The cell phone industry has exploded in the last decade and now it looks like recycling phones could be the next big thing. Over 400,000 cellphone are retired every day in the USA. Some are given away, others are thrown away, but most are lying around in junk drawers — owners oblivious to their true worth. As consumers rush to upgrade their devices, companies like eleGreen are seeing there’s a huge gap in the market for take-backs and responsible recycling.

eleGreen’s VP of Marketing and Customer Service, Spencer House, says while many consumers want the latest model, the re-use market is also very strong, especially overseas. “Most people don’t realize how much they can get for their old phone because they only look to their service provider, or the manufacturer. Our primary objective is to educate the consumer, make buy-back easy and pay top dollars for the hardware,” says House.

95% of eleGreen phones are reused. In most cases they are sold for refurbishment in other countries where they can play a part in helping create communication networks. eleGreen will match any price of a buy-back competitor and strives to make the process as easy as possible. Those in the immediate area can get a free quote from an agent coming to them or can visit the eGreen offices.

EXAMPLE: You buy a $700 phone for $200 because you enter into contracts with phone service providers. When an upgrade is offered, that phone has not depreciated even though the provider will only offer about $100 on it as trade-in. eleGreen pays up to $300 for the same phone. eleGreen currently quotes a buy-back price of $295 for some models of the iPhone 4S. It usually costs $199 to upgrade. So, you can get the newest version and almost $100 in your pocket. You can also choose to donate the buy-back price to a charity of your choice.

If you’re looking to save your money for a rainy day, one of the best ways to do so is convert it to something that doesn’t devaluate over time. Any of the strong currencies today are a good choice but only if things stayed the same; an uncertainty that you literally can’t afford. Gold is one commodity that has stayed solid all throughout the years of uncertainty and hardship. Because it remains as one of the rarest and expensive element out there, it is the choice of most smart investors as the medium to which they can save their money. Investment sites like Bullion Vault allow individual and small private investors to purchase and sell gold at an affordable rate. Back in the old days, regular Joes don’t have access to the professional bullion market and professional vaults. This makes purchasing gold in small amounts impractical and impossible, requiring individuals to shell out a minimum of 2 million USD to get started on their gold investments. Today, with the help of such investment sites, people can purchase and store gold at reasonable prices. Bullionvault is endorsed by the World Gold Council and has state of the art technology to keep your account safe.

Before you go off and withdraw all of your life savings and converting it to gold, please read up on gold investment from Forbes or something similar. It’s also important to speak with your financial adviser to give you the basics. For example, if you expect a high rate of return of investment through interests, you’d best quell your expectations. Because gold is such a stable investment, its value has remained almost absolutely the same as 50 years ago. It’s important to inform your adviser of exactly how and what you want to do with your money.

Maybe you want some space for the kids to be able to play outside freely or space to grow your own garden.
Whatever the reason, deciding to buy a home is exciting! Looking on the web at houses for sale is fun and can help you decide what you’re looking for in a home.

What is not so fun, what can, in fact, be completely overwhelming, is looking for and understanding a mortgage. For first time home buyers, here’s a little cheat sheet to explain the mortgage terms you need to know. It’s important to understand exactly what you’re agreeing to when you sign your mortgage.

1. Interest rate. The interest rate is the amount of interest you will pay over the life of your loan. Home loans can have either fixed or variable interest rates. A fixed interest rate does not change over the life of the loan. A variable interest rate does change and is subject to market volatility. In general, if interest rates are low, it’s better to secure a fixed interest rate.

2. Discount points. Imagine if you could pay the bank some money upfront to lower your interest rate over the life of your loan. That is exactly what discount points do. Let’s say you’re taking out a $250,000 mortgage. Each discount point costs 1% of the mortgage; in this case, the discount point would be $2,500. In return you get a percentage off your interest rate. If you have a 4.25% interest rate, paying for a discount point may knock .25% off your mortgage, giving you a 4% interest rate.

Paying for a discount point can save you interest over the life of your loan, if you plan to stay in the house for awhile. Before paying for discount points, determine how long you plan to stay in the home and how long it will take you to recoup the money you spent on the discount points.

3. Origination charge. When you apply for a loan, you’ll have to supply many documents including proof of income, assets, and employment. The loan officer will also run your credit report. Once the loan is approved and you decide to go with that particular lender, you will be charged an origination charge, which is typically .5% to 1% of the overall mortgage, depending on the complexity of the mortgage. If you’re taking out a $250,000 mortgage, your origination charge will be $2,500.

Keep in mind the origination charge is negotiable, so you may be able to pay less than the bank charges. For some select loans, you don’t have to pay the origination charge at all.

4. Loan term. The loan term is the number of years you will have to pay off the mortgage. Most home loans have 15 to 30 year terms, though some are for as long as 40 years.

Understanding these loan terms can help you compare home loans to help you determine which home loan is best for you and your financial situation.

1. Sell some unwanted items

Over the years, we all accumulate vast quantities of utterly useless items. Whether you have a cupboard full of old clothes, some computer games that you haven’t played for years, or a shelf full of DVDs and CDs that the digital age has made redundant, consider selling these items for cash on a website such as Music Magpie.

You will be amazed at the amount of money that you can quickly get together by selling items in your house that are merely gathering dust; this extra few pounds could be a great little boost to your holiday fund.

2. Take out an interest-free credit card

If after selling your unwanted items you’re still quite a way short of your holiday fund target, taking out an interest-free credit card could be the solution to your funding conundrum.

While you must proceed with caution and ensure that you meet all minimum monthly payments to avoid penalty charges, a number of the country’s leading lenders offer interest-free periods on purchases and money transfers for up to 12 months.

Provided you’re stringent about repaying the loan as quickly as possible, taking out an interest-free credit card could be the easiest way to get the summer holiday you’ve been dreaming of.

3. Holiday with friends

If you and your partner are struggling to cover the costs of your prospective summer holiday, sharing the cost of your vacation with a group of friends could be the perfect solution to your funding crisis.

Renting a cottage which houses half a dozen people or more can cost as little as £500 for a week in the UK; at under £100 per person for one week, it makes a holiday to a seaside destination such as Cornwall extremely cost-effective, especially if you cook a majority of your meals, rather than eating out in expensive restaurants.

4. Be flexible

When it comes to getting your dream summer holiday for a great price, flexibility is the watchword.

If you’re trying to find a way to afford a summer holiday to an exotic, far flung location, the internet is awash with fantastic last-minute deals; you may also be surprised to find that simply calling and haggling with a couple of different travel agents could yield excellent results.

If flexibility is an issue, consider asking your employer to designate a one-month block, where he or she is happy for you to take a break; working within these dates gives you access to far more low-cost summer holiday options, leaving at quirky times.

So if your dates are flexible and you can leave at a moment’s notice, you can find yourself on some of the world’s most stunning beaches, for a fraction of the cost.

While some may see the usage of a credit score as a discriminatory measurement, credit scores are one of the more objective parts of the application process. A carrier will look also at your age, gender, driving record and education to create your policy. Furthermore, a credit score will not indicate your race, religion or sexual orientation. While it will also not indicate your occupation, salary or marital status, an insurance carrier may require this information to help determine the appropriate cost.

Your credit score includes basic identification as well as your financial history and matters of public record, such as bankruptcies, foreclosures or wage garnishments. Factors like late payments or length of credit history can impact an insurance quote. Some factors are positive while others will adversely affect the quote. A good credit score allows a person with a secure financial history the opportunity to secure the best rates and also encourages competition among carriers, which drives down the overall cost of insurance.

For those with a low credit score, there are several ways to improve it so that you can get cheap auto insurance rates, according to cheapcarinsurance.net. Most importantly, make all payments on time. Late payments will drag your score down and will also make you an unattractive option to a financial institution. Because insurance companies are assuming the risk of their customers, they will charge less to applicants who show responsibility. Some improvements to your score cannot be made overnight. Part of having a high credit score is having a long credit history, which will only come with time.

For those starting out driving, a low-limit credit card can be a good way to begin building a positive credit history. Use the card only for small purchases like fuel, and pay the total amount off every month. Having a cell phone bill in your name is also a good way to begin building credit without much risk. As you get older, your driving record will help lower your rates, and when combined with your solid credit history, you will have access to more affordable car insurance.

That said, I still think that Evernote is worth checking out. This cloud-based note-taking app, or rather, family of apps, is very popular in the personal organization/productivity space, and if you are anything like me, getting high-tech help remembering things, is well, very helpful. (See this article by Jeffrey Kishner about his fave three digital organization tools: Evernote, Omnifocus, and OPML.) With Evernote, you have everything in one place – notes, images, documents, web clips and audio notes. You can search and sync across your devices—that alone shaves minutes off my day.

Now You Can Organize Your Food
I have always been obsessed with food. From making my first bread recipe up at age 12, to attending a macrobiotic class with a friend ten years later (and then eating that kind of diet for a few years), to the latest minicupcake craze, I’m all over food—and the new Evernote for Food. (And something tells me I am not the only woman on this earth with this obsession.)

Evernote Food v2.0 was released in December of 2012. (See blog post about it here.)

Just to be clear: by organizing your food, I don’t mean keeping it in neat piles on the plate and making sure the piles don’t touch. It’s really about remembering your food, and your food experiences (good and even bad)—dishes, people, and ambiance.

Oh, and did I mention it’s free? So you can keep your money organized, too.

Ironically, I first learned about TaskRabbit–the online marketplace that allows you to outsource small jobs and tasks to others in your neighborhood– from an article in the New Yorker*, even though it is headquartered in San Francisco (basically my own backyard), and was developed in the first-ever session of the Facebook fbFund incubator program.

A little history before I talk about why it’s a great service for freelance side income: Leah Busque, an IBM software engineer, thought up the idea for TaskRabbit one night when she and her husband were about to go out to dinner and she realized they had no dog food for their labrador. They thought: if only there were a place to go online to go where you could ask someone in your neighborhood to get dog food, and name a price you were willing to pay. And TaskRabbit was born.

12,500 loads of laundry washed and folded; 20,400 cupcakes delivered; and 80 iPad2s purchased on launch day.”*

Why is TaskRabbit a Good Service for Side Income?

It’s good for the task poster. I am an overly cautious person. I will sit in my home with plenty of things I could easily sell on Craigslist –but I’m stuck because I don’t want strangers in my home. But I would let a highly-rated neighbor “Rabbit” come over. It’s just more secure. Anyone who wants to become a Taskrabbit has to write an essay and do a video interview, submit to background checks and pass a written test.

You bid along with others like you. And unless you are bidding on a virtual job, you are NOT going up against providers with third-world cost-of-living needs, like Elance, ODesk, or Guru.

TaskRabbit is gaining in popularity, has great press (see BusinessWeek article), and vets their “Rabbits” thoroughly, so it keeps a good rep. You won’t waste your time signing up for all those “work at home” sites that go belly up, are poorly run, or don’t have enough decent jobs worth bidding on.

The UI is awesome and easy. Again, don’t waste time signing up and going through silly entrance tests just to be able to bid on some cheesy online “jobs.”

What Are the Drawbacks?

Task posters do not have to go through a screening process. I think this is the biggest drawback. You will have to weigh this. I personally consider it safer than driving a cab or delivering pizzas at night, or canvassing in neighborhoods I don’t know. But you will need to weigh that risk for yourself, by the job and person requesting it.

Unfortunately, it is not in all cities yet. So stay tuned. Become a TaskRabbit.

*Outsource Yourself, by Patricia Marx: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/01/14/130114fa_fact_marx#ixzz2MXJFaJgY

Still thinking like a girl about your finances? Read this.

Welcome to Women’s Money Week!

WMW13 brings together the best and brightest in personal finance the first week in March to discuss money issues as they uniquely relate to women. It’s about taking control of your finances and reshaping your financial future.

Sign up for the email list to get the free 14 point checklist and stay up to date on the week.

This webinar is an exploration of how to diversify your portfolio using alternative investments – specifically, real estate. Brian Jackson of Penklor, Cincinnati’s largest real estate turnkey provider, will describe the opportunities available to purchase income-producing properties using funds in your self-directed IRA.
We will also be taking your questions and answers. Please join us!

Investing in Mortgage Notes 101
Tuesday 3/5
8:30pm-9:30pm

If you are an investor seeking a 10% cash yield or better who may be dissatisfied with your current investment options, this webinar on investing in mortgage notes is for you!

This is an introductory course that will teach you how to analyze, value, acquire, manage and liquidate real estate mortgage notes. In just one hour you’ll understand why investing in mortgage notes delivers very high cash returns. Join us to learn how to add significant yield boost and reduce risk in your portfolio!

Both workshops will be held at:
Cama Academy
5 Valley Square
512 E. Township Line Rd
Blue Bell, PA 19422

www.camaplan.com

The presenter will explain what physical bullion is, the forecasting power of gold, and the unique investment characteristics of precious metals. Live Q&A session with the speaker immediately following the presentation.

Date: Tue, Feb 26, 2013
Time: 07:00 PM EST
Duration: 1 hour
Host(s): Christopher Blasi of Neptune Global Holdings

PRESENTER: Chris is the founding principal of Neptune Global Holdings, LLC. He is a veteran of the financial and investment world with over 25 years experience. He provides a balanced view of global investing with a keen understanding of the equity, fixed income and commodity markets – and how world events are impacting your personal wealth. (He was recently featured on CNBC discussing the current precious metals market and his predictions for the future. Check out his comments here.)