Category: Money

It is no longer easy to find a job these days. In fact, it is already hard enough to look for a job in the first place. So, the moment you actually land a job, specifically something that lets you use your abilities, skills, and your passion, you cling to it as much as you can. 

How can you keep your job, then? Here are five ways to never lose your job and ensure that you stick to it for as long as possible. 

1. Support the Goals of the Company 

Start by taking the time to get to learn about the objectives and goals of the company you belong to and how your job aligns with these goals.

For example, if you are part of an agency with a goal of growing its revenue by up to 20%, you need to understand whether the accounts you are working on are stability accounts or growth accounts. If you are working on growth accounts, try to watch for good opportunities that will help deepen the relationships. 

On the other hand, if you are working on stability accounts, you have to make sure that the account stays in good condition and remains profitable at the same time. Once it is time for you to review your performance, you will be able to present your progress in such a way that will show that you are actually thinking of the bigger picture. 

2. Be Passionate in What You Do 

This one is very important. Make sure that you have a genuine passion for the things that you do. You will be on your way to failure if you only look at it as just a job and nothing. You have to realize that even if your position is small, you still play an important role in the company’s success. People who are passionate about doing even the most mundane of tasks tend to be happier and last much longer in their jobs compared to those who simply go with the flow. 

3. Don’t Stop Learning

Work on your professional development and always stay on top of your field or industry. Companies usually invest in different resources and programs with the aim of improving the knowledge and skills of their workers. Make the most out of these offered programs. In case your company doesn’t provide such options, you should take the initiative of pushing your education forward. Attend networking events, have one-on-one discussions with your superior and read industry publications to brush up on your knowledge. 

4. Be Bold and Have Your Own Opinion 

Companies prefer people who have their own points of view. It doesn’t matter if yours is right or wrong because what is important is that you actually got a say on something. 

5. Learn When to Say No

Finally, never hesitate to push back on some projects. Many professionals are too eager to help the best that they can only to get things out of control. Understand your current bandwidth and priorities. If you were asked to do something but you know you cannot finish it, don’t be afraid to say no. However, make sure you do it respectfully and provide alternative solutions. When you do so, you will earn the respect of your boss and colleagues. 

Saving money is everyone’s goal or at least making more money. After all, who wouldn’t want to have some spare cash, right?  

If you wish to finally fulfill your dream of having more savings, $500 is a decent enough amount that can serve as your starting point. 

Take a look at the following five quick ways to save $500:

1. Double Check and Save on Credit Card Fees

If it is impossible for you to make monthly payments on your credit card, you can call and request for lower APR rate. While it might seem a bit awkward, this is something worth doing if you want to save some money. Credit card debts are a serious burden for most people and are also among the worst types of debts due to the excessively high-interest rate. With a temporary 0% APR or lower interest rate, you will not just save money but also pay off your debt faster. 

2. Consume What You Have in Your Pantry

No matter how much you love eating out, one of the best and easiest ways to save $500 is to eat most of the items available in your pantry to reduce your expenses. Cutting down on your trips to the grocery can help you save more money. Instead, try to use those staples that are already available in your kitchen. Buying more than what you need is going to lead to more expenses. The added advantage to this is that you can also reduce your food waste in the process, making it a true win-win situation. 

3. Prorate Your Utilities

When you notice that your heating or electric bill tends to increase and decrease during specific months, you might want to prorate your utilities. This can work really well if your heating or AC unit is running for half of the year. By prorating your service, it will be easier for you to predict your utility bill every month with no need for you to wait around just to see how much it will be every single month. 

4. Make Adjustments in Your Phone Plan 

Smartphones can be very tricky. These devices can get really expensive and before you know it, this expense is already eating into your budget. And since your phone is a necessity, you cannot just simply ditch it. What you can do instead is to adjust your phone plan. Ensure that you get the best deal and choose only the plan based on your needs. Downgrade your plan to the lower tier to get rid of those add-ons that you don’t need in the first place. Doing this can easily let you save several dollars a month. 

5. Sell Something 

Rounding up the list of five quick ways to save $500 is to bring a little more money by selling something. Check your closets to see if you got some stuff that you can sell online or through a garage sale. For all you know, that old dress you have been clinging on to for so long might easily give you a few dollars that you can put into your savings. 

Everyone makes mistakes, especially when it comes to borrowing money. Maybe you borrowed more than what you need or you failed to estimate the financial consequences of your debt. 

Whatever it is, mistakes are quite common. However, it is doesn’t that you can continue doing the same mistakes over and over again, though.

Below are the top five big mistakes people make when borrowing money together with some helpful advice on how you can avoid them to save not just money and time and make well-informed financial decisions. 

1. Borrowing More Than the Amount You Need 

The last thing that you can do is to ensure that you don’t borrow an amount that is more than what you really need in the first place. You should try to borrow only when you need it the most or when the loan can give you more value in the long run. If not, your repayments are just going to get bigger.

Aside from that, applying for smaller loans can also increase your chances of having your application approved. It simply doesn’t make sense to deal with uncalled for or unnecessary stress in your life so make sure you don’t borrow more than what you need.

2. Considering the Borrowed Amount as Free Money and Letting Your Emotions Take Control

Once the approval process is finished, there are people who get too emotional and others might think of it as if they won the lottery. However, the stark reality is that there is no such thing as free money. You need to pay this back to your lender as soon as you can. Make sure that you check if you are comfortable enough in paying the amount before you decide to borrow. 

3. Forgetting about the Research Part 

Some people just want things to be done as fast as possible that they often forget to spend time researching what they are getting themselves into. Just as how you visit several shops first before you decide to buy something in the hopes of finding a better deal, make sure you also shop around for loans before you apply for one. The more places you look into, the higher the chances for you to get a better deal. Take advantage of the internet. If possible you can also go visit your local banks to know more about their offers. 

4. Not Maintaining a Good Credit Score

Try to improve your credit rating before you decide to borrow money. When you have a healthy credit score, it will be easier for you to avail of loans both in the present and the future. And even after you borrow, see to it that you pay time and regularly to boost your overall credit score. 

5. Not Paying Attention to Additional Payments

People in general usually neglect the additional fees they need to pay for the money they borrowed. It is a must that you carefully go through the documents and negotiate whenever possible. It is also important to ask questions before you sign on the dotted line. Inform your lenders about your thoughts and worries. Being honest can help you score the best deal. 

Never rush into getting your hands on some cash. Take it slowly, create a plan, and stay away from these mistakes. 

The pandemic means that times have become stressful not only because it is a health-based emergency as it is a financial-based emergency as well. Knowing how a pandemic can affect your money will make it easier for you to plan in advance so you can make it through the tough times. 

As the coronavirus affects the way consumers invest, spend, and save their money, especially amidst unemployment, there are several things you can do to ensure that your personal finances won’t suffer negatively. 

Refinance Your Student Loans 

People who are still bogged down by their student loan debts can think about refinancing these into loans that have the lowest interest rates. In turn, this will decrease your payments every month to a more budget-friendly level. Interest rates are now kept at record lows to help people pay down most if not all of their debts.

People with credit scores that rose recently must make the most out of refinancing because lenders check the credit history of a consumer when considering the interest rate they will offer. 

Pay Down Your Existing Debts 

If you have extra money, now is the time for you to pay more than your minimum payment every month so you can save money on fees and interest for personal loans and credit cards. Making smaller payments means that interest is going to continue accumulating over longer periods of time and this will cost you more money down the road. 

People with good credit might want to apply for a personal loan or credit card with introductory offers with lower interest rates to lower your monthly payment amounts. 

More traction can be enjoyed if you will move your balances to lower lines of credit or interest rate loans or negotiate much lower interest on your accounts. 

Always pay the least amount on loans that have the lowest interest rates and make the highest payments possible on those accounts that have the highest balances. 

Doing this is the shortest and fastest way to pay down your existing debt. Consumers who want to see steady and constant progress can opt to adopt this strategy of paying the smallest balances off first. Although this one might take a bit longer to get rid of your debt, it can be one of the best ways of keeping yourself psychologically motivated to follow through with your plan. 

Build Up Your Savings 

This current pandemic has become an unfortunate reminder for every one of the importance of having emergency savings in place aside from long term investments for your retirement. A good step to save money easily every month is to take advantage of automatic payroll deductions that could be transferred to your savings account. 

To take advantage of your emergency savings, it means you need to look for higher-yielding accounts such as certificates of deposit. 

It is important that you save a minimum of 6 months of expenses. However, you have to consider increasing this amount to 9 months to 12 months since it might take longer to obtain employment during a recession. 

Your goal should be to save 15% of your income if you hope to retire comfortably. 

More than knowing how a pandemic can affect your money can take on money forms, it is important that you do everything in your power to keep it as safe as possible. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has rendered millions of people jobless. Although unemployment benefits are there to help combat its effects, most of the time, these are not enough to replace a regular paycheck. 

This is one of the reasons why in late March, an economic stimulus package was introduced. It has several provisions and among this is the one-time payment of $1,200 for all eligible Americans with income under a particular threshold. 

The COVID-19 stimulus checks have started to land in mailboxes and bank accounts. If you are also getting one, chances are you are wondering how you should spend this money. Always remember that the government issued these checks to help families meet their basic living essentials. 

If you didn’t lose your source of income and you are still lucky enough to have a job, you have plenty of choices on what you can do with this money. On the other hand, your choices might be limited if your income was cut or you were laid off. 

Make sure you consider your family’s needs and financial situation when planning how to spend this money.

But if you need some ideas, here are the top 5 things to do with your stimulus check:

1. Meet the Basic Needs of Your Family 

You can use the check as a supplement for your reduced income. As there is no way to tell how long the pandemic and its harsh effects will last, you can try stretching the money out for 3 to 6 months. This might not be that much but it could make things a bit more endurable. 

2. Set It Aside for Your Savings 

If there is no need for any income supplementation, you can add it to your emergency fund. Continue building your savings because life can be so uncertain, after all. 

3. Pay Down Your Debts

After your basic needs are met and you have put some money into your savings, it is now time to deal with your debt. Pay off your credit card if you can and reduce the balance of your credit limit to 30% or lower. If you got existing loans, determine if you could pay some extra toward the principal. The amount doesn’t matter because any amount helps. 

4. Start Investing in Yourself 

Try to learn new skills, take online courses to improve your marketability and help you land a better job position, or start your own side hustle. Find something that will enrich and add value to your life. 

5. Invest in Your Financial Future

Some online platforms let you start your investments with a very minimal amount. Take this as a chance to test the waters and learn the market. These platforms are perfect for budding investors and could also help you increase your comfort level and build your confidence. These small steps to investment are the steps you can take to secure your financial future. 

Use this list of the top 5 things to do with your stimulus check as your guide to ensure that the money won’t go to waste. 

“You’re fired” is a phrase that often comes as a surprise. However, it is actually funny that many people are shocked to know that they will be fired as if they didn’t expect it in the first place.

What makes this strange is that there are a lot of red flags that lead to the actual moment. Sadly, just like with most things in life, you will only see them clearly once you look back. 

Well, it doesn’t need to be this way. Here are some of the surefire ways on how to know you are going to get fired any time soon. 

They Already Told You About It

Of course, this one is the most obvious. Whether you have been told about it in front of your colleagues or during a personal appointment, the message is crystal clear. There’s trouble brewing on the horizon for you. So, if your boss told you that he will fire you, you should be prepared because there is a big chance that it wasn’t a joke after all. 

You Always Receive Criticisms 

Another sign that your boss already wants you out is how many criticisms you get every single day. It is like everything you do is wrong, whether you were told to clean the chart board or throw out the trash. Constant dissatisfaction and quibbles with your work can also be a sign that you will get fired. 

Your Boss No Longer Contacts You 

One more way of how to know you are going to get fired is if your boss stopped contacting you all of a sudden. Back in the days, your boss loved to chat with you and even invite you over to his office to talk about some funny stories. But this time around, you have been outcast from the daily brainstorming meetings, group discussions, or even coffee breaks. 

Yes, this is a sad but real truth. For your boss, you are no longer someone important. 

You Aren’t Given with a Lot of Tasks to Do 

Out of the blue, you realized that the work you get has been reduced significantly. Those times when you were in the rush to meet deadlines are long gone. On top of that, you were even removed from an important project and your tasks have been reassigned to others. It might be time for you to take a step back and go job hunting. 

Your Colleagues are Acting Weird 

If your responsibilities are crucial to the team, chances are your coworkers are already aware of your lay off to help them reorganize tasks with no need to impact the workflows you are involved in. You might not be able to notice these changes but there is no way for you not to notice that people are acting strangely. 

Once you notice one of these signs or even more, it is time for you to prepare yourself. You can even talk to your boss if you want. There is still a possibility that you won’t get fired but even when it is already too late, it wouldn’t hurt to ask the reason why you will be fired. It’s not easy but it’s a stark reality everyone has to deal with at one point or another. 

It was almost a decade ago when the market of crypto currency officially started as a tentative step to digital currencies. Through the years, bitcoin has seen an incredible surge in value and the crypto currency market grew bigger than ever before.

Although buying crypto is not an easy decision to make, this doesn’t have to be the case as far as selling it is concerned. The extremely volatile 50% market changes are common in just a day that it might make you wonder if it is really a good decision sell crypto currency.

Here are some of the reasons why you should sell your crypto.

You Already Reached Your Goal

One of the most basic trading principles is that for you to earn a profitable investment, you have to sell it for more than its purchase amount. You need to sell once the price reaches the highest point since the time you decided to purchase it. This is what you call your time high. Make sure that you set a target. Once the market reaches a specific high time, this is when you should consider selling. In many digital currency exchanges, stop loss alerts can be set up so you will know if you already achieved your goal for your investment.

Your Investment is Making You Anxious

There are many reasons why people worry a lot when it comes to crypto. Crypto currency charts sometimes seem like a toddler playing around with crayons. Prices can jump up and down, with the most unpredictable changes. These shifts can be a major source of stress and anxiety because you can never foresee the amount of your assets the next morning.

You will continue to wonder if you waited for too long or you traded at the wrong time. You panic then sell everything out of rage. Crypto currency trading isn’t something that faint hearted people should get into. If these scenarios sound like you, then, maybe you should finally sell your crypto currency before your anxiety gets the best of you.

You Found Greener Grass Somewhere Else

Did you stumble upon a new form of investment that truly spoke to you? When investing, it is important that you put your money in places where you believe good opportunities exist. There are many startups searching for ICOs and investors promising some great projects so you could look for other places for your crypto currency.

For all you know, this investment might be much better than your future crypto. Just make sure that you practice due diligence. Always research about the investment opportunity, look into the founders, the product, the market, and others. There are times when fake projects are made by people who are only waiting for the time that you give them your crypto currency to scam you. Never let this happen to you.

These are just some of the reasons why you should sell your crypto currency. Always use your better judgment to ensure that you don’t suffer from your dire consequences.

Tech stocks are the hottest trends in the market when the 21^st century came. This 2020, expect that their demand will continue to be on the rise.

Gone are the days when tech stocks are avoided because of their high risks despite their high rewards. As technology has now improved a lot, tech stocks have become more in demand, thanks to their decent yields.

If you want to tap into the world of tech stocks, here are some options you can consider adding to your investment portfolio?

Microsoft Corp.

One of the world’s first ever trillion-dollar companies, Microsoft still enjoys the same long term benefits that made back in the 90s. This powerhouse name remains to be among the top tech stocks you can buy and own in 2020, about 25 years after Windows 95 got introduced to personal computers. This is a solid proof that Microsoft has an undeniable longevity. The upgrade cycle of Windows allows guaranteed constant revenue combined with the wise decision of turning Microsoft Office into a subscription product based on the cloud.

Adobe

Adobe, the application software giant, is yet another tech stock that you can consider buying. The company is still seeing a long term advantage, thanks to its suite of some of the most iconic creativity apps including Photoshop, Premiere, Acrobat, Illustrator, and InDesign. It is no doubt a must-have software for a lot of professionals and industries and the company’s cloud based SaaS model helps bring a high margin constant revenue, the ultimate dream of every investor.

Dell Technologies

Yet another popular business introduced during the 1990s that pioneered the mainstream journey of personal computers, Dell, after much evolution and diversification, has become attractive enough to be among the top tech stocks to own in 2020. The company is no longer just about computers alone as this now has its tentacles in storage, servers, the cloud, and data center, a diversified portfolio composed of business units that are enjoying a modest growth. The commercial PC business picked up steam not too long ago making it a must-add stock to any portfolio.

AT&T

AT&T, the media and communications giant, might not be growing as big as Microsoft or Adobe but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t a good tech stock to consider. The company boasts of over 100 million customers across the United States that are paying for their broadband, mobile, and TV services. Bringing a relative stability, it is expected that AT&T will have a free cash flow worth $28 billion in 2020.

Facebook

As one of the few tech names included in the list by US News of the best stocks to own in 2020, Facebook definitely deserves a spot as one of the best tech stocks you can buy this 2020. This trades 32 times earnings, reasonable enough for a company expected to grow up to 42% of profits this year. Even though the social media giant is already boasting of around 2.5 billion active users every month, this figure is still growing by around 8% every year.

These are the top 5 tech stocks to own this 2020 that will surely diversify your portfolio in many ways.

If you consider saving money as something daunting, then, you are definitely not alone. In fact, for many people, the mere thought of saving is more than enough to make them run away. Learning how to save $500 may be a bit challenging especially if this is the first time you will try to save.

However, even if it is difficult, you need to know how to save. This is something you should do not only for yourself but also for the people around you.

Read these simple tips for saving your first $500.

Open Your Own Savings Account

If you don’t have your own savings account yet, now is the time to open one. Saving $500 can be difficult if you don’t even save it somewhere safe and secure. Among the most common excuses of people when asked why they don’t open their own savings account is because they think they can just restrain themselves and have some money left in their checking account. What they don’t realize is how difficult it is not to spend the cash you left in your checking account. This is why opening an account meant for your savings is a better and wiser decision.

Plan Your Budget and Set Aside at Least $10 a Month for Your Savings

Once you opened a savings account, it is time for you to start putting money into it. Even if you live paycheck to paycheck, discipline yourself into cutting a minimum of $10 a month from your budget and set it aside for your savings. To do this, list down your expenses and ask yourself if these are necessary. You might be skeptical how a small amount like $10 can boost your savings but this meager amount can actually make a big difference. By setting a budget and listing your expenses, you will soon discover that you are wasting your money every month on things you don’t even need and use.

Launch an Online Business

Is there is a hobby you love to do? Then, why not make it an income-generating venture. Saving $500 will only be possible if you are earning money in the first place. Doing this might be a bit difficult if you live from paycheck to paycheck. Earning more money means saving more. With the help of the internet, it is now easier to make money and earn even at the comforts of your home. Start your own online business that will give you an extra flow of cash. The money you earn from this business can be put into your savings account. Little by little, your money will grow and reach your $500 goal without knowing it.

Save the Day with a Savings Challenge

If you are really serious about saving $500, why not start a savings challenge? There are many challenges found online that can help people who find it hard to save money. Choose a challenge that best suits you and get started right away.

Now that you know how to save $500, don’t waste your time and start saving today!