Cybercriminals Are Funding Their Dream Vacations With Your Rewards Points

You’ve been smart. You found the perfect credit card with great travel rewards points, and you’ve used it religiously and paid it all off promptly. Those points have added up, and now it’s time for you and your partner to jump on a plane to a sunny beach paradise!

But as you get ready to book, you see that your rewards points balance is zero.

The darknet strikes again!

You have to give cybercriminals a little credit for creativity. They continue to find new revenue streams — and now it’s your travel rewards points.

Hackers Are Selling Your Travel Rewards Points

Hackers who have learned how to steal your credit and debit card information are now selling your rewards points on the darknet, according to a report by cybersecurity firm Flashpoint. Since scammers have your card information, they also have your points information and want to make even more money.

How do they do it? They simply set up fake travel websites that specialize in heavily discounted flights and hotels, and let people go on vacation. Some even offer cruises, tours and rental cars. They create the giant discounts using your stolen points.

Some of these online marketplaces, like Alphabay and Hansa, were taken down in a sting operation by the government last summer. However, the darknet has many little corners and places for cybercriminals to make new homes for their scams.

The sites have been noted in Russian-, Spanish- and English-speaking communities. One Russian site even encouraged customers to take pictures on vacation and send them in so they could post them online.

That nice couple relaxing with mai tais on the beach in Nassau? Yeah, they’re smiling at you because they used your points to get there.

How to Avoid Helping Hackers

So what can an honest Joe do to avoid helping these scams survive?

Start by protecting your credit cards. There are some purchases that are riskier than others. Know which purchases to avoid and which are OK for your card, especially during the holiday season.

When looking to book travel for yourself, only use reputable travel sites. If you aren’t familiar with the site, see if it has a Better Business Bureau rating before booking. Remember, not only could you end up using stolen points to get big discounts, but you could also punch your card numbers into a scam site. Better safe than sorry.

Your points are your rewards. Don’t let someone else take your vacation.

Tyler Omoth is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder who loves soaking up the sun and finding creative ways to help others. He only has enough rewards points for a free bagel. Sorry, hackers. Catch him on Twitter at @Tyomoth.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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The Rent Is Too Dang High in Many Metros. Here’s Where to Live Instead

It’s no surprise that in most U.S. cities right now, the rent is too dang high.

And unlike most of the fiscal woes facing the country, baby boomers actually have it the worst when it comes to the burden of rent.

But there’s one glaring problem: Things are only getting worse.

We looked at the latest personal income statistics released this month by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, along with median rental housing costs recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau, Zillow and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. We found that in most cities, it’s getting increasingly harder to pay rent.

Between 2015 and 2016, rent increased faster than personal income in 83 of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S.

In other words, people aren’t making enough money to keep up with the skyrocketing housing costs.

Rental housing demand has soared since 2005, according to analyses by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Meanwhile, homeowners — and even fellow renters — tend to oppose the construction of new housing supply near them, specifically in cities that already have high housing costs.

Earlier this year, the National Low Income Housing Coalition found that, in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment in the U.S., the average person would have to earn $21.21 per hour. For minimum wage workers, that means working 117 hours a week to make rent.

That’s for the whole country. But when you look at those income statistics by city, which places are getting better or worse for renters?

In Denver, personal income remained stagnant at a loss of 0.3% between 2015 and 2016, while rental costs jumped 9.4%. Ugh, not sure if I’m ready to make the trek to the Mile-High City.

But on the other end of the spectrum, fans of “The Office” might want to make a pilgrimage to Scranton, Pennsylvania, and make their stay permanent: The city saw a 2.5% growth in income while rents fell by the same amount, making it the best city for renters in 2016.

Our analysis of the worst and best cities for renters might make you want to pack your bags and run away to another town on the other side of the country.

10 Cities Where Residents Are Least Able to Afford Rent

Everyone knows New York and San Francisco are expensive cities. But which U.S. metros are lagging in income, while rents are skyrocketing?

Here are the 10 cities with the biggest gap in growth of rent costs versus income between 2015 and 2016.

1. Denver, Colorado

Growth in Income: -0.3%

Rent Price Change: 9.4%

Difference: -9.7%

2. Houston, Texas

Growth in Income: -3.6%

Rent Price Change: 5.8%

Difference: -9.4%

3. Tulsa, Oklahoma

Growth in Income: -7%

Rent Price Change: 1.6%

Difference: -8.6%

4. Cape Coral, Florida

Growth in Income: -0.7%

Rent Price Change: 7.4%

Difference: -8.1%

5. Portland, Oregon

Growth in Income: 2.6%

Rent Price Change: 10.1%

Difference: -7.5%

6. Austin, Texas

Growth in Income: 0.9%

Rent Price Change: 8%

Difference: -7.1%

7. Augusta, Georgia

Growth in Income: 2.2%

Rent Price Change: 7.5%

Difference: -5.3%

8. Akron, Ohio

Growth in Income: 1.3%

Rent Price Change: 5.9%

Difference: -4.6%

9. Charlotte, North Carolina

Growth in Income: 2.3%

Rent Price Change: 6.7%

Difference: -4.4%

10. Dallas, Texas

Growth in Income: 0.1%

Rent Price Change: 4.4%

Difference: -4.3%

Can’t Afford Rent? Consider One of These 10 Cities

It seems the bulging incomes in Utah have helped push two major cities in that state to the top of the best places for renters. And in a couple of metros in Massachusetts, we see rents falling enough to tip the scales.

1. Scranton, Pennsylvania

Growth in Income: 2.5%

Rent Price Change: -2.4%

Difference: 4.9%

2. Springfield, Massachusetts

Growth in Income: 2.2%

Rent Price Change: -1.9%

Difference: 4.1%

3. Provo, Utah

Growth in Income: 4%

Rent Price Change: 0.2%

Difference: 3.8%

4. Honolulu, Hawaii*

Growth in Income: 2.9%

Rent Price Change: -0.4%

Difference: 3.3%

5. Worcester, Massachusetts

Growth in Income: 2.5%

Rent Price Change: -0.5%

Difference: 3%

6. Syracuse, New York

Growth in Income: 2.1%

Rent Price Change: -0.3%

Difference: 2.4%

7. Ogden, Utah

Growth in Income: 3.3%

Rent Price Change: 1%

Difference: 2.3%

8. Melbourne, Florida

Growth in Income: 1.3%

Rent Price Change: -0.5%

Difference: 1.8%

9. Mission, Texas

Growth in Income: 1.5%

Rent Price Change: 0.2%

Difference: 1.3%

10. Stockton, California*

Growth in Income: 3.5%

Rent Price Change: 2.3%

Difference: 1.2%

*Some of these cities remain quite expensive for renters but appear to be improving in affordability, according to the data.

There Are Always Options if You Can’t Afford Rent

We don’t just crunch data here at The Penny Hoarder — here are some interesting ways we’ve found to help pay the rent.

If interesting or unique isn’t your thing, you could also jump into the ride-sharing economy. You can stack plenty of cash on the side for the end of the month by driving with Uber or signing up for Lyft. Plus, your customers could become new friends with whom to complain about rent!

And you’re going to have to buy groceries, regardless of your outstanding rent payment. So why not get cash back with shopping apps like Ibotta or Dosh?

Seriously, there are dozens of ways to make extra money if you can’t afford rent this month.

You could also play the long game and, you know, move to Scranton. Or even better, just pull a Michael Scott and declare bankruptcy.

Alex Mahadevan is a data journalist at The Penny Hoarder.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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This Company is Hiring Part-Time Virtual Assistants and More (Pays $18/hr)

When small businesses and companies with distributed teams need executive assistants, project managers and social media specialists, they often turn to remote workers for help.

Premium virtual assistant company Worldwide101 is hiring skilled part-time work-from-home professionals to fill four different positions across North America and Europe. The pay is pretty sweet, too!

But if these aren’t the type of opportunities you’re looking for, keep an eye on our Jobs page on Facebook — we post new opportunities there all the time.

Executive Assistant and Executive Assistant – Paralegal

Pay: Starts at $18 per hour

As a part-time virtual executive assistant or executive assistant – paralegal, you will:

• Maintain appointment schedules

• Plan and schedule meetings, conferences and travel

• Make travel arrangements

• Read, research, and route correspondence

• Draft letters and documents

• Manage email
  

Applicants for this position must have:

• A minimum of seven years administrative and executive assistant experience (ideally as a paralegal to be eligible for the paralegal position)

• Ability to multi-task and prioritize work

• Excellent time-management skills

• Excellent interpersonal communication

• Strong writing skills

• Ability to work independently and under the pressure of deadlines

• Fluency in spoken and written English

Marketing and Social Media Specialist

Pay: Starts at $18 per hour

As a part-time virtual marketing and social media specialist, you will:

• Curate content for social media channels

• Analyze and report on social media metrics

• Create social media strategies for organic content promotion

• Grow and manage company’s engagement pipeline

Applicants for this position must:

• Have an understanding of native social media platforms and third-party social management tools

• Be curious about new social trends and emerging platforms

• Understand social analytics.

• Be able to write copy in a brand’s voice

• Have an interest in research

Project Management Specialist

Pay: Starts at $18 per hour.

As a part-time virtual project management specialist, you will:

• Oversee projects and coordinate among team members

• Manage administrative functions

• Monitor project deliverables and performance

• Coordinate schedules, meetings and travel

• Assist with relevant marketing activities and event planning

Applicants for this position must have:

• A minimum of seven years’ administrative or project management experience

• Ability to multi-task and prioritize work

• Excellent time-management skills

• Excellent interpersonal communication

• Strong writing skills

• Ability to work independently and under the pressure of deadlines

• Fluency in spoken and written English

Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She loves telling readers about new job opportunities so look her up on Twitter (@lisah) if you’ve got a tip to share.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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Industry Insider: Have Abenomics done enough to make Japan a good investment?

It has been an eventful five years since Shinzo Abe was first elected Prime Minister of Japan.

Since he came to power in December 2012, he has launched an extraordinary stimulus programme that aims to break Japan’s 20-year deflationary cycle. Known as ‘Abenomics’, these reforms comprise three ‘arrows’: quantitative easing (money printing), fiscal stimulus and structural reforms.

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So far, the government has gained some traction in all three areas, but there is more work to be done. Trying to change the mindset of a generation of people, who have experienced nothing but falling prices over two decades, will take time! But fresh from Mr Abe’s landslide election victory on 23 October, his party – the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) – has been given a clear mandate to progress with Abenomics.

I view Mr Abe’s success in the recent snap election as good news for investors seeking exposure to the Japanese stock market. From an economic perspective, several indicators look positive.

Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by an annualised rate of 2.5% over the three months to the end of June, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of economic growth.

Unemployment stands at an all-time low and there has been an increase in Japan’s labour force participation rate, driven by women returning to the workplace. This happened because of changes to the tax system that encourage married women to return to work. The initiative formed part of Abe’s ‘third arrow’, which aims to improve corporate governance, raise salaries and get more people working – a vitally important trend, as there are more jobs available than people to fill them.

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Japanese companies across the market spectrum appear to be benefiting from the changes that have been put in place over the past five years – and this is demonstrated by substantial improvements to corporate profitability and earnings growth during this time.

The good news is that Japanese equities look attractively valued in comparison to other developed markets. And I think there are plenty of opportunities for investors to make money in this market over the coming years; the key is to back an active fund manager with proven experience.

It is also worth remembering that Japan is a cyclical market, which means it is highly correlated to global GDP. The market swings between favouring growth and value fund managers, so it makes sense to hold a combination of funds with complementary styles.

Here, I would highlight Baillie Gifford Japanese fund, which is a good option for investors looking for a growth tilt. Manager Matthew Brett targets well-managed businesses, which have a strong competitive advantage and look attractively priced. The same team also runs several excellent Japanese equity investment trusts.

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T. Rowe Price Japanese Equity is another pick in the space. Manager Archie Ciganer focuses on companies that are undergoing change and is happy to take a long-term view. It has been a strong performer since Mr Abe came to power.

Looking ahead, Mr Abe will need to overcome several obstacles to end economic stagnation. The first is inflation, which remains subdued. In September, core consumer price inflation rose 0.7%, in line with the previous month’s increase. This remains some way off the Bank of Japan’s 2% inflation target. Meanwhile, the country’s low birth rate and ageing population represents another challenge to economic growth.

Despite the headwinds, I feel excited when I think about the path ahead for Japan. I think Mr Abe, five years in power and armed with a fresh mandate, will succeed in driving further positive change. Japan warrants a long-term allocation.

• Moneywise Fund Awards 2017: Funds with star quality

Darius McDermott is managing director at Chelsea Financial Services and FundCalibre

Past performance is not a reliable guide to future returns. You may not get back the amount originally invested, and tax rules can change over time. Mr McDermott’s views are his own and do not constitute financial advice.

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Moneywise Fund Awards 2017: Funds with star quality

This year’s winning funds across 12 popular sectors offer investors the perfect combination of good value and consistent high performance.

Whether you are saving for your future or want to provide a nest egg for your children, the right investment fund can go a long way in helping you achieve your savings goals.

Investment funds offer a cheap and hassle-free way of investing in a portfolio of shares, with the benefit of an expert fund manager to run it on your behalf.

However, with thousands on offer, investing in a diverse range of countries and sectors with different aims, it can be a tough call finding the right one (or ones) for you.

• Moneywise's First 50 Funds for beginners

The Moneywise Fund Awards 2017 will help you make the right choices. Rather than just singling out those funds that have topped the performance tables over the past year, our awards highlight funds that have proved they are able to deliver good returns consistently over longer periods. Plus, we have paid close attention to charges.

UK All Companies

WINNER: Old Mutual UK Mid Cap*
Manager: Richard Watts
Ongoing charge: 0.85%
Value of £1,000 invested five years ago: £2,634 (163%)
Highly commended: Unicorn UK Growth
Commended: Marlborough UK Multi Cap Growth*, Threadneedle UK Mid 250

Since 2014, UK All Companies has been the worst selling Investment Association (IA) fund sector. The IA sectors divide funds into groups that invest in similar asset types, so investors can compare funds in one or more sectors before looking in detail at individual funds.

But while it remains unloved, UK All Companies houses a diverse array of funds and management styles and is home to some hidden gems. And it is those funds that invest in medium and smaller-sized companies (also called mid- and small-caps) that have come out on top.

Gavin Haynes, managing director of Whitechurch Securities, explains: “When sterling collapsed after the EU referendum, it was blue-chip stocks with overseas earnings that were the big winners. But, in 2017, as the UK economy proved more resilient than was feared, the more domestically focused medium and smaller UK companies have outperformed.”

Taking the award for the second year in the row is Old Mutual UK Mid Cap*, which is also one of Moneywise’s First 50 Funds.

Commenting on its performance, Tony Lawrence, investment manager at 7IM, says: “The Old Mutual UK Mid & Small Cap team is one of the more well-resourced and stable groups on the scene. The Mid Cap fund is overseen by Richard Watts, who expertly translates the team’s idea generation into a portfolio of stocks that consistently adds alpha. Large positions in stocks such as Boohoo.com and Fevertree have certainly provided a boost to performance over the past 12 months.”

The runner-up this year is Unicorn UK Growth – an option for investors who are willing to take more risk with their money.

Mr Haynes says: “Unicorn UK Growth focuses on smaller companies in the UK, and investors should appreciate that this fund may be higher risk than the typical UK equity fund. But the focus towards more domestic areas of the stock market has seen it recover strongly in 2017 and provide strong outperformance.”

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UK Smaller Companies

WINNER: Axa Framlington UK Smaller Companies
Manager: Dan Harlow
Ongoing charge: 0.84%
Value of £1,000 invested five years ago: £2,511 (151%)
Highly commended: TB Amati UK Smaller Companies
Commended: Old Mutual UK Smaller Companies, Marlborough UK Micro Cap Growth*

Look at the returns posted by the top smaller companies’ funds and it can make for a very tempting proposition. However, investors need to be aware of the risks associated with the sector, which are tightly linked to the health of our own domestic economy.

Dzmitry Lipski, investment analyst at Interactive Investor (Moneywise’s parent company), says: “Small-cap equities have strongly outperformed large-cap equities since the financial crisis, but could be more at risk if the UK economy slows further as Brexit negotiations drag on. This outperformance is mainly attributed to the fact that smaller companies are typically under-researched, under-invested, and less efficient than the market for large-caps and, therefore, could yield superior returns over the longer term.”

Taking pole position this year is last year’s runner-up, Axa Framlington UK Smaller Companies.

Darius McDermott, managing director of Chelsea Financial Services, says: “This fund hasn’t missed a beat since Dan Harlow returned to manage the fund in the middle of 2016.”

Mr Harlow previously managed the UK Smaller Companies fund from 2010 to 2011.

“The fund’s GARP (growth at a reasonable price) style has worked particularly well in the smaller companies’ space and the fund has very consistently been among the top performers,” adds Mr McDermott.

Trading places, last year’s winner is this year’s runner-up, TB Amati Smaller Companies.

Mr Lipski says: “The fund is managed by a strong trio, Paul Jourdan, Douglas Lawson and David Stevenson, with an aim to provide ‘a fund for all seasons”.

While the fund focuses on companies with market caps below £500 million, it can move up the market-cap scale to manage liquidity.”

Liquidity can be a real challenge to smaller companies’ funds – indeed many have had to close their doors or increase charges for new investors to stop them becoming too big.

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UK Equity Income

WINNER: MI Chelverton UK Equity Income*
Managers: David Horner and David Taylor
Ongoing charge: 0.88%
Value of £1,000 invested five years ago: £2,183 (118%)
Highly commended: Unicorn UK Income
Commended: Man GLG UK Equity Income, Royal London UK Equity Income

With savings rates remaining at rock bottom, funds that can deliver a growing income are a popular choice among investors.

However, performance in the sector has slipped when compared to the UK All Companies sector and those that have shone are those that have searched for higher returns. Before investing, it is important to be aware that funds investing in smaller companies will be riskier than those that focus on larger companies.

Commenting on our winner, MI Chelverton UK Equity Income*, a member of the Moneywise First 50 Funds, Mr McDermott says: “This multi-cap fund has correctly positioned itself away from struggling mega caps, preferring to invest in small- and mid-cap stocks which have been growing their dividends. Combined with excellent stock selection, the result is a fund that has by far the strongest performance in the IA UK Equity Income sector over the past five years.”

Coming in second place is Unicorn UK Income. Mr Lipski says: “This fund has been managed by Simon Moon and Fraser Mackersie since June 2014, to provide rising income from a concentrated portfolio of smaller companies. It aims to deliver a gross yield at least 10% greater than the yield produced by the FTSE All-Share Index.”

• Fund Briefing: UK Equities

Mixed Investment 20%-60% Shares

WINNER: Axa Global Distribution
Manager: Matthew Huddart and Jamie Forbes-Wilson
Ongoing charge: 0.8%
Value of £1,000 invested five years ago: £1,540 (54%)
Highly commended: Royal London Sustainable Diversified Income
Commended: Invesco Perpetual European High Income, Axa Ethical Distribution, M&G Episode Allocation

Funds in this sector invest between 20% and 60% of their cash in equities, with the remainder invested in cash or fixed-interest investments such as gilts and corporate bonds. This makes them more suited to cautious investors who want to limit their exposure to the stock market. Our winner is last year’s runner-up, Axa Global Distribution.

Commenting on its impressive performance, Mr McDermott says: “Matthew Huddart and Jamie Forbes-Wilson recently took over this fund in 2017. This fund has delivered exceptionally strong relative performance. It has more than doubled the returns of sector average over the past 10 years.”

Royal London Sustainable Diversified Income is our highly commended choice.

Mr McDermott is not short of praise for the fund: “It has an incredibly consistent track record, having beaten its benchmark in every calendar year since its launch. It has delivered returns comparable to equities, but with substantially less risk.”

Mixed Investment 40%-85% Shares

WINNER: Royal London Sustainable World
Manager: Mike Fox
Ongoing charge: 0.77%
Value of £1,000 invested five years ago: £1,893 (89%)
Highly commended: Baillie Gifford Managed
Commended: BlackRock Consensus 85

This mixed asset fund sector used to be known as ‘balanced managed’ and with stock market exposure lying between 40% and 85% it suits investors who value the benefits of diversification but are prepared to invest more on the stock market.

Adrian Lowcock says: “Funds within this sector differ markedly from each other and as a result will perform differently. Over the past 12 months, [funds with] greater exposure to shares will have benefited as equity markets rallied, while bonds fell back due to expectations of interest rate rises.”

For the second year on the trot our winner is Royal London Sustainable World trust, which also has an ethical mandate. According to its latest factsheet, it is 82% invested in equities – so close to the maximum permitted by the sector.

Mr Haynes says: “The fund has provided attractive capital growth through investment in a globally diversified portfolio, predominantly in equities with some fixed interest securities and cash. Mike Fox is head of sustainable funds at Royal London Asset Management and has managed the fund since 2003 with impressive returns. The focus is on long-term themes and trends such as infrastructure or changing demographics with emphasis on active management and focused high-conviction best ideas.”

Baillie Gifford Managed takes second place.

Mr Haynes adds: “This fund has been a strong performer and has a track record stretching back 30 years. The team take a long-term approach with a typical asset mix of 75% equities, 20% bonds and 5% cash. Charges are very competitive.”

Strategic Bonds

WINNER: Axa Framlington Managed Income
Manager: George Luckcraft
Ongoing charge: 0.59%
Value of £1,000 invested five years ago: £1,519 (51%)
Highly commended: Baillie Gifford Corporate Bond
Commended: Royal London Sterling Extra Yield, Artemis High Income, PIMCO Diversified Income

This is a fixed-interest category, where managers have a fewer restraints than the conventional corporate bond sector. Funds in this sector will have more opportunities to get higher yields in a low interest rate environment. The funds may, however, be higher risk as a result so it is important to check the strategies employed by your chosen fund before you invest.

Mr Haynes says: “2017 was a more challenging year for investing in bond markets, with government bonds providing disappointing returns. Investors were rewarded for taking on risk with high-yield and emerging markets bonds performing particularly well.”

Our winner is Axa Framlington Managed Income.

Mr Haynes says: “George Luckcraft has provided impressive returns over the past year with a favour for bonds of financial companies boosting performance. With income hard to find, the more than 4% yield is attractive.”

In second place is last year’s winner, the Baillie Gifford Corporate Bond fund.

Mr Haynes adds: “The Corporate Bond fund aims to produce a high level of monthly income through a portfolio of 60 to 80 corporate bonds. It is a highly active portfolio of the manager’s best ideas with a mix of investment-grade and high-yielding bonds.”

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Ethical

WINNER: Henderson Global Care Growth
Manager: Hamish Chamberlayne
Ongoing charge: 0.84%
Value of £1,000 invested five years ago: £2,070 (107%)
Highly commended: F&C Responsible Global Equity
Commended: Royal London Sustainable World, Standard Life Investments UK Ethical, Eden Tree Amity European

Some investors like to invest in line with their morals and beliefs and so will try to avoid companies, which are considered to do harm. Ethical funds will, therefore, not invest in some sectors, such as tobacco, and typically have lower, or no, weightings in others like oil and gas.

“This means there is more focus on those sectors where they are able to invest, and their comparative performance is often dictated by how the sectors they hold perform compared with those which they don’t,” notes Patrick Connolly, chartered financial planner at IFA Chase De Vere.

The winner this year is Henderson Global Care Growth.

Mr McDermott says: “This fund believes sustainable, well-managed businesses are best placed to create long-term shareholder value. Environmental, social and governance factors are at the heart of the process and the fund has been a top performer since Hamish Chamberlayne took over in 2013.”

Coming in second place is F&C Responsible Global Equity, which was previously part of the Friends Provident Stewardship range, which was the forerunner in the ethical investing movement.

Mr Connolly says: “It adopts a positive-based approach, investing in growth companies that make a positive contribution to society and the environment, such as those engaged in energy efficiency, responsible banking and healthcare. The fund benefits from strong ethical teams and processes and is a good choice for those who want to align their investment approach with their ethical and environmental beliefs.”

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Global

WINNER: Baillie Gifford Global Discovery
Manager: Douglas Brodie
Ongoing charge: 0.77%
Value of £1,000 invested five years ago: £2,595 (159%)
Highly commended: Old Mutual Global Equity
Commended: Goldman Sachs Core Equity, Fundsmith Equity*

“Providing you can accept the currency risks associated with investing overseas, investing in global funds provides compelling growth opportunities and diversifies risk from the UK stock market,” says Mr Haynes.

Different funds will focus on different regions, so it’s important not to assume that funds cross all over the world. They may focus on smaller or larger companies or home in on different industries, as is the case with our winner, Baillie Gifford Global Discovery. It has more than 50% of its assets invested in the US and just over 20% in the UK.

Mr Haynes says: “This fund concentrates on smaller businesses with high growth potential with a specific focus on technology and cutting-edge health care businesses. Although this puts it at the higher end of the risk spectrum, the returns generated by fund manager Douglas Brodie have been very impressive.” In second place is Old Mutual Global Equity, which Mr Haynes says is a good one-stop shop for investors.

“The Old Mutual fund has continued to perform well over the past year to extend its strong record. This is a highly diversified fund that invests in 500 stocks with selection driven by a quantitative screening process, looking at a wide range of factors to select stocks. It provides a good choice for investors seeking broad overseas exposure for the first time,” he explains.

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Global Emerging Markets

WINNER: Goldman Sachs Emerging Markets Core Equities
Manager: Team managed
Ongoing charge: 0.87%
Value of £1,000 invested five years ago: £2,463 (146.3%)
Highly commended: Baillie Gifford Emerging Markets Growth
Commended: Invesco Perpetual Global Emerging Markets, Fidelity Emerging Markets*, Baillie Gifford Emerging Markets Leading Companies

“This is a high-risk and volatile sector, but it is an important one because it gives investors access to developing economies, such as China and India, and companies which have the potential to perform strongly in the years and decades ahead,” says Mr Connolly.

However, our winner, Goldman Sachs Emerging Markets Core Equities, has proved it can make money during good times and bad. Mr Connolly explains: “Goldman Sachs is a huge financial services company and has significant investment research resources. It takes a team approach to managing investments and this fund, using its Computer Optimised Research Enhanced Process, has been a strong performer both when markets are going up or down. The firm has recently lost the head of its emerging markets team but, because of its team-based approach, still has a strong proposition.”

The runner-up in this category is Baillie Gifford Emerging Markets Growth.

Mr Lipski says a well-respected team runs this fund: “The team invests over the longer term in emerging market stocks in different sectors that can grow faster than the market and are underestimated by other investors. Strong research capabilities and strong past performance make the fund a good option for long-term investors to gain exposure to emerging markets.”

• Industry Insider: Emerging market funds are looking good for long-term investors

Asia Pacific Ex Japan

WINNER: Invesco Perpetual Asian
Manager: William Lam
Ongoing charge: 0.9%
Value of £1,000 invested five years ago: £2,041 (104%)
Highly commended: Fidelity Asia
Commended: BGF Asian Dragon, Investec Asia Ex Japan

“The sector has, until last year, been out of favour among investors as they remained wary of the global recovery continuing to remain cautious as the West eases its way out of the financial crisis,” says Mr Lowcock. “However, Asia has begun to appeal to investors again. The region has strong growth and will benefit from a global recovery and a weaker US dollar. Asia gives access to a young and growing population.”

Our top fund in this sector is Invesco Perpetual Asian. Although the fund has a new manager at the helm, he is not new to the fund and has been key to its impressive performance over the past two years.

“Manager William Lam took over sole responsibility for this fund in May 2017, having co-managed it since April 2015,” explains Mr Lowcock. “His main responsibility has been stock selection, which has been the main driver of outperformance. This stock selection is combined with thorough top-down economic insight, which has consistently provided guidance on what areas to focus on. The fund has typically favoured steady, large-cap franchises and market leaders. The fund’s exposure to Chinese tech companies has also helped boost performance.”

Coming in second place is Fidelity Asia.

“Fidelity has a well-resourced team providing wide coverage of Asian markets. Teera Chanpongsang took over as lead manager in 2014 and has maintained a focus on investing in high quality sustainable business models that has been important in the strong returns generated by this fund,” says Mr Haynes.

• Fund Briefing: China

Europe Ex UK

WINNER: Man GLG Continental European Growth*
Manager: Rory Powe
Ongoing charge: 0.9%
Value of £1,000 invested five years ago: £2,889 (188%)
Highly commended: Marlborough European
Commended: Baillie Gifford European, FP Crux European Special Situations, BlackRock European Dynamic

Our experts agree that an investment in Europe should not be overlooked.

“For a long time, Europe was the sick economy, struggling with political instability, low growth and deflationary pressures,” says Mr Lowcock. “But, in 2017, that has all changed and the region is showing solid low growth.

“Market valuations are no longer significantly discounted to the US, but the region is further behind in its recovery giving Europe the potential for a greater boost in corporate earnings, which we have already seen this year. Political issues are never far away in Europe, but they have so far had little impact on business.”

Mr Haynes agrees: “This region has been one of our favoured investment areas and we believe offers strong opportunities for stock pickers.”

For the second year in a row, Man GLG Continental European Growth* takes the crown.

Mr Lowcock says: “This fund is managed by veteran European equity investor Rory Powe. He seeks out growth companies in Europe, which are well positioned to maintain their earnings or have the scope to grow profits. The fund does not track the benchmark. Mr Powe looks for two types of companies: established leaders with strong balance sheets and clear revenue growth objectives and established winners, which should display clear, competitive advantages, rapid revenue growth and understated market values.”

The runner-up is Marlborough European. “The fund has been managed by David Walton since 2013, and has produced exceptional performance,” notes Mr Haynes. “The fund will invest from mega-caps to micro-caps, but the focus of the portfolio is very much on smaller and medium-sized companies.

Mr Walton has a favour for owner-manager businesses, where the growth potential is not recognised by the market.”

• Interview: Rory Powe of Man GLG Continental European Growth

North America

WINNER: Old Mutual North American
Manager: Team managed
Ongoing charge: 0.95%
Value of £1,000 invested five years ago: £2,644 (164%)
Highly commended: Baillie Gifford North American
Commended: JPM US Select Equity, JPM American Equity, Goldman Sachs US Core Equity Base

This is one economy that Mr Connolly says all investors should have some exposure to.

“The US market is too big for people to ignore,” he says. “It has the largest stock market and economy in the world and is home to many of the most innovative companies, including the likes of Apple, Microsoft and Amazon. It is also likely to be home to many of the next generation of market-leading companies.”

And while shares are looking expensive, Mr McDermott says: “North America continues to defy disbelievers and rise ever higher.”

The winner for the second year in a row is Old Mutual North American. Mr Connolly adds: “This is a sector where active managers notoriously struggle to outperform, yet this fund is consistently achieving that without taking excessive risks. The fund managers have an unconstrained investment style, which looks at taking advantage of price anomalies and at the same time they manage a very well diversified portfolio. This is a good-quality core US fund.”

Our runner-up is Baillie Gifford North American. Mr McDermott says: “This high-growth fund has delivered strong performance in this difficult sector. The fund’s low ongoing charge of just 0.52% is also highly commendable. This is another Baillie Gifford fund which has delivered excellent value for its clients and continues to prove the value of active funds.”

Note: Performance figures as at 6 November 2017..

* Denotes a Moneywise First 50 Fund for beginner investors.

METHODOLOGY

To decide the winning funds, we took the top 20 retail funds over three years and aggregated their performance over three, five and where possible, seven years. We ruled out funds that took excessive risks or had higher charges. Thanks to Morningstar for providing the data.

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Want to Get Paid to Be on Social Media? Apply for This Work-From-Home Job

We love interacting with our readers — especially when a solid, work-from-home job lead is involved.

A reader recently reached out on our Facebook jobs page to ask if we’d ever written about a company called Appen.

“If not, they’re a great company to write about, and they are hiring!” she wrote.

What’s Appen and What Do They Do?

Appen is one of those behind-the-scenes companies that helps technology and e-commerce companies develop and expand to global markets.

“With capability in over 150 languages, Appen’s global network of specialists and in-country virtual teams work together to ensure new products and technologies operate in all the languages our clients need,” the site states.

It’s pretty involved, which means a variety of jobs are available — all work-from-home.

“Appen offers work from home opportunities for exciting, flexible, short-term projects as well as full-time corporate opportunities,” the jobs page states. “We are proud to have been named in Forbes Magazine as one of the Top 100 Companies Offering Flexible Jobs in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.”

What Type of Work-From-Home Jobs are Available?

Appen specializes in search, language technology and social technology, as well as project management and crowdsourcing.

Right now, the company’s actively seeking social media evaluators, which is a great place to get started.

Our reader gave us some awesome insight into opportunities for advancement.

“Once you start working for them (and do well) management will pass along your information for other jobs they have that are not posted online,” she writes.

These other jobs include crowdsourcing and web search evaluators.

More About the Open Social Media Evaluator Positions

“If you love social media and are an active user, now is the time to get paid for your time on social media platforms!” the job posting states.

Unfortunately, you won’t get paid to mindlessly scroll through Twitter or tag friends in viral Facebook dog videos. (That French bulldog getting pampered…)

You’ll need this experience, though, since you’ll be improving a top client’s newsfeed. But don’t worry — you’ll be adequately trained.

You’ll need to be familiar with social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. You should also be able to follow instructions while working independently (from home, remember?) and have a strong grasp of English.

In terms of technology, you should have a computer or smartphone that’s less than 3 years old and has a high-speed internet connection.

You should be able to commit to 1-4 flexible hours a day, five days per week (sometime seven), up to 20 hours per week. You’ll work as a contractor, accepting projects along the way.

“It allows for so much flexibility,” our reader says. She works one hour each day. “I get a whole day to work my hour. I can pause any time and come back where I left off, as long as [the project is] completed that day.”

She keeps a stopwatch going to keep track of the time she’s worked.

Pay is described as “dependent upon project”; our reader says she makes just under $14 an hour and gets paid once a month via direct deposit.

How To Apply for a Job with Appen

To find social media evaluator jobs near you, click here and select the position from the menu on the left side of the page.

If you’re interested in other opportunities, check out the site’s job page, which includes international jobs.

As always, follow our Facebook jobs page for more work-from-home jobs. And if you have found an awesome company that’s hiring, be sure to message us and let us know!

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. After recently completing graduate school, she focuses on saving money — and surviving the move back in with her parents.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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The Incredibly Valuable Role of Frugality in Investing

My wife and I have no debts at all. We own our own house with no mortgage – we paid off the whole thing. We spend substantially less than we earn.

Taken those facts into account, people always ask why Sarah and I consistently make frugal choices. Why aren’t we going on great trips all the time? Why on earth am I driving a 14-year-old SUV? Why do we buy store brand… everything at the store? Why do we only have one television, one that has a huge flaw on the screen? Why do I wear shirts that are more than 10 years old? Why don’t we live in a McMansion?

The reason we do it is simple: It hastens and improves our retirement without sacrificing anything we really care about.

Our frugality is all about things of lesser importance to us. We actually prefer trips to national parks most of the time. I like driving my current car and hope to do so until it becomes unreliable. The store-brand stuff fulfills our needs. Our television fulfills our needs. My shirts are still in fine shape. Our house fulfills our needs and is already plenty big enough. We don’t need to spend money on “better” versions of things if we’re perfectly happy with what we have.

At the same time, spending less enables us to save more for retirement. Our frugality plays a key role in our retirement planning – in fact, I’d say it’s the single most important element. Not our investment choices. Not anything else. Our frugal choices are the most important pieces of our retirement plan.

People often shrug off that statement as crazy talk. Trust me, I’ve seen it: I’ve talked about retirement planning in casual conversation with people and they simply seem to not believe me at all when I say that frugality is probably the most important ingredient. Their immediate assumption seems to be that there is some super secret investment trick to retirement, or else people are just making a lot more money than they are. While both are helpful, frugality is the secret sauce that makes retirement click for most ordinary Americans.

Let’s dig in and see how this works.

A Normal Non-Frugal Retirement Strategy

Let’s look at Bill’s retirement planning. Bill is 25 years old. He makes $50,000 a year and saves 5% of his income for retirement – $2,500 a year. He puts it entirely in a retirement account that earns a 7% annual rate of return – basically in something like the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index. He does exactly this for the next 40 years. At the end of those 40 years, he’ll have $516,556 in retirement savings.

That’s not too shabby. At a 4% annual withdrawal rate, which should last him through the rest of his life, he can take out $20,600 per year which is a great supplement to his Social Security benefits (which I estimate to be $16,800 a year using this calculator). That means that, for the rest of his years, Bill will have $37,400 in annual income at a very low tax rate.

Pretty solid, huh? Well, let’s change the picture a little bit.

Adding a Bit of Frugality

Let’s now say that Bill figured out how to spend just $5 less per week. Just $5 – that’s like a single stop at Starbucks or taking leftovers to work instead of going out once every other week, or some mix of such options.

Over the course of a year (we’ll give Bill two weeks to spend money as he wishes), that frugality adds up to $250. So, let’s add that to Bill’s retirement contributions. He’s now saving $2,750 a year.

As before, Bill puts it entirely in a retirement account that earns a 7% annual rate of return – basically in something like the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index. He does exactly this for the next 40 years. At the end of those 40 years, he’ll have $568,211 in retirement savings. Because he chose to take leftovers to work once every few weeks and skip a morning latte every once in a while, Bill now has another $55,000 in retirement savings.

Bill didn’t use some secret ninja retirement strategy. Bill didn’t add a bunch of risk to his portfolio. Bill simply ate some leftovers a couple of times a month.

What did that change? Bill now can safely withdraw $22,700 per year rather than $20,600 – more than $2,000 a year more for the rest of his life. All because he skipped two morning coffees a month and drank whatever was in the office instead and brought in his lunch once a month instead of going to Panera or Applebee’s.

The Standard of Living Shift

Here’s another way of thinking about it. In the first example, where Bill isn’t doing anything frugal, Bill is living on $47,500 a year. When he retires in that case, his income will drop to $37,400 a year. (I’m not worrying about taxes in these examples as taxes will change significantly over the course of 40 years.) His income will drop by $10,100 per year.

Now, if Bill takes just a couple simple frugal steps (as I mentioned above), he’s now living on $47,250 a year. However, when he retires, his income will now be $39,500 a year. His income will only drop by $7,750 a year.

In other words, because Bill made just a couple small frugality adjustments in his life, he’s suddenly in a position where retirement becomes much less of a shock and he doesn’t have to give up nearly as much of his quality of life as he otherwise would. In fact, once the cost of going to work is eliminated, Slightly Frugal Bill will probably have very little lifestyle change at all, whereas Not Frugal Bill will likely have to pinch some pennies and give up some real things.

Again, all because Bill found a way to spend $5 less per week. He literally just cut out the least important $5 of his spending each week and it made an enormous quality of life difference in the last thirty years of his life.

Kicking It Up a Notch

Let’s say that Bill is really excited by this. He goes through his spending habits and realizes that he’s spending about $40 a week in ways that are completely forgettable. He stops drinking so much soda. He switches to store brand dish soap and hand soap. He stops buying the expensive shampoo that his barber shop pushes and finds that, with his short hair, inexpensive shampoo and conditioner do a great job. Just little things that are almost completely forgotten in the big scheme of things.

So, rather than cutting his spending by $5 a week, Bill is cutting back by $40 a week. Over the course of a year, that adds up to $2,000 in additional retirement savings on top of the $2,500 he was already saving.

What does this change about Bill’s financial picture? After 40 years of investing in the exact same way as in the story above, he’ll now have $929,801 in savings for retirement. That’s almost a million dollars.

If he takes the safe withdrawal rate of 4%, Bill will be able to take out $37,200 a year. Add that to his Social Security benefit of $16,800 a year and our friend Bill will have $54,000 a year in income. More Frugal Bill will actually be bringing in more money when he retires than when he was working.

In fact, if Bill just wanted to match his current income (after retirement savings) of $45,500 a year, he could retire at age 62 – three full years earlier – and take all of his living expenses out of his retirement savings for the first three years, then have a safe withdrawal rate for the next 30 years supplemented with Social Security to “bring home” $45,500 a year. (He’d have lower taxes at this point, too.)

Our pal More Frugal Bill is retiring three years earlier than expected and will have no drop in income for living expenses for the last 30 years of his life, and all he has to do is take a few little steps like buying store brand dish soap and cutting back on his soda.

What About Other Steps To Improve Retirement Savings?

Investment books and articles tend to focus on two other strategies as the main way to improve retirement savings.

One is simply to invest smarter. Countless articles and books have been written about various retirement investment strategies. In the end, however, they usually require one of several things that most individual investors don’t have: access to a hedge fund, early access to information (by the time the book is written, the strategy is probably played out), tons of time to spend on research, or a great deal of luck.

I tend to subscribe instead to the “index fund” philosophy, which basically says that the best strategy is to shoot for exactly average with the fewest fees possible. In other words, you ride the stock market as a whole all at once and do it as cheaply as possible. This means that you won’t experience tremendous spikes in value, but you also won’t lose your shirt – instead, you’ll stick very closely to the overall average of the stock market. Many investment houses offer index funds that allow you to do this at a very low cost – they essentially just buy everything in roughly equal amounts and thus it doesn’t cost much to manage them. An example of this type of investment is the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index.

Another common strategy is to simply use a Target Retirement Fund, which essentially follows the same philosophy. Target Retirement Funds are typically invested very broadly in a wide array of things and with little hands-on management – it doesn’t take a whole lot of management to just “buy everything.” The difference here is that these shift over time, moving your money from more risky things like stocks into less risky things like bonds as you reach retirement and start withdrawing. An example of this is the Vanguard Target Retirement 2050 Fund.

In other words, “investing smarter” for most ordinary people involves investing in something very broad based and cheap and just sitting on it. You’re going to be hard pressed to consistently beat that strategy, let alone beating it by enough to do better than being even a little frugal and putting that savings aside.

The other avenue for saving more for retirement is earning more so that you can save more. This is a very solid approach, but it often requires a long time to build to a higher income. You can’t just magically flip a switch and be earning 20% more – if that were the case, we’d all be earning millions a year.

Working toward improving your income is absolutely a laudable goal, and success in that goal is incredibly valuable and useful for retirement goals. However, it’s not immediate. The advantage that frugality has in this case is that you can start being frugal immediately. There’s literally nothing stopping you other than your own behavior and your own desires in your head.

Remember, one of the best possible strategies for retirement savings is to start saving now, because the power of compound interest will never be as powerful as it is when you are young. Every month, every year that passes by, the less powerful compound interest becomes.

Frugality is the only strategy that can amp up your retirement savings immediately through your own actions and choices. There’s really nothing else like it.

20 Things You Can Do to Boost Your Retirement Savings Now (and You Only Need to Pick Three of Them)

The best part about frugality is that it’s an a la carte strategy. You can check out a huge list of frugality tips, ignore 90% of them, implement the other 10% that are easy and fit into your life, and save yourself $50 or $100 or more a month.

The key, however, is that you must actually do something productive with that savings. If you take on some frugality strategies that save you $100 a month, you should immediately go to your workplace and increase your 401(k) contributions, or immediately increase your Roth IRA contributions, or open a Roth IRA and contribute $100 a month to it. Don’t let the savings go unused or you’ll find yourself spending that money on other relatively unimportant things.

So, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to share 20 really good frugal strategies. Each of these will cut a person’s spending each month by a notable amount. I want you to skip 17 of them. That’s right – if they sound hard, skip them. Choose three of them that feel like they would have very little impact on the quality of your day to day life.

Make those three strategies a reality. Keep track of how much you save following those strategies in a month, then simply adjust your retirement contributions by that much. That’s it! That’s all you have to do!

Even if the change is just $10 or $20 a month, it’s going to end up making a profound change in your retirement savings over time, provided you do it now. That’s the advantage of frugality – you can do it now. There are no excuses. You have the power.

Here are 20 straightforward frugality steps you can take.

#1 – Make a bunch of meals in advance, freeze them, and use them. Once a month, spend a Saturday afternoon making a quadruple batch of one of your favorite casseroles or soups. Put three of the batches in the freezer and eat them in the future on nights when you’d otherwise eat out – all you have to do is thaw them and finish warming them up, so it’s really easy. This eliminates three (or so) meals eaten out per month, so it adds up to significant savings.

#2 – Replace some of your routine household purchases with store brands. For most of your household supplies, like dish soap, dishwashing detergent, hand soap, shampoo, conditioner, shower soap, toilet paper, paper towels, and so on, try buying the store brand version instead of the name brand. You’ll save about $1 per item that you switch, on average. If you find that the store brand isn’t good enough, switch back next time, but for most of them, you won’t notice a difference.

#3 – Switch to all LED lighting at home. As you replace light bulbs around your house, buy LED bulbs instead of incandescent or CFL bulbs. LED bulbs last far longer and eat a lot less energy than incandescents, thus quickly recouping their higher initial cost. Compare your energy bill to a year ago and start socking away the difference.

#4 – Put a weather strip along the edge of any doors that leak air. If you have any doors that let in cold air in the winter or warm air in the summer along the edges, add a weather strip to block that air flow. It’s a simple DIY project that’ll take just a few minutes and it’ll significantly reduce your heating and cooling costs. Again, compare your energy bill to a year ago and sock away the difference.

#5 – Caulk the edges of any leaky windows. If you feel any cold air (in winter) or warm air (in summer) leaking in around the edges of windows, apply some caulk to the area where those leaks are occurring. Again, this is a simple project that takes just a few minutes and it can make a surprising difference on your energy bill. As before, comparing your bill to the bill from a year ago will show you the approximate savings.

#6 – Take leftovers to work. After supper, put together a simple meal in a reusable container such that you can just pop it in the microwave the next day, then sit that container in the fridge. The next day – or the day after – grab it on your way out the door to work, then eat it at work. You’re immediately saving several dollars versus going out to eat for lunch, having something delivered, or hitting a food stand or other convenient food option nearby.

#7 – Make coffee at home. There are tons of ways to make coffee at home in a convenient fashion that will drastically cut down the number of times you stop at a coffee shop to pick up coffee. Both a drip coffee pot and a cold brewing setup are incredibly convenient and make delicious coffee at home for a fraction of the cost of buying it at the coffee shop. If you can replace even one coffee shop stop per week with making a batch of cold brew at home, the savings are going to add up very quickly.

#8 – Drink filtered tap water instead of bottled water. We have good tap water here, so I almost never buy bottled water. Instead, I tend to fill up water bottles, keep them in the fridge, and grab them as needed. It’s cold and refreshing and costs just a penny or so. If you don’t have the best tap water and drink a lot of bottled water instead, you’ll save money very quickly by installing an under-the-sink water filter, which makes your tap water much better, or using a filtered water pitcher. The cost of replacing filters is far cheaper than the cost of buying endless bottles of water.

#9 – Use the library for “book shopping” or “movie shopping.” If you’re tempted to go shopping for a book or a movie or an audiobook, head to your local library instead and “shop” there. You can borrow anything on the shelves there for free, watch or read or listen to it, and then return it so it’s not taking up unnecessary space in your home once you’re done with it. It’s free, it saves space, and you’re still entertained!

#10 – Break a “vice” habit. If you smoke, stop. If you take drugs, stop. If you drink alcohol, stop. If you drink soda, stop. At the very least, trim your habit. Such consumable habits are the equivalent of burning your money – it just goes away, leaving you with nothing but worse health in very short order. It’s not worth it.

#11 – Write a meal plan and grocery list before you go grocery shopping. If you need food, spend the time to plan out your meals for the next several days on a sheet of paper or a whiteboard, then make a grocery list based on those meals. Use the grocery list at the grocery store and you’ll spend a lot less time at the store and buy far fewer incidentals and unnecessary items.

#12 – Stock up on holiday supplies right after a holiday instead of before. The best day to buy Christmas supplies like wrapping paper and so on is on December 26th. Everything’s on deep discount, so buy what you’ll need for the following year right then. The same is true for things like big bags of candy for Halloween on November 1 and so on.

#13 – Bulk buy nonperishable things that you use frequently. When buying items that you use frequently that don’t spoil – items like toilet paper or shampoo – buy it in large portions so that the cost per unit is the lowest possible. You can usually save quite a bit by buying 36 rolls of toilet paper at once or a jumbo jug of hand soap. Refill smaller containers out of the large containers of hand soap or shampoo so that you don’t overuse it.

#14 – Use the community calendar first when deciding on something to do. If you’re bored, don’t turn to expensive things like movie listings first. Instead, open up your local community calendar (usually found on your city’s website) and see what’s there. Check the calendar of any local universities as well. Quite often, you’ll find a number of free activities, and if even one of them is enticing, you’ve suddenly got free entertainment for the evening.

#15 – Cut the cable cord. Cancel your cable or satellite service and switch to a combination of Netflix, HBO Now, Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, and free over-the-air HD television signals. A good strategy is to rotate those subscriptions and not have them all at once so that you can binge-watch all of their offerings, then move to another service, then eventually come back to one you’ve subscribed to before and catch up.

#16 – Switch banks. If you find that you’re not getting much of an interest rate on your checking or savings accounts, or, even worse, you’re getting dinged regularly for account maintenance fees or big ATM fees or other unnecessary fees, look into switching banks. See if there are any in your area that don’t have such fees associated with their account and then switch to that bank. Banks are in competition with each other – use that to your advantage.

#17 – Inflate your car tires to the maximum recommended amount once a month. This is such a simple free step that it’s well worth your time to take advantage of it. Keep a tire pressure gauge in your car, then once a mont, when you refill your gas, pull over to the free air pump at the gas station. Check the pressure in each tire and refill them all to the maximum recommended pressure (listed in your manual). Every single PSI you put into a single tire saves you 1/8% on your fuel efficiency, so if all of your tires are 8 PSI low (which is a common thing), you’re making your car 4% more fuel efficient for free.

#18 – Run your ceiling fans the right way. During the winter months, the blades of your ceiling fan should be running in a clockwise direction when viewed from the floor, while in the summer, they should be running counterclockwise. The direction is typically fixed with a little switch at the base of the fan. Having your fan running in the proper direction aids cooling in the summer and heating in the winter, making it feel more palatable even when the weather outside is extreme.

#19 – Lower your home temperature by a couple degrees in winter (and raise it by a couple in summer). Not sure about this? If you combine it with the previous tip and have the blades turning the right way on your ceiling fans, you’ll barely notice the difference in rooms where a ceiling fan is running. This simple change causes your furnace and AC to both run significantly less.

#20 – Master a handful of very simple “staple” meals. The temptation to order takeout becomes far less when you always have the supplies on hand for a simple meal or two that you love. For example, our family always has a jar of pasta sauce and a box of pasta on hand for a quick spaghetti meal, something we have a couple times a month. It’s a meal that either Sarah and I can assemble quickly, it’s very inexpensive (because we can always buy the items when they’re on sale and stock up), and it’s something our whole family likes. Find a few meals like that for you and your family and it becomes much easier to just make one of those instead of ordering food.

Final Thoughts

A frugal life provides the foundation for investing, no matter what your goal might be. Frugal choices enable you to start saving for your goals now rather than later because you control the action. You make the choice that gives you the money to invest with.

If you feel guilty because you’re not investing for retirement or for other goals, take a few frugal tactics, apply them to your life, figure out how much they’re saving you, and start investing that amount. You lose almost nothing from your quality of life, but at the same time you’re now working toward a powerful life goal and making real strides toward that grand destination.

Good luck!

Related Reading:

• The Five Most Important Factors for Investment Success
• A Simple Guide to Choosing a Strong Investment Option in Your 401(k)
• My Favorite ‘Little Wins’ — 12 Simple Frugality Tips That Just Work

The post The Incredibly Valuable Role of Frugality in Investing appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Sounds Great: How to Sell Your Old Vinyl Records for Fast Cash

Time to Buy a New Car? You Need to Read This First

There’s nothing quite like the smell of a new car — whether that car is brand new or just new to you. But along with that lovely smell comes a sometimes not-so-lovely experience with the dealership’s finance-and-insurance department.

You might have to sit in a stuffy office for what seems like weeks while you undergo credit checks and other not-so-fun stuff to determine if you’re worthy of a car loan.

And once you have an idea of the loan you can expect, you then have to negotiate with the F&I manager to get the best deal based on your credit.

Seriously, buying a car can be exhausting and stressful. It’s no wonder so many people put it off and continue driving their old and increasingly crappy rides.

If you’re in the market for a new ride, make sure you’re prepared for the financial stuff beforehand. Here’s what you need to know.

Determine Your Budget

Before you set foot inside a dealership, you need to know how much you can afford to spend on your new car.

DMV.org explains that a good rule of thumb is to spend no more than 15% of your monthly income on your car payment. And even that depends on how many other expenses you have per month. If you’re still paying off student loans or trying to launch your emergency savings, you’re better off spending less than 15% of your income on a car.

Your monthly payment will be lower if you can afford to shell out a large down payment. DMV.org reports you’re also more likely to get a good interest rate if you make a larger down payment.

The other thing you’ll need to know is your credit score. According to Bankrate.com, borrowers with a credit score is between 781 and 850 get an average annual percentage rate of 2.6% on their new-car loan. If they go used, they can expect an average rate of 3.4%.

As you might expect, that percentage increases with a lower credit score. The average buyer with a 661 to 780 credit score can expect a rate around 3.59% on a new-car loan. That average rate increases to 6.39% with a 601 to 660 credit score, and to 13.53% with a 300 to 500 credit score.

Once you know your budget and credit score, it’s time to contact your bank about loan options. While you might be able to get a better deal from the dealership’s F&I office, having a preapproval letter from your bank will help expedite the process of buying your car, since you’ll better understand what you can afford and what you’re looking for. This also gives you the upper hand because you can negotiate the car’s price as a cash buyer and have ammunition to help negotiate your loan.

Documents You’ll Need

By now, you probably know how much you can spend on your next car, and you might even have your eye on a specific vehicle. But what should you bring with you when you visit the dealership? Lending Tree lists five documents you need to have with you if you’re ready to drive home in a new car.

Proof of Income

That could be as simple as pay stubs from your employer or tax returns if you’re self-employed. Generally speaking, it’s better to be overprepared than underprepared, so if you think you might need it, bring it with you.

Credit and Banking History

If you have any documentation about your credit or banking history, bring that with you The dealership will run your credit before looking into your loan options, but these documents

can be helpful when filling out paperwork or as proof to the bank. This includes credit card statements, lease or mortgage agreements, bank statements and alimony or child support records.

Proof of Residence

The bank sometimes needs to verify you live where you claim you do, so bring some proof of residence. This can be a bill, bank statement or other form of mail that includes your address. It needs to be current, so stick with documents sent within the last month.

Vehicle Information

It’s 2017, so there’s a good chance you know exactly what vehicle you want before you even step into the dealership. Between google searches, reading reviews and checking out prices, today’s buyers are more aware than ever when it comes to knowing what they want.

Write down all the important information about the vehicle you want, such as purchase price, vehicle identification number and stock number, and bring it with you. You can usually find this information on the dealership’s website.

Proof of Insurance

Finally, you need to prove you have car insurance before driving away in your new car. You can contact your insurance company from the dealership and let them know about your new car purchase — you can likely even get proof of insurance instantly using your insurance company’s app.

Terms You Should Know

Dealerships and their F&I offices are full of confusing acronyms and terms that you probably don’t hear in everyday life. Here are a few of the most common ones you’ll encounter:

Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price

This is the price that the automaker determines for the vehicle. The dealership’s price could be more or less than MSRP, depending on the level of demand for the model and any special offers from the manufacturer or the dealer.

Sticker Price

The sticker price of a car refers to the price that appears on a new car’s window sticker, which also referred to as the Monroney sticker. Federal law requires all new cars to have this sticker, which lists the car’s base MSRP, the price of any installed options, the destination charge and the fuel economy rating of the car.

You may also find an addendum sticker near the Monroney, which could include any dealer-added options or pricing adjustments due to demand.

Invoice Price

A car’s invoice price refers to the amount the dealer paid the manufacturer for the vehicle. Invoice price includes the destination charge, which is typically excluded from MSRP. Note that the invoice price might not reflect the actual price the dealer paid; manufacturers often give dealers rebates and other incentives not reflected by the invoice price.

Destination Charge

This is the price the manufacturer has set to cover the cost to ship the vehicle from the factory to the dealership. You can usually find this information in the disclaimers on the manufacturer’s website. Add this charge to the MSRP to figure out the total pre-tax amount you’ll pay for the car.

Annual Percentage Rate

APR is the amount it costs you to borrow money from a lender. This number includes the interest rate and any fees associated with lending you money for the life of the loan. As previously mentioned, your APR will likely be higher if you have bad credit and lower if you have good credit.

Extended Warranty

Chances are your F&I manager will try to talk you into buying an extended warranty. They’ll probably make it seem like a fantastic idea, but it can drive up your monthly payment and might not be in your best interest.

My husband got one for his car, which we bought a few years back, but we never used it, so I declined it when we bought my car last year. It’s completely up to you whether you opt for the extended warranty or not. New cars come with factory warranties, but these extended plans can give you peace of mind if you plan to hang onto the car for a while.

Prepayment Penalty

This is an important one to know, especially if you expect to pay off your loan early. For example, I want to get my loan paid off as quickly as possible, so I throw any extra money I can at it, including tax returns, bonuses or money I make freelancing.

But some lenders charge you for doing this. Be sure to ask your dealer if the loan they’re proposing includes this penalty. If so, consider using another lender if this might be an issue for you.

Trade-In Value

The trade-in value is the amount the dealer will give you for trading in your current car. You can use this amount to put toward your new car as a down payment. Keep in mind, though, if your car has a loan on it, the dealer will send the payoff amount to the lender and apply the difference to your new car.

If your trade-in car is financed or leased, contact your lender to find out what your payoff amount is before going to the dealer.

Buying a car can be a stressful experience. Rather than winging it when you need to buy a new car, arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make a smart decision. You’ll find the process less intimidating and more enjoyable overall if you know what to expect throughout.

Catherine Hiles has bought three new cars in her lifetime, and also some not-so-new beaters. Her favorite and most infuriating was an old Jeep Wrangler that was fun to drive but not so fun to repair.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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