Money and Business

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on The Penny Hoarder.

The benefits of marriage don’t stop at love and companionship. In some situations, marriage can result in more Social Security benefits. If you stay married for at least 10 years, those benefits can last even if you get divorced.

But the rules for marriage and Social Security get complicated.

You don’t automatically get more Social Security benefits just because you’re married. Many, if not most, people will get the biggest benefit by claiming on their own work record.

But if your work history is limited and you marry someone who earns significantly more money than you do, you may get more from Social Security by claiming spousal benefits. Here are several things married couples can’t afford not to know.

1. You can get up to 50% of your spouse’s full benefit

The maximum spousal benefit is 50% of your spouse’s … Read more

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on FlexJobs.com.

It’s a bit of a fallacy that remote jobs don’t pay well. In fact, well-qualified professionals with the right skills and experience can often find great high-paying, work-from-home jobs that offer the same career opportunities as traditional positions.

So, which fields offer high-paying, work-from-home careers? We’ve listed dozens of different jobs from eight career categories that all have the potential to pay $100,000+ per year. We’ve consulted PayScale to find the salary range for each role.

The majority of these work-from-home jobs that pay well are all high-level positions that require an education and multiple years of experience. Click on each job title to find the available open jobs on FlexJobs right now, and be sure to check out the rest of our listings in over 50 different flexible career areas.

Product Manager

PayScale salary range: $54,000-$121,000

Product managers handle the … Read more

Are you preparing a resume? It’s natural to want to tell prospective employers all about yourself — but some things are better left unsaid.

Remember, you have only a limited amount of space to convince someone you would be a good hire. So, avoid including anything that might offend or cause an employer to question your abilities.

Following are some key things to avoid on your resume.

Criticism of past employers

A sure way to put off a potential employer is to waste space on your resume criticizing past employers or supervisors. You may feel perfectly justified in your criticism, but the purpose of a resume is to showcase talents and abilities, not to air grievances.

Don’t give prospective employers the impression that you are disloyal or generally disgruntled. Instead, write about your positive relationships and accomplishments. Tell people about the good things you can bring to their business if … Read more

Workers are in high demand these days. U.S. employers added 263,000 jobs in November, only a slight drop from October’s number of 284,000. And while unemployment stayed unchanged at 3.7%, wages are 5.1% higher than a year ago, The New York Times reports.

Not every worker can have their choice of prestige companies. But it’s always good to know what’s out there, and which companies have reputations for helping workers move forward. A recent report, the American Opportunity Index, examined salary data and job postings at 250 of the largest U.S. companies. The goal was to determine which offered the greatest job-growth opportunities available to workers both with or without college degrees.

The index utilizes nine metrics in three categories to assess the level of opportunity provided to workers. Researchers examined access to work, upward mobility options and pay.

“We believe that these three dimensions are the key determinants of … Read more

Your blog could be more than just a place to write down your thoughts and opinions or promote your brand; instead, you can use it as a tool to make passive income.

This means that you can set up ways to make money through your blog and then sit back and wait for the money to come in without having to put any work into the process.

Keep reading for a few ways that you can get started.

Write and Sell an E-Book

If you are already blogging, you are already confident in your abilities as a writer. And if you have a large enough following, you know that people respect you for what you have to say, for the knowledge that you can share with them, and for the valuable content that your blog provides.

So why not go a step further and write up a short e-book that … Read more