It’s good news for tenants as rents are rising at a slower pace in the UK with a wider choice of properties on offer. Londoners, in particular, have witnessed a slowdown in rental growth.
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الأربعاء، 26 أبريل 2017
Rental round-up for March: good news for tenants as rent rise slows
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CLOSING BELL: Stock indexes wobble as White House unveils tax plan
Anticipation for a big tax cut, along with looser regulations on businesses, have been two of the main drivers behind the stock market's surge since November, when Republicans swept into Washington. The White House delivered a big number Wednesday, when officials said they hope to cut the top corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent.
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7 Best Ways to Invest $5,000
When I first started to invest I can only afford a measly $50 per month. Granted I was in college still and living on Ramen Noodles but with a part time job at the mall and an internship at our local investment firm I finally started to understand the importance of investing.
Over time that $50 a month turned into $100 a month, then $250 a month and kept growing from there. It almost seemed surreal when it got to a point where I could invest $5000 at once into one investment. It was a very good feeling but also scary knowing how long it took me to save up that $5000. I definitely didn't want to put it into an investment where I would lose all my money. I wanted it to grow but not for the sake of losing it all. When I understood how awesome the Roth IRA was I funneled as much as I could into it wanting to max it out. I started by investing into mutual funds because I definitely wasn't a stock picker and I didn't want to pretend to be. Mutual funds helped me diversify my money and having a professional portfolio manager make those buying and selling decisions on my behalf.
So, you've found yourself with an extra $5,000 in your bank account, and you're wondering what you should do with it. Sure, a new boat would be nice, but you should consider investing that money.
The common misconception is that you have to have thousands and thousands of dollars to start investing, but that couldn't be further from the truth. There are dozens and dozens of ways that you can invest $5,000 in quality short-term investments. If you haven't entered the investment arena yet, it can be scary to get started, but don't worry. It's much easier than it may seem.
When you're looking to invest, there are several different ways that you can do that, and it's important that you understand all of the options. Before you run off and invest your newfound money in an alpaca farm, let's look at some of the different choices to choose from to ensure that you're making the best decision for your money.
Investing in Mutual Funds – Tradeking
As I mentioned earlier, I started investing and diversifying by using mutual funds. Mutual funds are a company that handles all of the investing for you. They compile all of the money from the participating investors and then distribute that money based on the focus of the mutual fund. Some mutual funds invest the money into specific types of funds, like technology.
If you’re looking to put your money into a mutual fund, Tradeking is a great place to do that. You can easily open up a Roth IRA account and put your $5,000 into as many mutual funds as you’re comfortable with. Not only will this get you a decent ROI, it will also help you diversify your portfolio over several different avenues.
Invest in Others – Lending Club
Peer-to-peer lending is an ancient idea. Once upon a time, it involved going to someone's door to ask for money to buy a cow, chicken, or some other farm animal, but thanks to the Internet, peer-to-peer lending has never been easier (or more profitable).
If you're looking to invest $5,000, Lending Club is an excellent way to do that. With Lending Club, they will display thousands of different users that are looking to borrow money for a variety of reasons. Anything from home improvements to buying a new car loan. You can decide which investments that you want to take part in based on your risk preference and specific goals.
One of the biggest advantages of Lending Club is that you can invest in a borrow for as little as $25, which means that you'll be able to split up your $5,000 across dozens and dozens of different opportunities. You can invest in a variety of different high-risk investments and balance them with lower-risk notes.
If you're worried about the legitimacy of Lending Club, worry no longer. They require their borrowers to go through a strict application process before they allow they to post a request on the site. Lending Club requires all of their borrowers to have a stable work history and a credit score of at least 660, but you can put even stricter requirements for your investments. The site makes it incredibly easy to search through the different opportunities by assigning each loan request a “grade.” The higher the grade, the lower the risk for you and the other investors.
One unique advantage of Lending Club is that you don’t have to worry about what the stock market is doing. If you turn on the TV and see that the DOW is crashing (speaking hypothetically, of course), that isn’t going to destroy your investments, because you’re investing in other people.
One thing that you should take note of when deciding where to put your money is that you're going to face some fees with Lending Club. They are going to charge you an IRA fee until your account has at least $10,000 in it. These charges aren't going to break your bank, but you should realize that they are going to charge you money for your account.
Let Robots Invest for You – Betterment
Maybe you're not a hands-on investor that wants to play a role in deciding which investments are best for you. If you fall into this category, then Betterment is going to be the best route for you. Betterment is one of the best ways to investment your $5,000 and then forget about it.
Betterment makes investing your money as easy as a few clicks of your mouse. After you create a Betterment account (which will only take about an hour), you can deposit your initial investments, set your financial goals, and your risk tolerance. After you've made those decisions, Betterment will handle everything else for you.
The website uses “robo-advisors” to effectively invest your money without you having to spend hours researching different companies or options. Betterment uses advanced algorithms that I won't bother explaining because they are too complex. What matters is that Betterment's algorithm is excellent at making you money.
Betterment investors are experiencing annual ROIs of around 6%. Not only will you get a great return on your $5,000, but Betterment will also automatically diversify your money with a mixture of ETF and international notes. Not only will they handle your initial investment, but the robo-advisors will also continue to reinvest your money as you earn money inside of your portfolio.
Invest in the Stock Market
When you think of investing, you probably think of the stock market. Putting your money in stocks can give you the best reward, but it also comes with some risk. The idea of trading stocks can be downright terrifying for new investors, and even for some older investors. There are a few tools that you can use to make the process easier and make the most of your $5,000 investment.
One of the best ways that you can start your stock trading journey is by opening an account with TradeKing. They have one of the best all-around services for trading stocks. They continue to offer excellent customer service and low fees ($7 per trade). Not only that, but they will also offer several quality tools to help you make smart decisions with your money.
If you want to invest in the stock market, but don’t want to be trouble with hand picking each investment, look no further than Motif. Motif is a website that will allow you to buy a bundle of 30 stocks (known as a motif), and these stocks all revolve around one central theme, like medical technology. These motifs are an excellent way to diversify your portfolio and help you put your money into a variety of different avenues. Not only can you automatically diversify your portfolio, but Motif is going to offer you the lowest rates per stock trade ($4.95 per stock/ETF).
Invest in Yourself – Pay Down your Debt
Paying off your debt isn't the sexiest way to invest your $5,000, but it could be one of the best options. Let's look at an example to see just how efficient paying off your debt can be. Every investor is different, but in the majority of cases, paying off debts can help you save thousands of dollars in the future (which you can use to invest that money).
Let's say that you have credit card debt that equals near $5,000 and an APR interest of 15%. Those credit card debts can cost you around $70 every month. The average household has around $15,000 of credit card debt, which is going to put a strain on your bank account every month. Now that you've found yourself with some extra money in your wallet, now is a great time to pay down those debts and save money in interest payments.
Now that you have the extra $5,000 burning a hole in your pockets, you can use that money to pay off credit cards, pay off your car loans, or even make an extra couple payments on your mortgage. It won't be as fun as buying a new boat, but it's a much safer investment.
There's not a better feeling than getting rid of all your debt. After graduating college, I had credit card and student loan debt that I was starting to feel the pressure on. Thankfully by finding a girlfriend which is now my wife who hated debt we were able to formulate a game plan to get all of my debt paid off. When I wrote that last payment to get rid of my student loans it was one of the most freeing feelings I've ever experienced. When you have $5000 to invest the temptation is to invest because it's to make more money but I promise you having that debt lingering will never go away. Once you go debt free you never go back but you have to get there first.
Invest in your Kids – College Savings Accounts
The kids are the future of America, which makes your kids an excellent place to invest your money. If you're like the vast majority of people, you haven't started putting money towards your kids' futures. The average student graduates college with $50,000 in student loans. If you're hoping to give your children the tools that they need to avoid those student loans, you should take your $5,000
There are a couple of different avenues that you can use to prepare for your children's future. The most common way is to open up a 529 college plan. These plans are also known as Qualified Tuition Programs, and they allow you to invest the money in the plan after taxes, and you can withdraw that money tax-free as long as you use it pay for education fees. Every state has different limits and requirements for the 529 plans, which means that you'll have to look at your particular state's limits.
If your state does not have any incentive for investing in their 529, like income tax deductions, then I would look at opening an account with Wealthfront. Not only do they have a full 529 through the state of California, but they will do all the management of the account for you.
Your kid's college fund isn't going to have an immediate return on your investment, but if you want to give your children the money to further their education, opening up one of these accounts is the best way to do that.
Now that I have four children the thought of how much college is going to cost me and my family is very scary. Heck, it was scary after having one kid but now that I have four it's hard to ascertain how much its really going to cost.
There's definitely a good feeling investing in your kids making sure that they don't graduate with student loan debt, a feeling that is all too familiar with me. If you want your kid to have a better life than you did, did it make sense to invest for their college but make sure that you're taking care of yourself first. All too often people don't realize or consider that you can't borrow money in retirement like your kids can borrow to pay for school. Yes, they'll be straddled with student loan debt but they'll be able to have a job. If you are retired and you have no income there's no where you can go to borrow to pay your bills and live your golden years the way that you want.
Investing in Real Estate
Investing in real estate has received a bad rap over the years, but real estate is looking up. There are several ways that you can invest in real estate with your $5,000. Real estate can become an excellent way to let your money make you money, but if you’ve kept up with my blog, you know that I haven’t always had the best success with real estate investing.
The first way and most traditional technique for investing in real estate is to be a landlord. You buy the property and then find a renter. This could either be business property or housing. Being a landlord can be the most profitable, but it can also be the most cumbersome. In most cases, $5,000 won't get you much for this type of real estate investing.
Luckily, Fundrise has made it extremely simple to add real estate to your investment portfolio. Fundrise allows you to buy notes in different real estate investments that go through scrutiny by various real estate experts, and only 2% of the people that request loans through Fundrise get approved.
Not only does Fundrise make it easy to invest in real estate, but it's also a very profitable way to use your $5,000 that's just sitting around. Fundrise boasts an impressive average ROI of almost 7% in 2016. Unless you want to be a hands-on landlord, this is an excellent way to utilize that money that you have sitting around.
Investing $5,000
Regardless of if you're a new investor or a seasoned pro, it's vital that you make the best decision for your money. Thanks to the internet, there are dozens and dozens of different ways that you can put your money to work. Your investment portfolio is going to secure your financial security.
When most people think of investing, they think of buying stocks. There is nothing wrong with putting your money in the stock market, but it isn't necessarily the wisest or most secure way of investing your money.
While you may think that $5,000 isn't enough to invest, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Regardless of how much money that you have sitting around, there is ways that you can investment that money and start planning for your future.
The post 7 Best Ways to Invest $5,000 appeared first on Good Financial Cents.
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A Shocking Number of American Households Won’t Have Cable by 2018
With the cost of cable staying north of $1,100 per year, the cord-cutting trend is gaining serious momentum. It looks like a whole lot of cords are getting cut these days — more and more every year.
Here’s an eye-opening statistic: By the end of this year, nearly a quarter of Americans will no longer have a traditional cable or satellite TV subscription.
Nearly 1 in 4!
That’s the prediction according to consulting firm Convergence Research Group’s new report. This report is flatteringly titled, “The Battle for the American Couch Potato.” (C’mon, strategic consulting guys, don’t try so hard to butter us up.)
The group shows the acceleration of the cord-cutting trend:
- The number of TV subscribers in the U.S. dropped by an estimated 2.05 million in 2016.
- That followed a decline of 1.16 million in 2015.
- This year, the analysts are forecasting a 2.11 million decrease in subscribers.
- That will result in 24.6% of U.S. households being without a TV subscription from a cable, satellite or telecom company.
- For the traditional TV industry, it’s not the end of the world yet. The industry’s revenue grew 3% to $107.3 billion in 2016, and the study predicts revenue will hit nearly $109.6 billion in 2017.
- However, streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime — which we compared here — are growing way faster.
- Streaming services’ revenue shot up 32% to $8.3 billion last year. It’s expected to reach $11.2 billion in 2017 and $14.7 billion in 2018.
If you’re thinking about cutting the cord, here are a few places to get more information:
Cord Cutting 101: Here’s how to watch your favorite shows without cable.
How to figure out if cutting the cord is right for your household.
Streaming Service Smackdown: Hulu vs. Netflix vs. Amazon Prime.
Your Turn: Do you still have cable or satellite TV?
Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He is uncool and still has cable.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/2pjqnDf
Feeling Ripped Off by Torn LuLaRoe Leggings? You May Get a Refund
Multilevel marketing clothing company LuLaRoe has had a rough few months.
I would feel bad for it, you know, if customers weren’t consistently complaining that its $25 leggings were ripping “like wet toilet paper” on the first wear. Or if LuLaRoe’s head of production hadn’t admitted that they company weakens the fibers in the leggings to make them “buttery soft.”
In addition to the quality problems, returns and exchanges are often impossible depending on which of the 80,000 independent “fashion retailers” sold you the leggings.
So yeah, I’d feel bad for LuLaRoe if it were not for all that.
Well, about a month after customers filed the latest class-action lawsuit against the billion-dollar company, LuLaRoe is ready to “make good” by updating its return policy.
How to Return or Exchange Your LuLaRoe Leggings
If you’ve got a pair of ripped leggings — whether the holes are tiny enough to overlook or large enough to put your unmentionables on display — you may be able to get a full refund soon.
Here’s what you have to do. Be warned — it’s a process.
If you bought LuLaRoe leggings between Jan. 1, 2016 and April 24, 2017 and they ripped, you need to track down your original receipt and fashion retailer to prove your purchase. If you don’t have your receipt, you can also provide a bank statement that shows the purchase and identifies the retailer.
From here, take the receipt or bank statement and leggings back to your retailer, and that person will process your claim and shipping for free.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t guarantee a refund just yet.
Once the leggings are back at LuLaRoe, the company will inspect them to determine if the wet toilet paper leggings ripped because of poor materials or workmanship and not “accident, improper care, negligence, abuse, normal wear and tear, and the natural breakdown of colors and materials that occurs by extended use.”
The company did not specify how it will make this determination. But if LuLaRoe decides that the issue is its own fault and not yours, the ball is back in your fashion retailer’s court.
The retailer will call or email you to let know your options. The company is offering exchanges, LuLaRoe gift cards and cash. Your retailer will cover the cost of getting your exchange or refund back to you.
What if you can’t find your retailer, or they have since quit the LuLaRoe hustle? Contact LuLaRoe’s customer service, and it will help you find another retailer in your area to process your claim.
If you’re hoping for a painless option that doesn’t require any human interaction, you’re out of luck.
LuLaRoe’s website does say you can make a claim using an online form, but it seems to just lead you back to a fashion retailer who will make you go through the aforementioned process. The same goes for those who try to call the customer service line.
Although the leggings seem to be what most people have problems with, this policy applies to all LuLaRoe clothing.
And if you plan to return yours, be sure to do it by July 31.
If you buy leggings or any other clothing from LuLaRoe in the future, the company’s new return policy will apply to you.
What About the Class-Action Lawsuit?
LuLaRoe did not address the pending lawsuit in its extensive new return policy explainer. Instead, the company simply said it wanted to “meet your expectations” and “restore the confidence you place in LuLaRoe” by selling quality clothing.
As for the lawsuit, it’s still going through the court system. It’s not clear how the new policy will affect this process.
Your Turn: Have you started the LuLaRoe return process? What has your experience been like?
Desiree Stennett (@desi_stennett) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She doesn’t own any LuLaRoe leggings.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/2pmPSpt
This Study Says Pregnant Women’s Financial Strains Affect Their Babies Too
Kids are stressful.
They’re loud and emotional and are often a danger to themselves (not unlike your freshman roommate, who seemed to live in a constant state of drunk).
But when you consider the cost of raising them, those already crazy-making little humans become even bigger stressors, leading to many a sleepless night worrying about paying for diapers, college and everything in between.
For most parents, the financial stress of having a new baby begins long before the due date, as the harsh reality of 18 years’ worth of expenses sets in.
All that stress could be bad for your baby, too. A new study from the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center suggests stressing about finances during pregnancy can lead to babies born with a lower birth weight.
Coping with Financial Stress While Pregnant
A low birth weight is defined as anything below five pounds, eight ounces. Babies born below this threshold may be at a greater risk of developing certain health conditions later in life, including heart disease and diabetes.
Researchers knew from previous studies that pregnant moms who have a socioeconomic disadvantage are at a higher risk of delivering lower birth-weight babies.
During this study, researchers looked for a specific connection that would allow them to practice positive interventions throughout the pregnancy itself.
“It’s important to understand the factors that make it more likely for a woman with lower socioeconomic conditions to have a baby at higher risk of complications and death,” said lead author Amanda Mitchell.
She said improving low-income women’s access to housing, jobs and general support is critical and then went on to describe potential low-cost stress reduction techniques that could help lower that risk as well.
Mitchell noted that meditation and breathing exercises may help, for example, but also said that medical providers should talk to expecting moms about stress and coping practices during their visits.
Ways to Save Money (and Your Sanity) When You’re Expecting
While a healthy lifestyle, breathing and meditation, getting plenty of rest and speaking to a professional may be key tactics in dealing with financial worries during pregnancy, you can also take steps to become informed and make an action plan regarding your baby’s financial future.
Luckily, there are ways to save money on all your baby-raising needs — everything from delivery to diapers.
Check out this list of ways to save money on baby clothes, gear, food and more, and then be sure to take advantage of some of these sweet baby freebies.
If you’re looking for ways to supplement your income, take a look at these 21 ways to make extra money while raising kids or these tried and true methods for earning cash while your baby naps.
And if all else fails (which it won’t — you’ve got this!), you could always make your kids earn their keep. (Just kidding.)
Finally, since laughter is the best medicine, get your daily dose by reading these hilarious Tweets that perfectly capture just how pricy raising kids can be. Oy.
Your Turn: How do you deal with financial stress?
Grace Schweizer is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/2oKorSC
This Study Ranked the Best — and Worst — States for Public Education
If you have children, or you’ve considered expanding your family in the near future, you’ve probably spent some time thinking about schools.
The quality of the local school system will often be a major factor in where you decide to live.
Financial website SmartAsset recently published its annual list of the top states for K-12 education. So if you have kids, you might want to check there before locking yourself into a 30-year mortgage.
How Did They Rank The Schools?
SmartAsset collected data from all 50 states and factored in metrics like student-teacher ratio, amount of funding per student, graduation rate, college attendance rate and percentages of students taking and excelling in Advanced Placement courses.
They gave each state a letter score from A to F.
What Did They Find Out?
Schools in the Northeast seemed to dominate the top of the list.
New Jersey came in first and scored an A, with a student-teacher ratio of about 12:1 and a 90% high school graduation rate.
Perhaps the state’s high property taxes allowed it to afford to spend an average of $21,138 per student during the 2014-2015 school year.
The top 10 states for K-12 education are as follows:
1. New Jersey
2. Connecticut
3. Massachusetts
4. New York
5. Vermont
6. Maryland
7. Virginia
8. Iowa
9. North Dakota
10. Pennsylvania
The state that fared the worst on this list was Nevada, which earned an F grade and spends an average of only $7,557 a year per student.
The average classroom has nearly 18 students per teacher, and only 71% graduate from high school. Of those who graduate, nearly half — 48% — forgo enrolling in college within 12 months.
The bottom 10 states for public education are as follows (starting with the worst):
1. Nevada
2. Idaho
3. Arizona
4. Oregon
5. Utah
6. Washington
7. Oklahoma
8. New Mexico
9. Colorado
10. Mississippi
See the full list here.
What If I Don’t Live in New Jersey or Connecticut?
Don’t feel all is lost for your kid if you live in Mississippi rather than Maryland. SmartAsset’s list is based on the state as a whole. The quality of education at an individual school system, a school or even a classroom can be an outlier.
And even if your child’s school is less than stellar, you can supplement their education with lessons from a tutor, visits to the library or trips to museums and national parks.
There are also tons of free or low-cost resources available online. PBS Parents offers free educational activities and games for younger children. ABC Mouse offers similar learning tools at a cost of $7.95 per month — but they currently have a promotion for one free month.
For older students, Quizlet provides free study tools for a variety of subject matter. Sparknotes can help high school students finally figure out Shakespeare — and other subjects like biology, history and math.
In the event that your kid would rather veg out in front of the TV after a long day at school, there are programs and specials on channels like PBS, The History Channel, The Discovery Channel and National Geographic that can be both entertaining and educational. Though I might steer them away from shows like “Ancient Aliens” or “Naked and Afraid.”
Your Turn: Has the quality of local education determined where you live?
Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She is a product of New Jersey public schools.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/2pmTjfL
Trump tax plan cuts corporate rate, doubles married standard deduction to $24K
White House officials on Wednesday were to release broad outlines of a tax overhaul that would provide massive tax cuts to businesses big and small. The top tax rate for individuals would drop by a few percentage points, from 39.6 percent to the "mid-30s," according to an official with knowledge of the plan.
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$50 Off Lowe’s Coupon Sounds Great, but it’s Just Another Facebook Fake
The phony coupon shows up in your Facebook feed.
“LOWE’S is giving Free $50 coupons for EVERYONE! to celebrate Mother’s Day!” it reads.
Sound too good to be true? That’s because it is.
The coupon certainly looks like the real thing, but it’s a scam. Lowe’s is warning customers to disregard it.
If you click on the coupon in Facebook, it takes you to a website with an official-looking Lowe’s logo.
There’s a short “survey” there that you have to fill out to get this supposed $50 coupon.
Don’t fill it out. It’s a scheme to get you to reveal personal information.
How to Tell if a Deal is Too Good to be True
Man, this kind of thing is scary. The fake coupon looks really real. How are you supposed to know what’s legit and what’s a scam?
Well, for starters: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Listen to the alarms your common sense and B.S. detector are setting off. A coupon for a whopping $50 off that’s available to everyone on Facebook is probably way too good to be true. That would be a lot of money for Lowe’s to shell out.
The Better Business Bureau has some useful tips to help you spot and avoid falling victim to fake online coupons like this one. Here are some of the best:
- Don’t believe what you see. It’s easy for scammers to steal the colors and logos of any business or organization.
- Legitimate businesses don’t ask for credit card numbers or banking information for coupons or giveaways.
- When in doubt, do a quick web search. If the giveaway is a scam, this is likely to reveal an alert or bring you to the organization’s real website, where it may have posted additional information.
- Watch out for a reward that’s too good to be true. Businesses typically give out small discounts to entice customers. If the offer seems too good to be true (a $100 voucher or 50% discount), it may be a scam.
- Look for a mismatched subject line and email body. Many of these scams have an email subject line promising one thing, but the content of the email is something else.
Your turn: Have you seen this fake Lowe’s coupon?
Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He hates scams.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/2piXCqk
Trump tax plan cuts corporate rate, doubles amount payers can deduct
White House officials on Wednesday were to release broad outlines of a tax overhaul that would provide massive tax cuts to businesses big and small. The top tax rate for individuals would drop by a few percentage points, from 39.6 percent to the "mid-30s," according to an official with knowledge of the plan.
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Confused About What That Betsy DeVos Memo Means for Your Loan? Read This
If you’re one of the 44 million Americans responsible for repaying $1.4 trillion in student loan debt, a single-page memo Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos sent earlier this month might mean more to you than you realize.
In the memo, DeVos rolled back two Obama-era mandates.
The first mandate was intended to make loan collection more transparent and efficient for borrowers. The second aimed to make sure student loan servicers who provided poor customer service didn’t get first pick of new (and lucrative) government contracts in the future.
Both mandates might sound like good things. The student loan lawyers we talked to don’t understand why DeVos is rescinding them.
And earlier this week, a coalition of 21 state attorneys general — all Democrats — criticized DeVos’ decision to reverse the policies aimed at protecting borrowers, The Washington Post reported Monday.
How did DeVos explain it? She criticized the “myriad of moving deadlines, changing
requirements and a lack of consistent objectives” and said the Department of Education “must promptly address not only these shortcomings but also any other issues that may impede
our ability to ensure borrowers do not experience deficiencies in service.”
DeVos provided no further explanation and did not offer up any new solutions.
Why Student Loan Servicers Aren’t Your Friends
Before we can understand why DeVos’ actions are such a big deal, it’s important to understand the issues with the way servicers currently collect student loan debt.
Borrowers don’t make their payments directly to the Department of Education. Instead, they work with servicers like Navient, Great Lakes Educational Loan Services and Nelnet, which serve as third parties that collect and manage your loans.
The problem is that borrowers with multiple loans might deal with multiple servicers, which can make it difficult to keep track of their loans and pay them off.
Additionally, borrowers don’t get to choose their servicers, and their experiences can vary widely with each company.
“What the Obama administration wanted to do was create one online servicing portal for all of the servicers to use and under that new system, it wouldn’t matter who a borrower’s individual servicer was,” said Jay Fleischman, a California student loan attorney.
The new process was also supposed to make it easier to report complaints, provide feedback and resolve issues faster by allowing borrowers to communicate directly with the DOE rather than their servicer.
“By rescinding those policy memorandums, what Secretary DeVos and the Department of Education are saying is, ‘We’re abandoning that ideal. We’re abandoning the idea that the borrower is entitled to greater transparency, greater accountability and more information with respect to their ability to repay their student loans and the options that are available to them,’” Fleischman added.
Tough critic. And he’s not the only one.
Navient recently came under fire for saying borrowers can’t rely on it to counsel them about their repayment options, as its primary role is to collect payments.
Navient made that statement in a motion to dismiss what could be a multibillion dollar lawsuit, despite previous public statements the servicer made saying it was a resource for borrowers.
DeVos’ memo made it easier for Navient to continue receiving government contracts without further scrutiny into its past student loan management, according to Adam Minsky, a Boston student loan attorney.
“So far, every step (DeVos) has taken has been seemingly not in the best interest of borrowers,” Minsky said. “All of this collectively says to me that she’s not going to be standing up for borrowers.”
Included in Minsky’s criticism was a previous memo DeVos sent that rolled back yet another Obama-era guideline. That memo reinstated additional collections charges for borrowers who default on their loans.
Here’s What You Can Do to Protect Yourself
Based on the explanations from Minsky and Fleischman, the future for borrowers seems uncertain. But there are things you can do to protect yourself.
1. Get Your Information From the DOE Not Your Loan Servicer
When you call your servicer, you have to understand that the person on the other end of your call “is not looking to help (you) at all,” Fleischman said.
Instead, log in to StudentLoans.gov. There, you will find your full student loan history so you always know exactly how much you owe, how many loans you have and what interest rates each loan carries.
You can also get detailed information directly from the DOE on everything from loan deferment for financial hardship to requirements for loan forgiveness. The information you find here is trustworthy.
2. Review Repayment Options Yourself
Also on StudentLoans.gov, there is a repayment estimator with a wealth of information, Fleischman said.
While you can use it without logging in to see estimated numbers based on national debt averages for people with your education level, it becomes far more useful once you log in. The estimates disappear, and you can make calculations based on your real income and debt.
The estimator uses your adjusted gross income, family size and living arrangements to determine how much you can afford to pay. It then uses your information to break down all the options that apply to you.
Drop-down menus also detail the terms of each payment option: how long it will take to repay your loans, how much you will pay over time with interest and at what point you will be eligible for forgiveness, if applicable.
The payment options include the standard 10-year repayment schedule, income-based repayment, a pay-as-you-earn plan and several others that populate if they apply to you.
If an option does not apply to you, the calculator makes that clear, too.
3. Keep Records of Everything
If you must communicate with your servicer, make note of everything the representatives tell you, and get it in writing whenever possible.
According to Minsky, it’s even a good idea to keep a copy of forms you fill out because some servicers may not keep them on file.
Minsky also suggests speaking to management and, whenever possible, keeping track of who you have spoken with in the past and requesting to speak to the same person every time you call.
4. Research Student Loan Counselors and Lawyers
Student loans can be confusing. If you need someone to talk to about your specific circumstances, Minsky and Fleischman suggest doing your own research to find someone you trust will have your best interest at heart. (I think we have established that you can’t trust your servicer for this.)
When searching for an attorney or counselor to give you advice about your specific situation, make sure the person you seek out is in good standing with appropriate governing body, like the state bar association.
Before hiring an attorney, make sure to check them out online and speak with them either in person or over the phone to make sure you feel comfortable working with them.
Finally, always double-check the information they give you, and be weary of anyone who offers lofty promises of immediate loan forgiveness. If a promise seems too good to be true, it likely is.
5. File Complaints Directly With the DOE
When you have a problem with a servicer, you should file your complaints directly with the DOE rather than just with your servicer, according to Minsky. That is generally the best way to get problems resolved quickly.
You can do this after registering at StudentLoans.gov. Head over to the feedback section of the site, where you can file a formal complaint about a servicer or student loan collections.
You can also use this portal to file complaints about applying for and receiving federal loans, grants and work study. This is also where you’d complain about a school’s administration of federal student aid and misleading recruitment or marketing practices.
Once you file your complaint, expect to hear back from the DOE within 15 days and have your resolution within 60 days. The DOE should also give you a case number to use for reference when you communicate with its representatives.
Minsky says DeVos speaks about taxpayers and student loan borrowers as if they have opposing interests. Getting civically involved, he said, can go a long way toward reminding elected officials that “most if not all borrowers are also taxpayers.”
Your Turn: Have you ever had issues with a student loan servicer? If so, was it resolved?
Desiree Stennett (@desi_stennett) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She is one of the 44 million Americans with student loan debt.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/2qf6Env
Savings rates are on the rise: where to find the best deals
Yorkshire Building Society pays a top 1.15% on its branch-based Single Access Saver. But you are restricted to making withdrawals on just one day of your choosing a year.
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Pension savers left in limbo as key changes left out of Finance Bill
The proposed reduction to the amount savers can put back into a pension once they have started taking an income appears to have been given a temporary stay of execution.
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Halifax, Santander and Nationwide gain the most current account switchers
Almost a quarter of a million people switched their current account provider in the first three months of 2017.
Data published by Bacs shows that 248,302 switches were made using the Current Account Switch Service (CASS) between 1 January and 31 March 2017. This means a total of 949,047 switches were completed in the year to 31 March 2017.
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How to Handle a Job with Low (or No) Pay Increases
Jason writes in:
“I have been working at the same job for the past seven years. It pays well and I am able to save about a third of my income between 401(k) and Roth and house down payment savings. The problem is that my salary is barely moving. I get great reviews but then I get only a “cost of living” raise that’s actually less than the increase in cost of living. I’m basically getting paid less in real dollars than when I started. Wondering what I should do and if I should move on.“
The first thing you should always ask yourself is this: Have you been doing things that will create a strong resume for you and make you a tempting hire for other businesses? Do you have skills that will transfer well in your field? Do you have impressive projects to put on a resume?
Regardless of what you do with your current job, your focus should be on making sure that you have a great resume to shop around. If you’re in a position where you don’t have value to other employers, then you’ve ceded a lot of power to your current employer. You’ve made them into your only option, and that’s never a good place to be in.
So, your first action step should be to give your resume a polishing and evaluate it realistically to see if it’s ready to get you anywhere. If it’s not, start investing as much of your time as you can on projects that are resume-worthy and classes and certifications to build up your skill set.
You should also start taking steps to raise your profile within your field. It is never a bad idea to start building lots of relationships within your field, especially outside of your current place of employment. Start going to meetups related to your career in the area. Get involved in social media related to your career path, particularly in areas where you can show off your skills a little (like an online community focused on your areas of expertise).
These steps are twofold. They’ll obviously help you if you decide to switch to a new job, but they’ll also give you some leverage with your current workplace. You’re increasing your personal value, which means you have more poker chips with which to stay in the game.
What about your current job, though? As you go through the steps of preparing yourself for a potential move, take stock of your current organization. Do you enjoy the environment at the current workplace? Is the management flexible and treats you well, or are they cruel and uncaring? Do you have good relationships with your coworkers, or is the place poisonous? Does the organization as a whole seem to be on solid ground, or are things looking shaky? Do you enjoy the projects you’re working on or do you find them boring?
If you feel that your current place of employment is a good place to work and has some stability, then it makes more sense to keep working with them. If this is the case, have a sincere discussion with your manager – remember, if you’re in this situation, your manager is probably someone you get along with and trust to some extent, or else you’d be wanting to get out of there.
Simply lay out the situation. You’ve been a good employee for a long time. You have a competitive skill set and a lot of experience. You feel you have earned more compensation and, all things being equal, you’d prefer to stay with your current organization if they show you that your efforts are rewarded with a notable increase in compensation. If you’re unsure what you should be asking for, take a look at what people are getting paid with similar levels of experience at positions like yours in your area by using job listings. (Remember, this is only good leverage if you’re a good employee. If you’re not a good employee, they may decide that a new face in your position is a better value for their dollar. If you’re below average, paying you the average might not be the wisest idea.)
Your current workplace would have to be in a very poisonous position if your manager did not understand this. If your manager actually balks at this concept, then it’s a sign that you should be moving on.
What you should expect is that your manager will agree with you to some extent and then he or she will seek to reward you with additional compensation. Be aware that this might not be immediate. There are perhaps conversations that need to occur and budgets that need to be evaluated before you can get a raise. Your best route during this process is to occasionally touch base with your supervisor on the progress of getting a raise. If you begin to feel that you’re getting the runaround and nothing is going to change – being patient is good, but patience does have its limits – then it’s time to start seeking new employment.
If you find yourself in a scenario where new employment seems to be the best route, whether it’s due to uncertainty about the future of your workplace, unhappiness with the environment, or a lack of attention being given to your compensation, then the next step is to start looking for a new position.
The honest truth of the matter is that most jobs are won through relationships, not through applications. Most of the time, winning applicants are referred to a business by a current employee and it’s due to that personal reference that the position is won.
So, your first step in this process should be to ask around through your trusted professional relationships as to whether there are any appropriate positions out there for you. If you’ve got some strong relationships, have been helpful within those relationships in the past, and have a good reputation, it’s likely that at least one of those people will be able to point you toward a job that you could apply for within their organization or an organization that they have ties to. (In fact, this is exactly how I applied to every professional job position I ever held; it started with a professional relationship.)
Sometimes, you’ll find that this happens very fast, especially if you’re referred to a job at a smaller company. Small companies tend to be very agile with their hiring and can sometimes have a job offer for you on the table in just a day or two. At other times, you’ll find that the wheels turn very slowly. You apply and then wait for months and then have a phone interview and then wait for a month and then have another phone interview and then wait a month and then have a face-to-face interview and then wait for a month… you get the idea. This tends to be true for government jobs and jobs with very large corporations, in my experience. There’s no need to be impatient here, especially if you happen to like most aspects of your current job.
If you have a job offer in hand but you still like your current environment, go back to your supervisor with your job offer in hand and give them a chance to match it. This is the appropriate thing to do if you have a good relationship with your current employer and like your current work environment. Give them a chance to match your offer, and if they do, stay where you are. If not, well, you have a job offer in hand!
Another route, particularly if you have a lot of downtime at your current job, is to launch a side gig to supplement your income. If you have an unfulfilled interest or passion, a side gig can be a great way to bring that passion to the table and channel some energy through it in order to earn some income. Side gigs can take on all kinds of shapes and sizes – my father’s side gigs included small-scale commercial fishing and vegetable farming, for example, and my mother’s side gigs involved meal preparation and child care, while my own side gigs included building websites and fixing computers and my own children have an after school side gig on Youtube. You can start this process right now by brainstorming ideas for side gigs, then writing up business plans for the best ones.
The thing to remember in all of this is that your loyalty to a company has to be earned, not given. If a company does not treat you well, then you don’t have to continue working there out of a sense of loyalty. If you’re not being compensated in a way that’s reasonable compared to your experience and efforts, it really is okay to ask for a raise and, if you don’t get one, to look into moving on. Just make sure, before you start, that you’ve got a skill set and a professional network that will make it easy for you to move to a new job, or else you’ve given your current company all of the leverage.
Good luck!
Related Articles:
- Five Ways to Give Yourself a Raise
- So You Want to Earn More Money? Seven Pieces of Career Advice I Wish I’d Known
- Five Salary Negotiation Tips for People Who Hate Talking About Money
The post How to Handle a Job with Low (or No) Pay Increases appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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Forget Millennials. 7 Reasons Why Baby Boomers Are the Ideal Target Market.
There’s a lot of buzz about millennials today and how to market to them.
Marketers often tell you that to appeal to millennials, you need to get on Snapchat and other popular social channels.
You need to learn how to create a video that will go viral.
You need to make sure you’ve got enough of a balance of the ordinary and extraordinary in the messages you try to deliver.
You can’t forget to make remarks about making a real difference in the world.
While we, as marketers, can do all this and more, it can get exhausting!
Why are we crafting the majority of our messages to millennials when there are 74.9 million baby boomers out there who want to buy our products too?
We do this because the number of millennials has surpassed the number of baby boomers. There are 75.4 million millennials today (millennials are defined as those between the ages of 18 and 34). But the difference between millennials and baby boomers is small.
Marketing to millennials can feel crazed. It means high-energy, quickly-consumable, frenzied marketing because they have a “fear of missing out,” also known as FOMO.
Baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, also have a need to be informed, but they’re a little more patient about it.
It’s true that no company can focus on just one generation. You have to have a strategy appealing to everyone on some level, and that’s why targeting is so important.
Whenever I work with a company to define its customer, I focus on understanding its target market and then segmenting it.
Often, what I find is that a single product or service can be marketed to each of the three generational segments:
- Baby boomers – born between 1946-1964
- Generation X – born between 1965-1980
- Millennials – born between 1981-2000
The generation that often gets overlooked is that first one—baby boomers!
When it comes to the 50+ demographic, only 10% of marketing budgets are used to reach this generation.
Why is this the case? Why such low marketing expenditure on a generation which, as I’m about to show you, could be incredibly lucrative?
Some marketers think the boomer generation is boring. They’re not sexy. They’re aging. They’re set in their ways. They’re not tech-savvy. Why even bother?
This is a huge mistake! Boomers can be sexy; they’re not as old as you think; they’re not that set in their ways; and they’re incredibly tech savvy.
Why bother? Because the baby-boom generation is probably the hottest age-defined marketing segment you can tap into.
Baby boomers have money
Millennials may have surpassed boomers in numbers, but more than 70% of the disposable income in the US comes from baby boomers.
And here’s the thing. They actually spend it!
How much do they spend?
Try 3.2 trillion every year.
Yes. Trillion. With a “t.”
And that’s just the US.
If you want to know who will go through with that credit card purchase online, you should probably bet on baby boomers.
Let’s face it. Most millennials don’t have a lot of money.
Look at the generational breakdown. Who has the biggest net worth? And who has the biggest total income?
Answers: Boomers, and boomers.
It’s great to get millennials energized and excited, but at the end of the day, they don’t have the collective power to turn that energy into money for you.
Baby boomers are on social media, big time
A big misconception about baby boomers is that they are old and traditional so they don’t use social media.
In fact, half of people aged 50 to 64 are on social media, likely on more traditional and well-established platforms such as Facebook.
The bottom line is you don’t have to do all your marketing on Periscope or Snapchat.
The largest audience to date on social media is on Facebook. You’ll get your baby boomers there more than anywhere else.
But what do these boomers do on social media?
I think this is fascinating. They’re watching! One social technographic survey found that baby boomers were primarily “spectators.”
In other words, your grandpa might not be the one starting the Reddit flamewar, but he is reading his Facebook news feed.
Let’s take this a step further.
This means baby boomers comprise the largest potential viewership of Facebook advertising!
You can target your Facebook ads demographically. When you do so, why not widen the age group to include baby boomers too?
Look at this survey of baby boomer activity on social media:
Social media marketing is all about engagement. The data shows us that baby boomers are an incredibly likely source of such engagement.
Baby boomers are making purchases to improve their lifestyles
You have to remember that baby boomers created suburbia as we know it. They bought homes. They left the urban decay of the cities. They began living in comfortable communities.
One Forbes marketing writer put it this way:
[Baby boomers] want to be out on their own, in a more luxurious place… They are actively looking for newly constructed homes where they can continue to pursue an active lifestyle surrounded by the latest amenities.
Everyone wants to have fun, right? Millennials, Generation Xers—all of us are eager to have a good time.
But baby boomers, more than any other generation, have both the time and money to spend on comfort, amenities, entertainment, and recreation.
Appeal to these aspirations, and you’ll be speaking to them in a way that resonates with them.
Boomers buy products and services for others, not just themselves
Boomers love to invest in educational products and services, especially for their grandchildren (ahem, the millennials).
If you can market your products in this way, you’ll grab their attention.
They value education, loyalty, and authenticity, and any kind of content or product that fulfills that goal will be of interest to them.
I’ve worked with companies that make apps designed to help parents monitor the health and well-being of small children. (Think baby monitors and associated apps.)
When we dug into the marketing, we discovered that a large percentage of their buyers were in the baby-boom generation!
Further research showed that many baby boomers had taken on the role of primary caregivers of their grandchildren.
As young parents pursued their careers, these grandparents used their retirement to provide care to their grandchildren.
And that’s why your parent-focused product or schoolchild-aged toy might benefit from some baby-boomer-targeted advertising!
Boomers are active online shoppers
Boomers are interested in saving money. Besides shopping, they are doing other things online that make life easier. Investment bankers are trying to convert them with the help of this online investing advice, which is an interesting prospect.
With so many of us trying to convince our audiences to invest in our brands, appealing to baby boomers could be a win-win.
Boomers are very tech savvy
Boomers may have grown up buying everything at a department store and using fax machines, but today, they aren’t afraid of online shopping.
In fact, “66% of people over 50 in the United States routinely make purchases from online retailers.”
And email? They’re all in.
Not only that, but they’re likely to click through and check out the promotion you’re emailing them about!
According to eMarketer, “the majority of baby boomers now own smartphones.”
They’re not using their smartphones as a glorified land line. They’re shopping, researching, and purchasing!
If you’re not marketing to baby boomers on mobile devices, you’re missing out on easy money for your business.
Boomers respond to hipster advertising styles
Some have called boomers the “new hipsters.” They’re the Woodstock generation that grew up and became responsible.
They purchase hipster clothing. They respond to hipster advertising.
They even live in hipster neighborhoods!
Today, loyalty and a sense of well-being are important to them when choosing companies to give their money to, but you can awaken their nostalgia with a good throwback photo every now and then.
Conclusion
Baby boomers as a whole tend to be hard-working people prone to spending money and learning new things.
They want to be informed about the going-ons of the world, and they want to interact with their brands in a personal way. They want you to help them when they are troubleshooting, and they count on you to deliver on a good product when you say you will.
They’re also willing to wait for your messages and communication much longer than millennials.
They won’t tolerate you ignoring them, but they don’t expect you to constantly entertain them.
Knowing these key characteristics about baby boomers is power in your marketing hands because you can tweak your message to appeal to this large group of people.
Don’t fall into the trap of appealing only to millennials with every message.
Baby boomers make up a population that nearly equals the millennials, and they are more active on social media and mobile applications than ever.
Take a long, hard look at your product or service.
Would a baby boomer be interested?
Don’t underestimate this generation. There are very few products or services a baby boomer wouldn’t be interested in, as we saw above.
The least you can do is try. Tweak your messaging; try some new ad targeting; and see what happens!
Do you have a product or service that would appeal to baby boomers?
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Trump tax plan billed as 'largest tax reform' in US history
White House officials on Wednesday were to release broad outlines of a tax overhaul that would provide massive tax cuts to businesses big and small. The top tax rate for individuals would drop by a few percentage points, from 39.6 percent to the "mid-30s," according to an official with knowledge of the plan.
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OPENING BELL: Stocks hold steady ahead of tax-plan announcement
Stocks have sprinted higher since November, due in large part to excitement that lower taxes and looser regulations for businesses are on the way. The White House is expected to unveil its first proposals this afternoon, and officials have called them part of "the biggest tax cut" in U.S. history, though the announcement is likely to include only broad outlines and few details.
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Mortgage lenders call for reduced affordability tests
The trade body representing UK mortgage lenders has called on the Bank of England to reassess whether its affordability testing rules are making it too difficult for people to take out a mortgage.
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Millennials Hate Dinner Dates — and the Reason Why is Actually Quite Smart
Millennials are smart.
Before you scoff so hard snot flies out of your nose, let me explain.
Although some people swear chivalry is dead, millennials are doing dating right. And yes, their version of dating includes swiping right or left on their phones — but they’re saving money while doing it.
Why First Dates are Getting Expensive For Millennials
According to a recent report from MarketWatch, millennials refuse to go out to dinner on the first date.
The rather “unscientific” (but in my opinion, oh so totally accurate) article stated only 7 in 10,000 messages in a recent OKCupid survey suggested going out to dinner.
Why? Well, aside from the obvious fact that they’re awkward, millennials just don’t want to waste their time or money.
The article quotes April Masini, an etiquette and relationship expert, who blames technology for the rising cost of playing the dating field.
According to Masini, online dating gives “serial daters” the opportunity to schedule first dates quicker, and it’s this increase in first dates that can drain checking accounts.
It’s true, though: According to an article in GQ, college students can expect to drop $50-$100 on a date, while older adults spend $150-$250.
Imagine doing that more than once a month. Ouch.
So yeah, millennials’ idea of chivalry isn’t dead — what’s nicer than agreeing to not throw one another into financial pits of despair the first time they meet?
(Not much, considering student loans are already doing that for them. *wink emoji*)
Why Dinner Dates Suck
The rest of the internet seems to agree that not only are dinner dates are horribly expensive, but they’re also terribly taboo in today’s day and age.
An entire article in Cosmopolitan rants about dinner dates being outdated. It says eating is just too intimate for a first-time meet up, and the author “would literally rather go on a date to a landfill and roll in trash.” SAME.
The Art of Charm also chimes in, stating that going to dinner on a first date is “too much too soon,” and that they’re “just about the worst first date you can go on.” Where is the lie?
We don’t have to take their word for it, either — after taking a quick survey in The Penny Hoarder headquarters and from my Facebook friends, first dates involving sitting down and eating dinner are known to go downhill fast.
I mean, imagine being like this Penny Hoarder, who sat down and had her date start off with these romantic six words:
“My IQ is off the charts.”
Or you could be this Penny Hoarder, whose experience was so cringe-worthy I felt the need to hug her after I heard it:
“I had a date with an OKCupid match, it was fine. But then a few days later he brought me a giant plush sheep as an “Easter gift”. First of all, I’m an atheist. Second of all, [WTF]?”
And, last but not least, some people are just flat out weird. One of my Facebook friends shared this:
“Met a guy on Tinder (of course), and we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. He got upset when I ordered from the “skinny” menu, because he said it meant he had to order something healthy as well. Which it didn’t. He acted like a child, playing with the butter, and using his tongue to move the straw around in his drink, rather than his hands. He also barely spoke the entire time, and then made me stand in the rain after, even though he had an umbrella. Still tried to hold my hand, though.”
Cheap (or Free!) First Date Alternatives
If I’ve scared you enough to hide under a rock for the rest of your life, please don’t. There’s actually such a thing as a cheap or even free date.
Need some ideas?
Here are a few — and yes, you can easily escape them if things head south:
- Go for a walk in the park. Going for a walk in the park together is not only free, but if things get weird, you can easily walk the opposite direction.
- Go happy hour hopping. Hit up a few different bars or restaurants during happy hour. Not only are drink specials usually pretty cheap, but you don’t have to go to the next round if it’s a bummer.
- Go on a bike ride together. If you live in a major city, you may have access to a bike share. For a few dollars an hour, you can rent a bike — and better yet, if you already have one, it’ll be free! Plus, bikes mean quick getaways. C’ya!
Not seeing one that piques your interest? No problem — check out our post on 25 Fun, Budget-Friendly Date Ideas That Don’t Feel Cheap.
Good luck!
Your Turn: What do you think about going to dinner on a first date?
Kelly Smith is a junior writer and engagement specialist at The Penny Hoarder. Catch her on Twitter at @keywordkelly.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/2oL93pB
Brexit worries hit retirees’ financial plans
The findings, which come from Prudential’s Class of 2017 research, found that 27% of this year’s retirees think the UK’s departure from the European Union will put pressure on their finances not just now, but for the duration of their retirement.
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Over 45s spend more time planning holidays than their retirement
Pre-retirees spend more time planning their holidays and redecorating their homes than planning their retirement.
According to new research from insurer LV=, people aged between 45 and 54 are spending a worryingly brief amount of time planning their retirement finances.
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