Archive for May 2008


The Importance of Learning about Personal Finance

May 28th, 2008 — 07:40 pm
personal finance
There are a number of different reasons as to why a person should learn about personal finance, but it is perhaps understandable that most people can not see these reasons for themselves. Personal finance is a difficult topic to learn about and for that reason a person just naturally tends to shy away from it, making excuses in an attempt to avoid having to learn about it. Well, personal finance is extremely important and here are some reasons why.

Money Flow

If you understand personal finance, then you will understand your money flow a lot better. There are a number of people that muddle through life paying their bills and their mortgage payment with the money that they have and then spending the rest of it or maybe letting it sit in their bank account. These are people that have no idea how personal finance works, so even if they end up making the right decisions they are doing it through luck.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with this particular approach, don’t you think that you would feel much better if you knew exactly what was going on with your money flow? The old saying is that knowledge is power and if you know about your money flow, you arguably have the most important individual power that exists in the world today.

Uncertainty and Fear

Human beings as a species have an irrational fear of uncertainty. In this respect, we are no different from any of the other mammalian species walking the planet, because all of them have been conditioned through thousands of generations of being eaten and killed to be afraid of what they don’t know. Uncertainty and fear therefore go hand in hand and when they do this in relation to something as important to your basic survival as money, the paralyzing effect that fear can have on you is something that is not even pleasant to think about.

Compare this situation however to a situation where somebody knows about how their money flow works and understands their entire personal finance situation. This person is not a person that is likely to be afraid, since there is no uncertainty involved with their financial situation. It is a lot easier to be afraid when you have no idea where your money is coming from and where it is going.

Utilization

If you truly understand personal finance, then another thing that you definitely should understand is utilization. A person that does not understand or appreciate personal finance is a person that is unlikely to save a lot of money, instead spending whatever they happen to have left after monthly expenses on entertainment and impulse purchasing. While there is nothing wrong with being a consumer on this level, it is something that might hamper you later on in life when your income begins to dry up and you realize you have no prospects on the horizon.

If the person does not spend a lot and does not understand personal finance, the same thing could happen. While the money in your bank account is available to you instead of having been spent on something impulsive, it is still not being utilized to its fullest extent.

Only a person with an understanding of personal finance would know that money being saved should at the very minimum be placed in a high interest savings account and later on should also probably be invested in things that yield a much higher interest rate. This difference in understanding and ultimately in utilization comes specifically from an understanding in personal finance.



By: Amy Nutt

About the Author:

Canada Financial Guide offering information related to the Canadian Financial industry. Find advice on how to manage your personal finance.



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Comment » | Personal Finance

What books are good on the subject of personal finance and money , investing, buisiness etc?

May 28th, 2008 — 07:48 am
personal finance
Air W asked:


Personal finance, money, business, investment books? What titles do you recommend ?

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1 comment » | Other - Business Finance

I have a mortgage on one home, can I get a second mortgage to pay for another house?

May 17th, 2008 — 07:12 pm
mortgage
TexasBound asked:


I’m planning to relocate, but current owe a mortgage for $50k. I also have a bankruptcy on my record thats a couple of years old. I’d like to find new home in the state I choose to live in. Would I be able to get a second mortgage or refinance my current home in order to pay for a new one?

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6 comments » | Renting Real Estate

Is student loan still tax deductable when refinancing a student loan with a personal loan?

May 15th, 2008 — 08:50 pm
loan
Andrew M asked:


My daughter has two very high interest student loans. Her credit won’t let her do anything, but I can refinance it with me getting the loan using my credit. But is it still a student loan that she can deduct. She is making the payments and her name will be also on the loan (ironically, she will co-sign for me). This seems to be some gray area once the loan gets moved around. Just want to make sure the chain of custody still makes the new loan interest tax deductable. Hope this made sense and thanks for your help.

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2 comments » | United States

How do I become a personal finance manager?

May 6th, 2008 — 02:02 am
personal finance
Robert M asked:


What degree should I get, and what exactly would I be in charge of as a personal finance manager? Where would I get a job?

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1 comment » | Personal Finance

Comparing Colorado Jumbo and Conforming Mortgages

May 5th, 2008 — 09:01 am
mortgage
Comparing Colorado Jumbo and Conforming Mortgages

There are differences between a jumbo Colorado mortgage and a conforming Colorado mortgage and learning what those are will inform you about which Denver mortgage is the best for you. Information about your mortgage will help you as a customer, so you will be able to work out a fair deal with a lender when you are in the market for a Denver mortgage.

Jumbo & Conforming Colorado Mortgages Defined

There are two companies, named Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that are empowered by the government to buy mortgages. Because of how they were created, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae make the standards for the mortgage business. So they have decided what makes a conforming loan and what makes a jumbo loan.

The difference between a conforming loan and a jumbo loan is the size of the loan you are looking for. A conforming loan is the smaller of the two. The most expensive loans are called jumbo mortgages.

The boundary between the two different kinds of loans moves from year to year and stems from the mortgage and housing market. The line now for a Denver mortgage and Colorado mortgage to be considered a conforming loan is a price of less than $417,000 for a single family house with a first mortgage and an amount of $208,500 for a second mortgage. Multi-family properties will have higher limits. Any amount above this is officially a jumbo Colorado mortgage. The limit will be different in states outside of Colorado, but these amounts cover all of the state. There will be a change to the limits to Denver and Colorado mortgages because of the stimulus package.

All About Colorado Jumbo Loans

The amount of the loan is the key factor in determining if a Denver mortgages is a jumbo loan. The jumbo mortgage products in Colorado are otherwise just the same as a conforming loan. The loan terms can be changed in many different ways, including fixed rates, adjustable rates, and interest-only programs. All of it will depend on which program you sign up for when getting a Colorado jumbo mortgage loan from a lender

Don’t forget that since the market is so small for jumbo mortgages there will be a tighter rein on the qualifications. This is true of Colorado mortgages as well. Since the borrower is taking out such a large sum, they will have to meet such strict standards such as a higher credit score and lower loan to value ratios.

When you look at the price and the loan amount of the house you are interested in, you will be able to see whether or not you need a jumbo Denver mortgage or a conforming Colorado mortgage. When you know what type of loan you need, you then find a mortgage lender in Colorado who can work with you. As always, it’s best to work with a Denver mortgage lender who has experience making customers happy with their loan selections. The lender will work with you on finding the right home loan option, whether it is a conforming mortgage or a jumbo Colorado mortgage. In the end, you will be connected with the best product for you.

This article is written by J.B. of 1st American Mortgage and Loan, LLC, a Colorado mortgage lender who offers access to information on obtaining a Colorado mortgage loan as well as other information on loans inColorado online mortgage quotes, and rates through his website TrueMortgageQuote.com http://www.truemortgagequote.com).



By: 1st American Mortgage

About the Author:

This article is written by J.B. of 1st American Mortgage and Loan, LLC, a Colorado mortgage lender who offers access to information on obtaining a Colorado mortgage loan as well as other information on loans inColorado online mortgage quotes, and rates through his website TrueMortgageQuote.com http://www.truemortgagequote.com).



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Comment » | Business

Personal Finance Software to Help You Survive Financial Crisis

May 5th, 2008 — 03:54 am
personal finance
Do you know how to avoid getting caught in the financial crisis? This question addresses one of the biggest fears most everyone has today. If giants like Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers get shaken to their foundations, how can an average person resist getting caught? The answer is simple: spend less than you earn. The era of blithe consumerism is coming to an end, and we should prepare for lean times. It’s time to keep track of all income and expenses and cut down unnecessary expenditures. These simple things will help you to stand bad times.

Part of the survival strategy is organizing your financial life using a good personal finance manager. It will help you to see where your money goes without the hassle of doing everything manually. There are many money management tools out on the market today. One of them is Personal Finances – http://www.financessoftware.com

Overview

Personal Finances is a personal finance manager that will help you to control your budget better than ever. With a glance at its summary view and reports, you will understand where your money goes, pinpoint areas of excessive expenditure and cut down unnecessary expenses. The program also provides future planning you can project expected spending and income and find out how much money you will have at a future date.

The program is ideal for beginners as it keeps budget management simple and intuitive. The program has a simple, uncluttered interface and a lack of advanced features, which are rarely used by ordinary users. For example, Personal Finances has no college or retirement planner. However, when it comes to managing financial accounts, designing and tracking a family budget, the program outshines many others.

Getting started with Personal Finances is a matter of a few minutes. Simply click around to familiarize yourself with the functionality and refer to the program help file if there’s anything you do not understand at first glance.

You’ll also be pleased to discover no advertising “bells and whistles” that could be found in other money management software. Personal Finances is calm and keeps you that way as you focus on organizing your budget.

Getting Around the Interface

When you run the program, it opens into the main window that puts the financial details, tools and options that matter most to you up front. At the top of the window you can see the main commands. A list of transactions – income and expenses – is displayed in the central area of the window and all accounts are in the left area. The icons at the top of the main window let you quickly go to any part of the program, create an account, category, view calendar and create reports. In the left area, there are buttons that let you add, edit or delete transactions.

There are two views for transactions – Account and Summary. By default, the program opens into the Account tab where you can see the transactions associated with a particular account. However you can click on the Summary tab and see all the transactions, regardless of the account they are associated with.

Setting Up Accounts

Accounts in Personal Finances describe where money comes from. The program supports different accounts, such as real bank account, credit card, cash and pocket money. Setting up an account is a breeze to do. Click on the Accounts icon at the top of the main window, click the Add button, then enter the properties of a new account – name, currency, comment. Personal Finances also allows you to set up an account budget for any period of time, so that the user doesn’t overspend. Existing accounts can be edited or deleted.

Entering Transactions

Entering transactions is just as easy. It requires a click on the Add button in the right area of the main window. In the dialog that opens, you need to select the type of transaction – income, expense or transfer between accounts, then enter all details associated with this transaction such as the account, amount of money, and date that will appear on the calendar or in the list of transactions that are due. Transactions can be defined with categories, family members, and tags. Tags provide a way to differentiate between similar transactions that fall into the same category. Categorization by family members will tell you about spending habits of each member of your family.

Transactions can be scheduled, which makes Personal Finances very handy for repeating transactions – tax payments, electricity bills, etc. The frequency for which you can set up a scheduled transaction is weekly, monthly, and annually. When the due date for the scheduled transaction comes, you should select the transaction in the scheduler list, right-click its record and select the Apply Now option to enter the scheduled transaction into the account used to pay the bill. You should also remember to make this payment in the physical world.

Reporting

Personal Finances helps you to understand the flow of your money and control expenditures with handy graphs and reports. You can see the reports generated by categories, family members and tags. Clicking on any item in the report you can drill down to transactions associated with the item. You can generate reports that cover any period of time. Results can be printed out or saved to HTML, CHM, or TXT.

Security

For your peace of mind, Personal Finances allows you to protect the budget database with a password so that no one will get access to your confidential financial information except you.

Portability

If you want to keep tabs on your budget on the move, you can get a portable version of Personal Finances that will run from a USB flash drive. The program can be run from any computer, without leaving any tracks behind.

Personal Finances has a free version and a full-featured commercial version with a 30-day free trial, so you can download the program to see if it will meet your personal finance management needs.

Keeping a budget with Personal Finances (http://www.financessoftware.com) provides big benefits in the form of savings and elimination of unnecessary expenses. This will definitely help you to survive the financial crisis and step into better times.



By: Alex Shirokov

About the Author:

CEO and founder of ALZEX software – company producing software for home use. Our current products are Personal Finances, a complete financial solution for home users and Visual clipboard – handy clipboard history manager.



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Comment » | Software

How do I get a personal loan with bad credit?

May 4th, 2008 — 04:21 am
personal loan
Pehsha P asked:


I am looking for a personal loan, but my credit is not good. I don’t want a payday loan but that is all I find on the internet when I type in personal loans for people with bad credit. Do you know any lender who will give loans to people with bad credit? I don’t really care to much about the interest rate. I just would like the loan to pay off some stuff and get some new things I need around my house. But I don’t own a home, so I can get a home loan.

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4 comments » | Credit