Is It Better To Save Money Or Pay Down Debt in 2015?

This is one of those chicken and the egg type questions. No matter which side of the argument you take there are strong reasons to believe the other side. 

Many Americans are wondering which financial task they should tackle first. The chicken or the egg? Pay off debt or save money? 

Simple math suggests it’s better to get rid of your debt before saving money for an emergency fund and/or retirement.  If you look at the current interest rates for savings accounts (currently hovering around 1%) and compare it to the interest rate on your debt (credit cards usually charge about 18%), you’ll quickly see your money would go farther paying off your debt first. 

So is that the end of the argument? No. Rarely are financial decisions so black and white. Like most decisions, this too is about striking the right balance for you and your unique situation. 

Building savings before paying debt 

Every personal finance expert believes that having money stocked away for an emergency fund, a rainy day and retirement is paramount. To some it’s the most important pillar to finding financial success. 

The idea is you need to be prepared for the unexpected – like job loss, car repairs, health issues, etc. If you aren’t then you’ll simply add on more debt should you be unprepared. 

Although other personal finance experts advocate you sock away 3-6 months’ worth of monthly expenses in an emergency fund; I believe in these tough economic times you need to have six months to a year’s worth of salary saved up. If you do lose your job, it’s a tough market out there and you may not find another job quickly or you may only find ones that offer you less pay than your previous job. 

While your dollar may go further by paying off debt when you compare interest rates there are a number of situations in which it makes perfect sense to save money before paying down debt.  Generally speaking, any time your employer offers a matching program for retirement you should put your extra cash towards that instead of using it to pay off debt. Doing this essentially doubles whatever you save, plus it goes into the stock market which typically sees returns of 10% or higher a year. 

You should also build savings instead of paying off debt when the interest rate on your debt is low. Usually interest rates on car loans are zero or very low interest rates. In these cases you’d do better to make monthly payments on your vehicle and use any extra money each month to build up an emergency fund or put it towards retirement. 

Other than these scenarios it’s tough to justify channeling your extra cash towards savings accounts that are earning virtually no money. Especially when your debt is costing you way more each month that you have a balance. For every dollar you put in savings, several more are lost to loan interest. 

Paying Debt Before Building Savings 

Given that math, paying down high-interest debt before building up any savings makes good financial sense. If a man has $10,000 in savings (earning 1%) and $10,000 in credit card debt (at a rate of 14%), he is losing 13% of his money unnecessarily each year. 

Unfortunately, even though the math makes sense, many people do the opposite. Most people find more joy in numbers that go up, rather than down. This causes people to save money rather than pay down debt. Often times, people who just pay down debt get depressed and give up when they see how slowly a repayment process works. 

Even though the answer to this riddle is pay debt before diverting your money to high-interest savings accounts, most people need to do both. This way they get good emotional feedback by seeing both their savings balance rise and their debt load go down. 

The added benefit of this approach is that you train yourself to develop good money habits.  Cultivating sound spending and saving habits will benefit you even after you pay off your debt. Once the debt is gone, you should divert that money you were spending each month to your savings account rather than use it for spending. It may be easier to do this if you’ve been doing it for any length of time and have gotten used to not being able to spend that money. 

How much should you pay towards debt while building up savings? This really depends on the size of your debt. The more debt you have, the more money you should put towards paying it off.  I recommend using the 80/20 rule. Put 80% of the money you have after paying your monthly bills towards your debt and the remaining 20% towards building up a nest egg. Once you’ve built up a sizeable amount in your nest egg – enough to cover at least six months’ worth of expenses – change that ratio to 90/10. Put 90% of your money towards your debt and put the remaining 10% in savings. 

Whatever method you prefer, make paying off your debt and saving money a priority. You’ll never find financial success if you have debt and no savings to speak of. You also won’t find success if you have debt and savings. The only way to be financially free and live a stress free existence is to eliminate your debt. For helpful suggestions on how to pay off your debt faster, read my article on debt repayment plans. A better way is to increase your income so you can pay off debt and build up savings even faster, if you want to find out how to do that you can check out this program. 


Keeping Money in Your Pocket, 

Nancy Patterson 

Marketing Your Business - and Profiting - with Online Video

Mention online video and what pops into mind?

Cats and dogs getting into silly situations? Or if you're a sports nut, maybe it's the year's top 10 soccer goals or golf shots. Kids doing funny things, perhaps? I don’t have to list them all – you no doubt have some on your Facebook page right now.

But even the most popular “viral” videos, the ones that rack up hundreds of thousands of views, don’t make any money. Sure there are some exceptions.

“David After Dentist,” which features a young boy talking to his dad as the effects of anesthesia wear off and has 108 million views, is estimated to have made David (or his parents) a profit in the low six figures through sales of T-shirts and other merchandise. But that really is the exception to the rule.

That’s why today we’re not going to be discussing viral videos. Instead we’ll focus on a whole other type of online video, one you’ve probably seen before but didn’t give much thought to its money-making potential. 

Videos in this market can form the basis of an entire business. As you’ll see in a moment, they can get you more bang for your marketing buck, make content creation fun and easy, and much, much more.

And if you’re worried about not having the skills or equipment necessary… rest assured that you don’t need any on-camera experience, editing skills, fancy software or expensive cameras and lights. I’ll show you how to put together professional looking videos with low-cost solutions all around. And give you tips for getting comfortable in the spotlight.

With a little practice you’ll be making profitable videos in no time.

Speaking of online video let me share with you a video that actually had me pulling out my wallet.

On a recent trip to Costa Rica my family and I decided to head down to the Pacific coast for a day trip. There are a ton of wildlife tours in the area, and we were having trouble picking which activity we wanted to do… that is until we saw the video for Jose’s Crocodile Tour. You can check out the whole video here: http://www.crocodilerivertour.com/.

Why Make Online Videos?

Let's get the most obvious question out of the way first: why should you go through the trouble of making videos for your online business?

The simple answer is, people love watching them. After all, which would you prefer: reading page after page of information, or watching a video that actually shows that same information in a much more exciting, stimulating manner?

Plus, online videos aren’t just attractive to people. They will also increase the visibility of your website on search engines like Google and Bing. Here’s an industry secret: Websites that contain videos will appear higher on the list of search results than those that don't. And hosting videos on YouTube (owned by Google) is also a guaranteed traffic driver – just be sure to include your main website’s URL in the video or in the information section below.

Say you have a website that teaches how to use digital cameras and on your website you include videos that demonstrate the features of the different models you review.

If somebody does a search on how to operate a digital camera, your website will automatically be higher on the list of results than those without videos. Your competitors without videos may even do a more thorough and knowledgeable job than you, but since the search algorithms used by Google and other search engines favor websites with videos, your website will be closer to the top every time.

And the more eyeballs that land on your website, the more money in your pocket.

The sky’s the limit when it comes to the type of videos you can create: how-to or instructional, travel, talk shows, “talking head,” webinars (using Camtasia, which records your computer screen), interviews with experts in your niche… basically, almost anything can be an online video.

Check out other websites in your niche or do a YouTube search to get some ideas.

Profiting From Your Online Videos

There are a couple of ways for you to turn your online videos into money in the bank.

If you have an existing Internet business, simply start adding video content with the guidelines below (you can skip ahead a bit, if you like). If you’re a new online entrepreneur, you must first pick a niche for your business.

One of the most profitable kinds of video to produce are instructional videos. People are watching these videos for their informational content, not their production value, so your approach can be relatively low-tech. This means a smaller start-up investment.

For example, a carpenter friend of mine, J.R., recently started making a series of how-to videos showing how to make simple wood-working projects. It started out purely as a hobby, a creative outlet for something he loved to do.

His setup: a single camera set on a bookshelf pointed at his workbench and a microphone hanging overhead, just out of frame. J.R. doesn't need fancy lighting or flashy special effects - part of the appeal of his videos are their simplicity. And just like him, with a little ingenuity, you can make your lack of polish an asset, not a handicap. By making these short, instructional videos, J.R. turned a hobby into a tidy little passive income of $1,000+ a month.

The important thing is to pick something you're passionate or knowledgeable about. Like J.R., his start-up cost was limited to a camera and the microphone – that should be your initial goal. Since carpentry is his trade, he already had all the tools he needed. And like most folks, he already had a computer. Nothing fancy, either, just your standard desktop.

It's important to remember - you're not looking to make the next Hollywood special effects bonanza - just a clean, effective production with valuable information.

But you also want to pick a topic that will appeal to a wide range of people. Your passion might be bird-feeders, for example, but that is probably too narrow of a niche to turn a profit by making informational bird-feeder videos. If you wanted to expand your scope to all-around care for birds, on the other hand, and include videos on cages, seeds, hygiene and yes, bird-feeders, then you might be on to something.

Once you have your niche continue on…

If you're making your own videos for the first time, you'll probably want to offer them for free. Because you'll be offering your informational videos for free, you'll need to build a library, or hub, of information for your target niche.

In addition to the videos you make, you can include articles, podcasts, or anything else you can think of that contains information your prospect will find useful. But, of course, videos are going to be the main focus.

All these videos and other types of content will, as I mentioned previously, drive traffic to your website. People searching for information on your niche will find you through Google or Bing.

Because you have informative and fun-to-watch videos, that’ll speed up the process of having viewers come to know, like, and trust you. That’s absolutely essential for a prospect to turn into an actual customer… and then a repeat customer.

In this model you won’t actually sell your videos – let’s save that for a future essay. For now, you’ll be making money on website ads and affiliate marketing. So the videos themselves are more like marketing tools.

First, look into Google AdSense and sign up as a publisher. Google will give you a little code you can pop into your site to automatically run ads related to the content throughout. Each time a visitor clicks on those ads you make a few cents (or more, depending on the topic). May not seem like much, but when you’re talking about thousands of website visitors… it can add up over the course of a month.

Then you’ll start offering affiliate products. The beauty of affiliate marketing is that when somebody buys something by clicking through your site, your revenue is guaranteed - and there isn't the hassle of customer service or shipping. You advertise (through ads or editorial mentions) and then get a commission on sales – that’s it.

You'll be able to place both the space ads and affiliate product mentions throughout your website. And since your website contains video, more people will find your page, which means more people will click on the advertising on your site.

How to Make Great Online Videos

Making a video can seem like a daunting task: gathering equipment, shooting video and audio, editing, adding titles and music…for the entrepreneur who didn't study filmmaking in school, it can seem a little overwhelming.

And while there are plenty of companies out there that can take your ideas and turn out a professional-looking product, making a great-looking and effective video yourself is not as hard as you think.

Let's break it down step-by-step:

1. Get Your Equipment (The Essentials)

Chances are, as an online entrepreneur, you already have one of the most important tools needed to make online videos: a computer. Many computers today even come preloaded with easy, intuitive video-editing software. But if you have to buy the software, there are plenty of programs under $100 that will fit your needs. Some programs, like Video Spin and Serif MoviePlus Starter, come with a free trial so you can try them out first and find the one you're most comfortable with. Windows Movie Maker is free.

The next piece of equipment you'll need is a digital camcorder. A simple flip cam will do the job – but even your digital point-and-shoot should have a video option and even your iPhone has the ability to shoot high-quality video.

Also, not vital… but you also might try an external mic to boost audio quality. But don't worry, they're cheap. Check out Amazon.com for plenty of options under $20.

As far as lighting, use what you already have – table lamps, windows, whatever you can think of. You might try a utility floodlight from Home Depot – about $10. Just be sure to watch out for pesky shadows.

For the true beginner, you might not even want to think about editing. All you really need to make a video is a simple point-and-shoot camera. You shoot your video, transfer it to your computer using the software included with your camera, and upload to an internet video-hosting site, like YouTube or Vimeo.

2. Cast Your Video (The Fun Part)

If you're comfortable being on camera, by all means, be the "talent" in your videos. But if you're camera-shy, don't worry. You don't even need an on-screen person. Many successful online videos feature voice-over narration alone. The software program Camtasia is handy for this, especially when you’re demonstrating something on your computer.

But if you're producing a video on a topic you're not familiar with, think about hiring a qualified expert. For example, if you're at the gym one day and notice an elderly gentleman with muscles that a twenty year old would envy, consider approaching him with an idea to make informational videos showcasing his specific workout routine. It can't hurt to ask, and who knows, you may have just discovered an untapped niche market!

3. Shoot and Edit (The Big Part)

When you're making your first video or two, simplicity is the key. Just make sure you or your subject is in focus. And stay out of shadows. Maybe open the blinds to get better lighting. Experiment with camera angles. These little details can really have a big impact and can transform your videos from seeming like amateur efforts to solid, professional, and reliable products. And once you've found the right set-up of camera, lighting, and sound, you'll be able to use it over and over.

Other items to consider: who is your target audience? If you're marketing to children, the tone and style of your video will be very different than if you are marketing to lawyers. Are you going to insert graphics or music? What types would be appropriate for the market you're trying to reach?

Also, decide on a balance between information and entertainment. A purely informational video might make the viewer feel like they're in a classroom while a video that mixes information with humor, for example, will not only hold their attention, but also get them excited about your product.

Too much entertainment and not enough information, however, might have the opposite effect, and succeed only in convincing your prospect that your product has little substance. Experiment until it feels right.

Next, write the script for your video. This is the blueprint. It includes the words that are spoken as well as detailed descriptions of the visuals that accompany the words and music.

Writing the script is an organic process. It can evolve right to the point of actual filming. Who knows, you may do one take on-camera and be struck with inspiration and change it for the second take.

Now, when you have your footage shot, it's time to load it into your computer and edit it down into a compelling, information-rich video. Watch commercials on TV. Scan the internet and see how other companies that you admire do it, and borrow a little of their style.

How long should it be? You'll want to include your website and contact info somewhere in the video, as well - should it be in the beginning or at the end? These are all things you should consider.

Like I said before, experiment. You'll know it in your bones when you've found the right combination.

The last tip: just get started. Your first videos don’t have to be perfect, and it’ll take some practice before you feel comfortable. But soon you’ll be filling up your spot.

So… just go for it.


Best of luck!

Mark Edwards

P.S. I've just given you the steps you need to start making profitable online videos. But here are a few extra resources to help you navigate this exciting, dynamic medium.

Resources

Equipment

Amazon - www.amazon.com – The venerable online retailer offers several low cost options. Try the Flip Cam.

Camtasia – www.camtasia.com - This screen capture tool that records your computer screen in real time. Great for online demonstrations.

Window Movie Maker – www.microsoft.com

Building Your Site

GoDaddy - http://www.godaddy.com

WordPress - http://www.wordpress.com

Video Hosting

Vimeo – www.vimeo.com

YouTube – www.youtube.com

Marketing and Affiliate Networks

Commission Junction –  www.cj.com

Amazon - https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/

Google AdSense - https://www.google.com/adsense

Online Video Tips

If you’re stuck for ideas for the content or format of your videos, check out YouTube – and not just for examples in your niche: www.youtube.com

Surviving Market Crashes: 7 Steps to Take so You Come Out Unscathed and Even a Bit Wealthy

Timing is everything. Just imagine if you could have known when the real estate market was going to crash. You could have made millions or saved yourself a lot of heartache and money.

A former boss of mine is a big real estate investor. He’s made the bulk of his millions from rentals and flipping properties. He would buy distressed properties, fix them up and then re-sell them for more money or rent them out for way more than his monthly costs were on the property.

And unlike a lot of real estate investors he didn’t get caught in the housing market crash a few years back. Instead he stopped buying real estate altogether in 2004, a year before the crash. Everyone told him he was crazy. His investing partners thought he’d gone mad. But he was adamant.

How did he accurately predict the housing crash? He attributes it solely to a man who he hired to paint his house.
See Michael, my old boss, needed the interior of his beachfront mansion repainted. And because he’s got plenty of dough he hired someone to do it for him. He still did his due diligence and interviewed a few companies and picked one that gave him a good price and reasonable timeline.

When the company showed up to his house, he gave the painting crew of three men a tour of the rooms he wanted painted. As the crew was taping off the ceiling and covering the furniture they asked him for advice on how to become rich like him. They saw an obviously wealthy man and wanted to know how he built his fortune so that they could possibly do the same.

Michael told them he was retired now and just living off his passive investments and some consulting. He didn’t want to have a forty five minute conversation with them about all the ways he built his wealth. They were there to paint, not get a lesson in wealth accumulation. Two of the men seemed to accept this vague answer and went back to work. The third wasn’t satisfied with that answer. He told Michael the real money was in real estate and that he could buy a house twice the size of his current one if he became a real estate investor.

Michael told me that was the exact moment he realized the housing market was headed for a crash. He knew the bubble was going to burst and it wouldn’t be long. He saw the writing on the wall. When the everyday man starts telling you to invest in an industry, it’s time to get out of the market.

Still don’t believe me? Look what happened to gold. Gold has seen a steady rise in price since early 2000. It hit a new record of $500 an ounce in 2005. By 2008 it had reached an all-time high of $1,000 an ounce. In November of 2010 gold climbed above $1400 for the first time. It hits its highest peak ever in September of 2011, closing at $1921 an ounce. Since then it’s slowly dropped to under $1200 an ounce.

Now no one could have predicted gold would drop this much or how much further it might go down but certainly the signs were there that it would. What signs you ask? Just watch TV at any time of the day to see them. For the past few years we’ve been watching commercials advertising gold bars and investments for gold play across every TV program night and day. When a hot market like gold starts being recognized as a savvy investment by the everyday man, a pullback is sure to follow. And it did.

It happened to the housing market. It happened to gold. And although I’m in no way predicting this I have seen a few signs that indicate we might be headed for a stock market dip.

I bet you think I’m crazy. The market has been on a tear since 2009. It just keeps going up and up. The DOW has gone from a low of 6,594 in 2009 to nearly 18,000 this year. The run up has been amazing and extremely profitable for investors. Those are not the reasons I’m worried about a stock market crash.

In January of this year more than $60 billion was injected into the stock market. Investors who were previously sitting on the sidelines have decided to give Wall Street a chance. Perhaps they were tired of earning 0.003 percent in their savings accounts or CD’s. Perhaps they’ve been kicking themselves for missing out on the huge run up that has occurred over the last four years. Whatever the reason, large numbers of investors are getting back into investing in the stock market.

That’s what scares me. It’s that everyone sees investing in the stock market as a way to make money. The everyday man has seen the hot investment option and is now trying to capitalize on it for themselves. If history is any indication we might be headed for a bear market and a correction in the markets.

The time to prepare for a market crash isn’t when it’s happening, it’s before. So I’ve put together my stock market survival guide. I intend to survive all market dips, crashes, pull backs and what not unscathed. And perhaps even profit a bit. Here’s how you can too:

Your first line of defense is to have a plan…your second is to stick to that plan. Hopefully you and your financial advisor worked out a retirement strategy. One that was created based upon the retirement lifestyle you hoped to achieve. Your strategy took into account the age you hope to retire at, your income needs and your risk tolerance.

Whatever course you charted for yourself was done with purpose. So don’t allow yourself to be blown off course now by the temptation of this or any market upswing. You can make nips and tucks here and there but do not make sweeping changes to your overall retirement investing plan.

Those investors that change their investment plans and strategies to the whims of the market often get caught with their pants around their ankles. For example look at what happened to those investors who jumped on the tech bandwagon a few years ago. Investors who sold out of some of their investments to free up money to invest in rapidly rising technology stocks were left with withered up portfolios in the dot com bust in the early 2000s.

I know it can be hard to resist investing in an industry, company or asset class that’s on fire. The media can make it seem like those stocks will keep climbing forever. But making investment decisions based on what’s hot right now can leave you open to more risk than you ever were comfortable with before. If the bubble bursts and you don’t have a diversified portfolio you can easily lose forty percent or more of your overall portfolio. That’s too much risk for retirement investors who have a nest egg to protect.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t add or shift your investments when you find something you feel is a good investment. Good investments emerge all the time. The trick is to maintain a balanced portfolio.

Whenever you add an investment or free up capital take a look at your overall portfolio. Over time the investments you picked will grow or shrink in size and that can leave your portfolio unbalanced.

If you noticed you are too far exposed in one particular area of securities then rebalance your portfolio to create a more diversified portfolio. Refer back to your original retirement plan on how to do this. Look at your risk tolerance and how long you have until retirement or until you will need to sell these investments to provide you with income in retirement.

You can easily fall prey to market volatility if you are relying on your stock market investments to pay off debt. You never want to put yourself in a situation in which you have to sell in order to manage your debts.

Managing debt is important for everyone, but it’s particularly important for those nearing or in retirement. These investors don’t have enough time to recover from market crashes and pullbacks. Anyone who has debt shouldn’t rely on money from their stock market investments to pay off their debts in the short term (less than 5 years away). In the Great Depression those that had sizeable debts were the first wave of people to get hung out to dry when the time came to pay up. Don’t leave yourself open to this kind of risk. Pay off your debts with money from employment or if you are already retirement from risk-free investments.

Another way to not leave yourself open to the inevitable ups and downs of the stock market is to maintain an emergency fund. Long time readers will know how often I recommend this financial strategy. It can protect you from sudden and unplanned expenses that pop up as well as any unplanned periods of unemployment. It can also be a safety net for stock market dives and crashes.  As well as give you cash to take advantage of these dips to buy cheaply priced equities.

Investing in the stock market is meant to be for the long term (ten years). If you need income or if the stock market goes into a steep sell-off you can quickly put yourself in a bad place. Keep your cool and maintain your finances by rejecting the media hype of market crashes by not selling off your investments. If you find yourself needing income that a pull back in the market no longer provides then an emergency fund will be there to see you through the downswings in the market. Those with cash set aside are able to roll with the punches better and are immune to any market volatility.

If you find yourself getting panicky anytime the market makes a downward move or the media proclaims a coming bear market, then your retirement portfolio has most likely taken a beating or two. That kind of alarmist behavior won’t do when it comes to investing. Instead prepare yourself for the inevitable-that at some point the market will pull back. It may not happen tomorrow or next month or next year, but it will happen at some point. Preparing yourself for normal fluctuations in the market can keep you from panicking when it happens.

Good luck!


Regards,

Mark Patricks

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Cruise Vacations

Long time readers may remember that I reside in South Florida. When most people read that they immediately think of the great weather here. While that’s true, that’s only one of great things about where I live. 

One of the unexpected perks my family and I enjoy living here is access to the Atlantic Ocean. I’m not talking about the sugar sand beaches. Actually I’m referring to how close I am to all of the major sea ports that cruise ships dock at. 

You see I live within an hour drive of the most heavily trafficked cruise embarkation port…and I use it, a lot. Over the years I’ve learned to take advantage of this luxury. I am able to book last minute cruises all the time and save myself hundreds (sometimes thousands) of dollars off retail cruise vacation prices.  I’ve also come across some pretty impressive ways for other people, including those that don’t live in South Florida to do the same. 

We are entering the busy season for cruise liners. Northerners love to take cruises to the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Southern Europe in the winter months because of the great weather those places enjoy.  Right now cruise companies are trying to fill cabins and offering “deals” to entice you to buy. But these so called “deal” cruise companies offer are sometimes just full priced vacations. Their marketing is top notch so the scams aren’t always easy to spot, unless you have an expert eye. Before you book your next cruise vacation take down these notes and never pay retail again. 

Depending on who you listen to, you’ll get different answers on the debate over when the cheapest time to book a cruise vacation is—well in advance  or last minute.  Some will say that cruise lines want to condition vacationers to book their trips as early as possible so they start with the cheapest prices and then increase them as time goes on. Others will argue that these companies offer their lowest fares only at the last minute to fill up any unsold cabins because their expenses are the same if they have 800 or 1,000 people on board. 

I’ve tried booking at both ends of the spectrum and there are advantages to both. After trying both ways I prefer to book early, but I will say I’ve gotten cheaper pricing booking last minute. I like booking early because most cruise lines or travel agencies promise that if they lower the price down the road they’ll give you the lower rate. 

The trick is that you’ve got to be the one to ask for the reduction, the cruise line will never be the one who initiates the reduction. To make sure I am kept abreast of any change in rate after I book a cruise I sign up for the specific cruise lines free online newsletter as well as travel agents news feeds. That way all I have to do is check my inbox once a week for any news. 

I also like booking early because a fair amount of times when a cruise I’ve booked hasn’t sold out; the cruise line has upgraded my room or given me an on-board credit for free! I’ve never gotten any kind of free upgrade when I’ve booked my vacation at the last minute.
This is not to say that there aren’t advantages to booking cruises at the last minute, and by last minute I mean 30 days in advance. The words “last minute” doesn’t mean quite the same to a cruise line company as they do for me. 30 days’ notice is plenty of notice for me to go on a vacation. 

Like I said earlier if I am just talking cruise fares, I’ve gotten better deals when I’ve waited till the last minute to book a cruise rather than booking 3-6 months in advance. But what I gain in price cuts I lose in choice. Generally last minute bookings mean you don’t get your pick of cabins. There are limited rooms left and you might be stuck with an interior unit with no ocean view. 

Besides the timing of your booking, the destination of your cruise can also affect price in a significant way. If you aren’t too particular book a cruise to nowhere. Cruises that set sail without stopping at any ports or promise any kind of sights can be gotten for pretty cheap. When you are flexible about where you cruise to, cruise liners will reward you supreme service and cheaper fares. 

The same can be said though about popular destinations. The more exotic a locale you want to visit, the heftier the price tag. Choosing a cruise that stops in well-known, tourist attracting spots like Belize in the Caribbean can make your vacation more affordable.  Booking cruises that stop in more remote locations like Russia or Scandinavia will drive up the rate. 

Unless you live near me you will undoubtedly need to book a plane ride to get you to your ship. This is what can make a cruise vacation out of reach financially for some people. To alleviate this cruise lines offer air fare along with cruise packages. They tell you that if you bundle your services together you’ll receive a discount. 

I’m sorry to say this just isn’t true. Most times it’s cheaper if you book your air fare separately. You are much more likely to snag yourself a cheap flight. If a cruise line finds a cheap flight for you, you’ll never see that extra money. That’s why it’s better if you look online at comparison sites like kayak.com or at airline sites directly to see what’s out there. 

The only time it might be best to use the cruise line air and sea package is when you are flying internationally. International flights are much more expensive and don’t have as much variation in prices or flight times as domestic flights do. Also if you book your flight and cruise together through the cruise line company and your flight is delayed or canceled the cruise liner will take care of getting you to the cruise. You won’t have to worry about anything. If you book the two separately and your flight is delayed or canceled you won’t get any sympathy from the cruise liner, they’ll set sail without you and probably won’t give you a refund. 

You can also find deals when you book a large number of rooms together. Think of cruise ships as floating hotels. And just like when you book hotel rooms, the more rooms you book the cheaper the rate you get. Cruises are great for family reunions, vacations with friends, weddings and other special events. In these instances it makes sense to book a block of rooms so that everyone will pay the same price and be near each other. In these instances you might be able to get a group rate which should give you a respectable discount. 

If you are willing to go out on a limb and book all the rooms under your name and then collect the money from the rest of the people, you might even be able to get your room for free. People that organize large group bookings often receive their room for free if they book enough rooms. Before you book call your travel agent or the cruise line directly to see how many rooms you need to book before they’ll give you a room for free as each company sets different amounts. 

You should also look for discount rates like you get on land. If you typically get a discount for meals or theater tickets, then a cruise line will probably offer you a discount as well. People who are 55 or older, EMT’s, firefighters, policemen, teachers, military or members of certain union groups are all likely to get a reduced fare price. Just be prepared to show proof of your age or occupation in order to receive such discount. 

A lot of people put too much stock into the age of a ship when deciding which cruise to book. They believe a ship built back in the 90’s or early 2000’s will not give them the same level of luxury as a newer built ship. This isn’t true. The only thing that will be better is the decor. Older ships actually offer better deals for this reason. Look for ships built 10-15 years ago, they’ll typically be a bit cheaper and still offer all the same luxuries as newer built ships. 

Getting a good deal on a cruise vacation is about more than just ticket price. Don’t limit yourself to looking at just the initial fare price. Remember that discounts come in many forms including pre-paid gratuities, on board credits and discounted shore excursions. If you see a full priced cruise vacation that offers one or more of these other types of discounts you can rest assured that you are still getting a good deal. Most of the time these alternative discounts add up to hundreds of dollars in savings and make your trip even more enjoyable. 


Keeping Money in Your Pocket, 

Nancy Patterson

Advice Experts Needed!

Let's say you have a very unique, maybe eccentric, hobby. I'll use taxidermy as an example.So let's say every spare minute you have, every hour you're not on the clock at your regular job, you devote to taxidermy. Over the years you've developed certain skills and knowledge that only a few people possess. And, until recently, unless you owned a taxidermy business, your hobby would have remained just that: a hobby. 

But since we're living in the Information Age, this highly-specialized training you possess has some currency to it. It has become a commodity.No matter if it's taxidermy or how to install custom lighting in your home or how to setup a great home theater or how to create beautiful jewelry from piles of brightly-colored beads, you can bet that any specialized knowledge you've accumulated can be turned into practical advice. And those people just starting to learn about whatever it is that you are an expert at will seek you out and reward you for your help. 

Identifying Your Commodity 

Before I tell you how to make money giving advice, I'd like to help you focus on your own area of expertise. First, here's a list of subjects I advise AGAINST: 

-Relationships 
-Love life 
-Law 

The reason I think you should steer clear of these areas is because unless you have some official specialized training - like you're a licensed counselor or a lawyer, for example - there isn't much of a market for your opinion.Because, let's face it, we all have relationships (parent, spouse, sibling, etc.), and we all have dealings with the law (even if it's just a parking ticket) but unless you bring some "inside" information to your advice-giving, your opinion isn't going to hold much currency. Even if everybody in your family and all your friends come to you for advice… that isn’t enough. 

Also, the market is already flooded with Dear Abby-style advice columns. We don't want you wasting your time in a saturated marketplace.Not to worry! Here's a list of the kinds of subjects I wholeheartedly recommend you base your little business on: 

-Home repair 
-Car maintenance 
-Gardening 
-Electronics 

These are hot markets. But remember that your advice business can be anything you have a special interest in and a special knowledge of that is of interest to enough other people to make a viable business. 

Remember my taxidermy example above: not exactly a mass-appeal area of expertise, but you can bet that the people who do enjoy it form a very loyal and interested niche willing to pay to access your expertise. 

And that's really the key to success in becoming an advice expert: finding your niche, your own corner of expertise where your opinion will carry an enormous amount of respect. 

Finding that sweet spot is a matter of research. Scan the Internet for other websites. See how many books on the subject are on sale on Amazon. Frequent forums dedicated to that niche and ask people what information they’re looking for.If you get good results in those areas, feel free to proceed. 

Getting Paid for Giving Advice 

The first step in becoming a money-making advice columnist is to establish your credibility. You can do this by starting a free blog and writing a few articles about your niche market. Once you gain a following, you can add a forum where people can ask you questions and you can dispense advice. A few tips for writing and running a successful advice blog: 

-Write regularly 
-Research the tough questions, don't ignore them 
-Promote your blog through social media 
-Use good SEO practices 
-Keep an editorial schedule 
-Solicit questions through email, Twitter, etc. 

That may seem like a lot to keep in mind, but the first bit is the most important: write regularly. Set yourself a schedule of answering, say, five questions a week. Keep up with it. Update regularly. Develop your own voice. Publish a new advice column on a certain day of the week, every week. By doing all these things, your readership will expand by leaps and bounds. 

Which brings me to how you're going to monetize your advice. Here’s the trick: all those articles you’re writing and questions you’re answering? You hold back the best information for your paid products like guides, ebooks, how-to videos, etc. 

Using taxidermy as an example, you could have an ebook called 101 Ways to Stuff a Walrus. If you offer advice on visiting Disney World, your guide could be called Money-Saving Tips in the Land of the Mouse. If you’re a fisherman, How to Catch Bonefish in the Florida Keys would be an option. 

Do you get the idea? 

List those products on your site’s home page prominently with banners and be sure to have a Products page. And also mention these paid products and include a link to the Order page at the end of every blog post and article. 

You can also make incremental income through advertising. If you have a large enough - and dedicated - following, you can contact companies who specialize in your area of advice-giving. If you're not there yet, but would like to put advertising up, look into Google AdWords. It's free and they will actually customize the ads to your website. 

You could also make money by making a members-only section of your website where folks can pay to access certain content. This could be anything from videos, to lengthy and detailed guides, to audio.Put a little hard work up front, and pretty soon you'll become the guru of your own kingdom. 

Good luck! 

John Hollister 

P.S. I just gave you the rundown on how to start turning a profit by giving out advice. But here are a few more resources to help you succeed beyond your wildest imagination! 

Resources 

Start-Up Tips 

http://hope-wilbanks.hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Start-An-Advice-Column-Online 

http://www.ehow.com/how_2242443_make-money-giving-advice.html 

http://www.blogstash.com/get-paid-to-answer-questions/ 

Advice Sites Doing It Right 

http://observer.com/2011/01/the-internets-9-best-advice-columns/ 

http://www.healthytippingpoint.com/2011/06/my-favorite-advice-columnists.html

http://touringplans.com/ 

Places to Practice, Build a Reputation, and Get Inspiration 

http://www.justanswer.com/ 

http://www.keen.com/ 

http://www.chacha.com/ 

http://www.liveperson.com/ 

http://www.ether.com/

The Vulture Culture

Welcome back, friends, to this circle of sanity, this cabal of clarity, this… you get the idea: once again it’s my task to IMPROVE your existence so you may join the ranks of the rich. This is my base assumption each time we speak: that you want to be wealthy. If you don’t wish to become wealthy, then, as they say in government, I just work here… 

But the rich are in the tiny minority of people, so how could little ol’ you join them? Do they have something you don’t? Do they have an unfair advantage over you? 

Your suspicions are correct. The rich DO have something over you, an unfair edge. It’s not a college education (many successful people are high school dropouts). It’s not inherited wealth (most started from nothing and often began as dirt poor). 

So what edge did they have?
How can we say its all “unfair” when most rich people started from nothing and often didn’t have higher education? And so follows the inconvenient question: what’s your excuse for not joining them?? 

The “edge” they have is a follow on from past discussions on the human mind and how you think. I want to talk about two obstacles you face in this regard: thinking small and not having a coherent logic about money. First, thinking small… 

Most people think in terms of “chump change.” They have miniscule goals when it comes to money. For modern proof of this, take a look at what people evidently want to watch on TV: reality shows about pawn shops, bidding on abandoned storage units, rummaging through mud in search of an old coin, searching through the attic in the hope of restoring something, buying stuff you don’t want with coupons and cheering about it… it’s a frenzied craze of late. 

We are clearly in what I call "The Vulture Culture."

People have become obsessed with, and are celebrating, breadcrumbs on the floor of the banquet hall. We are developing into a scavenger-race like something out of a ‘Mad Max’ post-nuclear holocaust.

And while most people are playing in the dirt, the rich man plays a different game -a faster game- and he never gets his hands dirty... 

It’s because he thinks on a different level and because he has a coherent philosophy about money. 

It’s more about a question of how you think, and on what level. If your entire day is spent obsessing about small things and ‘chump change’, you’re not getting a good return on your thoughts. As Donald Trump famously once said, “You have to think anyway, so you may as well think big.”
So I must ask you if you’re "big minded"… or "small-minded." 

If your financial goal consists of a running battle from day to day, scavenging what you can here and there like some crazed biker in Mad Max, it’s time to take stock of your situation, and most of all, your THOUGHTS. Take a "time out" and evaluate where you are and where you need to be… 

The rich man was once dirt poor. But back then he didn’t participate in The Vulture Culture, he wasn’t HAPPY with breadcrumbs from the banquet. He said, “Screw this! I want to get me a seat up there on the banquet table!” 

So how about you? 

Will you give me a big, loud, “Screw this!” too?
Picture yourself on that cold floor of the banquet hall… the smell of the roast beef… the laughter and chinking of glasses… while you fight with the other rats for that bone that just landed on the floor… 

That’s your first step. You have to make a decision to think bigger, to not be content with what you have, and to actually do something about it. 

You see, what most people do on the floor of the banqueting hall is find reasons why they can’t get up on the table. They’ll complain about the system or try and change it (good luck with that). They’ll pin all their hopes on winning the lottery or a self-serving politician saving them with his empty promises of throwing a little more meat on that floor. 

Which brings me onto my second point: having a coherent philosophy about money… 

Most people are extremely confused about money to an oxymoronic degree. On one hand they crave money, and on the other they feel wealth and wealthy people are somehow corrupt, immoral, and that ‘money is the root of all evil’. You can see this in some of the postings we get on the website. I mean, it beats the crap out of me why some people are reading a newsletter specifically about making money and then they complain about ‘the system’, capitalism, how unfair everything is, yada, yada, yada. This is pure nonsense. I have more respect for a communist than someone like this- at least a communist knows his own mind! 

That is NOT a coherent logic. You have to make a choice, because this confusion in your mind is stopping you growing rich! So which is it? Are you here to make money? Yes? Great! If so, it’s time to clear out all that garbage in your head that’s holding you back- the cynicism, the laziness, the negativity, the confusion, and guilt you feel regarding wealth. 

Look, money is indifferent to you. It’s like a beautiful and sophisticated woman who doesn’t need men, and she’s repulsed by desperation and inconsideration. She doesn’t care one way or the other what you think about her. If you want me, come and get me, she says. And if you don’t, that’s fine too, because plenty of others will if you don’t.
The guy with the balls to approach her is the one who’ll get her. Do you think she gives a hoot if you go and complain about that outcome if you didn’t approach her first? 

She’s been around as long as civilization itself, and she’s here to stay. And throughout history, any time humans have tried to share her equally among the masses, she went into hiding. Just ask anyone who lives in Cuba. 

The man who has a coherent philosophy about her, the man who knows what she is, accepts her as such, and respects her… he’s the one who’ll take her home. 

Be discerning about what nonsense fills your head each day, because you’re exposed to a lot of anti-wealth propaganda on a daily basis, thanks to what is predominantly a covertly socialist media campaigning for a ‘fairer’ society. Most Hollywood stories are just as guilty- notice how the bad guy is the rich guy in movies, and how the dirt-poor underdog is the one with virtue and victory. And of course, Hollywood does this because most movie-goers ARE that working class ‘hero’, and it’s what the masses want to hear, it appeals to their mental coping mechanisms that justify their financial inadequacy. 

Compare that to the person who lets nothing but quality information into his head, someone who reads books on growing rich instead of watching reality shows about scavenging. Which person will be wealthier in the next five years? 

Don’t think all that stuff going in your mind isn’t doing anything to you! It’s the equivalent of a junk food diet slowly destroying you. Your body is a temple, and so is your mind. 

On one hand you want wealth, and you KNOW that way too many rich people didn’t have a privilege over you. But on the other hand, there’s a conflict inside you based on what society and media feeds you: that wealth is corruption and rich people are evil. This all adds up to a paralyzing affliction and an incoherent philosophy regarding money that will keep you scavenging for breadcrumbs in The Vulture Culture instead of banqueting with that beautiful woman, money. 

And if you truly don’t want to get up on that table, that’s fine too, as long as you get out of the way of others who do. At least you have a coherent philosophy now. Just make a decision and end the conflict in your mind. 

In other news… 

The world has decided that the European Union is doomed, if you’re wondering why the stock market just keeps on tanking down to oblivion. 

AND any time the whole world thinks something is about the time when things change. My view: the selling has gone way too far, and you can expect a violent pop upwards soon. How so? Because I see a contradiction that nobody else seems to be commenting on. The VIX is a measure of volatility in the market, and it’s currently quite low. Now, if the Euro really was about to come to an end, why isn’t the VIX showing as much? 

The VIX is a reliable indicator because it measures the actions of sophisticated investors, not the herd. So my money’s on the VIX being correct, and that the market surges upwards very soon, if it hasn’t happened by the time you get this letter (I’m writing this a few days before you get it).

Until next time, 

Jim Sheridan