Filed under: Debt, Health

Late on rent? Loan shark breathing down your neck? Can’t fill your vehicle with gas to get to work on Monday? Assuming all available funds and traditional sources of credit are tapped out, here are 25 (legal) ways to raise cash in a few days. We list them in order from least to most desperate.

In a truly free market economy, you’d be worth a lot of money in organs alone — selling a kidney or lung could solve your money woes. However, the government and our sense of propriety permit you to only cash in on plasma, hair and (maybe) breast milk.

You can legally trade plasma for cash in the U.S., the fluid in which your blood corpuscles and other tiny bits circulate through your blood system. In most more massive cities, there are clinics that will pay you up to $35 or so for some of your plasma, which you can donate twice a week. The process, which involves taking blood, draining off the plasma and returning the remains to your system, takes around half an hour to an hour. To donate, you’ll need to be relatively healthy and drug free.

The hirsute can also make some swift cash by selling off their hair. Hair must be at least ten inches long, and uncolored. Well tended (not over-shampooed or sun damaged) hair is worth more. Web sites such as The Hair Trader serve as a market for those looking to sell or buy hair. Sales announced on the site range from several hundred to over a thousand dollars for a generous length of tresses.

Finally, some moms who find themselves with an overabundance of breast milk have taken to offering the extra for sale on the World wide web. However, the trade, of questionable legality and fraught with health issues, remains rather clandestine and I can’t advocate it, even in a pinch.

All 25 ways to raise quick cash.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Borrowing, Debt, Retire

Late on rent? Loan shark breathing down your neck? Can’t fill your automobile with gas to get to work on Monday? Assuming all available funds and traditional sources of credit are tapped out, here are 25 (legal) ways to raise cash in a few days. We list them in order from least to most desperate.

If you need swift cash, your retirement savings can look like a great place to find the lump sum you need, but tread carefully. There are several rules and if you don’t qualify for an eligible withdrawal you’ll have to pay a 10% penalty plus taxes on the money at your current income tax rate.

So suppose you need about $10,000 and are in the 25% tax bracket: in order to get that net amount you would need to withdraw $15,500. Of that amount 10% ($1,550) would go toward paying the penalty and 25% ($3,875) would go toward taxes, which totals $5.425. From that $15,500, you would be able to use $10,075. Let’s say you think you will have enough to repay that money in a couple of years. Forget about it. You can’t replace retirement funds you withdraw. You’ve lost the savings opportunity forever.

Now let’s suppose you kept the money in the account and invested it for 20 years at a return rate of 8%. That $15,500 would be worth about $75,000. You must consider whether it Is really worth it to you to lose that savings opportunity or do you want to find another solution for getting the funds together.

These calculations are based on a 10% penalty, but you can avoid that penalty with certain types of withdrawals. All IRA withdrawals, unless you’ve a ROTH IRA, require that you pay income taxes at your current income tax rate on money you take out of the IRA.

You don’t have to worry about a penalty once your are 59 1/2, but if you’re younger here are some ideas for how to tap your IRA penalty free:

* If you are between the ages of 55 and 59 1/2, you can annuitize your IRA. That means you take out a set amount based on your expected lifespan. The IRS has tables to help you figure this out.
*You can take a 60-day IRA loan by pulling out the money and replacing it in 60 days. Be sure you keep proof for the IRS about the exact day you took the money out and the exact day you put it back in. If not, you’ll be socked with income taxes and penalties.
*If you have a ROTH IRA, you can take out any contributions you’ve made without taxes or penalties.
*If your buying your first home, you can take up to $10,000 out for a downpayment.
*If you’re withdrawing money for higher education, you can use your IRA for eligible education expenses.
*If you’ve become disabled and can’t work, you can begin drawing funds without penalty, but you could be asked to prove your disability.
*If you’re unemployed and need money to pay for health insurance after 12 weeks of collecting unemployment benefits, you can use the money penalty-free for health insurance.
*If your medical expenses exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, you can pay those expenses.

If you do want to use your IRA cash for one of these reasons, you might be able to avoid the penalty, but unless you have a ROTH IRA, you’ll have to pay income taxes on the money taken out. Do be careful to read the rules for each of these types of withdrawals to be sure you qualify.

While you may be able to legally take money out of your retirement plan, it should be down at the bottom of your list. Once you take it out you can’t repay it.

Lita Epstein is the author of more than 20 books including “Working After Retirement for Dummies.”

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Banks, Debt

Late on rent? Loan shark breathing down your neck? Can’t fill your car with gas to get to work on Monday? Assuming all available funds and traditional sources of credit are tapped out, here are 25 (legal) ways to
raise cash in a few days. We list them in order from least to most desperate.

Somehow I’ve managed to become WalletPop’s poster child for payday loans. I wrote about my experiences with them a few months ago, and then quickly wound up being asked to write a tiny series about payday loans (the series is at the bottom of the page of just aforementioned post). And now that we’re doing a “raising cash in a hurry” series, what does my editor advocate I write about? You guessed it.

It is true, though, that earlier this year I went to a payday loan store. Not once. Not twice. But three times. And in those cases, I was able to get cash in a hurry — faster than most of these other ideas we’ve, I’ll bet. But that doesn’t make it the best of the ideas.

I’d call it one of those last-last-last resort methods, but I have to give the payday lending industry its due, it is quick. Once I made my decision, it took me about 14 hours and 20 minutes to get my money.

That’s, it was 14 hours because I made my decision and then slept the whole night, nibbled on breakfast, did some work and then drove out to a payday lending store near my home. Once I went through the doorway, the whole process took maybe 20 minutes, and on the subsequent times, perhaps a five minute visit each.

In my case, I think it was the ideal plan I could come up with. I knew I had money coming, and that I’d be able to pay it back. Some magazines were simply very slow in paying me for articles I had written months earlier, my credit cards were maxed out, and I didn’t like my options: embarrass myself on the altar of the Bank of Mother and Dad or further deplete my depleted savings.

But it can be a hazardous strategy, of course. If you’re on a fixed income, and you borrow $300 and know that in two weeks when the money comes due, you’ll have to pay back $345 (which was the case with me, anyway), that means you have to account for the fact that your next paycheck is going to be $345 less than what you’re used to. That can be a problem. You may fall short of money sooner than you expect. You might decide you need some cash. You might decide to go to a payday loan store.

And on it goes.

And so it did for me, enabling me to go three times in about two months before enough checks of mine had arrived that I was back to a receiving a steady revenue stream.

If you do feel like you have no other choice than to visit one of these establishments, make sure to take along proof of employment, which can be tricky if you’re self-employed, but it’s still possible — just bring lots of documentation. Obviously, regardless of your work situation, take along a photo ID like your driver’s license.

Sure, given the payday lending industry’s reputation, it might not feel like the best road you can take. But it’s a perfectly legal one. I’m still trying to figure out why payday lending is perceived as such a worse option than plastic, with its universal defaults and variable interest rates that can also, if handled improperly, destroy your credit.

Bottom Line: If you’re responsible with your money and know that you’re facing less than two weeks of a cash short fall, borrowing $300 today in return for repaying $345 in two weeks may be a good idea. If you’re the sort of person who has a continual spending or money management problem, this is the dumbest thing you could possibly do.

Geoff Williams is a business journalist and the author of C.C. Pyle’s Astounding Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America (Rodale).

All 25 ways to raise quick cash.

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Social Software, Search

The only thing Facebook messages have ever been good for is getting a friend’s real contact info so you can speak outside of Facebook. But what happens when you lose that critical message with your buddy’s new address or screenname? Facebook fails you, and you’ve to scroll back through all your messages to find the right one. Not anymore! The ‘Book has introduced a search bar for your inbox.

Rejoice! A new feature that should have been there all along! We think this is a step in the right direction, even though it’s not exactly the highly-touted data portability we’re still waiting for. At least this gives us something better to do on Facebook than tend to our very impressive L’il Green Patch.

Read

Share This

Share This