5 Tips to Lower Holiday Debt

Now that the holidays are over, those of us who used our credit cards are now seeing the downside to that Santa spirit. The bills have arrived and you now realize just how much you spent. Well, don’t panic, yet! Here’s some sound advice to help you put this Christmas behind you and help you attack Christmas 2009 without relying on credit.

• Line ’em up and move ’em out No, it’s not an episode of Rawhide, but it’s a way to take a look at the big picture and start picking off your debt one-by-one. Get out your credit card statements and line them up. First, priority should be cards that are right at or over their credit limits. Since these will cost you in outrageous fees, we need to get those below the credit limit ASAP. Next priority is the higher interest cards followed by the lower interest cards. Got them lined out? Good. Next step.
• Stop the fees Okay, Like I said above, the first thing is to make sure we don’t get an over-limit fee. If you have any cards right at or over the limit, we need to take care of those first. This can be a vicious circle where you make a payment, the balance dips below the limit, but then you are attacked with interest and the over-limit fee (which seems to apply on the worst possible date) that jumps you back over your limit. You want to make enough of a payment so that you will still be under when they apply interest and fees.
• Pay more to the high-interest cards It is always a good idea to pay more than the minimum, in fact the more over the minimum, the better. But, if you have multiple cards, and most of us do, you need to get the high interest ones down first. To do that, you pay the lower interest cards at about $5 over minimum so that you can pay the higher interest cards more. I suggest at least $50 over minimum, if you can do that. If not, then as much as your finances allow. As you pay down the high interest cards, your minimum payments will lower drastically, allowing more of your payment to go to principal.
• Negotiate lower interest If you have been a good customer, paid bills on time, and stayed below your credit limit, you may be able to negotiate better terms, even in the short term. Call the card company up and remind them how good you’ve been. If you are receiving offers for 0% transfers, tell them so. They may reduce your rates to keep you there.
• When all else fails If you find yourself in quite a pickle where you are in danger of not being able to make at least the minimum payments every month on your card, consider Consumer Credit Counseling. They are almost always able to negotiate 0 interest as long as you are using their services. Of course, this almost always means closing the credit card account, but it will definitely help you stay afloat and pay off your debt.

Once you get your cards paid off, decide on which ones to close. I try to stay with 1 or 2 cards and only use them in emergency situations. Try to choose the ones that have a good balance between credit limit and interest rate. The better your credit score is, the lower the interest you can get.

Big 3 Automakers Need Lesson in Frugality

With AIG already swimming in billions of taxpayer dollars, the big 3 American automakers showed up with their hands out to Congress wanting a mere $25B. When I say showed up, I really mean that they flew in in private jets from a fleet of several. According to Good Morning America, the cost for them to fly in from Detroit to DC in $36 million planes was an estimated $20,000 roundtrip as opposed to Northwest Airlines $288 for coach and $837 first-class.

Read more here.

Online Business Ideas – Drop Shipping

If you are like a lot of people in today’s economy, you are looking for ways to make extra money and are looking at the internet to help you with that. You know there’s got to be ways to make money because others are doing it, but you don’t know where to start.

Research shows that more people are turning to the internet for product research, product and store comparisons, and purchasing the item they want. Even though, for now at least, fuel prices are coming down, people still tend to use the convenience of the internet for their shopping.

Opening a store, even an online store, typically requires inventory, but most of us don’t have the capital to put up a large inventory. Face it, the reason we are wanting to open a store is to make some money. To help people in this position, companies are offering drop shipping services to entrepreneurs.

Basically, it works like this. You create your on-line store showing the products you want to sell. You can either create your own website and domain name, or for a small fee, the supplier will usually offer this service for you. You will have a professional-looking website for a nominal price. Your customer purchases from you and your order the product from your supplier to be shipped directly to your customer. It costs a little to get started, but nothing like purchasing and holding inventory.

As your store profits more, you can make the decision to stock your big sellers for faster turnaround. You can also open a kiosk at the mall with your inventory, or sell in flea markets.

For information on drop ship selling, please see the Home Online Business Guide.

AIG Does Not Need Bailout

AIG execs once again appear to be flipping America off as they take our money. Now, to the tune of $343,000, the top execs went to a secret meeting at a luxury resort in Phoenix last week while at the same time begging for another $40 billion in loans. The hotel staff was forbidden to use or say anything that would identify AIG as being there – no logos, no signs, and according to one report, couldn’t even say the name AIG. So, apparently, they were hiding out because they knew they were doing something that the American taxpayers would not approve of.

I, for one, am tired of them taking my hard-earned money and then telling me that they will do what they damn well please with it. Company officials say that they will recoup much of the cost from product sponsors, so they apparently have a solid revenue stream. If they can afford to waste $343,000 on a conference, they can afford to pick themselves up out of debt without any help from the taxpayers. Wanton spending is one way they got themselves into this mess, they need to do what other Americans are doing and cutting back on everything.

Read more at www.myrantsblog.com

Credit Crisis Has a Silver Lining

The current credit crisis has hurt most people in America. From small businesses who rely on ready credit to finance their inventory until it is sold, to individuals watching credit card companies jack up their interest rates for no good reason, most of us are feeling betrayed.

We Americans have gotten into the habit of living beyond our means. We got used to easy credit. You can’t afford it? No problem, just put it on your credit card at only 9% interest. Whoops, we posted your payment a day late, so NOW, you are subject to the default rate of 29%. Want a $300,000 house, but bring in only $50,000 per year? No problem, we have a mortgage just for you.

Then *POP*. There went that bubble. So, where’s that silver lining?

We have a way to go, but those of us caught up in that bubble burst are having to re-prioritize our expenses and find ways to pay off our current debt without taking on any more. Here’s the silver lining part. Once we re-align our finances and work our way back to solvency, which admittedly can take several years, we will be in a much better financial position. We will also have the lessons learned from these years to take into our later years. We will be more wary of credit and use it more wisely. We will be able to spot questionable mortgages and steer towards the more conventional fixed-rate loans that have been proven to ride out the hard times.

We have to work hard to pay down, or pay off the debt we have now to bring our debt ratio down to something much more manageable, but we can do it. We may have to trade that Hawaiian vacation for something closer to home, put off buying that new car for a couple more years, or waiting to pay cash instead of dropping more onto the credit cards, but the payoff will be worth it.

Our silver lining is that once we survive and fight our way back, we will be all the much stronger financially.

Home Online Business Guide

New President – New Economy?

Apparently, Americans were ready for a change.  A new president, Barack Obama, will be sworn in January.  It’s no surprise that the economy was one of the factors driving this election.  President Bush is being blamed, rightly or wrongly, for the current economic crisis and people were afraid of 4 more years of the same thing.  McCain could not shake the Bush Stigma that seemed to be attached to him.

However, if you are expecting a magic bullet to shatter the economic woes of this country, I think you may be heading for  disappointment.  It took time for this country to get into this mess, and it will take some time for us to get out of it.  People are quick to blame a new president for his predecessor’s actions, or to praise when he is actually riding the successes put in motion by the previous guy.

Whoever you voted for, Obama is to be our new president and he needs our support as a nation.  We need to give him time to turn things around.  We need to realize that things may very well get worse before they get better and it may not be Obama’s fault.  I am more conservative than Obama, and I woud be saying the same thing if McCain had won.  I believe that any new president is going to have a tough row to hoe for the next few years.

For better or worse, Barack Obama is the new leader of our great nation.  Let’s give him a chance.

5 Tips for Surviving the Credit Crunch

The so-called credit crunch has been in the news for several weeks now. Lenders are now being much more careful with who they lend money to. Credit card users, even those who pay on time, every time, and more than the minimum payment are seeing their interest rates soar. Even those of us with good credit are suffering from this fallout. Small businesses that depend on credit to floor plan their merchandise are finding that their lenders no longer trust them as much as they used to, even if they have a perfect payment record.

Not only lenders look at your credit report, but so do prospective employers and insurance companies. So, what can we do to make ourselves as credit-worthy as possible? I’ll give you some vital, and legal, tips for surviving this credit crunch.

Review your credit report: You should review your credit report at least annually. It’s easy and free at www.annualcreditreport.com. This site will walk you through requesting credit reports from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Each of these companies allows you to dispute incorrect information online. They will also allow you to add an explanation to any derogatory items.

Pay on time: This may sound like a no-brainer, but this is very important. If you find you are unable to follow the terms, you may be able to re-negotiate some terms. Credit counseling services can usually negotiate lower payments, lower or no interest and help you with a budget to pay everything on time and clean up your credit report.

Close credit card accounts: The more credit cards you have, even with a 0 balance, the more potential you have for a lower credit score. Not only does the score look at your payment history, but it looks at your open credit lines. You may have a perfect history of paying all of your debts, but your credit score is not perfect because you have the ability to borrow up to the credit limits, thus increasing your debt ratio. By closing un-necessary credit card accounts, you can increase your score.

Pay off credit card accounts quickly: When you have whittled down your credit card accounts to just 2 or 3, or less, pay these off as quickly as possible. Pay more on the higher interest cards to pay them off quicker. Once you have done that, then pay more to the rest of the cards. Again, look and see if you can close any and still keep a major card for emergencies. See if you can renegotiate the interest rates on your 0 balance cards as low as you can. They don’t make money if you don’t use their card, so they can usually lower your rate. Keep in mind, though, that they can also raise them any time afterward.

Give credit cards a break: For a while, try not to purchase anything with credit cards that you can’t purchase with cash. This gives you an opportunity to pay down your credit cards without adding any more principal. You may be surprised at how fast the balance can go down if you pay more than the minimum and don’t charge anything else.

These tips should help you survive the credit crunch not only intact, but in a better financial position than before. We can get through this, we just need to have patience and reprioritize our purchases.

For work at home ideas, please check the Home Online Business Guide

Great Tips on Saving Money

If you are fortunate enough to know anyone who grew up in the Depression era, talk to them. You will find that they really know how to save money. They probably had no choice at the time, but most have carried that with them through the good times that followed.

The biggest obstacle we need to overcome in saving money is ourselves. Most of us have grown up in a disposable society. We have disposable razors, disposable contact lenses, disposable this and that. We use it and throw it away because it is usually cheaper, not to mention much easier, to just get a new one. Well, in today’s economic climate, we may need to take some advice from our Depression-era mentors.

Eat at home: Eating out can cost the average family of 4 anywhere from $30 – $50 in moderately-priced restaurants. If this is done every night, you can easily spend $1000-$1500 per month on supper alone. Plus, you still have to spend money for breakfast and lunch, and other groceries. By preparing meals from scratch (avoid higher-priced convenience meals), you can easily feed a family of 4 on about $600-$700 per month and even less. So, get out those recipe books.

Eat Healthy Portions: Most of us eat way more than we should. By controlling the size of portions, you not only save money on food, but you also will notice beneficial health changes as well.

Freeze Leftovers: Purchase a food vacuum-sealer and portion out leftover entrees. You can then freeze the main entrees (and anything else that freezes well) to use when time is short. A few minutes in the microwave, add some canned veggies and voila! You have a full meal without extra cost.

Do things yourself: Most home improvements can be done inexpensively by doing it yourself since labor costs are a significant part of any projects. Large home improvement stores usually have free weekend classes on home improvement. Also, visit the library to check out home improvement books.

Look for bargains: You don’t need to go to a salon and pay a high price for a haircut. Look for a local beauty college. You can save a bundle and help student beauticians at the same time. Look on the internet for coupons and freebie deals. Shop at thrift stores for clothing. Most clothes are in excellent condition for a fraction of the new price.

Family Night In: Plan a night to stay at home and play games as a family, or rent a movie, pop some popcorn and have a movie night. This is much less expensive and much more fun than going to the theater. Most new movies are showing up pretty quickly on DVD, so you can still remain current. Check out mail-order rentals like NetFlix and Blockbuster. You pay one price for unlimited rentals per month.

Consider Work at Home Opportunities: There are several legitimate home business opportunities, but be careful of scams. Something for nothing is quite tempting, but it very rarely works out. If you are willing to put some work into it, you will be successful.

Take the money you save and put some into a savings account, use some to pay down your mortgage, and remember use some of it to have fun. Everyone needs balance in their lives.

How To Make Money in your Pajamas

More and more people are going online for more of their shopping. It is more convenient and, with fuel prices still high, they can actually save money. This is good news for online businesses. According to some recent findings, online businesses are forecasted to remain stable, or even increase even with the stock market on its roller-coaster ride. As more of us look to make some extra money during this time, we are looking for something legitimate to help us work from home.

The easiest thing to do is to sell what is already on hand. Most of us have things that we really don’t need or use and they are just sitting around collecting dust. You can sell those things on eBay or other auction site and it costs very little to list it. You don’t need an internet site to do this, just an eBay account (or an account with another auction site). My wife easily made over $500.00 just selling clothes she doesn’t wear any more.

If you do have a website or a blog, or are ready to start one, you can take part in affiliate marketing. This is very easy to set up, but don’t expect instant success. Basically, there are a lot of businesses on the internet that sell a product. To help them sell their products, they will join with people who have websites to become affiliates. You put an advertisement on your site with a special link back to the business. This link has information in it that identifies the visitor as coming from your site. If they purchase, you get a commission, some as high as 75%. The trick is that part of the advertising burden is now on you. You will need to drive traffic to YOUR site in order for people to see the ads.

If you create a website or a blog for affiliate marketing, you need to ensure that the content is not static, that is that it changes frequently. You also need to make sure that it contains information that is interesting and timely so that people will want to view it.

If you want to actually sell something without having to keep inventory, there are several companies that will host a storefront for you, for a setup fee and a monthly fee. You are still responsible for marketing your site and driving traffic to your store so you can sell their products and earn a commission.

Marketing is what it’s all about whether you go with affiliate marketing or your own store. This takes a lot of tenacity, but you can make it work. If it works for others, it can definitely work for you. Once your site is established and attracting visitors and making some money, you can enjoy a small break, but you will to spend some time every week maintaining your blog or site. Money can still be made on the internet, so why not you?

For some internet business ideas, please see Make Money Online Reviews and Home Business Guide.

Retirement Savings – 5 Tips to Survive

The bailout package has been passed for a week now, but the stock markets are still taking a beating. Investors are nervous, and rightly so. Those of us who have our retirement money in 401(k), plans, or any other plan that invests in stocks have seen our accounts dwindle. I personally have lost over 25% of my retirement account in the past year alone because of the stock market. Most of us are wondering if we should just switch over to a nice, save interest-bearing account until the markets stabilize. Here are some tips to help see you through.

1) DON’T PANIC! That’s a hard pill to swallow amidst the panic that is here already, but this is sound advice. By panicking, you will be quick to make a decision without thinking through the long-term consequences.

2) Talk with your financial advisor. This is important because, beside you, your financial advisor knows more about your finances than anyone else. He/she can help you redesign your portfolio to still be able to achieve your retirement goals. Together, you will be able to redistribute into some lower-risk stocks, and maybe move some to interest accounts.

3) Change your contribution level. If you are participating in an employer-sponsored 401(k) or other such pre-tax plan, consider raising the amount you are contributing. In a lot of cases, you will not see a significant difference in the amount you are bringing home because the more you contribute, the less you will pay taxes on. If you are not yet at the maximum amount for employer-match, consider raising to at least that amount. No sense in letting money stay on the table.

4) Don’t try to follow the market. The way most of these plans work is that they are constantly selling and re-buying in order to maximize shares. By changing your allocations constantly, you don’t give these plans a chance to work like they are supposed to. Be patient and refer to rule #1.

5) Don’t withdraw early. Withdrawing before you are of age without an acceptable reason will cause you to lose 30% of your money, unless you move it to another approved account within the allowed time frame. Unless it is a direct rollover, you will still be subject to 20% withholding, but some, if not all, of that may be recouped at tax time.

I am leaving my money in the stock profile it has been in because I believe the economy will bounce back like gangbusters. I fully expect the 25% loss to be replaced by a 50% gain in the next year. That is a risk that I am willing to take on advice from MY advisor.

Please seek the advice of YOUR financial advisor before making any changes to your retirement plan. This is your future and you need to be as sure as you can that it is protected.