Before I became a small business owner, I was a lawyer. This leap from one very different career path was reminiscent of Elle Woods in the movie Legally Blonde going from fashion to law school. Only I started out as a practicing attorney, and later became the CEO of a small business. While, admittedly, there […]
The post Should Your Small Business Hire a Lawyer? appeared first on The Work at Home Woman.
Now married life really begins. Like it or not, your finances are a major factor in your marriage. According to Dave Ramsey, 86% of couples who got married in the last five years started out in debt.
It’s OK. Take a deep breath. We’ve put together a one-month challenge for married couples to get your finances in shape for your happily ever after.
Do you accept the challenge? If so, say, “I do” (again).
Your credit score is important, now more than ever. The better your score, the better deal you’ll get on a mortgage, rental deposit, car loan or credit card. If either you or your spouse has a less-than-ideal credit score, it’s time to start working on it.
To keep a closer eye on your credit, get your credit score and a “credit report card” for free from Credit Sesame. It breaks down exactly what’s on your credit report in layman’s terms, how it affects your score and how to address it.
Signing up for Credit Sesame will only take you a couple of minutes each, and it’ll even help you tackle any issues you see.
Sometimes “for better or for worse” includes taking on your spouse’s credit card or other high-interest debt. Don’t let it get you down. Instead, take those balances down in a smart way.
A good resource is consumer financial technology platform Even Financial, which can help match you with the right personal loan to meet your needs.
Even searches the top online lenders to match you with a personalized loan offer in less than 60 seconds. Its platform can help you borrow up to $100,000 (no collateral needed) with fixed rates starting at 4.99% and terms from 24 to 84 months.
Your honeymoon was full of buffets, decadent desserts and pina coladas. Totally worth it. Now it’s time to make up for those fun times.
There’s a cool company, HealthyWage, that will literally pay you for losing weight.
Here’s how it works:
Depending on how much you have to lose, how long you give yourself to do it and how much money you put on the table, you could win up to $10,000!
Wondering if it can really work? We talked to one woman, Teresa Suarez, who lost 68 pounds — and made over $2,400.
The couple that gets fit together stays together, right?
A budget is not fun, but you’ll be surprised at how freeing it can really be, especially for a married couple. You’ll know your limits and take the mystery out of your monthly spending.
The Empower app is a powerful budgeting tool that can help you figure out how you’re spending your money and develop a budgeting plan to keep you on track.
Link the app to your bank accounts, and it will track your spending. It will also categorize your spending so you can see exactly where you are overdoing it.
That’s right: It will show you just how many times you went out for dinner because it was your turn to do the dishes.
When you’re married, you have someone else who counts on you. If you have a family, the last thing you want is to leave them without any financial support once you’re gone.
Getting a life insurance policy is a smart move — and it’s not as hard as it used to be.
Ethos, for example, can get you term life insurance in less than 10 minutes — with no medical exam — for coverage up to $1 million. Ethos offers a digital application, and customer service is available if you have questions.
It partners with a major life insurance carrier to quickly offer policies as low as $6 a month.
You don’t really want to think about “‘til death do us part,” but it’s a conversation you need to have. You’ve got this!
What? You thought we’d make you work every day? Good marriages need room for quality time to have fun together, too, right? Just don’t spend a lot of money doing it.
From museums to community movie nights, there’s most likely a rich menu of 100% free things to do wherever you are!
Check your local newspaper or city website, and see what you can get into — without paying a dime.
How do you compare to your peers? Are you the neighborhood’s power couple, or are you barely keeping up with the Joneses? It’s time to find out.
Status Money is an app that allows you to anonymously compare your financial situation with your peers without asking those awkward, prying questions. Link an account to tap into this database and you’ll be able to compare your income, debt, interest rates, credit score, spending… you name it.
By seeing how others are doing, you can see what you need to work on — or where you can sit back a little and just breathe easy.
You each have a vehicle. One took you on your first date. The other was topped with streamers and balloons on your wedding day. Now it’s time to give them both a good wash — and then clean up your insurance bills.
Yes. There’s no getting around car insurance, unfortunately. But one way you could save money is by shopping around and comparing rates at least once a year. So, just like you compare the prices of flights, shoes and laptops before purchasing, why not compare car insurance?
The Zebra, an online car insurance search engine that offers “insurance in black and white,” compares your options from 204 providers in less than 60 seconds.
You probably shopped online before you were married. You won’t likely stop now, right? But now it’s even more important to save money where you can.
One of our favorite ways to save is with Ebates, a cash-back site that rewards you nearly every time you buy something online. For example, Ebates gives you 10% cash-back on online purchases at Walmart.
Plus, you’ll get a free $10 gift card to Walmart for giving the site a try.
They say that 90% of marriage is asking “What should we have for dinner?” That number may actually be a bit low.
One of the best ways to avoid this trap is to get ahead of it. If you plan your meals for the week and shop accordingly, you’ll be all set. You know what makes your meals taste even better than butter or salt? Savings.
Believe it or not, Ibotta will pay you cash for taking pictures of your grocery store receipts.
Before heading to the store, search for items on your shopping list within the Ibotta app. When you get home, snap a photo of your receipt and scan the items’ barcodes, and earn cash back.
Ibotta is free to download. Plus, you’ll get a $10 sign-up bonus after uploading your first receipt.
Pre-planned dinner plus a pay day? That’s romance, right there!
When you said “I do,” you made a promise to make a future together. That future will look a lot better if you plan for your retirement right now.
If you’re like most people, you have no idea whether your 401(k) is on pace for retirement or just sputtering along.
Chances are, your 401(k) could be doing a lot better. Take control with help from Blooom, an SEC-registered investment advisory firm that can optimize and monitor your 401(k) for you and keep it speeding toward retirement.
It just takes a few minutes to get a free 401(k) analysis that will show you whether your investments are allocated properly and whether you’re losing money paying hidden investment fees. It’ll even tell you just how much more money your account could earn by the time you want to retire.
After that, if you sign up, it’s just $10 per month to have Blooom monitor and maximize your 401(k). Bonus: Penny Hoarders get the first month free with the code PNNYHRD.
Think of Blooom like a mechanic constantly fine-tuning your car’s engine so it gives you the best possible performance and gas mileage. Except it’s your 401(k) — and your future.
You’ve made great strides! Hey, marriage isn’t all work. Give yourself a break today. You’ve earned it.
Tonight, kick back, relax and enjoy each other’s company with a glass of wine. Of course, you don’t want to go overboard and spend a bundle on that bottle. Find a great bottle of wine for under $20, and toast to your financial progress.
Wow. Now that there are two of you, all of your stuff really adds up, doesn’t it? It’s not just the things you have two of, like ironing boards and disco balls; it’s clothes, shoes and furniture.
Set up shop, and make some extra money from the stuff you don’t need (and probably don’t have room for anymore).
You can sell virtually anything on Letgo. This intuitive app lets you snap a photo and upload your item in less than 30 seconds. It removes a lot of the hassle of selling things online, and it’s 100% free to use.
Marriage tip: Only sell your stuff. Posting your spouse’s items is a one-way ticket to the dog house.
There’s something so satisfying about those gas station scratch-off tickets, but it’s better to avoid them because, well, that’s not Penny Hoarding.
Instead, try scratching for free using an app called Lucktastic. Each day, it releases a new assortment of digital scratch-off tickets. Lucktastic says instant wins range from $1 to $10,000. You can also earn tokens that you can exchange for free gift cards to retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, Kohl's, Sephora and more.
You can even compete with your spouse. Who can win more tonight?
OK, you’re ready for a little snuggle time. That’s fair.
Tonight, pop some popcorn, pour a cool beverage and plop down on that loveseat. But instead of watching a movie, earn some money by watching movie previews or other short videos.
InboxDollars lets you actually get paid to watch TV online. The site hosts a ton of stuff to watch, including cooking, entertainment, news and health shows. The shows are sponsored by brands that need to get them in front of as many eyeballs as possible.
Every time you watch one, InboxDollars will credit your account with a little bit of cash.
What couple couldn’t use a little extra money? Here’s an easy way to see whether you could get money back on purchases you’ve already made.
One of our secret weapons is called Paribus — a tool that gets you money back for your online purchases. It's free to sign up, and once you do, it will scan your email for any receipts. If it discovers you’ve purchased something from one of its monitored retailers, it will track the item’s price and help you get a refund when there’s a price drop.
Plus, if your guaranteed shipment shows up late, Paribus will help you get compensated.
If you own a car, you know that you need to protect it (and yourself) with insurance. But did you really check out your options? You could be paying too much for your coverage. Shopping around for insurance can be time consuming, though.
Fortunately, a service called Gabi will do it for you, and you don’t even have to fill out any forms. Simply link your insurance account and provide your driver’s license number, and Gabi will go to work.
Once you link your insurance account to Gabi, it will:
Gabi says it finds an average savings of $720 per year for its customers.
It is a true apples-to-apples comparison at the same coverage levels and deductibles you currently have. Once you sign up, you never have to shop again. Gabi's software has your policy on file and keeps on monitoring for savings as your life changes.
If you have a gym membership or a fitness lounge at your apartment complex, you might be missing out on lots of luxurious freebies.
Think tanning beds, massage chairs or complimentary personal training sessions.
Get down there, and treat yourself!
Marriage makes you think about the future. A lot. A big part of preparing for your financial future is investing. Now that you’ve invested in that ring, it’s time to go further.
Consider starting an investment account through Acorns.
You can start small and stack up change over time with its “round-up” feature. That means if you spend $10.23 at the grocery store, 77 cents gets dropped into your Acorns account.
Then, the app does the whole investing thing for you.
The idea is you won’t miss the digital pocket change, and the automatic savings stack up faster than you’d think. For example, we reviewed how Penny Hoarder Dana Sitar was able to save at a rate of $420 a year!
At that rate, you could set aside $1,000 in about two and a half years — without trying.
The app is $1 a month for balances under $1 million, and you’ll get a $5 bonus when you sign up.
So you want a credit card, but there are too many to choose from. What to do?
Should you leaf through your junk mail and just accept one of those credit card offers that show up in your mailbox? That would be quick and easy, right?
No, no, a thousand times no! Don’t do that. That’s a good way to end up unhappily shackled to a credit card that’s all wrong for you.
At least one in five cardholders are carrying around a credit card whose fees and rewards don’t match their actual spending habits, according to a 2016 study from J.D. Power.
To help you avoid becoming a statistic, here's our guide to everything you need to know about credit cards — including how to pick the one that's right for you.
You and your spouse take the most awesome pics, right? If you have a smartphone and a photographic eye, making money might have just gotten a lot easier.
An app called Foap lets you turn your smartphone photos into cash.
Here’s how it works:
If your photo sells 20 times, you make $5 each time and end up with $100 in your pocket — all for about five minutes of work and probably a nice stroll in the park with your spouse. Pretty cool, right?
Good news: As a married couple, you’ll share bills. Bad news: They’re still bills.
The price of internet — and cable, if you’re still into that kind of thing — certainly isn’t decreasing. If anything, prices are steadily climbing.
And if you’ve had to chat with a representative from your internet/cable company recently, you know how long you can sit on hold.
That’s why it’s time to call in a robot. The negotiation bot Trim will negotiate your cable or internet bills down for you.
It works with Comcast, Time Warner, Charter and other major providers.
You can sign up simply with Facebook or your email address. Then, upload a PDF of your most recent bill, and Trim’s AI-powered system gets to work. If at first it doesn’t succeed, it’ll keep negotiating until it can save you some money.
Also, if you have any outages, Trim believes you deserve a credit, and it’ll handle that for you. Trim takes 25% of the savings tab, and you get the rest.
No extreme physical activity or pulled muscles required for this money-making trick that’s fun for couples. All you need to do is download the Shopkick app.
Once you sign up, the app pays you in “kicks” for walking into certain stores (including Walmart, Target, TJMaxx and more). You can redeem them for gift cards to a number of retailers, including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks, Sephora and Best Buy.
It pays you even more kicks for photos of receipts that include qualifying items you purchased in-store with a connected credit or debit card. You can also earn kicks for online purchases. You don’t have to do anything; your linked cards will automatically apply your kicks.
But don’t make the mistake of buying things you don’t need just for kicks, you know better than that.
Once you’ve earned your gift cards, you can enjoy them with a little quality time together.
When’s the last time you went to the public park in your area?
You might be able to walk nature trails, goof around on a swing set, or just sit and watch the leaves fall. Take the time to simply be together and enjoy nature. It’s relaxing and relationship-building.
Few things stress marital bonds like sudden financial drama. A car breaks down. Someone breaks a toe, and medical bills pile up. The roof starts to leak.
The simplest way to avoid letting life’s little mishaps turn into financial disasters is to start an emergency fund. It’s simply a bank account with enough money to get you through a minor emergency or surprise bill.
But if you’re going to save, you might as well make some interest on that money, right?
An iOS app called Varo Money combines traditional banking tools with modern technology to help its customers become financially healthy.
Here’s the best part: Pair your Bank Account with a Varo Savings Account where you’ll earn 1.75% annual percentage yield. That’s nearly 30 times — repeat, 30 times — the average savings account, based on a 0.06% average reported by CNN Money.
It’s Day 30!! Go ahead; relax, and play some games. But you’re not done helping your finances just yet.
The folks who created Long Game have you covered with a game that’s fun and helps you achieve your financial goals.
As you save and accomplish missions, you’ll earn coins to play mini games for cash prizes. We’re talking the classics, like slot machines, scratch-offs and spin-to-win wheels.
Once you link your bank account, you’ll earn 300 coins, so you can start playing while you wait for payday. If you sign up before Nov. 30, 2018 and enter the code PENNY5, you’ll also get a bonus $5 in your account!
See, that wasn’t so bad, was it? When you start thinking long-term, you need to think about your finances. When you bring someone else into the picture, it becomes even more important.
Tackling a few of these items can help set you up for a much better financial future. That’s worth a month’s work, right?
Now… let’s talk about having kids.
Tyler Omoth is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder who loves soaking up the sun and finding creative ways to help others. Catch him on Twitter at @Tyomoth.
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.
The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.
If you have a lot of credit card debt, look into consolidating it. Borrow money at a lower interest rate, and use the loan to pay off the balances on your high-interest credit cards.
It’s a twofer: You save money on interest payments, freeing up cash to pay down your debt faster.
An online marketplace like Even Financial will search the top lenders to find the best loan for you.
Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He’ll be brief.
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.
The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.
Rather than spend money on things you may or may not need, this international movement asks you to donate to causes you care about.
The day started in 2012 and, with the help of social media, it spread quickly. Last year, it raised more than $274 million for charity.
I love #GivingTuesday because it’s a reminder to support the organizations that work tirelessly to make our world a better place.
And you don’t need to give a lot. If everyone gave a few bucks — or a few hours of their time — to their favorite cause this #GivingTuesday, it would go a long way. Plus, you’ll get a tax deduction!
Want to get involved in this warmhearted movement? Keep reading for step-by-step instructions.
What cause speaks to you? Perhaps you already have an organization you love, or perhaps you just know you’re passionate about homelessness or animal rights.
Once you’ve determined which cause you want to support, look for an organization that works in that field.
Charity Navigator is my favorite website for finding and vetting new organizations.
It allows you to search by cause, location, size and keyword — then, more importantly, it displays ratings for each charity based on its finances, transparency and accountability.
It’s an easy way to see which charities are responsibly effecting change with the money they receive.
Don’t skip this step; make sure you’re giving your hard-earned money to a worthy cause.
If and when you decide to donate, keep a record of your contribution.
Donations to a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization are tax-deductible — meaning if you donate $100, you can reduce your taxable income by that same amount.
Giving to a good cause and saving on your tax bill? Win-win!
Even if you’re broke, don’t worry; you can still get behind #GivingTuesday.
Though the day’s goal is to raise money for good causes, remembering its altruistic inspiration is just as important.
If you don’t have any money to spare, here are a few ways to participate without opening your wallet:
And if nothing else, you can spread word of the movement on your favorite social media site using the hashtag #GivingTuesday!
Susan Shain is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.
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.
The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.
Personal finance success is simple. Personal finance success is hard. Those two things don’t contradict each other in the slightest.
The things that you need to do to be successful when it comes to finances are really simple.
Spend less than you earn. You can do that by either cutting back on your spending or figuring out a way to earn more money. You do this because eventually you won’t be able to or really won’t want to work any more and the leftover money is for that point in the future.
Use the remaining portion to pay off debt. When you don’t have any debt, start using the remaining portion away for the future. If you don’t know what to do with it, put it in an index fund so that it’s invested in lots of things.
Literally everything about personal finance is just an expansion on one of those ideas, and even the expansion on those ideas isn’t really very complicated. Everything you really need to know is right there.
If it’s so simple, why doesn’t everyone do it? Why are 78% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck (source)?
The reason is that actually executing those simple strategies is quite hard, for numerous reasons.
Humans are predispositioned to favor the short term over the long term.
Modern culture surrounds us with seemingly infinite temptation, more easily available than ever.
Financial change requires us to take action to change our behavior, whereas staying in the same place requires nothing from us.
The financial services industry does their best to make simple things seem as complicated as humanly possible so that you feel that you need help with the arcane specifics of money management.
Those elements are individually challenging, but collectively they become quite hard to overcome. It’s the reason that most Americans struggle financially, even people who earn surprisingly high incomes.
It’s not rocket science to know what to do. The challenge comes from actually applying it to your life and doing it.
This dichotomy of “simple” and “hard” exists with many of the most common things that people want to do to improve themselves.
Losing weight is simple. Eat fewer calories. Done. Actually executing it is hard.
Getting into shape is simple. Move around more and sweat. Done. Actually executing it is hard.
Improving personal relationships is easy. Devote time to that person and really listen to them. Done. Actually executing it is hard.
Acquiring more skills for success is easy. Devote time to study and practice of those specific skills. Done. Actually executing it is hard.
The thing you need to do is simple. Actually doing it is hard. Why?
The reason why improving your finances – or improving other aspects of yourself – is hard to execute (even though the process is simple to understand) is because we have limited resources in life. I’m not talking about money. I’m talking about the fundamental resources we have as living humans. Time. Energy. Focus.
We only have so much time. In a given day, we have perhaps sixteen hours of wakefulness. We have to choose between different options to fill the limited time we have.
We only have so much energy. No one can keep going forever. Eventually, we get tired and worn out.
We only have so much focus. Eventually, we hit a wall of decision fatigue. We reach a point where we’re unable to keep stuffing more in our head and we have to rest for a while to recharge.
We aren’t robots, either. We need some downtime and leisure time to feel like we’re not just running through life from task to task.
The real question of self-improvement, whether it’s financial improvement or relationship improvement or physical improvement or anything else, is finding a more effective way to use those resources of time, energy, and focus that we already have.
So how do we use those resources more effectively to improve our financial state?
Many of the most effective ways we have for improving our financial state rely on better time use. It’s due to a seeming lack of time that we rely on restaurants to get us through tight moments. It’s due to a seeming lack of time that we put off things like signing up for a 401(k). It’s due to a seeming lack of time that we hire people to fix things rather than investing the time to do it ourselves. It’s due to a seeming lack of time that we don’t build up our skills at work beyond the minimum.
(The same is, of course, true for other avenues of self improvement.)
We all have the same 24 hours in a day and 168 hours in a week. The difference comes in how we use those hours.
Look, I’m a full fledged member of the “sandwich generation.” I have children at home, a marriage to maintain and strengthen, a career to try to build and maintain, and aging parents, all at once. I want to be involved in the community and also have time for my own personal interests. Yet, through all of that, I find time for things like prepping meals in advance on a Sunday afternoon and getting a home-cooked meal to the table virtually every day and devoting time to professional side projects that can earn more income. I manage to find time to write in a journal and meditate and exercise virtually every day, too.
How do I do all of that? I use a handful of basic time management strategies. Here are the key ones that help me free up room for my career.
I basically don’t do anything that doesn’t have a strong long-term purpose or isn’t intentional leisure. If I find myself doing something like idly web surfing or playing a mindless smartphone game or staring at the television, I either go take a nap (or just go to bed for the night) or make myself go do something else. That’s not to say I don’t play games or watch television, but those are things done with intent – I’m playing a game with some social context or I’m watching a planned television program with my wife that we’re both excited about.
I block off time for things that are “important but not urgent.” I keep a weekly calendar and on that calendar I have time blocked off for things that I consider important but aren’t urgent. I have blocks of time for calling my parents. I have blocks of time for focused activities with my kids. I have a “date night” blocked off with Sarah. I have a “game night” blocked off to play tabletop games with some close friends. I have a block most weekends where I literally do frugal tasks and financial tasks, like prep meals or do small home repair or maintenance projects or pay the bills and read statements.
I prioritize “important but not urgent” over “urgent but not important.” I’ll often postpone things like perfect house cleaning to call my parents. I look at the mail once every two weeks or so and chuck most of it at a glance – it’s all “urgent but not important.” I barely read social media outside of the postings of real life friends – instead, I do a lot of little tasks so I can spend real world time with those real life friends. Not only that, I spend time thinking about how I’m spending my time, which seems fairly “meta” but when I recognize that I’m spending time on things that aren’t really important, I try to toss those things out of my life.
I do a lot of “time blocking.” I trust in my calendar. I block off time at the start of each day for the things I want to complete that day (starting from a generic “weekday,” “Saturday,” and “Sunday” template). For example, I’m in the midst of a “writing” block right now, one that I have tagged with the specific task of finishing this article. If I finish this article before the end of the “writing” block, I turn to my to-do list of smaller tasks and handle anything on it that’s tagged with “writing” (which is mostly brainstorming, reading, research, or outlining). When that time block is up, I stop. I try to never have my life in a situation where I have to disrupt that block because something is urgently due – I work ahead as much as I can.
I de-commit from things that decrease in importance to me. I’m not the person I was five years ago. Things I thought were important then, things I strongly committed to, aren’t necessarily the things I’m committed to now. Yet, sometimes, I have big lagging responsibilities and routines from that earlier era. The best thing I can do, both for me and for that thing to which I’m less passionate and committed, is to properly transition that thing into the hands of someone else. If I find that I’m less committed to something like coaching youth soccer or serving a charity than I once was, I make the conscious choice to back away while ensuring that it’s left in good hands.
These strategies all together help me find time for the things I find important in my life, and one of the things I find very important is doing what I can to build a strong financial foundation for my family and my own future. For example, I literally have a “time block” that’s set aside for financial and frugal tasks each weekend when we’re not traveling.
Like a lot of people, there are times when life just leaves me feeling burnt out and exhausted. No matter what kind of time management magic I can weave, I can’t help the fact that my energy level surges and flags throughout the day. Here are some of the things I do to help accommodate this, so that I have energy left over for doing a frugal task or paying attention to a bill or being mindful at the grocery store.
I get plenty of sleep. I go to bed pretty early most nights, usually around 9 PM. This is so that I can wake up when I naturally want to arise and feel deeply refreshed from a night of sleep (this usually happens between 4 and 5 AM). It is very rare that I feel genuinely tired during the day, though I will often find my energy flagging after 8 PM. I get plenty of sleep so that I can execute the rest of the day with lots of energy and focus. I’d far, far rather have 15 or 16 hours of energized activity in a day than 18 or 19 hours of activity where I’m tired and can’t focus.
I’m aware that I’m a morning person and that I flag badly in the early afternoon and late evening, so I schedule tasks accordingly. I start off the day with a morning routine and then a period of intense work, because I know my energy and focus are high in the morning. In the early afternoon, I do mindless tasks like going on a long walk or doing household chores. After that period of time passes, I usually have another block of productive work until the kids get home. In the late evening, my energy flags pretty badly, so I usually finish the day with a few mindless tasks (emptying the dishwasher) right before bed.
I consistently exercise. I find that if I stick to a consistent exercise routine, my energy level throughout the day is higher, and that if I let that exercise routine fade away, after a few days, my energy level starts to slide, too. Thus, I find it’s worthwhile to block off some time each day for some form of exercise. My goal is to get myself sweaty and make at least one muscle group sore the next day (though I don’t try to make the same muscle group sore multiple days in a row). I don’t aim to kill myself or do anything I don’t enjoy.
I try to eat a healthy diet. I’m not perfect at this, but I make it my goal to ensure that the vast majority of what’s on my plate at each meal is plant based, which seems to help a lot with my energy level, particularly mental energy. I find that when I overeat “heavier” foods, I end up in a bit of a mental fog for a while, so I try to avoid doing that. I eat mostly lighter meals with some snacks here and there.
Together these strategies help to ensure that I have plenty of energy for the things I want to do during the day, which, given the time management elements described above, result in having time and energy for tasks that I want to achieve.
Focus refers to one’s ability to stay on task. You’re not distracted and you get the task done efficiently and effectively. So much of the modern world eats away at our natural focus – constant interruptions and notifications from our smartphones and the convenience of the internet and social media being chief amongst them. Being able to focus on a task not only gets it done quickly and done well, but it frees up time for other things. An improved ability to focus also improves your ability to make good decisions, especially later in the day.
Here are four things I do to help maintain my focus.
I kill distracting things. I turn my smartphone off for most of the day. As I write this, my smartphone has been off for hours. I have my computer set with all kinds of different blocking tools so that the only thing I can really do with it is write. I’m listening to audio intended to help me focus in my headphones to block out distracting sounds. When my kids come home, we read together for half an hour – I put my phone in “do not disturb” mode and set a half an hour timer and just get lost in a book with them. In other words, when I have a task to do, I do everything I can to focus just on that task and not let distractions interrupt me. I check on potential distractions and interruptions when the task is done. During the task, I keep a notebook open near me to jot down stray thoughts I want to work on later. I do that as much as humanly possible.
I block off time each day to meditate. I practice mindfulness meditation for about fifteen minutes each morning and about ten minutes each evening. It is probably the single best discovery I’ve made in the last five years or so. This simple practice of stopping and focusing on my breathing as intently as I can has made it so much easier to focus on tasks throughout the day. I just sit in a comfortable chair, focus on my breathing, bring my mind back to the breathing if my mind floats away, and let the world pass by until a timer stops me. I find that if I chain a lot of days of meditation together, it builds on itself – one or two days doesn’t really change anything, but a chain of 60 days makes a profound difference. Like exercise, it can fade if you don’t keep up with it, but it’s really powerful if you let it build.
I listen to focus-enhancing audio during many tasks. I like listening to white noise, chillhop, or ambient electronic music – basically anything that’s downtempo without lyrics or simply nonintrusive white noise works. It seems to work magic at helping me focus on whatever it is I’m doing at the moment.
I constantly use “do not disturb” mode on my phone. This keeps my phone from delivering notifications to me and also blocks phone calls except from a very small list of key numbers that are okay for interrupting me (like my children’s schools). I turn this on all the time so I can stay focused on what I’m doing. There are very, very few things in life that are simultaneously important and urgent enough to cut through my ability to focus on a chosen task. What I’m doing right now is important or else I wouldn’t be doing it, so why let it be interrupted by silly small things?
A final area that’s really worth noting is what I like to call “thought influence.” We fill our world with things that influence our thinking, both positively and negatively. If we fill our world with thoughts that point in a certain direction, our own thoughts are going to inevitably point that way. You’ve probably seen this in the world around you, how people are heavily influenced by the media they consume and the people they surround themselves with.
I want to surround myself with things that influence me to make good decisions regarding the things I care about most in life – good financial choices, for example. Here are a few ways I achieve that.
I intentionally choose close friends that practice frugality and are reasonable with their spending. At this point, it is prohibitively hard for a big spender to build a close friendship with me. While I enjoy having a group of friends that think differently in a lot of ways, what I don’t want in my life are friends that influence me to spend money unnecessarily. If there’s an aspect of my life that I’m really working on, I’m going to accentuate friendships with people who are successful in that area and tone down friendships with people who are bad influences in that area.
I basically avoid the news and only use social media for professional reasons and to directly contact real life friends. There’s almost nothing positive brought into my life by the wilds of social media or by the news media. It doesn’t inform me and it doesn’t make me feel good about myself or other people. I prefer to be informed by reading good reporting (which takes time), thoughtful books, and by having thoughtful conversations with good friends, so I stick to those things in terms of being informed. The most valuable thing on the internet for me is Wikipedia, because it’s a good tool for getting a quick peer-reviewed summary of a topic.
I don’t really care what other people think of me. This may be an aspect of getting older, but I just really don’t worry about being seen as “cool” by other people. I’m okay with being the guy who’s exercising and sweating in his backyard. I’m okay with being the guy who makes his own laundry soap. I’m okay with being the guy who basically doesn’t watch television and has no idea what’s going on on the latest shows. I treat other people exactly as I would like to be treated. This not only helps in terms of how I’m influenced by others, but that also turns into much less of a motivation to spend any money to impress others.
The goal with all of these things is to take something that’s simple and hard – personal finance, fitness, weight management, whatever you’d like – and keep it simple while making it less difficult. I do this by amplifying the resources I already have for tackling hard things in my life – my time, my energy, my focus, and the things I allow to influence me. If I put in the effort to maximize those things, then it becomes much easier to accomplish the things I want to accomplish in life. If I have time, if I have focus, if I have energy, and if I have good influences, it becomes far easier to tackle something that seems “hard” like improving one’s finances. It’s still not easy – it still requires attention and behavior improvement – but it’s not as hard if you come at it with plenty of resources in hand, and these strategies are how you get the resources you need to do it.
Good luck!
The post Simple and Hard appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
For example, how are you supposed to answer the question, “May we contact your current employer?” when the only options are “yes” and “no”? Your first thought might be, “No, my current company doesn’t know I’m job hunting.” But is it bad to say no? Will the human resources specialist reviewing your application think you’re hiding something?
We asked four seasoned HR professionals to weigh in.
Lynda Spiegel, founder of Rising Star Resumes and a 14-year human resources pro, says companies ask the question to get a head start on the employment verification process. At some point, the company will want to do a background check, and including this question is HR’s way of getting permission. She adds that it’s much easier to ask for permission upfront versus possibly forgetting to ask deeper in the interview process.
“Nobody is going to contact your current employer just based on you sending in a resume,” she says. “That's going to happen way down the line.”
Most companies contact the applicant's previous organization sometime between offer acceptance and the hire’s official start date, says Laura Sehres, vice president of talent acquisition and engagement at PSCU. During verification, the new company will call the applicant’s former employer to confirm specifics such as job title, employment duration and salary.
If you’re currently employed, it is perfectly acceptable to click no when filling out the job application, says Mikaila Turman, the director of people at Inflection. From her perspective, the reason people get stuck on this question is that candidates think there is a right and wrong answer.
“I think there's an assumption that if I say no, then that's going to look bad, but that's not necessarily the case,” she says. “It's more so to inform the HR person whether they could move forward with getting a reference from the current company or not.”
The last thing an HR recruiter wants to do, she says, is jeopardize an applicant’s job by tipping off their current employer that they have someone searching for a new opportunity.
“If you're currently working and you don't want your employer to know that you're looking, you simply say no, and that’s not a red flag,” Spiegel says.
Keep in mind, selecting no should not be an automatic response for those gainfully employed. If your current company knows you’re leaving, it’s safe to say yes. Lois Krause, the HR compliance leader at the consulting firm KardasLarson, LLC, says it’s not uncommon for managers to try and help those affected by impending layoffs by providing references.
“They're usually pretty good about giving [employees] a heads-up so that they can find something,” Krause says.
When layoffs are not the driving factor, job seekers might consider selecting yes if the employee has a great relationship with their supervisor. “Maybe [the employee] talked to their manager and said, ‘This isn’t working, and I’m going to look for another role.’ Sometimes people are very honest about that,” says Sehres.
Depending on the format of the application, you might have the option to give a detailed response instead of being limited to a yes-or-no answer. When the opportunity presents itself to elaborate, Sehres encourages people to add in an extra caveat for clarification.
“I always answer it this way: ‘No’ or ‘Yes, you can contact after offer,’” she says.
Once you’re selected to advance to the initial phone or in-person interview stage, Sehres suggests talking to the recruiter to clarify any confusion on why you said no.
“My advice to someone who is truly concerned about it would be for them to head it off at the pass,” she says. “Say upfront: ‘I answered it this way. I am comfortable with you contacting my employer but only after an offer is given, just out of confidentiality.’”
Matt Reinstetle is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. He covers career advice and side gigs. If there’s a career-advice topic you want to be answered, please email him at mattr@thepennyhoarder.com.
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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If you and your spouse or partner both have access to a 401(k) or other employer retirement plan, you might be wondering how you should divvy up your contributions between the two of them.
This can be an especially difficult and emotionally-laden question if one of those 401(k)s is measurably better than the other, in which case it may make rational sense to contribute more money to that 401(k) even if it would leave the other spouse or partner with less money saved for retirement.
So, what should you do in that situation? Should you split your contributions evenly, even if it means putting money into a bad 401(k)? Or should you contribute more to the better 401(k) even if it means that one of you will have more money than the other?
Let’s break it down.
Before getting into the details of what you should do, it’s important to define what’s meant by a “good” 401(k). Without that definition, it’s impossible to even know whether one 401(k) is better than any other.
First and foremost, a good 401(k) is defined by a good employer match. And the experts I spoke to agreed that taking full advantage of any match you receive is almost always worth it.
“You want to make sure you get all of the free money from those matches even if it means different contribution rates,” said Lucas Casarez, CFP®, owner of Level Up Financial Planning. “A 100% match on contributions easily outweighs investments with slightly higher investment expenses.”
Along with looking at each 401(k)’s match, Casarez said that it’s also important to understand how those employer contributions vest over time.
“Some employers’ matches are 100% vested immediately, some occur over time,” he said. “The faster the vesting schedule, the higher the probability that you will retain the full employer match.”
Another important factor to consider is cost. Lower costs generally lead to better returns, so prioritizing whichever 401(k) allows you to minimize costs may be a good idea.
“Expenses charged by the plan can be a major drag on returns,” said Jeff Burke, CEO of 7 Street Financial. “Even small fees can add up over time.”
Of course, the investment options offered by each 401(k) are also an important factor. Nicolas Stanley, CFP®, founder of Protogè Wealth Planning, pointed out that some 401(k)s have a relatively limited set of investment options while others allow you to choose from among thousands of mutual funds in a self-directed portfolio, which may make it easier for you to implement your desired strategy in a cost-effective way.
The ability to make Roth contributions could also be a big factor, depending on your specific circumstances.
“While it’s not right for everyone, the tax advantages of Roth contributions are quite powerful,” said Ian Bloom, founder of Open World Financial Life Planning. “Potentially tax-advantaged savings with tax-free money in retirement? Having access to that is a big deal.”
To sum up, the major factors to consider when evaluating whether one 401(k) is better than another are:
The obvious concern with the idea of contributing more to one spouse’s or partner’s 401(k) is that it would leave the other without as much money saved for retirement, which would potentially leave him or her at risk if the two of you were ever to split up.
But according to the experts, that concern can be alleviated by the fact that there is legal recourse to even out those funds in a divorce proceeding.
“In every state, funds accumulated during the marriage are considered marital property regardless of the name on the account,” said Leah Hadley, a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA) with Great Lakes Investment Management. “In a community property state, those funds are divided equally. In other states, the funds may still be divided, but that division is negotiated as part of the divorce settlement.”
Hadley said that if funds need to be moved from one person’s 401(k) in order to even out assets in a divorce proceeding, a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) would be filed that would allow that to happen without penalties or tax consequences.
Still, Hadley did warn that there is some risk involved, even with those protections in place.
“Because 401(k)s are only in one person’s name, they are the only one who can request money from the account,” she said. “I have seen some divorce cases where one of the parties leaves the other party with no access to funds. While there is legal recourse, it takes time.”
There is also more risk involved if you aren’t married, as there isn’t a formal divorce proceeding that exists to ensure an equitable division of money.
“If you are not married, things get a little more hairy,” said Bloom. “There’s not necessarily a way for one partner in the relationship to get access to the other partner’s retirement funds. I would not recommend contributing more to one partner’s 401(k) if this is the case. Splitting up can be emotional enough without worrying about your financial future.”
There’s one thing that all the financial planners I spoke to agreed on: It’s almost always worth maxing out every employer match available to you, even if it means contributing more money to one 401(k) than another. But even then, they recommended trying to even things out with additional contributions if possible.
“The only scenario in which I would recommend investing in one spouse’s employer-sponsored 401(k) plan over another is if one spouse’s plan has an employer match while the other spouse’s plan doesn’t,” said Ryan Firth, CPA, founder of Mercer Street. “But once that match has been reached, I’d recommend allocating remaining contributions so as to make the total contribution to each account equal.”
Chris Jackson, CFP®, founder of Lionshare Partners, adds that the specific considerations may change depending on where you are in life.
“For younger couples, the focus should be on maximum contribution including employer match,” he said. “Older couples, with larger balances, should focus on keeping the cost down, because an extra 1% on funds for a million dollar account is an extra $10,000 a year in fees.”
Beyond that, it’s important to start with your personal investment plan and what’s important to you. Minimizing fees should always be a priority, as should being able to match your target asset allocation. And depending on your situation, the ability to make Roth contributions may be important as well.
And at the end of the day, while it would be ideal for each of you to have the exact same amount of money in your retirement accounts, it’s helpful to remember that contributing more money to one spouse’s 401(k) doesn’t necessarily leave the other one at risk. Divorce proceedings are designed in part to help even out assets, and there are mechanisms in place that allow you to move money from one spouse’s retirement account to the other.
In other words, if there’s a big difference in 401(k) quality, you shouldn’t be too concerned about contributing more to that 401(k). Doing so is likely to put your family in a better financial situation no matter what.
Matt Becker, CFP® is a fee-only financial planner and the founder of Mom and Dad Money, where he helps new parents take control of their money so they can take care of their families.
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The post When Your Spouse’s 401(k) Is the Better Plan appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
