Expiring EE SIM cards a data rip-off

Moneywise helps a reader who feels rippped off.

Last year, I bought a data SIM card from EE. It holds 24GB of data and cost between £80 and £100. I planned to use it when I had used up my current SIM card.

But there was a problem with my current SIM, so I took the unopened still-sealed packet into my local EE shop and said I was worried I might have a problem with that too. It turned out the number had been recycled and the data voided. They then told me I had to use the data within three months of buying it.

That has never been the case before. The 24GB card lasts a year from the date of activation. But the sales assistant said that you have to start using it – activate it – within three months of buying it, then you have to use all the data within one year of activation or lose it.

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That didn’t make sense. They are unregistered SIM cards that are not associated with an account when you buy them. You have to register them and activate them to make them work.

The man in the shop said that because I bought the card a year ago, it had expired as I did not activate it within three months. How was I supposed to know this? On the front of the card it said it was valid until 2025!

I feel ripped off by EE. Can you help?

AS, Chester

It does seem a rip-off, so I contacted EE for an explanation. It told me that it is actually an Ofcom requirement to close SIM accounts that aren’t used. Apparently, it’s because it needs to recycle numbers to cope with the huge demand for new numbers.

The company told me: “As is standard across the mobile industry, after a certain period of inactivity, Pay As You Go accounts are automatically closed. This is a requirement as set by Ofcom.

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“To keep a Pay As You Go account active, the account holder simply needs to make one chargeable call or send one chargeable text during a 180-day period.”

EE says it sends reminders to customers to explain that due to inactivity their account is likely to be suspended and, even after this, customers have a further 90 days to reactivate their number by contacting the firm’s customer services team.

That sounds fair, if you know that is the case. But even though she had been buying SIM cards for years this way, AS said she had never been informed.

She told me: “It may well be there in the small print in the T&Cs, but it wasn’t clear to me. The only clear thing is that EE has taken £100 of my money for nothing.”

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EE refused to refund the money, but offered AS £20 as a gesture of goodwill. She turned that down and has taken her complaint to the Communications Ombudsman – and believes she has a good case.

I’m surprised that EE didn’t respond positively, but it’s a warning to other readers: check carefully the terms and conditions of anything you buy if you don’t want to be ripped off.

OUTCOME: Reader rejects £20 compensation and turns to the ombudsman

 

Section

• Scams & rip-offs
• Fight for your rights

Free Tag

• Fight for your rights
• rip-offs
• mobile phones

Related stories

• Scam watch: Number of young people acting as money mules rises by 26% in one year
• Tesco Bank fined £16.4 million for failing to protect customers in cyber attack
• Bank transfer fraud victims could be reimbursed under new rules

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Big Brother or Best Friend? Your Views on Data Could Snag a $5K Scholarship

No one saw it coming.

The computers shed their cords and climb into our hands, providing us with every bit of knowledge, entertainment and comfort we could ever imagine.

While we were distracted with crushing candies, filming the Harlem Shake and finding out which Harry Potter character we were, data was gathered on us.

The amount of harvested data increases by the day, and what it all means for the future — good or bad — remains unknown.

Do you have an opinion about its future impact or potential? Share your feelings about data for the chance to win a $5,000 scholarship toward college.

How to Enter the Data-Inspired Scholarship

Every semester, Liaison Technologies hands out a $5,000 scholarship to a high school senior, undergraduate or graduate student who submits a 30- to 60-second video about the role of data in the future.

The video must discuss an important aspect of data in society today or the future and include one interesting fact about you, the college you plan to attend and your major.

Upload the video and make it public on YouTube or Vimeo.

Submit the video url in an email along with your resume, your college and major to scholarship@liaison.com.

Applicants must be citizens and legal permanent residents of the U.S. or Canada, and selected colleges must be in the U.S. or Canada. However, exceptions can be made for international programs as long as they’re disclosed in the email submission.

The deadline to apply is Oct. 31, 2018 for the spring semester. The recipient will be announced Nov. 30.

Check out the past winners and scholarship details on the Liaison Scholarship Page.

Like The Penny Hoarder Life on Facebook to discover other scholarship opportunities.

And if you’re looking for even more scholarships to apply for, be sure to check out our list of 100 scholarships that will help you pay for college.

Stephanie Bolling is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s rather mine for gems. Read her full bio here or say hi On Twitter @StephBolling.

The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.

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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21 Grocery Stores That Help You Save Money on Gas

When I started driving in 2012, gas cost almost $4 per gallon. At the time, public transportation was practically nonexistent in Florida, which left us no choice — my family and I had to buy gas.

But by changing our grocery shopping habits, we haven’t paid full price for gas in years — and sometimes, we even get it for free. (OK, we still have to pay taxes on it, but where we live, that’s only about 2 cents per gallon).

We started with the now-discontinued Winn-Dixie fuelperks! program, which gave us a 5-cent-per-gallon discount on gas for every $50 we spent on groceries.

This was the only fuel rewards program I knew of at the time, but I thought there must be other grocery stores that offered similar discounts — and I was right.

No matter where you live, here’s how to save money on gas by buying groceries.

Grocery Stores With Fuel Rewards Programs

To find out, I took to the internet and asked our Facebook community group. Here’s what I found out, organized by region.

Nationwide

These national chains offer fuel rewards programs. Is there one near you?

1. Safeway

Safeway grocery stores offer fuel discounts through Sunoco — for every $100 you spend on groceries, you get 10 cents off per gallon.

You can stack rewards up to 20 cents off per gallon, though you can only redeem them on 25 gallons of fuel at a time. Simply register with the Sunoco app to keep track of your rewards and enter your phone number at the gas pump.

2. Kroger

In Kroger’s fuel rewards program, you earn 1 point for every dollar you spend in the store.

Once you’ve earned 100 fuel points (after spending $100 on groceries), you’ll get 10 cents off per gallon on up to 35 gallons.

You can redeem your Kroger fuel points by scanning your Plus Card at Kroger gas stations or Shell stations — though at Shell, you can only redeem 10 cents off per gallon.

You’re better off using the discount at Kroger gas stations, so you can stack your discounts. The maximum amount of points redeemable at Kroger Fuel Centers is 1,000 — or $1 off per gallon.

While you’ll usually earn double points (two points per $1 spent) on gift cards, a few users of our Facebook Community group mentioned that Kroger offers four times the points on gift card purchases during the holidays.

Another bonus: You earn 50 fuel points for every non-federally funded prescription you fill at Kroger (federally funded prescriptions help you earn 1 point for every $1 you spend).

3. Stop & Shop

Stop & Shop gives you 10 cents off per gallon for every $100 you spend.

You can stack deals for up to $1.50 off per gallon. Scan your Stop & Shop card at Shell or Stop & Shop gas stations to redeem your savings. These points have a shorter expiration date than most — 30 days — so plan your trips carefully!

4. Albertsons

At Albertsons, you receive one point for every dollar you spend on groceries, one point for every dollar spent at the pharmacy and two points for every dollar you spend on gift cards. Once you reach 100 points, you’ve earned 10 cents off per gallon.

You can redeem up to $1 off per gallon at Safeway, Randalls, Vons, Tom Thumb, Texaco and Chevron stations, as well as Albertson’s gas stations.

You can also keep track of your points and get access to additional store savings using the Albertson’s app for Android or iPhone.

Southeast

These stores with gas rewards programs are located anywhere from Florida through the Carolinas.

5. Winn-Dixie  

Winn-Dixie’s fuel rewards program has seen a few makeovers in the last few years. After parting ways with Plenti last year, the grocery chain has joined a new fuel perks program: SE Grocers rewards.

With SE Grocers rewards, you’ll earn 1 point for every $2 spent on qualifying purchases. For every 100 points earned, you’ll receive $1 off for groceries or 5 cents off per gallon at participating gas stations.  

Sign up for Winn-Dixie rewards here.

6. Bi-Lo

Scattered throughout Georgia and the Carolinas, Bi-Lo also offers fuel savings with SE Grocers rewards, which gives you 1 point for every $2 spent on qualifying purchases and either $1 off for groceries or 5 cents off per gallon at participating gas stations for every 100 points earned.  

Register for Bi-Lo Rewards here.

7. Harris Teeter

Located throughout Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and the Carolinas, Harris Teeter shoppers can earn one fuel point for every dollar spent in-store, two fuel points per dollar spent on eligible gift cards and 50 fuel points per non-federally funded prescription.

 

Every 100 fuel points earned equals 10 cents off per gallon on up to 35 gallons — with a maximum of 1,000 points redeemed per transaction — at Harris Teeter Fuel Centers and participating BP and Amoco stations.

8. Food City

In Tennessee and Georgia, Food City offers 15 cents off per gallon for every $150 you spend. Gift card purchases of $50 will net you double the points.

You can only use 15 cents off per gallon each day, but on Wednesdays, you can cash in 30 cents off.

Rewards are redeemable via Food City’s ValuCard at Gas n’ Go fuel stations.

9. Harveys Supermarkets

Florida, Georgia and South Carolina are home to Harveys Supermarkets.

Harveys also partners with SE Grocers rewards, so you’ll earn 1 point for every $2 spent on qualifying purchases and receive $1 off for groceries or 5 cents off per gallon at participating gas stations for every 100 points earned.  

Register for Harveys Supermarket Rewards here.

Northeast

Northeasterners, do you take advantage of any of these fuel rewards programs?

10. Giant Eagle

Located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and Maryland, Giant Eagle’s fuelperks! program offers 10 cents off per gallon for every $50 spent at Giant Eagle, GetGo, Market District or Giant Eagle Express.

You can use these rewards at GetGo stations on up to 20 gallons of gas with your Giant Eagle Advantage card.

11. Price Chopper

Scattered throughout New England, New York and Pennsylvania, Price Chopper stores award you 10 cents off each gallon of gas for every $100 you spend in stores.

You can stack gas discounts and redeem them on up to 20 gallons of fuel at any participating Sunoco station with your Price Chopper AdvantEdge card.

12. Shaw’s

Spread throughout New England, Shaw’s offers 10 cents off per gallon for every $100 you spend, plus double the points on gift card purchases.

Redeem your points for up to $1 off per gallon at Sunoco stations by registering for MyMixx and entering your phone number at the pump.

13. TOPS

Located in New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont, TOPS offers 1 point for every dollar you spend with its GasPoints program. Get 10 cents off per gallon by earning 100 points.

Redeeming coupons? You’ll get 10 points for each one you use, and bonus items throughout the store offer extra points.

Fuel discounts are good on up to 20 gallons at any TOPS gas station by scanning your TOPS BonusPlus card.

14. Market 32

Owned and operated by Price Chopper, Market 32 services New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. It provides 10 cents off per gallon for every $100 you spend on groceries.

Use your discount at participating Sunoco stations by scanning your Fuel AdvantEdge card.  

Midwest

From Ohio through the Dakotas, buying groceries helps you save money on gas.

15. Shop N’ Save

Located in Missouri and Illinois, Shop N’ Save offers 10 cents off per gallon for every $50 you spend — which is twice the amount many other stores offer.

Use your Shop N’ Save fuel discount at Sunoco stations by scanning your Pump Perks card.

16. Pay Less Super Markets

Owned by Kroger, Pay Less Super Markets in Indiana offer one fuel point for every $1 spent.

100 points will get you 10 cents off per gallon, and you can stack ‘em for up to $1 off at Shell stations. Scan your Shopper’s card at the pump to receive your discount.

Codi, one of our Facebook community group members, said you can fill out the survey from your receipt once a week for 50 bonus fuel points — not bad for an extra 5 cents off per gallon.

17. Hy-Vee

Hy-Vee offers fuel perks on select grocery items that vary weekly.

Unlike other stores, there isn’t a set reward per dollar amount spent — either check the weekly ad or browse your local Hy-Vee to see which items offer fuel rewards.

Redeem points at Hy-Vee Gas, Casey’s, Shell or PDQ stations by swiping your Hy-Vee Fuel Saver + Perks card.

18. Cub Foods

Located in Minnesota and Illinois, Cub Foods offers fuel discounts at participating Holiday gas stations through its My Cub Rewards card.

You’ll earn 10 cents off per gallon for every $100 spent. You can earn up to $1.50 off per gallon — which would require spending $1,500 — on 20 gallons of gas.

West

The final frontier… of fuel rewards.

19. QFC

For every $100 you spend at QFC, you’ll receive 10 cents off per gallon.

Use your rewards at QFC fuel centers or participating Shell stations by swiping your Advantage card.

How much can you redeem? Stack your 10-cent discounts for up to $1 off per gallon.  

20. Fred Meyer

Fred Meyer is located in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska.

It offers 1 point for every dollar spent, and 100 points earns you 10 cents off per gallon.

Purchase gift cards for double points and fill prescriptions for 50 bonus points. Redeem your points, which are good on up to 35 gallons of fuel, at Shell or Fred Meyer gas stations with your Rewards card.

21. Fry’s Food

Located in Arizona, Fry’s Food offers 10 cents off for every $100 you spend.

Use your Fry’s Food fuel rewards at Circle K and Shell stations.

Fuel Rewards Tips

Now you know where you can score some gas rewards — but how do you make the most of them?

Here are some tips to help you maximize your savings with grocery store fuel rewards programs.

Buy Gift Cards for Double Points

This is an easy way to rack up your fuel rewards, as stores such as Albertsons and Fred Meyer offer double points on gift card purchases.

You don’t need to actually give them as gifts — purchase gift cards for restaurants or stores you already shop at. Better yet, buy gas gift cards and use them when you fuel up at a discounted price!

Keep an eye out during the holiday season, since some stores offer special gift card promotions with anywhere from two to four times the amount of fuel rewards.

Beware of Expiration Dates

As awesome as fuel rewards are, they all expire eventually. Stop & Shop fuel rewards expire after only 30 days, but most other retailers’ points last 60 or 90 days.

Make sure to check the terms of your fuel rewards program and use your points before they expire.

Get All Your Discounted Fuel

One downside of gas rewards is that you can only use the points once, even if your tank is smaller than the maximum number of gallons you can redeem.

Try to fill up when your tank is as close to empty as possible — that way, you’ll get more gas and maximize your savings.

If your car doesn’t have a large tank (and if it’s allowed by your gas rewards program), bring an empty gas can to fill with the remaining gallons, so you don’t waste your fuel rewards.

Shop on the Weekend

Now you’ll have an actual excuse to wait until the weekend to hit the grocery store.

Some stores, such as Kroger, offer double fuel rewards on weekends. It will probably be busy, but the savings might be worthwhile.

Other Ways to Save on Fuel

Some gas stations are now offering their own rewards programs, and most come with a free app to help you keep track of your rewards, take advantage of in-store sales and discounts, and even pay right from your phone.

Check out our list of the best gas station rewards so you can save on fuel every time you fill up.

Jacquelyn Pica is an SEO specialist at The Penny Hoarder. She never pays full price for gas thanks to her fuelperks!-savvy dad.

Jessica Gray is an editorial assistant at The Penny Hoarder. She updated this post for 2018.

The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.

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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Some Advice for When You’re Losing Motivation for Your Financial Plans

For the past ten days or so, two of my closest friends have been visiting Iceland together. They’ve shared some stunning pictures of hot springs, auroras, the city life of Reykjavik, and other things.

I’ve been enjoying the pictures and I’m glad they got the chance to make the trip, but there’s a sizable portion of me that wants to be there, too. I would love to just take off to Iceland for a week and a half with my family in tow, just to explore and enjoy.

“Why don’t you do that? You can afford it!” whispers the little voice in my head.

I explain to that voice the multitude of reasons I have for my current financial plans and it goes quiet, but eventually it’ll pipe up again.

Eventually, part of me starts to wonder whether my financial plans really are worth it.

Is our route to financial independence really the route I should be on with my life? Or am I missing out on a lot of things in an effort to retire relatively young and with security?

It’s in moments like these when the motivation to stay on my current financial path starts to flag a little. I feel a strong tug toward the things I could be doing, and I also begin to wonder whether what I am doing is the right path for my life.

It’s in these moments that I look back to the times over the last several years when I’ve lost motivation and doubted my path. Here are six key strategies that have helped me get through those moments in time.

Am I Really Unhappy? Evaluate My Life

I tend to lose motivation for financial progress due to moments in time where I convince myself that my life could be better if I were doing things differently. “If only I were…” goes the refrain. For example, here the refrain was “if only I were traveling more, my life would be better.” At other times, the refrain has been “if only I were more involved with a particular hobby (meaning buying more stuff for that hobby), my life would be better,” or “if only I felt more free to buy whatever I wanted in the moment, my life would be better.”

If I can articulate my feeling in that way, then I just step back and evaluate that feeling seriously. Would my life genuinely be better than it is now if I were traveling a lot? Or, in the other cases, would my life genuinely be better if I were buying a lot more hobby stuff? Would my life genuinely be better if I let myself buy whatever I wanted in the moment all the time?

The thing is, when I sit down and consider what I actually value most about my life, the answer almost always ends up being “no.” My life wouldn’t be better if I was traveling a lot, even if it were just long trips during the summer with my whole family, because aside from maybe one trip a year, I really don’t enjoy travel very much. I absolutely hated it during the three or four years in my life when I did travel all the time. My life wouldn’t be better if I spent more buying hobby stuff – it would just be more stuff that would end up taking up space in our home. My life wouldn’t be better if I just bought whatever I wanted on the whim of the moment – again, the vast majority of it would be purely short term and it would end up filling up our house with a bunch of unwanted stuff.

The thing is, when I initially consider these kinds of changes, I’m always looking straight at the upside of those changes. I’m looking at how much fun my friends are having in Iceland and I want that fun in my life, too. I’m looking at some item on the shelf that I want right now in my life. I’m envisioning that a hobby item will somehow equate to more time in my life spent on that hobby.

What I’m not looking at is the downside of those changes. If I travel more, my life becomes more logistically challenging than it already is, and I truly love pure downtime at this point in my life. If I buy more stuff, then I have more stuff to store and to deal with and to take care of, and I have even less time for all of the stuff I already have that I yearn to have more time with.

Plus, in all cases, I have less money for the future, something that’s hit on even stronger with the other strategies.

In all of this, a key realization starts peeking through: my life is really pretty good as it is right now. I have my health. I have a sound mind. I have a family that genuinely loves me, and some close friends that care deeply for me, too. I have a home to live in. I have steady work that I value. I have hobbies that I enjoy and access to the supplies I need to engage in those hobbies. It’s really a pretty good life. There’s nothing I can really add that would make it significantly better than it is right now, at least not anything without a heavy counterbalancing cost.

What Happens If You Give Up? Consider the Near Future and Whether It Bring Happiness

Let’s say that I do commit to the change I have in mind. I start spending money on the thing I want to spend money on freely. What does it change about my life in the short term?

I consider going on a big elaborate trip with my family. It seems fun in my mind, but in the aftermath of that trip, how has it really changed my life for the better? When I’m sitting back in my home office after that trip, is my life really better in any lasting or meaningful way? Perhaps it is because I spent some quality time with my family, but couldn’t I spend that same quality time doing something locally and achieve the same family bonding? Perhaps I had some new experiences, but I barely touch on the variety of human experience available to me right now anyway. I don’t need to travel halfway around the world to meet people very different than myself, see things I’ve never seen before, eat foods I’ve never tried before. They’re all available near me if I bother stepping outside the ordinary routines of my life.

I consider buying a bunch of new stuff. I’m probably going to enjoy that stuff, but most of it is just going to wind up taking up space in my closet. At some point, I’m going to be just digging through it, wondering why on earth I bought it, and trying to figure out if it has resale value or whether I can just toss it. It’s only a very small fraction of the stuff that I buy that will wind up being a daily part of my life, as has been true with virtually everything I have ever purchased.

In both cases, I recognize that the change that I want to introduce into my life is really only going to bring a short burst of happiness and then fade into nothingness. At what cost is that burst, though? What am I giving up in order to have that burst of happiness?

Are You Happy in Five Years? Consider the Future Path

I’ve established that my life, as it is, is pretty good. I’ve also established that the changes I’m considering are really just short term bursts of happiness. What about the long term, though? How do those changes affect my life further down the road?

The truth is that money spent on unimportant things today have a lasting negative impact that I’ll regret in five years. If I spend a bunch of money right now, I’m going to miss that money in five years because the lack of money will be preventing me from doing something meaningful, or push that meaningful thing further down the road.

Right now, my big dream is financial independence, which basically means no longer having money as a reason to do a day’s work. I want to be in a state where I don’t need to exchange my time and energy for money; when I do trade my time and energy, it’s purely for other results – the joy of creating something, or the sense of achievement or accomplishment, or a desire to make the world a better place.

When I spend money right now, I push that big dream further down the road in a measurable and quantifiable way. I can sit down and actually add up all of the non-essential purchases I’ve made in the last year and actually see how that sum total has pushed off my big dream. Let’s say I spent $10K on completely forgettable things – eating out, silly hobby stuff, silly incidental things, spontaneous little purchases. If I do that every year, then I’m literally pushing off my financial independence goal by more than a decade (compared to spending $0). Trust me – I’ve run the math on this.

Spending money on ill-considered things is going to keep me working at a job for another decade of my life.

Five years down the road, if I start on a path of spending a lot of money on travel, or on hobbies, or on impulsive things, I’ll have to face the fact that because of those purchases, I’m now going to be working for years longer than I would have if I hadn’t done it.

At the same time, I’ll look at all of the stuff I spent money on and I will have forgotten almost all of it. Even the stuff I haven’t forgotten will be mostly jammed away in a cupboard or a closet. I might have some really good memories, but they’re likely just replacements for other good memories I could have had doing other things, because the source of most of my good memories is simple things or time spent with people I care about.

There is almost never any sort of spending initiative that I have that makes me feel as though life will be better five years from now if I jump on board with that spending today. I can think of very little outside of covering the bare necessities of life that will seem like a really worthwhile purchase five years from now.

What else can I consider when I’m losing motivation?

What’s Driving You Down? The Five Whys Applied

Almost always, the loss of motivation to keep on a financial path is coming from some source of unhappiness about the state of one’s life right now. There’s some element of your life that you’re unhappy with and you feel as though walking away from your financial progress and freeing up your spending will fix whatever the source of that unhappiness is.

Thus, one great strategy is to simply dig into that unhappiness. Why exactly are you feeling unhappy with the state of things in your life?

For me, I came to realize that my desire for travel came from two things. First, I have often lately felt overburdened in my day to day life. There are too many things going on at once that I have to manage (though many of these things are very much short term things that will disappear in the next month or two). A big trip to another country feels like an escape from that burden.

Second, I feel like I don’t have as much time for my friends as I used to have. This is part of the cost of being an involved parent. I recognize that if Sarah and I were childless, we possibly could have gone on that trip with our friends, but it would have been enjoyable in large part due to the friendship.

Both of those things are concerns in my life that are largely non-financial. They are concerns that won’t really be fixed by simply throwing money at the problem. Spending money on those things by buying an expensive trip or something like that won’t really fix the underlying concern. Rather, that concern is fixed by considering how I commit time and energy in my life.

I find that such revelations become clear if I spend time in focused self-reflection. As I’ve mentioned before, I write in a journal quite often, usually using the “morning pages” technique where I just open up a journal in the morning with a pen in hand and write about whatever’s front of mind. You might find other ways that work for you, but self-reflection is a valuable technique.

I often use a technique I call “the five whys” to drill down into things. I ask myself why I feel a particular way about something, and then I ask myself the same thing about my answer to that question, and then I do it again, and again, and again. Eventually, I drill down into something deep and powerful and meaningful that’s spread throughout a lot of areas of my life, and addressing that core issue in a meaningful way has far more positive impact than just throwing money at the surface issue.

Quite often, you’ll find that the reason for your loss of financial motivation has little to do with actual finances and has a lot to do with some other area of your life, and it represents a problem or challenge that’s not really fixed by simply redirecting your money use.

What’s the Bigger Picture? Look Outside of Yourself

When I start to feel demotivated when it comes to my own financial plans, I find that I need to step back and look at the bigger picture. The truth is that my financial plans aren’t just my own financial plans. At the very least, my wife Sarah is intimately involved in my financial goals, and to a slightly lesser extent, so are my children. My parents are involved to a small extent, and beyond that, so are some of my closest friends. They are all impacted if I start making major changes to how I spend my money, and often not in a good way.

If I start spending recklessly, Sarah’s retirement is also delayed. She also is going to have to spend more years working, not just me.

Depending on the financial choices that I make in terms of how I redirect money into spending, it can take away from the money we’re saving for our children’s college education. Furthermore, postponing our retirement does have an impact on our children’s early adult lives. Sarah and I have both experienced how hard it can be without supportive family nearby when you’re raising young children and part of our retirement plan is to actually move relatively near our own children and be “support” for them and for our grandchildren while doing other things in that area.

There are a lot of secondary and tertiary effects that result from abandoning our financial plans, and when I start looking at all of those effects, I really don’t like what I see.

What’s the Routine? Alter It

In the end, all of this thinking almost always leads me to the conclusion that the right fix for financial malaise is to start altering my time use, not my money use. These feelings almost always result from me not using my time and energy in alignment with the things I most want to be achieving in life and getting out of life, and throwing money around is like putting a small bandage on a gaping wound.

As I think about my current crossroads – the desire to travel more – and I recognize that it’s really about a sense that I’m not spending enough time with friends and that I feel overburdened right now, I realize that the fix for those things is in a change of how I use my time. I need to recommit from a thing or two in my life and then fill in some of that found time with more time spent with my closest friends. That’s not a financially oriented change. I’ve come to the conclusion that a financially oriented change would actually make my feelings worse, not better.

Each time I’ve been at these crossroads, the best solution has been to alter my daily and weekly and monthly routines. Usually, I’ve committed too much time and energy to one part of my life and I’m starting to feel the deficit in other areas of my life. When I simply wanted to spend more freely, I had committed too much time and energy to my professional life and had drawn it from several other areas at once. When I wanted to spend more on hobbies, I had committed too much time and energy to community commitments and not enough time and energy to hobbies and personal interests. Right now, I’ve committed too much time and energy to several areas of my life and not enough time and energy to my social connections.

In the past, fixing that imbalance quickly eliminated my sense of lost motivation for my financial plans because I fixed the problem through other means. I think that, in the coming months, that will be true once again.

Final Thoughts

If you’re feeling demotivated with your finances, spend some time really thinking about why you’re feeling that way. What is it that you want to spend that money on besides your financial future? What do you want that change to bring into your life? Will it really bring that change that you seek? What will be the negative consequences of that change, not just for you, but the other people in your life? Is the real root cause of all of this a misplaced use of time and energy?

For me, following that path of questioning in a serious and thoughtful manner almost always brings me to the conclusion that my financial demotivation and poor spending choices are attempts to solve a problem that’s much more effectively solved by simply redirecting my time and energy and focus, and when I make a concerted effort to redirect that time and energy and focus in a more meaningful way, my financial motivation almost always rebounds, because I never actually lose sight of the big picture of why I’m on this financial path. I just get distracted by the pain of my misdirected time and energy use.

If you feel demotivated, do the same. Ask yourself what it is you’re hoping to buy, and whether or not money is really the right way to buy it. You might find a pretty refreshing answer if you give those questions the time and seriousness they deserve.

Good luck!

The post Some Advice for When You’re Losing Motivation for Your Financial Plans appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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A New Book’s Three-Step, No-Frills Plan for Achieving Your Goals

While I pride myself on my rationality, I can also be a hopeless romantic. I like to believe that everyone can find true love, a job they like, and a way to express their innate creativity.

I think that’s why every now and again I like to read self-help books. Reading an upbeat and motivational self-help book is like being transported back to elementary school for a few hours, when you and your classmates were all going to be astronauts and the future was unimaginably bright. In a world that can beat you over the head with its cynicism, I believe there is value in re-engaging with that childlike optimism.

That’s why I decided to check out a review copy of the upcoming book “Volcanic Momentum” by Jordan Ring. I could tell right away it was a relentlessly positive exploration of how to get unstuck in life by developing a repeatable system for setting and achieving goals. If you’ve been feeling unmotivated and are looking for a fun read full of actionable ways to snap out of your funk, “Volcanic Momentum” is worth a look.

The book doesn’t purport to have a special secret for the reader. Rather, it presents a thesis for how to go from nothing to something by using a three-part strategy: set focused goals, learn strategies for how to tackle them, and then work as hard as humanly possible to achieve them.

It’s a simple but powerful message, and it’s told in a way that inspires. The author’s personal story of overcoming hardship forms the backbone of the book and infuses legitimacy into the advice he gives. He details how he went from a tentative person living in a small town to a confident person pursuing his dreams in a big city, and it all started with setting goals.

Step 1: Setting Goals

The book kicks off by asking you to pick an area in which you want to improve. Then, you set three goals based on that choice.

For example, maybe your small goal is to save $1,000 for an emergency fund. Then the bigger goal might be to make $2,000 in passive income per month from investments, and the legacy goal could be to write a successful book about your financial journey so that you can help millions of people.

The destiny goal is supposed to be about dreaming not just big, but huge. While this isn’t stated outright, I think the idea is that even if you don’t quite attain your dream goal, you’ll still have accomplished quite a bit.

Step 2: Make Strategies to Maintain Momentum

Anyone can set goals, but what steps can we can take to turn our dreams into reality? How do we close the gap between our goals and our actions? The book lists a bunch of tips for bridging this gap, but there were three in particular that stood out to me.

First, we have to make sure we have the energy to actually work on our goal. This is especially crucial for those who are starting a side hustle or have a family or already-busy work schedule. You can’t make progress if you’re always tired. In order to combat this, “Volcanic Momentum” addresses two issues that many books of this nature completely gloss over: nutrition and sleep.

Ring offers some simple advice, such as “pack an apple in your bag instead of a candy bar” and “make your bedroom a haven for sleep by getting rid of excess light.” While that’s not exactly scientific-breakthrough stuff, it could be life changing for someone who’s never considered that they could achieve success without becoming a sleep-deprived workaholic. Our culture has a tendency to fawn over successful entrepreneurs who work 100-hour weeks and sleep at the office without addressing the consequences of that behavior. As someone who’s passionate about the importance of sleep and nutrition, I really appreciated the inclusion of this section in the book.

Another foundational point the book makes is that you have to be vigilant about aligning your goals with your core values. If your goals are money related, it can be easy to slip into habits that might increase your earnings in the short term but come at the cost of your health, your relationships, or your principles.

It’s helpful to “nail down your core values and what you love doing and then compare these with what you spend your time doing,” Ring writes. Some people, myself included, have a tendency to drift off task if we don’t build a system that requires us to periodically review how we’ve been spending our time. The key is to measure, review, and use the data to improve.

The final tip I want to highlight is that it can be helpful to refer back to your ultimate goal when you get tempted by other pursuits. If you make it a habit to consider the big picture before making any major changes, you can streamline your path to completing your goal. As Ring puts it, “The next time you’re tempted by a shiny new idea, ask yourself: How much does it relate to your current goals and tasks?”

It sounds so simple, but it’s hard in practice. I know from experience. I have a bad habit of getting really excited about new projects and then dropping them. I think I’d do this less often if I forced myself to think about the big picture even if at the time it feels like an extraneous exercise.

• Related: Making Financial Goals Inevitable

Step 3: Work, Work, and More Work

Once you have the goals and the strategy, put on your metaphorical hard hat and go to work.

Really, that’s it.

In the author’s eyes, the key to achieving your goals is to minimize distractions and start grinding away. As the book puts it, the way forward comes through “cold hard determination, grit, and lots of mistakes.”

The book outlines strategies that can help you along, such as learning to say no, finding a mentor, and joining a community of like-minded thinkers to inspire you. But what Ring comes back to again and again is the importance of putting excuses aside and getting down to business.

He implores us not to succumb to paralysis by analysis, where we think we can’t start anything new until we have every step perfectly mapped out. We must simply try our best and learn from our mistakes. Ring cites a quote from Richard Branson that sums up his thinking: “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and falling over.”

Summing Up

The main thing I liked about “Volcanic Momentum” is that it doesn’t try to unearth a revolutionary tip. The book, despite its title, is sort of the “anti-life hack” book. There’s no imploring you to wake up at 5 a.m., or to drink yerba mate if you really want to be productive. It just encourages and reinforces good habits in an engaging and easy to digest way, and I wholeheartedly agree with the overall message: If you want to achieve your goals, there’s nothing you can do with a higher return on investment than learning about and focusing on basic, tried-and-true methods.

More by Drew Housman:

• Get More Done: Eight Ways to Avoid the ‘Halfway Zone’
• I Tried to Make Money Online, and All I Got Was This Nagging Feeling I Was Being Scammed
• Give Me the Goods: Why I Value Things Over Experiences

The post A New Book’s Three-Step, No-Frills Plan for Achieving Your Goals appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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How to Get Your Study Abroad Paid For: These Experts Share Insider Tips

Studying abroad is a game changer. A life changer, even.

From the personal benefits of multiculturalism to the career benefits of having international experience on a resume, it’s hard to deny that studying abroad is a great thing to do in college, but most students don’t take advantage of the opportunity.

According to the latest data from the Association of International Educators (NAFSA), less than 4% of U.S. undergraduates study abroad.

With all of those benefits, why aren’t more students doing it?

“The No. 1 reason —  without a doubt — is finances,” said Chris Haynes, assistant director of student services at the University of South Florida’s Education Abroad Office.

At USF, about 60 percent of undergraduates receive financial aid. And every semester, Haynes advises hundreds of those students. Time and time again, he hears a familiar refrain: “I’d love to study abroad, but I can’t afford it.”

But studying abroad is becoming much more affordable, specifically for first-generation, low-income or minority college students, according to USF’s Office of National Scholarships (ONS).

National Scholarship Adviser Lauren Roberts said those types of students are prime candidates for study-abroad scholarships.

The push to send underrepresented students abroad isn’t unique to USF. Many other campuses are pushing for low-income students to go overseas as well, Roberts said.

Sharleen So, a senior accounting student at USF, receives a Pell grant, a need-based subsidy from the federal government, to help cover her tuition. Her demonstrated financial need helped her score an additional $7,500 to study abroad in Florence, Italy, over the summer.

“I was very proactive instead of waiting for something to come my way,” So said.

She estimates that she applied for about 20 scholarships. In the end, she won three scholarships and received two grants. They paid for her entire trip, including meals.

“I used to tell myself that I couldn’t study abroad,” So said. “But we shouldn’t put limits to what we can do.”

“There’s funding everywhere,” Haynes said. “You just have to dig sometimes.”

And we did a lot of the digging for you. Below are scholarships as well as some insider tips to study abroad for cheap ― or free.

Tips to Keep Your Study-Abroad Costs Down

Generally, it’s best to study abroad early in your college career. Start making a game plan now to allow yourself  the proper time to consider your options and budget for your study-abroad experience. If your university has an office dedicated to studying abroad, start there. If your campus doesn't have one, ask your career or academic advisers. Give yourself about a year to look through the programs and funding options with your advisers.

That way ”you’ll know the schedule and know when you’ll need to be working on [the applications] throughout the school year,” Roberts said.

A lot of scholarship deadlines can be far in advance, but if you’re itching to study abroad now, not to worry. There are still some creative ways to fund your trip, Roberts said.

Choose the Right Program

Deciding to study abroad is the first step of many. There are myriad programs to choose from. If you can think of it, it probably exists. (Wine tasting in Italy? Yep. Solar engineering in the Philippines? You got it.) Narrow down your choices by considering what is best for your future career. What languages might you need? What program lines up with your degree or dream job?

Pro tip: Underrepresented locations are ripe for additional funding opportunities. Learning Korean with a host family in Seoul is going to look a lot more desirable to someone evaluating a scholarship application than taking business classes in London. Also, Asia is a lot more affordable than Western Europe in general.

Consider the Length of Your Stay

It may come as a surprise, but staying longer overseas may be a better option for several reasons.

For faraway locations, the plane ticket might be the bulk of the cost. So if you’re flying to Australia, you may want a longer program. While they may have a bigger price tag, Haynes said, longer programs give you “more bang for your buck.”

(Also. consider the jet lag. You’re going to want to actually remember your trip.)

In terms of scholarships, Roberts said that many require a minimum of three weeks, with a strong preference for semester and yearlong studies.

So that spring break “cultural” cruise to the Bahamas might sound great on paper, but it could end up costing you more in the long run.

Talk With Your Financial Aid Office

If you are one of the majority of students attending college, you probably receive some sort of financial aid already. And there’s good news if you want to study abroad.

“Most state institutions allow financial aid to transfer over to your study-abroad experience,” Haynes said. “Everyone’s financial-aid package is different. That’s a huge factor in budgeting.”

Not only can existing financial aid cover part of your trip, some institutions like USF offer additional funds to help students study abroad. Sharleen So got two grants from her financial aid office, which helped pay for her trip to Italy. The best part? No scholarship essays. They’re grants, which are basically free money.

The type of academic credit you receive for your study-abroad experience will factor into the equation as well, so it’s always good to run it by the financial aid office once you have found a program.

Get Creative With Funding

Besides the more common funding methods, like working during the summer to save up money, applying for a bunch of scholarships or selling a kidney, there are a lot of other ways to get your study-abroad program paid for.

“It can be as boring as starting a GoFundMe account or as random as getting sponsorships from large companies like Monster Energy,” Haynes said. “You never know what students are going to do to pay for their trip.”

Rotary Clubs are another great resource that Haynes recommends.

“They are advocates of international travel and globalization,” Haynes said. “One of our students got a $1,500 check from his local Rotary Club.”

While that’s not going to pay for the whole trip, it could cover round-trip airfare or provide a hefty food fund. Every little bit helps.

National Scholarships Can Fund Your Study Abroad Trip

For the more traditional folk, national scholarships are a great way to get most (if not all) of your study-abroad expenses covered. Some scholarships may have niche requirements. But, hey, the more niche the better. It increases your odds of getting the payout.

Before applying for these big-ticket scholarships, check in with the appropriate adviser. Whether it’s the financial aid office, the career center or an office of national scholarships, there should be people who are in charge of finding you money to study abroad. They can also help you during the application process.

Nonetheless, Sharleen So advises students to work hard to make their own study-abroad goals happen.

“The only thing stopping yourself,” she said, “is yourself.”

Boren Scholarship

First up is Boren, not because it necessarily merits going first but because it starts with the letter B. This scholarship has some of those aforementioned “niche requirements,” but if you fit the bill, the payout is massive.

The Boren Scholarship awards students (both undergraduate and graduate) with up to $20,000 to study a critical language. OK, on second thought, maybe it does merit going first.

The funds can be applied to many study-abroad programs as long as they offer study in a language from a region deemed critical to U.S. national security interests. Languages like Japanese, Russian, Chinese and Korean are popular examples. View the Boren website for a comprehensive list of critical languages.

With the goal of becoming fluent in mind, programs “for two or more semesters are strongly encouraged. Preference will be given to undergraduate applicants proposing at least 6 months overseas,” the Boren Scholarship website says.

Note: Some may consider this a catch. Others may say it’s a blessing. In either case, after you graduate, you must dedicate one year to working in national security.

“They very broadly define national security,” Roberts said. “And it is noncompetitive hiring, so they actually help you get a job in the federal government.”

Payout: Up to $20,000.

Application Dates: Deadline February 7, 2019.

Materials Needed: Two essays and a letter of recommendation.

Scholarship Website: BorenAwards.org.

Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program

As with the Boren, this scholarship is focused on “critical language” learning. However, the CLS language list is much smaller.

This “scholarship” is actually a fully funded study-abroad program run by the U.S. Department of State, so the funds can’t be applied to other programs. Applicants must be dedicated to learning one of these 15 languages and must demonstrate how learning the language will affect their career goals.

“There are several languages where you don’t have to have past experience,” Roberts said. “But you need to show why it’s important to use in your future.”

Also similar to the Boren, the CLS program will offer noncompetitive hiring assistance with a position in the federal government after graduation, meaning applicants who complete CLS won’t have to compete with the general public for a federal government job. But for this program, the federal government position is not mandatory.

Payout: Fully funded study abroad program.

Application Dates: Late November deadline.

Additional Materials: At least two essays, letters of recommendation and unofficial transcripts.

Scholarship Website: CLScholarship.org.

Freeman Awards for Study in Asia (Freeman-ASIA)

As its name implies, this need-based scholarship will fund study-abroad experiences in Asia, specifically East or Southeast Asia.

The Freeman Institute provides undergraduate students with a 2.8 GPA or higher up to $7,000 to study abroad. Applicants must plan to study abroad for a minimum of eight weeks.

The payout scales with length of the chosen study-abroad program:

• Summer programs: Up to $3,000.
• Semester programs: Up to $5,000.
• Academic year programs: Up to $7,000.

Roberts said the “need-based” requirement for the scholarship does not have to be based on financial aid forms like the FAFSA, and funds from this program can go toward any costs associated with the trip, not just tuition.

Payout: Up to $7,000.

Application Period: Opens January 2019.

Additional Materials: Two essays and official transcripts.

Scholarship Website: IIE.org/Freeman-Asia.

Fulbright U.S. Student Program

After World War II, Sen. J. William Fulbright, a Democrat from Arkansas, proposed a bill to fund international education by selling leftover military supplies. President Harry S. Truman signed it into law the following year. Today, it’s the largest exchange program in the U.S, according to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

The program is a fully funded experience that sends students to more than 140 countries. It has many components but can be broken down into three main categories: researching, teaching English and studying for a master’s degree.

Applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree by the time the Fulbright program starts, Roberts said. So it’s best to apply during your junior or senior year. Recent graduates and alumni are welcome to apply as well.

There’s an opportunity for current students, too. Roberts calls it “the baby Fulbright.” This portion of the program is geared toward first- and second-year students who want to study in the U.K. during the summer. It’s also a fully funded, all-inclusive program for students with a 3.7 GPA or higher.

“[The baby Fulbright] is a very cool and interesting way to start off your college career,” Roberts said.

Similar to the CLS, the Fulbright program can’t be applied to other study-abroad trips.

Payout: Fully funded, plus living stipends.

Application Dates:  Opens April 2019

Additional Materials: One essay, three letters of recommendation and official transcripts.

Scholarship Website: us.FulbrightOnline.org.

Gilman International Scholarship

Last but not least is the Gilman scholarship. This scholarship is specifically in place to help low-income students go abroad. It’s for students who already receive the Pell Grant and have demonstrated financial need.

It also happens to be the most awarded study-abroad scholarship through USF’s Office of National Scholarships.

“Last summer we had about 100 people apply [at USF], and about 30 people received it,” Roberts said. “So the chances of receiving it are just a lot higher than other scholarships.”

Even better? The requirements are pretty lax. GPA doesn’t matter, and the study-abroad program has to be only three weeks long. Up to $3,000 of additional funds are awarded to programs with a critical-language component.

Because of the financial-need requirement, you will have to apply through the appropriate adviser on campus.

Payout: Up to $8,000 (with language component).

Application Dates: March 6, 2018 (long-term programs).

Additional Materials: Up to three essays, unofficial transcripts, a financial aid form and a letter of recommendation.

Scholarship Website: GilmanScholarship.org.

Adam Hardy is a reporter and editorial assistant at The Penny Hoarder. He studied abroad as a low-income, first generation college student. Then he advised others to do the same at the Education Abroad office at the University of South Florida. After a year, he quit his job to move to South Korea where he taught grade-schoolers and North Korean refugees. Read his full bio , or say hi on Twitter @hardyjournalism.

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