It may pay in the long run to prevent a property from looking vacant.  Would-be vandals, thieves and illegal interlopers (who may use property for such things as illicit drug manufacturing) may think twice if the property has the appearance of being occupied.  Experts offer these suggestions for minimizing the prospects of damage:

Lock up: One unlocked window could invite unwelcome invasion. An insurance company may make it grounds to deny a potential claim. Double check to see that all entrances are secure.

Winterize: Shut off the main water valve. Drain water from plumbing, using compressed air, if necessary, to remove all remnants of water. Even a small leak can cause extensive, expensive damage.

Keep up maintenance: There are property preservation companies that specialize in giving vacant sites a “lived-in” look. They perform such services as maintaining lawns and yards, keeping mail and debris picked up, shoveling snow and generally making the property appear neat and occupied. If you can’t afford such a service, ask friends or neighbors for help in maintaining and monitoring the property.

Unplug: Even when turned to “off” an appliance can still draw a little power, so make sure all plug-ins throughout the property are disconnected. This move also can minimize the potential for fire.

Monitor: Test and retest smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and security alarms. Put in fresh batteries and test again before vacating the property.

Taking the steps to secure  an empty home may fend off a lot of headaches in the future.

Hugh Molotsi of Intuit, receives an award of $1 million dollars.

On August 31, 2011, Hugh Molotsi received the “Founders Innovation Award,” for his role in the development of Quickbooks Merchant Services. An employee of Intuit for many years, Hugh discovered a business problem by talking to business owners about why they weren’t use credit card processing and the most frequent response he got was that they didn’t know how to do it.

Quickbooks Merchant Services Impact

Providing a solution to that problem was the beginning of the creation of Quickbooks Merchant Services which Hugh was instrumental in developing. It was released in 1999. Within two months, the business was profitable. Within the first year, they had 3,000 customers. The next year, business tripled to 10,000 customers and revenue tripled as well. Intuit’s future businesses were built on the fundamentals that the Quickbooks Merchant Services had. Now most of their customers, revenues and profits are from Quickbooks Merchant Services customers. Most of the Intuit businesses today and most of them for tomorrow are because of Quickbooks Merchant Services.

Through Hugh’s leadership he has earned two leadership in excellence awards and four of Intuit’s Innovation Awards. According to Intuit founder, Scott Cook, he is a classic leader and teacher. He is a continuous learner and focuses on self-improvement. He received Intuit’s special recognition, special access to Intuit events, and a financial reward of $1,000,000.00.

Intuit Company Development

Intuit has produced the popular accounting software, Quicken for personal finance, Quickbooks, and Turbo Tax. Intuit is a financial services company founded in 1983 by Scott Cook, former employee of Proctor & Gamble and Tom Proulx, a computer programmer studying at Stanford University. These two brilliant people worked together to help make people’s lives easier by creating the first software accounting program for families and businesses.

Intuit now has a revenue of $3.9 billion dollars, was ranked #44 by CNN as one of the top companies to work for and was ranked in Forbes magazine as one of the top 100 most inventive companies. Their mission statement is to remain “driven by our passion for inventing solutions to solve important problems, perfecting those solutions and delighting our customers.” Intuit makes a practice of rewarding their innovative employees by giving them special recognition and handsomely rewarding them financially. Intuit has become a success story inspiring people from all walks of life.

Founder of Intuit

Scott Cook co-founded Intuit Inc. in 1983 and now serves as the chairman of the Executive Committee. He earned an MBA from Harvard University and received a bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics from the University of Southern California. Cook is a member of the board of directors of eBay; Procter & Gamble; the Asia Foundation; the Harvard Business School Dean’s Advisory Board; the Center for Brand and Product Management at the University of Wisconsin; and the Intuit Scholarship Foundation.
Quickbooks Checks

Disputing credit errors may not be a fun thing to do but it is very important to managing your financial health. Why? Because banks use consumer credit history to determine your eligibility for a loan and to determine what interest rates they will charge you.   If you think you might be applying for a loan, it would be best to monitor your credit scores.

Finding Mistakes On Your Credit Report

Murphy’s law states that “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” This is especially true with credit reports. Experian, one of the three main credit bureaus, stores 65 trillion bytes of data. Mistakes are bound to happen. Consumers should remember that inaccuracies found in your credit report can significantly lower your credit score.  Raising your credit scores depends on  getting these mistakes corrected. Remember that disputing errors is free to you.

You will need to get a copy of your credit report from three credit bureaus:  Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.  You should print a copy of these reports and go through each of them very carefully. If you find mistakes, highlight the data in question. It is important that you ask the credit bureaus to make corrections for you. Write down the credit report number for each of your reports. You will need to reference that number when communicating with the bureaus.

Once you have gone through all three credit reports, write an explanatory letter for each credit bureau. Your written request is generally called a dispute letter. Explain each disputed item clearly and concisely.  Send in your dispute letter with a copy of your credit report  via certified mail, call them or use an online form. Meanwhile, you can contact all lending institutions such as banks and credit card companies to tell them that your credit report is undergoing an investigation and that you have filed a dispute for erroneous information.

Contact Information For The Three Credit Bureaus

Equifax Mailing Address
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
1-888-202-4025

TransUnion Mailing Address
2 Baldwin Place
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19022
1-800-916-8800

Experian Mailing Address
P.O. Box 2104
Allen, TX 75013-2104
1-888-397-3742

What The Bureaus Do

Once the bureaus have gone through your files, they have 30 days to respond to your request. They will send you a letter containing the results of the investigation along with a note that they will remove or erase the inaccurate information in your credit report.

Once that is done, you can also request the bureau to mail correction notices to banks and lending companies they have sent the report to in the last 6 months. If you ask, they can also sent it to places that have requested your credit report in the last two years. The credit bureaus should send  you a copy of your report and they should include the details of the revised information.

In instances where the dispute has not yet been resolved, you can request the bureau to update you on the status of your request. Consumers must remember they cannot remove erroneous information on their own. A dispute must be filed for an investigation to happen.

Recommended Reading

For further information about credit management, you can visit the Federal Trade Commission site where you will find consumer information about credit and loans.

Experian provides the latest credit analysis news from 90 countries around the world. You’ll find out bits of information like New Yorkers have the most open credit cards and Phoenix has the least.

If you want to limit the credit card offers you receive through the mail, call 1-888-567-8688.

Strengthen your financial well being by educating yourself about managing your credit and making smart financial decisions.

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Feel free to add your debt story here.

Pay off your debts before your purchase looks like this.

1 – No Debt No Matter What

Never believe that a little debt is o.k. even though it may seem manageable at the time. Debt is like cancer. It’s not life threatening at first because it’s small and only involves a few cells. Over time though it can rapidly multiply until it takes over. You become a slave to your debt. It rules your life.

2 – Avoid cosigning on a loan

No matter how easy this can be, you’ll be better off if you don’t do this. Think of the worst case scenario and that is how you may suffer. Don’t loan others money. You are not helping them by letting them avoid responsibility for themselves.

3 – Learn About Financial Products

Financial Products

Prudential Financial did a study about women and finances. Three quarters of the 1,088 women interviewed feel they need help in making financial decisions. Two thirds of the Baby Boomers are behind when it comes to saving for retirement. Six in ten women prefer learning about financial products through family and friends. Women who get a good financial advisor, find extra help in getting on the right track to preparing for retirement.

4 – Avoid Impulse Buying

If you are tempted to purchase things that you hadn’t planned on, give yourself some time to think about the purchase, especially if it is a large purchase.  Go home and think about it overnight. You’ll make better buying choices.

5 – Avoid The Sales Rationale

Some people purchase things just because they are on sale. They tell themselves that they are saving money. If you buy a $500 item on sale for $400 you aren’t saving $100 if you didn’t need it in the first place. You are just spending $400 unnecessarily. This rationale can happen at any level of spending, whether it’s a $10 item or a $1,000 item.

If you find that you are experiencing any of these danger signals, do something different today.

Danger Signals To Watch For

• Is an increasing percentage of your income going to pay off debts?
• Are you near or at the limit on your lines of credit?
• Do you worry a lot about money?
• Are you tapping your savings to pay current bills?
• Is your savings inadequate or nonexistent?
• Do you put off medical or dental visits because you can afford them?
• Are you working overtime to make ends meet?
• Has your car been repossessed?
• Are you unsure about how much you owe?

Your financial future is up to you. What you do with your time and money is going to affect you and everyone who depends on you. Use the resources available to you to help you make better financial decisions.

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. ~ Benjamin Franklin

The site helps you find better prices on things you buy, guides you to the best credit card rewards and minimizes finance charges. It has helped people find $300 million in savings, managed $50 billion in assets and helped track $200 billion in purchases.

Security for this type of financial analysis is of utmost importance to  Mint.com. They have bank level security. They also have a “read-only” connection to financial institutions so no money can be moved and no one can drain your accounts. They have low-balance and spending alerts to help you manage your accounts and prevent identity theft or fraud.

What inspired him to create this type of site?

He found that he was spending most of his time working and had little time to track his own finances. Frustrated with how Quicken, Intuit’s financial software, worked, he decided to create his own program. He designed a way to make tracking his finances easier, quicker, and more automated. He created a business model that allowed people free use of the money management tools. From the data aggregated, they could offer suggestions on ways to save money, lower interest rates on credit cards and make better financial decisions

How did he fund the website?

Aaron had to raise venture capital money to fund the project and it was not always easy. He experienced highs and lows. Sometimes he thought his idea was the greatest thing since sliced bread and other times he questioned himself with his attempt at tackling such a big project and competing with Intuit, a $10B company. For comfort in the low phases, he often thought of a quote “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we might oft win, by fearing to attempt.” Shakespeare

How does the software work?

Aaron Patzer received a license from the company, Yodlee, to use the technology that powers 85% to 90% of all the online consumer finance sites. The communication between you and your bank uses this technology.

Then, he did what he is good at. He began to work on algorithms that would take the financial data and make it useful. One algorithm was patented and contains 105 steps to have transactions labeled with appropriate categories. Other algorithms helped to make recommendations on ways that the user could save money. He now holds 11 patents on algorithms.

How did the site become so popular and successful?

When the site was first launched it won awards from The Motley Fool for the best money management tool. TechCrunch40 awarded them the hottest start up company of the year and they really began to take off. Over the next few years they received 47 awards from well know companies like, CNNmoney.com, Time.com, PC magazine, Kiplinger, the World Economic Fund, LifeHacker.com and Business Week.

What does Intuit think of Mint.com?

Intuit’s executives watched Mint.com for over a year. They became so impressed with the features of the site that the CEO of Intuit, Brad Smith approached Aaron and offered to buy the company. On November 2, 2009, Intuit purchased Mint.com for $140 million, offering Aaron the chance to be in charge of Mint.com and all Quicken online, desktop and mobile offerings, which he agreed to do.

Aaron Patzer, earned his bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, and computer science, and electrical engineering, at Duke University as well as a master’s degree in electrical engineering and algorithms from Princeton University. Some of his first work after graduation was working on a cell microprocessor, used in the PlayStation 3 and it uses three of his patents.

What is Aaron Patzer’s advice to entrepreneurs?

His best advice to other entrepreneurs is to “observe the world around you – everything you do, and especially everything you hate to do – solve a real problem and the world is yours.”

Protect Yourself In This Fragile Economy

Personal finance tips can come in handy when you are trying to improve your financial situation.  Economic struggles in the past several years have really turned some people’s lives upside down.

In March, 2010, the number of long-term unemployed people (those without a job for over 27 weeks) was a staggering 6.5 million. There were 15 million unemployed people. That’s a lot of people struggling to make ends meet any way they can.

To help you through this tough economic time, make sure that you help yourself by doing some of these practical things.

Protect yourself

• 1. Get a credit report every year so that you can make sure your credit is in good standing.
• 2. Scan everything in your wallet. In case of theft, you’ll have all your account numbers and contact information available.
• 3. Stop overdraft fees by going online and hooking up your checking account with a savings account.
• 4. Sign up for an alert that warns you when your account reaches whatever amount you choose.
• 5. Keep well organized financial documents for tax purposes
• 6. Diversify your sources of income.

Setting Goals

• 7. Decide what you want to do with your money.
• 8. Cover the necessities first
• 9. Use free websites for tracking goal setting
• 10. Choose some new starting points to hope for the best but plan for the worst.

Savings Strategies

• 11. Start saving at an early age.
• 12. Save money on a weekly basis and leave it alone for a while.
• 13. Order free information for your vacation planning.
• 14. For older folks, estimate your retirement benefits online at www.ssa.gov where you can put in your social security number and estimate your retirement benefits.

Debt Management

• 15. Use your tax refund to pay off high interest credit card debt.
• 16. Go to the websites where you have credit card accounts and sign up for an alert to remind you 10 days prior to the due date.
• 17. Request a reduction in your credit card interest rates.
• 18. Be grateful that your debt is not as big as the country’s debt.

Daily Living

• 19. Take an oath of financial honesty, with yourself and with others.
• 20. Use your local library instead of purchasing books.
• 21. Eat at home. Avoid restaurants to limit calories and cash expenses.
• 22. Reassess your possessions and see what you can live without.
• 23. Tell a friend what you are saving for and ask for emotional support.
• 24. Practice self-monitoring. Track spending using software like quicken or see if your online banking has a budgeting feature and track it for free.
• 25. Beware of advertising campaigns to entice you to spend more on house-hold goods. Proctor & Gamble, will increase advertising expenses by 20% in 2010.
• 26. Shop at cheaper stores. You can get Egyptian cotton sheets at discount stores.
• 27. Recognize buying mistakes and vow not to make them again.
• 28. Give away things you don’t need to make room for your new life.
• 29. If you are suffering from depression about your finances, discuss it with your doctor.
• 30. Learn to live with less – do you really need everything you have stashed away?

Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.

Emotional Financial Decisions

There have been studies done by behavioral finance experts that say by nature we seem to look at our own situations as worse than they actually are. Is that true for you? One solution to this problem is to figure out how to conquer the emotions that stop you from making the best financial decisions you can.

What are you risking?

Psychologists often use the phrase, “The emotional tail wags the rational dog.” The same is true for us in managing our personal finances. So what can you do to help yourself?

The first thing to do is to save money and save money early. A gentleman was discharged from the Army in 1958 with a check for $3,500. He got some advice from the head of research at Smith Barney about what to do with his money. He was advised to save it and invest it. He ended up investing the entire amount in IBM stock because he was familiar with the company. That stock is now worth over a quarter of a million dollars.

Why Is It Hard  To Save Money?

Richard Thaler, author of the bestselling book,”Nudge,” and professor at the University of Chicago, School of Business, says that the biggest problem Americans have is just not saving enough money. It is recommended that you save ten percent of your income, but many people fall far short of that. He says that people are not perfect. We all make mistakes. Figuring out how your emotions are getting in your way of saving will go a long ways in helping you get your finances back on track.

David Laibson, an economics professor at Harvard reports that the reason that people don’t save is primarily due to procrastination. They don’t want to fill out the paperwork that would make automatic payments into a savings plan. They decide that they’ll do it next week. It’s very similar to putting off a diet. It’s much easier to start on Monday. Do something about putting a savings plan in place. Use a strategy like saving ten percent of your income and put it on auto pilot.

Can you imagine how it would feel to have done this consistently throughout your life time? Warren Buffet, the third richest person in the world, worth $47 billion dollars, keeps $20 billion dollars in cash on hand. It helps him sleep at night.

Steps You Can Take Now

Your area of focus should be on building an emergency fund that will carry you through three to six months of unemployment. Try to eliminate big money expenses that may be unnecessary. Start networking with others before you lose your job. Find organizations to join where you can network at least once a week. Seventy-three percent of six-figure earners landed their current positions through personal contacts.

Get your finances back on track by saving on a regular basis, making good financial decisions without undue emotional factors and do yourself a favor by networking with others like-minded business people on a regular basis.

Josh Muszynki's Statement

During 2009,  abusive overdraft and insufficient-funds fees brought banks more than $38 billion dollars. The new credit card regulations have been helping to bring that number down. The new law protects consumers from abusive fees, penalties, interest rate increases.

With statements sent out in March of 2010, you might see additional information printed on your credit card statements. The new credit card statements include an easy to see LATE PAYMENT WARNING which tells you what your late fee is going to be if you don’t make a payment by the date printed. This is easy to see and is not buried in fine print on the back of your statement.

Then you’ll see the sobering statistics that will come to reality if you continue making the minimum payments. If you continue on your merry way, it may take you 20 years, 25 years or 30 years to get rid of this debt.

Followed by that horrifying news, it tells you how long it would take you to pay off your debt if you just made a larger payment every month.

Then you are asked if you would like  an aspirin or a drink. Not really, but it does offer you credit counseling services and gives you a number to call besides 1-800-IAM-DUMB.

In early March, 2010, Bank of America came to our financial rescue by deciding to help us avoid overdraft fees. Now they are actually going to decline your debit transaction at the point of sale if there are insufficient funds, instead of letting it go through and charging you fees.

Although there are new protections for consumers to avoid overdraft fees, you can still be charged fees if you are late on your payments. Do yourself a favor and keep your payments current if you have any credit card debt.

The best way for you to manage your money is to buy things that you can pay for with the money you have. Sounds pretty simple. Why has credit card debt quadrupled between 1992 and 2008 to $853 billion dollars? -  Because many don’t follow this advice.

Joshua Kennon, a person who saved 90% of his income for a very long time, reminds us that “there are tens of millions of Americans who live free from the burden of credit card debt and there is absolutely no reason you can’t be one of them. ”

If you have suffered from overdraft fees  and it has negatively affected your finances, you will most likely be very happy that the credit card rules and regulations will help you end this destructive force.

Keeping your financial life in order is one way to get yourself on the pathway to being wealthy. When you have a pile of  bills and paper work cluttering up your office, it is likely that you don’t know what is coming in and going out. You have relinquished control when you are in that state.

If someone needed your tax returns for the past year, could you locate them easily? If you needed your social security card, birth certificate or will, would you know where they are?

Have you left instructions for your family members to retrieve important financial information in case you passed away? Do they know where your life insurance policies, bank accounts or your property deeds are located? Dealing with the death of a loved one is difficult enough without putting the burden of locating your important information on the shoulders of your children, relatives or friends.

Create a filing system that will be easy for you to use and tell your family  where you’ve put your important papers. A filing system is important for keeping tabs on your investments, your tax returns, your will, your insurance information and other legal documents. Is your system going to help you locate the important papers when they are needed? Most people understand how helpful a filing system is once they have it working for them.

What do you do with your mail? There are so many advertisements and junk mail that accumulate. It’s best to deal with this trash on a daily basis. If you have mail that you want to get rid of, be sure to use a shredding machine. Important information can be on unwanted mail. There are people who make a point of rummaging through trash to get this information and that can put you in serious risk for identity fraud. You don’t want that to happen to you.

What about bills that come in? Where do you put them before you pay them? With the online banking services available you can simply take the bill and set up a scheduled payment for it that will be sent out when you choose it to be sent. Then destroy the bill if you don’t need it for any record keeping. If you can keep up with the mail and bills coming in  with a system that is orderly, you’ll avoid a lot of late payment fees and be able to use the money you earn more effectively.

No plan is going to work for you if you don’t actually do it and with money matters, some people just hate dealing with organizing this information. Even looking at a credit card bill can feel devastating. If you’ve had spending sprees that you regret, you won’t even want to open your credit card bills.

It may be difficult for you to imagine what is going to get you back in control of your financial life. The most important thing to do is to have the courage to create a good system that works for you. Get rid of the large bin that you toss your mail into and forget about for weeks on end. Get back on the pathway to wealth by creating a system that works for you. You’ve done much harder things in the past. Organizing your finances is one way to treat yourself well and gain back a feeling of peace in your life.