MAKE MONEY ONLINE POSTS: 05/10/19

الجمعة، 10 مايو 2019

63% of Young Americans Aren’t Investing — But You Can Start With $1

Do you invest?

If you’re a young person, chances are, probably not.

Only 37% of Americans under the age of 35 are investing in the stock market, according to a 2018 Gallup poll. That means nearly two-thirds of us are not.

Why? Gallup hypothesizes it’s because we grew up during the 2008 crash. We saw people around us lose it all — and now we’re hesitant to take that same risk. Instead, we’re turning to safer investments, like savings accounts and CDs.

Yes, these are less risky options and will help grow your money over time; however, they won’t reap the same financial benefits as stocks.

If you’re not yet investing and are looking to gently wade in, we’ve rounded up a few options to help you overcome your fears.

1. Dip Your Toes in Stocks With ETFs (and Get a $5 Bonus)

Before fully committing to buying stocks, you can own portions of them with exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Basically, you’re buying a piece of a company’s stock — rather than the whole shebang. This makes investing more affordable and tends to be slightly less risky, since you’re not putting all your eggs (money) in one basket (a stock).

Not sure where to get your hands on ETFs? Consider starting an investment account through Acorns.

Start with $5, then stack up change over time with its “round-up” feature. That means if you spend $10.23 at the grocery store, 77 cents gets dropped into your Acorns account.

Then, the app does the whole investing thing for you.

The idea is that you won’t miss the digital pocket change, and the automatic investments stack up faster than you’d think. For example, Penny Hoarder Dana Sitar was able to invest at a rate of $420 a year. That means you could set aside $1,000 in about two and a half years — without trying.

The app is $1 a month for balances under $1 million, and you’ll get a $5 bonus when you sign up.

2. Back Companies Committed to Good (and Get a $50 Bonus)

Before you start investing, ask yourself: Have you carefully considered which companies you’re willing to back? Their morals and values? You probably wouldn’t want to invest in a company that’s destroying our oceans or cheating the system.

With Swell Investing you can invest in companies that are committed to clean water, zero waste, renewable energy or disease eradication, to name a few.

Plus, when you invest $50 in one of these companies, Swell Investing will match you with a $50 bonus! Just use the code PENNY after making your initial investment.

Swell Investing is an SEC-registered investment adviser committed to supporting sustainable companies. Its Impact 400 portfolio features companies whose products and services align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It considers everything from gender equality to ending poverty to clean energy.

Swell doesn’t have any trading fees, price tiers or expense ratios. It charges a 0.75% annual fee — that’s about the cost of one coffee ($3.75) per year if you invest $500.

Get started with Swell by signing up with your email address here.

Disclosure: We have a financial relationship with Swell Investing LLC and will be compensated if consumers apply for an account and/or fund an account with Swell through links in our content. However, the analysis and opinions expressed here are our own.

3. Explore Real Estate Investing — With $500 and Your Computer

Want to try real-estate investing without buying a home or playing landlord? We found a company that helps you do just that.

Oh, and you don’t have to have hundreds of thousands of dollars, either. You can get started with a minimum investment of just $500. A company called Fundrise does all the heavy lifting for you.

Through the Fundrise Starter Portfolio, your money will be split into two portfolios that support private real estate around the United States.

This isn’t an obscure investment, though. You can see exactly which properties are included in your portfolios — like a set of townhomes in Snoqualmie, Washington, or an apartment building in Charlotte, North Carolina.

You can earn money through quarterly dividend payments and potential appreciation in the value of your shares, just like a stock. Cash flow typically comes from interest payments and property income (e.g. rent).

(But remember: Investments come with risk. While Fundrise has paid distributions every quarter since 2014, dividend and principal payments are never guaranteed.)

You’ll pay a 0.85% annual asset management fee and a 0.15% annual investment advisory fee.

So you see? Investing isn’t that scary. Start with baby steps, then you’ll be rolling around in stocks in no time!

Carson Kohler (carson@thepennyhoarder.com) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She, too, was nervous to invest until she started exploring ETFs.

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/2PX1URz

Party City closing dozens of stores, says helium shortage is partially to blame

Party City will close dozens of stores this year and says an ongoing helium shortage is partially to blame.The New Jersey-based chain of party supply stores will shutter 45 U.S. locations, TV station WVIT reports.The announcement came after Party City said it lost $30.2 million in the first [...]

Source Business - poconorecord.com http://bit.ly/2Vvog2u

Worried About Paying for Summer Camp? Try This Fun, Affordable Alternative

U.S. Bank Auto Loans Review

While U.S. Bank was founded back in 1863, they have grown to become one of the largest financial institutions in the United States. The bank, which boasts over 3,000 locations across the country, reported having 74,000 employees as well as over $467 billion in assets as of late 2018.

U.S. Bank is known for their checking and savings accounts, credit card products, mortgage and home equity loan products, and personal loans. However, U.S. Bank also offers affordable auto loans for consumers who want to purchase a car or refinance an auto loan they already have.

If you’re angling to get approved for financing before you head to the dealership — or if your goal is refinancing your high-interest car loan into a new loan with better terms — consider an auto loan from U.S. Bank. Keep reading to learn how to get an auto loan with affordable monthly payments and an APR as low as 4.59%.

U.S. Bank Auto Loans: Key Takeaways

Secure an APR as low as 4.59% with loans that meet certain terms.
Best loan terms are for auto loans with terms of 36 months or less in amounts over $10,000.
Best rates also require automatic payment from a U.S. Bank checking account.
A minimum loan term of 12 months applies, as does a minimum loan amount of $3,000.
Loans can be used for new cars and used cars, although rates climb for cars over six years old.
Maximum loan amount is $100,000.

Check Your Personal Loan Rates

Answer a few questions to see which personal loans you pre-qualify for. The process is quick and easy, and it will not impact your credit score.

Get Started

U.S. Bank Auto Loans Review: Perfect for Consumers with Great Credit

There are several reasons to get your financing lined up before you shop for a car, the first of which is the fact you’ll know exactly how much you can spend. Shopping for loans ahead of time can also make it easier to compare rates and terms among lenders — a feat that’s difficult to accomplish when you rely on dealer financing.

Finally, getting your own auto loan can help you purchase from a private buyer instead of a dealership if you want — and having the cash in-hand or a preapproval letter can put you in a better bargaining position when you start shopping for a car.

U.S. Bank really does offer auto loans that can compete with most dealerships, and they may even offer better terms for consumers with great credit, or FICO scores of 740 or higher. U.S. Bank auto loans start at 4.59% APR, although you need a minimum loan amount of $10,000, a repayment period of 36 months or less, and some equity in the car you’re going to finance to qualify for their best terms.

U.S. Bank notes that rates may be higher for loans if you purchase a vehicle from a private party, request a smaller loan amount, you want to finance a car older than six years, or if you have a lower credit score. You also need to sign up for a U.S. Bank checking account and set up automatic payments if you want to secure the lowest rate with a 0.50% rate discount.

What to Watch Out For

The main downside of auto loans from U.S. Bank is that they don’t let you get preapproved for a loan without a hard inquiry on your credit report. They do say you need “good credit” to qualify, but they offer scarce detail in terms of the exact credit score you’ll need.

Second, watch out for early prepayment fees. These loans require you to agree to an early loan closure fee of 1% of your original loan amount if you close your loan within a year ($50 minimum and $100 maximum applies).

Finally, don’t forget that their best loan terms and rates only work for loans that meet certain criteria — borrowed amounts over $10,000, repayment terms of 36 months or less, and some sort of down payment or equity in the vehicle. If you can’t meet those terms, you can plan on paying a higher interest rate on your loan.

U.S. Bank hides more rate details in their fine print, but they’re still there. For example, they say:

Add 0.50% to your base rate if you don’t set up automatic payments from a U.S. Bank account.
Plus another 1.0% to your base rate if you purchase a vehicle that is 7, 8, or 9 years old.
Add 0.50% to your base rate if you purchase a vehicle from a private party.

Who U.S. Bank Auto Loans are Best For:

With all these details in mind, we think U.S. Bank auto loans may work best for:

U.S. Bank customers who plan to finance a newer car.
Anyone with great credit who has no plans to pay off their auto loan early.
Borrowers who plan to take out an auto loan in an amount over $10,000 and pay it back in 36 months or less.

How We Rate U.S. Bank Auto Loans

At The Simple Dollar, we aim to provide a general overview of a lender’s products and services through a standard rating process. After a thorough research and discovery period, here’s how U.S. Bank stacks up:

U.S. Bank Auto Loans at a Glance
Overall Rating	Affordability (interest rates, fees, and terms)
	Availability (credit requirements, geographic reach)
	Ease of Use
	Transparency

How to Apply for an Auto Loan from U.S. Bank

One benefit of applying for an auto loan with U.S. Bank is the fact you can apply online, at a U.S. Bank branch, or over the phone. Of course, the easiest way to apply is via their secure website and from the comfort of your home.

Details you’ll need to provide during the online loan application process include:

Requested loan amount
Social Security number
Your employment information
Your annual gross income (before deductions)
Lien holder name and payoff amount (for refinancing or for private party purchase with a lien)

Once you apply for an auto loan, U.S. Bank will begin processing your application right away. Keep in mind that you may need to provide additional information such as your auto insurance policy or some proof of income. U.S. Bank states that most of their customers get an answer on their loan in two hours or less when they apply during regular business hours.

Loan Purpose:

Loan Amount:

Credit Rating:

State:

The Bottom Line

If you need to borrow to purchase a new or used vehicle, comparing financing from multiple sources is always a smart idea. You’re more likely to get a lower rate if you compare options from at least three lenders, and you’ll want to compare loans in terms of their fees as well.

U.S. Bank offers auto loans with competitive rates, but make sure to compare them with other lenders before you move forward.

Related:

The post U.S. Bank Auto Loans Review appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

Source The Simple Dollar http://bit.ly/30a5hJw

Overwhelmed by Debt? Here’s What Happens If You Seek Credit Counseling

'Absolutely No Need to Rush': As Trump Slow Walks China Trade Talks, Who Will Blink First

The world's two largest economies are now in a trade war. The United States and China are showing few signs of backing down.

Source CBNNews.com http://bit.ly/2YmxQ4G

This Family of 6 Doubled Their Cell Phone Lines and Cut Their Bill in Half

Jill Haus has four kids between the ages of 12 and 18.

“It’s a little crazy around here,” she says, laughing. “I just run around to all their events and cheer them on.”

One’s into rock climbing. Another into band. One sings. Another runs. With so many after-school activities to keep track of, Haus, a hair stylist in Ankeny, Iowa, wanted her kids to have cell phones so they could all stay connected. (Of course, the kids wanted to Snapchat with their friends, too.)

Haus and her husband, Shannon, had been long-time Verizon customers. But when she added her oldest to the plan, their bill climbed to $250 a month. “It felt really hefty,” she says. “That’s a car payment — for a phone service.”

And she still had three more kids who needed cell phone plans.

Then Haus heard about Twigby, a discount cell phone carrier.

“I couldn’t believe the prices,” she says of Twigby’s plans, which start at $9 a month. That meant she could get the whole family on a plan for less than half the cost of their Verizon bill.

Is a $9/Month Cell Phone Service Too Good to Be True?

“But what if it doesn’t work? What if it’s too good to be true?” Haus recalls asking herself.

After all, discount phone carriers aren’t always known for having the most reliable service. And prices starting at $9 a month? That just seemed impossible.

But with her monthly Verizon bill climbing (her oldest daughter somehow always forgot to connect to Wi-Fi), Haus was willing to take the risk.

“There was no way I was going to add more lines on Verizon at that point,” she says.

To test the waters, she switched over to Twigby first. She was able to keep her phone number but purchased a new phone through Twigby. (Depending on your service, Twigby allows some phones to come with you. To see if your phone is compatible with Twigby, click “Bring Your Phone” at the top of the homepage.)

After a month of use, she was happy. She didn’t have to sacrifice her talk, text or data needs, and the service worked well in her area. So she added lines for her three “littles” onto the plan. Then finally her husband. Her oldest daughter got her own plan. (Most phone carriers have a line limit; Twigby allows up to five.)

In the end, Haus and her three youngest kids’ lines each cost $15 a month for 1 GB of data and 300 minutes of talk. Her husband wanted 3 GB, and her oldest daughter needed 2 GB, so their lines cost $26 and $19, respectively. Plus, every Twigby plan comes with free unlimited texting.

For all six lines, it’s $105 per month, before tax.

Switching to Twigby allowed the family to cut its cell phone bill by more than half — and double their lines.

“Isn’t that stunning?” she asks. “That’s less than I paid for two phones.”

How to Seamlessly Switch Your Phone Carrier

After nearly two years with Twigby, Haus is still very happy with the service — and its price tag.

“It’s daunting to move that many lines,” Haus says. “But I’m thrilled with it. It’s so nice everyone has their own phone.”

If you’re interested in switching to Twigby, learn more about its plan — and how you can save 25% off your first six months of service.

And if you’re worried about the hassle? Don’t be. Haus is basically a pro at switching cell service providers, so she offered some tips to help others cut free from their exorbitant cell phone bills:

If you’re worried about having reliable service, test the waters, like Haus did. Because Twigby offers a 30-day guarantee (or it’ll refund you), Haus could make sure she had coverage where she needed it before moving the rest of the family. Plus, Twigby operates on the Sprint network for talk, text and data. And if you’re ever outside of Sprint coverage, Twigby lets you use the Verizon network for talk and text for no additional charge.
All Twigby plans come with free texting, so you’ll choose your plans based on data usage and minutes. If you’re not sure how much of each you need, check your cell phone bill to see how much you used last month.
Don’t worry about potential overage fees for extra data. Instead, Twigby just bumps you up to the next level of data, which is anywhere from $3 to $10 more. For Haus, it’s $5. “Not a big deal,” she says. You can also opt in for Twigby’s Overage Protection plan, which will prevent you from exceeding your plan.
Finally, you’re likely attached to your current phone and number. Don’t worry: You don’t have to part with it. Twigby will hold your hand through the process of bringing your phone and number with you.
And if you have any questions, just hop on a live chat with customer service. Haus has been thrilled with how easy it is to get in touch with the Twigby team.

But the most thrilling part of it all? The savings.

“There’s more room in the budget, and that’s been very positive,” Haus says. “You can definitely feel it in the day-to-day. You don’t have to be quite so panicked.”

Carson Kohler (carson@thepennyhoarder.com) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.

source The Penny Hoarder http://bit.ly/2Heb9sH

Dear Penny: I Paid Off My Car Early. Why Did My Score Fall 79 Points?

Dear L.,

Isn’t it ironic? Your credit score is supposed to predict how likely you are to repay debt. Yet you paid off your car loan early, only to see your score drop.

I share your pain. Back when I was a credit-challenged twentysomething, I financed a car at an interest rate of what felt like 800%, doubled up on payments and paid off my car two years early. I thought I was on the road (pun intended) to good credit. But to my chagrin, my score fell by about 50 points.

So what gives?

I’m assuming you haven’t had any other changes that could affect your credit score, like a late payment or an increase in your credit card balances. That said, it’s pretty normal to see a slight drop in your credit scores when you pay off a car loan — or any installment loan, for that matter. This can happen for two reasons.

If your car loan was one of your older accounts, closing the account could have lowered the average age of your credit, which determines 15% of your FICO scores. And your credit mix makes up 10% of your FICO scores. Scoring models reward you for having a mix of revolving credit, like credit cards, and installment loans, like a mortgage or car loan. So if you’re closing your only installment loan, closing the account could cause a drop.

Paying off a car loan can hurt your score more if you have a thin credit file — and the fact that your score dropped significantly suggests that this could be the case.

If you have little or no credit available, consider applying for a credit card. If you can’t get approved for a regular credit card, try getting a secured card, where you pay a deposit and use that as your line of credit.

Yes, opening new credit can also result in a slight decrease to your score, but in the long run, building a history of making on-time payments and maintaining a low balance on your credit cards are the two most important things you can do to have a healthy score.

The good news: An installment loan that you pay off shows up as closed on your credit reports, but it doesn’t disappear. If the account was closed in good standing, it will stay on your reports for about 10 years.

Even more good news: A drop in your credit score after paying off a loan is usually only temporary. After a few months, your scores will probably rebound. Mine did after about three months.

The bottom line: Don’t worry too much about your credit score for now. You’ve made a smart money move. You have one less bill to pay. You have extra cash each month. Spend it wisely.

Now go forth and enjoy the open road knowing you’re no longer tethered to a car payment.

Dear Penny is a personal finance advice column produced by The Penny Hoarder. Have a tricky money question? Write Dear Penny and you might see your question answered in an upcoming column.

Robin Hartill is a senior editor at The Penny Hoarder and the voice behind Dear Penny.

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

I Tried 3 Apps for Selling Clothes, and This One Made Me the Most Money

How to Pay Off Student Loans

Graduating college is one of the most exciting moments in life, a milestone that opens the door to your future.

All the late night study sessions, painstaking papers, and student loans have paid off as you proudly receive your diploma.

As you walk across the stage and into the real world, you’ll be faced with the task of paying for your hard-earned education.

According to a recent survey of 1,019 undergraduate students by College Ave Student Loans conducted by Barnes & Noble College Insights, 69% of students do not know what their monthly student loan payment will be when they graduate.

How To Pay Off Your Student Loans

Student loan repayment can seem daunting – but it doesn’t have to be.

With an understanding of how the student loan repayment process works and a strategy in place, you can pay your student loans off with ease.

Ready to get started?

The Student Loan Process

To effectively pay off your loans, you need to understand how student loans work.

Here are a few key parts of the process to get you started.

The Grace Period

If you’re frantically scrambling to figure out how to make payments on your federal student loans as you search for jobs, relax. Lenders understand that it might take you a little time to get on your feet after graduation.

Federal student loans, barring PLUS loans, come with the advantage of a six-month grace period from the day you graduate or fall below half-time status onward.

That means you don’t have to start making payments until your 6 months are up. During that time, interest will continue to accumulate on any unsubsidized loans.

The grace period can be extended if you enter active duty in the military or decide to go back to school full-time.

Private loans function differently, with some lenders offering grace periods comparable to federal student loans. Others might require you to make payments while you’re in school or as soon as you graduate, so be sure you understand the terms of your agreement.

Contacting Your Loan Servicer

While you may have obtained your federal student loans through a government website, you don’t repay them there.

The government utilizes a handful of loan servicers to process your payments and manage your repayment plans.

The loan servicer, an institution like Nelnet, Great Lakes, or Navient, will contact you about setting up your account with your Federal Aid Student ID, which you can find or set up with the National Student Loan Data System.

You can also find the name of your servicer there if you’d like to get the ball rolling and address any questions. They’ll be able to help you land on the best repayment plan for your needs.

Setting Up Payments

Making payments on your student loans is a simple process.

You’ll have the option to make manual electronic payments each month or enroll in autopay, which helps to guarantee you never make a late payment that could damage your credit score.

Another benefit of autopay from certain companies, such as College Ave – when you set up autopay, you may receive an interest rate reduction, helping you save money in the long run.

Other federal services, banks, and credit unions should offer automatic payments as a way to pay.

Another way to ensure your payments are made on time is to schedule the payment for a week prior to the due date to allow any delays or issues with payment processing to be resolved.

How Payments Work

If you’ve taken a look at your loans, you’ll notice they’re broken down into two amounts: principal and interest.

Each of your payments, likewise, are applied to both principal and interest. When you’re making your payments on time on a standard repayment plan, most of your payment will be applied to the principal.

If you’re behind on your payments, however, more of your monthly payment will go towards interest and fees and less to paying down the principal.

With a basic understanding of how student loan repayment works, let’s take a look at some alternate repayment options and tips to pay down your student loans quickly.

Student Loan Repayment Alternatives

Sadly, you can’t wish away your student debt. Most likely, you’ll have to repay your student loans in full over time.

There are, however, a number of repayment plans. And in some cases, your student loans can be forgiven altogether.

If you’re struggling to stay on top of your payments, you may be able to make them more manageable with the strategies below.

Change Your Repayment Plan

If the amount due on your student loan payment each month exceeds your budget, you could benefit from an income-driven repayment plan.

This plan uses your income as the basis for setting more manageable payments.

You can apply for an income-driven repayment plan through your servicer, and you’ll need to submit your tax records or a recent pay stub along with the application.

Refinance Your Student Loans

If you have a private student loan, you won’t be able to use an income-driven repayment plan. You can, however, benefit from refinancing your student loans.

College Ave can help you refinance your loans quickly and easily, lowering the amount you pay each month. They can even receive an interest rate discount if you enroll in autopay.

You can apply for free on their website and get instant access to the rates you’re eligible for, with low fixed and variable interest rates.

Consolidate Your Federal Loans

Likewise, the federal government offers a Direct Consolidation Loan to help make your loan repayments more bearable. This particular loan reduces rates by merging all of your federal student loans into one.

It can also work to simplify your repayments if you have more than one servicer. By making one singular payment each month, you avoid the risk of letting any individual payments slip through the cracks.

Request a Deferment

If you plan to be able to make your payments but need a breather due to a job loss or other unexpected event, you can request a deferment or a forbearance on your federal student loan.

You may incur interest during the deferment, but it can provide you with a few months’ time to get your finances on track.

Adjust Your Due Date

While student loan repayment dates are set to accommodate common payroll schedules, many individuals get paid on different timelines.

If your student loan payment is always due before you get paid, you may be able to change the monthly due date to fit your schedule.

Once again, you should contact your student loan servicer to see if adjusting your due date is a possibility.

Seek Out Student Loan Forgiveness

There are a handful of circumstances that can lead to the discharge, forgiveness, or cancellation of your federal student loans.

Here’s a brief overview of each type of loan dismissal.

Teacher Loan Forgiveness: After teaching for 5 years at a school or institution serving low-income families, you could be eligible for forgiveness of your federal student loans up to $17,500.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness: If you are a full-time employee of a nonprofit or the government, your student loans could be forgiven after you complete 120 monthly payments.

Perkins Loan Cancellation: If you are a teacher or work in a number of public service-related positions, your Perkins Loans could be forgiven. The longer you serve, the larger the portion of your loan that is forgiven.

Understand Student Loan Discharges

Bankruptcy Discharge: In some cases, when you declare chapter 7 or 13 bankruptcy, you may be able to have your loan discharged in an adversary proceeding.

Closed School Discharge: If your college or university closes its doors while you’re in school or within 120 days of your withdrawal, your Direct Loans and FEEL Loans may be forgiven.

Death Discharge: If you pass away, your student loans will be discharged completely. Likewise, if your parents pass away, their PLUS Loan will be dismissed as well.

TPD Discharge: If you become permanently disabled, your federal student loans may be forgiven with proof from the VA, SSA, or a doctor.

You may also be able to get an unpaid refund discharge if you withdrew from school early, or a false certification discharge in cases of identity theft or unauthorized signatures and payments.

Check with your servicers to see if you’re eligible for any of the options above.

Tips for Paying Off Your Student Loans

While student loan forgiveness is an option for some people, most individuals will have to pay back their student loans.

In addition to consolidating your student loans or enrolling in an income-driven repayment plan, consider some of the following tips to pay off your student loans faster.

Use your grace period: If you’re able to, take advantage of the grace period by paying down the interest on your loan for a few months. Your future self will appreciate it.
Pay in school: If you’re serious about getting out of student debt quickly, start making payments before graduation, whether it’s a private or federal loan.
Pay more than the minimum: If you have the means to pay above the minimum due, go for it. The more aggressively you attack your student debt, the better.
Make bi-weekly payments: Split your monthly payment in half, paying twice a month. You’ll make one extra payment a year (hardly noticeable) and shave time off your repayment.
Set aside money for payments: Whether it’s an unexpected inheritance, a raise, or a birthday gift, put that windfall of money towards your student loans.
Automate payments: This one can’t be emphasized enough. Autopay streamlines your repayment and keeps you on track, taking the stress out of student loans.

Bottom Line

Paying off your student loans is only stressful if you let it be. It’s easy to let yourself get overwhelmed by the total amount of your student loans, but there’s no reason to.

Instead, think of the relief you’ll feel when your loans are paid off and set out to accomplish that goal.

By getting ahead of your student loans, understanding all of your options, and planning payments strategically, you can pay off your loans as painlessly as possible.

The post How to Pay Off Student Loans appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.

Source Good Financial Cents® http://bit.ly/2HecXTU

The Pain of Changing Now Versus The Pain of Not Changing Later

When Sarah and I first launched into our financial turnaround, the changes were painful, especially at first. There were a lot of “treats” we dropped out of our life in order to try to achieve some measure of financial success, and I’ll be the first to admit that it wasn’t easy. We went from eating out most nights to trying to figure out how to cook interesting meals for ourselves that weren’t just “open the package, pop in the microwave or oven.” We stopped indulging in endless buying for some of our hobbies – instead of buying books all the time, we became library patrons, for example.

We took on a lot of those kinds of changes at once and it wasn’t easy. In fact, it was probably the “honeymoon” period of being excited about financial progress and change that helped us get through the first stages, and it was a lot of personal 30 day challenges and things like “money free weekends” that helped me keep pushing when the “honeymoon” started to fade.

It was hard. I sometimes “relapsed” into buying treats, caught myself, and found new says to approach those temptations so that I wouldn’t spend my hard earned money on something forgettable or something not worth the money. I still do, every once in a while.

The thing is, when I look back on those difficulties, the pain that they caused then would only be a tiny fraction of how devastating things would be right now if I hadn’t changed my behavior.

If I had kept spending my money on things that weren’t really important to me back then, I would be facing an incredible mountain of debt right now. While I likely would have my student loans nearly paid off – they were 20 year loans, so they’d be getting close to wrapping up – I would almost assuredly be facing car loans, a mortgage, and credit card debt. I have none of those.

In addition, I likely wouldn’t have any significant money set aside for my children’s educational futures, and I would likely have far less set aside for my own retirement.

You might seem doubtful that all of these changes could be the result of kicking some bad incidental spending habits, but let’s do the math on that.

I dropped my golfing hobby, which was sucking up about $100 a month, and I dropped a couple other hobbies that were sucking up around $150 a month. That’s $250 a month in hobby changes.

Sarah and I stopped eating out about five times a week and moved to eating out about once a week. If you figure each of those changes saved each of us $10 per meal, that’s $80 a week, or about $350 a month.

I broke the routine of stopping for coffee and a bagel before work (saving about $7) each day and stopping for a snack of some kind after work about three days a week, saving about $4 each time. That added up to about $50 a week, or $210 a month.

Let’s not even look at anything else and just focus on those changes. That’s $810 a month. For round numbers, let’s say I did that a decade ago. That adds up to $97,200 in my checking account just due to those three behavioral changes.

$100,000. That’s a lot of money.

Now, how did I use that money? I used it at first to pay down debts fast (alongside cash from selling off stuff). I wiped out our student loans and credit cards and car loans within a couple of years of getting started with this. After that, I was no longer paying interest on those loans – without lifestyle changes, those loans would have kept gobbling money out of my pocket in the form of interest and finance charges. That money that would have gone to interest stayed in our pockets.

After that, we bought a house and paid it off in fairly short order. We didn’t buy a mansion – just a solid smaller family home – so it was much easier to make double and triple and quadruple mortgage payments.

After that, we paid cash for our next vehicle replacement cycle, as we drove our vehicles until they were running into serious problems.

We also started saving hard for future goals. We started throwing money into college savings plans and into retirement savings. That money started earning investment returns, and the returns were reinvested and that money started earning returns, too.

Now, that $100,000 didn’t do all of that, but it did a healthy portion of it (the time span was also a little longer than a decade, to boot) and the cuts in interest and addition of returns on our investments provided a lot more. It was also helped by other frugal choices, big and small, but it all started with a challenging commitment to start turning things around followed by a lot of experiments and efforts to cut out the unimportant spending in our life as well as efforts to start side gigs to improve our income (most of which failed, but a few of which did well).

That’s the difference between our life as it is today and what it could have been like. I made a painful decision to stop spending money on “treats” that did nothing for me in the long run and instead use that money to build a financial foundation that would make the rest of my life much easier.

Here’s the thing: no major life changes are ever going to be easy. You likely have a life routine that you stumbled into over time because it was convenient and pleasurable and changing it sounds inconvenient and not pleasurable. In many ways, your life follows the path of least resistance, and this is all about rejecting that path of least resistance, at least in the short term, to find a better way of doing things. That’s hard. That’s always going to be hard.

I like to think of my life as it was a little over a decade ago as me standing on top of a foothill near the base of a mountain. As I looked around me, it was downward in every direction – I really was living what felt like the best life for me in the short term.

However, I wasn’t that far away from much bigger hills and mountains. Sure, if I was only willing to look a thousand feet away from where I was, everything was downhill. I’d have to walk down from this little hill I was standing on, making my life a little worse in the short term.

Before long, though, my path would lead me up a much bigger hill, or perhaps even up the mountain. After a while, I would be higher than I ever would have been staying on that foothill. Sure, the journey to get there took me on an uncomfortable path through some lowlands, but without taking that journey, I would never have been able to reach anything higher than that foothill, and what would I have done when the floods came?

Change is always painful, especially when you’re happy with some aspects of your life. It hurts to uproot things that seem good in a desire to chase something better in the long term.

The trick is to recognize that things in your life that bring you only fleeting joy or comfort should not be things that you should dump your life’s energy and effort and money into. When you let your finances fall apart so that you can have a treat, you’re taking a little burst of pleasure now in exchange for real difficulty later on. That pleasure quickly vanishes, but the pain is real and it remains.

It’s also vital to recognize that there are a lot of sources of joy and pleasure in life, and that you’re going to inherently focus on the handful of things that you’re losing because of these changes. Rather than dwelling on the handful of things you’re losing, focus instead on the many, many things you still have. My financial changes didn’t do anything to my closest friendships or family relationships. My financial changes didn’t do anything to keep me from enjoying hikes or enjoying reading a book or enjoying playing a game. My financial changes didn’t prevent me from enjoying a good meal. The changes didn’t do anything to prevent me from enjoying a long walk on a beautiful day or any of the many other things I enjoy all the time. The changes didn’t do anything to hurt my relationship with my kids or my ability to have a parental bond with them. It didn’t do anything to hurt my marriage or my closeness with my wife. It just took away a few trivial things, but it brought me so much more.

The pain of changing now is almost always far less than the pain you’ll soon feel from not changing. That’s true for almost any worthwhile change in your life.

Good luck.

The post The Pain of Changing Now Versus The Pain of Not Changing Later appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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

Can You Run a 9-Minute Mile? Get Life Insurance for up to 33% off

Do you have a healthy, active lifestyle? Do you eat right and exercise? That’s great, because you’ll almost certainly live longer.

But if that’s the case, why should you pay the same price for life insurance as a couch potato who watches “Walking Dead” marathons and lives off nothing but Big Macs, Funyuns and Mountain Dew? How is that fair?

How Being Healthy Can Save You up to 33% off Life Insurance

There’s one company that has better rates for all your hard work. With its fully underwritten plans, the life insurance company Health IQ rewards runners, cyclists, weightlifters, swimmers, vegetarians and others with up to 33% cheaper rates for a healthy lifestyle. If you qualify after a full medical evaluation, you can even connect your fitness and diet trackers to help get your best rate.

To get your free quote, start by filling out some information about yourself and your health. Health IQ will shop more than 30 carriers, and a licensed agent will connect with you to determine the best policy.

Health IQ’s CEO was inspired to start the company after he had a health scare, dropped 40 pounds and ran a few marathons. Health IQ reviewed tons of medical research demonstrating that fit, health-conscious people live longer. Now it partners with major insurers like Prudential and Transamerica to find affordable policies for you.

source The Penny Hoarder http://bit.ly/2Hc8EYZ

How to Get More Search Engine Traffic With Internal Linking

In order for your website content to rank, it needs to have links.

All too often I see sites spending too much time focusing on building backlinks that they end up neglecting their internal linking strategy. Don’t get me wrong; getting links from other websites is crucial for your SEO value as well.

But with that said, at the end of the day you technically don’t have control over what goes on another website.

That’s not the case with internal linking. You, and only you will have complete control over your internal links.

Let’s start off with the basics. What exactly is an internal link? These are links that connect two pages on the same domain. Internal links have several different purposes and benefits.

First of all, they make it possible for users to navigate through a website. For example, how do you get from your site’s homepage to a contact page or about page? Through an internal link.

Internal links help establish a hierarchy for your website’s architecture. They spread ranking power and page authority (also known as “link juice”) around your website.

On the surface, internal linking is a simple concept. However, just because you have internal links on your site, it doesn’t automatically mean that you’ll benefit from higher search rankings and site traffic. That’s why I created this guide.

I’ll explain the proper way to apply internal links on your site from an SEO perspective.

Define your site structure

The content and pages on your site need to have a hierarchy that’s logical. Otherwise, you’re just going to end up with a bunch of random and unrelated pages in the eyes of Google.

When search engines rank websites, the crawlers use the site architecture to determine how important pages are contextually to figure out which content is the most relevant.

The more clicks it takes to get from the homepage to another page on your site, the less powerful that page will be. So you need to use internal links to create a shallow depth, meaning you want just one or two clicks (three at the most) to navigate anywhere on your site.

Shallow Depth Linking

As you can see from this site map example, the architecture is broken down into just three tiers of content.

Your homepage and top-level content pages will have the highest page authority. The further you get away from the homepage, the lower the authority will be.

So if it takes ten clicks to get from your homepage to your blog, then internal linking between blog posts isn’t going to add much SEO value, since there isn’t enough link juice to pass between pages. Google won’t recognize those pages as important when your site is being crawled.

On the flip side, logical site structures with a shallow depth will not only add SEO value when your site is being indexed, but it will also improve the user experience.

Website visitors will have an easier time navigating and finding what they’re looking for, which will ultimately reduce your bounce rate and help improve traffic as well.

Keep producing content

Once your website structure has been optimized, you don’t get to just sit back and relax. You need to continue producing high-quality content on a regular basis.

By creating more content, you’re also adding more linkable assets on your site.

This makes it easier for you to put in as many links as possible, and build these links at scale. Ultimately, this will improve your overall internal linking strategy.

So what types of content should you produce? There are plenty of options to consider.

Blogs
Videos
Photos
Tutorials
“How to” guides
Infographics

These are just a handful of options for you to consider. Take a look at the benefits of having more content to use for internal linking from a technical perspective.

Crawl Frequency by Inlinks Range

This data from Search Engine Land explains how Google crawlers view pages with lots of inbound internal links.

Pages that have a higher number of internal links get crawled on a more frequent basis. This gives your content a much higher chance of ranking.

According to this research, a page with 200 dofollow links coming from other sources on the same domain is 12 times more likely to be crawled compared to a page with zero internal links.

But if you only have 50 content pages on your site, you’ll never be able to accomplish this at scale. Content is king, and will continue to be a driving force behind all of your SEO strategies moving forward.

In fact, 66% of bloggers are publishing content at least several times per month. Of that 66%, 2% are publishing daily, and an additional 2% are posting more than daily.

In order to gain an advantage, you’ll want your publishing frequency to fall closer toward that end of the spectrum. Just make sure your quality isn’t compromised when the quantity increases.

Use relevant contextual links

Google’s algorithm is so advanced that it can detect the relevancy between content pages. So don’t just add a random internal link to any page on your site and think that it’s going to get the job done.

For example, let’s say you run a website about extreme sports and thrill-seeking activities.

You’ve got a blog post about skydiving, and another blog post about mountain biking. Should you link the two pages? The connection between these topics is not very relevant, and it will be challenging to add a link contextually.

Instead, you could have an internal link to a post about how to transport your mountain bike within a guide about mountain biking safety. The relevance between these two pieces of content is much higher.

Here’s an example from a blog I published earlier this year about building authority with donation links.

Building Authority With Donation Links

Take a look at the two internal links that I put in the introduction.

The first one is about building domain authority, and the second one is about ways to build backlinks on a regular basis. Both of these are highly relevant to the subject of the main blog post. Anyone who is reading this post would benefit from navigating to either of those other pages.

Do you notice anything else about the way I set up these internal links?

They’re very natural. In fact, if the hyperlinks were removed, the wording could stay the same and nothing would change in terms of the flow or context.

I usually write my blogs first, and then add internal links at the end during my proofreading and editing process, as opposed to trying to force in certain links while I’m writing.

This is easy for me because I have so much content on my site to choose from, which relates back to our previous discussion point.

Here’s something else you can take away from the example above. Only part of the sentence is linked.

I’m not linking full paragraphs or adding links on every single line or sentence. This approach is unnatural and it makes it challenging for people to read.

The idea here is to add internal links that will actually add value to the reader. If they navigate to one of your internally linked pages, they’ll spend more time on your site. This also adds SEO value.

I’m not sure if you noticed, but I used an internal link in this post that you’re currently reading before I put in the last screenshot.

This fits into everything I’ve been talking about. As a reader, if you’re interested in improving your search engine traffic with internal links (the post you’re reading now), then there is a good chance you’d benefit from the page about donation links (the internal link above).

The two posts are related to one another, so it was the perfect opportunity for me to add a link.

Dive deep

A common mistake that I see websites make all of the time is that they link to the wrong pages.

For example, let’s say you have a comprehensive guide on a specific topic. That guide shouldn’t have an internal link back to your homepage.

Your homepage already has a higher page authority. Plus, that link doesn’t really add any value to your audience. Google knows this.

Instead, you should be taking steps to improve the strength of your internal pages that are deeper in the site. This will ultimately improve your website’s overall SEO value.

Here’s a visual representation of deep linking.

Deep Linking

I love using this example because it’s in German.

While some of you might be able to read German, I personally can’t speak a word of it. But since the site’s architecture is logical, it’s easy to follow what’s going on here.

None of these internal links are linking back to the top tier pages on the website.

The homepage isn’t the only top-level page you should avoid linking to. Another common mistake that I see, especially with new websites, it overlinking to the “contact us” page. They end every post with a CTA like “call us” or “send us a message” and then add the link. Don’t fall into this habit.

Another way to improve your deep linking strategy is by updating old content with new links. There are several benefits to this tactic.

First of all, an older and more established page on your site will likely have a higher page authority, since it’s already been indexed by Google. So by adding a new internal link, you’re creating a relationship with a page that isn’t as established, therefore passing along some link juice.

Updating old content also means that the page will be seen again by Google’s crawlers. When the page gets indexed after an update, there’s a good chance that it can boost the SERP ranking as well.

Plus, adding new links adds value to your readers.

You don’t want your old content to just collect dust and die because it’s becoming irrelevant. The best way to approach the update is by adding a few lines at the beginning of the page, detailing the changes.

From here can simply add new information contextually, throughout the post. Then just put new internal links into these sections.

Create pillar pages

The concept of pillar pages is a more recent way of thinking when it comes to internal linking.

It’s often referred to as different things like pillars, silos, or topic clusters. No matter what you call it, these are all basically the same idea.

Pillar pages essentially double down on the concept of relevant links, which we discussed earlier. HubSpot has a great visual portrayal of how this works.

Pillar Pages

This is also related to your site’s structure, which we’ve already covered as well.

But pillars are much more in-depth than just your traditional hierarchy. The key below makes it easier for you to understand the graphic above.

Pillar Pages

Your pillar pages become the foundation for where you build topic clusters.

The pillar will cover everything and anything related to the topic or keyword that you’re trying to rank for. Then it links out to each cluster content page, which is essentially subtopics of the main pillar.

Pillar pages are more broad, while clusters are detailed and specific.

For example, let’s say you create a social media marketing page as pillar content on your website. Clusters of this topic would be things like:

Facebook marketing guides
Getting sales with Instagram shoppable posts
Generating leads on Twitter
Growing your YouTube channel
Driving conversions with live video

Etc., etc…

Here’s an example of recent pillar page that we published here at Quick Sprout.

Internal Linking Example

The topic (aka pillar) is about paid marketing.

There is so much that can be discussed on this subject. Where could I possibly begin? Rather than trying to cover everything there is to know about paid marketing in one post that’s 50,000 words, I simply mention the subsections, and then link to more in-depth guides.

PPC
CPCs
PPC for B2Bs
Case study on paid ads
Video ads

All of these are the supporting cluster pages. Creating pillars makes it easier to follow all of the other best practices that we’ve covered in this guide.

Conclusion

All internal links are not created equally. Don’t just put them on your website randomly without any reason, or you’ll end up doing more harm than good.

The first thing you need to do is make sure that you’re site’s structure is clearly defined with internal links that make sense for navigation purposes. Your content pages need to have a shallow click depth for this to work properly.

Don’t slack on content creation. Internal linking is only as good as the content you produce.

Make sure your internal links are relevant between pages, and make sense contextually within your content. The best way to internal link is with deep linking principles.

Adding pillar pages to your site will tie all of these tactics together.

I use internal links in everything I produce. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’ve even got some throughout this post. So use this guide as a reference to drive more search traffic to your site with internal links.

Source Quick Sprout http://bit.ly/2JwouPV