Can Alternative Credit Scoring Models Help Millions of Consumers?

More than 50 million Americans have no credit score, but several startups are helping them qualify for credit in other ways.

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How One Writer Eats Local, Organic Food for Just $300 a Month

I have a strict $300-a-month grocery budget. If you’re doing the math, that’s $75 a week. Believe me, it goes more quickly than you think.

I’m obsessed with budgeting, but I’m equally obsessed with eating locally and organically, even when I was in grad school at Northwestern living off a teeny, tiny student budget. Most people equate organic and local with expensive, but I’m living proof that this doesn’t have to be the case.

Here are five tactics I use to stick to my budget while enjoying local, prganic food.

1. Volunteer With a Local Farm at the Farmers Market

This was my saving grace as a poor grad student. I went to the farmers market every Saturday anyway, so one day I just started asking my favorite vendors if they needed help running their stands on weekend mornings. One of them graciously accepted, and in return for my four hours of volunteer time, I received tokens to use at the market. Plus, the vendor often sent me home with extra goodies or some of the veggies that didn’t sell.

Not only did I become well versed in hundreds of varieties of tomatoes, I was also introduced to myriad new vegetables and I drastically cut my grocery bill. Some weeks, I ate for nearly free. Additionally, I formed a strong relationship to a local farmer that persists to this day.

2. Volunteer on a Farm

Even if you live in an urban environment, chances are there are countless farms just outside of city limits looking for extra help here and there. I lived in Chicago, and connected with a farmer 20 minutes away who gladly put me to work once a week.

Use LocalHarvest to view all the farms near you, choose the type of farm that interests you (dairy, produce, goat, nut, etc.) and then just start emailing or calling until one takes you up on your offer. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t hear back right away; be patient but persistent.

Tell the farmer you’d like to lend a hand once or twice a month, but don’t mention wanting to get anything in return. You may not get any goods the first time you go because farmers want to be sure you’re truly vested in their mission and not just looking for a handout. Build trust with the farmer and soon you’ll be overwhelmed with goods you helped grow. The farmer I worked with gladly sent me home with boxes of beautiful produce as “pay” for my time and effort. Oh yeah, and did you know a little time in the soil will make you a happier, smarter person? The benefits just keep on coming.

If you don’t want to commit to a set amount of volunteer time, you can also get some soil time while saving money on veggies by visiting you-pick farms. These are especially fun with kids, as it gives you an opportunity to teach them that food does not come in a prepackaged container. Use PickYourOwn to find you-pick farms near you!

3. Use Your Skills to Earn Free Food

If you have a creative skill, such as design or writing, use it to earn yourself free food. You can go about this in a number of ways. Try marketing yourself in person by going stand to stand at the farmers market presenting your offer, or use LocalHarvest to find a farm that looks like its website or social media could use some love.

Don’t overcommit yourself, however. If you don’t know how to do website design, don’t offer to build a website. If the only drawing you’ve ever done is a stick figure, don’t offer to design a logo. Stick with what you know.

Let’s say your skill is writing. Offer to write a weekly blog post for the farm or post to their social media channels. You may have to do a little persuading to convince them of the value of an online presence, but it’s likely the farmers know they should be active online but just don’t have the time. Work out a deal that you’ll commit so many hours a month to building their brand in exchange for a certain amount of goods, i.e. a dozen eggs, a box of produce, a jar of honey, etc. Now you’ve got free food as well as an awesome project to add to your portfolio.

4. Sponsor a Farm Animal

Apartment dwellers, listen up — you don’t need acres of lush, green land to own a farm animal. Many farms offer sponsorship for a cow or a chicken, where you pay a fee at the beginning of the season and then bask in the glory of free milk and eggs every week.

The sponsorship fee is usually around $25, and goes toward feeding and maintaining the animal all season. In return, you get a share of what that animal produces each week. Take it a step further and go visit the farm and your sponsored animal, and you may walk away with an extra bounty. If you ask nicely, the farmer may even let you name the animal, but don’t get carried away.

Some farms list this type of program on their websites, but if not, mention it to your favorite farmer to see if he or she would be open to the agreement. Don’t be ashamed to say you’re looking to save money but are committed to supporting their farm. The farmer will likely work out a deal with you.

5. Make Your Own Cheese

Few things are more delicious than fresh mozzarella cheese, but it’s pretty expensive to buy those little prepackaged circles at the grocery store. That’s why it’s worth your time to learn how to make it at home.

Start by finding whole milk that is deeply discounted because it’s set to expire in the next week or so. Or use the milk you received from your sponsorship animal. You’ll need about a gallon of whole milk. You’ll also need rennet tablets and citric acid, which you can find near the canning supplies at a specialty grocery store or online. The only other thing you’ll need is a stainless steel pot.

You’ll find innumerable instructions online for how to make mozzarella cheese, but New England Cheesemaking Supply has one of my favorites. The Kitchn also has an excellent, easy-to-follow tutorial. Read over the instructions several times before you start, or watch a YouTube video if you’re a visual learner. The whole process takes only 30 minutes and when you’re done, you’re left with an entire pound of fresh mozzarella cheese. Even if you buy a gallon of whole milk that’s not discounted, the price is usually less than $5, about the same price as one of those half-pound mozzarella circles. So now you have double the cheese for your money, plus your friends and family think you’re the coolest person they’ve ever met.

These tactics have saved me thousands of dollars over the years. No matter the balance in my bank account, I’ve always been able to eat locally and (mostly) organically by being a creative consumer and building relationships with local farmers. You’ll be amazed how quickly your fridge fills up without breaking your grocery budget.

Your Turn: How do you enjoy local or organic food without overspending?

Disclosure: We have a serious Taco Bell addiction around here. The affiliate links in this post help us order off the dollar menu. Thanks for your support!

Natalie K. Gould is a content manager by day and freelance writer by night. She is seriously addicted to European butter and finding the perfect bottle of rosé.

The post How One Writer Eats Local, Organic Food for Just $300 a Month appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Why Bother? Digging Into the Purpose of Personal, Financial, and Professional Success

“We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact.” – Chuck Palahniuk

One of my favorite sayings, something I’ve held onto for my entire life, is that everyone alive was born without a real frontier. We were born too late to explore the world and we were born too early to explore the stars.

If you look at it on that level, it’s kind of a sad thing. Aside from some areas of high level science and philosophy that require many years of preparation and intense study in order to explore an intellectual frontier, there really are no frontiers that we’re actively exploring. For the first time in human history, there is no clear and present frontier for the vast majority of us to explore or clear and present cause for us to take up.

Think about it. Prior to, say, 1900, there was always a frontier somewhere to explore that any reasonable person could dive into and make a name for themselves with just their own initiative and perhaps a little bit of equipment. Subsequent generations had their own grand challenges – World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the civil rights movement.

Today, we don’t have a frontier to explore or a great cause to take up.

Life holds no grand purpose for us rather than what we make for ourselves.

For a lot of people, that lack of central grand purpose ends up leaving a very empty feeling inside. I have certainly felt it in many ways, and I know from the many conversations I’ve had with other people that I’m far from alone in feeling that way.

Our basic needs are met, there is nothing that’s accessible that we can easily explore, and there’s no grand challenge that we’re facing as a society. So, what’s left? What’s the purpose? Why bother?

The easy answer is to fall into a life of pleasure. Our society is full of opportunities for this. In fact, most of our economy is centered around this, offering services and entertainments to offer us ways to distract ourselves and enjoy splashes of personal pleasure on a daily basis. There is no end to the films to watch, the television shows to enjoy, the tourist traps to visit, the page-turning books to read, the restaurants offering delectable foods to eat, the spas and golf courses to wile away the hours, and so on.

But at the end of the day, those pleasures wash away and I’m left with some real hard questions.

One of my favorite things growing up was hearing my grandparents tell stories about their experiences during the Great Depression and World War II. They had the opportunity to face a grand challenge on a scale far beyond what anyone in our current generations has ever faced. They stepped up to the plate and defeated that challenge, and because of that their stories of those days had real meaning. They had done something great with their lives. They had faced extreme adversity and overcome it.

More important than that, overcoming that adversity had made the world a better place for me and for everyone else. Even as a young child I could see that. Their stories about the things that they did and the adventures that they had, even when they were silly and full of fun (like a relative telling a tale of drinking in a French bar the day after rescuing the town from the Nazis, or my grandmother talking about boiling bedsheets), were part of something that truly changed the world for the better.

Those stories inspired me. They made me see the people around me as heroes – and they were heroes.

Today, I ask myself this simple question: what stories am I going to tell my grandchildren? What will I tell them that will inspire them with regards to my own life? How will I have changed the world for the better for them?

And the thing is, I don’t really have an answer.

Sure, I can tell them about The Simple Dollar. I started a website that helped a lot of people dig themselves out of a painful personal hole.

I have a few fun adventures to tell them about, like the time I drank homebrewed tequila with a rural Mexican farmer when we had no language in common, or how I got a cold chill when I climbed to the top of an Aztec pyramid and saw a place where humans were sacrificed in the 14th and 15th centuries, or how I had my ear cut off as a child (true story).

The thing is, what does that really amount to? It’s a start, sure, but what have I really done to make the world a better place?

It’s not an easy thing to answer. For me, however, I’ve come to realize that the past ten years of my life have really been a constant attempt to try to answer that question – and I’m still not there.

For most of us – myself included – there are several challenges already in place that we need to overcome so that we can even be in a good place to change the world for the better.

The Vision Challenge

It all starts with a core idea. What exactly could you do with your life that has real meaning? Different people are going to answer that question very differently, but almost everyone is going to answer with a picture of their life that’s significantly different than what their life is like right now.

For some, this could wind up being a bucket list. They want to experience the wide variety of sights and experiences that this world has to offer and then share those experiences with others.

For others, this could end up being a personal dedication to a singular cause, something that they believe in incredibly strongly and are willing to devote their life’s energy to it.

For yet others, this could be the production of a creative or intellectual work of some kind, like a great novel or a film.

Other people may have goals centered around being a family matriarch or patriarch, founding a business that employs a lot of people, or something else entirely.

My own vision is a mix of the second and third ones, with perhaps a “bucket list” item or two thrown in there. I want to write a few novels, but perhaps my bigger goal is that I want to ensure that the people in my town and surrounding towns always have food to eat, water to drink, and a compassionate ear to listen to their troubles – and, perhaps in the future, my plans can grow beyond that by building a template for this that can be used elsewhere.

What is your vision? What would you truly like to do to leave your mark on the world? What can you do with your life to impact the world and the people around you? Figuring that out is in itself a challenge.

The Financial Challenge

Like it or not, we live in a society where a minimal amount of money is needed to provide for basic things like food, a roof over your head, running water, electricity, and so forth. That has a cost, and that cost has to be paid somehow. There’s also an expectation of a certain standard of living that some of us have, and that elevates that basic cost of living.

Even worse, many of us have dug ourselves into a financial pit of debt through the choices we’ve already made. Debt saps away your financial resources and restricts the choices that you can make, and when your choices are restricted by money, it becomes much harder to actually live up to the big vision you have for your life.

There are several practices you can take on to escape this challenge.

Lower your cost of living. Live in a smaller place. Don’t own a car, or own a used one. Make your meals at home instead of eating out regularly. Cut down on your entertainment services and expenses. Get free over-the-air television instead of cable. Eliminate either your land line or your cell. Buy generics at the store and keep doing so unless you discover that they really don’t work. Negotiate all of your bills. The key is to lower the amount of money flooding out of your life each month.

Pay off your debts. Your debts are a gigantic drain on your finances. Each and every month, you’re handing fistfuls of cash to the companies to which you owe money. Make it a big priority to get rid of those debts quickly and efficiently. Start with the debt that has the highest interest rate and make the biggest possible extra payment you can on that debt each month.

Have an emergency fund. This is a chunk of money that just sits in a savings account so you can access it quickly when an emergency occurs. You want that money to be very liquid and as risk-free as possible, which is why a savings account makes sense. A credit card doesn’t work well – it can be blocked by identity theft, credit card loss, or bumping up against a credit limit. Cash is king.

Start investing. The moment you pay off your debts, you’ll find yourself with a lot more money coming in compared to what’s going out. It is really tempting to start spending it and inflate your lifestyle. Don’t. Start investing it in a way that’s in line with your big vision. Save for early retirement or for the seed money for your business or for a year or two off from work to launch your big dreams. Maybe you can use those lowered expenses as a way to move into a lower-paying job with much more flexibility so you can give birth to your dreams.

The Distraction Challenge

Modern life is filled with countless distractions that pull us away from our big goals. Whether it’s a momentary distraction in the form of an interesting website or an email or a notification on our phone, or a big distraction like watching unfulfilling television or movies or simply trying to “compete” to see who has the biggest house and the “best” stuff in it, we are often pulled away from our big vision by other influences and desires.

I’m as guilty of this as anyone. I am easily distracted by interesting websites and links from my friends on Facebook. I’m often sucked in by the latest alert on my smart phone. While I find value in playing games that really stretch my thinking, I often play games that do not and those just serve as a distraction.

Those distractions eat your time. They eat your money. And they leave you with far fewer resources to tackle the big things you want from life. Here are three strategies for defeating distractions.

Cut distraction producers out of your life. Turn off your smart phone – or even downgrade to a “dumb” one. Cancel your cable subscription – or even ditch your television. Delete those distracting games from your computer.

Put reminders of your big goals everywhere. If your big goals are constantly in your mind, it’s easier for those big goals to find their way to the front of your mind when you’re at an idle moment. Make your computer screen saver and your wallpaper reminders of your goals. Put goal-oriented pictures all over your fridge. Decorate your house with them. Tape one to your rear view mirror. Wrap your credit cards with a picture of your goal.

Have an organized system for managing spare thoughts and to-do lists. I use a pocket notebook for writing down any and all thoughts as they come to me so that they don’t stay in my head and distract me; I process that notebook twice a day so that I don’t lose track of those thoughts. I use Todoist to keep track of my to-dos, and everything just goes in there so I’m not holding things in my head and I can focus entirely on whatever I’m doing.

The Responsibility Challenge

Most of us have signed on for many responsibilities in life that will often stand in the way of devoting a lot of time and energy to our big goals and our plans for achieving them.

For me, the responsibilities are numerous. I have three children, for starters. I’m the president of one civic group and an active member in several others. I have writing contracts signed that require me to write a certain amount each and every day.

Those things are responsibilities. Choosing not to fulfill them lets down a lot of people – some of them incredibly so – and would also destroy my reputation and have a big negative impact on my finances. That’s not really an option either.

Here are three strategies for handling and preparing your current responsibilities.

Build security for the things you’re responsible for. If you have children or even if you have a spouse that’s dependent in any way on your salary, make sure that you have adequate insurance on yourself so that they’re taken care of if something happens to you. Get your finances in order, too, so that if things don’t happen as you might hope that they would, your family’s not stuck in a rough spot.

Plan ahead for passing that responsibility to someone else. For other responsibilities, you should always document your procedures and try to bring things around to a point where it is easy to hand them off to someone else. Whenever you leave things in a mess, you’re risking damage to your own reputation and the potential for real liability.

Step back from some responsibilities in a mature fashion. Unless a responsibility is something that’s directly in line with your life goals – or is an intrinsic life responsibility that you chose, such as having children – don’t be afraid to step back from some responsibilities. Doing so will free up time, resources, and energy for taking on the bigger goals you have in life.

The Social Challenge

Many people in your life might look negatively upon some of the changes you’re making. There are a lot of reasons for that – some of them may be genuine concern, while others may be jealousy. You also may find yourself in social and familial circles where no one is working towards anything like what you dream of.

Don’t be held back by those social restrictions. Remember, you are the one that chooses the relationships that you have and what importance they have in your life.

While it can be difficult to start making changes to your social life, sometimes it’s really necessary to clear emotional roadblocks to where you want to be going. Here are three strategies for taking on that social challenge.

Stop caring what other people think. The only metric that matters for your personal success is you. The only input that matters for this success is the input from sources that you choose. As for everyone else? Their opinions don’t really matter much at all, so don’t worry about them. Don’t worry about what others think of how you spend your time, how you spend your money, or anything else.

Articulate your choices in terms of what you’re trying to achieve. Whenever someone else notices something you’re changing in your life, be sure to describe it in terms of your big goals. “I’ve always wanted to do X, but I realized that if I kept doing Y, it was never going to happen. So I’m giving it my best shot.”

Seek friends with a similar positive mindset. Look online and in your community for social groups that are interested in whatever your big goal happens to be and get involved with those groups. Cultivate friends that have a positive mindset toward those things and are making powerful choices in their lives to make it happen. When your social circle is making the same big steps toward the same big goals as you, it becomes far easier to make those steps yourself.

The Physical and Mental Challenge

Without a sound mind and sound body, it’s hard to make positive steps in your life. You need to feel good, have plenty of energy, and be mentally alert both for making positive steps in your life as well as working toward whatever your big goals are.

Most of the strategies for doing this are very simple. Here are four that I use in my own life each day.

Get plenty of sleep. This is an easy thing for a busy person to trim, but it’s almost always a mistake to cut back on sleep. When you feel tired, go to bed. When you’re sitting there doing something mindless because you have little energy near the end of your day, go to bed. Allow yourself to get plenty of sleep – the best night of sleep is one where you wake up naturally.

Eat a healthier diet. This isn’t too hard, either. Just try to ensure that the majority of the food you eat is fruits and vegetables, and drink water as your primary beverage. Those two rules alone will put you on the path to a much healthier diet than the average American and you’ll feel the results in your energy and mental focus.

Get some exercise. You don’t have to go out there and cross-train like an Olympic athlete, but getting some moderate exercise each day is good for your energy levels and your mental focus. A brisk walk is a great thing that anyone can do to get their blood pumping a little, and the benefits of that go far beyond your weight.

Challenge your mind in new ways every single day. Try to take on a challenge each day, whether it’s learning something new, solving a puzzle or playing a mentally challenging game, or taking on a new variation on the problems you often solve. The ability to wrap your mind quickly around new concepts and new problems will help you in almost everything you might choose to do in life.

This Is Your Life

It’s yours. No one else controls it. No one else gets to decide what you do with it. You do not have to live it in line with others might expect. You don’t have to do things the same way everyone else does.

Instead, you can choose to do something different, something that will leave a mark on the world. You can do things that will give you endless stories to tell, or you can do things that will help people in their lives.

Your life probably has some obstacles in the way of doing that. Push those obstacles aside.

You only live once. Don’t waste it.

The post Why Bother? Digging Into the Purpose of Personal, Financial, and Professional Success appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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10 Simple Ways to Raise Your Credit Score

Getting a higher score requires patience and on-time payments. 

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7 Apps to Teach Your Kids Personal Finance Skills

Help your children understand valuable savings and budgeting lessons using a smartphone.

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Google’s Project Brillo Signals End of Web & Beginning of Apps Everywhere

With Google's announcement of Brillo and Weave, marketers need to think more seriously about apps as a way to reach consumers, says columnist Daniel Cristo.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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How to Take Advantage of Loyalty Cards

You might get inundated with email, but otherwise, signing up is a smart choice. 

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The 8-Point Checklist for Job Hunters

How to be a standout candidate before and during interviews.

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Hootsuite Launches Social Suggestion App For iOS & Web

Social management platform's tool is meant to cut down on the time it takes to find relevant content to share on social media.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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6 Things to Know When Using Airbnb for the First Time

Follow these tips to find the perfect home and host. 

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Facebook Testing Recognition Tools For Identifying ‘Faceless’ People In Photos

No face? No problem! A new algorithm from Facebook may identify you based on your clothing, posture or hairdo.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Will Getting Multiple Credit Cards Hurt My Credit Score?

 Photo: Frankie Leon

As a credit card rewards enthusiast and credit expert, I am constantly asked the same set of questions. Not only do people want to know if credit card rewards are “real,” but they also want to know how pursuing them will affect their credit.

And it makes sense to be cautious. As we know, your credit score is an incredibly important component of your overall financial health. Without great credit, you may not be able to qualify for the best mortgage rates, borrow money to start a business, or get the best auto insurance rates. Meanwhile, an excellent credit score can help you accomplish all of those things – with the added bonus of qualifying for all of the best rewards credit cards.

In addition to general rewards questions, I also hear a lot from people who are afraid to push it too far. Once they get one rewards card they like, they worry that adding a new card will somehow hurt their score.

It makes sense to worry, but this is one case where the added stress is completely unfounded. Here’s the truth – you can have several rewards credit cards without wrecking your credit at all.

Here’s Why Having Multiple Cards Won’t Wreck Your Credit

In order to understand why having more than one rewards card won’t wreck your credit, you have to understand how your credit score is determined. As an example, let’s look at how FICO scores are calculated:

How a FICO score breaks down:

• Payment history: 35%
• Amounts owed: 30%
• Length of credit history: 15%
• Credit mix: 10%
• New credit: 10%

As you can see, the most important factor is your payment history. If you make your payments on time every month, you will fare well in this category no matter what.

The second category – amounts owed – is the other main category you should worry about. This compares how much money you owe in relation to your credit limits, a figure which is commonly referred to as your balance-to-limit ratio, or “utilization.” Here’s how credit reporting agency Experian describes this factor:

“Your balance-to-limit ratio, also known as your utilization rate, is calculated by dividing the total of the balances on your credit cards by the total of the credit limits on your credit cards. A high balance-to-limit ratio warns creditors that you may be experiencing financial difficulty or using credit to live beyond your means. A high utilization rate is a strong sign of credit risk, second only to your payment history.”

This is where things get interesting — and where having more than one card can actually help your credit score.

Since your utilization is based on how much you owe on your cards in relation to your credit limits, having more available credit means a lower utilization rate — and thus, a higher score — as long as you’re not carrying a higher overall balance along with it.

Meanwhile, if you pay your credit cards in full each month before your bill is due (as you should), your utilization will always be zero no matter how many cards you have. In that sense, having more than one card will have little impact on your credit.

• Related: What Is a Good Credit Score?

How Hard Inquiries Impact Your Credit Score

One determining factor where applying for new cards can negatively impact your credit score is “new credit,” which makes up 10% of your FICO score.

Each time you open a new account, you will gain a new “hard inquiry” on your report. A hard inquiry is a simple notation on your credit report that lets creditors know you applied for new credit.

Although a few hard inquiries aren’t cause for concern, they may cause your credit score to drop temporarily. If you’re worried about how a new inquiry will affect your score, consider this advice from myFICO.com:

“First off, don’t sweat this too much; applying for new credit only accounts for about 10% of your FICO score, so the impact is relatively modest. Exactly how much applying for new credit affects you depends on your overall credit profile and what else is already on your credit report. For example, applying for new credit can have a greater impact on your FICO score if you only have a few accounts or a short credit history.”

In other words, a hard inquiry may have little impact on your credit score at all, especially if you have an established credit history already.

Meanwhile, any negative impact you do experience should only be temporary. Still, to be safe, avoid applying for a slew of new cards in the weeks before you expect to take out a mortgage or car loan — you want your score to be at its absolute best in those circumstances.

My Experience with Multiple Cards

When my husband and I started pursuing credit card rewards four or five years ago, our scores were in the low 800’s. I track our credit scores on CreditKarma.com and, as of today, our Equifax and TransUnion scores are 810 and 790 (me) and 800 and 790 (my husband), respectively.

Since an excellent credit score is typically considered anything over 740, I’d say we’re doing quite well – and that’s in spite of the fact that we have dozens of rewards cards across our personal profiles and three separate businesses.

Our experience serves as further proof that having more than one rewards card will not wreck your credit. However, it is crucial that you always pay your credit card balances in full every month. A new rewards card or two may not hurt your credit, but letting yourself get into credit card debt can have lifelong consequences.

As always, tread carefully – and if you’re worried you’ll get in trouble, it’s probably best to avoid rewards credit cards altogether.

• Related: Eight Tips to Make Credit Cards Work For You, Not Against You

Do you have multiple rewards cards? How has having multiple cards impacted your credit?

The post Will Getting Multiple Credit Cards Hurt My Credit Score? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Feel Intimidated by Investing? Here’s an Easy Way to Get Started

Hey, you! Yes, you. Have you started investing your money yet?

If you’re like Half of Americans don’t invest anything at all, your answer may be a sheepish “no.”

Well, it’s time to start. To help you, Lou Carlozo offers 10 Tips To Help You Start Investing in a post for Money Under 30.

Don’t let fear or lack of knowledge hold you back — because, as Carlozo points out: “Investing is scary, but not investing is scarier.”

How to Start Investing Today

Though you should check out the 10 Tips To Help You Start Investing for all 10 steps, we’ll highlight some of our favorite tips below:

Just Do It

As with many things, the hardest part about investing is taking that first step. So quit making excuses and just do it.

“The longer money remains invested, the more potential it has to compound and grow,” Carlozo says. “So get started, then get it right later.” He suggests using Acorns, an app that automatically invests your spare change.

Learn the Lay of the Land

Though learning some basic investment terms is a great idea, we like how Carlozo underscores that you don’t have to become an expert. Too many of us think we’ll never know “enough” about investing — so we don’t learn anything. A good place to start is Money Under 30’s How to Invest Well: Simple Advice for Beginner And Intermediate Investors.

Use a Robo-Adviser

If you’re just starting out and are strapped for time and knowledge, don’t bother picking individual stocks. Try Betterment, an online tool that lets you invest in a diverse array of stocks and mutual funds — without the fees.

Invest In What You Understand

Don’t start investing in gold or soybeans unless you know the industries. As Carlozo says, “Ignorance is never bliss when you pick an investment category.”

The most important takeaway from the article? Start small, start basic — but start investing today. For more, read the full post on Money Under 30.

Your Turn: Have you started investing yet? What’s standing in your way?

Susan Shain (@Susan_Shain) is a freelance writer and travel blogger who loves helping you find adventure on a budget.

The post Feel Intimidated by Investing? Here’s an Easy Way to Get Started appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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RBS crowned Least Trusted provider - again

Laura Whitcombe

RBSBank.jpg

RBS has been named least trusted financial provider for the third time in four years at the Moneywise Customer Service Awards. The troubled bank suffered the same fate last year, and in 2012.

RBS has been named least trusted financial provider for the third time in four years at the Moneywise Customer Service Awards. The troubled bank suffered the same fate last year, and in 2012.

RBS crowned Least Trusted provider - again

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RBS has been named least trusted financial provider for the third time in four years at the Moneywise Customer Service Awards. The troubled bank suffered the same fate last year, and in 2012. Most recently RBS customers have been blighted by an IT failure that resulted in 600,000 of them see money go missing from their current accounts. Customers from across its network of brands were affected – including NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank and Coutts. Adding insult to serious injury, the bank sent automated messages to some of those concerned informing them they had been charged for using unauthorised overdrafts. Moreover, back in May the bank reported a loss of £1.3 billion after misconduct and restructuring charges took their toll. It was fined £334 million for rigging the foreign exchange market and it had to put aside a further £100 million for settling mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) policies. Failure across the board However, the bank's fate in this year's awards was sealed long before these latest scandals hit the headlines. While a lot of Moneywise readers told us they took objection to its poor corporate reputation, most complaints were of a more personal nature. For instance, one very unhappy former customer told us: "My mother took out a two-year bond at 5%. When she did not receive the first interest payment she went to our local RBS branch to find out what had happened. They had failed to send the paperwork away and so the bond had not been opened. "RBS refused to honour the two years at 5% and would only give us a year at 5%. When we went in to get the money out to go into another bond after a year they then tried to charge us a £10 withdrawal fee. We complained and they did waive this, but I would never take out a product with them and advise all my friends not to do so. I think the way we were treated was appalling." Another told us that they had an account closed without notice or any explanation being offered. They described their experience of trying to get to the bottom of the matter with customer services as coming up against "a brick wall". The bank was also the least trusted provider in our current account and mortgage categories, with the competitiveness of rates and accounts being its customers' biggest bugbear. In the personal loan category, it was RBS's NatWest brand that was named worst provider – again let down by its competitiveness of rates. Currently, a £10,000 loan over four years comes with an interest rate of 4.9% APR, which would cost customers £229.84 a month, or £11,032.33 over the full loan term. By comparison, the cheapest loan available through http://ift.tt/1FB65V5 at the time of writing was Nationwide's personal loan charging 3.6% APR. Over the four years it would cost £224.01 a month, or £10,752.24 in total. That makes the NatWest loan £280 more expensive than the Nationwide version. However, in the last banking category, RBS group was spared a further public flouting. Vanquis Bank was named the least trusted credit card provider, with its lack of rewards and high APRs (currently as high as 39.99%) aggravating many voters. One Moneywise reader said of the company: "They are rip-off merchants, with terrible rates of interest and they prey on people who have been in debt."

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The solution to affordable housing?

LAST year a Chinese company built ten 3D printed houses in less than 24 hours, and the technology could soon be used by Australians.

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All-female mixed martial arts group poised for week of firsts in Las Vegas

Shannon Knapp and her all-female mixed martial arts organization will have a week of firsts in Las Vegas during UFC’s International Fight Week in July.

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Snapchat CEO Promises Better, Non-“Creepy” Digital Advertising

Snapchat continues to make the case that its ads are the best way to reach the young U.S. audience, while honoring people's privacy.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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5 Fantastic Summer Productivity Tips for Businesspeople

I’d like to share some important summer productivity tips inspired by the Office Depot Business Solutions Center as part of a sponsored post for Socialstars #GearLove.

Sometimes, I just don’t know how I do it all. I run multiple websites, have a financial planning practice, and have a bunch of boys running around that keep me plenty busy.

Productivity tips for me are a must. There’s no way I can get through my day without implementing some kind of productivity hack.

And oh boy, in the summer?

I definitely need to utilize these tips.

It can be tempting to spend too much time outside having fun instead of focusing on work. Sure, you need to make time for things like your children’s baseball games (I most certainly do), but you also need to be strategic with your time.

Every moment of work time matters as a small business person. Here are some important summer productivity tips I’ve found helpful and I think you will too.

1. Start Your Day With the High Five™

To-do lists are vitally important for any entrepreneur. They help you get stuff done and keep you on track with your goals.

I’m a little scatterbrained throughout my day without a to-do list. It’s horrible. I jump from one thing to the next, and eventually I get everything done, but it’s pretty inefficient.

That’s why I started the High Five™. What’s the High Five™? Buckle your seat belts people, you’re about to get a whole lot done.

The night before each day begins, I write down five tasks I want to accomplish the next day. These are the most important tasks for me to get done. I’ve tried a lower number of tasks but it just didn’t seem like enough. I’ve tried a higher number of tasks, but it was just too overwhelming and I’d freeze up. Five is just right for me.

Now, do I do more than five things in my day? Of course I do! The High Five™ are the tasks that are non-negotiable – everything else can be put on the back burner if necessary.

The Office Depot Business Solutions Center has bunch of tips similar to this that can help you stay on track during the summer. Even little tips like this can make a huge difference in practice.

Start your day off right with the High Five™ and you’ll get the most important things done and feel better about your summer accomplishments. Try it out and tell me if I’m wrong.

2. Take Breaks to Avoid Overwhelm

I work hard. Really hard. But that doesn’t mean I don’t need breaks.

Take a vacation or two this summer. I already went to Jamaica with my family had a blast. I still worked during vacation, but not nearly as much as I do when I’m home.

Listen, you need breaks. Whether that’s a week-long vacation or mini breaks during your work day, you must recharge your batteries.

If you’re exhausted midday, there’s a problem. You’re probably not taking enough breaks.

Some people find it helpful to time their work using a windup kitchen timer. For example, you can work 30 minutes and then take a five-minute break and repeat. After several cycles, take a longer break – perhaps 15 to 30 minutes long.

Don’t allow yourself to burn out before your day is over. Take breaks throughout the day and discover lasting energy. And don’t forget to take longer, vacation-style breaks to enjoy the summer sun!

Here’s a great infographic with tips on how to stay productive when you’re away from the office:

3. Grab the Gear You Need to Thrive

You need supplies to thrive as a small business person. At my firm, having paper and ink is a must – we have to print out documentation for our clients from time to time.

Ask yourself: “What am I lacking that would make my small business more productive?”

Many people have found that Post-it notes are essential. They’re highly visible, you can stick them to your computer monitor, and you can even color-code them to represent various priorities or areas of your business.

Spend a couple of hours this summer thinking through the gear you need to have a more productive summer. Head over to the Office Depot’s Business Solutions Center for more organizational tips and ways to have a more productive summer! I think you’ll be impressed by what they have to offer.

4. Transcribe Everything Necessary

If your business involves having to type out a lot of information, you may want to consider a voice-to-text application. The latest Macs, iPads, and iPhones have it built in!

But sometimes voice-to-text applications don’t do a very good job and you might have to go back and correct a lot of information. If that’s the case, and you want something that yields a higher degree of accuracy, you might want to try MobileAssistant.

MobileAssistant is the company I use to transcribe:

• Blog posts
• Letters to clients
• Reminders I want emailed to me
• Responses to emails when it’s easier to talk than type
• Letters I’m going to mail

Just imagine the possibilities and how much time you’ll save this summer! Typing takes a long time – even if you’re fast at it you could probably talk faster than you can type.

Try using the coupon code “financialcents” (no spaces) and you can save 25% when you sign up for a plan at MobileAssistant.us.

5. Have Your Phone Remind You

You have a lot on your plate. The last thing you need is to forget an important meeting, forget a trip to pick up milk at the grocery store after work, or forget to get your High Five™ done for the day.

Back when I upgraded my iPhone to iOS 5, I noticed a new icon: Reminders.

Oh my, it’s a lifesaver. I can set reminders on my iPhone to remind me at a specific time to do something or to remind me when I arrive at or leave a location. It’s incredible.

If you have an iPhone and haven’t taken advantage of the Reminders app, I highly recommend you do so.

The last thing you need is to remember all the little things you have to do throughout your day. It’s distracting to keep all those tasks in your head. If you don’t write your tasks down, don’t you find yourself reminding yourself multiple times throughout your day to do those tasks? That’s seriously distracting from the task at hand.

One of the lessons I learned when I started my first business was that it’s important to dedicate some time to being efficient and create processes. Utilizing technology like phone reminders can help you accomplish that and more.

For more summer productivity tips, check out the infographic below by The Office Depot Business Solutions Center. Go enjoy your summer and get stuff done!

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How to Tell If You Are Ready to Retire

Make sure you do these five things before stepping away from the working world.

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Marketing Day: Google Launches News Lab, Twitter Searches For New CEO & LinkedIn Ads

Here's our recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on Marketing Land and other places across the web.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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