Gamers: Your Video Game Hobby Can Also Earn You Real Income

It was overtime, a tight match-up between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants. The Giants had third-and-3 at their own 30.

Then, a miracle play: a catch-and-run with a perfectly executed juke of a Philly defender. The announcer screamed, “We have a walk-off. Ten. Five. Touchdown!”

Christian Lomenzo, 21, set his controller down in shock. He stood up, put on his Giants cap and raised the Madden Challenge Championship belt above his head. He had just won his first major video game tournament.

And $35,000.

When Lomenzo started playing games at 8 years old, he never thought of gaming as a career path or a way to make money. Like most Americans, he played for fun and with friends. Even until the very last play of the Madden NFL championship, he wasn’t really thinking about the money.

“Going into the tournament, and during the tournament and even during the play before I won, the last thing on my mind was winning,” said Lomenzo, who goes by the moniker Chitobin online. “All I was thinking about was getting the first down.”

Video game tournaments, such as Electronic Arts’ (EA) Madden Championships, have never been more popular, and gaming companies are raking in the profits. Though it’s considered a pillar company of the gaming industry, EA’s competitions are dwarfed by companies like Riot Games, the makers of League of Legends, and Blizzard, the makers of StarCraft and Warcraft. Their esports events are international spectacles.

But First, What Are Esports?

Simply put, esports are video game tournaments with highly skilled players who are considered  athletes. EA flew Lomenzo to California for an all-expenses-paid trip to play in the Madden Championships at its brand new, state-of-the-art esports broadcast studio. For international tournaments, players are granted esports visas to travel and compete.

The video games themselves don’t necessarily have anything to do with actual sports. Some of the most popular games are called Massive Online Battle Arenas (MOBAs), which are usually fantasy or sci-fi in nature, or First Person Shooters (FPS), which tend to be more realistic, wartime games — or a mixture of both. (See: Apex Legends and Overwatch.) These games are typically played on the PC and are team-based. They have objectives as simple as eliminating the other team or as complex as plotting hours-long strategies to capture an opponent’s base.

They’re approachable enough for everyday gamers to play, but professionals spend thousands of hours learning the intricacies of the games’ design to develop heightened reflexes and sophisticated strategies.

Of course, there are plenty of video games about sports too, like FIFA, Madden, NBA 2K and UFC. Just like real sports, there are millions of fans who to tune in online to watch these virtual athletes running, kicking and wrestling.

But those MOBA tournaments are more popular A lot more. Hundreds of millions of worldwide fans watch them, rivaling the viewership of real-life sporting events.

The 2018 League of Legends World Championship was held in South Korea, and at its peak reached 200 million viewers. The 2018 Super Bowl, by contrast, drew a little more than 103 million.

What all this means is that there are ever-growing ways to make money playing video games — but not only in playing them. Video-game-related careers are surging. For big-ticket tournaments, there’s a need for announcers, scouters, coaches, marketers, broadcasters and all of the necessary people to create and maintain the video game. Augmented reality, virtual reality and video game data analytics are career paths poised to explode in the near future, as well.

Esports Earnings

By winning the penultimate Madden Championship, Lomenzo raked in $35,000 and automatically qualified for one of 16 spots in the Madden Bowl. The first-place prize for that competition is $40,000, but every contestant on the roster is guaranteed something. Even the player who places 16 out of 16 will walk away with $5,000.

Compared to the bigger tournaments, the Madden Bowl’s cash prizes are peanuts. The winners of the 2018 League of Legends (LoL) championship earned $2.4 million (out of a prize pool of about $6.5 million). In LoL, the teams include five players, meaning each player could win upward of $500,000 for the championship match.

Later this year, Epic Games is holding the first ever Fortnite World Cup in New York City, and it’s offering a total cash prize of $100 million over the course of all qualifying rounds, finals and the main event. In 2018 alone, Epic Games banked $3 billion in revenue for a game that is completely free to download and play.

As video games become a prime source of entertainment, the industry is making more money than it knows what to do with.

Edward Castronova, a video-game economist, author and media studies professor at Indiana University, predicts that by the mid 2020s, these free-to-play gaming companies will actually pay casual users to play.

In a whitepaper Castronova penned in 2016, he argued that the effects of automation and AI will transform video gaming into a viable job option for displaced workers. And his predictions already seem to be coming true.

Such large cash payouts for tournaments are evidence that the gaming industry is flirting with a business model that pays its players. But what Castronova expects to see is not the pros getting all the money, but the everyday gamers.

“The companies will pay them small amounts to just be there, in the game, while the big shots make all the noise,” Castronova said. “Those [casual gamers] are the people who will have viable low-wage jobs from video games.”

To prepare for this future economic shift, “pay as much attention to your gaming literacy as you do to literature, art, music and film,” Castronova said.

In the meantime, gamers who are looking to earn money will have to make do with a more sporadic payment system.

Video Game Tournaments That Pay

Let’s be clear: Most gamers won’t make $35,000 per match. Such big prizes are reserved for an elite few. However, there are video game tournaments that reward above-average players with prize money.

That’s how Lomenzo got his start. Before his days of Madden fame, he would make a few bucks here and there in smaller video game tournaments.

“I really like playing against other people to win something,” Lomenzo said. “I would just play for $1 wagers when I was 14 years old.“

And as he grew, so did his cash prizes.

Pro Tip

Start in small video game tournaments to sharpen your skills and earn some cash along the way.

Below are some tournament websites that Lomenzo used to get his bearings. You can earn anywhere from $1 to $10,000 per match.

(Note: some states such as Arizona, Iowa and Louisiana ban cash-prize competitions. Users who pay to enter a competition must be at least 18 years old.)

GamerSaloon

A broad mix of tournaments are available on GamerSaloon. Typical, small matches could earn you $9, whereas the larger tournaments pay up to $10,000. Several matches require a small entry fee, which goes into the cash pot. But if you don’t want to fork over any money, stick to the free-entry tournaments.

Trending Games: Apex Legends, Call of Duty, FIFA, Fortnite, NBA, NFL and UFC

Gaming Systems Accepted: PCs and most consoles

MLG GameBattles

Not all winnings in MLG GameBattles are cash. Some tournaments pay in achievements, trophies or credits. The tournaments that do pay cash can be quite lucrative. It’s common to see daily competitions with prizes of $100 to $400.

Trending Games: Apex Legends, Call of Duty, Fortnite and Gears of War
Gaming Systems Accepted: PCs and most consoles

Players’ Lounge

If you got beef with another gamer, Players’ Lounge is the place to settle it. Here, you can challenge other players to a head-to-head match and make a wager from $2.50 to $500. Or, if you’d prefer, join tournaments at your leisure. You get free admission to your first tournament, after that, it typically costs $1 to join a cash-prize match.

Trending Games: Apex Legends, Fortnite, Madden and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds  

Gaming Systems Accepted: PC, PS4 or Xbox One

World Gaming

With over 3 million registered gamers, World Gaming is one of the largest competitive gaming websites. It hosts both free-to-enter and pay-to-enter tournaments with varying cash or token prizes. Weekly tournaments offer cash prizes typically between $100 and $200.

Trending Games: Apex Legends, FIFA, Fortnite, Hearthstone, Madden and Super Smash Bros

Gaming Systems Accepted: PCs, smartphones and most consoles

XY Gaming

Both a marketplace for virtual video-game items and a competitive gaming platform, XY Gaming runs on virtual coins and cash. There are free-to-play tournaments with cash or coin prizes every month. Or, you can use your coins (you get 2,300 for signing up) and cash to join tournaments daily. If you’re feeling extra competitive, feel free to challenge other users to a head-to-head battle.

Trending Games: Dota 2, League of Legends and Smite

Gaming Systems Accepted: PCs and most consoles

While Lomenzo remains hopeful his recent Madden win is the beginning of a long career in esports, he’s deciding to play it safe: He’ll practice gaming when he has the time.

For now, his main focus is graduating from Florida Polytechnic University with a bachelor’s degree in business analytics.

Adam Hardy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. He writes about the gig economy and ways to make money that don’t involve stuffy, corporate offices. Read his ​full bio here​, or say hi on Twitter @hardyjournalism.

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.

source The Penny Hoarder http://bit.ly/2PvhhR3

US Economy Grew at Strong 3.2% Rate in First Quarter, Exceeding Expectations

The U.S. economy grew at a solid 3.2% annual rate in the first three months of the year, a far better outcome than expected, overcoming a host of headwinds including global weakness, rising trade tensions and a partial government shutdown.

Source CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2J48moi

Our Financial Reality and the Value of Financial Principles

Over the last few months, I’ve seen a great deal of criticism of various financial and frugal bloggers who have achieved financial independence of some kind, arguing that their stories of being frugal and careful with their money and the strategies they share are somehow tainted because they earned a high income. Today, I wanted to address those ideas.

For starters, if someone has a good frugal idea, I don’t care if their annual income is $10,000 a year or $1,000,000 a year. A good idea is a good idea and I’ll happily use it. If someone making $450,000 a year suggests that it’s a good idea to cut your spending a little by re-evaluating all of your monthly bills one by one and deciding if you really need this streaming service or that gym membership, the idea isn’t suddenly a bad one because the person with a high income is suggesting it. It is a good idea because it’s a good idea – it works.

That being said, it is true that someone in a very, very different financial situation than my own is probably less likely to suggest a financial strategy that makes sense for me. If someone is making 10% of what I do, their financial reality is probably substantially different than mine and the financial decisions and cuts they make are going to not be applicable to my life. The same is true, of someone making ten times what I do – cutting my monthly budget for artisanal cheese delivery is not going to be something that has any real use for me.

However, the core principle behind all of those strategies, whether the person is making 10% of our income or 10 times our income, is the same. It’s still all about figuring out which expenses really aren’t all that important to me and which expenses are important to me. It’s just the threshold of “important enough to spend money on” is going to be different for each of us.

That being said, I feel like – and have always felt like – Sarah and I are in the ballpark of the average American family. We earn a little bit more than the average American household income, but if either Sarah or I were out of work, our income would be below that average. We have three kids, which are an enormous drain on our financial resources in terms of extra food costs, health care costs, household costs, space costs, educational costs, and so on.

I’ve really only felt that Sarah and I have had an exceptional household income for a couple of years during our adult lives, and that’s when I was simultaneously working at a full-time job with travel requirements while also launching a small business on the side and maintaining another one. I was practically killing myself during that period of our life and I soon decided it wasn’t worth it, so we made some lifestyle changes that severely cut our income. Trust me, working 100 hours a week every week without any breaks for years burns you out in almost every way.

While we might be earning somewhat more than some readers of The Simple Dollar, it’s not orders of magnitude more. At the same time, I know we earn less than some readers of The Simple Dollar. I feel like our financial situation is at least comparable to the vast majority of Americans.

Here’s the thing, though: Regardless of what specific financial tips I’m sharing, I really want to expose the principle underneath, the one that’s applicable to as many people as possible. For example, I recently wrote an article about our experience cutting the cord and eliminating cable television. While I talked a lot about the specific things we did during this process, I was even more interested in the principles behind it: Why did we cut the cable? What was the general process like? What did we consider when choosing which entertainment services to retain?

The reason is that, as I noted above, everyone’s lives are different. There isn’t someone out there exactly like me, and there isn’t someone out there exactly like you. We’re all going to have different interests, different considerations, different income levels, and so on. My parents, for example, are in a different situation with a different income level and they came to a different conclusion about cutting out cable.

What matters most when we share ideas for a better life are the principles, the broader rules that can be used to guide us to the best decision given the specifics of our lives. The only reason I tell my own stories at all is to try to give an example of those principles at work in the life of someone who, though they’re not exactly like you, is hopefully at least somewhat relatable.

So, what’s the take-home message here?

My belief is that personal finance articles are most useful when you can pull principles out of them that you can use in your own life. You can combine an awful lot of specific tips down to a few guiding principles, and those principles line up with the specifics of your own life to guide you to good financial results. They may guide different people with different lives to different conclusions.

At the same time, showing those principles at work in someone’s real life, even if it’s not my own, can be really useful. So, for me, I want to be shown the generally applicable principle, and then show me how it applies in someone’s real life. Even if it’s not my own, the example makes it clearer and more relatable.

The more specific an article gets with tips, the fewer the number of people that will get value out of those tips. While I like big lists of tips, I find that I discard most of them because they’re just not applicable to my life. Even worse, a lot of them are very timely, which means that in a few years, that article won’t be valuable. That’s why I don’t write big lists of tips all that often, and when I do, I’m usually trying to point at some underlying principles along the way.

When you’re reading a personal finance article written by me or anyone, including myself, look for the principles you can use in your life. How can I make better financial decisions in my life? How does this particular tool help me, and if it doesn’t, can I safely ignore it? How is this person applying those principles in their life, and does that make sense, and does that relate to how I might apply them in my own life?

Don’t get hung up on whether the other person’s life story is substantially different than yours. Instead, look for those core principles; almost everyone out there applies many of the same principles in their lives. I use a lot of strategies and principles that would work just fine if I were earning $10K a year or if I were earning $500K a year.

Remember, not everything will apply to you and your life. When you don’t feel like it applies, step back and try to see the bigger picture. It might fit better than you think.

Good luck!

Read more by Trent Hamm:

• What Is Wealth in America?
• Principles
• The Rich Man, the Average Budget, and You

The post Our Financial Reality and the Value of Financial Principles appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

Source The Simple Dollar http://bit.ly/2ZAJp9U

Dear Penny: I Paid Off My Debt With a Loan. Should I Do It Again?

Dear J.,

People who are working to pay off debt have two experiences over and over: They second-guess their actions up to this point, wondering if they’ve done the right things. Then, they have a nagging feeling that they should be doing much more to improve their finances.

You’re feeling both of these at the same time, and they’re eclipsing the fact that you did something very right: You consolidated your debt under a lower interest rate and made a plan to pay it off for good.

But seeing the impact of your good choices can be difficult when it comes to the ever-fluctuating world of credit scores.

Let me give you an example from my own life to show you why I think slow and steady wins this race.

A few months ago, I took out a personal loan to consolidate some credit card debt that had ridiculously high interest rates. When my first credit card got marked “paid off” by the credit bureaus, my credit score increased by 17 points. When the second credit card showed it was “paid” a few weeks later, my credit score went up another 12 points.

Then, more than a month after I opened that personal loan to take on the balance, it showed up on my credit report… and my score dropped 18 points. I ended up right where I started.

Will I regain those points once I pay down a significant portion of my personal loan? Sure. Does everyone hate seeing a score they know could be higher? Totally.

Those credit score fluctuations have the potential to control your mood. And thanks to the online tools that have made it increasingly easy to see and understand our credit score on a regular basis, it’s tempting to fixate on our scores. Instead of focusing on our payment history and overall credit health, we’re panicking about that magic number.

A better plan for you: Stay the course with your current loan and strive to pay it off early. Instead of constantly trying to rearrange your debt, focus on tackling the balance and getting it out of your life. Doing so will have the greatest long-term impact on your credit score and your financial health.

You’re already well on your way.

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.

source The Penny Hoarder http://bit.ly/2GHJVvo

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Should I tell HMRC that I sold my home in Australia?

Question

I am worried that I am in trouble with the taxman. When I moved back to the UK after 21 years in Australia, I did not inform HMRC when I transferred money from the sale of my sole residence there to the UK and bought my sole residence here. It was 10 years ago, but do I need to inform HMRC now?

From

JK/Tunbridge Wells

HMRC has the power to go back up to 20 years when digging for evidence that someone has failed to notify them of a liability. It could then raise a penalty based on any tax that was due. However, it doesn’t sound like you need to worry.

You would not be charged UK tax if you were not a resident. You are automatically non-resident if you spent fewer than 16 days in the UK in the previous year. This rises to 46 days if you haven’t been classed as a UK resident for the three previous tax years.

Alternatively, if you worked abroad full-time for a tax year and spent fewer than 91 days in the UK, of which no more than 30 were spent working, you would also be classed as a non-resident.

Ten years ago, the test was different. Provided you spent no more than 91 days in the UK on average in a tax year, then you were likely to be classed as non-resident and therefore not liable for tax.

As with all tax rules, there is an exception. Some non-residents have to pay capital gains tax on some foreign gains on their return to the UK after living abroad.

If you were subject to UK tax, and provided your Australian home was your only and main residence, you would qualify for principal private residence relief. This would wipe out the gain and any penalty arising from a failure to disclose it to HMRC. So, either way, you are unlikely to be in trouble with the taxman.

 

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This article was written in response to a reader’s question. If you have a financial or work/career question that has left you scratching your head ask our panel of experts who will aim to shine some light on the matter.

Source Moneywise http://bit.ly/2ZxZ8qx

Plan ahead rather than tackling legal paperwork in a panic

It’s time to turn to the thorny subject of lasting power of attorney (LPA). No, don’t turn the page – it’s worth carrying on reading this.

That’s because it’s something that any of us may have to face in the future, either because we need to need to look after someone else’s financial affairs or want someone to look after ours.

In order to make an LPA, a person must have the mental capacity to agree to the legal terms, and that usually means planning ahead for a future eventuality. Delaying thinking about these issues could cause problems later on.

There are two types of LPA: one for property and financial affairs and the other health and welfare. Both are often needed, as they tend to be used by elderly people.

That was the case with reader DD of Bristol. She wrote to Moneywise about problems with an LPA for her aunt.

She said: “My aunt is 92 years old and a widow with no children. She did not ensure a family member was present during interviews with representatives of equity release firm Key, or indeed to pass the information to a family member to check.”

DD reported that her aunt took out an equity release agreement on her home for £30,000 in 2015 “and it seems as part of the package Key offered to administer the application for an LPA at a cost of £669, which I understand was taken from the equity release”.

Both types of LPAs were drafted with DD herself given authority, but then a problem developed.

DD said: “The application was typed up and posted back to her. While there was a notice within the package regarding the timeline, she was not in good health so would not have been in a fit state to understand or act upon the written instructions.

“I was asked some time before if I would act as power of attorney for her, but, as I hadn’t heard anything; decided not to press her. However, when I was handed the pack, it was clear she wasn’t aware she had to sign the LPA documents and return them before 31 December 2015.”

DD contacted Key, only to be told that because the deadline had passed, the LPAs would have to be redrafted for an additional fee.

She told me: “I challenged Key about their ethics, regarding financial discussions with a 92-year-old with no family member present, and clearly she was not aware she had to action this within a timescale. I also challenged it as she paid £669 for this, and would incur additional charges if she had to reapply.”

DD claimed: “Key was extremely unsympathetic and very unhelpful.”

More than three years later, her aunt is now in a nursing home, so the need for an LPA has become urgent. DD contacted Moneywise for help, and I asked her what outcome she sought.

DD told me: “The best outcome would be a lasting power of attorney, to enable me to support my aunt with her affairs.”

I had a long chat with Key about the case and, as you’d guess its story was a little different. But in this instance, their story makes sense, and the problems seem to have arisen mainly through a possible lack of understanding.

The sticking point seems to have been the moment in early 2016 when the deadline to return the completed LPAs had passed. But that wasn’t a deadline set by Key, but was there because the forms issued by the Office of the Public Guardian changed at the turn of the year.

It meant that if the forms weren’t submitted by the end of 2015, the LPAs would have to be redrafted using the new forms. Key has listened back to the conversations between its staff and DD at the time and told me that it offered to redraft the forms at a nominal fee, of just £69. It told me DD refused the offer and told its representative that she could do it for free online. It then heard nothing until this year.

DD disputed that version of events: “I do recall the conversations with Key and this was not advised,” she claimed.

I asked Key if it would still be prepared to redraft the LPAs for a nominal fee and it agreed. I put DD in touch with senior staff to finally complete the process, which could have simply been done three years ago.

DD was also concerned about being able to afford the official fees charged by the Office of the Public Guardian to register the documents. It charges £82 to register each one, which means finding a total of £164.

However it is possible to apply for a reduction or exemption on the official LPA charges, which is offered to people on certain benefits. I’ve passed on that information to DD, but you can find it at Gov.uk/government/publications/power-of-attorney-fees.

The main lesson is that it’s essential to understand what’s going on and not delay when it comes to LPAs. 

I reckon Key’s offer back in 2016 was fair and if DD had taken it up then, all would have been well now. But she was clearly thrown into a panic this year when her aunt went into a nursing home.

Hopefully, we’ve eased both their minds, but the panic could have been avoided by sorting things out sensibly three years ago.

OUTCOME: Key redrafts reader’s aunt’s LPAs for a nominal fee

Simon Read is a a money writer and broadcaster. He was personal finance editor at The Independent and is an expert on BBC1’s Right On The Money

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