The Finance Blogger

There are many credit card products available on the market and not only are the banks offering these low interest rate credit cards, but also many other lesser known financial institutions. They offer everything from free debt transfer from other credit cards with no interest on this debt for the first 6 months to 1% interest on debt transfers. Once the initial period is up they all tend to raise their rates to their standard level which can be anywhere from 11.99% to 18 or 19% depending on the card. Some cards will have an annual fee while others will offer their products without an annual fee. They recover their costs in other ways by relaxing their offerings in other areas. There are so many credit cards on the market and it can be difficult to know which one to choose.

How To Decide what Credit Card to Select

There are both short term advantages and long term advantages to all of these cards. Some are better than others and the consumer is faced with choosing a product that appears to be complex and has a variety of attractive options. We decided on a credit card which we will not mention in this post since we are not promoting any products. We looked at the all of these credit cards based on our life style, our spending habits, our short term needs and our long term needs. These were the four basic criteria that we used to make our decision. Readers may have other criteria that are more important for them. We will explain our rationale in more detail. We hope this helps readers with their own decisions regarding which card they use.

Life Style – our current life style is one in which we travel a lot. As a result a large credit limit is important as are the opportunity to collect points that can be used for travel. We also like the advantages of travel insurance, health insurance while we travel and travel cancellation insurance. Car rental insurance is another advantage for us as well. If you do not travel much or never, then you may not need a card with these advantages. You may want to evaluate your life style needs in the short term as well as the long term to help you select the correct card.

What are you Spending your Money On

Spending habits – we charge everything to our credit card in an effort to maximize our points. We also like the idea of insurance on the things we buy, both in terms of replacement as well as extending the warranty of the item we purchase. We pay our credit card balance in full each month and do not carry a balance so we are not as concerned about interest rates, although having a low interest rate credit card would be an advantage for the few times we allow the balance to run over for the month.

Short Term Needs – our short term needs do not seem to vary much from our long term needs. However if we carried a balance on our credit card, the lowest interest rate card would be the best for us since it would minimize our interest payable. In a situation like this we would welcome the ability to transfer unpaid balances from other credit cards and pay no interest or a low interest rate on any of these transfers. Most of these credit cards only offer zero or low interest rate for a limited amount of time, so this is something to be aware of.

Long Term Needs – Over the long term most credit cards are pretty much the same except for interest rate and other advantages such as travel benefits and points. If the travel benefits are not important then the focus should really be on what interest rate you are going to pay for any unpaid balances. The lowest interest rate credit card over the long term is really the best product for us.

Summary – Lowest Interest Credit Cards

Many credit cards sound great especially when they are selling great offers for you to sign up. These can be significant advantages in the short term. Remember that they can impact your credit rating if you sign up for too many of them and they can be hard to keep track of if you have a lot of them.  We like to stick with two basic credit cards with low rates and lots of travel benefits.

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Most people will just make sure that one of their relatives will take over the care and feeding of a pet. Sure, it might be an inconvenience. But then, most people love pets. If it is a pet that is from a close relative, there is usually no problem. But what do you do when there are no relatives or friends to look after your pet? This is where pet estate planning can become a reality. Many people will make arrangements in advance for their pets. They want to ensure that they are looked after while the owner is sick or can no longer look after them.

Notable Pet Estate Planning Examples

There have been some notable cases where people have left their entire estate in the millions to their pets. They leave explicit instructions on how they will be looked after. Also, where will they live, and how will they be fed? Even going to the extent of dictating where they will be buried. Pet estate planning is a serious business for these people. They want to make sure that their pets will be looked after and then buried properly when the time comes. They will even ensure that their estate is responsible for maintaining the grave site after they are gone.

While it may seem odd, pet estate planning is no different from what it would be for a dependent member of the family. In fact many people consider their pets as members of the family. Some occupy better positions than some of the humans in the family. How does one handle these situations? What do you need to do to make sure that your pet is looked after properly?

Setting up an Estate for Your Pet

The answer for most lawyers is to approach this question in the same manner that you would a dependent child. In other words, you need to make sure that there is a guardian. Someone who will be responsible for the estate to ensure adequate funds are available. Also, someone must look after the care and feeding as well as housing as dictated in the will. Finally, to look after the pet’s remains and have them buried or dealt with in the manner that the estate laid out. It’s pretty simple, really!

The difficult part will be finding someone to be the guardian. Someone that you trust to look after your pet. Also, to be responsible as far as the estate is concerned. Safeguards need to be put in place to make sure that these people meet their obligations as stated in the will. After all, the pet is unable to defend themselves. They must rely on the goodwill, honesty, and integrity of the guardian to fulfill the wishes of the deceased.

Common Sense Approach to Pet Estates

For most people, the common sense approach is to have one of the family members look after your pet and provide a monthly amount of money that would be suitable for the care, feeding, and housing of your pet. This also should be someone you trust to really give your pet a loving home. The estate where the funds are located to pay this monthly fee could be looked after by an independent trustee so that there is a separation between guardian and trustee.

Once the pet passes away, instructions from the will need to be clear about what is to be done with the remainder of the estate. Your lawyer will remind you of this need and ensure that the appropriate wording is in place to instruct your executors on what is to be done once your pet has also passed away.

That is our thoughts on the matter; however, we would appreciate hearing from readers regarding your thoughts.

Consumers can consider many different kinds of loan debt when applying. The easiest debt to take on is credit card loan debt. Just apply for a credit card. You will be approved unless you have something seriously wrong with your finances. After you have made your monthly payments for a few months, they will usually increase your credit card limits without even asking.

In some cases, you do not even have to apply. Credit card companies will send you an application telling you you have already been approved. You just need to provide all of your personal information. We have purchased furniture from department stores several times. They have asked us if we wanted a credit card with them.

I usually say no. However, several times, they have offered a 10% or 15% discount if we apply for and are approved for one of their store-based credit cards. Everything is automated, and the credit cards are almost instantly approved on the spot. They take this approach because they know that a large percentage of people will carry a balance past the due date of the first payment. They end up paying a large amount of interest. Credit card loan debt comes with very high interest rates, from 18% to 28%, which is very expensive.

Secured and Unsecured Personal Loans

The next best loan debt are unsecured personal loans. These are provided to consumers with good credit ratings at competitive rates that are much lower than credit card interest rates. Secured personal loans are loans with collateral against them which means that you have a better interest rate than unsecured personal loans. You must have equity in your home or car that you can pledge to the lender in order to be approved for a loan debt of this type.

Home Mortgage Loan Debt

Mortgages are loans with a much longer term than personal loans and are usually much larger. Their terms are often 25 years or more in some cases. The mortgage is secured with the value of the home on which it is placed. Mortgages in Canada cannot be longer than 25 years by law. This law protects consumers from long mortgages with interest rates and monthly payments that suddenly rise. A shorter term also pushes the monthly payment up, and many consumers cannot qualify for a mortgage because of the high monthly payment.

The security of the building allows for a very low interest rate to be assigned and low monthly payments due to the longer term of the mortgage compared to personal loans, which may have a length of 5 years. Save as much as possible by selecting loan debt with the lowest interest rate possible. Consumers can save thousands of dollars in total cost of their loans. Choose personal loans compared to credit cards and negotiating lower interest rates.

Pay Off the Debt ASAP

Loan debt should also be paid off as quickly as possible. This will minimize the total cost of the loan and improve your monthly cash flow. Not having a monthly payment to be concerned about can make a huge difference in monthly cash flow.

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Many banks have started offering low interest rate credit cards that offer a lot of advantages over the traditional credit card. These cards can be very attractive to consumers who traditionally carry a balance on their credit cards. They are paying interest on that balance. Most credit cards will typically carry a rate of 18% or higher on unpaid balances. Low-interest rate credit cards will be much lower with some around the 11 or 12% range. This can translate into significant savings for many people on a monthly basis. Especially when they are carrying a balance on their credit cards. You are still better off to arrange for a low-interest rate personal loan. However, in the absence of a loan, low-interest rate credit cards can save you money.

What are the Advantages of a Low Interest Rate Credit Card

The advantages vary from bank to bank. However several that we looked at include the following in their sales pitch on their web sites:

• Low interest rate of 11.99% compared to 18% or higher with a regular credit card
• Common carrier accident insurance
• Discounts for car rentals and some locations
• Checks to use with your credit card to transfer debt from other places
• Emergency card replacement if lost outside of your country
• Emergency cash advance if your card is lost
• Acceptance worldwide
• Accumulation of points that can be used to purchase travel, hotels and selected products

Some cards will charge a fee for using these cards on an annual basis. Several that we looked at charged $29 a year for their credit card. In effect, this makes up for the reduced that you might otherwise pay and is an additional cost to customers that pay their balances in full on a regular basis.

Is a Low Interest Rate Credit Card Right for You

These cards certainly can save consumers a lot of money if you routinely carry a balance on your credit card from month to month. Depending on the balance that you carry you can easily save several hundred dollars a year which pays for the annual fee and makes sense for those consumers. This is really a personal loan with a revolving line of credit with credit card advantages. They are very flexible and convenient to carry and use as a personal loan tool.

On the other hand, if you do not carry a balance from month to month, then the annual fee is an added expense that you will pay for. This then becomes the price you pay for the other advantages that come with the card. Examine the fine print carefully to make sure you understand the details and exactly what you receive when you use these cards.

For example, if you rent vehicles often, then the 20% savings can add up quickly to pay for the annual fee. The same thing applies to common carrier accident insurance. Take a close look at all of the advantages of each card and select the one that makes the most sense for your lifestyle and travel needs.

Other Credit Card Products

There are so many different credit card products available on the market that it is sometimes difficult to determine, which one makes the most sense for your situation. With each card that is offered, you really have to take the time to assess whether these products and their specific advantages vs. cost is going to actually save you money while providing the convenience of a credit card.

Many people are attracted to cards that build points. They can be used to purchase travel such as airfare, hotels, and car rentals. Some even have catalogs that offer a variety of goods that can be purchased with these cards. This is a great way to recover some of the cost of an annual fee if one is charged.

Take the time to look at each one and them, make your decision. Low interest rate credit cards are great products. But they might not be the best product for you based on your lifestyle. For more information about credit cards and how to deal with credit situations, click here.

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Being charged with a DUI offense can be a lot more expensive than many people realize. Just paying to hire a drunk driving defense lawyer is expensive enough. How many times have you been out with friends or family and had one or two drinks? Then get in the car to drive home? It used to be that we were worried about someone driving when they had been drinking all night long. They had many drinks and were obviously over the limit and should not be behind the wheel. They were over the limit, and we let them drive anyway. This was the wrong thing to do, and many people had accidents because of it.

We all Know Someone Who Has Been Stopped for a DUI

One of our neighbors’ kids was supposed to be the designated driver, which usually means that you do not drink, and the DD drives everyone else around. Everyone is supposed to take turns. It is a much safer way for you and your friends to have a night out drinking if you can count on one person being responsible and not drinking.

Apparently, they felt that they could have a couple of drinks, four to be exact, over a period of five hours. They felt they would still be okay to drive and would be under the limit. They were stopped on the way home. Unfortunately, when she gave a breathalyzer test, she failed. The car was impounded and towed to a storage yard, and she was charged. Now she has to pay to get her car back and deal with a lawyer, which is going to be expensive.

Drunk Driving Defense Lawyer – DUI Laws are Much Tougher Today

DUI laws are getting much stiffer in many places. It used to be that if you were under .08, the police would give you a warning and let you go on your way. Not so any longer. If you do blow over .08, you are charged with a criminal offense on the spot. You could spend time in jail and have your car towed, and the cost to get it back is around $1000 for the towing and storage. You also lose your license immediately.

With the tougher laws, a new warning level can still cost you a lot of money and embarrassment. You lose your car for three days if you blow from .05 to .08. You also lose your license for three days, and you receive a fine that can cost up to $150. The total cost will be around $2000 for the fine, for towing, and for storage of your car. Multiple offenses at this level will see stricter sanctions, including an in-car breathalyzer machine. Which will not let the car even start unless you are not drinking at all.

They Should Not Have Been Drinking

Our neighbor’s kid blew .1, well over the limit, and has been charged with a criminal offense. They have no choice but to hire a lawyer to defend the child. They will try to decrease the charge so there is no criminal conviction. The cost for the lawyer will be at least $5000 and could be as high as $8000 in addition to any fine, towing, and car storage. If convicted, they cannot travel to other countries since most countries restrict criminals from entering their country.

If this kid were the DD, why did they drink at all? Perhaps they thought they could follow the one-drink-per-hour rule, which is risky, as it turns out. If you are the DD, it’s better not to drink at all than risk being stopped and charged with drinking.

The bottom line is that if you value your ability to drive, your ability to travel to other countries, your ability to not be embarrassed in front of your friends and neighbors, and your money, don’t take the chance. Stay away from the driver’s seat of the car if you have been drinking. It is just that simple.

For quite a few years, many companies provided business credit cards to their staff members who regularly traveled or incurred business expenses. For some it was almost a status symbol to have a company credit card. In the past few years, companies have cut back on expenses extensively. One of these cutbacks involved the company credit card. The company credit card was a business card. It provided cash flow to the employee instead of having to obtain a cash advance for expenses, perhaps before they went out on a business lunch or a trip.

It was a lot more convenient, and the company did not have to pay for these expenses for 45 to 60 days.  The company still has a major advantage in providing business credit cards. However, there have been cutbacks. Many people now have to use their personal cards.

Business Credit Cards Distributed to Senior People

Lower ranks are increasingly being asked to use their own credit cards to pay for lunches; hotels etc and then submit an expense claim. Senior people in the company i.e. executives and middle management still seem to have business credit cards which they are free to use for business related activities.

Salespeople who entertain customers and travel to meet with customers still use business credit cards. These cards have larger limits, meaning you can typically charge larger amounts to these cards than you would to a personal credit card.

One of the problems with business credit cards is that the impact of these cards if they are not paid on time is that they can affect your personal credit limit. The card carries the company logo, but they are in your name and on your credit. If the company is late for whatever reason when paying, you may experience a drop in your credit rating.

Most companies have a standard payment process that takes a specific amount of time once the expenses are approved. Sometimes employees forget to submit their expenses to their boss for approval and then payment gets delayed. This is something that we all have to be aware of due to the impact on your personal credit rating.

Business Credit Cards for Consultants

Typically, companies do not provide or authorize company credit cards for consultants working for them. The consultant must book all of their trips, including airfare, hotels, and meals, on their own credit card and then include these amounts in their invoice for the work that has been completed. There are several issues to be aware of in these situations.

A consultant should have a separate credit card for all of their business transactions. This is one of the best ways to keep track of and separate business-related expenses. Consultants will often have a very large limit on their cards. High limits are needed to handle the increased expenses, especially if they travel a lot.

Only Approved Expenses on Your Business Credit Card

Another issue that both employees and consultants need to be aware of is that only approved expenses should be charged. Certainly no personal items should be charged to a credit card of this type. Also only expenses that have been pre-approved should be charged to these credit cards.

This is especially true for consultants and for large expenses such as trips and equipment purchases. Trips and large pieces of equipment should always be approved ahead of time. Otherwise, the appropriate people in the company may not approve the expense, so the person is left holding the bag, so to speak, for all of these expenses.

This is probably the largest issue for people with business credit cards. When submitting expenses for payment, always make sure that the appropriate people approve them.

These cards can also be an advantage for many salespeople. Most employees do not have sufficient limits on their personal cards to handle all of the expenses associated with business travel. Like all credit cards, they must be managed with care.

For many more posts about dealing with credit cards, click here.

What is it about Debt and Consolidation that consumers do not understand? Every day, I almost read something about this subject online and talk with people who do not seem to understand that if you consolidate your debt, you will make your life easier by only having to make one payment. It will be lower than the total of all other payments due to the lower cost if interest as well. The reason is simply that your interest rate will be lower with a debt consolidation loan, especially if you are consolidating credit card debt.

Why is Credit Card Debt So Expensive

Credit card debt is usually charged at approximately 18% for cards such as Visa and Mastercard and as much as 27 or 28% for cards from department stores like Sears and others who have their own credit cards. With these rates, if you carry a balance over each month, you will pay more interest than the principal. This means that you will take a very long time to pay off the debt if you only pay the minimum payment each month. Most people do not get this point and keep paying and wondering why they have no money left to do other things.

One reason for this website is that we hope to provide readers with information to help them manage their expenses better when dealing with credit card debt and other types of debt. The best way to illustrate and help people is to show an example.

Credit Card Debt and Consolidation

Let’s assume that a consumer has a credit card with a $5000 limit and has run his card up to the limit so that now he owes $5000. He cannot repay the credit card and has decided to pay it off over five years with monthly payments. The interest rate is 18%, and he plans to not charge anything more to the card, which may be unrealistic since most people will charge more to their card once they have a bit more room on it.

He also has another card, Mastercard, that has $2000 on it with the same terms and interest rate. The payments for these two cards are:

Visa – $5000 at 18% = monthly payment=$119.79, and total interest payments = $2,287.07

Mastercard- $3000 at 18% = monthly payment=$71.87, and total interest payments = $1,372.24

Total Monthly Payments = $191.66 and total interest payments = $3659.31

Personal Loan for Debt and Consolidation

Personal loan rates vary greatly. They depend on whether the loan is secured and the level of your credit rating. You can plug in whatever rate you would like. However, we will use 9% and assume the same five-year term for the personal loan. The results are quite interesting and demonstrate why consumers should always consolidate credit card debt. If they are unable to pay this debt otherwise, they should use a personal loan to pay it off in full.

At 9%, the monthly payment declines to $161.58, a $30 savings per month. The total interest paid is $1,829.66, which is almost half the interest payment. Now, if you consolidate the loan and put the $30 savings into the personal loan, this loan will be discharged even faster than the five years, and the amount of interest paid would also be lower.

If this does not convince you to consolidate your debt, we are unsure what will happen.

Avoid Running Up Your Credit Cards in the First Place.

This is the issue that we all face as consumers. We want to have everything now and buy things when we cannot afford it. Most consumers run into this problem of having too much debt and then have to dig themselves out of it. We try to follow the following motto, which we learned after many years of paying too much interest on too many things. Only purchase what you can afford to repay at the end of the month! It seems to work for us, and now we have to do it without a lot of things, but that is okay with us. Good luck with your debt and consolidation objectives.

This is a tough question that many baby boomers are trying to answer – How long do I need life insurance? They are near retirement or have retired and are trying to figure out when or if they should decrease or eliminate their life insurance. Your spouse should also be part of this discussion since any decision you make is going to impact them as well and will make a potentially huge difference in their lives if one spouse passes away and there is no life insurance or insufficient assets to provide for the remaining spouse.

The fundamental question is whether there will be sufficient funds to provide for your death, to support the surviving spouse in the proper way and to deal with any debts that you may leave behind. This is the question that needs to be answered and you can start by gathering all of the facts at the present time.

How long do I need life insurance?

What Information do you need to help answer this question?

This is a small list of information that should be gathered to help answer the question. Here we go:

Income

• Assets including savings and value in your home
• Current income for both you and your spouse
• Income that would stop if you were to pass away
• Current amount of insurance of all kinds

Expenses

• Current debts
• Funeral expenses
• Living expenses
• Living expenses that would terminate upon your death
• Health care expenses

Once you have all of this information, you can begin to calculate whether there will be enough money to fund all of the expenses that will exist after words for your estate. There are various calculators that can help, however we find that creating a spreadsheet with all of this information is a huge help allowing consumers to consider various scenarios.

Common Sense Approach To Insurance

If you are retired and have sufficient income to cover you and your spouse for expenses and the quality of life you desire, then maybe you will want to consider dropping or decreasing your insurance. If your income will drop significantly if one spouse passes away, you may need to consider retaining insurance to cover this loss of income.

There are also health issues to be considered. If you need to add insurance or change your insurance, the time to do this is when you are still healthy. Once a serious health event takes place, the cost of insurance can go up dramatically or you may not be able to get insurance at all after a health event. Consider taking out more insurance now when you are healthy if you feel that you need this insurance.

The early 50’s is the best time to address this issue and take whatever steps are needed at that time to address your insurance needs. Once you hit 65 or retire, re-evaluate your options and make a decision based on the facts at that time related to your financial situation.

Not Easy Questions

These are not easy questions to answer. There are some facts to work with; however there are many unknowns to deal with as well. Your decisions about these unknowns will impact your life significantly if you make the wrong decision. Our suggestion is to gradually decrease your life insurance after 65 if you have sufficient finances to handle all situations. Another is to read blogs like this one and use some of the calculators that are available online. But the best approach is to develop your own spreadsheet. Update the numbers every year to help you decide when it is best to decrease your life insurance. You can also take into account inflation and other special events that you may not have originally thought of.

Even if you only get your planning 50% right, it is better than no plan at all. Start today with a plan for your life insurance to assess what is needed. As you get older, your life insurance cost is going to increase. This is another factor to take into account.

Start your assessment today to begin your plan. Discuss it with you’re your spouse and other close family members. Make sure that you are covered adequately and that everyone is informed.

There are credit cards with low interest rates available. However, many of these cards have initial interest rates that are low, and then they jump to regular rates after you have had the credit card for six months. This is the usual sales pitch for many of these companies. They will offer a new credit card with a low interest rate on all transfers from other accounts. There is usually a six-month grace period. At the end of the six months, the interest rate on any remaining balance will climb to the usual level for credit cards, which is around 18% to 19% on any unpaid balance.

This can be a good deal for many people who have existing credit card balances providing that you can pay this new card in full at the end of six months. Any unpaid balance is going to have interest charges levied at the full rate charged by that particular credit card. Unfortunately many people do not repay the balance for one reason or another and they are faced with the same high payments again.

Credit Card With Low Interest Rates

These credit card companies will even provide you with checks that you can fill in and send to the other credit card company to pay off this balance. They make it really easy to take out new credit and to transfer money as well. Just write a check and send it off, and you are done. The clock begins ticking as soon as the money is transferred out of your new credit card’s account, and you will want to keep track of this date so that you avoid paying any unnecessary interest charges.

Should I Consider a Low-Interest Rate Personal Loan Instead

Interest rates on credit cards can be very low as incentives to persuade customers to transfer their balances. They are attractive, and there is no effort. You do not even have to fill out an application or meet with a loan manager in many cases. Personal loans, on the other hand, will require an application to be filled out. Also, a meeting with a lender is often necessary in many cases. There will be more paperwork to sign before you can be approved for a personal loan.  Most people will take the easy approach. They will use credit cards even if they can save some money in terms of interest charges in the long run.

The key piece of information that should be considered is how long you will need to borrow the money. Both are loans, and both have different terms to be compared. Personal loans will have a fixed term with a fixed interest rate for the term. Credit cards with a low interest rate initially will increase after the initial offer. They will vary depending on the balance each month. This can be a complicated mathematical calculation compared to a personal loan. But rest assured that a personal loan with a lower interest rate is going to cost you less if you need the money for longer than a year.

Other Incentives with Low-Interest Rate Credit Cards

Some credit cards that have low interest rates also have other features that can be very valuable to many consumers. Travel insurance, car insurance, health insurance and purchase insurance are some of the benefits. In addition gathering points that can be used to pay for various gifts, hotels and air travel are huge value to many consumers. This incentive alone will cause customers to charge as much as they can to their credit cards.

Still, we all have to be able to pay the balance at the end of the month to avoid triggering interest charges that can be as high as 18%. The low-interest credit card is usually only applied to amounts that are transferred. Anything else that is charged to the card and not paid at the end of the month will be charged at the regular interest rate of 18%.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with selecting a low interest rate credit card. Like all products of this type, it is important to manage them properly. Only borrow what you can afford to repay on time triggering the least amount of interest.

For more posts about credit cards, click here.

What exactly is debt consolidation, and why would you want to consolidate debt that you already have to make more debt? We will try to explain this term. Als,o some of the reasons why a consumer or even a company would want to consider consolidating their debts into one loan of some type or a mortgage.

Fundamentally, consumers who have multiple debts would apply for a new loan. It is with the understanding that this new loan would then be used to pay down completely the existing debt. This includes any debt on the credit cards and the personal loans that they might have. There are a number of advantages associated with taking this approach.

Advantages of Debt Consolidation

The most straightforward reason is reduction  multiple payments to multiple creditors each month. You now have only one debt and one payment to make each month. This is of course assuming that you do not continue to use your credit cards. Avoid driving up the balances again to a point where you cannot repay the balance each month. Unless you have made a substantial payment on the debt consolidation loan, there is little chance of consolidating your debt a second time.

The main reason why consumers would take this approach is actually more about saving money. Especially if you have credit cards. Credit cards as a debt instrument are very expensive. Attracting very high rates in the range of 18% for most credit cards. Upwards of 27% for store-type credit cards. Consumers who only pay the minimum amount each month will be paying primarily interest and very little principal. We watched one show one night, and it was going to take 10 years for this person to repay a credit card debt. This assumed that they only paid the minimum each month and did not charge any additional debt to the card.

Personal loans, on the other hand, range from 4% to 12% at the present time. This depends on your credit rating as well. Also, whether you have a secured loan or a non-secured loan. Either way, there is a substantial savings in the amount of interest that you would pay each month.

Using Your Home’s Equity for Debt Consolidation

This has been a very popular approach for many consumers whose homes increased in value and/or they had paid a substantial amount down on the mortgage, leaving a great deal of equity in their homes. By borrowing against this equity, they are able to have a secured mortgage with a very low interest rate, and they can use this money to pay off all of their other debts and reduce the amount of money they need to pay each month. Personal debt is usually based on a loan term of 5 years, whereas mortgages can be stretched into 25-year terms, making the monthly payment much lower and enabling the borrower to have a much better cash flow.

Most people would prefer to just repay all of their debt and be debt free. If you are nearing retirement this is a goal that everyone should strive for. However many people still have debt and sometimes the best approach is to take the debt consolidation approach to limit your interest payments. Never the less the quicker you can reduce your debt to zero the better off you will be.

Bad Credit Debt Consolidation

Even if you have bad credit and find it difficult to find a lender, it is worth the effort to find a loan to pay off your debts. Any time you can save money, you will be better off. People with bad debt may have to pay a little more in terms of interest rates and possibly fees, however they will still save substantially and you may improve your credit rating as well by reducing the amount you owe as you pay the loan off each month.

If you are still confused, we will be adding more posts later this year and we encourage you to watch for them. We also suggest you speak with a lender and ask them for an explanation as well that is related specifically to your situation. They should be able to demonstrate just how much interest you will save after you consolidate your loans and credit cards.

This came to us as an email. We are not sure who wrote it, but we thought it was worth passing along: economics 101. You might not agree with this story and its outcome, but take a few minutes to really think about it and what it means to you on your job and on your co-workers. More importantly, what impact would this sort of thought process have on the long-term wealth of your family and your grandkids if this sort of thought process were to continue for any length of time?

Economics 101 – Government Programs

When the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when the government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. This statement was so profound that we really thought we needed to pass it along to our readers. It was based on a test that an economics professor ran in his classes that he was teaching.

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Socialist’s plan”. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A…. (substituting grades for dollars – something closer to home and more readily understood by all).

After the first test, the grades were averaged, and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset, and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less, and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too, so they studied little.

The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame, and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

These are possibly the five best sentences you’ll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

Can you think of a reason for not sharing this? Neither could I.

Many people who read this will not believe it, and many people will simply not care. They are either too busy making a living and trying to survive independent of government hand outs or they are too busy trying to figure out were the next handout is going to come from. In a socialist country were all costs are covered for medical treatment, you soon find that people go to the doctor for even a simple cold which drives up the cost for everyone substantially.

Can we afford to pay for this misuse of funds for medical treatment? I do not think so.

You have just sold your home and you are about to move into the home you have just purchased. This last step of moving involves a lot of work , a lot of planning and oh yes help from all of your friends and family. Unless of course you are hiring packers and movers. There are many pre-move tips that will simplify your move and reduce the stress associated with your move. Planning and gathering information ahead of time will give you the time to make informed stress free decisions that not only will save you money, but also make the move much more enjoyable.

Your movers or renting a moving vehicle

• Obtain estimates from several movers ahead of time and compare services and prices
• Do you want them to pack or will you pack everything ahead of time
• Do you need to have your expensive items appraised and insured before the move
• Obtain estimates for renting a truck and consider asking friends and family to help with the move. Make sure you account for mileage charges, surcharges and of course the beer and pizza for your buddies.

Your Utilities If You Own Your Present Home

• Arrange in advance to have your meters read on the day of the move
• Have the bills forwarded to your new residence
• Have your oil tank filled and provide the receipt to your lawyer so they can account of this cost in the adjustment associated with your sale of your home
• Transfer all rentals such as water heaters to the new owner
• Arrange for the telephone, cable TV or satellite service to be transferred
• Arrange for other mail to be forwarded to your new home with the post office
• Change your address on all banks, accounts etc to your new home

Your Agreements – If you Rent Your Present Home or Apartment

• Provide the landlord with a written notice in advance
• Arrange for any rental deposit returns
• Disconnect the cable and telephone or transferred
• Arrange for other mail to be forwarded to your new home with the post office
• Change your address on all banks, accounts etc to your new home

Your Utilities at Your New Home

• Arrange to have all of your utilities connected on the day that the sale closes
• This includes gas, electricity, water, telephone, cable TV

General To-Do’s

• Send out change of address cards well in advance of moving day
• Arrange for the post office to forward your mail to your new home
• Cancel all contracted services
• Stop all pre-authorized checks
• Arrange for service at your new home for telephone, cable gardening etc
• Transfer bank accounts if needed
• Transfer civic, social, athletic and religious memberships
• Find new dentists, doctors, pharmacy and prescriptions.
• Arrange to change the address on your driver’s license
• Transfer address for health cards, credit cards etc
• Collect any items from cleaning, repair or storage
• Arrange to move perishables such as plants
• Arrange for your pets to be moved
• Dispose of all flammable liquids
• Arrange to move lawn mowers, snow blowers etc since many movers will not handle these items

Every one will have different things on their list. The important thing is to sit down and plan your move so that there is not a mad dash on the day of the move and nothing is forgotten. Good luck with your move.

Credit card limit increases are often automatically added to your account. How often have you received an automatic increase on your credit card limit without being asked if you wanted it? You did not apply for a credit card limit increase and this notice just showed up in the mail one day with your name on it and your account with a new credit limit. I used to think these things were a bit scary, but now after listening to CNN, I am less concerned about my credit rating and more concerned about my ability to stay within the limits of the old level. With more credit, will I charge to the limit or stay where I used to be and pay it off each month?

Credit Card Limit Increases Actually Help Your Credit Rating

CNN provided the following advice:  when a credit card company increases your credit card limit, it actually is a good thing. Your credit rating or at least one third of the rating is determined by the percentage of the limit that you actually use on your credit card. For example if your current limit is $5000 on your credit card and you routinely spend up to $2500, then you are only using 50% of your limit, which is pretty good. Now if they increase the limit from $5000 to $10000 and you still only routinely spend $2500, then you have lowered your utilization from 50% to 25% which is a significant improvement.

Can you Maintain the Discipline

Now there is a concern here that everyone should be aware of and is probably obvious to everyone. Can you stay at the present level or will you gradually over time move up to the $5000 level or worse to the maximum allowed on the card? If you do, your credit limit is going to tank and if you miss a payment or two, then it really will tank. So provided that you do not run the credit card up to its limit and you pay it off every month your credit rating should remain in great shape. Amazing

Managing Your Credit Card Limits

Most people have multiple credit cards. Some are loyalty cards, some are backup cards etc. Personally the writer carries two loyalty type credit cards. One credit card that we use every day for a variety of purchases. We have a second card for backup purposes. It is just in case the first main credit card is compromised while we are traveling. The loyalty cards have both increased the limits without being asked. The remaining cards have maintained the same limits at my request for many years.

We took this action for one reason and one reason only. We want to limit how much we can charge to any credit card for personal self-discipline reasons. Our family does not want the credit card limit increases to be automatic. We really do not need the extra limit and we want the personal self-control.

We pay our credit card balances every month so there is no ongoing balance. Which is another reason the credit card limit increases have been automatic.

The Real Danger of Credit Card Limit Increases

Over the years many people have found that they have charged their credit cards up to the limit. Then have had some difficulty in repaying the balance in full. Regardless of the reason you charge the credit card to its limit. The last thing you need at this stage is to have the limit increased. Without will power, most people are just going to keep charging. Before they know it will reach this new limit.

Your credit rating might have initially increase as per the above statement. If you miss a payment or cannot repay the balance owing quickly, your credit limit is going to sink like a stone. Before you know it, the banks will not talk to you. You will find it difficult to get a loan from many places at interest rates that are reasonable. Next thing you know you are considered a bad credit risk and cannot get any credit.

Credit card limit increases are ok sometimes. However you must manage this credit limit very carefully. Avoid over using these credit facilities as much as possible. If you do, as a consumer you will be able to maintain your credit rating. You will also be able to get that loan when you really need it at an interest rate that is very competitive.

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The following narrative came in a flyer from my investment adviser at Edward Jones. I decided to add it to this post since it is actually very good advice, although they try to add caveats to protect themselves based on the advice they are providing. Although this advice is pretty general it is good advice and it actually does work if you stick to their tried and true methods. The message – Don’t Take a Vacation from Investing. Take this information as additional data to assist with help to your investing strategies and planning.

Don’t Take a Vacation from Investing

Most people either never look at their investments or they spend too much time watching them and adjusting them If you are the average consumer with average investments that well investment in good quality relatively low-risk investments, then once a week is fine. High-risk investments are going to take more time and effort. If you lie awake at night thinking about your investments, then you are probably in investments that are considered too high risk. Talk to your financial advisor at least once per month after you have first reviewed your accounts. Get his or her opinion on current and near term market conditions and review any decisions that may need to be made.

Be Patient and Invest for the Long Term

Sometimes you need to be patient, but so far the markets have responded over the long term and that is what is important when you are thinking about retirement. For our part we buy into this overall strategy, however, we are now also focusing on dividend stocks who have a long history of paying their dividends on a regular basis as well as increasing their dividends every year. For many retired people this is a raise every year for them with the dividends increasing. There is no guarantee, but dividend-paying stocks with a great record are not a bad way to go.

Read on and we hope that is helpful to some of our readers.

From Edward Jones – Don’t Take a Vacation from Investing

Summer is here, which means a vacation most likely isn’t far away. Whether you are hitting the road, jumping on a plane, or even enjoying a stat at home vacation at home, you are probably looking forward to some downtime with your family. But not every aspect of your life should be relaxed. Specifically, you do not want to take a vacation from investing, which means you need to become a diligent year-round investor!

Here are a few suggestions to help:

Keep on investing

Don’t head to the investment sidelines when the financial markets experience volatility. Historically the early stage of any market rally is generally when the biggest gains occur. Keep in mind that the past performance of the market is not a guarantee of future results.

Keep Learning

The more you know about the forces that affect the performance of your investments will help. Understand why you own the investments you do. You will make the right moves and the less likely you will be to make hasty and unwise decisions.

Keep your focus on the long term

Think about what you want your financial picture to look like in 10 or 20 years or even 30 years and take the appropriate steps to help make that picture materialize.

Keep looking for growth opportunities

To achieve your long term goals, such as a comfortable retirement, you will want a portfolio that is designed to help you meet your investment goals.

Enjoy your vacation this summer or any other time of the year you go on vacation. No matter what time of the year, no matter what season, don’t take a break from investing. Your efforts may pay off nicely in the future.

Edward Jones has a long term investment strategy. It is almost a buy and holds unless you need to rebalance your investments to maintain your investment goals and risks. Too much investment in one sector may not be appropriate. Don’t Take a Vacation from Investing. You may need to be rebalanced for your long term investment strategy.

Buying investment grade dividend paying stocks to maximize your income yield and also positioning yourself for ongoing increases is a great way to grow your income stream and also protect yourself from the fixed income that many seniors are facing due to being on fixed pensions. Friends of ours are complaining that they are on a fixed pension and that sometime in the next 10 years their standard of living is going to decline depending on how bad inflation is. They retired early, have no desire to keep working and are spending well i.e enjoying themselves while they have their health. But they are still worried about the future due to their fixed income pensions.

Get a Raise Every Year with Dividend Stocks that Increase Their Dividends

One way to deal with this issue is to invest in companies that not only pay good dividend yields, but also have a history of increasing their dividends year over year. These people who invest in this manner receive an automatic raise every year that the dividends are increased. They may be getting a pension, but they are also earning money from their investments and receiving a raise every year. There are quite a number of companies that have a history of paying dividends every year as well as increasing them on a regular basis. Select wisely and stick to the blue chip stocks when you are looking for dividend paying stocks.

Your stoke broker or investment adviser should be able to provide you with the information that you need. Always invest in a diverse manner. Don’t put all of your money with one stock  or with one investment adviser or broker. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is not true. You could get scammed. So take the time to do your own research. Talk to several advisers and then make your own decision.

Our Strategy – Buy Dividend Stocks  For Income Yield

We like dividend paying stocks that are in the investment grade category. They should pay a yield of at least 4% and not more than 6%. They should also have a history of increasing the dividend payout each year. Right now as we write this post, anything higher than a 6% yield is beginning to fall into the high risk category. Either the dividend could be cut reducing the yield. Or the company is not going to raise dividends for some time until the rest of the market catches up.

Sure there are some bumps along the road. But if they have a track record of paying dividends each year and increasing them, then they have a good record that you can generally count on. There is still risk. Since you are investing for the long term, you need to monitor your investments on a regular basis.

Monitor your Investments

Some people suggest you should meet with your adviser once per year to review your investments. We believe you should be monitoring them on a monthly basis at the minimum and you should also with your adviser quarterly.

If for some reason your stock portfolio is not meeting your objective for dividend growth and yield, then you need to decide if the situation suggest you should sit tight or if you should take some action. At the very minimum, review each if the stocks in your portfolio and make an informed decision. At various times some stocks will do better than others and may require re-balancing of your portfolio to maintain your diversification requirements.  Maintain your strategy of diversification, yield and dividend income with blue chip stocks that will protect your investments over time.

Your comments on this approach are welcome. It is a good approach given current prevailing interest rates on bonds and mutual funds. Dividend yields are in the 3% to 6% range.

A home Improvement Loan With Bad Credit rating is sometimes difficult to find. Both he and his wife have good jobs and have been at these jobs for longer than 3 years. They would like to be approved for a loan so that they can bring their home up to current standards. He and his wife would like to make it more sale-able in case they want to sell it at some later time.

They would like to borrow $25 thousand. This is the estimate they have for the work that they are planning to have completed. While this is not a large amount of money it is more than what they can be approved. This is due to a bad credit rating that has been attached to their file. It occurred due to a slow payment situation that developed over 5 years ago with they both lost their jobs.

They have managed to get everything back under control in the ensuing years. They have paid off their loans and their credit cards. In addition, they are back on target with their current mortgage. They cannot understand why they can not get approved for the home improvement loan that they are looking for.

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These posts about Insurance for Funerals. The need for life insurance for baby boomers also includes insurance that you may need to cover your funeral costs. An old aunt of mine prepaid her funeral including the casket and the service She even set money aside for the payments to the minister and all services that were needed. She did not have an elaborate funeral. But she knew how she wanted it to be organized and so she arranged everything prior to her death.

This really made it easy for all of us who were executors of the will and responsible for making funeral arrangements. It also provides peace of mind for those who want to make sure there is not a huge burden for those left behind. This is something to think about, Insurance for Funerals. It is also very difficult for anyone to deal with as well. We all want to continue living, but at some point need to face our own mortality.

Insurance for Funerals

The following is a list of reasons you may want to have life insurance in place, however this post will deal specifically with insurance for funerals.

• How many dependents do you have
• How long will you need to support those dependents
• What about education requirements
• How much debt do you have
• What income level will remain from pensions, savings etc
• What will your burial costs be
• How long will your dependents live e.g. your spouse
• Will your estate owe substantial taxes
• How quickly will your assets be turned over to your dependents

Risks of Prepaid Funeral

The risk that my aunt took in doing it the way that she did was related to whether the funeral home would even be in business when she passed away. The funds were put in a trust so that they earned interest until the money was needed and it was protected by the trust that was set up legally. In fact the funeral home she originally dealt with did go out of business and was bought out by a larger firm. Everything was  transferred including the obligation and the trust that has been set up. As it turned out there was no problem what so ever.

This is not the case for all funeral homes, so if you plan to do it this way, make sure you check them out first and make sure that the money is protected and cannot be stolen. You want it there when it comes time. You can even get a lawyer involved if needed to make sure that all documents that you will sign are proper and protect you, your family and your funds.

Insurance Plans for Funerals

You may also consider purchasing insurance on your life. The proceeds from the insurance when you pass away can be used for paying for your funeral. Unfortunately there may some delay from the time you die to the time that the money becomes available. Arrangements must be made with the funeral home to handle the amount owing until the funds become available.

Many will  give you thirty days to pay. Provided of course that some percentage is paid at the time that the funeral is completed. They will provide their terms and it will be up to your executors to negotiate what every they can to give them the time needed to acquire the funds for payment.

There are many approaches that can be taken. Always take someone you trust along with you to assess what ever plan you are considering. Unfortunately there are lots of scams and they don’t care if it is your funeral or not. Make sure you have a contract, check reviews, and confirm that the company is registered with the Better Business Bureau.

Many people have been wondering what to do about the low yields they are getting from everything from bonds to mutual funds. This post is about how to buy dividend paying stocks and still get a good yield as well as a raise every year. Our friends who happened to be retired are wondering how they will survive for the next 20 years on a fixed income. They should consider themselves fortunate that they have a pension and not have to worry about were their money is coming from.

It is a serious question for many people regarding how they can circumvent the fixed pension concept and continue to live comfortably as inflation gradually eats into their income buying power. They all seem to be fixated on this concept of a fixed income, however they still receive inflation increases every year with their indexed pensions. For those people without pensions that are not indexed, what do you do to keep up with inflation?

It is easy to buy stocks and it is easy to buy dividend paying stocks but how do you buy dividend paying stocks that are relatively secure and provide increases every year. The first thing is to realize that nothing remains the same. Everything evolves and everything changes, but there are things you can do to help you decrease the risk and receive a raise almost every year.

Dividend Paying Stocks

We decided to build a criteria table for our own use and wanted to share it with people. If you are reading this and it helps you great. If you are reading this and disagree with us or feel that we missed something, let us know and leave a comment! This is the approach we are taking to ensure a raise every year for us, protect our investments and keep up with inflation as we get older.

Here is our list of criteria in no particular order:

• What is the dividend yield of the company you are looking at
• How many years have they paid dividends
• Have they missed any payments
• Have they increased their dividend payments each year
• Is the yield abnormally high, if so avoid it unless there is a good reason
• Do they support dividend reinvestment
• What percentage of their cash flow are they paying out. Less than 50% is good
• Review all of their other financial factors to ensure that they are within a proper range
• Are they considered a blue chip company
• This is not for speculation, regular dividend payments are important
• Regular dividend increases are important over the long term

The yield level is important since it compares how much money you are making on dividends and allows you to compare the yield to other investment instruments, such as bonds and mutual funds.

Dividend Stocks

The total dividend payment of the company should be less than 50% of the cash flow of the company. If there cash flow decreases in a bad year, do they still have the ability to make their dividend payments? This is the key question to ensure that they do not miss a payment.

If the yield is abnormally high, it may imply risk in that the stock is low and they may decrease the dividend to bring it into line with the market. Stay away from speculation and focus on income while in the later years just prior to or post retirement to preserve your income and to also gain increases over time.

There are actually some companies that have a record of increasing their dividends for 40 years in a row! What a record that is. Of course this also means they paid a dividend every year. It provides a pretty good idea of the level of risk you are facing. Never let your guard down, monitor these companies as well when you invest in them.

Any stock broker or financial adviser can purchase stocks for you in your account. Check them out carefully before you pass your money to them. Read some of other posts on this subject on our web site for more information.

Comments are welcome. Invest wisely and carefully! Practice diversity and seek second opinions when it sounds too good to be true.

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Home Improvement Loan With Bad Credit in Dayton Ohio. We received a question about a home improvement loan from a reader who also has bad credit and lives in Dayton, Ohio and will answer his questions in our next post about Home Improvement Loans. He is planning to complete a number of renovations and needs to borrow money to accomplish this.

Question to Debt Counselor::Home Improvement Loan

We have lived in our house for the past 15 years and would like to spend some money updating it with new flooring and appliances for the kitchen. Our credit is listed as bad due to some problems we had a few years ago in paying our mortgage. We are all caught up and have paid everything we owed at the time and more. Once we were late with our payments due to the fact that we were both laid off at the same time. We want to know how we can get a home improvement loan under the current conditions of having a bad credit rating.

Do you currently have a mortgage? ::yes, however there is only 10 years left on the amortization of the mortgage.

Home/Mortgage Loan Amount :: $25,000

Other Loans, Including Credit Cards:: all our loans are fully paid up including credit cards at zero balance

Are you employed and for how long:: We are both employed and have been at the same jobs for 4 years. We started these jobs after being laid off at another company.
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For most people who are getting married, finances and remarriage are the last thing on their minds other than how they are going  to pay for the wedding and perhaps the first months rent. When you do not have many assets, it is not that big and issue, however anyone entering a 2nd marriage will often have assets that they bring to the marriage and then it becomes important to have some sort of understanding as well as a record of what those assets are.

Young first time married couples usually do not have much in the way of assets, wills , obligations etc. People who are getting married for the 2nd time, may have existing families that need to be thought about and supported. They may have accumulated assets and they may have court ordered obligations that they need to meet. All of these kinds of things will have an impact on the new marriage from a financial perspective as well as an estate perspective. Wills may need to be amended or updated and agreements put in place specifying how assets are to be distributed should this be needed.

Finances and remarriage

Each person coming into the 2nd marriage or even a first marriage were the couple is older and have acquired assets, each person will bring various levels of assets and different assets as well. Family members on both sides may be concerned about their loved ones and how the estate will be handled. Finances and remarriage in either situation is an important consideration.

While no one really wants to discuss this sort of thing. Life can be made much simpler when agreements are in place ahead of time. You can avoid expensive legal costs as well as family turmoil.

Finances and remarriage – What Things should be Discussed

The following items are a good list of things to discuss and document prior to the big day:

1. How will we merge our finances?

Both parties may bring different savings, different debts and a variety of existing  expenses into the relationship. How will you deal with these once married? As new debts are added while in the marriage, how will these be dealt with and shared while in the marriage? These and many more details should be discussed and sorted out prior to moving in together or getting married.

2. Is a pre-nuptial agreement or co-habitation agreement right for us?

Sometimes it is just simpler if you have a pre-nup. There is no confusion and both parties understand what is supposed to happen in the event of a separation. How will you divide the assets in case of separation?

3. How will our children be taken care of when we pass on?

Often when couples are getting married for the 2nd time, there can be children from previous relationships. Supporting blended families in the new marriage or cohabitation  should be discussed in detail so that there are no misunderstandings afterword.

4. Do we need to set up a trust?

Some people will set up trusts to support children from a previous marriage, including their education. While many people think that this is something only the rich do. It can also be a good financial tool to many people as well. For anyone who wants to make sure that there is at least some money that will be available to their children over a long period of time.

5. If we decide not to get married, what financial matters do we need to consider?

In post jurisdictions one year is the measurement and the same rules apply as if you were married. However check with a lawyer or financial adviser regarding the specifics were you live.

While for some people they may feel that this kind of discussion will detract from the wedding day. It is really solid planning and discussion that can take place with the assistance of a third party that will ensure that everyone’s interest are taken care of in a fair and supporting way.