Found Not Lost

My dad used to live in San Francisco but after he retired and went on a fixed income, he couldn’t afford to live there anymore. So he decided to sell his condo and move to Los Angeles to be closer to my sisters.

My sister found a great san francisco realtor to handle the sale and the property closed in no time. Finding the right agent when buying or selling property in San Francisco or anywhere in the country is vital if you want to get your money’s worth. If you ever need a Realtor in San Francisco but don’t know where to start, try Clicksmart.com. They have a database of real estate experts who can help your transitions smoother and problem free.

It’s a good thing I have a job because I am certainly no poet. I may not be a poet, but at least I’m not a complete financial dummy according to the bills IQ quiz. Take the bills IQ quiz on the website if you want to know how smart you’ve been with your financial decisions. After all, most Americans aren’t known for their saving abilities. We do like our toys and we want to have them right now. That’s also why many of us have gotten quite familiar with the idea of Debt relief. The last few decades has showed an increasing number of people who file for bankruptcy.

I know the basic idea of good financial management: do not spend more than you earn, and always pay yourself first. But do I follow that advice? Of course not. Since I was old enough to have a credit card, I’ve had at least a couple and carried balances on them; paying huge sums of interest and fees over the years. I have an average bills IQ only because I do try to pay my bills on time and have some investments to balance things out. Still, I could have done better with my finances.

If you are still holding more credit cards than you have fingers, you really should consider getting rid of them or reducing them. Debt help is available if you need it, all you have to do is look for it and follow some basic tips like Debt consolidation to reduce the ratio of money going out vs. the amount coming in.

Start by taking the bills IQ quiz at Bills.com and follow some of the suggestions after the quiz to start building a healthier money IQ.

I think most of us know that it is probably best not to take payday loans. At least that is the advise we get most of the time, and it is sound advice.

HOWEVER, life does not always cooperate with being smart or sound. It likes to throw in monkey wrenches whenever it gets a chance because it knows that while we also all know that it is probably smart to have an emergency fund for just in case moments, we usually don’t. There are a great many people who live paycheck to paycheck and they are not irresponsible or dumb people, it’s just the way things are sometimes. I know, I’ve been there before.

When your only transportation to work conks out on you, when the pipes bust or the roof leaks, you don’t always have ready money to fix them and they have to be fixed. Those are times when Pay Day Loans are best utilized (not when you need a shopping spree to feel better). Now, it’s also easier and more convenient to apply for a payday loan. You don’t have to get in line at the store anymore, just go online and fill out an application. It’s convenient, secure and private.

Not all of us have a hidden treasure in our attic worth millions like the woman who just earned over 8 million dollars for a piece of paper with the lyrics for Give Peace a Chance written by John Lennon himself. Unfortunately, even with all the advice floating around against using or, worst, relying on credit cards, many of us still do either out of necessity or convenience.

Credit cards are actually not bad, especially in this plastic world we live in, provided you get the right on and you manage how they are used and administered carefully. Before getting a credit card, it’s always a good idea to compare what’s out there rather than just settling for the first pre-approved offer you get in your mailbox. You can use the internet to investigate the credit card companies and their offers which will require a little bit of effort on your part but could end up saving you lots of money. There is also a Credit Cards Club which has compiled, in one site, a plethora of information about different types of credit cards and the features that make them different from each other, making you more informed about the type of credit card that is right for you. For instance, find out how your credit card rating can affect the type of credit card and interest rate you can get. Learn which credit cards will give you extras like gas rewards or airline rewards just for using them. If you have bad credit, they also have information on how you can restart your credit, which credit cards are suitable for your situation, and many more useful information like that.

So before you sign up for another credit card, make sure you do a little research first. If you can, do a lot of research and you’ll be richer for it.

Sometime ago, I thought I was being smart and decided to consolidate my credit card balances by transferring the higher interest ones to the credit card that had the lowest interest. It wasn’t after I had made all the changes that I realized (since I don’t often read the fine print) that each transfer I made was charged a 3% fee! I was shocked that they would charge a fee for taking on your other loans. You would think that the interest fee they would earn would be enough to cover the cost of the transfer. But, that’s from my point of view as the consumer. I’m sure if I was trying to make a huge profit I would do the same too.

Of course, after the fact, now I find out that there are credit cards with a no balance transfer fee policy. Now at least I know in case I get another smart idea.

I’m sure you’ve seen the growing number of Payday loans places in your neighborhood. If you don’t know what they are, you’ve probably never had a use for them before and that’s a good thing. Those who have heard of Payday and Loans were probably warned that they are not smart financial solutions. However, I think that there is a benefit for these places especially when you find yourself in a situation where you need some cash right now, and you don’t have any other means to get any cash. What a lot of financial advisers forget or choose to overlook is that not everyone has an emergency fund to dip into. Not everyone has a savings. There are a great number of people who literally are living from paycheck to paycheck. If even one cent goes awry, it throws their whole budget off.

We know, and they know it’s not the smartest way to handle your money, but some people just don’t have a choice.