My Personal Finance Blog

With Christmas behind us, 2011 looks as though it could be a tough year money wise. January is therefore the perfect time to review your finances and start a plan to keep out of debt.

Christmas is traditionally the time for overspending and indulgence, but with January already upon us, credit card bills will soon start appearing on the doormat.

And with 2011 predicted to be a difficult year for family finances with increasing costs of living and many incomes reducing in the wake of the government cuts, now is the ideal time to review your finances and make sure that you avoid debt problems.

Understand your current financial position

For many people, reviewing their finances can be a daunting task. But giving yourself a financial makeover does not have to be difficult. There are some easy steps to follow:

The first thing to do is understand exactly what your financial situation is.

This sounds like common sense, however, I am constantly amazed at how many people go from month to month with very little idea of how much money they have coming in and the living costs they have to pay for.

If you do not do this already, you should identify your monthly income and essential expenditure budgets by listing all of your monthly income and living expenses. The Beat My Debt expenditure guide will be a great help with this.

By deducting your essential expenditure from your income, you will be able to see how much you have left over – your disposable income – either to save or pay any unsecured debts.

No outstanding debt – plan to save

List separately any unsecured debts that you have outstanding and which need to be paid.

If you have no outstanding unsecured debts you are in an enviable position. If you are not already, you should then take the opportunity to start saving so that you have money available if and when you face financial challenges down the line.

If you do not find saving easy, then the best way to achieve it is to plan to save.

By this I mean you should first decide how much of your disposable income you want to save each month. Then arrange to save this amount at the beginning of the month.

I recommend saving your budgeted amount as soon as your money comes in as if you wait until the end of the month, all too often the money you had planned to save will already be spent.

Affordable outstanding debt – get a savings safety net

If you have sufficient disposable income every month to maintain any monthly debt repayments, the standard advice is then to try to pay off more to reduce your debts as fast as possible.

However, if you have any spare cash, unlike many other financial advisors my advice is to first save this money to build up a savings safety net.

Set a target safety net amount. This could be £500 or even £1000.

This safety net can then be used if you face any financial difficulties such as an unexpected car repaid bill or your washing machine or fridge freezer breaks down without having to increase the balance on a credit card.

Once you reach your savings safety net target amount, then is the time to direct your spare cash to paying off additional amounts of your debt so that the debts are paid off more quickly.

Outstanding debt which you cannot afford to pay

If having reviewed your income and expenditure, you find that you do not have enough money each month to maintain your required debt payments, you need to take action or risk getting into a significant debt problem.

Not having enough money to pay everything each month means that you must be maintaining your expenditures by increasing your borrowing. Perhaps your overdraft or a credit card balance is slowly increasing.

If you allow this situation to continue for too long, eventually you will get to a point where you are at the limit of your credit facilities and face not being able to make your payments.

It is best to take action before getting to this point by using a debt management solution such as a debt management plan (DMP) or individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) which will help reduce your debt payments to an affordable amount.

Take action

Whatever your financial situation, January is the ideal month to review your financial circumstances.

If you feel you are struggling financially, taking the opportunity to carry out a financial makeover is now more important than ever with the financial difficulties set to face everyone in 2011.

If you follow the simple steps outlined above, you will be far better equipped to deal with the New Year.

You will ensure that you either keep out of debt or start a plan to get back in control of debts which you already have.

So many people want to predict where the mortgage rates are going. After all, even a single percentage point of movement in mortgage rates can and will affect other rates in the market, not to mention possibly lead another family on the brink of becoming homeless.

Unfortunately, predicting mortgage requires a crystal ball, a third eye and a magic wand, all of which no human being has yet to possess. Still, you can predict with a certain degree of accuracy where mortgage rates are headed. You just need to learn how to study trends, correlate two things and be observant of the economy.

Factors to Consider

It must be emphasized that mortgage companies have their own ways with which to set individual rates. However, they tend to stick to similar sets of factors when considering their rates, which you can also use to predict where said rates are headed.

First, you have to look at the rates on the Treasury notes good for 10 years. More often than not, mortgage rates follow the US Treasury rates precisely because any lower than the government’s rates and the lenders will operate at a loss. This is common sense, too, considering that the government is often well-versed in economics than the guy with an unpaid mortgage in his hands.

Second, you need to observe where the inflation rates are going. Keep in mind that there is a direct and almost proportional relationship between mortgage and interest rates. Again, it will all boil down to business since investors want a better rate of return no matter the state of the economy. Thus, when the inflation rate goes up, expect the mortgage rates to go in the same direction.

Third, you should also look at the trends. History does repeat itself in many instances but you must beware when drawing conclusions as many of today’s dynamics may have not been present in the past.

Keep in mind that mortgage predictions are just that – guesses. Thus, you should not be overly concerned if and when your guess falls off by a few percentage points since you neither have the crystal ball nor the third eye to accurately predict such things.

Tips to Know

You also need to observe what the other big name lenders are heading off into where their rates are concerned. Usually, the players in the industry will be heading in similar directions although their rates will differ by a few points. Thus, if a mortgage company announces that it will be cutting down rates, you can be sure that the rest of the pack will be following suit sooner than later.

And of course, look at history. Many of the factors that have influenced the movement of the mortgage rates are coming back in the new economy to influence said rates again. You may say that it is a cycle but that will not be accurate in all instances either. Just learn from the past and it can show you where the future could be.

In conclusion, you should not have a big problem predicting mortgage rates because these do not experience significant changes for any given period of time.

You have just entered your serious shopping mode. No high prices, fake sales, or polite store personnel will stand in your way now! This is more than likely how you envision yourself as you hit the aisles of your local stores. Or perhaps your the more conservative saver. Either way you may be missing some of the tell tale industry signs of a bad deal. They come in all shapes and sizes! Here we will break a few down for you.

When we refer to generic brand we are referring to the stores respective brand. When we refer to organic brand we are making reference to which ever brand is selling in your area as certified organic. Name brand is meant for any brand that uses mass advertising to be familiar with the consumer.

Watch out for:

Ounces – Some companies now cleverly disguise their healthier or more expensive products in lower ounce packages. This means that when your looking at the generic 14oz. cereal and the Organic brand is the same price, that is because the Organic box weighs in at less around probably 8oz. Sometimes the difference can be found with-in the brand as well.

Family Size – Some products market an appealing family size value. Stop and consider first whether or not this product will get used by your family soon enough to not expire and end up in the trash. If it will, consider if the product is healthy enough to be consumed in large amounts. After all if you end up unhealthy that will cost you more in the long run.

Compare Ingredients – We may sometimes think that buying name brand ensures a level of quality that you can not get with generic. This though is hardly the case, often if you compare ingredients you will notice little or no difference between the two. Using common sense you can easily determine when you should just go with generic.

Buy One Get One – Some stores offer a buy one get one on a product. There are two important things to consider. First, was the price on one raised to help offset the price of the other, if so you may actually be getting buy one get one half off. Second, if you split the price in half does one still cost more than the generic brand of the same product? If it does you may want to go with the generic brand.

Crafty Coupons – You may feel like you scored an awesome coupon getting $1.00 OFF a product. But do not forget to check that if even after you get that buck off you are still saving buy not getting generic. Also stay sharp about these Buy Two get $whatever OFF coupons. Often they are making you get more than you need and not saving you the money it takes to get generic instead.

Reward Programs – Some stores offer a point per dollar spent awards program. However if that store is not the best deal around (which they are often not that is why they have the program), then you will spend more then you will ever get in savings.

These are just a few of the many things that we have a tendency to over spend on. But now that your the wiser for it you can avoid the scam. Shop smart, Shop successfully!

Look for more of these articles in this series to come soon!

Although it can be extremely beneficial and rewarding for anyone to be able to work from home, it is also a very plausible fact that there are many scams out there that can put you in a terrible situation.  You always need to be very careful of avoiding scams when you are trying to work at home so that you do not end up losing money, time, effort, or even your identity.

Some common sense tips that many people always forget to follow are:

* Don’t jump to conclusions

* Don’t make assumptions

* Do your own research

* Don’t just listen to others

* Find information about the company

* Don’t give out your information unless you feel comfortable

* If you can’t find information or comments about the company, make sure you wait and really consider your options with the company

A simple method of researching a company and trying to figure out if it is a scam is to just start by typing the name of the company, the job title, or the person you have been in contact with into a Google search.  You can even try typing in “scam”, “testimonials”, or “comments” after the name you are searching for in order to find the exact type of information you need to fuel your decision and to help you succeed in your hunt for a job that you can complete from your own home.

As has been clearly demonstrated in the past by many workers, having a work at home job is work the competitive struggle of finding that job and doing all of the research to make it worth your while and to make sure that it is safe.  However, if you do not follow the proper steps or advice, you may end up in a situation that most people do not ever dream of happening to them.  You must remember at all times that you are just as susceptible to a scam as is any other person that is trying to find work at home jobs.

Because of the growing amount of scams facing us today over the internet (where most of these work from home ideas are coming from) it is easy to fall into a trap.  So, if we want to keep ourselves safe from these scams it is important that we familiarize ourselves with other people that are in the same field as us or looking for a job away from the office just as we are.  We can easily learn from the mistakes of others and the examples that they can set for us.  

That is why it is important to look for websites that form communities of people that work from home or that report to each other about current scams that are lurking around the internet.  The only way to be successful while working at home is to really get searching for the right jobs and contacts for you to make yourself feel safe and secure with what you are getting into.

The world of politics is never supposed to make any real sense. After all, once you pit people’s cherished beliefs against each other, passions are roused and the arguments soon become bitter. It would be better if everyone was just allowed to do what they wanted. But, when it comes to organising medical care for the population, it takes a government to put the right kind of infrastructure in place. People have to be trained as care givers. This takes years and costs a small fortune. Hospitals and clinics have to be built. And then we come to all the support staff who drive the ambulances, keep the places clean and keep the accounts. Ah, yes, the money. All of this work over years has to be paid for. So the $64,000 question is who should foot the bill? It’s at this point that emotions get in the way of common sense.

Talk to one side of the argument and they will tell you people who want access to medical care should carry private insurance. Talk to the other side and they will tell you the state should pay for the service out of the tax revenue. It’s never really clear why people disagree. Only people who are in work pay tax. Only people who earn can afford to pay the premiums on insurance. It’s the same money. The only difference is the way it’s collected – one as tax and the other as premiums paid to an insurance company. But wait! There is a difference! If the state collects in the money, it can use it more efficiently because, unlike the insurance industry, it does not intend to make a profit. So the only reason to support the current system is to allow the insurance industry to continue making an ever larger profit.

As the Senate is currently set up, forty-one senators can stop any reform. That’s forty Republicans plus one other. Yet when you look at the number of people these Republican senators represent, it’s only 36% of the US population. This is somewhat unfair. The party with the majority of representatives was voted in by 64% of the population. The Democratic platform could not have been more clear. It was to be reform of healthcare provision. Yet when you look at the media (which is controlled by big business), all you see reported is the opposition to reform. The “tea party” movement captures all the headlines. But in all this, there is one really big irony that gets very little coverage.

The Republican senators may only represent 36% of the population, but they represent nearly 50% of the children without any health insurance and 42% of the adult population with no insurance. Despite the fact that half the uninsured children in the US are represented by the Republicans, their opposition to any reform that would give the children coverage could not be more aggressive. If we assume the outcome of the reform would be cheap health insurance for almost all US citizens, the Republicans are against it. Their policy is to keep the profits rolling in for the health insurance industry and, if the majority of the people who live in their states have no insurance, that’s just their bad luck. The US is genuinely a strange place. Despite the recession, it’s one of the richest countries in the world yet it has a political party determined to prevent its citizens from enjoying cheap health insurance. Sadly this party with the minority of votes in the Senate could get their way.