The Most Common Mistakes To Avoid When You Need Financial Help

At some point in life, everyone needs a helping hand. For many people, this takes the form of financial aid, whether it be food stamps, welfare, disability, social security or money for college. Unfortunately, the process of getting such support can be long and tedious with ample bureaucratic red tape to wade through. This can cause you to make several mistakes that can extend your waiting time, or worse, leave you empty-handed. Here are some common mistakes to avoid when you need financial help.

Not Making Changes

One reason people might find themselves in financial trouble is because of the way they are spending money. While you might not be overspending, you may be concentrating on the wrong things. Take a look at your finances and make changes as needed. Start paying off credit card debts that have higher interest rates, take out loans for school instead of spending savings, or find ways to better save money at home.

Not Applying

One major mistake people make is simply not applying for help, whether that be for a new job or unemployment benefits. There are many different programs that can help you get back on your feet financially, but it is often overlooked. This is often because they don't think they'll be accepted, the hassle doesn't seem worth it or they don't understand the qualification criteria. However, you never know until you try, so don't let these uncertainties prevent you from applying. These programs are in place to help people in need, so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying.

Providing Incomplete or Incorrect Information

When filling out an application for financial assistance, be sure to read over it carefully once you're finished. It's easy to accidentally leave out information or provide information that isn't correct. Go over addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, first and last names and other pertinent information. Leaving things our or getting information wrong can hold up your approval process or even get you denied.

Not Seeking Professional Help

One of the worst mistakes you can make is not seeking professional help when you're having problems. With disability and social security, the government refuses up to 70 percent of all applications the first time around, even if all qualifications are met. Even after that, many re-applications are met with rejection. Instead of re-applying and being denied repeatedly, talk to a Chico Social Security Income Lawyer. Their expertise and understanding of disability and social security law can help you get the money you need and deserve.

Filing Taxes Late

If you need student aid and you're thinking of filing your taxes late, you may want to reconsider. Student aid is provided on a first come, first serve basis and is determined by your tax information. Students who file their taxes early are at the top of that list. Those who file late, however, move to the back of the line. This doesn't only apply to students either.

Applying for financial help can be difficult and frustrating, but don't let that stand in your way. When you need money, there are a number of federal and state programs that can help, but avoiding mistakes is critical to a timely acceptance.

Personal Finance Tips for Millenials

saving and spending (Photo credit: 401(K) 2013)

According to a 2007 study by the American Psychological Association, 73% of those surveyed claimed money is a primary source of stress in their lives. But personal finances don’t have to be a formidable enemy to avoid. In fact, by making a few smart choices now, you can eliminate future financial burdens and alleviate stress. 

Reduce Debt 

Too often, millennials choose to celebrate landing that first job by making a large purchase. Before you rush out to buy a new car, know the difference between “good debt” and “bad debt.” According to Forbes.com, “good debt” is generally debt with a lower interest rate than the rate you could be earning by investing. For example, a home loan would commonly be considered “good debt,” while a car loan or credit card debt are more likely “bad debt.” 

If you already have debt from a credit card, car loan, or student loans, start by paying off the debt with the highest interest rate first. Top Ten Reviews suggests writing out a game plan for how and when you are going to pay off your debts. Pay off as much as possible, as quickly as possible. 

Start Saving 

Now Utilize a budget. Keep your spending under control and allocate a designated amount each month to your savings. A good strategy would be to have three types of savings funds. 

Emergency Fund 

According to U.S. News, in a stretch of hiring slowdowns, it is crucial to have an emergency fund to cover an unexpected period of unemployment.This fund should be enough to cover your living expenses for three to six months. 

Short Term Savings

• Planning on buying that new car after all? Want to take a weekend trip to Vegas? Minimize your debt by planning ahead and saving now. 
• Having a short term savings fund can give you the financial freedom to do the things you enjoy, without breaking the bank. Long Term Savings 
• When you’re in your twenties, “retirement” seems light-years away. However, being in your twenties is the best time to start saving for retirement, because of the power of compound interest. The earlier you start saving, the more interest you’ll earn! 
• If your employer sponsors a 401K plan, make sure you are taking advantage of this opportunity. In addition, consider opening a Roth IRA. The Roth IRA is especially a good option for someone at the early stages of their career, because once you exceed a certain level of income, you can no longer contribute. Essentially, with a Roth IRA, you can pay taxes now and avoid paying taxes on any future earnings from your investment. 
•  Consider a Target-Date Retirement Fund. Not only do these funds typically have low expense ratios, but they eliminate the added work load of trying to manage your portfolio yourself. These funds are fully diversified and managed by investing professionals. As you approach your target retirement date, the fund will automatically become more conservative. 
• It’s important to remember that withdrawing early from a 401K or an IRA will have significant financial penalties. This is why it is important to have your emergency fund and a short term savings fund; do not tap into your long-term savings. 

Put Your Technology to Work 

Today, there are so many resources available to help get your finances under control. For example, Mint.com is a great tool to monitor your budget and track your spending – and the smartphone app is both fun and user-friendly. Another example would be using annualcreditreport.com or Credit Karma to watch your credit score and prevent identity theft. 

Make your life easier by setting up automatic payments. Find out if your employer offers automatic paycheck deductions for your 401K. In addition, most banks allow you to set-up automatic scheduled transfers. Make your finances your first priority by scheduling an automatic transfer into your savings account. Pay yourself first. You can also set up automatic payments to pay off your student loans and pay your monthly bills. Automatic bank drafts ensure that you always pay on time, thus avoiding any unnecessary late charges. 

Reigning in your finances can seem like a daunting task at first, but you can conquer your financial fears by managing your debt, maximizing your savings, and using technology to your advantage. 

Chris is a blogger for his blog The Financial Park. He is also a golf fanatic and loves to be outdoors. You can find him on Twitter @ChrisLindsey23.

Six Simple Ways to Beautify Your Home on a Budget

Every family wants to make improvements to their home, but most families run into their monthly budget when they begin to make improvements. Therefore, the family must consider what they do to make their home look beautiful without spending too much money. Some of these suggestions are services, but others are permanent changes that simply do not cost much money to complete.

1. Pressure Washing

Many homeowners may look up at their home and wish that they could make the siding or brick look better. Some families may have even looked at getting the house painted and realized that they simply cannot afford it. Often, a pressure washer can gently wash the exterior of the home and give the entire house new life for a few hundred dollars rather than a few thousand dollars. Plus, you can recruit the help of your children. After-all, what did doesn't like to spray water from a hose?

2. Sinks and Fixtures

Many families may want to remodel their whole bathroom or kitchen. However, projects of this magnitude could cost so much money that the family would never consider them. Forget redoing your entire kitchen or bathroom. Simple fixes can result in amazing results. Therefore, doing something smaller is a better choice. The sinks and fixtures in a bathroom or kitchen can be easily changed to make the room look more modern and fresh without spending a ton of money on making the changes. 

3. Ceiling Fans

Every ceiling fan in the house will eventually look outdated. While it would be nice to change everything in the house, getting new ceiling fans can help to make a room look more up-to-date without spending a ton of money on the project. Plus, newer ceiling fans make less noise and use less energy than their older counterparts. 

4. Paint The Rooms

When the family wants to make a major impression on their guests, they should consider painting the walls in their kitchen, guest bathroom and living room. These painting jobs can be done by the homeowners relatively quickly, and they will bring new life to a room that may have looked drab in the past. This change only requires a few cans of paint, a brush and some time. It is also much cheaper than installing wallpaper, doing faux finishes or adding architectural additions to the rooms.

5. Change The Kitchen Cabinet Doors

The kitchen cabinets are the most obvious parts of the kitchen that are not the appliances. Plus, the entire cabinet does not need to be changed in order to make the whole room look different. Homeowners can change the door on their kitchen cabinets to give the room a new look without doing a remodel of the entire room.

Plus, kitchen cabinet hardware and knobs can be changed to make the doors look different. Because these are easily seen by anyone who comes into the house, they are a big change that doesn't cost much money.

Every homeowner who wants to make changes to their home on a budget should locations that involve home remodeling in order to learn how to make changes to the house that are inexpensive. Doing so can save the family money and make their home look brand new. 

6. Add flowers and plants

Adding flowers and houseplants to your living area lends an unmistakable beauty to your living space. Not only do plants and flowers add color to your home, but fresh cut flowers smell great and make your home welcoming for any guest. Try adding an array of plants and flowers to your home. You will notice your home becomes immediately more beautiful. Visit this site for more information on outfitting your home with beautiful fresh cut flowers.

Author Bio

Karleia is a freelance blogger. Away from work she enjoys spending time with her family.

Examples of When to and Not to Get a Loan

A loan can be a good tool to help people make a purchase when they do not have the necessary funds available. While a loan is great for some reasons, no loan, including credit cards, should be obtained hastily. It is important to remember that when you take out a loan, you are still responsible for repaying the loan, plus any additional amount for interest. It is vital that you carefully consider any loan that you may want to take out to determine if it is the right solution for you or not.

Below is a look at three great reasons for taking out a loan, as well as, three reasons not to take out a loan. Lying in between these two choices are non-loan options which can include alternative money help. Below are some examples of when and when not to take out a loan. 

Reasons to Take Out a Loan

1. Home. The majority of homeowners cannot afford to purchase their home with cash. Instead, they take out a mortgage to cover the cost and then repay the mortgage over the course of ten, twenty or thirty years. This is a good reason to take out a loan because purchasing a home is a sound investment. Just be sure to shop around to find the best mortgage options for you.

2. Education. You may also need to take out a loan to complete your education. Unfortunately, you may not make enough money right now to cover the costs of higher education, but without a proper education, you cannot get a higher paying job. Before taking out a loan for your education be sure to apply for all the governmental benefits available to you because this may reduce the loan amount you have to take out. Also, look for low-interest loans that are specifically designed for students.

3. Car. Whenever possible, it is best to pay for a car with cash instead of taking out an auto loan. However, there are times when you may not have an option and you must take out a car loan in order to purchase a vehicle. This is true if you live in a rural area where public transportation is not available, or you need a vehicle to get back and forth to work. Be sure to keep your car loan payments within your budget limits.

Reasons Not to Take Out a Loan

1. Holiday. A holiday is not a good reason to take out a loan because it is not something you need, but rather something you want. If you want to take a special holiday, create a short-term financial goal for yourself and readjust your budget to help you put some money aside each week or month to go towards you holiday. Before you know it, you will have enough money saved and you will not have to pay any additional money for interest.

2. Gifts. A lot of people make the mistake of pulling out their credit cards or taking out a loan to cover the costs of purchasing gifts especially at Christmas time. Many times they do not even realize how much they spent until the bills start coming in. You should set a budget for purchasing gifts and make a commitment to not go over budget. Try making homemade gifts or only shop when things are on sale.

3. New Furniture. Many furniture dealers offer their customers loans in order to buy the furniture they want. This is not a good enough reason to take out a loan, even if they claim to offer an interest-free loan for a set period of time. Instead, save up your money and only purchase new furniture when you have enough saved.

This list of good and bad reasons to take out a loan, may help you determine when it is a good time to take out a loan of your own or not. Remember that taking out a loan requires a long-term commitment and you will have to make the payments on a regular basis until the loan is paid off. Make sure that you take everything into consideration before making this vital decision.

Try looking at borrowing through an advantage and disadvantage point of view. Reasons for borrowing that are positive include purchasing assets or items that will benefit you in a positive way – education, vehicle to get to and from work or as part of a business, etc.. Examples of a disadvantage is purchasing items/services which will lose value and do not provide any real benefit outside of short-term gain.

Motorbikes A Growing Past Time For The Over 50s

Photo © by Jeff Dean (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Whilst motorcycling might seem like a pastime better suited to those in the first flush of youth than to people that are contemplating early retirement, there is no reason why you cannot continue to enjoy the thrills, but hopefully not the spills, of biking well into your 50s and perhaps even longer. To help older riders make the most of their time on the open road, I have compiled a short list of tips that I hope will be of some use.

1. Take your time when buying a new bike. Younger bikers tend to get carried away with all the excitement that accompanies new models but more experienced riders can take a more relaxed approach to shopping for a bike and pick one that really suits their style of riding. Industry announcements, such as the one stating that fuel leaks affect thousands of BMW bikes around the world, are worth perusing before you start to look around, just so you are aware of the potential problems of some of the models currently on sale. However, not all problems of this nature are serious and can result in the appearance of some real bargains on the second hand market.

2. Look for a specialist insurer. Younger motorists are often penalised for their lack of experience when it comes to insurance premiums so it makes sense to take advantage of your more mature status when riding in your 50s by dealing with an insurer that appreciates you represent a lower risk and rewards you for this fact with generous discounts.

3. Protect yourself. Every motorcyclist should wear protective clothing but it is especially important for the more mature rider to minimise the chances of breaking any bones. Whilst the law stipulates that every rider must wear a helmet, it is left to the individual’s judgement as far as other safety items are concerned. I would recommend wearing a back protector as a minimum, preferably one inserted in a good quality leather jacket. A decent pair of boots and leather trousers are also a good idea if you are likely to be riding at speed for any length of time.

4. Wrap up warm. In addition to investing in protective clothing that will minimise the chance of serious injury whilst riding, you should buy some good quality cold weather garments if you are planning to ride during the winter months. Even if you are only going to get your bike out on warm, sunny days, you should always have a decent waterproof jacket and trousers to hand in case it should start to rain unexpectedly. Nobody enjoys getting soaked, and standing around in wet clothes in your late 50s is definitely a bad idea if you intend to stay fit and healthy.

5. The road less traveled. If you want to really enjoy biking in your 50s, it might be a good idea to stay away from the madding crowd and pick routes through quiet parts of the country when organising weekend rides with your friends. More mature riders understand how precious time on a bike is and it is far more enjoyable, and safer too, when the road ahead is not clogged with Sunday afternoon drivers who are completely oblivious to their surroundings.

I hope that the above tips help you to enjoy motorcycling whatever your age and if you would like to have your skills and experience on a bike formally recognized, you might like to consider taking an advanced riding course at an Institute for Advanced Motoring center near you. Once you pass, you may find it cheaper to insure your pride and joy.

About the Author:
Carole Nash is a company in the UK that caters to those requiring biker-friendly home and travel insurance. They understand how fuel leaks effect thousands of BMW bikes and aim to provide cover for such situations.

Looking To Invest? 5 Worthy Causes To Go Into Debt

Whether an individual is looking to invest $100 or $100,000, the principles will always be the same: to make money. This is typically going to be much easier said than done, however, that is why it is important to first narrow down choices. Here is a look at five of the top investing options that may just be worth going into debt for.

1. Indexed Stock Funds

Indexed stock funds are some of the easiest places to invest. While every investment has some risk, these pre made funds come diversified and most leading companies will offer a minimum investment return. Investors simply pick the field or fields that they would like to invest in such as natural resource companies or land development.

This is a great way to get your foot in the game and gain a greater understanding of how to and what to invest your money in and what kinda of returns you are looking for. Many companies will offer these types of investment programs for employees and is something to be taken advantage of.

2. A Hybrid Vehicle

When it comes time to purchase a new car, spending a little extra for a hybrid vehicle could be a great choice in the long run. Hybrid vehicles will not only save on fuel costs, many also now come with government rebates that bring their final purchasing price into the range of traditional vehicles. This is a great option to take a standard item like a car and turning it into a money saving opportunity.

3. Condensing Loans

For anyone that is currently struggling with loans the professionals recommend to check out CreditRepair.com tips and pointer. They recommend having your negative strikes first removed from your credit, then financial professionals can move forward by condensing current loans and reducing premiums and interest. Paying off high-interest loans is still one of the absolute best forms of investment available today. It will not only save you money in interest on the loans, but it is a great way to invest in your future with a higher credit score that will open more doors to you.

4. Higher Education

Taking time to go back to receive an AA, BA, or Masters remains a controversial option for many. Even if some of the costs associated with these degrees can be covered, many students will at least need to take out some lessons, but this is not always a bad idea. Some reports show that each degree in higher education will result in over $500,000 more in wages over the course of one’s lifetime. And many companies will help pay for employees to go back to school and bring those skills back to the work place.

5. Pre-Emptive Health Treatments

Health insurance should be one of the first expenditures for any family, but not everyone realizes just how important pre-emptive surgeries and treatments can be. As with many medical conditions, fixing the issue before it becomes a major problem is often a great reason to spend a little extra. Common options include treatments for the early stages or arthritis, laser eye surgery, and jaw surgery to keep one’s teeth and spine aligned.

Investing does not mean scouring through countless stocks or keeping up with every single market variable. Instead, anyone can set aside some money or even take out loans in order to go to school, update a house, or even carry out important medical treatments.