Pennysaverblog – Page 157 – Smart Finance and Money Saving Tips

General

Helpful Advice For Making Wise Financial Decisions

Despite the fact that capitalism is a major part of our daily lives, few of us reach adulthood with the knowledge necessary to make wise financial decisions. If we’re lucky, someone has taught us how to balance a checkbook somewhere along the way. But most people don’t even know how to create and adhere to a basic budget, much less use credit cards appropriately or set up an investment portfolio. In short, it’s no surprise that so many adults find themselves facing a mountain of debt with no real hope of digging themselves out. But you have the capacity to learn the ins and outs of basic personal finance, and you don’t have to wait for the consequences of bad decisions in order to learn your lesson. Here are just a few helpful guidelines that can get you started down the path to making wise financial decisions.

You might want to start by taking a personal finance class. You can often find such offerings at your local community college, adult continuing education center, or even through your community center. In some cases these courses are available online. And the benefit of taking such a course is that you’ll get a broad overview of personal finance, including household expenses, retirement accounts, investments, and more. But you may also have access to specific and practical lessons like how to create your own budget or pay down credit card debt.

September 6, 2014

Credit Cards

Credit Card Balance Transfer Basics

There’s a lot to be gained from transferring the balance of one credit card to another. For one thing, you could end up saving a significant amount of money if the interest rate of the card your transferring debt to is much lower than the one you’re transferring from. And you’ll probably be glad to have just one payment instead of two. Plus, if you have a little problem with spending on credit, transferring a balance will allow you to close at least one account, alleviating the temptation to spend more than you can reasonably afford to pay. But if you want to gain the greatest possible benefits from credit card balance transfers, there are a few things you need to know going into the process. Here are some basics to ensure that your credit card balance transfers have a positive financial impact.

The place to start is by crunching numbers, and if you’re having some trouble doing this on your own, you might want to talk to an accountant or a financial advisor to make sure that transferring your credit card balances is actually in your best interest. The reason is that you’re probably going to have to pay fees in order to transfer your balances, and these fees will likely vary by creditor. Some could be quite high, say several percent of the transfer amount. And if you’re doing multiple balance transfers, this could quickly add up to a significant cost.

September 5, 2014

Business

The Importance Of Building And Maintaining Good Credit For Your Business

Even if your business is virtually a one-man band (which is to say, you are self-employed), it’s not a bad idea to establish a separate business entity, such as an LLC, an S-corporation, a C-corporation, or some other type of company as a way to avoid added taxation, limit liability, and protect your personal assets. And one of the greatest benefits you’ll gain along the way is the option to start building credit under your legal company name. You might not think it is terribly important to separate your personal credit score from your business credit rating. But what if you have to file bankruptcy personally, just for example? What if your business faces a liability lawsuit? You don’t want your business to get dragged down with you, or vice versa. The point is that building and maintaining business credit is important. Here are a few reasons why you need to establish good credit for your company.

For one thing, a separate credit identity can help to lend credibility to your business. If, at some point, you’re seeking lenders, investors, or partners, having a solid credit history established on behalf of your business can legitimize it to other business interests, improving your prospects. Even vendors along your supply chain may be more likely to do business with you when your credit is in good standing. And creditors will certainly look more favorably on the prospect of offering your business lines of credit when you’ve shown a proven ability to pay in a timely manner, building and maintaining your professional credit score along the way.

September 4, 2014

Budgeting

Effectively Handling Your Personal Finance

For many people the mention of personal finance is akin to some unsolvable puzzle that bothers them at odd times. The thought of sitting down and planning expenditure is scary, and the idea of pre-paying the credit card bill, an alien concept. Such people are sitting ducks for target practice when finances go awry. It is in your own best interest to learn how to handle your personal finance matters effectively. Here are some tips that you can use.

Be Aware of Income and Expenditures

In order to understand your finances you need to know what money is coming in and on what it is being spent. It is a good idea to sit down with a pen and paper and list just how much money you have access to each month. Include the money that comes from your salary, any interest you get on savings, and any other sources of income you may have. Even if it is an irregular source of income, make sure you record how much you earn from it. Similarly make a list of all the main expenditures you undertake monthly. The rent, utilities bills, school fees, groceries, and medical expenses; make sure you list everything. Specific annual payments such as insurance and taxes should also be included on the list. You can revisit the list at a later date when you remember some that you originally missed.

August 26, 2014

Household

Flooring – Reduce Labor Costs & Do The Prep Work Yourself

My husband and I are currently in the midst of getting new flooring installed in our home. We bought a home which is around 30 years old and some of the carpets were still the original ones from when the home was first built. Needless to say it was time for a change.

We decided to install vinyl flooring in our kitchen, laundry room and dining room. We saved quite a bit of money by doing the majority of the prep work ourselves. This involved pulling the two old layers of linoleum off of the subfloor and then scraping the remnants along with the adhesive off of the plywood subfloor. This was not a pleasant experience, but we saved ourselves about $50 per hour by not paying someone else to do it.

When it came time to install the vinyl, we hired a local professional to take care of it. We were very happy with the results and we are planning on hiring him again to do the rest of the upstairs.

August 21, 2014

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