The Dos and Don’ts of Networking During Summer Months

Statistics have shown that one in four individuals don’t network at all. The reasons may range from lacking enough time (which 41% of networkers admit is the case) to being used to seeing networking in a stereotypically unflattering light. The reputation of networking, unfortunately, is that a group of professionals is gathered in a room […]

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Does your workplace pension offer you the best value?

Auto-enrolment means millions more workers now have pensions – but are they any good? We look at what you can do to improve your options

Since auto-enrolment began in 2012 more than nine million more workers have invested in a pension. But how good are these workplace pensions and what are your options to tailor them to your individual and changing needs?

If you’ve been auto-enrolled, you first need to find out what type of pension you have. It’s most likely to be a defined contribution (DC) scheme, in which you and your employer contribute towards your pot.

• Benefits you're entitled to: state pension age

This could be in the form of a company pension, arranged by your employer, or a master trust, where multiple employers pool their assets and resources in one place. In master trusts, each employer has its own division but there is only one board of directors, which allows employers to manage a pension scheme with lower costs and simpler governance.

According to The Pensions Regulator (TPR), the number of people whose pension is saved in a master trust has risen from 270,000 in 2012 to more than 13 million – nearly two in five workers in the UK (37%).

Find out how your pension is invested

Once you know what type of pension you have, you should find out how it’s invested, to ensure your money isn’t languishing in an unsuitable fund.

The default fund that most employees are placed in typically invests around two-thirds of your money in the stock market and uses a ‘glide path’ as you approach retirement, progressively moving your money into safer asset classes. But some people, such as those who have years to go before retirement, may want to increase their stock market exposure.

Nathan Long, senior pension analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, explains: “Default funds are a necessary element of auto-enrolment pensions but, by their nature, they are designed to be a conservative one-size-fits-all solution. For most people, better investment options are available.”

How the pensions stack up

Some company pensions allow their employees to invest in a wide range of funds, while others offer a very limited selection or no choice at all.

It’s a similar story with master trusts, where the five largest schemes account for more than 13 million members and 758,327 employers and manage in excess of £17 billion. The five providers are: Legal and General WorkSave Master Trust and RAS Master Trust, NEST Pensions, NOW: Pensions, Standard Life DC Master Trust (SLDCMT) and Stan Plan, and The People’s Pension. See the table (right) for a breakdown of how the five master trusts compare.

Patrick Connolly, certified financial planner at Chase de Vere, says: “Traditional lifestyle fund approaches can fall short where people retire at different ages, go into phased retirement or want to use the pension freedoms and take their pension benefits in different ways rather than just buying an annuity.

“Younger pension investors can afford a higher degree of investment risk in the hope of better returns.

“The bigger challenge comes as people get older, because the right strategy will depend on how and when they take their pension benefits.

Your pension provider might have limited investment options, other funds could be more expensive and, of course, you might make the wrong choices, which would impact on the size of your pension fund.”

• Beat the pension scammers

NEST

NEST is the veritable goliath of master trusts. Set up by the government to lead the charge on auto-enrolling the workforce, more than 90% of NEST’s 6.7 million members are auto-enrolled. This accounts for well over half of all the UK’s workers who are auto-enrolled in a pension scheme.

The master trust’s investment strategy aims to be easy to follow, with a selection of just five types of strategy to pick from: default growth, higher risk, ethical, lower growth, Sharia compliant and pre-retirement.

NEST says that despite this selection, 99% of its members are in the default fund option, The Nest 2040 Retirement Fund (note: the year in the fund name changes depending on your retirement date). The default growth fund offers an allocation of 80% equities (shares in companies) and 20% bonds.

Paul Todd, NEST’s director of investment development and delivery, explains the master trust’s strategy: “Our starting point is: ‘How do we give our membership a very high-quality investment experience?’ That translates into making sure our members are getting access to all sorts of different risk and return opportunities throughout their savings career.

“The vast majority of our members are in the default strategy, over 99%, and we’re really pleased about that. This is where we think they should be, because this is where we pay the most attention, and where the investment approach can be the most sophisticated.”

NOW: Pensions

NOW: Pensions, meanwhile, operates one investment strategy for its members; the Diversified Growth Fund. According to NOW:, the fund “adopts a multi-asset diversified strategy to deliver good expected returns in most economic scenarios”. In effect, this means the fund reflects a risk allocation equivalent to 60% equities and 40% bonds.

This master trust is the only one of the largest five to offer a single investment fund without alternative options. NOW: reasons that too much choice is confusing: “We believe this choice is more often than not inappropriate, dangerous, and passes an unwelcome responsibility across to scheme members.”

Legal & General

Legal & General’s master trust members are placed into its default L&G Multi Asset PMC Pn 3 fund. The fund has a relatively high allocation of bonds and gilts at over 46%.

L&G’s members have a choice of 16 other funds if the default option does not suit. These include cash, bonds, property, global equities and ethical options.

The People’s Pension

The People’s Pension is second only to NEST in member numbers. Like NEST, it also offers a selection of options. These include ethical and Sharia funds, high-risk 100% global equities, medium/high-risk 85% global equities, medium-risk 60% global equities, medium/low-risk pre-retirement, medium/low-risk annuity and low-risk cash.

Members are placed by default in its Global Investments Up To 85% Equities Fund. Of the master trusts listed here, this is perhaps the most aggressively allocated fund, with 85% dedicated to equities.

Standard Life

Standard Life has one of the oldest master trusts, launched in 1974 and long predating auto-enrolment.

What sets it apart from the other master trusts is the choice that members have; there are 18 different funds, which Standard Life says gives members a wide range of passive and active investment options across all major asset classes.

The master trust’s principal investment option, Standard Life Active Plus III Universal Strategic, has a mixture of assets that, like NOW, more or less equates in risk terms to 60% equities and 40% bonds.

“For most people, better options are available”

• About to retire? It’s time to make the most of your pension freedoms

What if your pension doesn’t offer you the choice you need?

Always research the funds your pension provider offers to see if others suit your needs. Moneywise’s First 50 funds list for beginner investors is a good starting point for ideas.

However, some pensions just don’t offer enough options. Mr Long explains: “Sometimes this can be solved by transferring pensions to a self-invested pension plan (Sipp) – although if the workplace pension you are investing in is through your current employer, you must be careful not to turn off the valuable employer contributions that will be being paid in. Some pension providers will allow you to transfer part of the money you have built up into a Sipp as long as you leave some of your pension to keep receiving contributions.

“Whether you have an old workplace pension or one through your current employer, you should check any penalties to transfer.

Most modern plans do not have these, but it pays to be careful.”

If in doubt, discuss your options with an independent financial adviser (IFA).

Pension master trust provider	Employees enrolled	Number of employers	Assets managed	Default fund cumulative five-year return	Other funds members could switch to
Standard Life DC Master Trust (SLDCMT) and Stan Plan	229,000	16,241	£4.76 billion	34.80%	18
Legal & General WorkSave Master Trust and RAS Master Trust	770,000	86	£5.2 billion	47.90%	16
The People's Pension	4 million	80,000	£4 billion	53%	11(i)
NEST Pensions	6.7 million	630,000	£3 billion	66%	5
NOW: Pensions	1.7 million	32,000	£685 million	38.60%	0
(i) Three ready-made portfolios or eight fund choices. Source: Moneywise, June 2018.

 

Warning for employees who ‘opt down’

The minimum amount employees pay under auto-enrolment is 3%, which rose from 1% in April 2018. This contribution will rise again to 5% from April 2019.

But Kate Smith, head of pensions at provider Aegon, warns employees that if they don’t meet these minimum contribution levels, their employer can refuse to add their own.

She explains: “In April, pension contributions trebled for employees and doubled for employers. Although for employees the contribution only increased to 3% of a band of earnings, this may prove unaffordable for some. Rather than stopping paying pension contributions altogether, some employees may want to continue paying contributions at the 1% level, with a view to increasing at a later date.

“In theory this is possible, but only if the employee approaches the employer and asks to do this. Employers and pension schemes are forbidden to promote this option. However, this comes with a note of caution. If employees pay less than the legal minimum pension contributions, the employer doesn’t have to pay any contributions at all, and the employee misses out. The employee is counted as an ‘opt-out’ and will be auto-enrolled back into the pension scheme in three years’ time at the higher contribution rate.”

You should always research the funds your pension provider offers to see if there are others that suit your needs

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Does It Make Sense to Refinance My Student Loans?

If your student loan debt burden is big enough, you’ve probably considered the prospect of doing a student loan refinance.

After all, people refinance their homes and business loans all the time. Why should student loans be any different?

The truth is, student loan refinancing is different for myriad reasons. Still, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider refinancing your loans anyway. The key to figuring it out is considering everything you’ll gain – along with everything you’ll lose.

This post will explain all of the pros and cons of refinancing your student loans. Once you see the big picture, you’ll be in a better position to decide. Then, you can make an informed decision on your student loans to figure out what will work best for your financial situation.

Let’s dive in!

Is Student Refinancing for Me?

1. What to Watch Out For
2. Benefits You Might Enjoy
3. 5 Signs it Might Make Sense to Refinance Your Student Loans
4. What To Look For When Refinancing Your Student Loans
5. Important Reminders
6. Where To Find The Best Places To Refinance Your Loans

Student Loan Refinancing: What to Watch Out For

Refinancing into a student loan with better terms might sound like a dream come true, but if you have federal loans, you might also have to give something up.

Namely, federal student loans come with certain protections that can help you if you’re in default, reduce your monthly payments indefinitely, or defer repayment until a later date.

Don’t Confuse Student Loan Refinancing With Student Loan Consolidation

A lot of people confuse student loan refinancing with student loan consolidation – but they are very different things. As The College Investor breaks down in this article, student loan consolidation should be used to combine multiple Federal student loans.

The reason to consider doing this is simply to make it easier to repay your student loan debt. When you graduated college, you might have 5-6 different student loans – one from each year of school (or maybe even a couple different loans from each year of school).

It can be hard to manage all those different payments.

Student loan consolidation makes it easy by combining all your Federal loans into one loan. And this is a FREE service offered by the Department of Education – you just go online to StudentLoans.gov, select Consolidate My Loans, and you’re moving down the path to consolidate.

On the flip side, student loan refinancing means getting a new private loan to replace your existing loan (or loans). You can refinance one or all your loans – both Federal and private loans.

So, in a way, you’re consolidating by creating one new private loan, but really this is called student loan refinancing.

Just remember – student loan refinancing means getting a private student loan.

These loans act much more like car loans – you don’t get fancy repayment plans, you don’t get student loan forgiveness, and if you don’t pay, you’ll face big consequences.

Realize That You May Lose Benefits

Students with federal loans may qualify for public service loan forgiveness as well as income-driven repayment plans like Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Income-Based Repayment (IBR).

These plans let you pay a certain percentage of your discretionary income towards your loans for 20-25 years before doling out 100 percent forgiveness of any remaining balances.

Other federal programs that help the student with federal loans include medical and economic deferments that can give you a break from repayment for up to 24 months, military benefits that will repay your federal student loans if you or a spouse serves active duty, and federal help rehabilitating federal loans that were formerly in default.

Once you refinance federal loans with a private lender, you lose access to federally-supported student loan forgiveness, deferment, or forbearance programs. And that includes any student loan programs for federal loans that may be offered in the future.

If you potentially qualify for programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), you should probably avoid refinancing your Federal student loans.

Further, refinancing and consolidating your student loans can extend the time it takes to pay them off. If you’re already years into paying your student loans down, this is certainly something to consider.

Company	Rates	Loan Types	Terms	Eligible Degrees	Eligible Loans
	2.13% - 7.49%	Fixed & Variable	5, 10, 15, 20 Years	Undergraduate & Graduate	Federal & Private
	2.13% - 7.49%	Fixed & Variable	5, 10, 15, 20 Years	Undergraduate & Graduate	Federal & Private
	2.13% - 7.19%	Fixed & Variable	5 to 20 Years	Undergraduate & Graduate	Federal & Private
	2.14% - 9.22%	Fixed & Variable	5, 10, 15, 20 Years	Undergraduate & Graduate	Federal & Private

Student Loan Refinancing: Benefits You Might Enjoy

If you don’t plan to take advantage of any federally-supported student loan programs, student loan refinancing is one option to consider.

Benefits of student loan refinancing can include, but are not limited to:

A lower interest rate – Some, but not all, federal student loans can be refinanced or consolidated into a private loan with a lower interest rate.

While this will generally extend your timeline for full repayment, the savings you accrue by paying a lower interest rate can seriously add up over time.

Depending on what interest rate you have now, you could save upwards of 50% of your interest payments by refinancing. Estimate your savings by visiting SoFi HERE.

One easy payment – If you’ve got several student loan bills to contend with, refinancing can help you achieve one low monthly payment.

Going from several payments down to one won’t save you money by itself, but it will save you time and hassle.

A lower monthly payment – If you secure a lower interest rate – or extend the repayment timeline on your loan, you’ll end up with a monthly payment that is much easier to manage.

Scoring a lower monthly payment can give your budget a little bit of breathing room while also making it easier to throw extra money straight towards the principal of your loan.

Lock in a fixed rate or choose a variable rate – Some private loans come with variable rates that cause payments to fluctuate over time. In many cases, you can refinance these loans into a product with a fixed rate and a predictable monthly payment.

If you refinance into a loan with a variable rate, however, it’s important to understand that your payment will rise as interest rates rise. Always consider the consequences of the type of loan you choose before pulling the trigger.

And if you want to lock in a monthly payment that will never change, go with a loan that offers a fixed rate.

Better rates with a co-signer – If you have private personal loans with a high-interest rate, securing a co-signer with good credit might help you get a loan with better terms.

These better terms could include a lower interest rate or a better repayment horizon – both perks that could help you save money and pay your student loans off faster. Refinancing student loans without a cosigner and no credit is probably not going to happen.

In fact, 90% of all private loans require a cosigner according to statistics from the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.

5 Signs it Might Make Sense to Refinance Your Student Loans

Confused yet? You’re not alone. The many rules, benefits, and drawbacks that arise when considering this option make this decision a difficult one.

Still, student loan refinancing really is the best option for borrowers in certain situations. Here are five scenarios where you might just fall into that category:

• You’ll earn too much to qualify for income-driven repayment plans anyway, and you have no desire to work in public service. Many people who enter high-paying fields earn too much to qualify for income-driven repayment plans, and some have no desire to work in the public sector at all. If the shoe fits, estimating how much you would save by refinancing your federal student loans is a smart idea. If you have a large amount of debt but make great money, student loan refinancing could literally save you thousands of dollars.
• Your loans are fixed at a high-interest rate, and you think you could do better. If your student loans are a fixed at a high-interest rate, it might be worth exploring your refinancing options. Depending on your loan details and financial situation, you may qualify for a loan with a lower interest rate that will help you save money. This especially makes sense for private loans and Graduate PLUS Loans (which are the highest interest rate Federal loans)
• You are making multiple loan payments at various interest rates every month. If you’re sending in multiple payments every month, refinancing into a solid loan with excellent terms is one way to simplify your life and save money in one fell swoop. Find out how much you could save with this calculator.
• You want to pay down your loans as quickly as possible. If you’re like many young people, the idea of enduring income-driven repayment for the next 20-25 years of your life is troubling. In certain situations, refinancing is the best way to kill your loans off for good. Plus, it can save you some money while you’re doing it.
• You want independence from your co-signer. If your old loans involve a third party and you want to break off on your own, refinancing is one way to make it happen. And if your credit score is good enough, you’ll hopefully qualify for a new loan with a low-interest rate and terms you can live with.
• You want to transfer a Parent PLUS Loan to your child. Parent PLUS Loans are some of the worst student loans – because the parent holds the loan and the student gets the money. This also means that the parent is on the hook financially for repayment. However, there are companies that will allow parents to refinance the PLUS loan into their child’s name (and even if it requires a cosigner, there is cosigner release to eventually get free). This can be a good deal to get out of Parent PLUS Loans.

What To Look For When Refinancing Your Student Loans

Now that we’ve talked about what the benefits and what the drawbacks to student loan refinancing are, what should you personally look for when refinancing your student loans? When does it make the most sense for you?

There are a lot of options when it comes to refinancing your loans, but you should always keep this general mindset in mind as you shop for your student loans:

I should be refinancing into a student loan that saves me money over the course of repayment AND I can afford it going forward.

What does that mean?

Well, the whole point of student loan refinancing is to save you money. So, don’t get involved in a refinancing plan that doesn’t save you money.

Second, you need to be comfortable affording your new student loans today and going forward. Consider your job stability and what monthly payment you can afford to determine if a certain student loan makes sense.

When shopping for student loans, you’re going to see:

Variable Rate and Fixed Rate Loans: There will be a combination of variable rate and fixed rate loan opportunities available. In almost every circumstance, the fixed rate loans will have a higher interest rate than the variable rate loans.

The reason is that the fixed rate loans never change over the life of the loan – you get to know your payment and know what to expect.

On the other hand, variable rate loans will vary over time-based on market interest rates.

Most loans have caps on how much they can rise and how fast, but a common variation is no more than 0.25% change per month, with a total cap of 8%. As interest rates rise (or fall), your loan interest rate will also change.

This will change your monthly payments – meaning they could rise or even exceed what the fixed rate loan option would charge you.

However, you are starting at a lower interest rate up front. If you plan to pay off the student loan in a relatively short period of time (say, less than 2 years), a variable rate loan can make a lot of sense because you can save in interest.

If you plan on taking the full length of the loan to pay it off, a fixed rate loan might make more sense for you – especially since interest rates will likely rise in the future.

The choice, and risk, is yours. The bank rewards you for taking the risk by giving you a lower interest rate, but that rate could rise.

Different Lengths Of Time: When shopping for a student loan, you’ll see a variety of different lengths for the term of the loan.

Typically you’ll see as short as 3 years and as long as 25 years. However, some credit unions offer loans as short as 1 year and as long as 30 years.

To get the best interest rates on a loan, you typically have to get a short term on the loan as well. The longer the term, the higher the interest rate will be.

The combination of the term of the loan (length) and the interest rate is what will make your payment amount.

The longer the loan, the more expensive and more interest you’ll pay, so always be looking to shorten the loan term.

Benefits And Perks: Many lenders these days offer a variety of benefits and perks to differentiate themselves. Some of these benefits matter, some don’t.

For example, some of the benefits that could be important include having no prepayment penalty. If you plan on paying back your loan early, you don’t want to be penalized for doing so.

Also, if you are going to need a cosigner for your loans, you’ll probably want to get what’s known as cosigner release. This means that after a certain amount of on-time payments, the cosigner can be dropped from the loan.

The best cosigner release plans are usually 24 months.

Another bonus that you should take advantage of is interest rate reduction opportunities. Many banks offer a reduction in interest rate by signing up for automatic debit payments.

This simple trick can reduce your interest by 0.25% at most lenders. Some banks even offer another 0.25% reduction for having a checking or savings account at the bank.

Those savings can add up significantly over time!

Some perks that don’t really matter for most people include job coaching, connected bank accounts, and free swag. Always keep in mind what’s important to you financially and go back to what we said above:

I should be refinancing into a student loan that saves me money over the course of repayment AND I can afford it going forward.

Important Reminders

Before you pull the trigger, here are the last few reminders to think about.

First, you can refinance one, some, or all your loans. You don’t need to refinance all or none. Maybe you only want to refinance your private student loans and keep your Federal ones – that’s possible.

Maybe you only want to refinance a couple high interest loans and not the rest – that’s fine too. Basically, you can pick and choose what loans you want to do.

Just remember that most lenders have minimum loan amounts – anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000. If your loan isn’t big enough, they won’t refinance it. But, if it’s that small – just pay it off!

Also, if you have large loans, you might have to get two different student loans. This will typically only apply to doctors, but most lenders have caps on how much they will refinance – usually $250,000 or so.

If you have more student loans than that, some lenders may reject you altogether while others will simply require you to get two loans.

Second, you can refinance multiple times. Let’s say that you refinance today at 5%, but interest rates go down to 4% in 6 months. Well, you can refinance again at that time. There’s nothing stopping you from doing it.

Now, some lenders might frown on it, and not let you refinance at the same company. But other lenders might allow you to quickly and easily refinance with them because they don’t want to lose your business.

Just like the first time refinancing your student loans, it pays to shop around!

Where To Find The Best Places To Refinance Your Student Loans

There are a lot of places to refinance your student loans! From online lenders, to banks and credit unions, the options are many.

But that can make it really hard to shop around for different loans. This list of places to refinance is a great starting point, but don’t forget to check you local bank and credit union as well.

Credit unions can be good places to consider, especially if you have a unique situation that requires special underwriting.

Also, many places offer bonuses to refinance with them.

Never choose a cash bonus over a lower interest rate, but if you have two or three firms with the same rate, see if any of them will throw in a cash bonus to win your business.

You would be surprised how competitive some firms will be to get your student loan refinancing business.

The great thing about shopping around for a student loan is that you can do it in minutes.

And the choices you make could save you thousands. So, take a few hours and compare a bunch of different places – the time spent is well worth it.

The Bottom Line

In the perfect world, we would blink and our student loans would disappear.

But in the real world, it’s on us to pay them back – even it takes a decade or longer. Sadly, it usually takes over 20 years for the average consumer to pay off their student loans.

Fortunately, plenty of businesses have stepped in to offer new products that can make paying off your loans easier.

But before you take the plunge, you should perform due diligence to make sure refinancing actually makes sense.

There are a lot of options to consider, but refinancing can save you money if done right. Make sure that student loan refinancing makes sense before you dive in.

The post Does It Make Sense to Refinance My Student Loans? appeared first on Good Financial Cents.

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If You Drive Uber, You Could Be Getting a Hefty Check (Average Is $222.96)

Some Uber drivers may get extra cash soon, but it won’t come from taking on extra fares.

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settled a complaint against Uber for allegedly exaggerating the income drivers could make as independent contractors for the ride-sharing service.

Uber agreed to pay $20 million to settle the complaint, and this week the FTC announced that more than 88,000 drivers will receive refund checks. The FTC said in a release that the average refund amount is $222.96, based in part on driver location and Uber earnings.

Refunds will be mailed by an administrator, Epiq, and checks hit the mail starting July 16. You must cash your check within 60 days.

How Uber Got in Trouble With the FTC

The FTC alleged that Uber routinely advertised gigs with the company by stating how much UberX drivers could earn. But those amounts were often inflated. For example, Uber’s website claimed that the median earnings for drivers in New York was more than $90,000 per year, the complaint states.

On Craigslist, Uber would advertise for drivers with statements like “Make $25/hour” for a post in Philadelphia. In 14 cities, the FTC found that fewer than 30% of drivers averaged the earnings rate that Uber promised; in Philadelphia, for example, fewer than 10% of drivers earned the advertised $25 per hour.

“In many instances, drivers have not made the promised amounts even when factoring in non-hourly earnings, such as payments for time-limited promotions or other incentives,” the complaint said. “These promotions and incentives often have been contingent on working specific late-night hours, accepting a minimum percentage of trip requests, completing a set number of trip requests within a limited time period, driving in a certain geographic area or fulfilling other requirements.”

The complaint also said Uber’s advertised costs of leasing vehicles through the company differed from the real costs of participating in its Vehicle Solutions program.

When The Penny Hoarder’s Alex Mahadevan examined Census Bureau data of driver earnings, he found that even in the top cities to drive for Uber or Lyft, annual earnings tend to cap out below $38,000 per year.

Lisa Rowan (@lisatella) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.

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

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Hot Dogs Have a National Holiday: 6 Places You Can Celebrate on July 18

While the origin of the hot dog is debatable, there’s no denying its place in American cuisine — especially during the summer months, when it makes its way to grills in backyards across the country.

Which is why it’s no wonder that the time to celebrate National Hot Dog Day is this Wednesday, July 18. Here are some places to look for your holiday hot dogs.

6 Doggone Good Freebies and Deals for National Hot Dog Day

Coney dogs, Chicago dogs, chili dogs, cheese dogs, slaw dogs, pretzel dogs, corn dogs, bagel dogs, mac and cheese dogs, pigs in a blanket, beanie weenies…

No matter how you prefer to enjoy your dogs, you can find them for cheap, or even free, when you celebrate National Hot Dog Day at one of these six places.

1. Dog Haus

This chain is known for serving gourmet all-beef dogs and will be giving them away for free on National Hot Dog Day. To access the offer, download the app for Android or iPhone and sign up for Dog Haus rewards, then be on the lookout for your free hot dog offer.

2. Pilot Flying J

If you’re a fan of gas station dogs, you’re bound to find a deal on National Hot Dog Day.

Pilot Flying J celebrates every year with a free hot dog offer available in the myPilot app.

3. Love’s

Love’s is also giving out free dogs — just be sure to keep an eye out for a special bar code that will be posted on its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

4. Hwy 55 Burgers, Shakes & Fries

On National Hot Dog Day, My Hwy 55 rewards members can grab up to two hot dogs for 99 cents each when they dine in between 2 and 5 p.m. If you’re not already a rewards member, be sure to download the app at least one day before National Hog Dog Day to claim the deal. You’ll also receive a coupon for a free milkshake just for downloading the app.

5. Philly Pretzel Factory

All Philly Pretzel Factory locations are offering one free pretzel dog for the first 100 customers and $1 pretzel dogs all day on National Hot Dog Day. And if you’re lucky enough to be one of those first 100 customers, you’ll also receive a card for a $1 pretzel dog every day in August.

6. Wienerschnitzel

Wienerschnitzel is offering five chili dogs for $5 all day on National Hot Dog Day, and there is no limit on how many dogs you can get with the discount.

Bonus: Go Local

If you really love hot dogs, don’t forget about your local dog stands, trucks and shops. Not only will you be supporting your local businesses, but some may be celebrating National Hot Dog Day with free or cheap dogs, like Suzie’s Dogs & Drafts in Ohio, and Rob’s Rockin’ Dogs in Louisiana.

If you’d rather celebrate National Hot Dog Day at home (and on the cheap), check out recipe No. 4 from this list of tasty crescent roll recipes, or get that fire going and check out recipe No. 5 of these easy campfire recipes.

If you’ll be treating your family to a backyard barbecue, check out these grilling tips from Mark Bittman, author of “How to Grill Everything.”

And, before you go, we’ll leave you with a quote from Lawrence J. Peter:

“The noblest of all dogs is the hot dog; it feeds the hand that bites it.”

Jessica Gray is an editorial assistant at The Penny Hoarder. She can’t choose between traditional hot dogs, chili dogs, corn dogs or pretzel dogs, so she’ll just have to eat all of the dogs this National Hot Dog Day.

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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Dave Ramsey: Hiring the right person

Dear Dave,I own a small business with two employees, and I have a bit of a hiring conundrum. I’m looking at two candidates for a position, and on paper they’re evenly matched. I’ve interviewed each of them four times, and I’m still undecided. I was hoping you had an idea for determining which is best for the job.BryanDear Bryan,As an entrepreneur, that’s a great problem to have. I’m glad you understand the wisdom of [...]

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The ‘Butterfly Effect’ of Our Financial Decisions

The “butterfly effect” refers to the metaphorical idea that a butterfly flapping its wings on one side of the world can, through a series of chain reactions, cause a hurricane thousands of miles away.

I recently learned that the metaphor has its roots in chaos theory, which is an area of study that tries to work out how complex systems work. In that context, the butterfly effect refers to the way that “a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.” In other words, seemingly small decisions can end up having huge impacts down the line.

I’ve been thinking about how the Butterfly Effect is applicable to financial decision making. We can all look back and identify little choices that, only in hindsight, could be identified as having tremendous importance.

I’ve identified three inflection points in my life when small choices I made had a dramatic impact on my financial future. Curiously, two of the three decisions are ones that I regretted at the time. But, because I was able to learn from my errors, the ultimate ripple effect was still a positive one.

Discovering the Bogleheads

When I got my first paycheck post-college, I had no idea what to do with it. Ditto for the second and third. One day, bored, I started to search the internet to see if I should be doing anything besides building up my online savings account.

I stumbled across a site with a curious name: Bogleheads.org. They’re a community dedicated to discussing the investing advice of John Bogle, founder of the investing firm Vanguard. Their mission statement emphasizes “starting early, living below one’s means, regular saving, broad diversification, simplicity, and sticking to one’s investment plan regardless of market conditions.”

The whole ethos clicked with me, and I became interested in optimizing my finances. I wasn’t taught anything about money management or investing in school, so being a part of that community was eye-opening.

I learned that the stock market wasn’t just a nebulous thing that rich people used.

I learned that even someone like me, who thought a “yield curve” was a road sign you’d see on the highway, could manage his own investments without professional help.

I learned that fees really matter.

I could go on and on. In the alternate universe where I didn’t start Googling about investment strategies when I was bored that one time, I might still be convinced that the best investment was always a CD, since, hey, my grandma recommended them.

The effects have been long-lasting and demonstrably positive. Now, almost 10 years later, I’m still guided by the Boglehead maxims, which were so novel to me at the time.

• Related: What Is Index Investing and Why Does It Work?

My First Panicked Stock Sell-Off

It was all fun and games investing in the stock market until it got choppy. As the famous Mike Tyson saying goes, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

In 2012, about three years into my investing journey, people started to fear that Greece would default on its debt. The global equity markets reacted poorly to this news, and I began to lose sleep watching my money dwindle. I eventually sold a lot of my stocks at a steep loss, but I felt relieved to at least be recouping some of my capital.

A couple months later, the market righted itself and started an upward march. I sat on the sidelines, fearful. It wasn’t until years later that I got back in.

I once started to calculate how much money I missed out on by sitting out the huge bull run from 2012 to 2015, but then I got depressed and stopped. Let’s just say I learned my lesson: If you’re going to invest in equities, you need to take the long-term view.

Thankfully, in the grand scheme of things, my mistake wasn’t that costly. If I were to sell during the next drop, the consequences would be even worse because I have a lot more to lose.

Learning a harsh lesson in the real world has helped me ride out subsequent stock market volatility with much more equanimity. Whenever I see the financial press start squawking about how the sky is falling, I remember my experience in 2012. I expect the ripple effects of that ill-timed sale will ultimately do me a lot of good.

• Related: Why I Chose This Controversial ‘All-Weather Portfolio’ for My Life Savings

Cashing Out My Roth IRA to Pay Down a Portion of My Student Loans

In 2013, I finally got serious about paying down my student loan debt. I started using a portion of every paycheck to chip away at the mountain, but it didn’t feel like enough.

That’s when the money I had been diligently socking away in my Roth IRA started to feel like it was taunting me. Here was this decently-sized chunk of money that I couldn’t fully access for at least another 30 years. But, like an impatient child in a toy store, I wanted it now!

So I pulled it all out and put it toward my debt. While this felt good at the time, I realized about a year later that my decision was shortsighted. For one thing, I learned that there are tax implications that come with early withdrawals that I hadn’t bothered to look up. I was allowed to withdraw the money I had contributed tax-free at any time, but any interest or investing gains was taxable income until retirement. The whole point of using retirement accounts is so you can optimize your taxes, and I threw that advantage out the window. It’s important to do your research before messing around with retirement account withdrawals.

Also, my Roth IRA was invested in index funds, and the market has risen a lot since 2013. I lost out on more tax-free growth than I care to dwell on. You can’t go back in time to contribute to your Roth IRA: there are annual contribution limits. Once you sell, the opportunity to add funds for that year is gone forever.

To make matters worse, the market has grown at a much higher rate than the interest rate on my loan. I would have been much better off staying put, and I’m still paying the price for that.

One final negative was that I could have set a very bad precedent for all my future behaviors. Rather than thinking things through from all angles, I could have gone down a road of wanting things done quickly, regardless of whether it was the right long-term move.

Thankfully, in a similar fashion to my stock-selling foibles, I was able to make the initial negative into a positive. I still wish I hadn’t emptied out my Roth, but in realizing my mistake, I became highly motivated to learn a lot more about interest rates, tax optimization, and the power of being patient. In turn, I have become more cognizant about what the best financial moves are for my 60-year-old self, not just for me in the present day.

After that experience, I would never consider touching the money I have saved in my retirement accounts unless I had a true emergency. While paying down debt is a huge part of gaining financial independence, you can’t let it cloud all your judgments.

• Related: Should You Prioritize Investing or Paying Off Debt?

Summing Up

I find the idea of the butterfly effect strangely comforting. I think it’s because, barring truly catastrophic choices, we can turn almost any bad decision into one that has long-term positive effects. All it takes is the desire to learn from it.

Rather than fretting about having to make the perfect decision all the time, you can change how you react to the decisions you do make. If you do your best to learn the relevant lesson, even silly things like panic selling can be a positive in the end.

Related Articles:

• Eight Questions to Ask Yourself Before Investing in Anything
• 20 Common Investing Mistakes and Five Simple Steps to Avoid Them
• These Money Decisions You Make in Your 20s and 30s Can Make or Break Your Financial Future

The post The ‘Butterfly Effect’ of Our Financial Decisions appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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The Risks of Everyday Life

My oldest son’s best friend very suddenly came down with a serious illness a couple of weeks ago. He has been in the hospital ever since, dealing with a surgery and then a number of post-surgery complications. I don’t even want to speculate as to what their medical bills will look like, even with good insurance.

At the same exact time, another friend of mine abruptly lost his job. It was a good paying job and one that seemed about as secure as a job could be, but his company abruptly ran out of money and closed their doors. He suspects that the company may have been in trouble for a while, but there was honestly little sign of it. Luckily, my friend is single, so there isn’t a spouse or children or other dependents to worry about, and he did have some savings built up for him to live on while he finds a new job.

Now, combine those two pictures together. In the first picture, if one of the parents had abruptly lost their job (and the other parent didn’t have insurance) before their child became ill, their entire financial situation would have fallen like a house of cards.

That picture has been heavy on my mind as of late, and it’s made me carefully consider some of the financial risks that we face in our lives and that many families face to an even more stark degree.

The truth of the matter is that a lot of us are walking a financial tightrope in our daily lives, whether we see it or not. Many of us are just one unexpected bad event away from catastrophe; a lot of us would buckle at two simultaneous bad events like the one above. A lot of American families don’t have rich relatives or extended family who could rescue them in a pinch – the reality is that many families that would be beset by a series of unfortunate events would find themselves in a pretty intense place.

Poverty. Homelessness. Those things can seem unlikely or even impossible when your day to day life has been going well for a while and things are comfortable, but what happens to your life if you’re outright fired tomorrow? What if you get a life-threatening illness that’s going to take a very long time to recover from? What if your wife does, or your child? What if a part fails in your car and you’re in a deadly auto accident and wind up getting sued, and your insurance does nothing to protect you?

Most of us live our lives as though these things simply aren’t going to happen, and that means that, by default, we’re accepting some level of risk, every single day.

Mostly, we ignore that risk. To live a life in fear of that risk would be paralyzing.

But we never forget it. Those fears show up when we’re lying alone at night reflecting on our life. Those fears show up when there’s a close call. Those risks are always in the background, always contributing just a little bit to our stress level, especially when we have people depending on us in our lives – a spouse, children, dependent relatives, and so on.

As a parent and as a husband, I recognize that those risks exist. I want to do everything I can to minimize those risks, for a number of reasons.

I want to minimize the chance of a major disruption in my children’s lives and in my own life. I want them to grow up safely and securely, enjoying their childhood and learning lessons as they mature, not having fear and worry abjectly thrown on them when they’re already struggling with the complications of growing up.

I want to keep that background stress in my life as low as possible. I want my little worries to be safely filed away as “extremely, extremely unlikely” rather than “well, that could happen, it just happened to my friend, gotta hope that doesn’t happen.”

Most of all, I want the downside of things that I’m not even thinking about to be as small as possible. There are difficult situations and unfortunate events that I’m not even considering when I reflect on my own life. Things can happen that I’m not even considering, and I don’t want to be waylaid by them if at all possible.

Those principles occupy a major place among my financial and personal goals. They drive a lot of the actionable goals I set for myself and steer many of my decisions.

Isn’t that a life lived out of fear, though? Not really. In fact, I see the opposite. To me, a life lived out of fear is one where you cover up your worries with more spending, when you go on fabulous trips and buy expensive things while not having a dime in your savings account. To me, a life lived in fear is one where you do nothing to address the things that worry you. A life without fear is one where you do your best to stomp your fears into oblivion and make that background stress and those nighttime worries dissipate. A life without fear isn’t one where you avoid airplanes; it’s one where you go ahead and face that fear head on and handle it and eliminate it.

Here are some of my best strategies for eliminating and minimizing those risks of everyday life.

Build a “perpetual” emergency fund.

The number one thing that anyone can do to minimize the risks of everyday life is to simply take a small portion of their income and set it aside for the future so that when bad things happen, you have a pool of cash with which to handle it. This is generally called an “emergency fund.” Most people do it by moving a bit of cash from their checking account to their savings account on a somewhat regular basis, though some like to keep a small amount of cash stowed away in their home.

My preferred approach for an emergency fund is what I call a “perpetual” emergency fund. You simply set up a weekly automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account – say, $20 or $50 or whatever you can afford – and just let it sit forever. There will be times when your emergency fund gets nice and fat, and then there will be other times when you deplete it all the way down to nothing. Regardless of the situation, you just keep letting that money trickle in, weekly drip by weekly drop. You never have to lift a finger again to fill or refill your emergency fund.

To me, there is no “maximum” or “minimum” size that an emergency fund should be, provided you are automatically filling it. There will always be an emergency or an unexpected event, thus it always makes sense to keep refilling that emergency fund, even if it gets quite big.

Keep your spending significantly below your income.

This is just an all-around good rule of personal finance. In fact, I usually think of it as the rule of personal finance: spend less than you earn and do something smart with the remainder.

Ensuring that you spend significantly less than you earn has a bunch of benefits.

First, it ensures that you always have money with which to save for the future. If you’re spending less than you earn, that means that there’s money left over to prepare for the future. Retirement investing? Saving for your next vehicle? Saving for a house down payment? All of those are viable options depending on your life situation.

Second, it ensures that a reduction in pay due to a job loss won’t rattle your life nearly as much. If you’re making $60K a year and living as if you were making $40K, then a new job that earns only $40K isn’t going to impact your life too much. On the other hand, if you were spending every dime of that $60K income and had a pile of debts, that drop to $40K is disastrous.

Third, it gives you career flexibility, in that switching to a job with lower pay but other benefits is on the radar and a complete career change isn’t financially disastrous. Again, simply knowing how to live somewhat below one’s means makes career and job switching much less painful than before and makes the range of careers and jobs you can switch to much larger. You don’t have to continue to toil under the thumb of a cruel boss because of limited options if you live well below your means.

Finally, living below your means for an extended period virtually guarantees that you have cash reserves somewhere, so you’re much more prepared if a major crisis hits. If a major life crisis occurs and you’ve been living below your means for a while, you’re going to be much better prepared to handle it, both in terms of having cash on hand and in terms of having less financial need than you otherwise would.

Don’t inflate your spending. Keep it low. Budget carefully and consider your spending very carefully. It’s one of the best things you’ll ever do for yourself.

Avoid all debts, even extremely low interest ones.

I’m a big proponent of complete debt freedom on the personal level. It’s fine to have some debt within a business structure – that’s what many people do when they invest in real estate is that they form a business and invest within that business – but in terms of my personal life, I want as little debt as humanly possible.

Why? Carrying debt is a risk. It means that you have a monthly payment that you have to deal with which gobbles up some portion of your income and thus restricts your cash flow. Simply put, you have to be earning more than you otherwise would just to keep making the payments.

Then, what happens if you can’t make those payments? At first, your credit is seriously damaged, which has an impact on all sorts of things in your life. After that, you may face repossession, eviction, and/or legal action.

The easiest route for an individual walking that tightrope of life is to simply avoid debt whenever possible. Sure, you might need to take out a student loan to go to college, or you might need a car loan to get to work, or you might need a mortgage to buy a home, but you should avoid carrying credit card debt at all costs and you should be rapidly paying off any and all debts that occur.

As I noted earlier, some of these tactics don’t apply as strongly if you have a strong safety net in life. For example, if you have wealthy parents that can support you if things fall apart, then there are situations where taking on debt in order to earn a much bigger return might make sense, but for most Americans who walk a financial tightrope, it is a much riskier move.

Maintain and improve your physical and mental health.

Health care costs are tremendous, especially as you age. Even with great insurance, the costs will hit and they’ll hit hard.

The thing is, you can keep those expenses somewhat at bay simply by keeping your body and mind in good health. Simply eating a plant-based diet, eating until you’re not hungry rather than eating until you’re full, and exercising a little each day in a way that you enjoy will make a tremendous difference in terms of your long term health outcomes.

You control those choices. Every time you eat something, you have a choice as to what you’re eating and how much you’re eating. Every time you have some spare time, you can choose to do something that’s physically active or mentally active.

Making the choice to eat healthier and be physically and mentally active is a choice that reduces your long term health care costs. You’ll feel better, too. It’s as simple as that.

Maintain insurance for things you cannot cover.

This doesn’t mean ensure every single exceedingly rare outcome, but it does mean that you should have adequate insurance to cover things that would be disastrous and have at least some significant likelihood of happening.

For example, if you have dependents, you should have a term life insurance policy that covers you through a time when you no longer have dependents. If you have kids, you should be insured until they’re going to be well out of the house. If you have a financially dependent spouse, you should be insured until that spouse is no longer financially dependent on your income. The earlier you get this policy, the less expensive it will be.

Your homeowners or renters insurance policy should cover against disasters that happen in your area: flood, tornado, earthquake, hurricane, fire, and so on. Make sure that things that are known to happen where you live are things that your possessions are covered against.

If you can’t afford to replace your car out of pocket, then you should be carrying appropriate comprehensive insurance on your car.

While those insurance packages will eat into your monthly budget, they’ll also help protect you from a number of major risks of modern life.

Take a few simple steps against identity theft.

Here’s the simple truth: most identity theft occurs because of low-hanging fruit. A person uses a simple password on their account that’s easily guessed by a hacker (and if it’s a word in a common language, it’s easily guessable). A person clicks on a link in an email and then promptly fills in personal information. A person uses their debit card and the number gets skimmed.

There are a few things you can do to minimize your risk of identity theft.

First, never, ever give out personal information to solicitors. If you decide to do business with someone, you contact them and look up their contact information on your own.

Second, don’t use the same password on your most important accounts, and don’t use simple passwords. There are a lot of ways to make a more complex password – one way is to simply alternate the digits of your birthdate with the name of the website you’re visiting, like 0a3m1a1z8o2n for example.

Third, make it a regular routine to check your credit report for anything that might be incorrect. The FTC allows American citizens to check their credit report for free once a year at annualcreditreport.com, so take advantage of that.

Fourth, don’t carry any more identification or financial cards than necessary. Never carry all of your identification or all of your debit/credit cards with you. Losing your wallet or getting robbed becomes disastrous in those situations.

Finally, don’t use your credit card as an emergency fund. If your card is stolen or the communication network breaks down or your bank cancels your card, you can find yourself without cash when you need it most. Don’t rely on it. Instead, have a cash emergency fund, as described above.

Final Thoughts

There are two key purposes in reducing the risk of everyday life.

One, it minimizes the background stress in your life caused by things you can’t control. There are always going to be things you can’t control. What matters is that you’re prepared to handle them, and that’s what all of these steps are about. You’re minimizing the odds of some unexpected events and preparing yourself to handle others.

Two, it gives you some breathing room to take on risks of your choosing. When you already have a lot of background risk in your life, taking on another risk seems daunting, even if that risk holds great opportunity. On the other hand, if you have that personal background risk under control, taking a risk in your personal or professional life suddenly seems to have a lot less downside, making it worth considering. Leaps of love, leaps of faith, leaps of professional advancement – they all become more reasonable if you have the other risks in your life under control.

The strategies in this article enable you to take advantage of both of those benefits. When you lower your risk, you feel less stress and you feel safer taking on additional risks of your choosing. That’s the route to a pretty good life, indeed.

The post The Risks of Everyday Life appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Sleep on the Job With This Paid Internship for Mattress Firm in Houston

Call it a dream internship.

Mattress Firm has announced that it’s hiring an intern to sleep on the job at its, ahem, BEDQuarters in Houston, Texas.

The retailer will pay its “snoozetern” to test the sleep-ability of mattresses and give feedback on stuff like the ideal head and foot positions.

In your (bed) role, you will write reviews of the mattresses. You will also create content about sleep tips and the mystery of mattresses — kinda perfect if you dream about sleep even when you’re awake.

But don’t get too comfy just yet: You’ll also capture photos and create videos for the company’s various social media platforms. So yes, the world will see your bedhead.

The internship requires working 20 hours per week in Houston, and you’re on your own with lodging and transportation. But good news: You have a place to sleep.

You don’t even need to be in college to snag this internship — which is probably for the best, as the ideal candidate sleeps through classes. The only requirements are that you’re at least 18 years old, that you can edit your own videos and that you’re capable of napping anywhere, any time.

If this internship sounds the like the one for you, simply nod (off) and submit your 60-second video application on the Mattress Firm site by the July 23 deadline.

Five finalists will be notified via email by July 27 and will travel to the company headquarters for in-person interviews. (If they ask who’s your favorite band? R.E.M.)

The top three candidates’ videos will be posted on Mattress Firm’s Instagram feed. The top vote-getter will be notified by Aug. 10 that they have won the golden pillow.

The internship lasts from Aug. 15 through Nov. 15. Then, alas, it’s time to wake up to reality.

Tiffany Wendeln Connors is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Cruel irony: She wrote this in the middle of the night amid yet another bout of insomnia.

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 Finance e-Newsletters Practically Deliver Money to Your Inbox

Giving your email address out is like giving away your credit card information: If you enter it willy-nilly, you’ll surely regret it.

Maybe it’s not that serious. But 8,000 unread messages can be as stressful as a stolen card.

That’s why you want to make sure the emails you get are really worth your time. Your e-newsletters should be to the point, full of good information and — most of all — fun to read.

That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the best business and personal finance newsletters to cut the inbox clutter and keep you in the know.

These Are the Best Business and Financial Newsletters

You don’t need all of these, but subscribing to one or two can seriously improve your relationship with money, your job performance and how smart you look on first dates.

Morning Brew

If you want to be privy to what’s going on in business but don’t have the time — or attention span — for every breaking update, you’ll love Morning Brew.

The daily newsletter gives a witty and digestible stock market recap, major business news and interesting lifestyle fodder. But any newsletter can do that. What sets Morning Brew apart is that it reads like an email from a close friend.

The quippy headlines and fun tone will keep you scrolling all the way to the bottom — which you should do, because that’s where the hilarious “Breakroom” section is.  

Rockstar Finance Daily Digest

There are too many personal finance blogs to follow all of them, but they offer a ton of thought-provoking and relatable value. That’s where Rockstar Finance comes in.

Every weekday, you’ll get three hand-picked articles in your inbox that run the gamut of personal finance topics.

Rockstar Finance also has a directory of over 1,700 blogs that cover everything from debt payoff journeys to real estate investing, frugality, financial independence journeys and more. You can sort them by target audience to find your new favorite blogger.

DailyWorth

Amanda Steinberg, creator and CEO of DailyWorth, enters your inbox every day with relatable, non-jargony explainers about everything business, life and personal finance.

With popular articles like “Are You & Your Sweetheart Financially Compatible?” and “How to Write a Professional Work Email,” this newsletter aims to help women get ahead in all areas of their financial lives.

I also love her MoneyType assessment. It reveals your money personality — with scary accuracy — and identifies areas where you can improve your money mindset.

Clark Howard

Clark Howard is a consumer advocate and money expert with a wealth of knowledge. You can find him at Clark.com; his deals website, ClarkDeals.com — we check it to find great restaurant deals — or on his podcast, “The Clark Howard Show.”

His daily newsletter includes information on scams, product reviews and savings tips. There’s so much good stuff in there, you’ll enjoy seeing it in your inbox.

The Penny Hoarder Daily

OK, maybe we’re a little biased, but we love The Penny Hoarder newsletters. That’s right, I said newsletters — plural.

When you sign up for The Penny Hoarder Daily, you’ll get an email Monday through Friday with the best and latest deals, work-from-home jobs and even a word of the day — something you can impress the boss with at this year’s Catalina Wine Mixer. You’ll also get To Sum It Up, a collection of our most popular content from the week, every Saturday.

But wait… there’s more!

In the footer of every email, you can click on “Update Your Mailing Preferences” to subscribe to our weekly niche newsletters, including Food, Jobs and occasional Breaking Deal Alerts. You can also unsubscribe from any of them if five Penny Hoarder newsletters is too much for you — but they’re pretty funny, so we don’t see a reason not to get them all.

Jen Smith is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She gives money saving and debt payoff tips on Instagram at @savingwithspunk. She hates a cluttered inbox but always makes room for The Penny Hoarder’s weekly food newsletter.

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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Want to Work from Home? These 16 Sites Will Help You Find Legit Jobs

Want to work from home?

You’d be able to tend to your kids (or pets), avoid having to plan outfits every morning, and save on commute time and gas money.

You could also reside where the cost of living is lower or have the ability to travel more.

The estimated 63 million Americans who already work from home save an average of $3,300 per year. Want to join them?

Work-From-Home Websites to Help You Find a Remote Job

To help you start working from home, we collected this list of job search sites that feature remote work opportunities.

1. The Penny Hoarder Work-From-Home Job Portal

If you’re looking for a trusted work-from-home job search site, this is your best bet. Why? Because The Penny Hoarder’s editorial staff hand-picks and screens all the opportunities listed, and, well, we’ve got strict guidelines in place.

Pop into the job board — no account creation required — and search by keyword or job title and location. (Some work-from-home jobs have location requirements, so you can weed those out if needed.)

Each listing includes details about the hiring company, the job requirements, the qualifications, the benefits and the pay — as long as the information is available.

Job listings are added to the portal daily, so you’ll always find new opportunities.

2. ZipRecruiter

This is perhaps the easiest site to navigate on this list, hence why we’ve listed it first.

Click over to ZipRecruiter to find your geo-tailored work-from-home job. (Even some work-from-home job opportunities have location restrictions.)

As soon as you start your search, you’ll see the average salary for work-from-home jobs in your area. This will help you know what to expect. Peruse the listings to find information about the company, the pay and the employment type. You’ll find details about requirements as well as information about how to apply.

ZipRecruiter will even let you know if you qualify for the position based on your credentials.

If you’re not yet ready to take the plunge and submit your resume, you can always save the job for later and move on to the next.

(Psst… There’s also an app for that. Download the ZipRecruiter app for job updates.)

3. NexRep

This work-from-home contractor works with big-name clients like Grubhub and Priceline to fill customer service positions.

No, you won’t find a ton of listings like some other job sites, but it does allow job seekers to narrow in on the customer service industry with the flexibility of working as an independent contractor.

Nearly all of the positions offer flexible, part-time work schedules, and pay typically starts at $10 an hour.

There are no fees to see the jobs. Just sign up with your email address and fill out an online application to see if you qualify as an agent.

Then from NexRep’s homepage, you can see “agent opportunities” anytime — jobs ready to fill!

4. AngelList

If you’re looking to work in the startup world, this site can be a great place to start your remote journey. It features nearly 25,000 startups with open positions.

Sign up, and create a profile by uploading your resume or manually filling in your job experience. Then start browsing open positions.

Job categories include developer, designer, marketing and sales. The site has featured jobs from companies including Everlane, SeatGeek and Stripe.

If you click the star next to a job and the company stars your profile, you’ll connect via email, where you can send a more tailored and personalized cover letter and resume.

5. FlexJobs

Tired of those too-good-to-be-true postings that really are too good to be true?

FlexJobs screens each posting — more than 30,000 of them — to be sure each company is reputable.

Choose to search for jobs by location. There, select the “Can be Done From Anywhere” option, and scan the endless listings.

Fluent in another language? Check out the number of telephone interpreter postings. Interested in words? Browse all the SEO and news writing jobs.

But here’s the catch: To get the full details of a job listing, apply or access other perks (like the skills test), you must sign up for a $14.95-per-month membership.

This is the only site on our list that’ll cost you, but the quality of its listings might be worth the price tag. Take a look to see whether you find enough openings relevant to your experience before signing up, and once you find the right gig, be sure to cancel your membership!

6. Glassdoor

Glassdoor is all about transparency, a welcome quality when you’re researching potential employers. Find company ratings, salaries and even information about the hiring process, including actual job interview questions.

Start typing “remo…” in the location search box, and “Remote (Work From Home), US” will pop up. If you don’t designate an interest area, the site will display more than 4,000 jobs.

Some job titles include customer success managers, marketing coordinators and data engineers.

7. Indeed

Boasting the position of “world's #1 job site” (according to itself at least), Indeed will likely offer you the most comprehensive search. Not only do employers post jobs directly to Indeed, the interface aggregates job postings from thousands of other sites.

Although you’ll need patience to sort through the listings (and need to sniff out the ones that aren’t so legit), the search options are endless and the jobs are varied: personal assistants, social media managers, voiceover artists and food bloggers.

Simply search “remote” in the location bar. But watch out for the sponsored listings at the top and bottom of the page — they might not fit your search criteria.

8. Jobspresso

Because Jobspresso only lists remote jobs, you don’t have to trudge through contingencies and fine print in a job listing — you’ll know it’s actually a work-from-home job.

Simply select “Browse Jobs,” and either choose all remote jobs or search by a career category. Keep an eye on location — some positions require you to work in a certain time zone or state.

Chug your espresso, and start exploring all the options: writer (celebrity beats included), brand manager and web developer positions abound.

9. PowerToFly

This site aims its services at stay-at-home mothers and women who want to find a flexible job that offers a decent work-life balance.

Fill out a profile, and start perusing. You’re encouraged to think of it as LinkedIn; select “happily employed” if you are just that, but it never hurts to keep the door open for something better.

You’ll find a specific “Remote Jobs” category you can select to search.

10. Remote OK

Remote OK aggregates remote job listings for “digital nomads” from other sites such as Stack Overflow and Indeed. You’ll find mostly technology-based gigs, but there’s an option to search “non-tech.”

Under each category, the jobs are listed by posting date. You can also sign up for daily, weekly or monthly emails or automated updates.

11. Remotive

Yes, that’s “remote” + “productive.”

This site focuses exclusively on remote job listings, so simply select your desired category of profession (education, engineering or human resources, among others). Clicking on “Apply for Job” will take you directly to the company’s site.

After your initial search, stay on top of new job listings by signing up for a weekly or monthly email update.

12. Skip The Drive

Although many of these listings link back to Indeed, this site’s filter options can help you refine your search and find jobs that best fit your skills and interests.

You’ll see full-time, part-time or contract work in a variety of categories including account management, consulting, finance and recruiter. Once you choose your niche, filter jobs by posting date to avoid reading expired listings.

As a fun bonus, the site helps you calculate how much money and time you’ll save each year by working from home.

13. Stack Overflow

Although this site is mostly known as a message board for developers, it also hosts a number of location-independent gigs.

Head on over to “Developer Jobs” at the top left of your screen. You can also search by contract gig or permanent options.

14. Virtual Vocations

The site will ask you to log in or register (and will interrupt your search until you do so), but the search filters are worth the time it takes to sign up.

Use the left-hand toolbar to filter job postings by category, geographic restriction, type, weekly hours, career level, education level, travel requirements and date posted.

As you click your selections, postings will update automatically. You’ll see jobs in a number of categories including editing, fundraising, legal, nursing, real estate and even travel.

Its Twitter feed also regularly updates with new job postings.

15. We Work Remotely

This site might not share as many jobs as others, but it hosts some of the more quirky opportunities.

Take, for example, a company called Eating Europe, seeking a content marketing manager. Or there’s the iPhone Photography School; it was needing a customer service agent.

Searching is simple. On the homepage, scroll through to find the appropriate job category, and click to see all listings. Or follow the site on Twitter.

16. Working Nomads

Comb through remote job listings based on your interest area: development, design, customer success, management, writing or system administrator.

The curated job postings are mostly focused around tech-related work, so you’ll see lots of positions with titles such as JavaScript architect, Python software developer and front-end engineer.

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She loves working from home once a week. It means quality time with her houseplants.

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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