Healthy Money Saving Tips

Article written by Sherin Dev; Follow me in Twitter or be a fan in Facebook

health and money saving tipsHere is a list of money saving tips. These tips are not only to save lots of money, but one who follow and practice these tips could live long with better health to body and mind. There are lots of such tips available in the net on the subject but most of the time it scattered to here there. This is a project to make all those tips to come under single umbrella for easy reference and practice.

If you have any questions or queries or even suggestions with more tips, most welcome to do so. Do it right away by adding a comment into this article or send to me directly. I would appreciate your ideas and queries to the maximum extend.

Here is the 'Healthy Money Saving Tips' for all Money Hacker readers. Health is our Wealth. It is sweet, if related to save lots of money. Take a look:

1. Quit smoking – Smoking is of course, a bad habit. Quitting of the same would help you to save lots and lots of money which starts from the very beginning day. One could be able to immediately realize the stream of such savings from the very next moment of reducing the quantity for some days. If not interested to quit smoking, switch it to little cigars that cost less. Don’t contribute tobacco to the nature from where millions of children taking breathe. Do you agree with this?

2. Stop drinking. If not, reduce it to the maximum possible. This has three benefits: It would save lots of money, health and bring happiness to the family members too..

3. Avoid packaged or tin foods. Tin foods considered as one of the major health losing element. Read the ingredients of packaged foods. If you can't pronounce two or more, then don't eat it. Such ready foods generally come with high price tag which would be more than two times of the cost of making the same in our home.

4. Walk to Money and Health - If you are able to walk, take that path. Daily walking is a good health exercise and it would help you to save money from not using own or public vehicles daily.

5. Drink More Water - Of course your body will thank you for this. It would keep your health well balanced and avoid unnecessary diseases to help you save lots of money. More over this, water would cure skin related issues like dry skins etc..

6. Always prefer balanced food - Don't eat too much food. Don't prefer more sugar and salt. Both are dangerous to health and money. "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, supper like a pauper"

7. Never fail to consult doctor immediately - In case of doubt on any possible disease symptoms to anyone, never delay to consult a doctor by thinking would wait for some more time to confirm the disease. It may later cost you money to a huge extend along with bad health.

8. Have a regular check up with your doctor for your entire body. This would help in preventing many regular diseases. Prevention is better than cure.

9. Practice yoga or exercise regularly for at least 15 minutes each day. This would help to stay healthy and avoid lots of diseases thus able to save lots of money. Madam, hospitalization is so costly nowadays.

10. Use refrigerator wisely - Remember, refrigerator is a place to keep raw food. It is not the place to keep cooked food for more than 1 day. If you have a habit of cooking and keeping bulk food in your refrigerator to make it hot and use everyday, you are compromising to your and family members health. Making hot of the food each time cost you money too through using electricity or gas.

11. Consider your medical insurance seriously or evaluate it time to time. Living without a medical insurance policy in today’s world is highly dangerous to all.

12. Never over-sleep. This would add wait to your body thus you later get forced to spend more money to reduce it or cure any diseases happens due to over weight.

13. Brush well and floss every day. It literally takes 5 minutes to floss, brush, and rinse with mouthwash. This will make you, your dentist, and your wallet very happy. Encourage each of your family members too to take this path. Remember, dental treatments are too costly.

14. Avoid bottled drinks - Bottled drinks such as cola, are too dangerous for health and money. Leave such habits. Use bottled water instead, to save more money and health.

15. Avoid eye stress - Watching televisions or working with personal computers regularly for long time is highly harmful to eyes. This would later board one to hospital thus cause lots of money lose.

16. Be clean and neat - Always be healthy by keeping surroundings clean and neat. Have proper pest control in place for home and offices. This would eliminate harmful bugs like cockroaches, rats etc., which spread of multiple diseases. To sustain always healthy, yourself and the living place should be clean and healthy.

17. Consider raw fruits - Do you know consuming fruits as raw, is better than consuming it as juice. Juice is costly too in shops or cost electricity when using juicers in your home.

18. Proper hand washing prevents lots of diseases like flu etc... Have a practice of washing hands immediately upon reaching to home from out side or after coming out from a toilet. You would be able to save lots of money if make it as a best practice.

19. Well balanced food - Provide well balanced food to kids. Consult a doctor and get advice on this to add items to your kids or your daily meal. Careless food may bring the kids sick and add you more tension.

20. Care your teeth - If you disregard dental health, you are putting your heart at risk. They are connected. The plaque on your teeth causes heart diseases - this is a hidden fact. A little bit of floss is cheaper than open heart surgery!

22. Avoid fast foods - Remember, fast foods are too dangerous to your health and pocket. We don’t know what all are the contents in it to make it tastier and fragrant. If you have a habit of having fast foods, remember, you are near to the seat of St. Peter.

23. Reduce cosmetic usage - Using cosmetics unnecessarily, would cause skin, body problems. A best example of this is using cosmetics to change hair colors and tattooing. Later you may either lose you hair or hands entirely :-)

24. Have more fruits and vegetables - Fruits and vegetables are excellent to health, but always wash them properly. It may contain chemicals from the farm which cause you troubles to health and thus money too.

25. Have a garden – It is fantastic if you have a garden focusing to vegetables. You would get fresh vegetables, fresh air, mental health, daily exercise and save money through it.

26. Never believe advertisements on health items, medicines. Always consult your doctor or an authorized person before using or consuming such items.

27. Use items from nature! Have a search. There are lots of natural items available around us to beautify our self than visiting a beauty parlor where they use chemicals to do so. Remember, a Dracula never come like an angel :-)

28. Dieting is always good. But, one should consult a doctor before do so. Or it would later cause you unnecessary money lose.

29. Care when sit and sleep - Remember, your chair in office and your bed in home both play eminent roles in your health. Choose and use both wisely and perfectly.

30. Recycle any used medicines immediately. This would help to not use such medicines accidentally and out of reach from children at home. Always careful to check the expiry dates before consuming any medicines. Don’t invite more troubles on an already existing one.

Most fantastic Final Tip - Have a happy family. Be and share your time with your children and family members. This would greatly reduce lots of tensions that later cause unnecessary health issues. Happy family always found healthy family.

Those who still wonder how these tips save money: Each of the above tips helps you to save lots of money as it is directly and indirectly connected to the health. If you look deeper, you would get exact idea on how it happens. Once if you not understood still, read and think little deeper to understand the idea perfectly.

If you have a tips in such kind, send it to me or comment with the same hereunder. That would be resourceful to this article and helpful to all readers.

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Why to Create and Maintain an Investment File

Article written by Sherin Dev; Follow me in Twitter or Facebook


Create and Maintain an Investment FileIf you play close attention to the article title, it is little difficult to guess immediately about what I meant with that title. You may now thinking or have multiple questions in mind such as what really an investment file is?, what is the reason and use of creating and maintaining such files? How would it help to take successful investment decisions and many more.. Hmmm... this article would be an exact place to clear off all those doubts and at the end of reading this article, you will start creating your own investment file and maintain it to take successful investment decisions.

Before moving to the top and root of an investment file, one should need to know the reason of having such file. Value investing approach is always works in a "wait and see" mode. This means, an investor wait with all necessary information that supports investment in a business to seem whenever the right time approaches to invest in that company to the maximum. First step of value investing is the creation of a list of possible investment candidates. This list would later narrow down to get the best and perfect candidates to invest as final. Such list always created based on the product and service penetration to the market, management efficiency, return possibilities. This is required lots of efforts. Once made such final list of good business or companies, the real work of a value investor starts from that point. Here is the real requirement of having a proper investment file starts.

So, what is an investment file?


An investment file is a collection of information about the company and maintains it separately. Such information can be collected from various available sources and this would include up to date information on company business, management activities, market news’s related to the company etc... and in a day to day basis and maintain it in the file. Information on company prices, valuations, competitors information all would taken place in an investment file. One can use all the possible sources like internet alerts, financial news papers, finance and business magazines, and financial channels, trusted websites to collect and analyze information about the potentiality of the company to invest.

Why should an investor maintain such file?

An investment file is the immediate resource for an investor to get information on a company to support any investment decision making by that investor. It generally contain most updated information on the business, management, financial and market news’s, those are highly worth to invest on the business from an investor perspective. Such file can consider as a meter to measure company and management performance time to time by having corporate action details collected time to time.

Major advantages of maintaining an investment file

One of the major advantages of maintaining a file which ensure an investor always updated with latest information on the business. This would help him to identify best times to purchase or sell the business. It also would help him to get information on competitor actions, sector changes and any positive or negative impacts happening to your company business due to such, if any, which is vital to the business owners to make time to time decisions.

What could include in an investment files?

All available information about the company is required to record in an investment file. Company financial details, annual reports, management decisions, historical information about dividends, product launches, competitor information, debt information and its changes year to year, historical stock prices like the high and lows at the time and after major recessions and down turns, which help you an idea on how low the company prices can reach without any reasons. This is little technical, but an investor should consider all possibilities to get the good business in right price.

Conclusion


Investment file is a vital source for an investor to take right actions at right time. Whenever investing, an investor should have sufficient knowledge on all about the business. Investment file creation should do by each investor and bull market time is the best to start. Moreover all advantages, collection of information would later come as a fantastic hobby of investor which later highly helpful to him. Knowing all about a company help any investor to predict its future easily and thus his investment future too... if you have not made an investment file, go and start short listing your intended businesses or companies and start a file by collect and maintain information about each of those companies.

Remember, an investment file doesn't have any specific model, but it is totally depends on how you are managing it. You can manage it by collecting and printing all details about the company or taking it from various books and magazines directly then put it in a physical file where space allocated to each companies. This can even maintain on a personal computer by creating folders for each companies and collecting information to each.

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Flipping Houses: A Hit or Miss Investment?

Editor's Note: This is a Guest Article from Kathleen Macky

Flipping Houses: A Hit or Miss Investment?If you listen to media pundits, it seems like flipping houses is always either on the rise or on the decline. The truth is, a savvy buyer with a smart plan can pretty much ensure turnaround over time. Although the lending crisis and a weak economy has certainly put a crunch on the buying and selling of homes, a person with a little time and money on their hands still stands to make some profit through flipping.

First and foremost, you need to understand how flipping works. It generally includes buying a house, fixing it up quickly, and reselling as soon as possible (ideally before the first mortgage payment is due) for a profit. Most people who are just starting out should either have some handyman skills (laying flooring, installing cabinets and counter tops, or even painting and swapping out lighting fixtures), have some friends willing to work for cheap, or know some reliable and cost-effective contractors. Over time, you’ll be able to pay to pass the labor on to someone else, but you should plan to be heavily involved in the upgrading process, at least in the beginning.

That said, you may be a bit worried about investing in what appears to be a fairly risky venture…as well you should be. Yes, this is a buyer’s market. You can currently find pretty outrageous deals on decent homes in nice areas. Unfortunately, it is not a seller’s market, which means you may be hanging onto the property for awhile. So here’s the rub. You either need to wait for the market to improve before you begin your operation, or simply adjust your selling strategy. You should stay abreast of trends in sales. Which areas seem to have the quickest turnaround? Are homes or condos selling faster? Are families or individuals buying more? What price range seems to be enjoying the most sales? All of these are questions you should be asking yourself before you even start looking.

You may also want to consider what you will do with a property if it doesn’t sell. How many months can you float it (making mortgage payments and losing money) before you have to default? Are you willing to lower your price and make less profit to guarantee a sale? What will you do if the property turns out to be a money pit? If you simply can’t unload, would you be willing to consider renting to cover costs? Assessing the possible risks and having a plan in place can not only reduce stress, it can save your business.

Although flipping houses has its own unique challenges to contend with, you need to approach it like any other business proposition by educating yourself and creating a sound plan of attack. Those who are most prepared tend to be the most successful, so remember that you need to stay on top of market trends even as you continue to work and expand your business. In the fast paced world of flipping, you can’t afford to rest on your laurels, so don’t assume that a few good sales equal instant success. You stand to make a lot of money flipping, but you have to be smart, hard-working, and determined. Otherwise, you’ll end up in the same boat as the previous owners; with a foreclosure sign on the lawn.

Kathleen Macky owns a real estate website where you can browse Wesley Chapel homes for sale.

guest writers blogAbout Guest Writer
This post was written by a guest writer. If you'd like to add a guest post in Money Hacker, please check out Write for Us page for details about how YOU can share your knowledge with our community.


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family finance management

For the late comers, here is a group of eminent articles on the specified subject category. Click to read an appropriate one you are looking for. To read more about personal finance and investment category, visit the home page by clicking the home button above, right side of the blog title.

  1. 10 Fabulous Financial Resolutions for New Year 2010
  2. 5 Must Required Money Practices for Every Person
  3. 5 practical child savings ideas
  4. Bring Your Kids with Financial Literacy
  5. Child Investment and Financial Planning Resources
  6. Child savings and investment requirement
  7. Convert Your Credit card Habit as a Money Source for Your Child
  8. Financial Planning for Higher Education
  9. Financial Planning for Kids in India
  10. Guide to the Core of Family Financial Planning
  11. How I Raised Money to Purchase My First Stock
  12. How I used budgeting to buy shares for my kid
  13. How to Make Your Kid Smarter
  14. How to Secure Childs Finance and Investment Portfolio
  15. How to Teach Your Child about Financial Responsibility
  16. Mini Financial Plan for Standard Families
  17. Money Lesson For Kids
  18. Money Tips for Women
  19. Money lessons to kid
  20. My Dream Eco friendly home features
  21. My Personal Plan for Creating Investment Portfolio for Kid
  22. Qualified yet Bored? Successful Home Business Ideas for Housewives
  23. Reclaiming Credit Card Charges – Fair Game?
  24. Role of Debt Investments in a Portfolio
  25. Role of Family Members to Family Financial Planning Process
  26. Strategies for the Time of a Food Inflation
  27. Teaching the money saving strategies to kids
  28. Two Essential Financial Resolutions to Set for This New Year
  29. Understand the Six Pillars in Child Financial Planning
To read articles from more category, visit and select from the Archives page

Read more...

family finance planning

For the late comers, here is a group of eminent articles on the specified subject category. Click to read an appropriate one you are looking for. To read more about personal finance and investment category, visit the home page by clicking the home button above, right side of the blog title.

  1. 10 Fabulous Financial Resolutions for New Year 2010
  2. 5 Must Required Money Practices for Every Person
  3. 5 practical child savings ideas
  4. Bring Your Kids with Financial Literacy
  5. Child Investment and Financial Planning Resources
  6. Child savings and investment requirement
  7. Convert Your Credit card Habit as a Money Source for Your Child
  8. Financial Planning for Higher Education
  9. Financial Planning for Kids in India
  10. Guide to the Core of Family Financial Planning
  11. How I Raised Money to Purchase My First Stock
  12. How I used budgeting to buy shares for my kid
  13. How to Make Your Kid Smarter
  14. How to Secure Childs Finance and Investment Portfolio
  15. How to Teach Your Child about Financial Responsibility
  16. Mini Financial Plan for Standard Families
  17. Money Lesson For Kids
  18. Money Tips for Women
  19. Money lessons to kid
  20. My Dream Eco friendly home features
  21. My Personal Plan for Creating Investment Portfolio for Kid
  22. Qualified yet Bored? Successful Home Business Ideas for Housewives
  23. Reclaiming Credit Card Charges – Fair Game?
  24. Role of Debt Investments in a Portfolio
  25. Role of Family Members to Family Financial Planning Process
  26. Strategies for the Time of a Food Inflation
  27. Teaching the money saving strategies to kids
  28. Two Essential Financial Resolutions to Set for This New Year
  29. Understand the Six Pillars in Child Financial Planning
To read articles from more category, visit and select from the Archives page

Read more...

Appreciation to Readers and Commentators - A Journey through Commentators Blog and Sites

Editor's note: This appreciation link post prepared and edited by Sherin Dev. follow me in Twitter or Facebook. Not yet subscribed? Go for Email or RSS now!

reader appreciation and thanks to readersIt's again the time to turn back to my readers, especially commentators. They have done a great job to make my blog more popular and resourceful. To appreciate them time to time, I have made a list of my commentators and kept in a special folder to visit their blogs timely and feature their blog and articles with Money Hacker. I can’t ensure I have added the sites of all commentators in this link post, but I can promise I went through all the comments and commentators blogs. Once if you found your site missed accidentally in this list, please ensure you have informed me.

Any site, if not added in this list may inappropriate to do so or it may be a dead blog without any updates for long time. Also, site or blog that I have felt the writer does not have any passion or seriousness, also excluded. Once if you found again there are any mistakes from my side that not included your blog, please inform me directly.

Once a gain, If you have forgot to add a comment in my blog, do the same now itself! This action reserves your seat with forthcoming link articles! Why to avoid the chances of free appreciation from this famous PR4 ranked business, finance and investment blog? My next list post would feature the websites and blogs of all guest writers and if you want to get listed in that group, write a unique guest article and send to me without further delay.
Here is the name and link to the blogs of fantastic commentators Have a look:

  • Prime Targeting has a wonderful article on Guidelines for Building an Emergency Fund. This blog is a treasure of personal finance articles
  • Mike has a simple blog named Work at Home Business Ideas - It has lots of tips to make money from home and spending our free time
  • Edmund smith from The Business Firm has lots of information on all kinds of finance that everyone must know

  • Belmont Thornton from PPI Claim has such beautiful information on loan protection
  • Karthik from History of Money featuring various money management articles
  • Christine from Money Funk has number of solid articles on Money management for all

  • Finance Dollar has excellent financial tips that ensure you make lots of dollars!
  • Hedden from Best Offshore Investments features various investment opportunities for investors worldwide
  • Jackdillon from DSG-Debt Solutions Group has a wonderful site deals directly to debt solutions and relief

  • Chirag of Squamble have a wonderful blog full of information about business, finance, investing and entrepreneurship
  • Penny Stocks has very useful information about stock market investments for all
  • Meandu has a lovely blog that features everything

  • James from Indevia Accounting is a San-Diego based accounting service firm. Site offers various business packages
  • Scott the Stock Market Investing Coach has very unique investing articles for readers to enjoy and practice
  • Jennifer reed from Manage Me 7.0 offers personal wealth creation ideas for individuals and families

  • Home 123 is a really nice place to visit and read articles about all on credit, debt and loans
  • Finance for Kids entirely focused to Kids finance possibilities. It is a right place to get lots of information to teach your kid money savvy.
  • YJ blog A Life Less Beautiful - Have various information about the daily life and activities

  • Sumayya of Tracking18 have various interesting information for those who searches for new ideas and information
  • Spidey has a beautiful blog that features latest information from motor industry, especially cars.
  • Visit Go Prepaid to know all about credit cards and debit cards

  • Visit Gold Prices Today to get all the required information about gold, gold investing etc..
  • Highest CD rates are a blog where you will get all the information about CD's and CD rates. A nice blog!
  • Wachovia is another place to visit and get all information about CD rates. Latest information available in this site!

  • Debt Advice is a quick information team on debt relief and management
  • Annuity Quote blog provide you all the information on annuities and no further search around required.
  • Khalid from Bell the Bull have information on investing specially in India Investing

  • Again, my hearty thanks to all readers and commentators. You will certainly appreciate again and again for congratulating and rectifying me by providing wonderful comments or constructive criticisms under various articles in my blog.

    Ensure, today itself you have added a comment under any post you liked in this blog. I promise, your name and blog will be there in the next appreciation link post for commentators.

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    How to Sell Your Delisted Company Stocks

    Article by Sherin Dev; Follow me in Twitter or Facebook

    how to sell delisted stocksWhile searching in the net today, I have found number of people asking same question, 'what they want to do to sell their delisted company shares'. Some insights in this subject would be excellent, at least my readers, to understand about what they want to do if such situations arises to them. Here is a short article for all those want to know about this.

    Before coming to the main subject, I took sufficient time to identify why such problem happens to some investors. How they reach to such position by having delisted shares in hand to worry on what to do next. Finally, I found the answer that the real problem is not with any delisting or delisted companies, but it is with the investors only!

    There is a common belief among investors that, long term investments only meant investing in good stocks at right time and then forget it. Yes, you can buy good stocks and forget those investments for long term with an intention to generate wealth. I too agree. Even I have learned the same from the practice of great investors. But, If someone follow this advice straight by not fully understand the real inner meanings; they would certainly face troubles in future like having delisted shares.

    Here is how it happening:

    One can select a good stock to invest for long term. It doesn't mean he should forget all, but should keep an eye on the activities happening inside the company. Such information available through business channels, financial news papers or even directly visiting the information section in the respective stock exchanges. For example, if someone invested to a great company which have no debt, sufficient cash and have monopolistic products in the market. He may think this is a good investment for long term and no need to worry. This is a wrong approach. Remember, a company which doesn't have any debt and sufficient cash in hand is always in the radar of delisting candidates. No debt and sufficient cash in hand means the company doesn’t required money from public. Such situation may force them to think about delisting from their company. If such, they would advertise to public to bring their outstanding shares back by offering a good price more than what it has in the market at present. Any investor, who have not seen such advertisement or not monitoring the company, generally do not sell his shares before the stipulated time. Such shares later sit with him as delisted company shares!

    Understand the common situation that forces companies to delist its shares

    De-listing could happen from various reasons. Two most important reasons for such delist decisions, either the company went lock out or management decided to not go further as a public company. De-listing by first reason rarely happening, but the second can happen at any time. Any investor who invested on a delisting candidate should get enough time to return their shares back to the company by adding buy back advertisements publicly. If an investor misses that advertisement, he still has option to contact the company directly to submit his shares to en cash it. But, it is totally depends on company whether they want to accept such requests or not.

    If a person who have shares of a delisted company which delisted due to lock outs, have no option to en cash his shares. If such, the only option is to wait for the company to re-establish again and list back to the stock exchange. If such happens, most companies accept its old shares back but not sure the price they are going to offer to their old investors!

    There are other delisting reasons like stock exchange can take decisions to delist any company if they not meet required rules. If such, an investor still have option to sell his part of shares before the time the company disappears from stock exchanges list. They can even contact the company directly to sell his shares. A broker would be good contact point if such situation approaching to you.

    What do you do if a delisting company offers fewer prices to your shares?

    Identify the reason why the company is delisting. If it is delisting to close the operations, your only option is unload your shares by the present offered price. If a company delisted from a stock exchange, but still operational, you have the option to sell the shares through your broker once if anyone interested to buy those shares. If such, the seller should inform the company about the transaction. A broker could help investors on such issues. Once if you not sell such shares, you are still eligible to get dividends if company offers to its existing investors who have not sold the shares upon their delist information. But always remember, trust is the major factor in such situations.

    Conclusion

    As an investor, shouldn't forget your invested company after purchasing its shares at a right price. Instead, ensure you are receiving all the news’s about the company in time to time by using possible methods mentioned above. Investor can even configure Google alerts to receive information about any company, as it arrives to public. Financial papers, channels, stock exchange sites and trusted websites are best resources to get news’s about your company and its activities. Once the company got delisted and you have not received any information, the best option is to contact the company directly to clarify the options you have. Companies who still offer investors to hold the delisted shares are good, but remember this option have lack of liquidity. Shareholders might not be able to sell such shares at all and may be struck with them for eternity. However, these shareholders will continue to enjoy all shareholder rights such as voting rights and right to receive dividend along with other benefits arising from various corporate actions.

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    What is a Payday Loan - Here is the All About

    Editor's note: This is a guest post by Jessica Moser

    What is a Payday LoanA payday loan, sometimes referred to as a cash advance or payday advance, is a short-term small principal loan borrowed against the recipient's next pay cheque. Typically these loans range between £50 and £1500 and can be applied for online, usually without anything to fax or extra paperwork to fill out. Payday loans can be deposited directly into the borrower's bank account, sometimes as soon as the same day as the application. On the borrower's next payday , the loan principal and finance charge is withdrawn from their bank account and the transaction is complete. Some payday loan companies offer extensions on their loans, allowing customers more time to pay back the loan for an additional finance charge.

    Payday loans are used for emergency expenses and immediate money needs like car repairs, overdue bills and groceries. They can be a quick and convenient way to bridge the gap between paydays and are typically less expensive than unauthorized bank overdraft fees.

    Payday loans borrowers typically do not need perfect credit in order to apply. They need to be at least 18 years old, have an active bank account, be currently employed and receive a regular pay cheque. Borrowers of payday loans can even improve their credit score by repaying their payday loans on time.

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    Mini Financial Plan for Standard Families

    Article written by Sherin Dev; Follow me in Twitter or be a fan in Facebook

    Every family, whether rich or ordinary, requires a financial plan. No doubts. There are lots of false assumptions, myths and ignorance in this area. Most of the people wrongly believe that, financial planning is only practicable and desirable for families with high earnings. They believe those families with sizable income can only spare enough funds to create financial planning through investing lot in various investment products. Most of them wrongly believe that, financial planning means only investing and which required high earnings. Ignorance to the real meaning of what a financial plan is, the major culprit to drag back most of the families from creating one to secure their entire family and prevent spending, savings or relying on online payday loans.

    I too agree that, one step or area in financial planning process is, investing. Yes, it requires considerable amount of money to invest in various instruments regularly to build wealth for long term. But, what would happen if a family have one bread winner and lead very standard life which means their income is sufficient only for each month’s expenses? Here is the importance of thinking about a financial plan that suitable for such families to all the means. This article tells you how to create a 'mini financial plan' that works best for standard families by providing all the benefits of a real financial planning.

    Financial planning generally meant financial safety of a family from various emergencies like sudden demise of main earner in a family or costly hospitalization expenses etc. Another goal is to create an emergency fund to meet contingencies. In a Mini Financial Plan, savings and investments occur in the same time and both together work as an emergency fund with high liquidity.

    Generally, involvement of a highly experienced professional required to create a financial plan for families. But, a Mini Financial Plan can be planned and executed by anyone who have standard intelligence and have capacity to identify the income and financial requirements of family at present and future with or without his presence. Mini financial plan is a simple three step process that anyone can easily create.

    First step in a Mini Financial Plan - Safety of Family

    First step of a mini financial plan is the planning of family safety. This means safety against any happening contingencies due to the untimely demise of main earner in the family. Insurance is the best option to protect a family from such situations. It is always not possible to subscribe an endowment plan within the reach of everyone. An alternative to this problem is the subscription of a cheap term insurance which required lower premium but high insurance. Paying little premium in each year or half yearly, ensures your family will be protected from the above contingencies.

    Second step - Protection against hospitalization charges

    This is the second most important element in a Mini Financial Plan. Having a health insurance always ensures protection from highly expensive medical requirements that happen to any of the family members. Subscribing family floater insurance is the best option to fulfill these requirements. This is not only cheapest, but best suitable by protecting each and every member in a family! Such policies generally offer cash less treatments to the policy holders and their family members or immediate reimbursement from the insurer. One should choose right insurer by considering their service quality, reputation and offered facilities.

    Third and Final step - Emergency fund creation through savings which also works as investments

    Third and final essential elements in a Mini Financial Plan is the creation of emergency fund which also should work as an investment by generating further income time to time. A savings plan can be started by equally contributing little amounts in each month to a or two right investment instruments. Such funds should have high liquidity that generally insurance companies not offering. One of the best way is open a recurring deposit account where you put small amount of money regularly. Alternatively one can buy units of mutual funds or index funds in small tranches through the Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) route or using Dollar Cost Averaging (DSA). This would grow your money over a period of time using the power of compounding!

    To get more information on financial planning, here is a classic financial planning process chart for you. Have a look. It would provide you exact ideas on the real steps involved in it.

    If you are the one not yet done a financial plan, why to wait for the same now? You now having all the required information on what a financial planning is and who all can start it. Plan and start it now to get financial prosperity to all in your family.

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    New Credit Card Act Exempts Small Business

    Editor's note: This is an article written by Robert Sommers

    Credit Card Act Exempts Small BusinessThe Credit CARD Act is being hailed as the most comprehensive credit card legislation to in over thirty years. While the new law offers a variety of protections to everyday credit card consumers, it unfortunately offers very little to commercial and business credit card owners. The act is designed to protect consumers from callous credit card companies by doing away with a lot of the industry's most profitable and unfair practices. Most of the major provisions of the law went into effect February 22, 2010, with the rest beginning later this year in August and December. Some of the more notable protections are listed below:

    • A credit card holder has to be at least 60 days late on a payment before the issuer can legally increase the interest rate attached to the balance.

    • Personal credit users have the option of opting out of over-the-limit fees.

    • Credit card companies must give notice of at least 45 days before making any changes to a borrower’s terms, with the borrower possessing the right to opt out of any changes, if desired.

    • Personal card users now have greater time to pay their monthly bill.

    • Funds made in excess of the minimum amount must be allocated by lenders to balances with the highest interest rates first.

    • Credit card companies are not allowed to increase rates within the first year of a customer opening up an account.

    • No more double cycle billing charges. Interest Charges for outstanding credit card balances will now be calculated on purchases made in the current billing period rather than the previous period.

    • Card companies cannot give credit cards to individuals under 21 unless he or she has either a co-signer or can otherwise demonstrate that they can make payments.

    What many people find most interesting (myself included), is why would Congress introduce such a sweeping credit card legislation bill and not include provisions for small business?

    Small business credit cardholders have been fighting long and hard with card companies over abusive and unfair practices. With interest rates, existing fees, and new fees all increasing in both frequency and cost, it is getting more and more costly for a lot of small businesses to use and accept credit cards. Even merchant account providers (institutions that enable businesses to conduct credit card processing) from big banks like Wells Fargo and Citi Bank, to down to smaller ISO’s like North American Bancard, have felt the squeeze from soaring interest rates.

    Since the passing of the CARD act, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, and other large credit card companies have significantly increased rates assigned to small-business and commercial credit cards. Interest rates for small business credit cards are reportedly 13.7% higher now than they were six months ago. Seeking to maintain margins and make up for revenue lost from consumer cards on account of the Act, many card companies have made business and commercial cards the target of increased interest rates and fees. And with no governmental law to stop them, they can easily and legally do so. The question I ask is, why couldn’t the protections newly afforded to personal card users be extended to business and commercial card users as well?

    There is talk that much-needed relief is on the way for commercial and business credit card owners. The Fed has recently been tasked to examine small business credit card usage and make protection recommendations to Congress within the next year.

    I know a couple of business owners that are thinking using a standard credit card for business purposes in order to take advantage of the new act. Individuals doing this should do so with extreme caution. The mixing of business and personal finances can often and easily lead to money management problems and tax problems. The amount of interest and fees that one can deduct on their business’s taxes decreases using a personal card in place of a business card. In addition, any activity and debt acquired by your business will show up on your personal credit score.

    I’ve personally found it best to treat small business credit cards as interim financing and not as a permanent source of financing for your business. Most of you are aware that credit cards are among the most expensive short-term financing options available to small businesses. If not, you should be. If you own a small business credit card, you should pretty much always seek to pay your statement in full at the end of each month. It is never good to consistently carry a balance on a commercial credit card, and if you find yourself doing so then you might want to re-evaluate your business’s processes and strategy.

    About the Author

    Robert Sommers is a freelance mortgage and small business writer based out Baltimore. He has worked for over 25 years as a licensed real estate agent in all areas of commercial and residential real estate.

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    This post was written by a guest writer. If you'd like to add a guest post in Money Hacker, please check out Write for Us page for details about how YOU can share your knowledge with our community.


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    Free eBooks on Fundamental Analysis, Stock Basics and Investing 101

    Article Written by Sherin Dev; Follow in Twitter or Facebook

    fundamental analysis ebook, investing ebookValue investors, whether a beginner or experienced, always in search to learn maximum about fundamental analysis to sharpen their stock investing skills and select right stocks. There are lots of books, blogs, newsletters and other resources offers guidance to sharpen such skills but most of them fails to identify the right resources.

    Here is a collection 3 free PDF e-books that offers lessons on fundamental analysis, stock basics and investing 101. I have personally found these are very good resources for all to read and understand the subject well. This site offer two options to read these books. First, just click any link to visit the site. Provide your e-mail ID to register free and receive the pdf files directly to your mail box. Second, read online without a registration. Option is of course, yours.

    Here is those three wonderful free e-books:

    1. Fundamental Analysis: What Is It?

    Table of Contents

    1) Fundamental Analysis: Introduction
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    4) Fundamental Analysis: Qualitative Factors - The Industry
    5) Fundamental Analysis: Introduction to Financial Statements
    6) Fundamental Analysis: Other Important Sections Found in Financial Filings
    7) Fundamental Analysis: The Income Statement
    8) Fundamental Analysis: The Balance Sheet
    9) Fundamental Analysis: The Cash Flow Statement
    10) Fundamental Analysis: A Brief Introduction To Valuation
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    Download or read Fundamental Analysis lessons here

    2. Investing 101: What Is Investing?

    Table of Contents

    1) Investing 101: Introduction
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    3) Investing 101: The Concept Of Compounding
    4) Investing 101: Knowing Yourself
    5) Investing 101: Preparing For Contradictions
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    Download or read Investing 101 lessons here

    3. Stocks Basics: What Are Stocks?

    Table of Contents

    1) Stocks Basics: Introduction
    2) Stocks Basics: What Are Stocks?
    3) Stocks Basics: Different Types Of Stocks
    4) Stocks Basics: How Stocks Trade
    5) Stocks Basics: What Causes Stock Prices To Change?
    6) Stocks Basics: Buying Stocks
    7) Stocks Basics: How to Read A Stock Table/Quote
    8) Stocks Basics: The Bulls, The Bears And The Farm
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    Download or read Stocks Basics lessons here

    These are very good books and yes it starts from the very beginning and covers the topics every investor want to know. Download the pdf or read online now. Enjoy!!

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