الاثنين، 14 سبتمبر 2015

The story behind Hayne’s Under Armour

JARRYD Hayne can finally get out of his hotel thanks to a major sponsorship with sportswear giant Under Armour. But where did the company come from?

Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1KhRPmq

Why I’m Willing to Bet Your Retirement Projection Is Flawed

Could your retirement fund survive a stress test? Or would it crack under the pressure? Photo: darkbuffet

My industry, the business of providing financial advice, should be ashamed of itself.

We’re supposed to be professionals versed in the knowledge of investments, financial markets, retirement planning, and the mathematical fundamentals behind that subject matter. We are regulated up the you-know-what. Yet, we are still allowed to provide you guidance and information that we know (or should know) with virtual certainty will be completely wrong, and we don’t tell you that.

Have you ever had one of those retirement projections done for you where a fancy software program spits out a 10-, 20-, or 30-page report full of neat-looking graphs and tables of your investments and ultimately comes to the conclusion that you will be “A-OK” in retirement?

I am going to show you today why those reports are likely more useful as fire starters than as guides for your retirement.

The problem lies in several factors:

modeling with averages rather than accounting for sequence of returns and actual volatility,
the use of average market returns that are too high,
advisors typing inputs into the software without understanding the mathematical principles and limitations behind the models, and
advisors not adequately communicating to you the “fine print” — i.e., the inherit limitations and flaws of the models.

Instead, you are presented with a fancy and professional-looking report that gets treated like gospel because of its appearance. (As a wise uncle used to tell me, “Appearance often matters more than reality in business.”)

The Problem of Using Averages and Not Accounting for Volatility

First let’s start with the problem of using averages in retirement projections when you are withdrawing the money. I am going to show you that two different accounts can have exactly the same average compounded rate of return, and one shows you going broke in retirement while the other looks okay.

In fact, when you begin withdrawing money from your retirement accounts, you can experience nearly an infinite number of completely different outcomes, all of them having the same average compounded rate of return. I know this sounds wild, but it’s the mathematical truth. And unfortunately, I bet your advisor has not explained this concept to you.

Statistics Don’t Work When the Sample Size is One

Instead, these fancy reports that use averages typically also spit out things like probabilities, standard deviation, and other official-looking statistical information. I graduated many years ago with a degree in engineering and am a certified math geek. I took Calculus I, II, and III, differential equations, and statistics, among a myriad of other nerdy-type courses.

As an investor, standard deviation and percent probability do nothing for me and my retirement plan. And they don’t help you either, especially if you’re not a math nerd like me. Either your plan succeeds or fails. Period.

Or, as PayPal founder Peter Thiel puts it in his 2014 book Zero to One: “Statistics doesn’t work when the sample size is one.”

Telling me that my plan has a 70% to 80% chance of success with a standard deviation of +/-$250,000 is the same as the weatherman telling me it may or may not rain today. Neither one of those forecasts tells me whether I can enjoy the beach with financial peace of mind.

Let’s go through an illustration so you can understand how this freaky math wreaks havoc on your retirement. Then I will suggest a better approach to planning to increase your chances of success and peace of mind.

When You’re Not Making Withdrawals, Your Sequence of Returns Doesn’t Matter…

Suppose you had a $500,000 account at the end of 1999 and invested it in the S&P 500 (for purposes of this illustration, we’re going to assume you reinvested dividends and the index ignores fees and expenses).

During the past 15-year period, from 2000 through 2014, that account would have grown to approximately $933,000 (without withdrawals), for an average compounded rate of return of 4.25%. (By the way, it’s been a pretty wild ride just to average less than 5%, huh?)

You can download historical S&P 500 returns and obtain other useful information by visiting the S&P’s site.

When you’re not making withdrawals you could re-order the past 15 years of returns in any sequence whatsoever and you still end up at the same point. It’s the same mathematical principle that dictates that 3 x 2 is the same as 2 x 3.

To prove these couple of points to you, please refer to the illustration below where I set forth three accounts: one with the actual returns of the S&P 500 from 2000 through 2014, one with the past 15 years of S&P 500 returns in reverse order, and one with the exact average of 4.25% every year. They all end up at the same point, and therefore all three have the same average compounded rate of return of 4.25%:

But When You Start Making Withdrawals, Your Sequence of Returns (i.e., Year-to-Year Volatility) Becomes Critical

Now let’s introduce retirement withdrawals — and the entire game changes, because the mathematical equation completely changes.

When you add withdrawals, your specific sequence of returns produces a completely different result every time you change the sequence, even though each sequence has the same average compounded rate of return! And, 15 years of returns can be sequenced in more than 1.3 trillion different ways!

That means even if you knew ahead of time what the next 15 years of returns were going to be but were not given the order, you would have less than a one in 1.3 trillion chance of exactly predicting your retirement, even ignoring all the other variables such as your spending, inflation, and tax rates.

To illustrate, now that we can agree that all three accounts in my illustration above have the same average compounded rate of return, watch what happens when I add a $30,000-per-year withdrawal to each one.

After 15 years, the S&P 500 fund in reverse order would still have $489,000 remaining, and the account averaging exactly 4.25% each year would show $321,000 left. But the actual S&P 500 account would be almost broke, with only $64,000 remaining.

(By the way, BlackRock also has a good illustration of what sequence of returns does to your portfolio. Their illustration is even more dramatic, illustrating with a hypothetical set of returns on two $1 million retirement accounts. Over the course of 25 years, one account goes all the way to zero and the other finishes above $1 million, both using the same set of returns — just sequenced in different order.)

That means even if your advisor back in 2000 had correctly and exactly predicted the future market average of 4.25% and put that into your retirement prediction, your model would have been off by more than a quarter of a million dollars on a $500,000 account after just 15 years! And even worse, almost all of the models I have seen are using average returns of 6% to 7% — which, at 7%, would have predicted growth in your account to $625,000 instead of the reality of shrinking to $64,000.

Your advisor may have told you that he or she accounted for different outcomes by using a software program that does what’s called a Monte Carlo simulation. (Again, it sounds fancy so it is often treated as gospel.) A Monte Carlo simulation tries to predict different outcomes by varying the inputs into the model and then spitting out an overall probability of success of your retirement plan.

There are several problems with this. First, as I pointed out above, statistics doesn’t help you when your sample size is one. Besides, what good is it to say I might have a 25% chance of needing to look for a job in my 80s?

Second, all the Monte Carlo simulations I have seen are still based on inputting different average rates of return and do not account for sequencing and year-to-year volatility. As I just explained, you can have more than 1.3 trillion completely different outcomes with just 15 years’ worth of returns, all of which have the same average rate of return.

Over longer periods of time, the number of different outcomes goes up exponentially to numbers I can’t even pronounce. Since no one knows what the average rate of return will be in the future, let alone what the volatility and sequence of returns will be over the next 15 to 30 years, a Monte Carlo simulation isn’t of much help either.

A Word About Projected Growth Rates

In addition, as I mentioned above, most of the models I have seen are using predictions of average growth rates in the 6% to 7% range. Even if we put aside the problem of using averages without accounting for volatility, using averages of anything more than 5% is doing a disservice to investors.

As I previously mentioned, the average compounded rate of return of the S&P 500 during the past 15 years has been 4.25%, and that’s with dividends reinvested. (Without dividend reinvestment, it would have been even lower.) While it is true the S&P 500 had an average compounded return of almost 10% over the 50-year period from 1965 through the end of 2014, you must remember that we are in a much different place now than we were in 1965.

Our market and economy had a lot more room to grow in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s than they do now. The population was expanding and the baby boomers were hitting the workforce. Now our population is aging, the birth rate is declining, and the country has moved to a mature, service-based economy. Future growth rates are not likely to match the previous 50 years.

That period was also skewed by one of the greatest 18-year bull market runs in the history of financial markets from 1982 through 1999, which included the hysteria of the Internet stock market bubble. That hysterical period will also not likely be replicated any time soon.

And finally, if you don’t believe me, then please allow me to introduce Warren Buffett. Here’s what he said in his 1999 annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders:

We see growth in corporate profits as being largely tied to the business done in the country (GDP), and we see GDP growing at a real rate [i.e., nominal rate minus inflation] of about 3%. In addition, we have hypothesized 2% inflation.

* * *

If profits do indeed grow along with GDP, at about a 5% rate, the valuation placed on American business is unlikely to climb by much more than that.

And the next 15 years produced an average market return of 4.25%, not a bad prediction by Mr. Buffett.

For the next 15 years, I am not aware of any evidence that suggests we should expect growth in our economy any greater than what we have been seeing the past 15 years. That means retirement models using growth rates any higher than 5% are essentially crossing their fingers hoping for the best and not planning for the worst.

In addition, a proper model needs to account for advisor fees and fund expenses, which often run a total of 1% to 2% — which means that, even if the market does perform in the 5% to 7% range, your portfolio will perform in the 3% to 6% range after fees and expenses.

And if the market performs in the 4% to 5% range, as it has the past 15 years, then you as an investor are looking at 2% to 4% returns after fees and expenses. That’s a far cry from the 6% to 7% growth rates I am seeing used in retirement projections.

So What Is a Prudent Alternative for Retirement Planning?

We shouldn’t be in the business of trying to predict the future or what the market is going to do. The future is inherently uncertain. I don’t have any idea whether the next 15 years will bring more or less than 5% growth.

What we should be focused on, however, is planning for this uncertainty.

To do that I take a page out of what the banking industry is now required to do after the crash of ’08, and what well-run businesses have always done: They use stress tests.

They look at whether their banks and businesses can survive in even the worst of times, and if they can, then they know they will be just fine in average scenarios or the best of times. Why should your retirement projection be any different? Aren’t we doing a complete disservice to you if we don’t put your projection through a worst-case scenario and see if your savings can still survive retirement?

In my opinion an advisor needs to conduct a stress test in order to develop your retirement investment plan. The stress test will show how much of the portfolio needs to be protected from downside risk in order to make your plan work.

Moreover, it’s easy to look at stock market history and specifically sequence your portfolio through some of the worst and most volatile time periods to see how it would survive. So why doesn’t the industry do this?

Why Doesn’t the Industry Change How It Does Retirement Projections?

I think it’s due to a number of factors. First, I don’t believe most advisors in the industry are aware of or understand how the sequence of returns can disrupt a retirement portfolio when the retiree is making withdrawals. Certainly investors are not aware of this phenomenon, which at least means advisors are not communicating it to their clients.

Second, it seems that these projections are often used as marketing tools, and no advisor who is trying to win a new account would want to show the prospect a projection that looks bad for you, right? Moreover, I have spoken to a handful of prospective clients who said their current advisors were willing to put their credibility on the line and guaranteed them the 7% growth they needed to make their retirement plan work.

Third, as I touched on at the beginning of this article, these projections are based on software programs that look fancy and therefore are treated as gospel. The problem is that data inputs are typed into them and then an answer is spit out. I don’t believe many advisors truly understand the limitations of these models and how flawed their results can be.

So I leave you with the following question:

Would you rather plan conservatively and see if your retirement savings can survive a stress test, or are you merely hoping the market can live up to your expectations of future growth in order to make your plan work?

Tim Van Pelt is a financial planner and registered investment advisor representative of Steele Capital Management, Inc. The views expressed in this article are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Steele Capital or its management. You can reach him at tjvanpelt@gmail.com or (608) 577-9877. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, investing, tax, legal or accounting advice. You should consult your own investment, tax, legal and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.

The post Why I’m Willing to Bet Your Retirement Projection Is Flawed appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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NS&I cuts Isa rate - where now for your savings?

Tom Wilson

isa moneywise.jpg

More than 400,000 National Savings & Investments (NS&I) Isa customers will see the interest on their Isas slashed in mid-November.

The rate on the NS&I Direct Isa will fall by 0.25 percentage points to 1.25% on 16 November.

NS&I cuts Isa rate - where now for your savings?

Feed Copy:

More than 400,000 National Savings & Investments (NS&I) Isa customers will see the interest on their Isas slashed in mid-November. The rate on the NS&I Direct Isa will fall by 0.25 percentage points to 1.25% on 16 November. According to the Bank of England, average rates received on instant access Isas have fallen from 1.09% to 1.01% over the year to August. Jane Platt, chief executive at NS&I said: "Interest rates in the easy access ISA market have been in decline over the year and our Direct ISA rate has stood out at the top of the best buy tables for some time. "To ensure that we continue to strike a balance between the needs of our savers, taxpayers and the stability of the broader financial services sector, we have taken the difficult decision to reduce the rate on our Direct ISA." Where can I find the best instant-access Isa rate? The Direct Isa was one of the best instant-access accounts on the market, though a handful of providers currently offer better terms. If you can find a branch to open an account, the Punjab National Bank pays 1.65% AER on balances over £1. The bank has seven branches in the UK, in Central London, Southall, Leicester, Birmingham, Illford, Wembley and Wolverhampton. Danske Bank pays 1.6% AER on balances over £30,000, but just 0.4% on smaller deposits. You can transfer cash Isa savings into the account, which can be opened in-branch or over the phone. If you're looking to save regularly, the Buckinghamshire Building Society Chiltern Golden Nuggets account (issue 4) pays 2% AER on balances over £10 if you pay in regularly. You can open the account in branch or by post. You're just allowed one interest-free withdrawal per year, otherwise the interest rate plummets to 0.1% AER.

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7 Assumptions About Retirement: True or False?

Don’t less false expectations influence your retirement decisions.

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How to Buy Your First Rental Property: I’ve Earned $100,000 From Mine

So you want to buy a rental property. When’s the right time to invest?

After you get a better car, after you buy your dream home, once the babies are in school (or out of college!), maybe then you’ll be able to buy an investment property.

But based on my experience, the best time to invest isn’t after you meet some arbitrary goal. It’s now.

The Earlier You Buy Your Investment Property, the Better

I bought my first rental house in 1994 when I was 24. My husband and I each made barely more than minimum wage, and we had a 2-year-old and more debt than I felt comfortable with.

But we felt strongly that home ownership was the key to our future, so we bought a two-bedroom, one-bathroom home with street parking for $16,000.

Twenty years later, I still own this rental and have earned more than $100,000 in rent.

Like any other investment, time can be your greatest asset. The earlier you start, the more time you have to reap the rewards.

How to Start Your Rental Property Portfolio

Your first rental property is often the hardest to acquire. If you go to a banker or mortgage broker and ask to buy a rental property, they’ll likely ask you for a 20-30% down payment.

Instead, the easiest way to break into this market is to buy a house and live in it for one year, then rent it out and buy another.

As an owner occupant, and if this advice has reached you early enough, a first-time homebuyer, you’ll likely qualify for financing with a low down payment.

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans only require a 3.5% down payment, allow the seller to pay all closing costs and prepaid expenses (up to 6% of the sales price), have a reasonable mortgage insurance rate (the premium you pay for putting less than 20% down), and don’t require the borrower to occupy the home for more than a year.

Try to use FHA financing on your first home, if you’re eligible. You may even find a program with 100% financing or down-payment assistance. These programs tend to vary by location and sometimes have longer occupancy requirements, but are worth inquiring about. Learn about your options on the Department of Housing and Urban Development website.

What to Look for in a Rental Property

Start small. Look for the least expensive house meets your needs and will make a decent rental.

Remember, you’re only going to live in it for a year. A two-bedroom, one-bathroom home is a great place to start. You can make that work for a year, even if you have kids. Tell everyone you’re jumping on the tiny house movement.

When you’re ready to add your next investment property, look for one that’s a little larger, like three bedrooms and one or two bathrooms.

Your first home should be basically livable with no major issues, so you qualify for a loan with a low down payment. It’s OK if it’s a little run-down, because hopefully you can get it for a good price. It also gives you the chance to make some minor improvements, build some sweat equity and make it appeal to renters.

But the property shouldn’t need any major repairs or renovations. If there’s anything that would prevent you from moving in right away, it may not be your best bet, as you’ll have trouble getting the maximum loan-to-value ratio on your property.

Build Your Rental Portfolio

If you want to manage multiple rentals, keep upgrading every year until the lenders start to balk and question your motives. You can likely buy three houses this way.

If you’ve sought out good deals and put some polish on them, you should be able to tap into some equity to come up with down payments on more rentals. Even better, save up the income you’re earning on these rentals and use it for your first 20% down payment.

Now, start looking lower-priced homes again, because you’ll tell the lender you’re buying a rental. And the lower the price of the home, the lower your down payment.

What If You Already Own a Home?

This tactic may only be successful if you don’t already own your dream home — or any home worth more than the properties you hope to buy and rent out. Why?

Lenders expect people to buy a starter home, then to buy successively nicer homes for the rest of their lives. They tend to get suspicious if you buy down.

If you already own a home but are interested in this strategy, consider selling it. Or, if it would make a good investment property, keep it and rent it out.

But come up with a believable reason to tell the lender you’re downsizing: the kids are moving out, you want to be closer to your parents (kids, work, etc.), or you want to save for college or retirement.

Worst case scenario, if you rent it out and move, then claim the rental income on your tax return, they can’t argue with your intention to rent it.

What About Maintenance?

Rental properties make a great addition to your retirement portfolio. They can be a primary source of retirement income, as they are for me, or one or two properties can add a little breathing room to your retirement budget.

If you manage the properties yourself and handle minor maintenance, it’s like having a second job — one that lets you set your own hours, travel as much as you like and delegate work if you’re out of town or too busy to attend to an issue right away. I generally handle as much of the management and maintenance as possible myself.

Recently, I was across the country and had an unexpected vacancy. I asked a trusted friend to find me a tenant. At first, she thought the amount of money I offered her was too high. But once she realized how much time it took to field all those phone calls, meet prospective tenants and get the house ready for the new tenant, she accepted the compensation.

Find a good plumber, electrician, HVAC professional and general handyman you can call when you can’t get to a problem or are in over your head. This isn’t something that happens overnight. But over the years, I’ve managed to build up a good team of people I can call on when I need help.

Or you could follow this owner’s example and build a team to take care of most of the work for you, leaving you free to focus on other pursuits — while rental income comes into your bank account.

Your Turn: Have you considered buying a rental property? If you did, tell us about your experience! If not, what’s stopping you?

Deborah Christensen is a real estate investor with 15 years’ experience in mortgage lending. She is retired at the age of 45 and travels full time in an RV with her husband. She writes a blog about their RV lifestyle at DJsEpicAdventure.

The post How to Buy Your First Rental Property: I’ve Earned $100,000 From Mine appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Preparing for Retirement: Discover the Three Essential Keys to Helping you Enjoy a Financially Secure Future

By Edelman Financial Services I recently read that a woman turning 65 today has a 50% change of living to age 88! And for a 65 year old married couple, at least one spouse has a 50% chance of living to age 92[1]! That makes me stop and think. Although I love the idea of having […]

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Don’t Miss Adobe, Oracle, Marketo & Salesforce On the MarTech Main Stage – Register Now!

If you’re responsible for creating exceptional customer experiences with marketing technology, MarTech Europe is a must-attend event. MarTech is unique. You’ll be inspired by industry pioneers from leading brands and agencies who are responsible for delivering business results with marketing...

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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How This Mom is Making Money Helping Others

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your entrepreneurial journey. I live in rural northwest Ohio with my husband of 13 years and our three children. I created my first online business in 2007 and quickly realized how difficult it was to market, even though I had a background in marketing and communications (B.A. […]

Source The Work at Home Woman http://ift.tt/1iaaQ3E

الأحد، 13 سبتمبر 2015

Silvio Calabi: Turning pages, not wheels: new car books

Remember books? If you’re reading this in a newspaper, you probably do. For the rest of you: words (and even pictures) are still being put on paper, so we can keep them and look at them when the WiFi goes down or the cloud explodes. Amazing!“Steve McQueen: Full Throttle Cool” (Dwight Jon Zimmerman, Greg Scott; Motorbooks, $19.99) Steve McQueen was the Patrick Dempsey of his day—a leading-man actor who discovered he could credibly drive a race [...]

Source Business - poconorecord.com http://ift.tt/1ia0lNF

Cars We Remember: Bonneville Salt Flats — a short history and a ‘Save the Salt’ campaign

Q: Greg, I’m from California and would love to know more about the Bonneville Salt Flats, one of motorsports fastest yet lesser known and covered divisions.I remember all the stars of Bonneville, including Mickey Thompson. Can you write about the Bonneville Salt Flat history and how things are going now? I see they just cancelled the big event for October. Edward L. and I see your columns in the Desert Dispatch in Barstow.A: Sure thing, Ed. To answer [...]

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Free-range eggs not actually free-range

A QUEENSLAND eggs producer has been fined $250,000 after the Federal Court ruled it had purposely mislead consumers and labelled its eggs as free range, when its hens were always kept inside.

Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1NylHSk

Iconic images that changed the world

SOME are distressing, others are intriguing, a few are completely horrifying. But all these iconic photos managed to change the course of history. WARNING: Graphic

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17 CREATIVE Things I Did To Pay Off $10,000 in Credit Card Debt

When I started this blog a few years ago, I was DROWNING with more than $10,000 in credit card debt!

In fact, it got so bad that there were times I had to roll pennies just to buy groceries!

I had read practically every personal finance book out there, but the idea that cutting out Starbucks from my budget was going to magically make me a millionaire seemed ridiculous.

So instead of cutting lattes, I had to get creative with my budget and that meant not only finding ways to save, but finding a few ways to boost my income.

Here are the 17 things I did to pay off my $10,000 in credit card debt…

1. I Negotiated My Bills to Save $500+/Year

We all know you can negotiate the price of a car, but did you know that you can negotiate your cell phone bill and cable bill?

I recently did this with my AT&T bill. I already had the cheapest advertised plan, but I called AT&T and asked if they could do anything to help me reduce the bill. They ended up knocking off $20/month off, saving me $360/year!

I also did the same thing with my cable bill and racked up another $200/year in savings.

Here are some tips on how to negotiate these bills.

2. I Watched Cooking Shows to Make $50+/Year

I might be a tiny bit addicted to cooking shows, which is ironic since the take-out local Chinese restaurant knows me by name. I don’t actually use any of the cooking tricks I see on TV, but there’s something relaxing about watching someone else do the cooking, even if it includes Gordon Ramsay yelling in the background.

That’s why I was pretty excited to find this hack: Swagbucks will pay you simply to watch cooking shows through their video channel.

Ummm… Get PAID to watch cooking shows? I can’t think of a better way to spend a lazy day!

Once you’ve earned your SBs, take them to the Swagbucks Rewards Store to exchange your points for Paypal or for gift cards. Swagbucks offers gift cards for Amazon, Target and Visa as well as Nintendo, Shutterfly, Old Navy and more.

3. I Learned How to Get (Almost) Free Groceries

I used to think couponing was not worth the time, but the internet has made things SO much easier. The first thing I do is use a coupon match up site like SouthernSavers.com.

They keep track of every deal available and show you what coupons to print, clip and stack to get the cheapest groceries. It takes me about 15 minutes to make my grocery list.

And the last thing I do is to always make sure I have a steady supply of coupons coming in.

We actually get 5 Sunday newspapers for this reason and I joined the mailing list for a bunch of major brands so that I’d have a never-ending supply of coupons. Here are a few good ones…

Kellogg’s Family Rewards

Collect points to earn rewards when you purchase KFR-participating products. In addition to coupons they’ll email you special offers, free points, bonus offers, and recipes.

Pillsbury

Get coupons for up to $250 per year in savings, access to free samples, and tasty Pillsbury recipes.

Coupons.com

Get Coupons.com’s free printable coupons delivered via email so you don’t miss any.

Tablespoon

The folks over at Tablespoon are giving away 186 coupons for things like batteries, deodorant, laundry detergent and more.

Fill out their short form here (takes 10 seconds) and then select “coupon & sales“. Then click the button marked “clip all” to get the coupons.

4. I Created Extra Income That Didn’t Add to My Work Day

For a lot of our readers it’s not really possible to add another job to the schedule. You’re already working 2 or 3 jobs and still aren’t making ends meet.

Cash It’s a pretty common problem, which is why I always suggest that you look for ways to boost income passively. Income that doesn’t require you to work a ton of additional hours.

Obviously most types of passive income require you to have a huge investment, but there are also little things you can do to make money.

One of my favorites is the Media Research Panel smartphone app. If you install their app on your smartphone or tablet, they will pay you $5/month per device. And you can install the app on up to 3 devices. Plus they’ll send you a $5 bonus after the 12th week.

Their app helps media companies better under how consumers are using their device by measuring activities conducted on a device, such as sharing, viewing, clicking, chatting, and downloading.

This is one of those things that takes about 15 minutes to set up and then you never have to think about it again. You just get to cash the check every month. All told this can add up to an extra $185/year.

5. I Changed Search Engines

If you spend a lot of time searching online, you might want to think about leaving Google/Yahoo and make Bing your default search engine.

Why? Bing wants to pay you for your searches!

You can earn credits through Bing every time you make a search — credits you can cash in for gift cards to a variety of stores like Amazon, Toys ‘r Us, and Starbucks. I usually only make an extra $5-$10/month, but it all adds up, right?

6. I Went Out to Dinner, But Paid Half the Bill

We all know that Groupon is a great way to save on going out to eat. They have 100’s of restaurant gift certificates that you can purchase for 50-80% off. But, if you’re JUST using Groupon… you’re losing out on some easy cash.

Get this – the folks over at SendEarnings.com will give you a $5 cash rebate on every Groupon you buy through their site (as long as the Groupon is $20 or more). Send Earnings is free to join and it only takes about 15 seconds to sign up.

Think about this for a second. If you buy a $40 gift card on Groupon for $20, plus you get $5 cash-back from SendEarnings, you and your significant other can go out to eat for only $15. That’s crazy!

7. I Told My Bank to Take a Hike

I hate to be the one to break it you, but chances are your bank is ripping you off. The top 10 banks in the US charge an average of $7.50/month for an account. That’s insane!

You should try switching to an online bank. They have lower overhead costs and are able to pass those savings along to consumers. There are a bunch of great online banks, but my favorite is definitely Chase because they’re currently offering Penny Hoarder readers $250 just to open an account.

Yearly Savings: Eliminate the fees and save $90/year.

8. I Rented Out My Apartment & Pocketed $125

Alright, this might not work for everybody, but have you thought about renting out your house or apartment for one night? I’ve used Airbnb to both rent out my apartment and stay in many others while traveling, and it’s a fantastic way to put your home to work for you.

Whether you’re renting out a single room or your entire home, make the most of your Airbnb rental by following these tips.

9. I Hosted an Online Garage Sale

We all have way too much junk just sitting around, so this month’s project is to sell some of your old stuff online. Here are some of my favorite websites for doing just that:

– Bookscouter – Use this site to sell your old books

– Ebay: Everything else goes on Ebay.

– Tradesy: Use this site to sell your old clothes

I was able to sell more than $500 in stuff that was just sitting in my garage and closets.

10. I Weighed In on Presidential Politics

What do you think of Donald Trump? Are you going to vote in the 2016 Election?

I’m kind of a political nerd, so one way I’ve made extra money is by registering for the major polling companies (Springboard Panel & Ipsos Panel are the two largest). However, you’ve got to be a registered voter in order to participate. I did this during the 2012 election and I was able to pocket around $100, so I’m looking forward to it again.

A word of caution though: these can be also be frustrating at times because not everyone qualifies. They’re looking for a certain number of people in each demographic, so it’s hit and miss whether you’ll be asked to complete a poll.

11. I Let SlideJoy Put an Ad on My Smartphone

You pick up your cell phone dozens of times a day, whether to check the weather report, answer emails or text a friend.

What if you could make money just by picking up your phone to do all those ordinary things?

Instead of a picture of your dog or some flowers on your lock screen, Slidejoy presents ads for various products and services. Like what you see? Swipe left on the ad to go straight to the advertiser’s website, YouTube video or app download page. If the ad doesn’t resonate with you, or if you’re in a hurry, simply slide right to go to your phone as normal. Or, if you just want to check your notifications, just slide down to display them.

Either way, you get paid just for looking at the ads on your lock screen. In fact, you can earn up to $60 year just by using your phone normally!

12. I Found Free Entertainment

Did you know you can check out more than books and DVDs at your public library?

Literacy isn’t the only thing on a public library’s agenda. Libraries aim to improve access information and provide education for everyone in their community. And book learnin’ on how to become a carpenter or play the guitar can only take you so far. To truly master these crafts, you need tools and instruments. That’s where public libraries can help.

To offer their patrons of all income levels more opportunities to learn and get involved in their communities, check out a few weird and unusual things you may be able to borrow from your public library.

13. I Signed Up for New Bank Accounts

There are a ton of bank promotions out there and they can be a good way to make a little extra money.

For example, right now Chase is offering $150 when you open a new bank account and make a direct deposit within the first 60 days. Check out this post for more details.

14. I Answered TV Trivia

Got a long list of favorite TV shows? Sign up for RewardTV and earn a few dollars by answering trivia questions about the shows you watched last night.

Most of the trivia has to do with shows that have recently aired, so if you’re binging on a three-year-old show on Netflix, you probably can’t compete. But if you love your TV, you can redeem your trivia points for gift certificates to your favorite stores.

14. I Signed Up for Free Gift Card Promotions

Believe it or not, there are sites that will give you free gift cards just for signing up with them.

One of my favorites is Ebates, the cash-back shopping site. They’re giving away $10 gift cards if you sign-up as a new member and earn your first cashback rebate. You can choose either a $10 Target, Walmart, Macy’s, or Kohl’s gift card.

You do have to wait 30 days. But, it’s free money so can you really complain?

Believe it or not, there are sites that will give you free gift cards just for signing up with them.

You do have to wait 30 days. But, it’s free money so can you really complain?

15. I Evaluated My Local Stores with Mobee: $10

Have you ever tried mystery shopping? The Mobee app will pay you to go undercover in your local stores and rate the level of customer service and cleanliness, among other things.

Most of you know that I’ve done quite a bit of mystery shopping, so I was pretty excited to find this app. I found it really easy to use and the shops went pretty quickly, but I wasn’t too impressed with the payment amounts. For example, there was a Subway mystery shop in my area that was paying $8. That’s not a huge amount for a mystery shop, plus I had to buy a sandwich during the shop that wasn’t reimbursed.

Regardless, it was like getting a free lunch, so I’ll take it!

Your Turn: Have you done anything creative you pay off credit card debt?

Good luck Penny Hoarders!

The post 17 CREATIVE Things I Did To Pay Off $10,000 in Credit Card Debt appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Retailer busted selling fake Tiffany rings

IT’S got to take some of the gloss off an engagement to discover that the sparkling designer ring on your finger is a rip-off bought at a discount retail chain.

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Warm welcome for McCarran crowds -- PHOTOS

McCarran International Airport on Friday opened its arms to travelers celebrating the Mexican Independence Day holiday weekend, serving up performances by Mariachi Oro Del Rancho, a 19-member student band from Rancho High School.

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Coming soon: Tidal wave of cabs, cars for hire in Las Vegas

In a matter of weeks, a tidal wave of cars for hire will be moving people from place to place on the city's streets. There will be taxicabs, 3,000 strong, hovering around the resorts, the airport and the convention centers.

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Program Your Autopilot: 10 Good Money Habits and How to Form Them

The deeper the groove, the harder it is to escape it — a helpful philosophy when it comes to developing good habits. Photo: Ian Sane

They say that “old habits die hard.” However, new research shows it might not take that long to form new ones.

According to a study released in the European Journal of Social Psychology, which followed 96 participants for 12 weeks, it took participants an average of 66 days to form deeply rooted habits that stood the test of time. If you believe that research, that means the vast majority of us could truly change our lives in a little over two months.

But is it really that easy?

According to behavioral change expert Dr. Hersh Shefrin, patterns and behaviors — especially financial ones — can be changed over time if new habits are performed repeatedly. Last year, in Forbes, Shefrin offered this explanation for how habits are formed:

“It’s like digging a groove. The more you do it, the deeper the groove. And the deeper the groove, the harder it will be to get out.”

But, like anything else, new habits require personal initiative. After all, you can’t form a habit through repetition if you never get started. And sometimes, getting started is the hardest part.

10 Good Money Habits — and How to Make Them Second Nature

If you’re hoping to pick up some money habits that can improve your finances over time, this list is a good place to start:

Habit #1: Paying your bills on time

This is an excellent habit to form for a few reasons. First, it will save you from paying the unnecessary late fees that result from late payments. And second, it might save you from the higher interest rates charged to those who pay late. Since payment history can make up as much as 35% of your credit score, prompt bill payments should help increase your credit score over time.

How to form this habit: If your bills aren’t organized, it’s a lot easier to pay them late by accident. To form a healthy relationship with your bills, you could consider several strategies, including:

Pay bills once or twice per month. Consider paying bills on the first and the 15^th of the month, depending on when they are due.
Set bills you worry about on autopay. Bills you are likely to forget can be set on autopay for a certain day of the month.
Mark due dates on your calendar. Pay bills according to their due dates by marking those dates on your calendar with other important responsibilities and events.

Habit #2: Creating a monthly budget

We’ve written about budgeting multiple times here at The Simple Dollar, including my personal favorite form of budgeting, the zero-sum budget. But any type of budget will do — as long as you use it.

Instead of thinking of your budget as a restriction on your life, try to think of it as a powerful tool — a plan for your money.

How to form this habit: If you opt for a monthly budget, you only have to create one 12 times per year. That’s probably the easiest route to go, and it’s definitely the least time consuming.

Like any other priority, mark your budgeting date and deadline on your calendar near the end of a month — or at the beginning of the next one. Then, sit down and create your monthly budget on that date.

If you want to learn more about zero-sum budgeting and making it a habit, check out How and Why to Use a Zero-Sum Budget.

Habit #3: Investing regularly and increasing contributions as you earn more

To build your nest egg over time, you need to invest on a monthly basis at the very least. In my recent post on how to get started investing, our experts suggested contributing 5% to 10% of your salary at first, and ratcheting it up from there as your income allows.

How to form this habit: If you’re using a work-sponsored 401(k) to save for retirement, setting this on autopilot is easy. All you need to do is contact your employer’s HR department and set up your retirement contributions through payroll deduction. Setting your contributions as a percentage, say 10%, will also automatically increase the amount you contribute over time as you receive promotions or cost of living raises.

If you’re stuck investing for retirement on your own, set a specific date on your calendar to sock money away. If you’re using a monthly budget, and especially a zero-sum budget, make a habit of “paying your investments” as if they were a regular bill.

Habit #4: Tracking your financial progress and net worth

How can you know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been? If you want to gain a true perspective on your financial situation, it’s important to track it over time. Even though your net worth will rise and fall over time with your investments and assets, it should show a gradual upward trajectory.

How to form this habit: This part is easy. By signing up for a money management site like Mint.com or Personal Capital, you can track your net worth in perpetuity for free. All you need to do to get the ball rolling is sign up and add all of your accounts once. The rest is done for you. After that, you can simply log in from time to time to see where you stand.

Habit #5: Make savings a priority

Just like investing, you have to save regularly to build up a savings buffer over time. And no matter whether you’re building an emergency fund, saving for a house, or saving for the future with no specific goal in mind, it’s consistency that will help you reach your goals.

How to form this habit: If you’ve started using a budget, utilize it to help reach your savings goals. Create a line item for “savings” and pay your own savings account as if it were a regular bill. Or, if you want to make it automatic, set your bank account up to automatically withdraw a certain dollar figure on payday or any other day that works.

Habit #6: Stay on the wagon, no matter what

When trying to create a new habit, research has shown that repetition is key. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true — failing to perform the new habit can quickly make you forget it altogether.

If you want to reach your financial goals, it’s important to keep moving full steam ahead — even if you have a bad day, experience a financial mishap, or just feel like giving up.

How to form this habit: While staying on the bandwagon can be a drag, the other tips in this post can help you build the underlying framework that will make it easier. With a monthly budget, for example, one bad day shouldn’t be enough to knock you off track for good. Meanwhile, an automatic savings and investing plan will help you keep saving no matter what.

Habit #7: Keep an eye on your credit health

Although your credit isn’t the end-all-be-all, it is an important component of your overall financial health. In order to get the best interest rates, buy a home, finance a car, or start a business, you’ll need a good credit score and credit history behind you.

How to form this habit: To keep your credit on the up and up, you’ll want to explore the habits of people with good credit and emulate them as much as you can. Those habits include things like paying your bills on time, keeping your balances as low as possible, not opening new accounts without good reason, and utilizing different types of credit. Credit Karma can also help you track your score for free, and even offers account alerts when changes are made to your score.

Habit #8: Save on daily, weekly, and monthly purchases

While having a budget is a great way to stay on track, it’s important to keep your expenses as low as possible, too. After all, usual spending can add up over time if you’re not careful, and there are ways to save on everything if you’re willing to put in the effort.

How to form this habit: Saving on everything may seem impossible, but it isn’t nearly as hard as it seems. In fact, it all starts with your small bills — groceries, gas, entertainment, and miscellaneous.

Getting in the habit of price shopping for groceries, for example, can save hundreds of dollars each month. Here are some posts full of ideas for saving on everyday food and household spending:

When it comes to your big bills like auto insurance, homeowners insurance, and renters insurance, set a date each year to shop around for the best deal. These resources can help:

Habit #9: Spending less than you earn

No matter what, the best way to get ahead is to spend less than you earn. In his post on basic rules and financial principles to live by, Trent Hamm even calls spending less than you earn the No. 1 rule of personal finance.

“Spending less than you earn frees up the money you need to make larger payments on your debts,” says Hamm. “Over time, they begin to disappear, reducing your monthly bills and giving you even more breathing room.”

How to form this habit: If you’re following the rest of the tips on this list, this habit will take care of itself. With a monthly budget, an actionable plan to save on all expenses big and small, and an automatic savings plan, you should know what you can truly afford — and have the wherewithal to create a life that fits within those bounds.

According to Hamm, some of the best ways to start spending less than you earn involve cutting your expenses:

Going through all of your bills and cutting out “the extras”
Diligently tracking your spending
Taking a closer look at your routines and asking if they still serve you
Getting a better bank
Finding ways to save money around your home

Habit #10: Being the CEO of your own life

In today’s complicated world, it’s easy to let life “happen to you.” It’s easy to sit back and let the chips fall where they may. But if you truly want to get ahead, you have to be proactive. You have to set yourself up for success every time; you have to be willing to do the things others just aren’t.

Becoming the CEO of your own life is as simple as owning your triumphs and your failures, and realizing that you have the power to change your future.

How to form this habit: To become the best boss you’ve ever had, a mindset change is in order. Instead of reacting to the world around you, take the bull by the horns and do whatever it takes to create a new and better future.

Following every tip in this post will put you in the position to be the best CEO you can be while improving your financial outlook beyond your wildest dreams.

But you have to act, and you have to act consistently until you are in the habit of being in control. Remember, you are the driver of your own life — and you ultimately decide where you’re going.

The Bottom Line

All of these money habits are good to implent on their own. But, combined? They can change your life for the better, and for good. But they all start with actionable change on your part. And in order to make a change, you have to want to change in the first place.

It’s easy to keep heading the wrong direction — to take the path of least resistance. But with the right attitude and the right game plan, you can begin forming the habits that will help you become rich over time.

What financial habits have you implemented in the last year? What bad habits are you trying to drop?

The post Program Your Autopilot: 10 Good Money Habits and How to Form Them appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Amazon Puts Out The Fire Phone

All companies make mistakes. Yet one of the biggest in the consumer devices arena is Amazon’s much-hyped but spectacularly unsuccessful Fire Phone. It now appears the company is discontinuing it. According to multiple reports Amazon has Fire-d engineers (the puns are difficult to resist) and...

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Want to Make Over Your Grocery Budget? LAST CHANCE to Join Our Course!

What’s the one thing you spend money on again and again, sometimes even daily?

You guessed it: food!

And the truth is, most of us spend WAY too much at the grocery store.

That’s why we’re focusing on budgeting at the grocery store for our first online course. We want to help YOU learn how to save money on groceries!

We’ve been talking about and planning this course for months. Last week we finally opened it for enrollment, and we’ve had hundreds of people sign up so far!

Since the course begins Wednesday, this is your LAST CHANCE to sign up.

We’re closing the cart at midnight on Tuesday, Sept. 15:

Click Here to Join Us for Grocery Budget Makeover

This course covers dozens of tricks for meal planning, stockpiling your pantry, couponing, freezer meals and more. Want more details? Click the link above for a peek at our 10-week curriculum.

Can’t wait to see you there!

The post Want to Make Over Your Grocery Budget? LAST CHANCE to Join Our Course! appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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السبت، 12 سبتمبر 2015

Downtown's Stevens part showman and successful casino operator

Derek Stevens could never pull off his antics if the privately held D Las Vegas were publicly traded. The D's majority owner would have given the Securities and Exchange Commission fits with an in-house-produced video of a pseudo board of directors meeting posted to YouTube on Aug. 31.

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