14 May
2012

Gym memberships, exercise equipment, plastic surgery–it’s easy to assume that it takes a lot of money to look good and stay fit. However, the opposite can hold true. You’ll find an excuse not to go to the gym, your equipment ends up in the back of your closet and food temptations can cancel out the results of liposuction. Instead of losing weight, you’re just losing money.

Before you scramble to find the next fad in weight loss solutions, consider putting your spending on a diet. Trimming your budget can be essential to shrinking your waistline.

Tip #1: Brown Bag-It

Take a cue from your school cafeteria days when it comes to your lunches. While the prospect of a homemade sandwich might not be as mouthwatering as the Chinese buffet across from your office, the potential to save six figures may be enough to change your tune.

According to Own The Dollar website, you can save approximately $112,000 over 30 years if you invested your yearly lunch savings from sack lunches at an annual interest rate of 6 percent. The site averaged the cost of eating out five times a week as $35. The cost of making your own lunch calculated to about $7 per week.

Turning down the calorie-rich food of your favorite lunch spots can also help your quest to stay in shape. For example, a McDonald’s cheeseburger, medium fry and large Coke comes to 990 calories. A brown bag lunch for a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana and side of chips is only about 620 calories. You save 370 calories a day, or 96,200 calories for all the weekdays in a year.

It’s hard to expect anyone to eat a sack lunch every single day, but opting for the brown bag even just a few days a week can make a healthy difference for you and your budget.

Tip #2: Do-It-Yourself

Why pay someone else to do something you can accomplish on your own? It’s easy to say that hiring someone to do yard or house cleaning saves you time, but it can quickly whittle down your bank account. Landscapers can easily charge around $40 to $70 weekly while maids can cost you about $50 to $85 every time they clean your home.

However, rolling up your sleeves to do the work can not only save you on monthly maintenance but also serve as a great gym substitute. According to the calorie calculator from Discovery Health, mowing the lawn, sacking grass leaves, trimming trees and watering plants for just 15 minutes each will burn more than 300 calories. Dusting, vacuuming, mopping and organizing for 30 minutes each will shed more than 350 calories.

This workout provides a more diverse set of exercises than a pricey gym offers. More importantly, it gives you results a treadmill’s calorie counter can’t—a clean house.

Tip #3: Use Your Car Less

Truth be told, cars are a money pit. AAA reports that the average yearly cost to operate a car totals $8,496. By reducing the number of times you take your vehicle out on the road, you can cut back on gas, mileage and the maintenance that comes along with road hazards.

Bicycling and carpooling are two cost-cutting alternatives that can also be good for your health. The League of American Bicyclists says that a bike will only cost you about $120 a year to use. Getting on your bike may be an easy transportation option when you need to run nearby errands. Just one hour of biking daily not only counts as a great cardio workout, but it will also burn about 600 calories.

As for carpooling, Commuter Solutions reports that if the cost of fuel is $4 per gallon, a 30 mile round trip will cost you $152 per month. If you carpooled with just one person, this expense would drop to $76 per month. While carpooling won’t help you shed any weight, studies suggest it may help your health in other ways—namely reducing stress, a common illness trigger. Carpooling is said to provide a more relaxing commute because you’re not always the one behind the wheel dealing with traffic.

Your Waistline And Your Bottom Line

Making your own lunches, becoming a weekend warrior and changing the way you get around may require a real lifestyle change. But when your quick fix solutions are affecting your bank account more than your bathroom scale, a slimmer budget may be a diet worth trying.

11 May
2012

The American Animal Hospital Association recently reported that the number of veterinary visits in the US increased slightly in 2011, after seeing a decrease in 2010. For many, it begs the question: is this good news or bad?

Animal advocate groups might argue it’s a positive sign – more people are willing and able to treat their pets when needed. But it could also mean that the number of injured and diseased pets is increasing, which is good news for no group at all.

The survey failed to touch on the number of families who don’t visit the vet each year: the cash-strapped households with a sick dog, cat or horse that avoid seeking medical treatment because of financial reasons.

Though it’s a sad story, it’s not an uncommon one. Communities with high unemployment rates and few affordable pet care options are often full of just such households. The financial consequences of ignoring your pet’s health are real, and they are outweighed only by the most severe of consequences: death.

Fortunately, pet owners with limited financial options can turn to a short-term loan when necessary. But before borrowing money, consider fixing the problem rather than the symptoms.

Waiting Could Increase Your Vet Bills

Pets are similar to cars: let a problem go on long enough and the whole fiasco will eventually need fixing. Avoid higher bills in the future by taking care of smaller health problems as soon as they arise. Putting your pet’s long-term health in jeopardy also poses a risk to your finances, and both are difficult to recover from without some level of rehabilitation.

Waiting could also force your pet to take medication or treatments that could be costly and necessary for months or years. Monthly medical bills to maintain your pet’s health – along with food and shelter – can be added to the category of essential finances. Timely medical treatment can keep your costs to a one-time bill rather than a monthly expense. The best ways to take care of your pet include:

• Preventative care like frequent checkups, shots and basic medical care
• Looking for medical program in your area that specialize in low-cost pet care
• Providing your pet with a healthy diet and ample exercise

One could argue the case that there is only one financial implication of ignoring your pet’s medical needs: more money. In the end, remember that financial problems are often far less important than medical concerns. While you can get a payday loan to pay for vet treatments, no amount of money can replace your four-legged loved ones.

09 May
2012

A number of American consumers rely on the services of the payday loans in the event that they find themselves in a financial bind. However, as this option gains popularity, some government regulators have started to set their sights on the social and consumer impacts payday loan advances have on the American populace.

More Research Required

Most recently, the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce released a report outlining these implications, but determined that more research is needed before an official stance on the issue can be reached.

"We constantly hear from our members that businesses need better access to credit," said USHCC president and CEO Javier Palomarez. "Because responsible consumer credit plays an important role in supporting Hispanic-owned businesses, we need to understand the effects of short-term loans better before lawmakers and regulators impose unwarranted regulatory burdens that inhibit the free-flow of credit to our communities."

CFPB Agrees

Experts fear that a bar on short-term emergency credit could have a devastating impact on individuals who were left in shaky financial situations in the wake of the economic collapse. In addition, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also had a similar ruling on the matter.

More research and analysis will give consumer groups the data required to take a sound approach to provide ample protection for consumers seeking short-term payday loans, said CFPB director Richard Cordray. In addition, the consumer protection agency said the small loan market needs to be fair, transparent and competitive, to benefit both borrowers and lenders.  

A definitive date on when either consumer group will take an official stance on the matter has not yet been revealed.

08 May
2012

Wasting money is almost as American as baseball or apple pie. But just because everybody is doing it doesn't make it alright. Money-wasting purchases are a part of everyday life, but with a little knowhow, you can be sure to stop depleting your bank account and using a cash loan to pay every unexpected bill with these tips from MainStreet.com.

Compare Prices

One of the most important rules to saving money when you go shopping is to compare and contrast price tags of similar products and services. In the age of the internet, it has never been easier to check the price of different products from different stores. In fact, there are even smartphone apps that allow you to scan the barcode of a product in a brick-and-mortar store and it will give you the price of the same product at different stores in your area.

However, comparing the price of the exact same product isn't always the answer. Instead, compare the cost of a name brand product you love to its generic counterpart. By reading the labels and examining how much you get from each package, you could be quick to discover that you have been spending too much for the exact same thing for years.

Buying Just Because It's On Sale

If you pride yourself on being a savvy shopper just because you only buy items when they are on sale, you could benefit from curbing this habit, says the website. After a while, your could find yourself buying things just because they are on sale, and this can really start to add up, no matter how much you're saving. Instead, stop and think before lunging at a markdown. If the item was not on sale, would you still buy it? Most likely the answer is no, so don't let what you think is a strategy turn into a financial pitfall.

Do You Have The Time?

Before buying a product or service that will require a considerable amount of time, stop and think if you're willing to set aside a chunk of your day to make the purchase worthwhile. For example, while buying a gym membership is your firm step to living a healthier lifestyle, there is often a major rift between talking the talk and walking the walk. Signing up for a gym membership that you never use is a waste of money, so make sure you're committed prior to forking over any cash.

07 May
2012

They’re not just eyesores—your laundry piles, overstuffed closets and messy backyards can have a direct impact on your wallet. Studies reveal that about 23 percent of adults pay their bills late and suffer the wrath of fees all because they misplaced them. We only tend to wear 20 percent of the clothes we own. And close to 10 percent of American families rent storage units to house their overflow of stuff at an average of $1,000 annually.

What’s more is that summer becomes a season where our clutter only grows. School is wrapping up and you have the kids (and their mess) full time. Fun distractions are everywhere, whether it’s poolside or beachside.

But if your spring cleaning came up short, ditching clutter in the summer can make room for extra dollars over the rest of the year. The American Cleaning Institute reports that getting rid of stuff you don’t need can cut back on as much as 40 percent of housework.

Dollars and Sense: Behind The Cluttered Logic

It’s not easy to let go of the things we own. Organizational experts say we tend to have an “I may use this someday” mentality. Old containers, clothes and small kitchen appliances are just a few notorious examples.

And if we don’t keep items for their function, sentimentality comes into play. Items like letters, books, children’s toys, souvenirs and photos often fall into this category. These things weigh down our closets and drawers because we attach our emotions to the item instead of the memory associated with it.

In these instances, value is relative. Your junk may be your treasure, but it could also be doing more harm than you realize. The National Association of Professional Organizers predicts that we spend about one year of our entire lives searching for lost items in disorganized homes. Lost time translates to lost money.

Signs That Clutter Is Costing You

• You’ve sunk into the habit of late payments. Whether it’s a utility bill, credit card statement or tax documents, you can’t keep track of what’s due when if your bills get buried. The result is not only extra fees, but additional paperwork detailing those fees, which is piled onto your disorganized filing system.
• You’re resorting to duplicate purchases. That specific hardware tool you bought three months ago is somewhere in your garage, but you just can’t find it. It may be missing, but you need it ASAP, so you have to go out and buy another. The financial consequence is you’ve doubled the amount you had to spend on one item.
• Your unused items far exceed what you use on a daily basis. If you took one room in your home and added up the price of your unused clothes, toys, books, jewelry, electronics and other gadgets—what would it cost? Is the price of your clutter equal to some of the debt you may still be paying off?

Starting Your Summer De-Clutter Process

Summer provides a great opportunity to unload your clutter. No matter which method you choose to cut back on your stuff, you can reap emotional and financial reward.

Hold a garage or yard sale. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and it’s the season for serious bargain hunters. The great weather draws more people outdoors and to your sale.

Since the kids are out of school, they can pitch in with the lifting and sorting. You can even involve them in the transaction process to help them learn how buying and selling works.

These sales also give you the chance to make cash that you would have lost out on from pitching your items. The financial incentive can also make it easier to let your things go.

Check out consignment. Consignment stores are always on the hunt for seasonal items. If you’re finding summer stuff you don’t use anymore, these second-hand shops will sell your items for you. As your items are purchased by their customers, you’re paid for a percentage of the sale.

Donate to charity. When consignment stores and yard sale shoppers don’t bite at what you’re offering, the need for your unused items can still be fulfilled. Places like the Goodwill and Salvation Army provide drop-off locations with convenient summer hours.

Not only do your donations rack up good karma, but your charity donations are tax deductible, which means more money in your pocket at the end of the fiscal year.

A Stuff-Less Summer

The only way to truly get value out of an item is to use it. Odds are when you have a clean slate, all of the “stuff” you thought mattered falls to the wayside and leaves room to enjoy the summer. And the more you chip away at your stack of clutter, the more likely you are to find an even better stash—a growing bank account.

07 May
2012

The financial standing of many consumers has slowly improved during recent years, and as a testament to this trend, FICO Labs reports a growing number of these individuals now have near-perfect FICO scores.

Scores Improving

According to a report from the company, an estimated 18.3 percent of consumers have a FICO score ranging between 800 and 850. This is the highest this share has been since October 2008. In addition, roughly 19.4 percent have scores between 750 and 799, while 15.5 percent have a FICO score between 700 and 749.

"There has been a clear shift," said Rachel Bell of FICO Labs. "Many consumers have moved into the top tier of the FICO score range by redoubling their efforts to maintain an excellent credit profile."

Financial Stress Affecting Households

However, despite the improvements at the high-end of the spectrum, the report noted that financial stress among households in the wake of the recession has caused a number of consumers to fall to the lower tiers of the FICO scoring system. But since more than half of the individuals examined in the report had a score ranging between 750 and 799, analysts say this is a clear indicator that consumers are getting better about managing their credit.     

The number of consumers in the lowest tier, meaning they have FICO scores between 300 and 549, declined to 14.9 percent. While this share still accounts for a considerable amount of consumers, it is the lowest it has been since 2006. As some of these individuals work to improve their credit scores, but are suddenly confronted with an unexpected bill that threatens any progress they have made, they may be able to utilize a personal loan to keep their financial footing.

07 May
2012

Sometimes the first step to getting your personal finances under control is organization. While this can mean creating a well-planned budget with key goals to meet, it can also be taken literally. If you're like most people, you receive bills, account statements and other miscellaneous financial documents on an almost daily basis, so rather than letting these important pieces of paper pile up, try to control them with these organizational tips from MainStreet.com.

Eliminate Clutter

According to the website, the first step to organizing your financial life is reducing the amount of paperwork you have sitting around the house. While most documents are important, there are others you can do away with after a short period of time. A rule of thumb is that you can get rid of any statements that won't have an effect on your taxes, such as ATM slips, phone and cable bills and store receipts. However, if you still want to hang on to this information, you can enter it into an electronic spreadsheet before getting rid of the physical documents.   

To further eliminate clutter, consider moving some of your monthly payments to online accounts. This will not only do away with a number of letters and statements from a company every month, it will automatically organize your bills in a secure database.

Secure Important Documents

There are a number of documents that you should never even contemplate throwing away, advises MainStreet.com. These items include wills, passports, marriage and birth certificates, tax returns less than seven years old, W2 information, mortgages, credit card agreements and other investment statements, such as a payday loan receipt. It's recommend that you take a step further and invest in a secure filing cabinet or fire-proof box to store this information. In the event of a disaster, there are documents that you will want to get to quickly and not have the sift through a sea of miscellaneous paperwork.

Track Spending Habits

While it's easy to look at a bank statement from a month to see where you frequently spend your money, it takes organization to track your long-term spending habits. This is why it's important to hold onto past bank and credit card statements and put them in a file or binder in chronological order. By doing this you will create a document that is very easy to examine to assess you spending and savings habits.

04 May
2012

As millions of college students prepare to toss their graduation caps into the air, this will mark the moment that a number of them obtain financial independence and enter the workforce. However, without the proper guidance, some of these post grads could be slow to getting off the financial starting block.

College will teach you many things. But it can fall short in giving you knowledge on how to handle your finances responsibly. In fact, a recent survey from the National Endowment for Financial Education found that college students have gotten worse at managing money in recent years. To bridge this gap, MainStreet.com has some advice on how to find your financial footing after graduation day.

Student Debt   

If you had to take out student loans to get through college, once you get a job, your repayment plan should not exceed more than 6 to 8 percent of your expected income, the website says. So if you had to take out $20,000 in loans and you have an interest rate of 6.8 percent, you will pay roughly $2,771 per year. This means you will need to make at least $35,000 per year to adhere to the advised 6 to 8 percent.

Credit Cards

When you are under the age of 21, federal law makes it illegal for credit card companies to market directly to you. However, once you surpass this age, and especially once you graduate from college, you become fair game. This is why it's important to understand how credit cards work and the fees that are often involved. Credit card debt can quickly add up, leaving you in serious debt. In addition, try to monitor your credit report from errant markings that can drag down your credit score. Remember, you credit score is much like your financial GPA, says the website.  

Live Within Your Means

If you land a job right after graduation, don't go out and immediately partake in frivolous spending, recommends MainStreet.com. To too many young people, retirement can seem like a far-off abstract thing, but it comes much quicker than expected. This is why it's important to set up a retirement plan early on in life so you can enjoy your senior years in financial bliss.

03 May
2012

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

How often do you say that about something you regret purchasing? Maybe it was those beautiful but painful pair of boots you wore once or that exercise equipment gathering dust in the corner. When enough of these impulse items accumulate over time, you’re left with a dwindling bank account and a pile of useless stuff.

You can reduce the number of instant gratification buys that chip away at your budget by establishing some spending guidelines. These mental filters may take some time to put into play, but patience and a little practice can turn your spending into the savings you need.

Can I afford this purchase?

It’s easy to love things priced beyond your means. You might hear it called “champagne taste on a beer budget.” But buying items that you can’t afford to pay back immediately or by your credit card due date is a fast track to debt.

If the product or service doesn’t fit your budget, see if there is a cheaper alternative that will accomplish the same thing. Switching out name brand items for generic is a great example.

What does the research show?

The value of a little online detective work can’t be stressed enough. Find out what people are saying about the product or service. Is it made well? Does it deliver on advertised promises? Other shoppers who have experienced the product first-hand are your best and most honest advocates.

More importantly, the online marketplace is the best way to comparison shop. Different sites can have a wide price range for the same product. Amazon, PriceGrabber, BizRate and Nextag are great starting points for stacking prices against one another. Look for any way you can save dollars on the purchase.

Do I need it or do I just want it?

There’s a difference between needing to buy a winter coat to stay warm and wanting to buy your fifth winter coat to have one for every weekday. Evaluate the role your purchase will play in your daily life. Determine whether it will have function (that’s your one winter coat) or if it’s more about gratification and appearances (your five winter coats).

It’s not wrong to want stuff. It’s just that if you buy all those things you want, it can leave little in your bank account for necessities. If you follow your head instead of your heart, you’ll avoid letting your emotions get the best of your wallet.

Will I still value this purchase a week, month or year from now?

This is a good question to ask in determining how happy the product will make you. The longer you’re able to use it, the less likely it is that you’ll need to buy similar products.

If you hold off on a purchase, see if you’re thinking about it a day or week later. This can help measure whether it was ever important to you in the first place. More often than not, the impulse fades.

How else could I use the money for this purchase?

If you’re trying to save up for a car or a down payment on a home, every dollar matters. Prioritize where you put your monthly earnings. For example, pay off your bills first. Then add to the down payment piggy bank before you add to the happy hour fund. If you end up having leftover spending cash, you’ll rest easy knowing that already took care of your bigger money priorities.

Spending isn’t bad; in fact, it’s the pulse of our economy. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, household purchases make up 70 percent of our economy. But if you can give some extra thought to every purchase you make by understanding exactly how you’ll pay for it, you’re more likely to find lasting value in the products and services you use.

03 May
2012

Before the recession in 2008, the amount of people with credit scores lower than 600 was under 15 percent. Today, Experian reports that as many as one in five Americans have bad credit.

Bad credit isn’t the end of the world, but it does make things a bit more difficult when it comes to finances. Consumers with bad credit are often turned away for many types of loans and credit cards because of their poor credit history. But these consumers do have an alternative when they need access to emergency cash.

The Alternative for Consumers

The subprime financial services industry caters to a very specific group of consumers – those with poor credit history who seek financial options. Not all of these consumers fit the mold described by many politicians and consumer groups.

Largely debated across legislation, bad credit payday loans are often the only choice for these consumers. Industry reports show that not only are nine in 10 of payday loan consumers satisfied with their borrowing experience, most of them do not rely on them month to month as the opposition would like us to believe.

What’s Good about Bad Credit Payday Loans

It’s true that payday lenders charge high interest rates and additional borrowing fees. But these costs do not outweigh the benefits for millions of consumers. Payday loans offer a benefit to consumers by:

• Providing an option for those with bad credit, who would otherwise be unable to pay rent, emergency bills, and other unexpected expenses
• Allowing access to cash, sometimes in as little as 24 hours
• Making loans available online from the convenience of home or on the road from your smart phone

Payday loans may not be the most desirable form of financing, but for some consumers, it is their only option.