Gatehouse Media, the parent company of the Pocono Record, named 18-year veteran and sports editor Mike Kuhns as the Record’s executive editor Thursday.Kuhns will bring his own brand of energy to the busy newsroom. He worked his way up the ranks, beginning his tenure in 1999 and named sports editor in 2001. Kuhns served as the interim executive editor for the past four months.“Mike has performed at the highest level since May,” Publisher Joe Vanderhoof said. [...]
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الخميس، 14 سبتمبر 2017
LV Chamber of Commerce proposes partnership with Pocono
The Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce brought all hands on deck to propose a partnership with the Greater Pocono Mountains Chamber of Commerce Thursday.Several Lehigh Valley chamber executives and chamber members lavished the virtues of partnering with its organization.The Greater Pocono Mountains Chamber of Commerce has seen declining membership of late and its financial condition has suffered as a result. About 500 businesses make up the Pocono Mountains Chamber. The [...]
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Ravens’ DNA Test Giveaway on Sunday Is the Weirdest NFL Game Freebie Ever
Once upon a time, the Baltimore Ravens were the Cleveland Browns.
On Feb. 3, 2013, the Ravens, led by coach Jim Harbaugh, played against the John Harbaugh-led San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. The two were brothers — and they look a lot alike.
So you’ll have to forgive Ravens fans if they have a bit of identity confusion.
Luckily for fans headed to the game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Sunday, Sept. 17, the Ravens will help them out with a free DNA test kit.
How the DNA Test Kit Works
The process will be simple for fans. As you enter the stadium, you’ll get an Orig3n DNA test kit. Then you simply swab the inside of your mouth and drop the sample into one of the Orig3n bins in the stadium.
The test will break down information on four different genes. The test promises to provide insights into your language ability, vitamin D absorption, muscle force and sugar-induced aging.
Test results will come to each fan securely through a smartphone app.
Some skeptics warn fans not to read too much into the DNA test. For instance, if it says you have remarkable muscle force in your DNA, it doesn’t mean you should try out for the Ravens next summer. (The Browns, maybe.)
Orig3n does offer more extensive DNA tests, which range from $29 up to $149, for those who want to learn more about their genetic makeup.
Who Are You, Really?
The Orig3n DNA test giveaway is one of the more innovative game day promotions we’ve seen. Who really needs another bobblehead or T-shirt that will only fit a tiny, tiny person? It’s fun. It’s interesting. It should be harmless.
If it comes back and says you’re really a Browns fan, then you can worry.
Tyler Omoth is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder who loves soaking up the sun and finding creative ways to help others. Catch him on Twitter at @Tyomoth.
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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After the Equifax Breach, Does Credit Fraud Monitoring Really Help?
Credit monitoring bureau Equifax was hacked and is offering fraud monitoring services for free. But experts say they're pretty useless.
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After the Equifax Breach, Does Credit Fraud Monitoring Really Help?
Credit monitoring bureau Equifax was hacked and is offering fraud monitoring services for free. But experts say they're pretty useless.
Source Business & Money | HowStuffWorks http://ift.tt/2ws3vUg
Source Business & Money | HowStuffWorks http://ift.tt/2ws3vUg
Chip and Joanna Gaines Launch Target Line. No, You Don’t Need All 300 Items
Everyone’s favorite HGTV couple Chip and Joanna Gaines announced some major news this week, and their fans are freaking out:
They’re launching their own line at Target.
Chip and Joanna Gaines’ New Target Line: What We Know So Far
On Sept.13, the “Fixer Upper” stars announced their Magnolia brand will collaborate with Target to create the Hearth & Hand With Magnolia line. The line will feature home and lifestyle products that resemble the couple’s notable farmhouse style and will include tables, decor, giftables and seasonal staples.
The line is set to launch Nov. 5.
Aside from being stylish, the Gaines and Target promise to keep items affordable for the everyday family. Target’s FAQ section says the 300-plus Hearth & Hand With Magnolia items will range from 99 cents to $129.99. It also promises that 90% of them will cost less than $25.
Additionally, every purchase from the collection will help Magnolia donate time and assistance to local communities, as mentioned on the Target brand page. Magnolia will also donate money through its Magnolia Foundation to support organizations involved in orphan care, youth development, family housing and community restoration.
Cute home decor that also fights the good fight? I dig it.
How to Avoid Impulse Spending on This Stylish New Line
We’ve all heard the phrase, “One does not simply purchase only one item at Target.” And it’s true! Oftentimes, you walk in for toilet paper and somehow walk out with a cart full of items you didn’t know you needed.
Although the retailer is making many of its prices cheaper, all those items do start to add up. Throw this new line from Chip and Joanna into the mix and, well, things can unravel quickly.
Look, I know it’s going to make your home even more chic than it already is and going to help some good causes, but don’t go throwing away all your money at it! Resist the temptation!
Not sure how? No problem. Here are a few tips on how to avoid impulsive spending at Target — or pretty much anywhere for that matter:
1. Make a Shopping List Beforehand
This is one of the easiest ways to avoid purchases that’ll punch your budget right in the gut. Your shopping list will remind you that you’re on a mission to get what you need. If it’s not on the list, don’t buy it!
2. Save for Purchases
You have a grocery budget — if not, here’s how to make one. If you want to add to your home’s atmosphere, make a design budget, and start saving little by little to fulfill it.
3. Wait for Sales
I know, it’s hard to wait. But is there anything more frustrating than seeing something you purchased last week on sale today? Repeat after me: Good things come with time.
4. Check Out the Store’s App
Whether you’re shopping at Target or elsewhere, there’s likely an app for it. Oftentimes, there are discounts specifically for app users. Sometimes, you can even set them up to alert you when the price drops on an item you’ve been eyeing. Use apps to your advantage!
5. Take a Step Back
Yes, literally. If you’re staring at the most fabulous nightstand you’ve ever seen and didn’t plan to buy it, take a step back and refocus. “Psychology Today” calls this the SOS technique (step back, orient yourself with your values and beliefs, do a self-check). It helps clear your mind and remind you what’s more important: that nightstand or your groceries?
Keeping these tips in mind can help you enjoy shopping without breaking your budget — even at Target. Good luck!
Kelly Smith is a junior writer and engagement specialist at The Penny Hoarder. Catch her on Twitter at @keywordkelly.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.
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Here’s How the End of DACA Will Impact the Health and Education Industries
If you were to name the most important jobs in America right now, what would you say?
Nurse? Doctor? Teacher? Principal? Probably something in health care or education.
Unfortunately, these industries are facing massive gaps between hiring and job openings. Hospitals, clinics and local school districts just can’t find people to do the work they need.
In July, there were more than 1.2 million job openings in the two combined industries and only 778,000 hires, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Tack on 478,000 people who quit these stressful jobs, and you’ve got two industries hurting for qualified workers.
So who are these unsung heroes that are actually filling the positions?
Many DACA Jobs Are in Health Care and Education Sectors
More than 168,000 undocumented immigrants are here under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy employed in the education and health services sector, according to research by Tom Wong, associate professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego.
President Barack Obama signed DACA in 2012 as an executive order that allowed minors brought to this country without legal permission to receive work permits on a two-year basis.
President Donald Trump has given Congress six months to act on his plan to repeal DACA. The repeal would leave some of the most important areas of the economy vulnerable to major job losses.
“Ending DACA is going to have a huge impact on the U.S. economy,” said Royce Murray, policy director of the American Immigration Council. “Over the next decade, the United States is predicted to lose $60 billion in tax revenue and $280 billion in economic growth as a result of limiting the ability of 800,000 young people from participating in the formal economy.”
With an aging population, the number of job openings in this piece of the U.S. economy has more than doubled since 2010. So, besides the Dreamers facing potential deportation, your older loved ones will bear the brunt of the end of DACA since there will be fewer people to care for them.
“Students and patients in need of medical treatment don’t care about the immigration status of those who teach and tend to them,” Murray said. “Instead, they value and want to keep the educators and health care workers who make a tangible difference in their lives.”
Alex Mahadevan is a data journalist at The Penny Hoarder.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.
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Hurricanes Can Hurt the Gig Economy — But They Also Offer Opportunities
Unless you actually live under a rock or have zero access to TV or the internet (and I mean, I’m calling your bluff because you’re reading this right now), you already know that two major hurricanes, Harvey and Irma, ripped through the southern states over the last couple of weeks, leaving widespread flooding, dangerous conditions and serious damage in their wakes.
But what you might not have heard yet is that these two hurricanes caused an estimated $290 billion in losses.
Two! Hundred! Ninety! Billion!
That figure is the estimated total of all costs associated with the storms, including property damages, increased fuel prices, crop loss (those Florida oranges), transportation and infrastructure damage, disruption to businesses and periods of unemployment that could stretch on for months.
While a lot of salaried, full-time and even some part-time employees are given PTO, extended grace periods and the promise of a job waiting for them when they return, that’s not the case for every worker.
And that’s due, in large part, to the rise of the gig economy.
The Unforgiving Gig Economy
The gig economy is now estimated to make up about 34% of the workforce. That means one in three workers in the U.S. collects all or part of their income from some form of self-employment: freelancing, contract work or internet platform-based gig work.
And that means that one in three workers affected by the hurricanes is responsible for keeping their own cash flow going while dealing with any travel, home repairs, power loss, medical needs, caregiving and clean up — along with so many other attention-demanding tasks — that come with a natural disaster.
Unfortunately, dealing with these issues can get pretty costly, and the financial strain is only compounded when a person is unable to work due to the severe weather — whether that work requires electricity, Wi-Fi, open stores or restaurants, clear roads or simply customers who are still in the area.
Weather the Storm as a Gig Worker
Thankfully, a member of the gig economy can use their status as an independent worker to boost their earnings before and after a hurricane or other natural disaster. These steps can help cushion the blow of being out of work for a while.
(Note: We’re by no means encouraging anyone to work during unsafe conditions! Be practical and assess the level of damage in your area before deciding whether offering your services for hire is the right move. Please use your smarts, help your neighbors when you can and stay safe.)
Before and after the storm, use a platform like TaskRabbit to see if anyone is looking to hire someone to help with “around the house” tasks like picking up loose debris, boarding up windows, hauling branches or making a run to the dump.
Over the next several months, there should be a lot of odd jobs you can pick up as people seek to repair some of the damage the storms caused.
You could also sign up to be a Shipt shopper and help deliver the last-minute grocery orders people will place before the storm arrives (and possibly after, although grocery stores in Florida have been slim pickin’s these days). Just be prepared to haul a lot of canned goods and bottled water!
During a prolonged power outage, a lot of schools will be closed — but parents will still have to head back to the office. Consider signing up for a site like Care.com, where parents may go searching for some last minute help.
You may have to get creative as you look for opportunities to continue earning a living in a very strange financial landscape. Think outside the box and remember that the gig economy is all about seeing a need and filling it before your competitors do the same. There will be plenty of people who will want to hire an extra set of hands over the coming months, so be open to opportunities and you’ll start to recoup those losses.
Finally, don’t forget that if you’re struggling to keep up with payments and bills, several companies are offering to nix and delay fees, overage penalties and even student loan payments in the wake of hurricanes Irma and Harvey.
(And if you’re still strapped for cash as the craziness of hurricane season comes to a close, consider trying these 50 ways to make extra money on the side.)
Grace Schweizer is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s pretty ready for hurricane season to be over so that sunny Florida can get back to doing what it does best: being sunny.
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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Seven Strategies for Efficient Hobby and Entertainment Spending
One of the core principles that guides my financial life is the idea of finding the best “bang for the buck” for every dollar I spend. I try to seek out products that have the features I actually need for the lowest price, and I also consider things like the time cost of reusing things or the time cost of stopping at another store to save $5.
In terms of stuff where I’m almost entirely concerned with function, this is actually pretty easy. For example, what do I want out of a kitchen garbage bag? I want one that doesn’t rip with any consistency and allows me to carry my trash out to the trash can with minimal effort. What’s the cheapest bag I can get that fulfills those needs? That’s the bag I buy and keep buying.
Where things get trickier is when we move away from things that are needs (or nearly needs) into things that are pretty clearly “wants,” like entertainment and hobbies. How exactly do I figure out “bang for the buck” for those nonessential things that are mostly just there to provide pleasure and improve the quality of my leisure time?
It’s a question that I struggle with a lot. I budget a certain amount each month for hobby and entertainment spending for myself, and I want to be sure I’m getting the most value out of those dollars. How do I do that?
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have a perfect solution to these questions, but I have figured out a few things along the way. Here are some of the techniques I use to make better choices with my entertainment and hobby dollars, even if they’re not necessarily perfect choices.
The Cost of an Hour of Quality Leisure
One of the first things that I like to think about is, when I buy an item for my hobbies or for entertainment, how many hours of enjoyment am I going to get out of that item?
For example, let’s say I buy a book and read it once. I’m going to get five to twenty hours of enjoyment out of the book (depending on the length). If that book costs $10, then I’m spending somewhere between $0.50 and $2 per hour for enjoyment. If I check it out from the library instead, that cost goes to “free,” but then I’m restricted by the need to return it to the library.
However, if I buy a book just to put it on the shelf and never read it (or to just leave it on my Kindle), the cost per hour of enjoyment is infinite.
Let’s look at another example. Let’s say I buy a board game that takes an hour to play and I play it five times. The game cost $20, so I get $4 per hour of enjoyment from that game. (However, I’m active in local game trading, so I’m likely to trade that game for another one, and keep doing so until I find one that I think I’ll consistently play for many years to come, so the real cost of a game I actually play is usually much lower than $4 per hour.)
However, if I buy a game just to put it on my shelves and never read it, then the cost per hour of enjoyment is infinite.
As a frugal person, I want that “cost per hour of enjoyment” to be as low as possible. So, for that to happen, I need to be spending my entertainment and hobby dollars on things that I’m actually going to use and enjoy. If I spend it on things that I just stick on a shelf, that’s a gigantic waste of money.
So, unless something is truly a rare find, I leave it on the shelf unless I’m highly confident I’m going to use it in the near future. I can always buy it later if I’m ready to actually enjoy that item.
Rule #1 – Don’t buy stuff that you’re not absolutely sure you’re going to use.
You Don’t Have Time for Everything
If I have an hour or so of free time to myself, I’m likely to read a book, unless the weather is nice, in which case I’ll go outside and probably go on a walk.
If I have two or three hours of free time, I’ll go to a park and go on a hike if the weather is nice, or play a board game if it’s not nice. The presence of other people might sway this; I might end up enjoying a board game with them or watching a movie with them or something.
If I have a free afternoon, I’ll often cook something or prepare some food and beverage items for the future. I’ll make a batch of homemade sauerkraut or a batch of homemade beer. If I have friends around, I’ll play a long board game with them if they’re interested.
In other words, what I begin to notice is that I definitely have a hierarchy of things I like to do in my spare time.
If I have adequate time, I’m likely to prioritize some sort of food hobby, followed by board games, followed by hiking, followed by reading a book. As my time constraints change, my priorities change because different things become more fun than others.
The reality is that a lot of my free time is in short blocks, except that I block off one weekend afternoon and evening for focused leisure time. What that means is that I simply don’t have nearly enough time for everything that I want to be doing.
The hobby I’m able to devote the most time to in a given week is reading, because reading is much easier to break up into smaller blocks. However, the hobbies I most desire spending time on are cooking, board gaming, and hiking. I simply don’t have time blocks for them.
What does that mean? In my head, my yearning for those hobbies that I don’t have as much time for as I would like grows and grows and sometimes influences how I spend money. I will convince myself sometimes to spend money on a hobby that I’m not finding the time for, and that purchase is almost always at a high dollar-per-hour rate.
Those purchases are almost always mistakes, too.
As much as it hurts, I have come to terms with the fact that I don’t have the time to invest in some of my hobbies that I would like. The other commitments and responsibilities in my life do not leave long afternoons or evenings to play board games or make gourmet food items. What that means is that I consciously make the decision to spend less on those hobbies and instead relish the equipment that I have when I do find time to explore them.
Rule #2 – You don’t always have the time to do everything that you want. Come to terms with that and accept that some time-intensive hobbies may have to take a backseat in your life for now, and thus you shouldn’t keep throwing money at them.
Time Wasters
The internet is loaded with time wasters. Games, both in the browser and on smartphones, can suck down your time. Message boards can be a black hole of time.
The catch, of course, is that time that you devote to time wasters
Here’s a question I’ve started to ask myself when I realize that I’m playing a time-wasting game or I’m going down a rabbit hole on a message board or in internet searches: am I really getting any value out of this time? Would I rather be doing this than, say, reading a book or engaging in another hobby I love?
If the answer is “no,” then I find something else to do. Anything productive. Is there a work task I should be doing? I kill distractions and work on it. Is there a personal task I should be doing? I take care of that if it’s possible in my current situation.
Why? My time has real value, and the reality is that when I waste my time on something unimportant, it’s really just sucking away time from the hobbies that really matter to me. If I spend an hour reading internet comments on a political article, that’s a hour I’ve lost that could have been spent doing something productive, so that I could then tack an hour onto the time I spend on Sunday afternoon engaging in a hobby that takes more time.
In other words, the more time I waste on time-wasting activities, the less time I have to spend on meaningful entertainment and hobbies and the more split up that time is going to be.
I use that as a pretty powerful motivational tool. One strategy I often use is to come up with a pretty aggressive to-do list for the day. I mark the stuff I have to get done as high priority, then I have a bunch more lower priority items. I make a deal with myself – if I can knock out all of those lower priority items, then I add time to my leisure block on Sundays. Usually, if I’m really productive during the week, I feel just fine spending time on the weekends making a batch of home-brew beer or going on a hike or playing a long board game. If I’m not productive, my hobby time on the weekend is eaten up by life tasks that I have to manage, so I end up only being able to enjoy activities with low time commitments.
So, what does that have to do with spending money effectively on hobbies? If I’m more efficient with my time during the week, I have more time in my life for some of the more time-intensive hobbies, which means that the cost per hour of enjoyment of purchases of those hobbies goes down. In other words, if I work on being more productive, I get to have more time for the leisure activities that mean the most to me and it makes more sense to spend money on items for them.
It all comes back to time wasters. The more effective I am at cutting those things out of my life, the more of my time I can spend on things that I value more. In this case, I’m replacing meaningless entertainment with quality leisure time spent on hobbies and entertainment that really mean something to me. My time has real value, and when I waste that time, it’s really not much different than throwing cash out the window.
Rule #3 – The value of your time is real, too, and some things are a better use of your time. Figure out which things aren’t very useful and cut them out of your life. This makes every dollar you spend on your hobbies more effective, because you’ll get more time and use out of those items.
Diminishing Returns
Let’s say, hypothetically, I have no unread books at home, but I’m interested in reading one. If I go to the bookstore and buy one, I’m going to start reading it immediately.
Let’s say, on the other hand, that I have 20 unread books at home and I’m in the middle of one. If I go to the bookstore and buy one, I’m going to add it to my pile of unread books, which now total 21, and when my current book is finished, I’ll choose one of those 21 to read.
One of those two stories depicts a smart use of hobby money, while the other does not.
What’s the difference? Diminishing returns. The more items I already have at home that I either haven’t used yet or would strongly consider using again in the near future, the less value I get out of a new purchase.
Think about it. If you have a bunch of unwatched series and movies on Netflix, you’re getting much less value out of buying a Bluray or a DVD than you would if you had a completely empty queue on Netflix. You’re just adding hours 101 and 102 to your already existing backlog of 100 hours of viewing. If you have several unplayed or underplayed board games in your closet, you’re getting much less value out of buying a board game than if you don’t have any unplayed games. The same is true of video games.
“But what if this new item is something I’m really excited about?” That may be true – you might be more excited about that item on the shelf than you are about something at home. But, if that’s the case, ask yourself this: wasn’t there a time when you were similarly excited about that item at home? It faded, didn’t it? Why won’t your excitement about this item fade as well? The truth is that excitement borne in the heat of the moment almost always fades. When you feel more excited about something you spy on the store shelf compared to unused stuff at home, keep that in mind and wait a little while before making that purchase. Take a long, hard look at the unenjoyed stuff you already have at home, and then ask yourself whether the new purchase makes sense.
Rule #4 – Don’t spend hobby and entertainment money when you already have a bunch of unused or barely used stuff at home.
Rule #5 – The return you get for adding another item to a collection gets smaller as the collection gets larger.
The Free Factor
There’s one additional factor that’s been on my mind lately: the free factor. Simply put, some hobbies and entertainment options are free, so how can you really compare them to other options that cost money?
For starters, I usually compare free options to the options I already have in my home. The fact is that items I already own are items that are essentially “free” from here on forward, so they’re equivalent to free options. If I grab a board game off of my shelf, it’s essentially free to play it – the cost of it has already been paid and I’m not making any kind of spending decision. Thus, from the “free” perspective, going to a free community concert and playing a game I already own have the same cost.
The real decision about spending money on a hobby comes down to whether or not to enjoy free things or things that you’ve already bought versus buying more things to enjoy or going to paid experiences.
The frugal side of me wants to put a “premium” on the side of the free options, and I should – if I can have a good time with what’s free or what I already have on hand, then I should do that.
There’s a big factor I’m not considering here, though: the value of my time. Every time I spend an hour doing something, that experience has a value that, in theory, I can translate into dollars per hour. Reading a book in a quiet comfortable chair might be worth, say, $5 for an hour. However, playing a board game with a good friend might be worth $10 for that experience.
Not all experiences are the same, either. For example, if I’m curled up with a free book that I’m moderately interested in reading, it might be worth $3 for that hour, but if I’m really into the book, that hour might be worth $10 to me in terms of the joy I get in my life.
When you pay for entertainment or hobby items, what you’re actually doing is chipping away at the value of the time you spend. If it takes me ten hours to read a $10 book, then it needs to be at least a little better than my free options, but not enormously so.
So, here’s the point: free activities and entertainment have some real value, but they don’t trump everything; the key is knowing how much everything is worth to you. Of course, you can’t actually sit down and figure out how much an hour spent reading a book off your shelf is worth to you compared to reading the current bestseller you most want to read, but you can think about it and get a rough internal sense. I’ve found that if I spend some of my spare thoughts considering things like this, I end up making far better decisions about when to do something that’s free (or that I’ve already paid for) versus doing something that costs money.
Rule #6 – Free things are nice, but they don’t trump everything else; you can’t account for the “cost per hour” with them because of the value of your time.
Patience
A final factor worth mentioning is the patience factor. Suppose a new book comes out by your favorite author and you’re really, really excited to read it. You’re on the wait list at the library and you’ll get to read it for free in three months, but you could just spend $18 right now and start reading it immediately.
Comparing those two options, it could be easy to build a case for buying that book right away, but here’s the thing: those aren’t the only two options in the world.
You could spend the next three months reading other books from the library or other books on your shelves, for example. If this is the newest book in a series, you could catch up by rereading the previous books.
If you look at it that way, you’re not spending $18 to move from not reading anything to reading this new bestseller; instead, you’re paying $18 to move from reading the best book currently in your collection or at the library to reading this bestseller now versus three months in the future.
That’s not nearly as good of an entertainment bargain – in fact, it’s a pretty poor one.
What it reveals is that patience is a huge virtue when it comes to entertainment spending and sometimes with hobby spending, too. Waiting just a little while and enjoying things you already have access to in the interim often reveals giant bargains – you can borrow it for free or buy it for just a buck or two. Not only that, desires often fade out over time, meaning that you eventually won’t want the item nearly as much as you do right now.
So, when should you buy? My core principle is to write down that desired item and then wait a month, and in the interim I enjoy things I already have. If I still want it after that month, I start shopping around for it. The vast majority of the time, the desire for that item has faded.
Rule #7 – If there’s even the slightest doubt, it’s almost always better to wait with a hobby or entertainment expense.
Final Thoughts
Throughout this article, I’ve pointed out seven rules that I use when spending money on hobbies and entertainment. Let’s look at them again.
Rule #1 – Don’t buy stuff that you’re not absolutely sure you’re going to use.
Rule #2 – You don’t always have the time to do everything that you want. Come to terms with that and accept that some time-intensive hobbies may have to take a backseat in your life for now, and thus you shouldn’t keep throwing money at them.
Rule #3 – The value of your time is real, too, and some things are a better use of your time. Figure out which things aren’t very useful and cut them out of your life. This makes every dollar you spend on your hobbies more effective, because you’ll get more time and use out of those items.
Rule #4 – Don’t spend hobby and entertainment money when you already have a bunch of unused or barely used stuff at home.
Rule #5 – The return you get for adding another item to a collection gets smaller as the collection gets larger.
Rule #6 – Free things are nice, but they don’t trump everything else; you can’t account for the “cost per hour” with them because of the value of your time.
Rule #7 – If there’s even the slightest doubt, it’s almost always better to wait with a hobby or entertainment expense.
Taken together, those rules are pretty effective ones at guiding you away from bad entertainment and hobby spending choices, and most of the time, that’s all you need. The simple ability to say “no” when faced with a tempting hobby spending choice that really isn’t a smart decision is one that will usually be all that you need.
How do you find the best choices, though? That’s a much more difficult question to answer, because everyone has different passions and interests. Even people within the same hobby will have very different answers.
My suggestion? Let these rules guide you away from the poor choices, and let your own heart guide you to the best choices. Together, they’ll help point you to effective hobby and entertainment spending.
Good luck!
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What You Need to Know About American Express’s New Delta Card
American Express and Delta enjoy a strong partnership. We consider the to be one of the strongest airline cards on the market today, offering cardholders the best travel perks available.
Now they’re teaming up again, with the new . There’s no annual fee — that’s unusual among airline cards — and it comes with high rewards rate and a considerable signup bonus. If you’re a periodic Delta flyer, or even just an occasional traveler, this might be one of the top cards for you.
Highlights
- 2X miles per dollar spent on all Delta purchases, including flights booked, SkyClub® membership or passes, in-flight purchases, and more
- 2X miles per dollar spent at all U.S. restaurants
- 1X miles per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases
- 20% savings in the form of a statement credit on eligible Delta in-flight purchases (food, beverages, audio headsets)
- Earn 10,000 bonus miles after spending $500 on purchases within your first three months of card membership
cardholders can gain access to American Express Travel Insiders, a vacation-planning service that connects travelers with local experts and personalized itineraries all across the globe. They’ll also have exclusive access to Card-member only events, including Broadway shows and concert tours. Other perks include American Express’ Global Assist Hotline, available 24/7, as well as car rental loss and damage insurance.
The fine print
The welcome bonus offer is not available to applicants who currently have or have had one of the following cards within the past 90 days:
- Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card
- Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express
- Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express
- Delta Reserve® Credit Card from American Express
The Blue Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express has no annual fee, but it does charge a 2.7% foreign transaction fee on purchases outside the U.S. If you’re looking for cards with $0 foreign transaction fees, check out our list of the Best International Credit Cards.
Another Delta/American Express option
The Blue Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express is an ideal option for casual travelers that want to earn rewards for an occasional vacation. If you travel often or are looking for a more luxe travel experience, the could be the better choice for you. The perks you’ll get — which we’ve highlighted in our Best Airline Cards of 2017 list — are more than enough to offset the $95 dollar annual fee.
Here’s how the cards compare:
Delta/AmEx card comparison |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Card | Annual fee | Rewards rate | Special perks |
| $0 |
|
20% savings in the form of a statement credit on eligible Delta in-flight purchases of food, beverages, and audio headsets | |
| $95 (waived first year) |
|
|
|
All in all, the is another appealing offering from Delta and American Express. It’s a perfect fit for those who only travel a few times a year and want a strong rewards program with no annual fee.
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Finding Your Financial Flow
Over the past few years, I’ve developed an insatiable appetite for financial literature.
What you notice after finishing your 20th or 30th personal finance book is that things get to be a bit repetitive. This is especially true of the books that are aimed at a general audience. You can read only so many chapters titled “What’s Going on In Your 401(k)?” before the texts become visual Ambien.
And yet, I continue to devour personal finance books, because there’s always at least one worthwhile thing in every volume. There will be one nugget of wisdom, one innovative strategy, or one way of looking at the world I’d never considered before.
After finishing “The Financial Planning Puzzle” by Jason Silverberg, I knew that it fell into the latter camp. It doesn’t offer many new ideas, but it had one chapter that really sparked my interest and made me rethink an aspect of my financial life.
Finding Your Financial Flow
The notion that stood out to me is the author’s insistence that learning about money, and putting a financial plan into action, can be genuinely fun.
For the first 24 years of my life, I thought anything personal finance-related was a drag. Maybe it was seeing the dull looks on my parents’ faces as they went through the bills at the dining room table, or the tedium I felt learning how to write a check, or the fact that the banks I visited were so quiet, sterile, and ominous.
But, if I had to pick one thing that colored my view of money, it’d probably be the commercials in the ’90s for Pacific Life Insurance. I have early memories of my favorite sporting events being interrupted by commercials full of soft music, jargon I couldn’t understand, and a huge blue whale. I wasn’t sure what a mutual fund was, but I could sense it had to do with money. I was so bored by the end of the commercials that they sometimes made me turn off the TV altogether. For a 10-year-old, that’s saying something.
I later went on to take a class in high school that covered basic economic principles, and it was as dry as you would imagine. It extinguished any flicker of interest I had in the topic. I wandered out of the classroom each day with glazed-over eyes and a faint hope that everything would just sort of work itself out once I became a real adult.
That class would have done well to take a page out of Silverberg’s book. He makes the case that figuring out a financial plan at a young age can be empowering, engaging, and challenging.
He unabashedly refutes the notion that financial planning should be boring, dry work. He doesn’t even consider it as a possibility. Buoyed by a relentless enthusiasm, he implores the reader to see how empowering it can be to put a financial plan into action.
He does so by deftly tying together two different components he believes are necessary to develop a good plan: Visions and values.
Your visions are your dreams. If you don’t know what you want, there is no way you can achieve it. It sounds obvious, but so often we drift through life, unwilling to take the time to figure out what it actually is we want. This is not to say that your wants won’t change, but if you don’t start somewhere, you can’t even keep track of when they change!
Your values are the core beliefs that drive all aspects of your life. Again, we all know deep down what our values are, but if we completely divorce them from our financial planning, the process can seem distant and abstract. On the other hand, if we keep our values in mind, using them as guideposts and motivators, we will be more driven to save, invest, and increase our financial knowledge in service of our values. If, for instance, you’re a parent of young children, you might put a heavy emphasis on saving for their college education.
According to Silverberg, defining our vision and values will naturally lead us to take action. This can be a small step, like cutting out cable in order to save on your monthly bills, or a big one, like starting a search for an entirely new living situation in order to slice your rent in half.
What I like about this section is that Silverberg is not dogmatic, saying you must complete one task before taking on another. He emphasizes that any action, however small, is still positive. He also encourages a zen approach to the entire financial planning exercise, saying, “Focus on the actions, not the outcomes. In the end, you control the actions, not the results. The more consistent you are with the actions, the greater the probability of achieving the desired outcomes.”
To the author, there can be nothing more rewarding than putting a plan in place that will help you achieve financial freedom. Even if your plan is as simple as “I need to get out of debt,” you can still think through the possible strategies, research all the actions you can take, and lay out a path forward to make your vision a reality.
The average person puts more effort into finding the best slice of pizza in town than they do in thinking about how to make their money grow, and it clearly lights a fire under Silverberg. His passion pours out of the page, and anyone who reads this part will likely entertain the idea of figuring out a personalized, sustainable financial plan.
He insists that brainstorming, developing, and implementing a financial plan that will help you achieve your life’s purpose can bring about a flow state. He defines flow as: “A mental state in which we are fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, total involvement, and sheer enjoyment in the process of an activity. It’s when our purpose, values and actions are all in alignment.”
That’s an elegant way of describing the concept of flow, and I totally agree with his assessment. I’ve gotten to that state playing sports or creating art, but I’d never stopped to think about whether I’d been there while thinking through my financial future. After finishing this chapter, I realize that I definitely have, and that others can, too.
This is an empowering thought. Paying the bills doesn’t have to be the low point of your week if you’re keeping the big picture in mind and working toward a goal that means something to you. When I’m having financial discussions with my wife, and we passionately discuss what’s important to us while coming up with creative ways to achieve our goals, I feel like I’m in a flow state.
After reading this chapter, it hit me that there are few more engaging activities than creating, assessing, and following through on a financial plan. It has inspired me to be even more clear about what I want, and more energized to put my plans into action.
Because really, what could be boring about figuring out how to grow and protect your life savings so that you can achieve your dreams? Always putting off those discussions would be like buying a grocery cart full of perishable goods, bringing them back to your apartment, and then saying, “Meh, I don’t want to put any of these groceries in the refrigerator. Too boring. I’ll just leave everything out and see what happens.”
He wraps up this intriguing chapter with an illustration:
The “feedback loop” portion of the drawing refers to the idea that when you achieve a flow state, “you end up creating a feedback loop of happiness,” and you’re more inclined to have continued discussions about the state of your financial plan.
Silverberg feels that it’s only through our societal conditioning that financial planning takes on a foreboding and onerous quality. All it takes a subtle shift in mindset, a slight reframing of your priorities, and a defining of your purpose in life to turn a daunting task into an exciting one.
Summing Up
While not revolutionary by any means, “The Financial Planning Puzzle” has an interesting spunk to it. The author is clearly genuine in his desire to help people learn about money, and his enthusiasm is infectious.
If nothing else, it’s worth checking out the chapter on flow. It provides great insight into how we as a society can take back the joy that should inherently be found in dealing with a topic that’s essential to achieving our dreams, yet many of us consider to be intimidating or boring.
Related Articles:
- 12 Non-Financial Books to Help You Cultivate a Mindset of Financial Independence
- Six Books I Wish I’d Read Before Starting College
- 10 New (to Me) Books on Finance, Frugality, and Life Worth Reading
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