If you’re 62 or older and love the outdoors, this is the deal of a lifetime.
For a one-time fee of $10, you can purchase a senior pass that will get you into all 417 national parks and more than 2,000 other recreational sites managed by the federal government for free for the rest of your life.
And the sooner you buy your pass, the better.The cost, which has been the same since 1994, is soon expected to shoot up to $80,according to the AARP.
Why Is the National Parks Senior Pass Price Going Up?
The prices are going up because Congress approved the National Park Service Centennial Act in December. The act raises fees and sets up an endowment to help improve the visitor experience and provide more opportunities to volunteer in parks all over the country.
If you want a Senior Pass, you have to be 62 years old before you can buy it. That means if you’re still 61 when the prices change, you’ll unfortunately be stuck paying the higher fee.
But if you’re already of age, all you need is an ID to prove your age and residency.
The most economic option is to buy your pass in person. While some states like Delaware only have two places across the entire state to purchase a pass in person, other states like Arizona have several dozen.
Checkthis listto find out where you can purchase your pass in your home state. Be sure to call before you go to check the hours for the location.
If you don’t want to make the trek just to pick up a pass, you can also apply for yoursonline or with a mail-in application, but it will cost you an extra $10 for document processing.
Desiree Stennett (@desi_stennett) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. The prices will change long before she turns 62.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.
When it comes to career advancement, there really is no instruction manual or guidebook.A mentor helps you feel like you’re not in this alone.
Having a mentor is like having a big brother or favorite aunt looking out for your career, answering questions when you’re confused and providing guidance when you have no idea what direction you should be going in.
NowLinkedIn, your favorite social-networking site for all things career-focused, is coming out with a new feature that’s intended to help your work life flourish.
By the end of the summer, all members should have a new dashboard with a “career advice hub” where they can sign up to get advice from a more senior member who’ll serve as an informal mentor,Fast Company reported.
And apparently, many upper-level professionals on LinkedIn are just itching to share their knowledge. An internal analysis found89% of senior leaders on the site would be interesting in giving career advice,Fast Company reported.
The new feature will be free to LinkedIn members(a basic membership is free as well!), and you can specify what you desire in a mentor by using parameters such as industry and location, as well as what type of advice you’re looking to receive.
LinkedIn’s algorithm will then match you up with suitable professionals. Next, both parties have the opportunity to verify whether they’re interested in connecting, and the mentoring relationship can begin!
Fast Company saidthe new feature will start rolling out today to “a small subset” of select membersand will expand as it’s tested over the summer.
Suzi Owens, group manager of consumer products and corporate communications at LinkedIn,saidthis new feature is not designed to replace traditional, long-term mentorshipsbut instead is intended to serve as an outlet where professionals can get “quick question” requests answered by someone with more experience.
But I can imagine if a pair makes a really solid connection, this could serve as a springboard to establishing a substantial mentoring relationship that spills over into real life and lasts years.
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.
The three major credit reporting agencies are going to be a bit more lenient with medical debt beginning this fall, and that could mean relief for the millions of American working to pay it off.
According to NPR,Experian, Equifax and TransUnion have all agreed to wait 180 days before reflecting unpaid medical debtin credit score calculations.
The change takes effect Sept. 15.
Before now, there was no uniform way to determine when unpaid medical debt would mean a hit to your credit.
“Rather than attempting to collect past-due medical bills themselves, hospitals and doctors’ offices typically engage collection agencies to chase down payments,” NPR reported. “But the timing on when providers take that step varies widely.”
That meant some debt could be transferred to a collection agency as soon as 30 days after billing, when patients may still be working through disputes with their insurance companies.
This new grace period is meant to give people more time to pay bills themselves or make sure that bills that should be covered by insurance don’t negatively impact theircredit scores.
This means an unexpected doctor’s visit won’t suddenly derail your efforts toraise your credit scoreas you prepare to buy a new house or car.
Other Reporting Changes That Could Mean a Higher Credit Score
This isn’t the only recent change credit reporting agencies have made that could boost your credit score.
That change went into effect July 1.While most people will only see a modest boost, others could watch their credit scores jump more than 40 pointswhen the reporting agencies remove their liens and judgements.
If any of these changes impact you, it might be time tostart tracking your credit score(for free, of course) to help you along the road to better credit.
Desiree Stennett (@desi_stennett) 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.
For the better part of a decade, I trotted the globe usingfrequent flyermiles,teaching Englishabroad,volunteeringin several countries and working a variety of seasonal adventure jobs.
Because I want all of you to experience the magic of exploring somewhere you’ve never been, here’s how to travel the world for free.
1. Play With Polar Bears
Due to retreating sea ice, polar bears have become classified as athreatened species.
Though we’ll hopefully figure out ways to reduce climate change and bring their numbers back up, now is still the time to see these beautiful animals in their natural habitat.
You’ll get free housing and food — plus a decent income — for spending months on the bottom of the world.
Because you won’t have anywhere to spend the money during your stint, you’ll also leave with a significant chunk of change…
Not only that, but Antarctic employers also pay for your transportation to the continent.
Because you can still use your own frequent flyer account, these round-trip flights will earn you enough miles for a free ticket to a different destination during the off-season.
3.Cuddle With Baby Goats
This is a real thing that exists. Trust me,I’ve done it.
ThroughWorld Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms(WWOOF), you can get free room and board in exchange for four to six hours of work per day. Gigs range from crushing grapes in New Zealand to cuddling goats in North Carolina.
And WWOOF is far from your only option; there are several more types ofwork exchangesthat’ll help you travel for free.
4. Get Free Plane Tickets
Transportation is one of the most expensive parts of travel.
Without a doubt, the quickest and easiest way to get free flights is to rack up points with a rewards credit card.
We’ve got a whole list of some of thebest rewards credit cards right here. None of them come with annual fees and they all have sign-up bonuses.
What I like to do is just put my regular purchases on the card each month (groceries, gas, and everything else) and then save the cash-back up until the end of the year. I’m usually able to save about $1,000, which I can use to cover the cost of 2-3 plane tickets.
We advocate responsible credit card use — so, please, only get a credit card if you’ll pay the bill off in full each month.
No rewards are worth going into debt over.
5.Hoard Points
Have you heard ofMyPoints? It’s a cash-back site that lets you earn rewards by shopping online and printing coupons.
I use it all time because it’s an instant way to save on everything you buy, including travel accommodations.
For example, it gives you up to six points for every dollar you spend on Expedia. Later, you can redeem those points for cash.
But, enough about that, here’s how to get a free $10 Amazon gift card that you can use to buy travel supplies (or anything for that matter):
Use the MyPoints portal the next time you need to shop online (it’s connected to thousands of stores including Walmart, Amazon, and Target).
As long as you spend $10 at any of those stores, MyPoints will reward you with 1,750 bonus points which you can redeem for a free $10 Amazon gift card.
6. Join the Cartel
Traveling for freetakes a lot of work — otherwise everyone would do it. So sometimes it’s smart to get help from the experts.
Chris Guillebeau, one of my personal heroes, has visited every country in the world. Lucky for us mortals, he shares his secrets through theTravel Hacking Cartel.
As a Cartel member, you’ll receive several emails each week with promotions and tips to help you earn more travel rewards.
Membership only costs $1 for the first 14 days, and $15 to $39 per month after that. It also comes with a unique guarantee: Earn 100,000 miles — enough for four plane tickets — in your first year of membership, or get your money back.
I’d say that’s a bet worth taking!
7. Eat Out at Restaurants
Cooking at home is an excellent way to save money, but sometimes you just can’t be bothered.
If you do decide to eat out, make sure you sign up for travel rewards programs first.
Major airlines such asUnited,DeltaandAmericanall have dining programs that give you miles when you eat at one of their affiliated restaurants. And, oftentimes, you can get a bonus just for signing up.
8. Set Sail
Is there any better way to see the world than by boat?
Probably not.
But #yachtlife is never gonna happen for me, unless I happen to marry a millionaire.
Since that’s looking fairly unlikely, I’ve often considered joining the crew for a sailboat orcruise ship. Thesetravel jobscover room and board and allow you to see many different locations within a single season.
Don’t be like the countless people who wish they could go places — but don’t want to put in the effort travel hacking requires.
From experience, I can tell you: It’s a lot of work, but it’s so worth it.
Instead of sitting aroundwishing you could travel, follow these tips, and explore the world for free.
9. Earn Amazon Gift Cards When You Stay in Hotels
If you’re booking hotels and not earning some sort of reward for doing so, you’re doing it wrong. There are tons of programs that’ll reward you for booking rooms.
One isRocketmiles. The hotel-booking website allows wanderers to book hotels all over the world and earn Amazon Gift Cards back — up to $100 per night, every night. The site is free to use; you just have to be sure to book your reservations through Rocketmiles.
You can even book for other people and still earn gift cards.
Advertiser Disclosure: Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which ThePennyHoarder.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). We do not feature all available credit card offers or all credit card issuers.
Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.
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.
Microsoft wants to extend broadband services to rural America by using the buffer zones separating individual television channels in the airwaves.Microsoft plans to partner with rural telecommunications providers in 12 states, from the Dakotas and Arizona to a far eastern edge of Maine. The strategy calls for a combination of private and public investments and regulatory cooperation from the Federal Communications Commission to get about 2 million rural Americans [...]
Source Business - poconorecord.com http://ift.tt/2uaRfKd
Tomorrow turns into next week. Next week turns into next month. Then next month turns into a New Year’s resolution, and we all know those never get accomplished…
But we have four tips that’ll help youquicklyget a handle on your finances.
By quickly, we mean pour yourself a glass of wine and dedicate one evening to your money. Or brew a pot of coffee on a Saturday morning.
Whichever you prefer, managing your money doesn’t have to be a drawn-out chore.
Here’s how to manage your money in a single sitting.
1. Get a Big Picture View of Your Financial Situation
For this, we recommend you pull your credit report.
*Gasp.*
It’ll be OK. We promise. And it’s free.
Use a service likeFreeCreditReport.com. Here, you can check out your account history, hard inquiries and any negative information.
Not to be negative… but that last part is key. If you have any loan defaults, late payments, delinquencies — you name it — set up a plan of action to tackle those and sort those out.
Every 30 days, the report will update, so if you’re taking steps in the right direction, it should show.
Colorful charts and graphs are excellent visual aids in understanding where your money is coming from — and going.
Clarity Moneyoffers just that. But it also goes beyond those charts; it informs youhowto make better financial choices.
For example, Clarity will show you a rundown of your monthly recurring charges. Think: Netflix, gym memberships, rent and that magazine you subscribed to years ago. Rather than just saying, “Oh, I’ll cancel that… soon,” Clarity lets you cancel it right then and there with one tap.
The app will also help you negotiate your existing bills, too — so you don’t have to deal with any annoying hold music on customer service lines.
Knowinghow much you can sparecan be a challenge to figure out, but you also need to determine where you’re going to stash it — because keeping it in your checking account is too tempting and isn’t earning you any interest or rewards.
Also, seeing a chunk of your money disappear into a far-off account isn’t fun. ButChime, an online-only, fee-free bank account has gamified the savings challenge — and rewards you for it, too.
Here’s how it works:Open a Chime account, and set up automatic savings. Each time you swipe your Chime Visa Debit Card, the transaction is rounded up to the nearest dollar, and the extra cents trickle into your savings.
It’s like your own automated piggy bank (without the germy coins and annoying drugstore change machines).
Even better, each Friday, Chime grants you a 10% bonus on your round-ups — up to $500 a year.
Here’s an example of how much you could earn back in just one day:
Grocery store: $30.08
Gas station: $42.92
Coffee shop: $2.38
With these three transactions, you’ll bank $1.38. Plus you’ll earn 10% back, making that $1.50 — in one day. If you keep this up for a year… that adds up to over $500.
And you don’t even have to think about it — just go about your daily transactions.
4. Start Investing — Even With as Little as $5
Now that you’ve got all ofthattaken care of, here’s a little bonus for the brave.
Start investing.
No, we’re not crazy.Start by downloading a micro-investing app likeAcornsorStash.
You can set it up with as little as $5. Then, just like your savings account, automate it. Let even just $5 go into that account each month.
You’re letting your money build and grow without even thinking about it.
Now, managing your money isn’t that miserable, is it?
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.
Here's the story of how I went from having $20,000 in debt to becoming a millionaire, plus some of the lessons I learned along the way:
Do you have what it takes to become a millionaire?
I'm going to be really honest here. For years, I never imagined I would become a millionaire one day.
You see, I had too many things working against me.
My father filed for bankruptcy not once, but twice. My mom followed suit. Both of them were in financial ruin, as they were constantly dealing with one financial crisis or another.
Unfortunately, these money lessons were passed down to me.
Simply put, struggling with money was all I knew.
As a result, I failed hard at money in my early 20's. My financial journey began with me opening credit cards I could not afford to manage, taking out student loans I didn't need, and landing in $20,000 worth of credit card debt.
Once I reached that financial low, I can tell you with certainty that there was no way I could imagine becoming wealthy.
And now that I've reflected back on my past, I can see some of the core principles that got me there.
I firmly believe that, if you apply these principles to your own financial life, you also can also build long-lasting wealth. If you're ready to go against the grain and change your fortunes, here are eight important steps to follow:
Step #1: Realize Your Harsh Truths
As I mentioned, I had everything going against me. When I was a young adult first starting out, my father actually encouraged me to take out credit cards whenever I wanted to buy new clothes. He said,
“Oh, if you can't afford it, you can always take out a credit card and just make the payment.”
This was the type of financial advice that was passed down to me, so I thought that was just the way things were. Unfortunately, this advice led me to rack up $20,000 worth of credit card debt in my early 20's.
So, the first thing I had to do was recognize an incredibly harsh truth. I had to recognize the fact my father was giving me bad advice. He loved me, but that doesn't mean he was in a position to help me manage my money.
For my situation to improve, I had to realize that I would be better off if I ignored financial advice coming from my parents.
Chances are, you have some of your own harsh truths to realize. The first step to becoming a millionaire is figuring out what they are and how to handle them.
Step 2: Find Your Battle Buddy
When I was in college, I let some of the bad financial advice I was getting seep over into my personal life. For example, I helped my college girlfriend open a credit card, which she used to rack up her own credit card debt. Yikes.
While this is an unfortunate part of my past, it brings me to point number two. If you want to improve your financial life, you need to get a “battle buddy” – a friend or companion who is fighting the good fight right along with you.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the military, a battle buddy is someone you are introduced to during basic training. Your battle buddy becomes somewhat of a “best friend.” They know everything about you – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Most importantly, they are there to speak the truth to you even when you don't want to hear it.
My girlfriend (who is now my wife) was the best battle buddy anyone could ask for. She spoke the truth to me constantly, even when I didn't want to hear it.
When I wanted to buy something I couldn't afford, she was the first person to tell me to put my wallet away. While it definitely hurt my pride and my ego, she was right. I didn't want to hear it, but I needed to hear it.
And, I am so glad I listened.
Once I took her advice to heart, I started paying off that credit card along with my nagging student loans. After a few short years, all my debt was gone.
Having a financial battle buddy made all the difference for me, and it can also help you. Ask yourself who in your life you can turn to for accountability. Chances are, you have a battle buddy already and don't even know it.
Step #3: Learn When To Say “No”
Learning how and when to say “no” isn't easy, but it's a skill all adults eventually need to master. If you want to get your money straight especially, learning how to say “no” (even when it's hard) is an absolute must.
Here's a personal example where I had to man up and say “no.”
My mom had just moved to Las Vegas, and this was right before the real estate bubble of 2008. Her property had skyrocketed in value, which was good news.
Unfortunately, she ended up taking some of the cash that she had from the previous sale of her house and using that money to invest in Las Vegas real estate. Now, I don't know if you know or remember what happened, but those investment properties were no investments at all.
In the end, she ended up losing all of her money and all of those real estate investments.
But, before she lost all that money, she asked if I would help her cosign a loan.
Of course, my battle buddy didn't like this idea. When I told my soon-to-be-wife about the situation, she shut me down really fast. But, there's even more bad news. Since I had already hinted to my mother that I would do it, I had to go back and tell her I changed my mind.
As you can imagine, she wasn't happy about it at all. She was frustrated and disappointed, and she let me know. The thing is, I knew saying “no” was the right answer. I couldn't move forward knowing what a huge personal risk it would be.
Do people in your life ask for loans? Do they ask for a bailout when times are tough? Do they want to lean on your good credit because they ruined their own? Do they take advantage of you on an ongoing basis?
If you truly want to get ahead, you have to stand up for yourself. Learn to say “no” when you know it's required, and you'll be a lot better off.
Step #4: Let Your Hustle Do the Talking
The fourth principle that allowed me to become a millionaire is probably the most important. While a lot of people talk a big game when it comes to their financial “wins,” not everyone backs their words up with action.
This is one area of my life where I do rather well. While I wasn't the smartest kid in school or even college, I have always been able to hustle. When I was in college full-time and had a calendar full of classes, I was also in the Army National Guard. During my senior year of college, I had two part-time jobs.
I always told myself that somebody might outsmart me, but they'll never out-hustle me.
When I became a financial advisor, I applied the same hustle to my game. I started cold calling, then eventually started doing seminars. I hustled to grow my practice because I did not want to lose.
From there, I continued that hustle into the launch of my blog. I also launched a YouTube channel and a podcast shortly after. From there, I kept on hustling and eventually wrote my first book, Soldier of Finance.
What's the lesson here?
You might not be the smartest person in the world, but guess what? You can still work harder than the person next to you.
Don't talk about how you're going to succeed; hustle until you get there. Words mean nothing, but hard work will get you through to the other side.
Step #5: Never Stop Learning
The fifth principle that allowed me to become a millionaire was the fact I have never stopped learning. While a lot of people want to stop learning once they graduate college, a continued investment in knowledge is an investment that pays off!
One of the areas I was able to learn more was in my job as a financial advisor. Over time, I took more courses and became a Certified Financial Planner™ professional. Most people assume that, once you become a CFP®, you automatically earn more money.
Unfortunately, this isn't the case. I didn't get a pay raise or a cookie or a trophy. I didn't get anything.
The thing is, the credentials I earned helped me earn money in other ways. Not only did becoming a CFP® give me more credibility, but it helped me grow my business faster.
Was the sacrifice worth it? Yes!
But, was it hard? Oh yes. It was excruciating at times.
While I was studying for my CFP® exam, we were preparing to have our first baby. So, not only was I dealing with sleepless nights, but I was studying during all my free time.
Obviously, I had to learn a lot to become successful at blogging, too. When I first got started, I barely knew how WordPress worked, let alone how to earn money from a website. To get up to speed, I read a ton of blog articles and did a ton of research.
I'm so glad I was always interested in learning something new. If I wasn't, there's no way I would be where I am today.
Step #6: Invest In Yourself
When most people think of investing in themselves, they think of earning an MBA. In my case, I already mentioned that I pursued the CFP® designation. Not only was that a time commitment, but I had to invest into the training, into the books, and into the actual test itself.
Every dollar I spent was money right out of my pocket.
Later on in my career, I invested into coaching programs. I talk a lot about the Strategic Coach program I was a part of, and how that was a huge investment for me costing me $9,000 per year.
Being in that program and in Michael Hyatt's Inner Circle, which was $25,000, is one of the top reasons I am now a millionaire.
These programs cost money, but the investment has paid off in spades.
The bottom line:
Invest in yourself, and you'll see amazing results you couldn't get elsewhere.
Step #7: Surround Yourself with High Achievers
The next step to millions ties into step number six. My wife and I are super selective when it comes to who we spend our time with as well as who our kids spend their time with.
I want to be around people that challenge me and call me out when I deserve it. When you surround yourself with people who care about their own lives and strive to be the best, that kind of energy is contagious.
Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. When you surround yourself with people who aren't actively trying to improve their lives, it's equally contagious. Worse, it's toxic.
Surround yourself with people who want to win – people who are constantly learning and growing. Over time, their energy and presence will rub off on you and help you reach your own goals.
I've had a lot of successes, but I probably had four times as many failures.
Fortunately, I never let those failures define me. I didn't let them derail me, and I didn't let them prevent me from trying something new.
Every successful entrepreneur and every successful millionaire has tons of failures in their history. They may not advertise their failures like I do, but it's true.
The bottom line: Don't be afraid to fail, and when you do, don't let your failures dictate your future. Sweep them under the rug and move on as quickly as you can.
The Bottom Line
When I look back on my story so far, I can say with 100 percent certainty that these steps were the impetus to becoming a millionaire.
Still, success is about a lot more than money…..at least to me. After all, my family's success in life is what made it possible for us to adopt a daughter from the Philippines and raise money for her orphanage.
More money always equals more impact, and that's the main reason I wanted to share these principles with you. Whether your goal is helping others or improving your own life, I truly believe anyone can become a millionaire – even you.
All it takes is a relentless focus on your goals, some hard work, and a promise to never give up.
This time last year, the investment headlines were dominated by the ‘gating’ of property funds that invest directly in commercial properties.
While the stock market had quickly brushed off the shock of a Brexit vote, the commercial property sector was not so fortunate. With far more people than usual wanting to sell on the back of a gloomy UK commercial property outlook, funds’ cash reserves soon ran out and, to avoid having to dispose of buildings quickly and too cheaply, many property funds temporarily suspended trading. It wasn’t until December that they were all back in business.
The suspension of trading was seen very negatively by some but it stopped the panic selling in its tracks, which I think is a good outcome for investors.
Property investment trusts (due to their closed-ended structure) kept trading on the London Stock Exchange after the Brexit vote. However, many saw their share prices fall, with the discount between the value of underlying assets and their share prices widening to more than 20%*.
One year on, most property funds have regained their pre-Brexit values and some have surpassed them. Property investment trusts have also seen a turnaround, with the average bricks and mortar property trust trading on a 3.5% premium as at 31 May 2017**. This means that their share prices are now more expensive than the underlying assets.
While investors were patient during the gating period, the sector has gone out of favour in terms of new money. In January and February 2017, the sector fell out of the top 10 best sellers** when it had held a consistent spot.
What does the future hold?
I still like commercial property as an investment. It adds diversification to an equity and bond fund portfolio. It is also a good source of income, which was paid even while the funds were suspended. As long as investors realise it can be illiquid at times, it has a place in most portfolios.
I’m cautious on the short-term outlook, though. The big risk remains Brexit. If (when) we come out of the single market, office spaces in London, in particular, could free up pretty fast and property values would come under pressure. If the UK economy slows down, property in other regions could cool too.
That said, some longer-term, underlying trends are still very much in place. Companies continue to expand warehouses to service online orders, making industrial property a potential growth space. Hospitality is also an area of interest. Henderson UK Property***, an open-ended fund that invests in physical property, has a nice sector spread across retail, office, industrial and alternatives, which includes leisure.
Another way to invest in property is through a fund that invests in shares in property-related companies, such as house builders and construction materials manufacturers. Over the short term, holdings will be impacted by broader stock market movements – but, longer term, they are more closely linked to the underlying property values.
One fund that stands out is F&C Real Estate Securities. It offers access to UK and major European listed property markets. It buys shares in companies it believes will do well and takes short positions against companies it thinks won’t do so well. The managers of this fund also run the TR Property Trust that invests mainly in property-related companies, but also a small amount of physical property.
I also like Premier Pan-European Property. The manager is pretty bullish, especially in Germany, where it costs more to build a property there than to buy it.
Past performance is not a reliable guide to future returns. You may not get back the amount originally invested, and tax rules can change over time. Mr McDermott’s views are his own and do not constitute financial advice.
* AIC, Property direct – UK sector
** 1 January to 28 February 2017, Chelsea Financial Services Isa client buying habits
One of the biggest struggles I’ve had with my life throughout my twenties and thirties was with this idea that I had to be happy. If I didn’t feel happy, then I was really missing out on life, and that sentiment would often make me feel sad. It would drive me to try to seek some nebulous sense of happiness.
Over time, though, I’ve come to realize that genuine happiness is a nebulous and rare thing. It’s something that you can grab onto for a little while, but it will always fade. Eventually, you come back to kind of a “default state,” and I’ve come to realize that the best moves you can make in life are the ones where you can maximize that “default state” rather than constantly shooting for happiness.
In other words, most of my journey in the last five years has been to find a state of genuine contentment in my life, not happiness. I view contentment as a state where I am generally pleased – and not displeased – with the state of my life and the ground is fertile for bursts of happiness and bursts of sadness are rare. I am not seeking a state of constant gratification or joy, but simply contentment.
(Please note here that I’m not talking about clinical depression or other mental health challenges, but the day-to-day struggles that many people have with seeking happiness and contentment. Mental health challenges are serious and far outside the realm of what I am discussing here, and if you find that you’re struggling with finding any non-negative feelings in life, you should speak to a mental health professional immediately.)
Here are a few of the things I’ve discovered over the years on my own journey to find happiness and how I began to realize that contentment is a much better goal.
First of all, happiness is extremely fleeting. I certainly don’t persist in a state of true happiness for long periods, nor does anyone else I know. Sure, I experience happiness fairly often, but that feeling goes away pretty quickly even at the best moments. I fall back to a default state.
Why not strive to be happy all of the time? The truth is that when something special happens, I want to have an elevated feeling to go along with it. If you strive to maintain a special feeling all of the time, soon, nothing feels special.
More than that, when you buy happiness, it becomes more and more and more fleeting. It might feel wonderful to go buy something you’ve been wanting for a while and you feel a burst of happiness when you do it, but when you go back to that well again, it’s not quite as joyful as before, and the joy becomes less and less and less until the purchase becomes meaningless.
The default state – which I call contentment – is an overall sense that things are good, but isn’t strongly joyful in and of itself. I don’t feel constant happiness, but I do have a sense that things are in a good place in my life. I have a life that is full of things that may naturally bring about happiness, but it’s not forced. It’s just there, like fertile ground. The natural course of my life spreads seeds onto that fertile ground which may blossom into happiness, and by making it fertile, happiness happens fairly often on its own.
In the end, a content life is much like tending to a garden. You’re making the topsoil as rich as possible. You’re removing rocks and debris – the bad things in your life – and leaving only rich soil that’s full of positive possibility. When you do that, happiness happens naturally – you don’t have to buy things to force it. You already have things in your life that bring positive feelings without having to buy things and your life is primed to have great things grow in it.
Does contentment mean life is perfect and wonderful? Absolutely not. It simply means that you’ve put in effort to make your life as good as possible with what you have. You’ve put in effort to make the soil of your life as rich as possible. You’ve removed a lot of rocks and debris as well. Your life is as primed as possible for good things to grow in it.
Steps to Building a Content Life
So, what exactly makes up a “content” life? A content life is one where you recognize a lot of positive options at your disposal while also not being exposed to significant stresses. In other words, when you take action to minimize or eliminate things that might add to your stress and distraction and discomfort, you’re making for a more content life, and when you take action to improve the life options available to you, you’re also making for a more content life.
There are a lot of different strategies that one might employ to build a content life, but many of them vary from person to person. What each person really wants out of life differs quite a lot. However, I’ll suggest the following as being strategies that will work for most people.
Note that a lot of these strategies either revolve around or touch upon finances. Why is that? Personal finance can create a lot of stress in a person’s life, taking us away from contentment. It can also help enrich the soil and increase the options available to us. Both of those things are a major source of contentment. I would go so far as to say that making sensible personal finance moves is the most important thing you can do to build lasting contentment.
Here are several strategies that you can use to improve your contentment with life.
Build an emergency fund. An emergency fund is simply a pool of money in a bank account that you can tap in the event of an emergency to help you deal with that emergency. Having an emergency fund quickly eases a lot of stress that people feel about potential unexpected events. For example, with an emergency fund, the stress of a car breakdown melts from a mountain into a molehill.
How? Simply go to your bank and ask them to start moving a small amount each week automatically into your savings account and don’t touch that money until there’s an emergency. If your bank won’t do this, sign up for an online savings account at Ally Bank or some other established online bank and set up the automatic transfer there. Leave that money alone and only tap it when you really need it.
Pay off your worst debts quickly and avoid acquiring more debts. Having debts hanging over your head creates a level of stress that seeps through your life, making it harder to feel much contentment about anything. Getting rid of the worst of your debts will not only alleviate that, but it’ll drastically help your monthly cash flow.
How? The key here is to cut back on your spending. Put your non-essential spending – meaning everything that isn’t bills or gas or food from the grocery store – on a tight budget. I recommend withdrawing a pool of cash each month for all of those expenses. Use that pool for everything – a cup of coffee from Starbucks, meals eaten out, that item you saw at the sporting goods store, and so on. Once you do that, and stick to that, you’ll find it much easier to handle your bills, and the only spending you’ll really lose is the least essential stuff, the stuff that’s just completely forgettable.
Establish a healthy career with lots of options if things get rocky. No matter what your job is, you can take a lot of steps to improve your options going forward. You can open yourself up to raises, to promotions, and to new jobs.
How? Treat your downtime at your job as a way to “invest” in future jobs and pay raises. When you don’t have an immediate task, use that time to build strong relationships with coworkers and with other people in your field, to take on tasks that need to be done even if you haven’t been told to do them, to learn new things, to ask questions. Prepare yourself for the things you’ll be called on to do if you have a better job than the one you have now and build the connections you’ll need to get there. Even if nothing comes of it, you will have drastically improved your job security at your current job, easing at least one significant degree of life stress.
Build lots of strong positive relationships with the people in your life; care for them without strings attached. Having lots of positive relationships lifts you up and provides a strong and fertile foundation for your social life and for your mental well-being. One of the challenges, though, is that relationships often become burdened with expectation. Cultivate relationships without expectation and just see where they go. Don’t expect that everyone will be perfect and reliable, but give of yourself anyway. You’ll find that if you don’t expect anything in return from your relationships, you’re always pleasantly surprised.
How? Ask questions of people and listen to their responses; don’t just use the conversation as an opportunity to say what you’re thinking. Go to lots of social events and rather than feeling awkward, ask questions of people and value their opinion. They will appreciate it. Offer your help when it’s needed in terms of action, not just words. Don’t expect things in return, and be gracious and thankful when people help you. You’ll build a lot of great relationships naturally by doing this.
Improve your physical health through exercise and better eating. Improving your diet and your physical shape will directly improve how you feel on a daily basis. You don’t have to become vegan or become an athlete to do this, either. Just make little changes, apply them consistently, and stick with them.
How? For food, I like Michael Pollan’s guidance: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” In other words, avoid processed and prepackaged food when possible, eat only until you’re not hungry and not until you’re stuffed, and make fruits and vegetables the majority of your diet. Pretty easy. As for exercise, just go for a walk each day or go on a bike ride each day. Any steps you take beyond these are great, but these basic steps exceed what many people do.
Improve your mental health through adequate sleep and meditation/prayer. Insufficient sleep has large negative mental and physical health consequences. Getting adequate sleep is an enormous boon for one’s health, both mental and physical. Meditation (of which focused prayer is one particular type) is similarly beneficial for improving mood and increasing the effortless tolerance of pain. Both lead directly to a mindset that’s more open to contentment, whereas lack of sleep and focus tend to be fertile ground for discontentment.
How? Go to bed a little earlier in the evening. Try to strive to wake up most mornings naturally, before your alarm. Spend a few minutes each day quietly focusing on nothing more than your breathing or on nothing more than a single positive message in your mind, bringing your mind gently back to that focus point every time it wanders. Both practices will do wonders for your everyday mental state.
Find fulfilling hobbies that don’t require continual purchases for enjoyment. There are many, many hobbies out there that have very little ongoing cost and provide a great deal of personal joy. Reading books. Going on walks and hikes. Physical fitness. Participating in a sport. Gardening. Volunteering. The key is to find hobbies that don’t require continuous purchases and that focus on actually doing things rather than acquiring things or spending money on experiences.
How? Try different things. Think of the things you’ve had an interest in at various points in your life, then dabble in the ones that don’t require a lot of money and see if they click with you. Read a book. Go on a hike. Check out Meetup and see if anything interesting is happening around you. Check out VolunteerMatch and look for some volunteer opportunities near you. The key here is to do things that you enjoy that don’t involve spending money.
When things worry you, take action to minimize the potential harm that worry could cause. All of us have stresses in our lives – things that bring us worry when we’re going to sleep at night. When those worries become intense, they damage our sense of contentment with life and bring us down. Thus, it makes sense to try to take action to alleviate some of our biggest worries.
How? Spend some time assessing the things that bother you the most, come up with a plan of action for the biggest worries, and then move forward on that plan. Taking the time to actually address the worries in your life with real action eliminates a great deal of stress and adds greatly to life’s contentment.
Stop blaming others for your problems. In the end, the only thing you can control is yourself. You can’t control what others do. The difference between a good outcome and a bad outcome, in the end, is you. People are going to behave badly sometimes no matter what you do. Assigning blame for all of life’s problems to others simply allows you to continue to make poor choices. Stop blaming others. Start looking at what you could do better.
How? Spend some time journaling each day, reflecting a bit on what you can do to improve yourself and the things you are grateful for. Once a day, make a simple list of five things in the world that you’re grateful for. Then, think of one thing you did in the last twenty four hours that you could have done better and write about it. What did you mess up? How could you have done it better? At the same time, think of one thing you did in the last twenty four hours that was really good. How can you replicate that kind of thing in the future? The thinking that goes into those writings will go a long way toward improving your appreciation of the world and cutting down on the blame game.
Downsize your possessions a little. This might seem like a surprising suggestion, but it helps in several ways. For starters, it gets rid of the sense that you have a lot of stuff that you should be using but aren’t. Many of the items in your closet also have monetary value, which can help with the financial aspects. It also makes it easier to both clean and maintain things, as well as to potentially move.
How? Go through your closets and your shelves. Anything that you haven’t used in a year and won’t realistically use in the very near future should be sold off. Use the proceeds to build an emergency fund and knock down some debts, thus taking care of another piece of this puzzle.
Final Thoughts on Finding Contentment
Happiness is a wonderful thing to find in life. It’s something that many of us seek. The truth, however, is that happiness is fleeting. It doesn’t last, and the harder you try to preserve those moments of happiness, the quicker they slip through your fingers. Efforts to recreate happy moments usually fall flat as well.
A much better approach is to shoot for contentment – a sense that life is good on the whole, but not a constant state of happiness. What you’ll find in a content life is that it is fertile ground for happy moments.
Contentment comes from finding space in your life for things that can potentially bring you joy and from eliminating stresses in your life, too. It comes from putting yourself and your relationships into the best possible state. It also comes from having a strong grip on the basics of your finances. The best part is that many of those factors are interrelated – significant improvements in one area often lead to improvements in other areas, and those collectively lead to a more contented life.
The beauty of contentment is that your day to day life feels … good. It’s not a constant state of bliss and happiness, but it’s a state where you feel good and you have good relationships in your life. It’s in that state that happiness arises automatically and with surprising frequency, like beautiful flowers blooming in a fertile field.
All you have to do is make the soil fertile and plant the seeds, and that’s what the strategies above are all about. They’re all centered around making the soil of your life fertile by making yourself healthy and putting yourself in a good financial state and doing some real self-reflection, then planting seeds in that life by building great relationships and finding hobbies and passions that don’t drain your wallet. Together, they build a wonderful life. A content life.
Not everyone’s life is going to look the same. Some people may find contentment living alone in a small apartment in the city. Others may find it in a big house in the country with a big family. Still others may find it by being devoted to a career, or through a particular passion. What these people all have in common is that they put in the effort to make their mind and body clear, they get their finances under control, and they find things that bring them joy without draining their mind and body and finances. These tools can help you find that place, whatever it might be.
A keen grasp of fractions and an understanding of the importance of timing will help this investor
Q: I was interested to read your article ‘Easy Tracker Fund Portfolios for 2017 and Beyond’. As I have just retired and am a beginner investor, I was very interested in the Home and Away Shares portfolio as well as the Simple Two Assets portfolio Moneywise suggested. To get started, I decided to open a Charles Stanley Direct Investment account.
But then I saw that the ‘buy’ prices for two funds in the Moneywise portfolios – Vanguard FTSE Developed World ex-UK Equity Index Fund Acc and Vanguard UK Gov Bond Index Acc – were £302 and £158 respectively for each fund share. I was planning to put about £400 in one of these funds, but I wouldn’t get many shares for that.
Is that how funds work or can you just invest a nominal amount of money in each?
Steve Hazell via email
Initial diagnosis
When you buy an open-ended fund, such as a unit trust or oeic (which stands for ‘open-ended investment company’), you purchase a piece of the basket of assets that it owns. The tiny pieces of the fund are called units in the case of a unit trust and shares in the case of an oeic.
The fund converts your investment into the correct number of units or shares based on the underlying value of the assets in the fund at the time of your investment.
Shares in open-ended investment funds, such as the tracker funds in the Moneywise portfolios, can be bought in fractions of a share.
You are right to ask the question, because shares in companies traded on the London Stock Exchange cannot be divided, so investors who know this are easily confused when it comes to funds. If you wanted to buy shares in petrol giant BP, for example, which at the time of writing on 30 May were trading at 474p, you’d have to buy in multiples of £4.74. However, you’re not planning on investing directly in shares.
Your fund medicine
Rob Morgan, pensions and investments analyst at Charles Stanley Direct, says: “The unit prices on Vanguard funds are high, but that is irrelevant as the buyer will simply end up with the correct fraction of a unit to reflect the amount they use to purchase. It may feel psychologically better to have 150 units of a £1 fund than 1.5 units of a £100 fund, but it will not affect returns in the slightest.
“There is no requirement to buy ‘whole’ units. Investors can buy any fund they choose irrespective of the unit price and could end up with fractions of units in some cases where purchase amounts are low – for instance, with regular savings.
“On the Charles Stanley Direct platform, you can choose whether to buy a number of units or to buy using a monetary amount, for example, £1,000. If choosing the latter (which is most common among investors), you will almost inevitably end up with a fraction of a unit in any fund chosen.”
This would be the case on other DIY investment platforms too. “Many of Vanguard fund’s seem to have these high denominations, but they are by no means the only ones,” adds Mr Morgan. “There are plenty of funds priced in the 100s of pounds.”
Looking deeper
You can buy or sell shares of companies listed on the London Stock Exchange at a known price any time during trading hours (8am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday). However, when you buy or sell units or shares in funds, be aware that funds are usually only priced and traded once a day.
The reason for this is that the fund company has to look at all of the assets that are in the basket, determine their value and divide that number by the total number of units or shares in the fund. As you can imagine, this can be a complicated process, and the fund company only wants to go through it once a day, usually at noon.
Because of this, it is safer to buy or sell your funds in the morning, while you know the price and there is only a short window for the stock market to experience an upset. If you place your order in the afternoon, your trade won’t be conducted until the following noon, yo u won’t know the price in advance and the stock market could move against you in the meantime.
Could a new kid on the meal kit block spark a price war?
That’s not the obvious objective ofDinnerly, the newest product by the folks atMarley Spoon. But the company is promising ready-to-prep meals delivered to your doorstep for $5 a plate — half the price of its competitors.
“Though there’s been innovation in the meal kit space over the last several years, the most clear and important customer need has gone unaddressed — affordability,” Marley Spoon CEO and founder Fabian Siegel said in a statement. “The next step is making easy weeknight cooking accessible to millions more. We are excited and proud to deliver a weeknight cooking solution that doesn’t force customers to choose between convenience, quality, and cost.”
How Dinnerly Cuts Costs for $5 Servings
Dinnerly is considerably less expensive than other meal kits.Pay $38.99 for three meals serving two adults, and $68.99 for three meals to serve four adults.(Shipping costs of $8.99 per box are included.)
The service promises five easy-to-follow cooking steps and “minimal chopping” for meals that take a maximum of 30 minutes to prepare.
“Dinnerly is able to keep costs low by offering a fixed weekly menu, and by cutting down on excess packaging and not printing recipe cards, which will in turn reduce packaging waste at home,” a fact sheet for the service explains.
Meals that are easier to assemble while being fit for families may run the risk of… well, being boring. Dinnerly’s initial weekly menus have pasta as a frequent meal base, while more expensive meal kits seem to rely on potatoes, in our experience.
It’s Only the Beginning for Meal Kits
Meal kit pricing is one of the biggest barriers for people who have plenty of dinnertime options. At the lowest end of cost, there’s regular old fast food. Fast casual, takeout and delivery options can also typically get you an adult-size serving for under $10. And anyone who scours the grocery store circular each week knows that $10 per serving — thetypical benchmarkfor meal kits — is generous.
Nobody’s signing up for meal kits to save money, though. It’s all about convenience: Not having to wait for takeout or haul your reusable bags to the grocery store week after week is a huge selling point. But as dinnertime approaches, you still have tocookthe foodthat a subscription service drops at your door.
Maybe thatactually having to cookelement is part of the meal kit industry’s problem with customer retention.One studyof new subscribers showed 48% customer retention after six months and 29% at the one-year mark. Combine poor retention with the tactics meal kit companies take to lure you back (Whodoesn’twant 50% off one more week of meals?), and it looks harder and harder for meal box companies to maintain their profit margins.
Dinnerly could ignite some competition to merge convenience and cost for a better meal kit experience. Dinnerly’s service is available on the West Coast now, with expansion to other regions planned for later this year.
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.
It’s well known that earning and maintaining good credit is to your benefit. Perhaps because our credit scores have such a big impact on our lives, credit scoring models, such as those created by FICO and VantageScore, receive a lot of unwarranted criticism from consumers, consumer advocates, the media, and many others. When it comes to credit reporting and scoring, almost everyone’s a critic, unless they’ve got an 850 credit score in their pocket.
Although misguided, it’s somewhat understandable why some might harbor resentment toward the way credit scores are calculated and used in the United States. No one likes to feel judged. There’s also no question that life with credit problems can be difficult on many levels.
Unfortunately, these feelings of disenchantment can lead to some dangerous misconceptions about credit scores.
The Problem with Blaming the System
A lot of misinformation floats around the internet on the subject of credit scores. Adding to this problem is the fact that many financial celebrities gain a huge following by essentially blaming the credit scoring system and/or credit cards for everyone’s debt related problems.
These popular advisors will even go as far as to call credit scores “debt scores.” They help to perpetuate the myth that credit scoring models reward you for going into debt and, as a result, building a cash-only life free from credit is the best way to live.
Of course, the idea that credit scores reward you for going into debt is completely false. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Blaming credit scoring systems or credit cards for your problems is like blaming your scale or forks for those extra pounds you’re carrying around. Not only does this line of thought defy logic, but if something else is responsible for your problems, then you have no power to change your situation.
To understand why having debt isn’t actually good for your credit scores, you should first take a look at a credit score’s purpose. Credit scores are designed to help lenders predict the risk of doing business with you. This is achieved by analyzing the data on your credit reports, and producing a number that lenders can use to easily determine your level of credit risk. The higher the score, the less risk the lender is taking on by extending financing.
According to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), credit scores must be “empirically derived” and “demonstrably and statistically sound” to be used in lending decisions. Simply put, this means that credit scores must be built using proven, scientific methods and must actually work. If FICO or VantageScore designs a credit score used by lenders in the U.S., it must meet this criteria. Spoiler alert: All of FICO and VantageScore’s credit scoring models are ECOA compliant.
Credit score developers review tens of millions of credit reports any time a new credit scoring model is created. As a result of studying the behavior of millions of consumers, one fact is certain – higher levels of debt lead to higher levels of risk. Because of the increased risk that debt represents, credit scoring models penalize consumers for being in debt, particularly credit card debt.
Although your debt does have the ability to impact your credit scores negatively, that does not mean you should be afraid of borrowing money. It is completely possible to earn elite credit scores, well into the 800s, with debt of any type, including mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and, yes, credit cards.
The bottom line is simple. Credit scores don’t reward you for being in debt. Credit scores reward you for managing debt properly. Credit scores don’t reward you for using credit cards. Credit scores reward you for using credit cards responsibly.
John Ulzheimer is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring, and identity theft. He has written four books on the topic and has been interviewed and quoted thousands of times over the past 10 years. With time spent at Equifax and FICO, Ulzheimer is the only credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry. He has been an expert witness in over 230 credit related lawsuits and has been qualified to testify in both federal and state courts on the topic of consumer credit.
