Personal Finance Blog

Tips And Stories To Help You With Managing Money

Trick Your Brain, Build Your Wealth

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Make saving money automatic every month. The easier it is to save the better for you in the long run.
Make saving money automatic every month. The easier it is to save the better for you in the long run.
If we leave it to our brains, we don’t always end up financially well off. Evolution has created brains that look at the world in particular ways and predict certain behaviors that can be counterproductive. In short, humans tend to prefer short-term satisfaction over long-term gain.

So, time to change your mind. With effort, you can even use inherent thinking patterns to enhance your financial position. Here are some ideas:

Quit pitting saving against spending by making the savings automatic. Make a firm decision in favor of regular deposits into a savings account and then forget it.

Try to visualize what it is you want to achieve financially. A picture on the refrigerator of the object of long-term savings – a new home, maybe – is a constant visual reminder that you have to stick with the goal.

People tend to spend differently depending on their perception of where the money comes from. A credit card, for instance, may not offer as clear a notion as does cash, so it is easier to overspend with the card. Use cash when you can.

Use several savings accounts targeted to specific goals. That way, your brain is not tricked into thinking you are making more progress toward those goals than you really are. A generic savings account may be easier to dip into than one specifically labeled “Vacation in Paris.”

Save small bills. One-, five- or 10-dollar bills accumulate fast, although you may at first think it a strange way to save. It works because you are required to do mental accounting and there is an essence of “gambling” involved since you never know when the next bill will show up.

Use savings, except for retirement funds, to pay off credit card debt. At this point in time, savings earn little, and credit cards charge a lot. Make use of the difference. If you can pay down the credit card debt, you’ll have more to save. That requires a change in thinking and genuine action, but it’s worth it.

Ways of thinking about money, like everything else, can become habitual. The idea is to replace counterproductive thinking modes with those that will contribute to your financial well-being.

EMV Technology Becoming a Credit Card Reality

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Chip and signature technology for credit cards is helping fight theft.
Chip and signature technology for credit cards is helping fight theft.
With credit card security becoming more challenging, more banks are issuing cards with tiny computer chips that will, hopefully, make card use less risky.

Over the next year, it is likely that banks will replace credit and debit cards that feature magnetic strips with chip-embedded cards. One of the country’s largest bankers, Bank of America, announced recently that new customers will be issued cards with chips. Existing cards will be upgraded as they expire, the bank said.

The chips create a unique code for each transaction, which, hopefully, will stymie thieves who can use the magnetic strip information to create new cards.

The new technology has been in use in foreign countries for some time and U.S. banks have issued chip-embedded cards to Americans planning foreign travel. Shifting to chips in the U.S., however, has been complicated by the complex payment networks in use, according to a New York Times article. However, recent instances of serious data breaches has spurred adoption of the chip technology. Among the recent breaches was hacking of Home Depot data, which jeopardized data on 56 million cards.

Among the large financial institutions hurrying into the process is Chase, which said it already has issued a large number of chipped cards and expects that by the end of the year most of its debit cards will have the new technology. Wells Fargo is experimenting and plans to issue chip-embedded cards in the coming year. Citibank also will make the full shift in 2015. Most customers already have the option of requesting a chipped card.

While the banks hurry to implement the new technology, many retailers are behind the curve, the NYT article said. They do not have payment terminals to process the cards. Some major retailers, including Whole Foods, Sam’s Club and Costco, have the equipment and are accepting the new cards. It is expected that most big stores will have the right payment terminals by October 2015. Meanwhile, some card issuers are including magnetic strips as well as chips on their cards so customers can use either technology.

Users will discover some differences as the chip-embedded cards go into service. Magnetic stripe cards are swiped at the cash register. Chip cards are dipped into a reader and remain there for a few seconds while the transaction is approved. Customers will need more cautious to be certain they retrieve the card. That’s a small requirement in exchange for what will be less worrisome shopping.

Be Certain Your Resume Reflects The Real You

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resumeWhen your resume is a large part of the first impression a prospective employer sees, you want to be sure that the resume tells the true story. It’s enough to keep you awake nights before a crucial interview as you try to decide how much information is necessary and at what point it becomes fluff.

Experts share these tips for the job hunters:

By all means showcase your professional accomplishments, but relate them to the job you are seeking. How does what you have done relate to the skills required for this new employment opportunity? The company you are trying to impress will understand that you have researched the job and that you are in tune with the skills they want.

If your resume is dated, bring it up to date. It should be flexible to meet the specific needs of the actual position you desire. Though some information, obviously, will always be the same, there may be areas of your past work experience that will relate more directly to this position. The traditional wisdom said that a one-page resume is best. But if you have experience that seems relevant and it won’t fit on one page, don’t hesitate to include a second page. Be concise, but not stingy. Don’t short change yourself for the sake of brevity.

Your entire job history may be excessive, especially experience that is totally irrelevant to the position you are seeking. Don’t neglect gaps in your experience. Many times they are entirely justified. Even if you have gaps related to the current job market, many employers are aware that the recent recession put understandable holes into the job histories of many Americans.

Honesty counts. Don’t embellish your experience and skills. Open discussion of past problems is better than back-pedaling to explain things for which you have no good explanation. You may be asked to demonstrate certain skills. Failure to perform is the death knell for your application.

Neatness counts as well. Errors or a poor layout of your resume may catch the interviewer’s eye sooner than the content. Have a qualified friend or a professional proofreader look it over before you hand it to a prospective employer.

Non-paid internships or volunteer work in a related field are legitimate items to include in a resume, especially for young applicants whose experience is naturally limited. A mix of information may impress the reviewer with your willingness to try many things that add to your versatility.

Wal-Mart Offers new GoBank Accounts Sans Overdraft Fees

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Walmart Is Offering Pre-Paid Debit Cards
Walmart Is Offering Reloadable Pre-Paid Cards
Joining other large retailers that engage in semi-banking practices, shopping giant Wal-Mart has opted to provide a card-based program for customers who may overspend their accounts while purchasing in their stores.

The world’s largest retailer had teamed with Green Dot Corp., a leader in creating reloadable prepaid cards. New mobile checking accounts issued by Wal-Mart under the cooperative effort will not require fees for overdrafts and bounced checks. An $8.95 monthly fee will be charged for these GoBank accounts. The fee is waived if there is a deposit of $500 or more each month.

Accounts can be opened by purchasing a $2.95 starter kit at any Wal-Mart Store. A smartphone is a necessity, since most of the banking transactions are done through an app. Credit Bureau ratings commonly used to determine eligibility are not part of the application requirements. The idea behind GoBank is to provide options for people who don’t have a lot of money and may have poor credit scores.

The kit includes a MasterCard debit card that can be used to withdraw money or make purchases. No fee is charged for ATM withdrawal services at the 42,000 locations around the country. If money is withdrawn from ATMs outside the system, a $2.50 charge is levied. A 3 percent fee is added to withdrawals outside the United States.

The new arrangement is one of several moves being made to help Americans who are still feeling the effects of the recent recession. Both Bank of America and Citibank have begun offering fee-free accounts this year.

Regulators have been looking more closely at overdraft fees, which in some instances can go up to $35 per incident. The regulators have responded to concerns by requiring banks to get written approval from a customer to provide overdraft protection, which allows a customer’s account to dip below zero. Those who choose to have the overdraft protection still pay high fees. Some customers at large banks regularly rack up fees in the neighborhood of $260 a year, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Wal-Mart’s Daniel Eckert, senior vice president for services, said GoBank was the retailer’s response to customer concerns that regular banking fees are too high.

Three Tips For Protecting Your Finances

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Monitor your statements for unauthorized charges.
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.