Jason Butler, Author at Dinks Finance

About Jason Butler

Jason Butler is an Atlanta native, as well as businessman, blogger and teacher. Not only is Jason a prolific flipper, marketer, writer and side hustler his number of years in higher education and student support have given him expert knowledge in understanding the economics of the student loan industry.

Website

Older posts

Newer posts

Side Hustles That You Can Start Now

Posted on December 2, 2016 - 6:30 am by Jason Butler 2

side hustle, part-time job, making money

What’s going on Dinks? I hear a lot of people complain that don’t have enough money. Many are scared and struggle until they can get a better job. With housing prices trending upward and debt getting higher, a lot of people don’t have the time to wait and get a higher paying job. They want to get more money ASAP. One way to make more money sooner is to start a side hustle. There are hundreds of side hustles that you can do. Today, I want to go over five side hustles that you can start today.

Cleaning Service

The first item on the list is to start a cleaning service. In this day and age, people are lazy. Not everyone wants to clean anymore. You can take advantage of that. If you have the time and supplies, you can start a cleaning service. You can look for clients online, or you can start with your friends and family. Once you have a few clients, you will be able to get referrals from them. This side hustle can be done after you get off your regular job or on the weekends.

Sell on eBay

Selling on eBay is very easy. All you need is a computer, a phone with a camera and some items to sell. I’ve been selling things on eBay for years. It is the perfect side hustle if you’re busy. You can work on this hustle whenever you have some free time. You do need to figure out what you want to sell. If you don’t know what you want to sell, you can start out selling stuff you don’t use at your house. There are also multiple websites where eBay sellers discuss what items they sell.

Freelance Designer

Have you ever seen a flyer for a party or an event? Nine times out of ten, you have. Someone had to design it. If you are good with Photoshop, then you may be able to do this side hustle. I have a friend who design’s logo, club flyers, letterhead and much more. He’s getting paid pretty well too. If you’re interested, you can check websites like Freelancer.com or Upwork for clients.

Etsy

The fourth side hustle on the list is to sell items on Etsy. Etsy is an online marketplace that allows individuals to set up stores. If you design things such as t-shirts or jewelry, Etsy may be a good place for you to set up shop. Depending on how your items are, you can do very well. Since you are creating an online store, you will be making money when you’re sleep. What’s stopping you? Get started today.

Catering Service

The last side hustle on the list is to start a catering service. If you know how to cook, this is right up your alley. People need food catered all the time for things like birthday parties and other events. If you’re good in the kitchen, you can start this side hustle soon.

Have you ever done any of these side hustles?

Saving Money With Credit Cards

Posted on November 30, 2016 - 6:30 am by Jason Butler 1

Hello, Dinks. I know a lot of us have credit card debt. Many of us are looking for ways to eliminate it. One way to lower it is to switch to a low-interest rate credit card. You may be wondering how to do that. It’s pretty easy. Keep reading to find out how.

Interest Rates

If you plan on carrying a balance on your credit card, then the interest rate associated with that card is extremely important. The higher the rate is, the more you will have to pay for using the card for purchases. For example, if you buy a $1200 TV using a credit card with 24% APR, you will spend $576 in interest if you pay off that purchase over a two-year span. If you purchase that same TV with a low-interest credit card that has an APR of 11%, you will spend only $264 in the same time period. You will save over $300. That’s a good amount of savings. The interest rate will depend on your credit, so it’s critical to make sure you have good credit.

Balance Transfers

Another way for you to save money with a low-interest credit card is to use it for balance transfers. A balance transfer is when you use your low rate card to pay off your high-interest rate credit cards. I applied for a balance transfer card at the beginning of the year. I was approved for a balance of $2000. I was able to transfer $2000 from my high-interest credit card to the new one. I’ve saved at least $60 a month on interest since I did that. The way that things are going right now, I will be able to pay the balance transfer card off by May.

Pay off Debt Faster

Low-interest credit cards make it easier and faster to pay off your credit card debt. As I mentioned earlier, the credit cards can be used to complete balance transfers. When you transfer balances from your high rate cards, your debt will get the lower interest rate. So if you continue to pay the same amount each month that you were paying for the higher rate cards, your debts will be paid in full much faster.

Here’s another example, say you had a $1000 balance on a 21% APR card. The minimum monthly payments for that card were $40. By making just the monthly payments, it would take you seven years and 11 months to pay off the card. If you were able to do a balance transfer to a low-interest card with an APR of 9.9% but continued making the same $40 monthly payment, you’d pay off the debt in 6 years instead. Paying the card off in 6 years is much better than taking nearly eight years to do so.

Switching your credit card to one with a lower interest rate will save you money. Lower interest rates will mean that you have lower interest payments. Balance transfers will save you money. It will allow you to pay the debt off faster.

Are you contemplating on switching to a low-interest credit card? Why or why not?

Penny Stock Tips

Posted on November 28, 2016 - 6:30 am by Jason Butler

Have you ever considered investing in penny stocks? I’m up in the air about them. Once I pay off more of my debt, I may look into them. Penny stocks are low-priced stocks that are traded in over the counter market. Most of the stocks are available in a penny. That’s why they are known as penny stocks. They are also called micro cap. These low priced stocks are highly risky due to various reasons including limited liquidity of these stocks. Even though stocks are traded in the over the counter market, there are situations where they can be traded on other exchanges.

Penny stocks are priced below $5.00 and may be listed on the OTC Bulletin Board or Pink Sheets. The penny stocks are generally offered by a company having less than three years in business and have less than $5 million net tangible assets or a company that has at least three years in business and has under $2 million net tangible assets or a business that has $6 million revenue for three years.

Over The Counter Bulletin Board

OTCBB provider completes info for more than 3000 stocks including real-time quotes display, last sale price and volumes these equities are usually not traded on any national stock exchanges. The OTCBB electronically provide real-time quotes for domestic as well as foreign stocks and ADR’s and also displays previous days trading acting in PPPs.

Pink Sheets

Pink sheets are published and maintained by Pink Sheets LLC. It displayed bid and asked quoting prices of many different stocks. Companies listed in pink sheets are most risky as most of the companies quickly meet the minimum requirement for listing penny stocks. Penny stocks at the pink sheets are thinly traded. Many companies pay traders for selling these penny stocks. Some brokers use fraud activity to sell the shares and evade money from people.

Market Makers

In some of the cases, only a few market makers are actively involved in a specific penny stock and buy and sell these specific securities only. Dealing with a market maker is preferable as the market maker not only sells the particular stocks, but it also buys the stocks. Around 230 market makers are approved by the OTCBB and these market makers buy and sell stocks on a regular basis.

It is also preferable to see that the number of market makers is available for specific stocks. Lower number or market makers can influence or manipulate the specific stocks. In such a case the investment in the specific penny stock is risky as these few market makers can control the prices of the stocks and can keep a wide gap between the sale and buying prices of the stock. In the recent past, some of the market makers were found to involve some fraud activities.

Penny stocks are low-priced shares that are generally traded at over the counter market. Over the counter bulletin boards and pink sheets are common over the counter market, and OTCBB is governed by the rules and regulations of the SEC.

7 Things You Can Do to Become More Frugal

Posted on November 25, 2016 - 6:30 am by Jason Butler

become more frugal, frugal tips, frugal advice

What’s going on everyone? I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving yesterday. Mines was ok. I watched football all day and didn’t spend any money. With today being Black Friday, I figured I’d write about saving money. In this post, I will be going over seven things you can do to become more frugal.

Cook more at home

It’s no secret that cooking your food at home is cheaper than going out. One way to become more frugal is to make your lunch and bring it to work with you every day. This is a practice that I’ve been doing for the last few years. I can say that I’ve saved at least a couple hundred dollars by doing this. You can also do meal prep and cook your food for the upcoming week on Sundays.

Purchase store brands

The second thing on the list is to buy store brands when you are shopping for food. From my experiences, store brands are just as good as regular brands. Depending on what the item is you may not even taste the difference. Store brands are also cheaper than the name brands too. I buy them all the time.

Cut cable

Cutting cable is the next way to becoming frugal. A lot of cable bills are over $100 per month. That is too much money to be paying for it. More people are cutting the cord each month as cheaper alternatives continue to present themselves. There are different options to choose from such as Netflix and Hulu. You can also stream shows from the internet as well.

Negotiate

Negotiating the prices for some things is the next thing on the list. Whether it’s the price of your internet service or an item you see at the mall, try to negotiate it. The worst thing that could happen is that they will say no. Closed mouths don’t get fed. Do not be afraid to ask for better prices.

Go out less

By going out less, you can save a couple of hundred dollars each month. There are several things that you have to pay for when going out such as drinks, food, and parking. If you go out three times a week and spend $30 each time, that’s $90 a week and $360 per month. If you stop going out, you could save that extra $360 each month. Instead of going out you can invite people to your house and have a game night.

Exercise at home

Canceling the gym membership and working out at home is another way to become more frugal. Gym memberships can be expensive. If you’re not going to the gym at least twice a week that membership could be considered a waste. You should cancel it and exercise at home. Working out at home can be very easy. You can grab some weights and a small mat from your local thrift store and start a workout plan. If weights aren’t your thing, you can look at hundreds of workout videos on YouTube.

Use coupons

Using coupons is a very popular thing to do if you’re frugal. There are coupons for a lot of items out there these days. It doesn’t make sense to pay full price for things anymore. There are several websites online where you can find coupons.

Valuable Finance Tips

Posted on November 23, 2016 - 6:30 am by Jason Butler 2

Good morning Dinks. Can you believe that we have a little more than one month left in 2016? It’s the holiday season, and I know that people are looking forward to spending time with their families. This is a time where people seem to relax and spend a little more money. That’s not smart. Today’s post will include valuable finance tips about things such as saving and budgeting. Hopefully, you and your partner already those do these things. If not, y’all can start implementing them in 2017. Taking charge of your personal finances is crucial. You should make sure that you do your research. You don’t want to end up losing a ton of money. Below are some tips that will help you out in the beginning.

If you’re like me, you probably save your change when you get it. I have a jar that I put my change in every few days. Depositing your change can be one of the most beneficial things that you can do. When you deposit that money, you can earn interest on it in the future. It took me two years for me to collect a jar full of coins. When I did, I was surprised to find out that I had $72 to deposit.

Signing up for direct deposit eliminates the hassle of making a special trip to the bank every payday. The good thing is that most companies offer direct deposit these days. It also helps you to avoid lost or stolen paychecks, and it will reduce impulse purchases that are made between the time your check is cashed and the time that it is deposited into your account.

Budgeting is one of the most important things to do with personal finance. I haven’t always done the best when it came to budgeting, but I’ve learned over the years that you should have some kind of budget. If you’re a beginner, you should write down everything you spend money on for one month. That will force you to look at what you spend money on, and possibly reevaluate it. You will probably see a couple of things that may shock you. Don’t let that freak you out. Just cut your spending in those areas. Once you do that a few times, you should be able to stick with your budget.

I’ve made this mistake several times in the past, but I don’t want you to make it. Try not to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. When you are hungry, you are more prone to being an impulse buyer. Everything will look good to you. I’ve gone to the store hungry with the intent of only spending $20 and ended up spending $50. Overspending when you’re hungry is real. If you are going to go grocery shopping, make sure that you eat something before you go.

This next tip is very important. It’s something that I need to take more time to do. You should research different tax deductions. Depending on your circumstances, there are many things that you can deduct during tax season. You can deduct expenses related to your job, your business, medical, expenses linked to education and more. You should keep track of your finances and make sure that you save your receipts and bills so that you do your taxes properly.

Finance tips are useful for everyone. Some people practice them all the time. Others don’t care for some reason. It can take a lot of work, but it worth it to pay attention to your finances. You will have a much better financial future if you do so.

5 Ways to Become Creditworthy

Posted on November 21, 2016 - 6:30 am by Jason Butler 1

become creditworthy, building credit, working on credit score

Good morning Dinks. Many of us are working to become more creditworthy. Some of us have great credit while others are struggling. Your credit score is critical for a lot of reasons. Your score along with your credit history determines what type of loans you may qualify for as well as the amount of interest that you will pay. The higher the score, the better the interest rate will be. That can be huge depending on how much you owe. People’s scores can fluctuate for different reasons. Bad spending habits and making late payments are just a few of them. Today, I want to discuss six ways that you become more creditworthy.

Check your credit score

First things first, you should do is check your current credit score. How can you expect to boost your score if you’re not sure what it currently is? Everyone can receive one free credit report every year from each of the three major credit bureaus. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are the three major agencies. There are also companies such as Mint and Credit Sesame that will show you your credit score as well as give you tips on how to make it better.

Pay your bills on time

The second thing that will help you become creditworthy is to pay your bills on time. On time payments account for a little over a third of your credit score. I used to pay a few of my bills a couple of days late every month. My credit score suffered because of that. At the end of 2014, I got my act together and started paying everything on time. Since then my credit score has gone up by 168 points.

Pay off your debt

You should pay off your debt if you’re trying to get a better credit score. Your debt to credit ratio is one of the major things that lenders look at when deciding what you qualify for. You don’t want your debt to credit ratio to be too high. Start applying extra money to your debt as soon as possible.

Dispute errors

If you see any errors on your credit report, you should dispute them. Sometimes mistakes do happen. I’ve been lucky enough to have not had any errors show up on my credit report. If you do have a mistake on there, contact one of the three major credit bureaus so that you can dispute it. You can contact them by writing them or calling their customer service number.

Negotiate payments

The next thing that you can do is to negotiate a payment with your creditors. People have busy lives. Sometimes we don’t always pay our bills. You might forget about one of them, or you could lose your job and not have the funds to pay it at the time you received the bill. In this age of technology, you’d be surprised that writing to your creditors is still very popular when negotiating. You can also try and call the company. The main thing that you want to do is get in contact with them and come up with a plan to pay it off.

What are some other ways that you can become creditworthy?

What You Should Do to Get Out of $20K Worth of Credit Card Debt

Posted on November 18, 2016 - 6:30 am by Jason Butler 1

credit card debt, getting out of credit card debt, get out of debt

Good morning Dinks. Today’s post is going to be interesting. Have you ever been in credit card debt before? I know a lot of you have. I currently have $2400 worth of credit card debt left. I’m slowly starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Some folks are in much more credit card debt than that. Five, ten or even twenty thousand dollars worth of debt isn’t unheard of. Can you imagine if you had $20,000 worth of credit card debt? That is tough even to think about. Today’s post will go over a few things you should do if you ever found yourself in $20,000 worth of credit card debt.

Stop using the cards

The first thing that you need to do is to immediately stop using your credit cards, Swiping them all the time is probably how you got into this problem in the first place. Hide the credit cards under your bed, put them in your closet, heck, even cut them up to if you need to. You have to stop using those cards so that your debt doesn’t get higher.

Figure out a payment plan

If you’re serious about paying the credit card debt down, you will need to figure out a payment plan. Paying the minimum payment each month isn’t going to cut it. Most of that money will be going towards the interest. My suggestion would be to come up with a fixed amount that you want to pay each month and shoot for that goal. Paying more will slowly help get that debt lower. If you continue to pay the minimum, it will take you years to eliminate that debt.

Look for multiple streams of income

Now, you’ve committed to paying more money than the minimum each month; your next question may be how? If you have a high paying job, you may be able to add some more money from your paycheck to your credit card bill. Everyone is not in that situation. Guess what you have to do if you aren’t? You have to look for another income stream. I’m not going to go over them in this post, but there are a lot to choose from. I’ve written a few articles about a few here.

Get to work

After you figure out what side hustle you want to do, it’s time to get to work. Eliminating $20,000 worth of credit card debt will be hard work. Your side hustles will make it a little bit easier to do. You should work on your side hustle whenever you get a chance. You can work on it before and after work. You can do something side hustle related during your lunch break. You also have Saturday and Sunday. It’s time to get on it and make that money.

Don’t do it again

It may take you some time, but you will get out of the credit card debt. Once you’re out of it, don’t make the same mistake again. The worst thing you can do is get back in credit card debt after it’s been eliminated. Hopefully, you have the discipline and money skills not to let that happen.

What would you do if you were $20K worth of credit card debt?

Credit Repair Tips

Posted on November 16, 2016 - 6:30 am by Jason Butler

credit repair, credit tips, fixing your credit

Many of us have had jacked up credit at least once in our lives. Some of us had a down period in our lives, but have been able to bounce back with no problems. Other folks have had bad credit for years. Bad habits have caused their credit to be horrible for years. They may think that it’s hopeless and that they will have bad credit forever. That’s not the case. If your score is low, follow these tips to repair your credit and get it back on the right track.

The first thing that you have to do is contact the debt collectors. It may be hard, but use your manners when you are talking to them. I’ve gotten angry and nearly yelled at debt collectors before in the past. That didn’t help the situation at all. I still had to pay that debt off. I just wasted energy being mad. Being friendly with the creditors will pave the way for you to work with them later. Unless you are filing for bankruptcy, you will need to have a pretty good relationship with everyone involved in your finances.

You should become organized. Have all of your bills stored in one place so that you can review the terms. If you’re not an organized person, you may want to look at hiring an outside credit repair company to help you. They will be able to help get those things straight for you.

Depending on your employment status, you may find yourself falling behind on payments. If your credit score has taken a major dive because of a job loss, don’t worry because your credit can still be repaired. Calling your lenders and telling them about your situation can help bring your monthly payments down. That will make it easier to pay your bills each month. I will be the first person to say that this works. In the past, I’ve contacted my lenders, and they were able to help me out a little.

This next tip may be hard, buy you need to do it. Stop using your credit cards. People swipe their cards for years before they realize their problems. Only paying the minimum each month could get you in a lot of debt. Some folks don’t realize that until they check their credit. Paying those credit cards down and keeping them that way is a major key when it comes to cleaning up your credit.

When working on your credit repair make sure that you get any agreements made between you and your creditors in writing. Nothing is a guarantee unless you have it in writing. An employee of your creditor may not have the power to make a deal with you. If it is not in writing, the creditor has no obligation to keep their word. Make sure you get the agreement in writing.

This tip is very easy, but everyone doesn’t do it. Pay your monthly bills on time. This will keep late charges from piling up. If you have a hard time paying off your bills each month, look for a side hustle. Getting current and paying my bills on time was one of the reasons that I was able to raise my credit score by 168 points in 8 short months. I know that you can do the same thing.

College students want to be sure about the quality of their essay. They search for ‘cover page for my work‘ online to find reliable resources and references.

Making Saving A Priority

Posted on November 14, 2016 - 6:30 am by Jason Butler

money saving tips, saving money, money management

Saving money was not always a priority of mine. I figured that since I had a job, I’d always have money. Then, life happened. I went through a period where I didn’t work, and I struggled. I nearly hit rock bottom twice. I realized after going through that how important it was to have a savings account. I currently add money to my savings account each month. If you don’t have a one at the moment, you should consider opening one up as soon as you can. You just need to change a few things. Here are some tips that should help you prioritize saving money.

Pay Yourself First

One of the reasons many couples feel that they can’t afford to save is that they don’t seem to have enough money left over at after everything is paid. Do you know how to change that? You put some money into your savings account first. It might help you to start off by saving ten or fifteen percent. It may take a little getting used to, but it is worth it. For example, 10% of $2000 is $200. In a year you can save $2400. That’s a pretty good amount to save in your first year if you’ve never done it before. If you don’t want to move the money to a savings account physically, you can have it done automatically.

Extra Money

Chances are you will get what I call “extra” money sometimes throughout the year. It could be a gift, lottery winnings, a bonus from work or your tax returns. Save that money instead of spending it. Your first thought may be to buy something expensive for your significant other. Don’t do it. Put that money in your savings account. It will require a little bit of discipline, but it must be done. The habit of putting extra money in the bank is a great way to get your savings headed in the right direction.

Review Your Budget

Look at your budget and figure out where your money is going. Review every expense. Are you paying too much for cable or your phone? Do you eat out several times a week? If the answer to any of those questions is yes, it’s time to see what you can change. You should attempt to go grocery shopping and cooking more instead of eating out all the time. The money that you save by doing that should then be added to your savings account.

Discounts & Coupons

When shopping for different things, look for discounts and coupons. Many grocery stores offer deals on their items every week. I shop at Kroger’s all the time. They have in-store deals and coupons. You can also check online coupon sites and use them as well. There is no reason you should ever pay full price while grocery shopping. If you are looking for clothes, you should visit stores like TJ Maxx, Ross, and Marshalls. Those stores always have their items discounted. Their prices are much better than the larger clothing retailers. You can also check online weekly ads and use them as well.

As you’ve just read, there are several ways to make saving money a priority. Pay yourself first, save any extra money that you get, review your budget and look for discounts and coupons. If you do those things, you should be able to start saving in no time.

Is saving money a priority for you?

How to Save on Christmas Gifts

Posted on November 11, 2016 - 6:30 am by Jason Butler

saving money on Christmas gifts, Christmas gifts tips, Saving on Christmas gifts

Christmas will be here in a few days. If you’ve been to the mall or any retail store, you probably have seen that Christmas decorations are already up. Most of them had those decorations up right after Halloween. They seem to have forgotten about Thanksgiving. People tend to spend a lot of money on Christmas gifts. Sometimes they pay too much. I’m never in that group. I usually have a plan when it comes to buying Christmas gifts for people.

Look for sales

Does anyone buy things at full price anymore? I hope you didn’t raise your hand. There are discounts and coupons for many items these days. There are also ways to get cash back when you buy things. Taking a little bit of time to look for the deals will save you money. Be wary of some of the so-called Black Friday sales. A lot of them aren’t really deals. You could find some of those items for the same price if you search for them online a few weeks before.

Have a list

This may be common sense, but I had to list it anyway. Bring a list with you when you’re going shopping for Christmas gifts. The list will keep you focused on what you’re looking for. You won’t be just grabbing items. You’ll have a plan, and you should be able to get in and get out with the gifts in no problem.

Buy one gift

If you want to save money on gifts, just get everyone on your list one item. Some of you have probably already shot that idea down. You’re used to having a big Christmas and getting everyone a lot of gifts. That’s fine and all, but that’s not going to save you any money. Buying one gift per person likely will. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve adopted that philosophy. I’ve gotten everyone on my list just one thing. Do you want to know what happened? Christmas was still a great experience. My family enjoyed their gifts.

Have a budget

You have to have a budget for your Christmas shopping. If not you could find yourself in hundreds of dollars in new debt come January. Your budget should depend on how much money you bring in from your job. If you have a lot of debt, you want to keep it pretty moderate. If you’re debt free, your budget can be higher. Just don’t allow your Christmas gift shopping to get you into more debt.

Gift cards online

If you buy gift cards for people, there are a few ways for you to save money on them. You can purchase them online for a few bucks cheaper on sites like eBay and Giftcardgranny. A quick search on giftcardgranny.com showed that you could get a $35 Walgreens gift card for $31. That’s a $4 deal. It’s not much, but any savings can help. Another way to get gift cards for free or at a massive discount is to use your credit or debit card reward points. You should be able to get some decent gift cards once you reach a certain point limit. Check your rewards site today.