Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

Taking your Side Hustle Mobile

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This post has been brought to you by: SumUp (opinions are still mine though!)

If you’re like me (and you likely are if you’re reading this post), you’ve always got a side hustle or two running at once. You’re always looking for something to augment your income and help you pay off debt (or pay for that extra vacation). This blog is one of mine. I’ve also got a few things that I’ve got posted on my Etsy store. Nearly everything that I do is online. I don’t have to carry inventory, or attend swap meets, or anything of the like. But that’s not the case for all of you.

SumUp EMV card reader
photo credit: SumUp

For some of you, there’s a very good chance that you’ve got to be mobile, and you’ve got to accept payments wherever your customer meets you. In the past, that has meant carrying a bit of cash around to make change with, and when the day has been good, carrying even more cash back with you.  That can be dangerous.  The other issue you will likely run into is that you’re likely to have a few customers like me who rarely carry more than a few dollars of cash, and want to pay for their purchase with their debit or credit card.

If you are one of those who makes sales while on the go, you need some way to process credit or debit transactions.  Not only is it safer than carrying around a bunch of cash, but it will save you a heck of a lot of time and energy when doing your accounting at the end of the day. There are plenty of companies that offer these kinds of services.  One that offers up both a super portable card reader and a portable cash register, is a company called SumUp. Unlike some of their competitors, their device connects to an app on your phone (iOS or Android) via bluetooth, getting rid of the dongle approach that can easily break. And there’s a couple of ways that you can accept cards through the device.

Magstripe transactions

This is the old fashioned way of taking a credit transaction. The magnetic strip on the back of the cards holds all the card data.  A quick swipe, and the reader reads that data, and processes the transaction.  Easy peasy. Most of us are super used to transactions that work this way.

EMV chip transactions

Magstripe is the tried and true transaction process. But it’s also the one that makes it super easy for fraudsters to copy the data from the stripe and use it to perform fraudulent transactions. The EMV chip is the new technology that is meant to help prevent all of that. The chip is embedded in the new cards, and needs to be inserted into the reader. It has to be physically present to work, and it’s not as easily copied. It’s more secure, and it works well.

SumUp’s fees and limits match or best their competition, and their design is pretty cool too. Watch this video to see what it’s all about.

At the end of the day, if you’ve got a side hustle that has to be mobile, you need some sort of mobile card terminal. There are several options out there, and SumUp is just one of those. As the hustler, I would expect you to do your due diligence and make a decision based on what your business needs are. The only thing I can really tell you is that if you don’t have a way to process these sorts of transactions, you’re leaving money on the proverbial table. Don’t do that.

Restrain Holiday Eating and Spending for a Happier New Year

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Have you been in this situation before?

You want to start a diet and shed a few pounds, but you decide, since it’s November already, you should just wait until after the holidays.  You tell yourself you’ll have a fresh start January 1st.  New year, new life, all that.

This plan may sound good to you, but since you keep thinking about the diet you’re going to start in January, you indulge more than you normally would over the holidays and gain 10 pounds.  Now, you have an even bigger job ahead of you come January 1st.

Restrain Holiday spending and eatingIf you had instead started your new eating plan at the beginning of the holiday season, you would have had better control over your eating.  You likely wouldn’t have gained weight.  If you were doing great and were motivated, you may have even lost weight, but let’s be honest—even remaining the same weight during the holidays is an accomplishment.

We’re in November, which is when most people are at risk of two negatives—eating too much and spending too much.

Just like the decision to lose weight, many people may decide to start focusing on managing their money better after the holidays.  After all, there are so many presents to buy and parties to host.  Getting on a budget isn’t possible during the holidays, they think.  And then, because they’re not keeping an eye on their finances, they spend lavishly and find themselves facing an exorbitant credit card bill that they can’t pay in full.

Sound familiar?

Why not make this year different?

Yes, the holidays are right around the corner, but it’s not too late to keep your finances in check.  Here are some simple strategies:

Don’t give gifts to everyone.  If you don’t have a lot of money saved up for gifts, don’t go into debt to buy them.  Think about it.  Do you remember what gifts you received for Christmas last year?  Do you remember who gave them to you?

Yeah, I thought so.

I remember only one gift from last Christmas, even though I got several.

Give a gift that you can pay for later.  I love this strategy!  If you don’t have a lot of money for holiday gifts but still want to give something, consider offering a gift at a later date.  For instance, you could offer a close friend a present of dinner and a movie at a time of her choosing.  Maybe she decides in March that she’d like to take you up on the offer.  You’ve had three months to save the money for that gift.

Don’t give in to peer pressure.  There is an enormous amount of peer pressure during the holiday season to go to parties, bring food, buy gifts for everyone. . .It’s okay to step off this spendthrift merry-go-round and simply say no.  You don’t have to go to every party.  You don’t have to buy a present for everyone you have contact with in your life.

Just say no.

The next four to six weeks can have a significant impact on the first few months of 2016.

Are you going to indulge occasionally in sweet treats but mostly eat healthy, or are you going to let loose and gain 10 pounds?

Are you going to be financially responsible and only give gifts that you have the means to give, or are you going to charge everything and create a hole that will take you three or four months to dig out of, if not more?

Haven’t you had enough of overindulgent holidays?  Wouldn’t you like to start 2016 with a truly fresh start and no extra weight or bills?

 

 

 

 

Is It Worthwhile To Still Use Credit Cards with So Many Data Breaches?

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Just recently, PF Chang’s acknowledged that 33 of their restaurants had suffered a security breach over the last 8 months and that the credit card numbers as well as possibly the customers’ names and the expiration dates of the cards were compromised.  This news should be shocking or surprising.  Unfortunately, data breaches have become common place.  Just consider the recent security breaches at Target, Michael’s, and Neiman Marcus, to name a few.

If you’re diligent about shredding your personal information so that it can’t get into the wrong hands, you’re still not safe.  Consider all the recent security breaches.  It’s enough to make people start to think about not using credit cards just  to avoid this problem. Until they remember all the cash back they’re earning!

But even that is not a complete solution.  Yahoo! Finance just announced that a Russian gang has stolen billions of Internet passwords and millions of e-mail addresses.  “The records include confidential material gathered from 420,000 websites, ranging from household names to small Internet sites” (Yahoo! Finance).

The problem is so widespread.  If you want to live in the modern world, going without the Internet and credit cards to preserve your identity is very difficult.  Instead, consumers need to become even more diligent in their efforts to protect themselves and their identities.

Data Breaches Consider taking these steps:

1.  Change passwords frequently and make them difficult.

If you’re using “Sunshine” or “password123” as your password, it’s time to step things up.  Choose passwords that have capital and lower case letters as well as symbols and numbers.  A password like “S&36ptrM$9” will be much more difficult to crack than the passwords most people use.

Remember to also change your passwords frequently and avoid using the same password for all of your accounts.

2.  Protect your data.

When you shop online, you have the option to have the company save your credit information.  Do not opt to do this to protect yourself and your financial information.  Yes, entering your credit information every time you place an order online is a pain, but it’s much easier than trying to resolve identity theft.

3.  Order your credit report 3x year for free.

Each of us is entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the credit bureaus.  Make sure to order yours, but rather than ordering all three at once, stagger them.  Order one from Experian in January, one from Equifax in May, and one from TransUnion in September.  By staggering them, you can keep a close eye on your credit and notice fairly early if there is any unusual activity.

4.  Check your accounts regularly.

Especially if you have automatic payments set up, make sure to still take the time to look at your account to make sure there is no suspicious activity.

5.  Consider freezing your credit.

This is a radical step, but freezing your credit is the best way to protect your identity.  If your credit is frozen, no one can open a new account (including you) unless the credit is thawed using a special code you’re given when you freeze your credit.

Identity theft is an unfortunate consequence of our modern world.  You can’t avoid all technology to protect your financial information.  These strategies will help protect you while letting you use and enjoy modern financial conveniences like credit cards and ordering online.