Two stabbed to death at Ikea

TWO people have been stabbed to death and a third wounded at an Ikea store in Sweden.

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

11 Steps to Networking Like a Boss

And how you can do so by being a nice person – not a business card peddler.

Source U.S. News - Money http://ift.tt/1J6czDj

How to Become Your Boss's Favorite

Instantly upgrade your relationship with your manager with these seven tips.

Source U.S. News - Money http://ift.tt/1MfOsRw

How Social Security Has Changed Over 80 Years

The program has adjusted payments, cost-of-living adjustments and the retirement age since 1935.

Source U.S. News - Money http://ift.tt/1HBy7QU

Silvio Calabi: Toyota Camry XLE V-6: ‘Boring’ no more

Today the average new car or light truck in America costs nearly $34,000, and vehicle sales are at a 10-year high. At the same time, our average car or truck is now more than 11 years old. We can mine these factoids for all sorts of conclusions — cars are holding up longer, cheap gas is again fueling SUV and pickup sales, etc. — but here’s what strikes me: If our average car age is 11, this means that for every new one that’s proudly brought home, there has [...]

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

4 Tips To Ensure You’re Prepared For The 2015 Holiday Retail Season

It's never too soon to start planning for the most crucial shopping season. Columnist James Green has pointers to ensure your marketing strategy is a success.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

Source Marketing Land - Internet Marketing News, Strategies & Tips http://ift.tt/1KdK15u

Questions About Produce, Small Businesses, Market Timing, and More!

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Saving for infant daughter
2. Produce is expensive!
3. Starting a small business
4. Market timing
5. Homemade dishwashing detergent
6. Brands becoming awful
7. Actual process of buying gold
8. Political perspectives
9. Move? Or not?
10. Excessive toys as gifts
11. Huge debt problems
12. Free time

Although I often point to “spend less than you earn” as the fundamental rule of personal finance, over the years I’ve found that another rule is almost as important in terms of financial stability and happiness.

Never mix friendships and money.

In other words, assume that if you enter into a financial arrangement with another person, it has a significant chance of ending poorly and leaving you without any kind of positive shared relationship with that person.

One of the most frequent themes I hear from readers is that they loaned money to a friend or that they launched a business with a friend, and when that business goes south or that loan goes unpaid for a while, they want their money back from their “friend.”

Guess what? You’re probably not getting that money back without legal action. Guess what else? You no longer trust that “friend” at all and your friendship is already really tainted, even in the best situation.

Don’t loan money to your friends. If you really want to help a friend, make that money that you give into a gift that never needs to be repaid. Don’t enter into a business arrangement with a friend, either, unless you have some very, very clear business plans and legal structures to keep you both safe from mistakes.

Q1: Saving for infant daughter

Our new daughter is 4 months old and I am interested in starting a small fund for her when she is older. I guess this would be a trust fund, but I associate that with really wealthy people. We aren’t that but we are financially stable. I was thinking of something like $500-1000 per year into an index fund or something, but didn’t know what the best vehicle for something like this may be. Any suggestions and insight would be appreciated!
– Dennis

Assuming that there is any intent of your daughter having any sort of educational expenses in her future – like college, for example – your best bet is to open up a 529 college savings account for her.

In most states, a 529 plan is run by the state and enables people who open such an account to use that account to invest in a variety of options, including stocks, bonds, real estate, and simply in cash, and when it comes time to use that money to pay for educational expenses, the money can be withdrawn tax free – even the gains.

Unless there’s something exceptional going on, it’s usually the best option for people looking to invest on behalf of an infant child. Each of my children have a 529 account.

Q2: Produce is expensive!

I love your articles but I gotta disagree with you on one thing. Fresh produce is really expensive. It is so much cheaper to just buy canned stuff or frozen stuff.
– Derek

The issue with fresh produce being expensive is that people have reached a point that they assume that whatever specific piece of produce they might want should be waiting at their grocer’s shelves whenever they want it. Yes, if you want a Roma tomato in the middle of February in Iowa, produce is going to be expensive.

That’s not how you save money on produce, though. You save money on produce by buying items that are in season. You hit farmers markets during the summer months. You watch your grocery flyer and see what’s on sale. Then, you use those items and figure out how to use them for something delicious.

Right now, for example, tomatoes are in season, and in my area, there’s an absolute bumper crop of tomatoes arriving right now. Vines everywhere are loaded with luscious red fruits and thus you can pick up tons of them at the local grocery store or the local farmers market for very cheap.

They won’t be cheap in February, but in February, I’ll be eating canned or frozen tomatoes.

Q3: Starting a small business

If I wanted to start an LLC out of my house (owner/operator landscaping business for now), would it be acceptable to use a PO Box instead of my home address?
– Larry

Generally, you’re not allowed to use a post office box as your business address on your LLC application. At the same time, you’re also going to want to keep your business and personal activities as separate as possible, so you probably don’t want to use your home address.

There are several options here. One is to use the mailing services of a UPS Store. If you buy their mailing services, you can list their address followed by a “Suite” number. So, if they give you number 222, you can have your address be “123 Buena Vista Boulevard, Suite 222″ (assuming the UPS Store is at 123 Buena Vista Boulevard).

Another is to simply designate a registered agent to receive your mail for you, allowing you to use their address. LegalZoom, for example, offers a registered agent service, and some lawyers in your area will do so as well.

Q4: Market timing

I recently read Benjamin Graham’s investing classic The Intelligent Investor along with your chapter-by-chapter analysis (which was great by the way). Generally Graham’s advise about buying in a low market and selling or holding in high market seems to make a lot of sense even though it goes against what most investors are doing on Wall Street. I’m 40 years old and a somewhat aggressive investor in that over 40% of my retirement accounts are invested in large US equity and index funds, 40% in mid and small caps, and 20% in international equity funds. In the 2008 bear market I held all of my funds as is and they eventually recovered a few years later, but I’d like to be more proactive this time around. Given that all of my funds are high risk/high return and we have been in a bull market for several years now (the market is at an all time high), it seems like now is the time to reallocate about 25% of my investments into a low risk bond fund. This way when the market drops again I’ll have some money set aside to buy equity funds “on sale”. I know that it’s impossible to time the market, but my gut tells me that this is what I should do. I am a big advocate of dollar cost averaging, but I’m also considering allocating about 50% of my future investment contributions to bonds as well, at least until the market drops. Does this sound reasonable? How did your investment behavior change after reading this book?
– Emily

My investment behavior actually didn’t change much after reading the book. I still don’t think that any sort of market timing is realistic. I just tend to buy efficient investments and hold them until I actually need the money, and if I need to “rebalance” in some way, I do that by changing my contributions until things are “balanced.”

I will say that one of the challenges of reading Graham’s book is that he doesn’t really consider tax-advantaged accounts, as they didn’t exist when the book was written. For him, moving funds from one investment to another immediately incurred taxes, while moving money in a retirement fund doesn’t have that problem.

If I were in your shoes, I’d just change my contributions. Switching your contributions to mostly bonds means that over time, your portfolio will become more conservative. If you feel that you’re too exposed to stocks right now, the solution isn’t to pull everything out of stocks. It’s to contribute more to bonds and other more conservative things to balance it out.

Q5: Homemade dishwashing detergent

What recipe are you now using for homemade automatic dishwasher soap? I was price-shopping the ingredients and not sure that homemade is worth the cost. My Borax costs between $3.79 or $4.79 depending on the store and the washing soda costs $3.79.
– Michelle

The prices for those ingredients aren’t that high around here, but if those are the prices you’re working with, I’d be wary about using it, too.

On Amazon, for comparison’s sake, you can get borax for $0.14 per ounce and washing soda for $0.16 per ounce. This HouseLogic article suggests a mix of washing soda, borax, and (believe it or not) lemonade Kool-Aid mix and salt. This is the recipe we’ve used most frequently.

According to my math – with borax weighing about 9 ounces per cup and washing soda weighing about 6 ounces per cup – those ingredients add up to $1.42 for a cup of each. The lemonade would cost $1.87 and the salt costs about $0.09, bringing the total cost of ingredients for that recipe up to $3.32 for 42 loads, or $0.08 per load if you order everything off of Amazon.

My preferred dishwashing detergent is Finish, which costs $0.15 per tab off of Amazon, so making a homemade mix saves you $0.07 per load. Since you really only need to make a batch every 42 loads and it takes only a minute or so, you’re saving $2.94 over the course of that homemade batch using Amazon prices.

Around here, the local grocery stores have pretty good prices on washing soda and borax – definitely comparable to Amazon in the worst case, but it’s usually cheaper.

Q6: Brands becoming awful

How do you know if a brand you have used and trusted has suddenly become awful? Two examples: Cascade dishwashing detergent used to be great but became awful in about 2006 and I stopped using it, and the last batch of Craftsman tools I bought were cheap junk. How do you check for this stuff?
– Daniel

If the item is inexpensive – like the Cascade – I don’t get too bothered by one purchase being problematic. I just take note of it and start avoiding that brand in the future. I think, in the case of Cascade, that was the point that they removed phosphates from their detergent for environmental reasons.

If the item is more expensive – like the tools – I do research each time. I’ve reached a point where, whenever I make a major purchase, I research the purchase before pulling the trigger and tend to buy a “buy it for life” item if I’m replacing something that I’ve used before, like my fairly recent purchase of a Best American Duffel to replace my duffel bag. So, if I were replacing tools, I’d do some homework and figure out which kinds were of the “buy it for life” nature.

Yes, sometimes good brands go downhill. That’s just part of the equation when you’re buying products from giant profit-driven companies.

Q7: Actual process of buying gold

I have been talking with my husband about buying some gold and/or silver. A couple of the other finance blogs I read have done highlights on gold. My motivation is not so much the ‘investment’ aspect of it, as it is the ‘prepared for the worst’ element. I know where I would buy, and I understand that you buy it by the troy ounce. What I am uncertain about is how much would be a reasonable amount. I have been thinking $1-2 thousand. Maybe splitting that between gold and silver. But if that IS a reasonable amount (I do appreciate that this is a very subjective question … we are a solidly middle-class family of 4 on a single income with about a 3 month stocked emergency fund and no debt or mortgage … it that helps) and I went in to the coin store (we found the one nearest us through the approved list provided by the US Mint http://ift.tt/1Wcw7cI), do I ask to buy gold based on the weight we can afford with our budgeted amount (based on the daily prices we find on the internet), or do we go in and just say “we would like to by 1-2 thousand dollars worth of gold bullion please?”
– Margaret

My honest recommendation is to buy gold coins. Gold coins are minted in one ounce weight and clearly marked as such. Most coin dealers deal in such gold coins and can provide you with good advice. Such coins are fairly liquid – you can usually find a buyer for them easily, through a coin dealer if nothing else.

What will happen here is that you’ll likely pay a little bit more than the current price of an ounce of gold when you buy a one ounce gold coin, and you’ll get just a little under the current price of an ounce of gold when you sell a one ounce gold coin. That’s effectively the broker’s fee for doing so.

I don’t see any problem with owning a gold coin or two. Keep them in your safe deposit box at your bank and just sit on them until you have some real-world reason to sell the coins.

Q8: Political perspectives

Does your personal finance impact how you vote and what candidates you support? As you have been able to turn your finances around and put yourself on the path to financial independence, has that changed your political perspectives?
– Shawn

My changing personal finance state hasn’t really changed my political views much at all. My political perspectives over the last decade have been shaped much more by other things.

For starters, becoming a parent has altered my political views. What kind of world do I want for my children? What will be the best world for them in, say, twenty or twenty five years?

I’ve had many opportunities to be exposed to the realities of poverty in my community and my state, and that’s had a huge impact on my political viewpoints.

I guess that simply having more life experiences has had an impact on me, of which my finances are a part, but a relatively small one.

Q9: Move? Or not?

I’m 31 years old and recently remarried. together we make right at 70k a year. He moved in to my house that i’ve lived in since 2008. Purchase price $76,000 current loan $62,000.
There are several issues with the house, kitchen needs to be redone due to a pipe that burst in the wall during a lightning storm. foundation had issues when I moved in, repaired it, but have yet to redo the drywall which has cracked and looks awful in quite a few places. The school district isn’t great… on and on…

So the question is. Should we fix up our house to sell, or should we fix up to stay? To buy a slightly larger home in our current area (one that will have more space for our now teenage kiddos) the cost would be around $150k. I hate the idea of taking out such a large mortgage, I just wonder if our current home won’t continue to be a money pit.
– Lisa

I am generally in favor of “sticking with it and fixing it up,” unless there is an additional reason to move such as a career change or a major change in family dynamics (additional children or children leaving the nest or divorce) or a long-planned home upgrade that you’ve been saving for. (The exception to that is downsizing to save money, which isn’t really on the table here.)

Outside of those situations, a home upgrade usually ends up not being “worth it,” because you’re not gaining anything life-changing through the move. This move would not gain significant employment opportunities. It would not foster a major change in your family dynamics. It’s not something you’ve planned for for a long time or else you wouldn’t be worried about the mortgage.

Stick with it. Fix it up. Add some value to the home. That way, when you do finally sell it, you’ll make money on the deal.

Q10: Excessive toys as gifts

I am the only one of my six sisters to have any children. My husband and I have a four year old boy and a nine month old girl. My sisters do not plan to have any children, but they absolutely dote on my children. I think they all want to be the “cool aunt” to my children and they kind of compete in a way over it.

One of the results of that is a flood of toys. Every time any one of them visits, they bring a toy for my son and now a stuffed animal for my daughter. Birthdays and Christmas have been over the top. Last Christmas, it seemed to turn into an actual competition between them as my son was into Thomas the Tank Engine. We got him a wooden railway set and between my sisters he now has a huge tub full of trains and tracks.

I’m not sure how to tell them to “tone it down” a little. Suggestions?
– Natalie

If I were you, I wouldn’t tell them to tone it down. I’d let them do things as they want to do them. Instead, what I would do is spend your time and effort doing two things.

First, I would focus on grounding your children well in reality. They should not expect toys. They should not ask for them. They shouldn’t think they will always be handed lots of stuff. These things are truly special treats because their aunts love them, but they won’t always be able to do this.

Second, I would carefully curate their toy collection. You should frequently remove toys that aren’t actively played with to the garage in tubs, and if they’re not remembered, donate them to Goodwill or put them on Craigslist. No one says you have to keep all of these toys.

This isn’t worth causing a conflict with your sisters. Let them enjoy being aunts and let your children enjoy having aunts that care about them.

Q11: Huge debt problems

My husband had a terrible financial situation before I met him. He attended an expensive school after doing 2 years in the Army. He used every dollar of the student loans that he was offered during school. After school he got a severely underpaid job for a few years and didn’t pay his student loans back. As a result, a $50,000 loan bill has had capitalized interest that ballooned the amount owed to $101K. And this has an 8.25% interest rate on that!! Every time he makes an extra payment to it, it goes to interest, not principle. I believe that he did consolidate this a few years ago, and it now is held by Mohela. He has a subsidized and unsubsidized loan with them. When it’s all said and done, he’ll end up paying almost $200K for this stupid loan and won’t be done paying for it until 2034 when he is 63 years old!! Right now we don’t have a ton of expendable income to throw at it because we have 15-month-old twins in fulltime daycare, two full time jobs that pay well, a home and two cars. He does work for a nonprofit and could potentially do the Income Based Repayment and the Public Loan Forgiveness, but from what I can tell, that isn’t going to save us any money at all. Any thoughts in the Reader Mailbag would be appreciated–do you think we can do anything at all to help lower this debt?
– Tina

To me, it does look like the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program would save you some money. If he can make payments on his public loan for ten years, they’ll forgive the rest if he works for a qualifying nonprofit. That’s a big help.

The advantage of income-based repayment is that it ensures that monthly payments won’t become unbearable. You’re correct that it doesn’t help with the overall balance too much, but it does ensure that you won’t drown on a month-by-month basis.

Those programs are worthwhile, and they’re about the best help you’ve got, unfortunately. Student loans hang around your neck like an albatross. There is no secret magic trick to getting rid of them outside of simply paying them off.

Q12: Free time

Last September, I got my first “real job” and moved out of my parents home. I live in a one bedroom apartment and put in my hours at work (contractually mandated to be limited to 45 a week). Other than that… what do I do with my time?

It seems to me that most stuff for people my age involves spending money like going to bars, going out to clubs, going on trips, buying alcohol, etc.

I’m trying to find ways to spend my time and have fun without spending money but I am stuck. I have tried some of your ideas for trying “free” things but they all seem boring.
– Tanner

The problem is that you’ve already decided what’s “fun” and what isn’t “fun” and the “fun” things involve spending money. In your question, you list things you consider fun – going to bars, going out to clubs, going on trips, buying alcohol – all of which cost money. Then, in the next sentence, you say that things that don’t involve spending money aren’t fun.

The challenge is continually trying new things until you find things that are enjoyable for you and don’t involve spending a lot of money. That takes time. For every activity that I enjoy, I’ve tried many that didn’t excite me very much, and doing that took a lot of time.

Two things you should always keep in mind: one, time spent trying a new activity is never wasted time because in the worst case you’re learning more about what you like and don’t like, and two, there are always more things to try. The idea of being “bored” is simply a lack of imagination.

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

The post Questions About Produce, Small Businesses, Market Timing, and More! appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Make Money on the Open Road: How to Earn a Living From Your RV

My wife and I were camping at a hot spring in Arizona when a small camper van pulled in. We watched a man get out and remove many large plastic bags, which he piled on the roof. He was making room so he could spend the night in his home-on-the-road.

Later, around a campfire, we asked him about the bags. They were full of used stuffed animals he bought at thrift stores, and he said he made about $4,000 per month selling them alongside various highways and roads as he travelled.

It may be an unusual way to make a living, but according to Workamper News, many people live in and work from motor homes, trailers, truck campers and conversion vans. “Workampers are adventurous individuals, couples and families who have chosen a wonderful lifestyle that combines ANY kind of part-time or full-time work with RV camping,” explains the site.

Are you ready to hit the road and make money from your RV?

What Kind of Work Can You Do?

Many campers get seasonal jobs working in campgrounds or parks, Workamper editor Steve Anderson explains in a CBS News article. He notes businesses are also common: “We have literally hundreds of members running businesses out of their RVs and living in multiple places every year.”

Anderson mentions the following examples of businesses his subscribers operate while traveling in their recreational vehicles:

• Sales of RV-related products
• Consulting services
• Dating services
• Law practices
• Contract nursing
• Business consulting
• RV repair tutoring

“With the advent of the Internet and especially now with the tools for bandwidth to connect to the Internet, the door is open to do multiple things from an RV,” he explains. And even selling bulky items isn’t out of the question, because you can drop-ship them or carry them in a trailer behind a motorhome.

Who is Working from an RV and How Much Do They Make?

Many people who live in their RVs are retirees who supplement their income with jobs or businesses. But Anderson says, “We have people in their 30s and 40s who are successfully living the RV lifestyle and running businesses.”

And your income may not be as limited as you might think. For example, Steve McMahon sold about 5,000 “high-gain cellular-telephone antennas” for $70 while traveling the country in his 37-foot motorhome, according to Entrepreneur. That’s $350,000 in total sales.

The same article says Richard Dahl made and sold more than 1,300 RV water filters at $30 each while traveling for a couple years. He expanded his business to include hundreds of items, and started The RV Water Filter Store website, shipping items from any post office he passed as he traveled. In addition to covering his living and traveling expenses, the profits allow him to save $30,000 per year.

Terry Cooper was a college professor before hitting the road with his Mobile RV Academy more than four years ago. Now he runs five-day courses teaching people how to maintain and repair RVs. Attendees pay $1,644 in tuition and Cooper has courses scheduled in 10 locations around the country for 2015.

Not every job or business on the road has to be RV-related. Your RV can be just a way to move from job to job or move where you like if you have a business. Bill Myers says he’s talked to many people living the RV lifestyle, including:

• Internet entrepreneurs
• Campground hosts
• Construction workers
• Tourist area workers (they move with the seasons)
• Aerospace engineers (working on a spaceport in New Mexico)

Michelle Brunner runs ReMiks Jewelry from her motorhome. “I crisscross the country full time in my RV in search of natural & organic elements, as well as recycled treasures,” she explains.

And she does mean full time; according to one profile of Brunner, she’s been doing this since 1996.

Ready to Hit the Road?

Selling everything and starting a vagabond lifestyle is a big transition, but it doesn’t have to be expensive.

Bill Myers offers the example of a couple who bought a $5,000 used motorhome and cut their cost of living from $6,000 per month to about $400 per month. He also says he bought a 26-foot travel trailer for $4,000 and ran his newsletter business from it.

How do you learn what you need to know? Try hanging out in the Workamper forums for a while.

Where can you find work on the road? Talk to others who are living and working from their RVs, or start with these resources:

American Crystal Sugar Company

This company needs RV campers for the sugar beet harvest, which starts around the end of September in Montana and North Dakota. “Sugar Beet Employees can make up to $2,000 in a two week time frame,” the company says.

Amazon’s CamperForce Program

Amazon needs “RV’ers with a positive, can-do attitude” to work seasonally at fulfilment centers in several locations around the country. The jobs last from three to four months.

Camphost.org

Look for campground host positions on this job board.

RVParkStore.com

You’ll find various job postings here. Recent ones include park management jobs, front desk positions and sales work.

Workamper.com

A subscription is $33 per year, but without paying you can still open the menu for “I am a Workamper” and under the “Find a Job” tab click “Featured Employers” to find a list of companies and organizations that hire RV’ers.

Of course, jobs are not your only options. In fact, starting a business will give you the most freedom to go where you like. And if you look over my list of 103 ways you can make money from home, you’ll find dozens of businesses you could operate from an RV.

Your Turn: Would you consider living in an RV and working as you travel?

Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror, and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (so far).

The post Make Money on the Open Road: How to Earn a Living From Your RV appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Ad-Blocking Report: Nearly 200 Million Users, $22 Billion In Lost Ad Revenue

Ad blocking software, once thought to be a relatively small-scale phenomenon, is apparently rapidly going mainstream.  According to a new report from Adobe and PageFair — an Irish company founded in 2012 that “measure[s] the cost of adblocking and display[s] alternative non-intrusive...

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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5 Simple Ways to Save Money as a New College Student

You can skip cable and learn to cook. 

Source U.S. News - Money http://ift.tt/1J64caW

7 Great Back-to-School Sales

Whether you shop online or in stores, you'll want to take advantage of these discounts. 

Source U.S. News - Money http://ift.tt/1IT5srx

5 Things You Should Know About Social Security

Social Security isn’t just for retirees, and provides valuable insurance to workers of all ages.

Source U.S. News - Money http://ift.tt/1IT5srp

Las Vegas-area home sales surged in July

Sales of existing single-family homes surged in July, as prices recorded a healthy annual increase.

Source Business http://ift.tt/1UyGq9v

How To Create A “Lead-Generation Pipeline” With Your Blog (Part 1)

In the first of this two-part series, columnist Daniel Faggella outlines three strategies to ensure your content speaks to your viewers to turn traffic into prospects and prospects into buyers.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Top 10 YouTube Video Ads In July: Always #LikeAGirl Ranks No. 1 With Over 30M Views

July's top ten ads generated a combined 80.9 million views, and more than 139 million minutes of watch time.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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6 Qualities of the Ultimate Financial Battle Buddy

When I first arrived at basic training I was assigned a battle buddy. Every soldier was.

A “battle buddy” was an individual that we had to know everything about. We had to know where they came from, where they were born, if they had any siblings, what their favorite food was, how they lost their virginity, and if they liked tacos with or without onions.

They expected that we know all this and we would constantly be quizzed by the drill sergeant insuring that we took the time to get to know our battle buddy.

The battle buddy was also responsible for making sure that we were in formation on time, we were wearing the right uniforms, that our canteens were filled, that our bunks were made to the drill sergeant’s satisfaction, and that our boots were shined. If either one of us didn’t meet any of these standards then we were both punished.

It was brutal.

The significance of having a battle buddy was important, though. If you should actually be sent into battle you would want to make sure you could depend and count on that soldier to be there for you. You should be able to count on them when you when you need them and know that they will always have your back no matter what.

In relationship to your financial life it’s important to have a similar type battle buddy, especially if you are trying to get out of a low spot like getting out of debt. It’s difficult to get out of debt especially without having some sort of battle buddy that leads you through the trenches.

The total opposite of a battle buddy is what we call a “blue falcon” (also called a “buddy fudger”). Blue falcons are those who only cares about themselves and would often get the platoon in trouble. Think of the movie Full Metal Jacket. Private Pyle is the epitome of a blue falcon. We had a few of those in basic training and I had to complete many pushups because of them.

It’s important to make sure that your battle buddy is a true battle buddy and not a blue falcon who will encourage you to spend your retirement away on things you don’t need.

If you made the choice to get out of debt or if you’re aiming for another financial goal, it’s important to have at least one solid battle buddy on your side.

The 6 Qualities of a Great Financial Battle Buddy

If you’re trying to determine if someone can pass the test of being a true battle buddy, take a look at the important qualities of a battle buddy below that form the acronym “B.A.T.T.L.E.” (nifty, eh?). Does your financial “battle buddy” have these qualities? If not, they might be a blue falcon instead.

B-rave

Financial battle buddies are brave. Really brave. They take money to a whole new level. They’re not afraid to combine finances with their spouse, stick to a strict budget, or make sacrifices in the short-term for their long-term financial success.

Why does it matter that your battle buddy is brave? Because like it or not, they’re going to influence you with their own behavior. If they’re not brave enough to face up to their own financial woes, what makes you think you’ll learn anything from them?

There’s a distinction, however, between being brave and being stupid. Those who are brave take calculated risks. They’re certainly risks, but they have a good chance at having a high reward. Let me give you a few examples of the difference between being brave and being stupid.

It’s a brave thing to start taking steps to starting a new career. Education is one of the best investments. By saving and spending a little money on education, you can land a new career with better pay. Income is a powerful tool to help you build wealth.

It’s a stupid thing, though, to borrow a bunch of money to start a new business when you have no proof that the concept has a high likelihood of working out.

For example, let’s say you want to start a flamingo petting zoo in your hometown. You’ve never heard of one before, but you decide to fund the operation with credit cards. This, my friend, is stupid. Instead, do some research and see if people really want to pet flamingos. And when you start the business, pay for it with your own money not someone else’s money.

A-ccountable

Financial battle buddies also need to be accountable for their actions – and they need to hold you accountable, too.

Does your battle buddy hold you accountable? If you make mistakes, do they make you fess up or do they let it slide?

Make sure that you make yourself open to their accountability. Tell your financial battle buddy that you welcome them to hold you accountable. Ask them to call you randomly to check up on your progress. Ask them to point out your financial downfalls. Even ask them to approve purchases over a certain amount or certain types of purchases if you’re trying to curb a spending problem.

T-rusted

If you have a true financial battle buddy, are you trusting them with the knowledge of your entire financial situation? If not, it’s probably a bad sign that you can’t trust them with that information.

Battle buddies can – and should – be trusted with everything. You should feel comfortable, for example, explaining to them how much debt you have, what your credit score is, how much you have saved in the bank, how much you have invested for retirement, and so forth.

How do you find a trustworthy person? Find someone who doesn’t gossip about others. If they’re not gossiping about others, most likely they won’t gossip about you – especially if you’re doing the right thing anyway.  

T-ruthful

Your financial battle buddy should also be truthful with you about your situation. When they are holding you accountable, do they tell you the whole truth about your financial obstacles? Ask them to be upfront with you about everything. If they don’t, you’ll miss out on opportunities to make the most out of your money.

Truth is a powerful tool in your battle buddy’s belt. Consider maps, for example. On the battlefield, maps are crucial in that they help you know where you are in relation to enemy territory. Having a true picture of your financial situation will help you get from where you are to where you want to be – without walking into a trap.

Battle buddies provide an accurate picture of where you’re at so that you can find the path forward toward a successful mission.

L-evelheaded

Battle buddies are calm and sensible. They’re calm in that they don’t freak out when they hear about your dire financial situation. Instead, they provide sensible advice and consistently deliver what you need to hear.

If your so-called “battle buddy” influences you to spend more, there’s a problem. For example, if you think that your coworker or friend who always asks you to go out to Happy Hour or to go shopping is a good financial battle buddy, think again.

Remember, battle buddies know your financial situation inside and out. If they know your financial situation and are wishy-washy with their advice, it’s time to find a more levelheaded friend who can help you do the right thing.

Those who aren’t levelheaded are just blue falcons in disguise.

E-ncouraging

Great financial battle buddies lift you up and encourage you on your journey.

Imagine traversing the battlefield and your so-called “battle buddy” starts whimpering, “You’re not going to make it. Turn back. There’s no hope for you.” Um, that’s depressing. You might actually be tempted in that situation to turn back!

Instead, even when you get knocked down, your battle buddy will say things like: “It’s just a little scratch, keep going! You can make it! Have you come all this way to give up now? No. You’re a warrior and you’re not going to give up on my watch! Forget about it!”

Your financial battle buddy is there to encourage you when you fall off the budgeting bandwagon, for example. Remember, if you don’t keep going, that’s guaranteeing and solidifying failure.

Perhaps you’ve been to a concert and heard a musician make a mistake. Maybe they hit the wrong key or belted out the wrong lyric.

Did they stop? No. They kept going. Imagine though, for a moment, that they did stop. Imagine they said, “Dang it,” and walked off the stage. That would be pretty disappointing.

It’s the same way when your battle buddy sees you wanting to quit: it’s disappointing to them. At the slightest detection of your hesitation to continue, they lift you up and push you to keep going.

Have You Chosen Your Financial Battle Buddy?

If you haven’t chosen your financial battle buddy yet, please do. It’s worth it. But make sure they have these qualities first. You don’t want someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing or talking about.

Remember the qualities of a good financial b.a.t.t.l.e. buddy. Are they brave? Are they accountable? Are they trusted? Are they truthful? Are they levelheaded? Are they encouraging? If anyone is lacking in even one of these areas, it’s best to find someone else who can help you actually achieve your financial goals. The last thing you want is someone’s inexperience hurting your chances of future financial success.

Identify your battle buddy, watch each other’s backs, and start your journey to financial freedom – together.

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Working From Home as an Interior Decorator

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your entrepreneurial journey. As a youngster, I was always interested in designing spaces, building things, and working with fabrics. I did all of this as a hobby, assisting friends across the country. When I did some design work for an employer, outside of the scope of my […]

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A Unique Way to Make Money on Amazon: How I Earn $1,500 a Month

You’re probably already a fan of Amazon as a consumer, since it makes it easy and affordable to order the items you need.

But have you considered how to turn Amazon into your business partner?

Over the past 11 months, I’ve created a business selling private-label products on Amazon — buying a generic product, then selling it under my own brand. The result: a steady, mostly passive income of between $1,000 and $2,000 a month.

Essentially, the business involves finding generic products that are already selling well on Amazon, creating your own packaging and logo, and marketing them better than your competition.

Sound appealing? Let’s break it down step by step for an actionable look at how to build your own private-label business.

Before diving in, though, it’s important to understand this isn’t a get-rich-quick strategy.

While you can realistically make hundreds or thousands of extra dollars per month, it takes diligence, patience and a willingness to see an idea through from start to finish. To be most successful, set your expectations accordingly.

Still interested? Let’s get started.

Step 1: Research and Select a Product

This is arguably the most important and time-consuming step in the process, but the friendly folks at Amazon lighten the burden a bit by pointing you in the right direction.

That’s because the site releases detailed lists of their best-selling products. While the lists are designed to give consumers a chance to see what’s popular, you can use them to your advantage, too.

The best-seller rankings essentially serve as your pre-market product research. Instead of developing a product and then testing to see if it sells well, you can start by seeing if the product sells well and then make a decision regarding whether or not you want to pursue it.

When mining Amazon’s top-100 rankings for each category, be on the lookout for items that are lightweight, high-ranking and generic.

Generic refers to something like a water bottle, silicone spatula or flashlight — all items that can easily be produced with your own brand and packaging. In other words, you wouldn’t want to select a product that’s brand-driven — such as an iPhone or Nike running shoes — because those are protected products that can’t be private labeled.

Once you find a product that you’re interested in, it’s time for phase two of the product research stage.

Check Out the Competition

During this phase, study your competition to see how they’re doing.

For example, let’s say the product you’ve honed in on is an insulated water bottle. While you may know from the top-100 rankings one insulated water bottle brand sells well, you need to learn more about the competitive landscape.

Using the search box at the top of Amazon, run a query for “insulated water bottle” and review the results.

Open up the first five listings and record the following information in a spreadsheet: price, number of reviews, Amazon best-sellers rank and quality of listing. The latter point is discretionary, but after doing some research, you’ll quickly be able to tell the difference between a good listing and a bad one.

Using the information you gather from these five listings, which serve as your sample of the marketplace, determine whether the opportunity is worth pursuing.

Ideally, you want to see the following in your spreadsheet:

• An average price point between $10 and $40
• Low numbers of reviews (though a higher number isn’t a deal-breaker)
• The majority of the best-sellers ranks below 1,000
• Average or low-quality listings

Don’t be afraid if you can’t find a product right away. It usually takes me hours of research to find an opportunity I believe will work.

However, let’s say your research for insulated water bottles met all of these requirements. Now you’re ready to find a supplier.

Step 2: Find and Contact a Supplier

Once you know you have a good product opportunity, it’s time to find a supplier.

While it’s possible — depending on the product — you could find a supplier in the U.S., it’s highly unlikely that you’ll find a cost-effective one. Trust me on this one and head over to Alibaba to look for an international supplier.

Start your supplier search by entering the same key phrase into the Alibaba search box. In this case, a simple search of “insulated water bottle” will give you thousands of different products and suppliers.

Find the style you’re looking for and research a few different suppliers. Depending on how thorough their listings are, you can usually see the required minimum order quantity (MOQ), price range, style options, lead time and whether they allow for private labeling. However, you’ll need to email the supplier to get an accurate quote for your order.

I’ve found suppliers are willing to negotiate, even on your first order. While they may claim their MOQ is 500 or 1,000 units, it’s entirely possible to talk them down to, say, 250 or 300 units.

Generally, there’s also room for negotiating prices. Just act confident and pretend you’ve been there before — even if you haven’t!

Step 3: Get Your Logo, Design and Packaging

To save time and streamline the process, you can often work on step three alongside step two.

Once you’ve found a supplier who’s willing to let you private label the product, you have to choose your marketing materials. Don’t worry, though — you don’t have to create them yourself!

Use a website like Fiverr or Upwork to hire professional designers at competitive prices.

On Fiverr, you simply search for designers and then send them your job proposal. On Upwork (formerly Elance), you’ll actually create a project proposal and have designers bid for your project. I’ve used both sites, but prefer Elance/Upwork for packaging and logo design.

Assuming you’ve had time to develop a brand name during this process, you’ll want your designer to create a logo that represents your brand and vibrant packaging that sets it apart from your competitors — the ones listed in your spreadsheet from step one.

Once you have your design files, send them over to your supplier and tell them to proceed with your order.

Step 4: Craft a Compelling Listing

Depending on your supplier’s lead time, you could wait anywhere from 10 to 30 days for your shipment to arrive.

Use this time wisely. Start by focusing on your listing. Follow Amazon’s directions and protocol for creating a seller account and then create a listing for your product.

To create a compelling listing:

• Use high quality images
• Clearly explain how the product works
• Describe why it’s valuable
• Highlight what sets it apart from the competition

While you’ll have to work within the constraints of what Amazon does and does not allow on listings, you should be able to use bolded text and bullet points to accentuate key facts.

As you likely noticed during step one, many sellers don’t do a good job with their listings, yet still sell well. Can you imagine how many more units they would sell with descriptive listings?

This is your chance to set your product apart and differentiate your brand as knowledgeable and informative.

Step 5: Use Fulfillment by Amazon to Create Passive Income

Some of you are probably saying, “This whole process doesn’t sound like passive income.”

Well, up until now, you may be right. However, assuming you did a thorough job in the previous steps, you’re almost ready to sit back and reap the benefits.

Thanks to the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program, you don’t have to manage the monotony of picking, packing and shipping orders.

While FBA takes a small percentage of your profits, it’s well worth it for most sellers. Your shipping costs are included in the fees and your products automatically become eligible for free Prime shipping, which could help you make more sales.

Plus, FBA sellers often enjoy higher search rankings than non-FBA sellers. While Amazon hasn’t officially confirmed this, I’ve noticed it with my own products and friends have seen similar benefits.

For detailed information on how to setup an FBA listing, how it works, pricing, success stories, and more, check out Amazon’s guide for getting started.

Once you set up your listing and ship your products to the distribution center, you can be as hands-off as you’d like. When a customer makes a purchase, you don’t even have to lift a finger. Amazon’s fulfillment centers take care of everything, including returns and customer service issues.

Step 6: Make Your First Sale

In any business or industry, the first sale is typically the hardest to make. You don’t have a reputation or any existing customers, so it can be challenging to convince someone to purchase your product.

Many sellers run some sort of sale or discount during a product’s launch. By reducing the price, you lower the customer’s perceived risk and entice them to take a chance on your product.

You can also use Amazon’s internal advertising system, which allows you to pay for your product to be listed in relevant on-site searches. This is a great way to increase visibility and attract an initial burst of sales.

Another option is to use Google AdWords to drive traffic to your listing. While AdWords will be more expensive, I tend to generate more sales from it than from other methods.

While these are the most common strategies, there are hundreds of other ways to increase sales and traffic. This is where you can get creative and have fun with your product!

Or, if everything is working on its own, simply sit back and let the passive income accumulate.

How Much Could You Earn With a Private-Label Business?

Since different types of products have different price points and associated costs, these numbers are estimates. However, here’s an idea of your potential earnings.

Products that rank within the top 100 in their category often bring in thousands of dollars per day in revenue. Products that rank in the top 500 typically produce hundreds of dollars per day. Even a product in the top 2,000 to 3,000 can earn you a steady supplemental income.

While it’s difficult to estimate the initial investment for your own private-label brand, since it depends on your product, I can give you an idea of how much I spent on my first one, a basic grilling accessory.

I ordered 500 units at a per-unit cost of $3.20. In addition to the $1,600 cost of initial inventory, I spent around $400 to design my packaging and logo, start a website, set up my Amazon business account and pay other minor expenses. So launching my first private-label brand cost me about $2,000.

However, I know people who spent only a few hundred dollars getting their first brand off the ground — and also people who spent many thousands.

Look for a healthy profit margin. I like to aim for a per-unit profit margin of at least 50%. It all depends on the product, but there’s a niche for every budget.

While there’s a lot of information in this guide, it’s by no means comprehensive. Dig around, do some research, speak with other sellers and find out what else you can do to make your private-labeling business a successful and lucrative endeavor.

Your Turn: Will you try launching a private-labeling business? If you’ve sold private-labeled products, we’d love to hear about your experience!

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!

Schuyler Richardson is a Greenville, South Carolina-based freelance writer and ecommerce entrepreneur. He’s an avid sports fan and graduate of the University of South Carolina.

The post A Unique Way to Make Money on Amazon: How I Earn $1,500 a Month appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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The flight to London that costs $853,333

WHAT are you doing in 2062? That’s the year members of this reward card loyalty program will be able to claim a flight to London, if they spend up big.

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What Uber’s really doing to taxis

IT WAS meant to spell the end of the taxi industry, but Uber’s arrival has had a counterintuitive effect for some cab drivers.

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