A Transcriptionist Job Could Get You $25/Hr. Here’s Where to Start

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Looking for a flexible job that allows you to work from home, requires little to no prior experience and doesn’t involve making sales calls?

Yes, this kind of work exists: You could become a transcriptionist. This job gives you the freedom to set your own hours and, in many cases, work as much or as little as you want each week.

While transcription jobs are usually broken into general, medical and legal categories, the latter two will usually require prior schooling and/or work experience.

If you’re a beginner, start by looking into general transcription — so that’s what I’m going to focus on.

Lisa Mills, blogger at Work at Home Mom Revolution and author of Jump Start Your General Transcription Career: The Fast & Easy Way to Get Started, started transcribing shortly after separating from her husband.

“l needed to find a job quickly, and I wanted to be at home with my children, so transcription seemed like a natural fit,” she says. “[S]ince time was of the essence, I started applying immediately for [general transcription] jobs. I got lucky and was hired immediately by a super company, and have worked for them ever since.”

If you’re considering giving transcription a try, here’s what you’ll need to know — plus some of Mill’s best advice.

What Do You Need to Get Started as a Transcriptionist?

Transcription requires listening to audio files and typing out what you hear. Companies that hire professional transcriptionists will usually require a high-quality foot pedal for controlling audio playback along with the popular Express Scribe transcription software.

However, most of the companies that hire newbies are more laid-back in their equipment requirements, so you’ll only need to have a computer and a high-speed internet connection to start working.

Is Transcription Easy?

The job sounds easy enough, right? But just like any other job, what’s easy for one person won’t be for another.

For example, sometimes the files you listen to will be very poor quality, making it difficult to understand what’s being said. And other times, you might find yourself trying to interpret unclear dialogue spoken in poor English or with a thick accent.

The work is also quite repetitive. You will have to listen to the same audio over and over again to be sure you have transcribed it perfectly. If you don’t like repetition, transcription might not be the line of work for you.

However, the flexibility of the work may make up for the fact it can be challenging and repetitive.

“My children are grown now, but when they were younger, I did a lot of my work at night, after they were in bed, and during the day while they were in school,” says Mills.

In addition, managing your own schedule means you can plan time off when you need it.

“I can take a vacation whenever I like. I just notify the company that I won’t be taking work for a few days to a week, and will get back in touch when I’m ready for more work,” explains Mills.

“Most companies give you a 48-hour turnaround time on work, so I start something, take a break for a while, then come back to it later. And many companies allow you to take as much or as little work as you like.”

How Much Does Transcription Pay?

Pay for transcription work can vary. “General transcription pays well in comparison to most work-at-home jobs,” says Mills. “The least I’ve made per hour is $15. But I often make $25 per hour or more. Those who specialize in legal can make an even higher wage per hour.”

The exact amount you earn as a transcriptionist will depend on the company you’re working for, how much work is available and your speed and skill level.

Pro Tip

In general, most companies that are willing to accept beginners do not pay as well as the companies that require past transcription experience.

While Mills translated her rate for me, note that transcription companies usually pay a rate per audio hour or a rate per page, although the audio hour pay rate seems to be the most common.

An audio hour is not the same thing as a regular hour. For example, if you’re being paid $50 per audio hour, this means you’ll earn $50 for every hour of audio you transcribe.

It could take you anywhere from two to five hours to transcribe just one hour of audio, depending on the complexity of the file is and your transcription skill level.

Experienced transcriptionists often consider rates below $45 to $50 per audio hour too low. But if you’re brand new to the industry, you may find it’s worth working for a lower rate to get started and learn valuable skills that could help you land a better-paying transcription job later on.

6 Companies That Hire Beginner Transcriptionists

Here is a list of legitimate companies that regularly hire newbie transcriptionists. Most of these companies will require that you take short, simple transcription tests prior to accepting you. The companies uses these tests to assess your typing accuracy and attention to detail before assigning you work.

Pro Tip

If you start working for less than $45-50 per audio hour, you may want to use the opportunity to build paid transcription experience, and then look for a higher-paying job.

As mentioned above, since these companies hire newbies, their pay rates are less than the range for more experienced transcriptionists.

1. Transcribe Anywhere

Transcribe Anywhere offers online transcription courses that not only teach students how to transcribe but also how to start their own freelance transcribing businesses.

The online course features modules, practice dictations and quizzes. It even shows you how to create sample client contracts and how to determine your rates. 

2. TranscribeMe

Before you can take on projects with TranscribeMe, you have to register and then take its Transcriber Training Program. The company does not require transcriptionists to work a set number of hours.

The company pays $15 per audio hour, and it does  not require any equipment for transcription prior to getting started beyond a “reasonable computer” that has Google Chrome and a reliable internet connection. You’ll be paid weekly by PayPal for the work you complete.

3. Quicktate

Quicktate will hire newbie transcriptionists once they pass a typing quiz. The company’s independent contractors transcribe short voicemail messages, as well as memos, letters, conference calls and more.

After you have done transcription for Quicktate for some time, you may be promoted to iDictate — a sister company that pays slightly more for transcribed files. Quicktate pays approximately one cent for every four words transcribed, while iDictate pays two cents for every four words transcribed. You can work as much or as little as you want, and they pay weekly by PayPal.

4. Rev

You’ll need to pass a grammar quiz and submit a transcription template prior to claiming assignments from Rev, which allows transcribers to work as much or as little as you like.

Rev pays 36 to 65 cents per audio minute, which works out to about $22 to $39 per audio hour.. The company pays weekly weekly by PayPal and doesn’t require any special equipment apart from a computer with a reliable Internet connection.

5. Tigerfish

Tigerfish has been using home-based transcriptionists to transcribe audio files for their clients since 1989. You’ll need to pass a skills test prior to working for Tigerfish.

Tigerfish allows applicants to use Express Scribe for the skills test, but it requires successful people to use Power Play for Windows Media. 

The company doesn’t share information on pay rates, method and job frequency until you apply.

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6. Crowdsurf

Crowdsurf specializes in providing transcribed media files to the hearing impaired. If you work for Crowdsurf, you’ll have to create an account with Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, a popular crowdsourced work platform where Crowdsurf houses their transcription tasks. 

You’ll earn about three to 20 cents per media minute transcribed. You’ll be paid through Amazon to your Amazon Payments Account,

If you’re looking to earn a little extra money online, give transcription a try with one of these companies. You won’t break the bank, but you will be getting paid to learn how to transcribe audio files — and this could open the door to much better-paying transcription opportunities in the future!

Anna Thurman is a contributor to The Penny Hoarder. 

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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Ten Meals in Ten Minutes Under $10 That My Whole Family Loves

As I’ve mentioned before, one of our big aims as a family is to have a home-cooked family dinner together every evening in which it is possible. This can be particularly tricky, especially as our children reach the busy teen years in which it seems like every night has a litany of activities and homework for them to be involved with.

Quite often, a home-cooked meal that we can all enjoy together requires hitting a very specific target and often leaves a window of opportunity for meal preparation that’s really small. Thus, for us, and for all other busy families who want to have a family dinner together, having a meal that most of the family likes which can be prepared in a very tight timeframe is of key importance.

We also want that meal to be reasonably healthy and fairly inexpensive, to boot. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

Over the last several years, our family has built up a number of meals that we enjoy together that can mostly be prepped in ten minutes or so (with perhaps a little additional prep time the evening before or a minor step to be done that morning). Usually, these meals are modular, with various side dishes that also take ten minutes or less of prep time easily filling in gaps.

Here are ten such entrees, along with ten common “evening before” steps that we use to make sure we can pull these meals off in ten minutes or so, and ten sides that we add modularly to meals as it fits. Some meals are light, some are heavy, some sides go well with some entrees and not others – just mix and match as works well for your family. We can usually pull off any combination of entree and side dish for our family under $10, and often two sides at once. The key, of course, is to prep one thing while another thing is heating – those ten minutes are often very busy ten minutes! Usually, one child is a sous chef while the other two children are setting the table and the other parent is doing something to prepare for other evening activities.

Let’s get started by looking at ten very common “evening before” tasks that I do to make all of this work.

Ten Valuable “Day Before” Prep Steps

As noted above, a lot of these super-fast meals require a little bit of preparation the day before or the morning before. Some of these things can even be done two or three days in advance, and even further if you’re willing to freeze and then thaw some of these items.

At home, these tasks are often ones that are done in the late evening. You’ll often find me chopping vegetables for tomorrow night’s dinner in the later evening, for example.

None of these tasks are overly complex, but they do take a little time. They’re nice tasks to do in the kitchen in the late evening with a little music or a podcast playing while you work.

Fully cook ground beef, chicken, or other preferred protein Once cooked, this can easily be stored in the fridge. It’s usually just a matter of frying it in a skillet until it’s cooked and crumbling or shredding or chopping it as needed for what you want to make.

Cook dry beans and/or rice This often involves soaking the beans overnight and then cooking them, but the process depends heavily on the type of bean, so you’ll want to look up an easy way to cook a particular type of dry bean. For beans, I usually soak them overnight in a slow cooker by just putting water in with them, then switch the water in the morning so that it’s fresh and cooking it on low all day, often with some seasonings in there to add flavor. With rice, I usually cook it in our rice cooker and store it in the fridge until needed, as it usually reheats well.

Sauté some aromatic vegetables If a recipe calls for sautéed onions or shallots or green peppers or garlic or anything like that, I do that the night before and save the vegetables in a small container. When it’s done and the skillet is still really hot, I put a bit of water in the skillet so that it sizzles and deglazes the pan, then I pour that liquid right in the container with the aromatic vegetables. My secret? I keep a bag of chopped onion and chopped green pepper in the freezer solely for quick sautéing.

Chop some vegetables This is easy enough. If something needs chopped vegetables the next night, I chop them late the evening before and store them in a small container in the fridge. There’s really no need to be rushing to get some chopped spinach or a bit of chopped onion or something like that when you’re trying to get a meal together. Just do it the night before!

Prep a “slow cooker load” One of our most useful tools for evening meals is to simply use the slow cooker, starting it in the morning before our workday begins so that there’s a meal ready to go when we get home. However, even then, it can take some time to get all of the ingredients ready for that, and on a busy morning, that can take some time. So, what I’ll often do is just get everything ready to the point that it’s about to be tossed in the slow cooker the night before and put it in a few containers in the fridge. Then, in the morning, I dump those containers into the slow cooker, turn it on low, and put the containers in the dishwasher. Then, that evening, there’s a meal ready for all of us to eat with almost no prep time!

Make a sauce Let’s say I want to have a homemade pasta sauce or a homemade sauce for our stir fry or something like that. I can just make this the night before and store it in a container in the fridge, reheating it just before we eat the next night if needed. I’ll make a pasta sauce on my own, for example, and fill up a quart jar with it and pop it in the fridge, then just heat it a bit before the meal.

Cook some pasta Another tactic I like to use is to cook pasta the night before. I cook it about three minutes shy of the package directions, then toss it with some oil and put it in a container in the fridge. The next day, it needs about one or two minutes of additional boiling, basically just long enough to get it hot. This little step can shave 5 or more minutes off of a tight meal prep.

Hard boil some eggs (and even peel them) I’ll often make a dozen or so hard boiled eggs in the evening. I am really picky about my hard boiled eggs, so I usually use a sous vide cooker to get them exactly as I like, with the yolk just on the hard side of creamy (about 165 F for 45 minutes). I’ll crack, peel, and slice them afterwards if needed.

Make a seasoning mix If I’m making something that requires several seasonings the next night, I’ll go ahead and mix the seasonings the night before in a small container and just leave it out on the counter. That way, I can just dump in that container of salt and pepper and basil and oregano and whatever.

Bake potatoes Sometimes, we’ll have baked potatoes or sweet potatoes, and those can be baked the night before, refrigerated, and then quickly heated the next day. They take on almost a “twice-baked” texture.

Ten Main Courses

Here are ten frequent main courses that we prepare for our family dinners on busy weeknights. Most of these can be on the table within ten minutes, though a few might stretch that to twelve or fifteen depending on how quickly one’s stovetop gets to boiling or one’s oven gets to preheating.

Pasta and sauce If we’re having pasta and time is tight, I’ll mostly boil it the night before as noted in the previous section. We sometimes make our own sauce, usually also the night before and stored in a jar in the fridge, and sometimes purchase it, which costs a little more. We pair a variety of pastas with a variety of sauces, as different family members definitely prefer different pairings around here. If the pasta is mostly cooked, this can be on the table in five to seven minutes without breaking a sweat!

Grilled cheese sandwiches Grilled cheese sandwiches are a huge hit with our family, with lots of different variations proving to be popular. Everyone has their own particular variety that they like – for example, I’m a fan of sourdough and Gruyere with sautéed onions and mushrooms on it, with the onions, green peppers, and mushrooms sautéed the night before, as described above. My youngest son prefers his super simple, while my daughter absolutely loves Monterey jack and plenty of it.

Stir fry with noodles We’ll often serve stir-fried vegetables with some sort of protein (usually chicken or tofu) right on top of rice noodles, which cook incredibly quickly. We’ll also sometimes put it directly on rice that we’ve cooked the night before and reheated.

Chili I’ll cook a whole bunch of beans using the technique described in the previous section and simply throw the chili together that evening. We usually have a vegetarian batch and a non-vegetarian batch, which are identical except for the bean concentration and the presence of meat, and it’s prepared with aromatic vegetables cooked the night before from the fridge. We’ll also often do this in the slow cooker, starting it in the morning, but you want your beans to not quite be fully done if you’re going this route or else it’ll be mushy.

White bean soup I follow this recipe, except I’ll partially cook the orzo and fully cook the beans the night before so that this can all come together in about eight or nine minutes. This lets me dump in the stuff from step 1, jump immediately to step 2, and cut the time for the orzo down to a couple of minutes.

Tacos If you have some cooked ground beef or chicken or other protein that you’ve reheated, as noted earlier in the article, this is as easy as setting out the ingredients that people might want, as everyone can assemble their own. We’ll just pull out lettuce, diced tomatoes, diced onions, a jar of salsa, a container of guacamole, maybe some black olives, and just make a “bar” where people can assemble their own.

Baked potato bar Take a potato you fully baked that morning and microwave it briefly, just enough to warm it thoroughly. While they’re heating, set out some toppings – butter, sour cream, chili, whatever you might like.

Mini-pizzas Either use dough you bought at the store or prep it the morning before. Preheat the oven according to package or recipe directions, then make small pizzas for everyone. These bake in about 8 minutes each.

“Breakfast for supper” Scrambled eggs or French toast is the meal centerpiece here, with bacon, sausage, or fruit on the side. All can be done quickly in a skillet, often together.

Egg drop soup Chop a couple of green onions in the morning and stick them in the fridge. Bring four cups of stock (chicken or vegetable, your choice) to a boil. While you’re waiting for it to boil, crack three eggs in a bowl and whisk thoroughly. When the stock is boiling, add in the onions and remove from heat. When it’s not boiling any more, add a tablespoon of corn starch slowly and stir thoroughly, then bring it back to a low boil. Drizzle in the egg mixture a tablespoon at a time, then give it maybe thirty seconds on the heat after the last tablespoon, and serve.

Ten Sides

We’ll often accompany those dishes with various sides. Many of the common ones we use, like cornbread, are cooked the night before and set aside until tomorrow’s meal time, but many can come right together in that ten minute window while the entree is being cooked. Here are ten examples of these super-quick sides.

Flash frozen vegetables, seasoned well We’ll often just get a bunch of flash frozen vegetables that steam in the bag, buying them in bulk and steaming them in the microwave in about five minutes while other meal prep is happening. We put them in a bowl, thoroughly season them with salt and pepper and appropriate herbs and spices for the vegetable, and serve them.

Simple salad Our salads usually just consist of baby spinach or another green (usually spinach because it’s healthy and everyone seems to like it), a bit of salad dressing tossed with it, and a few other toppings like Parmesan cheese or croutons or bits of tortilla chip, depending on the flavor and texture.

Macaroni and cheese (outside the box) While we do occasionally rely on a kit for this, I vastly prefer to make my own, using variants of Serious Eat’s three ingredient mac and cheese with the mac cooked mostly beforehand, as noted above. For my family, to provide leftovers and the sheer joy that mac and cheese brings to my youngest son’s face, I double the recipe and vary the cheese (I love gruyere, as noted earlier).

Seasoned beans and/or rice Take pre-cooked beans and/or rice, heat them up, and add flavorings as you desire. I usually add a bunch of hot sauce and sometimes some aromatic vegetables like cooked onion, green pepper, and garlic, and I’ll often add just a bit of tomato juice to make it moist.

Esquites For those unfamiliar, esquites is a corn salad popular in Mexico in which you cook corn kernels with a little onion in a bit of butter and flavor it in a variety of ways, usually hot sauce, lime juice, mayo, and/or cheese. It’s a wonderful side for taco night and can be prepared surprisingly quickly, as you’re mostly just heating and browning the corn.

Roasted cauliflower I’ll just take cauliflower florets that I’ve already cut up, toss them with olive oil and seasoning, bake them at 400 F for a few minutes, then put them under the broiler for just a moment to slightly brown them, then serve them. You can do this with other vegetables, but cauliflower is just wonderful in this way.

Garlic chickpeas Just take a can of chickpeas or a pound of chickpeas that you’ve cooked from dry beans (as noted above) and add a few cloves of mashed fresh garlic and any other seasonings you like, then cook it in a skillet with just a bit of butter. You can top it with a bit of shredded cheese, too. Just do what you like!

Soba noodles If I find dry soba noodles on sale at the store, I’ll often turn them into a side dish, tossing them with a bit of oil and some sautéed vegetables and maybe a bit of soy sauce. I’ll often cook the soba noodles the night before and mix it with leftover stir fry vegetables, to tell the truth.

Corn on the cob There are tons of ways to prepare corn right on the cob, and it’s delicious. You can actually just microwave it for three or four minutes right in the husk and husk it at the table when you’re ready to eat it mid-meal, or you can husk it beforehand and boil it in very salty water for about five minutes. Serve it with butter… it’s so amazing.

Roasted asparagus While corn on the cob is a late summer staple for us, asparagus is a spring staple, and roasted asparagus is where it’s at. Just cut and snap the asparagus the night before, then when you’re ready to cook, preheat oven to 500 F, toss the asparagus with a bit of olive oil to coat it, sprinkle with salt and pepper, lay the asparagus in a baking dish, sprinkle it thoroughly with parmesan cheese, and bake for 8-9 minutes. It’ll come out amazing.

Final Thoughts

Many of these recipes consist of taking a fresh ingredient or two and simply adding flavors to it that we like. That’s really what simple home food preparation is all about. Complex recipes do not fly on a busy weeknight, but these meals sure do.

Good luck, and may your taste buds and wallet both be happy!

The post Ten Meals in Ten Minutes Under $10 That My Whole Family Loves appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Neil Woodford apologises again, but refuses to back down on fees

Neil Woodford apologises again, but refuses to back down on fees

Woodford has refused to budge on his stance for continuing to charge investors while the fund is suspended

Kyle Caldwell Tue, 09/24/2019 - 14:03

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Neil Woodford has again apologised for the continued suspension of his flagship fund LF Woodford Equity Income, while also reiterating that a management fee will remain in place.

In an update to investors yesterday (23 September) Woodford said: “We are very sorry for the continued suspension and understand the concern it will be causing investors.

"We remain fully committed to getting the fund into a position that delivers the best possible outcomes for our investors – for those who wish to withdraw their money from the fund when it reopens and for those who wish to stay.”

But, in respect of management fees, of which Woodford has come under fire for continue to charge investors while the fund is suspended, Woodford refused to budge on his stance.

Accompanying the update, addressing the specific question as to whether a management fee will continue to be charged, Woodford Investment Management said: “The company will continue to charge a management fee as we focus on repositioning the portfolio, to cover the infrastructure and resource costs associated with running an actively managed fund.”

Also as part of the update, Woodford noted that progress is being made to make the portfolio more liquid. He added that to date 84% of the proceeds from share sales made to reposition the portfolio since the suspension have been reinvested in FTSE 100 companies.

The fund is expected to remain suspended until at least December. In a separate update yesterday from the Link Fund Solutions, the authorised corporate director of the fund, point out that from the date the fund was suspended, 3 June, up to 20 September, LF Woodford Equity Income posted a loss of 12.8%. In contrast, the fund’s benchmark, the FTSE All Share Total Return, gained 4.3% over the period.

As Adrian Lowcock, head of personal investing at Willis Owen, has previously pointed out, the poor performance is to be expected. At the end of August, he said: “The challenge he faces is huge and the market backdrop hasn’t helped.”

On the one hand, Lowcock added, trading costs incurred by Woodford’s rebalancing will be eating into returns. At the same time, the fund has continued to suffer from specific stock-related issues.

For example, one of Woodford’s largest holdings, Burford Capital, saw significant damage to its share price after US investment company Muddy Waters put out a very critical note.

More recently, Industrial Heat’s valuation has taken a hit, while Eddie Stobart has suspended trading. Other holdings such as Kier Group have seen profit warnings. 

This article first appeared on our sister website Money Observer

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Over a third of UK bank branches have closed in the last five years

Over a third of UK bank branches have closed in the last five years

More than 3,000 banks have closed down while others have reduced opening times

Stephen Little Tue, 09/24/2019 - 11:49

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More than a third of UK banks have closed in the last five years while others have reduced their opening hours, a new report reveals.

Banks are shutting down branches at an “alarming rate”, with 3,303 bank closures between January 2015 and August 2019 – around 34% of the network, according consumer group Which?.

The overall branch network fell from 9,803 to 6,549 over this time.

The closures were primarily driven by the Big Four banks, with RBS Group cutting its network by 56%.

NatWest closed 638 branches over the past five years while Royal Bank of Scotland shut 412.

HSBC reduced its network by 442 branches and Barclays closed at least 481 branches – although Which? says Barclays did not share full closure information so the figure could be higher.

Lloyds Banking Group shut 404 branches (31%), while Bank of Scotland closed 95 branches and Halifax lost 70 branches.

Santander closed 294 branches, while Co-op closed 152 branches.

Of all the UK’s bank branches that remain open, 298 are now operating with reduced opening hours of four days a week or less.

Nationwide has retained 96% of its branches after pledging to keep its last branch in any town or city open until at least May 2021.

Rural closures

Closures have been most severe in rural areas, fuelling concerns about the impact on the elderly and the vulnerable.

There is now not a single bank branch in the entire Wentworth and Dearne constituency in Yorkshire, which has a population of 98,000.

North East Derbyshire and Stoke-on-Trent North both of which lost six branches

Central Devon saw an 81% reduction, losing 13 branches, while Carmarthen East and Dinefwr lost four-fifths (80%) of its network, with 12 branches having closed.

In some areas, banks are offering mobile branches but these rarely offer the full services of a dedicated branch and can leave customers struggling.

Which? recently wrote to the Chancellor Sajid Javid calling on the government to take action to guarantee people’s ability to access and pay with cash.

Jenny Ross, Which? money editor, says: “Banks are closing their branches at an alarming rate, which risks shutting many people out of vital financial services and affecting their ability to access their own cash.

“Bank branches play a crucial role within communities, serving consumers and businesses alike. The industry must ensure no-one is left behind by the digital transition and that when banks shut their doors they don’t shut their customers out of important banking services.”

According banking trade body UK Finance, 30% of the UK population is still not using online banking, making it harder for them to access cash when banks close.

A spokesman for UK Finance says: “Bank branches play an important role in the life of local communities and decisions to close them are never taken lightly.

"Research shows that consumers are increasingly choosing new ways to help them with their banking, using technology to check balances and make payments - or even speak to their bank 24/7.

"But technology is not for everyone and maintaining access to cash is vital to ensure no-one is left behind."

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Mortgage fraud on the rise - lying on an application could land prospective homeowners in jail

Mortgage fraud on the rise - lying on an application could land prospective homeowners in jail

13% of British adults believe it is reasonable to exaggerate income on a mortgage application new research has found

Stephen Little Tue, 09/24/2019 - 10:26

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Mortgage fraud is on the increase, with more than one in 10 (13%) UK adults thinking it is reasonable to lie on the application form, new research shows.

Mortgage fraud has risen by 5% in the first six months of 2019 compared to the last six months of 2018, according to fraud prevention service Cifas.

Cifas also found that 13% of British adults believe it is reasonable to exaggerate income on a mortgage application.

Mortgage application fraud occurs when people use false or altered documents in support of a mortgage application they might not be eligible for.

These applicants often provide false or altered bank statements and proof of income as a way to validate their income for mortgage applications.

Mike Haley, chief executive of Cifas, says: “It’s easy to assume that making exaggerations to improve the chances of your mortgage being approved is harmless, but the reality is that this is fraud and the consequences can be very serious.

“Mortgage providers carry out rigorous checks, and so exaggerating your income or withholding any change of circumstances could result in it being harder to obtain financial products in the future such as mortgages and loans.

"In more serious cases, this kind of fraud could result in a hefty fine or a prison sentence, or the possibility of losing your home.”

Nearly half of those caught committing application fraud (45%) were aged between 31 to 40-years-old, a rise of 16% compared to the last six months of 2018. They were closely followed by those aged between 41 to 50-years-old who saw a 6% increase.

The research also revealed that people in the 35 to 44 age category were more likely to think that exaggerating their income on their mortgage application was reasonable.

The West Midlands saw the highest increase in fraudulent mortgage applications at 43%, whereas cases in the North East rose by a third.

Consequences of mortgage fraud

While some may view mortgage fraud as a victimless crime, it is both illegal and could have serious consequences for those involved. 

As part of its ‘Faces of Fraud’ campaign, Cifas is urging people to consider the serious consequences of making false claims in mortgage applications.

Taking out a mortgage based on a false income could result in homeowners being unable to repay the debt later on.

Other consequences could include blacklisting against future product purchases, or possibly being reported to the police for investigation - potentially leading to a criminal conviction and a prison sentence.

James O'Sullivan, policy manager for the Building Societies Association, says: “A mortgage is a significant financial commitment and it is essential that applicants are honest about their personal circumstances.

“There are many risks inherent in being less than honest, not least that the borrower finds themselves unable to pay because a realistic affordability assessment was not possible or that, when caught, offenders struggle to get future credit. 

"It is far from being a victimless crime and is something that lenders take rigorous action on.”

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Mirror, signal, handbrake… know your next manoeuvre in car finance

Mirror, signal, handbrake… know your next manoeuvre in car finance

Whether you want a reliable family car, a vintage dream or a new run around, buying a car can be a complicated experience. Here are the options

Didier Baclin Tue, 09/24/2019 - 09:42

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There are many things to consider when shopping for a car and one of the most important and perplexing aspects is picking the right finance option.

Given that in 2018 alone, 1.45 million used car buyers and 960,000 new car buyers purchased a car through finance, a significant number of people each year will face the bewildering maze of options available.

Picking the right finance deal for you can lead to thousands of pounds in savings, so setting aside the time to understand all options in the market should be a top priority.

If you have savings in the bank, this will of course be the cheapest way to fund your new car, but many people will need help financially. Over 90% of secured car finance is arranged at dealerships, but customers do have other options which can help avoid stress, confusion, and uncertainty.

For example, car buyers can arrange their secured finance online before choosing their car.

If buyers do want to get their financing through the dealer – it’s advisable that they shop around – understanding the type of payment plan that they are taking out and the true cost of it is key.

To make life a little easier, here’s a rundown of all the key finance options that you can choose from:

Hire Purchase (HP)

HP is available from car dealerships and finance companies. A HP plan can be fixed over different time frames and the balance is paid back – plus interest – in fixed monthly instalments.

With HP the debt is secured against the car. This means you won’t own it until the final payment is made. It also means that if you don’t repay the loan, the car can be repossessed.

You’ll normally need to pay a deposit at the outset, though this isn’t always the case so remember to check if this’ll affect the overall cost of the car.

As the loan is secured against the vehicle, the monthly costs may be lower. And through voluntary termination, you can also cancel your agreement early once you’ve paid half the agreed amount.

There are a few things to bear in mind:

• You don’t own the car until the loan is paid off
• You can return the car during the term, but will have to repay any outstanding balance
• If you can’t meet the repayments, you will lose your car
• You may need to fund an upfront deposit

Unsecured Personal Loan

In simple terms you’d need to take out a loan with a bank, or a finance company to gain an unsecured personal loan. The money is transferred into your account, and then you use the funds to pay for the car you’ve decided to purchase.

The loan would then be repaid in monthly instalments over a fixed term, typically one, three or five years.

The interest rate you get will vary. It’s dependent on the term of the loan, the lender, and personal factors such as your credit rating. The lowest rates will normally be offered to those with the best credit scores.

It’s important not to ignore the small print, some loans will have penalties for those who want to pay off early, but this isn’t the case for all providers.

If you do go for this route, be sure to shop around in advance to make sure you’re getting the best deal based on your personal circumstances.

As you’re buying the car outright, you own it from day one and are free to sell it at any time.

Watch out for the following:

• Work out how the repayments will fit into your monthly budget
• Your car’s value will drop over time, so it’s likely to be worth significantly less by the time the loan is repaid
• Missing a repayment can hurt your credit score

Personal Contract Purchase (PCP)

This option is typically provided by car dealerships and some finance companies. You pay an upfront deposit – usually 10% – but then a far lower monthly payment over a fixed term, usually one to four years.

At the end of this period you’ll have two options: you can pay a lump sum — known as a balloon payment — and own the car outright, or simply hand the keys back, and take out another PCP or HP on a different car.

These contracts are based on something called a ‘minimum future guaranteed value’.

This is set at the start, and will be partly based on the annual mileage you think you’ll drive. It’s important to stick within this limit, ensure the car is regularly serviced and kept it in good condition, otherwise you could be forced to pay out for extra charges at the end.

If you’re prone to getting bored with your car and like to change it up every few years, PCP may be a good option for you. However, if you want to own the car at the end, a hire purchase agreement will probably be more suitable.

PCP tends to have lower monthly repayments, as you’re not paying for the full cost of the car over the term, however you will likely pay more interest compared to a HP with the same term.

And like HP, through voluntary termination, you can cancel your agreement early once you’ve paid half the agreed amount.

But remember:

• You’re paying finance costs on a car that you may never own
• If you can’t meet the repayments, you’ll lose your car
• There are mileage restrictions on how far you can drive
• An upfront deposit will probably be required

Personal Contract Hire

The final option that you may be offered could be personal contract hire. It’s very similar to PCP, as you pay a deposit and monthly repayments.

However, one of the biggest differences is that you’re renting the car and you have to give the car back at the end of the term.

The benefits of PCH are the same as PCP, but you need to be aware that:

• You’re paying finance costs on a car that you will never own
• If you can’t meet the repayments, you’ll lose your car
• There are mileage restrictions on how far you can drive
• You’re tied in for the full duration of the agreement

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The Best Remote Tech Support Jobs

Are you tech-savvy? Do you love the idea of helping others navigate how to set up a website, problem solve on the internet, or other tech-specific support? Remote tech support jobs are quickly becoming a go-to for the tech-savvy as many of these positions only require a working computer, internet connection, and headphones. If you’re […]

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Man sentenced for Tobyhanna Army Depot theft

SCRANTON – A Madison Township man was sentenced to home confinement after stealing over $95,000 from the Tobyhanna Army Depot.The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Timothy Scheitlan, 43, was sentenced to six months of home confinement on September 20.United States District Court Judge A. Richard Caputo sentenced Scheitlan, and also ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $95,000.According to [...]

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Amazon orders 100,000 electric delivery vans

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos walks the walk when it comes to climate action.The Amazon founder and CEO has pledged to move Amazon closer to net-zero carbon operations. Monday, as part of that commitment, Amazon placed an order with Rivian, the Plymouth, Michigan-based electric vehicle manufacturer, for 100,000 electric delivery vans.This is one of the largest green vehicle orders in history and the single largest electric delivery van order ever. To try and put this [...]

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Calling All Home Bakers: Here’s How to Earn Money Selling Your Treats

How can I avoid my grown-up child’s partner running off with my hard-earned cash?

How can I avoid my grown-up child’s partner running off with my hard-earned cash? Paula Higgins Mon, 09/23/2019 - 15:12

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Questions About 401(k) Validity, Vacuum Cleaners, Exercise, Identity Theft, 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. 401(k) is a scam?
2. Obsession, then nothing
3. DON’T buy the cheapest?
4. Getting mortgage after identity theft
5. Fighting against promotion
6. Buying a good vacuum
7. Actual cost of morning coffee
8. Giving away books versus selling
9. Prioritizing 529 savings
10. Unhappy with much of life
11. Exercising in public
12. Life philosophies question

The feeling of getting lost in a “zone” state when you are doing something you really love is second to none. I was able to spend a few hours playing a board game with a couple of good friends over the weekend and got very much lost in the moment with them, and I realized when we were wrapping up that I just felt better – more relaxed and just better all around.

On with the questions.

Q1: 401(k) is a scam?

Been reading articles about how 401(k)s are bad lately. Like kiplinger.com… and jamesaltucher.com…. Why do you recommend these scams?
– Adam

A 401(k) isn’t a scam, no more than any investment is a scam. It’s simply an investment tool geared toward a specific goal that many people have. If you don’t have that goal, then it’s probably not a good choice.

That goal is simple: you want to have some money set aside for retirement when the expenses you have in retirement are likely to be lower than the expenses you have now. If that’s a major goal and your workplace offers a 401(k), then it’s probably a good choice. If that’s not a major goal for you, then a 401(k) is a bad choice. A 401(k) is just a type of account designed for that specific situation.

What if you want to save for retirement but you think your annual expenses in retirement will be higher than your expenses now? A Roth IRA is probably a better choice. What if you’d rather save for your kid’s college education? A 529 plan for your kid is probably a better choice. What if you’d rather save up to start a business in five years? A taxable investing account is probably a better choice. What if you just want some cash set aside for personal emergencies? A savings account is probably a better choice.

Q2: Obsession, then nothing

I have this weird cycle I go through with all kinds of things. I’ll decide something is interesting and obsess on it for a few months and usually end up making some expensive purchase and then use it for maybe a few hours then get burnt out on it and put it in the closet and move on to a new obsession. I’ve done it with notebooks and with yo-yos and with fountain pens and that is just this year. I feel like I am searching for the thing that will make me fulfilled and I just haven’t found it yet. Want to break out of this loop.
– Mark

Some people simply enjoy the “discovery” part of learning new things and get bored when it turns into the “mastery” part. Basically, when you’re learning something new, there’s a “discovery” part where you’re finding out new things about whatever it is you’re learning and then a “mastery” part where you’ve mostly seen the features and are now refining and mastering them. Some people really enjoy the “discovery” part of the equation and don’t enjoy the “mastery” part, and that sounds like you.

The problem is that you’re associating this passion for “discovery” with buying expensive stuff, and that’s a mistake. A much better approach would be to focus on doing above acquiring. Rather than buying an expensive version of an item, see if you can buy a low end one or a used one such that if you realize that it really is something you’re deeply passionate about over the long haul, you can upgrade with some real knowledge of what you’d want in a high end version. Better yet, borrow the item if you can.

Another great approach is to look at things like Meetup and the bulletin board at your library and the websites of local businesses associated with your new interest and go to social groups related to that interest. You’ll often get a lot of insight into starting out in that hobby without paying anything, which will often be enough to get you through the “discovery phase” without shelling out cash.

Q3: DON’T buy the cheapest?

I think your general advice to buy the cheapest is a bad idea. Whenever I buy the cheapest thing, it’s just junk. I bought a cheap TV last Black Friday and it came with just a 90 day warranty and it’s already dead. Don’t buy cheap unless you just want to throw your money away.
– Abbie

My buying advice wouldn’t have encouraged anyone to buy the cheapest TV on Black Friday. There are two situations where you should buy the cheapest item – when it’s a consumable item under $20 or so (like household supplies and condiments and such) and when it’s a type of item you’ve never used before and can’t really articulate what you need in terms of features and aren’t sure if you’re going to use it going forward. Usually, I encourage the purchase of a used item in this second situation.

There are some situations where I don’t encourage buying used – any furniture with padding or cloth, for example, is something I’d avoid, and I’d also avoid electronics – but those are exceptions where used items are particularly problematic.

A new television doesn’t fall into any of those classes (unless you’ve never owned a television before). If it’s not in either of those classes, you should be doing a ton of research before buying and purchasing a model that offers the features you actually need and the best bang for the buck for that model. I usually end up going with Consumer Reports Best Buy recommendations when making these kinds of purchases, like appliances, for example.

Q4: Getting mortgage after identity theft

About a year ago, my husband and I decided that we were going to move into a new home this fall shortly after the birth of our child. In the spring, when I was pregnant and we were house shopping, someone took out several credit cards in my husband’s name. We managed to get them all cancelled but his credit report looks like a mess. We held off on further home shopping because of it and because our baby arrived, but now we’re not sure what to do.
– Amy

I would go to a credit union that does manual underwriting on home mortgages and get pre-approved. Use the amount of your pre-approval for the basis for shopping around for a house.

Manual underwriting simply means that a mortgage officer at a bank or credit union sits down with you and actually figures out your credit history and loan worthiness manually rather than simply relying on a computer algorithm or a credit score to determine it. This allows the officer to figure out your actual story, something that a computer algorithm will often botch, and often results in loans being made to people with unusual histories like this one.

Sadly, this kind of story is becoming a lot less unusual, as identity theft and credit fraud become more and more common.

Q5: Fighting against promotion

My company has a culture of promoting from within and trying to keep people for many years to preserve knowledge and culture. I actually love the work I’m doing right now but there have already been discussions about promoting me to a position that I don’t want. I want to keep working on interesting problems rather than managing people and the next step for me is into a job where I’m running a small team and that is the last thing on earth I want. It’s to the point where I am considering switching out of this company which I otherwise love. Thoughts?
– Mark

This sounds like a small business that I’m familiar with where they have the young hands do the work and the old hands steer the ship. Everyone who’s around long enough eventually becomes a foreman or manager, mostly just keeping the ball rolling, putting out fires, and jumping into specific tasks as needed.

My suggestion is to sit down and explain exactly how you feel to the person above you in the management chain and perhaps also the person above that person, if applicable. State that you really love your current position and aren’t interested in managing teams right now, but that you will be very clear in the future if/when you’re ready to take that step.

I have been on both sides of that coin. I have been the “team member.” I’ve also been a team leader, both in a good way (where I was also able to do a lot of interesting work and mostly just put out occasional fires and ran meetings) and a bad way (where most of my time was people managing). I don’t mind the first, but I really didn’t enjoy the second, so I understand where you’re coming from.

Q6: Buying a good vacuum

I want a vacuum that won’t just break down and lose suction in a year and actually cleans carpets. Can’t afford one of those $500 vacuums. What do you suggest?
– Amber

Vacuum cleaner quality really depends on budget, and the things you want out of a vacuum basically don’t exist in low-end vacuums (the sub-$200 market). Inexpensive vacuums are usually mostly made of plastic, poorly constructed, and have seals that just fail surprisingly quickly, rendering it unable to even pick up dust off a hardwood floor.

Buying vacuums used is hit or miss. You’ll often find used ones are completely lacking suction as well, which on cheap vacuums renders them useless. Vacuums at estate sales are usually fine.

Probably the best option among cheap vacuums is the Bissell Zing, which is a lightweight canister vacuum that can be had for around $60. It’s not a killer vacuum by any means, but it’ll get the job done for a good while at a pretty reasonable price.

For those curious, if I were buying a higher end vacuum, it would almost definitely be a Miele canister of some type. We currently mostly use an inherited Kirby and occasionally a vacuum that the previous owner of our home left in the closet when they moved.

Q7: Actual cost of morning coffee

Can you help me figure out the cost of brewing an actual decent 16 ounce cup of coffee in the morning? Including things like the cost of the pot and electricity and such?
– Marit

The cost is incredibly variable, to tell the truth. The best I can do is walk you through what I do for my own coffee.

I personally use a cold brew coffee maker very similar to this one that I bought for $10 at a sale. The actual coffee that I use varies a lot. I can get decent ground coffee for about $0.50 per ounce. I use roughly half a cup of ground coffee (about 3 ounces) per 32 ounces of water, so I just measure out half a cup of ground, put it in the cold brew maker, add 32 ounces of water, and leave it overnight in the fridge. The fridge would run anyway so the cost of energy is negligible, so the cost is about $1.50 for the coffee, a fraction of a cent for the water (which comes from the tap), a prorated cent or two for the cost of the coffee maker, and then a few cents to run the microwave if I want to heat it up. For a 16 ounce cup, you divide that in half, getting you in the ballpark of $0.80.

If you use a drip coffee maker, the cost will go up somewhat. The initial coffee maker has a much higher cost and it uses paper filters and it uses a small amount of energy. My estimate from my wife’s coffee making process is that she can produce a 16 ounce cup of black coffee for just a hair under $1.

In terms of quality, I’d put the stuff I make on park with the coffee I’ve tried at most chain coffee shops. There are some individual locations that can consistently make a better cup with expensive equipment and freshly roasted beans, but it’s like a 10%-20% increase in quality for a 10x increase in price, to my palate.

Q8: Giving away versus selling

I have a large book collection that I have gone through and realized that I want to keep about 10% of them and get rid of the other 90%. I have looked into selling a few but it seems like a ton of work to get pennies per book. What is a low effort way to sell a lot of books even getting just a quarter per book or something like that? If not, what is the best way to donate them?
– Sam

If you want to sell a bunch of books, the next time there’s a community yard sale, just announce you’re having a book sale and price everything at $0.50 a book for the first few hours of the sale and then $0.25 a book for the next few hours and then $0.10 a book after that. All you have to do then is put all of your books out on tables in your driveway and collect the money. You might have to borrow a few folding tables from people.

If you want to donate them, consider your local library. They might put some on the shelves for others to read, and the ones that they don’t can be used in library sales, where the proceeds will help keep the library going. I almost always encourage people to donate books to libraries.

You can also donate books to your local Goodwill or Salvation Army.

Q9: Prioritizing 529 savings

How high should I be prioritizing 529 savings for my daughter? She’s 3. I started a 529 for her when she was 6 months but lately I have read that I should be prioritizing my own retirement over her 529. I currently save 6% in 401(k) with 3% company match. Thoughts?
– Nate

It’s hard to know for sure what you should be doing without knowing your age and how much you’ve already saved for retirement. For example, if you’re 26 and already have most of a year’s salary in retirement, you’re probably find leaving things as they are. If you’re 38 and just started saving for retirement, you probably want to dial down the 529 and dial up the 401(k).

As a rough estimate, if you’re 30 or under and have a year’s worth of salary in your 401(k), leave things as they are. If you’re in your lower 30s and have at least two years’ worth of salary in your 401(k), leave things as they are. If you’re below those levels, dial down the 529 and dial up the 401(k).

That’s just a rough estimate, of course, but it gives you something to work with. If you don’t have adequate retirement savings, you don’t have a ton of time and energy left to pick up the slack when you’re of retirement age; meanwhile, your daughter can always make up ground for some student loans when she’s in her twenties. Make sure you have your own retirement covered, then give her a helping hand.

Q10: Unhappy with much of life

What do you do if you look around at the various areas of your life and you’re unhappy with most of them? When I look at my health and my finances and my relationships and my career and everything else, I’m just not happy with most of it.
– Nina

Start with the internal. That’s the easiest answer I can give. Start with your body – physical health – and mind – mental health.

Focus, above all else, on improving your food and beverage intake, getting some daily exercise, getting adequate sleep, and adopting some contemplative strategies. Start small, with something like “eating vegan before dinner” or “giving up soda” or “walking around the block during lunch and when I get home” or “going to bed an hour earlier or an hour later” or “writing in a journal for 15 minutes each morning.” If you are facing deeper physical or mental health issues, consult a doctor and follow their advice.

When you feel better, both mentally and physically, you feel much more capable of dealing with the other things you want to change. Always start with the internal – your body and your mind.

This next question covers some of the same ground, I think.

Q11: Exercising in public

Trying to follow your advice about walking more but whenever I go on a long walk I get sweaty and my face turns red and I just think I look horrible and want to go home. Don’t have any real space to work out at home either and can’t afford a gym.
– Aerie

Right away, I will point out to you that if anyone sees someone outside who’s moving around, sweaty, and red-faced, 99.9% of people are going to think, “Good for that person, getting in shape.” I think that exact thought whenever I see someone doing any kind of exercise outside, whether they’re walking or running or biking or sweaty or not yet sweaty or red faced or not red faced or whatever. Good for them.

No one looks fabulous when they’re actually exercising. Sure, you might find Instagram pics of people looking great in fitness clothes or something, but that’s usually pre-exercise or else a completely staged picture. Exercise means you’re going to look sweaty and out of breath and red faced and that’s okay. In fact, a lot of people will admire it and say “Good on you!” Don’t be embarrassed of how you look when exercising – be proud, because it’s an extremely clear indication that you’re putting in the work.

(It’s worth noting that this same exact thing applies to the gym or to hiking or anything like that.)

Get out there and walk around. Push yourself until you’re sweaty and red-faced. Far more people will be giving you a thumbs up and think more positively of you than will think negatively of you because of it.

Q12: Life philosophies question

I really loved your series on different schools of philosophy and how they directly connected to personal finance and actual modern life. First time I’ve really seen philosophy which always felt impractical to me connected so well to things that matter. Are you going to be continuing this series? Any more suggested reads?
– Jeremy

This is a difficult question, especially considering many philosophical schools of thought aren’t really directly concerned with how to live. Many such schools focus instead on more intellectual topics like defining basic meanings and such, which sometimes makes philosophy seem more esoteric and less practical (as you noted). Other schools argue for approaches for life that would be largely unproductive to discuss on The Simple Dollar, such as nihilism. I’m also intentionally trying to avoid religions as to avoid arguments about theology.

I think I could write an interesting article on utilitarianism and also on transcendentalism. Here’s a brief summary of utilitarianism as a life philosophy; for transcendentalism, you’d probably want to look at my previous article on Thoreau’s Walden.

Aside from that, I’m not quite sure what I could write about that would have compelling thoughts or ties to personal finance and living modern life in a positive fashion.

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.

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How to Figure Out if You’re Eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit

Thomas Cook collapse leaves 150,000 holidaymakers stranded abroad – what you need to know

Work-From-Home Parents Are Living the Dream as Home-Based Travel Agents

Sponsored by Cruise Planners Teresa Downs loves her job as a work-from-home travel agent. She also loves her other job: mom. Teresa shares her insights on what it’s like to balance the two jobs, how she started a successful home-based travel agency, and what advice she would give others looking to do the same. How […]

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Why You Might Need Long-Term Care Insurance

State's smallest daily paper finds success with happy news

TYRONE, Pa. (AP) — On the second floor of City Hall, tall windows capped with green glass panes offer views of the Allegheny Mountains, and when council members rock back and forth in their old, wooden chairs, the quaint creaking makes it tough for reporters to take notes.Just about everything in Tyrone, a town of 5,700 in Blair County, 215 miles west of Philadelphia, seems to be a throwback, including its bustling downtown, home to a beloved candy shop, a few antiques stores, [...]

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The Fight and the Results

Almost every self-improvement goal, whether it’s straightening out your finances or losing weight or getting yourself fit or earning a challenging degree or getting a black belt, comes down to two elements: the fight and the results.

The fight is the journey to get there. It’s the work you put in. It’s the struggle against internal signals telling you to quit and encouraging you to be lazy.

The results are what you see when you win that fight. It’s the outcome you can show to the rest of the world.

The fight is internal. It’s a battle inside of you, above all else. Are you willing to overcome the resistance inside of you, the voice telling you that you can’t do this, the desire to be lazy, the negative habits you’ve built up over the years? That’s an internal battle.

The results are external. The results are what most of us want when we get into the fight. We want to have that trimmer waistline. We want to have that degree. We want to have no debts. We want to have that black belt. They’re things we can look at to tell ourselves that we did it and to show others that we did it.

There are two main approaches to winning the fight and getting the results.

One approach is to simply survive the fight, to push through it every day, to look for shortcuts to get to the results quickly, even if it’s not sustainable. Think of a crash diet or a thirty day money challenge or a series of all-nighters to finish a project. This project is often littered with shortcuts, unsustainable leaps toward the desired results.

That’s a path that will often get you some positive result fairly quickly at a specific moment in time. If your goal is to look as thin as possible for your friend’s wedding or to get approved for a mortgage or to get a particular project don reasonably well and on time or to simply get caught up on all of your bills, then the “survive the fight” strategy is probably a good choice.

The only problem is that when you merely “survive the fight,” you are virtually guaranteed to fall back from that result and not sustain it. A crash diet never leads to lasting weight loss on its own. A hyper-frugal month and selling off a bunch of stuff never leads to lasting financial stability on its own.

Why? Because you didn’t really win the fight. Rather, you just lasted through a few rounds of taking lots of punches.

“Surviving the fight” is great if you just want to be a person who looks sort of healthy for the wedding. A different approach is needed if you want to be a healthy person.

“Surviving the fight” is great if you just want to get caught up on your bills. A different approach is needed if you want to be a financially stable person.

“Surviving the fight” is great if you just want to get that report in on time. A different approach is needed if you want to be a valuable employee who naturally earns and deserves raises.

That “different approach” is all about creating a system for your life that produces the results you want. That’s where you don’t just survive the fight, but you win the fight, and the one after that, and the one after that. The results you want just magically appear, time and time again.

The problem is that it’s a lot harder to begin with (taking perseverance) and results are often slow to appear (taking patience), and we live in a society that does not seemingly value perseverance or patience very much.

So what is a system that produces results?

It Starts With Who You Are

The fundamental difference between surviving the fight and getting quick but non-lasting results versus winning the fight and getting lasting results starts with defining who you are.

Are you a financially stable person, or are you a person looking to just get their bills paid for the moment?

Are you a fit and healthy person, or are you just looking to squeeze into some clothes for a big event?

Are you a successful professional, or are you just looking to get that project done and keep skating by?

That’s a fundamental choice, and I’m not going to say that one choice is the right one for everyone. Some people enjoy a lot of life’s expensive momentary pleasures and value that more than lasting financial success. Some people want to put in the minimal effort to get a paycheck and keep their job. Some people want to look good at the wedding and eat extravagantly the rest of the time. Those are valid choices. It depends on what you want out of life.

When I started my own financial turnaround, for example, my initial aim was to just get caught up and ahead on our bills. I didn’t really have any major life changes on my radar at all. I read some specific strategies for getting out of debt, mostly Dave Ramsey stuff, and I just threw myself into those. I wasn’t a financially stable person. I was just looking to get my bills paid for the moment.

What changed? How did I decide to go from being a person who just wanted to get my bills paid up to being someone far along the path to financial independence?

It’s simple. I decided I wanted to not just be a dude who had his bills paid. I wanted to be a financially successful person with a lasting financial foundation under me. That was a key decision. I changed my vision of who I was.

What Does a Successful Person Do?

The question then becomes: what does a person who is successful in this way do every day to be successful?

What does a financially successful person do every day to move forward their financial success?

What does a healthy and fit person do every day to move forward their health and fitness?

What does a professionally successful person do every day to move forward their career?

What does a great parent do every day to move forward their parenting skills?

What does a great partner do every day to sustain a great lasting relationship?

That’s the thing: it’s an every day (or close to it), permanent thing.

Getting caught up on your bills is something you can do for two or three months and then you’re done. Being a financially successful person is a permanent change that is a permanent alteration of your daily routines.

Squeezing into those clothes for the wedding is something you can pull off in eight weeks. Being a healthy and fit person is a permanent change that is a permanent alteration of your daily routines.

That’s the key word: permanent. Going from being an ordinary person to being a financially successful person or a healthy person or whatever the case might be means that you’re going to alter your daily routines, forever.

You want to alter them in such a way that a normal day is one where you’re taking steps, either directly or indirectly, toward being what you’ve decided that you are. You’re no longer a financial train wreck. You’re a financially successful person cleaning up a mess. You’re no longer an unhealthy mess. You’re a healthy person cleaning up a mess that will eventually be cleaned up and then you’re just a healthy person.

The Misery Factor

The stumbling block that many people run into when facing this is the idea that they are consigning themselves to “misery” for the rest of their entire life.

I can’t buy anything fun for the rest of my life?

I have to eat like this for the rest of my life?

I have to exercise like this every day for the rest of my life?

If those are the kinds of feelings you’re having, one of two things is going on.

One, you value other aspects of your life more than the role you supposedly want. You love gourmet food more than you love the idea of a healthy body. You love spending on splurges more than you love the idea of being financially stable.

If that’s you, that’s okay, but accept that. You can’t do one thing and expect completely contradictory results. If you love to eat delicious high-calorie foods and want it to be part of your daily life, you should expect a constantly excited palate, but you shouldn’t expect a thin waistline. If the activities you are most focused on enjoying in life require constant purchases, you shouldn’t expect financial stability. You are choosing one life role over another one when the two are in direct conflict, and that’s okay. That’s a personal choice based on what you value.

The other possibility is that you are choosing a lifestyle change or routine that’s beyond your current capacity. Going from being almost entirely sedentary to multi-hour extreme workouts every single day is very likely to be miserable. Going from eating whatever you want to a carefully planned 1400 calorie per day diet is very likely to be miserable.

Trying to live up to such extreme change, particularly when such extreme change is a permanent one, has a very good chance of leaving you with negative feelings about the whole thing, and negative feelings are extremely damaging to personal change.

You are much better finding sustainable patterns that lead to slowly emerging positive results than unsustainable ones that can produce faster results but leave you with strong negative feelings. Why? Those negative feelings result in a big backlash where you end up just rolling back to previous patterns that you were unhappy with (but they’re probably a little less unhappy than the radical changes you added to your life).

So, let’s sum it up. If you want to win the fight and keep winning, you need to redefine who you are. If you want to win the personal finance fight, you have to view yourself as a financially successful person. That means answering the question “What does a financially successful person do each day?” and applying that every day going forward. If you find it too difficult, find smaller steps and work up to it, but you have to keep taking steps every day until that becomes your normal path. Over time, the outcomes you desire will naturally emerge from that change in your normal behavior.

So, what does that look like?

The Fight and the Results: Personal Finance Edition

I’ll use myself as an example here.

Before I started The Simple Dollar, before I even began turning things around, I was a complete train wreck in terms of my finances. I spent money constantly without any accountability, fulfilling every little desire that came to mind by throwing money at it. I stopped at coffee shops pretty much every day. I stopped at the local bookstore two or three times a week. I had a bunch of expensive and acquisitive hobbies, including golfing and video games and trading cards. Sarah and I went out to eat quite often.

While we made good money, we were a financial wreck. We lived in a tiny apartment. We both had cars with outstanding loans on them. We both had multiple student loans that added up to a pretty frightening number. We had a bunch of credit card debt and some additional loans. We also had a baby and were dealing with the expense of child care for the first time.

This all culminated on a giant mess where we couldn’t even pay our bills. We were beginning to have to walk a tightrope just to pay rent and utilities and keep enough space on the credit cards to keep living our lifestyle, and eventually that didn’t even work. We reached a point where we couldn’t pay our bills for the month.

At that point, the fight began, but my original goal was just to survive the fight. I didn’t want to radically change my life – I liked my life. What I wanted to do is reach a level of financial stability and not find us walking up to the precipice like that again.

So, I started doing a typical “fix my finances” binge. I sold off a bunch of stuff to quickly pay off a few debts. I remember selling piles of trading cards and lots of DVDs and video games and such, just to generate cash quickly to get myself out of that immediate hole. That was actually a good move, as I purged stuff I wasn’t looking at or using at the moment.

However, I also started making radical changes to my spending. I went on huge spending fasts, where I would try to avoid spending any money at all. It helped a lot in the short term, but it left me with this feeling that I was giving up too much. I was missing a lot of hobbies and having thoughts like “Is this all there is? Am I going to have to not spend any money for fun now?”

That was the point when I started to really think a lot about what I really wanted out of the future and out of my daily life. For all of that spending that I felt I was missing out on, what was I really missing? Furthermore, and perhaps even more important, what exactly does a financially successful person do with their day if they’re not on a steady diet of spending?

I started looking around for examples of such people, particularly wanting to understand what they were doing when they were in my shoes, starting out with a family and a career. I read books like Your Money or Your Life and The Millionaire Next Door. I had some really good conversations with a few mentors that I knew through my career. More than anything, I asked myself what things brought me real joy without costing me money? and what things should I be doing every day so that those inexpensive joyous things become more and more secure?

I started putting aside more time for reading and became a big patron of the library near my apartment. I started going on lots of walks, often pushing my infant son around in a stroller, because I realized I liked how it felt, and that eventually turned into going on lots of hikes and walks in nearby state parks. I started playing through some of the video games I’d accumulated and kept, not just playing them for a few hours and looking for the next thing. I started making a lot of my own meals, not just because it saved money, but because it was enjoyable and interesting and I learned pretty quickly that I could make some really tasty stuff without much of a mess.

I also realized that I made most of my spending mistakes when I had cash just sitting in my hand, so I started moving to automate a lot of the good financial moves I wanted to make. I bumped up those automatic retirement contributions. I started making automatic 529 contributions for my son and, very shortly after, my daughter, too. Whenever I saw cash in my checking account, I intentionally quelled a lot of temptations and moved a lot of it either into an emergency fund in a savings account at another bank or made a big extra payment on an unpaid debt. I stopped using credit cards entirely for a long while, cutting up a couple and leaving others at home most of the time, and I deleted my credit card numbers from online stores. I started buying everything store brand at the store and figuring out how to grocery shop effectively.

These were all obvious positive moves. They were all things that became daily or weekly routines. Most importantly, they weren’t things that made me feel miserable. If I realized I was feeling unhappy about my life and longed for something that I was doing in the past, I didn’t try to “shut it down.” Rather, I tried to understand it.

It’s because negative feelings when you’re trying to make permanent changes are a sign that the permanent change is going to fail, that you’re building a system in your life that’s destined to break down. When you make changes, they should either feel neutral (most of them) or good (some of them). If they feel bad, and you feel like you’re missing something, you need to dig into that now and figure out how to balance the change you want to make from the thing you desire and value in your life right now.

For me, that means having a hobby budget. I figured out before long that I do have a number of hobbies and that some of them do require some spending, but that I don’t need to spend a lot to feel good about it, just a little. It’s one of those situations where, over time, I figured out how much hobby spending was “just enough” to feel good about my explorations of my interests, and I put a firm cap on that “just enough” amount. I can’t afford nearly everything I might want, but I know that if I do want something hobby related and I’m patient and really figure out if I want it and search for a bargain, I can afford it without a problem and I get that pleasure.

Most days, I don’t spend a dime on anything non-essential, and the resources I do use were usually purchased inexpensively, like store brand dish soap an dos on. When I do spend money on something nonessential, it feels like a treat. I genuinely enjoy things like going out for an $8 fast casual meal with one of my friends who also works from home; we meet up for lunch sometimes just to have that contact. There’s no reason for me to have an $8 lunch somewhere every day, but on the days when I do, not only is it a social occasion, it feels like a treat.

That’s my system. That’s how I’m not just surviving the financial fight, but winning it. It’s a day-in-day-out life that is sustainable and enjoyable and each day I basically automatically move a few steps along the path to complete financial independence. I am a reasonably financially successful person and I can say that with complete seriousness, and it’s because my daily system keeps me on that path without resentment and with plenty of joy.

What’s Your System?

Whatever the challenge you face, whatever it is you want to change in your life, you have two ways of approaching it. You can survive the fight by just taking some emergency temporary action, or you can aim to win and keep winning by becoming the person you want to be and putting together daily systems and habits for success.

There is no right answer for every situation. It depends on what you want most out of your life, and not everyone wants the same things. What matters is that you decide what you want and that you move forward accordingly.

Good luck!

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