A simple fact of life is money is vital to survival. Unfortunately, many people find they are living paycheck to paycheck, unable to save for emergencies or get ahead. Budgeting doesn’t help either beyond showing people exactly where their money is going, few having any clue as to how to stop the financial hemorrhaging. Creating a budget isn’t a bad idea, but one might one to first consider using the ideal tool to optimize one’s cash flow.

Negotiable Expenses

A budget is created by listing the household income as well as expenditures, such as energy and water bills. Expand on the idea by listing all expenses and determining which are negotiable. Once the list of “Negotiable Expenses” is complete, go through and determine whether to “Eliminate,” “Reduce,” “Postpone” or “Keep” each one individually. Be sure to do so responsibly, keeping in mind that, although the electric bill may be negotiable, one doesn’t want to completely eliminate this expenditure.

Eliminate

Eliminating an expense is not necessarily as easy as one may think. After all, while cable is certainly not a necessity, few are willing to give up their entertainment. That being said, no one needs cable television, Netflix and Hulu. Simply chose which expense provides the best service and eliminate the other two. That easily one increased one’s cash flow without making life dull and tedious. More to the point, people quickly discover eliminating excess is a quick way to optimize their cash flow.

Reduce

Some household expenses are necessary, electricity and running water not only convenient but crucial to a healthy lifestyle. Needless to say, such expenditures cannot be eliminated, although one will find they can reduce these expenses. Taking a sack lunch to work rather than grabbing something at a fast food restaurant will also reduce the amount of money going out, allowing one to start building up a little nest egg. It doesn’t take much to optimize one’s cash flow.

Postpone

Generally speaking, one doesn’t want to send payments in late as this tends to have a rather negative effect on one’s credit. That being said, many companies offer refinancing options which allow one to postpone payments. In addition, one can hold off on buying new clothes or a movie, saving up for the expense rather than spending the money as soon as it hits one’s pocket. In fact, if one follows each step of the tool, one might find he or she has a little more to go toward those extras.

Keep

Some expenses, no matter how people try, cannot be eliminated, reduced or postponed. Such expenditures go under the “Keep” category, these expenses a part of life, such as medical and car insurance. Nevertheless, they won’t seem quite so daunting when one has eliminated, reduced or even postponed other expenses. In the end, using this simple tool to optimize one’s cash flow will help ensure one no longer has to live paycheck to paycheck.

If you were to drive to your local banks and inquire about a savings account, you would be surprised at how much interest they are paying these days. The interest rate is so low that if you were subjected to any types of bank fees throughout the year it would wipe out any interest earned. The key to understanding how to get the best savings account is all about doing your research online. Here are a few things to consider to help you find the best place to put your savings.

The internet makes it simple to compare the rates of several banks with the click of a mouse. There are several websites that will compare the current rates of several banks, allowing you to see at a glance which bank has the best savings accounts. While it is important to check the banks interest rates, it is also very important that you look for a bank with the lowest fees too. If you were to choose a bank with a high interest rate only to find out that they charged large fees to maintain the account, you would not be putting your money in a position to grow.

One of the reasons you must consider the bank fees is because they do have a variety of them that could be draining all the profits you make in the account. Check to see if the bank has a low minimum balance fee associated with the account or if you can maintain any balance without a fee. This way if you needed access to the money in an emergency you would not be subjected to paying a fee just to borrow your own money. Look for a bank that has no fees for minimum balances or for keeping the account at a certain level each month.

Check to see if you are being charged to make deposits and withdrawals. Many banks charge a small fee to add or even take out money, this is not where you want you money to be growing. These banks are usually the big local branches who have a laundry list of fees they need to charge in order to keep that bank up and running. Consider choosing a bank that only does business over the internet. These banks have no stores, no insurance, no taxes, and minimal staff. They then pass on all those savings to the customer by offering zero fees on maintaining an account. Many times these internet only banks can also offer a higher interest rate because they have little in the way of overhead to maintain the bank.

Once you find a bank online that has no fees and a decent interest rate, you simply open your account and submit your deposits either by mail or by electronic transfer. These are all free to utilize and your money will grow at a higher rate under the protection of the rules that govern all banking institutions. Your money up to $100,000 is protected from fraud just like it would be at your local bank.

Offshore investing offers a multitude of investment approaches that take advantage of the benefits offered to investors from other countries. However, you can run the risk of getting involved in a shady deal, most of the ventures you will find are perfectly legal. Investors will find a plethora of money-market, bond and capital assets provided by legitimate offshore companies that are financially stable and legal. It is important to remember foreign jurisdictions are not required to follow the law of another country. They are immune to the laws of the investors residing country. Therefore, it is important to ensure the assets the investor is seeking to protect be held outside of the residing country.

There is a wide variety of benefits for investors to take advantage of for putting some of their assets in offshore accounts. One of the most popular benefits is reduced taxes. There are countries who offer tax breaks to foreign investors. By offering reduced taxes to foreign investors it helps the offshore country to achieve a healthy economic environment. This is accomplished when the investor forms a corporation in a foreign country, the corporation doesn’t actually employ a staff there is little or no tax imposed on the corporation.

There are some offshore locations that are havens for reorganizing ownership of wealth. By utilizing trusts or an existing corporation ownership of wealth can be transferred from one person to another legal beneficiary. If an investor’s concerned about a lawsuit or foreclosure on debts, some transfer their assets to a holding company outside of the their home country to avoid seizures of assets. By transferring property from their personal estate to a trustee they can avoid penalties associated with debt.

Offshore jurisdictions offer investors the benefit of secrecy. Many countries have enacted laws regarding strict confidentiality. If confidentiality is broken, there are serious penalties for the offender. However, offering confidentiality does not mean the investor has done something illegal, it protects high profile investor’s identity and may offer them a financial advantage.

The final benefit of investing in offshore investments is having a truly diversified portfolio. Offshore accounts give investors unlimited availability of the international markets and currency exchanges. Investors also gain opportunities in developing nations that are beginning to privatize industries that were under government control.

While the benefits of Offshore investing are appealing and may be well worth the risk there are certain disadvantages that every investor wants to keep in mind. Tax Laws are changing. The IRS wants to make sure it claims its share of revenue. The IRS has begun shrinking tax loopholes that international investors have used through the years. By amending the Internal Revenue Code and establishing the Expatriate tax they are able to collect taxes from American companies that operate in another country as well as collecting from Americans who earn dividends from offshore investments.

Additionally cost is another component to keep in mind. Offshore accounts are not cheap to set up. There are costly legal fees, corporate registration fees and some are required to be a resident of the jurisdictional country which means owning property in another country.

Saving money should be a top priority for just about anyone who has to pay their own way in life. This means doing whatever you can to reduce the amount of money you spend on monthly utility and technology costs. These types of bills can be very high if you do not monitor them and do whatever you can to keep them manageable. I will cover some of the most common utility and technology bills and how to keep them low.

Water bill

This is a utility bill that not many people may even notice that much. This may be because it is not usually as high as other utility bills you may have. However, water bills can become costly if you do not manage the amount of water you use correctly. In order to manage your water bill you need to only use water when you need to and only use what you need. Do not be wasteful by letting the faucet run for an unusual amount of time or filly our bathtub all the way up.

Gas bill

Not everyone around the country may have a natural gas bill, but if you do, then this is for you. Natural gas bills can be very high during the winter months. This is because most people who have natural gas rely on this energy source to give them heat. The colder it is, the more you will typically use. Instead of letting your heater run constantly, try only using it when temperatures are extremely cold. Other times of the day you can simply add more layers or even blankets.

Electric bill

This is a big one for many people in the world. This is also an easy one to let get out of control. If you have a unusually high electric bill, then some things need to be done differently. You should make sure that lights in your home are not on in rooms that no one is currently in. Also, in the summer, try opening windows instead of running the air conditioner all of the time. Just doing these couple of things can make a huge difference in your monthly energy costs.

Cell phone bill

A cell phone bill can easily add up to a large amount if you have too many unnecessary features on your plan. Also, if you are going over your minutes or the amount of text messages you are allowed on a regular basis, then your bill will probably be higher than it should be. Simply having a plan with only the necessary options and not abusing things like text messages and data will lower your bill.

Cable/internet bill

Your cable and internet bill can be very high if you do not watch it. You do not need every premium channel your cable company offers or the fastest internet available. Instead only get the channels you watch regularly and the type of internet that you need.

When you want to investigate an insurance company several companies write reports on the companies and give them ratings. Some of these companies A.M Best Ratings, Standard and Poor’s Rating Service , and Fitch. They rate the company on several different criteria like quality of policies, how they handle claims, payments made, customer service, and investigations into claims. After they do the research they write up a report and give the insurance agency a rating.

Potential customers can find these reports and read the findings on how the rating was determined. This is one way to evaluate an insurance agency. When reading the report look at customer satisfaction, claim payment history and pricing. These are few parts to read when looking at reports of insurance companies.

Another way to find out information is to visit the states insurance regulators website and look up the insurance company. The number of complaints or lack of them is another way to tell if an insurance agency is a good bet. Also, make sure the agency is licensed to carry insurance in your state this is another important aspect of choosing an insurance company.

Another great way to find good insurance is talk to other people who have used the agency. If you have family and friends they may be able to recommend a good insurance agency. Ask them how they were treated when they had to file a claim on their automobile or the house. What were the results did they have to go through red tape or was the claim handled quickly and with ease? Are the prices competitive or do they go up quickly after an accident or every year?

When looking for insurance a captive agent is one that usually represents one company. Often they provide competitive prices for home and auto insurance. You may need to shop with other agencies if you use a captive agency because they may not carry all type of insurances. Often they are not competitive for health, long term insurance, and disability.

A independent insurance agent represents several agencies. They can be very helpful in finding the right company for you. They can provide comparison shopping and often can provide you with all your insurance needs. They vary from agency to agency so shop around when choosing a captive or independent agency. Talking to other who have used the agencies will help you choose the best one to represent your insurance needs.

When you need to compare prices there are many online websites that will be able to assist you for this. Insure.com and Insurance.com can give you some prices and information on insurance agencies. Check out rates after you have evaluated the quality of the company then you can look for the lowest prices.

Good insurance companies offer you policies with payments you can afford. They limit out of pocket payments that the consumer has to pay. Some may even provide you with the option to skip a payment during a long illness. Another important factor is that the insurance won’t be canceled just because the consumer uses the insurance and runs up high costs.

If you’re looking at different health insurance options, it’s important to know which policies you will likely be eligible for. Knowing which conditions could disqualify you from health insurance, as well as options for coverage in special situations, can help you make the insurance decisions that are best for your family.

Which Pre-Existing Conditions Could Prevent Me From Qualifying for Health Insurance?

If you have a history of cancer or heart disease, you are not insurable, unfortunately. However, if you’re been living without cancer treatment for seven years or more; the same is not true for people with heart disease.

You will also not be eligible for health insurance if you are taking too many medications. This is largely due to the fact that some medicines, particularly psychiatric and some headache medications, are very pricey. If the insurance company see that you pay $500 in medications each month, they probably won’t accept that you’ll only be paying $300 in premiums to the health insurance company. This is because the insurance companies work for profit, and if your medication costs are higher than your premium, you won’t be qualified for a policy.

What Else Would Disqualify Me From Getting Health Insurance?

If you have several health conditions that need treatment, you may not get approved for health insurance. For instance, if you have back problems and are visiting the chiropractor, but also visit the dermatologist for acne problems and have chronic migraines, the insurance company will focus on the costs they’re going to incur immediately. However, you can avoid this in some instances if you have a group health plan.

What Should I Do If I’m Not Approved?

If you don’t get approved for health insurance, try to find out the exact reason you weren’t approved. Insurance companies are very careful about giving out personal information to agents to protect your privacy. However, the company will send you a letter to tell you exactly why you were declined. Contact your insurance agent after you get the letter to go over the reasons and find out if there are other options for you to pay for your health care.

Short Term Health Care Options

If you’re in the middle of changing jobs, you may want to apply for short-term health insurance. This is because it may take a couple of months for you to be covered at your new place of employment. Short-term insurance will guarantee your coverage while you’re transitioning between jobs.

Prescription Drug Insurance

If you have a health insurance policy that covers most of your medical costs, you like have prescription drug benefits. In this case, it’s not necessary for you to get prescription drug insurance. Many of these “insurance plans” are frauds and don’t pay you benefits the way they promise. Many state insurance commissioners are exposing these programs. So, if your current insurance plan offers medication coverage, it’s not necessary to purchase a prescription drug insurance plan.

There are a plethora of ways to save money. People that work and make money really have no excuses. The tips below show that there are a large multitude of ways to start small and build a sizable savings.

Become a Coupon Clipper

Coupons have become so popular that this concept has become the basis for reality TV. Millions of people around the world are realizing the savings that can come from clipping coupons. Everyone has to eat regardless of their level of income. This means that people that may find it impossible to save can find ways to save on things they already buy.

Wait Until The Items Go On Sale

There may be items that are needed for the home that can be purchased. It makes a lot more sense to wait if you know that these items will be on sale. It is also easier to buy in bulk when the items are on sale. This will get consumers through the periods where these items go back to regular prices. Smart shoppers know that they can get the best deals during the holidays on certain things. There are also newspapers and online ads that advertise discounts. The person that makes plans to save will invest a little time looking and waiting for sales before they spend.

Do It Yourself

Consumers that have found ways to do the minor repairs around the home can save lots of money. The person that finds the time to learn more about repairing their vehicles can save a fortune over the course of a their lifetime. These are things that people should consider when they are looking for ways to effectively save.

The smart homeowner can do things to make sure that they are equipped to handle repairs in the home by attending workshops. Some stores like Home Depot will have workshops on home repairs that can be quite valuable to homeowners. Anyone that has a desire to save will be interested in online tutorial videos as well. There are a lot of free resources that can help with money management.

Switch to Free Checking

It is also a good idea to consider the savings that can be reaped with free checking. There are banks that are charging consumers money every month just for having an account. Online banks may give consumers an alternative to this fee based checking. There are some free checking solutions for a variety of customers that want to avoid the fees that the traditional banks may have.

Prioritize Your Spending

When someone makes the decision to start spending they have to ask themselves if it is worth it. There are times when the spending for clothes or repairs are necessary. There are other times when these things can be avoided. It is much better to get priorities in order before any spending occurs. The people that take time to make a budget will have better success with their overall spending. This is the best way to save.

If you are looking to reduce the amount of debt you not only have but are able to take on, you might want to consider canceling a credit card. However, it isn’t as simple as just cutting up the card and calling it a day. There are other elements and tasks you need to consider associated with canceling your credit card. You also need to determine if canceling the card really is the right thing for you or not.

There are a few different reasons as to why you want to cancel a credit card. If you have to pay an annual fee for the credit card, you might want to look into canceling it. You also might want to cancel a card if it has a high interest rate. If you recently opened a new credit card, you might want to cancel the other one. Many cards provide interest free payments on transferred money from a previous card for six months or a year. This way, you can avoid paying high fees, all without having to pay interest on the money. It can buy you some time to pay down the credit amount before the interest kicks in.

Before you cancel the credit card though, you need to look into how it might hurt your credit score. It is often best to leave a card open and just have a single charge placed on it monthly in order to keep it open (such as closing the card but putting Netflix or gas purchases on the card). When you cancel a credit card, it is also going to take off this extended form of credit information from your history. With a solid credit score, you might end up hindering your score more than anything else. Negative information is also going to remain on your credit score. A single late payment or foreclosure is going to remain on your credit score for a total of seven years. You don’t want a negative account to remain on your credit score for seven years, so leaving the card open and having the individual, small charges on the card paid off every month can actually help.

However, if you decide to follow through with canceling a credit card, you need to contact the phone number listed on the back of the credit card. You need to have the balance paid off in full before you cancel the card. Once you have it at zero you can contact the company. They are going to try to hold onto your business, but simply inform them that you want to opt out of the credit card. You might be on the phone for a while (similar to you trying to cancel your cable or Internet company service). It is also going to take a while for everything to work through the system. It usually does not just happen overnight where your account is suddenly closed. It is a bit more extended than that, you just need to stay on top of it.

There are a lot of people that want to get portfolios that can be tracked on a regular basis. Fortunately, there are several methods that can be used to look at a portfolio and track the progress.

Create a Spreadsheet

People that want to have a detailed collection of their stock performance should consider a spreadsheet. This may be one of the best ways to set up strong details of the information that is needed for a particular group of stocks.

Most people prefer these types of self made spreadsheets because they can edit this information as they see fit. Someone that works with an Excel spreadsheet, for example, can do things to manipulate the data view. They can hide cells that they do not want to see. They can also add and extend columns for even more information. There are a lot of different things that can be done with a spreadsheet for the sake of tracking a portfolio.

Utilize Apps

The world of mobile devices has also made it very easy to track the progress of shares on a minute by minute basis. Some people log on to the apps and check the performance on a regular basis. This is the best way to know what the portfolio is doing on at all times.

Tracking the portfolio can be very effective with the apps because people can see what their investments are doing from anywhere. They don’t have to be on a home computer. They don’t have to access any of their self made spreadsheets. There are some apps that track performance and neatly place the portfolio into an attractive web-based summary.

Contact the Broker

There are times where it may be necessary to contact a broker about the performance of stocks. At times there will be investors that do not choose to engage in any type of mobile device apps. These are older investors that simply rely on their brokers to make the majority of the decisions. When this is the case it may be best to track the share portfolio directly with the source. A broker can give updates on the specific shares that are performing well. These brokers can also provide information on things that may need to be considered to improve the return on investment.

Emails, Updates and Alerts

The great thing about setting up a portfolio is that there is such a large array of technology available. People that are looking for email updates can sign up for this and track their portfolio this way. Others may prefer message alerts through their apps.

Lots of different things can be done to make the tracking of the portfolio easier. It just takes some time to set up something that is going to be effective. A person may not want updates every minute, but they may prefer to know what is going on every hour. Some people may only need updates one or twice a week. Mobile technology makes it easy to track without overkill.

Making Millions in Real Estate
Wealthy people tend to see real estate very differently than less well-off individuals and there is often a significant variance in their returns as a result. Making money from real estate requires several different concepts that are easy to understand but difficult to implement successfully for many people. This article will provide some basic insight into making millions from real estate and how some individuals are able to do so, while others are not.

One of the most important concepts in real estate is leverage. Leverage involves borrowing money to make money. Real estate is expensive and when you purchase real estate you are likely taking out a loan in one capacity or another. Homeowners take out mortgages on their property. Investors can also take out mortgages on their property but also enter into other loans including multifamily loans, mezzanine loans, line of credit, etc. The amount of leverage that an individual has on their property will likely impact the return on the property. Generally speaking, mortgages are at interest rates that are low given the amount of the loan because the property serves as a backstop to the loss that a lender may have. If the borrower defaults, the lender gains access to the home which they can resell. Therefore the interest rate is much lower than other loans. Homeowners will often view the debt as a negative factor and will scrimp and save to repay their debt as quickly as possible. Individuals who want to make millions in real estate will view debt in a different way. Instead of prepaying debt early, they will attempt to expand their borrowings in order to increase the amount of real estate assets that they have which they can make money from through the rents collected or through the price appreciation on the property. Mastering using leverage on real estate is one of the best ways to make millions on real estate.

Those who are able to make a significant amount of money from real estate are also able to locate properties that have depressed prices for one reason or another and to successfully revitalize the value of the real estate. Real estate is always local and finding values in property often requires knowledge of the area where the real estate is located as well as the surrounding demographics. Sometimes this also involves working with contractors to rehabilitate a project so that it can be rented out or sold for significantly more money. Alternatively, it may involve developing unused property. Once the property has been developed it can either be leased or sold. Finding the right use for undeveloped property can be challenging and involves understanding the local market and demands of the surrounding community. However, developing unused property can be one way to make millions in real estate.

The underlying theme behind this article is that making millions in real estate involves using the greatest feature of real estate which is the willingness of banks to lend money to those looking to own it, in order to make millions. This can be done by increasing your leverage, by developing property, or by simply locating depressed real estate and taking advantage of the price opportunities provided.