks but no thanks.
To date, I’ve gone into all my reviews expecting to be offered a modest pay increase, yet pumping myself up to try to negotiate another 1-2%. I’ve never actually followed through, however, and have accepted the pay increase in the moment, partially because the raise was a bit more than I expected but frankly also because I chickened out.
This year, however, with increased responsibility and a strong demand for my skills, I’m looking for a substantial increase. Should I be prepared to leverage outside interest, even if I have almost zero interest in switching employers? One recruiter claimed that he was referred to me specifically and that his client would offer a $10k+ bump if the interview went well, even without knowing my current salary. Such a tactic would be unfamiliar territory for me and always carries at least some risk. I’m pretty sure I’ve found my long-term “fit” here and wouldn’t want to jeopardize that. Still, these reviews are my only real opportunity to increase pay.
Thanks for any tips or advice in advance.
– Jake
If you have a history of strong performance reviews and there are no job security concerns, there should be no problem in discussing a 1-2% additional raise during a performance review. The best thing you can do is to simply document your case for why you should receive such a raise. I would literally write up a “report” of sorts that makes your case as to why you deserve the raise. Make a list of ten or so bullet points, basically made up of what you describe above, and take it with you to the meeting to give yourself something to refer to when making your case.
Outside interest can be a useful tool for leverage, but it does run its own risk of making you seem disloyal to the organization and that is not worth it when discussing a modest raise like this. It’s better if you’re going in and seeking a 10% or more raise, not a 1-2% raise.
Another tool to consider is whether or not some form of compensation outside of the actual raise might make you happy. What about some increased flexibility in your schedule, or some extra vacation time? Those are compensation tools that don’t directly impact the company’s bottom line but also provide value to you. Think about options like those as well if you’re nervous about asking directly for dollars and cents.
Q9: Overvaluing the now
My biggest financial problem is that I constantly overvalue now. In the moment, I don’t see it, but I see it later all the time. I decide that some small pleasure RIGHT NOW is much more worthwhile than bigger things down the road. Because of that I sometimes wind up in credit card trouble and I have a hard time saving much of anything. Help!!? How do I stop making the same dumb mistake!!?
– Connie
First of all, stop using your credit card. A credit card is like a knife; it’s a great tool in the hands of someone who can use it effectively, but it can also cut your thumb off. If you’re constantly using it to sate short-term desires, you’re closer to the “cut your thumb off” category. Just stop using it for a while. Rely solely on your debit card and keep close track of what’s going on in your checking account.
Second, set up some automatic savings plans that suck money straight out of your checking without you needing to take any action. Set up an online savings account at, say, Ally Bank and instruct them to withdraw, say, $50 from your checking each week. The money in that account becomes your emergency fund and/or your savings for big goals like a down payment on a car or a house. You can do a similar thing to get a Roth IRA rolling for retirement.
What you’re doing is effectively removing the options you have available to you to make those bad decisions in the moment. It’s a lot harder to decide to buy a $200 item if you only have $150 in your checking account rather than an effectively infinite credit card.
Q10: Earning money in Roth IRA
My father has given each of his kids a cash gift in the form of a Roth IRA contribution each year for Christmas. He just kind of handles all of it. He’s been doing it for several years but I haven’t really looked at it ever, but this Christmas he told all of us that we should start looking at our Roth IRAs and make some investment choices. It’s through Vanguard. I currently have $21,808 in Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund. What should I be doing with it?
– Kelly
Given that you seem to be very hands off in terms of personally managing your investing, your best bet would be to move all of it into a Target Retirent Fund. Figure out the approximate year in which you’ll turn 70, and then find the Target Retirement Fund that is closest to that year. For example, let’s say you’re 32 in 2017. That would mean you’d turn 70 in 2055, so you’d want to find the Target 2055 Retirement Fund and move your money into there.
A Target Retirement Fund is basically a mix of investments that’s geared to balance risk and reward as well as possible given that you’re planning to retire around that year. If you’re far away from it, it is high risk and high reward since you have plenty of time to recover from a downturn and you want to ride every rise in stocks and bonds over the coming years; if you’re close to it, it’s lower risk and lower reward to make sure that you’re not hammered at the last minute by a market downturn.
I don’t know exactly how your father is contributing this money. I’m guessing he has a Vanguard account for you that he can log into and make the transfer. If that’s the case, just drop him a note telling him what you did with it and that you’d like any future gifts to go straight into that fund.
Q11: Options for journaling
I’ve been wanting to journal for awhile and was thinking about online journaling for ease of use. I’m still undecided about that and wanted an option for writing myself. I tried searching the archives for what journal Trent uses. I remember him talking about the binding of the one he uses which is a reason he selected it. Could you provide me with that information? Also, are there any good online journaling websites that may be around for a long time that I could possibly download my journals from? This question may have already been asked… the reason why I’m also hesitating to do online journaling is because of possible content that I would be writing about.
– Sandra
I personally do all of my journaling by hand. I find that it has a lot more impact on me personally and on my thinking if I actually write it out with a pen. I tend to think more about what I’m writing if I do it that way. I usually “back up” my journal entries by taking pictures of them and saving them in Evernote, which is protected by a really long password that only I know, but that’s a choice you can make for yourself whether you want to save them in that way.
If I’m buying the journals myself, I just buy college-lined composition books. I can find these for very cheap around the time of back-to-school sales, so I stock up. I can usually buy several for a dollar, so I’ll often buy $3-4 worth and that will last for a LONG time.
However, I fill up lots of notebooks and my family and friends know this, so I often receive notebooks as a gift. My favorite notebook is the Baron Fig Confidant and also their Vanguard. I absolutely love these and prefer them over all other notebooks. I do also use pocket notebooks to jot down reminders, and for those I do splurge a little and use Field Notes because they (usually) hold up really well in my hip pocket; however, there are some special editions of Field Notes that don’t hold up as well. If you buy the basic craft cover versions, they’re great in the pocket.
I don’t really have any thoughts on online journaling tools. When I’ve tried it, I’ve just journaled in Evernote, but I always switch back to doing them by hand because typing those entries just doesn’t have the same impact.
Q12: Thoughts on prayer
You have said before that you “meditate/pray” each day. What does that mean? Do you think that prayer helps with personal finances?
– Dana
In my mind, meditation and prayer are basically the same thing; the only difference is what you’re focusing on. I usually think of meditation as either focusing on some specific aspect of your own body, like your breathing, or phrase that’s meant to inspire calmness or self-improvement. Prayer, on the other hand, uses the same techniques, but tends to try to focus on a short religious passage or verse and tries to be open to spiritual questions. Some people may want to focus on the spiritual while others may not, but I think the same basic technique is helpful for everyone.
What I do is very simple. I choose something to focus on. I find that my breathing is a very useful target. A specific bible verse or even a portion of a bible verse can be a great target. A short quote or phrase can be, too. A concern you’re having can be one, too. Just find a comfortable place to sit or lay down, close your eyes, and focus on whatever your target is. If it’s your breathing, focus on the in and out rhythm of your breath; if you chose a phrase, repeat that phrase slowly over and over in your head; if you chose a prayer or a bible verse, repeat it slowly over and over in your head. Whenever your thoughts stray from that target, don’t get upset; just gently bring your focus back to the target of your prayer or meditation. Start off trying to do this for five minutes, but over many sessions lengthen it.
What does it do for me? It definitely calms me down. I usually feel ready to focus and be productive in the things I have to do. I am pretty convinced that it improves my ability to concentrate and focus, but it’s more of a gradual change there. I usually feel good after I do it. I think it makes me more mindful of my environment, what’s happening around me, and what other people are doing. It is said in many places that it helps with blood pressure and heart rate, though I have no data to back that up. I find that it’s well worth the ten or fifteen minutes you devote to it.
I usually do it for ten minutes at least once a day, and sometimes twice or thrice a day. I feel like it’s a good use of my time.
Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.
The post Questions About Flipping Houses, Scentsy, Journaling, Intermittent Fasting and More! appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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8 Content Marketing Tricks That Helped Dollar Shave Club Go Viral
Ask any North-American male aged 17-30 whether he’s heard of Dollar Shave Club (DSC).
He’ll probably say, “Yeah.”
And it’s not just dudes who know about DSC. A lot of women know about it too because they’ve bought subscriptions for the men in their lives.
Dollar Shave Club is a classic example of startup that blew up—in a good way.
What was one of the first signs of their success?
A video. A viral video.
If you haven’t seen it, you ought to check it out:
The company’s launch video, casually titled “Our Blades Are F**king Great,” quickly became a sensation on the web.
With punchlines and gags to suit a variety of tastes, the video racked up nearly 5 million views within the first 90 days.
The company’s founder, Michael Dubin, had a few aces up his sleeve to help create a professionally cut video.
The CEO studied performing arts at Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) in New York, where he learned to use the power of comedy to capture the attention of an audience.
He also leveraged his contacts from his time at UCB to bring on a director and connect with a production studio that helped keep costs low. The original DSC launch video was only $4,500.
Most brands trying to produce a tightly choreographed video like the one DSC produced would expect to spend closer to $60k.
But the viral video wasn’t pure luck. The whole thing was carefully orchestrated. But let’s be honest, most startups aren’t Dollar Shave Club.
You probably don’t have a background in theater to help you be as funny as DSC’s CEO, and it’s not likely that you’ll create something that goes on to secure over 7 million views.
But don’t get caught up on the view count. You can still be successful without trying to chase the same numbers if you break down what DSC did in their quest for a successful launch.
Here are 8 tricks you can pull from their viral campaigns to help you boost your own content strategy.
1. The power of video
Simply put, video is the best format for telling stories. You can connect with a consumer and establish a powerful emotional connection with your audience through the use of video more so than any other content format.
You can flesh out that one concept that resonates with an audience and deliver it with a voice and personality that captivates them through a one-on-one connection.
DSC use of video was a smart move, especially given video usage statistics. HubSpot shares a number of compelling stats that show why diversifying content marketing to include video is a smart move:
- 92% of mobile video consumers share videos with others
- More than a third of all online activity involves watching videos
- More than a third of consumers trust video ads
- 80% of users can recall a video ad they viewed in the last 30 days
- Enjoyment of video advertising increases purchase intent by 97% and brand association by 139%
2. Great storytelling
I’m convinced that great storytelling is crucial to a brand’s viral success. This happened at DSC.
Here’s the story (about the story) from Adam Weber, Dollar Shave Club’s CMO.
“What we’ve really focused in on since our launch video has been all about finding which new stories to tell, to what consumers, and then finding the right distribution platforms to tell them. We take our video storytelling to the obvious places. We do a lot of investment in television, which is a great place to tell a narrative with video.”
Here’s more of his explanation:
I think in the long term, as you get more into the digital places, the social outlets like YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter — those types of venues are great venues for telling stories via video. Those have become an increasingly larger part of our game plan. They offer a lot of unique capabilities that something like television doesn’t offer.
Not every aspect of a marketing strategy needs to contain storytelling, but it should be a part of your marketing strategy, and DSC’s success is proof of that. There are three reasons why it works.
- First, stories grab the attention of the audience. When you have an impressive and captivating narrative, people will want to satisfy their curiosity—especially if the story is relatable.
- Second, having a strong narrative helps build the trust with your audience. People trust you more when you open up and share personal stories with them. It works very similarly when brands share their narratives, and it brings the audience back for more.
- And third, stories simply do a better job at grabbing the attention of most people over raw content like statistics or facts. Not to say those aren’t interesting at all, but you’re guaranteed to capture more interest if you can tell a story around facts and data.
3. They knew their audience
Another thing that stands out with Dollar Shave Club is their knowledge of their target audience. DSC talks to men in a pretty relatable voice, providing something that never existed when it comes to men’s grooming products.
Prior to Dollar Shave Club, a lot of the razor content and brand positioning either used a highbrow “gentlemanly” approach or painted men as hairy Neanderthals who needed blades with the edge of a katana to stay smooth.
But how long can you sell products pushing the “closer shave” approach?
Dollar Shave Club shows that when you take the time to unearth what your audience wants, you learn how to talk to them. You can create content that uses language they can relate to, with ideas that make sense.
Every content marketing strategy should begin with good, deep buyer research so you know what they want, how they want it, where to find them and how to get it to them.
4. Focused on the value proposition
No matter how hilarious the video is, all those views won’t translate into sales and revenue if you can’t connect the product to the consumer in some way. Storytelling is a good start, but so is knowing your audience.
Dollar Shave Club knocked it out of the park by staying focused on the value proposition with their messaging and content, from landing pages to videos.
When you watch the videos, you understand the convenience of never having to shop for replacement blades, and you also appreciate the price. I know, like many men do, the frustration of watching the price of blade replacements climb constantly.
Dollar Shave Club didn’t have a unique product. Razors are everywhere. Still, they developed a unique value proposition around their products and made sure to keep that front and center throughout their content marketing campaigns.
5. Easily sharable
Dollar Shave Club includes traditional media placement, like television, in their marketing strategy. But the success of the launch and rapid growth can be attributed to the shareability of their digital content.
By creating a variety of video content, along with stop-motion animations, promoted through social media, they made it easy for prospective customers and consumers to share that content with their friends and family.
It was, and still is, a perfect formula for getting content to spread. Simply create content that triggers positive emotions.
Awe-inspiring content, humor, and strong stories make any piece of content engaging and shareable.
6. Every word has a purpose
Early in the production process, Dubin had a sizable script that ran upwards of four pages. Part of the creative process meant trimming that down. It’s an approach you have to take with content, no matter the format.
If content isn’t 100% essential to delivering the message, it needs to be cut. Every word, moment, and frame of a video must have a purpose or a point.
Once the content was stripped down to its bare bones, focused only on the brand messaging, the team went to work scripting humorous content to keep the video light-hearted, but sharp-witted and funny.
People understand brand messaging, and when you subvert that, they recognize the risk you took,
says Lucia Aniello who directed the launch video for Dollar Shave Club and worked with Dubin to craft the script.
Learn to trust the funny. If you take a risk, you may get a reward.
A perfect example is the unofficial tagline of the company that acts as the title for the first video. While trying to establish a solid line that would hit the audience hard at the beginning of the video, Aniello suggested “Our blades are f**king great.”
I remember Mike’s face when I first said that line,
Aniello recalls.
There was a half a second of concern, and then whatever angel sitting on his shoulder—or devil maybe—said, “Go for it.”
7. Strategic content release
There are plenty of marketers who will tell you that Dollar Shave Club just got lucky with the content. Some would say the same for the Old Spice commercials that mixed randomness with wit and humor.
Luck certainly plays a role in any piece of content going viral, but timing is important as well. Dollar Shave Club knew this much, which is why they had some strategy for the release of their content.
In fact, the video was technically live online before it was a viral hit as the team showed it around to attract investors and to gauge reactions.
When it came time to launch, the video piggybacked on a funding announcement Dubin knew would gather plenty of media coverage. That pushed a lot of traffic toward the content and ensured it wouldn’t disappear among the countless hours of content uploaded to YouTube every minute of every day.
You have to think strategically to give your content a fighting chance. Don’t try to release content into a vacuum.
8. The content was funny
People don’t share content just for the sake of sharing it. Think about the content you’ve shared most recently. There are likely one or more reasons you did so:
- The content resonated with you on a personal level through a common thought or belief
- It was inspirational and connected with you emotionally
- It was funny or educational—or both
- You found value in it and felt your connections would also enjoy it
The Dollar Shave Club video, and much of their content marketing, revolves around an amusing, witty, self-deprecating sense of humor. It’s compelling in a Jackass/Knoxville kind of way (minus the violent shots to the groin.)
But you don’t need to have raw comedic talent or formal training to make a strong connection with your audience. In fact, if you try too hard, your message could come off as forced.
It worked for DSC because they knew their audience, but more importantly, it was the personality of the brand. There was consistency in the brand messaging and the content itself.
DSC wasn’t funny just for the sake of being funny.
Conclusion
The success of Dollar Shave Club’s content can be replicated, but it shouldn’t be duplicated.
With the right strategy, you can develop content that will captivate your audience. You just need to understand what they want and discover how to talk to them.
With that information, you can diversify and produce content in formats that will be most successful with the people you’re trying to target.
You don’t need to be funny. You just need to be authentic, sincere, consistent, and willing to listen.
What tricks can you borrow from Dollar Shave Club to increase your brand’s power?
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Revealed: how to cut holiday costs in 2017
Timing is everything when it comes to scoring the cheapest prices for flights and hotels in 2017, according to new research by travel search engine Kayak.
By analysing data based on millions of searches, Kayak has found that with a little planning, travellers can save huge amounts of money.
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When the Woman is the Breadwinner: 3 Men Tell Us What It’s Like
During our first five years together, my partner Stefan and I contributed pretty evenly to our meager budget.
He was a touring stand-up comedian, and I was a freelance blogger.
Each comes with income ebbs and flows, and we just hoped one would flow if the other was ebbing.
By the time I started a full-time job that moved us to a new city in August 2015, he was ready to get out of comedy, but not sure what to do next.
He’d been sort of out of the workforce for almost five years and working for himself, so he didn’t want to just jump back into a full-time job working for someone else.
“I realized how much I liked having the freedom to work on creative projects at my own pace,” he explained. “Any kind of restaurant job or office job is just not the kind of life I want to live, so if I have the ability and the opportunity to have my creative freedom and also live a decent life, it’s kind of hard to pass up.”
“Creative freedom” also meant not needing to hustle in another creative career after clawing his way up through the last one for years.
We came up with the perfect solution for both of us: Instead of getting a job, he’d stay home and take care of the house — and me.
My new salary doubled what the two of us had been earning together. Even though our household budget remains well below average, living on one income has hardly been a financial concern.
I was more worried about the stigma of a man in his 30s staying home while his partner worked full-time.
I love our life, but I know it’s not typical. I come from a blue-collar background, where a job is considered a necessary hardship of adulthood.
My traditional roots had me wondering if we were doing it wrong. Shouldn’t we be like other couples, who both find time to work, take care of the house, raise kids, feed pets and water plants together?
Stefan doesn’t worry as much about the stigma, though.
“I don’t ever feel guilty about not working. (Our relationship) is a pretty good balance,” he explained.
“She doesn’t want me to work, and I don’t really want to work. I do check in every couple of months (to see if I should get a job). She likes the dishes to be cleaned and dinner on the table at 5:30 p.m.”
And we have time to spend with each other, which I hear a lot of couples with plants and kids and everything struggle to find.
When Your Partner is the Breadwinner
Stefan also doesn’t think our situation is so out of the ordinary.
“Everyone knows at least one family (now) that has a stay-at-home dad or a stay-at-home husband,” he said.
His understanding of what “everyone knows” is probably influenced by his progressive parents, though. His mom, Jacque Preston, works full-time as a professor at Utah Valley University, while his stepdad, Brad Fraley, is a stay-at-home husband.
Brad’s reasoning behind their decision mirrors our own:
“[My wife] can really give 110% to a job she likes,” he pointed out. And, “she’s got business ideas that she’s spinning off. The only way that works is if she has nothing else she has to do, and the two of us can really relax when she has time off. We can just hang out. That’s the life we want to live.”
Brad has been “fully supported” for about four years. Before he and Jacque met, he’d been a Tai Chi teacher in Ohio for 10 years, a job that supported him but only required a commitment of about 25 hours per week.
“When I met Jacque, I had already established a lifestyle of minimal work … I really had no intentions of working a full-time job or doing something that I didn’t enjoy for money,” he explained.
Brad said she respected that, and it was simple to negotiate into their relationship.
When his wife started graduate school in Madison, Wisconsin, he moved with her and cut his teaching down to part-time, periodically traveling back to Ohio to run workshops. Not working gave him time to assist his wife with her graduate studies and to audit classes himself.
In Madison, the couple were living on Brad’s part-time income, plus his wife’s student loans and stipend as a teaching assistant.
When I asked him if this move meant a big cut in income for them, he said casually, “Yeah, I’d say so. We were probably living on less money.”
When she took a full-time job with UVU, the couple moved to Utah, and Brad “went full-time retirement.”
At first, this move posed more of a strain on their budget.
“We were pretty broke, but within about a year we had gotten to a point where we were comfortable,” he said.
They rented cheaply, cut costs for a while, and were able to save and pay off bills as Jacque’s new full-time income boosted their budget.
“I think there are times when we both realize it would be nice to have more money, especially when we think about the future, but I think we imagine my having a job and how that would change everything, that does not seem very appealing at all.”
Stefan and I echo that sentiment. Sure, more money would always be welcome. But it would mean a lifestyle neither of us wants to live.
What Does a Stay-at-Home Husband Do All Day?
We do make what some people would consider sacrifices to live our single-income lifestyles.
We rent instead of owning homes — not so unusual for us millennials, but atypical for Brad and Jacque, each in their 50s. Each couple has a single used car. Brad and Stefan, respectively, often handle car repairs, a money-saving benefit we might not have if the men worked.
I asked Brad if he faces any stigma for the lifestyle. He responded to this just as casually as to questions about money, “I think that there probably are some, but I don’t notice them.”
“Maybe I’m just thick-skinned,” he added. “I’ve always been alternative. I’ve always lived an alternative lifestyle and lived in alternative communities.”
When people ask what he does for a living — the standard get-to-know-you question — he either says he’s a “stay-at-home husband” or a “retired Tai Chi teacher.” Sometimes, he said, “You notice them straining to be polite or accepting of that.”
Stefan answers the question more plainly. “I say I do the dishes and cook dinner, and my girlfriend works, and people get it.”
Brad also pointed out, “I actually have projects that I work on,” mostly reading, research and writing. “They just don’t make money, so I don’t go into details about the things that I like to read, or my passion studies. I just feel like I’ve got a whole life of stuff I’m doing.”
Stefan’s days are similar, though his projects are different. He takes care of the house, but, “I have a lot of free time. There are no kids here, so it’s not like I have a ton of work to do. I work on creative projects for most of my day.”
Since our move, he’s been able to pick up the hobbies he neglected for years when our nomadic lifestyle didn’t allow time or money for them: music and video production, photography, animation and graphic design.
Not working, and talking to people about not working, makes Brad realize just “how much making money is a part of a justification for being alive.”
“I actually have gotten to the point where I feel almost guilty that I’ve managed to construct my life in such a way that I’m not being ground down by excessive labor,” he told me.
But, his guilt is quickly assuaged.
“I guess I feel like other people should be more careful not to get stuck in jobs they don’t like” — but he said he tends to keep that thought to himself in polite conversation.
When You CAN’T Go to Work
While Stefan and I, and Brad and Jacque, love our respective lifestyles, I know some people simply prefer to work. And I can’t ignore those couples or families who are forced to live on a single income.
Ryan Gurnett and his wife Kelly are stuck in that situation. Ryan has been out of work for three and a half years, but not by choice.
He has a disease called Mitochondrial Dysfunction, which affects cognitive skills and energy and causes pain and gastrointestinal problems.
The disease requires energy management, so he can only be active for about an hour at a time. He’s applied for disability insurance, but that doesn’t come quick.
“Disability takes forever,” he told me. “I’ve been waiting for three and a half years, and probably still have another two years of waiting.”
What do you do when living on a single income is thrust upon you?
Ryan makes money from home doing odd gigs online, like survey sites, focus groups and UserTesting.com. He also works as a research assistant for Kelly, who is a full-time freelance writer.
He’s able to get things done during the day as long as he manages his energy.
He operates on a “one hour on, one hour off” schedule — going shopping, taking care of the house or working online to earn money for an hour, then recovering for an hour.
Gurnett also started a support group for people around his age who are not working because of chronic illness. The group meets during the day to provide some of that community he misses from work, and they watch movies, play board games, or do arts and crafts.
“I hate not working,” Gurnett said. “When other people ask me about whether or not they should leave work and apply for disability, I always tell them to work as long as they’re able to, because once you leave [the workforce], it’s hard to get back in.”
Unlike Stefan and Brad, Gurnett would prefer a traditional workday.
“It’s weird not having co-workers around,” he said. “It can feel very isolating. It can also be strange not having any structure to your day. When you’re at work, at many jobs, you know what you’ll be doing. … Once you leave work, it’s all free time.”
And he does feel the stigma associated with his situation.
“Explaining to other people that you’re not working and your spouse is supporting the household can be humiliating,” he said.
He’s been told, “You’re lucky you have a wife to take care of you,” and he’s not happy to hear it.
Ryan’s inability to have a job is pinching the couple’s budget while they await approval for disability income.
“We are in the red most months,” he told me. “Our savings is gone and our credit is most likely permanently damaged. We now have to sell our house, and we’re moving into my parents’ basement while we wait for my disability to come through.”
To stretch their tight budget, “We’ve had to cut more coupons, shop more thriftily and often find ourselves having to decline invitations to go out with friends because we can’t afford the activities they can.”
His wife, however, understands the illness and knows he’s doing what he can.
“My wife is the reason I get off the couch every day,” he told me. “The thought of me sitting on my (butt) while she works all day helps motivate me to get what I can done.”
Your Turn: Do you know a stay-at-home husband?
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 When the Woman is the Breadwinner: 3 Men Tell Us What It’s Like appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Over 50s struggle with car insurance hikes
Motorists aged over 50 have seen their car insurance premiums rise by more than a third during the past three years.
Research by Consumer Intelligence suggests the over 50s have seen their premiums rise faster than any other age group. Premiums increased by 10.9% in the year to November 2016, meaning prices have grown by 34% in the last three years.
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Three funds to profit from a new US President
Following the inauguration of Donald Trump, Andy Parsons, head of investments at The Share Centre, believes three funds could reward investors over the long term regardless of the President Elect’s time in office.
The three funds that he has picked out are:
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Financial firms express slowdown concerns
Nearly half (45%) of banks and insurers have a negative outlook for the UK’s economy for the fourth quarter in a row, according to the results of the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) latest quarterly survey of 103 firms.
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What a Good Financial Planner Does (and Doesn’t Do)
When just about anyone can call themselves a financial planner, it’s understandably hard for consumers to know whom to trust for financial advice.
See, unlike doctors and lawyers who have to meet certain standards in order to hold themselves out as certified professionals, there are virtually no requirements you have to meet in order to use the title “financial planner” or “financial advisor.”
As a result, there are many different kinds of people who call themselves financial planners, many of whom do very different things and provide very different kinds of services.
Which means that you, as someone looking for help with your financial situation, are left with the difficult task of separating the real from the fake with very little guidance as to who can actually provide good, objective advice, who is worth the fees they charge, and who is ripping you off.
So today I’d like to shed a little light on this topic and explain what, in my opinion, a good financial planner does and doesn’t do. Hopefully this will help you find someone who can help you make real progress, regardless of your current financial situation.
What a Good Financial Planner DOESN’T Do
1. Push Products
This is probably the biggest point of confusion around this topic.
See, things like mutual funds and life insurance policies can obviously be helpful parts of your financial plan. But they’re also products created by companies who want to make money, and those companies hire salespeople to sell those products for them.
And unfortunately, these salespeople often hold themselves out as financial planners or financial advisors, making it seem like they’re on your side – when their primary allegiance is to the companies paying them to sell their products.
So, how can you tell whether a particular “financial planner” is really just a salesperson? One way is to ask them how they get paid. If they’re fee-only, it means their only compensation comes from you, their client. If not, then they’re paid at least in part by the companies whose products they recommend.
Another way is to simply pay attention to the advice they’re giving. If they’re either advertising or aggressively pushing a particular product (cough, whole life insurance, cough), you can be pretty sure that their job is primarily to sell that product, not to give you objective advice. Or if they’re only recommending investments or insurance from a particular company, that’s probably because they’re paid by that company to make those recommendations.
The bottom line is that a good financial planner should be beholden to you, the client, rather than a particular product or financial company.
2. Claim They Can Beat the Market
If a financial planner is selling you on their ability to beat the stock market and provide superior investment returns, they’re missing the mark in two big ways:
- They almost certainly can’t deliver on their promise.
- Beating the market is never the goal anyways. The whole purpose of financial planning is to use your money to create a life you enjoy. A focus on beating the market is a distraction from what really matters and will likely lead to poor financial decisions.
What a Good Financial Planner DOES Do
1. Holds Themselves to a Higher Standard
While there are very few requirements in order to hold yourself out as a financial planner, there are plenty of ways for professionals to set their own bar higher and put themselves in a better position to serve their clients.
The CFP® certification is perhaps the most comprehensive and well known. In order to earn the CFP® mark you have to complete an approved financial planning curriculum, pass an exam, work as a financial planner for a certain number of years, adhere to an ethics code, and complete ongoing continuing education. It’s not perfect, but it’s the closest thing we have to a professional designation indicating a certain level of training and experience.
And there are plenty of other ways for financial planners to advance their expertise as well, from becoming an Accredited Financial Coach, to becoming an Enrolled Agent, to becoming a CFA, and more.
A good financial planner genuinely cares about being able to give you the best advice possible and seeks out training and education to help her do so.
2. Listens to You
A good financial planner cares primarily about YOU.
Instead of going on and on about all of the things he can do for you and all of the reasons you should work with him, he’ll ask questions designed to help him learn more about things like:
- Who you are
- What you care about
- What makes you happy
- Where you are now, both personally and financially
- Where you would like to be, both now and in the future
A good financial planner will spend most of his first meeting with you asking questions and listening. After all, YOU’RE the one who matters here, and it’s impossible to give you good, personal financial advice without first understanding who you are and what’s important to you.
3. Makes Recommendations That Are in YOUR Best Interest
This probably sounds obvious, but most people who hold themselves out as financial planners are not required to do this, at least not all the time.
At the very least, you should seek out someone who is a fiduciary, meaning they have a legal requirement to act in your best interest. But even that’s not really enough, because some financial advisors are allowed to be fiduciaries sometimes… but not all the time.
For example, many people who sell mutual funds or insurance are “fiduciaries” when crafting advice, but not when selling a product. So they may give good advice, but then sell you a product that costs more or is less efficient than the alternatives, simply because they’re paid a commission to do so.
In other cases, you may find someone who has an inordinate focus on one part of your finances. For example, many financial planners are heavily focused on investments and may not be equipped to give you well-rounded financial advice.
In contrast, a good financial planner has no agenda or pre-set list of recommendations. She simply listens to you and uses her expertise to help you prioritize and choose the right tools for your needs.
If you need life insurance, she’ll help you find the best coverage at the lowest price. If you need to pay off debt, she’ll help you make a plan. If you need to invest, she’ll help you choose the best accounts and best funds, regardless of which company provides them.
In other words, a good financial planner makes the recommendations that YOU need based on your specific goals and situation, without regard for any other factors.
You Can Find a Good Financial Planner
There are all kinds of financial planners out there. There are planners who focus on wealthy retirees. There are planners who focus on new college graduates. There are planners who focus on helping doctors, or parents, or widowers, or LGBTQ couples.
There’s good financial advice to be found, no matter where you are in life. Hopefully the guidelines above will help you find it.
Matt Becker is a fee-only financial planner and the founder of Mom and Dad Money, where he helps new parents take control of their money so they can take care of their families. His free book, The New Family Financial Road Map, guides parents through the all most important financial decisions that come with starting a family.
Related Articles:
- What Is a Fee-Only Financial Advisor?
- The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Financial Advisor
- Is This Everything You Need to Know About Financial Planning?
The post What a Good Financial Planner Does (and Doesn’t Do) appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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