By Holly Reisem Hanna It’s no secret that technology has opened up a world of opportunities to the average worker—and direct sales opportunities are no exception. If you’re interested in home-based business opportunities such as direct sales, there are so many different ways to earn extra cash from home. Direct sales have come a long […]
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If you’ve ever struggled with managing your finances, you may have had the thought, “Why didn’t someone teach me this when I was younger?”
Michigan-based Jackson Charitable Foundation has launched an initiative to teach children about money — through music videos!
The foundation developed Cha-Ching Money Smart Kids videos, which use singing animated characters to teach various financial topics to kids ages 7 to 12.
Each of the 17 videos runs about three minutes long. They’re short enough to hold a child’s attention span and catchy enough to stay in their minds.
One video teaches the cycle of a banknote and how you can earn, spend, save and donate dollars.
Another explores the topic of considering needs versus wants to avoid overspending.
There’s even a video that delves into the way credit card use can damage your finances if not factored into your budget and how it adds interest to your purchases.
One of Jackson Charitable Foundation’s partners in financial education is Junior Achievement USA, a national organization dedicated to teaching young people how to be economically successful.
The two groups have teamed up to bring the Cha-Ching Money Smart Kids videos to Junior Achievement’s Our City program, which teaches entrepreneurship, financial literacy and work-preparedness to about 450,000 third-grade students in classrooms across the country.
“When it comes to kids and their financial futures, perhaps the simplest way to make a positive impact is by encouraging more conversations about money,” Danielle Robinson, executive director of Jackson Charitable Foundation, said in a press release.
Jack Kosakowski, president and CEO of Junior Achievement USA, said in a press release that it’s never too early to teach kids the benefits of saving and spending wisely.
“As adults, it’s our responsibility to help children feel less confused and more motivated about money,” he said. “Simply helping your child open and manage a bank account to save for something specific, such as pocket money for an upcoming vacation or even college, is a great way to help kids learn to achieve financial freedom and excite kids about money, especially when they see it accumulate.”
Jackson Charitable Foundation and Junior Achievement commissioned Wakefield Research to conduct a survey about kids and money.
A third of children ages 7 to 10 who were surveyed said they were not taught how to get or earn money. Forty-one percent said they were not taught how to spend money.
Only a quarter of the children surveyed knew you can earn interest on savings.
Hopefully, with some help from the Money Smart Kids, the next generation will have more financial savvy by the time they reach adulthood.
Your Turn: Do you have any interesting ways you’re teaching your kids about money?
Nicole Dow is a staff 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.Net neutrality.
If you’ve been keeping an eye on the news lately, the term has been popping up everywhere.
There are talks of repealing net neutrality regulations that were passed two years ago, and tensions surrounding the topic have increased as a result.
Type what is net neutrality? into a Google search and headlines that pull up don’t exactly sound positive.
“Here’s What Comes Next In The Fight To Save Net Neutrality”
“Net Neutrality Protects the Rights of All Internet Users”
“The FCC’s Plan to Kill Net Neutrality is Here and It’s a Vague, Open-Ended Mess”
If you’ve been wondering what all the buzz is about when it comes to net neutrality and how it affects you, we’ve done some digging, and here’s what you need to know.
Let’s start off with the basics: WTF is net neutrality?
Net neutrality describes the Open Internet Order, a set of policies focused on net neutrality, also referred to as the open internet, which is the requirement of all legal data on the internet to be treated equally by internet service providers (ISPs).
The regulations were put in place in 2015 after ISPs were accused of manipulating speeds and accessibility of certain websites.
How can data be discriminated against, you ask? Well, internet service providers could block or slow down traffic and charge companies extra to send their traffic at a faster rate, as reported by NPR.
The Open Internet Order was put in place by the Federal Communications Commission under the Obama administration in 2015, and Republicans have been against it since. Now, Republicans are fighting to remove it.
The removal of net neutrality can have some huge pros and cons.
Those in favor of net neutrality argue the openness of the internet and its users should be protected.
Those against it claim net neutrality puts ISPs at a disadvantage because they’ll have to foot the bill of pushing data from content providers — and those providers use a lot of data.
Here are a few more arguments for and against the removal of net neutrality:
The Hill reports that repealing net neutrality regulations could result in mobile broadband providers being able to let their customers “access certain content without using up their data plans.”
ISPs and content providers could pair up and create deals to make this happen. However, this may end up with ISPs giving preference to those providers they have deals with.
ISPs could charge content providers, such as Netflix, extra money to ensure that its customers have a fast enough connection to stream content.
Without these regulations in place, the internet could become a battle of which online companies can afford to shell out top dollars to major corporations such as Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon.
And what happens if they can’t? You, the customer, will experience slower connections while using them.
If Netflix has to pay more, your membership cost may increase as a result (psst…here’s a way to get Netflix for free instead!).
Considering some ISPs are responsible for providing cable as well, Wired reports that “degrading your Netflix streams [would] encourage you to buy cable television instead.”
And as we all know, cable is expensive — that’s why cutting the cord has been a hot topic lately.
In a 2014 opinion column by New York Times writer and Forbes technology contributor Gene Marks, he states removing net neutrality can keep ISPs motivated to provide the services its customers paid for.
Marks stated that not all services should be created equal, mainly because if they are, ISPs will no longer have an incentive to continue to push toward innovation, such as improving infrastructure and bandwidth. Without these strives for improvement, ISPs can begin to fall stagnant.
Under Marks’ argument, if consumers want to continue to have access to cutting-edge internet technology, they should be comfortable with the concept of paying more for exceptional service — and they should see it as an investment.
As stated earlier, net neutrality created a low barrier of entry to the internet. Removing it could increase that barrier and hurt small businesses as a result.
If you were to launch a new content-providing service and didn’t have the money to pay for priority from ISPs, your business might experience little to no growth due to slow connections and customer dissatisfaction.
One of my Facebook friends, Laura Fiorella Egocheaga, is a small business owner. I asked her thoughts on net neutrality, and she spoke directly on the impact it has on small businesses like hers.
“The market should dictate the winners or losers, not the providers,” she said. “If the repeal happens it will stop new start ups from existing and innovation will slow down, and that’s a shame.”
The repeal of net neutrality regulations could take some time to go into effect — but now you know how it might affect you if it does.
Your Turn: What do you think about the possibility of net neutrality regulations being repealed?
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.“Dad, how fast can elephants run?”
“Oh, about 45 miles per hour.”
That’s an actual conversation one of our writers once overheard at the zoo.
That’s about the time she began to realize everything our parents tell us isn’t necessarily true.
This exchange about elephants’ running abilities — which overshot their actual speed by about 300% — makes us realize there are probably more of these lies, er, “stretches of the truth” coming from our parents.
If you’re a millennial who frequently sought your parents’ advice, you might still believe a lot of these money myths, too…
When our parents were growing up, concepts like remote working, telecommuting and the gig economy didn’t exist.
The technology that makes them possible didn’t either.
So we understand why our parents think people who work from home don’t really work. But millennials know better.
We do everything online — from dating and paying bills to ordering food. So why should working be any different?
More and more people are starting to work from home, work for themselves and build their own careers with gig-economy apps like Uber.
As an Uber partner driver, you’re responsible for setting your schedule and motivating yourself to work — no one is keeping tabs on you.
Instead of punching a clock and working on someone else’s terms, you work as much or little as you want. You earn money based on how many rides you take.
Getting paid to drive around the city, listen to podcasts and meet interesting people? We’ve really got our parents beat on that “corner office” thing.
You left college and entered the job market just as everything came crashing down. Everyone you knew blamed it on the banks — something about bad loans and Ryan Gosling, maybe?
Big banks gave the whole system a bum rap. If you’re looking for something better, we found a bank with a heart — no kidding.
With Aspiration’s Summit checking account, you’ll do all your banking online, which saves a ton of paper and space — we like when our money is green
Plus, the account pays up to 1% APY, which is about 100 times more than a typical checking account. And you’ll never pay to use an ATM anywhere in the world.
The real heart of this bank, though? It helps you support your favorite cause. It donates 10% of its revenue to charity, and you can easily set up automatic donations from your account to contribute on your own.
If you’re ready to make the switch, here’s the link to sign up to open an Aspiration account.
Many millennials believe credit cards are evil — a wariness we suspect was passed on by their parents.
Used responsibly, though, credit cards are far from evil — they’re a helpful financial tool.
The plastic cards build your credit and simplify budget tracking. Many also offer cash-back or travel rewards.
For example, the Barclaycard CashForward™ World MasterCard® offers 1.5% cash back for every dollar you spend, plus a $200 bonus for using the card after you sign up.
That said, we know credit cards aren’t for everyone. If you won’t use a credit card responsibly — only charging what you can pay off each month — then your parents were right: You should avoid credit cards for now.
If you’ve been foiled by credit cards in the past, there’s still hope for you.
You can use Credit Sesame to see your credit score and make a plan to pay off credit card debt.
The free app’s “credit report card” makes your credit history easy to understand, and its custom recommendations can help you figure out how to get out of even the worst debt situations.
No one writes checks in public anymore, except your grandmother and — you learned too late — the woman in front of you in line at the grocery store.
When you ask your mom why Grandma won’t put away the checkbook and swipe a debit card, she says, “It keeps her information secure.”
And you’re thinking, “Does she know she’s handing over a piece of paper with her name, address, routing number and checking account number in plain sight?”
The only thing missing is her mother’s maiden name.
On top of that false sense of security, writing checks can give you a false sense of your balance, too.
If you’re writing checks and not keeping immaculate records in your teeny wallet ledger, you can easily miss a transaction or two and overspend. Then you’re hit with a negative bank balance and overdraft fees — or a bounced check.
If you want to keep your finances secure and orderly, don’t be afraid to use plastic. Just protect your information.
A free service like TrueIdentity helps you avoid identity theft by keeping a watchful eye your finances. It sends alerts by email, phone or text if someone tries to apply for credit in your name.
Isn’t that better than counting on Jim at the grocery store to keep his prying eyes off your personal info?
The key to a successful life, according to our parents?
College.
But college isn’t always the answer. It costs more than ever, and doesn’t always provide a return on your investment.
Everyone should explore alternatives, like apprenticeships, trade schools and coding bootcamps before going into debt for higher education.
Too late?
If you’re already battling student loan debt, think about refinancing. You can consolidate your existing loans into one with a more manageable interest rate and monthly payment.
A good resource is Even Financial, which can help you borrow up to $35,000 (with no collateral needed) and compare interest rates from several lenders.
Back in our parents’ day, staying loyal to one company meant raises and promotions, gold watches and paperweights, sometimes even a pension.
So it made sense.
But today, those perks are few and far between, and hopping jobs is the norm.
You shouldn’t move around too much — and should probably stay at each position for a year or more — but it’s perfectly normal to change companies or careers.
Not only will you stave off boredom, you’ll also gain new connections and skills at each company.
We don’t know where this myth came from, but nearly everyone’s heard it — and nearly everyone still believes it.
The thing is: It’s total baloney. Your car’s color has no effect on your insurance.
“You may have heard the color of your car is used in calculating car insurance rates, but this is something we don’t even ask for when you get a quote from us,” Progressive Insurance spokesperson Ron Davis told us.
What does affect your rate?
Primarily, it’s based on your driving record, age and driving experience. But there are a few factors that might surprise you — like marital status, sex, your car’s make and model, and more.
Your parents always managed their own money and did their own taxes, so you assume accountants are just for rich or lazy people.
But anyone can benefit from a little financial guidance.
We’re not talking about pricy financial advisors — though, depending on your situation, we’re not against them.
Instead, we’re talking about a free app called Clarity Money. It tracks your spending, helps you budget, makes it easy to find and cut unnecessary expenses and automates your savings to help you reach your goals.
Your parents will be proud to see how well you’re managing your money on your own… Clarity Money can be your little secret.
Yup, this is a myth.
It was true back in the day, and still remains true for some old cars. But the majority of cars on the road today can go nearly 10,000 miles without an oil change.
Check your vehicle’s manual to see what’s recommended — you could end up saving hundreds of dollars on oil changes.
You know how your parents said you can’t believe everything you read?
Well, turns out you can’t believe everything they said, either.
Your Turn: Did you still believe any of these money myths?
Advertiser Disclosure: Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which The Penny Hoarder receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). We do not feature all available credit card offers or all credit card issuers.
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.Whether you’re a college student, stay-at-home parent or retiree, mystery shopping is a fun and legitimate way to make some extra cash — sometimes a lot of extra cash.
I’ve mystery shopped a lot over the last few years (though nowhere near 5,000 times!) and really enjoyed myself.
The one thing I haven’t liked, though, is stumbling across mystery shopper scams. Luckily, it hasn’t happened often but I still need to stay alert for shady shopping jobs — and so should you.
Mystery shopper con artists will always lurk around the internet so it’s important to know how they operate.
Like most cons, mystery shopper scams come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Here are some of the most common ones you might encounter.
One of the most common mystery shopping scams involves getting a victim to give up their name and mailing address, ostensibly so the fake company can advance the shopper some money for a gig.
When the victim receives a check in an amount larger than they were expecting, Fake Company tells them to deposit it in their personal bank account and wire back the overage amount.
You guessed it. The check bounces and the victim is out whatever money they wired to Fake Company, never to be seen again.
The U.S. Postal Service warns against a similar scam involving unsolicited mailings from scammers inviting you to become a mystery shopper.
Be sure to check out the copy of an actual fake check and letter to see how convincing these con artists can be.
This con plays upon our natural desire to want guidance navigating through the hundreds, if not thousands, of mystery shopping jobs available across the internet.
These fake companies promise to find you best, highest-paying, most fun jobs in your area — for a fee.
They may claim to have special search capabilities, access to mystery shops that aren’t advertised online or recruit for well-known mystery shopping companies.
Don’t you believe it.
Reputable mystery shopping companies don’t use recruiters, hide their jobs from applicants or require special search tools to find.
Drop these fraudsters like radioactive waste.
The AARP, which tracks all kinds of scammers through the its Fraud Watch Network, says fake mystery shopping gigs have been around for a while.
“One way the scammers found many of their victims during the recession was through job boards where people could post their resumes,” says Amy Nofziger, regional director for the AARP Foundation.
“Scammers would use these to personalize their pitch to specific job seekers, homing in on the job seeker’s previous experience,” she says.
“They still use these methods today.”
You know we love mystery shopping here at The Penny Hoarder HQ, even when we kind of accidentally fail at it.
Several of us do it as a side hustle, but we know we’re not going to get rich doing it.
True, some shops can net you anywhere from $45 to check out a church up to as much as $100 to shop for a trench coat.
But those opportunities are rare.
Most mystery shopping jobs net you more like $10 – $20 per gig, or just some free booze (hey, that’s good enough for me).
Armed with that knowledge, be highly skeptical of any company that promises you’ll make enough money to drive around in a Lexus while nibbling caviar at stoplights just by shopping undercover.
New mystery shopping scams pop up all the time, so your best defense is a good offense.
When deciding whether to apply for mystery shopper job or run away like your hair’s on fire, keep these tips in mind.
You probably already knew I was going to tell you to do your homework, but it really is the number one way to protect yourself from scams.
Don’t be afraid to go all Sherlock on the company you’re thinking of signing up for.
Check out them out with Better Business Bureau, run them through the BBB Scam Tracker, and type their name in your browser’s search tool to see what pops up. (“[Company Name] scam” is a particularly useful search string.)
Our Facebook community page is also a great place to talk with other home-based workers about their mystery shopping experiences.
Don’t answer unsolicited emails about mystery shopping gigs, no matter how enticing they seem. Toss mystery shopper snail mail you didn’t send for and hang up on companies that call you out of the blue.
Reputable mystery shopping companies don’t spend money and time recruiting shoppers through cold calls and emails to random people around the country.
You want to make money as a mystery shopper, not spend it.
Any mystery shopping company that asks you for money in exchange for plum assignments, application fees, or background checks does not have your best interests at heart.
The Federal Trade Commission says it best: “Remember that legitimate companies don’t charge people to work for them – they pay people to work for them.”
If you spot what you think is a fake mystery shopping company during your job search, don’t bother trying to call them out.
Instead, report ‘em!
They’re the experts in handling this kind of thing so file a quick complaint and get back to the business of finding a legitimate mystery shopper job.
Nofziger notes mystery shopper scams can happen any time but occur more frequently during economic downturns and at certain times of the year.
“We often see an uptick during the holidays, when people are looking to make some extra income for the holiday shopping,” she says. “The scammers will often use this same season as a way to sound more legitimate by touting ‘the extra people needed for these secret shopper positions during the holiday shopping season, as companies want to ensure good customer service.’”
Nofziger says vigilance and consumer education are the best weapons against falling for fake mystery shopper gigs.
“These scammers are very clever at what they do and in the ways that they trick people.”
Your turn: What’s the most ridiculous mystery shopper scam you’ve seen?
Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. The best mystery shopper gig she ever landed was a full makeover at a fancy department store. She got to keep the lipstick.
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.The South is hot, runs on greasy, fried foods and is filled with bugs and terrible drivers (you decide which is worse).
But, according to a new study by Indeed.com, the South is also one of the better places to look for a job.
The study, published today on Indeed’s blog, lists the top cities for U.S. job seekers. And surprise! The top 10 spots include many of our favorite southern metropolises.
To determine the top cities for job seekers, Indeed looked to answer four questions:
1. How favorable is the local job market?
2. What’s the average salary? (Adjusted for the cost of living.)
3. How do employers score for work-life balance on Indeed’s database?
4.How do employers score for advancement opportunities and job security on Indeed’s database?
After crunching the numbers on the top 50 cities with the most job listings on Indeed, they came up with each city’s percentile score in each of these four areas. These percentages were then turned into individual “Indeed City Scores.”
What they found was good news for us southern folk and even better news for anyone who’s tired of the cold and dreary winters of the North: the South tended to dominate the list, with most of the top 10 cities for job seekers located throughout the region.
And making us St. Petersburg-based Penny Hoarders proud? Three different cities in the Sunshine State managed to snag a spot in the top 10, including Miami at number one, Orlando at number two and Jacksonville at number seven.
The top spots also include cities from Texas (Austin and Houston, numbers four and nine, respectively) and Raleigh, North Carolina at number three. The southern haven of blues and rock n’ roll — Memphis, Tennessee — comes in at number 10.
Three cities in California also made it onto the list, with Sacramento placing fifth, San Jose sixth and San Diego eighth.
You can find a full list of the top 25 U.S. cities for job seekers according to Indeed here.
Before you pack up and move, though, note that while Miami outscores the other cities on the list for work-life balance and job security and advancement, it actually holds one of the lowest scores for the average salary as compared to the high cost of living.
So while you might love your job, you’ll also probably end up stressing about finances more than the average joe from say, Seattle, which scored the highest on the list in terms of salary percentile (but came in at number 17 on the list overall).
Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly, considering recent trends) there’s a definite absence of midwestern cities — a region historically dominated by manufacturing. Indeed’s Senior VP Paul D’arcy attributes this to the fact that manufacturing jobs “have steadily declined over the years and haven’t shown promise for career growth like a generation ago.”
As a result, he notes, those states are instead “working to diversify their economy to attract workers and keep talent in their state.” So perhaps we’ll be seeing more of the midwest on future versions of this list as they work to attract more diverse businesses to the area.
One interesting fact that the folks over at Indeed note is that Austin is the first city on the list to score above 50% in each of the four categories. Not surprisingly, Houston also meets this standard. So maybe a move to Texas is in order?
Either way, if you’re ready to throw off your giant puffer coat for good and slip into something a bit more comfortable (and by that, I mean flip-flops and shorts), it might be time to start shopping the job markets in, well, pretty much any city on the list.
Your Turn: Are you on the hunt for a new job? Will you be searching in any of the cities listed here?
Grace Schweizer is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. Her work-life balance is primo, thanks to an incredible company that values its employees.
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.Update: Eligible DeVry students can expect their refunds this summer, according to an FTC blog post dated May 1.
The FTC “plans to mail checks before the end of the summer” to students who enrolled in DeVry University degree programs between January 2008 and October 2015, paid at least $5,000 with cash, loans, or military benefits, and completed at least one class credit.
Students who received debt or loan forgiveness already as part of the settlement will not receive a refund.
“The amount of each refund will depend on how much a person paid to DeVry,” Bridget Small of the FTC explained in the post. “The refunds will not be the full amount of money people paid.”
If you attended DeVry University between 2008 and 2015, the for-profit college could owe you money.
DeVry and its parent company agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission, which alleged the school misled prospective students. The FTC says the $100 million settlement will provide financial relief to tens of thousands of students impacted.
According to the FTC, DeVry’s advertisements falsely claimed that 90% of students were hired in their fields within six months of graduating.
DeVry also claimed its graduates earned 15% more on average one year after graduation than those with bachelor’s degrees from other colleges and universities, the complaint states.
So, who gets the $100 million?
A judge still has to approve the settlement, but DeVry has agreed to pay $49.4 million in cash to qualifying students who were duped by the ads.
Meanwhile, DeVry will pay $50.6 million to forgive student debt.
That debt relief is split into two parts: $30.35 million will be applied to the full balance on private student loans DeVry issued to undergrads between September 2008 and September 2015.
Another $20.25 million will go toward student debts for tuition, books and lab fees, the FTC explained.
Does this settlement affect you? DeVry will notify you in early 2017. If the school forgives your student debt, it will notify your student loan administrators and all credit bureaus.
DeVry will also provide transcripts and diplomas to students who previously could not obtain them due to outstanding debt to the school.
The FTC explained, “If you’re eligible, the refund amount will depend on how much you paid, and it may not be the full amount of your loss.”
In addition to compensating affected students, DeVry will have to change its advertising methods. The settlement prohibits the school from misrepresenting its graduates’ job placement rates and compensation.
Your Turn: Did you attend DeVry University? Do you think you’ll get a refund or debt forgiveness?
Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer 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.The kids are out of school, the weather is beautiful and you want to have some summer adventures with your family.
But with vacations, meals out and special activities, sticking to a budget during the summer months can be tough. It isn’t impossible, though!
Our family loves to spend time outdoors, and there are plenty of options for having fun in the sun without spending a fortune.
Our toddler’s current favorite place to hang out is the zoo, and while admission can be expensive for a family of four, we asked the grandparents to buy us a membership for Christmas so we can go whenever we want without paying a dime!
While we prefer to be outside, if it’s rainy or too hot for outdoor fun, we take advantage of discounts for places like local museums and science centers. That way we can still get out of the house, but our budget doesn’t suffer.
Here are 10 ways you can have summer fun with the kids without breaking the bank.
Take advantage of nearby parks and have a picnic, fly a kite, throw a frisbee or kick a soccer ball. If it’s too hot for fitness fun, spread out a blanket in the shade of a big tree and play board games, read books or just chat with one another.
You may have to pay a small fee to enter the beach area, but if you pack a lunch, water and plenty of snacks, you can have a full day of fun in the water for very little money. Just make sure to bring the sunscreen!
If there isn’t a beach nearby or your family prefers the pool, find a community pool in your area. They’re usually free or have a minimal fee to get in, and you can spend the whole day splashing around and cooling down.
Make sure to ask about food and drink policies before you go, though. If there’s no food allowed by the pool, leave a cooler in your vehicle and have a lunchtime parking-lot tailgate rather than a poolside picnic.
Most neighborhoods have some type of outdoor concert or movie series during the summer. If you’re lucky enough to live in or near a larger city, you can probably find a number of options to choose from.
If not, you can always set up your own outdoor movie theater in your backyard.
It may not seem like your typical family fun activity, but there are plenty of outdoor volunteer options that you can enjoy together.
Join in on a community clean up, help start a community garden or even get involved in a Habitat for Humanity build.
Whatever you choose, you’re getting outside, having some fun and teaching your children a valuable lesson in giving.
Who says all the fun has to happen when the sun is up? On those really hot days when you can’t bring yourself to be anywhere but in the air conditioning, you can take advantage of cooler nights.
A blanket, a telescope (if you have one) and a star chart can provide plenty of excitement. Add some snacks and you’ve got a stargazing party!
Scope out a local park or tourist area (or even your own backyard) and come up with a list of things the family can search for. On hunt day, give each family member (or team if you have little ones) a list and set them loose.
Need some ideas for your hunt? Parents.com has some suggestions for you. Make sure to set a meeting time and place, and then celebrate the winner with an ice cream cone or Italian ice when everyone is back.
Don’t feel like creating your own scavenger hunt but want a little adventure? Try geocaching, a fun family activity that doesn’t cost a thing.
Grab your smartphone or GPS, load the family in the van (or set out on foot if there’s a geocache close enough to you) and find some treasure!
Groupon and LivingSocial frequently offer up discounts for local family-friendly activities. Make sure you sign up and regularly check out their deals on admission to museums, zoos, amusement parks, festivals and special events.
Certifikid, a kid-specific deal site, offers discounts on activities and events, camps, classes and even parties, so don’t forget to sign up for their deal emails, too.
Your local aquarium, zoo and children’s museums may offer specials on admissions. Some have half-price days, theme months where admission is discounted, or significantly reduced admissions if you arrive later in the day.
If you plan to visit a location frequently, you might also want to look into memberships, which may be costly up front, but generally save you money over the course of the year if you visit more than a couple of times with your family.
While they’re not necessarily outdoor activities, these can be great options for rainy and hot days!
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a blast as a family. Get outside, get moving and enjoy what your town or city has to offer. You may not even need to spend a dime!
Your Turn: What’s your favorite low-cost way to have fun with your family in the summer?
Ami Spencer Youngs is a freelance writer and yoga teacher, raising her career alongside two boys under three. Learn more about her life and her writing at writingherlife.com or on Twitter at @writingherlife.
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.Holy guacamole!
Avocado prices are skyrocketing. That tasty bowl of guac for your tortilla chips on Cinco de Mayo is going to be pricy.
Avocados cost more than twice what they did a year ago, according to Bloomberg. Prices are higher than they’ve been going back nearly 20 years.
What’s more, they’re expected to stay that way all summer.
What’s the deal with expensive avocados all of a sudden?
As usual, you can blame those wacky, unpredictable market forces: supply and demand. Oh, those crazy kids supply and demand, always causing mischief.
Here are two reasons the supply of avocados is down:
Meanwhile, here are two reasons the demand for avocados is up:
“But I want my guacamole!” we hear you saying.
We understand, believe us. Nothing compliments a nice salty tortilla chip or a crisp baby carrot like a generous helping of fresh guac.
Maybe with a margarita on the side?
You can taste it right now, can’t you? Yeah, so can we.
Here are two articles that can help.
First, get your money’s worth with these five affordable avocado recipes. (This article is titled “5 Avocado Recipes for Less Than $5,” but with the surging cost of avocados, we can’t guarantee that price range is 100% accurate anymore.)
Second, don’t let your avocados go to waste. Those things are getting expensive, man. If your avocadoes get a little mushy, don’t throw them away. Instead, try these 11 yummy recipes for overripe avocados.
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Your Turn: Will you do without avocados, or will you pay extra for guac?
Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He loves him some fresh guac.
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.When’s the last time you went to a concert?
Not at that hole-in-the-wall venue you love for new and local acts — I’m talking the big ones. The amphitheaters. The stadiums.
Did your concert ticket bill (plus service charges and facility fees and that $15 beer you decided to splurge on) look more like a student-loan payment than a fun night out?
Yeah. Concert prices are no joke. Seeing your favorite act can quickly eat up that “meals/entertainment” line item on your monthly budget.
Want to go to a concert this summer or fall without that crazy-high price tag?
Live Nation has a treat for you: concert tickets for just $20.
Live Nation’s Kickoff to Summer promotion offers $20 tickets for select concerts this summer, but you have to get your friends organized to purchase your tickets between 8 a.m. on May 2 and 11:59 p.m. on May 9.
Can’t wait? Know exactly which show you want to see? AT&T customers can access a $20-ticket pre-sale right now. Today. May 1.
The typical extras may still show up on your final tab. “Additional costs may apply, such as ticket delivery fees, depending on delivery method selected, ticket upgrades, parking, and other goods and services not explicitly included in the Offer. Resale of tickets prohibited,” the Live Nation site explains.
So, how good are these concerts? If your favorite artist is going on tour this summer or fall, there’s a good chance they’re on this list. Here is a shortlist to whet your appetite:
Classic Acts: Bob Dylan, Chicago, Def Leppard, Depeche Mode, Foreigner, James Taylor
Rock: Incubus, Kings of Leon, Korn, John Mayer, Rise Against, Seether
Country: Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, Florida Georgia Line, Lady Antebellum
Hip-Hop/R&B: Chris Brown, Future, Maxwell, John Legend
Nostalgia: Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox Twenty, New Kids on the Block, Nickelback
Family: Kidz Bop, Straight No Chaser and Postmodern Jukebox, Peppa Pig
Your Turn: Will you jump at the chance to go to a concert for $20? Which show?
Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder. Please don’t email her about how she categorized the concert highlights above.
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.You’ve probably heard of Dave Ramsey’s debt snowball method of debt repayment. The debt avalanche is another wintry metaphor to help you figure out how to pay down debt.
This method focuses on paying off your highest-interest debts first.
Also known as debt stacking, this method is great for people motivated by numbers — not so great for people motivated by feelings.
If your Myers-Briggs test always produces an “F,” the debt snowball method might be better for you. You can learn about that here.
If the debt snowball is like taking a couple of practice runs at the weakest links in Red Rover, the avalanche is like plotting the perfect strategy to poach the other team’s strongest players.
It’s hard work, and you won’t get instant gratification. But you’ll build strength, and the game will get easier as you go along.
All right, enough of the playground simile.
If you can’t tackle all your loans at once, paying off the highest-interest debts first is your smartest move. The longer they sit unpaid, the more debt you’ll accrue and the more this whole thing will cost you in the long run.
Let’s look at an example. (Warning: numbers ahead.)
Say you have:
According to this calculator, if you split it and pay $150 toward each debt:
That’s not too bad. But, what if you put extra funds toward the high-interest credit card debt, instead?
If you pay $100 toward the loan and $200 toward the credit card balance:
Using the avalanche method to target your high-interest debt would help you be debt-free about five months earlier and save you $396.88 over paying toward each evenly.
Fun stuff, we know.
tl;dr: The debt avalanche method is usually the fastest and cheapest way to pay down your debt.
The debt snowball method, on the other hand, will cost you more in interest but could keep you motivated to stay on top of your finances.
As long as you’re paying off debt in the end, we support it.
Enough with the numbers. Who’s in the mood for a snowball fight?
Your Turn: Have you used the debt snowball or avalanche method?
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).
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.Moms are probably the hardest-working people in the world.
Many of them hold down full-time jobs on top of another way-more-important job: Raising human beings.
And the day-to-day process of raising the future — while it sounds romantic — really boils down to a whole lot of never-ending dirty work: dishes, dinner, laundry…
That’s why you should go out of your way to treat mom like royalty on Mother’s Day. Every. Single. Year.
But what if you don’t have a whole lot of cash?
You can still put together unique Mother’s Day gifts that’ll let her know how much you appreciate all she does. Here are 10 ways to do it.
Classic, right? There’s nothing quite as luxurious as waking up to a fresh breakfast you don’t even have to get out of bed for.
But if you have basic ingredients in your home, you can do it without spending anything… and even if you do have to make a supermarket run, eggs are pretty darn cheap.
Make it extra indulgent by paying attention to detail: Fold the napkin nicely, and garnish the meal with a splayed strawberry or orange slice.
Make a creative meal she hasn’t had before — it doesn’t have to be difficult to be new! Here’s a five-ingredient recipe that looks scrumptious and easy to make.
And one more thing? Make sure you only fill her coffee and orange juice halfway.
Waking up to coffee burns is no one’s idea of a great gift. Just make sure you bring the rest of the pot along, too.
This idea is one of the more creative Mother’s Day gift ideas, and comes from TPH Senior Editor Heather van der Hoop — or, more accurately, her mother.
One Mother’s Day, her mom asked her children to write down just one thing they’d learned from her.
“That email chain got really mushy, really quickly,” van der Hoop said.
I can only imagine.
Make this gift even more of a tearjerker by presenting it in a beautiful, handwritten card. You can stick with just one important life lesson, or make a whole list.
If taking mom out to Sunday brunch or dinner at her favorite restaurant is too pricy an option, consider preparing her favorite meal — or some doable facsimile — yourself.
Want bonus points? Make it with her.
Even if it’s something new and complex, you’ll have a blast laughing at your clumsiness together in the kitchen… and eating the result, even if it’s not Pinterest-ready.
There’s absolutely no reason to pay for overpriced delivery flowers when you can probably walk outside your door and find something beautiful to gather. Just make sure you don’t grab anything poisonous, or to which mom might be allergic.
Plus, no matter how aesthetically pleasing or sweet, those professional bouquets and greeting cards were put together by hands who know nothing about your mom.
Take advantage of your opportunity to personalize your gift, and to put in the time and effort that make it more than just a decoration.
Yep, the whole thing. Heaven knows mom’s probably done it thousands of times.
Heck, you could even give her the gift of cleaning the house, say, once a month for a year. It’ll make her feel awesome — and it still won’t even come close to how many times she’s done it.
Remember when mom used to pin your crayon drawings up on the refrigerator? Take advantage of your talents and make something she’ll cherish for years to come.
If you can’t draw, maybe your way with words would make for a beautiful poem. Who knows? It may just end up on the refrigerator alongside your shoddily drawn Kindergarten efforts she still loves so much.
Even if you don’t have $100 or more to blow at a fancy salon, pampering mom is a great way to show her how much you care. Paint each other’s toenails or give one another a spiffy new hairdo.
You can even try out some of these great DIY facials and scrubs to get even more luxurious and indulgent.
Do you know what your mom’s favorite film is? You should.
But if you don’t, find out — and then spend an evening watching it with her. Provide popcorn, candy and wine. Definitely wine.
You could even binge a few episodes of that favorite show you always chat about on your weekly calls.
(P.S. Call your mother.)
Is your mom less about sitting back and watching a film and more about getting in the game?
Grab her favorite board game, and maybe a few neither of you have tried, and set up a family game night — or gather around a chessboard, just the two of you. Either way, you’ll spend an evening chatting and laughing.
This is my very favorite option on the list. Grab those dusty albums and take a walk down memory lane.
Just don’t say I didn’t warn you: Make sure you have some tissues handy.
It turns out money-free, unique Mother’s Day gifts might just be better than the uninspired chocolate and flowers you might go for otherwise.
They’re creative and thoughtful. Best of all? They’re all about spending time together.
That’s probably what mom really wants this year, anyway.
Your Turn: What are you doing for your mom this Mother’s Day? If you’re a mom, what’s the best money-free Mother’s Day gift you’ve ever received?
Jamie Cattanach also writes creative nonfiction and poetry, some of which has been featured in “DMQ Review,” “Sweet: A Literary Confection” and elsewhere. You can follow along at jamiecattanach.com.
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.It’s no secret having children is expensive. If your kids play sports, the costs quickly escalate.
Not only do you pay registration or team fees, but you’ll also need to make sure your son or daughter has the right equipment. And unless your children are runners, their sports of choice likely requires plenty of gear you’ll need to purchase.
For example, my 11-year-old daughter plays soccer on a traveling team. She not only needs cleats for playing outside, but also special shoes for the indoor season. She also needs shin guards and socks tall enough to go over them, as well as a couple of soccer balls.
Since she’s on a team, she needed a uniform, which cost about $75 and will last two years if we’re lucky. We also opted to buy her a special backpack to carry all her gear as part of a birthday present (another $75), and buy a used, full-sized soccer goal for $50 so she could practice her skills at home.
That’s just one sport — and soccer doesn’t require much personal equipment. Kids in other sports, such as hockey and baseball, usually need a lot more gear: gloves, bats, helmets, a bag to carry it all in… you get the picture.
And kids grow quickly, so they may need larger sizes each year.
Feeling the stress of a tight budget while trying to get your child ready for her season? Here are eight ways to save money on your children’s sporting gear:
My daughter’s soccer league has a page on its website for parents to post equipment they want to sell. It’s a great way to make a little money back from gear your child has outgrown, and an ideal place to find deals on pre-owned equipment.
Post on Facebook that you’re looking for a baseball helmet for your son, and you may be surprised how many of your friends, family members or acquaintances have some equipment they’re willing to give you or sell for a low price.
Many families have equipment in their garages or basements that they don’t know what to do with, and you could help take it off their hands.
If you’re in a sport like tennis where you need a lot of balls, have one parent buy the items in bulk. Then, split up the supplies (and their cost) among the interested families.
If your child is just starting out, he doesn’t need brand-new equipment. Keep an eye out for local rummage sales, yard sales and garage sales to see what kind of used gear you can find, such as bats, balls, gloves and more.
At one recent rummage sale I visited, a family was selling a whole box of baseballs and softballs for 5 cents each. That was a perfect purchase for a family with kids in baseball or softball.
Resale and consignment stores focused on athletic equipment are great places to pick up both used and sometimes new gear and clothing. They’re also great ways to make a little money back on equipment your child has outgrown.
Many thrift stores get donations from people cleaning out their garages, so you may be able to pick up the right-sized glove for your daughter.
And don’t forget regular consignment stores. I once found a pair of cleats for my daughter at a consignment store for a fraction of what they would have cost new.
Local Facebook resale groups are quickly replacing Craigslist as the go-to place to buy and sell a variety of items, including sporting goods.
If you’re not already a member of a local Facebook group, find one and keep your eyes open for sporting gear. You can also post the items you’re looking for, and someone may have just what you need — at a price far lower than what you’d pay in a sporting goods store.
While this tip isn’t about where to find a great deal, figuring out if your daughter really needs every single piece of equipment right out of the gate can save you a significant amount of money.
Check with your child’s coach to see if she has extra batting helmets or other equipment the kids can use during practices and games. This is an especially useful tip for kids just starting out. My daughter played one year of T-ball before deciding she didn’t like it. I’m glad we didn’t buy her anything — she just used a glove I bought at a rummage sale for her brother, who also spent just one year playing the game.
Your Turn: How do you save money on your children’s sporting gear?
MaryBeth Matzek is a mother of two and a Wisconsin-based freelance writer. When not spending time with her family or writing, she’s out trying to find the best possible deal.
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.What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Phone coupons and security
2. Life crossroads question
3. Car safety GPS devices?
4. Telling significant other about wealth
5. Escaping poverty
6. Retirement savings when loving career
7. Reusing water bottles?
8. Pyrex question
9. Uses for cheap cabbage?
10. Airbnb and spare bedroom
11. Stop measuring myself by others?
12. Big savings making life miserable
This past weekend, we hosted a birthday party at our home for our seven year old. He invited seven of his friends to the party, which meant that we had 10 children between the ages of six and 11 running around our home for a few hours.
We had a homemade birthday cake that we decorated ourselves. We made homemade pizzas. We decorated our house ourselves with handmade decorations. We came up with party activities that involved making Cartesian diver toys out of used plastic water bottles and making “putty” out of glue and Borax. We made an obstacle course in the upstairs hallway.
Our total cost for everything was maybe $30. The kids – both our own and our guests – seemed to universally love the party. Our seven-year-old said it was hands-down the best birthday he’s ever had and our two older kids agreed that the whole thing was fantastic.
We live in an area where parents often seem to just throw tons of money at children’s birthday parties, but it’s often the simple ones that they really love. You don’t have to do anything too complicated – in fact, they often love just being able to do something simple and new with their friends. Don’t drop hundreds on some sort of “amazing” party. Just have a simple one at home and they’ll probably appreciate it just as much or more.
I see a lot of information about coupons that you can download to your phone. How do I know my Android phone is secure? Is security even a concern for these apps? I have a passcode for the phone, but I only use it to make calls, text, and look up information on the internet (like when the next train to Boston is expected.). Can you advise?
– Colleen
On Android, it depends on the app. When you put a new app on your phone, it will inform you as to what aspects of your phone that it wants access to. If you’re uncomfortable with that access, don’t put the app on your phone.
I generally don’t allow apps to have access to things like my contact lists and so on. There’s no reason for an app to have that kind of access.
While I haven’t tested coupon apps on Android extensively, I can’t conceive of why they would want access to most kinds of shared information. If it’s requesting that access, just deny it and delete the app. Easy as can be!
I’m a single 31-year-old man with no kids. I live frugally in a large but affordable Midwestern city. In my early- to mid-twenties I was pretty irresponsible with money and wrecked my credit and finances. I’ve spent the last two years working on getting things reset and paying off debts. I’ve got no credit card debt, but I do have about $30,000 of student loan debt from my first stint in college immediately following high school (I dropped out after my sophomore year). I decided to go back to school a couple of years ago and earned an A.A. from a community college, which I paid for out of pocket. I was fortunate enough to get a full-ride scholarship from a local university, where I’m finishing my B.S. I’ve got an emergency fund of $4,000 and recently started putting money into a Roth IRA – I work as a bartender and put 10% of the tips I make every night in an envelope to fund that account – I’ve amassed a little over $1,000 over the last couple of months! I make about $65,000 a year.
I am applying to medical school next year and am unsure what the best path is to balance my immediate, short-term, and long-term goals is. I have a separate savings account I’ve been funding to cover the costs associated with applying (testing, prep, and application fees as well as costs of travel and lodging for interviews) and should have enough that I won’t have to charge anything to a credit card or move money out of any other accounts. Once I start med school, I won’t be able to work very much (if at all) and I will pay for tuition and living expenses with student loans (5.31% is the rate for this year). I want to be prepared for all possible outcomes, so I am trying to consider every angle.
Should I stop saving money for retirement and instead put that money in an account that I can tap into if I run short while I’m still in school? I estimate that I’ll be able to save another $8,000-$12,000 for retirement before I start med school. Saving that amount now, in my early 30s, could be worth as much as $245,000 in retirement according to Betterment’s calculator, assuming average market performance. That’s a pretty significant amount. However, having that money in a low-risk account (versus my IRA which is invested in 90% stocks/10% bonds) might be more helpful to me while I’m in med school than it would be to me in retirement given the fact that my income will increase dramatically after I’m finished with my education — I’ll be able to save much larger amounts, aggressively.
On the other hand, there is no guarantee that I’ll be successful as a medical student, or that I’ll even get into any of the schools I apply to. I’m confident that I will, but I want to be prepared. If I’m not successful, it’s important to me that I’m being responsible. I know that he money I save will be worth less in retirement every year I put off saving, and I don’t want to gamble with my future self’s security.
I’m also on track to beef my emergency fund up to $20,000 by the time I start med school. I’m not sure if there’s conventional wisdom for someone in my situation – is that too much money to have saved for emergencies if I’m living on student loan money? Should I use some of that for living expenses and reduce the amount that I borrow?
– Gary
If you’re going to go to medical school, you’re already making a major life wager that you’re going to be successful in medical school. There’s no point in even going if you’re thinking there’s a significant likelihood that you won’t be successful.
That’s why I would encourage you to treat this endeavor under the assumption that you will be successful. Start making choices right now as though you’re going to be fine in medical school. Adopt that as your full mindset. You will be successful there, period.
So, what can you do to maximize your success there? Having a $20,000 emergency fund is amazing. That’s a great first step. If I were you, I’d focus on keeping my student loans low after that as opposed to saving more for retirement at the moment. I’d leave your retirement as is and start putting away money to cover housing costs when you’re in school, which will enable you to take out smaller loans as you won’t need as much for housing. This will reduce your burden that you’re carrying when you graduate, which will recoup what you’re “losing” from not contributing to retirement savings, and it’ll make your day-to-day life after graduating much easier to manage and give you a wider array of reasonable life options at that point. You won’t have to just take the highest-paying job and can consider what’s best for your career and best for your sanity.
I am a Verizon customer, mostly because no other service reaches our coastal town. But that is not the question of the day. Verizon is pushing the “Hum” a device for ‘car safety’ that tracks your location, calls for emergency help when needed, connects you to a mechanic that provides a quote of what possible repairs should cost, then interfaces with your local mechanic to insure that the correct work is done, and other reportedly delightful interfaces. At $10 a month, is this service worth it? My car is newer, still under warranty, I have AAA, and my auto insurance covers towing. Is the Hum worth my money?
– Ellen
Given that you already have those services, and given that you can install an app like Honk on your phone for free that covers even more aspects of Hum, I don’t see the benefit of Hum adding up to the cost.
That being said, Hum is one of those “peace of mind” purchases. It’s intended to alleviate a particular worry that a person might have. Some people feel significant personal stress about being in those kinds of emergencies or worry about their loved ones being in those situations.
My wife has an Automatic in her car (she received it as a gift) and is glad it’s there for peace of mind, but when I asked her if she would buy it for herself, she said she probably wouldn’t as it doesn’t provide enough peace of mind benefit for her to be worth the cost.
I’ve been following your advice since the mid ’90s! Just kidding – kind of. I’ve been saving about 40% of my income since I graduated college in 1994 and I have really enjoyed The Simple Dollar over the years.
I have been single my entire adult life and never dated anyone seriously. I am now 46 and have been dating the same woman for more than a year. Her income is a little more than mine but we have never really talked about our respective finances seriously. She lives in a nice house, perhaps slightly nicer than mine and with a higher Zillow value. However, based on some experiences, while I don’t get the sense she’s foolish with her money in any way, I do not think she has significant savings beyond a reasonable 401(k). On the other hand, I am pretty close to retiring right now.
I am wondering when I should tell her about this. We have had some tentative conversations about getting married in the next few years and moving in together, probably into her home. Do I wait until we’re married? Do I consider a prenup? I really don’t know what to do here.
– Caleb
A prenuptial agreement makes sense in situations where either partner is bringing significant assets into the marriage and want assets to be distributed non-equally (because they brought in different asset amounts) if a separation or divorce occurs. The question you have to ask yourself is this: If you married her and then divorced her, how exactly would you feel walking away with a roughly equal split of your combined assets? If that deeply bothers you, then you should strongly consider a prenup. Most of the time, when people get married, their assets are roughly similar to begin with, so a prenup doesn’t make a ton of sense, and other couples don’t mind walking away with an equal split in that situation.
At some point before you would be married, you should talk about the financial facts of your respective lives, but I don’t think it should probably occur before there’s a strong mutual commitment to marriage. Without that kind of deep life commitment, I don’t think it’s the other person’s business, honestly. They don’t need to know.
So, if I were you, I’d keep my finances to myself for now and let the relationship play out a little more. If you find yourself engaged to be married, then you should start having serious money conversations and put your cards on the table. If you then feel a prenup is in order, have that conversation then.
Want your thoughts on this article:
Escaping Poverty Requires Almost 20 Years With Nearly Nothing Going Wrong
– Cherie
This article almost entirely agrees with my life experience involving poverty. I grew up in an area where many of the people I knew and my parents knew did not have much wealth at all, and digging out of that situation was very difficult. Most people just accepted it and did the best they could do with what they had without any real hope of building any wealth without a huge amount of luck.
The exception to this is children. Most of the families I knew that escaped a cycle of poverty did so via their children, where the parents committed to going the extra mile to ensure that their children had a real chance at a better life. They did everything humanly possible to get the best job they could possibly get, then continued to live lean lives to ensure that their children had opportunity.
My parents did that for me. There were many periods in my childhood where our sole income came from my father’s side gigs, yet they always ensured that I had educational materials that I needed. I never wanted for a book or supplies for school, ever. That was beyond question. My parents made some serious sacrifices and commitments to making sure that I would have opportunities that they never had, and I appreciate that every single day of my life. If they had not done that, I would likely be working in a factory for little more than minimum wage at this point.
If you have very little income, it takes incredible willpower over a long period of time and a healthy amount of luck to start climbing out of it. Most people I know of in low-income situations basically accept that they themselves will never really escape it and either find what joy they can in that acceptance or channel all of their energy into helping their children escape it – and even that requires some good fortune and hard choices and willpower. That’s just the reality of things.
I am an “x-ray” technician (haha, don’t actually use x-rays very often these days) and have been doing so for the past 17 years. I really like my job. I interact with people all day and get to comfort people sometimes. I like working with the machines and know how to repair some minor problems. I feel like I’m constantly doing different things, too – different imaging has to be set up completely differently.
I actually dread the thought of retirement and want to keep doing this until they kick me out the door!
I have been saving for retirement but I am considering cutting back my savings. I am ahead of the pace that CNBC shows and I don’t want to retire until I have to.
Why should a person save extra for retirement when they don’t want to retire?
– Jana
I’m assuming that, when you refer to the “CNBC pace,” you’re talking about the guidance in this article.
If you like your job, then you should keep working at it until you either don’t like it any more or they push you out the door. You should think of your retirement mostly as a safety net so that you’re not in a difficult situation when you do get pushed out or if you do grow tired of that job. Staying ahead of that retirement pace just ensures that you can keep having the life you currently have if you walk out the door starting at around age 60 or so. It’s a nice safety net to have.
Some people fret about having money left over when they die. I don’t consider that a worry – just set up a will that gives your estate to something you care about. That way, even if you do die early, that money goes toward making someone else’s life better and, at that point, you don’t need it anyway.
Is there a problem with just reusing plastic water bottles? Like if I buy a bottle of Aquafina at the gas station or something and just reusing it a few dozen times?
– Jim
Most beverage bottles you buy from the gas station are made from “plastic #1,” a shorthand name for polyethylene terephthalate. While such bottles are fine for one-time use, repeated use causes them to start leaching DEHP (diethylhexyl phthalate), which has a number of known negative health outcomes. DEHP seems to start leaching into the water through micro-scratches in the plastic surface, which start building up through repeated use.
Finding the “safest” water bottle, though, is a rather difficult endeavor. There seems to be general consensus that reusable water bottles made of stainless steel and glass are safe, and stainless steel in general isn’t going to break, so many people point to using a Klean Kanteen. If you decide to use a plastic bottle, it should definitely be BPA-free and shouldn’t be made of plastic #1.
For me personally, I probably wouldn’t reuse an Aquafina bottle unless I were in a pinch. Instead, I have a few reusable water bottles, including one I keep in the car and another I keep with my camping supplies, and I just thoroughly rinse them and reuse them and then clean them regularly. It ends up being cheaper in the long run.
I read recently that Pyrex is junk because they changed their glass formula. Do you still think Pyrex bowls are good buys for kitchen use?
– Alex
The whole “Pyrex changed their formula and is now junk” idea came from a change in Pyrex formulation about 15 years ago, in which Pyrex changed their glass slightly so that it was less resistant to rapid temperature changes (aka thermal shock) and more resistant to being dropped. This became big news when Popular Science reported on the change and discussed how illegal drug manufacturers had to switch to lab-grade glass equipment instead of just buying Pyrex at their local department store.
In a typical home kitchen, you’re not going to thermally shock Pyrex enough to cause it to shatter unless you’re trying to do so. You’re not going to sit a Pyrex bowl on top of an open flame or something like that, thus the change in temperature resistance isn’t going to be noticed at home. What you will notice, though, is that you’re less likely to have Pyrex shatter if you drop it compared to Pyrex from 20 years ago.
So, I actually view today’s Pyrex as safer and longer-lasting in a typical home kitchen than old Pyrex. That’s because it seems to me to be way more common to drop Pyrex than it is for a person in a home kitchen to apply enough thermal stress to Pyrex to cause it to shatter.
My local store tends to have sales on cabbage for as little as like $0.10 a pound. Looked online for recipes and none of them sound appealing. What can you do with cabbage?
– Jerry
I use cabbage to make homemade sauerkraut. The only catch is that you need a large container in which to do it, like a gallon jar or something, as well as a couple of food-safe weights. This Old Farmer’s Almanac article explains the basics.
I like cabbage slaw made with it, which is basically just a salad made of finely shredded cabbage and a dressing. I like to stir fry cabbage. My wife likes eating cabbage cooked with corned beef in one pot.
I think there’s usually something interesting you can do with almost any vegetable, and cabbage is no different. Just surround it with flavors you like. I like things that mix savory and tart, so it’s unsurprising that I love sauerkraut.
We have been thinking of renting out our spare bedroom on Airbnb. How do you protect yourself and make sure you’re not renting to a criminal or a thief?
– Dan
For starters, you can choose to not rent to guests who haven’t been reviewed or that have any negative reviews. That will generally keep undesirables at bay.
However, the odds are that you will eventually have a bad experience with a guest. From what I’ve read, about 1% of guests provide some kind of problem, most of them relatively minor, but on occasion requiring a police call.
However, you’re going to make good money from those who are not questionable in their morals, and that’s honestly most of the people who will rent from you. If we had a spare bedroom, I’d do it, but I would consider it a cost of doing business.
I am constantly measuring myself by what others are doing. I do it unconsciously all the time and I know it’s not helpful for building anything good for myself but I keep doing it. Whenever I step back and see the pattern I get frustrated but then I find myself doing it again. How do I stop doing this?
– Mark
My number one suggestion for you is to start finding ways to directly measure yourself and put those measurements as front and center in your life as you possibly can so you focus on them as a comparison point. In other words, turn that need you have to always compare yourself to something else into something that’s actually useful.
Let’s say you’re trying to get ahead financially. Figure out your net worth, and then put that net worth front and center everywhere. “My net worth on May 1 is $48,000. Can I do better?” Write that on a note and glue it to your credit card. Put it on your lock screen on your phone. Put it in so many places that you see it all the time and it burrows into your head.
Then, on June 1, sit down and calculate your net worth. Are you ahead of where you were a month ago? Right then and there, you have a comparison where you’re ahead of the person you’re comparing yourself to, and that’s going to build confidence.
A final tip: remember that you are always seeing only one part of the story when you compare yourself to someone else. They may be succeeding in one area of life, but they might be utterly failing in a few others, ones that you don’t see. Don’t view someone as a complete success because they succeed in one area because you don’t know what they’ve sacrificed for success in that one area.
I started working here at age 22 and decided I wanted to retire as early as possible so I started saving about 40% of my income in my 401(k) plan which was fine for a long time but now I am 34 and I am miserable. I resent all the money in there and how I feel like I wasted my 20s sitting at home and now everyone around me is marrying and having kids and I am single and have nothing to show for my 20s.
– Caleb
First of all, saving 40% for retirement doesn’t mean you have to sit at home. There are tons of things you can do outside of your home that cost virtually nothing at all other than the cost to get there. For starters, just go to Meetup and see what’s going on in your area. If you’re sitting at home, that’s by choice, not because of your savings rate.
For another, if you’ve been saving 40% of your income since age 22 and you’re now 34, you should have several years of salary in your 401(k) at this point and it should be growing like a runaway train (unless you made some extremely unproductive investment choices). You’re not that far from being able to just walk away from your job. You can probably pull it off somewhere around age 40 or so, at which point you can do whatever you want with your time. Even if you decide to entirely stop saving for retirement, you can probably walk away before age 50.
I’m just not sure what you feel like you’re missing. You mention that people around you are getting married and having kids and you seem to still be single. If that’s bothering you, focus on dating. If you feel like you can’t afford to do it, cut back on your savings rate for a while. Right now, you are way ahead of 99.9% of people your age in terms of retirement savings and you’re almost a mortal lock to retire early. Don’t feel bad about cutting back a little right now and doing things that are important to you in other areas of your life.
Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.
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