There’s some good reasons people getting set to retire pick up and move to Florida. They’re looking to get the most bang for their buck, now that they will be on a fixed income and most of their high earning days are over. At that point, the thing that becomes more important is the quality of life based on what they have stored away for retirement in various investment accounts. That quality of life can be severely impacted by simple things like taxes, cost of living, and even energy bills. (more…)

Interest rates are low, and if you have enough equity to sell your property at break-even or for a profit, the homebuyer’s credit may be enticing you put your house up for sale. House market predictions show that home prices are rebounding in certain areas, and so the bottom of the housing market may be close, if not already over. If you are looking to upgrade, you will want to buy when prices are low and rates are high, but also when you have enough equity to jump to a new place. Before you do, realize that there are some restrictions and conditions you have to meet to take advantage of the homebuyer’s credit. For one, you or your spouse will have had to have lived in your existing home, as a primary residence, for five out of the last eight years. There are income limitations and some other restrictions, but for the most part, the average homeowner stands a good chance of qualifying for this one-of-a-kind offer that is unlikely to repeat itself within their lifetime. (more…)

Next to housing, transportation is one of the highest expenses in our monthly budget. The cost of buying a new car can range from $20,000 to $50,000. The cost to insure that car can cost hundreds of dollars a month. Gas prices are over $2 a gallon, and can easily top $4 per gallon during the summer time, adding hundreds more per month to our expense column. Then, if the car has a mechanical problem, you can easily spend thousands to get something fixed. Yet, if you were to ask the average person if the cost of owning a car is worth it, the resounding answer would be “yes.” Cars are necessary to get back and forth to our jobs, and they represent a freedom of mobility and living that most Americans value. Instead of ditching the car, here are some ways to lessen the price of owning one. (more…)

If we were all to sit and write out what it costs to maintain our personal grooming habits each month, it would probably be shocking. Even frugal people may not notice how a hair cut and color, nail work, and/or contacts take a big chunk out of your monthly budget. There are other alternatives, and if you don’t mind doing things yourself, you can save quite a bit of money, even if the look isn’t exactly model perfect. Or, as in the case of dental or eye work, you may want to fund the work now, while still employed, by either using cash advance loans or some other form of credit.  (more…)

Right now, inflation is not a worry. Interest rates are flat, and the Federal Reserve does not plan to raise them until later, once the economic engine steams up. However, once that happens, what can we expect? No one really knows, although one maxim in personal finance is almost always true: Today’s dollars are worth more than tomorrow’s dollars. Especially when inflation hits, the buying power of your dollar drops, and it takes more dollars to buy the same goods you bought earlier in the year for less. With current salaries decreasing, it’s important to put what’s left into assets that will appreciate over time. While it may seem a strange thing to do in a bad economy, the present economic distress presents an opportunity for consumers that won’t be available in the future by buying assets at discounted prices that will appreciate as inflation starts to rise. (more…)

With the need to get money into the hands of the average consumer, the minimum wage has been hike up to $7.25 from $6.55. Some states already had similar minimum wage laws, but the Federal law now makes the minimum wage hike across the board. The celebration for workers, particularly those using part time jobs or retail services jobs to survive this recession, may be short-lived. Businesses may eventually have the last word on what the market can support for a wage increase that allows them to continue doing business despite increased labor costs. If they see that the increase in the minimum wage is impacting their already meager returns, they may opt to layoff even more workers, or at least cut back hours for some. On the other hand, there is a real possibility that if the minimum wage hike increases the confidence in the consumer marketplace, it can help to increase business and have a positive effect too. (more…)

Regardless of your age, odds are you have had dreams of amassing the large sum of money that allows you to quit your day job and live life like you had always dreamed. While this may be an easy task for some, many of us are shocked back to reality due simply to too many bills and not enough income to cover them all. This commonly causes most people to take on a second and possibly even a third job in order to make ends meet. Instead of being happy, most end up feeling depressed and wondering if they will ever achieve their dreams. While it may not be possible to amass a million dollars overnight unless you win the lottery, there are some things that can help you improve your current financial status. Here are some simple tips on how you can improve your net worth, regardless of how old you may be. (more…)

College students and young adults may be the ones to experience a mistake in budgeting, and be tempted to opt for the Burger King or Ramen diet for a few weeks, until they get paid to make up the shortfall. While you can easily get a payday loan to help tide you over for a few weeks, if you’re working, the problem has more to do with a lack of knowledge either in cooking or food storage skills and proper nutrition, than it has to do with a lack of money. To stretch a food budget, it’s important to take into account the necessary nutritional needs so that you don’t end up incurring imbalances in your body that later can cause medical problems, sticking you with more medical bills to boot. (more…)

While home ownership is a dream for many Americans, the bank failures and bailouts that the economy has experienced in recent months have caused lenders to change their lending habits. Banks that once would have approved a no asset no income mortgage, or even a jumbo mortgage, are now requiring their borrowers to prove their credit worthiness in the form of proof of employment and a high credit score. Gone are also the teaser mortgages that drew the borrower in with the promise of a low interest rate that would drastically increase in a matter of three to five years. Combine this with an unstable economy and banks are now more concerned than ever about lending money to the wrong person. If you find yourself longing for home ownership, here are some simple tips that can help you improve your credit rating so you look like a better risk to potential lenders. (more…)

Whether you have accumulated a large sum of credit card debt due to a job loss or a spending spree that got out of control, it can be quite difficult to break a habit that you have been accustomed to for so long. While most of us are raised to never carry a balance, and that we should pay them off in full every month, the lure of a new high priced electronics device or even the latest fashions have even the most budget savvy users using credit in times when they know that they should not. Just one purchase has a way of multiplying, and before you know it you have racked up so many charges that your monthly salary is not enough to cover them all. Combine this with an average credit card interest rate of 15% or more and even the smallest of balances can take you years to pay off if utilizing the minimum payment. While you may be feeling like you will be stuck in a credit card dungeon for the rest of your life, here are some simple tips that can help you keep your debt in check so you can finally dig yourself out of the hole that you have created. (more…)