Category: Money

The year is about to change again before you know it. If you want both your career and your whole life to become better, this is the perfect time to start investing in yourself. Investing in yourself, your image, and your skills can increase your overall value.

Don’t worry if you don’t have tons of cash stashed away. There are five investments you can make on yourself that won’t require you to break the bank. In fact, these smallest investments can make big and significant differences in your life.

1. Pay Attention to Your Body

Many people’s fitness goals usually come and go after the New Year. However, if you really want to be successful, you have to commit to eating healthily and exercising. For you to become more effective in what you do, you will need stamina, clarity, and energy, and exercise can boost all of these. Whether it is running, enrolling at a gym membership or something as simple as taking a quick stroll at the local park, exercising is an absolute must.

2. Start Investing in Your Professional Image

Splurging on a pair of killer pumps makes perfect sense for your image as it tells people how they should address you. You can also make other people see you as a serious player if you invest in a quality suit or dress and quality shoes. No matter what the key piece might be, always choose this depending on what is suitable for your office environment. Make sure that the piece also reflects your unique personality. Go for something that boosts your confidence every time you wear it. Looking good makes you feel good and as a result, you also give a good performance.

3. Read, Read, and Read More

If you haven’t picked up a book for ages, now is the right time to start turning those pages. For a very cheap price, books can give you that much-needed boost. Aside from self-help tutorials, you can also subscribe to audiobook services for you to have new information with you even if you are on the go, such as when you are hitting the gym. You can also attend workshops every weekend. Information that provokes your thoughts will empower you to create a mentality upgrade for better success.

4. Study with Your Grammar Coach

In case you don’t know it, grammar coaches exist. These professionals can help you with everything, from social media posts to your emails. Since most interactions happen over the email, the quality of the words you use is crucial to create a positive impression. Your grammar coach is going to remind you of those long-forgotten rules to refresh your memory.

 

 

5. Make the Most Out of Your 401(k) Plan

It is a good investment for your future itself as this is practically free money for you. You don’t get lots of opportunities where someone else will willingly invest their own money for your future. Having said this, you might want to try investing the whole amount your employer is going to match. Even though they might not be able to reach the whole match yet, each dollar counts as far as your retirement is concerned.

 

As long as your parents don’t kick you out, it is easy to fall into the habit of not worrying about paying your bills and such. But, no matter how much you try to avoid it, there will come a time when you will have to move out of your parent’s home.

When is really the right time for you to leave the nest, then?

Going Out is Your Favorite Hobby

You love to go out 3 to 4 nights every week and this is starting to drive your parents mad. This is the reason why college was invented in the first place. Once you reach 18 years old, you have to learn how to keep your family and social life separate to benefit you and everyone around you.

Commute to the Office Eats Up Most of Your Time

Does your commute to work take a couple of hours both ways? No matter how much you try to look at things positively, it will soon burn you out big time. If your parents’ home is hours away from work, looking for a place closer to the office will not only help cut down on the time spent on the commute as it also ensures that you won’t miss going out. Now, that’s what you call a win-win situation.

You Always Get Asked to Play by Your Young Neighbors

Not everyone has the luxury of time to play with kids and if this sounds like you, then, it might be best to stay away from those incessant requests by moving out.

You Feel Awkward Bringing Your Special Someone Home

Dating can be a serious mess if you are living under your parents’ wings. What will you do if your date suddenly asks to come home with you? What if your significant other dozes off on the couch during a Netflix marathon? Anyone more than 21 years old knows that asking such questions is out of the equation.

You Still Have a Curfew

Most parents don’t say it but they continue to worry and think about you long after you finish college. Once they know that you went out, they want to ensure that you will get home safe and sound. Sometimes, it can mean telling you to come home before their bedtime. You cannot blame them for this kind of care but if you no longer want to be treated as if you are a 17-year-old, you can start planning to move out.

Doing Your Own Laundry isn’t Your Cup of Tea

It is important for adults to know how to do their own laundry. Removing those stains from your favorite shirt and washing your socks properly are tasks that you need to master, whether you like it or not. When you move out of your parents’ home, you will be left with no choice but to learn how to do these tasks because mom or dad won’t be there to do the laundry for you.

These are just some of the telltale signs that will let you know that it is time to move out of your parents’ house.

 

Your priorities change with every new phase of your life. What used to matter to you when you were still an adolescent may no longer be important once you become a spouse, a parent, or even a grandparent. As your needs change, your life insurance requirements also change.

This is the reason why your current stage of life and not only your age usually indicates your personal needs for life insurance.

So, when should you really buy life insurance?

Below are several life stages that could generate the need for you to purchase life insurance:

When You Decide to Buy a Home

Your house is where you create the most precious moments and memories. Once you pass away, you want to make sure that your family and loved ones will be able to stay in the house you built and shared together. Life insurance can come in handy at this point.

A life insurance policy has a benefit amount that can be used to pay off the mortgage so that your family members can keep the house without getting into debt.

When You Get Engaged or When You are Already Married

Once you get married, it means you have to learn how to share almost everything from mundane tasks to the most complicated responsibilities. It also means you will have to share the financial responsibilities of managing a household.

As most households depend on dual incomes just to survive, it has become more critical than ever to make sure that the husband and wife both have life insurance policies. This coverage will help replace any lost income in case something happens to any of the two parties.

Life insurance is also something that stay-at-home parents should consider. They offer invaluable services like household management and childcare. In the absence of a stay-at-home parent, life insurance will cover the price of outside help when needed.

When Having Children

One of the most rewarding experiences you can ever have in your life is raising your own child but at the same time, this is also among the most expensive. If ever something happens to you, a life insurance policy will help cover daily expenses associated with raising a child, including food, clothing, diapers, and long-term expenses like college education.

 

 

When You Enter Your Retirement Years

Your golden years are the perfect time for you to enjoy all those activities and hobbies you like and love the most like fishing, traveling, or spending time with the grandkids. Your to-do list shouldn’t include worrying about how your spouse is going to cover your bills once you pass away.

As the average life expectancy reaches 78.8 years, it is a must to consider that your other half may outlive you and require financial support when you are no longer with them.

Life insurance definitely helps to cover any lost income from your pension. This also helps offset costs like medical bills or final expenses for your loved ones to maintain the life quality you worked hard for years to build together.

 

Whole life insurance is considered as the most basic type of permanent policy. This insurance pays out the death benefit to beneficiaries. Its cash value also accumulates and you can tap into this during your lifetime. However, just like other lifelong forms of coverage, whole life insurance can be quite expensive.

Whole Life Insurance – A Short Definition

Whole life insurance policy offers coverage that can last your entire whole life, as the name suggests, provided that you can continue paying your premiums. These premiums remain the same during the life of your policy so you will know the exact amount you will pay every month.

A whole life insurance policy is different from term life insurance in the sense that this policy earns cash value on the portion of the premium.

How Whole Life Insurance Works

There are two parts to whole life insurance – a savings component and a death benefit. With death benefit being guaranteed, it means that the beneficiaries will receive the payout once the plan holder passes away. On the other hand, the savings component is known as the cash value that you can take advantage of while you are still alive.

The Cost of Whole Life Insurance

Whole life insurance substantially costs more compared to term life because of several reasons.

For starters, term life insurance is only temporary. This doesn’t accumulate cash value. If you think of life insurance as a game of risk, insurers can consider term life to be a good gamble since many people can live longer than their policies. Once this happens, there is no need for insurers to spend cash for the payout of the death benefit.

Whole life insurance provides a guaranteed death benefit and permanent protection. Provided that you keep up with the premiums, the insurer is going to pay the beneficiaries once the plan holder dies. This kind of coverage got cash value as well and guarantee investment return rate on a part of the premium.

This is an investment and this is why the amounts of coverage are also higher.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Whole Life Insurance

Policies for whole life insurance have their own pros and cons:

Benefits

• Usually utilized as mandatory savings
• Peace of mind knowing you have a lifelong protection
• Guaranteed death benefit
• Cash access once circumstances change
• Premium stays the same during the policy’s life
• Possible earnings for dividend that can be withdrawn or come in handy to reduce premiums and increase cash value
• Cash value portion continues to grow every year with guaranteed interest savings
• Could be used for saving money as a retirement fund

Drawbacks

• Coverage is not as flexible
• Higher premiums than term life insurance
• Coverage doesn’t keep pace with inflation that can put beneficiaries at underinsurance risk during the time of the claim
• Poor choice of investment since the interest earned on cash value might be lesser compared to other available alternatives of investment

Whole life insurance policies may also have expiration dates with some policies expiring once the plan holder turns 100 or 121 years old. Even if the policy expires, however, the cash value will remain payable.

 

Can you confidently say that you can still cover all of your financial responsibilities even if you miss one paycheck? If you can, then, you’re lucky. Unfortunately, most people today cannot say yes because many of them live paycheck to paycheck. In fact, some may even end up homeless if they miss just a single paycheck. Scary, isn’t it?

This is why it is a must to know how you can break from this cycle and be more confident with your finances. Here are a few helpful tips on how to stop living paycheck to paycheck.

Cut Down Your Expenses

Food, clothing, shelter, and transportation are the four key things you need for survival. Everything else is considered a luxury. Asking yourself if you need something to survive is one good way to know whether an expense is really necessary or not.  Even if it happens to fall within the basic necessities, there is no need for you to settle for the most expensive.

Look for cheaper alternatives and buy only those you need. Cutting things out from your budget doesn’t need to be permanent. The sacrifices are only temporary to let you save and pay off your debts to help you entangle yourself from the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck.

Stick to a Budget

Probably the easiest way out of living paycheck to paycheck is learning how to manage your existing funds.  If you cannot manage the money you’ve got, the situation will just get worse once you earn more. The very first step in proper fund management is getting on a budget. When you create a budget, your spending becomes more visible. It gets easier for you to determine the expenses that you can eliminate or reduce so that you don’t spend way beyond your means.

Raise Your Income

After establishing a system and money management habit, you can now start looking for ways to amplify your income. The main point here is to ensure that you have more money to pay off debt, save, and invest. More money doesn’t mean more expenses. In this case, this means you will be working with more.

You can choose from several ways of increasing your income. Things such as part-time jobs are perfect to boost your earnings fast. However, your main goal here is to look for a consistent and sustainable way to earn more cash. Some of these ways include taking on seasonal or part-time jobs, selling unused items, and starting a home-based side hustle, just to name a few.

Pay Off Your Debt

Most strains brought about by living paycheck to paycheck is because of debt burdens. The majority of people’s paycheck goes to paying off car loans, credit card bills, student loan debts, mortgage, all these four, or more. Learning how to get rid of such debts is important to finally cut loose from the tedious cycle.

Changing old habits isn’t easy but with discipline and determination, it is possible to stop living paycheck to paycheck.

 

 

A lot of people feel that society looks down on them because of having a poor credit score. Well, it is true. It may be unfair as there are numerous reasons why somebody ended up having a poor credit score.

For instance, loss of a job or medical bills may put somebody in a tough situation. But, the reality is that credit problems do not go away easily and easy to acquire. Typically, they stay on your credit report for a long period of time.

What Poor Credit Score Means?

If your credit score is poor, you have to take action to build up credits if you like to qualify for credit cards, car loans or mortgage. If you don’t have credits, you might like to begin with a secured credit card. Secured cards will require making monetary deposits as security for the card. Lenders will establish your card limit that is based on the money you have on deposit.

If you do not make the required payments on the card, the lender will use your deposit for covering missed payments. Lenders aren’t taking a risk and having secured card may provide somebody with poor credit history the opportunity to have some positive results. Once you have proven yourself, you may apply for unsecured credit cards.

If you have poor credit score, it is essential to take a look at your credit report to ensure that it is accurate. If it is not, begin the process of disputing items that do not belong to you or incorrect. Never forget that you may get your credit report once every year. It is something you must take advantage to ensure that your credit report has updated and accurate information.

Poor Credit Score – How Can It Affect You?

Having poor credit score may affect you in various ways and these include the following:

• Difficulty Getting a Small Business Loan

If you have a small business and you need loan, having poor credit score might make it impossible or difficult for you to get one.

• Risk of Being Rejected for a Job

While employers cannot access your credit score, they may ask for your credit report and with negative information, you could be at risk to be rejected for a job. That is the case for the positions that have some financial responsibilities.

• Difficulty Getting Approved for a Cellphone or an Apartment Contract

It comes back to the risk. Some providers do not like to lose money through taking on risky customers.

• Risk of Being Denied Credits

The lenders reject your loan application once you have a record of managing your credit poorly.

• Trouble Getting a Mortgage

A mortgage is a huge loan. Lenders like to be confident that you won’t default on them. While others will charge high interest rates, some might reject your application.

• High Interest Rates

Since lenders see people with poor credit as a high risk, they will charge high interest rates. Having a bad credit score can result to high interest rate on home mortgage that may cost you thousands of dollars.

Poor credit score does not define who you are. You don’t have to be ashamed about it as there are ways on how you can improve it.

 

A cashless world might sound something out of science fiction. However, what you should know is that the world is already on its way. Some powerful forces are behind the move to cash-free world including big financial services companies and governments. Even the critics of mainstream financial system as well as government-issued currencies favor with cashless world.

Cashless World – What Does It Look Like?

Without cash, all payments will be done electronically. Rather than using coins and paper to exchange value, you authorize fund transfer to another business or person. The logistics are developing, but there are some hints on how cashless world could evolve.

• Cryptocurrencies – They are already being used for money transfers and they introduce innovation and competition that can help keep the costs low. However, they have regulatory hurdles and risks that make them a bit impractical for majority of consumers, so they might be not be good for widespread use.
• Mobile Payment Services – Mobile devices are used for cash-free payments through apps or online services.
• Electronic Payment Apps – These are helpful for the P2P payments. Aside from that, the bill-splitting apps enable friends to split their bills in a fair and easy manner.
• Debit Cards and Credit Cards – These are among the known cash alternatives today. However, cards alone are not enough. The mobile devices will likely be a primary tool for the payments.

Advantages of a Cashless World

• Paper Trails

Financial crimes must dry up. It’s difficult to evade taxes and hide income when there is a record of each payment you get. Money laundering is much harder if the fund’s source is available.

• Less Crimes

With cash, it is much easier to steal money, whether the amount is small or big. Illegal transactions usually take place with cash so there is no transaction record and so the seller may be certain that he or she will get paid.

• No Cash Management

To print coins and bills, it costs money. Businesses have to store money, deposit cash when they have, and get more once they run out. Moving money and protecting a huge amount of cash is now a thing of the past with a cashless world.

Disadvantages of a Cashless World

Depending on one’s perspective, going cashless can be problematic. Some of the disadvantages of a cashless world include the following:

• Hacking

Hackers are muggers and bank robbers of the cashless world. The consequences in a cashless world are higher if someone drains your account because you do not have alternative ways to spend. Even if you are protected under federal law, you might still face some inconveniences after a breach.

• Privacy

Electronic payments may mean less privacy. You might trust organizations that handle your data and you might not have something to hide. However, your payment information might turn up in ways that can be impossible to predict. Cash enables you to spend money and get funds anonymously.

• Fees

If you are forced to select from just some payment methods, a payment processor can just cash in on high volumes. It gets rid of the savings that must come from handling less cash.

 

Asking your employer for a salary raise can be a bit nerve-wracking. But, what you should keep in mind that there is really nothing wrong with asking for a raise that reflects your hard work. However, there are some best practices and approaches that will always give you better results than others. Even if your manager has data on the hard work you have been doing, you still have to present your case why you are deserving of a salary raise and you have to be ready to negotiate.

Prepare Yourself Before You Negotiate a Salary Raise

You must not ask for a raise on your salary without preparing for the negotiation. Regardless of how great your relationship with your employer, it expects you to prove that you deserve the salary you are asking and you will not favorably respond if it’s like you didn’t prepare.

Before opening the subject to your employer, you must know your worth and build your case. Look back to the periods of time and projects where you went beyond what was provided and expected for your company. Always use particular performance data if possible.

What Should You Say to Get a Salary Raise?

After you prepare your evidence for why a salary raise is what you deserve and choosing the best time to talk to your employer, it is crucial to think of what you will say during your conversation. You do not really need a strict script, but you should be specific and clear in your delivery and it will help you have some phrases up your sleeve to guide the conversation.

• Be Specific

Consider mentioning your preferred salary and outline how you came to this kind of conclusion. Bring your salary estimate. You must be clear when you like your new salary  to be effective and other details that are pertinent to your preferred compensation.

• Be Clear

A simple way to start a raise discussion is saying something like you are looking forward to growing and working with the company.

Ways to Negotiate a Salary Raise at Your Job

Though your employer understands the value you are adding to the company, it does not mean they will offer you a raise. You should prove your case like the way you prove your case to have a high starting salary. Below are some of the ways to negotiate a raise effectively:

• Be Persuasive and Firm When Stating Your Case

Persuasiveness and confidence are important to negotiate a raise.

• Choose Your Moment

You should pick the right time to negotiate for a salary raise if you are serious to get it. A good time to bring up the subject of a raise is when you know your employer is impressed with your performance or she/he is in a good mood.

• Leverage Internal Moves

Having a new role provides a good negotiation opportunity. If you’re considering a new job or promotion with your employer, don’t consider the argument that the hands of management are tied. Try to use market data when laying out what it’d cost the company to hire off the street. You’ll likely find resistance. However, you should be firm.