The first thing to know about crypto is that you have thousands of options: 4,833, to be specific, according to CoinMarketCap. Most of them aren’t worth your time but if you’re savvy, you might be able to find an up-and-comer to help shoot you to the moon. 

The Best Cryptocurrency to Invest In

Remember not to invest more than you can afford to lose lest your rocket run out of fuel. That’s especially true for investing in risky cryptocurrency. But if you’re interested in trying something new, here are the 10 best cryptocurrencies to invest in according to market capitalization.

Bitcoin (BTC)

These days it’s not uncommon to find ATMs while you’re out wandering about for BTC, the most quintessential of crypto. Indeed, it was the first crypto launched. There are only 21 million BTC that can be created, and so far, only 18 million or so have been found. 

This scarcity is what helps drive the market for BTC, along with the fact that it’s so well-known. Even your grandmother has probably heard of Bitcoin, although explaining how it works to her might be a different story.

It’s also been attracting a lot of attention from big-name investors, such as the Winklevoss twins (from whom Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook) who tried creating a BTC ETF but were ultimately rejected. 

Ethereum (ETH)

Bitcoin is based on the idea of limited supply, but with Ethereum, it’s the opposite. You can buy, sell, and trade ETH through a crypto brokerage, like Coinbase, but it’s also used to power certain decentralized applications like apps (called dapps). It’s also a more secure way to make a payment since it can’t steal your data, and payment isn’t released until both parties are satisfied with the transaction. 

As an investment, Ethereum has seen rapid growth since the end of 2020. It also went through a massive spike in value in 2018 only to crash afterward, so while the growth may be tempting, invest at your own risk. 

Binance Coin (BNB)

Binance is an entire platform on its own, which uses Binance Coin (BNB) as a currency. You can buy, sell, and trade BNB itself, but you can also use it as a payment method for the Binance Ecosystem. 

Like many other cryptos, BNB’s value has skyrocketed over the past few months. Interestingly, Binance maintains a scarcity of its currency by actually “burning” it once a quarter. 

Tether (USDT)

Crypto is known for some wild swings in value. If that scares you but you’re still interested in diversifying with blockchain technology, consider using Tether as the best cryptocurrency to invest in. 

It’s actually backed by bank reserves and pegged to currencies like the US Dollar or the Euro. In fact, its value over time has been more or less a flat line. It’s basically another way to invest in government-issued currency, but in a digital way that allows you to avoid fees charged by financial institutions.  

XRP (XRP)

XRP was launched as a way to speed up transactions and reduce costs for international payments. It only takes three to five seconds for transactions to complete, and it can even handle two different currencies without the need for conversion first. 

XRP has also seen some very large swings in value, going from 24 cents in early December 2019 all the way up to $3.15 a few weeks later before falling back down to its prior level. It’s on a run again, and it’ll be interesting to see how long this one lasts. 

Cardano (ADA)

Older cryptos like BTC use a lot of energy to produce. Cardano Ada (named after Ada Lovelace)  is one of the first cryptos to address that problem wholesale, aiming to be the most environmentally friendly crypto you can buy. 

It’s based on the Ethereum model where it’s used in smart contracts, but you can also buy, sell, and trade it just like normal. 

Dogecoin (DOGE)

Bitcoin may have been the first cryptocurrency, but Dogecoin’s claim to fame is being an “internet currency.” It was created specifically as a secure and cheap payment method for online creators, such as bloggers, podcasters, and Twitch streamers. You can even send and earn Dogecoin as tips for helping out on the Dogecoin Reddit community or for volunteering computer space for protein folding projects. 

Dogecoin’s been in the news a lot lately for its meteoric rise, but it’s still not viewed as investment-quality material by most people quite yet. It’s a crypto-based on a meme, after all. But that doesn’t have to stop you from playing around with it a bit — but as always, don’t invest more than you can afford to lose. 

Polkadot (DOT)

Cryptocurrencies use blockchains, but what if you could create your own blockchain and control everything? That’s the premise behind Polkadot. It’s an open-source system that allows for cross-chain transfers. It was created by the nonprofit Web3 Foundation as a way to decentralize things, making it harder for individuals and corporations to control things. 

Uniswap (UNI)

Uniswap is another crypto that’s designed to decentralize financial systems. It’s a token that uses the Ethereum exchange network, and it made waves in September 2020 when Uniswap mysteriously dropped 400 UNI tokens into people’s wallets, worth $800 ($12,000 in today’s value). If you believe in supporting decentralized cryptocurrencies, this could be a good option for you. 

Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin is one of the older cryptocurrencies launched in 2011. It offers many of the same features as the other, newer cryptocurrencies on this list (fast transactions, cheaper to use, etc.), so it’s become somewhat obsolete.

Its founder — Charles Lee — even completely divested from his Litecoin himself, which doesn’t bode well for confidence in this crypto. Still, it’s enjoying a bit of a resurgence.

Final Thoughts

You can grow your wealth by making smart investing decisions about how much to buy which crypto, and when. But by holding your investment in a wallet, you can help grow your investment even further, and that’s ultimately the point of investing in cryptocurrency. 

The post 10 Best Cryptocurrency to Invest In appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.

In our analysis, we found several great options for people looking to get into cryptocurrency depending on your goals and how comfortable you feel with investing in crypto in general. 

Most Important Factors for Cryptocurrency Exchanges

There are a lot of cryptocurrency exchanges out there, and at first glance, they all seem the same. However, there are differences between them, and the most important features to consider:

• Security. Some exchanges are more vulnerable to hacking and fraud than others. Make sure you investigate the history of any crypto exchanges to see if it has a squeaky-clean record or if it’s run into any problems in the past. 
• Liquidity. It may be harder to find buyers on smaller exchanges. The bigger the exchange, the more easily you’ll be able to buy and sell crypto.
• Trading costs. Most cryptocurrency exchanges charge trading fees, so price out your options. 
• Insurance. Unlike your bank’s FDIC insurance, cryptocurrency exchanges don’t have formal insurance programs, making them risky. Some do offer insurance in limited cases, however.
• Ease of use. Some cryptocurrency exchanges are easier to use than others. This is an especially important factor to consider if you’re just getting started.   

The 4 Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Here’s a quick summary of the best exchanges according to what you’re looking for:

• eToro: Best for nervous investors
• Gemini: Best for safety
• Coinbase: Best for liquidity
• Kraken: Best for cross-exchange trades

Cryptocurrency Exchange Reviews

It’s a good idea to research how each cryptocurrency exchange works before choosing one. Read reviews from different people, and search for any regulatory actions, hacking events, or other red flags. Here’s a quick review of each exchange to help narrow your list.

eToro Review

eToro doesn’t have as many cryptocurrency options — just 17 choices — but what it lacks in selection, it more than makes up for with ease of use. That’s because it’s one of the only cryptocurrency exchanges that actually offers a practice account with a virtual $100,000 portfolio.

If you’re really nervous about investing in cryptocurrency and you’d like some practice before you put real money on the line, eToro is a great choice. It even offers a “CopyTrader” option where you can copy the same crypto trading strategies as top traders if you’re not comfortable devising your own investing plan.

Gemini Review

Founded by the Winklevoss twins of Facebook fame, Gemini is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges available today. It has many safety features: deposits in dollars (as opposed to cryptocurrency) are backed by FDIC insurance, and it also features insurance against system-wide hacks and other threats that aren’t your fault. 

Gemini supports a mobile and web-friendly interface, as well as an ActiveTrader option for more advanced investors. Gemini even offers interest of up to 7.4% APY on certain types of crypto if you’re a buy-and-hold investor, and as of writing, you can trade 60 different types of currency on the platform. 

Coinbase Review

Coinbase was one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges launched. It went online in 2012 as a way to buy and sell Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is still the leading star of Coinbase today, but you can buy 60 other cryptocurrencies as well. 

Coinbase’s strength is that it offers plenty of user-friendly education on how cryptocurrency works. There are a ton of articles on cryptocurrency in general, and on the intricacies of each individual option. There are even courses you can take for some of the more unique altcoins, and Coinbase even gives you a small amount of these currencies to play around with. 

Kraken Review

Kraken is another long-established cryptocurrency exchange. It’s been around since 2011 — an entire decade, which is ancient in cryptocurrency terms. It currently features 57 different currencies to choose from, as well as plenty of educational articles and videos. 

Beginners will find Kraken easy to use, but it offers far more advanced features, too, even margin trading if you’re comfortable living on the edge. It also has a robust “cryptowatch” feature to notify you when prices change, as they frequently do in the volatile crypto market. You can even trade on other, non-Kraken cryptocurrency exchanges through Kraken if another one is offering a better price. 

What to Know About Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Since cryptocurrency is entirely digital and operates mostly outside of government consumer protections, it’s especially important to know how to invest mindfully. If you’re not careful, you could lose your entire cryptocurrency balance. That would be especially damaging if you keep a large portion of your portfolio in cryptocurrency; it could all vanish overnight if you’re hacked. 

Most security experts recommend keeping your cryptocurrency in a cold wallet when you’re not directly trading it. This is something like a USB stick that literally allows you to securely store your crypto offline so that no one can access it without the physical hardware. When you’re done trading, simply offload it to the cold wallet, and keep that in a safe and secure place. 

Of course, that’s a bit more challenging if you’re keeping your crypto in an interest-bearing account. In that case, you’ll need to physically leave it there. You’ll need to weigh the risks and whether you’re comfortable doing this, and that’s why it’s especially important to vet these services accordingly. 

A Better Understanding of Cryptocurrency Exchanges

There are two main types of cryptocurrency exchanges: centralized (i.e., located in one place), and decentralized (i.e., spread across multiple locations, with no one single server reigning supreme). We’ve included centralized exchanges in our review since they’re the largest, most liquid, and most beginner-friendly. 

However, if you become more concerned about security and safety as you go down the crypto road, it’s important to be aware of the decentralized exchanges, too. They have an advantage in that a single hacking attempt can’t wipe them out. A centralized exchange, like Coinbase, could theoretically be levelled in one attack. It’s unlikely to happen, but it’s possible. 

Decentralized exchanges are also anonymous, which can be good or bad depending on your motives. They also tend to be smaller and less liquid, so you may not have as easy of a time completing your orders.

The post Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges of 2022 appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.

But much like going to the dentist, it’s something that most entrepreneurs know is a valuable step, yet is often put off indefinitely. How do you even find a mentor, after all? Here are a few tips to find a meaningful mentor for your business. 

Where to Find Mentors

The most important thing to know about mentorship is that it’s a relationship. Done right, it’s really more of a friendship than anything. And not everyone is ready for a friendship just yet. That means you’ll need to be prepared to reach out to many people in the hopes of finding the right mentor. 

Formal Mentorship Programs

There are also two general types of mentorships. First — and easiest to use — is a formal mentorship program. You might find formal mentorship programs in places like:

• Companies

• Conferences

• An Alumni Association

• Your Place of Employment

• An Industry or Trade Organization

• A Nonprofit Dedicated to Education and Career Assistance

These programs can be especially easy to find a mentor through because people are already pre-vetted and willing to serve as mentors. The downside is that there’s no guarantee you’ll be paired with someone who can best help you reach your goals. 

Informal Mentorship Opportunities

Some of the best mentorships arise “organically” — i.e., without any outside intervention. It’s an agreement — formal or not — between you and another person who agrees to help you over the long term. 

These types of mentorships can be among the most valuable because you can seek out the best person to help your specific goals (assuming they’re willing to help, that is). They can also be some of the best relationships. If your mentor is up for it, they can last a very long time. 

But since they’re not a part of a formal program, they can also be some of the hardest mentoring relationships to find. Here are some places you can look for informal mentors:

• LinkedIn

• Alumni Networks

• Trade Groups or Nonprofits

• Local Business Organizations

In short, you can find informal mentors in most of the same places as formal mentors. You’ll just need the skills to approach people individually and see if they’re willing to help you. 

How to Start a Mentoring Relationship

It can be nerve-wracking to approach someone and ask them to be a business mentor. After all, it can be a big time commitment, and not everyone has that kind of free time. But there are several things you can do to boost your confidence in approaching a potential mentor. 

Be Clear About What You Want

One of the biggest things you can do is to be really clear on your goals. You’ll need to know in what general direction you’re looking to go in your career, whether that’s leading a wildlife research team, covering international news stories, or making computer software more secure at a big tech firm. It’s OK and even healthy if this evolves over time, but you’ll need to start somewhere. 

It’s also a good idea to know what specifically you’re looking for help with. 

• Do you want someone you can regularly meet with? 

• Are you looking for someone you can come to with questions as they come up? 

• Do you need help with learning a new piece of technology, want feedback about a product idea, or need advice on an unfamiliar new business venture? 

If you’re clear about what you’re looking for, it can help give you the confidence to move forward. 

It’s also important to note that a mentor is not necessarily a coach. You’ll need to be committed to doing the things your mentor helps you with. But they are not the people who will give you homework and then hold you to it. 

Start Meeting People

Once you know where you’re going, you can look for potential mentors who might be best placed to help you get there. Reach out to one or two people at a time and ask for an informational meeting. 

Tell them you’re thinking about an idea or starting X, Y, or Z business and would appreciate a bit of their time if they can spare it. A good place to meet (in normal times) is a cafe for a “coffee chat,” and it’s nice to pay for their coffee. 

Nowadays, zoom calls are acceptable, but it’s still a kind gesture to send $5 through Venmo. Here’s a sample quick email template you can modify:

Hello, 

My name is ___, and I just wanted to drop you a quick note to say hi. I have a business in ___, and I’ve already _____. 

I see that you’ve been in this industry for a while and that you do ___, which I’m also interested in. 

Would you be willing to meet up for a coffee chat sometime? I’m happy to Venmo you $5 to pay for a “virtual coffee” for your time. I’d greatly value your time and expertise. 

Let me know. Thank you, and have a wonderful day! 

Once you’re at the meeting, it’s good to take this time to get to know them. Don’t be weird and bring up the “M” word right away. That’s a big ask, especially if they don’t know you.

Bring up a business problem or two that you’ve been having and ask for advice. At this point, it’s networking more than anything. Even if this person never becomes your mentor, it’s still a win because now you have someone else to include in your network. 

Extending the Relationship

At the end of your meeting, ask the person if you can come to them for business advice again in the future. If you’re looking for someone to meet with regularly and the person seems open to it, you can ask them now. 

Often, you might just be looking for a mentor you can come to in the future with questions as they come up rather than sitting down for regularly scheduled meetings, and that’s OK, too. Either way now’s a good time to open the door for future meetings. 

Focus on What You Bring to the Table

Starting a mentoring relationship is often awkward. There’s a weird power dynamic there between you and someone who may hold the keys to your future business. It’s OK to acknowledge this but don’t let it stop you from reaching out to mentors. 

After all, mentorship isn’t a one-way street. Your mentor gets something out of it, too. It might be a free coffee once a month or even just the reward of helping someone with interesting ideas. In any case, look at it more as a business friendship, first, because that’s what it’s really about. 

The Bottom Line – How to Find a Business Mentor

Navigating the world of business can be a challenging endeavor, but with the guidance of a dedicated mentor, the journey becomes more manageable. The act of finding the right mentor requires persistence, clarity of purpose, and mutual respect.

Remember that mentorship is a two-way relationship built on trust, where both parties benefit and grow. As you embark on this exciting partnership, cherish the wisdom, insights, and support you receive, and always be prepared to give back in whatever way you can.

Through such symbiotic relationships, not only do careers flourish, but enduring bonds are formed that can shape the future trajectory of any budding entrepreneur.

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Why Invest in Esports?

Technically speaking, the very first esports contest took place in 1972 when two dozen students at Stanford University competed in a tournament for the game Spacewar. Put on as a media stunt by a journalist, the winner received a year’s subscription to Rolling Stone as a prize. 

It wasn’t called “esports” at the time, but that humble tournament has since grown into a massive industry. In 2022, the esports market was valued at $1.45 billion, and it’s poised to grow fast — up to $6.75 billion by 2030, according to one estimate. That’s a 365.52% increase in just 8 years if things pan out.

Even colleges and universities are getting in on the action now, with 64 new college esports teams as of May 2023.  

While the majority of Americans get together every February for Super Bowl Sunday, it’s not too much of a stretch that within a few years, we’ll all be getting together to watch Counter-Strike tournaments, Rocket League rallies, or hosting Fortnite Friday parties.

With all of this explosive growth happening, there’s money to be made. But to actually make money through investing, you have to do it the smart way. 

How to Invest in Esports

When it comes to sports, the first thing that comes to mind is probably sports betting. And you can certainly do that, but it’s just that — gambling and not investing. Here are Good Financial Cents; we like to use a little more sense in our money strategy. 

Instead, there are actually a couple of ways you can invest — really invest — in esports. The strategy mostly involves investing in companies or funds that directly support esports. So you’re not necessarily investing in the tournaments or the teams yourself, but rather the companies that make those tournaments possible. 

When you view it this way, suddenly, your investment strategy looks a lot broader than just esports. It’s e-gaming as a whole, including non-esport people. If you’ve got an Xbox, you’re an e-gamer, too, after all. This industry is even larger than esports itself: in 2022, the video gaming industry was valued at $347 billion. 

Esports ETFs

If you’re interested in investing in esports, it’s probably fair to say you’re a gaming nerd yourself, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you know the ins and outs of all the companies involved. If you’d rather just play the games and earn money passively rather than actively combing through company investor reports, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) might be your best option. 

Bonus Points: since you’re invested across so many different companies with ETFs, it’s a safer way to go. You’re invested more across the whole esports sector rather than just one company. If one company tanks, you’re still generally OK, unlike if you invest directly in a single business. 

Right now, there are three main esports ETFs, but keep an eye on the market as more options are likely to pop up as esports continue to grow. 

NERD

Launched in 2019 by Roundhill Investments, NERD is composed of 35 companies broadly involved in gaming, such as video game producers, hardware manufacturers, streaming services, and holding companies that themselves invest in a wide range of esports-related businesses. The top five holdings include:

• Activision Blizzard (ATVI) – 5%

• Corsair Gaming (CSRS) – 5%

• Modern Times Group (MTGB SS) – 5%

• Tencent Holdings Ltd (700 HK) – 5%

• AfreecaTV Co Ltd (067160 KS) – 4% 

NERD carries an expense ratio of 0.50%, with a market price of $14.14 per share (as of September 20, 2023). NERD’s performance history is quite impressive: an annual 127% increase. It’s available to buy on many platforms you’re probably already familiar with, including Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, Etrade, and Fidelity. 

HERO

HERO was also launched in 2019 by Global X and is composed of 39 companies, many of them the same as NERD. The top five holdings include:

• Nvidia (NVDA) – 7%

• Sea Ltd (SE) – 7%

• NetEase (NTES) – 6%

• Activision Blizzard (ATVI) – 6%

• Electronic Arts (EA) – 6%

HERO’s expense ratio is also 0.50%, with a share price of $19.13 as of September 20, 2023. It has a slightly smaller average annual return than NERD but still manages an impressive 92% increase. You can also buy HERO on many common platforms, such as Robinhood or Fidelity.

ESPO

ESPO is just about the oldest esports ETF, having launched in 2018 by VanEck. It’s composed of 25 different companies, a smaller amount than NERD or HERO. Here are the top five holdings:

• Nvidia (NVDA) – 9%

• Tencent Holdings Ltd (700 HK) – 7%

• Sea Ltd (SEA) – 7%

• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) – 7%

• Nintendo (7974 JP) – 6%

ESPO is slightly more expensive than the other two options, with an expense ratio of 0.56%. Shares are also slightly more expensive, at $52.30 as of September 20, 2023. It also earned an average annual return of 70%. ESPO is also available through brokers like M1 Finance and Stash. 

Direct Stocks

If you’re the true nerd of nerds and you know the companies that make esports possible just as much as the gaming itself, you might consider investing directly with them rather than a middleman. 

Choosing which stocks to invest in is a bit beyond the scope of this article. But if you’re interested, here are some quick details on some of the top esports companies to pique your interest. All information is current as of September 20, 2023:

The Bottom Line – How to Invest in Esports

From its humble origins at Stanford University in 1972, esports has surged to an industry with impressive growth potential, projected to hit $6.75 billion by 2030.

As universities establish esports teams and gaming tournaments and gain traction parallel to traditional sports events, financial opportunities are abundant. The key to capitalizing on this booming sector is not through betting but by strategic investment.

Esports ETFs like NERD, HERO, and ESPO offer diversified exposure to the industry, cushioning against individual company risks.

For the knowledgeable, direct stock investments in leading companies such as Nvidia, Nintendo, and Activision Blizzard present a chance to be at the forefront of the esports evolution.

The post How to Invest in Esports appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.

There’s a limit to how much you can dial back your current spending, but if you tinker with the income side of the equation — well, that’s unlimited. 

The average side hustler earns an extra $5,000 to $8,000 per year. That’s handy, but knowing how to increase your income is helpful for your day job, too. 

It’s no secret that we’re switching careers more and more these days compared to how our parents used to work. What you’re doing as a day job today won’t necessarily be your career five years from now. 

Want to learn about ways to put these skills to use and make money?

The Ultimate List Of Skills That’ll Make You Real Money

Having a robust set of skills in your back pocket can help ensure your financial stability over your lifetime. Here are some of the most important skills you can put in your toolset: 

1. Coding

The world is becoming increasingly digital, and the people who shape that world receive countless opportunities. You can do everything from coding apps and websites for people part-time, to being a high-paying full-time software engineer.

There are a lot of resources you can use to learn coding, but for a good start, try freeCodeCamp. 

2. Digital Marketing

Specializing in marketing products online is a unique skill set. There are lots of areas that fall under the “digital marketing” umbrella, and here are a few:

YouTube

YouTube pays you for ad views once your channel reaches a certain size. But before then — and even after — one of the most lucrative ways to make money on YouTube is by marketing other products that your audience would find useful.  

Facebook

Have you ever noticed a particularly witty Facebook ad, or learned about a new company through Facebook? Well, someone needs to create those ads, and businesses will pay good money if you can help them.

Since Facebook is so ubiquitous now, taking the time to learn how to start a Facebook ads business can pay off big time. 

Instagram

Instagram is all about beautiful photos. If you’ve got pretty products of your own to sell or someone else’s, Instagram is the place for it. You can also focus on creating Instagram ads for yourself or clients who hire you, similar to how Facebook ads work (Facebook does own Instagram, after all).  

TikTok

TikTok is rapidly becoming the go-to platform for video, and there are a lot of ways to make money on TikTok.

If you’re creative and you’re good at using video, learning how to market other people’s products on your TikTok profile can be an especially powerful way to target a younger audience. 

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a marketing website — for people. If you’re particularly skilled at writing LinkedIn profiles, it can be a handy skill to market. It’s just like how people sometimes hire resume writers, after all, except it’s more like a digital resume. 

Twitter

Making money on Twitter can be difficult because it’s such a fast-moving and ephemeral social media platform. The tactics you use on other platforms won’t often work on Twitter.

But where there might be fewer other marketers, that might mean more opportunity for you. That’s especially true if your audience is already on Twitter or you’ve got a good grasp of how it works. 

Google

Google Ads is one of the OG digital marketing tools, and it’s still one of the most popular. More people probably use Google every day than Facebook or other popular platforms, after all.

Learning how Google Ads work — and doing it well enough to charge other people for it — is a skill in its own right, but there’s also a lot of opportunity here too. 

3. Investing

Investing is one of the most powerful tools you can have in your back pocket for earning passive income. Most of us will need to invest big sums of money in order to retire, but you can also learn to invest small amounts of cash, too, as a side hustle. 

4. Blogging

Blogging can be so many things: a fun and creative expression, a major money-making undertaking, and everything in between. You won’t generally make money blogging in its own right (especially not at first), but it’s a great gateway to so many other money-making skills on this list. 

This includes freelance writing, SEO consulting, virtual assisting, digital marketing, and more. 

5. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a form of digital marketing where you sell other people’s products. Specifically, it works like this: a company gives you a custom link, and you share that link with your audience.

When they use that link to buy something, you get a small cutback. You can do affiliate marketing through your blog or your social media channels. 

6. Building Online Courses

Everyone’s got a skill that others would be willing to learn, even if it’s as simple as baking a good loaf of bread, growing a good tomato, or how to train your cat to sit. Building an online course is a great passive income strategy because you can create it once and let people pay you over time.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, either — there are many platforms like Teachable, Udemy, or Skillshare that you can use to create and sell your course.

7. Video Production and Editing

A lot of the most engaging content online today is actually video. You don’t need to be the next Scorsese, but knowing how to shoot and edit video into content that viewers want to watch is a great skill to have.

You can create your own YouTube videos, use TikTok, or even offer your services to other people who don’t have the time to put together these things on their own. 

8. Audio Production and Editing

Along with video, the world of podcasting has exploded over the past decade. Audio engineering is also a skill in its own right and a highly marketable one at that. 

There are tons of people out there willing to pay you to take their raw audio and turn it into a listenable podcast, complete with show notes and uploading it to the internet. 

9. Writing in Different Styles

There are a million and one ways to earn money by writing. You can sell your copywriting services to businesses and help them sell their products. You can be a creative writer and sell your own stories in books and blogs. 

You can be a journalist and sell stories about the important things in our world today to magazines and newspapers. You can even learn how to write a mean resume and sell your services to people looking for a new job. 

10. Virtual Assisting

Helping people create their own online businesses is a business in itself these days. If you love learning new things and working as a team member, you might be a great virtual assistant (VA). 

You can specialize in certain things, such as editing podcasts, or offer more general services, such as following up with people your clients work with or scheduling. 

There are many places to learn more about virtual assistant work, starting with our complete VA guide.

11. Networking

As much as the digital world physically separates us, you won’t be getting far without a village behind you. Learning how to be a part of a larger community is an important skill because it’ll unlock doors for you that aren’t available to the general public. 

You can learn tips and tricks, help teach others, get the scoop on the latest happenings in the industry, or get client referrals. 

Social media is a great way to meet new people, but it’s important to attend in-person events like conferences, too, because that’s where the strongest connections are made. 

12. Creativity

The world won’t always pay you a good wage for your art (hello, ugly Christmas sweaters). But some creative things absolutely can pay off, whether it’s things like graphic design, selling print-on-demand clothing through Redbubble, writing Kindle ebooks, and more.

Find what stretches your creativity and inspires you, whether that’s walking in nature, spending time with your people, visiting art exhibits, etc.

13. Touch Typing

If you’re looking to earn money online, one of the best skills you can teach yourself is how to type by feel — i.e., without looking at the keyboard. 

This speeds things up greatly, and you can focus more on your thoughts and the things you’re creating rather than what your fingers are doing. Some people learn this over time, but there are courses you can take to shortcut the process. 

14. Keyboard Shortcuts

Speaking of speeding things up, another great skill to learn is how to use keyboard shortcuts. Rather than switching back and forth to your mouse, you can do things in a split second by knowing which key sequences to hit. 

To learn this, try writing a list of the common tasks you do, such as inserting links, bolding text, switching tabs, or making headers. 

Tape this list where you can see it, and make a point to use the shortcuts instead. After a week, it’ll be like second nature, and you’ll get your work done a lot faster. 

15. Task Switching

If you’re side hustling, you’ve got a lot on your plate. You might need to switch between making your kids a snack and jumping on a client call within the span of a few minutes. Learning effective ways to switch between tasks is a highly valuable skill. 

For example, if you’re focusing on writing, you can use audio cues in the form of certain types of music or spatial cues in the form of having a set area where you work. These tricks help you jump into your task quicker. 

16. Focus

Learning how to stay focused while you’re in the moment allows you to be more efficient. You can jump in, get your work done, and move on to better things without wasting your day. After all, time is the one thing we all can’t get back, so it’s better not to waste it. 

There’s a whole self-help book industry out there on ways to practice focusing. You can also practice these habits using social media-blocking browser extensions, meditation, or even just closing your door from distractions. 

17. Time Management

Managing your time well involves learning how to focus and switch tasks well, but it also involves knowing how to structure your day. You’ll need to learn how to pair up your day with the optimal time to do things. 

For example, if you’re a night owl, maybe it’s best to focus on creative tasks after dinner and leave bureaucratic duties for earlier.

Or if you’ve got children, maybe the best time to work is before they wake up in the morning. Either way, planning your time around your strengths is a good hack for improving your productivity. 

18. Relaxation and Stress Management

Side hustle culture has a well-deserved reputation as being a little too extreme sometimes. You can’t always be on and monetizing every aspect of your life. You’ll go nuts. 

That’s why learning to relax is one of the most undervalued skills. You’ll need to learn what works best for you, whether that’s daily meditation, zoning out to reality TV shows, taking long vacations to reset, napping, or any number of strategies. 

Think of it as an investment in yourself and your working potential.   

19. Become a Reader

So much of our world is transmitted through reading. You can make money reading in its own right, such as by being an editor or a sensitivity reader. You can also use reading as a way to learn new skills, such as coding, digital marketing, or blogging.

Reading is also a great way to learn how to write better. Any way you slice it, you’ll need to know how to read quickly and for comprehension. 

20. Negotiate

There will always be two ways to view the work you create: what people want to pay you and what your work is actually worth. Most of us don’t get a lot of practice advocating for our own worth, but it absolutely is a skill you can learn and there are many books written on the topic. 

This is an especially important skill to have because if you negotiate your work right, you’ll get to do more of the things you want and for a better price. That means less stress and less time working so you can focus more on the more important things in life.  

21. Goal-Setting

So many of us just exist from one day to the next, with vague ideas about what we want out of life. The only way to turn those things into reality, though, is by becoming an effective goal-setter.

There’s a whole world of literature devoted to goal-setting, such as setting SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely) and setting a series of smaller goals in pursuit of a larger one. 

22. Improve Your Memory

You’ll always feel scatterbrained when you’re side-hustling. But there are ways to limit it. Focusing on ways that you can improve your memory can help you keep all those balls juggling in the air with minimal damage.

One great way to do this is by using to-do lists. Anytime something comes into your awareness and you can’t do it immediately, make sure to add it to your to-do list so you don’t forget it. 

23. Positive Thinking

It’s easy to feel down, especially if you’re starting a new project or trying something ambitious. But research shows that positive thinking can help you stay focused on success and be healthier and happier for it too, even when you face setbacks. 

There are a lot of strategies for this. While it sounds hokey, one of the best ways is to keep a positive thinking journal. Every day, write down three things you’re grateful for, even if it’s as simple as being healthy or having enough food to eat.

Not everyone has those things, after all, and it’s better to realize your good fortune before those things are taken away. 

24. Confidence Building

Along with positive thinking, did you know confidence is actually a learned trait? Some of us grow up in an environment where it’s fostered without us even realizing it, but if you’re not so fortunate, you can still grow this muscle, too. 

Try keeping a journal (maybe even the same journal as the positive thinking one mentioned above) and record one gutsy thing you do every day, even if it’s simple.

By focusing more on the brave things you do, you’ll start to etch a new picture of yourself, and this can give you the confidence to tackle other goals. 

Bottom Line: The Ultimate Money-Making Skills List

In the ever-evolving landscape of modern careers, bolstering your financial stability demands a diverse skill set. Coding opens doors to digital realms, while digital marketing spans platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and beyond. 

Investing offers passive income potential, and blogging serves as a gateway to freelancing, SEO, and more. 

Harnessing affiliate marketing and crafting online courses can yield consistent returns. Video and audio production skills enable engaging content creation. Writing prowess, especially in diverse styles, unlocks multiple income streams. 

Virtual assisting aids online entrepreneurs, networking opens unique avenues, and creativity sparks opportunities in design and content creation. Sharpening typing, keyboard shortcuts, task switching, focus, and time management boosts efficiency. 

Relaxation and stress management are vital for sustainable success. Reading enhances learning and comprehension. 

Negotiation secures deserving compensation, goal-setting propels ambitions, memory enhancement manages multifaceted tasks, and cultivating positive thinking and confidence empowers achievement. 

This rich skill repertoire empowers you to carve a fulfilling and prosperous path in the dynamic modern workforce.

The post The Ultimate List of Skills That’ll Make You Real Money appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.

• Key Takeaways
• — Masterworks allows you to buy shares in expensive, investor-quality fine art.
• — Investing in fine art can be a good way to diversify your portfolio in an asset that’s not highly correlated with the stock market. 
• — Masterworks is a new company, and investing in art is risky, so don’t invest more than you’re comfortable losing.

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MORE

You’ve probably seen clips of those fancy white-glove auctions for fine art. Cultured investors snap up pieces going for hundreds of thousands of dollars or even a million or more.

It’s a favorite investing pastime of the world’s uber-rich, who have enjoyed returns of 5.3% per year and collectively hold around $1.74 trillion dollars in fine art, according to a recent Citi report. 

As an industry that’s so grandiose, you might think that investing in fine art is outside of your ability, and unless you’re Bill Gates, it probably is. But that’s where Masterworks comes in. 

This first-of-its-kind platform allows people to buy shares of a piece of fine artwork that almost anyone can afford. It’s a simple solution to a tough problem, but there’s also a lot more to consider to see whether it’s a good fit for you or not.  

About the Company

Masterworks is a fine art investment platform that lets people buy shares of pre-vetted artwork that will be resold later for a (hopefully) higher price. 

It was founded in 2017, so it hasn’t been around for very long. That’s an important factor to consider, given that Masterworks plans on holding each piece of fine art it buys for three to 10 years. 

Although the company has bought and offered shares in over 40 different pieces since launching, its track record for selling artwork consists of only one painting so far: a $1.5-million painting of Mona Lisa by the famed artist Banksy. It netted a 32% return for its shareholders. 

That’s an impressive sum, but it’s important to note that this is the only sale the company has made, so it’s not a good data point to judge the platform’s success. That’ll take more time. 

Masterworks Platform Review

If you’d like to invest with Masterworks, you’ll need to sign up for a waitlist. When you fill out the form, it might tell you that there are several thousand people ahead of you. Still, we received an invite within a few hours despite this hurdle. 

Upon proceeding through the process, you’ll need to link your bank account, verify your email, and complete a phone interview before you’re allowed to actually invest with Masterworks. This added interview step might be a deterrent for some investors who want a low-key investing experience. 

How Masterworks Shares Work

As you might expect, the process of turning a physical painting into shares that many people can buy is a bit complicated. In a nutshell, it works like this:

• Masterworks uses its proprietary model to identify good investments that are currently for sale.

• It buys a work of art and creates an LLC (taxed as a partnership) for each piece.

• Masterworks offers $20 shares (minimum $500) in the LLC until all shares are purchased.

• The company holds onto the artwork for three to 10 years and then sells it for a profit. 

• The LLC is dissolved, and the proceeds are distributed to the shareholders minus any fees.

Since you’re essentially paying to be a partner in the company established for each painting, you should know that you’ll receive a Form K-1 at the end of the year that you’ll need to file with your taxes. 

You won’t have to pay any fees directly since they’re taken out of the eventual sale proceeds, but it’s important to be aware of them. Masterworks is relatively expensive: it charges 1.5% per year, plus a 20% fee from the sale profits. This can cut into your return significantly. 

You might wonder what happens to the artwork after it’s purchased. As you probably can tell, it doesn’t travel around to all of the shareholder’s homes like a traveling trophy (sadly).

Instead, Masterworks takes ownership of its safety and care and even has a gallery in New York where its pieces can be displayed. 

Finally, you’ll need to be prepared to hold onto your shares for the long haul. You don’t get any say in when the painting sells. You’re leaving that in Masterworks’ hands.

But if you need to exit early, the company runs a bulletin-board-like secondary market where you can list your shares for sale in case another investor wants to buy them. It might not be as straightforward as selling shares of stocks, however.

Unique Features

Masterworks is a unique company unlike any other we’ve seen. Here are some of the things that make it different:

• Invest in Art: It’s easy to invest in stocks, bonds, gold, and more. But until now, art has remained a rich-person investment class

• You Don’t Need to Be an Accredited Investor: Many alternative investments like this require you to be an accredited investor, which isn’t something the average Joe can do. With Masterworks, anyone can get started in $20 increments with just $500. 

• Access to a Secondary Market: You should be prepared to hold your shares for up to 10 years. But if you can’t, you may be able to find a buyer for them through Masterworks’ bulletin board.

Who Masterworks Is Best For

There’s no two ways about it: Masterworks is a risky investment. The company itself even says, “The investment is suitable only for persons who can afford to lose their entire investment.” 

There are a lot of dangers in investing in art. Banksy himself — the artist of the only painting Masterworks has ever sold thus far — famously shredded one of his paintings to make a statement against commercialization after it sold in a London auction house for a lower price than Masterworks’ sold piece. 

That said, Masterworks could make a lot of sense for you if you can tolerate those losses. It’s also especially good if you’re looking for a unique asset class that doesn’t track with the stock market. 

If the stock market tanks and your portfolio is stuffed full of investments that correlate with it, your whole portfolio could go down with the ship. Investing in uncorrelated assets, like art, can help you keep some of your portfolio’s value in the event of a stock market dip. 

Finally, it might be an especially good investment if you’re an art geek but don’t have enough time or money to really get into the nuts and bolts of fine art investing on your own. You can always visit “your” painting in a gallery, after all. 

Masterworks vs. Other Art Investing Competitors

It’s tough to compare Masterworks to other art investment platforms since there’s really nothing like it. But if you’re looking for alternatives to invest in art, Saatchi Art and Maecenas are a few places to consider.

How Investing in Fine Art Works

Investing in fine art is a different beast than more common types of investments like the stock market, cryptocurrency, or even precious metals. First, it normally requires an extraordinarily large sum that only the world’s wealthiest people can afford to pay while still staying diversified.

Investing in fine art requires you to keep a firm finger on the pulse of the art market. It’s not as simple as buying a painting you like. For that, you can go to your local department store to get a “Live, Love, Laugh” sign. 

To be good at it, you need to know the ins and outs of the different styles of the artists within each style. Plus, you’ll need to know how their artwork has changed over time, the prices that paintings are fetching at auctions, how long they’ve been held for, and more. 

It’s an entire industry, and unless you’re an extreme art nerd, it’s probably best left to the professional art investors. 

Until Masterworks launched, that is. It uses a proprietary model with over 3,000,000 data points from auction sales to identify which pieces of art are undervalued and likely to rise further. It uses this model to select the investment-quality artwork it offers shares in.

The Bottom Line – Masterworks Review

Masterworks lowers the barrier to investing in fine art so that anyone with $500 can get started. But that doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone.

It’s still a riskier investment than your typical index fund, for example, but if you’re looking to diversify your portfolio away from assets that track the stock market, it could be a good option. Just make sure you’re careful about analyzing how much to invest with Masterworks.

How We Review Making Money Online Opportunities: 

Good Financial Cents assesses a range of online money-making opportunities, considering factors like profitability, sustainability, and overall legitimacy. We aim to offer readers a balanced view, helping them navigate the vast online income landscape. Editorial transparency guides our reviews.

We gather firsthand information from various online platforms and pay close attention to user feedback. By merging this feedback with our research, we can provide a holistic evaluation. Each opportunity is then rated based on its merits, leading to a star rating from one to five.

For further insight into the criteria we use to rate making money opportunities and our evaluation approach, please refer to our editorial guidelines and full disclaimer. 

Masterworks Review

Product Name: Masterworks

Product Description: Masterworks is an innovative platform that democratizes the art investment world by allowing individuals to invest in shares of high-value artwork. With as little as $500, investors can diversify their portfolio with art pieces, a domain traditionally reserved for the uber-rich.

• [Learn More Here]

Summary

Masterworks offers a unique opportunity for individuals to tap into the lucrative world of art investment without purchasing entire art pieces. By creating an LLC for each curated piece of artwork, Masterworks allows investors to buy shares and potentially benefit from the art’s appreciation over time. Founded in 2017, the platform uses a proprietary model, informed by millions of auction sales data points, to select undervalued art pieces that are likely to see future value increases. This offers an interesting diversification avenue, given art’s low correlation with the stock market.

• Cost and Fees
• Customer Service
• User Experience
• Product Offerings

Overall

4

Pros

• Access to High-Value Art Investment: Masterworks offers a rare opportunity to invest in expensive artworks traditionally reserved for the elite.
• Diversification: Provides a chance to invest in an asset class not directly correlated with traditional markets.
• Secondary Market: Offers a platform for investors to sell their shares, adding a level of liquidity.
• Research-backed Selection: Uses a proprietary model with vast data to select art pieces with potential for appreciation.

Cons

• Limited Track Record: Being a relatively new platform, its long-term success is yet to be validated.
• Liquidity Concerns: Shares in artwork don’t provide the same liquidity as traditional stocks or bonds.
• High Fees: Annual fees of 1.5% and 20% from sales profits can significantly cut into potential returns.
• Inherent Risks: Art valuation is subjective and can be influenced by numerous unpredictable factors.

The post Masterworks Review: Invest in Million-Dollar Artwork in $20 Increments appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.

If so, you’ve probably already heard of Twitch, and if you play your cards (or your keystrokes) right, you could develop a tidy side hustle for yourself. 

That’s exactly what lured expert gamer Branden Westlund (StealthAssault7) to the platform. “I got started on Twitch over three years ago as I saw the opportunity and possibilities,” he says.

It paid off big time, too — Westlund was actually able to pay off all of his student loans by livestreaming Fortnite games. 

It’s an idea that sounds like Midas himself — turning gameplay into cold, hard cash. But being good at games and running a Twitch business are two separate skills. If you’re good at the gaming part, you’ll need to know how to make money on Twitch, too. 

Want to learn about other ways to make money?

How Twitch Works

First, a primer: Twitch is a livestreaming platform. It’s sort of like the livestream option on Facebook or Periscope (RIP), except it’s all-livestreams, all the time.

And it’s massive: according to Twitch Tracker, as of writing, there are nearly four million people watching. In December 2020, alone, people watched 1.8 billion hours of livestreaming content.

Anyone can join Twitch and start up livestreams on whatever topic they want (within limits, of course). People use Twitch to stream cooking shows, book club discussions, arts and crafts, and more. However, Twitch is really known for its most popular livestreams: esports and gaming. 

“It’s like watching a football game on a local channel,” says Westlund. “The difference with Twitch is you can chat with the person you’re watching, and they can read your chat and interact with you in real -time!”

Anyone can stream on Twitch, and there are ways you can earn money outside of the platform which we’ll break down below. But to make the real bucks, you’ll need to become either a Twitch Affiliate or a Twitch Partner. 

Twitch Affiliates and Twitch Partners

Just like with YouTube, you unlock new earning abilities once you reach a certain threshold. The first threshold is the Twitch Affiliate, which you can join once you reach these milestones for at least a full 30 days:

• Have at least 50 followers

• Stream for at least eight hours

• Stream on at least seven different days

• Have an average of three viewers per livestream

The highest level is the Twitch Partner program. Twitch Partners are generally more popular live streamers or ones who reach these milestones for at least 30 days:

• Stream for at least 25 hours

• Stream on at least 12 different days

• Have an average of 75 viewers per livestream

This is the tricky part, though — meeting these milestones only allows you to apply to become a Twitch Partner. It doesn’t guarantee you’ll get it; Twitch only approves certain live streamers after a review. 

How to Make Money on Twitch: Techniques and Options

The potential for earning money on Twitch is huge: the uber-popular streamer Ninja (aka Richard Tyler Blevins) reportedly signed a multi-million-dollar contract with Twitch itself in September 2020. Obviously, not everyone will make that much.

Your options for making money are also limited by what type of streamer you are: a regular user, a Twitch Affiliate, or a Twitch Partner. 

Regular Twitch Users

As a regular user, you don’t really have access yet to any of the tools that bigger names use to earn money directly through Twitch itself. But that doesn’t mean you still can’t earn money.

Here are some other ways you can earn money by live streaming on Twitch:

• Donations. You can ask for donations directly from your followers via Paypal, Venmo, etc. You can also set up your own Patreon account off of Twitch and ask for recurring donations that way. 

• Affiliate links. Twitch is owned by Amazon, which makes it super easy to add affiliate links for products you like directly in your channel. Keep in mind — having affiliate links is separate from being a Twitch Affiliate. 

• Selling merchandise. Just like Instagram and TikTok influencers, you can create your own branded merch on print-and-ship sites. Streamers commonly sell things like t-shirts, mugs, hats, and other items that are branded for their channel.

• Sponsorships. You can partner with a company that offers products for gamer culture, like gaming chairs, computers, or other items. This is different from affiliate links in that you form a direct partnership with the sponsor, rather than getting a percentage of referral sales. 

Anyone can use these options to make money on Twitch at any time. But in practice, you’ll still need at least somewhat of a following to really make money.

No one wants to wear your shirt if nobody knows who you are, for example. And companies won’t pay for sponsorships if no one’s watching your channel. 

To earn real money, you’ll usually want to gain enough of a following to at least work your way up to the next level. 

Twitch Affiliate

Once you reach the affiliate thresholds, you can apply to become a Twitch Affiliate. This unlocks two new ways to earn money directly through Twitch itself:

• Bits and Cheers. Viewers can spend real money to purchase “bits,” a sort of in-game currency. Viewers can then spend these bits to get special emotes and badges that highlight their comments in the chat better so that people can see them.
  
  Spending more bits unlocks better emotes and badges. For each bit viewers spend, you — the streamer — get $0.01. Get more people cheering you with bits, and you’ll earn more money. 

• Subscriptions. Viewers can pay money for a monthly subscription to your channel at one of three different levels: $4.99, $9.99, and $24.99.
  
  Each level offers something new to subscribers, such as special emotes and chat badges. Twitch then splits the cost 50/50, with the streamers getting half of that monthly fee. 

• Video ads. You can opt to have ad videos play during your livestream. You’ll get a cut of the ad revenue depending on how many people watch the ads. 

Twitch Partners

Streamers who reach the highest level also have a couple of other ways to earn money through Twitch:

• Ad-free viewing option for subscribers. You can choose to offer ad-free viewing as a perk for subscribers. This could help boost your subscriber count. 

• Custom emotes for Cheers. People using bits to pay for Cheers in the chat can get access to custom emotes just for your channel. This might spur them on to throw more cash your way if it’s something different and shiny. 

• Special emotes for Subscribers. People who subscribe to your page get access to up to 60 new emotes to cheer you on in the chat. 

Becoming a Twitch Partner also has some other benefits, too. For example, you’ll get priority customer service from Twitch, and you won’t have to cover the cost of your payout fees.

How to Make Money on Twitch: Strategies and Tips

“I remember my first stream was using simply the Twitch app on my Xbox after I set up my Twitch profile and got to hit the go live button,” says Westlund. “I believe I streamed for three or four hours with a grand total of zero views.”

Knowing how to make money on Twitch is a different story from actually doing it. You’ll need to learn how to attract a loyal audience who keeps coming back and enjoys watching your streams enough to pay you. A good way to do this is by studying other channels with a critical eye. 

Focus on Your Streaming Game

“I took the time to research what Ninja was doing, what set him apart, what worked and what didn’t work,” says Westlund. “I really dove into every aspect of what would make me successful. From learning about proper ways to light my stream area, to my background, to upgrading my camera.” 

It’s also important to pay attention to what makes for engaging content — and sometimes, what doesn’t. “I also did the little things like never looking at my phone when I was streaming and always trying to interact with my audience,” says Westlund.

“You wouldn’t believe how many people, after a break in a game reach for their phones and just stare at it while they have people who are watching them!”

Upgrade Accordingly

It’s easy to want to invest in all the best equipment from the get-go. But Westlund advises against that since it could cause financial stress that ultimately impacts the quality of your streams. 

So, Westlund upgraded his equipment step-by-step, and that’s how he advised others to follow. “My first $100 payout allowed me to purchase my green screen to upgrade my stream quality.” Later, Westlund added a new PC and a DSLR camera, too.

Focus on Streaming as a Job

“The biggest thing is the consistency; so many people start and stop and start again. They don’t put forth that consistent effort day in and day out,” says Westlund. “I had a set schedule and I kept showing up even when I didn’t want to.”

And here’s the part that’s maybe not so fun about making money by playing games on Twitch. Just like with any other hobby-turned-side-hustle, the boundary between being a fun hobby and being a job can happen real quick. 

If you like the social side of gaming and can turn that into a money-making opportunity, it’ll probably still be a lot more fun than working a part-time gig at a retail store. But it also means that something you used to do just for funsies might become real work, and a little less (or a lot less) fun. 

And for some, that can easily lead to burnout. Even Westlund himself is taking a break from streaming right now, possibly for good.

How Much Can You Make on Twitch?

“I think when people set out to earn money on Twitch they are setting themselves up for failure,” says Westlund. As with any money-making venture, you need to have a passion for it first, and the money will follow suit.

That said, it’s still possible to earn real money. How much you can earn depends entirely on your dedication and your skill. And there are other benefits, too, that aren’t money-related.

“I met some amazing people and have remained close friends with many of them to this day,” says Westlund. “I often feel a bit of guilt when I know that I won’t be going live again for a long time, potentially ever again, because I built a community that was centered around positivity, acceptance, and having fun.”

And for Westlund, that was the real win.

Bottom Line: Earning on Twitch: Game Plan

Twitch offers a potential side hustle for gamers to turn their passion into income. To monetize effectively, progress from a regular user to a Twitch Affiliate or Partner. Twitch Affiliates earn through bits, cheers, subscriptions, and video ads. 

Partners gain benefits like custom emotes and ad-free viewing. However, success requires more than gaming skills; attention to engaging content, consistent scheduling, equipment upgrades, and passion are essential. 

While making money is possible, it’s vital to prioritize enjoyment, community building, and maintaining a balance to prevent burnout. Twitch can be a rewarding endeavor, fostering connections and friendships beyond financial gains.

The post How to Make Money on Twitch appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.

There are many different opportunities to earn money through the online retailer, most of them aren’t high-paying, but some are (like software engineering). Most Amazon gigs tend to fit well on the side of your day job, and are a great way to earn extra income as a side hustle. Here are some of the top choices to learn more about.

Want to learn about other ways to money?

Amazon FBA

When people think about making money on Amazon, the first thing that comes to mind is often its Amazon FBA (or “Fulfilled by Amazon”) program. This is essentially a digital bazaar; you’re a middleman who goes out and finds cheap, in-demand products, and then sells them for a higher price to make a profit. 

People often find these cheaper products in bulk at store sales, such as drugstores or Target. Armed with third-party, product scanner apps, you can quickly see an item’s going price and its popularity on Amazon and decide whether to purchase them. Then, you simply clean up any stickers from the products and ship them to an Amazon warehouse where they’ll be sent out as people order them. 

It’s a super flexible and popular side gig. According to one survey from JungleScout, most people spend under 10 hours per week doing this, and around half of people earn between $1,000 and $25,000 per month. Keep in mind though that there are costs to sell through the Amazon FBA program or any of the programs described below. 

Currently, it costs $49 per month (plus fees) for a Professional seller account. If you choose to use a paid third-party app to compare product prices, you’ll need to account for a monthly app fee (some apps are about $10 per month), too.

Sell Your Own Items

Best for: People with a scalable product to sell

Aside from Amazon’s FBA program, you can also sell your own products in a few different ways. After all, people sell their own beauty products, shelf-stable food items, or imported items directly through Amazon all the time. 

Bumblebee Linens is one example. Steve and Jennifer Chou started their business after being inspired by their own wedding favors. They began importing fancy napkins and fabrics to personalize and sell through their Amazon shop and other online outlets. 

It worked so well that Jennifer was able to quit her job, and now the couple also teach people how to start ecommerce businesses through their aptly-named site, MyWifeQuitHerJob.com. 

Merch by Amazon

Best for: Creative people who like to make quippy t-shirts, hats, and other wearables

Chances are you’ve had a great t-shirt idea at one point in your life. If you get these strokes of genius a lot, you can make a tidy income uploading your design to Merch by Amazon, where it’ll be listed for sale. When someone orders it, Amazon handles production, orders and shipments to the customer, and you’ll get a cut of the profits. 

The amount you can make varies by product and how much you price it. A tank top priced at $17.99, for example, nets you $2.07, while a $21.99 tote bag gets you $5.35.

Amazon Handmade

Best for: Crafty types who can kick out orders fast

If you sell your own hand-produced items, you might be eligible for Amazon Handmade. It’s like Etsy, except it’s a bit more difficult to get into due to the approval process. Each application undergoes a review by Amazon.

But if you have a scalable product, Amazon Handmade has a lot of perks compared to selling through the main site. You won’t have to pay the $39.99 monthly fee for the Professional-level selling plan, for example, although you will have to pay a 15% referral fee on all sales. 

Publish Kindle Ebooks

Best for: Writers and creative folks

If you like writing, a fun way to make extra money is by publishing ebooks. Certain genres lend themselves well to Kindle publishing, such as romance or fan fiction. It’s not just a matter of writing up a story and popping it on the internet, though. 

You must be equal parts marketer and writer, because without a good marketing plan, no one will ever find your ebook. But if you persist, you’re talented, and you develop a following, the rewards can be even greater than with traditional publishing. 

Amazon Associates

Best for: Bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, and those with a social media following

You might not have any products of your own to sell, but you can certainly recommend ones already on Amazon. You’ll get a kickback ranging from 1% to 10% of the purchase price of items you’ve recommended through the Amazon Associates program.

First, you’ll need to apply to the program. Once accepted, you’ll see a browser bar at the top of your page. When you find a product you want to recommend in a video, blog post, or social media post, simply click a button to get a custom referral link. You’ll need to disclose that it’s a referral link, and when people click on it and buy a product, you’ll earn back a percentage of the purchase. 

Amazon Mechanical Turk

Best for: People who like to earn small bits of cash through quick online jobs

This program has a strange-sounding name, but it’s similar to Fiverr or other quick online task gigs. Businesses or individuals post small jobs they need help with, such as transcribing audio files, filling out surveys, or editing videos. You can choose which jobs you take, along with the up-front price. 

Heads-up, though: while you can find jobs that don’t require a lot of expertise, they also generally don’t pay that well. According to one study, most people only make the equivalent of about $2 per hour. Still, if you need a small amount of cash and you don’t have many other marketable skills, it could be worth a look. 

Deliver Packages

Best for: Active people who don’t mind driving

Amazon ships packages through the regular mail, but it also has two separate programs for delivering its own packages. 

The first is a full-time job available through one of Amazon’s regional Delivery Service Partners (or DSPs). You won’t be working for Amazon itself, but rather one of its contractors that provide you with a dedicated van, so no other equipment is needed. Pay rates vary, but generally start around $15 per hour. 

If you prefer to keep your day job for now, most people looking for a side hustle prefer Amazon Flex. This side gig pays between $18 and $25 per hour, and you’re required to provide your own mid-sized car, van, SUV, or a truck with a covered bed. 

It’s an app-based system and you sign up for delivery blocks through the app as it fits your schedule.

Don’t Pin Yourself Down to Amazon Too Much

Amazon offers a lot of flexible ways to earn money as a side gig at home. But it’s important not to pin yourself down too much to one platform. 

Instead, consider your skill set and interests, and go from there. If you really like making crafts, for example, take a look at whether other platforms, like Etsy or Ravelry, might work better for you. Although Amazon is a major online retailer, it’s only one of many side hustle opportunities to explore.

Amazon’s Diverse Side Gig Opportunities: A Guide for Side Hustlers

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But seeing as we’re still not done with the coronavirus crisis yet. Although millions of people have been vaccinated and millions more doses are administered every day, some homeowners are still struggling with their mortgages. 

Depending on the type of mortgage you have and your timing, you might be eligible for help until June 30, 2022. To get that help, you’ll need to know how the programs work. 

Who’s Eligible for Mortgage Assistance? 

Only certain types of mortgages are covered by these programs. To qualify, you’ll need either a federally-backed or a federally-sponsored mortgage, which includes these types of mortgage loans:

• VA 
• USDA
• HUD/FHA
• Fannie Mae
• Freddie Mac

If your mortgage is held by a private lender, you’re unfortunately not eligible for assistance through these programs. This is similar to the situation with student loans; only federal student loans qualify for automatic deferment, whereas it’s up to individual private lenders to offer private student loan assistance at their discretion. 

If you have another type of mortgage, it’s worth reaching out to your lender to see what assistance they can offer you if you need help.

How Does the Mortgage Forbearance and Foreclosure Moratorium Extension Work?

The protections put in place by the previous administration were set to expire in March. The Biden administration renewed these programs, and they currently consist of two big types of support:

Foreclosure Moratorium

Normally, if you don’t pay your mortgage and you don’t negotiate a temporary forbearance with your mortgage lender, you’ll have your home foreclosed.

A moratorium on foreclosures for federally-backed mortgages is in effect right now, extended until June 30, 2021, eliminating the risk of foreclosure during this time. 

Foreclosure is a bit of a long process and can take several months. If you’re going through foreclosure now, the proceedings will be stopped until the moratorium deadline. If you’re not yet in foreclosure, but you’re not paying on your home loan and aren’t in forbearance, you won’t have foreclosure proceedings started against you until June 30. 

COVID Forbearance 

If you’re going through just a temporary hardship and your work will pick up again (or if you’re able to get another job), forbearance is a handy option. This gives you a temporary break in payments, hopefully until you can get back on your feet. 

With this COVID forbearance, things work a little differently and it’s important to understand the timelines. There are two types of forbearance you may qualify for:

Initial COVID Forbearance

This offers you a 180-day (i.e., six-month) break from payments. 

For HUD, FHA, VA, or USDA loans, you need to request initial forbearance on or before June 30, 2021, otherwise, you won’t be eligible for any other COVID forbearance extensions if you need them later. 

For Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans have no deadline to request an initial COVID forbearance. But if you plan on applying for a forbearance extension later, you’ll need to have requested your initial forbearance by at least February 28, 2021. If you wait until June 30, 2021, like with HUD, VA, USDA, and FHA loans, you might be eligible for an initial COVID forbearance period but not an extension.  

Forbearance Extension

If you’re still in rough times after the initial forbearance period ends, you can request up to two three-month forbearance extensions, one at a time. This gives you a total of up to six additional months of forbearance. 

If you were already in forbearance, you’re eligible for a maximum of 18 months of forbearance total. You might bump into this deadline if your mortgage was already in forbearance from earlier in the pandemic.  

How to Request COVID Forbearance

It’s also important to know that forbearance is not automatic. If you’re having a tough time, you need to reach out to your lender to arrange forbearance. Otherwise, if you just stop paying your mortgage, you’ll be recorded as defaulting on your loan. 

And while this won’t cause you to be foreclosed on due to the foreclosure moratorium (until June 30, 2021, at least), it still severely damages your credit score. 

To request forbearance, reach out to your lender and request a “COVID hardship forbearance.” You don’t need to provide any documentation or any proof of hardship. There are also no fees or additional charges, although interest will accrue on your loan to be paid off later. 

To ask for a forbearance extension, you’ll need to have first applied for that initial forbearance by February 28, 2021 (for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans), or June 30, 2021 (for VA, FHA, USDA, or HUD loans). 

What Happens When Forbearance Ends?

Forbearance is a great way to keep your house and preserve your credit score if you run into a temporary financial hardship with COVID-19. But it’s not a free pass on payments. You’ll still need to pay back the skipped payment from the forbearance window. How that looks when you restart payments can take several forms:

• Lump Sum: This is NOT required for any of the federally-backed or federally guaranteed-loans covered by this program. But if you have the financial ability, you can always repay those missed payments in one lump sum if you choose.

• Deferral: You may be able to simply tack on those extra payments to the end of your loan. So, if you took a six-month break, for example, you’d simply pay your mortgage for six additional months before it’s paid off. 

• Repayment Plan: If you can afford slightly higher payments when you come back, you may be put on a repayment plan. This allows you to pay slightly more each month so you still pay off your loan by the originally planned date. 

• Modification: If you took a permanent pay cut when you get back to paying off your loan, your lender may be able to modify your loan so that your payments are lower moving forward. 

It’s up to your lender which of these options you may be offered. But rest assured, you won’t be required to pay back all of those missed payments in one lump sum.

FAQ

Here’s a quick rundown of the common questions people have:

The post What Do Biden’s Mortgage Protection Extensions Mean for You? appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.

Even better, it’s actually the recommended strategy for building wealth for the average Joe. You can use index funds as your main investing strategy to carry you all the way up to retirement and beyond.

If all of the flashy GameStop business felt complicated, here’s an advisor-approved way to build wealth through index funds. 

What’s an Index?

An “index” is a statistical tool used to measure an industry’s worth. For example, the S&P 500 is one of the most famous indexes, and it measures how well the top 500 companies in America are doing.

In this case, it’s an index of the overall economy, and it’s the thing you see each night on the news when the news anchors talk about the market going up or down. 

What’s an Index Fund?

Index funds are relatively recent inventions. They were first popularized by the undersung hero of investing nerd culture, Jack Bogle, in 1976. 

You could buy a share of a fund, knowing that someone smarter than you was choosing which stocks to invest in within that fund. 

The idea was that by having someone manage the fund, you’d get a better return than average — except, in most cases, you don’t.

How Index Funds Differ From ETFs and Mutual Funds

When you’re new to the investing world, you’ll see three terms thrown around a lot: index funds, mutual funds, and ETFs. It’s important to know how they’re different so you can pick the right one for you. 

Mutual funds are a collection of stocks that you can buy a share of. They can either be actively managed by a live human or an index fund.

ETFs get a bit more into the weeds of how buying and selling investments actually works. ETFs are traded on the day market instead of at the end of the day, like with mutual funds. You can generally buy ETF versions of both index funds and actively managed funds.

They also have lower investment minimums, so if you have just a few dollars to spare, this might be a better choice for you.

Types of Index Funds

Index funds started out as being pegged to — well — an index. For example, an S&P 500 index fund contains all of the companies listed on the S&P 500 index. If a company drops off the index, the index fund will also make the switch, too. 

Over time, though, index funds have been expanded further to non-index things. Still, each index fund starts with pre-set rules as to what kinds of stocks and bonds make the cut into the fund.

The decisions about what investments to pick aren’t made arbitrarily like they are with actively managed funds. Here are the main types of index funds:

• Stock Funds: These are index funds that hold stocks only. This is an umbrella term that can also describe other index funds, such as ESG funds.

• Bond Funds: Most advisors recommend holding some bonds, and you can do that with a bond fund.

• Sector & Speciality Funds: These funds invest in certain sectors of the economy, like the tech industry, hospitality, or agriculture. This allows you a little more control over what you invest in if you think a particular industry is on the up-and-up, for example.

• Target-Date Funds: Advisors recommend you change how much you have invested in stocks versus bonds as you get closer to retirement. Target-date funds do this automatically for you, so all you have to do is choose your retirement year. 

• ESG Funds: These funds invest in companies that have a strong Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) component. These are companies that benefit society or at least don’t actively harm it. So, if you don’t want to invest in firearms or the fossil fuel industry, for example, these funds might be your ticket. 

Types of Index Funds

Pros and Cons of Index Funds

Index funds aren’t perfect, and you give some things up when choosing to invest in them. You’ll need to know the pros and cons of index funds to decide if they’re right for you.

Pros

There are a handful of advantages that index funds afford investors. Here are the perks of index funds.

Cheap

Most investments only charge a small fraction of your portfolio amount as payment. It doesn’t seem like much until you do the math and see these fees can eat up around 40% of your entire returns over time in some cases. 

In contrast, index funds are just about the cheapest investment out there since they run on autopilot. By choosing them, you could have tens of thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of dollars more over time.

Smaller Tax Bills

In addition to costing less, investing in index funds also means you’ll have to pay less in taxes too. That’s because actively managed funds buy and sell stocks a lot, and each time they do, you might owe taxes. Index funds don’t do that as much, which lowers your tax exposure.

Easy, Passive Way to Build Wealth

You don’t need to know the ins and outs of investing. Even your grandma could probably figure this out if she spent enough time on it.

And once you do get this basic investing concept, there’s basically no more work to run it: just put money in the fund until you retire (or otherwise need it), and then take it out. Simple. No hassle. 

Good Way to Diversify Your Portfolio

It’s important to diversify so you don’t put all your eggs in one basket. The last thing you want to do, for example, is dump every last penny you have into Tesla stock. Index funds offer an easy way to get that diversification without actually having to do the work to personally vet each company. 

Relatively Safe

Index funds tend to ride the waves of the market up and down like a pool toy. This means you can lose money if the market goes down. But you’re not doing anything super-risky, like stock options or short selling.

Cons

Although there are benefits to index funds, there are also downsides.

Not As Sexy

Getting rich by investing in Bitcoin or GameStop stock is hot right now — Paris Hilton is hot, in fact. But index fund investing is the slow, turtle approach. It’s about as sexy as your grandpa — and we’re talking about now, not when he was young. 

No one is lauding your investing genius (even if they should be) while you sit back and quietly earn a pile of money over time. 

Not as Much Potential for High Returns

If you truly know what you’re doing, you have a lot of discipline, and you have a lot of time to do your research, you might earn better returns with more active investing strategies. But that’s a big if. 

Not As Easy to Customize Your Portfolio

You can choose from a lot of different types of index funds. You can get bond funds. You can get ESG funds. You can even get Millennial-themed funds and live cattle- and- hog funds if you want. But you can’t customize what’s in them. 

To do that, you’ll need to pick the stocks on your own. This upsets some people if, for instance, they buy an ESG index fund and find out it’s still investing in some companies they don’t agree with. You can always check the fund’s prospectus to see what’s in the mix, though. 

Pros and Cons of Index Funds

How Do I Invest in Index Funds?

If you’re convinced yet that investing in index funds is the way to go? Here’s how you can get started in four easy steps:

1. Choose an Investment Brokerage

You can buy shares of an index fund through an investment brokerage and even through some investing apps. So, the first step is to actually get an account with an investment brokerage.

This is usually about as difficult as opening a bank account (which you’ll need to connect after opening your brokerage account).

Some brokerages also offer their own index funds. If you think you might want to stick with these funds rather than having a broader range of options to choose from later, then it might also be a good idea to open an account here instead. The advantage is that it’s usually cheaper.

2. Choose an Index Fund

Next, choose which index fund you want. This is the most common place for many people to get stuck. 

If you’re truly not sure which index funds to pick, a good start is a target-date fund based on the date you want to retire (like the “Target Retirement 2050” fund). 

You can even use this for short-term goals. If you want to buy a house in 10 years, for example, you could pick a Target Retirement 2030 fund so that it’s allocated appropriately as you get closer to your shorter-term goal.

You don’t necessarily have to use them just for retirement, although that’s their most popular purpose. 

Another option is hiring a fee-only financial advisor for a one-time financial plan. They can recommend specific funds that you can invest in so you can DIY your retirement savings from there. 

3. Place Your Order

The details of how you actually buy the index fund — such as which specific buttons to click — vary depending on which investment brokerage you choose.

This is where choosing a brokerage firm with good customer service can come in handy. Having an intuitive digital interface or being able to call their support line to get a walk-through can help ensure you have a streamlined experience.

4. Rebalance Your Portfolio

If you bought more than one index fund, you’ll need to decide what percentage of your money to keep in each fund. For example, if you have two funds, you can decide on a 50/50 allocation, 70/30, etc.

Over time, they’ll start to drift from these targets that you’ve set, and you’ll need to correct them. You can do this by buying and selling shares in these funds to even it out or just by depositing more money into the account that’s behind.

Most experts recommend sitting down to do this once a year, at least. 

How to Invest in Index Funds

Is Investing in Index Funds Right for You?

Index fund investing is an entire investing philosophy about taking the slow, measured, hands-off approach to earning statistically verified returns. Rather than following stock tickers and the noise, you’re focusing on the average trend line going up over time. 

So if growing your wealth with less stress and steady returns sounds like your investment style, index funds might be right for you. 

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