Update 7/18/24: Promotion now live. You get 200 points for registering and then 10,000 points for spending $7,000 by September 21, 2024.
The Offer
Direct link to offer
Marriott is teasing an exclusive offer for existing American Express & Chase cardholders. The deal will go live on July 18, 2024
Our Verdict
Cards need to have issued by April 1, 2024 for American Express cards and June 20, 2024 for Chase cards to be eligible for this offer. I don’t expect this to be very good as we saw a spend $7,000, get 10,000 points offer last year but maybe they will prove me wrong.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Flávia Furlan Nunes:How would each administration’s approach to the economy affect the mortgage industry?
Mark Calabria: You’re starting with the absolute most important aspect. While differences in housing mortgage policy are important, the overall driver will be the overall economy — predominantly the question of inflation and jobs. I recognize there are some out there who would argue that Trump will be more inflationary. He will be less, particularly given the experience we’ve had. That’s the benefit: We’ve had four years of Trump and almost four of Biden. There is actual history that compares.
Inflation will be more stable under Trump and you would see a decline in interest rates and mortgage rates more than you would under Biden. That said, of course, we’ve seen an overall decline in interest rates, even if they do remain somewhat high. It should be kept in mind that it doesn’t matter who the president is in 2025; we’re not going back to 3% mortgage rates. The difference between administrations, at most, would be a percentage point.
Nunes: What do you expect for the job market in a Biden or a Trump administration? Calabria: We are seeing a slowing in the job market, and in Biden 2.0, I would expect the slowing trend to continue. You would see a number of things done in the Trump administration that might put some additional steam back in the job market. But I recognize forecasting is tough here. That said, what you think will happen to inflation and jobs should be 80% of what you think will happen to the housing and mortgage market.
The traditional forecasting community consistently underestimated growth during the Trump years and consistently overestimated growth during the Biden years. I don’t want to get too much of a digression, but the typical macro models used in the forecast community are very much demand-driven. Things like regulation don’t enter their forecast. It’s not that they’re intentionally wrong; it’s just that they’re not capturing the whole picture.
Nunes: On the fiscal front, several provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 are scheduled to expire at the end of 2025, barring action from Congress.
Calabria: Obviously, the corporate fiscal incentives are quasi-permanent. It’s the individual things that come up. With a Trump administration, you’re largely seeing some tweaks and extensions of the 2017 changes, and they certainly are discussing: what can you do in terms of perhaps stimulating the housing market?
One of the things Republicans are looking at, on the tax side, is some indexing, perhaps temporarily, of the capital gains relief that you see in homeownership. It hasn’t changed since 1997. And of course, $500,000 for a couple in 1997 was a lot of money. It’s a lot less now. Both administrations will be looking at tax incentives to reduce lock-in effects in the existing-home sell side. You can debate if one is more effective than the other. The Biden side seems to be more tax-credit driven. My sense on the Republican side? It is probably more likely focused on capital gains.
Nunes:Regarding monetary policy, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s allies are “quietly” drafting proposals in an attempt to erode the Federal Reserve’s independence. What do you have to say about the independence of the Fed under a potential Trump administration?
Calabria: The Fed operates within the government. The Fed coordinates with administrations. The argument that Trump is somehow bringing a threat to the Fed’s independence is grossly exaggerated, if not completely false. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for that argument. My argument is not that there aren’t going to be some questions from the Trump administration about Fed behavior. My argument is, that’s how every administration behaves to some degree. They just do it differently.
Nunes: How do you see a Biden or a Trump administration addressing the affordability challenges?
Calabria: Housing has been subjected to inflationary pressures like the rest of the economy. There’s certainly a view on the Republican side that you could address inflationary pressures writ large. For instance, the same thing that has been driving up gas and grocery prices has impacted cement, lumber or labor prices. So, they’re all caught together to some extent. If you deal with the underlying inflationary issues, that will help with housing affordability. That’s one broader aspect.
When you drill down into what’s likely to happen, you haven’t seen specific proposals. Most of the Biden proposals, even though they’ll put up some pieces of paper that say “housing supply” at the top, 90% of it is housing demand. What is a $10,000 tax credit for down payments but increasing demand? That’s not going to make housing more affordable. It may make housing more affordable to the individual who gets it, but it makes overall housing less affordable.
Nunes: What else can be done to increase the housing supply?
Calabria: Certainly, on the lending side, the constraint is not you and I get a mortgage; the constraint is the builder getting construction finance. That results from 30% to 40% of community banks since Dodd-Frank having disappeared.
You’re going to see an approach under a Trump administration that’s much more looking at how we strengthen community banks. You need to be able to do that if you want to make construction financing readily available. It’s one of the reasons that you’ve seen consolidation among the builders. You have to deal with the construction lending side of it. And you would see that addressed better under a Trump administration than in the Biden administration.
Nunes: Construction finance is only one challenge. What about labor costs?
Calabria: There’s also a constraint on skilled labor. You have limitations on electricians and carpenters, some of this of course is when you increase spending in other parts of the economy — for example, the infrastructure bill. When you increase demand in the economy for construction labor, you’re increasing the cost of housing. You can argue that it’s worth it, and that’s fine — I’m an economist by training and I don’t think there are any free lunches.
You’ll see a different conversation at a national level in terms of where people should devote their careers. So much of the conversation of the Biden administration has been about student debt relief for doctors and lawyers. You’ll see a much bigger conversation in the Trump administration about how it’s a great thing to be a plumber, carpenter and electrician, and how we strengthen apprenticeship programs. It’s not to take away from doctors and lawyers, but it’s just an emphasis on you won’t get a lot of new housing built unless you can do something about the constraints in skilled labor.
Nunes: What is your opinion on the current administration’s initiatives in the mortgage space?
Calabria: There’s been a weakening of underwriting standards by this administration, not just at FHA, but also at Fannie and Freddie. If I can be slightly humorous, my description of the Biden administration’s housing policies is that they see two families competing aggressively over one house and they believe the solution is to add a third family. You’ve seen this massive expansion, high debt-to-income lending, that has been irresponsible and doesn’t do anything other than erode affordability. That has added to housing demand.
Keep in mind that you’re in an economy where you saw big increases in homeowners insurance. If you’re getting somebody into a loan with a 50 DTI, and then suddenly they’ve got an increase in their homeowners insurance, that’s not a sustainable world. There have been increases in allowable loan to value. Obviously, there’s been a lot of pressure to increase appraisals and weaken appraisal independence, which probably has inflated housing values as well.
They’ve done things that even don’t show up as directly. The CFPB has pushed for the elimination of medical debt and other things [from credit scores]. That may be the right policy, but it inflates FICO scores. If you’re not increasing the credit box to offset that, then you are knowingly decreasing the underwriting.
Nunes: Do you think that the federal government has limited means to influence housing supply, so wouldn’t it be expected to do more on the demand side?
Calabria: Washington doesn’t have a lot of levers in terms of housing supply. I understand if you feel you have to do something, most of your tools are demand-oriented. But that said, you have to recognize that increasing demand when supply is limited makes it worse, not better. There’s a lack of recognition of that.
There have been proposals on the Republican side to release some small amounts of federal land. There’s a process in Nevada, in Clark County around Las Vegas, where you can convert federal land to housing development. The proposal is to essentially allow it in other cities. The Joint Economic Committee made some estimates, and it could result in 3 million new units being built. The federal government does have land. Some of it is in urban areas, like Denver, that are facing affordability challenges but can be converted. Nobody’s talking about chopping down the redwoods or building housing in Death Valley. But it’s hard to see this administration ever thinking about federal lands to do anything other than be dirt.
Nunes:Among the steps taken by this administration, they reduced mortgage insurance premiums for FHA loans. How do you evaluate this decision?
Calabria: It only increases demand. There are things that the industry may like. Some of that is good for overall affordability. Some of it isn’t. Did housing prices go down after they did that? Did homeownership go up after that? No.
Obviously, the industry is under tremendous pressure, particularly on the nonbank side. Rather than trying to target things that look like they help the industry, if you target things to get the overall market going, that’s the better approach. For instance, on the tax side, if you allow some capital gains relief, many people with those 3% mortgages may be willing to sell their homes, which will increase the volume, increase existing-home sales and bring some of the volume back.
Nunes:What changes could we expect for the CFPB under a potential Trump administration?
Calabria: I don’t think the CFPB is going away — as much as that would be nice. But I do think you are going to see a difference in the stance, which will matter in the mortgage industry, in terms of enforcement and obligations. The Republicans’ approach to the CFPB is to say that there are wrongdoers; we will go after the bad guys. This administration says the same thing, and that’s where the overlap is. The difference is this administration also has the view that we’re going to use the CFPB to pick winners and losers to redistribute to our friends and engage in a lot of social engineering. And that’s a much different approach from just going after the bad guys.
Writ large on compliance and regulatory costs, Trump’s CFPB will be considerably lower. Post Dodd-Frank, one of the problems has been that it costs so much more to originate loans. A tremendous amount of that is because of regulatory costs. It’s not like the bad guys get to run wild; you’d still see enforcement.
Nunes: What’s the future of HUD, in your view?
Calabria: HUD is not going away. There may be some changes in some of those programs. And that’s fine, because much of what they’re doing today is just adding to demand without added supply. And of course, you’re not going to be able to deal with inflationary pressures unless you’re willing to make some changes to the budget. And if we’re going to make changes to the budget, anything, including HUD, should be on the table.
Nunes: Would a Trump administration’s goal be to resume some of its past projects, such as releasing Fannie and Freddie from conservatorship or implementing more caps on their purchases?
Calabria: There’s a much higher chance in a Trump administration of Fannie and Freddie coming out of conservatorship. You don’t need Congress to do it. Having been the guy who started it, I know a lot of work was done. There’s a road map; it’s all doable. It’s a benefit to the industry because you reduce the degree to which politics drives. You have to go back to letting Fannie and Freddie behave as businesses. It will bring a lot more certainty to the industry.
The restrictions put in place were always done to minimize disruptions to the primary purchase market. In 2020, when investment caps were put in place, everybody said the sky was falling. Did the sky fall? No. That business got picked up. It was done by other people. Trump is a developer. The guy spent his entire life in real estate. He tends to have people in the administration who understand how the housing and mortgage markets work.
Just like you saw in 2021, any constraints on Fannie and Freddie will be done to minimize disruption in the mortgage market. You can look at all these people who said in 2018 and 2019 that Calabria would kill the mortgage market. It didn’t happen. Nobody benefits from a strong Fannie and Freddie more than the mortgage industry.
Nunes: One initiative from Freddie Mac is a pilot program to purchase closed-end second mortgages. Do you support this idea?
Calabria: I would certainly expect that to get suspended. Should we be spending the portfolio on second mortgages instead of mortgages that are purchases? I recognize that the industry is hurting. Everybody wants to focus on things that bring the overall market back. But you can’t blow up Fannie and Freddie at the cost of it. That might feel good in the short run, but it’s not the right approach in the long run.
Nunes: A topic that’s been covered extensively at HousingWire is the National Association of Realtors’ settlement and changes to agent commission structures. What are your thoughts on that?
Calabria: If you remember, there was a 2020 settlement with NAR. That got thrown out the door. There’s a very high likelihood that it reverts back to the 2020 settlements. Again, that doesn’t stop some of the litigation out there. But you would see a very different stance toward the real estate industry and the kind of war on Realtors comes to an end.
Nunes: Who would you expect to lead federal housing agencies and companies under a potential second Trump term?
Calabria: It’s too early to say. But you’re likely to have people who are both experienced regulators and people with deep experience in the capital markets. You’ll have people who have experience with Trump’s style and understand how he governs. It’s less surprising, perhaps, this time around.
Nunes: Would you return to the government? If so, in what capacity?
Calabria: I believe in public service. If asked to serve in a capacity to make a difference, I would certainly be inclined to accept. But which capacity, that’s up to the president. You don’t get to choose it. My interest is broadly financial services.
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When do you typically think about Christmas shopping?
Around Thanksgiving? Year-around? Christmas Eve?
Regardless of when you plan to start your Christmas shopping, it is never too early to start creating your Christmas budget. Especially if you are Christmas shopping on a tight budget!
When are trying to figure out what should I buy for a Christmas gift on a budget? It can seem like you are putting together a jigsaw puzzle based on what you can afford.
Well, there is great news you will find out in this post! By starting a little early and planning you can guarantee Christmas shopping on a low budget will work for you! Then, you can keep on charging around with your personal money goals.
One of the best tips for Christmas shopping on a budget is to save money all year for the occasion.
That way you avoid the trap of not having money to spend and then resorting to charging your Christmas presents on a credit card. Just a warning… a small amount of debt can turn into a slippery slope and can snowball into much, much more!
Back in the day, many families received a bonus around the holidays. They would determine their Christmas budget on the amount of money they are awarded in this bonus for gifts. However, there is a downfall and risk to use this strategy because these bonuses aren’t guaranteed. Nowadays, very few companies actually give out Christmas bonuses.
So, take it upon yourself to save money on a consistent basis. This could be in the form of bank account or cash envelope. Either way, you can set aside a set dollar amount or a percentage of your income throughout the year for Christmas shopping.
If you are serious about learning how to Christmas shop on a budget, then it is crucial to start with a budget and share your plan for Christmas gifts without exceeding this pre-determined budget.
By spreading out the amount saved for Christmas shopping or actually buying gifts throughout the year, you can successfully keep your budget in control. More importantly, you can eliminate a great deal of stress, which often accompanies last-minute Christmas shopping.
This is exactly how do you make a Christmas special on a budget.
Simple Ideas on Budgeting for Christmas Shopping
One of the best budgeting for Christmas tips is to actually plan out your Christmas shopping. For some of us, who despise planning, you may loathe the idea.
However, in the end, it is one of the best money saving ideas to embrace for long term financial freedom.
If you are trying to figure out how can I do Christmas cheap, then this post has eight simple ideas for budgeting for Christmas shopping.
1. Decide Your Christmas Budget
It is necessary to determine how much to spend before your start Christmas shopping and especially Christmas shopping online.
It is never too early to start thinking about creating your budget for Christmas shopping. As much as I would like to be able to purchase everything under the sun for our friends and family, I must make choices on where my hard-earned money should go. (Hint: This is wise money management advice all-year-around.)
With most of our unfortunate reality, we must budget carefully to be able to purchase Christmas gifts for everyone on our list. With this in mind, it is very imperative to set a budget for Christmas shopping and stick to that budget you agreed on.
2. Make a Christmas List (and check it twice)
After creating a Christmas budget, making a Christmas list in the one of the best budgeting for Christmas tips you can take away!
Just like with regular money management, it is a smart move to make plans for your money BEFORE you start spending it.
Grab our free printable gift tracker and start writing down everything you can possibly buy during the holiday season.
Review your Christmas list and make sure your dream list is something that you can truly afford. Make sure to check it twice!
3. Limit the Number of Gifts
What is the true meaning of Christmas? Buying loads of presents you can barely afford or spending quality time with family and friends?
It is absolutely okay to limit the number of gifts you buy for each person on your list.
Many people apply the 4 gift rule at Christmas to stay within their Christmas budget, avoid overspending, and to teach their kids that materialistic items is not the purpose of Christmas.
This gift-giving idea is simple and based on each child receiving four presents:
a want
a need
something to wear
something to read
4. Shop Early or Shop Late?
Decide what type of shopper you are. Do you prefer to shop throughout the year and pick up frugal bargains? Or are you scrambling at the last minute to shop to do your Christmas gift shopping on a budget?
Honestly, there is no right or wrong answer.
You need to decide how to Christmas shop on a budget that will work for your personality.
Your shopping habits will decide how you will best stay within your Christmas budget and not stress more during the holiday season.
5. Use Cash
Okay, cash is becoming phased out as credit cards and debit cards are the norm. In this case, we are talking about the premise of using cash.
You have the cash available to spend on Christmas shopping sitting in your bank account.
It doesn’t matter if you shop with cash, debit card, or credit card, you can cover all of your Christmas shopping with the money allocated in your Christmas budget. The goal is to enjoy a debt free Christmas.
Before you begin to shop online, evaluate the amount of Christmas gift money you have saved. Then, double-check that amount equates with the budget set for your Christmas shopping.
Even if you are using a credit card and the bill will arrive the following month, today you must have enough money to repay the bill in its entirety and avoid paying interest.
6. Buy in Bulk
Buying in bulk is a term that refers to the idea of buying large quantities of goods or services at a discounted price.
If you’re low on money or short on time, bulk shopping can be a good idea. Many stores offer discounts for customers who purchase large quantities of goods at one time.
This is great for someone who needs to buy a large number of gifts for extended family.
7. Negotiate a better deal
Negotiate a better deal.
Sometimes all you have to do is ask for a discount.
If the company has any promotions or special offers, make sure to ask them about them before making your purchase. Just click the chat or help button when shopping online.
8. Add to Online Cart & Don’t Buy (Yet)
This is probably my favorite trick for Christmas shopping online!
Add the item to your cart and make sure you go far enough through the checkout that the company has your email address. But, don’t buy yet.
Wait for 24 hours.
More than likely, the company will send you a promo code for 10-25% off.
Shopping on Amazon? Add to a wish list. Then, the Amazon app will notify you of a lower price or lightning deal!
Cha-ching! Saving on Christmas shopping.
9. Combine Presents with Needs
This money saving tip is truly my personal favorite!
Think ahead of what the person you are buying for needs and try to find presents that suit that need.
For example, our kids wanted their own snorkeling gear for our next vacation. We have no idea when that trip will happen. So, we bought them snorkeling gear for their birthdays. Instant win-win!
Curious to know how we afford trips… We use a vacation fund.
10. find extra savings
Key tip for Christmas shopping on a budget… always look for deals and a lower price!
Given that so much Christmas shopping is done online, this is a great way to find a cheap presents for much less.
Here are some great apps to make sure you either get cash back or they check for extra coupon codes:
During this time of year, you should never pay for shipping. Honestly, it is one of the reasons, I truly like Amazon prime membership. They will drop ship your gifts to your destination at no extra cost to you.
11. Skip the Bags
Pull out the wrapping paper, ribbon, and bows!
You can spend about $10 a year to wrap all of your gifts, which is a bargain given most holiday gift bags cost about $2-5 each.
Plus if you have little eyes that like to peek, a wrapped box with ribbon is much harder to figure out their presents. This is my favorite book to teach kids about waiting patiently for their Christmas gifts. (Also, it is a big hit with my kids, too!)
Frugal Saver Tip – If you absolutely despise wrapping your presents, then save the gift bags and tissue paper to reuse year after year. That is one of the most fabulous money saving tips for Christmas shopping on a budget!
Christmas Shopping Tips:
The tips outlined are important, but they don’t tell the whole story. The key to saving money throughout the year is making sure you check your budget and keep an eye on how much you spend before Christmas hits.
It’s easy to get caught up in the season and overspend without realizing it.
The best time to save money is before Christmas hits.
Here are some Christmas Shopping Tips to remember.
Make a list of people who would like gifts
Check out sales at stores around town
Buy gift cards for stores where you know people shop
Make your gifts more personal by decorating them yourself
Avoid the guilt of overspending on Christmas with these ideas to make your next holiday a little more affordable
The key to saving money throughout the year is making sure you check your budget and keep an eye on how much you spend.
It’s easy to get caught up in the season and overspend without realizing it.
My Christmas Gift Shopping on a Budget Went over
Yikes, this is exactly what you didn’t want to do. But, the temptation to keep grabbing a couple of things was too much.
We all have the best of intentions, but may find themselves going over your budget when Christmas shopping. You need to keep things in perspective when this happens.
The key is not to go too far over Christmas budget.
If you spent more than planned on one or two people on your Christmas list, then you can recoup this by purchasing less expensive gifts than planned for a few other people to compensate.
Don’t throw in the towel and give up completely when Christmas gift shopping on a tight budget.
What are your favorite for christmas shopping Tips?
Whether you are looking to figure out how can I do Christmas cheap? Or just to save a few extra dollars with these money saving tips?
In this post, we covered the best ways to be prepared for Christmas shopping on a budget.
But, don’t just stop there, use these tips to improve your money management all year around.
Saving extra money just for Christmas is one of the frugal living tips you can start with. Starting in January, stick around Money Bliss and learn a few more ways to improve your money situation.
You won’t regret learning budgeting tips for Christmas. That will change your finances forever.
More Christmas Shopping Money Saving Ideas:
Know someone else that needs this, too? Then, please share!!
Did the post resonate with you?
More importantly, did I answer the questions you have about this topic? Let me know in the comments if I can help in some other way!
Your comments are not just welcomed; they’re an integral part of our community. Let’s continue the conversation and explore how these ideas align with your journey towards Money Bliss.
While a lot of the conversation regarding the 2024 presidential election is focused on the historically high ages of the two expected major party candidates, the aging U.S. workforce often faces doubts about their own abilities that are “crudely conflating old age with physical and cognitive capacity.”
This is according to a recent NextAvenue column co-written by two aging experts: Robert Espinoza, CEO at the National Skills Coalition and a fellow at the Brookings Institution; and Leanne Clark-Shirley, president and CEO of the American Society on Aging.
Since the first presidential debate roughly two weeks ago, discussions pairing age and fitness for the presidency have dominated the political landscape. But conflating these ideas of old age and capacity to perform required tasks of a job is “wrong,” the pair writes.
“Only a person’s medical team can offer that assessment, and age alone says nothing conclusive about one’s physical and mental health,” the pair wrote. “Further, to propose age limits for holding office with no consideration for individual differences is grossly ageist and discriminatory.”
On top of this, the conversations dominating the political sphere also serve to divert attention “from the more pressing concerns” facing older people, the authors state.
“Chief among them are the profound employment barriers facing older workers, a growing population that could help address a widespread labor shortage if our government properly supported them,” the column reads. “Yet these issues are glaringly absent from the election discourse.”
The 55-and-older population encompassed roughly 14% of the U.S. labor force in 2002, but that share is expected to reach 24% by 2032. On top of this, people 75 and older are the largest-growing segment of the workforce, according to data from the Pew Research Center.
“This trend is due to positive factors, such as healthier profiles and more age-friendly jobs, and negative factors, including more rigid retirement plans and policy changes that discourage early retirement,” the authors said. “Older workers personify the future of work, and let’s face it: most of us will age into this reality if we’re not there already, so it should feel personal.”
As workers grow older, they often face discrimination based on assumptions about their age. This can lead to older workers being passed over for advancement opportunities, with the assumption that “fresh thinking” is needed or that older workers are more expensive.
“Many older workers deal with all these factors and have always worked in low-wage jobs with limited benefits — as care workers, taxi drivers, food servers, grounds maintenance workers and many others, segregated into these occupations by decades, even centuries, of racially discriminatory policies,” the column explains. “They form the backbone of our economy and are essential to its success, yet they are egregiously neglected by government at all levels.”
It’s breakfast time, you’re hungry, and I’m offering you two options:
A healthy, adult hen
Two dozen eggs
Your first thought is probably: “Seriously? It’s just breakfast. I don’t want a live chicken running around my house.”
Forget that thought for now.
If you’re like me, your mind next asks, “If I do choose thechicken, how many eggs can I expect over time? What’s the risk the chicken doesn’t get to two dozen eggs? Am I willing to wait for two dozen – or hopefully more – eggs to arrive?”
When we know those answers, we can make a smart decision. It’s a time value of chicken question. It’s why Warren Buffett recites Aesop’s fables.
A similar mathematical question lies at the heart of financial planning: how do we compare lump sum savings against a stream of income?
The question might sound simple. But people get it wrong all the time, and their financial lives are at stake.
Savings vs. Income: Would You Rather?
Would you rather have $140,000 today or $10,000 yearly for life? David Blanchett and Michael Finke posed that question in a study published by an annuity industry group.
Yes – we should exercise caution. It’s natural for an annuity industry group to publish pro-annuity media, and this study is certainly pro-annuity, as we’ll see. In general, I’m not a fan of annuities. Nevertheless, I think the study’s results are directionally accurate.
This is a hen vs. eggs question! $10,000 per year is like our hen: a steady income stream. The $140,000 is like our eggs: a big lump sum all at once., The study points out that person could use their $140,000 to buy an income annuity and guarantee themselves $10,000 per year for life. In other words, the two options are functionally identical.
However, study respondents don’t see the options as identical. Instead, most respondents prefer the $10,000 per year for life. It’s viewed as safer and more accessible to spend. The logic is:
If someone knows another $10,000 is coming next year, they’re willing to spend the $10,000 they receive this year.
But the lump sum doesn’t inspire that same confidence because it all depends on if or how you invest it. What if I spend down the $140,000 to nothing?! I’d much rather have the $10,000 per year at that point.
This is Loss Aversion 101. If you can guarantee a person won’t lose – just as the stream of income guarantees – that person is biologically biased to see that option as more appealing. Even if it isn’t!
The Big Problem
The problem with this “income vs. savings” logic becomes evident if we tweak our numbers.
What if I offer you a $200,000 lump sum vs. $10,000 yearly?
The pure math tells us it’s a no-brainer. Choose the lump sum! You could use that lump sum to produce an income stream greater than $10,000 annually.
But some would ask, “Can you guarantee that income? Or are you making a bet that you likely can produce more than $10K per year? What if you’re wrong?” And because of that risk of being wrong, they would still choose the $10K per year.
How does someone overcome this bias?
According to the study mentioned above, a simple income annuity would help by converting the $200,000 lump sum into a $14,000 per year guaranteed income stream, crushing the $10,000 per year option.
Note: the study’s ratio of $140,000 lump sum to $10,000 annual income stream suggests internal rates of return of: 0% over 14 years, 3.7% over 20 years, 5.8% over 30 years, and 6.6% over 40 years. This alignswell with Schwab’s guaranteed annuity payouts, as of this writing.
But as I’veexplained here before on The Best Interest: do you want to run the risk of a 0% return for 14 yearssimply to achieve the “nirvana” of 6.6% annually for 40 years?
That doesn’t work for me.
Quick Aside: Dividend Stocks!
The same faulty logic of “income >> lump sum” exists in the world of dividend stocks.
One of the greatest myths about dividend stocks is that they’re inherently superior to other stocks because they produce a dividend income stream. (Here’s a complete breakdown of all the faulty dividend stock logic.)
The income allure of dividend stocks convinces many retirees to stock their portfolios full of them. “You can get a 6% per year dividend AND still own your stock at the end of the day!”
A more diversified stock portfolio might “only” pay a 2% dividend while its price increases 8% a year (over the long run). If a retiree wanted to live off this second portfolio, they would have to sell some of their shares. That selling begs a scary question: What if we sell and sell again and again until we run out of stocks?!
The same question scares people looking at the $140,000 lump sum: what if we spend and spend again and again until we run out of money?! They opt for a steady income stream. They opt for dividend stocks.
Their normal, understandable monkey brains overvalue the income stream and undervalue the lump sum. Don’t be that monkey!
What To Do Instead?
One of my goals here at The Best Interest is to instill confidence. Specifically, the confidence that a diversified portfolio can achieve particular performance goals over sufficiently long periods.
Not without risk, mind you. That’s important. To achieve investment reward, we must assume investment risk. But I want to instill confidence that you can assume some risk (however much is appropriate for you) and good things will happen over long periods of time.
Such a portfolio can translate a lump sum into an income stream or an income stream into a lump sum. We need to fight the urge to overvalue one over the other.
Specifically, we need to have enough confidence in math to overcome our monkey loss aversion that overvalues income and undervalues a lump sum of money.
I’m not sure that confidence can be spoken into existence – at least not in the short-term. But with enough smart evidence and time, confidence builds.
Maybe even enough confidence to choose that chicken over the eggs.
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While there is no widespread preferential mortgage, and family mortgages are not available to everyone, developers and banks are launching their own programmes
Widespread preferential mortgages have not been available in Russia since Jiuly, and even extending te family mortgage will not radically solve the problem due to its limitations. “In June, developers fulfilled the plan by almost 200%, but within a week and a half in July, many have experienced a negative situation — almost no clients in their offices.” This is how developers are describing the decline in sales of new buildings. According to them, they are forced to create joint programmes with banks — to subsidise rates, instalment plans and so on. The Central Bank is dissatisfied, but “without this, we will get a market decline or stop,” people from the industry are saying.
Family mortgage extended in Russia
Real estate market played discussed how the mortgage market was doing without government support at a business breakfast in Kazan on 10 July. Shortly before it began, it became known about the extension of family mortgages in Russia. The news was greeted with enthusiasm, but it was noted there was no as massive support for families as before. Parents of children under six years of age inclusive, as well as disabled children, will be able to take out a loan at a rate of no more than 6%. And only for the construction of a private house. You can buy an apartment only in small towns with a population of up to 50,000 people and regions with little construction or those with their own development programmes.
“If you look at the number of children under 18 years of age in the republic and compare it with the number of children under 6, this is the main difference from the previous programme, then there are approximately 3-4 times fewer such families today. This also needs to be taken into account,” said Aygul Latypova, executive director of Ak Bars Dom.
The loan limit in the programme will be 12 million rubles for Moscow, Saint Petersburg and their regions and 6 million for the other regions. You can combine a preferential loan with market programmes (for loans above 6-12 million, interest will be charged at the market rate), in this case, loans are limited to 30 million and 15 million rubles in big and remote regions, respectively.
“With a 21% rate, mortgages and home purchases have become unaffordable”
Only a limited category of citizens will be able to take advantage of a family mortgage. Therefore, in order to keep the market of new buildings from falling, an alternative to the cancelled mass preferential programmes are needed, people in the industry are saying.
“We have come to the point that mortgages began to live according to market conditions. Now the rates are equal to 21%, and there is no need to say that the market is doing well. If we compare monthly payments under preferential programmes and the current rate of 21%, the amounts have tripled. Borrowers who are now taking out a mortgage pay about 95% of their payment only as interest to the bank. Therefore, I consider such rates to be an obstacle; due to them, mortgages and home buying have become unaffordable,” said Rustam Azizov, director of mortgage sales and implementation of financial instruments at A101 Group of Companies.
The developer gave an example from Moscow where average loan size for an apartment for 12 million rubles is 10 million. At the current level of market mortgage rates of 21-23%, the monthly payment exceeds 180,000 rubles. “At the same time, only 2,500-3,000 rubles from this amount go to repay the loan itself, and the rest goes to interest repayment. Thus, the amount of overpayment for an apartment worth 12 million rubles for the entire loan repayment period is more than 33 million rubles,” the speaker explained.
To replace the public preferential programmes, developers and banks are offer their own programmes: subsidised rates, instalment plans, combo mortgages and so on. In particular, once can take out a mortgage at 8% a year now. The rate for the first few years will be subsidised by the developer. Of course, the apartment in this case will cost more.
“In general, we probably need to somehow restructure our thinking and try to work without government programmes. It is clear that if we completely remove state programmes now, everything may stop altogether, so they are making some restrictions — now for a family mortgage, they demand the child to be under 6 and so on. But somehow we all worked before the pandemic, and it still worked out. We need it to make it work out now,” urged Anatoly Norshtein, founder of Metr.Club mortgage aggregator.
“The regulator encourages us to make discounts, but this is not always reciprical”
As Realnoe Vremya already reported, a month ago experts predicted a serious decline in sales in the new real estate market — up to 40%. The first days of July and the cancellation of preferential programmes partially confirmed these fears.
“In June, developers fulfilled the plan by almost 200%, and in for one and a half weeks in July, many people had a negative situation, there were almost no clients in the offices,” noted Rustam Azizov. “That’s why banks and developers are now offering some alternative options to reduce the market rate at least in the short term. Let’s hope that the key rate will decrease in 2025-2026 and mortgages with high rates can be refinanced,” he noted.
The Central Bank is closely monitoring the development of the mortgage market and the work of banks with developers to create their own home buying programmes. “The regulator calls them schemes, we still call them a method of purchase: for the developer, it is a method of implementation, for the client, it is a more or less accessible method of purchase,” the developers object. The Central Bank expressed its dissatisfaction calling on credit institutions and developers to better offer discounts to clients. But the industry has noticed that this is not always possible.
“If the Central Bank begins to somehow limit the programmes from developers, this will be quite problematic. The regulator is encouraging us to make discounts, but, unfortunately, this is not always reciprocal. If my discount is 20%, this will not lead to a monthly payment where we will subsidise this 20% according to the programmes. In other words, the payment will still be significantly higher,” explained Aygul Latypova.
The Central Bank is working to create and implement a mortgage standard in Russia. However, while it is not there, all attempts to maintain the development pace of the mortgage market cannot be cancelled, the industry is convinced: “This is wrong, simply because then there will be no alternatives or opportunities for market development. Imagine if the same subsidised rates from the developer did not exist now. Let’s be honest, our monthly payments have tripled according to the market rate, but the real incomes of the population have not increased since q July. What are we talking about then?”
“Mortgage was born in Ancient Greece in the 6th century BC, lived for 2,600 years and will definitely not die after 1 July,” Arkady Bocharnikov, head of the mortgage lending department of Ak Bars Bank, was positive.
The speaker provided general data on the issue of mortgages in Russia. Recent months have shown that about 2 million families annually improve their living conditions through mortgages. The ratio of mortgage debt has, of course, increased, the speaker admitted, but at the same time, our indicators are still lower than in the USA and Germany. Russians have taken out a mortgage for 18 trillion rubles, which is 11% of GDP.
“We have the potential here, we can increase the mortgage debt of the population 4 times, and the economy will do great.” Therefore, I would not say that after 1 July there will be no mortgages. In terms of big numbers, we still have to grow and grow,” the expert believes.
In terms of housing provision, the figure reached 25 square meters per resident of Russia ,and an annual increase is approximately a square metre. We haven’t yet reached the level of other countries; we can double the amount of housing owned by the population, the speaker added. “It should also be taken into account that it is the size of all the Khrushchyov blocks of flats built in the 1960s and 1950s , which, of course, need to be updated.”
“Developers are now in such conditions that we do not determine how much we can sell”
Arkady Bocharnikov believes that with the cancellationf of preferential programs, alternative ones will be actively developed — from banks and developers. In his opinion, they will be especially in demand in the next years.
“We launched a mortgage at 8% for a year or two, and at the moment this is salvation. But it also requires costs from the developer. With such market rates, despite all the standards and prohibitions, the market still forced us to create joint programmes with banks. Without this, unfortunately, we will either have a market decline or a stop. Developers are now in such conditions that we do not determine how much we can sell. We have estimated financing, our sales are strictly regulated. Therefore, banks are interested, and we are interested in creating mechanisms to make housing affordable,” Aygul Latypova emphasised.
In the next month, all major players in the mortgage market will present their programmes to support demand for primary housing, says Rustam Azizov: “Banks like developer are also interested in maintaining the pace of house sales and, as a result, the issue of mortgages. Such loans have an extremely low level of overdue debt — 0.02%. In addition, mortgage borrowers have a fairly high LTV rate, that is, readiness to use other banking services.”
According to Anatoly Norshtein, market mortgage rates will not decrease to the numbers that are acceptable for most apartment buyers until mid-2025. “The mortgage market will survive but through special joint programmes with developersas well as programs that were not previously in high demand,” the expert believes.
The future demand for housing in the next two months was largely met in June, so the sales figures of July and even August will be irrelevant; the real situation will not be clear until September, experts say.
“Until this moment, the market may see a transition to targeted support for certain categories of citizens (doctors, teachers, employees of core enterprises), which can more effectively resolve important government issues. In addition, it seems appropriate to extend government support for mortgages for young families in order to encourage young people to start families and have children at a younger age, says Rustam Azizov.
One of the options, in his opinion, could be the Youth Mortgage that can be extended to young professionals under 30. It can be implemented within a new Youth of Russia national project. The maximum loan term in the programme can be increased, up to 50 years, this will help reduce the monthly payment. The interest rate in the programme taking into account subsidies from the state can be no more than 3%. At the same time, it is recommended to set the maximum loan amount at 15 million rubles for Moscow, Saint Petersburg and their regions and at 12 million rubles for the other regions.
Hello! Today, I have a great article to share about how to become an Amazon Vine Reviewer from a reader, Nicole Nicolet. She is a member of the Amazon Vine program and she has received over 100 free products from Amazon and has saved over $4,500 in the last 6 months. If you want to…
Hello! Today, I have a great article to share about how to become an Amazon Vine Reviewerfrom a reader, Nicole Nicolet. She is a member of the Amazon Vine program and she has received over 100 free products from Amazon and has saved over $4,500 in the last 6 months. If you want to learn how to get free products from Amazon, this is a very helpful read!
Did you know that you can get hundreds of free products, worth thousands of dollars every year from the Amazon Vine Program?
It’s surprisingly easy to join, and once you are a member you have access to thousands of everyday items that you can use, gift to friends and family, and even make money from.
Though there are certain rules that you will need to follow to maintain good standing with the program, it is worth all the effort.
So, if you’re looking to save, and maybe even make a little bit of money, the Amazon Vine Program may be a good fit for you.
How To Become An Amazon Vine Reviewer
Below is what you need to know if you want to become an Amazon Vine Reviewer.
Recommended reading: 7 Ways To Get Paid For Amazon Reviews
How I’ve saved thousands with Amazon Vine
I have been a member of the Amazon Vine Program since November 2023. During this time I have received over 100 products from clothing to home decor, to health and beauty products, and even some electronics.
Just the other day I got a pretty awesome projector that looks and works amazingly! And, I also got a pretty sick electric guitar too!
Because the Vine program allows you to request 3-8 items per day, I have been able to find gifts for friends and family, start new hobbies (like making sourdough bread!), and even find nearly all of the decor I need for my wedding.
Over the past 6 months, the total value of all the items I have requested comes out to a little over $4500.
So, as you can see how easy it is to save money as a Vine Voice.
What is Amazon Vine?
Amazon Vine is a program that Amazon offers to its stores and businesses to help them get product reviews for their products sooner than they would have otherwise.
This helps businesses make more sales since most customers read reviews before they decide to buy.
When a business or store decides to put some of its products into the Vine program, Vine Voices (like myself) will test out the product and leave an honest review.
As a Vine Voice, you get these products for free. However, there are some legal requirements that may affect your taxes, depending on your tax situation. More on this in a moment.
So, who does Amazon choose to become Vine reviewers?
The Amazon Vine program is an exclusive program where they will hand-select people to join the program. These people will need to have written consistent ‘helpful’ and insightful reviews from their previous Amazon purchases.
You may be eligible to be an Amazon Vine Voice Reviewer if:
You have written consistent reviews of your previous Amazon purchases
Your reviews are considered ‘helpful’ to other customers
Your reviews are honest and trustworthy
https://www.amazon.com/vine/about
How do you join Amazon Vine?
If you are eligible to join the program and Amazon has decided they want you to become a Vine Voice, you will receive an exclusive invitation by email.
Once you join the Amazon Vine program, you will have access to the Vine Voice dashboard where you will find thousands of products from houseware to beauty products and more.
All Vine reviewers start in the Silver member status and have the ability to upgrade to Gold member status (that’s where I’m at now!)
Tips to increase the likelihood of receiving a Vine Voice invitation:
Go back into your previous purchases and write a thorough review
Include pictures or videos in reviews of your previous purchases
Provide helpful insight into your reviews (include both pros and cons)
Include tips on how you use the product in your reviews
When Amazon has decided they would like you to join their Vine review program, they will send you an invite through your email. So, keep an eye out for whichever email account you have connected to Amazon.
Check your spam folder if you think you missed the invitation.
How to become a Vine Voice (how to become an Amazon Vine Reviewer)
You can become a Vine Voice once Amazon has decided you provide trustworthy reviews. This is important because they only want members who provide honest, relevant, and insightful feedback.
Anyone is eligible to join the program as long as they have left enough reviews that other customers have rated as ‘helpful’.
So, unfortunately, there is no exact or magic number that I can give you as this varies by the quality and quantity of your reviews, as well as the number of visits those products may get.
However, when I was invited, I had just caught up on about a half dozen reviews and received the invite in my inbox about 2-3 weeks later.
Does it cost anything to be a Vine Voice?
No, there is no membership fee, or one-time fee to join the program. However… it is important that you know that taxes are involved in the process.
While you are never charged for the products themselves, Amazon is required by law to account for the value of products as ‘self-employed’ income. If you have requested products for a total amount over $600, Amazon is required to send you a 1099 form.
You can check in your Vine account dashboard to keep track of your total running amount.
How much are you taxed for the products?
Each product will have an ‘estimated tax value’ that Amazon has to report. This value is totaled up on your 1099 tax form.
However, as for what percentage you are taxed all depends on your specific financial situation. The percentage you are taxed will vary by state and your tax income bracket.
One tip though, to avoid higher taxes, is to request more health-related items that have no estimated tax value. Or, otherwise try to keep your total value down so that you pay less in taxes.
Unfortunately, this can be difficult when you become a Gold Member as the items can be any priced value and are usually better quality. Plus, some products are hard to turn down. Like that projector screen I mentioned earlier.
What are some of the best products you’ve received from Amazon Vine?
Well, for one, a projector that works great for indoor and outdoor entertainment.
But, here’s a list of some other really neat products I’ve gotten from Vine.
3 shade lamp ($90 value)
Shoe rack bench with a cushion ($60 value)
That cool projector I keep talking about ($160 value)
Gorgeous blue electric guitar ($140 value)
Camping gear ($100 +)
Wedding decor and gear ($500 +)
Leather car seat covers ($173 value)
Wing shaped book ends ($40 value) (P.S. these look super cool!)
Brand new silverware
21-piece knifeset ($199 value)
Stationary ($100 +)
Gifts for friends and family ($400 +)
Clothing ($100 +)
Automated pet feeder ($60) (My cat’s an absolute unit, so he eats through his food quickly)
Rainfall showerhead ($55 value)
Christmas projector lights ($60 value)
I could keep going with this list, and I will keep adding to this list as long as I am still a member of Vine. But, needless to say, there are some great finds on here that will save you money on many household items, gifts, and more.
And, if you’re a parent, I will mention that I have seen tons of baby items and things for kids. So, if you’re looking to save money on your kids, becoming a Vine member can be a great way to save some money.
When I searched for “baby”, almost 2,000 items popped up.
How to get free products from Amazon Vine
Requesting free products through the Vine program is both fun and easy. You can select from a list of thousands of products in just about any category.
After becoming a member, you can follow these steps to request products.
Log in to your Vine account, navigate to your dashboard and locate the “Recommended for You”, “Available for all”, and “Additional Items” tabs.
The ‘recommended for you’ items are based on your previous Vine searches. And, if I’m not mistaken, may also be partially based on your regular Amazon purchases and searches.
There was one time that I looked for, and eventually purchased a specific lamp on Amazon. And, not one week later that same exact product showed up on Vine. You win some you lose some, right?
You can also search for a specific product using the search bar. But, if you don’t find what you’re looking for, try broadening your search or using a different but related keyword.
Sometimes a product is ranked under different keywords than you might expect.
Once you have found the item you want, you can look into further detail by clicking through to that link, or by reading the details when selecting the “see details” button. Then, once the product pops up, hit the “request product” button.
Now you just wait for the product to ship to you!
You will find the shipping information in your item orders on your Amazon account or Amazon App. There is no special place for just for shipping information of Vine products. It’s all on your regular Amazon account.
Do you get paid with Amazon Vine?
You do not get paid in cash as a Vine Voice. You do, however, receive free products that you can later sell if you choose.
There are some restrictions as to when you can get rid of the products you have requested.
Amazon requires you to keep the products you request for at least 6 months before you get rid of the product you’ve requested. This means you are not supposed to gift, give away, sell or otherwise toss the product for 6 months.
How Amazon can track this, I don’t know. How strictly do they monitor this, I don’t know.
But, what I do know is that you definitely shouldn’t sell any of your Vine products online within the minimum time frame if you want to remain in good standing as a member of the program.
What countries have this program?
The Amazon Vine program is available in the US and a few other countries.
Unfortunately, the products that are available are only the products that ship within that country or may be stored in local distribution centers.
Some larger items may also only be shipped very locally to where they are stored.
So, if you live outside the U.S. you may still be able to join the program but may be much more limited on what products you have access to request.
Process of reviewing Amazon Vine products
In your Amazon Vine dashboard, you will be able to find products recommended specifically to you, products for all Vine reviewers, and any other product that is available to request for all members.
It’s best to check back frequently for any items you want as this changes daily, and sometimes hourly.
There have been times when I’ve found an item I wanted several weeks or even a month or two later than when I first checked. Give it time and most likely what you want will become available.
Once you find the items you want, go ahead and request the products. Most products will be shipped to you in a couple of days, or within a month.
Being an Amazon Prime member does not change how quickly something is shipped to you though. But, there are tons of other great benefits as a Prime Member other than free 2-day shipping.
Step-by-step process to review Vine products:
Request the product you want
Test the product within a thorough, but timely period
Write a complete and honest review of the product (include pictures, video, and/or other information you feel is ample for that product). Real reviews are great, they aren’t just looking for positive reviews
Submit the review and wait for it to be approved (usually a few days to a week)
Update the review if you feel this is necessary
If you struggle to find the products you want to review, try using different keywords. Rather than looking up “bridal shower gifts” try just looking up “bridal” or “wedding”.
This will greatly broaden your search as some items may be ranked under a certain keyword, but not another.
If this does not work, try also using another term for the product.
For example, when I type in ‘tumbler’, I see an insulated thermos, and I also see some stickers that go on thermoses. When I type in ‘cup’ I see thermoses again.
Contrary, when I type in ‘bookends’ with no space, I find a dozen products. But when I type in ‘book ends’ with a space, I only get one product. This is because of how businesses add their products to Amazon when using keywords.
What is required to maintain Amazon Vine membership?
To be in good standing with the Amazon Vine program you will need to write reviews in a timely manner. For some products, a thorough review may require several weeks of testing, whereas other products can be reviewed almost right away.
Some products I really try and include an image of. Things like electronics, clothing, and other things that are difficult to see in scale from a product image alone. Real life images work best for buyers to make an informed decision.
As a Silver Status Member, you will be able to request up to 3 items per day and up to $100 value each. You will need to review at least 80 items, and 90% of your items by or before the end of your evaluation period. After your evaluation period, you can get upgraded into the Gold Status.
As a Gold Status Member, you will be able to request up to 8 items per day with any price value. The review requirements are the same with at least 90% of 80 products reviewed by the end of the evaluation period.
You will need to have at least 60% of your products reviewed at any time to stay in good standing. However, this will take some time while you are getting enough products to review, so don’t worry too much about this in the beginning.
If you do not keep up with your reviews, your account may be placed under review (no pun intended here). I had this happen to me at one point around last Christmas when I became too busy for a while to write any reviews.
But, I got caught back up and was able to return to good standing status as a member. And, I was still able to request items during this period, just in case you were wondering.
I have noticed there is some confusion among many Vine Voice members as to when you get upgraded to Gold Status. At one point I thought if I reached the minimum requirement of 80 products with 90% of reviews I would be upgraded.
But, you will not be upgraded until the end of your evaluation period, unless you are somehow an exception to this rule.
I recommend catching up on your reviews about once a week. Or, more often if you would like. This helps you to avoid getting behind.
How to make money from Amazon Vine
According to the rules of the program, you cannot sell, gift, or otherwise give away your Vine products for a 6-month period. After this period, you may do with the items as you wish.
At this point, you may turn or flip the products and sell them for profit. However, if you decide to make some extra cash with this, please do not sell a product for more than it is valued on Amazon.
This is wrong, deceitful, and may cause bad blood among those involved. So, it is best to sell the items for less than the original value.
You may also use any products you get in your business if you wish. They are still just products, so if you use a Vine product in your business to make money, then more power to you.
Example: One item I had requested was an off-brand KitchenAid mixer attachment. I could easily use this to make money from baking.
When can you sell the products you get?
There is a required 6-month waiting period before you get rid of any products by any means. It is best to wait this period before you decide to gift or sell any product.
If you decide to gift or sell any products sooner than this period, you can and may be removed from the program. So, if you are concerned about this, make sure to date the products you receive so you don’t forget.
You can also look in your account to check on those dates.
It’s best to not sell any products for more than the taxable value. You also should not market any products as any brand other than what they actually are.
So, when I mentioned I got an off-brand KitchenAid attachment, it would be wrong and deceitful for me to market it as an ‘official’ brand attachment.
Can you gift the products you get?
Yes. After the 6-month waiting period required by Amazon. If gifting an item is necessary for a thorough review, however, and the product is within your family, in most cases this should not be too much of an issue.
But, this does not guarantee that you aren’t breaking the program rules. So, do this at your own risk.
Can you be both an Amazon Affiliate and a Vine Voice?
As a blogger, I am also a member of the Amazon Affiliate program, and I am also a member of the Amazon Voice program.
As of June 2024, I am not aware of or have been informed of any restrictions that an Amazon Affiliate can’t also be a Vine Voice. Nor, have I found any information that states otherwise.
So, I say the more the merrier!
Final thoughts on how to become an Amazon Vine Reviewer
The Amazon Vine program is a great program for companies, customers, and Vine Voices alike. It’s actually a fairly easy program to join and can be a great way to save and even make money.
While there are some important requirements you’ll have to follow as a Vine Voice, the benefits far outweigh any negatives.
So, if you’re looking to save some money this year, start reviewing your previous Amazon purchases to increase your chances of becoming a Vine Reviewer, and keep an eye out for that email!
Did you know that there was a way to get free stuff from Amazon?
Author bio:
Hey there! My name is Nicole Nicolet and I am a blogger at Let’s Make Life Great. When I first learned that blogging could make you money full-time I was skeptical, but decided to give it a try as a way to make passive income on the side. So, after taking Michelle’s free blogging course, I jumped in!
I started writing and researching different ways to save money, make money, and budget better. I also tried different side hustles like making digital printables, online courses, and more. Even though I’m still learning and growing, I enjoy writing posts about my blogging journey to help me document the tricks and tips I’ve learned since I started.
I aim to help my audience make more money, grow a business, and reach their financial goals through the content I create. And I even have a free resource page on my site, because who doesn’t love free stuff?
So, one day, when I stumbled upon the Amazon Vine program I decided to try it and see if I was eligible. And, sure enough, I was.
I’m inspired to share my journey with you in hopes that you too can learn different ways to save thousands each year as an Amazon Vine Member.
Making Sense of Cents Note: I hope you enjoyed this article on how to become an Amazon Vine Reviewer. This invitation-only program looks for high-quality reviews to help improve a product’s visitibility. This can be a great way to get free stuff from Amazon and save some money! I’ve read that there are around 5,000 to 10,000 Amazon Vine reviewers currently, and it looks like they are still accepting many new product reviewers.
This month’s report shows the slowest month-to-month growth in rent in long time — precisely what the Fed doctor ordered.
Tomorrow, we have the PPI inflation report, which is critical because the components of the PPI inflation report filter into the PCE inflation data, which the Fed prefers as its primary inflation metric. They want the PCE inflation data to get toward 2%. We have to remember that shelter isn’t as impactful on the PCE inflation data, but the PCE inflation data has been having 2% handles on the 12-month data for some time now.
How low can mortgage rates go?
We’ll know more after we see the PPI inflation report tomorrow. However, as often noted, we have made significant progress on inflation with no Fed rate cuts and the 10-year yield is still above 4%. It’s critical to break the stubborn level of 4.20% on the 10-year yield if we want to see mortgage rates drop closer to 6.5%.
However, one silver lining this year that isn’t being discussed much is that the spread between the 30-year mortgage and the 10-year yield is improving. This is a good sign and something we discuss on our weekly tracker articles. If the spreads return to normal, mortgage rates would be near 6% or lower today with the 10-year yield. We will address this issue and others in the next HousingWire Daily podcast.
For now, let’s keep our eye on the prize, which is labor data. Jobless claims did come in better today. By now, we all know that the Fed is putting more weight on labor data over inflation. If inflation had driven their full mindset, we would have had cuts already. However, as they have stated, they have kept rates high because the labor market has allowed them to.
Today, let’s call it a victory as the 10-year yield has dropped and is testing that critical 4.20% level. We will see how the PPI inflation data looks tomorrow. However, today’s data should make the Fed feel better because the lagging shelter inflation data is becoming a reality. We have a lot to work with in the second half of 2024, but we are making progress in fighting inflation.
Let’s hope the Fed proves me wrong and does pivot before a job loss recession happens. Either way, making progress on inflation and the labor data getting softer is a more positive trend for mortgage rates in the future.
Welcome to NerdWallet’s Smart Money podcast, where we answer your real-world money questions. In this episode:
Discover career growth strategies to boost your income, including negotiating raises and navigating promotions and mentorship.
What are some of the best ways to increase your income?
What are strategies for negotiating a higher salary and excelling in your current role?
Hosts Sean Pyles and Alana Benson discuss career growth techniques and salary negotiation strategies to help you understand how to maximize your earnings and achieve financial stability. They begin with a discussion of the importance of increasing your income rather than solely focusing on cutting expenses, breaking down the long-term financial difference that seemingly small increases in your income can make over the course of your career.
Then, “The Job Doctor” Tessa White joins Alana to discuss how to excel in your current role and position yourself for promotions and raises within an organization. They discuss the necessity of understanding the true expectations of your role, measuring your contributions through tangible metrics and effectively communicating your value to your organization. Additionally, they explore the importance of informal mentorship and how to enhance your skills by observing and learning from those who excel in specific areas.
Check out this episode on your favorite podcast platform, including:
NerdWallet stories related to this episode:
Episode transcript
This transcript was generated from podcast audio by an AI tool.
Sean Pyles:
You’ve heard it one million times, “Just cut out the daily Starbucks run and you’ll be rich.” But more often than not, your financial situation is going to be better aided by fixing what’s coming into your budget versus what’s going out.
Tessa White:
If you’re, say, 35 years old and you negotiate an extra $5,000 for your job, it’s not just $5,000 because in lifetime earnings, that’s several hundred thousand dollars in lifetime earnings. And if you invested that difference, it’s even more.
Sean Pyles:
Welcome to NerdWallet’s Smart Money Podcast. I’m Sean Pyles.
Alana Benson:
And I’m Alana Benson.
Sean Pyles:
This episode kicks off our Nerdy deep dive into what we are calling investing in your income. Another way to say that is investing in yourself by seeking out more ways to make more money.
Alana Benson:
Yeah, Sean, you alluded to this at the beginning, but there’s just so much advice out there giving people flack for spending on straight-up normal stuff like going to Starbucks, or getting some tacos at a food truck instead of making them in your kitchen. And yes, technically all of these things can have a negative impact on your bottom line, but like, you have to live.
Sean Pyles:
Absolutely. And I mean, we’ve had a foot in this camp on the show advising people to take a hard look at their expenses and see what they can pare back in an effort to get themselves to a better financial situation. We haven’t told people to forego a morning latte, but there certainly is a time and place for examining your spending habits. That said, there is another way to affect that bottom line.
Alana Benson:
Exactly, and that is to just make more money.
Sean Pyles:
Yes. Okay. So Alana, you pitched this series to us. What prompted you to start thinking about this?
Alana Benson:
I’ve talked about this on here before, but before I started working at NerdWallet, I worked at a small company where I was making less than $30,000 a year with no benefits. So I actually tried to negotiate to $32,500 and I was told that I was “greedy and selfish.”
Sean Pyles:
Wow. The gall you must have had-
Alana Benson:
I know. How dare I?
Sean Pyles:
… to ask for that much more money, yeah.
Alana Benson:
But it messed me up for a long time. And to any listeners who have been told something similar, I want to tell you right now that you are not any of those things. I had to check my bank account every time before I went grocery shopping at that job, and I felt stressed about money all the time. And then when I finally started working at NerdWallet, overnight I went from that stressed out lifestyle to being able to save for retirement and a down payment on a house, which was just like a fever dream before then, and then it was a reality.
Sean Pyles:
Right. Well, we wish everyone could work for NerdWallet, but for those who are looking for other ways to have that kind of income jump, let’s talk about what they need to be considering.
Alana Benson:
Yeah, Sean. And this is not to say that this is easy. These are a little more difficult, they may not happen overnight, but there are some really critical factors that make increasing your income almost imperative if you want to meet particular financial goals. If that’s buying a house, if you’re making a college fund, investing for retirement, these are all the things that you usually do after you fill out your emergency fund, or you pay down high-interest debt and cover your day-to-day expenses. And by those metrics, it just makes it really hard for a lot of people to ever get to the point where they can afford to save and invest for those long-term goals. And for a lot of folks, increasing their income is literally the only way they’re going to be able to afford to invest for retirement.
Sean Pyles:
Right. And increasing your income can also be far more effective than reducing expenses, particularly for those who don’t have many expenses left to cut.
Alana Benson:
Yeah, exactly. So here’s an example. If you’re making $50,000 a year, the money you actually get on your paycheck after taxes, and generally this is without state taxes and everyone’s tax situation is different, but that would come to about $42,000 a year or $3,495 per month. The average monthly mortgage payment in the U.S. is $1,768. Now factor in groceries, bills, car payments, and other necessities, and the truth becomes something that we already know, which is just that life is really expensive and most of us are not making enough to cut it, let alone save for the future, or just make enough to enjoy life and take a vacation every now and then.
Sean Pyles:
Yeah. And the average millennial owes about $6,500 in credit card debt and those in Gen Z owe more than $3,000. Cutting your daily coffee habit and getting rid of streaming services simply cannot make up the differences here. And these numbers aren’t new, but they’re sometimes presented with little information about what we can do about them. Increasing your income is one of the biggest ways you can make a dent in those numbers.
Alana Benson:
Exactly. So over this three-part series, we’re going to talk about how you can get started increasing your income, some concrete steps you can take regardless of whether you want to change jobs or not, and what you can start to do once your income does increase. We’ll be talking about everything from sprucing up your LinkedIn profile to working with a career coach, negotiating, and whether that’s for a raise at your current job or a salary bump at a new one.
Sean Pyles:
All right, well we want to hear what you think too, listeners. To share your thoughts around ways to boost your income, leave us a voicemail or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373. That’s 901-730-N-E-R-D, or email a voice memo to [email protected].
So Alana, who are we hearing from today?
Alana Benson:
We are going to the doctor for a checkup, Sean.
Sean Pyles:
Oh, no. What’s the copay going to be?
Alana Benson:
Well, hopefully nothing, because today we are talking with The Job Doctor, also known as Tessa White, who spent a good chunk of her career heading up HR departments, mostly for tech companies. She’s now founder and CEO of The Job Doctor and author of The Unspoken Truths for Career Success.
Sean Pyles:
That’s coming up in a moment. Stay with us.
Alana Benson:
Tessa White, welcome to Smart Money.
Tessa White:
Hello. Thank you for having me.
Alana Benson:
In this series, we are really focusing on ways to increase your income in kind of any form. So what would you say is the easiest way that people can increase their income?
Tessa White:
Well, I think they need to be very mindful that they are their best advocate for making money. The company’s not going to magically go in and decide that they need to pay them more money, because a company’s always going to err on the side of they’ll take as much as you’ll give. So making sure that you’re advocating for yourself is probably the greatest way that you make money.
Alana Benson:
Tessa White:
Yeah, salary negotiation, asking for money, which is uncomfortable for people to do sometimes. Understanding what the value of your role is or the position that you’re applying for versus just kind of going with the first thing that people ask. I mean a little bit of discomfort on the front end of negotiating on behalf of yourself really has a massive impact on the back end.
If you’re, say, 35 years old and you negotiate an extra $5,000 for your job, it’s not just $5,000 because in lifetime earnings, that’s several hundred thousand dollars in lifetime earnings. And if you invested that difference, it’s even more. So you need to look at it a little bit differently and say, “Every penny that I can negotiate on behalf of myself is the new basis for which other offers come in and other raises is based off of.” And it really does have a cumulative effect that’s significant.
Alana Benson:
I want to go back to something that you said about increasing the value where you’re at. Some people may have tried to negotiate or they’ve hit a financial ceiling for some ways, but how can you get extra experience at your existing job? For example, if you want a role in management in the future, maybe take on some mentoring to work towards that. For people who negotiating isn’t really on the table right now, how can people get some of that extra experience?
Tessa White:
First you have to know what to ask for. One of my recommendations is that you mimic a top-performer plan. Companies typically put people in this nine box, and they have these top performers and nobody knows who they are except the top performers. They get all these extra things. Some of those extra things are exposure to experiences which are very valuable to you. That might be sitting in on an executive meeting and just seeing how things operate.
And the thing about corporate America is your manager needs help. There’s always more to do than people to do it. And so if you ask for your own top-performer plan, you can actually ask for and be very direct with your manager to say, “Can I give part of a presentation in this executive team meeting? Can I run this little piece of a project that is holding us back that we need to get over the finish line? Can I sit in and listen to how a meeting operates? Can I help develop a dashboard for our departments so that we can show progression in some of the key objectives?”
So there’s lots of different ways you can do it, but the key is you have to ask because most managers are not really great at putting together growth plans for people. They’ve got a lot of people and it gets very murky what they need. But if you actually go to your manager, and direct it and say, “Can I do this one thing? Can you help make this one thing happen or these two things happen,” then your odds go way up and your credibility goes up in the organization, your visibility goes up. And therefore, your promotability goes up.
Alana Benson:
I love what you said about visibility because I think that is so, so important, especially a lot of people are now working in remote environments and so you don’t really get that face-to-face time. And so what are some ways that people can kind of increase their visibility? Kind of like you said, talking about a presentation, but just ways to get exposure and then how does that value come back to them?
Tessa White:
Well, let’s start with something that I think people might find interesting. I’ve sat in on hundreds of promotion meetings where they decide who gets the promotions that year. And almost without fail it’s like a broken record. The people that don’t get the promotions, people will say, “Well, they sound great, but I don’t know who they are. I haven’t worked with them.”
One of the big keys to getting the promotions is visibility across the organization and being able to collaborate well with other departments. And it’s really important that when people know you, you have a greater chance of getting the promotion, and when you intersect with them. So that’s the first thing is that having that exposure is really important.
One of the first practical things that I would do in a job is to go talk to the people that intersect with my role and say, “Tell me what do you expect out of this role? What are the problems that I am helping solve for you and where are your pain points?” And I would get very, very aligned with what those people and constituents need because the job on paper is not the real job. It never is. And this helps you determine what the real job is and how you win, more importantly, how you align yourself to win. So I would be having those conversations at least twice a year because that’s what’s going to point you towards how you actually work on the things that are going to get you promoted in a company, and how are you going to get visibility for you and what you do.
Alana Benson:
I think about that a lot where I work in terms of even just posting on Slack and making sure that I post regularly in the channels that my boss, and my boss’ boss, and even my boss’ boss’ boss are because that visibility is so important. So they say, “Oh, I know who this person is, I know what they’re working on. I know they’re doing X, Y, and Z.” So what are some other ways to make sure you’re getting that managerial attention that could potentially lead to a raise or a promotion?
Tessa White:
I’m a big believer in planting seeds in an organization with other managers and other places in the organization so that you know what’s coming. Managers are planning six months, eight months in advance, sometimes a year in advance of what they need and what’s coming. And you need to be talking with them about how are you going to be evolving, what are the big problems you’re trying to solve? What are big initiatives and things that are going to help you over the next couple of years move into the next level of efficiency? And when you understand those things, then you get a better idea of how you fit into the ecosystem and you also get a better idea of maybe where you want to go in the future. And then you can begin to craft the kind of experiences that you need so that you will be somebody that they can pay attention to.
I would absolutely treat your company like a big homework assignment. And I would be trying to listen to the quarterly reports, listen to the CEO. What are the big objectives that we’re trying to accomplish? And it helps you establish that narrative. Because I get mad when people come and say, “I interviewed but it didn’t work very good,” or, “I don’t think they understood my value.” And I say, “If you don’t understand your value proposition, I promise you the company won’t.” It really is your job to figure out what your value proposition is, and in order to do that you have to have information.
Alana Benson:
So when you go into those meetings, it’s so hard to kind of know what your value is or what people call your market value. So how do we figure that out? How do you essentially see if there’s space to grow in terms of pay in your existing role? How do you figure out what you should be getting paid?
Tessa White:
Well, that’s a lot of different questions. Let me start with value proposition, first of all. It’s kind of a big word, but how do you know what value you bring to an organization? This is a really hard thing for people. But if you think about leverage, that’s what you want to have as leverage to get what you want. Leverage at its core is “I have what you need.” And so if you can define what is it that I see the company needs, where are they going and what have I done so far that shows I have that skill, and you can then turn it into numbers.
“I was able to come into my department and move the needle on these particular criteria,” then you have more leverage. But what most people do is they say, “I’m really good at working with customers.” Well, that’s, in and of itself, doesn’t mean anything. But if you say, “My customer service scores are 20% higher than most of the other people in the department,” or, “I was able to decrease call time by X and increase customer satisfaction by X,” then you actually have something that the company understands and you’re speaking their language.
So part of your job in determining your value proposition is saying, “How am I solving problems for the company? And then how do I turn what I’ve done into metrics or numbers?” That’s why I tell people, “You should go to work every day and be measuring. If you don’t have a department metric that tells you am I doing good or am I not doing good, figure out what it is and start measuring things. Because those numbers become so critical to how you position yourself for a company.”
Alana Benson:
There’s two things, figuring out what the company kind of needs from you and what you can bring to it, and then obviously what can the company do for you?
Tessa White:
Well, your market value, it’s like a house. When we put a house up for sale, we don’t have some neat, perfect numbers to what its value is. What we know is that other houses sold at this amount that were similar, and the same is true with compensation. What other companies are willing to hire this role at is a pretty good indicator that you can bring that helps determine the value of a role.
But the other thing that you have quite a bit of control over is being able to tell the company, “Here’s how I solved the problems in my last company and here’s how I’ll solve them for you.” So for recruiting, for example, let’s just take a general example. If I said, “I’m a really good recruiter, and I was able to manage a recruiting team and fill 200 positions in a year,” that doesn’t, in and of itself, mean anything. But if I understand that a company has low resources and they don’t have a lot of money to put towards recruiters, I could say, “In the last company, I turned every employee into a recruiter in our company because we didn’t have a lot of funds. And we rolled out this employee referral program that made every employee a recruiter and it increased the number of applicants that we were bringing into the company month over month by 60%.”
Then all of a sudden the company goes, “Scrappy. I need scrappy. I’m a company that doesn’t have a lot of money. I need creativity. Look what that person was able to do.” And all of a sudden your leverage went up, which means your compensation probably goes up because you have what the company needs.
Alana Benson:
Yeah, I think it’s so important to think about what are the problems that need to get solved here? And sort of apply yourself to those, and be moldable, and be able to say, “Yeah, I can help you with that.” I feel like that goes so far and feeds into the visibility thing that we were talking about earlier because then you become known as someone who can fix problems.
Tessa White:
It’s everything because on resumes, again, one of my pet peeves is a resume will say, say you take an HR person and they say, “I’m a 25-year professional who has been able to manage talent management, training and employee relations.” Well, every single resume says that, but the minute that I can tap into how do I solve the problems and I say, “I’m the person that you’d hire if you need to go fast and put in place infrastructure so that you can go public or so that you can have a high merger acquisition strategy,” for example. If I say that, then I’ve just tapped into how to solve a problem that that particular small company needs.
Alana Benson:
So much of this is difficult to do and every company is different. And I think it’s so important to get help and support along the way as you’re trying to not only be better in your role but be making more money. So what can you tell me about how you can use mentorship to further your career and help you increase your income? What can mentorship look like and how do you find a mentor?
Tessa White:
I think every single person needs to have not just a mentor, they need to have a handful of mentors, and it’s available to everybody. What most people, the mistake they make is they think they need to go up to somebody and say, “Will you be my mentor?” When in fact, the best mentorships that I know of are where you identify people who have really good skill sets in an area.
For example, everybody should have a mentor that they can look to for how do you manage people, how do you get conflict over the finish line, and how do you do it in a way that’s productive rather than destructive? Everybody should have a mentor around data and data analytics or presentations and how to give a good presentation or run a meeting. You should identify people who do that well, watch them. You don’t even need to ask, “Will you be my mentor?” Watch them. Watch what they do in that area.
And then for example, before you go give a meeting, say, “I’ve been watching you. You give really good presentations and I’ve tried to use some of the principles I see that you utilize. Will you take a look at this presentation and tell me what you’d change? Can I just give it to you? Spend 10, 15 minutes to run over the high level?” That’s how you have mentors that make a difference for you is you find people that do good things, you watch them very closely, and then you ask them when the time is right to help you make sure you’ve done that thing right. And I think that’s available to everybody. You don’t have to have a company program to do it. You don’t have to have somebody necessarily saying they’ll be your mentor. Just pick people, watch them.
Alana Benson:
So it doesn’t need to be nearly as formal as what a lot of people think of when they think of entering a mentorship relationship? It can be as simple as, “I saw you do this. You’re great at it. Can you help me with this one presentation?”
Tessa White:
Exactly, or this one conflict. “I have a high conflict situation and this is how I was thinking of handling it. How would you do it?” Exactly. I think that’s far more productive.
Alana Benson:
To that point, obviously a mentorship and mentoring relationship is different than working with a career coach, but how can you find a career coach who can maybe help you and how do you navigate that search? There’s obviously a wide spread of what people charge for career coaching services. Are there any certifications that people should look for when it comes to working with a career coach to make sure they’re working with someone who knows their stuff?
Tessa White:
There are plenty of different certifications, but I don’t think that one is necessarily better than another. I think it’s a lot like finding a regular therapist. You need to find somebody that you vibe with. You need to find somebody who’s been around the block and has some experience.
Probably my biggest beef with career coaching as an industry is that a lot of people with five years of career experience are calling themselves a career coach. You need somebody who has seen lots of situations in lots of different circumstances and watched how those situations play out. And I think when you have somebody that has either been in your industry or has been around the block for a while, they’re going to be able to give you a much better idea of the different choices that you have, and more importantly, the likely different outcomes of those scenarios if you handle it different ways. But somebody with five years of experience simply doesn’t have enough experience or enough behind the scenes in really high-stakes situations to be able to give, I think, information that is really, really helpful or useful.
Alana Benson:
And so aside from a lack of experience, is there anything else to kind of look out for in this industry?
Tessa White:
I would find people that know my industry. For instance, tech is a different flavor than blue collar. If I took advice from a career coach that’s a high-tech career coach and I’m in a blue collar environment, that advice is not going to play as well because there’s just different flavors to different industries. So you try and find somebody that’s the best match to the environment that you are working in, I think, and then you make sure that that person has a lot of experience as well.
Alana Benson:
Is there anything that I didn’t ask you about that seems particularly important for people to think about if they’re trying to increase their income in a role that they’re already in?
Tessa White:
I will tell you that there is a trend that I’m seeing that I think is really valuable to understand. There’s a lot of change happening right now, a lot of layoffs and a lot of people leaving companies. But those people who stay through, I call it a red zone of a company, usually have tremendous opportunities that come their way because of the people that leave and the gaps that that creates. And even though it may be an uncomfortable period of time to try and do more with less, learning how to work through red zones of companies is really teaching you to innovate and is teaching resilience. And that skill set is extraordinarily valuable.
People who stay in companies often end up with the increases and the promotions that they want because of the vacancies that are left. And so I would tell people don’t think that the grass is greener just by leaving a company through a red zone. A red zone can be a tremendous gift to you, and particularly people who are okay with taking promotions that are lateral and they learn the ecosystem of a company, that has delayed value. While it may seem like you’re going backwards or standing still if you’re not getting big raises, if you understand the ecosystem of a company by working in different departments, over time that makes you incredibly valuable to a company. And I’m seeing people use that as a career strategy that ends up paying dividends. If you look at it in a long-term, like a four-year horizon, is huge. Even when they leave that company, the ability to understand the different departments and how they work together is something that’s very, very valuable.
So don’t discount the red zone of a company and think, your brain’s going to tell you this is the wrong company, the wrong time, it’s terrible, it feels uncomfortable. But discomfort doesn’t mean you’re in the wrong company, it simply means you have to learn to do things differently. And it really is the trigger for innovation. And if you can stay through that red zone, it can be incredibly valuable to you.
Alana Benson:
Well, Tessa White, aka The Job Doctor, thank you so much for talking with us today and we really appreciate your time.
Tessa White:
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Sean Pyles:
Alana, I so love how you and Tessa talked about what I sometimes think of as the theater of the workplace or narrative building around your job. And I don’t mean to be flip or diminish the real work that goes into building any career, but if you aren’t good at presenting the story of your work, building a compelling cast of characters through your colleagues and advocates who support your work, and getting people excited about what you are doing, it’s going to be a lot harder to get those big opportunities in your career. Tessa described it as “planting seeds,” and I kind of think about it as foreshadowing, set building, and fleshing out your narrative arc.
Alana Benson:
Totally. And there’s so much that goes into what we do at work, and how we can grow and eventually make more money. And if you’re looking for inspiration on where exactly to figure out what type of experience you should be getting, try looking at job listings for jobs you’ll eventually want but maybe aren’t qualified for now. That will clue you into where you should start looking. For example, if you’re in a job that doesn’t currently give you management experience but you’re looking to work as a manager in the future, you could give informal mentoring a try.
Sean Pyles:
So try thinking from your future resume’s perspective. Try to think from your future resume’s perspective. What experience do you need to have to check a box on a job openings list and how can you get it now?
Alana Benson:
Yeah. And once you identify what areas you want to get more experience in, there are thousands of online courses you can take for free or for just a small amount of money to exercise those skills. You can learn how to code, you can learn about AI, how to use spreadsheets, and pretty much anything else you can think of. So think about what courses could help you out in your current role or help make the case to give you a promotion.
Sean Pyles:
And this is a great time to look at other roles again and see what particular skills they’re looking for. If you’re looking for jobs in IT support, for example, you can take a Google certification course for that. Some companies even offer financial compensation for furthering your education. So be sure to ask your manager if there are any funds available to help you pay for the education costs.
Alana Benson:
That’s a great call.
Sean Pyles:
So Alana, tell us what’s coming up in episode two of the series.
Alana Benson:
Next up, we are going to hear from an expert from LinkedIn about how to best optimize your profile so you can make the most out of a job search.
Andrew McCaskill:
I think that the number one thing that I would say to folks if you’re trying to make your profile more visible and more searchable is over 40% of recruiters say that they are searching for talent based on skills. And so you really have to put your skills in your summary, and use skills and skills language.
Sean Pyles:
For now, that’s all we have for this episode. Do you have a money question of your own? Turn to the Nerds and call or text us your questions at 901-730-6373. That’s 901-730-N-E-R-D. You can also email us at [email protected]. And remember, you can follow the show on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio to automatically download new episodes.
Alana Benson:
This episode was produced by Tess Vigeland. Sean helped with editing. Kevin Berry helped with fact checking. Sara Brink mixed our audio. And a big thank you to NerdWallet’s editors for all their help.
Sean Pyles:
Here’s our brief disclaimer. We are not financial or investment advisors. This nerdy info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances.
Alana Benson:
And with that said, until next time, turn to the Nerd
Financial advisors are playing a crucial role in guiding clients towards retirement security. They are counseling retired clients on generating guaranteed income (23%), prioritizing wants vs. needs (21%), and supplementing income out of necessity (16%). Advisors report that 34% of their clients plan to continue paying mortgages in retirement. In preparation for the Great Wealth … [Read more…]