Getting Medical Bills Under Control With Freedom Financial Asset Management

Sudden medical bills or expenses can be forced on us without any option for getting the best value. You can’t simply shop around for the best deal when you’re having a heart attack in the emergency room.

The truth is that you receive the bill in your mailbox some time later and must deal with it after the fact. Unlike comparison shopping on different websites, the amount you have to pay has already been determined. The next couple of steps look like this:

• Try to negotiate down the amount or establish some type of payment plan
• Figure out how you’re going to pay it

Don’t pass up the opportunity to call the hospital or your doctor’s office and try to negotiate down the total bill. Let them know you fully intend to pay. There isn’t a 100% guarantee they will reduce your bill, but if you don’t ask you might be leaving money on the table.

Once you have some type of payment plan in place through discussions with the hospital or doctor’s office, you’ll need to start making regular payments.

These payments are usually made using a credit card with a high interest rate. In fact, a 2015 Federal Reserve report found that 38% of Americans use their credit cards to pay off medical debt.

This is not a situation you want to find yourself in. Freedom Financial Asset Management could help by providing more affordable options for managing debt expenses.

A More Affordable Method For Paying Medical Bills

The same Federal Reserve study found that 46% of Americans would be in a bind if they were hit with an unexpected $400 expense. They would have to borrow or sell something to pay for it.

Not having a plan for how you’ll pay sudden medical expenses can you leave you scrambling. Often, you end up with some of the worst options. There are much better alternatives to pay these sudden expenses.

Freedom Financial Asset Management provides APRs that range from 4.99% to 29.99%. Unlike interest rate alone, APR is the full loan cost. Terms on these loans range from 2 - 5 years, giving you plenty of time to pay off the loan.

There may be an origination fee, which can range from 0% to 5% of the loan value. There’s also no prepayment penalty. Meaning, you can pay off the loan at any time without incurring an additional fee.

This type of loan can be a great option compared to other alternatives such as a high rate credit cards for paying down medical expenses.

If the above sounds a little overwhelming, don’t worry. Freedom Financial Asset Management offers great customer service (they have a Better Business Bureau A+ rating) and will make sure you get the best financing possible for your situation.

Medical Bills And Your Credit Score

Overdue medical bills that are reported to the credit bureaus can have a large negative impact on your credit score. How credit scores are used is in fluctuation right now, but you count on unpaid medical bills having a negative impact.

Even worse than an unpaid medical bill is when a debt goes into collections. This is one of the worst cases and should be avoided.

Another drawback of using a credit card to pay expenses is that it is no longer categorized as a medical expense. This means you’ll lose medical bill protection in the latest iteration of credit scoring (specifically FICO credit scoring).

Freedom Financial Asset Management is not a credit card company and does not have the same draw back when it comes to FICO credit scoring medical protection.

The Best Deals for the Mobile Tech You Need

When you need tech that you can take anywhere you go, it’s hard to beat the power of mobile devices. Phones, phablets and tablets — they all keep you connected, productive, entertained and always ready to take the perfect pic. But which is the best (and best-priced) device for your needs?

Nobody wants to carry more screens than they need or overpay for the convenience of handheld tech. So let’s take a look at the pros of different sized mobile devices and check out the best deal for each one to get the most bang for your tech buck.

Phones

We’re not talking about the old flip devices from 10 years ago. The current crop of smartphones have all the capabilities of a tablet but with handheld portability.

Unlike phablets, smartphones are small enough (under 5 inches) to make single hand use easy. Is your primary concern communication and information access like electronic payments, banking and quick picture-taking capability? 

Save space and get yourself a smartphone to be both productive and always in touch without stretching your pocket out of shape.

Check out this great deal at T-Mobile on the incredible iPhone 7. Just trade in a qualifying device, use the mail-in rebate and take advantage of the generous 24-month finance agreement to get this 4.7-inch pocket powerhouse for $300 off the regular price.

Phablets

Phablets are large-screen mobile phones (smaller than 7 inches). The Galaxy Note was the first entry in this category in 2011 with a 5.3-inch screen which was considered ridiculously large at the time. Now every major manufacturer from Samsung to Apple has its own version of this hugely popular device.




Phablets shine when you need internet access and entertainment that’s easy on the eyes while enjoying access to all the capabilities of a smartphone.

Do you have a long, boring commute on mass transit and want to watch your shows? Need to prepare presentations for office or school? A phablet is a fantastic compromise between the screen size of a tablet and something that doesn’t look silly when you’re making a call.

Do you need a phablet but don’t want to break the bank for a Google Pixel XL? Try the Galaxy A9.

With its enormous 6-inch Super AMOLED display and a long-lasting 4000 mAh battery, the Galaxy A9 usually costs about $450.00. But you can go straight to Sam Stores and find one for $330.00.

Tablets

Photo by William Iven on Unsplash

A tablet computer is best for people who need access to the full capabilities of a laptop while enjoying both extreme portability and access to the same awesome apps that they’re used to using on a smartphone. 

You can find tablets in screen sizes ranging from an almost pocket-sized 7 inches to full-sized 20-inch screens.

If you find yourself switching between a full-sized laptop and your phone during meetings, on trips or even at home, buying a tablet can make you more productive and simplify many otherwise awkward activities.

If you want to find a tablet at a moderate price point, take a look at the Lenovo Tab 10 with:

• A spacious 10.1-inch screen
• 1.30GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 quad-core processor
• 16GB of storage memory
• Google Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) OS

All at a budget-saving $108.00 when you buy online here.

How Good Dental Health Can Save You Money in the Long Run

Photo by Daniel Frank on Unsplash

Everyone is looking for a way to save money no matter how much they make or spend. The world is filled with people looking to make wise financial decisions, and many of them forget just how easy it is to save money in the future by making wise decisions today. 

One of those wise decisions involves seeing the dentist regularly. You might think it costs you money to see the dentist when you could just skip out on those appointments and save a copay, but you’re mistaken in thinking this. 

Seeing the dentist regularly actually saves you more in the long run. 

You Catch Problems Earlier

When you make it a habit to see your dental professional at least twice a year as recommended, you save a lot of money in the long run. The more often you see your dental professional, the more likely they are to find issues within your mouth before they have a chance to get worse. 

When your dentist is able to locate and identify dental issues inside of six months, you get a chance to have them cared for now for a lot less than they might cost later.

For example, if your dentist locates a cavity before it even has a chance to break through the tooth, they can get rid of it for a lot less money now than they can after it’s had time to get into the tooth and cause major damage. The longer dental issues sit without resolve the more expensive they become to fix. 

Cleanings Prevent Health Issues

Imagine how much money people spend when they spend weeks in the hospital following a heart attack, or how much money they spend on prescriptions when they’re diagnosed with heart disease or diabetes. Imagine the cost of fighting cancer. 

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Every time you skip a trip to the dentist, you increase your risk of being diagnosed with one or more of these health issues. This means you might be the person spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on medical bills to fight a life-threatening disease if you forgo the dental office visits recommended.

According to River Region Dentistry, a Montgomery dental clinic, every time your teeth are cleaned your dentist makes it less likely that you will develop gum disease or periodontal disease. 

It’s a lot better to go to the dentist now and pay a small copay than it is to pay for major disease treatment later. Think of every visit as investment in your future.

You’re Educated

The more you visit your dentist, the more you learn. When you learn more about your oral health, you learn a lot more about your good health. It’s easy to care for your teeth when you have the help of someone who is familiar with dental health helping you along the way. 

Your dentist is going to help you find your weak spots, and he or she is going to provide you with tips and tricks that might make it easier for you to brush and floss and maintain better oral health.

Dental insurance is relatively affordable for many people, and it helps offset the cost of dental procedures. If you don’t want to see the dentist when you’re scheduled, just remember that you might really pay for that decision later. Your overall health is not worth the few dollars you might save now. 

Call the dentist to schedule an appointment. Your health depends on making this call, and so does the bottom line in your financial future. Good health and good financial decisions come with making the right decisions now. Don’t do what’s easy. Do what’s right.

Forex Trading: Ways to Supplement Your Retirement Income

“You can be young without money, but you can’t be old without it.” - Tennessee Williams

Many people dream of the day that they can retire and relax, spending time doing what they currently do not have the freedom to do. However; the challenge is to ensure that they have saved enough to retire on. The combination of living longer, as well as reduced savings, are forcing people to work longer or retire on less than they originally anticipated.

Peter Vanham in his article titled "Global Pension Timebomb: Funding Gap Set to Dwarf World GDP" notes that "the world’s six largest pension systems will have a joint shortfall of $224 trillion by 2050, imperiling the incomes of future generations and setting the industrialized world up for the biggest pension crisis in history."




Many solutions to this problem are being touted such as increasing the retirement age as well as providing people with 70% of their pre-retirement income. However, this goes against the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) guidelines for providing people with a similar standard of living during retirement as before retirement.

Therefore, the question that begs is what do you do to supplement your retirement income? 

Supplementing your income through currency market trading

You might be financially stable, and you don’t need to earn extra money. However, you have a lot of time on your hands, and you enjoy a new challenge and thrive on the chance to learn a new skill. Therefore, why don’t you consider Forex or currency market trading? 

By way of backing up the validity of considering Forex trading as a viable retirement side hustle, let’s look at the psychological advantages of being a financially stable investor. As a financial advisor from Weiss Finance notes: “The easiest psychological situation for traders is when there is little or no pressure to make a profit immediately or regularly. 

This situation allows them to make decisions when they are not stressed; ergo, they do not rush trading decisions and take the time to research and investigate potential trades thoroughly.”

THE BASICS OF FOREX TRADING

The Forex market

Investing in the global foreign exchange market is slightly different to conventional stock market trading in that the world’s currency market is not housed in one brick and mortar building. It is a decentralized market, where financial centers in London, Paris, New York, Hong Kong, as well as Zurich are all electronically linked together. 

All aspects of currency trading such as buying, exchanging, and selling currencies at current or predetermined prices are conducted through this network of global financial centers.

Currency pairs

Currencies are also always traded in pairs. The world’s four major currency pairs being the US Dollar and the British Pound (USD/GBP), US Dollar and the Euro (USD/EUR), US Dollar and the Swiss Franc (USD/CHF), and finally the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY).

Currencies are quoted in amounts up to four decimal places, and the value of both currencies in a currency pair is quoted in relation to each other. For example, the USD/GBP exchange rate is quoted as 1 USD = 0.7767 GBP. 

These figures mean that 1 USD will cost you 0.7767 GBP to buy. Conversely, if you have GBP to exchange for USD, you will receive $1.30 for every £1 that you have.

In conclusion

This is just a basic introduction to investing in foreign currencies. Apart from learning the technical aspects of monitoring currency pair movements, overall market movements, as well as learning to understand the impact that the global geopolitical events, as well as the corresponding socioeconomic conditions, can have on the world’s currencies, it is important to trade carefully and practice risk-aversion strategies. 

The older you get, the less you should risk losing your retirement savings. The caveat here is that all financial market trading has an element of risk attached to it. Without risk, there will never be any gains. 

Therefore, you cannot and should not avoid risk; however, you must mitigate your risk of losing large sums of money by trading cautiously, only risking small amounts on each trade, and by choosing an appropriate trading strategy based on the current global conditions.