Questions About MoviePass, Popcorn, Novels for Younger Kids, Motorcycle Sales, and More!

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Full time or not?
2. Federal employee health insurance question
3. MoviePass
4. Microwave versus stove top popcorn
5. Freezing child’s credit
6. Pension or investment plan?
7. Budgeting for irregular expenses
8. Reading books to stick
9. Read-aloud novels for younger children
10. Selling off motorcycle
11. Handling self-judgment
12. Screenless Sundays

I say it about twice a year, and I’m going to keep saying it: the switch to and from Daylight Savings Time in the United States is a move that hurts far more than it helps.

There may have been a time in America’s history where it was a good idea to have a clock switch twice a year, but in today’s world, where the vast majority of people have service or information economy jobs, the benefits of the clock switch have nearly vanished.

Instead, we’re left with all of those service and retail and information jobs full of people who are trying to deal with the sudden adjustment in their internal clocks, very much akin to an hour of jet lag. Some handle it just fine, but many do not – they’re off their game for at least a few days every time the clock switches.

Please, Washington, end the Daylight Savings Time switch. Stick with one or the other. I don’t really even care which one you stick with. Just stop the switching.

Q1: Full time or not?

I am in a unique situation regarding my income and health care affordability. If I was to work full time I could not afford to live because of how much health insurance costs at my place of work. My income and family size qualifies me for certain Market Place discounts but I am unable to receive them if I have insurance available through my place of work. By working part time I qualify for government assistance and can afford to live. Working full time I still qualify for government assistance based on income but not based on situation.

Some numbers to help explain. I make $15 an hour putting me at roughly $32,000 a year which qualifies me for Medicaid for a family of 4. Because my work offers me insurance I do not qualify for Medicaid, therefore I have to pay $800 dollars a month for insurance through my work. If I work part time under 30 hours a week I will earn $18,270 based on 29 hours a week. Neglecting taxes for simplicity. After insurance is deducted from gross pay for the year I will only bring home $21,600 for the year, only $3,330 more for 572 extra hours of work. Meaning that I only earn $5.82 an hour for those extra hours. SNAP benefits scale with income so assume food necessities are covered.

I guess my question becomes do I work full time or part time? My wife cannot work due to child care being more expensive than she would earn plus moral reasons. I could obtain 2 part time jobs earning more money while still qualifying for benefits. Part of the reason I am in this predictament is because of health insurance affordability under the ACA only uses single person as a form of affordability and not family insurance.
– Terry

Welcome to (some of) the absurdity of how health care coverage in the United States works. When health care is tied to income thresholds, people are quite often discouraged from working because they make very little money from working additional hours. They’re far better off not working and focusing on home economy (or doing cash-only jobs that don’t get reported on taxes, which happens quite often).

That, honestly, seems to be where you’re at, especially if the insurance at work is comparable in quality to Medicaid (I don’t know the specifics of the plan).

If I were you, and the plan was comparable to Medicaid, I would reduce my hours there and then devote those extra hours to a concerted effort toward greater home economy or to other ways of reducing your costs. It’s very likely that you can save more than $5/hour for 10 hours a week of home economy effort – in fact, I’d virtually guarantee it.

Q2: Federal employee health insurance question

I’m trying to decipher the standard and basic options for Fepblue 2018 coverage. I’m planning a hip replacement surgery. For the life of me I can not figure out which coverage will benefit my pocket more. It’s very convoluted. Where is there a lay mans explanation?
– Thomas

For those unaware, Fepblue is Blue Cross / Blue Shield’s federal health care insurance program.

I spent some time on Fepblue’s website and I was unable to find a definitive answer to your question because it relies greatly on your family’s situation, whether you’re a current federal employee or a retiree, and your larger health situation. My best guess, based on this comparison and the fact that hip replacements usually involve 3-4 days in the hospital and may involve additional work after that, that the standard plan is better for you than the basic plan.

If I were you, I’d go to two resources to figure this out for sure. One, I’d contact Fepblue directly and ask about which plan covers your general scenario the best. Their phone number is 1-800-411-BLUE. Two, I’d contact the human resources officer at your work location and talk to that person, who may have some additional advice or resources for you.

Q3: MoviePass

I anticipated that you would write an article on MoviePass, at some point, since they reduced their subscription rate to $10/month, but I haven’t seen anything about it yet (unless I missed it). MoviePass is a pretty awesome service for anyone who is thrifty and enjoys going to the movies. The service allows you to see one movie each day for a simple rate of $10/month. MoviePass sends you a debit card that pays for your movies. The best part is that your local theater doesn’t lose anything (at least not in the short-term. While it was a slow struggle to get signed up and receive my card, it has been a breeze to use and has saved me and my wife a ton of money. We will see a ton of savings when Oscar/Christmas movie season comes around and I am at the movie multiple times in a week. Typically, we go to the movies at least once a month together, and I usually go once or twice by myself (more frequently in summer and winter). We have always been thrifty, going to cheap Tuesday-night showings and weekend matinees, but MoviePass frees us up to go as much as we want, whenever we want.
– Kevin

My experience with MoviePass is this: if your local theater and theater chain supports it well, then it’s great; if it doesn’t, then it’s not worth the $10 a month.

Over the long run, however, you need to recognize a few things about MoviePass. One key thing is that their primary business seems to be customer data, not movie tickets. Also, they openly admit that it’s not sustainable unless a lot of people buy passes and never use them.

I am hesitant to give MoviePass a full-throated recommendation because of those factors and because they seem to be at war with movie chains, with AMC threatening lawsuits.

The product itself seems to be a great idea, however, and my suspicion is that theater chains – at least the smart ones – will move to a MoviePass-like subscription model where you can buy a pass for X movies per month for $Y and then use that data to help market movies to people.

Q4: Microwave versus stove top popcorn

while there is definitely a convenience factor in preparing microwave popcorn, stove top preparation is quick, easy, cheap, and tastes much better. one can regulate the amount of oil to keep calories down. to cut cost even further, use bacon grease instead of oil. makes a really tender, flavorful popcorn. to make caramel corn, brown sugar and bacon grease make the best! melt the brown sugar in the bacon grease (or oil), place just enough kernels to form a single layer of kernels in the melted sugar/grease (or oil) mixture. when kernels begin to sizzle, place lid on pan and continue to shake the pan back and forth over medium to high heat til the kernels stop popping. remove lid carefully to avoid a steam burn. eat while hot or very warm. costs just pennies per serving.
– Jed

I’m actually mystified as to what the problem is with doing it in the microwave with a glass bowl and some butter already mixed in there.

We just put a bunch of popcorn kernels (like about 1/3 cup) into a glass bowl, add a healthy pat of butter and a bit of salt, put a plate on top to cover it, and then run it in the microwave until there’s a few seconds between pops. That’s it. It always seems to turn out fine to us – not overly dry or anything.

I will agree that buying microwave popcorn bags is a waste of money and there are many ways to do it at home for less, though.

Q5: Freezing child’s credit

I’m a recently divorced woman with a 13-year old son. While I don’t really think my ex would do anything to harm our son’s credit, he’s made a lot of decisions recently that I never thought he’d make either. He’s shown himself to not be the person I thought he was all these years. In light of the recent credit hacks (and after realizing that after 25 years of marriage my ex has all my personal information), I’ve been looking at credit protection options for myself. In my research, I’ve seen several articles about freezing your child’s credit. It looks like a good idea. I want to do all I can to protect my son’s credit as well as my own. However, it seems like I need to provide a lot of information to verify his identity that I do not have to provide to protect my credit. I hesitate to send that information in the mail or to the wrong company. Do you have any suggestions for protecting my child’s credit safely?
– Dee

The method for protecting your credit is to deal directly with the three credit bureaus yourself. Your credit history in the United States is managed by three federally recognized credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. To freeze one’s credit, you need to contact them directly and go through the process for each one.

Here’s where to get started at Experian: http://ift.tt/KL35zX

Here’s where to get started at Equifax: http://ift.tt/1iqjWqU

Here’s where to get started at TransUnion: http://ift.tt/1iqjWqV

They each have a different process to follow, but none of them are too difficult. You can always unfreeze your credit or your son’s credit later.

Q6: Pension or investment plan?

The state of Florida offers a Pension and Investment Retirement plan. I originally chose investment when I became a teacher because I knew I wouldn’t want to teach forever. After 7 years, I left teaching and worked in the private sector with a 401k for 3 years. Now I’m working for a State Agency and wonder if I should use my one time 2nd election to change to the Pension plan. From here on out I believe I’ll be working for the State or University System. The way I understand this is that I’ll probably have to pay some extra or even use my 401k to get caught up in the Pension Plan. Since I already have 7 years with the state retirement system, I only need one more to vest. Is this a good idea? Would I most likely earn more in retirement if I were in the Pension plan? I’m not entirely sure how Pension Plans work.
– Carl

I have a hard time fully recommending that anyone rely fully on a pension plan for retirement. While pension plans aren’t inherently bad, they live under the assumption that the state (or whoever is offering the pension) is never going to change that plan, and over the last few decades, countless pension programs have changed, even when they seemed completely untouchable.

In addition, this article compares the two and seems to indicate that, over the long run, the investment option offers better returns anyway if you’re going to be there for a lot of years. If you’re close to retirement and will just accumulate enough to vest before retirement, then the pension plan may be better, though.

My recommendation, given those things, is to stick with the investment option.

Q7: Budgeting for irregular expenses

With respect to budgeting, do you break out infrequent, yet predictable expenses, such as that once-per-year anti-virus/security software subscription, or do you just lump these into a miscellaneous category?

With the little expenses broken into individual line items, I end up with a virtual-envelope budgeting system….and it’s enlightening to see just how many little bills there are !
– Bill

Personally, what we do is just contribute a fairly large amount to our emergency fund each month, far more than enough to cover our total irregular bills for the year. Then, as an irregular bill comes in, we try to pay it out of the “breathing room” in our budget. If we can’t do it that month, we pull money out of the emergency fund to pay for it.

Because we contribute a lot to our emergency fund, it’s not going to cause our emergency money to go into decline if we use it for irregular bills like this.

In general, for smaller irregular bills, we are able to pay them out of the flex in our budget, but for larger ones (like property taxes), we usually have to tap our e-fund.

Q8: Reading books to stick

Do you have any good techniques for reading books that help the ideas to stick in your head? Feels like whatever I read goes in one eye and out the other lol!
– Dana

I have two different “modes” for reading books. One mode is entertainment, which I use when reading novels and other purely for-fun books. I read pretty fast in that mode and try to just get swept along by the story and characters.

My other mode is enrichment, which is what I think you’re talking about. In that mode, I read a lot slower. As I’m doing this, I usually take notes in some fashion and stop to look up terms and concepts I don’t feel like I fully understand. I vary my exact technique here – for the last several months, my technique has been to add little post-its to the pages as I go for concepts I want to come back to and think about but I still stop for terms and ideas I don’t understand. Then, when I’m done with the book, I’ll give it a day or two, then I’ll pull out a notebook and go back through all of the Post-Its, writing down all of the concepts and my thoughts on them.

That “enrichment” process takes a while, but the ideas stick when I do it. I can remember tons of details and ideas from books that I do this with, even months later, whereas books that I read for fun will quickly fade from memory unless I do something else (like reread them or have lots of conversations about them shortly after I’m finished).

Q9: Read-aloud novels for younger children

I know that you read to all three of your kids at once, and would like some recommendations for children’s novels or series that appeal to a range of ages. My kids are 4 and 7, so I’m looking for something simpler than Harry Potter, for example.

Thank you very much for your writing over the years; I’ve always enjoyed the practical aspects, but find the recent posts on contentment, and spending time / money on the things that you consciously and personally value to be really inspiring.
– Miriam

When our kids were in that age range, we read almost the entire Magic Tree House series to them. I would say that the target age for Magic Tree House books is between the ages of 5 and 6, so it often felt like they were just a hair simple for our oldest child at the time and pretty much right on target for our middle child (our youngest usually had a picture book read to him at that time).

Here’s a list of books that are probably just on the edge of being appropriate right now. Your oldest would likely enjoy all of them; your younger child may have a bit of a challenge keeping up with some, but he/she will be there soon.

Thanks for the compliment on some of my recent posts. Those things have really come from the heart of my thinking recently. The truth is that my best work (in my opinion) for The Simple Dollar comes from subjects that are deep in my heart and mind at the moment, even when they’re not necessarily practical ones. I go through times where I get very into practical things and I tend to write about them more. I don’t know if it’s an early “midlife crisis” or what it might be, but I find myself thinking a lot about the “big picture” things lately and how that ties into the practical nature of my personal finance ideas, so that’s what’s been on my mind a lot lately. I’m glad you’re enjoying them.

Q10: Selling off motorcycle

I have a motorcycle in my garage that I haven’t rode in three or four years. I keep gas in it and make sure it runs every few months by driving it around the block but then I just park it again. Passion is gone, I guess. What’s the best way to sell it?
– Dave

In your shoes, what I would do is talk to others who own motorcycles in the area and ask where they typically look to buy a used motorcycle. Where do people in your area look for motorcycles? That’s where you should go to sell yours.

If you don’t have any local motorcycle enthusiasts, I’d look for a Facebook group and ask there. Try to find a Facebook group for motorcyclists in your area – you can generally find such groups just by doing a Facebook search. Where do people go to buy used bikes in the area? See if the group can tell you (again, start by searching to see if this has already been asked).

Clean up your bike to the best of your ability, then try to sell that bike through whatever channels seem the most popular in your particular area. Peruse those forums to get a sense as to what kind of price to put on your bike, then put it up for sale there.

It’s hard to get more specific than that because you honestly have to go where the buyers go in your area. You’re much more likely to get your bike sold if you’re putting it in front of the maximum number of local eyes.

Q11: Handling self-judgment

How do you handle the feeling of constantly judging yourself? It seems like some of your advice is couched in that where you are constantly judging your impulses and finding yourself wanting. I get caught up in that and it feels like a downward spiral into self-hating.
– Erika

The simplest technique I’ve ever found for solving this is that whenever my thinking moved from simply correcting something I was doing wrong to actually criticizing myself as being generally bad in some way, I consciously stepped back from that and pointed out to myself how ludicrous that mistake was.

Typically, I transition that thinking into noting the things I do well. Everyone does some things well and some things not so well. That does not make you a bad person. That makes you a normal and generally good person. The key is to make sure that when you’re trying to fix flaws – a good thing – that you don’t transition into criticizing yourself on the whole – a bad thing. Look instead at the bevy of positive things about you and recognize that, even though you’re imperfect, everyone is, and you’re a good person on the whole.

Another factor that’s important to me is to remember that my worth is not judged by others. My life’s value is not based on whether someone else approves of what I’m doing. That has far more to do with them and their own life than it does with me. No matter what I do, someone is going to disapprove of it, so why should that fact bother me? It shouldn’t, and it shouldn’t bother you, either. Reflect on that whenever you start thinking about your whole self through the lens of being accepted by others.

Q12: Screenless Sundays

Just sharing a tip of advice that has really helped my well-being over the last year or so. On Sundays, I go completely screenless except for complete emergencies where I have to contact someone. I read actual physical books. I go on walks. I play board games with my kids. I do household chores. I make a nice homemade meal or two. I go to bed at a reasonable time. It’s been a game changer. I feel actually refreshed on Monday mornings.
– Gary

That is a wonderful idea, Gary.

I find that “screen time” has some great advantages, but it has some huge disadvantages, too. It takes away from human interaction, for one. It often leads us into being distracted from the task at hand. It also often just reinforces our beliefs rather than challenging them (I am of the mindset that the best and strongest ideas are ones that are constantly challenged, not ones that are constantly reinforced).

A day without screens once a week is a great way to undo some of the bad parts of screen time and appreciate the many wonderful things about life away from screens.

Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.

The post Questions About MoviePass, Popcorn, Novels for Younger Kids, Motorcycle Sales, and More! appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Cost Benefits of Switching to Solar: A State-by-State Guide

The advantages of solar power and other renewable energy sources are colossal, and arguably necessary for our survival. On solar, the electric grid becomes more efficient and resilient to natural disasters (including hail) and disruptions — not to mention scalable to the 1.3 billion people on our planet living without electricity. On solar, power becomes cleaner, moving us that much closer toward the net zero goal advocated by climate researchers. But the benefits don’t stop there.

Solar costs are falling. In fact, the installed price for residential solar systems is less than half of what it was in 2009 (due in large part to technological and manufacturing advances from cleantech leaders like Tesla, SolarCity, and SunEdison). After installing an 8kW (8,000-watt) solar system, the average American stands to save over $23,000 on electricity in 25 years, which is the average, ever-increasing lifespan of a residential solar system.

The average cost for an 8kW system is $17,700. You might think, “Why should I bother investing that much money if I will only profit around $7,000 over 25 years?” First off, a study by the NC Clean Energy Technology Center found that solar’s value can be a better investment than the stock market. Secondly, these numbers are based on national averages. The cost of installing a system in your area could be lower, possibly thousands lower. Your roof might get way more sunlight, too, which means more power. These are just a few of the many factors to consider.

Most importantly, more and more states are offering their own variety of rebates, tax exemptions, and other incentives that make systems even more affordable — and buying one isn’t the only way to go solar, either. Keep on reading for a complete breakdown of how you could save money with solar and reduce greenhouse emissions, even if you can’t afford a system.

Table of Contents

1. How can I save on a solar system?
2. State-by-state solar breakdown
3. You don’t have to buy a system to go solar
4. Other alternative energy sources
5. A list of state incentive programs

How can I save on a solar system?

It’s a great time to invest in solar. Residential solar systems are more affordable than they’ve ever been, and prices are still dropping. And depending upon where you live, there are several types of incentives that you might be able to take advantage of. The first is something called the solar investment tax credit, otherwise known as the ITC.

How the solar credit works

The ITC is a 30% federal tax credit for residential and commercial solar systems. It’s a dollar-for-dollar reduction in income taxes that would otherwise be paid to the federal government. For example, if you purchase an $18,000 solar system, you’ll get a $5,400 credit on your tax return.

But the benefits aren’t going to last forever. The federal solar tax credit will be reduced in 2020, and by 2022, there won’t be any federal tax credit for residential solar systems at all. Here’s the current ITC timeline:

Year	Federal credit for residential systems	Federal credit for commercial systems
2020	26%	26%
2021	22%	22%
2022 and on	None	10%

As long as you own your system, you can claim the ITC. To do so, complete IRS form 5696 then add your renewable energy credit information to your regular individual income tax return (IRS form 1040).

Many states offer their own line of incentives, too

Only a handful of states currently offer their own tax credits for a solar system (like the federal ITC), but many more offer a variety of incentives that come in a few common formats:

• Feed-in tariffs (FiT)
  A feed-in tariff is a payment that you receive for the solar power that your system produces. That might sound a lot like net metering, but it’s not. FiTs have a separate meter, and the energy produced goes directly into the grid. (In a net metering situation, you’re paid for the excess power produced by your residential system.)
• Rebates
  Solar rebates are awarded by local utility company to help you purchase energy efficient technology or a renewable energy systems. For example, the average rebate might award $400/kW. So if you purchase an 8kW PV system, you’d receive $3,200 to offset the cost of your system.
• Property tax and sales tax exemptions
  Some states offer property and sales tax exemptions for renewable energy systems.

Let’s not forget about SRECs

Every state has a Renewable Energy Portfolio. And in that portfolio is something called a solar carve out: an outline of the state’s goals for the amount of energy produced by solar every year. Utility companies have to meet those goals — let’s say 500MWh a year — and if they don’t, they’re charged a hefty fine for every MWh they’re short.

That’s where you come in. Every time your solar systems produces one MWh (the average 5kW system produces around 5-6 a year), the state will award you one SREC, which you can then sell to utility companies that are running short on their solar quota. As long as there’s a market, SRECs can bring in anywhere from $200 to $400 apiece.

What about net metering?

Net metering is a process that allows homeowners to earn a little cash for excess power produced by their solar panels. Here’s how it works: Your local power company installs a “net meter” on your property that tracks both the electricity consumed by your home and the electricity generated by your solar system. Then, the excess energy produced by your panels is fed directly into the grid. At the end of the month, you receive utility credits that can be applied to your next power bill.

The problem is that net metering is facing a lot of pushback due to market forces and well-funded lobbying campaigns that have convinced many state capitols to cripple their solar incentives and programs. The primary argument is that allowing homeowners to sell excess energy back to the grid at retail price is unfair to homeowners who can’t afford a solar system. In fact, Arizona, Maine, Nevada, Hawaii, and Indiana have killed net metering altogether.

As policies continue to change, the future of net metering looks bleak. But if you live in an area that still offers the program, it’s a great opportunity for you to turn excess sunlight into extra cash in your wallet.

State-by-state solar breakdown

There are quite a few variables that come into play when you try to predict how much money you can save on solar, including roof size and shape, state incentives, sunlight potential, and inflation in electricity costs, just to name a few. We evaluated several of the most important data points to find out how much money the average home in each state might be able to save over 25 years with an $11,060 5kW (5,000-watt) solar system. (That’s the national average price for a 5kW solar system after applying the 30% federal solar tax credit.)

Remember: Our calculations are based on state and national averages, like the cost of electricity and amount of direct sunlight available. Your state may offer incentives that shave off costs even more!

Solar Savings Breakdown by State

Potential Energy Savings with a 5kW Solar System

State	Potential Monthly Savings	Potential Yearly Savings	Average Annual Electric Bill	Years until payout*
Alabama	$72.94	$875.32	$1,704	13
Arizona	$90.90	$1,090.83	$1,488	11
Arkansas	$59.97	$719.65	$1,320	16
California	$126.07	$1,512.78	$1,128	8
Colorado	$74.17	$890.03	$996	13
Connecticut	$116.74	$1,400.92	$1,836	8
Delaware	$76.42	$917.06	$1,572	12
Florida	$71.29	$855.52	$1,584	13
Georgia	$72.89	$874.67	$1,548	13
Idaho	$59.92	$719.03	$1,140	16
Illinois	$72.38	$868.54	$1,068	13
Indiana	$57.73	$692.72	$1,332	16
Iowa	$77.80	$933.60	$1,176	12
Kansas	$81.97	$983.69	$1,320	12
Kentucky	$60.91	$730.91	$1,368	16
Louisiana	$58.11	$697.38	$1,440	16
Maine	$73.78	$885.31	$1,032	13
Maryland	$81.10	$973.18	$1,668	12
Massachusetts	$86.56	$1,038.69	$1,428	11
Michigan	$75.98	$911.75	$1,116	13
Minnesota	$65.28	$783.42	$1,104	15
Mississippi	$63.72	$764.58	$1,644	15
Missouri	$60.45	$725.44	$1,380	16
Montana	$58.87	$706.44	$1,068	16
Nebraska	$70.16	$841.86	$1,212	14
Nevada	$69.04	$828.48	$1,392	14
New Hampshire	$94.95	$1,139.46	$1,368	10
New Jersey	$91.02	$1,092.26	$1,320	10
New Mexico	$87.19	$1,046.23	$948	11
New York	$85.64	$1,027.66	$1,332	11
North Carolina	$65.66	$787.91	$1,500	14
North Dakota	$59.12	$709.40	$1,248	16
Ohio	$62.14	$745.71	$1,344	15
Oklahoma	$63.66	$763.89	$1,320	15
Oregon	$56.31	$675.68	$1,152	17
Pennsylvania	$67.90	$814.84	$1,392	14
Rhode Island	$95.30	$1,143.59	$1,368	10
South Carolina	$74.54	$894.48	$1,728	13
South Dakota	$67.39	$808.64	$1,296	14
Tennessee	$49.87	$598.42	$1,536	19
Texas	$72.56	$870.69	$1,632	13
Utah	$73.33	$879.94	$960	13
Vermont	$82.22	$986.60	$1,140	12
Virginia	$62.49	$749.88	$1,560	15
Washington	$34.05	$408.57	$1,044	27
West Virginia	$54.67	$656.03	$1,332	17
Wisconsin	$65.23	$782.79	$1,128	15
Wyoming	$69.64	$835.62	$1,092	14

*We used the national average cost for a 5kW solar system after the federal solar tax credit ($11,060) to calculate the year of payout assuming that the system was purchased upfront, not leased or financed. | Data involved in our calculations was sourced from: U.S. Energy Information Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, EnergySage.

Note: If you want to explore all the data that went into these calculations, go here.

Next steps

If you’re ready to reap the benefits of sunlight, it’s time to talk with a solar provider. You should be prepared to answer questions about your average monthly utility bill and your energy consumption, but the most important thing to remember is that you shouldn’t stop at just one provider. The more quotes you get, the better. In fact, a study conducted by the National Energy Renewable Laboratory found that solar shoppers who get multiple quotes can save up to 10% on the cost of their system.

We asked Ronald Roedel, the director of the professional science masters graduate program in Solar Energy Engineering and Commercialization (PSM-SEEC) at Arizona State University, for some tips on finding the right solar provider. Here’s what he had to say:

“Basically one asks the same kind of questions of any building contractor. How long have you been in business? Do you have all the appropriate licenses? Are you familiar with all the local and NEC building codes? Are your installers certified (NABCEP, for example)? Can you show me examples of your installations? Can I get reviews from your customers?”

According to Roedel, the process differs when it comes to ensuring compatibility between the solar system and the local utility: “The real difference is that the system must meet all electrical requirements for interacting with and connecting to the local utility, and the provider must show the potential purchaser that the system design and construction does this.”

You don’t have to buy a system to go solar

There are a number of reasons that you might not be able to install a solar system on your roof. If you rent or live in a townhome, you probably don’t have control over your roof. Perhaps your roof’s shape or material components aren’t compatible with a solar system. Or maybe your roof gets far too little direct sunlight to justify the investment. Community solar gardens are a solution to this problem, and they’re popping up across the U.S. thanks to new policies and incentives.

How do community solar gardens work?

The average solar garden (or solar farm) includes several thousand solar panels that cover two to three acres, enough to produce power for over 100 homes. Each homeowner who wants to be a part of the community buys or leases some of those panels (usually ten to 20).

The power produced by those panels doesn’t go straight to the home, though; it’s purchased from the local power company and fed into the grid. Homeowners then get a credit for the electricity produced by their panels, which is applied to their monthly power bill.

Contact your local energy provider to find out whether there’s a community solar garden near your home.

Other renewable energy sources to consider

America’s renewable energy boom has only just begun, and relatively few Americans have access to large-scale renewable energy, like wind farms and solar gardens. If that’s you, don’t give up hope — you still have a few options.

Live in a windy area? Why not integrate a residential turbine into your home’s grid? The average system runs about $2,000 and produces up to 2,000 watts — as long as the wind is blowing 20 mph or more. Similar to solar panels and sunlight, turbines are very dependent on the wind, though some can continue to produce power in just 7 mph winds.

If enough water flows through your property, you might be able to utilize a micro-hydropower system. These systems need an exceptionally good flow of water to compete with solar panels, but they have one distinct advantage: They continue to produce power when the sun goes down. (Systems cost anywhere from $400 to $3,000.)

Solar is still one of the best options

Roedel explained to us that one of the most economic alternative energy choices for homeowners is a high-performance battery system: “With the cost of high performance batteries dropping dramatically, the best economic decision for additional alternative energy will be to convert the solar energy system to an integrated solar and battery storage system.”

Nega-watts. Get it?

One of the simplest, but often difficult ways to reduce your carbon footprint is to use less power. Investing in eco-friendly appliances; utilizing a smart thermostat; driving a hybrid; insulating your home; becoming more conscientious about your water consumption — all of these things are great steps in the right direction. For more ways to become a better steward of your environment, visit climatecare.org.

A list of state solar tax credits

Check this list to see if your state offers its own solar tax credit. Remember: State tax credits can be applied in addition to the ITC.

State	State Residential Solar Tax Credit
Alabama	None
Arizona	25% of net costs (up to $1,000)
Arkansas	None
California	None
Colorado	None
Connecticut	None
Delaware	None
Florida	None
Georgia	None
Hawaii	None
Idaho	None
Illinois	None
Indiana	None
Iowa	8% of net costs (up to $5,000)
Kansas	None
Kentucky	None
Louisiana	None
Maine	None
Maryland	$0.0085/kWh on 20kW systems and up
Massachusetts	15% of net costs (up to $1,000)
Michigan	None
Minnesota	None
Mississippi	None
Missouri	None
Montana	Up to $500 per individual taxpayer and $1,000 per household
Nebraska	$0.0005 per kWh for 10 years
Nevada	None
New Hampshire	None
New Jersey	None
New Mexico	None
New York	25% of net costs (up to $5,000)
North Carolina	None
North Dakota	None
Ohio	None
Oklahoma	None
Oregon	$1,500 per kW (up to $6,000)
Pennsylvania	None
Rhode Island	None
South Carolina	25% of net costs (up to $3,500) or 50% of tax liability
South Dakota	None
Tennessee	None
Texas	None
Utah	25% of net costs (up to $2,000)
Vermont	None
Virginia	None
Washington	None
West Virginia	None
Wisconsin	None
Wyoming	None

Source: Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE).

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Here’s How Far a $100 Donation Will Go on 4 Popular Crowdfunding Platforms

Penny Hoarder senior editor Caitlin Constantine didn’t create a Facebook invite for dinner and drinks for her birthday this year. Instead, she started a fundraiser using Facebook Payments for relief in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria destroyed much of the island’s infrastructure.

In 11 days, 21 of Constantine’s Facebook friends donated $760 — short of her $2,000 goal, but a significant amount for what she considered to be an easy process.

Compare that with a couple of years ago, when Constantine raised $1,000 for Free to Run, a nongovernmental organization that promotes sports for women in conflict zones. Although she used her blog and social media accounts to promote it, raising that money took months.

Of the $760 she raised for Puerto Rico relief with Facebook Payments, about $716 of it went to the nonprofit.

So, where did the other $44 go?

How Much of Your Donations Do Crowdfunding Platforms Take?

For many, using online platforms to raise money — be it for a cause, medical bills or to start a business — has become a way to quickly cover costs.

But does the convenience they bring mean less of your money goes to your cause?

We looked at four popular crowdfunding methods to find out.

Facebook Payments

If you’re looking for a way to reach a large number of people in a short amount of time, Facebook Payments can be a great option.

When you create a fundraising campaign, you have the option to invite your friends to donate and share it on your news feed. You can create campaigns for yourself, a friend or a nonprofit.

The payments are integrated with PayPal, making it easy for people to donate. The payment processor, Stripe, doesn’t deposit donations into the beneficiary’s account until six days after they are received –– and that doesn’t include the time it takes for banks to process the payments.

Donations to personal causes are charged a 6.9% fee plus 30 cents. Fees for donations to nonprofits, on the other hand, range from 5-5.75%.

That means for a single $100 donation to a personal cause, $92.80 goes toward the cause. For a $100 donation to a nonprofit, $94.25 to $95 would go toward it.

According to Facebook’s fundraisers section, all fees cover payment processing, operations and fraud protection.

GoFundMe

Another one of the most popular personal fundraising platforms is GoFundMe. According to its website, the platform has helped people raise more than $4 billion since it launched in 2010.  

According to its pricing page, 5% of donations go directly to GoFundMe, and 2.9% plus an additional 30 cents per donation goes toward processing. Beneficiaries can access donations at any time throughout the campaign.

Based on a $100 donation, about $91.80 would actually go toward your cause.

GoFundMe also advertises that it has no penalty for missing your goal, as well as no deadlines or requirements. The platform accepts major credit and debit cards as forms of payment from donors.

CrowdRise

This platform empowers users to create fundraisers that directly benefit their charity or brand of choice. On CrowdRise, which is a part of GoFundMe, you cannot create fundraisers for personal benefit.

There are no goal or deadline requirements with CrowdRise, but the company still encourages you to set them to create momentum and track milestones.

The timing of when your charity receives funds raised depends on what payment processor you use. For example, if your organization receives the money via Network for Good, a third-party software company that delivers funds via check, it will receive funds on the 15th of the following month. For example, you’d receive funds raised in March on April 15. If it’s set up through WePay, you can choose daily, weekly or monthly transfers.

The fees for CrowdRise sound big at first: The platform fee is 3-6%, depending on the pricing plan the company has chosen, plus 30 cents, and there’s an additional 2.9% processing fee per donation. If the donation is under $1,000, though, CrowdRise gives donors the option to cover the fees themselves, instead of taking it out of the donation.

Based on a $100 donation, about $90.80 to $94.10 would go to your cause, should your donor choose not to cover the fees. If the donor does cover the fees, the charity will receive the full $100.

YouCaring

YouCaring is free to use, meaning it charges zero platform fees. You can create fundraisers for both personal and charitable causes. However, it still charges for the WePay and PayPal processing fees that it says are “unavoidable.” Those fees are 2.9% plus 30 cents per donation.

Based on a $100 donation, $96.80 would actually go toward your cause.

So What’s the Best Crowdfunding Site?

Depending on what you’re raising money for –– whether it’s for yourself or a charitable cause –– there are many routes you can take when it comes to setting up an online fundraiser.

If you want the potential to keep up to 100% of the donations to your cause, CrowdRise may be your best option –– but keep in mind, you cannot create a personal fundraiser on the platform. If you need the money, YouCaring is probably the best crowdfunding site for you based on its low fees.

No matter what platform you choose, though, with organization, promotion and persistence, any of these platforms can bring you success.

Kelly Smith is a junior writer and engagement specialist at The Penny Hoarder. Catch her on Twitter at @keywordkelly.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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ESU hosts NAACP Image Awards

EAST STROUDSBURG — East Stroudsburg University hosted Saturday's third annual Image Awards event organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Monroe County branch.The event recognizes various categories of residents' outstanding contributions to the community.Winners and nominees were announced in the following categories at Saturday's event:CIVIC SERVICE* Winner: Jennifer Newland of Roseto, a legislative [...]

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True money stories from smart people: Whingeing for Britain – who does it best?

“Selfie camera on the wall, who is the whingiest of them all?”

This argument has been raging for a few years… mostly in the pages of the Daily Mail… over who are the most annoying, the most spoilt, the most deserving of a good smack: those born between roughly 1945 and 1965 (baby boomers) or between around 1981 and 1997 (millennials)?

Both can whinge for Britain and regularly do. Boomers, as I see on my site MoneyMagpie.com, still believe the government should pay for every aspect of their lives and are apoplectic that it isn’t happening.

Kayleigh W. says: “I think it’s absolutely horrendous [that they’re pushing back the state pension age]! Make the MPs take a pay cut and then they wouldn’t need to raise the pension age! They are leeches, claiming lots of cash for stupid expenses such as 12p in mileage and 67p for a chocolate bar.”

• True money stories from smart people: Who really wants to retire anyway?

Meanwhile, the 20-somethings feel furiously helpless at the idea of ever owning anything. “Sure, millennials get impatient if their Amazon Prime delivery doesn’t arrive within hours of ordering,” says comedian and millennial Joe Lycett. “But that’s because most of our patience will be used up waiting approximately 700 years to buy our first flat.”

According to one survey by Pew Research Center’s American Trends, even millennials aren’t too keen on millennials. Many don’t want to be identified as such, with 60% not considering themselves to be part of the ‘millennial generation’. But, poor lambs, is it just that the rest of us don’t understand them?

Well, it could be because, according to the World Economic Forum, many companies now employ a ‘millennial generational expert’ to “understand the values and expectations of their youngest employees, and how to engage with them”.

It’s enough to make a boomer drop his bacon sandwich. An actual person dedicated to listening to the whining of the entitled generation to make sure they have their mashed avocado on bruschetta when they need it? Maybe the poor babies should also have their own mixologist who can create a healthy green juice every morning to stop them throwing a tantrum and refusing to work.

“If they stopped wasting their money on take-away coffees and holidays every couple of months, they could afford more,” complain the boomers who spent their youth enjoying free tertiary education, low house prices, payments into final salary schemes, the certainty of free healthcare and largely stable families.

• Older millennials dubbed ‘generation debt’ as they struggle to save

Of course, the older generation has always seen it as their right to whinge. Really, they’re mainly angry at being old and are looking for someone to blame. But it’s harder to care when you know that the over 50s own 80% of the wealth in this country, a fact even more embittering to millennials when you consider that today’s youth are the largest cohort since the lump of baby boomers. So that 20% is spread even more thinly than it might otherwise be.

It’s true that medical and care costs have rocketed faster than that of the gadgets and avocados so beloved of the yoot (that, by the way, is the new down-with the- kids word for youth that I’m using just to prove that I am down with said kids, bro’). But had the young boomers been willing to put more of their money away for the future, instead of doggedly assuming the state would pay for their every need, past, present and future, they might have less reason to complain now.

So, on paper at least, in my view, the millennials have more cause to whinge than the boomers. So far, they have been done out of the things the boomers took for granted, such as property ownership, free university education and a government that didn’t make you want to throw things at the TV every day.

• Millennials are the most savvy age group when it comes to switching mortgages

But ultimately, although they may not have much, what they do have trumps the boomers every time. They have technology, they have youth and, importantly, they have time – lots of it. Today’s millennials have a good 80 years ahead of them to build a life, a nest egg and who knows what else besides. Next to that, what can the boomers boast? Nothing but a more heartfelt whinge.

Jasmine Birtles is a financial journalist and founder of MoneyMagpie.com. Email her at columnists@moneywise.co.uk.

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7 Cigars That Will Make You Feel Like a High-Roller for Less Than $7

Don’t Let These Fears Stop You From Investing

If investing scares you or feels out of reach, you can take heart in the fact that you’re not alone.

A recent survey commissioned by Ally Financial found that 70% of Americans age 18 to 39 know that they will eventually need to be more financially secure, but don’t know how to get there.

Sixty-one percent of those same respondents said that they found investing in the stock market to be “scary or intimidating,” with Millennials feeling more intimidated than those in other age groups.

And 50% of the respondents knew that they would need to start investing in the stock market at some point, “but not right now.”

Quite simply, a lot of people know that investing is important, but are either too scared, too intimidated, or too uncertain to get started. And Millennials are leading the way.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that there are some really simple ways to get past all of those fears and start investing now, no matter how much money you have or how much investing knowledge you already have (or don’t have).

Let’s tackle them one by one.

Fear #1: I Might Make a Bad Investment and Lose Money

Half (50%) of the Ally survey respondents said that the fear of making a bad investment and losing money kept them away from investing altogether.

This fear is not without merit. After all, you ARE guaranteed to lose money in the stock market at some point, and occasionally those losses will be pretty big.

But there are two reasons why this fear shouldn’t stop you from investing.

First, the returns you earn, good or bad, don’t actually matter much when you first start investing. What DOES matter, a lot, is your savings rate. The more you save, especially early on, the more likely you are to reach your financial goals no matter what return you get.

This means that while you certainly might make mistakes, and while you might lose money even if you do everything right, none of that is a problem as long as you keep saving. Your contributions will keep you on track even if your returns are lagging.

Second, it’s actually pretty easy to invest in a way that’s likely to deliver superior results. Index investing has been shown to outperform 80% to 90% of professional investors, and nowadays you can get an entire index-based portfolio with either a single mutual fund or a robo-advisor.

There will still be ups and downs along the way (there always are), and nothing is ever guaranteed, but the best research we have says that these all-in-one portfolios not only make investing incredibly simple, but are likely to outperform most other approaches over the long-term.

In other words, you don’t have to fear making a bad investment decision. It’s pretty easy to make a good one, and any mistakes you do make aren’t likely to cost you much as long as you continue saving money.

Fear #2: I Don’t Have Enough Money to Invest

More than a third (35%) of survey respondents felt that they didn’t have enough money to invest — essentially that investing is a rich person’s game and not something you can do when money is tight.

Now, some people really are living on the edge and don’t have extra room in their budget for anything beyond the necessary expenses. But many people have at least a little money available to save, and the truth is that you can get started investing now matter how much you have.

The easiest place to start is with a 401(k) or other employer retirement plan. There are no minimum contributions, and if you have an employer match you may even be able to quickly double your money with every dollar you invest.

If you don’t have access to a 401(k), you could open an IRA with a platform like Betterment that offers low-cost, index-based portfolios with no minimum balance or contribution. Or, if you have at least $1,000, you could open your IRA with Vanguard, one of the leading providers of high-quality, low-cost index funds.

There are plenty of ways to start investing without a lot of money. And really, investing even a little bit now will reduce the amount you have to save later on, making it even easier to fit those contributions into your budget.

• Related: Four Ways to Start Investing Without Much Money

Fear #3: I Don’t Know Who to Trust

Thirty-one percent of survey respondents said that they didn’t know who trust when it comes to investment advice, and honestly this is one fear that is right on the mark.

The world of investing IS filled with a lot of untrustworthy voices, from the people who are actively trying to rip you off to the people who quite simply don’t have any idea what they’re talking about.

It’s hard to know who to trust. But there are a couple of ways to get past this.

First, if you do want good, honest professional advice, seek out the help of a fee-only financial planner. These are professionals who have purposefully chosen not to accept commissions or other payments from financial companies, putting themselves squarely on the side of their clients.

Second, the tools and information available to consumers today are better than ever, giving you the opportunity to trust yourself, learn the basics, and put a top-notch investment strategy in place all on your own.

Here at The Simple Dollar, we have resources to help you choose the right retirement accounts, choose an investment company, learn about index investing, choose a target date retirement fund, consider a robo-advisor, and much more. And there are many other books and websites that will teach you what you need to know (which honestly isn’t all that much) so you can get started.

You should be wary about who you get your advice from. But there are enough trustworthy resources that it shouldn’t prevent you from investing.

Fear #4: I Don’t Know How to Get Started

About a quarter (24%) of survey respondents said that they didn’t know how to get started investing. Which, again, is understandable given all the options available and all the conflicting advice you’re bound to run into.

Luckily, there are some easy ways to keep it simple.

The simplest way to start is by contributing to your 401(k) or other employer retirement plan, if you have one. Your contributions will automatically be deducted from your paycheck, and most 401(k)s now allow you to invest in a target date retirement fund that gives you access to an entire portfolio in one fund. With those two moves, you’re on your way!

It is a little trickier if you don’t have a 401(k), since you’ll have to do a little more legwork on your own. But like we talked about under Fear #2, it’s pretty easy to open an IRA these days without any contribution or account balance minimums, automate your contributions, choose a target date fund, and again let things run mostly on auto-pilot.

Remember, the key to getting started is simply contributing money somewhere. No investment decision is anywhere near as important as your savings rate, so as long as you’ve got that, you’re on the right track.

Don’t Be Scared of Investing!

Investing doesn’t have to be scary, and there’s really no reason to worry about making a mistake.

In fact, the biggest investment mistake you can make is NOT getting started, since the simple act of saving money is the most powerful tool you have at your disposal.

You can start investing now, no matter how much you know about it and how much money you have, and put yourself on the right path towards both financial security and financial freedom.

Matt Becker, CFP® is a fee-only financial planner and the founder of Mom and Dad Money, where he helps new parents take control of their money so they can take care of their families. His free book, The New Family Financial Road Map, guides parents through the all most important financial decisions that come with starting a family.

Related Articles: 

• How to Choose Investments in Your 401(k)
• Eight Questions to Ask Yourself Before Investing in Anything
• Seven Reasons You Need to Start Investing Right Now
• Why Employer Stock Is One of the Riskiest Investments You Can Own

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Political fight brews between Pa. towns, wireless firms over 5G antennas

Smithfield Township supervisor refers to the legislation as “rights-of-way robbery”

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What Does America's Spending on Holidays Versus Politics Say About Our Priorities?

Americans will spend more on two days this year, Halloween and Christmas, than for all of the federal elections held last year.  

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Why a High Income Doesn’t Guarantee You’ll Retire Rich

No matter how much you earn, it’s easy to assume having more money would solve your economic woes. If you could just bring home a bigger paycheck, get that big bonus or raise you’ve been after, or score a new job with incrementally higher pay, you’d be set.

Unfortunately, personal finance isn’t quite so cut and dry. If more money was the solution to all financial problems, then high-income folks would all be rich and our government would be flush with cash. Obviously, neither is the case.

More money can help you get ahead financially for sure, but it’s what you do with the money you have that has the greatest impact. And if you don’t save for the future, well, even a hefty income won’t help you retire rich.

Seven Signs Your Big Paycheck Won’t Help You Retire Rich

We asked financial planners who meet with high-income clients to chime in on how and why rich people sometimes struggle to maintain their wealth, and they offered several different explanations.

If you’re a big earner – or hope to be one – who’s counting on your high income to retire wealthy, look out for these signs that you may be off track:

#1: You have poor spending habits.

While bringing in more cash than you need is the best way to set yourself up for financial success, it’s easy to let a penchant for splurging get out of hand. When you can technically “afford” a lot, it’s harder to keep your spending in perspective and even to tell yourself “no.”

That new Audi you’ve been after? You can afford it, so why not? Been craving a bigger house? It’s technically feasible, so go for it. Need a new wardrobe for work? At this point, you might as well.

While none of these decisions spell disaster on their own, the cumulative effect of upping your spending can make your increased earnings disappear in a hurry.

While it may be hard to believe, people with larger-than-average incomes are struggling for this very reason. A recent survey from CareerBuilder showed that 9% of families earning six figures were living paycheck-to-paycheck this year. Further, 59% of those with six-figure salaries reported having consumer debt.

Kansas City-based financial advisor Clint Haynes says he sees this with his higher earning clients frequently. To help them escape their own bad habits, he encourages them to make their savings automatic and then learn to live on the rest.

“Sure, go out and buy fun things, but also remember that the No. 1 priority should be saving first,” he says.

• Related: The Magic Math of Paying Yourself First

#2: You’re not keeping your fixed expenses low.

While earning a lot can absolutely help you build wealth faster, keeping your expenses low is the other side of the cash-building coin. Avoiding debt, buying a house you can actually afford, and avoiding common money pitfalls like huge car payments and expensive hobbies can take you just as far as earning more than your peers.

Joseph Carbone, a financial advisor on Long Island, shared a story with me of two clients he meets with regularly, and how their expenses play a bigger role in their retirement than their income ever did.

One of his clients lives the most amazing retirement lifestyle, with European vacations, a second home in Florida, and plenty of comfort and security. The kicker is, they only generate about $4,000 in income per month. The reason they can live such a lavish lifestyle, he says, is because they have zero debt and extremely low monthly expenses.

On the flip side, he has another client in retirement that generates about $15,000 per month in income, yet still struggles to stay afloat because they have debt and a lot of financial liabilities.

“Perception isn’t always reality,” he says. Sometimes those with smaller incomes end up much wealthier simply because they kept their expenses low and made savings a priority.

#3: You spend most of your cash on depreciating assets.

Earning a lot of money makes it a lot easier to reach your financial goals, but what if you pour all your cash into depreciating assets?

Financial advisor Ryan Cravitz of Milestone Wealth Management & Insurance Solutions told me this is a common theme among some of his clients. Specifically, he shared the story of meeting a new couple in their early 50s. Their combined income was around $300,000 — and they spent every penny they earned each year.

Unfortunately, this couple was under the illusion they could eventually earn more and accelerate their savings. Like a lot of people, says Cravitz, they poured their cash into depreciating assets like cars and material possessions that made them feel fancy without helping them build wealth.

What the couple really needed, says Cravitz, was to get more realistic about their spending, and make some hard choices now instead of expecting future income gains to bail them out.

• Related: Appreciation vs. Depreciation: A Powerful Insight for Your Spending Choices

#4: You’re trying to keep up with the Joneses.

While poor spending habits can leave anyone financially broken, one phenomenon – keeping up with the Joneses – tends to affect high-income people in droves and make their problems much worse.

Seattle financial advisor and author of The Art of a Plan Josh Brein says he has seen this happen with his clients – and even in his own life.

At the start of Brein’s career, the extra money he made simply made him a target for banks, credit card, companies, and advertising. “Instead of looking to save more and stay out of debt, I was more concerned with keeping up with the Joneses,” he says.

The problem the rich face when it comes to keeping up with the Joneses is the simple fact that the stakes are higher. Sometimes those six-figure families are trying to keep up with other families who make double, triple, or more each year. That’s a recipe for disaster no matter how much you earn.

• Related: The Imitation Game

#5: You assume you’re as good at managing money as earning it.

Arizona financial planner Charles C. Scott of Pelleton Capital Management offers a completely different explanation for why many high-earners never retire rich. He says far too many feel a little too confident with themselves.

Let’s say you’re a doctor, a lawyer, an entrepreneur, or a scientist. You might have studied and trained for years — failing sometimes, but ultimately succeeding because of the time you put into mastering your skills. Unfortunately, Scott says, many smart and successful high earners believe they’re above needing to seek financial advice – and they often lose out on huge benefits of their wealth due to this belief.

“Without that same commitment of time to mastering the necessary skills for creating wealth, you run the risk of not getting there,” says Scott.

#6: You’re not tracking your spending or using a budget.

While poor spending habits can be the death knell for your financial goals, so can failing to track your spending. While this is true for people at all incomes, it’s especially true for those who earn a lot. Why? Because there’s more room for waste.

“It’s much easier to keep tabs on $5,000 per month than $25,000,” says San Diego-based financial advisor Taylor Schulte. “Given that the first step towards retiring wealthy is having a clear understanding of where your cash is going each month, a high-earner with bad money management habits could be working a lot longer than expected – or maybe forever.”

No matter how much you earn, tracking those dollars is crucial. A high income can leave you with more wiggle room, but it shouldn’t be used as an excuse to buy whatever you want and fly blind. After all, even rich people can’t afford to buy everything they want. (Unless you’re Warren Buffett rich, of course.)

And remember, anyone can benefit from using a monthly budget, and budgeting doesn’t have to be restrictive. The most important details to grasp are how much you’re earning, how much you’re spending, and how much of your income is going to savings. If you don’t track these figures, nobody will do it for you.

• Related: Does Budgeting Seem Too Complex? Five Simple Alternative Strategies

#7: You want to reward yourself.

Ryan Inman, a fee-only financial planner for physicians, says his job advising doctors gives him a unique perspective on why many big earners don’t retire rich. Big paychecks don’t necessarily translate into a high savings rate, and that’s especially true for those in professions where individuals have had to delay gratification for a decade or more.

Doctors, other medical professionals, and even dentists, for example, may spend eight or 10 years in school. They often borrow well over six figures to finance their higher education, then spend years in a low-paying residency before they start earning the six-figure salaries these professions are known for.

Inman says a lot of his clients just throw caution to the wind and go crazy at that point. They’ve worked so hard for so long that they’re ready to enjoy their earnings – even with multiple six figures in loans hanging over their heads.

“When I work with physicians, I encourage them to think about their long-term goals and what would allow them to live a truly fulfilled life,” he says. “Buying a new Tesla might seem like the perfect reward right now, but when I ask how they want their lives to look 10 years down the road, usually their short-term priorities shift.”

• Related: The Trap of Spending in Anticipation of Becoming Rich

Final Thoughts

A high income gives you a distinct advantage when it comes to building wealth, but that advantage can only take you so far. To get ahead financially and retire wealthy, you have to save and invest regularly while (hopefully) keeping your expenses low.

While this is bad news for six-figure earners who wish they could blow all their money, this is good news for everyone else. Being a doctor doesn’t guarantee you’ll retire rich, just as working as a teacher doesn’t mean you’ll retire poor.

Whether you’re rich, poor, or middle income, it’s what you do with your extra dollars that matters, so make sure you make them count.

Holly Johnson is an award-winning personal finance writer and the author of Zero Down Your Debt. Johnson shares her obsession with frugality, budgeting, and travel at ClubThrifty.com.

Related Articles:

• How to Get Rich: 10 Ways Wealth is Created
• Living Paycheck to Paycheck on a High Income?
• The Upside Down Reason So Many Americans Are Broke

Why do you think some rich people never get ahead? Please share in the comments below.

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Inspiration from Massimo Pigliucci, Chris Stapleton, Rhiannon Giddens, and More

Inspiration from ,,, and More

Once a month (or so), I share a dozen things that have inspired me to greater personal, professional, and financial success in my life. I hope they bring similar success to your life.

1. Yogi Bhajan on how others behave toward you

“If you are willing to look at another person’s behavior toward you as a reflection of the state of their relationship with themselves rather than a statement about your value as a person, then you will, over a period of time, cease to react at all.” – Yogi Bhajan

This quote has been hugely influential on my thinking over the last month or so.

For most of my life, I have taken criticism very hard and I’ve also allowed compliments to really buoy my emotions. That’s because I often bought into the idea that the spotlight of their comments was fully on me – if someone’s criticizing me or complimenting me, then it must be fully about me, right?

I’ve come to realize, after reflection on my own behavior and on this quote, that that’s not true at all. Many compliments and criticisms are self-serving and often have very little to do with the person being complimented or criticized (not always, but quite often).

The truth is that most compliments and most criticism is mostly just a reflection of the person issuing it. It has far more to do with their emotional state at the moment and what things are on their mind. Yes, you might be an element of that, but you’re often a small element.

Now, there are compliments and criticisms that are worth paying attention to, but those tend to come from people who actually have a stake in your life and are being thoughtful and careful to point out both positive and negative things. The vast majority of criticism and compliments that you get don’t fall into that category, and it’s easy to figure out when they’re serious.

Serious compliments and criticisms are usually detailed, with words chosen carefully as to make their meaning clear and not unduly critical, and they’re rarely self-referential to the person giving the compliment or criticism.

The thing is, the vast majority of compliments and criticisms that you hear don’t fall into that category, and thus they’re really not worth paying any attention to or giving any weight to.

Reflect on that regularly and you’ll find that a lot of offhanded compliments and criticisms quickly cease to mean anything to you.

2. Adam Carroll on when money isn’t real

From the description:

Adam Carroll talks about his $10,000 Monopoly game with his kids and how to teach finance management in a cashless society.

This video demonstrates a simple truth: the closer people are to actual money, the more likely they are to take it seriously and behave in a sensible and smart way with it.

That’s why credit cards are pushed so heavily by financial institutions. Credit cards abstract your money. They take it from cash in hand into a form that’s easy to spend because it doesn’t really seem like money – it seems like just swiping this magic plastic card, after which people give you stuff!

If you carry that thought forward a little bit, it makes a lot of sense to switch to cash-only living if you find yourself struggling to make ends meet and to keep your credit card spending in check. If you switch to a cash-only lifestyle for a while, your financial choices suddenly become much more tangible. You’re actually spending your hard-earned cash for this thing you want in the moment, and that really changes things.

3. Massimo Pigliucci on friendship (via Aristotle)

Aristotle’s opinion was that friends hold a mirror up to each other; through that mirror they can see each other in ways that would not otherwise be accessible to them, and it is this (reciprocal) mirroring that helps them improve themselves as persons. Friends, then, share a similar concept of eudaimonia [Greek for “having a good demon,” often translated as “happiness”] and help each other achieve it. So it is not just that friends are instrumentally good because they enrich our lives, but that they are an integral part of what it means to live the good life, according to Aristotle and other ancient Greek philosophers (like Epicurus). Of course, another reason to value the idea of friendship is its social dimension. In the words of philosopher Elizabeth Telfer, friendship provides “a degree and kind of consideration for others’ welfare which cannot exist outside.”
– Massimo Pigliucci, Answers for Aristotle

I originally wanted to include a quote from Aristotle on friendship here, going directly to the source, but Aristotle’s source quotes were wordy and no single one really summed up what I wanted to say. Pigliucci’s summary here really ties it up.

A friendship worth having is one in which both people involved are made better because of it. Honestly, I’ve come to the point where I judge friendships from that light. If we’re not making each other better, what is the point?

That doesn’t mean you drop a friend when they’re at a low point, but that you should drop a friend when they’re not there when you are at a low point. Be there for your friends when they are low, but remember those who were there for you when you were low.

4. The daily walk

A nice walk has been a part of my day for many years. I usually try to go on a three mile or so walk each day, wandering either through the town in which I live or the countryside near the town, as we live on the outskirts.

In the past, I would listen to a podcast on my walk, or an audiobook, to give my brain something to chew on while walking, but what I’ve been doing lately is listening to nothing at all. Instead, I spend about five minutes before my walk going over something that merits more thought in my life, then heading out with nothing to distract me – no phone at all, just my pocket notebook and a pen in case I want to jot something down.

On the walk, I just let my mind wander without any sort of interrupted distraction. I look at the natural beauty around me. I let that initial problem float around in my mind, but I don’t intentionally focus on it. I’ll think about whatever book I’m reading, or some parenting issue, or what I might want to fix for supper.

The thing is, when I come home, I feel incredibly primed to do something creative – usually writing, but sometimes it’s other things.

I’m permanently switching to leaving my phone at home on my walk, or else stowing it on silent in my back pocket if I’m tracking distance. The benefits of an uninterrupted walk have been amazing.

5. Muhammad Ali on the pebble in your shoe

“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out, it’s the pebble in your shoe.” – Muhammad Ali

It’s funny how your biggest goals are often upended by the littlest things.

My exercise regimen is often interrupted not by laziness, but by my own tendency to fall into a “zone state” when working, where I completely lose track of time and snap back to reality by the noise of my children coming in the door at the end of a school day.

My dieting regimen is often slowed greatly not by hunger or temptation, but by dinner parties at the homes of friends and family, where I try to eat a polite amount of food but inevitably blow away my daily calorie goals.

The problems that I expect to have at the start of taking on a big journey often end up not being the challenging ones. The ones that actually tend to derail me are ones that I never even think of at all before I start.

I don’t find this despairing. I find this inspiring. It makes me step back and look at my goals and my plans again in a new way. It makes me stop and shake that pebble out of my shoe rather than just deciding that the goal is unreachable.

6. Chris Stapleton – Tiny Desk Concert

From the description:

As a songwriter in Nashville, Chris Stapleton has written hits for Kenny Chesney, George Strait and Darius Rucker. As a singer, he once led the bluegrass band The SteelDrivers, and more recently stepped into the solo spotlight with Traveller, his debut album. It’s the kind of country record that gets better the more you wear it in: When NPR Music named it one of our favorite albums of the first half of 2015, critic Ann Powers compared it to a “soft denim jacket … pulled out time after time, lending comfort, suiting every occasion, with treasure stuffed in every pocket.”

It’s easy to understand why other singers took to his songs — Stapleton writes lyrics that sound classic but never dated — but his softly creaking voice gives them the home they deserve. And even though those songs stand plenty well on their own, it’s nice to have a little support. When Stapleton stepped behind the Tiny Desk to play selections from Traveller, he was joined by his wife Morgane on harmony vocals. Between patient, detailed songs of devotion to love, Los Angeles and liquor, they paused for banter about the summer heat in D.C. and the large number of guitars Chris owns (“Not supposed to tell that part,” he said to Morgane).

Watch him hide behind a large hat, a beard and a battered vintage guitar; watch her smile at him during “More Of You” with a combination of admiration and affection. Like the songs themselves, their performance is full of private moments worth sharing widely.

It’s no secret to those of you who have followed these “pieces of inspiration” articles over the years that I enjoy bluegrass and folk music, but I rarely post what would be called “country” music. The reason being is that music works for me when it can strike an emotional chord with me, and the country genre rarely does that, particularly in its current very pop-oriented “bro-country” flavor. It just doesn’t… mean anything.

To me, great music gins up emotion in your heart, even when you’re not feeling it. It pulls you along for the ride. It draws forth joy, fear, pain, relief – all kinds of emotions. It takes a gift to do that through music. I certainly don’t have it, and I know many very skilled musicians who don’t, either.

Chris Stapleton excels at this, with just his voice and a beat-up guitar. He knows how to use every string and every hint of his voice to basically pull a feeling out of my gut, whether I know it’s there or not. That’s a gift.

7. Longfellow on the secret history of our enemies

“If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It is so easy to put everyone else’s behavior in the context of us. Is that person doing right by us? Is that person exhibiting behavior that makes sense by my standards?

The thing is, we don’t know that other person’s story. Is that glance at us a mean glare, or is that just the person’s face and they’re not even thinking about us? Is that grouchy person on the bus really hateful to us or are they just having a bad day?

The other day, I had someone literally bump into me roughly on the sidewalk and they seemed to apologize halfheartedly without even looking at me. Was the person rude? Did they dislike me? Actually, it turns out the guy was almost completely blind.

When you stop for a moment and consider what the other person’s life is like, it makes it a lot easier to just overlook quirkiness or perceived impoliteness. Maybe that person is having a bad day, or a bad week, or a bad life. Maybe that person was raised in a different culture than you, where your expectation isn’t theirs. Maybe that “bad driver” learned how to drive in a place where the customs of the road are a bit different.

Not everything has to bend to your expectation. A little bit of empathy and consideration goes a long way.

8. David Lee on why jobs of the future won’t feel like work

From the description:

We’ve all heard that robots are going to take our jobs — but what can we do about it? Innovation expert David Lee says that we should start designing jobs that unlock our hidden talents and passions — the things we spend our weekends doing — to keep us relevant in the age of robotics. “Start asking people what problems they’re inspired to solve and what talents they want to bring to work,” Lee says. “When you invite people to be more, they can amaze us with how much more they can be.”

Ask yourself this: what element of human work will be the most difficult for robots and computers to overcome? It doesn’t take a philosopher to know that it’s passionate creative work – work driven by creative minds applying their knowledge in unexpected ways to problems they care about.

The thing is, you’re basically describing hobby time here. You’re basically describing play – people applying their imaginations and creativity and domain knowledge to something they really care about.

I know that, personally, some of my most enjoyable experiences come from either learning new things or trying to solve problems that don’t have obvious solutions. In the future, I think that’s what all humans will be left with for work, because the other tasks will be handled by machines.

It’s an interesting future to think about, with a lot of implications.

9. Steve Maraboli on yesterday

“One day I just woke up and realized that I can’t touch yesterday. So why the heck was I letting it touch me?” – Steve Maraboli

Your past doesn’t define you. It never should. The only use for a person’s past is to provide lessons for the present and guidance toward the future.

I often look back at my own financial mistakes and, yes, I regret them. However, those mistakes don’t define me. Instead, I try to mine the mistake I made back then to improve what I’m doing right now.

Don’t let your past define you. You’ll constantly regret it.

10. Rhiannon Giddens – Come Love Come

From the description:

Rhiannon Giddens performs her song “Come Love Come” from her 2017 album, Freedom Highway. Filmed at the Breaux Bridge, LA, studio of multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell, with whom she co-produced the album.

I mentioned Rhiannon a couple of years ago in an inspiration column, but her music has been something I’ve listened to a great deal since then and with the recent news that she’s a MacArthur Fellow, I wanted to share her music once again.

It’s well worth your time to dig into Rhiannon’s music, as well as the music of the band she’s a member of when she’s not doing her solo thing, the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

11. Elena Ferrante – My Brilliant Friend

This is a wonderful novel about two girls growing up in Naples, Italy in the 1950s and serves as the first in a series of four novels about their intertwined lives.

Why did I love this book? It’s the way that the author manages to balance the beautiful and plain. One might expect that a novel about two girls growing up in Naples is going to be glamorous, somehow, but it isn’t. It’s awkward and tough; you can feel the issues of class coming through almost on every page.

But in that, it manages to be beautiful. People are often more than their circumstances, even if they’re unable to escape them.

Wonderful book. Well worth your time.

12. Heraclitus on wisdom

“For to be wise is only one thing — to fix our attention on our intelligence, which guides all things everywhere.” – Heraclitus

This is one of those quotes that’s twisted around in my brain quite a lot over the years. I think part of what’s confusing about it is the impreciseness of translating it from the original language, but I think there’s a deep meaning there.

Heraclitus, I believe, is trying to make the point that wisdom comes from deliberately improving your “intelligence” in a broad sense. This doesn’t just mean an accumulation of knowledge, but a synthesis of that knowledge and understanding with one’s life experience.

What does that mean? It means a life committed to learning, but also to new experiences. On top of that, it also means a life committed to reflection on that learning and those experiences. What does it all mean? Where do things inform each other?

Do that enough, and you begin to form a pretty solid net of understanding of the world and of your own behavior. That net is wisdom.

The journey to wisdom is long, but it is well worth it.

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