الجمعة، 22 مارس 2019
Tyson recalls chicken strips due to metal fears
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Trump Picks Stephen Moore from Heritage Foundation for Federal Reserve Board
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The Ultimate Guide to Babysitting (Plus How to Command a Higher Rate)
Years ago, I worked as a live-in babysitter for a couple of months. I didn’t have to dress up like Mrs. Doubtfire, and the kids were OK, but the experience still might be part of why I chose to never have children.
However, if you like being around kids more than I do, you could make decent money as a baby sitter. By the end of 2018, Care.com found that the national average hourly rate for a baby sitter was $15.83, which was more than a 30% increase from $12.07 rate in 2013.
And that’s just the base rate. But more on that later.
All this is to say that babysitting is no longer just a business for teenagers; as an adult, you may be more likely to find work.
Thinking of adding a babysitting side hustle to your income? Here’s what you need to know.
How to Become a Babysitter
What makes a good babysitter? Yes, you should like children. But it’s not all fun and games, according to Connie Fong, vice president of brand, Care.com, who notes that newbies to babysitting should brush up on those invaluable soft skills.
“Taking introductory courses can help aspiring sitters learn the key skills to babysitting, like responsibility, problem-solving, decision-making and leadership,” Fong said in an email. “Places like the American Red Cross offer classes in child care that cover the basics of caring for kids and even better, many classes can be found online.”
When you’re just getting started, word-of-mouth is one of the best ways to boost your babysitting business and to find new customers. Provide great service to friends, family and neighbors, then ask them to refer you to their network of parents.
Depending on your location, you may find opportunities posted on Monster.com and Indeed.com. You can advertise your services for free on Craigslist.
If you don’t want to go it alone, there are several online platforms specifically set up for connecting parents and baby sitters, including Care.com and Sittercity. Both offer free membership options as well as paid versions that include background checks and improved placement.
When setting up your profile on babysitting sites, include more than the basic facts to attract parents who are looking for specific work history and personality traits that are a good match for their family, according to Fong.
“Share information beyond, ‘I like caring for kids,’” Fong wrote in her email. “[Babysitters should] include more specific details such as their years of experience, the types of responsibilities they have had, and special skills or passions that may help with the job.”
So maybe all those arts & crafts classes could finally pay off.
How Much Can Babysitters Make?
Your pay rate will depend on a variety of factors, including the following:
- Location. You can charge more in cities with a higher cost of living. The Care.com calculator suggests the rate for babysitting one child in San Francisco, California, is $21 per hour, while in Toledo, Ohio, the going rate is $13.50 an hour.
- Number of kids. You can typically charge $1 or $2 more per hour, per kid.
- Age of sitter. Adults earn more.
- Time. Late night and on-demand schedules typically result in higher pay. You can also charge a premium for high-demand nights like New Year’s Eve.
- Additional qualifications. “According to a 2017 Care.com Babysitter Survey, 66% of parents say they would pay more for a sitter with CPR and safety training,” Fong wrote.
- Additional responsibilities. You can charge a higher rate for going above and beyond regular babysitting duties, such as picking the kids up from school or helping with homework.
Which Should You Be: Babysitter, Nanny or Daycare?
The line between being a baby sitter and a nanny can be a tough one to determine, but the more important question is whether you’re an independent contractor or a household employee.
First, if you don’t get paid more than $2,100 by any one client in a year, you’ll normally be considered an independent contractor, which means you’ll need to pay the self-employment tax along with your income tax.
If you earn more than $2,100 per year from one client, then the IRS considers in-home caregivers to be household employees, which means your employer has tax-compliance responsibilities like payroll taxes.
However, the IRS says, “A worker who performs child care services for you in his or her home generally is not your employee.” So babysitting in your own home makes it clearer that you’re an independent contractor and that the parents won’t need to deal with payroll taxes.
If you do decide to babysit kids in your home, you might be classified as a daycare operator, in which case you may need a license and have other legal complications. Each state has its own laws covering daycare, and you’ll want to make sure you’re on the right side of them.
For example, child care law in Illinois specifies that you need a license from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) if you care for more than three children (your own are included if they’re under 12 years old). So if you live in Illinois and want to avoid the need for a daycare license, simply limit your service to watching three or fewer kids.
Consult a tax specialist if you’re in doubt about your status.
Whatever path you choose — babysitter, nanny, daycare provider — there’s plenty of responsibility involved when it comes to caring for other people’s children, so it shouldn’t be a job you enter into half-heartedly.
You may not be able to retire early on a baby sitter’s income, but expect your bonuses to come in the form of hugs and cookies — not a bad deal.
Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror, and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (so far).
Tiffany Wendeln Connors, a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder, contributed to this post.
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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Save Up to 30% on Your Power Bills with this 2-Minute Trick
It’d be nice if you could run your home on clean energy without installing a bunch of expensive solar panels on your roof — or a giant wind turbine.
Come to think of it, it would be nice to save money on your power bills, too.
We’ve found a way you can do both, and it’s surprisingly easy. It takes all of two minutes to sign up for it.
The energy company Arcadia Power automatically finds you lower rates to reduce your electric bill up to 30%.
One of the Simplest Ways to Lower Your Power Bill
A dozen states across the country have open energy markets where you can shop around for an energy provider. But that can be complicated, and ordinary consumers like you and me have to watch out for hidden rate hikes, complex contracts or outright misinformation.
Arcadia Power does all that for you. It’ll monitor the energy market in your area then send you price alerts when it finds you a better deal.
Arcadia says it saves members as much as 30% on their power bills by switching their energy provider.
Once Arcadia finds you a better rate, it’ll send you an email with details about the new rate and estimated annual savings. Its motto is, “We do all the work, you save all the money.”
Currently, there are 12 states that let you shop around for electricity — Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming. Several other states might be moving toward that practice.
Hey, You Can Help Save the Planet, Too
Don’t live in one of those 12 states? With Arcadia, you can also offset your monthly electricity consumption with 100% renewable energy sources — no matter what state you live in.
The company matches each kilowatt-hour of power you use with a kilowatt-hour of wind or solar energy. Basically, it allows you to buy into wind farms and solar panels installed elsewhere.
Still on the fence? Here’s the kicker: When you sign up your home or apartment (yup, renters are eligible, too!) with Arcadia, you’ll get a free $20 Amazon gift card.
Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. His home is powered by natural gas and nuclear plants, while he is powered solely by caffeine.
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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Dear Penny: I Want to Retire Someday… but I Live Paycheck to Paycheck
Dear S.,
This cycle is common for so many people striving to improve their finances: one step forward, two steps back.
Save some money, then use it all almost immediately for necessary expenses. Contribute to a retirement account, then wonder if you would be better off just using the cash now. Cut back on expenses, then find out the cost of your essentials is going up.
Making more money to create a cushion only works for people who have the perfect combination of time, energy, skills and equipment to do so. I, too, have struggled to make ends meet with just two or three of the parts of that perfect combination. It doesn’t feel like hustling. It feels like drowning.
It’s great that you have some retirement savings, and I’m glad you didn’t suggest emptying out those accounts for cash. The penalties just aren’t worth it if you have retirement coming in the next 10 to 20 years.
So let’s look at conquering your debt bit by bit. If you have a solid credit score (at least 620), you can probably get a personal loan to consolidate some of your debts. Some of these loans are tailored specifically to move scattered student loan payments into one monthly payment.
Others let you use the funds to pay any bill — whether it’s credit, medical or some other big tab — and they’ll help you pay it off over several years. In both cases, interest rates are often lower than you’d be paying otherwise, depending on your credit.
If your credit history precludes you from consolidating your debt, consider credit counseling. To find someone near you who’s qualified, visit the online directories of the Financial Counseling Association of America or the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. A credit counselor can review your situation and tell you if there are any ways to lighten the burden.
You also may be eligible for a debt management program. These programs are similar to the consolidation option above in that they reduce your interest rate or spread your payments across a longer period.
The process of moving from a paycheck-to-paycheck feeling of desperation to a more comfortable, confident outlook will take time — likely years. But if you can maintain your determination through it all, you may find that being able to retire is a reality instead of a far-off dream.
Have a tricky money question? Write to Dear Penny and you might see your question answered in an upcoming column.
Lisa Rowan is a personal finance expert and senior writer at The Penny Hoarder, and the voice behind Dear Penny.
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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Simple Living, Big Ambitions
A topic that has come up (in somewhat different forms) independently in several different areas of my life recently is that of trying to balance the idea of simple and frugal living with living an ambitious life.
Let’s say, for example, that you have enormous career ambitions. You want to be CEO of a company, or maybe you want to design the next product that literally everyone’s using. You have huge career goals and dream of all of the trappings that will come with it.
Maybe you have other big goals, like running for Congress. Maybe you’re part of a homeschooling collective and also want to run a side business. Maybe you want to be a great writer whose pieces are read by tens of thousands.
Perhaps you simply dream of living a life that has a perfect balance of family, marriage, parenting, social time, interesting career, hobbies, and community projects.
All of those things are ambitious. All of those things are a serious draw on a person’s focus. All of those things add difficult wrinkles to a person’s everyday life.
How do those things square up with frugality or the idea of “simple living”? How can a person on a fast career track or with a bunch of sprawling ambitions lead a simple and frugal life?
I think that Sarah and I come as close as anyone I know to achieving this balance.
Sarah and I both have careers. We work at maintaining our marriage. We’re parents to three school aged children. Sarah and I are both involved in the community and both currently hold and have held leadership positions in the past. We have large social networks – I’ve had more than a dozen friends over for dinner parties in just the last week. We both have involved hobbies that we’re passionate about.
At the same time, I actually think of my life as being pretty simple. We live well below our means and save a pretty sizable portion of our income. I (mostly) have time for the things I want to do in my life, though I do have a sizable someday/maybe list. We eat most of our meals at home with our family gathered around the table together at least once a day (on schooldays) and often two or three times a day (on weekends).
How do we achieve that balance? Here are some things that I’ve figured out over the years.
I want to start by talking about how we view frugality. Frugality, to us, means maximizing the value of one’s dollar. It means spending as little as possible in the areas we don’t care about so that we always have money for the things that we do care about. We do our best to reflect that principle in all of our spending choices.
For example, we buy a lot of store brand items for most of our household needs and many of our food needs. We’re really careful about major purchases and take our time with them, doing research and shopping around. We go dirt cheap on the things that aren’t a big deal to us, and we often don’t spend money at all on non-essential things that aren’t in line with what we care about.
The fundamental key here is having a strong grip on what’s actually important to us and what isn’t. At the point in our lives when we got into real financial trouble, we didn’t have a strong grip on what mattered and what didn’t. We felt the need to have “the best” of everything, even in areas we didn’t really care about. Whenever we were idle, we felt the “need” to treat ourselves, even when we didn’t really want anything. Impulsive desires often ruled the day and often ruled our spending choices, even though those impulses would fade really quickly.
The big shift in our spending occurred when we realized that the number of things we actually really cared about in the long term of our life was rather small. There were lots of things we impulsively desired, but those impulses never stuck around. In the bad old days, we’d dive into those impulses, spending our money on them and then wondering where it all went. Now, we basically just say no to almost all of those impulses. This makes the rare impulsive thing really special, for one, but it also means that we have an abundance of money for the other things in our life.
Here’s the thing: this philosophy of frugality spreads out to one’s entire life. The basics are clear: spend minimal time and energy on the portions of your life that you don’t care about so that you have plenty of time and energy for the portions of your life that you do care about.
This required me to sit down and ask myself what parts of my life were really truly important to me. What parts did I want to succeed strongly in? Which parts did I not really care about that much?
Here’s the thing: if you try to succeed strongly at everything, you’re going to fail. There simply isn’t enough time and energy in a given life to succeed at every single thing that you might want to succeed at. It doesn’t exist.
A much better approach is this one. Consider your life as a whole. What three things do you really want to be known for, above all else? What three words do you want written on your tombstone?
Everything else is secondary. Everything else should be lived as simply as possible, in terms of minimum commitments of time and energy.
For me, the three words I think I want on my tombstone right now are father, husband, and mentor. Everything else is secondary to those to me and are often seen by me in terms of how they can help me fulfill those main three words.
So, what does that mean for the rest of my life?
I want simple routines in terms of my basic life requirements. For example, I have no need to dress fancy to fulfill those roles most of the time, so I have a very straightforward wardrobe that makes me dress pretty much the same every day. It’s presentable and very simple. Being “fashionable” or “well dressed” isn’t going to be on my tombstone.
I aim to avoid spending time on anything that’s either not in line with those key roles or isn’t recharging me to be maximally effective at those key roles. Hobby time, for example, should either be really effective at recharging me or else it’s something I’m actively doing with people for whom I’m either a parent, a spouse, or a mentor of some kind. This actually has a lot of implications. Here are some of them:
+ I rarely watch television except as a family event
+ I try to read books that will help me grow as a person
+ I exercise to keep my body and mind healthy, and I often exercise with family
+ I try to eat healthy simple meals
+ If I’m tired, I go to bed rather than trying to eke out another hour of low productivity (which also means I wake up with an hour’s less sleep, which makes tomorrow bad)
+ I try to make all household tasks as efficient as possible, which leads into things like just defaulting to buying store brands when grocery store
I regularly put aside time to rethink the big goals of my life. This is the kind of “big picture” thinking that a lot of people skip out on. Once every three months, I spend a few hours really reflecting on my life as a whole. Am I happy with how things are? Am I happy with where I’m headed? It’s okay if the answers aren’t positive. It gives me a chance to change or update those big goals I have in my life.
While many of these specific strategies are practical ones, they all come back to one key idea: focus on a few areas of your life that really matter to you and simplify everything else in terms of money, time, focus, and energy. For me, the best way to do that is to cut out things where I’m just idling without purpose, make ordinary tasks into the simplest routines I can, get plenty of sleep, do things that maintain health and energy, and minimize my financial spending on things that aren’t either directly a part of those big goals or directly supporting those big goals.
The reality is that you can’t have everything in life. You can’t simultaneously hit a grand slam in every single area of your life. There isn’t the time nor the energy for it. Rather, choose a few areas of your life where you really want to hit a grand slam, make them the focus, and then go super simple in all of the other areas. This is basically the philosophy of frugality applied beyond money – it’s applied to time, energy, and focus, too.
Good luck!
The post Simple Living, Big Ambitions appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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10 Slip-Ups that could void your home insurance
From failing to clear the gutters to taking a long holiday, we reveal the things that could backfire if you have to make a claim
Having your property damaged in a fire, flood or storm – or discovering you have been burgled – is distressing. But as long as you have buildings and contents insurance, you should be able to claim back any costs, minus your excess charge.
However, not every claim is accepted and there are things you may or may not be doing, even unwittingly, that could invalidate your cover. Here, we take a closer look at common reasons why insurers might reject your claim.
1. Not keeping your home in good repair
You may think the state of your home is none of your insurer’s business. However, it could be used as a reason for rejecting an insurance claim.
For example, an insurer could reject a claim for water damage caused over a period of time by a blocked or leaking gutter as the damage could have been prevented if you had maintained the gutter.
Insurance also doesn’t cover you for normal wear and tear to your home. It is there to help when the unexpected happens.
Sarah Cordey, senior campaigns officer at the Association of British Insurers, says: “Insurance is not a maintenance contract. You have a responsibility to look after your property.”
2. Renovating your home
If you are having work carried out on your property – such as converting a loft into a bedroom – there is so much to think about that contacting your insurer could be the last thing on your mind. However, not doing so could leave you unprotected.
Ben Wilson, home insurance expert at GoCompare, says: “Your policy document will have terms and conditions which include the requirement to notify your insurer of building work being carried out.”
Insurers may view building work as an increased risk – both during the work and once it is completed.
Ian Crowder, home insurance expert at the AA, says: “You might have ladders and scaffolding around your home, which could make it easier for a thief to gain entry. Equally, once the work is done you might end up with more bedrooms, which will also affect your cover.”
Your premium may rise for the duration of the works, depending on the extent of the changes. It could also increase permanently on completion.
3. Carrying out DIY work
If you plan to try your hand at DIY, check your home insurance before opening your tool box.
Most policies won’t cover you as standard for accidental damage – so if you drill through a water pipe, you could find yourself out of pocket.
Ms Cordey says: “You can’t claim for a problem caused by a DIY mishap if you didn’t pay for accidental damage cover in the first place.”
Some insurers will offer accidental damage as an optional extra, so look into paying for this cover before you start your DIY project.
4. Going on a long holiday
Most home insurance policies will include a condition that you can’t be away from your property for long periods of time, usually between 30 and 60 days.
Shaune Worrall, technical services manager at the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA), says: “Unoccupied properties may be treated cautiously by insurers as they may attract malicious damage or theft – and even arson. In cold periods, pipes can freeze and burst.”
The key is to read your insurer’s Ts&Cs, as some insurers will allow you to be leave your home unoccupied for longer periods – provided you tell them. Some may with certain conditions, such as keeping the heating maintained at 15˚C, ensuring alarms are activated and the property is inspected every week.
5. Underestimating the value of your possessions
Being underinsured – either inadvertently or deliberately in a bid to save money – could cause major issues if your home gets damaged in a disaster such as a fire or flood.
Your insurer may penalise you with a discounted settlement on the grounds you were not covered for the correct value of goods or void your policy entirely.
Mr Crowder says: “In the event of a significant claim, the payout will be discounted by the estimated level of underinsurance. So if your house went up in flames and your contents were actually worth twice the value of cover, you will be paid only half the claim.”
6. Failing to itemise valuables
You need to be aware that as well as an overall limit, most home insurance policies will have a single item limit, usually up to around £1,500.
Mr Wilson says: “If an item is valued higher than this, you will need to arrange for it to be specifically included on the policy.”
This might include valuables, such as engagement rings, cufflinks and expensive gadgets. Remember to keep receipts or valuations to prove ownership in the event of a claim.
If items are not specified, you might not receive a payout if they are stolen or damaged – or certainly not for the full value.
7. Renting out a room
If you have someone living in your home paying rent to live with you, you need to tell your insurance company.
Sarika Thanki, spokesperson for Halifax Insurance, says: “Before letting out a room to a lodger, you should let your insurer know in order to make sure you are properly covered. Your insurer will view the property as being more vulnerable to accidental damage and theft.
If you fail to tell your insurer and your home gets damaged, you may find your claim is rejected – or insurance policy cancelled altogether.
8. Running a business from home
While there is no issue with working from home occasionally, if you’re running a business from home you need to talk to your insurer.
Clients coming and going, and stock stored on the premises, could mean an increased risk of theft.
Simon Henrick, head of news at insurer Direct Line, says: “Office equipment may well be covered within a standard policy, but employees, business stock and larger machinery will not.”
Scour the terms and conditions to see whether more specialist cover is needed.
9. Fitting an alarm but not using it
If you’ve told your insurer that your home is fitted with an alarm, you must use it. If not and your home gets burgled, your insurer may reduce the payout or refuse to pay out at all. The same applies to window locks.
If not, it could be seen as ‘contributory negligence’ and your insurance could be deemed invalid.
10. Failing to report a crime quickly
If you need to claim on your home insurance it is vital you follow the procedure detailed in your policy documents. Thefts must be reported to the police within 24 hours in order to obtain a crime number. You will need this number to pass on to your insurer, so it can proceed with the claim.
Will an insurer pay out if you make an honest mistake?
Insurers are subject to new laws that set out four categories of non-disclosure: deliberate, reckless, innocent and inadvertent.
• Deliberate non-disclosure is where you provide information you know to be untrue or incomplete.
• Reckless non-disclosure is where you mislead the insurer by recklessly giving answers without caring whether those answers are true or false. In these scenarios, the insurer may avoid the contract, refuse all claims, and not return any of the premium paid.
• Innocent non-disclosure is when a customer acts in good faith, but falls into this category perhaps because the insurer’s question is unclear or ambiguous, or because the relevant information is not something they should reasonably know. In this scenario, an insurer will not be able to ‘avoid’ the contract and should pay claims.
• Inadvertent non-disclosure is when a customer acts in good faith and unintentionally misleads the insurer. This can occur just by failing to read and check the questions and answers thoroughly enough. Here, insurers may re-write the insurance on the terms they would originally have offered it they had been aware of all the information. In some cases, this may result in a smaller payout or no payment at all.
If non-disclosure occurs, you should demonstrate it was unintentional. The British Insurance Brokers’ Association comes up with the following example: If a person forgot to list a high-value item to a new insurer and then came to make a claim, but could show from their previous insurer’s policy schedule that the item was insured – and that the value isn’t significantly different – it would be reasonable to think that the non-disclosure was unintentional.
Can insurers reject your claim if you fail to declare an unrelated issue?
While insurers should not be looking for ways to decline a claim, you need to consider the whole picture.
For example, if your home is in a poor state of repair, this could increase the chance of you getting burgled – and this could be an issue if you try to make a claim.
Insurers cannot reject your claim for things that are totally unconnected. That said, you need to tread carefully if, for example, during a claim for subsidence, the insurers found out you had lied about having a burglar alarm – which may have given you a lower premium.
Insurers may reject the claim on the basis of giving false information, even if having a burglar alarm makes no difference to a claim for subsidence.
Five tips on buying and claiming insurance
• Buy the right policy. Check the excesses, cover limits and exclusions. Don’t just buy on price.
• Always read the small print including the key facts and exclusions.
• Don’t try to withhold information as it may lead to claims being rejected and your cover being invalidated.
• If you have any specialist requirements, speak to a broker. Visit the British the BIBA (Biba.org.uk) to find a broker.
• Don’t exaggerate the value of your claim or tell fibs. If your insurer finds you have been dishonest with any part of a claim, it is entitled to decline the whole claim – and you may have difficulty getting insurance in the future.
ESTHER SHAW is a freelance personal finance journalist who writes for publications including the Sunday Express and Sunday Times
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