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4 Good Income Ideas Aimed At Web Based Workers

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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home-based business opportunities, start your own business, side business, extra money, side hustle, online jobs

Click here to enter my free $46.95 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is April 30th, 2012.

The following is a guest post from Missy Diaz, who owns Frugal Quack – a frugal blog dedicated to living more with less and creating self-styled web income opportunities. Enjoy! 

4 Good Income Ideas Aimed At Web Based Workers

If you want to work from home and/or aspire to be a web-based worker, then I have a few good income ideas for you. However, do not think for one second that any of these fields are an easy or quick buck – as they are not.


To work from home requires an astounding amount of discipline, organization, and dedication. It’s not for everyone, and the best way to find out if it’s right for you is to simply try it out. If you’re currently unemployed, volunteer to work for someone you know that offers web-based work. Assuming you have skills that can translate to the web, this is what you would be initially offering. However, below, I have four additional ideas you can try on for size that can pay well if your skills are commensurate and you know how to market yourself.

1. Facebook Timeline Designer –



There’s no denying the power and reach of Facebook, and for these two reasons and more, businesses (of all size and scopes) are looking to establish, manage, and grow their Facebook profile. With this in mind, one of the primary areas of growth within this niche sector is the Facebook Timeline. 


If you’re handy with Photoshop or any other web design software – you could make a killing, designing good Facebook Timeline covers. How well you do will depend on how creative and or clever you can design for businesses and how you well you convey the importance of your awesome service.


You can charge a flat fee for the cover, an additional smaller fee for the profile photo, and even add in extras like designing the custom image tabs. Or, you can create a special package such as this; Get A FREE Custom Profile Photo with Your Timeline Cover Design – all for $299, $49, $199 or whatever amount you wish to charge. Or, you can “Bundle It” such as this: For only $29 more, we will design all three of your Facebook Timeline elements; including a Custom Timeline Cover, Profile Photo and Custom Image Tabs.

2. Writing for Small Business Blogs Locally –



Many times, when we’re looking for clients or work, we think first to go online. But, why not reverse this and instead go offline? Your local business community needs you now more than ever. They need a website, they need a blog, they need writers, and so on. If you’re a writer, why not start a local blog writing service – wherein you update the blogs of businesses locally. This could be your local plumber, local restaurants, an accountant, dry cleaner, and so on. 


You would have to pitch to the small business owner how you can take this load off their hands and how awesome it would be to direct this “saved time” on other aspects of their business. They key here is to have a laser focused approach and to not be a jack (or jane) of all trades, but instead specify how you write for LOCAL businesses in your area.

3. Social Media Manager –



Social media has completely exploded in 2012, and there’s no letting up anytime soon in this medium. Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and Pinterest are enough to make a small business owner hurl with confusion and dismay as he or she tries to keep up. There’s no way on Earth a successful and busy business owner can possibly keep up with all these social media accounts on a daily basis or any kind of a regular basis. That’s where YOU come in to take the load off and make it easy for them. Offer your services as a reliable, trustworthy, and competent social media manager. If you’re social media savvy in one or more of the platforms, then now is a great time to help out your small business owner friends. They need it.

4. Email Marketing Assistant –



This piggybacks off of social media marketing manager above, except it works with email marketing. There’s a certain science to online email marketing that is elusive to some business owners. So, if you have garnered an impressive email list of your own via your blog or website, this is prime fodder for reaching out to others who need this help. Whatever tricks you have learned or gleaned from your own successful email marketing campaigns can now be put to good use – as a profitable service to others. There’s a big (but quiet) revolution going on right now with web work and online income opportunities, that if you don’t wake up and smell the coffee – you won’t reap the rewards.

Hope this list has ignited a massive fire under your belly (and rump) and you see the potential that lies in front of you. Go stake your claim.


How about you all? What web-based ideas have you tried out to earn a little extra income? 


Share your experiences by commenting below!

    ***Photo courtesy of Missy from Frugal Quack. 

    Beyond the Dollar: Measuring A Company’s Real Performance

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    Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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    The following is a guest post by Vanessa Mackay. Enjoy! 

    Beyond the Dollar: Measuring A Company’s Real Performance

    There are three primary measures of financial performance in every organization’s financial statements:

    • Profit 
    • Return on equity, and 
    • Balance sheet strength 

    While these are crucial quantities to evaluate, by themselves, they cannot provide full information. The two considerations that do not directly appear on financial statements are non-financial performance measures, such as employee turnover rates. These have a real effect on your bottom line.

    Here we’ll look at the main hard measures of performance and how to harmonize them with soft measures.

    Profit


    Profit is not merely the results of business activity. Particularly in a difficult economy, there are limits to what organizations can do to increase profit through higher prices or business expansion. Increasing internal efficiency increases profitability without affecting the customer, but it requires astute management and a positive, results-driven organizational climate. Not every business can engage performance the same way. For example, businesses in the agricultural or industrial sector may see the engagement of employees rise significantly in incentive-based programs like the pay for performance model. In more creative fields, extrinsic rewards may not be as effective.   

    Though it is important to assess both gross and net profit when assessing any organization, the profit statement alone cannot provide any direct information about internal efficiency or employee motivation. Assessing return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA) can provide some insight, however.

    ROE and the DuPont Identity


     Of course, return on equity is an important ratio to assess, but it almost always is expressed as net income ÷ total equity. The DuPont Identity provides a simple approach to arriving at ROE using more detailed information. The benefit for the financial manager is that the DuPont Identity demonstrates that ROE is affected by three inputs: operating efficiency, asset use efficiency, and financial leverage. If, for any reason, ROE is unsatisfactory in any respect, the DuPont Identity highlights the area in which to look for the reasons.

    All of the values necessary for deriving ROE using the DuPont Identity can be found on the balance sheet or directly derived from balance sheet reporting points. The DuPont Identity reduces to [(Net Income ÷ Sales) x (Sales ÷ Assets) x (Assets ÷ Total Equity)]. The result is the same as dividing net income by total equity, but it provides much greater insight for assessing the organization’s performance.

    Non-financial Measures:

    Employees


     There are several non-financial measures that affect financial results, either directly or indirectly. Some of these are:

    • Employee motivation
    • Employee turnover rates, and 
    • Customer retention rates

    Highly motivated employees not only work better, they also are likely to provide management with workable ideas regarding more efficient operation. Everyone knows that replacing employees is a costly activity, but the inconsistency it creates in organizational learning can serve to inhibit the organization’s progress in employee motivation and customer retention.

    Customer Retention


     All marketers are well aware that it is more costly to locate and secure a new customer than to retain an established one. Certainly, the organization needs to develop new customers on a continuing basis, but customer retention also needs to be a point of ongoing performance management. Maximizing both customer acquisition and customer retention leads to greater performance.

    How about you all? How does your company measure it’s performance? Do you think too much or not enough emphasis is placed on financial measures?


    Share your experiences by commenting below!

    Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

    • Overall, I think this post gives a well rounded view of the various considerations to keep in mind when evaluating how a/your company is doing. 
    • I believe it is well stated above that while profit, ROE, etc are very important, they are not the only thing to keep in mind when seeing how a company is doing. This could be particularly important when trying to value the company and assess whether or not to invest in it. 
    • For my blogging endeavors, since it is run as a one-person sole proprietorship, the only real concrete financial performance measure I like to look at is monthly revenue, expenditures, and profit positions. 
      • The thing I want to keep an eye on is that I keep expenditures around 20% of gross revenue (as a general target.
      • Since the business I run mostly requires the investment of my time, I’ve found the 20% expenses/revenue ratio works well.
    • However, there are MANY non-financial performance measures, which, truthfully, are much more important to me than financial measures, since blogging is not my main career/job. You can view these performance measures in my blogging goals 2012 post from early in January. 
      • Some of these include number of guest posts I do for other sites, amount of comments, and site visitors/readership. 

    What Would Be The Best and Worst Jobs in the World?

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    Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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    This post was written by me and published originally 3 months ago at Family Money Values as part of the 12th “Yakezie blog swap” where members of the Yakezie Personal Finance Blogging Network pair up and exchange guest postings on a common topic. The topic of this blog swap was to discuss what each of us thinks would be the best AND worst jobs in the world.



    Hello everyone! It’s a pleasure to be the host for the 12th Yakezie blog swap event! One of the semi-selfish pleasures of hosting a Yakezie blog swap is that you get to choose a common posting topic that you’ve wanted to write about for quite some time or that you are excited about. Indeed, the topic of sharing my opinions on what would be the best and worst jobs in the world is something I’ve wanted to do on my own blog for about 3 months now. 

    What Would be the Best, Most Awesome Job in the Planet?

    Since I consider myself somewhat of an optimistic person, let’s first start with discussing my pick as to what would be the most awesome job in the world. 

    In my opinion, the most “awesome/coolest” job in the world would be to work as a travel writer for Lonely Planet (or any of the other major travel guide companies such as Frommers, Eye Witness, Fodors, etc for that matter).

    What does this job entail exactly?

    Well, these guidebook writers (or authors as they term them on the Lonely Planet job description website) are the ones that review, describe, rate, and recommend/not recommend all of the travel, lodging, restaurant, and entertainment venues in each and every city listed in the guidebooks we all depend greatly upon when traveling abroad. I remember that when I was studying abroad in Spain in 2008, I had my travel guidebook within arm’s reach at all times, almost like it was my security blanket!

    What makes this job sound so awesome to me?

    For most of my life, I’ve had a strong desire and affinity for traveling to new places and seeing how different cultures live. Indeed, this job would offer the chance to be paid for doing something I love – traveling and seeing new places. Also, since you’re representing a review agency and/or guidebook that could offer huge publicity for any business included in your final write-up, I’d imagine that the majority of the places you go would pay for you to experience the best of which they have to offer, be it food, hotel accommodations, or drinks. While you’d have to remember to remain objective during this, it’d be an added perk nonetheless!

    So, as you can imagine, there’d be some very attractive attributes appealing to me in this job. However, there are also some precautions that need to be taken for anyone thinking of going in to this profession.

    • First, because of the “allure” of being a travel guidebook writer, there is a great deal of competition. In the last round of writer selection with Lonely Planet, only 8 applicants were selected out of 500 total. And, from what I’ve seen, the writers selected have to be VERY qualified both with previous professional writing experience as well as knowledge of a specific area of the world where they would review. 
      • I just read the author biographies of a Lonely Planet Southwest USA guidebook, and all of the writers had authored over 30 books previously. Wow! Looks like there’s a high barrier to entry! 
    • Second, in reading several interviews of past and present Lonely Planet travel writers, Simon Sellars and David Else, the job, while probably very interesting, is VERY busy and exhausting. In these interviews, it is mentioned that guidebook writers typically burnout within 5 years or less from working 16 hour days with very little rest while “on the road.” They are also away from their family for a majority of the time as well. 
      • It makes absolute sense why this burnout happens though, right? Just think about it. For example, a travel writer in Mexico City is on the road (probably alone) and is responsible for every detail in the guidebook of a city with what, 25 million people! Talk about a daunting task! They even have to make sure that the distances from the street intersections to the restaurants on the maps are correct. 

    So, the bottom line is that I truly do think this would be the most awesome job in the world. However, would it be the most plush, cushy, sustainable, and long term job in the world? Absolutely not. It’s a very tough and intense job with probably very little pay for how many hours you have to work. However, for someone who likes to travel (like me), I’m sure it would be a rewarding experience. 
    As such, I’m fine with my current career goals to work in the pharmaceutical development space. But, being a travel guidebook writer sure would be an adventure to have done once in my life! Therefore, it gets my vote for being the most awesome job in the world, despite its drawbacks.

    What Would be the Worst Job in the Planet?

    Before beginning my explanation of my pick for the worst job in the world, I just want to make it clear that I’m in no way demeaning or belittling people that work in this type of job. Quite the contrary actually, as I have much respect for you doing what you do. The point of this writing is just to explain why I personally wouldn’t want to do the job. With that out of the way, let’s proceed…


    For me, the worst job in the world would be to work as a ticket agent at a major airline in the United States. And, since I often travel through Charlotte, North Carolina on US Airways, and that airport has had extremely terrible delays in the past 2 years or so, I’ll go out on a limb and say that being a ticketing agent for US Airways would be the worst job in the world for me. 


    When thinking about my choice for worst job, I almost choose being a TSA Security Agent at a major US airport. You know the sort – these are the airports with the 45 minute security lines where you are being yelled at the entire time by the TSA agents to take off your belt, shoes, laptop, liquids, etc, and then you get to the security scanner to find that people didn’t listen to the agent, which further upsets the agent. However, I ultimately decided to forgo the TSA agent choice because the passengers are not actually upset at the agents (relatively) when they go through security. The honor of having to deal with truly ticked off passengers falls upon the ticketing agents. Bless their hearts. Read below to find out more!

    What does this job involve? 

    Well, I think we all probably have some sort of experience in airports and are familiar with ticketing agents helping to check passengers in at the gate and main terminal ticketing counter, handle baggage, load passengers for take-off, and help passengers change their flight plans when plane cancellations or delays occur.   

    Why This Job Would Be Detrimental to My Health (Both Physical and Mental)?

    If we lived in a perfect world where everyone’s flights were on time and each and every passenger floated through the airport in a state of happiness, I think that being an airline ticketing agent wouldn’t be all that bad. After all, you’d get to interact with a lot of different (potentially interesting) people and contribute to the business and vacations trips that make the world work. 


    However, as we all know, the world is not quite perfect, and significant flight delays or cancellations are commonplace, especially after the airline cutbacks since 2001. The result? Many VERY UPSET passengers! For example, as a ticketing agent, you have to be the one to tell a 45 year old dad trying to get home from a business trip to Detroit that he’ll have to miss his son’s baseball game because there are no flights leaving Charlotte to go to his destination until tomorrow night. 


    Again, doing this type of job wouldn’t be so bad if people were able to understand the situation and not lash out at you almost as if you were personally responsible for the delay. However, my experiences have shown that since angry passengers cannot take out their frustration on the airline itself, they often turn to the nearest ticketing agent! 


    Since I am, by nature, not very good at confrontations such as these, being a ticketing agent would be very hard for me. When I am faced with interpersonal confrontations, I typically don’t have a problem dealing with them in the moment that they happen, but I’m unable to simply let it “bounce off me” after it occurs. Often times, I’ll think about it in some form for several days afterwards. Dealing with confrontations gets me much more physically tired at the end of the day as well. 


    In performing a brief Internet search for interviews and experiences of airline ticketing agents, I was somewhat surprised to find out that there were not that many negative remarks mentioned about the job by the people that actually do them (far less negative remarks than by the travel guidebook writers interviewed above! haha). Most of them simply acknowledge that yes, the job has it’s downfalls in dealing with unhappy customers, but the travel, health, and retirement benefits and other responsibilities of the job outweigh the negatives. Knowing this makes me feel better about the people that do this type of job. However, I still think that this role would be one job that I would simply not fit well in. 


    How about you all? In your opinion, what would be the best and worst job in the world and why? 


    Share your experiences by commenting below!

      ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellenm1/3541851180/sizes/l/in/photostream/

      Cavalcade of Risk # 147 – Riskiest Start-up Businesses Edition – December 28th, 2011

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      Click here to enter my free $74.52 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is December 31st, 2011, just a few days from now!


      Welcome everyone to the December 28th, 2011 edition of the Cavalcade of Risk. The Cavalcade of Risk (or Cav of Risk for short), as is implicated by the name, is a bi-weekly blog carnival that features the top articles regarding risk management. Several of the realms of risk management covered relate to finances, insurance, and health.

      My Personal Finance Journey is honored to be hosting the last Cav of 2011 this week. We’ve hosted the Cav two times thus far in 2011. On March 23rd of this year, we featured a bunch of very interesting articles and centered the Carnival around the theme of the riskiest jobs in the United States. What we saw was that fishing and logging-related jobs weighed in as the riskiest occupations, with MANY more deaths per 100,000 workers than the other top-ranking riskiest jobs. Next, on July 27th, we centered the theme of the carnival around the riskiest sports in the world. From this, we discovered that cave-diving, cheer leading, and horeracing all have inherent risks involved with taking on the hobby.

      Continuing on with this theme of exploring high risk activities/jobs, the theme of this week’s carnival is the top 3 riskiest business start-up ideas in the market today. But, without further ado, let’s get on with the Carnival.

      Listed below are this week’s Top 3 Editor’s Picks! Enjoy!

      1. Nelson presents Not Everyone Needs Life Insurance posted at Canadian Finance Blog. Not everyone needs life insurance. This includes single people with no dependents to provide for and underage children not yet earning a meaningful income.


      2. Emily Holbrook presents Extreme Risks of Reality TV Shows — Are They Insurable? posted at Risk Management Monitor. Fear Factor, Wipe Out, Survivor and even The Biggest Loser are all shows that put contestants at risk. And, in order to gain viewers’ attention (and ratings to keep advertisers happy), reality shows are constantly trying to one-up each other while in turn increasing their risk. So, how do these shows get away with it? Who would insure such insane acts? How do producers make sure they’re covered in case of an injury or death?


      3. Ken Faulkenberry presents The Art of Position Sizing to Manage Money and Risk posted at AAAMP Blog. Learn how to use position size, scaling in, and scaling out to manage risk within your asset allocation.

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      Risky Business Start-up Idea # 1 – Carpentry Contracting
      This business idea made it on the risky business idea list because it is tied to the success/health of the housing industry. And, since that hasn’t been doing well the past 3 years or so, carpentry contracting has been in a permanent decline. 


      In my personal opinion, I think that carpentry contracting isn’t as risky of a business idea as some of the others on the list. Sure, if the housing market continues as it has been since 2008, carpentry might be in trouble. However, I believe that eventually, the housing market will rebound, and this will fall off of the list.
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      And, listed below are the best of the rest!

      Louise from the Colorado Health Insider posted about Colorado HealthInsurance Website Receives Praise From HHS, saying, “Between the national recognition garnered by Rocky Mountain Health Plans 30-year partnership with Grand Junction physicians, the fact that Colorado has been so proactive already in terms of establishing the framework for a health benefits exchange, and the praise from HHS for the new health insurance transparency website, it would appear that Colorado stands out as a leader in health care reform..”


      Jaan Sidorov MD presents HHS Blinks On The Affordable Care Act’s Essential Health Benefit posted at The Disease Management Care Blog. In this post, Dr. Sidorov looks at how Washington proposes to settle the controversy over the Affordable Care Act’s ‘essential health benefit.’ While the threat was that HHS would require an out sized benefit package, Dr. Sidorov says common sense prevailed.

      Phil presents Backing Up Civilization posted at Transparency Revolution and discusses risk mitigation.

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      Risky Business Startup Idea # 2 – DVD, Video, and Game Rental Stores
      This business idea, in my opinion, is not only a risky business, but it is one that simply should be avoided. Period. Netflix and Blockbuster online/mail order rental services have completely taken over this market. 


      Take a second and ask yourself one question – “how long has it been since you set foot in a physical video rental store?” For me, it has probably been about 4 years now. This business start-up idea is simply one that should be avoided. 
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      Paul Vachon presents How to Save Money on Home Insurance posted at The Frugal Toad. Home insurance is one of the most important forms of insurance you can purchase and in most cases, is required by your lender. Not all homeowners insurance policies offer the same coverage so it is important to shop for a home insurance quote.

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      Risky Business Start-up Idea # 3 – Coin Laundry and Dry Cleaning Businesses
      In the source article listing these business ideas (see link below), it mentions that coin laundry businesses are risky because there are 1) many established players in the market already and 2) very high capital start up costs (just think about buying 30 washers! haha). In addition, there are low profit margins, and the franchise fees are very high. All of these factors make for a risky venture. 


      However, setting the risk factor aside, I do believe that there will continue to be a market for these services/locations. People will always need to wash/dry their clothes, and especially in tough economic times, it’s unrealistic to think that EVERYONE will be able to afford a washer and dryer in their own home. So, all in all, I think that this business has risk, but since there is a demand, the risk can be managed. 
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      FMF presents Ten Insurance Policies You Need To Own posted at Free Money Finance. There are an incredible number and array of different types of insurance policies that you can purchase and quite a few that you should own. You may look at the number ten and think that is just way too many, but when you get right down to it, they might be just right to keep you and your family protected.

      Philip Taylor presents Fix Your Finances and Quit Your Day Job posted at PT Money Personal Finance. Discusses the risks involved in quitting your day job and how to get your finances in order if you are looking to quit.


      Well – that concludes this edition. Thanks for tuning in!

      You can submit your blog article to the next edition of Cavalcade of Risk (scheduled for the middle of January and hosted by Political Calculations) using the handy carnival submission form.

      Also, if you are interested in hosting the Cavalcade of Risk in the future, just send Henry (the organizer) an email by clicking here.

        ***Photo courtesy of http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/01/53/75/1537512_ff3abfea.jpg
        ***Riskiest and safest business startup ideas ranking source – http://www.allbusiness.com/startups-risky-business-ideas/15561619-11.html

        Yakezie Blog Swap # 12 – Best and Worst Jobs in the World Edition Roundup and My Favorite Pick

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        Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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        Click here to enter my free $205 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is October 31st, 2011.

        Happy Saturday morning everyone!

        Yesterday, I had the privilege of being the host/organizer of the 12th official Yakezie Blog Swap. 


        “What’s this strange sounding event?” you may be asking. Well, what transpires is that different members and challengers of the Yakezie Blog Network pair up and exchange posts on a common topic about once a month. And, we call it a blog swap! Sounds simple enough, right?!

        As the host, I chose our topic/question to answer this month as: “What would be the best and worst jobs in the world and why?” Listed below is a compilation of the various posts that were part of the swap along with my favorite article that was written. Enjoy and thanks to everyone for participating and getting their posts live on time!

        My Favorite Post


        The College Investor posted about the worst job in the world being a slippery salesperson selling financial products with only the highest commissions stockbroker and the best job in the world being a fee-based financial planner at Money for College Project.


        Being a passive investor and someone that is not a big fan of stockbrokers, The College Investor’s post got my attention and vote for favorite of this blog swap!


        My Swap


        I posted about my pick for the best job in the world being a travel guidebook writer and the worst job in the world being a US Airways ticketing agent at Family Money Values.

        Briana from 20 and Engaged posted on this site about the various characteristics she looks for in the best and worst jobs in the world.


        The Best of the Rest


        Bucksome Boomer posted about the traits she looks for in the best and worst jobs in the world at Pinch That Penny.

        Pinch that Penny posted about his picks for the best and worst jobs in the world in 1) an insightful way, 2) a sarcastic way, and 3) a day-dreamy way at Bucksome Boomer.

        Money for College Project posted about the worst job in the world being a shark safety suit tester at The College Investor.

        Family Money Values posted about the characteristics of good and bad jobs and relates this back to jobs she’s experienced in her lifetime at 20 and Engaged.

        You Have More Than You Think posted about the President of the USA being the worst job in the world because of limited power and HUGE responsibility at Smart Family Finance.

        Smart Family Finance posted about his choice for the best job in the world being a flexible job where he can make people happy and have a chance to excel at You Have More Than You Think.

        How about you all? Which post of the ones listed was your favorite? Share your opinion by commenting below!

          ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/speakerpelosi/3333412448/sizes/o/in/photostream/

          Professional Liability Insurance – Is it Something You Really Need?

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          Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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          The following is a guest post. Enjoy! 

          Professional Liability Insurance – Is it Something You Really Need?
          For many tradesmen and small business owners, liability insurance used to be what other people (anyone but them) needed. After all, they’d done an apprenticeship and had been properly trained – what could possibly go wrong?

          The “Sue-Happy” Attitude in Today’s Society

          What did go wrong was that the tradesmen and small business owners found themselves operating in an increasingly litigious world. This was a world where there didn’t seem to be ‘accidents’ any more; where customers knew their rights – and where they weren’t slow to claim/sue if they thought they were entitled to compensation.

          An Example…

          Imagine for a minute that you’re a carpet fitter. You arrive at someone’s house with a new carpet to install. As you’re carrying it in you knock a vase off the hall table. Is it ‘just one of those things?’ An unfortunate accident? Or, are you liable for the damage? You’ll have guessed that it’s the last one.
          All tradesmen have the potential for ‘accidents’ like these. But, the possible liabilities don’t stop there. More and more, new businesses are being created in the service sector, and they will also find that they need liability cover. A mistake made online can be just as costly as causing physical damage to someone’s home or property.

          Know Your Risks

          Unfortunately, if you’re in business these days, it’s not enough to worry about people taking forever to pay you; about the possibility of a ‘double dip recession,’ or the latest tax the Government has planned. Now, there’s the ever-present threat of having to pay compensation hanging over you.
          So it’s no wonder that many tradesmen and small business owners are now paying particular attention to contractors to arrange it for them. When even a relatively small claim has the potential to seriously damage your business, it makes sense to deal with professional liability insurance company who has years of experience and a dedicated team specializing in liability insurance.
          But for now, let’s get back to your hypothetical career discussed above as a carpet fitter. Sooner or later, you’re going to send that vase flying. But when you do, rest assured that liability insurance will be there to pick up the pieces.

          How about you all? Do you think that liability insurance is needed for businesses these days? If you own a business, do you carry a liability insurance policy? 


          Share your experiences by commenting below!

          Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

          • So let’s see – do I feel that business owners need liability insurance? 
            • Yes, indeed I do. 
            • Typically, the purpose of insurance is to protect you from financial disasters and protect your earnings ability. 
            • So, if you own a small business and it is your sole source of income, I believe it does make sense to have business insurance (which usually includes a liability coverage portion). 
          • One question that I did have in particular was to any of the full time bloggers out there….Do you all have business insurance for if someone sued you for copyright infringement, etc? I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on this and whether or not you think it is needed…
          • As I was reading through the post above, it really reminded me of all of the precautions that the moving company had to take in packing up and transporting my belongings during my two moves to Virginia and Philadelphia over the past few years. 
            • In these moves, every component I owned was wrapped so carefully, that it made me cringe to think of the shear number of lawsuits the company has no doubt faced over the years that’s forced them to start being some strict about their packing. Truly amazing! 

            ***Photo courtesy of http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2795/4122171512_3f4dc612d0.jpg

            More Money and a Raise, Please!

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            The following is a guest post from Michael German. Enjoy!

            More Money and a Raise, Please!

            The old adage that nothing is for certain except uncertainty resounds nowhere stronger than in today’s erratic job market. The figures are frightening; even when they jump slightly, most Americans today realize that the jump has more to do with people’s unemployment benefits expiring than it has with any real upturn in the employment picture.

            We are told to be grateful that we have a job; that we should praise the heavens for the opportunity to stay chained to a desk for ten hours a day and jump at the whims of our over-educated yet highly under-qualified boss. And now you want a raise?

            The Prospect of Getting a Raise

            Having the audacity to ask for a raise is virtually career suicide these days, no matter how much you may truly deserve one. At best, your request will be greeted with mutters about the economy, at worst you will be laughed out of the office. Even companies not necessarily depressed by the economy have found that using the dreadful economy as a way to stave off raises and reduce the workforce is a Godsend. Imagine, being able to freeze salaries, lay off a nice proportion of your workforce, and at the same time have your remaining employees ever thankful to take on more work for the same pay, and all you have to do is say one word: economy. Lucky for them, but you still need to earn more money.

            How to Negotiate a Raise

            The best way to increase your job’s value is to increase your worth to the company for which you work. Guaranteed yearly raises are becoming a thing of the past. Most organizations these days offer instead, merit increases, meaning that your salary will be raised only if your performance has been raised from last year. The bar is raised every year, so you must strive to be not only the best you can be, but better than you were last year. While no one likes to admit it, but there are many who simply work by habit, bringing nothing new to their game year in and year out. These non-inspired employees fared as well as anyone under the old yearly raise system, but are sure to be left behind under the merit system.

            Try to be the best at what you do. While not everyone can be the best at what they do, don’t worry, because most people are not even trying to be the best, and there are always situations where some coworker just has the knack, a gift that makes doing their job seem effortless for them. Instead of resenting those who can bang out work in an instant, try to learn from them, often they simply know a few shortcuts of which you weren’t aware. Also, even within the job description that you may share with fellow employees, there may be a single aspect that you can master better than anyone else, get a reputation as the best at something in the process. This will provide you will leverage when asking for an increase.

            When It’s Time to Move On…

            If there is just no way your company is willing to offer you some increase for all your hard work and perseverance, you may want to consider moving on. Some companies just refuse to raise a salary no matter how you profit the company, and some jobs simply aren’t very well-valued – but they may be somewhere else. If you‘ve made it a habit to network with those in your field maybe it’s time to utilize those connections. If you haven’t, start now. This also holds true for those considering striking out on their own.

            Starting Your Own Business

            Sometimes starting your own business seems the best answer. Now is the time all that networking can really pay off, as many companies under strict budgets which do not allow for hiring additional employees often outsource work to freelancers. This can be a great source of income until you have your own business up and running. Do be careful though, being your own boss is often a much more appealing in theory than in practice; anyone who has been there will tell you it is a twenty-four hour job. You will be sweating every dollar, as opposed to sitting and collecting that guaranteed weekly paycheck. Needless to say, start planning early, put some money on the side, and to keep finances straight, apply for a business credit card.

            With any luck, your business will grow, and perhaps soon, you will be the one making the decision on who does and doesn’t get a raise. It may not be the circle of life, but it is at least the circle of business.

            How about you all? Have you ever negotiated a raise with your boss or bosses? How did it go? What approach did you take? Do you feel that companies are using the bad economy as an excuse for not being as good to their employees? 


            Share your experiences by commenting below!

            Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

            • @ The flaws and inaccuracies in today’s unemployment figures/calculations –
              • First off, I just want to say that this post brings up a lot of good points for us as working employees to keep in mind. It’s all too easy to get caught up in our job and forget to sort of “take care of our own interests.” 
              • Next, I’ll definitely agree that the unemployment facts (and the formulas that generate them) are far from perfect, as the stats ONLY include people that are ACTIVELY looking for jobs (not the ones that have given up after trying for X number of years).
            • @ Asking for a raise being looked on as career suicide and the grim outlook on today’s job market –
              • I am not in total agreement with the sort of grim outlook on employee/employer relationships expressed above. 
              • In my opinion, companies truly are hurting, and simply do not have the money to give raises that they may have used to possess. 
              • Also, I would not consider asking for a raise to be career suicide. If you can legitimately display that you benefit the company enough and subsequently ask for a raise in a very professional and courteous way, I think that at worst, the only thing your boss will do is say “no.” 
            • @ Yearly raises and bonuses shrinking in recent years – 
              • I am in agreement with the idea expressed in this post about yearly bonuses and raises being decreased in recent years. 
              • When I worked for a few years out of undergraduate studies for a Fortune 500 company, I was somewhat surprised with how hard it was to be recognized and compensated for hard/good work. It seemed to me that raises and promotions were more based on 1) time at the company and 2) how many times you moved around to different jobs. Don’t get me wrong, I was really happy at the company and enjoyed my time there, but I just was a little surprised with how hard it was to get noticed for good work.
            • @ The best and easiest way to get a raise and promotion –
              • As mentioned in the previous point, in my opinion, the best and quickest way to rise through the ranks in today’s job market is simple – move around to different jobs in different geographic locations in different companies as MUCH as possible. 
            • @ Whether it’s more profitable to be your own boss or work for a company – 
              • The distinction and differences between how much money you can make by being an employee versus starting your own company are quite interesting.
              • In my opinion, if you want to make the most money possible over a short period of time, the best way to do this stay as an employee at a company. 
              • Starting your own business can be a good, interesting alternative and can also present promising prospects for long term profits. However, starting your own business is much more risky, is not for everyone, and is not a “get rich quick” method.

            ***Photo courtesy of http://farm1.static.flickr.com/26/61056391_31343afdc6.jpg

            To Donate or Not to Donate? Financial, Ethical, and Physical Concerns of Egg Donations

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            Click here to enter my free giveaway for 2 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition

            This post was selected as the No. 7 top article of the week in the June 20th Edition of the Best of Money Carnival at MoneyCrashers. Quite an honor!

            The following is a guest post by Becca with The Academic Wino, a blog dedicated to examining current research related to wine with a little fun thrown in to the mix. Be sure to stop by her site and say “hi”!

            “Egg Donors Needed! Compensation Provided! Earn ~$5000!”
            More and more, these types of advertisements for egg donors have been spotted on Craigslist, magazines, throughout college campuses, etc.  In times of financial stress and particularly in a poor economy, egg donation becomes more desirable for women, and donor applications are on the rise.  According to the Center for Disease Control, in 1996, women in federally monitored programs donated around 3,800 times.  In 2004, that number had risen to more than 10,000.

            What Motivates Women to Donate Their Eggs?

            What makes someone consider donating eggs in the first place?  Speaking from experience, the financial rewards are a high motivator for donating eggs.  However, due to the physical and psychological stress donating eggs can cause, financial compensation shouldn’t be the one and only reason for donating eggs.  The altruistic act of donating ones eggs to a couple who would have otherwise never been able to bear children is an equally important factor for most women who end up donating.
            Most women looking to donate their eggs are unqualified and will not be selected.  Most programs describe the ideal candidate as being within the ages of 21-29, non-smoker, in good general health, of average height and weight, and with no family history of disease.  Potential donors must answer pages upon pages of questions regarding personal and family medical history, as well as undergo a battery of physical and psychological evaluations prior to being approved for donation.  According to a CNN Health article written in 2008, this automatically results in about 90% of candidates being rejected from any egg donation program.  

            Ethical Concerns and Criticisms of Egg Donation

            Some people are against paying financial compensation to egg donors, arguing that it is unethical.  One criticism is that if a woman is in extreme need of the large amount of cash offered for egg donation, she could lie about her medical history, and withhold information about her health that would otherwise cause her to be rejected from the program.  Another criticism is that the potential donor would disregard possible health risks to herself in order to receive the large sum of money at the end of the donation process.
            Another criticism that has been made against financially compensating egg donors is that paying them implies that their eggs are property or commodities, thus devaluing human life.  According to an article by The Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ECASRM) in the journal Fertility and Sterility written in 2007, compensation should be based on the amount of time, inconvenience, and discomfort associated with egg retrieval, rather than for the actual eggs themselves.  The committee also suggests capping the compensation level at a point where women are fairly compensated for their time and discomfort, but not so high as to allow discounting of possible physical risks by the potential donor.
            A study performed in 1993 in the New England Journal of Medicine estimated the total number of hours spent by an egg donor in the medical setting was approximately 56.  This study argued that if men received $25 for sperm donation which takes approximately one hour of time, then that would result in a female egg donation-equivalent of $1,400.  In 2000, a sperm donation payment was $60-$75, which would mean the equivalent of $3,360-$4,200 for egg donation compensation.  ECASRM argued that this does not take into consideration of the fact that egg donation entails significantly more discomfort, risk, and physical intrusion than sperm donation, thus financial compensation should be even higher.  The committee ultimately recommends financial compensation no greater than $5,000, with special justification for anything between $5,000-$10,000.

            Physical Risks

            Ethical issues with financial compensation for egg donation aside, there are physical risks involved with egg donation that cannot be ignored.  Once approved, egg donors go through 7-14 days of daily hormone injections, in addition to daily blood work and invasive ultrasounds, and finally an anesthetic-requiring surgical procedure for retrieval of the eggs.

            A gonadotropin-releasing hormone is injected in order to halt ovulation.  Follicle-stimulating hormones are simultaneously injected in order to grow and mature several egg follicles at once, instead of the usual one per month.  After 7-14 days of these injections, a “trigger shot” containing human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG, triggers the release of the mature follicles and they are retrieved during an invasive surgical procedure.

            Possible risks of egg donation include experiencing PMS-like symptoms, dehydration, pain at the injection site, increase risk of multiple-birth pregnancy, ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome, and all the other risks involved in routine anesthetic-requiring surgical procedures.  It is not clear what the long term risks are for egg donors, so most egg donation programs limit the number of times a woman may donate to 5-6 times.

            To Donate or Not To Donate?

            Egg donation not only harbors physical risks, but also disrupts the life of the donor for at least one months’ time.  If they are approved, they must stop taking any and all medications, refrain from hazardous activities such as drinking excessive alcohol, and refrain from engaging in sexual activities that could result in unintentional pregnancies with multiple embryos.

            Egg donation also harbors psychological risks, as the donor must accept the idea that they are helping to create a human being that they will likely never be allowed to know or interact with.  Egg donation isn’t for everyone, and even financial compensation can’t completely cover up the risks involved.

            Why I Donate

            Knowing that I would be receiving a large sum of money was extremely helpful in deciding whether or not to donate for the first time.  I also thought about the risks (both physical and psychological/emotional) and decided whether or not it was worth it to me.  With support from both friends and family, which are critical in a decision such as this, I decided to donate and was ultimately approved by the organization I chose to work with.

            Over time, I’ve received anonymous ‘Thank You’ cards from two of my recipient parents, which helped in my decision to donate multiple times.  “We write to let you know that you have helped us to realize a singular dream that we started to pursue over nine years ago.  While we don’t yet know that we’ll be successful, your commitment to us, two people whom you’ve never met, nor will ever meet, is so greatly appreciated.”

            To date, my financial compensation has gone toward many things including starting a Roth IRA and paying down credit card debt.  I encourage anyone who is interested in egg donation to be certain their motivations are more than strictly financial and that they fully understand and accept the risks are involved.

            How about you all? Have you ever donated eggs or known anyone that donates eggs? What are your financial thoughts on the subject? Is $5000 too little, too much, or just the right amount of compensation for going through this process? 


            Share your experiences by commenting below!

            Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

            • It’s truly amazing to me how much more effort it takes for women to donate their eggs than it takes for men to donate their sexual cells. Weird right?!
            • I really admire women who donate their eggs, as I’ve learned in the past few months that couples that are unable to have a child on their own are REALLY grateful for the help from the donors. However, I don’t think I would personally ever donate my sperm/egg cells unless I had to.
            • If you’ve stopped by my site before, you know that I am a big fan (or maybe sucker would be a better word) for Time Value of Money analyses.
              • As such, an interesting thought exercise is this scenario – a 21 year old girl decides to donate eggs once per year for five years until she is 25 years old.
              • Each time she donates, she receives $5000.
              • If we assume that she places this money in a Roth IRA invested in index mutual funds earning 10% per year, the magic of compound interest will present her with the sum of $2,022,744 by the time she retires at age 70. Quite amazing uh?!
              • You can view the gory details of this calculation at the shared Google Spreadsheet I created at the following link – Egg Donation Time Value of Money Calculator.
              • As you can see from this analysis, the monetary compensation provided by donating your eggs is quite enticing. However, Becca makes a very important point that you should have a reason aside from the money (at the end of the day) for why you want to donate eggs. Thanks for reading!

            ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/biologyflashcards/3438788255/sizes/m/in/photostream/

            Personality Test Results

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            On April 7th, JT McGee from Money Mamba came up with the idea for a Yakezie Personality Type Blog Carnival.

            The goals of this carnival were as follows: 1) connect Yakezie Personal Finance Blog Network members to one another, and 2) learn about how you operate from the inside out and share with your readers so that they can learn about you as well.

            To participate in the Carnival, we were instructed to take the Jung Personality Type test (at the following link – HumanMetrics – Jung Personality Test), answer the 72 questions that it presents, and then research the meaning of the personality type code our answers generate on Google or another resource.
            The 72 questions that the test asks do not actually take that long to answer, as they are all require “yes” or “no” responses. The subject matter of the questions involve different topics, ranging from how we feel in crowds to the basic way that we accomplish life’s tasks.
            My Result


            The personality code that my answers generated was ENFJ – Extraverted Intuitive Feeling Judging.


            Found in only 5% of the population, Typelogic.com describes ENFJ’s as “the benevolent pedagogues of humanity.” The primary mode of living for ENFJ’s is focused externally, where issues are handled according how you feels about them, or how they relate to your personal value system.
            For ENFJ’s, the deepest level of personal satisfaction comes from making things happen for other people. Typically, they do this through understanding, supporting, and encouraging others. They are often more reserved about exposing their beliefs than other extroverted people, because expressing them might interfere in bringing out the best in others. In this way, they are often good mentors and teachers.
            ENFJ’s have an good ability to take interest in people, identify their strengths, and draw that strength out of a sometimes reserved interior. ENFJ’s, or teachers as they are sometimes called, identify easily with others, and often find themselves mimicking the characteristics of those around them.
            Another somewhat interesting characteristic of this personality type is what was called the “first-shall-be-last open door policy.” What this means is that often times, an ENFJ will be helping one person, and half-way through the conversation, the phone rings, and someone else is requesting help from the ENFJ. The ENFJ will then deal with the 2nd person first until their need is stabilized before returning to assist the 1st person that came asking for help.
            My Analysis of the Result


            In my opinion, this personality type describes me with shockingly scary accuracy (at least in my opinion). Who knew this test could predict so well by asking such vague “yes” or “no” questions?!

            First, I do rely heavily on my feelings in getting things done. This is one of the reasons that I have chosen a career in the health field because it is important to me to feel I am making a difference in something. For me, it is of the upmost importance to have my heart in what I do. If this is not the case, I most likely will not be able to do it successfully.
            I also agree with this result because perhaps the time when I feel most “fulfilled” in life is when I have either 1) brought out a hidden talent in someone, 2) been able to reach someone on a personal level that is not receptive to personal interactions anyway, and 3) when I have helped someone accomplish a task or learn something new. Even though I do enjoy helping others learn, I definitely would not be teacher material, at least for the time being (in the sense of a 1st grade teacher, etc). 
            One of my previous jobs involved training process operators to run different cleaning and sterilization processes of the vaccine line I worked on. Even though this was not actually my main responsibility, I derived a lot of satisfaction from guiding the operators to learn something new. And, I spent many hours doing so. Sometimes, I would focus too much on training others and would get some “professional reminders” to remember to commit time to a more independent project that was supposed to be 30% of my job.
            How I Interpret This Result In The Context Of A Career


            In the context of career pursuits, I think that since ENFJ’s derive the most satisfaction from enabling others to perform at their best, it will be important for me to find a job where I can guide and mentor others. This wouldn’t even need to be in a boss-employee way, just as long as I was able to transfer my knowledge to others. I think this is more important to me than actually doing the work myself.
            Several Famous ENFJ’s


            And, last but not least, for your viewing pleasure, listed below are several famous ENFJ’s from the history books.

            Abraham Lincoln 
            Ronald Reagan 
            Barack Obama 
            Sean Connery 
            Francois Mitterand 
            Dick Van Dyke 
            Andy Griffith 
            William Aramony, former president of United Way 
            Gene Hackman (Superman, Antz) 
            Dennis Hopper (Speed) 
            Brenda Vaccaro 
            Craig T. Nelson (Coach) 
            Diane Sawyer (Good Morning America) 
            Randy Quaid (Bye Bye, Love; Independence Day) 
            Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive) 
            Michael Jordan, NBA basketball player 

            How about you all? Have you taken the Jung Typology Personality Test? What was your resulting type? Did you agree with the description? 


            Share your experiences by commenting below!

              ***Photo courtesy of http://www.hr-specialists.eu/assets/images/poze-site/entrepreneurial-personality-test.png

              MicroMaximus – Reward Checking Account Transaction Tool – Review

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              Click here to enter my free giveaway for 2 copies of H&R Block At Home Premium Edition

              Being the personal finance nerd I am, I am always on the look-out around the Internet for new tools to use to help me streamline my finances and take advantage of the many free money promos available.

              One of these tools that I’ve been exposed to recently is MicroMaximus.

              At a high level, MicroMaximus is a service that helps to reduce the headaches caused by the “nick-picky” monthly transaction requirements present in a number of the rewards checking accounts out there.

              Now that I’ve told you about MicroMaximus at a high level, let’s take a look at some of the finer details.

              Reward Checking Accounts and Bonus Offers

              To be perfectly honest, when I first landed on the MicroMaximus site, it was a little hard to tell what the site’s tools were for, as I initially thought it was a bill-payment tool. However, with a little understanding about the nature of some of the reward checking accounts out there, it becomes easy to see how the site can add value to one’s daily/monthly life!

              Reward checking accounts started as a way for smaller banks and credit unions to compete with larger national banks, and therefore, you won’t really find the best reward checking accounts at large national banks. Below are two resources where you can find reward checking accounts in your area:

              These rewards checking accounts offer super-favorable terms, such as low fees and HIGH interest rates. However, in order to receive these favorable results, you have to meet certain criteria. And, many times, one of these criteria is a minimum number of monthly debit transactions.

              An example of one of these rewards checking accounts for my state of Virginia can be found at the following link – 1st Commonwealth Bank of Virginia – Rewards Checking Account Details. In order to get their free Rewards Checking Account, which offers 4.01% APY, you have to meet the qualifications described below:

              • Use your Debit Card at least 12 times each month, 
              • And, complete at least one bill pay or create one direct deposit/ACH transaction and sign up for eStatements.

              What About National Banks?

              With the increased competition in today’s banking atmosphere, I am happy to report that I was not able to find any national banks that currently require a minimum number of monthly transactions for personal checking accounts (business accounts are a different story – see below). However, it is important to note that none of these are able to come close to matching the higher interest rates offered by the local banks. Even Bank of America, the bank with perhaps the least favorable terms of all, did not feature this requirement for personal accounts! Links to the banks I researched can be found below so that you can have a look for yourself:

              Bank of America Checking Accounts
              ING Direct Checking Account
              Ally Bank Checking Account
              Wachovia Checking Accounts
              US Bank Checking Accounts

              However, many of these same banks offer business checking accounts and free money bonus offers of anywhere from $25-$200 when you first sign up for their service AND meet several specific terms during the initial account-holding period. Some of the typical requirements for business checking accounts and getting this free money are shown below:

              • Spend $____ during the first three months of opening the account,
              • Set up a direct deposit to the checking account for your paycheck,
              • Maintain a certain average monthly minimum balance,
              • And often, make X number of transactions each month. 

              For me especially, since I have so many different checking, savings, and credit card accounts, the third requirement can be quite a pain! And, it is this third requirement (and the monthly transaction requirement for local bank Reward Checking Accounts) where MicroMaximus can come in handy and help you!

              How MicroMaximus Works

              MicroMaximus helps you achieve the third requirement above in the following way:
              • After you sign up for a new checking account, you request and subsequently receive a Visa, Mastercard, or Discover debit card.
              • You then enter the details of your debit card (name, billing address, credit card number, expiration date, and CVV number) in to the MicroMaximus system.
              • After clicking the “create account” button, you then can click on the “Transactions” tab.
              • From this screen, you then can schedule automatic $1 debit card transactions at the frequency you need as required by your rewards checking account.
              • The benefit of this is that you then don’t have to worry about whether or not you’re going to meet the minimum transaction requirement for your accounts since you’ve automated everything! Talk about a headache relief medicine!
              • The $1 transaction is paid directly to MicroMaximus. So, in effect, this $1 is the per transaction price/fee for the service.  
                • Note: I had thought that maybe MicroMaximus was some sort of bill-pay service. However, it is not. It is simply a way to schedule small $1 transactions (paid to MicroMaximus) to fulfill reward checking account requirements.

              Recommendations for How to Optimize Use of MicroMaximus


              Since times are tight with the economy nowadays, and there is the $1 per transaction fee involved with this service, there are several things to keep in mind in order to maximize the value achieved from this service. These are discussed below:

              • First, remember to exhaust all normal recurring bill-payment options.
                • What this recommendation means is that you should first set up automatic payments on your rewards checking account debit card to pay your normal monthly bills before tapping in to the power of MicroMaximus.
                • For example, let’s say that in order to get a $100 bonus for opening a checking account from Wachovia, you must make 10 debit transactions per month. I would first make sure that I link up my checking account debit card to pay 1) my Netflix monthly bill, 2) my electric bill, 3) my monthly donation to the Multiple Sclerosis Society, 4) my cell phone bill, and 5) my gas bill BEFORE using MicroMaximus to automatically schedule the remaining 5 transactions. 
                • In this way, you minimize the cost involved.
              • Second, make sure that the cost of using MicroMaximus is less than the bonus/rewards you receive from your checking account.
                • This may seem obvious, but I just wanted to emphasize it to be sure. You should make certain that the rewards you receive from your checking account are greater than your costs.
                • For example, let’s consider the hypothetical example of a checking account bonus of only $25 that requires 25 transactions per month. Naturally, if you have to use MicroMaximus to schedule 20 of those transactions, it will cost you $20, and most likely wouldn’t be worth it. However, if you are going to receive a $200 bonus by making 20 monthly transactions, MicroMaximus would be well worth your while! 
                • See what I’m getting at? Just use your common sense and you’ll be fine!

              I hope you’ve learned something about this new tool today, and definitely let me know if you have any questions.

              How about you all? Have you ever tried MicroMaximus? What other “cool” personal finance online tools do you use? 


              Share your experiences by commenting below!

                ***Photo courtesy of http://www.creditcarddeposit.com/guide/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/rewards.png

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