Showing posts with label iPhone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iPhone. Show all posts

Friday, November 1, 2013

How A Senior Bachelor(ette) Can Stay Financially Stable



So I have an uncle Charles (not pictured above), the eldest brother of my dad. Unlike his other siblings, he never thought of marrying and settling down. He did have a handful of relationships, each lasted a good number of years, but never did it end up in tying the knot.

Uncle Charles is now retired, and is actively country-hopping around Southeast Asia. He is a man of modest means, and despite his relatively happy-go-lucky, eternally young lifestyle, he hasn’t ended up broke or in deep financial straits.

One time, when the family got together a few months ago, I quizzed him on how he manages to live a financially stable lifestyle without overspending or becoming a miser (he’d be the last person I’d call that). As of the moment, I didn’t have any plans of settling down, and I thought it prudent to receive some advice from a perpetually swinging single with experience.

Of course, he happily shared his wisdom with me, his favorite niece. Now, I’m sharing them with the Internet, because paying it forward and sharing knowledge is the right thing to do.

Always Set Something Aside


Just because you’re collecting your monthly social security checks doesn’t mean you should stop setting something aside for a rainy day. Life has a way of catching people unawares, and it is always a good policy to have some easily accessible liquid assets, just in case.
Bachelor and bachelorette seniors, assuming they have no dependents to take care of, definitely have no excuse in this regard.


Make Money Work For You


There are a lot of ways you can have your money grow. Aside from the emergency savings, do allocate some of your hard-earned savings on investments that are stable and relatively low-risk. If you plan to do some high-risk gambling, make sure it’s with money you can lose.
This piece of advice is pretty universal, regardless of your marital status.

Take Advantage of Senior Citizen Discounts


There is definitely no shame in partaking of any discounts and promos aimed at the more senior members of our society. Don’t let your guard down, however: there are a lot of unscrupulous people and companies that are bent on parting the senior from their savings, so always scrutinize any offer or promotion before jumping in.
Uncle Charles, for instance, takes full advantage of senior citizen cruise discounts.

Protect Your Assets


If by some instance that you do find a romantic connection, and you wish to formalize it with marriage, it’s not unthinkable to protect the money and properties you have earned via a prenuptial agreement.
A lot of people might think this move to be a little anti-romantic or even downright paranoid, but do realize that divorce rates would tell you a very convincing story on why you should do this. This is particularly important for single seniors, as they have a considerable amount of resources earned from their years of work, and to lose a good chunk of their hard-earned money and properties to a divorce settlement would simply be crippling.

Seek further legal advice from family law practitioners and lawyers with similar specializations. Online-enabled firms like Gower & Bluck offer free consultations, so it would be best to seek their initial opinions on such matters.

Keep on swinging, seniors!

About the Author
Stacey Thompson is a professional writer, marketer, entrepreneur, and a lover of weird little animals. She is based in San Diego, California, and maintains a blog with her gal pals, Word Baristas.


Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Save Money by Living on Cash

We’ve all done it – gone out for the day and stopped in for a coffee, a sandwich, maybe a few things at the drugstore and used our credit cards for each purchase. Small charges add up and suddenly you’re drowning in debt.

A great solution is to step away from your reliance on credit cards by using cash for all your purchases. 

Credit equals irresponsibility


Of course, we all love using credit cards; they seem more convenient than cash and they offer enticing points and bonuses. But the reality of credit cards is that they’re too easy to use. This makes consumers feel as though they have unlimited amounts of money, but we don’t.

Some people become so in love with shopping that their families are forced to send them to addiction rehab centers. Thus, we need a worthwhile system to track our spending while sticking to a budget. The answer? Cash.

Choose where the money goes


Each week or month, create a budget that works for your needs. Take into account what you’ll need to spend on transportation, food, home or medical needs, childcare, entertainment and any other requirements. Then decide what portion of your weekly income should be assigned to each category.

Generally, you should put away 10% of your net income for savings and an emergency fund. Once the money for each expense has been allocated, simply hide the credit cards!

Keep yourself on track


You can’t spend what you don’t have, so try not to cheat. Some over-50 consumers rely on their friends or partner to ensure they don’t take from one category to fill another. Maintain a notebook or spreadsheet to write down all purchases made. This allows you to keep track, in real time, of where your money goes. 

Money-saving apps


These days, almost everyone has a smartphone or tablet computer. And while buying the latest technology can be a huge drain on your finances, there's a number of apps out there that actually help you save money by promoting day-to-day budgeting and make it easy to keep track of your spending.

Here are two of our favorites:

· Expenditure (iPhone): Expenditure gives you everything you need to budget effectively, and then some. Set a budget, log your daily expenses and track your progress over the month. The app also includes a number of handy features such as a built-in currency converter for international travelers.
· Moneywise (Android): Moneywise gives you a powerful suite of reporting and tracking features to manage your budget on an Android-powered smartphone or tablet. Create and adjust custom budgets on the fly and export graphs and tables for review on your home computer. 

Some final thoughts on cash budgeting


The great thing about the cash system is that it forces you to be aware of every penny. This consequently leads to great savings as you’re counting out those dimes and quarters at the cash register. Once you’ve implemented the cash system, you’ll immediately see the savings!

No more mindless shopping – now go out and save those dollar bills!


Saturday, June 22, 2013

The 5 Best Apps for Finding a New Home

House hunting is a long and difficult process, but it doesn't have to be if you're equipped with the right technology. With a smartphone and a helpful real estate app, you'll find your new home faster than you can circle the neighborhood in search of "For Sale" signs. With that in mind, here are the five best apps for finding a new home:

1. Trulia Real Estate (Free for Android and Apple devices)


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Image via Google Play

The Trulia Real Estate app combines high-resolution indoor/outdoor photos, interactive maps, and adjustable listing filters to help you find the perfect home. It also has a convenient graphing feature that compares other home prices in the area. 

Not only that, the Trulia app provides users with GPS locations of recently sold homes, schools within the area, and a list of the nearest grocery stores, pharmacies, and restaurants in the neighborhood as well as real-time listing updates.

2. ZipRealty (Free for iPhone and Android)


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Image via Google Play

With the ZipRealty Real Estate App, you can browse interactive listing maps, select houses of interest, and save all search results. As an added convenience, once you've found a house with curb appeal, the app provides one-touch access to local real estate agents. 

Another great feature of the ZipRealty app is it provides WalkScore results for every home you search. WalkScore rates the walk-ability of the neighborhood in relation to nearby restaurants, grocery stores, and other activities.

3. Houston Homes For Sale (Free for Android and iPhone)


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Image via Google Play

The Houston Homes For Sale app provides accurate, up-to-date real estate information for the greater Houston area. So, when it comes to finding new homes in Houston, this app provides information on price, taxes, square footage, and estimated mortgages. 

In addition, the Houston Homes app makes emailing or texting listings to friends and family as easy as using the listing share feature. And, when you're ready for a walk through or have any questions, the "Call" feature instantly connects you to a Houston Home representative.

4. Homes.com Real Estate (Free for iPhone and iPad)



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Image via Google Play

The Homes.com Real Estate app provides all the same great features as the other apps above, but it takes house hunting a step further with in-depth financial features. 

The app has a built-in mortgage calculator to help you decide whether your dream home is a reality. Likewise, Homes.com includes an instant credit check feature, loan pre-qualification applications, and monthly loan and interest payment information.

5. Rightmove (Free for Android)


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Image via Google Play

Taking interactive house hunting to all new heights is the Rightmove app. This app not only incorporates Google's Street View as built-in feature, but when you do find that perfect home, you can share the listing with friends and family via Facebook and Twitter. 

Another great Rightmove feature is the floor plan view. With this feature you can get a feel for the home before you even walk through the front door by viewing full-screen, up to date floor plans as well as property lines. 

When it comes time to find the perfect home, a multitude of listings are only a search away with the apps above.

Sources: http://appcrawlr.com/app/search?topic=house+hunting&topicId=1

Author Bio:
Adam Groff is a freelance writer and creator of content. He writes on a variety of topics including real estate and family.



























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