| |
| |
|
|
Personal Finance |
|
Understanding Your Finances Can Give You Power And Choice
What is finance and what do you need to know? Finance can mean different things. It may refer to your personal financial situation. It could refer to your investments or a business's investments. It could refer to a credit or loan purchase. Financing can be involved in your life in different ways. For example, if you are going to invest in a large purchase such as a house or even a car. Large furniture purchases and credit cards all fall into these categories. Interest rates are the most integral part of financing. Why else would a company want to loan you money or offer you credit? How else would they benefit? They benefit from the interest that you have to pay in on financing your loan. There are different types of financing options available. The percentage rate is the amount of interest that you pay. The percentage rate is the certain portion of your loan or credit that you pay back in interest. For example, if your loan was for $40,000 and your interest rate was 12.3% then you would pay 12.3% of $40,000 in interest. The interest would be added onto your $40,000 and you would pay it back via your monthly payments. Fixed rate: A fixed rate means your interest rate will stay the same no matter what. People usually prefer these. If you can get a low fixed rate, it will stay with you even if other average interest rates are going up. Balloon rate: A balloon rate can fluctuate with the times and the stock market but depending on the situation, this can be beneficial to you as well. You will have to decide which you think is best for you. There are different types of financing options as we mentioned earlier. Probably the most common example of finance in the United States is credit cards. A credit card allows you to make purchases with the card. The bank issuing the card will pay on your behalf and you then pay the bank back, plus the interest. The bank makes money off the interest and you get what you want right away. The same thing applies to pay-as-you-go or rental furniture companies. There are even rent-to-own housing services now where your monthly rent can go towards buying the house if you want to stay. Financing should be a way to help you achieve something that you're going to be purchasing anyway. Financing can get you in your house quicker than saving up the cash. Become knowledgable and financing can be a tool that will serve you well. The author has found that most people have little or no knowledge about financial matters. She believes this is not a "bad" thing. It's just that they haven't been taught about money. The "good" new is that financial knowledge is a learnable skill, just like learning to ride a bike. She enjoys sharing and teaching people how to have a harmonious relationship with money and their finances. Kathleen Sutera is passionate about finance and is the webmaster of Finance How
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How to Obtain a Non ChexSystems Bank Account Without Being Scammed Predatory lending exists in the mortgage industry. It's typically when a mortgage broker add's on unnecessary fee's to a bad credit application, because he or she knows that the applicant is in a desperate situation. Students Investing in Their Future Need to Manage Their Finances Today With the A-level results coming out, the long wait for UK school leavers hoping to go to university will soon be over. All the hard work that has been put into achieving the grades required will now pay off and the fun and freedom that is student life can begin. Planning Your Financial Future Millions of people give a lot of thought to financial planning but get frustrated and give up before ever making any progress. Making yourself aware of the most common reasons people fail to make a viable financial plan is the first step in reaching your financial goals. Avoiding A Nightmare On Renovation Street You've decided you want a bigger, better and more desirable house. How do you determine when to renovate, what to do and importantly, how much will it cost and will we get our money back?Unless you're in the building industry, most people are fairly naïve when it comes to making decisions about renovating. Banks Are More Than Just A Place To Park Your Money If you've been to a shopping mall lately, you've probably discovered two different banks within a few feet of each other. Go inside the food store in that shopping plaza and you'll see yet another one, just waiting to offer their services to you. Learning the Basics of Handling Money With prices increasing all the time, saving money can be harder and harder to do. Here are some solutions for saving a little so that you can still meet your needs and still find ways to trim off a little for the future. How to Balance Your Checkbook - Get a Calculator and Pencil and You are Ready To Go! Despite how easy it is to balance a checkbook, very few people take the time to do it and the few who do, don't always do it the right way. If you write down in your checkbook ledger what should be deducted and added, you are on the right track - if not, start there and follow these nine easy steps to a balanced checkbook. Live Green; Save Green! Have you seen the recent article on a new "green" residential high rise in Battery Park? It's called The Solaire. For a look at the hopeful future of architectural efficiency, check out the myriad of cost saving and environmentally-friendly features of the building:http://www. Family Money Management: The Importance of Agreement Are you having problems with debt? Are you afraid to answer the phone because it may be an angry creditor calling? Do you have problems getting from one paycheck to the next? The simple answer is that you need to budget. But for that budget to work, both you and your spouse need to be in total agreement. Retirement Income Needs---Less Than You Think? It is widely written that you need 75% of your present income to maintain your present life-style in retirement. If you make 100 thousand now, figure 75 thousand in retirement. Financial Security 1) HOW TO LOOK FOR A JOBA) The Chronological Curriculum:1. First and foremost you have to be able to write an effective resume or curriculum. The Origins of Check Writing People haven't always written checks to buy goods and services. But you know that right? So how did people transfer money from one place to another in times of old?In ancient times the most popular form of money exchange was the trade. How Check 21 Affects You The Check 21 Law is the new federal law for financial institutions and has taken effect last October 28, 2004.Before the Check 21 law was enacted, your paper check had to be physically transported from where the check was paid out before it could be deposited to the financial institution. Saving Money - Are You Doing Enough? It is estimated that we, as consumers, waste an average of 30% of our paychecks on items we don't need or pay way too much for the items we buy. Since 1990, spending is up 30% and debt is up an astounding 80%. Personal Checks - Extreme Benefits Millions of people have a checking account and many people have two of three. They have the choice of choosing a variety of check designs to compliment the checking account. Adverse Debt Levels Blight UK Consumers Personal Finances Debt levels are at an all time high in the UK. The younger generation tend to be feeling the pinch the most, but parents are increasingly being required to bail them out, often at great expense to their own limited mortgage or retirement savings. Simple Ways to Save Money Things are so expensive these days. We seem to be hearing, and saying, that a lot lately at the gas pump, in the grocery store and especially when paying bills. UK Graduates Looking Short-Term At Their Long-Term Financial Responsibilities With almost two thirds of university entrants from England and Wales who applied for maintenance grants for this year being unsuccessful, and the average graduate owing £13,501 when they leave, according to Barclays, combined with a survey by High Fliers Research showing that only 21% of students were confident of managing to enter a graduate-level job this year, it is not surprising that there is a feeling of gloom hanging over many UK university entrants.According to a survey of students from 30 institutions; 63% believed there are not enough graduate jobs for everyone leaving university this year, with a fifth stating that they felt that there were only limited jobs available. Save Your Money, Dont Give to Charity Scammers **If it's Spam, it's a Scam!- If it sounds too good, if it shows up in your bulk folder or your spam folder - don't touch it, just delete it**Check out the charity- You can find some charity info at the BBB site www.give. Chex Systems - Why Every American Needs To Guard His Checking Account With His Life Most Americans have been brought up to be concerned about a good personal credit rating, because of the role a positive rating can play in your long term plans; purchasing a home, buying a car, getting a business loan, etc. They have also been made to understand that the premier organizations that pretty much hold the key to their financial futures are Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
