New article posted at "Everything Finance"
Everything Finance
New article posted at "Everything Finance" |
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Setbacks for First-Time Homebuyers Posted: 09 Aug 2014 10:59 AM PDT Setbacks for First-Time Homebuyers is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
Unfortunately, we live in a very high cost of living area (Southern California) where a starter home can easily start in the $500,000 range. We’ve oscillated back and forth this past year whether we really want to buy a house or whether we should just keep renting an save as much money as possible, but we cannot hide our true feelings: we both really want to be homeowners. Is buying a house still the American Dream? I’m not sure if it is for everyone, but it definitely is for us. The only thing holding us back is that the American Dream is becoming more and more financially unattainable for a lot of people in our generation. Generation Y and the Millennial Generation are graduating with staggering amounts of student loan debt. This is making it very difficult to save up for a house when you’re still working on paying off your student loans. For the first 45 months of marriage, my husband and I worked to pay off $45,000 of debt, a combination of student loans, car loans and credit card debt. This past year, we’ve finally started focusing on saving up for a house down payment, but we’re still finding it difficult to get past certain setbacks. Here are some setbacks for first-time homebuyers and how to overcome them. The FHA Loan The FHA loan has long been touted as the preferred loan choice for first-time homebuyers. This loan is specifically designed for people who don’t have the 20% required for a conventional home loan. However, the FHA loan is actually coming out of favor with a lot of companies, specifically because what people end up saving by not having 20% down, they end up paying in costly other fees, a higher interest rate, and a high PMI. Paying PMI If you have anything less than 20% down, you will be required to pay PMI- Private Mortgage Insurance, which is what lenders require as a sort of safety net on the house for giving you money for the loan. With an FHA loan, your PMI will be greater than with a conventional loan. In order to eliminate the costly PMI associated with an FHA, you can save for a traditional loan. It IS possible to secure a traditional loan with lesst han 20%, but it will require saving at least 10% down. While this requires more time and effort up front to save 10%, it is much better than watching your money waste away in PMI from an FHA loan. You will still need to pay PMI, but it won’t be as high as with a FHA loan. Saving for a Down Payment My husband and I have been living on a strict budget and saving as much as possible in order to reach 10% down for a house down payment. This means we haven’t bought a new car (my husband’s car is 12 years old, and mine is 8), we haven’t gone on expensive trips, and we’re not buying fancy things. It’s a sacrifice, but we’re willing to do it. If you need some help, check out these down payment assistance programs for first time homebuyers. Having Good Credit If you know you want to buy a house, you need to work on getting your credit score as high as possible in order to get the best interest rate. The higher your credit score, the more comfortable loan companies will feel loaning to you since you are not a big risk. It’s like getting rewarded for being good with your money!
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How Some People Make Money Off of Couponing Posted: 12 Aug 2014 01:50 PM PDT How Some People Make Money Off of Couponing is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
1. Sell Coupons: People have been selling coupons for several years, and the business has grown since the extreme couponing rage. I’ve seen several people sell coupons through a clipping service or Ebay. Of course, these people usually state that they are selling their time, not the actual coupons to avoid complications. Depending on how many newspaper inserts you get each week, this could be profitable of up to $100-300 a month. 2. Selling Stockpiles: Lately, I have been seeing a lot of people host yard sales or private sales to sell all of their stockpile they got for very cheap during their coupon adventure. They usually have rows upon rows of shampoos, diapers, make up, laundry detergent, and more. If most of the items they are selling were free or a moneymaker, then this could definitely be lucrative. Making $1-2 per item can end up to earning you $200-300, depending on the size of your stash. Those who have stockpiles of clearance toys, like the lady I knew does, would make a greater profit. So Is it Worth it to Make Money Off of Coupons?While I am intrigued by the people that go through this to make money, it is definitely not something for me. I have sold some items I was able to get for free or make money off of. I have also made a profit off of items I got on deep discount. I enjoy the extra cash, but I would not be able to put the time and commitment to acquire and sell as much stuff as some people had. Is it worth it for you? If you already love to coupon and have a huge stockpile, then I say try it out. You don’t need all a huge stockpile to live off of. If you already get several inserts of coupons, you can easily list them on Ebay to make a few bucks. However, if you don’t know the first thing about couponing, then it is probably better to find a different source of income that you can become passionate about. If you do pursue these coupon money making strategies, always see if it is worth the time. If it takes you ten hours of time and effort to make $30, then it might not be worth it. Are there any couponers out there that use these money-making strategies? I would love to hear your story! |
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What Are the Benefits of Shopping Your Favorite Products Online? Posted: 07 Aug 2014 01:23 AM PDT What Are the Benefits of Shopping Your Favorite Products Online? is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
The first benefit of online shopping is that, its saves a lot of time. As mentioned earlier, for shopping online you don’t have to travel anywhere, rather just sit back relax and search for your favorite product at any e-store. Eventually, this means you can shop almost anytime you want 24X7 at your home. Secondly, when you are shopping from an online outlet then you will get the opportunity to shop from a wide range of products under one place, for instance there are some e-commerce stores that offer books, clothes, accessories, furniture and beauty products-everything under one roof. Thirdly, there are various online stores that one can explore, with the help of this, customers can compare the products from other online stores and finally go with the one that you think is the best. Finally, when you shop online then you are going to save your money too! This is only possible because of a plethora of discounts and promotional offers that are brought up by the online store. Certain sites like voucher sky bring up unbelievable rebates and discounts, to make people realize how easy shopping online can be. Now, if you are an online shopping savvy, stop going behind those coupons that never bring out the ideal value of your money. Rather, before purchasing anything from the online world, just slow down and stop by voucher sky that brings amazing coupon codes and offers from a wide range of online store only for you. |
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How Will Taking Up Smoking Affect My Health Insurance Claim? Posted: 27 Jun 2014 04:57 AM PDT How Will Taking Up Smoking Affect My Health Insurance Claim? is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money! When you first signed your health insurance policy, you were asked if you used tobacco products or not. If you were a smoker at the time and checked yes, your premium went up. If you hadn’t used tobacco products for over a year and checked no, the resulting premium was a bit lower. The reasoning behind this policy is, of course, smokers are more likely to develop health problems and the higher premiums offsets the insurance company’s risk. But what if you had answered honestly that you did not use tobacco products at the time of signing, but decided to start smoking a year later? The answer lies in the fine print of your health insurance policy, but technically your premiums would not be affected. In general, health insurance policies take into account everything that affects your health at the time of signing, not your current health- learn more at HBF. Because you weren’t a smoker at that time, it is technically true that your newfound smoking habit shouldn’t affect your current premium or any future claims. However, many people lie about their smoking habits on health insurance forms. One study found that two-thirds of people would lie on their health insurance forms if it meant they would get a better rate. Even if you answered the smoking question truthfully the first time, insurance companies have good reason to doubt your honesty if you file a claim later from a smoking-related illness. If you develop lung cancer or another illness commonly attributed to cigarette smoking, the underwriter in charge of your claim will likely look to see how you answered questions about your tobacco use when you first signed the policy. If it turns out that you said you are not a smoker, this will set some alarm bells off. Because it is the underwriter’s job to properly investigate claims and save the company money, they are going to start looking for ways to deny your claim. It makes sense from the insurance company’s perspective. Most people begin smoking during their teenage years, and don’t just spontaneously start smoking in their twenties or thirties. And the insurance company is well aware that plenty of people lie about their smoking habits on the forms. Why should the insurance company pay for your claim now when you haven’t paid the proper premium based on your risk category? Even if you were honest to begin with, you can see how bad the case against you appears. How would you prove definitively that you weren’t a smoker at the time of signing? Would you be able to provide a specific date on which you started your new habit? Filing a claim for an illness that may or may not be attributable to your smoking suddenly becomes an uphill battle. So, while it is technically true to the letter of your insurance policy that new smokers’ claims shouldn’t be affected, don’t expect that filing a claim will be easy once the insurance company finds out you’re a smoker. |
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Once a Month Cooking or Weekly Meal Planning: Which Is Best for Your Budget? Posted: 16 Aug 2014 06:58 PM PDT Once a Month Cooking or Weekly Meal Planning: Which Is Best for Your Budget? is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
Both once a month cooking (a.k.a freezer cooking) and weekly meal planning are huge money savers and time savers. However, it can be tricky to decide which one is best for your budget and your family. So here is my take of each once to help you sort out the pros and cons for yourself. Once a Month CookingWhile I have used the Onceamonthmeals.com plan, I have also done freezer cooking on my own plan. If I am making a lot of recipes that I know by heart, then the shopping and food prep go very quickly. I can probably whip up 20-30 dinners in five hours. My grocery budget for the dinners ranges from $200-300, which is not too bad, but still high for feeding two adults (the toddler barley eats anything I cook). I love doing freezer meals because I feel like I get the rest of the night off from cooking. What I don’t like about cooking once a month is that I spend so much at the grocery store in one trip and most of those ingredients go towards the meals. I then feel like I spend another $140-200 by the end of the month to keep our fridge stocked with breakfast and lunch items (and dare I say snacks for the toddler). So I love that it saves me a lot of time and energy, but my grocery bill always ends up being off the wall by the end of the month. Weekly Meal PlanningIf I go to the grocery store once a week, I spend about $40-70. I usually will buy all the meat that is on 50% clearance and some other essentials. My problem with this is that by the time I am needing to start dinner, I am wiped out. I know that I am not as accountable to making dinner when I cannot just pull out a freezer meal. This has tempted us to go to fast food more often, and I also feel like I have more food waste this way. However, I have seen so many bloggers that are very organized in weekly meal planning. I think it is definitely do-able if you are the type that sticks with the plan instead of getting off course. What Will Work for You?Honestly, this is just something you have to play around with. I will most likely stick with the once a month freezer cooking because while I do spend more money throughout the month, we also avoid fast food more often. Also, freezer cooking means there is little food waste and all of my cooking energy is only needed for one day instead of every day. I will try to reduce my grocery budget through freezer cooking by making more breakfast and lunch freezer meals, as well as by staying away from the store. It is hard to spend too much on groceries if you don’t step into the grocery store every week! I want to know what works for your family. Are you a freezer cooker, weekly menu planner, or a fly by the seat of your pants type of cook? |
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7 Ways to Boost Your Financial Stability Posted: 18 Aug 2014 05:37 AM PDT 7 Ways to Boost Your Financial Stability is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
While these statistics are certainly unnerving, they don’t have to be your reality. If you find yourself in these challenging circumstances, it’s time to boost your financial stability with these seven smart money moves. 1. Earn Money on the Side 2. Identify Unnecessary Spending 3. Switch to a Credit Union 4. Look for New Insurance Plans 5. Be a Smarter Shopper 6. Negotiate Credit Card Interest Rates 7. Consider Used Before New
For all media inquiries, please contact Andrea Woroch at 970-672-6085 or emailand...@kinoliinc.com. |
Andrea Woroch is a nationally-recognized consumer and money-saving expert for Kinoli Inc., who 
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The Future Burden of Student Loans Posted: 18 Aug 2014 05:04 PM PDT The Future Burden of Student Loans is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money! I Didn’t Have to Have Student LoansMy mother was a loan officer at our small, hometown bank. She repossessed cars almost daily from folks who would rather pay their cable bill and buy cigarettes than pay their loans. Aside from the irritation of watching people make poor financial decisions, the job changed her perspective on debt – she didn’t want anything to do with it. However, she also wasn’t able to squirrel away any money in a college fund for either my sister or I. After I decided against a free ride at the US Air Force Academy, mom tried to nudge me toward the largest state university because they had also offered me a free ride, based on my ACT scores. As much as my mother tried to encourage me to attend the free-for-me state school, I fought her. I didn’t want to go there. They only had a mechanical engineering program and I was interested in aerospace engineering. Side note: turns out a mechanical engineering degree would have qualified me for each and every one of my professional jobs. I had my heart set on a private school, states away, that had graduated a significant number of astronauts. Of course, it came with a hefty price tag. I’m nothing, if not stubborn, and so my mom finally gave in. I would receive VA benefits because of my deceased father’s service and the school had offered me a scholarship that covered half the tuition. I can remember my mother telling me, in a very serious tone, “you’ll have to take out loans, but I suppose I don’t worry about that with you. With your degree field, you will make enough to pay your loans.” We never discussed any ways of avoiding loans altogether.
Avoiding Student LoansFor those of you nearing college (or with college-aged kids), let’s quickly consider a few ways to avoid loans altogether. These ideas are covered in detail in a number of good articles (like this one), so I’ll be brief
The problem is, for each of the respective points above, these are the excuses you’ll likely hear from the college student
Armed with their excuses (and make no mistake, these are excuses, not reasons. There’s a difference), these kids will graduate from college with a student loan burden that now keeps them, ironically, from living the YOLO lifestyle, from living in their own, or from having their dream job. So, before making too many excuses, maybe it’s best to consider the future burden of student loans. The Future Burden of Student LoansIt’s not too complicated to figure out the future burden of student loans. Simply determine how much money you think you will need to borrow per semester. Then use a site like this tool to determine what your payment will look like. You can play with the payment terms to see how your monthly payment looks for a ten year repayment plan versus a twenty year repayment plan. Then think about what that monthly figure means. Let’s say you figure you’ll have a $300 monthly student loan payment. You know what I can do with $300? I can have a new car. I can buy a lot of new clothes and shoes and gadgets. I can save up for a house down payment or avoid having to have roommates (especially of the mom and dad variety). Want to go to Vegas for a week? Sure! I have $3600 to blow! My mom was right – I can pay my loans. My payments are around $300 a month, like the example above. With an engineer’s salary, $300 is fairly doable. Now, my husband’s payments are closer to $1,000 a month. What would you do with an extra $1,000 a month? The future burden of student loans isn’t just the monthly payment – it’s about what it keeps you from affording. And remember you’ll be paying on those loans for up to 20 years, possibly keeping you from taking full advantage of compounding interest in retirement accounts. Those student loans could essentially impact the rest of your life. The thing is, college is (supposed to be) four years. Be financially responsible for those four years, and your future self with thank you for the next 60 years. |
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How to Stop Worrying About Money Posted: 18 Aug 2014 02:21 PM PDT How to Stop Worrying About Money is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
I remember how much it sucked—there really is no other word to describe it—and how hopeless I felt. It took us years—45 months to be exact—to be pay off all our debt, and it wasn’t an easy process. We made so many sacrifices along the way, including downsizing from a one-bedroom apartment and moving into a studio loft in someone’s backyard, with our dog. The stairs were dilapidated, the walls were pistachio green, the bathroom was tiny. But we made it work. And I can now look back at that time with fond memories, but I still will never forget of all the tears I cried, the arguments we had, and the stress—oh the stress!!—caused by not having enough money. If I had to give you any advice from someone who’s been there, here are my tips on how to stop worrying about money. Make a Plan Living paycheck to paycheck is no fun. Having creditors calling your phone is no fun. Like a diet to lose weight, you have to create an action plan on how you’re going to get your finances in order. Don’t know where to start? Look for resources! There are lots of resources out there to help you get started on learning about how to properly manage your money, this blog is one of them. Check out books from the library in the personal finance section. Find an author that speaks to you. Some people like Suze Orman, others like Dave Ramsey. When you have a plan on how to get your finances in order, you know that there is eventually an ending to this money stress. Know that It Will Get Better There was a point where I was working 4 different jobs, seven days a week. But I knew that it wouldn’t be that way forever, and as long as I stuck with my plan, things would get better. So working kept me too busy to worry, and working also helped my financial plan. Change Your Mindset Give up the mindset of keeping up with your friends’ latest toys and vacations. Make yourself stand out and put yourself in your own class. You can no longer compete for the latest and greatest. You have to start living the life you can afford, and not the life you want. When you change your mindset, you give yourself the power you need and you stop letting money control you. *** I admit-these are not easy steps. But it really does take that moment where you finally say “No more” and get up and actually do something about it. |
