MAKE MONEY ONLINE POSTS: 04/28/17

الجمعة، 28 أبريل 2017

Burnt Stroudsburg building sold

Business owner Malik Alizai wants to fully renovate and refill the spaces destroyed by fire at 715 Main Street

Source Business - poconorecord.com http://ift.tt/2oUA4qO

Swim in Cash This Summer With These Sweet Gigs (One Pays Up to $40/Hour)

Summertime is upon us. Can you feel it in the air?

The arrival of summer always stirs up childhood nostalgia, like memories of barbeques and beach vacations.

Unfortunately for me, work tends to get in the way of engaging in my former pastime: spending days relaxing at the pool. But if you’re looking to pick up a part-time gig this summer — without sacrificing pool time — I may have the perfect opportunity for you.

Several companies are hiring mobile swim instructors. No, you won’t be teaching people to swim via your smartphone. These instructors travel to pools in their clients’ backyards, subdivisions or neighborhoods to teach folks of all ages how to swim.

These jobs are perfect for college students, teachers, part-time workers and folks who are already members of the gig economy.

What’s great about these jobs — besides that you’ll be able to keep cool in the water on hot summer days — is you can set your own hours and take on as much or as little work as you desire. Additionally, you can concentrate on the lessons while the company handles registration, billing and marketing.

The following companies are looking for mobile swim instructors now.

Sunsational Swim School

Sunsational Swim School has locations all across the country, including San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Tampa, New York, Seattle and more.

The school is hiring in all locations.

The pay range is $26-$40 an hour. You could also be eligible for bonuses, contests and other incentives.

Sunsational Swim School prefers at least two seasons of experience, and you need to have CPR and first-aid certifications. You’ll also need a dependable vehicle and a love of working with kids — clients can range from babies to adults.

Fill out the application here.

Happy Swimmers USA

Happy Swimmers USA has locations in cities across the nation. Areas it’s hiring in include Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and Orange County, California; Austin, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Phoenix; Washington, D.C.; New York City; Orlando, Florida; and Oahu and Kauai, Hawaii.

Pay starts at $30 an hour.

You must have two to three seasons of experience, CPR certification and reliable transportation. First-aid certification is a plus.

Apply for this opportunity here.

Mobile Swim School

Based in northeast Florida, Mobile Swim School has locations in Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, Ponte Vedra, Ponte Vedra Beach, Nocatee and St. Augustine.

The school is hiring instructors to give swim lessons to clients ranging from infants to adults in Jacksonville.

Pay ranges from $16-$20 an hour.

Job candidates should have at least two years’ experience as a competitive swimmer, swim instructor or coach. You’ll need to get CPR and first-aid certifications within 30 days of hire, and you’ll need reliable transportation.

Apply for this position here.

The Adventure Squad

The Adventure Squad is a New Jersey-based company that provides mobile enrichment activities to children.

The company is hiring swim instructors to teach private, semiprivate and small group lessons in Monmouth, Ocean, Cape May and Passaic counties in New Jersey.

According to a company representative, pay starts at $15 an hour. There are also opportunities for bonuses and incentives.

Applicants need at least two seasons of experience teaching swimming to small children, plus lifeguard, CPR and first-aid certifications. Water safety instructor certification is a plus. You’ll also need reliable transportation and a cell phone.

Fill out an application here.

Want to be the first to know about other fun, interesting jobs like this? Like The Penny Hoarder Jobs on Facebook to stay in the loop!

Your Turn: Will you apply for one of these summer jobs?

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She is now on the search for swim lessons for her daughter this summer.

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.

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Banks, Credit Unions Offer 0% Loans to Military in Case Shutdown Delays Pay

Financial institutions for military members have plans to help keep customers paid in the event of a government shutdown.

Congress passed a bill earlier today to extend spending bill negotiations through May 5 — and keep the government running until then. But beyond that, the threat of a government shutdown still looms.

In preparation for any interruption in pay for active-duty military, several banks are stepping up to lend a hand — and in some cases, a loan.

Navy Federal Credit Union, USAA and First Command Financial Services have announced programs to support military members who may see an interruption in pay.

These Banks Will Help Military Get Paid if the Government Shuts Down

Heard of other banks that will provide special services to military members if the government shuts down? Let us know so we can add them to this post!

Navy Federal Credit Union

Navy Federal Credit Union will offer 0% interest loans to active-duty military members and civilian Department of Defense employees who have their paychecks direct deposited into their NFCU accounts and miss a check due to a shutdown.

You can register for this loan online. To get your loan on your usual payday, make sure you register by the day before your next scheduled direct deposit. If you miss that day, you can still register up to three days after your scheduled payday and get access to your funds on the same day or the first business day after you complete the registration, according to the NFCU site.

NFCU will calculate your loan amount based on your last paycheck before the shutdown — the bank will cap these loans at $6,000. The loan scale shows that members who register will get advances covering 50-99% of their most recent direct deposit.

The loans don’t require a credit check, and they will not show up on your credit report.

When your regular direct deposit resumes, NFCU will automatically withdraw the amount you received from your account as payment.

New credit union members are eligible for this benefit so long as they had their most recent paycheck direct deposited into their NFCU account. If you’re a member who hasn’t yet established a direct deposit link, you’re not eligible for this offer.

First Command Financial Services

If a shutdown occurs, First Command Financial Services will email all account holders who are federal employees or active-duty military who have their federal paychecks direct deposited to inform them of their eligibility for payroll advance loans.

“Payroll advances will only be made to clients who send us an affirmative response,” the program website states.

First Command says there are no fees or interest on these payday advances, which will cover the amount of the employee’s delayed direct deposit. The bank will also provide penalty-free early certificate of deposit withdrawals and waive cash advance fees on credit card accounts during a shutdown.

The bank intends to be able to cover the client’s normal net pay, said Mark Leach, vice president of media relations, by email. When normal direct deposit starts again, the amount provided as a payday advance will be deducted from the account.

“During the previous shutdown in October 2013 we stepped up to help our clients with payroll advances and other financial offerings,” Scott Spiker, chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “As we face the prospect of another government shutdown later this month, we again commit to help our clients and ensure their family finances are squared away.”

United Services Automobile Association

USAA will offer no-interest payroll advance loans to military members in the event of a shutdown.

“If a funding agreement is not reached and a disruption in military pay seems likely, USAA will email eligible members with information about how to sign up,” a blog post explains.

Active-duty USAA members will be eligible for payday loans if they have their federal paychecks direct deposited into their USAA account and have made two consecutive deposits in the past 60 days. Like NFCU, USAA will cap loans at $6,000 and automatically debit the loan amount once normal direct deposits resume.

Your Turn: Are you a member of the military? Do you have a financial plan ready in case a government shutdown delays your paychecks?

Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder.

This Shocking New Study Says 1 in 10 Americans are Now in $100,000 in Debt

You’ve probably seen this bumper sticker somewhere: I Owe, I Owe, So Off To Work I Go.

Yup, we owe.

An eye-opening new study painfully details just how much debt Americans are carrying around, and the results are nothing short of astonishing.

If you look at its findings, you might have one of the following reactions:

Man, we all have a ton of debt.

Wow, I thought I had debt, but apparently a lot of my neighbors are REALLY in debt. Like, up-to-their-eyeballs in debt.

Jeez, we sure don’t deny ourselves when it comes to extras like hobbies or travel or entertainment, do we?

Ugh, I really do need to get out of debt.

Never fear. We’re here to help you with No. 4.

The new report, commissioned by financial services company Northwestern Mutual, studied the finances of nearly 3,000 people. It paints a picture of Americans who are deep in the red but keep on spending like there’s no tomorrow.

Here are some of the scariest tidbits:

1 in 10 Americans have more than $100,000 in debt, not including their mortgages.

Nearly half the country owes at least $25,000.

3 out of 4 people are struggling to pay down their debt each month.

1 in 5 people with debt have to spend half or more of their income to deal with it.

The average American borrower owes $37,000.

4 in 10 say debt causes them anxiety and impacts their financial well-being.

1 in 10 have so much debt, they’re pretty sure they’ll die in debt.

So! Now that we’ve cheered you up with these fun facts and figures, there’s also this to think about:

After paying for basic necessities like food and housing, Americans spend 40% of their income on fun things like travel, entertainment and hobbies. Meanwhile, just 33% goes to pay off debt.

Experts say that’s a no-no.

“Building financial security while saddled with high debt is like running a race with a weight around your ankle,” says Rebekah Barsch, Northwestern Mutual’s vice president of planning. “We are carrying around this debt that is getting more expensive the longer we hold onto it, and then spending on things that are not essential.”

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Trying to figure out how to get out of debt? Here are three ways to get started:

1. Map Out What You’re Dealing With

Figure out exactly what kind of debt you have.

For example, which companies do you owe money to? Are any of your debts in collections? What are your minimum monthly payments on each credit card or loan?

An easy way to do this is to sign up with a free service like Credit Sesame. This tool shows your balance on any unpaid bills, credit cards or loans. It also offers tips on reducing your debt and raising your credit score.

2. Consolidate Your Debt

Once you fall behind, you may find yourself getting crushed by credit card interest rates north of 20%. You’ll never catch up that way. You’re spending so much on interest, you’ll never pay off your balances.

If you’re financially treading water like this, it might be worth consolidating and refinancing your debt.

By refinancing an existing loan, you’re taking out a totally new loan, which comes with new terms and (ideally) a lower interest rate. By consolidating your existing loans, you lump all your debt into one big payment, so you’re only making one payment and dealing with one interest rate per month.

Make sense but don’t know where to start? Credible is an online marketplace that offers consumers personalized loan offers. Think of it like Zillow — but for personal loans.

Rates start at 5.99%, and you can check yours by entering a loan amount here ($500 to $40,000) and comparing your personalized options in under 90 seconds.

3. Protect Your Identity

What if you work hard to pay down all your debt and you’re totally responsible with your credit going forward — only to take a hit because of identity theft?

We know you don’t want to risk all your hard work.

A free service like TrueIdentity helps you avoid this situation by keeping a watchful eye on your finances. It sends alerts by email, phone or text if someone tries to apply for credit in your name.

Now is the time to start tackling your debt in earnest.

You don’t want to be one of the 1 in 10 Americans who are sure they’ll be in debt ‘til they die.

That’s no way to live.

Your turn: How much debt do you have?

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. May we all be a bit richer today.

Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He’s quite familiar with debt, based on personal experience.

How to Afford Summer Camp for Your Kids, Even If You’re on a Budget

If you’ve got kids, you know that summertime is less about relaxation and more about figuring out how to keep the kids entertained! Child care expenses also often skyrocket during the summer, as working parents need to ensure their children are supervised during the day.

Summer camp is a great solution to the entertainment/supervision conundrum, but summer camps can be really expensive. If you’re thinking about what to do with the kids this summer, Get Rich Slowly has some great suggestions about how to save money on summer camp.

Scholarships, Gifts and Piggy Banks

The first thing you want to do is see which summer camps offer scholarships. Many camps provide scholarships to families who need that extra financial boost, so check the camps in your area and start sending in applications.

Pay attention to camps that offer sibling discounts; sometimes a camp will let you save a little money while supervising all of your children simultaneously! It’s a win-win.

Consider asking your children’s grandparents for a financial gift. Most grandparents want to contribute to their grandchildren’s lives, and helping pay for summer camp is a lot better than buying the latest toy!

Don’t forget about asking your children to dip into their own piggy banks or allowance money, especially if they’re the ones begging you to let them go to an expensive camp. But don’t be surprised if your kids suddenly become interested in a more affordable option. As Get Rich Slowly writes: “it is amazing how kids’ wants change when it’s their money that will be paying for it.”

Summer Camp Alternatives

If summer camp is out of your financial reach this year, consider these cheap summer camps and camp alternatives:

Free or low-cost day camps run by churches or local athletic organizations
Day-long kid activities hosted at the public library
Summer school or enrichment programs at your child’s public school

Check your local paper and visit local organizations’ websites to learn what affordable kid opportunities are available.

Get Rich Slowly also suggests that you start budgeting now for next year’s camp expenses. Get a jar and start tossing in your loose change, or sign up for one of the many bank programs that helps you save small amounts of money every week. The more you save, the more you’ll be prepared for your family’s expenses—including summer camp!

Want to learn more? Read the full story at Get Rich Slowly.

Your Turn: Do you have any tips on how to save money on summer camp?

Nicole Dieker is a freelance writer focusing on personal finance and personal stories. Her work has appeared in The Billfold, The Toast, Yearbook Office, The Write Life and Boing Boing.

14 Fun Business Ideas for Kids and Teens to Encourage Entrepreneurship

Should you encourage your children to start a business? Are there good business ideas for teens and kids?

With police routinely shutting down kids’ lemonade stands for being “unlicensed businesses,” you might wonder if they should just put their entrepreneurial urges on hold until they get older.

But there are good reasons to let young people make some money on their own, and to let them start early. Billionaire CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett says:

There was a study many years ago questioning how to predict business success later in life. The answer to the study was the age you started your first business impacted how successful you were later in life. Teaching kids sound financial habits at an early age gives all kids the opportunity to be successful when they are an adult. [emphasis added]

Buffett’s own childhood was full of investments and businesses. At age 11, he bought his first stock. By the age of 14, he used $1,200 he earned from paper routes to purchase 40 acres of land, which he then leased out to farmers.

In high school, he and a friend bought a used pinball machine for $25 and set it up in a barber shop. They later put machines in other locations and eventually sold the business.

14 Fun Business Ideas for Kids and Teens

Of course, your child doesn’t have to be the next Warren Buffett to benefit from a small venture or two. Here are some of the best business ideas for kids.

1. Dog Walking

Busy people need help keeping their dogs fit, and this is a job most kids can handle — and enjoy. Dog walkers charge either for a set fee or an hourly rate, and the kids can even expand their business to include dog washing and pet sitting.

Kids can approach neighbors to offer their services (you may want to tag along if they’re young) or advertise their business online.

Care.com says their dog walkers average almost $11.25 per hour, and it’s free to open a basic account. Care.com’s policy for teens requires adult-supervised accounts (parents receive email notifications of all activity), and the kids have to be at least 14 to sign up.

2. Websites

Many kids are more Internet savvy than their parents, so it makes sense to consider online businesses, including various types of websites.

It costs very little to register a domain name and buy web hosting, and by relying on easy advertising revenue (like Google AdSense), kids don’t even have to sell anything.

For example, Forbes reports Ashley Qualls started Whateverlife.com at age 14 “as a personal portfolio with pictures and graphics she created.” Later, she added tutorials on creating graphics and other content for teens.

Before long she needed a dedicated server, and she added Google AdSense to the site to monetize the traffic.

Now, her website brings in “as much as $70,000 a month,” according to Fast Company. Qualls bought a $250,000 home with her profits while still a teenager, and turned down a $1.5 million offer for her business.

3. Paper Routes

Paper routes helped Warren Buffett get his start in business, and although most newspapers now rely on adults with cars for delivery, there are still a few places where kids deliver papers on foot or by bicycle.

In Carroll, Iowa, for example, The Daily Times Herald still has 80% of its papers delivered by kids aged 9 to 17, according to NPR.

One of the best things about modern paper delivery is that the kids no longer have to knock on doors to collect for subscriptions — that’s all done by credit card billing.

4. Crafts and Jewelry

If your kids are creatively inclined, they can make crafts and jewelry to sell online.

There’s no need to set up a website for this. Platforms like Etsy provide a great way to keep it simple. Vendors pay 20 cents to list a product and then a commission of 3.5% on each sale.

The policy for kids is that the Etsy Shop must be managed by a parent or legal guardian.

How much could your child earn on Etsy? By the time he was 11 years old, Mo Bridges had brought in more than $30,000 selling bow ties through his Etsy shop.

Other Businesses for Kids

Don’t underestimate the potential for big success from small starts.

Fraser Doherty started making and selling jam from home at age 14 and before long had over $1 million in annual sales.

At age 10, Juliette Brindak drew pictures of “Cool Girls,” and, at age 16, used those characters to launch a social networking site called “Miss O and Friends.” The site is valued at $15 million today.

The types of businesses started by some kids might surprise you too. Who would have thought that BizChair.com, started by Sean Belnicks at age 14, would be selling $24 million in office chairs by the time its founder was 20?

Or that 17-year-old Nick D’Aloisio would sell his news-aggregator app, called “Summly,” for $30 million?

Any kind of business activity teaches kids valuable lessons. As a child, Tyler Dikman had lemonade stands, mowed lawns and did magic shows.

He parlayed that business experience into launching CoolTronics, “a comprehensive computer sales and service solution,” when he was just 15. The company went on to make millions of dollars.

What else can kids or teens do to make money? Here are a few more possibilities:

5. Help companies with social media marketing

6. Babysit

7. Help seniors set up and use computers

8. Wash cars

9. Do garden maintenance

10. Have garage sales

11. Make greeting cards

12. Recycle soda cans

13. Tutor younger kids

14. Shovel snow

Your Turn: Do you encourage your children’s entrepreneurial plans? What good business ideas could you add to the list?

Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror, and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (so far).

The Ultimate Guide to Managing Money in Your Early 20s

Those first couple of years after college are an intensely exciting time.

You’ve finished school, you’ve made plans to move out of your parents’ house, and you’ve started a career and are getting paid. Maybe not as much as you’d like, and maybe not as much as some of your friends are making, but you’re finally starting to see some cash roll in.

You’re at the start of your life as an adult, and you’re finally in control of your money.

How to Manage Money in Your 20s

It’s been said that “a beginning is a very delicate time,” and the beginning of your financial life is no different: your wealth in your 30s and 40s will be largely determined by the financial decisions make right after college.

The pressure is on for you to make decisions that will ensure your security and independence later in life.

Read on find out how to lay the foundation for financial independence, how your social life affects your personal savings, and how you could enter your thirties with a fair bit of wealth and equity under your belt.

If Possible, Live at Home and Build Up a Nest Egg

Of all the monthly bills you’ll have, putting a roof over your head will probably take the biggest bite out of your paycheck — the average person spends about a third of his or her income on housing.

So how can you make your housing costs benefit you? Your best bet is to live at home for a while.

After the freedom of college and the independence of living in student or residential housing, the idea of living with Mom and Pop seems… kind of awful, really!

But other than tent-living or apartment-squatting, you’ll never have it better as a tenant: your parents may ask for a couple hundred dollars in rent every month, but that rent usually comes with a fully-furnished house, paid utilities and stocked cabinets.

Parents may make tough roommates, but over a few months you’ll be able to save a couple thousand dollars and get your own place… right?

Find Some (Good) Roommates

Right on the saving, wrong on getting your own place!

Paying full-price for housing can be a paycheck-killer. One-bedroom apartments in any major city are a major expense — usually starting around $1,000 a month — and that can be brutal for someone just out of school.

If you make between $40,000 and $50,000, that rent would be about half of your monthly paycheck. Having privacy is nice; having money is nicer.

If you’re moving to an area where you know people, make some calls and find out if any of your old friends are looking for housing.

If you’re moving to an area where you don’t know a soul, hit up Craigslist and start looking — but be very, very selective. It’s better to wait a month or two and find an ideal roommate than to spend a year-long lease with a maniac. If you’re the “in bed early” type, a roommate with a band may be a bad idea for you.

As for what neighborhood to live in, here’s my favorite strategy for finding great rent prices: avoid the hip neighborhoods. If there are nice restaurants, art galleries, and realtors on every block, it’s too late — that neighborhood has moved north of your price range.

Instead, look for the telltale signs of up-and-coming neighborhoods. Look for a growing artist community (starving artists usually know how to stretch a dollar until it’s thinner than a thread, and they usually find great places to live); a few new, but highly rated, restaurants (less than two years old) that people in your city’s Time Out magazine are mentioning; and 99-cent stores on the neighborhood’s main strip (these often signify that families live in the neighborhood and that it’s generally safe).

If you can find those three factors, you may have found the next hot spot, and you can find a cheap-but-charming apartment for a great price.

Finally, if the idea of saving money isn’t enough to motivate you, keep in mind the social value of having roommates. The creators of the sitcom “Friends,” Marta Kauffman and David Crane, summed it up nicely: your 20s are about “sex, love, relationships, careers, a time in your life when everything’s possible. And it’s about friendship, because when you’re single and in the city, your friends are your family.”

Manage Your Entertainment Budget

When people are trying to tweak their budgets so that they can save more, they tend to look at items on the spreadsheet — housing, car payments, food, entertainment — and figure out how to spend less on that particular line item.

What most people forget is that those line items are the effect, and not the cause. When you want to change your spending habits, you need to consider what is motivating you to spend that money.

For twentysomethings, the area of runaway spending is usually the entertainment category. Spending related to social events can be startlingly high for people in their 20s, and any attempts to save money usually sound like this: “Last month I spent $450 on concerts, restaurants and road trips; this month I’ll try to spend half that.”

The instinct is right — to find the high-cost budget areas that can be trimmed, and try to lower them — but the execution often fails, because the budgeter doesn’t usually look at why so much money is being spent on entertainment: because during your 20s, your social calendar is largely planned by those around you.

Does the following sound familiar? “We just got tickets to see [band that everybody loves]. $100 each. Jim, Ted, and [everybody else you love] are going to be there. Are you in?” Who wouldn’t want to do that? That sounds like a ton of fun!

Or, “Kristin just got promoted, and we’re all thinking about a girl’s weekend in Vegas. You in?” Sounds epic! Of course you’re in!

So how can you exercise more control over your entertainment expenses? One simple strategy: be the one who determines the plans for your group of friends and make reasonably-priced plans.

Instead of Saturday nights at a bar — where buying a round for everyone will cost at least $50 — have a house party and have everyone bring a six-pack or a bottle of wine or liquor.

Instead of going to a hot new restaurant, plan a BBQ in the park and have everyone bring a dish.

Instead of going on the high-priced vacation your friend suggested, make it a weekly task to scan Priceline, Travelocity, Orbitz or Hotwire to find hidden gems.

In short, devise your social calendar, so that you’re not hijacked by your social calendar.

The trick is to schedule everything ahead of time, and that can take a little bit of effort. But the nice part is that you’ll always have something to do!

There will always — always — be high-priced, fun obligations that you’ll have to pay for. You will have friends who get married and insist on having a destination wedding, and you will be invited on high-priced vacations planned by a friend.

But you can budget for those, and they’ll be affordable if you’re making the schedule the rest of the time.

Buy (Don’t Lease!) a Reliable Car

If you’ve just graduated from a four-year college, you have the right to feel proud. You’ve spent thousands of hours studying (and an equal number of hours cramming), you’ve dealt with finicky professors and squabbled over grades, and you’ve been part of more group projects than you’d care to remember.

And, if you’re like many new grads, you’ll want to celebrate that accomplishment by getting yourself a gift.

For many people, that “present to yourself” is a car. Sadly, many new grads make terrible decisions when it comes to that first purchase of an automobile, and lease — rather than buy — their first vehicles.

The mistake makes sense: the post-college car purchase is often the first large-scale, independent financial decision you make, and it’s usually conducted in the spirit of celebration, and with a dash of naivete about how much car you really need. Car salesmen pray for that combination of circumstances.

So if you’re in your 20s and you’re buying your first car, here’s how you want to play it:

If your parents have offered to buy you a car as a graduation gift, do your homework and find a secondhand car whose previous owner was meticulous about its care. Scour Craigslist, talk to family and friends, and look on MSN Autos.

In the words of Mr. Money Mustache, you’re looking for “a meticulous-sounding, wealthy person who has babied their used car and done all scheduled maintenance, yet is selling it cheap because they don’t really need the money.”

It may take some time, and you may want to hurry things up and find something you like (especially as you see your friends getting cars). But your patience will pay off in the end, when you’re driving around in a paid-in-full vehicle that is sure to last many years.

If you don’t have enough money to buy a car outright, you’ll need to save enough for a sizable down payment, and then follow the same process: look on Craigslist, talk to family and friends, and look at MSN Autos.

Get an idea of what you’re looking for in a car — space, gas mileage, miles driven. Figure out a monthly amount that you can pay, and don’t forget to figure in car insurance, gas, tolls and upkeep.

If you can’t buy a car outright from a reliable and known source, go to a reputable used car dealer and finance an automobile — no leases.

So why is it so important to finance a car, as opposed to leasing it? Because when you finance a car, at the end of your payment period, you have a tangible asset that you own outright. It is 100% yours, and it will probably be the first big-ticket item you can fully claim.

But more importantly, when you own your car, you will have zero monthly payments to make, and the power of your paycheck increases. Having an expense disappear like that is kind of the same thing as getting a raise.

When you lease a car, at the end of your lease period — you’re right back where you started, and you’ll need to begin a new set of monthly payments.

If you’re in your mid-20s and have earned a raise or promotion, the same principle applies: you’ll be tempted to reward yourself with something big. Fight the urge and buy something that will benefit you financially, rather than harm your budget.

Make Extra Payments on Your Student Loans

If you graduated college in the last five to eight years, you likely have a tremendous amount of student loans. Without some deliberate action, you’re going to be paying those off for twice the amount of time you originally planned. Here’s why:

Most loans have a payment period of 10 years and a required payment every month. The average debt for college grads is almost $30,000, and monthly payments are often between $350 and $500 (depending on the interest rate). That $350 or $500 can be pretty steep, so lenders allow borrowers the option of extending the length of the loan to 20 or 25 years, and lowering the monthly payments to about $200.

Because the budget of a twentysomething is usually pretty tight, that sounds like an excellent idea. The lower payment makes it more likely that a new grad can live within his or her means.

The trade-off, of course, is that the longer you’re paying off your loans, the more interest you’re paying. So what should you do?

First, if it is at all possible for you to choose the 10-year repayment plan, do so. It may sting a little, but getting out of debt sooner, rather than later, is always a good idea.

Second, prepare your budget so that you make an extra payment every month toward the principal amount on your loan (the amount you initially borrowed). It doesn’t have to be much — some weeks, it could be $50; other weeks, it could be $10 — but send it in and decrease the amount that you’ve borrowed. Faithfully making extra payments can cut the length of your payment plan by years.

But here’s the most important part: make sure your extra payment is being applied to the principal of your loan. Your lender has calculated the amount of money you borrowed, and then calculated the amount of interest you owe them over the life of the loan.

Some lenders will take any extra payments you make and apply it to your future interest payments, instead of applying it to the principal — a lesson I learned the hard way. When you send in your extra payments, follow up with a phone call to make sure that money is being applied to the principal you owe, and not to the interest.

Start Planning Your Retirement

Saving for retirement in your 20s — when retirement is an entire lifetime away — almost seems like a waste, right? You’ve got four decades to begin putting money away. Why make that effort now, when your budget is so tight?

In a cruel twist of fate, the most effective time to contribute to your retirement fund is between the ages of 22 and 30 — when you are most likely to be earning the least. When you start saving for retirement in your twenties, your money has years — those four decades I mentioned — to grow.

Albert Einstein called compound interest “the eighth wonder of the world,” and he was right — dutiful saving in your twenties can be the difference between hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank at retirement, or millions. So you need to start saving for retirement, and soon. How soon?

It may sound silly, but you need to start thinking about the last day of your career on the first day of your career.

During your first week at your job, head over to your HR department and learn everything you can about the programs they offer. What’s their 401(k) plan like? Will they match your contributions? Many companies do. Does the company have a pension plan? If so, what do you need to do to become fully vested?

Most companies require a tenure of five to 10 years. Take the time, make the effort and learn everything you can about your options.

If you follow none of the other suggestions in this post, follow this one. Start saving for your retirement as soon as you can. The most powerful investment tool is time, and when you’re in your twenties, you may be poor in cash, but you’re rich in time. Use it wisely.

Develop Your Financial Knowledge Base

Some twentysomethings get lucky: they have a parent or a family friend who has shown them how to get the most out of every dollar that comes their way.

Or, even better, their high school or college offered classes in personal finance. Those people are the lucky ones.

The rest of us often feel totally overwhelmed in our early career years and have to piece everything together as we go along.

So get to work! With the understanding that time is money and you are in your twenties (and therefore rich with time), start building a financial knowledge base so that you can maximize every dollar that comes your way. Learn about the big financial tasks, such as:

How to invest and build your wealth through stocks, mutual funds, index funds and bonds
How to set and keep a budget: how to keep track of where your money went last month, and how to plan where it’ll go next month
How to live on the cheap and decrease each of your individual expenses

You’ll also want to consider the more granular items, such as:

How to plan a vacation on the cheap by finding affordable hotel deals and guest packages
How to use credit card rewards programs and miles programs, so that even buying groceries or making other small purchases becomes an investment
How to save for the big life events that are coming your way, such as weddings, birthdays, and holiday spending

It may sound a little intimidating, and it may sound like a lot of work. But remember, the more effort you put in, the more wealth you’ll get from it.

Consider Buying a House

While not everyone agrees, many personal finance experts point to buying a home as a major personal finance goal for twentysomethings.

Whether you have your eye on a one-story rancher in the suburbs, an apartment downtown or a house in the country, you’ll need to start a fund and begin the long journey towards buying a home.

Why is buying a house so great? I could list a ton of reasons (including tax deductions, appreciation, equity and borrowing power, just to name a few), but the one that seems to resonate most deeply with people is the stability that owning a home can offer.

With a mortgage, you essentially lock in the same housing payment for thirty years, while renters will likely have to pay higher and higher costs for housing. Then, after your mortgage is finally paid off, your housing payments decrease significantly! (Note that I said your housing payments decrease, not necessarily your housing costs, since you’re responsible for home insurance, repairs, landscaping and general upkeep.)

For more on the decision between buying and renting, check out this article from Time Magazine.

Final Thoughts

Your 20s are an exciting time: you create career opportunities, build relationships and embrace new financial responsibilities.

The sooner you master those responsibilities, the closer you are to financial independence. Follow the guidelines above, and watch as your wealth grows!

Your Turn: If you’re in your 20s, what’s your biggest financial consideration? If you’re older, what’s your best financial advice for today’s twentysomethings?

Matthew Burke is a social worker and career counselor who is very happy he started saving early. In his free time, he mountain bikes, fashions bird houses, and runs a site that helps people pick a barber school and start their own barber shops.

Got a Mountain of Debt? Crush it One Snowball at a Time Using This Method

How do you even begin paying down a mountain of debt from tons of sources?

Two major schools of thought dominate the debt-repayment sphere.

One says pay off debts with the highest interest rate first. That’s called the debt avalanche method, and we’ll talk more about it another time.

The other says pay off your smallest balances first so you can enjoy quicker victories and build confidence. That’s called the debt snowball method. That’s what I’m talking about now.

What is the Debt Snowball Method?

Pioneered by money guru Dave Ramsey, the debt snowball refers to paying off one credit card or loan at a time, starting with the smallest balance first. Perfect for instant gratification; not so good for interest long term.

Smart finance experts will tell you sitting on credit card debt with high interest is stupid. The longer it’s unpaid, the more it will cost you.

So why would you pay off smaller balances and let those interest mongers sit?

Because, dude, paying down debt is hard.

When you stare at your credit report and see a list of lenders and credit card companies staring back at you, it’s like that time you panicked during Red Rover in second grade, froze, wet your pants and ruined recess. (Oh, doesn’t everyone have that memory?)

It’s hard to take the first step. Especially when reaching your destination means a bully might clothesline you.

Why Use the Debt Snowball Method

The debt snowball method helps you take the first step. And the next, and the one after that.

Wouldn’t Red Rover have been more pleasant if you’d gotten a few practice runs against a couple of the weakest kids in class before taking on the toughest? It’s kinda like that.

Pay down your smallest balance aggressively. Once it’s gone, you’re like, “Hey! I can do this.”

Then you focus on the next-smallest debt with more confidence. It’s paid off, and you’re like, “Oh my god, I’m a debt-slaying goddess.”

The downside is your bigger debts will accrue interest while you pay off the smaller ones, and it could cost you more in the long run.

But it’s definitely more effective than standing motionless at the foot of a mountain of debt in wet pants.

Your Turn: What tricks have you used to tackle credit card debt?

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).

13 Careers You Might Not Have Considered That Pay More Than $71,000 a Year

When you think about high-paying jobs, do you think of becoming a doctor or lawyer, or hitting it big in the tech industry?

You don’t have to go to medical or law school, or move to Silicon Valley, to earn a high salary.

Choosing a Career? Consider These 13 High-Salary Jobs

If you’re a student or you’re considering a career change, consider one of these professions.

1. Air Traffic Controller: $122,410

If you’re detail-oriented and love all things aviation, consider going into air traffic control. This high-responsibility career pays off with a mean annual wage of $122,410.

You’ll be responsible for guiding some of the 87,000 flights in the U.S. skies each day and following policies and procedures to ensure flight safety.

To head into this field, you must be a U.S. citizen, start the FAA Academy by your 31st birthday, and be able to pass background checks and medical exams.

You’ll also need three years of higher education as well as some work experience — but you don’t need a college degree.

2. Accountant or Auditor: $76,730

Analytical skills are key to a successful career as an accountant or auditor. In this field, you’ll prepare financial statements, interpret records, give advice and help individuals and businesses with their costs and budgets. You’ll also examine financial records and make sure people and companies pay their taxes correctly and on time.

To pursue this career, which comes with a mean annual wage of $76,730, you’ll need a bachelor’s degree.

Many accountants also pursue certification as a Certified Public Accountant. Earning a CPA has a number of career advantages, including typically earning a 10% higher salary than people without the license.

Each state has different fees associated with the exam and licensing procedure, and many people opt to take a preparation course or purchase self-study materials. In Minnesota, it can cost more than $3,000 to become licensed.

3. Healthcare Administrator: $109,370

Ensure hospitals provide quality care by going into healthcare administration. This field pays around $109,370 per year and you’ll need a bachelor’s degree, typically in healthcare administration or management.

Many administrators also go on to earn a master’s degree in a related field to boost their qualifications and become even better candidates for high-ranking positions.

4. Dental Hygienist: $73,440

If you’re detail-oriented and don’t mind peering into patients’ mouths every day, you might do well as a dental hygienist.

This career, which pays an average salary of $73,440 per year, involves cleaning and examining teeth as well as educating patients about how to take care of their pearly whites.

You’ll need an associate’s degree and a state license. Each state has different licensing rules, so be sure to check with your state for up-to-date requirements.

5. Packaging Engineer: $85,110

This specialty within the engineering field is a blend of industrial engineering, industrial design, material science, marketing and logistics. Expect to work from broad design conceptualization right on through product placement.

You’ll need at least a bachelor’s degree, but you can expect to earn $85,110 a year if you pursue a degree in this field.

6. Data Scientist: $124,150

Working with data to mine information, spot a variety of different trends and work to help businesses succeed is what data scientists do each day. For this, they earn a median wage of $124,150.

However, in supervising roles, they can earn quite a bit more. Data scientists leading a team of up to three earn $140,000 a year, while those leading 10 or more earn $232,500 per year, according to a Burtch Works 2014 salary study.

7. IT Manager: $135,800

Spend your days planning, coordinating and managing computer activities for a median salary of $135,800 per year as an IT manager.

You’ll generally need a bachelor’s degree in computer or information science and work experience, and many IT managers also have graduate degrees.

8. Business Operations Manager: $116,090

This lucrative field helps companies manage day-to-day and long-term business performance. Expect to spend your time switching between managing policies, materials and personnel.

You’ll typically need a bachelor’s degree in business or logistics, and you can earn an average yearly salary of $116,090.

9. Physician Assistant: $101,480

Work with doctors to diagnose patients, write prescriptions and help patients recover from illnesses and injuries. You’ll need a master’s degree from a physician assistant program, but you’ll earn a mean annual wage of $101,480.

10. Information Security Analyst: $92,600

Work with companies to maintain computer security, respond to security breaches and viruses, and help preserve digital privacy.

These pros earn a mean annual wage of $92,600 for their efforts keeping companies digitally safe. You’ll generally need a bachelor’s degree in a related field to get this gig.

11. Construction Manager: $99,510

Spend your days managing construction projects, coordinating and supervising personnel, sticking to a budget, and making sure you’re on track to complete projects on time.

You’ll earn a mean annual salary of $99,510 in this field. Many people earn this job by working their way up the ranks from entry-level construction positions.

12. Actuary: $114,120

If you love working with data and statistics, consider a career as an actuary. You’ll spend your days analyzing data on accidents, mortality, disability and retirement statistics, and use that information to forecast risks and liabilities.

You’ll need a bachelor’s degree and to pass a series of qualifying exams. Actuaries earn a mean annual salary of $114,120.

13. Political Scientists: $112,250

Spend your days analyzing political systems, including their origins, development and operations. You may even use your expertise to conduct public opinion surveys and analyze election results. Expect a mean annual wage of $112,250 in this field.

Many political scientists work for the federal government, research agencies, or colleges and universities. Others are consultants or work for local government offices.

Your Turn: Are you a student or career changer interested in any of these fields? Let us know in the comments!
Kristen Pope is a freelance writer and editor in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Still Paying Your Child’s Student Loan Bill? You Both Need to Read This

A new Student Loan Hero survey reveals some shocking statistics about parents who help pay for their children’s educations.

The survey found 55% of parents who co-signed or took out loans for their children’s education owe $40,000 or more in student loan debt. This includes the debt parents owe both from their children’s schooling and their own student loans.

The worst part is many parents are unaware that they may have options when it comes to their children’s student loan debt. As a result, many are digging into their retirement funds to pay off the debt.

Some Frightening Facts About Parents and Student Loans

Co-signers are responsible for making payments if the main borrower doesn’t. That means a parent who co-signs for their child’s student loan has to pay it back if their child fails to do so.

Parents are also obligated to pay back any loans they took out on behalf of their children, such as a Parent PLUS loan.

Although parents are legally responsible for these loans, that doesn’t mean their children should be completely off the hook.

Too bad many are acting like they are, though.

Student Loan Hero reported that 39% of parents surveyed said their children never contribute to their student loan payments.

About 20% of parents said their children sometimes help out, and 41% said their children always contribute to payments.

So why are we so upset?

First of all, children should thank mom and dad a million times over for helping them receive a higher education.

But secondly, those adult children who never help mom or dad repay student loans might be contributing to a huge problem.

Of parents surveyed, 10% reported pulling money out of their retirement accounts to make their kids’ student loan payments.

Considering Americans don’t have enough saved for retirement to begin with, this isn’t good.

Parents Struggle With Student Loan Refinancing Options

Parents may have options for relief from the student loan debt they took on for their children.

Some parents may be able to refinance student loans in their child’s name — but 64% of those surveyed by Student Loan Hero haven’t considered it, and 16% didn’t even know it could be an option.

Refinancing loans in your child’s name can get tricky, though. It’s contingent on lender approval, and the lender will want to see that your child is able to pay back the loan.

According to the survey, 56% of respondents weren’t familiar with refinancing options, such as Public Student Loan Forgiveness, income-based repayment and co-signer release.

(Another shocking statistic? Seventeen percent of respondents claimed to be aware of the “Obama Student Loan Forgiveness” program — which isn’t even a real thing.)

One option you always have is to work with your child to tackle the debt. Student Loan Hero suggests having an open dialogue with your child about who is responsible for making payments — that way, everyone stays on the same page.

If you’re unsure of refinancing options, check out our beginner’s guide to student loans. It’s a great place to start learning about what you can do to lessen the monthly payment burden.

If you’re not helping out your parents with repayment because you can’t find a job, consider getting a side gig while you look for a full-time position.

Parents and their children need to work together on this — before parents exhaust their retirement funds.

Your Turn: Have you co-signed student loans for your child?

Kelly Smith is a junior writer and engagement specialist at The Penny Hoarder. Catch her on Twitter at @keywordkelly.

Got the Financial Aid Blues? 6 Ways to Deal When Your Award Comes up Short

No matter how much you run the numbers, you never really know how much financial aid you’re going to get for college until your award letter arrives in the mail.

I remember waiting for that letter and expecting it to be the answer to all my tuition problems. Boy, was I wrong.

I ended up getting a lot less financial aid than I expected, and most of my friends did too.

I was so disappointed and more than a little panicked.

Here’s what I wish I’d known back then.

How Financial Aid is Calculated

The amount of financial aid you receive is based on a formula that’s only marginally easier to understand than the U.S. tax code.

Essentially, it takes into account:

Your family’s assets and income.

Your assets.

What your family needs for minimal living expenses.

The government runs the numbers on your Free Application for Federal Student Aid and comes up with your expected family contribution.

If your college tuition is more than your EFC, the difference between the two is the amount of financial aid you’re eligible to receive.

But it doesn’t mean it’s the amount of financial aid you’ll get.

Why You Got Less Financial Aid Than You Expected

There are many reasons your financial aid award could be less than you were expecting, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you did anything wrong on your application.

Maybe your college simply doesn’t have enough scholarship money to go around, or you may have received other scholarships that reduced the amount of financial aid you’re eligible for.

“What you report on the FAFSA might not capture some special financial circumstances, like high medical bills, caring for an aging parent, or volatile income,” notes CNN. ”It’s worth highlighting those kinds of situations in a formal appeal to the college, as well as anything that dramatically changed in the past year like the loss of a job.”

What To Do Next

If you received less financial aid than you expected, don’t panic.

Make sure you understand the nuances of finding and applying for tuition assistance.

Run through this list of eight ways to qualify for more financial aid to make sure you didn’t overlook any opportunities.

“Ask a college counselor to look over your forms to make sure you didn’t misinterpret any questions,” recommends NerdWallet.

Consider taking a gap year. Some say it’s totally worth it.

Try negotiating your college tuition. The worst they can say is no, right?

See if you qualify for anything on this list of over 100 scholarships.

If you’ve exhausted every avenue and still come up short on tuition, it’s time to get creative. You’ve got this.

Your Turn: Were you ever awarded less financial aid than you expected? What did you do about it?

Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Opening that financial aid award letter gave Lisa her first gray hair.

5 Ways to Start an Online Fashion Boutique for Free

By Holly Reisem Hanna I’ve often daydreamed of owning my own fashion boutique with piles of designer denim, trendy new tunics, and stylish jewelry hanging from eclectic jewelry stands. But where do you begin? How do you become a wholesaler? And my gosh, what are the startup costs!? For the majority of the population starting […]

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High Schoolers, Not Sure What to Be When You Grow Up? This Tool Might Help

As a high school or early college student, it’s tough to figure out what you’re going to do with the rest of your life.

Not only is it annoying — because everyone keeps asking — it’s important. College is a big investment, so you don’t want to end up with loans for a degree you never use.

Knowing what career you want to pursue can help you determine whether you need to go to college — and if you do, where you should go and what you should study.

How to Figure Out What You Want to Be When You Grow Up

If you’re stumped, you’re not alone: 24% of high school seniors have “no idea” what career they want to pursue, according to a recent CareerBuilder study.

Of those who do know, 23% said they made their choice based on “something they saw in TV or in a movie.”

Choosing a career because it looked cool in a movie? Definitely not something we’d advise.

Instead, check out a site called Find Your Calling, released by CareerBuilder. It’s a unique resource that combines a personality test with up-to-date career information and real-time labor market data.

We haven’t seen anything like it before, so we think all young Penny Hoarders (and their parents) should know about it.

After answering a simple six-question personality test, the platform populates with relevant jobs, which you further narrow by state and career category.

What makes the site particularly useful is the fact that each job is accompanied by hard data: average salary, projected growth, required education and daily tasks.

We love that Find Your Calling presents all of this information in one clean and appealing interface. Though we’re bummed it wasn’t around when we were in high school, we hope it helps some of you (or your kids!) make smart choices about your education and career.

Your Turn: Do you know what career you want to pursue? Do you think this site will help?

Susan Shain is a freelance writer and digital nomad. She covers travel, food and personal finance (basically, how to save money so you can travel more and eat more). Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

Trump finds that CEO-as-president isn't always a natural fit

If Abraham Lincoln relied on a team of rivals, Trump would command a team of "killer" CEOs. He cast himself as a gifted manager who could rewrite flawed trade deals, bridge gaps between Democrats and Republicans, work financial magic on the tax code and restore prosperity to devastated factory towns.

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Jimmy John’s Subs Will Taste Extra Delish This Tuesday When They’re Only $1

US economic growth weakened to 0.7 percent in first quarter

The 0.7 percent increase was the worst showing since GDP contracted by 1.2 percent in the first quarter of 2014.

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US stock indexes veer mostly lower; oil prices head higher

Real estate stocks lagged the most, while energy companies led the gainers as the price of crude oil headed higher.

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Success Through Effort or Advice?

One big criticism that people have made about personal finance writers is that somehow their comments are invalid because they made much of their income writing about personal finance instead of “doing something.” I thought I’d address that today, starting with my own background on the topic.

First of all, I spent many years of my life working at a “typical job” that I would assume would qualify as “doing something.” I worked in a research environment for about a decade, most of it full time. Most of my work involved collecting and organizing data sets and helping to distribute that data in useful ways. I wrote software tools and worked with others to manage data sets so that researchers who needed specialized views on those data sets or needed to extract particular slivers of data could do so easily. Sometimes, I did actual small data mining projects for researchers. We’re talking about sets of data that were measured in the hundreds of gigabytes and later in the terabytes, so this wasn’t a small data set. I would call all of this a “real job.”

Later on in that career, I had a very secure job. I would have been in the field for a very long time, had I chosen to be. I had a great resume and a job with essentially endless funding and very good security. I had worked very hard to earn that position; it was through bolstering that resume and building a lot of good connections within that community that I was able to earn such a position. I walked the walk when it comes to the career articles I write about.

At the same time, I was unhappy with the state of my finances. I was working hard to recover from a ton of student loan debt and consumer debt, and I was working incredibly hard to turn my financial ship around. I’ve always enjoyed writing and at least trying to help others, so I simply started writing about that journey in a few places which eventually grew together and became The Simple Dollar. (I adopted an intentionally earnest tone right off the bat because I was more interested in being helpful than being witty – and I still am.)

My father always had “side gigs” growing up and it’s something he embedded in me, so The Simple Dollar started as a side gig. I treated it like a part-time job, devoting blocks of time to it most days. I enjoyed the writing, of course, but I also enjoyed tinkering with the site, figuring out how to make money from it, reading what other people were writing about, and so on.

For the first year or two of the site, it made almost no money. The income was measured in pennies, not dollars, yet I could see the potential in what I was doing. I could see the income steadily growing as more and more readers came to the site and as I built up more and more content for people to find via Google, and I could definitely see a point where I could earn enough money to survive on.

During that time, Sarah and I had a second child and it became clear that having one parent stay at home was probably going to be a huge money saver. I was also feeling very frustrated with some aspects of my job (while still loving other parts). Thus, with the income of The Simple Dollar steadily growing and the possibility of growing it faster by devoting more time to it and the money we’d save by me staying home and the huge reduction in my personal frustration, we made the decision that I would make The Simple Dollar my primary employment and walk away from my job.

That’s basically been the story for the last several years. The only thing that’s really changed is that I eventually entered into agreements with others to support various aspects of the site because I was getting overwhelmed with managing the site’s backend, negotiating with advertisers, dealing with requests, and so many other things. I tried to handle it myself for a very long time, then I began to hire virtual assistants to take care of specific parts of it, and eventually I just threw up my hands and came to an agreement with another company that enabled me to focus on the aspects that I enjoyed the most while they took care of everything else.

During all of that, I made six figures in exactly one year (possibly coming close one other year) – and during that year, I was absolutely miserable while working 90-100 hours a week, something that was just completely unsustainable. My writing suffered badly and my family suffered, too; I almost burned myself out entirely in terms of writing for the site.

So, yes, right now, I make a decent living writing about personal finance, but not one that I’m getting rich from. I make roughly a typical American income these days. I could be making more if I wanted to devote more time to marketing and other things, but instead I put value on things like being there when my kids get off the bus each day after school and blocking off devoted time to spend with my family each day.

At the same time, I’m very confident that I could still be working at my old research job if I had stayed there and the story would be roughly the same. The “child” of that project I worked on 10 years ago is still in existence, with some continuity in staffing (many people I worked with back then are still involved with the “child” project). I’d be making a little more income if I were still there, I think, but I would be traveling a lot and have a lot less time flexibility, and those benefits are worth the somewhat smaller income for me.

Another part of the reason that I chose to make the career switch that I made was the sense that I was directly helping far more people with The Simple Dollar than I was helping in my other position. While I could definitely see some real-world connections in the work of my previous career, I felt that much of the benefit of what I was doing was being filtered through corporate R&D departments and turned into products with negligible real-world benefit. I felt that the work I invested in answering a single reader mailbag question was more meaningful in terms of making the world a better place than an entire typical day of work at my previous job (even if the previous job was perhaps more intellectually demanding).

So, no, I haven’t “made my fortune” from writing about personal finance. Our family’s path to financial independence has been built on a long series of strong financial decisions, mostly oriented around our choice to consistently spend less than we earn. We have spent substantially less than we earn each year for the last 10 years, with our savings rate ranging from 20% to 50% in each of those years (with a higher savings rate coming after we paid off our house in full). We could do even better, as Sarah and I both see areas for potential improvement all the time. All of that would be true regardless of whether I’m writing about personal finance for a living or working in my old research job.

I’ve had experience making a typical career into a successful one. I’ve had experience building a side gig and turning it into a small business that provided my full-time employment. I’ve had experience facing a mountain of debt and cutting it down to size. I have experience living a modern life with a savings rate that’s substantially higher than zero. And I write about those things in a way that’s hopefully useful to other people trying to figure out how to do those things themselves, not much different than a successful gardener making a YouTube video about her tomato growing secrets. That’s my story.

That’s not to say that there aren’t personal finance marketers out there who have only made a living by marketing personal finance content that they basically scraped from other sites. Unquestionably, there are people like that out there. It’s just not what I have ever done and not really something I’m interested in. I’ve written somewhere in the realm of nine million words in the last 10 years and I’ve given away almost all of it on various sites, mostly The Simple Dollar, and I’ve made money from that solely through ad support and linking to Amazon or to financial institutions. I’ve written a couple of books, too – The Simple Dollar and 365 Ways to Live Cheap. That pretty much sums it all up.

I’ll end on this note: Part of the reason I often use such a personal tone on The Simple Dollar – and why sometimes the advice doesn’t apply perfectly to everyone – is because I am intentionally writing about my own experiences (or those of very close friends) as much as possible. I feel very uncomfortable writing about things I have not personally done or that I haven’t witnessed people I’m close to doing in a very up close and personal way. I often use myself as an example of a principle, both positively and negatively, because I know from my own experience whether something works or doesn’t work, at least in my personal situation. I’m mostly interested in sharing what I know actually can work, and that mostly means things that have worked for me. I know that those things can be done or if there are potholes in those things because I’ve seen them or done them or fallen into those potholes myself.

Of course, by extension, that means I run parts of my life almost like some kind of a personal finance lab. I am much more open to trying frugal strategies or side gigs or other things simply because I write for The Simple Dollar. I’m always trying different things to see how they actually work so I can write about them in some meaningful fashion. If there’s anything I do that’s not what a “normal” person would do, it’s this; I’m constantly trying out new things, most of which other people won’t try. I make stuff like homemade laundry detergent and then I revisit the recipe later – the vast majority of you will never do it, but a few of you will, and many more of you will appreciate knowing that you can save money by doing so and might use the strategy in a financial pinch.

In the end, I’m just writing about the things that work for me and how they work for me and how ideas make sense to me, and if you find value in that, I’m glad and I hope you’ll stick around.

Related Articles:

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