admin – Page 59 – Financial Helpers

Amazon Launches ‘Prime Wardrobe’

Written by adminJune 20, 2018

Amazon is always looking for new ways to outsmart the big box stores and provide a service that’s more convenient for consumers.

Introducing Prime Wardrobe, the latest venture by mega e-commerce site Amazon, that will let you try on clothes before you purchase them all from the comfort of your home.

This innovative new idea will let you choose between 3 to 8 different items you want to try on, which are then sent to your home. If you like them, you can choose to purchase them. If you don’t, you have seven days to return them. Amazon will even provide you with a prepaid label.

While you won’t have access to every piece of apparel they sell on site, you still can choose from millions of items from some of the top brands in the clothing industry, like Levi’s, Calvin Klein, and more.

The only downside to this is that wardrobe deliveries can take between 4-6 business day, where going to a store is instant, but this can be a huge blow to box stores in a lot of ways. The number of clothes and styles you can fit into a store is limited and it can take quite a bit of time to find what you’re looking for.

By going on Amazon, you can type in what you want and choose to try it on before you buy it. Overall, this service targets the only reason why you’d need to go into clothing stores. The move was designed by Amazon to increase their clothing market.

As of 2016, Amazon controlled about 7% of the clothing market, but they hope this move will jump their share to about 16% in the next few years.

The majority of traditional retailers are failing to keep up with new technological trends as larger portions of sales goes on Amazon and other online giant marketplaces. While box stores continuously announce closures, Amazon continues to innovate new ways to steal their customers.

Written by adminJune 20, 2018

Life Style

The world is full of people whose biggest dream is to become successful. They want financial wealth and the freedom to do as they wish. And while most people want this, it’s nothing more than a dream to them. The actual realization of such a dream exists only in movies, daydreams, or people who get ‘lucky’ in life.

They sit at work, behind the computer screen, and wish they didn’t have to wake up so early, that they could afford the fancy trip overseas like Cousin Sue and her wealthy husband. On the way home, they stop and buy a lottery ticket because that’s their only chance at achieving the kind of wealth that will allow them to be financially free.

In fact, Americans spend over $70 billion each year on lottery tickets, hoping to strike it rich. They don’t believe they have a shot in winning, with the odds often topping out at 1-in-250 million. They lay their ticket on the coffee table, eat dinner, and go to bed. Rinse and repeat the next day. And the next.

Nothing ever changes. Day after day. After day.

We get stuck in these monotonous patterns because we feel like we’re chasing something worthwhile. “If only I work 40 years at this job, maybe I can retire with a bit saved in the bank and then the REAL living begins!” Or we spend the next 30 years paying off the mortgage of a house that isn’t even worth what we originally bought it for.

Here’s the reality: millions of Americans are drowning in debt to pay for a lifestyle they cannot afford. In fact, the average American household is $90,000 in debt and pay $6,600 in interest to that debt every single year.

The real questions you need to ask yourself: Are you happy? Are you content? Look deep down inside yourself. Do you have the freedom to do all the things you want to do in life? Or are you just another wheel on the spoke of corporate America? Round and round you go, doing the same tired job and barely making enough money to get by.

The reason why this is happening is because you’re stuck in a vicious cycle of life. You’ve been told the only way you’ll be rich is if you get lucky, which is a bold-faced lie. The truth is, it’s about habit. If you’re stuck doing the same things over and over, you’re not going make enough changes to adequately transform your life into something better.

Those who truly become successful study the lifestyles, behaviors, and habits of successful people and learn how to mimic them in a way that it rubs off in their everyday life.

There’s a great quote by Anthony Coleman that reads, “Most people don’t struggle with money. They struggle with habits.”

Nearly every single debt category in our country is in the TRILLIONS. We’re living paycheck-to-paycheck, no money in savings, nothing saved up for a rainy day, and don’t plan for the future. We’re not buying health insurance nor can we afford to take care of out health. Most of it revolves around your habits.

Let’s look at 5 habits you can learn from successful people.

1) Exercise Regularly

We recently wrote an article about how debt and financial struggles cause brain damage. It also hurts your mental and physical states. The absolute best thing you can do for yourself is stay healthy and exercise regularly. For one thing, exercise promotes health. 76% of wealthy people exercise every day.

2) Eat Right

This is a major one. 97% of poor people eat junk food regularly. Typically junk food is cheaper to buy, but it severely impacts your health, causes obesity, spikes blood sugar, and fogs the brain. Wealthier people, for the most part, stay away from the junk food and eat the stuff that nourishes their brains and body. By eating better, you’ll start to feel better than that’s a good step.

3) Reading

We’re not just talking about the latest novel to come out, but actual books containing information that can change your life. 88% of wealthy people spend at least 20 minutes per day reading books that pertain to their careers. They’re studying so they can excel at what they do. Only 2% of poor people do this.

4) Writing Lists

Wealthy people find ways to stay motivated and on track with their goals. That’s why 81% of them keep lists verses 19% of the poor.

5) Cut TV Time

We understand. Getting home from a long day at work requires downtime in front of the TV, but it’s not good for you. It’s literally time wasted away that you could be using to better your life. Also, you’re more inclined to eat garbage when lounging, adding to the problem. 67% of wealthy people don’t watch TV while only 23% of the poor do.

It’s all about maximizing your time to better your life and doing whatever it takes to keep yourself healthy and motivated. If you get comfortable in complacency, nothing will change in your life. By adopting these 5 steps, you will start to see improvement in your life that will lead to better financial success in the future.

Written by adminJune 19, 2018

Life Style

When it comes to the battle to be the best pharmacy on the block, CVS is making all the right moves. First, they added benefits to their membership, then they put walk-in clinics in their stores. Their goal now is to be the first company to offer nationwide delivery in all their locations.

After merging with Aetna insurance, it would seem CVS has a lot of motivation to prove their the best and claim the number one spot (they’re currently #2) and overtake the market that is flooded with competitors.

CVS started offering delivery to the New York market and plans to expand the service to other U.S. cities, including San Francisco, Boston, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Miami, and others, ultimately offering delivery from all 9,800 locations across the country.

The cost for a delivery will be $4.99 and it can be done by calling the store and requesting delivery or you can just use the CVS app on your phone. It’s not just restricted to personal prescriptions, as other products are available for delivery.

For example, if you’re in the midst of a nasty cold and don’t want to leave your home, you can order popular cold medications and have them sent to you. CVS does plan on extending the service to other products, so maybe soon you can have everything from drugs to that gallon of milk you forgot to pick up delivered to your door.

A lot of these changes are due in thanks to CVS’s $69 billion merge with Aetna health insurance. The goal is to create a mega-market that provides not just a retail pharmacy store, but an entire healthcare company that combines insurer with pharmacy benefits and ultimate customer service through delivery.

Written by adminJune 19, 2018

Life Style

It almost seems like we write a new article every day about the impending global trade war, as new developments are happening regularly. We cover this extensively as it’s our goal to help all Americans achieve their dream of living their life financially free.

This trade war will impact all of us, from the big streets in New York to the small farming communities who live and die on the agriculture they produce.

Since before he was elected into office, President Trump has made it one of his main goals to protect American workers, revive near-dead industries, and right the wrongs of the trade deficits we have with countries all over the world.

It sounds like a good idea until these countries decide to rebel and retaliate with tariffs of their own. They’re not happy with the president over this issue and threaten to fight back in their own way. This will translate to misery here in the States.

One of the products China says they will tariff are soybeans, which are grown in abundance in Iowa and other Midwest states, but the Chinese tariffs could become an economic disaster for farmers.

Chad Hart, and economist at Iowa State University, has calculated the farmers in his state will lose as much as $620 million this year alone if China tariffs their crop.

“Any tariff or tax put in place will have a significant impact, not only to the U.S. soybean market, but to Iowa’s because we’re such a large producer. It will slow down the market,” he said.

Soybeans are the most widely planted crop in the U.S., so any tariff placed on it would be disastrous for our agriculture. It might not just be a temporary setback either. Senator Chuck Grassley, a republican from Iowa, believes this could lead to a permanent loss for this area.

“It could be devastating for local communities across the Midwest. It’s also important to remember that when trade barriers go up, alternative sources of goods are found, and new trading relationships develop. A temporary setback could quickly develop into a permanent loss,” he said in an interview.

This can be a nightmare scenario for the Midwest. China imports nearly 61% of the U.S. soybean crop, so this type of loss would be devastating.

Soybeans aren’t the only victim, as other commodities like aluminum, lead, cotton, oil, and gold have been losing their value as Mexico, Canada, U.K., India, and the EU have also threatened to retaliate with tariffs.

The U.S. may be the largest economy in the world…and it’s not even close…but the question remains how big of an impact this would make on U.S. consumers as price hikes will assuredly be passed down to them.

Written by adminJune 18, 2018

Uncategorized

Like millions of Americans out there, you might be on the hunt for a job. Not just any job, but a stable source of income for you and your family. After a long decade of high unemployment, there are no more job openings than there are people looking for work, which is a huge improvement.

Yet, despite the numbers, not everything is as it seems. All jobs are not created equal and some can even have many disadvantages. A lot of young people make the mistake of taking the first decent job that pops up or deciding solely based on finances and not other factors.

In a lot of cases, you’d be better served declining a job offer rather than having a history of short-term jobs on your resume. No employer wants to see you worked at 20 different jobs in the span of 5 years. To prevent yourself from taking a bad job, you should consider these five points and reevaluate your decision:

1) Is Your Heart in It?

If you’ve been trying for months to find work, you’re behind on your bills, and you finally get an offer, you might be inclined to jump at the chance. But, are you accepting this job offer because you want this job or because it’s the only one you’ve managed to get? If your heart isn’t in it, the job won’t be a good fit and can cause a black mark on your record.

Employers are looking for enthusiastic workers who care about the work they do. Thinking you can just get a job for a few months and you show you don’t care about the job only makes you look bad. Don’t hurt your professional reputation by making lots moves and haphazardly accepting jobs your heart isn’t in.

2) What is the Reputation of the Company?

Some companies just have atrocious records when it comes to treating their employees well. Thank goodness for review sites! For most places you should be able to find a website where you can see reviews from previous employees. Turnover rates are another thing to look at. High turnover rates can reveal a toxic culture within management.

3) Is It a Good Fit for You?

Another tough reality is some jobs aren’t made for everyone. Many can require hours on your feet doing hard labor. Others are intellectual and/or analytical. If you’re a withdrawn introvert, you might not like working in a customer service-oriented job or one that requires you to work as a team.

There’s nothing wrong with finding a job that suits your needs and accommodates your style of work. You’ll be more successful in the long run if you don’t deviate too much from a culture that is close to your own.

4) What is the Future of the Company?

You want stability as one of the biggest deciding factors. There’s nothing worse than trying to start your career with a company that’s on the skids and about to close their doors. Of course, a lot of companies try to hide the fact that they’re not doing well, but with a little bit of research, you can find out for yourself.

For example, what are their stock prices? Are they falling? Any clues about potential mergers? Has the CEO stepped down or considering it? Was there a major PR incident that forced this company to get blasted in the news? While you’re checking their reputation, also look at the financial side of the business to get a clear picture.

5) Is There Room to Grow?

There’s nothing worse than being stuck at a dead-end job, with no opportunities for advancement, raises, or leadership opportunities. That means, no matter how well you do and outperform others, you’ll remain where you are. Good companies will offer not just advancement, but great development opportunities to help you advance.

Written by adminJune 18, 2018

Politics

When people talk about World War 3 happening, they didn’t realize it would be in the form of a global trade war that threatened to impact the world’s economies.

So far, we’ve extensively covered President Trump and his attempts to gain fairer trade and the retaliation of China and Europe, but now India is jumping into the fight as well.

This week, India has announced retaliatory tariffs of their own on 30 U.S. products ranging anywhere from apples and almonds to metals and chemicals. These tariffs total around $241 million, which is on par with what India is expected to lose once Trump’s tariff on steel and aluminum goes into effect.

India also plans to increase its already large tariff on U.S. motorcycles like Harley Davidson, an issue Trump has complained about in the past. It seems unfair that countries can have tariffs on U.S. products, but if the U.S. sets a tariff, it’s met with retaliation, so the move speaks volumes.

These new rounds of tariffs are due to take effect on June 21^st and India says they’re open to adding more if necessary.

“India reserves the right to adjust the specific products for which [tariffs would apply], and its right to adjust the additional rate of duty imposed on such products,” they said in a filing to the World Trade Organization.

Currently, the deficit of trade between the U.S. and India sits at $30.8 billion with India getting the advantage. These tariffs are an attempt by the Trump administration for the U.S. to cut the trade deficits that happen worldwide, but our allies won’t have it, which means that the storm clouds are gathering over further economic prosperity worldwide.

Last week, we reported China’s move since a 25% tariff was slapped on Chinese products and Canada’s frustration with the U.S. as well.

The U.S. implementing tariffs to recoup money lost in trade deals seems like a fair deal, but with countries worldwide promising to retaliate (and refusing to back down), industry all across the board will suffer.

If the cost of these products goes up, then that means jobs will be cut and economic production within these industries will slow to a crawl. Losing jobs, especially in recently-hit sectors like the auto industry, would stop the unprecedented growth we’ve seen in recent months.

One can only hope that this situation gets taken care of before a global trade war goes too far and hurts everyone in the process.

Written by adminJune 15, 2018

Politics

Another chapter of this story has been written, as President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the U.S. will indeed impose more tariffs on China. Specifically, a 25% tariff on a variety of Chinese exports number over 1,100 products totaling around $50 billion.

China immediately said they would retaliate with tariffs of their own before accusing the U.S. of starting a trade war.

The justification from the Trump administration? They had it coming. These tariffs are designed to work as a punishment on China for their espionage against us, stealing trade secrets and technology.

“(Trade) has been very unfair, for a very long time. This situation is no longer sustainable,” Trump said later in a statement.

This decision has been in the works for several weeks now, as we previously reported that Trump was looking into different tariffs against China. This came after both sides seemed to come to a deal that had China buying billions in U.S. agriculture. Neither side is looking to back down.

China already has a list of products they claimed to impose tariff’s on if Trump went through with his threat, including transportation and agriculture. They also said they would immediately cancel any recent trade deals made.

“In this day and age, launching a trade war is not in the interest of the world. We call on all countries to act together to firmly stop such an outdated and backward move, and to firmly safeguard the common interest of all mankind,” said China’s Commerce Ministry.

All of this comes not even a week removed from the G7 Summit held in Canada. After fighting with our closest allies over trade, Trump seemed to have angered everyone, including the entirety of the European Union.

Every country has vowed retaliation.

These particular tariffs are set to hit in two waves. The first will come in July and will cover about $34 billion worth of products. The second will come later, so it would seem to be undecided just yet.

Perhaps the time given before these tariffs take hold is a good sign that Trump is holding out hope that a new trade deal will be signed for the betterment of both countries.

Trump has touted unfair trade practices against China and the rest of the world during his campaign. He promised he would put America back on top of trade dominance, hoping it would give a boost to U.S. industries.

“We have a tremendous intellectual property theft problem. It’s going to make us a much stronger, much richer nation,” Trump said in March when he first brought up imposing tariffs this year.

As a citizen, it can be difficult to see how taxing foreign goods will make us a stronger country. This tit-for-tat retaliation will end up forcing the world’s top economic powers to engage in a trade war that threatens to not only hurt jobs, but the extra costs will translate down to the consumer, making products we use every day much more expensive.

Update: As I wrote up this article, China announced their own 25% tariff on about 695 U.S. goods worth near $50, which will hit on July 6^th.

Written by adminJune 14, 2018

Credit & Debt Settlement

We previously wrote an article about how much Americans are taught about their finances, either in school or from their parents. As it turns out, most of us don’t get good advice, as there’s no real standard in how we’re taught.

This lack of education is what has led to the debt epidemic we have right now. As we go about life, we have a need to figure things out for ourselves, and that includes overcoming mistakes we’ve made that may hurt us down the road if we don’t get them under control.

One of those is the almighty credit report. Yes, the thing that gets pulled every time you want to buy something. Need a loan? Want to buy a car? Is it time for a mortgage? Well, your credit report is probably the single-greatest factor debtors use in determining if you’re eligible to receive help.

The ‘problem’ with credit reports is, if you made a financial mistake when you were younger, it’s going to follow you around for a very long time. If you have several bad hits on your report, you will either be offered loans with extremely high interest or be denied altogether.

If you find yourself struggling and want to know how to fix your credit report, there are four ways to do it.

1) Get Your Credit Repaired

Sometimes, the mistakes on the credit report aren’t yours! Go through the items listed and make sure everything can be verified. If it’s not, you can dispute the charge and the credit bureau has 30 days to verify or it will be removed. This is because law requires all information on your credit report be verified.

Other mistakes can include your report stating you made a late payment, when it was on time. Everyone makes mistakes, so this is something you can clear up. The process is called ‘credit repair’. Once they can’t verify you missed that payment, it will be removed from your report.

Even if you know you owe the debt, you can still find a way to get it cleared from your report. A lot of times, these debts are bought and resold, going from one debt buyer to another. In this case, one of your debt buyers may not have complete information. If this is the case, you can have that debt removed because they can’t verify.

2) Re-age Your Account

A lot of your credit score is determined by active accounts. If you’re not paying a debt and it becomes delinquent, that’s a huge black mark on your record. But, you have the power to change how the debt gets reported to the bureaus.

By contacting the creditor and working out a deal, you can tell them as part of the negotiation process that you’re willing to make payments if they report that your account is current. If you’re faithfully making payments on time, that debt won’t be as bad as a mark and can raise your score higher.

3) Get It Deleted

Debt companies love to negotiate. Each attempt will be different, but you can talk a company into agreeing to remove your debt from collections if you pay a certain amount. As long as they get their money, they’re happy and willing to work with you.

It’s not guaranteed they’ll go through with it though, so this is a risky move. It’s just another weapon in your arsenal that can help you at the negotiating table.

4) Wait

This isn’t the quickest option in getting your debts paid off, but in the credit world, nothing lasts forever. In most cases, your debts will be wiped out within 7 years. If you’re not in a rush and you plan on working on your score, you have the option to wait it out. If you’ve filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, that will stay on your record for 10 years.

Of course, the best option is always to stay on top of your debts and pay the off. That will ensure you have a good credit score when you need it. If you don’t, then obtaining credit will be extremely difficult without a cosigner.

Written by adminJune 13, 2018

Saving

The first official day of summer is fast approaching. Most of the kids across the U.S. have already finished the school year. College students are settling into their summer life. It’s a good time to relax and unwind, if that’s really how you want to spend your time.

But, if you’re highly motivated, there are plenty of opportunities for you to get your side-hustle on and make a bit of extra cash for whatever you need it for. Maybe you want to pay off debts, get a down payment for a car, or need a little extra income for travel. Whatever you need it for, right now is the best time to earn it.

Here are the benefits to finding a summer job:

-Close to home. You don’t have to go very far from home to find extra work.

-Save money on gas/travel.

-Convenient. You can do it whenever you get extra time.

-You get a chance to meet interesting people and your neighbors.

-Easy to get going. Just print off fliers and cheap business cards offering your service.

-People around you know who you are, so it wouldn’t be difficult to convince them to hire you.

-Cash. You don’t have to wait for a paycheck. Do the job and get paid right away.

These are typical jobs that you might find a teenager doing, but it’s not bad work if you apply yourself and need a bit of extra cash. There are people who make an extra $1,000 per month doing these jobs.

The best part? There are all sorts of apps that can help you in ways that you couldn’t even imagine. I certainly wish I had these options when I was growing up, but now you can wield the power of the internet at your fingertips to expand your reach.

Here are the five ways you can make extra cash this summer:

1) Lawn Care

In the summer, there’s no shortage of lawns that need constant care. There are plenty of people who would rather shell out a few bucks to have someone else do it for them. Depending on what services you want to provide, you can make a killing.

You can even use a subscription-based model to make even more. You can offer regular lawn care for $100/month. If you find 10 clients, that’s an extra $1,000 every single month just mowing lawns on the weekend.

Also, during the summer months, a lot of landscaping companies are hiring to keep up with demand, so you can look into that as well.

2) Pet Sitting

This is one of the easiest ways to make money out there. There’s a variety of ways it can be done. Pets mostly take care of themselves minus being able to put food in their bowls and go out for a walk to relieve themselves. Most of the time, it’s a quick job and it pays well.

Summer is a great time when families go on vacation. You can save them a lot of money by offering to pet sit so they don’t have to take their furry family member to the kennel. A lot of clients will allow you to stay in their home, eat their food, and watch their TV while paying you good money to make sure their pet is well taken care of while they’re gone.

Also, there are new apps that people can use to hire dog walkers. Sign up for that and you can represent your neighborhood!

3) Housekeeping/House Sitting

If you love to clean (or even if you don’t, but it’s tolerable) you can make money doing it for others. There are a lot of people out there who will pay you to help organize their stuff, clean out garages and/or basements, do final clean-ups after moving out, or maybe they’re disabled and willing to pay for extra help for a while.

To reuse the point about vacations, people need more help than just watching their pets. They could use someone to check on their home, water plants, bring in the mail, and do a few other chores to keep things looking good while they’re away.

Either way, this is a great way to make money while providing a needed service.

4) Tutoring

If you’re pretty good at something, you can get people to pay you to teach them. This is especially true if you’re willing to work with kids, as exasperated parents could use a bit of help teaching their kids math, science, history, or whatever subject they’re struggling in.

Summer is the best time for kids to pick up these extra skills before heading into the next grade year. Since this is specialized knowledge, tutors can make anywhere from $25-$100 per hour!

5) Uber/Lyft

Most of the jobs I mentioned are labor-intensive. You might not want to mow 10 lawns twice a month. That’s okay! With today’s technology, you can make pretty decent money just driving people around.

The only downside with Uber and Lyft are the ‘tough’ requirements. Your vehicle must be under 10 years of age and there can be some wear on tear from the additional driving. But, if you fit those requirements, it might be the best way to make extra money.

Written by adminJune 12, 2018

Life Style

As of Monday, the law is no more.

Net Neutrality, a law written during the Obama administration to protect unfair usage of the internet, was laid to rest nearly six months after the Trump administration decided it was time to go.

The FCC released a statement saying that the law was “unnecessary, heavy-handed regulations” and they wanted to replace it with “common-sense regulations that will promote investment and broadband deployment.”

Trump’s pro-business approach has done away with thousands of regulations during his time in office, perhaps none as divided as Net Neutrality. The proponents of the law believe it keeps the internet fair and open for all.

Of course, the tech and telecom industries were all for the move, as they have more freedom to operate within their own rules, but the impact of this law being repealed came swift and hard from the detractors.

A good example of abuse could be internet providers like Spectrum or Comcast slowing down your service if you’re watching videos on Amazon. Maybe they decide they want you to watch their own video library, so they make it difficult for you to use any other service.

The main question is: why does the internet provider get to choose what you do with the service you’re paying for? What right do they have to stop you from downloading a competitor’s app over their own?

Now, with Net Neutrality gone, there’s nothing to prevent your ISP from slowing down (or even completely blocking) online content. This isn’t the worst part. Not only can companies control what you see, they can charge you whatever they want.

This is where removing net neutrality can cost consumers the most. ISPs can start charging money for access to different websites. It’s not much more different than how the cable packages are tier. If you want a certain channel, you must pay extra to get it. Not only that, they can charge websites more money to have content delivered faster.

That means Spectrum could slow down Netflix unless they paid more money. Netflix could probably afford that as they are one of the top companies in the world, but it will severely impact smaller companies. These sites would have to significantly increase their subscription costs to make up for it.

Across the country, more than 20 states have petitioned the government and even filed lawsuits to prevent Net Neutrality from being dissolved. In fact, several of those states are trying to pass similar laws.

Yet, it looks to be the end of the federal program, as any law that was lucky enough to overcome the odds of being passed in the House and Senate would be vetoed by President Trump.

Despite no new laws going into place in the foreseeable future, the fight will continue. Supporters of Net Neutrality will not give up, even to the point of suing the government. Individual states will want to fight for their right to pass a new bill, despite the law’s repeal that prevents states from having the authority to do so.

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