Interpret it as a sign of the financial times that consumers can now compare personal loans and credit cards to see which one will give them the most bang for their buck. For emergency spending or for those who needed a lot of cash on very little notice, personal loans used to unequivocally be the answer. However, in an attempt to sign on more customers, credit card companies have sweetened their zero percent balance and purchase deals by extending the time period that card holders have to avoid interest on transfers or purchases. Where most cards would offer interest-free credit for a year or less, some companies are now extending this offer by as much as ten more months. But even still, is a credit card better than a personal loan?

The answer depends on each person’s unique financial situation. The best credit cards offer zero percent interest for nearly two years, creating an attractive alternative for consumers who would normally pay upwards of 10 percent on a personal loan. This is because those same consumers would only have to front a fee around three percent to transfer a balance from an existing credit card account. Or even better, if they are using the card for new purchases, they could end up with no fee at all. But whether they would pay a fee depends entirely on which kind of offer they accept. Cards that offer no interest on transferred debt usually do not offer interest waivers on new purchases, and vice versa. To add to the confusion, your payments will usually be applied to your interest-free balance before they impact your interest-applicable charges.

If you end up with one of these offers and then begin to use your credit card for a different kind of debt than you originally planned to, you could end up paying a lot more. Adding to the tricky tightrope that you’ll have to walk with a credit card is the fact that you may not get enough credit to cover your financial needs. You can request a certain amount for your line of credit, but you won’t know until you’ve been approved, at which point, your credit rating has already been affected, so there’s no turning back.

Another advantage of having an interest-free credit card, however, is the fact that you absolutely won’t face charges for paying your balance early, unlike most personal loans. Credit cards also offer a continuous line of credit, which you can use if another financial emergency arises. However, credit card offers aren’t the only change in the financial sector. Personal loans, compared to just a few years ago, are actually easier to maintain because some banks offer more flexible options. Royal Bank of Canada, for example, gives customers the ability to pay off their loans earlier without penalty and the option to skip one payment each year. And for consumers who struggle with financial stability, having a personal loan can actually be a better option because it forces them to make payments each month, whereas an interest-free credit card allows them to let their debt rest until the promotional period ends. By that time, they will have a new, possibly high interest rate that makes the balance transfer not worth it. In response to the economic difficulties that everyone has experienced throughout the past several years, both credit cards and personal lenders have changed their terms. But to figure out which of these financial solutions is best for you, you’ll still have to do the math.

“Where there’s blame, there’s a claim”.  That’s the cry of every personal injury lawyer in the country, and in case people are in any doubt as to whether or not to try their hand at being compensated for an injury or damage to personal property, those same lawyers will do the work for free if they don’t win.  So there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain for anyone who wants to sue for damages owing to loss or damage to property or personal injury.

That’s bad news for businesses, especially small businesses that might not have much by way of capital or income to be able to afford lawyers’ fees to defend such claims, never mind to pay the vast sums of compensation that can be awarded by courts.

Of course, the best solution to avoiding such claims is to take every step to minimize the risk that someone will be hurt or have their property damaged whilst on your premises or receiving your business’s services.  If you’re a mobile hairdresser, for example, you’ll take care to ensure that allergy strand tests are carried out to avoid adverse reactions; if you’re an ICT consultant, you’ll avoid placing your cup of coffee next to your client’s laptop.  You’ll also make sure that spillages are cleaned promptly; that hazards are clearly marked and drawn to your visitors’ attention if they cannot be removed altogether.

However, even taking these steps cannot prevent every injury or accident, and whilst they may be genuine accidents you may be held to account for whether or not you were negligent (and therefore to blame) in any way.

This is where public liability insurance comes into its own.  Getting the policy that’s right for your business is important, but with profit margins forever being tight, it’s also important that you get a competitive quote.  It’s fairly standard to have a policy that will cover up to $2,000,000 but if you choose a lower amount you may get a lower premium.  It’s up to you to weigh up the likely risks involved in your particular business and decide how much insurance coverage is feasible.

Search online comparison sites and specialist public liability insurers’ direct websites to find the cheapest quote that meets your needs.  Check the standard terms and conditions to make sure that any exclusions won’t adversely affect your ability to claim.  For example, if one of the exclusions is that the policy won’t pay out if your business is based at home, and you are a home-worker, it would clearly be pointless to pay the premiums for that policy.

Your policy will usually need to be renewed every year (though you can buy policies that cover up to three years), so mark your calendar to make sure you don’t forget to renew or search for a new policy.

Whenever I hear the word “free” two things run through my mind. First, I ask myself why it’s free. Second, I ask myself what the catch is. To me, there really is no such thing as free in life. If you receive something without paying for it, it’s not free because it only means you’re benefiting at the expense of others. However, when companies are giving out free stuff to everyone, I’ll take it. They are either trying to promote a new product that just came out or having a special promotion just to have increase their name recognition. Either way, there are tons of companies willing to give out free samples by mail 2012 without any cost to you. You can find any free samples online just by searching online such as sites like www.freecatcher.com. Just type in whatever item you’re looking for, say make-up, you could probably find a place that will offer you a free movie downloads. Some of the popular categories of products that are given out for free include automotive products, make-up, food, movies, music, magazine, pet foods, personal products, and home and garden products. One website I discovered is All Free Sample. Search for them on Google and check out some of the free items you can receive at no cost to you.

In today’s economy literally millions of Americans are dealing with the unfortunate and devastating blow of bankruptcy declaration. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s most recent 12-month cycle report, which ended in September of 2011, shows that of the 1,467,221 filings for bankruptcy throughout the year, 1,417,326 of them were nonbusiness, personal filings.  So for the many who will have to go through the painful process this year, know that you are by no means alone.  The first important step to bouncing back from bankruptcy is learning all about Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, as well as Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, as these are the two primary avenues for personal bankruptcy declaration.  Once you’ve familiarized yourself with both of these, the actual process of climbing back into good credit scores and financial freedom can be easier if you keep in mind a few helpful tips.

1. Shop Around for 1 Low-Fee Credit Card – When returning to credit after bankruptcy it is important to establish good habits right off the bad.  By comparing many different cards and choosing one with the lowest fees and best rates for you, making steady, on-time payments will be easier, which is a huge step to building your credit score and eventually getting back on track for a car, mortgage, etc.  Be careful though, as card companies will be after your business, knowing that you won’t have the protection of filing for bankruptcy again for many years, depending on the state laws. One credit card that can help you rebuild your credit is Horizon Gold card. It’s not an everyday traditional credit card, but it is something that you can use to help build your credit.
2. As Limits Go Up, Stay Safe – Many people will find that card limits can increase fast as they make consistent, on-time payments even after bankruptcy.  It’s important to remember to keep your spending down so that your payments continue to be on-time 100 percent of the time – making a single late payment can drag you back 6 months to a year by dropping your credit rating fast.  Just because the limit goes up, it doesn’t mean you should be spending money you don’t have.
3. Look to the Future – Setting specific goals for future ownership of a car or a mortgage can keep you on track and focused on making payments.  Usually a car dealership will want to see a solid year of good credit payment history before setting up a finance plan for a buy with a recent bankruptcy declaration on their record, but some aren’t as picky.  In this same vain, planning for a mortgage is a similarly great way to stay focused on future goals.  While practices vary by home-loan institutions, some will consider post-bankruptcy buyers just two years after a declaration.

Bouncing back from bankruptcy is undoubtedly a challenging and unfavorable prospect for many of us these days.  But by doing research, reading about options and opportunities to better your credit score and save money with various credit programs and institutions, your goals, no matter how lofty, become much more achievable.

One of my least favorite thing to do is to advise anyone to take out a loan to pay for a bill. That’s practically going against everything I stand for. One of the goals for MoneyGreenLife is to help the readers make better financial decisions in whatever financial situations they may be in so they can eventually become debt free and be on their way to financial independence. However, there are exceptions for everyone for every situation and there may be cases where taking out a loan may be a more feasible option to pay down your debt, even if it’s a payday loan.

Many Americans live their daily lives with debt already with little or no savings. They live paycheck to paycheck. If any unfortunate event took place, such as a leaking roof or a car breaking down, they may not have enough to pay for the repair costs. Payday loans are notorious for taking advantage of people in these exact situations because they provide instant cash, but charge huge interest rates. At Sunrise Finance Payday Loans, they lend money to borrowers by allowing them to pay their bills in-between their normal pay periods. That means that the borrower would need to have a steady job with regular income. The borrower would then write a personal check to cover the loan amount, in addition to the payday loan fees and interests. The payday loan company holds the check until your next payday.

A typical fee for a payday loan ranges from 15-20% of the loan amount. Typical interest rate can be astronomical, going as high as 1,000% APR, depending on the length of the loan. You read that right, that’s ONE THOUSAND PERCENT! If you’re thinking about taking out a payday loan, consider these things before making any final decisions:

1. Make sure it’s your last option. Consider asking family members or friends for a personal loan. Have you considered opening a 0% APR on purchase and balance transfer credit cards?
2. Make sure it’s just a one-time thing. With interest rates so staggeringly high, it would be very costly to become a repeat customer. Start a savings plan so you don’t find yourself in this predicament, ever! If you deposit just $10 a week into your online savings account, you can save $520 a  year and collect interest rate on them immediately. This amount will usually cover typical payday loan amount and hopefully you will never have to take out another payday loan again.

Many of my friends are currently in the market for a new home. And they have asked me questions about how much home they can afford and how much cash they need to buy a home. My general rule of thumb is that the total monthly mortgage payment should not be more than 30% of your net income, give or take a few percentage points. The problem is that it’s hard for an average non-financial person to figure out the equivalent monthly mortgage payment of, let’s say, $500,000. That’s where a simple mortgage loan calculator comes in handy. By simply entering total loan amount, expected interest rate, and the loan term, you can quickly find out what the total principal and interest payments will be. For the record, a $500,000 loan for 30 years at 4% APR equates to $2,387.08 principal and interest every month.

However, that’s not all. While a simple loan calculator is useful, it does not account for other payments you would need to be responsible for. Property taxes can add another 1-2% of the home assessed value every year and home insurance and home owners associations (HOA) fees and add up to quite an amount loan calculators don’t consider. These items can put you at another $6,000 – $12,000 per year to your total costs. That means your $2,387.08 principal and interest payment suddenly went up to over $3,300 per month! Using the 30% rule, you would need to bring home $11,000 every month to be able to afford your $500,000 home.

A mortgage loan calculator can be a useful tool to help you determine how much you can afford, but learn to consider these other important items as well. In addition, I recommend learning more about home maintenance costs, which can be substantial as well. I recently had to fix a leak on the roof which cost me over $1,200 out of my own pocket to fix. However, if you keep the general rule of thumb of 30% as mentioned above, you should be OK.

It’s now been nearly 5 months since I applied for 8 credit cards for a total of 12 active credit cards. I wanted to take advantage of the promotions credit card companies were offering at the time. My biggest concern was how it would impact my nearly perfect credit score but I knew it wouldn’t have detrimental impact in the long run. I signed up for Credit Sesame for free to get a “before” credit score to see how much of an impact it would actually have. Credit Sesame is good because it monitors your activity and provides you with updated score every month, all for free. My score according to Credit Sesame at the time was 788. After all of the credit inquiries, it took about a 40 point hit, which correlates well to the expected 4-8 point hit for each credit card application. However, the score started to recover as expected and is now back up to 780s to date.

If you’re curious about your credit score, you can get it instantly when you register for free at Credit Sesame. Just enter your information accurately and when you sign up for email alerts, you will receive updated credit score every month. There is absolutely no trial or membership required. Credit Sesame is powered by Experian so you can be assured that the score is accurate.

Credit Sesame offers the following advice on improving your score:

1. Number of Credit Inquiries – Give it time. Credit inquiries really only impact your score in the first 12 months. As inquiries age, they will have less of an impact your score. Going forward, only apply for credit when you absolutely need it and avoid applying with multiple lenders. (Multiple inquiries for mortgage or auto loans within 45 days are counted as only one inquiry.)
2. Amounts Owed on Credit Cards – Keep your credit card balances as low as possible and pay them off in full each month if you can: maintaining a balance on your credit cards has no benefit to your score.
3. Balance To Limit Ratios on Accounts – If you need to improve your score quickly, you could contact your creditors to see if they could increase your credit limits. Over time, however, you will want to consider making extra payments to get your balances down. The lower your balances are in relation to your credit limits, the less the impact to your credit score.
4. Average Age of Accounts – It’s a good idea to avoid opening unnecessary new accounts until your existing accounts have time to age. In addition, avoid closing older accounts, as they help your credit appear more mature.

The appeal of Forex spread betting to new traders is understandable: it’s affordable, accessible and could yield big profits. Traders can go long or short on currency pairs, and, being a leveraged product, are able to deposit only a small percentage of their total trade. However, to get into spread betting UK traders, as well as their counterparts around the world, need to make plenty of preparation before they begin.

When doing something new, you want to make sure you want to get it right first time. Having heeded advice from experts like City Index, you’ll need to take that advice with you when you first start trading. Here are some tips for beginners in Forex spread betting:

Using both research and analysis will give you a head start when you make your first trade. By using either technical analysis, a fundamental approach or a fusion of both, you’ll find that looking at currency pairs will be a lot easier, while also being prepared for movements in markets.

Setting out a clear spread betting plan will give you something to go by when you commence trading. By picking a trading strategy which suits your style, setting maximum levels of acceptable profits and manageable losses, you’ll be able to make a decision promptly knowing you won’t be prone to indecision.

Should you make a loss, making use of the many risk management tools available is advisable. By using stop orders or limit orders, you can close out a trade safely, allowing you to carry on without having incurred too much damage.

Keeping track of the latest news is useful, especially if there’s a big story which will have a direct or indirect impact on the markets you’re trading on. In relation to that, if you hear a rumour concerning the markets, research them to see if they have any validity.

Following these tips should help you on your quest to become a success in Forex spread betting. Having a plan in place will give you something to go by, and will increase your chances of profiting from trading. For any unanswered questions you have about Forex spread betting, there are online resources available from the likes of City Index which cover everything you can think of.

Note: This post was submitted by City Index representative.

Photo: Forex Money for International Currency, Epsos

I can’t even fathom having $363 million dollars in my possession, but if you become one of the lucky few that wins the Mega Millions jackpot, super congratulations to you. But for the rest of us who can only dream of such luck. So let’s just pretend that we all of a sudden became uber rich. What do you do with all that money?

First, let’s figure out exactly how much you’ll be taking home. According to Mega Millions website, a $363 million jackpot is equivalent to $259 million cash option. Then, you have to figure out how much tax you would need to pay on the winnings. All winnings will incur a federal tax and also your state tax. If you live in the following states, there is no state income tax which means more money in your pocket:

• Alaska – No Mega Millions
• Florida – No Mega Millions
• Nevada
• New Hamsphire
• South Dakota
• Texas
• Tennessee
• Washington
• Wyoming – No Mega Millions

Federal tax withholding on lottery winnings is 25%. So if you live in one of these zero income tax states and win the Mega Millions jackpot, you could take home a net amount of $194.25 million dollars! However, you could still owe additional federal tax when you file the following year, depending on your total taxable income. Mostly likely, you’ll end up at the highest tax bracket at 35%, unless you’re very generous with your charitable donations.

So again, what do you do with nearly $200 million dollars? What are the proper steps that can be taken so you don’t go into bankruptcy from careless spending? I wish I could share a personal story about this experience but I have not yet been there or done it. But if I were to be fortunate enough to win it all this week,  I would probably do the following:

1. Take care of my family
I would first take care of my family. I would pay all debt including student loans, mortgage, credit card balances, and car payments. I would pay them off immediately so I don’t have to worry about them anymore.

2. Take care of parents and siblings
I would take care of their finances by paying off any of their outstanding debt. Any student loans that my wife’s sisters and brother they have, I would pay them off for them. Any car and mortgage, I would pay them off for them. I would also set up some sort of college trust fund for my nieces and nephews so they don’t have to worry about student loans as they enter college.

3. Allocate money to friends and family
With the remaining money, I would divvy up the money according to the following percentage:

• 10% church donation
• 15% equally divided amongst all immediate family members, excluding parents
• 15% equally divided to both sides of parents
• 10% equally divided to all distant relatives
• 1% equally divided amongst all closest friends
• 49% to me and my wife

4. Hire financial adviser and allocate the remaining 49% to different funds
49% of some $200 million dollars is still almost $100 million, which is still very substantial.

• 50% in aggressive investments
• 25% in safe investments such as bonds
• 10% spending allowance
• 15% savings account

I have no idea what my aggressive and safe investments would look like. I’m not even sure how I would put 15% in savings that will be fully insured. Remember, FDIC only insures up to $250,000 per account. Perhaps, I’ll need 50 of these accounts, I’m not sure yet. But even if I earn a measly 1% on my savings, that’s still $150,000 in interest I will earn every year. I could probably still live comfortably with that amount.

Readers: How would you allocate your money with your mega winnings?

Apple never gives out any kind of coupons of discounts. Why should they? They probably have a customer loyalty rate of 99.9% so these loyal customers will buy Apple products no matter what the costs are. But there is good news for those who are looking for discounts for their Apple products.

By using Discover More card through Discover’s shopping portal ShopDiscover, you can receive 5% cash back on virtually all Apple products. The new iPad is no exception and will qualify for the 5% cash back as well. It’s not quite the same thing as having an actual iPad coupon, but it’s as close as it gets. The cheapest version of the new iPad runs $499. 5% of that is $25. So it’ll be only $474. I know it’s not super savings, but if your local Apple Store ran this promotion right now, how fast would you run to the store right this minute?

If you are already a Discover cardmember, you can log on to your account and click on ShopDiscover and then click on Apple Store. This link MUST be used to activate the cash back bonus. Otherwise, you will only receive 1% back as part of a normal everyday purchase. This offer is only valid for online purchases through ShopDiscover link.

If you are not yet a cardmember, you can sign up for a brand new Discover More card now and take advantage of 18 months of 0% APR on balance transfers and 6 months of 0% APR on purchases. So, signing up for this card, and using it to purchase your new iPad, not only will receive 5% cash back, you can take 6 months to pay it off! Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. So, what are you waiting for? I KNOW you want the new iPad!