Amazing Facts About Long-Term Care

Did you know that …
At least 70% of people over 65 will need long-term care services and support at some point in their lives.
(Source: 2015 Medicare & You, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
About 68% of nursing home residents and 72% of assisted living residents are women.
(Source: Long-Term Care Services in the United States: 2013 Overview, National Center for Health Statistics)
The national median daily rate in 2014 for a private room in a nursing home was $240, an increase of 4.35% from 2013.
(Source: Genworth 2014 Cost of Care Survey, March 2014)
The average length of a nursing home stay is 835 days—or more than two years. But I had a several relatives, both with Alzhiemers, who were in homes for five years.
(Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nursing Home Care FastStats, last updated May 2014)
At a median daily rate of $240, an average nursing home stay of 835 days currently costs over $200,000, making it virtually unaffordable for many Americans. (The average hotel room is just $121/day!)
Medicare does not pay for long-term care services, as explained by the Social Security Administration: “Social Security pays retirement, disability, family and survivors benefits. Medicare, a separate program run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, helps pay for inpatient hospital care, nursing care, doctors’ fees, drugs, and other medical services and supplies to people age 65 and older, as well as to people who have been receiving Social Security disability benefits for two years or more. Medicare does not pay for long-term care, so you may want to consider options for private insurance (emphasis added).”
Without proper planning, a serious accident or illness could rob you of your financial independence. Whether purchased for yourself, your spouse or for an aging parent, long-term care insurance can help protect assets accumulated over a lifetime from the ravages of long-term care costs.

Amazing Facts About Long-Term Care

When you think of long-term care insurance, what comes to mind?

Unfortunately, some people hold certain misconceptions or have an unfavorable opinion of long-term care insurance, largely stemming from issues related to its early days. But that was then. Today, there are more options focusing on straightforward and flexible long-term care solutions. Let’s take a look.

1. You decide where care is received. One of the most common myths is that long-term care insurance only provides nursing home care, and nothing is further from the truth. It provides home care for those who prefer to “age in place,” as well as care at adult day care, assisted living facilities and hospice centers. In fact, most newly opened long-term care insurance claims are for home care, according to the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance (AALTCI).

2. Benefits can be tremendously flexible. In addition to options for where care is received, most long-term care insurance policies offer greater flexibility in the types of services available, such as home modifications like installing grab bars or a wheelchair ramp to help you stay at home longer and safer; or other care-related products and personal supplies, like a lift chair or hospital bed.

3. It supports family caregivers. Long-term care insurance recognizes the important role family caregivers play in long-term care situations by offering options that can make it easier for families to care for the ones who cared for them. Most policies provide caregiver training for family members, which helps ensure care recipients are getting the best care possible. Other policies go the extra mile by recognizing family caregivers, and even family friends who provide care, as informal caregivers, making their time and services reimbursable under the policy.

4. It offers shareability for couples. Many long-term care insurance policies offer an optional benefit commonly known as “shared care,” which allows couples to share their coverage and maximize their benefits. Here’s how it works: if one spouse exhausts his or her benefits, he or she can begin using the other spouse’s benefits. This provides couples with peace of mind knowing that their coverage will be there if care is needed for longer than expected. It typically also includes a built-in protection to ensure a surviving spouse can still receive long-term care insurance benefits.

5. It’s not “just for older people.” While it’s a critical part of retirement planning and important protection for your later years, the younger you are when you apply for long-term care insurance, the better. Age and health are two of the most important factors when applying, so applying at a younger age will help make it more affordable, and you are likely more insurable from a health perspective. Additionally, accidents and illnesses can happen at any age and include the need for extended personal care. Planning ahead can really pay off.

6. Long-term care insurance carriers paid $7.8 billion in benefits last year.According to AALTCI, carriers paid a record $7.8 billion in claim benefits to 250,000 individuals in 2014, up from $7.5 billion the previous year. You can interpret this number a couple of ways: People are living longer and more care is needed, or the cost of care is increasing, which are both true. But it also shows that long-term care insurance is working. It’s helping families provide care for their loved ones in a setting that they prefer and protecting their finances.

I encourage you to learn more about long-term care insurance and why it’s a critical piece of retirement planning. Ask your financial advisor about these and other features and how it has helped their clients like it helped 250,000 families last year.

You can also check out this Real Life Stories video about the Mollicone family, which does a great job of showing how long-term care insurance can protect a family’s finances, provide peace of mind, and lessen the impact of long-term care when it is needed.

4 Financial Tips to Keep Your Family Safe

It’s tough to get our financial house in order, not because it’s especially hard, but because it’s … boring? Tedious? The last thing we want to spend time on? To remedy that, here are four tips that you can take on and accomplish:

1. Make sure you have life insurance—or enough of it. Do you really need life insurance? Well, answer this question to find out: Would your loved ones suffer financial if something happened to you? If the answer is yes, you need life insurance. Then comes the question, how much? There are a number of factors that go into calculating how much life insurance you might need. But it doesn’t have to be difficult. Instead, use thisonline Life Insurance Needs Calculator, and in just a couple of minutes you can have a working idea of the amount you need. If you already have life insurance, why not use this calculator to make sure you have enough!

And don’t let cost—or actually perceived cost—stop you from getting coverage. Did you know that 80% of people overestimate how much life insurance costs? And those under 25 think it’s four times more expensive than it actually is. Let’s frame it this way, say you’re 30 and in good health, a 20-year level term life insurance policy with $250,000 of coverage may cost around $13 a month. That’s the equivalent of a few Starbucks drive-through lattes. Here are a number of ways you can get coverage or search for an agentif you don’t have one.

Would you like to your ex-spouse to get your life insurance if something were to happen to you because you forgot to change the beneficiary on your policy?

2. Review your life insurance beneficiaries. Would you like your ex-spouse to get your life insurance if something were to happen to you because you forgot to change the beneficiary on your policy? Would you like the money to get tied up in court because you named your minor children as the beneficiaries? These are missteps that happen more than you think. Add to that the fact that people may have more than one policy—for example one through the workplace (a group policy) and one that they bought individually.

This is exactly the type of thing that a life insurance agent or advisor can help you with. And it won’t cost you anything to talk to them about it. Plus, if you’ve gone through tip #1, they can double check that the amount of coverage you came up with meets you needs. Also, it’s honestly a lot less hassle to have someone who knows what they’re doing help you out, and isn’t that what we’re trying to achieve here—get it done?

3. Don’t skip disability insurance. Many people aren’t really familiar with what disability insurance is and what it does. Basically, it replaces a portion of your income if you’re unable to work due to a disabling illness or injury. Why is that important? Think about how long you could make ends meet—pay rent or the mortgage and all your monthly bills if your paycheck suddenly disappeared. A Life Happens survey found that a majority of those who work wouldn’t make it more than a month before they’d have to make some serious financial sacrifices. Again, an online calculator can help; get started with this Disability Insurance Needs Calculator.

So, how do you get it? Your employer may offer disability insurance coverage through a group plan. If you’re not sure, contact your HR department or benefits manager to find out what kind of coverage you have (if any). If you don’t have coverage or need more than is offered through work, buying your own disability insurance policy is worth considering. Unlike group coverage, privately owned insurance stays with you even when you change jobs.

Also keep in mind that most people overestimate what the government will pay or cover if something were to happen. According to the National Safety Council, 73% of long-term disabilities are a result of an injury or illness that is not work-related and therefore wouldn’t qualify for Workers’ Compensation. And if you were hoping for Social Security disability benefits, know that about 45% of those who apply are initially denied, and those who are approved receive an average monthly benefit of around $1,100, which would leave you living at about the poverty level.

4. Automate your emergency fund. While not as fundamentally critical as the above tips, this will probably have the most impact on your day-to-day life. Everyone one of us runs into unexpected events that are costly—a major car repair, a leak in the roof, a job loss … the list, as you know, can seem endless. To give yourself peace of mind and bit of cushion, set aside a certain amount each month—it could be $50 or $500, depending on your financial situation—and have it automatically deposited into your savings account. If it’s easier to track, you could even keep it in a separate account. Then it becomes a no-brainer, because that money isn’t there for you to spend. In a year, if you chose one of the above amounts, you could have $600 or $6,000 stashed away!

These tips will set you on the path of ensuring that if the unforeseen happens, you and your family will be OK financially. And what’s worth more than your peace of mind?

8 Financial Must-Dos for Newlyweds

My wife and I went tandem bungee jumping together on our honeymoon. There’s something about an adrenaline rush like that that gets you thinking about the bigger picture. And as a newlywed financial planner, it prompted me to think about the planning we had in place and have a conversation about what our future goals looked like.

First, just talking about it is the biggest step. Open communication between you and your new spouse about your joint financial goals is one of the most important things you can do so you can avoid financial surprises down the road. Once you know where you stand and where you want to go you can take the proper steps to get there. Here is what we learned.

1. Set up a joint checking account: Even if you plan to keep your finances somewhat separate, it is very helpful to have a joint checking account that you both have access to.

2. Set a budget: Make sure you are on the same page about how much you are saving and spending on a monthly basis. You will also want to evaluate the debt you each have and set up plan in your monthly budget to pay off the highest interest rate debt first.

3. Coordinate benefits at work: Figure out if joining a spouse’s medical or dental insurance plan offers better coverage and/or pricing than what you currently have. Also make sure you are both taking advantage of company matches in your retirement plans.

4. Re-evaluate your overall investment allocation: Now that you have joint goals, you should make sure your investments aren’t counteracting each other. You want to make sure you are not unnecessarily taking risk by being too overweight in a certain area.

5. Protection plans: Someone else is now relying on you and your income. Make sure you have the proper amounts of disability insurance and life insurance in place so if something terrible does happen it won’t financially ruin the other.

6. Beneficiaries and titling of accounts: Most of your retirement accounts and insurance will never pass through a will if you die. This is the same with joint accounts. They go directly to the named beneficiary or joint account holder. Because of this, make sure they are all set up the way you want them.

7. Name change: If you change your name, make sure you update and notify the IRS, Social Security, credit card companies, DMV, banks, etc.

8. Emergency fund: Make sure you have enough cash readily available in case of an emergency. This could be three months to a year of your salary, depending on how secure your job is and how volatile your income is.

It can be a daunting task to coordinate finances with your new spouse, but it is very important. Once completed, all of these steps will help you smoothly move forward financially with your new spouse.

This article is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell any security or securities product. Matt Hoesly is an investment advisor with Resource 1, and a registered representative of Ceros Financial Services, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. (Resource 1 and Ceros are not affiliated entities). Securities offered through Ceros Financial Services, (Not affiliated with Resource 1, Inc.). 1445 Research Boulevard, Suite 530, Rockville, MD 20850. (866) 842-3356 Member FINRA/SIPC

The Dark Knight - You Think You Know Movies?

‘The Dark Knight’ is one of the most popular superhero movies ever. Heck, it might even be one of the most popular movies of any genre in the past 10 years. But, even if you think you’ve seen and read all there is on ‘The Dark Knight,’ you still might not know everything there is to know about one of the biggest movies of all-time.

For example, did you know that the mask The Joker wears in the opening scene of the movie is the same one The Joker wore in a 1966 episode of ‘Batman’ titled “The Joker is Wild” where the Joker impersonates a clown? Or, that when The Joker blows up Gotham General Hospital, that’s Heath Ledger walking away from an actual building that Christopher Nolan and his team exploded in the background? These are just some of the little known bits of trivia packed into the latest episode of You Think You Know Movies, which focuses on Batman’s modern classic ‘The Dark Knight’.

‘You Think You Know Movies?’ is a ScreenCrush original series that dives deep into the cinematic worlds of your favorite movies and freeze frames a few tidbits you might not have known. We’ve already tackled ‘Star Wars,’ ‘The Avengers‘ and ‘Spider-Man,’ but now, in advance of ‘Batman vs. Superman‘ and the new ‘Justice League‘ movies, it’s time to focus our attention on one of the movies from the DC universe.

The Wiz is NBC's Next Live Musical! Get All the Details

The Wiz won. NBC has chosen its next live musical: The 1975 broadway hit that re-imagines The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with an all-black cast and a NYC-inspired Land of Oz.

The production will follow-up on NBC’s hugely successful 2013 hit A Sound of Music Live and last year’s comparatively disappointing Peter Pan Live.

NBC previously revealed that two titles were under consideration: The Wiz and the 1957 hit The Music Man. But especially after the extraordinary performance of Fox’s hip-hop-themed drama Empire this season, The Wiz began to look like the obvious choice.  

Unlike the previous productions, this time the network will partner with Cirque du Soleil, which will co-produce the event and then present it as a Broadway revival for the 2016-17 season. Once again, Craig Zaden and Neil Meron will executive produce the show. Director Kenny Leon will stage both the television production and Broadway revival of The Wiz in collaboration with Tony winner Harvey Fierstein, who will contribute new material to the original Broadway book by William F. Brown.

“We love this yearly tradition and we’re more excited than ever to not only bring another Broadway musical to America’s living rooms, but also see it land on Broadway as well,” said NBC chairman Robert Greenblatt. “Cirque’s incredible imagination will help bring the fantasy world of Oz vividly to life and give this great show a modern spin on the age-old story we all love.”

Though Girls star Allison Williams as Peter Pan drew better reviews than Idol alum Carrie Underwood as Maria, Peter Pan Live paled in comparison when it came to the ratings. The three-hour musical drew 9.1 million viewers and a 2.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic, down 51 percent from Sound of Music, which brought in a whopping 18.5 million viewers and a 4.6, making it one of the network’s biggest Thursday nights since ER went off the air.

Casting will be announced at a later date. The Wiz will air Dec. 3 on NBC.

source: Billlboard

how to make money online for free

1. No-risk matched betting

   Hands down the quickest way to make a lot of money (well, without breaking the law). Lots of students have genuinely made £100s from this technique. It’s completely legal, risk free, tax free, and anyone can do it.
   It works by taking advantage of free bets regularly offered by betting sites through ‘matching’ them at a betting exchange. Matched betting eliminates the risk (you are betting both for and against a certain outcome).
   This leaves you being able to squeeze out the free bet, which can be as much as £200! Multiply this by how many betting sites there are and you can quite easily come away with a profit of a few hundred pounds.
   Owen walks you through how to make your first £15 profit (using a real life example) in this gem of a guide to matched betting. If you know of any better way to make £30/hr sitting at home, please let us know!

2. Online surveys

   Credit: Julio Marquez – Flickr.com
   An increasingly popular way for students to make money is to fill out online surveys in their spare time. Research companies are always recruiting new members to answer surveys and test new products.
   For a few minutes of form filling, you can make a couple of quid which is paid as cash or in rewards. You can make up to £3 for some surveys!
   A few good ones to try are: Toluna, Vivatic, MySurvey, YouGov, SurveyBods, Valued Opinions, The Opinion Panel, iPoll, Global Test Market, Hiving, PanelBase, Harris Poll, Opinion Outpost, Yourword, Pinecone, IPSOS, New Vista.
   Also sign up for Swagbucks.com which rewards you for surveys as well as simply surfing the web, watching videos and playing games.
   Update: See our new full guide to the best paid online surveys!

3. Paid for searching the web

   Interested in earning cash for doing what you already do online? This has to be one of the easiest methods of making money online without really any effort or change in your behavior.
   This innovative idea by Qmee.com rewards you for searching in Google, Bing or Yahoo. You just install a simple add-on to your browser and when you conduct a search there may be a few sponsored results alongside your normal search.
   Each Qmee result has a cash reward attached – if you are interested in it simply click on it and collect your reward.
   The best thing is there is no minimum to cashout – our first one was just 72p wired to our Paypal account. You also have the option to donate it to charity.
   Sign up now for free and start earning from your own searches! Click here to start.

4. Social Investment Networks

   The historically hard-to-break world of investing in stock markets and currencies has been cracked wide open. Today there is no need to be a fat cat or fund the yachts of Wolf of Wall Street style stock brokers. You can do it all yourself with the help of free online market trading platforms.
   Having spent many hours researching this new opportunity, I’ve been experimenting with eToro.com which has over 4 million users worldwide. It was recently featured in the BBC 2 documentary “Traders: Millions by the Minute” and the Financial Times.
   One of the best things on eToro is the CopyTrader feature. This lets you literally see, follow and copy the investments of other top performing traders.
   Follow George’s complete guide to trading on eToro to learn more. I think $200 is a good amount to get the most out of the learning curve by trying out a few different markets. If nothing else you’ll learn a great deal about various investments and industries.
   Warning: trading can be volatile and you can lose money, so don’t throw your life savings into it!

5. Mobile phone recycling

   Credit: CannedTuna – Flickr.com
   See how much you can get for your old mobile phone using our in-house mobile phone price comparison tool! Maybe ask your parents if they have any lying around too.
   You can get some good money and help the environment by recycling mobile phones with certain companies listed on the comparison tool. Most phones are shipped off to Asia to be dismantled and we know of at least one student who received a £120 cheque in return.

6. ‘Get Paid To’ sites

   Similar to making money from online surveys, GPT sites reward you in cash and vouchers for completing various offers or activities online.
   The most popular sites today are Toluna, Swagbucks.com, InboxPounds and PaidOffers.
   Exciting update! We’ll soon be launching our own GPT service for our readers. Invites will be limited and UK only, please join our mailing list if you’re interested in hearing once it’s live:
   

8. The ‘Disney Vault’ secret

   To keep demand high across generations, Disney Studios carefully restrict the supply of some home release classics. They are locked away in the ‘vault’ for 8-10 years before being released for a short unspecified time.
   Buy them in this window at normal retail price and you can turn a nice profit when they go off sale for another decade or so.
   For example, in 2011 you could buy Beauty and the Beast on Blu-ray 3D for just £24.99. In just a couple of years it’s now on Amazon for a staggering £74.99!
   Importantly, not all Disney releases are subject to the vault and only the true most popular classics will maintain such demand.
   Right now there are just 2 titles out of the vault which I would recommend snapping up. They are Bambi Diamond Edition Blu-ray for just £13.50 and Cinderella Diamond Edition Blu-ray for £14.

9. Start your own website

   If you’ve ever seen the film The Social Network then you’ve most likely had your brain spinning as to what website you can start-up to make you billions.
   And of course there are lots of stories out there about successful students who have started a site while at university, or even bought a domain name and later sold it for 1000s.
   In fact, Save the Student is one such example of a website started at university by Owen Burek in his first year, which has since grown into a full-time and successful enterprise.
   Read Owen’s 4-step guide to setting up a website if you’re interested in finding out more. It’s really not that difficult to get started and there are plenty of opportunities to make money online.

10. Write and publish a Kindle eBook

    If students are good at anything, it’s researching and writing. With the Amazon Kindle store, anyone can publish an eBook and make money.
    And the Kindle app is now available on almost any device (laptops, iPads, smartphones and yes, Kindles) so your global market is huge!
    List your book for £1.49 – £6.99 and you earn 70% of the sale. Considering Amazon is the ultimate selling machine (and remember people are looking to spend), that is a fantastic deal.
    The key to success with eBooks is to create value, and write non-fiction. Simply bundling information you have researched and complied on a common problem (eg. ‘secrets’ to finding a job) and then presenting it in an easy to digest format (an eBook) justifies someone spending a few quid on it.
    Another big tip is to have a great cover designed so it stands out, and once your book is live on the Kindle store (approval takes less than 48 hours) it’s really important to get some reviews so it shows up higher in results. Encourage readers to leave an honest review at the end of your book.
    The best thing about this lucrative idea is that once you’ve invested the time (say 20 hours), you’ll earn a passive income for years to come! For a step-by-step guide to publishing and earning with eBooks, see “How to write a nonfiction eBook in 21 days“.

11. Affiliate marketing

    If you’ve got a good presence on social media or perhaps you even have a blog or website, you can start bringing in money immediately by promoting all sorts of companies, products, services and offers online.
    Sign up to an affiliate network such as Affiliate Window, check their offers blog or browse the merchant listings to find something you think your friends would be interested in, grab your affiliate link and share it. If someone buys (can be within up to 90 days) using your link you’ll make a nice commission.
    To take it a step further, set up a website (read our guide) or a topical Facebook page and invite all your friends to join it and post your affiliate offers on there.

12. Review music for money

    If you love music, make it your business by reviewing unsigned bands and artists online for cash with Slicethepie.
    It can take a while to build up your reputation but some users of the site have said that they earn £40 a month. This may not sound like much, but if it’s something you enjoy then it shouldn’t be hard work and is another thing for your CV. Money you earn will be in $US but anyone can sign up and review.To get started, head over to Slicethepie now or read our quick guide for more info.

13. Competitions

    Entering competitions of course comes with no guarantees, but there is a growing community of so-called ‘compers’ in the UK consistently making up to £50,000 a year through all sorts of competitions.
    Types of competitions available to enter range from simple registration forms and Facebook page liking to answering questions correctly over the phone to being a TV game show contestant. Imagine you made it onto Deal or No Deal instead of just watching it!
    Start by entering our very own monthly student competition (Like our Facebook page to see when our next one is)!
    Then head to our active competitions page to enter other free competitions that we have found. Just note that some of these sites may send you spam so use an alias email address and opt-out of as many of the offers as possible.
    For loads more tips on achieving success and making money from competitions, read our guide to entering competitions.

14. Claim tax back

    Many students work part-time or during the summer months, and others will be on placements or paid internships. More often than not, if you are a student working during the year, you will be overpaying income tax.
    Why? Simply because few students reach the personal tax-free income allowance each year but are put on an emergency basic tax-code by their employers meaning tax is being paid when it shouldn’t be.
    Use our student tax-back service to help you reclaim any tax you should not have paid. Just enter your details in the calculator here to work out what you may be owed. Otherwise for more information read our guide on claiming tax back here.

15. Get cashback when shopping

    

    I earned this much in 2 years
    This is not only a way to make money but also to save money as a student. If you look at it in a different way then you are making money with every purchase you would have made anyway, whether it be 10% or 0.5% cashback.
    There are a number of cashback sites out there which pay you the commission they otherwise would have earned.
    We recommend signing up with both Top Cashback and Quidco.com which are free and offer the best selection of retailers and exclusives.

16. A part-time job

    A part-time job is the obvious first choice, opted for by most students looking to supplement their student loan. It provides a pretty steady flow of income and can enable you to gain valuable work experience.
    However, depending on where you live, jobs are not always easy to find. Check local classifieds, our student job search, student job websites and your university careers service for vacancies.
    It’s also worth signing up with the Graduate Recruitment Bureau, a free service which will match you with both part-time jobs or graduate opportunities.
    Read our guide to finding a part-time job whilst studying for more tips.

17. Gigs on Fiverr

    Fiverr is now the world’s largest marketplace for people to make money selling small services (known as ‘gigs’).
    What you offer could be absolutely anything, from writing and translating, social media posting, playing pranks and teaching to creating music, voiceovers and short video clips for people all around the world!
    The default price is $5 (hence Fiverr..), but you can attach extra services to gigs for more money. Whilst it might not seem like much, it can quickly add up and there are plenty of examples of people making a really good living from the site. The key is to get a system in place which minimises the time spent on each gig.
    But there is another way to profit even more from Fiverr for potentially far less work. How? By simply reselling gigs elsewhere. For example, find a decent logo designer then reply to jobs on Elance or even local classifieds. A $5 spend can easily become $50+, and it’s repeatable!
    If you’re not interested in selling at all there’s SO much good stuff you can get done for yourself. Have a browse and get inspired!

18. Sell second-hand course books

    One great way to make money is to buy other students’ text books at the end of the year, and then sell them just after freshers’ week – when the new intake of students know that they need them!
    You can either advertise on campus or list them online very easily on Amazon.co.uk Books Trade-In (just bear in mind they take a commission on books sold).
    For more tips on selling items online click here.

19. Become an Amazon ‘Mechanical Turk’

    Don’t ask us what this means, all we know is that it’s an easy way to make fast cash from your sofa. The concept is based on ‘internet crowd-sourcing’ where businesses advertise specific, scalable tasks they need completing quickly.
    
    There are a variety of tasks (known as HITS), but most commonly they involve mindless data entry or form filling. You are rewarded in cash (though $USD) for the work you do, and you can choose for what and when you work. Give it a go [Update: Currently US signups only, try ClickWorker].

20. Buy and sell domain names

    A domain name is just a website address (eg. ‘savethestudent.org’ or ‘mysite.co.uk’) and there are lots of extensions (.com, .net, .co.uk etc).
    They cost as little as £1.99 to register with 123-reg.co.uk or GoDaddy.com yet premium domain names can fetch £1,000s if not millions when sold on. In 2007 VacationRentals.com went for a cool $35m!
    Now you’re probably not going to come across anything like that, but you can still turn a quick profit with a bit of searching. The trick is to find available domain names which have some commercial value, snap them up and then list them for sale on a site like DomainLore.

21. Mystery shopping

    Today becoming a mystery shopper is easier than you think and you can get rewarded handsomely.
    We’ve recently come across a really fun smartphone app called Streetspotr that pays you in cash for completing various tasks in your local area. So definitely check that out first!
    More traditionally, there are plenty of agencies that pay you to visit all sorts of shops to feedback on how they are performing. For more info on where to apply see our guide to becoming a mystery shopper.

22. Be an extra

    Do you fancy yourself as a budding young actor or just that person that walks past in the background shot of an episode of Eastenders? It could be you if you apply to be an extra.
    The pay isn’t bad either – £60-80 a day on average, and you hardly have to do anything!
    You can apply at Be On Screen for a number of opportunities or 2020 casting is another agency (just know they take a cut from your earnings).

23. Sell all your old CDs, games and movies

    If you are looking to make a very quick buck, then selling your old bits and bobs that are cluttering up your room is a good idea.
    The best thing about it is that you can rip all the songs and films onto your laptop or external hard drive before selling them. This means that you are only really selling the plastic and artwork!
    You can earn anything from 10p to £20 per item, and the earnings can really add up if you have a large collection. Whilst you’re at it, see if your parents have any ‘clutter’ they’d be happy to see the back of.
    You can also sell almost anything for free on Amazon Trade-In or Preloved and sites like MusicMagpie will pay you instantly for sending in unwanted items.
    For more tips and places to sell check out our guide on selling DVDs, CDs and games.

24. Sell on your education!

    Become a tutor to local GCSE or A-level students (find out more about tutoring here). There are now a few online tutor sites too, so you can go also global without too much hassle.
    You may feel as if you aren’t qualified to be a tutor, but seeing as you are at university you will most likely have the qualifications to tutor for GCSE or even A-Level. Some parents may feel that their child will react better to a younger tutor, and it can be great experience, so why not give it a go?
    You can advertise on SchoolsTrader or sign up with Bright Young Things & UK Tutors. You can expect to earn around £10 an hour. However, make sure you don’t have to do too much tutoring around your exams!

25. Sell your photos

    If you think you’ve got a good shot and a little creativity, try uploading your photographs for free to stock websites. A good starting point is Fotolia or istockphoto.
    Make more money selling photo subjects that people are demanding, and there’s a great resource to find this out here. It might be a good idea to test them out in print first yourself (get free photo prints here).

26. Rent out your car parking space

    Some student accommodation comes with a drive or garage. If you aren’t using your parking space and you live in a busy area then you might be in luck. There are plenty of people that may work in the city centre and are fed up of paying through the roof for daily parking.
    Advertise your space on Gumtree, Parklet or Just Park.
    Or, check out our full guide to renting out your parking space.

27. Work as a charity collector

    Ok so this job takes a certain kind of person, as you’ll have to take a lot of rejection and be persistent.
    But if you are bubbly, personable and reckon you could sell ice to an Eskimo then this could actually be a great student money making idea. You get paid commission on new sign ups (typically around £20).
    Have a look at Wesser as well as charity websites like Oxfam.

28. Babysitting

    Advertise your services locally. It’s a classic money-maker, and for good reason. You get paid (well) to watch TV and not very much else!
    Be warned that you will need a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check to look after small children, even though some parents may not ask for one. If you are wondering what to charge, then look at local ads but you can expect to be paid over £6 hour even if you aren’t trained in child care. It really is easy money (unless you get stuck with the child from hell!).

29. Become a freelance interviewer

    Do you have ambitions to take on a career in HR? Do you love asking questions? Believe it or not, there are companies that will ask you to carry out interviews for them and pay you for your time. It couldn’t be simpler.
    You could make £185 a week plus have your travelling costs covered. The downside is that you will have to commit to at least 20 hours a week, so make sure that you have the time! Apply at NatCen.

30. Dog walking

    Dog walking may sound trivial but it’s big business. Just think that as a student you’re likely to have free time during the day when others are out at work and worried about their pets at home.
    You could make around £7 a dog for a 1 hour walk, and it’s also a great way to keep fit. Sign up to and try sites like Tailster that match you up with dog owners. Alternatively advertise your services locally with fliers or on classified websites such as Gumtree.

31. Rent out your house for filming

    Directors for TV and film are always on the hunt for houses to film in. For instance, a scene for Coronation Street was recently filmed in the student house one of the Save the Student editors used to live in!
    Not only can you make good money but it’s crazy seeing your own place on TV. Start out by looking at film-locations.co.uk.

32. Rent out your body

    Ok, ok – this isn’t what you think. “Renting out your body” can go as far as you want it to go. For example we reported on a story a while back about students who are turning to lap dancing to make a quick buck.
    If you are comfortable taking off your kit for a more acceptable cause then why not try life modelling. Sit there in the buff while budding artists capture your every curve (or pokey bits) in frightening detail! Try RAM, a website especially designed for these kind of jobs.
    You could also get involved in clinical drug trials. If this scares you a little then you can find more information here about what’s involved.
    Warning: Do not do anything you are not comfortable with, no matter how desperate you are for money! There has been an unhealthy rise in student prostitution in recent years – do not fall victim to it!

33. Freelance work

    Perhaps you enjoy writing, managing Facebook pages or doing a little bit of graphic design in your spare time. There are so many freelance jobs out there that require simple skills or just time that someone else might not have.
    And the best things about freelancing is that you can work for clients in the UK and around the world with just an internet connection from home, to your own hours whilst developing valuable skills.
    A great place to start is with the leading freelance site Elance.com. Or try using our student job search to find freelance jobs.

34. Busking

    If you can sing or dance then this is your time to shine baby! Did you know that Justin Bieber started off busking? That’s right, with a little work you can be as annoying as him.
    There are really no tips for this except choose a good spot with high footfall, make sure you are good and play your heart out. Some buskers in the past have been known to make upwards of £20 hour.

35. Sell clothes on eBay

    Everyone’s best friend when it comes to getting rid of junk is eBay. Online auctions are a sure-fire way to turn that sleeveless jacket (which came in and out of fashion in a week) into hard cash.
    Some eBay sellers look at trends and try to predict what will be big ahead of the market. If you are good and don’t mind taking a risk then you can buy early in bulk and sell on when the craze hits.
    For lots more tips on selling on eBay read this guide.

36. Sell your stories and videos

    If you have an interesting story then you could try selling it to the papers. It could be anything from sleeping with a professional footballer to getting caught in a clothes horse!
    One of the Save the Student team was unfortunate enough to have a pigeon fly through and smash their window at university and sold the story to The Sun for a tidy £50.
    You could also film your mates at all times and send it into You’ve Been Framed to net yourself £250 and a few seconds of fame.

37. Sign up for psychology experiments

    These are the things you may get to your student e-mail inbox from your university or careers service every now and then. They aren’t dangerous and usually don’t require too much effort or time. They tend to compensate you quite well (around £10/hour), and they may even interest you!
    It’s worth bearing in mind that these are different from the medical or body experiments/horror stories that you hear about. There will (hopefully) be no strange probes involved!

38. YouTube videos

    According to recent stats we now watch more videos on YouTube than searches on Google. And with the recently introduced YouTube Partner Program you can now profit from making and uploading videos. You will receive a percentage of the advertising revenue collected per 1,000 views.
    Depending on how successful you are (virality, subscriber base and topic) you can make a lot of money, and there are plenty of stories every week of more and more YouTubers making it their career.
    For more tips read our guide to making money from YouTube.

39. Network marketing

    Also known as Multi-Level Marketing (MLM), this is a business model that allows you to generate ongoing income in two ways: by making a commission selling products and by recruiting other members who go on to sell. The later allows you to make money from the sales made by those you have recruited.
    Importantly, this is not a pyramid scheme (they are illegal) because there is an end goal which involves a customer buying a product or service of value.
    It’s also not a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. You will have to work I’m afraid! However with the growth of social media, network marketing is becoming easier and lots of people are now making a decent living from it.
    This is a serious way of making good money on your own terms and it’s well worth reading up on it. I recommend getting “The Business of the 21st Century” by Robert Kiyosaki.

40. Source property for wealthy investors

    We all know how much money there is in property, but on the surface (with house prices as high as they are) you might be thinking this market is off-limits.
    Truth is, lots of people make a great deal of cash simply sourcing suitable properties for wealthy investors who simply have no time.
    The trick is to find properties below market value (BMV) by avoiding estate agents and instead flyering your area with your contact details offering to buy houses. Then approach investors with a no-brainer offer to pass on the details of cut-price property in exchange for a % of the sale value.
    Most cities will have monthly networking events for landlords and property investors. Track these down, sign up, put on your best suit and go along with lots of business cards. Or you could start on LinkedIn or even Twitter to build some initial contacts.
    As you might imagine, this isn’t necessarily a quick way to make money but once you’ve got a few investors in your phone book it can prove to be very lucrative in the long run. If you’re interested, I recommend reading this book.

41. Advertise your other skills

    What can you do well where others struggle? Fix bikes, computers, write articles, create websites, make cupcakes or fresh lemonade?!
    The key is to be creative and think outside the box. A writer at Save the Student actually made small models out of beer cans and wire and sold them to other students. Great idea with big profits!

The X-Files confirmed to return for six episode run next year

The Truth has finally arrived. The X-Files is officially coming back to television. There have been a lot of whispers as of late, but today it became real. The series will return in a limited six episode run on FOX. Chris Carter will serve as executive producer, and David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will be returning to their iconic roles as Mulder and Scully. There are also some unconfirmed reports that we may see additional cast members like Mitch Pileggi, Annabeth Gish, and Robert Patrick.

Speaking of the event series, Chris Carter said, “I think of it as a 13-year commercial break...The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger, a perfect time to tell these six stories.”

Shooting will commence in Vancouver, Canada this summer. FOX has yet to release many more details, but we'll be keeping you up to date as more information becomes available. To read the official announcement, head over to the FOX website.

This is a huge victory, Philes. After the release of I Want to Believe, you decided that you weren't ready to say goodbye to The X-Files quite yet. Here we are, almost seven years later, and our favorite show will once again air live on television. So take some time to soak it in and enjoy it. The journey is only beginning, and it's going to be one heck of a ride.

“Kanye West is an insult to music fans all over the world.”

 

“Kanye West is an insult to music fans all over the world.”

A petition calls him "an insult to music fans all over the world

:

Kanye West is an insult to music fans all over the world. We spend hundreds of pounds to attend glasto, and by doing so, expect a certain level of entertainment.
Kanye has been very outspoken on his views on music….he should listen to his own advice and pass his headline slot on to someone deserving!
Lets prevent this musical injustice now

"

Kanye West is all set to headline England’s Glastonbury Festival in June — but thousands of angry music fans are hoping that will change. (So far, the only other confirmed acts are Foo Fighters and Lionel Richie.)

A petition on Change.org is asking Glastonbury officials to cancel Kanye’s set and get a rock band to replace him. Here’s what the petition, started by British music fan Neil Lonsdale, says more specifically:

By Wednesday afternoon, the petition had just over 50,000 signatures. (It should be noted that anybody — not just Glastonbury ticket holders — can sign.)

This isn’t the first time Glastonbury festival-goers have protested a hip-hop headliner. In 2008, fans made a fuss about Jay Z headlining the festival — and Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher even got involved, saying, “I’m not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. It’s wrong.” But none of that stopped Jay from performing, so it’s unlikely that anything will keep Kanye from performing either.

WOMAN GOES TO PASTOR TO GET COUNSELLED BUT GET RAPED INSTEAD

 Here is a touching rape story from the greatest nation ever, The United State Of America.

Small was the name of the directing pastor at the funeral of Davis’ father. Following the burial services, Small offered “bereavement or grief counseling” for Davis who is not actually a member of his church.

A pastor in Georgia had been arrested recently and charged with sexual battery after allegedly assaulting a young woman in his home during what was supposed to be a counseling session.

The victim, Kadijah Davis was reported to have sought counseling from the minister of Greater Friendship Baptist Church, Nathaniel Small Jr.,  after her father’s death.

Davis presented her case in Chatham County State Court where she claims that Small physically assaulted her in his home.

All Christian News reports that in January 2013, Small was the directing pastor at the funeral of Davis’ father. Following the services, Small offered “bereavement or grief counseling” for Davis who is not a member of his church.

The location of the counseling service was per the request of Small’s wife, Barbara Small. His wife was not home when the alleged abuse took place in February 2013.

Davis claims that the church did not make any efforts to stop Small from using “access gained through his pastoral position to sexually prey upon girls and women.”

“Church members and leaders were aware of defendant Nathaniel Small, Jr.’s predatory sexual misconduct and abuse of his pastoral position, or rumors or allegations thereof, but took no steps to prevent his further sexual misconduct with those with which he came into contact through his church position,” the lawsuit states.

It was gathered that Davis believes that the church failed to hold Small accountable for his actions and did not properly supervise him. She also claims that his wife, Barbara, was aware of her husband’s misconduct but chose to turn a blind eye and still allowed him to counsel women without supervision.

In the lawsuit, Davis seeks punitive damage for the assault, negligence and infliction of emotional distress. Thomas Hunter of Savannah is her legal representative.