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#so I saved up by withdrawing a little bit of money every month to stash in my book shelf
papermonkeyism · 5 months
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HI ok I gotta ask - your post has made me insanely curious - you mention having cash at hand while waiting for your new card (resourceful) but none of the sources of cash was a bank or ATM.
Where I'm from cash is still used a lot (as we minimum wage workers get paid in cash) and as a result there are multiple ATM's within walking distance at all times and banks no more than 15-20 minutes drive away. Is this... different where you're from? (For context I'm from Africa)
We get paychecks directly to the bank account here, and I usually just pay with my card everywhere I need to, because it's more convenient than having a lot of coins and bills around. While there are ATM machines here (there are several within a walking distance from where I live), you use them with your card, so without having one, I can't get money out of the money withdrawing machine. I don't know how you do it, but without a card I can only get money out of the bank account by (online) bank transfers, and that's pretty hard at grocery store register.
Our bank offices stopped handing out cash several years ago, of which I am still very salty about.
I got some cash from my mom, and I had a handful of coins left over from the last time I had used an ATM a while back, but that's kinda rare for me, since most places accept card.
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liamtsullivan · 4 years
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-- && guests may mistake me as ( andy biersack ), but really i am ( liam sullivan + cis male + he/him ) and my DOB is ( 12/28/93 ). i am applying for the ( banquet manager ) position as part of the EHP and would like to live in suite ( #203 ). i should be hired because i am ( + loyal, charismatic, driven ), but i can also be ( - distracted, opinionated, pushy ) at times. personally, i like to ( watch documentaries, play poker, get tattoos ) when off the clock, but that won’t interfere with work. thank you for your consideration!
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ooc;; it’s ya girl kay again, i’m so so sorry adfjlaksfj. this is liam, he’s a brain baby of mine that i played a little while ago and he’s been haunting me since i stopped playing him so here he is to be a part of y’all’s lives. hopefully you dig him, if not......... well that’s fine, too. can’t make you do anything, i’m not your mom unless you’re card; go to your room, card.
TW’s: Mentions of prostitution. Abortion. Drug use, drug addiction, drug overdose, & drug related death.
fast facts / personality details;;
( i put these first this time because the background is A Lot on this one okay )
has a rather protective and care-giving nature mixed in with his excellent work ethic and drive.
loves when guests ask for the manager and he gets to come out and see how much they didn’t expect the manager to be a 6′4″ beanpole with neck tattoos.
lives by the ideal “put your money where your mouth is” ; also just like, be genuine and up front with him in general, like he’s not an asshole, but also he knows how to deal with assholes, so let that be said
has a five year old german shepherd named Roxy that he rescued from shelter overflow when she was only a six month old puppy; Roxy still thinks that she is a small lap dog despite being a Big Girl
still wears the ring that his mom gave him for his eighteenth birthday every day, despite the issues that they had, and despite her being gone now.
has his nose pierced and his lip pierced, though the lip ring he takes out for stretches of time; the nose ring is always in, though.
absolutely covered in tattoos, in case that wasn’t already painfully obvious. he loves getting them and yes, still has room for more, will continue to get them probably forever.
prefers brown liquor over pretty much any other alcohol, though he’s not opposed to a good draft every once in a while
listens to more classical music than anyone would ever probably expect of him; that being said he also listens to a lot of classic rock and, naturally, a dose of pop punk, too, for fun.
he likes listening to true crime podcasts and watching various true crime / serial killer documentaries; criminal minds is also his favorite show. so like don’t piss him off, i guess ajdkfljasdklf
smokes cigarettes like he’s a motherfucking chimney; says he’s working on quitting, has yet to actually start that process.
generally just a supportive person; if Liam cares about you in any capacity - even if it’s just because you work together - you’ll know it. he likes to help the people around him, try to steer them in the right direction, offer them advice.
he’s not a shy person, in fact he’s rather social, and while there’s a dry humored joke or a sarcastic toy here and there, he’s a pretty genuinely nice dude. despite the things that he’s seen and been through in his life, he’s worked really hard to stay optimistic, and driven throughout and so far he’s been very successful at that.
dresses rather nice / got that business casual look down with the short-sleeved button ups or the long-sleeved ones with the sleeves rolled for work purposes. however, outside of work it's like a cat and his wardrobe were in a trash bag together. lots of black, and dark earthy colors, too. the duality of man.
background / life story;;
Liam Travis Sullivan was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, where his mother, Stephanie Sullivan, was an escort / call girl on The Strip.
Stephanie getting pregnant was a tremendous ‘oops,’ but she kept the baby anyway. The baby’s father was a client who had a wife and kids already, so he paid Stephanie a whole lot of money to stay quiet and out of contact with him. This money allowed for her to take time off from working to be able to have Liam and take care of him for a bit.
Liam really was Stephanie’s whole world once he was born; the best thing that she ever did, as she so often told him through the years.
Liam never knew his father, but he put two and two together once he was old enough to understand what it was that his mom did.
Liam was three years old when Stephanie finally returned to working on The Strip. He was left in the care of some of Steph’s other ‘working girl’ friends on the nights she happened to be working.
He got very accustomed to spending his time around females, having a heavy female influence in his life as he grew up -whether that particular female influence was always the best or not. It led to his respect for women, though, and his ability to feel very comfortable around them, even from a young age.
When Liam was six years old, Stephanie ended up pregnant again. However, this time she ended up actually having an abortion. Liam only knew about it because his mother rambled about it to him in an overemotional drunken state. She told him that “he was her good boy and all that she needed.”
Working The Strip -as notorious a place as it was- and making the money that she did left Steph open to a lot of drinking and drug use.
At eight years old, Liam found a stash of his mother’s cocaine in their bathroom. This earned a distressed meltdown from Steph about him staying away from that sort of stuff because it was bad. Though, as a developing child gaining understanding of the world around him, that proved to confuse Liam because he didn’t understand why his mommy had it and was doing it if it were so bad.
Liam was ten years old the first time that his mom overdosed. This instance just involved going to the hospital to get her stomach pumped and spend the night on a fluid IV, but it was still terrifying for the boy at the time.
Stephanie struggled with drug abuse for most of Liam’s life. Living where they did facilitated it so easily and also made any getting caught up in the law with it rare -it was Vegas, after all, not to mention Stephanie was in sex work, so the law wasn't always looking out for her anyway.
Right before Liam was about to start high school, the young teenager -already having had to do so much growing up so early and so fast- took it upon himself to give his mother an intervention of sorts. He told her that if she was going to keep taking time with her away from him that he was going to run away, figure life, out himself, even if he did end up in the foster system or something. He pleaded with her that he didn’t want to lose her, that he wanted her there for all the things his life could still have in store for him. Ultimately, after many tears and a lot of convincing, Steph let her fourteen year old son flush her drug stash and they made a very rushed plan to finally get out of Vegas.
Moving to California was really good for the both of them for a while. Being in a new place meant starting fresh, moving forward. Stephanie didn’t know anyone she could get drugs from; between that, the support of her son, and finding help at local NA meetings, she managed through the withdrawal and the struggling. She got a stable, more normal job, working at a sports bar -bartending and waiting tables.
Liam easily adjusted to the change of environment. He practically thrived in Los Angeles. Before he knew it, he had friends, got into playing football at his high school, was losing his virginity. Fast-paced and unconventional were ways that Liam was used to living his life, so getting into things like physical relationships with girls, despite how young he was in reality, felt normal to him in all his adjusting.
Things stayed going really well for pretty much the whole first year they were in LA. Liam did well in school, got a part time job to help his mom out. Steph ended up picking up a second job to stay busy and keep money coming in. They were good, they were better than they had been, and they had each other.
The summer before Liam’s junior year of high school, he caught his mom using again. Evidently it had been going on for a few months already at that point, and because of how busy he was with school, friends, and work, he had caught on late. Stephanie argued with him on the matter, told him that it wasn’t his business to worry about, among other unexpectedly harsh things. It was the first real, legitimate fight he ever really had with his mom, at least the first one that really mattered.
With too much riding on his focus on school and football -given he had since come up with the goal to go to a good college, to make something of himself and do good things- Liam shut himself off from his mom for a little while. They lived together, came and went about their lives, but they spoke minimally, Liam didn’t fight more with her despite knowing that she was still using at the time. It was very odd for him, to have any sort of bad energy between him and his mom -it was so rare, it had always been just the two of them. He decided, though, that he had to focus on himself and his future.
Senior year came with the promise of scholarships, multiple college scouts having their eyes on him, more than one girl interested in dating him, a wide friend circle, a basic car he had been able to buy for himself, and a growing savings account. Liam was doing great, he was on the right track, focused. Stephanie, however, had downward spiraled. Her using had gotten out of hand to the point of losing both of her jobs, having to get a new one in a setting that was dangerously close to the things she had been doing in Vegas -a strip club.
It wasn’t until Liam’s Winter Formal that year -Stephanie deep into her continued cocaine addiction- that something changed. He was in his suit, getting ready to leave to go pick up his date when his path crossed with Stephanie’s. Upon finding out where her son was heading, who he was going with, the friends he was meeting -details she hadn’t been knowledgeable on for some time at this point- the woman burst into tears. She sobbed apologies to her son, begged him to forgive her for missing out on his life, made promises to him that she would get better for him -promises Liam tried not to take to heart; he had learned.
They did get Stephanie into a rehabilitation clinic shortly after the holidays. She had to sober up a little bit and once again Liam shouldered the responsibility of getting rid of the drugs that she had in their apartment. He spent two months alone in their apartment while his mom worked through her issues, sobered up fully, came back to him. It was an exhausting couple of months for him, trying to be a self sufficient adult in an apartment that had to have things paid for in it, while also juggling school and football, but he managed.
Stephanie came home a different woman than she left, and upon getting a more functional version of his mother back, Liam had the tiniest glint of hope that maybe things would be okay again. Graduation was looming, and he had a few different schools that were more than willing to offer him full ride football scholarships to their universities. Notre Dame, Duke, UCLA, among other state-based colleges all had eyes on him. It was something he could finally talk to his mom about.
While Stephanie encouraged him to follow his heart, follow wherever his dreams were gonna take him, Liam couldn’t shake the idea of being far from home -or, in particular, being far from where she was. Things were so fragile with her and her addiction, it was so much more possible for something bad to happen and him to have absolutely no idea about it if he went far away. So despite the incredible opportunities he could have had elsewhere, he chose to accept to scholarship from UCLA out of all the schools who chose him.
Going to college, let alone such a prestigious and well known state school like UCLA was like something out of a fairytale for Liam. Looking back on what his life had been up to the point of graduating high school and moving on to bigger things, he was amazed at what he had accomplished. Given the healthy and sober way that his mother still was at the time of his high school graduation, she, too, made it a point to make sure he knew how amazed and proud she was of him.
College wasn’t quite as easy for him as high school was, but that just drove Liam to work even harder. He wasn’t going to waste the opportunity he was given. He was double majoring in business and marketing; even though he had little idea what sort of business he wanted to be a part of, he knew that he wanted something for himself, something that could do good, give back in some way shape or form. Those subjects would do a lot to help him get there, he knew that much.
Stephanie stayed sober for most of Liam’s college experience, after the help of going to rehab, and the continued going to NA meetings. He popped back to the apartment every now and again -having moved into campus living during the semesters- and that helped her, too. Things seemed really good for quite some time, but having the other shoe drop once again unfortunately didn’t come as too terribly much of a shock to Liam. She had been getting involved with some guy she knew from work, they’d been sleeping together, and what Liam didn’t know is that they frequently went out for drinks. Drinking slowly but surely progressed into getting high together; something easy for Stephanie to fall into, particularly because of her habit, but also because of the familiarity of the circumstances -it was awfully similar to when she was working on The Strip and would get wasted with clients.
Liam was in his last semester of college, just about three months shy of graduating with his bachelor’s degree. It was a huge deal for him, it was something that he wasn’t going to give up for anything in the world. Still, he made it a point to help his mother after she called him absolutely high out of her mind and apologizing to him while he was pulling an all-nighter on an assignment one night. He didn’t ask many questions, just the basics, and he looked into a place himself -a rehab center that was further away, lengthier and more in depth with their programs. Before, they had gone with what was convenient, facility-wise, but he wasn’t going to make that mistake twice. If his mother needed more special attention, he was going to get her to that.
Getting his degree was a gift, a blessing he in reality never thought would be his. While his mom was still in rehab at the time of his graduation -Liam insisted that she not leave treatment just to come to the ceremony- she still wrote to him consistently, sent him a congratulations card right around the day of the ceremony. Liam was in a position in his life that awed him in a way, ready to take on the world.
Pursuing the concept of his own business sort of took a back seat; having just gotten his degree, it wasn't like Liam could immediately leap into much, not to mention he didn't have the funds. He had been working and saving all through college - served, cooked, and bartended at a grand total of six different restaurants in Los Angeles by the time he graduated - but on top of any business itself being expensive, school itself was expensive, too.
By the time Liam was twenty-four years old, he was managing two bars, and co-managing a restaurant out in Los Angeles. He was living on his own, keeping tabs on his mother sporadically, but mostly working toward a goal for a business of his own. He was teetering between a pub of sorts, or a burlesque club - two wildly different ideas, but both with the same idea in mind; somewhere entertaining but somewhere that also provided a sense of community, somewhere he could give jobs to people that needed them - perhaps that was inclined to women, from his subconscious protection of his mother, but that was beside the point.
A coworker of his at one of the bars he was the bar manager of ended up being who presented a move out of Los Angeles to him. There was potentially more business opportunity somewhere out of that location, out of the state of California, even. Chicago was brought to the table, this friend having heard of a program that offered employee housing at a luxury hotel. Liam was apprehensive about the Malnati at first, given he didn't want to have to start on a bottom rung in terms of his job once again. As it turned out, however, there was a management position that was generally up his alley. Seeking opportunity and further growth wherever he could find it, Liam made the move to Chicago.
Things between him and his mom had been more distant over the year since he graduated college, and in his move to Chicago, he couldn't say he was surprised to end up hearing about things getting bad again for his mom. It was a moment of true growing up for Liam, realizing that he had to be responsible for himself, he had to do what he needed to do, he couldn't carry his mom anymore. If she didn't want to get better and stay better, he couldn't be the one derailing his life to continue to try to make her do so.
That first year of him living in Chicago, working as the banquet manager at the Malnati, his mom overdosed for the last time. It was unexpected in the same way that it wasn't; Liam went through a brief period of a numb sort of grieving - he was of course sad to have lost his mom, to have to come to terms with the fact that he'd never get to see or speak to her again. He also, though, had to face the fact that as dark and upsetting as the circumstances were, they were out of his hand, they were not his responsibility. He mourned his mother as she deserved, and he went on with his life; because deep down he knew that she would want that for him, anyway.
Liam has been living in Chicago and working as the Malnati's banquet manager for the last nearly-three years now. He oversees more than just a restaurant and a bar now, and it's expanded his career experience in ways that he is very thankful for. It's a little bit on the backburner once again, but definitely not forgotten, that he intends to have his own business some day. Perhaps more than one, even. He loves the organization and the hard work and dedication that go into leading - whether that be a kitchen or a bar or an event. He likes to be supportive as much as a leader - Liam wants to see his team succeed; if there's slack that needs to be picked up and he can help, he will. He's not going to bark orders and call it a day, that's not what he's about, that's not what he considers his job. He's got a good head on his shoulders, and a good work ethic, and he likes doing what he does.
wanted connections;;
IT’S TIME ONCE AGAIN FOR ME TO FAIL AT THESE LMFAO
Liam in his job oversees chefs, bartenders, servers, room service runners, and musicians, so like we got a whooooole lineup of connections to be had there; he’s their boss yeah, but as I’ve said like a million times now he’s really active in trying to help his team succeed. he’ll help out on the bar and running food and covering breaks or callouts or whatever, so like there’s a lot of good potential relationships to be had there.
other managers bc we love seniority adfjlkasdfjk no i’m just kidding, but still we love some manager pals why not
idk i think it’d be really funny to have someone who’s like intimidated by him simply because of the way that he looks and he’s like look i’m really not that bad i just like tattoos a lot okay lmAO
a casual hookup here or there is chill; he’s not super into the fwb thing? like he’ll stay friends after a hookup if the other person is cool with it, but as an ongoing thing it just gets too complicated for his liking.
pet parent friends; his girl Roxy is a friendly giant baby and he adores her, bring him some parent friends and her some dog friends
tattoo pals of some variety?? even if it’s just him constantly encouraging people to go get tattoos, or talking them through processes? going with them for moral support because he barely even feels it when he gets tattoos now?? who knows
honestly we been knew i’m up to just talking shit out and winging it a lot of the time too so just hit me up if you wanna figure some stuff out with this inked up beanpole okay? okay ily.
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aaronsniderus · 6 years
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How to Trick Yourself Into Saving for Spring Break
Don’t get us wrong: Winter is lovely. Snowmen and sweaters brighten even the grayest, most frigid days. But we’re still relieved that spring is (finally) on the horizon, and we’re eagerly planning some epic spring break adventures.
Spring break is an exceptionally popular time to take a vacation — particularly for college students and millennials. More than half of millennials surveyed in a study spearheaded by TripAdvisor planned spring break travel in 2018, and 2019 should be no different.
While some destinations are cheaper than others, travel ain’t free. In fact, Skyscanner found that the average spring break flight cost $602 last year… and that’s before you even purchase a single margarita.
Of course, if you’ve got a hefty student loan check in the bank, it can be tempting to use some of it to fund your spring break adventure. But don’t! It’s not worth the added agony down the line — or the cost of accruing interest — and it can add to an already-staggering student debt total. (The average debt figure for 2018 graduates was $29,800.)
Fortunately, there are plenty of pain-free ways to save up for a spring break travel budget. With the right tools and tactics, you won’t even notice the money is gone until you’re sitting back with your toes in the sand.
Here are some smart ways to trick yourself into saving up for the spring break getaway of your dreams.
Savings apps
If you have a smartphone, the key to spring break savings may already be in the palm of your hand. Here are a few apps that make it simple to turn your spring break plans into a reality.
Albert
This app’s name makes it sound like it’s your personal butler — and for good reason. Albert is all about using technology to create a custom financial plan that works for your situation, analyzing your income, spending habits and goals.
After you connect your various accounts, Albert keeps you apprised of rising bills and unexpected fees that can throw your budget off balance. Then, it automatically sets aside savings based on your habits, slowly amassing a cushion without you even noticing.
Finally, Albert users have the added bonus of communicating with Albert Genius, a service backed by live human financial experts, and which is available to you via text at any time. Albert allows its users to pay “what you think is fair” for the service, starting as low as $4 per month.
Qapital
Available for both Android and iOS, Qapital is all about making saving fun. (Yes, fun.) You can set goals and rules to turn your penny-pinching project into a challenge, and the clean, bright interface makes it simple to see whether or not you’re staying on track.
Another cool feature of Qapital that makes it perfect for spring break savers: It allows you to set joint goals, where you and your friends all save for a common objective. In other words, you can get your whole spring break squad in on the game, which can help keep everyone motivated and achieve your goal easier.
Qapital’s fees start at $3 per month for basic service, and go up to $6 and $12 for its “Complete” and “Master” tiers, respectively.
Digit
Digit is also into saving money “without thinking about it.” It allows you to set specific, achievable goals. Rather than using an app interface, Digit is all text message-based, so it feels like sending a quick line to your friend … who just happens to be helping you save a ton of dough.
World traveler and former Student Loan Hero staff writer Susan Shain used Digit to painlessly save — get this — nearly $2,000. Although she’s an old pro at saving up for trips, she had never been able to amass an emergency fund, so she decided to try Digit to see if it would work.
“I noticed the app withdrawing small amounts of money from my account,” she writes, “but it was never enough to cause me any financial worry. When I finally logged in 10 months later, I was stoked to see I had saved almost $2,000. What a nice surprise!”
Investing apps
Yes, investing is all about the long game — and you need this spring break stash now.
But getting your portfolio started will put you in a better position to enjoy adventures later in life by allowing your money to be fruitful and multiply. The best time to start investing is when you’re young.
(Psst: A couple of the apps we’ve discussed above, like Qapital and Albert, also include investment options, so if you’re already signed up for them, have a look before you download another app!)
Acorns
Just imagine how much money you’d have if every time you swiped your credit card, the spare change from your transaction was automatically rolled into an investment account.
Well, that’s exactly what Acorns does with its “Round-Ups” feature, which makes it possible to build a hefty nest egg without thinking about it. The app is also rolling out a debit card, which will make it easier than ever to stick to your budget.
Acorns is built with beginner investors in mind, providing a wealth of information on its Grow blog to help you take control of your finances. Its services start at $1 per month, and go up to $2 or $3 if you opt in for additions like retirement guidance.
Stash
Got $5 to spare? You’ve got enough to start investing — at least if you use Stash, an automatic investment app geared toward beginners. For a fee of $1 a month, you can set up small automatic deposits (think: five bucks a week) and allocate them into themed ETFs to ensure your portfolio matches your values.
Or, if you’re interested in investing in specific companies, you can take advantage of Stash’s fractional shares to buy just a little bit of big name stocks like JPMorgan or Alphabet. Stash also offers fee-free retirement accounts for users under 25, which may be worth taking advantage of if you’re eligible.
Automatic transfers
Not quite ready to download a savings app? Put off by the idea of paying to save?
Well, you can DIY the incremental savings that make these apps so effective by setting up automatic transfers at your existing bank account.
Although the exact steps to set up the transfer will depend on your specific bank, it’s usually not too difficult — in fact, you’ll likely be able to do so from your online account portal. Even setting aside as little as $10 per week can really add up over time, especially if you move the money into a high-interest savings account, where it’ll earn a little extra.
Rewards and loyalty programs
It seems like every store you go to, there’s another customer service agent asking if you’d like to sign up for the rewards program. And while it can get tiresome, you can actually score some substantial savings if you take advantage of those rewards.
For example, Shell’s Fuel Rewards system earns you 5 cents off per gallon every time you spend $25 inside participating stations (which isn’t hard to do if you frequently run inside to grab a snack).
Five cents per gallon may not sound like much, but it can really add up, especially if you’ve got plans to drive somewhere far away, like Orlando. You can also earn points at Shell by purchasing gift cards for companies like Amazon and Apple, so if you’re already planning to spend money at those companies, you might as well buy the card instead.
Another popular loyalty program, particularly for java-fueled college students, is Starbucks Rewards, which allows you to earn points, or “stars,” each time you spend a dollar at Starbucks.
These stars can later be traded for free food and drink items, and you’ll also get exclusive access to member events, offers, free refills, a free birthday reward and more. At two stars per dollar spent and a reward once you collect 125 stars, you’ll get a freebie every $62.50, not counting star bonuses. And let’s be real — it’s easy spend that at Starbucks in a month.
Saving for spring break doesn’t have to be painful
Even if you’re planning an all-out spring break bash, you don’t have to break your back saving the money to get there. Small steps, like downloading a savings app, can reap big rewards without wrecking your lifestyle.
Happy spring!
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LenderVariable APREligibility  1 Important Disclosures for Ascent. Ascent Disclosures
Before taking out private student loans, you should explore and compare all financial aid alternatives, including grants, scholarships, and federal student loans and consider your future monthly payments and income. Applying with a cosigner may improve your chance of getting approved and could help you qualify for a lower interest rate. Ascent Student Loans may be funded by Richland State Bank (RSB). Ascent Student Loan products are subject to credit qualification, completion of a loan application, verification of application information and certification of loan amount by a participating school. Loan products may not be available in certain jurisdictions, and certain restrictions, limitations; and terms and conditions may apply. Ascent is a federally registered trademark of Turnstile Capital Management (TCM) and may be used by RSB under limited license. Richland State Bank is a federally registered service mark of Richland State Bank.
Ascent rates are effective as of 03/01/2019 and include a 0.25% discount applied when a borrower in repayment elects automatic debit payments via their personal checking account. Competitive rates calculated monthly at the time of loan approval. Ascent Tuition Cosigned Loan: Variable rate loans are based on a margin between 2.00% and 11.00% plus the 1-Month London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), rounded to the nearest 1/100th of a percent. The current LIBOR is 2.481%, which may adjust monthly. Your interest rate may increase or decrease, based on LIBOR monthly changes, resulting in an APR range between 4.23% – 13.23%. Fixed rate loans have an APR range between 5.21% – 14.28%. For Ascent Tuition loan current rates and repayment examples visit www.AscentTuition.com/APR. Ascent Independent Non-Cosigned Loan: Variable rate loans are based on a margin between 4.00% and 12.50% plus the 1-Month London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), rounded to the nearest 1/100th of a percent. The current LIBOR is 2.481%, which may adjust monthly. Your interest rate may increase or decrease, based on LIBOR monthly changes, resulting in an APR range between 5.87% – 13.15%. Fixed rate loans have an APR range between 6.80% – 13.55%. For Ascent Independent non-cosigned loan current rates and repayment examples visit www.AscentIndependent.com/APR. Payments may be deferred. Subject to lender discretion, forbearance and/or deferment options may be available for borrowers who are encountering financial distress. Making interest only or partial interest payments while in school will not reduce the principal balance of the loan. There are three (3) flexible in-school repayment options that include fully deferred, interest only and $25 minimum repayment. Flexible repayment plans may be offered up to a fifteen (15) year repayment term for a variable rate loan and ten (10) year repayment term for a fixed rate loan. Students must be enrolled at least half-time at an eligible school. Minimum loan amount is $2,000. Interest rate reduction of 0.25% for enrollment in automatic debit applies only when the borrower and/or cosigner signs up for automatic payments and the regularly scheduled, current amount due (including full, flat, or interest only payments, as applicable) is successfully deducted from the designated bank account each month. Interest rate reduction(s) will not apply during periods when no payment is due, including periods of In-School, Deferment, Grace or Forbearance. If you have two (2) returned payments for Nonsufficient Funds, we may cancel your automatic debit enrollment and you will lose the 0.25% interest rate reduction. You will then need to re-qualify and re-enroll in automatic debit payments to receive the 0.25% interest rate reduction. All applicants (individual and cosigner) are required to complete a brief online financial literacy course as part of the application process to be eligible for funding. Eligibility, loan amount and other loan terms are dependent on several factors, which may include: loan product, other financial aid, creditworthiness, school, program, graduation date, major, cost of attendance and other factors. Aggregate loan limits may apply. The cost of attendance is determined and certified by the educational institution. The legal age for entering into contracts is eighteen (18) years of age in every state except Alabama where it is nineteen (19) years old, Nebraska where it is nineteen (19) years old (only for wards of the state), and Mississippi and Puerto Rico where it is twenty-one (21) years old. 1% Cash Back Graduation Reward subject to terms and conditions. Click here for details. In order to be eligible for the 1% Cash Back Graduation Reward, borrower must meet the following criteria after graduation: · The student borrower has graduated from the degree program that the loan was used to fund. · The student borrower may change majors and/or transfer to a different school, but must obtain the same level of degree (e.g. – undergraduate or graduate) · The graduation date is more than 90 days and less than five (5) years after the date of the loan’s first disbursement. · Any loan that the student has borrowed under the Ascent loan is not more than 30-days delinquent or in a default status as of the graduation date and until any Graduation Reward is paid. Students can apply to release their cosigner and continue with the loan in only their name after making the first 24 consecutive regularly scheduled full principal and interest payments on-time and meeting the other eligibility criteria to qualify for the loan without a cosigner.
* Application times vary depending on the applicants ability to supply the necessary information for submission.
2 Important Disclosures for CollegeAve. CollegeAve Disclosures
College Ave Student Loans products are made available through either Firstrust Bank, member FDIC or M.Y. Safra Bank, FSB, member FDIC. All loans are subject to individual approval and adherence to underwriting guidelines. Program restrictions, other terms, and conditions apply.
All rates shown include the auto-pay discount. The 0.25% auto-pay interest rate reduction applies as long as a valid bank account is designated for required monthly payments. Variable rates may increase after consummation. This informational repayment example uses typical loan terms for a freshman borrower who selects the Deferred Repayment Option with an 8-year repayment term, has a $10,000 loan that is disbursed in one disbursement and a 7% variable Annual Percentage Rate (“APR”): 96 monthly payments of $179.28 while in the repayment period, for a total amount of payments of $17,211.20. Loans will never have a full principal and interest monthly payment of less than $50. Your actual rates and repayment terms may vary. As certified by your school and less any other financial aid you might receive. Minimum $1,000.
Information advertised valid as of 2/1/2019. Variable interest rates may increase after consummation.
3 Important Disclosures for Discover. Discover Disclosures At least a 3.0 GPA (or equivalent) qualifies for a one-time cash reward of 1% of the loan amount of each new Discover undergraduate and graduate student loan. Reward redemption period is limited. Please visit DiscoverStudentLoans.com/Reward for any applicable reward terms and conditions. View Terms and Conditions at DiscoverStudentLoans.com/AutoDebitReward. * The Sallie Mae partner referenced is not the creditor for these loans and is compensated by Sallie Mae for the referral of Smart Option Student Loan customers. 4 = Sallie Mae Disclaimer: Click here for important information. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. 5 Important Disclosures for SunTrust. SunTrust Disclosures
Before applying for a private student loan, SunTrust recommends comparing all financial aid alternatives including grants, scholarships, and both federal and private student loans. To view and compare the available features of SunTrust private student loans, visit https://www.suntrust.com/loans/student-loans/private.
Certain restrictions and limitations may apply. SunTrust Bank reserves the right to change or discontinue this loan program without notice. Availability of all loan programs is subject to approval under the SunTrust credit policy and other criteria and may not be available in certain jurisdictions.
SunTrust Bank, Member FDIC. ©2019 SunTrust Banks, Inc. SUNTRUST, the SunTrust logo and Custom Choice Loan are trademarks of SunTrust Banks, Inc. All rights reserved.
Interest rates and APRs (Annual Percentage Rates) depend upon (a) the student’s and cosigner’s (if applicable) credit histories, (b) the repayment option and repayment term selected, (c) the requested loan amount and (d) other information provided on the online loan application. If approved, applicants will be notified of the rate applicable to your loan. Rates and terms effective for applications received on or after 3/1/2019. The current variable APRs for the program range from 4.251% APR to 13.250% APR and the current fixed APRs for the program range from 5.351% APR to 14.051% APR (the low APRs within these ranges assume a 7-year $10,000 loan, with two disbursements and no deferment; the high APRs within these ranges assume a 15-year $10,000 loan with two disbursements). The variable interest rate for each calendar month is calculated by adding the current One-month LIBOR index to your margin. LIBOR stands for London Interbank Offered Rate. The One-month LIBOR is published in the Money Rates section of The Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition). The One-month LIBOR index is captured on the 25th day of the immediately preceding calendar month (or if the 25th is not a business day, the next business day thereafter), and is rounded up to the nearest 1/8th of one percent. The current One-month LIBOR index is 2.500% on 3/1/2019. The variable interest rate will increase or decrease if the One-month LIBOR index changes. The fixed rate assigned to a loan will never change except as required by law or if you request and qualify for the auto pay discount. Any applicant who applies for a loan the month of, the month prior to, or the month after the student’s graduation date, as stated on the application or certified by the school, will only be offered the Immediate Repayment option. The student must be enrolled at least half-time to be eligible for the partial interest, fully deferred and interest only repayment options unless the loan is being used for a past due balance and the student is out of school. With the Full Deferment option, payments may be deferred while the student is enrolled at least half-time at an approved school and during the six month grace period after graduation or dropping below half-time status, but the total initial deferment period, including the grace period, may not exceed 66 months from the first disbursement date. The Partial Interest Repayment option (paying $25 per month during in-school deferment) is only available on loans of $5,000 or more. For payment examples, see footnote 7. With the Immediate Repayment option, the first payment of principal and interest will be due approximately 30-60 calendar days after the final disbursement date and the minimum monthly payment is $50.00. There are no prepayment penalties. The 15-year term and Partial Interest Repayment option (paying $25 per month during in-school deferment) are only available for loan amounts of $5,000 or more. Making interest only or partial interest payments while in school deferment (including the grace period) will not reduce the principal balance of the loan. Payment examples within this footnote assume a 45-month deferment period, a six-month grace period before entering repayment and the Partial Interest Repayment option. 7-year term: $10,000 loan disbursed over two transactions with a 7-year repayment term (84 months) and 8.468% APR would result in a monthly principal and interest payment of $199.90. 10-year term: $10,000 loan disbursed over two transactions with a 10-year repayment term (120 months) and 8.938% APR would result in a monthly principal and interest payment of $162.92. 15-year term: $10,000 loan disbursed over two transactions with a 15-year repayment term (180 months) and 9.423% APR would result in a monthly principal and interest payment of $136.90. The 2% principal reduction is based on the total dollar amount of all disbursements made, excluding any amounts that are reduced, cancelled, or returned. To receive this principal reduction, it must be requested from the servicer, the student borrower must have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher and proof of such graduation (e.g. copy of diploma, final transcript or letter on school letterhead) must be provided to the servicer. This reward is available once during the life of the loan, regardless of whether the student receives more than one degree. Earn an interest rate reduction for making automatic payments of principal and interest from a bank account (“auto pay discount”). Earn a 0.25% interest rate reduction when you auto pay from any bank account and an extra 0.25% interest rate reduction when you auto pay from a SunTrust Bank checking, savings, or money market account. The auto pay discount will continue until (1) automatic deduction of payments is stopped (including during any deferment or forbearance) or (2) three automatic deductions are returned for insufficient funds during the life of the loan. The extra 0.25% interest rate reduction when you auto pay from a SunTrust Bank account will be applied after the first automatic payment is successfully deducted and will be removed for the reasons stated above. In the event the auto pay discount is removed, the loan will accrue interest at the rate stated in your Credit Agreement. The auto pay discount is not available when payments are deferred or when the loan is in forbearance, even if payments are being made. A cosigner may be released from the loan upon request to the servicer provided that the student borrower is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident alien, has met credit criteria and met either one of the following payment conditions: (a) the first 36 consecutive monthly principal and interest payments have been made on-time (received by the servicer within 10 calendar days after their due date) or (b) the loan has not had any late payments and has been prepaid prior to the end of the first 36 months of scheduled principal and interest payments in an amount equal to the first 36 months of scheduled principal and interest payments (based on the monthly payment amount in effect when you make the most recent payment). As an example, if you have made 30 months of consecutive on-time payments, and then, based on the monthly payment amount in effect on the due date of your 31st consecutive monthly payment, you pay a lump sum equal to 6 months of payments, you will have satisfied the payment condition. Cosigner release may not be available if a loan is in forbearance. If the student dies after any part of the loan has been disbursed, and the loan has not been charged off due to non-payment or bankruptcy, then the outstanding balance will be forgiven if the servicer is informed of the student’s death and receives acceptable proof of death. If the student becomes totally and permanently disabled after any part of the loan has been disbursed and the loan has not been charged off due to non-payment or bankruptcy, the loan will be forgiven upon the servicer’s receipt and approval of a completed discharge application. If the student borrower dies or becomes totally and permanently disabled prior to the full disbursement of the loan, and the loan is forgiven, all future disbursements will be cancelled. Loan forgiveness for student death or disability is available at any point throughout the life of the loan. 6 Important Disclosures for LendKey. LendKey Disclosures
Additional terms and conditions apply. For more details see LendKey
7 Important Disclosures for CommonBond. CommonBond Disclosures
A government loan is made according to rules set by the U.S. Department of Education. Government loans have fixed interest rates, meaning that the interest rate on a government loan will never go up or down.
Government loans also permit borrowers in financial trouble to use certain options, such as income-based repayment, which may help some borrowers. Depending on the type of loan that you have, the government may discharge your loan if you die or become permanently disabled.
Depending on what type of government loan that you have, you may be eligible for loan forgiveness in exchange for performing certain types of public service. If you are an active-duty service member and you obtained your government loan before you were called to active duty, you are entitled to interest rate and repayment benefits for your loan. If you are unable to pay your government loan, the government can refer your loan to a collection agency or sue you for the unpaid amount. In addition, the government has special powers to collect the loan, such as taking your tax refund and applying it to your loan balance.
A private student loan is not a government loan and is not regulated by the Department of Education. A private student loan is instead regulated like other consumer loans under both state and federal law and by the terms of the promissory note with your lender. If you refinance your government loan, your new lender will use the proceeds of your new loan to pay off your government loan. Private student loan lenders do not have to honor any of the benefits that apply to government loans. Because your government loan will be gone after refinancing, you will lose any benefits that apply to that loan. If you are an active-duty service member, your new loan will not be eligible for service member benefits. Most importantly, once you refinance your government loan, you will not able to reinstate your government loan if you become dissatisfied with the terms of your private student loan.
If your private student loan has a fixed interest rate, then that rate will never go up or down. If your private student loan has a variable interest rate, then that rate will vary depending on an index rate disclosed in your application. If the interest rate on the new private student loan is less than the interest rate on your government loans, your payments will be less if you refinance. If you are a borrower with a secure job, emergency savings, strong credit and are unlikely to need any of the options available to distressed borrowers of government loans, a refinance of your government loans into a private student loan may be attractive to you. You should consider the costs and benefits of refinancing carefully before you refinance.
If you don’t pay a private student loan as agreed, the lender can refer your loan to a collection agency or sue you for the unpaid amount.
Remember also that like government loans, most private loans cannot be discharged if you file bankruptcy unless you can demonstrate that repayment of the loan would cause you an undue hardship. In most bankruptcy courts, proving undue hardship is very difficult for most borrowers.
8 Important Disclosures for Citizens Bank. Citizens Bank Disclosures Undergraduate Rate Disclosure: Variable rate, based on the one-month London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) published in The Wall Street Journal on the twenty-fifth day, or the next business day, of the preceding calendar month. As of March 1, 2019, the one-month LIBOR rate is 2.48%. Variable interest rates range from 4.45%-12.42% (4.45%-12.32% APR) and will fluctuate over the term of the loan with changes in the LIBOR rate, and will vary based on applicable terms, level of degree earned and presence of a co-signer. Fixed interest rates range from 5.74%-12.19% (5.74% – 12.09% APR) based on applicable terms, level of degree earned and presence of a co-signer. Lowest rates shown requires application with a co-signer, are for eligible applicants, require a 5-year repayment term, borrower making scheduled payments while in school and include our Loyalty and Automatic Payment discounts of 0.25 percentage points each, as outlined in the Loyalty Discount and Automatic Payment Discount disclosures. Subject to additional terms and conditions, and rates are subject to change at any time without notice. Such changes will only apply to applications taken after the effective date of change. Please note: Due to federal regulations, Citizens Bank is required to provide every potential borrower with disclosure information before they apply for a private student loan. The borrower will be presented with an Application Disclosure and an Approval Disclosure within the application process before they accept the terms and conditions of the loan. Graduate Rate Disclosure: Variable rate, based on the one-month London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) published in The Wall Street Journal on the twenty-fifth day, or the next business day, of the preceding calendar month. As of March 1, 2019, the one-month LIBOR rate is 2.48%. Variable interest rates range from 4.45% – 12.18% (4.45% – 11.82% APR) and will fluctuate over the term of your loan with changes in the LIBOR rate, and will vary based on applicable terms, level of degree earned and presence of a co-signer. Fixed interest rates range from 5.74% – 11.95% (5.74% – 11.65% APR) based on applicable terms, level of degree earned and presence of a co-signer. Lowest rates shown requires application with a co-signer, are for eligible applicants, require a 5-year repayment term, borrower making scheduled payments while in school and include our Loyalty and Automatic Payment discounts of 0.25 percentage points each, as outlined in the Loyalty Discount and Automatic Payment Discount disclosures. Subject to additional terms and conditions, and rates are subject to change at any time without notice. Such changes will only apply to applications taken after the effective date of change. Please note: Due to federal regulations, Citizens Bank is required to provide every potential borrower with disclosure information before they apply for a private student loan. You will be presented with an Application Disclosure and an Approval Disclosure within the application process before you accept the terms and conditions of your loan. Citizens One Student Loan Eligibility: Borrowers must be enrolled at least half-time in a degree-granting program at an eligible institution. Borrowers must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident or an international borrower/eligible non-citizen with a creditworthy U.S. citizen or permanent resident co-signer. For borrowers who have not attained the age of majority in their state of residence, a co-signer is required. Citizens One reserves the right to modify eligibility criteria at anytime. Interest rate ranges subject to change. Citizens One Student Loans private student loans are subject to credit qualification, completion of a loan application/consumer credit agreement, verification of application information, and if applicable, self-certification form, school certification of the loan amount, and student’s enrollment at a Citizens One Student Loans-participating school. Please Note: International Students are not eligible for the multi-year approval feature. Co-signer Release: Borrowers may apply for co-signer release after making 36 consecutive on-time payments of principal and interest. For the purpose of the application for co-signer release, on-time payments are defined as payments received within 15 days of the due date. Interest only payments do not qualify. The borrower must meet certain credit and eligibility guidelines when applying for the co-signer release. Borrowers must complete an application for release and provide income verification documents as part of the review. Borrowers who use deferment or forbearance will need to make 36 consecutive on-time payments after reentering repayment to qualify for release. The borrower applying for co-signer release must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. If an application for co-signer release is denied, the borrower may not reapply for co-signer release until at least one year from the date the application for co-signer release was received. Terms and conditions apply. Borrowers whose loans were funded prior to reaching the age of majority may not be eligible for co-signer release. Note: co-signer release is not available on the Student Loan for Parents or Education Refinance Loan for Parents. 4.23% – 13.23%1Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit Ascent
4.20% – 11.44%2Undergraduate, Graduate, and Parents
Visit CollegeAve
4.84% – 13.49%3Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit Discover
4.50% – 10.11%*,4Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit SallieMae
4.25% – 13.25%5Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit SunTrust
5.85% – 6.99%6Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit LendKey
3.95% – 9.81%7Undergraduate, Graduate, and Parents
Visit CommonBond
4.45% – 12.42%8Undergraduate, Graduate, and Parents
Visit Citizens
Our team at Student Loan Hero works hard to find and recommend products and services that we believe are of high quality and will make a positive impact in your life. We sometimes earn a sales commission or advertising fee when recommending various products and services to you. Similar to when you are being sold any product or service, be sure to read the fine print understand what you are buying, and consult a licensed professional if you have any concerns. Student Loan Hero is not a lender or investment advisor. We are not involved in the loan approval or investment process, nor do we make credit or investment related decisions. The rates and terms listed on our website are estimates and are subject to change at any time. Please do your homework and let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
The post How to Trick Yourself Into Saving for Spring Break appeared first on Student Loan Hero.
from Updates About Loans https://studentloanhero.com/featured/saving-for-spring-break/
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mikebrackett · 6 years
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How to Trick Yourself Into Saving for Spring Break
Don’t get us wrong: Winter is lovely. Snowmen and sweaters brighten even the grayest, most frigid days. But we’re still relieved that spring is (finally) on the horizon, and we’re eagerly planning some epic spring break adventures.
Spring break is an exceptionally popular time to take a vacation — particularly for college students and millennials. More than half of millennials surveyed in a study spearheaded by TripAdvisor planned spring break travel in 2018, and 2019 should be no different.
While some destinations are cheaper than others, travel ain’t free. In fact, Skyscanner found that the average spring break flight cost $602 last year… and that’s before you even purchase a single margarita.
Of course, if you’ve got a hefty student loan check in the bank, it can be tempting to use some of it to fund your spring break adventure. But don’t! It’s not worth the added agony down the line — or the cost of accruing interest — and it can add to an already-staggering student debt total. (The average debt figure for 2018 graduates was $29,800.)
Fortunately, there are plenty of pain-free ways to save up for a spring break travel budget. With the right tools and tactics, you won’t even notice the money is gone until you’re sitting back with your toes in the sand.
Here are some smart ways to trick yourself into saving up for the spring break getaway of your dreams.
Savings apps
If you have a smartphone, the key to spring break savings may already be in the palm of your hand. Here are a few apps that make it simple to turn your spring break plans into a reality.
Albert
This app’s name makes it sound like it’s your personal butler — and for good reason. Albert is all about using technology to create a custom financial plan that works for your situation, analyzing your income, spending habits and goals.
After you connect your various accounts, Albert keeps you apprised of rising bills and unexpected fees that can throw your budget off balance. Then, it automatically sets aside savings based on your habits, slowly amassing a cushion without you even noticing.
Finally, Albert users have the added bonus of communicating with Albert Genius, a service backed by live human financial experts, and which is available to you via text at any time. Albert allows its users to pay “what you think is fair” for the service, starting as low as $4 per month.
Qapital
Available for both Android and iOS, Qapital is all about making saving fun. (Yes, fun.) You can set goals and rules to turn your penny-pinching project into a challenge, and the clean, bright interface makes it simple to see whether or not you’re staying on track.
Another cool feature of Qapital that makes it perfect for spring break savers: It allows you to set joint goals, where you and your friends all save for a common objective. In other words, you can get your whole spring break squad in on the game, which can help keep everyone motivated and achieve your goal easier.
Qapital’s fees start at $3 per month for basic service, and go up to $6 and $12 for its “Complete” and “Master” tiers, respectively.
Digit
Digit is also into saving money “without thinking about it.” It allows you to set specific, achievable goals. Rather than using an app interface, Digit is all text message-based, so it feels like sending a quick line to your friend … who just happens to be helping you save a ton of dough.
World traveler and former Student Loan Hero staff writer Susan Shain used Digit to painlessly save — get this — nearly $2,000. Although she’s an old pro at saving up for trips, she had never been able to amass an emergency fund, so she decided to try Digit to see if it would work.
“I noticed the app withdrawing small amounts of money from my account,” she writes, “but it was never enough to cause me any financial worry. When I finally logged in 10 months later, I was stoked to see I had saved almost $2,000. What a nice surprise!”
Investing apps
Yes, investing is all about the long game — and you need this spring break stash now.
But getting your portfolio started will put you in a better position to enjoy adventures later in life by allowing your money to be fruitful and multiply. The best time to start investing is when you’re young.
(Psst: A couple of the apps we’ve discussed above, like Qapital and Albert, also include investment options, so if you’re already signed up for them, have a look before you download another app!)
Acorns
Just imagine how much money you’d have if every time you swiped your credit card, the spare change from your transaction was automatically rolled into an investment account.
Well, that’s exactly what Acorns does with its “Round-Ups” feature, which makes it possible to build a hefty nest egg without thinking about it. The app is also rolling out a debit card, which will make it easier than ever to stick to your budget.
Acorns is built with beginner investors in mind, providing a wealth of information on its Grow blog to help you take control of your finances. Its services start at $1 per month, and go up to $2 or $3 if you opt in for additions like retirement guidance.
Stash
Got $5 to spare? You’ve got enough to start investing — at least if you use Stash, an automatic investment app geared toward beginners. For a fee of $1 a month, you can set up small automatic deposits (think: five bucks a week) and allocate them into themed ETFs to ensure your portfolio matches your values.
Or, if you’re interested in investing in specific companies, you can take advantage of Stash’s fractional shares to buy just a little bit of big name stocks like JPMorgan or Alphabet. Stash also offers fee-free retirement accounts for users under 25, which may be worth taking advantage of if you’re eligible.
Automatic transfers
Not quite ready to download a savings app? Put off by the idea of paying to save?
Well, you can DIY the incremental savings that make these apps so effective by setting up automatic transfers at your existing bank account.
Although the exact steps to set up the transfer will depend on your specific bank, it’s usually not too difficult — in fact, you’ll likely be able to do so from your online account portal. Even setting aside as little as $10 per week can really add up over time, especially if you move the money into a high-interest savings account, where it’ll earn a little extra.
Rewards and loyalty programs
It seems like every store you go to, there’s another customer service agent asking if you’d like to sign up for the rewards program. And while it can get tiresome, you can actually score some substantial savings if you take advantage of those rewards.
For example, Shell’s Fuel Rewards system earns you 5 cents off per gallon every time you spend $25 inside participating stations (which isn’t hard to do if you frequently run inside to grab a snack).
Five cents per gallon may not sound like much, but it can really add up, especially if you’ve got plans to drive somewhere far away, like Orlando. You can also earn points at Shell by purchasing gift cards for companies like Amazon and Apple, so if you’re already planning to spend money at those companies, you might as well buy the card instead.
Another popular loyalty program, particularly for java-fueled college students, is Starbucks Rewards, which allows you to earn points, or “stars,” each time you spend a dollar at Starbucks.
These stars can later be traded for free food and drink items, and you’ll also get exclusive access to member events, offers, free refills, a free birthday reward and more. At two stars per dollar spent and a reward once you collect 125 stars, you’ll get a freebie every $62.50, not counting star bonuses. And let’s be real — it’s easy spend that at Starbucks in a month.
Saving for spring break doesn’t have to be painful
Even if you’re planning an all-out spring break bash, you don’t have to break your back saving the money to get there. Small steps, like downloading a savings app, can reap big rewards without wrecking your lifestyle.
Happy spring!
Need a student loan? Here are our top student loan lenders of 2019!
LenderVariable APREligibility  1 Important Disclosures for Ascent. Ascent Disclosures
Before taking out private student loans, you should explore and compare all financial aid alternatives, including grants, scholarships, and federal student loans and consider your future monthly payments and income. Applying with a cosigner may improve your chance of getting approved and could help you qualify for a lower interest rate. Ascent Student Loans may be funded by Richland State Bank (RSB). Ascent Student Loan products are subject to credit qualification, completion of a loan application, verification of application information and certification of loan amount by a participating school. Loan products may not be available in certain jurisdictions, and certain restrictions, limitations; and terms and conditions may apply. Ascent is a federally registered trademark of Turnstile Capital Management (TCM) and may be used by RSB under limited license. Richland State Bank is a federally registered service mark of Richland State Bank.
Ascent rates are effective as of 03/01/2019 and include a 0.25% discount applied when a borrower in repayment elects automatic debit payments via their personal checking account. Competitive rates calculated monthly at the time of loan approval. Ascent Tuition Cosigned Loan: Variable rate loans are based on a margin between 2.00% and 11.00% plus the 1-Month London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), rounded to the nearest 1/100th of a percent. The current LIBOR is 2.481%, which may adjust monthly. Your interest rate may increase or decrease, based on LIBOR monthly changes, resulting in an APR range between 4.23% – 13.23%. Fixed rate loans have an APR range between 5.21% – 14.28%. For Ascent Tuition loan current rates and repayment examples visit www.AscentTuition.com/APR. Ascent Independent Non-Cosigned Loan: Variable rate loans are based on a margin between 4.00% and 12.50% plus the 1-Month London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), rounded to the nearest 1/100th of a percent. The current LIBOR is 2.481%, which may adjust monthly. Your interest rate may increase or decrease, based on LIBOR monthly changes, resulting in an APR range between 5.87% – 13.15%. Fixed rate loans have an APR range between 6.80% – 13.55%. For Ascent Independent non-cosigned loan current rates and repayment examples visit www.AscentIndependent.com/APR. Payments may be deferred. Subject to lender discretion, forbearance and/or deferment options may be available for borrowers who are encountering financial distress. Making interest only or partial interest payments while in school will not reduce the principal balance of the loan. There are three (3) flexible in-school repayment options that include fully deferred, interest only and $25 minimum repayment. Flexible repayment plans may be offered up to a fifteen (15) year repayment term for a variable rate loan and ten (10) year repayment term for a fixed rate loan. Students must be enrolled at least half-time at an eligible school. Minimum loan amount is $2,000. Interest rate reduction of 0.25% for enrollment in automatic debit applies only when the borrower and/or cosigner signs up for automatic payments and the regularly scheduled, current amount due (including full, flat, or interest only payments, as applicable) is successfully deducted from the designated bank account each month. Interest rate reduction(s) will not apply during periods when no payment is due, including periods of In-School, Deferment, Grace or Forbearance. If you have two (2) returned payments for Nonsufficient Funds, we may cancel your automatic debit enrollment and you will lose the 0.25% interest rate reduction. You will then need to re-qualify and re-enroll in automatic debit payments to receive the 0.25% interest rate reduction. All applicants (individual and cosigner) are required to complete a brief online financial literacy course as part of the application process to be eligible for funding. Eligibility, loan amount and other loan terms are dependent on several factors, which may include: loan product, other financial aid, creditworthiness, school, program, graduation date, major, cost of attendance and other factors. Aggregate loan limits may apply. The cost of attendance is determined and certified by the educational institution. The legal age for entering into contracts is eighteen (18) years of age in every state except Alabama where it is nineteen (19) years old, Nebraska where it is nineteen (19) years old (only for wards of the state), and Mississippi and Puerto Rico where it is twenty-one (21) years old. 1% Cash Back Graduation Reward subject to terms and conditions. Click here for details. In order to be eligible for the 1% Cash Back Graduation Reward, borrower must meet the following criteria after graduation: · The student borrower has graduated from the degree program that the loan was used to fund. · The student borrower may change majors and/or transfer to a different school, but must obtain the same level of degree (e.g. – undergraduate or graduate) · The graduation date is more than 90 days and less than five (5) years after the date of the loan’s first disbursement. · Any loan that the student has borrowed under the Ascent loan is not more than 30-days delinquent or in a default status as of the graduation date and until any Graduation Reward is paid. Students can apply to release their cosigner and continue with the loan in only their name after making the first 24 consecutive regularly scheduled full principal and interest payments on-time and meeting the other eligibility criteria to qualify for the loan without a cosigner.
* Application times vary depending on the applicants ability to supply the necessary information for submission.
2 Important Disclosures for CollegeAve. CollegeAve Disclosures
College Ave Student Loans products are made available through either Firstrust Bank, member FDIC or M.Y. Safra Bank, FSB, member FDIC. All loans are subject to individual approval and adherence to underwriting guidelines. Program restrictions, other terms, and conditions apply.
All rates shown include the auto-pay discount. The 0.25% auto-pay interest rate reduction applies as long as a valid bank account is designated for required monthly payments. Variable rates may increase after consummation. This informational repayment example uses typical loan terms for a freshman borrower who selects the Deferred Repayment Option with an 8-year repayment term, has a $10,000 loan that is disbursed in one disbursement and a 7% variable Annual Percentage Rate (“APR”): 96 monthly payments of $179.28 while in the repayment period, for a total amount of payments of $17,211.20. Loans will never have a full principal and interest monthly payment of less than $50. Your actual rates and repayment terms may vary. As certified by your school and less any other financial aid you might receive. Minimum $1,000.
Information advertised valid as of 2/1/2019. Variable interest rates may increase after consummation.
3 Important Disclosures for Discover. Discover Disclosures At least a 3.0 GPA (or equivalent) qualifies for a one-time cash reward of 1% of the loan amount of each new Discover undergraduate and graduate student loan. Reward redemption period is limited. Please visit DiscoverStudentLoans.com/Reward for any applicable reward terms and conditions. View Terms and Conditions at DiscoverStudentLoans.com/AutoDebitReward. * The Sallie Mae partner referenced is not the creditor for these loans and is compensated by Sallie Mae for the referral of Smart Option Student Loan customers. 4 = Sallie Mae Disclaimer: Click here for important information. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. 5 Important Disclosures for SunTrust. SunTrust Disclosures
Before applying for a private student loan, SunTrust recommends comparing all financial aid alternatives including grants, scholarships, and both federal and private student loans. To view and compare the available features of SunTrust private student loans, visit https://www.suntrust.com/loans/student-loans/private.
Certain restrictions and limitations may apply. SunTrust Bank reserves the right to change or discontinue this loan program without notice. Availability of all loan programs is subject to approval under the SunTrust credit policy and other criteria and may not be available in certain jurisdictions.
SunTrust Bank, Member FDIC. ©2019 SunTrust Banks, Inc. SUNTRUST, the SunTrust logo and Custom Choice Loan are trademarks of SunTrust Banks, Inc. All rights reserved.
Interest rates and APRs (Annual Percentage Rates) depend upon (a) the student’s and cosigner’s (if applicable) credit histories, (b) the repayment option and repayment term selected, (c) the requested loan amount and (d) other information provided on the online loan application. If approved, applicants will be notified of the rate applicable to your loan. Rates and terms effective for applications received on or after 3/1/2019. The current variable APRs for the program range from 4.251% APR to 13.250% APR and the current fixed APRs for the program range from 5.351% APR to 14.051% APR (the low APRs within these ranges assume a 7-year $10,000 loan, with two disbursements and no deferment; the high APRs within these ranges assume a 15-year $10,000 loan with two disbursements). The variable interest rate for each calendar month is calculated by adding the current One-month LIBOR index to your margin. LIBOR stands for London Interbank Offered Rate. The One-month LIBOR is published in the Money Rates section of The Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition). The One-month LIBOR index is captured on the 25th day of the immediately preceding calendar month (or if the 25th is not a business day, the next business day thereafter), and is rounded up to the nearest 1/8th of one percent. The current One-month LIBOR index is 2.500% on 3/1/2019. The variable interest rate will increase or decrease if the One-month LIBOR index changes. The fixed rate assigned to a loan will never change except as required by law or if you request and qualify for the auto pay discount. Any applicant who applies for a loan the month of, the month prior to, or the month after the student’s graduation date, as stated on the application or certified by the school, will only be offered the Immediate Repayment option. The student must be enrolled at least half-time to be eligible for the partial interest, fully deferred and interest only repayment options unless the loan is being used for a past due balance and the student is out of school. With the Full Deferment option, payments may be deferred while the student is enrolled at least half-time at an approved school and during the six month grace period after graduation or dropping below half-time status, but the total initial deferment period, including the grace period, may not exceed 66 months from the first disbursement date. The Partial Interest Repayment option (paying $25 per month during in-school deferment) is only available on loans of $5,000 or more. For payment examples, see footnote 7. With the Immediate Repayment option, the first payment of principal and interest will be due approximately 30-60 calendar days after the final disbursement date and the minimum monthly payment is $50.00. There are no prepayment penalties. The 15-year term and Partial Interest Repayment option (paying $25 per month during in-school deferment) are only available for loan amounts of $5,000 or more. Making interest only or partial interest payments while in school deferment (including the grace period) will not reduce the principal balance of the loan. Payment examples within this footnote assume a 45-month deferment period, a six-month grace period before entering repayment and the Partial Interest Repayment option. 7-year term: $10,000 loan disbursed over two transactions with a 7-year repayment term (84 months) and 8.468% APR would result in a monthly principal and interest payment of $199.90. 10-year term: $10,000 loan disbursed over two transactions with a 10-year repayment term (120 months) and 8.938% APR would result in a monthly principal and interest payment of $162.92. 15-year term: $10,000 loan disbursed over two transactions with a 15-year repayment term (180 months) and 9.423% APR would result in a monthly principal and interest payment of $136.90. The 2% principal reduction is based on the total dollar amount of all disbursements made, excluding any amounts that are reduced, cancelled, or returned. To receive this principal reduction, it must be requested from the servicer, the student borrower must have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher and proof of such graduation (e.g. copy of diploma, final transcript or letter on school letterhead) must be provided to the servicer. This reward is available once during the life of the loan, regardless of whether the student receives more than one degree. Earn an interest rate reduction for making automatic payments of principal and interest from a bank account (“auto pay discount”). Earn a 0.25% interest rate reduction when you auto pay from any bank account and an extra 0.25% interest rate reduction when you auto pay from a SunTrust Bank checking, savings, or money market account. The auto pay discount will continue until (1) automatic deduction of payments is stopped (including during any deferment or forbearance) or (2) three automatic deductions are returned for insufficient funds during the life of the loan. The extra 0.25% interest rate reduction when you auto pay from a SunTrust Bank account will be applied after the first automatic payment is successfully deducted and will be removed for the reasons stated above. In the event the auto pay discount is removed, the loan will accrue interest at the rate stated in your Credit Agreement. The auto pay discount is not available when payments are deferred or when the loan is in forbearance, even if payments are being made. A cosigner may be released from the loan upon request to the servicer provided that the student borrower is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident alien, has met credit criteria and met either one of the following payment conditions: (a) the first 36 consecutive monthly principal and interest payments have been made on-time (received by the servicer within 10 calendar days after their due date) or (b) the loan has not had any late payments and has been prepaid prior to the end of the first 36 months of scheduled principal and interest payments in an amount equal to the first 36 months of scheduled principal and interest payments (based on the monthly payment amount in effect when you make the most recent payment). As an example, if you have made 30 months of consecutive on-time payments, and then, based on the monthly payment amount in effect on the due date of your 31st consecutive monthly payment, you pay a lump sum equal to 6 months of payments, you will have satisfied the payment condition. Cosigner release may not be available if a loan is in forbearance. If the student dies after any part of the loan has been disbursed, and the loan has not been charged off due to non-payment or bankruptcy, then the outstanding balance will be forgiven if the servicer is informed of the student’s death and receives acceptable proof of death. If the student becomes totally and permanently disabled after any part of the loan has been disbursed and the loan has not been charged off due to non-payment or bankruptcy, the loan will be forgiven upon the servicer’s receipt and approval of a completed discharge application. If the student borrower dies or becomes totally and permanently disabled prior to the full disbursement of the loan, and the loan is forgiven, all future disbursements will be cancelled. Loan forgiveness for student death or disability is available at any point throughout the life of the loan. 6 Important Disclosures for LendKey. LendKey Disclosures
Additional terms and conditions apply. For more details see LendKey
7 Important Disclosures for CommonBond. CommonBond Disclosures
A government loan is made according to rules set by the U.S. Department of Education. Government loans have fixed interest rates, meaning that the interest rate on a government loan will never go up or down.
Government loans also permit borrowers in financial trouble to use certain options, such as income-based repayment, which may help some borrowers. Depending on the type of loan that you have, the government may discharge your loan if you die or become permanently disabled.
Depending on what type of government loan that you have, you may be eligible for loan forgiveness in exchange for performing certain types of public service. If you are an active-duty service member and you obtained your government loan before you were called to active duty, you are entitled to interest rate and repayment benefits for your loan. If you are unable to pay your government loan, the government can refer your loan to a collection agency or sue you for the unpaid amount. In addition, the government has special powers to collect the loan, such as taking your tax refund and applying it to your loan balance.
A private student loan is not a government loan and is not regulated by the Department of Education. A private student loan is instead regulated like other consumer loans under both state and federal law and by the terms of the promissory note with your lender. If you refinance your government loan, your new lender will use the proceeds of your new loan to pay off your government loan. Private student loan lenders do not have to honor any of the benefits that apply to government loans. Because your government loan will be gone after refinancing, you will lose any benefits that apply to that loan. If you are an active-duty service member, your new loan will not be eligible for service member benefits. Most importantly, once you refinance your government loan, you will not able to reinstate your government loan if you become dissatisfied with the terms of your private student loan.
If your private student loan has a fixed interest rate, then that rate will never go up or down. If your private student loan has a variable interest rate, then that rate will vary depending on an index rate disclosed in your application. If the interest rate on the new private student loan is less than the interest rate on your government loans, your payments will be less if you refinance. If you are a borrower with a secure job, emergency savings, strong credit and are unlikely to need any of the options available to distressed borrowers of government loans, a refinance of your government loans into a private student loan may be attractive to you. You should consider the costs and benefits of refinancing carefully before you refinance.
If you don’t pay a private student loan as agreed, the lender can refer your loan to a collection agency or sue you for the unpaid amount.
Remember also that like government loans, most private loans cannot be discharged if you file bankruptcy unless you can demonstrate that repayment of the loan would cause you an undue hardship. In most bankruptcy courts, proving undue hardship is very difficult for most borrowers.
8 Important Disclosures for Citizens Bank. Citizens Bank Disclosures Undergraduate Rate Disclosure: Variable rate, based on the one-month London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) published in The Wall Street Journal on the twenty-fifth day, or the next business day, of the preceding calendar month. As of March 1, 2019, the one-month LIBOR rate is 2.48%. Variable interest rates range from 4.45%-12.42% (4.45%-12.32% APR) and will fluctuate over the term of the loan with changes in the LIBOR rate, and will vary based on applicable terms, level of degree earned and presence of a co-signer. Fixed interest rates range from 5.74%-12.19% (5.74% – 12.09% APR) based on applicable terms, level of degree earned and presence of a co-signer. Lowest rates shown requires application with a co-signer, are for eligible applicants, require a 5-year repayment term, borrower making scheduled payments while in school and include our Loyalty and Automatic Payment discounts of 0.25 percentage points each, as outlined in the Loyalty Discount and Automatic Payment Discount disclosures. Subject to additional terms and conditions, and rates are subject to change at any time without notice. Such changes will only apply to applications taken after the effective date of change. Please note: Due to federal regulations, Citizens Bank is required to provide every potential borrower with disclosure information before they apply for a private student loan. The borrower will be presented with an Application Disclosure and an Approval Disclosure within the application process before they accept the terms and conditions of the loan. Graduate Rate Disclosure: Variable rate, based on the one-month London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) published in The Wall Street Journal on the twenty-fifth day, or the next business day, of the preceding calendar month. As of March 1, 2019, the one-month LIBOR rate is 2.48%. Variable interest rates range from 4.45% – 12.18% (4.45% – 11.82% APR) and will fluctuate over the term of your loan with changes in the LIBOR rate, and will vary based on applicable terms, level of degree earned and presence of a co-signer. Fixed interest rates range from 5.74% – 11.95% (5.74% – 11.65% APR) based on applicable terms, level of degree earned and presence of a co-signer. Lowest rates shown requires application with a co-signer, are for eligible applicants, require a 5-year repayment term, borrower making scheduled payments while in school and include our Loyalty and Automatic Payment discounts of 0.25 percentage points each, as outlined in the Loyalty Discount and Automatic Payment Discount disclosures. Subject to additional terms and conditions, and rates are subject to change at any time without notice. Such changes will only apply to applications taken after the effective date of change. Please note: Due to federal regulations, Citizens Bank is required to provide every potential borrower with disclosure information before they apply for a private student loan. You will be presented with an Application Disclosure and an Approval Disclosure within the application process before you accept the terms and conditions of your loan. Citizens One Student Loan Eligibility: Borrowers must be enrolled at least half-time in a degree-granting program at an eligible institution. Borrowers must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident or an international borrower/eligible non-citizen with a creditworthy U.S. citizen or permanent resident co-signer. For borrowers who have not attained the age of majority in their state of residence, a co-signer is required. Citizens One reserves the right to modify eligibility criteria at anytime. Interest rate ranges subject to change. Citizens One Student Loans private student loans are subject to credit qualification, completion of a loan application/consumer credit agreement, verification of application information, and if applicable, self-certification form, school certification of the loan amount, and student’s enrollment at a Citizens One Student Loans-participating school. Please Note: International Students are not eligible for the multi-year approval feature. Co-signer Release: Borrowers may apply for co-signer release after making 36 consecutive on-time payments of principal and interest. For the purpose of the application for co-signer release, on-time payments are defined as payments received within 15 days of the due date. Interest only payments do not qualify. The borrower must meet certain credit and eligibility guidelines when applying for the co-signer release. Borrowers must complete an application for release and provide income verification documents as part of the review. Borrowers who use deferment or forbearance will need to make 36 consecutive on-time payments after reentering repayment to qualify for release. The borrower applying for co-signer release must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. If an application for co-signer release is denied, the borrower may not reapply for co-signer release until at least one year from the date the application for co-signer release was received. Terms and conditions apply. Borrowers whose loans were funded prior to reaching the age of majority may not be eligible for co-signer release. Note: co-signer release is not available on the Student Loan for Parents or Education Refinance Loan for Parents. 4.23% – 13.23%1Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit Ascent
4.20% – 11.44%2Undergraduate, Graduate, and Parents
Visit CollegeAve
4.84% – 13.49%3Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit Discover
4.50% – 10.11%*,4Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit SallieMae
4.25% – 13.25%5Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit SunTrust
5.85% – 6.99%6Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit LendKey
3.95% – 9.81%7Undergraduate, Graduate, and Parents
Visit CommonBond
4.45% – 12.42%8Undergraduate, Graduate, and Parents
Visit Citizens
Our team at Student Loan Hero works hard to find and recommend products and services that we believe are of high quality and will make a positive impact in your life. We sometimes earn a sales commission or advertising fee when recommending various products and services to you. Similar to when you are being sold any product or service, be sure to read the fine print understand what you are buying, and consult a licensed professional if you have any concerns. Student Loan Hero is not a lender or investment advisor. We are not involved in the loan approval or investment process, nor do we make credit or investment related decisions. The rates and terms listed on our website are estimates and are subject to change at any time. Please do your homework and let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
The post How to Trick Yourself Into Saving for Spring Break appeared first on Student Loan Hero.
from Updates About Loans https://studentloanhero.com/featured/saving-for-spring-break/
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aaltjebarisca · 6 years
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How to Trick Yourself Into Saving for Spring Break
Don’t get us wrong: Winter is lovely. Snowmen and sweaters brighten even the grayest, most frigid days. But we’re still relieved that spring is (finally) on the horizon, and we’re eagerly planning some epic spring break adventures.
Spring break is an exceptionally popular time to take a vacation — particularly for college students and millennials. More than half of millennials surveyed in a study spearheaded by TripAdvisor planned spring break travel in 2018, and 2019 should be no different.
While some destinations are cheaper than others, travel ain’t free. In fact, Skyscanner found that the average spring break flight cost $602 last year… and that’s before you even purchase a single margarita.
Of course, if you’ve got a hefty student loan check in the bank, it can be tempting to use some of it to fund your spring break adventure. But don’t! It’s not worth the added agony down the line — or the cost of accruing interest — and it can add to an already-staggering student debt total. (The average debt figure for 2018 graduates was $29,800.)
Fortunately, there are plenty of pain-free ways to save up for a spring break travel budget. With the right tools and tactics, you won’t even notice the money is gone until you’re sitting back with your toes in the sand.
Here are some smart ways to trick yourself into saving up for the spring break getaway of your dreams.
Savings apps
If you have a smartphone, the key to spring break savings may already be in the palm of your hand. Here are a few apps that make it simple to turn your spring break plans into a reality.
Albert
This app’s name makes it sound like it’s your personal butler — and for good reason. Albert is all about using technology to create a custom financial plan that works for your situation, analyzing your income, spending habits and goals.
After you connect your various accounts, Albert keeps you apprised of rising bills and unexpected fees that can throw your budget off balance. Then, it automatically sets aside savings based on your habits, slowly amassing a cushion without you even noticing.
Finally, Albert users have the added bonus of communicating with Albert Genius, a service backed by live human financial experts, and which is available to you via text at any time. Albert allows its users to pay “what you think is fair” for the service, starting as low as $4 per month.
Qapital
Available for both Android and iOS, Qapital is all about making saving fun. (Yes, fun.) You can set goals and rules to turn your penny-pinching project into a challenge, and the clean, bright interface makes it simple to see whether or not you’re staying on track.
Another cool feature of Qapital that makes it perfect for spring break savers: It allows you to set joint goals, where you and your friends all save for a common objective. In other words, you can get your whole spring break squad in on the game, which can help keep everyone motivated and achieve your goal easier.
Qapital’s fees start at $3 per month for basic service, and go up to $6 and $12 for its “Complete” and “Master” tiers, respectively.
Digit
Digit is also into saving money “without thinking about it.” It allows you to set specific, achievable goals. Rather than using an app interface, Digit is all text message-based, so it feels like sending a quick line to your friend … who just happens to be helping you save a ton of dough.
World traveler and former Student Loan Hero staff writer Susan Shain used Digit to painlessly save — get this — nearly $2,000. Although she’s an old pro at saving up for trips, she had never been able to amass an emergency fund, so she decided to try Digit to see if it would work.
“I noticed the app withdrawing small amounts of money from my account,” she writes, “but it was never enough to cause me any financial worry. When I finally logged in 10 months later, I was stoked to see I had saved almost $2,000. What a nice surprise!”
Investing apps
Yes, investing is all about the long game — and you need this spring break stash now.
But getting your portfolio started will put you in a better position to enjoy adventures later in life by allowing your money to be fruitful and multiply. The best time to start investing is when you’re young.
(Psst: A couple of the apps we’ve discussed above, like Qapital and Albert, also include investment options, so if you’re already signed up for them, have a look before you download another app!)
Acorns
Just imagine how much money you’d have if every time you swiped your credit card, the spare change from your transaction was automatically rolled into an investment account.
Well, that’s exactly what Acorns does with its “Round-Ups” feature, which makes it possible to build a hefty nest egg without thinking about it. The app is also rolling out a debit card, which will make it easier than ever to stick to your budget.
Acorns is built with beginner investors in mind, providing a wealth of information on its Grow blog to help you take control of your finances. Its services start at $1 per month, and go up to $2 or $3 if you opt in for additions like retirement guidance.
Stash
Got $5 to spare? You’ve got enough to start investing — at least if you use Stash, an automatic investment app geared toward beginners. For a fee of $1 a month, you can set up small automatic deposits (think: five bucks a week) and allocate them into themed ETFs to ensure your portfolio matches your values.
Or, if you’re interested in investing in specific companies, you can take advantage of Stash’s fractional shares to buy just a little bit of big name stocks like JPMorgan or Alphabet. Stash also offers fee-free retirement accounts for users under 25, which may be worth taking advantage of if you’re eligible.
Automatic transfers
Not quite ready to download a savings app? Put off by the idea of paying to save?
Well, you can DIY the incremental savings that make these apps so effective by setting up automatic transfers at your existing bank account.
Although the exact steps to set up the transfer will depend on your specific bank, it’s usually not too difficult — in fact, you’ll likely be able to do so from your online account portal. Even setting aside as little as $10 per week can really add up over time, especially if you move the money into a high-interest savings account, where it’ll earn a little extra.
Rewards and loyalty programs
It seems like every store you go to, there’s another customer service agent asking if you’d like to sign up for the rewards program. And while it can get tiresome, you can actually score some substantial savings if you take advantage of those rewards.
For example, Shell’s Fuel Rewards system earns you 5 cents off per gallon every time you spend $25 inside participating stations (which isn’t hard to do if you frequently run inside to grab a snack).
Five cents per gallon may not sound like much, but it can really add up, especially if you’ve got plans to drive somewhere far away, like Orlando. You can also earn points at Shell by purchasing gift cards for companies like Amazon and Apple, so if you’re already planning to spend money at those companies, you might as well buy the card instead.
Another popular loyalty program, particularly for java-fueled college students, is Starbucks Rewards, which allows you to earn points, or “stars,” each time you spend a dollar at Starbucks.
These stars can later be traded for free food and drink items, and you’ll also get exclusive access to member events, offers, free refills, a free birthday reward and more. At two stars per dollar spent and a reward once you collect 125 stars, you’ll get a freebie every $62.50, not counting star bonuses. And let’s be real — it’s easy spend that at Starbucks in a month.
Saving for spring break doesn’t have to be painful
Even if you’re planning an all-out spring break bash, you don’t have to break your back saving the money to get there. Small steps, like downloading a savings app, can reap big rewards without wrecking your lifestyle.
Happy spring!
Need a student loan? Here are our top student loan lenders of 2019!
LenderVariable APREligibility  1 Important Disclosures for Ascent. Ascent Disclosures
Before taking out private student loans, you should explore and compare all financial aid alternatives, including grants, scholarships, and federal student loans and consider your future monthly payments and income. Applying with a cosigner may improve your chance of getting approved and could help you qualify for a lower interest rate. Ascent Student Loans may be funded by Richland State Bank (RSB). Ascent Student Loan products are subject to credit qualification, completion of a loan application, verification of application information and certification of loan amount by a participating school. Loan products may not be available in certain jurisdictions, and certain restrictions, limitations; and terms and conditions may apply. Ascent is a federally registered trademark of Turnstile Capital Management (TCM) and may be used by RSB under limited license. Richland State Bank is a federally registered service mark of Richland State Bank.
Ascent rates are effective as of 03/01/2019 and include a 0.25% discount applied when a borrower in repayment elects automatic debit payments via their personal checking account. Competitive rates calculated monthly at the time of loan approval. Ascent Tuition Cosigned Loan: Variable rate loans are based on a margin between 2.00% and 11.00% plus the 1-Month London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), rounded to the nearest 1/100th of a percent. The current LIBOR is 2.481%, which may adjust monthly. Your interest rate may increase or decrease, based on LIBOR monthly changes, resulting in an APR range between 4.23% – 13.23%. Fixed rate loans have an APR range between 5.21% – 14.28%. For Ascent Tuition loan current rates and repayment examples visit www.AscentTuition.com/APR. Ascent Independent Non-Cosigned Loan: Variable rate loans are based on a margin between 4.00% and 12.50% plus the 1-Month London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), rounded to the nearest 1/100th of a percent. The current LIBOR is 2.481%, which may adjust monthly. Your interest rate may increase or decrease, based on LIBOR monthly changes, resulting in an APR range between 5.87% – 13.15%. Fixed rate loans have an APR range between 6.80% – 13.55%. For Ascent Independent non-cosigned loan current rates and repayment examples visit www.AscentIndependent.com/APR. Payments may be deferred. Subject to lender discretion, forbearance and/or deferment options may be available for borrowers who are encountering financial distress. Making interest only or partial interest payments while in school will not reduce the principal balance of the loan. There are three (3) flexible in-school repayment options that include fully deferred, interest only and $25 minimum repayment. Flexible repayment plans may be offered up to a fifteen (15) year repayment term for a variable rate loan and ten (10) year repayment term for a fixed rate loan. Students must be enrolled at least half-time at an eligible school. Minimum loan amount is $2,000. Interest rate reduction of 0.25% for enrollment in automatic debit applies only when the borrower and/or cosigner signs up for automatic payments and the regularly scheduled, current amount due (including full, flat, or interest only payments, as applicable) is successfully deducted from the designated bank account each month. Interest rate reduction(s) will not apply during periods when no payment is due, including periods of In-School, Deferment, Grace or Forbearance. If you have two (2) returned payments for Nonsufficient Funds, we may cancel your automatic debit enrollment and you will lose the 0.25% interest rate reduction. You will then need to re-qualify and re-enroll in automatic debit payments to receive the 0.25% interest rate reduction. All applicants (individual and cosigner) are required to complete a brief online financial literacy course as part of the application process to be eligible for funding. Eligibility, loan amount and other loan terms are dependent on several factors, which may include: loan product, other financial aid, creditworthiness, school, program, graduation date, major, cost of attendance and other factors. Aggregate loan limits may apply. The cost of attendance is determined and certified by the educational institution. The legal age for entering into contracts is eighteen (18) years of age in every state except Alabama where it is nineteen (19) years old, Nebraska where it is nineteen (19) years old (only for wards of the state), and Mississippi and Puerto Rico where it is twenty-one (21) years old. 1% Cash Back Graduation Reward subject to terms and conditions. Click here for details. In order to be eligible for the 1% Cash Back Graduation Reward, borrower must meet the following criteria after graduation: · The student borrower has graduated from the degree program that the loan was used to fund. · The student borrower may change majors and/or transfer to a different school, but must obtain the same level of degree (e.g. – undergraduate or graduate) · The graduation date is more than 90 days and less than five (5) years after the date of the loan’s first disbursement. · Any loan that the student has borrowed under the Ascent loan is not more than 30-days delinquent or in a default status as of the graduation date and until any Graduation Reward is paid. Students can apply to release their cosigner and continue with the loan in only their name after making the first 24 consecutive regularly scheduled full principal and interest payments on-time and meeting the other eligibility criteria to qualify for the loan without a cosigner.
* Application times vary depending on the applicants ability to supply the necessary information for submission.
2 Important Disclosures for CollegeAve. CollegeAve Disclosures
College Ave Student Loans products are made available through either Firstrust Bank, member FDIC or M.Y. Safra Bank, FSB, member FDIC. All loans are subject to individual approval and adherence to underwriting guidelines. Program restrictions, other terms, and conditions apply.
All rates shown include the auto-pay discount. The 0.25% auto-pay interest rate reduction applies as long as a valid bank account is designated for required monthly payments. Variable rates may increase after consummation. This informational repayment example uses typical loan terms for a freshman borrower who selects the Deferred Repayment Option with an 8-year repayment term, has a $10,000 loan that is disbursed in one disbursement and a 7% variable Annual Percentage Rate (“APR”): 96 monthly payments of $179.28 while in the repayment period, for a total amount of payments of $17,211.20. Loans will never have a full principal and interest monthly payment of less than $50. Your actual rates and repayment terms may vary. As certified by your school and less any other financial aid you might receive. Minimum $1,000.
Information advertised valid as of 2/1/2019. Variable interest rates may increase after consummation.
3 Important Disclosures for Discover. Discover Disclosures At least a 3.0 GPA (or equivalent) qualifies for a one-time cash reward of 1% of the loan amount of each new Discover undergraduate and graduate student loan. Reward redemption period is limited. Please visit DiscoverStudentLoans.com/Reward for any applicable reward terms and conditions. View Terms and Conditions at DiscoverStudentLoans.com/AutoDebitReward. * The Sallie Mae partner referenced is not the creditor for these loans and is compensated by Sallie Mae for the referral of Smart Option Student Loan customers. 4 = Sallie Mae Disclaimer: Click here for important information. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. 5 Important Disclosures for SunTrust. SunTrust Disclosures
Before applying for a private student loan, SunTrust recommends comparing all financial aid alternatives including grants, scholarships, and both federal and private student loans. To view and compare the available features of SunTrust private student loans, visit https://www.suntrust.com/loans/student-loans/private.
Certain restrictions and limitations may apply. SunTrust Bank reserves the right to change or discontinue this loan program without notice. Availability of all loan programs is subject to approval under the SunTrust credit policy and other criteria and may not be available in certain jurisdictions.
SunTrust Bank, Member FDIC. ©2019 SunTrust Banks, Inc. SUNTRUST, the SunTrust logo and Custom Choice Loan are trademarks of SunTrust Banks, Inc. All rights reserved.
Interest rates and APRs (Annual Percentage Rates) depend upon (a) the student’s and cosigner’s (if applicable) credit histories, (b) the repayment option and repayment term selected, (c) the requested loan amount and (d) other information provided on the online loan application. If approved, applicants will be notified of the rate applicable to your loan. Rates and terms effective for applications received on or after 3/1/2019. The current variable APRs for the program range from 4.251% APR to 13.250% APR and the current fixed APRs for the program range from 5.351% APR to 14.051% APR (the low APRs within these ranges assume a 7-year $10,000 loan, with two disbursements and no deferment; the high APRs within these ranges assume a 15-year $10,000 loan with two disbursements). The variable interest rate for each calendar month is calculated by adding the current One-month LIBOR index to your margin. LIBOR stands for London Interbank Offered Rate. The One-month LIBOR is published in the Money Rates section of The Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition). The One-month LIBOR index is captured on the 25th day of the immediately preceding calendar month (or if the 25th is not a business day, the next business day thereafter), and is rounded up to the nearest 1/8th of one percent. The current One-month LIBOR index is 2.500% on 3/1/2019. The variable interest rate will increase or decrease if the One-month LIBOR index changes. The fixed rate assigned to a loan will never change except as required by law or if you request and qualify for the auto pay discount. Any applicant who applies for a loan the month of, the month prior to, or the month after the student’s graduation date, as stated on the application or certified by the school, will only be offered the Immediate Repayment option. The student must be enrolled at least half-time to be eligible for the partial interest, fully deferred and interest only repayment options unless the loan is being used for a past due balance and the student is out of school. With the Full Deferment option, payments may be deferred while the student is enrolled at least half-time at an approved school and during the six month grace period after graduation or dropping below half-time status, but the total initial deferment period, including the grace period, may not exceed 66 months from the first disbursement date. The Partial Interest Repayment option (paying $25 per month during in-school deferment) is only available on loans of $5,000 or more. For payment examples, see footnote 7. With the Immediate Repayment option, the first payment of principal and interest will be due approximately 30-60 calendar days after the final disbursement date and the minimum monthly payment is $50.00. There are no prepayment penalties. The 15-year term and Partial Interest Repayment option (paying $25 per month during in-school deferment) are only available for loan amounts of $5,000 or more. Making interest only or partial interest payments while in school deferment (including the grace period) will not reduce the principal balance of the loan. Payment examples within this footnote assume a 45-month deferment period, a six-month grace period before entering repayment and the Partial Interest Repayment option. 7-year term: $10,000 loan disbursed over two transactions with a 7-year repayment term (84 months) and 8.468% APR would result in a monthly principal and interest payment of $199.90. 10-year term: $10,000 loan disbursed over two transactions with a 10-year repayment term (120 months) and 8.938% APR would result in a monthly principal and interest payment of $162.92. 15-year term: $10,000 loan disbursed over two transactions with a 15-year repayment term (180 months) and 9.423% APR would result in a monthly principal and interest payment of $136.90. The 2% principal reduction is based on the total dollar amount of all disbursements made, excluding any amounts that are reduced, cancelled, or returned. To receive this principal reduction, it must be requested from the servicer, the student borrower must have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher and proof of such graduation (e.g. copy of diploma, final transcript or letter on school letterhead) must be provided to the servicer. This reward is available once during the life of the loan, regardless of whether the student receives more than one degree. Earn an interest rate reduction for making automatic payments of principal and interest from a bank account (“auto pay discount”). Earn a 0.25% interest rate reduction when you auto pay from any bank account and an extra 0.25% interest rate reduction when you auto pay from a SunTrust Bank checking, savings, or money market account. The auto pay discount will continue until (1) automatic deduction of payments is stopped (including during any deferment or forbearance) or (2) three automatic deductions are returned for insufficient funds during the life of the loan. The extra 0.25% interest rate reduction when you auto pay from a SunTrust Bank account will be applied after the first automatic payment is successfully deducted and will be removed for the reasons stated above. In the event the auto pay discount is removed, the loan will accrue interest at the rate stated in your Credit Agreement. The auto pay discount is not available when payments are deferred or when the loan is in forbearance, even if payments are being made. A cosigner may be released from the loan upon request to the servicer provided that the student borrower is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident alien, has met credit criteria and met either one of the following payment conditions: (a) the first 36 consecutive monthly principal and interest payments have been made on-time (received by the servicer within 10 calendar days after their due date) or (b) the loan has not had any late payments and has been prepaid prior to the end of the first 36 months of scheduled principal and interest payments in an amount equal to the first 36 months of scheduled principal and interest payments (based on the monthly payment amount in effect when you make the most recent payment). As an example, if you have made 30 months of consecutive on-time payments, and then, based on the monthly payment amount in effect on the due date of your 31st consecutive monthly payment, you pay a lump sum equal to 6 months of payments, you will have satisfied the payment condition. Cosigner release may not be available if a loan is in forbearance. If the student dies after any part of the loan has been disbursed, and the loan has not been charged off due to non-payment or bankruptcy, then the outstanding balance will be forgiven if the servicer is informed of the student’s death and receives acceptable proof of death. If the student becomes totally and permanently disabled after any part of the loan has been disbursed and the loan has not been charged off due to non-payment or bankruptcy, the loan will be forgiven upon the servicer’s receipt and approval of a completed discharge application. If the student borrower dies or becomes totally and permanently disabled prior to the full disbursement of the loan, and the loan is forgiven, all future disbursements will be cancelled. Loan forgiveness for student death or disability is available at any point throughout the life of the loan. 6 Important Disclosures for LendKey. LendKey Disclosures
Additional terms and conditions apply. For more details see LendKey
7 Important Disclosures for CommonBond. CommonBond Disclosures
A government loan is made according to rules set by the U.S. Department of Education. Government loans have fixed interest rates, meaning that the interest rate on a government loan will never go up or down.
Government loans also permit borrowers in financial trouble to use certain options, such as income-based repayment, which may help some borrowers. Depending on the type of loan that you have, the government may discharge your loan if you die or become permanently disabled.
Depending on what type of government loan that you have, you may be eligible for loan forgiveness in exchange for performing certain types of public service. If you are an active-duty service member and you obtained your government loan before you were called to active duty, you are entitled to interest rate and repayment benefits for your loan. If you are unable to pay your government loan, the government can refer your loan to a collection agency or sue you for the unpaid amount. In addition, the government has special powers to collect the loan, such as taking your tax refund and applying it to your loan balance.
A private student loan is not a government loan and is not regulated by the Department of Education. A private student loan is instead regulated like other consumer loans under both state and federal law and by the terms of the promissory note with your lender. If you refinance your government loan, your new lender will use the proceeds of your new loan to pay off your government loan. Private student loan lenders do not have to honor any of the benefits that apply to government loans. Because your government loan will be gone after refinancing, you will lose any benefits that apply to that loan. If you are an active-duty service member, your new loan will not be eligible for service member benefits. Most importantly, once you refinance your government loan, you will not able to reinstate your government loan if you become dissatisfied with the terms of your private student loan.
If your private student loan has a fixed interest rate, then that rate will never go up or down. If your private student loan has a variable interest rate, then that rate will vary depending on an index rate disclosed in your application. If the interest rate on the new private student loan is less than the interest rate on your government loans, your payments will be less if you refinance. If you are a borrower with a secure job, emergency savings, strong credit and are unlikely to need any of the options available to distressed borrowers of government loans, a refinance of your government loans into a private student loan may be attractive to you. You should consider the costs and benefits of refinancing carefully before you refinance.
If you don’t pay a private student loan as agreed, the lender can refer your loan to a collection agency or sue you for the unpaid amount.
Remember also that like government loans, most private loans cannot be discharged if you file bankruptcy unless you can demonstrate that repayment of the loan would cause you an undue hardship. In most bankruptcy courts, proving undue hardship is very difficult for most borrowers.
8 Important Disclosures for Citizens Bank. Citizens Bank Disclosures Undergraduate Rate Disclosure: Variable rate, based on the one-month London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) published in The Wall Street Journal on the twenty-fifth day, or the next business day, of the preceding calendar month. As of March 1, 2019, the one-month LIBOR rate is 2.48%. Variable interest rates range from 4.45%-12.42% (4.45%-12.32% APR) and will fluctuate over the term of the loan with changes in the LIBOR rate, and will vary based on applicable terms, level of degree earned and presence of a co-signer. Fixed interest rates range from 5.74%-12.19% (5.74% – 12.09% APR) based on applicable terms, level of degree earned and presence of a co-signer. Lowest rates shown requires application with a co-signer, are for eligible applicants, require a 5-year repayment term, borrower making scheduled payments while in school and include our Loyalty and Automatic Payment discounts of 0.25 percentage points each, as outlined in the Loyalty Discount and Automatic Payment Discount disclosures. Subject to additional terms and conditions, and rates are subject to change at any time without notice. Such changes will only apply to applications taken after the effective date of change. Please note: Due to federal regulations, Citizens Bank is required to provide every potential borrower with disclosure information before they apply for a private student loan. The borrower will be presented with an Application Disclosure and an Approval Disclosure within the application process before they accept the terms and conditions of the loan. Graduate Rate Disclosure: Variable rate, based on the one-month London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) published in The Wall Street Journal on the twenty-fifth day, or the next business day, of the preceding calendar month. As of March 1, 2019, the one-month LIBOR rate is 2.48%. Variable interest rates range from 4.45% – 12.18% (4.45% – 11.82% APR) and will fluctuate over the term of your loan with changes in the LIBOR rate, and will vary based on applicable terms, level of degree earned and presence of a co-signer. Fixed interest rates range from 5.74% – 11.95% (5.74% – 11.65% APR) based on applicable terms, level of degree earned and presence of a co-signer. Lowest rates shown requires application with a co-signer, are for eligible applicants, require a 5-year repayment term, borrower making scheduled payments while in school and include our Loyalty and Automatic Payment discounts of 0.25 percentage points each, as outlined in the Loyalty Discount and Automatic Payment Discount disclosures. Subject to additional terms and conditions, and rates are subject to change at any time without notice. Such changes will only apply to applications taken after the effective date of change. Please note: Due to federal regulations, Citizens Bank is required to provide every potential borrower with disclosure information before they apply for a private student loan. You will be presented with an Application Disclosure and an Approval Disclosure within the application process before you accept the terms and conditions of your loan. Citizens One Student Loan Eligibility: Borrowers must be enrolled at least half-time in a degree-granting program at an eligible institution. Borrowers must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident or an international borrower/eligible non-citizen with a creditworthy U.S. citizen or permanent resident co-signer. For borrowers who have not attained the age of majority in their state of residence, a co-signer is required. Citizens One reserves the right to modify eligibility criteria at anytime. Interest rate ranges subject to change. Citizens One Student Loans private student loans are subject to credit qualification, completion of a loan application/consumer credit agreement, verification of application information, and if applicable, self-certification form, school certification of the loan amount, and student’s enrollment at a Citizens One Student Loans-participating school. Please Note: International Students are not eligible for the multi-year approval feature. Co-signer Release: Borrowers may apply for co-signer release after making 36 consecutive on-time payments of principal and interest. For the purpose of the application for co-signer release, on-time payments are defined as payments received within 15 days of the due date. Interest only payments do not qualify. The borrower must meet certain credit and eligibility guidelines when applying for the co-signer release. Borrowers must complete an application for release and provide income verification documents as part of the review. Borrowers who use deferment or forbearance will need to make 36 consecutive on-time payments after reentering repayment to qualify for release. The borrower applying for co-signer release must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. If an application for co-signer release is denied, the borrower may not reapply for co-signer release until at least one year from the date the application for co-signer release was received. Terms and conditions apply. Borrowers whose loans were funded prior to reaching the age of majority may not be eligible for co-signer release. Note: co-signer release is not available on the Student Loan for Parents or Education Refinance Loan for Parents. 4.23% – 13.23%1Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit Ascent
4.20% – 11.44%2Undergraduate, Graduate, and Parents
Visit CollegeAve
4.84% – 13.49%3Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit Discover
4.50% – 10.11%*,4Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit SallieMae
4.25% – 13.25%5Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit SunTrust
5.85% – 6.99%6Undergraduate and Graduate
Visit LendKey
3.95% – 9.81%7Undergraduate, Graduate, and Parents
Visit CommonBond
4.45% – 12.42%8Undergraduate, Graduate, and Parents
Visit Citizens
Our team at Student Loan Hero works hard to find and recommend products and services that we believe are of high quality and will make a positive impact in your life. We sometimes earn a sales commission or advertising fee when recommending various products and services to you. Similar to when you are being sold any product or service, be sure to read the fine print understand what you are buying, and consult a licensed professional if you have any concerns. Student Loan Hero is not a lender or investment advisor. We are not involved in the loan approval or investment process, nor do we make credit or investment related decisions. The rates and terms listed on our website are estimates and are subject to change at any time. Please do your homework and let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
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heavenrules2-blog · 6 years
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Earn More Money Online Options
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"Marketplace liquidity" describes how easily an product may be traded for one more product, or in the frequent currency within an economic system. It can be all about stashing funds by filling in online surveys. For a full rundown of twenty five of the highest totally free websites, begin to see the Prime 25 Online Survey Internet sites guide. What about building things / baking and promoting them online ? Shipping and delivery of goods can be a challenge, though. “The sooner you start saving, the simpler it is ― genuinely,” Huddleston stated. “Thanks to the ability of compounding, if You begin consistently environment aside even little quantities when you start Performing, you could potentially quickly have ample for a cushty retirement.” When you've uploaded a number of movies, visit 'Configurations' in your YouTube account and click the 'Monetization' tab. Very first descriptions of a functional Cryptocurrency appeared around 1998, and were being composed by anyone named Wei Dai. They described an anonymous digital currency titled “b-money.” Not lengthy right after, A further developer because of the name of Nick Szabo created the things they get in touch with “Little bit Gold,” the primary cryptocurrency that utilized a proof of labor purpose to validate and authenticate Just about every transaction. All following currencies would use this evidence of work principle within their code. - FatVonD How do I redeem my factors? Check out the ‘Wallet’ web site inside the app and redeem your balance being an e-voucher. “When you wait until you’re 40 or so to start out saving, you’d have to save lots of a few or four instances as much ― or more ― each month to accumulate the identical quantity as people who begin saving previously,” Huddleston stated.     Sign into your account to discover exactly how much dollars you've stashed. It is possible to     withdraw it working with PayPal, and you also need not earn a bare minimum amount of money to carry out     so. Cash could possibly be counterfeited, but In addition they created a different unit of account, which aided bring on banking. Archimedes' principle offered the following backlink: coins could now be quickly tested for their great body weight of metallic, and therefore the value of a coin could possibly be determined, whether or not it had been shaved, debased or or else tampered with (see Numismatics). Fiat money or fiat forex is money whose value is not derived from any intrinsic value or assurance that it may be converted right into a precious commodity (such as gold). Instead, it's price only by govt get (fiat). Got a top rated technique to earn income online that We've not stated? Feed back again within the Earn cash online dialogue. For making up for anemic earnings and plan for his or her greater retirement expenditures, Gals should be proactive and save aggressively. Having lazy now could wreak havoc with your smartphone or tablet, plus all of the networks it’s linked to. The more time the malware has, the more it can test to manipulate your apps and info and also steal from you.
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themoneybuff-blog · 6 years
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18 favorite financial rules of thumb (and some useful money guidelines)
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After twelve years of reading and writing about money, Ive come to love financial rules of thumb. Financial rules of thumb provide helpful shortcuts for making quick calculations and decisions. You dont always have time (or want to take the time) to create elaborate spreadsheets when choosing a course of action. In these cases, its nice to have some rough guidelines you can rely on. Youve probably heard of the rule of 72, for example. This shortcut says that if you divide 72 by a particular rate of return, youll get the number of years itll take to double your money. If your savings account yields 4%, say, it will take about 18 years for your nest egg to increase by 100%. But if you were able to earn 12% on your investment, that money would double in six years. Like all rules of thumb, the rule of 72 isnt precise. It doesnt give an exact answer but a ballpark figure. Financial rules of thumb dont always hold true. But theyre true enough for us to make loose plans based on them. I have some engineer friends whod get tense at this sort of sloppy guesswork, but most of the rest of us are happy to trade a bit of precision for speed. Thats what rules of thumb are all about! The trick, of course, is knowing which rules of thumb to use. Most are handy, but some common guidelines do more harm than good. Rules Gone Wild In the past, youve probably seen my rant about some of my most-hated financial rules of thumb. Lets look at three things I think conventional wisdom gets wrong (and what I believe are better alternatives). How much should you save for retirement? For instance, I get frustrated when I hear financial advisers push the idea that you should base your retirement savings on 70% of your income. Instead of estimating your retirement needs from your income, it makes far more sense to base them on spending. Your spending reflects your lifestyle; your income doesnt. I think a better rule of thumb for determining retirement needs is this: When estimating how much youll need to save for retirement, assume youll spend as much in the future as you do now. Use 100% of your current expenses to calculate your retirement spending. (And if you want to build in a safety margin, base your future needs on 110% of your current spending.) How much should you spend on a house? As I mentioned last week, another rule of thumb that makes me cranky is this common guideline espoused by all sectors of the homebuying industry: Buy as much home as you can afford. No no no no no! Of all financial rules of thumb, this is probably the worst. Its certainly one of the most prevalent. This is how folks end up house poor, chained to a mortgage they resent. Lenders quantify this guideline by saying your housing payments should be nor more than 28% or 33% or 41% of your income. But, as David Bach wrote in The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner, You should generally assume that the amount the bank or mortgage company is willing to loan you is more than you should borrow. A better rule of thumb? Spend as little on housing as possible. Spending less than 25% of your net income is best less than 20% is even better. How much life insurance should you carry? A third rule that bugs me is the one for determining how much life insurance you should buy. Different experts give different answers. Some say your policy should cover five times your annual income. Others say ten times. And Suze Orman recommends 20 times annual income needs. The truth is that not everyone needs life insurance. Like all insurance, its designed to prevent financial catastrophes. You only need it if other people like a spouse or children would face financial hardship when you die. If you dont have kids, if your spouse has a good income, or you have substantial savings, then life insurance isnt a necessity. Even if you do need life insurance, you probably dont need to carry as much as your insurance agent is willing to sell you. To find out the amount thats right for you, check out the Life Insurance Needs Calculator from the non-profit Life Happens organization. (How much life insurance should I carry? According to this calculator, I shouldnt have any at all. And I dont.)
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Useful Financial Rules of Thumb Financial rules of thumb usually arent this bad. In fact, most are useful. Here are eighteen of my favorites. When estimating income, $1 an hour in wage is equivalent to $2000 per year in pre-tax earnings. The reverse is also true: $2000 per year in salary is equal to $1 an hour in hourly wage. (This rule works because the average worker spends roughly 2000 hours per year on the job.)How wealthy should you be? According to the authors of The Millionaire Next Door, the following wealth formula can tell you if youre on target: Divide your age by ten, then multiply by your annual gross income. Your net worth should be equal to this number (less any inheritances). So, if youre 40 and make $50,000 per year, your net worth should be $200,000. If you have less than half the expected amount, youre an under-accumulator of wealth. If you have twice the target, youre a prodigious accumulator of wealth. (Note that the authors are well aware that this formula doesnt work well for young people; its meant to be used by folks nearing retirement age.)On average, each dollar an American spends represents about $2.50 of after-tax value in ten years or $10 in thirty years. (If you live outside the U.S., the consequences of spending that dollar are probably even greater.) This is due to two reasons: taxes and compounding. When you buy something, you spend after-tax dollars. On average, Americans have to earn $1.33 to have $1.00 left over.Inflation is the silent killer of wealth. In the U.S., inflation has averaged 3.18% over the past hundred years. A lot of folks figure a 3% inflation rate when making money calculations. I think its safer to assume 3.5% or even 4% average inflation in the future.Historically, U.S. stocks have earned long-term real returns (meaning inflation-adjusted returns) of about 7%. Bonds have long-term real returns of around 2.5%. Gold and real estate have long-term real returns of close to 1%.If you withdraw about four percent of your savings each year, your wealth snowball will maintain its value against inflation. During market downturns, you might have to withdraw as little as three percent. If times are flush, you might allow yourself five percent. But four percent is generally safe. (For more on safe withdrawal rates, check out this article from the Mad Fientist.)Based on the previous rule of thumb, theres a quick way to check whether early retirement is within your reach. Multiply your current annual expenses by 25. If the result is less than your savings, youve achieved financial independence you can retire early. If the product is greater than your savings, you still have work to do. (If youre conservative or have low risk tolerance, multiply your annual expenses by 30. If youre aggressive and/or willing to take on greater risk, multiple by 20.)Building on the above, Mr. Money Mustaches shockingly simple math behind early retirement gives us a useful rule of thumb for determining how long youll need to save before youre financially independent. Figure out your current saving rate (or profit margin, if you prefer). Subtract this number from 60. Roughly speaking and assuming youve started from a zero net worth thats how long youll need to work before your nest egg is big enough to support you in retirement. (Note that this rule breaks down at saving rates over 40%. If you save a lot, subtract from 70.)Joe from Stacking Benjamins likes what he calls the penny approximation: Assuming a safe withdraw rate of roughly four percent, every $100 you save gives you one penny per day in perpetuity. Once you stack enough Benjamins you have enough pennies to sustain you forever. If you change your own brake pads and save $200, thats two cents a day for the rest of your life because you avoided paying a mechanic.
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I hate detailed budgets because they bog people down. Instead, Im a fan of budget frameworks that focus more on the Big Picture. My favorite budget framework is the Balanced Money Formula: Spend no more than 50% of your after-tax income on Needs, put at least 20% into savings (including debt reduction), and spend the rest (around 30%) on Wants. This is a great beginner budget, but its also useful for transitioning to the mindset of Financial Independence. If you decide early retirement is a goal, then part of your Wants spending becomes additional savings.If you own your home, its wise to set aside money for maintenance and repairs. Each year, contribute 1% of your homes current value to a separate account. If you dont spend the money, keep it there for future remodeling and improvements.Is it better to buy or to rent? The price-to-rent ratio is a useful rule of thumb for making this decision. Find two similar places, one for sale and one for rent. Divide the sale price of the one by the annual rent for the other. The result is the P/R ratio. Say you find a $200,000 house for sale in a nice neighborhood, and a similar home for rent on the next block for $1000 per month, which is $12,000 per year. Dividing $200,000 by $12,000, you get a P/R ratio of 16.7. If the P/R ratio is low, its better to buy. If the price-to-rent ratio is over 15, its probably better to rent.How much does it cost to raise a child? As a rule of thumb, budget $10,000 per child per year. Thats not quite a quarter of a million dollars per kid, but its close.If you get a windfall, use 1% to treat yourself. (Or maybe 2%, tops.) Put the rest in a safe place and ignore it for six months. After youve had time to think about it, then take action. So, if you inherit $100,000 from Aunt Marge, only allow yourself a $1000 splurge. Stash the remaining $99,000 someplace you wont be tempted to spend it.To approximate a new vehicles five-year cost of ownership (in monthly terms), double the price tage and divide by 60. Looking at a brand-new Mini Cooper ? Double that $30,000 sticker price to get $60,000, then divide by 60. Is it really worth $1000 per month to get rid of your crummy Ford Focus?The standard rule of thumb is to save at least 10% of your income. I think a better goal is to aim for 20% and more is better. Financial guru Liz Weston says that if youre young, you should follow this guideline: Save 10% for basics, 15% for comfort, 20% to escape.Nobody agrees how much you should set aside for an emergency fund. Even the experts offer advice ranging from $1000 up to 12 months of expenses. (The most common suggestions range from three to six months of expenses.) One clever rule of thumb to determine how much you should have set aside: Your emergency fund should cover X months of expenses, where X is the current unemployment rate. In other words, because the U.S. unemployment is about 4% right now, you should aim to have enough money in the bank to cover four months of expenses.According to Consumer Reports, wen youre faced with the repair of an appliance (such as a refrigerator or washing machine), you should buy a new one if the appliance is more than eight years old (or if the repair would cost more than half what it would take to buy a replacement). Its important to remember that rules of thumb arent set in stone. Theyre guidelines. Theyre meant to help you make quick evaluations, not actual life-changing decisions. Financial rules of thumb are a starting point. Start with them, then adjust for your individual goals and situation. Other Useful Financial Guidelines Strictly speaking, rules of thumb deal with numbers. Still, there are a lot of non-numeric guidelines that I think are useful to know. If youve done any reading about personal finance, for example, youve probably heard the admonition, Pay yourself first. While not strictly a rule of thumb, this guideline is very similar. Here are some other useful financial guidelines: The more you learn, the more you earn. In the U.S., education has a greater impact on work-life earnings than any other demographic factor. Your age, race, gender, and location all influence what you earn, but nothing matters more than what you know.Bank a raise. When you get a salary bump, dont increase your spending. Stay the course and put the added income into savings.Always take the employer match on the 401(k).Never touch your retirement savings except for retirement.Never co-sign on a loan. (Ever.)Avoid paying interest on anything that loses value. Its okay to finance a home or a college education but avoid taking out a loan on a car.Speaking of cars: When you buy a vehicle, buy used or buy new and plan to drive it for at least ten years. (Do both and youll save even more!)Dont mess with the IRS. When it comes to taxes, dont try to cheat. Pay what you owe. Claim all the deductions you deserve, but dont try to stretch things.In general, save an emergency fund first; pay off high-interest debt second; and begin investing (at the same time you pay down remaining debt) last.It almost always makes more sense (and cents) to repair your old car than to buy a new one.If youre not willing to pay cash for it, then it doesnt make sense to buy it on credit. (I have a friend whose guiding principle is: If I wouldnt buy five, why would I buy one? Similar idea taken to an extreme.)Save for your own retirement before saving for your childrens college education. They can get loans for school. You cant get loans for retirement. Now its your turn. What rules of thumb did I miss? Do you disagree with any of those I suggested? What are some of your favorite rules of thumb? Shares 392 https://www.getrichslowly.org/financial-rules-of-thumb/
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demikbrayus · 7 years
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Stash Invest App Review
This article first appeared on aaacreditguide.com at AAACreditGuide.
Stash Invest is an app for both Android and iOS that was born out of the simple question: Why don’t more people invest their money? This seemingly simple question can have a myriad of answers depending on who you ask.
Stash tries to overcome these obstacles with a well-designed app that provides easily understood solutions without breaking the bank.
Install Stash
For many, the barrier for entry for investing in stocks can be incredibly high. Whether it’s high minimum investments or hefty fees, a lot of people find that investing is not affordable. On top of that, it can also be incredibly confusing.
There’s a lot of jargon out there and many of us don’t know the difference between a stock and a bond, let alone how to read a stock ticker. Stash aims to solve both of these issues by making investing both affordable and accessible. Intrigued? Keep reading to learn more.
Why is investing important?
Before we talk about why to invest with Stash, let’s quickly talk about why you should invest at all. Whether you know it or not, if you have a job, you are already likely investing a portion of your money.
Thanks to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who signed the Social Security Act in 1935 after the Great Depression, we all pay a portion of our payroll tax to reap retirement benefits later. As of 2018, you’re already paying 6.2% of your payroll check into Social Security, and your employer contributes the same amount on your behalf.
Social Security is designed as a safety net for the elderly and the disabled and is relied upon by millions of Americans as a portion of income once reaching retirement age.
According to the Social Security Administration, the average monthly benefit in 2017 is only $1,341.77. So while Social Security can certainly be helpful, it’s probably difficult for most people to survive on less than $350 per week.
According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, almost half of Americans have no retirement savings other than Social Security. Predictably, low-income families are disproportionately affected by this trend.
Due in part to an inability to afford to save money and a lack of understanding of investment options, a large portion of our population is unprepared for their future. But it doesn’t have to be this way, and Stash is on its way to bridging the investment gap in America.
What Stash Does Differently
While Stash Invest is not the only low fee, easy to use investment app on the market, they do take care to educate their customers and show them how to invest and save money. This app is not designed for the seasoned investor.
The premise is for Stash to give you access to Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), which are investment funds that allow you to buy a portion of stocks through a portfolio. Like similar apps, Stash charges you $1 per month until your investment reaches $5,000 and then charges you .025% of your total investment.
Signing up for Stash is not as easy as just signing in with Facebook. One of the main complaints about the app in Google Play is the invasive information they request.
This includes banking information, your address, and even your Social Security number. While it’s not usually recommended to hand out this type of information to an app on your phone, Stash is bound by federal law, including the Patriot Act, to collect this information.
It is a necessary evil, unfortunately, but one mitigated by the fact that they use 256-bit encryption and your securities are protected up to $500,000. Additional security features include a pin number of your choosing that you must enter every time you open the app. This is beneficial whether your phone is stolen or your toddler is button mashing your phone while playing angel investor.
How Stash Works
When you first sign up for Stash, you’ll be asked about your investing style. You can choose from conservative, moderate, or aggressive. This helps tailor your portfolio options based on the amount of risk, and potential return, that is acceptable to you.
Determining your risk tolerance is only one way Stash helps you choose your investment strategy. Next, they’ll ask you how much and how often you’d like to invest. You can choose to invest as little as $5 at a time on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly schedule.
In the early stages, the more you invest, the lower your percentage in fees will be. Remember that Stash charges $1 per month up to $5,000 so if you only have $100 in your account, your annual fee will be 12%. Get up to $1,000 and that fee is only 1.2%.
The Stash Investment Mantra: I Believe, I Want, I Like
One of the main benefits of Stash is that they translate the confusing world of investing into layman’s terms to help new investors sift through the jargon. One way they do this is by turning investment options into lifestyle choices.
Using three different categories labeled I Believe, I Want, and I Like, picking the companies you want to invest in becomes almost as easy as what clothes to put on in the morning.
I Believe
I Believe is tailored toward the more socially conscious among us. While some reviews of Stash have labeled it has hipster marketing, it’s not a bad thing that Millennials are concerned that the money they invest is done in a socially conscious way.
Under this category, you have options such as “Clean & Green,” which will invest your money in clean energy, “Live Long & Prosper,” which invests in healthcare markets, and “Water the World,” which invests in companies providing clean drinking water.
I Want
I Want is a goal-oriented category that allows you to choose stocks that pay dividends or are partial to your level of risk. “Essential Europe” lets you invest in companies from across the pond. “Public Works” allows you to invest in American infrastructure. You can even “Roll with Buffett,” which gives you a piece of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
I Like
I Like comes off as the more pretentious offering and is most rooted in lifestyle choices. “Retail Therapy” invests your money in food, clothing, and travel companies. “Enjoy Your Fun” gives you the chance to invest in vacation and leisure companies. Far from just lifestyle choices, however, this option gives you the chance to invest in specific industries in which you see potential.
Knowledge is Power
While we know that you didn’t install Stash just for the articles, there is a wealth of knowledge to be found here. Under the “Learn” section of the drop-down menu are dozens of well-written articles designed to teach you how to invest. Stash is designed for the beginner and these articles can show you the ins and outs of investment strategy.
From “What’s a Capital Gain?” to “How to Invest Like an Activist,” Stash spends a great deal of time into turning you into an investment professional. Many people choose apps like Stash because of their simple to use nature, and set-it and leave-it design.
This is great for those dipping their toes in for the first time, but Stash realizes that you likely want to be more than just a casual investor. Think of it like boot camp for the uninitiated.
Whether you want to learn what interest rate hikes mean to you or better understand certain investment portfolios, Stash allows you to invest your time to learn as well as your money to earn.
Navigating the Stash App
Stash’s layout and design are clutter free and easy to use. Starting with the home screen, they show you portfolio options and have article suggestions for you to read.
The top menu bar includes options such as Portfolio, Balance, and Potential, as well as a pop-up sidebar with more options.
The Portfolio section gives you a snapshot of your value and total return. Along the upper left side, you’ll see your portfolio’s value as well as your next milestone designed to motivate you to continue to invest.
On the right, you’ll see your total return in both dollar amount and percentage. This shows you your total investment earnings over and above your initial investment.
Balance shows your total account balance spanning the total time that you have been investing with Stash. It shows your Stash balance, your deposits, and your withdrawals.
Finally, Potential shows you what is possible for you to earn after one, five or ten years based on your monthly deposit.
Beginning with your current deposit amount, you can use the slide bar at the bottom to see your potential if you raise or lower your deposit amount. There is also a slide bar for Growth Potential which you can see additional earnings or losses, based on the percentage of return for your investment portfolio.
Stash Retire
While Stash has some heavy hitters behind it, it’s still only two years old and a bit of a one-trick pony. However, Stash is now in the process of launching Stash Retire, which will add Roth IRAs into the mix. A Roth IRA is an individual retirement account that, as long as you meet certain criteria, is not taxed when you start to make withdrawals.
This option from Stash is still in development and while they appear to be reaching certain milestones, is not yet available. Still, it’s an indication that Stash is growing. Couple that with Stash’s latest funding round which saw investment from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, it’s easy to assume that Stash is here to stay.
Who should invest with Stash?
Overall, Stash Invest is designed to help the would-be investor. If you have money sitting in a savings account or if you’re just starting to think about your future, Stash is a great place to start investing. They make it easy to put money into portfolios that are of interest to you. They are also adept at making the confusing world of finance and investing easy to understand.
With the inclusion of a plethora of articles designed to teach you about investing, it’s also a great place to learn. Use it not just to easily invest your money, but as a resource that allows you to grow your knowledge with your money.
Stash’s simplified fee structure can be a low gateway into the world of investing. Your first two months are free and they only charge $1 per month up to $5,000 and .025% above that number.
This is pricey if you are just starting out. If you’re investing $5 per month, that’s 20% of your investment in the beginning. Stash can be a great option if you can get your balance higher before they start charging you fees.
Stash: Bottom Line
All in all, Stash is a great app for the beginning investor. There are certainly better options out there for people already familiar with investing, but with over half of Americans having no investment at all, it could be a great start for you.
Stash is also growing and beginning to offer more investment options such as Stash Retire, so they may grow with you. If not, use Stash as a learning tool and spring board into the heady world on investment finance.
Install Stash
from Credit And Credit Repair https://aaacreditguide.com/stash-review/
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davidcdelreal · 7 years
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Top 11 Best Online Savings Account Banks – Start Making Interest Today!
I remember a time when the best online savings accounts paid annual yields of 4% to 5%.
Those days are long gone. LONG gone.
Thanks to the low-rate environment, it's not a surprise that for the past several years, my clients have been griping about how their savings accounts pay next to nothing, even from the best high-interest banks.
As painful as the interest situation is, looking for a top savings account to stash away some cash for a future financial goal or an unexpected emergency should be part of your financial strategy. But it can be hard to get excited if you don't feel like you are earning any interest on your money.
There are still plenty of online banks that offer excellent terms. Don't let your money sit in a savings account that's going to be eaten by annual fees. You shouldn't have to pay to let your money sit.
The top 11 best online savings accounts that offer high interest rates and super customer service
All the banks on my list are great places to stash your cash. Each can provide different benefits, covered below.
1. CIT Bank Savings – Best Ongoing Interest Rates
If you are looking for a bank to just store some of your cash in for a rainy day, CIT Bank is a great choice. CIT Bank focuses on CDs and savings account, and also IRA options.
You might think, “Why would I go with a bank that just does that instead of one with more options like online checking?”
That’s an understandable question. CIT Bank is in the upper tier of interest rates for all of these institutions, and in some cases comes out ahead of everyone else. On top of their high interest rate they also offer a bonus rate tier for customers that have more than $25,000 saved with them. Essentially, it is a loyalty bonus. Not many banks reward you for being extra loyal.
Aside from the great interest, I think it is sometimes a good thing to limit your account options at a bank. If you open up an account with checking, savings, CDs, investment, and so on it can get tempted to pull money out of the savings or CD to refill your checking account quickly. Having them separated requires more financial discipline at the cost of a little bit of convenience. I think the extra interest you are earning is worth it.
Here’s what you get with CIT Bank:
Upper tier high yield interest rate with high deposit bonus tier. If you deposit a lot of money with CIT, you won’t find a better interest rate anywhere else online.
Low minimums. CIT does have a minimum of $100. That’s measly. And honestly, with any of the banks on this page if you saved just $100 you’re going to earn a whopping $1 interest max in the first year. You need to save more money, but CIT requires $100 to get started.
Easy deposit options. You can fund your account or add additional deposits via easy online transfer from your current bank, mailing in a check, or wire transfer.
Easy access and management. The user interface is easy to use. You’ll be able to transfer funds to and from your other bank easily.
If you are looking for a place to store some cash for a rainy day and want to earn a great interest rate in the meantime, definitely take a look at CIT Bank.
2. Chase Bank – Best Signup Bonus
Chase Bank is a big bank for physical locations with thousands of branches and ATMs across the country.
While they're not as competitive on the interest rates, they do have the best signup bonuses of any bank in the country. You do have to jump through a couple of hoops to get the full $350, though. Here are the full details of their offer:
#bonus { border: 1px solid #DDD; text-align: center; margin-bottom: 30px; }#bonus td { border-top: 0; text-align: center; width: 33%; padding: 10px; }#bonus thead { font-size: 70%; font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase; }#bonus h5 { font-size: 200%; margin-bottom: 12px; color: #1976d2; font-weight: 700 !important; }#bonus p { font-size: 85%; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0; }
Bonus #1 Bonus #2 Total
$200
Open a checking account and set up direct deposit
$150
Open a savings account and deposit $10,000 within 10 days, maintaining the balance for 90 days
$350
While Chase is completely available online, to get the bonus you will have to get your coupon online and then walk into a physical location to set up the account.
Chase Bank also gives you:
Access to over 16,000 Chase ATMs and 5,100 branches
Mobile check deposit – It's as easy as taking a selfie.
Overdraft Protection – Link this account to your Chase checking account for Overdraft Protection.
Chase QuickPay® with Zelle® – Take the drama out of splitting a check.
Real-time fraud monitoring – We watch your debit-card to help your money stay your money.
Updated APY: 0.01% effective as of 12/18/17. Interest rates are variable and subject to change. Updated Surcharge: $5 per withdrawal and $2.50 for any transfers or inquiries at ATMs outside the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Fees from the ATM owner still apply.
3. Ally Bank – Consistently High Interest Rates
Ally Bank is one of my favorite banking institutions. (Yes, we bloggers are a weird bunch and have favorite banking institutions while the rest of the world goes about their normal lives.)
Why do I love Ally so much? Let me quote myself from an article earlier this year, Best Online Checking Accounts:
Ally Bank was built on the premise of getting rid of all the crazy fees that normal banks charge while giving customers great rates and great customer service.
I mean, seriously? How can you not love that? A bank that is fighting to end banks gouging customers will get my vote every time. In the linked article above I told you how great Ally’s checking accounts were, but the saving options are great, too.
Here’s what you get with Ally:
High yield interest rate. You won’t earn more interest with a reputable online bank.
No minimums. At all. That means no minimum deposit, no minimum balance requirement. No minimum balance fees. In fact, you can open an account with as little as $1.
Easy deposit options. You can fund your account or add additional deposits via easy online transfer from your current bank, mailing in a check, wire transfer, or simply scanning in your deposit.
Easy access and management. The user interface is top-notch and you’ll be able to transfer funds to and from your other bank easily.
Other account options. You can start with a savings account and grow your finances with Ally. They offer a robust set of accounts ranging from checking to savings to CDs and IRAs.
Ally is built on not gouging customers for every penny they’ve got. That’s a great bank, and one of the reasons I use this bank in addition to Capital One 360.
4. Everbank – Best One Year Interest Rates
Everbank is one of the longest standing online banks and consistently has some of the best introductory interest rates. Currently their money market account is offering 1.11% for the first year. This gives them one of the strongest savings rates in the industry.
Features you should know about Everbank accounts include:
Low initial deposit of $25
Avoid fees by keeping at least $25 in the account
CD's and Checking accounts available
If you are looking for a solution to get competitive one year interest rates then Everbank will be a good option for your needs.
5. Discover Bank – Best CD Rates
Discover moved into the banking business a few years ago. Their rates are competitive with other online products, so it is definitely a firm to include in your search for a top savings account.
The product offerings are similar with Discover, but I really like Discover’s online CD. The rates on the CDs are very nice compared to some other players in the industry.
Here’s what you get with Discover Bank’s Online Savings account:
Great interest. To attract customers, Discover often has some of the highest interest rates available.
Several account options. You can start with a savings account and expand to an online certificate of deposit, IRA CDs, or a money market account.
Low minimums. This is the only place that you might downgrade Discover on a bit. The other institutions on this page require no minimum or a super low deposit to open an account. Discover requires a $500 minimum deposit. However, there are still no minimum balance requirements or fees for going below $500, so it isn’t much to worry about once you get your account open.
If you are interested in creating a CD ladder to reach a goal or as part of your emergency savings strategy, Discover is a great place to start.
6. Compass Bank BBVA
Compass isn't the most popular bank on our list, but it's one you should know about. BBVA Compass is one of the top largest U.S. commercial banks based on deposit market share.
They offer a wide variety of products and services, everything from small business loans to online savings accounts (because that's why you are here right?)
Interest rate. BBVA Compass offers tiered interest rates that compound to make your money grow faster.
Low initial deposit. While you are required to make an initial deposit, it's a minuscule $25.
Account options. You'll have the freedom to choose between several different account types: Everyday Savings, Money Market, or CD account.
Beware of fees. One of the few negatives of BBVA is their monthly service fees that come along with their accounts. It's only $15 a month, but it's something that should be noted when opening up an account.
If you haven't heard of Compass Bank BBVA, you should take the time to familiarize yourself with the organization, their online money market account will make it worth your time.
7. USAA – Best for Military
*Be aware that you must have a family member this is serving/has served in a branch of the military to open an account with USAA.
Aside from being an exceptionally reputable organization, as an online savings account, USAA offers several unique benefits that the other banks on this list don't. You can get a HUGE variety of different products with USAA. They offer just about any financial or insurance product you could ever need, and having all of your account and product in one place is an impressive advantage.
What you'll get with USAA:
Use just about any ATM. If you ever need to get money out of your online savings account at an ATM, you don't have to worry about those ATM fees. You will be able to use more than 60,000 “USAA-preferred” ATMs for free. They will also refund you the fees of any ATM that isn't one of the preferred machines.
Low initial deposit. Similar to some of the other accounts, USAA does require an initial deposit, but it's only $25.
No fees. With a USAA savings account, you will not have to may any service fees or any fees if you transfer money to another bank.
If you have a family member that has ever served in the military, it's worth checking out an online savings account with USAA.
8. Synchrony Bank
Synchrony has gotten very competitive in offering the some of the highest interest rates for deposits. They do not offer as many products as many of the other online banks, but they put their focus on what they are good at — vehicles for saving.
Here’s what you get with a Synchrony online savings account:
High interest. Synchrony is dedicated to being competitive on interest rates to attract new clients.
Low minimum. It only requires $30 to open an account and you avoid a $5 monthly fee by maintaining a balance of $30 or higher.
Easy access. Many of the online banks only let you do transfers. Synchrony also has a debit card option to make accessing your cash easier.
No balance dependence. Some banks increase your interest rates the more money you put in. Synchrony gives you the same interest rate no matter how much or how little you put in.
9. Capital One 360 Savings Account
I’ve had an account with Capital One 360 Savings longer than I have with Ally. That’s because Capital One 360 (formerly ING Direct) was one of the first reputable online banks to exist. Capital One 360 is easy to use, secure, and you can connect your account to your other accounts, including your Capital One Investing account.
Here’s what you get with Capital One 360:
Extremely competitive interest rate. The difference in rates between Capital One 360 and other banks is so small most people wouldn’t notice. If you aren’t seeking absolute best interest and are looking at the bigger picture, keep reading.
No minimums. Like Ally, you won’t be hit with any minimum balance fees nor will you have to send a ton of money to open an account. You can open an account with as little as $1.
Easy deposit options. Opening an account is easy — you just link a checking account from another institution like you would with any other bank. Then you transfer your funds over. You can also set up an automatic transfer. This is a great way to save up for your short-term goals. If you know you need to save $1,000 for a trip, you can set up your Capital One 360 Savings Account to withdraw $200 each month from your checking account for the next five months.
Easy access and management. Capital One 360’s user interface is one of the best around. One of the unique things Capital One 360 offers is “sub-accounts” where you can open up mini-accounts to hold your saving goal money. So you can have a main Savings Account, but have mini-accounts for Vacation Fund, Emergency Fund, and so on.
Other account options. You can start with a savings account and grow your finances with ING. They offer a robust set of accounts ranging from checking to savings to CDs, mortgages, and investing.
If you compare Ally and Capital One 360 you won’t find much difference in interest rates. Capital One 360 has been around longer from an online banking standpoint, and they are definitely trustworthy.
10. American Express High-Yield Savings Account
Just like Discover, American Express, the credit card company that offers fantastic cash back now has a banking arm that offers great interest on your account.
Rates are currently very competitive with some of the larger, well known online banks. Account access is not as sophisticated as you see with other banks, but you don’t need that sophistication if you are just looking for a solid place to keep some of your cash. If American Express Savings offered a full suite of financial products like mortgages and checking accounts on top of the savings account and CD, I would be more concerned about the website. But this is a pretty basic product: deposit money, earn interest, watch it grow.
AMEX also has a 36-month CD that you can drop your money into to earn a slightly higher rate of return. However, the difference is so small that I can’t recommend locking your funds up for 3 years. (If you elect to close a CD before its maturity date you pay back 3 months of interest. That’s dumb.)
Here’s what you get with AMEX’s High Yield Savings Account:
Great interest. To attract customers, American Express often has some of the highest interest rates available.
Simple options. You have two account options: high-yield savings and certificate of deposit. Two simple choices rather than an array of confusing options.
No minimums. You don’t have a minimum balance requirement, and you don’t get hit with a fee for letting your balance get too low.
Whichever way you go, you’ll end up with American Express’ renowned customer service to back you up. You probably won’t need it, but it is always nice to know it is there.
11. A New Option: Digit.co
Another interesting savings option is Digit.co. This is a bank that uses an algorithm to determine how much money to transfer from your checking account into savings every few days. By tracking your income and spending habits, Digit.co can determine how much extra money should be going into savings. Digit promises that it’s automatic transfers won’t overdraw your account. The interest paid is very small, but it does exist. This is an account for people who want to save without needing to think about it.
Getting access to your money is easy; it’s all done through text. You text simple commands to change how much you save, to check your balance, and to withdraw to your own account. Most of the time, once you text that you want to withdraw, the money is there in the next day or two. This is a great account for saving up for a night out each month, or for other entertainment.
Consider your savings account needs, and do your research. With the right approach, you can get the most efficient use out of your money.
Why you need a savings account
With so many options for storing your money and the low-interest rates, a lot of my clients ask, “why do I even need a savings account?” and honestly, that's a great question.
The first reason is the obvious one – you get a slightly higher interest rate, and earning a little interest is better than no interest, right? But the interest you earn isn't the only reason to find a good online savings account.
The other reason is a little more obvious, it forces you to save that money. Federal regulations limit the number of times that you can withdraw money from your account. If you can keep taking money out of the account, it's going to encourage you to save. There are hundreds of thousands of places that you can open up a savings accounts, but all of them basically break down to three categories, traditional savings account, online savings account, and kids savings account. Many of these also offer a money market. If the MMA account offers a higher interest rate then we will list that instead of the savings account option.
What to Look for in a Top Savings Account
There’s no need to let your money sit in an account that doesn’t pay any interest at all. That’s one of the worst things you can do with your money because the value of your money will slowly go down due to inflation. You need to generate some interest to combat inflation just to maintain the spending power of the money you have. However, even the highest yield savings account is unlikely to beat inflation.
Then again interest isn’t everything. There are other considerations as well when choosing from among the top savings accounts.
Interest – High Yield
For me, interest comes first. Generating interest helps protect your money from inflation. Even if inflation is really low, getting some small interest on the side will help you bolster your account over time. Interest isn’t the only important factor, but it never hurts to have someone paying you to store your cash with them.
Don’t get too caught up in chasing yields, however. Most of the time, the difference between accounts isn’t enough to prompt you to move your money every time a bank comes out with a newer, higher yield.
Customer Service
Having great customer service is another key aspect of a great savings account. If you earn a little bit more interest at one bank but the customer service is awful you will probably regret it. I like to stick to firms that have solid reputations or that I’ve had previous experience with.
The accounts on this list all offer good customer service and a good user experience.
Access
You want easy access to your funds. If you have to jump through a lot of hoops to pull money out of your emergency fund during an unexpected setback, it defeats the purpose. Other considerations when you look at savings account access:
Do you have to go to a physical branch? Or can you transfer funds online using your smartphone? What about ATM access? Can you withdraw money at ATMs across the country for free, or at least get reimbursed for the fees you do pay? Access can be a tiebreaker when you are comparing two very similar banks.
Understand the Purpose of Your Savings Account
Saving for future purchases and expenses is one of the best things you can do to stabilize your financial situation. Rather than using credit spending (and winding up in debt if you don’t pay off the balance each month), identifying your spending goals and saving up can help you buy the things you want — without ruining your financial future.
You should also understand that keeping an emergency fund available for a rainy day can be a good idea. What happens when the car needs repairs or you need to replace the dryer? An emergency fund can protect you from the need to borrow in order to meet these unexpected expenses.
While a high-yield account would be nice, it’s important to recognize that your savings account isn’t meant to help you build wealth so you can fund your retirement (learn more about investing for retirement through a Roth IRA). Rather than expecting high yields from your savings account, here’s how to think about it:
Liquidity
One of the biggest advantages of a savings account is the liquidity. Because it’s cash, it’s instantly available for you to use. You don’t have to sell shares and what for the proceeds of the sale, or jump through hoops to get your money. It’s available immediately.
This is what makes a savings account ideal for an emergency fund. You know you can get to the money immediately if you need it. The liquidity also makes it great for access your money for a short-term savings goal. You know that you will be able to pay with your savings account when you need to, or you can use the money to instantly pay off your credit card after you’ve used it to book your vacation (and earn the points).
Safety
The other reason to incorporate a savings account into your financial strategy is so that you can keep the money safe. You don’t have to worry about losing your vacation money in the stock market when you keep it in a savings account. You know the money is there when you need it for an emergency with your savings account. Plus, if your account is with a federally insured institution, you don’t have to worry about losing your money if the bank fails.
Stop thinking of your savings account as a place to help you grow your wealth, and instead think of it as a way for you to protect your assets and keep your long-term financial situation from deteriorating due to debt. You can also think of your savings account as a way to help you save for short-term goals. As long as you incorporate a savings strategy along with an investing strategy that allows you to build wealth over time, you should have a balanced approach to your overall financial plan.
Whether you are saving up an emergency fund or just preparing to spend money on a nice vacation next year, you need a great savings account to hold your money. Here are my favorite places to wring as much yield as possible out of your savings account.
Types of savings accounts
There are a few different types of savings accounts, but don't worry, the main idea is still the same.
Bank Savings Accounts
This is the traditional idea of a savings account at a physical bank. You can walk into any local branch of a bank and open up one of these savings accounts. Normally, these accounts have maintenance fees and low-interest rates.
Online Savings Accounts
These accounts work almost identical to a traditional savings account except you manage the whole account strictly online. In most cases online savings accounts offer slightly better interest rates because they have lower overhead costs.
Savings Account for the Kids
Maybe you want to open up a savings account for your kids, that's a very good idea! Some banks have savings accounts specifically designed for kids, but don't' worry, you'll have control over the account. It's a great way to teach your children about managing money.
Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's
The post Top 11 Best Online Savings Account Banks – Start Making Interest Today! appeared first on Good Financial Cents.
from All About Insurance https://www.goodfinancialcents.com/best-online-high-yield-savings-accounts-interest-rates/
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New Post has been published on Mortgage News
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6 Steps to Retire When You Want
For some, the idea of retiring early is a dream nurtured over decades. For others, it’s the realization that they could walk away from their career right now and manage just fine. For still others, it comes as a virtual smack upside the head from a financial planner who asks why they’ve waited so long.
SEE ALSO: 7 Steps to a Happy Retirement
In some ways, the above scenarios—all of which represent the experiences of people featured in this story—run counter to the current trend of working longer. The average age at which people retire has increased over the past two decades, and longer life expectancy is just one of several compelling reasons for staying in the workforce a few extra years. (For the benefits of working longer, see 6 Reasons to Work Beyond Retirement Age.)
For all that, the idea of working well into old age has yet to catch fire. Men retire at 64, on average, just two years later than they did in the mid 1990s, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College; women retire at 62, on average, up from 59 two decades ago. In a recent survey of Kiplinger’s readers, 55% of those responding said they retired at 62 or younger. And for workers of both genders, by far the most popular age at which to claim Social Security is 62—as soon as they’re eligible.
There’s no right time to retire for everyone, but there is a right way to plan for it. Here’s how to position yourself to retire when you want.
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Assess Your Savings
Saving regularly from the beginning of your career to the end has always been the prescription for a comfortable retirement. To retire at 67, for instance, Fidelity Investments recommends that you set aside 15% of your salary, including any employer contribution, starting at age 25 and continuing throughout your career, resulting in a retirement stash of 10 times your final income. The formula assumes you’ll replace 45% of your preretirement income with savings, with the rest of your income coming from Social Security. To replicate your standard of living and retire at 62, you’d have to save 25% of your salary starting at age 25, says Fidelity.
SEE ALSO: 12 Reasons You’ll Go Broke in Retirement
As with all long-term goals, however, life has a way of intruding, in the form of kids, mortgages and college costs. If you start saving for retirement late or cut back on saving for a few years, you’ll have to double down to get back on track. That’s challenging but not impossible, says Kevin Reardon, a certified financial planner in Pewaukee, Wis. “We get clients who are in their early fifties, the kids are out of the house and they’re past the college expenses. Now they’re able to sock away a big chunk of money.” Uncle Sam gives you a boost: If you are 50 or older, you can make annual catch-up contributions of up to $6,000 to your 401(k), for a total of $24,000 in 2017, and up to $1,000 to your IRA, for a total of $6,500.
You may realize that your post-career plans—hanging with the grandkids or enjoying long walks in the woods—don’t require 10 times your preretirement income, or that retiring a year or two earlier than scheduled is worth skipping the ski trips to Gstaad later on. Savings benchmarks are a guide, not an imperative, says Jeanne Thompson, a senior vice president at Fidelity. “When people decide they’re ready, they take stock of what they have and make it work.”
Tim and Mary Joyce of Muskego, Wis., have always lived modestly. “We’re very conscious of budgets and saving, and we’re not extravagant. We don’t incur much debt, and we paid our house off quite a few years ago,” says Tim, 64. When Mary, 63, a longtime employee of General Electric, was offered early retirement, the couple assessed their resources and realized they could retire whenever they chose. She took the offer and left her career job at 56; Tim retired a few years later, at 59. “We retired early because we could,” he says.
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And they have no regrets. Financially, “our lifestyle hasn’t changed at all,” says Tim, but now they have more time to pursue their hobbies (he restores old cars, and they are renovating their vacation home, a log cabin in northern Wisconsin). They are also able to contribute to college-savings accounts for each of their four grandchildren.
TAKE OUR QUIZ: Are You Saving Enough for Retirement?
Analyze Your Spending
No matter how you envision your retirement, you still have to figure out how you’ll cover your costs when you no longer have a paycheck. Well before you retire, determine what your current expenses are and which of them you expect to carry into retirement. “If I had to put my finger on the one issue for people coming into my office, it’s that they don’t know what they’re spending,” says Reardon.
The process doesn’t have to be arduous or time-consuming, he says. “Go to your credit card and checking account statements over the past three to six months and look at your average monthly spending. You’ll get a picture of your annualized expenses, and you can probably do it in 20 minutes or less.” Make one list of ongoing, essential costs, such as food, housing and clothing, and another for the nice-to-haves, such as club memberships and hobbies. Don’t neglect to plan for big, occasional expenses—say, a new roof.
Once you’ve gotten a handle on those expenses, match them to income—any pensions and Social Security payments (more about that below), plus the annual amount you intend to withdraw from savings. Be sure to factor in taxes on distributions from your savings accounts. The general rule is to draw from taxable accounts first. If you sell stocks held longer than a year, you pay tax on the profit at the long-term capital-gains rate, up to 20%, whereas you’ll pay ordinary income tax of up to 39.6% on every dollar you withdraw from pretax accounts, unless Congress changes the tax rules. If you withdraw from a pretax account before age 59½, you may have to pay a 10% penalty on earnings on top of taxes due on the distribution itself. (There’s no penalty on distributions from a 401(k) if you are 55 or older in the year you leave the job.)
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After you’ve run the numbers, do a reality check. If there’s a gap between expenses and income, you’ll have to either spend less in retirement or work longer. “I have clients who look at the results and say, Wow, we’re not ready. We had better make some changes,” says Derek Tharp, a CFP in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. For others, the analysis comes as welcome news that they can retire on course.
SEE ALSO: 10 Financial Decisions You’ll Regret in Retirement
Plan for Social Security
Deciding when to take Social Security is a key part of the planning process. But it’s even more important if you retire before your full retirement age—66 for people born between 1943 and 1954, gradually rising to 67 for people born in 1960 or later. If you claim as soon as you’re eligible, at 62, you’ll take a 25% to 30% reduction in benefits from what you’d get at full retirement age. For every year you wait after full retirement age until 70, you’ll get an 8% boost in benefits, on top of any cost-of-living adjustments.
The earlier you retire, the more tempting it is to file for benefits—after all, at 62, it’s yours for the taking, and you can’t live on fumes. But many financial planners recommend holding off, even if that means using retirement savings to cover the income gap. By forgoing benefits a little longer, you’ll reap a much higher amount, which will help you stretch your savings over a retirement that could last as long as 40 years.
That higher benefit also applies to your spouse, who qualifies for a survivor’s benefit equal to your benefit if you die first. Given the increase in life expectancy (men who reach 65 live until 82.9, on average; women live until 85.5), “for every couple who retires today at 65, chances are good that one spouse will live into his or her nineties,” says Jenny Martella, a CFP in Charlotte, N.C.
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Delaying Social Security doesn’t make sense for everyone. If you’re retiring because you have a health issue or you lost your job and need the income, or if you believe you won’t reach your life expectancy, you should probably take the money sooner rather than later. Even so, says Russ Thornton, a CFP in Atlanta, try to wait at least until your normal retirement age to get the full benefit. One way to do that is to have one spouse (usually the lower earner) take his or her benefit early to generate income while the other spouse waits.
TAKE OUR QUIZ: 10 Things You Must Know About Social Security
Leverage Your House
Another way to access money while you’re delaying Social Security is to tap home equity through a reverse mortgage. Available to homeowners age 62 or older, a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage gives you access to built-up equity—up to the federal loan limit of $625,000—and does not have to be repaid until the last surviving borrower dies, sells the house or moves out for at least 12 months.
You can take the money, which is tax-free, as a line of credit, monthly payments or, with some restrictions, a lump sum; you must pay off any current mortgage with the proceeds. You’ll also have to pay a one-time fee of up to 2.5% of the loan amount plus an annual insurance premium of 1.25% of the balance over the life of the loan. The insurance guarantees that the lender will be repaid by the government if the house sells for less than the loan’s balance. (For more information on these deals, see Reverse Mortgages Get a Makeover.)
Review Your Portfolio
For any soon-to-be retiree, the challenge is to figure out how to generate growth in your investments while tamping down risk. A portfolio with 55% stocks, 40% bonds and 5% cash (see How to Build the Right Mix of Investments in Retirement) gets you in the ballpark. For a bit more growth, you might adjust the mix to 60% stocks and 40% bonds and cash; for less risk, you’d do the reverse.
If you’re retiring early, however, striking the right balance becomes a bit trickier. Should you pump up the stock portion of your portfolio to generate growth over a longer period, or do you come up with a more conservative blend to protect savings?
SEE ALSO: 10 Stocks Every Retiree Should Own
Some financial planners argue for the more conservative approach, at least at the beginning, to protect against the chance that a bear market could cripple your savings and maybe even force you to go back to work. Others believe you need some extra oomph in your portfolio to protect against inflation over several decades. “If you’re investing in ‘safe’ investments, such as money market funds or bonds, a 2.5% inflation rate over time will eat your savings alive,” says Martella. She recommends a stocks-to-bonds ratio of 60-40 to 70-30, depending on your risk tolerance.
Another way to address the growth-versus-risk problem is to separate your portfolio into “buckets.” With this approach, says Marcy Keckler, vice president of financial advice strategy at Ameriprise Financial, you set aside enough cash or cash equivalents in the first bucket to cover one to three years of living expenses, after factoring in guaranteed income, such as Social Security. The second bucket holds slightly riskier investments, such as intermediate-term bond funds and a few diversified stock funds, for income with some growth; you’ll eventually use profits from that bucket to replenish the first. The third and largest bucket represents a balanced portfolio of diversified stock and bond funds, for long-term growth.
Darrow Kirkpatrick of Santa Fe, N.M., was in his thirties when he began to think about retiring early. A computer engineer, Kirkpatrick, now 56, got in on the ground floor of the PC revolution, and he had the bucks to show for it. He loved his job but still wanted to retire. By living frugally and saving diligently, he and his wife, Caroline, now 58, believed he would be able to retire in 2008, when he was 47. Then the market tanked. Kirkpatrick ended up retiring in 2011. Caroline, who had taken time off to raise their son, returned to work as a schoolteacher before retiring in 2013.
John Patterson and Linda Stein-Patterson of Annapolis, Md. Photo by John Davis
Not surprisingly, Kirkpatrick has designed his investment strategy to protect against shocks such as that of 2008. “I keep several years’ income in cash and a lot in bonds, so I don’t have to liquidate when the market is down,” he says. He also calibrates withdrawals to align with market conditions rather than go with a set withdrawal rate of, say, 4%. “It’s intuitive. If the market is down, you bring your lifestyle down; if the market is doing well, you can splurge a little that year,” says Kirkpatrick. His approach accords with advice from retirement planners who recommend taking withdrawals using the same “dynamic strategy.”
SEE ALSO: 4 Dow Stocks Every Retiree Should Own
Secure Health Coverage
A few years ago, John Patterson, 64, of Annapolis, Md., sold his share of a family insurance company for a generous annual payout. He and his wife, Linda Stein-Patterson, 61, had already accumulated substantial savings, put their two daughters through college and paid off their home. Although Patterson expected to continue working, perhaps part-time (Linda had left the workforce years earlier to be home with their kids), his financial planner insisted he could afford to retire.
So far, the plan has worked out well—but one element of retiring early has caused John a bit of heartburn. Neither he nor Linda is eligible yet for Medicare. They get their coverage through the Affordable Care Act, paying a premium of $1,600 a month for a basic Bronze plan, with a $6,500 per-person deductible.
Prior to the ACA, many would-be retirees were unable to quit their day jobs before 65 because insurers in the individual market made it difficult to get coverage for preexisting conditions. The ACA prohibits insurers from denying coverage for existing health problems, a godsend for many early retirees.
But the coverage can be pricey. Premiums in 2017 for the Silver plan—the most popular choice for those who qualify for subsidies—run an average of $872 a month for a 60-year-old nonsmoker, according to Health Pocket Info Stat, an independent research company. The average deductible is $3,572 for an individual and $7,474 for a family.
SEE ALSO: 50 Ways to Cut Health Care Costs
You may qualify for a premium subsidy in 2017, however, if your modified adjusted gross income is 100% to 400% of the 2016 federal poverty level ($11,880 to $47,520 for individuals and $16,020 to $64,080 for married couples filing jointly). That could be the case if your wealth is mostly in savings and home equity and you have yet to take distributions from pretax accounts, or if you have enough exemptions and deductions to be in the lowest tax bracket. Lawmakers are preparing to repeal this law, although they have also pledged to work on a replacement.
Other options? If you work for a company with 20 or more employees, you can usually continue your coverage for up to 18 months after leaving your job through the federal law known as COBRA (some states have similar rules for smaller employers). You’ll have to pay both the employer’s and the employee’s share of the cost, plus a 2% administrative fee. Once you qualify for Medicare, your COBRA coverage generally ends, although employers will let you keep it for benefits Medicare doesn’t cover, such as for prescription drugs and vision care. Your spouse can continue to get COBRA for up to 36 months or until he or she also qualifies for Medicare (see the Medicare Rights Center’s Part B Enrollment Toolkit).
Plan for Your New Life
Patterson wasn’t planning to retire when he did, but he has had no problem filling his time. An accomplished cellist, he plays in several area orchestras (for which he practices several hours a day) as well as with a smaller group, and he sings in a choir. He and Linda attend concerts and take classes together at a local community college.
Patterson was lucky: Music, his lifelong avocation, provided him with a built-in structure for his retirement. Not all retirees can say the same, says Tharp. After enjoying a few months of leisure, “they realize they weren’t prepared for retirement. They don’t have anything to do.” That’s especially painful for hard-charging executives who retire in the prime of life, he says. “They’re bored out of their mind.”
SEE ALSO: Make a Plan for Your Retirement Savings
Kirkpatrick came up with his own second act by writing a blog on retiring early. “You can’t just quit a job without a plan and expect to be happy,” he says. “You start to feel a loss of meaning.” He suggests coming up with ideas for what you might want to do and then trying them before you retire. “Volunteer, start working on that novel, start an online business.”
For some people, the dream activity just might be returning to work—on their own terms. After leaving GE, Mary Joyce decided to get a part-time job at a senior living center, not because she needed the money but because “she gets to help a lot of people,” says Tim. She set up her schedule so the couple could spend long weekends at their log home and still have time for their grandchildren, who live in the area. Bored? No way, says Tim. “There’s always something going on.”
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themoneybuff-blog · 6 years
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18 favorite financial rules of thumb (and some useful money guidelines)
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After twelve years of reading and writing about money, Ive come to love financial rules of thumb. Financial rules of thumb provide helpful shortcuts for making quick calculations and decisions. You dont always have time (or want to take the time) to create elaborate spreadsheets when choosing a course of action. In these cases, its nice to have some rough guidelines you can rely on. Youve probably heard of the rule of 72, for example. This shortcut says that if you divide 72 by a particular rate of return, youll get the number of years itll take to double your money. If your savings account yields 4%, say, it will take about 18 years for your nest egg to increase by 100%. But if you were able to earn 12% on your investment, that money would double in six years. Like all rules of thumb, the rule of 72 isnt precise. It doesnt give an exact answer but a ballpark figure. Financial rules of thumb dont always hold true. But theyre true enough for us to make loose plans based on them. I have some engineer friends whod get tense at this sort of sloppy guesswork, but most of the rest of us are happy to trade a bit of precision for speed. Thats what rules of thumb are all about! The trick, of course, is knowing which rules of thumb to use. Most are handy, but some common guidelines do more harm than good. Rules Gone Wild In the past, youve probably seen my rant about some of my most-hated financial rules of thumb. Lets look at three things I think conventional wisdom gets wrong (and what I believe are better alternatives). How much should you save for retirement? For instance, I get frustrated when I hear financial advisers push the idea that you should base your retirement savings on 70% of your income. Instead of estimating your retirement needs from your income, it makes far more sense to base them on spending. Your spending reflects your lifestyle; your income doesnt. I think a better rule of thumb for determining retirement needs is this: When estimating how much youll need to save for retirement, assume youll spend as much in the future as you do now. Use 100% of your current expenses to calculate your retirement spending. (And if you want to build in a safety margin, base your future needs on 110% of your current spending.) How much should you spend on a house? As I mentioned last week, another rule of thumb that makes me cranky is this common guideline espoused by all sectors of the homebuying industry: Buy as much home as you can afford. No no no no no! Of all financial rules of thumb, this is probably the worst. Its certainly one of the most prevalent. This is how folks end up house poor, chained to a mortgage they resent. Lenders quantify this guideline by saying your housing payments should be nor more than 28% or 33% or 41% of your income. But, as David Bach wrote in The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner, You should generally assume that the amount the bank or mortgage company is willing to loan you is more than you should borrow. A better rule of thumb? Spend as little on housing as possible. Spending less than 25% of your net income is best less than 20% is even better. How much life insurance should you carry? A third rule that bugs me is the one for determining how much life insurance you should buy. Different experts give different answers. Some say your policy should cover five times your annual income. Others say ten times. And Suze Orman recommends 20 times annual income needs. The truth is that not everyone needs life insurance. Like all insurance, its designed to prevent financial catastrophes. You only need it if other people like a spouse or children would face financial hardship when you die. If you dont have kids, if your spouse has a good income, or you have substantial savings, then life insurance isnt a necessity. Even if you do need life insurance, you probably dont need to carry as much as your insurance agent is willing to sell you. To find out the amount thats right for you, check out the Life Insurance Needs Calculator from the non-profit Life Happens organization. (How much life insurance should I carry? According to this calculator, I shouldnt have any at all. And I dont.)
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Useful Financial Rules of Thumb Financial rules of thumb usually arent this bad. In fact, most are useful. Here are eighteen of my favorites. When estimating income, $1 an hour in wage is equivalent to $2000 per year in pre-tax earnings. The reverse is also true: $2000 per year in salary is equal to $1 an hour in hourly wage. (This rule works because the average worker spends roughly 2000 hours per year on the job.)How wealthy should you be? According to the authors of The Millionaire Next Door, the following wealth formula can tell you if youre on target: Divide your age by ten, then multiply by your annual gross income. Your net worth should be equal to this number (less any inheritances). So, if youre 40 and make $50,000 per year, your net worth should be $200,000. If you have less than half the expected amount, youre an under-accumulator of wealth. If you have twice the target, youre a prodigious accumulator of wealth. (Note that the authors are well aware that this formula doesnt work well for young people; its meant to be used by folks nearing retirement age.)On average, each dollar an American spends represents about $2.50 of after-tax value in ten years or $10 in thirty years. (If you live outside the U.S., the consequences of spending that dollar are probably even greater.) This is due to two reasons: taxes and compounding. When you buy something, you spend after-tax dollars. On average, Americans have to earn $1.33 to have $1.00 left over.Inflation is the silent killer of wealth. In the U.S., inflation has averaged 3.18% over the past hundred years. A lot of folks figure a 3% inflation rate when making money calculations. I think its safer to assume 3.5% or even 4% average inflation in the future.Historically, U.S. stocks have earned long-term real returns (meaning inflation-adjusted returns) of about 7%. Bonds have long-term real returns of around 2.5%. Gold and real estate have long-term real returns of close to 1%.If you withdraw about four percent of your savings each year, your wealth snowball will maintain its value against inflation. During market downturns, you might have to withdraw as little as three percent. If times are flush, you might allow yourself five percent. But four percent is generally safe. (For more on safe withdrawal rates, check out this article from the Mad Fientist.)Based on the previous rule of thumb, theres a quick way to check whether early retirement is within your reach. Multiply your current annual expenses by 25. If the result is less than your savings, youve achieved financial independence you can retire early. If the product is greater than your savings, you still have work to do. (If youre conservative or have low risk tolerance, multiply your annual expenses by 30. If youre aggressive and/or willing to take on greater risk, multiple by 20.)Building on the above, Mr. Money Mustaches shockingly simple math behind early retirement gives us a useful rule of thumb for determining how long youll need to save before youre financially independent. Figure out your current saving rate (or profit margin, if you prefer). Subtract this number from 60. Roughly speaking and assuming youve started from a zero net worth thats how long youll need to work before your nest egg is big enough to support you in retirement. (Note that this rule breaks down at saving rates over 40%. If you save a lot, subtract from 70.)Joe from Stacking Benjamins likes what he calls the penny approximation: Assuming a safe withdraw rate of roughly four percent, every $100 you save gives you one penny per day in perpetuity. Once you stack enough Benjamins you have enough pennies to sustain you forever. If you change your own brake pads and save $200, thats two cents a day for the rest of your life because you avoided paying a mechanic.
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I hate detailed budgets because they bog people down. Instead, Im a fan of budget frameworks that focus more on the Big Picture. My favorite budget framework is the Balanced Money Formula: Spend no more than 50% of your after-tax income on Needs, put at least 20% into savings (including debt reduction), and spend the rest (around 30%) on Wants. This is a great beginner budget, but its also useful for transitioning to the mindset of Financial Independence. If you decide early retirement is a goal, then part of your Wants spending becomes additional savings.If you own your home, its wise to set aside money for maintenance and repairs. Each year, contribute 1% of your homes current value to a separate account. If you dont spend the money, keep it there for future remodeling and improvements.Is it better to buy or to rent? The price-to-rent ratio is a useful rule of thumb for making this decision. Find two similar places, one for sale and one for rent. Divide the sale price of the one by the annual rent for the other. The result is the P/R ratio. Say you find a $200,000 house for sale in a nice neighborhood, and a similar home for rent on the next block for $1000 per month, which is $12,000 per year. Dividing $200,000 by $12,000, you get a P/R ratio of 16.7. If the P/R ratio is low, its better to buy. If the price-to-rent ratio is over 15, its probably better to rent.How much does it cost to raise a child? As a rule of thumb, budget $10,000 per child per year. Thats not quite a quarter of a million dollars per kid, but its close.If you get a windfall, use 1% to treat yourself. (Or maybe 2%, tops.) Put the rest in a safe place and ignore it for six months. After youve had time to think about it, then take action. So, if you inherit $100,000 from Aunt Marge, only allow yourself a $1000 splurge. Stash the remaining $99,000 someplace you wont be tempted to spend it.To approximate a new vehicles five-year cost of ownership (in monthly terms), double the price tage and divide by 60. Looking at a brand-new Mini Cooper ? Double that $30,000 sticker price to get $60,000, then divide by 60. Is it really worth $1000 per month to get rid of your crummy Ford Focus?The standard rule of thumb is to save at least 10% of your income. I think a better goal is to aim for 20% and more is better. Financial guru Liz Weston says that if youre young, you should follow this guideline: Save 10% for basics, 15% for comfort, 20% to escape.Nobody agrees how much you should set aside for an emergency fund. Even the experts offer advice ranging from $1000 up to 12 months of expenses. (The most common suggestions range from three to six months of expenses.) One clever rule of thumb to determine how much you should have set aside: Your emergency fund should cover X months of expenses, where X is the current unemployment rate. In other words, because the U.S. unemployment is about 4% right now, you should aim to have enough money in the bank to cover four months of expenses.According to Consumer Reports, wen youre faced with the repair of an appliance (such as a refrigerator or washing machine), you should buy a new one if the appliance is more than eight years old (or if the repair would cost more than half what it would take to buy a replacement). Its important to remember that rules of thumb arent set in stone. Theyre guidelines. Theyre meant to help you make quick evaluations, not actual life-changing decisions. Financial rules of thumb are a starting point. Start with them, then adjust for your individual goals and situation. Other Useful Financial Guidelines Strictly speaking, rules of thumb deal with numbers. Still, there are a lot of non-numeric guidelines that I think are useful to know. If youve done any reading about personal finance, for example, youve probably heard the admonition, Pay yourself first. While not strictly a rule of thumb, this guideline is very similar. Here are some other useful financial guidelines: The more you learn, the more you earn. In the U.S., education has a greater impact on work-life earnings than any other demographic factor. Your age, race, gender, and location all influence what you earn, but nothing matters more than what you know.Bank a raise. When you get a salary bump, dont increase your spending. Stay the course and put the added income into savings.Always take the employer match on the 401(k).Never touch your retirement savings except for retirement.Never co-sign on a loan. (Ever.)Avoid paying interest on anything that loses value. Its okay to finance a home or a college education but avoid taking out a loan on a car.Speaking of cars: When you buy a vehicle, buy used or buy new and plan to drive it for at least ten years. (Do both and youll save even more!)Dont mess with the IRS. When it comes to taxes, dont try to cheat. Pay what you owe. Claim all the deductions you deserve, but dont try to stretch things.In general, save an emergency fund first; pay off high-interest debt second; and begin investing (at the same time you pay down remaining debt) last.It almost always makes more sense (and cents) to repair your old car than to buy a new one.If youre not willing to pay cash for it, then it doesnt make sense to buy it on credit. (I have a friend whose guiding principle is: If I wouldnt buy five, why would I buy one? Similar idea taken to an extreme.)Save for your own retirement before saving for your childrens college education. They can get loans for school. You cant get loans for retirement. Now its your turn. What rules of thumb did I miss? Do you disagree with any of those I suggested? What are some of your favorite rules of thumb? Shares 352 https://www.getrichslowly.org/financial-rules-of-thumb/
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demikbrayus · 7 years
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Stash Invest App Review
This article first appeared on aaacreditguide.com at AAACreditGuide.
Stash Invest is an app for both Android and iOS that was born out of the simple question: Why don’t more people invest their money? This seemingly simple question can have a myriad of answers depending on who you ask. Stash tries to overcome these obstacles with a well-designed app that provides easily understood solutions without breaking the bank.
For many, the barrier for entry for investing in stocks can be incredibly high. Whether it’s high minimum investments or hefty fees, a lot of people find that investing is not affordable. On top of that, it can also be incredibly confusing.
There’s a lot of jargon out there and many of us don’t know the difference between a stock and a bond, let alone how to read a stock ticker. Stash aims to solve both of these issues by making investing both affordable and accessible. Intrigued? Keep reading to learn more.
Why is investing important?
Before we talk about why to invest with Stash, let’s quickly talk about why you should invest at all. Whether you know it or not, if you have a job, you are already likely investing a portion of your money.
Thanks to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who signed the Social Security Act in 1935 after the Great Depression, we all pay a portion of our payroll tax to reap retirement benefits later. As of 2017, you’re already paying 6.2% of your payroll check into Social Security, and your employer contributes the same amount on your behalf.
Social Security is designed as a safety net for the elderly and the disabled and is relied upon by millions of Americans as a portion of income once reaching retirement age.
According to the Social Security Administration, the average monthly benefit in 2017 is only $1,341.77. So while Social Security can certainly be helpful, it’s probably difficult for most people to survive on less than $350 per week.
According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, almost half of Americans have no retirement savings other than Social Security. Predictably, low-income families are disproportionately affected by this trend.
Due in part to an inability to afford to save money and a lack of understanding of investment options, a large portion of our population is unprepared for their future. But it doesn’t have to be this way, and Stash is on its way to bridging the investment gap in America.
What Stash Does Differently
While Stash Invest is not the only low fee, easy to use investment app on the market, they do take care to educate their customers and show them how to invest and save money. This app is not designed for the seasoned investor.
The premise is for Stash to give you access to Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), which are investment funds that allow you to buy a portion of stocks through a portfolio. Like similar apps, Stash charges you $1 per month until your investment reaches $5,000 and then charges you .025% of your total investment.
Signing up for Stash is not as easy as just signing in with Facebook. One of the main complaints about the app in Google Play is the invasive information they request.
This includes banking information, your address, and even your Social Security number. While it’s not usually recommended to hand out this type of information to an app on your phone, Stash is bound by federal law, including the Patriot Act, to collect this information.
It is a necessary evil, unfortunately, but one mitigated by the fact that they use 256-bit encryption and your securities are protected up to $500,000. Additional security features include a pin number of your choosing that you must enter every time you open the app. This is beneficial whether your phone is stolen or your toddler is button mashing your phone while playing angel investor.
How Stash Works
When you first sign up for Stash, you’ll be asked about your investing style. You can choose from conservative, moderate, or aggressive. This helps tailor your portfolio options based on the amount of risk, and potential return, that is acceptable to you.
Determining your risk tolerance is only one way Stash helps you choose your investment strategy. Next, they’ll ask you how much and how often you’d like to invest. You can choose to invest as little as $5 at a time on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly schedule.
In the early stages, the more you invest, the lower your percentage in fees will be. Remember that Stash charges $1 per month up to $5,000 so if you only have $100 in your account, your annual fee will be 12%. Get up to $1,000 and that fee is only 1.2%.
The Stash Investment Mantra: I Believe, I Want, I Like
One of the main benefits of Stash is that they translate the confusing world of investing into layman’s terms to help new investors sift through the jargon. One way they do this is by turning investment options into lifestyle choices.
Using three different categories labeled I Believe, I Want, and I Like, picking the companies you want to invest in becomes almost as easy as what clothes to put on in the morning.
I Believe
I Believe is tailored toward the more socially conscious among us. While some reviews of Stash have labeled it has hipster marketing, it’s not a bad thing that Millennials are concerned that the money they invest is done in a socially conscious way.
Under this category, you have options such as “Clean & Green,” which will invest your money in clean energy, “Live Long & Prosper,” which invests in healthcare markets, and “Water the World,” which invests in companies providing clean drinking water.
I Want
I Want is a goal oriented category that allows you to choose stocks that pay dividends or are partial to your level of risk. “Essential Europe” lets you invest in companies from across the pond. “Public Works” allows you to invest in American infrastructure. You can even “Roll with Buffett,” which gives you a piece of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
I Like
I Like comes off as the more pretentious offering and is most rooted in lifestyle choices. “Retail Therapy” invests your money in food, clothing, and travel companies. “Enjoy Your Fun” gives you the chance to invest in vacation and leisure companies. Far from just lifestyle choices, however, this option gives you the chance to invest in specific industries in which you see potential.
Knowledge is Power
While we know that you didn’t install Stash just for the articles, there is a wealth of knowledge to be found here. Under the “Learn” section of the drop down menu are dozens of well-written articles designed to teach you how to invest. Stash is designed for the beginner and these articles can show you the ins and outs of investment strategy.
From “What’s a Capital Gain?” to “How to Invest Like an Activist,” Stash spends a great deal of time into turning you into an investment professional. Many people choose apps like Stash because of their simple to use nature, and set-it and leave-it design.
This is great for those dipping their toes in for the first time, but Stash realizes that you likely want to be more than just a casual investor. Think of it like boot camp for the uninitiated.
Whether you want to learn what interest rate hikes mean to you or better understand certain investment portfolios, Stash allows you to invest your time to learn as well as your money to earn.
Navigating the Stash App
Stash’s layout and design are clutter free and easy to use. Starting with the home screen, they show you portfolio options and have article suggestions for you to read. The top menu bar includes options such as Portfolio, Balance and Potential, as well as a pop-up sidebar with more options.
The Portfolio section gives you a snapshot of your value and total return. Along the upper left side, you’ll see your portfolio’s value as well as your next milestone designed to motivate you to continue to invest. On the right, you’ll see your total return in both dollar amount and percentage. This shows you your total investment earnings over and above your initial investment.
Balance shows your total account balance spanning the total time that you have been investing with Stash. It shows your Stash balance, your deposits, and your withdrawals. Finally, Potential shows you what is possible for you to earn after one, five or ten years based on your monthly deposit.
Beginning with your current deposit amount, you can use the slide bar at the bottom to see your potential if you raise or lower your deposit amount. There is also a slide bar for Growth Potential which you can see additional earnings or losses, based on the percentage of return for your investment portfolio.
Stash Retire
While Stash has some heavy hitters behind it, it’s still only two years old and a bit of a one trick pony. However, Stash is now in the process of launching Stash Retire, which will add Roth IRAs into the mix. A Roth IRA is an individual retirement account that, as long as you meet certain criteria, is not taxed when you start to make withdrawals.
This option from Stash is still in development and while they appear to be reaching certain milestones, is not yet available. Still, it’s an indication that Stash is growing. Couple that with Stash’s latest funding round which saw investment from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, it’s easy to assume that Stash is here to stay.
Who should invest with Stash?
Overall, Stash Invest is designed to help the would-be investor. If you have money sitting in a savings account or if you’re just starting to think about your future, Stash is a great place to start investing. They make it easy to put money into portfolios that are of interest to you. They are also adept at making the confusing world of finance and investing easy to understand.
With the inclusion of a plethora of articles designed to teach you about investing, it’s also a great place to learn. Use it not just to easily invest your money, but as a resource that allows you to grow your knowledge with your money.
Stash’s simplified fee structure can be a low gateway into the world of investing. Your first two months are free and they only charge $1 per month up to $5,000 and .025% above that number.
This is pricey if you are just starting out. If you’re investing $5 per month, that’s 20% of your investment in the beginning. Stash can be a great option if you can get your balance higher before they start charging you fees.
Stash: Bottom Line
All in all, Stash is a great app for the beginning investor. There are certainly better options out there for people already familiar with investing, but with over half of Americans having no investment at all, it could be a great start for you.
Stash is also growing and beginning to offer more investment options such as Stash Retire, so they may grow with you. If not, use Stash as a learning tool and spring board into the heady world on investment finance.
from Credit And Credit Repair https://aaacreditguide.com/stash-review/
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