You have probably seen the TV ads:  Send us your gold jewelry and we will send you cash.  Don’t fall for this.  You can do much better selling to a local gold dealer.  When you melt down jewelry for gold this is called scrap gold.  The price for scrap gold has always been much lower than the spot gold price because of the work involved in surveying, melting, recasting and storage and distribution.  Today most gold dealers will give you about 50%.

But those companies that advertise on TV who say they will send you an envelope, you mail in the gold and they send you cash -well some of those companies are giving consumers as little as 5% of the spot value. And don’t trust the so called guarantees.  Many of these companies claim that you have 10 days to return the money and get your gold back, but when you read the fine print, it says “10 days from the date on your check.” But, many consumers have complained that the write the check and then hold it for 3 or 4 days before mailing, so you often only have a day or so.

When you send in your jewelry you are basically at their mercy.  If you want to sell your gold, you can often shop around for local pawn shops and gold coin dealers who often buy gold.  This way you take the gold in, and stand their while they test and weigh the gold. Then the dealer makes you an offer. If you don’t like the offer simply thank the person and leave.

If you would like to know what your gold is worth you first have to know how many karats it is. Fourteen karat gold is about 50% pure, whereas 18K gold is about 73% pure.  You can weigh your gold on a digital postage scale to get the approximate weight, then go to the Scrap Gold Calculator at Mid-States Refining website at http://www.midstatesrecycling.com/karatpro.php.  Select Troy Oz. on the pull down at the bottom  of the page and then put in how many ounces of each karat of gold that you have and it will calculate the value.  Notice that there is a $100 refining charge. So if you only had a 1 oz, 18K ring you would get $323 for it. But if you had 5 ozs of 18K gold, you would get $2901 which is about $580 per ounce.  Even at the lower price of $323 that is about $300 more than most of the cash for gold places would give you.

Lastly if you really want to get the most money, then you can melt down your own gold.  Basically all you need is a propane torch and a crucible to hold the gold.  Just Google the term “how to melt gold” and you will see results from Wiki and eHow that give instructions.

Have you even called to cancel a service and they tried to talk you out of it by offering you a lower rate.  This is one of the best secrets to saving money.  After 6 years with Dish Network, I moved to Direct TV because Dish did not have all the channels I wanted. When I called to cancel they offered me a fabulous deal to stay.  I could get a free upgrade movie package for a year and a lover overall rate. Well I didn’t change because I really wanted the channels and Direct TV was giving me a good deal too, but it got me to thinking.

I have been with my cell company for several years and was well past my contract date.  So I called them up and asked if I was getting the best rate.  The service rep went over the rate plans and it turned out the rate I was on was the best they offered now. So I (politely) told the rep that if they couldn’t make it any cheaper would they please cancel the service.  She asked me to wait a moment and then a supervisor came on the line.  She said that if i would like to stay she could offer me an additional 300 free minutes.  I told her that I rarely use all my minutes, so then she said they could cut my plan by $12 per month for one-year.  So I said, “Sure that works for me. Thank you.” Savings $120.

Next I did the same thing with my Internet provider. They wouldn’t discount the overall service but I was paying an additional $2 per month for each extra email address I had. So they said they would give me up to 5 email addresses for the cost of one –savings $8 month.

This not only works for online services.  I got a call from the company that does our chemical lawn service. They always call to schedule an appointment to spray the lawn so we can bring the dogs inside. So when they called I said I was thinking of cancelling the service. the result –an instant 15% discount.

If you take the time to learn the ropes, affiliate marketing is a great way to make extra money –or even some serious money.

Affiliate marketing is now used by some of the largest companies in America including eBay, Amazon, Wal-Mart and many others. If you don’t know what it is or how it works, check out our book, The Official Geezer Guide to Starting an Online Business. Basically it is nothing more than setting up a website or a blog and then placing links to your affiliate advertisers where people can see them and click on them. When someone clicks on an ad and buys something, the advertiser pays you a commission.

The neat thing about affiliate marketing is that you can do it as little or as much as you want. If you are happy earning a few hundred dollars a month you can do that with a few hours a week. If you want to make more –just put in a little more time. Granted, I am very experienced, but I also had to start from scratch.  After my first few months doing affiliate marketing as a sidebar to my regular business I was pretty consistently making around $1000 a month.  After a few years that has gone up and in my best month ever I made over $15,000 –and it is still a part time thing for me.  Lest you think you have to be some sort of web expert or genius, that is not the case. I am actually a very low-tech person with only basic web skill.

Top 5 Tips for Making Money with Affiliate Marketing

1. Buy  your own domain name and hosting.  Free blogs and free websites give you less control, poor search results and lack credibility.
2. Learn everything you can about the product or service you are promoting. Again you want credibility. If you are knowledgeable about what you are promoting then people will believe you.
3. Only recommend products and services related to the content of your website or blog. If you blog about barbecue recipes and have links to credit card offers and travel then your readers will not take you seriously. But if you have links to purchase BBQ grills, smokers and gourmet steaks then they will listen to your recommendations.
4. Learn everything you can. I really like the programs at Affiliate Classroom.  They offer excellent low-cost training and you can try them out for just One Dollar.
5. Track your activity.  Too many people just grab a banner or affiliate link, put it up and forget it.  All affiliate programs offer tracking and statistics.  Check your stats often and replace banners, links and advertisers that are not converting.

Everyone needs a little extra money these days, so why not give affiliate marketing a shot. This is a very low-cost, low-risk online business that anyone with even basic computer and internet skills can do.

Still Waiting for Your Bailout – Try creating your own

I don’t know about you, but this geezer is getting tired of waiting for his bailout. How about you.?

• The government is paying off other people’s mortgages but Karen and I are still making our own payments
• The government is bailing out the auto companies and the banks but my little company is still chugging along. Yes, business is down but we are still doing OK –we just have to work more hours.
• I have been working hard for the past ten years to pay off all of our debts so we are almost debt free as we go into retirement, but the government just committed every living American to about $45,000 in new debt I hadn’t planned on. That one will probably outlive me but it will eventually be paid back with increased taxes, reduced Medicare and SSI payments and inflation that the debt will cause.

So since I am not holding my breath waiting for a government bailout –how do I get one for myself?

Personally I follow four strategies:

1. Reduce debts – in any recession cash is king. Now is the time to be ruthless in cutting your expenses and paying off your debts.
2. Keep your cash is safe banks or US treasury bills. Don’t think the stock market rally means we have found the bottom. There is a lot more bad news to come. Before unemployment finds the bottom it has to stop falling –but current unemployment rates are still accelerating. Although residential real estate is probably near its bottom, the crash in commercial real estate is just around the corner. And the banking crisis is far from over.
3. Keep a little silver or gold on hand.
4. Find ways to supplement your income.

Whether you are already retired or about to retire, there are lots of ways to supplement your income without taking an extra job or going back to work.  The very fact that you are reading an online blog means you have some basic computer skills.  In my latest book, The Official Geezer Guide to Making Money with An Online Business we take you though several online business opportunities that are low cost and low risk that can help supplement your income in hard times.

The Official Geezer Guide books series was launched in December 2008 with our first three titles:

1. The Official Geezer Guide to Starting an Online Business
2. The Official Geezer Guide to Selling on Amazon
3. The Official Geezer Guide to Creating and Selling eBooks

The Official Geezer Guide (OGG) series is designed for the senior market and the purpose is to show seniors, retired and about-to-retire folks how to use their computers and the internet to make money and supplement their income.

Throughout the year we will be releasing new titles.  We also publish a monthly newsletter that talks about ways for seniors to make and save money and we review and comment on various lifestyle issues.

The purpose of this blog is to present more timely information, review various online platforms and opportunities, recommend resources and share other information helpful to our readers.

So we hope you will subscribe, comment and share your thoughts, information and techniques with your fellow readers.  This blog will be supported by advertising, but we promise to keep it to a minimum.

Skip McGrath
Head Geezer
www.officialgeezerguide.com