Posts Tagged ‘personal finance’

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Credit Card Online: 4 Things you should know

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

Credit card is one of the most popular products from the bank or other credit card provider. It is very convenient to use, but need careful calculation. It is also relatively easy to get you a credit card. In this session we have a simple guide before applying a credit card, particularly the credit card online. They are:

  • Know the minimum requirements

Each card issuer has different set of requirements for acceptance into their card program. You income level, age, occupation and current address are some of the criteria that must meet the minimum requirements of the card issuers. If you comply with these requirements, your chances of being accepted are very high.

  • Know your credit worthiness

You should also expect your credit rating to be review by the card issuers. This is necessary, as they need to establish if the applicant poses any risk. If you have been paying your mortgage loan, car loan or any other bills regularly and consistently, you should have no worry at bad credit rating.

If you ever have delayed payment on your mortgage, car loan or other bills, your credit rating will be less favorable. The card issuers will dig deeper into your credit history before they can approve your application.

Stephen Chua is the webmaster of FindCardInfo.com which provide detailed descriptions of all major credit cards online so you can make informed decisions that will save you money! To compare and apply for a credit card online, please visit http://findcardinfo.com today.

If you have poor credit rating, you will probably have a higher chance of getting your application approve if you choose a card for people with bad credit. This type of card usually carry a higher interest rate so you should apply if you are confident that you can afford to pay the higher interest.

  • Read the Fine Print.

The terms and conditions of using the credit card are outlined in the application form itself and you should read through them or have someone read them out for you. Some of the key items you should take note include annual percentage rate, grace period, late payment charges, annual fees and transaction fees. Knowing all these key items will help you plan your expenditure and budgeting.

  • Keep your web browser up to date.

When filling out the application form on the web, it is imperative for you to make sure that the page is secured. A secured web page will have ‘https’ in the address bar. In addition, a secured web page should also have a small lock icon at the bottom of the browser. If any one of these two items is missing, you should abort the application and look for another credit card.

Keeping these 4 points in mind will make the process of applying for a new credit card easy, safe and hassle free for you.

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[Family Finance Guide] Money in Marriage

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

In most case, divorce is painful and very emotional for the people who experience it, as well as those close to them. But what most people are not aware of is that divorce is very likely to be one of the most damaging financial steps any couple can take.

My wife and I are not in danger, thank God we love each other so much. But we see many people getting divorce here and there. It’s like seeing a domino effect.

Anyways, what I know about them is that most of the crisis they went through involves money conflict. A divorce may be caused by unfaithfulness, but the ongoing problem that never seem to go away, hey you guess right, it’s all about money, and money, and money.

Here are John and Shelley, an couple that does the seemingly simple –but-can-be-a-problem-someday—kind of mistake many of us do: not talking about money before getting married. Young, both had jobs, spent most of their incomings, got married, and joined finances like most people do.

After a while, John became aware of his wife was a shopaholic, a compulsive spender. To make it worse, their lifestyle changed into worse financial management so that they had to live paycheck-to-paycheck and not having anything to save.

Then they had two children. Finances, or simply money, continued to be a stinging spot — they fought about them often. They never seemed to have enough money to get ahead. John then found in the bedroom closet Shelley’s wardrobe: dozens of expensive dresses, many still with the tags. He then found out there were many more Shelley hadn’t even carried into the house.
Gradually, John and Shelley fell into debt. Mortgage problem. To teach Shelley a lesson, John gave her the checkbook and asked her to pay the bills. It didn’t work, of course. Their financial crisis speeded up. Their house went into foreclosure. Finally, they lost their home. They finally filed a divorce.

Four money talks

For those of you who are going through similar financial ruins, one thing is certain: Until you deal bravely with your financial issues, you’re going to continue to forever be in problems. But the real time to address these issues is before you tie the knot, not ten years into the marriage.

Ron Lieber’s lists four financial issues that must be discussed before marriage:

  1. Ancestry. How did your parent deal with money? What did they teach you about handling it? How your family manage money plays a great role in your own way to manage money.
  2. Credit. Some experts recommend that couples who plan to get married pull their credit reports (and scores) together and discuss the results. You can even do it on your fifth date! Not romantic, but necessary to see how you can manage financial stuff together.
  3. Control. Before getting married, both of you should decide who is responsible for which portion of the household accounts. Settle on the family financial structure. Know your budget, and how much each of you is allowed to spend freely.
  4. Affluence. Most vitally, discuss and plan your financial goals. How prosperous do the two of you want to be? What are you willing to sacrifice to get there? I know a couple who lived like paupers for five years so that they could pay off all of their student loans and set up a solid financial base for the future. They worked together to reach their shared financial goal.

Obviously, disagreements over finance do happen in marriage, regardless how cooperative couples are. But what I know for sure, couples who always know they have to sacrifice something to reach their shared dream will not let disagreement lead them to divorce.

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Part 3: A Guide on how to Increase Your Income :)

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Before reading the article, it is recommended that you read the Part 1 about the benefits of spending less than you earn and Part 2 about How to spend less than you earn :)

So here is a guide on how to increase your income:

  • Stop wasting your time. Especially at work. The terms “time is money” is true; but you can get more than that. There are many things you can do rather than just wasting your time. Just checkout the list under, and you’ll see why you really shouldn’t waste your time.
  • Improve the transferable skills (skills that can be used in almost any career path). One of the popular transferable skills is public speaking. If there’s any opportunities to do so, then do it and speak your mind in front of public. Another example is the time management; and you can learn to build an effective time management scheme such as organizing and filing your paperwork, Brainstorming ideas, etc. Other examples of transferable skills are setting the standard procedures of your work, take charge of a work project etc. All of these things push you towards developing skills that are genuinely useful no matter where you’re heading in life.
  • build a strong network and relationship with many people as you can, and try to give a bigger portion to the relationships in your field. This can be done by simply sending emails to people you’ve interacted and keep up with what they’re doing. If you have an opportunity to connect people that can help each other, do it immediately, without hesitation. Share what you know and be valuable to others.
  • Start a side business. Turn a passion you have into money. Don’t know what that could possibly be? Think about it carefully and I might post interesting ideas to start a side business for you
  • Finally, stand out at work. Speak up at meetings. Show empathy for the problems that others have. Take on only projects you can handle, but do them well. Get to know the support staff – and treat them well. Don’t burn bridges when you move on – make an extra effort to maintain good relationships when you leave. These little things add up to a huge difference.

Keep that rule in mind: spend less than you earn. Each move you make to maximize the gap between what you earn and what you spend will put you in a better place in your life.

Like this article? State your ideas or questions below. Any ideas much appreciated.

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Posted in Career, Family finance, personal finance, saving | 1 Comment »

Part 2: A Guide of how to actually spend less than you earn

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Before reading this part, please do visit my previous post that talked about the benefits of spending less than you earn :)

So now we are going to talk about how to actually spend less than you earn. And here are some tips/guides on how to do it:

  • Check your monthly required bill. Do you really need this stuff? Can you replace this service by doing something that will bring you more health? Ask yourself these kind of questions for things related to your cell phone, premium cable, or unlimited text message.
  • Diligently, keep tracking your spending. The simple process of writing this down every expense will make you think twice about the unnecessary ones. At the end of the month, take a careful look at them and ask the same question: do I really need these? Do these really contribute to the value of my life?
  • Carefully look at your routines. Are there things in your routines that cost money? Trimming $1 from your daily spending saves you $365 a year.
    Switch to a bank that respects you. No interest at all on their checking accounts. Tons of fees for ATM use. Draconian overdraft policies. A tiny interest rate on savings accounts. Monthly usage fees of all kinds. All of these things are a waste of money.
  • Go green! Going green can be a solution to cut your spending and increase your money!

So now we move on to the next level: how to increase your income :)

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Posted in Family finance, personal finance, saving | 1 Comment »

Part 1: Why Spend Less Than you Earn? [benefits]

Friday, June 26th, 2009

If you’ve read many rules about finance, then you should come to the same basic rule as this one:

Spend less than you earn.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is that simple. But why are there so many people who are buried in debt or simply living from paycheck to paycheck?
There are several benefits you gain by spending less than you earn.

  • You start treading on the path to omitting your debts. By spending less than you earn, you have enough money to pay your debts. The debts decease to exist, cutting down your monthly bills and frees you from worries!
  • You begin to save. Now you have enough money to save. It will save (literally) you in times of emergencies (like job loss), and give you room to enjoy having the control to your future and old age.
  • You are happier. With fewer debts, emergencies covered, retirement planned, there’s much less to worry about. Like old saying: no worries, no disease. Okay I made that up. It’s true though. It will make you happier for sure.
  • Now you have opened wider possibilities that were closed to you. Now you can choose to move on to other things you like to do for living, or maybe chase your dreams! You have more freedom. Doesn’t that sound good?

So our next stop is: How do you actually can spend less than you earned :)

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Posted in Family finance, personal finance, saving | 2 Comments »

Guide and Tips: How not to Excessively Spend Money in Grocery Stores

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

Shopping is our daily activity. We often to go to grocery store more than once a day; to buy this and that stuffs. So here’s what I used to do when I went to a store, whether it’s a grocery store or mall. I went to the store to buy something that I need, but I ended up buying things that I thought I need or things that comes with special offers such as discounts.

So the interesting thing here is that those things aren’t so expensive; if I see them individually. But when I got to the cashier, I’m often surprised by the amount of money that I had to pay.

So I noticed that there is something wrong here. And here’s how to say it: we made many decisions during our time in the grocery store; and it is often about whether we can save 1 dollar or spend 1 more dollar.

Here are the typical situation:

“There is a discount on the meat, should I stock it up?”

“Which one, the big tomatoes can or the smaller one?”

But in the end, I (and maybe some of you) is forced to admit that we are not a smart buyer….

Today I will propose a step-by-step solution to this problem, so that me and you won’t excessively spend money in stores:

  1. Make a shopping list before going to the grocery store. This is important to reduce the number of decisions you have to make.
  2. Make a specific list of things. If you are used to buy juice (such as V8 Fusion); write the size of it on your list, to prevent you from buying the larger one.
  3. Mark items that you’re not simply searching for the cheapest version of. So for other items, find the cheapest. Remember, even a dollar counts.
  4. The most important thing is this part. You have to stick to the plan. Stay firm and hold tight to the shopping list. Do not purchase things outside the list.

So there, Hopefully this post can help you saving some money at the grocery store. Every single penny counts :)

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Don’t Hurt Your Pocket: Save your money, even a penny

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

Whether you consider yourself as a shopaholic or not, shopping is always one nice activity to do for every one especially for woman. Either they are teenager or housewives but shopping is always something heaven for them. They do need the product or not, is not really a matter. They could really afford it or not, that also another problem but one thing they want to know is that how to get that product to be theirs.

Sometimes when we shop we tried to be wise and tried to be as selective as we can. We would think that we are smart enough when we do that until we re-count it again what we have bought and brought to home then we will be forced to admit that we are not really that smart actually. You may be asking yourself should you buy this brand or that brand.

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Does Consumer Spending Contribute to Quality of Life?

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Yes. Maybe that’s the answer from many people. While there are numbers of personal finance articles that recommend us to save some money by skipping our cup of coffee or a simple brown bag lunch or see a movie, some of us might not understand yet why should you bother to skip those things that “contribute” to your quality of life.

Some of us might still think that if we arrange our life so that major expenses are not consuming all of our income and then some, we can actually eat lunch out once awhile, buy that cup of coffee, or see a movie. Quality of life goes up dramatically. At that point, if you want to save on little things also, it becomes a choice, rather than a constant necessity just to survive.

But wait a minute. In my opinion there’s one thing that need to be considered from the story above. Some of us tend to immediately tie events that involve spending excess money (”eat lunch out once awhile, buy that cup of coffee, or see a movie”) to quality of life. In other words, the ability to participate in a consumer economy is directly tied to quality of life in this quote.

I know that, for a very long time, I felt that way, too. I felt like my life was better if I had the freedom to go out to eat whenever I wanted, buy a video game whenever I wanted, or go out to a movie whenever I felt like it.

Today, I feel differently. While I might enjoy the experience, I no longer feel like a meal eaten out raises my quality of life at all. Instead, the things that bring what I would call “quality” into my life are experiences with my family. A quality experience is eating a homemade dinner with my children at the dining room table. A quality experience is a nap on a lazy Sunday afternoon curled up next to my wife. A quality experience is a picnic at the park or watching my son’s soccer practice.

I believe that tying quality of life to consumer purchases is a personal, conscious decision – one that often results in financial trouble. If you judge your quality of life by the things that you purchase, then you feel worse when you spend less and feel better when you spend more. This situation runs entirely contrary to healthy personal finance management.

A financially healthy mindset, in my opinion, derives quality of life from things that can’t be bought. The source of that quality can vary greatly from person to person, of course, but the real key is that your quality moments in life are wholly unconnected to spending money.

Not there yet? Look for the things in your life that fill you with joy that don’t involve spending money, then work on putting those things front and center. Once you find sources of quality that are separate from spending money, it becomes much easier to cut your spending drastically – and doing that can provide the foundation for a great future.

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Net Worth: A True Meaning of Your Net worth [Personal Finance]

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

It is common for us to spend some time reviewing our personal finance situation once a month. We usually get our current balances on all our debts and assets examined and included carefully and then we do other bunch of things to measure and determine our financial standing in this world.
We usually call the difference between my assets and my debts at the end of the month as our net worth, but guess what? That is NOT our net worth really is…

For many people, net worth simple definition is the sum of one’s assets minus one’s debts is a good financial indicator, but it’s far from what I would call “net worth.”

As I take a look down my list of assets, I see things like our home, our savings and checking account balances, our retirement accounts, and so on.
But are those really all of our assets?

I view our close family and friends as major assets. These people help lift us up through thick and thin. They provide great friendship and social situations when times are good, and are there for encouragement (and more tangible help) when times are bad. Certainly, they’re an asset in our lives.
I look at our health as an asset. We’re all in good health. My wife and I are able to earn money because of our good health.

There are many other things in my life that are assets, too, that don’t show up on a balance sheet: our extended social network, the body of knowledge and education that my wife and I can draw on, our talents – these are all assets that can’t be truly quantified, but they all contribute significant value to our lives.

The same type of thinking continues as I move down to the debt part of the balance sheet.

I’m indebted to a lot of people for things they’ve helped me with in life. If called, I would gladly help any of those people with virtually anything they asked for.

I feel a great deal of spiritual indebtedness to the people and things in the world around me. I feel as though it is my responsibility to do what I can to make the world a better place.

I owe quite a bit of time to various groups and responsibilities – and, as you know, time is money.

To put it simply, my real net worth is more than just a sum of financial assets and debts. Compared to the wholeness and beauty of life, one’s financial net worth is just the beginning.

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[Saving Guide] Saving for Children College Education or Our Retirement?

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

Lately I have seen many personal finance advisors are saying that it is better to get our retirement saving rather than children college education saving. And here’s why:

There are no scholarships or student loans for retirement. Moreover, if our child does have to get debts for college, they’ll have many, many years to earn their way out of it, whereas when the children go off to college, you won’t have too many years to keep saving for retirement.
On paper, the argument does make a lot of sense. On paper.

This equation leaves out an enormous human element. For many people – myself included – retirement isn’t the big ultimate goal. I might like to think about retiring a bit early, but my big motivation in life isn’t related to retirement at all.

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Posted in Family finance, Retirements Fund, personal finance, students loan | No Comments »

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