MAKE MONEY ONLINE POSTS: 05/31/17

الأربعاء، 31 مايو 2017

Vacation rentals may complicate insurance

Pocono homeowners may be without insurance if they rent to vacationers

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Holy Matrimony! It Costs a Lot to Attend a Wedding — Here are Ways to Save

Weddings — as beautiful, magical, emotional and wonderful as they are — are so freaking expensive.

And not just for the bride and groom — or their parents — throwing the shindig, but for guests, as well. According to wedding registry website Tendr, the average wedding guest nationwide shells out $160 as a cash gift.

Wedding gift amounts tend to spike in the summer, CNBC says, and where you live might impact how much you give.

Keep in mind, that’s just the cash gift. Factoring in other costs to attend a wedding, such as travel, lodging, attire and pre- or post-wedding celebrations, the average wedding guest spends about $703, CNBC reports. Millennials are spending more like $893.

If you’re attending more than one wedding a year, it’s possible you’ll exceed a thousand bucks just to sit in on the big day of your favorite couples. If you’re in a wedding party, you can expect to pay much more.

“Being a guest at a wedding is a financial obligation,” Rosemary Caligiuri, managing director of United Capital, told CNBC. “When you say yes, you are saying yes to a lot of additional costs, especially if it’s far away.”

The cost to attend weddings have some passing up the opportunity. According to a Bankrate survey, 21% of wedding invitees have RSVP-ed “no” because they couldn’t afford it, CNBC reported.

But attending your loved ones’ nuptials doesn’t have to break the bank. Here are a few ways you can save on the cost of attending a wedding without having to, say, crowdfund your way there.

DIY the Wedding Gift

Sure, choosing a blender or china set from a registry is nice, but also a little… impersonal. A DIY gift may tug on the heartstrings of a bride and groom for years to come — and have them thinking of you each time.

Plus it can be so much better on your wallet.

Try photo collage letters, a relationship map, a personalized recipe book or any of the other gift options in this post on 10 cheap and easy DIY wedding gifts.

Budget for the Wedding in Advance

These days many couples plan long engagements. If you’re in their inner circle — and know you’ll likely be getting a wedding invite — use the time to start saving up and thinking of ways you can reduce your costs.

Penny Hoarder senior writer Dana Sitar recommends these six strategies, which include skipping pre- and post-wedding events, taking a frugal road trip to the wedding and scheduling your regular haircuts and manicures to align with the wedding date.

Penny Hoarder contributor Susan Shain and seven of her friends collectively attended over 100 weddings during the course of a few years and shared their advice on how to attend them affordably.

Smart tips include creating a special bank account to save up, setting up flight alerts to snag good travel deals, sharing an Airbnb rental with other wedding guests and renting your dress. Read more here.

Make Bank on the Big Day

To offset the costs of attending a wedding, some guests offer up their services to the bride and groom. The couple might be relieved to have someone they know and trust stepping in to replace a pricy vendor, and that guest may be able to make some money in return.

Talk about a win-win situation.

This post suggests nine ways to make money from a friend’s wedding. In many cases, you’ll have to have a certain skill set already, like calligraphy or hair and makeup expertise. But you can also collect cash serving as a sober driver — all you’ll need are a driver’s license and car!

And who knows — your experiences just may launch you into your next career or side gig as a wedding singer, wedding officiant, live-event artist or professional bridesmaid!

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She is perpetually amazed over how expensive weddings are for everyone involved.

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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Avoiding Your Student Loans? Here’s How to Face Them (Even If You’re Broke)

The inspiring commencement speeches are over. The caps and gowns are off. The celebration has subsided. You’re finally out in the real world.

If you’re a recent graduate who borrowed money from the government to pay for your degree, the clock is ticking. You have a six-month grace period — then you will join the rest of us who are paying off student loans for what can feel like the rest of your life.

Thinking about your slice of America’s $1.4 trillion student loan debt tab can feel a little overwhelming, even if your grace period ended a few years ago.

But don’t worry: No matter where you are in the process, Bloomberg has some expert advice for how you can avoid student loan default even if you have no job and no money.

Understand Income-Driven Repayment Options

This is where Bloomberg student loan reporter Shahien Nasiripour says every borrower should start. In fact, he argues that setting up an income-driven repayment plan for federal student loans should be more important to a recent grad than finding their first job, which can be difficult to do and can take longer than the six-month grace period offered by the government.

“Your payments are pegged to your monthly income, and if your income is zero — you have no job, no source of earnings — your payments are zero,” Nasiripour said.

Whether you’re a recent grad or you’ve been struggling to repay your loans for a while, this is perfect for those who owe a huge amount but don’t make much money.

With this option, you will have to check in with your loan servicer once each year to report changes in your income, which could change your monthly payment.

Know How Much You Owe

According to Nasiripour, fear is likely one of the biggest factors holding you back from properly managing your debt. Rather than facing your loans head on, you bury your head in the sand.

The reality is that even if you never open the bills, block all the calls and push the debt from your mind, your student loans are still there collecting interest and waiting for you to pay them off. And, as Nasiripour puts it, “The government is going to get its money.”

Your best bet is to know how much you owe, know your repayment options and get to work on a repayment schedule that fits your income.

Still in School? Skip the Private Loans

Obviously you can’t go back in time if you’ve already accepted loans from private banks to pay for your education. If you did, work with the banks to figure out how to repay them as quickly as possible.

If you are a current college student or thinking about taking out a loan to get another degree, Nasiripour suggests avoiding private loans and opting for more flexible federal loans instead.

While there are some cases that might make private loans a better option for you, Nasiripour says it is the worse option for most. That’s because it’s so much easier to default on a private loan. While you don’t go into default until you miss nine payments on government loans, some private loans can default in as little as 60 to 90 days.

Private banks also tend to offer fewer repayment options than the federal student loan program.

Of course, if you’re still in college Nasiripour also suggests limiting the amount of loan money you take out whether you’re borrowing from the Department of Education or a private bank. Your future self will love you for it.

Desiree Stennett is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She holds a slice of America’s $1.4 trillion student debt bill, just like you.

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Thinking About Selling Plasma? You Could Make $70/Week (Plus Free Cookies)

This Quiz Will Tell Your Teen if They’re Financially Ready to Own a Car

Do teens and their parents ever see eye to eye?

When it comes to determining whether teens are financially ready to have a car, it seems they are on completely opposite sides of the road.

Junior Achievement and the American Honda Finance Corp. recently surveyed 500 teens ages 15 to 17 and 500 parents of teens in the same age group to assess the financial readiness of young drivers. The findings:

76% of the teens said they understood the financial responsibilities involved with having a car, but 85% of parents disagreed.

61% of parents thought their teens would gripe about car-related expenses within a month of getting a vehicle.

An overwhelming majority of parents (91%) said helping their teens out with costs like gas, insurance and repairs would be unreasonable. That’s another standpoint on which parents and teens differ because 86% of teens surveyed expected their parents to contribute to regular expenses like insurance and gas and the occasional repair.

Though teens and parents disagree on many points, 61% of parents surveyed thought a car would be better at teaching teens about money than having a credit card.

The vast majority (96%) of parents surveyed said they would help their kid buy a car if they could show they’d be responsible — such as by budgeting for expenses and saving money in advance.

Jack Kosakowski, president and CEO of Junior Achievement USA, said parents should make sure to discuss the financial aspects of car ownership when they talk to newly licensed teens about topics like curfews and distracted driving.

To gauge young drivers’ money management skills when it comes to cars, Junior Achievement and American Honda Finance created an online quiz called Financial Test Drive. Teens can test their financial readiness on topics related to buying your first car such as the car loan process, auto insurance and car maintenance needs.

Personal finance expert Farnoosh Torabi also provided Junior Achievement with 10 tips for financially sound teen drivers. Among them, Torabi recommended teens get multiple car insurance quotes before settling on one company, automate their payments and use free apps to find the most affordable gas.

Hopefully, the nearly one-fourth of teens surveyed who expect a car as a graduation gift will take all that into consideration.

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. As a teen, she never realized just how expensive having a car could be.

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7 Tips From Real Moms on Working From Home With Kids (and Staying Sane)

Earning money from home while you care for and spend quality time with your kids feels like the definition of “having it all.”

But it’s not easy.

The house won’t always be clean. Dinner won’t always be Instagram-worthy. And your workday won’t always start with the seven things successful people do before 5 a.m.

Here are a few tricks from successful work-from-home parents for striking a balance and staying sane — most of the time.

1. Set Realistic Goals and Create a Support System

Don’t plan to do everything you want, and don’t plan to do it all yourself.

Freelance writer and mother of two Sarah Brooks discussed household roles with her husband, so they each knew where they’d pitch in around their workloads.

You could also work out this kind of support system with other family members, friends, neighbors or work-from-home parents.

2. Wake Up Earlier

“While waking up early isn’t my favorite thing in the world, it’s made all the difference in my work,” says Brooks.

Wake up an hour or two before the kids get up. You’ll be amazed how much work you can get done in so little time without interruptions!

Just remember to go to bed a little earlier, too, so you don’t lose sleep.

3. Get Dressed Every Day

Whether you plan to leave the house or not, put on pants every day. Or a skirt or dress or respectable shorts.

Getting out of your PJs lets your brain know it’s time to work and keeps you from lounging during those precious moments you could be working.

“It’s a small step towards success, but it makes a big difference in how you feel and how you prioritize your time,” writes Brooks.

4. Keep the Kids Busy in the Morning

Have you ever played fetch up a flight of stairs with your dog, hoping it’ll wear him down so he leaves you alone to take a nap?

Kids work sort of the same way.

Brooks suggests keeping them active in the morning when they’re full of energy. Take them on errands, go to the park, visit the library. This will up your chances of a solid nap in the afternoon — when you get work done.

5. Be Flexible

Parenting is, to say the least, unpredictable. Don’t count on putting the finishing touches on an assignment in the 11th hour — that’s just when someone will come down with a fever or decide she’s not napping today.

Denielle Kennett, who runs her company, It Takes a Village, from home while she cares for her toddler, has some advice: “Everything changes like the wind — like the seasons, and you have to be prepared for that. Don’t hold yourself to storybook expectations or examples because they aren’t true.”

6. Make Daily To-Do Lists

There’s no shame in not keeping everything in your head. Before you go to bed at night, make a list of your priorities for the next day. You’ll sleep better after unloading those worries, and you’ll be ready to hit the ground running in the morning.

“Know what you’re trying to accomplish,” says Ellie Hirsch, who runs the blog Mommy Masters for fellow “mompreneurs.” “If you go through the week and say, ‘Whenever I’ll get to it, I’ll get to it,’ you will mostly likely not get to it.”

7. Schedule Social Media Time

This is a great tip for anyone who works from home, kids or not.

“Try setting aside specific times to check your social media feeds, like first thing in the morning, during your lunch break or once the kids are in bed,” Brooks recommends.

This will help you take control of your time and avoid letting the day get away from you one “just a quick peek” at a time.

Want to Start Working From Home With Kids?

If you’re ready to make the move into working from home or working for yourself, check out these jobs that allow you to take care of your kids without putting your career on hold.

For more work-from-home job opportunities, follow The Penny Hoarder Jobs on Facebook.

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).

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Why Medicare and Medicaid Cards Will be a Whole Lot Safer to Carry in 2018

Medicare is making a small change to its identification cards that will be a big improvement for user security.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been preparing for this change for a few years, but it’s just now starting to advise Medicare cardholders about the adjustment.
New cards, to be mailed to recipients starting in April 2018, will feature a random Medicare Beneficiary Identifier instead of the user’s Health Insurance Claim Number — which happens to be the same as your Social Security number.

More than 57 million Americans will receive new Medicare or Medicaid cards that comply with this added security measure.

Senior Identity Theft is on the Rise

CMS acknowledged in a statement that seniors are the target of identity theft at an increasingly frequent rate. The agency cited Department of Justice data showing that 2.6 million seniors 65 or older were victims of identify theft in 2014, up from 2.1 million in 2012.

Medicare recipients have recently been targeted by aggressive phone scams, in which the caller acknowledges that a new Medicare card is on its way once the victim provides some information for verification. That information can include the victim’s banking account info and Social Security number.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services does not make calls to verify user identification numbers, and all replacement cards will be issued to users free of charge.

Changing a Few Digits for Everyone? That Takes Years

This update has been in the works in the two years since the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 was passed. All Medicare and Medicaid users will be assigned a new beneficiary identifier and receive a new identification card by April 2019.

There will be a 21-month transition period when providers will be able to use either the new beneficiary identifier or the existing number that’s the same as your Social Security number. The transition period will end in December 2019.

When you receive your new Medicare card (mark your calendars now, we guess?), you’ll receive instructions to destroy your old card.

Time Money reports that in 2011, officials estimated that replacing the cards would cost more than $800 million.

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

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Florida is the Latest State to Eliminate This Insane Tax on Being a Woman

Starting in January 2018, feminine hygiene products will be tax-exempt in Florida. A new bill, signed into law on Thursday by Gov. Rick Scott, finally eliminates the taxation of tampons and pads. (Bless.)

Feminine Hygiene — Not a Luxury

Feminine hygiene products such as tampons and pads are now taxed as “luxury items” — meaning things that aren’t considered necessary.

But over the last few years, the so-called pink tax has been called into question as people started realizing that periods and the tools necessary — see how that word just shows up here? — to handle them in a hygienic and healthy way are in no way voluntary or “luxurious.”

A Growing Trend (or People are Coming to Their Senses)

With this measure, Florida joins a growing list of states that have eliminated this unnecessary tax on necessary goods. The AP reports that 13 other states and Washington, D.C. have eliminated taxes on feminine hygiene products or passed laws that will do away with them.

Across the country, lawmakers are pushing to classify pads and tampons not as luxury goods, but as a “common household remedy” — so hopefully, this is only the beginning.

Floridians are set to save an estimated $11 million a year with the elimination of the tax.

Grace Schweizer is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder.

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This Company Will Mail Birth Control to You for as Little as $15/Month

Easy access to birth control is something many of us take for granted.

Unfortunately, millions of people in the U.S. (and more worldwide) go without reliable contraception.
For some, the need for discretion is an issue. People need birth control for many reasons — some obvious and some not — that may make a visit to the doctor impossible.

For others, it’s too expensive.

Or it’s simply too inconvenient to miss work or school to get to the doctor for a refill.

One company wants to change all that and put people “in control of their own healthcare.”

San Francisco-based medical company Nurx offers an easier easier way to get birth control and HIV-prevention medications with mail order access in 12 states.

Nurx accepts insurance but also works with uninsured people to provide contraception at an affordable price.

If you don’t currently have a physician, Nurx will pair you with a licensed medical provider in your state to review your medical history and write a prescription for the birth control method they think is right for you.

And it all happens right through the company’s website or smartphone app.

Nurx currently ships to:

California
Florida
Illinois
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
New Jersey
New York
Pennsylvania
Virginia
Washington
Washington, D.C.

If your state isn’t listed, send Nurx an email to receive an alert when the service is available in your state.

Nurx offers:

Emergency contraception
Combination pills
Extended cycle pills
Progestin-only pills (the mini-pill)
NuvaRing
Xulane combination patch
PrEP HIV-prevention medication

How Nurx Works

To receive your birth control, click Get Started on the home page. Select the prescription you want, answer a few health questions and fill out your demographic information.

If you want to speak with a doctor before placing your order, Nurx will arrange a chat for you over messaging, phone or video.

Once a licensed medical provider has checked over your order, Nurx will ship the prescription right to your door.

Medical consultations and standard shipping are free.
According to Nurx’s website, the entire process takes about three to five days.

How Much Do Birth Control and PrEP Cost Through Nurx?

Nurx accepts health insurance and California Medicaid for birth control prescriptions, so most orders are free.

You can also purchase birth control without insurance starting at $15 per pack.

Insurance coverage for PrEP is a little more complex, so you’ll want to check out the website for specific information.

Is Nurx Private? And is it Safe?

Nurx says it doesn’t share your information with your primary care doctor or anyone else — including parents or spouses. If you’re covered under someone else’s insurance and want to place an order discreetly, here are some tips.

Nurx’s medical providers are licensed in your state, and prescriptions are shipped directly from a licensed pharmacy in your area.

I haven’t covered everything about Nurx here, so you’ll want to thoroughly review its website before placing an order.

If Nurx isn’t shipping to your area yet, community health clinics or agencies like Planned Parenthood might be able to help you get what you need.

Planned Parenthood, Lemonaid, PillPack and Maven have also developed apps to let you order medications right from your smartphone.

Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.

source The Penny Hoarder http://ift.tt/2qBAG5J

With Age Comes Wisdom: What Our Grandparents Have Taught Us About Money

How to Become the Most Persuasive Copywriter on the Planet

Copywriting, when compared to other forms of writing, is a different kind of animal.

It’s not necessarily about writing well.

It’s about writing persuasively.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a world-class wordsmith or a literary genius.

If you can’t effectively move readers through the proper sequence of steps and ultimately convince them to buy, your conversions are going to suffer.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the world’s greatest writer.

You probably won’t see me publishing a novel anytime soon.

But I’d like to think I’m good at copywriting, which, in its simplest form, is “the act of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing.”

In this post, I’d like to provide you with a straightforward formula you can use to become a highly persuasive copywriter with the end goal of maximizing conversions.

I’ll explain both the basic structure and the specific techniques you need to use to become more persuasive.

Start with a killer value proposition

Research from Nielsen Norman Group found that you have a very small amount of time to grab a visitor’s attention before they leave your page.

In fact, you usually have a max of 20 seconds.

Your first order of business is to make it abundantly clear what your value proposition is.

Now, there are several ways to go about this, but I believe in keeping things simple.

Getting too complex tends to dilute the message and confuse prospects.

What I’ve found to be most effective is keeping my value proposition short, sweet, and clear.

Like this:

I think the Moz homepage does a really good job at this as well:

Don’t make them guess what you’re offering.

Let them know in a split second what you are offering with your crystal clear value proposition.

To accomplish this, try to condense the essence of your product down to just a few words.

Swiftly move to the benefits

“What’s in it for me?”

That’s what most visitors are thinking after hearing your value proposition.

But here’s the thing.

Most people have a tendency to emphasize features over benefits.

But it should be the other way around.

Just look at this Venn diagram from ABC Copywriting:

Notice that benefits are valued over features.

Of course, you need to explain how your product works. But you can elaborate on that later.

What you want to do first is explain how the product fulfills a need or desire.

In other words, explain how your customers’ lives will be better after they buy your product.

Here’s a great example from Moz:

See how prospects instantly understand the benefits of using Moz?

It will save them time and make things more efficient.

They also don’t have to worry about deciphering complex data because Moz takes care of this for them.

When it comes to describing benefits, there are three main types to cover:

Tangible
Intangible
Commercial

This illustration from ABC Copywriting explains these various types of benefits in more detail.

As they point out, “Benefits need not be unique, but they must be compelling.”

Keep this in mind when deciding on an angle.

I personally find that it’s best to highlight the benefits before getting down to the nuts and bolts of the features.

That way prospects should be more receptive and willing to wade through the details.

But if you go the other way around and cover the features before the benefits, you’re probably going to lose a sizable portion of your leads.

Just sayin’.

Now explain the features

“What’s in the box?”

That’s what Brad Pitt’s character David Mills wanted to know in the closing scene of the movie Seven.

While the contents of the box were quite grisly (his wife’s severed head), this question demonstrates the importance of promptly telling your leads what they’ll get by making a purchase.

In other words, let them know what’s in the box.

They already know what you’re offering and what the benefits are.

Now it’s time to succinctly break down the features of your product.

Again, I feel like Moz pulls this off flawlessly, so I’ll use this as an example:

I prefer breaking features down into bullet points or concise little sections like Moz does.

“Digestibility” is huge, and you want to present your product’s features in an easy-to-absorb, intuitive way.

You also want to touch on specifics to distinguish your product from competitors and to add a sense of value.

Here’s how I did this with Quick Sprout:

Keep it simple, but include a few key details that explain why your product is the bee’s knees.

CTA

By now, your prospects should understand what your product is, how it will benefit them, and what the features are.

Your final task is to tell them what to do next.

In other words, it’s time for your CTA.

You can liken this to battling a boss in the final level of a video game.

It’s arguably the most challenging aspect of the process, but if you’ve done what you were supposed to do in the previous steps, you should see a reasonable conversion rate.

Once again, simplicity reigns supreme, and I see no reason to complicate your CTA.

Here’s how I approach it on Quick Sprout:

And here’s what it looks like on NeilPatel.com:

Notice that it’s very clear what action I want prospects to complete.

As always, I strongly recommend doing at least some basic A/B testing on your CTA to see what works best.

Some specific elements to test include:

button style
button color
wording
positioning

Being hella persuasive

Okay, now we’ve covered the basic structure of well-crafted copywriting.

The general structure of a landing page should be roughly as follows:

Value proposition
Benefits
Features
CTA

But how do you ensure you’re hitting all the right notes and being highly persuasive?

Obviously, the value proposition and benefits will offer some motivation, but here are some other things I’ve found to be impactful.

Make your content scannable

I’m not going to launch into a huge sermon about the importance of creating scannable content.

You probably already know people read online content differently than they do offline content.

But if you want to efficiently get prospects from Point A (your value proposition) to Point B (your CTA), it helps to make everything in-between easily scannable.

Luckily, the formula for scannable content is quite easy.

Just include headers, bullet lists, and a considerable amount of white space along the way.

Apple, being the savvy marketers they are, do this perfectly on their MacBook Pro landing page.

Here are a couple of screenshots:

It’s seamless.

Persuasive words

An article on Business 2 Community talks about the three different brains we have:

the new brain
the middle brain
the old brain

According to the article,

the old brain is the part that controls decisions, and it also happens to be the most primitive. In this way, the words you use to market to the old brain will often be the most direct, simple, arresting, visual words you have.

So if there was ever a copywriting hack, it’s using highly persuasive words that make the “old part of the brain light up.”

Here’s a list of those words:

And according to research, the five most persuasive words in the English language are the ones in blue, which are:

New
You
Free
Because
Instantly

Peppering these words throughout your copy in key locations should have a noticeable impact on conversions.

Social proof

This is my last point, and it’s a biggie.

Incorporating social proof into your copy is the icing on the cake.

This was actually one of Robert Cialdini’s six principles of persuasion,

which maintains that people are especially likely to perform certain actions if they can relate to the people who performed the same actions before them.

I’m not going to go into all the gory details of social proof here.

You can learn about it from this Kissmetrics article.

But I will say that testimonials are usually your best bet, pound for pound.

Here’s how I incorporate them into my landing page on NeilPatel.com:

You can also use things like:

ratings
media logos
subscriber counts
social connections (your number of followers)
clients you’ve worked with

Just be practical, and provide whatever type of social proof you think would most persuade your prospects to take action.

Conclusion

The way I look at it, there are two main components of effective copywriting.

The first component involves properly structuring your content so that it’s presented in a logical, sequential manner.

This means explaining your product in a way that makes sense to an average person and systematically covering your value proposition, benefits, features, and CTAs.

The second component is weaving in persuasive elements to quell fears, clear up any misunderstandings, and ultimately motivate prospects to take action.

By appealing to people on these two different levels, you can create very persuasive copy and crush it from a conversions standpoint.

What do you think is the single most important aspect of persuasive copywriting?

Source Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/2qAL1ic

How to Surprise Someone for Their Birthday (or Other Special Event) Without Spending a Ton of Money

Maybe you’re in the midst of a financial turnaround. Maybe you’re having a hard time finding a job. Maybe you’ve just been waylaid by a torrent of unexpected expenses.

Whatever the reason, you’re in a situation where money is super tight. You’re dealing with it, though. You’ve got this.

There’s only one catch. Someone close to you is about to celebrate a special event of some kind and it would be very reasonably expected that you contribute to that celebration with a gift of some kind or some other special thing.

Maybe it’s someone’s birthday. Maybe someone is getting married or having a child.

Whatever it is, a celebration is in order, but because of life’s constraints or your other personal commitments, it is very hard for you to come up with the resources to offer up the things you’d like to be able to contribute. You just don’t have the cash to buy a really nice gift or pay for some sort of special treat.

What do you do?

I know that feeling quite well. You feel like a cheapskate or like the financial struggles in your life are just pulling you down – or both. You feel really guilty that you can’t support this person you care about in their special moment in the way you really think that you should. It can feel awful.

Here’s the thing: You’re not without options here. You don’t have to go through this occasion without contributing to that person’s celebration in a meaningful way. You just have to step back and look at other options beyond the expensive flashy gift or the pricey treat.

Here are six options to consider that will result in something very meaningful and quite valuable for the recipient without messing up your precarious financial position.

Strategy #1: Take care of some of their hated chores.

Chores are a part of adult life. There’s always laundry to do, dishes to clean, things to fix, meals to cook, floors to sweep, carpets to vacuum, cars to clean, things to pick up and put away, beds to make, mail to sort… it’s endless.

Different people are wired differently, though. If each of us ranked those chores in order of how much we loathed them, our lists would look quite different. I personally loathe picking up items and putting them back in their place, while I don’t mind dishes or laundry. (That’s probably why we have a cupboard full of clean dishes while my office desk looks like an explosion of paper and books.)

If you want to make a celebration special for someone, take a block of extra time and do all of the chores that are facing them at the top of their “do not like” list. If they hate laundry, do a bunch of their laundry. If they hate vacuuming, vacuum all of their carpets. If they hate cleaning toilets, clean their toilets. Do whatever it is that they least like to do in their lives. If that’s done, move up the list. Try as hard as you can to clear their plate of chores completely, but when in doubt choose to take on tasks they really don’t like.

What this gives them is free time in exchange of tasks that they dislike, and that’s a tremendous gift. Free time can be spent on fun things or on tasks that keep getting put off or, frankly, whatever they want. There are few things better than starting a weekend with no real chores on your plate!

Strategy #2: Plan a day around their favorite activities.

What is it that the celebrated person enjoys doing that doesn’t involve spending money? Plan a day around that thing and spend it with them.

If the celebrating person likes hiking, plan a day of hiking in a state park somewhere. Pack their bag with appropriate supplies and a wonderful sack lunch for them and either go along for the hiking or pick them up and drop them off wherever they want you to do so. If that person loves to read, clear out several hours for uninterrupted reading, make a comfortable spot for them, leave them alone and free of distractions, and bring them a meal that’s simple to eat and won’t be messy on the books they’re reading. If that person likes to play video games, do the same – make that space as comfortable for them as you can, bring that person food and snacks, and stay out of the way. Let them have their day in complete peace with their passion.

It’s extremely important that you do everything in your power to genuinely appreciate whatever the activity is if you’re going to engage in that activity, too. If you plan a game day for your husband or wife and you’re personally not really into games, don’t force yourself into that event. If you do, have fun doing it and let that other person direct all of the choices. Don’t act miserable or distracted or else you take away from the value of this celebration. If you’re not engaging in it, let them be on their own to enjoy it without distraction.

Strategy #3: Prep a bunch of their favorite meals.

To this very day, one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received was from my grandmother, who spent a day making several dozen breakfast burritos exactly how I liked them and packaging them individually for freezing. She mostly used items she had on hand to make them – the few ingredients she bought were pretty inexpensive, like eggs.

This is an amazing gift if you happen to live with someone, because it’s essentially home-cooked food, which is inexpensive in itself. The “cost” here is in the form of the effort. Making several dozen breakfast burritos – to use my grandmother’s example – is a substantial amount of effort, although the ingredients are pretty cheap. It’s the effort that is the gift here, not the ingredients; in terms of raw dollars and cents, this type of gift will likely save your household money in the long run.

Pick out a food that the person you’re celebrating really likes. Perhaps it’s breakfast burritos that they like, or maybe it’s bean burritos or steak burritos. Maybe they like tuna casserole or pierogis or … well, whatever it is that they like as either an individual meal or as a family meal. Whatever that meal is, make a whole bunch of it and package it up for them for easy preparation. Make it so that they can grab a package out of the freezer and have it ready to go in as few steps as humanly possible, and make a lot of them.

Strategy #4: Volunteer to do a lot of the ‘grunt work’ for the celebration.

Let’s say you have a friend or a sibling who is getting married and you know you’d love to give them a huge, memorable gift… but you don’t have the means to do so. One option you can take advantage of is to simply be one of the people involved in pulling off the wedding.

Offer to be their wedding planner as their wedding gift. Offer to be their caterer or their photographer or their florist. Do whatever it is that you think you can unquestionably handle on your own, and give that gift well in advance of the ceremony.

Our wedding was actually centered around gifts like this. A family friend made our cake. An aunt was the caterer. A sister-in-law was the florist. A family friend was the photographer. A family friend was lined up to be the DJ too (although circumstances later prevented that). Some of the features of the wedding weren’t done to bridal magazine perfection, but the cost of our wedding was absolutely minimal and there was something special and close about the whole affair.

Strategy #5: Make something, ideally using a skill you already possess.

What skills do you possess? Are you a skilled artist? A skilled chef? A skilled photographer? Can you crochet or knit? Those skills are a great source for a wonderful gift.

Make someone a crocheted blanket in their favorite colors or a scarf with the name of their loved one in Morse code stripes throughout. Draw a wonderful picture for them and frame it very simply for a decoration. Take some simple ingredients and make a mind-blowing meal for that couple you care about.

All of those things make for stunning, memorable, and extremely low-cost gifts.

Strategy #6: Take on some of that person’s burdens for a while.

If you know someone that has to deal with an intense burden of some kind, like constant care for an ailing child or spouse or parent, take on that person’s burden for a while and let them actually exit the picture and enjoy some unburdened time. That is just about the greatest gift you could give to a person with an intense responsibility on their shoulders.

Offer to spend the day being a caregiver in their place so they can spend it doing literally whatever they want. If it’s possible, consider even doing it for multiple days so they can take a short trip and get completely away from things for a while.

Even the most wonderful caregiver in the world can eventually find themselves stressed under the burden of a constant responsibility. Taking on that burden, even for a short while, can do wonders to refresh a person and restore their psychological strength. It is truly a great gift.

Here’s the real truth: The most valuable gift you can give someone is time. Giving your time to them in the form of making something special or in terms of taking away some of their tasks and burdens is an incredible gift. It gives them the time to enjoy things in their life that they might not otherwise have time to enjoy, or it gives them something special that only they have. Such gifts are deeply meaningful while only scarcely scratching one’s wallet.

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Beware the Shady Financial Advisor

In late 2016, I achieved a writing milestone I was particularly proud of: I secured my own column in my state’s biggest newspaper, the Indianapolis Star. Every few weeks, they’d let me crank out a column about ways to save money or some other aspect of frugality, all in the name of helping community members achieve their financial dreams. Since I’ve always wanted to write for a print publication, I was stroked.

A few months had passed and everything was fine – that is, as long I didn’t read all the angry troll complaints in the online comments. Eventually though, I started getting some weird emails from local people who thought they could “help me” with my column. Ahem.

One guy who reached out stands out as the most peculiar, and scary, really. He was a financial advisor, he said, and he wanted help me “ramp up my message and touch more lives.”

His words, not mine.

As a writer who has a collective reach in the millions through the various publications I write for, I thought that was laugh-out-loud funny. So, I was like yeah, no. I don’t want to work with you. And that was before I really knew what he wanted.

But, it gets worse. After our initial email exchange, he followed up on LinkedIn to share more details about his genius plan. Since I was intrigued by now, I asked him to spell things out. Here’s what he said:

“My company has a very unique message about getting out of debt, backed up by a specific plan for doing so. You know more than most, that debt is epidemic, and that far too many people feel hopeless and helpless when it comes to seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

“You have an audience – and I suspect the demographic of your audience coincides with families who have the greatest struggle with debt. What I’m envisioning is that – if you vetted and validated what we do and what outcome it produces for people – that you might want to be a sort of spokesperson for the solution. That may be a complete non-starter, but if it is not, it would give you something to talk about by way of solving family debt issues that is effective, timely, and doesn’t necessarily require sacrifice (lifestyle modification) to accomplish.

“Bottom line – it could position you to do more than talk about it through your writing – but actually advocate a solution (please don’t mis-read that your writing isn’t effective on its own). We would of course show you how your advocacy could benefit you financially, which might give you another, complimentary income source. If I’m way off base – just say so. If you’d like to know more – let’s get together. Your call – I just don’t want to leave things on a sour note due to my poor word-choice and failure to research you before reaching out.”

Whoa. To be clear, he wanted me to help advance his agenda in exchange for monetary compensation. Worse, he wanted me to suggest an alternative that “didn’t require sacrifice.” I wondered what on Earth he was talking about. Sorry, but on this planet, you typically need to make a few sacrifices to get out of debt. Right?

Sadly, what I discovered on his business website did not surprise me at all. While he was a “financial advisor,” he focused most of his business on whole life insurance and variable annuities. His company’s actual mission, which is on the homepage of their website, is to change and improve “how Indexed Universal Life Insurance and Indexed Annuities are sold.”

Blecchht.

Beware of the Shady Financial Advisor

With few exceptions, most people need whole life insurance and annuities like they need a hole in the head. Especially if you’re in debt, you’ll get a lot more bang for your buck by cutting your expenses and using your extra funds to pay off high-interest debts, including credit cards and personal loans.

While I’m surprised this “financial advisor” thought I might collaborate with him, the fact remains that this type of thing happens all the time. And since nearly anyone who works in financial services can call themselves a “financial advisor,” it’s only natural that you’ll run into a sketchy one at some point.

Heck, my own husband could have been a shady financial advisor if he hadn’t changed course. Faced with a career crisis about five years ago, he turned his focus from funeral directing to investment and life insurance sales. After enduring the training, however, he found out the firm he joined wanted him to focus his efforts on selling whole life insurance because the commissions were huge – like, thousands-of-dollars-per-sale huge.

They also said he could call himself a “financial associate,” which seemed gross for someone hawking whole life insurance to family and friends. After all, he hadn’t really received any financial training, other than passing his boards and exams.

Within a few weeks of starting the job, he quit and burst home in tears. He just couldn’t do it. It wasn’t honest and it wasn’t right, he said. So, back to the funeral industry he went (albeit this time with a different employer).

Related: What to Do When Your Spouse Fails Miserably at a New Job

But, for every person like my husband, there are a few who forge forward with whatever dishonest career path they’ve chosen. And sometimes, they even convince themselves they’re doing the right thing. The financial advisor who contacted me is the perfect example. Somewhere along the way, he learned to believe people in debt really need whole life insurance and indexed annuities to turn their lives around.

The Bottom Line

While there are thousands of reputable financial advisors out there, never forget that some “advisors” are wolves in sheep’s clothing. While they may seem honest, some financial professionals may be nothing more than life insurance salesman in disguise. Some may be hell-bent on selling you specific financial products – whether you need them or not – instead of helping you achieve your financial goals. Unfortunately, it’s mostly up to you to figure out who’s who and whether they’ll hurt or help.

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.

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Have you ever encountered a shady financial advisor? If so, how did you find out? Please share in the comments below.

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Don't give your children too much of your money

James Hambro & Co financial planner Charles Calkin has several warnings for those tempted to give away too much of their assets to dodge care costs and inheritance tax (IHT). Here’s his advice.

Whoever wins the June 2017 election, we know that the state is going to ask us to pay more for the care we may need in later life. Given the record of back-tracking, we may find the inheritance tax (IHT) rules end up changing too.

Some people, anxious not to erode an inheritance they have long wanted to pass to their children, will be tempted to start passing money on early. But I think you give your money away at your peril.

The best gift you can give your children is not to be a burden to them towards the end of your life when their resources may be stretched and meeting your needs could require enormous sacrifice.

I have a number of clients who are trying to help get their children on the housing ladder and at the same time supporting elderly parents in care who hadn’t been able to make provision for themselves. These are known as the ‘sandwich generation’.

Cost of care

We want to be in our homes as long as possible and most of us will need some support for that. If we need to move into a residential care home it might cost £5,000 a month. Typically, that might be for four years on average, unless the problem is dementia – when it could be longer.

Medical advances mean more of us are surviving illnesses that would have once killed us, and so we are living long enough to suffer from the cruelty of dementia. You can survive it for many years. The costs of the specialist care this requires can add significantly to the bills. I have a client with dementia who is paying £10,000 a month to be looked after in a home in south-west London.

It makes it very difficult to know how much financial provision you might need in later life.

What can you do if you want to pass on an inheritance?

First, what you can’t do – you can’t give the money away with strings attached. To avoid IHT (and quite possibly falling foul of any new regulations around care funding that might be introduced) any gift must be “without reservation”.

You might think you can give money to your children without any formal agreement and that they will look after you anyway, but that may not be possible. They may need the money to pay for a home, in which case the cash is likely to be locked in bricks and mortar and not available for you. In the event of a divorce – unless you have put in pre- or post-nuptial agreements – you may see half the gift disappearing with an ex-husband or former wife.

Trusts can be a helpful way of ensuring the right person gets to receive the money – and keep it – but they need to be drawn up carefully. Use an experienced solicitor.There is a risk that if you are considered to have divested yourself of money to avoid care costs that the arrangement will be challenged.

If you are a couple and are determined to leave money to your children, consider taking out a life insurance policy that only pays out on the second death and is written in trust for the children. This should be outside your estate for IHT purposes and is also helpful in avoiding probate delay.

If you want to give money during your lifetime, the most common way is by lump sum through a potentially exempt transfer (PET). For major gifts to be exempt from IHT you have to survive seven years after making the gift. If you die before that time a taper potentially applies – so if you die within three years the recipients may have to pay the full 40% IHT back. Between three and four years it would be 32%, and so on down to 8% if you die 6 to 7 years after making the gift.

This is a clean way to gift substantial sums, but it can encourage many people to give away too much too soon.

Passing money on gradually

There is another way to give without having to think seven or more years ahead. An underused facility is “gifts out of normal expenditure”. Document how much of your annual income you spend year to year. You can give the surplus away without the PET rules applying as long as you are able to maintain your usual standard of living. So as you tick off another healthy year you might feel able to pass on another chunk. The key is accurately recording the information. Normal gifts like Christmas and birthday presents are included within this allowance too.

In addition to gifts out of normal expenditure, each individual has an “annual exemption” of £3,000 (therefore £6,000 for a couple) worth of gifts they can make each tax year without these gifts being added to the value of an estate. This can be carried back one year if you haven’t fully used the previous year’s exemption.

It is also possible to give away wedding gifts of up to £1,000 per person, or a greater £2,500 for a grandchild or great-grandchild and £5,000 for a child.

Also exempt from IHT are payments to help with another person’s living costs, like an elderly relative or a child under 18.

Finally, it is possible to give any amount of gifts of up to £250 per person during a tax year as long as another exemption has not already been used on the recipient.

When the rules change…

Of course, all this information applies now and as I have indicated some of the rules are likely to change (and probably a number of times). Even if you normally like to manage your own financial affairs, this is one area where it is worth taking advice. The key point to make is that you shouldn’t let the tax tail wag the dog. Don’t jeopardise your financial independence.

Budgeting a substantial sum for care and then giving money away gradually as you can, using a combination of the techniques above, should hopefully help you achieve the balance between being able to look after your own needs and being generous to the following generations.

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Five Flexible and Unconventional Ways to Make Money

By Christy Schutz I convinced my husband to join me at Ulta the other day as I shopped for lipsticks. As I dragged him down the aisles, he took in all the serums, tubes, jars and brushes and was simply amazed that women bought all this stuff, and what’s more, that we spend quite a bit […]

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