Penny Sense

Penny Sense has moved

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 07:04:00 +0000

Please join me at my new "home" here at My Penny Sense. It has been so inspiring and fun blogging that I've decided to take it further. Kindly update your links and feed at my new site. See you there!

Many ways to save on cards

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:41:00 +0000

How many credit cards do you carry? I have quite a lot, so much so that I feel it is time to cut some up. Especially those that I need to pay annual fess for. I figured that if I still wanted to maintain just as many cards because of their unique benefits, then I should at least look for fee free credit offers. This wil save me quite a lot of money every year if I intend to keep many cards.

It's not difficult at all to find these cards, all you need to do is be a bit resourceful online. I did a quick search and landed on a site called Low Interest Credit Cards Offers and found many cards available for free. Not only do these cards come free for me to use, some of them even come with low interest rates which is another big savings if you are a credit card revolver.

These are at least two ways you can save some money, not to mention paying off as much of your credit card bill as you can when they are due. Be a discipline and wise credit user and you are quite safe from falling into a life with huge debts.

How best to choose a credit card

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:58:00 +0000

These days banks are getting very aggressive in marketing their credit cards and rightfully so since competition is so intensed. There are so many ways that banks use to excite a consumer about choosing their cards, from offering attractive free gifts to some really beneficial features of the cards.

Amidst all these "noise", wouldn't you agree it's hard to be objective in choosing just the card you need? How do you then make a good call? Actually, all you need to do is to do some research, compare cards side by side and stay true to your cause of picking out just what you need. One place that you can refer to is http://www.credit-cards-rates.com.

Here, you'll find the different types of cards available across different providers. The site is relatively easy to use and read. Things are very systematically categorised so that you can find what you need quickly and finally get to applying for the card you want online. Easy as ABC. It's all the convenience that we for free, too.

So if you are shopping for a card, do yourself a favour and drop by to make your search. You may not be offered a host of free gifts upon application or even approval of your card, but at least you know you have made the right choice for the right card.

Shopping for credit cards made easy

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:39:00 +0000

Do you spend enough time doing enough reseach when you want to sign up for a credit card? I find that many consumers nowadays don't do that. Perhaps this is because many are unaware of resources available to browse and compare cards before making an informed decision.

I've lately come across a useful website called Megacredit.com. Here, you can compare an array of credit cards available in the market and across different credit card providers as well. This is a rather comprehensive site that not only allows you to view at a glance all the different types of credit cards, but also provide some helpful resources like credit card education. It's important for us to learn to be responsible and wise credit users.

After doing your research on the types of cards and making up your mind, you can even apply for your chosen card online on the website itself. I like the one-stop convenience of this site and the hassle and time that it saves me as compared to all the running around I'd have to do if I were to shop for a card any other way. All these convenience doesn't come tagged with a price at all. So why not make use of such a great resource?

Are you affected by the new credit ruling?

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Are you the type of credit card user who feels the need to pay your card balances in full at due date, or are you the type who pay the minimum required and roll your cash on other bills? If you are the latter, then the recent change announced by the central bank must be very bad news. The new rule states that if a credit card user does not pay the month's expenses in full at due date, then the card user will no longer enjoy the interest-free period anymore. I feel it's a rather unfair policy.

It only serves to add more financial burden on card users. Over time, these credit card users will likely to run into unfavourable credit situations with banks if the interests on their cards keep growing alongside their card expenses. This is surely not a good move in a time when inflation is on the rise and we're paying more for everything!

If you are an unfortunate card user who run into this situation, you are unlikely to find a friendly bank that's willing to issue you a credit card when you need it most. But don't feel trapped, because there are still places that you can find credit cards for bad credit. Not only would you find these cards available to you, you will be impressed to see that an array of such cards are put together side by side for you to select from! It makes comparing cards so much easier, not to mention helping you make an instantenous decision on the spot. The information provided are unbiased, as they are feature and fact based. You decide what works and what not. As if that's not convenient enough, you only even apply for a card immediately, online. It's that easy and friendly! Good service and convenience is all around, if only you know where to look. Even if you are bad credit.

How easy it is to get credit cards these days

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:04:00 +0000

Last week I received two letters from a local bank, congratulating me because my credit cards have been approved and ready for collection at the bank branch. I scratched my head and was deep in thought. When did I apply for the bank's cards? I don't recall applying for any, not to mention there are 2 of them! I called the bank to check and was told that the cards are complimentary because of a loan that I currently have with the bank. Free cards, why not? But then again I don't like to have a lot of credit to my name and being registered as a high risk defaulter with the bureau.

Since this event, I have been thinking how readily banks are to offer their customers free cards. Anyone could easily get into trouble owning too many cards and being tempted to swipe them. This is definitely a shortcut to being labelled a bad credit customer, don't you think? And if that happens, banks are equally ready to reject any sort of loan applications which ironically also include credit cards.

Where then could you think of to get credit cards when you need them most? Fortunately, credit cards for bad credit are available. One of the site I've seen with a good array of choices for such cards is Credit Card Flyers. It offers information not only on the cards, but some application details as well as ranking the cards. Looks like a lot of homework has been done for you to save your time doing the research.

So if you're looking for such options, give this a visit to check what's available to you.

Now's the time to save on whatever you can

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:48:00 +0000

I'm sure everyone has heard of the latest news by now, that we are facing a huge fuel price increase effective immediately. I'm not sure if this will cause a temporary panic amongst people, because it means that our standard of living is going to get higher as an effect of higher fuel cost.

This is the time to be saving on whatever we can. One thing that I want to do is to manage my savings on credit cards. Not only on the debt on cards, but also on the cost of owning the cards, too. It's time to start looking at getting a credit card no annual fees.

There are many free cards nowadays and if you need some information or do some comparison between these cards, you can check out Credit Room and see what suits you best. Cards that are free are always better value for money.

A cousin of mine is a small-time business lady who runs her own set-up. She is now searching for the best small business credit card available to her because she has heard that such a card can help her business save some money through the card's benefits and privileges. Not a bad idea if you are already holding on to business credit cards. Might as well get the most out of the best card offers to minimise cost and maximise profits!

Earn some pocket money

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:45:00 +0000

Sometimes when you have overspent for the month, don't you wish you would stumble upon some stashed away cash that you have entirely forgotten about? It's like you've chanced on a windfall! Speaking of windfall, how would you like to make some extra pocket money that you could stash away for rainy days? Bloggerwave provides you with opportunities to make money through your blog. It connects you to advertisers who want their products or services reviewed. All you need to do is write them well and you deserve to earn some cash for your effort. Go try it out! And make sure you don't spend all your hard-earned money away too soon!

Looking good and earning money from it

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Sat, 03 May 2008 13:54:00 +0000

In this day and age, good looks are often considered an asset that earns you big money. Beautiful models and actresses are good examples of people who somewhat depend on their good looks to have a successful career. Sometimes, don't you wish you could be spotted as a budding model and rise to stardom in a few short years and make your first million?

If you're thinking where you could get spotted, you can check out http://www.lookoftheyear.com and see how you fare in this beauty contest. The winner of Look of the year may just be signed up by modelling agencies and jet-setting to Europe for shows!

For the young and inspired, there's no harm in checking out http://www.lookoftheyear.com. For me, nah, I don't think I qualify =)

Good luck and I hope you become the Look of the year.

Is your investment in the well?

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:40:00 +0000

Did the title of the post jump out at you because it sounds weird? Well it's not. Hear me out. I've always thought that investing in the oil and gas sector is a good move. Due to my limited knowledge on investing in commodities, I would only invest in stocks of oil and gas companies. However, the stocks of such companies do not come cheap, so oil and gas investing is but a dream to me so far.

However, I've never given up on being able to afford a portion of my portfolio in this sector. I've been reading up about the many ways that people get into oil and gas investments and I've only recently come to learn that investors can invest in on oil well itself. By having ownership of an oil well, an investor has the potential to earn income that's generated from the well.

If you are interested in such oil well investments, there are certain recommended brokers who offer these opportunities. One such broker is the Lone Star Securities. The company is well structured and connected to offer its customers a cost efficient and effective investment opportunity.

If you were to put a good part of your cash into such an investment vehicle, you might as well find a good and reputable company to deal with. It is important that the company is able to connect its clients to profitable wells to invest in. It's half the battle won to have peace of mind in your investments.

Better credit to your name

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:49:00 +0000

Do you worry about your credit records? Many people view this as a very sensitive and important issue to deal with. Sometimes, it is by no means your own fault that you earn yourself a bad credit reputation through actions of others. Mind you, it could happen almost overnight too. Bad financial credibility can lead to so much inconvenience. It can also lead to some very expensive experiences in applying for some neccesary loans.

If you are in such a predicament, worry not. There are ways to clean up that record in no time and you don't even need to lift your own finger to do so. You only need to sign up for a credit repair service and you are rest assured to be in good hands.

The process to repair credit is not easily achievable individually, so it's best to leave it to the professionals who have proper procedures in place to do just that, and doing it very efficiently, too.

So far I've not been in such a situation, but if I ever fall victim bad credits and need for a credit repair, I know just who to go to.

Power it up

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:08:00 +0000

Everyone uses electricity in this day and age. Over the years, this utility has definitely become a necessity. It has become a regular expense in our daily lives because we can't live without it. I know of people who run up high electricity bills because of the weather. It's either the heater or the air-conditioner that is normally the big culprit in contributing the largest usage of energy in every home.

But did you know that now, you can switch electricity usage as an expense into a business? The business proposition is a simple one. Once you sign up to do this business with the electricity provider, you need to recruit others to do the same. Your earnings depend on those whom you help to further expand their network.

I've always found multi-level marketing to be quite a difficult business because of the monthly commitment to maintain some amount of purchases on products. But in this case, everyone needs electricity and will keep charging up their bills even if they're not in the business.

Even if you don't think of this as a business opportunity and consider yourself a small-timer, it may help you along the way by means of having some amounts of your expenses offset by whatever earnings you get from this little venture. Who would say no to cheap electricity?

Have you thought hard about your retirement plans?

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:11:00 +0000

Many financial institutions have conducted surveys and studies on how people feel about their retirement plans. I've read the results of such surveys done in a few Asian countries and it was utterly surprising that people in our country tend to take retirement plans quite lightly.

Not many people actually think about it, and for those who did think about it, they believe that the EPF money will be sufficient to last them through. This, unfortunately is no longer true looking at how prices of things are on the rise. We still don't know if we're headed towards a recession or an inflation right now, but if you look around, we're definitely paying more money for the same things now than before.

In this period of uncertainty, it's best to hold on to whatever good policies that you have, be them medical, life or retirement plans. Practising life settlements during this time is not advisable. I know of people who are all for the idea of life settlements to make quick bucks. Yes they are good "investments" when the time is right and you're certain that you are not disadvantaged selling a good cover. Alternatively, if you are the type who buy more than one of the same type of coverage, then by all means go for life settlements as you may reap enough benefits from just the one that you hold on to.

A university in your home?

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:19:00 +0000

Although I tremendously enjoyed my three years of university life in the United Kingdom, I missed my loved ones at home too. Being abroad to get my degree was something I had to do because the local ones weren't as flexible with their limited courses offered. Now that many years have passed, many things have changed around us. Technology has enabled many things to be possible and made life a lot simpler with its convenience.

One of these convenience is to obtain your degree online, in the comforts of home or anywhere else you choose. Gone are the days where earning a degree means being physically at school, diligently following the schedule of lectures and classes. The existence of these online business schools has also solved one big problem for many students - saving lots of money on the cost of living abroad.

With such e-learning in place, it also encourages more people to go for a second degree. It has definitely triggered me to consider about getting either a business administration degree online or a general business degree online, doing it on my own time and convenience since my job holds me down quite a bit.

There are many courses offered, but I am more keen on business degrees because someday, I would like to venture into the world of business on my own. And this is where this second degree will come in useful to me.

Get paid to interview!

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:03:00 +0000

By now everyone has heard of getting paid to blog, answering to questionnaires or surveys and being a msytery shopper. There sure are quite a few ways to earn a little extras without having to take on any part-time jobs.

Here's another I just heard about today - get paid to interview for employers! Check out the website to see how it works. For the fun of it, I filled out the auto calculator to see how much I should price an interview job and I was pleasantly surprised that I'm worth a couple hundred bucks! Not bad at all. But it really is too bad that this service is not available in this country.

Options: the way to invest?

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:49:00 +0000

In the latest copy of a local investor's magazine, I read with great interest about how people invest to make big and real money. People who are terribly risk-averse like me who buy nothing but unit trust funds will never see the big bucks coming in. According to the article I read, the stock market and options trading are the way to go. The latter is actually the more preferred method for the more sophisticated investors, and that is really where the money is.

That article started me on a research about online options trading and I came across a site that I find to be very informative to start with. It offers great investing lessons by experts in this area. Subscribers of this website are furnished with up-to-date insights on the market so that they are able to make informed decisions on their investments.

Online options trading is a totally new type of investment vehicle for me and I was a little nervous about taking this step. But since finding this site, I am more comfortable and convinced that this is the way to go to see some returns in my investments. No doubt I will be starting small, but I look forward to growing in this new investment.

Short cut to refinancing your home

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:23:00 +0000

About two months ago I started the process of refinancing my home loan. I've known many cases of bad credit mortgage refinance situations but no, this is not the reason why I went for a refinancing package. I desperately needed to lower my monthly instalment and the best way to do so is to find a package that offers me lower interest rates.

When I shopping for a package, my friend who lives in the USA happened to be doing just the same. She is an investor and has many properties in different parts of the US. She recommended me to a site called Refinance.com to have a look at some good deals. Unforunately that's not where I come from but still I found the site to offer pretty good deals and information.

My friend was looking out for florida mortgage refinancing deals. She was illustrating to me how easy and quick it was using the recommended site. In a matter of minutes, she was done finding what she needed and she even had time to move on looking for similar california mortgage refinancing deals for her other properties!

I took more than 2 months to shop, enquire, negotiate, apply and finally have my application approved. My friend had hers all done in just a fraction of the time I spent. Isn't that an already better deal? Time is money and the faster we get to refinance, the more and faster we get to save. So if you are looking to refinance, I hope you will take this shorter route.

I'm a new Postie!

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 03:28:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I signed up on payperpost (PPP) and was patiently waiting to be approved as a Postie. Now, I'm thrilled to say that I am an official Postie! Thank you, PPP!

I first heard about PPP from some blogger friends. They were encouraging me to sign up and get paid to blog. I also read from many other blogs about how they've benefited being a Postie with PPP. Skeptical at first, I thought it's best to see it for myself before signing up blindly. Upon finding out more from PPP's website, I found it to be as good as what the bloggers were saying. I can't deny it's a great way to earn a little extra, so I signed up immediately.

I like the fact that bloggers can choose opportunities that suit them best and write what they feel comfortable with. There are lots of opportunities to start with anyway. PPP also gives bloggers the opportunity to deal directly with advertisers which means we can negotiate what we feel the opportunities are worth.

I'm looking forward to more opportunities with PPP. I'm planning to put every dollar earned into my investment portfolio. It may not be big bucks initially, but every little bit helps to grow an investment, don't you think?

Big-ticket purchase

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 09:10:00 +0000

Some time ago, we were running flea markets selling jewelry and home pieces. Whilst the jewelry sold like hot cakes, the home pieces sat still. I figured the problem was in the mode of payment. Many people go to flea markets expecting to buy small items with cash. But when we had big household items that came with a price tag in the hundreds, it was hard to close the deal in cash since we didn't accept any credit cards.

To accept Visa/Mastercard today is so common amongst retailers. If you don't, you only stand to lose. And lost we did. This triggered me to think of how a small time or rather part-time retailer like me who sell big-ticket items could get registered as a merchant. Where I come from, I'm unlikely to find such services so I had to look for such merchant services off shore.

I was quite in luck as I managed to find a few of them and soon, I will be a credit card accepting merchant. Perhaps I will be the only one at the entire flea market!

Shortcut to finding a perfect home

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:17:00 +0000

Two nights ago I had a long conversation with a friend who's torn about sending her aged father to a nursing home come June this year. She felt unfilial but yet she can't find a better solution for her father to be well cared for.

I pointed out to her that she may be doing just the right thing for her father. When she was more convinced, I shared with her on a recommendation of another friend about a website offering dedicated nursing home service. On the website, one can read reviews of available homes and even search for homes that cater to special requirements.

What's more, there's a forum for discussion so you may learn and share experiences with others. I thought this was especially useful and helpful to my friend so that she knows she is not alone in doing this.

There are also related news and tips from experts on the website. It helps to read up as much as possible to make an informed decision on what's best for your loved ones.

She visited the site as soon as she got home that night and is glad for the help she's getting from it.

Shopping for a shopping cart

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:33:00 +0000

A couple of days ago, I found a great shopping cart software. I read through the details but didn't have the time to view how it works exactly. So today I returned to the site to see more of the ecommerce software in action. I tried out the demo as both a shopper and an administrator or seller.

From the administrator demo site, I found this shopping cart to be really intuitive and friendly to use. Everything I need is ready to be used and all I had to do was fill in information about my products. Next thing I know, I'm ready to sell, sell, sell!

I like the statistics of my sales flashed to me in graphs too. I don't need to spend more time to analyse them myself. I also like the feature where I'm able to send information about my products to some shopping search engines as a way to further promote my products. This software is more than just a shopping cart - it actually helps me sell, too. I am definitely impressed with the one-stop-shop service!

Comparing insurance policies instantly

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:56:00 +0000

Recently we've been thinking of buying an insurance policy to supplement one of our current ones. I don't want to use the current agent we have as my choices are limited to what my agent's company has to offer. I wanted to know what else is out there.

That's when I found Advantage Quotes, a site offering life insurance services. Now, instead of meeting up with multiple agents each representing their own company, I am able to compare plans across different insurers and see immediate results on which is a better plan for me.

This site is straight-forward and easy to use. All I need to do is to fill out some information about myself, select my preferred term length and amount of coverage to insure and it will generate a list of products for my consideration.

I find this service to be a time-saver for me. I get an outright comparison that is unbiased and best of all, I pick what I want instead of being told what I need. With this, I'm armed with choices and ready to make an informed decision almost in an instant.

Making your best bet

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:36:00 +0000

My friends find it amusing that in my 30 years of life, I've never been to a casino. Where I come from, we have a famous tourist place high up on the hills and amongst one of the many attractions there, is a casino. I'm so near yet so far to it.

Anyway, I don't feel the need to step into one as there are plenty of casinos online. I could play in the comfort of my home and whenever I want. However, with all the choices out there, it's hard to pick out which is a better one.

But thanks to someone who came up with a brilliant idea to offer online casino reviews, players can now save some time experiencing each online casino to find a suitable one.

The online casino review website provides details on the type of games available, trust score and even allows users to share their opinion via votes. At least I know this review site is fair and I tend to trust third party opinions more anyway.

This site provides what I consider to be a value-adding service, and for free! How often do you find a gem in a freebie?

My new online venture

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:27:00 +0000

I'm planning to start an online business and have been on the look-out for fast moving products. For the last 2 weeks, I've been busy brainstorming for ideas as well as doing a lot of research.

Part of my research includes looking for a reliable ecommerce software for my site. I have no knowledge in this area at all so I was hoping to find something that's not too difficult for me to implement.

After some searches, I found a great shopping cart software provided by Ashop Commerce. It looks like the perfect solution for me. I'm especially thankful for the ease of use of this software as installation is not required because it is web based. It's got plenty of features and I'm able to customize the designs too.

But as a business person, what's most important to me is that it's an affordable software. I'm definitely signing up for it as soon as I'm done finalizing on my domain name and hosting services!

Get paid to blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Penny) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:57:00 +0000

For months now I've been cracking my head on how to make more money. So far, I am only investing part of my salary on a regular basis, hoping it'll make me some decent returns.

But recently, while surfing on many blogs, I came across Smorty, a service that connects advertisers with bloggers. Curious, I read up on it and instantly loved the idea to get paid for blogging.

Smorty is friendly and easy to use, and most importantly it offers great opportunities to people like me. As it is, I spend a lot of time blogging already, so why not do some blog advertising while I am at it? I've got friends who are like me, hoping to make some extra pocket money all the time. I think they'll love me for sharing with them on this new opportunity to blog for money with Smorty!

Ain't this just the best New Year gift I could offer to my friends? Come on dearies, let's get paid to blog!