Hope for your financial life and beyond

Should I Retire Early? – 9 Questions to Help You Decide

What do the numbers 61, 65 and 73 have in common? You might guess they are the home run records set during various Major League Baseball seasons by Roger Maris (1961), Mark McGwire (1999) and Barry Bonds (2001) respectively. However, for our purposes here those numbers represent peoples ages. Specifically, the age they may be looking at to mark the beginning of their retirement. In fact, we could also put in numbers like 55, 50 or even younger as even people at those ages are asking could I or should I retire early.

couple in retirementLet’s just get this out of the way right at the beginning – clearly a person can retire at any age they choose. However, to receive full financial benefits from the Social Security Agency will require a person to work until a certain age (based on when they were born). For example, I was born after 1960, so full retirement age for me isn’t until age 67 according to the Social Security website.

I could begin to receive benefits as early as age 62. However, those benefits would come to me at a reduced rate. The calculation used by Social Security is based on the number of months once I retire until full retirement age is reached. In my case that would be 60 months if I retired at age 62.

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How to Find Rental Property Documents Online

If you are a landlord or someone looking to purchase a new home, you know that real estate moves fast. For landlords especially, investing in a rental property can involve a paper maze. It’s hard to know exactly what you need and where to find it. 

But one thing is for sure, lease agreements and property disclosures are key for property owners and tenants alike. These documents keep both parties protected from damage from each other. Still, it’s not always been easy to know what types of documents you need and where to find them. 

Luckily, the digital era changed how we handle paper.

If you are looking for places to find the right type of rental property documentation, this post is for you. Here you’ll find places to search online for the proper rental documentation. If you know where to look and what to use, it makes the process smoother for all parties involved.

Where should you look? Read on to find the best places to find rental documentation online.

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7 Lucrative Side Hustles You Can Start Today

It’s a new day and time with a new breed of hustler in the workforce. Besides regular 9-to-5 jobs, many full-time employees are out looking for part-time jobs to supplement their income. There are many reasons for why this is happening. But there is one thing for sure – there are actually many lucrative jobs out there. 

Some require specialized skills with specific educational standards. Others do not. In our current economy at the time of this writing, it’s not uncommon to find jobs paying $15-$20 per hour. And those are at places like Target or McDonalds that require little specialized skill or specific educational background.

So, if you seek a side hustle that’s easy to master and makes good money, you are in the right place. Here you will find a listing of side hustle opportunities that anyone can apply for. A few of these may require a basic background or knowledge in the field. But if you have a willingness to learn, each could turn into a lucrative side hustle for you. 

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The Best and Worst Places to Save Money When Getting Out of Debt

Lets assume that you’ve finally decided getting out of debt is a priority. You know that saving money in the monthly budget by cutting expenses is a key component to the debt payoff process. But where do you start? What is the best place to start chopping away at your budget?

getting out of debt

The Headache Factor Equation will help you determine which spending categories to cut first.

Not all categories are created equal. For some expenses, you can find money savings quickly. Others are going to take a little more time and effort. Some budget cuts will be easy to endure while others might lead to some family frustration at the lack of spending for that category.

In order to better identify the best places to save money in the monthly budget, I’ve created what I call the “Headache Factor Formula.” This equation takes into consideration three factors that are each scored on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being positive and 5 being negative. The lower the cumulative score of the three factors the better when determining where to start saving money first.

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How Can a Registered Agent Save My Business?

If your business is going through some struggles, you are not alone. The last couple of years have been filled with tremendous challenges for businesses to navigate. Covid altered the landscape and forced businesses to reinvent themselves on the fly just to stay alive. Just ask any travel agent, hotel, airline, or entertainment venue for example. And while tourism in the Peach State has largely sprung back where I live, all businesses continue to see issues with rising interest rates and problems with hiring and retaining employees, whose mindset about life and work was transformed by the pandemic.

Even if you have a great online business, sometimes things beyond our control still get in the way. When this happens, you can find yourself struggling to hold onto hope and have faith. For people of faith, it’s important to remember that “we triumph in our troubles, knowing that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” As written in Romans 5:3-4, hope is essential in overcoming struggle. This gives us the ability to take action and find a path that works to grow past the obstacles.

When tough times hit, one avenue to help you navigate the uncertainty is to hire a registered agent. It may not be the catch-all solution that works for every problem that could hurt your business. But, depending on what type of business you have, it could help in a few ways.

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13 Encouraging Bible Verses for Men

Let’s face it – men need encouragement. We try to act tough like we can handle everything on our own. But if we are honest, we need to be lifted up just like anyone else. So it’s a good thing there are many encouraging Bible verses for men from which we can draw inspiration.

encouraging bible verses for menThe Bible is full of encouragement to all people. There are so many stories and verses that give us inspiration, strength and comfort in our time of need.

But are there verses that speak a little more directly to men and our issues? I think so. Men have challenges that women don’t face on the same scale or level of intensity. There is nothing wrong with that as we are all made differently. And some Bible verses may mean more to one person over another or one gender over another based on what we struggle with.

So today I’d like to highlight a few encouraging Bible verses for men that stand out to me and share a little about why they do.

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4 Life Hacks That Make Everything Easier

Have you ever been overwhelmed by the tasks of adult life? It’s an easy thing to have happen and a common experience once you are out on your own. When you were young and lived at home under your parent’s roof (and authority), everything was taken care of for you. Once that life situation ended either after high school or college, all the responsibility shifted to you. 

Life is not easy. But there are some common practices that, if you do them, can make things easier along the way. At the least, they can reduce the stress that comes from being an adult and making decisions for yourself. Here are four life hacks that can make your life more enjoyable.

Declutter Daily

Unless you’re one of those people who genuinely loves to clean, chances are you often feel you’re drowning in stuff. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at the thought of cleaning out the entire garage or the basement. However, most of the time, even those tasks can be accomplished with just a little bit of effort each day. A daily declutter habit helps prevent junk mail from piling up on the table you always drop it on.

This mindset can be further applied to other problems in your life. If you want to take control of your financial wellness, learning how to live with less can facilitate that habit. The more possession you have, the more you have to worry about.

So set aside 10 minutes daily to make a sweep through the house to see what you can declutter. It will keep you from having to spend a whole day doing it later. 

Related Content: I Love to Clean the Bathroom

Collect Life’s Secret Codes

Life is full of little secrets. Chances are, a parent, grandparent, older sibling, or someone else taught you some of these. These are the little life tricks that on their own, may not seem like much, but as you accumulate a lot of them, they make things so much easier.

These hacks can be found all over the Internet. Suggestions like washing and prepping all your fresh fruit and vegetables when you bring them home from the grocery store, putting a couple of tennis balls in the dryer to help clothes dry faster with fewer wrinkles and learning how to season an iron skillet so that it lasts and food does not stick. These may not seem like earthshattering suggestions. But you can streamline your life and save time by regularly doing these things.  

One hack that I learned years ago was learning what your vehicle identification number (VIN) means and where to find it on your car.  This can be handy if you’re buying a used car and want to find out if the car was involved in a recall, wreck, flood or had other issues. If you work in the industry (such as a fleet manager), being able to find this number can be especially helpful since you can also track things such as warranties, insurance, and registration. The numbers assigned are not random. You can learn to locate your VIN number and what each digit in it means.

Related Content: 7 Tips on How to Handle a Teenager’s Car Accident

Move in the Transitions

Everyone knows that exercise is important. It’s one of the fundamental things to living a healthy life. But your problem with exercise is everyone’s problem. How do you fit it into an already packed schedule?

A great way to do it is by grabbing the moments in between tasks when you are either waiting on something or transitioning from one thing to another.

Are you waiting on a pot of water to boil on the stove. Are you ending your workday? Will the laundry be dry and ready to fold in 30 minutes?

The temptation is to relax or get on your social media account during these times. However, these moments are great spaces to do a few stretches, squats or move in another way that works our your body. Even simply deep breathing exercises can be great way for you to reduce stress. The bonus of this hack is that it also helps break you of the habit of scrolling on your phone every time you have a free second.

Related Content: Barriers to Entry: The Ongoing Battle With Exercise

Talk to People

Everyone communicates but few really connect with other people. To connect, you actually have to talk to others. Even if you’re shy or an introvert, some interaction with other humans is important. You will almost certainly feel better for it.

You can set yourself a goal, such as three short conversations with strangers each day. You may end up building genuine connections, particularly by doing this in the places where you go regularly. 

The best places to find people to talk with are church, your job, a grocery or department store and your neighborhood. Start there with simple conversations and see how much better it makes you feel.

Leave a Comment or Answer a Question Below: What is your go-to life hack? What have you found out in adulthood that you didn’t know when you were younger? 

5 Money Tips for College Students

This article is for the college student looking for tips to help with the cost of school. The cost of college continues to climb year after year. It’s made going to school difficult for some and impossible for others. 

As a new college student, you probably have more responsibility for managing your money than you ever have before in your life. Up until this point, your parents have been overseeing your finances. Now you are on your own and you may not know what to do. 

You need to look at this experience in a positive way. This can be an empowering time that gives you the opportunity to set good habits for a lifetime. With the smart money management tips below, you’ll be able to make the right choices to stay on top of your finances and spend and save wisely.

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How to Know if Debt Consolidation Will Work for You

Looking to pay off debt? It can be quite the challenge. But it is one of the most rewarding journeys in the end once you are on the other side of it.

The problem with paying off debt for some is the amount. The sheer number of dollars one owes can paralyze you. That is especially true if that debt is spread out over many accounts. It can be overwhelming when so many different bills are coming at one time.

That is where consolidating debt may makes sense for some. Consolidating debts involves getting a single account to pay off multiple old loans. It’s also one of the common reasons people acquire a personal loan. It allows them to consolidate all of their existing loans into a larger one that offers the best repayment terms or a lower monthly interest rate.

However, before consolidating your loans, remember that this option isn’t for everyone. If you want to know whether or not debt consolidation is good for you, here are some ways to find out.

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Is the Bible Really Clear About Paying Taxes?

“Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” – Matthew 22:21

taxes in the bibleLike you, my tax paperwork is due to be filed by April 15th. There is no doubt that doing the tax return is no fun to fill out every year. It has become a much easier task though since my wife became a CPA.

Talking about taxes sets our blood to a boil. We despise the fact that we work so hard only to see so much money taken from each paycheck. “Isn’t there a way to avoid it?” we ask.

That question should raise alarm bells for everyone. While certain maneuvers with money are legal, many others are not. If we are not careful, that question can lead us down a path of handling our money in a way that we might regret one day.

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Start Investing Your Money Smartly: 6 Common Investment Mistakes to Avoid

Have you decided it’s time to get smart and start investing your money in stocks? For those who are ready, investing is key to building long-term wealth. It’s hard to find another investing vehicle that has produced greater long-term returns than the stock market. 

Maybe you have invested in the past only to make mistakes. Perhaps you were disappointed with the results. But as they say in the investing world, “past performance is no guarantee of future results.” In other words, just because you’ve had one bad experience in your mind, doesn’t mean that you can’t succeed going forward with a different perspective. 

On the other hand, you may be relatively new to the world of investing and feeling a bit overwhelmed. There is so much terminology to learn. And, how do you sort through all the investing options? 

The good news is that you can do it. Millions of people have. The focus here will be on avoiding six common investment mistakes. If you can learn to steer clear of these issues, you’ll be much more likely to have positive results and meet your investment goals. Let’s take a look at how you can invest your money wisely.

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