Ever since I was little, I've loved helping people. Whether it was giving my friends a snack at lunch, making a card for someone who wasn’t feeling well or helping out my grandfather. For me, it was the one way I knew I could make a difference. It wasn’t until I got older that I […]
The post Meaningful Work-at-Home Jobs Where You Help People appeared first on The Work at Home Woman.
Over the course of a 40-year career, the average American with a bachelor’s degree can expect to earn about $1.8 million.
When viewed by gender, the cumulative earnings shift somewhat, with women taking home $1.4 million over four decades compared to an average of $2.1 million for men, according to estimates by the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business,
The substantial gender pay gap aside, when viewed in this way, it becomes far more obvious just how valuable one’s career can be. And those figures are just the averages. For those who manage a career as actively and shrewdly as they might an investment portfolio, aggressively working to maximize its potential as a financial asset all along the way, a career’s worth of earnings could be worth far, far more.
“The most important part of thinking of your job as an investment is actually pretty basic: realizing that you don’t just have to make an investment, you have to manage it as well,” says from Emmet Savage, chief investor at MyWallSt, a learning and investing app.
What does that mean exactly? Here are some ways to help make the most of your career arc and the amount of financial gain, growth, and opportunity you realize over the course of a lifetime.
In many ways, treating your career as a multimillion-dollar investment begins with altering the way you view work in general.
“For most people, a job is just that. Something they do as a ‘must’ to pay bills without really thinking about their end goal or ideal outcomes,” says 35-year-old Greg Dorban, chief marketing officer for Ledger Bennett.
Dorban, however, never viewed work on such simplistic terms. In the space of just five years, he progressed from intern to co-owner of a multinational marketing agency that generates eight-figure revenues, a meteoric rise he attributes to starting out with a much broader view of work than merely making ends meet.
Early on Dorban established a North Star for himself – the goal of owning a business in short order. This shining beacon guided his subsequent steps, inspiring him to take actions to rise above the day to day hustle of earning a living, including consistently investing in himself and in the training needed to maximize his professional potential.
“Building the right skills will be the best investment you can make as the payoff positively impacts so many areas of your life, not just your wallet,” says Dorban.
The underlying message of his story, Dorban adds, is that when considering your career, allow yourself to think bigger than simply bringing home a paycheck to cover the next rent or mortgage payment. Then identify the training, new skills, or specific experiences and growth opportunities needed to reach that higher goal.
The idea of always being “on” and bringing your professional A-game wherever you go can be off-putting to some, but there’s something to be said for recognizing the potential of all situations, including the most ordinary of moments.
Erica McCurdy, a certified master coach and managing member of McCurdy Solutions Group, calls this utilizing and maximizing the benefits of everything you do, which she says can accelerate the power of your time and efforts with regard to your career.
This includes “making sure to introduce yourself to everyone at a meeting and at every place you pause on the way to and from the meeting,” says McCurdy. It also means collecting business cards, connecting with each person on LinkedIn, including a personal message, and scheduling coffee meetings with those people who pique your interest.
“Never forget to send thank you notes to those who helped make the day possible,” adds McCurdy. “Finish up the day by updating your career and contact log so you don’t lose any valuable information.”
There are countless points along the way where you might come into contact with someone who can open a new door for you or somehow play a pivotal role in moving your career to the next level, so keep your eyes open to the possibilities.
Maximizing your earnings over the course of a career also means taking some very practical steps as well with the financial opportunities your career presents.
This includes being sure to enroll in an employer sponsored 401(k) plan, particularly if the employer matches your contributions, as that match is free money and can add up over the course of a lifetime.
“The first and best advice I give to new hires is to contribute the maximum to their 401(k),” says careers analyst Laura Handrick of FitSmallBusiness.com. “Many don’t understand the concept of compound interest, so as an HR professional, it’s important to educate employees.”
Handrick also suggests that if your company offers financial planning workshops, be sure to attend. This is another opportunity to expand your financial skills at no cost to you.
But 401(k) matches are merely one example of the financial opportunities available through your workplace.
Many companies offer tuition reimbursement programs to help cover the costs of continuing education for employees who want to go back to school and obtain degrees or certifications.
Brent Michaels, a registered nurse and creator of the website Debt & Cupcakes, says these offers have financial value on multiple levels.
“I graduated from nursing school with minimal student loan debt and have been able to work toward my Bachelor of Science in nursing and other certifications without spending a dime,” he explained. “In addition, as I complete classes, I grow professionally and personally, and the knowledge from these courses helped me secure promotions and business opportunities that would not have been available to me otherwise.”
Even just earning certifications, says Michaels, allows him to stand out as a motivated employee, which pays off in spades over the long run.
Obtaining an advanced degree or certification isn’t the only way to distinguish yourself and maximize career earning potential. Many employers offer on the job training related to specific tasks the organization deems important, said Michaels. Don’t pass up this opportunity, either. You may also want to actively search out such opportunities if they’re not openly available.
“I knew that project management was needed for a promotion I was hoping to obtain in the future, but I had no experience. I intentionally volunteered to work on projects so that I could network with the project managers,” he explained. “I developed relationships and obtained free project management training. This cost nothing more than my time, and allowed me to secure a promotion a few years later that increased my salary by over 25 percent.”
Your network is everything; use it to maximize your ROI.
“Let’s face it, you can have the best resume, you can be the best employee out there, but having people of trust who can vouch for you is irreplaceable. Nothing can beat that,” begins Peter Koch, creator of the site Seller at Heart, which is focused on how to save and make extra money.
Koch is obviously on to something: As many as 85% of jobs are filled via networking, according to a LinkedIn survey.
“This means that when you’re searching for new career opportunities to boost your pay, it really is who you know,” continues Koch. “If you’re able to make good impressions on others in your field and provide value to them, they’ll be happy to recommend you next time their company has an opening you could fill. Employers want to build a team of people they trust, and a personal recommendation from a colleague will always carry more weight than an unknown applicant emailing their resume.”
Need an added reason why networking is so important? Switching jobs is often a better way to increase your salary more significantly, as opposed to waiting for a raise at your current company. In fact, those who leave their employers to take a new job are realizing pay raises that are about one-third larger than those who stay put.
As of this past July, wages for job hoppers grew 3.8% from a year earlier, compared with 2.9% for those who opted to stay with their current employer, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
All of these tips and tactics really lead to what career coach Denise Riebman refers to as “leaning out” with your career. Ribeman recently gave a keynote speech about building your career capital — here’s what that means.
“It’s really about doing a skill and knowledge gap analysis and asking where you do you want to go to in your career and investing in yourself to get there,” she explains. “See who is a couple chapters ahead of you and identify the gaps to get there.”
And like Koch, Riebman says a critical part of leaning out means actively expanding that professional network, or having what she calls an “open network,” which will ultimately help you to be more successful professionally and financially over the long term.
“Traditionally people like to stay in our tribes, among people we know, people we went to school with,” said Riebman. “The problem is that those people have same ideas and same information as you. Having an open network is about building your career capital.”
Mia Taylor is an award-winning journalist with more than two decades of experience. She has worked for some of the nation’s best-known news organizations, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the San Diego Union-Tribune.
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Once a month (or so), I share a dozen things that have inspired me to greater personal, professional, and financial success in my life. I hope they bring similar success to your life.
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” ― Marcus Aurelius
If you feel miserable because of your job or because of how your friend treated you or because of the weather, that miserable feeling isn’t caused by those things. It’s caused by you and how you choose to react to them.
You have the power to decide what impact anything outside of your own skin has on you. If a friend treats you poorly, you can let it bring down your mood, or you can just shrug it off and do something else. If your job is difficult, you can feel bad about it or you can view it as a fun challenge to overcome.
You decide. You choose how everything outside of your own skin affects your feelings. If you let those things bring you down, you’re choosing to allow that to happen. You’re choosing to let external things have power over your internal life.
It takes a great deal of practice to wrest that power back if you’ve spent your life letting other people and other things dictate your emotion, but it’s a path well worth it.
From the description:
Social psychologist Thomas Curran explores how the pressure to be perfect — in our social media feeds, in school, at work — is driving a rise in mental illness, especially among young people. Learn more about the causes of this phenomenon and how we can create a culture that celebrates the joys of imperfection.
The drive for perfectionism is almost entirely a bad thing. Perfection is something attained only in the most fleeting of moments, and if you spend your life trying to attain it – or some image of it – over and over again, only to repeatedly fail to get there, you’re going to end up with a life full of despair.
This does not mean that trying to better yourself is bad. Actually, quite the opposite – the healthiest approach to life I’ve ever tried is a simple effort to try to make today a little better than yesterday in the things I care most about. I just figure out where I want to be in life and I put in some effort today to get a little closer to that destination. Ideally, I go to bed in a slightly better place than when I woke up. Over time, though, my idea of where I want to be shifts, so the journey is never complete – and that’s okay, because it’s the journey that’s worthwhile, not the destination.
If I go to bed each night thinking that today was a good day and knowing that I took a step or two forward on some things I care about, life is always good. If I go to bed feeling like I fell short of perfection yet again, life is always bad.
I know which of those paths I prefer.
“Don’t make a habit out of choosing what feels good over what’s actually good for you.” – Eric Thomas
This is a constant battle in life. If I always chose the thing that felt good, I would never find financial success. I would never find health. I’d never find a lot of flavors of happiness, because many flavors of happiness rest on a foundation of achievement and that requires doing things that are good, not just things that feel good.
When people succeed at something, they’ve often spent many, many years making hard choices that you never see. They stayed home to study when they could have gone out. They ate oatmeal for breakfast instead of a sugary coffee and a bagel. They chose to spend less money in a situation where it might have been fun in the moment to spend more. They went to the gym instead of resting on the couch and watching Netflix. And they did that over and over again.
No one should pretend that those choices are easy. They’re not easy. Yet, in the long run, those harder choices result in a much better life.
You’re given these choices every day, many times a day. Will you choose the thing that feels good? Or will you choose the thing that’s good for you?
I’ve written in the past about how the default “Reminders” app for iPhones has been incredibly helpful in terms of helping me achieve my goals, but I’ve actually migrated from Reminders to Due in the last couple of months, for a number of reasons.
Both apps have the same core function of enabling you to set reminders for yourself that go off at the time that you set, but Due stands apart for simultaneously being easier to create new reminders – especially repeating ones – and also being much more robust in terms of the options available to you. It’s just a better reminders app, and it has timers integrated as well (I use those for things like timing my tea as it steeps and so on).
I don’t use it for things that I have to do. It doesn’t contain my big checklist of things to do for the day, which I keep elsewhere. Rather, I use Due to nudge me to do things throughout the day. I have reminders of things like “drink a glass of water” or “think about what you want to do with the kids when they get home” or “don’t eat too much at lunch.” They automatically go off at various points throughout the day, and they can easily be shut off entirely if I prefer that on a particular day.
It’s just a great, useful, well-designed app from top to bottom, and it nudges me in a lot of areas of my life.
“Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, therein lies your vocation. These two, your talents and the needs of the world, are the great wake up calls to your true vocation in life… to ignore this, is in some sense, is to lose your soul.” – Aristotle
What are you good at? What does the world need? How can you channel the thing you’re good at into something the world needs? Right there is a recipe for a career or, at the very least, a side gig.
I’m good at being able to consistently write solid, earnest, and reasonably thoughtful material day in and day out. Many people in the world seem to need some nudging when it comes to their finances. Boom – there’s The Simple Dollar’s recipe.
In my previous career path, I was good at being able to dig through data sets to find answers for scientists in a particular field, mentally translating their scientific questions into meaningful extractions of data. I was good at data mining. The world – or at least that particular world of science – needed some questions to be answered about some large data sets. Boom – there was my career.
What are you good at? What does the world need? Those are the two questions you should be asking yourself every time you find yourself at a professional crossroads.
I’m currently in the middle of reading this book, but it’s already swept me off my feet with tons of good ideas about how to reduce digital intrusion in my life.
The key idea is that technology should support a robust life, not supplant it. Technology is merely a means to an end, not the end itself. If a technological tool helps you to do something worthwhile, that’s great, but the worthwhile thing should be entirely independent of technology and the path to get there should only involve technology if it helps you get there more efficiently.
When I’m trying to focus on work, notifications don’t help me, so I turn them off. I can always look at them later. Blindly visiting websites almost never helps me, so I’m basically trying to cut that out of my life. Many of the apps on my phone are distractions when I’m idle rather than meaningful tools on their own, so I’m in the process of getting rid of the ones that aren’t meaningful tools on the path of the things I want to do. My smartphone’s home screen right now is nothing but apps that are there to help me accomplish real world goals, not digital distractions.
I want less virtual and more real in my life. It’s something I’ve desired for a long while, but it can be difficult with my career choices and the current state of the world. Newport’s book is just hitting it right on the head.
“I understand there’s a guy inside me who wants to lay in bed, smoke weed all day, and watch cartoons and old movies. My whole life is a series of stratagems to avoid, and outwit, that guy.” – Anthony Bourdain
The lazy guy inside of me would be perfectly happy to never exercise, eat a lot of unhealthy food, and spend a lot of time playing computer games. The lazy guy inside of me would be really unhealthy and out of shape and be a pretty pitiful father and husband and friend.
That lazy guy inside of me is the enemy. I’m almost always better off over any time frame other than maybe the next hour or two by doing the opposite of what he wants me to do. He’s actually a great guide, because I just try to do the opposite of whatever he tells me.
I don’t always succeed. Sometimes he talks me into wasting time or eating unhealthy food or being lazy. It might feel good for the moment, but I end up feeling like garbage and my life certainly isn’t any better because of it.
It took me far too many years to realize that.
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn
Life is always coming at you. There’s always something more on the ol’ to-do list. There’s always some unexpected event that comes crashing into your life. There’s always something not going according to plan. There’s always something more on the calendar.
You can certainly choose to feel overwhelmed by those things. You can hide under the covers. You can skip over a lot of the things you should be doing and let things build up.
On the other hand, you can just learn how to best deal with the onslaught of stuff. You can learn the best way to handle a rough day. You can go to bed at the end of the day feeling good about all of the stuff that you were able to handle.
You can drown or get knocked about by the waves. You can refuse to participate and just sit on the beach. Or you can get out there and surf, maybe falling off your board sometimes, but sometimes riding that wave and feeling that moment of bliss of having done something.
This is an utterly charming animated short done in a unique style that won the Best Short Animation award at the 2018 AACTA Awards. It’s well worth watching.
What really captured me is that the animation uses no words and no human characters, yet it manages to convey a wide range of human emotion with incredible clarity and strength. It conveys love more powerfully than most romantic comedies with supposedly great human actors and actresses that I’ve ever seen.
The team behind Lost and Found, most notably director Andrew Goldsmith, director and writer Bradley Slabe, and producer Lucy J. Hayes (just the front people of a much larger team), are incredibly talented and I can’t wait to see where these people go in their careers.
“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something.” – Barack Obama
My great grandmother used to have a wall hanging in her guest bedroom that told the parable of the starfish. Here’s a common version of it:
One day, an old man was walking along a beach that was littered with thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore by the high tide. As he walked he came upon a young boy who was eagerly throwing the starfish back into the ocean, one by one.
Puzzled, the man looked at the boy and asked what he was doing. Without looking up from his task, the boy simply replied, “I’m saving these starfish.”
The old man chuckled aloud. “Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?”
The boy picked up a starfish, gently tossed it into the water and turning to the man, said, “I made a difference to that one!”
Life presents us with an awful lot of beaches full of starfish, situations where solving the whole problem seems so far beyond our capabilities that it’s not worth it to even bother.
Yet, there’s always a piece we can do. There’s always a starfish we can throw back in the water.
I can’t solve child hunger, but I can put some items on the shelf at the local food pantry and make sure that some kid has supper tonight.
I can’t be a perfect parent all the time, but I can be a good parent right at this moment. Same for being a husband. Same for being a writer.
I can’t make everyone in the world like me, but I can be a good friend to this person right in front of me right now.
Focus on the starfish, not the beach.
From the description:
Roy Bahat was worried. His company invests in new technology like AI to make businesses more efficient — but, he wondered, what was AI doing to the people whose jobs might change, go away or become less fulfilling? The question sent him on a two-year research odyssey to discover what motivates people, and why we work. In this conversation with curator Bryn Freedman, he shares what he learned, including some surprising insights that will shape the conversation about the future of our jobs.
Provided that a person has enough money to meet their basic needs, the most important factor to people in terms of their work is the dignity of their work. Are they doing something meaningful in the world? Are they respected in what they do? Those factors make an enormous difference for people. Jobs where you don’t feel like you’re doing anything meaningful or where you don’t feel respected for what you do are jobs that people tend to despise.
The nice thing about this is that most of those jobs that people tend to despise are the ones that are most effectively targeted by AI and robotics. They tend to be low skill jobs with lots of repetition that truly feel like just a cog in the machine. AI and robotics will struggle mightily with many other tasks, and those are the tasks that are often meaningful and fulfilling for people.
Take truck driving. There’s a good chance that automated transportation will happen at some point, but the fulfilling part of the job for many truckers is the sense of being part of something and the actual delivery. The long haul sections are often the unfulfilling part, and that’s the part that AI can handle. I see a future where there are very large warehouses full of trailers that can drive themselves to other warehouses automatically on the interstate system, but rely on actual truckers for the last 10 to 50 miles of delivery, where navigation and accuracy is trickier. This lets truckers keep the meaningful part of their jobs and also go home to their families every night without losing their jobs.
I think this is where AI and robotics will end up in every field. It will gradually chip away at the indignity of jobs, leaving the more meaningful work for people to do for themselves, and that will be a truly great thing.
“It is easier to produce ten volumes of philosophical writings than to put one principle into practice.” – Leo Tolstoy
I enjoy writing articles for The Simple Dollar, but it is undoubtedly true that it’s far easier to write about a principle of self-improvement than to actually put it into practice in my own life.
I can write all day about overcoming temptation, but using those practices in the store when I see something I really want is a whole different level of difficulty. I can certainly learn from that scenario, extract the useful bits, and share them with you, but that’s actually the much easier part.
Understanding what to do is one thing. Actually doing it can be quite another.
The post Inspiration from Marcus Aurelius, Roy Bahat, Bryn Freedman, and More appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
Dear A.,
I have one big thought, and I’m considering the best way to convey it to you. Maybe I’ll send a box of glitter to your doorstep that has a note at the bottom: “NO.” Or maybe I’ll buy some of those big gold letter balloons you see on Instagram and bring them to your house. I’ll be smiling, but the balloons will spell “NO.”
I’m being hyperbolic, but it’s because I’m so excited about your healthy emergency fund. I’m also excited that you’re almost debt-free! You have a lot going for you right now, which is why I implore you: Please do not use your emergency fund to pay off your loan.
This is not an emergency.
You already laid out the reasons not to do this. You have a new baby, a partner and parents living under one roof. If something happens to any of you, you may very well need that $5,000 you’ve stashed away. And while becoming debt-free will help you strive toward self-sufficiency and living on your own terms, you won’t be able to get there if you get saddled with debt due to the costs of an illness, accident or job loss.
This is the part of paying off your debt that’s the hardest. Yes, it’s agonizing to look at your balance when you’re just getting started and think, “Wow, I’m going to be in debt forever. Why am I even trying?”
But the part when you can see the end rapidly approaching? That’s harder. That’s when it becomes more difficult to exercise self-control. The idea of being done runs right over all the logic you’ve put in place, all the planning and plotting.
If you can afford to accelerate your loan payments by scrimping and saving elsewhere, go for it. But don’t put your greater financial safety in jeopardy.
Have a tricky money question? Write to Dear Penny and you might see your question answered in an upcoming column.
Lisa Rowan is a personal finance expert and senior writer at The Penny Hoarder, and the voice behind Dear Penny.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
Want to find freelance gigs on Upwork? It’s going to cost you.
In an April 2 email, Upwork CEO Stephane Kasriel announced plans to charge the platform’s 14 million freelance users to bid on — or in Upwork lingo, “Connect” with — projects and jobs. Freelance membership fees will also increase.
By the end of Summer 2019, freelancers will have to buy “Connects” to express interest in job listings. Connects must be purchased in batches of 10 or more, and each one costs 15 cents. The business that creates the job listing determines how many Connects it costs freelancers to apply, ranging from one to six — or in other words 15 cents to 90 cents.
Using Connects on any given listing is no guarantee of getting the job or project. This feature only shows the business that you’re interested. Connects also expire at the end of the month and must be repurchased, again, in batches of at least 10.
Additionally, Freelance Plus monthly memberships, which include 70 Connects, will increase 50%, from $10 a month to $15. Upwork did not announce the membership price increase in the email from Kasriel, and did not respond to a request for comment from The Penny Hoarder.
Upwork also charges freelancers a 20% service fee for all completed projects. These fees are not affected.
The changes will be in effect for new and existing users by May 2.
All of it adds to the mountain of expenses freelancers already face, including steep quarterly tax considerations and a lack of benefits. The added costs to apply to Upwork gigs, plus the platform’s 20% cut off the top have some freelancers searching for alternatives.
Following the announcement, Upwork freelancers took to Facebook advice groups to discuss the fee changes. And, generally speaking, they’re not happy.
Kayleigh Fossett, an administrative assistant based out of Lakeland, Florida, is new to Upwork and freelancing. She’s discouraged by the changes.
“I feel like I haven’t even got my foot in the door, and there’s already another obstacle,” she said.
So far, Fossett has completed three jobs on Upwork. Getting those three jobs took her 22 proposals or 44 Connects. Under the announced changes, it would cost Fossett $6.60 to land those projects.
“Plus, they take the additional 20% when you do complete a job,” she said. “It is not worth it. I will be looking elsewhere for work.”
Some proponents of the changes argue that the additional costs to apply to gigs will lessen the competition.
Freelance platforms like Upwork make it easier for freelancers to find clients. And that’s a big pain point for most new freelancers, says Laura Poole, a North Carolina-based freelance business owner.
Poole is a non-fiction editor with more than two decades of full-time freelance experience. She trains other freelancers to “be bold and make your own opportunities” at conferences and workshops across the nation.
“[Upwork] should be a launch point,” Poole says. “But you don’t have to be locked into it forever.”
If Upwork fees are too much for you, there are plenty of alternatives to score good freelance work.
In the budding stages of your freelance career? You may be most comfortable with freelance platforms, and Upwork isn’t the only one. Be sure to check out other freelance websites for job opportunities, and compare their fees to find what works best for you.
Some notable examples include Fiverr, Freelancer and Guru — all of which run on a bidding system similar to Upwork’s old fee structure. Their service fees run between 10% and 20% of each project.
PRO-TIP: One of the biggest mistakes beginning freelancers make is pricing themselves too low, Poole says. Factor in the fees and extra work that freelancing entails when setting your hourly rates.
According to Poole, freelancing is all about networking. The more people you know, the less you’re beholden to the ever-growing services fees of freelance websites.
“Figure out who your ideal client is,” she says. “Then go directly to your clients.”
Poole is a member of ACES, an international society for editors. She uses the perks of her membership to present at ACES conferences and network with people in her industry. She highly recommends presenting and public speaking.
“If you can present something useful, [clients] will remember you,” she says. “Better than handing out business cards. Better than even placing an ad.”
Several industries popular with freelancers have national organizations, such as the American Advertising Federation and the Society of Professional Journalists. Each organization has local chapters that host events and offer resources to members. Their websites often post niche jobs and freelance opportunities in the industry as well.
PRO-TIP: A great, free resource for freelancers of any field is the Freelancers Union. The organization helps its members with job boards, legal representation, freelancing guides, assistance with hea
Freelance and remote work is booming in popularity. As a result, there are free job boards out there that specialize in this type of work. While they’re not as comprehensive as freelance platforms like Upwork or Fiverr, they do aggregate related jobs… for free.
PRO-TIP: To make your freelance gig search a bit easier, set up email notifications for new job listings. You can typically choose the exact type of job you want and the frequency of each email.
A cold pitch never hurt anyone. The worst a company can do is say no. So find a business or publisher in your field and send them an email.
“A polite, cold email can get good results,” says Poole.
Our guide, The Art of the Pitch, walks you through exactly what to include in the email and gives tips on how to find the right people to pitch.
PRO-TIP: After a successful project, Poole recommends following up with a client to say, “Did you know I can also help with XYZ?” This can help establish recurring work.
Adam Hardy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. He specializes in ways to make money that don’t involve stuffy corporate offices. Read his latest articles here, or say hi on Twitter @hardyjournalism.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
The temptation of chocolate cake is real, but having a pal to cheer you on makes resistance and sticking to your weight-loss goal easier.
The same goes for your financial plans, which is why we love the idea of a “money buddy.”
That’s the person you can share financial goals with, like paying off credit card debt or saving for a house. You can check in together regularly and encourage each other along the way.
Such accountability can actually improve your performance, according to a study published in the Society of Behavioral Medicine. It found that participants who paired up with a virtual partner biked an average of nearly 87% longer than those who rode solo.
And regardless of your goal, simply having someone acknowledge your progress offers psychological benefits, according to Holly Donaldson, founder of Holly Donaldson Financial Planning in St. Petersburg, Florida.
“The gym is a good analogy for it,” she said. “If you have somebody at the gym who counts for you, like your pushups… you’re more likely to do two or three more.
“It reinforces that positive behavior.”
But having a partner also makes it all right to falter without giving up on the bigger goal.
“You have to have someone who’s going to be encouraging even if you don’t make a goal in a specific time frame,” Donaldson said. “You want someone that’s going to say, ‘It’s OK, you’re human.’”
So if you broke your no-spend promise with an afternoon latte, a money buddy is there to encourage you not to throw away your budget — you’ll just start that no-spend plan again tomorrow.
Even if you’ve created a system on your own, regularly checking in with your money buddy allows you to celebrate the wins and recover from the defeats a little more easily. For example, these two friends held each other accountable to pay off a combined $70,000 in debt.
Not sure where to find a money buddy who understands the ups and downs of your particular goals?
Whether it’s paying off credit card debt, improving your credit score or saving for retirement, you’ll find the support you need to reach your financial goals by joining our Penny Hoarder Community.
In the Community, you can pair up with another member, share goals with each other and then check in on each other’s progress. You’ll be able to boost each other up on the tough days and celebrate your victories together as a team.
It’s part of our goal to make this the year of Less Money Stress for everyone.
If you haven’t already joined our Community, be sure to check it out. You don’t need to go it alone. And you don’t need to give up chocolate cake.
Tiffany Wendeln Connors is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
Back when software that would prepare and file your taxes was just a gleam in the internet’s eye, getting tax assistance meant:
1) hiring an expensive tax attorney or CPA, or
2) going to a storefront tax office in a strip mall.
One of the best-known of the tax office chains was—and still is—Liberty Tax. The company was started in Canada in 1997 and opened its first five offices in the USA the following year.
The firm grew rapidly and today is the third largest tax prep franchise in the country with over 4,000 offices.
But since more than one-third of American taxpayers use tax software to prepare and file their returns, it only made sense for Liberty Tax to put its years of tax prep expertise into a computer program.
The result of Liberty Tax’s efforts to enter the tax software world is eSmart Tax software, which proudly advertises itself as “Backed by Liberty Tax.”
eSmart is among the top tax software platforms, for good reason.
What Liberty Tax has done is give taxpayers a choice between getting the benefit of its tax expertise through face-to-face meetings or through eSmart Tax’s online interface. Which is pretty smart, if you think about it.
Some people prefer to sit down with a tax preparer and go over the tax forms together. And there’s something to be said for the personal touch, but it comes at a cost.
The average cost for using Liberty Tax to prepare your return is $191, but the cost of filing a federal and state return with itemized deductions through eSmart Tax is only $71.90 ($34.95 for federal returns and $36.95 for state returns).
Better still, eSmart Tax offers free federal tax return prep for people with simple Form-1040 returns. It’s hard to beat free, right? Be aware, though that eSmart still charges people who use the “free” option $29.99 to file a state return.
eSmart Tax has a lot to offer tax filers, from excellent support systems to help customers work through issues to guaranteed maximum refunds. Let’s take a look at some of eSmart’s standout features.
Some people might hesitate to have their taxes done through an app. After all, everyone’s tax situation is a little different and everyone has questions.
Here’s where eSmart Tax’s connection with Liberty really comes into play: they understand the need for customer support. eSmart Tax customers get free chat and email support. It’s accessible through the company website and via Facebook and Twitter—and it’s available from 9 AM to midnight EST January through April and at reduced hours in other months.
Support is even available even for customers who use the “free” plan.
If you still have issues that can’t be resolved online, you can drop into any one of the more than 3,000 Liberty Tax office and receive help in person.
Problems with the installation or operation of the software are addressed by the company’s technical support team via email. The company pledges to respond to tech support requests within 72 hours.
Some of the biggest and most confusing tax changes this year concern the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its requirements.
eSmart Tax guides taxpayers through the intersection of insurance and taxes and discusses what the recent changes to the law mean for you.
eSmart Tax offers customers two guarantees:
These guarantees are very much in line with those offered by the best in the online tax prep industry.
Like most tax software programs, eSmart comes with a number of versions to benefit tax filers with taxes at varying levels of complexity.
eSmart Tax offers four different plans:
If you have no dependents and don’t own your home, this option is hard to beat. You get live support and guarantees of the largest allowable refund.
Though there is a charge for state tax returns, the total for people with simple tax situation is still very affordable.
File your taxes for free with eSmart Tax>>
People who have dependents and who itemize their deductions will want this edition of eSmart Tax. It’s a little more expensive than comparable options from TaxSlayer and other companies, but it’s still a good value for the money.
This edition is aimed at people who have small businesses or investment income. The software prepares the basic schedules that have to be filed by sole proprietors and investors.
At this level, eSmart Tax offers professional tax advice on how to plan your taxes.
Taxpayers who have real estate investments, have recently sold a home, or who have their own S-corporations will find that they need in this top-of-the-line edition.
eSmart Tax offers the benefit of Liberty Tax’s years of experience at preparing tax returns, adding to the valuable resources that it offers to customers.
You’ll pay a little more than you will with some of their competitors—but only a little. In addition to having your taxes done, you’ll also receive regular tax planning emails called The Daily Deduction that can help you plan your tax strategy.
The one thing that eSmart Tax doesn’t provide is audit assistance.
As an ordinary taxpayer with a straightforward tax situation, your chances of being audited are very, very small—but people with more complex returns may sleep better by going with a tax service that provides help with audits.
The post eSmart Tax Review | Tax Preparation Backed by Liberty Tax appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.
Tony writes in:
I was recently diagnosed with Type II diabetes. My doctor gave me multiple prescriptions and gave me a dietary plan that seems very difficult to follow. I don’t make a whole lot of money and I’m struggling to make ends meet as it is. I am hoping you have some advice.
First of all, when you’re facing a diagnosis like this, your doctor’s instructions and recommendations should be first and foremost in your plans. You should aim to follow what your doctor recommends to the best of your ability, as your doctor knows the specifics of your ailment, other conditions you may have, and so on. A random person on the internet doesn’t know any of those things.
What follows are common sense suggestions that anyone with diabetes should strongly consider. I am not dispensing specific medical advice here; I am not a medical doctor, and even if I were, the specifics of each case are very different and shouldn’t be fixed with a “one size fits all” plan.
So, let’s walk through what I do feel confident advising anyone with diabetes and a frugal mindset should do.
First of all, learn about your illness using free legitimate resources available to you. This doesn’t mean visiting some obscure website that is trying to point you to specific “cures.” This doesn’t mean trying some “natural cure” that someone is promoting. This means seeking out well established and authenticated information.
A good first step is to go to the American Medical Association website and seek out resources related to your illness, or to medical associations specifically related to your ailment. For example, the American Diabetes Association has a great website, including a section on their website devoted to books on diabetes, particularly a section on books for the newly diagnosed.
Take that list of books, go to your local library, and try to find some of the titles on the shelves. If you can’t find many that match up, ask the librarian for help in seeking out books via interlibrary loan.
Take those books home and read them thoroughly, taking notes along the way. Your goal should be to absorb as much information as possible. Your aim should be to have a good understanding of your illness so that you can make sense of the advice your doctor is giving you.
If you’re reading established books on diabetes (or whatever ailment you may have – this strategy is good for almost any widespread ailment), be sure to note practical strategies that you can do yourself. What can you do on a daily basis to improve the symptoms of your ailment or even improve the ailment as a whole?
In general, the practical advice I’ve read from reputable sources on diabetes focuses on weight loss, better dietary choices, and exercise. Again, I’m not offering any sort of medical advice here, only pointing toward the general types of strategies I’ve found when researching diabetes on my own.
As you’re reading, make a giant list of practical steps as you go. What things do these books suggest that you do? What things do these books suggest that you eat? What do these books suggest that you don’t do and don’t eat? Make lists of all of these practical lifestyle steps and cross-check them with the advice given to you by your doctor. If you’re reading reputable materials, most of the advice should line up perfectly.
You’re likely going to find a lot of suggestions for reducing carbohydrates in your diet, getting more exercise, and losing weight. Almost all of those things are practical steps you can do without big expenditures.
In terms of dietary choices for diabetics, you’ll want to compare lists of foods that are encouraged with a list of what foods are inexpensive staples. Some foods that may show up on both lists (I can vouch for inexpensive but you’ll want to check out information regarding your own ailment) are chicken, eggs, oatmeal, non-starchy vegetables (taking advantage of produce sales at your store), and beans of all kinds.
One great step you can take is to compare the suggestions in the meal planning materials provided by your doctor with that list of low cost food staples. So, simply take your doctor’s meal plan and any other food suggestions you find in reputable materials and compare them with low cost staples. What matches up? Those meals should become the strong backbone of your diet going forward.
As you’re making changes like this, talk to your doctor and make sure your changes are in line with what you should be doing with your specific situation. Your doctor will likely be thrilled that you’re so engaged with it and, if you’re reading reputable materials, your suggestions will probably be sensible and will get a big thumbs up from your doctor.
There’s one final big issue that needs to be discussed, and that’s medicine and medical supplies. There’s no question that this is a major expense for most people and it can even be overwhelming for some.
If you’re in a situation where your health insurance does not adequately cover the expenses related to this, ask your doctor for help. Be absolutely frank about it; tell your doctor that it is extremely difficult for you to afford this.
It’s extremely likely that your doctor – or someone in your doctor’s office – will know of resources that you can use to figure out a better insurance solution and find lower cost medications and medical supplies, but you have to take that first step yourself. Many communities have services for people in this exact situation – they don’t have a ton of extra money and are facing intense medical costs, so there are people that will help them find ways to keep that cost low.
The situations in each state and with each person are as varied as the colors of the rainbow, so rather than suggesting specifics, I’ll simply strongly encourage you to be frank with your doctor about the challenges of the expenses and follow up on those resources that they provide.
Much of what will lead to success with fighting back against diabetes are healthy routines, and what makes for healthy routines is your own behavior. You have to be willing to make difficult choices in the moment in order to achieve better health outcomes. The good news is that good behavior choices are almost always free or at least very low cost. Simply having the willpower to say no to a food you shouldn’t be eating doesn’t cost anything. Simply having the willpower to get some exercise by going on a nice walk or doing some exercise at home doesn’t cost anything. The challenge is in your willpower, not your money.
Simply put, the best thing you can do to make an ailment like diabetes inexpensive is to give it your best shot in terms of doing everything right to minimize the symptoms and even reduce the impact of the ailment as a whole. A lot of that comes down to behavior, not buying things. You have to make good choices, and a lot of them.
In my experience, the best way to make good choices when making a personal change is to make those choices have as little resistance as possible, while adding resistance to bad choices. Simply eliminate foods that are unfriendly to diabetes from your home entirely. Give them to food pantries or give them away to friends. Fill your cupboards with foods that are diabetic friendly, especially ones that you happen to like. For example, if I were in this situation, there would be a lot of beans and eggs and oatmeal in my house. A lot.
For things like exercise, do everything you can to establish normal habits that involve moving around more and walking more. If you have an assigned parking spot at work, offer to trade with someone and get one that’s on the far end of the parking lot. Better yet, if you can, just start walking to work if you live within a mile or two. Make it your normal routine to just go on a walk around the block after every time you eat. One great way to reduce the resistance of walking more is to start listening to audiobooks on your phone or to get into a location-based free mobile game like Pokemon Go.
If you have a friend that’s in a similar situation, turn that person into a “buddy.” Go on walks with that person. Share meal tips with that person. Nudge that person a little when needed, and accept their nudging. Talk about how things are going with that person. Most importantly, listen to that person. You might learn more than you think by just carefully considering what that other person is going through. There are often solutions to your own challenges hidden in there, plus by listening and considering carefully, you’re being a more sympathetic and empathetic friend, which is going to solidify that friendship, and that friendship will be so valuable for you when things are challenging.
There may even be free support groups for people with type 2 diabetes in your community. Ask your doctor for information on any such groups, or check Meetup or your local library’s calendar of events to see if there are any such groups in your area. They can be a great resource for finding local resources, support, and friendship.
The most important ingredient in all of this is you. You have to commit to making changes in your life. There is nothing more powerful than that in terms of keeping costs low and actually improving your own health outcomes.
If you want to know more, there’s nothing I can recommend more highly than the website of the American Diabetes Association. Get started there, and then supplement that with reading from their list of books for the newly diagnosed.
Good luck!
The post Frugal Strategies for People Dealing with Diabetes appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
My parents are gifting me £140,000 to pay off my mortgage. Do they or I have to pay tax on this?
Neither of you will have to pay any tax right away on this gift – but there could be inheritance tax (IHT) implications further down the line.
I am assuming the gift is made jointly, which will then count as £70,000 from each of your parents. The first £3,000 from each of them could be offset by their annual gift allowance of £3,000, provided this allowance has not been used elsewhere. They can also bring forward any unused allowance from the previous tax year.
So if they have not used any allowance at all, the first £6,000 from each of them will be free of IHT. The remaining £64,000 each would be counted as part of their estate should they die within seven years.
If their assets go to each other on first death, there would not be any IHT to pay at that stage. However, the £64,000 would reduce the available nil-rate band of £325,000 that is normally passed on to the surviving spouse.
Should they both survive seven years from the date of the gift, it would be out of their estate altogether and there would be no IHT implications.
While some celebrities’ autographs can sell for thousands and are highly collectible, others aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. Here’s the lowdown on who’s on today’s most wanted list and whether to invest in this growing market.
Collecting autographs might seem like the domain of obsessive music, film or sports fans, but it can be an extremely lucrative investment.
Anyone lucky enough to own a top-quality signed photo of a 20th-century icon – the likes of Muhammad Ali, Neil Armstrong, a member of The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe or Elvis, for example – could sell it today for anything between £2,000 and £11,000.
Prices for many famous names – dead or alive – continue to climb and new trends are emerging with buyers across the world eager to hold their own piece of history.
But if this type of alternative investment piques your interest, it pays to tread with care. In a market flooded with fakes, do your homework and only buy from trusted dealers.
Daniel Wade, manager at Paul Fraser Collectibles in Bristol, a specialist in stamps, autographs and memorabilia, says if you go looking for celebrity autographs on auction website eBay, 99% of the time they will be fakes.
“You need to know exactly who you’re dealing with – whether you are buying or selling,” he says. “Always use a reputable dealer with a long and proven track record and certificates of authentication. If you are buying online, make sure the dealer lists their full address and contact details.”
Mr Wade says alarm bells should ring if a dealer can’t provide this information. There are a number of trade associations – The Universal Autograph Collectors Club (Uacc.org), Professional Autograph Dealers Association (Padaweb.org), Autograph Fair Trade Association (Aftal.org.uk) and Real Autograph Collectors Club (Racctrusted.com). These websites have lists of registered dealers (look for registered dealers not just members). If you’re ever in any doubt about a seller, then walk away.
However, for investors who take the right approach and buy wisely there can be rich rewards.
Mr Wade says ‘blue chip’ names will stand the test of time: “There will always be demand for iconic figures in history, particularly someone who died young or didn’t sign many autographs.”
Paul Fraser Collectibles’ PFC40 Autograph Index tracks the value of 40 of the world’s most sought-after signatures since the year 2000, including Princess Diana, JF Kennedy, Albert Einstein, Jimi Hendrix, Nelson Mandela and Walt Disney.
On average, these names have grown in value by 11.7% a year (compound interest) since that time – a healthy return.
The index tracks the value of excellent quality signed photographs (usually 8 x 10 inches), books and magazines, sold by dealers and at auction.
It is not just the obvious ‘classic’ celebrities of music and film whose autographs are in high demand. The most valuable signature in the index is a magazine signed by Steve Jobs, which is worth £40,000 – up around 14% in the past year and up from £500 in 2000.
Mr Wade explains that the Apple founder was notoriously reluctant to sign autographs. This, combined with his early death in 2011 and the iconic status of the Apple brand, makes his signature extremely rare and highly valuable.
Another rapid riser is Stephen Hawking. The physicist’s signature was the best performer of 2018 according to the index – rising 100% from £15,000 to £30,000.
There are few genuine Stephen Hawking autographs as the scientist’s motor neurone disease left him unable to write. He sometimes used thumb-print signatures, and demand for both these and his earlier signature has soared since his death in March 2018.
Demand is also growing for celebrity autographs from the 1980s and 1990s.
Mr Wade says: “Those who grew up listening to Kurt Cobain, Madonna and Michael Jackson are now in their 30s and 40s with money to spend,” he explains. “Many are nostalgic for the past and are looking for this type of signed memorabilia.”
Likewise, the signatures of Princes William and Harry have risen in value as demand has soared. Royal protocol, which prevents the Royal Family signing autographs, means there are few royal signatures in public circulation. Anyone lucky enough to get hold of one could be sitting on a gold mine. A quality signed photo of Prince William would sell for about £2,750, while Harry’s could fetch about £2,000. A Princess Diana signed photo could sell for up to £10,000, according to the PFC40 Index.
Dealers can charge 25% to 35% commission to sell an autograph for you via their contacts or by auction.
Long-established dealer Garry King says he is also seeing similar trends. He runs Autographs.co.uk. As well as dealing in autographs, it offers an authentication services (letters of authentication start from about £30). He is often called as an expert witness in fraud cases, helping Trading Standards and the police to stop criminals selling fakes.
“As the traditional fan base is diminishing for some of the iconic Hollywood and rock and pop names of the mid-20th century, we are seeing demand rise for new names,” he says.
Mr King owns a Michael Jackson autograph, signed on a letterhead from Hamleys toy shop in London. A security guard got the autograph when she was asked to escort the singer around the shop during one of his notorious shopping sprees.
Demand for Jackson’s autograph started to climb after his death in 2009. The security guard sold it to the ‘Posh Pawnbrokers’ in the Channel Four television series in 2015. Mr King, who was working as one of the experts for the show, bought it for £400.
While it is now worth about £800, its value may drop once the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, with its allegations of child sexual abuse, is aired more widely.
Mr King adds: “Any type of scandal – whether proven or not – does affect demand and an autograph’s value. When Rolf Harris was convicted [of indecent assault], it was hard to find a buyer at any price, though they have recovered a bit now.”
Autograph expert Garry King
It is important to look after your investment – sunlight, dust and moisture pose a threat as they can fade or damage your autograph.
Mr King recommends storing autographs in polyester sleeves and only one photo or autograph per sleeve. This is because other types of PVC and plastic sleeves contain chemicals and acids that will damage your photo and autograph over time. Speak to a dealer for storage advice.
If you want to display your autograph, Mr King advises the use of UV filter glass and keeping the frame out of direct sunlight.
Paul Drummond, owner of specialist shop Pleasures of Past Times in central London, which stocks memorabilia and autographs, says signed books are often a good investment, particularly if they have a personal dedication between two famous figures. In contrast, personal dedications – both in books and on signed photographs – are usually worth much less than undedicated autographs.
He says: “I’ve seen unique books come up for sale signed by one person to another, such as John Lennon to Frank Zappa. I have a 1967 poetry book dedicated by William S Burroughs to Ira Cohen in which he writes, ‘Remember Gnaoua?’. This is the pink literary pamphlet Ira Cohen published in Tangier in 1964. A copy of Gnaoua featured on the cover of Bob Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home album. Small dedications such as this add interest and value.”
One area to avoid is contemporary footballers. Mr King will not authenticate footballers’ autographs, signed shirts or boots, with a limited number of exceptions such as icons Bobby Moore and George Best.
He says: “With so many players in today’s game, it can be difficult to authenticate their names. Many players change their signature, and some just use a squiggle or scrawl.
“When it comes to sell-on value, problems can also arise because footballers move around different clubs. If you have an autographed Manchester United shirt and your favourite player leaves for Chelsea, this could instantly reduce the value of that Man United memorabilia.”
Mr Drummond says one of the best things about collecting autographs is the stories behind them, adding: “Buy it because it means something to you and not just in the hope of making money. And if in doubt, wait. There should be no pressure from dealers who value their reputation.”
Paul McCartney is the most valuable signature of a living celebrity, at £2,950.
Steve Jobs, Stephen Hawking, Kurt Cobain and Barack Obama have been among the top-performing autographs over the past 12 months.
A signed photo with all four of The Beatles’ signatures can sell for £29,500.
A John Lennon signed photo was worth around £1,000 in 2000 and sells today for closer to £10,000.
A JK Rowling signed Harry Potter book is worth £2,250.
Source: PFC40 Index, Justcollecting.com
Garry King's Neil Armstrong autograph
Space has proven particularly lucrative for Garry King in his own personal autograph collection. He bought a signed lithograph of moon-walker Neil Armstrong, part of the famous Apollo 11 crew, from a collector about three years ago. Unusually it is signed in green marker pen and is undedicated. Many signed photos by Neil Armstrong are personally dedicated, so are worth less than undedicated autographs.
Mr King says: “If you had written to Armstrong before 1992 and asked for an autograph, you would most likely have got one of these in return – typically personally dedicated. Although he did on occasion send out undedicated ones like this.
“It was always his first job in the morning to sign all the items his secretary had lined up before he got down to any work,” he adds.
“But he stopped signing in 1992 when he realised people were simply asking for autographs to sell them on.”
Mr King paid £1,500 for the piece and estimates it is now worth around £3,000. A good quality signed photo with all of the Apollo 11 crew – Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins – could fetch up to £10,000.
JO THORNHILL is a freelance personal finance journalist who writes for the Mail on Sunday and This is Money
Apple is once again preparing to bring a shiny new product to market, and there’s plenty of buzz about it, as is typically the case with each new offering from the trendsetting tech company.
In this case, however, the new product is a credit card that Apple calls groundbreaking.
The Apple website claims as much, stating: “Apple Card completely rethinks everything about the credit card. It represents all the things Apple stands for. Like simplicity, transparency, and privacy. It builds on the incredible ease and security that millions of people love about Apple Pay. And it’s the first card that actually encourages you to pay less interest.”
Those are very bold assertions in an already crowded credit card landscape. And as it turns out, some of those claims just may be overstated.
Being launched in partnership with Goldman Sachs, the Apple Card includes a variety of noteworthy features such as immediate, daily cash back and no annual fee, cash-advance fee, over-the-limit fee, or late fees. Apple Card users will also have the ability track and sort spending into helpful color-coded categories on their devices.
Perhaps the most buzzed about features, however, are the card’s security offerings, which Apple heralds as a new level of privacy. Among the big takeaways here is that the card itself will not have a physical number anywhere on it, or a CVV code for that matter.
But are all of these features truly new and groundbreaking? For many experts, the answer to that question is a resounding no.
“For the most part, what Apple is offering is not all that unique. Most of these features are out there already,” said Ted Rossman, an industry analyst for CreditCards.com. “They’re doing some innovative things with security, but the rewards, fees, and interest rates, these things are already out there and in many cases the offers elsewhere are better.”
Here’s a closer look the Apple Card’s major claims and how they stack up against the competition.
Let’s tackle the Apple Card’s various security features first, because they’re generating much hype. As noted, the Apple Card will not have a physical number on it, nor will it have a CVV code or expiration date. All of which is very cool.
And it is indeed new to the industry, said Rossman, who explained that the lack of a physical number on the card is a step forward in security from credit cards with EMV chips, which have become ubiquitous.
“This is going to improve online security. If a crook steals your Apple Card, just having the card won’t be enough to make a purchase,” he explained. “Chip cards haven’t helped us at all with online fraud. And with Apple taking the card number off the card, and the CVV and the expiration date, it means someone who finds or steals the card won’t be able to buy anything online.”
To this, the Apple Card adds yet another layer of security as well, the dynamic CVV code, explained Rossman. In other words, the card’s CVV, automatically generated in the credit card app on your iPhone, will be ever changing.
As groundbreaking as that is, it’s less a giant leap than a logical step forward from virtual credit card numbers, which have been around for quite some time, and which the Apple Card will offer as well. Using a one-time virtual credit card number can be helpful on those occasions when you don’t necessarily trust an online merchant, or if you’re signing up for a free trial or subscription and don’t want your card charged the next month if you forget to cancel.
“This has been in use for a while,” continued Rossman. “A consumer can sign up for a virtual card number with a bunch of issuers, including Capital One and Bank of America. You just go to their website or call them and say I want a virtual card number. And it could be for just a one-time use or you can use it for a year if you want.”
In the case of the Apple Card, these virtual numbers can be generated on demand, without having to log in to your card issuer’s website.
The idea behind such numbers is that if the information is accessed by a criminal, the individual wouldn’t have your actual credit card number, thus limiting any harm that can be done.
The interest rates Apple is advertising for its forthcoming card range from 13.24% to 24.24%, based on the applicant’s creditworthiness. Apple describes them as being among the lowest in the industry.
Rossman says they’re not all that different than what’s already being offered by other cards.
“The 13.24% is a little lower than what we see at CreditCards.com as the average low end of the range. Typically, it’s just a shade under 18% and typically the high end is 25%,” he said.
The fact that Apple is advertising rates from 13.24% to 24.24% also suggests the card will be marketed to a broad audience and that consumers with a subprime credit score will likely be approved, added Rossman.
“None of that is all that different,” Rossman added.
The Apple Card provides 3% back on everything purchased from Apple, whether that transaction occurs in a store or online. It also features 2% cash back every time you buy something using Apple Pay, no matter what the purchase is, and there will be no limits. Finally, the card includes a 1% cash back offer for purchases at stores or on websites that don’t yet accept Apple Pay.
If these numbers don’t exactly sound earth shattering, it’s because they’re not.
“The US Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card offers 3% cash back on mobile wallet purchases and if you redeem for travel there’s a 50% bonus,” explained Rossman. “Apple only offers 2% back on Apple Pay purchases, so the Altitude Reserve Visa is beating Apple at their own mobile wallet game.”
The Citi Double Cash Card is another example of a no-annual-fee card already offering 2% cash back on purchases, said Rossman. And these are just the first few examples that come to mind.
The Apple Card’s instant cash-back offer, on the other hand, may legitimately be unique, experts say.
When users buy something with their Apple Card, a percentage of the purchase will go back into Apple Cash Card in the Wallet app. This happens immediately, not at the end of the billing cycle 30 days later. The money goes right onto the Apple card, so it can be used just like cash or it can be applied to your Apple Card bill or sent straight to your bank account.
“This is truly groundbreaking,” said Cyndie Martini, president and CEO of Member Access Processing, an aggregator of card services for credit unions.
“I expect to see other cards offer this in the near future, but only if it means cardholders start to use their card more often to get Daily Cash,” Martini added. “This is the one Apple benefit that could potentially shift the market. Rewards are ubiquitous in the industry. However, current industry standard is that rewards are given to users on a monthly basis, or nearly so. Apple has narrowed that window to an almost immediate delivery of rewards.”
Though the instant cash back feature itself is noteworthy, it’s not likely to add up to very much, says Jim Miller, vice president of banking and credit card practice at J.D. Power.
“Most cardholders don’t spend enough that getting access to their reward dollars every day makes a difference,” Miller explained. “If an Apple Card customer spends $1,000, that’s about $33 dollars a day. If all of their spending is through Apple Pay, they’ll earn 2% in daily cash, which will be 67 cents per day, or $20 for the entire month. Most customers won’t care if they have to wait a month to get $20 compared to getting 67 cents every day.”
No fees, not even hidden ones, is definitely a tantalizing offer. And in Apple’s case, that includes no annual fee, no cash-advance fees, and no over-the-limit fees or late fees.
Among the existing cards that make similar offers is the Promise Visa from PenFed Credit Union.
“They talk about no fees the same way the Apple Card does,” said Rossman. “That card, however, has a penalty rate where if someone pays 60 or more days late, the credit card’s interest rate will increase to 29.99%. But there are no other fees, so they’re talking the same kind of language as Apple.”
The Petal Card is yet another example of a credit product that has no fees, said Rossman.
“They’re an interesting company, they do cash flow underwriting,” said Rossman of the Petal Card. “They take a detailed look at your finances. A lot of the people they’re marketing to don’t have a credit score. They have a lot in common with the Apple Card. The interest rates are similar and the language is eerily similar to what the Apple Card is saying, with no annual fees and no late fees.”
In big, bold letters, Apple proclaims on its website that its upcoming card will be “The first credit card that actually encourages you to pay less interest.”
That, however, is not exactly true, according to experts.
The website explains the offering this way: “The best way to save on interest is to pay your balance in full every month. When you can’t do that, Apple Card does the math for you. Choose any amount you wish to pay — $530, $780, $1025 — and watch Apple Card estimate the interest cost for you. In real time. So you can make an informed decision.”
Here’s the thing, though: Do you ever look at your credit card statement? Have you noticed many of them have a table explaining how much interest you’ll be facing if you choose to only make the minimum payment? And the same table often explains how much less interest you’ll accrue if you opt to make a higher payment.
Maybe all credit cards don’t spell it out exactly as Apple is proposing, says Uri Abramson, co-founder of OverdraftApps. “But suggesting that paying a bit more will help you pay less interest is like pointing out that milk is white,” he says. “Credit card statements offer direct information about how to avoid paying interest and contain a minimum payment warning. So, this is a bogus claim.”
Apple has always been good at generating buzz around its game-changing products. The company is legendary for creating shiny new must-haves that become status symbols among the cool kids.
In a number of cases, Apple products have lived up to all of the hype. But not always.
“With their new card, they’re doing what Apple has always done. They’ve taken the best parts of what a lot of people do already and consolidated it into one shiny package,” says Chris Ligan, vice president of acquisitions for Auric, a credit card processing company.
Miller, of J.D. Power, offers a similar overall assessment of Apple’s latest product.
“Apple’s strength is taking something that already exists and improving the design and making it easier to use. They’ve done this with the Mac, the iPod, and the iPhone. All were existing products which Apple made much better,” said Miller. “While the Apple Card has very few unique features, they’re putting together a lot of the best credit card features into a single package.”
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