By Holly Reisem Hanna I know I talk about blogging A LOT. But there is a reason for it, and that’s because blogging has been a lifeline for me. Before I began my blogging journey, I worked as a nurse. I worked at a pediatric hospital where I saw terrible cases of neglect and abuse. […]
The post My Path to Earning a Full-Time Blogging Income appeared first on The Work at Home Woman.
When it comes to retirement saving, there are two kinds of people.
The first kind deposits money into their retirement accounts and crosses their fingers that someone’s going to invest it wisely for them.
The second kind works with a money pro to periodically move their savings around to get the best return on their investment.
(I am the first type of person. Please tell me you are also the first type of person so I’m not in this alone.)
When President Barack Obama left the White House last month, he thought the Department of Labor would manage a new rule protecting people saving for retirement.
The Obama administration’s fiduciary rule — a long-term group project with the Department of Labor — was supposed to go into effect on April 10, 2017.
But President Donald Trump fears the fiduciary rule reduces options for investors while stifling professionals who already thought they were protecting their customers.
Trump signed an executive order on Friday, Feb. 3, permitting the Department of Labor to review and revise the rule. In the meantime, the April 10 deadline is out the window.
The rule would have required retirement-planning advisers to act for their client’s benefit at a “fiduciary” level. It may seem obvious, but not everyone who gives investment advice may have their clients’ best interests at heart.
Investment advisers are held to high standards under the Securities and Exchange Commission, which explains their duty in something akin to a scout pledge:
As an investment adviser, you are a “fiduciary” to your advisory clients. This means that you have a fundamental obligation to act in the best interests of your clients and to provide investment advice in your clients’ best interests. You owe your clients a duty of undivided loyalty and utmost good faith. You should not engage in any activity in conflict with the interest of any client, and you should take steps reasonably necessary to fulfill your obligations. You must employ reasonable care to avoid misleading clients and you must provide full and fair disclosure of all material facts to your clients and prospective clients.
That’s super charming, right? On my honor I will try to serve my clients so they do not lose a ton of money. Good rules to follow.
“If you have a financial planner or an adviser who is a registered investment adviser, you are already getting fiduciary-level care because they already are required to adhere to that standard,” the Wall Street Journal explains.
But if you’re managing your retirement accounts through a broker or insurance company, you may be getting advice that only meets a “suitability standard” — it meets your needs based on your investment profile — instead of getting solid advice based on your needs and your best interest.
That means your broker could recommend an investment plan that’s OK, but puts you at greater risk than you’re comfortable with.
Proponents of the rule say fees and payments cost Americans a percentage point per year on their retirement savings — an overall $17 billion per year.
One percentage point may not seem like a lot, but if you have a healthy retirement savings and you’re pressured into moving your funds to a plan that isn’t a great fit for you (but earns your broker big-time), that one percent point can add up fast.
The financial-industry’s pushback on the rule argues the $17-billion statistic is overblown, and the new rule would limit access to advice for people who don’t trade often or who have saved smaller amounts.
The WSJ reports that brokerages have already spent major money in anticipation of Obama’s fiduciary rule so their business models fit the mandate. Those modified plans limit commission sizes or ditch commission-based retirement accounts altogether.
Even if Trump and the Department of Labor edit — or dump the rule completely — some firms may keep those plans already in place.
Merrill Lynch, for example, has ended its commission-based retirement accounts completely in anticipation of the fiduciary rule, and said even if the rule gets rolled back, it will instead charge a fee “based on a percentage of assets.”
Your Turn: Have you started saving for retirement?
Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder.
The post How This Recent Executive Order Could Affect Your Retirement Savings appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
When you’ve spent four (or five) years buckling down to graduate with the college degree of your dreams, it’s hard to picture anything more soul-sucking than getting stuck at an entry-level, dead-end job that has nothing to do with your field of study.
Is the scenario an improbable nightmare or a legitimate concern?
Only about 25% of college-educated workers are overqualified for their jobs, according to a new study by the Urban Institute.
That’s a dramatically lower figure than previous reports, claiming the rate is closer to 44%.
So, what’s the deal?
Stephan Rose, the study’s author, found that younger workers with degrees are most often overqualified for the jobs they hold. It makes sense, though, when you consider “working your way up through the ranks” is a job trajectory as old as time.
While waiting for a job in their preferred fields, men typically find themselves working in retail or customer service jobs, the study points out. Women take jobs as secretaries, teacher assistants or office support.
It’s great to learn that the number of college grads in jobs that aren’t a good fit isn’t as high as once thought.
But if you’re one of the overqualified 25%, this study isn’t very comforting.
Being overqualified for a job can be soul-sucking, but practically speaking, that’s not the biggest problem.
Income is the real issue here.
Rose discovered overqualified female workers make 48% less money than women working in jobs that match their qualifications. The gap widens to 50% for overqualified male workers.
People of color face a double whammy that goes beyond a pay disparity. The study found 7% of African-Americans and 10% of Hispanics are more likely to be overqualified for their jobs than white peoples.
I know this all sounds like pretty gloomy news, but hang on.
Before you tear up your college application and FAFSA, remember that college degrees can be an important factor in getting the job you want in the industry you love. You’ll also make more money.
It’s no fun to work in a job you’re overqualified for and it’s definitely a drag to make less money than your future colleagues.
Unfortunately, unless you’ve chosen a major that already has a good entry-level salary, that may be the way things go for a while after graduation.
Luckily, there’s a good chance it’s only temporary.
Let’s be real — we’ve all heard stories about people landing their dream job 45 minutes after their graduation ceremony. But it doesn’t happen that way too often.
Instead, new college grads end up working what I call “placeholder” jobs as they establish their work history and reliability.
There’s no shame in working a job outside your field of study, so put that out of your mind right now. The unemployment rate for people 25 – 34 years old is almost 5% at the moment and it’s tough to find work in any field, much less a specialty industry.
Furthermore, lots of people acquire valuable work experience from temporary jobs that help them throughout the rest of their career.
If you’re overqualified for the job you have now, consider a side hustle in the field you’re passionate about. It’ll keep you connected to what you love. And who knows, you might even make some extra spending money.
Your turn: Are you overqualified for your job? How are you making the best of it?
Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s had her share of placeholder jobs and learned something from all of them. Well, except for the summer she spent counting seashells for a museum.
The post Are You Overqualified for Your Job? This Study Says You Aren’t Alone appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
The happiest day of your life is apparently often also the most expensive day of your life.
Whether you’re celebrating with DIY “I do”s or a lavish, billion-dollar blowout (yes, we’re serious), your dream wedding’s costs can add up quickly.
The national average cost of a wedding in 2016 was $35,329, according to The Knot’s 2016 Real Weddings Study.
And that doesn’t even include the honeymoon.
The Knot surveyed almost 13,000 newlyweds and soon-to-be-weds to find out where they were splurging — or saving — on their big day. Here’s what they found out:
Clocking in at an average of $16,107, the venue is definitely the biggest expense most couples shell out for on their wedding day.
And you don’t even want to know how much it costs to have a Disney wedding…
But that number definitely doesn’t have to be so high!
If you’re looking to save some big bucks on your upcoming wedding, try one of these nine inexpensive wedding venues that can help you save big.
Or, consider doing what this couple did: They combined their honeymoon with eight different wedding ceremonies in cities around the world.
The Knot reports the average wedding crowd consists of about 141 people and that catering costs an average of $71 per person.
That’s 141 times $71, or about $10,011 for food and drinks for the big day (not including the cake, which will run you, on average, $582).
But you can save big on food, too.
Check out these seven ways to save money on your wedding day, and consider letting food truck fare be the main course.
Or read up on how to cut the cake’s cost by going the alternative dessert route (think: cookies, cupcakes, even doughnuts!).
At an average $6,163, the engagement ring is the third priciest piece of the wedding puzzle.
But if you or your partner aren’t too keen on wearing six months of rent money as everyday jewelry, check out these engagement ring alternatives to help you save big — without compromising on style.
If you love the traditional engagement ring idea, though, at least make sure you understand the basic ins-and-outs of buying an engagement ring without going broke.
With the average wedding dress going for about $1,564, this is an obvious place to cut costs — especially considering you’ll only ever wear it once!
Check out these tips for finding your dream wedding dress on a budget, or do what most people would deem crazy (although it’s really not if you think about it): Sell your wedding dress after the ceremony to recoup some of the cost.
These are the only two things I’ve ever thought to be non-negotiable in a wedding budget.
Flowers make the photographs pretty, and the photographer makes the flowers (and you!) look good. One cannot exist without the other.
But with flowers and decorations costing an average $2,534 and the photographer and videographer totalling a whopping $4,778, these are definitely some of the bigger line items in the average wedding budget.
If you’re looking to save, you should definitely try DIY-ing your decorations with flowers from Costco and a little help from your family on the big day. You can make some seriously beautiful arrangements out of just a few inexpensive bunches from a wholesale store.
On the other hand, photographers are a “you get what you pay for” expense.
Be careful not to hire a phony photographer — the day will fly by and you’ll cherish good quality photos of what went on while you were busy schmoozing with your guests and dancing the night away.
The little things add up quickly, too.
Hair and makeup, an officiant, ceremony and reception musicians, invitations, party favors… the list goes on…
And on…
And on.
But with a little resourcefulness, you definitely won’t have to start your new life together in debt from a one day celebration.
If you’re still a ways out from your wedding, consider starting a wedding savings account (yep, even if you’re single) so you’re prepared when the day finally comes.
Also, check out this list of 101 smart ways to save thousands on your dream wedding, and make sure that you’re taking advantage of all the wedding freebies offered along the way.
If you’re still worried about individual costs adding up, think about having a “tiny wedding.” It’s sort of like an all-inclusive elopement, but you can bring a few guests along to share your special day.
Your Turn: How much did your wedding cost?
Grace Schweizer is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
The post The Knot Released Last Year’s Average Wedding Cost and It’s Staggering appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
Face it: Not everyone is super stoked about Valentine’s Day.
While the impending day of romance offers a world of promise to besotted lovers, it can loom over lonely singles like a dark cloud of lacy hearts and syrupy-sweet Facebook posts.
If you’re feeling the latter, we’ve got the perfect way to save the day from feeling like a total bummer: Make money!
Take advantage of the lovesick holiday, and put some cash in your pocket.
Even if you’ve got a date, you could stand to profit this year if you’re flexible.
Try these tips for making money on Valentine’s Day.
Whether you’re free on the 14th or not, profit by selling an unused gift card now. Help someone shop for the perfect gift or plan a classy night out on a budget.
This is a great time to unload gift cards you have left over from the holidays — or still floating around from last year.
On a gift-card exchange site like Raise, you can sell your unused gift cards for near face value. That turns your unwanted gift into cash!
Although it’s not quite the occasion a wedding or junior prom might be, a big date night means people will want to look pretty.
You could earn more than $20 an hour helping them make it happen!
If you’re already a professional hair stylist or makeup artist, prepare for a surge in business on this lovestruck weekend.
For amateurs, this might just be a way to make some extra money on the side. Charge a small fee, or barter to exchange favors and help friends or family members prepare to paint the town a sultry shade of red.
You might be well-versed in the culinary arts, already successfully working as a private chef or just looking to make some extra money on special occasions.
If you’re comfortable in the kitchen, offer your talents as a service for the night.
If you’re already in the business, you could command a higher fee on Valentine’s Day due to potentially higher demand.
If you’re just getting started or prefer to keep cooking a hobby, reach into your network for lovebirds who might want to splurge on a romantic dinner.
Taking stock photos while people are on dates might sound creepy, but stay with me.
Valentine’s Day will be a unique opportunity to capture photos of packed restaurants or other venues.
Dining rooms will be beautifully lit and decorated, setting the mood for a romantic night. Patrons will be dressed to the nines and smiling a little more than usual — hopefully.
You can sell stock photos of happy people dining out for a plethora of uses throughout the year.
Note: You may need a model or property release, depending on the content and intended use of the photographs.
Also, restaurant owners or managers reserve the right to ask you not to take photographs on their property. They might not take too kindly to you showing up unannounced on a busy night.
To avoid conflict, contact businesses ahead of time to ask permission. Or, find areas where people are gathered outside.
In warmer climates, look for busy streets with lots of outdoor dining areas. In cooler places, find opportunities for iconic rom-com shots, like ice skating.
If you’re still not convinced on the stock photo thing, consider selling your photography skills directly.
Set up a photo booth, or just hang out with your camera near a popular date spot, and offer to capture the romantic moments.
A busy night out for consumers means high traffic times for Uber. If you’ve been thinking about driving with a rideshare service, this could be a good time to start.
As long as you know your city well, a busy night can give you a crash course in the work.
If you’re already a partner and don’t have a date, take advantage of your free time to profit from surge pricing!
Take the load off parents: Offer to watch their kids while they go out for a romantic evening.
You could make $50-$100, and chances are, the younger kids will be sleeping most of the time you’re there.
And for those friends who think of their pets like kids? Offer pet-sitting services so they don’t have to worry about getting home early.
You could earn $40 an hour just stopping by to put food in a bowl or take the dog for a walk.
Sign up with a service like Postmates or UberEats to be a freelance food delivery driver for those who prefer to… stay in.
As with other contract services, how much you earn depends on how many deliveries you make and how fast you work.
We’re suckers for small, sweet gestures — so roses sell like hotcakes on Valentine’s Day.
Join the crowd and have some fun providing a tiny spark of romance to the special evening by supplying them. Partner with restaurants in your area, or hawk gifts on the street.
And be creative! Roses may be overdone, but what about stuffed animals or chocolates?
Or put your talents to work offering to draw caricatures, put on a quick show, or play a love song.
Want to steer clear of the mushy love stuff altogether? Maximize your me-time on Valentine’s Day to make progress on your personal projects.
Holidays are a killer time for creative work! Everyone who would be vying for your attention via email or social media is occupied with other plans, freeing you to focus.
If you’re not happy about being alone on Valentine’s Day, put it to use.
Channel your disappointment, sadness, anger or boredom into something creative that will grab everyone’s attention in the morning.
Just edit out any bitterness before it goes public, and you should have a masterpiece.
Your Turn: Will you be putting your free time to work for you on Valentine’s Day?
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.
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more.
The post Love Don’t Come Easy, But Cash Can: 10 Ways to Make Bank on Valentine’s Day appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
Whenever I think of Priceline, I think of this guy:
It’s the Priceline Negotiator. The one with the frantic chorus that sings out behind him. “Priceline Negotiator!!!” (Yes, the exclamation points are necessary.)
Well, the Negotiator needs your help now.
Priceline, one of the country’s largest travel sites, is recruiting about 75 work-from-home customer support agents between now and June.
Your job as a customer support agent is to answer incoming calls from Priceline customers. Chances are, you’ll assist these folks with changes to their lodging or transportation needs.
The job can be challenging, according to the NexRep job listing. Think: Multitasking between several applications, researching solutions, speaking with customers, adjusting agendas…
However, don’t fret. You’ll have a support team who’ll train you.
Requirements range from software needs to personality traits. See if you have what it takes.
Think you qualify for one of these customer service jobs? Keep reading to learn about hours and pay.
The gig is open Thursday to Monday from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. EST, and NexRep asks that you work at least 10 weekend hours (five hours on both Saturday and Sunday).
In total, you’ll need to work 25 hours a week. But it’s all on your schedule.
And you’re welcome to work more, as long as you schedule hours within Priceline’s hours of operation.
Pay starts at $10 an hour.
If you’re interested, check out the complete job listing here.
And if you’re not? We have plenty of other work-from-home opportunities on our Facebook jobs page.
Your Turn: What do you think is the biggest perk of working from home?
Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s booking her vacation riiiiighhhhtttt now.
The post Priceline is Hiring 75 Reps — You’ll Work From Home AND Set Your Own Hours appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
Still scrambling for that perfect Valentine’s Day gift?
Wondering how you’re going to get your special someone something truly special — without spending a lot of money in the process?
Even if you’ve only got $5 in your pocket, you can still make this Valentine’s Day memorable.
To add to the list of affordable ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day, here are 50 last-minute gifts that all cost less than $5.
The cassette (or CD) mixtape has been a tried-and-true gift for decades. Best Buy and Amazon both sell single cassettes or blank CDs for under $5.
So get yourself 90 minutes of blank tape, and fill it up with the best love songs you know. Make your gift extra special by hand-decorating the cover.
Want to bring the mixtape into the 21st century? Make your special someone a Spotify playlist. You don’t even need Spotify Premium; just get the free version of Spotify for your desktop, build the perfect list, and share it with your valentine.
Take the iconic image of Say Anything’s Lloyd Dobler holding a boombox over his head as you model and get ready to tell your valentine that “In your eyes… I am complete.”
Use an actual boombox if you have one, or pull out your iPhone and crank up the volume. This one works best if your Valentine is a fan of classic ’80s movies.
Nearly everybody has a favorite Jelly Belly flavor. (Mine’s popcorn.) Figure out your bae’s favorite bean, then use the Jelly Belly store locator to find a store near you that sells Jelly Bellys in bulk.
Maybe your special someone doesn’t like jellybeans but does like chocolate-covered almonds. The bulk candy aisle offers plenty of opportunities to put together a $5 gift that tastes better — and is much more personalized — than a cheap box of waxy Valentine’s candy.
Remember, if you’re giving jellybeans or bulk candy, the presentation is also what makes the present: Put it in an attractive bag or box, tie it up with a ribbon and make your gift as special as the recipient.
While we’re on the subject of crafts and presentation, a handmade card can often be one of the best and most treasured Valentine’s Day presents.
Anyone can go to the grocery store and get a 99-cent card with a pre-printed message. Only you can make a one-of-a-kind card with your own heartfelt statement of love.
Believe it or not, there are a lot of quick, easy, low-cost jewelry projects you can put together in a few hours.
Start with this list of recycled jewelry ideas for inspiration, and consider making something like a paint chip petals necklace or a set of popsicle stick pencil earrings. The most expensive part of this project is buying the chains and clasps that hold your jewelry together, so go to a hobby store and look for chains and fixtures under $5.
Do your talents lie more in painting or sketching than they do in jewelry? Make your special someone a piece of original art. It’s hard to go wrong with a flattering portrait or a sketch of the place where the two of you shared your first kiss.
Your cost investment depends on how many art supplies you currently have around, but a hobby store often sells individual sheets of art paper for under $5. Even an ink drawing on a piece of good paper can look beautiful.
First, make your own finger paint from one of the many recipes available. Then, buy the biggest sheet of poster board you can get for under $5, and invite your Valentine to make art together.
The tactile, messy finger paint is a lot of fun, and if you choose an edible fingerpaint recipe, you’ll have one more way to remember the evening.
Write your valentine a love poem. It worked for Shakespeare, and it’ll work for you. Choose one of the classic poetry formats, such as the sonnet or the villanelle, or create your own.
Take your poem one step further by setting it to music. How many people get a song written just for them? Perform it for your special someone on Valentine’s Day, and you’ll learn that the best gifts don’t have to cost a thing.
Got a friend who can play bass and a buddy who knows the drums? Teach them the song you just wrote, or ask if they’ll be willing to help you cover a song that has a special meaning for you and your valentine. Then give your valentine a never-to-be-forgotten concert.
Sometimes the simplest gifts are the best. If your local radio station takes requests, request your special song. Text your valentine when it’s time for your song to play, or listen to it together.
This is an old classic, but it’s a classic for a reason. If the night is clear and it’s not too cold, take your date out stargazing. You’ll start out looking at the stars and end up looking at each other.
The long walk is often part of the stargazing date, but it can also stand on its own. Find somewhere beautiful in your neighborhood, like the park or the pier, and take your date out walking.
A long walk filled with meaningful conversation can be a beautiful way to make memories and share an evening together.
If you’ve got a well-stocked pantry, you have a great picnic for under $5. Take some bread, cheese, boiled eggs, fruit and chocolate out to your favorite park, and watch the sun go down.
The good thing about a picnic is that you can make it as extravagant or as simple as you can afford. If you’ve got fancy cheese, great; if not, you can cut up store-brand cheddar into cubes and add your own toothpicks. Either way works perfectly for a lovely picnic date.
Your date probably has at least one fast food restaurant that is a guilty pleasure. This year, get yourselves all dressed up, and go on a fancy fast food date.
Taco Bell is a great choice, both because you’ll be able to eat for under $5 and because you can give your date hot sauce packets stamped with words like “You’re my soulmate.”
Give your special someone an old T-shirt. Chances are, they’ll sleep in it because it smells like you.
As with most of the gifts on this list, presentation is everything; handing your sweetheart an old shirt is gross, but wrapping it up and writing a heartfelt message is lovely.
Take the T-shirt idea to the next level by turning an old T-shirt into a pillow. Use this Instructables guide to get started. You’ll need to get something to stuff the pillow with, which you can generally get at a craft store (or somewhere like Walmart) for under $5.
Nothing says “I’m in this for the long term” like “This was my old stuffed bear, and I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.”
Giving the gift of an old stuffed animal shows your special someone that you love and trust them enough to share one of your most treasured possessions. Plus, they’ll probably sleep with it because it smells like you.
Have a favorite book that you think your valentine will love just as much? Take it off your bookshelf, write an inscription and turn it into a gift. It’s just as intimate as giving a stuffed animal or an old T-shirt, and you can talk about the book together afterwards.
Don’t want to give away your only copy of The Unbearable Lightness of Being? Find it in a used bookstore. You can often get used books for under $5, and they make excellent presents.
As with the picnic idea, whether you’ll be able to keep this one under $5 depends on what you already have in the pantry.
Remember that even a simple meal of spaghetti and garlic bread can be memorable and remarkable if you present it correctly. Table settings, candles and mood music all help make the evening.
This is also a great way to bring in that group of friends who have agreed to cover your valentine’s favorite song!
While everyone else is getting expensive bouquets delivered to their valentine’s workplaces, why not give your date a plate of delicious homemade cookies? You can also take these cookies with you for a picnicking or stargazing adventure.
Even if you don’t think of yourself as much of a cake decorator, you can still bake a cake from a box, add frosting and then use decorator icing to spell out “I Love You.” (You might want to practice a few times on a plate to get the knack of making legible letters.)
Here’s the real question: Can you make this cake for under $5?
Your grocery store prices might vary, but Target is currently selling a box of Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix for $1.12, the matching Funfetti frosting for $1.52 and a tube of Wilton sparkle gel for $1.99 — which brings you to $4.63 (pre-tax) before you add in additional ingredients like eggs.
So, like many of the food items on this list, keeping your costs under $5 depends on what you already have in your kitchen, and how many Target hacks you use to save on your purchases.
We’ve talked about watching a movie together, but why limit yourself to a movie? Why not spend Valentine’s Day binge-watching a favorite show?
This year, Valentine’s Day is a Tuesday, which means you can get off work and veg with “The Walking Dead” (so romantic) or “Parenthood.”
If your special someone owns a Kindle, a Nook or another e-reader, there are gobs of books available for under $5. Look for the 99-cent listings so you can give multiple books and make your gift look extra-special.
Here’s a gift that I gave someone in college: I made a card and then, next to the thoughtful message, wrote down an ISBN.
The gift recipient then took the ISBN to the library, looked it up and checked out the book that I had selected for him. It was a fun way for me to “give” him a book that I couldn’t afford to buy.
Here’s another free gift that I have given people: Create a puzzle hunt for your valentine. It can be something as simple as a card with a coded message inside or something as complex as a scavenger hunt where one puzzle leads to another.
If you aren’t familiar with codes and ciphers, you’ll find plenty online, or you can always use the simple A=1, B=2, etc.
Every dollar store has a few surprising treasures, whether it’s a hilarious toy or a collection of silly stickers. If your valentine appreciates a humorous gift, find something fun at the dollar store and make your valentine smile.
Like dollar stores, thrift stores offer a range of humorous items, but they also often have true diamonds hidden among the rough. Look for jewelry boxes, figurines, collectibles and other items that you can find for $5 and make good presents.
All you’ll need for this one is a jar and a few pieces of paper. Tear or cut the paper into strips and write something special on each strip. Then, fold the strips in half and put them into the jar.
When your valentine wants a little extra love, all he or she has to do is take a strip out of the jar and read one of your messages.
Buy an inexpensive sketchbook or notebook. Then, fill each page with a memory — the place you first met, the first time you held hands, the concert the two of you attended last spring. Draw, write, glue in ticket stubs.
Do whatever you want to make this book a true book of memories. Chances are it will be an unforgettable gift.
The coupon book is another classic gift that has almost become cliché. The secret to making it work is to put together coupons that your valentine actually wants.
Does your valentine like picking the movie you watch together? Does your valentine like not having to do the dishes? Choosing the right coupons is what makes this gift special.
Get some massage oil, put some towels over freshly washed sheets and give your special someone the massage he or she has always wanted. Try the Ask Men massage guide if you’ve never given a massage before, or look for more resources online.
Load up your smartphone with slow dance music, and find the perfect location for a private dance party — maybe it’s your living room or maybe it’s in the park under a streetlight. Then take your valentine dancing.
If your valentine has been thinking about getting a cat or dog, look in your local newspaper or on Craigslist for people who are giving away kittens or puppies. It’s best if the animals already have their shots and are litter- or house-trained.
Be careful before giving live animals — make sure your valentine wants a pet and has a living situation that can handle one before you hand over a wriggling bundle of cuteness.
Get an inexpensive notebook, write a journal entry and give it to your Valentine with the instructions to read what’s inside, write a new journal entry, and give the notebook back.
Keep this pattern going until the notebook is full. A shared journal is a lovely way to write about hopes, dreams and plans for the future.
Have you read the book “The Wednesday Letters”? It’s the story of a man who writes his wife a new love letter each Wednesday.
Why not make this Valentine’s Day the start of a Wednesday letter tradition of your own? Give the gift of a love letter, and tell your valentine that it is the first of many to come.
If you are looking for free Valentine’s Day entertainment, check out your local paper. There might be a band playing in the park or another fun, free event.
What’s happening in your city?
Get dressed up, open a $5 bottle of wine and play games all night long. You and your valentine can face off on Mario Kart, finally finish a game of Monopoly or challenge each other to an evening of “Magic: The Gathering.”
Want a gift that your valentine will really love? Try a perfectly cleaned home.
Find an excuse for your special someone to be out of the house or apartment on Valentine’s Day morning and then scrub, wash, sweep and fold. Top it off with a few flowers in a vase or a plate of homemade cookies on the table.
If you read the New York Times’ Modern Love column, you might have seen the piece about The 36 Questions That Lead to Love.
These questions, which include “What would constitute a ‘perfect’ day for you?” and “When did you last cry in front of another person?” are designed to build intimacy and bring people closer together.
Spend an evening asking your valentine those questions — and answering them yourself — and it becomes an evening you’re unlikely to forget.
Don’t want to do the full list of 36 questions? Try a good old-fashioned game of Truth or Dare instead. You can ask your valentine thoughtful questions, and then dare your valentine to kiss you.
Everybody wins.
Check out the museums in your area to see if any of them are offering free or reduced-price tickets. Then get dressed up and spend an evening appreciating art, textiles, historical documents or whatever your city or hometown has on display.
If you can’t afford a bouquet of roses, see if your local flower shop is selling single roses. A single red rose often says more than a whole dozen.
Even the most humble of grocery store bouquets can become beautiful with a little help. Take the flowers out of the plastic, trim them and put them into a vase. Or, if you don’t have a vase on hand, get a glass jar out of the recycling bin, rinse it out and put the flowers in.
Sometimes the gift of conversation is all that is necessary. Find a park bench, sit down with your valentine and just talk. How often do you get hours of time to talk with someone you love? This year, give your valentine the gift of uninterrupted conversation and undivided attention.
A proposal transforms Valentine’s Day into a truly special event. You can even do the proposal for under $5 — Neil Gaiman drew a Sharpie ring on Amanda Palmer’s hand in lieu of an engagement ring, and if it’s good enough for Neil Gaiman, it’s good enough for anyone.
Want a low-cost Valentine’s Day but are still stumped for ideas even after reading this list of 50 suggestions? Ask your date what he or she would like to do. Two heads are better than one, after all, and you’ll probably come up with something amazing that even I didn’t think of.
Your Turn: What is the best low-cost Valentine’s Day gift you ever received? What made that gift special?
Nicole Dieker is a freelance copywriter and essayist. She writes regularly for The Billfold on the intersection of freelance writing and personal finance, and her work has also appeared in The Toast, Yearbook Office, and Boing Boing.
The post 50 Last-Minute Valentine’s Day Gifts for Less Than $5 appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
Customer acquisition is arguably the most important aspect of business operations.
Before you can even think about retention and having loyal, long-term customers, you need that initial acquisition to take place.
But the process of turning leads into paying customers comes with a lot of twists and turns.
What looks great on paper doesn’t necessarily translate into tangible results.
Like most aspects of business, successful customer acquisition typically begins with a formal strategy.
You need an airtight game plan.
But what if your strategy isn’t working?
If this sounds like you, you’re definitely not alone.
In fact, “only about 22 percent of businesses are satisfied with their conversion rates.”
Maybe you’ve tried your best to get all your ducks in a row, but it’s just not working out.
Maybe you even get a sizable number of leads, but your conversion rate is far less than what it should be.
After helping several companies generate more traffic and maximize conversions, I’ve spotted some trends.
Of course, the specifics are always a little different, but there are some very common mistakes people make when devising a customer acquisition strategy.
Here are a few problem areas I’ve seen time and time again that could be holding you back too.
If there’s one thing that businesses are guilty of across the board, it’s assuming that all their leads are at the same stage in the buying process.
But that’s just not the case.
One portion of your leads may be in “wallet-out, ready to buy” mode, while another portion may simply be performing some preliminary research on a product and nowhere near the buying stage.
In other words, there’s a big disparity in terms of which stage your leads are at in the buying process.
Here’s a graph that illustrates the different stages:
But here’s a crazy stat from HubSpot:
“61 percent of B2B marketers simply send all of their new sales leads directly to the sales team, but only 27 percent of these leads are actually qualified and ready to buy.”
Are you guilty of this?
If so, there’s a serious hole in your customer acquisition strategy, and it’s going to complicate things tremendously.
What’s the solution?
It starts with qualifying your leads.
You need to analyze a few key elements, including their:
Qualifying leads is an art in and of itself, and I don’t have time to fully go into it right now.
But check out this resource from Salesforce to find out how to qualify a lead in under a minute.
From there, I recommend ranking your leads into one of three categories:
“A” leads are the ones you want to pounce on immediately. They’re ready to buy.
But “B” and “C” leads are going to take some nurturing.
In this case, you may want to:
When you do this correctly, you can have a massive payoff.
In fact, “companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50 percent more sales ready leads at a 33 percent lower cost.” Also, “nurtured leads make 47 percent larger purchases than non-nurtured leads.”
Check out this brief guide from Marketo for more on this process.
Let’s say your initial attempt to reel a lead in doesn’t work out and they don’t buy right off the bat.
Do you let them off the hook?
No!
In my experience, this isn’t the right approach to take.
I’m a proponent of retargeting (also known as remarketing) qualified leads who weren’t ready to buy at a particular time.
Here’s a graph from AdRoll to show you why:
Considering the fact that roughly only 2% of web traffic converts on the first visit, this technique helps you reach at least a portion of the remaining 98%.
I think one illusion some marketers have is assuming that first-time visitors will end up converting into customers.
Some even have the notion that a large percentage will be loyal customers or brand advocates.
It doesn’t work like that.
But don’t take it personally. Most leads need a little “buttering up” before they’re ready to pull the trigger and buy.
Retargeting takes care of that.
This term is defined by HubSpot as “a method of digital advertising that aims to entice users back to an advertiser’s site after they have left. Advertisements are shown to customers who have demonstrated what we call intent, which is an action they’ve performed on an advertiser’s site that shows they’re interested in a product or service.”
Some examples of retargeting include:
And don’t forget to retarget past customers as well!
If they bought from you before, there’s a good chance they’ll buy again.
In fact, “the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%.”
For some creative ways to retarget, use these ideas from WordStream.
Don’t get me wrong.
It makes sense to utilize proven customer acquisition methods.
If it’s worked for countless other marketers, it should work for you too.
I get it.
But I’ve seen many businesses do this to the point of mindlessly following the herd at the expense of their ROI.
Here’s a really simple example.
Let’s say one of your primary means of generating quality leads is through Google AdWords—what most would consider the premier PPC platform.
You naturally want to use it because everyone else does and because it provides you with the most reach.
But the downside is that it’s super competitive and the cost-per-click (CPC) is fairly high (and growing).
This ultimately results in a less than ideal ROI.
But if you ventured out a little and “swam to the deep end of the pool” by using Bing Ads, you’d have less competition and usually a lower CPC.
Here’s an actual CPC comparison between Google and Bing so you know I’m not full of crap:
Obviously, you won’t have the same level of reach, but you’re highly likely to get a solid ROI.
Pound-for-pound, it makes sense.
By zigging when everyone else is zagging, you can stay away from crowded marketplaces and increase the likelihood of seeing a favorable return.
In other words, going the safest, most comfortable, most conventional route with your customer acquisition strategy isn’t always the best move.
Sometimes, you need to look for other opportunities and capitalize on them.
Now, I’m not saying you should take foolish risks that could potentially capsize your strategy, but being a mindless follower is a bad approach to take.
There’s one final mistake I see marketers consistently make.
And that’s ditching a customer acquisition strategy prematurely before it has time to fully gel.
Allow me to use a sports reference as a metaphor.
In the past decade, there have been a few “super teams” in basketball where multiple superstars joined forces.
Just think LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat and Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson with the Golden State Warriors.
Although the potential is obviously there, it still takes some time for these teams to reach their peak.
There’s just no way around it.
This concept applies to customer acquisition and marketing in general, but many business owners freak out when they don’t see instant results.
Maybe they invest a few thousand into reaching their demographic but don’t immediately get it back.
So they completely abandon it and try something else and get the same result.
The bottom line is that it often takes some time for things to simmer, which requires some degree of patience.
I’m not saying you should keep funneling time and money into a hopeless strategy that’s gotten little to no results over a stretch of time.
But I am saying that a little perseverance can go a long way.
Just be sure to pay close attention to key metrics such as:
The way in which you acquire new customers is a serious contributing factor to the success of your business.
Do it right, and you’ll probably crush it.
Suck at it, and you’ll face an uphill battle.
If your current customer acquisition strategy isn’t working, you should take a step back and analyze what the problem is.
There’s a good chance you’re making one of the mistakes I listed.
If so, go ahead and make the necessary adjustments to get things back on track.
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve encountered with your customer acquisition strategy?
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. Buy it for life: jeans
2. Water bottle for life
3. Shopping around for a furnace
4. Getting “in the zone”
5. Thoughts on income property
6. Voluntary car repossession
7. Handling own estate planning
8. Figuring out financial focus
9. Large savings account balance
10. Figuring out benefits after move
11. Living trust payout questions
12. Handling political talk at work
I had this great conversation yesterday with a reader about how there are these moments in life when you somehow “get” yourself in a way that you previously hadn’t, and that moment signifies a sea change in your life. Something just clicks, you see the world and your life completely differently, and from there you move forward in a totally different direction.
This came up in the context of this reader’s financial turnaround, and I’m starting to realize, with some real reflection, that I’ve had about four of these in my adult life, with one of them happening just a few months ago. My reader had a similar epiphany during that same timeframe.
There are times when it feels like things are changing for you, but you still fall back into the same routines and habits, just in a different variation. I think for those habits to truly change, something has to switch inside of you, not outside.
Personal change comes from the inside. You can change where you live and what you own and what you’re doing for a living, but if you’re not changing as a person, you’re going to wind up in routines very similar to what you’ve always done with similar results.
The question is, how do you trigger that kind of change? Can you actually do anything to trigger it? I’m honestly not sure, but that’s the big question on my mind these days.
This week, we’re going to start off the mailbag with a few reader emails and Facebook comments regarding Saturday’s article on “buy it for life” items.
I have a recommendation for the Jeans category. Rural King stores sell self branded jeans that are extremely durable for $10.00 a pair. The guys I know are rough on them. True outdoorsmen , who hunt camp, hike, fish etc. We all swear by them.
– Tom
I had several recommendations for simply buying jeans from the local farm supply store, of which Rural King is an example. Around here, the most common farm supply stores are Farm King, Thiessen’s, and Farm & Fleet. These stores tend to sell very inexpensive denim jeans that are cut in a very simple fashion, but the denim itself is minimally treated and rather thick, which means that they’ll last and last.
In other words, those jeans make for great outdoor work pants. When you’re often outdoors doing manual work, jeans from a farm supply store are a great choice if you’re looking for low cost durable jeans.
My experience is that they tend to be cut in a somewhat baggy way with the obvious intent to maximize function: they’re intended to cover your legs, give you good range of motion, and last a long time. They’re not intended to make you look shapely. That makes them an excellent “buy it for life” purchase for those purposes.
Take a look at Hydroflask for a good water bottle/thermos bottle. These are also guaranteed for life. Hot stays hot, cold stays cold. I have left mine in the hot car all day to find my water still cold. Dropped over and over, they keep the seal. Once I dropped a full bottle and chipped the lid. It was replaced quickly for free with no fuss.
– Marie
Neither I nor the people in my circle that I consulted for that article have any experience with Hydroflask as a water bottle or thermos, but two different readers recommended them (with Marie being the first).
Having said that, I looked into Hydroflask and it looks to me like many of the positive things that we stated about Nalgene and Klean Kanteen water bottles definitely apply to Hydroflasks, and they appear to be good hot water/soup bottles, too.
I’d likely put them in that same tier of “nearly indestructible water bottle / thermos” category with the ones listed in that article. At some point, I’ll probably pick one up.
I’m saving up money for a new furnace… I’m assuming I will just have a few different companies come in and give me estimates. I want to get a good deal, but it’s also important to me to have something that will last a long time, and something that will be good, overall, for the environment. I’ve even thought about getting an estimate for geothermal heating? Are there other, similar options? How would you decide?
– Noelle
Honestly, I’d rely on this Consumer Reports article on gas furnace reliability and stick with options from the top few entries on the list. They tend to be very spot-on when it comes to identifying reliable brands.
As for a geothermal system, CR again covers the basics pretty well. They can definitely be worth it, but they almost always have a higher initial cost than other options. Initial cost, depending on your exact location, can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, which is a cost you won’t recoup for many, many years. It may increase the value of your home somewhat, but a geothermal system doesn’t have much curbside value when selling.
If I were you, I’d get quotes on a gas furnace and a geothermal system separately. Keep in mind that the geothermal system will cost more up front but will cost less each month after installation (usually around 25% less). Do the math and figure out which one is right for you. If you’re concerned about the environment, I’d put a little bit more focus on the geothermal side of the coin.
Those days where I can slip into the “zone” at work are so great and so productive. But do you have any tips and tricks for finding the zone? I can’t seem to get there consistently. I know you’ve written about it before, but I figured I’d ask again in case things have changed. I could use a productivity pick-me-up and this might help!
– Maxine
The best recipe I’ve found so far for getting “into the zone” with any consistency is to follow several principles all the time, because my best results come from using them in concert.
First, I practice mindful meditation a couple of times a day. Just close your eyes in a low-distraction place and focus on just your breathing for five or so minutes. If you feel your mind wandering, bring it back to your breathing. I tend to think of this as “bicep curls for my mental focusing ‘muscles.'” It really works.
Second, I get very hydrated and make sure I’m not hungry before I sit down to work. I drink a lot of water and eat a little something.
Third, I turn off every distraction that I possibly can, so that they don’t interrupt me. My cell phone is completely off, as are web browsers and other such things.
Fourth, I open up a notebook on the desk in front of me with a pen right there so that if a stray thought comes into my head that I should revisit, I jot it down and then let it drop from my mind and keep going.
Finally, I usually turn on some quiet instrumental music or ambient noise. I usually just look for ambient music on Youtube and listen to that.
That routine seems to produce the best results overall for me. I do find that drinking a cup of black coffee followed by a cup of green tea can boost my likelihood of getting into the zone, but I’m not sure if that’s a “placebo” effect or not. I’m pretty confident that the first five steps really help, but I’m not 100% sure on the coffee/tea combo.
My partner and I are looking into buying a 3 bed/2 bath condo on a 15-year fixed mortgage in Richmond, VA. We are both 30 years old, unmarried (for now, that’ll change within a year or two). He’s a resident and I’m a program coordinator both at the same hospital. We will probably be in Richmond for another 4 years or so (my partner has to finish up residency and then fellowship) before we move to wherever he gets a job as an attending physician. Once he becomes an attending, we talked about buying a house and then using the condo as an income property whether we move or not. We would use a management agency instead of leasing the condo ourselves. Do you think it is wise for us to make that type of commitment? What is your feeling on income property?
– Kevin
It really depends on your financial state. If you’re in a position with secure high income and not a lot of other debts, it can be a reasonably good move. If you’re still going to be facing mountains of student loans, you don’t also want to be facing two mortgages at once, because you’re going to be walking a major tightrope that will cause the whole house of cards to fall apart if one thing goes wrong.
Income property often gets a much better rep than it deserves. When it works, it works well; when it backfires, it can backfire hard. If you end up owning an income property in an area where no one’s renting or will only rent if you put the rent price through the floor, you’re going to lose money on the deal. You’re going to be paying higher insurance rates on the property, property taxes, and management fees whether there’s a renter in place or not. Plus, if the renter doesn’t pay or damages the property or many other things, it’s going to cost you even more. You’ve got to be financially prepared to handle those challenges if they occur. If you find yourself in a situation where you can’t, you will be in a financial disaster.
To sum things up, income properties are a good idea if you have some money in the bank to back them up and aren’t loaded down with other debts. If you take on income properties when you’re already dealing with debt and don’t necessarily have a huge income, you’re begging for one bad event to wreck your whole situation.
My husband and I are working through austerity measures since he has been unemployed about 36 months since 2013. We purchased a truck during that time to try to expand a cleaning service however that income stream dried up. The truck is in excellent condition however the negative equity is probably around $10,000.
What is the best way to voluntarily surrender the car mitigating our losses? Also, we’d like to understand what steps we can take to recover from this experience.
– Clara
The best way is to go to the bank from which you got the car loan and talk to them directly about voluntary surrender. They may be able to work something out with you where it appears on your credit report as a “voluntary surrender” rather than as a “repossession” which will have a much better impact on your credit score.
However, given that you’re $10,000 underwater, the bank will probably expect you to make up that difference, and if you cannot, it will probably still be treated as a “repossession.”
Even then, you’re still going to be better off in terms of future business with that bank if you go in there and talk to them face to face about a voluntary surrender. It’s also less traumatic than a middle-of-the-night repossession of your truck!
Say, you seem to be a DIY-KISS type of person, have you created a will? We have done a Nolo Will along with Power of Attorney, and Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare and Advanced Directive in the past. We update them every decade. You can get the later forms at most hospitals.
How do you approach this topic?
– David
I usually encourage people to seek an attorney in their state to look over such documents and make sure they’re written and signed correctly. There are variations from state to state in terms of what’s expected.
A family lawyer can usually do this for you at a pretty cheap rate, especially if you’ve gone to the effort of figuring out the documents on your own and preparing a draft that presents your wishes. All a lawyer has to do in that case is to make sure you have all of the i’s dotted and t’s crossed for your state and that it’s all signed appropriately.
Using a service like LegalZoom is also an option, but I’ve found that their services tend to be comparable to the cost of a family lawyer. I’m not sold on how “cheap” they are.
I’ve been thinking about a lot of things since the new year:
My mortgage
My kids’ college funds
More life insurance
My student loans
My 403 b through work (maxing out this year)
Should I be putting money toward all of it?
We owe 780 k on a house no extra payments
We owe 350 k a rental house that is paying for itself
I have 56 k left in student loans putting an extra 250 a month to it payments 465/month
529s for my 2 kids 250/month (not sure how we’ll be able to afford 4 years of college for both now 6 and 2).
I want to get more life insurance no more than 20 dollars/month for. 500k x 20 years
My husband and I make over 200 k annually
Should I decrease my 403 contributions and knock down my student loans (rate of 2.875)?
I do live in Hawaii. Housing is expensive. The reason for the big mortgage is that it is in a nice area and it has an Ohana house (cottage for my in-laws) who are contributing 1700/mo for rent and utilities. It’s the main reason for me wanting to get additional life insurance. I currently only have a 500 k policy.
Any guidance you have would help.
– Kiara
With student loans below 3%, assuming they’re not adjustable rate loans, you should put them pretty low on the priority list. I would prioritize your own retirement over your children’s college funds, too, as your children can take out student loans if necessary but you can’t magically come up with retirement savings in 20 years.
Given the rather large debt load you carry and the fact that children are involved, I’d suggest that both you and your spouse have enough term life insurance to wipe out all of the debt should one of you pass away. Your income drops dramatically in that scenario, so not having those debt payments will be absolutely vital.
Given all of that, I’d probably put life insurance first, then retirement savings, then the mortgages, then college savings, then the student loans. Make sure you have each one completely in hand before moving on to the next one. The mortgages are the only piece that could move around easily on the list, because I don’t know what their interest rates are and whether those rates are adjustable.
I’ll be super honest about what I don’t know: I know nothing about investing. That said, I know I’m not doing as much as I could with my money. You write that you use Vanguard low-fee index funds. I had Vanguard for my 401k retirement savings at my last company. Can I just open a personal (non-retirement savings fund) with Vanguard? (Kind of lost in the details here of whether this should be mutual funds, ETFs, CDs/stocks/bonds – I don’t know the difference).
A little about my background: I’m 24.5 years old (turning 25 in July), and graduated college in May 2014. I had some side jobs on top of my day job, which I worked at for two years. I started law school in August of 2016. While I was working, I worked and saved pretty aggressively, and I still work a little bit now that I’m in school. My mom is paying for my law school cost of attendance (and she paid for my college cost of attendance too), which means I have my entire savings freed up from school costs.
I currently have $274,000 in my savings account (which barely earns any interest, like I get $2 per month in interest). I just moved that money into a money market account that’s giving me 1% in interest, but that’s a special offer and will go away in another couple months, I believe. I also have $41,000 in my Vanguard retirement savings. I randomly selected the Vanguard plan since I didn’t know which one to pick. It’s the “retire in 2055 plan” or something like that, and is defaulted at 90% stock and 10% bonds.
I want to move the full $274,000 to somewhere that earns more than $2 per month in interest but really am at such a loss as to where to start. I feel comfortable moving the full amount because I’m still working a little bit, and can always use any new income generated as needed. Also, my cost of attendance in school is covered. I really want to follow what you’ve done (because it seems like it’s worked out so well for you!). So, I plan on calling up Vanguard customer support to help me open the low-fee index funds. Is that all I need to tell them or do I need to have the mutual fund vs. ETF stuff mapped out? You wrote in another post to someone that he/she should get Voyager status. I don’t know what that is.
I tried calling them yesterday about moving my 401K to 100% stocks, but I didn’t know which plan to pick, so ultimately hung up having changed nothing about my plan.
I apologize because this question makes me look so ignorant. I keep putting this off because I’m so in the dark, but I used to keep my money in a checking account (earning no interest at all) and just moved it into a savings account recently, and the reason for that long delay is that I know nothing about investing or “growing money!” I would really appreciate your insight!
– Elaine
Having more than $250,000 in a savings account is a poor idea because it exceeds the amount insured by the FDIC. If your bank went belly up, you would just lose everything above $250,000.
I would not move the full $274,000 because you do need an emergency fund in case of a major unexpected event. I’d probably keep somewhere around $5,000 in savings and move the rest somewhere else.
So, what do you do with the $269,000? The best thing for you to do, honestly, is figure out what your goal is with that money. What do you want to do with it? Is it intended to help you retire early? Do you intend to use it to buy a home in five or ten years? The big thing you need to figure out is your timeline and how much risk you can tolerate with it. If you don’t have a goal with it, I wouldn’t put it in anything very volatile. A money market would be reasonable, and Vanguard offers a good money market if you want to just put it in there. You could put it into your Vanguard account and stick it into their Money Market Prime fund outside of retirement money and just sit on it for a while until you evaluate your goals a little.
Once you figure out what you want to do with the money, I’d suggest putting the money into stocks if the goal is ten or more years out. Otherwise, keep it in something less volatile like the money market or in highly rated bonds.
As for the money in Vanguard, if you want your Vanguard money to be in 100% stocks, your best bet is the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index, which basically includes all publicly traded stocks in the United States all wrapped up into one fund. Given your young age, having your retirement money in there is fine, but in ten years or so, you’ll probably want to shift it to a target retirement fund because you’ll want to slowly ratchet down the stock exposure, though you can make that decision when you get there.
I am currently on disability in the state of FL, my question is IF I move from FL to MI (or any other state for that matter) I am curious as to wether my benefits amount will change? The amount I relieve in my state is significantly below that which you show on your web site. I also have an Autistic/Bi-polar son on benefits and his is quite a bit (more than 50% less than that shown on your site).
I’m just curious, as we are thinking of relocating for his education/schooling and it’s quite a significant difference. Or would I be locked in at where I am now?
– Jana
It sounds like you are both on SSDI – Social Security Disability Insurance. Those benefits do not vary from state to state.
If you are on SSI – Supplemental Security Income – which I don’t think you are, those do vary a little from state to state. You’ll want to see what the difference is in your destination state.
When using online calculators, you have to be putting in fully accurate information and you have to make sure that the calculator you’re using is matched correctly with your situation. If you’re just accepting defaults or using the wrong kind of calculator, the results are often going to be wrong.
If you’re uncertain, I would contact the Social Security office by phone at 1-800-772-1213.
At my father’s death, I received a payout from a living trust. I have not been able to get any information from the investment company and don’t know who his wife’s attorney may be. So, that leads me to you. Do I pay tax on this? Can I put it into 401(k)s or something to delay the taxes?
The details- the check is $34,000. My husband and I are in our late 50s. We owe $34,000 on our home. He is self employed and has NO retirement. I have a plan thru my job and a very small 401. Please give me some scenarios or ideas. We have never been in this position and while others have suggested a honeymoon or vacation that we’ve never taken in 38 years, that just doesn’t seem to be the best use of these resources.
Asking your thoughts as a totally uninterested party. My husband is concerned that an investment company would be driven to their best interests, not ours.
Hope this reaches you. I wasn’t able to find any contact info on your website or newsletter. Then again, computers are not my thing- we still have flip phones!
– Florence
I have a number of additional questions about your situation here before I could ever give you a good answer. My honest suggestion is to call a tax lawyer in your area and pay the small fee that the lawyer would charge you to make sure that you’re doing this correctly.
The penalties for doing this wrong would vastly exceed the cost of the lawyer, so you’re far better off putting up the money now and doing it right initially.
I work with two gentlemen in their fifties who have worked at the company for decades. For the first few years I worked here, everything was fine and our office chitchat mostly revolved around movies and sports. In 2015, though, this all changed. One of them got really into the Donald Trump campaign and soon the other guy was on board too. Nowadays they talk about politics at every free second at the watercooler. They openly talk about how they think everyone who is liberal is basically pure evil and laud every single Trump statement and policy and they do it very loudly.
I’m a political moderate and I’m completely tired of it. I know a couple of people in our office are fairly liberal and there are times when they look like they’re about ready to snap or burst into tears. Two different people have left in the last six months, mostly due to the office talk from what they said to me on Facebook afterwards.
There have been informal complaints made, but the person who hears them seems to largely agree with their viewpoints and does nothing. Our immediate supervisor just does not seem to care either as he is of the perspective that you should just blow off comments you don’t agree with.
I don’t know how to handle this situation and I hope you’ll have some sage advice.
– Alex
First of all, politics should not be discussed in a workplace environment regardless of how confident you are that everyone else agrees with you. It doesn’t matter whether you’re politically liberal or conservative, it doesn’t belong in the workplace. You can be politically active as much as you’d like in your personal life, but in the office (or in professional meetings and such), political talk should be checked. This kind of talk isn’t professionally appropriate regardless of your political leanings. It’s unacceptable whether you’re conservative or liberal.
I think your best approach is to simply invite those two to a private meeting of some kind – perhaps going out to lunch together – and simply tell them that their political views are perfectly fine, but their abrasive political speech is alienating coworkers and damaging their professional relationships. Make it clear that a number of people in the office don’t agree with them but that they’re attempting to be professional about it. What you’re doing here is giving them the benefit of the doubt that they’re unaware of the impact they’re having on others and how they’re acting unprofessionally.
If they choose to continue, then you should look into other options. Such talk damages the bottom line of the company, so I would bring it up with someone whose financial interests are affected by this behavior, such as a company owner or a higher level management person. Bypass the ineffective people and talk to people further up the ladder. Just request a meeting and make it clear that you don’t care about the politics, but that you do care about having a happy workplace and that many people are disgruntled by the talk and are feeling unhappy and are shutting down in terms of their workplace interactions and discussions and how that’s affecting the bottom line of everyone’s work productivity.
That’s the exact approach I’d follow. I’d make my case first to the coworkers and if that fails, I’d go to someone whose financial interests are on the line.
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