3 Ways to Make Some Extra Money in a Pinch

Are you looking for a fast way to line your pockets with extra cash? You may be interested in paying off debts as fast as possible, or you may need to pay for unexpected expenses. When you need to infuse your bank account with more money right away for these or other reasons, you thankfully have a few options available to consider.

Sell Valuables

You may have several valuable items that you can sell quickly and turn a great profit. In fact, you may not realize how much value your possessions hold until you do some research. For example, you may sell a coin collection featuring very rare coins for thousands of dollars or more. 

Comic books, collectible toys, broken jewelry, designer clothes you no longer wear and other items may also hold value. Selling these items online is one option, or you can look at collector websites or shops for potentially faster results.

Take out a Short-Term Loan

There are several short-term loan options that you may consider as well. For example, a payday loan may provide you with extra cash for a few weeks without the need for collateral. A title loan is another option, and it requires you to pledge a car as collateral. 





These short-term loans may be challenging to repay in some cases because the term is only a few weeks long. Another option is to visit a local bank to apply for an unsecured or secured personal loan. These loans may enable you to spread payments out over a few years.

Get a Side Hustle

If you have never had a side hustle, you may be surprised by how fast you can get started and by how much money you can make. There are numerous side hustle jobs available now, such as dog walking on demand, rideshare driving, food deliveries, grocery shopping services and more. 

Many people are able to earn several hundred dollars each week doing these jobs on a part-time basis, and you may see income from a new side hustle within a week or less. Many people have more than one side hustle to maximize their income potential and enjoy greater flexibility with their schedule.

While financial stress is common and can be caused by many factors and events, you can see that there are several ways to raise money quickly. If you need a significant amount of cash, you may focus your attention on all of these ideas rather than confining your efforts to one.

What Are the Qualities of a Good Chartered Accountant?

Leading or working in a CA firm is a common career choice for a majority of chartered accountants in India, according to ICAI. They also say that around 50% of associate and fellow CAs are currently practising full-time or part-time.

The primary goal of every such practising CA is to bring in more clients and to expand their business. Now, CAs cannot advertise and solicit customers as the ICAI bars it. Hence, this can become an obstacle in this case.

One of the only ways a CA firm can reach to more clients is via word-of-mouth marketing from the existing ones. This is only possible when they are satisfied with the service.

You need to portray all the essential qualities of an accountant if you seek to run your own firm in the future and provide a satisfactory service to your clientele.

If you do have such aspirations, here are some of the qualities that you need to have:

Communication Skills

There are various technical jargon associated in the field of accounting, auditing, and taxation. Clients who don’t have much comprehension of these fields may not know such terms.

Hence, effective communication from your end is of utmost importance. You have to adapt to their comprehension as per the mode of communication.

Not only clients, but you also need to be adept at communication to interact with your seniors, juniors, and partners.

Organisational Skills

One of the essential qualities of an accountant is to organise not only physical items but also the intangible ones. From stacks of papers to multiple spreadsheets, you have to organise all of these as part and parcel of your daily functions.




Having superb organisational skills will help you get access to urgent requirements rapidly and manage your work more efficiently.

Professionalism

Any breach of contract and divergence from the code of conduct laid down by the ICAI can lead to a temporary or permanent removal of the CoP. The organisation lists all such members found guilty under their schedules.

Hence, maintaining robust professionalism and ethics is another one of the qualities of an accountant. You must not accept information as it is presented and always question them.

Team leading skills

CAs working in a firm lead a team of accountants who will collectively function on the project. Any discrepancy or conflict within them can hamper the project productivity.

You have to ensure that such situations don’t arise by leading your team in a coordinated way. Such skills are one of the top qualities that an ideal chartered accountant must have.

Accountability

Taking responsibility is a critical role of a CA that you need to have. You must take account for your mistakes and learn from them. Also, you need to make sure that the same doesn’t arise anymore. Lastly, put every contingency in place to avoid any errors from occurring.

These qualities will surely help you expand your practice and bring in more clients. Taking help of a CA loan in such cases can provide you with the funds to relocate to bigger premises, purchase respective equipment, etc.

NBFCs like Bajaj Finserv provide Business Loans for Chartered Accountants that can help you with the same. They can disburse loans within 24 hours of approval and against minimal documentation.

Make sure to start developing these essential qualities of an accountant during your CA articleship. Selecting the right firm will help you with the same. Gather as much experience over time to open up your own and prosper.

Show Me the Money! How to Continue to Make Money Post-Retirement

The word "retirement" means different things to different people. For some, it means the end of working life altogether. For others, it may mean a career switch or a leap from full- to part-time, consulting or freelance work.

However you define it, you still can make money once you've retired. One way is through your investments. If you have invested your money wisely, it will continue to grow regardless of your work status.

But if you are the type who likes to stay active, why not also earn some spending money while doing what you enjoy?

Volunteer Now, Get Paid Later

You may be able to parlay your volunteer efforts into a paying gig. If you're great at planning events, raising funds, obtaining new members, updating databases or other tasks, you could use those skills to snag a paying job.

For the Young at Heart

If you don't have any grandchildren, your grandchildren live far away or you simply love kids, you could work at a daycare, preschool or camp. If your career was in education, consider working a few hours a week as a tutor.

Earn Extra Money? No Sweat!

Now is the perfect time to get (or stay) in shape. If you're serious about it, you could get paid for exercising! Personal trainers who focus on the senior population are in high demand. 

You also can specialize in exercise formats that cater to the older generation: Zumba Gold, Silver Sneakers or the Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program. Water aerobics or other water-based programs are easy on the joints and worth a look.

Yoga is also becoming very popular among seniors due to its numerous benefits to the body, mind and spirit. Expand your mind and your exercise routine and learn why yoga is perfect for older adults.

Have a Hobby?

Do you love sports? If so, you could find work as a coach or referee for a community youth league. Love to dance? Knit? Enjoy mah jongg or cards? Create artwork? Play an instrument? 

You could teach an adult education course through a local community college or other venue. Senior centers and adult communities usually offer a variety of activities, and these may be great places to start teaching.

Lifelong Learning

If you're eager to continue learning, take a class to brush up on a topic or acquire a new skill. Once you reach a certain level of proficiency, you could be teaching a course! Remember, many colleges and universities allow seniors to audit courses. That means you can take a course but will receive no homework, no exams and no credit.

Know the SCORE

Those retiring from a career in business may want to become involved with Service Corp of Retired Executives (SCORE), run by the Small Business Administration. 

SCORE volunteers are trained to serve as counselors, advisors and mentors to aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners. Once you receive your training, you may decide to branch out on your own as a consultant to small business owners.

Social Security Issues

Working after you retire can bring in some extra bucks, but it can be at the expense of your Social Security Income (SSI) if you're not careful. If you do it right, however, it could actually mean a higher benefit for you down the road. 

The good news is that if you wait to work until the month you reach full retirement age, your earnings will not reduce your benefits, no matter how much you earn.

According to the government's Social Security website, if you are younger than full retirement age and make more than the yearly earnings limit, your earnings may reduce your benefit amount. 

What's full retirement age? It's 66 for people born from 1943 to 1954. Starting with 1955, add two months for every birth year until 1960 and beyond, when the full retirement age is 67.

Jobs with Benefits

Of course, many seniors work not for the additional income but for the health insurance that comes with the job. These industries are more inclined to offer part-time benefit programs: healthcare, blue collar (unionized), military, government and retail. 

The following are several companies that are said to offer health benefits to part-time employees: Costco, Lowe's, REI, Starbucks, UPS, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

If your job does not offer health benefits, you may want to learn more about continuing care retirement communities. CCRC’s offer lifestyle accommodations that range from independent living to assisted living and skilled nursing care, and your monthly fee will never increase solely based on the need for a higher level of care.

Retirement doesn't mean you have to give up contributing to society and the economy. It's never too late to pursue a passion... a dream... or just pocket a few extra dollars.

Career Advice for the Baby Boomer: If Han Solo is Old, Then So Are We

You think you have problems keeping a job and staying relevant. Consider an aged Han Solo from Star Wars fame. Even in space you have to watch your back to stay on top or even just in place. Remember who shot first.

A couple of years ago I was looking at references on a career hire, my number one pick for an administrative job search we had actually been doing. It was an essential job: challenging, interesting market, a major competitive employment.

And although it's unlawful to ask questions about age and even bring up that somebody may be too old for a given position, I do not believe I can get in any predicament now by pointing out that this prospect turned out to be well into his 60's.

Use the Force

I believed he was an excellent catch and his age was never mentioned. All the same, I required delicate information from the applicant -- and had no choice however to obtain it in an underhanded way to stay within the law. So I made use of the common euphemisms, inquiring about his "bandwidth" and "energy level" and "endurance" and "capability to endure continual pressure."

While speaking with the final reference on my checklist, he stopped briefly and stated, he grasped exactly what I was asking and would certainly tell me what I wanted to know. His response was then "The Force is really strong in him."

Ultimately, our prospect was presented the position, accepted ... and carried out exceptionally. Not a surprise, actually.

Do Or Do Not. There Is No Try

If you're a baby-boomer exec who's just recently arrived at the ripe side of 50, there's most likely less to fret about than there was a generation earlier. 

With the exception of the economy, obviously. Not that you do not need to watch out for a million boys who wish to eat your lunch-- specific things do not change.

Yet if the present trend in hiring is any indication, companies have actually become extremely risk-averse and seem more prepared than ever to sacrifice youthful edge and momentum for a couple of gray hairs.

Something that might need some modification, however, is that the risks are measurably greater. It hurts a lot more now when you get fired. As we commonly see in professional sports, being too important can wind up feeling like a downgrade. 

If you're not a hero, you're a bum, a has-been. Isn't that why we say "washed-up," by the way given that our professional has left the field and gone to the showers?

Growing older?

Growing older? Do not wait till you're at the top of your game to perform like you mean it. It will not come about unless you make things happen. We simply acknowledge the peak achievements in retrospect. Keep moving, keep fighting! 

Guard your bad ankle and attempt to prevent hits to the chin. Sure, you're vulnerable. C'mon, you're old! And yes, it's a lot harder to pick yourself up once you've been hit on your ass.

Nevertheless, ignore how you look, wipe your nose and make your way back into the huddle. There is no uphill or downhill any longer. There's simply being in the match. And hoping that "The Force" sticks with you.

If you ever envisioned that you may leave this world with your self-respect basically in one piece, think about the Heroic Han Solo: Winning by the regular miracle, however still losing one piece at a time. It needs to be an allegory for living.