Credit ratings are probably the most misunderstood of all financial products (excluding, perhaps, the recent debacle with PPI). Most people assume that there’s some sort of score next to your name somewhere out there in the world of financial institutions, but it’s not strictly true. There are ways of finding out your credit rating, but it’s not all you need to consider when applying to borrow money. That said your credit rating probably is the most important factor to whether you get a loan, or a mortgage, or a credit card approved, which prompts the immediate question: But how do...
If four years of unfulfilled promises, inactive initiatives and the NDAA proposal weren’t enough, Mr. Barack Obama, our American Republic’s proudly chosen President/Orator has brought in more controversy this year. And yet he is confident enough of winning the coming elections and be re-elected as President. Well, if the American public hasn’t learned anything from the Bush Administration, he surely will. An estimated 45 million viewers in America were expected to tune into President Obama’s budget proposal for the year 2013. And this included the buzzing controversy that is around, he has proposed an inclusion of a new tax law,...
When recession hits, it takes everything down with it – pass time, money, work, and morale. Money isn’t everything, yes, but money does mean more than something, it acts as a catalyst to everything that you do around you. If you haven’t the money in your pocket, you can’t even start a bee business, yield honey and stock it. And in times of recession, the first thing you want to do is to pile up as much money as possible, to receive an amount of income that will keep you away from the heat of inflation and fulfill at least...
If you’re looking forward to buy a home but cannot arrange the total payment for one time purchase, then going for a mortgage is the right choice. A mortgage, popularly known as home loan, is a popular option in the United States and elsewhere. And the option of mortgage is becoming more and more popular yet tedious to use because of the home market which has gone for a slump. Banks are unwilling when asked for a mortgage loan. They do not want to risk money on mortgages and are utterly defiant. To solve this mortgage crisis, you need to...
If you don’t save money for your retirement, you could end up helpless and dependent on other people in your old age. Fortunately, there is a simple way to figure out how much money you need to save for retirement that does not require a lot of complex formulas or assumptions on your part. First, add up all of your current expenses and financial liabilities. Next, add up all of your future expected liabilities. For example, if you expect to take care of your spouse in her old age, then you would need to adjust your liabilities to assume that...
Robert Kiyosaki is an American businessman most famous for his bestselling book – Rich Dad, Poor Dad. In addition to this global bestseller, Robert Kiyosaki has authored over a dozen books. These books talk about taxes, how to invest in real estate, small and big businesses and other money related topics. But Rich Dad, Poor Dad has been his most influential and bestselling book and this book is the catalyst behind his immense fame. “We go to school to learn to work hard for money. I write books and create products that teach people how to have money work hard...
I was reading an article last week that made the motion that adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) are dying. For starters, adjustable rate mortgages are loans where the interest rate changes periodically. Generally they are a good option when you are buying a house and the prevailing fixed rate mortgages rates are high. This notion did not surprise me because interest rates are at historic lows for fixed rate mortgages. You would be silly not to lock in a mortgage at these rates now, the interest rates are likely not going to get any lower than they are in your life...
I’m getting excited for Spring to get here and start enjoying the outdoors in beautiful Colorado. But Summer days aren’t about not having school anymore. I have been thinking and preparing my retirement a lot lately and I need to keep focused on creating income generating assets. I hope you find my research as useful as it is to me. Have you planned your retirement? Have you tried to assess your financial condition relating to your retirement? Do you have in your mind that retirement planning is to be done even when your retirement age or are at the borderline...
We just graduated college and just got our first real job. Great! Congratulations! Now what? As we make our way through our first few weeks on the new job we are bombarded with emails, packets of information on everything under the sun from employee discounts to the dreaded RETIREMENT word, eeek. Well you stumbled across the right website to point you in the right direction. I will have you sipping those dirty martinis out at the beach house enjoying the afternoon rays. You are set up at your desk and looking around at the mountain of paperwork that HR has...
The unpredictable nature of markets can perplex even the smartest of brains, doubting the basic ethics which are significant to its functioning. Just when you get accustomed and attuned to the happenings around, there is an abrupt u-turn countering your judgment. Making hay when the sun shines seems to be the best policy, but what actually seems obligatory is making hay even when the sun does not shine. You live in a practical world where you are uncertain of the next moment’s state of affairs. But that does not mean that you refrain from the zeal to place your ambition...
Lotto. Yes, Lotto. It is something that you love to take a shot at. But the Lotto is like a Leprechaun. Even if you finally win a lottery, you’ll probably lose all the money, in the coming years. The lottery is risky and the chances of you winning are so less that even being struck by lightning is more of a probability. Everyone starts with the small lotteries. They go for $1 lottery or $3 lottery, and soon they feel that they must go for the bigger ones. That is when the ‘Win it all or Lose it all’ is...
Every parent has a hard time in trying to make their kids learn the value of money. Kids, not knowing of the troubles and consequences of reckless money, often throw temper tantrums if you do not buy them what they want. This develops more negative behaviors like anger, agitation, revolting, misbehaving, intolerance etc. in them. Hence, it is important to make your child understand the importance of savings. Once your children learn how to save, they will learn how to be compassionate, obedient and tolerant toward their wants and desires. I am by no means an expert when it comes...
When you have money in your hand, your mind gives you two options – whether to save it for future purposes or to invest it in a venture which is promising enough for you to reap future rewards and gain bonuses apart from your necessary future expenses. At times there is a possibility to strike balance and choose between the two. This is primarily because of your circumstances, the way you look at your earnings, people you need to look after with the money you earn and the economic situation of the country you are living in. Below you will...
The difference between an Entrepreneur and a Wantrepreneur is like celestial and earthly opposites. An entrepreneur is an individual of positivity while a Wantrepreneur is a seeker of this positivity. Let’s analyze each of them closely: What is an Entrepreneur? An entrepreneur is an individual who is self reliant. Through this highly optimistic self reliance, he combines a number of different tools and utilizes them to form a single entity, a new franchise, of which he is the think tank and in most cases the owner or the majority share. An entrepreneur is a knight of the business community. Like...
Passive income is money that comes flowing to you without you having to put too much labor into it. There are hundreds of ways to create passive income, some more simple than others. No matter what type of passive income you determine is right for you, it will always come with an initial investment of time or money. Remember that you need to have patience if you are using stocks, real estate, or a new business as a passive income stream, the money isn’t going to come rolling in overnight. How I Plan To Do It For example, I have...
The best money to invest is money that you didn’t have to work very hard to earn. That’s why using money you created through passive income for investing is like investing free money. Types of Income There are two types of ways to make money, passive income and earned income. Earned income is the money that you work for. Earned income is the money that you get for going to your job every day. This is the money that pays your bills, puts a roof over your head, and keeps food on the table. Most people have their earned income...
If you are part of Generation Y, you still have over thirty years until you are close to retirement age and if you have been paying attention, even a little bit, you will have heard that it is going to be harder for your generation than any other of the modern age. The sad truth is that Generation Y’ers are going to get less help from the government and their employers than the generations of the past. This puts more of the retirement pressure on your shoulders. You have to invest smartly now in order to see the returns that...
Wow a whole 2 weeks into personal finance blogging and I have to say I love doing it. It has been a great journey thus far. I am building some great friendships with the personal finance blogging community. I have found the Yakezie Network great and everyone is very willing to help out. I learned that with blogging or your spouse you have to give love to receive love. I am out there sharing the love as much as I can with my fellow bloggers. Here is it close to midnight preparing the post after a long day of blogging and...
Well I am not new to the rental property thing but I will tell you how it all started. It all started a few years ago about rental properties when we were looking to move out of our furnished apartment for rental because our landlord was driving us crazy. We were aggressively scouring Craigslist to find an apartment. Well we found an apartment, ground level which means no stairs! We decided to grab it as soon as we saw it; we definitely thought the rent was well below market value. Come to find out the gentleman was getting ready to put...
If you have been investing in an IRA, a 401k, retirement annuities, or a college savings plan than you most likely already know about the tax breaks that you can get for these investments. But are you aware of the tax breaks that are possible for other investments? When it comes to tax time it is important that you are taking advantage of all the itemized deductions that you can. Remember, we all have a silent partner when it comes to our taxable investments. That partner is Uncle Sam and no matter what you do he is going to take...
So what does the payroll tax mean for you ? Well for one thing it means a bigger paycheck on payroll, money that you can actually see when you open look on your stub. It came about in December 2010, when President Barack Obama worked along side his Republican colleagues to implement it to the dismay of some Democrats about payroll. The tax cut reduced its tax and the Social Security withholding tax from 6.2% down to 4.2%. This money is withheld from your pay check to pay for the Social Security programs. If you would like to find out...
Everyone is looking to make a little extra money and if you can create some multiple incomes coming your way you are doing yourself a favor. Thanks to the internet there are literally hundreds of crazy ways to earn a little dough. Many of these require little to no effort on your part. Granted some of these ideas are a onetime only shot, but maybe you can use that brilliantly wacky idea to come up with your own weird way to earn some big time cash! • MillionDollarHomePage – Heard of it? Basically this one guy came up with the...
What better way to spend Superbowl Sunday than doing my taxes? Well that is what I did on Superbowl with fantasy football Sunday. I am not much of a fan of fantasy football and I am not much of a gamer interested. It seems as those 2 go hand in hand on Superbowl Sunday. My wife and I usually get a big tax return due to my withholding philosophy. I personally like the psychology of receiving a big pay back from Uncle Sam. This year we are receiving close to $3,000 back from the IRS and the state. That is a...
In today’s shaky economic climate you might be looking for extra ways to make money. Scratch that, I bet that you are looking for ways to make money. Everyone can always benefit from more money coming into their bank accounts. And that’s great, but no doubt you have heard the saying: work smart not hard. It’s actually not a bad idea to do both. The best ways to make money are by doing things that will also help you to become more financially or business savvy. Having a garage sale can help you to make some quick cash, and get...
As a financial investor, you know that you have to overcome fear or risk in order to hit it big with an investment. The same is true as a business owner. Think of your business venture as crossing an unstable bridge that’s connected to two huge cliffs. You are going to be pretty nervous to make your way to the other side, right? In order to be a successful business person you have to make it to the other side safe and sound. Millions of people all across the continent work at jobs that they hate every day because fear...
