What is real estate commission? One survey says the national average commission rate is 5.4% but that can vary from region to region. What rate will you get your area? #personalfinance #realestate
If you are in the market to sell your home, a good real estate agent is an invaluable asset.
Agents help their clients navigate the market and find potential buyers, and in return for their time and expertise, they charge commission fees. But what exactly is covered in agent commission fees? And what can homeowners expect to receive in exchange for these costs?
Read on to gain a full understanding of what real estate commission is, how much it costs, who pays for it, and alternative routes sellers can take if they are looking to save money.
What Is the Average Real Estate Commission?
How much is the commission of a real estate agent? According to a nationwide agent survey by Clever Real Estate, the national average is 5.45% of a home’s final sale price. However, the actual answer to that question really depends on which state you’re in, as realtor rates are highly localized.
For example, in Florida, commission fees average 6%, split between the buyer’s and seller’s agents. In Texas, on the other hand, commission fees average only 5.65%. Moreover, the rates in New York, California, and D.C. are all lower than the national average, at 5.29%, 5.02%, and 4.90%, respectively. Note, though, that home sale prices in New York, California, and D.C. are also higher than the national average, potentially offsetting any cost-savings one might gain from lower commission rates.
Prices vary because agents all charge different rates, and some agents will charge lower rates if you negotiate with them. Moreover, there are also discount brokers such as Clever Real Estate that negotiate with agents on their clients’ behalf for lower rates; but we will cover all of that later in this article.
Who Pays Real Estate Commission Fees?
Typically, it is the seller’s responsibility to pay real estate commission fees. That means sellers pay for both their own agent for listing the property as well as the buyer’s agent.
Agents will usually split the commission between themselves, but the split can vary. Sometimes, more experienced agents will get a larger cut than new agents. If an agent represents both the buyer and the seller, known as a dual agent, the agent will get paid both commissions.
Regardless, both the seller’s and the buyer’s agent fees are determined ahead of time in their respective contracts with their clients.
What Do Real Estate Commission Fees Cover?
Real estate agents charge a commission for their time, services, and expertise. A good real estate agent will make the home-selling process much smoother and should have a large network of potential buyers to show your property.
They know their locality like the back of their hand and can potentially bring in multiple offers, especially in a seller’s market. And multiple offers means you may even start a bidding war, which will give you more leverage during negotiations.
Your agent will also take care of the minutiae of selling a home, such as listing it on the MLS, marketing it via different real estate channels, negotiating with potential buyers, and finalizing the closing process.
Using a knowledgeable and well-connected agent is also more likely to result in a higher sale price. A recent survey by the National Association of Realtors found that the typical FSBO (“for sale by owner”) home sold for $190,000, compared with $249,000 for agent-assisted home sales. This enormous difference in the sales price and the amount owners save is why most people opt to use an agent.
Can I Negotiate Real Estate Commission Fees?
Yes, you can negotiate commission fees, and you should!
In the current seller’s market, agents know that clients can easily look elsewhere if they think their rates are too high. And if you’re in a hot market such as Miami or San Francisco or if you have a desirable home that will sell quickly, then you should definitely try negotiating a lower rate.
Although you can ask your agent for a lower rate, they are not required to oblige your request. According to a 2019 report by the Consumer Federation of America, 73% of agents said they would not lower their standard rate if a client asked. If you’re a glass-half-full kind of person, though, that study also reveals that more than one in four agents will lower their standard rate if a client asks. Therefore, it doesn’t hurt to try negotiating for a better deal.
Are There Ways Around Paying Commission Fees?
To avoid paying commission fees, homeowners can choose to forgo an agent altogether and use a local multiple listing service (MLS), which typically charges a flat fee between $99-$500.
However, the owner will be responsible for all of the responsibilities an agent usually handles, such as marketing their property, negotiating closing costs, home inspections, and more. Selling a home as FSBO (for sale by owner) is not quite a walk in the park, which is probably why only 7% of sellers used this method in 2019.
Another option that owners can turn to if they are looking to reduce commission costs is working with a discount real estate broker such as Clever Real Estate, which charges a flat fee for their services instead of a percentage-based commission. Clever negotiates better rates for their clients with top local real estate agents, offering a full-service sales experience for a flat fee of $3,000 or 1% if your home sells for more than $350,000.
These brokers can charge such competitive rates because they supply agents with a steady stream of revenue, allowing them to make up in volume what they sacrifice in commission.
Which Option Is Best for Me?
When determining whether to use an agent or which type of agent to use, you must consider how much time and effort you personally want to spend selling your home. If you are an experienced real estate professional who understands the market, then listing on a local MLS service might be the best route for you. If you are like most home sellers, though, and aren’t a real estate guru, then using an agent is probably the better option.
If you’re curious about what it would cost to use a traditional agent versus a discount broker versus a flat fee MLS listing service, here is an example to demonstrate what you’d pay in commission for each instance on a home that sells for $211,000:
The Traditional Model
Home price: $211,000
Seller Commission: 3%
Buyer Commission: 3%
($211,000 x 0.06) =
$12,660 total commission paid
The Discount Broker Model
Home price: $211,000
Seller Commission: $3,000 flat fee
Buyer Commission: 3%
Service Fees: $0
($211,000 x 0.03) + $3000 =
$9,330 total commission paid
The Flat Fee MLS Listing Model
Home price: $211,000
Flat Fee MLS Service Fee: $299
Buyer Commission: 3%
($211,000 x 0.03) + $299 =
$6,629 total commission paid
As you can see, the cost savings on using a discount broker versus a traditional agent are significant. That’s why many people opt for discount brokers such as Clever Real Estate. Clever offers its customers a full-service sales experience for a flat-fee of just $3,000 or 1%, and all of Clever’s agents are top-rated in their area.
Visit listwithclever.com to get in touch with thousands of local agents and list your home today.
This article originally appeared on Your Money Geek and has been republished with permission.
Looking for the newest and best investment apps? We’re here to help you find the perfect app to improve your finances.
Remember when you had to call up your broker or financial advisor to buy a stock or scan the newspaper for the latest quotes? No? Me either. But I heard it was rough.
With today’s best investment apps, all of your finances are just a few taps away. But the array of options and features can be dizzying. Do you need an individual retirement account or an individual brokerage account? Can you transfer money automatically? What about account service fees?
Set your worries aside, and let us review the best of the best investing apps, so you can decide which one is the best fit for you.
12 Best Investment Apps for 2021
Finny – Best for personal finance education
Acorns – Best for automatics savings
Robinhood – Best for free stock trading
Betterment – Best robo advisor for portfolio management
Finny is an up and coming personal finance education web-app. If you need to learn about or get a refresher on topics like budgeting, managing debt, investing, taxes and more, Finny makes learning simple and fun through their game-based approach. Lessons are bite-sized and quiz-based. You earn gold coins when you answer questions correctly, and you can redeem them for real rewards.
Finny also has an engaging financial education discussion forum. Ask any of your personal finance questions and you’ll be sure to get smart and thoughtful responses from their community. What’s unique about Finny’s discussions is that they also have verified Financial Coaches responding to member’s posts on a variety of financial topics. All for free.
Acorns were one of the original investing apps, but it’s still around and thriving for a reason. The Acorns app makes saving and investing easy and automatic, which is a good thing for both beginner and advanced investors.
One of Acorn’s main benefits is its “round-up” feature, which links to your bank account and sweeps excess change from each purchase into your Acorns account. So if you spend $3.30 on your morning coffee, it rounds up to $4.00 and deposits $0.70 in your savings automatically. I’m a big fan of anything that works behind the scenes to add to your savings without you having to think about it. While it’s not quite the same as learning how to make extra money, it’s pretty close to finding “free” money in your couch cushions!
Once the money is in your account, investing with Acorns is pretty simple too. Depending on your age, investing goals, and time horizon, the app recommends one of five different portfolios. While the lack of control over your individual investments may be a con for some, it adds to the hands-off approach the app takes to help you save and invest.
Robinhood is a completely free app that lets you trade stocks, mutual funds, options, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and even cryptocurrency. Their claim to fame is no commissions or fees and no account minimum. If you’ve wanted to start building your personal portfolio, Robinhood is one of the simplest and cheapest platforms out there to do it.
The app itself is streamlined and easy to use for anyone familiar with a smartphone. Robinhood doesn’t have many bells and whistles, which can be good or bad depending on what you expect. But it accomplishes its core mission well, which is to allow you to quickly and easily trade stocks and track your portfolio.
Betterment was one of the first and most successful robo-advisors, providing tools and questionnaires to help you find the right mix of investments for your age and risk tolerance.
When you first sign up, Betterment will ask for your income and investing goals. From there, it will help you craft a balanced portfolio to achieve your goals. Its management fee of 0.25% is as good or better than most other robo-advisor platforms out there. For 0.4%, you can get access to a human financial advisor.
Another useful feature in the app is automatic tax-loss harvesting, which helps you buy and sell to achieve paper losses you can use to offset gains on your taxes.
M1 Finance is one of the most flexible investing apps out there. It’s like a blend of Betterment (robo-advisor) and Robinhood (free stock trading apps), with its own unique spin on asset allocation.
While most robo-advisors lock you into their own pre-selected mix of ETFs, M1 Finance is different. They offer what they call “pies,” which allows you to create your own portfolio allocations. For example, if you are a big fan of Tesla, you can create a pie that includes 25% Tesla stock, and 75% of whatever else (diversified ETFs, other individual stocks, etc.)
If that amount of control is too much for you, you can also invest in pre-defined expert pies and still benefit from automatic rebalancing and free ETF and stock trades.
Another unique feature of M1 Finance is called M1 Borrow, which allows you to borrow up to 35% of your taxable account value at a low-interest rate (4.25% at this writing). You can use these funds for anything – buying a car, fixing up your house, etc. Since the value of your investment assets secures the loan, there is no set timeline for repayment. This can be useful as an emergency fund or source of short term borrowing when you need it.
If you are an active trader, you may need more features than many of the simple investing apps can offer. Ally Invest offers $0 commissions on eligible U.S. securities, a $0 minimum balance, a large selection of no-transaction-fee mutual funds, and very low fee options trading, making it one of the best investment apps out there.
For the experienced investor, Ally also offers Forex trading, portfolio rebalancing features, and tons of research and technical indicators not available in some of the other apps.
One of the standout features of Ally Invest as compared to other traditional brokers is its web-based live trading platform. Instead of downloading software to access the trading platform, you can open it in your web browser from whatever computer you are using.
Vanguard is the grandfather of modern investing apps. They introduced a low fee index fund investing way back before it was cool.
While there aren’t many bells and whistles (or technically even an app), Vanguard makes it super simple to invest in quality index funds that consistently offer some of the lowest fees around.
While Personal Capital’s $100,000 minimum investment may be too high for many, everyone can use their free tools to track external investment accounts and net worth.
For those that are interested in more human-centric financial management, Personal Capital offers access to a team of financial advisors or even your own personal advisor if you invest $200,000 or more. You pay more for this feature than a robo-advisor, starting at 0.89% and going down to 0.49% for larger accounts.
Looking to give your kids more than toys and clothes for Christmas? The stockpile was founded by a CEO who wanted to give stocks to his own nieces and nephews.
With the Stockpile app, you can give a gift card that is redeemable for stock shares. It also allows you to buy fractional shares, so if you wanted to invest in, say, Amazon but didn’t have a few thousand dollars lying around, you could buy a partial share with $100 or $200. (And if you’re struggling to find your first chunk of money to invest, here are some tips on how to make $200 a day to get you started).
SoFi started in the student loan space and has branched out to offer many other financial planning products. Aimed at younger investors, SoFi Active Investing offers free trades of stocks and ETFs, as well as the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, all with a $0 account minimum. It also offers the ability to trade fractional shares.
More advanced investors will probably want access to more options, such as mutual funds, bonds, and more. However, with low account minimums and even access to free financial counseling, SoFi is a great option for new investors.
Stash is a personal finance app that is a great place to start investing as a beginner. You can trade stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptos to diversify your portfolio. Stash features offer fractional share options, financial planning tools, banking, and a Stock-Back card. While they charge a monthly fee, Stash also offers all features you need to manage your finances.
When you sign-up for an account, Stash will have you answer a few questions about your financial goals so they can offer helpful financial tips. Next, you’ll pick a plan, add money to your account, and get started. You can use their bank account as an automated investing platform to invest in fractional shares, create a budget, and track your spending. You’ll even earn stock rewards for your everyday spending.
Webull is another investment app that allows zero commissions and no deposit minimums to access their trading platform. Just like the others listed here, you can invest in ETFs, mutual funds, and stock. As you become more familiar with investing, you can take advantage of their full extended trading hours, in-depth analysis tools, and fully customizable desktop platform.
Final Word
Investment apps allow a wide array of stock trading apps and investment options out there; it can be confusing or overwhelming to find the best apps. Where to begin if you’re looking for the best stock trading or trades trading tools? Hopefully, I highlighted enough of the differences between each to help you choose what is more appealing.
But, I urge you to take the first step and try one! You’ll never find the best online stock trading app for you unless you get started. Whether you’re starting small and learning how to invest $1,000 and double it or growing your portfolio to $100,000 or more, investing is one of the best ways to build passive income and net worth. With enough time, the power of compounding will help you grow your wealth beyond what you thought possible.
This article originally appeared on Your Money Geek and has been republished with permission.
Finding out a celebrity’s net worth feels like an American pastime.
Whether it’s wondering how much Will Ferrell is worthwhile watching Elf or Anchorman, or Googling LeBron James’s net worthwhile watching the NBA finals – something is captivating about looking up someone’s net worth.
However, for some reason, few of us know what our own net worth is and how that stacks up against the average American.
That was a shockingly big number for me, but it doesn’t tell the whole story, as the median net worth was only $121,760.
How can those be so different?
Below is a super quick example of bringing it to life.
Let’s say there are five households in the United States in a net worth dataset that looks like this:
American Family 1: $0
American Family 2: $50,000
American Family 3: $100,000
American Family 4: $100,000
American Family 5: $2,000,000
The average net worth of these American families would be $450,000. To get the average net worth, you add up all of the net worth and divide by five.
However, the median net worth is only $100,000. To get the median net worth, you take the number in the exact middle of the data set, or American Family #3.
In this case, the super-rich, or American Family #5, brings the entire average up. The wealth gap in that example is so big that the average of $450,000 is over 4 times more than most Americans in the data set!
So as we look into the average net worth by age group below and whether you are on track in terms of building your net worth, keep in mind the difference between average and median net worth.
How Do You Calculate Net Worth?
Net worth is calculated by adding up all of your assets and then subtracting out your liabilities.
In simple equation form, it looks like this:
Net Worth = Total Assets – Total Liabilities.
An asset is anything you own that has value. The key is that an asset must be valuable. Some common examples include:
Cash
Savings Accounts
Checking Accounts
Investments (like a 401k, IRA, brokerage account)
Real Estate
Collectibles
An old t-shirt or used car with 200,000 miles is likely not an asset you would include in your net worth calculation.
A liability is anything you owe. Usually, this is some form of debt. Some common examples include:
Student loan debt
Credit card debt
A mortgage
A car loan
So, to calculate your net worth, you subtract what you owe from what you own.
Bonus: Liquid Net Worth
You might hear someone reference liquid net worth, which is simply how much of your net worth you have access to today.
Money in a bank account, in your wallet, or even in investment accounts is considered to be very liquid. You can access it quickly if needed.
However, your house and any home equity is an illiquid asset. It would count towards your total net worth, but not your liquid net worth.
Why is Net Worth So Important?
I like to think of your net worth as your financial pulse. Your net worth tells you how you are doing financially right now.
To prove its importance, let me ask you one question…
Do you want to retire?
If you answered yes to that, you’d need to know your net worth. If you answered no, well, more power to you, I guess.
Your net worth is an important personal finance measure to help you understand if you are ready for retirement. I think it’s a better measure than just your investment or retirement accounts because it also considers any outstanding debts you have and whether or not you own your home.
You can’t only rely on net worth. For example, it could be a misleading figure if half of your net worth was tied up in a house because then you might not have enough liquid savings to fund your retirement. But it is an important piece of the puzzle that you need to put together to understand if you are on track for retirement.
Average Net Worth by Age: Are You on Track?
Before diving into the average net worth by age in America, I want to preface this by saying that measuring yourself against others is not the best way to know if you are on track.
What’s that old saying parents love to quote?
It goes something like… “If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?”
The same logic applies here, “if everyone had a net worth of $5 at age 60, would you?”
You should be focused on the milestones you need to hit to accomplish your financial goals. Having a benchmark of how others are doing is a useful comparison but not the ultimate benchmark you should measure yourself against.
Alright, with that out of the way, let’s dive into the numbers from the Fed outlining the average net worth by age for American families:
Average Net Worth when <35
Average Net Worth: $76,340
Median Net Worth: $14,000
Honestly, this age range was a little too big to be useful in my eyes.
I could see many young 20-year olds having negative net worth because of overwhelming student loan debt. I’m guessing people in their young 30s are bringing the average up here quite a bit.
Regardless, common guidance is to have about one year of salary saved up by age 30. It’s not a bad goal to shoot for if you’re in your 20s and unsure where to start.
Average Net Worth at 35-44
Average Net Worth: $437,770
Median Net Worth: $91,110
Using the median net worth as a benchmark, seeing it jump from $14,000 to $91,000, is actually really encouraging. A 5x jump over a 10 year time period is pretty awesome.
Plus, $91,000 in itself is not a terrible number to shoot for by 40.
Obviously, it depends on your salary, starting debt, and retirement goals. But assuming the median household income of $68,703, this would be roughly 1.5x your income.
Plus, to get to $91,000 in savings, you’d need to save $2,220 every year from the age of 20 to the age of 40 while making a 7% return on your money. That would be about 3.2% of your income, which is not bad.
But, what if you were paying off debt for the first 10 years and investing the second 10 years. In that very realistic scenario, you’d need to be saving closer to $6,600 a month for 10 years, which would be a 9.6% savings rate.
It’s hard to make a firm judgment here based on averages, but I would aim to save 3x of your income by 40 as a goal.
Average Net Worth at 45-54
Average Net Worth: $833,790
Median Net Worth: $168,800
Your 40s and 50s tend to be your peak earning years – you likely have a lot of experience and relevant knowledge in the industry you work in and are getting paid well because of it. Hopefully, you can amp up your savings during this time period as well.
At this time, I would start to shift your focus from comparing your income to your net worth to comparing your living expenses to your net worth.
Ultimately, you’re going to need about 25x your living expenses to retire. So if you’re aiming to retire at 65, getting to about 8x your living expenses by age 50 should put you on the right track.
Average Net Worth at 55-64
Average Net Worth: $1,176,520
Median Net Worth: $213,150
By the end of the timeline here, you should be at or near your nest egg needed for retirement!
Again, your target here should be about 25x your living expenses.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average spending for a household was about $63,000. I couldn’t find the median spending outlined anywhere, but even compared to the average net worth, it is only 18.7x annual spending. Not 25.
Over $1 million might seem like high net worth, but it may not be enough to retire depending on your spending levels.
Good thing we have a couple of years to go, and having 18x annual spending saved up should actually put you on track to have 25x by the time you reach age 65.
Average Net Worth at 65-74
Average Net Worth: $1,215,920
Median Net Worth: $266,070
…well, it looks like by 70, the average American household is still falling a little short.
This would equate to about 19.3x annual spending.
Average Net Worth at 75 or older
Average Net Worth: $958,450
Median Net Worth: $254,900
And we have some bonus data for those over 75.
Not too surprising to see the numbers dip here a little, as I guess that as you get older and retire, you stop accumulating money and start digging into your net worth to fund your lifestyle.
How to Increase Your Net Worth
To recap, to hit the 25x living expenses by the time you reach 65, below is how you would have to pace your savings to get there:
Age 30: 1.13x living expenses
Age 40: 3.66x living expenses
Age 50: 8.32x living expenses
Age 60: 17.49x living expenses
Age 65: 25.00x living expenses!
This assumes that your savings stay consistent throughout your life, which is a simple and unrealistic assumption, so keep that in mind. It’s likely OK to pace slightly behind this early on, as you should catch up as you age and earn more.
Oh, and this assumes a +7% return on your savings as well!
Plus, if you’re looking to get your net worth on track fast, here are three things you should look into how to help with building net worth:
1. Create a Budget and Save Money
First things first, you need money leftover at the end of the month to build your net worth.
If you’re struggling to save money, the first place to start is to build a budget to figure out how you can stop spending so much money and potentially how you can earn more money.
2. Pay Off Bad Debt and Build an Emergency Fund
From there, the next best thing you can do is to eliminate any liabilities. Specifically, bad liabilities.
This would include things like credit card debt or any personal loans. Essentially, anything with a high-interest rate should be paid down quickly.
3. Start Investing
Last, to retire, you likely need to invest in some fashion.
Whether in a brokerage account, tax-advantaged account, real estate, or another form, the compound growth you get from investments is what creates the hockey stick shape in the chart shown above. It’s how you make your money work for you!
This article originally appeared on Your Money Geek and has been republished with permission.
Investing is necessary to hit nearly every financial goal imaginable, including retirement.
Some people are scared of investing, but what you should really be afraid of is the consequence of not investing. There is a huge opportunity cost to sitting on the sideline.
For example, take someone who is a diligent saver and put away $10,000 per year from 25 to 65. If that person puts that money in an interest-bearing account, like a savings account, that yielded an interest rate of 1% on average, they would be left with just over $500,000.
Not bad.
But if you were to invest that money instead, you’d have over $1.25 million!
That’s right, assuming a modest 5% return on your investment every year, you’d more than double your money when compared to keeping it in a bank account.
And if the market returned 7% on average, which is closer to its historical average, you’d have north of $2.10 million! That’s a 4x return over a bank account.
Below, we’ll provide a complete guide that gives you the basics you need to know how to invest money to accomplish your personal finance goals.
How to Invest Money: 6-Step Beginner Guide
1. Set Your Financial Goals
The first step you need to take before investing your money is setting some basic financial goals. This is typically the first step in every financial planning process out there.
Retirement Goal
For nearly everyone, that should include a retirement goal. You should set a rough plan for what age you want to retire and how much money you wish to retire.
The age is 100% your call. Most people retire in their 60s, but there’s no reason you cannot work longer. And if you want to retire earlier, you’ll need to save and invest a little more along the way.
When it comes to how much money you need in retirement, you can use a simple trick to find your number. It’s called the 4% rule.
The rule works by simply taking your living cost and dividing it by 0.04 (or multiplying it by 25). So if your cost of living, including rent, groceries, and all other expenses, is $20,000 annually right now, you will need $500,000 to retire comfortably (assuming your cost of living stays the same).
If your cost of living is $40,000, then you’ll need a million dollars.
Other Goals
Retirement isn’t the only financial goal you should consider. Other goals to consider before investing are:
Paying off debt
Building an emergency fund
Saving for a vacation
Saving for a car
Preparing to buy a house
Saving for a child’s education
Building wealth
While the list is not exhaustive, it’s a good start.
It’s important to understand these goals because it may impact how you invest. For example, if you currently carry a lot of high-interest debt, you might prioritize paying that off before investing.
Similarly, if you are saving for a car or house, you’ll have to balance how much you plan to invest versus how much money you put into another bank account for those items.
Determine Your Investment Level
Once your goals are set, you can determine how much you want to invest—both initially and on an ongoing basis to hit your retirement goal and balance your other financial goals.
2. Determine Your Involvement Level
Once your goals are set and you have a clear idea of how much you want to invest, it’s time to decide how involved you want to be in the investing process.
Generally speaking, you have three options:
Option 1: Active Investor
Active investing requires the most work and also comes with the most amount of risk.
When it comes to being an active stock market investor, you would need to monitor and choose the exact stocks you want to invest in. You’d also need to keep your ear to the ground ongoing to know if you wanted to trade or pick up another stock in your portfolio.
Even with bonds and real estate, being an active investor generally requires more work to pick and choose the individual bonds or properties you want to invest in.
This option also carries the most risk because you have less diversification in what you invest in, unlike the options you will see below. Even if you invest in 10 or 20 individual stocks, it might not be enough to diversify your portfolio truly; you’d have to do the math to confirm it.
Option 2: Passive Investor
A passive investor is someone who chooses to invest in broad index funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that mirror an established index. A passive investor usually has a lower risk tolerance and less time to manage their portfolio actively.
An index fund or ETF is a group of equity or bonds that are bundled together. For example, you could purchase an S&P 500 index fund and buy the 500 biggest company’s stocks at one time with that purchase. It’s an easy way to diversify and “buy the entire market.”
Personally, this is the approach that I like to take. I can pick out the lowest cost index funds and ETFs that mirror the broad indexes that I am interested in.
Note: a passive investor looking to invest in real estate would likely choose a REIT.
Option 3: Robo-Advisor Investor
Robo-advisors take passive investing to the next level and are good options for beginners who want to take a more hands-off approach.
With a robo-advisor, like Betterment, you answer a set of upfront questions. Usually, it’s a mix of personal questions (like your name, birthdate, etc.) and financial questions (like the goals section you completed in step 1) to give the robo-advisor all the information they need to invest on your behalf.
From there, the robo-advisor will invest in a mix of ETFs on your behalf and manage your investments ongoing as you age and your investment goals potentially change.
Bonus Option: Financial Advisor
Last, you could always hire a financial advisor to invest on your behalf. This option is typically the most costly, and you should be cautious about choosing an advisor who has your best interest in mind.
Compared to a robo-advisor that charges around 0.25% in management fees, it is not uncommon for some financial advisors to charge a 1% management fee or more.
3. Pick an Asset Class and Investment Vehicle
Once you’ve decided on your investment style, it’s time to choose how you want to invest. If you choose the robo-advisor or financial advisor route, this might be done on your behalf, but it’s still good to move to be educated on your investments and know your options.
In general, you have a few different asset classes to choose from, which include:
Stocks or equity
Bonds
Real estate
Commodities (like gold)
Stocks and bonds are the most common asset classes to invest in, with bonds viewed as low risk and stocks more volatile. You have the option to invest in them through mutual funds, index funds, ETFs, or by buying them individually.
You could also invest in real estate through a REIT or buy an individual property or invest in a commodity such as gold. Both of these asset classes are for slightly more experienced investors, and many experts, including Warren Buffett and John Bogle, think you can get by with a simple mix of equity and bonds.
But, ultimately, the choice is yours in what you want to invest in.
Just don’t put all of your money in bitcoin… please.
4. Choose Where You Want to Invest
Next, it’s time to choose where you want to invest. In other words, it’s time to choose a broker.
There are a few factors to consider here, including the decisions you have made to this point.
If you want to be an active investor of stocks, choosing a platform with free stock trading like Robinhood or Webull, or even Charles Schwab would be good options.
If you decided to be a passive investor of index funds or ETFs, choosing an online broker that offers a wide selection of low-cost fund options would be wise. Fidelity, Charles Schwab, and Vanguard would all be good options here.
And if you chose to go with a robo-advisor, well, then you need to select which robo-advisor you want to invest with! Betterment and Wealthfront are both popular options, but Schwab and Vanguard also have similar offerings.
The other aspect that you need to consider is the type of account you want to invest in.
If you want to open a standard brokerage account, you likely don’t have to put too much thought into it.
However, if you want to open a tax-advantaged individual retirement account (IRA) or 529 accounts for college savings, you’ll want to make sure the broker you choose to go with offers what you are looking for.
Bonus: Be sure to consider your 401(k) at this point if your employer offers one as well. If they offer an employer match, you need to get it-it’s free money!
5. Get Started!
At this point, you’ve done most of the important legwork to start investing your money! Even if you have a little money to invest right now, you can get started today with only $100.
Taking action involves three important steps:
Open your account
Fund your account
Make your investment purchases!
And please, do not forget step #3.
I’ve heard horror stories of people opening up a Roth IRA and depositing money into the account, thinking they had invested their money. But they never actually invested in an asset class!
The money was sitting in the broker’s account, similar to how it would sit in a bank account.
Once you fund your account, you need to make your investment purchases, whether it’s for a stock, index fund, ETF, or anything else, don’t forget this step in the process!
6. Manage Your Investments Ongoing
Equally important to making your initial investment is managing your investments ongoing.
If you chose to be an active investor, you’d likely need to keep a closer eye on your investments than if you chose to be a passive investor or robo-advisor investor. In the case of the latter two, checking in on your investment once a month or even once every couple of months is probably more than enough.
The one important thing, no matter which route you took, is to contribute money regularly.
It’s not enough to deposit money once and walk away – unless you deposited a hell of a lot of money!
Remembering back to the example at the beginning of this article, the diligent saver was putting away $10,000 every year. It was that consistent saving combined with investing that allowed them to retire with over $2 million.
So whether you contribute money once a month or once a year, remember to have a plan to add funds to your investments regularly.
Summary – How to Get Started with Investing
Investing on your own doesn’t have to be hard or complicated.
Which is a good thing since investing is usually necessary to reach retirement and accomplish other investment goals. You can get started in six simple steps:
Peer-to-peer lending is slowly changing the financial landscape, giving alternatives to both borrowers and investors. The peer lending market is expected to hit $312.6Bn this year, fueled in part by technological advancements in the industry that help platforms quickly evaluate loans.
Despite setbacks over the years, grey areas in regulation, and other challenges, today’s industry boasts numerous peer-to-peer lending platforms catering to all sectors of the economy. You’ll find platforms focused on consumer loans, small business finance, real estate development, etc. Along with Europe, the US has a plethora of great peer to peer lending options to help generate passive income and help aid in getting you closer to your financial goals.
Today, we’ll be looking at some of these platforms and what makes them stand out. But first, let’s look at the peer-to-peer lending market. What is it? How does it function? What are the pros and cons compared to traditional credit facilities?
What is peer-to-peer lending?
Peer-to-peer lending, also known as crowdfunding, or social lending, is a form of borrowing where instead of a bank, borrowers connect directly with individual lenders through platforms. As such, peer lending eliminates the middleman resulting in better loan terms and other benefits.
Peer lending is not a new concept. People have been borrowing from each other for generations. For instance, an entrepreneur may borrow from parents and friends to kickstart a business. What has changed? Tech-enabled platforms are simplifying the process and bringing more people on board.
Peer to peer lending platforms facilitate the transaction and also set the rates and terms on loans. However, they do not own the funds. They only act as the marketplace, bringing together willing borrowers and lenders.
How does peer to peer lending work?
Borrowers
For borrowers, peer-to-peer lending eliminates the hassle of getting a loan. Unlike traditional financial institutions that demand mountains of paperwork and take forever to approve a loan, peer lending platforms require less documentation and approve loans faster.
They process loans faster because they use cutting-edge technology to evaluate loan risks. Indeed, most peer-to-peer loans are handled online and automatically, further reducing disbursement times.
While each peer-to-peer lending platform uses its own processes and procedures, there are similarities common to most. The process for borrowers typically follows these steps:
Borrower’s process
The borrower opens an account with details on their financial needs and situation. The peer lending platform runs necessary checks.
The borrower is assigned a loan grade based on their credit check. This score helps lenders evaluate creditworthiness and risks.
The borrower may be asked to submit supporting documents such as employment records, other debts, etc. for review.
The peer lending platform then evaluates, approves, and lists the loan so lenders/investors can fund it with proceeds forwarded to the borrower within a few business days.
Finally, the borrower services the loan (principal & interest).
On most platforms, personal loans range from $2000 and $35,000 with loan repayment periods ranging from a month up to five years.
Lenders / Investors
For investors, attractive returns are among the major reasons they participate in peer to peer lending markets. It also helps them diversify into different asset classes while offering an opportunity to fund social causes.
Investors have a different process. It goes something like this on most platforms.
Open an account on a peer lending platform and satisfy all “Know Your Customer” requirements.
Access the platform to view and evaluate loans. Investors can also use the auto-invest tool to evaluate and invest in loans automatically.
Allocate money to various loans to spread risk, then sit back and wait for the loan interest plus your principal.
Most peer-to-peer lending platforms have low minimum investment requirements making them ideal for even new investors.
Top peer-to-peer lending sites
1) Prosper
Prosper is one of the oldest and most popular peer-to-peer lending platforms in the U.S. Founded in 2005, Prosper has facilitated more than $12B in loans to more than a million people, according to their website.
Borrowing on Prosper
Borrowers can access up to $40,000 in personal loans on Prosper. Unlike most other peer-to-peer lending platforms, Prosper allows joint applications.
The loan comes with a fixed rate of either three or five years with your monthly payment constant for the loan duration.
Pros
Easy funding process
Joint applications available
You can borrow two loans at once
No prepayment fee
Cons
Relatively high maximum APR of 35.99%
A high minimum origination fee of between 2.4%-5%
Late fees of $15 or 5% of the unpaid loan amount.
Borrowers with slim credit profiles not eligible
Investing with Prosper
Investors can choose from up to seven different loans “risk” categories.
Each category has an estimated rate of return and level of risk. Double A-rated loans have an estimated return of about 4.99 percent, B-rated loans return 5.77%, while the lowest-ranked, HR or high-risk loans have an estimated return of approximately 11.74%.
The platform has a low minimum investment requirement of $25. With that, you can take up positions in different loans to spread out your risk.
Investor requirements
Prosper investors must meet specific requirements before they qualify for an account. These include:
An individual investor must be 18+ years with a valid Social security number and a checking or savings account.
Investors must reside in eligible states. These are Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Investors in Alaska, Idaho, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Washington must satisfy an additional financial requirement of at least $70,000 annual gross income and $70,000 net worth.
2) LendKey
LendKey is the premier peer-to-peer lending marketplace for student loans. Founded in 2009, LendKey connects people interested in private student loans and those refinancing student loans to credit unions and community banks.
LendKey is most suitable for consumers who want to compare different student loans from a single platform.
While LendKey originates and services all the loans through its platform, it’s the more than 13,000 partners who fund the loans. Consequently, loans have different terms and rates based on lender and state.
LendKey student loan terms
Fixed Rates: 4.99% – 9.01%
Variable Rates: 2.99% – 8.15%
Loan amounts: From $1,000 up to 100% cost of attendance (subject to aggregate limit)
Loan terms: 5, 10, and 15 years
Eligibility
Borrowers on LendKey must meet the following criteria:
Must be enrolled, at least half time in a degree-granting program or at an eligible school
Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
At least 36 months of credit history and an annual income of $24,000 to apply without a cosigner.
Have a GPA of at least 2.0 and show satisfactory academic progress based on your school’s guidelines.
Must be considered a legal adult in their state of residence.
While eligibility criteria vary by lending partner (banks and credit unions), LendKey only matches you to offers for which you qualify.
Pros
You can borrow up to 100% cost of school attendance.
No application fees, origination fees, or prepayment penalties
Potentially low-interest rates and favorable loan terms.
Simplified loan process
Apply with a cosigner if you have an annual income of less than $24,000 or short credit history.
Cons
Payments are required while you’re still in school.
Eligibility criteria vary based on the lending partner.
Borrowers can only refinance up to $125,000 for undergraduate student loans.
3) SoFi
SoFi, short for Social Finance, is a San Francisco based peer to peer lending platform. The company launched in 2011, founded by four Stanford Graduate School of Business students.
From its humble beginnings as a student loan refinancer, SoFi has grown to include other products and become a one-stop-shop financial provider.
Indeed, borrowers can use SoFi personal loans for a variety of reasons. These include credit card debt consolidation, medical costs, home improvements, etc.
However, SoFi personal loans cannot be used for these reasons:
Small business purposes
Investments
Investing in securities
Real estate development
Post-secondary education
Student loan financing
SoFi has continued to build on its first product – student loan refinancing. To date, the platform has facilitated more than $18B in student loan refinances to more than 250,000 members.
However, unlike other student loan platforms, SoFi concentrates on refinancing to working graduates who can use the funds to refinance these loan types:
Graduate PLUS loans
Private student loans
Unsubsidized Direct loans
Borrowers can choose between fixed and variable rates, with loan terms ranging from 5 – 20 years. They are qualified for a minimum of $5,000 and a maximum of 100% of “your qualified education loans.”
Here are some notable features of SoFi personal loans
Loan amounts: $5,000 – $100,000
Loan terms: 5 – 20 years
Fixed rates: 5.99% – 18.83% APR
Time to fund: 3 business days
To qualify for a student loan refinance, borrowers must:
Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
Have graduated from a Title IV accredited university or graduate program
Be currently or soon to be employed.
Have enough income and responsible financial history.
Looking at some of SoFi’s lending numbers, their typical borrower has the following average figures:
FICO score: 753
Gross income: $151,144
Loan amount: 31,634
Average monthly free cash flow: $5,696
SoFi’s focus is on borrowers with reasonably decent credit scores (700 and above) and a respectable income.
SoFi pros
Zero fees, including late fees
High loan limit of $100,000 for borrowers who need large loans
Fair interest rates for qualified applicants
SoFi cons
Must have a good credit history with scores of at least 700 to qualify
Borrowers with excellent credit can find better rates with other lenders.
The funding process is slower compared to competitors.
Ultimately, SoFi is not just a peer to peer lending platform but a community. The platform aims to be a one-stop-shop financial, investments, insurance, career, financial advice, etc. hub. As such, borrowers benefit from affordable loans and get the necessary guidance to manage their money better.
4) StreetShares
StreetShares is a Reston, Virginia-based crowdfunding platform and community with a particular focus on veterans.
Furthermore, unlike most platforms that focus on consumer loans, StreetShares lends to small and medium-sized businesses for operations and growth. Companies must have been in operation for at least a year and show healthy revenues. As such, StreetShares does not lend to startups.
Indeed, a business must satisfy the following criteria to qualify for a loan:
At least a year in business (sometimes six months)
A personal credit score of at least 620
Business revenues of $100,000 per year
StreetShares for Borrowers
The peer-to-peer lending platform offers two types of loan facilities with varying terms. These are:
a) Installment loans
b) Lines of credit
A. Installment loans
Installment loans come as a lump sum, with borrowers expected to make weekly repayments after that. Typical loan terms and fees include:
Amounts: $2,000 – $250,000
Loan term: 3 – 36 months
Interest rates: 6% – 14%
APR: 7% – 39.99%
Closing fees: 3.95% – 4.95%
To qualify, borrowers must:
Have a minimum credit score of 540+
At least one year in business
At least $75,000+ in annual revenue
Businesses can only borrow up to 20% of their annual revenue, with the loan value capped at $250,000.
Also, repayments must be made weekly, with borrowers who miss a payment attracting an additional fee of $10.
B. Lines of credit
Unlike a short-term installment, a credit line establishes a credit limit beyond which a borrower can’t access funding. As a borrower, you can draw on your credit line for the term, and you only pay interest on credit used.
Once you pay off the balance, that credit becomes available to use again.
StreetShares line of credit has the following features:
Amounts: $5,000-$250,000
Loan term: 3-36 months
Interest rates: 6%-14%
APR: 7% – 39.99%
Draw Fee: 2.95%
To qualify, borrowers must satisfy the following requirements:
A credit score of 600 and above.
At least a year in business.
At least $75,000+ in annual revenue.
StreetShares pros
Fewer borrower requirements compared to banks
Affordable interest rates
No prepayment penalties
A fast and straightforward application process
StreetShares cons
Limited borrowing amounts (20% of annual revenue)
Weekly repayments with misses attracting a penalty
StreetShares for investors
As a peer-to-peer lending platform, StreetShares utilizes money raised through Veteran Business Bonds to fund loan requests.
The platform offers two types of investments to individual investors.
a) The Veteran Business Bonds
The Securities and Exchange Commission regulates Veteran Business Bonds. It’s available to all U.S.-based investors starting at just $25 and incrementing with $25 up to $500,000
Your investment money is pooled with other investors, and the money used to fund loans on the StreetShares platform. As borrowers make repayments, investors get interest payments.
Currently, StreetShares investors enjoy an average return of 5% on the investments.
Unfortunately, StreetShares Veteran Bonds are relatively illiquid. You cannot withdraw your money at will because the platform must adhere to their lending agreements with borrowers. As such, you incur an early withdrawal penalty if you liquidate your bond before the three years limit.
b) StreetShares Pro Investing
This product is for accredited investors only.
An accredited investor is an individual or married couple with a net worth of at least $1,000,000 (minus their primary residence value). Alternatively, they can be individuals with an annual income of at least $200,000 each year for the past two consecutive years, or $300,000 for a married couple.
While StreetShares is moving from offering this investment to individuals, those already investing enjoy higher interest rates and take on more default risks.
5) Upstart
Founded by ex-Googlers in 2012, Upstart is a unique peer-to-peer lending platform. It utilizes AI and machine learning to evaluate borrowers, unlike other platforms that rely mostly on FICO scores.
As such, Upstart is quickly inching towards its goal of “improving access to affordable credit while reducing the risks and costs of lending.”
To date, Upstart has facilitated loans of more than $6B to borrowers.
Borrowing with Upstart
Upstart uses cutting-edge AI and machine learning algorithms to determine your creditworthiness. For instance, they factor in your education, area of study, and job history before approving your loan.
Borrowers can access personal loans from $1,000 up to $50,000, with hovering around 8.85%. Loan terms run from three or five years with absolutely no prepayment penalties.
Upstart Pros
Fast, secure, and straightforward loan application and disbursement process.
Affordable rates for personal loans
Zero prepayment penalty
Loan approval depends on various factors and not just your credit history.
Huge loan amounts up to $50,000
Upstart Cons
Rates can go high with a maximum APR of 35.99%
Limited loan terms of just three and five years.
Upstart for Investors
As a peer to peer lending platform, Upstart welcomes investors. However, unlike other crowdfunding platforms, Upstart investing is a little bit different.
For instance, when banks originate loans, they are transferred to an obscure type of trust – the Delaware Statutory Trust that then issues securities to investors, entitling them to payments from the loan.
On the plus side, investors can set up self-directed IRA’s using investments from peer-to-peer lending.
Additionally, investors can choose to invest automatically through the auto-invest feature on the platform.
Peer to peer lending is here to stay. It’s revolutionizing people’s access to credit.
The platforms above are a testament to the industry’s innovations, catering to diverse personal and business needs. From student loan refinancing to personal loans for home improvement and healthcare, peer-to-peer lending opens up the credit market to hitherto poorly served market segments.
With strong tailwinds in its favor, the peer to peer lending industry can rival traditional credit markets and offer diversification opportunities to retail investors. It also offers attractive rates compared to traditional banks.
This article originally appeared on Your Money Geek and has been republished with permission.
It is guest post Friday! Today we have a guest post from Dennis Li who is the co-founder of Reeske. Dennis is going to talk about how much life insurance we actually need. As I now have two kids, a wife, and a home this is something that weighs on my mind almost daily. I used to get a plan to provide enough life insurance for my wife to live off for a couple of years. Now I am not totally sure how much we should be getting so I am very excited to hear what Dennis has to say.
Being a life insurance actuary for many years, I’m well aware of how simple the forces of nature can have devastating and unexpected consequences on a family. Statistically, there are hundreds of high earning Americans who die every day without life insurance. A couple of years ago, this concept hit home when a former colleague’s father died unexpectedly in his late 50s. Though her parents had modest savings, her father only had a Term life insurance policy from his employer, which is equivalent to one year of his salary. Despite the fact that her father made a good income, with an annual salary of 150K+, the couple lived up to their means, with frequent traveling and hobbies such as boating. They also owned an expensive home and a small boat, and the home still had a large mortgage. When the tragedy hit their family, her mother knew that she could easily sell the boat, but she was unsure if she could afford to stay in her current home with her teenage children.
Unfortunately, this story is all too common. We all know that we can’t predict the future, but we can certainly better prepare for it. Among everything we juggle to build a better future for our family, life insurance is often time one of the most critical ingredients. As buying life insurance has become easier than ever, buying the right coverage has actually become harder given the information overload, misinformation, and inadequate support.
According to LIMRA, roughly half of Americans who have life insurance are underinsured, among which 9 million households only have group life insurance coverage, usually obtained from an employer. LIMRA further estimates that people with only group life insurance have average coverage gaps of $225,000, which can certainly jeopardize the future of one’s family.
So why are so many people underinsured? Overestimating the premium cost, the complexity of the products, and distrust of insurance companies are usually what come to mind. However, another major challenge is that people are not equipped with tools to make such decisions.
What are we missing?
The right amount of life insurance coverage is, by essence, the amount of money your family would need to continue living the lifestyle they do now if you were to die today. Though it is unlikely that we can find the exact number necessary to protect your family, a good estimate includes factoring all the information we have as of today.
Traditionally, people consult financial advisors or insurance agents for their coverage needs analysis. However, as digital life insurance purchase is gaining momentum, more people have started using 8 to 15 times their annual salary as a rule of thumb, or by using a simple online calculator instead. Although having any amount of insurance coverage is undoubtedly better than having none in most situations, there are often major pitfalls with such simple approaches: it ignores household demographics, past savings, non-salary contributions, and individual preferences about sustaining the living standards of the survivors, etc.
Consider the following examples:
Example #1: Kevin is a stay home dad and decides to purchase life insurance. Since his contribution is not directly salary based, he purchases a 100K Term life insurance policy, based on ten times the annual salary he receives from freelance work from time to time. This puts his family in a risky position. In light of any adverse event, there would be major expenses incurred to replace his household contribution, such as childcare costs. In this example, using the 8-15 times salary rule of thumb or a simple online calculator will severely underestimate his life insurance coverage needs.
Example #2: Jimmy recently started a family and is shopping for a life insurance policy. He uses the online calculator, and upon entering his debt information, he went through all the expense and liabilities he could think of; however, he left out one major expense, which was the future college tuition for his children. He also listed his house as part of his assets in the process of calculating his net worth, which may not be ideal since being forced to sell the house in the face of an adverse event is probably not something he wishes upon his family.
Example #3: Jackie works for a large firm with a 200K group term life insurance policy in place. When Jackie uses the simple online calculator to buy individual life insurance on her own, her existing coverage was not accounted for, and she overestimates the coverage amount needed.
Example #4: Jackie now notices the issue and opts for another online calculator that includes her existing coverage. However, the calculator assumes the existing coverage will be there, forever. If Jackie changes jobs frequently or decides to start her own business, such an underlying assumption will then underestimate the right amount of coverage needed given group life policy is generally not portable.
The examples above are only the tip of the iceberg of what could go wrong when it comes to calculating the right life insurance coverage needed. To put everything into perspective, use the following considerations for estimating the right amount of coverage, at a higher level:
Your resources (after-tax income, household income distribution, non-salary contribution, liquid assets, and illiquid asset should be treated very differently)
All future expenses (including tuition costs) + short- and long-term debt with adjustments = financial obligation
Combining all existing life insurance policies, factoring in their effective periods = existing coverages
Initial coverage gap with adjustment of risk appetite Final coverage gap = how much life insurance you should get
The final coverage gap is a moving target and should be monitored at least bi-annually, go through the process above whenever your needs change or experience life events
If the above sounds confusing to you, you are not alone. We designed Reeske with the goal of making this process as simple and efficient as possible. We first have you start by answering simple, non-intrusive questions, such as your household income, assets, debt obligations, and your risk appetite. You will then receive a personalized risk analysis and proposal of the types of life insurance policies and the coverage amounts you should purchase that best align with your situation and objectives. This occurs in just a matter of minutes, free of charge.
The bottom line
So how much life insurance do I need? Well, it depends. Life insurance coverage should be highly customized, with the consideration of your personal circumstances, financial well-being, and risk appetite. Reeske can help you understand exactly what you need to better prepare your family for the future and jump start your planning process to ensure your peace of mind.
Online wallets have become very popular around the world. They are the dominant form of payment within China. I have, really all of us, have so many ways that allow us to easily store our credit card information. Personally, with all of the hacking that goes on in this world, I have a lot of trust issues with having an online wallet. Today we have a guest post from John who is going to talk about the security of our online wallets. I think he offers a lot of good advice.
10 Tips to Help You Protect Your Online Wallet
The technological world has opened up a realm like no other, and it’s crazy to think that there was once a life without it. Today we rely so heavily on the internet and computers that we forget we can expose ourselves quite easily to others. While it is great that we can send and receive money online, we also make ourselves vulnerable to hackers and scammers. To help you avoid these nasty individuals, in this article, I’ll discuss ten ways to help you protect your online wallet.
1. Write everything down
While you may think it’s easy keeping everything on your phone or laptop, it’s incredibly beneficial to keep a second copy of everything on paper. For example, it’s better to keep different passwords for all your separate accounts, but sometimes there are so many to remember, it can be challenging to keep track of them all. I personally write all my passwords down in a hidden safe spot so that I can refer to them when necessary. This also minimizes the risk of your password being stolen from your devices (I’ve been there!). You might also consider keeping a copy of your recent investments, and any large purchases you have made. This way, if anything changes suspiciously, you have a hard copy that you can refer back to.
2. Keep an eye out for suspicious links
The internet is full of suspicious links that infect your computer with viruses when clicked on, and if you’ve fallen for one as I have, you know the effect that it can have on your devices. You’ll have random pop-ups all over your screen, and sometimes receive emails claiming your accounts have been breached. You could be browsing the web looking for bitcoin for sale, and suddenly a link related to that topic pops up. Take a lesson from me, and ever click on something if it looks suspicious. You should also aim to only purchase products from reputable exchange sites, and inspect reviews beforehand.
3. Download applications carefully
I love a good game application, and I’m sure many people out there can agree with me! However, in today’s world, some apps can be designed to look like a game, but their purpose is much more sinister. Using hacking software, these individuals can access your information through the app, all without you even knowing. This is why it’s always beneficial to read the terms and conditions so that you can be aware of what information they are accessing! To avoid this, only download applications from a reputable site, like the Iphone’s App Store.
4. Use an offline storage system
Since the internet is pretty much open to everyone, one of the safest ways to store your digital wallet, is to use an offline storage system, like an encrypted flash drive. Although I don’t personally do this, it is a great step that should be considered for those that have a large amount of money in their digital wallet. You can then store this flash drive somewhere safe like a safety deposit box, and nobody will be able to get their hands on it without your permission.
5. Password protect your devices
While most of your accounts should require you to have a password, it’s vital that you make sure your devices themselves are also protected. Make sure you set a security code or password for your computer, phone, and tablet so that nobody can get into them without your permission. You can even try using fingerprint technology if your phone is capable, it really makes a difference! You can also choose to disable the device if the wrong password is entered too many times. This way, you can keep out those sticky fingers. If you struggle to create a good password like me sometimes, have a look at some online generators that can create a secure password for your accounts. Just make sure to write it down somewhere safe so that you don’t forget it!
6. Think about two-factor authentication
Two-factor authentication is an extra step that protects individuals from entering an account. If you haven’t heard of it already, you should definitely see if your accounts provide it. It’s one of the best ways to ensure nobody can access your information. Usually, the process works by sending a 4-6-digit code to your email or phone after you enter your regular password into the website. This creates two barriers to break through, and you’ll also be aware if someone is trying to hack your account.
7. Keep your software updated
No matter what sort of digital device you have, it’s vital to install some form of virus detection software or security apps. You might have to pay for some of these, but it’s worth the extra cost. With virus software, you will be notified of any breaches, and it can block harmful websites from your computer. You also need to make sure that this is updated regularly so that it is always working efficiently. For my personal computer and phone, I use Avast Antivirus, and it even has a free version!
8. Continue learning
Since the internet is always changing, it’s vital that you continue to learn with it. With hackers becoming more inventive, and software changing, there will always be new and different ways that your information can get accessed. Try to stay informed via reliable government sites, and keep researching for more information. Trust me when I say your wallet will thank you for it!
9. Only use secure network connections
As I mentioned above, the internet is pretty much open to everyone. However, one of the ways that you can minimize the risk of allowing hackers in is to use your personal secure network connection only. While it may seem tempting to log into the free public WIFI, you never know who is watching! I try only to use secure networks with a password, just as an extra step of protection.
10. Check your accounts frequently
Finally, the last thing you should do to protect your digital wallet is to check your accounts regularly, including your cryptocurrency. I try to monitor everything at least once a week, if not more. This way you can be aware of any changes, and contact the right authorities if anything is missing. Don’t be afraid to speak out if something doesn’t seem right; they are there to help!
The most important thing that you can remember to do is be vigilant. Monitor your accounts, make sure you protect your details, and never send any passwords to another individual. By doing this, you can ensure your funds are always secure.
Today we have a guest post from Kate at Money Transfer Comparison. Her website helps people get their hands on the best foreign currency accounts. Today she wrote an article for the Wallet Squirrel audience on how to get started selling on Amazon as a side hustle. Let’s read what she has to say.
How to Start Selling on Amazon as a Side Hustle
Over 30 million Americans and countless people in other countries around the world have already lost their jobs because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There might be more of them in the future as the recession becomes worse. And even if you are one of the lucky ones who are still employed, your salary might take a dip. And don’t forget that prices will likely grow fast and hard.
All in all, now is the time to get all the side hustle income you can. Amazon is one of the prime providers of such. It’s not only launching an Amazon affiliate website that can help you make money on this platform. Becoming a full-fledged seller is a much better route if you want to make substantial money.
How to Find the Best Products to Sell on Amazon Today
The first thing you need to do in order to become an Amazon seller is to choose products to sell. If you are planning this business as a side hustle, there is no point for you to develop a personal brand. Instead, you should start selling products that already exist. This will allow you to get straight to selling as you will be able to use existing listings. You also won’t have to promote the products from scratch and try to generate reviews.
When you are starting out, you should focus on products that are likely to sell well. Amazon itself will help you with its Best Sellers list.
Also, use price-tracking tools like CamelCamelCamel. They will allow you to track the volatility of the product’s price. You should always choose the most stable option you can. This will reduce your risks as you won’t have to worry about sudden price drops that will make you lose all your revenue.
As to the precise product you should sell, pick something you have easy access to. First of all, do some calculations and research. You need to determine how much money you can spare to build your initial stock. From there, see what kind of products you can afford to buy.
Do Not Fall for the Private Label Hype
Many sources recommend building a personal brand to increase your profits as an Amazon seller. It used to be a valid strategy. However, today the platform is packed with personal brands that all sell the same cheap poor-quality products.
Unless you can afford to splurge on developing a good branding package and invest in high-quality products, starting your own venture like this will be a waste. Instead, make use of a well-known third-party brand by selling its products.
If you want to succeed as a seller today, you need to think outside the borders of your own country. Of course, local sales are good. However, you have more opportunities by offering your local top brands to people from different countries. They usually don’t have access to such products, so the demand should be higher.
That said, to become a global seller on Amazon you simply need to register and list your products in chosen foreign marketplaces. Amazon offers a variety of tools that will help you through this process. You can even synchronize your listings and prices across marketplaces and translate product descriptions using built-in services.
All in all, the only work you’ll need to do yourself has to do with money management. You’ll need to research permits and taxes you’ll have to pay as a seller depending on the location. Also, you’ll need to develop a strategy for shipping the products. The cost of shipping might make selling to some countries unviable from the business point of view.
Finally, you need to decide how exactly you are going to get paid. Amazon offers some payment management options for global sellers, including the Amazon Currency Converter. However, that solution is expensive and has some hidden fees. Using third-party money transfer services will be a cheaper option for the majority of sellers.
How to Collect Revenues from Your International Amazon Sales
With the Amazon Currency Converter, you might lose as much as 4.5% of the money your customers pay. This is definitely unacceptable because the revenue margin on such sales is low by default.
Bank wire transfers are out of the question because they are even more expensive. Depending on the country, such transactions might cost up to 10% of the transfer volume. No buyer will agree to pay such a hefty extra charge on something they can buy cheaper from a different seller.
PayPal is a popular payment processing service, but it does have many cons. Those include but aren’t limited to high transfer costs and bad customer service for the sellers.
The best solution for global sellers, at the moment, is offered by money transfer platforms. Companies like TransferWise, WorldFirst, Moneycorp, and OFX, to name a few, specialize in providing cheap international transfers.
Money Transfer Companies for Online Sellers
A Global Amazon Seller will benefit most from using a service that allows one to create multiple foreign currency accounts. For example, WorldFirst, one of the leaders in the money transfer industry-renowned specifically for its multi-currency accounts, enables online sellers to open USD, EUR, and CAD accounts in nearly every part of the world. Moreover, it even allows for creating foreign currency accounts for sellers in China and Japan.
WorldFirst was recently purchased by Alibaba, so it’s not surprising why many of its services are targeted toward online sellers. With a multi-currency account, a seller will not avoid paying huge fees. They will also get a chance to exchange currencies at near mid-market rates. WorldFirst has one of the lowest FX margins on the market right now. It also has those margins fixed, similar to TransferWise, which is another good money transfer provider online sellers can use.
In the end, the choice of a money transfer company should be determined by your location. These companies offer different rates and terms in different countries. Therefore, you should choose the one that will suit your future customers best.
How to Promote Your Amazon Listings Without Spending a Fortune
Now that you’ve registered your Amazon Global Seller account and set up an international payment processing account in preparation for your first sale, you need to make sure that sale happens. To that end, you need to promote your products effectively.
This would be a challenge if you sell the same products as other sellers. In this case, you should do your best to make your specific offer stand out. Try offering the product in rare colors or add a discount coupon for future purchases.
Making your product offer unique might not be an option, but there are other online marketing tactics you can use.
Ideas for Promoting Your Amazon Products
Encourage reviews. Positive reviews sell, so your product listings must have those. Of course, they must be verified reviews. But you can use different tactics to encourage your buyers to leave those reviews. For example, offer a discount for the next purchase or include a small gift.
Make your product reviews professional. Selling on Amazon might be a side hustle for you. However, you need to make sure that your product pages look fantastic to attract attention from buyers. Optimize product descriptions for keywords using simple tools like Google Keyword Planner. But you also need to make descriptions that sound interesting and offer detailed info about the product. All the while, those keywords must be an organic part of the text. If you are no expert in creative writing, consider commissioning descriptions from a professional copywriter.
Take to social media. Promote your Amazon listings on social media, both through your account and ads. You should also post in groups popular with your targeted customers. You can also launch contests, like asking customers to share your post and offer a free product to the one chosen randomly.
Involve influencers. Any good marketer today understands the value of influencers. They do not only allow you access to a wider audience. They also increase your product’s credibility because people who follow them already trust their opinions. The only problem might be that involving influencers might be too expensive for you at the beginning. You’ll need to be sure that this would be worth the expense.
Final Thoughts
The COVID-19 pandemic has already launched a wave of at-home entrepreneurs and their number will only continue to grow in this recession. Selling on Amazon is one of the side hustles that can truly make a difference for you in this situation. In fact, this business might be able to help you stay above water if you lose your main job.
But in order for your Amazon listing to be successful, you need to treat it like a real business. Take the time necessary to market it well. Make sure that your product pages stand out among competitors by giving better product descriptions and pictures. Offer additional services and, above all, sell internationally. Reaching out to customers abroad will increase your opportunities greatly. And with modern money transfer services, you’ll be able to get revenue from these deals, instead of losing all of it in international transaction fees.
The following is a guest post by Grace Murphy, with News and Review Guru.
When starting a business from home – whether that’s providing a service to clients or running a few useful side hustles – it gets complicated quite fast. And that can be surprising to many people, as they think it will remain simplistic forever. Chance would be a fine thing!
At a certain point in every business, using software to do more, be better organized, and flat out avoid serious blunders, becomes almost a necessity. In this article, we look at which software might be beneficial for a home business and how to decide between them.
Are You Doing the Accounting Yourself?
Whether you’re doing it on paper, on a couple of Excel spreadsheets, or another way, managing the financial side of things is necessary. Otherwise, you won’t know how well you’re doing in your business e.g. which projects are profitable and which you should ditch in short order and pivot to something else.
At a certain stage, adopting an accounting package or cloud-based solution is required to get a full picture of the financials. Then it becomes a choice, and confusion often sets in over which accounting package to adopt. In a battle between QuickBooks and FreshBooks, for depth, QuickBooks easily wins out, but for simplicity and when freelancing rather than selling products, then FreshBooks is worth a look.
Also, sites like PieSync offer cloud solutions to help businesses sync data between different applications. This avoids some information being invalid because it was only changed in one app and not in all of them. Their solution links up the data to find new changes and updates them in multiple apps at the same time. It’s like having an extra pair of hands! Furthermore, their team have provided a detailed comparison between QuickBooks and FreshBooks, and you can read more at piesync.com.
Try Google Sheets to Share Spreadsheets
When you choose to start outsourcing tasks through freelancers to extend your reach, projects get harder to manage. Sometimes, there’s a need to put up information in a spreadsheet and share access to it. Rather than emailing the Excel spreadsheet to the freelancer directly, just use Google Sheets. It has a live feature that allows you to manage the sheet and make changes as required. Those changes can be seen by the hired freelancer almost in real-time. They can even be given editing rights (and you can remove them when the project is over).
Trello for Project Management
When managing multiple projects and dealing with different people on each project, it gets complicated fast. Staying organized by using written To-Do lists only goes so far, even if you’re following David Allen’s GTD system. Eventually, the sheer number of projects, tasks and people becomes too much for any manual system. Even a digital To-Do list is too basic once the number of projects grows.
Instead, try out Trello. It uses a system of multiple boards. Virtual cards get pinned to a board with each card representing a task. The card is pinned to indicate its status (To Do, Doing, Done). By using this virtual system which runs within a browser and as a mobile app, it’s possible to manage multiple projects and numerous tasks for them without any confusion. Once you start using it, you won’t know how you ever managed without it.
Embracing software is necessary to get your business to a level of sophistication. Even if you find new apps difficult to learn at first, persevere because the sooner you get up to speed, the better off your business will be.
The following is a guest post by Jacob Matthew, with the finance blog Money Connexion. He reached out about this post and it looked good!
Weekends are something most people look forward to. It’s time for rest and relaxation after a hectic week. But if you’re among those people that believe in working over weekends to get rich, welcome to the club. There’re several best weekend jobs from home that pay very well.
What are these weekend jobs from home and how to find them? Read further.
Weekend Jobs from Home
Some of these weekend jobs from home require special skills. However, the pay will definitely be worth working for a few hours during weekends.
Culinary Coach
If you know how to churn up mouth-watering dishes and cook food from various foreign cuisines, take this best weekend job from home as a culinary coach. You can make as much as $25 per hour per learner. The higher the number of students, greater your income.
Of course, there’re expenses too on food ingredients and other overheads. And your efforts also matter. Therefore, try and ensure you have the maximum number of learners on any weekend. Usually, a culinary class is of two-hour duration. This should earn you a fairly sizeable weekend income.
Babysitting
Now, who would want to babysit on a weekend after a busy, tiring week? But at $18 or higher on weekends, you might find it to be the best weekend job from home. Actually, the median pay of $18 per hour is during weekdays, when moms attend office. For weekends, the rate is about $25 per hour.
Usually, most parents require babysitters for about three to five hours on weekends. That’s because they go shopping or to watch movies or games. These activities usually take at least five hours. Meaning, you’ll get paid $125 per child for five-hour babysitting during weekends.
Gardening Coach
Do you have those proverbial green fingers? Meaning, do you have that special knowledge and skills necessary to handle plants, shrubs, and herbs of all sorts? Work as a gardening coach during weekends. It’s an enjoyable, relaxing job that would take away the stress of the week and give you some extra money.
A gardening coach makes $20 per hour if they’re training on own garden. The fee can go as high as $30 per hour if they’ve to visit someone’s garden for inspection and training. You’ll need excellent knowledge about the correct use of fertilizer, weeding techniques, potting money plants and other gardening tasks to coach learners.
Pet Sitter
Do you love dogs, cats, birds and an occasional snake or monkey? Because working as a pet sitter over the weekend can fetch you as much as $20 per hour per pet. That’s if your pet is a regular canine or feline. However, if you need pet sitters to care for exotic animals such as your favorite cobra or python, monkey or rabbit, the charges can go spiraling to $75 per hour.
Usually, most pet sitting jobs are overnight. Meaning, you can earn a really huge amount of money. Pet sitters can charge up to $150 to $200 for leaving their cat or dog overnight at your place. Most pet owners usually throw in a can or two of pet food. Or they can add a bonus for you if you feed their pets.
Digital Marketer
Digital marketing is a collection of various processes. It is useful to promote a company or brand, product or service or even individuals. This promotion occurs using various resources available on the Internet. On average, a digital marketer can expect $15 per hour as pay during weekends. On weekdays it’s slightly lower at $12.75 per hour, on average.
As a digital marketer, you’ll be conducting various processes such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing (SMM) and email marketing on your employer’s website. That way, you’re actually helping promote their business. Since the Internet never sleeps and is always available, you can perform this task from home anytime during the weekend.
Online Remote Assistance
Have adequate knowledge about computers and how they work? Offer online remote assistance services to computer owners. A lot of them face software related issues or lose data for any reason. Others face hardware or drivers related problems. Since computer service isn’t easily available on weekends, they look for online remote assistance.
There’s plenty of money to earn by providing online remote assistance. You can earn $50 or more per hour if you’re able to fix the problem to the client’s satisfaction. Generally, remote assistants work through various organizations. This is a good job for the weekend if you have the necessary skills and a computer with a high-speed Internet connection at home.
Content Writer
For those having excellent writing skills, working as a content writer is the best weekend job from home. You’ll get about $20 per hour or more, depending upon the topic and volume of research a content involves. Generally, company websites and bloggers, as well as affiliate marketers, look for content writers.
You can also create content about something to do with your hobbies and passions. Or you can create articles for people within your professional field. Website owners and bloggers willingly pay content writers for excellent, engaging articles.
Online Tutor
The trend of online tutoring is gathering momentum worldwide. Indeed, China is emerging as the favorite destination for American online tutors. Because Chinese students wish to learn English, Math, Science and other subjects form the US school and college curriculum. Then we also have students in America who are willing to pay private online tutors.
Depending upon which website you register as an online tutor and nature, of course, it’s possible to earn about $35 per hour per student. For specialized courses such as engineering and medicine, the fee can go as high as $50 per hour of online tutoring. The higher the skills, the more your pay. You’ll need excellent teaching skills for this weekend job.
In Conclusion
Giving up your weekend isn’t all that bad. Think about how many hours would you really spend relaxing on a Saturday or Sunday? Very few. Instead, you can utilize these spare hours to earn good amount of money online and from home, with these best weekend jobs.