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Eight Ideas for the 78% of Americans Living Paycheck to Paycheck

This week, Harris Poll released the stunning results of a survey that indicated that a whopping 78% of Americans currently live paycheck to paycheck. Some of the other stunning findings from this survey:

+ Nearly four in ten (38%) of Americans don’t participate in a 401k, IRA, or similar retirement plan.
+ More than half (56%) of American workers feel they will always be in debt
+ More than half (56%) of Americans also save $100 or less a month
+ Almost one in ten (9%) of American workers making more than $100,000 per year are living paycheck-to-paycheck

Perhaps just as amazing is this Bankrate survey, which indicates that 57% percent of Americans don’t have enough cash to cover a $500 unexpected expense, and that half of Americans with an income of over $75,000 a year don’t have enough cash to cover such an unexpected expense.

Here’s the reality: the vast majority of Americans are completely unprepared for any kind of unexpected financial event. Something as simple as a failed car starter can send their financial life whipping in the wind, without a clear path for handling it. Something like a job loss or a major unexpected illness will bring about very rapid changes in their entire way of living.

That’s a bleak picture, no matter how you slice it. It’s also a picture that many Americans simply refuse to face. Instead, it often sneaks up on them in the quiet moments of reflection: in the shower, on the subway, while driving kids to soccer practice, in bed just before sleep. It’s also there, in the background of life, as a constant shadow.

I used to be in this exact boat. We had tons of consumer debt. Our non-mortgage debt was in the six figures. I remember that exact feeling all too well: the feeling of subtle dread at getting the mail, the feeling of worry when I was in the shower, the desire to buy things a little more and party a little harder just to prove to myself that life was okay.

It wasn’t. We almost fell off that proverbial cliff.

Fast forward to today. We’re debt free. We own our own home without even a mortgage. We have more than adequate savings for retirement, healthy savings for our children’s education, a huge emergency fund, and extra savings beyond that for things like car replacements. We’re on pace to retire early.

The difference is night and day, not just in terms of our finances, but our overall quality of life. There were definitely moments that were not easy along the way, I would not trade my current life for my old life for virtually anything.

Here’s the thing: most Americans are where I used to be; relatively few Americans are in the financial place that my family is at today. Between the two groups, there’s a field that looks quite treacherous and challenging, but it’s actually not nearly as bad as it seems.

Here are eight things I want to shout across that treacherous field, ten things I want to shout to my past self and the 80% or so of Americans that are in that same boat.

“If you’re convinced you have to spend money to enjoy life and that more joy comes from more spending, you’re making the single biggest financial mistake you can make!”

You don’t have to spend much money to enjoy life. There, I said it.

Study after study has backed up this fact. Once you meet a certain income threshold, one that’s somewhere between $30,000 and $70,000 a year depending on where you live, additional income doesn’t add any additional happiness to your life.

Why? The purchases you make beyond those covering your basic needs do not add any sort of lasting happiness to your life. Any quality of living improvement that comes from spending money beyond that basic level is eaten up by the stress brought on by having less financial flexibility and more career dependence.

Let’s put it a different way. Let’s say you make $60,000 a year. $35,000 or so covers your basic living expenses – basic shelter, basic food, basic clothing, basic utilities, a small amount of entertainment. You have some choices with the remaining $25,000 a year, but the reality is that if you spend that money on things that will bring you some degree of happiness, that happiness is counterbalanced by the stress of spending everything that you earn.

You put yourself on a financial tightrope where one misstep can send things in your life crashing to a halt.

But wait a second – doesn’t it feel really good to splurge?

“You really don’t need most of the stuff you spend money on – it just provides those little bursts of happiness that don’t last and leave you feeling miserable!”

The reality is that most of the things that we spend money on beyond our basic needs provides a little burst of momentary joy that quickly slides away and leaves us roughly at our base level of happiness that we were at before.

Think about it. You buy a new television for your family room and the process is really fun! You love having this big, bright new television in your family room! It feels great!

Flash forward three weeks and it’s just a device sitting in a corner on which you watch the same old television programs that you were watching before you spent $1,000 on that new television.

You go out to lunch with coworkers and it’s fun! You have a few laughs together and you drop $30 on the check.

Two days later, no one can even remember where you ate. Why not just eat with the same crew out of a brown bag in the office or go to a park or something and save yourself the $30?

This happens over and over again. You buy some item and have a burst of fun doing it, but then that new purchase is forgotten or becomes part of the normal landscape of your normal unchanged life. You’re doing the same things you do every day without any real change.

That’s the reality of most of the things we spend money on beyond our basic needs. They provide a little burst of happiness that simply doesn’t last. It vanishes, and we’re left with the same life we had before. Often, we completely forget the purchase at all.

But what we don’t forget is the stress from not having enough money to feel secure or to make ends meet. We spent our money on a bunch of forgettable stuff, and now we stand in the shower hoping that the car will start this morning because there is no way we can afford this right now. Even if the car starts, the whole thing is still stressful.

The vast majority of spending beyond our basic needs matches this pattern. It gives us this little burst of happiness that fades so quickly, and we’re left in slightly worse shape than before.

Most people get on board with the idea of constantly buying things. They want constant little bursts of pleasure in their lives and keep riding that wave, but underneath that is a bedrock that’s wearing away. It’s not built on anything, and when it crashes, it crashes hard.

“Your reward for working hard is low stress and fun! Neither involve spending money!”

“I work hard! Shouldn’t I have fun?”

Absolutely, but fun does not have to equate with spending money! Spending money and fun are two completely different groups of things with some overlap, but the amount of fun things to do that doesn’t involve any significant spending money is enormous.

Everyone’s different, of course, but I can literally list hundreds of things I enjoy doing that involve very little spending. I love to read. I love to go on hikes. I love to go to the park and play soccer. I love to make meals from scratch. I love to play board games with my friends. I love to go to community events. I love to watch occasional television, but I’m really picky about what I watch and I don’t bother with just anything. I love to do a slow Wikipedia crawl where I’m learning about new things. I love doing some types of exercise (again, some things I don’t enjoy, while others make me feel great). I love doing things with my family, even simple things like just going on a wandering walk.

I can go on and on and on like this. There really is no such thing as boredom in my life.

The thing is, unless I’m specifically choosing to do so, none of those things involve spending money. I mean, I can always buy a new board game, but I don’t need to – I have a lot of games on my shelves. I can always buy a new book, but I have a ton of them already and a ton more are available at the library.

However, fun is about doing things, not buying things. It’s about using the things you have to have a great experience, not simply buying more stuff that you may or may not have time to use or enjoy.

I don’t want to buy books, I want to read them. I don’t want to buy games, I want to play them. I don’t want to buy sports gear, I want to play sports. I don’t want to constantly upgrade my camping equipment, I want to go camping.

Fun comes from doing, not from buying. The little burst of pleasure that comes from buying doesn’t last long and you’re right back where you started, except with a little less money in your pocket. However, the experience of delving deep into doing something you truly enjoy is something that lasts and lasts and it costs almost nothing at all.

“A lot of modern culture works to confuse your sense of needs and wants!”

I’m not even talking about advertisements. I’m talking about much of the actual culture – television programs, magazine articles, news reports, music, films, everything. The vast majority of it depicts aspirational lifestyles adorned with products of all kinds that are put there to convince you that you need those things to have the great life that’s being depicted.

There’s a rich, well-dressed, beautiful family on television. In the back of our minds, we want to emulate some of the things that they do in order to be more like them… and the easiest thing to do is to buy some of the stuff they have on the table.

There’s a news report about the benefits of some life-changing product. It sounds great. We want some of those benefits, so that product gets lodged in our heads and nudges us toward a purchase.

A new restaurant opens in town and receives breathless media coverage, even though the food and ambience really isn’t anything new. You hear about it and suddenly you want to go, to enjoy what you think will be a great meal and be a part of something.

It’s subtle, but it’s constant. We are constantly being pushed to spend money on something new, on something more than what we have. We are constantly receiving hints that in order to be happy, in order to be smart, in order to be beautiful, we need to buy this new product. Every single psychological button we have is being pushed, leaving us feeling somehow inadequate if we don’t buy.

It’s hogwash, every single bit of it. You already have a rich life. You don’t need stuff to make it rich. You don’t need expensive “experiences” to make it somehow great – it already is great.

Don’t let the airbrushed images of what someone else wants to sell you convince you that your life isn’t already amazing.

“Most of the things that create lasting happiness don’t involve spending money!”

If there’s one key truth I’ve figured out in my adult life, it’s that the only way to anything approaching lasting happiness is contentment with yourself and your life. If you’re content with what you have – if you aren’t constantly seeking more, more, more – you’ll find that happiness naturally bubbles up in your life.

My happiest moments in the last few months came from feeling a lack of major stress in any area of my life. It came from doing something simple that I really enjoy, like curling up for three hours with a great book or going on a six mile hike through a gorgeous park. It came from spending time with people whose company I deeply enjoy.

Those experiences were on top of a foundation of life meant to produce contentment. It came from taking simple steps to keep my stress low – meditating every day, putting aside devoted time for hobbies, keeping my body in decent shape through exercise and better diet, and so on. It came from staying on top of known stressors in my life and taking care of them before they got out of hand.

Part of that, of course, is taking care of money.

“Being in bad financial shape adds constant stress to your life, which contributes to feeling absolutely awful!”

Financial uncertainty provides a cloud of constant stress over your life that drags down everything. It is really, really hard to find a state of contentment when you are living under a constant cloud of financial threats due to living paycheck to paycheck. Without that contentment, it becomes even more tempting to just spend money to have that burst of joy, to feel good for a while.

It’s a cycle, one that’s very hard to break, of course.

When I was stuck in that cycle, I constantly felt a glimmer of worry about finances. I was often afraid to check the mail. I wanted to avoid bills. I sometimes had to juggle credit cards to avoid public embarrassment. I wondered at night if I was ever going to achieve any of my dreams. My thoughts in the shower were about how things felt directionless.

And that’s just when things were flowing along normally.

Anytime anything went even slightly wrong, the panic and worry crept right up on me. I would get upset so easily at unexpected financial events because they usually meant some sort of crisis. Almost always, I had to juggle things very carefully to avoid a meltdown.

Sometimes, I did melt down. I remember some very painful moments along the way.

All of this added up to a lot of stress, and that stress subtly wreaked havoc on my health. I gained weight. I didn’t feel good. I got sick quite often. I felt like I was completely lacking energy.

Yes, some of the stress was professional, too, but that was also led by the financial stress. I couldn’t mis-step at work. I couldn’t afford the risk. Standing up for myself at work was a very risky proposition, especially after our child was born.

Stress was eating me alive. It was making me unhappy. Poor financial decisions were right near the core of it.

“When in doubt, cut out expenses! You can always bring them back later!”

What can you do? Cut the expenses! Cut, cut, cut! Cut out everything that isn’t essential and build back from that later on!

Empty out your closets and sell off everything that you’re not currently using or going to use in the very near future – if it’s just sitting in storage, it’s just locked-up money. Don’t dream of using it – sell it and use the money to patch up your finances.

When you move, move to a smaller place, not a bigger one. It’s cheaper, there’s less to upkeep.

When you replace your car, get a late model used one – or consider whether you can live life without one.

Cut your cable bill. Cut your cell phone. Cut your internet. If you can’t imagine living without those things, try. Turn them completely off for a while and find out that your life won’t fall apart without them. It won’t!

Eat at home! Make your own meals! If you want to eat outside the house, pack a picnic lunch, toss it in a bag, and go eat somewhere beautiful! Eat your lunch under a tree in the park! That’s far better scenery than a $100 restaurant!

Dig into hobbies that involve doing things rather than buying stuff. Read books that you borrowed from the library. Go to free community events. Start a garden. It goes on and on. Cut back on your hobby spending that isn’t associated with the multitude of free things.

Cut, cut, cut! When in doubt, cut! Sell that stuff! If you end up really regretting one or two of those choices later on – and, trust me, you won’t – you can always get it back.

“When in doubt, ask yourself if you’ll remember this when you’re eighty!”

This is the one question I’ve come to ask myself when it comes to purchases. Will I really remember this purchase when I’m eighty?

It’s such a powerful filter. It gets rid of so many meaningless day-to-day purchases. I won’t remember this candy bar when I’m eighty, so why am I buying it?

Here’s what I will remember about the food I eat when I’m eighty. I’ll remember maybe one or two meals eaten at restaurants with great friends and family – and that’s fine. I’ll remember a few meals that I made myself from scratch for a dinner party at home with friends. That’s it. Everything else? Why bother spending more than the minimum on it?

What will I remember about the cars I owned? I barely remember anything from the car cycle that I owned before our current one. Honestly, it’s nothing more than a tool to get from point A to point B, so I just buy the one that does it at the best bang for the buck with reliability.

The only thing I’ll remember about my television is the programs I watched on it. I won’t remember the stunning glory of 1080p versus 1080i. So, I get a television upon which I can watch the shows I want to watch at the lowest price. (In fact, if I lived alone, I wouldn’t own a television at all.)

I won’t remember these things when I’m eighty. What I will remember is the great moments with people, the moments when I don’t feel any stress and I’m completely in the moment with someone I care about. What I will remember are some of the great books I read and some of the amazing hilltop views I hiked to.

Everything else is just details. Why throw money at it? Why spend myself into stress and worry for things I won’t remember when I’m eighty?

Final Thoughts

I wish I could shout all of these things to myself as I was about to graduate college. So many of the choices I was about to make in the next several years were just farcically bad. I spent piles of money on things that I can just barely remember if I really try to. They have no impact on my life.

What does have an impact, even today, is all of the money I wasted. If I hadn’t wasted that money on stupid things and properly used it, I would not be working right now, at all. I would be fully retired, filling my days with fun and people and almost no stress at all.

Don’t let the constant pursuit of stuff and expensive experiences fill your life with stress. Don’t put yourself on an employment and lifestyle tightrope that fills you with unbelievable stress every time it jiggles. Don’t believe that the things you buy will bring you any sort of lasting happiness, and instead seek it from within. Erase those financial worries by spending less than you earn, wiping out your debts, and building such security that it no longer matters too much if you get a pink slip. Relish the natural joys that life has to offer.

The paycheck to paycheck lifestyle is a trap that leads almost inevitably to stress and unhappiness. Get off that train, the sooner the better.

Good luck!

The post Eight Ideas for the 78% of Americans Living Paycheck to Paycheck appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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A trip to the heart of anthracite country proves that Pa. is a leader in carbon

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How to Create an Indoor Garden, Even if You Don’t Have a Green Thumb

Affirm Loans Offer a Credit Card Alternative — but They’re Every Bit as Risky

How do you make large purchases online if you don’t have a credit card?

There’s a solution for that, and it’s designed to help the underbanked or bank-skeptic buy the stuff they just can’t live without: plane tickets, mattresses and watches among them.

Gaby Del Valle introduces us to Affirm in a recent piece at The Outline. In it, she explains the company’s model of offering financing for purchases made on the websites of its partner retailers.

The service takes pride in its upfront fees and ease of use. But its selection of partners gives the impression that paying high interest on less-than-essential items is OK.

Here’s How Affirm Works

Browse sofas on Wayfair, mattresses from Casper or flights through Orbitz, and you’ll see an offer to finance that purchase through Affirm when you check out.

Affirm explains that you’ll pay between 10% and 30% interest for your purchase based on your credit. But this soft credit check just verifies your identity and determines your eligibility for financing, unlike a hard check that affects your credit score.

That’s because Affirm was designed for people who have short credit histories and may not be able to get a credit card with favorable limits and interest or for people who don’t have credit histories at all.

Affirm reports payment history on its loans to Experian and plans to relay that information to other bureaus in the future, according to its FAQ. By reporting your Affirm loan to the credit bureaus, your three-, six- or 12-month loan can help you can build credit — at a cost. Affirm says the average interest rate it offers is 21%, while The Outline notes that credit cards have an average APR of 17%.

Choose the $999 McKinley Chair from Joybird (it’s the grown-up version of IKEA’s $99 Poang, if you ask this furniture coveter), and Affirm offers “easy monthly payments” of $55.50 per month for 18 month — with zero interest. The pop-up box advertises interest rates of 0 to 30%.  

But at least with a piece of furniture we can hope you’ll keep it for many years, and sell it for a couple hundred if you decide to part ways.

Can you imagine financing a flight for an interest rate that creeps very close to what you might see for a payday loan?

Book a spontaneous flight to Tokyo this fall, and that $1,200 splurge with one-year financing through Affirm will turn into $1,440 once you consider 20% interest. Paying $120 per month doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch to cover that cost, but doing so over 12 months means the trip will just be a memory by the time you’re done paying for it.

Do you want to spend 12 months paying for a coach flight you already took?

Affirm, for all it advertises about being transparent and honest and serving the underbanked, also exists to serve those who want to be credit card-free.

“They’re really chasing this market of millennials who are afraid of debt and afraid of credit cards because they grew up during and after the recession and they saw people’s houses get taken away, and people run up these insane credit card bills, so these people are afraid of debt and afraid of credit,” Del Valle said in the site’s daily podcast World Dispatch. “And Affirm is basically rebranding debt and credit to make it seem ethical and friendly.”

What’s Wrong With Financing a Couch?

Financing large purchases at the time of payment isn’t new. Furniture stores do it. Mattress stores do it. Jewelry stores do it.

But promotions for those stores’ financing often tout low- or no-interest financing, hoping you’ll decide to spend more and spread out your payments.  

The trouble with Affirm, The Outline notes, isn’t that it’s providing an alternative to credit cards, albeit for a price. The real problem is that Affirm is being offered alongside items that may not be in your best interest to finance in the first place. If you need to finance a new mattress through Affirm by paying 20% interest, shouldn’t you be sleeping on an air mattress or checking out the sales at the mattress store down the street?

Affirm claims it’s up to the consumer to determine the value of what they’re financing. The company is said to be finalizing an agreement to serve Walmart’s online customers.

Meanwhile, PayPal offers a similar setup for online shoppers. It offers an interest rate of 20% on its loans to users, but it doesn’t charge interest if you pay in full within six months.

Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder.

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

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10 Ways to Get Paid to Hang Out With Other People’s Dogs (Seriously!)

Can’t get enough of that sloppy kiss and wet nose?

Turn your passion for puppies into cash by creating a dog-focused business. With the pet industry growing by billions of dollars every year, there is definitely money to be made caring for other people’s dogs.

When I wanted to make some extra money without leaving my teaching job, dog training seemed like a natural fit. I love dogs, I wanted to learn more about them and I wanted to spend my free time with them.

While my dog business is still a side gig, it brings in several hundred extra dollars a month, and the best part is that it doesn’t really feel like work!

From the simple to the more out-of-the-box, here are 10 ways to make some cash — and get some puppy love, too.

1. Lead Dog Adventures

This is the next level in dog walking — especially if you live near the beach or the mountains. Charge people to take their dogs on dog adventures: frolic in the waves at the beach, swim in a lake or hike in the mountains.

It’s a great option for people who like to be outdoors, and you’ll be helping pet parents who have active dogs but don’t have the time to give them the exercise they need.

2. Plan Dog Parties

If you’re good at event planning, this is a unique way to make extra money.

Take the planning pressure off the pet parent and make some extra money by planning parties to celebrate dog birthdays, adoption days, training class graduations, or even weddings. Everyone loves a good party, and the more creative, the better!

3. Make Doggie Treats

There’s no shortage of dogs that like to eat treats and pet parents with the money to buy them. The good news is, you don’t have to open a gourmet shop to make some money on the side.

Pinterest has tons of ideas for delicious homemade dog treats, so pick a couple and start baking. Put samples in a Ziploc bag with a cute label and hand them out to friends and dog professionals (vets, dog trainers, dog walkers, doggie day cares). Soon, you’ll have requests for more pupcakes and doggie cookies than you can handle!

Don’t forget about local cupcake and pastry shops in dog-friendly areas — if they don’t already have special treats for pups, they might be open to selling yours.

4. Dog Washing

Anyone familiar with dogs knows that they can get a bit smelly. But bathtime can be a hassle and make a huge mess, so many people prefer not to do it in their homes.

Offer to take care of dog baths either at a self-wash facility or in your own backyard or bathroom. Throw on a bow or a bandana at the end for a fresh-smelling, good-looking dog.

5. Dog Grooming

As with dog training, dog grooming takes a bit of training. Look into volunteering or interning with a local trainer, or check out online training schools such as Animal Behavior College. Offer your services on your own, or partner with a doggie daycare to find new clients.

6. Drive Dogs to Appointments

Senior dog parents or dog parents with disabilities might not always be able to get their dogs to check-ups or regular veterinarian appointments, so why not offer a service that will do it for them? You could also offer to drive dogs to grooming appointments or to doggie day care for pet parents who just don’t have the time.

7. Become a Dog Photographer

Taking up pet photography is a fun way to make extra cash, either with family-style portraits or more candid shots. Build up your portfolio by taking pictures of friends’ dogs, then start offering your photography services to the local community. One artist, Adriana Willsie, even built a business turning pet photographs into painted portraits!

Check out How to Photograph Pets and Pet Photography Tips for some advice as you get started.

8. Dog Sitting

Considering that 42% of households in the United States have at least one dog, chances are high that you have a friend or two who could use your help while they’re on vacation. Offer to watch their dogs either at their house or at your own place.

To reach out beyond your friend base, try a company like Rover, which adds you to a database and allows pet owners to search for sitters in their area. Pet Sitters International shares great tips for new pet sitters, and offers a certification if you want to get more serious.

9. Dog Walking

Dog walking is an easy way to make a little extra cash, get some exercise and get your dog fix. Plus, if you have your own dog, it’s something you’d do anyway!

Consider joining a database like Dog Walker or Local Dog Walker, or post your services on your local Craigslist.

10. Dog Training

Dog training takes a bit more commitment for a part-time gig: you’ll need more education and time than for dog sitting or walking. PetSmart or Petco are good options, but you can also do internships with local trainers (just ask!), or take a course at an online school like Animal Behavior College or Companion Animal Sciences Institute.

When searching for resources, look for those that focus on relationship building and positive reinforcement training strategies.

Dog trainers can offer puppy classes, basic through advanced manners classes, private in-home sessions, dog walking, and more. For more on what you might be getting into, check out So You Want to be a Dog Trainer, by Nicole Wilde.

Abbie Mood lives just outside Denver, Colorado and can usually be found hanging out with her dogs, Daisy and Sadie. In addition to freelance writing and editing, Abbie is a dog trainer and an early interventionist. You can find more of her writing on her blog, Miles of Abbie.

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

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Don’t Make These Mistakes: Experts Reveal What Not to Do When Investing

If you’re going to invest some money, be smart and prudent about it.

On the other hand, don’t be a chicken, either. Don’t be afraid of the stock market.

That’s the message we got when we asked a panel of eight financial advisors to name the investing mistakes they most frequently encounter.

We had previously asked these financial planners about common money mistakes millennials make, and they had a lot to say about that.

So that got us wondering: What do these financial experts see people doing wrong when it comes to investing money?

Here’s how they answered the question: What’s the most common mistake that investors make?

Financial Advisers Sound Off on Investing Mistakes

On Waiting Too Long

The number one mistake I think young investors make is, they wait to save and invest, because they think they have low wages and high expenses and have plenty of time to save.

Young investors need to understand that even if their wages will rise, their expenses will rise more as they acquire houses, children, etc. Even more important is the impact of compounding returns over a long period of time. In essence, the most valuable money they will ever save is the FIRST money they save, as it has 30-40 years to compound!

— Karen Lee, president, Karen Lee & Associates, Atlanta, Georgia

Penny Hoarder tip: One way to start investing early is to use an app like Acorns. Once you connect it to a debit or credit card, it rounds your purchases up to the nearest dollar and funnels your digital change into a savings or investment account. Because the money comes out in increments of less than $1, you’re less likely to feel an impact in your bank account.

On Not Getting Started

The most common mistake is not starting. Many people wait until the “perfect” time, trying to time the market before investing.

These people should take comfort in the fact that, over the long term it’s time in the market that matters, not “timing the market.”

Another mistake is “Get Rich Thinking” — taking a very large position in one stock in an attempt to get rich quickly. It takes time for the magic of compounding to work.

— Ben Westerman, senior vice president, HM Capital Management, St. Louis

Penny Hoarder tip: It does take time for compounding interest to make its magic. You’ll see this happen in your 401(k) account, if you have one. An online robo-advisor like Blooom can help manage and optimize your 401(k) for you because, chances are, it can probably be doing more for your retirement.

On Waiting Until the Stock Market is Supposedly “Safe”

Don’t wait until you think the market is “safe.” If you’re a novice investor, you can’t possibly have the time, resources or ability to know when the market is safe. Entire departments of full-time workers in the finance world are dedicated to predicting when the market is “safe” and when it’s “not safe.” They are often wrong.

You just can’t afford to miss out on upswings in the market. Want proof? Missing the 10 best days in the stock market from 1993 to 2013 would take your return down from 9.2% to 5.4%. That means it’s possible, in two decades of time in the stock market, for over 40% of the growth to happen on 0.28% of the days the market is open. Are you really going to risk being on the sidelines because you’re waiting for it to be “safe”?

Another mistake is not knowing the expenses of your investment. Beginning investors can be prone to going to their bank or a commissions-based financial advisor, where they are likely to be sold mutual funds and brokerage products with a hefty commission upfront.

— Justin Chidester, owner of Wealth Mode Financial Planning in Logan, Utah

On Investing Only in Companies They Know and Like

Mistakes beginning investors make:

• Holding too much cash relative to their net worth vs. investing in the financial markets

• Investing only in companies that they know and/or like — i.e., Apple, Google, Whole Foods, Nike, etc.

• Investing too heavily in employer’s company stock — failing to understand the risk of concentration in a single company and the additional risk of being employed there

— James M. Matthews, managing director of Blueprint, a financial planning firm in Charlotte, N.C.

On Investing in Individual Stocks

Investing in individual stocks as opposed to buying a mutual fund or exchange traded fund (ETF). The average beginning investor does not generally have a deep knowledge of financial markets and rarely conducts in-depth research into the company stock being purchased. Relying upon news stories or anecdotes from friends to make buying decisions is often a recipe for failure — or certainly under-performance.

Funds — whether mutual funds or ETFs — enable a beginning investor to own a well-diversified portfolio of stocks. ETFs are particularly useful as an investor can begin buying shares at a very low initial investment.

— Kevin Gahagan, chief investment officer, Mosaic Financial Partners, San Francisco

Penny Hoarder tip: Stash, a super basic investing app, automatically pulls a few bucks from your checking account each week. It invests your money in a set of portfolios reflecting your beliefs, interests and goals. Most of Stash’s investments are in ETFs.

On Taking Stock Tips

We don’t recommend taking stock tips. First, why would you think the person giving the tip really knows more than you do? If they’ve done original research and believe they have a special insight, that’s one thing. But if they’re repeating something they heard elsewhere, that’s much less valuable.

As we say around the office, “How likely is it that someone in the middle of the country knows something that people on Wall Street don’t?’”

Also, why would the person with the tip want to share it? Maybe they’re just naturally generous but maybe there’s something a bit more sinister going on. Maybe they already own the stock and want to build a market so there’ll be more interested buyers when they want to sell.

— Warren A. Ward, WWA Planning & Investments, Columbus, Indiana

More on Taking Stock Tips

Taking a hot stock tip is a lot like playing the lottery. Instinctively, we know it’s not a good idea and we probably won’t win. But the exciting potential of a big payout is often hard to overcome, so we do it anyway. Everything is fine in moderation as long as you don’t bet the farm on a possibility.

— Andy Yadro, financial planner with Googins Advisors in Madison, Wisconsin

On Following the Crowd

The largest mistake retail investors make is following the crowd. They always get in late, after all the hype. Their entry point is poorly timed, and they give little thought to how the investment actually fits into their long-term financial plan.

— Joshua Scheinker, executive vice president of Scheinker Wealth Advisors of Janney Montgomery Scott, Baltimore, Maryland

Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He is an expert at making mistakes.

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

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Here’s How Fashion Bloggers Make Money on Instagram

We’ve looked at how to make money on Instagram before, but focusing on a specific niche can help you make even more. One particularly lucrative option is fashion, where designers and brands spend over $1 billion a year sponsoring Instagram posts, according to Harper’s Bazaar.

Fashion blogger Danielle Bernstein has more than one million followers on Instagram. She uses her popular blog, We Wore What, to woo sponsors, who pay up to $15,000 for a single Instagram post.

Yes, you read that correctly. $15,000 for one post.

Ready to build your own fashionable Instagram empire? Here’s a look at Bernstein’s business, and how you could follow her lead to earn a piece of that $1 billion.

Earning Six Figures for Instagram Posts

Though Bernstein declined to tell Harper’s her exact income, she did say that in 2014 she earned in the “mid-six figures” from her Instagram posts. She told the magazine, “Let’s just say it’s more than I could have ever imagined as a 22-year-old.”

And that payday doesn’t even include the perks that come along with the fashion blogging lifestyle. In addition to the sponsorship fees, well-known fashion bloggers with lots of followers often receive tons of free clothing and accessories from brands that hope to be featured on their social media feeds.

How Bernstein Makes Money

Bernstein’s 10,000-odd Instagram posts include everything from her at a baseball game clad in jeans, a T-shirt and a backwards ball cap to a bearded man in an unbuttoned shirt sitting on a couch with a pillow casually resting on his chest. She posts regularly, and the fashions and styles she showcases get a lot of attention. What are the secrets to her success?

She Has Over One Million Followers

The biggest factor in your Instagram success is the number of followers you have, since brands pay for views and the number of eyes that will see your posts.

An Instagrammer with a few hundred or thousand followers can charge $500 to $5,000 per post, according to Harper’s, but when you get to the six-million-follower range, you can earn between $20,000 and $100,000 for a single post.

She Negotiates Exclusives

“Everything’s negotiable,” Bernstein told Harper’s. She has no problem negotiating exclusives with certain brands.

Sometimes they will request that no competitors be featured within the same shot; for example, you couldn’t wear a Nike tank top with a pair of lululemon shorts. Other times, brands may ask that a certain competitor or two not appear on her Instagram feed in a designated time frame, such as a week after their post.

These exclusive deals help advertisers get the word out about their apparel and accessories, but they also help Bernstein cash in. If they want her to exclude their competition from her site for any period of time, they’ll have to pay a premium.

She Works With Agents

When you’re negotiating complex terms with many different clients, it’s always helpful to have a professional in the mix. That’s why Bernstein goes through Next Talent, a modeling agency, to help her with her business. The agency helps her find clients, lay out her prices and negotiate a variety of deals, such as long-term arrangements and sets of posts.

When you have a team behind you, it’s easier to focus on the part of the business that you excel at: modeling the duds and capturing them on camera.

How to Make Money on Instagram

So you have your Instagram feed up and running, you’re the style maven of your neighborhood and you can’t wait to get some free samples and have the cash start rolling in. If you’re a fashionista looking to cash in on your Instagram feed, what’s the best way to get started?

Fill a Niche

Fashion Instagrammers are hot right now, and brands are willing to shell out for placement on top feeds. To stand out among the crowd, find a broadly appealing niche and fill it.

Be sure to do your research. If you’re hoping to make a huge dent in a market that’s already highly saturated, it may be your best bet to reconsider or instead focus on a sub-niche. For example, Instagram is packed with beauty bloggers, but you might want to consider specializing in a sub-niche such as nail art. This can be tricky because you want a niche appealing enough to attract a devoted audience, but not so broad that you disappear among the crowd. See what’s already out there before committing to anything.

Get Followers

The first step to Instagram success is to get followers — a lot of them. Every follower you gain is more money in your pocket.

How do you find followers? By treating your Instagram as the business it is. Create a post schedule and stick to it. Make sure you post regularly and make sure your posts are things people want to look at.

Taking a great photo is key, especially if you want to bring sponsors into the mix. If you take stellar shots and share them with the world, a brand is a lot more likely to want to recruit you to help them promote their brand than if you snap a dull and blurry image. Create visually appealing and interesting images, and be sure to interact with your audience.

Get an Agent

When you’re in the upper echelon of Instagram-land, sometimes you need someone who can advocate for you, bring you clients and help you negotiate the legalese that comes along with the business. Especially in the world of fashion, having someone on your side can be crucial. Consider working with an agency that will represent your needs and help your business grow.

Get Media Attention

The more attention you have, the more followers you can gain and the more appealing you are to potential sponsors. If you can think of a way to get some positive press (say, sponsoring a charity event), go for it! If a journalist contacts you for an interview, be available.

Or, better yet, reach out to journalists and tell your story. Help a Reporter Out is a great resource to help you connect with journalists in need of sources.

Kristen Pope is a freelance writer and editor in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

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

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This is Why a Garage Sale Probably Isn’t Worth It — and What to Do Instead

As the end of summer looms and you start thinking about making room in your home for winter clothes, school projects and holiday-gift hiding places, a lot of people are plotting garage sales to clear the clutter and make extra money.

The prospect is tempting. But is a garage sale worth your time?

How Much Can You Make From a Garage Sale?

What I know of garage sales — albeit second-hand and anecdotal — looks something like this: Spend weeks digging junk out of your house, borrow tables and hangers from friends and family, give up your weekend to haggle with strangers…

…and earn about $300.

It doesn’t sound fun — or worth it.

Crystal Paine at Money Saving Mom says she made $1,000 during a two-and-a-half-day yard saling, which sounds great. Until you realize her family split the haul with her siblings (she doesn’t specify how many) and her parents.

And she recommends preparing at least three to four weeks in advance, then setting aside several hours a day in the days before the sale to price items, organize everything and set up.

Then you play retail clerk for the weekend — say, if you’re savvy, five hours a day for three days.

That’s at least 25 hours of work for $40 an hour — split among three or more households. Subtract possible advertising costs and taxes, which we know you’re scrupulous enough to pay each quarter.

So… you do the work of basically running a business for less than $13 an hour.

Oh, and did you ask for time off work to make time for this? With lost wages, you might not even break even.

Garage Sale Tips: Don’t Have One!

Here are a bunch of places you could use to sell your stuff with less effort and for more money than a garage sale.

1. Sell CDs, DVDs, Video Games and More on Decluttr

Your impeccably-alphabetized CD tower might not be a hit in your dusty garage, but you could cash in selling them through this app.

Decluttr will buy your old CDs, video games, DVDs and Blu-rays. You scan the barcode with the app on your phone, and Decluttr makes an offer.

Prices vary — usually about 50 cents to $3 per item — and you can unload your media in bulk to make an extra $50 to $100 this week. And never have to look at them again.

With Decluttr, you can sell stuff online without having to deal with individual listings and buyers.

And shipping is free. The company emails you a shipping label to cover the cost. Just print, pack your items in any box and ship it.

2. Find the Best Place to Sell Textbooks With Bookscouter

Hoarding old college textbooks? I get it. I was sure I’d crack my Sociology 101 text to answer important questions in the future. Alas…

To get them off your hands, use Bookscouter.

Search the book’s ISBN, and the site will connect you with more than 25 of the best-paying and most reputable buyback companies online, so you can find the best price.

3. Sell Almost Anything on letgo

You can sell virtually anything on Letgo.

This intuitive app lets you snap a photo and upload your item in less than 30 seconds. It’s free to use, and a simple way to connect with people who want your old stuff — without inviting them into your yard.

4. Find a Local Gold Buyer for Old Jewelry

You probably know you can sell gold and silver for cash; those TV commercials won’t let you forget.

But don’t be tempted by those companies.

Sell your precious metals locally for a better deal and faster payment. If you have bullion bars lying around, great.

If you’re like most of us and do not stock gold bars, try selling these items:

• old jewelry

• real silverware

• serving dishes

• tooth fillings (if they’ve fallen out and you’ve held onto them for some reason…weirdo)

• quarters and dimes minted before 1965

• wedding and engagement rings (sorry)

5. List Vintage Jewelry Through Etsy

Don’t be that person trying to sell valuable jewelry at a garage sale.

Yes, it’s probably worth what you’re asking — but not to a garage-sale shopper. They’re looking for cheap. To get a decent price for classic pieces, get them in front of shoppers willing to pay a premium for vintage.

Etsy is known as the marketplace for crafts and handmade goods. But you can earn money on the site without making anything. Your vintage goods may take longer to sell online than in your garage — but you’ll probably nab a much better price for a lot less effort.

6. Sell Your Used Clothes Online

Forget about tagging, folding, hanging and displaying all your clothes for sale. Just snap a photo of a willing friend in the garb, and list it through an online consignment store or peer-to-peer app.

Poshmark lets you create a profile and acquire followers — like social media, if your social circle was always at the mall. We talked to an expert to get tips for making the most of your listings on the app.

Online consignment works similar to its brick-and-mortar cousin. You’ll send in your items, and the site will sell them for you. Some make you an offer and pay upfront, but most make you wait for payment until an item sells.

You can even sell your wedding dress on consignment — and make another frugal bride very happy!

7. List Your Wares on Ebay, Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace

To sell your items locally without commandeering the garage for a weekend, turn to these online staples.

If you have rare or antique items you think could go for big bucks, list them on Ebay to connect with collectors and other bigger-ticket buyers.

List pretty much anything else on your local Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. Follow these tips (for either) to make your listing more attractive and to stay safe from scammers.

If you’re headed out of town and just want to get rid of stuff as fast as possible, you can list it as a freebie on Craiglist or in a local buy, sell and trade Facebook group.

8. Sell Unique Items Through Online Flea Markets

If you want to think beyond the most saturated markets, look for online flea markets.

These catch-all marketplaces are as quirky and wonderful as their in-person counterparts — minus the dirt and fleas. Their smaller audience could yield better relationships and help you connect with niche buyers for your more unusual pieces.

9. Trade or Sell Exercise Equipment at 2nd Wind

No one wants to impulse buy your unused treadmill at a yard sale.

If you live near a 2nd Wind exercise equipment store, sell it there for a better price — or trade it in for an upgrade.

10. Upcycle Your Furniture and Sell It for More

If you’ve been thrifty about furniture purchases in the past, you could turn a profit by reselling in the right place.

For quality furniture you’ve treated well, try selling to consignment stores.

If you bought cheaper items that were a bit worse for the wear, try sprucing them up with a coat of paint, stain or new hardware. Some buyers will pay a premium for shabby chic — as long as you put a little more emphasis on the “chic.”

11. Donate Everything for a Tax Deduction

Think you can sell your stuff for, say, $700 at a garage sale? You might do better by donating it.

Instead of spending days — or weeks — to earn that $700, spend an hour emptying your closets, storage rooms and garage, and take your unused stuff to a thrift store. Just make sure you leave with a receipt.

Next April, you can claim the fair market value of all that stuff as a tax deduction (if you itemize deductions).

It’s tough to calculate the value of that tax deduction precisely, but let’s try a scenario.

Say you sold a bunch of clothes, baby toys and accessories for less than $1 apiece. That’s well below “fair market value” — no way is the IRS calling a rummage sale a “fair market.” In good used condition, maybe that stuff is worth at least $5 apiece.

For reference, here’s Goodwill’s “Donation Value Guide.”

Donating those items means you could claim a tax deduction of around $3,500 (five times the rummage sale value).

At a 15% tax rate, that deduction would save you $525 in taxes for the year.

With your time gathering stuff to donate and itemizing your tax deductions, you’ll invest maybe two hours into that $525? That’s $262.50 an hour.

You could spend up to 12 hours packing for the thrift store and doing taxes, and you’d still earn more for your time than hosting a rummage sale.

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a senior writer/newsletter editor at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).

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

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Amazon Wants to Make Whole Foods Organic Baby Kale Affordable for All of Us

Remember when Amazon was just an online bookstore?

No, seriously, it was.

Now it is the easy go-to for just about anything we want to buy without having to put on pants and go out in public.

Now Amazon is expanding its reach beyond the cyber-world by purchasing Whole Foods Market. While some may fear Amazon is getting too big and too powerful, there is a silver lining to this cloud.

Avocados are getting cheaper.

Whole Foods Prices Will Start Falling on Monday

In typical Amazon fashion, things will start happening with crazy speed. Even though the deal between the two companies is just being finalized on Monday, prices on certain items are already set to go down that same day.

So what can you expect to find for less? Here are the items mentioned in Amazon’s press release:

• Whole Trade bananas

• Organic avocados

• Organic large brown eggs

• Responsibly farmed salmon and tilapia

• Organic baby kale and baby lettuce

• Animal welfare-rated 85% lean ground beef

• Organic Gala and Fuji apples

• Creamy and crunchy almond butter

• Organic rotisserie chicken

• 365 Everyday Value organic butter

We don’t know just how far the prices will drop, but any price drop is good, right? These are just a few items. Amazon promises that there will be much more to come.

It Pays to Be Prime

Eventually, Amazon will also work in some benefits for Amazon Prime members who shop at Whole Foods.

“Amazon Prime will become Whole Foods Market’s customer rewards program, providing Prime members with special savings and other in-store benefits,” said Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon Worldwide Customer, in the news release.

Sweet!

As if that’s not enough, some of Whole Foods Market’s private label products like 365 Everyday Value, Whole Foods Market, Whole Paws and Whole Catch will become available through Amazon.

Whole Foods Market stores will even have lockers where you can pick up your Amazon orders. Take that, porch pirates!

Is the Amazon acquisition of Whole Foods Market a good thing? Only time will tell. But for now, we’ll be happy to grab our groceries and still have a little paycheck left over.

Tyler Omoth is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder who loves soaking up the sun and finding creative ways to help others. Catch him on Twitter at @Tyomoth.

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

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San Diego Vodka Makers Aim to Save the Earth, One Uneaten Twinkie at a Time

Use Your Grammar Nerdery to Make Some Cash With This Editing Side Gig

Have you ever written a letter to the editor of your local paper to gripe about silly spelling mistakes?

Is your idea of a good time curling up in your pajamas with a thick, heavy book?

If so, you’re probably a grammar geek.

Don’t worry, you’re among friends. And if you have a year of editing experience, you’re also eligible for a side gig that will let you work from home and set your own hours.

And be sure to check out The Penny Hoarder Jobs page on Facebook for all sorts of opportunities like this — and more!

Work From Home With These Part-Time Editing Jobs

Elite Editing, a New York City-based proofreading, editing and writing company, is looking for freelance editors for what it describes as a “major client project.”

The job is remote, and you don’t have to log specific hours as long as you meet deadlines, according to the posting on Indeed. It’s a contract-based gig that pays by the word.

The job posting does not say how much you get paid or for how long the contract runs, but we’ve reached out to the company for more information and will update this post as soon as we hear back.

The posting does note you’ll be required to edit between two and four manuscripts a month — child’s play for us grammar geeks!

While the listing mentions guidance, feedback, support and encouragement from management among the perks, you should know Elite Editing has mixed reviews on Glassdoor. Some former freelancers complained about low pay for the time they put in.

And beware: You might get stuck with a Ph. D dissertation.

Requirements for This Work-From-Home Job

Here are some requirements for the job based on the job listing and a description of editors on Elite Editing’s website:

• One year of editing experience

• A degree from a U.S. college

• Be a native English speaker

You’ll have to pass the company’s “patented editing and proofreading test,” which they say is tough, and sign a confidentiality agreement.

If this sounds like your dream job, click here to apply.

And, regardless of the outcome, keep up your grammar vigilance — writers like me depend on it.

Alex Mahadevan is a data journalist at The Penny Hoarder.

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

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Dunkin’ Donuts Is Giving Away Free (and Fabulously Froufrou) Coffee Samples

As I sit here and write this, I’m drinking a large hazelnut coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts. So when I say I’ve got a good deal comin’ in hot for ya, I mean it.

If you love the sweet nectar of the gods known as coffee (if you don’t, may I ask what is wrong with you????), listen up: You have the chance to score free coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts. RIGHT. NOW.

Mmmm. Score.

How to Get Free Coffee From Dunkin’ Donuts

From now until Aug. 30, Dunkin’ Donuts is giving away free trial samples of its new Bakery Series coffee flavors. And these flavors aren’t your regular old boring morning roast — they are intensely froufrou. Watch out, Starbucks.

The new flavors include blueberry pancake, dulce de leche cookie and coconut caramel. I’m more of a cold brew gal, but hey, they’re free.

Anyways, to grab your free samples, all you need to do is log on to the Dunkin’ Donuts promotions page, enter your information, agree to the terms and conditions, and you’re all set!

The deal is limited to one sample per person, email address and household. Dunkin’ says the samples will be mailed within six weeks.

Oh, and might I add: Starting Aug. 28, you can vote for your favorite flavor at dunkinathome.com — and be entered to win a year’s worth of that flavor or, you know, a measly $5,000.

Yes, you read that right: $5,000.

You can vote every day until Oct. 31.

Good luck!

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

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

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Best American Express Credit Cards for 2017

If you like rewards, you’re going to love American Express. Depending on which American Express card you choose, you can earn cash toward your statement, Delta SkyMiles®, Hilton Honors™ points, Starpoints® to use on the Starwood hotel network, a certificate toward the purchase or lease of a Mercedes-Benz, American Express Membership Rewards® Points, or Plenti® points.

So which card should you choose? If you read that list of rewards and immediately thought “I stay at Starwood hotels all the time!” or “I want Plenti® points!” then your decision will be obvious. For the rest of us, I examined American Express’ 12 credit cards and their reward options, and came up with five top picks:

The Simple Dollar’s Top Picks

• 
  Best for cash back
• 
  0% interest and great rewards
• and The Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card from American Express*
  Best for points
• Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card
  Best travel perks — but only on Delta

Although all of American Express’ cards offer rewards, I focused on the ones that either offered rewards that would appeal to the largest group of people (not everybody’s going to be interested in the Mercedes-Benz Card from American Express, for example) or that offered high-value rewards, such as a free companion flight every year.

Best for Cash Back

If you’re hoping to earn cash back on your purchases, you want one of American Express’ Blue Cash credit cards.

If you make a lot of purchases at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, and select U.S. department stores, the might be worth the $95 fee. Let’s say your grocery budget is $700 per month; 6% of that gets you $42 cash back a month, so you’d earn back the cost of your annual fee in just over two months. Everything else is just gravy — but you should do the math on your own purchase history to determine if the is right for you.

0% interest and great rewards

With the , you’ll earn $100 back after you spend $1,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. Other perks include earning 3% at US supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases — beyond that, you’ll still earn 1%.

In addition to these cash back rewards, the also boasts no annual fee.

Be aware that all of the cash you earn from both Blue Cash cards comes in the form of statement credits, which means you can only use it to pay down your statement — that $42 from the example above you’d use on your next credit card bill. (Occasionally, though, American Express may give you other ways for you to redeem your cash back rewards, such as merchandise or gift cards.)

Best for Points

If you’re looking to rack up American Express Membership Rewards® Points, get your hands on .

This card is designed to help you earn Membership Rewards® Points, which can be used to help pay off eligible charges. Membership Rewards® Points can also be used to make purchases via American Express Travel, buy gift cards, and more (you can check out American Express’ Membership Rewards® site for the full details).

If you can afford the $95 annual fee, you’ll get significantly more benefits with — and since you can use Membership Rewards® Points for everything from charitable donations to Uber rides, it might be worth the annual fee if you’re committed to getting as many Membership Rewards® Points as possible.

Here’s just one example from the vast Membership Rewards® Points catalog: You can get a $25 Home Depot gift card for 2,500 points. So, if you had , you could earn that $25 gift card by spending $834 on groceries and earning 3 points per dollar. If you had , you’d have to spend $1,250 on groceries to get your 2,500 points and your $25 gift card.

Here’s the real question: Is it better to get an American Express card that gives you rewards in cash, or in points?

I’m always in favor of cash, simply because I know what the value of cash is. I also like the idea of earning simple statement credits, instead of navigating the overwhelming amount of options that you can purchase through the Membership Rewards® catalog. It’s also worth noting that the Blue Cash cards let you earn extra cash back at department stores, and the Amex EveryDay® cards don’t — so I’m slightly partial to Blue Cash.

Best Travel Perks

American Express offers three different Delta credit cards, and the Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card hits the sweet spot between the perks you’ll receive and the annual fee you’ll pay for the privilege.

The Platinum Delta SkyMiles® will cost you a $195 annual fee, but you get the impressive list of benefits mentioned above.

If you’re not into that $195 annual fee, you can apply for the instead, but you’ll lose the 20% savings on in-flight purchases and the domestic round-trip companion ticket. (You know that ticket is going to be worth more than $195.) The base mile earnings are the same — 2 miles per dollar on Delta purchases, 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases — but you’ll earn smaller mile bonuses and won’t get the Annual Miles Boost™.

If you want to max out your Delta SkyMiles® experience, there’s always the Delta Reserve Credit Card from American Express, but be careful — this one comes with a $450 annual fee and the perks are only slightly better than the perks you’ll get with Platinum Delta SkyMiles®. Your mile bonuses are higher with the Delta Reserve Credit Card, and you’ll get free access to the Delta Sky Club® lounge, but that might not be worth the extra cost.

This isn’t the only travel card American Express offers. If you’re a Hilton Honors™ member, you’ll definitely want to check out the Hilton Honors™ Card from American Express and the , and it also has the if you want to earn Starpoints® toward hotels in the Starwood network. However, I chose to highlight its Delta cards because I like cards where you can see the tangible value of what you’re getting — like a free flight, free checked bags, and 20% off in-flight purchases — instead of cards that put you into a sometimes confusing points system.

Heads-up: American Express also offers three “charge cards” in addition to its 12 credit cards.

With a charge card, you can charge as much as you want to your account — as long as you pay it off in full every month. , the , and the each come with their own rewards and perks, so check them out if you’re interested in learning more about the charge card experience.

The Bottom Line

All of American Express’ credit cards have lengthy and sometimes complicated rewards systems, so read through everything carefully before deciding which card is best for you. Remember that American Express wants you to earn rewards, so they’ve set it up to make sure you get something from nearly every purchase — it’s up to you to decide what that something should be.

The post Best American Express Credit Cards for 2017 appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Parking lot causing volunteer fire company headache

MOUNT POCONO — While the Pocono Mountain Volunteer Fire Company is used to fighting battles close to home, they never thought they would find themselves in one over a parking lot.The fire company and the Monroe County Conservation District are butting heads over a parking lot built without proper permits that the district believes could do harm to the environment.“Obviously the fire company does not want to pollute anything, which we haven’t and have [...]

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How to Choose the Right Color Schemes for Your Ecommerce Shop

It seems crazy, doesn’t it?

Something as abstract as color can influence the decisions people make.

I’m not just talking about everyday decisions, but those with real consequences for your business.

I mean the kind that impact your bottom line.

That’s not an unfounded claim. Research has shown that color accounts for 85% of an individual’s purchasing decision:

Shocking, I know.

But there is some fascinating science behind it.

It’s called color psychology, and I’ll explore some of it in this post.

First, I want to make something clear.

I’ve seen claims that merely making a switch from one color to another is the magic bullet for sky-high conversion rates.

That’s insane.

Conversion optimization is a bit more complex than that.

So is color psychology.

There’s no universal best color to use on your ecommerce website.

And no amount of psychological hacking can influence a customer if your product and messaging aren’t aligned with their desires.

With that said, using the right color schemes can have a massive impact on the way customers interact with your website.

These interactions can ultimately lead to more sales and more revenue.

It’s worth noting many variables influence people’s responses to color.

In this post, I’ll get into a few of these elements and ways you can use them to make the best creative decision for your ecommerce shop.

1. Choose colors for your brand and not just your ecommerce store

Too obvious?

You’d be amazed at the number of people who forget that choosing the right color scheme is a branding choice.

If you have no brand, it’s impossible for you to make the right decision when it comes to visual elements.

Don’t think about your store as separate from all the other aspects of your business.

The color scheme you select has to be consistent across all your business assets. I’m talking about social media, business cards, blog graphics, etc.

Before you even think about colors, get crystal clear about your brand. When you have that insight, it will be much easier to relate it to the world in visual terms.

And guess what?

You don’t need to go on a philosophical tangent to tell people who you are and what you stand for.

In fact, the best brands are ridiculously simple—yet very impactful—in their messaging.

Use the following exercises to help you gain clarity.

• In one sentence, express who you are, what you do, and whom you do it for.
• Think about one word that describes your ideal customer.
• How about one word that describes your brand?
• Decide how you want people to feel about your business.
• What problem do you solve for customers and how do they feel after it’s been solved?

Take a note of your answers. You’ll need them in the second step.

2. Apply color psychology

In the exercises above, I place a lot of emphasis on feeling.

Why?

All decisions, including purchasing decisions, are emotional.

And that is why colors are so impactful when it comes to getting people to take action.

Colors evoke emotions.

Think about it.

It’s why you’d wear a red outfit if you want to be a show stopper. That’s what red does.

If you entered a room and the dominant color was black, you’d feel a sense of sophistication and luxury. That’s the response that black evokes.

Why do we associate emotions with colors?

It’s part of our conditioning.

And it’s not just emotions. Concepts, actions, and qualities are all evoked from visual cues such as color.

That’s great news for your business. Consider the colors known to evoke the feelings you want your customers to have.

Want to come across as trustworthy and dependable? Consider blue.

Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter all use this color for a reason.

Have you ever noticed there’s also an abundance of blue in the financial industry?

It’s the color of security and trustworthiness, which is what you want people to feel when you’re handling their money.

PayPal uses it.

So does Citigroup.

And many others like Goldman Sachs.

That’s just one example where color is used to bring out a desired emotion.

Here are the feelings other colors evoke (both positive and negative):

And some more …

Note: This is theoretical information.

The truth is, color psychology is more nuanced than that.

Other variables need to be considered, which I’ll explore in the following points.

3. Consider your industry and your products

The space you operate within matters.

So does the product you sell.

I’ll explain with some examples.

Soft feminine colors like pink, baby blue, and light green are dominant in the beauty industry. That’s because a large percentage of beauty brands are geared towards women.

Take Sephora for instance.

Or Estee Lauder.

Black, gold, and silver are prominently used in the luxury automobile industry.

Take Lexus for instance.

Brands with a health and eco-conscious focus, like Babyganics, gravitate towards greens, blues, and yellows.

Again, these are just a few examples.

I recommend you visit the ecommerce stores in your industry.

Examine their color schemes and other visual elements.

What works and what doesn’t?

What are some patterns that show up across the board?

You don’t have to use them, but it helps to get a sense of what’s happening within your industry.

You may even decide that a particular color is represented too much in your industry. To differentiate your brand, you can take an alternate path.

At least if you know what’s out there, you’ll be deviating consciously and not by accident.

4. Consider your target demographic

This is one of the most crucial considerations.

People have different color preferences. This means they’ll respond differently to visual cues.

Do you see how this can be tricky?

If your business targets a broad demographic, it can be difficult to pick an appropriate color scheme.

It speaks to the importance of niching down and catering to a well-defined group of people.

Whether you have a narrow or wide niche, factors such as gender, culture, and age do have an impact on color preference.

Let’s say your business targets both men and women. If you used a feminine color, you’d isolate half of your prospect pool.

The same goes for culture.

While white represents purity in the West, it communicates a whole different story in Asia.

Age has a similar effect.

In many parts of the Caribbean, purple is the color of death. But that’s mainly a social conditioning of the older generation.

With a young crowd, purple is a royal and sensual color. That’s even more so for the young female generation.

You have to consider the people you serve.

Define all the demographic factors representing them. And make a decision based on that.

5. Use the right color usage pattern

By now, you’ve seen color psychology has many nuances.

Everything—from your industry to the specifics of the people you serve—has a part to play.

What does that mean for your business?

There’s no right answer to the color question.

It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution.

But doesn’t that put you back at square one?

If there are so many variables, you can’t possibly know what to use.

There’s an easy solution.

Use a color pattern that’s visually appealing.

So simple but so effective.

Think of it this way.

The other considerations, like industry, gender, age, and culture, are there to make sure you don’t choose the wrong color.

It’s so you don’t isolate any part of your customer base by being inconsiderate to their social conditioning.

But the dominant deciding factor should be what has the most visual appeal.

This means choosing colors that complement and contrast each other well.

I’ve made this super easy with a three-step formula.

Step #1: Choose a core color.

This will serve as your base.

It will be the color you use the most. I recommend one that reflects the feeling you want to evoke in your customers.

For instance, Quick Sprout’s core color is green.

Step #2: Choose a color complementary to your core color.

Your secondary color should be something that contrasts well with your base.

A good rule of thumb is to select a color opposite of your dominant color on a color wheel.

It’s important that you use the wheel.

Why?

Many people assume that because two colors are different from each other, they contrast each other well.

That’s not the case.

The color wheel is a perfect representation of the relationship between primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.

When you use it, you’re relying on the proven principles of color theory to determine the right contrast.

Step #3: Choose a color that pops against the other two.

Finally, you need an accent color.

This is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle.

Why?

Your pop color is what you’ll use for your calls to action.

I highly recommend you use it only when you want your web visitors to take a particular action.

It can be to sign up for a lead magnet, purchase a product, or click on a link.

This way, you condition your web visitors to act when they see your accent color.

Map all the touchpoints on your website that lead your prospects down your sales funnel.

These are the points where you want to use this color.

Let’s look at Ramit Sethi’s blog as an example.

Yellow is, of course, his accent color.

What’s more insightful is how he uses it.

Every call to action is yellow.

Here’s a call to read more of his content:

He asks users to enroll in one of his courses:

If you have a problem or questions, he clues you in to speak to live support:

It’s a very subtle visual cue to encourage people to act.

And I bet it works exceptionally well.

How do you choose your accent color?

Let’s go back to the wheel. Since you’re using three colors in your scheme, you want to form a triad within the color wheel.

Your first two colors will represent the first two points of the triangle.

And your accent color is the last connecting point.

What if you want to use more than three colors?

It’s the same principle. Instead of a triangle, form a square or rectangle within your color wheel.

Most brands use 2-3 colors.

6. Consider user experience when selecting a color scheme

Above all, user experience should come first.

The aspect of user experience most affected by color is readability.

Nothing will make a web visitor hit the back button faster than yellow text on a white background (or some other equally distasteful color scheme).

To avoid that, you want to choose colors high in contrast.

White background and black text do the trick.

You can experiment more with graphics. Just be sure to check the contrast value on the colors to see if they complement each other.

7. Color psychology is not an exact science

By now, you may have noticed a ton of factors influence color choices.

Yes, the theories have merit. They’ve been tested and proven to work for some people, but don’t bank on it.

There are many anomalies.

For instance, many studies have shown that both men and women hate orange:

That’s insane!

For one, I love orange.

And many other brands have used this color to great success.

Amazon is a prime example.

That may have something do with the fact that orange has also been proven to encourage impulse shopping.

The point I’m making here is this:

No one color scheme will have people knocking down your door to buy what you’re selling.

It’s not an exact science because there are too many variables.

You should definitely take into consideration the theories that are out there.

But don’t let that restrict you.

Use the colors you love and find appealing.

The key is to test them to see what your customers respond to the best.

Conduct split tests and make color the only variable.

You can’t go wrong there.

Conclusion

I’m a big champion of color theory and all things consumer psychology.

I know first-hand that it works. I’ve seen the results in my business.

But I’m also big on not remaining confined to theory.

Your brand is unique.

And so are your consumers.

The only way to find out what works for them is to put the theories into practice.

See what impact they have and make adjustments from there.

I have no doubt that if you consider all the factors discussed in the article, you’ll find a color scheme that works wonders for your ecommerce business.

How do you use color psychology in your business?

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