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4 Legitimate Ways to Make Additional Money in 2016

February 10, 2016 By Thomas Bawdy Leave a Comment

Earning income on the side is much easier today than it was just a few years ago. New companies are using moonlighters instead of regular employees, online platforms are allowing average Joes to become investors, and more businesses are choosing to hire temporary contract workers. Whether you need a second income or just want to save for something special, the ideas below can make it possible:

Start Investing

Beating Broke is about growing your wealth, which is the entire basis of investing. It’s making financial decisions now that help to increase your assets and create a more secure financial future. And it’s not just for rich people.

There are investing options that don’t take much money to get started. For example, you can contribute just $20 or so to an IRA each month. Bonus – that money is also tax deductible.

Getting in the stock market game is now easier and more affordable than ever, thanks to online trading. Stocks range in price across the board. You don’t need much to get started, but you do need to do research and understand that it’s a long-term investment. Binary options are risker than stocks, but the payout is much faster. The founders of 24option, a binary options trading company, have stated that their mission is to bring investing to the masses. Instead of buying the actual stocks, you are bidding or “betting” on whether a certain stock will go up or down in value.

Rent Out a Room or Your Whole House

Do you have an extra room in your home that sits empty whenever family and friends aren’t visiting? Are you planning a vacation that will leave your house vacant for a few days to a few weeks? Then why not rent it out?

Airbnb and HomeAway are the two leading temporary rental sites that help people make extra cash from their home. With Airbnb you can even choose to rent out just a room while you’re still there. When you list your space you can choose the “living/sleeping arrangement”, how many people the space can accommodate, whether pets are allowed and a whole lot more.

Listing on Airbnb is free, and their Host Guarantee even insures your property for up to $1 million at no extra cost. Do keep in mind that Airbnb charges a 3% hosting fee on every reservation. You’ll have to check the rules and regulations of your apartment complex, HOA, city, etc. before putting your home on Airbnb. Some areas and associations have banned temporary renting.

Driving for Uber or Lyft

If you live in a bigger city, moonlighting as a part-time taxi driver is also a possibility. The car-for-hire industry is growing at such a fast pace, Chevy recently invested in Lyft. Even though Chevy is in the business of selling cars they realize more people are deciding to forgo ownership and using companies like Uber and Lyft when they need a ride.

To start driving people around town for extra cash, you’ll of course need to own your vehicle. You’ll also need to be at least 21 years old and have three or more years of driving under your belt. Valid car insurance and an in-state drivers license are also a necessity. Drivers will be given a background check before approval to make sure your driving record is clean and you don’t have a criminal record.

Monetize Your Skillset by Freelancing

A lot of people are contract workers and freelancers these days. In fact, some of the latest estimates show that a third of the U.S. workforce are freelancers. Some started out of a necessity after losing their jobs during the Great Recession while others made the switch to gain more flexibility and control over their career.

Today there are a variety of reputable resources that will help you connect with people that need just about every type of service. Here’s a short list of some of the most popular freelancer sites:

Freelancer.com
Upwork.com
Fiver.com
Elance.com
Toptal.com
Guru.com
Craigslist.org
SimplyHired.com
CollegeRecruiter.com
TaskRabbit.com
Gigwalk.com
Airtasker.com

Just a few extra hours each week could be ample time to make enough money to pay down your high-interest credit cards or save for a vacation. Who knows – some people have been able to parlay their side jobs into new careers.

Is the Living Wage Realistic?

March 21, 2014 By Shane Ede 6 Comments

I recently found an interesting calculator (Via Lifehacker, via MIT), called the Living Wage Calculator. The smart folks over at MIT put it together to”provide a minimum estimate of the cost of living for low wage families.” Normally, when I see one of these calculators, I try it once, scoff lightly, then move on to something far more useful with my day. This calculator is a bit different from some other ones I’ve seen in that it actually gets pretty localized. Others tend to use a generalization like “urban” or “suburban” and leave it at that. The fault there is that the living wage in an urban setting like Los Angeles is going to be very different from a living wage in the urban setting of a city like Fargo.

The MIT living wage calculator gets localized down to the county you live in, and then goes a bit further and can go right down to the city that you live in in some cases. I gave it a run based on my county, and then based on my city. Not surprisingly, I got the same number in both cases. The city I live in is both the county seat, and the largest city in the county. I suppose it’s possible that the numbers could vary a bit at the two levels, but I don’t think it would be too much in any case.

A Living Wage: Example locations.

To compare how the results fare based on your actual location, I ran it for a few different locales. First, using the example above, for Los Angeles city. In all cases, I used the 2 adult, 3 children number. For Los Angeles, the calculator returned an hourly wage of $27.97 which translates to just a hair under $58,200. (using $/hr * 2080) For Fargo, the calculator returned an hourly wage of $20.56 which translates to about $42,800 a year. To be honest, I was a little surprised by the small difference between the two. Not that almost $16,000 is a small amount, but considering the difference in the size of the two cities, I really expected the living wage to much more significantly different.

For a second example, I compared Fargo against the city that I live in. The numbers for Fargo are above. For my city, the calculator returned an hourly wage of $19.20 which translates to about $40,000. This difference was a bit more expected. The two cities are only a couple of hours away, and their economic differences are pretty minimal. I also got curious and looked up what it would spit out for a living wage for New York City (Queens County). There, it estimates the living wage at $26.12 an hour, or about $54,300 a year.

I found it somewhat interesting to dig into how they were calculating the living wage. They’ve estimated some of the expenses for an average family of a certain number of adults and possible children. Based on our own expenses, I think it’s safe to say that some of them are a little low. They’ve also assumed that any 2 adult family with children is a one-income family with no childcare expenses. In fact, I’m not so sure that they aren’t saying that a 2 adult household with no children would be a one-income family.

Given all of that, it was a bit reassuring to know that our family makes more than what they’re assuming is a living wage for our area. However, that’s with two incomes. Which also means that we’re spending plenty of extra on child care. If I use their numbers for expenses for 2 children and childcare, then add it to their 2 adult, 2 children number the resulting number is not that far from what we’re really making. There’s still a bit left over above that amount, but it’s a bit of a reality check too. Time to find some ways to increase income!

A Living Wage: Is it Realistic?

All the playing around brings a question to mind. Is the living wage realistic? It’s important, I think, to realize that the living wage is meant as an indicator of the amount of income that is necessary to assure that a family can pay for the bare necessities of “living”. Keeping that in mine, it might be realistic. But, one of the key things I don’t see in the expenses categories is a line for any sort of debt servicing. Which means they’re assuming that you’re renting a house or apartment, and that you don’t have any other debts. And we all know how realistic that assumption is. Or not. I think, for this to be truly realistic, it’s got to assume that the family will be dual-income. It’s also got to assume that at least one of the two adults will have some student loan debt. More likely, both. And it’s got to assume that there’s going to be some other debts that will need servicing. Then it might border on a true living wage. Otherwise, it’s just another way of saying poverty line.

Go and give the calculator a spin. How close to the number are you? Are you so far from it that it’s scoff worthy? Or is it time for you to find a way to increase your income too? Do you think that the living wage is realistic?

5 Ways a Better Credit Score Leads to Better Finances

August 30, 2013 By Shane Ede 14 Comments

Bookkeeping Everybody knows that you want to have the best credit score you can. Why? Because the better your credit score, the better the rates you can get on your loans, of course! But, did you know that there are other reasons to try and improve your credit score? In fact, here’s five ways that having a better credit score can lead to better finances.

More money. This is the obvious one. A better credit score leads to better rates on loans (see above), and better rates lead to less interest paid over the life of the loan. And less interest paid leads to… (wait for it) a better bank balance!
Better rentals. It’s a sad fact that many landlords are doing credit checks on prospective tenants these days. They’ve got assets to protect, so it’s a smart move for them, but the fact that there are so many landlords out there getting burned that it’s become necessary is sad. But, having a good credit score can help make sure you don’t get turned down for that great apartment down by the beach!
Quicker payoff. This one goes really closely with the first point. With those lower rates, and lessened interest also comes the ability to pay the loan off quicker. And, of course, a quicker payoff means a much better financial situation. Especially if you avoid any new loans afterward.
Any loan you like. If you must loan money, at least do it smartly. With the current state of affairs, you can’t just walk in and get a loan that has a pulse as it’s only requirement. In fact, many banks and credit unions are cutting way back on their sub-prime lending for anything. (P.S. the term “sub-prime” doesn’t just apply to mortgage loans) If you have poor credit, it’s much more likely, today, that you’ll get turned down for a loan altogether. Better credit means that if you really need a loan, you probably can have one.
Less fees. We all hate fees. Well, all of us except the financial institutions. A growing number of them are making a growing amount of their revenues from fees. And many have moved to an account structure that is based off of risk. And risk is determined by credit score. A lower credit score could mean an account with higher fees, or with monthly fees that some accounts might not have, while a higher credit score might qualify you for a different account without those fees.

So, you see, having a good credit score can really send your finances in the right direction. And, having a bad credit score can really send them into the dumps in a hurry too! Unless you’re very dedicated to the extreme frugaler lifestyle, and never plan on really using money, it still pays to have a good credit score. It doesn’t take much to build it, and you might be glad you did someday.

photo credit: o5com