Author: James Hendrickson

Why a Side Hustle May Not Solve Your Money Problems

no-money-2070384_640When money gets tight for some people they dodge their bills or file bankruptcy. Others may resort to committing crimes to ease the financial burden. The responsible ones, however, make different choices.

One of the things you could do to ease financial pressure is to cut your bills as much as possible. Another is to take on a side job or side hustle to make ends meet.

But is taking on a side hustle the right choice to make ends meet? After all, there could be reasons why a side hustle may not solve your money problems.

1. Makes Monthly Bills Go Up

In theory, having a side hustle will provide you with greater income and more financial freedom. Managing your money wisely should help you to pay monthly bills and may even give you enough to pay down debt.

Of course, it is possible your bills could go up as a result of your side hustle. For instance, a lack of time to cook may force you and your family to dine out more. This can eat away at your side hustle income giving you less money than you anticipated from the extra job.

When bills go up because of the lack of time a side hustle creates it may not solve your money problems. What I mean is that it could lead you to decide the extra effort a side gig requires just isn’t worth it.

2. Requires the Need for Additional Help

Another way a side hustle may not solve your money problems is that you may need to hire additional help. Being only one person you can’t do everything – there are only 24 hours in a day. Some of the household responsibilities may have to be given to others.

It is possible you might need to hire an evening babysitter for your children. Don’t look now, your childcare bills just went up lowering your take home pay.

If your house is a mess because all you do is work you could find yourself searching for a house keeper. There goes more of your income.

3. Affects Your Main Job

Having another job can cause you to get stressed out, tired, and run down. In turn, these negative effects can affect your main job and put it in jeopardy.

Being fired from your regular job because your side hustle is getting in the way is not going to help you solve your money problems.

4. Causes You to Spend More

Temptation could set in when you have more money in the bank. Seeing an extra couple of hundred dollars or more in your bank account may not inspire you to pay down debt or save.

Instead, for some people, it causes the opposite. More money means more clothes, more eating out, more entertaining and so on.

You get the picture. Some people can’t manage the extra income wisely. They merely spend more and continue the cycle.

5. Doesn’t Pay Enough

Taking on a side hustle may not solve your money problems if the job doesn’t pay enough. Rather than getting paid a few dollars for a time consuming side hustle you may have to let it go. Look for work that pays well to ease your financial strain.

As an example, what if you are answering internet surveys as your side gig? Spending 30 minutes taking a survey to make an extra $5 doesn’t make sense. Give up the surveys and get a different side hustle, or at least look for a survey site that pays well.

6. You Hate it

Whenever possible I try to avoid having a job I can’t stand. It shows up in your attitude, for one thing.

For another, when you hate your job you aren’t going to do your best. Not doing your best could get you fired or passed over for promotions resulting in lost income. This isn’t going to help your financial situation any.

Money gets tight for most of us from time to time. Before you take on a side hustle, consider some of the reasons why a side hustle may not solve your money problems.

Jeanne is a married mother of 2 grown children who works a full time job, has two side hustles, and also helps out occasionally on the farm she and her husband own together. Her background is finance and medical office management, and she hopes to help others improve their finances and change their futures.

5 Easy Tips for Simplifying a Home Budget

tax breaks for 2016Preparing a home budget can be an uphill task especially if you haven’t done it before. In fact, this is one of the main reasons that most people avoid developing a budget. But it could also be because they do not really know what budgeting means and therefore they cannot develop one efficiently. The truth is, making a budget is not about using complex formulas or tedious calculations. Like other things in life, budgeting becomes easy to do when you keep it simple. Here are some easy tips that you can use to simplify the budget making process in your home:

  1. Create a schedule

Making a schedule and sticking to it can really simplify your work when it comes to creating a budget for your home. For instance, you can opt to make a monthly schedule that includes specific dates when you make certain payments. Create drafts from the checking accounts so that the bills get paid automatically. Decide how often you want to buy groceries in that month as well, one day each week or once every two weeks works best. Pick a day when your children are not around to demand for things that you have not included in the budget. Knowing to you expect and at what point you expect it can rid you of much stress.

  1. Allocate some cash for miscellaneous expenses

Include a small amount to cater for unexpected expenses in your budget. This helps ensure that in case of eventualities like a birthday invitation or an invitation to give a baby-shower gift, you will not be forced to use cash allocated for grocery or other items required in the home. Be sure to track your miscellaneous public storage Portland expenses on a frequent basis so you know when you have exhausted or are almost exhausting them. With time, you may want to consider making this budget item permanent on you budget.

  1. Involve family members

If you have other people living with you like a spouse, involve them when you making the budget. Things can get problematic if one person is doing the planning and all the other person is doing is spending. It helps to have a sitting each month to discuss the budget. Find a way to make this interesting. For instance, you could have some favorite snacks and drinks to keep the discussion focused. Most important is that you all read from the same page, this will certainly make your money and life easier to manage.

  1. Track your expenses

Find an easy way to track your expenses and be intentional in allocating some time each day to do so. Rather than stacking your receipts, world news tools like EveryDollar Plus to help you stream your transactions from the bank instead of keeping a bunch of receipts.

  1. Avoid using credit cards

Opt for debit cards rather than credit cards. Since debit cards come direct from your account, you will not incur a 15% interest. When you do away with credit cards, you will not attract additional bills that add to your budget. Most importantly, you will not live worried about high interest rates and fees.

How to Earn Extra Cash with Online Trading

earn extra cash with online tradingWhether you want to work from home or start a new career, online trading can be an interesting and profitable way to do it. An online trader places buy and sell orders for day trading stocks, Forex, futures trading and stock options, you guessed it, over the Internet. Since the trading is done online, many brokerage houses are able to cut costs for clients because there is no need for paper-based documents that need to be copied, filed and digitally recorded. Transactions can be executed faster, which means more transactions can be done in a day. Before jumping in, you may want to look at online trading schools such as Online Trading Academy reviews to get an idea of what you need to learn.

Financial Education

The best way to learn how to trade financial products is from a professional trader. With coaching sessions from the pros, you can learn how to trade consistently and profitably. Whether you are starting from the beginning or are already trading, you can learn about different trading styles such as short-term trading, position trading, exchange-traded funds, options, futures, currencies and commodities. After you learn the mechanics of trading, you may want to specialize in your chosen style of trading. In some cases, online training schools offer CDs that help you study at home. When you are ready, you may get an instructor who will help you make live trades.

Stocks

Stocks include certificates of ownership of a company. The certificate is called a share, and if you own shares in a company, you are a shareholder. There are two types of stocks, common and preferred. Common stock shareholders have voting rights connected with the policies of the company. Preferred stock shareholders do not have voting rights, but they get dividends before they are given to other shareholders. You will learn skills and strategies for buying and selling stocks to make money from buying low and selling high or reaping high dividends.

Forex

Forex stands for foreign exchange. If you trade forex, you are swimming with the big fish. If you study forex trading, you will see that there are many advantages to trading forex online, one being that the market is open 24-hour per day. Forex is the biggest market in the world with $4 trillion in daily transactions.

Futures

Futures allow you to speculate into the future. When you are well trained in buying and selling futures you can speculate what a specific asset will be worth at a specific time in the future. There are futures in all the principal categories such as equity index futures, energy and metal futures, treasury futures, forex futures, commodity futures.

Options Trading

It is worth your time learning about options trading. You can earn big rewards with little capital if you learn options trading strategies. Options allow you to control a stock for a very small percentage of its share price without actually owning it. It is a powerful tool for making profits without worrying about what is happing in the overall market.

Before you start your journey towards extra cash, take some time to find the best education plan. For example, you can check out Online Trading Academy Reviews and other testimonials to see what people are saying about online trading education.