#i finally decided he IS worth a 5 hour shifts worth of salary

[ijsthee]

life update i caved and ordered... him

[jahaanofmenaphos]

Art by the awesome @tommieglenn!

Of Gods and Men Summary:

When the gods returned to Gielinor, their minds were only on one thing: the Stone of Jas, a powerful elder artefact in the hands of Sliske, a devious Mahjarrat who stole it for his own ends and entertainment. He claims to want to incite another god wars, but are his ulterior motives more sinister than that? And can the World Guardian, Jahaan, escape from under Sliske’s shadow?

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QUEST 10: CHILDREN OF MAH

QUEST SUMMARY:

The Mahjarrat are dying, and they want answers as to why. To get them, they must journey back to Freneskae at the behest of Zaros, who promises them freedom from their Rituals once and for all. When Zamorak gets wind of his intentions, it leads to the two deities meeting for the first time since the great betrayal…

CHAPTER 5 - ARISE HERO

Jahaan’s first stop inside Menaphos was a trip to the Merchant’s bank, hoping he had enough coins stored away to afford the deposit on a room. Since leaving the Imperial Guard, a fair chunk of his money seemed to disappear all too quickly, and he couldn’t even remember where it went. Still, there seemed to be enough left over for a room in the Worker District, if he wasn’t picky about location or square footage. Realising that he no longer needed the shieldbow that he’d banked months ago, Jahaan decided to sell it once he got himself settled, alongside the arrows that accompanied it.

However, it turned out that Jahaan had vastly overestimated what he could afford. He knew he’d end up somewhere in the Worker District, but a tiny room in a shared house with eight other renters was something else entirely. It was a small cupboard of a room with a shabby bed frame, a badly knocked together bedside table and a rug as old as Jahaan was. There was just enough room to store his armour in a heap in the free corner, once he decided to get it out of the bank, but not enough room to maneuver beyond getting from the bed to the door. There was also no shared kitchen - no kitchen at all. Just a communal cooking pit outside.

--- It’s your fault he’s dead ---

Still, Jahaan didn’t plan to spend much time locked up in his miniature abode. While rest and recuperation were high on his list of priorities, Jahaan still needed to make money to pay rent, and he still needed to eat. No subsidies for the broken warriors. But fishing was something that Jahaan enjoyed, that he could make money from, and it was hardly anything Gaw’kara could get angry at him about. He fished enough to eat and then sold the rest to the local tavern for a fraction of what they were worth. Due to the supply coming in from the Ports District, it was the only way to get money for them. It was enough to keep up the rent for the little room he was staying in, at least. Once Jahaan’s ribs healed enough and he regained some mobility, he took up a low-paying job working in the clay mines in the Worker’s District. With the heavy sun relentlessly beating down on him every day, Jahaan reckoned he must have lost a stone’s worth of weight in sweat alone. But it helped to recover some core strength in his once-broken bones.

Jahaan lived frugally, saving every extra penny of his salary once rent had been paid, and catching his own dinner in the stream near the mines. What was he saving up for? Runes. Lots and lots of runes.

--- Did you really think there wouldn’t be consequences? ---

When he wasn’t at work, Jahaan was training, focusing on recovering his dual-wielded swordsmanship form. That, or practising the Ancient Magicks with whatever runes he could afford. Runes required for those spells were expensive and hard to come by, so he had to make every second of training count, as they ran out before long. While he made a fair chunk of change from the shieldbow and arrows he sold, Jahaan decided that money wasn’t for training purposes. Instead, he’d use that money to buy some of the runes he’d take into Sliske’s endgame.

Keeping busy - always working, always training… it was how Jahaan kept himself sane. Gods knew it was a struggle, especially in the beginning. Once the numbness wore off and he realised that he had to try and live his life now, a life where his best friend had been ripped from him…

...There were nights when Jahaan found himself quite content with the idea of drinking himself to death.

But he refused to give into the darkness inside his mind. He let himself cave once, when Cyrius was killed. That descent led him to the Imperial Guard, after a long and painful fall. But now? Now Jahaan knew he didn’t have the luxury of breaking down. Not while Sliske still drew breath.

One of the first things he bought upon renting his room was a small chalk set. There, on one of his walls, he marked out a tally. Rows upon rows of tally marks, the exact amount of days until the eclipse that would signal the end to Sliske’s game. As the days passed, he crossed out the tallies, charting the time until the final confrontation.

--- What’s your soul even worth to you? ---

Though he rarely left the vicinity of the stream, the mines and his home, one day Jahaan did take a stroll down to the Ports District, and out into the crowded and cramped neighbourhood he grew up in. It took Jahaan a lot of time to reorient himself as the area had been greatly developed since he left, but eventually he found the street he grew up on and, finally, his old house.

Jahaan didn’t know what to expect, but if he really thought about it, this was it. The small abode had been repainted a brilliant white with the roof retiled. A nice allotment in the front garden. A football in the yard. As he walked past, he saw children in the dining room, and the silhouette of a woman in the background.

A new, happy family now lived in his old home. If his uncle still lived in Menaphos was questionable, but Jahaan had no intention of tracking him down, though he hoped the man was still around somewhere. He should only be in his sixties, after all. No doubt if he went down to the docks or his uncle’s favourite tavern he could find him there without much digging.

But that wasn’t why he was back in Menaphos, so he let the thought slip from his mind.

He had no time for family reunions. He had work to do.

Namely, to continue his training.

--- It might not have been so bad, being a wight. Eternal life… ---

The Ancient Magicks were vital in the fight against Sliske. It was the only way to attempt to level the playing field. There was no point in learning shadow magick - Sliske was a master and nothing Jahaan could do would ever come close to his ability. It would be like trying to stop a landslide with a picket fence.

Blood magick interested him the most, namely because of some of the crueler spells the book hinted at. Theoretically, one could control the blood inside of another person, or at least blood that came from an open wound. Pulling the blood out slowly could feel like you’re ripping someone apart from the inside out.

Jahaan quite liked the idea of that one. In fact, a lot of nights Jahaan sent himself to sleep by imagining every little injury he wanted to inflict upon Sliske.

Jahaan never thought of himself as a cruel person - until now, that is.

--- He’ll never forgive you now ---

With that in mind, Jahaan spent most of his time practising blood magick spells. Of course, they had common barrage and blast variants too. Smoke was something he’d learned a few spells of already, so he improved his knowledge of that in case the opportunity arose. When it came to ice magick, Jahaan didn’t spend much time in that department. He didn’t want to become Jack of all trades, master of none. No, a collection of decent, hard-hitting spells to defend himself against Sliske was what he needed.

That, and a miracle or two.

When Wahisietel made it back to his humble abode in Nardah, he took a moment to embrace the calm, the quiet… while he’d only been on Freneskae a few hours, it was enough time to make him desperately miss the serenity of Gielinor. But so much had happened, too much to wrap his head around right now. He needed to relax, and decided the best way to do that was to pull out the bottle of whiskey he’d been saving in the bottom of his desk drawer. What he’d been saving it for was a bit of a mystery, but the continued survival of his race and the reassurance of immortality seemed to be fitting enough. It was a fine bottle too, a gift he received from Azzanadra back in the days of the Empire. To say it had aged was an understatement. Whiskey was always a weakness for Wahisietel. He rarely indulged in fancy foods, but a good drink was worth the hassle of getting it out of his system later.

Pouring it into his favourite tumbler, Wahisietel lit up a pipe and reclined into his armchair, allowing the stresses of the day to free themselves from his mind...

...Until he felt it.

Exhaling sharply, Wahisietel downed the first measure in one go and placed his pipe on the table, walking up to the door to wait for the inevitable knock. He shifted into his human form, lest his human neighbours see him undisguised.

After one little tap on the door, Wahisietel swung it open, glaring at the uninvited guest. “Sliske.”

Sliske smiled back at him, cloaked in a human’s form, jet-black hair and a formal-looking shirt. “Brother!” he cheered. “It’s been too long, wouldn’t you say?”

“Not long enough,” Wahisietel gruffly nodded his head, indicating for Sliske to come inside. As soon as he did, Wahisietel shut and locked the door, transforming back into his Mahjarrat form. Sliske wasted no time in doing the same, stretching out the kinks in his neck. “You’re looking rather… well,” Sliske began, an insinuation in his tone. “A good day then?”

“No need to play coy, Sliske,” Wahisietel poured himself another drink. “Why are you here?”

“So hostile!” Sliske teased, draping himself over the couch as he did so. “I came for the gossip, naturally. So, who bit the dust this time?”

A suspicion confirmed. “So you DID feel the pull.”

“I did, but I felt it would be best to not RSVP to that particular get-together,” Sliske remarked, “I hardly believe I would have been Mr Popularity.”

Wahisietel had assumed as much. “A wise move, but what I want to know is, why didn't you degrade with the rest of us?”

“I could answer that,” Sliske replied with a raise of his eyebrows. “But I feel you have a theory of your own, brother.”

Wahisietel nodded, curtly. “The Stone is holding you together.”

“Holding me together sounds so desperate,” Sliske waved a hand theatrically. “I feel we have a symbiotic relationship. After all, I'm finally getting some good use out of the thing.”

Sitting up, Sliske propped his chin on his hands and grinned wryly. “So, who should I cross off my Wintumber card list this year, hm?”

“Mah.”

At this, Sliske’s interest was piqued. So Wahisietel relented and relayed the incredibly cut down version of events. He was just too exhausted to give a play-by-play of what happened on Freneskae, and frankly, his half-brother’s joviality was grating on him more than usual. But more than that, Wahisietel was worried. Not that he’d let Sliske know, but it was his antics that were causing Wahisietel to lose sleep at night. Now that he’d missed a Ritual - the final Ritual, no less - Wahisietel was sure that such an action would not go without consequences.

After the tale was finished, Sliske leaned back on the couch, stroking his chin in contemplation. “Well, I certainly missed a shindig, didn’t I?

Sliske might have been content embracing his casual and suave facade, but Wahisietel had had enough. “What is your endgame here, Sliske? You betray Zaros, have every major deity in Gielinor after your blood, and you made an enemy of the World Guardian you claim to-” he shook his head, his own frustrations catching up to him. “I just cannot see the plan in all this.”

Sliske chuckled. “I do so hate parting with information. Knowledge is power, after all.”

“Sliske, I’m serious,” his tone had an edge of pleading about it. “You must be able to see that you are in over your head. I can help you. We can get through this together, like we always have.”

Even Sliske’s jovial mask softened slightly. “Dear brother, you needn’t worry about me. It’s all part of the plan, after all.”

“Plans, plans…” Wahisietel muttered, clenching his teeth. “And what would happen if all your plans fell apart and you were finally cornered?”

“All my plans?” a familiar sparkle twinkled in Sliske’s eyes. “Why brother, it is as if you do not know me at all. There is always another plan.”

After crossing out another tally on his wall chart, Jahaan knew it was nearly time. The eclipse was only five days away now. Five days until either he died, or Sliske did.

Runes had been collected in their hundreds, swords had been sharpened and armour had been buffed. Jahaan’s ribs were as close to fully healed as he could get. The same went for the rest of his injuries, though his nose hadn’t mended quite as nicely as he had hoped. Still, that was cosmetic only - nothing to worry about.

Jahaan was ready. Ready for the fight of his life, ready for his death. Whatever Sliske’s endgame would throw at him, he could handle, or so he kept telling himself. He needed to stay alive long enough to watch Sliske suffer. He needed to avenge Ozan’s fate. He needed to stop the voices in his head…

So after taking one last look at the chalk marks on his wall, Jahaan began to dress himself in his armour, equipping his swords to his hip and attaching the rune pouch to his belt. Gathering up his rucksack, Jahaan left a few extra coins on the mattress and embarked into the midday sun of Menaphos, perhaps for the last time.

DISCLAIMER:

As Of Gods and Men is a reimagining, retelling and reworking of the Sixth Age, a LOT of dialogue/characters/plotlines/etc. are pulled right from the game itself, and this belongs to Jagex.

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[blueboxesandtrafficcones]

Affairs of the Heart - Chapter 2

Note:  This is the first story in a planned series set in this universe under the umbrella ‘Hardy Investigations’.  Case suggestions are welcome, but it will be a long time to fruition if submitted!  This story is fully written, so they would be utilized in future stories.

General warnings: mature content, occasional language.  This chapter contains smut.

Beta’d by the amazing and wonderful @stupidsatsuma!

Masterlist

Summary

September 1948 - Mrs. Mark Latimer hires Hardy Investigations to find out if her husband is having an affair, requiring some duplicity and ingenuity to find the truth as they go undercover.

Ellie opened the sliding door with a flourish, falling easily into the simpering ‘woe is me’ routine that never failed.  “Oh, thank you so much!”

“Of course ma’am, what seems to be the issue?”  Mark Latimer was decently handsome, early thirties with an easy grin and kind eyes.

Didn’t mean he wasn’t stepping out.

“This way.”  She led him through her ‘home’ to the overflowing toilet, fluttering her hands and acting as sympathetically pitiful as she could.  “Can you help?”

“Absolutely, let me see.”  Setting his toolbox on the corner of the tub, he crouched by the toilet and reached behind it, twisting the shutoff valve until the water stopped.  “No gentleman caller to be of assistance?”

Ellie pouted, leaning against the doorframe and watching him work.  “My boyfriend must have clogged it this morning before he left without realizing it.  He’s gone away for the weekend.”

“Without you?”

“He took his wife up to Bristol for her birthday.”

Mr. Latimer stopped moving for a moment, and she knew she had his attention.  Her goal was to find out how he felt about affairs without confronting him head-on or throwing herself at him.  “That’s a shame,” was all he said, tone carefully neutral, and she had to tread carefully.

“Not an ideal situation, but it is what it is,” she said airily.  “D’you know what’s wrong?”

Dusting off his hands Mr. Latimer stood, glancing over his shoulder on her.  “Looks like it’s blocked.  Might you have a plunger?”

“Closet.”  She didn’t move out of the doorway, forcing him to brush up against her on his way there and back.  “I’m so grateful you’re able to come out, I don’t know when he might have been back to take a look but I couldn’t wait.”

“Wives can be demanding.”  He wasn’t particularly chatty, which was making it hard to get a read on him.

Ellie nodded.  “It’s so hard for us to be together except here.  We can hardly stroll the High Street, can we? And there are few restaurants where we can be seen together.”

“How does he explain away his time?”

“Working late,” she scoffed.  “Which is true enough I suppose.”  She let out a tinkling laugh.  “I’m his secretary.  He works very hard during his late hours in the office, though not necessarily on company business.”

Mr. Latimer laughed at the implication, nodding approvingly.  “Yet I suspect he enjoys his work.”

“As do I.  I just wish we had somewhere to go like a regular couple, you see.  Somewhere we can have a meal I don’t have to cook, where we can be amongst others.  So much sneaking around makes me feel like a dirty little secret.”

He glanced over at her, watching her for a moment as he worked.  “You deserve something nice,” he said slowly, focusing back on his task.  “I may have a recommendation.”

“Oh?  Please do!  Somewhere nice, but not so nice his wife might expect to go?”

“There’s a little place about two miles out of town, it’s called ‘The Office’.  Quiet little restaurant, geared towards couples with… complications.  You won’t find it in a guidebook or anything of the kind, mostly by word of mouth.  The sort of place where if a wife knows about it, perhaps she’s keeping a ‘dirty little secret’ of her own.  I hear it’s nice.  Discreet.”

“Sounds lovely,” she gushed, eyes narrowing at his back.  “Where is it?”

“Two miles down the main road.  It’s called ‘The Office’ so when a curious wife asks where her husband’s been, he can give the name truthfully without giving anything away.”

“How clever!” Ellie tittered, as he finally pulled a wadded up hand towel from the toilet bowl.  “Oh my, how’d that get in there?”

Mr. Latimer stood, holding it away from him by the tips of his fingers.  “I fear this may be done for,” he apologized, “but I would not recommend keeping it, for cleanliness’ sake.”

“Thank you so much, you’ve no idea how helpful you’ve been.”  She gestured for it to be thrown into the tub, letting him wash his hands before leading him back towards the door.  “And I will take your dinner suggestion under advisement.  What do I owe you?”

“Complimentary call,” he turned at the door, giving her a charming smile.  “It was nothing.”

Elle gave him her brightest smile.  “Thank you again!”

She waved until he was out of sight, locking the door and drawing the curtains.  They had tentative confirmation that he had another woman, and where he took her.

Now what remained was when, and gathering the evidence needed.

Alec scowled, skulking just outside the bathroom window of his own offices to confirm Mark Latimer was suitably occupied before heading down the hill to the plumber’s truck.  Letting out a quiet ‘ha!’ of victory at finding the driver’s side door unlocked, he slid into the seat and looked around.

Unsurprisingly it was a cluttered mess, with scraps of paper and garbage littering the cab.  Deciding to start with the paper, he carefully nosed around.  Despite the chaos, he wanted to leave no clues that someone had been rifling through the van.  A peek through the glovebox produced a box of condoms, hardly a smoking gun but certainly suspicious.

Pulling out the box to note the brand, he found a business card rubber-banded to it.  It was for a restaurant called ‘The Office’, with directions printed on it.  A glance at the back found a handwritten note reading ‘Tuesdays, 5:00’.

Perfect.

Slinking into the house doubling as their offices and Ellie’s ‘home’, Alec listened carefully.  The bathroom light was off, and he took the chance of creeping towards the sitting room to find Ellie at her desk, scribbling in a notebook.

“El.”

“He’s gone,” she promised, not looking up.  “Did you find anything?”

Straightening he strolled in, settling himself in the chair next to her.  “You could say that.  I only know where and when he meets her.  And that a faithful husband has no need of condoms in his work van.”

“The Office.”

“What?”

“Is it called ‘The Office’?” Ellie repeated, smirking at him as she leaned back in her chair.  “I already know that.”

Alec scowled, crossing his arms.  “Aye. Tuesdays, 5 o’clock.  Standing date, I think.”

“And you found condoms?”

He nodded, not pleased with her smug look.  “In the van.  He’s certainly guilty, it’s just a matter of ‘with whom’, and catching them in the act.”

“Rubbers don’t guarantee he’s guilty,” Ellie complained, “though the restaurant certainly implies it.”

“You don’t need them at work,” he protested.  “Why have them in the car?”

Ellie stood, demurely smoothing down her skirt and hair before settling crosswise on his lap.  “What, you think it impossible to feel physical desire during the work day?”

“I…”

She shook her head, laughing as he flailed.  “Oh, aren’t you precious.”

They kissed, and suddenly the idea didn’t seem to absurd.

Alec came with a shuddering groan, collapsing on top of her.  Ellie relaxed her legs, letting them fall to the side as she glided her nails down his spine, waiting for their hearts to calm.

After a minute he rolled off of her, tugging her along until they were on their sides face to face.  “That was nice,” he murmured, leaning forward to kiss her sweetly.  “What’d I do to deserve that?”

Ellie just hummed, hooking her thigh over his hip as they kissed lazily.  She kept one eye on the clock because they had a potential client appointment in just over an hour, but for now she was content to lull him into false security.

When she deemed him ready she slipped her hand between them, palm finding him easily and beginning to move.  Once his eyes fluttered closed, she moved in for the kill.  “Alec?”

“Yes darling?”

“I want a raise.”

After a moment he sighed, stilling her hand as he opened his eyes again.  “What?”

“I do half our cases on my own,” she said firmly, “and you just present to the client.  I don’t feel my salary reflects my value.”

Alec nudged her away, shifting up the bed to lean against the headboard.  “Ellie…”

“You know I’m worth more,” she prodded, “that half our reputation – your reputation – is because of my work.”

“I do know that, of course I know that.”  He ran his hand over his face then through his hair, ruffling the strands.  “Quite frankly we’re both worth more than we make.  If we were in London maybe we would.  But we settled in Broadchurch for a reason, and the situation is what it is.  I have our salaries – both of ours – calculated out of the leftover after all other expenses.  You know this, you’ve seen the books.”

“I still believe I deserve a bigger piece of the pie,” Ellie said firmly, sitting up as well and turning to face him.  Letting the sheet fall to her waist, she deliberately crossed her arms to accentuate her breasts, not above playing dirty.

His shoulders slumped, and he settled one palm on her closest knee.  “There’s also convention.  You already make twice what the next-highest paid woman in the town does.  It’s raising eyebrows.”

“Since when do you care what people think?” she scoffed.

“When it’s you they talk about.  I don’t appreciate the way they malign you, or the things they imply about us.”

Ellie’s eyes narrowed as he dropped eye contact.  “What sort of things?”

He set his jaw, staring at the opposite wall behind her head.  “They’re basically saying you earn your wages on your knees, rather than sitting at your desk.”

“Is that all?” she rolled her eyes, shifting to put her back against the headboard next to his and taking his hand.  “Actually, I’d probably do better if I charged you for sex and played secretary for free,” she mused, staring up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

“Stop it.”  Alec smiled reluctantly, squeezing her palm.  “My point is, I absolutely know your value.  But part of it – and mine – is our reputations.  Now, I’d be open to discussing other forms of compensation for your work, but cash is out of the question.”

He tugged her down on the mattress, shifting over her and pressing open-mouthed kisses to her skin.

“You could make dinner once a week,” she suggested, smiling when he nodded.  “And, let’s see, what else… you could clean the toilet here.”

His lips frowned against her skin, and he grumbled for a moment, before sighing.  “Aye, all right.”

“What else…” Ellie teased, wrapping her arms around his neck as his lips wandered.  “Mhmm, you know what would be really good?”

“Name it.”  He sucked a nipple into his mouth, cause her brain to short-circuit as she grunted.

“Unh.  Um… oh, I remember!”  And she pushed on his head until it was level with her hips, bending one knee to plant her foot flat on the bed, spread wide.  “We’ve got a potential client due in thirty and I’ll need to get dressed and put the kettle on before they get here, so hop to.”

Alec laughed, a carefree sound she only heard when they were alone, and kissed her thigh.  “As the lady wishes.”

Ellie hummed as she let herself into her house.  “I’m home!”

Backup was the first to greet her, and she bent down to accept his puppy kisses as she glanced into the sitting room to find her father glued to the telly set.

“Hi, Dad.”

David Thomas grunted, not looking away from the screen.  “What’s for tea?”

“Mummy, Mummy!”  Fred hurtled down the stairs, crashing into her legs and hugging them tightly.  “You’re home, you’re home!”

“Hello, Freddie,” she laughed, combing her fingers through his hair and holding him close.  “How are you?”

“Good!  Mummy, I’m hungry.”  Wide eyes stared up at her, and she barely refrained from rolling her own.

“Give me a few minutes.  Where is your brother?”

“In here.”  Tom’s voice echoed from the direction of the kitchen, making her eyebrows raise as she headed towards him.

He was pulling a roast out of the oven, the smell mouthwateringly good.

“What is this?”

Her son shrugged, not meeting her eye.  “You said you would be late today,” he mumbled, “and I thought you would be hungry.”

“I am.”  Joining him at the counter she took the carving tools, testing the meat and pleasantly surprised to find it finished.  “It looks wonderful, thank you darling.”

Tom flushed with pleasure at the praise, turning off the oven.  “Freddie already set the table, so we should just need drinks and then we’re good.”

“Wonderful.”  Kissing his cheek, she turned to her younger son.  “Fetch Granddad, will you?  Tell him tea’s done.”

He ran off in a whirlwind, leaving them alone.

“How did you know what to do?”

Shrugging, Tom carried the roasting pan to the dining room table.  “You had said what you planned on cooking, and I just… found the recipe.  I hope it’s alright.”

Ellie followed, absentmindedly fixing the place settings as she watched him.  “Thank you for taking the initiative, but what on Earth gave you the idea?”

“Alec.  Will they be here?”

“No, they’ve gone to Bristol, Daisy’s aunt is meeting them there tomorrow.  He gave you the idea?”

“He said… he said the world is changing.  That it’s important to help the ones we love, even if it’s by doing something we don’t want to.  That it’s unfair to expect you to do everything around the house when you work all day and we’re here, doing nothing.”

“Hogwash,” Ellie’s father blustered, trudging in.  “It’s the men’s job to work and bring home the pay, and the women’s job to make a home worth coming back to.  Men have no business doing meaningless housework, and women should not be taking good jobs from the menfolk.”

Ellie bit her lip hard to keep from snapping.  “Of course, Dad.”  It was pointless to argue with him, knowing nothing she said could change his mind.  Quietly, though, she muttered to Tom, “Don’t you dare listen to a word he just said.  You and the world at large would be much better served listening to a man like Alec.”

“I know,” he promised with a grin.

“Right, shall we say grace?” she asked once they were all seated, taking her sons’ hands and lifting them in prayer.

As Fred led the supplication, she stared at her own father.  She loved him, she did, but the idea of her sons growing up to be men just like him terrified her.

Closing her eyes, she thanked God for Alec.

[remindme2breathe]

NO- it’s not an option

I am in the process of Selling my home (beyond the process I guess, we are in the middle of closing escrow!!! Woohoo!!!) I’ll be honest, it took 4 days to sell my home, so I hope what I’m saying doesn’t sound like a complaint, this entire entry should be the complaint, ha, ha, just kidding- kinda. My home is smaller then my next home (which is also in process, 3 weeks!!) but it doesn’t lack comfort. Although I have never been a true fan of this particular home, it has allowed us to experience a lot of family-like ‘adventures’ (don’t worry, you’ll hear about some of those sometime in the future). My new home is sitting pretty on 4 and a half acres of clean, flat land! My home has enough bedrooms for EVERYONE to have their own space! This next home is a blessing that I can never describe with all the words in the world. Not only is it gorgeous, but thanks to the help of my parents, I got it all on my own! All they really did was sign, but I managed to save, fix my credit and get approved all on my own. Being grateful doesn't even begin to compare to the actual feeling! What did I do to accomplish that? Refused to let anyone convince me that NO was an option. 

There are 3 things I’ve said to my kids more then necessary. 1. Quiting is not an option 2. Being rich doesn’t mean your successful 3. Always be of service to people

What do I do for a living? You’d be surprised how many people actually thought I was involved in something illegal... no, really... You’d be surprised! It’s gotten so old that now all I do is smile and nod. I’m not telling you this to make anyone think I’m showing off, no, it’s not about that. I don’t like to struggle, I hate to work, and I don’t understand financial technical terms like dows and percentage and whatever other fancy words they wanna use to shine up the real process. Let me tell you what I did, but first let me give you the scale in which it’s impacted my family. 

I grew up with working parents, both held full time jobs, their own businesses, investments, and had the ability to raise my siblings and I with the little luxuries we wanted (the occasional toys r’ us runs, little things like that). They were financial STABLE, but not rich. They opened their own business about 10 years ago and now both are worth about 3 million each, or so says their business person. I saw first hand the struggle my parents went through when they started up their business, my mom even said that there was a handful of times that they didn’t even have money to buy us food. But when success came for them, it came fast! 

When I turned 16 I took a dab at DJ-ing. Yes, I really was THAT cool back then! I did that for about 4 years. I worked for an actual radio station when I was 17 1/2, I did all their overnight programming and special events. At 18 at these big events I thought I was at the top of everything! My paychecks I spent on myself! All of it! Every dime. It was as through I was allergic to money and needed to spend it quicker then when I got it. My dad then brought it to my attention about my non-existent money management skills. He was right. What was my solution? Open a savings account? No, I’d still spend it. Save hard cold cash? Nope, I’d spend that too. I had to do something. At 18 money beckoned me. I decided to start doing side jobs; weddings, quinceaneras, anything! All that money I’d hand over to my dad and asked him not to give me a dime no matter what I tell him. WHO KNOW HE WOULD TAKE THAT SO LITERALLY! But it worked, I would save about 2800 every month, give or take. And some months he wouldn’t see anything- com’on! I had to have a life too! At 18 I graduated High School and started school to get my nursing degree. At age 20, with only 10 months left to graduate I got pregnant. I worked as long as I could and tried to do as much in school, I didn’t want to be a statistic! I will not be a number on the ‘’lets blame the baby’’ list! I was determined. AND I FINISHED! Once my baby was born I quit the radio station because it was more important for me to be with him then to be in clubs at night. After he turned 1 I decided to get into my field. I was lucky and got into an ER right away. It was exciting, super fast paced! The problem was the 12 hour shifts! I wasn’t being a baby... I wanted to be with my baby. While I worked there I continued to give my dad cash to hold, it wasn’t as much as before (because raising a baby comes with extra costs). But it was imperative that I saved because now my fear was providing for my child. But the hours were tough, mentally and physically, I went part time after 3 years. One day I had a patient that completely changed my life. PUT A PIN IN THAT!!!! He’s worth the story! Anyway this patient ended up influencing me way more then I could have hoped for! This man was put in my path for a reason. 

Closer to today: Last year I asked my dad how much I had finally saved. I never asked him because I was worried I’d be tempted to use it wrongly. Mind you, this was a savings I have accrewed over a span of about 22 years. I never kept track, I never wrote it down. This money had to be OUT OF SIGHT AND OUT OF MIND. I saved $264,464.10, that means I managed to save almost 12,000 a year! A little over $1,000 month! AGAIN!!!!! I didn’t do it religiously! I remember when the $0.10 happened: I TOLD YOU! Sometimes I wasnt able to, but my system was the following: I would carry $60.00 in cash every week on me for any little thing we might want, eating out, treats, toys, medicine, etc. A WEEK! That number went up when I had more people around me. I kept 1,000 in my bank account after bills at all times (this was also never garenteed: THESE BILLS CAN GET A LITTLE OUT OF HAND! If I had over 1,000, I would withdrawl and give it to my dad, no matter the amount. All the change that was under $5 (bill) I would save in an envelope I kept in my dresser and would seal and turn that change over to my dad at the end of the month (that change adds up QUICK!). Any extra cash- tax refunds, these stimulus... it is wasn’t I always had like a paycheck, it was considered extra and I would send it on its way. HOWEVER!!!!! YES I’VE BEEN TEMPTED! I STILL HAVE THAT TEMPTATION! My dad said to invest it to make money on it. Yea, that’s nice but no. I’m too impatient to wait for someone else to put my money to work. Well, I guess I kinda ate those words: here’s what I did. I have a close family friend who has tons of friends all of which could use a job. I made 3 businesses with $10,000 each. THIS WAS A STRETCH! But it’s do-able for WAY LESS!!! I just couldn’t help over buying, geez! 

Long story short, I started a gardening company. I do nothing but cover costs and pay wages. I collect on that and let me tell you- AMAZING. If you intend to do this let me disclose the following: People can be shitty! People CAN steal from you especially is the customers pay cash. PAY YOUR WORKERS WELL AND THEY WILL TREAT YOU WELL! I supply them with the extras. My kids fill refrigerators with snacks and waters or sodas. We supply uniforms at no cost, they get paid time off of two weeks, and rain or shine they get their salary! My son also said MOBILE CAR WASH is good too! There we went, now him and his friend run that truck. They make money, I make money. The 3rd one is a Pool Cleaning Service. This one was a little work because most people with pools have friend references. But this actually holds up pretty good. All three trucks are on my property by 8 pm, my son will fill the tanks, check the interiors, and supplies for the next pick up date. It works out. 

Doing this has allowed me to stay home with my kids. I have been a house mom for the last 8 years. And now, I’m buying my 4 acre property! Thank God! 

It’s tough, especially because I like expensive things! I love to spend, I love to travel. And believe it or not, I was still able to.

Wow, if this wasn’t an epic RAMBLE, I don’t know what would be! Sorry in advance. I’m so excited! I can’t wait to move! Hopefully someone has a small savings that they want to put to work and maybe this helped you get your mind thinking. 

[assortedmoneydiaries]

a week in NYC on a $80,000 salary

Day One

5am: I wake up, snooze for 10 minutes, and do my morning face routine: rose toner, bronze eyeshadow, eyeliner, eyebrows. I make a fried egg over easy (a dozen for $1) and drink some peanut milk (homemade with peanuts, water, and sugar). 

6:45am: I get to my monitoring appointment for my egg freezing process, and I get bloodwork and an ultrasound within 20 minutes. I pay for lupron, a trigger medication for the egg retrieval process scheduled for this weekend. I’m getting my egg freezing reimbursed, but for now I’m paying this out of pocket. $85. 

7:50am: I get to work - it’s a Sunday, but I have a 12 hour shift ahead of me. I immediately get a sign-out about a patient with a weapon in his rectum, so this day is already wild. 

12:00pm: The day hasn’t been too bad, actually; I microwave my pre-packed lunch - white rice with eggplant, chicken, and thai basil. I briefly entertain buying a drink from the vending machine, but it passes. 

6:00pm: After a day of answering pages and browsing furniture, it’s dinner time! I microwave my pre-packed dinner - pesto chicken bread pudding that I made with my brother’s leftover sourdough bread. Back to work. 

8:00pm: Time to go home! The night ended with a patient who caught a goose in Central Park with a fishing net and decapitated it. The police confiscated the knife and the goose. 

10:00pm: Because it’s the weekend, my normal one hour commute becomes two hours. I talk to my prospective roommate about our housing plans, inject myself with follistim and clomiphene for the egg freezing, and pass out. 

Daily total: $85 (to be reimbursed). 

Day Two

6am: Same routine, but an hour later! Wash my face, get dressed, and an egg and peanut milk. Not having to think about breakfast makes my life easier when I’m already so groggy. 

8am: I’m still on the subway, but we have virtual morning lectures from 8am-9am, so I just join on my phone. I get to the hospital at 8:10 and continue the lecture on wifi. I drop off the black sesame milk buns that I made over the weekend in the residents’ lounge. 

9am: We have morning rounds for 30 minutes, and I go see my patients and write their notes. One of my patients is someone I saw in the ED yesterday, and she’s very sweet now that she’s no longer intoxicated. 

12pm: Lunch time! I microwave my pre-packed lunch, same as yesterday, and chill with the other residents for an hour. 

3pm: I count down to 3pm for the donut drop from Kora; within 3 minutes, the donuts are sold out. Thankfully, I made it - 2 sets of the Sari-Sari (leche flan, ube, churron, halo-halo, and keso). All set for pick-up on Friday. :) $65. 

4pm: I get out of work, and go home to chill, work on the apartment rental application, and work out. 

7:30pm: Dinner with my mom eating leftovers, and then Stone Age (a free online board game with friends). 

10pm: Follistim and clomiphene again, and off to bed. 

Daily total: $65 (hopefully will be reimbursed for $56 since I’m sharing with 6 other people) 

Day Three

5am: I have to go for monitoring again today, so I wake up early ... and do the same routine, except with hot HK milk tea instead of peanut milk to warm me up. 

7am: It’s 50 degrees outside, and I decide to cancel my dinner plans (outdoor dining with a friend) because I’m not dressed appropriately for the weather. I go in for monitoring and it turns out I need to take a medication as soon as I get home from work, so I have an even better excuse to cancel.  

10am: I discharge two patients, one of whom is my age and is one of the nicest patients I’ve ever had. I have medical students now, so I bring them along to see my patients. 

12pm: Lunch time - I microwave my pesto chicken bread pudding that I brought from home. I was hoping to snack on a black sesame milk bun, but they’re all gone. :(

5pm: I go home instead of going to dinner, but it turns out that I don’t have the medication after all. I contact the ob/gyn, but it’s not available at any pharmacies; I’ll just pick it up from the clinic tomorrow (for free). 

7:30pm: I eat leftovers again for dinner (peking duck and steamed dumplings). The rest of the night is pretty low-key; lazing in bed and scrolling through social media. I get myself to do a few squats, but I feel so meh that I don’t really end up doing much and call it a night. 

Daily total: $0 

Day Four 

5am: It’s getting pretty tiring waking up early for these appointments - can’t wait for them to be over! The follicles are growing nicely :) I pick up the medication and make sure I don’t lose it this time. 

10am: I discharge another patient, who is legit one of the most motivated patients I’ve ever met; he called his pharmacy to make sure that his medications would get sent properly. 

12pm: I remembered that I had some leftover beef rendang from dinner last week, so I microwave that for lunch. I also take the medication ... vaginally, and I lie down on the couch for 10 minutes awkwardly while my co-residents come in and out of the lounge. 

5pm: I catch up with a friend through FaceTime, and we talk for 2 hours about self-quarantining, socializing, therapy, and being tired introverts. 

7pm: Duke is hosting a free private screening of Miss Juneteenth with a panel of speakers (including the film director and producer), so I watch it while eating dinner with some college friends. I didn’t immediately love the movie, but the panel definitely made me appreciate it a lot more. 

10pm: Medications again, and off to bed because I have ANOTHER early appointment tomorrow. Oof. 

Daily total: $0

Day Five

5am: I press snooze and I basically get out of bed at 5:30 and leave at 5:50. I’m coughing a bit this morning, and I’m 99% sure I don’t have covid, but I don’t know for sure. 

9:30am: I talk to my attending and program coordinator about my very mild symptoms - slightly running nose, dry cough - and they recommend that I just get tested downstairs. It’s very efficient; I sign up for a patient portal, and I get bloodwork and the nasopharyngeal swab for the PCR. I really do not want to get swabbed again unless I have to; it does not feel good. 

12pm: Microwaved lunch again - rice with tofu and beef, which my mom made last night. 

2pm: I’m negative for antibodies! 

5pm: I take a quick trip to Chinatown to grab some snacks - drinks at Bambu for two, which I have 20% off for ($14) and a set of 6 cheese tarts from Pink Lady ($16). $30. 

6pm: My fertility doctor calls me and tells me that we have to reschedule my egg retrieval until I get my covid result back. :( 

7pm: I meet up with two friends for dinner at a Korean-Uzbek restaurant near my house; it turns out that they do outdoor dining! We were originally planning on doing takeout and eating in my backyard, but this works, too. We get lagman (a hot Uzbek beef noodle soup), kuksi soup (a cold Korean noodle soup reminiscent of naemgyung), 4 pieces of manty (Uzbek beef-lamb dumplings served with sour cream), and a Korean beef bun. $17

9pm: We go back to the teahouse in my backyard, and eat cheese tarts and finish our drinks. We lose track of time talking about furniture styles, dating, splurges, and money diaries. I regretfully have to end the night at 10:30pm because it’s time for my medications, and I have to go to sleep. 

Daily total: $47

Day Six

6am: I didn’t have to go in this morning, whew! We also don’t have lecture this morning, so I had a leisurely morning reviewing my patient charts. 

9:30am: Negative covid test, yay!!! Egg retrieval is on for Sunday. 

12pm: Microwaved rice with eggplant, chicken, and thai basil again. I still have 2+ weeks worth of this and the pesto chicken bread pudding at home; I really should freeze it. 

2pm: I try to talk to my new admission, but apparently he refuses to talk for the first three days every admission. So ... just chilling. 

5pm: I go to my bank to get certified checks, but it turns out they’re $12 each and money orders are only $1 at the post office ... so I go to the post office. I get two checks for $1200 and $750 and pay $4.75 in fees. They’re supposed to be reimbursed, but I have to pay the application fee for my rental building up front. $1954.75

6:30pm: I give one donut to my brother and I sell one to someone else, so I get some money back! 

7pm: I meet up with friends for dinner at Tradisyon, where we split a bunch of entrees among 5 people: squid, lechon, sisig, mackerel, and kare kare. Everything was delicious :) We shared the donuts, but they were actually really dense, so we only ate 5. Idk what I’m doing with the 3 leftover donuts :x $15. 

10pm: We continue hanging out but it gets too cold and I need to inject myself at 10:15pm, so we end up going to someone’s studio apartment nearby :O First time hanging out indoors for some of us! 

Daily total: $1969.75 ($1950 to be reimbursed)

Day Seven

8am: I go in for final bloodwork, and I pay for the egg retrieval procedure for tomorrow - oof. I’ve never had to spend so much at one time, and I was mortified when my credit card was declined. We put half on my credit card and half on my debit card. $3250. 

9am: I hang out at Chris’ apartment because I need to wait until 10:15am for my second injection, and I may or may not need to have the procedure today if my bloodwork comes back indicating that I may be ovulating. We chill and wait for Daniella to arrive. 

11am: We decide that it’s way too cold outside to go biking in Central Park or eat out, and we ultimately decide on spicy hunan food from the restaurant right next door to Chris’ apartment. We order a LOT of food - mapo tofu, eggplant with green beans, chongqing chicken, hot and sour soup, beef noodle soup - and eat at his kitchen counter. I drink some of Chris’ tea with his maple oat milk from Trader Joe’s. $24. 

2pm: After a lot of conversations while chilling on Chris’ couch (and a 15 minute nap), we decide to go for a short walk outside so that we can feel slightly productive on our free day together. We check out some cool recycled trash sculptures of dogs that are ... kinda ugly. 

3pm: I go home and spend the rest of the day freecycling (posting stuff I don’t want anymore for other people to pick up from my house) and chilling. 

8pm: It’s Saturday night, which means my dad makes sushi for us. It’s a decadent, delicious, and free meal for me :) 

9pm: I go to bed early for my procedure tomorrow! 

Daily total: $3274 ($3250 to be reimbursed)

Weekly total: $5440.75 ($5317.88 to be reimbursed, so actually $122.87). 

[charllieeldridge]

Teacher Feature: Living in The USA and Teaching ESL Online

In this interview, we’re chatting with Nicola, an American teacher living in the USA while teaching English online and travelling around her home country!

Nicola has taught English from her laptop while on an east coast USA road trip from Florida to North Carolina, camping in the north Georgia mountains (while using a wifi hot spot), and while on a trip to Nashville.

In the (hopefully near) future, she’s planning to do a Florida Keys road trip while teaching.

Learn about what it’s like to be an online English teacher, what a day in the life of a teacher looks like, how much the salary is, what qualifications are needed to get hired, and the pros and cons of the job and lifestyle.

Here we go!

1. Thanks for allowing us to interview you! Please tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Nicola and I’m an online English teacher from Atlanta, Georgia. I’ve been teaching online since 2017 and in that time I’ve become totally fascinated with all things related to online education. 

Nicola teaching online from her virtual classroom

Because I love the sweatpants-wearing freedom of teaching online, I now create helpful guides and classroom resources for aspiring virtual teachers. I also write about digital nomad life on my travel blog, https://ift.tt/2WiJQWC;

When I’m not teaching or blogging, you can find me befriending lizards in the park, wandering through obscure little museums, or whipping up a batch of my famous guacamole. 

2. What made you decide to become a teacher? Did you have any prior experience?

Before I started teaching online, I worked as a science teacher in a small town back home. My students were amazing and I loved teaching. Plus, getting to make fizzy explosions with Alka-seltzer and vinegar all day was pretty cool. 

I’d always loved exploring new places and I knew that long-term, I wanted travel to be a big part of my life. So I started researching ways to combine my two passions: teaching and travelling. 

Of course, I stumbled upon post after post (some of them on this very blog, now that I think about it!) about how to start teaching abroad.

After reading what felt like 15,000 blog articles about teaching abroad, I decided it would be the perfect fit for me.

I enrolled in an online Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course with International TEFL Academy while I was still teaching full-time and finishing up my graduate degree in teaching. 

It was a lot of work, but I learned so much in my course. And, that’s really saying something because at that point I already had years of classroom experience!

While I felt pretty confident about lesson planning and classroom management, I enjoyed learning more about how to create lessons specifically designed for TEFL students. 

The TEFL program required that I complete 20 hours of hands-on ESL teaching experience so I found an adult English as a Second Language (ESL) class in my community.

I reached out to the instructor and he agreed to let me observe some lessons and even do some practice teaching. 

Teaching online while on a road trip

In that class, I met a woman who wanted more one-on-one practice. We agreed to meet at the local library once a week for tutoring and quickly became great friends. We even met a few times after I finished my 20 hours of student-teaching, just for fun!

Because I was balancing taking the TEFL course with my normal job, it took me about four months to complete everything and earn my certification.

When the time came for me to start applying for teaching jobs, I had several years of in-person teaching experience as well as my TEFL certification. I also had a graduate degree in education. 

My background qualified me for a lot of teaching positions, but most online teaching jobs don’t require the level of experience that I had.

A TEFL certificate, degree, or experience working with children in some capacity is often sufficient. And actually, there are some online teaching companies that will hire you even if you don’t have a university degree. 

3. How did you find an online English teaching job?

At the beginning, I planned to teach English in a classroom abroad. I didn’t even know online teaching was a thing until I discovered it by chance! 

The school year ended and I knew I wanted to start teaching abroad in the fall, which gave me a few months to figure out my next steps.

Luckily, the International TEFL Academy was very helpful and warmly responded to my (seemingly) thousands of questions.  

As I “researched” places I might want to go by binge-watching episodes of House Hunters International, a friend casually suggested that I try teaching online as a summer side hustle. 

I had never heard of teaching online before and I was skeptical at first. It sounded way too good to be true! I spent several days reading everything I could find about online teaching to make sure it was legitimate before finally taking the plunge. 

At that point, teaching online wasn’t as popular as it is now. There wasn’t nearly as much information out there about online teaching and I didn’t realize that it could be a long-term job. 

I just figured it would be a fun way to get more TEFL teaching experience under my belt and pad my travel savings account for my big move abroad. 

I applied to VIPKID, decorated a tri board with felt shapes to be my classroom background, and started teaching a few weeks later. 

Nicola teaching online with VIPKID

But it didn’t take me long to realize that online teaching was my bread and butter. I absolutely loved working from my computer and the fact that I could roll out of bed, brush my teeth, and be at work 5 minutes later.

The fact that I didn’t have to do any of my own lesson planning meant I could focus on my favorite part of the gig — teaching my students. After the summer ended, I decided to keep teaching online as my main job, and the rest is history. 

Even though I didn’t end up following the path I thought I would, I’m so happy I found an opportunity to work as a teacher with plenty of time to travel. 

4. Did you need to have any qualifications to get a job teaching with VIPKID?

To teach for VIPKID, you’ll need to be a native English speaker from the USA or Canada, excluding California. You’ll also need a bachelor’s degree in any subject and at least two years of experience working with children in some capacity. 

VIPKID does not require formal teaching experience. Having it is a plus, but you can count things like tutoring, mentoring, babysitting, homeschooling, and camp counseling as experience working with children. 

VIPKID is unique because, at this time, they don’t require a TEFL certificate. Having one will save you time during the hiring process, but it’s not a firm requirement.

If you don’t have one, you will just have to complete additional TEFL training modules during the onboarding process. 

However, the vast majority of online teaching platforms do require a TEFL certification so it’s worth looking into getting one, especially if you’ve never taught before. 

I’m a native English speaker from the USA, with a bachelor’s degree, experience working with children, and a TEFL certificate, so I checked all the boxes with VIPKID and was able to secure a job. Click here to learn more about my experience working with VIPKID.

5. What does a day in the life of an online English teacher working from the USA look like?

I live in the east coast time zone and the majority of my students live in China, so my mornings start pretty early! I usually get up around 5:45 am and start teaching at 6:30 am. 

I have back-to-back half-hour classes until 9:00 am Eastern time, which is when the VIPKID platform closes classroom hours for the night. I work that schedule every morning Monday – Friday. 

Even though the early mornings are an adjustment, I love taking care of work at the beginning of the day so I have the rest of the day to pursue other interests. 

Sometimes, I’ll also work Friday or Saturday nights. These nights correspond with Saturday and Sunday morning in China, so there’s a higher demand for classes because students aren’t in school. 

Teaching in the morning means getting your work done early and having the rest of the day free!

If I do a night shift, I’ll start at 8:30 pm east coast time on Friday or Saturday. I’ll usually do 6 classes back to back, ending at 11:30 pm. If I’m feeling really energized or want to make extra money, I’ll sometimes go even later. 

The most classes I’ve been able to do in one sitting is 12 (6 hours) but that was pretty exhausting. If you choose to do late nights on Friday and Saturday, make sure to keep the following morning free so you can sleep in!

6. How much does an online English teacher with VIPKID earn per month/per class?

Pay with VIPKID can vary depending on your credentials, amount of classes taught, and time with the company, but in general most teachers make between $7-$9 per 25-minute class with the opportunity for bonuses.

These bonuses include a slight increase to class pay depending on the length of time you’ve been teaching with VIPKID and how many classes you’ve taught in a particular month. 

Classes are 25-minutes long so you can teach 2 classes per hour.

Remember that you don’t have to teach two classes per hour when you are first starting. Some newer teachers prefer to do just one class per hour and take a longer break between classes until it starts to come more naturally. 

Nicola travelling around Vietnam

I’ve created the example scenario below to explore how much an online teacher could work with VIPKID when they are newly hired. Your exact situation will vary based on personal factors, but this will help you get a baseline of what you can expect to earn. 

For a teacher who is first starting out, it’s common to get a starting pay rate of $7.50 per class. According to the new VIPKID pay system, they would receive an additional $0.80 per class for their first 20 classes, then an additional $1.20 per class for classes 21 – 40, and so on.

To keep it simple, let’s say this new teacher earns on average $8.50 per class ($7.50 base rate plus the additional incentive amount) or $17 per hour. 

If that teacher were to work 15 hours per week (3 hours per day, 5 days per week, for example), they would earn $255 per week or $1020 per month. 

If that teacher were to work 25 hours per week (let’s say 4 hours in the morning Monday through Friday, then an extra five hours on Friday nights), they would make $425 per week or $1700 per month. 

Keep in mind that the longer you teach on the platform, the higher your base rate and bonus amount can go. Many teachers who have been with VIPKID for a while and teach frequently earn over $20/hour. 

Of course, teachers are free to work more or less than this if they want.

Some months, I’ll take entire weeks off at a time. Other months, I’ll do overnight teaching sessions on the weekends to earn some extra money. The flexibility is an awesome part of online teacher life!

7. What are the pros and cons of teaching online while living in the USA?  

The time zone difference is the biggest pro and the biggest con of teaching online while living in the states. 

On the negative side, USA-based teachers who are working with students in China will likely have abnormal teaching hours. Teachers must get up very early or work late at night to accommodate their students’ schedules on the other side of the world. 

If getting up early isn’t your cup of tea, it will be hard to make significant income as an online teacher living in the USA while teaching kids in China. 

That being said, there are other companies out there that don’t cater to the Chinese market. If you were teaching for a non-region specific company, the hours wouldn’t be so extreme. 

Funny enough, the time difference is also one of the biggest pros.

Now that I’ve gotten used to it, I really like getting the bulk of my work finished early in the day. It has given me time to pursue new hobbies and interests that I wouldn’t have time for otherwise.

Even though I go to bed at embarrassingly early times, I really like having most of the daytime hours free. 

Additionally, if you’re planning to teach online on top of your normal job, you can easily do so without having to change your regular schedule. You can schedule classes before work or on the weekends to add an extra income source without changing your usual work routine. 

8. Any final advice for an aspiring English teacher? 

There is a lot to love about online teaching. It’s fun to connect with students around the world, the pay is competitive, you don’t have to commute, and you can work from home or anywhere with good WiFi.

One of the best parts about being an online English teacher is flexibility. With this job, your schedule and workload can really look however you want.

Most platforms do not have set schedules and they do not require that you teach a minimum number of hours. This is great news for aspiring online teachers who maybe aren’t ready to make the jump. 

Because you usually aren’t locked into a set schedule, there’s no harm in applying and trying out online teaching with the platform of your choice.

Sign up, teach a few lessons, and see what you think! I bet you’ll love it, but if you don’t, all you have to do is stop scheduling classes. It’s low risk and you could end up with a new remote job that you love!

Nicola in Nashville — combining work and travel

Whether you’re looking for a work-from-home-job, a fun new side hustle, or a job that will give you more location independence, teaching online might be a great place to start. For me, online teaching was a great way to combine my two passions: education and travel. 

To learn more about teaching, have a look at our detailed articles:

10 Best Online English Teaching Companies

Teaching English Online Without a Degree – Top 10 Companies That Will Hire You

7 Best Online TEFL Courses for English Teachers

Note: The lead image in this article is courtesy of Shutterstock. Learn more here.

The post Teacher Feature: Living in The USA and Teaching ESL Online appeared first on Goats On The Road.

Teacher Feature: Living in The USA and Teaching ESL Online published first on https://travelaspire.weebly.com/

[untilrecently]

Ohhh my. It’s been a minute.

I think we left off with pretty much where I’m at now. The new office job is fantastic except for the shitty commute. My weekdays are very long but I’m a million times less stressed than I used to be at my former jobs.

The hotel…? Well...it’s about the same. Which isn’t great. 

I think my priorities have changed to where I STILL like working on the weekends to make extra money-but I’m no longer okay with working on the weekends and making NO money. 

I’ve been really fighting myself on this topic recently. I think I’ve just had the stress for so long of either trying to find a better day job or find a better part time job that I’m not sure how to let it go.

Then I realized that’s not it. It’s that my part time job doesn’t make me any fucking money.

It’s super unfortunate because I love a lot of things about it. The hours are perfect, the location is 5 minutes from my house and I love that goddamn hotel discount. But carving out my weekends after a long week at work to stand around making maybe $5 in tips on a serving shift is no longer worth my time.

Thankfully I think I’ve worked it out. 

I talked to the supervisor and suggested I be taken off the schedule and kept on as “on call”. This way I’m still able to cover shifts when needed (and I keep that glorious discount). Meanwhile-I’m looking at working other jobs. I had three reach out to me so far and I’m being picky about which ones I’m following up with. Blammo. Hopefully this works out.

In the meantime, I’m happily taking my shitty shifts and making the most of them. Observing the human shitshows is still priceless to me. I had one night where an old woman with white curly hair was wandering around in shorts, slippers, and those hospital socks that prevent blood clots. She would wander in and out of the restaurant and even strolled up to my one table at one point just to peer at what they were eating-then wandered off. 

There’s something about hotels that make people not give a single fuck about their appearance or their behavior. It’s like it’s some weird sort of safe zone where you can be as bizarre as you want to be and think that no one can judge you.

Hey. Hey? I’m still judging. A lot.

I had a guy sit with me an entire shift that started out cool. He told me about his life as a pilot and the farm he owns in southeast Asia with his wife and her family. So he seemed kind of worldly and chill at first. 

Then around beer number 5, he revealed himself to be an utter douche bag. 

It was the night of a mass shooting and rather than watch the news in horror like the rest of us, he chose to go on a rant about media in America and how this country doesn’t do anything right. He got belligerent and throughout the evening kept telling me “I’m going to keep you here all night. I’ll keep you in business. You’ll be here until midnight!”

When it got slightly busy towards closing time he decided to bring it up for the millionth time. He had just knocked his bill into the sink on my side of the bar and bellowed again, “I TOLD you, I’ll keep you here all night! I’ll pay your SALARY” 

After reprinting his bill and setting it carefully in front of him, I had finally had enough. 

“Here’s your bill to sign again-and you are NOT my boss. YOU do not sign my checks. I am not staying here for ANYONE. Now please sign here.”

He laughed and said, “OK, OK. I’ll still take care of ya, though! Just like I said!”

His “taking care of me”? Was $4.34 on a $70+ tab. I had even comped several of his beers.

Fuuuuuuck you.

If the men are any indication of what I get to deal with, you can just imagine women in a hotel setting. I’ll never forget the look on this woman’s face when she came up and asked for a margarita “and make it strong”. I looked at her and went, “Make it strong? Oh. No.”

She looked like I had just slapped her. I laughed and said, “just kidding. What do you mean by, ‘strong’? I can add an extra shot if you’d like to pay for it or I can use less mixers. What would you prefer?”

Needless to say, she did not tip me. She didn’t think I was funny. The feeling was mutual.

I even got to overhear a woman at the front desk bitching this poor girl out because she had checked in, gone to the pool, taken a shower in her room, then decided these rooms were terrible and demanded to have her money refunded.

I happened to be coming around the front desk counter when I heard her say, “Are there any FIVE STAR hotels around here?!”

I actually snorted out loud. 

Biiiitch you are surrounded by a mall and chain restaurants. We have homeless people strolling in and out. Where exactly do you think a 5 star hotel is hiding?!

Anyway. So things are just about the same. I’m just a lot more tired lately. I’m finally wrapping up my dental work in the next couple weeks which is both exciting and terrifying. It’s been almost 4 years exactly since the first implant came out which led to 5 additional surgeries and about a dozen setbacks. Hard to believe it could really be over soon. (Please god, let it be over. I’ve had like 9 dental appointments in the last 3 months. Please god)

Until next time!

[rickhorrow]

15 + 5 + 5 To Watch 61719

15 TO WATCH/5 SPORTS TECH/POWER OF SPORTS 5: RICK HORROW’S TOP SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 17

with Jacob Aere

Perhaps The Ringer’s Rodger Sherman said it best: The NBA Finals "weren't just a prelude to free agency: The two exist hand-in-hand." As if the Raptors thrilling last minute victory in Oakland wasn’t NBA blockbuster enough, the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday agreed to a deal to acquire Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for a package of players and draft picks, including the No. 4 pick in Thursday's NBA Draft. The trade, noted ESPN, is a "massive game-changer that reshuffles the deck and could affect every major decision in what already was shaping up to be a monster offseason.” Davis’ trade not only shifts the balance of power in the Western Conference, it will also impact the Eastern, starting with the Pelicans, who will add another marquee player alongside their all but certain acquisition of Duke forward Zion Williamson at No. 1 in the NBA Draft. The NBA Finals were the "opening chapter of the league's future." How free agency now proceeds will shape the NBA’s competitive balance for many years to come.

Kevin Durant will likely miss all of next season after injuring his Achilles during Game 5 of the NBA Finals, throwing NBA free agency into even more chaos. Now, as the Washington Post noted, a "bigger-picture question" has emerged, as it remains to be seen "which teams, and which star players, can afford to wait on Durant’s return to health.” It is a question that "touches nearly every corner of the league, as Durant has been linked in rumors" to the Knicks, Clippers, and Nets outside of the Warriors. What Durant decides to do will obviously impact what other players like Kyrie Irving and Kawhi Leonard decide to do. Durant can choose to opt in to the final year of his contract with the Warriors at $31.5 million and become a free agent in 2020. Durant’s other suitors now have to "calculate whether he’s still worth offering a maximum contract over four years, even if he might not play for the first year of the deal.” Durant’s future also has medical undercurrents. It will impact how other athletes manage devastating injuries like Achilles tears, companies like Embody whose mission is to treat such injuries via technology, and the global financial funds that underwrite NBA teams and medical startups alike.

Forbes just released their world's highest-paid athletes list, which highlights the top 100 earners over the past year.  Forbes calculated earnings include prize money, salaries, and bonuses earned June 1, 2018-June 1, 2019, as well as endorsement estimates for the same period. No. 1 Lionel Messi led the way at $127 million, with $92 million in salary and $35 million in endorsements. That put the Argentine well ahead of fellow soccer stars Cristiano Ronaldo’s $109 million ($65 million in salary, $44 million in endorsements) and Neymar’s $105 million ($75 million, $30 million). Quarterbacks Russell Wilson ($89.5 million, $80.5 million in salary) and Aaron Rodgers ($89.3 million, $80.3 million in salary) ranked sixth and seventh, respectively. Boxer Canelo Alvarez was fourth with $94 million ($92 million in winnings), while tennis icon Roger Federer was fifth, counting $93.4 million, led by $86 million in endorsements, the highest total among the group. Of note: 62 of the top 100 earners play in a U.S.-based league, with the NBA alone accounting for 35, including No. 8 LeBron James ($36 million in salary, $53 million in endorsements), No. 9 Steph Curry ($37.8 million, $42 million), and No. 10 Kevin Durant ($30.4 million, $35 million).

While golfer Gary Woodland is not on the Forbes’ highest-paid athletes list, he did just add his name to the U.S. Open Championship trophy. At a little over $25 million in total PGA Tour earnings, Woodland does not breathe the rare air of the Forbes’ elite. On Sunday, however, Woodland joined the prestigious club of golf’s Major champions, winning the 119th U.S. Open, pocketing $2.25 million for the win, and denying runner up Brooks Koepka the opportunity to become the first player to win three consecutive Opens in 105 years. Woodland, of Topeka, Kansas, is No. 25 in the official World Golf Rankings, with three prior PGA Tour wins. He is also the first University of Kansas graduate to win a Major and only the sixth player age 35 or older to do so. “This is a really popular win,” said FOX commentator Paul Azinger. “Everybody loves Gary. He has a heart of gold.” Likely loving Woodland more than ever are his sponsors, including Puma and its Volition Collection – benefiting Folds of Honor, which provides for spouses and children of fallen soldiers; Wilson; NetJets; and CDW, the PGA Tour’s official tech partner since 2008.

The LPGA and Group1001 have announced a new LPGA Tour event in Boca Raton. The first edition of the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio will be held January 20-26, 2020 at Boca Rio Golf Club. “We are thrilled to support women’s professional golf and to provide a platform for the sport’s best to compete and showcase their talents,” said Dan Towriss, CEO of Group1001. “We want to thank our good friends at Group1001 and Boca Rio Golf Club for their support of the LPGA and their desire to host a world-class event in South Florida,” added LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan. The inaugural Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio will feature a 108-player field competing for a $2 million purse over 72 holes of stroke play. The new event will be one of two LPGA Tour tournaments held in Florida in January 2020. The year will kick off with the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions on January 15-19 in Lake Buena Vista, one week prior to the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio. The Sunshine State will also bookend the LPGA Tour season, with the year culminating at the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples in November.

NBA Finals merchandising deal proved a slam dunk for Instagram and the league. According to SportsBusiness Daily, as soon as the final buzzer sounded on the last game of the NBA Finals, the NBA and sportswear manufacturer New Era were shooting to score by offering instant sales of championship gear on Instagram. This was part of a growing effort to turn sports highlights, as well as the social media posts of celebrities, influencers, and retail brands into shoppable moments. The minute the Raptors clinched their first championship last night, the NBA offered Toronto Raptors championship gear on its Instagram account @NBA. The Raptors' championship hat and T-shirt by New Era will be offered exclusively on Instagram for the first 24 hours after the game. Additionally, the Raptors winning their first NBA title in franchise history led to “record merchandise sales at the official NBA store." The NBA said that by Friday afternoon, the "combined online sales through NBAStore.com and NBAStore.ca had eclipsed the previous record" by 80%. Pairing an exclusive merchandise drop with an event like the NBA Finals leverages the strength of the NBA with fan enthusiasm around championship titles.

The NFL and NFLPA have initiated “preliminary talks” on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. While the existing CBA doesn’t expire until after the 2020 season, Pro Football Talk has reported that the NFL wants a deal in place before the start of the 2019 season. Players would like to address several concerns in the next CBA including limits on Goodell’s authority in player conduct cases, increased roster sizes, improved medical benefits, and eliminating marijuana from the league’s banned substances list. There’s “definitely a deal to be made. The NFL is so healthy financially, it seems unlikely that either side would be inclined to shut it down. The NFL generates upwards of $15 billion per year in revenue – roughly 50% more than the next sports league, MLB – and the salary cap has risen more than 40% since 2014. Meeting a self-imposed September 1 deadline would ensure that the league’s 100th anniversary season is celebrated without the distraction of labor negotiations, and guaranteed long-term labor peace would allow the NFL to begin negotiating its next round of broadcast rights deals.

Major League Baseball announced that the St Louis Cardinals will host the Chicago Cubs in a rivalry matchup in London in 2020. Taking place June 13-14 at London Stadium, the series follows this year’s Red Sox vs. Yankees matchup in that city. Said William DeWitt Jr, Cardinals chairman and chief executive, “I have no doubt that the passionate sports fans in London will love these games and we look forward to creating some new Cardinals fans overseas.” This year, Taco Bell is exporting its “Steal A Base, Steal A Taco” promotion to Europe for the two-game Red Sox-Yankees series in London June 29-30. A successful stolen base in either game will win fans in the U.K. a free taco on July 4 from 2:00-6:00pm local time at any of the 38 U.K. Taco Bell locations. The chain has staged the same promo in various World Series since 2007. Meanwhile, as presenting sponsor of this year’s MLB London Series, Canadian telecom giant Mitel will get its logo on both team’s batting helmets. Baseball, clearly, is no longer just an American pastime.

NBC reportedly reaped an eight-figure haul from the Blues-Bruins Stanley Cup Final Game 7. According to Nielsen, before last Wednesday, the most recent Stanley Cup Final Game 7, in 2011, averaged 8.54 million viewers and a 4.8 household rating, making it the most-watched NHL game in 38 years. Media buyers last week claimed NBC was asking north of $200,000 for each 30-second ad unit in Wednesday’s Blues-Bruins broadcast. According to Standard Media Index data, the average unit cost in the three 2018 Stanley Cup Final games that aired on NBC was $113,702, and overall spend for the five-game series added up to more than $27 million. NBC said that roughly 25% of its Game 7 ad sales inventory is pre-sold, mostly to traditional NHL sponsors. As with all Game 7s, the network’s ad sales execs scrambled to sell the remaining 75%. AdAge noted the last Game 7 on record also featured the Bruins, which likely helped advertisers “justify the expense of their additional investment in hockey." The Blues history-making victory also provided NBC with a significant ratings boost.

Europe’s triumph over the USA in last year’s Ryder Cup at Le Golf National in Paris provided France with an economic boost of more than $266 million. The figure represents almost double the $134 million of economic activity generated in Scotland from Gleneagles staging the 2014 edition of the biennial golf match. The economic impact study commissioned by Ryder Cup Europe and supported by the French Golf Federation (FFG) took into account spending by all spectators, with over 270,000 fans from over 90 different countries turning out to see Europe’s victory. The figure also accounts for all organizational spending by the FFG and French authorities on course and infrastructure upgrades, developing 100 municipal golf facilities, and other indirect or induced spending. Meanwhile, the 2018 Ryder Cup also delivered a major increase in social media engagement, with more than 22 billion global impressions throughout the week of the event. As the golf world now turns its attention to The Open Championship at Royal Portrush, it’s interesting to note that last year’s Open at Carnoustie boosted the Scottish economy by $152 million.

The 2019 French Open generated more revenue for Tennis Channel’s streaming service than any tournament in the subscription platform’s five-year history. With a record high presentation of up to 12 live courts per day, Tennis Channel Plus took in more than $1 million in subscriber revenue from Roland Garros’ first day of qualifiers all the way through to championship Sunday. This marks a 25% uptick from 2018, and a more than 500% increase compared to the 2014 French Open, when the Tennis Channel Plus service first launched. Tennis Channel's 15-day live coverage of the French Open averaged 266,000 viewers in 2019 according to Nielsen, up 42% over the 187,000 average viewers in 2018. Tournament coverage led to live tune-in growth across key demographics for Tennis Channel as well, with a 35% rise in adult viewers aged 18-49, 41% increases in adults aged 25-54 and 55% increases in adults aged 35-64. This is all terrific news for Tennis Channel CEO Ken Solomon and his staff, now gearing up for a busy summer of tennis coverage highlighted by Wimbledon and culminating in the U.S. Open in New York come August.

Amazon is the world's most valuable brand, according to the 2019 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands rankings. The other brands in the Top 10 include Apple, Google, Microsoft, VISA, Facebook, Alibaba, Tencent, McDonalds, and AT&T. Amazon moved up from the No. 3 spot in 2018 with a brand value of $316.5 billion, a 52% change, while Apple held fast at No. 2. In related news, according to Recode, Bond Capital Partners' Mary Meeker released her annual Internet Trends Report at Code Conference in Scottsdale. Some notable data points from her presentation: Some 51% percent of the world -- 3.8 billion people -- were "internet users last year," up from 49% (3.6 billion) in 2017. Internet ad spending in the U.S. was up 22% in 2018. Most of the spending is "still on Google and Facebook, but companies like Amazon and Twitter are getting a growing share." The number of interactive gamers worldwide grew 6% to 2.4 billion people last year, as "games like Fortnite become the new social media." Between gaming and the billions in advertising and sponsorship spent by the top brands, sports is clearly central to these annual conversations.

USC and United Airlines announced an agreement last week that names the field at the school's football stadium, "United Airlines Field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum." The deal will go into effect in August. According to the L.A. Times, "under the terms of a previous agreement announced in 2018, United would pay USC $69 million over 16 years to "have the Coliseum named United Airlines Memorial Coliseum." But that deal "came under scrutiny this spring." USC and United did "not disclose revised financial terms of the agreement but announced this deal will be for 10 years instead of 16.” Naming rights for the Coliseum have "long been seen as a key component to renovating the aging stadium." In 2015, USC "enlisted the help of Fox Sports" to find a naming rights partner. USC was looking for about $5 million per year, and “'Memorial Coliseum' had to remain part of the name." However, USC lost out on an estimated $25 million when the original deal between the school and United Airlines was scrapped. The new 10-year agreement is only for the naming rights to the field.

MLS and SeatGeek partnered for a new in-depth study on female fans of the league, coinciding with the launch last week of a new campaign, “We Fan,” which highlights what women fans are looking for from the league. The study found that close to half of MLS’ fans overall are minorities, while 42% of the league’s fan base comprises women. The study also found that 71% of women say they are MLS fans because they “like bonding with family and friends who are fans,” while 75% of women usually attend games with family members. The “We Fan” campaign, created in-house, launched across social media and digital, MLS’ website, and various SeatGeek partner clubs. Of course, it’s likely no coincidence that the campaign launch was timed to the perfect quadrennial intersection of women and soccer, the opening of the Women’s World Cup in France. The Women’s World Cup typically has a carryover effect on women’s interest in top level soccer competitions all over the globe, as well as increased amateur participation.

And since it’s summer, we end with travel and a leisure sport. It was reported last week that Michelle Obama will lead a USA dodgeball team versus late night host James Corden’s “Team U.K.” crew when CBS’s “The Late Late Show” broadcasts from London for four days starting this Monday. In the episode, which airs June 17, the former First Lady leads an all-star and all-female American team that includes Melissa McCarthy, Allison Janney, Mila Kunis, Lena Waithe, and Kate Hudson as they do battle with Corden's all-male team of Brits Harry Styles, Benedict Cumberbatch, “Game of Thrones” star John Bradley, and “Late Late Show” bandleader and American ringer Reggie Watts. The transatlantic dodgeball showdown will be the highlight of four London episodes of the CBS show to be broadcast from Central Hall Westminster. No word on early odds from British sports betting houses like William Hill famous for their colorful prop bets.

Top Five Tech

Women's World Cup gets an assist from Google Doodles. Google is celebrating all the teams in the Women’s World Cup tournament with a series of doodles. Some of the recent homepage banners on Google’s search page represents work by artists of six different countries: Chile, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Thailand, and the U.S., teams from each of the countries that competed the first Tuesday of the tournament. Google says the doodles portray a distinct message about what the tournament means for each artist and their country. According to C|Net, there is a full list of 24 artists, one for each country in the tournament, in a blog post by Google. The banner rotates around different teams and features four to five designs in one day. Google also said soccer fans will be able to use Google Assistant and the search app to follow real-time match updates. While the Google search app will let you subscribe to team updates, Assistant can answer specific questions. Having one of the world’s largest search websites feature Women’s World Cup content will get even more casual fans talking about the tournament, now entering its second week of play.

Super League Gaming acquires esports video network Framerate. Super League Gaming is a platform for competitive and social gameplay experiences, and it acquired the independent social video networks in esports and gaming for a price of $1.5 million in cash and $1 million in stock. Earlier this year, Super League Gaming went public to expand its business of running esports events in places such as movie theaters and TopGolf venues. According to VentureBeat, Framerate boasts more than 100,000 followers and generates millions of video views and engagements per month across Instagram, InstagramTV, Facebook, and Facebook Watch. The esports video network has become the largest independent gaming media channel on Instagram and a top five channel overall, driving more video views across Instagram video than traditional gaming outlets. Super League Gaming will make esports even more available to the outsider through this move as they will use social media channels to bring esports to the masses in public locations.

Play video games with Miller Lite's new Bluetooth-enabled beer. The "Cantroller" is a 12-ounce can of beer that doubles as a gaming controller. The limited-edition, dual purpose can is being made in partnership with comedian and gaming fan Eric Andre. The brand also will launch its own Twitch channel later this week. The high-tech drinking container is Bluetooth-enabled, contains a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for a three-hour charge, offers haptic feedback, and can be refrigerated. According to Marketing Dive, Miller Lite produced 200 Cantrollers for the launch and intends to make hundreds more. Developed with tech company Unit 9, the controller was a reward for winning a game of “Street Fighter” against Andre at the video game industry's E3 event in Los Angeles. Gamers are big drinkers; 40% are drinking while they play – as such, Miller Lite looks to embed itself as a frontrunner for the beverage of choice in the gaming industry.

TikTok is growing amongst large sports teams. According to SportsPro, the short-form video app has reached one billion downloads and is catching the attention of sport’s social media strategists. TikTok only hit the international market in 2017. A year later it was merged with Musical.ly, a teen-friendly U.S. video app built around lip-syncing, which was purchased by ByteDance at the end of 2017 with the aim of leveraging the digital platform’s young user base. As of March 2018, unofficial data from App Ape Lab claimed that more than 60% of TikTok’s global users are under the age of 30. In addition, 40% of that user base is said to be under 20. This may be the platform for sports leagues to reach the young audience they have been striving for – since the launch of Liverpool’s TikTok on May 24, that club has amassed over 194,000 TikTok followers, which means over 100,000 fans under the age of 30. Leagues such as the NBA, MLB, NFL, and NASCAR that are looking to engage with younger audiences can use TikTok to build a new generation of fans.

The Yankees’ broadcasting future is taking shape. The Yankees and the YES Network are beginning to look into developing YES Radio. They are now leveraging current content while creating new shows, which seems to be starting a series of moves that could have huge implications for the future of sports media. After completion YES networks’ $3.5 billion deal, expect more broadcasting changes to switch up the broadcast game thanks to Amazon and Sinclair, who back the network and are positioning YES to be a leader in high-tech broadcasting in the future. According to The New York Post, the new ownership setup could eventually have a major impact on how fans watch games as the finances of cable/digital sports viewing further change in the next decade and beyond. Additionally, YES Network changes could foreshadow Amazon’s move as a major sports video player on par with ESPN, Turner and the broadcast networks. Amazon Prime could eventually become a place where some Yankees games are digitally housed, while Yankees/YES audio, YES, and SiriusXM have had discussions about housing the radio network on the satellite service. By adding Amazon to the YES Network mix, the Yankees will have a major league tech broadcasting edge.

Power of Sports Five

World Surf League gets sustainable with Ikea. Determined to improve sustainability, the partnership between surfing’s largest association and the Swedish furniture giant is designed to raise awareness of climate change and to promote environmental initiatives, with the aim of inspiring people to reduce plastic pollution in the oceans. The WSL and Ikea will also collaborate to produce a specially-designed range of surf-centric products, using recovered ocean-bound plastic where possible. According to SportsPro, this partnership will be Ikea’s latest environmental team up. The Swedish company also works with the World Wildlife Fund to promote responsible forestry, environmentally friendly cotton cultivation, and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. It is also a member of the Clean Cargo Working Group, which promotes sustainable product transportation. The WSL pledged to become carbon neutral by the end of 2019 and aims to set a new standard for pro sport. The WSL-Ikea initiative includes eliminating single-use plastics at its competitions and leaving venues in a better condition than before events took place.

Athletic company Saucony kicks off an Instagram relay race for charity. According to Mobile Marketer, Saucony launched a social media campaign called "Run for Good" that aims to raise as much as $50,000 for charity. The sportswear brand is urging Instagram users to run a mile and post selfies on the image-sharing app with the #RunForGoodRelay and @Saucony tags, then challenge three friends to do the same. The campaign began on Global Running Day, June 5, as the world’s first Instagram relay race, with a goal of collectively running one full lap around the Earth. If completed, the total challenge would eclipse 24,901 collective miles. Saucony will make a donation for every mile run to the Saucony Run for Good Foundation, Laureus Sport for Good, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.​ Saucony’s "Run for Good" utilizes Instagram and its younger consumer base in an effort to go viral for charitable causes, as the ALS Ice-Bucket challenge did in the past.

Prince Harry’s charity and MLB team up before London Series 2019. Major League Baseball has announced that the Invictus Games Foundation, of which Prince Harry is a sponsor, will be an official charity partner of the MLB London Series 2019. The partnership has been announced ahead of MLB’s first foray into London later this month, when “The Rivalry” between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox takes place at the London Stadium June 29-30. According to The London Mirror, Invictus Games Foundation is an international charity that oversees the development of the Invictus Games, the multi-sport event created by the Duke of Sussex. In an attempt to bring America’s pastime to the U.K., the Invictus Games Foundation will have a team participating in London’s Softball60, the social softball series built for the city and targeted to introduce the sport to new audiences

Tom Coughlin delivers “A Day Off from Cancer.” According to People Magazine, Super Bowl-winning ex-coach Tom Coughlin runs the event through his charity, the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Foundation, which supports the families of children suffering from cancer. For one day, children had the run of MetLife Stadium. The children went into the locker room, tried on equipment worn by the players, met former Giants legends, and ate all the ice cream they could. Since the inception of the Jay Fund in 1996, it has granted $11 million to 5,000 families with children suffering from cancer. The organization’s guiding belief is that the sacrifices made by these families are extraordinary and often overlooked. The original recipient of the charity was Jay McGillis, a college football player when Coughlin was the head coach of the Boston College Eagles in the early 1990s. McGillis was diagnosed with Leukemia during the 1991 season and died eight months later, but Coughlin started a team fundraiser for his family that blossomed into the Jay Fund today. Last year, the charity honoring McGillis raised $1.7 million, going to families in the New York and Jacksonville areas with children suffering from cancer.

Maggie Murphy aims for the world's biggest game of soccer to support women in sport. According to the BBC, Maggie Murphy works in anti-corruption in sport and is determined to make sure the excitement and new investments in women's soccer translates into more participation in grassroots soccer for women and girls around the globe, beyond the Women's World Cup. In 2016, Murphy founded Equal Playing Field – a voluntary, non-profit organization – to encourage women’s soccer participation around the world. Now, overlapping with the Women’s World Cup, Murphy and Equal Playing Field will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest number of players involved in a single football match. She aims to bring together more than 3,500 women, girls, and allies from about 70 countries with the match to take place over the course of five days, from June 27 to July 1. If successful, this will be the third Guinness World Record that Equal Playing Field has helped break, as it recorded the highest altitude game ever played (on Mount Kilimanjaro) and the lowest altitude game ever played (in the Dead Sea). Murphy noted the U.S. is one of the best countries for women to play soccer, even as they continue to face economic struggles, while a woman playing soccer in Afghanistan may face death threats.

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Prospects on the bubble (Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis) and more (Sep 24)

The Fantasy Guide has been updated each of the last five consecutive days, with Sunday seeing two updates (I’m not marking inter-day updates in the date box, FYI).

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Sunday I scrambled a morning Guide update because Ottawa cut Drake Batherson and Logan Brown. Just like that, it changes the way I see the year unfolding for the Sens roster. I still believe Batherson will be an NHLer by the end of the season, but obviously I needed to roll back the projected games (I had him for 62 and dropped him to 52 for now…perhaps lower as I see more from Chlapik). The big thing is the status of Filip Chlapik still being there. I wrestled with having a projection for him back in July and decided to give the nod to Batherson. But Chlapik is now in the Guide, and he has a pedigree of producing points. With the lack of depth at center, he could be one to watch although this team won’t be scoring a lot of goals so his short-term ceiling is limited.

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I’m starting to develop an Atkinson-like man crush on St. Louis prospect Sammy Blais. I first took him seriously back in May when analyzing his situation, his numbers, what the organization says about him, for the Fantasy Prospects Report. I thought he had excellent sleeper potential, between scoring 26 goals as an AHL rookie in 2016-17 and then nearly a point-per-game there in 2017-18. I call him “Mike Hoffman” in terms of upside. But then the Blues went out and added a pile of proven NHL players and I shifted Blais off my radar for this year. But man, the guy keeps showing up on the score sheet and while I know it’s only preseason, it has to be making an impression on Coach Mike Yeo. Two more goals on Sunday for Blais, who keeps exceeding expectations and on a faster timeline. Just like Hoffman.

Blais played with Robert Thomas on Sunday and the two had chemistry – Thomas had three assists. I already have him penciled in for the nine-game trial and if he impresses and knocks a regular out of the lineup with his play, he’s in for the duration. With Robby Fabbri struggling with injuries again, Blais is starting to look even better.

As for Fabbri – his injury is not related to his knee, but rather conditioning. His back injury cropped up because he hasn’t played in over a year. Looks like easing him back into game action will take a while, and his already risky fantasy draft status is becoming even riskier.

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Chicago is down to 16 forwards, so likely looking at three more camp cuts. Still battling: Alexandre Fortin, Andreas Martinsen and Victor Ejdsell – my picks for the final cuts – as well as Dylan Sikura, Matt Highmore, Dominik Kahun and David Kampf, who I think will make the team. One player who is turning heads in camp is Dominik Kahun, a Czech/German late-bloomer who was never drafted but was signed by Chicago after posting nearly a point-per-game in the German League and tallying five points in seven games for Team Germany in the Olympics. He probably won’t have a big, lasting fantasy impact this year, but he could be a Joonas Donskoi type who gets 35 points in his rookie season (I have him for 26). His linemates were Alex DeBrincat and Jonathan Toews in Sunday’s practice, so you know that Coach John Quenneville is taking his bid for a roster spot seriously.

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Since I am on the topic of Chicago, fantasy owners are keeping a close eye on the defensemen situation. With both Connor Murphy and Gustav Forsling out with injuries, the team is looking at nine defensemen left in camp for the seven spots. You can count Erik Gustafsson as a shoe-in and frankly I think he is a nice little dark horse in deeper fantasy leagues. But what keeper owners are watching for is what happens to Henri Jokiharju and Adam Boqvist. With regards to Boqvist, I have been saying since May that this year’s draft class was heavy in talented defensemen and lighter in terms of forwards. And I was surprised when NHL teams picked forwards over defensemen anyway, reaching for forwards higher in the draft and letting good defensemen slip. So my attitude when it comes to blueliners from the 2018 class has been to boost their value-rating, but drop the forwards down a bit. Boqvist was drafted eighth overall, but in terms of future fantasy upside he’s probably Top 5. He’s been turning heads and in terms of pure talent he is an NHL player. But he’s so small that I still struggle to see him on Chicago this year. He can wait a year.

While Boqvist was drafted eighth overall this summer, Jokiharju was selected a year ago at 29th overall. He proceeded to embarrass the WHL with ridiculous numbers for a defenseman (71 points in 63 games, fifth among WHL rearguards). Jokiharju is making things difficult for Chicago to send him back there, and the fact that he has nothing more to learn at the junior level also plays in his favor. I’m thinking Joki makes the squad for at least the nine-game trial.

*

Mike Green is suffering from exhaustion caused by a virus, but is apparently over the worst of it. He’ll spend a few days battling the rest of it off and then another few days regaining his strength and conditioning. Still, it’s a better prognosis than what it looked like on Friday, so I am guessing he misses just the first two or three games of the season. That still means that Detroit will start with two rookie defensemen this year and then send one back after Green returns. The candidates – Dennis Cholowski, Filip Hronek, Joe Hicketts, Libor Sulak and Vili Saarijarvi. The player who turned heads last season in the AHL is Hronek. The player turning heads in training camp right now is Cholowski. So those are my two picks, with the two of them battling it out in the first few games of the season for the right to stay with the team upon Green’s return. I tend to think that, based on his pro season last year, Hronek ends up winning out. But Cholowski was taken 20th overall in 2016, 33 spots before Hronek, and has a higher ceiling.

In the game last night, Cholowski saw 21:45 to Hronek at 19:45 for ice time. More importantly, Cholowski saw 5:00 of PP time and Hronek 2:46. So you can see where Coach Jeff Blashill is leaning. I’m starting to want to slide Cholowski into the sneaky dark horse category, so Sammy Blais better move over and make room.

*

The Red Wings had the following line combinations in yesterday’s preseason tilt:

Tyler Bertuzzi – Dylan Larkin – Anthony Mantha

Michael Rasmussen – Andreas Athanasiou – Filip Zadina

You can get all the preseason stats and preseason line combos in the Frozen Tools section. If you haven’t seen the new-look Frozen Tools, go there now and get lost in the rabbit hole. The player profiles are getting ridiculous with how helpful they are for fantasy – now that they have Rob Vollman’s Player Usage Charts in the ‘advanced’ tab.

Filip Zadina had an assist and is starting to win me over in terms of sticking with the team. Joe Veleno had an assist as well and while he is impressing, I think he gets sent back down for one more year. Rasmussen I’m 50-50 on, still.

*

So far, no good. Mikko Koskinen gave up three goals on just 19 shots in his preseason debut – big deal it’s only preseason. But Sunday’s five-goal dud (21 shots) has me raising an eyebrow. Let’s give it one more game, but as a Cam Talbot owner I’m satisfied that his job is safe.

*

A good article here in the Athletic. It tells of the Columbus PP woes last year and how they were dead last with the man advantage in mid-December. After that, they were 11th. The reason was just from moving Alexander Wennberg to net-front, and taking Cam Atkinson from net-front to half-wall. With the team not trading Artemi Panarin (only my opinion), they could surprise this year in terms of the offense.

*

Don’t forget to put in your team/register at Dobbernomics.

The back story: I really loved the Small World game in 1999, for hockey/baseball/football where I would add players under a salary cap and their value would go up or down based on overall ownership in the game. Your team value would go up (or down) accordingly. I tried to beat my friends in both total team salary value, as well as total fantasy points. I looked around for it a few years ago and discovered that it had been sold to Roto Hog early last decade, and Roto Hog had tried to charge money for it…and so it fizzled and died. I wanted to bring this game back. Michael Hiridjee built the site from the ground up and we ran it the last two years. Each year, however, we barely got it ready in time for the season so we haven’t been able to properly market it. Two years ago, this was because it simply wasn’t ready until the last minute. Last year, it was because of my health and all the things that had to be delayed or pushed to the side as a result. This year? We’re rolling and we’re rolling early. I am eager to get 2000+ teams in there so that player values fluctuate nicely (the more who play and add/drop, the better). It’s a free game and it will always be free. I won’t make the same mistake that Roto Hog/Small World made. What do I get out of it? Besides getting this great game back online, you mean? I guess in the end I grow the Dobber brand and eventually that should help me sell a few more Guides. So if you’re looking for strings that are attached…that’s about it!

*

I’m doing my first draft of the season as I write this and it’s an interesting one that I would probably enjoy more if the draft moved quicker. Sorry for the plug, but it’s worth mentioning – this is Fantrax “best ball” and they opened up a “Beat Dobber” challenge. So 11 people have challenged me and we choose 20 players. At the end of the season, Fantrax takes the five best forwards, three best D and two best G and counts only those. It was $10 to play (I was comped), with the winner getting $100 and second getting $10. Each pick is on a two-hour clock, so there is no pressure, plus there is a “sleep” timer that runs from midnight to 9am. Problem is, a couple of people don’t check often enough nor put in the auto-draft, so the full two hours ticks by. Fifteen rounds in, it’s been three days. Hits, SHG, SOG and PPPts are categories along with the usual, and I used the Geek Draft Kit to rank the players. I picked third in the snake draft and nabbed Ovechkin. It swung back around to me and goalies were already taken (Vasilevskiy, Hellebuyck and Andersen). So I didn’t have a choice. My strategy is to get Tier 1 goalies if I fear that I won’t get one the next time it comes around to me. So my next two picks I took Sergei Bobrovsky and Braden Holtby. Geek told me that goalies are highly rated commodities so I made sure I got two of the better ones, later grabbing Varlamov as insurance.

With this type of league setup, it is best to take homerun swings in the later rounds and avoid the Band-Aid Boys. My later picks (14 and 15 so far) were Elias Pettersson and Alex DeBrincat. These guys need to crack my Top 5 forwards, so it’s a boom or bust kind of idea. Go for the high upside, forget about just being decent and putting up solid numbers. If they don’t have a shot at beating the best on my team, then I won’t bother. It means taking a Pettersson over a Dadonov, for example.

*

Announcement: Fantasy Hockey Geek, after over a year of work from three different programmers (good ones, too), can now finally sync with Yahoo. As of Saturday. This was so big that I rushed it to ‘live’ status rather than test it because I thought it would help users. Naturally, there are bugs and we are working on them. But I think more than half the leagues are syncing okay. I have heard about all the bugs, but I would love to hear from you if you synced it with Yahoo and it worked really well. Just trying to gauge the success rate so far. Thanks!

*

See you next Monday.

    from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-prospects-on-the-bubble-detroit-chicago-st-louis-and-more-sep-24/

[itsjayyyy]

September 18, 2018 4:53 pm

wow since it’s been a few days since an update, I had a lot of things to open this entry with, but of course only one topic can be the first i talk about. so, the most recent one: I was just laying in bed thinking about how I need to study for my bio exam tomorrow and also complete the next two modules for econ, but then I realized it’s tuesday and econ hw is due monday nights, and freaked out. I literally went through all five stages of grief, before I was like “it’s okay, it’s only the homework, the exam will pull my grade up” and opened my laptop to start reading for bio. but then I checked econ and apparently because there’s an exam this week, there wasn’t any homework due so HOLLA.

so this past weekend has been annoying, as always. I was at ioa for friday, but we only had three workers total (we normally have 6) for closing, so it was hell trying to close on time. and then saturday I went to usf, which is always hell. not to mention, hhn started so we had to spend an hour cleaning so the night crew would be set. and at the end of my shift, the usf manager has the nerve to say to me that she wants me to pick up some shifts this week. I tell her that I have four exams, and I’ll have to check my schedule, but she says “oh but your availability says you’re free after 4 on tuesdays, thursdays, and fridays” what the fuck!!!!!! don’t go looking at my availability when I’m not your employee!!!!!!! so I kept saying I had to study, I had to see, two of my exams are online, etc and she kept pushing for me to at least take shifts on friday afternoon and saturday, since I should be done with exams by then. I took the saturday shift because by this point my shift ended a minute ago and I wanted to leave, and told her I’d call her to let her know if I can take friday (I won’t.) SO SUNDAY I walk in to ioa (home sweet home), and we have a new coworker!!! And by new I mean he used to work at usf but transferred here permanently. What. “Oh jay we send you to usf because they’re understaffed and we’re overstaffed.” Okay. So I tell my manager that they’re stupid for accepting MORE workers when we have that issue, and she has the audacity to say to my face “oh it’s more than that, he didn’t like it at usf” as if I haven’t spent the last two months telling both ioa and usf managers that I hate usf. Okay. So Sunday, when I next work at ioa, I’m going to speak to my highest manager and tell her that she either tells the scheduler that I am not to work at usf again, or I quit. I have enough money in my savings account to last me a while.

wow. rose deadass drank 6 apple juice boxes out of the 8-pack we had. this bitch clearly doesn’t care if I starve huh.

so yesterday I met up with heather after class in the student union. did I mention how much I love cafe bustelo? I really love it. a good cafe con leche really warms me up. we talked for a while, then I walked her to class. In our conversation, our birthdays came up at some point (I think I said something along the lines of “you didn’t get me anything for my birthday this year! and she said “you didn’t get me anything either!”) and I was like “I bet you don’t even know my birthday” and she said april 22nd. and then later she was like yea well I bet you don’t know mine and i immediately said march 19, so she said she’d buy me starbucks today to make up for it.

today’s morning was really gr8 and also really un-gr8. like, I woke up at 7 thinking I had to leave the house at 8:30 for my ortho appt, and laid in bed for a while before finally getting up and showering. but when I stepped out of the shower and saw the time was 8, I realized that I didn’t leave the house at 8:30, my appointment was at 8:30. cue getting dressed while still partially damp, forgetting heather’s gov’t textbook, and going 75 in a 45 zone. I thank the gods daily that motorcycles don’t get red light tickets.

while driving down the main road leading to my university, I had this white car weaving between traffic. at one point he was behind me, but then when I slowed down in a turn he switched to the right, which ended up being right behind a campus shuttle (you know, the ones that drive 5 mph under the speed limit at all times and you can barely see around. and they’re diesel, ugh!). as he saw me speed up at the end of the curve, he switched back to behind me and sped up too, but as soon as I reached level with the front of the shuttle (and the pickup on the other side of me), I slammed on my brakes so he couldn’t try to go around. Definitely risked getting run the fuck over, but it was so worth it seeing the look of frustration on his face.

I got nearly instant karma, though, because he entered the university through the first turn, when I went for the second a little ways up since it’s closer to my garage. but the traffic light was down, so I had to merge into one lane with everyone else, and then they wouldn’t even allow left turns because it’s too complex for the person directing traffic, so I had to make a right then a u-turn. But it was made up for by the fact that the trike that normally parks in my spot was probably also deterred by the traffic, and I got to claim my righteous spot.

so when I got on campus, I went to heather’s class, or rather, the building it was in since I couldn’t find room 106 exactly. I remembered that my annoying coworker said that her classes were in that building + the one next to it also on tuesdays, but I thought that there was no way I’d actually bump into her considering there are over 60,000 students and the buildings are pretty large, plus I didn’t know what time her classes are.

well, now I know that her class gets out at the same time + same building as heather. we walked towards the starbucks (which is near her next class), and I introduced her to heather, we talked about how it was to work at universal, the sort. and then she was like “well I gotta go to class now, bye!” and i was like bye and smiled and when she was more than 20 feet away I turned to heather and said “that’s the coworker I told you that I hate.”

I love pumpkin spice season!!!!!!!! got a frappuccino tho, because it’s never truly fall in florida. heather got a mango dragonfruit refresher bc I recommended it to her, and it’s funny because the person ordering before us was also named heather and also ordered a mango dragonfruit. As a barista, that’s like my worst nightmare. Luckily they were able to tell it apart because the other heather got a grande. We sat in the starbucks for a while, I explained how weed is a lot more safe than cigarettes, talked about pine hills’ reputation, and how samantha’s mom is so damn disrespectful. This woman drove heather home one day when picking up samantha, and the whole ride was bragging about how samantha was going to be so successful because she’s majoring in some type of psychology and will be making over 90k a year. and then she turned the conversation to how teachers don’t make that much money, and she asks heather how she could do that, just take such a low-paying job. and lemme tell ya how MY GIRL HEATHER FUCKIN SNAPPED. she done said she tired of people saying teachers don’t make a lot of money yall. she said to samantha’s mom, “I don’t know how you’re looking down on my salary when you have three children from three different men with only a salary of $30k.” Y’ALL. the point that heather was trying to make the point that “people from working-class families act as if a salary less than 100k is unacceptable even for an unmarried, childless young adult despite working class families often having a household income of 50k while supporting children just fine,” but damn she really went there. goin off on this good catholic woman for having baby daddies. well samantha’s mom and samantha became very upset. and they told heather’s dad who would not leave her alone until she apologized. as in, he was banging on her door telling her she had to apologize. I said put headphones in and ignore it, she was like “girl you don’t understand haitian parents. my dad literally opened my door with a knife when I locked it.” so she had to apologize :/ but she also made it clear that she didn’t like the way samantha’s mom disrespected her. she tried to make it seem relatable, and be like, “oh what if i said that to your mom, wouldn’t you tell me to apologize” and I’m like???? no???? I would make my mom apologize for being disrespectful first the hell??? then I reminded her about how I literally lived on the streets for 3 weeks because my mom was disrespectful to me.

today after class I decided to take the city bus home, for 4 reasons: I wanted to stay humble and remember where I came from, I wanted time to be able to finish this book, not walking the last half-mile home every day this semester has caused some weight gain, and I really wanted to hold my parking spot against that damn trike, and it seems he comes too early in the morning for me, so I just left my bike there overnight. yea I’m petty.

The book was really good. It’s definitely a hard read, for sure. In the sense that it really will make you cry. At the end, it listed all of the school shooting victims since columbine, plus a small snippet about them (it was like 20 pages long). The one that really got me was an 8 year old, whose text read “shoot me first,” as he wanted to take a bullet so it wouldn’t be used against his classmates. Then, below that entry, a seven year old, who said “shoot me next.” Just typing that is making my eyes water again.

The walk home was super tiring. I’m super out of shape, it was hard for me to even imagine that I did this every single day the entire first semester of college. And I have to do it tomorrow morning again, ugh. Can you believe heather wakes up at 5:30 am???? I’m never seen out of bed before 7, and even then it’s only for things like appointments. But I guess I really should start waking up earlier, because whenever I get on campus around 8 I feel great because I have so much time to study and stuff. but that means I have to buy a coffee on campus, and I don’t know if I want to commit to that expense.

edit: so I originally posted this to my main, and when I saw that I copied it, then deleted it, then tried to paste it into a new post, but I guess I didn’t press ctrl hard enough because it didn’t copy. and I was about to cry bc this is close to 2k words, but then I realized I had a tab of my main open that still had the original post showing, so I copied from there.

[apartmentdiet]

7 helpful posts from /r/personalfinance

One of my favorite things to read is /r/personalfinance.

Here are seven of my favorite posts from the sub — and what YOU can learn from them.

7 valuable Reddit personal finance posts

1. “Paying rent isn’t throwing away money.”

If I ever go bald, know it’s because I tore my hair out every time I heard people say this.

From the /r/personalfinance thread:

While it is true that when you buy a home a portion of your monthly mortgage payment will be going to principal, and therefore you are paying yourself in some ways, however, the cost of home ownership is significant. Some of the lesser known costs include the lack of flexibility, stress, the risk of home price declines, home maintenance, real estate taxes, and HOA fees.

These are also known as phantom costs — the expenses you don’t normally consider when you buy a house.

OP also offers a great mental reframing of rent, saying, “As human beings, there are several things we need to survive, including food and shelter. Paying money for rent is no more a ‘waste’ of money than paying for food is.”

For more, be sure to check out my article on real estate investing myths and my post on how to buy a house.

2. “Your parents took decades to furnish their house.”

It’s easy to look at someone successful and compare yourselves to them. You start feeling like you aren’t doing enough to reach your own goals and might try to rush things to achieve their level of success.

In reality, the most successful people devoted a lot of time and energy into getting to where they are — and you should do the same.

That’s what’s at the heart of this thread about the importance of patience when it comes to your goals:

If you’re just starting out, remember that it took your parents decades to collect all the furniture, decorations, appliances, etc you are used to having around. It’s easy to forget this because you started remembering things a long while after they started out together, so it feels like that’s how a house should always be.

It’s impossible for most people starting out to get to that level of settled in without burying themselves in debt. So relax, take your time, and embrace the emptiness! You’ll enjoy the house much more if you’re not worried about how to pay for everything all the time.

So whether you’re saving for your wedding or trying to get out of debt, know that these things take time and that’s okay. Once you stop worrying about trying to accomplish your goals quickly, you can focus your mental energy on the things you can control to accomplish your goals.

3. “I found out a coworker with the same job is making twice as much as me.”

A fascinating story about a research assistant who finds out she’s being paid MUCH less than a coworker who joined six months after she got the job.

When she raised the issue to management, her boss tried pulling some corporate trickery that’s common with bad companies:

One week later she called me into her office. She absolutely berated me for thinking I could move into the coordinator position for which I was already doing the work, and complained about my work performance. Last month I had an evaluation, and received very high praise for my performance, and there has not ever been complaints about my performance in the past. All in all, I assume she was making excuses not to increase my pay.

Eventually, she was able to find a job at another place that offered her more than she was currently earning — which led to a bidding war between her old boss and her new employer (aka the best position you could possibly be in as a job seeker).

A few lessons for job seekers from this post:

Negotiate mercilessly. OP could have just shrugged her shoulders and kept quiet when she found out she could be earning more — BUT she didn’t. She addressed the issue and now has two different companies vying for her work. That’s why it’s always in your best interest to negotiate your salary even if you think you’re earning enough.

Adopt an abundance mindset. It’s easy to take any job offer that comes your way — especially when money’s tight. OP had two job offers and knew that if one didn’t work out, the other would be there for her. This is also known as an abundance mentality, and it can be a powerful mental shift for the way you approach finances.

Know your worth. The first step to any salary negotiation is knowing how much you’re worth. While websites like Glassdoor or PayScale can help you get a good sense of this, talking to people in your field about their earnings can give you a sense of what you should be making (like OP did). So don’t be afraid to ask. Top Performers do all they can to know what they’re worth.

Be sure to check out my article on how to negotiate your salary and the Briefcase Technique for more.

4. What to do when a loved one dies.

When tragedy strikes, you find yourself asking questions you’ve never even considered before. This /r/personalfinance thread tries to answer one of those questions: How do I handle my finances when someone I love dies?

While the post deals with money accounts and estate issues beautifully, it also goes into the more lesser known parts of dealing with death, like where to get an urn:

The funeral home won’t tell you this, but you don’t have to buy things like urns and whatnot from them. I chose to, because the prospect of receiving a plastic baggie with my husband’s ashes that I would have to deal with was horrifying. A friend bought an urn for his father’s ashes on Amazon. There are options that are cheaper than the funeral home, but I chose to pay the obscene markup so that I wouldn’t have to deal with the logistics.

Overall, it’s a great read for anyone — even if you haven’t suffered any personal tragedies. It’s an excellent perspective on life, death, and where our finances fit in between it all.

5. “We decided not to buy a bearded dragon.”

For some, a Rich Life means a new car, ordering appetizers at restaurants, or paying off their debt. For others, it’s a desert lizard chilling out in a reptile aquarium in their living room.

Or at least that’s what one Reddit user thought when he got ready to buy a bearded dragon for his son’s birthday. When he ran the numbers though, he realized that the investment he’d be making into the pet would be much more than he bargained for.

[We] learned it needs expensive UV bulbs that last about 6 months and are about $40 each. Also the electricity cost the run this heat 24 hours can be a drain on the electric bill.

Also the beardie needs to go to the vet every 6 months for a checkup. And finally, food. They have a very diverse diet and can eat up to $15 per week in foods. So I did a total cost analysis for a beardie that lives 12 years and it turned out to be a whopping $10,000.

This is a great example of figuring out what fits into your Rich Life. I’m a big believer in spending on the things you truly love and ignoring the rest. So if you believe that a bearded dragon will help you live your Rich Life, by all means buy that lizard!

However, if you find that the benefits of caring for a reptile native to sweltering deserts for a decade aren’t worth the money and energy, don’t worry about it. Your Rich Life is what YOU make of it.

Also LOL at this robotically cold statement from a commenter: “It’s about ROI on the pet. Dogs are more fulfilling companions than a lizard. At least that’s the case with OP.”

6. What to do when you lose everything in a fire.

Sometimes we do all we can to prevent disaster — but it ends up happening anyway. Case in point: Losing everything you own in a fire like this OP.

One former insurance worker offered their incredibly insightful advice on how the insurance company is going to approach the situation and what OP should do to get the most out of his claims.

The biggest takeaway: Use the truth to your advantage. The commenter then used an example of how one guy used his situation to net him a five-figure insurance claim.

I remember one specific customer … he had some old, piece of shit projector (from mid-late 90s) that could stream an equally piece of shit consumer camcorder. Worth like $5 at a scrap yard. It had some oddball fucking resolution it could record at, though — and the guy strongly insisted that we replace with “Like Kind and Quality” (trigger words). Ended up being a $65k replacement, because the only camera on the market happened to be a high-end professional video camera (as in, for shooting actual movies). $65-goddam-thousand-dollars because he knew that loophole, and researched his shit.

This goes to illustrate a big point when it comes to anything insurance related: Do your research. Once you know the rules of the game you’re playing (whether it be taxes, insurance, or salary negotiations), the better positioned you are to win.

7. Explain it like I’m 18/22/30/40.

These threads are the perfect place to start if you’re completely new to the world of personal finance (aside from IWT of course).  

These guides break down important themes for your personal finance journey at different stages of your life. They are:

ELI18. For when you’re out of the house for the first time and wouldn’t recognize a 401k if it walked up to you and slapped the fidget spinner out of your hand. Great advice on topics like opening bank accounts, applying for a credit card, and even finding a roommate.

ELI22. So you’ve graduated college and are out in the “real world.” Scary right? This post makes it a little less scary by providing a solid introduction to taxes, contributing to retirement, and paying off your student loans.

ELI30. When you’re 30, a whole new crop of financial questions start coming up. How do I handle money when I get married? How do I buy a house? I have a dog … that’s like taking care of a baby right? This comprehensive post helps answer a few of those questions.

ELI40. The name of the game at 40 and beyond is retirement — rather, it’s making sure your investments are best positioned for when you retire. This post is a great primer on planning for the future and beyond.

Why I LOVE /r/PersonalFinance

You probably wouldn’t say anything if a friend or coworker tells you about a money decision you don’t agree with (racking up credit card debt, buying a house with little income, etc.). But if you saw the same issues on Reddit personal finance, you’d let the world know exactly how you feel about their issues and what you’d do instead.

It’s this level of honesty that helps us see how people really use money — and how to use it yourself.

Whether you’re in your forties planning out your retirement or you’re still in high school trying to figure out what to do with your paycheck, I’m glad you’re here.

I want to give you something that can help you take your personal finances to the next level:

The Ultimate Guide to Personal Finance

In it, you’ll learn how to:

Master your 401k: Take advantage of free money offered to you by your company … and get rich while doing it.

Manage Roth IRAs: Start saving for retirement in a worthwhile long-term investment account.

Spend the money you have — guilt-free: By leveraging the systems in this book, you’ll learn exactly how you’ll be able to save money to spend without the guilt.

Enter your info below and get on your way to living a Rich Life today.

7 helpful posts from /r/personalfinance is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

[billssefton]

a 3-day camping trip for work, taking time off after a break-up, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. My firm wants us to go on a three-day campaign trip

I work in the design field, and my small company was recently acquired by a multinational firm. We’ve known that each summer the entire company is invited to three-day company-wide meeting. The dates, location, and details are a surprise, released only 90 days in advance. Our managing director wrangled the dates a while ago and that the meeting this year would be held in Europe. So, for those us in North America – the “new kids,” as it were — that would mean a day of travel on each end of the meeting, thus a full week away.

We just learned that this year’s meeting is a three-day Scandinavian camping trip. Not glamping – camping. No electricity and we’ll each be provided with our own personal tent.

My main concern is for the accessibility-challenged among us – someone who has mobility issues, a broken bone, severe allergies, or requires use of a CPAP. What if a breastfeeding mom wanted to (at her own expense) bring her newborn and a nanny? What about the city mice among us who don’t own a sleeping bag or backpack? This plan seems designed to exclude more people than it includes. There is also the concern of the outdoor trip being near the solstice in a region that will be daylight for nearly 22 hours a day and not having access to blackout curtains to sleep.

This will be the first in-person contact many of us will have with our colleagues from around the world, and few from our office want to attend. We’re worried about sleeping on the ground for three nights after a 12-hour flight, the lack of proper bathing facilities, and, frankly, the sleep deprivation. Not the best first impression.

It’s our understanding that the arrangements have been booked and we need to RSVP within two weeks. Our North American senior staff have promised no fall-out if we chose not to attend. Any advice here our collective next move? Should our entire office boycott on principle?

I mean, that sounds horrible. If anyone in your office is genuinely excited to attend, there’s no reason they need to boycott on principle, but for the rest of you, you’re being told there will be no fall-out if you don’t go, and I’d take them at their word about that and decline.

It’s also worth saying something like this: “We’d love to attend and meet everyone, but camping isn’t practical for many of us, due to mobility issues, allergies, breast-feeding, and so forth. We assume it’s too late to change the plans for this year, but we’d really be excited to attend next year if it’s something where hotels are an option.” If you weren’t the new kids, I’d suggest pushing back harder. But you’ve just been acquired by this company that clearly has their own way of doing things, and I think you’re going to get a better outcome if you stress that you’d like to participate next time but this one just isn’t logistically possible.

2. My boss won’t stop pressuring my employee to work in another country

My company does work in another country overseas. My boss (Arya) wants one of the people I manage (Sansa) to go there to work. It’s not a niche area but Sansa is the only person at our company with the relevant knowledge and experience. Sansa refuses to go work there. She cites the restrictions she would be under: She would have to live in a building or compound with other foreign workers. She wouldn’t be in one of the main or large cities so the compound and her living space would be small. She would have to wear black robes and covered hair every time she went outside. She wouldn’t be allowed to speak or be alone with any man, including colleagues. She wouldn’t be allowed to have a bible or practice her religion. She would be restricted on where she could go outside the compound. Things for entertainment like movie theatres are banned and don’t exist there and her internet use would be censored and monitored.

Sansa says no amount of money is worth living under those conditions. Arya keeps telling Sansa she has to go and is pressuring me to talk her into going. I spoke to Sansa once and she shut it down saying she isn’t going. She said she will quit or be fired rather than go there. Arya says it’s too costly to hire someone just for this project. Arya will not let up about Sansa going and asks me several times a day to talk to her. Sansa is a good employee and I don’t want to lose her, and I think Arya and the company need to accept her decision. What can I do to get Arya and the company to back off and accept Sansa’s decision? I’m getting tired of Arya asking me about it also.

Say this to Arya: “Sansa is thoroughly considered this, and she will not go. She has valid reasons for that, including religious ones. We cannot continue to pressure her, and she won’t change her mind if we do. She’s made it clear that she’ll leave her job if necessary in order to avoid going. At this point, we need to decide how we’re going to move forward.What is plan B?” If your boss still keeps harping on it, say this: “She’s made it clear she won’t go. I assume we’re not going to fire her for this, and if we did, we’d still need to find someone else to go. If we continue pushing, we risk her quitting outright and I don’t want that.”

Ultimately, you can’t make your boss back off. You can say the things that would get a reasonable person to get off, and even most pushy people. But if she’s gone off the rails and is determined to stay there, all you can do is to keep using the language above. (I suppose at some point, you could switch to, “We’re running out of time to find someone else, and I think we need to shift our efforts to that.”)

3. Is this a real job offer?

I did all of the rounds of interviews for a job, and in the final interview, the head of the group I was interviewing for asked me when I’d be able to give a yes/no if an offer was extended, since it was pretty heavily implied that I’d get the job. I had said I’d like to finish a few other interviews, and asked for until the end of April (this was in late March). He said it was fine, and the next Monday I got a call from the recruiter saying that they team thought I was “the perfect candidate” and wanted to give me an offer, but “just to be transparent” there would be an influx of people looking to fill this role internally, and I should try to give an answer as soon as possible.

Later, I got an email that said: “I spoke with the team. They are supportive of being flexible, but would truly appreciate an accelerated schedule. We would like to proceed to offer, but we can wait. We will continue to evaluate other finalists and make formal decisions in the interim. There is some chance that with your timeline we could advance with others. Just trying to be as transparent as possible. Good luck and lets connect live next week to firm up timelines.”

This, of course, made it seem like I didn’t have an offer so I asked, “In the interim, can I get a written confirmation of the offer just as both proof if anyone asks, and really mostly for my peace of mind?” as part of an email I sent back. I got told, “With regards to offer, we are happy to discuss it formally when you get closer to your deadline but until that time please note our intent is there. Excited to drive this for you.”

So does this mean I have an offer or not, especially because of the discrepancy between the recruiter and head of the group? Is this normal- I’m surprised they’re not willing to give me an actual offer solely because I mentioned I was looking to finish off my interviews to make a more well informed decision? Should I be concerned?

Yeah, they’re telling you that they don’t to wait that long, and they’ll continue considering other candidates meanwhile. (That really is a long time to ask them to wait — a week is more typical in most fields). They should say that more directly, but that’s what they’re saying.

It sounds like your choices are to accept the offer now (and forego the other jobs) or wait until the end of the month and risk that they’ll hire someone else meanwhile.

4. Taking time off after a break-up

I’m 26 and met my boyfriend at work (but not in the same department). We have been together a little over four years and we have lived together for the past two. However, 18 months ago he took time off work with anxiety and depression which developed into chronic fatigue. The great benefits our work gives us means that he has remained on half salary and has been able to keep living with me (paying half the rent/bills in our expensive city) throughout this time.

Throughout his illness, I have been his main emotional and physical support. He is generally unable to look after himself like a normal adult. From looking it up, I believe I fit into my work’s definition of a carer, although I have never raised this with management.

For various reasons, I have decided that I can no longer continue with the relationship. I have not taken this decision lightly and I know it won’t be easy. Not everything is bad in our relationship and I will miss him loads. Given his almost complete dependence on me, any break-up is bound to be messy.

I’m concerned that when I finally get up the courage to break up with my partner, I will be a mess. How do I communicate this to my manager? What support can I ask for or expect? I think at a minimum I may need a couple of days off to get my head together — should I be expecting to take this off as annual leave? I think it’s akin to grieving (which my company would never expect you to take time off as holiday or sick leave for), but haven’t heard of anyone doing it.

You can’t generally take bereavement leave for the break-up of a relationship, no matter how much like grieving it is. You should be able to take regular vacation or sick leave though.

5. What should I say in an email where I’m attaching my cover letter and resume?

When sending a cover letter attachment to an email address, is there a best practice for what to say in the email itself? It seems overly formal/unwieldy to paste the entire cover letter, and I’m not sure what tone to use to introduce the application materials otherwise. (Sending a blank email or a bland “please find my materials attached” doesn’t seem like the right answer either, especially for high-profile jobs.)

You’re right that you should leave the text area totally blank, but it’s fine to just say “Please find my application materials attached for the X job” (and that’s what most people do if they’re not putting their cover letter in the body of the email itself). Don’t write much more than that or you’ll be writing a second cover letter, and you don’t really get two bites at the apple like that.

You may also like:

my mom wants me to participate in a family vacation while I’m simultaneously running a conference in that city

our company party is really a work meeting — with significant others

everything you need to know about time off when you start a new job

a 3-day camping trip for work, taking time off after a break-up, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

from Ask a Manager http://www.askamanager.org/2018/04/a-3-day-camping-trip-for-work-taking-time-off-after-a-break-up-and-more.html

[ronaldmrashid]

Achieving The Two Spouse Early Retirement Household

In my post about reflecting on five years of early retirement, I mentioned that having my wife join me two years later was an import shift that made the early retirement lifestyle much easier. This may sound strange since being able to do nothing all day would seem easy enough. But the reality is, early retirement isn’t as meaningful if you have nobody to spend it with.

As an early retiree, it takes time to find your people. The vast majority of your friends will be at work all day, every day. Therefore, during the first six months you’re probably going to feel a little lost as I did. Only after about a year do you finally start feeling a little more comfortable with not working as you adjust to a new routine and make new friends out of necessity.

When my wife finally negotiated her severance package (she had the #1 coach by her side and got a juicy one!), I really started getting in a great groove. Now I always had someone to walk in the park with before grabbing some ceviche. Instead of exploring Europe solo, she could now explore Asia with me for a month at a time. As an extrovert, life became much better when she was always around.

Early Retirement Strategy With A Spouse

Retiring before receiving Social Security, a pension, or having penalty-free access to a 401k or IRA is risky if your expense coverage ratio or passive income is insufficient. Risk is why I didn’t have my wife negotiate her severance the same year as I did in 2012. I wanted to first test the waters before suggesting to her it was OK to jump in. It’s the exact same reason why I recommend everybody work on their entrepreneurial side hustle while working before taking the leap of faith.

We’ve already discussed strategies on how to convince your spouse to work longer so you can retire earlier to live the good life. Some people found the article to be funny, while other hard-charging spouses found it to be offensive. Whichever one you believe, the fact of the matter is that having a working spouse to pay the bills is a great way for you not to work. Shoutout to my blogging buddy, Joe from Retire by 40, who has successfully convinced his wife to continue working for five years so far after he retired!

Now I’d like to share some strategies on how both of you can prudently retire early. The goal of these steps is to help minimize doubt, eradicate resentment, and maximize harmony with each other.

1. Set a target age to depart. Once you circle a date in the calendar, you will do everything you can to prepare beforehand. I left Corporate America at age 34.5 because I didn’t like what I did anymore. But my target date for early retirement when I was 32 was actually June 15, 2017 on my 40th birthday!

Setting a target age to do something is important because while we can never buy one more minute of life, we can do our best to achieve as much financial prosperity as possible by a certain age. Once we hit that age, it’s time to move forward.

Because my spouse is three years younger than I, we agreed that after she turned 34, she too, if she wanted, could also retire. Since we both believe in equality, there was no argument with this logic.

Related: Shoot To Retire By A Certain Age, Not When You Achieve A Financial Target

2. Set a income replication target. Not only did we agree on an age target, we also agreed on replicating my day job base salary with my online endeavors before she could join me, whichever came first. Given that I was often bored in early retirement, this financial target gave me the incentive to keep on hustling.

After two years and three months of grinding, I finally replicated my monthly day job salary. After six months of consistently achieving this target, she initiated severance negotiation proceedings in September 2014.

The other financial target we considered was achieving a $200,000 a year passive income stream before she could leave. In the end, we decided the target would take too long to achieve. Good thing we passed, because I only achieved the $200,000 target at the end of 2016, a full two years after she left.

Finally, instead of an income target, you guys can also consider a net worth target to achieve before both of you leave the workforce. My recommended net worth target is 20X gross household income.

Click to read more

3. Go on a financial fast It wasn’t enough for me to replicate my day job income through my entrepreneurial activities. She too had to reach some achievement goals as well. We decided she needed to raise her savings rate after maxing out her 401k from 25% to 40% in the second to last year (age 33), and then to 50% in the final year (age 34). The logic was to simulate a lifestyle in which we had way less than she/we were used to.

Everybody should practice going on a financial fast before making a big purchase or a big life change. For example, if you know it will cost $1,000 a month more if you buy a particular home, then it’s a good idea to try and live on $1,000 less for at least six months before you buy that home. If you do this first, you should feel zero burden on your lifestyle.

401k by age savings potential

4. Identify specific things to do post retirement. It’s nice for both of you to have a ton of time together. But after a while, you may start getting annoyed with each other if you’re both not doing something meaningful. Therefore, it’s important to identify various things your spouse may like to do after retiring.

We didn’t initiate this step beforehand and suffered because of it. When my wife retired, she did what many normal people do and took it easy. Me, on the other hand, stepped it UP a notch because I now felt MORE pressure to save and earn even more since we were now both jobless! Instead of getting up by 6am every morning to write, I frequently got up between 4am – 5am to do more work. As a man, it almost seems like I have this embedded desire to provide.

After a couple months of me getting up before 5am, and she getting up after 9am, envy and resentment on my part welled to the surface. Damn, she was having such a nice life while I was slaving away! So unfair. Wah. After some frank discussion, instead of sleeping in with her, we decided to divide up the responsibilities of our business. She could take the “night shift” and I would take the “morning shift.” Now all is good.

Please have this frank discussion with your spouse about things to do after s/he retires early. Learn from my mistakes.

5. Create financial buffers for your financial buffers. Early retirement is relatively easy when you have a working spouse. Before the 1970s, we didn’t consider a non-working spouse retired because one spouse took care of the household while the other worked was the norm. Despite all the social progress, still few men want to be known as a stay at home spouse, hence the self-proclamation of being an early retiree.

Without a spouse’s reliable paycheck and subsidized healthcare plan, early retirement is scarier. We, for example, pay $1,400 a month for health insurance despite being in great health. It’s our responsibility to subsidize the poor and less healthy. Still, this expense is worrisome if healthcare costs are not contained.

Creating financial buffers for your financial buffers means always having an income backup plan. For example, if my online income were to ever disappear, we will rely on rental income, real estate crowdfunding income, stock dividend income, and bond income to survive. If all of those income streams die, then I will rely on tennis teaching income and personal finance consulting income. If those income streams disappear, I’ll take on financial technology consulting projects billing no more than 25 hours a week to save the retirement lifestyle. As a last resort I’d go back to work full time.

6. Conduct regular financial checkups. Knowing that your finances are strong is KEY to minimizing early retirement stress and elongating the early retirement lifestyle together. At least once a month, go over all income and expenses to make sure you’ve got positive cash flow. Then conduct a net worth audit to make sure your asset allocation is appropriate. Finally, push each other to keep on saving and investing.

The reason why so many people overestimate how much they need in retirement is because they forget that once they retire, they no longer need to save for retirement. However, I recommend continuing to save for the future once you’ve retired because it feels so damn good! You’ll feel like you’re playing with the house’s money every single day you aren’t drawing down principal.

My wife and I treat early retirement almost like a game. We’re trying to run up the score (net worth) as much as possible while making sure we’re having a good time.

You can track your investment asset allocation for free with Personal Capital.

Related: The Fear Of Running Out Of Money In Retirement Is Overblown 

Early Retirement Dreaming

Having a best friend to explore the world, raise a family, or work on a business is a dream come true. That said, it’s important to set stretch goals to ensure you both have no regrets.

My wife felt she needed to advance as far as she wanted to go in her career before retiring early. She accomplished this by getting one last promotion a year before she left. She then looked at the person’s job one level higher above her and decided it was not something she wanted to do. Rather, she preferred helping me grow our business.

Since 2012 we’ve done as much traveling as we wanted. I think we’re up to 85 countries. Now we’re focused on raising a family as two stay at home parents. Building a harmonious relationship takes work. But once you guys thoroughly understand each other’s objective, a two spouse early retirement household is a dream come true.

Readers, anybody consider themselves an early retiree with a working spouse? How do you responsibly convince your spouse to join you in early retirement? What are some fears you have for both of you not working? 

from http://www.financialsamurai.com/achieving-the-two-spouse-early-retirement-household/