Business briefs

Morgan Stanley names El-Bassiouni to Pacesetter's ClubMorgan Stanley announced Tarik El-Bassiouni, a financial advisor and financial planning specialist in its Wealth Management office in Stroudsburg, has been named to the firm’s Pacesetter’s Club, a global recognition program for financial advisors who, within their first five years at the firm, demonstrate the highest professional standards and first-class client service.El-Bassiouni, who has [...]

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ShopRite, Cheerios recognize efforts to fight hunger

Knott, Cenci - two Kinsley ShopRite associates got their photos on a cereal box.

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Work to begin on River Road roundabout

Work on a new traffic circle in Delaware Water Gap is about to begin. Contractors will start site preparations April 3 with the Interstate 80 on and off ramps at Exit 310.“Next Tuesday, they’ll be starting a nighttime lane restriction between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. on I-80 east and west,” said Ron Young, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. [...]

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US Stocks Rally; Dow Surges 669, Clawing Back Lost Ground

News that the U.S. and China are open to negotiating to avert a trade war put investors in a buying mood Monday, giving the market its best day in more than two years and erasing about half of its huge losses last week.

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Many NEPA counties see retail jobs decline

Per Martha Stewart’s advice, Lisa Sinert wanted to name her business something memorable, so she picked one that rhymes and gives potential customers a clear picture of her location off the interstate.And unlike the rest of Northeast Pennsylvania, I-84 Country Store, Sinert’s cozy gift shop and deli, is in an odd county where retail jobs appear to be rising.From 2001 to 2016, jobs in retail fell relative to total employment in six of seven Northeast Pennsylvania [...]

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This is How Waze Carpool is Helping People Cut Down on Commuting Costs

We all know carpooling is one way to cut commuting costs. But finding someone to actually share a ride with can be tricky.

The Google-owned navigation company Waze is trying to make things a little less difficult with a new app to help commuters match themselves up with carpool buddies.

The service, previously tested in Texas, California and Israel, made its first public launch in Washington state last week, The Seattle Times reports.

It’s great news for commuters in Seattle, a city known for having some of the worst commutes in the nation. The Seattle Times article states Waze Carpool plans to grow organically, eventually expanding across the country.

How Does Waze Carpool Work?

The app works by matching commuters based on where they live and work, suggesting carpool connections that will add only between one and five minutes of time to the route.

Users can choose whether they want to drive or ride. Riders help reimburse the driver for the cost of fuel, paying no more than the IRS mileage reimbursement rate of 54 cents per mile.

Waze doesn’t take a share of that money, either, according to the report. Instead, the company profits from the ads displayed within the app, which is free for users to download.

Riders schedule their trips by the day, so they can adjust pick-up times to accommodate varying meetings and appointments. Rides can be scheduled up to a week in advance.

Once carpoolers are matched and start the day’s commute, Waze navigates the driver using carpool lanes when available.

Making Carpooling Less Miserable

To take away some of the awkwardness of riding with a stranger, users can view the profiles of potential riders or drivers in advance, and rate each other based on ride satisfaction afterward.

Engadget reports users can filter potential carpool buddies so they can choose to ride with co-workers, people of a particular gender or someone with mutual friends.

Users can also message or call each other beforehand to gain some familiarity, Curbed Seattle reports.

GeekWire reports the service is intended more for those with longer commutes instead of short trips to work. And it can help riders save significantly over other ride-sharing options. GeekWire gave an example of a ride from downtown Seattle to downtown Tacoma costing over $50 on UberPool, but only about $7 with Waze Carpool.

Watch this video to learn more about how Waze Carpool works or click here to download the app.

Nicole Dow 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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Read Those College Financial-Aid Offers Carefully for Hidden Drawbacks

College application season can be incredibly confusing.

It’s way too easy to get lost in the endless application forms and mile-high stacks of paperwork — especially in what’s usually brand new territory for high school seniors.

But of all the things to be blindly feeling your way through (and sort of making up as you go along), money is not one of them.

So when those financial aid offers start rolling in, you’re going to want to know exactly what you’re dealing with.

What You Need to Know About College Financial-Aid Letters

If the thought of interpreting and then actually having to deal with a financial-aid letter from your college of choice makes you feel a little nauseated and more than a little anxious, it’s probably a good idea to brush up on your understanding of the financial-aid process.

According to the folks over at Huffington Post, there are eight things you need to know about those college financial-aid letters — and what the options mean for you.

First, “financial aid” is a term that includes both grants and loans. Grants and scholarships are money that is given to you — money you don’t have to repay — while student loans must be paid back.

If you’re offered “merit aid,” make sure you review the terms of the package, such as whether it renews every year, and weigh the amount of the aid against your total annual costs.

Also, if a school offers you need-based aid, be sure to check the fine print. There’s often more to this type of offer than meets the eye.

Aside from the different types of aid, it’s also important to understand exactly how financial-aid offers work.

Will the amount awarded stay constant all four years? What does the school really mean when it says you’ll be given a “full” award? Will your private scholarships affect the amount of aid the college is willing to give you?

These are all necessary considerations when reviewing your financial-aid packages from the schools you applied to, and it’s important to understand exactly what you’re being offered before you accept or commit to anything.

To learn more about the different types of financial aid and what to know about those college financial-aid letters, check out the rest of the tips at the Huffington Post.

And if all this talk of financial aid has got you stressing out about your FAFSA, here’s a guide to filling it out — along with why it’s super important. (Seriously — don’t skip out on FAFSA!)

Grace Schweizer is a junior 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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These 5 Grants Were Created Specifically to Help Women Start Businesses

If I could develop the perfect product, I’d start a business.

It’d probably have to do with food. Ideas include low-carb chocolate that actually tastes good, organic Slurpees or a wine-and-cheese package — you know, already paired.

However, I don’t have the money for that. Nor do I know anything about the food industry — but that’s not the point.

But maybe you have the time — and the perfect business plan — but just need some money to push you along?

Or do you have a business you’re struggling to get off the ground? Resisting a high-interest loan or giving part of the power to an investor?

Applying for a business grant might be your perfect solution. I wrote another post explaining the ins and outs of business grants and how they’re like free money.

Many grants cater to various demographics, and because I’m all about empowering women, I compiled a list of six grants for women-owned businesses.

5 Small Business Grants for Women

If you’re a woman who has a business or wants to start one, take a gander at these grants.

If the application window isn’t open yet, set a reminder. You’ll want to give yourself plenty of time to craft the perfect application and gain a competitive edge.

1. #Girlboss Foundation Grant

Awarded biannually to female entrepreneurs chasing their creative dreams — including design, fashion, music and the arts — the #Girlboss Foundation Grant honors forward-planning.

If selected by Sophia Amoruso and her committee, you’ll win $15,000 and business exposure through #girlboss channels.

Apply now to be eligible for this spring’s award. It’s free to apply, and you just need to enter the basics: name, contact information, a description of your project, the amount of money you need and an end goal.

2. The Amber Grant

Each month, a panel of judges grants a winner $1,000. Then, at the end of the year, one of the 12 monthly winners is eligible to win an additional $9,000.

The nice thing about this grant is you don’t have to use corporate language or fancy synonyms. Judges look for passionate and heartfelt ideas and businesses — from dog walkers to scientific investors.

Again, the application is straightforward: name, company and other basics. You just type a few sentences about your business, what you’d do with the money and any other comments you think will help set you apart.

Note: there is a $15 application fee, but it’s totally worth it if you win.

3. Halstead Grant

This yearly grant is offered only to women in the jewelry-making business. The application deadline for this year’s grant is August 1.

The winner receives $7,500 and a $1,000 shopping gift card to Halstead, which sells wholesale jewelry supplies.

Other perks include a trophy (best part, probably) and a trip to the company’s Arizona headquarters.

The application is straightforward — basic information plus short- and long-answer questions.

4. Idea Café Small Business Grants

OK, so this isn’t solely for women-owned businesses, but the majority of the grant’s winners have been women, so it’s worth mentioning.

For example, Flour and Salt Bakery owner Brittany Buonocore received the grant in 2016. She owns a small bakery in Hamilton, New York, and will soon expand to a brick-and-mortar storefront.

This $1,000 grant is for anyone who creatively solves an everyday problem. It’s not an astounding amount of money, but it’s a great start, so keep an eye open for when the newest application is posted.

5. InnovateHER: Innovating for Women Business Challenge

This is a unique grant for woman-owned (or even man-owned!) businesses and is awarded to those producing innovative products and service that impact and empower women and families.

Past winners include an app to find babysitters, a program that delivers fresh ingredients to your door or a Bluetooth that looks like a designer bracelet.

And there’s a whole lot of cash at stake — $70,000. First place gets $40,000, second place wins $20,000 and third place takes home $10,000.

Dates for the next challenge haven’t been posted yet, but there are no entry fees, so don’t hesitate to apply.

If you’re hesitant to jump right in, look for your local U.S. Small Business Administration-sponsored Women’s Business Center. There, you can speak with a mentor about a variety of topics.

Best of luck, ladies!
Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) 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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Here’s How to Work in the Travel Industry Without Leaving Your Couch

Do you want to work in the travel industry, without actually having to travel? Then we might have a work-from-home job for you.

Christopherson Business Travel is looking for candidates with a good eye for detail, awesome problem-solving skills and stellar customer service chops. The travel management company is hiring a remote group travel adviser and three remote corporate travel advisers for its University Team.

Not only do you get to work from your own house, but these travel adviser jobs also come with benefits like paid time off and health coverage!

On top of proven customer service skills and the ability to get work done independently, candidates should have previous experience working in the travel industry and general knowledge about its practices.

If this doesn’t sound like your kind of thing or your skills don’t quite fit these roles, no worries. You can check out our Jobs page on Facebook — we’re always posting work-from-home opportunities there.

Remote Group Travel Adviser at Christopherson Business Travel

Pay: Not specified

Responsibilities include:

• Providing travel expertise with excellent customer service
  
• Ticketing and invoicing
  
• Negotiating group airline contracts
  
• Handling multiple group programs simultaneously
  
• Handling any problems or concerns that arise, including emergency situations

Applicants for this position must have:

• At least three years of reservation experience as a group travel adviser
  
• Experience with group airline contracts and Worldspan
  
• Strong oral and written communication skills
  
• Proficiency in Word and Excel
  
• Ability to work both independently and with a team

Benefits include:

• Medical, dental and vision coverage
  
• 401(k) plan
  
• PTO and holidays
  
• Long-term disability
  
• 529 college savings plan

Apply here for the group travel adviser job at Christopherson Business Travel.

Remote Corporate Travel Adviser at Christopherson Business Travel

Pay: Not specified
Responsibilities include:

• Servicing the travel arrangements for the University Team
  
• Performing all ticketing duties
  
• Providing travel counseling and recommendations
  
• Responding to customer complaints and problem solving

Applicants for this position must have:

• Three to five years of reservation experience with a full service agency
  
• Knowledge of industry and agency accounting
  
• Proven record of excellent customer service skills
  
• Strong organization skills
  
• Computer proficiency

Benefits include:

• Medical, dental and vision coverage
  
• 401(k) plan
  
• PTO and holidays
  
• Long-term disability
  
• 529 college savings plan

Apply here for the corporate travel adviser job at Christopherson Business Travel.

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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Should You Use Tax Preparation Software? With Today's Software, Should I Do My Own Taxes?

Tax preparation software has improved significantly over the past several years. If you are debating whether doing your own taxes is right for you, consider these following factors.

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Auto Bits: What's driving car care and purchases this spring

Tip of the Week As the weather starts to warm up, Americans will hit the road more often for destinations ranging from family outings to spring vacation destinations. Because cars are such an important part of our daily lives, Hankook Tire examined what drives Americans to keep up with car maintenance, as well as what matters when maintenance can do no more and it’s time to visit the dealership. Leave it to me Two-thirds (69 [...]

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Questions About Toys R Us, Quick Showers, Car Replacement, and More!

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. When to replace a car
2. Two minute showers
3. Toys R Us liquidation advice
4. Stock investing advice
5. Overcoming fear of leftovers
6. Parents exhausting their 401(k)s
7. The two voices
8. Resisting urge to spoil children
9. Roth IRA alone enough?
10. Putting emergency fund in bonds
11. Bleached flour and yeast
12. HE washers and homemade soap

One of the questions in today’s mailbag is from a reader who is worried about the recent drop in stock prices. The thing is, whenever the stock market drops in value even a little, I get several messages like this. “What should I do?”

My advice is always the same, which you can read in the answer to that question.

I’m mentioning it here because most good personal finance advice is timeless. It works whether you have a high paying job or a low paying job. It works whether the stock market is going up or it’s going down. It works whether you’re young or you’re old. The principles stay the same.

The difficulty of personal finance is figuring out how to put those principles into practice. We’re all filled with emotions and impulses which aren’t always rational, and curbing them isn’t the easiest.

Principles stay true through thick and thin. It’s our emotions and impulses that muddy the waters.

Let’s dig into some questions.

Q1: When to replace a car

My wife and I both entered our marriage (three years ago) with the vehicles that had been gifted to us when we turned 15—a 2003 Toyota Corolla and a 2004 Chevy Cavalier. We are now 26 and 27 years old. For the first year of marriage, we continued to drive those cars, and, although the Cavalier was extremely trustworthy while I drove it, the car was starting to struggle and in fairly rough shape (appearance-wise) by 2015. We then purchased a used 2015 Toyota Rav4, at the end of 2015, and have been paying it off for the last two years. I have been driving the Corolla for the past two years, but the vehicle is starting to show signs of major wear. While I don’t really mind driving it, I’m afraid that it is about to reach the point where more and more money needs to be spent on keeping it up, and it was never my car of choice, so I would rather spend that money on another vehicle. I have considered purchasing an older used vehicle (I really like older Land Rovers) and having it refreshed, but I also like newer reasonably-priced vehicles like the Honda Civic. We typically take my wife’s car on any longer trips, and I doubt we will be putting a ton of mileage on whatever vehicle I get (except to alleviate some of the mileage on my wife’s new car). We will be paying on my wife’s car until December 2020. We could pay off my wife’s car early, but we got a solid interest rate. While I would prefer not to have two car payments, the timing of our vehicles reaching the end of their first lives is dictating that we take a new route, and, while not ideal, it could make financial sense, considering the state of the Corolla. I have read your typical strategies with regard to purchasing vehicles, and I think what we have done with our first cars fit that protocol. I’m just a little hesitant on what to do at this point. After end-of-the-year raises, we have wiggle room in our budget and solid savings to hold us up, if something were to go awry. Any wisdom you could pass my way?
– Brad

Buy a late model used reliable commuter car that’s highly fuel efficient, something like a Honda Civic or a Toyota Prius. That’s my advice.

If you’re taking out a loan for this car, that means you weren’t saving all the way along for the replacements for your original cars. That’s a mistake. My advice is, once you’ve paid off these cars, keep making somewhat smaller “car payments” to a savings account somewhere. Automate it and use an online bank like Capital One 360 or Ally for this. Make it, say, $200 a month per car.

When these cars are ready to give up the ghost, you can then tap your car savings and use that to write a check for the car instead of having to pay interest on the car loan. This also enables you to still replace that car even if your financial state isn’t as good – even if you don’t have a job or have poor credit, you can still buy a car with cash if needed, but probably not on a loan.

Q2: Two minute showers

You may have already talked about this, but thought I’d send it along, in case you hadn’t. My husband and I take 2 minute showers. You get in, get your hair wet (your body will also get wet) and then turn off the shower. You work shampoo into your hair (use it to also clean your body) and then turn the shower back on to rinse off. Since we want to conserve water as well as save money, this works out great for us. Really, once you start doing this, it seems routine. Now the idea of having the water run while I’m putting shampoo in my hair seems a terrible waste of water–and it is! Thanks for all the great tips over the years.
– Jeanine

This is a really simple strategy that can be summarized as such: if you’re not actively getting something wet (like a cloth or your hair or body) or you’re not actively rinsing soap from your body or hair, keep the shower off. Don’t let it just run uselessly over you.

A typical shower head pours out about three gallons of water per minute while it’s running – low flow heads get down to about two gallons per minute. It costs about a cent and a half to heat up a gallon of water to the nice warm shower temperature you like, and the water itself costs about a cent per minute. So, if you just let your showerhead run, the cost is about five cents per minute for typical warm shower water.

So, is this a big savings? Not big, but if you simply take a shower by getting your body and hair wet, turning off the water while you scrub your hair and body, and then turning it back on, you’re probably saving at least a couple of minutes of water running. If that’s ten or fifteen cents due to a couple flicks of the wrist (and probably more since the shower water isn’t rinsing soap from your body as you wash), it’s probably worth it. I usually do something similar, mostly so I can more easily tell where I’ve washed, because constant shower water washes away the soap and it’s sometimes hard to tell where you’ve scrubbed. Without the water running, it’s easy to tell – I think it makes the shower overall faster if I turn off the water for a while in the middle.

Q3: Toys R Us liquidation advice

I have two sets of twins, 8 years old and 3 years old. Birthday and holiday gifts get expensive. We were thinking of hitting the Toys R Us liquidation sales near us and stocking up on gifts for the next 1-2 years and putting them in some tubs in the garage. Any good strategies for liquidation sales?
– Tommy

If you’re looking just for big bargains, don’t even bother with the liquidation sales at first. Typically, liquidation sales start with everything being marked up to at least MSRP, and sometimes above, and then they’ll have a blanket sale with everything being 10% off. They’ll actually sell a lot of stuff at that point, but the prices are still higher than a lot of websites and other stores.

After a while, they’ll start increasing the discount. 20% off everything. 30% off everything. And they’ll keep dropping it until the store is empty.

My advice? Wait until it’s getting fairly close to the end if you’re just looking for bargains. You won’t get much of a bargain at all during the early days of a liquidation sale, since you’ll probably just be paying 10% or 20% off of MSRP. The big bargains don’t come until later, like the last three or so days before the store permanently closes. So, just hit the store when the sales get down into the 40%-60% off range, which will probably happen when the store is only open for another several days or so, and shop then. If you wait until the very last day or two, you’ll see prices knocked down to 90% off or more, but the store will be practically empty at that point.

Q4: Stock investing advice

I have been putting my retirement savings into VTSMX (Vanguard Total Stock Market Index, which is basically just a mix of a LOT of different American stocks) and so far this year it has lost money. What should I be doing with my retirement? Losses are unacceptable.
– Charles

This was the most stark of several messages I received over the weekend about the downward trend in the stock market since late January. Since its peak on January 26, the stock market has lost about 12% of its value and is now in negative territory for the year of 2018.

So, what should you do about it? Assuming that this is a long term investment and you don’t plan on tapping it at all in the next ten or more years, you shouldn’t be doing anything. Stocks are volatile investments, which means that sometimes they lose money. In 2008, the stock market lost 40% of its value. Most people who are quaking right now were not invested in stocks in 2008 – instead, they rode this incredible rebound from 2009 to 2017 and seem to now believe the the stock market goes up, up, and up. That’s not true – it goes down sometimes. That’s the reality of it.

Stocks are like anything else – they operate on supply and demand. As long as more people are wanting to buy stocks than there are people wanting to sell those stocks, the price will go up until they can agree. As long as more people are wanting to sell than to buy, the price will go down. Right now, more people are wanting to sell than to buy, for a number of reasons. There are more people out there at this moment who want to sell their stocks than there are people who want to buy them, so the price will go down until they can agree on a price.

It won’t go to zero because most shares are shares of good companies that pay out dividends – people want shares that pay out dividends, they just might not be willing to pay the current market price for them.

Over a long period of time, stocks almost always go up, but that’s a long period – ten years or more. If you’re looking at a period of just a few months, yes, there will definitely be periods where it goes down.

Q5: Overcoming fear of leftovers

When I was a kid my parents always threw out leftover food because they believed it would go bad and we would all get sick and die from it. I now know that this is not exactly true but I am still really uncertain whether or not something that’s left over is okay to eat. How do you do it?
– Dan

For the most part, I trust my eyes and my nose, and my fingers to a smaller extent.

If something looks normal and smells normal, I basically have no problem eating it. It’s okay if it looks a little dry, too.

Things I watch out for is sliminess that wasn’t there before and changes in color. If something looks wet or slimy, I toss it. If something has changed color, I toss it. If I touch something and the texture has significantly changed, like it suddenly has a wet or slimy layer on the outside, I toss it. If I notice something has curdled or grown mold and I didn’t intend for that kind of thing to happen, I toss it. (There are times when I do intentionally curdle milk for a recipe, for example, but when it happens without my intent, I don’t trust it.)

That’s really all I do. I find that just putting leftovers in the refrigerator in a closed container, or in the freezer in a closed container, is all I really need to do most of the time.

Q6: Parents exhausting their 401(k)s

My parents are both in their early 70s and in really good health. They travel a lot and visit us regularly and they go on hikes and all kinds of adventures, and that’s great. But I am worried that they’re burning through their retirement savings really fast.

We had a talk when they visited in March about long term plans. My dad has made me executor on all of their estate and is really open with everything with me and we talk about things often. I was doing some math on their 401(k)s and their balances are dropping really fast because of all of the money they’re taking out for trips and things like that. They recently bought a 2017 minivan (so that there’s room for family on road trips if needed) and just paid for it out of their 401(k).

It’s not a limitless bank and I am getting worried they are going to run it empty long before they pass away. I tried to talk to my dad about it and he just waited until mom was out of the room and said, “Honey, there’s probably going to be a morning before too long where me or mom won’t wake up, or one of us will get cancer or something. Every day we have left together is an adventure. We’re not going to sit around and wait to die.”

I understand that, but I am also worried that they are going to rely on me to take care of them when the money runs out. When I bring up that idea they just say that they’ll cross that bridge when they get there. I am worried that (a) they’ll rely on us to care for them or (b) just commit suicide when the money runs out because that is something they used to joke about and now don’t mention. What can I do?
– Jane

There isn’t much you can do. This is your parents’ money and they can decide to do with it what they wish. Your role is to decide what you’d be willing to do when their money runs out.

So, what are you willing to do? Could they live with you in several years? Would that work for you or for them? Can you give them any financial support if they reach that point?

They’re clearly aware of the financial problem, but perceive other things as being more important. You can’t make them feel differently. However, you do have a long runway to decide what you’ll do about it.

Q7: The two voices

How do I handle the constant war between spending less and having cheap experiences? Whenever I spend money on something that’s actually good, a voice in my head yells about how much money I’m spending and how I’m bankrupting myself. If I go the cheap route, the voice in my head yells about how I’m letting myself down and living like a weird hermit and have a terrible life. What can I do to make them both shut up?! Ha!
– Nicole

My solution is to cut back very, very hard on the 95% of things that really don’t matter to me, and then spend thoughtfully on really high quality things on the 5% of things that do matter to me. The trick is really figuring out what doesn’t matter and what does matter.

What do you really, really care about? What’s your main hobby? What one or two things really make you happy? What items do you use every day? Those are things where it’s much more okay to spend a little more and get high quality items.

At the same time, what things do you not care about as much, or only care about because a friend or loved one really cares? What hobbies do you not spend much time on, or just care about because a friend does, or that you used to care about but really don’t any more? What items do you rarely use? Those are things that are okay to cut back on and go the cheap route.

As for normal, routine items, my default is to go cheap until that cheap item gives me a very clear reason as to why it isn’t doing the job. The only typical item that I don’t buy in store brand form is trash bags because I’ve had some awful experiences with cheap ones and the small extra cost for decent ones saves me a lot of headaches. Almost everything else around our house is store brand in terms of household items and staples.

Q8: Resisting urge to spoil children

How do you resist the urge to spoil your kids?
– Monica

For me, I try to look at the long term instead of the short term when deciding whether to buy them things. What are they really going to remember in ten years? What lessons will they take away from this?

What I’ve come to realize is that they generally won’t remember the thing you bought for them in that moment, but what they will remember is that they didn’t have to curb a desire inside of them. It just got fulfilled for them, like magic. They didn’t have to wait for things they desired, and they didn’t have to accept that desires sometimes go unfulfilled. That doesn’t really lead to healthy spending habits as an adult.

The thing to remember is that you’re a parent, and one of the valuable lessons for a parent is to help teach your children how to control their impulses and how to handle potentially negative or destructive emotions. Knowing how to handle wants and desires is a big part of that, as is knowing how to express love and care without buying things.

Sure, it’s tempting to give your child everything he or she desires, especially if you didn’t have that happen when you were a child. However, the thing to remember is that giving that item is often mostly just fulfillment for you, because you enjoy giving that item and you enjoy the response. It doesn’t end up really helping the child at all; in fact, it often just sets up some unrealistic expectations in the child.

Q9: Roth IRA alone enough?

I am 23 years old and single. I am a contract employee in my field, which means no retirement benefits or 401(k). Is saving in a Roth IRA enough for retirement? What else can I be doing or should I be doing?
– Craig

The annual Roth IRA contribution cap is $5,500. So, let’s assume you max out your Roth IRA each year from 23 to 65 and earn an average annual return of 7% per year.

If you do that, you’d have $1,410,468 saved up when you’re 65 years old. However, that’s in 2061 dollars.

In 2018 dollars, assuming 3% average annual inflation, that’s
$395,697. If you take the safe withdrawal rate of 3% per year, that’s $11,870 per year, tax free.

If you choose to work to age 70 instead, the “real” annual amount jumps to $16,970, tax free.

Now, remember, that will be supplemented by Social Security, and that number holds true only if Roth IRA contribution caps never change and you never contribute more.

As long as you don’t plan to live extravagantly, it’s definitely doable. You’ll probably have other assets at that time, like a home, which will also help.

Q10: Putting emergency fund in bonds

My husband and I recently contributed to the PIMCO Income Class C, PONCX. I would like to ultimately contribute half of our emergency fund by contributing 5k every 6 months for 18months. This would equal 3 months of expenses. We would also keep 3 months of expenses in a regular savings account. The fund has traditionially yieled 7-8% a year and has never lost money. The operating expense is 1%. If we choose to take money out before 1 year it would cost us 1%. Is this bonds fund a reasonably safe for a portion of our money? We have additional liquid savings we use for daily life and home improvements. We contribute 15% to retirement and are in our 30s. We have one child and no debt other than a car lease and a mortgage. Thank you for any feedback you can provide.
– Erica

In general, I don’t like to invest money unless I can explicitly state what the purpose of that investment is. What is your reason for doing this?

It seems as though this is part of your emergency fund, but you’re investing it in something with a withdrawal fee if you need it any time soon and at least some level of investment risk. The purpose of an emergency fund is to have cash with extremely low risk and incredibly available, which is why a FDIC-insured savings account is a good place for it.

You seem to want more return from this money, which is fine, but if you’re doing that, it’s no longer an emergency fund. It’s an investment, with investment risk associated with it. What are you investing for? What are you hoping to achieve through that investment?

An emergency fund with three months of living expenses in it is perfectly healthy for a married couple without kids or with one kid, so taking the money you’re thinking of putting into this investment and investing it is fine. However, I wouldn’t think of it as an “emergency fund” any more, because you’re doing things with it that aren’t in line with the goal of an emergency fund. Instead, I’d think of what your goal with that money is. Is it for a house? Is it for early retirement? Then, invest it appropriately to match that goal.

Q11: Bleached flour and yeast

Another killer of yeast in breads is flour that has been bleached or bromated. Good bye yeast. The yeast may have been fine, but the whitening agents in the flour killed it. Sometimes flour package MARKED unbleached actually isn’t because of a miss bagging at the factory. Always something!!
– Margie

You are correct that bleached and bromated flours tend to have less naturally occurring yeast in them. If you’re trying to achieve natural rising of your bread (i.e., a sourdough), you should not use bleached or bromated flours.

However, in my experience, bleached flour tends to result in bread that rises too much, becoming overly soft and sometimes having big holes in the loaf. I use unbleached bread flour strictly to avoid that problem.

This, of course, is assuming you’re using a store-bought source of dry yeast, like Red Star, and you’re properly proofing it in warm water beforehand.

Q12: HE washers and homemade soap

Is the recipe compatible with HE labeled washing machines? I have use of a machine that is an HE and I don’t know what makes detergent compatible with them. I appreciate your response.
– Sarah

The homemade laundry soap recipe I use supposedly works just fine in HE washers, but I have no personal experience with HE washers, so I don’t know this for certain.

My recipe is really simple. I just mix two cups of washing soda, two cups of borax, and two cups of soap flakes together in a Gladware container. All of those things are powder, so I just put the powders in there and shake it around for a while. Then, I toss in a tablespoon as a measuring tool and use one tablespoon per load.

The cost per load for this is between 2 and 4 cents, depending on the source of the washing soda, borax, and soap flakes. Compare that to Tide, which is about a quarter per load, and that’s assuming you measure it accurately. If you do a load a day over the course of a year, that adds up to about $75 in savings.

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

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My Favorite Time-Saving Social Media Marketing Tools

Staying active on social media is one of the best ways for you to create brand awareness and engage with your audience.

But with so many different social platforms to manage on a daily basis, it can be overwhelming. Sometimes keeping up with all these networks at once can feel like a full-time job.

You have enough on your plate when it comes to running your business. Sometimes, your social media campaigns get pushed toward the bottom of your to-do list.

If you’re not in a position to hire a full-time social media marketing manager, you can use a variety of marketing tools to help you streamline this process.

Those of you who have a social media marketing manager can still take advantage of these tools to help make their job more efficient.

I’ve used my fair share of social media marketing tools over the years. Some were great while others not so much. I want to help you avoid the ones that weren’t efficient.

I took the time to narrow down my favorite social media marketing tools that helped save me a ton of time. My hope is you’ll have the same results using them. 

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is great because it has versatile plan options that can match the size of your business and its needs. If you’re the only one using it and you’ve got no more than 10 social media profiles, it’s only $20 per month to use this tool.

But for larger teams and businesses, it has plans for up to 20 and up to 50 social media profiles that can be managed by multiple team members. Those plans go for $99 and $499 per month, respectively.

Hootsuite helps you schedule all your social media posts across all your accounts.

That way, you can schedule all your posts in one go on all your accounts as opposed to manually posting on all your profiles throughout the day.

Hootsuite allows you to easily organize all of your content. Their content library dashboard is extremely clean and easy to navigate.

Those of you who store your content on the cloud-based platforms, such as Drop Box, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or Box, can access those files directly from the Hootsuite dashboard.

If you’re using other apps to help manage your social media accounts, Hootsuite can work with those tools as well. That way, you can manage everything in one place.

The schedule menu clearly displays all your pending content, so it’s easy to monitor. You can view the schedule by day, week, month, or even as a list.

If you have a large team using Hootsuite together, you can assign team leaders to have the final approval of content before it goes live. That way, you’ll catch any mistakes and won’t have to worry about posting unapproved content.

One of the best parts about this social media marketing tool is the analytics reports.

You won’t have to use another third-party platform to measure the reach and engagement of your content. You’ll see the metrics of each post per platform, which can even help determine your social ROI.

Hootsuite also has tools that help monitor your team and keep everyone accountable. You can see which team members are resolving tasks the fastest and which ones need improvement.

As a whole, Hootsuite is worth checking out. They offer a 30-day free trial, so it can’t hurt.

MeetEdgar

If you have problems coming up with new content to post on your social profiles, you may want to consider MeetEdgar as a solution.

This software will recycle old posts when you run out of new ones to make sure your posting queue is never empty.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying this is a permanent solution and a strategy you should employ all the time. But with that said, there’s nothing wrong with bringing old posts back to life.

It’s definitely better to recycle old content as opposed to posting nothing at all.

If you’ve been slacking off with creating new content and your posting queue runs dry, you can set up MeetEdgar to share older posts with high engagement statistics.

Even if you’ve got a content library full of new content but don’t want to take the time to decide what order to post them in, the auto-scheduler can choose for you.

Instead of having to download the software and open it every time you want to manage your social media accounts, MeetEdgar has a browser extension, allowing you to access its services from the web.

If you operate a small business and have bigger tasks to worry about than micro-managing your social media accounts on a daily basis, I’d say you’re an ideal candidate for MeetEdgar.

It’s $49 per month, and you’ll get a free month if you enrol in an annual billing cycle.

Buffer

Like most social media management tools, Buffer also allows you to schedule your social media posts from a single platform. But what separates Buffer from the crowd is its mobile application.

I know what it’s like to be constantly on the go. You don’t always have the time to sit in front of your computer to manage your social media accounts.

Even if you’re just scheduling posts for the week, having the option to do this from a mobile app makes things easier and gives you lots of flexibility.

You can access the Buffer app on your smartphone while you’re on the train, bus, subway, or in the back of an Uber. If you’ve got downtime between meetings, it’s much easier to pull out your phone than to grab your computer to do the work.

Buffer provides you with visual reports and analytics that track engagement metrics such as:

• mentions
• likes
• comments
• shares
• retweets
• clicks
• reach.

This service also highlights your top performing posts. You can see which strategy is working the best and craft your future posts in a similar fashion.

With the Buffer RSS feed, it’s really easy for you to publish content from any of your favorite websites with just one click. The platform also supports video and GIF uploading, so you can share different types of content with your followers.

Buffer also has its own image creator. This is a chance for you to let your creative juices flow and come up with original images that make your social posts stand out from the crowd.

Buzzsumo

Buzzsumo differs from the marketing tools we’ve analyzed so far.

The software analyzes social media profiles and connects you with influencers to promote your brand.

If you’ve read my top marketing trends of 2018, you know that micro influencers are on the rise this year. If you’re looking for help in this space, Buzzsumo is a great place to start.

Even if adding influencers to your marketing campaign isn’t part of your marketing strategy right now, Buzzsumo still has lots of great tools to make your social media marketing strategy easier.

It has brand monitoring tools that will alert you with mentions of your company as well as your competitors’ plus any relevant keywords, backlinks, and other domains.

This makes it easy for you to see how you stack up against your biggest competition.

Buzzsumo also searches for relevant to your brand content across the Internet. The software filters information that resonates with your audience to help you stay up to date on the latest trends.

You’ll have access to reports about the content shared the most across all the different social media platforms. You can filter this information by the last 24 hours or other time intervals, going back to the past year.

You can determine which type of content is popular short- and long-term.

Buzzsumo lets you organize popular content by its type. You can look at videos or infographics in addition to images and written posts.

If you’re using some of the other tools I previously discussed, Buzzsumo can be a useful addition to your arsenal.

You can choose from plans ranging from $99 to $300 per month. All plans come with a 7-day free trial, and you’ll get 20% off if you sign up for yearly billing.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is another top choice if you’re looking for one place to manage all your social media profiles.

This platform makes it really easy for you to draft, store, and queue all your social posts. You can see everything organized from the calendar, which serves a visual representation of your schedule.

The dashboard also helps you monitor how your posts are doing. You’ll get to view all the metrics by platform or post.

If you’ve got several team members working together on your social media campaigns, Sprout Social is a great option for you. It’s easy to delegate tasks and choose who gets to approve posts before they go live.

Sprout Social also helps you respond to all of your messages from followers. You won’t have to individually log in to your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other profiles to see these messages.

This will help you stay organized and respond to messages in the order they were received, as opposed to responding based on which platform you’re logged in to at the time.

Sprout Social has features that help you monitor hashtags and keywords. You can see the share of the volume of those specific keywords your company has.

You’ll also have access to features specifically designed for building and managing your customer relationships.

Members of your team can make notes about different customers and their social media profiles based on your history and contact with them.

If the same customer contacts you more than once using more than one platform, all their information will be neatly organized in one place.

Oktopost

Oktopost is different from the other tools I’ve discussed so far because it’s specifically designed for B2B companies.

B2B marketers don’t use social media the same way B2C companies do. The type of engagement and response they’re trying to get out of each post is different.

B2B marketers put a strong emphasis on the quality of their lead-generation strategies.

Depending on your business and industry, you may not need to expose your brand to hundreds of thousands of social media profiles. Sometimes, just a handful of new clients per year is enough for a business to be extremely profitable.

Oktopost is great because it helps B2B businesses make sure they’re using the right social platforms effectively to reach their audiences.

You’ll still get the same benefits of posting automation, scheduling, and management you receive with some of the other options I talked about, but you’ll get the analytics geared toward a B2B business.

Conclusion

Effective social media management is imperative for all businesses in every industry.

You just need to make sure you’re using your time wisely while doing that.

The tools I’ve outlined above are great because you can manage all your accounts on one platform. Instead of spending all your time posting, you can schedule your content to get posted automatically.

I tried to include something for everyone here.

If you’re working on multiple social media profiles with a team, you may want to consider platforms such as Hootsuite or Sprout Social.

For those of you who want to work primarily from a mobile application, Buffer is probably your best bet.

Companies prioritizing social influencers and competitor analysis can use Buzzsumo for their social media marketing needs.

Smaller businesses without a ton of new content should lean towards a tool such as MeetEdgar.

I’d recommend Oktopost for B2B social media marketing management.

Whichever platform you decide to choose, I’m sure it will help you save lots of time so you can be more productive.

Which tools does your business use to save time managing your social media marketing campaigns?

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What Playing College Basketball Taught Me About Money Management

I recently read a fascinating article that explores why the No. 1 pick in last year’s NBA draft is struggling in the pros this season. The upshot is that the player, Markelle Fultz, altered his shooting form this past summer. The result was a complete disaster. He went from a great shooter to a terrible shooter in the blink of an eye. Nothing like it has ever happened in basketball history. It’s the equivalent of a young person winning the National Book Award and then forgetting how to spell. People are baffled.

I watched before and after videos of Fultz’s shooting form, and I have a theory: I think he tried to change his form so that it looked more like that of NBA All-Star Stephen Curry.

This is plausible, because something eerily similar happened to me in my own basketball career, albeit at a lower level.

I spent the summer before my first year of Division I basketball completely retooling my shooting form. I wanted my shot to look like that of one of my idols, J.J. Reddick. The process was frustrating, tedious, and entirely unnecessary.

I was a good shooter! I was the best on my team and one of the best in my region. And yet, for whatever reason, I was more worried about aesthetics than results.

Predictably, my shooting percentages the following year were not great. It wasn’t until my senior year that I changed my form back to the way it used to be. Finally, my shooting percentage shot back up.

In reading about Fultz and considering my own journey, it hit me that there are universal lessons in our stories that are relevant to investing and money management.

Stay the Course

When it comes to your shooting form, you’re not going to do yourself any favors by constantly changing course. It takes a long time to form the muscle memory necessary to launch shots from 22 feet away with skill and accuracy. The key is to find out early what works best for you and then stick with it.

William Bernstein, author of “The Four Pillars of Investing,” knows that the same idea applies when it comes to investing your money. As he puts it: “Investor success accrues not so much to the brilliant as to the disciplined.”

The disciplined investor knows that there is no sense in trying to time the market. For one thing, if you’re frequently making trades in your brokerage account, you will rack up high fees and commissions. Those cause a drag on your returns.

And, more importantly, trying to time the market with your trades is really, really hard. There is a reason there’s only one Warren Buffett. Even experts who devote their lives to it generally fail. The vast majority of people who become wealthy do so by keeping their expenses low and socking away money over time. Unless you have some institutional knowledge that the folks at massive, billion-dollar investment houses don’t, it’s best to pick a simple strategy and stay the course.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to achieve success. You just need to have the patience to stick with a good plan.

The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good

Was Fultz a once-in-a-generation shooter like Steph Curry? No. But he was clearly a good enough shooter to be considered the best basketball prospect in the entire world last year. Most experts agree that he would have been just fine if he had stuck with his flawed but productive shooting form.

Similarly, it’s been shown that there is more than one road to Rome when it comes to saving for retirement. Some people like to ride the stock market roller coaster by investing in a 100% stock portfolio. Others prefer to diversify across asset classes, invest “their age in bonds,” invest in international index funds, overweight technology funds, or use any number of other investing strategies.

Here’s the thing — they can all work out! As long as you’re not always questioning yourself and trying to switch to the “hot” investment of the moment, your money will grow over time.

Stock market researcher Mel Faber elegantly proved this in an article titled “Asset Allocation Strategies.” He compared the performance of nine different popular portfolios from 1970-2013 and found that “they all performed pretty similarly.”

His sage advice for those who are sweating about what to invest in? Pick anything, then “go enjoy your summer.”

Practice, Practice, Practice

The reason myself, Fultz, or any other player got good at shooting was because we were disciplined enough to put a lot of time into practicing. No matter how nontraditional your form, if you work hard enough, you can see results. There are countless examples of NBA players with ugly-looking form (looking at you, Reggie Miller) who were still dead-eye shooters.

With investing, the equivalent of practicing your jumpshot year after year is consistently adding money to your investment accounts, year after year. No amount of return on your investment can make up for not saving enough, just as having “perfect” shooting form doesn’t mean a thing unless you practice a lot.

Unless you do the work to create a gap between your spending and your saving, nothing else matters. Don’t get distracted by debates such as dollar cost averaging vs. lump-sum investing. As interesting as it can be to get into the minutiae, it’s important to keep your eye on the ball. Invest first, ask questions later.

Summing Up

Markelle Fultz, for whatever reason, was unable to stay the course. Maybe he panicked, or maybe he desperately wanted to imitate the best. We might never know.

I have empathy for him. I’m constantly tempted to tweak my life in a way that maximizes my perceived returns, be they in athletics, nutrition, or investing. Yet, I always find that implementing a slower but more sustainable strategy is what works best.

And once I find something adequate, I try to stick with it. As the old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Related Reading:

• Eight Questions to Ask Yourself Before Investing in Anything
• Why Being a Pro Athlete Made Me a Terrible Investor
• You Have to Trust ‘The Process’

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5 Clever Ways You Can Maximize Your Health Savings Account Contributions

Do You Have What It Takes to Drive With Uber? Everything You Need to Know

If you need — or want — to make extra money, driving with Uber is a legitimate option that would allow for flexibility.

Depending on your car situation, the startup costs are minimal. It’s also nice knowing that, as an independent contractor, you can dictate when you drive.

Before you hit the road, though, we want to share with you exactly how you could become an Uber driver-partner. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as downloading the app and driving around town. But it is pretty easy if you know what to expect.

Let’s start with the Uber driver-partner requirements.

Uber Driver-Partner Requirements — Do You Qualify?

Depending on where you live, requirements will vary. However, you’ll need to meet some basic requirements before hitting the gas almost anywhere.

Requirements include, but are not limited to:

• Be at least 21 years of age.
• Have at least one year of licensed​ driving experience in the U.S. (or three years if you are under 23 years old).
• Have a valid U.S. driver’s license.
• Show proof of vehicle registration and insurance.
• After you sign up, you will need to pass a background check. It’ll check your driving record and criminal history.

If you meet these driver requirements, make sure your vehicle meets Uber’s prerequisites, too.

Uber Car Requirements — Does Your Car Qualify?

The car requirements will vary by the Uber options you want to offer. For example, UberX has different requirements from UberSELECT. But again, there will be basic requirements your car needs to meet.

Your vehicle must:

• Be registered with the state. Uber may require proof of registration depending on your location.
• Be insured according to your state’s minimum coverage laws.

Additionally, your car must:

• Have four doors.
• Seat at least four passengers (excluding the driver).

If your car doesn’t meet the requirements or you don’t have a car, Uber’s Vehicle Solution program connects partners with ways to rent a car on a weekly basis. These cars might include maintenance and insurance, and might come with unlimited miles.

How Much Can Someone Make Driving With Uber?

Speaking of money… you’re probably wondering how much you could make. Of course, the income depends on the city you live in and its demand.

Otherwise, you directly influence how much you can make, because you get to drive when you want. For safety reasons, the Uber app notifies you to go offline for six hours after you have been driving on the app for 12 hours.

Earnings are calculated by several factors, including:

• The trip fare, which includes a base fare plus additional time and distance rates.
• Toll fares, which you’ll get reimbursed for.

Increased rider demand and other factors can lead to elevated earnings. The app will often show driver-partners where these elevated areas are located.

Uber partners get paid each Thursday via direct deposit. There’s also an Instant Pay feature, which allows them to get paid at any time, up to five times a day.

Got the Green Light? Here’s the Uber Sign-up Process

Signing up online won’t take long.

You’ll enter some information about yourself and your vehicle. If the car requirements vary in your area, this is when Uber will inform you.

Uber will provide you with information you need to upload to complete the sign-up process, including the documents needed, such as copies of your license, registration and proof of insurance.

If Uber gives you the green light, you’ll need to download the driver app and log in. he app will walk you through the next steps.

After that, the rest is fairly simple. Slide into the driver’s seat, buckle up and start makin’ money.

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) 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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Work-At-Home Medical Coding and Billing Careers

By Holly Reisem Hanna Would you like to work from home in an occupation that is in high-demand? Does the medical and healthcare field interest you? Then consider medical coding and billing as a home-based career option. Medical coding and billing requires training and familiarity with medical terminology, and most employers require billers to obtain […]

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