Smart Money Links 4U

Some of the links in this post are from our sponsors. We provide you with accurate, reliable information. Learn more about how we make money and select our advertising partners . If you’re like most of us, 2020 did a number on your cash flow. What is cash flow , you ask? We’re so glad you asked! Cash flow refers to the money that’s constantly moving into and out of your bank account. Your paychecks (assuming you have work) flow in, and your payments (for food, housing and everything else) flow out. For many of us, the COVID-19 pandemic has torn a hole in our finances, mucking everything up. Whatever has your cash flow bottled up, we’ve got six suggestions for improving it, one step at a time. 1. Stop Paying Your Credit Card Company Credit card debt will destroy your cash flow. And the truth is, your credit card company doesn’t really care. It’s just getting rich by ripping you off with high interest rates. But a website called AmOne wants to help. If you owe your credit card co...

Grocery delivery service Instacart is laying off nearly 2,000 employees in the coming months as it shifts away from having shoppers embedded in stores. Instacart unveiled the shift to a new “Partner Pick” model in a post on Medium. Under that model, Instacart will rely more on grocery store employees to fulfill orders. The announcement didn’t say how many in-store shoppers are being laid off, but CBS News reported that 1,877 Instacart employees who work embedded in grocery stores across the country will lose their jobs by March. Going forward, grocery store employees will play a larger role in preparing pickup orders that customers place through the Instacart app. The result is that the current in-store Instacart employees will no longer be needed at many locations. What Do the Instacart Layoffs and Changing Services Mean for Your Side Gig? The March 2021 wave of layoffs is primarily focused on one of the two major side gigs Instacart offers: in-store shoppers. The other major si...

Some of the links in this post are from our sponsors. We provide you with accurate, reliable information. Learn more about how we make money and select our advertising partners . If you haven’t checked car insurance rates in a few months, you could be overspending and not even know it. And while it’s probably not something on the top of your to-do list, you should set a reminder to get a few quotes every six months. And if you do it through a website called SmartFinancial , you could be getting insider-level rates as low as $22 a month. SmartFinancial is a digital marketplace for insurance. It has unique relationships with many of the top auto insurance providers, making it super easy for you to enter your information once and see all your quotes in front of you — making sure you get the best rate possible, without all the work. See If You Can Save Up To $715 A Year On Car Insurance When you fill out a one-minute form on Smart Financial’s website, you’ll be able to get quotes fro...

If you’re one of the millions of workers whose home is now doubling as office space due to COVID-19, you may be wondering whether that means a sweet deduction at tax time. Hold up, though: The IRS has strict rules about taking the home office deduction — and they changed drastically under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which passed in late 2017. 7 Essential Rules for Claiming a Work From Home Tax Deduction Thinking about claiming a home office deduction on your tax return? Follow these tips to avoid raising any eyebrows at the IRS. 1. You can’t claim it if you’re a regular employee, even if your company is requiring you to work from home due to COVID-19. If you’re employed by a company and you work from home, you can’t deduct home office space from your taxes. This applies whether you’re a permanent remote worker or if your office is temporarily closed because of the pandemic. The rule of thumb is that if you’re a W-2 employee, you’re not eligible. This wasn’t always the case, though....

One way to make money while you’re stuck between the four walls of your home: take a trip down memory lane. If you travelled a lot prior to the pandemic, dig through your old photos. Pause when you find the ones that take your breath away. You can sell those breathtaking photographs, bringing in a little side income even while your travel plans are grounded. Here’s how to sell travel photos. Sell Your Travel Photos to a Stock Agency When you sell your travel photos to a stock agency, you’ll upload a high-resolution version of your image to their website. Then, the agency connects those shopping for images with your work. For each photo sold, you’ll earn a royalty. Because you’re often signing away some of the rights to your photography when you work with a stock agency, be careful to pick the right agency the first time. You usually won’t be able to list your images on more than one site. There are many microstock agencies that pay pennies for each photo sold. Instead, check out ...

If there was ever a time to get the flu shot, it’s probably amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Having two potentially deadly viruses that share some of the same symptoms makes getting the flu vaccine important for both protecting yourself from the flu and reducing the strain on healthcare facilities responding to the coronavirus. The good news: Flu activity in the U.S. is unusually low at this time, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It attributes the drop to precautions taken to slow the spread of COVID-19, including a record high number of Americans receiving doses of the flu vaccine. But getting vaccinated doesn’t have to be expensive. Here’s where to get a flu shot for cheap or free — plus where you could actually snag a little extra spending money by taking your shot. Where to Get a Free or Low-Cost Flu Shot The annual flu vaccine can help protect you from getting the flu and reduce the severity if you do contract it. The CDC recommends an annual flu va...

There’s a lot that goes into buying a new home, starting with finding the right one all the way down to finalizing the paperwork. Somewhere in that process, you’ll likely find yourself trying to decipher myriad new terms and figuring out what they mean for you. We’ve compiled this list of seven key numbers you’ll need to know when buying a home — plus the details on how understanding these terms can help you land your dream home. Here are seven all-important home-buying numbers to know. 1. Cost per Square Foot One of the first numbers you’ll encounter when shopping for homes is cost per square foot. While this number is based on a relatively simple calculation, it’s an important one to understand since ultimately it helps you determine how much house you’re getting for your money. “Cost per square foot is simply the list price divided by the number of livable square feet,” said Tyler Forte, founder & CEO of Felix Homes . “This number is important because it allows a homeow...