7 Ways Retirees Can Better Manage Their Finances

Finance (Photo credit: Tax Credits)

When you reach retirement age, it is very important that you manage your finances. If you won’t continue working and will stop as soon as you start to receive your state and/or company pension, it is vital that your finances are kept in order. Here is how you can stay on top of your finances.

Create a budget

It is imperative that you make a budget. By writing down all expenditures, you’ll know exactly how much money has to be paid every month. When this is compared to what your pension is, you’ll know about any spare capital. When you have a workable budget, you won’t spend beyond your means.

Pay bills within days of each other 

If you have many bills to pay throughout the month, it is recommended that they are taken out of your account within several days of each other and not sporadically. Utility companies might enable you to change when payment is taken out of your account and your local council might offer several days every month when council tax payments can be deducted. When bills are taken out of your account within a few days of each other, you’ll be able to manage your finances more effectively.

Clear your debts

If you have a considerable credit card bill or any other form of debt to pay, this should be cleared as soon as possible. Setting aside a particular amount of money in your budget every month, your debt levels can be reduced. When you no longer have debts, your credit history will improve.

Choose a credit card which charges a low rate of interest

You might have many credit cards. However, this isn’t necessary because you should only have one credit card. If you have a credit card which charges a significant rate of interest, your bill will be very high if you don’t pay back what you owe to your credit card company. If you want to have a credit card bill, you should choose one which charges a lower rate of interest. Therefore, even when you don’t pay your credit card bill on time, you won’t have to pay a lot in interest.

Pay off your mortgage quicker

Although you don’t want to have any mortgage payments left when you reach retirement age, this might not be possible. If you haven’t paid off your mortgage before you retire, you could arrange a meeting with a mortgage adviser. Providing help about how a mortgage can be paid off quicker than it is at the moment, it is in your best interests to pay off your mortgage as soon as possible. This is because you won’t be liable for mortgage repayments anymore and you’ll have extra capital which can be spent elsewhere.  

Choose an ISA

The current interest rate for savings accounts is very low and as little as 1% might be given. If you have a considerable sum of money in your savings account, you won’t get as much in interest. However, an Individual Savings Account (ISA) can help because you can take advantage of a much higher rate of interest. More than 2% can be offered and some ISA’s give a 2.5% rate of interest. It is recommended that you find out about ISA’s which are being offered by other banks than where you currently have a savings account. This is because you could find an ISA which offers a better interest rate.  

Shop at other supermarkets

You might be spending too much money on your weekly shopping bill. Many supermarkets, such as Aldi and Lidl, are cheaper than Asda and Tesco and the same quality produce can still be bought. You could discover that up to 40% can be saved when you shop elsewhere. In fact, you might wonder why you haven’t shopped at other supermarkets before.

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How to Finance a New Vending Machine Business?

English: Snack Machine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Vending machine is not only a dispenser of some little necessary things or trinkets, but it promises a lucrative business. If you intend to set up your own vending machine, fund is needed. If you currently do not have the necessary finances, you have to look for ways of financing your efforts. If you have properly laid out your plans on how you will go about operating the business, it will make sense if you decide to borrow the necessary funding in order to bring this plan into reality. Good thing, there are quite a good number of options which you may try to get the funds which will help in getting your ideas started.

The first persons to approach with are your family or friends. Though this might be awkward for you to make a request from the people surrounding you, this is highly desirable as these people will be willing to help and may charge low or no interest at all. Since the loan will have exceptional or non-existent interest, you will take lesser time in order to repay what you have borrowed. When you request for the loan, be prepared in describing the plain in full details. If they can extend the loan, it is advised to put the terms on a paper. This is to make sure that there will be no misunderstanding that can damage the relationship. However, not everyone have family and friends who may be able to lend money. Thus, you can move to the next source of financing your vending business.

                                                                              

The next source of finances would be a reputable lending institution like a bank. You can speak to them to see if a loan or line of credit can be extended to you, so you can borrow money at reasonable interest rate. Make appointments with some few institutions so you can make comparison of what each of them can offer you. Decisions must be made carefully after considering few factors such as repayment terms, interest rates and penalties for default in payment or for early repayment.

The last option to finance your vending machine business is through the use of credit card. This option is recommended to be used if you are sure to make repayment relatively quickly. You may opt to use your existing card or apply for some few more so you can get extra credit in financing your business venture. This is the last recommended option because the interest rates imposed on the use of cards is quite high. This makes it more challenging to make repayments and if not managed properly, can bring more hindrance than help.

If you are unable to obtain funds from any of these options, you may just want to consider taking the machine under a lease agreement. While this is mostly used for expansion of those who already having vending business, this is not an impossible choice for those who are just starting their venture. When you intend to start a successful dispensing machine business, it is comforting to know that you have several alternatives for financing. 

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Midlife Tips: How to Lose Pounds & Save Money

While some might believe that looking good, staying fit and maintaining reasonable levels of physical health are strictly goals for youth; science and experience prove this is entirely untrue. On the one hand, one recent study has revealed that women past sixty struggle with body image issues, eating disorders, and problems about their current weight to an even larger extent than their younger counterparts. On the other hand, another recently published piece of news has proven that middle-aged individuals who choose to maintain focus on their health and weight will usually enjoy a health risk-free old age, with fewer conditions and illnesses to speak of. 

Keeping fit past the age of fifty is a wonderful exercise in frugality. Think of it this way: while most of your mid-life peers are spending massive amounts of money on pills to treat their weary arteries and hearts, or on unhealthy foods, you’re eating properly working out, and saving money. Weight loss and fitness don’t need to become more complicated once you go past the middle-life marker than they were before. There are plenty of great value dieting plans that cater to mid-lifers, with plenty of information about them available on the Internet. By following a few simple tips and tricks, just about anyone can save up while slimming down.

Whole foods have plenty of advantages when it comes to macrobiotic balance that you need to attain in order to drop some pounds – besides, they come with the boon of costing far less than highly processed foods in the long run. Sure, for the short term, springing for frozen pizzas or kabobs might seem like the more economic option. After all, you are buying several portions for the price of whole, natural ingredients that will also take a long while to prepare, aside from not looking like they’re going to keep your hunger at bay for too long.

The above sentence contains several fallacies that we’ll deconstruct in the following. First off, processed foods that contain refined ingredients, such as white flour, sugars, and saturated fats, will only make you feel hungry faster. Refined ingredients cause spikes in blood sugar levels. After the spike, your blood sugar will plummet, causing the release of ghrelin and leptin, the two hormones that trigger the feeling of hunger. Secondly, thinking you can withhold from eating a whole pre-assembled, frozen pizza in one sitting is usually wishful thinking that you’re using to sabotage your own way out of a diet. More often than not, people struggling with weight issues will not be able to limit themselves to a single recommended portion. As such, you might be buying food that’s supposed to last you for several days, but you will often end up polishing it off in a single sitting – and there goes your frugal lifestyle, right down the drain.

Lastly, whole foods, be they raw or frozen, are so much better from a dietary point of view. Legumes, fruits, vegetables and whole grains contain plenty of fiber. Several acknowledged weight loss plans advocate eating plenty of fiber (in excess of 25 g per day) for those who want to shed their extra pounds fast – for more information on the effects of popular diet Medifast, access website here and get educated. Moreover, whole foods usually contain antioxidants, such as vitamin C, selenium, vitamin E, and betacarotene, all of them great for keeping young and healthful. Great sources of antioxidants include most fruits and vegetables, as well as dark leafy greens, such as spinach and kale. Recent studies have proven that fruit and vegetables will ward off angina and stroke risks with 39 per cent more positive odds in people over 50 who choose to consume lots of them.

Another key issue is that buying whole foods will usually mean you’re buying locally. Aside from supporting small producers and stimulating the local economy, buying foods that are ‘in season’ will cost far less than splurging on exotic cheeses and meats.

Last, but definitely not least, avoid excess consumption levels of sugars, trans and saturated fats, as well as sodium. Most processed foods contain them, and they stand to damage your health to a great extent. The same goes for alcohol and tobacco products – quitting smoking, irrespective of the age at which it occurs, is likely to save you massive amounts of money, as well as cleansing your body of the toxins which make it more difficult to lose weight.

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What Weight Loss Can Teach You about Property Investment

Even though they seem to be worlds apart on first glance, the connection between dieting and investing in the world of real estate is not that distant or forced. As a matter of fact, there are plenty of parallels to be drawn between the two, whether they pertain to ambition, drive, working toward a given goal and so on. In a nutshell, however, there is no magic solution for capitalizing a.s.a.p., neither when it comes to losing weight, nor with respect to shedding off the extra pounds that stand between you and your healthiest possible self. So just how are property investments and dieting plans similar? Read on to find out – you’ll be surprised to learn that, if you have lost weight, you, too, can apply that knowledge to your capital investments into real estate. 

There is No Miracle Solution

In business, as in dieting, (I think it should be: “In dieting, as in business,…” ) every once in while a self-proclaimed enlightened guru will crop up, with the promise that he or she holds the very secret that will help you reach your desired goal, be that goal a perfectly toned, ideal weight figure, or the fortune that you’ve decided to put your money to work toward. However, miracle solutions are always bogus, bar none. In terms of diets, there is plenty of information available out there on medically tested, safe, healthful and balanced plans that can help you obtain just what you want – an all-new and improved body image. There are many up for grabs, and since no two individuals are alike, finding a tailored solution, as well as a sustainable strategy that’s likely to work out for you is the only way to go.

The same applies to investing money into property (or much of anything, for that matter). There is no foul-proof ‘get rich overnight’ magic solution. Just like any dietitian and nutritionist will remind you that it took time to put on all that weight, a good investment strategist and broker will tell you that getting rich within a short span of time only works in lotteries and raffles. When it comes to investing in homes and/or commercial property, the only way to go is to have patience, to think things through and to figure out your investment style, so as to implement the best strategy that will work for you. 

You Reap What You Sow

Reduced to the essential principle, weight loss is all about creating a calorie deficit. In order to put on a pound of fat, you will need to eat 3,500 more calories than you consume through your basal metabolic rate (the sum total of your vital processes) and your daily physical activities. To lose weight, you will need to create a difference of 3,500 calories between what goes in (i.e., the food you eat) and what comes out (i.e., the calories you burn by working out, staying active, etc.). It’s no wonder that one of the most efficient and sustainable dieting plans out there is calorie counting. By keeping track of what you invest and what you expend, you will be able to maintain full control over the progress of your diet.

The same goes for property investment. There is no end to the amount of stress that must go toward highlighting the importance of thorough asset management, investments and returns. To over-simplify, if you’re spending more than you’re making, you’ll be losing money. Conversely, good investments are those that capitalize on your current resources and build toward increasing their value over time, but this can only happen when you, the investor, are keeping close track of your own money. 

Stick to Your Guns 

Some people will complain that famous diets, such as BistroMD, about which you can learn more here (noticed I changed the anchor text) here, yielded absolutely no results for them. Meanwhile, others will extoll the virtues of the same plan and herald it as the next best thing since bread came sliced. While it’s true that different types of metabolisms will react differently to the various factors that determine weight loss or weigh gain (amount of cortisol released, low carb/high fat diets versus high carb/low fat diets, cardio work outs versus milder aerobics and calisthenics, etc.), it all boils down to patience, determination and habit formation.

The same applies to investment plans. It takes twenty-one days to change a habit, according to recent cognitive-behavioral research. This assertion is equally applicable to dieting habits, as well as to investment habits. You can’t objectively expect to see results, if you haven’t stuck through with one plan for at least that long a time.

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Mortgage Loans Rates: What You Need to Know

mortgage document (Photo credit: TheTruthAbout)

Nowadays, the US home owner market is recovering from its depression 3-4 years ago when home buying was at record lows and people’s mortgages were getting foreclosed because of the terrible shape the economy was in. To help give the economy a boost, the Federal Reserve has been buying mortgage bonds and offering attractive mortgage rates to people in the market for buying a home. Throughout last year, the mortgage rates stayed below 4% and were as low as 2.6% in some cases. Of course, every state and location in the country has different mortgage rates, so you should look to see what the rates are like in your intended location. However, although the economy is on the mend, the home market is still in a good situation for buyers because mortgage rates continue to be low. 

However, before you rush out to buy that dream home you think you can afford now, there are a few more things you should know about mortgage rates. Your mortgage rate never comes without strings, so knowing about the fine print is important before you make any commitment. All across the country, several home owners suffered from foreclosures due to being unable to pay off their mortgages, so you need to make sure that you get a mortgage rate that your income and financial position can sufficiently pay. 

In general, the longer your lease, the higher your mortgage rates. The average 30 year loan has a mortgage rate of 3.32% right now. The 15 year loan has significantly lower mortgage rates. However, shorter loan terms mean higher recurring loan payments, so you have to see whether your wallet can afford that. You may get a better mortgage rate, but making a larger payment may not be possible for you. The other important thing to consider with a mortgage rate is the down payment involved. The best mortgage rates usually come with the highest down payment, so the amount of hard cash you have in the bank right now could be an issue. You could get a great mortgage rate if you can make a large down payment, but that is not possible for every person in the market for a house. 

If your down payment falls below a certain percentage of the total loan amount (usually 20%), you can also get slapped with a private mortgage insurance, which is basically an addition to the interest rate you are already getting. This will jack up your overall mortgage rate because you are viewed as a risky borrower by the bank if you cannot make the minimum down payment. 

Compared to 1984, when mortgage rates were on the order of 14%, today’s rates of 3 to 4% may seem incredibly tempting to many people looking to buy a home. This may well be the time for you to purchase your dream house, but make sure that your down payment and mortgage rates are friendly to your wallet over the years. Make sure to take in account any unexpected expenses that you may be faced with over the years and leave yourself with enough savings for a rainy day. 

About the Author:
The guest post was brought to you by 411ForCash.com

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How to Balance Between Your Income and Expenditures?

For many people balancing money between their incomes and expenses is not exhilarating task. Because they may not know where their money is going, as there are different ways one can spend money such as: spending money for a holiday trip, purchasing latest gadget, home appliances or a new home. 

Most people when they run short of money to meet their expenses opt for various credit options. But the sad reality comes into existence if they are unable to balance their expenses with income. The only solution to avoid such bad situation can be creating an effective budget and sticking to it.

Plan a budget: Planning a budget is one of the important financial tasks. Whether you prepare budgets for business or for your family, it helps in managing your money and aid in saving money for future expenditures.

Balance your budget: It is very simple to create a budget but balancing it turns to be complicated task. If you could successfully balance your budget you will be able to understand your spending activities and can ensure financial stability. Here are a few ways to balance your budget.

• Firstly determine your income and know by how much amount you are short off to manage your expenses. Collect the details of your income and evaluate how much money you need to meet your financial obligations. 
• After determining your income, the next step to do is– gather all your financial documents to calculate fixed monthly expenses. This should include documents of utility bills, credit cards, insurances, home or a mortgage and so on. 
• Now classify these expenses into various categories for easy understanding. Make a few categories relating to the necessities, fixed needs and wants. 
• Allocate some funds to each of the category, be honest while allocating. You can even subtract a few of the expenses if you feel that you can manage to stay without them. 
• If you are not able to manage your budget to pay off any urgent expenses or need some fiscal until your next payday try considering Payday Loans and resolve your financial need. 

Make use of budget tools: There are many budget tools available which can make your work easier. For example, to calculate your expenses you can try using mobile applications that aid in providing where you are spending much of your income help in extracting recent bank transactions, credit card details and so on.

Manage your debt: Managing your debts through budgeting could become frustrating if your budget is not realistic. So prepare your budget analyzing financial situation and set some financial goals.

Remove unnecessary expense: To get rid of your debts, make sure you maximize your savings and cut down your expenses. Eliminating expenses are not just meant to reduce grocery bills, but it should be executed for each of your expenses. For example, if you wish to buy an insurance policy, make sure to get the best deal on it by researching various insurance policies and extracting the best deal or by negotiating with the insurance company to reduce its premiums.

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