Cheryl Zhao, a financial expert, has been a part of our team for five years. After earning her MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, she worked as a real estate broker before turning to blogging. Cheryl’s extensive knowledge of the housing market and trends, coupled with her passion for financial literacy, makes her blog posts an essential read for anyone considering becoming financially independent.
A new business can benefit from a third-party service when applying for an EIN number. It’s not only easy to apply for an EIN online at Gov Doc Filing’s website, you can also profit from their experience with special set-up…
Braces, can’t stand them, can’t live without them, if you want a perfect smile for your kids or yourself. The bad news with the orthodontic treatment is that, while the results are awesome, the costs are really steep, especially for some modern types (Incognito, Invisalign etc.) The good news is that not all treatments are as expensive and not all orthodontists charge an arm and a leg for your braces, so there are ways to cut costs and save money. IMPORTANT: Before we go into details, please be careful with your saving goals. While trying to get a good cost for your orthodontic treatment is a good idea, don’t skimp on quality or on your doctor’s experience. If you are being treated by someone who is not as experienced, you stand the chance to re-do your treatment so your savings won’t matter anymore. So, if we are now clear that you will try and find THE BEST doctor for your case and a good brace system, there are still ways to save money and get an excellent service. Start saving money as soon as possible If you have a kid, chances are he or she will need braces one day. This is why, starting saving some money early would be a good idea. Orthodontic treatment for your kid can go up to $ 5,000 or similar, if you saved 50 bucks/month just for this, in 10 years you’d have 6 thousand bucks ready for the treatment. Avoid fancy treatments I started out with Damon braces, a self-ligating type that’s fast and effective. Afterwards, not wanting to show a ‘metal mouth’, I decided to go with Invisalign. Big mistake, since in my case Invisalign wasn’t the best idea. It’s more suitable for simple cases, my dental issues were pretty complex, so […]
Interested in buying a house? Then pay attention. It’s the most important purchase you’ll ever make and not being careful will cost you time and money down the road. Here is what you should look for in a house you plan on buying: A great location The best house in a ghetto won’t bring you any good or peace. You cannot live surrounded by electric fences or high walls (at least it’s not pleasurable), so the neighborhood has the BIGGEST impact over your future life and happiness. As a personal example: we live in one of the best neighborhoods in my city. A central, yet peaceful location, with many parks and great schools. Ideal for families like us and anyone looking for a peaceful area. There are some amazing buildings to be bought or really cool house plots in the city, but the neighborhoods are not the ones I’d like to spend my nights in. So, even the least expensive house in a nice borough works better than a great one in a bad neighborhood. The view from your new home One year ago husband and I decided to get a rural home. It would be ideal for us to retreat in, once we retire, and also a great weekend spot for our family. Since we live in a pretty crowded city and the air pollution is something we are constantly aware of, such a retreat would allow us the much needed peace and fresh air. So we found a nice house to look at and decided to visit it. The house looked OK, even if it was a ruin, but the yard was a mess. We were at a crossroad, so it meant 2 sides of our property were at the street. Not that bad, if it had a […]
Systematic Investment Plan – SIP SIP plans are plans in which the investors invest their money into and get a return after the capital appreciation by the funds being invested into market areas like debts, stocks, smaller companies, equities, etc.…
This post will outline some ways to use government programs to decrease your student loan debt. These programs can be great opportunities for aspiring professionals who are unsure how to pay for school. You may find it too late for…
Some of my web design clients are established businesses, but some are people who are just starting out. As you can guess, they have a minimal budget (if any) for promotion and already many costs with their product/service. As I started out with almost no bucks (you can read my story here: Freelancing Success Story: From Debt to a Successful Business), it was crucial to get the word out about my web design services and not have to pay a truckload of money to do so. This is why I looked at some strategies that would allow me to get some initial traction and not pay a lot of money for this. Of course, back then, I was oblivious of the term growth hacking, I was just trying to promote for free or with minimal costs. Here are 5 growth hacking strategies that will help you in your small business: Create a mailing list If you look at some of my posts in various webmaster forums you’ll notice that 2 years ago I had a HUGE aversion towards mailing lists, subscriptions and all the jazz. Since I wasn’t willing to join a newsletter if you put a gun to my head, I (wrongly) thought that most people are like me. Well, they are not. As long as you keep your newsletter content fresh and relevant, people will have absolutely no qualms with your email marketing strategies. I saw this in action, when I prepared my freelancing course and got paying students within minutes after opening ‘the gates’. What did I do there? I kept an email subscription form on the homepage, presenting the course and why it’s cool to join, then people started subscribing, to find out when the launch is. With a nice discount as well, I was able […]
