4 Strategies to Afford a Digital Nomad Life

Save Money On Your Next Vacation

The following is a guest post by Molly Barnes, author of the Digital Nomad Life. If you’d like to contribute a guest post to Money Q&A, check out our guest posting guidelines. Most people look forward to their annual vacation, it’s a great opportunity to enjoy some downtime. While a traditional one or two-week vacation may be refreshing, do you find you’re left wanting more out of your travel experiences? What if you could spend every day traveling? Seriously meaningful traveling — not just a week here or a long weekend there. Did you know you can make this a lifestyle by becoming a digital nomad? You’re probably wondering how you can do this without being a trust-fund baby or … Read more

How to Protect Your Retirement Savings from Market Losses

protect your retirement savings

Since the 2008 meltdown, adults of all ages have been justifiably concerned about their retirement plans and wondering what they should do if the markets head south again as they approach retirement age. While volatility in the markets is inevitable, there are ways to protect your retirement savings even if there’s a downturn (or even a recession) during your retirement years. If you’re currently saving for retirement but haven’t fine-tuned your portfolio’s asset allocations to pre-emptively shield yourself against a market downturn, then here are some of the best strategies to protect your retirement savings you’ll want to discuss with your financial advisor. Adjust Portfolio Allocations Based on Your Age Saving for retirement in your 40s and 50s is quite … Read more

Survey Junkie Review – Get Paid to Answer Surveys Online

Make Money With Paid Online Surveys

There are countless ways to make money online these days, but not all of them are created equal. Some are entertaining but pay next to nothing for participants, while others are somewhat boring with bigger payouts for users willing to put up with mundane tasks or effort-intensive activities. Survey Junkie represents the best of both worlds: it allows users to take interesting, personally relevant surveys while paying a decent amount for survey completions compared to other survey websites. Survey Junkie is also one of the few survey sites that give some points to users even if they don’t qualify for a particular survey (you still have to spend time filling out basic demographic and psychographic information to determine eligibility, after … Read more

How to Build Your Team of Advisors to Help You with Your Finances

How to Build Your Own Financial Team

We all need a financial team on our side every now and then. You need help making decisions or even just bouncing ideas off of someone else. But we often don’t know where to turn for help. You should build your team, your financial team. How to Build Your Team Corporations have boards of directors to help them make decisions and draft corporate strategies. You should do the same. Develop your own team of professionals to help guide you through life and the financial decisions you make for your family. Think of your certified financial planner, lawyer, certified public accountant, and real estate broker as members of your personal board of directors. Add a Financial Planner to You Team We … Read more

What is the Paradox of Thrift? How Saving May Not Help the Country

What is the Paradox of Thrift

The U.S. economy is booming right now, with unemployment rates at record lows, consumer spending rising at steady rates, new home construction rates skyrocketing, etc. Although economists are still concerned about things like the student loan debt crisis, rising rates of job automation, and the lack of affordable housing for low-income renters around the country, the American economy is performing its best since pre-2008 economic activity. However, what goes up must come down at some point. An economy this hot can’t grow endlessly without some kind of burnout, whether that eventually involves mass defaults on student loans, another housing market crash, or some unforeseen economic crisis in the coming years. In both good and bad economic times, it’s important to … Read more

Reader’s Question: Should You Invest Emergency Fund in Mutual Funds?

Is It Better To Save For Closing Costs Or Pay Down Loan?

This is a Reader Question in our the Reader’s Questions Series which highlight questions emailed to me by you, the readers of Money Q&A. Be sure to find out at the end of this article how you can receive a free copy of Dave Ramsey’s book, The Total Money Makeover if your money question is chosen to be featured on a future blog post. If you’re not familiar with Dave Ramsey’s book, you should run right out and get it. It is one  of my top ten best personal finance books that everyone should read. Now…on to our reader’s question. This week’s featured question is from Jen who asks, “Should you invest an emergency fund in mutual funds?” Invest Emergency Fund Should you invest emergency … Read more