We Love What Memphis is Doing to Help Its Employees With Their Student Debt

Employee benefits come in all forms, from napping whenever you please and a fully-stocked beer fridge to, well, that thing a Swedish town is trying out.

But there’s a new workplace benefit employers are starting to offer, and we’re loving the idea.

Over the past couple of years, companies have begun offering student loan repayment programs as part of their employee benefits packages.

In March, a bill was even introduced in Congress that would give tax breaks to companies that provide up to $5,250 per year to repay an employee’s student debt.

Most recently (on Thursday, to be exact), it was announced that Memphis, Tennessee, will be the first city to offer its employees a little bit of financial assistance by way of helping pay down their student loans.

How This Student Loan Reduction Program Works

Starting July 1, the City of Memphis will contribute $50 a month to its employees’ student loan repayment efforts.

The $50 will go directly toward paying down the principal — an approach that will help eliminate the loans in the shortest possible timeframe. (You can read more about the strategy behind that here.)

To qualify for the Student Loan Reduction Program, employees must be actively employed and working full-time for at least 12 months. Employees are still expected to make their own student loan payments.

“We are proud to be the first municipality in the country to offer this kind of student debt assistance to our workforce,” said Alex Smith, the city’s Chief Human Resources Officer. “We view this as an important investment in our employees.”

The city already has a tuition reimbursement program that provides employees who are attending college with $3,000 a year to put toward tuition costs.

By the (Guesstimated) Numbers

Smith noted that one of the difficulties they’ve encountered while rolling out the program is getting more exact estimates as to how many employees are carrying student loan debt.

The program is being executed by Tuition.io, a company that manages employee student loan benefits. On average, Tuition.io initiatives have a 14% adoption rate.

For the City of Memphis, an adoption rate of 14% would mean about about 840 eligible employees taking advantage of this service. However, when the program was tested in the HR Division earlier this year, there was a 20% adoption rate — slightly higher than the average.

In 2016, student loan debt in Memphis grew by almost 5% compared to the slightly more than 3% growth seen nationally — so it would make sense if a higher-than-average number of workers take advantage of the program.

Pay Down Your Student Loans Faster

While we like the trend of companies (and now an entire city!) helping their employees to pay down their student loans, it may be a while yet before this becomes a common workplace benefit.

In the meantime, we’ve got you covered with plenty of tips and tricks for paying down your student loans on your own.

Check out our complete guide to student loans to find out everything you need to know, from FAFSA to repayment (and read up on these five common student loan myths, and how they’ve been debunked).

Then, check out these stories from real people about how they paid off their own student loan debts.

And if you’re looking for ways to make a little extra money to put toward your student loans each month, here are 32 legitimate ways to make money from home today!

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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June is Men’s Health Month: Here’s How to Get Low-Cost Health Screenings

June is Men’s Health Month, and what better way to celebrate than by making an appointment with a doctor to talk about awkward stuff.

Guys, you know the kinds of conversations I’m talking about. Your prostate, for one. You really should get that checked.

While you’re at it, why not ask for a quick mental health check and a blood test to see how your testosterone levels are doing.

These discussions may be uncomfortable, but they’re an important part of preventative medical screenings that can help you live a long and healthy life. Plus, your family, friends and significant others want to keep you around, too.

Many men’s health screenings are covered by insurance. The Affordable Care Act requires insurance plans to cover over 15 preventative services at no cost to you. Companies that offer private-pay insurance, like BlueCross BlueShield and Humana, also typically cover the cost of preventative medical screenings.    

If you’re uninsured, underinsured or don’t have the money to see a doctor, you may qualify for free or low-cost screenings through programs and organizations around the country. Here are some resources to get you started.

Prostate Cancer Screenings

One out of eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point during his life. One key to overcoming the disease is early detection.

Prostate cancer awareness organization ZERO maintains an interactive database of free or low-cost prostate screening locations across the country.

Hospitals, university medical programs and physician groups are also great places for free or reduced-cost prostate screenings. Find one in your area by typing “free prostate exam [your town]” into your favorite search engine.

Testicular Cancer Screenings

Compared to other types of cancer, testicular cancer is relatively rare. It’s highly treatable if caught early so it’s important to be on the lookout for signs and symptoms.

You won’t find many standalone testicular cancer screening programs because the general consensus in the medical community is that they aren’t warranted or necessary. However, doctors unilaterally recommend that men do a monthly self-exam (there’s an app for that!) on their own.

If you want a medical professional to weigh in on your testicular health, schedule an appointment with your local Planned Parenthood health center or ask your doctor to check things out during your next routine exam.  

Mental Health

Don’t be surprised if a mental health screening is part of your next routine medical examination. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently recommended that physicians screen all patients over 18 for depression during appointments.

If you’re in between doctor visits, you can take a free online mental health assessment for a quick preliminary evaluation.

For further screening and assistance, check the National Alliance on Mental Illness database of nearly 1,000 state organizations and NAMI affiliates that offer free or low-cost mental health services in your area.

We’ve also compiled a list of additional resources for free or cheap mental health assistance for people who don’t have health insurance.

Sexual Health Screenings

A variety of preventative medical screenings and evaluations fall under the sexual health umbrella including erectile dysfunction, sexually transmitted infections and fertility issues.

Your local Planned Parenthood health center can screen for and treat all these concerns and more. They also provide cancer screenings and general health exams.

Most centers charge uninsured or low-income patients on a sliding scale based on what they can afford. Check with your local Planned Parenthood office for specifics.

Many universities, public health departments and local nonprofit healthcare organizations also offer limited or comprehensive sexual health services at a reduced cost.  

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention participates in a number of campaigns and initiatives that provide sexual health services to gay and bisexual men.  

Programs include screenings for HIV, sexually transmitted infections and viral hepatitis. The agency also supports testing and outreach initiatives for black/African American, Latino and American Indian and Alaska Native gay and bisexual communities.  

General Health Screening Services

The National Institutes of Health recommends a number of additional health screenings for men, including regular blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes checks.

If you’re uninsured, need financial assistance or have other circumstances that make it difficult to see a doctor, here’s how to find free or low-cost resources in your area.

• Men’s Health Network maintains a database of clinics organized by state, city or facility name

• Search the CDC’s database of state and territorial health departments

• Take a look at the list of low cost health care providers assembled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

• Join the Men’s Health Network Online Support Community to learn about resources discovered by its community members

• If you have Medicare, this guide explains what preventative services you’re eligible to receive

• Check out the U.S. Department of Health’s clinic locator to find low-cost or free health centers in your area

Now that I’ve done most of the legwork for you, there’s really no excuse to put off a checkup or health screening.

Go make that phone call. Today.

Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. After she files this article, she’s calling her husband to remind him to make a doctor appointment.

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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11 Ways to Invest $100,000 with Confidence

A cool $100,000 hits your checking account. Good day.

Before you go bananas and buy a Tesla with automatic lane-changing capabilities, please take a deep breath – for my sake. The last thing I want to see you do is blow all your money on sports cars or bad investments.

Whether I'm investing $1,000, $100,000 or $1,000,000, there are a few steps I would follow first. You can read more about those steps in my article on how to invest a million dollars.

That article is more about what to do with a large sum of money (like paying off debt and building an emergency fund) – this one will help you learn about a number of investments, investment methods, and investment tools that will lower your risk.

So grab your $100K and invest with confidence!

DIY Investing

Consider yourself handy? Do-it-yourself investing might be the best option for you, and you'll probably be pleasantly surprised on how easy it is!

1. Peer-to-Peer Lending

Growing in popularity, peer-to-peer lending is a relatively new form of borrowing and lending where individuals lend money to each other for a profit.

Two companies offering peer-to-peer lending are Prosper and Lending Club – and I put them to the test that resulted in impressive returns.

While both platforms did admirably Lending Club has become my go to sources for investing in P2P loans.  You can even invest as little as $25 in a single loan so if you want to get your feet wet, Lending Club recommends starting out with an Investment of $2,500 so you can buy into 100 different loans and really spread out any risk.  With $100k to spread around I would start a beginner of with an investment of $5k and the ramp it up from there.  You can use P2P lending to diversify your portfolio away from stocks and other investments.

If you're looking to invest directly into the lives of others, investing with LendingClub is a great way to do so.

2. Betterment

Do you consider yourself high-tech? Do you drool over simplicity? Do you like low fees? Betterment might be your answer.

Betterment grew from zero to $500 million in under four years, and for good reason. Their software is so easy to use, it's almost hard not to try it out. About 50% of their staff focus on the technology behind Betterment, and that's clearly evident on their website. I started out by only investing $1,000 to see how the platform works and get a feel for it, still a little skeptical, invest $100 and set your mind at ease. After a few questions it was completely hands off and made 6.2% with fairly conservative settings.

One of the coolest things about Betterment is that you can quickly adjust how much money you have invested in ETFs versus a basket of Treasury bonds. Want to lower your volatility? Invest more in bonds.

Our Betterment Review shows how it is a fantastic option for those looking for quick way to invest.

3. Motif – Invest with an Expert (but not at expert prices)

Motif is changing the way the people look at stock investing. Instead of using a financial advisor to painstakingly research all of the best options to diversify your portfolio, Motif allows you to have a more hands-on approach without being an investing expert.

What's so different about Motif? With Motif, you don't pick individual stocks to invest in, you pick motifs (hence where they got the name). A motif is made up of 30 different stocks that all circulate around one idea, like industrial solutions or medical applications. Not only will this make it easy to invest in, but it also automatically gives your portfolio some diversification.

There are 150 motifs that are built from investment professionals that you can choose from. But if none of the 150 suits your fancy, you can pick from one of the 180,000 motifs that were designed by other Motif users. If none of those 180,000 motifs are what you're looking for, don't worry, you can build your own.

Another nice advantage to Motif is the lower trading commission fees for trading those bundles. Instead of paying a ridiculous fee for every stock traded, you'll pay $9.95 for all 30 stocks, which translates to $0.33 per stock, you aren't going to beat that anywhere. You can learn the details of their system in our Motif Investing review.

4. Buy Like Buffett

Warren Buffett has some super simple advice you can implement yourself:

Put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund.

Wow. This is so simple, it's surprising.

You can open an E*Trade account and save big money on fees – but keep in mind that Warren didn't make his billions by buying an index fund.

Julie Rains from Investing to Thrive offers a similar suggestion on how she would invest $100k:

If I had an extra $100,000 to invest, I would invest most of the money in the market, some of the money in myself, and keep a cash reserve. Here's my breakdown and reasoning:

• $50,000 in index funds, invested on my own or by purchasing a managed portfolio or engaging services of an automated adviser at a firm such as Vanguard, Schwab, TradeKing, Betterment, or TD Ameritrade;
• $20,000 invested in some sort of cash account, primarily so I could have access to funds to purchase stocks on a downturn without having to sell current holdings;
• $20,000 in individual stock selections just because I think investing in companies is interesting and fun, and can be profitable;
• $10,000 invested in myself or a personal project; for example, I might spend money to improve my business, such as a website redesign, or make some home or car repairs that might allow me to generate income via Airbnb or Uber.

Fortunately, I don't have mortgage debt or other debt to pay off, so I'd focus on growing my money mainly through outside investments.  Interested in opening an E*Trade account?  Learn more in our review of E*Trade.

The Boring Stuff

 

There are some investments that are just, well, boring. By that, I mean that they don't really produce great returns – but at least they're better than burying a suitcase of cash in the backyard. Take a look . . . .

5. High-Yield Savings Accounts or CD's

The best thing about high-yield savings accounts are their guaranteed payouts. But don't let the term “high-yield” fool you – these accounts don't provide great returns on your money.

Really, the reason they are called “high-yield” savings accounts is because they result in higher returns than most savings accounts.

I have personally been using a Capital One 360 savings account for years to make sure I get better returns than the average bricks and mortar bank account.

If you have $100,000 and aren't sure where to put your money yet, a high-yield savings account is great for short-term investing.

6. Money Market Accounts

Want to play it safe and invest at the same time? Money market accounts are just the ticket.

But let me warn you: they're boring. I mean, really boring.

Don't expect huge returns. Many times, you can get more out of a money market account than a CD (certificate of deposit), but I promise you that money isn't going to pour out of your faucet – even if you invest your whole $100,000.

Investing With a Guarantee – No Worries

 

Did you know you can invest and get a guaranteed return? Amazing, right? Here are a few investments that will absolutely pay:

7. Annuities

Annuities, like every other investment, are fantastic in some situations and horrible in others.

But if you're wanting guaranteed returns, fixed annuities are a beautiful thing. You can have confidence that part – or all – of your $100,000 will be safe in a fixed annuity. But like money market accounts, they're pretty boring when it comes to the returns.

One year I had a client who really didn't want anything to do with the stock market volatility, and because CDs were paying pretty much nothing, I found him a five-year fixed annuity paying 3%. That's barely making inflation, folks. But hey, at least it was a guaranteed return.

Another form of annuities that offer guarantees are fixed index annuities (FIA's and also referred to as equity indexed annuities). These annuities are similar to fixed annuities in they offer principal protection. How they are distinctively different is how you make money. FIA's use a combination of tracking various market indexes and interest caps to calculate your overall return. They can get very confusing and trying to understand this is why I don't like them.

What I do like about them is the “pension like” benefit that can pay and income stream for the rest of you and your spouse's life. This contractual guarantee that the insurance company offers can reduce the stress that comes with investing in the stock market.

Annuities are also helpful when you can't get life insurance or you want some long-term care benefits but don't have the money to pay for it out of pocket.

Remember that annuities have pros and cons. Think through your options before signing up!

8. Cash-Value Life Insurance

If you talk to an insurance agent about investing, there's a 99.9% chance they'll ask you if you'd like to purchase some sort of cash-value life insurance. This could be a whole life policy, universal life policy, or even an indexed universal life policy.

You'll hear them say things like:

• “You'll have the investment your entire life!”
• “You'll have some life insurance to protect you and your heirs in the case something happens to you!”

Hey, they might even offer some principal protection!

And while this looks like a good deal because of the nice dividends, the cost of insurance will eat away at it from the beginning.

It's kind of like paying off a mortgage – you pay a lot toward interest at first and very little toward the principal. The same is true of whole life or some universal policies.

In most instances, I'm not a big fan of cash-value life insurance as a pure investment play. It definitely could make sense for some estate-planning purposes but that only applies to a minority of the population.

However, there is one case I can think of where a universal life policy makes sense. Say you put in $100,000 and your principal is protected. The insurance company may pay a 3% dividend which is pretty attractive compared to the interest rates that are currently available at your local bank or even in CDs online – but don't forget about that insurance cost! After being paid the 3% dividend you have to subtract the cost of insurance which ends up being approximately 1.2% netting you a total of 1.8%.

While that might not sound very attractive, it's probably better than what you could get from a CD.

The kicker is that you'll never make less than 1.8% – but there is an index tied to the policy much like an equity index annuity where if the underlying index goes up you could make more.

That's right, more!

Let's say the current cap on this policy is 13%. If the market is up 13% you could make that, but past that you couldn't make any more. If the market then lost 12%, you'd be back to your 1.8%.

This type of investment might make sense for you if you have an extra amount of money sitting in a bank CD. But keep in mind that this is life insurance, so you do have to go through an underwriting process.  And you aren't doing this for the death benefit, so you won't be looking at any million dollar life insurance policies for passing on an extra inheritance.

(note: These type policies do exist but can change quickly with the interest rates.)

9. Super-Size Your Charitable Gifts

For individuals who are no longer in accumulation mode, but planning for how to maximize their estate for their children and/or organizations they support, consider the “investment” of a life insurance policy.

Let’s say a 69 year old widowed woman has named her church in her will, to receive a $100,000 charitable bequest.

As this money is earmarked for the church, and to ensure the funds are not at risk, she has set $100,000 aside investing it in CD’s paying 2%.

But what if she purchased a single-premium life insurance policy with that money instead, and named the church as beneficiary?

Here’s how it pencils out…

As a non-smoker in good health, she could purchase a $300,000 policy, paid up for life, for a single premium of $99,879.

The Social Security actuarial tables estimate she’ll live to 86 years old.

During her 17 year life expectancy, her $100,000 investment in CD’s will grow to approximately $140,000.

By purchasing life insurance instead, she’ll create an additional $160,000 gift for her church.

In fact, she would have to earn 6.7% annually (after-tax) for the rest of her expected life to save $300,000 in an alternate investment, in order to match the internal ROI of the life insurance policy.

Donating gifts of life insurance to charity has many other benefits:

• Life insurance proceeds are paid to the charity without probate delays
• The charity receives substantially more money, which can help them to fund larger projects
• Publicity from large gifts may help attract other donors
• Life insurance gifts are private; a bequest in a will is public record
• The estate receives a tax deduction for the donation, reducing the amount of the estate subject to federal estate tax.

It’s an absolute slam dunk!  For similar case studies, see “When $100,000 Life Insurance Premium is a No Brainer.”

Stock Market Alternatives

If you're scared out of your mind when it comes to investing in the stock market, there are alternatives.

10. Real Estate

One great alternative is real estate. I recently sat down with a real estate investor who shared some of his tips for getting started.

I have another buddy, Brandon Turner, who is a real estate investor and VP of Growth at BiggerPockets.com. Here's what he says you can do with $100,000 in real estate:

$100,000 could do a few things for you in the real estate realm, depending on your risk level. You could buy a nice house in the suburbs for around $100,000 and just collect the cash flow on that home without needing to pay a bank. Or, if you wanted to use some of leverage on your money (thus increasing both risk and potential profit,) you could put that $100,000 and buy more than $100,000 worth of real estate. For example, you could buy a $500,000 apartment complex and put your $100,000 as a 20% down payment. Or you could buy five $100,000 houses and put a 20% down payment on each. Personally, I'd go for the apartment complex, but that's my bread and butter. This is great thing about real estate investing – there are so many great options that fit different personality types, locations, and income levels!

Great advice Brandon! As you can see, there are so many things you can do with real estate – I highly recommend you consider his advice.

11. Your Education

Another great alternative is investing in you. You heard me right: you!

Whether it's learning a new skill, attending college, or being an intern, investing in yourself can pay huge dividends. Glen Craig from FreeFromBroke.com has a great article showing how your education can hedge against inflation. So, consider taking some of that $100K and investing in yourself – you'll be glad you did.

Seeking Help

 

Sometimes, you need a little help. That's okay! In fact, it might even help you get better returns. If you don't have the time or the will to study the stock market, leave it to the experts . . . .

You can also check out some of our other great investing reviews: TradeKing Review and OptionsHouse Review.

12. Investment Advisors

Investment advisors, like yours truly, can help you navigate the complexities of investing so that you are more likely to get a great return and keep more of it, too.

Whether you're just getting started investing, are already in retirement, or anything in-between, an investment advisor and help.

Listen, if you're close to retirement, you have some big decisions ahead still. Timing plays a huge role in retirement. An investment advisor can help you with that.

There are many types of investment advisors. I'm a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner, which means I have a fiduciary responsibility to do what's in your best interest – and you know I would do so anyway!

13. AssetLock™

AssetLock™ is a tool designed to help you and your investment advisor determine if you need to sell funds due to a drop in market performance.

Here's how AssetLock describes it:

AssetLock™ is proprietary software that monitors portfolios and has a pre-determined downside that can adjust on the days the stock market is trading, so you're always aware of how your portfolio stands.

This isn't a stop-loss strategy.

Stop-loss strategies are where buying and selling targets are predetermined and automatically happen. Instead, AssetLock™ can alert you to various adverse market conditions, triggering your advisor to contact you to have a conversation about your portfolio.

AssetLock™ uses what they call an AssetLock™ Value which is a predetermined price point that will trigger certain actions.

When you reach your AssetLock™ Value, a portfolio manager from FormulaFolios will monitor the market and if there is a recovery, no trades are placed. If the market is not recovering, your portfolio will be moved to the safety of short-term US Treasury bills by the close of business one day after reaching your AssetLock™ Value.

I am an AssetLock™ approved advisor. I absolutely love what FormulaFolios is doing with their AssetLock™ software, and it ensures that I can help my clients avoid major losses due to market crashes like we've seen in years past.

 

 

Click Here to Get Your Free AssetLock Report

As you can see, there are so many ways to invest your $100,000 with confidence. You might choose one particular path, or you might choose many. Just make sure to invest somehow so you can offset inflation – your wallet will thank you for it!

**This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission if you decide to transact business with that affiliate partner.

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Nurses Can Score Free Food at Chipotle on June 14 With This BOGO Deal

While a never-ending conveyor belt of comic book movies continues to crowd movie theaters, we all know that nurses are the real-life heroes.

Even though National Nurses Week has come and gone, Chipotle is continuing its June tradition of offering a day of free food for these unsung hospital heroes.

How to Get This Chipotle BOGO Deal

On Wednesday, June 14, Chipotle will give all nurses and nursing assistants a buy one, get one deal on burritos, burrito bowls, salads and orders of tacos with a valid nurse identification card. You’re good to go if your name is followed by any of the following acronyms: RN, NP, CRNA, CNS, CNM, LVN or CNA (or local equivalents of these certifications).

The offer is valid at all Chipotle locations in the U.S. and Canada. Sadly mate, it’s void in the United Kingdom.

Dig in, heroes! (But you might want to pay with cash.)

Alex Mahadevan is a data journalist 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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Teachers, You Work Hard All Year, So Krispy Kreme Will Give You Free Coffee

This summer, coffee-loving teachers have another reason to give in to the temptation of that neon “Hot Now” sign.

Krispy Kreme is giving away free coffee to every teacher who buys any item at regular price. The deal continues through the end of July.

To claim the deal, you’ll have to mention it to the cashier and show your school ID as you’re placing your order.

“It’s time for teachers to celebrate a great year! Let’s celebrate all summer with free coffee w/ purchase,” the donut and coffee chain wrote on Twitter.

It’s time for teachers to celebrate a great year! Let’s celebrate all summer with free coffee w/ purchase (show school ID – select US shops) http://pic.twitter.com/cY42QVxu8i

— krispykreme (@krispykreme) June 7, 2017

The deal is available all day, so whenever your sweet tooth needs its fix, you’ll be able to pair that jelly donut with a piping hot cup of (free) coffee. And every Penny Hoarder knows the only thing better than caffeine is free caffeine.

Desiree Stennett (@desi_stennett) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She credits coffee for most of the success she’s had in life so far.

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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No Degree? No Problem! A Certificate Program Can Help You Launch a Career

When we think about post-secondary education, we tend to think about getting a degree from a two- or four-year college.

But certificate programs provide ways to learn essential skills and training in less time and with less expense.

ManpowerGroup’s latest Talent Shortage Survey surveyed over 42,000 employers and found 40% of them reported difficulty filling jobs due to a lack of skills and training — the highest level since 2007.

Skilled trades like electricians, welders and plumbers were the hardest roles to fill.

How Much Do These Jobs Pay?

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the median salary for an electrician is $52,720 a year. An electrician training certificate can cost between $1,000 and $11,000, according to CostHelper.

The median salary for a welder is $39,390 a year. The cost of a welding program can range from $5,000 to $15,000.

The median salary for a plumber is $51,450 a year. A certificate program for a plumber could range between $1,250 and $3,000.

In contrast, data from the College Board says the cost of a two-year associate’s degree program averages out to about $3,520 a year and the cost of a bachelor’s degree program can range from about $9,650 to $33,480 a year, depending on whether the school is public or private and in-state or out-of-state.

The salary for degree program graduates can range widely based on what industry they specialize in, which major they choose and where they end up finding work.

What Other Jobs Can Certificate Programs Prepare You For?

Likewise, the types of certificate programs out there truly run the gamut. You could get certified as a nurse, paralegal, web designer, cosmetologist and much more.

In fact, we’ve written about how various professionals have earned success without a traditional college degree.

These three yoga teachers took training courses ranging from two weeks to six months long, costing from $2,000 to $4,000. One earned about $15 an hour teaching classes.

This woman became a doula earning about $35 an hour or $1,175 for birth-only packages.

We wrote about getting certified as a pet massage therapist and potentially earning $50 to $120 per hour.

This man made about $3,000 a week as a handyman, without even obtaining a certification!

If completing a certification program seems like the path for you, this post has six ideas of jobs you can get without a degree — plus a tip on finding a program that fits your interests.

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.

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

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Free Taco Bell is a Slam Dunk if the Road Team Wins These NBA Finals Games

Update: The Cleveland Cavaliers “stole” game three on the road, so head to Taco Bell on June 13 for a free Doritos Locos Taco. No purchase necessary, but you must redeem your freebie between 2 and 6 p.m.

Whether your favorite team is in the NBA Finals or you still don’t understand why the NBA Finals seem to take an eternity to resolve, you can still benefit from this potential giveaway.

For the second year, Taco Bell and the NBA will offer the “Steal a Game, Steal a Taco” promotion.

“The first team to steal a win on the road during the 2017 NBA Finals also wins a free Doritos Locos Taco for everyone in America,” a press release states.

How the ‘Steal a Game, Steal a Taco’ Promo Works

The NBA Finals start Thursday, June 1. If the road team wins any of the first three games, you can get your free Doritos Locos Taco on Tuesday, June 13, between 2-6 p.m. If the road team wins game four, five, six or seven, you can claim your free taco on Tuesday, June 20, from 2-6 p.m.

If you don’t want to keep up with the nightly chapters of this year’s hoops marathon, you can head over to Taco Bell’s Steal a Taco promotion site to check your freebie status.

No purchase is necessary for this free taco. One per person at participating Taco Bell locations, please.

Just don’t complain about the scores, refs or key players to the Taco Bell cashiers, OK?

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

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

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Should You Be Using Live Video to Make More Money?

Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Periscope.

All the major social platforms are integrating live streaming in some form.

Several up-and-comers, like Meerkat and MeVee, are also creating buzz.

And this all means one thing: Live video is hot. Scorching hot.

It seems everyone is now using live video in some fashion to connect and interact with their audience in real time.

I’ve noticed a good chunk of the YouTube channels I’ve been subscribed to for years are now taking it live.

It’s definitely catching on.

But does using live video make sense for you?

Is it a viable means of making more money?

In this post, I’m going to take a close look at the state of live video, how people are using it and what kind of results they’re getting.

I’m also going to look at the benefits as well as the drawbacks that might not be very obvious.

By the end, you should have a pretty good idea whether or not you should add live video to your sales and marketing repertoire.

Market outlook

First, let’s see what the live video market looks like at the moment.

Of course, video in general is booming.

According to eMarketers.com, “digital-video ad spending will rise from $9.9 billion in 2016 to $20.08 billion in 2020.”

More than doubling over the course of five short years is pretty dramatic.

But live video is what’s really blowing up.

Socialbakers found that “half of all big media pages publish live video.”

And the number of videos is growing.

I can only imagine what the numbers will be like once 2020 rolls around.

Another interesting thing I’d like to point out is the engagement level that comes along with live video.

In fact, live video blows pre-recorded video out of the water.

Forrester reports that “live video gets three times the amount of engagement as non-live video.”

And it’s easy to see why.

There’s a certain buzz that comes along with watching a video in real time.

There’s a connection that isn’t there otherwise.

Not to mention that viewers can directly interact with the person recording the video via live chat.

It’s pretty cool and shows just how far video has come in a relatively short period of time.

Remember when simply watching videos on YouTube was cutting-edge and really big deal?

Live video has built upon the original concept and made it far more interactive.

How live video is changing content marketing

It’s safe to say that content marketing isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

And that’s fine by me.

Content marketing and inbound marketing in general have been a breath of fresh air in a world where conventional advertising mediums have become stale and quite obnoxious.

But the way I look at it, live video is poised to shake up content marketing.

Massive social networks, like Facebook and YouTube, could become a new form of TV big-name companies funnel more and more money into.

The traditional text-based blogging format could change as well.

Rather than always writing regular blog posts, people might start sprinkling in live videos here and there.

As you can see, there are some far-reaching implications.

The benefits of live video

Now, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.

How can live video benefit you?

If you’re putting in the time and energy, it’d better be worth your time.

The way I see it, there are some huge advantages.

It helps your audience get to know you

For starters, it allows your audience to get to know you on an incredibly deep level that’s simply not possible with any other medium.

Just think about it.

A live video combined with a real-time comment/Q&A session is arguably the most effective way to inject your true personality into your content.

Darren Rowse of ProBlogger uses live video fairly frequently to answer questions and connect with his viewers.

It adds a whole other dimension to his overall content.

And, in my opinion, it makes him more personable and relatable.

You feel like you know the guy.

Engagement

Next, there’s the increased engagement.

If you’ve been blogging, active on social media, copywriting, etc. for any length of time, you know just how important engagement is.

And by all accounts, live video is a natural catalyst for boosting engagement.

As I mentioned earlier, live video gets triple the engagement of pre-recorded video.

More specifically, “streaming videos on Facebook are viewed at much higher durations (3x) than non-live content.”

And here’s the kicker.

Facebook’s per-video engagement rate is a whopping 6.3%!

That may not seem like a lot at first glance.

But keep in mind the normal engagement rate for many industries on Facebook is less than 0.15%.

That’s a massive difference!

The brilliant thing about live video is that it naturally begs for engagement.

It’s basically like sitting down and having a face-to-face conversation with your audience.

They can ask questions, leave comments and really get to know you.

Increased engagement naturally comes with the territory.

Extend your reach

Live video is just about everywhere these days.

Scroll through your Facebook feed, it’s there.

In fact, “Facebook videos have increased 360% across everyone’s news feeds.”

Check out what your favorite YouTubers have been up to, and odds are someone is recording a live video.

Getting in on the action is virtually guaranteed to help you extend your overall reach.

It allows you to reach a larger percentage of your demographic that may have been inaccessible before.

Generate massive leads and sales

When you put it all together, it translates into more leads coming your way on a regular basis.

Not only that, the quality of your leads should increase as well.

They know you, trust you, and have rapport with you.

Therefore, a sizable portion of your leads is already primed to buy.

And it’s not unrealistic to expect repeat sales and long-term brand loyalty.

The Funky Fairy, a children’s clothing store in England, ran three sales over four days on Facebook Live.

Their goal was to liquidate their overstock inventory and quickly crank up sales.

The owner, Vicki Stewart, displayed the items for sale, while chatting about them.

Viewers, using comments, were also able to request specific items they wanted.

And it totally worked!

Views increased from roughly 7,000 during the first two sales to 10,000 for the last one.

This enabled The Funky Fairy to quickly move stock that otherwise would have probably just sat there.

Monetization strategies

There’s one last thing I would like to point out.

Increasing sales isn’t the only way to make more money through live video.

There are several ways you can monetize your videos to make money directly.

I came across an article from DaCast that highlights some specific ways you can make money broadcasting live video.

• Offer pay-per-view or subscription-based videos.
• Promote advertisers on your videos (“ads appear in the lower thirds of your video or as clips before your broadcast begins and/or interrupting it like standard television commercials”).
• Ask for donations and link to sites like Patreon.

I suggest approaching these monetization strategies with caution (you don’t want to create a rift between you and your audience), but I felt they were worth mentioning.

Under the right circumstances, they could definitely help you drive higher profits.

Does it make sense for you?

At this point, I think we can all agree the market outlook for live video is extremely promising.

It’s also clear that using live video can be highly beneficial to your brand and help you increase revenue.

But it doesn’t mean it’s right for every single brand.

Not to burst your bubble, but live video may not be viable if you have a small audience.

For instance, YouTube mandates that a channel must have a minimum of 1,000 subscribers in order to live-stream.

This number was reduced significantly: earlier in 2017, you had to have at least 10,000 subscribers.

And quite frankly, it could be embarrassing if you go live and no one shows up.

Another issue is it can hurt your brand equity if you don’t nail it.

You’re basically gambling on your image by live-streaming.

Putting yourself out there could potentially backfire, and people may not necessarily like what they see.

Or maybe it’s just not for you.

It’s pretty common for people to freak out once the camera is on them.

All of a sudden, your mind goes blank and the whole thing is just awkward.

Remember, there’s no editing with live video.

Viewers see everything in real time.

I’m not trying to kill your vibe, but it’s important to look at all the angles before you decide to start using live video.

Conclusion

Live video is a powerful new format, changing the content marketing game.

Most experts are predicting it will continue to grow and more companies will funnel big money into it.

The potential is huge.

If you follow the right formula and create engaging live video content, you can strengthen existing relationships, increase the size of your following, boost engagement, generate more leads and increase sales.

On top of this, there are several other ways to directly monetize your live videos.

But it’s important to note this medium isn’t viable for everyone.

I suggest giving it careful consideration before diving in head first.

If it’s something you’re seriously interested in and makes sense for your brand, give it a shot.

For examples and ideas, check out this post from IMPACT.

How often do you watch live videos?

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Need Medical Care But Worried About the Cost? These 7 Resources Can Help

As U.S. citizens wait to find out how the GOP health care proposal could impact our wallets, health care costs are keeping a lot of us awake at night.

A new study from Bankrate reports that 25% of Americans say they or someone in their household has chosen not to seek medical care because of how much it costs.

Mandy Pullen of Waltham, Massachusetts told researchers her insurance deductible is so high that it’s not worth seeing a doctor when the need arises. “I just tough it out,” she said.

I get it. I want to cry every time my deductible resets itself at the beginning of the year. While my out-of-pocket expenses aren’t astronomical, I can certainly do without the flood of medical bills I have to pay until it kicks in.

On the other hand, I realize that I’m fortunate to even have health insurance to begin with.

The Centers for Disease Control puts the number of uninsured Americans under age 65 at 28.4 million. That’s over 10% of the entire U.S. population!

7 Resources for People Who Can’t Afford Health Care Costs

If you’re among the people in this country who are uninsured, underinsured or simply struggling with the high cost of medical bills, here are seven resources that may help.

1. Several organizations provide free or low-cost preventative screening services to test women for cervical cancer and breast cancer.
2. Planned Parenthood offers a number of reduced-cost health services, including routine checkups, STD testing and treatment, birth control and some types of cancer screening. Sexual health services are also available for teen and adult women and men.
3. If you need surgery, it pays to shop around in your area to see if it’s cheaper in the next town or state over.
4. Several local and regional organizations provide free or reduced-fee dental care. Though mainly available to children, some groups also offer subsidized dental and orthodontic care for adults.
5. Free or low-cost mental health services can be difficult to find but there are a few options you can explore.
6. If you’re struggling with the cost of expensive prescriptions, ask your doctor to take a look at your insurance company’s drug formulary to see if there’s an alternative medication you can take.
7. Acupuncture may be an option to help treat chronic pain, headaches and other ailments — and it’s a lot less expensive than regular visits to your doctor.

The cost of ongoing medical treatment can add up quickly, but many of us can’t even afford one surprise medical bill of $100.

There are a few strategies to save money on medical bills, but they won’t always knock the amount you owe down to a manageable size.

In fact, even having insurance isn’t a guarantee you won’t be crushed by medical bills.

Like the saying goes, the best defense is a good offense. In this case, that means planning ahead and feathering your nest egg with some extra money to pay off medical bills as they arise.

Of course, it’s not easy to save money — especially when you’re living paycheck to paycheck.

One approach that works for people is to start setting aside money a little bit at a time. If you add one new strategy to your savings plan each month, you could end up with $5,000 or more in a year’s time.

Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She puts away a little bit of money every month and is always amazed at how fast it adds up.

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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Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. Sweat the Big Stuff and the Frequent Stuff.

A friend of mine was visiting the other day – we’ll call this friend Donnie – and I offered Donnie a cup of coffee. He said he wanted one, so I asked whether he wanted it cold or hot. He wanted hot, so I pulled a pitcher of cold brew coffee from the fridge, filled up a cup with it, and microwaved it for just enough time to get it steaming hot.

He loved it. He asked where I had bought it. I told him the truth – I made it myself. It’s actually really easy if you have a water pitcher and an infuser – you just put some coffee in the infuser, fill up the pitcher, let it sit in your fridge for a day or two, and then remove the infuser and add a bit of water if the resulting coffee is too strong.

His response? “That’s too much work to bother to save a few cents on a cup of coffee. I just buy cold brew coffee at the store.”

This comment stuck in my head and I wanted to price it out for myself, so I went to the store, found a brand of cold brew coffee I’ve tried and liked in the past, and compared the cost of buying that bottle per eight ounce cup compared to the cost of making my own cold brew coffee at home. I found that making my own, using my preferred beans, is about $0.38 per cup cheaper than buying a bottle of my preferred cold brew coffee at the store.

Now, when I make cold brew at home, I make about six cups of it at a time. I just fill up an infuser with coffee grounds, toss it into about four cups of water, and let it sit for about a day and a half or so in the fridge. At that point, I remove the infuser, add about two cups of water to the pitcher (because it’s honestly too strong for me at that point and I need to cut it with water to get it to where I like it), and put the pitcher back into the fridge. Boom – six cups of coffee for about a minute of effort.

Sure, you say, but I’m really not saving much money. Thirty-eight cents isn’t that much money in the big scheme of things. It’s pocket change. I find more than that on the ground when I walk to the grocery store. (Seriously – the last time I walked to the grocery store, I spotted two quarters on the ground.) Isn’t this “sweating the small stuff”?

I’m not a fan of sweating the small stuff. I don’t do things like wash Ziploc bags because, honestly, the savings is too little per washing for my time. My time isn’t worth that little to me.

This situation is different. When I make my own batch, I’m actually making six cups of coffee at once. That’s not $0.38 in savings. That’s $2.28. Furthermore, the whole process takes about a minute using stuff I already have at home, so that $2.28 in savings takes about a minute of my time. It takes far longer for a bag of coffee beans or grounds to run out than it does for a container of cold brew from the store to run out, so I’m spending less time in the store actually shopping for coffee than if I bought cold brew, so it’s actually less than a minute to save $2.28.

Here’s the thing to remember: It’s not worth your time to sweat the small stuff, but frequently repeated things aren’t “small stuff.” Frequently repeated things add up incredibly quickly.

Let’s say Sarah and I each drink two cups of coffee each day for a year, hypothetically. (Sarah drinks more than I do, but it’s hard for me to assess how much more because she often drinks it when she’s at work or when I’m at work or when I’m doing something else.) Using that calculation above, let’s say it takes me one minute to prepare six cups of coffee using my cold brew method.

Over the course of a full year, that’s 1,460 cups of coffee. Let’s take that calculation above, that my coffee making method at home saves me $0.38 per cup versus buying similar coffee at the store. That’s $555 per year in savings by using my method. $555. That’s two car payments saved by using my method versus using Donnie’s method.

But isn’t that a lot of time? Well, over the course of a year, I would have to prepare 243 six-cup batches of homemade cold brew coffee. Each one takes a minute, but as I noted above, it’s actually a little less than a minute because I’m spending less time at the store buying coffee than I would be if I just bought that coffee. So, let’s round it down and say that I spend a total of 4 hours per year making cold brew coffee.

If I’m spending four hours and saving $555, that’s $139 per hour of effort saved by making my own cold brew coffee at home rather than just buying it at the store or at a coffee shop.

That’s why I sweat the “frequently repeated” stuff. If it’s something you do every day, shaving even a penny or two off of the cost of that expense adds up so fast that it begins to look tremendous over the course of a year.

To me, the two best ways to make a financial difference in your life is to sweat the big stuff and sweat the repeated stuff, especially the frequently repeated stuff. If it’s a small thing that doesn’t come up very often, it’s probably not worth your effort to optimize, not when there are big expenses and frequently repeated things on the table.

What are the big things? I worry about housing costs and mortgage payments. I worry about insurance costs. I worry about the cost of buying a car and all of the associated costs with keeping it. I worry about my career and income levels and how I can raise my income from my current methods and find new income streams.

What are the frequently repeated things? I worry about food costs. I worry about our energy usage, because we use energy constantly. I worry about every regular bill that comes into our home, from our energy bill to our cell phone bill to our internet bill to our Netflix bill. I worry about household supply costs, because we use things like dish soap and shampoo and bath soap and razor blades and toilet paper and laundry soap constantly. I worry about expenses that keep showing up on my credit card bills over and over again, because that’s a sign of a recurring expense I need to look at.

Those are the things I concern myself with. The big things are obvious – when you point at those individual bills, they each represent a lot of money on their own. The frequently repeated things seem small on their own, but they’re repeated so much that they add up to a lot over the course of a year.

It’s the small things that I just don’t sweat. I don’t freak out about financial apocalypse if I forget a $1 coupon or if I have to buy a name brand item because the store brand of that item is out of stock. I don’t sweat it if the girl who lives down the block knocks on my door and asks if I’ll buy some Thin Mints again this year (yes, indeed, I will buy those Thin Mints… mmmmm… Thin Mints). I don’t stress out if I rip the corner of a freezer Ziploc bag and have to toss it. I don’t carefully calculate whether I’ll save money by paying a dime less per seed bag at the other gardening store that’s further away from my home.

The small things that aren’t frequently repeated are such small wins that they don’t add up to enough to really worry about, especially given the extra time that would be needed to correct them. The only real concern I have about them is that I don’t want them to turn into frequently repeated mistakes, but I honestly don’t think about it unless I see that same spending choice popping up again… and again… and again…

Honestly, though, those repeated expenses usually are made clear to me when I look at my credit card bills, which is something I view as a big thing, not a little thing.

The moral of this whole story is a simple one. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Sweat the big stuff and the frequent stuff. If something costs enough money that you notice, pay attention to that expense. If you add up the total cost of what you spend on a particular repeated small item over the course of a year and that’s a dollar amount you notice, pay attention to that expense.

Right there, you have enough on your plate to worry about. Worry about the big things. Worry about the repeated small things. Just getting those things in order, along with efforts to improve your income, will give you more than enough to tackle. Don’t spend your energy sweating over one thing that will save you a dollar one time. Use it on the big things and the repeated things instead.

Good luck!

The post Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. Sweat the Big Stuff and the Frequent Stuff. appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Tom X Road to close for bridge work

The bridge in Middle Smithfield Twp. is expected to close for three months

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7 Painless Ways to Save Big on Car Insurance Premiums If You’re Under 25

Buying car insurance can be a nightmare.

Trying to buy it while insurers still consider you a “young driver,” which is typically under 25 years old, makes it even worse.

I recently purchased my own auto insurance policy, and the quotes I received were beyond anything I had ever imagined.

A $400 monthly premium? You’re out of your mind. No thanks.

Why is Auto Insurance So Expensive for Young Drivers?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drivers ages 15 to 19 years old accounted for 11%, or $10 billion, of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries in 2013, even though the age group represented only 7% of the population.

“Teens are more likely than older drivers to underestimate dangerous situations or not be able to recognize hazardous situations,” the CDC’s website says.

As a result, insurance companies see them as a huge risk and charge higher premiums to insure them.

If you’re drowning in a high auto insurance premium, don’t fret — there are ways to save on your policy as a young driver.

Here are a few ways young drivers can cut down auto insurance costs.

1. Consider Insurance Premiums When You Purchase Your Car

When you’re young, you may be looking to buy a sexy, fast or luxurious car — but do you know how your selection will affect your insurance premiums? A common mistake is thinking about insurance costs only after you’ve purchased a car.

Jennifer McDermott, consumer advocate at car insurance comparison website finder.com, says considering insurance costs when you purchase a car will save you money in the long run. Things like safety features, make, model and age all affect insurance premiums, so be sure to get quotes on any car before buying it.

If you can’t find an insurance quote within your budget, it might be time to look at different vehicles.

2. Purchase a Vehicle With the Right Safety Features

Usually, when you get an auto insurance quote, the process involves the insurer asking you many questions, including:

“Do you have anti-theft devices installed in your car?”

“Does your car have antilock brake system (ABS)?”

“Is your car equipped with airbags?”

Purchasing a vehicle with these devices keeps you and your car safe, resulting in lower risk. This reduced risk sometimes results in discounts from the insurer.

(P.S. Looking to buy a car while you’re still in college? Check out our top eight cars for college students!)

3. The Way You Pay Makes a Difference

Neil Richardson, a licensed insurance agent at The Zebra, says changing the way you pay can be a smart way to cut down insurance costs.

The Zebra’s 2016 State of Auto Insurance Report reveals that paying your bill in full, rather than in installments, can save you around $62 a year.

If you can’t cough up that large chunk of change at once, no worries. Richardson also says that electronically transferring funds from a bank account can save you $28 annually.

Another benefit of electronic transfers? You can set them on autopay and never miss a bill — but make sure you have enough money in your account so you don’t face overdraft fees!

4. Avoid Coverage Gaps

This tip depends on your situation at home, so it may not apply to everyone.

Richardson says that being on your parent’s car insurance policy before getting one on your own can work to your advantage when it comes to savings.

“Your personal car insurance history began the day you were first insured (under your parents or otherwise),” says Richardson. “The longer you’re insured, the more money you can save.”

If you’re moving out and seeking financial independence from your parents, preventing a gap in coverage is crucial. Richardson suggests buying your own policy before you drop your current coverage under your parents. This can help you avoid coverage gaps.

According to Richardson, avoiding gaps in coverage can save you an average of $100 per year.

5. Use the Available Technology

Many auto insurers are using devices that record your driving habits to offer discounts to safe drivers. Progressive, for example, offers Snapshot, which measures things like how often you brake hard or accelerate quickly, and the time of day when you usually drive.

Insurers consider these metrics indicators of risky or safe drivers. They compile this information and adjust premiums based on the risk you bring — the safer your driving, the more discounts you get.

Providers sometimes offer a discount after you agree to install these devices in your car. The discounts aren’t immediate, though; insurers will collect your data over a period of time and offer a discount afterward.

6. Look for Good-Student Discounts

If you haven’t noticed by now, college student discounts are a wonderful thing, and you should use your student status to save on auto insurance.

Some auto insurance providers offer good-student discounts, which are usually based on your GPA. Insurers have different eligibility thresholds, so call and check with yours.

You’re in school and want to do well anyways — why not save money for it?

7. Take a Safe-Driver Course

Safe-driver courses can improve a young driver’s skills behind the wheel, which is why some insurance companies offer premium discounts for customers who have taken these courses. Call your provider and find out if it offers this discount.

Get the Insurance Coverage You Need Without Going Broke

Auto insurance can be a budget breaker for young drivers, but don’t let the high price stop you from getting the coverage you need.

You may want to go with only the minimum coverage your state requires, but this isn’t always a good way to cut costs. If you were to get into a serious accident, you might not have enough coverage to pay for all the damage, which may force you to pay out of your own pocket.

Keep these tips in mind when you purchase car insurance as a young driver — they could help you in the long run!

This article contains general information and explains options you may have, but it is not intended to be investment advice or a personal recommendation. We can’t personalize articles for our readers, so your situation may vary from the one discussed here. Please seek a licensed professional for tax advice, legal advice, financial planning advice or investment advice.

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

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

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Avoid the Freshman 15 Using These 10 Tips for Eating Healthy in College

No matter how old you are, eating healthy is a challenge.

Not only do you have to fend off the perpetual temptation of all the deep-fried and sugar-filled goodies we’re surrounded with every day, but you also have to figure out how to work fresh, healthy groceries into your budget. Oh, and learn to cook them.

The problem only gets worse when you’re a college student.

You are already strapped for cash and may never have had to buy (or budget for) your own groceries before. And, up until now, your experience with meal planning may have been limited to being around when mom put dinner on the table.

So figuring out how to eat healthy while also balancing your new schedule, maintaining your social life — and, you know, deciding what you want to do for the rest of your life — isn’t easy.

But it is possible. And it’s also really, really important.

How to Avoid the Dreaded Freshman 15

During my first semester of college, I spent hours in the buffet-style dining hall just steps from my dorm.

You only had to swipe your meal plan card once and you could stay as long as you liked. I’d haul in all my books and call it a study day, eating whenever I felt like it. I convinced myself I was making an economical choice.

When I started seeing some weight creep on, I tried to formulate a plan to make my dining hall binges more reasonable. True story: When I’d leave after lunch, I’d take some ice cream and eat it while walking up the hill towards the classrooms, depositing the empty bowl and spoon at the second dining hall at the top.

“They totally cancel each other out, right?” I’d half-joke with my friends.

Two pants sizes later, I wasn’t laughing.

In the flurry of research you’ve no doubt done preparing for your first year of college, you’ve probably heard of the infamous freshman 15, the excess pounds so many first-year students unwittingly find themselves saddled with.

It’s not hard to see why. For most students, college is the first time away from the regular meal structure enforced by eight-hour school days and the relative wholesomeness of home cooking.

Also, um, there is literally endless food in the dining hall.

But you don’t have to resign yourself to graduating with a wider waistline — or an empty wallet.

Really.

First Things First: You Need a Budget

Whether you’ve been working as long as you can remember or have never had your own money to manage before, the key to not totally blowing your future finances while in college is creating and maintaining a budget. Now.

Otherwise, you may find yourself whiling away those hefty loans on… well, less-than-studious choices.

So sit down and make a list of all the things you absolutely must pay for regularly — each semester, quarter and month. That might include tuition, your room-and-board fees or rent. Maybe you also pay for car insurance or your mobile data plan.

(You can make this process easier by digitizing your financial life with a budgeting app, like Mint.)

Then, compare all your regular expenses to you income, be it through a job or, if it’s your only source of cash for now, your student loan checks.

The difference — the leftover money — is what you have to spend on everything else in your life, including food.

Obviously, there are other things you’re going to want (or need) to buy while you’re in college. And there are ways to maximize your discretionary income, like getting your Netflix subscription for free.

But when push comes to shove, all the food you buy must fit inside that figure — a number that, depending on your existing eating habits, may look troublingly small.

Fortunately, you came to college to learn new things (right?), including how to stretch those food budget dollars as far as they can possibly go.

Here are our 10 best tips for eating healthy and affordably while you’re in college, both on campus and off.

Eating Healthy in College Dining Halls

Not sure how to eat healthy while you live on campus? I promise, it’s totally doable! (Hint: Walk away from the fro-yo machine slowly…)

1. Cook in Your Dorm.

You may be limited to a mini fridge and a microwave, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make delicious, healthy and super-cheap meals at “home.”

To help, we put together a list of 15 awesome dorm-friendly recipes for less than $5 each — and most are a lot cheaper than that.

Plus, many dorm halls come equipped with a full-sized community kitchen, which gives you absolutely no excuse. Get your butt in there and start cooking!

2. Take Advantage of the Buffet — but Do So Wisely.

If your buffet-style dining hall allows you to carry out food, you should absolutely do so, but you need to have a strategy. (No, bringing back three dozen donuts from breakfast isn’t a good idea.)

Prime candidates for dorm-room stockpiling include pre-packaged yogurt, handy pieces of fruit or hard-boiled eggs. If you’ve got fridge room, maybe you can heap up a box with mixed veggies, plain brown rice and lean meats to heat up later.

3. DON’T Use the Endless Buffet as an Excuse to Save Money.

As I and my new, bigger pants learned, it’s actually not a good fiscal choice to eat as much as possible whenever you can. And you won’t just blow money on your enlarged wardrobe.

Stuffing yourself with unhealthy foods could also lead to health problems down the line, which might also mean a host of hefty medical bills.

Trust me. If you’re already going into debt to attend college, you don’t want to add in the cost of a trip to the emergency room, nevermind the physical misery.

4. Load Up on Veggies.

No matter what school you go to or which dining hall you choose, there’s almost always a salad bar. So go ahead and fill up on fresh veggies before you take the bulk of your meal.

Not only will you get a helping of necessary nutrients without having to go out and buy expensive produce or supplements, but you’ll also decrease your chances of overeating the richer, more-calorie-dense main meal, creating automatic mealtime balance.

5. Ditch the Soda Fountain.

Even if you’ve been drinking soda your whole life, there’s no time like the present to break the habit.

Soda is a super-easy way to waste boundless empty calories and ingest a truly disturbing amount of sugar without even thinking about it.

Your body will be happier, and your head will be clearer if you switch to water. Heck, it might even improve your grades. Nobody does well at a 3 p.m. exam while experiencing a sugar crash.

Incidentally, water is also available for free out of your tap, unlike Coke.

Eating Healthy Off Campus

If you’ve already moved out of the dorms, it’s a lot easier to eat healthy, but it’ll take a little bit of planning and commitment on your part.

Here’s how to take control of your food budget and your health — you adult, you!

6. Make Your Meals at Home!

Yes, this is the first piece of advice in pretty much everything ever written about how to save money on food, but it’s especially pertinent for students.

College towns are always filled with a ton of tempting and convenient restaurants. And when you’re balancing work, studies, sports, friendships and the occasional hour or three of sleep, it’s an understandable temptation to give in to.

But although it’s easy to just go to Chipotle for the fourth time this week — and yes, $8 might seem like a decent deal for what you at least plan to parse out into two meals — you can make an even-bigger, equally delicious burrito bowl for a fraction of the price at home. I promise.

And don’t forget. when you’re the chef, you have complete control over the ingredients, including how much fat and sugar goes into your dish. Even “healthy” restaurants likely add more oils and additives than you would in your own kitchen.

Plus, if your town’s Chipotle line is anything like mine was, cooking at home probably won’t even take you that much longer.

7. Strategize When You Do Go Out.

Of course, you’re going to go out to eat occasionally — and you should. Even for the frugal, socializing is an important part of the college experience.

But don’t blow your restaurant dollars on crappy mozzarella sticks and beer you can buy more cheaply at the grocery store.

Hit a restaurant that serves big portions of nutritious, high-quality food. As America becomes increasingly health conscious, there are more and more of these cropping up. Think make-your-own-salad stations or light Asian and Mediterranean fare.

Then, instead of stuffing yourself, eat until you’re comfortable and take the rest home for later. You’ll save money and keep those extra pounds at bay.

8. Keep it simple.

This might be the first time you have a kitchen of your “own,” so it can be exciting to get creative and make all the extravagant dishes your parents would scoff at.

But if a recipe calls for just a pinch of an expensive ingredient that spoils quickly (i.e., every fresh herb ever), your kitchen experiments can easily become a drain on your food budget. And maybe there was some method to mom’s madness in not making deep-fried bacon macaroni and cheese sandwiches every single night.

Base your meals on simple, affordable, and healthy basics, like chicken breast and fresh veggies. Keep a small, but solid, arsenal of spices at hand, and you can easily infuse your meals with exotic flavor profiles with just a simple sprinkle.

Because, listen: Unless you become mega-wealthy, you’re going to be cooking for yourself for the rest of your life. You can wait to become a gourmand until after you have to pay for college textbooks.

9. Get Smart About Grocery Shopping.

The way you approach grocery shopping can have an incredible effect on how much you end up spending and how healthy you’re eating, so it’s a good idea to have a plan.

But don’t worry. Since you follow The Penny Hoarder, learning to save money on groceries doesn’t have to take up a whole credit hour’s worth of your time.

Check out our existing grocery-saving guidelines, like these and consider running your very own supermarket comparison — here’s a worksheet to make it easier.

And we know you’re busy, but if you have time, consider making multiple stops on your grocery trips. You might be surprised at how much you could save!

Finally, don’t dismiss couponing and always check for rebates on Ibotta. The app is simple to use and has great cash-back deals, often even for super-healthy foods like fresh veggies. All you have to do is snap a quick pic of your receipt!

10. Team Up With Your Roommates.

If you share your apartment with roommates, you have a whole host of savings opportunities you wouldn’t otherwise.

Buying ingredients in bulk can be much cheaper, and planning and prepping meals ahead of time saves money, energy planning and time during your busy week.

But if you live alone, you’ll likely be mighty sick of whatever you’re eating by Thursday, even if it looked divine on Sunday.

If you can split the task of meal planning — and the cost of the groceries — with your roommates, you’ll avoid that problem. Try having each member of the household make a cheap, but delicious, batch meal at regular intervals throughout the week.

For instance, maybe you make chicken and wild rice on Sunday, Jill throws a roast in the crock pot on Wednesday, and Nathan pulls together his famous jambalaya on Friday. Everybody shares everything, including grocery costs, and no one is deathly sick of any dish after 15 servings.

Another option open to you if you have roommates: You could even go in for a warehouse club membership together, which can help you save on healthy staples like grains or bulk servings of frozen veggies and meat.

Just make sure to read the fine print and make sure the membership will work for non-familial households.

There you have it, Penny Hoarders, a crash course on healthy eating! Was than a easy A, or what?

Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) is a freelance writer whose work has been featured at Ms. Magazine, BUST, Roads & Kingdoms, The Write Life, Nashville Review, Word Riot and elsewhere.

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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