Money Management

Want to shop the best deals at Sam’s Club without paying the costly membership fee? Teachers can score a Sam’s Club membership for only $20. Find out how. 

If you have the space to store bulk essentials, a warehouse club membership can help you save money on everyday expenses. Sam’s Club is one popular warehouse club option to consider if there’s a location near your home. To shop at Sam’s Club, you must pay a yearly membership fee. Teachers looking to get a deal on classroom supplies, snacks for lunches, and other everyday finds can get a deal on a Sam’s Club membership when they join through Aug. 17.

The cost of joining Sam’s Club

Like other warehouse clubs, you’ll need an active membership to shop at Sam’s Club. The cost to join depends on the membership you invest in. Sam’s Club offers two memberships. Here’s a breakdown of the annual cost of each Sam’s Club membership by type:

Club membership: $50Plus membership: $110

For many shoppers, the cheaper Club membership will meet their needs. But if you want added benefits like free curbside pickup and early shopping hours, or want to earn rewards on eligible spending, the pricier Plus membership may be a better fit.

Teachers can join Sam’s Club for $20 for a limited time

Now is an excellent time to join Sam’s Club if you’re an educator. The warehouse club is offering a discount of 60% to eligible teachers who purchase a Club membership through Aug. 17. Instead of paying $50 for a membership, you’ll pay only $20. Keep in mind that your membership will auto-renew at the end of the year at the regular membership price unless you cancel it or turn off auto-renewal once you join.

This discounted membership offer is available to U.S. teachers who verify their eligibility through ID.me, a service that many companies use to verify the identity of customers. This deal is not available to current Sam’s Club members, membership renewals, Walmart and Sam’s Club associates, or those who were Sam’s Club members less than six months before joining.

In today’s expensive world, saving $30 is a big deal. With this deal, you can save money on your membership and get members-only deals on essentials as you prepare for the upcoming school year. Not sure what to do with the $30 saved on membership fees? Stashing $30 in your high-yield savings account is an easy way to boost your emergency fund savings.

Teachers can save big on these items

Sam’s Club sells many things, including groceries, household goods, beauty products, clothes, pet supplies, and electronics. As a teacher, this can be a good place to do your shopping if you want to avoid overspending. Here are a few essentials that you can add to your Sam’s Club shopping cart once you have a membership:

Pens and pencilsDry erase markersSticky notesDisinfectant wipesNotebooksOrganizational furniture

Whether stocking up on classroom supplies or personal items for your household, you can keep more money in your checking account by shopping deals at Sam’s Club. Every little bit saved can add up and make a difference in improving your personal finances.

Not sure if a Sam’s Club membership is worth it? You may be unaware of some of the little-known perks of a Sam’s Club membership — there are many benefits to joining. If you’re unsure whether to join, check out the Sam’s Club website to get a feel for the products available and consider your finances and shopping habits to decide if a membership fits your budget.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Want to make some extra money this year? Read on for four proven side hustles that could help you earn an extra $10,000 before 2024 arrives. 

Are you tired of barely making ends meet with your day job income? Making $10,000 or more by the end of the year may sound like a difficult feat, but with the rise of the digital era, there are more opportunities to help you reach that goal. Of course, not every method will work for everyone, but with some hard work and perseverance, you can uncover the best approach for you. Here are some side hustles that can provide a substantial amount of income.

1. Sell on Amazon

One way to achieve this is by starting an e-commerce store. With e-commerce, you have the flexibility to sell whatever products you desire, whether it be niche and specific or general and broad.

Amazon FBA, which stands for Fulfillment by Amazon, is a service provided by Amazon that enables businesses to store their products in Amazon’s warehouses. Amazon then fulfills their customers’ orders and takes care of the shipping and handling.

With Amazon FBA, businesses can reach a wider audience and save time and resources by outsourcing their order fulfillment process to Amazon. This service also provides businesses with access to Amazon’s Prime Shipping benefits, which allows for faster shipping and higher customer satisfaction.

By buying cheap items on other sites, successful sellers are able to rebrand them and sell them on Amazon at a markup, pocketing thousands of dollars in profit in their business bank account. The process is relatively simple, but it does require some savvy when it comes to finding products with high profit margins.

Most successful Amazon FBA sellers conduct market research to ensure they are offering their customers a unique and desirable product at a competitive price. With the right mindset and approach, Amazon FBA can be a lucrative business opportunity for those who are willing to put in the work.

2. Social media influencer

Well-known social media influencers can make millions of dollars a year, with celebrity accounts like Cristiano Ronaldo bringing in $2.4 million per post. While the average influencer will be hard-pressed to bring in as much as the top influencers, it isn’t uncommon to bring in thousands of dollars a month.

To become a social media influencer, you need to build a following on your chosen platform. This can take time and dedication, but it can lead to opportunities such as sponsored posts, product collaborations, and affiliate marketing.

As your following grows, you can charge more for sponsored posts and earn significant income. The key is to choose a niche, consistently post quality content, and engage with your followers. How much you make varies across each platform. InfluencerMarketingHub provides a comprehensive Instagram influencer rate sheet based on reach:

Nano influencers (1000 – 10,000 followers): $10 – $100 per postMicro influencers (10,000 – 50,000 followers): $100 – $500 per postMid-tier influencers (50,000 – 500,000 followers): $500 – $5,000 per postMacro influencers (500,000 – 1,000,000 followers): $5000 – $10,000 per postMega influencers (1,000,000+ followers): $10,000+ per post

According to a new social salary calculator, here is what it takes to make $100,000 a year on these other platforms:

YouTube: minimum of 1,000 subscribers and 24 million yearly viewsTikTok: minimum of 10,000 subscribers and 270 million views a year

Instagram is the top social media platform for influencer marketing. Here are the other popular platforms:

Instagram (93%)TikTok (68%)Facebook (68%)YouTube (48%)Twitter (32%)

These careers have the potential for rapid growth within a year. Take, for instance, Achieng Agutu, a 26-year-old influencer with 488,000 Instagram followers. During an interview with Insider, in her first year as a full-time creator, she earned more than $1 million. While this is rare, it shows that it is possible to generate income as a social media influencer.

In today’s digital landscape, having a massive following is no longer a prerequisite for influencers to monetize their content. In fact, brands are increasingly gravitating toward “nano” or “micro” influencers with under 100,000 followers. This shift opens up doors for creators to create a successful side hustle.

3. Freelancing and consulting

Freelancing is using your skills to provide services to others. This is perfect for individuals who have skills in writing, graphic design, website development, social media management, and many other areas.

Freelancers often enjoy the freedom of choosing their own work, clients, and rates. As your skills and reputation grow, your income potential does too. There’s a high demand for freelancers nowadays, and if you’re dedicated and talented, you can make a decent amount of money on the side.

For example, contributing writers to popular websites have the potential to earn a significant income, with the possibility of earning up to $100 an hour or as much as $800 per article. By dedicating several hours a week to their work, they can reach $10,000 by year’s end.

With about five months left until the end of the year, you would need to generate about $500 a week. If your hourly rate is $25, you will need to dedicate 20 hours per week to reach your goal.

Fortunately, skilled professionals such as designers, online tutors, accountants, consultants, and others can easily attain this level of income. If you have certain skills and expertise, with a little dedication you can build your side hustle by the end of the year.

4. Start a blog

Blogging has become one of the most accessible and profitable ways to earn a living online. To make money through a blog, you need to create engaging content that people enjoy reading.

You will first need to create a niche that’s both profitable and interesting to readers. Your blog should provide value to your audience while remaining engaging and well-written. Identify a niche that you are passionate about and start creating quality blog posts that aim to inform, entertain, or educate your audience.

Once you have built a significant following, you can monetize your blog through various channels such as affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, and advertising. The most effective way for many is to sell their own products. Another popular way is affiliate marketing. Essentially, whenever a visitor on your site buys a product or service, you receive a commission through unique tracking links.

One blog owner focuses on endorsing high-value products they have personal expertise in and genuinely admire. These items are priced between $500 and $50,000 each, and they collect a 50% commission on each sale.

While building a successful blog requires time and effort, utilizing the influence of others, advertisements, and effective marketing techniques can potentially help you achieve your goal by the end of 2023.

Promoting your blog and establishing an online presence via social media and email marketing can attract more traffic and boost revenue. Consistency is key, as readers need to know when they can expect new content. Utilizing search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to increase traffic can also help boost revenue.

There’s an endless array of side hustles that could potentially make you $10,000 by the end of the year. It’s just a matter of finding the one that works for you. It’s important to remember that each opportunity requires effort, dedication, and consistency. By choosing a side hustle that you’re passionate about, you can create a sustainable income stream. Ultimately, the key to success is to believe in yourself, do your research, and take action. With the right mindset and work ethic, you can achieve your personal finance goals through a side hustle.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Costco’s hot dog and soda combo has cost the same since it was introduced. Read on to see how much it would cost had Costco adjusted its price for inflation. 

Many people love Costco for its low prices on groceries and everyday essentials. And shopping there can easily result in a lower credit card tab than shopping at big-box and grocery stores.

But it’s not just the items found on Costco’s shelves that its customers have come to love. There’s also the Costco food court, which is known as a great place to grab a filling lunch on the cheap.

In fact, if you’re really not looking to splurge on lunch, you can always pick up a famous Costco hot dog and soda combo for only $1.50. That’s truly a bargain. But the reason Costco’s hot dog and soda combo is so cheap is that the warehouse club giant hasn’t changed its price since introducing it almost 40 years ago.

What Costco’s famous food court combo should really cost

Costco first introduced its $1.50 hot dog and soda combo in 1985. Based on inflation, that combo should cost $4.25 today. The reason it doesn’t is that Costco has effectively pledged to keep that $1.50 price point in place forever, or for as long as it’s sustainable. So even though Costco clearly could charge more for its hot dog and soda combo, it has no plans to do so.

There’s no getting around inflation

Costco’s hot dog and soda combo aside, inflation is something consumers have to prepare themselves for. And when we talk about inflation, we’re not necessarily referring to the rampant inflation that’s driven living costs up to an extreme over the past two years.

Rather, inflation is a natural thing that tends to happen over time, usually at a moderate level. In fact, the Federal Reserve itself is comfortable with 2% inflation on an annual basis because it feels that this level lends nicely to economic stability.

For context, in June of 2022, annual inflation was measured at 9.1%. That’s by no means a normal level. And it explains why so many people had to constantly raid their savings accounts and rack up debt just to keep up with basic expenses.

For the most part, it’s fair to assume that living costs will rise about 2% year over year. But there could be periods when costs rise at a faster pace than that.

How to combat inflation in the short and long term

Some employers give out raises to account for cost of living increases. But that’s not always the case, so a good way to protect yourself from near-term inflation is to not spend your entire paycheck on bills, but rather leave yourself some wiggle room. That way, if your costs rise from one year to the next but your wages don’t follow suit, you’ll be okay.

When it comes to long-term inflation, your best protection against that is to build up a retirement nest egg and invest your savings heavily in stocks. Over time, the value of a dollar is apt to erode, but you’ll need the money you set aside today to grow into a larger sum so you have ample buying power during retirement. And since the stock market has averaged an annual 10% return (note that this number doesn’t account for inflation) over the past 50 years, it’s a good bet if you want your retirement savings to outpace inflation.

Costco’s $1.50 hot dog and soda combo could clearly cost a lot more than it does. But while that price may hold steady through the years, other prices won’t. Spend, save, and invest strategically so that’s not a problem.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Maurie Backman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Parallels have been drawn between the housing crash of ’08 and today, but these Harvard Researchers don’t believe another crash is likely. Here’s why. 

Paying attention to housing news today is like watching a tennis match. First, one expert says the housing market is about to crash, then another volleys by declaring it will not happen. Four Harvard researchers recently sided with those who do not believe we’re about to witness another housing crash. Here’s why.

1. A healthy labor market

June ended with a historically low unemployment rate of 3.6%. The strong labor market makes potential home buyers confident in their ability to make a down payment and meet their monthly mortgage obligations.

As the Federal Reserve continues to fight inflation through higher interest rates, unemployment could rise. Even the Fed expects unemployment to rise to around 4.6% by the end of December. While that could impact home demand, the labor market has defied the odds too many times this year to be sure.

2. Low inventory

Though interest rates have risen dramatically since 2022, some home buyers are unwilling to leave the market, worried that home prices in their area will rise again. At the same time, existing homeowners are less likely to put their homes on the market, afraid they won’t be able to afford another place to live.

According to the FHFA National Mortgage Database, nearly two-thirds of current mortgages have an interest rate of less than 4%. One-quarter of all mortgages have an interest rate below 3%. Unless necessary, now is not a good time for a homeowner with a low rate to sell only to buy a new property with an interest rate twice as high as the one they left behind.

The primary difference between today and 2008 is this: In 2008, there was a surplus of homes for sale. The lack of homes on the market in 2023 continues to prop up prices.

3. Low foreclosure rate

The run-up to the 2008 financial crisis was like the Wild West of mortgage lending. Lenders often approve a mortgage for anyone with a pulse, regardless of their ability to repay the loan. When things went south, millions of foreclosures took place, and after the dust settled, Congress came up with new, strict rules for mortgage qualification.

Foreclosures were a huge contributor to the surplus of homes in the mid-2000s. With stricter mortgage qualifications, new homeowners are less likely to miss payments or end up in foreclosure. Simply put, that’s fewer homes on the market.

While it’s true that foreclosures could increase if unemployment climbs, it’s improbable the number of repossessions will approach 2008 levels.

4. A ‘floor’ of factors

According to the researchers, today cannot be compared to the mid-2000s crash. For one thing, between February 2020 and February 2023, home prices increased by a staggering 37.5%. After accounting for inflation, that’s still an eye-popping 17.5% over a relatively short period. Sure, prices fell by 3.6% between March 2022 and June 2023, but they’re still remarkably high.

The combination of a strong job market, low inventory, and qualified buyers has created a floor that holds up the entire housing market. Even if one factor weakens, the others are there to shore things up.

These are odd days in the housing market, and it will be interesting to see what happens once the Federal Reserve can loosen its hold on interest rates. Will it spur so many current homeowners to sell that inventory approaches a normal level, or will it drive prices up even further?

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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