My Personal Finance Blog

The best investment for your neighbor might not be your best investment. Take any investment advice he may have with a grain of salt, because personal finance and money management issues are personal in nature. In other word, your neighbor is likely not in the same financial position you are. He might have a bundle of cash in search of investment opportunities. You might not be in that position.

For example, if you are younger and carry heavy credit card debt plus a mortgage, you’re probably not looking for investment opportunities. You’re trying to keep your head above water. Your best investment is to pay down your credit card debt whenever possible. Where else can you make/save 15% or 18% interest without risk?

If credit cards are not a money management problem for you, you might consider paying off your mortgage early or making larger payments on it. But this could be a major personal finance mistake … if you leave yourself without an adequate cash reserve to cover emergencies, like losing your job. No cash reserves means you can’t pay the bills; and you can’t borrow money if you don’t have a job.

If you anticipate or fear money management and cash flow problems in the future, consider refinancing your mortgage at lower interest rates if you have equity built up. Pull out enough money to earmark as a cash reserve in case the worst happens … like job loss, medical emergency.

Once your personal finance house is in order and you no longer sweat paying the bills, you’re ready to look for some positive investment opportunities to build wealth. I have some investment advice for you in this department. Don’t rely on friends and neighbors for advice. And don’t search for that perfect investment that promises high profits with little risk.

Start investing in mutual funds. Put together a portfolio of money market funds, bond funds and stock funds. Start slow and easy and keep your cost of investing low with no-load funds. Your best investment from here on out is to invest time and effort to learn investing basics.

Mutual funds do the money management for you. But you need enough financial knowledge to be able to pick the funds that are appropriate for you. Let your neighbor share his investment advice, but make your own investment decisions based on your personal financial needs.

When you look around your neighborhoods, it’s hard to find any good news. Friends and neighbors may have lost their jobs or be on short-time. There are foreclosed properties on every street. Shops and businesses have been closing down with increasing frequency. These are the signs of a real recession where unemployment and poverty stalk the land. The cause of all this pain is not hard to find. We have all been living beyond our means. When the banks and credit card companies offered us more money to borrow, we just took it. Why bother to save when the value of our homes only goes up? Let’s plan for our retirement by borrowing cheap money and buying stocks and other more risky investments. No-one ever loses if they follow the advice of the credit rating agencies. Well, we know better now. What goes up can also come down. What is given a triple A rating can be junk tomorrow.

In the midst of all this chaos, the credit card operators have been cutting back on the borrowing limits. This has forced pain on us for two reasons. Firstly, finding the money to pay down our debts more quickly means redesigning the family budget. Sacrifices have to be made. Secondly, the way the credit score is calculated depends in part on the extent to which we use the credit cards we have. If the limits are reduced, we look like bad risks because the amount borrowed is closer to the limit. We have less money available to borrow and cut down on card usage so we can repay faster. Put the two together and the score falls. This is a direct criticism of the methods used to calculate the scores. It produces a fundamentally unfair result during a recession.

This would not be a problem if the credit score was only used by banks and credit card operators. But it’s also used by companies to help decide whether to employ you, by landlords deciding whether to rent to you and by insurance companies deciding whether you are a responsible person. National figures show more than half all insurance companies use credit scores as a key factor in deciding your premium rate. This is extraordinary. There is only one possible effect of being in debt when it comes to the way in which you drive. If you cannot afford to repair your vehicle, you drive defensively to reduce the risk of an accident.

Some states like California and Massachusetts have banned the use of credit score for this purpose, but they are a minority. They cite discrimination as a reason for the ban. The majority of the population without access to banking services and credit cards fall into minority racial groups. When they do not have a credit score, they are forced to pay a higher premium simply because of who they are, not how they drive. So, when you are looking for affordable cover, get the maximum possible number of car insurance quotes to find the best policies. If you live in a state which refuses the regulation of the car insurance market, contact your local government representatives and tell them how much pain you are suffering because of this unfair use of credit scores.

Natural Stone Flooring – Add Durability and Lasting Beauty to Your Space

If you’re considering a remodel, whether large or small, you may want to take a close look at natural stone flooring.

Natural stone flooring can add lasting beauty to your space, be it bath, kitchen or living areas. Stone flooring is strong and durable. After all, some of the oldest buildings still in existence were made of stone – can you see how well it lasts?

Natural Stone Flooring Is Available in Many Styles and Textures

It used to be that only the wealthy could afford to have stone in their homes. Stone was difficult to mine, and so required many man hours to pull the stone pieces from the earth.

After it was mined, there was the extensive and labor-intensive shaping process where the stone was cut into tiles or tumbled to smooth rough edges.

Today mining practices for stone are much more efficient, allowing production costs to be reduced and placing natural stone flooring within the grasp of almost anyone.

What Sizes Are Available in Natural Stone Flooring?

Natural stone flooring is available today in many styles and textures. You can find flat tiles in sizes like 12 x 12 inches, 13 x 13, 16 x 16 and as large as 18 x 18 inches.

If you’re looking for something more varied and unique, you might consider pebble tiles. This is a new product made recently available.

The pebbles are small, hand-selected stones that are glued to a wire mesh. The wire mesh makes it very simple to place the piece on the floor or wall with thinset, so even the do-it-yourselfer will find this attractive. Once the thinset cures, about 24 hours, then you simply grout the little pebbles like traditional square tiles.

The result is a modern, crisp feel that will be sure to wow your friends and neighbors!

What Types of Stones Are There?

Natural stone flooring tile is available in granite, limestone, travertine, slate and marble.

The more commonly known large square tiles are always popular.

In addition, you can choose natural mosaic or glazed mosaic tiles which are small flat stones with crisp edges, moon mosaic tiles which are small, completely round stones, “sliced” pebbles which are small oblong stones, or natural, glazed or polished pebble tiles which are simply little stones in various colors.

Natural pebble stones look just like the stones you might see at the bottom of a running stream.

If you opt for these type of tiles, the pebbles are hand-selected and applied to mesh backing so that the stones “fit” like puzzle pieces. This makes installation a breeze!

Whether you like a small or large tile look, you’ll be sure to find what you’re looking for.

What Are the Advantages to Natural Stone Flooring?

Actually, there are several advantages.

The first is quite simply that your home will look elegant and up-to-date with natural stone flooring.

Another advantage is that stone is highly durable. Stone does not absorb spills, and clean up and maintenance are easy.

Natural stone flooring can increase the resale value of your home. After all, stone flooring has been the epitome of “opulence” for centuries!

Stone tile is also slip-resistant, naturally, so safety is improved in your home. There is no sealant or conditioner required to maintain your natural stone flooring, and stone is naturally resistant to stains.

Stone is versatile, and flooring is just one application. If you’d like to modernize a room, simply tile one (or more) walls. Try a stone tile wainscot. Add a stone tile border. Accent a specific area, like perhaps a counter top or backsplash with tile.

Let your imagination run wild, because stone tile can make your ideas shine.

Where Can You Find Natural Stone Tile?

Actually, many retailers offer stone tile. Your local home improvement stores will carry a few lines of stone tile, but to find the greatest variety you’ll want to look online.

Many stone masons and stone specialty retailers will provide a large selection of their products online so you can decide which look and color you prefer as well as get a good idea as to what it will cost.

Bear in mind that if you do buy from an online retailer, shipping costs can be a major factor in determining your budget. For example, one sheet of the wire mesh natural stone pebbles can weigh as much as 5 pounds.

Ask the retailer if they offer shipping discounts. Some retailers will ship free if you place an order of a certain size.

Whatever your choice, you’ll find that natural stone flooring is a great way to improve your home’s look!

During the boom years, all you had to worry about was the color to paint your home. Everything else was just great as house values kept on going up, releasing ever more housing equity as collateral for your loans. Now we have a recession and a wave of foreclosures has been sweeping across the land. Friends and neighbors have suddenly disappeared and their empty homes now stand out like bad teeth along streets that have forgotten how to smile. Needless to say, all these empty homes have no buyers and the resale value of all property has been falling over the last eighteen months. To complete the picture of the perfect economic storm, unemployment has pushed up above 10% in some areas. With this number of people out of work, there’s little chance of any significant pick up in the housing market over the next months. Indeed, you may be feeling the pressure of keeping your own head above the water. Too often people are discovering that the loans they acquired in the good years have terms raising the interest rates now. At a time when money is tight, this is unwelcome news.

The answer is negotiating a loan modification. This should be easy. You call up the loan company, explain your problems, show how much you can afford, agree to extend the term of the loan, and reduce the monthly instalments. Except you suddenly discover you no longer know who owns the mortgage. All these clever banks and finance companies sliced and diced all the loans into securitized bonds. The debts were all sold on and funding out who the owners are now can a real problem. But let’s assume you are lucky. That the original lender still owns the debt or you can find someone to talk to who works for the new owner. What exactly do you want? There are two options. The first changes the interest rates applied. Many people have been caught out by variable rates that have increased. To survive, you need to replace this balloon rate with a low fixed rate. The second option is hopefully added on to the first. You need to add years to the term of the mortgage. If you repay the same amount over twenty years instead of ten, your instalments are suddenly affordable again. Yes, you will pay slightly more interest over the additional ten years. But this will be a small price to pay to save your home.

At this point you discover that the person listening is not that sympathetic and sees no reason why the owner of the mortgage should now make less profit. Telling this person about family emergencies and health issues cuts no ice. You also discover the much-publicized Home Affordable Modification Program introduced by the Obama Administration is actually not that helpful. So what does work? The answer is either you are persistent or you get a specialist to help you. But be warned. There are a small army of crooks and con artists out there pretending to be home loan modification specialists. Never employ someone to help unless you have proof they offer real services. Always remember one truth. In the end, the lender makes more money if you stay in your home and pay something. If there is a foreclosure, everyone loses.