Financial Videos

Common Bitcoin Scams And How to Avoid Them

August 16, 2017 By Alexa Mason Leave a Comment

How do you know a given technology has arrived? When the scammers start to show up. Since the introduction of Bitcoin in 2009, nearly $11 million has been stolen in numerous bitcoin scams. Despite having been prominent in the news, many people are still not familiar with digital currencies and can’t recognize common Bitcoin scams when they see them.

For investors who want to safely get into Bitcoin, this is the article for you.

There are a lot of different bitcoin scams. This article discuss four: fradulent wallets, brand impersonators, fake mining operations and Ponzi schemes.

1. Fraudulent Wallets

A fraudulent wallet is a Bitcoin application designed to look official in order to steal from you. Numerous fraud Bitcoin wallets enter and leave the market every day from credible stores on the Android and Apple platforms. These wallets upload malware along with their bogus application, allowing hackers access to critical information like your bank account and any Bitcoins you obtain. One way to avoid fraudulent wallets is to go with a well-known application like Ledger Nano, Trezor or Coinbase. You can also ask around.

2. Brand Impersonators

Brand impersonation is commonly used in Bitcoin scams. The scam works like this: a scammer sends a clickbait type message on social media. The message appears to come from a legitimate source. The message directs the user to a site which appears to offer a useful service. The site will then entice the user to enter in their private Bitcoin key. Once the user enters a key, it is stolen and the scammer will be able to spend directly from the user’s Bitcoin wallet. See the graphics below for examples.

Source: ZeroFox

The social media security firm, Zerofox.com, found over 40,000 brand impersonator social media profiles, gathering their research from platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google plus, and Youtube.

3. Fake Mining Operations

Nearly all Bitcoin mining operations have been called scams at one point. To clarify, a fake mining operation is defined as one that takes payments from “investors” but never actually mines Bitcoin. Usually the best way around fake mining operations is to avoid getting involved in the first place. Exercise due dilligence. Red flags for fake miners are:

Newly registered websites with hard to identify ownership
Companies registered in locations with weak identity requirements
Evasion when asked to show proof of equipment
Initial payouts which stop and do not resume
Emphasis on marketing and promotion over operations
Advertising on channels which do not verify credentials.

4. Ponzi Schemes.

A Bitcoin ponzi scheme is an operation, website or organization which falsely markets itself as engaging in cryptocurrency investing or other activity. In reality, these organizations collect money from users and pay out returns for a period of time. After a while, the fake organization stops paying out and user’s funds are stolen. In cryptocurrency, these are usually “mining” schemes which collapse when users stop buying fake mining contracts. How can you avoid Bitcoin ponzi schemes? According to the SEC, the official characteristics of a Ponzi scheme are:

Source: SEC.gov

Avoiding Bitcoin Scams – Get Educated

Every investment in digital currency contains an element of risk. If you’re willing to take the risk, the best strategy is to educate yourself on how blockchain technology works. In case you aren’t clear – blockchain technology is the methodology underling Bitcoin’s value. A good resource is to check out Brock Pierce crypt currency expert. Pierce is an interesting guy, he was a child actor and appeared in the films Mighty Ducks (1992), Mighty Ducks 2 (1994) and First Kid (1996). In later life Pierce went on to become a leader in the Bitcoin community. Here is a great video where he walks you through the logistics of blockchains and how they work in today’s economy.

If you want to invest more into Bitcoin and stay safe, this video will help.

Ever run into trouble with digital currency? If so, leave us a comment below.

Photo credit: Sean MacIntee

Get A Free Personal Finance Education

August 31, 2016 By James Hendrickson 1 Comment

Most self improvement gurus say education drives personal achievement. This is no less true for personal finance. It is extremely difficult to be successful financially if you don’t have a solid basis in accounting and financial management experience. If you are wondering where to start without straining your budget, here are places you can get a free personal finance education:

YouTube

If you thought YouTube was just a repository for free music and adorable cat videos, you may be surprised at the width and breadth of educational materials that are available on this site. Numerous users have put up tutorials and lectures on financial management. For example, there are instructors that take you through the equivalent of a college-level financial management course, lesson by lesson. Best of all, you don’t have to pay for it. For starters consider checking out:

Marnie Aznar’s 12 Part Series on Personal Finance
William Ackman’s Everything You Need to Know About Finance and Investing in Under an Hour
Robert Schiller’s Yale Course on Financial Markets
Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad

The Library

Libraries are another incredible resource, and in particular, you can find a wealth of personal finance education books for free at your local library. Books like “Personal Finance For Dummies” and “Investing For Dummies” by Eric Tyson are both great places to start if you want in overview of the basics. For business education works like “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Leap … And Others Don’t” by Jim Collins provide a quality overview of running a small business successfully. If your library doesn’t have what you’re looking for, ask a librarian. Most libraries are connected through an interlibrary loan system so you can order books that are in other libraries in the area. Alternatively, if you have a college or university in your area, check out their library. They may be more likely to have some of the more advanced financial management titles, especially if the school has a lot of business students.

Study.com

Study.com offers a range of free classes as well as many classes with a price tag. These classes run the gamut of subjects, and the site certainly doesn’t ignore financial management. As an investor, you may want to look into courses about the cost of capital or accounting risk and return. This site also links to classes from prestigious schools such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Stanford University among others, and although you do not earn credits for these classes, you get the same information on entrepreneurial finance or maintaining financial focus as the graduate level finance majors at these institutions receive.

The SBA Learning Center

Another way to get a personal finance education is through the Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA is devoted to helping small business owners get started and achieve the highest level of success possible. The organization does a number of things including guaranteeing loans. But did you know they also offer a learning center? Through the SBA Learning Center, you can explore online modules or training sessions about a range of topics including general financial management, buying a business, selling a business, understanding taxes and much more. The SBA also has a number of local groups. If you have an active group in your area, you may be able to do anything from taking classes to finding a mentor. The SBA local offerings are great resources to explore, and in some cases, you can even obtain a small business loan – which is important as small business owners tend to be richer than non-owners.

OpenLearningWorld.com

OpenLearningWorld is another website designed to share information with people for free. In particular, the site offers a free basic finance class for people who are not finance majors. This 18-hour downloadable course covers assets and liabilities, understanding cash flow, reading balance sheets, analyzing ratios, and understanding depreciation, tracking inventory, budgeting and more, making it ideal for personal finance enthusiasts.

Learning about financial management can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. There are a number of resources that will help you get a free personal finance education that can help you along the way. Everything from videos to books to classes to working with mentors can be accessed for free if you know where to look. Start exploring the above sources, and experience how this new information can help growth your wealth!

If you liked this posting, feel free to share it on social media, rate it 5 stars below or tell a friend!

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How PewDiePie Raked in $7.4 Million Last Year as a YouTuber

July 9, 2015 By Will Lipovsky 5 Comments

Yep, PewDiePie made over $7 million dollars last year. This secures his spot as the wealthiest YouTuber of all time.

When this was recently revealed by a Swedish news outlet (Felix is Swedish), many people were outraged. Here are just a few (of the many!) hateful comments seen on social media:

I find what he does complete garbage. Same goes for people like paris, kardashians, etc…

The one thing that does bother me, and IS a real, serious reason is he makes more money than many of the games he “reacts” to. So… all the man hours, creativity and skill that go into making those games are worth LESS than his idiotic blubbering about them. THAT is SAD AS HELL.

pewdiepie got millions of dollars playing video games and all i got from it was divorced ha ha!!!

In fact, PewDiePie has reacted to these trolls. Watch his reaction video here. He basically says he’s no happier with money than he was when he was barely getting by. He says money doesn’t buy happiness.

However, money must buy something. He definitely wants more of it. No question about that. That’s apparent by the amount of ads he runs on his channel. Not to mention all the other ways he earns money.

This article is about how PewDiePie is able to earn over $7 million from playing video games…

PewDiePie’s Income Streams

YouTube Ad Revenue

As of this writing, his videos have approxmiately 9,388,272,000 views. Yes. Billions of views. These videos contain display ads. When someone clicks on an ad, PewDiePie gets 55% of the money that advertiser paid YouTube to be on their site. The remaining 45% goes to YouTube. If PewDiePie would stop caring about money, he could take down these ads in an instant.

Promotions

What PewDiePie has done is create a massive audience. He has millions of subscribers. Video game companies want him to play their games and hopefully have him say nice things about the product. The individual deals are private but it’s safe to assume companies would pay him tens of thousands of dollars to endorse their game. Maybe even hundreds of thousands. He has said he promotes video games for money.

Merchandise

He also owns PewDiePie.com. Here, you can buy video games and miscellaneous merchandise. There’s a $36 t-shirt as well as many other items.

Speaking Engagements

There are no trustworthy statistics on this but you can bet people are willing to pay big money to have the world’s most famous YouTuber appear on their stage. A lot of people say he’s an internet celebrity. Really, he’s a celebrity. Period.

The Future of PewDiePie’s Reign

While nothing is for certain, it’s pretty safe to say PewDiePie will have plenty of money in his future. In 2013, he made just $4 million. He has near doubled that in 1 year. The power of compounding, am I right??

If his life continues this way, he will earn 15 million this year.

There are about 8,760 hours in a year. That means 25-year-old Felix will earn $1,712 each hour of 2015.

But PewDiePie is not alone. There are thousands of YouTubers making six-figures and beyond each year.

Now to you… what are your thoughts on the PewDiePie enterprise? What does this tell us about where the world is headed?

JJ Watt Awesomeness on What Do Rich People Buy?

September 8, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 1 Comment

JJ Watts has to Google what do rich people buy

JJ Watts of the Houston Texans was asked what he did after signing his $100 million contact, and his answer was awesome. Not only did he not have anything specific in mind that he went out and immediately purchased, he didn’t know what rich people bought so he had to Google, “What do rich people buy?”

While Google is usually quite adept at bringing up the information people are looking for, in this case the search engine failed to impress the football player. He said he wasn’t impressed with anything that came up with the search, so he decided to remain as he has been and continue to work out.

The best part has to be the slightly embarrassed smile which crosses his face as soon as the question is asked. He seemed to turn a slightly darker shade of red when admitting he didn’t know how the rich lived and what they buy. See for the great response for yourself:

Interviewer: “Tell everybody what you did after you signed your $100 million contract. Your friend said you must buy something. You did not know what to buy, so you Googled what?”

JJ Watts: “I Googled ‘What do rich people buy?’ cause I don’t feel like a rich person. I don’t really try to act like a rich person, so I don’t know what they buy. I really didn’t like the stuff I saw, so I think I’m going to stick with my humble lifestyle and keep working out.”

No matter what team you root for in the NFL, it’s always good to see a player keeping perspective after getting a huge contract to play. A lot of NFL players would do good to follow JJ Watts lead and retain the lifestyle they had before they began making millions. If they could keep this perspective, there would be a lot less bankrupt football players.

There are a reported 78% of NFL players either bankrupt or in serious financial trouble within a few years of leaving the NFL. The reason isn’t difficult to figure out. They developed spending habits in relation to their salary, but then they aren’t able to scale back on the spending when the income is no longer coming in. Good for JJ Watts, and it’s something that would be great to see a whole lot more of in professional sports.

People Dumpster Diving for Marijuana to Make Money

July 25, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 4 Comments

More people are dumpster diving for weed

There are a lot of people who dumpster dive to make money, or just to get items for themselves. It can be a great way to get things for free, and people can often find good items to sell for a profit at garage sales or online auction sites. There is a thriving community which does this to help themselves, help others and make money.

In most areas in the US, dumpster diving is still legal (although you should always check with your local government to make sure it’s legal where you live before you begin doing it). With the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington state, it seems there are a growing number of people dumpster diving specifically for weed. As legalization takes place in more and more states, there is a good chance growing numbers of people will do this. Why? As one person explains, he makes $2,500 a month jumping into a trash can to collect the trimmings and clippings from marijuana dispensaries and grow houses.

The businesses selling marijuana have to trim and clip the plants to sell in their stores. The inferior parts of the plants end up getting tossed out, and this is what many of the dumpster divers are after. Although it isn’t the highest quality, it’s still weed. Even better, it doesn’t cost a dime when obtained this way. The video below gives a brief explanation on why this is done:

So should you consider this as a money-making opportunity if you live in a state where weed is legal? Probably not. While dumpster diving is legal in most places, this is for trash containers which are freely open and can be accessed by anyone. It’s usually illegal if the dumpster is padlocked, which is the growing trend of these businesses, since their dumpsters are targeted so often. More have guard dogs and other security measures to keep people out of their garbage. You could also get a trespassing ticket if you jump into fenced-off areas in order to gain access to the dumpster.

In addition, it’s important to remember that just because you find the marijuana from a place where it was legally grown or sold, that doesn’t necessarily make it legal for you to resell it. In fact, since the selling of marijuana is highly regulated in most places, this could get you into even more trouble than dumpster diving for it. While it’s an interesting trend, it’s not one you want to jump onto simply to make a few extra bucks.

(Photo courtesy of Mark)

You’re Cutting Your Cake Wrong: The Scientifically Correct Way to Do It

June 19, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain Leave a Comment

You probably think you know how to cut a cake, but if you want to do it the scientifically correct way, the chances are high you’ve been doing it wrong all these years. If you cut a wedge when you’re ready to plate your cake, you’ve obviously failed to study the finer scientific points to make sure all the remaining cake slices are as fresh as possible the next time you want to have a piece.

The Scientific method for slicing cake was actually a rediscovery. Alex Bellos, the author of The Grapes of Math, was reading an early issue of Nature when he came across the interesting cutting method. About 100 years ago, the Victorian scientist Frances Galton submitted the letter to the magazine explaining a better way to cut a cake. Apparently, people were slicing their cakes incorrectly back then as well. While not a household name, Galton also happened to discover some other things in his life besides the best way to cut cakes, such as drawing the first weather map, fingerprints and coining the phrase “nature versus nurture.”

Instead of cutting out a wedge, which is the way the vast majority of people cut a cake, the scientific method cuts the cake all the way across the middle into a thin slice. The thin slice is then removed from the middle, and the two sides of the cake are pushed together. They’re then sealed tightly together by placing a rubber band around the cake. When this is done, there’s no interior part of the cake exposed to the air which keeps it from drying out. That means the next time you go to eat a slice of cake, your entire piece will be moist on the inside. Watch the video below and see for yourself:

While a method is quite clever, it obviously won’t work with all types of cakes. If the cake or other pastry has been covered with a somewhat hard frosting, as is shown in the video, then this method will work perfectly. If, however, you have your typical birthday cake with a soft frosting outside, trying to put a rubber band around it to keep it together could prove to be quite a mess.

Still, it’s worth giving a try. Even better, the next time you’re with others and get the chance, volunteer to cut the cake. Then watch the eyes of those around you grow wide as you break the common etiquette of how a cake is typically sliced, and put your new cake-cutting scientific knowledge to work.