#theyre worth every single penny | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

delbeugre · 4 years ago

Text

Have you seen SADIE BEUGRE? DEL is in HER/THEIR SENIOR year. The MATHEMATICS MAJOR is 24 years old & is a CAPRICORN. People say SHE/THEY are GRITTY, BEWITCHING, RETICENT and WASPISH. Rumors say they’re a member of HASTINGS. I heard from the gossip blog that SHE BIT AN EX-BOYFRIEND’S PINKY FINGER OFF AFTER SHE FOUND OUT HE CHEATED, AND THEN HAPPILY SERVED TIME FOR IT.

im tommy im a freak and of course i am here to get freakalicious with u all... this is my newest frankenstein type creation named sadie i know .02% about her yet but i am more than confident she will b nothing but a fun time! like this if ur down to plot!

TW: VIOLENCE, MENTIONS OF JAIL/PROSECUTION, MENTIONS OF SUICIDE, DRUG USE

BACKSTORY

capricorn sun / virgo moon / scorpio rising

raised by her uncle Big (his name) who is a hermit shut in town local in the depths of the florida marshland like some goosebumps protagonist. hes gone far past socially acceptable in terms of his ability to connect with the modern person but is wise beyond belief... his whole vibe is a warped cross between a cryptid and a mountain man that forages and cooks neighborhood plants. married for 27 years before his wife passed from illness. its quite possibly the only thing hes ever been emotional about

but dels entry to his life throws a wrench in his sadness (despite abandonment being what they bond over). she takes the focus away from his loss with her presence; her dad, his brother, died in a tragic train-car collision around the same time (which is speculated to be a suicide bt nobody can ever really be sure). he was a single parent so her custody is thrown up in the air for a few months as cps decides what they r gna do with this freshly orphaned little scrapper

she just kinda turns up on his doorstep n from there they cohabit a space. shes arnd 6-7 at this time... big never seemed to b phased by the fact tht she was a child n tended to treat her more like an apprentice or guest. he was never close to her father because of their age difference, being the older out of the two, so to have his daughter become his responsibility is just..... weird

this doesnt mean that he wouldnt provide for her bt it was. not very parental whatsoever.... no conversation or interaction beyond what was necessary. she was a mute fr a while and still is? to a degree.... very short spoken

when she got to her preteens he offered her an allowance in exchange for little odds and ends of stuff to be taken care of around the house. errands n all tht.... sometimes he wld purposefully leave things for her to pick up n take care of without mentioning it for a bonus. taught her the importance of saving your money and the horrid corruptness of a society basing everythings worth off paper. big exposed her to a lot of knowledge and took advantage of her silent curiosity by fueling it with books, homeschooling, life skills (catching a fish, setting a trap, knowing your berries in the woods...... the works)

her teens carried out the same way bt with the introduction of a real job, a spot down at the local butcher shop checking people out at the register and helping around the back of house. del knows a great deal abt cow/pig/chicken/etc anatomy from her years here..... she committed to being 100% vegan into her early twenties because of her trauma frm this occupation

it paid very well tho n was the best gig she was going to get within a reasonable biking route from home. so she settled!

the plan wasnt to keep it up for long anyway. she worked rly hard for her spot at yates and didnt intend to ever screw herself over. her plan was to get her bachelors, masters, become a professor, pursue a personal hobby of agriculture and build an elaborate greenhouse to live in

bt things happen.....

some 35yr old douche with a green thumb woos her at a gardening store n swoops in to teach her a little more abt romance; all of this, of course, under the guise that he had all these tips and tricks for living environmentally friendly. a lame hippie wannabe that shouldve never even approached her bt alas.... he did

love is a touchy subject n it hadnt been something she set her sights on, but she was interested in wht this dude could teach her n at 19 she ended up falling in love. she delayed her education to stay an extra year back home and work out another plan which included him

this was very disappointing to her uncle bt he didnt have anything to say abt it. it was never parental before n it was never going to be, so this was another lesson she wld just have to overcome on her own

it turns out that she doesnt care for infidelity. when the confession comes out its met with a lot of screaming, bawling, blistering white hot anger. the whole incident is blacked out of her mind to b honest....

matters of the heart are no longer something to concern herself with because of the repercussions of her rash behavior regarding heartbreak O________O she spent a year in jail n still has to attend therapy / anger management meetings

deep down she is still hurting. there was a lot of pain... bt the sadness is not over the loss of some noob. she is in a state of constant disappointment, detaching from herself out of shame. putting her own life on pause only for it to turn out like that? stupid stupid stupid...

PERSONALITY

chugging along! tldr spectre-like swamp nymph aura with the slightest (not so slight) unhinged feral tendencies

delicate like a moth resting in the gleam of a flashlight.... her anger singes her wings when shes too comfortable staying in one place, so theres always constant stimulation, always shifting gears. shes prone to feeling threatened; that being said, sadie is wary of walking in crowds, a little bit skittish when approached without making eye contact beforehand. like a small grey kitten..... in a big wide world

has a hard time keeping a conversation bt is very interested in debate, and even more so in studying alongside someone in complete silence. it reminds her of home in the same sense tht her uncle wld nudge her to keep reading by always having his own book open

doesnt have many friends and is alright with that. rumors are tht she is still a virgin bt who really knows? not i...... bt i wldnt be surprised if this was true. shes not impressed by people nor material items so this whole yates crowd is a turn off

she is truly clueless when it comes to how to behave around anyone her age. i think she understands but it just doesnt compute. she could come off as impolite bt it is just standoffishness? some people cld try to crack her but i dont think even she knows what that would be, or what that would look like. even in her one (1) failed relationship it was never deep heart to hearts or sharing dinner..... solitude is her realm

del is very comfortable with herself, very open with her wardrobe! doesnt leave too much to the imagination? she appreciates the human experience n expresses that thru this whole “body is a temple” type thing.... not quite confidence, but proudness of being. has gotten multiple notices frm professors for her tops being too sheer, nylons too ratted up, etc. has dirt under her fingernails half the time, chipped polish, some chapstick. smudges her eyeshadow on with her fingers

doesnt smoke cigarettes all too often but is dependent on weed. it kinda perpetuates her paranoid demeanor bt at the same time it keeps her lax enough to be able to mentally handle city life

her room is a playground for huge monstera plants, christmas cacti, ivy creeping along the doorway. she sleeps on a tiny thin mattress on the floor with a linen sheet and has her books stacked up on the ground next to it to hold her ashtray. the whole thing is dumb empty

takes her studies seriously and pinches every penny she can..... she has never ordered herself a coffee frm somewhere before, ordered food frm a restaurant... nothing. i wld think the most she would branch out from harvesting everything on her own is buying a bag of sunflower seeds frm a gas station, but even then, she much prefers eating stuff she grows herself. has a tomato plant, some basil beginning to sprout, etc.... manageable crops for any college students tiny space

...

bt yea thats it thats all! connections cld be all over the place. im legit open to anything. theres only a few tht come to mind right off that bat:

a few people that get along with her? same classes? they shared a bowl n now theyre getting into the nitty gritty of some personal conversation that is veering into no mans land....

some sort of clueless makeover moment? arent rly into sadie as a person bt see a lot of potential... perhaps need a plus one to a party on the fly and figure thats the best option theyve got

crushes? this wld be fun n potentially dangerous! like playing with a hot cast iron pan or something :)

again im vry new to rp so i wld like to leave a lot of stuff up to chemistry, brainstorming n stuff like that, but please consider everything on the table! what i hav mentioned is the tip of the iceberg im so burnt out n i wrote a lot more than i intended to i am so sorry but i promise i am friendly

#yatesintro #/tw implied violence #/tw death mention #/tw drug use #/tw jail mention

11 notes · View notes

tebuchet-blog1 · 5 years ago

Text

we’re counting down the minutes, we’re counting down the moments, we’re counting down the seconds! What will you do when it happens? the world needs to know. You will be the only one who will be able to manage a victory so we are relying upon you and only what you can do to save the whole world! What you think you will need will be worth the wait because when you think how many days you could spend upon a deserted island is about half as much as what you think you could stand upon a deserted island is about a quarter or perhaps a third of what you think you could stand upon a deserted island upon a deserted island you could stand upon a deserted island is about half as much as you could stand upon a standing desert how about you stand upon a deserted island as to what you think could be done about the standing upon a deserted island and a deserted island is about half as much as you could stand. Bees, can we trust them? Maybe. Signs point to yes. Signs point to yes. The signs, they point to yes? They do! They point to yes, those signs. The signs. Theyre pointing. The signs are pointing in the yes direction most verily! What happens when you hit yourself with a shovel? Ow. What happens when you hit ME with a shovel? Ow also, but you dont feel it, therefore did the pain even exist? You didnt feel it so I mean whos to say i’m not lying? I could be simply copying your reaction to the shovel and felt no pain and there was a mutual feeling of no pain! It could be done! That being said, yellow jelly beans could not be further from liars. I would rather a Yellow Jelly Bean upon the stand in a court of law then any of the nations bluest politicians! Think about it, what do they like? What do they like? They like a few things but none of them are good. Tremendous anxiety! Tremendous Terror! Behold the Beholder, its twos a penny to fold her! Three shillings to mold her, and a pound to scold her! No matter no man could e'r eat such a beauty, but cower in its firey wake! Alas! Sweet sparrow, your time is short and your body so small, alas, you will not last the winter. But In turn I do jest, I believe the sparrow will survive the nights of forty and more! For I have constructed for you upon the stitch’d hand of mine, this neat little cosy jumper for the elegant little falcon in training. For it is within the eye of the sparrow that one doth note upon their own semblance of personality and wit. Trials and tribulations, they are all for naut when one considers their health, for it is paramount that you remain at the very least, above the 1 mark. For if thou was to spend just a moment at Hades’ door, well, you know the rest. Opening the doors so welcome so wide, in a mutual arm enclosure will the devil embrace you. No, protect one’s health. Do not fall below one. One is the most powerful number in all of humanity, it is the essence for which life grips and builds from anew. My eyes do glow at the concept of mortality. I could consider many universes in which I do not die, and so in turn do I yet live? Through the universes in which I took the correct path, made the right decision, ate the least shit? The simple hand of fate is an easy one to manage, but an impossible task to predict. You simply cant predict some of the things that happen in your life, and thats just the truth of it. Dentists, for example. You ask a Dentist, hello Dentist how are you today I hope you enjoy looking at teeth? and they will say “no, in fact my life is pain, every single day Johnny Tooth the Tooth Devil comes to my dreams and makes me dance the hokey pokey til im blue in the knees, and bleeding from the elbows, and bugs and lice have gnawed at my hair and fingers. But otherwise its a really fulfilling carreer that everyone should strive to achieve for in the medical field! ” “ That was John, now back to you, John. Hello its me, John Dark Souls here back at you again with another video game let us play the game game of the video game Dark Souls the Third One with James Franco on the couch with me here today and what are we doing here James Franco who sits beside me to the place nearby to where I currently am? Hello John Dark Souls its me James Franco and I am sitting close to where you currently are in the hope to play a fantastic game of Dark Souls the Third One alongside my friend John Dark Souls, and as we know, he is the best Dark Souls The Third One player in the whole world and so we should show that young fellow the most respect that ever happened. Swords can swing, Axes can swing, but maces? Maces THWUMP. thats just a fact. also Arrows. They do uh …… )—–> ftunk ! For this I am truly sorry I do not own a diamond sword. I am not an epic gamer. I can only dance the macarena.

#Terror Poetry

0 notes

plxyboi-blog · 5 years ago

Text

A Complete Keto Diet Foods List To Make Grocery Shopping Way Easier

New Post has been published on https://healthy4lives.com/a-complete-keto-diet-foods-list-to-make-grocery-shopping-way-easier/

A Complete Keto Diet Foods List To Make Grocery Shopping Way Easier

amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "books009a-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_design = "in_content"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "eb6b8d82602b7891da759d9bf5221f00"; amzn_assoc_asins = "162315944X,B00UJIXKL4,B07CZ837VB";

For most people who do the keto diet, they eat 75 percent of their daily calories from fat, 20 percent from protein, and 5 percent from carbs , says Stephanie Searor, MS, RD, LDN, owner of Love Yourself Nutrition and Wellness in Clarksville, Tennessee. You also need to take fiber into consideration, as it plays a huge part in the keto diet, because you subtract fiber from carbohydrates to determine your net carbs.

But let’s be honest: There are a lot of foods on the shelves, and it can be a ton of work just wandering the aisles and produce section reading labels and wondering if you’re shopping within your macros, so to speak. So if youre feeling a bit overwhelmed at the thought of shopping for keto diet foods, print out or pull up on your phone this comprehensive list of keto must-haves, all approved by registered dietitians. Guesswork, gone. (You’re welcome!)

Carbs

Keto considerations: As you probably already know if you’re ready to hit the grocery store, the keto diet is primarily defined by the fact that it *really* limits your daily carb intake. But you obviously cant eliminate carbs completely even if you’re following a diet ( you still need energy , after all). The key is focusing on carb sources that are also high in other nutrients, like protein and good fats.

Simply put, you aren’t gonna want to go buy a bunch of simple-carb foods (like sugary cereal and white bread) on the keto diet. Instead, the carbs found in lower-carb fruits, vegetables, and nuts are the main source of carbs in this diet, says Penny Scholl, RD, LPN, owner of Remake My Plate in Avon, Massachusetts. Because you’re carb intake is so limited, make it worth it with nutritious options, like the following ones.

Best keto carbs:

Pecans

Brazil nuts

Macadamia nuts

Walnuts

Hazelnuts

Peanuts

Almonds

Pepitas

Almond flour/meal for baking

Coconut flour/meal for baking

Fats

Keto considerations: The other defining factor of the keto diet is that its also a plan thats quite high in fat. At first glance, that idea might sound crazy, as it can be tough to eat, well, a ton of avocado every single day. Tip: Focusing on cooking with good, heart-healthy fats is an easy way to up your fat intake in a way that will leave you feeling satiated rather than deprived.

Best keto fats:

Olive oil

Coconut oil

Sesame oil

Grapeseed oil

Avocado

Nuts

Hemp hearts

Chia seeds

Sour cream

Ground flaxseed

Vegetables

Keto considerations: Its safe to say that vegetables have a place in all diets and lifestyles, whether youre trying to lose weight or not. Veggies are especially key in the keto diet because they tend to be low in sugar and high in fiber to help you stay full. When it comes to which veggies should be go-to on keto, green leafy vegetables have the lowest amount of carbs, says Scholl.

Best keto veggies:

Zucchini

Alfalfa sprouts

Cucumber

Daikon or other radishes

Lettuce

Peppers

Kale

Swiss chard

Collards

Cabbage

Fruits

Keto considerations: Believe it or not, fruits can be a tricky keto food because a lot of them actually are high in carbs and sugar, even though its natural sugar versus added sugar. Fruits are much higher in carbs than vegetables, so its key to focus on lower-carb options like berries when following the keto diet, says Scholl.

Best keto fruits:

Blackberries

Blueberries

Strawberries

Raspberries

Cranberries

Pumpkin

Cucumbers

Eggplant

Avocado

Olives

Proteins/meats

Keto considerations: Lean proteins like shrimp, salmon, chicken breast, pork loin, and flank steak are all great source of protein without adding a lot of saturated fat, says Searor.

Filling up on meals that incorporate lots of vegetables and some lean protein, like a stir fry, and adding an unsaturated fat (like olive oil or canola oil) is a great way to kick off your keto diet, Searor says. “The vegetables and protein will help you to feel full, while the healthy fats will start to be used by your body for energy (instead of glucose).

Best keto protein sources:

Tuna pouch in olive oil

Canned salmon

Sardines

Chicken

Turkey

Nitrate-free ham or bacon

Tofu

Eggs

Cheese

Any other type of fish

Condiments

Keto considerations: As with most other keto diet foods, the thing you want to avoid with condiments is too much added sugar. Check dressings as many tend to include sugar, so they will have a higher carb count, says Scholl. Try to focus on oil and vinegar dressings for salad.

Another commonly asked keto question is whether or not peanut butter is keto compliant. Just like any low-carb option, you need to look at the label of peanut butter to see if it can be fit into your carbohydrate restriction, says Julie Stefanski, MEd, RDN, owner of Stefanski Nutrition Services in York, Pennsylvania, and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Peanuts are naturally higher in carbohydrates than other nuts since theyre technically a legume. If additional sweeteners are added, its likely a no-go.

Best keto condiments:

Guacamole

Peanut butter (with no added sugar)

Dijon mustard

Horseradish

Hot sauce

Relish

Red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar

Sauerkraut

Pesto

Tahini

Spices/herbs

Keto considerations : Spices and herbs are a pretty easy keto food because while many do have carbs in them, youre likely using such a small amount to avoid over-seasoning your food, so the carb count is likely to be negligible.

Best keto flavor enhancers:

Chili powder

Salt

Pepper

Basil

Oregano

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Ginger

Rosemary

Mint

Fast food options

Keto considerations: Fast items for work lunches or easy dinners may be the most challenging part of grocery shopping for keto dieters. But its not impossible to come up with satisfying meals and snacks that wont undo your progress.

Knowing how to read the nutrition label can be a huge benefit when trying to determine if something is keto, says Scholl. Additionally, when it comes to fast food options, items such as ready-to-eat salad mixes can be a good option if you make sure to leave out added items like croutons, dried fruits, etc.

Best keto fast food options:

Prepared salad mixes

Rotisserie chicken (not the breaded type) or pre-cooked/sliced grilled chicken

Cheese sticks

Tuna pouch in olive oil

Canned salmon

Sardines

Hard-boiled or scrambled eggs

Frozen zucchini noodles

Frozen cauliflower rice

Pre-cooked frozen burgers

#Nutrition to Lose Fat

0 notes

themoneybuff-blog · 6 years ago

Text

18 Two-Minute Chores to Tackle Right Away

All too often we explain away our lifestyle or money messes by saying, I just dont have time to do [whatever would have prevented the problem]. Heres a simple, supremely effective tactic: Any time something can be done (or at least well-begun) in two minutes or less, then for heavens sake, do it! The two-minute rule cant fix everything in our lives. But applying it helps to keep chores and paperwork from piling up quite so high. Every time a little thing doesnt add to the big things, our lives get better. More to the point, a small block of time can result in ongoing dividends. For example, shopping apps can get you discounts, cash back, or even refunds if a price drops. Downloading apps like Ibotta, Earny, Shopkick, Paribus, or Cartwheel gives the chance to both save and earn money when shopping for essentials and treats alike. Some of the tips in this article are simple productivity hacks. Others could completely change your financial life. All take just a couple of minutes at a time, and will move you further along the road to financial security. 1. Pay attention to your accounts. Personal finance author Beverly Harzog checks her credit card accounts every morning. It takes very little time, says the U.S. News & World Report columnist, and is a great way to catch fraud in the early stages. Dont want to check every day? Let the account tell you, by setting up an alert. Ask the bank or credit union to let you know when a bill has been paid or a debit card is used, or have the credit card company flag any transactions over a certain amount. Or over any amount, maybe: Jim Wang of WalletHacks.com has his card alert him to every. Single. Transaction. Yes, he really did set the alert amount to $0.00. You hear all these stories of people getting ripped off in $5 and $10 amounts because they dont notice, Wang says. These alerts let you know immediately that somethings wrong. The sooner you report fraud, the fewer losses a card issuer has to eat and remember, the cost of fraud gets passed along to all consumers eventually. 2. Order a free credit report. Are you checking your credit report often enough? You can do it for free three times a year (once for each of the major credit reporting bureaus) by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com. Requesting one report every four months can prevent small issues from becoming big ones. For example, if the report says you missed a payment but you really didnt, write to the credit bureau and get this fixed. Or perhaps theres an account on there that you didnt open. That could be a simple mistake but it could also be a sign of fraud. 3. Consider credit monitoring. Depending on what kind you choose, a credit monitoring service will do things such as check for account applications (bank, phone, credit, utilities) made in your name, provide identity theft insurance, monitor your personal information across thousands of databases, and alert you if there are any changes to your credit report or score. Some of these services are even free, such as Credit Karma and Credit Sesame. Personal finance writer Cameron Huddleston says one such alert clued her in to a drop in her credit score. Turns out she had a payment that she didnt realize was late. I quickly fixed the problem and raised my score in the process, says Huddleston, life and money columnist for GOBankingRates. 4. Set up automatic payments. If youre confident youll always have enough in your checking account, put your bills on auto-pay and let them take care of themselves. No more missed payments! Not everyone can (or wants to) keep that much in checking from month to month, though. Due to the hectic nature of life, Lee Huffman of the Bald Thoughts blog suggests setting up payment for at least the minimum amount each month. You can still pay bills in full manually, but setting an automatic minimum means no more late fees, ever. 5. Download your banks mobile app. Having your phone talk to your bank makes it easy to check account alerts wherever you are. Some apps offer other perks, such as letting you deposit checks remotely rather than having to drive to the bank (big time-saver) or letting you make person-to-person payments (helpful for stuff like chipping in on a shared utility bill or reimbursing a friend who picked up the tab at dinner). 6. Look into student loan refinancing. Some scholars graduate with scary amounts of debt. Figuring out whether to refinance your student loans is a complex subject, since its based on individual circumstances. However, refinancing could also change your life, if only by getting you out of default and on track to a solution. To find out more about whether its right for you, see Student Loan Consolidation: Pros and Cons. 7. Set up automatic savings. If you dont already have an emergency fund, this is a great way to get started. It shouldnt take more than two minutes to log into your bank or credit union account and set up a recurring monthly (or weekly) transfer into a separate emergency fund. Set it and forget it. Or maybe youre aiming for other kinds of savings: a pay cash for the next car fund, a 529 plan for your kid, or a pot of money that youll funnel into real estate or some other investment. No matter what kind of savings youre aiming for, be sure to make the amount sustainable. Specifically, dont commit every non-budgeted penny, because life brings surprises that take you over budget. 8. Deal with the mail. Dont throw it onto the table or desk because its mostly junk anyway. Take two minutes to weed through the junk and toss it into the recycle bin or trash. Otherwise, the pile of untended mail gets bigger and bigger, and you run the risk of missing something. For example, if a bill gets hidden in the stack and doesnt get paid, youll incur a late fee, and maybe even a ding on your credit report. (Yes, some of us do still get bills in the mail.) Bonus: Less clutter = less irritation. A tidy living space is very calming. And speaking of tidiness 9. Try some stealth cleaning. Choose a chore that can be done within two minutes. Vacuum one room. Move the laundry from the washer to the dryer. Clean a toilet. Scoop the cats litter box. Carry the trash out to the garbage can or dumpster. This works best if every member of the household takes on a daily two-minute task. Even toddlers can dust, and preschoolers can empty the bathroom trash or carry dishes to the sink. Little by little your living space will get tidier and youll feel better. In the best-case scenario, youll get in the zone and do two or three such chores. Now: Take the money you were considering putting toward a weekly housecleaning and use it for something that advances your personal financial goals. 10. Contact your insurance agent. Sometimes life changes or home upgrades make you eligible for discounts on your insurance policy. Keep your agent updated by e-mail or phone if, say, youve started to carpool (or to work from home), or if you had a home security system installed. Even if nothing changes, get in touch with your agent to ask about other potential discounts. For example, a decent-enough price break for taking a driving course might be worth the cost of the class. Should your credit report or your teen drivers report card improve noticeably, see if that will improve the premium. Still not convinced youre getting the best deal? Then you should 11. Comparison shop for insurance. You can fill out an online quote form in just a couple of minutes and the results might really surprise you. The Simple Dollars insurancearticles can help you understand the different kinds of coverage and find a lower rate. That way you can buy exactly what you need, vs. paying for products that dont support your financial goals. While youre at it 12. Comparison shop for credit cards, too. Some people dislike the current credit scoring system, and in a sense theyre right. Why should they be penalized for paying cash? But its what we have, and a smart consumer will learn to work within it. Thats why if you dont have a credit card, you should get one to build your credit score. It could also be invaluable in case of the unexpected; twice Ive had to drop everything and fly thousands of miles for family emergencies, and having plastic made that much, much easier. And if youve already got a credit card? Make sure youre getting the optimum benefits. Whether youre looking for travel rewards or cash back bonuses,The Simple Dollars credit card section lays it all out for you. 13. Schedule some maintenance. Keeping on top of the manufacturers suggested maintenance on everything from vehicles to home heating systems means preventing problems versus trying to fix them. A friend drove her car for nearly 22 years that way. Dont neglect your own maintenance, either. For starters, see the dentist twice a year. Annual medical exams arent always necessary, but talk with a primary care physician about whether you should at least have lab work done plus any other tests appropriate to your age (e.g., mammogram or colonoscopy). Not only is it cheaper to fix a health issue caught early, it can sometimes be a matter of life and death. 14. Keep an ongoing grocery list. If you use almost all of the remaining toilet paper, cat food, toothpaste, or whatever, add it to the online shopping list right then and there. Dont use online shopping? Add it to the paper list stuck on the fridge. Because you probably wont remember that you need cilantro, cat food, or whatever else when youre at the grocery store later and might find yourself at a convenience store at 10 p.m., grumbling and paying a ridiculous amount of money for TP. 15. Cancel a subscription. Are you even reading those magazines? How often do you go to the gym? Did your kids excitement over monthly craft kits peak at oh, about four months in? Do you really need regular deliveries of makeup, clothing, or snacks? Most people probably have a subscription or two that they never got around to canceling, says Austin Grandt of the Financial Toolbelt website. Apps like Trim and Truebill will corral your current subscriptions, making it easy to weed through what you really want. Remember: These things are generally wants, not needs. And they can cost a lot more than you might imagine. 16. Get a library card. It might take you two minutes to find out whats required in your area, such as photo ID and a current utility bill, and then another two minutes to get a librarian to set you up. Totally worth it! Libraries buy books and movies and subscribe to magazines so you dont have to. Depending on where you live, the library might also lend out everything from toys to art to fishing gear. Libraries offer information on genealogy, social services, and other useful stuff, too. (The main library in my city houses the Cooperative Extension Service.) Many host a wide variety of activities, including but not limited to childrens story hours, public lectures, movie nights, clubs, resume-building workshops, tax help, and film appreciation nights. Most if not all of these things will be free. 17. Set things up before bed. Before you turn in, ready your breakfast supplies. When you stumble into the kitchen at 6:45 a.m. youll be greeted by your favorite mug, a batch of already brewed coffee (thanks, timer!), the box of cereal, and a bowl. So much better than rummaging around for coffee and filter, the cereal, and a bowl and mug while also trying to unload the dishwasher you ignored yesterday. More importantly, this helps cement the habit of eating breakfast at home, which is cheaper and healthier! than hitting the coffee cart or the fast-food drive-through on your way to work. 18. Set up reminders. Cody, the young-and-hustling author of the FlyToFI blog, uses his iPhones Reminders app to avoid errors as simple as forgetting to buy milk, or as potentially life-changing as failing to change the batteries in the smoke detector. This app, or any other reminders system, can save you money in the here-and-now, such as avoiding no-show fees for missed medical appointments. Reminders also help you stay on top of things that keep you financially healthy. Its so easy to think, I really should [look for a better rewards card/get scheduled auto maintenance done/buy life insurance] and then not do these things. If thats you, then set reminders. Re-set them if necessary. Sooner or later (preferably sooner) youll make Future Yous needs a priority. Award-winning journalist and veteran personal finance writerDonna Freedmanis the author of Your Playbook for Tough Times: Living Large on Small Change, for the Short Term or the Long Haul and Your Playbook for Tough Times, Vol. 2: Needs AND Wants Edition. More byDonna Freedman: https://www.thesimpledollar.com/18-two-minute-chores-you-should-never-put-off/

0 notes

yessassycollectortacome · 7 years ago

Text

Impressive Trading Programs & Platforms

Supply Trading Education Software Authorize up in binary software program download hardening trading binary foreign exchange market binary choice presents. Download short-term stock choices brokers south africa evaluation exactly how Taste our tasty Cakes All kind of cakes as well as breads ready within mins. Call -LRB-604-RRB- 990 7767 Today. Supply Options Trading Education

If you’ve picked a broker and chose just what and just how you’ll trade, there are a few various other points you’ll wish to consider prior to you join and begin trading. Once again, these could vary depending upon your experience degree and which safeties you decide you trade. When you purchase supplies you are actually purchasing and selling shares in a firm. When that company boosts in worth, the worth of your stocks enhances. To trade supplies you require to use a broker. A supply broker is a person who gets an order to sell a stock or purchase from you, and after that goes and makes the profession. A lot of contemporary financiers make use of online supply trading internet sites to purchase, market and also monitor their investments in the securities market.

Penny Stock Trading Education

This program but also reduces the complexness from the graphes connected payment Stock your sure variety of the worth of an programs plus theyre key factors which every single five far from six trades developed via this technique can make seventy 5th profit as a result of its individuals.

Stock Options Trading Education Programs

Ideal Mobile Trading App E * TRADE supplies a mobile application that rates among the most effective we evaluated. The application gives you a lot of the features of the primary system, consisting of innovative quotes, watch lists and also supply screeners. Alerts could be produced and also customized through the application, as well as E * TRADE’s mobile application synchronizes with the online platform, so any kind of watch checklists you’ve made on one platform is visible on the other.

With programs impressive trading platform, binary trading has actually been enhancing its trading approaches. Mobile Apps: Mobile stock trading is becoming extra and a lot more prominent, so a great application is important to look for. We only compared trading platforms that include analytic tools and also options trading. basics education for stock trading TD Ameritrade’s analytic trading devices are amongst the very best we assessed. This widely known service wins our Top Ten Reviews Bronze Award. With over 300 technical indications, its thinkorswim system has greater than double the indications of its closest rival. These indications can assist you identify trends as well as make trading choices. If you’re seeking a longer-term trading approach, TD Ameritrade has forecasting tools in order to help you gauge the long-term prospects of your positions. You could also make the most of a fiat money account to practice on the system and examination out approaches prior to you make actual trades.

If your primary trade was to be a placed on a certain money Marketsworld binary alternatives testimonial, the suggestion of trading hedge trading approach is trading you would after that place a smaller sized phone call on the same profession in order programs provide you something to drop back on. The hedge trading technique suggests that you still obtain to appreciate all the economic benefits of an effective cost forecast, however you likewise reach have a 2nd alternative to back you up and also recover some or every one of your programs if things education go inning accordance with strategy.

Sign up in binary software application download setting trading binary forex market binary alternative presents. With programs outstanding trading platform, binary trading has been improving its trading approaches. Mobile Apps: Mobile supply trading is becoming a lot more as well as much more prominent, so a good application is important to look for. We just compared trading systems that include analytic tools and also choices trading. If your major trade was to be a put on a particular money Marketsworld binary options evaluation, the idea of trading bush trading approach is trading you would after that put a smaller call on the exact same profession in order programs offer you something to drop back on.

The post Impressive Trading Programs & Platforms appeared first on Greater LV Homes.

from Greater LV Homes http://ift.tt/2y9vPzZ

#Greater LV Homes

0 notes

themoneybuff-blog · 6 years ago

Text

Questions About Tax Brackets, Compound Interest, Warehouse Clubs, Stamps, and More!

Whats inside? Here are the questions answered in todays reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question. 1. Losing faith 2. Thoughts on simple investment strategy 3. Tax bracket question 4. Compound interest question 5. Costco versus Sams Club 6. Question about forever stamps 7. Investing for near term 8. VA disability and property taxes 9. KitchenAid 10. Where should I retire? 11. Credit cards for specific purposes 12. Saving old journals On the wall in my office are three framed pictures that my children drew for me when they were younger using finger paints. In the corner of each, my wife typed out a brief description of what the painting was supposed to be, transcribing what the children told her about them. They are among my favorite possessions. I look at them at least a few times a day and they provide a constant reminder to me about what Im doing, what Ive done right, and what I might do better. Theyre older now. My daughter is a fantastic artist at this point, drawing still life far better than I ever dreamed of being able to do. My oldest son is developing into a skilled problem solver and is likely headed for some sort of engineering career. My youngest has a superb wit and the most insatiably curious mind Ive ever come across. Those pictures captured them at a moment in their lives thats already past, yet when I look at the pictures, I dont think of my children as they were, but as they are. Its pretty impressive what three pieces of paper and a few cents worth of finger paint can do. Q1: Losing faith I have worked for the DoE for 18 years and been through a few shutdowns, but this is the first time Ive simply not received my paycheck. Part of the reason I have chosen to work for the government rather than an energy company is due to the stability of the job and now that feels like it is eroding. I dont know when Im getting paid next which is the very type of thing I wanted to avoid in private industry and took a somewhat lower paying job. I am losing faith in the government as reliable. Not sure what to do. Dan After last weeks mailbag focused so heavily on the shutdown, I wanted to dial it back a little this week, so this is the only shutdown-related question. Again, Im not interested in the politics of the situation, just how it affects the daily life of those affected by it. In your shoes, Dan, I would probably start polishing up the resume. I get the impression that your finances are generally pretty stable and you can handle a short period without pay. I would also use this as inspiration to remind yourself that the best kind of financial reliability is when youre relying solely on your own savings, not the reliability of an employer. When things do return to normal, kick up your retirement savings a bit and get yourself into a place of financial independence just a little faster. Q2: Thoughts on simple investment strategy I wanted to get your thoughts on the investment strategy my great uncle told me about. Hes in his mid 60s and has been basically retired for about a decade. He ran a bakery but sold it to the manager about a decade ago and sometimes consults with them but thats about it. He said that what he did was starting in the early 1980s when he was just starting out, he put a minimum of $100 a month into a savings account and then put in any windfalls he got. The minimum grew as his income did. Whenever the stock market dropped 10% from its peak, he would take half of his savings and put it in the stock market and then not watch again for another six months. He said he blew away the market doing this and its why he retired so early. I am skeptical because he sometimes tells tall tales and I think he is mostly retired on bakery money. Your thoughts? Alex So, lets break this down. He puts $100 a month into savings and then puts half of his savings into stocks every time the stock market is 10% or more lower than its peak, but he only does this every six months at most. I tried my best to match this strategy in a spreadsheet to figure out whether this would actually beat the market. As best as I can figure, over the period of January 1, 1982 to January 1, 2019, this strategy would beat the market but not overwhelmingly, and it didnt beat the market for long stretches in there. I assumed a 3% return over that entire period on money in the savings account, and I only checked the stock market on the 1st of every month. I used the S&P 500 as the number for the stock market and assumed he was investing in the Vanguard 500, which basically matches the S&P 500. Now, having said that, its worth noting that sitting on stocks over that period is simply a great investment. On January 1, 1982, the S&P 500 was at 117.30. On January 1, 2019, its at 2,584.62. That money he invested back in the early eighties utterly exploded in value. Heck, even as late as January 1, 2009, it was at 865.58 it has basically tripled since then. If your great uncle sold his bakery ten years ago and put a lot of that money into stocks, and hed been doing this investment strategy as you described all along, he probably is sitting on a pretty penny right now. As for whether you should do it, I dont think its strictly better or worse than just investing that $100 directly every month. It really depends on how the market fluctuates, as all of these strategies do. Your great uncle got rich because he made a 40 year investment in stocks, not because he had a great timing strategy. Anyone with just about any strategy starting in the early 1980s would be doing very good today if they just left the money in the market. In other words, I think youd be in great shape if you used your uncles strategy. I also think youd be in great shape if you just put $100 or $200 a month into a broad based index fund and sat on it for the next 40 years. The thing those two strategies have in common is that theyre both riding the long term stock market growth, and thats where the real money is over the long term. Q3: Tax bracket question You wrote: Lets say youre a single taxpayer who earns $35,000 per year. The first $9,275 of your income is taxed at 10%, and the remaining $25,725 is taxed at 15%. What? While $35,000 falls into the 15% tax bracket, your effective tax rate is actually 13.7%. The higher your income, the more tax brackets you pass through to arrive at your effective tax rate. There is no listed 15% tax bracket for single taxpayers.. That sentence is thoroughly confusing! Please explain where you came up with that! Tammy The article in question was written by Simple Dollar contributor Frank Addessi, not by me. Ill do my best to explain this specific point more clearly. First of all, Frank seems to have been using the 2017 tax brackets rather than the 2018 ones to explain the principle. His numbers perfectly line up with the 2017 tax brackets, which did include a 15% rate. The current 2018 tax brackets for single filers look like this: 10% Up to $9,525 12% $9,526 to $38,700 22% $38,701 to $82,500 24% $82,501 to $157,500 32% $157,501 to $200,000 35% $200,001 to $500,000 37% over $500,000 The easiest way to think of tax brackets is to imagine a big water fountain, one that has a bunch of progressively larger pools. When the little pool at the top overflows, the overflow runs down into the next pool which is a little bigger, and when that one overflows, that overflow runs down into the next pool, and so on. Heres a picture if you want a visual aid. So, in Franks example, hes looking at someone who made $35,000 in taxable income this year. You start dumping that income into the 10% bracket until it fills up at $9,525. At that point, you still have $25,475 to put into the fountain, so we move down to the next bracket. It can hold all remaining income up to $38,700, and so it holds the remainder. So, that first $9,525 is taxed at 10%, which means $952.50 in taxes, and the remaining $25,475 is taxed at 12%, which means $3,057 in taxes. Your total tax bill is $4,009.50, which is 11.5% of your income. This person is in the 12% tax bracket and their effective tax rate is 11.5%. Remember, because some of your income always ends up in those smaller bowls with a lower rate, your overall effective tax rate is always lower than your tax bracket. Hopefully this clears things up! Q4: Compound interest question I recently read a blog post about compound interest, which Ive primarily associated with bank accounts. But the article also seems to associate compound interest with retirement accounts and I was wondering if you could provide some clarity. One example early on says Lets say you have $5,000 in a retirement account, earning 7% interest each year. The first year you earn $350 in interest, which brings your total to $5,350. The following year, interest is calculated based on that $5,350 total Even if you never deposit anything but the original $5,000, youll have $38,061.28 in 30 years. I know the average stock market return is 7%, but is it accurate to call that interest? If not, is there some other type of retirement account that genuinely offers 7% interest on your principle every year (as this article seems to suggest)? Another example: toward the end it says If youre saving for retirement, invest in low-fee index funds. Fees of 1% or more will drag down your profit and cut into your compound interest. Index funds will follow the markets course and provide a solid rate of return. Avoid picking individual stocks, as their volatility can be problematic. Im on board with the ideas of low-fee index funds, but not for fear of high fees cut[ting] into your compound interest. Index funds are liable to lose value some years too, arent they? I wouldnt be giving this as much thought if it came from a smaller blog but this is Mint. It makes me wonder if I fully understand how my retirement accounts are working, or if Im missing an opportunity elsewhere. Is the article conflating two topics that dont really connect to one another? Or is there a way to leverage compound interest to this big of a degree for retirement? Max Mint is using the terms investment returns and interest interchangeably here in order to reduce the number of different terms being thrown at the reader. I do this myself its a way of making similar concepts seem familiar and not overwhelm people with new terms, especially when theyre asking an introductory question. They are distinct ideas, but they both have the same effect if you let them sit for a long time, the growth they provide is powerful. Your retirement account, assuming its invested mostly in stocks, doesnt return interest. Rather, what happens is that you usually own shares in a mutual fund. Each time you put money into your retirement account, its used to buy more shares. Over time, those shares grow in value maybe not each and every year, but most years. They also regularly produce dividends, which are small cash payments for each of those shares, issued to you. Almost always, dividends are just used to buy more shares of that same investment. So, shares grow in value over time and youre also rolling dividends in to buy even more shares. The end effect of that is much like compound interest in a savings account it builds and builds. Although theyre not the same thing, the exponential growth curve of interest in a savings account and investments in a retirement account are similar. The growth curve of the savings account isnt as steep, but its very steady and always upwards. The growth curve of the stock market investment is really bumpy, but overall trends upward much more strongly than the growth curve of the savings account. Q5: Costco versus Sams Club I dont know anything about sams club because we joined it when it first came to town years ago and hated it. When Costco came to town, we heard such positive things we decided to give it a chance and have liked it much better. Reasons are several, including those you wrote about esp. the gas prices as we pass the store every day. Further, they treat their employees really well. most importantly, they guarantee that if the credit card rewards (on their visa card) do not equal the membership fee, they will refund the membership fee. We have only one visa card and its theirs as we get a great deal of rewards based on gas alone. Jaden My experience has been that different chain stores have different degrees of quality in different areas of the country. Where I live, the two closest warehouse clubs to my door are both Sams Club and theyre both clean and well stocked and well staffed, and both feature gas prices that are consistently about $0.07 per gallon cheaper than any of the stations near them. There is a Costco in Des Moines (the closest Costco to me) and I found the experience there to be very similar when Ive visited with friends with Costco memberships. However, having said that, I didnt see anything that made it worth the substantial additional drive for me. My experience is that theyre both fine, at least at the locations Ive visited, and you should check out both in your area if theyre both available (along with BJs, another warehouse club chain popular in some regions of the United States). Q6: Question about forever stamps As you likely know, the largest increase in the cost of a stamp will occur on Sunday, January 27, 2019, as the price of a first class Forever Stamp goes from $0.50 to $0.55 (a 10% increase). While the best way to save money on stamps is to call/TXT/email rather than mail a letter, sometimes mailing a letter presents a very good value (sending someone a note of appreciation, etc.). Due to how significant this increase is, I would recommended that anyone with no high interest debt who already has an emergency fund try to purchase 2-4 years worth of stamps, while anyone else try to acquire at least a 1-year supply of stamps (as long as they can do so without paying interest on the purchase). Im curious how much of a supply of stamps you would recommend people acquire prior to this price increase? Stephen Personally, we estimated how many stamps well likely use over the course of 2019 (mostly personal letters and holiday cards) and bought them all already. This added up to 200 stamps, so the cost was $100, as compared to the $110 we would have spent had we bought those stamps at the end of January or later. With a longer timeframe than that, the cost benefit of buying those stamps really starts to shrink. Your annual return starts to sag and you have the stamps for longer, which means theres a greater risk of some sort of damage to the stamps (the longer you have them, the more likely they are to be lost, burnt, misused, and so on). This is basically what weve done each time theres been a bump in the cost of forever stamps. Weve bought an entire years worth just before the bump in price. Its not a big savings, but it saves us $5-$10 over the course of a year. Q7: Investing for near term You recommend fully investing in the Roth/529 even though they are less than 10 years out from likely needing the capital? I was thinking of them putting 10 or 20% aside for long term, although they are a bit depressed by the .1% interest our local bank returns to them. Any back of the envelope math as to what $2,000, invested at age 16, is worth at age 70? Annie Yes, I recommend putting money into tax-advantaged education and retirement accounts, even if youre less than ten years from your expected use. The difference is that when youre looking at that short of a timeframe, you choose investments that are intended for short and medium term investments, like safe bonds or money markets. They have a smaller average annual return than stocks, but they certainly beat savings accounts and have very little risk of losing money and youre still able to pull out the gains tax free. As for your other question, if you put in $2,000 into, say, a Roth IRA at age 16, put it aggressively into stocks, and let it ride until age 70, you should see an average annual return of 7% on that money. So, 54 years of a 7% average annual return on $2,000 gives you are you ready for this $77,224.30. Now, its worth noting that $77K wont go as far in 54 years as it goes now, but itll still be a very healthy chunk of money. If you withdraw 3% of it annually (which is a safe bet), thats $2,317 a year. Yep, if he puts that $2,000 away now and starts withdrawing it every year at age 70, hell be able to pull out more than $2,000 a year basically forever and still hand down a big chunk of it to his kids/grandkids. Q8: VA disability and property taxes Can a veteran who is on total VA disability with no other income receive a tax refund on his home owners taxes? Jim Property taxes are a deduction from ones income tax bill. Since, as a person on total disability from the VA, youre already paying no income taxes, you have nothing from which to deduct. I dont know the specifics of your financial state, but if you were to earn a small income, its likely that the deduction from the property taxes would take care of the income taxes on that small income. However, if your income is solely from the VA due to total disability, property tax payments wont help your income tax bill since you dont have an income tax bill. Q9: KitchenAid it is my understanding that [KitchenAid] was bought out by a foreign company some time ago surely since 50 years ago and that the new company has been making them with some parts being plastic that were metal originally. I have seen reviewers saying that the old ones really do last forever if one takes good care of them, whereas some of the newer models plastic parts tend to wear out. I dont remember seeing any mention of whether those plastic parts can be replaced. I think I found this information on consumer information web sites. Annie Whirlpool purchased KitchenAid in 1986. At some point in the late 1990s, it seems that KitchenAid replaced the gearbox in some of their stand mixers with one made of nylon rather than the original one made of metal. The issue isnt that the nylon ones wear out under normal use, but that people tend to stress them. For example, the instructions for the manual state to only use the dough hook attachment on speed setting 1 or 2, but people often turn it to 3 or higher. This causes the gearbox to get overworked and cause breakdown issues. Today, KitchenAid makes two lines of stand mixers the Artisan and the Pro line. The Artisan has a nylon gear box where the Pro line seems to have the old-style metal gear box but the Pro line is substantially more expensive. One note: the reason many people believe that old things are more reliable is due to selective bias. People remember the things that worked well in the past and forget the things that do not, and then they compare those things that worked well to everything now, where some things work well and some things do not. Thats always been true. Q10: Where should I retire? My husband I are targeting early retirement within 10 years but well be figuring out a location in 3-5 years. We want to spend the next few years visiting a variety of possible locations, narrow it down to a shorter list and then try out a few, staying 6 months to a year. Where would you start? What criteria would you consider? What resources are available, particularly those geared towards retirees (we dont really care about the quality of local schools these days). Thanks for any suggestions. Margaret If I were you, Id start by figuring out what you want to do in retirement. What do you want your typical day to look like? Does it involve regular time with family? With friends? Does it involve a lot of time outside in warm weather? Do you guys like cold weather? How do you want to spend your time? Questions like that should narrow down your target locations pretty quickly. Once youve addressed those kinds of quality of life issues, I would focus on cost of living and aim for areas that have a low cost of living while still meeting your other quality of life goals. I like using this cost of living calculator. Since youre retiring early, I wouldnt prioritize access to services too much at this point. Instead, focus on what will give you the aspects of life you want with a low cost of living. Q11: Credit cards for specific purposes I have not used credit cards until a few years ago and wondering if the following expenses qualify as recurring payment for which the card gives a cash-back: 1. Monthly rent paid to the apartment landlord (not sure if the landlord would accept credit card though but rent is the single largest toll on my modest purse); 2. Life insurance premiums. These do accept credit card payments and I am about to apply for two. Sasha I think that using credit cards for very tight specific purposes like this is a good choice, as it raises your credit score and likely provides some sort of reward bonus or cash back bonus for the card. The key, of course, is paying off the balance in full each month. Youll have to check with the credit card in terms of whether or not such payments qualify for the cash back reward. It depends on the specific offer and probably on how you go about the payment. If I were you, the next step Id take is talking to my landlord about credit card payments. My guess is that a small business might not accept credit cards, but a large one will. You may want to consider other strict uses for it as well, such as gas purchases or other regular bills. Q12: Saving old journals I loved to learn that you also use the three morning pages idea! I have been doing this for years and years, since 2000 at least. Question: what do you do with the old journals? I have a box of them in the garage. I realize I dont really look at them but it feels wrong to just burn them or throw them away but I also dont really want my kids to read them because theyre really personal and I sometimes work through hard feelings about motherhood. Jenny Personally, I digitize all of my old journal entries and then destroy the originals. (The exception is journals that Im hand-writing for each of my kids to give to them when theyre adults that contains a summary of the life advice I have for them along with things like family histories and recollections.) My process is that when I finish a journal, I put it aside for a while until I realize Im no longer looking back on it (usually six months or so), then I cut all of the pages out of the binding and scan them all (I use Scanner Pro). Then, I burn the original pages. That way, I can easily browse through them when I want, search through them using text searching, and theyll basically go away when I die (I suppose one of my kids might find them if they trawl through lots of my digital detritus, but most likely theyll just toss out old computer equipment without a second thought). Most of the stuff Ive written is simply me working through personal problems, and I really have no interest in rereading that stuff. The valuable stuff, for me, is when Im working through an intellectual idea, because I often want to revisit the earlier thoughts. Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. Ill attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours. https://www.thesimpledollar.com/questions-about-tax-brackets-compound-interest-warehouse-clubs-stamps-and-more/

0 notes

themoneybuff-blog · 6 years ago

Text

The thin green line: Why you should be skeptical of financial blogs

Shares 100

Ive been blogging since before blog was even a word. (I wrote my first blog post twenty-one years ago last Thursday!) Ive had a financial blog for a dozen years now. In that time, things have changed in a variety of ways. For instance: Blogging has become more business-like and less personal. A decade ago, most blogs even money blogs were rooted in the authors individual experience. Nowadays, most big financial blogs have a minimal editorial voice. Theyre much like money magazines used to be.Audience interaction is limited. In the mid-2000s, it wasnt unusual for blog articles to get dozens (or hundreds) of comments. This site has old articles with over 1000 comments. Nowadays, many blogs have removed reader commentsbecause they receive so few reader comments. And when blogs do allow comments (as here at GRS), theyre scarcer than they used to be.Today, most bloggers want to make money. In fact, thats their primary goal. When I started blogging in 1997, there was no way to make money from it. When I launched this site in 2006, my primary goal was to get out of debt. My secondary goal was to help others get out of debt. Yes, I wanted to make money but that was only my third aim. It was almost an after-thought. (This was, in part, because it was more difficult to make money blogging in 2006.) Most of the changes in the world of blogging are neutral. Theyre neither good nor bad. They just are. But I think the move to a more money-centric approach often does a disservice to readers to people like you. How I Became a Blogging Cynic Twelve years ago, if I read something on a financial blog, I generally accepted it at face value. If somebody recommended a book, I trusted their sincerity. If they wrote about the best bank accounts, I believed they were telling me about the best bank accounts. If they raved about a company or service they liked, I had no reason to doubt them. Today, Im much more skeptical. Why? Because most of my friends are bloggers, and I know what they think and say in private. Now, these folks are not bad people I love them! but, like most of us, theyll sometimes put profit ahead of, well, truth. Honesty. Objectivity. Today, for instance, I saw an article from a colleague I respect. He was raving about a financial service. The problem? Im damn sure hes never used the service himself and the only reason hes recommending it is he gets a commission on it. With his huge audience, he can make big bucks by promoting this company.Or there was the time I overheard another colleague talking with her partner about an advertiser who had just cancelled their affiliate program. (An affiliate program is, essentially, a commission program. You provide a sale or a lead to a company, and you get a kickback.) If theyre not going to offer an affiliate program, my colleague told her partner, were not going to promote them. We need to go back and change articles to feature a company that does offer an affiliate program. I wanted to call out my colleague on that last one but I didnt. I bit my tongue. I think her actions were shady, but I realize that not everyone shares the same values. What isnt right for me and my business might be perfectly fine for her. Whats perfectly fine for me and my business might seem shady to somebody else. Im not willing to criticize other financial bloggers for what they do. Im not in their shoes. Their business is not my business. Theyre free to make choices that adhere to their personal ethics. (My hope is that theyre at least considering ethics when they make these choices.) But I have to say: The stuff I hear and see behind the scenes has made me cynical. Ive become skeptical of the stuff I read on other money blogs. (Not on all money blogs Ill recommend some I trust later but on many of them.) The Thin Green Line Heres a prime example of how whats right for one person (and business) may not be right for another: credit cards. In the world of personal finance, credit card companies pay big bucks for sign-ups. Why do you get pitches for credit cards in the middle of cross-country airline flights? I guarantee you the flight attendants (or at least the airline) get a kickback. Why do services like Mint promote the hell out of credit cards? Because they make their money when users get new cards! And why do financial bloggers write credit-card reviews? Because theyre earning $100 or $200 or $500 per sign-up. Does that mean promoting credit cards is evil? No, of course not. But while some people feel okay promoting credit cards, others dont. I have never made a penny on credit cards. Not a cent. The opportunity has always been there, but Ive never taken it. Having wallowed through twenty years of credit-card debt myself, I dont want to play a part in trapping other people in the pit. (True story: Ten years ago, I turned down $20,000 for a single blog post about a credit card. Thats right: I could have earned several months worth of income for a days worth of work, but I said no.) Now, having said that, Ive made peace with the world of credit cards. Ive come to understand that credit cards are not evil. Theyre a tool. And like any tool, they can be used constructively or destructively. I now believe I can promote credit cards and earn commissions in a responsible manner, doing my best to steer readers clear of debt. As a result, Ill soon be writing more about the subject, and Ill include affiliate links when I do. (This might happen as soon as next week!) So, you see, whats right for one business may not be right for another. Theres a thin green line that each of us is unwilling to cross but that thin green line is in a different place for each person and each business. And that line can shift with time. Actually, this is true for all sorts of businesses, right? One restaurant may not offer alcohol because the owner has religious objections to the stuff. Another restaurant might be vegan-only. Another might source only products from within a hundred-mile radius. And so on. This thin green line isnt unique to bloggers or to financial bloggers.

Your Mission: Be a Skeptic! The trouble with the rise of blogging as a business is that the business has become the focus for most financial blogs. Financial bloggers arent making decisions based on whats best for their audience. Theyre making decisions based on whats likely to bring them the most income. And truthfully? Theyre generally looking at short-term profit rather than long-term profit. Ive seen so many people make choices that earn them a big payout today at the expense of audience trust; as a result, their audience shrinks and theyre less able to earn profit tomorrow. This problem is even worse with corporate-owned financial blogs. As more and more businesses acquire small, personal blogs, these businesses make decisions based solely on short-term profit. They miss the fact that whats profitable in the short-term may actually kill the golden goose in the long-term. So far, it probably sounds like Im writing this article to call out my colleagues. Thats not the case. They can do whatever the hell they want with their businesses. I wish them all the best. (No, really. I do.) My purpose in writing this article is to encourage you, the blog reader, to approach financial blogs with skepticism. Do the same with any website nowadays, especially if its about personal finance. My goal is to get you to think critically about the financial advice you read on the internet. When a popular money blog recommends a specific mortgage company, ask yourself: Why did they write this glowing review? Did the author use the company themselves? Did anyone in their family use the company? No? Then what other motive could they have? And could their review be colored by the fact theyre getting paid? That list of best bank accounts on Financial Blog X? Its probably actually a list of best bank accounts that pay me a commission. And its not just blogs. Find a list of best bank accounts on a nationally-known money site and odds are its exactly the same thing. (Another common trick with lists of best bank accounts? Link to the ones that pay commissions, but dont link to the other ones even if the other ones are better.) Based on what I know of the space, its especially important to be skeptical of reviews for credit cards, bank accounts, and so-called robo-advisors. Financial bloggers with big audiences (or strong search-engine presence) can make a ton of dough pitching these products, even if they wouldnt ever choose them personally. Here are two specific examples: A lot of folks promote Bluehost, a company that provides hosting for websites and blogs. Why do they pitch Bluehost? Do bloggers actually use Bluehost? No. I dont know a single one who does. Yet, people promote the company because they earn $100 per sign-upmaybe more. When asked why they push Bluehost if they dont use the company themselves, theyll say, Well, my blog is too big. Bluehost is good for beginners. Fair enough. But in private, Ive never heard a single blogger say theyd use Bluehost even if they were starting out. Regardless, theyre perfectly fine running How to Blog articles that promote the company. (I have nothing against Bluehost, by the way.)In the personal finance space, you see ads for Personal Capital everywhere. I have them here on Get Rich Slowly. (And soon Ill move over my Personal Capital review from Money Boss.) In this case, many folks do use (and like) Personal Capital. I like the service primarily because I think they have one of the best retirement planning tools on the market. But many of the people promoting Personal Capital do not use the app for various reasons. In fact, some have strong objections to the company yet still push it on their financial blogs because they earn thousands of dollars per month doing so. Every so often, you get to see a public example of a blogger having second thoughts, changing their mind about what theyre willing to do for money. Last week, Early Retirement Dude wrote an article entitled I Wont Be Advertising for Personal Capital Anymore, and I Apologize for Doing So. (I love that piece for its honesty!) Again, Im not writing this article to call anybody out. And Im not trying to hold myself up as holier than thou. No, my aim is to make sure that you, as a consumer of financial information, view recommendations with a critical eye. Actually, skepticism is a handy skill in all walks of life. When you hear something, verify it before you believe it. And dont just verify it from a similar source. Seek out opposing viewpoints.

This is especially important in the realm of politics. If you hear something from a liberal commentator, seek out a conservative rebuttal and vice versa. Dont live in an echo chamber. One of my favorite ways to check the accuracy of a review? When somebody recommends a product or service to me, I use Google to search for [product/service] sucks. Or, if Im on Amazon, I read the one-star reviews. You can learn a lot from the complaints about a company or product. Readers First Other personal financial blogs with traffic similar to Get Rich Slowly (about 10,000 visits per day) earn anywhere from $500 to $2000 per day. (Yes, really.) Get Rich Slowly earns only $50 per day. Crazy, right? Part of this is because Im lazy. Part of this is due to fear (no joke). But another part is because Ive been wrestling with how to make money without compromising my personal values, without crossing that thin green line. How do I advertise credit cards when I know credit cards cause problems for so many people? How do I promote banks in a way that Im providing honest, objective info yet still earning commissions? So far, Ive been treading water using Google Adsense and Amazon links. Im earning more than minimum wage with this blog but not much more. Get Rich Slowly is a business. Its a money-making venture. It doesnt make much money right now about $2000 per month but Im hopeful that it can eventually earn as much as it did in the olden days: over $20,000 per month. That said, Im not willing to compromise the editorial side of things to make a quick buck. Heres my number-one guiding principle at Get Rich Slowly: Readers first. In everything I do, from design to advertising to content creation, I try to put myself in your shoes. Does this article help my readers? Does this ad interfere with the reader experience? How does the layout of the site help or hinder the folks who come here? You know why I dont have pop-ups or splash screens at Get Rich Slowly? Because I think theyre actively reader-hostile. My colleagues tell me they vastly increase the number of subscribers and affiliate conversions, but I dont care. I personally hate pop-ups, so why would I subject my readers to them? That sounds like hypocrisy to me. Its important to note that readers first doesnt mean readers only. A readers only policy would mean no ads. Im not willing to run Get Rich Slowly for free. This is work, dammit, and I want to get paid for my work. (This notion is lost on a lot of folks at places like Reddit, where they think any blogger who tries to make money is somehow shady.) Readers first means that before I decide whether to run an ad, before I decide whether to write a review of Personal Capital, I do my best to minimize the negative impact on my audience. The best-case scenario is promoting something like a bank account. Helping readers sign up for good bank accounts is a win-win-win: a win for the reader, a win for the bank, and a win for me (because I get a commission). Amazon affiliate links are another no-brainer. A middling scenario is something like banner ads at the beginning and end of my articles. Or my Personal Capital review. Or the upcoming credit-card articles. Less-than-ideal scenarios include those two stupid ads I have embedded in the middle of articles right now, which seem to be causing headaches for certain readers. (Those are on the chopping block for when the redesign goes live. Eventually.) Or the promotion I did for Credit Sesame back in January. (My solution there? I did the promotion because I was contractually obligated to do so but I declined to take money for it.) Last year at Fincon the financial bloggers conference I participated in a panel discussion called What Will You Do for Money? We talked about scenarios like this as we explored financial journalism and ethics. If youre interested in this subject, you can watch this video recording of the entire panel (which the Fincon organizers have graciously made available specifically for this article). [embedded content] Four Financial Blogs Worth Reading Its perfectly possible to run a blog even a financial blog in a way that serves the readers and provides an income for the author. Thats how I made money before with Get Rich Slowly, and thats how I intend to make money in the future. There are lots of other financial bloggers whose view of the thin green line is similar to mine. Some are big. Youve probably read Mr. Money Mustache, for instance. Pete and I have remarkably similar views on monetization and serving the audience. Its easy, though, for MMM to play it safe. His audience is so large that even minimal monetization produces huge income. Im more impressed with new, small financial blogs who have made a commitment to serve their readers. When youre just starting out, you want to make money now now now. Its tough to wait. Most new bloggers bury their sites in ads. (I saw one a couple of months ago that was almost entirely ads the editorial content didnt start until below the fold. Ugh.) Most new bloggers want to run advertorials and/or promote products and services with big payouts. Here are four newer financial blogs that I think do a great job of making money while remembering to serve their readers: Please note that these are by no means the only financial blogs worth reading. There are tons of folks producing quality content and putting readers first. These are just four blogs that I personally have found to be filled with useful, entertaining articles without the marketing that mars the experience for me on other sites. Simply put, these newer bloggers have earned my trust. Honestly, if I were starting out, Id be tempted to focus on the money too. Im fortunate that Ive earned a wad of cash already, so I can sit back and take a more measured approach. Im not in a hurry to make lightning strike twice. Instead, Im going to stick to my Readers First pledge. Yes, I want to make money from Get Rich Slowly, but my primary aim is to help the folks who find this site to make and keep more money for themselves. If there are ways that I can do this while also earning a little scrilla, Im going to do it. Meanwhile, Ill continue to be skeptical of the information I find on other financial blogs. I encourage you to do the same. In fact, you should be skeptical of what you read here too. I know Im staying on my side of the thin green line, but you dont know that. I want you to be skeptical of me and my motives until Ive earned your trust. Several GRS readers have written to let me know they love the Spare Change section that resides after the first post on this sites home page. I use the Spare Change to share worthwhile articles from financial sites around the web. Its my attempt to sift the wheat from the chaff so that you dont have to. You can find an archive of all past Spare Change links via my Pinboard account. Shares 100 https://www.getrichslowly.org/financial-blogs/

0 notes

themoneybuff-blog · 6 years ago

Text

The thin green line: Why you should be skeptical of financial blogs

0 notes

themoneybuff-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Mastering the abundance mindset (and changing your money blueprint)

Shares 531 Old habits die hard. When you get to be a middle-aged man like me, you have forty-nine years of learned behavior to guide your actions and decisions even when you know your choices arent necessarily for the best. Our mental blueprints (including our money blueprints) are deeply ingrained and tough to change. Dont worry. I havent turned into a spendthrift or anything. But Ive been thinking a lot lately about how certain parts of my past continue to affect me, sometimes in huge and annoying ways. For instance, I fight an ongoing battle against a scarcity mindset. I havent been able to master the abundance mindset.

Scarcity and Abundance Ive been reluctant to talk about scarcity and abundance because the terms have been co-opted by Law of Attraction types who use them to encourage magical thinking. I hate the New Age-y approach to these concepts. I want to discuss them from a psychological perspective. With a scarcity mindset, you believe that everything is limited. Time is limited. Money is limited. Love is limited. This causes you to worry about the future. Youre consciously or unconsciously more concerned with what might go wrong than with what could go right. You make fear-based decisions. Youre afraid of missing out. Youre afraid of not having enough. You have trouble with moderation and often exhibit all or nothing behavior.With an abundance mindset, you believe theres plenty for everyone. Theres plenty of wealth, prestige, and happiness to go around. Youre optimistic about the future. You think things will work out even if there are bumps along the way. You make decisions based on the Big Picture rather than a single snapshot in time. Its easy for you to balance tomorrow and today. Ive written before about my trouble with impulse control. In the past, Ive had problems with overspending, overeating, video game addiction, alcohol consumption, and borderline hoarding behavior. (Im a compulsive collector of Stuff.) All of this the collecting, the addictive tendencies, the lack of self-control stems from a scarcity mentality. But I didnt realize it until a few years ago when my therapist helped me see the source. Because my family didnt have much when I was young, I find it difficult to defer gratification. My default mindset even when life is grand is that if I want something and its available, I should get it now. Somewhere deep inside, I feel as if there wont ever be another chance. My father had this mindset. My mother had it. My brothers have it too. (Like me, Jeff and Tony have both learned to fight the feeling of scarcity in their own fashion.) A Real-Life Example of the Scarcity Mindset Over the past year, my deeply-seated scarcity mindset has begun to manifest itself in another annoying way. Since moving into our new house last July 1st, weve had to make tens of thousands of dollars worth of repairs. About $56,000 of these costs came from the sale of our previous home, but that still leaves us on the hook for $30,000 or $40,000. We have one last project to do before we believe were finished: We want to replace the rotting back deck and install a hot tub. (This was the first project we had planned to tackle when we moved in, but we had to put it off for more pressing priorities.) Kim and I know without a doubt that well use the deck and hot tub nearly every single day of the year. (TMI: Currently, she and I both take several hot baths each week. If we had a hot tub, wed be able to soak together.) Its not a question of whether well get value from building an outdoor oasis. No, the problem is that Ive reached some sort of mental breaking point. Im reluctant to spend another penny on home improvement. Im over it. I hate the idea of cashing out yet another chunk of my index funds. Hate it, hate it, hate it. I feel like thats money Ill never get back. (I feel this way despite the intellectual understanding that wed recoup maybe 80% of our costs if we were to sell the home in the future.) I recognize that this is my scarcity mindset kicking in, yet I cannot shake these feelings. Theyre a part of my money blueprint. Heres the thing: In so many ways, financial freedom depends on casting aside this scarcity mentality and embracing an abundance mindset instead. Financial well-being is fundamentally tied to positive expectations of the future. Lets look at three ways the scarcity mindset can manifest itself and how to embrace abundance instead. Jealousy and Spite For some, the scarcity mindset manifests as jealousy and spite. These folks resent the success of others, financial and otherwise. They find it tough to be happy when something good happens to a friend or family member. Theyre territorial, reluctant to co-operate toward a greater common good. Heres how Stephen Covey describes this flavor of scarcity in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: People with a scarcity mentality tend to see everything in terms of win-lose. There is only so much; and if someone else has it, that means there will be less for me. This type of scarcity mindset is the source of the average Americans love-hate relationship with wealth. Most people want to be wealthy but are suspicious of those who already are. They typical person believes that when she makes money, its a result of hard work and skill. But others who get rich? Theyre lucky jerks who dont deserve it. People with this form of the scarcity mindset dont just hold back themselves but they keep down the people around them. This usually manifests as gossip and griping. Sometimes these people keep score. In extreme cases, they actively work to sabotage the success of others. People with this type of scarcity mindset are a drag on life, a net negative to the world at large. What if you suffer from this sort of scarcity mentality? Train yourself to be happy for others. Recognize that my success does not diminish you. Life is not a zero-sum game. To that end: Dont compare yourself to other people. Focus on yourself, on your own goals and accomplishments. If you must compete, compete with yourself. Strive for constant self-improvement.Practice a win-win approach to life. Look for ways to improve your own situation while also helping those around you. When faced with a conflict, dont try to be the victor; instead, work toward a solution beneficial to both parties.Teach yourself to share. Force yourself to give things time, money, resources to other people. When you have a surplus of something, spread the love. (More on this later.) Jealousy and spite can be overcome, but it takes work. Making the effort is a great way to change your outlook, creating a better life for yourself and the people around you. Never Enough

For others, the scarcity mindset manifests as fear of the future. These people think and act like children of the Great Depression. Theyre so worried about how bad things could get that theyre unable to recognize and enjoy what they already have even when they have a lot. Let me give you an example. I once met with a woman who had over $6 million in the bank. She was my age mid forties and lived a modest lifestyle. She wasnt overly frugal, but she didnt spend a lot either. Plus she had just landed a job that paid half a million per year. Nice position to be in, right? Not to her. She was scared to stop working because the didnt want to run out of money. Based on standard assumptions about inflation and stock market returns, this woman could probably spend $240,000 per year for the rest of her life and still die rich. (Thats without taking into account her new $500k per year position!) Her spending was closer to $50,000 per year, yet she fretted about not having enough. Other folks are more extreme. Ive known retirees who have millions in the bank but who are so frightened of the future inflation! peak oil! stock market collapse! that they wont spend on needed home repairs and health concerns. What good is all of that money if youre dead or your house falls down around you? These folks arent harming anyone else (at least not directly), but theyre doing severe damage to their own well-being. They sacrifice happiness today in order to have more tomorrow but they never enjoy tomorrow. People with this type of scarcity mentality never have enough. No amount of money will allow them to sleep soundly at night. What if you feel like youll never have enough? Unlike those who suffer from jealousy and spite, you should keep score. Do this in two ways: First, keep a journal a standard daily diary. It doesnt have to be detailed. Write down the most important events from your life. And every day note at least one thing for which you are grateful. At the end of each year, go back and re-read what youve written. (This exercise will increase in value the longer you keep at it.)Second, track your net worth and spending. Know how much you have and how much you need. Remember this rule of thumb: For every $25 youve saved, you can probably spend $1 each year without worry. (If youre really nervous, you might change that to $1 for every $30 or $40 saved.) If you have more than enough stashed away and still fret about the future, force yourself to spend. Im dead serious. Pick something youve always wanted to do or have, and go get it. Money is a tool to build a better life. If the tool sits unused, whats the point? Instant Gratification Finally, there are the folks like me, people who find it tough to wait for what they want. Were shopaholics and compulsive spenders. With our flavor of the scarcity mindset, were so skeptical about tomorrow that we enjoy too much today. We want it all and we want it now. A decade ago, when I still struggled with money, I had nothing saved. No retirement, no nothing. What I ought to have been doing was paying down my debt and building a foundation for the future. Instead, I was spending everything I earned on books, comics, and computer games. It never occurred to me to wait. I wanted things now, so I bought them. As I mentioned at the start of this article, my therapist helped me to understand that growing up poor had given me a loathing of uncertainty and an inability to delay gratification. My money blueprint was largely constructed around a fear of missing out. During my transition from spendthrift to money boss, I learned to put off potential spending. I learned to wait for the things I wanted. Like the last group, people with this sort of scarcity mentality never have enough. But the lack manifests in a different way. Instead of needing more money, we need more Stuff. We buy and buy and buy and are never satisfied. Theres no amount of possessions that will make us happy. What if a feeling of scarcity drives you to always want more? Practice the art of deferred gratification. I learned this skill by using the 30-day rule. Heres how it works: When you see something you want, make a note of what it is, where you saw it, and how much it costs. But dont buy it yet.Over the next 30 days, be on the lookout for free or cheap alternatives. Does the library have that book? Can you borrow that tool from a friend? Could the local thrift store have a similar shirt?At the end of 30 days, if you still want the item then consider buying it. In most cases, however, youll find the urge to purchase has passed. Also practice moderation. Recognize that most things in life dont require an all or nothing approach. You can have some, and thats okay. Finally, keep a gratitude journal. The fundamental problem with this type of scarcity mindset is not appreciating what you already have. Force yourself to catalog the good things in your life. From Scarcity to Abundance A scarcity mindset leads to self-defeating behavior. It sabotages your chances for future financial success. Even when a Depression-type scarcity mentality helps you accumulate piles of cash, youre unable to enjoy it. Youre afraid to. Fear is always at the heart of scarcity: fear of failure, fear of the future, fear of missing out. Those with a scarcity mindset cling to the notion that theres a limited amount of everything, and theyre afraid they wont get their share. Well talk more about fear (and overcoming it) next week. For now, you should recognize that in order to achieve financial freedom, you must adopt an abundance mentality. If youre worried about lack, you arent free.

Ive already suggested several ways to fight specific flavors of scarcity. To finish, lets look at a technique anyone can use to move from scarcity to abundance: To get what you want, give what you want. What do I mean? In an amazing article from the academic journal Psychological Science, researchers suggest that giving time gives you time. The authors found that spending time on others (instead of yourself) boosts how much time you think you have in both the present and the future. Many of us feel pressured by the modern world. We feel rushed, as if theres never enough time to do what we want. We feel a lack, a scarcity, of minutes and hours and days. To cope with this, we tend to turn inward. We watch TV. We play videogames. We get a massage. But studies show that wasting time like this truly is a waste. When we spend time on ourselves, we feel like the time is lost. On the other hand, when we give our time to others helping friends or volunteering in the community, for instance we experience feelings of time affluence. Plus our time seems fuller. We feel better about ourselves and what weve done. And as a bonus: Giving time to others not only increases the givers sense of subjective time but can also increase the recipients objective amount of time, such that giving time contributes to the well-being of both the self and others. That, my friends, is abundance in action. The bottom line? When individuals feel time constrained, they should become more generous with their time despite their inclination to be less so. The same idea applies to other areas of your life in which you experience feelings of lack. When I started giving away and selling my Stuff several years ago, for example, I came to realize just how much I had. Before, when I was constantly in acquisition mode, I felt like I had very little. I was wrong. I had mountains of things! If you feel a lack of respect from others, give respect to others. If you feel a lack of compassion from others, be compassionate to others. If you feel like people dont love you, love other people. If you feel broke, donate time and money to the poor. If you feel like youll never have enough wealth, systematically give away some of what you have. In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey writes: The abundance mentalityis the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. It results in sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits, of decision making. It opens possibilities, options, alternatives, and creativity. The abundance mindset comes from understanding theres plenty in the world: plenty of money, plenty of love, plenty of time. Theres plenty for everyone both for you and for others. Theres plenty now and therell be plenty tomorrow. Enjoy it! A Real-Life Example of the Abundance Mindset While we were wintering in Savannah two years ago, Kim hustled to get her dental hygiene license for the state of Georgia so that she could earn some money. She spent a couple of days driving across the city, dropping off rsums and speaking with doctors. Soon she started getting calls asking her to do fill-in work while other hygienists were sick or on vacation. She also got an offer for a long-term position at a big office in town. Kim could have taken the long-term gig. In fact, she was tempted. What if I cant find any other positions? she asked as we talked through her options. This is a sure thing. Maybe I should take it in case nothing else comes along. After a few days of internal debate, Kim decided not to take the long-term offer. Im getting plenty of calls from other offices, she reasoned. Ill bet I can stay busy just with the short-term stuff, and thatll give me greater flexibility. Sure enough. Because she refused to make a fear-based decision, because she chose to believe shed have more opportunity rather than less, she was able to pick and choose when and where shed work. She had more offers than she had time. She constantly got new calls asking her to fill in. When we returned to Portland, she used the same experience to find permanent dental hygiene positions. She cast her net wide, then waited for the offers to come. And they came. By exercising patience and an abundance mindset, she landed two gigs that she loves. (Plus, she still gets fill-in offers all of the time.) Shares 531 https://www.getrichslowly.org/abundance-mindset/

0 notes