What You Should Know About Investing In Bondsby Alexander J Brittain 2/1/2012 Investing in bonds is a generally safe way for people to begin building a portfolio. And with interest rates at a record-low 0.25 percent, the time is right for people to begin investing in bonds. Here are some tips for investors interested in bonds: What are bonds?: Money Magazine once called bonds "fancy IOUs," and that’s an appropriate term. Investors buy bonds from corporations and municipalities in order and eventually get back not only the money they spent but also interest. Investing in bonds is a good idea during "bear" markets. Bonds provide a safe alternative to stocks during recessions. For example, from 2000 through 2002-the recession before the "Great Recession"-bonds far outperformed stocks. With the Great Recession showing no signs of abating anytime soon, and the stock market vulnerable to giant spikes in both directions, bonds once again look like a good choice for investors. In addition, the lower the interest rate is, the higher bond prices rise, which makes bonds a doubly good investment during these unprecedented times. Yet bonds that are held until they mature are ... |
Debit Cards or Credit Cards?by Adhil Shetty 2/1/2012 Debit card frauds are as common as credit card frauds. This usually implies that a hacker gains access to your critical debit card details and makes an unauthorized purchase or withdraws cash from your account. There are various fraudulent ways in which your card details can be hacked. Though you may not be able to decipher how a hacker obtains your debit card info you can however taken stringent measures to ensure such a risk is mitigated. Given below are some steps that you can take to arm yourself with sufficient protection. Get an alert message from your bank for every transaction you make. This means the bank contacts you through an email or a text message whenever you make a transaction using your card. Register for online banking if have not done so already. Logging into your net banking account regularly to keep a tab on all your transactions will enable you to spot any suspicious transactions and enable you to track it quickly to take necessary action through the bank. Always stick to the ATM at your ... |
5 Myths That Could Derail Your Retirementby Robert Margetic 2/1/2012 Your hectic pace makes it harder to set time aside to truly think through how you see your retirement playing out. By default, it’s easier to make general assumptions about critical issues and get on with other things. What if your assumptions are wrong? In fact, many assumption people rely on today have evolved into myths. What made sense in the past makes less sense in the new retirement environment. If your retirement is to be successful, you need to sidestep these popular myths: Your retirement will be like your parents’ and grandparents’. This leads you to plan for the wrong retirement. Their retirement was stable and secure. It was supported by a strong US economy, adequately funded Social Security and Medicare, employer-provided pensions and an efficient and properly functioning financial markets. Your retirement faces a structural shift. To be successful you’ll need to navigate through a sluggish global economy, massive government debt and unsustainable deficits, bankrupt Social Security and Medicare and seemingly rigged financial markets. Cost, risk and uncertainty is being shifted to the new class of retirees. You need to prepare for the new retirement not the old retirement. You can invest like ... |
Vital Things To Learn About The Credit Cardby Kalyan Kumar 2/1/2012 Financial experts point out the card is useful as long as you know how to use it and you know what you’re getting. In short, you have read and understood the fine print. There are also some misconceptions regarding the use of the credit card and how one can gain a good credit score from it. Don’t believe what they say that you can get a good score from paying your bills on time. Yes, paying on time is the most responsible thing to do but it does not guarantee you a favorable score. This is so particularly if you often reach your credit card limit. Take note that there are other factors being considered by credit card companies and agencies. The balance on your last statement is just one of them. So keep in mind that when you incurred a high balance even just one time, it can have a negative impact on your score. The solution here then is to pay a few days before your regular credit card statement date. When you are able to do this, the agencies that determine your credit score will receive a report of a low balance from your end. So remember that on time does not always mean more points for you. Another thing to learn is that maintaining a balance won’t give you a ... |
Great Advice On How To Control Your Personal Financesby Phil Reusch 11/2/2011 Personal finances can be hard to deal with. You need financial advice to deal with your finances correctly. The information given here should help you to get started with you finances in a correct manner. If your finances are in deep trouble you may need financial advice. If you do, just make sure to research those companies really good. Old coins can sometimes be worth large amounts of money for one to sell and invest the return back into ones personal finances. These old coins can sometimes be found in a relatives ancient piggy bank or in the most unlikely of places. If one knows what coins to look for they can be greatly rewarded if they find them. Take them to a coin dealer to find out how much they are worth before you sell them. Try to arrange it so that your debit card automatically pays off your credit card at the end of the month. This will help keep you from forgetting. Even if you can’t afford to pay the entire thing, you should at least set-it-up so that the minimum payment is automatically paid. Paying more will reduce the amount of interest you are charged each month. Going out to eat is the most costliest budget busting blunders many people make. At a cost of roughly eight to ten dollars per meal it is nearly four times more expensive than preparing a meal for yourself at home. As such one of the easiest ways to save money is to ... |
7 Lessons Learned From Millionairesby Lakhvir Sonu Singh 11/2/2011 Do You Want To Become A Millionaire? The formula is simple. If you want to become cook you should study cooking, if you want to become lawyer you should study law. The same is truth with becoming millionaire if you want to become a millionaire... you should study other millionaires and you should do the same things they have done to become millionaire. 1. Live Frugal You need to save at least 10% of your monthly income. You should not buy expensive clothes. You should not buy brand new car. You should buy a car that is 2 or 3 years old and that has good fuel efficiency. People who look rich may not actually be rich. They are just over-spenders. You should do what the other millionaires do, in their early life they do not buy expensive cars or expensive houses, they live frugally and try to save every cent they can and then they invest that money wisely. 2. Calculate Your Net-Worth Millionaires focus more on their net-worth rather than their paycheck. They invest 20% of their monthly income for the-long term. To calculate your Net-worth, you need to answer this simple question - How much money will you have after selling all your items and after paying all your bills if you have to move in other country tomorrow? 3. Create a Budget The difference between rich and poor is that rich people invest their time to create monthly budget and they spend their money according to the budget. If you want to become a millionaire then ... |
How to Create a Personal Budget and Stick to It Painlesslyby Neal Hunter 11/2/2011 See where you are First of all, as Richard Feynman instructed a graduating class at Caltech: "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself-and you are the easiest person to fool." Set realistic financial goals for yourself. Check out your account statement for the last few months to get a true image of where your money goes to. Think of areas where you may be able to cut back a little. List all the items that are fixed and cannot be reduced - such as mortgage, monthly car payments, or your child’s school fees. Subtract those from your monthly income to arrive at the amount of money that is left for you to spend on everything else. If the amount you end up with seems not enough for your monthly spending on clothes, food, entertainment, utilities, and medical care - consider switching to a smaller (cheaper) apartment or exchanging your SUV for a more fuel-efficient car. In most cases what you name "fixed expenses" are things you simply don’t want to change rather than necessities. Remember - you must not fool yourself. Start an emergency fund (yes, really) Secondly, you need an emergency fund. This may sound like something completely abstract to you at this point, but trust ... |
Accounts Not Properly Closed May Later Haunt Youby Steve Dowell 11/2/2011 It’s important to close an account the right way, even if that account isn’t listed on your credit report right now. Failing to properly close your account could haunt you later, when you least expect it. Follow a few steps to close your account and even monitor the account for a few months after closing to be sure the cancellation process went smoothly. Before you close an account, always make sure the account has a $0 balance. This is especially true with credit cards and other accounts on your credit report, since closing the account with a balance can affect your credit score. You may have to wait to receive a billing statement to get the final payment amount. Watch for that statement to come in the mail and send your payment as soon as possible. While you might close your account over the phone, it’s good idea to send a follow up letter confirming that you want your account closed. Keep a copy of the letter so you have proof I you ever need it. If you’re moving, give the business a forwarding address so any mail associated with the closed account reaches you, e.g. a final billing statement or refund of overpayment. You can also set up mail forwarding with the post office. That ensures most mail that goes to your old address will follow you to the new one. Note that some types of mail are not forwarded, so try to update your address with the business to be ... |
Do You Spend More Than You Bring Home?by Hillary D Price 11/2/2011 Are you spending more than you bring home? If you answered, "Yes." You are probably in some sort of debt - most likely credit card debt. It may seem like there is no end in sight, but there is always a glimmer of light - a way to escape. Credit cards are almost certainly the most expensive and popular forms of money. I do not know anyone who does not have a credit card, or does not use a credit card regularly. How bad are you with money? My client Roger is terrible with money. His month’s bills come in before he has paid last month’s bills. He receives at least one cutoff or past due notice per month. He keeps a stack of unopened bills or notices. He always has negative running balance in his checkbook. Does any of this ring true to you? We all have to start somewhere so it is better to come clean. You only have to be honest with yourself. Maybe you search for products you can buy with minimal down payments. Or get excited about how much credit line you have left. Have you ever gotten a cash advance from your credit card? For most of us starting from the beginning are frequently short a few dollars and borrow from friends or others. There are so many places to start. There are many spending and debt questions that can help you be honest with yourself so you can know where you are starting. For some they ... |
How To Improve Your Money Competenceby Mindy Crary 3/17/2011 Whenever anyone learns a news skill, they go through 4 stages of awareness: Unconsciously Incompetent. This is the stage where you don’t know what you don’t know. This skill or thing isn’t even on your radar; like before you were interested in learning to drive, you didn’t even think about it, right? Learning to drive was a non-issue. Many people are unconsciously incompetent with money because while growing up, it wasn’t an issue for them. Things got bought and paid for and no one ever talked about money. However, there usually comes a time when you have a use for the specific skill and then you become... Consciously Incompetent. You know you want to be able to do something, like drive that car, but you’re aware that you can’t just jump into the front seat and start driving (especially if you have manual transmission). This is where people start to apply their individual problem solving styles; some people jump in anyway, some people try to intellectually and theoretically understand before applying the new knowledge and others take driving classes or look for hands-on support. People usually become aware that they are consciously incompetent with money right after they accumulate credit card debt, or day trade their paycheck away. Consciously Competent. When you’re consciously competent, you know how to perform the required skill, but you have to do it carefully. When you’re driving, you still think about easing off the clutch as you apply the gas. You take special measures to avoid certain routes ... |
Tips for Saving Moneyby Cheree Miller 3/17/2011 We all know we need to save. Yet, few of us do save. Why? Because there are too many competing priorities for money in our lives. But, you can you can save for those larger purchases, for the emergencies that are sure to come, for your children’s college, for a home, and for your retirement. You may not think you have enough money. You may think you are living paycheck to paycheck with nothing left over after meeting your expenses. You may think you have to earn more money in order to have enough money to save. The truth is saving isn’t a math matter. It’s an emotional one. Once you make saving a priority, then and only then will you save. Until you decide to pay yourself first, you won’t save. By the time you get to the end of the money, there won’t be enough left over for you. Here are some quick tips on how to save money. Tip #1 - Know where your money is going Keep track of what you spend for the next month. Write down each purchase, or ask for a receipt. But at the end of the month, your assignment is to account for every penny. Tip #2 - Get control of your debt Unsecured credit card debt and car loans are two of the biggest drains on personal finance. Adopt the attitude that if you can pay cash for it, you don’t need it. Stop using your credit cards and paying high interest rates on things ... |
7 Tips on Good Investment Decisions From Financial Expertsby Korak Kahali 3/17/2011 Investment can be explained as a process where people put money into something for gaining a profit. In a more specific way, it can be explained as spending money to buy different items so that you could gain profitable returns in the form of income, interest, capital gains of the total value of the said items. Investment can be done in various fields like finance, business management, no matter whether it is for firms, governments and households. Savings are very important for retirement years when your income will be zero but your expenses will only increase. The best way to create a healthy nest egg for retirement years so, you may relax and enjoy a leisurely lifestyle is to invest with care. Investment can double or triple your savings and guarantee a golden retirement. An investment comes with many risks involved in it. An investment plan that has not been analyzed properly can be risky for the investment owner because in this the chances of losing money are not under the control of the owner. There is always the chance of loosing all your money in some bad investment and coming up a loser. One way to avoid that is of course is to spread out your investment in different ventures. It is always a good idea to spread your eggs in many baskets than keeping it at one place. So invest in different kind of ventures, stocks, funds, annuities, insurance etc to reduce risks. Multiple investment vehicles mean distribution of ... |
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