Saving Money

5 Steps To Get Out Of Debt

December 5, 2014 By Sherry Tingley

Your debt load is not insurmountable. Make a plan to whittle it down to zero.

Conquering The Debt Monster

The first step to getting out of debt is breaking it down into manageable portions and creating solutions a step at a time.

Allowing the problem to overwhelm you to the point of inaction assures that it will continue unabated.

ReadyForZero, a company that creates answers for people who are in debt, advises that a full understanding of your own finances is the key to getting a handle on debt. The company’s advice includes:

1. Know where your money goes.

Replace fear with facts. Be minutely aware of how much money comes into your household each month and where it goes.

If you make most of your purchases with a debit or credit card, log into your online account and do a detailed study of your purchase history. Divide it into categories such as Groceries, Entertainment, Rent, Utilities, Transportation, etc. If you use cash, track spending for a month to develop this data.

2. Don’t Spend Too Much

Are you spending too much? Debt is inevitable if your outgo exceeds your income. Resisting the ubiquitous advertising that surrounds us is a conscious choice that must be made. New electronic gadgets, clothing or cars seldom lead to real happiness if you can’t afford them and they shackle you with debt. Examine your spending behavior and start to change your mental processes. Remove the triggers that encourage you to overspend. Learn to distinguish between real needs and simple desires.

Get rid of your credit cards. Use only debit cards, cash or checks. These modes won’t allow you to overspend as credit cards do. If you are addicted to spending, find new way to gain pleasure and happiness. There are things you can do in almost any community that don’t cost money.

3. Focus On One Debt With The Highest Interest Rates

Pay off debts that carry the highest interest rates first. Add just a few dollars to each payment, more if possible. Some lenders will agree to a lower interest rate. If they will not, look for a transfer option that will give you a better rate. Consider a consolidation loan, but only if the interest savings are real. A small reduction in the interest rate can translate into a big savings.

4. Change Your Motivation

Your motivations have to change. And that isn’t easy. Find inspiration in your family, your life goals or meeting some kind of challenge. Make visible reminders, such a family photos and written ultimate objectives, that are constant reminders if the family is your focus. Write down goals, such as buying a house, retiring early or otherwise meeting life goals and put them where you see them daily. Set a specific date when you hope to be debt free and circle it on a calendar that you can’t ignore.

5. Increase Your Income

If low income is at the root of your indebtedness, try to resolve it. Look for a source of income outside your regular job. Sites such as Elance.com and oDesk.com offer short-term freelance jobs you can do at home. There are jobs in writing, designing, transcribing, organizing and other specialties that are listed online. If it is possible, try to increase your earnings at the job you have. If you can, upgrade your skills to make yourself more valuable to your employer. Research what other people in your job category make and, if necessary, try to match their earnings.

These steps will all make little inroads into your debt load. But none of them will make a difference if you don’t take that first step: the conviction that you can do it. Let fear and inertia drop to the side and begin.

WeChat Saves You Money On Long Distance Charges

November 10, 2014 By Sherry Tingley

WeChat is the fifth most-used smartphone app in the world.

Smart phone messaging applications have become essential to doing business, keeping in touch with friends, having fun on a vacation and saving money.

WeChat, an instant messaging system developed by the Chinese Internet company, Tencent has become an extremely popular messaging app. GlobalWebIndex lists WeChat as the fifth most-used smartphone app in the world. Forbes magazine says, “It is undoubtedly the most powerful mobile app in China today and is fast becoming one of the world’s most powerful too.”

Let’s review some of the features of the messaging app. It has the standard text messaging, photo messaging, video messaging features, social gaming, and it has talking functions. Talking functions are much like using a walkie talkie. Video calls makes the app even more valuable. Forming groups can be quite powerful as well. Up to 500 people can be in one group. While talking with groups, only one person can talk at once.

The number one reason people like this app is because it allows users to talk for free. That means if you have contacts around the world, you can talk for free. Talking through the application has cut down the enormous costs of long distance charges.

Globally, WeChat has around 397 million users. The app is most popular in China, where it was built and launched in 2011. There are around 300 million Chinese users. While China actively blocks some popular social websites they have not blocked this app.

So how can WeChat be both good and bad? The app also has a GPS system that allows other people to see where you are. In fact, there is a feature that let’s you shake your phone and find other members close to you that you can add as contacts.

This tracking ability has caused some problems. Chinese authorities have linked the systems use to a large number of crimes. Recently Tencent identified and shut down over 20 million accounts that they had successfully linked to prostitution rings.

There was a tragic incident where a Chinese woman met a man through WeChat and arranged to meet with him. Little did she know that he had just spent 13 years in prison and was currently being investigated for rape. The meeting proved fatal for the young woman. She was robbed and murdered.

There are also people who are concerned about threats to national security as well as personal privacy issues. The gps functions in the app reveals your geographic location. Security officials could monitor users’ movements in real time, critics say, and give non-users access to text messages and contact books. Countries such as the United States, Taiwan and India, as well as the home nation of China have all wondered about the threats to national security.

The benefits of the app will have to be weighed carefully for each individual. It is quite touching to see how one teenager, nervous to perform in a violin concert was reassured by doing a video call with her instructor.

?list=UUFkxNvRQLTqFHo2B5sQORVw

Start Early To Teach Kids Finances

October 28, 2014 By Twila Van Leer

Saving money is a good habit to get into. — Teaching kids to save money can help them in all aspects of life.

Like everything else, children have to learn the basics about personal finances in ways that make sense to them. Unfortunately, money matters often are overlooked when it comes to what’s important for them to know.

Starting early and being consistent are the keys to helping your children avoid the big bump that comes with hitting the financial world uninformed.

Start with regular savings. If the child has an allowance, convince him or her that putting a portion of that money into savings is a good idea. Don’t just assume they will go along with that approach. If they can be taught to save toward a particular goal, such as a new toy or a special outing, it will be more meaningful. But if they only save money to spend it immediately, they may miss the message. Only a portion of their savings should be in this category.

Many parents (nine out of 10, according to some sources) expect children to work for their allowance, another little dose of the real world that may come in handy as they embark into their own financial independence.

Sharing your family financial basics with children as they are able to understand is good backup for savings accounts. If your own finances are in disarray, they will have a hard time coming to healthy conclusions. Remember that the amount of the child’s allowance or savings is not as important as the consistency.

Starting early and regularly to absorb the basics of money management is the key to responsibility later on. When faced with their first forays into auto ownership, college and other adult expenses, they won’t be overwhelmed with it all. The loan officers with whom they deal will be more impressed if they have the vocabulary and the familiarity with financial terms and concepts.

Sound, lifelong money management skills may be the best gift you can offer to your children.

Three Tips For Protecting Your Finances

October 6, 2014 By Twila Van Leer

Monitor your statements for unauthorized charges.

There are a hundred ways to lose money out of your personal finance program, from having your credit cards compromised to making bad investments to purchasing counterfeit goods online. Be aware and be wary, the experts warn. Here are three specific steps to take to make your money more secure.

Protect Your Credit Cards: All of a sudden, only a few hours after you paid for your grocery store purchases with your credit card, someone in Anywhere, USA, is using it to make purchases of his/her own. It’s possible you lost control of the numbers at an ATM, but thieves have many ways to snag your data and misuse it. It’s far more likely you have been victimized by one of the massive data breaches that have made headlines in recent months. It probably isn’t possible to guard against any and all the potential methods the cons use to steal your information, but you can protect yourself by using only secure payment websites. Never store information in your Web browser. Check your account activity daily and act immediately if there are discrepancies.

Check Your Accounts: Investors, particularly those who are just learning the ropes, make mistakes. The first one is not taking an active interest in the market. “I have seen investors lose tens of thousands of dollars because they didn’t check on their accounts every few months,” said John Schmoll at Daily Finance. Set a schedule for periodic checkups with particular attention to fees, which can eat up earnings. Keep your portfolio balanced to minimize risks. At the same time, try to avoid concentrating your investments in the relatively small number of popular stocks that are the core of many mutual funds. Be careful and rational. Letting your emotions make decisions can be the beginning of big losses. Following the crowd isn’t always the best strategy when the crowd is reacting quickly to every uptick and downturn.

Buying Products: Some products lend themselves best to the counterfeit trade. In particular, in the United States, handbags, wallets, watches, jewelry, electronics parts and pharmaceuticals all are vulnerable to copy cat schemers. Look at the sellers before you fork over your cash. Particularly look for a physical mailing address and phone number. If there is no up-front return policy, beware. Check out the vender’s reviews before making a purchase. When ordering pharmaceuticals online, trace the seller’s affiliation with a legitimate manufacturer. If you can’t find such information, you may end up with fake products.

Tailgate To Double The Football Fun

September 28, 2014 By Twila Van Leer

Tailgating has become part of the traditional excitement during the annual football frenzy. And you can do it in style at a lower cost if you plan ahead and take advantage of shopping specials.

When budgeting for a tailgate affair, be sure you have food, gear, games, gas and parking all on the list. Then start looking for bargains.

Start ahead of time. As you find such items as brisket, ribs, chicken, hamburger or other family favorites on sale, buy and freeze them. The warehouse stores, such as Costco, Sam’s and others are generally stocked with beverages and the makings for every-day favorites such as hot dogs at reduced prices. Buy in bulk and divide up so you’ll have food on hand, game day or not. Then, when the food is taken care of, visit a local dollar store to stock up on paper goods and grilling equipment.

Save on ice by freezing water bottles and using them as ice packs while they last. Or think in larger terms. Large empty milk or beverage containers make good cooler coolers.

For many tailgaters, it’s a social occasion. Plan a menu in advance and divide up. The same goes for transportation to the game. Share rides and parking expenses if possible, with the promise that the hosting duties will be rotated among your group. Just be sure the vehicle you choose has a tailgate. Before you run out to buy fold-up chairs, tables or canopies, check with family and friends to see if you can borrow these items. Return them in good shape and maybe they’ll let you borrow again.

Do as much of the food preparation yourself as possible. No store-bought potato salad ever tasted as good as the one that comes from your kitchen. Ditto sandwiches, cookies, cakes and other tailgate goodies.

Anyone who has tailgated more than once knows the routine. The early arrivals get the prime spots. That may mean several hours in the parking lot. Plan on taking a few favorite games or crafts to fill the time. Pinterest has ideas you can follow or adapt.

Many families can’t afford to attend every home game for their favorite team, but that doesn’t mean the tailgate party must go by the wayside. Nothing wrong with the back yard – or even the basement or family room if the weather is as football-ish as it sometimes gets around the country. The idea is the same, pre-game festivities and then the game itself. Improvise.