Got Interior Design Experience? Style Rooms Remotely For Modsy ($15/Hr)

Do you have an eye for decorating to get the most out of your living space? Do you have interior design work experience?

If so, then now is your chance to get paid for your interior decorating skills without leaving your own home.

Modsy, an interior design startup, is hiring multiple part-time stylists to help people lay out their dream rooms. This entry-level contractor position requires a background in interior design. The gig, which can be done remotely from anywhere in the U.S., pays $15 per hour.

Modsy users take photos and measurements of the room; then a stylist creates a 3D mockup of the space with two design plans based on the client’s budget and layout requirements. This mockup comes complete with new furniture recommendations.

Once hired, you’ll work in real time with other remote stylists and with the Modsy staff that is based at the San Francisco headquarters. You must commit to working up to 40 hours a week. A minimum shift lasts four hours, between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. PT, including weekends.

If interior design isn’t your thing, check out our Jobs page on Facebook. We post new opportunities there all the time.

Remote Part-Time Stylist at Modsy

Pay: $15 per hour

Responsibilities include:

• Creating 3D mockups of rooms submitted by the client, built with the client’s budget and requirements in mind
• Meeting hard deadlines, spending two hours on design for each customer space

Applicants for this position must:

• Have a bachelor’s degree, preferably with a background in interior design, art history or architecture
• Have experience in retail furniture design
• Have interior design work experience relevant to this job
• Have e-styling experience (preferred)
• Have experience with Auto-CAD, SketchUp and other similar programs
• Be able to work in the U.S.
• Be able to work up to 40 hours a week with minimum of four-hour shifts between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. PT, including weekends

Computer requirements for Mac users:

• Desktop Mac, 2015 model or newer
• 20-inch monitor or larger
• MacBook Pro or Air, 2015 model or newer
• 8 GB of RAM

Computer requirements for Windows users:

• Intel HD 4000 graphics or superior
• 8 GB of RAM
• 20-inch monitor
• Fast internet speed
• Computer model 2015 or newer

Apply here for the remote part-time stylist position at Modsy.

Matt Reinstetle is a staff writer 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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Plogging: It’s Free, It’s Good for You, and It’s Just a Nice Thing to Do

From a country known for killer chocolate and saucy meatballs comes a new fitness trend that combines doing something good for yourself with something good for the environment.

The Swedes came up with the idea of plogging — jogging while picking up trash — a few years ago. Now the craze is gaining traction across Mother Earth.

As far as fitness fads are concerned, this one has a lot going for it. It doesn’t require special training, equipment or membership fees, and you can do it wherever you are.

If you want to be a rubbish wrangler, just stick your feet in some good running shoes, grab a bag to collect litter and head out the door.

If you want to take plogging to the next level, add the free app Litterati to your smartphone and help further clean up the planet through the miracle of crowdsourcing.

When you use the app to take pictures of every place you find trash, Litterati combines the data with other users to create maps that pinpoint the areas in your town with the most litter.

Litterati is available for iOS and Android devices.

The American Heart Association recommends adults squeeze in at least 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise or 75 minutes per week of vigorous exercise. If you have a have a heart for the environment, plogging helps strengthen your body while feeding your soul.

If jogging isn’t your thing, you can always take it down a notch and pick up litter while you walk. Of course if you’re not trotting along, it’s not really plogging, so AARP suggests we call it “plalking.”

Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’ll plalk, thanks.

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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Tell an Amazing Teacher You Know That They Get a Free Burger at Red Robin

When I was a kid, I struggled with pronouncing “booger” and “burger” differently. Eating my McDonald’s booger was NOT what I meant at all.

Needless to say, I got laughed at by other kids. A lot.

Thankfully, my kindergarten teacher, Ms. McDaniels, helped me enunciate the difference between the two so I could stop being the laughing stock of all those booger-eating brats.

The popular BURGER joint Red Robin is giving back in appreciation of all the hard work teachers do — including saving children from their own folly —  by celebrating the end of the school year with a meal on the house.

On June 5, teachers can get a free Tavern double burger and bottomless steak fries at participating Red Robin locations.

How Teachers Can Score Their Free Red Robin Burger

Any teacher, educational professional or school administrator with a valid ID can nab this free offer without any purchase or strings attached.

Just show up on Tuesday, June 5, and pick from one of five $6.99 Tavern burger options for dine-in or in-restaurant to-go and enjoy the fruits — or beef — of your labor. Just no boogers. Those get left in the classroom.

Teachers deserve every token of appreciation they can get, so share this freebie with your favorite teacher.

And to Ms. McDaniels, wherever you are, thank you.

Stephanie Bolling is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She has eaten both boogers and burgers.

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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Trade War on the Horizon? Trump Admin. to Impose Tariffs on Europe, Mexico and Canada

The move comes after the US failed to win concessions from their allies, but the plans could change if a last-minute agreement is reached before Friday's deadline...

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How This Single Mom Overcame Homelessness and Raised Her Credit 100 Points

On March 31, 2017, a truck sped downhill in Anchorage, Alaska.

It had just snowed and rained. The roads were slick with ice.

The driver of the truck lost control, barrelled through a median and T-boned 23-year-old Kariel Morrison, who’d just dropped her two kids off at daycare.

Morrison, six months pregnant, was rushed to the hospital.

Stuck on three months of bedrest, without work and no guarantee the other driver’s insurance would cover her totaled car and medical bills, the single mom remembers the thoughts running through her mind.

“My credit is going to get worse. I’ll never be able to buy a house. I’ll never be able to do anything.”

Five years prior, Morrison had fought her way out of homelessness. Although life had become more stable, her credit score hadn’t recovered — it was somewhere in the low 500s — and unpaid bills lingered in collections.

Now this accident.

She didn’t want to go back.

It’s been a little over a year since Morrison laid helpless in the hospital. Now, her financial situation is looking up. She took out a credit-builder loan through Self Lender and raised her score by 100 points.

She’s making strides to pay off those bills that have haunted her for five years and counting.

How This Single Mom Overcame Homelessness

About six years ago, Morrison, then 18, lost her job as a receptionist. Her utility bills began rolling over to collections. Her car was repossessed. Her landlord kicked her out.

“We had nothing,” Morrison says.

With her 1 ½-year-old on her hip, she had nowhere to go but a cheap hotel.

That’s where she lived for five months. The room was infested with bedbugs, so she had to purge everything afterward, including their clothes. For food, she frequented Walmart, looking for anything under $1 — usually a fruit cup.

Finally, she received her tax return — “the only thing that got us out of that rut,” she says.

That boost was enough to get Morrison back on her feet. She secured another receptionist job and continued forward.

This Tool Helped Increase Her Credit Score 100 Points

After overcoming homelessness, Morrison found a place to live, maintained a new job as a receptionist and enrolled in classes to become a certified medical assistant.

But then, the car accident.

From her hospital bed, she tuned into her favorite pastor’s Sunday sermon on Facebook Live. That day, he talked about personal finance, specifically building credit. He mentioned how helpful credit-builder loans through Self Lender could be.

Credit-builder loans aren’t your traditional personal loans. Self Lender uses the funds from your loan to open a certificate of deposit (CD) for you, and you make monthly payments to unlock the CD. Once the loan is paid off, the money is all yours again.

The company reports your payments to the major credit bureaus, helping you build your credit responsibly — without racking up credit card purchases or taking out major loans. And it helps you build savings, because at the end of the term you’ll receive the sum you’ve been paying into.

Morrison did a quick Google search for Self Lender: Positive reviews. She checked in with the Better Business Bureau: A rating.

So she signed up.

Morrison chose a one-year loan. She paid a one-time administrative fee of $15. Then, each month, she made a $48 payment.

Throughout the year, she says she never felt like the company was harassing her for payments. It sent her an email the week before each payment was due and another the day it was due. Then she had a 15-day grace period to make her payment without incurring late fees or dinging her credit.

At the end of the 12-month period, Morrison’s credit score had increased more than 100 points to 626 — and she had more than $500 stashed away.

She could receive her money via check or put it in a secured credit card. She chose the latter as a way to continue to build her credit.

The Grass Is Looking Greener in Florida

Morrison and her three kids recently moved from Anchorage, Alaska, to Tampa, Florida, to be closer to family.

She started a new job as a medical assistant, and in the next month or so, she plans to move out of her sister’s apartment and into her own.

Now, she’s looking at debt-repayment plans to finally wipe the outstanding bills from her name. And she says once she feels like she’s on steady financial ground, she’ll take out another credit-builder loan through Self Lender to keep increasing her credit score.

Eventually, she wants to purchase a new car — one that’s a little more reliable than what she has now — and a house.

“It’s hard, and it’s difficult, but if you really want something bad enough, things will get better for you,” Morrison says.

Carson Kohler (carson@thepennyhoarder.com) is a staff writer 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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What Does ‘Frugality’ Mean?

In about a month, I’m going to launch a series of (tentatively) eight weekly articles discussing the book The Wisdom of Frugality by Emrys Westacott. It’s a book that covers what one might call the philosophy of frugality as it tackles a wide range of issues surrounding frugal living, why people choose to do frugal things, and how those frugal things impact the world.

It’s an excellent book, one that I’ve read several times now. I’ve attempted to write a single article summary of it multiple times, but I always end up with far more to say than could fit in a single article, so I decided to make a series of articles out of it. I’m giving plenty of notice in advance so that those who might want to read the book in advance or along with the articles will have plenty of time to check out the book from the library.

That being said, a big part of what underlines that whole series is the idea of what frugality is. What do I mean when I use the word “frugal” or “frugality”? One of the key lessons I’ve taken from The Wisdom of Frugality is that people often mean different things when they use the word “frugality,” and I wanted to somewhat define what the word means to me.

So, let’s dig in. You’ll find some useful things here, I promise.

Frugality = Bang for the Buck

When I say “frugality,” I simply mean a conscious effort to get the most value I can whenever I’m spending some of my resources. Usually, when I say “resources,” I mean dollars and cents, but not always (and I’ll get back to that in a little bit). Whenever I spend a dollar, it is important to me to get the most value I can for that dollar.

At first glance, one might think that would mean that I’m super price sensitive about everything and will always buy the lowest priced option, but that often ends up not being the case.

Why? To me, part of “value” means doing the job well, not just doing the job minimally.

I’ll use my favorite example of trash bags to make this clear. Many years ago, when I first started diving into frugality, I went the “cheap” route on virtually everything I could, and one of those things was trash bags.

Now, for most of the store brand and generic items I purchased, the item did exactly what was intended and I was very happy with that purchase. I was thrilled with store brand dish soap and store brand flour and store brand breakfast cereal and so on, as almost all of them were indistinguishable from the name brand for our purposes. Those were frugal purchases – I was getting the most “bang for the buck” for my dollar from those purchases because they worked just as well as more expensive name brand options for my needs.

With trash bags… that wasn’t the case. I found that I could only fill them up halfway, which meant that I was investing more time taking the trash out. Even worse, about one in 30 or so of the bags would split all over the kitchen floor, creating a big cleanup hassle that I had to deal with. These bags cost about $0.05 each, whereas the brand I was using before cost about $0.20 each, but I could fit twice as much in the more expensive bags and I never had blowouts.

In other words, there was a big extra hidden cost in the cheap bags. I was taking out the trash twice as often, which was eating up a minute or two here and a minute or two there, and about once a month there would be a huge mess in the kitchen that would take extra time to clean up. The generic bags were adding a time cost compared to the better bags.

So, while I might be able to buy a box of 100 cheap trash bags for $5 versus 100 good bags for $20, the truth is that I was using the cheap bags twice as often, so the real match was buying two boxes of those cheap bags, which cost me $10, and then watching lots of minutes here and minutes there come and go with the occasional blowout in the kitchen. All of that lost time didn’t add up to $10 in savings to me, so I switched away from the generics.

My point is this: There are more costs to the things you buy than just the initial dollars and cents. Using things costs time and energy, too. If you’re saving money on something that’s going to end up requiring additional time and energy to use, you need to make sure that the saved money is worth the extra time and energy.

Resources Are Transmutable

So, let’s back up to that definition of frugality again. When you choose to buy something, you’re essentially committing a certain amount of resources to it in the hopes of getting value out of it. Frugality is all about making sure that you’re getting maximum value out of the resources you commit, whatever they are.

There are lots of resources to consider. Money is the most obvious one, and time and energy and focus are right behind money. For example, if you buy cheap and hard to use trash bags instead of more expensive and easy to use trash bags, you’re not really being frugal because you’re just substituting time and effort for money.

There are more values even beyond those ones. What about supporting your local community? What about the environment? What about the value of treating guests in your home well? What about your stress level?

All of those are values that you’re either putting into a purchase or getting out of a purchase, and they all are part of what I consider when I think about “bang for the buck.”

The catch – there’s always a catch – is that all of these resources are actually transmutable, meaning that each one can actually be swapped for another one. This might seem hard to believe at first, but it’s actually true. All of the values you put into something or get out of something have a dollar amount that you put on them, whether you initially see it or not.

If I spend two dollars extra to buy a dozen eggs locally from a truly free range chicken farm, that means I’m putting a certain dollar amount on how much I value local farming and animal care. That doesn’t mean that either choice is wrong, just that I put a certain value on things.

If I buy a pineapple for $5 instead of buying an equivalent amount of cut up pineapple for $15, that means that I’m willing to save $10 to invest the time and energy needed to cut up that pineapple.

We all make lots of choices like this, mostly based on our gut instincts. Most of us don’t sit down and actually try to calculate out the exact ratios and dollars and cents that we put on a certain value. We mostly just trust our gut.

So, this leads me to refine my definition of frugality yet again. Frugality simply means that you’re paying a little more attention to how much you view various values to be worth in comparison to each other. The more you consider the actual cost of things or the actual value you’re getting, the more frugal you are.

Some Examples

A few examples here might be in order.

Let’s say I’m going to the grocery store to buy trash bags (I love the trash bag example because it’s so clear what I’m talking about).

A person who isn’t frugal is going to walk down the trash bag aisle, look at the options, grab the package that seems familiar because of good marketing, and keep rolling. They’re not very concerned at all about how well the trash bags will perform or anything like that. They want something that will hold their trash and do a good job of it and they put minimal effort or thought into meeting that need.

A slightly frugal person will walk down the trash bag aisle and buy the cheapest ones they can find. That person recognizes that the only real value they get out of trash bags is that they will transport trash out to the trash can, and thus spending the minimum possible amount on whatever gets that job done is a good choice.

A more frugal person will walk down the trash bag aisle and think about past purchases a little. Have they tried the cheap ones before? If so, did they do the job? If not, have they tried this next cheapest brand? How did that brand do? They’ll try to buy the least expensive brand that they know will do the job well and have minimal time and energy costs later on.

An even more frugal person might walk down the trash bag aisle and identify the best “bang for the buck” brand of trash bags – the cheapest one that gets the job done with minimal fuss – and then will seek out the best bargain on those bags or of higher quality ones. They’ll examine the cost per bag and the bulk buy options carefully and walk away with the lowest possible price per bag, which is probably a midrange bag in a big bulk box.

What’s the difference? At each step, a little more thought is given to the resources put in versus the value received and that additional thought is rewarded by either having to put in fewer resources or by getting better bags for the same resources.

The Value of Thought

This is just a simple example, of course, but it illustrates a very valuable key point about frugality: The more you think about something, the more likely it is that you’ll get more value for the resources you put in.

This leads to another interesting crossroads when it comes to frugality. Many people who reach this realization about frugality then come to see frugality as a sport of obsession. I see this a lot in the comments of posts I write about frugality. “You obsessed over something that will save four cents? What? Why?”

That utterly misses the point.

First of all, the time spent figuring out how to save four cents usually relates to something that repeats with a high level of frequency. If I’m worrying about something that saves four cents, it’s probably something that occurs at least once a day in my home.

Second, the time spent usually uncovers a good principle to follow that will last for a very long time. I can keep using that principle for the next decade to guide my purchases to a pretty good destination. This is because I do that kind of thinking once to uncover the best answer and then ride that answer for a very long time without thinking about it. I’ve already invested the thought – I don’t think it all out again the next time I buy trash bags or whatever the case might be.

Taking those two together, let’s say I obsess for a while over trying to optimize something that happens in our home every day and I figure out how to save four cents a day on it. I invest two hours trying out different strategies and thinking through it. “YOU INVESTED TWO HOURS TO SAVE FOUR CENTS?” No, I invested two hours to save four cents a day for the next decade, plus I basically don’t have to think at all about this again for a very long time, so I likely slowly recoup that time invested. That four cents a day for the next decade, by the way, turns into $146.

Third, when I write a post that dissects some specific frugal tactic, I’m usually doing it to share the results with a reader so that reader doesn’t have to think through all of this. They can just see the argument, borrow the conclusion, and use it in their own life as if they’d figured it out themselves. That’s the point of the article.

Finally, I actually enjoy figuring out the best way to do little things like this. I like to figure out how to optimize soap use or how to get the most value out of a garbage bag. If I can figure out a better way of doing things, that feels good to me. It’s the “engineer” side of me peeking out.

So, again, let’s redefine that definition of frugality. Frugality is about living by a series of well-considered principles that help to ensure that you get the most value out of the resources that you have.

We’re getting pretty close to what I think frugality means!

The Value of Principles

It’s worth noting that a big part of that last section is about living by a set of principles that guide your behavior. The idea of principles is really important here.

To me, principles are a really powerful tool for getting through life. Good principles that you trust will guide you through all kinds of situations with great results. I find that having a set of well-considered principles that you innately understand and trust will guide you to good things in almost every aspect of your life.

This requires two things.

One, you have to have good principles to begin with. In other words, you need to have some fundamental rules that you follow that guide your behavior. Frugality is just a way of describing some of those principles by simply saying that it’s important to you to get the most value out of the resources you spend.

Two, you have to trust those principles. Once you’ve figured out a really good way of doing things, you have to trust that those principles are right. I almost entirely trust my principles to guide me through lots of different kinds of situations – not just things related to finance, but everything in life.

I only start questioning principles when I start getting results I don’t like. For example, if I notice that my spending is going up a lot, then there’s probably some issue with my spending principles and I need to rethink them a little. As long as I’m getting results I like, I just keep living by my principles and I don’t really have to think about them too much.

(I will say that there’s usually at least one or two areas in life where I’m not getting the results I want and thus I’m questioning my principles in that area. Finances are quite often one of them, mostly because my mind is on my money quite a bit simply because I write about finances every day.)

This brings us to what I think is the final and fundamental point in all of this.

Frugality Is a Value

Principles – the rules we live by – are founded on values – the things that, at our core, define our sense of right and wrong and what we want to achieve and get out of life. Frugality is one of those values, a very fundamental one, in fact.

To me, frugality is simply a fundamental value that says “I consider it good to think about my choices in life carefully to ensure that I’m getting the most value out of those choices compared to what I’m putting in.”

Others may or may not hold that value. They may find such a use of thought and time and energy to be better used elsewhere and then base their decisions on other criteria, and they’re not necessarily right or wrong. I think that a lot of people reading The Simple Dollar do hold that value, though.

Most of the time, when we talk about frugality, we’re talking about money, of course, because money is the common medium of exchange. We value our time and energy in terms of money because we work for money. We value the things we own in terms of money because we spend that money to buy those things. Thus, frugality is easiest to see when it comes to money, but it applies in a broader way to almost everything in life.

So… What’s Practical Here?

If you’ve read through this whole article, you might be wondering what’s practical in all of this. For me, thinking about what frugality means to me exposed three very practical things.

First of all, a reasonable amount of time invested up front in thinking about a purchase or expense almost always pays off. That’s because if you’re thinking in depth about a small expense, it’s probably one that’s going to repeat often so even a small savings will add up, and if you’re thinking about a big expense, even a small percentage savings will result in a lot of money saved. In short, if you’re a frugal person, thinking carefully about a purchase is almost always worth it. This extends beyond purchases and dollars into almost anything you care about in life, in my opinion, but as I noted above, frugality is usually focused on dollars and cents.

At the same time, borrowing a frugal strategy from a trusted source is a good time saver. It’s not really even a money saver because it’s typically something that you’d figure out on your own with some time investment. The reason I read frugal websites and practical magazines like Consumer Reports, in the end, is to save time thinking through a purchasing decision or a “best” way of doing things. If a source I trust comes to a conclusion about something, I’ll just adopt that conclusion and use it. Spending ten minutes reading a blog post or a magazine article that results in something actionable is great because it probably means I saved two hours trying to figure the same thing out on my own. Even if only a small fraction of the things I read are actionable, it’s still worthwhile because the ones that are are really big wins. It’s worth noting here that “trusted” doesn’t mean you always have to agree with the source nor does it mean that the source is perfect, but that the source strives to always be honest and true to their values. A “trusted” source might give out a strategy that’s not perfect for you, but it’s probably perfect for someone.

Finally, the time you spend reflecting on any aspect of your life or idea that’s important to you is time that usually ends up paying for itself. If you find yourself struggling with a buying decision, a reasonable amount of time you spend really figuring out the right solution is time well spent. Sometimes, I’ll just make a choice in the moment that matches my gut instinct and then I’ll think about it in depth later on, which is a great strategy to rely on. I spend a lot of downtime reflecting on recent choices and asking myself if I made the right choice or if there was a better way to do things and that thinking either reinforces or refines one of the principles I live by. That time investment is almost always worth it. Don’t lament the past or a mistake you made in the past; instead, mine it for clues as to how to live better in the future. That works for frugal decisions and almost any aspect of life. Don’t be afraid to think things through.

Frugality is like any value that we have in life. The more we lean into it and trust it, the more value it brings to us.

Good luck!

Related Reading:

• 12 Key Principles for Financial Success in Today’s World
• Frugal? Cheap? Financially Independent? Minimalist? What’s the Difference?
• 10 Things That Shaped My Frugality and Financial Outlook

The post What Does ‘Frugality’ Mean? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Sears to Close 72 Stores, Possibly More, after Whopping $424M Loss

Sears is closing another 72 stores after reporting a first-quarter losses and plunging sales.

Source CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2IZd73P

New Grads: Seven Ways to Stand Out During an Entry-Level Job Hunt

As a manager at a growing technology company, I’m deeply involved in the hiring process for my team. I’ve learned a lot over the last couple of years about what makes a candidate stand out during the application and interview process.

While I think this advice can be especially helpful for new college graduates, I hope these tips — which go step by step from the initial search to the follow-up email — can prove useful to job seekers of all ages who are trying to cut through the noise and get noticed.

Applying for Roles: Speed Is Key

After I post a position to the job boards, I’ll check back after a few hours to see if any applications have rolled in. If I find someone great within the first 10 submissions, they have a huge leg up in terms of advancing in the process.

In a perfect world, I’d meticulously review the 50th applicant just like I did the first, but that’s just not how it works. Every employer is hoping to find someone quickly, as hiring is a time- and resource-intensive project. As annoying as it can be to apply for jobs, the hiring process can be just as tedious. Everyone is hoping to get it over with as quickly as possible.

If I was on the hunt, I’d be checking relevant job boards whenever I had a spare moment. This includes the huge ones like Indeed, Glassdoor, and Monster, but also industry-specific boards and smaller sites such as WayUp, which is tailored toward helping recent grads.

You can also be more targeted. For instance, if you know you want to work at a startup, you can check AngelList. Or if you have a strong desire to work for a company backed by a premium venture capital firm, you can check out websites of the big VC firms and see if they list open roles for companies they invest in (a lot of them do).

If you’re hunting for a new job while working a full-time job, I’d suggest checking job boards in the morning and on your lunch break, if possible. Set reminders for yourself so you don’t forget to give them a quick look. And make sure your resume is up to date and that you’re ready to shoot off the PDF at a moment’s notice.

The Resume: Use the KISS Method

Feel free to distinguish your resume with a few interesting design flourishes, such as using a colorful header with a unique font. You don’t have to use the exact same format as everyone else, and being unique can make you stand out from the pack. I’ve looked at a cleverly designed resume and thought, “What a fun idea, and so well executed!”

But, be careful of going overboard. When in doubt, think of the KISS acronym (keep it simple, stupid). I’ve seen resumes that look like a Picasso painting. There are colors, jagged lines, boldface words, and bright shapes. It can be overwhelming. You should do what you can to highlight your skills, but you never want to be jarring or muddle the message. Show your resume to a few friends and ask for honest feedback on your layout. When in doubt, keep it simple. Readability is much more important than creativity.

Finally, always keep your resume to one page, especially early on. I’m sorry, but no one cares about your high school internship working the front desk at the YMCA, and in no universe should you bleed onto the second page to talk about it. I am instantly skeptical of someone who can’t be concise enough to list what they need to say on one page.

As for content, again, keep it simple. If you’re applying for an entry-level role, the reality is that it’s unlikely anything you’ve done up to this point in your career is that impressive. There’s no need to make your internship at the local bank sound like you were clerking for a Supreme Court justice. Just be concise.

Also, it helps to use concrete numbers wherever possible. Instead of saying, “I supported the marketing team and helped launch their new campaign,” it’s better to say, “I generated 27 different marketing templates in a two-month period, which improved our email open rate by 42%.”

The Phone Screening: Bring the Energy, Be Concise

A recent study out of Yale concluded that we feel a stronger emotional connection with people when only listening to their voice than when we can actually see the person. This is counterintuitive, but highly useful information for interviewees during the phone screen phase. It means that the initial phone screening is an ideal opportunity to show that you’re enthusiastic and friendly. You should strive to talk clearly, confidently, and in an upbeat manner.

The other main way to stand out in this phase is to be concise. There’s something about a phone call that encourages rambling monologues covering every aspect of the candidate’s life. You should focus on hitting the key points you want to cover.

For instance, if you once worked on a project that was perfectly applicable to the role you’re applying for, find a way to quickly hone in on that one story. Doing so will show that you respect the interviewer’s time and also that you’re confident enough in your resume that you don’t have to talk ad nauseum about every aspect of it.

On a similar note, always leave pauses for the interviewer to jump in with questions.  If you’re worried the conversation is headed in the wrong direction, don’t just keep talking. Usually, if you take a breath, the interviewer will get a chance to ask a new question and get things back on course.

• Related: How to Save a Job Interview That’s Going Downhill Fast

The In-Person Interview: Have Fun, Do Your Research

Finally, we get to the most important step. In my experience, the in-person interview for entry level roles is mostly about answering one question: “Would I be okay sharing a relatively small space with this person for eight hours per day?”

That might come as a surprise. Isn’t the in-person interview when you have to prove how smart and qualified you are by answering tough questions on the spot?

Well, that’s often part of it, and you certainly want to be prepared for those questions. But the truth is that, especially at the lower levels, you’re not likely to have a huge impact on the business’s bottom line. You’re being hired to play a small role. If you do that well, then you’ll be evaluated for promotions.

I’d rather hire an upbeat, optimistic, energized person with slightly less qualifications than a person who looks great on paper but comes across as surly and negative.

Any hire has the potential to have a tremendous impact on the overall atmosphere of the office and on team culture. As the saying goes, it only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch. You want to come across as calm, friendly, easygoing, and supportive. I understand that acting that way is easier said than done, especially when you’re nervous. Maybe it will help to really think about the fact that, for a lot of jobs, cracking a funny joke and just generally being relatable is of more importance than having a compelling answer to the question, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

It’s also key to do your research about the company. The people you’re interviewing with usually have a passion for what they do. You want to be able to match that. At the bare minimum, you should have a strong understanding of what the company does and what their mission is. There’s nothing worse than interviewing a candidate who didn’t bother to do even the most rudimentary research about the company. You never want to find yourself saying “Oh, so that’s how the product works, I had no idea!”

The Follow-Up Email: Don’t Overthink It

It’s considered standard protocol to send a quick note to the people you met with. This can be done a few hours after the interview or the next business day.

In my opinion, it’s best to keep this short and sweet. There is no need to wax poetic about how much you loved the people, the office, the receptionist, or the picture in the bathroom. There’s also no need to reaffirm what a perfect fit you are. The reason you made it so far was that the company already likes you!

I see the follow-up email as the job hunting equivalent of saying “bless you” when someone sneezes. Some think it’s polite, some think it’s totally unnecessary, some don’t care one way or the other. Whatever your stance, the choice to say “bless you” or not is never going to be that big of a deal.

That being the case, the follow-up email is not the make or break moment of the job hunting process. I’ve never read a post interview email that swayed me in one direction or the other. So, just pump out a quick thanks and move on.

Summing Up

I hope the above steps can help reduce some of the anxiety that inevitably comes along with searching for a job. The keys, in my mind, are to cast a wide net and apply quickly, then demonstrate an easy-going enthusiasm if you make it to the phone and in-person interviews.

It can feel like a balancing act and it’s not always easy, but with some practice you should be able to put your best foot forward. Good luck!

Related Articles:

 

• How to Get a Ton of Value Out of an Entry-Level Job
• You Want to Make More Money? Seven Core Pieces of Career Advice I Wish I’d Known Starting Out
• Nine Skills Worth Learning for Any Career – and How to Learn Them
• Will You Have a Job in 10 Years? Five Visionaries Weigh In

 

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Here’s why women retire on £4,900 a year less than men

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There is a retirement income gender gap in the UK – here’s what needs to happen for it to close

Women who retire this year will have £4,900 a year less, on average, than men at retirement, according to new research from Prudential. The average annual retirement income for women is £16,900, while men can count on £21,800.

Pensioner incomes are now higher than working people’s incomes according to some estimates, but one in six women still retire on less than what the Joseph Rowntree Foundation defined as the minimum income for an acceptable standard of living (at least £9,998).

Kirsty Anderson, a retirement income expert at Prudential, says: “It is really encouraging to see that the retirement income gender pay gap is shrinking over consecutive years and women are starting to close the gap on men.”

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She adds: “It can be difficult to justify any extra expense when taking a career break, but it is extremely important for anyone taking time out of work to maintain their pension contributions. Saving as much as possible as early as possible is the best way to secure a good quality of life in retirement.”

But saving is difficult for those with lower disposable income. After all, the straightforward reason why women save less into their pension is because they earn less. Even comparing only full-time workers, there was a 9.1% pay gap between men’s and women’s earnings in 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics.

However, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that women still end up in lower-paying positions because they are much more likely to take time out of work to rear children or care for their parents. They are also more than three times as likely to take part-time jobs, according to a recent research report by the Chartered Institute of Insurers.

Taking account of the differences in working habits between the sexes, the gender pay gap stands at 18.4% as of April 2017.

The disparity in salary and bonus levels between men and women is beginning to get the political attention it deserves, as companies with over 250 employees had to report their gender pay gap earlier this year.

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Closing the gender pay gap makes financial sense. Research from the accountancy firm PwC has shown that in the UK, economic gender parity could add £188 billion to GDP.

However, the gender pay gap – and its consequence, the gender pension gap – won’t close without specific legislative intervention.

It’s the lack of family-friendly policies at companies that brings about gender disparity. The current “pale, male, stale” executive level needs better incentives to make full use of parental leave and flexible hours, while giving up on the culture of “presenteeism”.

While shared parental leave was introduced in the UK in 2015 to encourage fathers to spend time with their offspring, it was only taken up by 2% of families, according to the Department for Business, as it can still be financially more sensible for women to take the time off.

A select committee has previously urged the government to radically reform parental leave to encourage more fathers to take time off work, or else, it says, the country will never get to grips with the gender pay gap.

• EU pension gender gap hits 40% 

Fathers should get the option of 12 weeks’ paid “use it or lose it” paternity leave. The government could legislate to incentivise businesses to offer parents flexible patterns such as part-time work or unusual hours, the committee said.

Only if the perceptions and incentives around family-friendly policies and care responsibilities change will the gender pay gap close.

This article first appeared on our sister website Money Observer.

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Soon You Won’t Have to Pay to Freeze Your Credit — Here Are the Details

President Trump signed off on a new law this week that will make it easier to protect your credit in an age of all-too-plentiful breaches.

The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, known primarily for its features that relax some of the regulations from the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, makes freezing your credit free.

A credit freeze prevents anyone from opening new lines of credit in your name. It typically costs between $5 and $15 to establish, with a second charge to unlock the freeze. Victims of fraud can typically set up a credit freeze for free.

The legislation also prohibits charging for a temporary lift of a freeze, which you might request if you want to apply for a loan.

Additionally, the bill extends the default length of free fraud alerts from 90 days to one year.

Senators requested these credit-related additions to the bill a month after it was introduced last November in an effort to address the widespread breach of personal data at credit reporting bureau Equifax. The bureau has extended its offer of free credit freezes through June 2018.

Don’t expect these fees to lift immediately. The new rule doesn’t go into effect until September.

Lisa Rowan is a senior writer 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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Moneywise Mortgage Awards 2018

Trying to work through the maze of mortgage products on the market to find the right one for you? Find out which providers were judged to be the best in the business – whether you’re taking your first tentative steps on the property ladder, looking to switch mortgages, or you’re a last-time buyer

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Moving home should be exciting. Whether you are taking your first step on the property ladder or buying your forever home, it’s an important milestone that often marks the start of a new life.

However, the reality is it can be one of life’s most stressful events. Moneywise can’t pester solicitors on your behalf or deal with any difficult buyers or sellers in your chain, but we can help you make one vital decision, and that’s picking the right mortgage.

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The right lender, offering the right deal and top-notch customer service, can help remove a good chunk of your home-buying nerves and alleviate some of your financial concerns.

Yet the choice of lenders and deals can often be dumbfounding, and working out which provider to approach is often difficult. For many borrowers – such as first-time and older buyers – it’s also not as straightforward as shopping around for the cheapest rate.

This is where the Moneywise Mortgage Awards 2018 can help. Our awards will help you to narrow down the best lenders for you. Whether your needs are straightforward or a little more complicated, we can help you find the best deals.

It’s not just for home buyers either, with a category for those looking to remortgage their existing property too. There’s also a category for buy-to-let borrowers that will help pinpoint the lenders that really understand the very specific needs of buyers in this market.

Best lender for fixed rates

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Winner: HSBC

• Contact: Hsbc.co.uk/1/2/mortgages
• Top deal: 1.49% two-year fix
• Max LTV: 60%
• Fee: £999

Highly commended: Barclays

Fixed-rate mortgages offer borrowers the certainty that their mortgage repayments will not rise if interest rates do. With interest rates remaining so low and experts predicting base rate rises this year (see page 9), it comes as no surprise that fixed deals are the preferred choice of most buyers.

Deals are typically fixed for two to five years, but longer-term fixes of as much as 10 years are available.

This is a hugely competitive part of the mortgage market and this was reflected in the close scoring within this category. For the second year in a row, however, the prize was scooped by HSBC.

Judge Aaron Strutt, product and communications manager at mortgage broker Trinity Financial, is a big fan.

“HSBC has consistently offered great fixed rates with competitively priced arrangement fees. The bank has been targeting borrowers with different deposit sizes and eased its acceptance criteria to ensure more applicants qualify. He adds: “The lender always has one eye on the best buy tables when it launches a new fixed rate and this helps drive down prices across the market. HSBC has also recently introduced a new processing system and employed more staff to manage demand.”

Coming a very close second place is Barclays.

Judge Andrew Montlake, director at mortgage broker Coreco, says: “Barclays has been so consistent this year, with excellent pricing and some really helpful criteria.”

Best lender for discount mortgages

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Winner: Yorkshire Building Society

• Contact: Ybs.co.uk
• Top deal: 0.97% discounted variable rate until 30 June 2020 (4.02% off SVR of 4.99%)*
• Max LTV: 65%
• Fee: £1,495
• Small print: 1% early repayment charges.

Highly commended: Hinckley and Rugby Building Society

These mortgages offer a rate that is discounted against the lender’s standard variable rate. They don’t offer the security of a fixed-rate mortgage, but for those borrowers who are happy to accept the risk associated with variable-rate mortgages, there are excellent deals available.

The winner this year is Yorkshire Building Society, which takes this accolade for the second consecutive year.

Mr Strutt says: “Yorkshire Building Society has consistently offered market-leading discounted rates that undercut the price of fixed rates. The lender provides such a huge discount off its standard variable rate (SVR), the deals are tempting borrowers who want the lowest monthly repayments rather than longer-term payment security.”

In a category dominated by building societies, the highly commended award goes to Hinckley and Rugby Building Society.

Judge David Hollingworth, associate director of communications at broker London & Country Mortgages, says: “Hinckley and Rugby is a lender that is consistently leading the way on discounted products with an impressive range of both short and long-term, offset and early-repayment charge-free options. That spans across all loan to values (LTVs) including 90% and 95% LTV, where they were one of only a few lenders offering a credible alternative to fixes.”

Best lender for offset mortgages

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Winner: Scottish Widows Bank

• Contact: Scottishwidows.co.uk/mortgages
• Top deal: 1.64% two-year fix (purchase-only rate)
• Max LTV: 60%
• Fee: £1,499
• Small print: There are early repayment charges of 1.9% of the chargeable balance until the 12th payment, followed by 0.9% for the remaining term of the fixed rate.

Highly commended: Accord

Offset mortgages can be a great boon to borrowers who also have a healthy savings balance. By linking their savings to their mortgage, borrowers are able to reduce the mortgage balance on which interest is charged. So, for example, if you borrowed £100,000 but had £25,000 in savings, you would only have to pay interest on £75,000 of your mortgage. Over the whole term of a mortgage, this can save borrowers thousands of pounds in interest – either by reducing monthly repayments or paying off the loan early.

For the fourth year on the bounce, the award goes to Scottish Widows Bank, which got the maximum number of votes. Mr Montlake has the ultimate compliment for the lender. “It’s one of my most used lenders this year, excellent offering and pricing – so good I remortgaged there myself!”

Offset features are available on all its mortgages, which include flexible mortgages and professional mortgages, for people with careers including solicitors, doctors, teachers, actuaries and engineers. Each application is assessed individually, without adherence to rigid rules.

Mr Hollingworth adds that the range has also become more affordable. “Scottish Widows has long offered offset functionality, but last year backed that up with very competitive pricing. Making products attractive in their own right but adding offset on top helps open up the benefits of offset up to a wider audience.”

Accord Mortgages – a broker-only subsidiary of Yorkshire Building Society – is runner-up in this category.

Mr Strutt says: “Accord offers a range of well-priced offset deals with low arrangement fees and it typically offers two and five-year fixes. The society has a huge appetite to lend and wants to take business from many of the other mortgage providers. By providing a great range of offset mortgages, the lender has another niche to tempt in borrowers.”

• Best mortgage deals for buy-to-let investors

Best lender for buy to let

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Winner: Barclays

• Contact: Barclays.co.uk/mortgages
• Top deal: 1.55% two-year fix
• Max LTV: 60%
• Fee: £1,950
• Small print: 3% early repayment charges

Highly commended: Santander

It’s becoming increasingly difficult for landlords to make money from renting property, with increases to stamp duty and changes to tax relief on mortgage interest. This means it’s all the more important for investors to get the best deal they can on their mortgage from a lender that can help them navigate this changing market.

This year, the judges voted unanimously for Barclays.

Mr Strutt says: “There is a lot of competition in the buy-to-let market and lenders need to work very hard to attract new customers. As well as offering super-cheap rates, Barclays takes personal income into account, as well as the rental income, to ensure more borrowers secure the loan size they need.”

Santander came in second place.

Mr Strutt says: “Santander offers low buy-to-let rates and attractive buy-to-let rental calculations to make it easier for landlords to secure new rates. The remortgage calculation helps landlords to switch on to some very competitively priced rates. The bank also provides a free property valuation if you are purchasing a property and it has a maximum loan size of £750,000.”

Best lender for first-time buyers

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Winner: Nationwide

• Contact: Nationwide.co.uk/products/mortgages
• Top deal: 1.89% two-year fix
• Max LTV: 90%
• Fee: £999
• Small print: 2% early repayment charges in year one, then 1% in year two

Highly commended: Halifax

Life is tough for first-time buyers, who are having to raise bigger and bigger deposits in a climate where lending criteria are only getting tighter. This award is, therefore, here to recognise those lenders that are going the extra mile to help their customers take that elusive first step on to the property ladder.

This year it was a two-horse race, with Nationwide only just pipping Halifax to the post.

Commenting on our winner, Mr Hollingworth says: “Nationwide presents itself as a lender eager to help the first-time buyer market, and its good rates, backed up with well-judged incentives across the range of free valuations, and £500 cashback, mean that it delivers for first-time buyers time after time.”

Mr Montlake, meanwhile, is a big fan of our runner-up for this market: “No lender knows first-time buyers like Halifax. It is consistently excellent,” he notes.

Best lender for first-time buyers with support

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Winner: The Family Building Society

• Contact: Familybuildingsociety.co.uk/mortgages
• Top deal: 2.89% three-year fix
• Max LTV: 95%
• Fee: £599

Highly commended: Barclays

The challenge for first-time buyers is so great that many will call on parents or other family members for financial support. For this reason, Moneywise introduced this award last year to recognise those lenders that have come up with innovative loans that can accommodate financial support provided by a third party.

Taking the award this year is last year’s runner-up, the Family Building Society.

Mr Strutt explains the lender’s innovative proposition. “The Family Building Society has a range of options for younger borrowers who are relying on the bank of mum and dad to get on the property ladder. This includes guarantor mortgages, where parents can use their income to boost the application, also joint borrower sole owner options where the parents’ names go on the mortgage and not the deeds.”

He adds: “The Family Building Society provides a 95% LTV mortgage so long as borrowers can put down a 5% deposit. As part of the deal, parents agree to put savings in a linked savings account or have a charge secured on their property. The three and five-year fixed rates are competitively priced, and if money is in a linked saving account it’s used to reduce the monthly repayments and the parents are even paid interest.”

Last year’s winner, Barclays, is this year’s runner-up.

Mr Hollingworth says: “Although Barclays’ Family Springboard was not the first product to use the approach of additional security from parents, it is certainly one of the best. Requiring the parent to lock down only 10% for what will often be as little as three years is practical and rates are available to as much as 100% of the purchase price.”

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Best lender for lifetime trackers

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Winner: First Direct

• Contact: Mortgages.firstdirect.com
• Top deal: 2.49% lifetime tracker (base rate plus 1.99%)*
• Max LTV: 75%
• Fee: £0
• Small print: No early repayment charges

Highly commended: Santander

Not every borrower wants to remortgage every few years and lifetime trackers provide a solution for those seeking long-term value. Rates are linked directly to the Bank of England base rate, so lenders cannot change them on a whim. Also, many deals have no early redemption penalties, so borrowers aren’t tied in either.

This year, the award goes to First Direct.

Mr Hollingworth says: “Any winner should be able to point to consistency through the year, rather than an occasional victory. First Direct can certainly claim that, and has always been at the top or thereabouts when it comes to the best lifetime tracker deals on the market.”

Mr Montlake agrees, and says it’s the product First Direct “excels at”.

Coming in second place is Santander.

Mr Hollingworth adds: “Although it may not have offered the most extensive range of lifetime tracker options, Santander maintained a competitive option throughout the year, backed by what has been extremely strong service.”

Best lender for remortgages

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Winner: Barclays

• Contact: Barclays.co.uk/mortgages
• Top deal: 1.49% two-year fix
• Max LTV: 60%
• Fee: £999
• Small print: 3% early repayment charges

Highly commended: HSBC

When your fixed or discounted mortgage deal runs out, you’ll be moved on to your lender’s higher standard variable rate. This can see your repayments soar, but you can avoid that by remortgaging on to a more competitive deal. Although there will be upfront fees attached to remortgaging, these should be offset by lower monthly repayments. Many lenders will also offer incentives such as cashback or free legal work to encourage switching, too.

Our winner this year is Barclays.

Mr Hollingworth says: “Barclays has shown strong determination to be a strong player in what has been a very competitive remortgage market. As well as offering good rates with a remortgage package as standard, it also has the Great Escape option with no fees and cashback as well, removing some of the costs that hinder switching.”

Taking the runner-up prize is HSBC.

Mr Hollingworth adds: “HSBC gets a deserved place by offering what have very often been market-leading rates.

If it had a weak spot, it was the fact that it didn’t always offer remortgage incentives, but it deserves credit for recognising this and making them a standard part of its offering to boost its remortgage credentials further.”

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Best lender for larger loans

Barclays.jpg

Winner: Barclays

• Contact: Barclays.co.uk/mortgages
• Top deal: 1.56% two-year fix for mortgages between £1 million and £5 million
• Max LTV: 60%
• Fee: £2,499
• Small print: 3% early repayment charges

Highly commended: HSBC

Despite their wealth, many borrowers requiring larger loans can find their choices limited. This is because the amounts required may exceed the maximum loan size on the most competitive deals. The fact that these borrowers may also have income from a variety of sources only complicates matters.

For this reason, Moneywise introduced this new category last year to highlight those lenders that are serving this market well, and this year the award is retained by last year’s winner, Barclays.

Mr Montlake is not short of praise for the lender. “Barclays is outstanding in every way: affordability, pricing, interest-only, and even looking at bespoke pricing for the right clients. Exceptional!”

HSBC came in a close second.

Mr Hollingworth says: “HSBC has frequently offered the keenest rates on the market and it doesn’t put ceilings on those rates, making them available to very large loan borrowers as well.”

Best lender for new-builds

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Winner: Halifax

• Contact: Halifax.co.uk/mortgages
• Top deal: 2.15% two-year fix
• Max LTV: 75%
• Fee: £999
• Small print: Early repayment fee 2% to 30 June 2019, 1.1% to 30 June 2020

Highly commended: Santander

Buyers of new homes often need an understanding lender – the property may not have been completed at the time of application, while slick service is often required if a developer has imposed tight deadlines.

Another new category last year, this award recognises those lenders that are up to the job. Proving its commitment to this market, Halifax keeps the award it won last year.

Mr Strutt says: “Halifax has a bespoke range of products available for borrowers looking for new-build mortgages, and a specialist team to manage applications. The bank offers shared equity and shared ownership applications and government housing schemes. There is the option to extend mortgage offers if the new-build completion time overruns.”

Mr Hollingworth adds: “Halifax is a lender that knows the new-build market well, which is apparent in not only the product design but also in the consistently excellent service. It has a range of new-build deals with longer completion deadlines and can offer semi-exclusive rates that can be more generous in the LTV it offers.”

Commenting on Santander, which takes the runner-up position this year, Mr Hollingworth says: “New build has been a competitive market and Santander has been a lender that has worked hard to develop its position in that market. Its excellent processing times are a boost to new-build customers, where timescale is important, and its two-and-a-half-year fixed rates, with longer completion deadlines as well as end date, help it fit the new-build need.”

Best lender for older borrowers

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Winner: The Family Building Society

• Contact: Familybuildingsociety.co.uk/mortgages
• Top deal: 2.49% two-year fixed rate
• Max LTV: 80%
• Fee: £999
• Small print: 2% early repayment fee in first year, 1% in second year

Highly commended: Market Harborough Building Society

Older borrowers can often have a hard time getting a mortgage, with many lenders imposing maximum age caps for loans and using rigid lending criteria. This can be particularly problematic for borrowers with interest-only mortgages or those that haven’t been able to fully repay their mortgage before they retire.

This award, which was only introduced last year, recognises those lenders with a more pragmatic approach to older borrowers. Our winner this year is the Family Building Society.

Mr Strutt says: “The Family Building Society helps a lot of older borrowers and has acceptance criteria designed to make it easier to qualify if you have pension or investment income. The lender also takes earned income into account up to the age of 70 and has a common-sense approach to mortgages to get applicants agreed.”

The second place goes to Market Harborough Building Society.

Mr Strutt adds: “Market Harborough will take a client’s overall situation into account and look at their income situation. Unlike many other lenders, each case is agreed by the credit committee, giving more flexibility to get more older applicants through who can clearly demonstrate affordability.”

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Innovator of the year

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Winner: Kent Reliance

For improvements to its BTL proposition

Lenders are continually developing their mortgage proposition to give themselves the edge over the competition. However, it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate between cheap gimmicks and innovations that make a genuine difference to their customers and address their needs. This category seeks to reward those lenders that are doing the latter.

The award goes to Kent Reliance Building Society for improvements it made to the application process for buy-to-let loans. Mr Hollingworth says: “The buy-to-let market has undergone a huge amount of change in a short space of time. That includes the latest changes for buy-to-let portfolio landlords, who now have to provide detail of their entire portfolio, not just the property in question.

“One of Kent’s innovations has been to promote the use of a technology solution, allowing landlords to upload information from their own data record to automatically sort the relevant data into the relevant fields wherever possible. In addition, the portfolio information is then stored, so that they don’t need to add all the information every time.”

The Judges

The Moneywise Mortgage Awards 2018 were judged by:

• David Hollingworth, associate director of communications at London & Country Mortgages
• Andrew Montlake, director at Coreco
• Aaron Strutt, product and communications manager at Trinity Financial

Methodology

Trinity Financial compiled our shortlists, based on best buy data over 12 months (supplied April 2018). Shortlists of lenders with the best rates were given to the judges, who voted for winners and runners-up, looking at rates, fees, penalties, flexibility, service and treatment of new and existing customers. Judges voted for their innovator of the year, but the Moneywise editorial team made the final decision. Data supplied by Trinity Financial on 14 May 2018. Mortgages are for purchase or remortgage unless otherwise stated. * Indicates mortgages only available directly from the lender and not via an intermediary.

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Cash for Your Trash: Here’s How Recycling Your Garbage Might Save You Money

What has four wheels and flies?

A garbage truck.

Okay, that’s corny. But the amount of garbage Americans generate each year is no joke.

The American Society of Civil Engineers says we create 4.4 pounds of trash per person, per day.

According to the ASCE, 53% of that waste ends up in landfills. That’s hard on our environment, and hauling it away is hard on our wallets.

Depending on where you live, trash-collection fees may appear on your property-tax bill, be included on your utility bill or paid directly to your city or town. Whichever way your town rolls, garbage pickup can be expensive.

Many municipalities charge customers based on the size of their curbside trash bins. The bigger the bin, the higher the bill.

Charging by bin size encourages residents to compost and recycle as much trash as possible. Less solid waste lowers how much municipalities pay for trash collection and (hopefully) lets them pass the savings on to residents.

Plus, it’s just good for the environment.

Cities and towns across the country already provide free or low-cost recycling bins to encourage residents to separate their trash before putting it out for collection.

Some municipalities are taking things a step further, offering rebates and other incentives to people who also compost food scraps and yard waste.

Here’s a sampling of what some cities and towns offer. Check with your local Department of Public Works to find out if there are similar programs in your area.

Austin, Texas

Austin’s Chicken Keeping Rebate Program is as delightfully weird as the city itself. Residents can collect a $75 rebate by taking a free chicken-keeping class and purchasing a coop to corral them.

If chickens aren’t your thing, you have another option. In June 2018, Austin’s Curbside Composting Collection Program kicks in to collect food scraps, grass clippings and other compostable waste from residents. Recycling and composting help residents downsize their trash bins to save money on utility bills. The city even delivers the smaller bins for free.

Chicago, Illinois

Residents of Chicago are eligible to receive 50% off any locally purchased compost bin.

San Mateo, California

San Mateo residents who are handy with a hammer can get a rebate of up to $100 by building a DIY compost bin. Additional discounts of up $25 are also available to those who attend a local composting workshop.

Washington, D.C.

The District offers a rebate of up to $75 to residents who purchase and install a composting or vermicomposting (worm-composting) system in their home.

Once you’ve got recycling and composting figured out, it might be time to give the zero-waste life a try.

Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer 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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Colorado Residents: Make $12/Hour as a Customer Care Agent for Ibotta

Attention Colorado jobs seekers: Here’s your chance to work for one of America’s most popular shopping apps.

Ibotta, a smartphone app through which users purchase select items and receive a rebate after snapping a picture of their receipt, is hiring a work-from-home customer care agent. The part-time gig is only available to people living in Colorado.

Care agents are tasked with responding to user questions via email, analyzing fraud reports and discovering any issues or pain points people have when using the app. This job requires you to work seven-hour shifts up to four days a week, including one weekend shift a week.

Training is conducted remotely, but applicants need to be available to attend occasional training sessions and meetings in Denver.

If you don’t live in Colorado but are still interested in work-from-home jobs, check out our Jobs page on Facebook. We post new opportunities there all the time.

Part-Time Care Agent at Ibotta

Pay: $12 per hour

Responsibilities include:

• Reporting and responding to any user questions via email
• Analyzing fraud reports, examining receipts submitted by users and reviewing customer emails to discover if there any pain points or issues with the app
• Reviewing the Ibotta systems and customer accounts to solve any problems
• Assist in special marketing, sales and technology projects for the senior management team

Applicants for this position must:

• Live in Colorado and be able to attend remote training
• Be able to attend other occasional training sessions and meetings in Denver
• Be able to work up to four shifts of seven hours a week (morning shift, afternoon shift and night shift)
• Be available to work one weekend shift per week (required)
• Be at least 18 years old and authorized to work in the U.S.
• Have previous customer service experience (preferred)
• Have a four-year college degree (a plus)
• Have previous work-from-home experience (a plus)
• Have experience with Apple and Android products; ownership of an Apple/Android phone or tablet is a plus

Apply here for the part-time care agent position at Ibotta.

Matt Reinstetle is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. He currently has $149.10 in his Ibotta account.

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.

source The Penny Hoarder https://ift.tt/2J4zfG5