7 Best Jobs for Single Moms Starting Over

7 Best Jobs for Single Moms Starting Over7 Best Jobs for Single Moms Starting Over01Teacherkate_sept2004/Getty ImagesFinally, another top job for single moms is being a nanny,babysitter, or daycare teacher. You already know that you love kids and have what it takes to be loving and firm, so why not make a career of it? Reach out to your local community college for classes in early childhood or get your start by working at a local child care center.

Pay yourself first The simple concept to start saving money

Pay yourself first The simple concept to abflug saving moneyPay yourself first The simple concept to start saving moneyHave you ever wondered why at the end of the month you have very little money saved?Or maybe you were going to put money away in your savings at the end of the month, but then wonder why there is little to elendhing to put away.Both of these situations are pretty common, but there is a simple method to breaking this frustrating savings issuepay yourself first.These three words combined create a savings method that everyone should use, but its also overlooked or forgotten.40% of people in the U.S.dont have $400 set aside for an emergency,accordingto the Federal Reserve.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreThe basics of pay yourself firstPay yourself first is the go-to strategy in the personal finance world and this phrase means automatically saving money from each pay check first, before doing anything else.The money can go to your savings accounts and investment accounts like a 401k or IRA.Yes, paying yourself first means the money you make goes to you first.Before any expenses or other purchases you may want to make.Sometimes, the pay yourself first strategy may be called reverse budgeting.This is because instead of prioritizing your money around bills and debt, its based on your retirement and savings goals.What are the advantages of paying yourself first?Saving money can beTOUGH. I found it quite challenging a few years ago, so I totally relate with the statistic back near the intro.Between all the expenses (utilities, rent/mortgage, debt, student loans, etc.)there never seems to be enough left to save.But thats why the pay yourself first method is critical.Most people (myself included a few years back) try to save money last of whatever might be leftover, instead of a set amount first.When you switch to the pay yourself first strategy, you h ave a much better chance to reach your particular savings goals and stick to it when you see progress.But, here are a few advantages to the is process.Teaches you how to prioritize your savingsPracticing pay yourself first, helps you change your mindset when it comes to money.It begins to establish good financial habits, that hopefully ingrains in your mind .You start thinking about money different and teaches you how to really be successful in your personal finances.Better prepares for your life happens fundsIve been calling emergency funds lately, life happens funds because leid everything is an emergency, but there are expenses as life shifts.But, when you pay yourself first, you establish a fund of money for the unexpected moments.You no longer feel stressed, worried, or need to go into debt to pay something.Establishing a good investing schedule for retirementInvesting for retirement is also something that can get overlooked or mistreated.Yet, for your financial future to be in a great place, paying yourself first is another advantage.By automatically contributing to your 401k or IRA, you are in a better financial position when you are ready to retire.It keeps you constantly contributing, no matter where the market stands.This helps you stay consistent and enkoranvers you getcompounding interestto work for your advantage.Helps you view finances differentlyWhen you start building your savings and you see this method working, it revitalizes your entire view on finances.I find it gives you more financial confidence in that you are in control of money, instead of money controlling you.This can be a huge motivator and no longer will you be lumped into some of those dismal statistics about money.How to start paying yourself firstYou are probably thinking, Well duh, just starting paying yourself firstIts in the phraseBut as simple as that might be, there are a few tips and steps to ensure you are successful.Know what your expenses areLike any part of good person al finance management, you should understand your monthly expenses.This lets you see how much per month you actually have to save before you get started blindly.This can help you see where you might be able to cut expenses to save more and the exact amount left you can divvy up in your pay yourself first plan.Create automatic transfers from checking to savingsI personally do not do this anymore because its become so natural for me to save, but I was automating when I first started.Many banks allow you to schedule recurring transfers in some way between checking and savings.Then you can choose the specific amount you want sent automatically to your savings account(s).Note I highly recommend keeping your savings account at a different bank than your checking account if you think you will be extremely tempted.Id recommend anonline bank like CIT, which provides over 2% interest and isFDICinsured.Participate in companys 401k planGet started with your companys 401k if they have one and yo u are eligible to participate.Money is automatically taken out and added to your 401k for you before you get your check, plus many companies offer the company match to a certain percent.And lastly, there are tax benefits as well.Thats paying yourself first and then someHave a side hustle?Send it all to savingsIf you have a side hustle that makes money or even just another job, try to bank most of it if you can.I realize you might be using this money to get ahead on bills and any debt, but if you are in a decent spot send this one directly to thathigh-yield savings account.If your side hustle is a business, then make sure to separate this income from your personal bank accounts.Saves you tax -time nightmares and hasslesBut I like to think of my side hustle income as almost non-existent right now.I never touch or use it, other than saving in my business bank accounts and paying any business associated costs.Related There are tons of side hustle ideas, but which ones can really produce a full-time income?Well explore this and morein this article.Saving money with debt is still importantThere is different advice about saving money when having debt.I agree that you should be paying debt and extra towards it if your interest is quite high (like credit card debt for example).But I also think its still important to save money as well.I actually wrote about thesaving money vs.paying debt conundrumI faced a bit more in-depth.Im not going to tell you what the right decision is for you specifically, but I think its important to do both, not one or the other.Final thoughtsIt took me almost four full years of my professional working career to figure out the pay yourself first concept.Its such a simple methodology to personal finances, but is so often overlooked.The earlier you establish this strategy with your money, the better financial life youll have.But, the important part isgetting started now, is better than never.As you started reading more financial blogs or books, youll probably come across the paying yourself first philosophy quite often.I personally first read about it inRich Dad, Poor Dadand it has been a financial game changer for me over the last few years and can be for you as well.This article originally appeared on Invested Wallet.

Rise and fall of the landline 143 years of telephones

Rise and fall of the landline 143 years of telephonesRise and fall of the landline 143 years of telephonesThe global economy has changed dramatically over the past century and a half.When I lecture my Boston University business students on this topic, I use one of the worlds fruchtwein transformative inventions to illustrate my point the telephone.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreBefore the telephone was invented, it was impossible to communicate by voice across any kind of distance. The landline in 1876, along with the telegraph a few decades earlier, revolutionized communications, leading leap by leap to the powerful computers tucked snugly in our pockets and purses today. And in the process, living standards exploded, with inflation-adjusted GDP surging from US$1,200 per person in 1870 to more than $10,000 today.What follows are a few facts I like to share with my students, as well as several others that you might not be aware of about how the phone has reshaped our lives and continues to do so.Watson I want to binnensee youOne of the reasons I use the telephone in my lectures is because inventor Alexander Graham Bell actually created his phone and made the first call while a professor at Boston University, where I teach economics.But thats not the end of the story. Controversy continues over who actually invented the phone first. While Bell won the series of court battles over the first patent, some historians still give credit to Elisha Gray or Antonio Meucci, both of whom had been working on similar devices.The first telephone call happened on March 10, 1876, a few days after the Scottish-born inventor received a patent for the device. After he accidentally spilled battery acid on himself, Bell called for his assistant with the famous phrase Mr. Watson, come here I want to see youIn fact, in 2002, the U.S. Congress acknowledged Meuccis role in the invention of the telephone though it didnt give him sole credit.Number of connected telephonesPhones abfluged out as novelty items shown just to kings and queens.Today, they are something almost everyone carries with them, even the homeless.In 1914, at the start of World War I, there were 10 people for every working telephone in the U.S. By the end of World War II in 1945, there were five people for every working phone.The technology passed a key milestone in 1998, when there was one phone for every man, woman and child in the U.S.As of 2017, there were 455 million telephone numbers for the United States 325 million residents, or 1.4 per person. About three-quarters of those numbers were tied to mobile phones, a little over 10 percent were for old-fashioned landlines, and the rest were for internet-enabled phones.This Trimline phone came out in December 1986.Wikimedia Commons, CC BYPeople used to rent their phonesIt may sound odd today, but until the early 1980s many consumers had to rent their phones from ATT.Until then, the company had a monopoly over most of the U.S. phone system. And in many states, ATT would only rent phones to customers. In the early 1980s, the rental fee was $1.50 to about $5 per month depending on the type of phone.That changed in 1983, when the U.S. government ended ATTs monopoly. Consumers in all parts of the country suddenly had the option to buy their own phone. At the time, the price for the most basic black rotary dial phone was $19.95, or a bit over $50 in todays dollars.The fanciest Trimline phone with push-buttons, instead of a rotary dial was sold for about $55, which is just under $150 today.Plummeting costsOne reason phones have become so indispensable for communicating is that the cost keeps dropping to make calls.Making a coast-to-coast phone call a century ago was very expensive. Back in 1915, a three-minute daytime phone call from New York City to San Francisco cost $20.70. Adjusted for inflation, that means the rather abrupt call cost more than $500 in todays money.Over the next half-century, prices fell drastically, although it was still rather pricey. In 1968, the same three-minute call cost $1.70 or about $12 today. Thats why, when I was dating the woman who became my wife, we primarily spoke at night when phone calls were much cheaper to save a little money.Today, almost no one thinks about the price of a single cross-country call or tries to keep conversations short to save money. Phone call prices plummeted after the breakup of the U.S. telephone monopoly in the 1980s. And the invention of technologies like voice over IP popularized by Skype pushed prices down even further.Prices have gotten so low that the Federal Communications Commission stopped tracking the cost of long-distance calls in 2006. After decades of recording phone call costs it reported the average long-distance call in 2006 cost just 6 cents per minute. Since most people dont pay by the minute anymore an extra minute of talking on the phone today is effectively free.Theres a dark side to cheap calls, however. Robocalls are now constantly spamming Americans. The same reduction in price makes it easy for con artists to ring millions of phone numbers looking for someone gullible enough to believe their pitches.Phone demographicsIt gets a bit more interesting when you look at what types of phones households still use. There has been a dramatic shift in the last few years from landlines to cellphones, with a surprising connection to our well-being.In 2018, a government survey found that almost 55 percent of households use cellphones exclusively, up from less than 10 percent in 2005. Another 36 percent have both a mobile phone and a working landline. Just over 5 percent of those surveyed said they relied entirely on a landline, compared with over a third of households in 2005. The remaining 3 percent said they didnt have a phone.So who are those people who still only use landlines?Since its the Center s for Disease Control and Prevention that actually conducts this survey, we know a little more about those 5 percent. As you might expect, they are primarily elderly people and they tend to own their homes. In contrast, households that have only mobile phones are more likely to be made up of young people who are renting. Theyre also more likely to be poor and live in the Northeast.In terms of well-being, the CDC notes that the adults in wireless homes are more likely to be healthier and get plenty of exercise than those with only landlines. Conversely, they are also substantially more likely to have had at least one heavy drinking day in the past year and more apt to be a current smoker.Phones have reshaped our lives. The next time you pull out your phone, spend a minute pondering what your life and the world would be like if the phone hadnt been created.Jay L. Zagorsky, Senior lecturer, Boston UniversityThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons lic ense. Read the original article.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people