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Monday Night Finance- Volume 44

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Monday, 14 December 2020 / Published in Monday Night Finance

Monday Night Finance- Volume 44

How to Start a Gift Wrapping Business: 6 Easy Steps

The holiday season is upon us. This can mean some extra expenses as we try to pull together gifts for loved ones and prepare special meals. But it also presents an opportunity to earn some extra money. If you’re looking for a new side hustle- consider becoming a “wrapper” (bad pun fully intended). Many people hate the thought of wrapping the gifts they purchased and are looking to outsource gift-wrapping so that they can spend more time relaxing. If you think you might want to make money wrapping gifts, this article gives you a step by step guide.

People will pay a premium for someone else to do the hard work of wrapping presents.
Know how I know? Because I loathe wrapping gifts. My husband is especially good at it – but if it weren’t for him, I’d gladly pay someone else to do it for me. ~Early Morning Money

The first step is maybe the most important- learn how to wrap gifts! While I’m sure we can all cover a package with some paper, if you want someone to pay you for your skills, you probably need to make the present look half-way decent. Practicing wrapping also gives you a chance to photograph your skills, which will be important for attracting clients later. You’ll also want to invest in supplies for your business. Luckily wrapping paper and tape do not represent a major financial outlay. After this, the next step is to target a niche and start attracting clients. There’s a lot of possibilities here- will you make house calls? or will people have to drop off presents at your house. You’ll also need to develop a pricing structure. After that you’re officially ready to start wrapping and hopefully making lots of cash!

How To Retire At 50: 10 Easy Steps To Consider ~Growth Rapidly

In last week’s article, we featured an article that discussed the question “when can I retire”. That article talked about the financial, emotional, and practical aspects you’ll need to work out before you can retire. What if you had a target retirement date in mind- say 50 years old. How would you know if you’d be able to meet this target? If this sounds like you, Growth Rapidly has you covered.

On average, people usually retire at 65. But what if you want to retire 15 years earlier than that like at 50? Is it doable? Below are 10 easy steps to take to retire at 50.

The first step is to determine how much money you need to retire. The article states that some studies state that $500k would be enough to retire with. However, more research has been done demonstrating the 4% rule. That is, if you withdraw 4% of your assets a year, your portfolio will likely last through your entire retirement. Did you know that CountAbout now can calculate a 4% withdraw rate of your assets and compare it against your spending? This new CountAbout feature makes it a great tool for determining whether you can retire at 50 (or earlier!). The article has even more great tips for how to manage your money to balance tax advantaged and traditional accounts to make sure you’re on a safe path to retire early.

How This Teacher Made a Million Dollars in the Stock Market Before 40 – with Brian Weitzel

Although inflation means that “millionaire” doesn’t quite mean as much as it used to, being a millionaire still has some mystique to it. Only about 3% of Americans have $1,000,000. If you’re a long way from having a million dollars, you need a plan on how to get there. Hearing people’s stories who have become millionaires can help you develop your own plan to reach a million.

By age 35, high school teacher Brian Weitzel already had a net worth of a million dollars, a successful photography business, several rental properties, and a padded nest egg. Before 40, he’s amassed a million-dollar investment portfolio.

In this article, Andy Hill of Marriage Kids and Money interviews Brian Weitzel, a teacher who reached a million dollars in stocks by age 40. When Brian just started his teaching career, he was making $30,000 and money was very tight. He realized that he didn’t want to live this way for the remainder of his life so he starting making changes. His first step was to earn more money taking on side hustles. As Brian’s side hustle income grew he began to grow his investments at the same time. Brian taught himself about stock market investing through reading books and invests entirely in index funds. Although Brian had originally wanted to retire early, 2020 has taught him that he enjoys the structure that work brings him. He currently plans on working “until the day he dies”. The end of the article ends with Brian’s 5 pieces of advice for people hoping to become millionaires.

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What you can read next

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Barbara Ann Feeney
16-05-2016

I switched from pencil and paper on grid accounting paper, then to a Google spreadsheet, then to CountAbout. Really happy with how this app makes it easy to track how I doing, staying (or not) on budget.

 
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15-11-2016

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David M.
16-07-2016

CountAbout is as easy to use on my mobile as it is on the desktop and it provides me with the same or better information than Quicken.

 
Nate E.
05-02-2016

Fantastic! I finally found a great replacement for Quicken! CountAbout is entirely cloud-based, so you can access it from whatever OS you happen to be using. And the mobile app isn't hamstrung like Quicken's. No looking back for me, this is a great app and a great service!

 
My Bank Tracker
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...you won’t be bombarded with ads when you log in. Mint, for example, uses targeted ads to help keep the platform free. All in all, CountAbout could be a good choice for Quicken and Mint users who want to start fresh with their finances without losing their past transaction history.

 
Mark Goldfarb
20-01-2017

I love the software – nice and clean – the categories was a must have that your competitors are lacking.

 
Widgets to Compare Monthly Spending in Active Categories
17-02-2017

Huzzah! I can add widgets now and already made one to compare my monthly spending in my active categories to my budget. Excellent. That tool is one of my favorite features in a personal finance product.

 
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CountAbout was Perfect
15-03-2017

I was looking for finance software to use as treasurer of the parent-teacher association at my child's school. CountAbout was perfect - it had all the register features and download capabilities that I was familiar with from desktop Quicken, but it has the advantage of being in the cloud so I can use it from any computer.

 
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Steve P.
22-09-2017

My search for a cloud-based alternative to Quicken is over! Very easy to transfer my Quicken data and customize my account. Thank you CountAbout!

 
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Jim Powell
17-03-2018

Vastly superior to the execrable Quicken, which caused me to have to choose a new bank password every time I used it. CA is fast, simple, and all you need unless you have a complicated investment portfolio. Its almost fun!

 
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Jeffrey Wilk
02-04-2018

Great product and great customer service. Thanks!

 
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Nancy
10-08-2018

I love CountAbout! I have hated Quicken for years, but didn't have an alternative. Now I do! I love that the cost is only $9.99 per year for the basic service (which is all I need). You can upgrade for more features, if you need them. But for personal use, the basic plan is just fine. When I found CountAbout, I gleefully gave Quicken the boot and I haven't looked back or missed it at all. Bye bye Quicken!!!

 
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Dana Linder
29-03-2019

This is an incredibly well thought out program.

It imports QIF files perfectly. I tried a number that failed miserably.

It has a function that emails reminders about scheduled transactions. That is an extremely useful function that I hadn't seen anywhere.

Tech support is second to none. All my questions were answered in detail within hours (sometimes minutes).

The companion phone app is very simple. You can browse, search, enter transactions and see scheduled transaction. That's really all you need on the phone.

It's one failing for me is that I have a transaction that I have a transaction that occurs on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, and it's not possible to set that up. It's easy enough for me to change the date of next transaction when I enter the current one.

I am extremely impressed with the company. The trial is free for 15 days. You have nothing to lose.

 
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Keith Hurst
22-05-2020

I've been trying to ditch Quicken for years, finally a worthy replacement, but it's so much more, so clean and intuitively designed. I was really surprised and delighted to find a full featured iphone app that meets all my needs.

 
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Amanda Sherlock
25-08-2020

I started using Quicken in 1987, before I had my own PC. I continued using it for years, frustrated by the frequent breaks in the synchronization. Finally I took the leap and used Mint for a year or two. Free software is worth as much as I pay for. Finally, in 2019 I found Countabout. The synchronization is great and I am happy to have a product that's easy to use and reliable. The customer support is excellent and very responsive to my questions.
There aren't as many bells and whistles as Quicken but the simplicity outweighs the complications.

 

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CountAbout® is an easy-to-use online personal finance application that imports data from Quicken and Mint and automatically downloads data from banking, credit card, and retirement accounts. With no software to install, we’re anywhere you have an Internet connection. Our platform is stable, secure, and totally private. Our dedicated customer service team is friendly, knowledgeable, and quick to respond.

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