Money Questions and Answers

Top 4 Critical FAFSA Mistakes College Students Make Every Year

FAFSA for the 2017-2018 school year has been available since October 2016, and the filing deadlines are right around the corner. Getting help paying for college is a major concern for millions of students in the U.S., but filling out FAFSA is a little more complex than say, filling out a job application. You need to have your financial documents and records ready so the government can assess how much aid to grant you, but in spite of the couple-hour process of filling out FAFSA, the benefits of receiving financial aid tend to outweigh the downsides.

4 FAFSA Mistakes to Avoid This Year

There are several myths surrounding student loans and financial aid in general, so here are a few things to avoid while filling out and submitting your FAFSA this year.

Filling Out Wrong FAFSA (or Not at All)

FAFSA stands for “Free Application for Federal Student Aid,” which means you should never be asked to input your credit card or banking information while applying for grants and loans. If you’re not on the FAFSA.gov website, then you might be on a scam site that wants to get your personal information and steal money from you. Don’t fall into this trap!

It’s one thing to fill out the wrong FAFSA, but some people don’t fill out FAFSA at all. These folks oftentimes assume that the application process is too long, cumbersome, or confusing and avoid it altogether. Other people who come from middle to upper class families assume they won’t qualify for aid. But, this isn’t the case. FAFSA is available to students at all accredited high education institutions (even community college students), so don’t mistakenly assume you won’t be eligible for anything from the federal government.

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Cutting Down and Save on Monthly Grocery Bills with Coupons

by Hank Coleman

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), food gets more expensive each year with a 2.5% increase in prices. Naturally, saving on groceries is a top priority for consumers. Today, it is possible to cut down your monthly grocery bill dramatically by using coupons, which can shave down the price on basic grocery items such as meats and fresh produce to staples like bread or eggs. You can learn how to save money with coupons. Superstores such as Walmart and other, smaller grocery stores are all offering coupon specials. So, why should you continue to pay full price when you can get your food at huge discounts? Start Collecting Coupons Remember, the more coupons you have, the more savings … Read more

Top 10 Incredible Success Secrets Creating a High-Five Culture

by Guest Contributor

The following is a guest post by Larry Kendall, author of Ninja Selling and chairman of The Group, Inc. If you’d like to be considered for a future guest post on Money Q&A, check out our guest posting guidelines.

The average annual household income in the United States is $56,516. For the top 5 percent of households, it’s $159,619 and for the 1 percenters, it’s $380,354. In our company, we are only interested in hiring associates who aspire to be 5 percenters or better. We call them High Fivers, and we have a system to help them get there. Our associates averaged $221,485 in Gross Commission Income (GCI) in 2016.

Success Secrets Creating a High-Five Business Culture

How do you build a High-Five business culture? Simple. Hire financial sales associates who aspire to be 5 percenters and coach them to success. Here are our observations of the Top 10 attributes and activities of these top agents to have a great business culture:

1. Mindset. Players versus Victims. Look for associates with a growth mindset who believe they can figure this business out and be successful if they work hard enough. See Dr. Carol Dweck’s book: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.

2. Hungry. Success takes effort. Hire associates who hunger to succeed and the work ethic to get there. What is their motivation? What is there why?

3. Character. Hire likable people who tell the truth and do what they say. These character attributes are the keys for them to be a trusted advisor rather than just a salesperson.

4. Empathy. Having the social skills to pick up on the subtle nuances and the feelings of another was the key attribute of the top 10 percent of sales associates, according to a study by Franklin-Covey.

How Promoting Entrepreneurship in Extremely Impoverished Countries Can Change the World

by Hank Coleman

The following is a guest post by Steven Werlin, the author of “To Fool the Rain: Haiti’s Poor and their Pathway to a Better Life“. If you’d like to guest post on a future article on Money Q&A, check out the site’s guest posting guidelines.

Elsie Amboise joined Fonkoze’s CLM program in Fall 2012. She was living with her husband and their boys in another very poor woman’s home. Her family didn’t have its own place to stay.

CLM stands for Chemen Lavi Miyò, Haitian Creole for “the Pathway to a Better Life.” It is a program that provides the comprehensive support an ultra poor woman needs to transform her life. Fonkoze, Haiti’s largest microfinance institution, established it when it learned that there are families too poor for microfinance.

It is an example of the “graduation approach,” a poverty-elimination strategy drawing increasing attention worldwide. Developed by BRAC, in Bangladesh, the approach is now being used in dozens of countries. Graduation programs have been studied extensively, and been proven effective. They provide women like Elsie with multi-pronged support that breaks through the vicious cycle of poverty that has them trapped.

In the years before she joined CLM, Elsie fed her children as best she could with a series of small businesses. Her husband would give her $5 or $10 that he’d earn through odd jobs, and she’d turn it into an enterprise: peanut butter sandwiches, cornmeal, or whatever she thought she could sell. But she could never keep capital in any of the businesses because her expenses were high.

How Does a Credit Union Work? Do They Live Up to the Hype?

by Hank Coleman

The Credit Union National Association reports that over 105 million Americans are members of a credit union. This makes up nearly a third of the population. But, a majority of Americans still use traditional banks to manage their money, and younger generations are reportedly less likely to use credit unions simply because they don’t understand and often ask – how does a credit unions work.

How Does a Credit Union Work?

There are many benefits of switching from a bank to a credit union, but it can also be a hassle to make the move, which also requires you to reroute all your bill payments, direct deposits, and other forms of incoming and outgoing payments. If you’ve considered leaving your banking institution for a credit union, but you’re not sure if the benefits outweigh the hassle, keep reading to decide whether or not credit unions live up to the hype.

Government-Backed Funds

There are a lot of misperceptions about credit unions that prevent people from exploring this option for their financial management, including the idea that credit union funds are not backed by the government. This is completely unfounded, as the National Credit Union Administration insurance exists as the federal government’s protective shield for credit union consumers, similarly to how FDIC insurance works.

Better Interest Rates on Savings Accounts and Loans

MyCreditUnion.gov asserts that, compared to banks, credit unions tend to offer higher interest rates on savings accounts and lower interest rates on loans for their consumers. For example, a 36-month auto loan from a credit union comes with an average interest rate of 2.71%, which is significantly lower than the 5.26% average interest rate a bank would charge for the same loan.

If you want to find the best mortgage rate, personal loan rate, or interest rate on a savings account, switching to a credit union could save you thousands of dollars in interest than if you stay with your traditional banking institution and take out a loan through them.

Day Trading Strategies to Use in the Forex Market

by Guest Contributor

The trend is your friend when you trade forex

Day Trading in the Forex market means that trades open and close on the same trading day. Positions are held for very short terms. This type of trading is also called Intraday Trading and is one of the day trading strategies that you can implement. As with any type of Forex trading, there are different strategies that can be used. Whatever your chosen strategy, there are factors that are important to pay attention to and rules that must be followed. The two most important factors to a Day trader are volatility and liquidity. For Day Trading to work, the currency pair has to be volatile enough that it moves in the span of one trading day. If your currency pair doesn’t … Read more