There is another reason for maintaining your credit record and that is when it could stop you from getting that next job. Can bad credit cost you a job ? Turns out that many employers are now checking for bad credit checks for jobs when they are hiring a new employee. They want to know if this person is a good credit risk and can manage their personal affairs.

Can bad credit cost you a job

There are lots of reasons for wanting someone with a good credit rating. They want employees who are totally focused on the job and not worrying about how they will meet their debts or who have debt collectors coming after them. There are also specific jobs that make sense where people should have a good credit rating.

Bankers with bad credit

The first job that comes to mind is anyone I the financial industry. Do you really want someone working for you and dealing with the public who cannot even manage their own money?

This does not present a very good image for anyone who is customer and happens to know that the person they are dealing with cannot even manage their own finances. There is also the possibility of this person doing something to help themselves. Most bankers will avoid hiring anyone who has bad credit.

Security personnel with bad credit

Another area that is being checked on for bad credit is security personnel. If you are in security, the employers want you to be beyond reproach and not susceptible to any temptations of any kind. If you are willing lo look the other way, what kind of security are you providing. Someone with a bad credit rating or a debt problem is just not worth taking the trouble on.

Credit checks

Credit checks are now being completed on a routine basis. If your credit rating is not up to the level it should be at, it is time to get it there. You may not get the next job simply because someone checked and your rating was below what they considered the standard to be.

So now you have finding a job to add to the list of all the other issues that bad credit brings to the table. High interest rates, high fees and difficulty finding someone to lend you money are typically the issues that a bad credit rating causes.

Discrimination

Is this discrimination, probably, but it is not something anyone is willing to do anything about. It is just one more issue that consumers and job hunters have to face.

Manage your credit rating

Managing your credit rating is one of the most important things that you can do from a financial perspective next to paying all of your bills on time and never missing a due date. A credit rating is made up of more than just paying your bills on time. Your debt ratio is another factor. This is the total amount of your monthly payments including property taxes divided by your gross income.

If your debt ratio is greater than 35%, this could also impact your credit rating. Even if you do not have a lot of debt, but have a lot of credit cards with a zero balance, this can also impact your credit rating since it represents the possibility of being significantly in debt. Only carry or have approved no more than three credit cards and always pay the total balance each month.

for more details about how to deal with bad credit, click here.

Studies show advisers are focused on their income – commissions etc and less so on providing financial advice to their clients. Most advisers do understand that if they are going to stay in business for a long time, they need to make sure that they are perceived to have their clients best interests at heart. However in my personal experience, many are on commission and many make more money when you are doing a trade or investing additional money. Sometimes this is a good thing for your investment portfolio and sometimes you are trading for no reason and just paying fees for nothing.

How do You Make Sure You Get the Best Financial Advice?

Develop your own strategy for your investments and stick to it unless someone can provide you with factual well thought out comments that would cause you to reconsider your strategy. This may involve some work on your part, but at least you will be well informed when you do talk to your adviser and will not just accept things blindly.

Talk to several advisers and ask them the same questions to see if you get the same answers and recommendations. Make them justify their positions and explain why a specific action should be taken. If the strategies are divergent from our own or different from each other, you may want to get a third opinion. The more data you have the better your decision will be.

Steer clear of advisers who do a lot of trades. These guys are just interested in padding their own pockets. If you are chasing profits or speculative stocks and not making any money, then you know that the only one making money is your adviser.

Maintain a Balanced Portfolio

Maintain a balanced portfolio that is well diversified. You never want to be invested in one investment only. If it goes bad you have lost your entire portfolio. If you are well diversified, the losses will be much less. The same applies to advisers. If you have a decent amount spread your money so that you get those extra opinions and strategies.

Review your strategy annually or even twice annually if there is a volatile market. Update your strategy only if needed and discuss it with your spouse as well as your adviser. This is important to make sure that you do not deviate too much from your core strategy.

Adjust for the long term for your retirement pension. Some advisers are  only interested in short term gains and a lot of trades. Long term buy and hold does not make them a lot of money. But it does decrease your cost and you still collect dividends and interest depending on the investment type

Once you take all of this into account, select an adviser that is aligned with your fundamental goals and objectives.

More and more parents are faced with this dilemma of whether they should help their kids with a down payment for a home they want to purchase. The short answer is that if you can afford it and it will not impact your lifestyle or your retirement, why not. But helping the kids with a downpayment can cause problems for you. On the other hand, if it will impact either of these situations, then maybe you should think about it.

Helping the Kids with a Downpayment – Should you help them?

Your kids will promise the world to you to obtain your help and everyone wants to help out when they can, but the reality is that you should assume that the money is written off and if it is paid back by some miracle then this is indeed a bonus. If you plan to give it to them and not expect anything back, then there is no loss as long as you are treating all of your other children in the same manner. There is no need to create any rivalry between siblings.

Should it be a loan?

Again if you do not need the money, just give it to them, however, if you need some of this money to live on in your retirement, we suggest that it be a loan that is registered against the home. This way if the house is sold for some reason there is still a chance that you will get part of your loan back, in addition to whatever loan payments you may have received.

Or an outright gift?

Check into the tax consequences of gifting the money and if there is no appreciable tax implication and you do not need the money, why not give the money? You will get to see the enjoyment of how your money is helping out before you die.

What is the tax impact?

The answer really depends on how much and where you live. How do they treat the tax impact of gifting, of providing an interest-free loan or an interesting-bearing loan? Talk to an accountant first before the money is lent out and make sure that it is set up appropriately.

Will it hurt your retirement?

A key question to ask yourself before you lend any money. Don’t expect to be paid back. Evaluate the impact if any on your quality of life in retirement. Then decide if you can still go ahead with the loan.

Do you enjoy helping your kids?

The answer is probably yes. However many people will have concerns about the spouse of your kids and what the impact will be. Also, can you help all of your kids in the same way? This is so important to avoid any rivalry between kids and resentment.

For more financial advice posts, click here.

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Estate Planning for Pets. Believe it or not many people will set aside an estate for their pets. They want to make sure that their pet is looked after they have died and continue to live in comfort. They want them provided with a place to live, food, and all of the care that they would normally receive if their owner was still alive. For most people, it is simply a matter of asking a relative to look after their pet or a close friend. Often there is no money provided for their pet. But they are confident that the person they request will take care of their pet for them. However, there are some strange cases. The reason we decided to write this post was because of the person that we read about. She lived in New York and was also very rich.

Estate Planning for Pets

One person in New York City even wanted to arrange for their pet to be buried in the cemetery alongside its owner. Unfortunately, the city of New York would not allow this. The pet needed to be buried in a pet cemetery set up for this purpose. This was understandable. Even her large sums of money could not dissuade the city from its position.

In the meantime, there was a substantial amount of money set aside for the personal care and welfare of their pet. This included a person who was paid a full-time salary to look after the pet. You can be sure that this person wanted the pet to live as long as possible since it was a guaranteed job for them. The original owner also wanted her pet to live in comfort and to be well looked after. She left specific instructions regarding the care it was supposed to receive as well.

Estate Planning for the Average Person

For most people, it is a matter of making sure there is enough money left in the estate to look after their pets to provide food and health care. They will arrange with a family member to look after the pet as long as the pet is alive. They will also administer the estate for the pet.

The family member is responsible for making sure that the pet is looked after. This includes providing all of the proper food that is necessary, is exercised, and is provided with a loving home while the pet is still alive. They may even receive a small stipend to look after the pet for as long as a pet is left alive.

Friends and Relatives

But most people just give their pet to a relative and frankly hope for the best. It is up to the individual to take care of the pet. They need to make sure that it receives the proper food etc. The best approach by far is to have someone take your pet who loves pets. Hopefully, they will adopt yours as if it was their own. The last thing that you would want to happen is for someone to look after your pet who really does not like pets. You do not want them taking it because they feel bad for you.

Taking care of an animal is a big responsibility. Not everyone is up to the task nor do they want to have that responsibility. For some, it is a labor of love. While for others it is just something they have to do. They really would prefer not to have to look after a pet. Think carefully about who you wish to take on the responsibility of looking after your pet before you give it away. Not everyone is up to the task. Nor are they always able to look after a pet. You may also want to provide them with some instructions and even money to take on the task.

We all use credit cards and in fact, many of us have more than one credit card. In fact, the average person will have 3 to 4 credit cards. Most of us will pay the balance off each month on the due date. The credit card companies do not make much money from us. They collect two to 3 percent from the store where you make your purchase. That is all they will make from customers who pay their balance completely every month.

Credit Card Interest Rates

It is a much different story for those customers who cannot repay the full balance each month. Credit card companies make a lot of money from these people. They charge them a very high-interest rate. Most cards have a rate of between 18% and 20% charged on the unpaid balance. Store credit cards charge as high as 29%. There are some companies that charge lower interest rates. However, there is usually a catch to these cards. Either there is an annual fee or they give you a grace period of 6 months. Then the interest rates revert to the normal high-interest rate.

How are the Interest Charges Calculated?

The first thing we want to say is that you need to read the fine print in the agreement to truly understand how your credit card charges interest. You may want to talk to someone to have them explain it to you. They are all slightly different and although we will give you a general explanation, we are urging readers to consult with their credit card company to confirm how interest is calculated on the unpaid balance.

For most credit cards the following rules apply:

No interest is calculated provided that you pay the full balance on your card by the due date. If you are even one-day late interest will be added to your balance and you will be surprised by the amount that you are being charged.

If the unpaid balance is not paid, interest will be charged from the date all items on your statement were initially charged to your card. You have lost the 20 days grace period and are now paying interest on everything until it is fully repaid.

New charges to your credit card will also be charged interest from the day the item was added to your account until you no longer have a balance on your card.

Interest will be calculated on the daily balance of your credit card and it is compounded which means you are paying interest on interest. This can get very expensive.

Interest will be calculated and charged until the date that you fully repay the balance on the credit card.

Credit card statements always show the minimum payment that you need to pay by the due date. They want you to pay this amount since this guarantees that your interest costs will be maximized and it will take years for you to repay your balance if you stick to this rate. Always pay the maximum you can afford to pay as soon as possible to minimize the interest charges. This is an extremely expensive loan and many readers will benefit from debt consolidation loans if they cannot repay their credit card balance any time soon.

For more articles on credit card interest rates, click here.

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Many consumers carry a great deal of high interest debt and just by consolidating debt that they have they can save a great deal of interest cost and reduce their monthly payments as well. Consolidation of debt is one of the smart money steps that can be taken by consumers. It is financially smart and relatively easy to do as well. Secured mortgages is one way to consolidate debt with very low interest rates and save a bundle.

Carrying a Balance on Your Credit Card

Consider the person who is carrying a balance on their credit cards and paying 19% or more on this unpaid balance. Everything that is charged to the account as long as you are carrying a balance costs money. Consider consolidating this debt into a mortgage that is secured with the equity in your home. You may be able to lower the interest rate to less than 4% at the time of writing. It will depend on the credit rating you have and the lender that you are dealing with.

Let’s assume that you have equity available in your home. Also the lender is willing to increase your mortgage or add a second mortgage to your home. The interest rate for this mortgage will be much lower than the rate charged on your credit card. Consumers may have to pay for an appraisal fee to establish the value of the home. They may have to pay for legal fees to register the mortgage. Some of the processing costs and charges associated with the mortgage may also need to looked after. When you compare these costs with those of what you would pay in high interest charges most people will come out ahead of the game.

Consolidation Debt – The Real Challenge

The real challenge for most of us after we have rearranged all of our debt is to not resume the same pattern. We need to avoid charging large amounts to our credit cards. Eventually if we are not careful we will end up with unpaid balances on our cards again. There is no question that credit cards are a convenient way to pay for various items, but if we cannot pay the balance at the end of the month the cost of those items is just going to increase.

Following a guideline that essentially says I will use my credit card as long as I have the money in my bank account to pay for what I am charging to my credit card will prevent the purchase of a lot of items until we have the cash and ensure that an unpaid balance is not built up. Most of will find this difficult to follow, however it does work if you practice this approach. You will likely never be in a position to need to consolidate debt again.

Many consumers wonder every year about how can I fix their spending and get control of their financial situation. They may feel that their spending is out of control. They may feel that they are spending too much money on interest and loan payments. Many may find it difficult to pay all of their bills every month. They wonder how they will ever pay for an emergency, major repairs, or even go on a vacation.

It takes hard work and some discipline. However, it can be done. But like trying to lose weight you have to really want to take control of your spending before anyone will really be successful. Consumers will find that they may have to give up many of their favorite things if they are in serious trouble. The sad part is they can either do it now under their own control. Or have someone make the decision for them and force them to do it. This usually occurs when they lose the house, the car is repossessed or they are turned down for a loan.

How Can I Fix My Spending

Here is our proposed set of steps to answer the question, how can I fix my spending:

Set up a budget

The first step is to set up a budget. Total up all of your income and then add up all of your expenses for everything that you must pay monthly. Next, add in a monthly amount for yearly expenses. This might include such items as property taxes, annual insurance charges, etc. If you find that your expenses are higher than your income, it is time to take stock and start reducing some of your expenses to get them in line with your income.

Track your spending

Knowing what you spend your money on is also important. For some, it may be a surprise when they find out all of the things that suck their cash away and help them end up with not enough at the end of the month. Know what you spend your money on and then control your cash expenses to help meet your budget.

Compare to your budget

Compare your actual cash expenses to your budget and make appropriate updates to how you are actually spending money. You may find that you need to reduce further to meet your income level. It is all about living within your income!

Make adjustments

Make adjustments as your income or your spending changes. Recheck your income levels and spending levels on a monthly basis and make adjustments to your budget and your spending to make sure that you are continuing to live within your income level.

Focus on quick wins

Begin by focusing on quick wins. In other words, there will be some items that are easy to cut from your spending and in fact may cause little pain or difficulty if you stop spending on these items. One friend of ours was paying a personal trainer to help them lose weight. Get serious, dump the trainer, save some money and exercise yourself! There may be lots of examples of this sort of thing in your life that you can quickly change that will deliver a quick win.

Focus on big items

As part of the quick win strategy, focus on the big spending items. Eliminate or reduce them first to get the biggest bang for your time. These can quickly get your budget in line and help you balance your budget.

Be disciplined

This is the hard part. Being disciplined about getting your spending under control is tough. Once you have a plan and you are seeing results, you will be encouraged and you may actually have more money available to spend.

Summary

So if you’re still wondering how can I fix my spending. Reread this post. Take a moment to consider all of the suggestions. Which ones can be applied to your situation? You may be surprised that with a little tweaking here and there, you can get your spending under control and actually save some money. Saving some money for emergencies can improve your life greatly and make your life much more secure.

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Anyone who has spending problems and is frustrated with never having enough money to meet all of their expenses can really fix their problems in a very short time frame. As a matter of fact, they can fix their spending 7 days if they apply a little discipline and follow the steps listed below. It is true, fix your spending in 7 days. These ideas are not difficult. What is difficult is actually putting them into action. Most people Fix their spending in 7 days, if they have the willpower can do this in as little as 7 days. Get started now. Fix your spending in 7 days.

Fix your spending in 7 days

Track it

Tracking your expenses, every last cent will help you understand where your money is going. Most people have no idea how easily their money can be frittered away on a lot of small things which over a week at up to large numbers.

Get an app

There are lots of free apps for both the iPhone and the android phones that can be downloaded and used for tracking and recording expenses. Get one to make it easier to track expenses when you are on the go.

Set up a budget

Set a budget to follow and then track or compare your expenses against the budget. You may need to adjust your budget over time as you learn about where your money is going.

Find out where your problems are

By tracking and comparing your expenses to your budget you will quickly find out where the money is going and what you need to do to fix the problems

Attack one area at a time

Focus on one problem area at a time. You may feel a little overwhelmed at first and this is why we suggest that you focus on one area, fix that problem, and then move on to the next.

Don’t try to be perfect

You will make major strides in the first 7 days. But to attain perfection in managing your expenses will take a little more time. As your life changes, as your expenses and income change so will your budget and plans change. Live with it and don’t worry about being perfect all of the time.

Focus on the big items

There are lots of little expenses which add up to a lot, but if there are some large expenses that you can deal with, reduce or eliminate, then perhaps you can make some great strides towards balancing your budget. Focus on these first.

Focus on the quick wins

Go for the quick wins, these are the expenses you can reduce or eliminate with little pain and adjustment. You will feel better about your budget and your spending if you can get control of some areas quickly. Success breeds more success so focus on the quick wins.

Estate Planning Lawyer. When would most people ever need an estate planning lawyer? For the average person, the only time that they would need a lawyer is to help them set their will. The will consist of two parts, the first is after you die. All of your assets are distributed to the people who you love and have left behind. The second part is what is called a living will. In most cases, this is where you advise people how you want to be looked after while you’re still alive and can’t do it yourself. You also name someone as the person who will make the decisions for you while you’re still alive and administer all of your assets.

Estate Planning Lawyer – Assets?

All of your assets that are included in your will are considered your estate. For people with small estates, it is pretty simple and straightforward. All of their assets will go to their children or their wife or someone who they have named in the will. People with large estates will need to do more planning and this is where estate planning lawyers may be useful in helping them set up their estate in such a way that all of their descendants are looked after in the manner they wish.

They may want to include a family trust, which generates income for them or for the estate and then distributes this income to those people who are named as part of the family trust. They may use the estate planning lawyer to administer the estate for the trust with the input of the family who is receiving benefits from the trust.

Choosing an Estate Lawyer

The estate planning lawyer should be chosen very carefully. It should be someone who has knowledge about setting up the estate and about setting up trusts for your family. It should also be someone you trust who will do a good job and make sure that the estate is managed properly. After all, your family and your descendants and dependents will need to exist based on the income from your estate.

Some people will use a lawyer to draw up the terms of the estate plan. They will have a 3rd party actually administer the estate. This 3rd party could be a family member or it can be someone totally unrelated to the family. There are also companies that administer estates. However, they do charge fees for this sort of thing and they can be quite costly. However, if you have a large estate and it is a complicated affair, you may want to hire experts to do this management for you.

Avoid Family Member Friction

It reduces the friction between family members if something is not executed properly. A 3rd party is often a good arbitrator. Conflict can arise when one family member does not agree with the will. Or they may not agree with the manner in which the will or the estate is being managed. Many people unfortunately just want the money and to get on with their lives. If this is what you intend and desire, then by all means just give it away. However, there are tax consequences and there are family management issues that many lawyers and accountants can assist with when it comes to planning one’s estate. We suggest that readers take the time to investigate the details. Talk to experts to make sure that you are in fact setting up your estate in the proper manner.

Your estate is intended to provide money to look after you while you are still alive. You will need to make sure that it is being managed by someone who is 100% trustworthy. Money can corrupt even the closest family. This sometimes comes as a large surprise to many people. One way to manage this issue is to have two or three people in charge. No one person is able to make any decisions independently. The obvious negative is that sometimes it is much more difficult to make decisions if they do not agree on issues.

The only thing worse than the already high credit card interest rates are the short-term payday-type loans. Credit card interest rates start at 18% with some rates going as high as 28 or 29%. If you can avoid using either credit cards as loans or payday loans you can save a great deal of money. The best bet is not to borrow money using credit cards. When using a credit card make sure you have the cash to pay the credit card balance at the end of the month.

Most credit cards work as follows. There is no interest charged on the bills up until the statement date. If you pay the balance at that point in time then there will be no interest charged on any remaining balance.

Credit Cards Interest Rates

Unpaid Balance Triggers Interest Charges

However, if there is an unpaid balance that exists after the due date then interest is charged. It is charged on the full amount of charges from the time when they were charged to the account. And interest will be charged until such time that the full amount is repaid in total. Note that new charges to the credit card will immediately begin accruing interest as long as there is an unpaid balance on your credit card. This can add up very quickly in interest charges to your account.

Why It Takes So Long To Repay

Many consumers wonder why it is taking them so long to pay off their credit card balance. In many cases, they are only paying the minimum payment required each month. The reality is that if the minimum payment is $100, approximately $90 will be interest charges, and $10 will pay off the principal.

At these rates, it will take a very long time for you to pay off your balance. This is assuming that you do not accrue new charges to your account. In reality, most people are continuously charging to their credit cards. The interest will continue to build up very very quickly. Before you know it, your balance will be at the maximum and growing because of the increasing interest charges.

For more articles on credit card interest rates, click here.

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Carrying a lot of debt, particularly if it is high-interest credit card debt can be a serious problem for many consumers. With high-interest rates, come large monthly payments and large interest costs. These kinds of debts can be brought under control with low-interest consolidation loans. They focus more of your money on paying off the loan instead of paying interest. We will illustrate with a few examples. This will help our readers understand why it is important to pay off these debts with a low-interest consolidation loan. But first, there is no sense in taking this step of consolidating your credit card debt. If you are only going to reload your credit cards once again. Now you may not be able to consolidate your credit card debt a second time.

Consolidation Loan – Credit Card Debt

Let’s assume that you have a credit card that is charged up to the maximum of $5000. The interest rate is 19.5%. We will assume that you will take 5 years to repay this amount and you just keep paying this high-interest rate. In addition, we want to keep this simple. We will assume that you have seen the light and will not charge anything in addition to the credit card.

Your monthly payments over five years at 19.5% will be $122.92. You will pay a total of $2,477.66 in interest costs during this five-year period. This is quite a bit considering the amount that we are talking in terms of what you need to repay. It is almost half of your principal. You will pay a total of $7,477.66 over the five years if you do not charge anything in addition to your credit card.

Consolidate Your Debt

Now if you arrange for a consolidation loan at a lower rate of say 10%, with the same term and the same total amount. The monthly payment will be $103.08 a savings of $19 a month. The total interest charges will be $1,270.59 for a savings of over $1200! This is quite a bit of money. Many people can use this kind of money including paying off their loan much quicker.

If you were to find a lower interest consolidation loan to consolidate your debt, the payments would be even less and the savings even greater. It is also helpful to have one payment per month rather than having to remember to pay all of your loans every month plus your credit cards. By consolidating all of your debt into one easy low-interest loan, you have one payment to make and the interest rates are much lower as well saving you money. The money you save could be put into debt as well and you get to pay off your loan that much more quickly saving even more money in terms of the interest cost. Something to think about.

Our next post will discuss consolidating your debt using a secured loan or a secured mortgage which has some of the lowest interest rates going.

There are three money mistakes that will get you into trouble every time unless you get them under control.  If you fall prey to these mistakes, they can impact your life for a very long time. They can even affect your quality of life. It is important to get them under control as soon as you suspect there may be a problem. These money mistakes are a problem for millions of people in North America and around the world. Here they are:

• Over Spending
• Enabling
• Denying

Money Mistakes – Over Spending

We all tend to overspend at some point in the year. But if it is chronic overspending or if it is a large amount, chances are that it is on a credit card. Which you cannot pay off and then the high interest is going to be charged on the unpaid balance. That bargain item that you may have purchased on sale is quickly becoming a not-so-good bargain. When interest is added, it takes you a long time to pay for it. The savings you may have gained initially are quickly lost.

Not keeping track of your expenses throughout the month is a sure way to overspend as well. If it is a surprise at the end of the month when your statement arrives, then this is a sure sign of spending out of control and overspending. Track your spending against a budget and if you do not have the money in your account then you probably should not spend it.

Money Mistakes – Enabling

One spouse enabling another spouse or their partner is another money mistake that many people make. We want to please our partners and purchase items that please the others. However, when it means that we overspend or spend money that we do not have, this can be considered enabling.

Helping each other spend money is one of the worst things we can do when it comes to making money mistakes. Neither person has any control. Very shortly you will end up owing a great deal of money and not know how to pay for it. Help each other reach control of the money you spend. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the other person will look after it.

Money Mistakes – Denying

Another money mistake that many people make is denying that there is a problem. Not opening the letters with the bills in them and not looking at statements from the credit card company is a sure way to make a money mistake and get into trouble financially. Both partners should review the statements together and they should take responsibility for payment.

Avoiding the statement, and ignoring the amounts that are owed are a sure way of ending up with bad credit and owing a great deal of money. Don’t wait until the debt collectors come after you to recognize the fact that you owe a lot of money.

For more details about managing your cash flow, click here.

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In my early thirties, I decided that I wanted to make a million dollars at some point. I was making about $35,000 a year total income, had a home that was heavily mortgaged and two kids, and my wife stayed home to raise the kids. A pretty traditional life since I fit in well with my peers. There was one difference, I wanted to have a million dollars in assets before I retired. At the time making my first million looked like a huge challenge. I was not sure how I was going to accomplish this seemingly unattainable feat, however looking back on it now, it was relatively easy although not without some risk.

What Were My Strategies re Making My First Million

Making my first million was really a combination of strategies, listed below:

• Saving
• Investing
• Buying a home
• Starting a business
• Becoming a landlord
• Setting a budget
• Finding deals
• Doing it Yourself

Here is more detail about making my first million.

Saving – was definitely a factor in contributing to a million in assets. Like many consumers, I contributed to a retirement plan and the money grew from there. It was a factor that helped but certainly did not get me even close to the number I was looking for. Perhaps I did not save aggressively enough, however, my main objective was to reduce our mortgage which is another form of saving and reduces the overall interest that you pay.

Investing – in the right stocks, mutual funds, and bonds have also helped a great deal. Within my portfolio of investments which was my retirement plan, we made sure that we were invested in blue chip stocks that had a growth factor as well as a dividend paid every 3 months. Same with mutual funds. Bonds were something new to me and were part of my diversification strategy. When I invested in bonds I was able to buy bonds from good companies that paid in the 6% range which is very good by today’s standards.

Buying a home – was another huge advantage in terms of asset growth. Over the last 25 years, my home has doubled in value. Location and quality mean a great deal. We have been offered some really great deals for our home, however, we are not ready to sell just yet. Buying a home is so much better than renting in terms of asset growth.
Starting a business – we also started a small business which provided us with added income and tax deductions. It has not made a huge contribution to achieving the goal of a million dollars, however, it has helped.

Becoming a landlord – by buying several apartments and townhomes to rent out has definitely made a big contribution. We got the same asset growth that we did for our home and someone else paid for it i.e. our renters!

Setting a budget

Living within our means. We did not go into a lot of debt and have all of the toys that some people seem to have. We did go on a trip each year for two or three weeks and lately, we have been going away for several months in the winter. But the bottom line is that we lived within our budget and avoided racking up credit card bills which would have triggered high-interest charges.

Finding deals – and always s negotiating has saved us thousands. Our motto is “we always ask for a discount, the worst that will happen is that they say no” and they almost never say no. from 10% to as much as 50% savings have been obtained in this manner. When you apply this approach to everything you buy over 35 years, you can save thousands of dollars.
Doing it Yourself – is another way to save money and contribute a million dollars. When you consider that every $100 you pay someone to do some work for you means that you must earn from $150 to $200 in before-tax dollars, doing it yourself makes a lot of sense.

By applying all of these strategies we have easily attained our million-dollar objective and now I am wondering how I should go about getting to two million while continuing to enjoy life and of course my retirement. Any ideas? Comments welcome.

This post is another in the series about the biggest financial mistakes that people make in their lives. In this post, we will tackle two of the most common mistakes that people make. Leaving a job and not discussing money issues with your spouse or partner. Both can lead to problems from a financial perspective as well as on a personal level. However, that is the subject of another topic. We will stick to the financial impact of not discussing money issues.

Biggest financial Mistakes – Leaving a job

Lots of people leave their jobs every day for a variety of reasons. Some are fired and some are laid off. Some people just leave because they do not like the work or they do not like the boss or for a variety of other reasons that are important to them.

The mistake that this latter group of people makes is that they leave a paying job with no prospects of another job on the horizon. They are confident that they will find another job in the near future and so they leave voluntarily without any kind of severance or payout. They even lose the two weeks’ notice that many employers might pay them. In addition, there is a period of time that each must person must pass before they will qualify for unemployment benefits. It is longer for people who leave jobs for no reason and so they lose out there as well. By just leaving a job they have lost a considerable amount of money and will never be able to recover that money.

In addition, finding another job in today’s market can be difficult. There are lots of people looking for work and the competition is fierce. Employers for some reason will hire a person who is employed a lot more often than someone who is unemployed. We are not sure of the reasons, but we think that there is a stigma attached to someone who is not working and that employers also view someone who is working as someone more desirable. It is much easier to find a job when you are working than when you are not.

Don’t make the mistake of leaving a job before you have found another one. After all, you have bills to pay.

Not discussing Money Issues

Another big mistake that a lot of people make is not discussing money issues with their spouse or partner. If you are in debt and need to cut back a bit, it is important to have your spouse on board to help you. If he or she just goes right on spending, the problem just gets worse and you go further into debt.

When they finally do find out there is the possibility that they will feel betrayed and also angry that there are suddenly these debt problems that they knew nothing about. Most people want to help and work together as partners to solve financial issues and money problems. But if they do not know about the problem then they cannot help and can actually make the problem a lot worse.

For budget ideas and information, click here.

Save

No Emergency Savings as a financial mistake ranks up there as one of the most important issues that many people seem to ignore. |The biggest financial mistakes that people make can jeopardize their quality of life for many years. This mistake can cause a world of hurt for both you and your family. Including losing your home, and your possessions, and even putting you out on the street. Most people are overconfident. They believe it will never happen to them and then it does. We cannot predict when, but we are pretty sure that a financial emergency will occur sometime in your lifetime. Saving for an emergency is a financial security blanket. It will give you the time to deal with the issue that is causing the problem in the first place and ensure that you can refocus on finding a job etc.

Biggest financial Mistakes  – Job Loss

Are living paycheck to paycheck and counting on your job to continue unabated? This is probably a bad assumption. Most people change jobs at least 5 or 6 times in their lives. Sometimes they do this by choice. While in others they are either laid off, fired or the company goes bankrupt. This is the most critical time when you need to have emergency savings to get you through the time with no income. Don’t count on your company, they are loyal to the bottom line only and will lay you off in a second if they need to.

Health Issues

Not everyone has health benefits and sometimes you cannot work while you are sick or you need medical costs to be covered. This is a critical time when you need to have an emergency fund set up. An emergency fund will pay for some of the medical bills or just put food on the table while you recover from whatever medical situation you are dealing with.

Emergencies

A new roof, repairs to the car, replacing appliances, and many more small emergencies that crop up from time to time. These are the things that emergency funds are needed for. The important thing is to have a fund and then once you use it, top it up again so that the money is there when you will need it again. Some people would rather protect their emergency funds at all costs.

They avoid entering into debt or buying items they would like to have just to ensure that their emergency fund stays intact. This is financial survival and it impacts your life and that of your family.

Rest assured that emergencies will always come along and life can be a whole lot easier if you have the funds to deal with this emergency. For more financial mistakes that we all make from time to time, click here.

We are doing a series on the biggest financial mistakes that consumers make over their lifetimes. This post is about bad investments that we all make from time to time. Some are very difficult to avoid. We may have done all of our homework, investigated whatever it is we are investing in and then made the plunge only to find out that the information we had, was not accurate or some of the assumptions did not turn out the way we thought they would.

Even the pros make these bad financial mistakes from time to time and make bad investments. The question is how to increase the odds of preventing these mistakes. You probably cannot totally eliminate the chances of finding out that an investment you have made has turned bad, but you can increase the odds of not finding yourself in a situation with a bad investment.

Biggest financial Mistakes

Avoiding Bad Investments

Leave your emotions out of the decision making process. It may be excitement or it may be greed, either way these emotions will never allow you to make an informed unbiased decision regarding your investment.

Talk to other people who are not emotionally involved and ask for their opinion. It should be someone you trust and it should be someone you respect for their smarts and common sense. Listen carefully to the pros and cons of what they have to say about the investment.

Taking risk is the cornerstone of many people who have gotten rich. But taking risk and taking educated risks are two different things altogether. You will never be able to predict a sure thing, but at least if you evaluate all of the risks then you will be able to make an educated decision.

Never place all of your savings in one investment. Spread it around. If an investment does go bad, then at least you have not lost everything. Investment advisers will call this diversity in your investment portfolio and this is a really smart thing to do.

Invest commensurate with your age. If you are young, you have lots of time to make up for mistakes and losses. If you are near retirement, you probably want to invest in relatively secure investments that pay a reasonable return. Taking high risk investments and investing your life savings in them, really puts your entire life and quality of life at risk.

Summary – Avoiding Bad Investments

One of the best pieces of advice that the writer every received was to review and investment and then walk away for 24 hours. This gives time to think about it, to allow the emotions to settle down and to avoid the pressure that a sales person might be trying to place on you to make a decision. Use your head and not your emotions to avoid making bad investments.

For more details about investing, click here.

One of the biggest financial mistakes that many people make is taking on too much debt. It can slip up on many people without then even realizing what has happened to them. They may have a mortgage which also means they pay property taxes. They also probably have a car loan and a couple of credit cards. But then the house or the car needs repairs and they want to go on a trip or they really like buying clothes. Next thing you know their monthly payments for all of this debt are causing them a lot of stress. If for some reason you are unable to make all of these payments, your credit limit is going to take a hit making it more difficult to borrow money and you will probably have to pay higher interest rates as well.

Biggest financial Mistakes – too Much Debt

35% Limit

Most lenders view people has having too much debt when their monthly payments are more than 35% of their gross income. This includes all mortgage and loan payments along with the minimum payment on credit cards. Don’t forget to add in the property taxes as well. If you are close to this limit or over the 35% level then you are in the category of having too much debt.

Rising Interest Rates

If interest rates rise and your mortgage or loans have to be renewed, next thing you know your monthly payments are well above the 35% limit and you are also having difficulty in meeting your monthly payments, along with the utilities and all of the other bills that regularly come in.

Biggest financial Mistakes – Too Much Debt

Many people make this mistake and this is one of the biggest mistakes you can make when it comes to having too much debt. Pay off the debt as quickly as possible, eliminate the interest you are paying and make sure that you are not leaving yourself at risk due to increasing interest rates. You never know when an emergency will materialize and you do not have the savings or the room to add debt to help you deal with whatever emergency you may have. Always pay down your debt as quickly as possible.

For more posts about debt freedom, click here.

We are doing a series of articles about the biggest financial mistakes that people make. The first one that we wanted to cover was leaving a job before you have another job to go to.

This happens to a lot of people for various reasons. They leave a job because they are not happy with the company, the work or the boss and one day they cannot take it any longer and just quit on the spot with no job to go to. In addition they are not eligible for any benefits, separation pay, downsizing bonuses etc. Just quitting can mean they lose a lot of money from not being able to take advantage of these benefits.

Finding another Job

It is also much more difficult to find a job when you are out of work. Employers would rather hire someone who already has a job that they have to entice to come work for them. Once you are not working, potential employers wonder why you are not working and what might be wrong with you. Find a job, then quit if you must.

Many people get a sense of impending layoffs. They tend to wait until they get laid off to look for a job because they want to deal with one thing at a time and they want to take advantage of their benefits that they may be eligible for when they are laid off. While you do not want to lose benefits, it is a good idea to begin lining up another job before you get laid off. This is the best of all scenarios. You do not lose any pay, you get the benefits of the layoff and you start work at another job right away!

Biggest financial Mistakes – Leave at the Best Time For You

Before you quit take a few minutes and check on the status of any bonuses, raises, stock options and special plans that might be available. Often working up to or past the dates when these things become active can mean that you save yourself thousands of dollars.

Even just working past year end can mean you are eligible for the year end bonus. Not to mention the fact that it is tough to find a job around the holidays.

For more posts about financial mistakes that consumers can avoid, click here.

Whether it is an oil change or a new loan or mortgage always ask for a discount. Lots of times you will receive a discount just because you asked for one , with no questions asked. Why not try and save money when you are making purchases. This is a perfect way to stretch your income and make it last longer. No one ever has so much money that they never have enough. There is always something more that you want to have and why not. So when you can save a few dollars or thousands of dollars, why not? Some people suggest that you should only focus on the large savings and forget the small stuff.  I suggest that you should focus on the big stuff, but also on the items that are really frequent. Over time you can save thousands of dollars as well which goes straight to your wallet. Negotiate Discounts all of the time.

Negotiate Discounts

Two examples will illustrate.

Car Maintenance Discounts

The first example was when I was having an oil change for my car. I asked if they gave senior discounts or discounts for triple A members. Without hesitating the parts manager offered me $10 off the price!

Now this includes an oil change, a 100 point checkup and a car wash for $31! What a good deal and I got this discount because I asked! There was no coupon or anything like that. It just goes to prove that you should always ask for a discount. Remember that the worst that can happen is that they say sorry, no discount.

Mortgage Discounts

The second example was when I was negotiating a new mortgage . I was already to sign the documents and I hesitated, put the pen down, looked the lender in the eye and asked if he could give me a discount. To my surprise he said yes and took another half percent off the interest rate, which saved me hundreds of dollars over the life of the mortgage!

Hotel Discounts

We travel a great deal and stay in hotels all of the time. We routinely receive discounts for carrying a AAA card as well as being seniors. In addition occasionally there is some problem with the room we stay in and the hotel is usually more than willing to provide a discount to compensate you for any inconvenience that you may have had. One time the air conditioner in the room was literally freezing up with ice. It was low on coolant so we just shut it off. In the morning we mentioned this to the clerk that they should really get it fixed before renting out that particular hotel room to another guest. Without even asking, the gave us the room for free. Now that is a discount.

Always ask, they might say no, but lots of times they say OK!

Save

We recently wrote a post about trusting your real estate agent and why sometimes you really have to think about what they are trying to get you to do. Do you trust your investment advisor? In fact you cannot always trust your real estate agent. So we wondered if you can trust your investment adviser? What are their motives and why would they help you. Basically everyone is in it for the money. You really have to watch for recommendations that also put money in the pocket of the investment advisor you are using.

Do You Trust Your Investment Advisor

This post is about investment advisers and whether you should trust them or not. Ninety nine percent can probably be  trusted not to scam you out of your retirement nest egg, however there have been some that are notorious and have run away with or scammed millions from unsuspecting seniors. Fortunately these are not frequent and most people are pretty careful these days to avoid scams like these. But what about the guy who is pushing stocks and collecting commissions?

Every time you talk to him on the phone or visit his office is he making suggestions to sell or buy a stock? Perhaps he feels that your portfolio needs to be better balanced and you should add a few shares or sell a few shares. Either way it is more money for him in terms of commissions! If you have good quality stocks, bonds and mutual funds that are paying interest and dividends, what is wrong with the buy and hold approach.

Advisers are notorious for suggesting that your portfolio should be well balanced to manage risk. While this is true and you really do not want to get significant out of balance in one area of your portfolio, do you need to make adjustments every time there is a slight change? We think not and perhaps an adjustment once a year is more appropriate. If you are into volatile stocks, then buying and selling, generating commissions may be appropriate as long as you are making money. Here are some questions to consider.

Questions to Ask

Have all their recommendations turned out well? Do they get you to trade often? Do they sell a lot of mutual funds to you that are front end loaded with high MER’s? If the answer is yes, maybe they are doing too many trades and collecting too many commissions! On the ridiculous side you can actually use up all of your dividend and interest gains by paying commissions and even your stock gains as well.

Most people are pretty careful, but it is important to think for yourself and not just follow blindly everything that the financial advisor is suggesting. How will you make money after you have paid all of the charges? Can you make a profit quickly? How much risk is there associated with each purchase? Are these safe blue-chip stocks that pay a good dividend? There are a lot of questions and we think that it is always a good idea to develop your own list of questions based on what is important to you and your objectives. Run the stock trade through each of these questions each time you plan to make a trade or your advisor suggests a trade.

Run Away

This is probably one of the best ways to protect yourself and avoid being scammed. If it does not feel right, then just do not do it. There is never any rush, even though they tell you that there will be never an opportunity like this one. If you are getting that story, then you probably should be running the other way!

For more general topics on investments, click here.