Summer camp is a rite of passage. A place where traditions begin and memories are made. A unique venue with a structured opportunity for kids to grow and learn new skills. As enriching as it may seem, embarking on the process each year can be intense: How do I choose a camp? Should it have a philosophy? How do I know my child will have fun? But often the question at the top of the list is, “How do I budget for summer camp?”
Whether you’re scrambling for camp arrangements for this year or getting a jump-start on next summer, you’re in need of a working budget for summer camp. “As a parent who sent several kids to summer camp for many years, I know how expensive it can be,” says Leslie H. Tayne, author and founder of debt solutions law firm Tayne Law Group.
Read on for expert budgeting tips for summer camp and how to save money on summer camp so you can make the best decisions concerning your wallet and your child’s wish list:
1. Get a handle on camp tuition
According to the American Camp Association, sleep-away camp tuition can range from $630 to more than $2,000 per camper per week. Day camp tuition isn’t too far behind, ranging from $199 to more than $800 per week.
One of the best ways to budget for summer camp and prepare for tuition costs is to understand your needs for the summer as well as your child’s interests. This will help you determine ‘how much’ and ‘what type’ of camp you want: Is day-camp coverage important all summer because of work? Does your child want to experience sleep-away camp for a portion of the time? Is a camp with a specific focus (say a sport or hobby) on the list?
Depending on your circumstances and child’s expectations, it’s not unusual to be looking at a combination of campsâand tuition costsâin one season. If you have multiple kids at different ages, with different interests, creating a budget for summer camp and understanding how much you’ll need to dish out in tuition becomes especially important.
Once your camp plan is in place, assess how much you’ll need to pay in tuition for the summer months with school out of session. The sooner you’ve arrived at this figure, the easier it will be to work the expense into your household budget, says Heather Schisler, money-saving expert and founder of deal site Passion for Savings. “It’s much easier to set aside $30 a month than it is to come up with $300 to $400 at one time,” Schisler says.
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Sleep-away camp tuition can range from $630 to more than $2,000 per camper per week. Day camp tuition ranges from $199 to more than $800 per week.
2. Plan for expenses beyond tuition
One of the biggest budgeting tips for summer camp is planning for the many costs outside of tuition. Tayne points out that sleep-away camp usually comes with a longer supply list than day campâsuch as specific clothing or gear and toiletries to cover the length of stay. If your child is heading to a sleep-away camp far from home, your budget for summer camp may also need to factor in the cost of transportation or the cost to ship luggage. Day camps can also have fees for extended hours or transportation if your child rides a camp bus each day.
Once you’ve selected a campâday camp or sleep-awayâcheck its website for camper packing lists and guidelines. Most camps offer checklists that you can print out, which can be good for tracking supplies and costs as you go. After you enroll, your camp may provide access to an online portal that can help you manage tuition and track additional expenses, like canteen money, which is cash your child can use for snacks and additional supplies while away.
3. Create a year-round savings strategy
By calculating the necessary expenses ahead of time for the camps you and your campers have chosen, you’ll be able to determine an overall budget for summer camp. A budgeting tip for summer camp is to save money monthly throughout the year. To determine a monthly savings goal, divide your total summer camp costs by the amount of months you have until camp starts. If camp is quickly approaching and you’re feeling the budget crunch, you may want to start saving for next year’s costs once it’s back-to-school time so you can spread out your costs over a longer period of time.
Once you start saving, you’ll need a place to put it, right? When it comes to budgeting tips for summer camp, consider placing your cash in a dedicated account, which will keep it separate from your regular expenses and help you avoid tapping it for other reasons. “Then you can have your bank set up an auto draft [for the summer camp money] so it automatically goes into your account each month and you will have the money you need when summer rolls around,” Schisler says. If you use a Discover Online Savings Account for this purpose, you’ll also earn interest that can be put toward camp expenses.
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âIt’s much easier to set aside $30 a month than it is to come up with $300 to $400 at one time.â
4. Find ways to fund your summer camp account
To boost cash in your summer camp savings account, consider asking relatives and family friends to gift your children cash for camp in lieu of birthday and holiday gifts, says Tracie Fobes of budget blog Penny Pinchin’ Mom. “If your child has his or her heart set on sleep-away camp, they may be willing to forgo a gift or two,” Fobes says.
Another budgeting tip for summer camp is to put your cashback rewards toward your budget for summer camp. For example, if you open a checking account with Discoverâcalled Cashback Debitâyou’ll earn 1% cash back on up to $3,000 in debit card purchases each month.1 You can enroll to have that cashback bonus automatically deposited into your Discover Online Savings Account so it remains designated for camp costs (and can grow with interest).
Say hello to
cash back on debit
card purchases.
No monthly fees.
No balance requirements.
No, really.
See Details
Discover Bank, Member FDIC
Lastly, if you don’t have your tax refund earmarked for another financial goal, you could use the windfall to kick-start your summer camp savings fund. Depending on the refund amount and your total camp costs, it could reduce your monthly summer camp savings goal significantly.
5. Reduce camp-related costs
Despite having your budget for summer camp in full view and planning in advance, camp can still be expensive. Here are some ways to save money on summer camp by cutting down on camp costs:
- Ask about scholarships and grants: “Some camps offer scholarships or discounts for children and families,” Fobes says. Research your camp to see if they have anything similar to help offsetâor even pay forâthe cost of tuition.
- Use a Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DCFSA): A Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account is a pre-tax benefit account that can be used to pay for eligible dependent care services. You can use this type of account to “cover dependent care [costs], and camp may qualify,” Fobes says.
- Negotiate price: “Many people don’t think about negotiating the cost of summer camp, but it is possible,” Tayne says, and more and more camps are open to it.
- See if there’s an “honor system”: Some camps have what’s known as an honor system, where the camp offers a range of costs, or tiered pricing, and parents can pay what they can comfortably afford. Every child enjoys the same camp experience, regardless of which price point, and billing is kept private.
- Take advantage of discounts: Attention early birds and web surfers: “There are sometimes discounts offered when you sign up early or register online,” Fobes says.
- Volunteer: If your summer schedule allows, “offer to work at the camp,” Fobes says. If you lend your servicesâperhaps for the camp blog or cleaning the camp house before the season startsâyour child may be able to attend camp for free or a reduced rate.
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Focus on the experienceânot the extras
Don’t let summer camp costs become a family budget-buster. Plan ahead and look for money-saving opportunities and work your budget for summer camp into your annual financial plan.
To save money on summer camp, remember that you only need to focus on camp necessities. “Don’t spend a lot of extra money on new clothing, bedding, trunks or suitcases,” Schisler says. “Remember, summer camp is all about the experience, not the things.”
1 ATM transactions, the purchase of money orders or other cash equivalents, cash over portions of point-of-sale transactions, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments (such as Apple Pay Cash), and loan payments or account funding made with your debit card are not eligible for cash back rewards. In addition, purchases made using third-party payment accounts (services such as Venmo® and PayPal, who also provide P2P payments) may not be eligible for cash back rewards. Apple, the Apple logo and Apple Pay are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
The post Your Guide to Budgeting for Summer Camp appeared first on Discover Bank – Banking Topics Blog.
Source: discover.com
15 Home Business Ideas & The Free Courses You Need To Get Started
Are you looking for a work from home job or some at home business ideas?
If so, then I have a great list of free resources, such as courses and guides, that will help you find the best option and learn how to get started. Plus, all of the courses and guides in this article are free!
If you’re looking to make extra money, or even a full-time income, working from home is a great option. There are lots of realistic home business ideas that allow you to work on a flexible schedule.
In fact, around 50% of U.S. businesses are home based, and that number is expected to grow well into the future.
But, many people don’t know what kind of options are available or how to get started with their in home business ideas.
This article is a good starting point because I’m going to tell you about 15 different profitable home based business ideas and link to free courses, workshops, and guides that will help you kick off each of these ideas.
There are lots of valuable paid courses out there, but if you’re not sure about an idea, you might not want to spend hundreds of dollars on a course. That’s why free courses and guides are a great way to start.
You can learn more about each of these small business ideas, learn some of the basic skills, how much money you can earn, and more. You get to test these ideas a little bit before you invest a lot of time and money.
No matter what kind of business you decide to start, I think you’ll really enjoy starting one from home.
I have been working from home since 2013, and I wouldn’t change it for anything! I absolutely love and enjoy running a business from home.
It has allowed me to travel full-time, save enough money to retire early, love what I do each day, and more.
Many people love running home based businesses for those reasons, but it also cuts your commute, allows you to earn money in your spare time, be your own boss, work on a flexible schedule, and more.
So, to help you get started, today I will explain some of the best small business ideas from home and which free online courses can help you get started.
Here is a quick list of the free work at home courses and resources I’m sharing:
- Selling Printables on Etsy Ebook
- Sell on Amazon Starter Course
- How To Start a Blog Course
- Build A Voiceover Action Plan From Scratch Minicourse
- Start An Online Advertising Business From Scratch
- Start Your Virtual Bookkeeping Business
- Turn Your Passion For Visiting Thrift Stores, Yard Sales & Flea Markets Into A Profitable Reselling Business In As Little As 14 Days
- General Transcription Mini-Course
- Become a Proofreader 76 Minute Webinar
- Court Transcript Proofreading Mini Course
- Podcast Virtual Assistant Workbooks
- Make Money Writing Romance Novels ecourse
- Pinterest Virtual Assistant Training Workshop
- Jumpstart Your Virtual Assistant Business
- Self-Publishing Your First Book
Below, I will be diving deeper into what each option is like, as well as more information about each of those free resources.
Below are 15 home business ideas.
1. Sell printables on Etsy.
Are you looking for a smart home business idea that allows you to use your creativity? Are you wondering “What can I sell from home to make money?”
If so, I recommend checking out this option. See, creating printables on Etsy can be a great side hustle because you just need to create one digital file per product, which you can then sell an unlimited number of times.
Printables are digital products that customers can download and print at home. Examples include grocery shopping checklists, gift tags, candy bar wrappers, printable quotes for wall art, and patterns.
You can sign up for this free ebook that helps you figure out where to start when it comes to selling printables on Etsy.
Related content on successful home business ideas:
- 12 Passive Income Ideas That Will Let You Enjoy Life More
- 15 Of My Best Working From Home Tips So You Can Succeed
- 15 Outdoor Jobs For People Who Love Being Outside
- 24 Of The Best Work From Home Jobs & How To Avoid Scams
2. Sell items on Amazon.
Yes, you can make money selling items on Amazon. Actually, this is one of the home business ideas with low start up costs because you can literally start selling items from around your house. Make money while you declutter your home, what’s not to love?!
The first year that my friend Jessica ran her Amazon FBA business, working less than 20 hours a week total, she made over $100,000 profit!
This free course shows you how to start a profitable Amazon business in a 9-part video course. You’ll learn:
- The exact steps to follow to set up your Amazon Seller account
- Two easy and affordable ways to find items to sell
- How to choose profitable inventory that customers actually want to buy
Click here to sign up for the FREE Amazon FBA Starter Course!
3. Start a blog to work at home.
For obvious reasons, blogging is my favorite on this list of profitable home business ideas.
It is a business that allows me to travel full-time, have a flexible schedule, earn somewhat passive income, and more.
Blogging changed my life for the better, and it allows me to earn thousands of dollars a month, all by doing something that I love.
My blog was created on a whim as a way to track my personal finance progress. And when I first started my blog, I honestly didn’t even know that this was going to be one of the best small profitable business ideas out there. At least that’s been the case for me!
You can easily learn how to start a blog with my free How To Start a Blog Course.
Here’s a quick outline of what you will learn:
-
- Day 1: Reasons you should start a blog
- Day 2: How to determine what to blog about
- Day 3: How to create your blog (in this lesson, you will learn how to start a blog on WordPress – my tutorial makes it very easy to start a blog)
- Day 4: How to make money blogging
- Day 5: My tips for making passive income from blogging
- Day 6: How to grow your traffic and followers
- Day 7: Miscellaneous blogging tips that will help you be successful
4. Become a voice over actor.
A voice over actor is the person you hear but rarely see on YouTube videos, radio ads, explainer videos, corporate narration, documentaries, e-learning courses, audiobooks, TV commercials, video games, movies, and cartoons.
In 2014, Carrie Olsen replaced her salaried day job to become a full-time voice over actor. People are constantly asking her how she got her start and how they can too.
So, she created Build A Voiceover Action Plan From Scratch Minicourse — This free course will help you learn about becoming a voice over artist, even if you’re brand new!
5. Run Facebook ads for local businesses.
Did you know that you can make a living from Facebook? With Facebook advertising, you can help businesses expand their reach.
And, yes, this is a skill that you can learn without any prior experience in marketing or advertising.
The going rate for Facebook Ad management is $1,000 – $1,500 per month, per client.
Last year, business owners spent over $88,000,000 per day on Facebook ads. This is expected to continue to grow, and it is one of the largest advertising spaces that exists.
My friend Bobby Hoyt knows a lot about this topic. Bobby is a former high school teacher who paid off $40,000 of student loan debt in a year and a half. He now runs the personal finance blog Millennial Money Man full-time, as well as a digital marketing agency for local businesses that he started in 2015.
Bobby has a free webinar on this topic too. His webinar, Start An Online Advertising Business From Scratch, will teach you how to start this business even if you’re brand new, how to find paying clients, and more.
6. Start a bookkeeping business.
A bookkeeper is someone who tracks the finances of a business. They may handle payroll, billing and invoicing, etc.
These are all skills you can learn without being an accountant or having any previous experience.
Ben, from Bookkeeper Launch, helps people get started as bookkeepers even when they don’t have any experience. Ben is a CPA who founded his business after realizing that many businesses needed better bookkeepers.
Start Your Virtual Bookkeeping Business will teach you more about running your own virtual bookkeeping business. You’ll learn:
- Is a bookkeeping business for you?
- What exactly is a bookkeeping business? What kind of work do they do?
- How much money can you make as a bookkeeper?
- How do you find clients?
7. Search for items to resell.
Have you ever found something that you thought you could resell to make a profit?
Melissa’s family earned $133,000 in one year by buying and selling items that they’ve found at thrift stores, yard sales, and flea markets.
Some of the best flipped items that they’ve sold include:
- An item that they bought for $10 and flipped for $200 just 6 minutes later
- A security tower they bought for $6,200 and flipped for $25,000 just one month later
- A prosthetic leg that they bought for $30 at a flea market and sold for $1,000 on eBay the next day
This is one of the home business ideas that anyone can start because you can start off selling things in your own house — I know we all have lots of stuff in our house that we could stand to get rid of. Then once you get a feel for the work, you can start purchasing items to resell.
Melissa has a great free webinar, Turn Your Passion For Visiting Thrift Stores, Yard Sales & Flea Markets Into A Profitable Reselling Business In As Little As 14 Days, that will help you learn how to make money by flipping items.
8. Transcribe audio or video content into text.
Transcription is when you turn audio or video content into a text document. You listen to what’s being said and type it up.
There are many businesses looking for transcriptionists too – since general transcriptionists convert audio and video to text for virtually any industry, there really isn’t a typical client. Some examples include marketers, authors, filmmakers, academics, speakers, and conferences of all types.
Beginning transcriptionists earn around $15 an hour and it goes up from there.
You can learn more in the Free General Transcription Mini-Course. In this course, you will learn what it takes to become a transcriptionist, how much money you can earn, how you can find jobs, and more.
9. Become a general proofreader.
Proofreading is one of the most flexible and detail-orientated home business ideas that work. All you need to work as a proofreader is a laptop or tablet, an internet connection, and a good eye for finding mistakes.
Proofreaders look for punctuation mistakes, misspelled words, lack of consistency, and formatting errors.
You take content that other people have written and then go over it with a fine-tooth comb. You might be proofreading blog posts, print articles, academic articles, website copy, ad copy, books, student papers, emails, and more.
In one year, Caitlin made slightly over $43,000 by being a freelance proofreader.
Caitlin put together a FREE 76-minute workshop, where she answers all of the most common questions about becoming a proofreader, and she even shows you how to use the most popular tools used by proofreaders around the world. You can sign up for free here.
10. Become a court transcript proofreader.
Becoming a court transcript proofreader is a more focused version of the last idea.
Here’s what it’s like:
“Court reporters use digital stenography machines in combination with computer-aided transcription software to write verbatim records of various legal proceedings. They report depositions, trials, hearings, arbitrations, case management conferences, compulsory medical examinations, examinations under oath, and pretty much any other type of legal proceeding. Because of the sensitive nature of legal proceedings, it’s imperative that as many errors as possible be eliminated from transcripts — an especially major error could ruin an entire trial!”
Due to this, many court reporters also use court transcript proofreaders.
There is more training that goes into becoming a court transcript proofreader, and that is why I separated it from the general proofreading job above.
Caitlin, mentioned above, also has a great FREE 7 day course just for people who are interested in becoming a court transcript proofreader.
11. Become a podcast virtual assistant.
There’s a big demand for podcast virtual assistants right now.
This is because there are over 800,000 podcasts out there, and that number just continues to grow. Podcasts are still a pretty new area, and that opens the door for lots of home business ideas that help out with all of these podcasts.
While the podcast host is responsible for recording themselves, other tasks like editing and publication take time, so many podcasters outsource their work to freelancers or virtual assistants. Also, some podcasters may not know how to do those things, or they may choose to focus their time on other areas.
Some of the different services you can offer as a podcast virtual assistant include:
- Audio editing
- Marketing and promotion
- Publication
- Distribution
- Show note creation
You can sign up here for free information that will tell you more about how to become a podcast VA. In this free resource, you’ll learn exactly what a podcast virtual assistant is, the services you can offer, and starting rates.
12. Write romance novels.
My friend Yuwanda Black has found one of the most interesting home business ideas – she writes romance novels, and in one month, she was able to make over $3,000!
With her free Making Money Writing Romance ecourse, she teaches you how to make money writing and self-publishing romance novels.
It is taught from first-hand experience, which Yuwanda has because she’s written and self-published 50 romance novellas since 2013. And, she continues to publish today.
13. Work as a Pinterest virtual assistant.
Working as a Pinterest virtual assistant is a growing field as more and more business owners are using Pinterest to grow their business.
Pinterest VAs help businesses improve their reach by doing things like:
- Designing Pinterest images for a website
- Helping business owners set up their Pinterest account
- Scheduling pins because this can be time consuming for the average business owner
- Brainstorming a marketing plan
Click here and click on “Free Training Workshop” to learn how to become a Pinterest virtual assistant and find your first client. In this free course, you’ll learn what you need to do to get started, what services to offer, and how much to charge as a Pinterest virtual assistant.
14. Work as a virtual assistant.
If you’re looking for home business ideas with low startup costs, then virtual assisting is a great one!
Virtual assistance is a field that is growing very quickly and it is one of the very popular stay-at home business ideas.
Not only does the internet allow us to complete more of our daily tasks online, more and more people are working online. This presents a good opportunity for more virtual assistants.
Virtual assistant tasks may include social media management, formatting and editing content, scheduling appointments or travel, email management, and more. Basically, you can get paid to do any task that needs to be done in someone’s business, but doesn’t need to be done by them.
If this is one of the home business ideas you’re interested in, I recommend checking out Jumpstart Your Virtual Assistant Business. In that link, you’ll receive a free worksheet and workbook that will help you decide what virtual assistant services you can offer (there are over 150 choices!).
15. Write your own eBook for work from home ideas.
Writing your own eBook is a great way to make money from home, and there is probably something super helpful that you could write about (even if you think otherwise!).
In fact, my friend Alyssa self-published her first book and has sold more than 13,000 copies.
She is now earning a great passive income of over $200 a day from her book ($6,500 in one month alone!).
Learn more at Self-Publishing Your First Book. This free series will teach you what it takes to publish a book, including the strategies used to launch a book, writing tips, and more.
What is the best home business to start? What are the most successful small businesses?
As you can see, there are plenty of different home business ideas out there, and this list is only scratching the surface. There are full-time home based business ideas, and then there are part-time business ideas.
The best business home based ideas are going to be different for everyone. For example, some people are naturally good proofreaders, while others will have a knack for finding the right items for reselling.
I would think about what kinds of things you’re good at, what interests you, the skills you already have, etc. That may narrow the choices down some.
But, what I love about the home business ideas on this list is that the free courses and guides listed mean you can learn more about any of them without a big investment. You can explore ideas without feeling like you’re wasting your money.
What home business ideas are you interested in?
The post 15 Home Business Ideas & The Free Courses You Need To Get Started appeared first on Making Sense Of Cents.
Source: makingsenseofcents.com
Why Set Impossible Goals for 2021? [The Ultimate New Yearâs Savings Hack]
In the 1980s, self-driving cars and smartphones without antennas were only things youâd see in movies â unimaginable futuristic goals. Now, these âimpossibleâ inventions are part of peopleâs everyday lives. These innovative ideas were thought to be outlandish years ago until creators like Elon Musk and IBMâs team put their impossible goals to the test.
Impossible goals are things you want to achieve that seem out of the ordinary â ones that feel as if you may never reach them, even in your wildest dreams. These goals could be turning your dream side hustle into a full-time job or building your savings from zero in the next year to buy your dream home.
While the end result seems unreachable, a mix of motivation, determination, and hard work can get you further than you think. To see the strategic process of setting and achieving your biggest life goals, keep reading our jump to our infographic below.
Whatâs an Impossible Goal?
An impossible goal is a goal you think you could never achieve. Becoming a millionaire, buying your dream home, or starting a business may be your life goal, but one too big that you never set out to achieve. Instead, you may stick to your current routine and believe you should live life in the comfort zone.
Becoming a millionaire usually requires investing time, confidence, and a lot of hard work â things that may challenge you. But when you think about the highest achievers, most of them had to put in the effort and believe in themselves when nobody else did.
Flashback to 1995 when nobody believed in the âinternet storeâ that came to be Amazon. While that was considered impossible years ago, Amazonâs now made over $280 billion dollars.
In other words, when you make your impossible goals a priority, you may be pleasantly surprised by your progress. We share how to set hard financial goals, why you should set them, and how these goals could transform your financial portfolio this year.
4 Reasons to Reach for the âImpossibleâ
Impossible goals challenge you to shift your way of thinking â getting comfortable out of the safety zone. They help fine-tune your focus for daunting tasks youâre willing to put in the time and work for. Whether youâre looking to become a millionaire, buy your dream house, or pay down your debts, hereâs why you should set goals for things you think you could never achieve.
1. You May Be Pleasantly Surprised
Everything seems impossible until you do it. When youâre in elementary school, maybe you thought getting a four-year college degree would be out of reach. Regardless, you put in the time and hard work to become a college grad years later. The same goes for your potential goal to write a book. You may think itâs hopeless to write a few hundred pages in the next year, but you may find it attainable once you hit the halfway point.
2. You Check Off Micro-Goals Along the Way
Itâs hard to set your goals too low when youâre trying to reach for the stars. In the past, you may have set small goals like being more mindful with your money. While mindfulness practices are extremely beneficial for your budget, you may need more of a push to save for your dream home. By setting impossible goals, you may find it easier to reach your savings goal this year. You may have no idea how to do it, but your goal is to figure it out. Side hustles, a new job, or starting a business are all potential starting points.
3. It May Not Be as Hard as You Think
It can be uncomfortable to try something for the first time, so to avoid the doubts of reaching your goals, create a strategic plan. Download and print out our printable to breakdown each impossible goal. Start with your big goals and break them down into mini-goals. For example, if you want to start an online ecommerce store, researching the perfect website platform is a good starting point.
4. What Do You Have to Lose?
If you already live a comfortable life, you may only have experiences to gain and nothing to lose. When embarking on this journey, check in with yourself every month. Note all the lessons you learned and how far youâve come. You most likely will face failures, but youâll be failing forward rather than backwards. Your first ecommerce product launch may not have gone smoothly, but you may know how to improve for the next time around.
How To Set Impossible Budgeting Goals in 6 Steps
If your impossible goal is related to finances, your mindfulness, time, and dedication will be required to put you on a path towards your dream life. To get started, follow our step-by-step guide below.
Step 1: Map Out Your Dream Lifestyle
- Get out a journal and map out your dream life. Some starter questions may be:
- Do you want to afford that house youâve always dreamt about?
- Do you want to have a certain amount of money in your savings?
- Are you hoping to turn your side hustle into a full-time job?
- What do you find yourself daydreaming about?
Track all these daydreams in a notebook and curate the perfect action plan to achieve each goal.
Step 2: Outline Micro-goals to Reach Your Financial Goals
Now, list out mini-goals to achieve your desires. Start with the big âunachievableâ goal and break it down into medium and small goals, then assign each mini-goal a due date. For example, saving $10,000 this year may take more than your current monthly earnings. To achieve this, you may create passive income streams. If that side hustle is to start a money-making blog, you may need to research steps to successfully launch your website.
Step 3: Believe and Act Like Your Future Self
Think of yourself as the future self you want to be. You may picture yourself with a certain home, financial portfolio, and lifestyle, but your current actions may not reflect your future self. Your future self may invest, but your current self is too intimidated to start. To act like your future self, consider doing the research and finding low-risk investments that suit you and your budget.
Step 4: If You Fail, Learn from Your Mistakes
When working towards your dream life, you may hit roadblocks and experience failures. As Oprah explains it, âthere is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.â While failure may happen, youâre able to learn from it and pivot. Every mistake you make, analyze it in your journal. Note what worked, what didnât, and what you want to do better tomorrow to surpass this roadblock.
Step 5: Track Your Results Consistently
Host monthly meetings with yourself to see how far youâve come. Consider creating a goal tracking system that suits you best. That may include checking your budgeting goals off in our app month after month. Find a system that works for you and note your growth at the end of each month. If youâre putting in the time and hard work, youâll get closer to your goals in no time.
Step 6: Be Patient With Your Budget Goals
Throughout this journey, practice patience. Setting goals may be exciting and motivating, but when youâre faced with failures, you may feel hints of disappointment. To avoid a failure slump, be patient and open to learn from your mistakes. If you didnât make what you wanted from your side hustle the first year, youâre that much closer than you were last year.
Why set your sights on hard goals? Everything feels out of reach until you do it. All it takes is motivation and determination to achieve the impossible. To boost your lifestyle, budget, and drive this New Year, consider setting goals that feel out of reach. Keep reading to see why these goals may be perfect for you. Why Set Impossible Goals for 2021? [The Ultimate New Yearâs Savings Hack] appeared first on MintLife Blog.
Source: mint.intuit.com
How To Pay Off Student Loans Faster Than Ever
Nobody wants to pay off student loans longer than they have to, yet far too many people are stuck in lengthy repayment plans that seem like theyâll never end. While income-driven repayment plans backed by the federal government ask you to pay down loans for 20 to 25 years before leading to loan forgiveness, even the âstandardâ repayment plan for federal loans lasts for a full ten years. No matter how you cut it, thatâs a long time!
With that in mind, you should know that itâs possible to pay off student loans faster if you are willing to think outside the box and forge your own path along the way. However, not all early repayment plans will work for every borrower, so itâs important to think through how to pay off student loans faster in a way that helps you reach your goals in a common sense way.
One strategy many borrowers use to pay off student loans faster is refinancing loans with a different lender. Not only do some student loan refinancing companies offer lower interest rates and flexible repayment terms, but you could even earn a cash bonus just for signing up.
9 Ways to Pay Down Student Debt Faster
The sooner you can pay off all your student loans, the quicker you can move on with your life. Here are some strategies to consider that can help you pay off your student loans much faster than a traditional repayment plan allows.
What You’ll Learn
- Make More Than the Minimum Monthly Payment
- Try the Debt Snowball
- Refinance with a Private Lender
- Enroll in Autopay to Score a Lower Interest Rate
- Make Payments While Youâre in School
- Live Like a Poor Student
- Earn Money On the Side
- Throw All âFound Moneyâ Toward Your Student Loans
- Ask Your Boss for Help
Make More Than the Minimum Monthly Payment
The minimum payment on your student loans is the absolute minimum amount youâre supposed to pay, but thereâs nobody stopping you from paying more. And, if you make extra payments the right way, you could easily pay down the principal of your student loans at a faster pace.
Unfortunately, many student loan servicing companies wonât automatically apply extra payments you make toward your loan principal. Instead, theyâll use any payment overages to âpay aheadâ on your loans and continue making the next monthâs payments as well as the prepaid interest for future months.
If you decide to pay extra toward your student loans, youâll need to specify that you want overage payments to go toward the principal of your balance. You can do this over the phone or by written message when you mail in your monthly student loan payment, but make sure you donât forget.
Try the Debt Snowball
The debt snowball method for getting out of debt is worth considering if you have several different student loan bills to juggle each month. This strategy requires you to make a list of your student loans and each of their balances. From there, youâll start the next month by paying the minimum amount on all your largest loan balances and as much as you can on the smallest balance you have. Over time, youâll continue paying as much as you can toward your smallest balances until theyâre gone, at which point youâll âsnowballâ all your extra payments toward the next smallest debt.
With the debt snowball, youâll slowly pay off your smallest loan balances until you only have the few largest balances left. Eventually, youâll only have one student loan left and youâll pay all the cumulative payments of all the others toward this debt until itâs gone, too.
The benefit of this strategy is the momentum youâll gain as you knock out small balances one at a time. Not only will your balances go down, but youâll have fewer loan payments to make each month as well.
Refinance with a Private Lender
You can also consider refinancing all your student loans into one new one, which has the potential to save you more money than any other strategy on this list. Many private student loan companies offer fixed interest rates as low as 3.50% right now, which is lower than any federal student loans offer. Of course, you do have to have an income and good credit or a cosigner to qualify.
How much can you save by refinancing your student loans? That really depends on how much debt you have, your current interest rate, and your current repayment timeline.
However, letâs say that you have $10,000 in student loans with an APR of 7% and you just started a 10-year repayment plan. In that case, you would pay $121.33 per month for ten years and a total of $4,559 in interest before your loan was paid off.
If you were able to refinance your loans into a new private loan with the same repayment plan at 3.50%, however, you could pay just $96.56 per month for ten years and only $1,587 in interest during that time. Better yet, you could refinance into a new 7-year loan, pay $132.13 per month, fork over only $1,099 in interest during that time, and shave three full years off your repayment timeline.
Enroll in Autopay to Score a Lower Interest Rate
Some student loan companies offer discounts to customers who are willing to sign up for automatic payments. This discount is usually around .25% off, but all you have to do is allow your student loan payment to be debited from your checking account automatically each month.
These programs make it easy to stay on track with your student loan payments, and they also ensure you are never late. All you have to do is make sure you have the cash in your account before the date your payment is automatically debited each month.
Make Payments While Youâre in School
If you havenât graduated from college yet, itâs not too early to start preparing for the inevitability of that first student loan payment. Further, it can be extremely smart to make payments while youâre still in school if some of your student loans are unsubsidized.
Whatâs the difference between subsidized and unsubsidized student loans? By and large, the biggest difference is the fact that the federal government pays the interest on subsidized loans while youâre still in college, but they do not extend this benefit to unsubsidized student loans. By making payments on unsubsidized loans while youâre still in school, you can keep student loan interest at bay and keep your loan balances from ballooning until you have a job and can attack your student loan debt with all your might.
Live Like a Poor Student
Itâs tempting to inflate your lifestyle once you graduate from college and start bringing in a paycheck, but this is the opposite of what you should do if your goal is getting out of debt faster. The longer you can live at home with your parents or share an apartment with roommates, the more money you can continue throwing toward your student loans. And, if you can hold off on buying a house or financing a new car, youâll be in even better shape when it comes to destroying your student loan debt at a record pace.
Finance guru Dave Ramsey frequently gives the following advice, which I absolutely agree with:
âLive like no one else now so you can live like no one else later.â
Living the poor student lifestyle for as long as possible is a smart way to pay down debt when youâre first starting out.
If you have roommates, keep them.
If youâre managing to get by on Ramen, keep it up.
Once your student loans are paid off and in your rearview mirror, you can start using your income to pay for the lifestyle you really want.
Earn Money On the Side
If you want to pay your debts down even faster, earning more money is one approach that always works. The key here is making sure you use the extra money you earn to pay off your student loans instead of paying for stuff you donât need.
Weâve shared myriad side hustles here on Good Financial Cents in the past, from 65 side hustles you can do from your kitchen table to ideas on starting an online business. Some of the easiest ways to earn money include driving for Uber or Lyft, starting a blog, or learning an online skill people will pay you for. You could become an online freelance writer or sell your design or data entry skills with a website like Fiverr.com. Heck, you could walk dogs in your spare time or mow peopleâs yards in your neighborhood.
The basic principle is the same no matter what side hustle suits your fancy. Pour as much time or effort into your side hustle as you can, and use all the extra money you earn to pay off your student loans.
Throw All âFound Moneyâ Toward Your Student Loans
If you get any extra money during the course of the year, you should absolutely throw your âfoundâ cash toward your student loans. This can include your tax refund each year, any Christmas bonuses you get from employment, and money you get from working over time. Heck, you can even throw your birthday money at your student loans.
Any extra money you pay toward your loans can be used to reduce the balances of your debts, which in turn lowers the amount of interest you pay over the life of your loan.
Remember that, when it comes to paying off debt, even small amounts of money can add up in a big way. By throwing all found money you come across toward your loans each year, you can expedite your debt payoff process even more.
Ask Your Boss for Help
While asking your boss for help with student loans is a fairly novel concept, it isnât unheard of.
Actually, nearly anything is on the table when youâre negotiating your salary or benefits â and sometimes, the key to getting what you really want is just asking for it.
Further, some industries and government agencies have already thought of this option. For example, some government employees can receive up to $10,000 a year towards student debt repayment by accessing the federal governmentâs Student Loan Repayment Program.
Similar programs are also available for nurses and teachers through the Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program and Teach for America, which is part of AmeriCorps.
Students who find work in the public sector can also get help with student loans by applying for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
With this option, the federal government will forgive the remaining balance on your Direct Loans provided you have made 120 qualifying payments and remained employed with a qualified employer in the public service sector.
Which strategy made the difference? 3 financial experts weigh in
Plenty of people have used these tips and others to pay off their student loans once and for all. We reached out to several people who have paid off their loans for good to find out how they did it and which strategies they suggest. Hereâs what they said:
Paying Off Student Loans with a Side Hustle
âIn my early 20âs, I was paying a very affordable $160 per month on my $25,000 of student loan debt. It wasnât much to pay and it seemed my balance never decreased. Thatâs one of the reasons I decided to start blogging at 28 years old. After about six months, I started earning extra income from my blog and began sending extra payments toward my student loan.
As my blog income grew, I was able to send chunks of $1,000 to $2,000 pretty regularly in my 30âs and I finally began making a dent in my balance. I made my final student loan payment at 38 years old and it was glorious. Had I not been able to send in extra money, I probably would have been paying student loans into my 50âs.â â Chris Huntley, co-founder of Credit Knocks
Living the Poor Student Lifestyle
âMy wife graduated with over $80,000 of student loan debt, but we managed to pay it all off in just under three years. We had to make sacrifices to pay that much debt off quickly, but we also had other things going for us that made it easier. My wife is a registered nurse and I was an accountant at the time so we earned a reasonable income.
We didn’t have anyone else relying on us so our spending decisions only impacted ourselves. We kept our expenses to the minimum and continued to live like college students to put as much money toward the debt as we could. We bought a small townhouse that resulted in a monthly mortgage payment of only $500.
We had a very limited fun budget and didn’t go on traditional vacations. We refused to buy new furniture (except for much-needed mattress) or go out to eat multiple times per week. Instead, we cooked at home and relied on hand-me-downs or used furniture to get by until the debt was paid off. We also put off decorating and renovating our home unless the cost was minimal and we could do the work ourselves.â â Lance Cothern, founder of Money Manifesto
Earning Money On the Side to Pay Down Debt
âI paid off almost $43,000 in student loan debt in three years. First, I worked full-time during college and that helped minimize expenses. After graduation, I was promoted at my same company, and earned a starting salary of $45,000 per year.
However, while working, I was also side hustling and earning extra money. My main side gig was buying things to resell on eBay. At my peak, I was making a profit of about $2,000 per month. I would also do off jobs, and I started my blog, The College Investor.
Between my day job and side hustle earnings, I was able to knock out my student loans in a short amount of time.â â Robert Farrington, co-founder of The College Investor
The Bottom Line
Thereâs no reason to pay off your student loans any longer than you have to. Any of the tips on this list could help you get out of debt faster, and itâs even possible to use more than one of these tips to annihilate your debts at lightning fast speed.
As the nationâs total student loan debt levels continue to rise, we all have to take responsibility for ourselves. Let the numbers fall where they may; itâs up to us to find ways to get our finances straight â and if that process includes paying off student loans the hard way, so be it.
Just remember, youâve got a wealth of tools at your disposal.
Using everything from debt calculators to budgeting tools, you can dream up dozens of ways to get out of debt faster, and most importantly, smarter.
With student loan debt levels at an all-time high, youâre going to need all the help you can get.

The post How To Pay Off Student Loans Faster Than Ever appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.
Source: goodfinancialcents.com
10 Ways to Stay Motivated When Paying Off Debt
The post 10 Ways to Stay Motivated When Paying Off Debt appeared first on Penny Pinchin' Mom.
It is easy to lose your focus any time you are working towards a goal. It takes dedication, but even then you may lose your desire to keep going.  This is especially true when trying to reach your financial goals, such as getting out of debt.
Paying off debt is not easy. You start out with great determination and willpower to make it happen. But, as time goes on, you may find yourself loving motivation to pay off your debt.
If your debt balances are high, the balances may not drop as quickly as you would like. It can make you lowe your desire to keep going. In fact, you might just feel like quitting.
I’m here to say don’t. Don’t give up. The key to is to find the motivation to pay to get out of debt, even when it isn’t easy. These tips will help.
STAYING MOTIVATED TO PAY OFF DEBT
MY EXPERIENCE
When my husband and I were trying to get out of debt, there were times when we wanted to quit. Â However, we were both determined to stick with it and not give up.
Sadly, that is not true for many. Â People get excited at the idea of getting out of debt, but they never follow through. Â For one reason or another, they lose the motivation to continue.
This means that they go back to their old habits and often times, end up even further in debt. Â It is sad, but it is true. Â They lost the will to stay the course.
WHERE DO YOU START?
First of all, you have to be willing and fully committed to wanting to be debt free. Â If you aren’t willing to make sacrifices, that means you are not quite ready to start. Â If you try, you will probably fail.
However, if you are ready and willing to put in the hard work involved you might be ready. Â You need to fully understand that this process is going to take some time. Â It took my husband and I more than 2 years to get out of our debt. Â It may take a while – but it will happen.
FINDING THE MOTIVATION TO PAY OFF DEBT
1. Cheat once in a while
When you are trying to pay off your debt with laser focus, you might start to feel a bit of resentment towards it. Â After all, that is your money and you see none of it. Â Instead, it moves right over to your debtor. Â You never get to enjoy it.
You need to spend money.
When you allow yourself a chance to go out to dinner or buy that new pair of shoes, you will continue to stay motivated. Â It allows you to take the focus off of your debt for a short time and put it on yourself.
For example, when my husband and I were in paying off our debt, we did not eat out at restaurants. Â We gave that up completely. Â However, each time that we paid off a creditor we were able to go out to dinner. It allowed us to celebrate. Â We had one cheat night, and then we were ready to get back on track again.
Just don’t do this very often, or you’ll end up quitting and up spending more than you should.
2. Be accountable
Whether you are a relationship or not, you need to find someone to whom you can be accountable. Â Call them an accountability partner. The journey to being debt free can be a long and lonely adventure. Finding the right person to support you along the way can be vital to reaching your goals.
This person could be a friend or family member. While you might want to use a spouse or partner, they may not be the best person. Â You really should find someone who has been on this path themselves and reached the end. Â Someone who is debt free and battled to make it happen can provide much more support than someone drowning in debt.
3. Dream
Sit down and look at your finances. Â Imagine all of the things you could do if you were not living with looming debt. Â Perhaps you could afford that car you want. It might even mean being able to quit your job and stay home with the kids.
Read More: Â Setting Your Financial Goals
4. Change your habits
Look at your debt. Â What caused you to end up there. If was due to spending too much at Target, it means you need to stop.
You have to change your habits by creating a budget and a debt plan. Â Take it further and change the way you spend your free time. Â It won’t be easy, but no one said getting out of debt was going to be simple.
It is not an easy thing to do, but find a way to focus your energy on the things that created the debt to other things you enjoy. Â Try to find the joy in the simple things, which cost no money at all.
Looking beyond the debt and definitely help you stay motivated when getting out of debt.
Read More: Why Your Debt Plan Will Fail
5. Get angry
One of the simplest ways to stay motivated is to hate your debt. Review your bills and add up the money you are wasting on interest payments every month.  Just seeing the money you waste will make you angry. Heck, it might even make you nauseated.  Good.
Hate the debt and you’ll want to make it go away.
6. Daily reminderÂ
Put the total of your debt on your mirror. As you pay them down, update it with the new amount. Every day you will see that you are making progress. You will see where you were and where you have to go.
7. Continue to learn
Just because you read one article about how to get out of debt, doesn’t mean you are an expert. If you were, you would probably have never gotten into debt in the first place.
Keep reading and learning. Follow your favorite bloggers and read their tips for getting out of debt.
Read More: How to Get out of Debt on a Lower Income
8. Be patient
“Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Your debt didn’t accumulate in just a month. It took time. That means it will take time to pay it off.
If you are doing all you can to do get out of debt, then there no more you can do. Just look forward to the day you get to scream that you are debt free!
9. Connect with others
I mentioned an accountability partner above and that is great, but what do you do if you can’t find one? Easy. Look to others who understand.
With social media, it is easy to find people who are in your situation. They may be on Facebook or Twitter. You might find them in the comments of personal finance blogs. Look around for those who are making progress and network with them.
We all need help with this journey. There is no rule that says you have to be best friends with them to get the motivation and support you need.
10. Read success stories
There is nothing more motivating than reading about others who have accomplished their goals. Reading about ordinary people who have paid down thousands of dollars of debt can be inspiring.
Read More: My Debt Free Journey to Paying Off $35,000+ in Debt
The post 10 Ways to Stay Motivated When Paying Off Debt appeared first on Penny Pinchin' Mom.
Source: pennypinchinmom.com
What Is Austerity?
Austerity policies are nothing new. But talk about them in the news has recently escalated. In response to its ongoing debt crisis, the Greek government is preparing to implement austerity measures aimed at helping the country regain its financial footing. If you didnât major in economics or you have no clue what austerity means, read on to find out how this fiscal program works.
Check out our personal loans calculator.
Austerity: A Definition
Trust us, austerity isnât as complicated as it sounds. Austerity is a type of economic policy that governments use to deal with budget deficits. A country faces a deficit whenever itâs using more money than itâs earning from tax dollars.
By taking on an austerity package, a government hopes to reign in its spending, improve the status of its economy and avoid defaulting on its unpaid debt. Governments usually take on austerity measures in order to appease their creditors. In exchange, these lenders agree to bail out countries and allow them to borrow more money.
If you look up the word austere in the dictionary, youâll see that it means severe, grave, hard, solemn and serious. Indeed, austerity is nothing to joke about.
Austerity Measures
Austerity plans normally involve increases in different taxes, (property taxes, income taxes, etc.) budget cuts or a push to incorporate both. Government workers could lose their jobs or see their wages and benefits either decline or become stagnant. Hiking up interest rates, adding travel bans and keeping prices at a fixed level could be other strategies put in place to reduce spending.
Naturally, austerity measures typically arenât viewed in the best light because they mean that there might be fewer government programs available to the public. Aid for veterans and low-income families, healthcare coverage and pensions are some of the benefits that normally take a hit when a countryâs using an austerity package. Government services that arenât eliminated might not be as comprehensive or as beneficial as they once were.
As you can see, in an austere environment, conditions are tighter overall. Historically, austerity has been implemented in the US during tough times including World War I, World War II and the Great Recession of 2008.
Greeceâs new austerity package â which government lawmakers finally accepted in July 2015 â will feature less government funding, higher taxes and cuts to pension plans. As a result of this deal, the country was allowed to begin talks with its creditors about a third bailout.
Related Article: All About the Greek Debt Crisis
The Problems With Government Austerity
Experts on the economy tend to go back and forth about how effective austerity can be. Some believe that instead of turning to austerity, the government should pump out more money and borrow as much as possible if an economy is on the rocks.
From a political standpoint, austerity is often controversial and results in riots and demonstrations. Anti-austerity protests erupted in Greece, where quite a few folks say that past austerity programs have only made social and economic conditions worse.
Beyond slowing down the economy, an austerity bill can cause a country to remain in its debt crisis, particularly if itâs in the midst of a recession. As fiscal austerity decreases spending, GDP can go down while unemployment goes up. Consumers can get nervous and stop spending and investing their own money.
In short, austerity policies can make life even more difficult for people who are already struggling. Thatâs why governments tend to turn to them as a last resort if other strategies arenât working.
Why Austerity Might Not Be So Bad
Notable European creditors have argued that austerity can be beneficial to a countryâs long-term economic state. For instance, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has previously reported that austerity has done more damage than anticipated. But the European Central Bank released a paper saying that austerity has been helpful, at least for some of the weaker eurozone countries.
In fact, austerity has helped strengthen the economies in European countries like Latvia and Iceland. Although Spainâs unemployment remains high, its economy is in better shape overall. Ireland has made considerable progress as well toward rebuilding its economy.
Proponents of austerity policies say that they can make investors feel more optimistic when a country is being run more responsibly. Austerity has the potential to bring a shrinking economy back to life as everyday citizens invest in the private sector instead of relying on support from the federal government.
Try out our free investment calculator.
The US used austerity measures between 2010 and 2014. Not only were our policies harsher than those employed by the governments in the UK and other European nations, but our economy fared better than theirs.
The Takeaway
The point of austerity is to tighten the governmentâs belt, bring a countryâs debt back down to a more manageable level and stimulate an economy that has stopped growing. Countries generally try to meet these goals by cutting spending and raising taxes.
The debate over whether austerity works continues but one common theme has emerged. Timing matters. Some critics suggest that cutting too much too quickly during a recession can be painful. When introduced more slowly, however, (or when the economy is doing very well,) austerity measures can turn things around.
Photo credit: ©iStock.com/Eltoddo, ©iStock.com/DNY59, ©iStock.com/Peter Booth
The post What Is Austerity? appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.
Source: smartasset.com
Getting Your Finances Back on Track Post-COVID
Itâs safe to say 2020 was a pretty hard year for everyone financially.
Even if your wallet hasnât taken a hit in the last few months itâs likely either your employer or someone in your family has found themselves stretched financially by the effects of COVID.
No point dwelling on the past, though. We may not be able to go back in time and stop COVID happening and ruining our 2020, but we can ensure weâre at least in a better position financially in 2021, avoiding bad credit scores and getting our savings back on track.
Thereâs no better time than now to start planning for post-COVID life, so here are our essential financial tips.
Tips for Getting Your Finances Back on Track
- Draw Up a Budget That Fits Your Lifestyle
- Secure All the Incomings You Can
- Have a Plan for Deferred Payments
- Start Saving Now
- Tips for Businessowners
Draw Up a Budget That Fits Your Lifestyle
Throughout the pandemic, your monthly budget probably changed quite dramatically.
You probably saved on fuel, travel, and evenings out with so many offices and restaurants closedâbut no doubt spent a whole lot more on your utility bills.
As the economy reopens and some sense of normality resumes, you need to restructure your budget to a post-COVID world.
Now, this doesnât mean penny-pinching. COVID may have been kind to you, and reassessing your budget is simply a matter of moving funds that you would have spent on your home into your socializing budget. However, if youâre one of the many people no longer getting some kind of financial support on top of your diminished wage, you need to figure out how youâre going to pay rent, buy food, and cover all the other essentials.
The end of remote working, catching up on vacations, covering childcareâthese are all real-world requirements your budget will need to be able to answer for.
Secure All the Incomings You Can
A huge part of getting your finances back on track properly is about making sure youâre making the most of every incoming payment available to you.
With so many people across the world struggling with a lack of work caused by the pandemic, itâs important to be aware of any possible financial aid available to you.
Most importantly, you should check if there are systems unique to your personal circumstances or line of work. There are businesses and charities with systems in place to provide or acquire support for everyone from professional actors unable to perform throughout the pandemic (such as Actors Fund) to retired veterans who have returned from tours with physical or invisible injuries and conditions (such as Vet Comp & Pen). Whatever line of work you are or were in, there will likely be some level of support available for you.
Likewise, you should start to consider how your talents could be put to good use to make that budget stretch a little further.
Side hustles such as running an Etsy store or becoming an online tutor become massively popular alternative revenue streams for out of work professionals during the height of lockdown. This is still a highly viable way of rebuilding your finances post-COVID. If you have a little bit of cash to invest, it can go a long way.
Have a Plan for Deferred Payments
Pandemic solutions have seen governments, banks, and landlords offering mortgage, loan, and rent deferrals to people who cannot pay them.
As things return to normal, people are going to need a plan to pay off these debts.
First, start by referring to the deferment terms so you know exactly what payment will be expected and if it can be broken up into installments. This will massively affect the overall structure of your budget.
These are perhaps the most important payments youâll be making, as they concern your home, so make sure theyâre priority number one post-COVID.
Start Saving Now
After all, any savings are good savings.
No one can be sure where weâll be in six months or even a year. If we see another major spike across the world it could mean your finances take another hit and you need to dip into those rainy day funds to stay ahead.
Start working out a savings plan that works for you now. Donât plan to give up everything you love for a year to get some extra cash, but, much like a budget, notice where you can cut back.
 Online banks and apps like Monzo and Chime are a great way to save within even realizing it. These apps allow you to set a monthly budget on different types of purchases, sending you alerts when youâre about to break them. So much of budgeting is about self-control and being across your financial situation, so why not take responsibility out of your hands?
Tips for Businessowners
Before we go, here are a few tips for small businessowners who may be worried about how they can secure their enterpriseâs financial security as well as their personal one.
- Find alternative revenue streams for your business. Is there a second service your business could offer to bring in some extra cash, such as gift wrapping for a small online store during the holiday period?
- Make sure youâre not overspending on digital tools. They may have stepped up and helped us host meetings, manage teams, and schedule inspirational social content remotely, but are you paying a subscription fee for an app that doesnât actually boost your business all that much?
- Use freelancers rather than employing new staff. The freelance sector could really use a hand up right now, and freelancers present a cheaper, less permanent way for you to pick up lucrative contracts and projects without investing in hiring and training staff on permanent contracts.
Itâs important to be realistic when financially planning for the end of COVID. We donât know when that will be, and you canât expect yourself to come out of this in better financial shape than youâve ever been. Thatâs an unrealistic pressure.
Follow these tips and make sure youâre making the most of this period of reflection to ensure a healthy financial future for you and your loved ones.
Rodney Laws is an ecommerce consultant with EcommercePlatform.io. He has more than a decade of experience providing marketing advice to online entrepreneurs and businesses. Heâs set up and marketed his own businesses and consulted on crafting campaigns for established companies.
Interested in submitting a guest post to Credit.com? Review our guest post guidelines.
The post Getting Your Finances Back on Track Post-COVID appeared first on Credit.com.
Source: credit.com
21 Ways You Can Learn How To Save Money In College
Looking to learn how to save money in college? With ever rising college costs, it can really help your current and future finances if you learn how to save money.
Tuition for an in-state public college averages around $25,290. Private college tuition costs twice as much, at an average of $50,900, according to Value Penguin. If you want to go to an elite, four-year university, the cost jumps to $68,000 per year.
And, if you’re going to college for something like medicine or law, you may end up paying hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years that you are in school.
As you can see, college can be very expensive.
However, I want you to know that you can learn how to save money in college so you can get a valuable college degree on a realistic budget.
Many students take out student loans to pay for college, and it can be very easy to borrow more than you actually need. While student loans do help you pay for college, having those loans hanging over your head can set your finances back by years and even decades.
And if you’re a parent trying to help your child, I’ve heard far too many stories of parents who go to great lengths to pay for school. Some take out a second mortgage, personal loans, or borrow from their retirement to send their children to college. The problem with this is that these parents are making it even more difficult to retire at their planned age. Remember, you can’t take out a loan for retirement!
College is just very expensive, but for many students it’s an important part of how they work towards a job or career they’ve always wanted. But, I want you to know that you can learn how to save money in college.
By cutting college costs, you can lower your student loan debt, or it can help parents reduce the amount they are borrowing or taking out of savings to pay for their children’s education.
Or, with these tips on how to save money in college, you may be able to attend college without racking up any student loan debt. Remember, that is also possible!
Related articles on money saving plan for students:
- Learning How To Survive On A College Budget
- How I Graduated From College In 2.5 Years With 2 Degrees AND Saved $37,500
- How To Pay Off Student Loans (How I Paid $40,000 in Student Loans in 7 Months)
- How To Balance Working And Going To College
How to save money in college.
1. Think about the value each college will offer you.
I know many students who think about which college their friends are going to or which one is ranked the highest. But, you should think about which college is best for you and your specific major.
Sometimes, the highest ranked or most expensive college may not be the best for your actual major, which can hurt you in the long run and it isn’t how to save money in college.
When thinking about whether or not a college is right for you, here are some things you’ll want to consider:
- Accreditation- This is especially important if you want an advanced degree, such as medicine or law, because accreditation can determine whether or not you can go on to the next level of schooling.
- Degrees- Which ones are offered by the college.
- Cost- This includes the cost of tuition or the program you’re going into, plus whether scholarships or financial aid are available.
- Location- If it’s close to home, can you save my living at home. But if it’s far away, you will need to think about dorm fees and the total cost of living.
- Student to faculty ratio- If you need more one-on-one help with your studies, then this may be an important number to know.
- The expertise of the professors- For me, I always liked having professors who had hands-on knowledge in the fields they were teaching.
- Networking opportunities- A lot of life is about networking, and this is a must for some professions.
There’s a myth that expensive colleges are always better than the cheaper ones. As if higher college costs means that you’ll automatically get a great job, you’ll have an extremely high salary, and more.
One way of learning how to save money in college is to just stop believing in that myth!
In fact, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal:
From the academics [who have studied whether students from elite institutions outperform their peers or not] we know that in terms of future earnings, 1) your choice of field matters more than your choice of college, 2) after controlling for ability, the earnings differences of graduates from elite and non-elite institutions are small at best, and 3) any earnings advantage that may emerge over the long run is difficult to concretely tie back to the effects of one’s college choice.
2. You need to think about the full cost of college.
There is a lot that goes into the full cost of college, and it’s not just the initial tuition cost.
The most expensive school may actually be able to give you more scholarships than a less expensive school. That means the most expensive school may actually be the cheapest in the end, and this is why you need to think about the total cost.
And, there are still many great colleges that don’t come with a high tuition.
There are many factors that determine real college costs, and due to this, you’ll want to think about things such as:
- College tuition- This will most likely be the biggest expense that you pay.
- Room and board- Will you live on campus or not?
- Fees- Whis can include laboratory fees, parking fees, etc.
- Textbooks- Textbooks can easily cost a few hundred dollars each semester.
- Financial aid- Will you receive any?
- Scholarships- Will you apply for any?
Doing those last two things is one of the best ways to save for college, so please apply for scholarships and financial aid!
Considering all of the factors I’ve just listed can help you learn how to save money in college, and when you put them together, it may change your mind on which college provides the best value.
3. Remember that college isn’t the only thing that’s important.
When thinking about how to save money in college, you also want to remember that college isn’t the only thing that’s important. Yes, you definitely want to take it seriously and learn as much as possible, but there are other factors that are extremely important as well.
These other factors may play an even bigger role in helping you land the job you want.
Some of the other points you’ll want to keep in mind include:
- Internships
- Extracurricular activities such as college clubs
- Part-time and full-time jobs
- Leadership opportunities
And more!
With those things on your resume, you may put yourself ahead of others that are applying for the same position. These things are important no matter where you went to college.
Remember, companies want to see that you can apply what you learn and that you actually have experience.
4. Taking community college classes is one of the best ways to save money in college.
When you graduate with a four-year degree, the school name on your diploma will be the name of the college you graduated from. It won’t say, “graduated from here but took some classes at community college.” This is because your community college credits are transferred (if you follow the correct steps as outlined by your school).
If you are wondering how to save money in college, this is a great way to cut college costs.
Whether you are in college already or if you haven’t started yet, taking classes at a community college can be a great way to save money.
Community colleges provide an enormous value. However, many think they are too good to save money by taking classes at a community college.
Usually, earning credits at a community college costs just a fraction of what it would cost at a 4-year college, so you may find yourself being able to save thousands of dollars each semester.
You may only spend $5,000 a year at a community college (most likely even less), which is a huge difference from the costs that were mentioned at the beginning of this article.
There is also a myth that your degree is worth less if you go to a community college. That is not true at all. When you eventually earn your 4-year degree, your degree will only say where you graduated from and it won’t even mention the community college credits. Your degree will look the same as everyone else that attended your college, whether you took a few classes at community college or not. You might as well save money!
I only took community college classes during one summer semester where I earned 12 credits, and I regret not taking more. I probably could have saved around $20,000 by taking more classes at my local community college.
Also, community colleges are great for getting general type credits out of the way, so you’re not missing the interesting and in-depth classes that gives your 4-year college the reputation it’s known for.
If you decide to go to a community college first, always make sure that the 4-year college you plan on attending afterwards will transfer all of your credits. It’s an easy step to take, so do not forget! You should do this before you sign up and pay for any classes at the community college.
Related post on how to save money in college with community college: I Thought I Was Too Good For Community College.
5. Take advantage of high school classes that give you college credit.
One way of how to save money in college starts while you’re in high school. See, many high schools offer dual credit classes that allow you to earn both college and high school credits at the same time. Most of the time, these are done right at your high school, so you don’t have to go out of your way to take them!
If you are still in high school, this is something I highly recommend you look into, as it saves time and it might even be the best way to save for college.
When I was in my senior year of high school, nearly all of my classes were dual enrollment courses where I was earning college and high school credit at the same time. I took AP classes and classes that earned me direct college credit from nearby private universities.
Due to this, I left high school with around 14-18 credit hours (I can’t remember the exact amount). I had knocked out a whole semester of college before even starting. I could’ve taken more, but I decided to take early release from high school and worked 30-40 hours a week as well.
6. Take all of the credits your tuition allows for.
At community colleges, you typically pay per credit hour.
However, at many universities, you pay a flat fee for your college tuition. So, whether you take 12 credit hours or 18 credit hours, you may be paying nearly the exact same price.
This is why I recommend that students who are paying a flat fee tuition take as many classes as you can. Now, you may want to make sure your classes are balanced because 18 credit hours of demanding courses can take a toll on you. But, this will allow you to take full advantage of high college costs.
If you think you can still earn good grades and do whatever else you do on the side, definitely get full use of the college tuition you are already paying for!
7. Apply for aid and scholarships to lower your college costs.
If you want to learn how to save money in college, applying for financial aid and scholarships is one of the most important things to do.
But, according to a study by NerdWallet, for the 2018-2019 school year, students left $2.6 billion of free college money on the table. That was Pell Grant money that students qualify for by filling out the FAFSA, which is easy to fill out and necessary for any financial aid or scholarships.
So, before you start your semester, you should always look into scholarships, grants, and fill out your FAFSA (click here to read my FAFSA tips). Paperwork for the following semester is usually due around spring, so I highly recommend doing this as soon as you can if you are planning on attending college in the fall.
Sadly, many people believe that scholarships are impossible to get. That is just another myth, and it’s probably why so students missed out on so much money last year.
I received around several thousand dollars a year in scholarships to the private university I attended. That helped pay for a majority of my college tuition. The scholarships were easy for me to get because I earned good grades in high school and scored well on tests. I received scholarships to all of the other colleges I applied for as well, just for good grades, so I know you can find scholarships if you do well in school!
And, there are still other ways to find scholarships. You can receive scholarships from private organizations, companies in your town, and more. Do a simple Google search and I am sure you will find many free websites that list possible scholarships.
Tip: Many forget that you sometimes have to turn in a separate financial aid form directly to your college on top of the FAFSA form. Contact your college’s financial aid office and see if there is a separate financial aid form that you should be filling out as well. Don’t forget to do this by the deadline each year!
8. Only take out what you actually need in student loans.
One of the top money saving tips for university students that I recommend is to be careful when it comes to taking out student loans!
Many students take out the full amount in student loans that they are approved for even if they only need half of that amount.
This is a HUGE mistake. If you want to learn how to save money in college by reducing your student loan debt, start by only taking out what you truly need. You will need to pay back your student loans one day, and I know many people who regret taking out more than they need.
I know someone who would take out the max amount each semester and buy timeshares, go on expensive vacations, and more. It was a huge waste of money and I’m still not even sure why they thought it was a good idea.
Just think about it – If you take out an extra $2,000 a semester, that means you will most likely take out almost $20,000 over the time period that you are in college.
Do you really want to owe THAT much more in student loans?
9. Search for cheaper textbooks to lower your cost of college.
There are a lot of college costs, and buying textbooks is one of them.
Students usually spend anywhere from around $300 to $1,000 on textbooks each semester, depending on the amount of classes they are taking and their major. Just one textbook alone may cost as much as $400!
When I was in college, many of my classes required more than one book and each book was usually around $200 brand new. This meant if I were to buy all of my college textbooks brand new, I probably would have had to spend over $1,000 each semester.
I learned how to save money in college by renting my textbooks or buying them used. Renting was nice because I only paid one fee and never had to worry about what to do with the textbook after the class was done, as I only had to return it. I didn’t have to worry about a new edition coming out and the book being worthless. Buying used textbooks was nice because sometimes I could resell them and make my money back.
10. Don’t bring a car to college.
If you don’t need to commute off campus for work, then you may want to think about whether you may be able to realistically get rid of your car. Not everyone in college will need a car with them, and this can be an easy way for how to save money in college.
By not bringing a car, you may be able to eliminate the monthly loan payment, a campus parking permit, fuel, maintenance costs, and more.
11. Use your student ID.
Your student ID is good at many places beyond just your college campus. Before you buy anything, I highly recommend seeing if a company offers a student discount.
Your student ID can be used to save money at restaurants, clothing stores, electronics (such as a new laptop!), at the movies, public transportation, and more. You may receive a discount, free items, and more all just by showing your student ID.
After all, you are paying to go to college and you are paying a lot. You might as well reap all of the benefits of paying those high college costs.
12. Learn how to correctly use a credit card or don’t have one at all.
Many college students fall into credit card debt, but I don’t want you to be one of them.
Credit cards can seem like a good option when you are living on such a low college budget, but this can lead to thousands of dollars of credit card debt. That will eventually seem impossible to get out of due to significant interest charges that keep building up.
In order to never get into this situation, you should avoid credit cards at all costs if you think that you won’t use them well.
You should think long and hard about whether you should have one or not. Just because other students have a credit card doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing! However, if you think you will be good at using them, then there are many advantages of doing so.
Related post: 6 Credit Card Myths You Need To Know The Truth About
13. Get a free checking account.
If you’re paying for a savings or checking account, you should think again.
Opening a high yield savings account is one of the best ways of how to save money in college because it’s actually growing your savings. But, most people have their money in accounts with low rates. Unfortunately, that means many of you are losing out on some easy cash!
With Betterment Everyday, you can start earning 2.39% with a balance as low as $0.01.
How does that compare to the national average savings rate? While it’s actually higher than the ones I listed earlier, it’s still a very sad 0.09%. That is a HUGE difference from what Betterment Everyday is offering. If you are only getting 0.09%, then you are losing out on easy, passive money.
Savings accounts at brick and mortar banks are known for having really low interest rates. That’s because they have a much higher overhead – paying for the building, paying the tellers, etc. Betterment Everyday is an online option, which means they have lower costs, then passing the savings on to you.
Over a 10 year period, that same savings balance with a 2.39% balance would earn you an additional $2,390, whereas a savings account with an interest rate of only 0.09% would earn you a mere $90.
Your money is just as safe in a Betterment Everyday account as it is with a brick and mortar bank. You’re just earning more interest, which is something that everyone wanting to learn how to be rich can take advantage of.
To get started and open a Betterment Everyday account, you will:
- Signing up is super easy. Simply click here and sign up.
- If you join the waitlist for Betterment Everyday Checking, they will boost your Betterment Everyday Savings Account rate to 2.39%.
See, super easy!
Read more at How To Earn Over 20x The National Savings Rate.
14. Find ways to make extra money.
While I wasn’t smart enough to graduate from college without debt, I do know of many amazing people who were able to pay for their college tuition on their own while they were in school. They learned how to save money in college with the tips above, but they also found ways to make money that allowed them to pay their college tuition bill in full each month.
I did work full-time all throughout college. That helped me pay my bills, take out only what I needed in student loans, and go without any credit card debt.
Whether you only have one free hour a day or if you are willing to work 40 to 50 hours a week on top of being in school full-time, there are many options when it comes to earning extra money.
Here are some things you can do to pay for those high college costs:
- Find a part-time or full-time job.
- Look for a paid internship.
- Make money online such as creating a blog, becoming a virtual assistant, etc.
- Become an Uber or Lyft driver – Spending your spare time driving others around can be a great money maker. Read more about this in my post How To Become An Uber Or Lyft Driver.
- Take online surveys. This is something I did in my early 20s. Survey companies I recommend include American Consumer Opinion, Survey Junkie, Swagbucks, Pinecone Research, Opinion Outpost, and Harris Poll Online. They’re free to join and free to use! You get paid to answer surveys and to test products. It’s best to sign up for as many as you can as that way you can receive the most surveys and make the most money.
- Maintain and clean yards. You can make money by mowing lawns, killing/removing weeds, cleaning gutters, raking leaves, and so on.
- Move furniture and find jobs on Craigslist. Movers can earn a broad range when it comes to hourly pay, but it’s usually somewhere around $50 an hour if you run your own business.
- If you love animals, then you may want to look into how to make extra money by walking dogs or pet sitting. With this side hustle, you may be going over to your client’s home to check in a few times a day, you may be staying at their house, or the animals may be staying with you. Rover is a great company that you can sign up with in order to become a dog walker and pet sitter. Learn more about this at Rover – A Great Way To Make Money And Play With Animals.
- Babysit and/or nanny children.
- Sell your stuff.
- Read 16 Best Online Jobs For College Students
Learn more at 100+ Ways To Make Extra Money.
Related tip on how to pay off student loans: I highly recommend Credible for student loan refinancing. You can significantly lower the interest rate on your student loans which may help you shave thousands off your student loan bill over time.
15. Sign up for birthday freebies.
Everyone has a birthday, and you may be able to score a lot of free birthday stuff by simply showing your date of birth date on your driver’s license or by signing up for a company’s email club to receive a coupon for your birthday.
This is a really fun way to learn how to save money in college and it’s easy and free for everyone!
Here are 31 Birthday Freebies You Should Sign Up For.
16. Switch to a more affordable cell phone plan.
Most people overpay for their cell phone plan – they can easily cost over $100 per month.
I know that once you find a provider you like, it can be hard to switch. But, once you know how much you can save with another company while still having great service, this is a no brainer.
If you are looking for a more affordable cell phone plan, then check out Republic Wireless. They have monthly cell phone plans for as low as $15 per month.
I have several family members who are now using Republic Wireless and they love it!
Please read Saving Over $2,000 A Year With Republic Wireless Review for more information.
17. Make a budget.
Budgets help people manage their money better. It’s that simple.
Budgets are great and one of the best ways for you to learn how to save money in college because having a budget will keep you mindful of your expenses and how much money you have in the bank. With a budget, you will know exactly how much you can spend in a category each month, how much you have to work with, what spending areas need to be evaluated, among other things.
You can download a free budget printable here.
Budgets have helped people reach their goals, pay off debt, make more money, retire early, and more. This is one of the college savings tips that will completely shape and change your financial life for the better.
Learn more at The Complete Budgeting Guide: How To Create A Budget That Works.
18. Visit the library.
When you’re in college, the library can often feel like your second home (and not always in a good way). But, did you know that your college or local library can also be a great way to have fun without spending any money.
You can check out the latest bestseller, a classic you’ve been wanting to read, or borrow movies, music, and more. There are actually a lot of libraries now who let you borrow things like cameras, GoPros, even telescopes, and more.
This is definitely one of the best ways to save money in college as all you need is a library card.
19. Find a roommate.
If you decide to live off campus, then finding a roommate is going to be one of the best ways for how to save money in college.
My husband and I have had roommates in the past. While that’s not really as possible now that we split our time living on a sailboat and an RV, I still recommend that anyone with an extra room in their house think about giving it a try.
If you find a roommate while in college, you can save a good amount of money on housing costs. And, depending on your situation, you might even be able to earn a little side income.
If you are interested in renting out a spare room on a short-term basis (such as for vacations), I highly recommend that you check out Airbnb. I know people who are making thousands of dollars a month by renting out rooms on this website.
Related blog post with more saving tips about this topic: A Complete Guide To Renting A Room For Extra Money.
20. Read personal finance books.
This is something you can and should start doing at any age because reading personal finance books can help you in so many ways. Since many schools don’t go in depth on things related to personal finance, books are a great way to improve your financial knowledge.
Personal finance books I recommend reading are:
- Broke Millennial
- The Year of Less
- Meet The Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living
- Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way
- The Broke and Beautiful Life
- Real Money Answers for Every Woman
- You Only Live Once
- The Recovering Spender: How to Live a Happy, Fulfilled, Debt-Free Life
You can find the whole list of personal finance books I recommend here.
21. Other ways you can help your child get through college.
If you’re a parent and you’re reading this, then you may be wondering how you can help your child in college but not go broke yourself.
If you cannot afford to pay for your child’s college costs, or if you decide that you just do not want to, there are many other things you can do to help them. You should also read this You Don’t Have To Go Broke For Your Kid’s Education.
I believe that parents should only fund their child’s college education if the parent is on track for retirement.
This is because there are many ways to pay for college (paying for it with cash, student loans, grants, scholarships, etc.), but there is only one way to fund your retirement.
Remember, you cannot take out a loan for your retirement!
This means you should not wreck your retirement plans to help your children through college. You should analyze your financial situation first and where you are on your track for retirement to see if helping your children through college is possible. If it’s not possible, be realistic with yourself and your child.
There are many ways to help your children with college costs that don’t involve paying for their college tuition.
You can:
- Help your child understand personal finance. Helping your child create a budget, use credit cards correctly, and understanding college costs, will help them greatly in life. I recommend reading How To Create a Budget.
- Support them and help them make a plan. Even if you are not offering financial support for college, you can always support your children in other ways. This doesn’t mean that you have to agree with what they do, rather help them by giving advice and coming up with a solid financial and college plan.
- Help your child find ways to make money. There are tons of ways to make extra money, and helping your children find ways to do so can help them pay for college and their living expenses.
- Inform your children about affordable college alternatives. For example, your child may only think they should go to an expensive private university, but it’s important for you to inform them on how to save money in college with more affordable alternatives, such as going to a community college or a state university.
- Help your child apply for scholarships. There are numerous scholarships that your child may qualify for. Some may require them to write essays, whereas others are based on high school grades. Most take very little effort and are given away by the college itself, this makes applying for them a no brainer!
- Help your child in other ways. For some reason, there is this myth that helping your child go to college means you need to pay for everything. Instead of paying for their tuition, textbooks, food, dorm, car, and everything else, set limits on the college costs that you’ll pay for. You can help by giving them emotional support, letting them stay in your home while they are in college, helping them find ways to save money for college, helping them cut their college expenses, and more.
What other ways are there to learn how to save money in college? How much student loan debt do you have?
The post 21 Ways You Can Learn How To Save Money In College appeared first on Making Sense Of Cents.
Source: makingsenseofcents.com
A Step-by-Step Guide to Prepare Your Budget for a Layoff
What would you do if you were laid off from your job today? This question isn’t meant to make you want to hide under your desk, but to encourage you to evaluate your circumstances. What would happen to your financial situation if you suddenly didn’t have an income to rely on?
While it’s not exactly fun to plan ahead for life’s hardshipsâsay, your car breaking down or losing a jobâdoing so can help you stay afloat financially and avoid taking on debt to remedy an already tense situation.
What can you do to prepare your budget for a layoff? These four steps will help you prepare your budget for a layoff and survive a layoff financially:
1. Put some of your paycheck into savings
In order to prepare your budget for a layoff, one of the best things you can do is learn to live on less when you have your typical paychecks coming in. Living paycheck to paycheck is a reality for many, and a habit many promise to break once they earn more. If you can afford it, consider trying to live off only a portion of your paycheck. That way, you can always depend on having extra money to fall back on in the event of a hardship, like a layoff.
Jill Caponera, a consumer savings expert at coupon platform Promocodes.com, suggests paying yourself firstâputting some of each paycheck into savings before you spend any of itâin order to save for an unexpected job loss.
“Put money directly into your savings account the moment you get paid so that you’re never in a position where you’re strapped during a true financial emergency,” Caponera says. Try scheduling an automatic recurring transfer from checking to savings that hits after each payday, or create a direct deposit to savings from each paycheck through your employer.
If living on less isn’t feasible for you right now, start small and focus on taking baby steps to prepare your budget for a layoff. You could start with a money savings challenge and a more attainable goal, like living off of 97 percent of your paycheck and saving the remaining 3 percent. This means that if your take-home pay is $4,000 a month, your goal is to put 3 percent, or $120, into savings monthly and then limit your bills and spending to $3,880. As you get accustomed to that amount, gradually increase the percentage of your paycheck you save each period. Some budgeting experts suggest saving at least 20 percent of your income and living off of the other 80 percent.
If you devote even a small percentage of your paycheck to savings before the bills and discretionary expenses roll in, saving will eventually become habit. You’ll get used to budgeting only with your post-savings take-home pay, and you won’t miss the savings portion of your paycheck.
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âPut money directly into your savings account the moment you get paid so that you’re never in a position where you’re strapped during a true financial emergency.”
2. Save 3 to 6 months of expenses in an emergency fund
Once you’ve gotten used to regularly saving a portion of your income, you can save for an unexpected job loss by building up a solid emergency fund over timeâespecially if you are using an online savings account with a high interest rate. An emergency fund is a dedicated savings account that you only touch in the event of financial hardship, such as a medical emergency or job loss.
Sunny skies are the right time to save for a rainy day.
Start an emergency fund with no minimum balance.
Start Saving

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Discover Bank, Member FDIC
Christian Stewart, founder of financial coaching site Do Better Financial, recommends having an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses to help you survive a layoff financially.
“The goal is to make sure all your bases are covered, meaning you can pay the bills and proceed with a relatively normal life until you find another job,” Stewart says. She notes the actual amount of money you need to save for an unexpected job loss will vary based on your lifestyle, employment industry and willingness to relocate, since this can dictate how long it could take to find another job.
To build an emergency fund and save for an unexpected job loss, Stewart recommends starting a zero-based budget. This form of budgeting gives every dollar you earn a job, such as paying a bill, funding your emergency account or financing fun and discretionary expenses. In addition to making your emergency fund a priority, this budgeting strategy helps you identify exactly how much you spend within each budget category each month. You can then find areas of careless spendingâperhaps an unused subscription serviceâwhere you could stand to cut back. You could redistribute those dollars to your emergency fund.
“In the event of a layoff, you will have a clear line of sight to regular areas of your spending that can be cut if it takes longer to find a new job,” Stewart says.
After you’re comfortable with the size of your emergency fund and feel like you can survive a layoff financially, you can use any extra savings for a different financial goal, such as saving for retirement or a down payment on a car or home.
3. Find income from a side hustle
Another way to survive a layoff financially is to have a side gig in place. Contrary to what some believe, side hustles do not have to take up an onerous amount of your time. There are actually many side hustles you can do while working full time, such as freelancing in your current field, driving for a rideshare app or tutoring.
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Not only do side jobs create extra cash flow to devote toward savings or debt repayment when you have a full-time job, they also give you an added layer of security to help you save for an unexpected job loss. You might not be able to replace your full-time earnings with your music lesson business, but it can provide you with some predictable cash flow while you interview for a new position.
You could even turn your side hustle into a full-time job if you have a passion project you’ve been wanting to turn into a career. Alternatively, your side hustle turned full-time gig could help maintain your income stream if you plan to take additional time off after a layoffâif you decide to go back to school or make a move to a new industry, for example.
4. Know where to turn for assistance
Being laid off can be a traumatic experience, and if it does happen, it is important to know where to turn and how to make decisions that aren’t rooted in fear or emotion.
“Sit down with a level-headed friend, spouse and/or counselor to process your new financial reality,” Stewart of Do Better Financial says. “If you’re receiving a compensation package, do yourself a favor and work out beforehand where the money will be spent and how long you need it to last.”
Speaking of work benefits, make sure you utilize all of the benefits possible before your layoff goes into full effect, such as getting an annual physical through your health insurance plan.
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âSit down with a level-headed friend, spouse and/or counselor to process your new financial reality. If you’re receiving a compensation package, do yourself a favor and work out beforehand where the money will be spent and how long you need it to last.”
“If you’ve been laid off, or are expecting an upcoming layoff, you should immediately contact your state’s unemployment office to set up your account and start receiving your compensation,” consumer savings expert Caponera says. “While these benefits won’t pay as much as your full-time salary, these funds will certainly help to cover your monthly bills and living expenses while you continue to look for work.”
Each state has different benefits and paperwork requirements, so make sure you’re using your state’s government website to learn more and to survive a layoff financially.
Prepare your budget for a layoff
Facing a layoff can be emotionally and financially draining, especially if you don’t see it coming. The most important thing is to start planning ahead, and prepare your budget for a layoff before it happens.
The post A Step-by-Step Guide to Prepare Your Budget for a Layoff appeared first on Discover Bank – Banking Topics Blog.
Source: discover.com
10 Things to Know About Working in New York
Thinking about working in New York? There are some features of work life in the Big Apple that set it apart from the work culture in other cities. Is it true that if you can make it there you can make it anywhere? Weâre not making any promises, but we can give you some tips about what working in New York is really like.
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1. Salaries are high â but so is the cost of living.
For many fields, particularly those that require highly skilled workers, salaries in New York are higher than those in other cities. But before you get too excited about the fact that salaries in New York tend to be higher, keep in mind that the cost of living in New York is higher, too.
Luckily, there are plenty of financial experts around to help you figure out how to keep your finances in check. These are the top 10 New York financial advisor firms.
2. New Yorkers put in long hours.
New Yorkers tend to work longer hours than folks in other cities. In part, thatâs because the workday itself is longer, but itâs also because New Yorkers tend to have long commutes. If you want to have plenty of free time to pursue side hustles or hobbies, working in New York might not be the best fit for you.
3. Commuting by public transit is the norm.
According to recent Census Bureau figures, 55.6% of New Yorkers take public transportation to work, 0.8% bike to work, 10.3% walk and 3.9% work at home. Hate crowds? Commuting by public transit could take some getting used to.
4. Office happy hour options are plentiful.
Working in New York means having a multitude of options for weekday lunches and office happy hours at your fingertips. Socializing with your coworkers after the end of a workday is easy with so many places to go and easy public transportation options to take you home at the end of the evening.
5. Being a working parent is expensive in New York.
New York has some of the highest childcare costs of any city in the nation. Being a working parent in New York is expensive â and itâs not easy, given the long hours New Yorkers put in. New York has a lower rate of working mothers than many other major U.S. cities, in part because the high price of childcare makes it hard for many New Yorkers to earn more than they would have to pay for childcare.
6. New York work culture takes some of its cues from Silicon Valley.
Some New York workplaces are taking their cues from the start-ups of Silicon Valley, implementing casual attire, flexible workdays and other features. In an effort to compete with companies in other cities, some New York companies are expanding the perks they offer their workers, so if youâre lucky enough to get a job in one of those companies, youâll find that working in New York has its compensations.
7. Lots of New Yorkers have more than one job.
Whether theyâre care workers who work double shifts or actors who tend bar on the side, many New Yorkers have more than one job. For some, having a second (or third) job is a matter of necessity, while for others itâs a way of advancing their career or expressing their artistic side. Plus, getting a second job (or a roommate) makes it easier to live the New York dream without going into debt.
8. There are professional support opportunities here.
Because itâs a huge, densely populated city, New York has professional support opportunities for those up and down the career ladder. You can get help finding a job or finishing your GED. You can also attend high-powered networking events and conferences. The important thing is to know what resources are out there and how to take advantage of them.
9. You can outsource a lot of tasks â if you have the money.
If itâs in your budget, you can outsource a lot of tasks that you donât want to have to tackle during your non-working hours. That includes mailing packages, getting food, dropping off dry cleaning, completing home repairs and more. Of course, these services arenât within reach of all New Yorkers, and many people like to do these basic âlife adminâ tasks themselves. But if youâre planning on diving into the workaholic lifestyle in New York and you think youâll have some money to spare, there are lots of companies looking to make outsourcing chores easier for you.
10. It helps to know someone.
It helps to know someone when youâre looking for work in New York, if only to stand out from the pile of applications that so many New York jobs attract. Thatâs why itâs a good idea to build and maintain your network and put it to work for you when youâre looking for a new (or just better) job.
Bottom Line
Working in New York isnât for everyone, but many find it to be an exciting challenge unlike what they would face elsewhere. For others, working in New York is more of a means to an end â living in New York. Wherever you stand, working in New York is made easier when you have a strong network and plenty of determination.
Tips for Maximizing Your Money
- Come up with a budget â and stick to it. Instead of spending $5 a day on a latte, put that money in one of the best savings accounts where you can earn interest.
- Work with a financial advisor. In addition to helping you craft a financial plan and identify your financial goals, a financial advisor can help you determine the right investments for your financial situation, time horizon and level of risk tolerance. A matching tool like SmartAssetâs SmartAdvisor can help you find a person to work with to meet your needs. First youâll answer a series of questions about your situation and goals. Then the program will narrow down your options from thousands of advisors to three fiduciaries who suit your needs. You can then read their profiles to learn more about them, interview them on the phone or in person and choose who to work with in the future. This allows you to find a good fit while the program does much of the hard work for you.
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Source: smartasset.com