Free Money Finance

How to Make a Ba-Zillion Dollars: Become a College Football Coach

I LOVE football! I love college football (too bad Michigan's looking sorry), pro football (go Colts! Too bad the Patriots are doing so well!), and I've even been known to watch arena football (Griffins!) on occasion when I need an off-season fix (BTW, arena football games are a blast to go to -- I'd recommend you do so if you ever get the chance.) So when I come upon a football-and-money-related article, I simply HAVE to write something about it.

Sports Business Radio (they have a great podcast, BTW, if you love the business side of sports) points to a USA Today article on the salaries of college football coaches. Let's start with the highest paid coaches:

Four coaches — Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, Alabama's Nick Saban, Florida's Urban Meyer and Iowa's Kirk Ferentz — already have cracked the $3 million mark, leading a spiral that shows no sign of slowing.

The piece also notes that LSU's Les Miles is likely soon to be in the $3 million club. Nice, huh?

But it's not only the big boys who are doing well:

This year, for the first time, the average earnings of the 120 major-college football coaches hit $1 million, a USA TODAY analysis finds. That's not counting the benefits, perks and myriad bonuses in their contracts.

At least 50 coaches are making seven figures, seven more than a year ago. At least a dozen are pulling down $2 million or more, up from nine in 2006. Last season, Stoops was the only one making more than $3 million.

The piece doesn't say, but I know "benefits, perks and myriad bonuses" can add up to really big bucks as well -- so these guys are making a fortune!!! How can this be? The rationale:

It's an investment, school officials say, in the health of a sport that's the revenue-generating backbone of most major-college athletics programs. Successful teams pump up ticket sales and prices, television rights fees, marketing revenue, donations and even applications for admission to the universities.

At LSU, a football team that finished 11-2 and ranked No. 3 in 2006 accounted for 63% of the school's athletics revenue for the year. It also accounted for a lion's share of the spending — more than $16 million — but turned an almost $32 million profit that helped underwrite the school's non-moneymaking sports.

Yep, major college football is a huge money-maker. So what if you have to pay $3 million for a coach? If you make $32 million as a result, it's a good deal, right? Sure, LSU would have made some money even if their team didn't do well, but probably not nearly as much. As such, you could easily argue that Miles has earned his salary and that it's been a good investment for the college.

So what happens to all the football profits? They help to fund other sports that don't pay for themselves -- water polo, fencing, tennis, etc. Still, football and basketball don't make enough to cover the costs of all the other sports:

The NCAA's latest data shows that more than four of every five major-college sports programs need institutional subsidies, student fees and other supplements to balance their budgets.

And finally, a comparison between what the football coaches make and the median salaries of college presidents:

College presidents' pay typically pales in comparison. Median total compensation for 182 presidents and chancellors of public research universities and university systems was a little more than $397,000 annually.

Yeah, but then again there are more people who can do what a college president can. It's all about supply and demand.

Now, should I move on to how much money they'd all generate if the major colleges instituted a playoff system? ;-)

Make Money by Becoming a Lifestyle Manager

At first, I was going to file this under the "you've got to be kidding me" label, but after thinking about it, I'm putting it into my "making money" category. After all, we're working towards that extra $10k in income and if someone wants to pay us a bundle to do their chores, we're up for it, right?

Here are the details. There's this new "profession" of people called lifestyle managers. For a fee, they'll run your errands or do whatever else you're too busy to do. Like what, you ask? Here's a brief list from the Washington Post:

Lifestyle managers have searched for a reliable used car for a client's 16-year-old or taken over their scrapbooking project. One wrote an online dating profile for a client. Others have negotiated overseas adoptions or bailed their clients out of jail. Another was handed a brown paper bag full of insurance documents from a client's recent surgery with the command to sort it out. 

So, how much can someone make doing this? Pretty good money:

These hired hands...charge a monthly membership fee or up to $100 an hour.

And here's an excerpt I just couldn't leave out:

One of Glass's employees flew a dog to Colorado so it could spend a summer with his family in Aspen, Colo. Other helpers changed the TV channel daily at one client's house; her beagle liked the Animal Planet network, but the client didn't want the dog watching its more troubling animal-rescue shows.

This made me laugh as well:

She has gone so far as to complete homey projects like scrapbooks for clients too stressed out to do the hobbies that once calmed them.

Ok, a few thoughts here:

1. Has the world gone crazy or is it just me?

2. Ok, back on topic. From a buyer's standpoint, having one of these lifestyle managers isn't probably a good financial move unless you have both parents (or a single parent) making substantial incomes. Otherwise, by the time you pay all the expenses associated with working such as commuting, taxes, clothing, child care, and now a lifestyle manager, it's probably not worth the second spouse working unless he/she also has a decent salary.

3. From a money making standpoint, it looks rather easy. Even at "only" $50 an hour, it could be a good way to pick up some extra change. It's certainly not that far removed from other "unique" money making ideas like becoming a clown, a college advisor, or doing something no one else wants to do.

Make Extra Income by Teaching What You Know

Here's another great money making idea left as a comment on my post titled Use the Skills from Your Job to Make an Extra Income:

I've found that teaching can also be a good way to make some extra money. After finishing up my MBA last December, I started applying to local colleges about teaching night classes.

I started teaching some Economics courses at an ITT Tech campus. This was good experience, but the pay wasn't great. I figured it was a good stepping stone.

It turned out I was right. After about 3 classes, I got a call and offer from a 4-year school closer to home looking for a Quantitative Analysis instructor for their evening MBA program. This kind of class was right up my alley. Not only was it closer to home, but the pay was 2.5x as much!

So now, depending on the class schedule, I'm pulling in an extra $700 - $1000 per month for teaching 1 night per week. And trust me, teaching the same class the second time is much easier. Once you've prepared for the class a couple of times, it's gets to be pretty easy to prepare.

Holy cow, what a GREAT idea! And an extra $700 to $1,000 per month is pretty good.

Before you give me the "yeah, but I couldn't teach Quantitative Analysis" speech, let me say that you don't have to. If you simply know how to do something and can speak in front of people, you can teach courses on things like personal finances, growing roses, playing a sport, and so on. There are all sorts of colleges, community colleges, tech schools, etc. that all need teachers. Maybe one of them is you!

Got My Second Chase Freedom Card and an Extra $100

Just wanted to keep you all in the loop regarding my credit card strategy and my applications for two Chase Freedom Cash Visa Cards. Here's where we stand as of now:

1. I've owned and used the Blue Cash from American Express card for years. It earned me almost $500 last year.

2. This year, I discovered a new way to make more cash back on my credit card purchases. As such, I needed to get a Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card.

3. I applied and was approved for my first Chase card. I used it and reported my results.

4. I also noted that I'd received a mailing for a second Chase card with another $100 offer -- good when you make your first charge. (FYI, to my knowledge, this offer is only available via mail now in targeted mailings -- the best I've seen online is a $50 bonus.) I applied for a second card to get the $100 and wanted to see what happened. Some speculated that they wouldn't issue me a new card, but most weren't sure.

So last week I did get my second set of cards (one for me and one for my wife.) I called and activated them. Within the next couple of days, I'll be charging on one of them to be sure the clock gets ticking on my $100. And as far as redeeming them goes, I plan to use the first Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card for three of their bonus categories (3% level) until I get to $200 owed to me. At this point I'll redeem my cash as Chase will kick in an extra $50. At the same time, I plan to use the second Chase card on three other bonus categories until I get to $200. With this second card, I plan to set up automatic payments in certain categories -- I don't want to have to carry around/manage three cards.

That's it for now. Look for my net worth update later this month and I'll give more specifics on how much cash back I've earned so far this year.

Use the Skills from Your Job to Make an Extra Income

One of the things I'm doing this year to make an extra $10k is looking into consulting gigs. I'm trying to find a few side jobs where I can sell the skills I've learned in almost 20 years in the workforce. I'm starting to get some interest, and I'll fill you all in if/when I get a breakthrough.

In the meantime, here's the story of someone who did just what I'm talking about. It was left as a comment on a post I did for The Consumerist. Here's what the commenter had to say:

I'm a geek in the network operations center of a gov. agency.  I needed to make some extra money, and wanted to leverage my pc and network skills.  I was interested in getting into home/small business IT consulting on the side.  However, I didn't have the time or inclination to try to chase down customers.

Then I made a fortuitous discovery:  Lots of people are spending lots of money to wire up new and retrofit homes with high-end network infrastructure, but they have no idea how to actually hook up computers, network printers, routers, wireless, etc.  My neighbor was having his house gutted and rebuilt inside, and had the whole house wired for network connectivity.  I got in touch with the home theater/inside wiring company he was working with, and offered my services.

Now they bid me on their contracts as "IT Consulting."  They bring me in during design phase to determine requirements, then they do the work, then they call me when it's all done and tested, and I hook up PCs, printers, configure routers & wireless, and train the customer.  I can even sell the customer new gear, without any hassles of sales tax/merchant licenses, because the company I'm working with takes care of all of that.  The place where I really earn my $$$ (and differentiate myself from low-end Geek-squad types) is for customers who have complex hardware VPN/VoIP connections into their offices.  I've done a number of these setups, mostly for one big law firm here in town, and now their in-house IT department give my name out to employees who need someone to do the in-home integration.

It's a win/win.  The company gets to offer a more full-service product, and I get $100/hr with 2-hr minimum for every trip I make.  I do about one a week after work, and am pulling down about $500/month.

I've done this in the past and made some good money. I've attached myself to an agency of some sort and when they've needed a "marketing expert", they call me in. I'm now working on the same sort of thing, but with a different twist. Now I have an advertising/marketing firm who needs a "blogging expert." ;-)

As I said, I'll let you know how it goes for me, but the above example is a GREAT one of how you can take your daily skills and turn them into an extra income.

Save and Make Money All in One Step

My post titled The 10 Most-Hated Money Saving Tips certainly got a lot of great comments. But there's one that stood out to me that I feel needed to be shared with everyone. It addresses my most-hated money saving idea -- moving to a lower cost-of-living city. The comment:

I can understand #1 being the most-hated. We met with a lot of skepticism when we did just that.

But, we researched and found a town (in the same country) that met our criteria and had a very low cost of living but most importantly, had ridiculously cheap real estate. For us, it was the low cost of entry into the real estate market that sold us on our location. I mean, less than the price of a decked out minivan low.

We purchased one house three years before we were ready to actually move out there and rented it out. A couple of years later, a second one. After we moved out here (5 months ago) we've bought 3 more and are currently closing on #6 and #7. The rental income from these places alone is enough to live modestly, so very soon, we'll have no need for a job. So much for the "not being able to find work in a small town" objection, eh?

Finding a place with inexpensive houses allows us to easily diversify, and our 7 houses combined still costs less (maybe even 1/2) of a home in Toronto. The risk to our portfolio is considerably lower than putting all our eggs in one house. We describe our thinking and our process in our blog WeLiveHereNow.net

Strategy #1 has worked very well for us, and everyone we talk to says they think it's great, but they could never do it. I guess that's just more houses for us, then! :)

So they not only saved a bundle of money, but now they're making money to boot -- enough so they don't have to have "regular" jobs in the near future. I'd say that's a pretty good combination!

Is Prosper.com a Good Way to Earn Money?

I've always wondered about Prosper.com -- the site that connects borrowers and lenders -- and whether or not it was s good investment. For instance, if people were earning 15% on their money by lending it to others, maybe I would want to get in on the action with part of my portfolio.

MSNBC recently did a piece on Prosper and included was how much the lenders make. The details:

Each Prosper borrower is assigned a grade based on their credit score to help lenders evaluate their risk and the site verifies borrowers’ identities. The average rate of return for lenders is 9.28 percent, with lower-grade loans earning 10.45 percent, according to Prosper.

Prosper makes its money by charging a 1 percent or 2 percent closing fee, based on the borrower’s credit grade, and lenders pay an annual loan servicing fee of 0.5 percent to 1 percent. It also collects fees for late payments on behalf of lenders and reports to credit bureaus. After 30 days, a collections agency is assigned to delinquent loans.

Ok, so what's not clear here is whether or not the fees are deducted from the earnings in the numbers above (I'm assuming the 1-2% closing fee is paid for the borrower.) In the best case-scenario, lenders are earning 9.28% to 10.45% -- in the worst case (if the annual fees get deducted from these numbers) the results are about 1% lower.

Either way, it doesn't look like something I'm interested in for investment purposes. Yeah, there's the "read people's stories, get involved, and help them out" angle associated with Prosper, but I'm ignoring that. I'm looking at it as an investment and whether or not it's a good option for me. And to be a good option, I needs to beat my main investment of choice: index funds. But it doesn't. Here's why:

1. Stock index funds will average about 10% return over the long-term. That's roughly what Prosper loans earn too -- at best. It could be 1% lower. And we all know that over a couple decades, that 1% can make a really big difference in your total investment return.

2. The Prosper loans take a lot of time to select and manage -- at least more than index funds do. The latter are easy, especially when you set up your investments automatically.

3. Index funds seem less risky. It's not that stocks are without risk, but do I really want to lend money to someone who can't get a loan from a bank? Think about it -- people who do this professionally (bankers) have said this person is a bad risk. So why do I want to give them money.

I know I'll get some Prosper success stories in the comments. I'll hear how some people are making more than the numbers above, they've never had a default, and how it doesn't take much time to invest with Prosper. That's great for them. But to me, I have other options that I feel return as much or more, require less time to select and manage, and have much less risk. So why would I want to move my money from them into Prosper loans?

Reader Earns 26% More Cash Back with Chase Freedom Card

Here's a comment left on my post titled Update on My Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card:

FMF - I don't know if you saw my comment on a post last week, but just an update on my card as well...We charged about $2,300 on the card last month, which was higher than normal, but my total cash back earned was right around $34. I recomputed it using my old primary card, Citibank Platinum Dividend's rules, and the cash back would have only been $27. I earned a full $7, or 26% more with the Chase card.

Unfortunately I didn't get the $50 or $100 bonus since I already had a Chase card and just upgraded it.

All of our charges went to the proper bonus categories, as well. I was afraid they would promise all the bonus money, but then not categorize them correctly, but it appears it really works.

This is my experience so far too -- they're getting the categories right.

I've already received one extra bonus for my first Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card ($100 through a mail-in offer -- $50 is the best deal I can find online) and applied for a second one because they offered me another $100. We'll see if I get it or somehow get disqualified because I already have the card and received the first bonus. I'll let you know.

A Reader Endorses The American Express Blue Card

In my post titled American Express Blue Cash Card Named Among Top Cards by Money Magazine, I recently had this comment left:

I've used this card for 6 months and it has been great! I use the card for EVERYTHING. I do not carry a balance and will spend about 28k a year on it. It looks like I'll end with a REBATE of about $600 for the year. If I am going to spend the money, I might as well get something back for doing it. I don't view the $600 as "making money" - I view it as a rebate of the purchases I make. Nice card.

A few thoughts on this:

1. That's a 2.1% return, which is VERY good. He must have had substantial gas/grocery/drugstore charges once the card got past $6,500 in charges. At this level, g/g/d rebates are 5% and the cash back can really add up.

2. I've used the Blue Cash from American Express card for years and love it. However, next year I'm moving to a hybrid card strategy (using Amex Blue with the Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card) to try and maximize my cash back returns.

3. It's likely the reader could have earned more if he had applied a similar strategy. For details, see How You Can Earn Over 2.6% Cash Back by Using a Combination of the American Express Blue Cash and Chase Freedom Cash Visa Credit Cards.

Update on My Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card

As most of you know, I've applied for and received a Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card. I'll be using it as part of my two-card strategy to maximize cash back next year, and I wanted to give you an update on how my progress is going with the card. Here's what I have to add for now:

1. We made several test charges the past month to see how some stores showed up in the rebate levels. Specifically, we were wondering if Meijer (a superstore) would show up as a grocery store (eligible for 3% cash back) or a mass merchant (eligible for 1% cash back.) Good news! Our Meijer came in as a grocery store and we got 3% cash back on those charges! ;-)

2. Bad news: Walmart came back as a mass merchant -- we only get 1% cash back from them. This is what I expected as ours is not a Super Walmart.  So we'll use the Blue Cash from American Express card at Wally World.

3. My $100 bonus cash was credited to my account! Oh yeah! I got this offer through the mail ($100 cash back when you make your first purchase) and I haven't seen it online. The best I've seen on the Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card is $50 cash back now, which isn't bad at all.

4. A few days after we got our Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card, we got another mail offer to get a second Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card. Not sure if they got their system screwed up or if the mailings are just coming so fast that one part of the company isn't talking to another part of the company. Anyway, the second offer also contained the $100 cash back on first use promotion, so we signed up! We'll see if they allow us to get a second card. If they do, we'll charge once, get the $100 and probably retire the card. ;-)

Now Might Be a Great Time to Buy a Business

For those of you who are tired of working for someone else, here's an idea: how about buying an existing business and working for yourself? If you're up for the idea, the next several years could present a golden opportunity for you. Why? It appears that many businesses will be sold in the upcoming years -- and many at a discount from what they could have sold for in the past. The details:

With about 8,000 Americans turning 60 every day, more and more business owners are thinking about retiring. By 2009, an estimated 750,000 companies owned by boomers -- one in every six -- will be looking for buyers, up fifteen-fold from 2001.

A few other thoughts on how this will all play out:

• Most firms will sell to strangers -- Children today feel less pressure to run the family business, and even those that want to often find it tough to come up with the cash to pay off parents or other relatives who hold shares in the firm. Family in-fighting and prolonged legal spats also make family handoffs that much harder. Studies show that less than 15% of family businesses successfully make it down the third generation.

• Owners without an exit strategy will likely sell at a discount -- There will be fewer potential buyers, so a good price will be harder to find.

• One option that's growing more popular is selling to employees -- By either a management buyout or employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).

I've thought about buying an existing business in the past, and now doing so could be even more attractive. I'm putting this in my list of money making ideas and will start to get my feelers out there soon. Who knows, maybe I'll be my own employer in a few years.

Anyone else out there thinking the same thing? Or maybe someone has recently purchased a business?

Thoughts from My Car Dealership

Last Wednesday I took my car in for its 60,000-mile tune-up. I had several finance-related thoughts about the experience during the time I waited for the car and wanted to share them all with you. Here goes:

• I don't usually have my car worked on at the dealership since they are way over-priced. But for major work/tune-ups, I'd rather pay a bit more and have guys work on the car who really know the ins and outs of it (after all, they work on these cars all day, every day.) I also have a few other reasons I go to the dealership that I noted last year, most of which are still valid.

• Since my last visit, the dealership has upgraded. Instead of a lounge where you can hook up your own computer and get dial-up access, they now have the dealership's computer with high-speed internet access. Cool! I could do several blogging-related tasks while I waited. Yeah, they still had the option for me to dial-up my own computer, but why bother?

• During the tune-up, the manager came and told me my brakes were almost worn completely (95% or so) and asked if I wanted new ones (for both front and back) or wanted to get them elsewhere. If I got them here, it would be $425. Within 20-seconds, here's what went through my mind:

1. I do trust these guys -- I don't think they would tell me something like this if it weren't true.
2. I KNOW I can find a better deal on brakes somewhere else. I could probably save $100 or so versus their price.
3. How long will it take me to find a place to do my brakes? And to price shop? And to take my car in again? Maybe two hours at best. Probably more like four hours.
4. My car is here NOW. It can be done NOW for only maybe an extra hour's worth of waiting time. Even if I value my time at only $50 per hour (which I value it at more than that), I'll probably "save" $100 to $150 by having the work done here and right now.
5. If I get the brakes done now, I have a coupon that will give me $25 extra off the price.
6. I told him to do the work now.

• When I paid, my bill was $800. But I knocked it down a bit as follows:

• I had a coupon that gave me savings off different levels of spending at the dealership (I'm on their mailing list and they sent it to me.) The tune-up alone was going to get me $25 in savings, but adding the brake work bumped me up to the next savings level, so I got to save $50 off the work.

• I redeemed my last $100 rewards certificate from my Subaru Platinum MasterCard from Chase (for details on how/why I had this card, see What My Second Credit Card Does for Me.) I'm getting rid of this card in favor of the Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card since next year I'm looking to dramatically increase my cash back rewards. But I did use my one, last rewards certificate to knock $100 off the bill. And I timed it so it will leave me with no rewards accumulated on it.

• My final bill was $650 and I paid with my Blue Cash from American Express card, earning me cash back of $9.75. Not bad.

That's it. Who ever thought I'd pick up such a long blog post at my dealership? ;-)

How NOT to Maximize Cash Back Credit Cards

Here's a Consumerist piece that reports on a couple trying to make the most of their credit card rewards. The key facts:

• They have 20 different credit cards.

• They keep four cards in their wallet and a sticky note to tell them which card to use for which purchases.

• This year, they made $1,093 from spending $47,800.

Ok, let's analyze this a bit:

• They made 2.3% on their charges. Not bad, but it could have been much better.

• It took them a TON of effort to get to those. Can you imagine managing 20 credit cards? What a nightmare!

Personally, I prefer maximum return with minimum effort. That's why I prefer using the one-two punch of the Blue Cash from American Express card and the Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card. Not only can these two cards earn me 2.6% or more (much more if I charged $48k per year) but they also compliment the way I shop. The Amex card is the only card allowed at Costco (where I frequently shop), but it isn't accepted everywhere (like smaller retail stores.) But Visa is, so between the two, I'm covered.

So I max out my rewards and carry two cards. Much better to me than managing a set of 20 cards (and the associated "system" that goes along with them) and only getting 2.3% back.

How to Turn $8 into Millions

Talk about turning your hobby into an extra income. Check out this story about a 17-year-old girl who started a website for $8 and now grosses more than $1 million a year. The details:

Ashley is the head of whateverlife.com, a website she started when she was just 14 — with eight dollars borrowed from her mother. Now, just three years later, the website grosses more than $1 million a year, providing Ashley and her working class family a sense of security they had never really known.

What's she do? She creates and gives away MySpace background designs. You heard that right. She gives away stuff.

So how does she make money? Well, her site is very popular and generates about a million visitors a day. And where there's traffic, there are advertisers. Yep, she gives away designs, generates a ton of traffic doing so, and sells ads to make money.

Looks pretty simple to me. Girl knows what's popular, she takes a risk (only an $8 risk) on making it work, and it turns into millions.

Now, who's ready to do that with their hobby? ;-)

Maximize Credit Card Rewards by Buying Gift Cards Strategically

As I've said before, charging all you can on your credit cards is one of the keys to maximizing your credit card rewards. A related tip is to charge all you can at the highest rebate level. For instance, it's better to charge more on the 3% level of the Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card than it is to charge on the 1% level. And it's especially good to charge gas/groceries/drugstore purchases on the Blue Cash from American Express card once you hit the second level of rewards (you'll then get 5% back on these charges.)

A tip on how to get more top-level charges was left on my post titled How You Can Earn Over 2.6% Cash Back by Using a Combination of the American Express Blue Cash and Chase Freedom Cash Visa Credit Cards. The suggestion:

Here's a loophole that may be of interest:

Purchases of gift cards prominently displayed at the checkout of your grocery or drug store for use at other stores and restaurants (Circuit City, Sears, Outback, Home Depot, Gap, blah, blah, blah) are no different than buying a gallon of milk or a bunch of bananas--they are purchases made at grocery or drug stores. It's not *what* you purchase on the card, it's all about *where* you buy it. So if you're a regular customer at one of these stores/restaurants, the giftcards can serve as your currency...bought at a grocery store, and earning you a bonus rebate (3-5% with a g/g/d card), whereas using your g/g/d card directly at these businesses will likely only get you 1%.

So what's the downside? Not much for the casual user, but 1) If you do this often enough, you'll max out your bonus rebate fairly quickly (unless you have Amex Blue). 2) Giftcards sold in grocery stores typically have a $50/$100 maximum value, you might have to buy (and redeem) quite a few of them to get that big-screen TV. 3) Grocery stores typically have a $400-$500 credit card limit--it may require a phone call to your CC company to get the charge to go through. 4) Giftcards have a few disadvantages compared to credit cards at certain retailers, especially where returns are made without a receipt.

Maybe this works, maybe it doesn't. Here's a follow-up comment:

Careful about that Safeway Gift Card gambit...I was at Dominick's (our local Safeway-owned chain) and saw $25 American Express gift cards at the checkout and figured, hey, I could get these and get essentially 12% off at CostCo instead of the 1% I get otherwise (the only credit card that CostCo takes is AmEx, and my AmEx only gives 1%). I bought a $25 card. It wasn't until I got home that I realized that there is a $3.95 service fee tacked onto the cost of the gift card when you buy it. That's an over 15% service fee, thus obliterating any cash back advantage and then some. I'm going to try to return the card. If the $100 AmEx cards also have only a $3.95 service fee, then it might be worth it. I don't know if all the cards have fees, or how they run, so be sure to check first and calculate the cost of the service fee versus what you're gaining in bonus.

Hmmm. I know my grocery store has gift cards for the store itself, but I haven't seen them for other stores -- but I'm going to look closer.

Anyone out there take advantage of this tip? What store(s) do you shop at? Good idea or bad idea (did you get hit with a service fee?)

Make a Fortune as a Clown/Balloon Artist

Here's a very unique guest post from a Free Money Finance reader. Consider the following that she'll detail:

• You can make $100,000 a year being a clown (or "only" $50k if you want to work 10 hours a week or so.)
• She's a doctor and yet chooses to be a clown. (It seems more fun and pays as well.)
• It's a pretty easy way to make some extra money on the side, even if you don't want it as a career.

Did you know that a clown can make as much as $100,000 per year and more?

I am a professional clown. Oh, well, a balloon artist.

But just to keep it simple, let's call me a clown. We'll keep in mind that a clown, balloon artist, face painter, juggler and anything else to do with event entertainment, all of them can earn rather attractive income.

My only regret is that I didn't learn about this opportunity sooner.

Now, granted, not everyone can be a clown or a balloon artist, but many people sure can. And since FMF asked me, I am going to tell you exactly how to become a clown/event entertainer. By the time you finish reading this post, you should be able to get your own event entertainment gig going and hopefully earn a few dollars until the year ends.

If anything, now is the best time to start. Why?

Because the big holiday entertainment BONANZA is officially here!

As a fair disclosure, I don't pocket $100,000 a year. I only earn about half of that.  But I only work about 10 hours per week, sometimes less than that. But if you work 20 hours per week and charge $100 per hour and many clowns (including me) charge more, you will earn as much as $96,000. It’s pretty decent pay, for a part time job, wouldn't you say?

What do I like about being a clown?

1. I love being paid $100-200 and sometimes $300 per hour. I value every penny of it.
2. I love to command attention. I love making people smile and I love to have fun with everyone!
3. I love that this job doesn't require me to report to anyone. Nobody gives me orders what to do and how to do it.  I work for myself. I do what I think is best and the freedom of doing it my way is a great plus.
4. I love that I am free to choose each event. I don't have to take it if I don't want to.
5. I love that paper work is very limited. Except for an occasional invoice, I don't have to fill any forms, write proposals, reports, and any other paper formalities that were so annoying to me on my previous jobs.
6. I love that each and every event is different. I love to travel to different locations and meet different people. I easily get bored.
7. I love that I hardly have to market my service. I am amazed how easy the process of sale is. I get most of my work by referral from previous events. Each of my jobs is a marketing event at the same time. When prospective clients call, they probably already have seen me at another event. They are most likely to book me.

Now, how did I fall into being a clown?

No, I didn't go to a circus school for that. I actually have an MD degree from Russia. Yes, I did work as a Medical Doctor, in Russia. I came to the US in 1992. I could get my license here, but to make a long story short, I didn't want to.  And as much as I love medicine as a science, I came to the realization that I didn't want to earn a living as a doctor.

Instead of being a doctor, I went through a number of jobs in tech and PR until I discovered balloon art about 3 years ago.

At the time I was a vice president in a high-tech PR agency. I worked sometimes from 9 am-9pm. I didn't enjoy the job for the reasons I stated above: too much reporting, too much paperwork, too much of the same thing over and over.

One day, about 3 years ago, I saw a twisted balloon animal on a street. I fell in love with balloon art. I went out, bought big bags of colorful latex balloons and started twisting.

Let’s just say, I am very practical. Balloon art was fun to twist, but I wanted to be paid too.

I knew I could make balloon animals for tips, so I approached a local mall to let me do it there. They charged me $75 per month rent and I still turned a profit, by twisting about 4 days a week for about 3-4 hours each day for $1-5 in tips. It lasted for about 2 months until I wizened up. That was the first and last time I ever paid a venue. By that time the word spread and I booked enough events to quit my 9-9 PR job.

How you can do it too.

Hook up with a local balloon artist (juggler, magician, face painter or a clown). Ask them to show you the ropes. Clowns and event entertainers are very helpful and friendly people, in general. When you feel confident, go out and do some events by yourself for free at your local church or for a charity event.

Sooner than you think, you will be offered paid assignments, especially now, during the Holiday season.

Now, let me tell you a bit more about balloon art, as it is an impressive skill for a clown to have.

What supplies do you needed to do balloon art?

Obviously, you need twisty balloons. The industry standard is Qualatex balloons. They come in all sizes, colors and even different shapes. Start with the balloon model called Q260, the most common. They usually are sold in bags of 100. I also suggest a hand-held Qualatex pump. The Qualatex balloons and pumps are sold all over the Internet. One bag of mixed color Q260 balloons and a pump should cost you about $ 15. And most big cities have actual stores where they sell balloons and pumps.

What is the best way to learn to twist balloon art?

There are books and video tapes on how to make balloon art. You can find them in your favorite book store, on the Internet and even in your public library. But the best way to start is to find a local balloon artist and tag along for a while. Most clowns nowadays do balloon art, so if you can’t locate a balloon artist, find a clown.

How can a beginner event entertainer market himself?

If you feel you enjoy event entertainment, make yourself business cards. Now, carry balloon animals with you when you do your grocery shopping. Better yet, wear a balloon crown and juggle apples in the produce section every time you shop at your local grocery store.

Well, seriously, entertain for free at charity events and you will see that people start asking for your business cards. 

You can always work for tips in a restaurant or other venue. But I suggest keeping your work for tips to a minimum.

Always remember, being an event entertainer is not a minimum-wage-job. Big budgets for entertainment are out there, so claim your share of the pie.

Myself, I graduated from working for tips to charging up to $300 per hour for my balloon art entertainment. My clients today are luxury hotels and clubs, such as the Ritz Carlton and Mar-a-Lago, West Palm Beach, corporate event planners and upscale families. I have been called the Russian Queen of Balloons. I have been flown to America's Got Talent TV show in Los Angeles. I only work 2-3 days a week.

...and you can do that too, if you want. I wish someone had given me this idea 10 years ago. But now you can have it.

I think I covered everything important, if you still have any questions you can contact me.

I Told You There Was Big Money in Being a College Advisor!

Little did I know that when I wrote $10k Challenge: Become a College Advisor I was on to something big. How big? VERY big. Check out this piece from Business Week titled I Can Get Your Kid into an Ivy. A few, select pieces of information to show how lucrative this field can be:

• Michele Hernandez boasts that 95% of her teenage clients are accepted by their first-choice school. Her price: As much as $40,000 a student.

• Hernandez says she earned almost $1 million last year.

• Hernandez received a $450,000 advance from Warner Books.

• Today, Hernandez has 80 clients.

• Hernandez and Mimi Doe announced their first application boot camp. It was a $7,800, four-day summer program for students about to enter their senior year. Doe and Hernandez promised they would leave with completed applications and a strategy for where to seek admission. All 15 spaces for the New York seminar, held at the luxury Kitano hotel, were snapped up in weeks. In the summers of 2006 and 2007, Hernandez and Doe raised the price, first to $8,200 and then to $9,500, and still filled one session in Manhattan and another at the Shutters Hotel in Santa Monica. Next year they may hire others to help edit the essays so they can open the program to more students. They will charge $12,500.

• Hernandez and Doe have created a virtual boot camp ($2,999). They have put together a 60-page book, Set Yourself Apart: The Ultimate Guide to Top High School Summer Programs ($189). They have a partnership with two SAT tutors who on Hernandez' Web site offer five hours of help over the phone ($1,600). And Hernandez and Doe are hoping to link up with a travel consultant, someone who could plan family trips to visit colleges.

Holy cow -- this thing's a gold mine!!!

Ok, so she's clearly at the top of the heap here so in some respect comparing her to any of us and saying we can earn a bundle is like saying I should earn boatloads of money since I'm in business and many business executives earn millions. Plus, she has experience, connections, name-recognition, and a head start on the rest of us. So we shouldn't expect to make what she does.

That said, I think this field is just forming and there's plenty of room for a variety of advisors with different backgrounds filling different niches. For example, guidance counselors, business people, teachers/professors, and so on could all be good college advisors and probably earn a decent side income. In addition, people could specialize -- maybe having/developing an expertise in something like SEC schools, universities on the West Coast, engineering schools, or Christian colleges. These people wouldn't need to charge $40,000 to develop a nice, side business/income. Even if you "only" earn $100 an hour, you'd still be doing well. Even half that would be good. And it seems like there are more and more people willing to pay to get Junior into the right college.

What do you think -- is there a business here or am I off my rocker?

J.D. Power Names American Express Best in Inaugural Credit Card Satisfaction Study

I've noted that the American Express Blue Cash card is the top credit card for big spenders, but it seems that American Express as a company has something to brag about as well -- it was named the best company in J.D. Power's first-ever credit card satisfaction study. I was emailed the results by a reader. Here are the highlights:

American Express ranks highest in customer satisfaction among credit card issuers, according to a new nationwide study by J.D. Power and Associates.  The study, which was released earlier today, ranked American Express highest in overall satisfaction among the 10 largest card issuers in the U.S.

The J.D. Power study indicates that credit card satisfaction is shaped by many factors (in order of importance):

• A card’s Benefits and Features (34%)
• Rewards (25%)
• Billing and Payment Process (21%)
• Fees and Rates (16%)
• Problem Resolution (4%)

American Express ranked highest in Benefits and Features with a factor score of 773, soaring 103 index points above the industry average.

American Express is a leader in the rewards marketplace because it strives to offer the richest rewards, providing depth and breadth of choice, flexibility and innovation. Rewards programs are the primary reason customers select American Express credit cards.

For American Express, the benefits and features of the Cards it provides comes down to...services like travel-related insurance, purchase protection, and fraud detection.

My thoughts on this:

1. Congrats, Amex. I've used the American Express Blue Cash card for several years now and love it. And it's about to get even better as I combine it with the Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card to earn up to 2.6% cash back.

2. Personally, I don't really care about a card's benefits and features. I'd prefer them to not offer these options and increase their rewards programs instead.

3. I do care about maximizing my cash back, and that's why I've used the Blue Cash card for so long. It earned me almost $500 last year and I'm on my way to beating that (by a long ways) this year.

4. J.D. Power doesn't hand these awards out just for the asking, so I think this is fairly meaningful. Also, they have a reputation for conducting good studies where the accuracy of the data can be counted on, so I see this as very solid information.

Update on My $10k Challenge

It's been awhile since I talked about my effort to earn an additional $10k this year and invest it (doing this year after year can give you a really big nest egg), so I thought I'd give you an update on where I stand. (For those of you interested, here's a list of possible money making ideas.) But first, here's a comment I recently received on my post titled $10k Challenge: Even More Ways to Make More Money:

Your pieces are amazing! They have made me make $700 by reading these tasks and trying them. Thank you so much.

I LOVE hearing comments like this! That's why I have this site and keep writing -- to help people make extra money, save money, and the like. It's so gratifying when one of my readers finds success.

Now before I get to my update, let me tell you what I'm NOT including in my $10k numbers this year:

• Extra income (above what I earned last year) on Free Money Finance. Yes, I give all my profits to charity here, but I could count some of the extra in 2007 towards my goal. But I'm not going to.

• Income from dividends and capital gains. This is supposed to be EXTRA income and my investment income isn't really "extra" the way I see it.

• I've implemented some money saving ideas I picked up this past year (ones that I've shared here previously) and have saved a good amount. But this isn't really income, so I'm not counting it.

With those now out of the way, here are some of the ways I've put some extra money in my pockets this year:

• I've written a few articles for national magazines this year (and have another one yet to do) which has netted me $1,200.

• My cash back for using my credit card will be roughly $700 this year (it should be more next year.)

• I will receive (with my first charge) $100 for using my new Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card. I missed out on the $250 rebate I've heard people talk about and now it appears that $50 is what they're giving.

I have a few things brewing still, but at $2,000, I have a long way to go to reach $10k. Now if I counted the items listed above, I'd be way, way, way over $10k. ;-)

Update: Just got a call asking me to do some consulting work!

Key to Credit Card Success: Pick the Right Credit Card for Your Spending Habits

Here's a very unique piece from USA Today that gives some great suggestions on credit card use. Here's the bottom line of what they advise:

Choosing the card that best suits your borrowing habits can improve your credit card experience.

Not only that, choosing a credit card that best suits your borrowing (or charging) habits can help you maximize the rewards you earn from credit card. But more on that later, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The piece also says that a recent J.D. Power study divides credit card users into two categories:

• Transactors. These are people who usually pay off their balance each month. These folks tend to be more satisfied with their credit cards than are card holders who carry a balance. Because transactors don't have to worry about interest rates, they tend to look for cards that provide the best rewards, Taylor says. That makes sense: If you don't pay interest on your credit card, any rewards you receive are gravy.

• Revolvers. These are folks who typically carry a balance on their credit cards. If you fall into this category, forget about rewards programs. You can't afford them. Your best bet is to pay off your balance each month. But if that's not possible, look for a card with a low interest rate and no annual fee.

Here's my take:

1. If you carry a balance, you need to get your finances in order and control your spending so that you get out of this cycle. It's a VERY BAD financial move to carry a credit card balance and no one reading this post should be doing it (or at least you should be working on a plan to get out of credit card debt.)

2. I am all over the "use credit cards to earn rewards" idea. I never carry a balance, but I do have a couple cash back credit cards that I'm working with to give me the most cash back I can possibly get. Last year I earned almost $500 on my cash back credit card, this year I'll earn more than that and next year I expect to blow the roof off my earnings with a hybrid charging plan.

3. The key to maximizing your credit card rewards is to match where you spend, how much you spend, etc. with a reward you like (cash in my case.) Then look at all the alternative credit card offerings to see how you can get the most rewards based on your situation.

The article also gives some good advice for those who do carry a balance (while they are working to get themselves out of the debt cycle):

Card holders who carry a balance should also consider cards issued by small banks and credit unions, Daugherty says. These lenders don't have big advertising budgets, so you have to do some research to find them. But the payoff is often lower fees and interest rates, he says.

Get Rich by Doing Something No One Else Wants to Do

Here's a piece from USA Today that details how many people are getting rich by doing jobs no one else wants to do -- cleaning sewage, collecting garbage, picking up dog poop, etc. The highlights:

James Dillard, owner of Dillard's Septic Service in Annapolis, Md., runs a business that most others consider beneath them. Dillard knows that, but he takes it to the bank. He charges $200 to $300 a visit. At about five stops a day, his annual income passes six figures with months to spare.

Turns out there are a lot of people doing well and getting rich running businesses large and small that others consider mundane, boring, beneath them or downright disgusting.

Portable toilets are lucrative, so much so that they have a trade association called the Portable Sanitation Association International, which says the industry brings in $1.5 billion a year servicing 1.4 million portable restrooms worldwide with a fleet of 9,400 trucks.

Most anyone can clean, but more and more don't want to, and so the commercial and residential cleaning services industry grew to $49 billion in 2005 from $29 billion in 1998, says John LaRosa, research director of Marketdata.

Thomas Stanley, author of the best-seller The Millionaire Next Door, made a fortune himself by pointing out that the rich are often in mundane businesses and usually aren't the guys walking around in suits or at country clubs. They are scrap-metal dealers and dry cleaners, he says. They read trade journals such as Poultry Times and Water and Irrigation.

"You don't get rich doing what you love. You get rich doing something no one else wants to do."

This summer I went to a party held by a couple my wife knows. The party was at their house which, I'm guessing, was 7,000 square feet or so. Outside was a huge, in-ground pool with massive rocks built up around it (I KNOW they paid more for their landscaping than I did for my house.) They had an out-building where the husband had his office, a small house on-site where a relative lived, their top-of-the-line RV parked next to the out-building and so on. Yes, I realize that they may have borrowed a ton to finance all of this and they could be in lots of debt, but they had to have tremendous resources even to qualify to borrow enough to afford all that I saw.

I talked to the husband a bit while we were eating. His business? He had a sewage and water irrigation company. He noted that he had been in circumstances where the sewage was chest-high on him as he worked to repair a system. But he also noted that he was very well paid since no one else wanted to do what he did.

I've always heard that one way to get rich was to do something that others hated doing. They'll pay a ton for you to do it instead, and you'll get rich. Anyone out there ever put this into practice?

I Just Received My Chase Freedom Card -- I Have Some Thoughts/Tips

This past weekend I received my Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card in the mail (I plan to use it as part of my strategy to make 2.6% cash back.) I called and activated the card right away and thought I'd share some of my thoughts on the experience as well as a few tips to make the most out of the card. Here goes:

1. Make sure your card is part of the Chase Freedom Dynamics Cash Rewards program. If it isn't, request for it to be. Mine already was part of the program, so I was set to go here.

2. The card gives you 3% cash back on the three of fifteen categories where you spend the most (to see the 15 categories, see Actions to Take If You Get a Chase Freedom Card). My most likely top three are going to be grocery stores, gas stations, and drug stores. But since I'm already in the 5% cash back category with these with my Blue Cash from American Express card, I plan on using the Amex card for them and using the Chase card in other areas until January (my Amex anniversary date) when the Amex card resets.

3. But here's the rub on #2. How your charges are allocated (whether they are assigned as a grocery transaction, a gas station transaction, etc.) is based on the category the store uses in processing its card transactions. Hence what you may think is a grocery store is not classified that way and hence you'll not receive 3% cash back on charges there. And Chase can't tell you in advance how a store is classified. So your only solution is to run test charges and then look at your statement to see how various stores come out. Then you can plan your charges accordingly.

4. Most notably, mass merchant stores are NOT included in the list of 15. Whether or not any particular Wal-mart (for instance) is classified as a mass merchant or a grocery store can only be determined by doing a test charge as noted above. But it appears that a Wal-mart (or Target or Kmart) that doesn't have a good bit of space devoted to groceries will have no chance of being in the 15 categories.

5. I talked to the Chase rep who activated my card (actually, the guy they assigned to try and sell me extra services once I had activated the card myself) about the issues noted above and he said I was "already way ahead of most people in my thought process on how to use the card." Little did he know how much I write on the issue. :-) 

6. We made a charge on the first day we had the card just to make sure the first statement will have something on it (we have three months to settle out the other issues, so I'm not sure when we'll charge again on it.) I wanted to get at least one charge in so we'd be able to collect our bonus (there's currently a $50 sign-up bonus on the Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card) asap.

7. I also do my banking with Chase and while on their site the other day I noticed that a Subaru credit card I have with them also showed up when I logged on. Cool. It's nice to have everything in one spot. I asked the phone rep and he said I should see my new card show up soon as well.

Earn Extra Money Making Your Friends Beautiful This Holiday Season

Here's a piece courtesy of ARA Content. It's obviously the combination of an article/sales pitch, but I thought this could be a worthwhile short-term business for some people out there to make a few extra bucks, so I'm running it.

The holidays are a wonderful time of year that brings much anticipation. But with all the fun also comes a pinched family budget. What if there was a way to earn extra holiday money while having a great time?

The Body Shop is a company that believes the holidays should be merry for everyone. Through The Body Shop At Home business, consultants hold home, office and other themed parties, which are a great way to boost your holiday earnings while spreading cheer. Consultants meet with a host and their group of friends, colleagues and neighbors to exchange makeup tips, help each other look great and to earn some extra cash for last-minute holiday gifts.

Here are some top trends for the 2007 holiday season that consultants can share:

• Luxurious bath and body treats in the nutty, indulgent scent of Sweet Chestnut - introduced this season exclusively for The Body Shop At Home customers. From body butter to hand wash, these products conjure memories of past holidays where it might be cold outside, but inside it’s warm with the happy emotions of the season.
• Gifts that give more for friends and family, from bath & body to home fragrance gifts like Totally Tropical Home Fragrance gift with Satsuma and Exotic Home Fragrance Oils.
• Enchanting make-up with gleaming metallic shades delicately contrasted with multi-colored gems. The Gold Sparkle Collection offers tantalizing textures and stylish, pocket-friendly packaging.

Working as a consultant for The Body Shop At Home lets individuals balance hectic schedules between work and home and earn extra income during the holiday season and beyond. The position offers great potential and flexibility:

• It’s a great opportunity to earn money and be your own boss, whether you want to build a long-term career or take on a second job or flexible part-time work.
• Previous experience is not required. For $220, you get a start-up kit with more than $600 worth of products. Plus, you receive free training, where you can learn how to give facials, apply make-up and host themed parties.

“The Body Shop At Home gives consultants the freedom to be their own boss and have fun on the side,” says Jo Price, Director - The Body Shop At Home. “It is an entrepreneurial opportunity that gives consultants a way to help women feel great and, with 60 percent of the products sourced from The Body Shop Community Trade Program, it is an empowering way to give back.”

Through the Community Trade Program, many products from The Body Shop contain ingredients bought from small-scale farmers at a fair price, giving them a stable income and hope for the future. This means that every time you sell a product, you know you are supporting communities where people would otherwise struggle to make a living wage.

Interested in becoming a consultant or hosting a party? Call (866) 775-8049 or send an e-mail to AtHomeLeads@TheBodyShop.com. For more information, visit www.thebodyshopathome.com.

Actions to Take If You Get a Chase Freedom Card

I've recommended the Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card as part of a hybrid credit card rewards strategy to earn up to 2.6% cash back. I've applied for the card myself and am expecting to get it soon. Well, I received this email from a reader suggesting one step we all need to take when we get our cards:

I applied for the Chase Freedom Card per your recommendation and research (great choice, btw). Just wanted to let you know that once you get your card, you may not be automatically enrolled in the program that gets you 3% cash back on the 3 categories you spend most in. When I signed up, I was placed in the "Chase Freedom Cash Rewards" program, which is just 3% for groceries, gas, and fast food.

I sent a message to customer service and they moved me over to the "Chase Freedom Dynamics Cash Rewards" program, which lets you get the 3% in the 3 categories in which you spend the most.

The reader also sent a note from Chase customer service. Here are the highlights:

We show that your account was enrolled into the Chase Freedom Cash Rewards program. Per your request we have updated your account to the Chase Freedom Dynamics Cash Rewards program. That earns as follows:

Chase Freedom Dynamics Rewards program allows you to earn 3% cash back for every $1 top 3 spend categories (out of a pre-defined set of 15 categories). The categories are:

• Grocery stores
• Gas & convenience stores
• Quick service payment/Fast food restaurants
• Telecommunications
• Cable/satellite TV/Internet Service Providers
• Video rentals
• Department stores
• Dry cleaners
• Drugstores
• Movie theatres
• Local and suburban commuter passenger transportation (including ferries, bridges, tolls, parking garages, taxis/limos)
• Pet supply stores and Veterinary services
• Utilities
• Beauty shops (salons and spas)
• Gym/recreation memberships

You earn 1% cash back for every $1 for all other purchases. There are no limits to the amount of rewards you can earn. Cash Back rewards expire after 36 months after they are earned.

So in summary, you want to be part of the Chase Freedom Dynamics Cash Rewards program. If you get your card and aren't, be sure to request a change.

Thanks, Matt, for pointing this out!

Free Money Finance Reader Could Earn Up to 50% More Using Chase Freedom Credit Card

Here's a comment left on my post titled Details on Chase Freedom Credit Card (Plus $50 Bonus):

Thanks to your earlier blog on this card, I was able to "trade" my old regular Chase card to a Freedom Rewards card you describe above. I should be receiving my card any day now and will use it as my primary card as soon as it comes. I went back and recomputed a couple months of my old Citibank dividend card bills and would have earned about 25-30% more each month, and that's not even figuring in the additional fast food and utilities that I will charge on the cards when they come. I suspect I might earn up to 50% more a month with this card. So I guess that's a long way of saying "Thanks, FMF".

I LOVE comments like this! This is what Free Money Finance is about -- helping people earn more, save more, and manage what they have in a way that helps them grow their net worth! Thanks for sharing this, Kevin.

Just to be clear, I think the best way to earn the most on cash back credit cards involves a hybrid approach using both the Blue Cash from American Express card and the Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card. I've been a Blue Cash user for years (it earned me almost $500 last year) but I've applied for the Chase Freedom card and plan to use the hybrid strategy in the future.

American Express Blue Cash Top Credit Card for Big Spenders (And How to Make Even More with It by Charging Your Mortgage Payments)

In my search for the best cash back credit card, I started with the Blue Cash from American Express card since it earned me almost $500 last year. I'm on my way to beating that this year, but in the meantime, I discovered a hybrid strategy that can earn up to 2.6% cash back by using a combination of the Blue Cash from American Express card and the Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card (which has a $50 bonus offer available at the time of this post). I'm in the process of shifting to the hybrid strategy (I've applied for the Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card) but I may not make the shift until January as I've reached the second tier of rewards on the Amex card and I want to ride it as long as I can.

That said, I ran into two pieces on American Express that I wanted to pass along to you all. First, Money magazine recently named the Blue Cash from American Express card the top reward card for big spenders. As we saw in How You Can Earn Over 2.6% Cash Back by Using a Combination of the American Express Blue Cash and Chase Freedom Cash Visa Credit Cards, if you spend below $12,000 a year, the Chase Freedom Cash Visa Card is a better deal while over $24,000 makes the Blue Cash from American Express card better. Somewhere in between, the Amex card takes over from the Chase card, probably around the $15,000 charged per year level. I'm well above this, and hence I use the Amex card as my top choice.

Second, in The Keys to Getting the Best Reward Credit Card for You, I stated the following:

Charge all you can on the card. Once you have the above figured out and decide which card or cards are best for you, make the most of it (them) by charging all you can. Look at all your big purchases and see if there's a way to put them on your card. Look at regular, on-going purchases and see if you can pay these (with no cost) via credit card. Especially look at all those purchases that give you extra rewards (such as the gas and grocery store extras noted above) and be certain to get as many of those charged as possible. For a couple creative ideas, check out Can You Charge a Car on Your Credit Card? and Donate to Charity with a Credit Card.

I never even dreamed that people could charge their mortgage payments on a credit card, but it appears that American Express now offers this option. The details:

In what is considered to be a first for the credit card and mortgage industries, American Express said it will now allow cardholders with any of its charge or credit cards and a prime loan from American Home Mortgage to charge their mortgage payments and earn reward points for doing so.

American Express currently has one partner - American Home Mortgage. But later, it plans to announce another partner-lender, with more partners in the works, said company spokesperson Christine Elliott.

Wow! That could really rake in some big bucks. Let's say your mortgage payment is $2,000 per month. If you're already at the top tier level of rewards with the Blue Cash from American Express card, you'll earn 1.5% back on $24,000 a year -- that's $360! Unfortunately, the program costs $395 to set up, so you're almost even at the end of one year, but after that, it's all gravy. Not bad for doing something you'd be doing anyway.

Of course, you HAVE to pay off the card every month for this to work. Otherwise, such a plan would get very, very expensive.

How to Get Rich: Start Your Own Business

Here's a quick quote from Managing Editor Eric Schurenberg in Money magazine's July issue:

The average self-employed American's family has five times the net worth of the average wage earner's. So the payoff can be high if you succeed. Only problem: Success comes hard.

Yep, if you develop a winning business, odds are that you'll do quite well financially. Yet the chances of developing a winning business are small.

But to improve you chances, I have a few resources you may want to check out. First of all, Money magazine offers a short quiz to help you see if you have the right stuff to be a successful entrepreneur. And for ideas/inspiration, the magazine profiles others who have done well in developing their own businesses. Finally, they list four steps to starting your own business including:

• Work two jobs - "Get as much of your new business as you can set up while you're still collecting a regular paycheck."

• Plan to survive on your new nonsalary - "Once you have an idea for your venture, you need to think realistically about how much money it'll take to get going and how you'll support yourself and your family while you're not drawing a salary. Expect that period to last a year or longer, so put aside at least 12 months' worth of living expenses. Another alternative is to moonlight during the first few years."

• Sell your family on the idea - "Running your own business is supposed to give you flexibility, but not when it's a start-up. It will chew up every minute. Whatever else your company makes, you can be sure that it will manufacture guilt at a steady rate. So warn your spouse and kids: You won't be around as much."

• Keep your benefits coming - "Don't forget to hold on to your health insurance; under COBRA rules you can extend corporate coverage for 18 months on your own dime. By then your company should be robust enough to afford a policy."

It can be a risky way to become wealthy (after all, a lot of businesses fail, so do you really want to leave a nice, secure job to risk your financial health?), but if you do it right, it can be quite lucrative.

What about you? Anyone out there thinking about (or already done so) starting your own business? How's it going?