MAKE MONEY ONLINE POSTS: 03/20/18

الثلاثاء، 20 مارس 2018

Refund Advance Loans and Refund Anticipation Checks 101: What You Need to Know Before Trying to Cash in Early on Your Tax Refund

Are you counting on your tax refund to pay off bills? Learn how tax preparers may offer a solution in the form of refund advance loans and refund anticipation checks.

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This Remote Customer Service Job Pays $10.50/Hour (And Comes With Benefits)

It’s not often you find a work-from-home opportunity that offers good pay, health benefits AND paid training.

If you like the way that sounds and you’re in the market for customer service jobs, keep reading — because we found that job for you.

Granada is hiring remote customer service agents in Colorado, Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arizona and Nevada.

Companies go to Granada for outsourced services such as customer support, client acquisition, data management and technical support. As a remote customer service agent for Granada, you’ll provide support to these clients regarding their accounts.

Applicants should have previous call center experience and a good attitude, because no one likes calling customer service only to get a grump on the line.

Qualified candidates should expect a pre-screening process and a webcam interview. If you get a job offer, you will then receive paid, live-web training.

Granada’s call center hours of operation are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST on Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. CST on Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. CST on Saturday. That means no working on Sundays! *cue hands in the air emoji*

If you live in one of the hiring states and want to snag this work-from-home job, check out the requirements below.

And if this doesn’t really sound like your thing, no worries. You can check out our Jobs page on Facebook for other work-from-home opportunities.

Remote Customer Service Agent at Granada

Pay: $10.50 per hour, with incentive opportunities

Responsibilities include:

Answering inbound calls for clients
Calling clients for follow-ups

Applicants for this position must have:

At least one year of call center experience
At least two years of customer service experience
An understanding of performance-based metrics
Computer proficiency
A home work space free from distraction
A computer that meets Granada’s system requirements

Benefits include:

Paid training
Medical, vision, dental and life insurance for full-time employees

Apply here for the customer service jobs at Granada. Be sure to choose your state from the list.

Kaitlyn Blount is a junior 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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3 Questions Small Business Owners Should Ask Before Hiring a Nanny

By Deborah Sweeney If you’re working parent, you already understand the struggle of juggling working on your business while taking care of toddlers and infants is like — and it’s far from being easy! Whether you work from home or run a brick and mortar storefront, most entrepreneurs can benefit from investing in a nanny. […]

The post 3 Questions Small Business Owners Should Ask Before Hiring a Nanny appeared first on The Work at Home Woman.

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This City Gets First Dibs on Target’s New Loyalty Program and We’re Jealous

Attention, Target shoppers: The retail chain just launched a new loyalty program — and if you’re in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, you get the chance to try it out first.

I mean, who doesn’t want to save money at Target?

The new program is called Target Red, not to be confused with the Target Redcard debit and credit card program that saves you 5% with each purchase.

Starting this week, shoppers can sign up for the Target Red pilot program.

Here’s what you’ll get:

1% back on every purchase, which can be redeemed on a future Target run.
50% off your first year’s membership on Shipt for same-day deliveries. (A Shipt membership is normally $99 each year.)
Free next-day delivery on home essentials purchased through Target’s Restock program. (The normal delivery charge is $4.99.)
The chance to vote for which of three Texas organizations will get a philanthropic donation from Target’s community giving program.

It’s not clear if (or when) the Target Red program will be available nationwide.

In 2016, Target also started testing its Cartwheel app — a stand-alone rewards and discount app — in several markets before phasing it out and rolling the savings tool into its main app without ever taking it national.

Let’s hope this new program sticks around and makes it to Florida so the Target lovers at The Penny Hoarder HQ can save a little extra, too.

Desiree Stennett is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.

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Don’t Get Scammed: Here’s How to Shred All Your Personal Documents for Free

I didn’t realize how many things you can shred: snowboards, skateboards, surfboards, guitars, cheese, abs, documents.

Honestly, I just rely on my cat to shred all my personal documents, but it looks like she can have a spring break.

That’s because Office Depot and OfficeMax stores are offering a free shredding service through April 28.

How to Get Your Free Paper Shredding

Gather up the pictures of your ex, annoying convenience checks, tax papers and any other sensitive documents that never need to see the light of day again, and head on over to your local Office Depot or OfficeMax.

If you’ve rounded up more than 5 pounds, congrats. You deserve a paper-hoarding award. However, there’s a 5-pound limit to this offer.

Once you’re in the store, present this coupon in print or on your mobile device to give you access to the bulk bin shredding service.

All jokes aside, shredding sensitive documents is one of the simplest and easiest preventive measures you can take toward protecting yourself from fraud and identity theft. You never know who’s looking over your shoulder.

Seize this opportunity to purge a filing cabinet of old pay stubs, credit cards and any other documents with financial and personal data.

Shred it all like a sick guitar solo — for free.

Stephanie Bolling is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. The only thing she’s ever shredded is cheese.

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After Facing Foreclosure, How This Guy Raised His Credit Score 120 Points

Here’s How to Get Free Chili’s Chips & Salsa Without Sitting at the Bar

If there’s one reason you go to Chili’s, it’s for free chips and salsa when you sit in the bar area.

But it’s not always possible to find one of those coveted booths or stools.

Well, no more waiting for a spot during football season and enduring fans drunk off Presidente margaritas just to enjoy some free food.

Beginning March 19, My Chili’s Rewards members get their choice of free chips and salsa or any non-alcoholic beverage with every visit to Chili’s.

My Chili’s Rewards is Chili’s loyalty program. The restaurant is revamping its own loyalty program in the process of severing its partnership with Plenti.

Even the salsa-averse get something free from this deal!

That’s right folks, every visit, every time, every seat. Even if that seat is your couch — because this offer is valid for dine-in and to-go.

To claim your freebie you first have to sign up for My Chili’s Rewards.

When you’re at Chili’s, use your phone number to log into your table’s Ziosk and tap “redeem.” You can also download the Chili’s mobile app and scan your reward on the Ziosk or give it to your server.

Unlike the other personalized rewards, this perk doesn’t specify that any purchase is necessary to redeem the chips and salsa freebie.

Chili’s may have pared down its menu last year, but the chips and salsa are here to stay. Might as well get them for free.

Jen Smith is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder and gives tips for saving money and paying off debt on Instagram at @savingwithspunk. She has two My Chili’s Rewards that expire in two days. Chips and salsa anyone?

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Being an Adult Sucks. These 12 Money Tips Will Restore Your Inner Child

Being an adult usually rocks. You get to stay up late. You can eat and drink whatever you want, go where you want, see who you want, do what you want. You don’t need a permission slip or anything.

But let’s face it, sometimes being an adult kind of sucks.

Instead of spending your cash on fun stuff, like video games or concert tickets or some sweet new shoes, sometimes you’re forced to spend all your money on something… ugh… something responsible and necessary.

Important things break down and have to be replaced. One day, your air conditioner suddenly dies.

The next day, you have car trouble. The mechanics at your local garage shake their heads ruefully and say, “Looks like your suspension is shot. We’re gonna have to replace the camshaft, too. And your brake calipers, and the manifold.”

And suddenly, you’re a lot poorer.

Adulting is hard. Here are some ways to make it easier:

1. Trick Yourself Into Saving and Investing

Adults save a little money and invest it. That’s a grown-up thing to do. The popular app Acorns is good at tricking your brain into doing that. You’ll invest without even realizing you’re doing it.

Once you connect the app to a debit or credit card, it rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar and funnels your digital change into an investment account.

You can have it automatically round up all your purchases or manually round up only the transactions you choose. Because the money comes out in increments of less than $1, you’re not likely to feel an impact in your bank account.

Because it likes to see you being so mature, Acorns will give you a $5 bonus when you sign up and make your first investment.

2. Don’t Throw Away That Receipt

You might be used to just throwing away your receipts. Did you know you can get paid cash back just for taking a picture of your receipt? Here’s how it works:

Sign up for Ibotta. You just need a name and email address.
Browse through the app’s cash-back offers in your area and take note the next time you go to the store (the offers change every week).

For example, we’ve seen local offers for 2% cash back on Best Buy purchases, $5 cash back on a case of Shiner Bock beer or $3 back on an appetizer from any restaurant. Pretty cool, right?

Take a photo of your receipt and scan the items’ barcodes.

Ibotta partners with more than 50 retailers. Once you’ve reached at least $20 in earnings, you can request payment via PayPal or Venmo.

Plus, you’ll get a $10 sign-up bonus after scanning your first receipt.

3. Arm Yourself to Make Smarter Financial Decisions

Making good financial decisions is an adult thing to do. But it doesn’t come naturally to many of us.

Get yourself some high-tech help.

MoneyLion is an all-in-one app for managing your personal finances. It connects with all of your bank, credit card, student loan and other financial accounts. Based on your income and spending patterns, it offers personalized advice to help you save money, reduce your debt and improve your credit.

Plus, MoneyLion offers rewards to help you develop healthy financial habits. The rewards program gives you points for taking actions like:

Connecting a bank account.
Signing up for credit monitoring.
Paying your bills on time.
Keeping your credit utilization low.

You can redeem the points for gift cards to retailers like Amazon, Apple and Walmart.

4. Start an Emergency Fund

Growing up comes with responsibilities — sometimes really sucky ones, like paying for expensive car repairs, new tires or unexpected dental work for your dog. This is why you need an emergency fund.

Digit is an innovative app that saves your money without you lifting a finger. Just link it to your checking account, and its algorithms will determine small (and safe!) amounts of money to withdraw into a separate, FDIC-insured savings account.

It’s free to use for the first 100 days, then it’s $2.99 per month afterward. Using this set-it-and-forget-it strategy, one Penny Hoarder saved $4,300 without noticing — read his Digit review.

5. Stop Paying Too Much for Car Insurance

For many, car insurance is just one of those things where we cave in and pay. Because, just like the electric bill and phone service, we need it, right?

Yes. There’s no getting around car insurance, unfortunately. But one way you could save money is by shopping around and comparing rates at least once a year. Less than 50% of us do that, according to this survey from The Zebra, though 81% of us report wanting lower rates.

So, just like you compare the prices of flights, shoes and laptops before purchasing, why not compare car insurance?

The Zebra, an online car insurance search engine that offers “insurance in black and white,” compares your options from 204 providers in less than 60 seconds.

Here’s how it works:

Head over to The Zebra’s search platform. Enter your car’s year, make and model, and your zip code. Continue on to answer questions about your driving habits, your car and your life.

On the right sidebar, you’ll watch rates increase or decrease based on your answers. For example, if you’ve gotten into an accident — that was your fault — in the past three years, your rates will kick up. It’s interesting to see what effect your answers might have.

After about two minutes of questions, it’s time to compare. The Zebra gives you an “Insurability Score,” which is similar to your credit score except it’s for car insurance, and it teaches you how to get better rates. The site also gives you different options for coverage.

When you’re ready to consider your options and select a quote, you can also receive a phone call from The Zebra for additional support.

A nice representative (a real, live human) on the line asks if you want to speak with a specialist. If you’re truly interested in car insurance and want to ask all the questions, this could be the perfect time.

Otherwise, just keep shoppin’ around and weighing options through The Zebra.

6. Re-Evaluate Your Homeowners Insurance

There’s no reason you can’t shop around for homeowners insurance, too. Absolutely no reason at all. And if you don’t own a home yet, renters insurance tends to be pretty cheap.

If you’ve never looked into it, start by getting a free quote.We recommend the online insurance company Lemonade, through which renters insurance starts at $5 a month and homeowners insurance starts at $25 a month.

Beyond affordable rates, Lemonade adds a layer of transparency you don’t often see in the insurance world. Instead of profiting extra when it doesn’t have to pay out claims, the company keeps a set 20% of your premium for itself, and 80% goes into a pool for paying claims. Money left over after paying claims each year goes to a cause of your choice.

That also means Lemonade isn’t going to be super stingy about granting customers the claims they deserve — ’cause the money isn’t going into its pockets.

Lemonade is available in California, Illinois, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Georgia.

OK, so now that you know Lemonade has your back, here’s how to get a free quote. It’s easy — and you can do it all online. (Nope, it won’t hurt your credit score!)

Click “Check Our Prices.”
Get to know Maya, Lemonade’s chatbot. She’s nice and will ask you a few questions.
Once you complete the application, you’ll receive a quote within a minute or two.

It’s easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy. Plus, at the end of the day, you’ll feel better knowing your hard-earned belongings are insured. After all, when life hands you lemons… (OK, we’re done.)

7. Invest in Real Estate Even If You’re Not Rich

Owning property is a total boss adult move. Suddenly you’re Lord or Lady of the Manor. Take that, childhood!

Want to try real-estate investing without playing landlord? Through the Fundrise Starter Portfolio, your money will be split into two portfolios that buy private real estate all over the U.S. You can get started with a minimum investment of $500.

Through Fundrise’s online dashboard, investors can see exactly which properties are included in their portfolios — like a set of townhomes in Snoqualmie, Washington, or an apartment building in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Fundrise lists an average annualized return of 11.44% in 2017. Investors pay 1% in annual fees — a 0.85% asset-management fee and a 0.15% investment advisory fee.

You can earn money through quarterly dividend payments and potential appreciation in the value of your shares, just like a stock. Cash flow typically comes from interest payments and property income (e.g. rent).

(But remember: Investments come with risk. While Fundrise has paid distributions every quarter since at least Q2 2016, dividend and principal payments are never guaranteed.)

Interested? Get started with Fundrise here.

8. Refinance Your Student Loans

So many of us are drowning in student loans. About 8 million Americans could get a lower interest rate on their student loans by refinancing, and most might not even know it, CNN Money reports.

By refinancing, you’d replace all your loans with a single new loan from a private lender. You’d have just one monthly payment.

Check out Even Financial, which searches the top online lenders to match you with a personalized loan offer. It can help you borrow up to $100,000 (no collateral needed) with rates starting at 4.99% and terms from 24 to 84 months.

9. Reward Yourself With a Rewards Credit Card

You’re a grown-up now. If you don’t have a rewards credit card yet, you should try one on for size. See if it suits your grown-up self.

Here’s an option we like: It’s the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. Its claim to fame? You’ll earn an unlimited 1.5% cash back on all your purchases. Plus, if you spend $500 in your first three months of opening the card (hi, groceries), you’ll pocket a $150 bonus.

There’s no annual fee, and the cash-back rewards don’t expire. We checked Credible’s annual rewards calculator, and it estimates $417 in annual rewards based on our spending habits.* (You can enter your unique spending habits and see what you’d earn, too.)

Get signed up — and 0% intro APR for 15 months — here.

10. Don’t Blow Your Tax Refund

Grown-ups get to deal with fun things — like income taxes. Joy!

Just be smart about it. Nearly 80% of U.S. tax filers will get a federal income tax refund, with the average amount rising to more than $3,000, reports CNN Money.

You might think many Americans are itching to blow that three grand on some extravagant purchase. But you’d be wrong. A survey of U.S. taxpayers from Bankrate.com found that most of us will use our refunds for responsible things, like savings, paying down debt or just paying our bills.

Here are six respectable ways you could use your next tax refund.

11. Maximize Your Retirement Savings

Being an adult means you’re older. None of us are getting any younger, man. So take a good look at your 401(k) account. Do you have the right mix of stocks and bonds for your age?

There’s a robo-advisor for that. Blooom, an SEC-registered investment advisory firm, will optimize and monitor your 401(k) for you.

It gives you an initial 401(k) checkup for free, and you’ll get to know your account a little more intimately. Find out if you’re paying too many hidden fees, have the appropriate amount invested in stocks versus bonds, that kind of fun stuff.

After that, the tool is $10 a month to use to continue to monitor your retirement account. Let Blooom know your target retirement age, and it can help you get there by investing more and less aggressively.

12. Scratch Your Game-Playing Itch

As an adult, you’re not encouraged to play tiddlywinks and Pokemon anymore. But there’s something so satisfying about those gas station scratch-off tickets, isn’t there? Still, it’s better to avoid them because, well, that’s not Penny Hoarding.

Instead, try using a free app called Lucktastic. Each day, it releases a new assortment of digital scratch-off tickets. Lucktastic says instant wins range from $1 to $10,000. You can also earn tokens, enter contests and play games.

The app is free to download — and play. Get scratchin’.

*Annual Rewards amounts will change based on the amounts you enter. The monthly spending category names and definitions may vary among issuers, and categories may not align one-to-one.

The information for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card has been collected independently by The Penny Hoarder. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. The Penny Hoarder is a partner of Credible.

Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He is pretending to be an adult.

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This Online News Site Will Pay You to Summarize the Day’s News

Writers and news junkies rejoice: If you’ve been looking for remote writing jobs, this is an opportunity you won’t want to pass up.

Newser, a news curation website, is hiring a full-time editor with a knack for writing news round ups covering everything from President Donald Trump to weird crimes to — currently on the front page — an obituary for the wildly famous feline Keyboard Cat.

The full-time position includes four shifts during a 32-hour work week during which you’d be responsible for churning out 250-word stories.

One word of warning: The application requires you to turn in two of your own 250-word summaries of a couple news articles, so there is some time investment to the hiring process.

We left a message with Newser CEO Patrick Spain for word on the pay and specific job responsibilities, and we’ll edit the post as soon as we hear back.

If writing about current affairs gives you anxiety (like it probably does for so, so many of us), don’t forget to check out our Jobs page on Facebook. We post new opportunities there all the time.

Full-Time Editor at Newser

Responsibilities include:

Writing and editing 250-word news summaries

Applicants for this position must have:

Experience in writing and editing
The ability to work 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday
An ear for punchy and precise writing

Benefits include:

401(k)
Dental and health

Apply here for the full-time editor job at Newser.

Alex Mahadevan is a data journalist at The Penny Hoarder.

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You Probably Don’t Think About This Body Part Much, But Its Health is Vital

When you have hunger pangs, you think of your stomach. If you’re anxious or scared, you notice your heart beating faster. But when’s the last time you thought about your kidneys?

They’re organs that the average person probably should pay attention to more often — and not just in March, when it’s National Kidney Month. Symptoms of kidney disease usually don’t show up until the advanced stages, so it’s important to practice good kidney health.

About 30 million adults in the United States live with chronic kidney disease, and nearly 500,000 people rely on regular dialysis to keep their bodies functioning after their kidneys have failed.

African-Americans have long been known to experience an increased risk for kidney disease, but in 2012, a study came out that also linked income levels to that risk.

The study showed blacks making less than $20,000 were more than three times as likely to have excessive levels of protein in their urine — an indicator of chronic kidney disease — as those with incomes over $75,000. Blacks earning between $20,000 and $35,000 were found to have twice the risk of developing kidney disease as higher-income blacks.

The same trend was not seen among white Americans.

Steps to Prevention

Preventative measures can go a long way toward making sure your kidneys — and the rest of your body — are at their optimum health.

The kidneys are vital because they filter out waste and extra fluid and perform other important functions such as regulating blood pressure, stimulating red blood-cell production and helping keep bones strong.

These recommendations from the American Kidney Fund and the National Kidney Foundation can keep you from incurring medical expenses later without breaking the bank now.

1. Eat healthy

The American Kidney Fund recommends a low-salt, low-fat diet.

This post shares tips on how to score healthy food on a low budget even if you rely on food stamps to supplement your grocery shopping.

2. Exercise

The American Kidney Fund recommends exercising 30 minutes a day most days of the week. You don’t have to join a gym to get your workout in.

This post highlights inexpensive alternatives to signing up for a gym membership. Or, you can check out these YouTube channels that’ll guide your workout and let you skip hiring a trainer.

This post will give you inspiration to create a home gym less than $100 that’ll make it easier for you to get in those 30 minutes a day.

3. Lower stress levels

The National Kidney Foundation says too much stress can damage your kidneys.

Healthy eating and regular exercise can help you manage your stress, but other actions like practicing mindfulness, practicing yoga, getting enough sleep and talking to a mental health professional can also lower stress levels.

4. See your doctor

It’s important to get regular checkups. But if you have risk factors for kidney disease (like high blood pressure, diabetes, being older than 60 or having a family history), you may want to seek out health screenings.

The American Kidney Fund provides free health screenings at various locations throughout the year. The National Kidney Foundation also hosts KEEP Healthy events that provide free resources and checkups.

5. Quit smoking and limit alcohol

There are a number of free resources available to help you quit smoking. Quitting smoking and cutting back on drinking can even save you money to invest back into caring for your health.

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.

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The True Story of Blood Diamonds

Diamonds weren't even very popular before the 1930s. And it wasn't until a savvy copywriter created an ad slogan that the stones became synonymous with love.

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The True Story of Blood Diamonds

Give your kids a head start with a Junior Isa

Building a nest egg can give your children the perfect boost in adult life.

Junior Isas – also known as Jisas – are a great way to save money for your children or grandchildren as you can save from the day they are born right through to their 18th birthday.

There are two types of Junior Isa – cash and stocks and shares.

Moneywise Children’s Savings Awards 2018

Like the adult accounts, everything you earn in a Jisa is tax-free. This means you won’t pay any tax on your interest and you won’t be liable for any tax on capital gains or dividends if you choose to invest.

Jisas can be opened by parents with children aged under 16 and then by children themselves when they are aged 16 and 17.

In the 2017/18 tax year, £4,128 can be deposited in a Junior Isa, rising to £4,260 in the 2018/19 tax year. You can max out your annual allowance as soon as the tax year begins, but many people choose to save or invest on a monthly basis. If you do it this way, you can deposit £355 each month in 2018/19, but you’re under no obligation to keep your deposits the same each month.

jisa-table-mar-18.PNG

For the cash version of the Jisa, the Moneywise Best Buy comes from Coventry Building Society, which was also the winner of the best Jisa category in our children’s savings awards, and pays 3.5% to young savers. Accounts can be opened in branch, online, over the phone or by post. Interest is paid annually on 30 September and the minimum balance is £1.

If you were to deposit £355 a month in this account from birth until age 18, your child would have £106,337 in their account, based on earning 3.5% interest a year. However, there is no guarantee that this interest rate will be available for the full 18 years or that the Jisa allowance will remain the same.

A third of parents admit to being more cautious when investing for their kids

Stocks and Shares Jisas are also a great option for children, although investing carries more risk than saving cash. However, if you start investing when your child is young, you’ll be investing over a longer period and your money will be better able to weather any short-term fluctuations in the stock market.

Over periods of at least five, and preferably 10 years, returns are likely to be higher from investing than cash savings, and the effect of compound growth can leave your child with a much bigger sum when their account matures.

Alliance Trust says if £355 a month was contributed to a Jisa from birth until age 18, it could be worth £110,884. This assumes annual growth of 5% – the average longterm return from the stock market, but also includes typical fund charges and product fees.

But remember higher growth isn’t guaranteed and each Jisa provider will have different fee structures, so make sure you’re comfortable with the charges you’ll be paying.

Stocks and Shares Junior Isas are Moneywise users’ top pick when saving for children

Platforms that allow you to choose your own investments for Jisas include AJ Bell Youinvest, Charles Stanley Direct, Hargreaves Lansdown, Interactive Investor – Moneywise’s parent company – and The Share Centre.

Finally, before you start investing it is important to remember that, once your child turns 18, they’ll be given direct access to the account and will be able to do what they want with the money. If this is a worry, think about using your own Isa allowance first and earmarking it for the children.

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Some Thoughts on Parenting and Personal Finance Success from an Experienced Parent

Sarah and I welcomed our first child into the world in 2005, not too long before the launch of The Simple Dollar. Since then, we’ve been on this shared journey called “parenting,” and as our firstborn has grown older and we’ve added two more children to the mix, the challenges have grown and changed.

In the past, I’ve written a lot about how to be an effective parent in terms of teaching financial lessons and setting the stage for financial success for your kids, but today I want to write about something a little different. Rather than looking at the kids, I want to look at the parents.

Being a parent is hard. I’m not going to pull any punches with you. It is incredibly rewarding, but it is also incredibly challenging. For most of us who can’t afford to hire a set of full time nannies to actually do the parenting for us, parenting means devoting a ton of time and energy and money to the raising of children, and that cost must be paid.

The time has to come from somewhere. The money has to come from somewhere. The energy has to come from somewhere.

This is particularly difficult when both parents have careers that put demands on them. There’s only so much time and energy in the day, and there’s only so much money to go around.

What follows are some of my own thoughts on how to balance all of this as a parent. My focus isn’t on how to impart the most value onto your children, but how to make the financial and time demands of modern parenting work for the parents to be able to plan for their own future, be good employees and good parents, and still maintain their sanity.

Focused Time and Life Skills

One of the most powerful revelations I’ve ever had as a parent is that most of the “adult” tasks I do tend to work out better for all involved if I multitask them as parenting tasks as well.

If I’m making supper, I turn it into quality time spent with the kids. We work on making supper together while we talk about our day, and along the way, I teach them how to do some sort of kitchen task properly.

If I’m clearing the bathroom drain, I don’t just do the task. I’ll grab one or two of the kids and show them how it’s done. I’ll show them the drain “snake,” talk about how it works, demonstrate how it’s used, and then let them try it.

If I’m working in the garden, I’ll have the kids come out and work alongside me, putting plants in the ground or pulling weeds or something like that.

Yes, sometimes they’re distracted or bored or don’t want to do it, and there are times when it would definitely be “easier” to just do it myself.

However, this type of “quality time” hits a lot of things on the head simultaneously.

First of all, it’s time spent together actually doing something together. That’s the embodiment of the idea of “quality time.”

Second, they’re learning some life skills from the process. Each of my children can make passable meals for themselves or for the family as a whole. They can clean up after a meal. The oldest one (and maybe our middle child) can do his own laundry. They can all budget their own money. The oldest two (and maybe all three of them) could start a passable garden. The oldest two can clear a clogged drain. All three of them can clean a room fairly well. They can all do the dishes. They can all clear the driveway of snow and get a car ready to drive on an icy day. I know they can do these things, and so sometimes we’ll do them together and sometimes I’ll just tell them to do those things for themselves.

This is going to result in kids who can handle most of life on their own the day they leave our house, which means that there’s a lower likelihood of them returning to the nest, which is going to be a big financial benefit to all of us.

Third, because of these burgeoning skills, all of us have more free time. We’ve now reached a point where if all five of us bear down on a task, it gets done pretty quickly. We can clean up the kitchen and dining room quite fast. We can knock out a long checklist of household tasks really quickly. This leaves us all with time for fun things, which we often do together.

Fourth, it’s “quality time” that doesn’t cost money. You’re not taking them to an activity which costs money and takes time away from actually getting things done at home. You’re not taking them to a babysitter while you “get stuff done.” You’re doing it together, and it’s not costing you anything.

My sincere recommendation for all parents is, as early as possible, make some of your “quality time” oriented around teaching them life skills as you practice them. Have them help with laundry and dishes and meal preparation and cleaning as early as possible and make it clearly understood that these are normal tasks that they take equal part in as part of the household. Show them how to do things properly by doing them together until they can handle them on their own.

Considering an “Ideal” Childhood

Many of the families around us seem to have their children wrapped up in tons and tons of activities. They’re constantly traveling for sports or academic or cultural events, which brings about a ton of additional expenses, and they seem to have very little unscheduled free time.

We’re intentionally trying to take a different approach with our children. Basically, the only activities they’re involved with are ones that they expressed a strong interest for on their own and seem to be actively engaged with it in their own self-directed free time. We try to maximize their self-directed free time and try to not get them into organized activities unless it matches an interest they’ve cultivated on their own and really want to be in that activity.

At the same time, when they do have an interest that cultivates on their own, we tend to be as supportive of it as possible at home. We encourage their efforts, give them lots of space to work at it, and talk often about the value of deliberate practice. Sometimes, this ends up leading to an organized activity, as my oldest son’s passion for soccer has (he cannot get enough of soccer).

We view this as being a light form of “free range parenting,” which is a parenting style with known psychological benefits for both parents and children.

This approach has several benefits for us as parents beyond the benefits to the children.

For starters, it’s a lot less expensive. We don’t spend a whole lot on activity fees, travel for activities, and so on. Our children are in a few organized things, but they’re not incredibly expensive.

It also lends itself to time flexibility. With a lot of our children’s activities being self-directed, we can move around that time quite easily. This means it’s much less likely to find ourselves with time conflicts or to find ourselves in situations where we can’t have a home-cooked meal, which also saves us money.

Another plus: it gives us as parents the benefit of some true leisure time as well to engage in our own hobbies or share in theirs. I tend to use a lot of deliberate practice principles when I’m trying to learn something new, so this gives me a chance to be an example in that way. A simple example of this comes from my son’s recent attempts to get into speed solving the Rubik’s Cube, which I also started doing along with him. Because of our free time flexibility, he had the time and space to really get into this hobby (and build some incredibly solid spatial reasoning in his head), and I had the time to practice it as well and demonstrate some good practices for learning a new skill.

Parenting Causes Decision Fatigue… and What to Do About It

Decision fatigue is a topic I’ve written about extensively in the past; here’s a quick summary of the topic:

In its simplest terms, decision fatigue refers to the idea that people tend to make worse decisions after having made a lot of decisions. Much like muscle fatigue, if you flex your “decision” muscle too much, it will fail you.

I went on to discuss how decision fatigue has a major impact on a person’s financial habits because decision fatigue causes you to make really poor short term decisions, such as impulse buying and rash financial moves.

Here’s the problem: parenting causes serious decision fatigue. I’m far from alone in noticing this phenomenon.

On a given day, my children end up requiring me to make dozens of decisions on their behalf that simply wouldn’t happen if they weren’t present. They’ll ask for something or request attention or need some help and I end up having to make some kind of a choice as a result.

The idea of decision fatigue is that you really only have the capacity to make a certain number of good decisions in a day before that “decision muscle” gets tired and stops performing well. So, with all of the normal decisions of everyday adult life and everyday professional life, adding a big dollop of everyday parenting decisions means that you’re likely to hit decision fatigue much more frequently.

What happens when you hit decision fatigue? You start making bad choices. You start buying things impulsively. You make really poor financial decisions. You choose not to save for the future. In short, it becomes really hard to build a financially successful lifestyle if you find yourself frequently in the pit of decision fatigue.

What’s the solution, then, for parents who often find themselves just completely burnt out after long days of work, personal life, and parenting and all of the decisions required by those roles?

First and foremost, start automating a lot of your choices. The more things you automate in your life, the better. If you want to save for retirement, set up automatic retirement contributions. If you want to build up an emergency fund, set up a small regular automatic transfer into a savings account. Automate every aspect of your financial life that you can.

Another strong tip: re-evaluate your hobbies and consciously drop all but one or two of them. This might seem like strange advice when talking about decision fatigue, but what I’ve found is that when you have a bunch of potential options for every moment of your free time, you end up with your free time contributing to decision fatigue. Reducing my hobby count and then consciously planning out my free time a little drastically reduced my decision fatigue. Most days, I typically wall off an hour for focused reading and an hour or two for board gaming and that’s the sum of my hobby time. I don’t watch television, for example – it’s a hobby I’ve given up aside from date nights with my wife where we’ll watch a movie or partially binge-watch a mutually-chosen television series. I just cut my hobby time down to the ones I care most about and then literally plan for time for each of those hobbies each day.

Another strategy: put yourself in positions where you might spend money or make financial decisions early in the day, and avoid them like the plague later in the day. In fact, I generally stay off the internet entirely later in the day to avoid e-commerce temptations. I don’t want to have to make the “buy or not buy” decision on anything less than a perfectly clear mind.

Be the Person You Want Your Kids to Be

As with some of the other tips here, this is just solid parenting strategy that happens to align well with personal finance health.

This one’s straightforward. Think about the type of adult you want your children to be. What attributes do you want them to present to the world? How do you want them to interact with others in their personal lives and professional lives and community lives? Remember, you’re not trying to control their destiny, but define what kind of people you’d like them to be in the world should they turn out “right.”

See that list of traits and principles you just came up with? That’s how you should behave as much as you possibly can. Those traits should govern your actions, not your words. If you can’t live up to those principles and traits, how can you possibly expect them to?

If you want them to be an active part of your life as adults, then you should be an active part of the lives of your parents. If you want them to be financially responsible and not teetering on the edge of financial ruin, then you should be financially responsible and not be teetering on the edge of financial ruin. If you want them to be honest, then you should be honest. If you want them to be frugal, then you should be frugal. If you want them to make sensible spending choices, then you should be making sensible spending choices.

In short, if you want your kids to have a better life than you, then you should live your life according to the principles of those who actually do have better lives.

Obviously, no one is perfect and no one will do this perfectly all the time. The thing to remember is that this is your ideal. Allow yourself to regularly think about how you will actually embody those values and principles in your everyday life, whether you think your kids are watching or not. Aim to live by them.

I found that the book The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko is not only a great batch of personal finance advice, but it actually addresses this challenge of being a good parent and a good example to your children in terms of healthy financial behavior. If you want your children to be financially independent of you and be an accumulator of wealth, then you yourself shouldn’t be financially dependent on your parents and you should be an accumulator of wealth, and that takes a particular approach to daily living. The book is full of principles that apply very well to parents who want to set an example of healthy financial behavior through action for their children.

If I’ve learned anything about parenting, it’s that action speaks louder than words. Words only serve to explain the reasoning behind actions. If you’re acting in one way and your words point in another direction, your actions will be the far better example. If you rant at your children not to spend money foolishly while you spend money foolishly, they’re going to spend money foolishly. If you tell your child to not be unhealthy but then exhibit unhealthy behaviors yourself, you can’t expect them to not exhibit unhealthy behaviors. If you demand honesty but then are dishonest yourself, you can’t expect them to not be dishonest.

Be the person you want your kids to be. If you want them to be financially responsible, start by being financially responsible yourself. You’ll end up in a better place while also setting a tremendous example for them.

Final Thoughts

The financial and personal impact on parents from their parenting decisions is tremendous. Parenting can warp our financial choices, devour our free time, eat every spare dollar, and keep us from ever getting ahead financially, and even worse, all of that can end up setting some really bad patterns for the children to emulate, too.

First and foremost, as a parent, you have to consider what is going to both shape your children into functional independent people as well as what choices are going to ensure that you have a successful post-parenting life, too, while staying sane through all of it so that you can be there through thick and thin. That’s not an easy thing to balance.

My honest advice boils down to a few simple things, but the core principle is to be the adult you want your children to be when they’re adults. If you strive for that in every action, you’ll be in good shape. Alongside that, give your children room to breathe and discover who they are. Mold them through example and through gentle guidance and give their interests room to grow and room to shrink; don’t engage in big financial and time and energy commitments unless the child is already invested.

Also, recognize what parenting pulls out of you and compensate for that. Parenting is difficult for everyone; respect that the challenge puts you in positions to make suboptimal choices and find ways around that by protecting your financial decisions. Don’t let parenting wear you into oblivion; if you find that it is, you’re doing both yourself and your child a disservice and you need to work toward better practices for both your sake and your child’s sake.

You’ll find that by following these principles, you end up with a happier and healthier and more well rounded child and a happier and healthier and more well rounded you, and both of you have a far better chance at financial success in life.

The post Some Thoughts on Parenting and Personal Finance Success from an Experienced Parent appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Put a spring in your step with an investment Isa

For those looking to make the most out of their cash, investment Isas – known as Stocks and Shares and Innovative Finance Isas – offer greater potential. However, you need to be able to take a risk.

Cash Isas have long been the first stop for savers looking for a tax-free return on their money. However, thanks to strong stock market performance in recent years, there is now more money held in Stocks and Shares Isas than their cash equivalents.

Data from HMRC shows that of the £585 billion held in adult Isa accounts at the end of the 2016/17 tax year, 54% of this value was held in Stocks and Shares Isas.

Make the most of your Isa to grow your money

Additionally, research by Foresters Friendly Society shows that consumers are increasingly looking to Isas to save for the long term. Some 35% of people say they are prioritising a long-term, rainy-day fund over other financial milestones, while 29% say they are looking towards retirement.

This means investment Isas, which should be considered as a medium- to long-term option for your cash, could be a solution.

Why use an Isa?

A Stocks and Shares Isa is a popular way to invest because it offers tax-free returns to investors and, as with a Cash Isa, you can add up to £20,000 each tax year.

Plus, while some of the tax advantages of saving within an Isa have diminished for cash savers, for investors there are many benefits to saving in this tax-free way.

Largely, this is because you are not liable to pay tax regardless of how you earn from your investments.

How to become an Isa millionaire

There are three key ways this can help individuals pay less tax. Firstly, investments that pay interest, such as government and corporate bonds, or rental income, such as some property funds, will generate taxfree income if held within a Stocks and Shares Isa.

For those who receive a dividend on their investment, an upcoming tax change also makes it more beneficial to use an Isa. The annual tax-free dividend allowance for investments not held within an Isa will be slashed to £2,000 for the 2018/19 tax year, down from a £5,000 annual allowance.

However, all dividends generated by a Stocks and Shares Isa will be tax free, regardless of how big they are.

The final tax benefit is that you are not liable to pay any capital gains tax (CGT) on your investment growth. Once you pass the annual capital gains tax allowance – £11,300 in the 2017/18 tax year, rising to £11,700 in 2018/19 – you are normally liable to pay tax on the amount your investments have increased in value since you bought them.

Non-Isa investments, excluding residential property where higher rates apply, are liable to a 10% CGT for basic-rate payers and 20% if you’re in the higher- or additional-rate tax brackets.

Money saved in a Stocks and Shares Isa is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to £50,000 in the event of an investment product provider going bust. But this does not cover losses from the underlying stock market investments.

Consider the costs

Many people are attracted to investing as it offers higher returns than cash, although there is a greater level of risk attached.

You should always view your investments in the medium to long term (five to 10 years).

Remember, the value of your investments will rise and fall over time, so choose an investment strategy that’s right for you. Many people choose to drip-feed money into their Stocks and Shares Isa across the year. This means that your risk is spread over a prolonged period, rather than investing a lump sum where your cash may be vulnerable to a single stock market fall.

Are you ready to switch to an investment Isa?

You can invest in a wide range of assets using a Stocks and Shares Isa including bonds, company shares and funds.

For beginner investors, Moneywise recommends using funds as these allow your risk to be spread over a greater number of holdings. If you want to invest for growth, see our feature for our top picks.

But beware of the cost of investing; each fund applies a charge to investors and you’ll also pay platform fees to the company you use to invest.

Examples of major platforms include AJ Bell Youinvest, Charles Stanley Direct, Hargreaves Lansdown and Interactive Investor (Moneywise’s parent company). Each charges a fee for using their platform to invest, this is usually a fixed fee or a percentage of your Isa’s total value. Make sure you investigate the charges and choose wisely, as picking a poor-value platform could leave you severely out of pocket in the long run.

Other ways to invest

Stocks and Shares Isas are not the only way to invest tax-free. If you’re saving for your fi rst home or towards your retirement you can also use a Lifetime Isa as a way of investing. See page 8 of this Easy Isa Guide for more information.

Another recent addition to the Isa family is the Innovative Finance Isa (IF Isa). This was launched in April 2016 and allows peer-to-peer (P2P) investments to be held within an Isa for the first time.

These accounts tend to offer much higher returns than cash savings, but the risks are much greater. Your cash is at risk if the platform if goes bust and you are not protected by the FSCS as you would be with a Cash Isa.

You should also bear in mind that peer-to-peer investment is a relatively new product and the market has yet to experience a significant financial downturn. This is likely to lead to more loans defaulting and a lower return on your investment, although some platforms do have some safeguard or provision funds in place to partially mitigate against this.

The old tenner lost a third of its value in 18 years – protect your savings from inflation

RateSetter and Zopa both offer IF Isas to customers, as do smaller players such as Crowdstacker, Crowd2Fund, and Lending Works.

Each platform has its own targeted returns, but remember that a provider will have its own way of assessing the risk posed by these loans.

Lower targeted returns do not necessarily mean one provider is safer than another, so don’t judge risk on this basis.

Finally, make sure you invest your cash across multiple peer-to-peer platforms. This means if one platform or provider goes bust, you won’t lose all your money.