Personal Finance Tips: Financial Freedom for you at Any Age

Financially free can sound like an idea that most single women would love to adore. An average American spends more than he earns and gets trapped into financial problems. But becoming financially independent is not a big deal. Keep reading and may be you will find a way to become financially independent. 

Steps that lead to financial freedom

Your first step should be to make a budget irrespective of your income. This will help you to know your exact position where you stand financially in terms of your debts, requirements, needs, desires, income and all. Imagine your budget to be a road and finance your destination . Without a proper road map you would not reach your destination and end up wasting time and fuel; same is the case with your finance. Why would you work so hard if you do not how to manage four financial condition and what you should do with your hard earned money. Budgeting will help you to figure out your priority.

Savings and staying away from loans

You should start saving early. If you save every month it will improve your financial condition. It gives a back up for our tough times and also help us to follow a disciplined way of spending the money. Saving money secures your future. Saving will help you trust your own funds rather than trusting on some credit card services at the time of emergencies. You should save enough for any kind of emergency that may pop up. Once you have saved enough of emergency fund, start planning your retirement funds. It is never too late or too early to plan your future. If you keep waiting for better times to come like better jobs and all then there are chances that you might never begin.

Take care of your debts

To get financially free the debt need to be calculated and moreover eradicated so that you could start saving for future you should begin by paying the smallest debt and once that debt is over than you should pay the next smallest and slowly and steadily you should pay off all the debts. If you get any kind of raise in your salary you should devote it to cover your debt instead of spending it. The little things contribute to the most when it comes to saving money. If you spend $5 extra everyday then this could sum up to $150 in one whole month. But if you save this amount then this could contribute to your savings a lot and effect them. This may be difficult especially for single women but controlling the finance is all about behavior if you change some of your habits then this could result in a large and positive impact on your savings and finances.

Taking to some of the simple steps can give you results which you might have never expected. When you are young and have just begun earning, there are two paths in front of you. Either you start spending into acquiring all the luxuries of life or you start on calculated spending, and go on a planned savings wherein you always divert a portion of your income towards investments. 

The latter is a difficult path and one needs to take a long term approach towards the same. One can actually get very good returns on the investments they make over a longer time period. Looking at this one can really enjoy the efforts they have put in into building their lives and finances and over a period of time they can always become financially free. For more information you can visit our website.

Quick Comparison of Chapter 7 vs 13 Bankruptcy Filings

Bankruptcy is steeped in myths and prejudices. If you are like most people, the first step towards repairing your finances is to overcome the feelings of shame, guilt, inadequacy and fear of what you don’t understand. Bankruptcy is designed to offer reasonable relief for honest debtors who are facing extreme financial hardship. If you don’t have any way of fulfilling your financial obligations, you should definitely consider a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. 

Advantages of Bankruptcy

As soon as you file a bankruptcy claim, a shield known as the automatic stay will keep creditors from contacting you and from proceeding with their legal filings. Any creditor that disobeys the automatic stay will face heavy fines and may even be forced to pay your attorney fees. However, creditors do have the right to ask the judge for permission to proceed with collection processes which may include foreclosure or repossession. Here are the biggest advantages of filing bankruptcy:

• Almost all lawsuits filed against you will be stopped
• Your wages can’t be garnished
• Evictions, foreclosures and repossessions will be averted
• IRS seizures will halt
• Most debts including credit cards, utility bills, phone bills, medical bills, most loans and judgments will be discharged

Top Bankruptcy Alternative

Bankruptcy should never be your first choice. You should resort to it only if you have exhausted all other possible solutions:

• Sell some assets to help pay debt
• Try negotiating with creditors to lower payments
• Restructure your mortgage
• Withdraw or borrow against pensions or retirement accounts
• Ask family and friends for help

Chapter 7 vs Chapter 13

Whether you file chapter 7 or 13 will depend on your situation. Chapter 7 liquidation allows you to eliminate almost all your debt, but you may be required to forfeit many of your assets including your home and valuable collectibles. These assets will be divided amongst your creditors. Anything you acquire after the bankruptcy cannot be touched. However, income tax refunds, divorce settlements, inheritances, and life insurance money may be applied to your debts for a certain period.

Chapter 13 restructuring gives you three to five years to pay all or a portion of your debts but makes most of your assets untouchable. This is for people who have a regular income but just got overwhelmed with debt. Your repayment plan must be approved by the court and it must pass two tests:

• The best-interest test: Creditors must get at least the same amount of money they would have received if you filed a chapter 7.
• The best-efforts test: Requires that you pay all your disposable income, minus reasonable expenses, to creditors.

Choosing a Bankruptcy Attorney

You should definitely hire an attorney to assist you through this difficult and complicated legal process. Though there are many generalized lawyers out there, a specialized legal team like Lynch & Belch P.C. and others in that market will thoroughly understand bankruptcy law, help you with all paperwork, secure maximum relief for you, and will have excellent customer service.

You should never let debt take over your life. If everything else fails, bankruptcy is a viable option that has many benefits that will help you get back on your feet.

50 Plus Travelers Going on Vacation: Planning Ahead for Cash Purchases

Traveling can be stressful. There are a lot of plans that have to be made, reservations, itineraries, not to mention saving up and setting a budget. If you’re going outside the country all those things can get even more complex, and at the same time you have to add on concerns about passports and customs and so forth. Whether it’s a family vacation or a business visit, anything you can do to simplify your life when that trip comes up is a good idea. One of the things that make the biggest difference is planning ahead for your money. Here are a few ways to be prepared when it comes to your wallet.

Make exchanges before you go whenever possible

Foreign exchange is tricky. Every market plays a role in how much one currency is worth as compared to another. Those rates are constantly changing, and it can be pretty difficult to keep track and make sure you’re making smart moves even without the added stress of traveling. If possible, you should plan ahead and exchange some currency before it’s time to leave. In most cases you’ll be able to use your credit card, at least at an ATM, or find someplace with decent rates for currency exchange. Some places, especially if they’re popular tourist areas, may just accept your US dollars. But why bother with the hassle if a little planning ahead can save you?

This plan gets a lot more complicated if your trip is taking you through multiple countries who don’t share a common currency. You don’t want to be carrying too much cash around, even if it is from a variety of countries. While you may want to plan on exchanging most of your cash as you go, it’s still a good idea to have a little of each, just in case you find yourself in a tight spot somewhere, say you can’t find an ATM that will accept your card.

With that being said though, try to budget as close as possible. If you have a lot of cash left over after your trip, you’re going to pay to exchange it back into US dollars. Pull out as close to what you will need as possible, and if you are going on another trip any time soon, save the extra instead of exchanging back and forth.

Learn to recognize the currency you’ll be using

Another advantage of exchanging some cash beforehand is that you can get to know it. When you’re already in an unfamiliar place, likely with an unfamiliar language, adding to that trying to count unfamiliar money is just a nightmare. Most of us completely take for granted how well we know our currency. We can tell how much a bill or a coin is worth with a quick glance. You could probably tell me a value just by seeing the president.

If you don’t have a feel for the currency, you run a few risks. First, you might just be embarrassed taking so long to count it out. Second, it makes it a lot easier for someone with less than honest leanings to take advantage of you. Third, you don’t want to accept counterfeit bills, and tourists are the perfect target for that type of scheme.

Try to get a feel for how much things cost

While you’re busy keeping track of how much your cash represents, there’s another easy way for you to be scammed. You have a pretty good idea how much something is worth in US Dollars. You wouldn’t pay $20 for an ice cream cone, even in Disneyland. That is a real risk if you don’t have some intuition about the currency you’re working with though. You’ll be so busy making sure you counted right, you may not notice that you were charged a fortune. At the same time, don’t let them charge you in US Dollars either. In that case, they can use any exchange rate they want. Even if it seems reasonable, it may be anything but.

As of this writing, $1 US is equal to:

• 101.55 Yen
• 13.16 Mexican Pesos
• 0.72 Euro
• 0.60 British Pounds

Keep in mind these numbers fluctuate constantly, so look up the current exchange rate before your trip. Getting an idea of what to expect can keep you safer, and likely save you quite a bit.

What You May Have At Home That Could Bring In More Money

Some homeowners don’t realize that they may have hidden treasures in their home. These valuable items might be in plain sight, overlooked or stashed away and forgotten. In today’s economy, every little bit of income is a welcome relief. To find the value of anything worth investigation, the Internet or library are popular sources. Whether the items are antiques or contemporary, just about anything collectible has a website that describes the item, dates it and appraises value to it. It only takes a little research to discover the value of anything that catches your eye and might provide extra income. If you have seldom or never gone through articles in your basement or attic, the time to start is now since these are likely troves for unexpected treasure.

Paper and Print Products

The sky is the limit when considering old paper and print products. We’re talking about old books, comic books, baseball or football cards, stamp collections, old programs, advertizing or movie posters and other paper items that denote age, groundbreaking events or cultural significance. First addition rare books and comic books in good condition are very desirable to collectors, and age is certainly a consideration. Books over 100 years old that are rare and not first editions can fetch money as well as author-signed copies from famous authors. Comic books from the 40s to the 70s are valued by the collector for either rarity or subject matter—Spiderman, Batman and Superman, to name a few. An old stamp collection can bring in a tidy sum if it is an old and forgotten collection that might have increased in value over the years.

Movie and circus posters are valuable when found in aged and original condition regardless of the genre or subject matter. The oldest movie posters come from the silent era of films that feature some of the very first actors that became household icons. Any poster related to King Kong, Frankenstein, Karloff or Lugosi films (The Black Cat, The Mummy, Dracula) and Metropolis can fetch very high dollars. Some of the very early Ringling Brothers circus posters are very desirable and rare. Movie and circus posters have extra value because of the artists who rendered them and some names are considered very valuable.

Old baseball and football cards, the earlier the better, are sought after by serious collectors. This depends upon the athlete, their record, notoriety, or even their controversial nature such as Shoeless Joe Jackson. 

The Old Toy Box

Grandpa and Grandma’s toys may be very desirable to any collector since they may have been made during the war years or prior. These toys were made to last, usually made of metal, prior to the plastic manufacturing process. Japanese toys made of tin from the ‘60s and ‘70s have a niche all their own, and in good condition can sell to the highest bidder. Some toys that are more recent can fetch enormous sums, like the 1994 GI Joe Manimals Vortex MOC C-7, which pulled in $20,100 on eBay just recently. Toys need to be researched, with particular attention to age, manufacturer, popularity if in a series or film media and condition. Toys in their original packaging can fetch twice the price of a standalone piece.

Gold and Silver

You can never go wrong with gold and silver jewelry since these items are worth their weight in precious metals. However, if they are antique pieces such as rings, earrings, broaches, bracelets and necklaces, there can be some hefty money involved. Any semiprecious gems or stones attached to the item are an added bonus. Gold and silver items can come in different styles like art deco, baroque and Victorian. Antique pieces will typically have that older, worn look that might have a patina which shows some exposure to the elements. 

Gold is rated in karats, typically 10K, 14K, 18K and 24K. Sterling silver may have markings like .925 or .999 which denotes the amount of silver used in production. Any plated jewelry pieces do not command as much as the pure metals. It is very important to have jewelry appraised by a professional. Such sources like a Gold and Silver Pawn Shop, local jewelry shops and jewelry appraisers are qualified to determine the intrinsic and real value of domestic and foreign jewelry. 

Old Mobile Phones

One of the more contemporary sources of hidden treasures is the discarded mobile phone. It is not uncommon for a family to discard old mobile phones in exchange for new ones that debut every year or so. A family can accumulate a half dozen or more. The thing is they have value when turned into buyers who have exchange programs on the Internet. You would be surprised how much they can demand in price, simply because they are loaded with expensive circuitry and metals that are highly recyclable. Now is the time to gather them up and research their worth on the Internet. Some models will command higher prices than others. 

Searching for hidden treasures in your home is not complicated. You don’t need a road map, old house or secret panel to find potential items of value. It takes some luck, but mostly a keen eye and a little investigation to determine exactly what you have that might bring in unexpected dollars. You might be surprised at what’s been sitting under your nose all this time.