Stock Up On Cash

No matter which country you move to, money talks.  Now, keep in mind that you can’t take excessive amounts of physical cash with you through the airport (typically no more than $10,000 unless you like being detained for hours while the government checks to see if you are laundering cash), so plan to take just what you will need to sustain you for about one week.  By taking this cash you will be able to pay for food, shelter and whatever incidentals you incur upon your initial move. 

Set Up Your New Bank Account

A wise decision would be establishing a bank account within the country to which you are moving beforehand.   Many major U.S. based banks have branches in countries around the world, or may have partnerships and relationships with international banks, thus allowing you to have an International bank account.   Establishing a bank account in another country ahead of time will allow you to wire money into your new bank, thus mitigating the need for carrying cash.

You may also want to consider leaving the cash in your new account in U.S. dollars depending on the volatility of the currency of your new country.

Find Appropriate Housing

When I visit a new city or country, I tend to g off the beaten path.  That’s typically where you find the best deals, but they might always be in the greatest neighborhoods.  This can have long-lasting implications if you happen to be moving to a new country.

Doing as much research as possible before a permanent move will ensure that you are in the most ideal neighborhood for your particular situation.  This might mean having a shorter commute to work, being centrally located, access to school, and f course, the cost of living.

You may need to make a trip ahead of time to scout neighborhoods, or to hire a local realtor who specializes in international moves to make this transition easier.

Learn the Culture

Some might argue that this is the most important thing to do prior to your move.  Learn everything you can about the culture in your new area so that you don’t offend any of the locals. To them, you are the alien, and it’s more likely that without prior knowledge, you may unintentionally offend your new countrymen.  For example, the “okay” hand gesture might be innocuous in U.S. culture, but might be offensive in Greece, Turkey or some countries in the Middle East.

Showing a willingness to learn your new country’s culture, especially when done respectfully, will endear you to the individuals with whom you interact.  My Japanese friends always giggle at my pronunciation, but love the opportunity to teach me new words and phrases.  Plus, I get the added benefit of them taking me to awesome Japanese restaurants that I would not have discovered on my own.

From the adventurous to Baby Boomers, more adults are choosing to live in a place outside of their native countries.  Moving to an entirely new country can be extremely exciting, and if enough preparation is done ahead of time it can be relatively seamless.

While there are more than 29 million individuals worldwide with a net worth greater than $1M, there are 3.1 billion people with a net worth of less than $10,000. With a net worth just abut breaking even, I’m in the latter group. Today I’m sharing an infographic showcasing the wealth gap.

If you’ve every received a phone call or letter in the mail demanding payment for a debt that is years old, you might have unfortunately have zombies knocking at your door. Some debt collectors have a way of resurrecting debt that is so old that is might actually be outside of the statutes of limitations for collection. We call that zombie debt.

A tactic that is often used is trying to reset the clock on an old debt. How do they do this? By trying to get you to make a mistake. If you acknowledge the debt by admitting that you owe, make a partial payment, or ignore a lawsuit, you might have just given a debt collector ammunition against you.

For more about this practice, check out the video below.

An initial way to start is with an authority in credit fix. In many cases, it may happen that there might be some incorrect entries or duplications. You would be amazed that this fix has worked for a number of people and gave their FICO score a significant boost.

The tip that most people don’t know is that you should get your credit report from at least three credit bureaus of major repute (Transunion, Equifax and Experian). Each report should have some detail that isn’t present in the others. It gives you a larger scope for checking out any if there’s any inaccurate entry. In the case if there is; a claim can be filed for a dispute.

Your credit report also has the list of creditors, whom you can contact for a feasible payment plan. Many of them would be willing to make a plan in which you would be able to pay a certain amount which is less than the original one you owe. By making these payments on time, it is possible to rectify your credit score.

In the case you own a business, a risk assessment like Lexis Nexis Receivables Management or any other of the same nature is a good option since it allows you analytical control over your business. This solution is for those who want to keep their credit in check. The workflow optimization includes strategies for debt management.

The good thing about the system is that your credit is never too bad to be repaired. If you have resumed a job and it is not mentioned in your credit report, you can ask the bureaus to add it. The credit report is directly dependent upon stability.

A wise strategy would be to get a credit card. If you don’t qualify, it’s possible to get a secured one. The idea is to maintain your balance of spending and saving at the same time without adding to your interest. It makes your credit report look good. You can also look for common mortgages mistakes that people can commit.

A credit report is also harmed by late payments. Sometimes, late payments are not due to the absence of cash, but due to mere negligence. Jot down such payments, and make sure that they are on time. Don’t get late on your account payments by a time period of 30 to 60 days.

Remember that at least 30% of your FICO score is through your debt. Try to keep your credit card balance and credit limit within check. The rule of thumb is that the balance should be within and below 30% of the credit limit. So, to improve your credit score, target the over balances to come below the limit. This would work dramatically on your score. Another option is via the payday loans (http://financenize.com/loans/bad-credit-go-for-payday-loans/).

Through this proactive approach, it is possible to rectify your credit report in less than two years. How have you improved your credit score?

First, let me be completely honest with you.  Everyone can have a blog, but not every blog can or will make you money.  That’s the truth that everyone selling you the dream of riches earned with your keyboard will not tell you.  Second, having a blog that will make you money takes time.  Once you calculate the amount of time that it takes to make money on your blog, you might decide that it is easier and more time effective to just get a second job. Okay, on to how I make money blogging.

I’m not going to go through the process of how to establish and build a blog because it has been done by many people.  A good primer can be found at ProBlogger at How to Blog: Blogging Tips for Beginners.  Once you have chosen a topic that you feel passionate about, and have established your blog, you will inevitably think about making money.

Ways to monetize your blog according to ProBlogger

Your blog can make you money a number of different ways.  Your blog may help secure you free tickets to events, free items, gift cards, and cash.  The items that you are offered may depend on the genre of your blog.   Mom bloggers may receive offers of free products for children because the manufacturers want to target that specific audience.   Book bloggers may receive advanced copies of books.  Gaming bloggers may receive tickets to launch parties for video games. Travel bloggers might receive free hotel stays or airline tickets.  It all depends on what your blog is about.

If you’re not too excited about getting free products, the prospect of earning cash might excite you.  Again, I’m going to caution you that not everyone will make money through their blogs, but everyone can try, right?  I’m going to talk specifically about how I’m making money online and the resources that I use.

Pay Per Click or Cost Per Million Networks

In my income reports every month I mention Adsense.  This is probably the easiest way to earn money through your blog.  You sign up with Google and they will provide you with a code snippet for you to include on your blog.  If you scroll up at the top of this article, the ad they you see is provided by Google.  Google can display ads in text link, image or video form.  Every time someone clicks on ad advertisement, Google will pay you for the click.  Clicks can pay you anywhere from a few pennies to a few dollars, depending on the ad that was shown.

Google has a ton of rules on what you can and can not do, but if you follow the rules and get to $100, Google will send you a check for the funds on the 23rd of the month after you reach the $100 threshold.  It took me about four years to get my first $100 and then two months after that to get to my second $100.  What was the difference?  A lot of trial and error.  These days I’m making between $250-$300 per month through Adsense.

Similar to pay per click (PPC) networks are cost per mille (CPM) networks.  CPM networks will pay you a fee for every 1,000 page views.  It’s not usually much but it can add up if you have hundreds of thousands of visits per month and if your blog is in a genre that has a decent payout.  I have seen anything from $0.05 per thousand page views up to $6.  It all depends.

There are more PPC and CPM networks out there such as BidVertiser, but Adsense is by far the largest.

Product Reviews

I get a ton of offers to review financial products or review a book.  I typically don’t have time to do this, but it can be a good source of free products and potential income for the right individual.  Usually, these companies want your honest opinion about their product.  You will usually have to write up a review and publish it on your blog.

Compensation can range anywhere from a free product or trial for a service to gift cards or other financial compensation.  It’s not usually much money, but if you do enough of them, you can end up with tons of free stuff.

Affiliate Referrals

Millions of companies out there want you to purchase their products, but they don’t want to advertise in every single corner of the internet.  They also don’t want to pay for a sales team.  This is where you come in.  They are willing to pay you for every customer that you send their way who either signs up or purchases their products.  This is called being an affiliate.  There are more affiliate networks out there than I care to cover, but I’ll mention the two that I use.  I use Commission Junction and FlexOffers.

Here’s an example.  I really believe in using CreditKarma as a free way of monitoring your credit.  They happened to be on Commission Junction offering to pay a commission for every person who signs up for their service using my referral link.  So, if you sign up for CreditKarma, you get a free service that is useful, CreditKarma gets a new client, and I get a commission.  It’s a win-win situation.

There are literally thousands and thousands of product and service providers available.  The key is finding a product or service that fits your blog that your readers will be interested in.  I can offer a deal for furniture on this blog, but it wouldn’t really make sense, would it?

Ad Sales

This is where most people think that they will make money, but it’s also the hardest way to make money.

There are a number of different types of ad sales.   Ads can range from display ads, full site takeovers, mentions within newsletters to  text links in your sidebar or within an article.  I’m not going to debate the merits or legitimacy of one ad type versus another.  The companies may pay you to display an advertisement for a given time period or for a certain number of times over a given period.  They are basically paying for their readers to be exposed to their advertisements.  The amount that can be made through ad sales is directly proportional to the size of your audience, your topic area, the number of visitors to your blog, and your rank.

With text links, some companies are hoping to have your ranking with Google passed along to them.  This also happens with sponsored posts. There is a lot to learn about these types of advertisements and the potential for being penalized by Google.

You can sell ads directly from your website or you can join an ad network such as Google’s Double Click for Publishers or Buy Sell Ads where they will sell your ad space for you.

Your Own Products

This, my friends, is where you can make serious money.  Many bloggers develop their own products and sell that to their audience.  If you have a built in audience and you believe that you know what they are looking for, you can make your own product and offer it directly to the individuals already asking for your product.

This can take the form of information products such as books or videos, physical products such as t-shirts or services such as website building. By developing your own products you can maximize your profits by creating an affiliate network to sell the product for you.

I have not done this yet, but I AM working on an eBook.  Who knows what I’ll do with it.

Offline Opportunities

Okay, I’ve saved the item with the largest earning potential for last.

Your blog can be a springboard for opportunities offline such as speaking events, teaching classes, writing articles and consulting.  I have seen my counterparts being paid consulting fees in the thousands for their time.  In this case, your blog basically serves as your portfolio and as an advertisement for YOU.

From being discovered through my blog, I have been asked to be on a certain show featuring really, really cheap people no less than three times.  I have been interviewed for local television news segments and quoted as a source or expert in newspapers.  If you want to be featured in the media (I didn’t because of my job), then there is a world of opportunity for you.

I’m working on building this end of my revenue making, with an eye towards making this blog the cornerstone of my entrepreneurial ventures.

I ranked each way that I make money in order of the potential for that methodology to make money.  Choosing exactly what to do is completely up to what you are comfortable with and how much time you chose to devote to your blog and what you are comfortable doing.

For some, a blog might always be a fun way to share your interest with the world, and that’s perfectly fine.  If, however, you choose to make your blog a part of your side hustle or Plan B as I like to call it, then this money could potentially pad your current income.  But, don’t forget my warning.  Building a blog takes time.  Building a successful blog takes even more time.  Building a blog that makes you enough money to compensate you for that time can take forever.

Thank you to Free Money Minute for suggesting that I write this article.