photo credit: James Cridland
Starting a new job is an excellent time to look into setting your finances up better. An interesting article from Mint gives a long list of tips for new employees who want to do something about managing their finances from the word go. The tips include:

• Get your pay check paid by direct deposit rather than a check in the hand - it’s less tempting to spend it. (In most countries outside the United States, getting paid by check is impossible - bank deposits are the only way).
• Arrange for direct payments from your salary into a savings or investment account - pay yourself before you pay others!
• With a new income amount, it’s a great time to draw up a personal budget and find good strategies to help you stick to it.
• Use part of the new income to build up an emergency fund.
• Make sure you get sufficient health coverage from your new employer, or set up your own if the employer doesn’t offer any.
• Learn more about tax deductions and tax liability so that you can maximise how much money you get to take home each month by knowing what should be withheld.
• Use the regular income to regularly service your debt and try to reduce it as much as possible.
• Set up the right kind of retirement savings accounts. If you have a 401K that your employer will match, contribute the maximum amount possible.

credit: dustpuppy

Everyone collects something: postcards from friends, teddy bears, paintings or stamps. But some of these collectible items can actually form the basis of an investment. But before you decide to sink your hard earned savings into some kind of collectible, do your research and check these cautions: (more…)

credit: thekitchendesigner.org 

When you have your own home, the temptation to start renovating it to create your dream home is high. But some upgrades might not add that much value to your investment. These ideas from Yahoo’s Finance pages can help you decide which home renovations will have the best payoff for you:

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