"Just about the time you think you can make both ends meet, somebody moves the ends." - Pansy Penner

SavingAdvice.com Blog

Bridging the gap between saving money and investing

Career

How to Earn Big in the Gig Economy

By Leave a Comment

How to Earn Big in the Gig Economy

Nowadays, the “side gig” has become all the more common. While many still maintain full-time work, the independent contractor has become a staple in the US economy. The good news is, you don’t have to give up your full time employment to take part in the gig economy. For many people, it just takes the form of monetizing a hobby they already do in their free time. The difference between those who strike gold, and those who don’t, is effort. Not only in your work ethic, but in your online presence and scheduling. To make sure you maximize your earning potential, here are some great tips on how to earn big in the gig economy.

Focus

One big mistake a lot of side-hustlers make is spreading their focus too wide. Casting a wide net can seem useful at first, but long-term business comes from building a book of business. The best way to do this is to begin by focusing in on one particular skill you have, and hitting it hard from the get-go. You can diversify later, but if you want steady income, spend your first months developing a clientele and a good reputation at one trade. Use that initial endeavor as the anchor for your independent work, and you’ll find yourself ready to be your own boss much sooner than if you spread your efforts around many different jobs.

Online Presence

Getting clients for your side gig is more than just posting ads. While it is vital to have adds up on all relevant sites like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, having a central point of entry is extremely important. Instead of just dropping your contact info on each ad, get ahold of a cheap or free web domain and create a site for your trade. This way, you can direct people to a website focused on you and your portfolio. Now, instead of saying “they did great, I found them on Craigslist,” your clients can send a link to their impressed friends and family. Now you are dealing with a faster referral process, and much less competition. The site will also provide more space for you to explain what you do, and how well you do it.

Scheduling

Consistency is key. If you have a set schedule of when you can get jobs done, make it public and stick to it. One of the biggest issues people have with independents is reliability, and you can be the one to change that impression. Having this schedule public will also serve to reduce friction in the customer acquisition process. “Can you do 6pm on Thursday?” leads to a close much faster than “When are you able to come by?” As with anything, the more information you give at the onset (without overloading) the less they need along the way. When it comes to business that more or less has to finds you, a fast initiation process can make or break you. People are usually asking around many different ads, and the person who can close them the fastest will usually win the day.

How To Make The Best Of Your Temp Accounting Position

By Leave a Comment

Whether it be to quickly raise the value of your resume or to help you discover where you fit in the great tapestry of the accounting industry, a temp position is perhaps one of the most surefire ways to guarantee you set a proper foundation for your career. Of course, not all temps are made the same with some performing at a much higher level than others. Besides raw job performance there is also a lot of social intelligence required to ensure you properly use the position as a springboard for future success.

So without further ado, here’s how you can make the most out of your temp position as an accountant:

Understand That You Are Filling In For Someone

A company chooses to seek out the services of a temp agency when they either need an accountant quickly or their usual staff is on maternity leave/similar extended leave. That means you’re going in to sub in for someone else so their work gets done, you are filling in, not necessarily replacing. You should understand that you don’t have the same standing in the company that they did nor the level of trust they had. Do the job to the best of your ability while ensuring that you aren’t trying to play the role of a usurper. Essentially just know your place in the grand scheme of things within the company.

Don’t Annoy Your Superiors

If you’re trying to use your temp position as a way to get your foot in the door for a more permanent position, you should understand that as a temp you’re very much a convenient fix as opposed to someone who’s secured employment at the company in question. Ultimately you work for the temp agency, not necessarily the company that has hired their services. So don’t constantly ask about updates as to whether or not you’re going to be offered a permanent position, nor should you try to kiss up to them in a way that will come off as disingenuous. Your work ethic and overall productivity should speak for itself, this isn’t the time to badger your superiors for information as to whether or not they plan on keeping you on long term.

Give 100% Every Day

As tempting as it is to take things easy as a temp with the understanding you won’t be there forever, cpa jobs and temporary accounting jobs are essentially a proving grounds for yourself. You never know who’s taking an interest in how well you’re performing and how they might be able to help you further your career in the future. Someone who you worked for as a temp might have a friend in a similar company that needs a hard-working & dependable accountant. Instead of them having to search for accountants cold-calling, your boss might refer you to them directly if they are impressed with your work. This means you’re able to get a job that your resume might not necessarily justify just yet thanks to the stellar reference you got from your original employer.

Final Words

All of these tips essentially boil down to the fact that you’ve been selected to help that company keep their accounting in order while they figure out their next moves. That means it is essential that you do the best work you possibly can without overextending yourself or treating yourself as truly part of the “team”. You might not be around forever, in fact you probably won’t be as evidenced by the “temp” part of your position. Still, the experience gained and opportunity for networking can’t be understated, do everything in your power to be the best temp you can be.

For more of our great articles, read these:

Twenty Three Advantages of Self Employment

The Number of Americans Working In Their 70s Is Rising

How To Become An Uber Eats Driver

 

Image source: 401(K) 2012.

The Number of Americans Working in Their 70s is Rising

By 1 Comment

Working in their 70s

Most people dream of retiring someday, even if you love your job. Many of us daydream about what it will be like to live out your golden years without financial worry and surrounded by family and friends. However, many Americans are finding themselves working in their 70s (and not because they love their jobs).

Why Are People Working in Their 70s?

Over the past two decades, the percentage of individuals working in their 70s have increased from 10 percent to 15 percent. Because people are living longer, many of them are outliving their Social Security and retirement savings. This forces them to go back to work or continue to be in the workforce longer than previous generations.

The increase in the number of folks working during their golden years can also be attributed to the types of jobs available as well. There are not many labor-intensive jobs on the market right now, making senior citizens able to return to work than in recent history.

“Which matters more [the choice to keep working or the necessity to do so] depends on what your history up until that point has been in the type of work you’re doing,” said Katharine Abraham, an economics professor.

A Perk for Employers

Employers aren’t totally losing out on this situation. As it turns out, older employees are more likely to be happy in the workplace and more skilled overall. They also have stronger problem-solving skills than their younger counterparts.

Individuals working more physically demanding jobs may be looking forward to retirement. Many of those continuing to work those careers in their old age are doing so out of necessity. But, if you prepare for retirement well enough, you won’t have to.

How to Better Prepare for Retirement

Education and preparation are key to not joining the ranks of those working in their 70s. This 10-point list gives you a few things to consider to better prepare for your golden years.

  1. Build up emergency savings immediately. Having emergency savings will keep you from racking up debt as well as give you the ability to begin saving for retirement.
  2. Budget for your retirement. Think about how much money you’ll need to retire, where you’ll live, and what kinds of activities you’ll want to do. Then construct a budget for your golden years.
  3. Consider your health insurance options. Without work, health insurance can be expensive. Some pension plans will include health insurance, but not all will. Find out what your options are early on so you can budget for it.
  4. Educate yourself about how retirement income is taxed. Social security and IRA distributions are taxed. You need to learn about how much money you’ll be paying in taxes to construct a budget correctly.
  5. Draw up an income timeline for retirement. After figuring out your budget, draw up a timeline for your income. How much will you need each year? How long will it be until you retire? What if you outlive the funds you have set up?
  6. Use a retirement calculator to lay out possibilities (and a Social Security calculator). Check out an online retirement calculator and determine different possibilities. You can also figure out what your social security income may be with one of the IRS calculators.
  7. Make an investment plan and read up on the best retirement investments. Maybe even hire someone to help you with these investments. Determine your risk tolerance and figure out what investments will help you later in life.
  8. Consider hiring a retirement planner. Be sure to interview a few. Retirement planners can be great in helping you get set up and manage your money during retirement. Just be sure you get the right planner for your needs.
  9. Learn how to earn more from your 401(K). If you can roll your 401(K) over into an IRA and you’re nearing 60, it may be in your best interest to transfer the funds.
  10. Analyze the different pension distribution options available to you. Any decisions you make with your pensions cannot be changed. Be sure you know all of your options before you choose.

These 10 things can help set you up for a retirement where you actually get to retire. With more and more Americans working well into their 70s, it is important to be proactive in your financial planning for your later years.

Readers, what do you think about the increase of Americans working in their 70s?

Read More

8 Tips for Starting Your First Small Business

By Leave a Comment

If you’re interested in maximizing your wealth, leaving a legacy for your children, or just seizing more control over how you work on a regular basis, starting a small business may be your best career opportunity. Startups and small businesses are the lifeblood of a strong economy, and are incredible financial opportunities for the entrepreneurs starting them.

However, starting a small business can also be challenging. Roughly half of small businesses fail within the first five years of their founding, and even if you succeed, the life of an entrepreneur is often a stressful and time-consuming one. Fortunately, there are some tips that can help you be successful with your first—and potentially only—business.

Important Tips for First-Time Small Business Owners

Follow these important tips to get your business started with the highest probability of success:

  1. Be ready to fail. Remember, the rate of business failure is high, and even if your business survives for many years, you’ll inevitably fail with one or more smaller components of managing your business. What’s important isn’t whether or not you fail (because you almost certainly will), but how you respond to that failure. Will you learn from it and move on, or admit defeat and dwell in the past?
  2. Choose the right business structure. Many new business owners want to start a sole proprietorship or a partnership because those business structures seem easier. However, it’s typically recommended that you incorporate your business or create an LLC. These business structures serve as separate legal entities, providing you (and any other founding members of your business) with liability protection.
  3. Spend time on your business plan. Your business plan is one of the most valuable documents to your business, and many entrepreneurs either rush through it or neglect it entirely because they see it as superficial and unnecessary. Business plans aren’t just blueprints for how to develop the business; they’re also your opportunity to learn more about your business environment, including your competition and target demographics. The research you do here will follow your business for years.
  4. Expect your idea to evolve. Few entrepreneurs end up with the business they pictured in their mind when they first came up with the idea. Instead, the best businesses are the result of a natural evolution. As you learn more about how to run a business and as the landscape around you changes, your business should change accordingly.
  5. Don’t hire employees right away (unless you have to). Employees are a major expense for your business, and can be a major contributing factor to your success. Take your time when it comes to hiring them; hiring too quickly could leave you with an unqualified candidate or could exhaust your business’s budget prematurely.
  6. Grow at a deliberate pace. Similarly, be careful how you grow your business. If you grow too slowly, you won’t generate enough revenue to sustain your profitability or get you closer to your long-term business goals. But growing too quickly can also be a problem; if you invest too much, too fast into new buildings, new employees, and new products, you run the risk of wasting that money. Instead, strive to grow at a deliberate, steady pace.
  7. Choose cost-effective marketing and advertising strategies. Marketing and advertising can be expensive, but it’s also necessary. These strategies are your best bet for generating more business exposure, and without them, you’ll struggle to get new clients and customers. However, you shouldn’t spend money recklessly; instead, seek the most cost-efficient marketing and advertising strategies you can find. Inbound marketing strategies tend to be effective here, such as content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).
  8. Work with a mentor. Finally, try to speak with a mentor (or several) if you can, on a regular basis. Mentors are there to guide you, answer your questions, and provide you with insights they wish they’d had when they were first starting out as entrepreneurs. That doesn’t mean you need to do everything they say, but their perspectives can be enormously valuable.

Knowing Your Long-Term Goals

Here’s one bonus tip for you: know your long-term goals. What are you ultimately hoping to get out of this business? How are you going to handle things at the end of your life, or at the end of the business’s life? There are many possible exit strategies to consider, including selling the business to a larger company, retaining your ownership stake but stepping down, passing the company to your children, or appointing someone from within as the new CEO. Determining your bottom-line goals early on can help you build and develop the business in a way that makes this outcome more likely—and more valuable to whoever’s around at the end. You may want to invest in business skills training for you and your employees. When you have a company full of well trained, highly productive, and confident people, it will provide more benefits than just learning skills. Besides, it will help your small business boost the productivity and growth.

Unemployment Rate Drops to Lowest Level in Decades

By Leave a Comment

Unemployment rate

The United States job market continued to excel in April, adding 263,000 new hires. On top of the huge increase in jobs, the unemployment rate fell to its lowest point since 1969. It is now sitting at just 3.6 percent. That is the lowest level of unemployment the U.S. has seen in a generation.

The Unemployment Rate Has Plummeted Under Trump

The last time unemployment was this low was in December 1969 (at the time, it was 3.5 percent). If this job growth continues, it will be the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. Not to mention, job growth beat all of the Wall Street expectation. It was expected that payroll growth would be around 190,000 and the unemployment rate would be sitting at 3.8 percent at the end of April. Job growth was much larger at 263,000 new hires and only 3.6 percent of Americans are jobless.

Average earnings growth has held pretty steady over the past year, however, at 3.2 percent. The average salary in America sits at $27.77 and the average workweek hovers around 34.4 hours.

While the total unemployment rate is down, a broader gauge of the unemployed (including underemployed and people who have quit looking for work) still sits at 7.3%. That hasn’t changed since February, but it doesn’t have economists worried.

“Leaving aside month-to-month fluctuations, the labor market is still very strong, adding almost double the number of workers needed to keep pace with new entrants to the labor force in any given month,” said Eric Winograd, AllianceBernstein’s senior economist. “Wages may have been slightly tepid this month relative to expectations but are still growing at just about the highest rate this cycle, and the unemployment rate is at multi-generational lows.”

Where Are The Jobs?

Business and professional services saw an increase of 76,000 jobs in April, leading job growth during the month. Construction added another 33,000 jobs during the month (256,000 throughout the past year). As always, the health care field is booming. It added 27,000 jobs in April (404,000 in the past year).

Jobs pertaining to finance rose by 12,000 (mostly real estate, rentals, and leasing). Both manufacturing and social assistance saw increases of 4,000 and 26,000, respectively.

Unsurprisingly, the retail job market saw a loss of 12,000 jobs in April, as many retailers are struggling to keep up with Amazon.

All in all, job growth has been consistent under President Trump. Month-to-month gains have averaged at 205,000 jobs per month.

Read More

Employee Wellness Programs Are Largely Ineffective, Says Study

By 1 Comment

Employee workplace programs

Companies have implemented employee wellness programs for years to encourage workers to improve their health. A new study has found that employers may want to take a second look at what they are offering because, by in large, the programs have been ineffective.

How Effective Are Employee Wellness Programs?

The study was published in the Tuesday edition of JAMA. It took a look at 33,000 workers employed by BJ’s Wholesale, a wholesale retailer, which offers a wellness program for its employees.

What researchers found was that, although employees learned more about exercise and watched their weight, there were no significant health benefits seen. Blood pressure, blood sugar, and other health measures remained about the same across the board. There was also no real change in health care costs, which is the main goal of employee wellness programs.

“These findings may temper expectations about the financial return on investment that wellness programs can deliver in the short term,” the study concluded.

Are Wellness Programs a Waste?

Currently, more than 82 percent of companies that have 200 employees or more, offer some sort of wellness program or health program. These may include “Stop Smoking” programs or weight management programs as well.

Typically, these programs are offered with some sort of financial perk as well. For instance, some companies will offer a gift card for jumping on the wagon to lose weight. Others might discount your health insurance.

Executives are establishing these wellness programs to cut down on the overall cost in health care. However, if they are looking for a way to save these employee wellness programs aren’t the way to go. “Wellness is this multibillion-dollar industry where there has been a really weak evidence base of what these programs do,” Dr. Katherine Baicker, one of the study’s authors, said.

However, that isn’t to say they aren’t doing any good. Employee wellness programs do seem to encourage workers to make positive changes where their health is concerned. Down the road, employers may see overall lower medical expenses. Dr. Zirui Song, another author of the study, notes that wellness programs are still a fairly new concept.

Successful Wellness Programs

Workplace wellness programs will differ from company to company. Some employers have been able to establish better, more effective programs than others. Depending on what employers are looking to accomplish, they can be extremely successful.

If the employer is solely looking for savings on health care spending, it is not clear that wellness programs will be beneficial. On the other hand, if they are looking to encourage their employees to be happier and healthier, these wellness programs can be great.

Readers, does your workplace offer a wellness program? Do you take part in it? 

Read More