Get Paid to Write About the Real Housewives in This Work-From-Home Job

The dream: actually being able to keep up with all your reality TV shows without that little thing called work getting in the way.

The reality: getting home from another long day with just enough time to catch the last five minutes of “The Bachelor” and then having to scroll Twitter to figure out what you missed.

The new reality (if you get this job, anyway): staying home in your PJs all day, bingeing on all your shows and then writing about them so that everyone understands your exact feelings about Kylie’s new car, the latest housewife table flip and why that one guy DOESN’T DESERVE A ROSE.

Almost sounds too good to be true, right? But it’s not.

Right now, online publication Bustle is looking for part-time writers to cover reality TV and work from home.

No, really.

(Pssst: We post a lot of super awesome work-from-home jobs like this one on our Jobs page on Facebook. Check it out, and be the first to see new work-from-home job opportunities!)

Write About Reality TV for Bustle

Bustle is currently looking for “entertainment writers with a passion for reality TV” to write about the latest celeb antics and reality competition shows.

The right fit will have extensive knowledge of entertainment television and pop culture, a strong and humorous writing voice, strong judgment and the ability to write quickly and cleanly. You should also be a little too invested (but in a good way) in all things E! and Bravo, like “The Real Housewives” and every variation of “The Bachelor.”

You’ll need to be available at least three full days per week, although you could choose to work as many as five. You should be prepared to take on interviews and live coverage when the need arises.

To be successful in this role, you should have a degree in journalism, communications or a related field, as well as at least two years of experience reporting, writing or blogging (particularly within the celebrity and entertainment world).

There is no information on pay or benefits included in the job listing, but we’ve reached out to the company to find out more details and will update this post when we hear back.

Go here to apply for this job, and don’t forget to include your current reality TV obsessions in your cover letter!

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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Are You More Likely to Raise a Future Ivy Leaguer by Delaying Kindergarten?

Helicopter parenting aside, it’s your job as a parent to make smart decisions for your kid — especially when they’re young.

Many parents spend tons of resources and time deciding where to live so they can send their children to the best schools. But for some, the concerns aren’t just where — but when.

Children who have birthdays that coincide with the start of the school year (but before their state’s official cutoff date for kindergarten entrance) present a unique situation.

For instance, say school starts Aug. 10, your child’s birthday falls on Aug. 25, and the kindergarten cutoff date for your state is Sept. 1. Do you start your kid in kindergarten when they’re 4 but about to turn 5? Or do you wait until they’re 5 (the average starting age of a kindergartner in the U.S.) but on the cusp of turning 6?

If you do the latter and wait the additional year to enroll them in school, you are “redshirting” your kindergartener.

Recent articles and studies show there are pros and cons to both sides of this issue.

Why it’s Good to Wait a Year

For families obsessed with getting their kids into an Ivy League school, the headline of this recent article from Money — “Here’s Why the Oldest Kids in Kindergarten Are More Likely to Go to Harvard” — will have them all for redshirting.

The writer cited a new academic study that showed how a child who ends up being among the oldest of the bunch is more likely to graduate from a selective college.

With Ivy League grads reportedly pulling in top salaries, this creates a pretty persuasive argument for waiting an extra year to enroll your child in school. Your kid would potentially enter school having more knowledge and maturity than if they would have started a year sooner.

The research also showed the older kids were 15% less likely to end up getting arrested by their 16th birthday.

Yet, despite the advantages of waiting, some think it’s totally fine — and better even — to just start kids in kindergarten as soon as they’re eligible, even if that makes them among the youngest in class.

Reasons to Reject Redshirting

For some parents, enrolling their kids in kindergarten before they turn 5 makes the most sense financially. Day care is a major expense, and putting a kid in public school earlier than later could shave a year off of those costs.

For stay-at-home parents looking to get back into the workforce, starting their kid at 4 rather than 5 gives them an earlier jumpstart to getting back to work and earning a salary.

There’s also the social impacts redshirting could have on a child.

An article from Working Mother refers to a report on the subject. It claims that holding a child back a year will put them at the disadvantage of being socially, developmentally and emotionally more mature than their peers. They could also have challenges relating to their classmates.

The report pointed to a specific instance in which a redshirted child had challenges relating to his younger peers and developed behavioral issues.

Starting Kindergarten: A Subjective Decision

The arguments both for and against redshirting your kindergartner are pretty solid, but the choice is a pretty personal one that will vary from family to family.

For instance, a family that travels often (for a job, the military or personal reasons) may choose to wait that extra year. A family with a parent who has a terminal illness may also choose to keep their child at home longer.

On the other hand, parents may choose to send their child to school at 4 if their kid is already showing signs of being academically advanced and is experiencing boredom at home. A family with parents who struggle speaking English may want their youngster in school earlier to get a better grasp of the language.

At the end of the day, it’s up to you to advocate for what’s right for your kid and best for your family.

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She has a toddler whose birthday is just beyond the kindergarten cutoff date.

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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Turns Out Millennials are Better at This Than Most Give Them Credit For

Millennials are killing _____.

Millennials are bad at _____.

Millennials need more _____.

Go ahead. Fill in the blanks, and you’ll probably find it in a recent news headline.

But not all things “millennial” are bad.

(Disclaimer: I am one.)

So, despite a report from LendEDU about millennials and their “average at best” knowledge of credit scores, I’m going to put a positive spin on this one with the idea that we’re on a good track and can continue to improve.

How Much Do Millennials Know About Their Credit Scores?

LendEDU polled 500 millennials between the ages of 17 and 37 about credit scores.

Here are some positive, clapping-hands-emoji-worthy numbers:

• Nearly 80% of millennials have checked their credit score. Of that number, 47.47% have checked it within the past 30 days. You could highlight the fact that approximately 20% of millennials have never checked their scores, but to be honest, I didn’t check mine until I was 21, and had no reason to do so before then.

• Close to 75% of millennials could identify the correct definition of “credit score.” For context, compare that to the one in three Americans who can’t define basic financial terms and, more specifically, 37% of folks who can’t define 401(k).

This is a great start, in my opinion.

But what about the actual scores?

Millennials Don’t Have the Best Average Credit Score, TBH

So we do have room to improve our credit scores.

The LendEDU study found that the majority of millennials (at nearly 30%) had a “fair” FICO credit score, ranging between 580 and 669. Nearly equal in percentage, 28% of respondents had “very poor” credit scores, ranging between 300 and 579.

These numbers align with Experian’s 2016 ”State of credit” report. Millennials have an average VantageScore of 634, while Gen Xers have an average of 655 and Baby Boomers sit pretty at 700.

So Why Do Millennials Have Only OK Credit Scores?

It’s not because we’re the worst at everything.

If you take a look at the generational statistics listed above, you’ll see the older the generation, the better the score.

Although my natural inclination is to say, “Yeah, just give us some time,” I reached out to an expert — Rod Griffin, the director of public education at Experian.

“Millennials aren’t really that different than anybody else,” he explains. “We always seem to talk about millennials like they’re a completely different group of people. In reality, they’re no different than anyone at that stage of life has been from generation to generation.”

This goes for a lot of things, including credit scores.

Griffin said scores, if they’re taken care of, will improve with age and experience.

“Your skills will build and your knowledge will build over time,” he said. “When you’re in your mid-20s and early 30s, you’re really just beginning to build credit.”

And as for those 17- and 18-year-olds, many of them don’t even have credit at that point, so there’s no reason for them to check their credit report unless they’ve talked about it in school — which typically isn’t the case.

Griffin has another theory, too, which is the same reason millennials are hesitant to invest.

“The thing about millennials is that they came of credit age when our economy was suffering, and they say the challenges their parents had, so for a number of years, millennials were far more reluctant to have credit cards than any other generation,” he explains. “So that could play a part because they equate credit cards and credit with debt and that can affect credit scores adversely.”

(Think: credit history.)

Millennials: Here’s How to Build Credit

Griffin’s biggest piece of advice for millennials is to be patient.

“It’s just a matter of time and patience and continuing to do smart things,” he says. “Scores improve with age. And, really, I think it has less to do with age, and more to do with experience. It’s just one of those things.”

Millennials also have tools to manage their credit right at their fingertips.

The first step is to check your credit reports at least once a year. Try using a free tool like Free Credit Report.

Know what to look for when you’re perusing your credit report. Find areas you can improve upon or debts you can pay off.

In the end, Griffin urged millennials to just keep learning because, “the more knowledge you have, the more successes you’ll have.”

Good luck, millennials! (We don’t suck so much after all.)

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She has strong feelings about those millennial headlines.

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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We’re All Paying Insane Amounts for Rent, but This Generation Has it Worst

It doesn’t matter if you’re 18 or 68 — if you are a renter, there is a good chance you are spending a greater percentage of your monthly income on rent than recommended, a new study by apartment search company Abodo found.

The study analyzed how people afford to rent across generations using data from the 2015 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Although baby boomers, who fall between ages 51 and 69, are more likely to own their homes, the 49% of all boomers who do rent are cost burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their incomes on housing costs.

That’s in comparison to millennials, who are more likely to rent: About 46% of renters between 18 and 34 spend more than 30% of their pay on monthly housing costs. Generation Xers, who fall between boomers and millennials, are the least likely to be cost burdened by rent, but they are only slightly better off: About 44% of those who rent overspend.

Depending on where you rent, those percentages can rise well above average, the study found.

For millennials living in Honolulu, the problem is more extreme than average, with 68.9% of renters paying more for rent than they should. Generation Xers and baby boomers living in South Florida are most likely to overspend than their counterparts in other parts of the country.

So, How Much Should You Be Spending on Rent?

For decades, pretty much everyone you asked for advice, from government officials to financial experts, would say it was unwise to spend beyond the 30% income threshold for rent.

Even your landlord probably wanted you to prove you made at least three times the cost of your home before letting you sign a lease.

But more recently, the debate has become more nuanced, taking into account how much money the renter makes and where the renter lives.

For example, those living in cities like New York and San Francisco, where housing costs tend to be higher, will likely spend more than the recommended amount because of a scarcity of affordable options.

On the same note, a high earner could spend a greater percentage of their income and still have more than enough to live comfortably. A minimum wage worker who spent 30% of their income on rent, however, would probably be stretched too thin to cover an emergency expense later in the month.

While the 30% rule might not be perfect in every situation, it’s still a solid starting point to help you figure out if you can afford to live alone in that newly built downtown apartment or if you should start scouring Craigslist for the least creepy roommate you can find.

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.

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Oh, the Loans You’ll Pay: Here’s How to Get Started Right After Graduation

Your gown is tucked away. Your cap is proudly Instagrammed. The last notes of “Pomp and Circumstance” have fizzled out.

You’re looking to the future, and you’re excited to enter this thing everyone condescendingly calls the “real world.” Welcome.

Oh, just one little thing: You’ll be slapped with a monthly reminder of the burden of your college education for the next 10 to 20 years.

OK, good luck, byeeeee!

We know you’d like to spend your time enjoying a last summer at home, settling into a new job or taking that overseas trip you’ve been putting off. But if you could take a few minutes today to take a quick look at your student loan debt, we promise your future self will thank you in spades.

Here are some steps you can take now to help pay down your student loan debt faster than your sun-soaked peers.

1. Figure Out How Much Debt You Have

Before you can pay off your student loan debt, you have to know how much you owe and to whom. It’s such a basic step, a lot of people overlook it.

But do you want to blindly receive a bill every month, send a check and wait for the next one?

Considering you often sign off on student loans as a teenager without a clear understanding of what they even are, you probably don’t remember the terms of repayment down to the finest detail.

It may seem overwhelming, but the information is simple to retrieve.

Use these tools to see how much you owe and who owns your debt, so you can make plans fully armed with information:

Credit Sesame’s Free Credit Report Card

Credit Sesame will let you see how much money you owe and to whom (even if you’ve defaulted on loans). It’ll show your balance on both private and federal loans (and other debt) and offer tips to help reduce your debt and raise your credit score.

Office of Federal Student Aid

For federal student loans, sign in at studentaid.ed.gov to see:

• Which grants and loans you received.

• How much you still owe on each.

• How much interest you owe on each.

• Status of each loan (in repayment, forbearance, default, etc.).

• Your repayment plan for each loan.

• Loan servicer (to whom you make payments).

2. Simplify Your Loan Payments

One of the simplest ways to repay your loans quickly is to refinance.

“The earlier you refinance, the more you can save and the faster you can pay off your loan,” says Christine Roberts, Head of Student Lending at Citizens Bank.

Refinancing will generally mean replacing your laundry list of loans with one loan that brings your student debt under a single umbrella.

For your federal loans, the Department of Education offers a direct consolidation loan.

This federal loan lets you combine multiple loans into one new one and takes an average weighted interest rate. You’ll only have to make one payment each month, and you have more time to pay off your balance.

If you have private loans — or you’re still struggling with payments on your federal loans — try getting a lower interest rate with a company like Credible.

Other companies offer similar services, but we like that the average Credible user saves about two interest points on their current federal loans

Refinancing could simplify your life with one monthly payment, instead of several. It may also lower your monthly payment, improve your interest rate and/or give you more time to pay.

Drawback to this method? A longer repayment period means your balance will spend more time accruing interest. While it’ll make life easier each month, it could cost you more money over the next 10 or 20 years.

Enter your info at Credible to find out what your new interest rate could be.

3. Create Your Monthly Budget

For many 20-somethings, the months after college graduation are when you finally start adulting for real. A huge (and hugely unpopular) part of that is taking control of your finances.

The first thing you should know is budgeting doesn’t have to be complicated.

You don’t have to be an Excel genius or a numbers wiz. You just have to pay attention to how much money is coming in and how much is going out.

Don’t forget to include your student loan payment in your monthly budget! If it’s an afterthought, it’ll be a burden every month.

4. Earn Extra Money

When staring down a mountain of debt, many people forget to consider this option.

Instead of sacrificing the lifestyle you want when student loans eat away your paycheck, try to earn extra money dedicated to paying off debt.

Think it’s easier said than done? We’re talking about stuff so simple, you can do it around two jobs, a family and a social life — no excuses.

These 12 apps help you earn extra money for doing almost nothing. Or try something a little more lucrative, like cashing in your aluminum cans for $150 a month.

If you have more time, try launching a flexible side hustle, like reselling clothes and other thrift store items, or driving with Uber and Lyft.

Or, maybe you’re savvy enough to nab an apartment with a spare room. List it on Airbnb to cash in. If you’re a good host with a desirable space, you could bank hundreds of dollars this way.

These gigs let you earn more money when you’ve got the time and energy to hustle — and take a break when you’re worn down by the new job you hopefully landed straight out of college.

5. Know Your Options

In a perfect world, you’d understand the ins and outs of student loans before signing the contract. But we understand that’s not realistic for most people.

Instead, do your research now — before your loan payments become a looming nightmare of debt that follows you around for the rest of your life.

You have several options for repaying federal loans. Standard repayment has you paying off your loans over 10 years.

If that means a monthly payment you can’t afford, consider signing up for an income-driven repayment plan. They limit your monthly payments to a certain percentage of your income and extend the period you have to pay.

When you can’t make monthly payments, deferment or forbearance could allow you to temporarily postpone or reduce payments.

For private loans, you may be able to negotiate deferment, but the option isn’t built in the way it is with federal loans. Or you can look into refinancing for better repayment terms.

Even if you’re on top of your loans, learn your options now. You don’t know how your finances will change in the future, so it’s better to understand your options before you’re in a panic.

6. Start Making Payments

You just graduated. Aren’t you supposed to wait six months to start paying back your loans?

Wrong.

Yes, many student loans come with a grace period — you’re not penalized for skipping payments in those months. But you can start paying anytime (even while you’re in school).

“You can start paying off student loans right away, and you should pay what you can as soon as you can,” Joseph DePaulo, CEO and co-founder of College Ave Student Loans, explained to us a few months back. “Students who put money toward their loans during school save money in the long run.”

Private loans don’t all come with a grace period, so make sure you understand your repayment terms.

“With most private loans today, you have the option of paying interest during school, interest and principal [during school] or deferring [until after school],” explains Kevin Walker, VP and Head of Education Loans at Lending Tree.

But, Walker added, “every private loan accrues interest during the in-school period.”

The earlier you make payments, the less time your loans will have to accrue interest, so get crackin’.

Conquer Student Loan Debt

That wasn’t so bad, right? Now tell your friends — you don’t want them still drowning in debt at 35 (albeit in the sunshine beside a pool) while you’re ready to take on the world.

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a senior writer/newsletter editor at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).

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

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Just the Basics: What Is a Credit Score, and Why Do You Need to Know Yours?

What is a credit score, really? And which one matters the most?

Your credit score is a number that generally ranges between 300 and 850. It’s like a grade that tells lenders, credit card companies and others how well you manage money and repay debt.

Now the complicated part: You don’t have just one, definitive score. You have several, and they come from several sources.

Which Credit Score Should You Pay Attention To?

Choosing the “most important” one is a little like choosing the best grub from under a log. They’re too unique to compare, and you don’t really like any of them all that much, anyway.

FICO scores are the most commonly used credit scores.

It was created by Fair Isaac Corporation, a software company that uses information from credit reporting agencies Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. They’re the prom queens of credit scores.

But tons of little, lesser-known agencies may mine your credit history to report to lenders, too.

Each agency uses its own grading system, so your scores will vary — sometimes slightly, sometimes significantly.

How to Use Your Credit Score

Well, this is a real bummer. You want to stay on top of your game and keep an eye on your credit score. But what, exactly, are you supposed to look at?

Most important to know: The score you pay to see online — or the one you find for free — isn’t the same one your lender sees. Yup, that surprised us, too.

Your free credit score is helpful to get an idea of your creditworthiness, but don’t count on it to make important decisions based on obtaining credit, like how much house to buy.

Instead, use your credit score as a guide to make sure you’re managing your money well.

The three national bureaus are each required to give you a free credit report (not including a score) once every 12 months. Take advantage of that to check for errors or identity theft throughout the year.

You can also keep an eye on your credit report and score through free sites like Free Credit Report.

If you’re rejected for a loan, shop around. Different lenders may see different scores or use different guidelines to assess your creditworthiness.

If you continue to face rejection or know your score(s) sits below 650 — considered “good” by most lenders — take these steps to improve it.

Disclosure: Clink! Clink! Clink! That’s the sound of pennies hitting our piggy bank, thanks to the affiliate links in this post. It’s a better savings plan than stopping traffic to pick up loose change — and safer, too!

Dana Sitar (dana@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer/newsletter editor at The Penny Hoarder. Say hi and tell her a good joke on Twitter @danasitar.

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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4 Easy-to-Implement Tactics to Increase Your Newsletter Subscribers (FAST)

Can I go out on a limb here?

I’m going to guess you’re already sold on building an email list.

After all, you’ve heard the advice many times over:

“Build an email list. It’s where the money is.”

If you’re remotely interested in growing a business with staying power, it’s the wise thing to do.

It’s reported that for every dollar spent on email marketing, there’s an average $44 return on investment.

Here’s the thing though.

List building can be quite puzzling for both Internet marketing newbies and veterans.

Marketers agree. A whopping 63% say generating leads is their top challenge.

The source of this confusion?

The massive amount of conflicting information out there.

There are about 198 MILLION posts on how to build an email list:

That’s insane!

I’ll tell you one thing.

You don’t need to spend weeks creating a 45-page e-book as your opt-in offer. And you don’t need to read another “197 Ways to Grow Your Email List” post.

You can simply tweak your website to instantly boost your subscriber count.

Best of all, many of these tweaks will take less than an hour to implement.

That translates to more leads with less work.

Exciting, right?

In this article, I’ll give you four ridiculously easy to implement tactics. None of them require you to start from scratch.

Instead, you can make a few adjustments to your website for a more efficient list-building system.

Ready? Let’s start.

1. Funnel existing traffic to high-performing landing pages

Like I promised, we won’t be reinventing the wheel here.

Brian Dean calls this the Landing Page Funnel (LPF) Technique. It requires two things you should already have:

1. traffic
2. a landing page designed to convert leads.

Don’t worry, you don’t need tens of thousands of visitors a day or a landing page that converts at 50%.

Here’s how this works.

First, identify the landing pages that convert the best on your website.

Then, direct traffic you already receive to these pages.

Easy stuff, right?

Most people want more traffic. Some even take the necessary steps to get these much-coveted website visitors.

But they miss out on the golden opportunity to convert that attention into leads.

Once you have the two elements, it’s not difficult to do.

All you have to do is link extensively to these high-converting landing pages.

Place a link at the top of your website’s pyramid (in the main navigation menu):

You can also put a link in the comment section of posts as I do on Neilpatel.com:

Or place links to landing pages for your top resources in your sidebar:

My point here is this: you may not need more traffic or opt-in offers to increase the number of your subscribers.

Track where your current web visitors spend the most time and ensure they have easy access to a high-converting landing page.

It’s as simple as adding a few links.

But what if none of your current landing pages convert well?

Improve them.

A basic email grab form is not enough.

You need to have all the persuasive elements on your landing page.

Here is how to improve your landing pages:

• reduce the number of form fields. One form field is excellent, two is enough, and three is too many.
• add social proof elements. Got an endorsement from a big name? Show it off. Have 15 000 subscribers? Let people know. Got one raving testimonial from a reader? Feature it.
• have a strong value proposition. I’ll demonstrate with an example from SmartBlogger.

They’ve had this same lead magnet for ages.

And I bet it converts like crazy.

It’s a valuable resource for writing headlines.

They don’t ask people to

download these headline formulas.

Instead, they lead with a compelling value proposition:

write viral blog posts quicker.

Makes sense?

2. Create content upgrades

I am a big fan of content upgrades.

You can uplevel your content by adding bonuses unique to each piece of content.

Let’s say you write an ultimate guide on promoting a blog post. You can create a quick cheat sheet for blog post promotion.

Like this:

You just have to extract the key points from your already-written blog post and create your bonus content.

I recommend keeping it short, snappy, and easily consumable.

Lead magnets, including content upgrades, should be something that subscribers can consume and implement quickly.

This way, there’s a sense of instant gratification, and your perceived value goes up.

It’s exactly what you want.

I’ll admit. This is the most time-consuming tactic on this list.

After all, you have to create a unique bonus for each post.

There are some clever ways around that, and I’ll share them with you.

1. Create multi-purpose content upgrades.

In other words, create a bonus that can be used for several blog posts.

This is easy to do if you’re blogging about the same topics.

2. Use the content you already have.

Let’s say you write a blog post entitled “27 Ways to Generate More Leads Using LinkedIn.”

You can feature 21 of these strategies in your blog post and provide the rest as a bonus.

Like this:

3. Have a formula for creating your upgrades.

You don’t need to have every type of bonus under the sun to see results from this tactic.

Have a podcast? Stick with giving out transcripts.

Create only long-form and comprehensive content? Stick with PDF versions of your posts.

Decide what type of content upgrade you want to give to your readers, and go all in on it.

The process will become formulaic and efficient when you do it this way.

Whether you use these time-saving strategies or not, content upgrades are still worth the time you put into them.

Depending on what the actual upgrade is, it may take you an hour maximum.

Don’t neglect to prominently feature your content upgrades. Don’t bury them in the middle or at the bottom of your posts.

Instead, make readers aware of this bonus from the beginning.

What are some examples of content upgrades?

• PDF version of a post
• cheat sheet
• checklist
• additional strategies
• list of resources or tools
• printables and templates
• transcript
• video or audio recording
• a challenge

The list goes on, but these give you enough food for thought.

If you’re serious about increasing your email list, here’s my challenge to you.

Step #1: Go through your website analytics, and pinpoint five blog posts with the most traffic.

Step #2: Create one content upgrade for each blog post. Spend less than an hour on each one.

Put these steps into action, and you’ll see a difference.

3. Create a vault of subscriber-exclusive content

It’s true.

Traditional opt-in offers don’t work anymore.

I’m talking about bulky reports and e-books.

Even if people sign up for these resources, they typically put off reading them.

The result? They never consume the information, yet alone implement it.

Think about the last time you downloaded an e-book. You tell yourself you’ll read it later and never get around to it.

I bet it happens all the time. I know it does for me.

Is there an easy solution?

Put all your free resources in one place so subscribers can have easy access to them.

Here’s an example from Blogging Wizard:

When you click the “exclusive content” link, it takes you to a high-converting landing page with 15+ resources.

These resources are found on a password-protected page.

When you sign up, you get the password, and that’s it.

You’ve got a lifetime access to a vault of valuable resources.

Note:

Blogging Wizard married this strategy with the content upgrade.

Within blog posts, they feature their collection of subscriber-exclusive resources as a content upgrade.

Now, that’s smart.

Here’s another example from Melyssa Griffin:

Again, you don’t have to start from scratch.

I’ll give you the step-by-step play.

Step #1

Gather all the free resources you’ve created in the past. It could be ultimate guides, checklists, webinars, cheat sheets, etc.

Here’s a list of what Blogging Wizard has in its vault so you can get an idea:

Step #2

Create a specific website page to host these resources. I recommend using the Essential Grid WordPress Plugin to display your content in a customizable grid.

Step #3

In WordPress, set the visibility of your page as “password protected,” choose your password, and publish your page.

Step #4

Create a landing page for your exclusive content, and funnel traffic to that page.

You’ll instantly have an opt-in offer that will keep converting leads.

You won’t have to create a new offer every few months when the one you have feeds you.

Be sure you keep adding fresh content to your vault, and you’ll be good to go.

4. Optimize these two most valuable website pages

There’s a good chance you’re not making the best use of crucial website real estate.

I’m talking about the two pages most people do nothing with.

The Home page and the About page.

Do a quick audit of your website.

If you don’t have more than one (minimum two) opt-in forms on both of these pages, you have a problem.

Fortunately, it’s an easy fix.

Let’s start with the Home page

Have you ever seen websites with home pages taken up almost entirely by opt-in forms?

Or at least, the first thing you see is a call to action to sign up for something.

Here’s what I mean:

Here’s another example from Neilpatel.com:

Derek Halpern has about six calls to action on his homepage, inviting visitors to subscribe.

Five of them are presented in the first half of the page:

Too much?

Maybe, but it works.

Just ask his 300K subscribers.

The point is, you need to make optimal use of your homepage.

It’s often the most visited website page. You just have to do a few tweaks to add those opt-in forms.

Here are two quick fixes you can do right now:

Step #1

Add a HelloBar to your homepage to divert traffic to a landing page of your choice.

This is an opt-in tool that converts like crazy.

It’s as effective as a pop-up but less obtrusive and annoying.

Step #2

Add a link to an opt-in form or page in your main navigation menu.

Simple, right?

Let’s talk about your About page

There are few website pages as important as this one.

When new readers come to your blog, they’re guaranteed to visit this page.

They don’t know, like, or trust you yet.

That’s what your About page should be geared towards.

More importantly, it should convert these web visitors into subscribers.

How do you do that?

1. Make your About page persuasive
2. Add a few opt-in forms

I’ll tell you the key to making your About page subscriber-worthy.

Don’t make it about you.

Conflicting, I know.

Here’s a unique way to look at it.

Your About page should tell a story. Your audience should be the hero of that story. And you should position yourself as a trusted adviser to the hero.

Makes sense?

After you’ve amped up the quality of your About page, sprinkle in a few opt-in forms.

Beautiful designs like the one above work, but you can keep it simple with an inline opt-in form.

Conclusion

Profitable businesses are built on the relationships they nurture with their audiences.

Right now, the best (and only) way to do that effectively is through email marketing.

At the center of that is getting people to trust you enough to give you their email addresses.

And you know what?

It’s way less complicated than people make it out to be.

You really don’t need to spend hours creating bulky opt-in offers.

Double down on a few strategies that have been proven to work. In this article, I gave you four you can start using immediately.

They’re super actionable and easy to implement.

Put them to work, and I guarantee your subscriber count will increase.

What are your best strategies for gaining new subscribers fast?

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How to Find Work-From-Home Jobs Beyond Writing and Customer Service

I’m writing this article at home. No surprise there — writers can work anywhere, and I prefer to work right here in my sweatpants.

I know from the response to my post on companies that hire remote workers — and the popularity of job listings at The Penny Hoarder — that many of you would also love to make a living from the comfort of your home.

When you look over a list of common work-from-home opportunities, you might think you’re out of luck. You’ll see positions like medical coder, systems analyst, consultant, virtual assistant and customer service representative — and maybe they don’t fit your skills or income needs.

Don’t give up! Work-from-home jobs come in more varieties than you realize.

For example, did you know you could be a fish biologist and stay home much of the time? Or how about a full-time job as a physical education (P.E.) teacher — working from home?

Those are just two of the many surprising work-from-home jobs I found in a search of online job sites. Let’s take a look at some of the others.

This Site Lists Unusual Flexible and Work-From-Home Jobs

The job-search site FlexJobs says it will “help you find the best flexible jobs available.”

That flexibility can mean you work when you like or work only part time. It can also mean you get to work from home some or all of the time.

Searching “telecommuting” (another term that means working from home) on the site turns up some interesting results.

This is where I found the fish biologist and high school P.E. teacher jobs. The biologist has to travel, but much of the work involves “maintaining a database of statistics,” which can be done from home. The P.E. teacher gets to stay home all the time, teaching online P.E. and health classes.

Here are some of the other surprising work-from-home job titles I’ve seen on the site:

• Speech scientist.

• Sports analyst.

• Social worker.

• Psychologist.

• Historian.

• Beer ambassador.

• Litigation attorney.

• Regional gift advisor.

• Animal relocation manager.

When a job allows you to work from home, FlexJobs lists the degree of telecommuting ranging from “some” to “mostly” to “all telecommuting.”

The positions I’ve mentioned will likely be filled by the time you read this, but my search produced 1,400 jobs that offered at least some telecommuting, so you’ll probably still find enough variety.

You’ll have to register to view full listings on FlexJobs, which costs between $14.95 a month to $49.95 a year.

How to Find Work-From-Home Jobs on General Job Sites

You can find many surprising work-from-home jobs on other job-posting websites, too. Here are a few of the top job-search sites:

• Indeed.

• Monster.

• CareerBuilder.

• Simply Hired.

• SnagAJob.

Enter specific positions into the search fields, and read through the descriptions of the resulting jobs to see if they offer the option of working from home.

Or you can simply enter keywords like these when you search:

• Work at home.

• Work from home.

• Telecommute.

• Telecommuting.

• Home based.

• Home workers.

Right away you’ll see the expected results — listings for customer service reps, web developers and technical writers. To find less common work-from-home jobs, scroll through several pages of results and watch for titles that catch your attention.

For example, after searching “telecommute” at SnagAJob, I had to search through five pages of ordinary results before finding the more interesting position of fraud analyst. Your job would be to “design advanced analytical strategies that enhance fraud detection capabilities and recovery efforts.”

Play around with different ways of searching, because each website has its own idiosyncrasies.

For example, some sites — including Indeed and SnagAJob — automatically put your ZIP code in the search, which may exclude all of the available telecommuting jobs if none of those listings mentions your location. Fortunately, you can delete the ZIP code and search without it.

This Site Helps You Find Work-From-Home Government Jobs

For federal government jobs, check out USAJOBS.

A search using the keyword “work from home,” gave me 1,890 results.

Many of these positions allow you to work “from home,” but not necessarily at home. For example, they’re hiring nurses and physical therapists to work from a home base and travel to patients’ homes.

Other positions allow most of your work to be done in your home. A listing for a motor carrier safety specialist said, “This position may be a telecommute position working from home.”

Find Work-From-Home Jobs From The Penny Hoarder

Finally, don’t forget to check back right here!

The Penny Hoarder will continue to report on unusual work-from-home jobs and other opportunities to make money without leaving the house. You can keep up with the latest jobs by following The Penny Hoarder Jobs on Facebook.

Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (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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7 Money-Saving Browser Extensions You’ve Been Missing in Your Life

Gone are the days of scouring the internet for deals and coupon codes. Instead, use browser extensions to make saving money while shopping online nearly effortless.

Some will even help you earn cash and rewards as well.

7 Browser Extensions to Save Money Shopping Online

Whether you use Chrome, Firefox or Safari, add these extensions to your browser to make shopping and saving even simpler and faster. They’ll help you automate your discounts, earn points and rewards, and acquire coupon codes without spending time combing through online forums.

1. Honey

When you’re ready to check out, Honey will pop up on the right side of your screen with available sales and coupon codes.

Simply click “Try Codes” to test whether any of them are applicable to your purchase. If so, you’ll instantly save money! Either way, you’ve saved yourself the time you’d normally spend Googling “coupon code [retailer name].”

Works with: Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera

2. Invisible Hand

Planning a big trip? Don’t jet out without downloading this browser extension!

In addition to helping you with your online shopping, Invisible Hand will automatically find the lowest price when you search for flights, hotels and rental cars.

While you’re shopping, Invisible Hand will discreetly notify you if the product or flights you’re browsing are offered at a lower price on another site. Simply scroll through a drop-down menu with price comparisons and click on the link to a cheaper option.

The tool boasts that it’s helped users save more than $1 billion so far, though the average savings per purchase is around $7.50. Still, that adds up!

Works with: Chrome, Firefox and Safari

3. The Camelizer

Are you an Amazon, Best Buy or Newegg shopper? Consider downloading The Camelizer.

This browser extension will let you see a product’s price history without leaving the retailer’s page.

You can also set up alerts, so when a product’s price drops, you will be one of the first to know!

International Amazon shoppers, this one’s for you! If you’re in the U.K., Germany, France, Japan, China, Canada, Italy or Spain, The Camelizer can help you save money.

Works with: Chrome, Firefox and Safari

4. Coupons at Checkout

Coupons at Checkout automatically finds coupon codes without you needing to search.

When you’re checking out, the Coupons at Checkout box will pop up on the right side of your screen. The app will automatically apply — or try to apply — any coupon codes it finds. It will even stack applicable coupons to maximize your savings!

With more than 100,000 e-commerce sites in its database, Coupons at Checkout is bound to help you save.

Works with: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari

5. CouponCabin Sidekick

If you’re shopping online at one of the more than 1,800 retailers the site covers, the CouponCabin Sidekick will display a small bar at the top of your screen with any available coupon offers.

You might save money on your purchase, get free shipping or enjoy another deal.

Even better? The Sidekick also helps you earn up to 10% cash back from your purchases.

When you search for an item — say, bathing suits — you’ll see the amount of cash back displayed right in your search results.

Works with: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari

6. PriceBlink

While you’re shopping on one site, PriceBlink is busy scanning thousands of merchants to see if any of them offer a lower price on the same item. If it finds one or more matches, it displays a small bar at the top of your screen with a drop-down menu of other options. One click takes you to the site of your choice for a better deal.

If you’re browsing, say GAP, PriceBlink also checks to see whether the retailer offers any coupons or deals, then shows you the options.

That way, you can consider your savings before ever making it to the checkout page. If there isn’t a deal right then, you can always add the item to your PriceBlink Wish List to wait for a promotion.

Works with: Chrome, Firefox, Safari

7. Wallaby

Do you have several credit cards, each with a different points and rewards system?

It can be tough to know which card is best to use for which purchase, especially when you earn different amounts of points for different categories of purchases (like groceries, electronics or clothing).

The Wallaby browser extension helps you earn the most rewards from your purchase by telling you which credit card to use for each transaction.

Just shop online like normal, and when you’re ready to check out, just click the Wallaby icon to see which of your credit cards will earn you the most rewards or cash back.

Works with: Chrome

Maryann Akinboyewa is a publicist at The Penny Hoarder. She loves making new friends! Say “hi” on Twitter @himaryann.

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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Questions About Mattresses, Camping, Ethical Index Funds, and More!

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Credit and unpaid medical bill
2. Buying mattress through the mail
3. Cheap startup camping?
4. Getting rid of parents’ papers
5. Value of financial advisor?
6. Stock market basic question
7. Afraid of retirement
8. Explaining financial goals to wife
9. Moving away from a bank
10. Index funds with ethics?
11. Inexpensive smoothies
12. What will I remember?

Today is the day of the long-awaited solar eclipse over a swath of the United States. I’m planning on taking my children southward to the eclipse, which is about a three hour drive from our house. We’re going to pack a picnic lunch and find a quiet rural spot to watch the eclipse.

This has become something of an “end of the summer” celebration for us. We’ve been learning about the eclipse for weeks, doing things like building a simple model of it using a flashlight and two balls (shine a flashlight onto a tennis ball and let that shadow fall onto a basketball, then tell the kids to imagine standing in that little shadow circle).

When we return from our eclipse day, the school year starts in the next couple of days, which means a return to the routine of the school year. While I love all of the time I get to spend with my kids during the summer, I also find that I let a lot of other areas in my life “slip” during the summer, things I’m able to take care of during the much more regimented and organized time of the school year.

It feels like a changing of the season. I feel that change at the end of the school year (spring turns into summer), the start of the school year (summer turns into fall), Thanksgiving break (fall turns into winter), and spring break (winter turns into spring).

Anyway, on with this week’s questions.

Q1: Credit and unpaid medical bill

I have been trying to switch my primary care provider to someone who is more conveniently located. After what I was told was a “meet and greet” with a new potential doctor, they billed my health insurance and have now billed me for the remaining $300. I have complained to the billing company and the practice directly, but they don’t seem to want to resolve this. I can afford to pay the bill, but I would prefer not to pay it on principle. I’ve read a bit about the process, and it sounds like when the bill goes into collections, I may get quite a few phone calls. But can you tell me what will happen to my credit score if I don’t pay this?
– Charlotte

If you’re late on an unpaid medical bill for any reason, the company you owe can report you to the credit bureaus for being delinquent on a bill, which will have some negative impact on your credit score.

The largest part of a person’s credit score is their payment history, and no matter the reason behind it, a report of an unpaid bill can affect that portion in a negative way. The exact amount is hard to assess without looking at your full credit history, but it’s likely to be significant but still relatively minor in the broad scheme of things.

What can you do to prevent this negative charge? One, you can simply pay the bill. Two, the doctor may choose not to report the bill, especially if it is under dispute, so you want to make sure you’re doing what you can to dispute the bill. Three, you may be able to pursue legal action.

Good luck!

Q2: Buying mattress through the mail

I have seen a lot of ads lately for companies like Casper and Purple that allow you to buy a mattress through the mail at a pretty good price. It seems very difficult to get unbiased mattress reviews and mattress stores are shady. Is it okay to buy a mattress through the mail?
– Chris

Just yesterday, I was joking with an old friend about how companies are trying to “disrupt” the market industry in various ways, more as a way to somewhat poke fun at the trend in the business world to try to “disrupt” all industries.

Having said that, the mattress industry is actually one that’s pretty prime for disruption, as it seems very opaque to the buyer. It’s hard to really tell what you’re buying, because so many different mattresses are sold under so many different brand and model names that it’s really hard to tell what exactly it is.

I have a hard time recommending either of the brands you mention outright due to the fact that different people have different weights and bone structures and favored sleeping positions. I have had a comfortable night sleeping on a Purple mattress; I found it to be a little… squishy and maybe a little bouncy, but it was fairly firm when you laid down as you somewhat sunk down into the top layer. I slept well, though. I have no experience with a Casper mattress.

Q3: Cheap startup camping?

My girlfriend and I want to get into camping. We like to go on hikes and had a great time camping with another couple for a few days this summer in a large tent. With the end of summer coming we thought it might be a good time to pick up camping items cheaply for next summer. What is a minimal kit for camping?
– Jeff

I’m going to make the assumption here that you’re talking about trunk camping, meaning that you drive to a campground with the supplies for camping in the trunk of your car, set up a base camp there, and mostly go on day hikes from that central campsite. I’m basing this on your minimal mention of backpacking, which would point you in a different direction.

In your shoes, I would assume that it is just the two of you camping in largely nice weather. In that situation, all you really need is a tent and inexpensive sleeping bags (and even those aren’t 100% necessary). You will probably want a cooler for food storage, though that isn’t necessarily a requirement, either.

It isn’t necessarily a guarantee that you’ll find inexpensive tents or sleeping bags this time of the year. Your best place to look, if you’re shopping right now, is at general department stores who may be rotating out summer sporting good stock and may have sales. Later on, Black Friday sales can be useful, especially at stores that have a strong focus on the outdoors like Cabela’s or Bass Pro Shop (REI, a popular competitor, traditionally does not have a Black Friday sale).

My suggestion? Assess what meets your needs for a tent and sleeping bag right now, figure out what the prices look like on those models, and then start patiently bargain hunting for deep discounts on those exact things. You have many months to do this, so there’s no need to jump on the first 5% discount you see.

Q4: Getting rid of parents’ papers

My father died in 2013 and my mother died in 2014. When we cleaned out their house I took all of their papers and put them in several cardboard boxes and I intended to organize them but we just put them in the basement and they’re still down there. I don’t think there’s anything of value in there. How long should I keep them?
– Erica

The smart move is to hold onto those papers for seven years, as the statute of limitations on most personal financial affairs runs out in that timeframe. Thus, it makes sense to hold onto them until 2021, through the time in which their estate was cleared up of any outstanding debts.

In the meantime, you might want to go through the boxes on a lazy weekend just to see if there’s anything in there that you overlooked that might be of personal value to you or to anyone else in your family.

That way, when 2021 comes around, you can dispose of the boxes without any concern whatsoever.

Q5: Value of financial advisor?

What value does a financial advisor add to investing other than either just telling you what to do if you have no idea or maybe providing a second set of eyes on your plan? I have a Roth IRA at Vanguard and am investing the rest in rapid debt repayment and eventually into buying rental properties. Why do I need a financial advisor?
– James

Simply put, you don’t. You have a plan. You’ve researched it. You’re confident in what you’re doing. It’s very likely that an advisor would just say your plan is good and perhaps just suggest alternate options for your investments, and you’d probably prefer to have your own choices. Unless you have a specific question on a specific area, in which case a fee-based advisor would make sense, you have no reason to have a financial advisor.

Financial advisors exist to give advice. You go to them when you need advice in a particular area. If you don’t need financial advice, you have no reason to go to a financial advisor.

Financial advisors exist because many people do not feel confident making major financial decisions on their own. They might not have any idea of what to do, or have a plan but lack confidence in that plan. If that describes you, financial advisors can be great. If not, then there’s no need for one.

In other words, you’re fine. Keep doing your thing.

Q6: Stock market basic question

I don’t understand how the value of stocks can keep going up and up and up. I understand how limited things like gold can keep going up as there is only so much gold in the world, but there are effectively unlimited stocks. How do they build value?
– Adam

There are a lot of reasons for this, actually.

One is population growth. As long as the population of the world keeps growing, then companies can keep growing as they have more customers to serve.

Another is innovation. As long as a company can keep developing new products and new ideas that people want at a consistent rate, then companies can keep growing. Or, if companies can keep coming up with more efficient ways to make products, then companies can keep growing.

A third factor is worker productivity. If an average employee produces more work in an hour compared to what they used to produce, then companies can keep growing because they can either produce more with the same workforce or produce the same with fewer workers. Both increase profit margins. (Remember, productivity increases don’t necessarily mean that the workers are working harder, but that they’re able to use more efficient tools and more efficient techniques to produce more with their time and energy.)

For all practical purposes, these three factors are essentially unlimited. The long time trend line of all of these things is almost purely pointing upward and there’s no reason for that to stop (though there may be some slower growth at times).

Q7: Afraid of retirement

I am 58 years old and due to retire in 1.5 years with a full state pension and supplemental that will almost match my current salary after SS kicks in a few years later. I am fine financially.

I love reading your site and your “human” approach to finance and I could really use your help. I am afraid to retire and I don’t know what to do about it. It’s not that I love my job so much that my life is incomplete without it, but that I am going to have this huge swath of hours to fill with something and I don’t know what.

I am single but I don’t really want to date. I have two adult children who I see regularly – enough for all of us, I think! I have some hobbies but it almost seems weird to fill all of my time with them. I feel like I’m just going to sit at home and get old and I don’t want to do that. What advice do you have for me?
– Wayne

Spend the next two years thinking about this one thing: what can I create in retirement? What can I bring into the world that wouldn’t exist without me putting in that effort?

It really can be anything. Maybe it’ll be artistic work. Maybe it’ll be charitable work. Who knows?

The key is to make something. You have the time. What can you make? What can you bring into this world that others might value and that you would enjoy making without breaking your finances?

I’ve found with the people that retired in my own life that those who had an answer to this question did fine, and those that didn’t really had an answer really struggled with this.

You have a “runway” to think about that question. Use it. Spend the next year or so really turning that over in your head, then spend the last six months putting the foundation of your answer into place so that you’re ready to go on day one.

Spend as little time as you can just consuming – watching television or web surfing and so on. Spend a lot of time creating – volunteering or making stuff and so on.

Q8: Explaining financial goals to wife

I am 34 and have been married for twelve years. My wife and I have been fairly big spenders for our entire marriage. We have $360K in mortgage on a home worth $460K and about $22K in credit card debt along with a car loan and some other odds and ends. We go on nice vacations each year etc.

Lately, I have felt like we are going down the wrong path which is why I found your site. We both have real job worries at times and our lifestyle would just collapse if one of us lost a job and couldn’t become employed again. We have nothing saved for retirement. Basically we are going to be walking this path the rest of our lives and it’s like walking on a high mountain path with no rails.

I want to start making changes but I don’t know how to say this to my wife without starting a big fight. I know she is not going to want to make changes. She still loves all of the traveling and the new cars and won’t want to give them up at all. She’ll say you only live once.

How do I even have this conversation?
– Dan

This is not an easy conversation to have. Clearly, you’re undergoing a change in values, and when that happens, you can end up finding yourself at odds with people you were once very much in sync with – and yes that includes your wife.

There is no easy way to have this talk, but you need to have it. What you’re really trying to discover is whether your values are really diverging or whether you’ve both just been spending out of some kind of lifestyle inertia.

I think the best approach is to simply tell her exactly how you feel. Point out the elements of life that fill you with stress and how that stress is adding up to more than the value of the other parts of your life. You don’t want to walk the job tightrope forever – after all, you only live once.

You may be surprised as to the feedback from your wife. However, if you do find that you’re on a different page about such things, take it slowly. Don’t let it fall apart into a crisis or fighting. You clearly love your wife – let that love lead you into finding ways to make this work. Seek compromises if you’re not both on board with making big changes, but work on it together, as openly as you can.

Communication is always the right way to go. Good luck.

Q9: Moving away from a bank

I have been a customer at [a bank] for many years. Lately they have been constantly calling and pestering me to switch to a new type of checking account that I don’t want and they push low interest CDs very hard every time I am there. They get to hold my money and make money off of that and still they push!

I want to switch banks. I have tried to Google how to do this but I can’t find anything. How do you switch banks?
– Ginny

The first thing you should do is look for where you’re going to move to. Do you have a new bank in mind already? Have you considered credit unions?

Check out some of the other bank and credit union offerings in your area. Do they have accounts that match what you want? Do any of your friends use those credit unions or banks? Ask them about whether those institutions try to sell financial products to customers.

When you’re ready to move, open a new account at a new bank and change your deposits so that they go into the new account. Don’t close your old account immediately. Leave it open and watch it to make sure there aren’t any transactions you’ve forgotten about. It’s a good idea to leave some money in your old checking account for a while just in case.

In general, there isn’t a “button” you can push to just switch everything to a new financial institution. Banks want to retain customers, so they’re not going to make it that easy. You have to identify a new bank or credit union you want to use, open an account, and migrate over yourself.

Q10: Index funds with ethics?

How does a person use indexing as an investment strategy and keep from giving money to abhorrent companies? Indexes just sweep in companies with certain criteria, which means I am giving some of my money to companies I disagree with. There do not seem to be many (if any) ethical index funds.
– Tobey

There are actually a number of socially responsible index funds that achieve the moniker of “socially responsible” in different ways. Most of them simply take public lists of companies that behave responsibly in some way or another and use that as the basis for investing.

Take the Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund, for example. It’s designed to mirror the FTSE4Good stock market index, which is itself a stock market index intended to track ethical companies that score well on a variety of ethical metrics.

For each such fund, you have to dig a little to find out how exactly they are achieving “ethical” investing, but ethical index funds do exist. They just “borrow” some public ethical standard of companies and use their list of companies that meet that standard. Other index funds of this type are the TIAA-CREF Social Equity Index and the SPDR SSDA Gender Diversity Index.

They do exist, in other words.

Q11: Inexpensive smoothies

One of my daily routines is making a smoothie for myself before and after work. The one before work is kind of an all-day-energy thing, the one after work is more of a get-a-little-more-out-of-the-day thing.

The thing is my recipe makes the smoothies cost about $4 a pop. That adds up to about $300 a month, which seems unjustifiable.

What is a good balance here? One a day?
– Juli

If I were you, I’d probably make one of them inexpensive and leave the other one alone. Listen to your body and ask yourself which one is really giving you the most value, then either cut out the other one or make it very inexpensive.

I’m guessing because of the cost that you must be adding vitamins or protein powder to one or both of the mixes. Most of the smoothies we make are just some milk and a handful of frozen fruits and maybe a bit of something like peanut butter (I love peanut butter and banana ones), and they cost less than a dollar a pop.

So, make one the way you usually do and convert the other one to using no extra powders or vitamins – just basic ingredients like, well, peanut butter and banana, and see how that works for you. If you don’t notice a change in terms of how you feel or your energy, make the other one more basic, too.

Q12: What will I remember?

The one thing that works better than anything else for me keeping control over my spending is the simple question of “what will I remember when I am old?” I ask myself that every time I spend money. Will I remember this when I’m old? It is very effective at keeping me from wasteful everyday purchases. No, I won’t remember that Starbucks cup when I’m old. No, I won’t remember owning that Bluray when I’m old. What I will remember is experiences and friends and accomplishments. Those things feel good in the moment and I will remember them when I’m old, too. So I try to fill my life with those things and less with spending money on forgettable stuff.
– Shane

Shane sent me a long email with a lot of thoughts about his life and life in general and the things he’s learned from The Simple Dollar and other things. Much of it was as thoughtful as this little bit was, but it went off into very personal areas and other directions.

I wanted to share this little part of his message with you, though, because it perfectly encapsulates a sentiment that comes very close to explaining my feelings on finances – and most of my life – these days.

What will I remember about this when I’m old? When I think back on today, what things did I spend my time and money and energy on that I will actually remember? If I won’t remember it or it won’t directly lead to something really fruitful that I will remember (like doing a good job at work on an ordinary day), then why shouldn’t I spend the minimum amount of time and money and energy on it?

Try spending your day on things that you’ll remember when you’re old. Spend your time and money and energy that way.

Good luck.

Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.

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