Archive for May, 2010

Minimum Monthly Balance Tip For Credit Card Debt

By Timothy Ng

You can save a lot of money and eliminate your credit card debt faster if you understand the balance repayments of your credit card and the interest you are paying. In this article you can find out how you can save money every month.

Many people get into credit card debt because they simply do not understand interest rates and the actual dollar value that they represent. They also do not understand about the fees and charges associated with the credit card and get caught up in debt before they know it.

Most cardholders start off with good intentions when they are making purchases on their new card and fully expect to be able to pay off the balance at the end of the month. In many cases, however, something comes up and they are unable to make a full payment. In fact, some people end up dragging themselves even further into debt by applying for an online check advance to pay off their debt. Still, some will continue to charge purchases to their card, even though they know good and well that they are just increasing their debt.

Interest rates add on to the balance and the cardholder is suddenly faced with credit card debt. People need to understand interest rates so that they can stay on top of their debt, especially in today’s economy.

Where Do YOU Think the Stock Market is Headed?

The stock markets’ recent 1,000 point slide is a good time to stop and ask some critical questions

By Kevin M

Let’s get one thing out of the way right up front: I am NOT an investment expert!

Now that that’s been declared for the record, let’s mush on.

After bottoming at 6600 in March of 2009, then rocketing to the 11,000 level in just over one year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has given up 1,000 points in a space of only a few weeks. What does that mean? Does it mean anything at all? It seems we may be at a crossroads.

There are two schools of thought on where the stock market is heading, and the implications of either are of no small consequence where our personal finances are concerned. If we firmly believe the market will rise, we need to position ourselves for maximum gain when it does. If we think it will slide—or even crash—it’s incumbent upon us to arrange our assets in such a way as to minimize or even eliminate losses.

Are we about to break out of the 10,000 level on the Dow, and if so, which way is it more likely to swing?

Earn Income From Selling Your Stuff

By Kevin M

Just about everyone has stuff sitting around the house doing close to nothing, but some of it could put some money in your wallet, or better, your bank account.

On an otherwise uncommitted weekend, convince yourself you’re moving soon, and will need to pare down your collection of gadgets and baubles to the smallest pile possible, by picking out and removing the items you can most do without. Then clean them up, figure out about how much you might sell them for through a variety of channels, and store them away in a safe secluded spot so that they don’t blend back into the trappings of your life.

That being accomplished, it’s now time to figure out the best way or combination of ways to sell it all. There are a number of ways to do this, but three prominent ones come to mind:

Save Money on Vacations

By Kevin M

Vacation season is upon us and plans are now being laid for what could be the single most expensive week of the year for more than a few people.

Vacations are often the biggest single component in the family entertainment budget, and often (and easily) can run into thousands of dollars for a single one week trip. In many homes, the family vacation has become an annual rite, bordering on necessity.

But in a lot of households, the past few years have been draining on the budget, with one or more periods of unemployment and possibly investment losses as well. Recovery from such hits is often only gradual in coming and it may be best to come out of the gate slowly if you’ve experienced either or both situations.

From a pure financial standpoint the best advice would be to not take a vacation. Vacations are NOT necessities, no matter what the prevailing attitudes in your community or in the culture at large, and you should not be leaving bills unpaid or your bank account empty to make them happen. This truly is an expense that should not be incurred unless all other expenses are paid AND some money has been put away for savings AND the trip can be paid for without incurring significant debt.

With that caveat on our minds let’s focus on ways to take vacations at much lower cost.

Ten Financial Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make

By Kevin M

There are strategies we need to put in place that will help lead us where we want to be in life, but just as important is problem avoidance.

When making our plans, we can project working in a certain career, earning a certain income, investing and having X amount of money by age Y, living in a certain size home, and even planning out a career for our children. But few of us ever give serious practical consideration to the things we don’t want to do!

Two or three major mistakes can derail the most well intended plans so it’s best to play devils advocate from time to time and seriously consider the question “what can go wrong here?” It should be done with the same level of intensity that we give to the plans that we hope will move us forward.

Below is a list of ten financial mistakes I’ve culled over the years from my experience in public accounting, from working in the mortgage business and from a few dives into an empty pool I’ve taken on my own road of life.

Health Savings Accounts (HSA) – Can They Help You?

By Art Forrest

A few months ago I went to get an oil change and wound up hanging out all morning while they did other things to my car – truth is I know as much about nuclear warheads as I do about the inner workings of my car, but it was the kind of stuff that gets old and has to be replaced when you hit 80,000 miles or so.

It cost me around $500 and, get this, my auto insurance didn’t pay a dime! Are you stunned? Of course not.

My auto insurance, like yours, is there in case I have a wreck. What if I could sell you an auto insurance plan that would allow you to pay a $35 “copay” every time you had to get some work done on the car, and maybe gave you a couple oil changes for free each year? What do you suppose that would cost?

Why Leasing a Car is a Bad Deal

By Kevin M

The attraction of an auto lease arrangement is that it typically requires little cash up front (the cap cost reduction fee can usually be satisfied with your trade in and/or the rebate program de jour), and the low payments for the initial 24 to 36 months of the lease. In fact for a person who likes to trade for a new car every two or three years, the arrangement seems made to order. And if all that matters is the monthly payment then that may be true–within limits.

So, what’s so bad about leasing?

A Better Way to Budget?

By Paul Williams

Budget. It’s a four-letter word to many people. We hate the
restriction, the deprivation, and tracking all the little details.
But personal finance experts continue to tell us we need a budget.
Don’t get me wrong. Budgets are very useful tools. I think everyone
should try to use one (or something like it) if they really want to
have control over their finances. But I wonder if we don’t go about
it the wrong way when we try to implement budgets.

For someone who’s never had a budget, the whole process can seem
daunting and mysterious. What’s the right way to budget? Why should
I even do it? How do I track all my expenses? While budgets are
quite simple (a list of income and expenses with goals), there are a
number of questions that can come up for the uninitiated. They find
some answers from people who seem confident and knowledgeable and away
they go. They make up their first budget and set high goals. Maybe
it looks like this:

Take-Home Pay:	$2500

Savings:	$500
Giving:	$200
Rent:	$1000
Groceries:	$200
Auto Insurance:	$100
Gas:	$200
Phone, Internet, & Cable:	$100
Utilities:	$100
Eating Out:	$50
Personal Expenses:	$50
Total Expenses:	$2500

Some Jobs Are NOT Worth Having

By Kevin M

Going ... going ... not quite gone by ghb624.

Over the past week I’ve been writing about the often negative consequences of various jobs and income situations. Today’s post is on the same topic, but it centers on my own personal experience with a job I probably would have been better off if I’d never taken it.

When ever someone has financial problems, there’s a strong tendency for others to suggest “why not get a part time job?” As well intended as that advice may be, I’m here to report that such advice isn’t always the way to go. Some jobs can actually cost more than they bring in…

A few years ago, in the middle of a time of significant financial distress, I took what I thought was a part time job with a local newspaper doing delivery.If you haven’t noticed, the days of the newspaper being delivered by neighborhood kids is long gone and being performed entirely by adults in cars.

On the surface, it looked like a perfect situation: an income of over $1000 a month for early morning work. I’d be done by 6:30 or 7 in the morning, so it wouldn’t interfere with my regular work. Or so I thought!

But some jobs can’t be fully understood until you’re actually in them.

Early morning meant 2:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday. Toward the weekend it was even earlier; 2 a.m. on Friday, 1:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. If I came in for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon to assemble the Sunday ad supplements beforehand, otherwise there was no point even going to bed Saturday night – I’d need to be at the shop by midnight!

If you’ve never been involved in newspaper delivery, you probably have no concept of the magnitude of getting the overstuffed Sunday edition of your familiar major metropolitan newspaper delivered to your doorstep each week.

Gambling, Investment Schemes and Other Empty Wells

Income sources you’ll be Richer for NOT having tried – Part 3

By Kevin M

In the previous posts in this series we’ve covered the implications of TV infomercials as well as real estate, insurance and car sales as a means to overcome a career- or financial crisis. All of these efforts are an attempt to create a new career or income stream based on enterprise. Today we’ll take a look at some financial “tactics” that rely little on enterprise but heavily on luck.

If your career or financial situation are under stress, that which seems improbable during more prosperous times, might start to look as if it may be “worth a shot”. And while the thinking behind such a belief actually makes sense at some level, the near inescapable reality of life is that when we absolutely need Lady Luck to smile upon us, she’s usually on vacation! Moral of the story: luck is not a career or financial strategy!

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Archive for May, 2010

Minimum Monthly Balance Tip For Credit Card Debt

Where Do YOU Think the Stock Market is Headed?

Earn Income From Selling Your Stuff

Save Money on Vacations

Ten Financial Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make

Health Savings Accounts (HSA) – Can They Help You?

Why Leasing a Car is a Bad Deal

A Better Way to Budget?

Some Jobs Are NOT Worth Having

Gambling, Investment Schemes and Other Empty Wells

Financial Management