August 2018 -

The Insurance Policies that Everyone Should Have

There are some things in life that are really expensive, and a sudden disaster of some sort can cause huge financial stress. You can insure against anything at all, as long as you are prepared to pay the premiums. There are some insurances that everyone should have, and you will be pleased you have them should you need to make a claim.

#1 Car Insurance

In most states, this is a legal requirement. If you have an older car you may feel that the bare minimum is enough, but for cars of a higher value, it could be that the more you have the better. There are several insurances for motor vehicles, the main ones being:

Personal Injury Protection, which covers medical expenses for the driver and any passengers in the event of an accident.
Liability insurance is not meant to cover the driver or passengers but is for damage you may cause to another vehicle, someone else’s property or the injuries you may cause others if you are to blame for an accident.
Collision cover will pay for the damage to your vehicle whether you were at fault or not.
Comprehensive insurance will pay compensation if it is due, where the collision insurance will only pay for damage. This could be useful; if your car is destroyed in an accident and this affects your life.
Theft is for if your car is stolen.
Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist cover will pay out if the other person involved in an accident does not have enough insurance or none at all.

For your own peace of mind, you should never be on the road without adequate car insurance. Yes, you might be a good driver, and you may be able to learn more about personal injury lawyers and compensation should you be injured, but having your own insurance really is important. It could save you lots of money in the long-term.

#2 Health Insurance

Health insurance is meant to provide protection against the cost of medical expenses. The cost can vary greatly because of age, existing conditions and the amount of cover you require.

Individual health care policies are purchased directly by about 9% of the population. Some of them will pay a fixed amount, regardless of the total medical costs, and others will pay for everything involved in getting you back to full health.

Some employments provide this type of insurance as a perk of the job, and about 60% of the population are able to take advantage of this benefit. If you are not in this situation you should be looking at taking out the health insurance yourself.

A large portion of the bankruptcies filed in the US were because of medical expenses, but of course, that affects your whole life and it is something you should try to avoid. There are some other options that can help in certain situations.

Medicare is for those over 65 years of age, patients who become permanently disabled, end-stage renal patients and those with ALS. Research has shown that the people who did not previously have health cover but qualify for the Medicare program have improved health because of being able to access better care.

Medicaid is to cover those that do not qualify and the number of physicians who accept it has reduced. for Medicare, but are on very low incomes. It is means tested

#3 Home Insurance

There are two main types of home insurance in the US. Homeowners insurance is a must for anyone that owns their own home, but you need to make sure it covers everything. Sometimes extra cover is needed for natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and fires.

Renters insurance is meant to cover against theft or damage to your property when you rent, and it comes at a low cost. It is worth having this cover for peace of mind if you rent your property.

#4 Life Insurance

Life insurance is protection for your family more than for you. It is to cover funeral expenses and mortuary fees and if you are the main breadwinner it can help to offset your lost income.

This takes away the worry of the financial stresses put upon families when someone dies, and everyone should have some basic life cover at least.

#5 Disability Insurance

If you are not able to work for a while you will be glad you took out disability insurance. It will replace your income so that you can still pay all your bills, and makes good financial sense for anyone with responsibilities. Depending on the extent of the cover you opt for, it can insure you for temporary, permanent, partial or total disability.

No one knows what will happen to us. We all think that accidents and illnesses happen to other people, not us. But if ever you are put in this situation you will be glad you have this relatively cheap insurance.

Insurances Not To Bother With

There is nothing you cannot insure but there are some policies that are considered to be a waste of money because they have become outdated. Disease insurance is just one example where you cover yourself against specific conditions. There are so many ways you could become ill that the cost a covering them all would be prohibitive. A good health insurance is a much better deal.

Flight insurance is meant to cover you if you are killed in a plane accident. Flying is one of the safest modes of transport and why pay for this particular policy when life insurance will protect your family in the same situation.

Mortgage Life Insurance used to be very popular but has now become much less so. A good term life policy will do exactly the same job at a lower cost.

Protect Yourself

It is much easier for most people to find a monthly premium than to have to face huge bills if a disaster happens. There will always be those who think it will never happen to them, but it could just as easily as it could happen to you. The types of insurance recommended above can vary greatly in their cost. You need to read the small print to make sure you are getting the cover you think, and take advice from professional insurance brokers who will be able to steer you in the right direction.

3 Ways To Learn About Online Trading

There’s one reason why many people don’t take the plunge into online trading. It’s because they don’t know the first thing about it! Not only does trading seem complicated, but there is also the risk factor. After all, if the person isn’t entirely sure what he is getting himself into, there is the risk of a bad investment. Of course, the rewards can be great. One way to build a nest egg or to amass a small (or a large) fortune is to invest on the Stock and Forex markets. Rather than avoid the risk, it’s worth educating yourself to find out more about what is involved. Rather than say “I don’t know what to do,” ask yourself “How do I get started?” What seems complicated at first will appear less so through a little education.

Here are three ways to learn more about online trading.

#1 Read about it

Pick up an investing book from your local library or bookstore, and read all about it. There are books for ‘dummies,’ going through all the basics, to books that offer detailed opinions on investing for those who have already taken the step into the trading world. To get you started, consider The Intelligent Investor, written by the so-called Godfather of Value Investing, Benjamin Graham. According to those in the business, the book is one of the most influential investment books of all time, for newbies and experts alike. Then browse the internet for financial websites. You will find some advice on our site, as well as popular investment websites, such as Investopedia, which is a one-stop shop for everything you need to know about the world of investing. News websites such as Yahoo Finance and Bloomberg are also a great resource for beginner investors, as are financial newspapers, such as The Wall Street Journal.

#2 Take an investment course

You may find an investment course at your local college, but there are also courses available online. While most courses will require a fee, you can also find free courses that will show you the ropes. On the subject of courses, consider attending a seminar. Led by investment experts, you will learn more about investing through people who have had years of experience in trading. Be mindful, however. There are some courses, especially online, that cost a lot of money with very little value. As with the trading market itself, don’t get suckered in by something that seems like a good deal until you have done your research into who is behind the course.

If you’re not sure where to start, check out Gandakoh’s website to learn more about stock trading for Free.

#3 Open up a trading account

Look online for a decent trading platform, and familiarise yourself with the setup. Before you make your first investment, take advantage of the tools and tutorials that are available to you. Many platforms also offer demo tools, enabling you to trade virtually with virtual money, letting you get the hang of how everything works. After getting to grips with the process, it’s then time to take your first step into trading for real. Start small to mitigate risk, and you will gradually learn the art of trading through experience.

As a trading newbie, you do need to educate yourself before starting out online. There are risks involved, and mistakes can be made. By learning more about trading through the resources available to you, you will reduce the risk, and hopefully, be one step closer to making your fortune.

The Secret To Good Budgeting Is Expecting The Unexpected

“It won’t happen to me!” We’ve all thought it. It’s okay to admit it. Whenever we see someone who’s been adversely affected by an accident or an injury. Whenever we’ve seen someone lose their job or seen their business go into administration. Whenever we’ve seen someone adversely affected by completely unforeseen circumstances, we always assume “It won’t happen to me”.

We sympathize with them, sure. We want to do what we can to help them, absolutely, but something in our psyche refuses to accept that it could just as easily happen to us. That reassuring little voice in your head keeps on repeating “it won’t happen to me”.

Our day to day life carries with it a degree of familiarity that can lull us into a false sense of security. We can kid ourselves that the current status quo will go on uninterrupted forever.

But deep down we know that this isn’t the case. The unexpected could strike at any time and shatter out insulated little bubble of complacency.

When that moment comes, having budgeted will make all the difference between being able to weather the storm and being completely caught adrift in an ocean of panic.

Budgeting made really, really easy

We all assume that budgeting is hard. It isn’t. We just tell ourselves that it’s hard so that we don’t feel guilty about not doing it. There are lots of things that we should all be budgeting for but probably aren’t. But we’re about to make budgeting really, really easy for you. Just download one of these household budget templates and make sure that you stick to it, month in and month out. If not, any of the following could strike at any moment and plunge your household into potential financial ruin.

Firing or redundancy

In a capricious economy and a time of geopolitical uncertainty where entire industries seem to rise and fall almost overnight… how stable is anyone’s job, really? Adequate budgeting can insulate you from the risk of losing your job to firing or redundancy. It can help you to bide your time and look for a new job that you want and that will actually further your career rather than leaping into the first dead end job you’re offered out of financial desperation.

Accident, injury or disability

If you’re injured or have an accident in or outside of work that renders you permanently or temporarily disabled, effective budgeting will also help you to find the finances for hiring a lawyer to help to push your disability insurance claim. Failing to budget can leave your finances decimated by such a misfortune, especially given the lengthy nature of a disability insurance claim. A good lawyer can advise you on how to handle the process quickly and help to ensure that your claim is approved.

Unexpected household expenses

Finally, we never know when our cars might need a new exhaust gas release valve or our refrigerator may go on the fritz. Proper budgeting can help you attend to these quotidian mishaps without having to resort to credit cards or loans which can mire you in debt.

Income Analysis: Proving Your Worth When Self-Employed

Throughout life, there will be loads of instances when you have to be able to show off how much you earn. Renting an apartment, applying for a loan, and a lot of other large transactions can’t be simply based on trust, with those on the other side of it wanting to be reassured that you’ll be able to uphold your end of the bargain. Of course, though, when you’re self-employed, this sort of task becomes all the more challenging. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring some of the key methods which can be used to prove your income when you work for yourself.

Accounts: Each year, you’ll have to go through the same process as every other business owner, assessing your own money to see how much tax you owe your government. At the end of this, you will be left with a detailed summary of all of the money you earned during the period in question, and this can be used as evidence of your income. No one would lie on this sort of document, as they’d have to pay more in tax, and this makes it a great option when you’re trying to prove your worth.

Invoices/Paystubs: As part of your normal admin work, you will usually have to invoice a client before they pay you anything. This sort of document is a powerful tool when it comes to proving your income, as long as you can prove that they are being paid. There are loads of companies out there which can help you to create paystubs from your invoices. Offering a much more recognised form of proof, an option like this will always be better than a basic invoice.

Bank Statements: This next option is one which some people won’t feel comfortable with. You will usually only be asked for this kind of evidence when you’re dealing with someone unprofessional, like a private landlord. There is rarely any risk when it comes to a route like this, but it’s very understandable that you wouldn’t want to let someone get an insight into your money like this, and they should be happy to follow another path if you want them to.

Share Reports: Finally, as the last idea on this list, when you have a large business under your belt, it’s unlikely that you own the whole thing. It can be much easier to come up with a value for a company when it is being traded publicly, with the amount of shares you own directly impacting the value of your slice of the business. Having a valuation under your belt can make it very easy to show that you can afford what you say you can.

To Sum Up..

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start working harder on the time you put into proving your worth when you’re self-employed or working for your own business. Living like this can often present a lot of challenges, but these can be overcome if you’re willing to do the right work and put effort into all of it.

Eight Things You Should Really Be Budgeting For But Probably Aren’t.

No one hears the word ‘budget’ and gets excited. It’s the total opposite. People hear that they should be budgeting and immediately, they shut down, feeling defensive that they should have to stop spending on things that they want and start being responsible.

Here’s a little secret: no one wants to spend their money on the bills and the serious things, but adulthood includes budgeting and spending money on smart decisions.

Of course, there’s always room to spend a little cash on yourself – life wouldn’t be exciting without that little surplus for fun things to buy.

However, if you really want to know why you don’t have as much cash as your calculator says that you should, you’ve got to start creating a budget.

You don’t necessarily need one of the very many budgeting apps on the market, but you do need to consider taking out a pen and notepad and writing things down.

Budgeting is the most adult thing that you can do, and you can use websites like Pigly.Com to ensure that you are getting your facts and figures right.

Have you budgeted for retirement? Emergencies? Insurances? All of these adult items are never any fun to budget for in the same way holidays and spa days are, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be budgeting for them.

The right calculators will be able to tell you where you’re spending your money, but you have to be honest with yourself about your spending, too.

There is a catch, though. You could be carefully penning all the regular expenses that you have each month, but there are some things that people just don’t budget for and that can be a problem!

For example, if you’re not budgeting for your retirement, then you will be too busy living for today to remember that there will be a day that you really do need the extra cash.

It won’t be obvious until it’s far too late, though, and that’s where budgeting comes in to save you. There are all the usual things that you should be budgeting for every month and keeping track of, but then there are these eight things that you mustn’t forget to account for:

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Home Improvements. If you’re a homeowner, you are the person in charge of repairs and replacements in your home. If the boiler breaks down, there’s no landlord to call and talk to about a replacement, it’s on you to replace it. The last thing that you need to worry about is not having enough budgeted and put by for it, so you should be putting a piece of your monthly salary to one side to account for repairs. Keeping your house in good order is going to keep your family safe. The water heaters, the boiler and the roof are all important things you should be budgeting for where repairs are concerned.

Life Insurance. Whether you are planning a family, or you already have one, you need to think about life insurance for yourselves. At any time, you could find yourself in a situation where your partner will need to collect yours or vice versa after death. Using companies like Blumenshine Law Group can help you if there are problems. It’s something you should budget for, because then you don’t have to worry about how the rest of your family will manage should something happen to you.

Wedding. It doesn’t matter whether you are planning your own wedding, or you are about to be a guest of one – or several – you need a budget. If it’s your wedding, you’re going to need to consider the costs overall of your own big day. If you are a guest, you need to think about travel, accommodation, outfits, gifts – it all adds up when you’re attending weddings for a lot of friends or family members. It’s not something to miss out on.

Pet Insurance. Your furry friends that live with you aren’t always easy to live with, particularly when they get themselves into bother or find themselves sick with a cancer. You need to be able to afford the vets bills and pet insurance so that you’re not spending every penny you have on them when the time comes. Always be ready for the regular vaccinations, food and litter expenses; these happen more than once a year.

Clothes. Believe it or not, most people don’t factor in new clothes into their regular budgets. Trends change, and whether you are thinking about work clothes or your regular outfits, they will wear out over time. Even if you hate shopping for clothes, there will be times where you will have to spend out and buy new ones. You will need to have professional clothing for work, so make sure that you are budgeting for repairs – including shoe repairs when you inevitably break a heel.

Car Repairs. If you have a vehicle on the road, you’re going to have car insurance, which is easy to factor into your budget. That with fuel are easy things to anticipate. However, you can’t always predict when the brake pads are going to go, or the gearbox is going to start making that crunching noise. When you put repairs into your budget, you are expecting the unexpected. Set aside some of your salary every month to cover repairs, which will help when they do crop up, because then you don’t have to scramble to find the cash.

Personal Care. How often do you realise it’s been six months since your last salon appointment? Yeah, it happens to everyone. Start putting a haircut fund into your budget; it doesn’t have to be much, but it does have to cover your own personal care when you need it. This can be anything from accessories to your hair care regime and beauty regime. Remember to take care of yourself with your own earnings – it’s surprising how many don’t!

Memberships. The gym, the local social club, annual passes; these memberships are great, and you need to consider how much you pay each month or quarter and make sure that you pop the money on your budget. They quickly add up when you put them all together but check what you’re paying for. If there are any in there that you don’t want to pay for anymore, then drop them. Think about taking them off your budget and saving the money instead for other things.

Fun. Lastly, the one thing you really should factor into your budget is some fun. You need to know it’s not all about bills and payments in life. Take some of your budget just for you to go a little silly – it’ll keep you alive.

To Sum Up

Budgeting is for everyone, you just have to find out what works for you and go from there. It’s the best way to keep track of your cash and stay money smart.

What Resources Do You Need In Your Financial Life?

When you’re someone that’s incredibly conscious about your finances, it’s going to be important to you that you can keep on track. Whether you’re someone that is prioritizing your finances in life, or you even have a financial business that you’re working on, or you’re in a financial career, you may benefit from some key resources to help you. When you’re trying to improve your processes, you may want to be able to come up with the best financial goals or approaches to help you to do this. Maybe you want to help yourself get your personal finances in order? Or maybe you want to make your career or business life easier and more effective? Either way, take a look at some key resources that can help you here.

#1 Organizational Tools

So first of all, we have the tools that you have available to you to help you keep as organized as possible. When you’re first starting out with organizing your personal finances in particular, you’re going to want to turn to the right tools to simplify things for you. Here, spreadsheets with a great tracking system, or even budgeting apps, can really help you. So make sure that you’re looking for the tools that help you to keep your finances organized.

#2 A Driven Mindset

But sometimes, the resources you need aren’t always going to be physical tools. Sometimes, they can actually be a mindset thing. Being driven and committed can help you here. Like when you want to buy a house, if you’re going to reach your goals, you need to be dedicated in order to do this. Because if you’re someone that gives up easily, or that gets overwhelmed by things taking a long time, you won’t be able to make this happen.

#3 Specialist Software

So when it comes to your financial business or career more specifically, you may find that the right software will make things easier for you to manage. When you have specialist software or platforms, such as an automated trading platform, you can ensure that you’re being efficient and effective. So think about what programs in particular can benefit you here.

#4 A Vision Board

Then, you may find that a vision board is going to help you. When you’re able to see what you want, or when you can actually picture what you’re working for or working on, it’s a great motivator. Even for work, you may find that having a vision board, or just jotting down ideas before you start a project, is going to help you to organize all of the financial aspects that keep you on track.

#5 Support

Finally, you may also find that you just need some support too. Because when you’re trying to keep your financial life on track, or you’re working on a financial business, you can get yourself stressed out from time to time. Whether finances come naturally or not, things can be intense. So it’s handy to have some support. Here, you could think about the work support you need to get more done, like outsourced services or an assistant. But also, the support you need from friends or your partner so that you can switch off too.

So You Want To Buy A House? Here’s What You Need

If you’re someone that aims to buy a house, then you’re not alone. Because wanting to own your home is a huge and very normal part of life. But it’s also probably the biggest expense that you’re ever going to look at. Not only for the money that you put into the house in the beginning, but also the overall cost that you end up paying with your mortgage. So it’s handy to really know what it takes to make this happen. So let’s consider some of the things you need to do it.

Save For The Downpayment

So first of all, you’re going to want to get your downpayment together. While this can vary, as you can see from the infographic below, this could be around 3.5% of the property value. So come up with a savings plan and get your money together for this.

Work On Your Credit Score

Next up, you’re then going to want to make sure that your credit score is a great as it can be. Because this is going to impact on the rate that you can get. If it’s going to take you a while to get the money together, you can work on your credit in the meantime.

Look For Lenders

And then, you just need to find the lender that you like. Make sure that you consider all of the loan terms that are available to you. As you will want to make sure that you can get the best rate and terms.

For more information, check out the infographic below.

Infographic Design By how to get a FHA mortgage

The Best Way to Invest in Yourself

Deciding how to spend (or save) your money can take some careful thought. When you’re thinking about the best ways to invest your money for the future, you probably focus on growing your savings and having valuable assets. Spending money on yourself can seem unnecessary and might even feel guilty. But investing in yourself is one of the best ways to improve your future and your finances. If you spend your money wisely, you can make yourself a more valuable employee or get the skills you need to run a business. Take a look at the advice below to find out how to invest in yourself wisely.

#1 Build on Your Education and Grow Your Skills

Investing in your education is one of the best ways that you can spend money on yourself and your future. It doesn’t have to mean spending thousands on college, although getting a degree or diploma can be a great way to boost your income potential. There are other ways to learn and grow your skills, even without spending any money. There are plenty of online courses to help you make sure you have the most in-demand skills. For example, the Udemy Python course is one of the most popular. Learning online helps you to keep your costs down and even access free courses.

#2 Invest in Your Hobbies

What do you enjoy doing? You can feel guilty about spending money on the things that you like to do in your spare time. However, there are benefits to investing in your hobbies and building skills in these areas too. You never know where a hobby can take you and how it could change your thinking. It might teach you creative problem-solving skills that you can apply at work. You might turn your hobby into a business, or perhaps it could lead to you making some valuable connections that help you in your career.

#3 Spend Money on Traveling

Another great way to invest in yourself is to spend money on traveling. Seeing the world helps to expand your horizons, can help you to learn new things, and might mean you make some useful connections too. Some people end up thinking of business ideas when they’re on their travels, finding someone who wants to employ them, or even discovering a new career path that they want to take. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on traveling, but it can benefit you in many ways.

#4 Invest in Financial Education

Spending money on learning how to manage your money could benefit you for a lifetime. With the skills and knowledge you need to make smart decisions about spending, saving and investing, you can secure your financial future. There are lots of ways to learn more about how to handle your finances, from taking a course to hiring a financial advisor and learning from the advice that they give you.

NB! Spending money on yourself doesn’t have to make you feel guilty. In fact, it’s one of the best things that you can do with your money.

Making Money Without Having a Job

There are many ways to make money, today, and whilst once upon a time we were dependent on a standard job, working 9-5, thanks to the internet and modern technology in addition to a shift in the way we perceive work, more and more people are working remotely and/or on a freelance basis with a preference toward side hustles, entrepreneurship and passive income over the daily grind of working a standard 9-5 job.

The remote working lifestyle has many advantages, yet one of the challenges can be coming up with ways to make money in the first place.

Here are six ways to make money without having a conventional job.

1. SET UP A BLOG

The great thing with starting a blog is that it costs very little money to get into, and in terms of the technology powering the blog most things today are as simple as “drag and drop”. That said, just because you have a blog doesn’t mean you are going to make money – it’s all about how you leverage the blog as a platform to generate cash.

Think about it this way, the thing that makes a blog an asset are not the words written on the page or the fancy memes – it’s the visitor engagement – and this is essentially what you are selling when it comes to making money from your blog. For instance, advertisers are not paying you because you have a blog, they are paying to be seen by your blog’s visitors.

One of the best ways to make money from a blog is to engage in something known as affiliate marketing, this is where you essentially recommend a product to your readers and in return, the person or company that gets a sale as a result of your recommendation compensates you with a referral commission.

Sometimes this can be for less than $1 if the item you are recommending is of reasonably low value, such as a book on Amazon, whereas if you were promoting a luxury holiday or expensive event, then the commission you receive can be for several hundred dollars. The best thing about this, is you’re not actively using up your time in order to make this money, it’s not like you are having to go out and trying to sell people on something – you’re simply making a recommendation, providing a link, and if a person clicks that link and goes on to buy the product, then you make a referral commission.

The other thing you can do, to make more money, is to create an online course that you can sell on your blog – this way, once the course is created (which might take several days or weeks) you have an asset you can leverage multiple times. Let’s say you sell your course for $100, and each week, you sell 5 courses, minus the payment provider fee of 5% you are making 95% profit on this, which would be $475 a week – in passive income.

2. PROPERTY INVESTING

If you’re interested in retiring early, then property investing is one of the most viable ways to achieve this goal. Whether you buy a new property in some faraway land or a do-upper just down the street, there’s vast potential to make money by investing in property; particularly if you rent it out, meaning you get rental income in the short term and capital appreciation in the long term.

The challenge, however, with property investing is that unlike setting up a blog that requires very little in the way of capital investment, properties are expensive and you kind of need money to make money – so whilst this is perhaps one of the most lucrative and stable opportunities that does lead to financial freedom for many people, it’s not necessarily accessible for everyone.

3. WORK AS A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

This is similar to having a job, yet it is a lot more flexible and autonomous as you get to set your own hours and choose who you work with. The majority of VA’s can be found in countries such as India and the Philippines, meaning you will be competing with people that are able to charge a lot less than you may be accustomed to, as the cost of living in the local area is much less.

That said, the benefit of being local in the sense of natively speaking the language of an employer and understanding cultural references and expectations holds a lot of value, and therefore you might be able to charge a premium for your service.

This is particularly pertinent in consideration of the fact most people looking for a VA reside in the UK, US or Australia.

4. SELL T-SHIRTS

This is a growing trend within e-commerce, and can be an incredibly easy way to make a decent income… but most important the income is generated passively as you can set up automated systems to process everything – meaning it can run on autopilot rather than requiring you to put loads of time into it each day.

How it works is that that sign up to a site such as TeeSpring which is free, then you use their simple design interface to create the design of a t-shirt, then you set a sales goal and a sales price which will determine how much the company pays you per shirt.

From here, you go out and advertise (e.g. Facebook Ads) in order to get people to buy the shirt, and presuming you reach your sales goal, the shirt will be printed and distributed by the company – who will then pay you a handsome reward as the creator.

5. GET PAID FOR YOUR EXPERTISE

If you have a high level of knowledge about a specific topic then you can charge for this expertise in the form of consultancy. The tricky bit, of course, is finding people to pay for your knowledge and expertise – which is where platforms such as JustAnswer come in to play.

The general format for these websites is that a question will be posed to an expert, and you provide the answer. If the person asking the question approves the answer, then the website will pay you for the answer (having taken out a cut for their fees). In financial terms, you could be making $10 – $20 per accepted answer, which can definitely mount up, particularly if you’re expertise is in a popular subject area.

6. BE PAID TO WRITE

There are a huge number of opportunities for people that can write today, due to the explosion of content marketing and blogs many people are making a decent living working as a freelance writer. Now, there’s a large difference between a writer in the context of an author that writes books, and the type of writing we’re talking about here, as the writing that pays tends to be purpose-driven in the sense that it could be ad copy for example, though the majority of writing gigs tend to pertain to blog articles.

The trick, if you’re looking to make a decent income from writing is to arrange a plethora of opportunities rather than rely solely on one particular revenue stream – and perhaps to mix things up a little, as writing can get a bit mundane, particularly if you’re tasked with the same genre of projects each day, therefore you could work within different niches so there’s a topical difference or perhaps do some blog writing in addition to advertising copy, just to keep things interesting.