Earn $2,500+ a month talking to international students

Love to chat. What if I said you could earn a tidy sum just by talking to strangers.

Don't worry this is no cold calling job, no targets, no sales involved, just simply talking.

Native talk pays good money for you to speak English to international students (primarily Chinese) in order to help them practice their spoken English.

If you love to talk and have the heart of a teacher then this could be the perfect job for you. The flexibility of the work makes it perfect for college students looking to boost their income.

How it works

To sign up to NativeTalk as a tutor, you need to be a student or alumni from their specified list of colleges (in UK and US). Though if your university is not listed don't panic, drop them an email as they are willing to consider student/alumni from elsewhere.

You will need to have proof of your student/alumni status (I.E. a ID card), and create a profile and audio proficiency example. You are able to specify your availability, so you determine how much or little you want to work. The only restriction is you need to have a wifi access.

The level of competency of the students have vary massively, but many will have elementary proficiency, so you need to be patient and expect conversations to be basic in this instances.

How much could I earn

NativeTalk pays $12 an hour. So if you worked a normal 7 hour working day 30 days a month you could bring in over $2,500.

But you may not have that much time and be looking to fit in extra work around full time employment, if you worked 2 hours, 5 days a week you could bring in $480 a month, that is a tidy sum and a good amount of money.

Regardless of how many hours you work, it has the potential to be a great income stream and particularly targeted at college students looking to supplement their income


Isn't it just like NiceTalk?

The concepts are incredibly similar, but there are two main reasons why NativeTalk provides a better option.

Firstly, the NativeTalk site is in English, where as NiceTalk's is in Chinese, this is not great for the English speaking tutor. 

Secondly, NativeTalk pays $12 p/h vs NiceTalk paying $10, though not huge, does make a difference, especially if you are looking to make this a more full time role. 

If you end up giving NaiveTalk a try, feel free to comment in the comment section down below on how your experience was or if you have any questions!

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If you are new to our blog, we are all about finding new ways for students and millennials to make and save money. Here are some of our favourite sites and products to help you out:

• Start a blog. Blogging is our side-hustle just over a year ago we didn't think I would bring us any income . You can create your own blog here with my easy-to-use tutorial. You can start your blog for as low as $3.49 per month plus you get a free domain if you sign-up through my tutorial.
• Save money with gift cards Whether its for buying clothes, your weekly shop or dining out use Zeek to buy discounted gift cards to get more bang for your buck. 
• Use Swagbucks for your online searches. Swagbucks is a passive way to earn gift cards. Over the course of a year you could earn $500.  Swagbucks is just like using Google to do your online searches, except you get rewarded “points called SB” for the things you do through their website. Then, when you have enough Swagbucks, you can redeem them for cash, gift cards, and more. Receive $5 for signing up today.
• Try matched betting. Matched betting is a great way to may easy money online. Despite the name it is not gambling and could see you earn £500-£1000 a month for only a couple of hours work a day see here and here. For your free trial head to profit accumulator or join the Facebook 'getting started' group.  
• Sign up for a cashback site like Quidco. where you can earn CASH BACK for just spending like how you normally would online. The service is free too! Plus, when you sign up through my link, you also receive a free £10 bonus!

Online jobs for college students

We are all looking for that little bit of extra money to help us through our studies. But with all the time commitments studying brings it can be challenging adding work into the balance.

Working from home can be a great option for college students as it can often provide you with the scheduling flexibility that you need to work alongside college. Also working online can mean that work can go with you when you travel, so trips home to visit family don't mean losing out on valuable earning time.

Matched Betting.
With matched betting money is made of taking advantage from free offers bookies offer. You place a qualifying bet to trigger the free bet and then use the free bet to make a profit. It takes very little time commitments, is risk free and is not gambling. In 1-2hrs a day you could bring in over £100 a month, making it one of the highest paying per hour online jobs out there. It can at first appear technically complicated but once your get the idea behind it you'll wonder why you went doing it before. I have a whole post dedicated to matched betting, and Profit Accumulator have some great beginner tutorial videos to get you started. 

Talking to international students 
Apps such as native talk pay university students to talk to non-native english students allowing them to practice their English. This work is very flexible and usually just requires a smart phone and will typically pay £9+ an hour. 

Transcribing

Transcribers take audio recordings and transcribed them into text. For this job you need to be able to type quickly and efficiently with few errors. Many places look for at least 60 words per minute and as close to 100% accuracy as possible. TranscribeMe who pay $20 per audio hour they also pay more for medical or legal transcribers. QuickTate, Tigerish, Appenscribe, Scribe and Rev all accept newbie transcribers.

Call centre
Companies such as Enterprise hire homeworkers to answer reservation enquiries. The perks these kind of jobs is that you have guaranteed hours of a set wage (and the ability to earn bonuses). Often you need very little to get started (often just an internet connection and a phone connection). If you are strong in your sales ability and love to talk to people then this could be a great option.

Amazon mTurk
This is where you get paid to do odd jobs from data entry to writing that a requestor needs doing. Different Human Intelligence Tasks (HITs) have different attributed values so it is hard to say how much you will earn per hour as it is not fixed but it is generally quite low in comparison to other online work.
You can get paid either by bank transfer or by amazon gift card. Though the exact list of countries you can work for mTurk is not listed it works for those in the USA or India (let us know if any other countries are able to use the scheme).

Open an Etsy Shop
Are your photoshops skills top notch,  made some stunning printables or created cute jewellery? Then maybe creating an Etsy store is the best option for you. You are not just limited to selling physical items, there is the option to sell digital items, which can be much less time consuming.
Allow your creative talents to earn you money. Owning an Etsy store develops your entrepreneurial skills which are great to include in your CV.

Online re-selling
Picking up low cost items and flipping them for a profit is the key here. It is a good idea to choose items that you know the value of and have a good idea how much they will re-sell for.
A great option for college students is 'flipping' textbooks as you may be able to sell them to students in person avoiding the sellers fees associated with websites such as eBay. Scouring free-sell sites where you can pick up items for free and sell them on making an instant profit is a great option. Sites such as Gumtree and Freecycle work great for finding free items.

Did you do any online work during your studies?

If you are new to my blog, I am all about finding ways for students and millennials to make and save more money. Here are some of my favorite sites and products that may help you out:

• Start a blog. Blogging is my side-hustle just a few years ago I never thought it would be possible. You can create your own blog here with my easy-to-use tutorial. You can start your blog for as low as $3.49 per month plus you get a free domain if you sign-up through my tutorial.
• Use Swagbucks for your online searches. Swagbucks is a passive way to earn gift cards. Over the course of a year you could earn $500.  Swagbucks is just like using Google to do your online searches, except you get rewarded “points called SB” for the things you do through their website. Then, when you have enough Swagbucks, you can redeem them for cash, gift cards, and more. Receive $5 for signing up today.
• Try matched betting. Matched betting is a great way to may easy money online. Despite the name it is not gambling and could see you earn £500-£1000 a month for only a couple of hours work a day see here and here. For your free trial head to profit accumulator or join the Facebook 'getting started' group.  
• Sign up for a cashback site like Quidco. where you can earn CASH BACK for just spending like how you normally would online. The service is free too! Plus, when you sign up through my link, you also receive a free £10 bonus!

2for1 movies for a year for £2 or less

We love going to the cinema on our date nights but it can get very pricy. We used to go out on cheaper nights but now our local cinema no longer offers them we can be looking at close to £20 for both of our tickets, if we choose to have any snacks the price can quickly escalate. 

With meerkat movies you can get 2for1 movies on Tuesdays and Wednesday and works a many cinemas including most cineworld and odeon as well as some independent cinemas.  There are several ways to go about getting this awesome freebie. Plus this can be combined with student priced tickets (or an unlimited card). 
The cheapest way to get this is to use comparethemarket to do a price comparison when when you are renewing your Car, Van, Motorbike, Home, Landlord, Pet or Life insurance policies. If you have one or more of these types of insurance (which most people will have at least one) then you can claim a code for nothing and you may even save money by getting a better deal on your insurance policy. 
If you are looking to switch your energy, TV or broadband again you can use the comparison site to get the best deal and if you purchase through the site then you will be eligible for the 2for1 freebie.

Not got any insurance policies? Or non due for renewal any time soon but still want to take advantage of this great deal. Then there is a loophole. We purchase a single trip travel insurance from within the UK (domestic travel) for 2 nights we spent about £3 but I have found ones for as little as £2. As there is no minimum purchase price on products to qualify for the Meerkat Movies this purchase will be eligible. Though there is a slight cost, you will be making a saving even if you go to the cinema once in the whole year. 

Have you taken advantage of this great deal offered by ComparetheMarket? 

What are Personal Savings Allowances?

The personal savings allowance (PSA) will come into effect from the 6th of April 2016. Though the changes were mentioned a lot in the budget announcements many people still do not understand the implications of PSA and what it means for them as an investor.
It is really important to understand PSA as it is a huge change and has the potential to mean 95% of the population won't pay tax on their savings.

What is an PSA?

• PSA affects the amount of tax you pay on your savings
• If your are a basic rate tax payer your PSA is £1000. A basic rate tax payer pays 20% tax on their savings so you can earn £1000 in interest per financial year without paying tax on it. 
• If you are a high rate tax payer your PSA is £500. A high rate tax payer pays 40% tax on their savings, meaning you can earn £500 in interest per financial year without paying tax on it.

How likely is it I will use the allowance?

Lets assume you have a savings account with an interest rate of  1.35% (this top of the market for easy access savers). You would need the following amounts to meet your thresholds. 

If you earn £17,000 or less per year then you will not pay any tax on savings income.

- Basic Rate Tax Band- £74074 

- High Rate Tax Band- £37,037

Those are some pretty large amounts you would need to have saved. But lets say you were more risky with your investments and had an account with a higher rate. 

Wellesley - 30 Easy Access Account- 3.35%

- Basic Rate Tax Band- £29855 annual interest would be £1000.14

- High Rate Tax Band-  £14926 - annual interest would be £500.02

Thats still quite a lot to have saved and that is why the treasury estimate that for 95% they won't have to pay tax on their savings. 

What type of accounts are covered by PSA

Covered

• Normal savings accounts (fixed and variable rates)
• Current accounts (in banks, building societies and credit unions)
• Investments with NS&I
• P2P investments
• interest distributions (but not dividend distributions) from authorised unit trusts, open-ended investment companies and investment trusts 
• income from government or company bonds
• most types of purchased life annuity payments
• Investments in other currencies held in the UK

Not Covered (already tax free money)

• Money invested in ISAs
• Premium Bond winnings

How valuable are PSAs and what does it mean for ISAs?

- We don't know if future governments will retain PSAs. ISA have been around for much longer and therefore are less likely to be subject to a removal from the budget (though of course the annual allowance could very easily change).
- If we see high interest rates again then then £1000 will no longer feel like such a large amount.
- Also quite often ISAs have higher interest rates than traditional savings accounts (when compared for like for like features). Though this is not always the case and should be a consideration factor when considering which to choose.
- It is not clear how interest from bonds which accumulates over several years but is paid in one payment (rather than over several financial years) will be dealt with.

What do I have to do?
 To reap the rewards of the PSA you don't need to do anything. If you interest surpasses the the allowance you will pay tax. Banks will let HMRC know that you need a different tax code.

For more information please visit Gov.uk

Financial questions to ask before studying abroad

Studying abroad has increased in popularity rapidly over recent years. Though it can be a wonderful experience and an important part of your university life it is not an essential element to most degrees. It is important to consider several financial factors when determining if going on an optional year abroad is for you. It is important to assess not only if you can afford to study abroad but can you afford to go where you want. You may need consider alternative destinations as a compromise on the financial impact of a year abroad. Also don't forget studying abroad is not the only way to spend a year in a different country a year in industry (placement year) doesn't have to occur in your home country and could be the perfect opportunity to combine valuble work experience and international travel.

How much will the course cost? 
- will you be paying the tuition fees prices for your current school whilst abroad or increased fees as an international student?
- How much will it add to the cost of your degree tuition?

How much value will it add to your degree?
- This means asking why are you wanting to do a year abroad. If its just because you just want to visit  a country or your friend is applying too then perhaps an extended vacation would be better (and more cost efficient). Whereas, if you are doing a language degree then studying abroad is highly beneficial to the development of the skills you are using in your degree.
- Think about the quality of the univeristy you would be studying at does it rank as well or better than your current university.

What is the cost of living in that country?
- Depending on where you go the cost of living could be a lot more or a lot less than you are used too.
- It is also worth looking at how currency exchange rates have been over the past months are you going to get more or less for your money due to the exchange rate.


Do they offer scholarships, grants and work programs?
- Programs such as the erasmus scheme offer up to €300 a month grant for studying abroad.
- Will scholarships you have from your current university still apply on your year abroad and after?
- Does the university you are attending abroad offer any scholarships to exchange students.
- Would you be able to work whilst studying abroad. This will depend on visa restrictions and varies from country to country.

How much will additional costs be?
- Flights can be pricy if it is long haul. How often will you expect to visit home over the year?
- Cost of visas, passports and immunisations should also not be forgotten.
- Study abroad programs also offer lots of excursions and trips for students to participate in.

Did you go on a year abroad? What was your experience?