Best Financial Tips & Updates

One of the main reasons our economy took a dive these past two years is because people took their mind off of the basics. Wealth and financial stability are created not by fancy and complicated investing strategies, not by being overleveraged and hoping for a great return; Wealth and financial stability are created by following a very basic, common sense approach to your finances. I am not a financial advisor, but I do know a thing or two about managing personal finances. Here I will share with you some basic yet proven strategies.

1. Pay Yourself First. The first 10% of your income should go into some type of savings account. If your employer offers a 401(k), a great way to hit this target is to commit 10% of your income pre-tax. This lowers your tax liability, and creates a nice nest egg. Whatever vehicle you choose for this money, it should be no less than 10%. Trust me, you can live off of the other 90%

2. Do not buy what you cannot afford. Sounds simple right? Yet millions of people purchased homes that they could not afford using bizarre adjustable rate mortgages. If you cannot afford something, save up until you can. Do not use credit cards if you are going to have to carry the balance forward, that means you can’t afford it.

3. You need a rainy day fund. You must put away some money just in case something happens. Most experts recommend 3 months salary. I suggest going past that and shooting for 6 months. Whatever number you choose, put it away in a safe and easy to reach account, and don’t touch it unless absolutely necessary.

4. Do not expand your lifestyle. Too many people expand their spending to meet their income when things are going well. If you are in sales, just because you have a few good months, does not mean you should go out and by a new car. When times are good, and you are getting more money than normal, you should be looking to save and invest that money.

4.1. Contract your lifestyle. If we piggyback off of the previous concept, we will be lead to the logical conclusion that we should spend less money. Take your lunch to work as often as possible. Clip coupons (what, you’re too good for saving money?), and look for sales. Buy items off season whenever possible. I know this may not sound like the most fun, but no one has ever become rich by writing checks.

5. When in doubt, consult a professional. When investing, seek qualified advice. Would you visit a gas station clerk to ask advice about a heart condition? I know that sounds ridiculous, but people do this all the time when it comes to money. Financial professionals are professionals for a reason.

There it is, five simple ways to get your finances where you want them to be. Nothing fancy, no get rich quick tips, but it works. It has worked for millions of people, it can work for you too. As always, now is the best time to start!

Unsecured debts are those in which no mortgage and no securities are involved. The term unsecured is used for the financial institutions. The types of unsecured debts are credit cards, personal loans, salary loans and medical loans. If you are in massive attack of any kind of these debts, it is better to go for debt settlement.

By debt relief program you can easily eliminate your unsecured debts in 12 to 24 months. To eliminate your debts, first thing you have to do is to find a debt relief company. The role of debt Relief Company is very important. The debt relief company will negotiate with the financial institution to get you an installment plan by which you can eliminate your debts in 12 to 24 months.

The debt settlement is an easy process. The basic purpose of debt settlement is to get a relief of unsecured debts by negotiating with the financial institution. The negotiation is done by debt Relief Company. The negotiation is bargain in which you will offer your credit card company how much and in how many installments you want to pay.

The problem of unsecured debts is that outstanding amount increases with the passage of time. What else you pay goes in the markups and extra charges. There is no fix installment schedule to pay back. Due to which the outstanding amount of your credit card increases whenever you will be late to pay or deposit less amount. That is why new installment plans are good if you are serious to pay back.

If you will stop paying the minimum amount, you will soon be called by the credit card company to come for debt relief. Now if you do not have amount to pay in lump sum then you must offer the financial intuition that you want to pay in equal installments. The negotiation will take a shape of installment where you will decide an amount that you will pay in 12 to 24 equal installments. The debt relief company cannot only help you to get an installment plan but also they can also help you to get a reduction in the total outstanding amount as well.

Avoiding bankruptcy is a main result of the concept of debt negotiation or rather one of the main expectations of this debt settlement concept. Well, is it possible to avoid bankruptcy and stop paying back credit card debt legally? If so, then how?

Just as problems of people rises day by day, credit card debt too join along successfully with the issue while creating heart feelings for many people. Avoiding bankruptcy merely relates with debt settlements which also provide the buffer in terms of getting relieved from worries. Here, once you figure out that you’re under a huge amount of unsecured debt and start to feel that your credit card company comes chasing behind you than before, you should definitely take immediate action.

Once you’re on track of receiving a debt relief of around 50% as proposed by the government under its method of stimulus money, you should consider in contacting a reliable debt relief service which would offer you with a fantastic debt relief! Here, in the process of avoiding bankruptcy, the next steps belong to the debt relief service in which you engage. As they will draw you a work plan and then focus in intervening between you and your creditor, the only thing you will have to do is, sitting back and watching while you pay them as per the progress which will be a very much affordable sum.

All these happenings take place as per the order of the government which has drawn a life line of debt relief by declaring dollars by millions in order to serve the needs of major financial entities existing. Equally, this process of avoiding bankruptcy and stop paying back credit card debt has been a table turning effort taken by any country in the present world.

Will a credit card company forgive you say, in 50% of your credit card debt? For some this may be a fact which is quite impossible to think of, and more will be surprised if I say that, I can prove it! Well, that’s the ’sweet truth’ here.

While you intend to acquire free debt help, this may be quite adequate information. Well, in the process of solving your unsettled and unsecured debt, the intervention of debt relief companies comes into act. Here, you will first if all need to find a debt relief company which will finally prove your success. Once you’re through, you will be considered liable for a debt reduction which will result of a negotiation.

You might think for a while, is it really possible? A debt reduction? Well, it’s a result of the president Barrack Obama signing up with a credit bill with regard to the highest financial entities of the United States. Under this act, the credit card companies are liable to give away a debt reduction of around 50 percent. They will certainly consider that: Something is better than nothing here.

As a matter of fact, you will be liable for a great deal of debt reduction in say, half! Here, your debt relief company intervenes between you and your creditor as a third party under an extreme legal policy which will cement your success of the process. This sprouts along with the fore said policy brought up by the president of the United States.

Now that you have understood how to get a credit card company to forgive 50% of your credit card debt, you will certainly pick up this very practice as a wise step in reducing your debt and which would also be the greatest investment towards your future in finance.

There was a time when bankruptcy was considered as the perfect solution to all financial problems. However, the amendment made in two thousand five has changed everything. Getting a bankruptcy has become more difficult. Lenders no longer are at the mercy of borrowers when bankruptcy procedure is filed. The lender can always point out that the individual qualifies better for a chapter 13 bankruptcy instead of a chapter 7 bankruptcy.

This means that a person who was ready to give up what little assets he or she had and wanted to get out of debt will end up in a debt management program where the debts shall be rescheduled and must be repaid over a period of five years. Simply said, bankruptcy no longer offers a free ticket out of financial problem land.

That is the reason why debt settlement has become very popular. Of course, there is no denying that the presence of the stimulus package in the market and the current economic scenario to has played a major role. However, the fact that bankruptcy is not as profitable as it used to be in the past has also played a major role.

The intensity of the crisis can be understood for the fact that millions of individuals and businesses are filing for bankruptcy despite the tough rules and regulations related to bankruptcy. This is one reason why the government stepped in with the stimulus package.

As on date, it would be perfectly accurate to describe debt settlement as a solution that is as good as bankruptcy but without the various disadvantages associated with bankruptcy. There are people who point out that both solutions lead to a drastic reduction in the credit score of the individual. Yes. That is true.

However, this reduction is not a permanent one. On the other hand, your credit score is marked for at least eight to ten years as the information becomes a part of your public record. As far as debt settlement is concerned, you can always employ credit repair professionals to improve the same.

Another reason why bankruptcy laws have made life difficult is the presence of the mandatory credit counseling session. Not only does your private and confidential information become public but it also makes you liable to undergo credit counseling by a government expert.

All this can be very embarrassing to say the least. On the other hand, credit counseling in a debt settlement proceeding is completely voluntary and private. That, needless to say, has a significant impact on your self esteem.

American Express has some of the best rewards programs out there, from Membership Awards to Starwoods Points, to simple cash back.

To demonstrate why, let’s analyze two transactions at Joe’s Coffee Shop, one using your American Express card, and one using your MasterCard/Visa from one of the big issuers (Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, Capital One, Wachovia).

• Scenario 1: You pay using Amex
• Joe’s pays a ~2.4% transaction fee to Amex, on average, to process the transaction. American Express owns the network, the card company, and the sales network to sign up new shops, so they keep the entire transaction fee.
• Scenario 2: You pay using your local bank’s MasterCard/Visa
• Joe’s pays a ~1.4% fee, on average, to process the transaction
• This fee is split 3 ways between: (i) the sales organization who signs Joe’s Coffee to use the MasterCard/Visa network, (ii) the MasterCard/Visa Network, and (iii) the bank who issued you the credit card.

Not only does American Express charge a higher transaction fee, they also keep the entire fee instead of splitting it 3 ways.

The virtuous cycle goes like this – (i) American Express has the most prestigious cardholders so they can charge merchants more, (ii) American Express charges merchants more so they can offer better rewards, (iii) American Express offers better rewards so they can attract premier cardholders. We believe this is precisely the reason why Warren Buffet owns 12% of the company. And this is also why when you pick up an American Express card, you get to enjoy extra rewards at the expense of Joe’s Coffees everywhere.

We ran some numbers and found that the following no fee American Express cards rank well, based on our calculation of annualized rewards and promotions, minus any annualized fees:

• The Amex Blue Cash pays 5% back on your grocery and gas purchases and 1.5% on everything else after you spend $6,500 in a year. For above average spenders, this can easily exceed an overall 2% reward rate.
• The Amex Costco True Earnings Card pays 3% back on restaurants and gas, 2% on travel, and 1% on everything else.
• The Amex Blue Sky is effectively a 1.33% cash back card. You get 1 point for every $1 you spend, and you can offset travel expenses on your credit card statement at a rate of 7,500 points per $100. This is one of the highest base rewards rates available that we know of.

Smart spending, and best of luck

Most people have heard of the term “credit card consolidation.” You are probably reading this because you might not have been sure exactly how it works or whether it could help you manage your revolving debt, like charge cards, gas accounts, and department store cards. Read on to get the answers to your questions.

So What Is It and Why Should I Do It?

Credit card consolidation is simply the act of combining together all of your revolving debt. Debt management companies can help you consolidate your balances and then assist you to reduce the total amount that you owe. In addition to that, they will help you set up a specific plan of action to get out of debt once and for all.

OK, What Should I Do First?

The first step to better manage your finances is to reduce the amount you spend. Find savings where ever you can. Sometimes the smallest things, like bringing a brown bag lunch and making your own coffee rather than buying a cup, can add up to the greatest savings.

That’s Easy Enough. What’s Next?

The next step is to reduce or, even better, stop entirely your use of charge cards. Put them away and only use them for the most dire emergency. Seriously, put them away. If they are in your wallet it is too tempting to pull them out to buy things on a whim.

What More Can I Do?

After you have taken those steps, the next thing to do is to research credit card consolidation companies. Have a meeting with the company that you are considering and bring along a list of your outstanding balances and interest rates. Once they have all the facts and figures they can help you map out the best plan of action for you.

Such companies will usually combine all of your debt and pay off the banks and credit card companies. Then you will pay them over a longer period of time and at a reduced interest rate. Sometimes the debt management company will even be able to negotiate with the banks to lower your balance. This is one of the biggest advantages of using a skilled professional to handle your financial problems.

Like with a lot of things, handling your personal finances is a learning experience. Few people get it right the first time and most people have had their own struggles with debt in the past. Even though you should expect some bumps and bruises along the way, you need to always be looking for ways to more effectively manage your money and your debt situation. If that means getting on board with a program to help, then it is better to do it sooner rather than later. So what do reputable credit card debt consolidation services do for people like you? They provide a loan and so much more.

It goes without saying that the primary thing consolidators have to offer is a low cost loan. The low interest rate is important, as it makes your debt much more manageable than it has been in the past. That is really not all that you will get out of the experience, though. Consolidators are taking on a significant risk with people who already have debt. For this reason, they have a vested interest in teaching people how to handle their money. They want you to succeed, so they work hard to show you the right way to manage your accounts.

When you first sign up for a consolidation program, they will sit down with you to figure out what you need and what you are capable of doing. This is important in terms of setting up a good loan, but it is also a chance for you to learn some tricks on how to manage debt. They will help you get organized and they will set you up with a plan for success. You can use this plan to get yourself up out of the hole and to make sure that you are working towards a solid recovery. When you start handling your money the right way, it can take a ton of pressure off of you in the future.

Do not be ashamed if you need help with your money management. Most things that you need to know have to be learned the hard way before you can truly have a handle. Take advantage of what the consolidators are willing to offer, as this is by far the best way to turn around what you have going on right now and push yourself towards an eventual goal of financial freedom.

With many articles having been written about the cause and course of the recent recession, it is time to look past the theory and focus on real tools and strategies used to survive the downturn, and how in many cases businesses used the ‘opportunity’ to strengthen their business for greater success both now and in the future.

Turbulent times represent a real opportunity to not only improve ones core business but to also improve your competitive position. Naturally, along with strategic opportunities come the inevitable risks, but with a smart course of action, proactive businesses have been able to optimise the opportunities and minimise the risks.

The core survival strategy is to:

• Tightening cost management to improve cash flow and maintain margins, in spite of revenue downturn
• Strengthen the core business – get rid of low profit lines and refocus on higher profit centers for the longer term
• Prepare for change
• Identify the right long term investments

When economists predicted that the economy would continue to decline until at least the middle of 2009, there was little to predict the downturn to be steep, long and turbulent. Smart companies have the right BI tools to make sure they always know where their businesses are at any time. This includes an objective corporate wide assessment of:

• Product portfolios and development roadmaps
• Technical infrastructure
• Operational efficiency
• Human capital
• Financial liquidity
• Current customer market economy

As we pull out of the recession and enter the recovery phase, each business will be in a different starting position, will have been affected in different ways, and to different degrees, so knowing where you stand at any time is essential insight. So just what did the winners of the recession do differently? They carried out a complete critical assessment, then deployed the right strategy. In other words, they PLAN to come out on top.

Critical Assessment

There are three critical questions that need to be answered:

• Who will the downturn affect the industry I am in?
• What is my current competitive position in the market?
• What resources do I have to draw upon – financial, supplier, internal; and how can you best capitalise on these resources to gain competitive edge over your customers?

If your business has a strong financial position then you can take advantage of any strategic and industry positions in a number of ways. You could invest more in marketing to increase customer retention. You could adjust pricing to undermine competitor pricing. There are many marketing tactics a business can use to dominate market niches. You may even consider M&A strategies with weakening competitors.

If you are in a weaker financial position you can divest non-core assets and reduce debt as well as taking aggressive cost reduction measures. Seek partnerships with those whom can provide part of your core service delivery that is non essential to maintain your competitiveness. Focus all your investment on your competitive core strengths. There will be a unique set of tactics each business can deploy in accordance to their own unique business situation.

Price Reduction Strategies

Many businesses make the mistake of aggressive price slashing strategies in such times. Whilst this may help liquidate surplus stock, it also resets the market expectation as to what price one can pay for certain goods and services and forces your competitors to also lower their prices. Each business must identify the cost of sale and support for each customer and approach it from a basis of profitability, not just revenue. In many instances, more customers mean more support costs – where retaining higher margins may mean fewer sales for the same revenue, but it also reduces support costs. Pricing strategies such as price wars generally worsen the market, rather than strengthen it.

Cost Reduction Strategies

As soon as ‘cost reduction’ hits the board room table, the most commonly attacked areas are those which are non-customer facing such as finance, information technology and human resources. Cut in haste-repent at leisure. Across the board cost cutting can be fatal – often eliminating activities essential to driving sales and profits. Most companies can reduce costs from 10-30% without impacting essential spending in those areas that actually provide the products and services that customers value.

In tough times – the sales and support staff are the most critical resources in the business. They are the ones with whom customers interact to make their buying decisions and as such as pivotal in retaining existing customers. Everything hinges on their performance.

Such areas should only be reduced, redesigned or restructured AFTER the core business strategies have been determined. In this way, only non-essential activities are eliminated.

Sales Strategies

The more effective strategy is to make your sales force more effective. Sadly, many companies demotivate their sales forces by withdrawing from sales motivational events and reducing bonuses for targets exceeded. Such companies are short sighted and fail to appreciate that sales people are the first to feel the brunt of a depressed market and as such need more motivation than ever before at such times.

One of the best sales strategies is to employ business intelligence – to ensure that sales efforts are laser targeted to the most profitable targets. This not only increases revenues but decreases the total cost of sale – thereby improving margins. Using a data-driven approach to sales is a sure way to boost the effectiveness of your sales organization, using:

Data Driven Sales Operations – Sales cycles always lengthen in a downturn, however using data-driven sales strategies results in higher win rates. Combined with rigorous management processes and disciplines that systematically channel prospects through the channel to closure will outperform any other sales or marketing strategy.

Targeted offerings – micro-niche marketing can be laser focused down to a market of one single customer. By tailoring your offer to individuals based on the details you have of their lifestyle and buying habits you are more likely to provide them with value they seek and effect a sale. Focus closely on what your market niches are experiencing during these times and how your product or service can assist them.

Performance management - even more amazing than withdrawing sales motivation events, many companies are retaining previously set sales targets for their sales teams. This has an immediate demotivating effect, in spite of any other strategies such as those mentioned above. The most important element to kick off your new sales performance strategies is to maintain motivation in your sales teams. Start by reducing targets, and then as the strategies start to show rewards, targets can be reinstated. By this time, the sales force is building confidence in the use of business intelligence and the new micro-marketing approach. You may also consider rearranging territories to better align with the new strategies. This may also reduce air travel costs. As individual sales persons become familiar with using performance dashboards they will very quickly be able to see what actions produce the best results, and your sales efforts will become optimised. Sales managers will no longer need to waste time on gaining performance updates from sales reps – they can instead better utilise the time talking strategies and helping reps overcome hurdles in the sales process.

Support Strategies

Using business intelligence in support can turn this cost center into a highly effective sales force. With real time information and background analytics, support reps can engage in event-based marketing every time they interact with a customer.

Coming Out on Top

For those companies that have the capability to think fast and make evidence-based decisions, the downturn can represent a valuable opportunity to improve their competitive position. During the last recession, many previously top rated companies failed to survive, and others who were seen as less effective rose to the surface, making enormous gains once the economy recovered.

This is a time not to slow performance but to drive corporate performance using business intelligence. This is the lesson and strategy outlined in my recent book ‘The Logical Organization’. Now, more than ever is not a time to make emotion driven decisions or rely on filtered memories of ‘what happened last time’. This recession is very much different from the last on many levels and requires a fresh approach.

Business intelligence is your BEST opportunity for developing a successful master action plan to set a rigorous program to not only survive, but to succeed during this time. BI helps you identify your core business, optimise your marketing, turn customers into loyal referrers and redesign your business ethos to propel you beyond this period into the future with a more agile, more capable and more enjoyable business.

During the process of your foreclosure, you do have rights. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that those rights are not that many and that some of them are not really of practical use for most people. For example, the right of redemption that some states have is only useful if you can come up with the entire amount that you owe your mortgage company. If most of us could come up with that kind of money, we would not be in a foreclosure situation in the first place. So what is the reality of your foreclosure rights and how do you save your home despite all of this?

With foreclosure, your rights are primarily determined by the state that you live in. Some states have very long foreclosure processes and give you more time to come up with a solution while others have extremely short foreclosure timeframes and you have to act quickly to save your home. If you do some digging, you can find out what rights you have in your state. Many states also have foreclosure resources like workshops or hotline numbers where you can find out what your rights are. A good attorney will also have that information but will likely charge you a fee to get it.

In reality, no matter what legal rights you have in your state, your bank is going to be the one who decides when they will begin foreclosure and they are the ones you are going to have to work with in order to try to stop it. Your best bet is to contact your bank as soon as you know that you are going to miss a payment. Some banks will be willing to work with you before you even miss your first payment but others will require that you are actually late in your payments before they even begin to discuss your situation with you.