Archive for the ‘Making Money’ Category:
10 of the Worst Paying College Majors
What you major in can have a huge impact in how much you earn. Here are some of the worst paying degrees, according to Wallet Pop. The number in parentheses the average mid-career salary, so you’ll actually be making less than the quoted figures right out of school.
1 – Social work ($41,600)
No surprise here. Social work is a thankless job with pretty bad pay. I understand someone has to do it, but this isn’t a great job for building wealth. I think it takes a very strong person to give up many of the luxuries that come with making more money.
2 – Elementary education ($42,000)
I was surprised to see this on the list. But once I thought about it some more, it makes sense. High school and middle school teachers make more because the subjects they teach are often more difficult – calculus, physics, literature, etc. Of course, part of a teacher’s education is to learn how to manage a classroom full of children, not an easy task.
3 – Theology ($51,500)
I don’t think anyone goes into this field for the cash flow. It’s all about the guy upstairs, right? I personally find religious discussions and concepts really interesting, but have no interest in making it my career.
4 – Music ($52,000)
I’ve always heard that the only job you can get with a degree in music is teaching. This obviously isn’t completely true, but the music field is definitely for those with a strong passion (that doesn’t include money!).
5 – Spanish ($52,600)
Hmmm. I thought Spanish was one of the fastest growing spoken languages? Maybe translating and the like just don’t pay well? I would consider a language minor, but I’d never major in one. To me, one language doesn’t seem broad enough.
6 – Horticulture ($53,400)
I don’t find plants too interesting, and I guess employers don’t either. I’m guessing the non-financial benefits make this job more appealing.
7 – Education ($54,100)
Not for me, but I know quite a few of my classmates who can’t wait to start teaching. I’m somewhat surprised to see this one on the list. Teaching has decent pay, good insurance, summers off (kind of), sick time, etc. Of course, the argument of whether or not teachers are paid what they’re worth is a debate for the ages.
8 – Hospitality and tourism ($54,300)
I think this is a low ball estimate of salary because it doesn’t take into account tips. Being able to see the world for cheap, if not free, isn’t a bad deal.
9 – Fine arts ($56,300)
Definitely not for me! I wouldn’t ever tell someone not to major in the arts, but I wouldn’t encourage them either.
10 – Drama ($56,600)
If you make it big, then drama has a great return on investment. If not, you might be waiting tables for a long time.
Thoughts…
Interestingly, it doesn’t seem like the pay potential for these majors is absolutely horrible. Engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc. will of course make more, but it’s not impossible to make a life by making $40,000-$50,000 per year. If you’re thinking of going into one these fields, you might want to double check that your chosen school is affordable. Spending six figures for a job that pays less than $50,000 probably isn’t the best idea.
I’m Not Talkin ‘Bout Rich, I’m Talkin ‘Bout Wealth
This video from Chris Rock does a pretty damn fine job of showcasing the difference between rich and wealth. Warning: Extremely explicit language. Plug in head-phones or bookmark this post for a later date if you’re located in an office or school.
Obviously, Rock is using the example of the super wealthy (see: Bill Gates) and the super-rich (see: celebrities that could lose their money in a summer with a drug habit).
But the general concept is the same for “middle-class” citizens.
Usually, we use the words “wealth” and “rich” interchangeably. Someone who has a really nice home, car, and job is said to be rich. Likewise, we assume they are wealthy.
But realistically, the two terms don’t mean the same thing. At least, I don’t think they should.
Rich is subjective. My definition of rich might differ from yours. Plus, you can appear to be rich when you’re actually broke. Rich can be taken away or lost in the blink of an eye. This is because the rich are often controlled by other entities like banks and corporations. Or, they squander away their new-found richness (see: lottery winners).
The financial crisis going on over the past few years is proof of this. Tons of people in the U.S. borrowed to “buy” private school educations, fancy cars, and huge homes. They whipped out a credit card to fuel exotic vacations and a nicer day-to-day life.
Then, banks tightened up credit. Credit card interest rates went through the roof. Companies downsized and rightsized. People suddenly found themselves in a big mess.
These individuals may have been rich (by living off credit cards and using their decent income to secure financing) in appearance, but they certainly were not wealthy.
Wealth can’t be faked. Wealth can’t be taken away because of the decisions other people make. Wealth, in its simplest form, is a set of behaviors that lead to financial success.
Some of these factors include:
- Saving a certain amount or percentage from every paycheck
- Refusing to take on debt except when necessary (like a home mortgage)
- Spending less than you earn
These factors aren’t new or exciting. They’re honestly just common sense. If the entire working population (including teens) were to just simply start saving 10% of their pay, millions of people would be better off. And that’s just one small behavioral modification
At the end of the day, remember that you have the power to make wealth happen. Being rich though, is often just a fad.
How I Saved Up for My Own Car
Rusty Car by dandeluca on Flickr.
There are lot of theories on what’s the best way for a new driver to get a car. Some think the parents should pay for it all while others prefer a 50/50 split. Still others think the best way is for the child to save up all the money himself. I’ll admit I’m not sure which is the best policy. But I explain how my own came to be in my possession.
My state is the home of the 4-H program. If you haven’t heard of this before, I’d encourage you to check out the Wikipedia entry here. Basically, it’s a youth organization that for me, always had an agricultural center. Through this program and participating county fairs, you purchase and raise animals (dairy feeders, steers, pigs, goats, turkeys). At the end of the fair, you sell the animal through an auction style market.
I was able to buy a car through the selling of these 4-H “projects”. There are other projects that deal with other fields of agriculture like soil quality and crop growing along with science and civics. I took dairy feeders (what most people would call cows) and pigs during my 4-H career. At first glance, this might seem like I was just earning all this money by myself. But that’s not the case. You have to remember that:
Caring for livestock is not cheap. You have to buy the animal, feed it, shelter it, and transport it. All of this costs money. My dad covered most of these expenses. In later years, I was responbile for buying the animal. If my dad had not covered these costs, then 4-H would not have been nearly as financially lucrative as it was for me. But it was lucrative in another way…
It taught me that sometimes you have to do stuff you don’t want to.
I was never huge fan of 4-H. There were meetings to go to. I had to feed my animals. I had to walk my animals. Pulling a 400 pound dairy feeder around my yard was not fun. I never really wanted to play the role of farmer. The months of work were rewarded by one week of fair. But it was pretty much the only option I had to make enough money to buy a car someday. So I joined and participated for four years. After those four years, I quit because I didn’t want to do it anymore and I figured I had enough money for a semi-decent automobile.
Looking back now though, I realize my dad was a reward-child-for-hard-work genius. It was made clear in my family that if you didn’t participate in 4-H (or figure out another way of earning money), you would not be receiving a car as a gift. This motivated me during the few years I participated. Now I wish I would have continued with the program until at least the beginning of high school. I could have accumulated much more in savings and possibly even purchased a nicer car.
I sure didn’t realize the benefits of this type of system at the time. But I really think it did a great job of teaching me that “Stuff” requires work and thanks to my dad’s help, my work really paid off. I’d encourage you to try this type of deal with your parents. Maybe they could match your earnings from a part time job up to a certain amount. It might just be the motivation you need.
A Quick Guide to Getting Started with CashCrate
One of the easiest ways to make a bit of cash online is through survey and GPT (Get Paid To) websites. Many allow kids as young as 13 years old to participate, so these options are great for those who can’t yet drive to a regular job. They’re also great for students with some free time on their hands or for stay at home parents who want to earn an extra few bucks.
The 1st service I’ll review is called CashCrate. CashCrate is a site where you get paid to complete offers and “surveys”. I use the term surveys loosely because they only take a few seconds/minutes to complete and it’s just a bit of personal information. Best of all, you only need to be 13 to sign up.
Sign Up
The sign up process is extremely easy. All CashCrate asks for is your name, email address (yes, you can give them your real one) and home address.
Completing Offers
Doing the offers isn’t hard, but it does take some practice. So far, I’ve only done the free ones so those are the ones I’ll talk about here. To select only the free offers, click the down arrow next to “Show” and select “100% Free” Then click go.
From the list, select an offer.
A new window will appear. Sometimes, other windows will pop up. These are almost always ads. But go ahead and let them load, just keep them minimized.
For most of the offers you just need to complete the 1st two pages. Usually the 1st one just asks for your email address. Then the second asks for your mailing address. You do need to give an actual email address, but do not give out your main address. Make up a new one at Gmail, AOL Webmail, or Yahoo. You will receive tons of emails everyday to this address. But remember, it’s technically not spam because you gave permission to be emailed.
Some of the offers have a few pages of yes/no questions. You need to click “Yes” on one of them. But don’t worry, on the next page you’ll be able to cancel. This process takes a few minutes.
You’ll know you’re done when you reach a page like this:
Click to Enlarge
Or you’ll know you’re done when you are presented with a page that says something like “Complete 2 Offers Below to Claim Your Gift”. There is no gift and CashCrate will credit your account without completing those offers.
Once your offer is complete, you can click “Submit” back at the offer listing page. Note: You don’t have to do this, the money will be placed into your account regardless, but this is a helpful way to keep track of which offers you’ve already done. After a few minutes or hours (sometimes days) your account will be credited.
Payment
All this work would be for nothing if CashCrate was a scam and never actually paid. Well I can tell you that CashCrate does indeed pay out. To get paid you just need the following:
- A mailing address on file
- A minimum of 20 dollars in your account
- Time
CashCrate sends out checks once a month for the previous month’s earnings. If you earned $50 dollars in November, you would receive a check around the end of December.
Here’s some proof of payment:
Referrals:
Once you’ve been on a site for a few days and gotten the hang of doing offers, you’ll probably start to hear a lot about referrals. A referral is someone who signs up under you. You get a percentage of every offer they complete. This does not change the amount of money they receive. Referrals can be especially helpful for those under 18, since many of the offers say that only 18 year olds qualify.
Without a doubt, referrals are how many people make most of their money. I would say that offers by themselves can get you 10-100 dollars per month. But all the people you see making a few hundred or even thousand per month have gotten a bunch of referrals to sign up.
Tips:
Every few offers, clear out your cookies and cache. You can do this in FireFox by clicking Tools>Clear Recent History. Make sure “Cookies” is checked. Click “Clear Now”. This will help you get more offers approved. Many offers are run by the same company, so a lot of times, they will only pay out one time. Clearing your cookies, along with using new and different email addresses prevents them from knowing you are the same person.
When filling out offers, never give out your real email address. Make up a new one through Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc. Tons of spam will be sent to whatever address you give in the offer.
Use accurate information. I haven’t noticed any increase in the amount of junk mail I get. I did notice an increase in phone calls though. I put a stop to this by asking the people who called to put my number on their do not call list.
Check out the forums. There are a ton of people that hang out there and are willing to help you. Plus, there’s a large section of payment proofs here. Checking out this page keeps me motivated.
Finally
CashCrate is not a a get rich quick scheme. You actually will not get rich doing these offers. But you can make a little extra money on the side. And some members make around $1000 dollars per month, so it’s possible to make decent money, but you won’t be living off of your CashCrate earnings.
7 Ways for Teens to Make Money
Courtesy of Photos8.com
With the economy still sagging, it’s not easy for a teen or college student to make some money. Many adults are now working in retail sales or restaurants, increasing competition for teens who typically hold these jobs. But that doesn’t mean you can’t earn a few bucks (or more!) on the side. Listed below are some of the best ways to make money, especially if you’re young and have some free time.
1. CashCrate. CashCrate is a website where you complete “offers” (basically viewing advertisements) and you’re paid 25 cents to a dollar for each one you complete. CashCrate has glowing reviews all over the Internet because of its generous referral program (which I am a part of), so few people are willing to tell the whole truth. However, I can say that it’s not a scam and you really will get paid. The main problem is that CashCrate is boring! The clicking can become very tedious! Another positive is that you can make quite a bit with the referral program. I’ve seen people with $300 dollar checks on the message boards.
2. Start a small business. You don’t have to sell the next iPod, but think about a simple service you could provide to your community. Good at fixing computers? Love watching children? Enjoy photography? All of these activities can be transformed into a business by just printing up some flyers and hanging them around your town. Print up some simple business cards from VistaPrint for free
3. Check out school opportunities. A good friend of mine works for our athletic department, handling admissions at football, volleyball, and basketball games. Tutoring can also be a viable option, but make sure you know your subject cold before you start!
4. Start a blog. This won’t make you money right away and you need to have decent writing skills, but blogs can definitely earn a solid income if you work at it. This girl makes $700 a month from her blog! To start, register your own domain name and get web hosting set up. For both of those, I use DreamHost. I’ve had no problems at all with them.
5. Online surveys. Currently, I complete surveys through Survey Savvy. This isn’t a fast earner, but they are completely legitimate and mail out a check whenever you’re ready. I think the vast majority of survey opportunities are for those who are 18 or older, but I still receive at least 3 per month and have for the past few years. Sign up here.
6. Arts and Crafts. If you can make quality, homemade items, you might have luck selling them at local craft fairs or community auctions. The emphasis here is on quality and originality. Also check out Etsy, the online place to sell homemade goods.
7. Sell stuff! Check out eBay and Craigslist. If you’re under 18, you’ll need to use a parent’s account so make sure they’re in on what you’re doing. Even broken iPods and “junk” can be sold for a bit of cash. Also see if you can sell your parents’ stuff and ask for a cut of the profits.
Online Savings Accounts: More Bang for Your Buck
As you can probably tell from the title, I’m a huge fan of online savings accounts. They’re easy to setup, easy to use, and best of all, offer a great interest rate.
So What Exactly is an Online Savings Account?
Online savings accounts (sometimes abbreviated OSA) are provided by virtual banks. Typically, these banks don’t have any physical branches. All account transactions are done through the Internet. Other than that, it’s just like a savings account at your local bank. You put money in, interest accrues, and you can take money out whenever you please.
What Makes Them So Great
The interest rate is awesome. While the bank down the street probably pays interest, look carefully at that number. It’s probably below 0.25%. The two banks closest to my house only pay out 0.05%! Ridiculous. An online savings account can easily pay 1% or more. The account I have right now through ING Direct pays 1.29%
Using the account is ridiculously easy. If you can use Facebook, you can use an online savings account. Most banks have a simple design and nothing is more than a few mouse clicks away.
How Exactly Do They Work?
Simply put, your online bank account connects electronically to your checking account you have at your local bank. This means you will need to setup a checking account at a local bank if you haven’t already.
Through this electronic connection, you can transfer money back and forth. If you have cash you want to save, just deposit it to your checking account and then start a transfer to savings. This is done through your online bank’s website. Transfers typically take between 2-5 days.
Also, statements are emailed instead of snail mailed.
Is It Safe?
Yes. The online banking system is encrypted using all kinds of computer code stuff that I don’t understand. That’s kind of the point, after all. All I know is that someone “hacking” my account is extremely unlikely. I’m more concerned about someone stealing my debit card from my wallet than some computer hacker gaining access to my online savings account.
Any legitimate bank, online or off, will be insured by the United Stated government. Look for something called FDIC insurance. This means that if the bank were to fail or go out of business for any reason, your money will be safe and sound (up to $250,000).
How Do I Get Started?
I’ve had a great experience with ING Direct. They’ve been around since 2000 and provide great service. But there are other banks you can take a look at such as Ally Bank, Emigant Direct, HSBC, and E*Trade.
But…if you open an account through one of the following text links and deposit at least $250, ING Direct will give you $25! That’s a 10% return just for opening the account! I’ll get $10, so it’s a win-win. Actually, you win a little more than me. 
If you don’t have $250 to open an account with, that’s OK. Use the following link:
ING Direct $25 Account Opening Bonus
ING Direct $25 Account Opening Bonus
If you click one of those links and receive a message that says the offer has expired, just shoot me an email: ryan AT thefinancialstudent DOT com or use my contact page. I’ll get you hooked up.
Novel Way to Pay for College: Sex
Ladies, if you’re looking for a way to pay for college, I’ve come across an option that doesn’t require any debt.
From ABC News:
A cash-strapped New Zealand student who auctioned off her virginity to help pay for university said she had accepted an offer of $NZ45,000 to sleep with a stranger.
In case you were wondering, prostitution is legal in New Zealand so no laws are being broken. Morally, I suppose it’s questionable, but is this really much worse than a one night stand? I would even argue that a guy buying a girl drinks is a form of prostitution. After all, he’s giving her money in the form of alcohol with the hope of sleeping with her! What struck me as really odd was that she didn’t include a picture in the auction, so buyer must not be too concerned with looks.
What do you think? Morally bankrupt or business savvy?
Great Part-Time Job Opportunity for Teens: Census Worker
Courtesy of willhowells on Flickr!
As you may or may not know, the United States Constitution requires that a census (a counting of the population) be conducted every 10 years. Obviously, trying to count everyone in the country isn’t any easy task so the U.S Government employs people to help gather the information. The job pays pretty well for part-time work and it’s perfect for graduating seniors or college students with a free summer.
What’s Involved?
According to 2010.census.gov, your duties require you to
Locate households
Explain the purpose of the census
Conduct brief personal interviews with residents
Record responses on paper forms
You’ll basically go to homes in your community and help individuals fill out the census form that every household receives. You might also be asked to check in on households who haven’t returned the form. The data you collect is basic stuff: # of people living in the house, age, sex, etc. To do this, you do need a valid driver’s license and access to a car. Also, you need to be able to work when people are usually home: weekends and in the evening.
How Much Does it Pay?
Pay varies by city, so check out this map to find out exactly what you’ll earn. In my area, census takers will earn $13.25 per hour.
Another great benefit: you’re paid WEEKLY. You can have your paycheck deposited directly into a checking account or choose to receive a paper check.
You can also be reimbursed for job expenses.
OK, I’m In! How Do I Get Started?
First, make sure you’re eligible to apply. The following is required:
You are able to read, write, and speak English.
You are a U.S. citizen.
You are a legal permanent resident, or non-citizen with an appropriate work visa, and you possess a bilingual skill for which there are no available qualified U.S. citizens.
You are at least 18 years old.
You have a valid social security number.
You take a written test of basic skills.
You have a valid driver’s license.
You pass a background check.
You commit to four days of training. You will be paid for training days. Training can be held either during daytime hours or during evening and weekend hours.
If none of those disqualify you, continue on.
Go ahead and call up your local census office. You can find a phone number using the map here. You’ll need to schedule an appointment to take a test. Don’t worry, it’s mainly just to make sure you have basic math, reading, and map reading skills. Also, you only answer 28 questions. And you can retake it again if you need to.
Once you make an appointment, you just need to fill out this application.
Overall, this seems like a great opportunity for students. I can’t think of many places I could work this summer and earn much more than minimum wage. The lady I spoke to told me that the majority of work won’t be done until summer, so if you’re graduating high school (or college), you can still apply. If you aren’t 18 yet, but will be within a few months, go ahead and call your local office. I did, and they’re letting me take the test Wednesday; a month before my 18th birthday.
