Posts on money

Credit is a way of buying now and paying for the purchase at a later date. Think of credit as debt, money owed to someone else. The use of credit involves the consumer paying fees to use someone else's money. The common type of fee is called interest. The interest is due periodically along with a minimum principal payment amount. This is how the company or person making the credit available to the consumer makes money.

When we spend money, we expect something in return of value. This is not difficult to conceive because we exchange money for a product or service everyday. But does spending money always give the consumer something in return of value? The answer is no. How? When the purchase decision is based on a promise instead of certainty of getting something in return, the purchaser may not get anything.

For many calling cards is the answer to talk globally (and cheaply). Basically, you use the calling card and a local access number to dial the international number. Instead of getting a bill for your international call from your phone company, your cost of call is deducted from your calling card.

Savings is a way of growing money. Savings should be considered not only for short-term financial objectives but also for long-term objectives. As such, savings should be made a habit so that even smaller savings amounts are not missed. It is not just any habit that helps a person to save. There are number of habits a successful saver is aware of and put into practice to achieve financial success.

If you like to be your own boss and can stand summer heat, mowing lawns is a great way to earn a living. Home and business owners need to maintain their lawn but many people don't have time to do this on their own. So they hire a lawn care professional or service. This is where you come in. If you are starting or thinking about running a lawn care service business, I will give you here some essential advice. No, this post is not meant to tell you how to use a lawn mower or how to fertilize the ground or do any other kind of gardening work.

Whether you like it or not, if you make earn money, it is likely to be taxable income. Income from part-time, full-time, or self-employment work is subject to federal, state and possibly local taxes. The deadline for filing income taxes is April 15, in the US. Also, income on interest on bank accounts or investments is taxable.

It is not uncommon to receive credit card offers in the postal mail. Such offers can be attractive because of the new features or benefits the credit card offers. Credit card companies always want new and more business so there is not shortage of offers designed to acquire new customers.

As a credit card user, it is worth looking into the hefty fees charged by the credit card companies. Credit card issuers charge all kinds of fees. If as a credit card user you don't know what those fees are, it will be difficult for you to avoid them. So watch out!

Where does the safety of a bank account begins? Is the customer or the bank responsible for this? I think both the customer and the bank are responsible for protecting the customer data. If the customer fails to take active steps to protect his bank account, the chances of fraud against the account are high. This post focuses on how a bank customer with simple steps can reduce his chances of being a victim of banking fraud.

It is a no secret savings boost one's net worth. Lack of savings can result in unstable financial future even for the riches. Who does not have any expenses? Because everyone has expenses, money has to come from somewhere. If we are not careful with our money, we will sooner or later find ourselves using money that was set aside for savings.

A Certificates of Deposit account is kind of savings account. With a savings account, you can withdraw money at your will. However, with a CD account you agree with the bank to keep your money in the bank for a pre-determined term, short as a few months or long as one year or longer. For your promise to keep your money with the bank, your account earns a higher interest than a savings account. In general, the longer you promise to keep money in your account, the higher the interest rate your money will earn.

A credit card offers an alternative to paying cash for buying an item or receiving a service. At the time of the sale, the card-holder has number of options to make the purchase. He can present his card to the seller, or swipes the card himself on a card reading machine, or enter the credit card information to a form in the case of online shopping. Once the credit card information is collected by the seller, it along with the total transaction price is sent to the credit card company for approval of the transaction.

Do we know when we will face a financial emergency? The answer is probably no. If we were good with our predictions, we would be predicting how to make more money rather than thinking about how to plan for unexpected financial crisis. The fact is a financial crisis does not have to warn anyone that it's coming; it comes by a surprise and perhaps also is unavoidable. Loss of a job can mean no more income (and less money in your wallet or bank account) to pay your bills. A serious illness or an accident can leave one with huge medical bills.

I hope you don't keep large amounts of money in your pockets or house. Keeping money for long in your pockets or under you matters has the risk of being stolen or lost. What can you do to protect your money? Use a bank account. Your money is protected there and insured by Deposit Insurance Corporation (or FDIC). The FDIC provides banks with insurance to protect their customers' money.

If you have money to invest in stocks but are not sure if you need outside help or not, this post can help you understand what outside help is available to you. You have basically three choices when you need help with stocks, you can choose: online brokers, discount brokers, or full-service brokers.

How do the federal, state, and local governments pay for the services? The answer is not that the government prints money as much needed. If this was the case, I ask myself who will print the money? The answer is that no one would want to print money as there will be no monetary incentive to work. Basically, everyone in the society will not trade their skills and time for money as it can be printed freely without any limitations. So in essence the money will become useless.

If the financial emergency is on your doorstep, you are too late to start a savings account for this situation. If you have a savings account already for this purpose, you are likely to expect a quick recovery. If you don't have a emergency savings account, you may still be in luck if you have these options to exercise: selling off your assets, use credit, seek help from relatives or friends, and so on.

Do you need to tell your side to the creditor? Don't put it off after you have seen these samples. Hopefully, this will make your life more easier since you will some idea of what and how to say regarding your situation. I discuss writing letters in when you need to dispute a billing error on your account, change due date on your bill, and so on.

Variables expenses, as the name implies, vary over time. Examples of variable expenses include water/electricity/gas bill, telephone bill, food bill, medicine purchases, etc. Because variable expenses change over time, it is difficult to accurately track what you spent if you don't record such expenses. I will show below you a list of common variable expenses but please be sure to document (for at least a month) your own variable expenses to accurately know your variable expenditures.

There are number of ways you can use money from your checking account. Be sure that only you and, if you have one, your joint account holder have access to your account. Otherwise, your money can be taken from your account without your knowledge or agreement. Also, keep your banking statements, debts card (or ATM card), checks, and deposit slips in safe place.

Clearly, cutting expenses is not easy and fun for anyone. Everyone would try to avoid it if we all had unlimited money to spend. Because we are daily faced with limited cash in our pockets or bank accounts, we need to think about how to spend money wisely and avoid spending more if we can do with less spending. So we need to consider cutting on expenses, if we can. If we are successful in cutting our expenses, we will feel better about our savings.

If you do not have other means of accessing money, you will need to work. We study in school and acquire skills through out our lives. But for what? One day we want to make more money than we do presently. If you are already working, you probably will be familiar with most of the information presented in this page. If you are a new worker or need a second job, you may find this post helpful in understanding the whole process of working in the states.

At times, we may ask ourselves "where did my cash go?" Even if you have a spending plan, you may not help avoid asking this question. If you don't have a spending plan, you will have less idea of where your cash is going. If you use a credit card or checking account for your purchases, you can figure out from your statements where your money went. On other hand, untracked cash purchases will lead one to believe that his or her money just has disappeared. Take a look at some of the common items that we spend cash on:

Are you in control of your finances? If you are not, you probably have less idea of how fast your money is leaving your wallet or bank accounts. To live a successful financial life, we need guidance that directs us what financial moves we need to make and what moves to avoid. This post will you some tips on just how to do that.

Banking online is an easy way to manage your bank account over the internet. This means you don't have to physically go to the bank to your normal banking business, you do that in the comfort of your home or office, or even while on the go! Here are some questions and answers to provide you an overview of online banking possibilities.

In this post, I will share with you how to balance a checkbook. Chances are now with the popularity of the online banking one rarely needs to balance their checkbook. You can get real-time information on your accounts from your bank, without needing to have yourself play with financial numbers. If you are curious (or don't have access to online-banking) how the banks determine your account balance at a specific period in time, see the post below. Whether you need balancing of your checkbook a school assignment or you really need your checkbook balanced, I hope you will find this post interesting and straightforward as are others here.

Saving and use of money wisely requires one to be financial disciplined. It does not mean you need a degree in financial studies but rather understanding of how to power yourself to control the flow of your money. In this posts, I will give you number of tips that can help anyone gain the financial freedom he/she deserves.

The order of the tips below is not particular to anyone's financial situation. Some tips may be too obvious to some but not to all the readers.