Archive for April, 2008

Compound interest – everybody wants to know about it. The concept is quite simple really and anyone wanting to get control of their personal finances should understand it. When you compound the interest, what you do is you add back the accumulated interest to the principal. This effectively turns the earned interest into a principal because you then start earning interest from your interest. This results in compounded interest.

Illustrating the Concept

To give you a better idea of how it works, here is an example. For instance, you have $10,000 saved as a high-yield investment. Under traditional method of earning interest, if you are to earn 4% on that savings, you get $400 in one year from your $10,000. In ten years time, you’d earn $4,000 from your savings.

Now, if you apply the interest as a compound daily interest, you get to earn $8.08 daily. This figure would of course vary depending on whether you add back the interest earned to the principal or not. In ten years time, you’d earn $4,917.92. You get an additional $917 with compounded interest rate.

With compound interest, you get to earn money while you without having to put more money into the investment! If you know how to take advantage of this interest, you are likely to end up spending your earnings on your interest while your principal continues to earn money.

Harnessing the Benefits of Compounded Interest Rates

Generally, regular consumers or the public cannot take advantage of compound interest rates as it is not widely offered. Usually, it is only the large firms that benefit from this tool. The public usually can earn money from compound interest when they invest in mutual funds or stocks. Therefore, in order to benefit from this type of interest, you should make the right investment in those instruments that are offering compound interest. Your personal finance will greatly improve.

Social security is there to give some level of security or protection to workers and their families from unforeseen problems such as the loss of a job or disability by providing some form of compensation, usually monetary. In the US it was started in 1935 and has been around ever since. Where putting your personal finance affair in order you should keep in mind your employment records and your social security benefits which are based on that record.

Understanding Social Security

The minute that you start working, you will be given your Social Security Number. You start to pay off taxes with this number. Generally, the taxes are withholding taxes. Meaning, your employer typically withholds them and remits them to the government. If you are self-employed, you have the responsibility to secure your Social Security Number and pay off your taxes. You may be exempt from paying taxes if you are a citizen of a country that grants exemption to US citizens living in the same; and your country has a recognized treaty with the United States.

How much are you taxed?

As an employee, you would be charged with 7.65% interest rate. This covers both your Social Security taxes or your Federal Insurance Contribution Act or FICA and your Medicare. 6.20% of that rate goes to your Social Security tax and 1.45% covers your Medicare. If you are an employer, you would be required to pay an additional 7.65% to match your employee’s contribution.

You will start receiving your benefits from your Social Security contribution when you reach the age of 62 under the condition that you have completed Social Security credits of at least 40 points. Your spouse or your dependent children can also receive monthly retirement benefits from your Social Security regardless of whether you qualify for the retirement or disability benefits or not.

If part of your personal finance plan is an interest in making investments, there are two factors that would primarily concern you – the cost of the product and its subsequent selling price. Your goal is to buy the product at a low price and be able to sell the product at a high price. Unfortunately, you cannot always predict how the market would go. It’s difficult to know when the market would be favorable to you. You may be putting your personal finance at risk if the market turns against you. Because of this, people would oftentimes resort to dollar cost averaging.

What is Dollar Cost Averaging?

When you dollar cost average, you basically regularly invest a fixed amount of money into the market. The investor would use a systematic investment approach without much regard to the market conditions. Dollar cost averaging is great when you are creating your personal finance plans and you do not want to leave your finances at the hands of the market’s whims. Dollar cost averaging is basically used when you are making investments on stocks or unit trusts.

If you would like to create an investment that would produce long term return on investment, dollar cost averaging is the most effective method of maximizing investments especially when you do not want to consider the market. Usually, when you compare the cost of your investment with the average market cost, you would incur lower cost with dollar cost averaging. This method is ideal when the market is quite volatile. You might reconsider, however, using this method when it comes to other funds or forms of investment.

Before you invest however make sure that you have as much information as you can get your hands on. It is always better to make informed decisions when investing. Also you should never invest what you cannot afford to lose.

When you are applying for a loan or you are considering buying something on a loan, that thing that you will be most concerned with is the interest rate. Chances are you will look to receive the banks best rate on the loan you want. The rate you receive however is likely to be determined by many factors including your creditworthiness. You might say that the word “rate” has taken over the lives of many consumers. Your personal finance can be affected by rates in a strong way.

If you are considered a creditworthy customer then the bank may lend to you at what is call their Prime rate. This in a way is the banks more favorable lending rate. The figure varies from one bank to another; and oftentimes, banks would revise the rate every so often. This rate, however, is regarded as a benchmark for other interest rates for other loans like mortgages, variable rate loans, student loans, and home equity loans. Today, the Wall Street Journal Prime Rate controls the market. Understanding how this rate works and how it controls the system might help you understand consumer’s interest rates as well. If you are applying for a new credit card or a car loan, this rate would have effect in the interest rate that your loan would be charged with.

It might be interesting to know that the reference for consumer’s interest rates is the prime rate. You could say that it functions as a base rate. Oftentimes, it moves along with the current market interest rates and trends. So, the next time you are thinking of applying for a car loan and you are wondering what your interest rate would be, you should check out the prime rate. This would help you decide in whether your personal finance can take in the loan.

The primary concern when you are trying to apply for a mortgage loan is the interest rate. Most of the time, it is the interest that blows your principal loan into huge proportions, leaving your personal finances in shreds.

There are various rates that are imposed on mortgage loans. You can choose the kind of rate that you prefer or that you can live with. One of the rates that people usually consider getting is the Adjustable Rate Mortgage or the ARM.

Defining the ARM

Adjustable Rate Mortgage is a mortgage that has an interest rate that closely relates to the economic index. Being adjustable, ARM changes along with the index. It can go up or down depending on how the economic index is behaving. Initially, ARM loans have fixed rate that runs within a short period of time. After the lapse of that period, the ARM will change according to the economic index.

There are various types of ARM rates. There is the 3/1, 5/1, 7/1 rates. When you say 3/1 ARM, this generally means that the rate is fixed for three years and in the 4th year, the rate becomes adjustable. The same goes with both 5/1 and 7/1 ARM. The rate is fixed for 5 and 7 years respectively; and on the 6th or 8th year, the interest rate turns variable.

When you are making your decision as to the kind of interest rate that you would prefer for your loan, you should take into consideration your personal finance plans. If you are not expecting that your payments can go up, do not consider ARM. You may opt for the fixed interest rate instead.

Be aware that with an ARM you will need to have some kind of financial buffer to cushion the effects of a increased rate change when the fixed period is up. If interest rates are high you will be paying substantially more for the mortgage so you should save some money for this eventuality.

You might reconsider filing for bankruptcy. You can say that getting a root canal is way better than filing for bankruptcy. The problem with bankruptcy is that there is no hard and fast rule when to file for it. Oftentimes, the causes of bankruptcy are things that people may have not necessarily expected. It can be a sudden terminal illness that requires hospitalization, being laid off from work or difficulty finding a job for a long time.

Should You File for Bankruptcy?

Since there are no rules as to when you must file for bankruptcy, you should not file for bankruptcy without carefully considering all your options. Generally, people have considered bankruptcy as a way to get out of financial difficulties. It is the easy way out. For instance, a person loaded with debts may regard bankruptcy as a way to get out of his situation. He would file for bankruptcy and he would be free from all his debts – a new personal finance state. Ironically, this is the same erroneous thinking that had prompted people to declare bankruptcy. The truth is that with the new laws in bankruptcy, the procedure has become even more invasive.

Bankruptcy does not automatically solve all your problems, your secured creditors will still have their rights to be paid, and certain of your obligations under the law will still be in operation such as child support.

You should prepare for the invasion on every nook and cranny of your personal finance status. You would ultimately need the assistance of a lawyer just so you can get through the whole procedure hopefully unscathed which is highly unlikely since the procedure always leave a long lasting negative effects on the person who filed for bankruptcy. Again, carefully consider all your options before you turn to bankruptcy as a last resort.

As a parent, it is very important for you that you give the best to your children. Oftentimes, you’d be dreaming of sending your child to college. This is not an easy task. Going to college means a lot of expenses. This takes a toll on your personal finance. So ideally, you should consider saving for college as early as you can. A college education is without a doubt the best gift that you can give to your children.

College is not cheap. The cost can be quite staggering especially if you are living on paycheck to paycheck. If you do not have enough money saved for college, it is highly doubtful if you would have an easy time sending your child to college. It is not getting cheaper. In fact, the cost is increasing with every semester.

Why should you start saving?

If you are in the middle class range, it is already difficult to send a child to college. Oftentimes, the income of the family is not enough. Their personal finance is severely stressed out. Do not think that you can always resort to student loan, bank loans and scholarship grants. These sources are not a guarantee. Chances are your child will not qualify for a loan or a grant.

Instead of setting your cap on these things, it would be a wise idea to ensure your child’s education yourself by starting to save for college. Ill-planning has placed people in huge debts; oftentimes, forcing the students to drop out of school. If you would like to protect your child’s future and contribute to his chances of a better life, you should start saving for your child’s college education.

The sooner you start saving the less money you will need to find (if any at all) to send your child to college.

Nowadays, personal finance planning is quite important. One of the things that you can do in order to protect yourself and your family is to save money. Save! Most people are satisfied with living paycheck to paycheck. Some people do not have the money to save while some do not have the motivation to save. Regardless of the reasons why you think you can’t save any money, the fact remains that it is important that you save money.Perhaps, it is a wise idea that you examine your life’s goals especially those that concern your personal finance goals. There will come a time when you will need to retire. Have you even started saving for your retirement? Do you plan to send your children to college? Have you started saving for their college fund?

Why should you save money?

There are a lot of reasons why you should save money for your future. First off, you need to prepare for contingencies and emergencies. Things could happen – death, sickness or accidents. You need to be prepared for anything that life throws your way. If you have emergency savings, you effectively cushioned yourself from financial suicide.Another reason for saving money is to prepare for your objectives. For instance, you wish to send your daughter to college. You might consider saving the money to send her to the best University that you can afford. You wish to buy a new house. Perhaps, you can start saving enough money for your deposit. No matter what you wish to achieve in life, if it involves money, it is a wise idea that you start saving for it.

Another good reason to save money is to have money to invest in any type of asset that can make you money in the long run such as houses, stocks and bonds.

There is a saying that the only things that are constant in people’s lives are death and taxes. Taxes are inevitable. Great men have fallen because of unpaid taxes. This is why it is important that you regularly pay your taxes.

Unfortunately, the word tax seems to correspond with the word confusion. People are panicky when the month of April rolls in. There goes the Tax Month again. This is why it is such a great thing that taxes can now be settled online. You can now find a lot of companies that offer their services to people who are at a loss on how to pay off their taxes.

With the Internet, the days of sorting out tax papers, personal finance documents and receipts are long way over. Taxes are handled easier these days. The IRS has devised measures on how to get people to pay off their taxes on time and that is by allowing them to pay their taxes online!

If you are running a small business, you might be able to handle your taxes alone. However, some people may still find the need to get the assistance of an accountant to help them sort out the personal finance matters involved.

Where can you file the taxes?

If you would like to file your taxes online, you need to secure the services of one of those tax companies that have tax software. Companies such as H&R Block, Turbo Tax, and TAXACT are among the more popular ones that offer this service. With these companies you can submit both your federal and state taxes. You are advised to stick to the more reputable companies as there are many scams out there. The government has opened the doors to online filing of both federal and states tax returns and this makes it a lot easier especially if you are able to file your taxes yourself.

Every once in a while you will come across advertisements on “all-time” low mortgage rates. Most of the time, these type of mortgages are given to people with good credit standing and control of their personal finances. But what if your credit score is not something that you can be proud of? How do you get your mortgage?

In cases like this, people would usually resort to a subprime loan since they cannot get loans with prime rates.

What are Subprime Loans?

Subprime loans are offered to individuals who have less than attractive credit history or scores. When you cannot qualify for the prime rate financing, it is highly unlikely that you will get the kind of loan that you want. Mortgage companies have exact requirements for prime mortgage loans. Basically, approval for loan despite bad credit score is the classic feature of a sub prime.

What is the drawback to these kinds of loans? Since financing companies know that loan default rate is very high when you have bad credit score, they usually charge high interest rates for subprime loans. This often translates into a bad personal finance setup for many people. Usually, however, the interest rate varies depending on how bad your credit score is.

Selecting a Lender

You might not be able to do anything about your credit score at the moment, but you have a choice as to your lender. There are companies that primarily specialize in these types of loans. There are traditional mortgage companies that are venturing into subprime loans. Make sure that you place a quote request with various lending companies before settling with one. By doing this, you may still get a great deal despite your credit score. You may still minimize the effects to your personal finance.

One key point however is that you must pay up your monthly installments on time or risk losing your property.