Finance Magazine

Credit

Credit Card Security Advice

Which of the following is the biggest threat to your credit card security? a) Shopping online with a credit card b) Shopping in a real store with your credit card c) Ordering something over the phone with your credit card The answer may surprise you. It’s b - shopping in a real store with a credit card. Despite all the controversy and publicity surrounding internet phishing and identity theft, shopping online is a relatively safe process. Credit... 

Currency Trading

Trade Entry Techniques

Most traders tend to concentrate on pinpointing the perfect entry for a trade. However, in reality the entry price is just one part of the equation. The common entry techniques are: Channel Breakouts A trend trader will tend to use channel breakouts to enter trades in order to catch a trend when it is beginning. The general rule is to pick a period length, which could be 20 days for a long term trader or 15 minutes for a daytrader and buy if the high... 

Debt Consolidation

7 Ways to Consolidate Your Debt

If you are in debt, you have several options available to you in your quest to consolidate your balances and thereby reducing your monthly payments or paying off your loan faster. Let’s look at 7 of the most popular and effective ways for you to consolidate your debt. 1. Life Insurance. Yes, many life insurance policies have a cash pay out [loan] provision. If you have held the policy for quite some time, the amount of equity built up in it... 

Debt Relief

Credit Card Debt & the Unfairness of the Universal Default Clause

Let’s look at a real world example: A woman purchased a new $4,000 large screen TV a few months ago based on the knowledge her monthly payment was going to be $175, and based on the 9% interest rate charged by her credit card company. For five months straight she made all her payments on time, but in the fifth month she was late paying her mortgage bill, for reasons unknown. She found out a month or two later that her credit card company doubled... 

Investing

Caveat Emptor: You May Owe Taxes Despite 401(K) Losses!

One among many ways you lose money in non-indexed mutual funds is the tax trap. You may have to pay taxes even when your mutual fund loses money! To many people this is painfully unexpected. Here is how this counter intuitive event occurs. By law, mutual funds do not pay taxes. Instead, they pass on those taxes to you, the shareholder in the mutual fund. If the fund manager sells a stock for more than it cost the fund a profit is generated. This profit... 

Leases

Basic Things You Should Know About A Lease Purchase Contract

What exactly is a contract? By definition, a contract is an agreement between two or more parties to do, or to refrain from doing, a particular thing in exchange for something valuable. The parties can be individuals, businesses, organizations and government agencies. They key elements of a successful real estate contract: 1. Offer and acceptance This implies original signatures with no alterations to the contract. Don’t mistake offer and acceptance... 

Loans

Long Term Unsecured Loan?

In order to understand qualifications for loan approval, let’s examine the types of loans; secured and unsecured, and the two types of re-payment plans: short term and long term. Secured loans have both short and long term repayment plans. These types of loans are secured by a form of collateral, such as the equity in a home or auto. Some lenders will also accept stocks and bonds as security against the loan. Because these types of loans are... 

Mortgage Refinance

Home Mortgages: Does It Ever Make Sense to Pay Points?

Interest rates on home mortgages are often quoted with and without points. A point equals one percent of the amount you are financing. This means that on a $150,000 mortgage, one point is $1500.00 and two points would be $3,000. These points are in addition to whatever other closing costs you might have. I checked interest rates today in our state for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and found a number of companies offering mortgages with no points. Here... 

Personal Refinance

Saving Dimes Can Go a Long Way

On the other hand, there are those people who are saving dimes and every other cent. Perhaps its because they hate the clutter of change but want to get rid of it instead of letting it accumulate elsewhere or still rely on the fact that change has value and should be used accordingly. For those who find it hard to save, start with a small piggy bank and contribute any lose change to that bank and let it grow. Change that you were going to use to buy... 

Tax

What Is Tax Law?

The federal tax code is complex. This complexity generally arises from two factors: the use of the tax code for purposes other than raising revenue, and the feedback process of amending the code. While its main intent is to provide revenue for the federal government, the tax code is frequently used to direct the behavior of businesses and individuals in an attempt to achieve social, economic, and political goals. For example, the tax law provides...