TessMore Finance Blog

What is Payment-in-Kind? Payment-in-Kind (PIK) is a type of financial arrangement where a borrower can pay interest on a loan with additional debt instead of cash. In other words, the interest owed is added to the loan’s outstanding principal balance, effectively increasing the amount that the borrower owes. This payment is usually made when the borrower needs to pay cash interest and principal costs. It is often used as financing for highly leveraged or financially distressed companies. PIK is a high-risk loan structure typically only available to borrowers with high credit risk. The interest rate on a PIK loan is typically higher than a traditional loan, reflecting the higher level of risk associated with this type of loan. Additionally, the accrual of interest on the loan balance increases the risk of default, which may result in the lender suffering significant losses. It’s important to note that PIK loans are not standard and should be approached cautiously, as they can sig

One of my favorite movies of all time is The Goonies. And one of my favorite moments is when Mikey finds One-Eye Willy’s treasure map (really, it’s when Chunk drops the frame) and the Goonies go on their quest to find his treasure. We love treasure maps. And we have one too – it’s a map of our treasure. We have two Master documents that outline our finances – Net Worth Spreadsheet and the Treasure Map. The Net Worth Spreadsheet is a Microsoft Excel document that calculates our net worth . It is a monthly accounting of our financial accounts and sticks strictly with numbers. The Treasure Map is the qualitative explanation of our financial setup. It is a Word document that explains the purpose of each account, the point of contact, and how each of the pieces fit together. Our treasure map starts with our financial map – which is a drawing of how our accounts are interconnected. Together, they give you a complete picture of our finances. The Treasury Map shows someone where o

S quare’s Free Card Reader is a cutting-edge device designed to empower small business owners to manage their finances efficiently while easily accepting payments from customers. The reader presents a cost-effective solution for businesses of varying sizes, whether operating in a physical storefront, online, or both. I got my free reader from Square over ten years ago when I was launching FinCon and knew I would need to take payments on site at the event. It worked out great! Square is a premier provider of financial and payment services for small businesses. Its platform streamlines payment processing and financial management, enabling small business owners to grow their operations confidently. The Square Free Card Reader is a compact, lightweight device that facilitates customer card payments via smartphones or tablets. The reader is designed to be simple to set up and use. Simply connect it to your mobile device, and you’re ready to start accepting payments. This guide prov

In mid-2020, Empower Retirement acquired Personal Capital . In February 2023, Personal Capital was rebranded and pulled into the Empower Retirement brand. Empower Retirement was founded in 1891 and they are a retirement plan administrator. They have over 69,000 retirement plans under administration covering over 17 million participants. They are the 2nd largest retirement services country in the United States with $1.2 trillion in assets under administration. They're massive. And they acquired Personal Capital in what was seen as a move to branch out into investing and wealth management, using personal finance tools as a lead tool. For several years, Personal Capital was re-branded as “Personal Capital, an Empower Company” but the Personal Capital logo and name was prominent. It appears that this has come to an end. On February 16th, Personal Capital was re-branded into Empower. We are a partner of Personal Capital and they told us last week that they were going to make t

Your side hustle shouldn’t feel like just another job. By finding easy gigs that pay well, you can have some fun while earning extra cash in the year ahead. To help you find a good-paying side hustle that won’t wear you out, we’ve compiled a list of easy jobs that pay well. Most of our ideas require little to no formal education. All of them can be learned on your own time, and some may require skills you already have.  We’ll share the average pay per hour (courtesy of Payscale ), necessary educational requirements, and additional information you might want to know. Table of Contents Easy Jobs That Pay Well 1. Graphic Designer 2. Freelance Writer 3. Voiceover Actor 4. Virtual Assistant 5. Real Estate Agent 6. Dog Walker 7. Administrative Assistant 8. Referee/Umpire 9. House Sitter 10. House Cleaner 11. Delivery Driver 12. House Painter 13. Private Tutor 14. Nanny 15. Personal Trainer/Fitness Expert 16. Technical Writer 17. Transcriptionist 18. Data Entry Specia

I love Empower (formerly Personal Capital) for all the free tools they offer. It’s a great place to aggregate all your accounts and see what’s going on with your money. Empower can be a one-stop shop for your money from budgeting to investment advice. Here’s what you need to know about how Empower works, how it makes its money, and whether it will be the best way for you to manage your monthly budget as well as your retirement portfolio: How Empower Works The process of getting set up with Empower is relatively straightforward. After signing up for an account (which is free and takes all of 60 seconds), you’ll be able to log in and begin connecting your financial accounts, including your bank accounts, investments, mortgage, credit card, and any other accounts. In this way I find Empower to be a little different from the rest as they’ve added on a money management component to just regular personal investing . Connecting accounts is as simple as entering your secure informat

It’s become very popular for fintech companies to offer a way for customers to earn a higher rate of interest on their cash deposits. Personal Capital, best known for their tools, also has a wealth management advisory business where offering a higher interest rate makes sense. The product is called Personal Capital Cash and it’s available to Personal Capital users even if they aren’t using the wealth management services. The current interest rate is 4.10% APY – but is it worth getting? Table of Contents What is Personal Capital Cash? Other Personal Capital Features Alternatives to Personal Capital Cash Should You Use Personal Capital Cash? What is Personal Capital Cash? Personal Capital Cash is a cash management account that offers high interest rates that is comparable with many high yield savings accounts and no minimum balance requirement. A cash management account is similar to a checking account except it’s not “technically” a checking account. It’s a neobank in

When thoughts about your competitors pop into your head, the last thing you may think of doing is reach out to them to start a relationship. After all, you’re going after the same customers so what if you accidentally give away a secret or worse see what they’re doing and start feeling like they’re better than you. Any entrepreneur who has done the hard work of building a business knows that the secret is really in hard work and execution, not only in the secret sauce. You also know that, even though your competitors may offer essentially the same product or service as you, there are inherent differences between the offers. This is a positive aspect of capitalism, that there is enough room in the market for multiple players to offer the same products and services and have some of them be right for a certain segment of the market while others are better for others. Each company offers a differentiated version of the same products and services. The deeper you understand the actual v

Side hustles can be a great way to make an extra income. Unfortunately, not all side hustles were created equally, and some are more lucrative than others. Delivery jobs are one of the better-paying side hustles in the gig economy. The best ones let you make money in your spare time , offer flexible payment options, and allow you to tailor your side hustle to your life. In this article, we’ll share our favorite delivery job apps and why we like them. You can decide which delivery app will be your go-to for earning extra cash this year.  Table of Contents The Best Delivery Job Apps 1. Uber Eats 2. DoorDash 3. Instacart 4. Grubhub 5. Amazon Flex 6. Caviar 7. Saucey 8. Shipt Shopper 9. Favor Delivery 10. Eaze 11. Gopuff 12. Delivery.com 13. Bite Squad 14. Dolly How to Earn More Money as a Delivery Driver Final Thoughts on the Best Delivery Job Apps The Best Delivery Job Apps This list of the best delivery job apps will let you know which states and cities you