Investment & Money

Online survey taking is a great option to earn a little extra money on the side. It may also be a perfect way to gather feedback for businesses and organizations.

However, not all online survey companies are created equal. Some are scams, others are illegitimate, and still, others are simply not worth your time. So how to know which online survey company is the best?

This article will provide an overview of the most reputable online survey company, Survey Junkie.

So, keep reading for more valuable information!

What is Survey Junkie?

Survey Junkie is a popular and trustworthy online survey company with over 20 million active members worldwide.

The company provides a platform for companies and organizations to collect feedback from consumers through online surveys. This data is then used to help organizations and businesses make informed decisions.

Survey Junkie is a legitimate company that has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with an A+ rating.

The company is also a member of the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO), which is the leading professional association for the survey research industry.

In terms of privacy, Survey Junkie is committed to protecting the privacy of its members. It has a strict privacy policy in place that outlines how personal information is collected and used.

How to Become a Member of Survey Junkie?

To start taking surveys and earning rewards with Survey Junkie, it is necessary to follow these simple steps:

1. Sign Up for an Account

The first step is to sign up for a free account on Survey Junkie. This can be done by providing an email address and creating a password.

2. Complete Profile Surveys

Once an account has been successfully created, the next step is to complete profile surveys. These surveys help Survey Junkie understand its members’ interests, demographics, and lifestyles to match them with appropriate surveys.

3. Start taking Surveys and earning Rewards

After completing profile surveys, members can start taking paid trusted surveys and earning rewards. Survey Junkie will notify members via email when a new survey is available that they may be qualified for.

4. Redeem Rewards

Once a member has accumulated enough points, she/he can redeem those points for cash via PayPal or e-gift cards from popular retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Target.

5 Tips to Earn the Most Money with Survey Junkie

There are some tips members can do to increase their chances of qualifying for and completing more surveys which in turn will lead to earning more money. Here are 5 of the most effective tips:

1. Complete Profile Surveys

As mentioned earlier, it is important to complete profile surveys, so Survey Junkie can match members with appropriate surveys. The more accurate the information provided in the profile surveys, the better matched a member will be with available surveys.

2. Check E-mail Regularly

Survey Junkie will send notifications to members via email when new surveys are available. Therefore, it is important to check email regularly so as not to miss any opportunities to take surveys and earn rewards.

3. Be Honest

When taking a survey, it is important, to be honest in order to get accurate results that can help businesses make informed decisions. In addition, members who provide honest and accurate responses are more likely to be invited to participate in future surveys.

4. Complete Surveys Quickly

It is also important to complete surveys as soon as possible after receiving the invitation. This is because the number of available spots for each survey is limited and goes on a first-come, first-serve basis.

5. Refer Friends

Survey Junkie also has a referral program that allows members to earn points by referring friends. For each friend that signs up with Survey Junkie and completes at least one survey, the member will earn a certain amount of points.

Sign up with Survey Junkie and Start Earning Rewards

Survey Junkie is a highly reputable online survey company that has been around for many years and is well-known for delivering high-quality surveys.

Survey Junkie has a large database of surveys and offers a wide variety of ways to earn rewards, which makes it a great choice for those looking to make some extra money.

Most importantly, Survey Junkie is a legitimate company that pays its members on time and has a good privacy policy in place to protect member information. 

Commercial real estate can be a savvy investment due to its potential for steady cash flow and income growth, provided you take the proper steps to help ensure it.

In fact, as a new investor in commercial real estate, some of the most important things to consider before putting your money down to help ensure a successful endeavor include:

Decide How you Want to Invest in Commercial Real Estate

One main reason to invest in commercial real estate is it enables you to purchase your own business space while also renting out other offices in the building to other businesses, which helps make it easier to pay the mortgage.

However, you can also own commercial real estate as part of a group or REIT for fractional ownership, which helps eliminate the large sum needed to invest in commercial real estate.

Determine What Type of Commercial Real Estate You Want to Invest In

Commercial real estate includes warehouses, apartment buildings, mixed-use buildings, and retail properties. However, they each come with their own investment risk and income potential.

Therefore, be sure to conduct a financial analysis of the building, including its cash flow, value add, holding time, appreciation, etc., and then pick one based on your investment strategy for peace of mind.

Consider Market Fluctuations

Changes in the market affect the occupancy rate of commercial properties, which, in turn, leads to decreased rental returns.

Hence, pay attention to what businesses survive in any economy to help you understand which commercial properties make the most sound investments.

Diversifying your commercial property investments can also help protect against market fluctuations.

Choose Properties in Good Locations

Location plays a significant role in a property’s value, how much it can appreciate over time, and its occupancy rate.

For instance, a commercial property located near a port, railroad, airport, or a major highway may be good for tenants in manufacturing and trade industries; however, these may not be desirable features for tenants in residential properties or companies that deal in other types of business.

So pay attention to the location of the commercial property in regards to its use to help ensure a high occupancy rate and a more profitable investment.

Obtain Legal Support

Having legal support when getting into commercial real estate means you have someone to help walk you through all the legal paperwork for a more favorable contract.

However, when you invest in a REIT, the legal paperwork is handled by the company handling the investment, sale, or resale of the property.

You can also hire a commercial real estate professional to help you find the property you want and determine how much you can afford and how much profit you can expect from the investment.

Know Your Financing Options

It’s also a good idea to understand your financial options before you begin your property search because it will help make it much easier to complete the deal.

Meanwhile, according to MRI Software, “you can use residential building management software…to help market properties to attract quality renters…make rent payments easier…centralize your accounting and property management” and more for an open and flexible approach to managing your investment.

Often referred to as black gold, crude oil is a very profitable commodity for traders. However, although it can be quite lucrative, trading in crude oil isn’t easy, especially if you don’t have the right information and proper strategies.

The liquidity of crude oil as a commodity, the volatility in prices, and various other factors (such as the costs of isolating Russia, one of the world’s largest oil producers) contribute to fluctuations that impact the price. Consequently, in order to make money from trading crude oil, you need to understand all the factors, as well as all the hidden pitfalls that can eat into your earnings.

To make it easier for small traders to succeed, we’ve put together four tips that will help them make money in crude oil trading.

1. Have a Trading Strategy

Creating a solid strategy is one of the first and most important steps to consider when trading in crude oil. Not having a strong plan could very easily lead to losses. Trading in crude oil is very different from investing in the stock market. In order to ensure profitability in crude oil trading, you need to have a solid knowledge of the energy sector.

It is highly recommended to work with expert market advisors that are well-informed in the global political and social-economic trends, especially in countries that export the commodity. For instance, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused petrol prices to hit another record high. At one point, oil spiked to $139 a barrel, reaching the highest level for almost 14 years, whereas wholesale gas prices for next-day delivery more than doubled.

Keeping an eye on such trends and knowing when drastic changes take place will help you make more informed decisions and prevent significant losses.

2. Learn how Crude Oil Moves

Crude oil moves based on supply and demand perceptions, which are influenced by global output and worldwide economic development. Traders are encouraged to sell crude oil markets when demands are shrinking and there’s oversupply while rising demand and dropping or flat output encourage traders to bid higher.

Strong uptrends can be created by a tight convergence of positive components, like the surge of oil prices to $25.9 per barrel in 2001 and $93.25 per barrel in 2014. Conversely, downtrends can be created by a tight concentration of unfavorable components, like on the day after the USA and allies launched an attack on Iraq when the oil price dropped 33% in January 1991.

3.  Try different Trading Strategies

There are four top crude oil trading strategies you can try:

• Buy and Hold

which is considered the best and most popular crude oil trading strategy. Traders examine supply and demand factors before taking a calculated position, and then cancel their positions to book profits before expiry if their prediction comes true.

• Spread Strategy

which tends to be less risky than outright long or short trading positions. The goal is to profit from the predicted difference in both contracts’ selling and purchasing prices.

• Swing Strategy

is a method in which you buy and hold a commodity for a short length of time. It can last anywhere between a few minutes to 3-4 days. To predict the market’s trend, swing traders use short-term variations in demand and supply, candlestick charts, and technical analysis.

• Technical Analysis Strategy

This is a method where technical indicators such as trading volume, bar charts, and candlesticks are used by traders to forecast crude oil’s future price movement and make investment decisions.

4.  Differentiate between different Types of Crude Oil

It’s crucial to understand the differences between West Texas Instrument (WTI) and Brent crude. The former is produced inland in the United States by fracking, whereas the latter is produced offshore. Due to greater WTI production and output relative to offshore Brent, the previously established price convergence between WTI and Brent has begun to diverge over the preceding decade. If you’re an investor who wants to gamble on both alternatives, you’ll need to understand their unique performance.

Final Thoughts

Whether you are a big corporation or a small trader, trading in crude oil can be highly profitable if done properly. In order to make consistent profits in the crude oil market, traders must have a remarkable skill set. Market participants interested in trading crude oil futures and derivatives must understand the physical differences across grades, the commodity’s long-term price history, what moves it, and, of course, have a solid strategy.

If you are new to trading forex or have been out of the game for a little while, you may not know or have forgotten all the ins and outs of the trading. However, there are a few simple tricks and tips you should remember.

FX trading doesn’t have to be something super complicated, and it doesn’t have to be something that takes up all of your time. Here are a few forex trading tips to help you find success.

Study

Studying and educating yourself on the markets, currency pairs, and trends is one of the best things to do, no matter what you’re trading. While you don’t need to be an expert, there are multiple online courses you can take.

YouTube is also a great source of information, especially to find out the current trends and any hidden gems that one should be aware of.

Start Small

Much like trading stocks, Bitcoin, or any other cryptocurrency, it is essential that you start small and not get too deep into trading too soon. Forex is great for this as you can start with a very small budget.

You can trade with as little as $10, even $5; this gives you the safety net of knowing if you make a mistake, you won’t lose a lot of money.

Pick Your Pair

If you are new to forex trading, pick one trading pair and stick to it for a while. The USD/GBP or the GBP/EUR pairs are some of the most common as they are the biggest and, therefore, the easiest to follow and trade.

Once you have the hang of trading one pair, you can expand into others and possibly some more unique ones that involve the Yen or Yuan.

Trading Plan

Creating a trading plan allows you to have a list of trading objectives and a game plan for if something goes wrong. A trading plan also allows you to stay focused, as one of the biggest mistakes traders make, especially beginners, is putting too many fingers in too many pies.

Don’t Complicate Things

It is too easy to make trading an overly-complicated activity that requires you to look at graphs and data all day. This is another mistake that many traders make that often leads to too much happening and results in losing track of your investments.

You can keep your trades and strategy simple and still be successful. If you find a trading pair or two that you like, there is no reason to expand beyond them if you choose.

Demo Accounts

Don’t underestimate the power of a demo account. If you have never traded before, almost all brokers will offer a demo account. These accounts are filled with fake money that you can use to make trades and use all the trading features on offer.

Demo accounts can also be the best way to test new trading strategies or test any theories you may have about a particular trend, all without any risk to your wallet.

Understand Risk

Understanding the concept of risk vs. reward in the world of trading is essential if you want to be successful and not waste your time. You can learn to identify risks but also learn to identify any patterns that may suggest the risk is worth it.

Identifying risk is a skill that you can learn and get better at, with many expert traders knowing precisely what to look for and forming a plan around it.

Mistakes are Lessons

In trading, the best way to learn what to do and what not to do is to make mistakes. A large parting of trading is trusting your gut and your knowledge, but this requires the knowledge of what is right and what is an error.

While the concept of risk can be scary, it isn’t unavoidable, as there are no sure things in trading. However, experiencing a loss will teach you what to avoid in the future.

Use Leverage

Too many traders are still missing out on the benefits of using leverage. The profits in forex are usually a few cents per Dollar or Pound, meaning the more money you can invest, the bigger the profit.

In simple terms, if your broker offers you 20x leverage and you have $100, you can use the leverage and have $2000 to trade with. While you should definitely familiarize yourself with the terms and conditions of using leverage with your broker, it is one of the best ways to maximize your profit-making opportunities.

It’s no secret that people love to buy gifts for their loved ones. Every year, the holiday fewer takes over, and people are eager to spread joy. However, it is important not to go overboard. If you accidentally splurge, consumers typically end up regretting their shopping sprees.

Thus, it’s critical to keep a budget in mind since it enables you to stay true to your financial objectives and use your money wisely.

Here are some good tips for you to manage your spending during the holidays.

Set a Spending Limit During the Holidays

Setting a spending cap is crucial when it comes to maintaining your holiday budget. By setting a strict limit for yourself, you will feel more inclined to stick with your budget and won’t overspend unnecessarily.

It is also a good idea to suggest a price limit between family or friends. Then, none of you will overspend on gifts. It will also help you ensure that you are sticking to your budget while still getting what you want for everyone. Setting a price range stops you from buying something too extravagant for one person while not getting enough for someone else.

However, try setting a flexible spending cap that allows for some flexibility within certain parameters. In that way, you won’t feel as restricted.

Prioritize and Make a List

We often find ourselves buying things just because they’re on sale or we saw a great deal for something that we don’t even need. During the holidays, buying too much is quite common as retailers push us to spend more than what we want or need, especially if it’s a store you don’t usually shop at. According to Fox Business, 70% of Americans fail to stay in line with their budget during the holiday season.

It is a good idea to make a list of the things you plan to buy. If possible, order them online to avoid accidental splurges once you are in the physical store. After all, it is easy to get overwhelmed and start purchasing random gifts for yourself.

Start Saving in Advance

If possible, try to start saving up in advance during the summer for holiday spending. Having some of your own money saved up makes it easier to stick with the plan without sacrificing too many items or breaking the bank account.

You can start saving today by setting up a savings account specifically for holiday spending. Once you have that set-up, put some money away weekly or monthly to slowly build up your holiday spending pot. This way, it’s easier to stick to your budget since you know exactly how much you have available. Also, don’t forget about unused funds from last year – try bringing those leftover dollars into play as well.

Keep Track of Your Expenses

One of the biggest reasons for overspending during the holidays is simply forgetting how much you’ve spent. It happens to everyone, especially when there are many things to buy and places to go. So, keeping track of your spending throughout the season will help you from going too overboard on holiday purchases.

To help build awareness of what you’re buying, try using a notebook or smartphone app that keeps a log of your daily spending. This way, every time you purchase something, it will be recorded so that next time, check if it’s still within your budget or not.

Look For Affordable Alternatives

One of the best ways to make sure your money doesn’t go anywhere is to look for affordable alternatives. Many other options can be as good or even better than what’s being advertised in most cases.

If you’re preparing to go out for a nice dinner, then don’t rule out looking into cheaper restaurants in the area – they most likely have great deals and special offers too! Also, during shopping, keep an eye out for promotions or discounts from stores around you.

Sometimes it pays off to shop online as you can find discount codes or coupons online. Additionally, Virtual Private Networks are great for avoiding price discrimination, a practice when certain clients will pay more than others for the same products. Tools like Atlas VPN can help you change your IP address and, in turn, your location so that you can avoid location-based discrimination.

Use Credit Cards to Track Expenses

For most, credit cards are a helpful way to keep track of spending. In fact, by linking different expenses, it’s easier to see where you’re at financially and determine whether you have enough for that next purchase.

In addition to linking expenses together, it is also possible with many banks/cards to set up free text alerts that will notify you every time your account reaches a specific limit (such as when maxing out the card).

Conclusion

Most of the time, overspending is just a result of not being organized enough during the holidays. So, if you can figure out your holiday budget beforehand, it will be much easier to stick with your spending plan without going overboard.

What is the difference between an exchange and a crypto wallet? Is differentiating the two a challenge? Let’s find out!

Many are the people who are worried about storing their cryptos after buying or mining them. If you are wondering which one to select between a crypto wallet and exchange, we have the answer for you. Crypto wallets are designed to help users safely store and access their coins. On the other hand, exchanges are designed to help make buying and selling cryptos easy. 

So, here is a closer look at crypto wallet vs exchange to help you make the big decision. 

What is a Cryptocurrency Wallet? 

This is a software or hardware that allows users to store their digital assets, such as cryptos and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The wallets come with private keys or master passwords that provide users with access to their coins. If you lose the private keys, it means that the coins are lost. 

With the private keys, you can also check your balance, receive, and send your crypto coins. The wallet also comes with a public key, which serves as the main address. This means that if someone wants to send you some coins, what you provide is the public address/keys. 

The Main Types of Crypto Wallets

Crypto wallets are many and are designed to serve different purposes. To establish the best wallet for your coins, here are the main categories that you need to know about: 

• Hardware wallets: Also referred to as cold wallets, hardware wallets are designed to store cryptos completely offline or away from the internet. They are considered the most secure options for storing cryptos. 
• Paper wallet: Information about your private and public keys is printed on paper and then stored safely. To use this wallet, you must have internet access.
• Online wallet/ hot wallets: With this type of wallet, the private keys are stored in an online application. Because they are always online, the risk of hacking is very high and you should enable 2-factor authentication for enhanced security.

What is a Crypto Exchange?

You can liken a crypto exchange to a stockbroker. It is a service that offers users tools to buy or sell their digital assets. They also provide advanced features and charge users low transaction charges. 

Some good examples of exchanges include Coinbase and Kraken. The exchanges are also referred to as centralized exchanges (CEX), which means that they are private. When you use the exchanges, you have to create an account that also serves as a wallet for the crypto coins you buy. It is the exchanges that control the private keys and not you.

Decentralized exchanges (DEX) are peer-to-peer platforms that allow users to interact without central management the way it happens with centralized exchanges (CEX). As a result, users are in full control over their private keys. There is total anonymity when using CEX. 

One of the top decentralized exchanges is HiCoins. With only a few coins, you are able to exchange your coins for hi Dollars at a very small fee. Here are some of the main factors to consider when selecting an exchange:  

• Should support the most popular coins. 
• Affordable transaction fees. 
• Multiple withdrawal options. 
• Top-notch security. 
• Should have a high trading volume. This is very important for those looking forward to trading cryptos. 

Crypto Wallet vs Exchange: Which One Should You Use?

If you plan to buy and sell your coins, there is no need to keep them in a crypto wallet. An exchange will be a better option. However, storing the coins in exchange is highly risky, and it is a good idea to move them to your crypto wallet after trading.

Get Hi Wallet and Start Earning hi Dollars

hi has simplified the process of buying and trading hi Dollars, offering multiple options for all clients. You can opt to swap hi Dollars on DEX or via CEX and receive the targeted coins through hi wallet. hi wallet is the simplest model to use. All that you need to do is install the hi app, create an account and verify it.

Suppose you get a fixed stream of income, stability, and an absolute guarantee on your investment. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Yes, you can get all of these benefits with the triple net lease.

Usually, for retirees, purchasing bonds hold quite a lot of attraction. However, in this day and age, when inflation is eroding away an individual’s purchasing power, bonds can turn out to be the worst enemy. Other than facing a decrease in their real value due to increasing inflation, they are also prone to risk from fluctuating interest rates.

Which most often would if the inflation is running rampant. Also, there is another risk associated with bonds. The fear is that the bond issuer might not pay scheduled interest or principal payments on time or might not be able to pay at all.

Inflation also erodes away a bond’s return yield. So, for example, if the bond pays a yield of 5%, and the inflation is 4%, the return value will be only 1%. And don’t forget about the taxes. However, an alternative remedy to investment risks is a net lease, which can eradicate all problems an investor faces while holding bonds.

What is a net lease?

A net lease is a real estate contract signed between an investor and a tenant, where the tenant has to pay all or partial payments for taxes, insurance premiums, and maintenance costs along with any utilities and rent.

What is a triple net lease?

A triple net lease is a kind of lease associated with real estate investment, where the investor or landlord leases out a property to a tenant. The condition of the lease is that the lessee will pay the taxes, insurance premium, maintenance, or repair costs along with the rent to the landlord.

 Usually, the lease term is set for five to ten years, and concession on rent is provided to the tenant. Moreover, the landlord is not responsible for paying for any damage that may happen to the building during the lease term. Also, the tenant cannot default on the maintenance cost, however much high it is.

Benefits of triple net lease

Some of the benefits of triple net lease properties are as follows:

Little or no responsibility

All the burden of paying for taxes, maintenance costs, utilities, and insurance falls upon the tenant, freeing the landlord from any responsibility of maintaining the property themselves. They will still own it but won’t have to keep an eye on it.

Protection from increased expenses

The landlords won’t be responsible for paying for the difference if there are increased expenses such as taxes or maintenance costs over the years. They will be protected from paying any extra expenses.

Ease of selling to another buyer

In case a landlord wishes to sell their property or pass it to their children, they can easily transfer it to the next owner. Some investors also buy properties to make a few changes and sell them to another buyer. This makes the triple lease properties quite flexible and easy to sell in a fair amount of time.

New regulations are coming out around the world on forex trading. Because of this, traders are always looking for new brokers. For example, in the United States, you can only have a 1:30 leveraged account. That is why many traders in the country decide to go with an offshore broker.

Many traders in the United States, for example, preferred to go to Australia because the leverage is much higher there. For example, Blueberry Market was a preferred broker for a long time. However, regulations are now changing in Australia, so people are looking to move again.

While the main thing when choosing a broker is to stay in profit, you want one that you can trust with your money. It would be highly unfortunate if you were to invest all of that time choosing a broker, only to lose it all to a scam. Do you want to know how to avoid forex broker scams? Payback has a nice brief on things you need to be on the lookout for. Read on to find out how to avoid them in the first place by choosing the right broker.

Maintaining a Profit

One of the main criteria for selecting a broker is always being in the money. To be profitable in forex trading, you need to have low spreads. Spreads mean that the selling and buying prices at any given period of the traded currency need to be very close to each other, so the price doesn’t get out of that range by a lot for you to make profits. The recommended spread should not be more than 1 pip. A 1 pip spread across the range of currencies traded on the platform will be preferable.

Low Commissions

You need to be very wary of the commission your broker is charging you. What is your broker deducting you every time you put in a trade? Remember, whether you profit from the trade or you lose the trade, your broker stands to make a profit. For example, something near $0.07 for every 0.02 lot size is a fair brokerage amount.

Some brokers offer free trading. i.e., they will not charge any platform-related brokerage for your trades. It sounds very good on paper, but there is a catch. The platforms that give you free brokerage tend to have very large spreads. Their spreads might go all the way up to 5 pips, and you end up losing a lot more in every trade.

The Preferred Trading Marketplace

Most people that trade in Forex also like to trade in indices or cryptocurrencies. The broker that you choose needs to be able to perform all the types of trading that you are interested in. For example, you like to trade in Dogecoin. You can also like to trade the US 30 index, and the main forex currency pair that you trade is the USD: GBP. If your broker does not let you trade in all three, you should look elsewhere.

Put the Broker to the Test!

Before you finalize on a broker, be sure to test them out. Almost every legitimate broker out there will allow you to create a demo account. Once you open a demo account, you can see the spreads in detail as well as the commissions. Don’t just go by the spreads and commissions displayed in the sales pitch. Monitor every currency pair and make a few trades over the next few days to see if there are any hidden charges.

One of the most important things to test out is their customer service. You will surely have some questions about the platform during trading. Contact their customer support and see what response time they have. Also, see how they deal with your follow-up questions. The one thing you can’t test with a demo account is whether you can easily withdraw your funds. Do a Google search to see what customers’ experiences have been with the platform.

Finally, a fine point you need to keep in mind is the contract and position size that your broker offers. It will be clear as soon as you start using the demo account.

Keep all of these points in mind as you look at different brokers. Take your time with the demo account tests. It is better to spend a few weeks choosing the right broker than to spend a few months trying to recuperate from trading losses.