Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy has been lauded for his business acumen and charitable efforts, but his former attorney Perry McGuire has penned a tribute that gives a deeper look into the business mind and heart of the beloved trailblazer.
Source CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2Rf15Yr
الثلاثاء، 8 يناير 2019
A Single Parent’s Financial Guide to Returning to School
As a single parent, going back to school can seem like an impossible and daunting process. You need that higher education to snag a high-paying and solid career, but at the same time, it’s necessary to keep working to pay for your schooling. Throw in that you need to support your family and household throughout the process, and the struggle gets even more difficult.
This push-and-pull conundrum is likely behind the latest findings from the Institute of Women’s Policy Research, which show that while the number of single mothers in college more than doubled between 2000 and 2012, only a very small minority of those students actually graduated.
And single moms aren’t the only non-traditional students struggling to gain a valuable, yet costly, education. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, only a mere 15% of college students are in the traditional 18-22 range. Students over 25? They make up the fastest-growing cohort in all of higher education, predicted to increase 18% by 2025 alone.
How will these students and single parents pay for their schooling, while still covering all the costs that come with adulthood (not to mention parenthood)? That takes proactive research and preparation — both to understand the costs of higher education and to ensure the funds to cover them.
How to Pay for Your Higher Education
Obtaining a degree can help you secure a reliable, well-paying job or move you up the corporate ladder at your current one. But paying for that degree — and all the extra costs and fees that come with it — can be a struggle, especially when you’re busy supporting yourself, your children and all the other costs that come with adult life.
The key here is effective household budgeting. No matter how much you make or how many financial responsibilities you may have, proper budgeting can ensure you have the funds necessary to meet your long-term goals.
This means:
- Not spending more than you make. It seems easy enough, but most people don’t have a great handle on how much (post-tax) they actually take home and how that aligns with their financial obligations.
- Understanding your financial responsibilities. Identify all your financial obligations, as well as when they’re due each month. This should include rent, mortgage, utilities, child care, school payments, groceries and any other cost your family incurs on a regular basis.
- Setting goals. Establish savings and spending goals and set timelines for each. You need to hold yourself accountable when it comes to your spending habits.
- Knowing what you make. Have a good handle on exactly what your income looks like and when it hits your bank account. This makes it easier to manage your cash flow while still staying ahead of financial obligations.
- Writing it all down. Keep a ledger of all your expenses and expenditures. Sometimes, this makes it easier to spot bad habits or spending trends, as well as areas for potential savings.
- Using a budget calculator. A good budget calculator can help you set financial boundaries, save toward a goal, pay down debts or do all of these things simultaneously. Budgeting apps like Mint and Clarity can help you keep stay on track with your goals on the fly.
Having a solid budget in place can help you understand what you can and can’t spend on education, in addition to how much aid, financing or other financial assistance you will need to meet your goals.
Paying for Childcare
You’ll likely need help with the kids while attending school (or even just studying for it), so do your research early on. Look into child care and daycare grants and see if there’s a child care facility on-site at your school. You can also research Head Start programs, state child care options and other nonprofit programs and resources. If those don’t help — and a family member, friend or loved one is unable to assist — consider night school or online coursework instead.
Financial and Federal Aid Resources:
- Head Start Programs
- Child Care and Development Fund
- Child Care Aware of America
- For our state by state list of childcare resources, click here.
If those don’t help — and a family member, friend or loved one is unable to assist — consider night school or online coursework instead.
Minimizing Your Debt as a Student
If you know you won’t have the aid or cash to cover your entire education, then a loan, credit card or some other type of financing might be necessary.
To minimize this debt (and its impact on your future cash flow), keep these tips in mind:
- Borrow only what you need. Don’t borrow money just because you *might* need it in the future. Stick to what expenses you know you will have and borrow only what you absolutely must. Overborrowing will only mean more in interest costs over time.
- Look into zero-interest balance transfer credit cards. Credit cards that allow you to transfer balances at zero interest (even for a short amount of time) can help you save thousands in interest costs — especially if you’re spreading your schooling expenses across various cards and high-interest accounts. They can also allow you to refinance your student loans and pay them off with zero interest as well.
- Price shop for your program. Not all programs — even ones that offer the same degree or certification — cost the same. This is especially true if you look at the full breakdown of costs, including things like supplies, books, fees and other expenses. Make sure you compare the costs of several programs before choosing which school to attend. You can also look to trade school as well, which is often more affordable than a traditional college or university.
- Look for free money. Always look for potential scholarships or grants at the federal, state and school level. Your employer might also have programs you can utilize, as well as your city, county or even local community. Do your research and exhaust all options.
- Utilize free in-school services. Many schools offer free services for students. They may have an on-site health center or gym, which could cut down on your medical and physical fitness costs, and they will likely have a library, so you can rent textbooks instead of buying them.
- Leverage student discounts. Many companies give discounts to students and teachers with .edu email addresses. There’s a multitude of options for discounts in the areas of technology, entertainment and even food. Make sure to do your research to get the most out of discounts available to you as a student.
Most importantly, make all your payments on time. Late fees and added interest can get costly, only adding to your financial burden and stress. Set up reminders or enable autopayments to prevent missing a due date.
Seeking Financial Aid
You might be used to doing it all on your own — especially as a single parent — but when it comes to higher education, you don’t have to foot the bill solo. In fact, many non-traditional students qualify for scholarships, grants and other forms of financial aid that can help them on their educational journey. There are also student loans that can help, though these ultimately mean more long-term debt and a longer financial struggle than is necessary.
If you’re interested in receiving financial aid for your educational goals, here’s where to start:
- Do a quick web search. There are dozens of scholarship programs designed for adult and non-traditional students, as well as degree- and training-specific scholarships. Look to resources like Scholarships.com and Fastweb for scholarships you might be eligible for.
- Fill out and submit your FAFSA. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is an application for federal grant funding and student loans. Awards are based on income, educational costs and assets. Many adult students may find themselves eligible for valuable awards like the Pell Grant or a William Ford Federal Direct Loan. Just make sure you avoid these detrimental mistakes when filling out your application, and heed the annual June 30 deadline.
- Contact your school’s financial aid office. If you’ve already chosen a program — or even if you just have a short list of potential schools — contact their respective financial aid office and ask about grants and scholarship programs. They may even have no-interest payment plans you can take advantage of.
- Talk to your employer or HR department. Many employers — particularly large corporations — offer scholarships and other incentives for workers seeking to continue their educations. Go to your human resources department to ask about any sort of aid your company might offer. Though they may not cover your full tuition, they could have programs that give you paid time off for school or even money for books, supplies or other fees. Some companies also have relationships with local colleges and can offer you reduced tuition rates.
- Look into state-provided aid. Many states offer financial aid — both for traditional and non-traditional students. To see if your state has any financial assistance you might be eligible for, contact the education department for information. You will likely need to have an already-filed FAFSA in order to qualify.
You can always stack aid, too, combining several grant programs, scholarships and your own money to cover the costs. This is where having a budget — as well as fully understanding the financial obligations of your education — can really come in handy.
Maximizing Your Investment
Naturally, if you’re going to be spending your hard-earned money and valuable time earning a degree, you want to make sure it’s worth it — that it means solid career prospects, good money and a reliable stream of income with which to support your family.
Want to maximize your educational investment as a single parent? Here’s how:
- Anticipate your future income. Choose your major, degree or certification program wisely. Do your research, and determine which programs will offer you the most earning-capacity upon graduation.
- Put in the effort. Make a commitment to studying, staying on top of your assignments and doing well in your program, and don’t bite off more than you can chew. For one, poor grades can impact your financial aid prospects — or even disqualify you from grants and scholarships you’re already taking advantage of. Failing a class also means re-taking it (and re-paying for it). In short: doing poorly in school will only cost more in the long run.
You should also maximize the value of your certification or degree. Choose a recognized, accredited program, optimize your LinkedIn presence to show off your skills and knowledge, and network with your teachers, advisors and fellow students while in school. Making great connections can lead to ample career opportunities and referrals upon graduation.
The moral of the story? You’re going to work hard for that higher education. Make sure it will work for you, too.
Child Care Resources by State
| State | Child Care Resources |
|---|---|
| Alabama | |
| Alaska | |
| Arizona | |
| Arkansas | |
| California | |
| Colorado | |
| Connecticut | |
| Delaware | |
| District of Columbia | |
| Florida | |
| Georgia | |
| Hawaii | |
| Idaho | |
| Illinois | |
| Indiana | |
| Iowa | |
| Kansas | |
| Kentucky | |
| Louisana | |
| Maine | |
| Maryland | |
| Massachussetts | |
| Michigan | |
| Minnesota | |
| Mississippi | |
| Missouri | |
| Montana | |
| Nebraska | |
| Nevada | |
| New Hampshire | |
| New Jersey | |
| New Mexico | |
| New York | |
| North Carolina | |
| North Dakota | |
| Ohio | |
| Oklahoma | |
| Oregon | |
| Pennsylvania | |
| Rhode Island | |
| South Carolina | |
| South Dakota | |
| Tennessee | |
| Texas | |
| Utah | |
| Vermont | |
| Virginia | |
| Washington | |
| West Virginia | |
| Wisconsin | |
| Wyoming |
The post A Single Parent’s Financial Guide to Returning to School appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
Source The Simple Dollar http://bit.ly/2Rjv29y
9 Places to Get Website Images (Paid and Free)
A website without images will look plain, boring, and borderline unprofessional.
Think about it for a moment: When was the last time you visited a website that didn’t have any photos? If you actually encountered this rarity, you probably left the site fairly quickly for fear of spam, phishing, or malware. Simply put, barren sites without any visual content can appear shady and untrustworthy.
Not having images hurts your site, and having images helps. They’re appealing. Photos in your blog posts will break up the text and make it easier for people to read and scan through your content. Detailed product photos show prospective customers exactly what they are purchasing. The perfect position of an image can help you design a homepage that converts.
Studies show that three days later people only remember 10% of the information they hear. When that information is paired with a relevant photo, 65% of it gets retained.
Bottom line: You should be using photos and other visual content on every single page of your website.
Sure, you might recognize the fact that you need images on your website. You might even have some images that you want to use. But are you legally allowed to use them? Do you have to pay?
This is a common problem among website owners. They don’t know where to get images. So, they’re hesitant add visual content to their site for fear of copyright infringement or hefty legal fines. Not to worry.
In this guide, we’ve identified the top nine places to find images for your website. Some of these resources offer images that are completely free; others you’ll have to pay for.
Whether your website is new and still in the early stages of design and development, or old and needs some fresh visual content, you’ll find what you’re looking for on this list.
1. Unsplash
Unsplash started as 10 free photos every week. They were leftovers from a photoshoot that would have otherwise died in a folder somewhere. Today, there are 792,198 images and every single one of them is free for commercial or noncommercial use. They’re generously uploaded by creators and all follow the same do-what-you-want license.
The most notable thing about Unsplash: the images are gorgeous. They’re well done and have a point-of-view, and every week they’re organized into easy-to-browse collections.
If you use any photos from Unsplash, you don’t have to give credit but you can if you want. It’s as simple as adding a line like: Photo by Photographer on Unsplash
2. Pexels
There are 504,828 images uploaded in the Pexels library and every single one of them is free for commercial use without attribution. They all have the same super simple license.
The entire library is also available on the mobile app, which makes it even easier to find and upload images to your brand’s social media. (You can also search for images by keyword or emoji.)
They also feature photos from nappy, a stock library created by the influencer mgmt agency SHADE for black and brown creators, after they saw that sites like Unsplash and Pexels were fixing the corny stock image problem, but were still lacking in diversity.
3. Flickr
Flickr is a top option to consider for free website images. The platform encourages users to upload, share, edit, and organize their photos from any device.
Not everything hosted on here is free for commercial purposes. So double check the image rights for content before you add it to your company’s website. You can do this by searching for images with licenses that say “Commercial use allowed.” For most of these images, you can use them on your site as long as you include attribution in the form of a reference link back to where the image came from on Flickr. Every image will have a link to the license that’ll tell you the requirements in simple sentences.
One of the best parts of Flickr is the trending tab.
You’ll be able to see categories trending in real-time, trending weekly, as well as trending all-time. So you can go with images that are popular, or stay clear from them in an effort to be more unique. Either way, these options are great if you’re looking for common themes for your entire website.
4. iStock
iStock has millions of images available that are royalty free, so it’s one of the first places you should start your image search.
One of the parts about iStock is the way it’s organized. It’s easy to search for images in specific categories. If you see something you like, you can save it to your board and refer to it later.
There’s no way to download or search for free images on iStock, though they do send one free photo, illustration, and video each week if you sign up for their newsletter. They sell photos based on a credit system. The more credits you buy, the cheaper each one is:
- $12 for 1 credit ($12 each)
- $60 for 6 credits ($10 each)
- $325 for 36 credits ($9 each)
- $2,400 for 300 credits ($8 each)
iStock also offers subscription pricing as well, which gives you access to a specified number of images per month.
In addition to photos and stock images, iStock also offers illustrations, vectors, videos, and audio files as well. All of these can be used to improve your website.
5. Openphoto.net
The Open Photo sharing platform has been around for 20 years. Everyone contributing to this resource offers photos for free under the Creative Commons licensing. Like Flickr, it’s really easy to navigate and find what you’re looking for on Open Photo. They also keep track of trending photos and categories. You can see popular images from today, yesterday, and all-time.
Open Photo always highlights a photo of the day on its homepage and gives credit to the photographer who uploaded it. If you see a photo of the day that you really like, it’s a good idea to check out other images that were uploaded by that photographer.
Even if the content of the images isn’t always the same, photographers tend to have a certain style. So if you like the way someone approaches their photography, you may want to use images from them throughout your entire website.
6. Pixabay
Pixabay is another resource that offers images shared by members of its community. There are more than 1.6 million photos and videos offered royalty-free for commercial purposes. You don’t have to ask for credit or give credit to the artist.
Pixabay has a powerful search with filters like:
- orientation
- size
- color
So if you’re looking for a blue, horizontal photo, that’s 4000 px X 3000 px, simply add those parameters to the search menu, and it’ll only display results that fit your needs. There’s also a safe search function as well that filters out any content that might be perceived as not safe for work.
Another reason why Pixabay is a top choice to consider is because they have a mobile app that’s available on both iOS and Android devices. Perfect for doing work on the go when it’s not convenient to take your computer out.
7. Rgbstock
There are over 100,000 free stock photos available from Rgbstock.com. You can find photos by searching for categories or keywords. They also let you browse photos from the collections of specific photographers that you like.
In order to access any of the content on this platform, you’ll need to register and create an account. But like everything else on here, it’s completely free. For those of you who want to share your own photos with the Rgbstock community, you can easily create your own photo gallery in just a few minutes.
8. Realistic Shots
Realistic Shots is a bit different from some of the other website image platforms we’ve looked at so far on our list. They don’t prioritize quantity. Only seven new photos are added to the site each week. But the quality of those seven photos is extremely high.
That’s pretty astonishing considering the fact that there are more than 1.8 billion images uploaded online every day. So to pick just seven each week means the quality needs to be superior in order to be featured. Realistic Shots puts emphasis on creativity for their most popular categories.
- nature
- travel
- architecture
- technology
- people
It’s worth coming to this site once a week to see the newest uploads. Everything hosted here is free for both personal and commercial use.
9. Fotolia
Fotolia is run by Adobe Stock. To access premium image content through this platform, you’ll need to pay. Similar to other options we’ve seen, you can buy credits or sign up for a subscription.
The great part about their subscriptions is that they have plenty of choices based on how often you’ll need stock images. Here is the monthly pricing for the annual memberships.
- 10 images for $29.99 per month
- 40 images for $79.99 per month
- 350 images for $169.99 per month
- 750 images for $199.99 per month
If you’re signing up for the first time, you can get one month free with any of these plans. They offer month-to-month pricing rates as well if you’re not ready for an annual commitment. To purchase one or two images, your best bet is to buy credits individually.
One of the standout features of this software is the ability to use photos you have on hand to search for images you’re looking for. Just drag and drop an image from an online resource or from your computer into the search bar to find similar content.
Look at the search results for the image of this puppy.
The software displays images that are similar and even from the same photoshoot. It’s a great tool that you can take advantage of.
Conclusion
Your site needs images. Visual elements will add credibility to your website, and make it more appealing for visitors.
There are thousands of places to find images online. But that’s overwhelming to stay the least. So start with the resources outlined on this list. It’s a mix of completely free sources, paid options, and some platforms that offer both free and paid images.
Otherwise, you can always use your own images. Refer to my guide on how to take and edit photos without hiring a professional if you want to add content that’s 100% unique and your own.
What types of images do you want to add to your website?
Source Quick Sprout http://bit.ly/2shp4XW
Recession on the Horizon? Why This Economist Says the Fed Is a 'Villain' That's Causing a Disaster
Many investors have blamed the Fed for the sharp drop in stocks in the last three months...
Source CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2LYMoCL
Source CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2LYMoCL
The Balance Between Novelty and Stability – and How That Affects Your Dollars and Cents
Recently, I had a face-to-face conversation with a reader (yep, this happens every once in a while; I have a few readers in my local community that I’m not close friends with, but they recognize me and seem to always have some sort of question or topic to bring up in conversation) about the idea of having “everyday meals” for the family, something I mention often as a frugal strategy.
For those unclear, an “everyday meal” is just a meal that Sarah or I can prepare quickly and easily on any given weeknight that our family really likes. You might call it a “staple meal” or a “regular meal.” For us, those meals include things like spaghetti with tomato sauce, scrambled eggs and pancakes, chili, and tuna casserole. Both Sarah and I can whip those things out in a jiffy without even a second thought; the recipes are internalized and efficient.
This reader was pretty pointed: “don’t meals like that get boring?”
My gut instinct was to tell the reader “no” without really thinking about it, but instead I said, “Hmm… I’ll give that some thought,” and suggested a post on the topic might appear soon.
Over the next few weeks, I had some conversations with my family about the topic in a roundabout way. I mostly just asked for meal suggestions and asked what meals they liked the best.
Our three children were all pretty specific on what meals they liked the best. My youngest loves any sort of pasta and cheese combination – if it has pasta and cheese, he’s in. My middle child loves taco night above all else. My oldest loves chili and enchiladas above all else. Interestingly, if I have them pick a meal that they think all three of them will like, they’ll pick pizza, whether it’s homemade or picked up somewhere. My wife listed a litany of meals she really likes.
I asked them what they thought about trying different meals and the children were all okay with it as long as their favorites remained in regular rotation and I avoided certain specific foods. My wife is more on board with trying new things, but she also still wanted a few favorites in rotation. They all said that they like to try variations on the familiar dishes, like trying a chili variant or experimenting with a pizza, than something radically different.
It turns out that I’m probably the most adventurous and experimental eater in my family, but even I enjoy our “everyday meals.” I actually like varying them a little and trying new angles on the same old things (like experimenting with cheeses for the mac and cheese) and, when I have time, making things as “from scratch” as possible, like making fresh pasta for pasta night or making from-scratch bread or making my own vegetable stock (just soaking vegetable scraps in the slow cooker).
This realization, along with some Google searching, led me to this interesting article on Food52 by Amanda Hesser entitled “I’m the Food Expert, But My Kids Love My Husband’s Cooking.”
Her experience falls right in line with my own: Her family is fine with experimentation, but they end up putting a lot of value on regular repeated family meals. They’d rather have “daddy’s pasta” (rotelle pasta “wagon wheels” with a simple sauce) than something unusual or complex, and she often would, too:
“I’m an unabashed homebody. A comforting home and stability are things I have an almost desperate need to maintain. And yet, even when I have a home that feels comforting and right, I’m always itching to iterate and improve the physical space—to paint a wall, rearrange the furniture, recover the chairs. The same thing happens in my kitchen. I may love being in the kitchen and cooking for family, but I clearly can’t help myself from exploring some new taste, technique, or idea.
This urge for newness and evolution worked for me for many years. When I was a full-time writer, whose job was to constantly discover and write about what’s next, it was like feeding candy to my pathology.
Now that I have kids, though, to whom I feel an intense responsibility to nurture a sense of security — not to mention, to establish family traditions — my searching ways floundered. The night after the podcast interview, while “joking” about it over dinner, I asked the kids what dishes of mine they liked. They paused and looked at each other. It was difficult for them to conjure up anything specific.
Kids rarely need to be direct for their message to be loud and clear. If I wanted them to remember my cooking, I had to slow down, I had to repeat, I had to make food that they could count on. Like their daddy did with pasta.
Over the past few years, I’ve done just this. I’ve stuck with dishes, and I keep a folder of recipes we like to go back to again and again — Roberta’s garlic dressing, porchetta, and Thai steak salad.”
This made me think quite a bit about my own change in food habits during my life.
When I was growing up, my family definitely had regular meals that we repeated with frequency. I’m sure, looking back, that those meals were fairly convenient for my parents to make and that doing so had become, with practice, quite easy for them. There was another factor going on, though: it provided a touchstone of shared experience. There were certain dishes that we would have frequently that I would love to smell coming in the door, not just because they were delicious, but because they made me feel things like family and safety and comfort.
When I reached adulthood, that feeling basically went away unless I was visiting family. I either viewed food simply as forgettable fuel or I purely chased novelty by eating at a wide variety of expensive restaurants or preparing really fancy things at home on occasion, like a $30 grilled steak.
For all of the expensive meals I ate in my twenties, none of them filled me with the sense of familiarity and comfort that my mother’s humble tuna casserole would make me feel, or the smell of a fried egg cooked in just a bit of butter with a lot of black pepper on it. Those things made me feel something beyond mere food – they made me feel safe and loved and comfortable.
An expensive meal might be delicious, but it’s usually a one-shot thing simply because of the financial constraints of 99.9% of Americans. Thus, it can never create those feelings of home like humble dishes eaten frequently with loved ones can create.
There’s a clip at the end of the movie Ratatouille where the hardened food critic Anton Ego takes a bit of a dish prepared by the humble hero Remy. The dish is the titular “ratatouille,” a pretty humble dish that’s basically just a casserole of sliced vegetables, and Ego initially turns up his nose at it. But when he takes a bite… well, watch for yourself:
What does this hardened critic think of when he tries the dish? His mind doesn’t consider flavors or texture. Rather, he flashes back to his grandmother’s kitchen when he was a child. He has feelings of peace and love and comfort and family.
Those feelings don’t exist the first time you try a dish or even the third or fifth or tenth. Rather, they come from a body of positive experiences over time, and they can be triggered by the most humble of things. You don’t need an expensive restaurant meal to feel those feelings; in fact, you’ll almost never feel that way unless you’re a regular at a family-owned restaurant.
On the other hand, you can get that feeling from something as simple as an egg fried in a bit of butter with a bit of black pepper on it.
We’re really talking here about two different values that are at least somewhat in opposition to each other.
Novelty comes when you try a new experience. You’re interacting with new people. You’re trying a new meal. You’re going to a new store. You’re going to a new place. Those are enjoyable experiences – our brains like novelty. Yet, at the same time, novel experiences don’t last. They don’t scratch the same itch that familiar experiences do.
Stability, on the other hand, comes when you enjoy a familiar experience of some kind. You’re enjoying time with family or close friends. You’re eating a family favorite meal. You’re hanging out at a familiar haunt. Those are also enjoyable experiences and familiarity breeds enjoyment. Such experiences fulfill us in a completely different way than novelty does.
What’s really interesting to note here is that novelty is typically more expensive than familiarity. New products come with a price premium. They require additional travel because you’re familiar with the things in your area. Restaurants you haven’t tried before are often the expensive ones because you’ve already tried all of the regularly priced ones. This is not to say novelty is always more expensive than stability, but that it’s frequently the case.
What does all of this mean in terms of our finances, then?
First of all, it’s easier to be frugal if you have an appreciation for familiar experiences. If you hold familiar experiences in disdain or if your life history has made it difficult to build up familiar experiences, it’s hard to find appeal in them and you’re going to inherently seek novelty.
Remember, the psychological benefit of novelty is much easier to enjoy than the psychological benefit of stability and familiarity. Novelty can be experienced at pretty much any moment; stability and familiarity take time and a history of positive similar experiences.
So, in a practical sense, there is a great deal of frugal value in finding simple experiences you like and repeating them (or close variations on them) until the familiarity brings additional joy.
For example, I’ve come to love sitting in the soft brown chair in our house with several windows nearby and just reading a book. It is an experience I indulge in often and I get a great amount of joy out of that experience, not just because it feels good, but because it inherently reminds me of the many moments when it felt good in the past. It feels comforting to sit there with a book in my hand.
I feel it when I’m playing a familiar board game with close friends, where we all know the rules and we all feel comfortable with each other. I feel it when I’m making a pot of chili or a homemade pizza for my family and then we gather around the table and eat it together and talk about our day. I feel that warm stability in many experiences in my life, and I’ve come to intentionally notice it and value it.
Those types of experiences, because of their repetition, almost have to be very inexpensive or free out of necessity. If there was a significant cost in such a repeated experience, it would cause a great deal of financial damage, which brings me to my second point.
Constantly chasing novel experiences is hard on the wallet. If I want to eat at a new restaurant every night, that’s going to cost a lot of money over time. If I want to simply have something new for dinner every night, the cost of all of those different ingredients is going to add up (not to mention the time invested in constantly jumping from culinary technique to culinary technique without mastering any of them).
If I want to read the latest books constantly, I’m going to have to buy them, and popping $15 to $20 for a new hardcover once or twice a week adds up fast. If I want to play the latest board games constantly, I have to routinely spend $30 to $40. If I want to watch the latest movies constantly, I have to routinely spend $10 or $15 at the theater (I’d probably buy a movie pass, but it still adds up). You get the idea. A constant stream of novel experiences is expensive.
There’s an even bigger problem…
A costly novel experience that you start to repeat until it takes on some aspects of familiarity is a road to financial disaster. Let’s say you go to a coffee shop and it’s a wonderful novel experience. You decide to go again… and again… and again. Slowly, it starts to become a familiar and stable experience. You feel a certain comfort in that routine. The problem is that the routine is expensive and engaging in it with frequency is like acid on your budget.
Another element I’ve personally noticed is that most of the really valuable stable experiences I have in my life – things like familiar family dinners, familiar experiences with friends, and so on – are incredibly inexpensive ones. The family dinners that are really successful on all cylinders are ones where we’re gathered around the table with people we love and who love us, eating a food we all enjoy and basking in the afterglow of many such dinners before us that have built a certain bond. You can get some of that while chasing novelty at the latest restaurant, but you miss some of it, too, and you’re also hammering your wallet.
None of this is to say that novelty doesn’t have value. It does have tremendous value. Many of the joys of life are held in new experiences. Yet there are many elements of life that novelty can’t bring to the table and cultivating stability often provides those elements.
If you take one message home from all of this, it’s that novelty is fine, but there’s a tremendous financial value in appreciating the positive stable experiences in life. Find the small things you actually enjoy (not things that merely pass time), whether they’re shared experiences or solo experiences, and fill your life with them.
Repeat them, so that they take on a sense of familiarity and stability. Vary them, so that they don’t become boring, either – you wouldn’t read the same book over and over or watch the same television show over and over, but you might consistently read in your favorite chair or watch a new episode of a beloved program while cuddling with your partner.
Don’t abandon novelty – that would make life dull – but don’t overlook or abandon the many values of stability and what it can bring, too. Enjoy that simple comfort food with family. Enjoy that comfortable chair and a book from the library from your favorite author. There’s incredible value to be found in that kind of stability and it won’t erode your finances.
Good luck.
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The post The Balance Between Novelty and Stability – and How That Affects Your Dollars and Cents appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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Turn your hobby into a successful business
Ever dreamt of ditching the nine-to-five in favour of making a part-time hobby a full-time reality? Four successful small business owners share their tips on how to make it work
Returning to work after Christmas is never fun but what if you didn’t have to scrape the ice off the car and drive to the office, and instead your job was working from home, doing something you loved?
This is a reality for millions of people who run their own small businesses, many of which have started as a hobby, and in 2017 there were almost six million small businesses registered in the UK.
On Christmas Day 2012, Sanjay Aggarwal, 35, and his mother Shashi, 66, the founders of Spice Kitchen, did exactly this.
After retiring 12 years earlier, Shashi was looking for something to do to keep her occupied. She and Sanjay, came up with the idea of selling traditional Indian spice boxes, small tins filled with collections of natural spices, online.
Spice Kitchen founders Sanjay Aggarwal, 35, and his mother Shashi, 66. Photos copyright: Lucy Ridges
As a joke, Sanjay listed a spice box on eBay to see if there would be any interest. By Boxing Day, someone had bought it. They then spent the next few days trying to find somewhere locally in Walsall, in the West Midlands, that sold these boxes to send to the buyer, which they did, and this is where the business started.
The tins are now sourced from India and the spices bought wholesale and then ground at home, using Shashi’s traditional 100-year-old spice grinder.
In 2013, Sanjay set up a website and in 2015 the duo won a competition for a free stand at the BBC food show in London. For four days, they sold their spice tins at the stall and were blown away by the success.
“My mum had cut up an old sari to wrap around the spice tins for decoration and everyone who bought one also wanted the fabric, which she still sews herself, so after the show I told her she’d need to start cutting up more saris,” he says.
Two years ago, Sanjay started working full-time for the business, having previously run a number of other small companies, and they’ve now moved the production out of his mum’s house and into a small factory. It now has 280 stockists and they have recently secured a place at Ocado and Booths supermarkets.
“We didn’t go into the business to make money, it was always meant to be a retirement hobby for my mum,” says Sanjay who hopes it will have a £1 million turnover in the next four or five years.
"You need to spend money and scale up in order to make it"
His advice to those wanting to make the leap is to look at the bigger picture. “You can’t get overly stressed by small things, instead take a longer-term approach and make sure you’re putting yourself out there. You need to spend money and scale up in order to make it,” he adds.
Simon Cavill, 58, owner of Bee Good, has had a slightly different route to success. He has been a beekeeper since 2004; it started as a hobby while he was working full time in the high-tech industry.
One day Simon and his wife, Caroline, 52, who live in Hampshire, were trying to see what else they could make with the honey and beeswax they produced.
Through his membership of a local beekeeping association, Simon got hold of a book by Hannah Glasse, dating from 1744, which included a number of recipes and beauty treatments that he used as inspiration. They made a lip balm and a skin cream, and sold these at local fêtes, farmers' markets and fairs.
Bee Good founder Simon Cavill, 58, and his wife Caroline 52, with a range of their honey and beeswax products
“It was just a hobby to start with, but when I was thinking about retirement a few friends suggested making it a full-time business.
“We pitched to Waitrose without even having a product, just a few samples and a design. They told us if we could make it in six weeks they would take it. We did and now it’s sold at around 130 shops across the country,” he says.
The products are also sold online in the UK and Europe, and Bee Good has won several awards. Simon hopes to break into the US market in the future.
“It’s a huge step, moving from being an amateur to a small business, a bit like changing from a go-cart driver to a Formula One racer, and there is so much to learn,” he says.
The key to turning a hobby into a full-time business is being “very, very stubborn” Simon says, and to just keep going.
“There are times when you wake up at night in a cold sweat worrying about how something will work but the next day you have to just turn up and you have to keep going,” he adds.
In order to make a hobby into a successful business, not only do you have to persevere, you need to have a product other people will buy, says Kate Jenkins, 49, founder of Gower Cottage Brownies.
Kate started the business 12 years ago after selling her brownies at a local village shop.
After entering the brownies into a competition, which she won, Kate spent £200 setting up a website; she then wrote a press release and sent it, with a box of brownies, to 10 food editors. Within weeks, all of them had written up her story and the orders began to flow in.
At the start Kate baked everything herself, with help from her husband and two young children, but she now has three full-time staff and a number of flexi-staff, all of whom are local mums.
Gower Cottage Brownies founder Kate Jenkins, 49. Photo copyright Emma Howells-Protheroe
The business now has 16,000 online customers, but Kate admits there have been issues to overcome. These include a large firm trying to stop her using the word ‘brownie’ in the business name, which after gaining press attention, the objection was withdrawn, and a number of Royal Mail strikes, which she says “could have sent the business under within six months”.
Kate also points out all the hidden costs which need to be accounted for, including heating, lighting and packaging, and she lists the three key ingredients as being a good service, a good product, and a fair price.
“Make sure people will buy what you want to sell, and that it’s not just your friends and family who like it,” she adds.
Many people begin a small business by working on it in their spare time and at the weekends.
Sinead Starrs, 32, from Dublin, set up her business while working full time and admits the first year was “absolutely horrendous”, as she spent every moment when not at her day job working for the business.
When she got engaged she was living in Australia and had to plan the wedding, which took place in Dublin and Spain, from the other side of the world.
Although she planned everything meticulously, and the weather in Spain was gloriously hot in the lead-up to the wedding, it poured down on the day. While standing at the end of the aisle she realised she hadn’t bought umbrellas, partly because she hadn’t found the ones she wanted and because she never thought she would need them in Spain.
This was the start of her business idea and she now runs the successful, international website The Lovely Little Label, which sells more than 200 different wedding accessories from her home.
On her 30th birthday, Sinead took a day off work and set up her website and came up with the name of the company. The first thing she bought was £500 worth of white umbrellas, and within a week they had been sold, so she reinvested this money in more products (see below).
Top left: Sinead Starrs, photo by Rashida Keenan, Bottom: robes by The Lovely Little Label, photo by Marianne Taylor. Bottom right: Sinead with her husband, photo by Kris McGuirk
When Black Friday was approaching, she decided to write and send a press release to her local newspaper about a discount she was offering on the website.
The journalist printed a small section about the website and she had a huge rush of customers buying her products online. There was so much interest, in fact, she had to take a week off work in order to fulfil all of the orders, which were not just from Ireland but from the UK and other European countries.
Shortly after this, she decided she couldn’t continue in her full-time job, working in finance for a pharmaceutical company, and started with the business full time.
“One of my biggest mistakes was paying out for a service that didn’t come through, this has happened a couple of times when I’ve paid out for an agency to push up my traffic and it hasn’t worked,” she said.
Spending money on something that doesn’t work out was a hard lesson for Sinead as she found at the start that cash flow was tricky and she didn’t have money to waste.
Her top tip for those wanting to make the leap into starting a small business is not to take massive risks but to “take the kind of small risks that give you butterflies, those which wouldn’t be too disastrous if they didn’t work out”, she says.
Now she receives orders from couples all around the world and she’s currently looking to rent a warehouse to keep her stock. “It’s a little bit crazy at the moment, the house has been taken over by wedding accessories and packaging and in the new year I’ll need to find somewhere to keep it all.”
Consider specialist insurance
If you’re setting up a small business, you will need insurance, and the type you buy will depend on the nature of the business.
“Most businesses have some interaction with the public, so public liability covers you if, due to your business activities, you accidentally injure a member of the public. However, it doesn’t cover an employee working for you," explains Gary Holmes, spokesperson for insurer Direct Line for Business.
If you’re employing staff, you’ll need employer’s liability insurance and if you’re selling products you will need products liability insurance to cover for injury or illness caused by the products that you sell.
The most common way to trade as a business is as a sole trader
Contents and stock insurance will cover your stock if anything happens such as a fire, flood or burglary. Business interruption cover can also protect you for loss of turnover if you are unable to trade due to damage to the property that you have insured.
“Even if you sell your products at fairs or market stalls and only want insurance for a short period of time, a claim could arise from the product being used or eaten at a future date after it was sold, so it’s important to have cover in place should something happen further down the line,” Mr Holmes adds.
A number of insurers sell business insurance, including Direct Line and Aviva, however it’s worth comparing the cost with specialist insurers and checking cover limits to make sure you have enough protection.
Paying tax on your business
The most common way to trade as a business is as a sole trader, which can be done via HMRC.
If there are other people involved, it can be set up as a partnership, a limited liability partnership (LLC) or a limited company.
While it’s most common to be a sole trader, “if the business is high-risk and the person wants to protect their personal assets then an LLP or Ltd Co format is likely to be the best option,” explains Matthew Brown, technical officer at the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
The most important thing is to keep records of all activity and income. You won’t need to pay tax until 31 January after the end of the tax year when the business started. At this point you’ll pay tax on the profit made in the first tax year, plus 50% more, which is a payment for tax due on the profits for the next tax year.
Assuming there is no other income, you’ll be taxed at 20%, 40% or 45%, depending on level of income, and class-2 and class-4 national insurance payments are paid at the same time.
Rebecca Goodman writes for publications including This is Money, MailOnline, The Sun and LoveMONEY.com.
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Source Moneywise http://bit.ly/2LZqW0i
Why can’t I write a cheque in blue ink?
Moneywise helps a reader trying to pay in cheques
I run two charities and tried to pay some cheques into my bank this morning. My charities both bank with CAF (Charities Aid Foundation), which uses HSBC as its clearing house. HSBC has closed its local branch, so it is now about seven or eight miles to my nearest branch.
The teller said that the bank had a new system for accepting cheques and that those written in blue ink might be rejected and returned to us. Other people in the queue were as appalled as I was.
As a charity, we receive lots of cheques through the post without a covering note, so it could be difficult to track down the payee. Surely as long as the writing is clear and legible, then any scanner should recognise the information on the cheque?
The cheques I was paying in had come from a funeral, so I can hardly go back to the deceased’s family and ask them for replacement cheques.
If this doesn’t change, I will have to move both charities’ banking to another bank, as around 50% of our cheques are written in colours other than black.
BC/Cornwall
It appears there has been a miscommunication and the bank said it will accept cheques written in blue ink. It seems that a member of staff may have been over-enthusiastic about encouraging cheques to be written in black ink.
HSBC told me: “It is not clear how this misunderstanding came about, but all of our staff have been fully briefed on cheque imaging and are now starting to talk to customers about the new way of depositing cheques.
Blue ink is not a problem at any branch. While other coloured ink on a cheque would still be accepted, like other industries where scanning is used – such as Royal Mail – the darker and more pronounced the writing, the less chance of there being an issue during scanning and processing.”
Apparently, black is best, blue is fine, but red or green might not be seen.
OUTCOME: Cheques written in blue ink are still welcome
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Source Moneywise http://bit.ly/2Rfjkgm
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