Financial Tips for You

Set aside a certain amount of money monthly for investing and saving. Start doing this in your youth, and watch it grow. The experts suggest that 10% of whatever you make is your to keep and invest.

Read bankrate.com and learn about money saving and Investment advice.

Buy Money magazines, look up investment companies on the Internet. Follow the market. Many people have started with only a few shares, and in time, watched them double and even triple. Be wise and choose well.

Join stock clubs. They are groups who investigate the market and discuss and invest together.

Think about this when you are tempted to overspend. The more you have, the more burdensome it becomes: you have to store it, dust it or maybe even insure it.

if you make a lot of compulsive purchases, get rid of credit and actually have your bank limit your spending, if possible only carry cash and only what you need, you can't spend money if you don't have any way to get to it at the time.

Reduce book and magazine purchases. Borrow from the library and return the items by their due date. If you buy a book from a bookshop at the airport, most have a program where you return the book in good condition within 6 months and they refund you half the purchase price.

Surround yourself with already-made millionaires. *tip - Take the top 5 people you surround yourself with and add up their incomes then divide it by the same amount (5) and it will conclude to your average earnings. It's been said that "Like attracts like". Be mindful of your surroundings.

Always pay yourself first!! This means before you go and blow your pay check on a new pair of shoes or a golf club you don't need, put money aside in to an account that you don't touch, do this every time you get paid and watch your account grow.

Source: wikiHow.com

Eight steps to fix all your finances

Sorting out your finances really doesn't need to be difficult. In fact you can learn the basics of everything you need to know in just eight steps...

Step 1. Make a will

Step 2. Pay off your credit cards

Step 3. Get term life insurance if you have a family to support

Step 4. Fund your company pension to the maximum

Step 5. Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it

Step 6. Put six months worth of outgoings in a tax-free Isa savings account. You can put up to £3,000 into an account each year.

Step 7. Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index tracking fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker/fund supermarket and never touch it until retirement

Step 8. If any of this confuses you, or you have something special going on (retirement, college planning, tax issues), hire a fee-based financial planner, not one who charges a percentage of your portfolio

source: thisismoney.co.uk

How to get out of debt

If your finances are in a mess, now is the time to take control. Read our ten-step guide to getting back into the black.
Step one: Work it out
Sit down and work out how exactly how much you owe and who you owe it to. Be honest or you'll only store up more problems for the future. If your debt repayments take more than 20% of your net monthly income you are entering a danger zone and must take steps to cut back.

Step two: Budget
Once you know how much you owe you can draw up a budget, including a schedule for repaying your debts. Be realistic and work out what you can afford to repay and still stay within your budget.

Step three: Be disciplined
Don't borrow any more money or take on any more debts until you have repaid what you already owe.

Step four: Watch your daily spending
Take a set amount of money out of the bank at the beginning of the week and give your card to a friend or family for self-keeping. That way you cannot spend more than you have in cash.

Step five: Organise your bills
Make sure you are paying all your utility bills by direct debit. It's much easier to manage as you won't have to worry about sending cheques on time and it is also cheaper as most providers offer discounts for direct debit payments.
This is probably the easiest way to cut your bills. You can do it today simply by calling your bank with the details of your energy suppliers. Or, alternatively most energy bills enclose a form to fill in to set up a direct debit.

Step six: Switch your utility suppliers
You could save hundreds of pounds each year on your gas, electricity, water and phone bills by switching. It is advisable to switch your energy and phone suppliers before you set up direct debits or you will end up having to change them again.

Step seven: Switch to a cheaper credit card/loan
Try different providers and you'll probably be able to find a credit card or loan with a better rate than you're paying now - particularly for transferred balances on cards (watch out for balance transfer fees). But remember that these special offer rates will rise considerably after an initial interest-free period - make a note in your diary to change deals again. It's best to go for a low rate that looks stable rather than 0% for a limited period, unless you're happy to switch again in six months.

Step eight: Cut up store cards
Store cards charge by far the highest rates for credit, so if you're finding it hard to manage these debts throw away your cards now to avoid temptation.
You'll pay well over the odds for most store cards - it's better to pay cash if you can. For those items you can't pay cash for, shop around for the best deals - the market is competitive, so there are some excellent interest free credit offers around. It is also worth taking a look on the internet as many products are offered there more cheaply.

Step nine: Sort out your bank account
If you're a customer of one of the big four - Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest - then you're probably not getting the best deal on your overdraft or interest rates.
The rise in the number of internet banks means there is far more choice, so it makes sense to switch and take advantage of offers such as fee-free banking and lower overdraft rates. You could save yourself a lot of money just by switching to a new current account.

Step ten: Switch your mortgage
The mortgage is probably your biggest expense each month, so it's important to ensure you have the best possible deal. Speak to an independent financial adviser or a broker about your remortgaging options and if it looks like you could save money make the switch.
Remember to take into account any transfer charges from your current provider and any legal fees for switching. Weigh up the all-in cost of remortgaging before you decide if it's worthwhile, you may still find that the savings you'll make with a new mortgage will more than cover any transfer expenses.

And one for luck: Review protection policies
Finally, save money by switching your insurance company. You can often get cheaper car cover or mortgage protection, for example, by phoning around or looking through an online broker. It is also worth checking that you're not doubling up with some of your cover - for example, some home contents insurance policies cover your belongings while you are on holiday, so you wouldn't need this in your travel insurance.


source: thisismoney.co.uk

Right time to buy shares, say experts

It may take nerves of steel, but some investment pros are already telling their clients to start buying shares.

After the collapse in values in the past three days, fund managers have been licking their lips at the prospect of picking up some tasty bargains.

Today, UBS advised punters to fill their boots. Strategist David Bianco said: 'We understand the macro challenges facing the economy and many uncertainties, but we believe this level of pessimism is unwarranted.'

Bianco was advising clients about US shares, but, with the fortunes of the UK economy, and its companies, so closely tied to those of America, his views were quickly taken by optimists here as a signal to buy.

source: thisismoney.co.uk

'We encourage investors to use this correction as a buying opportunity,' said Bianco.
He claimed that the Standard & Poor's 500 index - a benchmark of the country's biggest 500 shares - had reached the point at which it would not fall much further.

In the past five recessions, he said, share prices reached their lows six months before company profits hit their trough. 'The S&P has reached this point,' he argued. Judging by previous recessions, he said, the next stage is six months of share-price gains averaging 22%.

Royal London fund manager Jane Coffey apparently agreed. She said that she had spent the last two days sitting tight, watching prices fall to what she saw as 'more reasonable' levels. Later this week, she will be back in the market buying shares, she said.

Andy Brough of Schroders was also today refusing to be panicked into selling. He said the best advice was to sit back and do nothing until prices start to stabilise again.

A Warren Buffett lesson in investing

by Anthony Hilton

The London Business School's Global Investment Returns yearbook shows investment winners since 2000 have been old industries such as tobacco and mining. Anthony Hilton says finding such sectors is the secret of success for legendary investor Warren Buffett...

If in 2000 a stock-market investor had been asked to decide which industries or sectors would dominate the first decade of the new century, he or she would probably have gone for computer hardware and software and fixed and mobile telecommunications, with an outside bet on the media.

They would then have learned a harsh lesson. Thanks to the Global Investment Returns yearbook, we can see they would have lost 95% of their money on computer hardware; 88% on software, 67% on fixed-line telecoms, 62% on mobile telecoms and 53% on the media.

There was a sector in 2000 where you could have made almost 10 times your money in the next seven years. But who would ever have chosen tobacco, up 960%? It was followed more rationally by mining, up 667%, personal goods, up 521%and presumably reflecting the debt-fuelled consumer boom, and household goods, up 400%.

As Professor Elroy Dimson, one of the three professors at London Business School who compile the yearbook put it, this is the long-run triumph of the boring. It reflects the thinking of Warren Buffett, the world's most successful investor who avoids the new, the fashionable, the revolutionary and anything that promises transformational change.

Buffett's view is that investors should never confuse innovation with the opportunity to make money. He avoids new industries because they attract so many entrants that no one makes any money. Picking the handful that will survive and prosper from the many more that will go out of business is a question of luck not judgment, and that is no way to invest.

Investing in Health Insurance

One of the First Lines of Defense for Your Portfolio
One of the leading causes of financial disaster, namely bankruptcy, is the result of a lack of health insurance. It doesn’t make a lot of sense for you to begin investing in common stocks through a brokerage account or direct stock purchase plan if you don’t have good health insurance with reasonable deductibles. The worst possible situation would be for you to have finally grown a little $10,000 or $20,000 nest egg, only to get in an accident or suffer a major unforeseen health disaster, wracking up $500,000, or $1,000,000+ in medical bills in the blink of an eye.

If you are unable to compete for jobs that offer health care, or are unable to afford it yourself by purchasing a policy outright, the best thing to do might be to stop your non-retirement investments and use that cash to invest in yourself.

Go back to school, get job training, or move to an area with greater economic opportunity. You might not see the value of your assets go up immediately, but in the long-run, the lack of a total wipeout and / or the greater income streams will be more than worth it.

This may sound difficult, but I can assure you that it’s worth it, even if it means you don’t have a car and have to take a bus. In my own case, before my assets had reached a level that allowed me to be independent, I bought a comprehensive policy through a huge firm before I even owned an automobile. Did it make my life difficult? Yes. But if something had gone wrong, my finances could have recovered whereas without a policy, all bets would be off the table. In the age of the Internet, it’s a lot easier to get a great deal because you can comparison shop so easily.



source: about.com

Legal get-rich-quick schemes

• Work at home tasks such as stuffing envelopes or assembling trinkets. Essentially cottage work; only small fees are paid per piece, and to make real money vast quantities of work are required. The United States Postal Inspection Service has noted that they have yet to find a "stuffing envelopes" offer that pays as promised. [1]
• Many get-rich-quick schemes offer training courses in areas such as real estate, estate auctions, rare coins, or gemstones. Generally they promise that the trainees, after purchasing educational materials costing several thousands of dollars, will be able to locate cheap or discounted items that can then quickly be resold at great profits.
• Get-rich-quick schemes often sell software programs for betting on horse racing or other forms of gambling, promising that if run properly they will pick winners. They rarely do and most users lose money. This software normally sells for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
• Selling "miracle products" over the Internet, by telephone, or to friends and neighbours.
• Many e-books are written about how to get rich quick by selling goods on eBay.

Source: wikipedia.org

Illegal get-rich-quick schemes

• When there is no pretense at selling a product, many get-rich-quick schemes qualify as pyramid schemes or matrix schemes, which are illegal in most countries.
• Ponzi schemes, which are similar to pyramid schemes and offer exorbitant returns on investment, are illegal in most countries.
• Advance fee fraud

source: wikipedia.org

How to Get Rich

It's easy to get to Easy Street: Buy hot stocks, start your own Internet company, hit it big in the lottery. Right? Wrong. Getting rich in America takes a sensible and sane approach.

Things You’ll Need:

• Financial Calculator
• Personal Financial Software
• Brokerage Accounts
• Bank Account
• Financial Advisers

Step 1:Decide what 'rich' means to you. Does it mean money for everything you need? Money for everything you want? Enough to retire where you live now? Enough to retire and live in Costa Rica?

Step 2:Start saving. Most experts agree that investing 10 to 15 percent of your gross monthly income creates a very comfortable nest egg for later years.

Step 3:Take advantage of compound interest, earning interest on your interest by letting investment returns accumulate and build on themselves.

Step 4:Resist temptation, whether that means a brand-new car right out of college or weekly dinners at nice restaurants. Invest the money you save by buying a used car or going out only twice a month, and you will have thousands of dollars more at retirement.

Step 5:Take care of yourself. This will reduce medical costs later on in life, as well as extend the years you can work and save.

Step 6:Go to college. By one study, college graduates earn roughly $20,000 more per year than people with just a high school diploma, and a post-graduate degree nets $20,000 more than a bachelor's.

Step 7:Get married. Married people are generally healthier than singles. Plus, they can economize on expenses, and they have more to invest. And because married people live longer, they can work and save longer.

Step 8:Enjoy the ride. Don't be so concerned with amassing a fortune later on that you neglect to enjoy life now. Strive for balance.

source: eHow.com

Tips for Making Money (for Teenagers)

• Don't lend people money unless they are trustworthy and you know they will pay you back. The fact that someone is your friend does not automatically make them trustworthy or reliable - sometimes, lending money to friends can be like gambling.
  
• Try making flyers on your computer and hanging them on telephone poles. Some places will allow you to hang ads on a board of some kind. This can be very helpful. Be sure to add in your flyer how much you charge for each service; that way your customers know what to expect, and there aren't any surprises when it's time for you to be paid.
  
• If you are able to make a product, sell the product for about 10-20% more than price of production.
  
• Work for more than money; work to learn. Even flipping burgers presents opportunities; watch who they pick for management, how the workers are organized, anything. Rich people own businesses, they don't work for them. Money is temporary, knowledge is permanent.
  
• Try to dress sensibly. This will help you look responsible and dedicated.
  
• Organize your thoughts and keep a simple plan for making money. Trying to tackle too much can be very stressing and can be a hazard to your developing body.
  
• Sometimes you can get work at a summer camp. This is useful because it's rewarding and doen't interfere with school at all (unless you have a year-round school, of course).

source: wikiHow

WARNING!

• The real answer to "how to get rich easily" is "no easy way".
  
• Get rich quick schemes are invariably scams. Avoid them. There is no such thing as free money unless you inherit it. Then you must handle it wisely, or you will lose that also.
  
• Whoever said money can't buy happiness has never driven a sports car!

How to Get Rich Easily

It seems that everyone wants to get rich. There are books out on that subject, classes that are headed by someone who can show you an easy way to get rich, rich people willing to drop advice on how to get rich, and many other schemes that guarantee you will get rich fast. Getting rich is one of the main goals of most people, and while it is never easy, there are some legal techniques that may work.

Steps

• Pay for a prestigious secondary education so that you can get a prestigious collegiate education so that you can obtain a prestigious professional degree. Professionals sometimes end up wealthy. Remember that it takes years of study and sacrifice to get to be a professional, so be patient. Alternatively you could quit in your first year start a dot com or IT related company and be well on your way to making riches.
  
• Buy Stocks in a successful and growing company or Get Started Trading Options. Visit an independent adviser if you lack experience in this area.
  
• Play the lottery and join with a group you can get hundreds of tickets for your few dollars and you’ll have fun doing it.
  
• If you ever do win take the lump sum cash payment and invest it yourself. The cash payouts are usually half as much but you can more than double your money if you invest yourself over thirty years.
  
• Work to the best of your ability in your present job. If you do not, interview for a job that makes minimum wage and act (convincingly - but don't overdo it) like you are interested in more than a paycheck. Work hard and suck up, making your way up the promotional ladder. Executives sometimes start out in low-paying jobs; if you have patience and work hard and learn, you might end up in middle-management. If you are incredibly lucky, you might even get rich. The odds of that happening are low, but are substantially higher than the odds of winning the lottery. Also, there is no guarantee: You may work very hard for 25 years and then get 'downsized', right as they take away your pension. Relying on the generosity of the rich is not a very safe bet.
  
• Invest in real estate. Buy a fixer-upper for a low price. Make improvements, and sell it for double what you paid for it. Use the profits to buy a second house, and do the same thing. Look for repossessed houses, and once again, fix them up, and sell for a profit. You never really use your own money, and eventually you will be wealthy.
  
• If you have been reading until here, you're still searching for that groundbreaking idea to get rich easily - but if it would be that easy everybody would do it. So think out of the box, be creative, challenge your environment to discuss business ideas, learn from people who did it, read their biographies, take a low-paid PA job, keep a record of your progress and your motivation and finally networking, networking, networking.
  
• Be frugal. Never spend money on anything you do not need for your most basic survival. It's not how much you make, it's how much you don't spend that will make the difference.
  
• Talk to wealthy people and ask them for advice. Try to follow in their footsteps as well as reading books on making money such as Ebay businesses and other.
  
• Develop and patent a new product. Take a look around your house and think about the activities you do and how they could be made simpler. If you come across an idea don't waste any time develop a prototype (a working example of your good but not necessarily what the final product would look like) and patent it. If a manufacturer likes your idea too you can license it at a per item price for every one they make. If it is popular you can make a lot of money without taking the risks.
  
  
  source: wikiHow.com
  

Online Stock Market Games for High Schools

by Jane Lopus and Dennis Placone
URL: http://people.clemson.edu/~dlplc/stockmarketgames.htm

Many high school economics teachers use an online stock market simulation o motivate students to use technology productively through learning to navigate educational Web sites and engaging in online research. The game encourages students to follow current events, learn basics of saving and investing, and stimulate interest in economics and how markets function. Many centers and councils for economic education affiliated with the National Council on Economic Education provide teachers with materials and training related to an existing game.

The number of stock market simulations available for high schools students has increased greatly during the past several years. This Web site provides information about these stock market simulations. The Web site contains two tables and accompanying information that evaluate the online stock market games available for high school students in the fall of 1999 that were still functioning in our current review. The first table provides links to the games so that users may investigate the games.

The tables on this Web site show that several online games with desirable features are available for high school students. Although we provide a snapshot of what existed at the time of our reviews, changes can be easily identified by visiting the Web sites of the games listed in the tables.

Jane Lopus is a professor of economics and director of the Center for Economic Education at California State University, Hayward (e-mail: janelopus@csuhayward.edu). Dennis Placone is director of the Center for Economic Education at Clemson University.

Keys to Financial Success

1. Make money.

2. Don’t spend it all.
3. Pay off any high-interest debts.
4. Start saving and investing as soon as you’ve paid off your debts.

Tips for Finding Money to Save or Invest
If you are spending all your income, and never have money to save or invest, you’ll need to look for ways to cut back on your expenses. When you watch where you spend your money, you will be surprised how small everyday expenses that you can do without, add up over a year’s time.
How much does that cup of coffee actually cost you?
Would you believe $465.84? Or even more?

Here’s how that works. If you buy a cup of coffee every day for $1.00 (an awfully good price for a decent cup of coffee, nowadays), that adds up to $365 a year. If you saved that $365 for just one year, and put it into a savings account or investment that earns 5% a year, it would grow to $465.84 by the end of 5 years, and by the end of 30 years, to $1,577.50.

That’s the power of “compounding.” With compound interest, you earn interest on the money you save and on the interest that money earns.
Over time, even a small amount saved can add up to big money.
If you are willing to watch what you spend and look for little ways to save on a regular schedule, you can make money grow. You just did it with one cup of coffee.

Remember that if a small cup of coffee can make such a huge difference, start looking at how you could make your money grow if you decided to spend less on other things and save those extra dollars.

If you buy on impulse, make a rule that you’ll always wait 24 hours to buy anything. You may lose your desire to buy it after a day. And try emptying your pockets and wallet of spare change at the end of each day. You’ll be surprised how quickly those nickels and dimes add up!

Pay off Credit Card or Other High-Interest Debt
Speaking of things adding up, there is no investment strategy anywhere that pays off as well as, or with less risk than, merely paying off all high-interest debt you may have. Many people have wallets filled with credit cards, some of which they’ve “maxed out” (meaning they’ve spent up to their credit limit). Credit cards can make it seem easy to buy expensive things when you don’t have cash in your pocket - or in the bank. But credit cards aren’t free money.

Most credit cards charge high-interest rates - as much as 18 percent or more - if you don’t pay off your balance in full each month. If you owe money on your credit cards, the wisest thing you can do is pay off the balance in full as quickly as possible. Virtually no investment will give you the high returns you’ll need to keep pace with an 18-percent interest charge. That’s why you’re better off eliminating all credit card debt before investing savings.

Once you’ve paid off your credit cards, you can budget your money and begin to save and invest. Here are some tips for avoiding credit card debt:
• Put away the plastic
Don’t use a credit card unless your debt is at a manageable level and you know you’ll have the money to pay the bill when it arrives.

• Know what you owe
It’s easy to forget how much you’ve charged on your credit cards. Every time you use a credit card, write down how much you have spent and figure out how much you’ll have to pay that month. If you know you won’t be able to pay your balance in full, try to figure out how much you can pay each month, and how long it’ll take to pay the balance in full.

• Pay off the card with the highest rate
if you’ve got unpaid balances on several credit cards, you should first pay down the card that charges the highest rate. Pay as much as you can toward that debt each month until your balance is once again zero, while still paying the minimum on your other cards.