#upfront capital. but. i know its still out of range for a lot of people. this country is so fucking fucked.

[themanwhowouldbefruit]

baking is the one thing in the world where it's like. in grocery store. $5 for bread??? i can't fucking afford that. *goes home and makes $1 a loaf of objectively better fresh bread*

[marta-bee]

More Infinity War Blathering: On Death and Stuff

(Cross-posted from LJ.)

Let’s talk some more about Infinity Wars. I mentioned earlier tonight at Tumblr I had Theories with a capital T, revolving around the concept of Chekhov’s gun, which just means you don’t put a revolver on the table in the first act unless you mean on using it in the fifth.

Before I go further, the usual warning: spoilers.

I’m not the first person who watched this movie and noted more than a few plot holes. In my first-flush reaction I focused on perceived points of departures from how favorite characters were built up in earlier films (another warning: I am a film-only fan and am approaching them without much if any reference to the comics). M’Baku, for instance, who I felt became “brother” with T’Challa a little too quickly; or Peter Parker’s embracing being part of the Avengers. But what really struck me this time made very little sense but were set up very particularly and precisely in that non-sense. These don’t add up, but it’s not because the film-runners are being careless.

Starting with the opening scene, which incidentally seemed much better suited to a DCU than a Marvel movie, it’s just so dark. (It helped me enjoy the movie a lot more this second time, that I knew it was coming so wasn’t thrown for a loop. It’s also very out of character that Heimdall would open the Bifrost to save the Hulk, of all people. He’s so defined by his devotion not just to Asgard and Asgardians, but to the rightful sons of Odin in particular. Well, there’s two of them very much in need of rescue. The only conclusion I can draw is that Banner is in danger in a way the other people aren’t. Or perhaps -- because that still doesn’t explain why Heimdall would care about Banner in the face of so much Asgardian loss -- Hulk’s survival is crucial to those refugees’ salvation in a way that’s not immediately clear. Understandable, really, given the dark tone: hope is not an emotion easily accessible in the moment.

And where does Heimdall send Banner? Literally crashing into the entry way of the Sanctum Sanctorum. Remember, Heimdall is defined by his sightedness. He’s supposed to see everything that happens in all the realms, which if you know much about temporal mechanics seems rather similar to being able to see into the future, or perhaps even multiple alternate futures. And he sends him right into the lap of the only Marvel characters we’ve come across who’s even more sighted than Heimdall.

Let me make a brief digression into my other pet theory. I’ll be upfront in y biases: I love Loki. I hate the thought he’s permanently dead. But if we’re looking at things that are made oddly explicit -- things that only really need to be clear if that necessity is significant, plot-wise -- consider a few facts:

Asgardians can fake their death quite effectively -- Heimdall revealed he was alive when he summoned the Bifrost.

Asgardians can survive without breathable atmosphere (only way Thor can survive until the Guardians’ arrival), which also suggests the possibility they can survive without breath full-stop.

Loki is a trickster-god. I mean, obviously, but he makes a point of emphasizing that fact with a man whose trust he’s trying to preserve.

Loki is also Odin’s son and Thor’s loyal brother (as loyal as he’s capable of), he chokes up over that fact. He chooses Thor’s life over the tesseract, which he was so captivated by.

All of which suggests to me that, first, Loki probably could survive, and second, his attempt to get close to Thanos is shrouded in trickery. I don’t think Loki actually intended to die or thought he would because for all his growth since Avengers I still don’t see him as the self-sacrificing sort.

As I said, I have a soft spot for Loki and I fully admit this could be me deluding myself. But it gives me hope, and as I think about it, it does have a kind of clever logic to it that I’d like to see play out.

Speaking of self-sacrifice, there’s another time we see someone summon an infinity stone out of thin air and offer it up to save his friends: Doctor Strange with the time-stone. Why, especially after saying specifically if he had to sacrifice Peter or Tony(and we can presume the Guardians wouldn’t get a free pass) to save the stone he’d do it. The cuddly crowd-pleasing read of that scene is Strange has changed his ways, he now realizes it’s wrong to sacrifice people to fulfill his oath/purpose or save the stone. But I’m not convinced that’s what’s going on here. He knows they can’t fight Thanos and win. Going toward him or fleeing him, Thanos will find the stones. The story about Gamora only shows how driven he is, and how skilled.

Let’s step back a moment and ask: why is Strange so devoted to protecting the time-stone. It predates Thanos and the practical good of keeping the gauntlet incomplete. Sure, he’d prefer half the universe’s population not die, but I think at a more basic level, he recognizes the danger in changing time. That’s what the time-stone lets you do. And that’s his motivation: not getting to the best possible outcome in this timeline, but preventing cosmos-destroying consequences of manipulating time into a fundamental contradiction.

Thanos is uneducated on this point, which I think makes him very vulnerable. He can clearly sense when a stone isn’t real, and he’s already suspicious Strange is trying to fool him. He can’t just conjure up a fake. But are we really so sure Thanos would know if the stone had been altered, not enough to keep it from completing the gauntlet, but perhaps not giving him control over the full range of time.

Let’s work with a bit of a hypothesis here. Doctor Strange, master of time, in his showdown with Thanos where he creates all those emanations of himself, isn’t actually just projecting trickery; he’s calling multiple versions of himself from multiple timelines to fight against Thanos. So when Thanos forces Strange back into “alignment,” he’s not identifying the “real” Strange so much as committing himself to a single timeline. Then when he takes the time-stone he’s actually operating within a much more constrained field of reality (for lack of a better term),and he’s just too blinded to see it. Then when Thanos uses the time-stone to manipulate time in Wakanda, he thinks he’s controlling the only timeline that will unfold, but it’s actually only applying to a certain subset of reality.

It’s late, and I’m not well enough versed in theories of time to dig into this. But think of it this way. There are multiple possible realities we could have, different timelines like different lanes going down the same road. Strange essentially creates a crisis point in the time continuum by bringing all of his different selves together, and Thanos forces them back into one reality -- maybe the one he started in, maybe not, but the important point is when he tries to manipulate time, he only has control over a portion of them and he’s too unlearned to realize that. So maybe there are a thousand lanes on this road, and once he’s committed himself to a fraction of the timelines that are really possible, he may be able to choose which of ten different lanes the universe will proceed along; but he’s clueless to the fact he’s only choosing between those ten lanes, and the other 990 are proceeding without his notice.

At its most basic, this might mean Thanos thinks he’s manipulating time and mastering it, but in reality there’s this whole realm of possibility he’s not touching, not controlling, because he’s thinking (wrongly) everything is already under his own power. So when Thanos manipulates time to prevent Wanda from destroying the mind-stone, he’s convinced that means in actuality she can’t destroy it, that he’s handled that possibility, but he’s really being fooled.

Because when people of unknown loyalty summon infinity stones out of thin air,there’s usually some trickery involved. Also a plan to survive.

@vulgarweed pointed out (and I agree) that “we’re pretty much flat out told that Dr Strange gave Thanos the time stone because of a future he had seen.” Right -- he saw the one future where Thanos is defeated, which means he knows what necessarily has to happen to defeat him. I don’t see any possible way to keep Thanos from taking the stone, once they reach endgame, so that future would have to keep Thanos from using the time-stone or some of the other stones (but time-stone is the one Strange has experience with) in as disastrous as a way as he might want to.

Giving Thanos the time-stone, letting him think he’s using It properly but really constraining his field of operation is a pretty effective way to delay if not flat-out defeat him. To pull it off, Strange has to trick him into thinking he actually did beat him and now has the correct stone. All the drama with Tony accomplishes that pretty neatly, particularly if Thanos is making the same mistake Ebony Maw did in assuming Strange and Tony were actually close. So Strange really is sacrificing Peter to save the time-stone, or at least to protect the universe from its misuse. He can’t possess it, which means he damn well better make sure whoever does possess it doesn’t end up blowing up the (or all the) timelines once they take it.

That’s loyalty to his stated mission, I think, but it has the added bonus that once Thanos starts manipulating time (which he does before he completes and uses the gauntlet), getting killed doesn’t preclude other timelines where you’re not dead. After all, remember in the Marvel universe(s), no one really stays dead except Uncle Ben.

One last thing: I find it really interesting that Eitri (the giant dwarf smith) tells us his forge is capable of reopening the Bifrost. If I’m right and the Bifrost is a way not just of moving between space in the same timeline, but between different timelines/realities, that could be a really cool way to undo some of Thanos’s damage.

[componentplanet]

Security Disclosures on Theoretical Intel CPU Flaws Are Becoming Ridiculous

Security is a topic that I take seriously and try to cover with an even hand. When people need to know if a given piece of software or hardware is safe, they need a clear-eyed view of the situation in neutral terms, not a ton of colorful language. For over two years, we’ve covered serious issues like Spectre and Meltdown, as well as a range of similar, Spectre-class attacks. While companies like Apple, ARM, and AMD have all been impacted to some extent, Intel has been the worst affected.

Unfortunately, it’s starting to look like the PR departments working with security researchers the world over have taken a very real problem with problematic leakage of data in side-channel attacks and are now spinning theoretical scenarios that aren’t backed up by the data in the documents themselves. The just-released data on LVI (Load Value Injection) is a perfect example of this trend. Here’s how the LVI website describes this new attack:

If you read the top paragraphs, you’ll come away thinking this is actually worse than Meltdown, given that it bypasses Meltdown defenses and can drive a 19x reduction in computing performance. On the basis of clock alone, that would leave a 5GHz CPU performing like a 263MHz chip. Not good. Really not good. And the researchers say upfront that LVI is harder to mitigate.

What they don’t say upfront is that LVI is a theoretical attack. There’s a distinct difference in tone between the messaging in the Bitdefender PDF and the messaging on the Bitdefender blog. The blog states:

This new attack may be particularly devastating in multi-tenant and multi-workload environments which run on hardware shared between groups of workloads within an organization, or between organizations, such as public- and private-clouds. This is because, as the PoC [Proof of Concept] shows, there is the potential for a lesser-privileged process under attacker control to speculatively hijack control flow in a higher-privileged process when specific requirements are met.

The most straightforward risk is the theft of secret data which should otherwise be kept private by security boundaries at the hardware, hypervisor, and operating system levels. This information can include anything from encryption keys, to passwords, or other information which an attacker could exfiltrate, or use to gain further control of a targeted system.

The “Real-life exploit” section of the Bitdefender whitepaper is rather different. “Creating a real-life exploit,” it says, “poses some significant challenges.” Those challenges are:

1. Identifying a suitable gadget for one of the scenarios; this depends a lot on the victim and what code it contains; certain gadgets may not be suitable at all.

2. Making sure the pivot instruction incurs a microcode assist so it loads attacker-controlled data from the LFBs.

3. Finding a way to speculatively transmit the secret from the victim to the process. While transmitting the secret from kernel to user can be done rather easily, doing so from one process to another is more complicated.

The Bitdefender whitepaper contains none of the inflammatory language in the company’s blog or used on the LVI disclosure website. It states that the attack only currently exists as a synthetic proof of concept and discusses multiple problems related to actually taking advantage of the flaw. In other words, the papers contain the actual data telling you that this isn’t a current threat, while the public-facing blog posts are amped to deliver maximum scare-city.

Two-Faced Messaging Is Becoming a Problem

A few years ago, a company named CTS-Labs attempted to capitalize on what it declared were an absolutely stunning set of vulnerabilities in AMD processors that… actually came to nothing whatsoever. The appearance of Spectre and Meltdown have clearly unleashed a wave of interest in these projects and exposed a number of security issues, particularly in Intel CPUs.

All such significant issues need to be fixed, and I’m 100 percent in favor of holding vendors accountable. But a recent story on LVI by ZDNet exemplifies how the marketing arm of the security industry and the actual research arm don’t seem to have much to do with each other these days.

After detailing all of the risks and problems supposedly associated with LVI, the story includes the following:

Currently, many administrators are expected to skip these patches, primarily because of the severe performance impact.

For good reasons, Intel has downplayed the severity of the LVI attack, and, for once, researchers have agreed.

“Due to the numerous complex requirements that must be satisfied to successfully carry out, Intel does not believe LVI is a practical method in real-world environments where the OS and VMM are trusted,” an Intel spokesperson told ZDNet in an email last week.

“Agree with Intel,” Bogdan Botezatu, Director of Threat Research and Reporting [at Bitdefender], told ZDNet yesterday. “This type of attack is much harder to pull off in practice, compared with other side-channel attacks such as MDS, L1TF, SWAPGS.”

In other words, security researchers are now putting out reports claiming Intel CPU’s are catastrophically at-risk from theoretical attacks that haven’t even been created yet, even though these attacks are incredibly difficult or downright theoretical. This is an absurdity.

Asking a company to design hardware intelligently to mitigate existing or well-known risks is one thing. Asking it to design hardware that secures against esoteric attacks that haven’t even been demonstrated in real-world testing yet is ridiculous. Even Bitdefender’s Director of Threat Research agrees that this attack isn’t one Intel should realistically bother securing against because it’s so hard to deploy.

Bad Messaging Cannot Be Tolerated

The PR-friendly tendency to maximize fear around security disclosures must stop, not because companies deserve to have their flaws overlooked, but because using maximalist language in these types of disclosures makes it impossible for anyone to estimate the actual degree of risk. Statements like “This type of attack is much harder to pull off in practice,” need to be made in both the body of the formal report and on the websites where these disclosures are made. We’re starting to hear about ‘theoretical’ risks to both Intel and AMD and threats that could emerge someday, but, you know, don’t actually exist right now. There’s nothing wrong with planning ahead, but given the long development cycles that CPUs

go through, there’s no practical way for Intel to build a 2020 CPU to handle every possible security flaw that might be found in software, hardware, or both by 2025. The nature of security flaws is that after you patch one, people go out and find another.

I’m increasingly convinced that Intel isn’t being treated fairly by these reports, and it’s not just Intel. Earlier this week we covered another instance where the PR verbiage around an AMD flaw didn’t match what the actual security researchers said in public. I don’t want to impugn the good work that security researchers do, especially since I don’t know if the people writing the public-facing website copy are the same people actually performing the work, but the disconnect between PR blasts and whitepaper reports is becoming untenable.

You don’t see many journalists write stories downplaying security issues for a simple reason: Nobody wants to be the guy who swore that a security problem wasn’t an issue right before it explodes into a major problem. Frankly, I don’t either. At the same time, the way these reports are being sold to the public is making it actively harder to do my job. If Intel has an obvious interest in downplaying any security report and the company who found the flaw is doing everything it can to paint that flaw in the most apocalyptic language possible, it’s much harder for us journalists to know what to tell people.

I’m not going to say that LVI isn’t an issue or that Intel shouldn’t fix it. Intel has, in fact, already released some software updates intended to correct the problem. With that said, Meltdown and Spectre have now existed for over two years and no malware has yet been found to use them. What I will say is that when the head of a company’s threat-analysis division doesn’t believe an issue is worth patching, it also may not deserve to be front-page news declaring that yet another flaw has been found in Intel chips. There’s giving readers good information about pressing threats and there’s being used by PR teams to pump up a company in the news under the guise of security reporting. I’m always interested in the former and completely disinterested in the latter.

Now Read:

Intel Has an Unfixable Chipset Security Flaw. Is it a Risk?

Security Flaw Detected in AMD CPUs Going Back to 2011

Intel Is Still Fighting the EU Over Its Anti-Competitive Actions Against AMD

from ExtremeTechExtremeTech https://www.extremetech.com/computing/307433-security-disclosures-on-theoretical-intel-cpu-flaws-are-becoming-ridiculous from Blogger http://componentplanet.blogspot.com/2020/03/security-disclosures-on-theoretical.html

[onlinemarketinghelp]

Top Small Business Credit Cards https://ift.tt/32gqZeJ

As a small business owner, managing your cash flow properly is essential. A small business credit card can help you succeed by giving you time to pay off your purchases. Several business credit cards also offer rewards and other perks that can add value to your business every time you use them. There are several different types of business credit cards available, including ones that offer cash-back or travel rewards, introductory 0% APR promotions, premium travel perks and accessibility for business owners with less-than-perfect credit. Take some time to shop around and consider all of your options before you apply for one.

See all the top small business credit cards here >>

Quick Navigation

Best For Travel Rewards: Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card

Best For Flat Travel Rewards: Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business

Best For Flat Cash-Back Rewards: Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business

Best For Cash Back And No Annual Fee: Blue Business™ Cash Card from American Express

Best For Flexible Rewards With No Annual Fee: The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Best For a Big Sign-Up Bonus And No Annual Fee: Ink Business Unlimited℠ Credit Card

Best For Flexible Cash-Back Rewards: Bank of America® Business Advantage Cash Rewards Mastercard® Credit Card

Best For Premium Perks: The Business Platinum® Card from American Express

Best For Fair Credit: Capital One® Spark® Classic for Business

Best For Bad Credit: Wells Fargo Business Secured Credit Card

Our Top Best Small Business Credit Cards

Small business credit cards don’t offer all of the same consumer protections you’ll get with a personal credit card. But they often provide business-specific rewards and benefits that can make your spending more rewarding and your life easier. To help you find the right credit card for your business, we’ve put together a list of our top choices, focusing on different rewards programs, sign-up bonuses and accessibility. Here are our recommendations.

Best For Travel Rewards: Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card

The Ink Business Preferred Credit Card offers an excellent chance to rack up a lot of points you can use for travel. The card starts out by offering 80,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 in the first three months. 

You’ll also earn 3 points per dollar on various categories, including:

Travel

Shipping purchases

Internet, cable and phone services

Advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines

You’ll earn just 1 point per dollar on all other purchases. When it comes to redeeming your rewards, you can get cash back or gift cards at a rate of 1 cent per point, or you can book travel through Chase and get 25% more value. Alternatively, you can transfer your points to one of many airline and hotel partners at a 1:1 ratio.

Keep in mind, though, that the card has a $95 annual fee, though it doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee.

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Flat Travel Rewards: Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business

If you don’t spend a lot in one of the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card’s bonus categories, consider the Capital One Spark Miles for Business. The card offers a flat 2 miles per dollar on every purchase you make, plus 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,500 in the first three months.

You can redeem your miles by booking travel directly through Capital One, booking through a third party and redeeming miles for a statement credit, or transferring them to an airline partner at a 2:1.5 or 2:1 ratio. The card doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee, and its annual fee is $0 for the first year, then $95 after that.

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Flat Cash-Back Rewards: Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business

If you want a high flat rewards rate but prefer cash back over travel, the Capital One Spark Cash for Business should be on your radar.

The card offers unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase you make, plus a $500 bonus after you spend $4,500 in the first three months. The card doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee, and the $95 annual fee is waived the first year.

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Cash Back And No Annual Fee: Blue Business™ Cash Card from American Express

If your business doesn’t spend a lot, it may not make sense to get a card with an annual fee. If that’s the case for you, consider The Blue Business™ Cash Card from American Express. It offers 2% cash back on the first $50,000 spent each year, after which you’ll earn just 1% back.

While there’s no sign-up bonus, this promotion can provide a lot of value in the form of interest savings. The card has no annual fee.

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Flexible Rewards With No Annual Fee: The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Similar to the card’s cash-back rewards counterpart, you’ll earn a flat 2 points per dollar on the first $50,000 spent each year, then 1 point per dollar after that. You can redeem your points for several things, including statement credits, travel, merchandise and gift cards. You can also transfer your points to a travel partner at varying rates. There’s no annual fee.

See how this card compares here >>

Best For a Big Sign-Up Bonus And No Annual Fee: Ink Business Unlimited℠ Credit Card

Having a high rewards rate is nice, but if you want more value upfront, consider the Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card. It offers a $500 bonus after you spend $3,000 in the first three months. You’ll also earn 1.5% cash back on every purchase you make. 

The card charges no annual fee.

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Flexible Cash-Back Rewards: Bank of America® Business Advantage Cash Rewards Mastercard® Credit Card

The Bank of America Cash Rewards Mastercard credit card gives cardholders the chance to pick their bonus rewards category. You’ll earn 3% cash back on the category of your choice from a list that includes gas stations, office supply stores, travel, TV/telecom and wireless, computer services and business consulting services.

You’ll also earn 2% cash back on dining and 1% back on everything else. Note, however, that the bonus categories are limited to just the first $50,000 spent in combined purchases in those categories annually. After that, you’ll earn just 1% back on everything. That said, you could earn up to 75% more rewards if you’re a Preferred Rewards for Business client with the bank.

The card doesn’t charge an annual fee. 

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Premium Perks: The Business Platinum® Card from American Express

If your company spends a lot of money, and you want access to premium credit card benefits, the Business Platinum Card from American Express may be a good fit.

The card offers several value perks, including:

Up to $200 in annual statement credits for Dell purchases

Up to $200 in annual airline fee credits

Complimentary access to multiple airport lounge networks

One year of complimentary Platinum Global Access from WeWork if you enroll by December 31, 2019

Application fee credit for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry

Hilton Honors Gold status and Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status

Premium car-rental program memberships

Special benefits with select luxury hotel brands

You’ll also get up to a 100,000 bonus points when you first get the card. That’s 50,000 points after you spend $10,000 and an extra 50,000 points when you spend an additional $15,000, all in the first three months. 

You’ll also earn 5 points per dollar on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel, 1.5 points per dollar on purchases of $5,000 or more and 1 point per dollar on everything else. The card has a $595 annual fee.

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Fair Credit: Capital One® Spark® Classic for Business

If you don’t have good or excellent credit — typically a score of 670 or higher, according to FICO — you may have a tough time finding a good business credit card. That said, there are cards available for people with fair or even bad credit.

If your credit is considered fair — a score between 580 and 669 — consider the Capital One Spark Classic for Business. It offers 1% cash back and no annual or foreign transaction fees. It doesn’t offer much beyond that, but it can be extremely helpful as you work to improve your credit. 

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Bad Credit: Wells Fargo Business Secured Credit Card

If you have bad credit, you’ll have a hard time getting approved for most business credit cards. If you can afford to put up a cash deposit, consider the Wells Fargo Business Secured Credit Card.

The card gives you a credit limit based on how much you deposit upfront, ranging from $500 to $25,000. You’ll also have the chance to choose from two rewards options:

Earn 1.5% cash back on every purchase you make

Earn 1 point per dollar on every purchase plus 1,000 bonus points when you spend $1,000 or more in a month

The card doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee, but there’s a $25 annual fee per card, including cards you give your employees.

See how this card compares here >>

Frequently Asked Small Business Credit Card Questions

What Is the Easiest Business Credit Card to Get?

There aren’t any business credit cards we know of that offer instant approval without any credit check at all. As a result, the easiest business credit card to get is one that you qualify for. Before you apply for a card, check your personal credit score to see where you stand. Then apply for a card that’s targeted to your credit range. We only covered credit ranges for a couple of cards here because the others all require good or excellent credit. If your credit score is in one of those ranges, your approval odds are good (though never guaranteed) for most cards.

Can I Use My EIN to Get a Credit Card?

Small business credit card issuers allow you to add your employer identification number (EIN) to your application. But don’t think that’s to circumvent the need for a personal credit check — you’ll still need to prove your Social Security number. That said, adding your EIN allows the card issuer to report your activity to the business credit reporting agencies, so it’s a good idea if you’re working on building your business credit history.

Can I Get a Business Credit Card With Bad Credit?

It is possible, but keep in mind that your options are going to be limited if your credit is in poor shape. Also, you may need to put up a security deposit as collateral to get approved. That said, having a secured business credit card can be beneficial as you work to rebuild your credit.

Do Business Credit Cards Check Personal Credit?

Most business credit card issuers will run a credit check on your personal credit reports before making a decision on your application. This is primarily because most business credit cards require a personal guarantee — in other words, if your business can’t repay the debt you incur, you’ll need to do so with your personal assets. There are some business credit cards that don’t require a personal guarantee — and thus, no personal credit check — but they’re typically reserved for bigger companies with high revenues and cash reserves.

How Does a Business Credit Card Affect My Personal Credit?

When you first apply for the card, you’ll get a hard inquiry on your credit report, which can knock a few points off your credit score temporarily. Going forward, though, most business credit card issuers don’t report anything to the personal credit bureaus unless your account is delinquent. Only a couple of major business credit card issuers — Capital One and Discover — report all of your account activity to both the business and consumer credit reporting agencies.

The post Top Small Business Credit Cards appeared first on The College Investor.

from The College Investor

As a small business owner, managing your cash flow properly is essential. A small business credit card can help you succeed by giving you time to pay off your purchases. Several business credit cards also offer rewards and other perks that can add value to your business every time you use them. There are several different types of business credit cards available, including ones that offer cash-back or travel rewards, introductory 0% APR promotions, premium travel perks and accessibility for business owners with less-than-perfect credit. Take some time to shop around and consider all of your options before you apply for one.

See all the top small business credit cards here >>

Quick Navigation

Best For Travel Rewards: Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card

Best For Flat Travel Rewards: Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business

Best For Flat Cash-Back Rewards: Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business

Best For Cash Back And No Annual Fee: Blue Business™ Cash Card from American Express

Best For Flexible Rewards With No Annual Fee: The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Best For a Big Sign-Up Bonus And No Annual Fee: Ink Business Unlimited℠ Credit Card

Best For Flexible Cash-Back Rewards: Bank of America® Business Advantage Cash Rewards Mastercard® Credit Card

Best For Premium Perks: The Business Platinum® Card from American Express

Best For Fair Credit: Capital One® Spark® Classic for Business

Best For Bad Credit: Wells Fargo Business Secured Credit Card

Our Top Best Small Business Credit Cards

Small business credit cards don’t offer all of the same consumer protections you’ll get with a personal credit card. But they often provide business-specific rewards and benefits that can make your spending more rewarding and your life easier. To help you find the right credit card for your business, we’ve put together a list of our top choices, focusing on different rewards programs, sign-up bonuses and accessibility. Here are our recommendations.

Best For Travel Rewards: Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card

The Ink Business Preferred Credit Card offers an excellent chance to rack up a lot of points you can use for travel. The card starts out by offering 80,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 in the first three months. 

You’ll also earn 3 points per dollar on various categories, including:

Travel

Shipping purchases

Internet, cable and phone services

Advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines

You’ll earn just 1 point per dollar on all other purchases. When it comes to redeeming your rewards, you can get cash back or gift cards at a rate of 1 cent per point, or you can book travel through Chase and get 25% more value. Alternatively, you can transfer your points to one of many airline and hotel partners at a 1:1 ratio.

Keep in mind, though, that the card has a $95 annual fee, though it doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee.

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Flat Travel Rewards: Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business

If you don’t spend a lot in one of the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card’s bonus categories, consider the Capital One Spark Miles for Business. The card offers a flat 2 miles per dollar on every purchase you make, plus 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,500 in the first three months.

You can redeem your miles by booking travel directly through Capital One, booking through a third party and redeeming miles for a statement credit, or transferring them to an airline partner at a 2:1.5 or 2:1 ratio. The card doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee, and its annual fee is $0 for the first year, then $95 after that.

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Flat Cash-Back Rewards: Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business

If you want a high flat rewards rate but prefer cash back over travel, the Capital One Spark Cash for Business should be on your radar.

The card offers unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase you make, plus a $500 bonus after you spend $4,500 in the first three months. The card doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee, and the $95 annual fee is waived the first year.

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Cash Back And No Annual Fee: Blue Business™ Cash Card from American Express

If your business doesn’t spend a lot, it may not make sense to get a card with an annual fee. If that’s the case for you, consider The Blue Business™ Cash Card from American Express. It offers 2% cash back on the first $50,000 spent each year, after which you’ll earn just 1% back.

While there’s no sign-up bonus, this promotion can provide a lot of value in the form of interest savings. The card has no annual fee.

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Flexible Rewards With No Annual Fee: The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Similar to the card’s cash-back rewards counterpart, you’ll earn a flat 2 points per dollar on the first $50,000 spent each year, then 1 point per dollar after that. You can redeem your points for several things, including statement credits, travel, merchandise and gift cards. You can also transfer your points to a travel partner at varying rates. There’s no annual fee.

See how this card compares here >>

Best For a Big Sign-Up Bonus And No Annual Fee: Ink Business Unlimited℠ Credit Card

Having a high rewards rate is nice, but if you want more value upfront, consider the Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card. It offers a $500 bonus after you spend $3,000 in the first three months. You’ll also earn 1.5% cash back on every purchase you make. 

The card charges no annual fee.

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Flexible Cash-Back Rewards: Bank of America® Business Advantage Cash Rewards Mastercard® Credit Card

The Bank of America Cash Rewards Mastercard credit card gives cardholders the chance to pick their bonus rewards category. You’ll earn 3% cash back on the category of your choice from a list that includes gas stations, office supply stores, travel, TV/telecom and wireless, computer services and business consulting services.

You’ll also earn 2% cash back on dining and 1% back on everything else. Note, however, that the bonus categories are limited to just the first $50,000 spent in combined purchases in those categories annually. After that, you’ll earn just 1% back on everything. That said, you could earn up to 75% more rewards if you’re a Preferred Rewards for Business client with the bank.

The card doesn’t charge an annual fee. 

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Premium Perks: The Business Platinum® Card from American Express

If your company spends a lot of money, and you want access to premium credit card benefits, the Business Platinum Card from American Express may be a good fit.

The card offers several value perks, including:

Up to $200 in annual statement credits for Dell purchases

Up to $200 in annual airline fee credits

Complimentary access to multiple airport lounge networks

One year of complimentary Platinum Global Access from WeWork if you enroll by December 31, 2019

Application fee credit for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry

Hilton Honors Gold status and Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status

Premium car-rental program memberships

Special benefits with select luxury hotel brands

You’ll also get up to a 100,000 bonus points when you first get the card. That’s 50,000 points after you spend $10,000 and an extra 50,000 points when you spend an additional $15,000, all in the first three months. 

You’ll also earn 5 points per dollar on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel, 1.5 points per dollar on purchases of $5,000 or more and 1 point per dollar on everything else. The card has a $595 annual fee.

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Fair Credit: Capital One® Spark® Classic for Business

If you don’t have good or excellent credit — typically a score of 670 or higher, according to FICO — you may have a tough time finding a good business credit card. That said, there are cards available for people with fair or even bad credit.

If your credit is considered fair — a score between 580 and 669 — consider the Capital One Spark Classic for Business. It offers 1% cash back and no annual or foreign transaction fees. It doesn’t offer much beyond that, but it can be extremely helpful as you work to improve your credit. 

See how this card compares here >>

Best For Bad Credit: Wells Fargo Business Secured Credit Card

If you have bad credit, you’ll have a hard time getting approved for most business credit cards. If you can afford to put up a cash deposit, consider the Wells Fargo Business Secured Credit Card.

The card gives you a credit limit based on how much you deposit upfront, ranging from $500 to $25,000. You’ll also have the chance to choose from two rewards options:

Earn 1.5% cash back on every purchase you make

Earn 1 point per dollar on every purchase plus 1,000 bonus points when you spend $1,000 or more in a month

The card doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee, but there’s a $25 annual fee per card, including cards you give your employees.

See how this card compares here >>

Frequently Asked Small Business Credit Card Questions

What Is the Easiest Business Credit Card to Get?

There aren’t any business credit cards we know of that offer instant approval without any credit check at all. As a result, the easiest business credit card to get is one that you qualify for. Before you apply for a card, check your personal credit score to see where you stand. Then apply for a card that’s targeted to your credit range. We only covered credit ranges for a couple of cards here because the others all require good or excellent credit. If your credit score is in one of those ranges, your approval odds are good (though never guaranteed) for most cards.

Can I Use My EIN to Get a Credit Card?

Small business credit card issuers allow you to add your employer identification number (EIN) to your application. But don’t think that’s to circumvent the need for a personal credit check — you’ll still need to prove your Social Security number. That said, adding your EIN allows the card issuer to report your activity to the business credit reporting agencies, so it’s a good idea if you’re working on building your business credit history.

Can I Get a Business Credit Card With Bad Credit?

It is possible, but keep in mind that your options are going to be limited if your credit is in poor shape. Also, you may need to put up a security deposit as collateral to get approved. That said, having a secured business credit card can be beneficial as you work to rebuild your credit.

Do Business Credit Cards Check Personal Credit?

Most business credit card issuers will run a credit check on your personal credit reports before making a decision on your application. This is primarily because most business credit cards require a personal guarantee — in other words, if your business can’t repay the debt you incur, you’ll need to do so with your personal assets. There are some business credit cards that don’t require a personal guarantee — and thus, no personal credit check — but they’re typically reserved for bigger companies with high revenues and cash reserves.

How Does a Business Credit Card Affect My Personal Credit?

When you first apply for the card, you’ll get a hard inquiry on your credit report, which can knock a few points off your credit score temporarily. Going forward, though, most business credit card issuers don’t report anything to the personal credit bureaus unless your account is delinquent. Only a couple of major business credit card issuers — Capital One and Discover — report all of your account activity to both the business and consumer credit reporting agencies.

The post Top Small Business Credit Cards appeared first on The College Investor.

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[xhostcom]

Think Big With Thinkific

Here we take a look at creating an online course using Thinkific, course creator platform. To make an online course, you need the right tools. This means video screen capture software, a potential camera, tripod, audio equipment, and the right editing tools. You also need the right program for selling your online course, and there are plenty of options to choose from. Thinkific is one of them, so in this Thinkific review, we'll take a look at the the features that make it stand out. The Thinkific platform has the features to help you create, market, and sell online courses from your own website. It seems like a reputable company with thousands of course creators and students using it. For instance, some of the clients include Hootsuite, York University, and Intuit. As with most online course creators, Thinkific can be used for internal training at companies, as a for-profit course module online, or as a way for actual universities and schools to create online course solutions.

The Thinkific platform caters to those who want full control over their online course design. It also looks like Thinkific has some seamless automation tools to remove all the tedious work on your end. Systems like Thinkific don't host courses on your own website. Your content is actually hosted with Thinkific (so you don't have to go out and find your own hosting,) but it still gives you complete control over what your website looks like. Thinkific certainly provides a lot of freedom and branding control. Lets take a look at some of those. Part of the reason Thinkific looks so great compared to the competition is that of its course designer. You don't have to mess with any code if you don't want to. In fact, all of your content is organized using a simple drag and drop editor, where you stack the course content and move it around vertically. Thinkific supports uploads of almost all media types. From PDFs to audio files, and surveys to quizzes, the platform is great for offering up a wide range of learning resources for your students. All of these files are hosted on the Thinkific servers, so you shouldn't have to worry much about a file being too large or running slowly on your own shared servers. When you customize your course site it offers some great editing tools for the beginners out there. For instance, you can adjust items like banners, color schemes, and logos, all without touching any code. More advanced developers have complete control over the HTML and CSS. So, if you want to make your site unique, the option is there for you.

Student Management Area. Thikific has a visual student management area, with pictures of your students, names, contact information, and details for how far they are in your course. You have the option to send customized emails to each of the students or create a conversation with the entire community. Incentives are also a part of this learning environment since Thinkific offers completion certificates, report cards, and of course, the emails for sending out just about anything you want during courses. Along with unlimited replays of course material, language controls, and mobile optimization, students working with the Thinkific platform should feel right at home. Promotions on Autopilot Some online course platforms fail in the promotions arena. Since there's no way to start making money unless people know that your course exists. Thinkific does it the right way, with marketing and promotional tools built into the program. Much of this is automated as well. So, if you'd like to drip content to your students–where certain courses would be released over time–Thinkific has this functionality. Furthermore, you have the ability to target the right people and send out automated emails based on a schedule. Pricing is also done through Thinkific, along with the option to get paid immediately when someone signs up for your course. As for getting people outside of your website to come try it out, Thinkific includes an affiliate marketing program to reward bloggers and other people who recommend your course. Coupons are also provided through Thinkific, giving you a chance to create ads with specials and convince newcomers that your course is worth investing in. Everything from coupons to affiliates is tracked right in the dashboard, and you can also link your Adwords, Facebook, and other social accounts to see where students are coming from. The Pricing? Although I've yet to find an online course platform that has many hidden fees, Thinkific advertises that it too has no hidden fees or contracts. That's good to know, but nothing special. Thinkific does offer a free plan for those who want to test out the platform but not get bogged down by limitations. In theory, it helps you launch your store and start building a student base without having to pay a dime. There's also a free trial if you'd rather give one of the more advanced plans a whirl. The pricing is set out in four tiers. Starter – $0 for all core Thinkific features. This plan has a high 10% transaction fee, everything you need to create, market, and sell your courses, unlimited courses, course upsells, content hosting, basic integrations, Stripe/PayPal support, and instant access to all funds. Essentials – For $49 per month you receive all core and starter features, along with a 5% transaction fee, coupons and promotions, monthly subscriptions, course bundles, intermediate integrations, basic Zapier, drip content, affiliate reporting, a bulk student emailer, custom domain, and additional course prices. Business – For $99 per month you get the features from all previous plans, no transaction fees, completion certificates, private and hidden courses, site white labeling, a host storyline, intermediate Zapier, webhooks, three-course admin accounts, advanced HTML/CSS editing, priority support, instructor payout reporting, an onboarding call, payment plans, and a direct Infusionsoft integration. Advanced – For $279 per month you receive all features from previous plans, no transaction fees, a single sign-on (SSO), three site admin accounts, 10-course admin accounts, an onboarding specialist, onboarding package, public API, advanced integrations, and advanced Zapier. Thinkific has some great advantages to its pricing layout. Not only can you start your course for free (something that's not offered with competitors like Teachable,) but the additional three plans are broken down in a logical fashion. You most likely don't need API access until you really start getting advanced with your course selling. It would be nice to see the completion certificates and the HTML editing in the Essentials plan, but $99 per month still isn't that bad. The transaction fees are 10% for the free plan. That's high, but it creates an excellent environment for those with low volume right now or people who don't have the upfront capital to launch a professional online store. Once you start making money you can cut down that transaction fee. Finally, you can also save money by paying on an annual basis. So, the Essentials plan goes down to $39 per month if you pay it all upfront. The Business plan is $79 per month and the Advanced plan is $219. That makes the pricing plans rather similar to Teachable.

Thinkific Customer Support The initial support looks decent since the website is informative and you can browse through some case studies and real-world customers who have made their online courses with Thinkific. The Resource page includes product demos for you to get started with Thinkific without signing up for a plan. You'll also find a full blog with several tutorials to guide you along the way. A free video training is also available on the Thinkific site, along with some links to the company's social media platforms. For direct support, Thinkific provides a Help Center, complete with a getting started guide, training and community section. The community forums are filled with conversations from real users, and the support docs are your best bet for finding detailed technical solutions. Thinkific also has a contact form that places you in the ticketing queue. You don't have an option to call a direct support line or talk with someone through a chatbox. However, some of the plans have onboarding guidance, and the Business plan gets you priority support. Overall, the online resources are impressive, but it would be nice to at least have some sort of phone line support for those who like speaking with actual people. Should You Consider the Thinkific Online Course Platform? I like Thinkific for anyone interested in making a completely new online store. The interface is clean and powerful, and you get all the tools needed to build your store without the requirements of your own hosting or website. I also like it for organizations that want to test the waters and build a following. The free Thinkific plan should work fine for some smaller courses, and it's the ideal package for getting your course setup with no upfront costs. Oh yeah, and most competitors, like Teachable, don't have this free option. Get started for free! See Thinkific's full Guide to learn more about how to create and sell Online Courses, hit the image below.

If you have any questions about this Thinkific review, leave your thoughts in the comments. Xhostcom Lead Generation, Funnels, SEO & Wordpress/eCommerce specialists. Get a kick start with you online career - use our automated done for you funnels system to generate over $1000 Per Day Online! Get FREE TRAINING at Discover Funnels Need hosting for Wordpress or similar? Get it with SSD and SSL for just $1.52 at Fast Web Hosting with NO yearly increases. Do you need a great SEO tool? Check out SEMRush FREE at FREE SEO Tool Also check out Xhostcom.com ‎ for more great offers and news! Read the full article

[jamieclawhorn]

Why Warren Buffett doesn’t do debt

The writings of super-investor Warren Buffett are widely devoured by thousands of disciples eager for clues as to how to beat the market.   Not to be rude, but I can’t help thinking this is like me asking Usain Bolt for tips on how to bring my 5km time down to something a bit more respectable.   Buffett is in a class of his own – an obsessive genius with a brain that probably thinks about compound interest every six seconds.   And he’s been that way since he was a toddler.   Indeed I suspect one reason most of his investing advice sounds so folksy is that his decision-making occurs mostly below the level of consciousness.   In any event, beyond his homespun platitudes about price, value, and quality, Buffett rarely gives actionable advice about stock picking.   Yet like every other investing-obsessive, I still look forward to his annual letter to shareholders, which is published this time every year.   I don’t expect too many insights into finding market-beating investments.   But I do believe Buffett is a peerless explainer of bigger concepts, such as how businesses and the economy work, or the incentives that drive human decision-making.   And surprisingly – given he’s a multi-billionaire whose problems come with many more zeros attached to them than mine – I also find him something of a personal finance guru.   Over the years I’ve tucked away tidbits from Buffett on everything from frugality to the importance of having an emergency fund to the benefits of owning your home.   Meanwhile in this year’s just-released letter, Buffett makes a good point about debt.

Debt: The great derailer

Buffett writes that at Berkshire Hathaway, his company:

We use debt sparingly. Many managers, it should be noted, will disagree with this policy, arguing that significant debt juices the returns for equity owners. And these more venturesome CEOs will be right most of the time. At rare and unpredictable intervals, however, credit vanishes and debt becomes financially fatal. A Russian-roulette equation – usually win, occasionally die – may make financial sense for someone who gets a piece of a company’s upside but does not share in its downside. But that strategy would be madness for Berkshire. Rational people don’t risk what they have and need for what they don’t have and don’t need.

Buffett is talking about corporate debt juggling, but his point is equally relevant for our personal financial lives.   After all, a company can go bankrupt but the shareholders and executives can move on to new ones. But we only get one shot at living our lives!   You see, people overstretch themselves with debt in so many ways:

The person who remortgages the family home to invest in poorly-bought rental properties that barely generate a positive cash flow and are the first to fall into negative equity in a crash.

Another who puts off investing until they’ve cleared their credit cards – sensible enough – but who then loads more shopping onto store cards, leaving compound interest working against them instead of growing their wealth for years to come.

The new investor who sees shares go up in a rising market, thinks “this is easy”, opens a spread-betting account without understanding that they’re borrowing to invest – and sees their portfolio wiped out by a sudden market correction.

Another investor who knows better than to use debt, but who has a blind spot in their stock picking, which leaves them buying ‘value shares’ that trade at low multiples of earnings, without appreciating all the debt their firms are carrying to generate mediocre returns and how vulnerable they are to the next recession.

Pretty much anyone who borrows to invest, whether through trading on margin at their broker or – yes, I’ve seen this in very frothy markets – who takes out a personal loan because “shares should do 10% a year, which is more than the interest I’ll be paying”.

Remember, the average return of shares over the long-term tells us nothing about what you’ll get in the short-term. A debt is a debt, with a fixed cost and a set day of reckoning!   It’s madness to try to make a few percent a year while leaving yourself vulnerable to a financial catastrophe.   As Buffett says, that’s Russian-roulette logic.

Float on

It’s worth stating that while Warren Buffett says Berkshire doesn’t lean heavily on debt, some of the operating companies it owns do borrow heavily. Enhancing returns with debt is standard practice in capital-intensive industries such as railroads, where there are a lot of fixed assets and steady cashflows to secure the debt against.   More to the point, Buffett also makes substantial use of Other People’s Money with the ‘float’ provided by Berkshire’s insurance companies.   Float represents premiums paid upfront by Berkshire’s insurance customers, where the payouts are paid further down the line as claims are made.   Berkshire Hathaway now reports a massive $123bn in float. As its insurance companies almost invariably make underwriting profits – rather than relying on the returns from investing float to compensate for their poor insurance practices – Buffett considers this float to be effectively costless.   Getting an interest-free loan of $123bn is going to be good for anyone’s returns!   Of course insurance is a heavily regulated industry – and Buffett himself is obsessed with downside protection, anyway – so there are limits to how he deploys this float.   But there’s no doubt it has enhanced Berkshire Hathaway’s returns over the years.

Just say no to debt

So Buffett does make use of performance-enhancing leverage, even if it’s not technically debt. But unless you fancy setting yourself up as a winner in the super-competitive insurance industry, cost-less float is not something that you or I can replicate at home.   I think it’s better to concentrate on saving hard, tucking your money away in tax shelters such as ISAs and SIPPs, and to forget about using debt when you invest.   It may take you longer to get to your goal than with a fortunate injection of debt – but you don’t want to be the person who gets it wrong and destroys their financial future!

How to prepare for the next stock market correction

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Owain Bennallack has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

[legit-scam-review]

The Fight Over Masternodes: The WTF New Way to Earn Money With Crypto

There’s a fight going down on crypto Twitter right now.

But while that fact alone should come as no surprise, this time the bout is a bit more notable given it’s between a number of cryptocurrencies using so-called masternodes. While the term is flexible, generally speaking, masternodes are defined as computers on a network – staked with tokens – that perform additional work besides just helping run the software that governs a given cryptocurrency.

The mechanism, while an older idea, is starting to gain some traction with significant projects such as ZenCash (now Horizen), Gold Poker and Zcoin using the masternodes. Plus, other projects – EOS and Tezos, for instance – could likely refer to the participants that verify transactions as masternodes (though they don’t).

The Twitter battle, though, is all in good fun (mostly).

At its heart, the months-long contest pits pairs of tokens that use masternodes up against each other to test sentiment and name recognition, all using fairly simple, straightforward SurveyMonkey dialogues. Its instigator is Brian Colwell, a blogger and consultant to crypto startups, and he’s amping up the drama around it.

“We’re running it like a martial arts tournament, but it has devolved into eye gouging, brass knuckles,” he messaged CoinDesk over Twitter.

Colwell’s metaphorical “eye gouging” and “brass knuckles” mostly take the form of supporter exhortations over email lists and social media, with the odd fun gif. But it’s true that many of these projects are in it to win it.

Called “#MasternodeMeBro18,” the tournament, which tests which projects can best rally their community, started July 3 and will run through October 28.

Down from an original list of 64 coins that use masternodes, the tournament just finished its third round where 16 tokens paired off against each other. The round brought in a total of 11,416 votes across all the matchups. And looking at the hashtag on Twitter shows that a lot of the projects are working to turn out their followers to support their tokens.

In fact, the fight got so fierce that some of the matchups in this round showed evidence of vote tampering. Colwell’s partner, OmniAnalytics, detected multiple votes from some IP addresses, so they re-ran the impacted battles in a one-day “sudden death” rematch that closed Tuesday.

The fourth round of the contest started on August 28.

So, what’s with all the interest in masternodes all of the sudden?

According to industry observers, including Colwell, the masternodes approach allows participants in the network to earn income that’s above and beyond token appreciation. This passive income is what led Colwell to not only become interested in masternode projects but to organize the tournament.

He told CoinDesk:

“I have always been interested in communities with an interest in yield. You’ve got to find a way to make money all the time.”

Like bitcoin’s old days

This idea originated with Dash (formerly “Darkcoin”), which needed masternodes in order to help run its privacy enhancing features. By staking some tokens and making a computer available to the network, users with a long view of Dash earn an income on their stake, in the form of fresh tokens.

To participate as a masternode then, a user will need to make an upfront investment in coins and in equipment.

“Running a masternode incentivizes people to buy up the supply and lock them up for longer periods of time, thus reducing the coin velocity,” Sid Kalla of the blockchain consultancy Turing Advisory Group told CoinDesk.

Yet, the funds required aren’t insurmountable. In this way, running a masternode is like hobbyist bitcoin mining back in the day, when individuals could mine bitcoin and still turn a profit.

Colwell told CoinDesk that he runs 20 masternodes himself.

He said:

“I feel like it gives me more control on a daily basis to decide what I want to do with my coins.”

By earning tokens from his tokens, he has something to sell when the price swells and a way to stay ahead when the market is down.

Most token-based startups that have a masternode feature rank in the small- to mid-market capitalization ranges (Dash being an obvious outlier, with a $1.3 billion market cap), and in a way they bring back the days when a regular person could participate in running a protocol without much upfront investment.

Pricing what node to master

But it’s not just that easy; there are metrics to keep in mind.

In looking at participating in a given project, Kalla said that buyers should make sure they will earn more than it will cost them to run the computations required. “The rewards should also exceed the inflation rate,” he said.

But the most important variable is how valuable the token itself is.

“There is no point in holding something for 10 percent gains a year in its native token if it is going to fall by 90 percent against bitcoin,” Kalla continued.

Returns on masternodes vary wildly.

Masternodes.Online is a site that makes it easy to see what the upfront costs and returns are for different masternode projects. Usually, masternodes have very high rewards (100 percent per year is not unusual) in their native token, in order to make up for their market volatility.

For example, if a masternode offers 10 percent rewards on a stake of 100 tokens, a user should get 10 new tokens annually.

Here are some examples of basic stats of some different masternode tokens:

Colwell estimated that a reasonable starting price to buy a stake of tokens to run a masternode ranges from $2,500 to $5,000 in tokens.

But “price” might not really be the right word, because the necessary tokens to stake aren’t lost. A masternode just needs to lock them up for as long as the operator wants to receive rewards.

Other kinds of income

On top of the rewards for maintaining the network, Kalla also pointed to token projects that can earn more than one kind of reward. And while many masternode-using projects are a bit more underground, the idea is starting to gain more traction.

For instance, Swarm Fund, the Techstars alum which raised $5.5 million in an ICO, launched a masternode program in August. Already, 9 percent of the token supply has been staked by interested masternodes, according to a recent update from the company. The idea behind the project was to allow people to invest in projects for which the upfront cost is typically too high.

So, in addition to validating transactions, Swarm’s masternodes will decide where to invest part of Swarm’s token reserve (later sharing the returns on those investments). The theory here is that returns on managing consensus will be higher early on and the investments will pay off later, giving participants an incentive to get in early and stick around.

“In contrast to other rewards systems, our masternode system actually increases rewards over a long period of time,” Philip Pieper, Swarm’s CEO, told CoinDesk.

Another startup, Eximchain, an FBG and Kinetic Capital-backed blockchain-based supply chain management push, is expected to launch its own masternodes soon.

For that network, it won’t be enough just to stake to become a masternode. Instead, after completing know-your-customer (KYC) requirements, potential masternodes will have to be voted onto the network by other members of the chain – marking an unusually high bar for the process.

But deciding who else gets to be a masternode on the Eximchain network is one of the most important pieces of work its masternodes will do. Those who participate in voting have to put up funds proportional to their conviction in the vote. Then all those funds get shared among the nodes that voted, creating another form of revenue.

These kinds of extra earnings for participating in a blockchain network are something Kalla said those interested in being masternodes should look for.

Signals and incentives

And just as money makes masternodes an enticing idea, for masternode projects themselves, Colwell’s contest is starting to look more attractive, too.

At first, the prize for coming out ahead in the contest was at most PR and bragging rights, but that’s changed. Real stakes have started to accrue for projects that perform well. Not from Colwell himself, but from a new startup called Kalkulus.

The startup was created to give users a way to run masternodes without actually needing to manage the computing themselves. So if a user holds stake in a particular token, Kalkulus will run the computations.

Yet Kalkulus only provides this service for so many projects. Not only does integration bandwidth get in the way but also they likely want to be choosy with their integrations so they’re seen as only offering the best projects.

As such, the company promised to provide the service to the four projects with the most votes in the third round – which were Solaris, Deviant, Phore and Rupaya.

As a masternode-as-a-service-type offering, many projects will likely want to be listed on the platform since it lowers the barrier to entry for participants in the network.

Like investors looking to buy tokens in a presale, companies like Kalkulus need signals to help them decide which tokens to provide the service for, and that’s what Colwell’s contest has become.

Colwell acknowledged that, saying:

“The ones that have strong social sentiment are likely to be the ones that have the most masternodes.”

Roman coins image by Nikita Andreev on Unsplash (public domain)

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Working Investment Websites Online

When you have a brokerage account then you might need to stick with this. Or else, yoll need to discover a brand fresh place that will assist you invest your funds. One company I regularly https://investa.info suggest is Betterment. Together with Betterment, your money may be invested in ETFs plus so they dot control a fee for handling these for you. In addition, they truly decide on the ETFs you invest in centered in your desire for risk, investing aims, and also other factors.

A second place to pay some your excess dollars this year will be in peer reviewed lending systems like Lending Club and Prosper. Together with these businesses, yore able to loan money to men and women in little increments as if you had been the lender. The optimal/optimally part is, you get to make a pretty decent speed of return usually up of 6 percent or longer.

He would buy a pool of genuine estate properties, and then investors such as myself might invest money into his project. From there, he would manage the properties pay me a dividend or interest off that capital. For mepersonally, this was an attractive method to spend in without having to be always a landlord or cope with tenants.

Evidently, there is a ton of risk in a situation like this. You must have lots of trust to invest in real estate notes provided by an individual.

Much like Lending Club, Fundrise necessitates a upfront amount of approximately $1,000 to begin. After you spend, yet, Fundrise primarily lets youset it and forget it Even better, you may get quite a hefty rate of yield via this system. Over the business website, Fundrise maintains its returns have averaged between 8.76percent up-to 12.42% during the previous five yearspast Perhaps not too muddy.

Given that wve discussed the value of purchasing the stock market, les discuss exactly the way to commit your dollars. Which would be the tools and vehicles we all may utilize?

What does that mean? That means that you can spend your hard-won income, then sit back and delight in the returns and allow them to do the tough work.

For example an investor at peer financing, yore buying other folks and their objectives. It's 's comforting knowing you aret lending individuals you dot know huge quantities of dollars. Alternatively, the amount of money you commit is divided into account as small as $25 around hundreds and sometimes even 1000s of money loans.

Every dollar you donate can Secure a Greenback match states Scott.Thas a 100 percent yield on your investment

Like a final notice, thers one more simple approach to invest in the stock exchange with much less effort boosting howmuch you bring to a work-sponsored retirement account. Arizona fiscal planner Charles C. Scott claims this may be your best alternative yet specially if yore perhaps not contributing sufficient to find a suit from the company.

#2: Peertopeer Lending

Money cost averaging necessitates us to trickle our funds into investments within any given period of time. It could be 1-2 months. It'd be 18 months. Heck, it may be five years.

For those who have a fiscal advisor working on your behalf, they may be able to weed the well-performing actively managed mutual money from those which aret carrying out thus fantastic. Otherwise, you could put money into index funds, which are not actively managed but possess a long background of returns that are solid.

This really is yet another scenario at which in fact the options are all overwhelming. Still, I typically suggest people get their feet wet with mutual funds or ETFs.

Regardless, I presume is very trendy that technology has enabled investors to find usage of commercial qualities at an sense we havet managed to at the previous decade.

Colorado economic adviser David Henderson of Jenkins Wealth extends farther to describe how dollar cost averaging will work:When the market is higher, you get fewer stocks so when the industry is reduced you buy more shares he states. It follows that, over time, you are going to have decreased average share price using this method. Clearly, is easy to see why this might be beneficial.

If yore perhaps maybe not even earning the most of your 401(k) or donating ample to find yourself a game, then yore likely most useful starting up there.

M certainly not. I strove purchasing physical property seven seven years ago and lost my top. I learned lots of lessons from my own foray into turning into a spouse, the greatest of which was that I scatter desire that type of tension in my life.

Evidently, there is hazard buying a platform like this particular one, as well. First off, the company is more recent so that it doest have decades of data to talk about. Second, yore letting a thirdparty choose investments and buildings on your behalf, which means yove given up control.

Along with this stock market and peer reviewed lending sites, an third investment plan to look at this past year is real estate. The thing is, m not implying everybody else go out and get a investment property. Afterall, perhaps maybe not everybody is cut out to be a landlord.

When it may look unusual to hear that a financial advisor suggest people invest in peer reviewed lending, theres not the sole individual who sees the worth in these types of platforms. Kansas town Financial Advisor Clint Haynes explained that he supports peer reviewed lending as an alternate into the stock exchange for a couple of explanations. Firstthese companies allow it to be effortless to sign up and begin. Second, your rate of yield can range from 5 percent for safer financial loans and a lot more for riskier loans. Last however, you are able to on average start a new account with as low as $1,000.

The fantastic news isthat you can find other strategies to put money into real estate outside real estate notes. One alternative m quite excited about is a company called Fundrise. Fundrise offers an investment scenario similar to the one over. They get business attributes and allow traders to invest tiny sums of dollars. Apparently, that is still another hands-off expenditure. You may have part of a business property estate project, nevertheless, also you dot even view or manage the property itself.

Fortunately, there are a good deal of means to put money into real estate without even dealing with an actual property. One option to consider is investing in actual estate notes. I have started out off investing in realestate notes as a excellent close buddy of mine was devastating it by real estate and also giving his buddies the occasion to invest.

No 3: Realestate

In the event you prefer more hands over your own investments, internet brokerage businesses such as Ally Financial, then TD Ameritrade and E-Trade allow it to be effortless to stay in charge with reduced prices and easy-to-use platforms. Furthermore, there are plenty of additional "robo advisors " to choose from.

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How I Showed a 16-Year-Old How to Turn $500 Into $520,367

We’ve all had those fantasies of getting into a DeLorean and going back in time. We think about all the little changes that we’d make in our lives. If you’re like me and have investing on the brain, then maybe you wish you would have gone back in time and started investing earlier.

This is exactly what I was thinking when I had a chance to meet with the son of one of my friends. Her son had recently turned 16 but had been mowing lawns “since he was a kid.” Haha.

The son had talked to a cousin recently who had told him about how he needed to start investing. Intrigued, he told his mom to contact that investment guy that she had mentioned in the past. In case you’re not sure who he was referring to, that investment guy was me.

If you are ready to being your investing journey, make sure you check out our guides such as our Online Investing for Newbies for your reference!

There’s not many things that excite me more (with the exception of In-N-Out Burger) than seeing a young investor get started for the first time. The fact that this investor was the ripe age of 16 makes it that much more exciting.

With any new investor, I walk them through the process of explaining what a stock is, how that relates to a mutual fund (check out this post and video regarding mutual funds), and how easy it is to get started investing by buying mutual funds.

One tool that I use is Thomson Reuters which is a database of almost 30,000 different mutual funds that exist. One mutual fund that I use for hypothetical purposes is not the best mutual fund in the world.

In fact, it’s an average mutual fund and by average I mean that when you look at how it compares to other mutual funds in its peer group it’s been pretty middle-of-the-road. I like showing this mutual fund, for two reasons:

It gives us a good variety of market conditions since the fund was established in the late 60s.

By showing an average mutual fund, I’m not showing the best, I’m not showing the worst, I'm just showing a possible scenario of what it looks like to make money in the stock market.

In this hypothetical scenario, since the 16-year-old only has $500 that’s what we’ll use for this example. When looking at the illustration, you’ll notice charges. That’s because in this example we’re looking at A Share, otherwise known as load mutual funds.

Now you might be gasping and asking, “Oh my gosh, why is he showing a loaded mutual fund?” Please keep in mind that back then load mutual funds were very common.

Load or no-load aside, you should get a good sense of what the power of compounding interest looks like and how the impact of investing $500 means a lot – especially when starting at that early age.

The time machine is steaming, watch your head as you enter under the falcon wing doors, and let's take a trip back in time. Don't worry, I'll bring you back safely. You have enough plutonium, right?  

1970

In 1970, I show investing $500 with total upfront charges of $29. After a years’ time, the mutual fund averaged 5.15% for a total end-of-year value of $495 so after one year, after paying sales and commissions, he’s down $5.

Not too exciting, especially since he could have put it in the bank and made a lot more. Moving on to the next year.

  1971

After two years investing, we’ve averaged 5.15% and now 18.28% for a total value of $586. Not too shabby.

1972

We experienced another year of good growth with 12.72%. Total value now is $661. Typically at this point, I try to remind any new investor that three years of growth at these amounts, 5.15%, 18.28%, and 12.72%, is outstanding.

We’ve averaged good returns but since we only made $161 it might not be that exciting.

1973

Now the fun begins. Okay, not really that much fun, but we get our first true taste of a bear market. In 1973, the fund was down 33.75%, #ouch.

People hate losing money and now imagine you’ve been investing for four years and after seeing some modest growth you are now down $62. Most people agree that this is not what we hoped or expected from investing in the stock market. This is a big reason why most people don’t invest in the market because they have a very short-term perspective.

I explained to the investor that if they were concerned and came to me that I would suggest for them to stay the course and to stay invested and let the market do its thing. Let’s see what next year holds.

1974

#doubleouch. We followed a 33.75% loss with another 28.87% loss, #thatsucks.

In 2008, the market was down 37% and many claimed that it was the worst market since the great depression.

While in 1973 the market was also down big – this fund was down 33% followed by 28%. That seems like a lot worse than what happened in the 2008 financial crisis.

Our initial $500 investment has grown to $661 at its high and now it’s down to $311 – so after five years of investing we’re down almost 40%.

1975

If you decided to stay the course then kudos to you. You’ve done what most people can’t.

The stock market is one of the only few places that when things go on sale, nobody wants to buy; when there is a clearance sale, instead of flooding to the store people are running away in mad hordes.

This investor – who started with $500 saw it climb to $661 only to see it drop by over 50% in the next two years – would’ve seen almost a complete recovery back to their original investment amount if they held on just for another year. At the end of 1975, the total value is now $471.

The one thing I don’t want any of you to discount here is think about how long five years really is. Could you wait five years to see your investment basically go nowhere? Would you actually have confidence in the stock market? Would you have confidence in your financial advisor and their investment recommendations?

Based on prior experience, I would make an educated guess that 99.9% of you wouldn’t, and that’s why most people aren’t defensible investors.

Prior to revealing the 1975 return, this is where I like to ask the individual sitting across from me – which is the same thing I asked the 16-year-old – is what would you hope would be your total value after 10 years?

Essentially, what would you hope to have in 1979 – in 10 years of being vested in the stock market? Actually a majority of the time, most people would be happy to make their money back. Some like to see at least a $100 or $200 gain from their $500 investment.

1979

For those who want to just get their money back, as I’ve already shown in 1975, we’re almost there. Now if we fast forward until 1979, exactly 10 years from when we started, you can see that the total value is $1302. We’ve almost tripled our original investment. Was it a roller coaster ride getting there? Absolutely. Once again, it just shows the importance of having time in the market, being patient, and letting the market do its thing.

Later Years + Total Return

If we keep playing this scenario out over the next 35+ years, we can see that the value grows from a starting point of $500 all the way to $68,684 for an average annual rate of return of 11.49%. Not too shabby for a $500 investment that you just let sit as a mutual fund.

In case you can’t do the math, that means that this 16-year-old would have roughly $70,000 by investing $500 and waiting until the age of 61. Okay, you’re probably wondering based on the title of this article where the $500,000 come from. Let me show you.

$500 + $25/month

This 16-year-old was ambitious and I could see him salivating over seeing his $500 grow to be a very large number in his eyes. Remember, this kid mowed lawns and did landscaping on the side. The next chart I showed him was taking that $500 and then adding $25 per month. By simply adding $300 per year over the exact same timeline, the amount grew from $68,000 all the way up to $520,000.

Another part that I use to help drive the point home is that the money that he actually invested was only $55,194. Everything else was dividend, interest, and capital gains. A $55,000 investment over the course of 45 years grew to an astronomical $520k.

Calling Out the Skeptics

I can hear many of you now thinking, “Okay Jeff, but the market doesn’t average 11.94% like it used to.” That’s a fair argument, but also keep in mind that the S&P 500 at the time of this writing has returned 7.71%. Well that’s considerably less than what this fund returned. At least it gives us some type of ballpark range to consider.

The final thing I like to point out to people is the $500,000 in this example is a lot of money. We very may well never get close to having those type of returns. That being said, what if I was half wrong meaning that instead of having $500,000 we only have $250,000? That’s still $250,000 from an initial investment of $500 plus $25 per month. That’s still huge and will set this kid apart from 98% of his peers.

The moral of the story is start investing, let the markets do their thing, and let time be on your side. If you haven’t started investing yet, check out great online platforms like Scottrade and Betterment.

Don't put off investing and kill your ability to watch compound interest work its wonders. Cut through the excuses, and start investing something – even if it's a small amount. Check out 16 Ways to Invest $100. Just about everyone can afford to invest 100 bucks, feeling adventurous, check out 7 Smart Ways to Invest $1,000!

Now you might also be thinking, “I'm not 16 years old, Jeff. I'm about 10 years from retirement.” I feel you. Instead of giving up, there's so much you can do to better your finances. Read 10 Years from Retirement at RetirementByJeff.com. I'll walk you through the problem of having a lack of time!

I encourage you to invest something – what you reasonably can – toward a better future. Who knows, maybe later today you'll meet your future self thanking you for being smart and investing more for the future.  

This post originally appeared in Forbes.com.

The post How I Showed a 16-Year-Old How to Turn $500 Into $520,367 appeared first on Good Financial Cents.

from All About Insurance https://www.goodfinancialcents.com/how-i-showed-a-16-year-old-to-turn-500-into-520367/

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Why Enroll With Online Banking

Why Enroll With On-line Banking

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6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep)

Whether you’re trying to pay off debt, top off your emergency fund or invest more, a little extra monthly income can get you there faster.

But there are only so many hours in a day—and maybe adding another side hustle to your busy schedule just isn’t possible. Wouldn’t it be great if you could somehow earn more without working additional hours or hitting up your boss for another raise? That’s what happens when you create passive income streams.

“Passive income’s great because it increases your cash flow and allows you to save [more],” says financial advisor Craig J. Ferrantino, president of Craig James Financial Services, LLC in N.Y. “The initial effort in some cases is minimal, and you have the ability to collect money on those efforts over a period of time.”

Of course, investing in the stock market can provide earnings over time through market returns and the magic of compounding. But there are also ways to create steady streams of passive income that pay out at regular intervals.

These efforts don’t come without risk. But with careful planning and consideration, you can lower the risks—and initial costs—and increase the potential benefits.

Here are six paths to passive income that may be worth pursuing.

 1. High-Dividend Stocks

When you purchase stock in a company that pays dividends to its shareholders, you’ll start earning a percentage of the company’s profits automatically. For example, if a company pays an annualized dividend of 50 cents per share and you own 500 shares, you’ll get an extra $250 in your pocket—for doing nothing more than being a shareholder. (Most companies pay dividends on a quarterly basis, so you’d earn about 13 cents per share each quarter.)

Certain industries, like public utilities, financial services and oil, tend to pay higher dividends than others, so do your homework with resources like Yahoo! Finance’s stocks screener or by talking to an advisor.

“If you’re going after dividend income, the sweet spot is not the company that’s currently paying the highest yield, but the companies that are likely to generate growth in dividends in the coming months and years,” says Rob Brown, a Certified Financial Analyst and chief investment officer at United Capital. “Pay attention to what companies and industries are thriving now; they are most likely to raise the dividends they’re paying now in the future.”

You may also choose to reinvest your dividends, which allows you to buy more shares even without spending more money, so you can benefit more when the price rises.

One caveat: Remember that there are risks involved with investing in individual stocks—even ones with high-dividend yield—as the price of the stock can go up or down. You can lower your risk by investing in an index or other low-cost funds, which contains shares of many companies. One option is to look for dividend-paying ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, which are funds that trade like stocks. (Investing apps like Acorns and Betterment use such ETFs and reinvest dividends automatically.)

2. Bonds

Purchasing bonds can be another good way to earn consistent passive income, though the amount you’ll receive depends on the fluctuating bond market. “Bondholders [usually] receive a check every six months for the interest earned in loaning the entity money, and, in turn, get their principal back at maturity,” Ferrantino explains.

There’s a wide variety of bonds to choose from, including U.S. Treasury bonds, municipal bonds and corporate bonds. Each has its own maturity date, minimum investment, interest rate and payout.

For instance, Treasury notes mature in two to 10 years and pay interest semiannually at a fixed rate (currently about 1 percent to 2 percent, depending on term lengths, and it is exempt from state and local taxes), while corporate bonds pay taxable interest and can have maturities ranging from a few weeks to 100 years.

Before purchasing bonds, make sure you know what you’re getting into—and what you will get out of it.

3. Rental Properties

Acquiring and maintaining rental property can require a lot more investment and sweat equity than other types of passive income, both upfront and over the years (if the roof leaks or the boiler breaks down in a rental property, you’re on the hook for it). But rental properties can also provide lucrative, ongoing income for many years to come.

“Rental properties in a market you understand can be a fantastic passive investment,” says Jeffrey Zucker, a seasoned angel investor and property management entrepreneur in Chicago. “I look for large or fast-growing housing markets, where people are clamoring for affordable, nice places.”

Before purchasing a property, Zucker recommends comprehensive due diligence to ensure that you can cover your costs—which likely include insurance, taxes and maintenance—and turn a profit on top of that. You want to invest in a property that will draw continued interest from renters and increase in value.

He also recommends using an experienced property manager. “There are some great property management companies out there that can assist to make leasing out rental properties truly passive mailbox money,” Zucker says.

“Having managed our own properties for a few years prior to partnering with a company, we learned the long hours and effort that go into maintaining properties and dealing with tenants—and how much better those who focus solely on this role are at the job.”

 Related Post: Should You Try Renting Your Home to Make Extra Money?

 4. Rewards Credit Cards

This might seem like an odd addition—and this is not a strategy to pursue unless you are able to pay off your bill in full each month.

However, if you can use credit responsibly and avoid racking up debt, rewards credit cards can provide easy income, thanks to perks like cash-back bonuses. For instance, use a cash-back card for all your household expenses—and pay it off at the end of the month—and you’ll earn money simply by making necessary purchases.

(Ferrantino recommends a card like the PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards Visa, which gives you 5-percent cash back on gas purchases and another 3 percent for groceries and has a low annual fee. NerdWallet also has a ranking of the best cash-back cards, including several with no annual fee.)

“My rewards have paid for a variety of travel experiences, and I have friends that use their points to pay exclusively for a certain [budget] category, like gas or household bills. It’s nice for them to cross an expense off simply by doing all of their planned spending on the right card,” Zucker says. “Be careful though, as many of the best rewards cards have high interest rates for any carry-over debt.”

 5. Peer-to-Peer Lending

Also known as “marketplace lending,” peer-to-peer lending is the practice of individuals loaning money to others in place of a bank or other financial institution. In recent years, platforms like Prosper and Lending Club have made these crowdfunded loans more widely available to borrowers and opened the possibilities for investors.

“New, technology-driven intermediaries have been coming in and replacing banks to make small loans to businesses or individuals, and they offer many comparative advantages,” Brown says.

Remember, though, that while investing through a peer-to-peer marketplace can pay off—Prosper investors, for example, can earn about 5 percent to 9 percent annually—there are still risks involved and borrowers may default on their debts. One way to protect yourself, Brown says, is by requiring that borrowers’ credit quality is above a certain level, depending on your appetite for risk. You can also reduce risk by diversifying your investment across many different loans.

6. Renting Unused Space

The sharing economy is in full force, and if you have extra space in your home or spend a lot of time out of town, you can join in and earn some extra cash. Thousands of people are renting out their homes through Airbnb, and sites like Liquid Space and Breather offer opportunities to place your office or home up for rent during daytime hours. (Airbnb hosts renting a single room in a two-bedroom home cover, on average, a whopping 81 percent of their rent, according to one report.)

“Any unused space is an asset worth renting out if there is demand in your market,” Zucker says. “[Online marketplaces] offer consumers easy ways to make some extra money on rooms that would otherwise be doing nothing for them.”

This post originally appeared on Grow.

Related:

I Got a 25 Percent Pay Bump After Dumping This Bad Habit

I Can’t Believe I Get Paid To Do This: 4 Real-Life Dream Jobs

Why We Have 10 Savings Accounts (That Have Nothing to Do With Emergencies)

The post 6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep) appeared first on Money Peach.

6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep) posted first on cashforcarsperthblog.blogspot.com

[cash4youblog]

6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep)

Whether you’re trying to pay off debt, top off your emergency fund or invest more, a little extra monthly income can get you there faster.

But there are only so many hours in a day—and maybe adding another side hustle to your busy schedule just isn’t possible. Wouldn’t it be great if you could somehow earn more without working additional hours or hitting up your boss for another raise? That’s what happens when you create passive income streams.

“Passive income’s great because it increases your cash flow and allows you to save [more],” says financial advisor Craig J. Ferrantino, president of Craig James Financial Services, LLC in N.Y. “The initial effort in some cases is minimal, and you have the ability to collect money on those efforts over a period of time.”

Of course, investing in the stock market can provide earnings over time through market returns and the magic of compounding. But there are also ways to create steady streams of passive income that pay out at regular intervals.

These efforts don’t come without risk. But with careful planning and consideration, you can lower the risks—and initial costs—and increase the potential benefits.

Here are six paths to passive income that may be worth pursuing.

1. High-Dividend Stocks

When you purchase stock in a company that pays dividends to its shareholders, you’ll start earning a percentage of the company’s profits automatically. For example, if a company pays an annualized dividend of 50 cents per share and you own 500 shares, you’ll get an extra $250 in your pocket—for doing nothing more than being a shareholder. (Most companies pay dividends on a quarterly basis, so you’d earn about 13 cents per share each quarter.)

Certain industries, like public utilities, financial services and oil, tend to pay higher dividends than others, so do your homework with resources like Yahoo! Finance’s stocks screener or by talking to an advisor.

“If you’re going after dividend income, the sweet spot is not the company that’s currently paying the highest yield, but the companies that are likely to generate growth in dividends in the coming months and years,” says Rob Brown, a Certified Financial Analyst and chief investment officer at United Capital. “Pay attention to what companies and industries are thriving now; they are most likely to raise the dividends they’re paying now in the future.”

You may also choose to reinvest your dividends, which allows you to buy more shares even without spending more money, so you can benefit more when the price rises.

One caveat: Remember that there are risks involved with investing in individual stocks—even ones with high-dividend yield—as the price of the stock can go up or down. You can lower your risk by investing in an index or other low-cost funds, which contains shares of many companies. One option is to look for dividend-paying ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, which are funds that trade like stocks. (Investing apps like Acorns and Betterment use such ETFs and reinvest dividends automatically.)

2. Bonds

Purchasing bonds can be another good way to earn consistent passive income, though the amount you’ll receive depends on the fluctuating bond market. “Bondholders [usually] receive a check every six months for the interest earned in loaning the entity money, and, in turn, get their principal back at maturity,” Ferrantino explains.

There’s a wide variety of bonds to choose from, including U.S. Treasury bonds, municipal bonds and corporate bonds. Each has its own maturity date, minimum investment, interest rate and payout. For instance, Treasury notes mature in two to 10 years and pay interest semiannually at a fixed rate (currently about 1 percent to 2 percent, depending on term lengths, and it is exempt from state and local taxes), while corporate bonds pay taxable interest and can have maturities ranging from a few weeks to 100 years.

Before purchasing bonds, make sure you know what you’re getting into—and what you will get out of it.

3. Rental Properties

Acquiring and maintaining rental property can require a lot more investment and sweat equity than other types of passive income, both upfront and over the years (if the roof leaks or the boiler breaks down in a rental property, you’re on the hook for it). But rental properties can also provide lucrative, ongoing income for many years to come.

“Rental properties in a market you understand can be a fantastic passive investment,” says Jeffrey Zucker, a seasoned angel investor and property management entrepreneur in Chicago. “I look for large or fast-growing housing markets, where people are clamoring for affordable, nice places.”

Before purchasing a property, Zucker recommends comprehensive due diligence to ensure that you can cover your costs—which likely include insurance, taxes and maintenance—and turn a profit on top of that. You want to invest in a property that will draw continued interest from renters and increase in value.

He also recommends using an experienced property manager. “There are some great property management companies out there that can assist to make leasing out rental properties truly passive mailbox money,” Zucker says. “Having managed our own properties for a few years prior to partnering with a company, we learned the long hours and effort that go into maintaining properties and dealing with tenants—and how much better those who focus solely on this role are at the job.”

Related Post: Should You Try Renting Your Home to Make Extra Money?

4. Rewards Credit Cards

This might seem like an odd addition—and this is not a strategy to pursue unless you are able to pay off your bill in full each month.

However, if you can use credit responsibly and avoid racking up debt, rewards credit cards can provide easy income, thanks to perks like cash-back bonuses. For instance, use a cash-back card for all your household expenses—and pay it off at the end of the month—and you’ll earn money simply by making necessary purchases.

(Ferrantino recommends a card like the PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards Visa, which gives you 5-percent cash back on gas purchases and another 3 percent for groceries and has a low annual fee. NerdWallet also has a ranking of the best cash-back cards, including several with no annual fee.)

“My rewards have paid for a variety of travel experiences, and I have friends that use their points to pay exclusively for a certain [budget] category, like gas or household bills. It’s nice for them to cross an expense off simply by doing all of their planned spending on the right card,” Zucker says. “Be careful though, as many of the best rewards cards have high interest rates for any carry-over debt.”

5. Peer-to-Peer Lending

Also known as “marketplace lending,” peer-to-peer lending is the practice of individuals loaning money to others in place of a bank or other financial institution. In recent years, platforms like Prosper and Lending Club have made these crowdfunded loans more widely available to borrowers and opened the possibilities for investors.

“New, technology-driven intermediaries have been coming in and replacing banks to make small loans to businesses or individuals, and they offer many comparative advantages,” Brown says.

Remember, though, that while investing through a peer-to-peer marketplace can pay off—Prosper investors, for example, can earn about 5 percent to 9 percent annually—there are still risks involved and borrowers may default on their debts. One way to protect yourself, Brown says, is by requiring that borrowers’ credit quality is above a certain level, depending on your appetite for risk. You can also reduce risk by diversifying your investment across many different loans.

6. Renting Unused Space

The sharing economy is in full force, and if you have extra space in your home or spend a lot of time out of town, you can join in and earn some extra cash. Thousands of people are renting out their homes through Airbnb, and sites like Liquid Space and Breather offer opportunities to place your office or home up for rent during daytime hours. (Airbnb hosts renting a single room in a two-bedroom home cover, on average, a whopping 81 percent of their rent, according to one report.)

“Any unused space is an asset worth renting out if there is demand in your market,” Zucker says. “[Online marketplaces] offer consumers easy ways to make some extra money on rooms that would otherwise be doing nothing for them.”

This post originally appeared on Grow.

Related:

I Got a 25 Percent Pay Bump After Dumping This Bad Habit

I Can’t Believe I Get Paid To Do This: 4 Real-Life Dream Jobs

Why We Have 10 Savings Accounts (That Have Nothing to Do With Emergencies)

The post 6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep) appeared first on Money Peach.

6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep) posted first on http://ift.tt/2sSbQiu

[carpediempagesite]

6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep)

Whether you’re trying to pay off debt, top off your emergency fund or invest more, a little extra monthly income can get you there faster.

But there are only so many hours in a day—and maybe adding another side hustle to your busy schedule just isn’t possible. Wouldn’t it be great if you could somehow earn more without working additional hours or hitting up your boss for another raise? That’s what happens when you create passive income streams.

“Passive income’s great because it increases your cash flow and allows you to save [more],” says financial advisor Craig J. Ferrantino, president of Craig James Financial Services, LLC in N.Y. “The initial effort in some cases is minimal, and you have the ability to collect money on those efforts over a period of time.”

Of course, investing in the stock market can provide earnings over time through market returns and the magic of compounding. But there are also ways to create steady streams of passive income that pay out at regular intervals.

These efforts don’t come without risk. But with careful planning and consideration, you can lower the risks—and initial costs—and increase the potential benefits.

Here are six paths to passive income that may be worth pursuing.

 1. High-Dividend Stocks

When you purchase stock in a company that pays dividends to its shareholders, you’ll start earning a percentage of the company’s profits automatically. For example, if a company pays an annualized dividend of 50 cents per share and you own 500 shares, you’ll get an extra $250 in your pocket—for doing nothing more than being a shareholder. (Most companies pay dividends on a quarterly basis, so you’d earn about 13 cents per share each quarter.)

Certain industries, like public utilities, financial services and oil, tend to pay higher dividends than others, so do your homework with resources like Yahoo! Finance’s stocks screener or by talking to an advisor.

“If you’re going after dividend income, the sweet spot is not the company that’s currently paying the highest yield, but the companies that are likely to generate growth in dividends in the coming months and years,” says Rob Brown, a Certified Financial Analyst and chief investment officer at United Capital. “Pay attention to what companies and industries are thriving now; they are most likely to raise the dividends they’re paying now in the future.”

You may also choose to reinvest your dividends, which allows you to buy more shares even without spending more money, so you can benefit more when the price rises.

One caveat: Remember that there are risks involved with investing in individual stocks—even ones with high-dividend yield—as the price of the stock can go up or down. You can lower your risk by investing in an index or other low-cost funds, which contains shares of many companies. One option is to look for dividend-paying ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, which are funds that trade like stocks. (Investing apps like Acorns and Betterment use such ETFs and reinvest dividends automatically.)

2. Bonds

Purchasing bonds can be another good way to earn consistent passive income, though the amount you’ll receive depends on the fluctuating bond market. “Bondholders [usually] receive a check every six months for the interest earned in loaning the entity money, and, in turn, get their principal back at maturity,” Ferrantino explains.

There’s a wide variety of bonds to choose from, including U.S. Treasury bonds, municipal bonds and corporate bonds. Each has its own maturity date, minimum investment, interest rate and payout.

For instance, Treasury notes mature in two to 10 years and pay interest semiannually at a fixed rate (currently about 1 percent to 2 percent, depending on term lengths, and it is exempt from state and local taxes), while corporate bonds pay taxable interest and can have maturities ranging from a few weeks to 100 years.

Before purchasing bonds, make sure you know what you’re getting into—and what you will get out of it.

3. Rental Properties

Acquiring and maintaining rental property can require a lot more investment and sweat equity than other types of passive income, both upfront and over the years (if the roof leaks or the boiler breaks down in a rental property, you’re on the hook for it). But rental properties can also provide lucrative, ongoing income for many years to come.

“Rental properties in a market you understand can be a fantastic passive investment,” says Jeffrey Zucker, a seasoned angel investor and property management entrepreneur in Chicago. “I look for large or fast-growing housing markets, where people are clamoring for affordable, nice places.”

Before purchasing a property, Zucker recommends comprehensive due diligence to ensure that you can cover your costs—which likely include insurance, taxes and maintenance—and turn a profit on top of that. You want to invest in a property that will draw continued interest from renters and increase in value.

He also recommends using an experienced property manager. “There are some great property management companies out there that can assist to make leasing out rental properties truly passive mailbox money,” Zucker says.

“Having managed our own properties for a few years prior to partnering with a company, we learned the long hours and effort that go into maintaining properties and dealing with tenants—and how much better those who focus solely on this role are at the job.”

 Related Post: Should You Try Renting Your Home to Make Extra Money?

 4. Rewards Credit Cards

This might seem like an odd addition—and this is not a strategy to pursue unless you are able to pay off your bill in full each month.

However, if you can use credit responsibly and avoid racking up debt, rewards credit cards can provide easy income, thanks to perks like cash-back bonuses. For instance, use a cash-back card for all your household expenses—and pay it off at the end of the month—and you’ll earn money simply by making necessary purchases.

(Ferrantino recommends a card like the PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards Visa, which gives you 5-percent cash back on gas purchases and another 3 percent for groceries and has a low annual fee. NerdWallet also has a ranking of the best cash-back cards, including several with no annual fee.)

“My rewards have paid for a variety of travel experiences, and I have friends that use their points to pay exclusively for a certain [budget] category, like gas or household bills. It’s nice for them to cross an expense off simply by doing all of their planned spending on the right card,” Zucker says. “Be careful though, as many of the best rewards cards have high interest rates for any carry-over debt.”

 5. Peer-to-Peer Lending

Also known as “marketplace lending,” peer-to-peer lending is the practice of individuals loaning money to others in place of a bank or other financial institution. In recent years, platforms like Prosper and Lending Club have made these crowdfunded loans more widely available to borrowers and opened the possibilities for investors.

“New, technology-driven intermediaries have been coming in and replacing banks to make small loans to businesses or individuals, and they offer many comparative advantages,” Brown says.

Remember, though, that while investing through a peer-to-peer marketplace can pay off—Prosper investors, for example, can earn about 5 percent to 9 percent annually—there are still risks involved and borrowers may default on their debts. One way to protect yourself, Brown says, is by requiring that borrowers’ credit quality is above a certain level, depending on your appetite for risk. You can also reduce risk by diversifying your investment across many different loans.

6. Renting Unused Space

The sharing economy is in full force, and if you have extra space in your home or spend a lot of time out of town, you can join in and earn some extra cash. Thousands of people are renting out their homes through Airbnb, and sites like Liquid Space and Breather offer opportunities to place your office or home up for rent during daytime hours. (Airbnb hosts renting a single room in a two-bedroom home cover, on average, a whopping 81 percent of their rent, according to one report.)

“Any unused space is an asset worth renting out if there is demand in your market,” Zucker says. “[Online marketplaces] offer consumers easy ways to make some extra money on rooms that would otherwise be doing nothing for them.”

This post originally appeared on Grow.

Related:

I Got a 25 Percent Pay Bump After Dumping This Bad Habit

I Can’t Believe I Get Paid To Do This: 4 Real-Life Dream Jobs

Why We Have 10 Savings Accounts (That Have Nothing to Do With Emergencies)

The post 6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep) appeared first on Money Peach.

6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep) posted first on cashforcarsperthblog.blogspot.com

[carpediempagesite]

6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep)

Whether you’re trying to pay off debt, top off your emergency fund or invest more, a little extra monthly income can get you there faster.

But there are only so many hours in a day—and maybe adding another side hustle to your busy schedule just isn’t possible. Wouldn’t it be great if you could somehow earn more without working additional hours or hitting up your boss for another raise? That’s what happens when you create passive income streams.

“Passive income’s great because it increases your cash flow and allows you to save [more],” says financial advisor Craig J. Ferrantino, president of Craig James Financial Services, LLC in N.Y. “The initial effort in some cases is minimal, and you have the ability to collect money on those efforts over a period of time.”

Of course, investing in the stock market can provide earnings over time through market returns and the magic of compounding. But there are also ways to create steady streams of passive income that pay out at regular intervals.

These efforts don’t come without risk. But with careful planning and consideration, you can lower the risks—and initial costs—and increase the potential benefits.

Here are six paths to passive income that may be worth pursuing.

 1. High-Dividend Stocks

When you purchase stock in a company that pays dividends to its shareholders, you’ll start earning a percentage of the company’s profits automatically. For example, if a company pays an annualized dividend of 50 cents per share and you own 500 shares, you’ll get an extra $250 in your pocket—for doing nothing more than being a shareholder. (Most companies pay dividends on a quarterly basis, so you’d earn about 13 cents per share each quarter.)

Certain industries, like public utilities, financial services and oil, tend to pay higher dividends than others, so do your homework with resources like Yahoo! Finance’s stocks screener or by talking to an advisor.

“If you’re going after dividend income, the sweet spot is not the company that’s currently paying the highest yield, but the companies that are likely to generate growth in dividends in the coming months and years,” says Rob Brown, a Certified Financial Analyst and chief investment officer at United Capital. “Pay attention to what companies and industries are thriving now; they are most likely to raise the dividends they’re paying now in the future.”

You may also choose to reinvest your dividends, which allows you to buy more shares even without spending more money, so you can benefit more when the price rises.

One caveat: Remember that there are risks involved with investing in individual stocks—even ones with high-dividend yield—as the price of the stock can go up or down. You can lower your risk by investing in an index or other low-cost funds, which contains shares of many companies. One option is to look for dividend-paying ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, which are funds that trade like stocks. (Investing apps like Acorns and Betterment use such ETFs and reinvest dividends automatically.)

2. Bonds

Purchasing bonds can be another good way to earn consistent passive income, though the amount you’ll receive depends on the fluctuating bond market. “Bondholders [usually] receive a check every six months for the interest earned in loaning the entity money, and, in turn, get their principal back at maturity,” Ferrantino explains.

There’s a wide variety of bonds to choose from, including U.S. Treasury bonds, municipal bonds and corporate bonds. Each has its own maturity date, minimum investment, interest rate and payout.

For instance, Treasury notes mature in two to 10 years and pay interest semiannually at a fixed rate (currently about 1 percent to 2 percent, depending on term lengths, and it is exempt from state and local taxes), while corporate bonds pay taxable interest and can have maturities ranging from a few weeks to 100 years.

Before purchasing bonds, make sure you know what you’re getting into—and what you will get out of it.

3. Rental Properties

Acquiring and maintaining rental property can require a lot more investment and sweat equity than other types of passive income, both upfront and over the years (if the roof leaks or the boiler breaks down in a rental property, you’re on the hook for it). But rental properties can also provide lucrative, ongoing income for many years to come.

“Rental properties in a market you understand can be a fantastic passive investment,” says Jeffrey Zucker, a seasoned angel investor and property management entrepreneur in Chicago. “I look for large or fast-growing housing markets, where people are clamoring for affordable, nice places.”

Before purchasing a property, Zucker recommends comprehensive due diligence to ensure that you can cover your costs—which likely include insurance, taxes and maintenance—and turn a profit on top of that. You want to invest in a property that will draw continued interest from renters and increase in value.

He also recommends using an experienced property manager. “There are some great property management companies out there that can assist to make leasing out rental properties truly passive mailbox money,” Zucker says.

“Having managed our own properties for a few years prior to partnering with a company, we learned the long hours and effort that go into maintaining properties and dealing with tenants—and how much better those who focus solely on this role are at the job.”

 Related Post: Should You Try Renting Your Home to Make Extra Money?

 4. Rewards Credit Cards

This might seem like an odd addition—and this is not a strategy to pursue unless you are able to pay off your bill in full each month.

However, if you can use credit responsibly and avoid racking up debt, rewards credit cards can provide easy income, thanks to perks like cash-back bonuses. For instance, use a cash-back card for all your household expenses—and pay it off at the end of the month—and you’ll earn money simply by making necessary purchases.

(Ferrantino recommends a card like the PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards Visa, which gives you 5-percent cash back on gas purchases and another 3 percent for groceries and has a low annual fee. NerdWallet also has a ranking of the best cash-back cards, including several with no annual fee.)

“My rewards have paid for a variety of travel experiences, and I have friends that use their points to pay exclusively for a certain [budget] category, like gas or household bills. It’s nice for them to cross an expense off simply by doing all of their planned spending on the right card,” Zucker says. “Be careful though, as many of the best rewards cards have high interest rates for any carry-over debt.”

 5. Peer-to-Peer Lending

Also known as “marketplace lending,” peer-to-peer lending is the practice of individuals loaning money to others in place of a bank or other financial institution. In recent years, platforms like Prosper and Lending Club have made these crowdfunded loans more widely available to borrowers and opened the possibilities for investors.

“New, technology-driven intermediaries have been coming in and replacing banks to make small loans to businesses or individuals, and they offer many comparative advantages,” Brown says.

Remember, though, that while investing through a peer-to-peer marketplace can pay off—Prosper investors, for example, can earn about 5 percent to 9 percent annually—there are still risks involved and borrowers may default on their debts. One way to protect yourself, Brown says, is by requiring that borrowers’ credit quality is above a certain level, depending on your appetite for risk. You can also reduce risk by diversifying your investment across many different loans.

6. Renting Unused Space

The sharing economy is in full force, and if you have extra space in your home or spend a lot of time out of town, you can join in and earn some extra cash. Thousands of people are renting out their homes through Airbnb, and sites like Liquid Space and Breather offer opportunities to place your office or home up for rent during daytime hours. (Airbnb hosts renting a single room in a two-bedroom home cover, on average, a whopping 81 percent of their rent, according to one report.)

“Any unused space is an asset worth renting out if there is demand in your market,” Zucker says. “[Online marketplaces] offer consumers easy ways to make some extra money on rooms that would otherwise be doing nothing for them.”

This post originally appeared on Grow.

Related:

I Got a 25 Percent Pay Bump After Dumping This Bad Habit

I Can’t Believe I Get Paid To Do This: 4 Real-Life Dream Jobs

Why We Have 10 Savings Accounts (That Have Nothing to Do With Emergencies)

The post 6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep) appeared first on Money Peach.

6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep) posted first on cashforcarsperthblog.blogspot.com

[carpediempagesite]

6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep)

Whether you’re trying to pay off debt, top off your emergency fund or invest more, a little extra monthly income can get you there faster.

But there are only so many hours in a day—and maybe adding another side hustle to your busy schedule just isn’t possible. Wouldn’t it be great if you could somehow earn more without working additional hours or hitting up your boss for another raise? That’s what happens when you create passive income streams.

“Passive income’s great because it increases your cash flow and allows you to save [more],” says financial advisor Craig J. Ferrantino, president of Craig James Financial Services, LLC in N.Y. “The initial effort in some cases is minimal, and you have the ability to collect money on those efforts over a period of time.”

Of course, investing in the stock market can provide earnings over time through market returns and the magic of compounding. But there are also ways to create steady streams of passive income that pay out at regular intervals.

These efforts don’t come without risk. But with careful planning and consideration, you can lower the risks—and initial costs—and increase the potential benefits.

Here are six paths to passive income that may be worth pursuing.

1. High-Dividend Stocks

When you purchase stock in a company that pays dividends to its shareholders, you’ll start earning a percentage of the company’s profits automatically. For example, if a company pays an annualized dividend of 50 cents per share and you own 500 shares, you’ll get an extra $250 in your pocket—for doing nothing more than being a shareholder. (Most companies pay dividends on a quarterly basis, so you’d earn about 13 cents per share each quarter.)

Certain industries, like public utilities, financial services and oil, tend to pay higher dividends than others, so do your homework with resources like Yahoo! Finance’s stocks screener or by talking to an advisor.

“If you’re going after dividend income, the sweet spot is not the company that’s currently paying the highest yield, but the companies that are likely to generate growth in dividends in the coming months and years,” says Rob Brown, a Certified Financial Analyst and chief investment officer at United Capital. “Pay attention to what companies and industries are thriving now; they are most likely to raise the dividends they’re paying now in the future.”

You may also choose to reinvest your dividends, which allows you to buy more shares even without spending more money, so you can benefit more when the price rises.

One caveat: Remember that there are risks involved with investing in individual stocks—even ones with high-dividend yield—as the price of the stock can go up or down. You can lower your risk by investing in an index or other low-cost funds, which contains shares of many companies. One option is to look for dividend-paying ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, which are funds that trade like stocks. (Investing apps like Acorns and Betterment use such ETFs and reinvest dividends automatically.)

2. Bonds

Purchasing bonds can be another good way to earn consistent passive income, though the amount you’ll receive depends on the fluctuating bond market. “Bondholders [usually] receive a check every six months for the interest earned in loaning the entity money, and, in turn, get their principal back at maturity,” Ferrantino explains.

There’s a wide variety of bonds to choose from, including U.S. Treasury bonds, municipal bonds and corporate bonds. Each has its own maturity date, minimum investment, interest rate and payout. For instance, Treasury notes mature in two to 10 years and pay interest semiannually at a fixed rate (currently about 1 percent to 2 percent, depending on term lengths, and it is exempt from state and local taxes), while corporate bonds pay taxable interest and can have maturities ranging from a few weeks to 100 years.

Before purchasing bonds, make sure you know what you’re getting into—and what you will get out of it.

3. Rental Properties

Acquiring and maintaining rental property can require a lot more investment and sweat equity than other types of passive income, both upfront and over the years (if the roof leaks or the boiler breaks down in a rental property, you’re on the hook for it). But rental properties can also provide lucrative, ongoing income for many years to come.

“Rental properties in a market you understand can be a fantastic passive investment,” says Jeffrey Zucker, a seasoned angel investor and property management entrepreneur in Chicago. “I look for large or fast-growing housing markets, where people are clamoring for affordable, nice places.”

Before purchasing a property, Zucker recommends comprehensive due diligence to ensure that you can cover your costs—which likely include insurance, taxes and maintenance—and turn a profit on top of that. You want to invest in a property that will draw continued interest from renters and increase in value.

He also recommends using an experienced property manager. “There are some great property management companies out there that can assist to make leasing out rental properties truly passive mailbox money,” Zucker says. “Having managed our own properties for a few years prior to partnering with a company, we learned the long hours and effort that go into maintaining properties and dealing with tenants—and how much better those who focus solely on this role are at the job.”

Related Post: Should You Try Renting Your Home to Make Extra Money?

4. Rewards Credit Cards

This might seem like an odd addition—and this is not a strategy to pursue unless you are able to pay off your bill in full each month.

However, if you can use credit responsibly and avoid racking up debt, rewards credit cards can provide easy income, thanks to perks like cash-back bonuses. For instance, use a cash-back card for all your household expenses—and pay it off at the end of the month—and you’ll earn money simply by making necessary purchases.

(Ferrantino recommends a card like the PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards Visa, which gives you 5-percent cash back on gas purchases and another 3 percent for groceries and has a low annual fee. NerdWallet also has a ranking of the best cash-back cards, including several with no annual fee.)

“My rewards have paid for a variety of travel experiences, and I have friends that use their points to pay exclusively for a certain [budget] category, like gas or household bills. It’s nice for them to cross an expense off simply by doing all of their planned spending on the right card,” Zucker says. “Be careful though, as many of the best rewards cards have high interest rates for any carry-over debt.”

5. Peer-to-Peer Lending

Also known as “marketplace lending,” peer-to-peer lending is the practice of individuals loaning money to others in place of a bank or other financial institution. In recent years, platforms like Prosper and Lending Club have made these crowdfunded loans more widely available to borrowers and opened the possibilities for investors.

“New, technology-driven intermediaries have been coming in and replacing banks to make small loans to businesses or individuals, and they offer many comparative advantages,” Brown says.

Remember, though, that while investing through a peer-to-peer marketplace can pay off—Prosper investors, for example, can earn about 5 percent to 9 percent annually—there are still risks involved and borrowers may default on their debts. One way to protect yourself, Brown says, is by requiring that borrowers’ credit quality is above a certain level, depending on your appetite for risk. You can also reduce risk by diversifying your investment across many different loans.

6. Renting Unused Space

The sharing economy is in full force, and if you have extra space in your home or spend a lot of time out of town, you can join in and earn some extra cash. Thousands of people are renting out their homes through Airbnb, and sites like Liquid Space and Breather offer opportunities to place your office or home up for rent during daytime hours. (Airbnb hosts renting a single room in a two-bedroom home cover, on average, a whopping 81 percent of their rent, according to one report.)

“Any unused space is an asset worth renting out if there is demand in your market,” Zucker says. “[Online marketplaces] offer consumers easy ways to make some extra money on rooms that would otherwise be doing nothing for them.”

This post originally appeared on Grow.

Related:

I Got a 25 Percent Pay Bump After Dumping This Bad Habit

I Can’t Believe I Get Paid To Do This: 4 Real-Life Dream Jobs

Why We Have 10 Savings Accounts (That Have Nothing to Do With Emergencies)

The post 6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep) appeared first on Money Peach.

6 Legit Ways to Make Money (While You Sleep) posted first on cashforcarsperthblog.blogspot.com