MAKE MONEY ONLINE POSTS: 05/18/17

الخميس، 18 مايو 2017

Estonia's e-Residency Gives Brexit Businesses a Way to Stay in the EU

Post-Brexit, applications for Estonia's e-Residency program have risen dramatically. Learn more about e-Residency at HowStuffWorks.

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'Epi-pen' bill signed into law

HARRISBURG — School bus drivers and crossing guards, often the first person entrusted with a child's care on a school day, will now be able to administer a life-saving medication without fear of liability. Governor Wolf signed Act 2 on Tuesday, which provides civil immunity to school bus drivers and crossing guards who administer an epinephrine auto-injector, or epi-pen, to a student having an allergic reaction, Representative Justin Simmons (Lehigh/Montgomery/Northampton) said [...]

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Estonia's e-Residency Gives Brexit Businesses a Way to Stay in the EU

Post-Brexit, applications for Estonia's e-Residency program have risen dramatically. Learn more about e-Residency at HowStuffWorks.

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Smithfield Township icon resigns

A longtime public figure in Smithfield Township has stepped down from office. Former State Rep. John Siptroth resigned as township auditor effective May 2.“I would have completed my first term this coming January,” he said. “If I weren’t moving to Florida, I probably would have run again.”Siptroth plans to leave for the sunshine state sometime this week. He has yet to determine whether his departure from politics will be permanent. [...]

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Business briefs, Friday, Mary 19, 2017

Laz Scapes receives media awardLaz Scapes of East Stroudsburg has been named a recipient of the 2017 Best of HomeAdvisor Award. Laz Scapes has been part of HomeAdvisor’s network since 2013. Prior to joining the HomeAdvisor network, all service providers are subject to a comprehensive screening. Upon successfully passing the screening, professionals are given a HomeAdvisor seal of approval to display to their customers.Award recipients [...]

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Smitfield Township icon resigns

Mother's Day contest winners named

Tanya Corvo and Desiree Stynes have been named the grand-prize winners of this year's Mom & Me Look-Alike Contest. The mother-daughter duo take home a jewelry set from Liztech Jewelry (valued at $250), a 55 minute Swedish massage from Bodyworks Spa Studios (valued at $105), and a $30 gift certificate to Sonia's Sweet Inspirations. Honorable mentions include first runner up Melanie McGarry, who has won a 45 minute Intense Cleanse Facial from Bodyworks Spa Studios (valued at $108) and a [...]

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Mount Airy slots soar

Mount Airy led all but one Pennsylvania casino in April slots growth with a 41 percent gain in revenues.The casino brought in $4.9 million in gross revenues, compared with $3.5 million in April 2016, according to figures released Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.Slots at the state’s 12 casinos were up more than 10 percent for the month, generating $79.5 million compared with $72.2 million a year ago.April had five weekends this year, accounting for [...]

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Google Just Announced a New Job Search Tool — and It Sounds Pretty Cool

Google might be your new go-to job-hunting site.

That’s right: the minds behind the scarily accurate and infamously algorithmic search engine that helps you locate a “sugar-free high-fat banana muffin recipe” (or any other piece of conceivable information in this universe) with ease will now help you find your next job.

The company is rolling out a new tool, called Google for Jobs, that will allow you to search jobs across the internet in one move — just by typing a query into the search bar.

Simplifying the Process

An important feature of Google for Jobs, and one that is decidedly absent from many other job search sites, is its ability to pull job openings in the retail and service industries (along with other non-office positions) — something that job hunters had to seek out singularly before now.

While announcing the tool at the company’s developer conference on Wednesday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the goal is “to better connect employers and job seekers,” which the company plans to do by making a broader range of job openings more readily visible.

The folks at Google believe there is a code to be cracked when it comes to matching job seekers to available positions, and they’re determined to find the formula that will make the job hunt less complex.

Redefining the Job Hunt

But even with (or, really, because of) its broader scope, the revolutionary job search engine will still return refined and fairly pinpointed results.

Google for Jobs will allow you to narrow your search with a series of filters. Job seekers can start with a general search term, such as “retail jobs,” before sorting by full-time or part-time, category, title or the date the job was posted.

Google will also be adding an option to narrow your search by commute time. (Because honestly, who among us enjoys sitting in rush-hour traffic?)

Pinchai emphasized that Google for Jobs is not aiming to clobber the job-hunting software market but to enhance it. The company actually partnered with several of the sites you’re probably already using, including Glassdoor and LinkedIn, in an attempt to create a brand-new job-hunting experience.

Google for Jobs will be launching over the next several weeks, and we’ll be back to update you with new information that may help you with your own job search.

Grace Schweizer is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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Summer Hiring is on the Rise. Use This Opportunity to Jumpstart Your Career

If you hope to land a seasonal job this summer, you better be putting in your applications now.

CareerBuilder surveyed more than 2,500 employers across the country, and about a third (34%) say they’ll complete their hiring for summer jobs this month.

Nearly as many have already finished hiring for the season, but 20% plan to complete their summer hiring in June. So if you’re late to the game, it’s time to dust off your resume ASAP.

Hiring for Summer Jobs is on the Rise

CareerBuilder’s survey says 41% of employers plan to fill seasonal roles this summer compared to 29% last year.

These jobs include your typical summer positions. Nearly half of employers in the hospitality industry and about a third of retail employers said they’d be hiring seasonal workers.

An increase in summer tourism may be why a significant chunk of employers in these cities reported they’d be filling seasonal roles: Miami (66%), New York (58%), Washington D.C. (46%) and Los Angeles (45%).

But other industries are hiring seasonal workers too. Twenty-seven percent of employers plan to fill engineering positions this summer and the same amount say they’ll be hiring IT professionals. And 11% plan to hire new employees in the banking industry.

About four out of five employers will be paying their summer employees at least $10 an hour, and 19% say they’ll pay $20 an hour or more.

More Than Just a Temporary Role

Summer jobs are great for students or members of the gig economy, but they can also be used as a stepping stone for new grads or someone changing careers to gain experience and get their foot in the door at a coveted company where they hope to work on a more permanent basis.

According to CareerBuilder’s survey, 79% of employers hiring this summer say they will consider seasonal workers for permanent positions — up from 76% last year. So use your time at these seasonal jobs to make it count.

Rosemary Haefner, CareerBuilder’s chief human resources officer, recommends that summer hires don’t treat their position as if it’s just a temporary gig.

“You should view it as an extended job interview,” she said. “This is an opportunity for the company to get to know you, to show them what you bring to their organization and to show how you can become a valuable asset.”

Where to Find These Jobs

You all know the saying: it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Don’t be shy about tapping into your network to land your summer gig. According to CareerBuilder’s survey, 34% of employers plan to hire a friend, 30% will hire a family member and 19% will employ their child.

Here at The Penny Hoarder, we’re constantly looking for great job opportunities to share with you — seasonal or not. Like The Penny Hoarder Jobs on Facebook to stay in the loop!

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She once snagged a recurring summer job due to a family connection. She also had a summer internship that turned into a great freelance gig years later.

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Get Free SiruisXM for 2 Weeks Without Any Headaches (or Sales Calls)

Whether you’re a NPR kind of girl or a smooth jazz guy, your driving listening just got more exciting — at least for the next couple weeks.

Between now and May 30, your inactive satellite radio is back on, and you’ve got access to 100 free channels ranging from pop to news and politics.

This limited-time freebie is part of SiriusXM’s Road Happy campaign, and there are no strings attached. Just turn on your SiriusXM radio and listen all you want for the next two weeks.

Here’s the Best Part of SiriusXM Free Trial

If you choose not to sign up for the service, you don’t have to opt out. Your service will stop automatically.

That means you (hopefully) won’t get stuck dodging the endless series of calls from the sales people over at SiriusXM once your two weeks are over. (They are persistent!)

So bask in the free music — then either sign up or don’t.

Desiree Stennett (@desi_stennett) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. For her, it was far easier to quit SiriusXM after the trial than it was to quit Spotify so she thinks this deal is safe.

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Can A Credit Card Actually Help You Save?

Most people don’t know there’s a really simple way to free up more money for savings — and it doesn’t require making huge lifestyle sacrifices. The trick is to stop throwing money away on interest payments.

Credit card companies are offering really favorable terms on balance transfers right now. Take the Discover it® 18 Month Balance Transfer Offer. It gives you an 18-month 0% intro APR period — one of the longest out there.

If you have decent credit, now’s the best time to put it to work for savings. Bring your credit card interest costs down to zero when you transfer a balance to a new 0% intro APR offer. From there, each payment you make goes directly toward paying down your debt, and not monthly interest. To pay off a $10,000 balance, that would mean savings of $1,000+ in interest in just a year and a half. That’s a nice chunk of cash you can put toward savings instead.

The secret to saving more money is mostly just being smarter about how you spend your money. Cutting out interest payments is one of the easiest (and most painless!) ways to do this. To get you started saving, here’s a simple head-to-head comparison of two of the best balance transfer cards available today.

Discover it® 18 Month Balance Transfer Offer

The Discover it® 18 Month Balance Transfer Offer has the longest 0% intro APR of our top-ranked balance transfer cards. This card also delivers big on cash back rewards for all of the new purchases you make with the card. Earn 5% cash back on quarterly rotating categories, plus 1% cashback on everything else year-round.

But that’s not all. Discover also doubles the cash back you earn during your first year as a cardholder. That means if you earn $200 in cashback, you’ll get another $200 on top of that — that’s $400 total cash back in one year. The more cash back you earn in your first year, the bigger your year-end cash back bonus.

Pros: You get an extra-long 0% Intro APR that lasts 18 months, plus earn 5% cash back on new purchases in rotating categories.

Con: You must pay a balance transfer fee of 3% of your transfer amount or $5, whichever is greater.

Discover it® - 18 Month Balance Transfer Offer

Apply Now

Intro Balance Transfer APR: 0% for 18 months

Balance Transfer Fee: 3%

Regular APR: 11.74% – 23.74% Variable

Highlights Card Highlights Provided by Discover:

You could turn $200 into $400 with Cashback Match™. Get a dollar-for-dollar match of all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year, automatically.
Earn 5% cash back in rotating categories each quarter like gas stations, Amazon.com, restaurants, wholesale clubs and more, up to the quarterly maximum each time you activate. Plus, 1% cash back on all other purchases.
Redeem your cash back for any amount, any time. Cash rewards never expire.
100% U.S. based customer service.
Get your FICO® Credit Score for free on monthly statements, on mobile and online.
No annual fee.
Click "APPLY NOW" to see rates, rewards, FICO® Credit Score terms, Cashback Match™ details & other information.

More info

Chase Slate®

Want to avoid the fees associated with a balance transfer? Go with the Chase Slate®. With this card, you can cut out interest payments and transfer your balance for FREE (as long as you do it within the first 60 days of opening the card). The Chase Slate® also has an extended 0% intro APR of 15 months, which means no interest payments until Fall 2018.

Pros: Pay no balance transfer fee (if made within 60 days of account opening), plus get 0% Intro APR for 15 months.

Con: You can’t transfer a balance from another Chase card. Additionally, this card doesn’t include access to a rewards program. If you already have a rewards credit card, we recommend making new purchases on that card — and using the Chase Slate® solely as a debt-elimination tool!

Chase Slate®

Apply Now

Intro Balance Transfer APR: 0% for 15 months

Balance Transfer Fee: Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.

Regular APR: 15.74% - 24.49% Variable

Highlights

$0 Introductory balance transfer fee for transfers made during the first 60 days of account opening
0% Introductory APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers
Monthly FICO® Score and Credit Dashboard for free
No Penalty APR – Paying late won't raise your interest rate (APR). All other account pricing and terms apply
$0 Annual Fee

More info

One thing to keep in mind is that most card issuers won’t allow you to transfer a balance from one of their cards to another (from Chase Freedom® to Chase Slate®, for example). That’s why it pays to know what the best offers are. You’ll maximize your balance transfer savings this way and figure out which card will actually work best for your personal situation.

The Discover it® 18 Month Balance Transfer Offer has the best deal with its extra-long 0% intro APR period, and the Chase Slate® lets you transfer your balances for free during the first 60 days–a huge benefit for savings. You can also check out our full list of the Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards for 2017 to compare other great offers — and find the one that fits your needs best.

The post Can A Credit Card Actually Help You Save? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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If a Pop-up Says You’re About to Lose Your Data, Don’t Panic. Call the FTC

If you only had minutes before your hard drive crashed and every document, picture and music file on your computer disappeared forever, you’d probably be willing to take help from just about anyone — at least that’s what scammers are hoping.

The Federal Trade Commission knows that.

That’s why this week, officials are taking a series of actions to help protect you and crack down on those committed to stealing your hard-earned money.

On May 12, the FTC announced 16 new actions, including legal complaints, settlements, indictments and guilty pleas, involving deceptive tech support companies.

How Tech Support Scammers Fool You

Many of these scams work the same way.

They start with a pop-up in your web browser that looks like it’s from Microsoft. The warning messages are urgent and meant to get you to act before you think.

In some cases, the pop-up will imitate blue error screens. In others, it will mimic an alert from a popular anti-virus software. Either way, the messages will be similar. You will see a message that alerts you to a problem on your computer and a prompt to call a toll-free number for help.

According to the FTC, the most aggressive messages urge consumers to call immediately or risk losing personal data.

Some will even show a countdown clock to make you feel an even greater sense of urgency. If you call that phone number, you will be speaking directly with your scammer.

Once you’re on the phone, the scammer’s goal is to be convincing and insistent.

Most calls start with the scammer acting as tech support and asking you to give them remote access to your computer. From here, the scammer will pretend to run a diagnostic test to solve your fictitious problem.

The scammer will then try to convince you that the initial alert prompting you to call was true and try to get you to pay to have your problem fixed.

According to the FTC, the scammer’s “services” can be relatively minor actions like selling security software you can get online for free or pretending to fix a problem that didn’t really exist. Or they can be harmful and use remote access to install malware that will help them steal personal information from you later.

If you try to counter their arguments and say you don’t need help fixing your problem, the scammer will try to convince you that no one else can fix the problem for less money.

In many cases, the scam can be difficult to spot, especially if the initial pop-up was convincing enough to get you to call the toll-free number.

How the FTC is Fighting Tech Support Scams

The latest actions are part of an international operation spanning several states that includes a partnership with the government of India to crack down on overseas companies scamming U.S. consumers.

“Tech support scams prey on people’s fear of losing important work, family photos or sensitive identification information,” said Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. “Using that fear, scammers trick thousands of consumers into paying millions of dollars to fix problems that never existed.”

Many of the scammers are now facing arrest, and others have had to repay money they stole. Some financial penalties were more than $1 million.

It’s not yet clear how the FTC will get that money back to the people these scammers wronged. But if you believe you may have been a victim of this type of scam, be sure to report what happened to the FTC.

Desiree Stennett (@desi_stennett) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.

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Putting Frugality in Context of a Busy Modern Life

Springtime is incredibly busy around our home. Our children each participate in a spring sport of their choosing (if they want to). They’re also finishing out their school year, which means a number of school activities are on the docket. We usually have family members that come to visit at some point during the month. Sarah’s usually finishing out a teaching year and is also finishing out her masters program. I’m usually trying to get some extra work done so that I can slow down my work pace during the summer and do things like family day trips, family camping trips, and some other projects.

The pace of these months can feel overwhelming, and it’s during those months that I can often feel my focus shifting from a long-term focus to a very short-term one.

During other parts of the year, it’s easy to have a long-term focus. I can think about my day in terms of my long-term goals and initiatives. Sure, there are things that need to be done, but the days don’t all feel overstuffed. I can do things like make lots of meals in advance and freeze them or keep well ahead of household chores or do some long-term financial planning or actually plan out what we’re going to do to handle special events.

When things get busy, however, the focus gets shorter and shorter. Rather than looking at things through the lens of “how do I build a great life,” the focus shifts to “how can I survive this week” or “how can I get this to-do list (mostly) cleaned out today” or “how do I make sure I don’t forget these 15 things that need to be done today.”

Unsurprisingly, when your perspective changes to that sort of short-term viewpoint, the costs and benefits of many choices start to change, as well. Let’s walk through some of these shifts.

Things that reduce your time commitments right now begin to have a premium value. If you can do something that shaves fifteen or thirty minutes out of a tightly-scheduled evening, then it becomes very tempting when you don’t have much time to spare.

Long-term financial and personal goals seem less important because they’re not helping you get through today. Retirement seems a long way off when you’re staring at today’s to-do list and wondering how you can ever possibly get through all of this.

Long-term initiatives fall by the wayside because of the needs of the day. You might have been able to keep up with a resolution for a few months, but when things get chaotic, that long term focus gets kicked to the curb because other short-term demands are filling your space.

Most busy modern lives go through periods like this, and some are perpetually in this “emergency mode.” I’m very glad that our lives seem to calm down a lot in June and July, giving us a chance to “reset,” but sometimes these periods can extend on and on and on without a break.

This brings about one central question, one that’s at the heart of the financial struggles of many Americans: how does a person keep frugality and financial responsibility front and center when their life is so busy? When the realities of your life push you into a short-term perspective, how do you continue to make frugal choices?

It’s something that Sarah and I have struggled with for years. We do find it much easier to remain frugal during the lazy summer months and the quiet winter months. During the spring and the fall, though, things seem to gear up into a crazy level of busy-ness and it becomes so much easier to slip off of our financial track.

While we haven’t achieved perfection at fixing this, our goal is never perfection; our goal is simply to do better than we’ve done in the past. Here are nine strategies we use to keep our long-term financial bearings when things get crazy.

We do a ton of frugal prep work during lazy times. During the winter months, we make a lot of meals and store them in the freezer. Right now, our deep freezer is almost entirely full of prepared meals, though the stock is dwindling. Our pantry is well stocked, too, thanks to careful shopping and planning and buying during the winter lazy months. We have enough food on hand for tons and tons and tons of last-minute fast meals, where we need to get a meal on the table as soon as possible.

We also do a ton of bulk buying during the winter and summer months (remember, those are our “slower” months), so that those big trips to warehouse clubs happen during those times of the year. We buy large quantities of things like toilet paper and shampoo when we find them at the right price and we store them all over the house – in every bathroom, under the kitchen sink, and so on. Our goal with this is to ensure that whenever we need a household supply, we just look under the sink for a quick refill during the busy times and there’s always plenty in there.

We do a ton of gardening prep work in the late winter before things get crazy in the spring so that we can just drop plants in the ground as effortlessly as possible when the weather is right. I do all of our home and car maintenance during the slow times, and push all of the regular maintenance (things that need to be done fairly frequently) right up at the start of a busy period, so late March (for example) sees lots of oil changes and tire rotations and the like.

By pushing as much of our frugal efforts out of the busy times of the year, we manage to “coast” on those frugal efforts when things are much busier. We pull pre-made meals out of the freezer on busy nights. We just look under the sink for the toilet paper that’s magically there. We plop ready-to-go vegetables into the ground to start our garden with minimal time investment. This makes it much easier to stay frugal during the busiest times.

We plan each week together as a family with a great level of detail. Once a week or so, we’ll grab a free half hour when Sarah and I can sit down together and plan out the week. We’ll go through our personal calendars and the academic calendars for the kids and any sports schedules we might have and dump everything out onto a large whiteboard.

This whiteboard lists everything. It has meal plans. It has all scheduled non-professional commitments for everyone in the family (and even some professional ones, if they exist outside of the typical work day). All of this is listed day-by-day in a weeklong calendar.

Then, things like who’s responsible for what are settled. Who is taking our daughter to her goalie practice? Who is going to pick everyone up after the school picnic? Who’s going to get the library books returned? Generally, these are assigned with a “S” or a “T.”

We also use this time to assemble a full meal plan and a grocery list from that meal plan so that a grocery store visit, if needed, becomes really time-efficient and cost-efficient. If we’ve done things right with stocking the pantry, our grocery store visits mostly involve picking up perishable things like fresh produce and milk.

So, how does this help us stay frugal? Our family whiteboard is a form of “mind offloading,” meaning that by writing everything we could possibly need to remember about the week down on the whiteboard, we don’t have to hold that info in our heads. That means that remembering that our oldest son needs a water bottle for Tuesday isn’t something that actively needs to be remembered and stored in our heads.

Instead, we can focus on the task at hand more intensely and be more aware of when we’re making potential missteps. Our minds aren’t as cluttered with all of this stuff. We know what we’re each responsible for and we know who’s taking care of what. An organized mind and an organized life makes it easier to be consciously frugal.

We use “batching” of tasks to make things more efficient. As I mentioned above, one of our most powerful strategies for handling meals during busy times without relying on restaurants or delivery or takeout is to make meals in advance and freeze them. The most effective way of doing that is to prepare them in batches.

We’ll make, say, four pans of lasagna at once, eat one for dinner that night, and freeze the other three. This means that we only have to cook one large pot of lasagna noodles once rather than four smaller pots at four different times. This means that when we’re layering different ingredients in a pan of lasagna, we just have four pans spread out and we make four layers of sauce at once, then four layers of noodles at once, then four layers of spinach at once, and so on, one in each pan.

We try to apply this “batching” in other contexts, too. On weekends, we’ll do several loads of laundry at once, right in a line, and fold and organize clothes for the week for everyone all at once. Doing it this way means that it can all be done in one constant focused rotation of laundry over several hours (squeezing in a few other small tasks during the brief gaps while a load is still drying). We’ll often wait a day and a half before doing dishes, then do all of them at once in one big mass of emptying and refilling an entire dishwasher load (and then sometimes doing it again) rather than rinsing and partially filling and stopping. Whenever there is an opportunity to do a single task in a larger batch less frequently, we tend to do it that way when things are busy.

Why? Well, for one, it frees up time, but the secondary reason is that it saves a little money, too. It ensures that the washer loads and dishwasher loads and dryer loads that we run are full-sized loads, which are more energy efficient and more efficient with soap use, too. When we make meals in bulk, we can buy bulk-sized versions of things like pasta sauce or spinach or other key ingredients, which means the cost per pan goes down. Batching is almost always cheaper than spreading out the chores.

We move tasks to less intense parts of the week whenever possible. If there is any way possible to move tasks away from the most intense times to the less intense times during the week, we’ll take advantage of it. This often enables us to continue to make frugal choices even when time is really tight.

For example, we often rely on our slow cooker this time of the year. The advantage of the slow cooker is that it allows us to move a task – basic meal prep work and cooking – to a less busy time of the day – the morning before work and school rather than the evening. We cook a lot of meals in the slow cooker because of how it lets us move the work to another part of the day.

Often, we’ll fill up both of our vehicles with gas on Sunday, even if they’re not anywhere near empty. This saves us the issue of having to stop at a gas station in the middle of a busy evening later on in the week. It also gives us some more freedom to be selective about where we stop for gas, as I often buy gas at the warehouse club. I’ll also usually air up the tires in those vehicles every few weeks, again on a Sunday, because there’s less time intensity and proper air inflation reduces the chance of an accident and gently improves fuel efficiency.

This brings us to my next point…

We accept that some things will slip for the short term, like having a perfectly clean house. One of the tasks we definitely overlook during the busy parts of the week is having a perfectly clean house. It gets messy, especially near the latter part of the week. We accept that and move on with life.

During the week, I put more emphasis on being smart with my spending than having a perfectly clean house. If I have a choice between making a homemade supper (saves money) or getting a very good night of sleep (more productivity the next day, lower likelihood of illness) versus making sure the living room is picked up on a Thursday evening, I’m going to choose the homemade supper and the good night of sleep.

This is obviously heavily connected to the idea of moving some tasks to less intense times of the week. Housework is among those tasks. Cleaning the car? It’s something that can be moved. Getting back with people on non-urgent matters? It can wait. Anything that is “important but not urgent”? It can slip.

This carries directly forward into actual purchasing decisions…

We simply avoid buying decisions if at all possible. When things are busy, we simply punt as many purchasing decisions as possible down the road. Our spending on hobby-related items slows to a crawl. We generally don’t replace anything around the house unless it’s literally broken and we need to use it in the immediate future. Basically, if it’s a purchase that costs more than a few dollars and isn’t blindingly urgent and actually important, it can wait – and it does wait.

The goal with this policy is to give ourselves enough breathing room to make wise purchasing decisions. In general, purchasing decisions made under a significant time, focus, or energy crunch are not good purchasing decisions, so we kick them down the road if at all possible, to a time where we have much less of a crunch on our time, focus, and energy.

Not having a crunch on time and focus and energy means that we can devote more effort and rational thought to making sure that we actually need this item and that we’re adequately researching it and shopping around for it. We’re not just rushing into Target to buy the first thing we see that solves the problem, because doing that usually results in either spending too much or getting a lower quality item for the dollar than we should be buying, and sometimes the purchase is entirely unnecessary.

We try as hard as possible to avoid sacrificing sleep. What does this have to do with frugality? A rested mind is much better at focusing and much more able to resist temptation and make better choices in the moment. During busy stretches of life, having a rested mind often makes the difference between keeping up with all of your initiatives and letting some things fall through the cracks.

Yes, absolutely, this means that there are some things that simply don’t get done. As I mentioned above, we often skip light housework during busy stretches. We often delay laundry and other such chores. We also don’t “unwind” for periods in front of the television at night. Instead, we go to bed and shoot to get eight hours of sleep (or as close to it as possible).

I know that a day is going to be good when I rise naturally, without an alarm or a child waking me. That generally only happens if I go to bed relatively early and don’t spend the last hour or two of the day “vegging out” in an exhausted state. If I rise naturally like that, the day is usually full of focused thoughts and effective handling of life’s crazy requirements.

We lean on our friends and neighbors a little. Sometimes, our children will spend a few hours at our neighbors when things are at their most crazy, giving Sarah and I a chance to regroup. Sometimes, we’ll host a pure potluck social evening and have everyone bring items for dinner because it’s an extremely time- and money-efficient way to relax and unwind a bit with friends.

Sometimes, I’ll just flat-out ask friends for help. I’ll ask a friend to pick up some books on hold at the library. I’ll ask a neighbor to grab two items for me at the grocery store. I’ll ask someone I know if they can pick up our kids after their soccer practice.

I’m able to do this without worry or guilt because we do the same things for our friends and neighbors at other times in the year. We often watch the children of our neighbors. We often run short errands for friends or add their needs to our errand list. We’ll often prepare most of a potluck meal for busy friends so they can get a low-stress meal and some good social time in. We’ll loan tools to friends. We’ll help them with projects.

Because of that, we feel no qualms at all about asking for help when things are crunched for us. It’s far better than simply throwing money at little problems or adding even more to our busy schedules or stress levels.

We accept imperfection and understand that the perfect is the enemy of the good. Sometimes, we’re going to completely fail at these initiatives. Sometimes, we’re going to pull them off, but with some serious flaws. Sometimes, we’re going to simply spend money that we really don’t need to spend simply due to our lack of organization and focus and creativity.

That’s life. It doesn’t mean that these efforts are a waste.

The thing we always keep in mind with frugal efforts is that the perfect is the enemy of the good. If the only two acceptable results are perfection and failure, your life is going to involve infinite failure. The truth is that a result that’s not perfect but largely good is far better than not trying at all.

Even more than that, accepting that “good” is more than acceptable creates an interesting new motivation. For me, I’m often motivated not by seeking perfection, but doing just a little bit better than I did the day before. I want to be just “one step better” than I was yesterday. I don’t shoot for perfection, because I’ll just get frustrated with my inevitable failure to reach perfection.

At the end of the day, frugal success in busy times happens when I keep my head clear, spread out the tasks on my plate, take care of things during less busy times, and accept imperfection. If I keep those principles front and center, busy times don’t have to mean the end of frugal practices at home. Instead, it means that frugality becomes – and remains – foundational in all of your life choices.

Good luck!

The post Putting Frugality in Context of a Busy Modern Life appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Is Your Job Making You Gain Weight? This Survey Says You’re Not Alone

If your work clothes are feeling a little tighter lately, you aren’t alone.

Forty-five percent of U.S. workers say they’ve gained weight at their current job, according to a new CareerBuilder survey.

What’s more, 25% say they’ve gained over 10 pounds at their present job and 10% believe they’ve gained more than 20 pounds.

Workers say a lot of factors contribute to their weight gain, including:

Sitting at a desk most of the day (51%)

Work wears them out too much to bother with exercise (45%)

Eating because they’re stressed (38%)

No time to exercise (38%)

Eating out regularly (24%)

I’m right there with you, fellow workers: I spend a lot of working hours parked in a desk chair, and some days the only exercise I get is waving at my gym as I drive past it (which totally counts as arm day).

Several survey respondents also said workplace celebrations, happy hours and the temptation of office snacks contribute to extra poundage.

Yep, I can relate to that too. The fridges at The Penny Hoarder HQ are stocked with healthy treats, but we also bring in our fair share of donuts and cookies.

Then there’s all the food we use on to make all our cool videos. I mean, we can’t let that go to waste either, can we?

Long story short, we eat a lot around here.

Battle That Bulge

It comes as no surprise the near-universal advice from the medical community is that consistent activity is a fundamental key to controlling weight.

Even though we know that’s the solution, CareerBuilder’s researchers say, “41% of workers don’t work out regularly or at all, and 47% of this group say they gained weight at their current job.”

Some companies are willing to help employees stay healthy — 28% say their employer provides gym facilities or other wellness benefits. Unfortunately, 63% of workers who have those benefits don’t use them.

If you can’t or don’t exercise on a regular basis, there are a few other things you can do to reduce stress and fight the battle of the bulge.

People who work from home are often more stressed than their in-office peers. Make sure to stay connected to your colleagues and co-workers if you frequently work remotely.

Check out this work-life balance guide or this list of employers that embrace work-life balance to see if a job at a different company might be a better fit for you.

Learn how to soothe stress by practicing mindfulness at work.

If the cost of a gym membership is holding you back from being more active, try one (or more!) of these nine budget-friendly ways to exercise.

Find out if your company offers sabbaticals so you can get away for a little while and recharge your batteries and de-stress.

If you can’t resist the urge to grab a nosh at work, getting a handle on stress and finding better work-life balance could help keep your waistline under control.

I suppose if there’s any silver lining in this new CareerBuilders report, it’s that many of the results are basically the same as last year. We may not be getting better at avoiding weight gain at work, but at least we aren’t getting worse.

Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s always on the lookout for hot tips on work-life balance because she struggles with it every day. Look her up on Twitter @lisah if you’ve got some to share.

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OPENING BELL: US stock indexes edge higher in early trading; oil down

U.S. stock indexes edged higher in early trading Thursday a day after the market posted its biggest single-day loss in eight months.

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Seven Reasons to Love the House You Have

With spring in full swing and summer on its way, people are busy sprucing up their home’s outdoor areas. Perhaps you’ve cleaned out your garage, laid down some mulch, or attempted to repair winter damage to your lawn. Whatever hard work you’ve done, you’ll soon be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor – that is, if you can ignore what your neighbors are up to.

According to Housingwire Magazine, 40% of all U.S. home sales take place during May, June, July, and August. That means, all around the country, people are fixing up their homes for an entirely different reason altogether – to sell. And if you’re not careful, it’s easy to let the siren song of a newer, bigger, or fancier home lure you in.

Seven Reasons to Fall Back in Love With the Home You Have

While there are no hard and fast rules to dictate when you should move or upgrade and when you stay put, it’s important to think long and hard before you buy, sell, or move. The financial implications of moving are too great to take the decision lightly.

Plus, you want to make sure you’re moving for the right reasons. There are many scenarios where moving can make a lot of sense — to shorten your commute, to take a better job, to downsize, to be closer to family — but your dream house adding a beautiful, two-tier stone retaining wall and slapping a for-sale sign in the yard isn’t one of them.

If open house season has stirred up a bit of homeowner wanderlust inside you, maybe, just maybe, it’s possible to fall back in love with the home you already have. You bought it for a reason, right? Here are seven reasons your dream home might be the one you’re already living in:

#1: Home equity is sexy.

While your home may not excite you like it once did, you might want to break out your mortgage statement and take another look. If you’ve lived in your home for a decade or more – or if your home has gone up considerably in value over the past few years – you might have some serious home equity built up.

Figure out how much you owe on your home, then compare it to the estimated value offered on a site like Zillow. Do you owe a lot less than your house is worth? If the answer is “yes,” then you’ve got some home equity appeal.

While your cracking driveway, dated bathroom, or tiny kitchen may not give you something to squeal about, building real wealth is pretty darn exciting. And, that’s exactly what home equity is – real wealth that adds to your net worth.

Related: Zillow Zestimate vs. Reality: How Much Is My House Worth?

#2: Selling a house is expensive.

Speaking of equity, selling your house is one of the fastest ways to watch it disappear. One of the biggest expenses you’ll pay to upgrade comes when you actually sell your home. Average Realtor fees are 6%, typically paid entirely by the seller, meaning you’ll fork over $12,000 to sell a $200,000 home, or $18,000 to sell a $300,000 home.

Nobody’s saying Realtors aren’t worth their weight in gold – in a major transaction like this, you need an expert on your side. What we are saying is that, if you don’t want to see a big chunk of your home equity go up in smoke, you should skip selling and avoid the expense.

Related: How Much Does It Cost to Sell a House?

#3: Moving is more expensive than you think.

While it’s easy to get tempted into upgrading your digs, let’s not forget just how expensive moving is. Not only do you have to cover the costs of buying and selling a home, but you may have to hire movers, complete repairs and upgrades to either or both homes, plus pay for new home furnishings, paint, or décor. All of these costs can add up in a big way, which makes staying put in your old home pretty attractive in a financial sense.

Fortunately, moving costs are easy to avoid if you’re selling your home on a whim. The process is simple: Stop what you’re doing, take the sign out of your yard, and relish in the savings.

Related: 10 Reasons Moving Always Costs More Than You Think

#4: Less work = more fun.

While summer may be the ideal time to move, it’s also the perfect season to spend time with your family and relax. If you wind up moving for some reason, you could easily spend your summer house hunting, applying for a mortgage, painting, organizing, and cleaning instead of running around with your kids.

The bottom line: Moving is hard work, but you can avoid some of the struggle by just not doing it. And personally, I’d rather spend my summer drinking cocktails in the sun. How about you?

#5: Embrace ‘the devil you know.’

You know how they say the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence? This saying is particularly true when it comes to real estate. Why? Because every home has problems, even if you don’t find out about them until you move.

Maybe your current home isn’t quite big enough. Maybe it has an ugly kitchen. Perhaps you’re sick and tired of not having enough windows, or you hate your neighbors. Whatever your issue is, always remember that it could be worse, and that bigger, remodeled house will have its own set of problems you don’t even know about.

Your “dream home” will have its own issues, even if it takes you a while to discover them. By staying in your current home, you can continue dealing with the problems you know about instead of jumping into new ones.

#6: The memories you’ve made are priceless.

Newer, bigger, and higher-priced homes may have fancy upgrades, modern interiors, and upgraded curb appeal, but there’s one thing they don’t have – memories. No matter how hard you try, it’s impossible to replace the memories you’ve made if you brought a child home from the hospital, raised a family, or started a marriage or important relationship in a home.

You can replace your home, but you can’t replace the memories you’ve made. And by staying put, you can keep on building on the lifelong memories you have.

#7: A new home might not make you any happier.

Just as the grass is always greener, it’s easy to imagine that a new house will magically make your life better – especially if it addresses something you don’t like about your current house. But there’s some pretty compelling evidence that a new home has little impact on your overall life satisfaction.

A 16-year study tracked more than 3,600 people in Germany who moved to a new home specifically because there was something about their existing home that they didn’t like. And while those home buyers reported higher satisfaction with their homes after moving, they didn’t feel any better about their lives overall.

“We conclude that moving or living in a better home is unrelated to life-satisfaction judgments for two reasons,” wrote the study’s authors. “First, housing makes a small contribution to life-satisfaction judgments. Second, positive effects of better housing are undermined by the greater costs of living in a better home.”

The reasons a new home might make you happier have nothing to do with whether it’s nicer or more expensive, and everything to do with how you’ll spend your time. If a new home brings you closer to friends and family, or simplifies your commute, or has a backyard that lends itself to playing soccer with your kids, then, fair enough — it can make a lasting impact on your happiness.

But the boost you get from the new stone countertops or high-end appliances in your dream house is likely to be short-lived, due to the concept of hedonic adaptation. “Like any possession, its impact on happiness diminishes over time,” Yale psychology professor Ravi Dhar told the New York Times. “Things give us more joy when they are first acquired than over time, as we adapt to them.”

Elizabeth Dunn, psychology professor and co-author of “Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending,” told the Times, “What matters for our happiness… is what we do in the minutes and hours of our day.” When shopping for a home, she said, ask yourself: “How will this purchase change the way I spend my time next Tuesday?”

The Bottom Line

While it’s easy to fall out of love with a home, there are plenty of reasons to be grateful for what you have. If your house is clean, maintained, and affordable, for example, you’re easily one of the luckiest people on Earth!

And, if your goal is getting ahead financially, steering clear of lifestyle inflation is one of the best moves you can make. While a big, fancy house might seem like a dream come true, the best house for your family is the one you can actually afford.

Holly Johnson is an award-winning personal finance writer and the author of Zero Down Your Debt. Johnson shares her obsession with frugality, budgeting, and travel at ClubThrifty.com.

Related:

Are you moving this summer? What are some reasons you’re still in love with the home you have?

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6 Reasons to Join Your Local Chamber of Commerce

By Holly Reisem Hanna Are you looking for new ways to market your business? Are you a mompreneur seeking out more local or industry-based connections? Your greatest resource might be right in your own backyard. Your local Chamber of Commerce offers tons of opportunities to connect with local business owners, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders in […]

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House price growth slows and London feels the pinch

Hannah Nemeth

house-price-change.jpg

House prices have been rising at a slower rate over the past year, with the UK House Price Index (UK HPI) for March up by just 4.1%.

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Want to Make Smart Retirement Choices? Check Your Social Security Statement

Have you embraced paperless billing? Have you opted out of mailed statements, choosing instead to access your accounts online only?

Your file cabinet probably feels a lot lighter. But skipping this one paper statement could put your retirement plans at risk — and it’s not even your fault you’re not receiving it in the mail.

Getting a paper Social Security benefits statement by mail can encourage workers to delay claiming their benefits, according to a new report by researchers at the Social Security Administration and the University of Connecticut.

The Social Security Administration began mailing benefit statements to select workers in 1995. Starting in 2000, these mailings arrived like clockwork for workers ages 25 and up.

CNNMoney reported a dip in mailing volume in 2011, but the SSA soon restarted mailing annual statements to workers age 60 and up. In 2014, the SSA again began sending statements every five years to most workers age 25 and up.

In January 2017, the SSA announced it would save $11.3 million by reducing those mailings to people ages 60 and older.

Why You Might Want a Reminder of Your Social Security Contributions

Your mailed benefits statement spells out how much you’d get each month from Social Security if you stopped working and started collecting payments at age 62 and compares that to your benefits if you delayed retirement until 67 or 70.

The statements also explain how much you’d get each month if you became disabled, along with the benefit your family members would receive if you died.

The mailed statements also include an earnings record so you can see how your Social Security and Medicare earnings have grown since you started paying in — perhaps since you first started working decades prior.

“Preliminary estimates suggest that receipt of the Statement significantly reduces claiming [Social Security benefits] at earlier ages and increases it at older ages,” Barbara A. Smith, senior economist for the Social Security Administration’s Office of Retirement Policy, noted in a presentation about her research. “The effect varies across gender and race and earnings levels. Receipt of the Statement is also related to delayed labor force withdrawal.”

Smith and co-author Kenneth A. Couch noted that the ease of accessing the information found in the mailed statement can benefit the labor force (you and me) by addressing concerns about retirement security, encouraging workers to delay benefits and motivating healthy older workers to stay employed longer.

You can start claiming your Social Security benefits at age 62, but delaying retirement offers larger checks to support growing lifespans. If you can delay your retirement until you’re closer to age 70, in theory, you’ll have a more comfortable retirement.

Social Security: To the Cloud!

It’s not as sexy as signing up for pizza coupons or the latest subscription box, but now might be a good time to visit the Social Security Administration online to set up a My Social Security account.

This free account allows you to access the information you would have gotten in your mailed benefits statement. And instead of waiting for the mail, you can check your account any time.

Personal finance rockstar Suze Orman even makes a video appearance to encourage My Social Security sign-ups.

“Social Security uses your highest 35 years of earnings to calculate your benefit,” she lectures through the screen. “That’s why you should check your earnings every year to verify that Social Security has your correct earnings history.”

Go ahead, put it on your to-do list. I’ll wait.

Your Turn: Can you remember when you last received a Social Security statement by mail?

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

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Is It Cheaper to Go to College in Canada? We Did the Math

Lauren Duvall wanted to go to college in a large metropolitan city somewhere outside the U.S.

But instead of heading to Paris or Barcelona, she chose Montreal.

“Canada flies so under the radar,” said Duvall.

The Florida native was drawn to Montreal’s predominantly francophone community; it seemed like the perfect place to hone her high school French skills.

Duvall attended McGill University, sometimes referred to as “the Harvard of Canada.” Tuition cost her about US$15,000 per year — a fraction of the cost of the Ivy League schools she was also considering — though she said her biggest moving expense was the cost of upgrading her wardrobe to fit Montreal’s freezing winters.

Her freshman-year dorm room cost around $900 per month. After her first year, she moved into an apartment that cost $600 per month.

“The financial benefits were just an added bonus,” Duvall said as she described the “world-class education” that gave her a bachelor’s degree in international development with a double minor in political science and French translation.

And she’s not the only one discovering those benefits.

Should Americans Consider Going to College in Canada?

In December 2016, The Toronto Star reported a 70% increase of American applicants at the University of Toronto since the previous year. Other Canadian colleges also reported increases of 20% or more.

It seems that American high school seniors are interested in heading north of the border. But is going to college in Canada a smart financial decision?

Here’s what it would really cost to attend university in Canada — and how those costs compare to those here in the U.S.

What You Need Before You Go

Before you can attend college in Canada, you’ll need to take care of some paperwork — and that comes with its own costs.

Note: At the time of publication, one U.S. dollar equals CA$1.33, meaning American dollars go about a third further up north.

U.S Passport

If you don’t already have a U.S. passport, you’ll need one. A new passport costs $135, and a renewal costs $110.

Study Permit

Also known as a student visa, a study permit will run you CA$150 (US$111).

To be approved for a study permit, you have to show evidence you’re able to pay tuition as well as living expenses. You’ll need to prove you have at least CA$10,000 to cover your living expenses for a 12-month period. (If you’ll be in Quebec, it’s CA$11,000.)

This evidence can include your recent bank statements, student loan approval, your parents’ bank account if they’re paying for your college, proof you’ve already paid tuition, etc.

Health Insurance

As an international student in Canada, your university will require you to have health insurance. Your options vary depending on where you’ll attend school.

Some provinces, like British Columbia and Manitoba, offer health insurance to international students. You’ll generally want to apply as soon as you arrive, and costs vary based on province and your age.

However, these plans may not cover long-term prescription medication (like birth control), prescription glasses or dental care, so you may still want to consider adding private insurance.

If the province where you’ll attend college doesn’t offer coverage to international students, you’ll need to purchase a private health insurance, typically through your school.

At the universities I mention below, private health care for international students can cost anywhere from CA$292 (US$217) to CA$993 (US$741) per year.

The Costs of Going to College in Canada

First, let’s consider what it costs to go to college right here in the United States.

At an in-state public college, you’d pay an average of $24,610 for the 2016-2017 academic year, according to College Data. The in-state cost of attendance for an undergrad at the University of South Florida (USF), the college I attend, is $23,494 per year.

For comparison, attending Harvard for the 2016-2017 school year would cost you $66,900. If you’re not covered on your family’s health insurance plan, add another $2,630 — that’s more than triple the cost of the most expensive private health insurance I found at Canadian universities.

With those numbers in mind, let’s see how a few Canadian universities stack up to the cost of college in the US.

McGill University

McGill is located in Montreal and ranks #30 on the QS world university list, which ranks global higher education. Here’s what it costs international students:

Tuition: Depending on your field of study, tuition ranges from CA$15,942 to CA$40,802 (US$11,896 to US$30,678).

Books and fees: Fees range from CA$1,668 to $2,968 (US$1,254 to US$2,231). Books and supplies cost about CA$1,000 (US$751) per year.

Application fee: CA$109 (US$81).

Health insurance: This is mandatory, and it costs CA$993 (US$746).

Meal plan: The mandatory meal plan costs CA$5,475 (US$4,116) if you live on campus.

On-campus housing: Residence costs range from CA$6,633 to CA$12,947 (US$4,987 to US$9,734).

For more comprehensive pricing depending on your degree path, use the undergraduate fee calculator on McGill’s financial aid website.

Total: US$23,831 to US$48,337 per year if you live on campus

University of Toronto

Ranked #32 on the QS world university list, the University of Toronto has three campuses in different areas of the city and its suburbs. I priced residence and meal plan costs at the Scarborough campus.

Tuition: The cheapest degree option, a bachelor’s in forestry, costs CA$28,790 (US$21,646), while a bachelor’s of applied science and engineering would set you back CA$47,020 (US$35,353).

Books and fees: You’ll pay an estimated CA$1,695 (US$1,274) in fees, and about CA$1,500 (US$1,127) for books.

Application fee: CA$241 (US$181)

Health insurance: You’ll need to buy health coverage through the University Health Insurance Program, which costs CA$612 (US$460) per year.

Meal plan: U of T’s meal plans are optional, and range from CA$2,820-$3,720 (US$2,120-$2,796).

On-campus residence: Housing fees range from CA$5,540 to $9,343 (US$4,165-$7,024).

Total: US$30,973 to US$48,215 per year if you live on campus

University of Manitoba

Located in Winnipeg, the University of Manitoba is known for offering more than 100 degree options, and for producing more Rhodes Scholars than any other Western Canadian university.

Tuition: Depending on your degree path, tuition costs could range from CA$13,400 to CA$24,400 (US$10,075 to US$18,345). If you happen to be from Minnesota, you’ll get to pay domestic tuition, so it’ll only cost you CA$4,100 to CA$10,500 (US$3,082 to US$7,894) a year.

Books and fees: Depending on your program, they’ll run you between CA$700 and CA$4,800 (US$526-$3,609) per year.

Application fee: CA$120 (US$90)

Health insurance: CA$292 (US$219)

On-campus room and board: You’ll have many options to choose from, depending how many meals you want to eat in your residence. Prices range from CA$6,132 to CA$12,361 (US$4,610 to US$9,293).

Total: US$15,520 to $31,556 per year if you live on campus, unless you’re from Minnesota

What If You Want to Live Off Campus?

If the dorm life isn’t for you, you might want to consider living off campus, with or without roommates. You’ll also have to factor in transportation costs to your school.

You’d want to budget somewhere between CA$10,000 and CA$15,000 (US$7,518 to US$11,278) to cover accommodation and food costs, according to TopUniversities.com. McGill estimates rent to cost between CA$500 and CA$1,300 per month (US$375 to US$977) in Montreal.

As of February 2017, Numbeo reports the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in a Canadian city is around US$850, whereas in the U.S. it’s about $1,200. Outside of the city, Canadian rent is a little under US$700 compared to $900 in the States.

Of course, these prices all depend on which cities and towns you compare. Feel free to do your own comparison between where you live and a destination in Canada — it’s interesting to see how the numbers differ, and it’s an important factor in your decision.

Can You Work on a Student Visa?

If you’re worried about earning money during college, fret no more — your study permit allows you to work without applying for any other visa.

You just have to attend college full time, have a valid study permit, and apply for a Social Insurance Number (SIN) — Canada’s version of your SSN.

Once you have your SIN, you’re permitted to work both on and off campus. You can only work up to 20 hours per week off campus during normal school hours, but during school breaks, you can go full time. You can also work as a co-op student or intern without any additional paperwork.

After studying in Canada, you might be interested in continuing to work there after college. Thanks to Canada’s post-grad work permit program, international students can stay in the country and work for up to three years. As long as you studied for at least eight months, you’re eligible to apply for this permit.

What About Financial Aid?

Even though attending college in Canada can be cheaper than paying in-state tuition at some American schools, you might still need financial aid.

Scholarships

First, check the school’s website to see if it offers special scholarships for international students.

For example, the University of Winnipeg provides various scholarships for international students.

You can also apply to options on this list of 100 scholarships to help you pay for college. But first, confirm you could use the award at a Canadian school so you don’t waste time applying to scholarships that won’t help you.

Student Loans

Most of the Canadian schools I looked into accept U.S. federal student loans, but you’ll want to confirm which types you can use at your chosen schools. McGill University accepts both Direct Loans and Parent PLUS Loans. The University of Toronto accepts Direct Loans and PLUS Direct Loans.

To apply for student loans, just fill out the FAFSA like you would if you were planning to attend college in the U.S.

If you’re not sure what type of loan works best for you, refer to our ultimate student loan guide.

Is It Cheaper to Go to College in Canada?

As much as I wish I could give you a definitive answer on this, I can’t. It depends on so many factors — where you live now, what degree path you choose, which university you’d want to attend and what U.S. universities you’re already considering.

U.S. News reports Canadian universities give students “a good bang for their buck” — but you’ll have to do the math to see whether it could be a good option for you.

Your Turn: Have you ever thought of going to college in Canada? Do you know anyone who has?

Jacquelyn Pica is an editorial intern at The Penny Hoarder. She enjoys the warm sunny ocean view from her university in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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