Archive for the ‘Savings Interest’ Category

Bankruptcy: What Happens Afterwards?

Bank Savings, Life Assurance, Savings Guidance, Savings Interest | Posted by Admin PAL
May 17 2012

Bankruptcy is often a last resort when debts accumulate and become impossible to pay. When you apply for bankruptcy, a trustee is usually appointed to handle any valuable assets you may have and these are used to pay off any outstanding debts listed in the bankruptcy order. Creditors must apply to your trustee for the money owed. Any further debts outside of the order must be paid separately by you.

You are usually freed from your debts after one year, but your bankruptcy will stay in credit reference agencies’ records for six years thereafter. Any insurance providers you may have and your landlord, your bank, mortgage and pension providers will be informed of your bankruptcy.

Individuals, businesses and partnerships are all eligible to apply for bankruptcy through the courts, but it can have a knock on effect on your financial situation. Here are some of the things that can be affected by declaring yourself bankrupt.

Your Credit Rating

After being declared bankrupt, you must hand over any credit cards, cheque books or bank cards to the trustee. Your bank may freeze any accounts you have and may not allow you to open any new ones with them after becoming bankrupt. You should make alternative arrangements for any outstanding direct debits or standing orders you may have on your accounts. You can open a basic bank account to manage money that does not involve any credit checks.

Any overdrafts or loans you may have with your bank will become part of the bankruptcy order. As your credit file will list your bankruptcy for six years, it will be more difficult to obtain any future loans, overdrafts or credit cards, as your credit rating will be poor.

Your Home

If you are a homeowner, your home can be sold and the money used to pay your outstanding debts. Your share of the property’s value is transferred to your trustee after mortgages and secured loans are paid. The court may order you to sell your home, but you may be able to delay its sale if there are exceptional circumstances or the value of your share after its sale would be less than £1,000. If you rent your home, you may be eligible for housing benefit or a Local Housing Allowance if you are struggling to keep up with your rent.

Your Pension

Your pension may be affected if it is not approved by HM Revenue, but you can ask your trustee if there is any way to protect it. If you are receiving a pension and are declared bankrupt, you may have to pay your debts using some money from the pension. If it is an HM Revenue approved pension, it should not be affected by bankruptcy.

Your Employment

Some companies do not allow you to take employment with them if you have been declared bankrupt. These include law organisations and others regulated by the Financial Services Authority. There are some roles, like company director, that you may not be allowed to take. However, once you are freed from bankruptcy this shouldn’t be an issue. If you are a business that has gone bankrupt, you will normally have to close your establishment and dismiss employees.

As an alternative to bankruptcy, an IVA may be a better option. An Individual Voluntary Arrangement is an arrangement between you and all of the creditors you owe where you pay back slightly less overall than your original debt. This allows you to make affordable monthly payments and clear your debts without going bankrupt.

This guest post was written by Saul on behalf of IVA Expert.

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Is Pension Drawdown a Good Idea?

Bank Savings, Best Savings Rates, Cash Savings, Life Assurance, Savings Guidance, Savings Interest | Posted by Admin PAL
Apr 19 2012

Prior to thinking about whether it is a great idea, it may be useful to take a rapid look at just what pension drawdown is. Swap the word “drawdown” with “withdraw” and it could maybe be most eagerly assumed as the capability to take out money from your pension endowment and leave the stability capitalized, so as to it carries on to cultivate. This capability consequently provides the pension owner an extra choice on retirement: rather than using the pension drawdown for the unique acquisitions of a lifetime allowance, funds could be introverted or drawdown for the acquisition of a pension at an advanced date. And the well ahead the date, certainly, the more striking the pension has to be. This means, however, that you would perhaps need a substitute source of revenue in the intervening time.

Obviously, this will provide you a much better amount of suppleness in using your pension drawdown and conserves the chance of an outstanding pension endowment that you can convey to your children on your bereavement given, certainly, that the endowment is still a sensibly important amount.

If the pension drawdown is adequately big, you can drawdown revenue and carry on to achieve the equilibrium of the endowment, doing any essential asset choices for yourself. In short, it lets you to keep up to speed of an important source of investments and venture.

Pension drawdown can as well give rise to your being capable to upsurge your revenue after you are older. Clearly, this will be contingent not just on there still being a large equilibrium in the pension endowment, but as well that the savings do well. The contradictory is also correct, evidently. If the savings do not do well, then the account can turn out to be extremely exhausted and the revenue in your prime of life could actually be meaningfully abridged.

Pension drawdown therefore provides a suppler substitute to buying a pension as earlier you retire. This will fit those people who think that the unique purchase of a pension drawdown at excessively early, a period bolts them into a preparation which may not show the greatest contract over the longer-term.

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Take Control of Gas Prices

Savings Interest | Posted by admin
Apr 10 2011

Does your money seem to evaporate with every trip to the gas station? You can add miles to every gallon you pump simply by maintaining your vehicle and practicing fuel-saving driving habits.

“Most motorists don’t realize that it’s the little things that don’t take a lot of time or cost much that can really make a difference when it comes to saving money at the pump,” said Rich White, executive director of the Car Care Council. “Loose or missing gas caps, underinflated tires, worn spark plugs and dirty air filters all contribute to poor fuel economy.”

The Car Care Council offers these gas-saving maintenance and driving tips.

* Secure your vehicle’s gas cap. About 17 percent of the vehicles on the road have damaged or loose gas caps or are missing gas caps altogether, causing 147 million gallons of gas to vaporize every year.

* Keep tires properly inflated. Driving on underinflated tires is like driving with the parking brake on and can cost you a mile or two per gallon.

* Replace worn spark plugs regularly. A vehicle’s spark plugs can fire as many as 3 million times every 1,000 miles. A dirty spark plug causes misfiring, which wastes fuel.

* Change dirty air filters. If the air filter gets clogged and chokes off the air, it creates a mixture that’s too “rich” in gas, which causes the engine to lose power. Replacing a clogged air filter can improve gas mileage by as much as 10 percent.

* Don’t be an aggressive driver. Aggressive driving can lower gas mileage by as much as 33 percent on the highway and 5 percent on city streets.

* Avoid excessive idling. Sitting idle gets zero miles per gallon. Letting the vehicle warm up for just one to two minutes is sufficient.

* Observe the speed limit. Gas mileage decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph. Use cruise control to maintain a constant speed on the highway.

* Do not carry unneeded heavy items in the vehicle. An extra 100 pounds can cut fuel efficiency by 1 percent to 2 percent.

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Straight Facts On Financing Your Retirement

Savings Interest | Posted by admin
Apr 04 2011

According to a recent global survey by AXA Equitable, American workers are confident, but not well-informed, about their financial outlook in retirement. For example, 60 percent of workers believe their retirement income will be sufficient, but only one in five actually knows what that income will be.

Workers’ confidence may come from watching their parents live well in retirement:

• On average, U.S. retirees receive $4,243 in net monthly income (including Social Security, company pensions, personal assets and savings, etc.); however, the median (middle point) net monthly income is just $463.

• 98 percent of U.S. retirees are confident with their living standard, claiming they already have everything they need.

However, with Social Security and pensions falling out of favor (about 9 in 10 believe the Social Security program is in trouble or crisis), workers are receiving a wake-up call for retirement planning. In fact, an estimated 65 percent of workers realize they will need to rely on their own savings to get them through retirement.

Of all respondents worldwide, Americans are the least likely to rely on government-managed retirement savings programs or to hold the government responsible for providing retirement income.

“Not only are Americans on their own for retirement financing, they’re also living longer and realizing that they may need funds to last them for more than 30 years after they retire,” said Ken Gelman, AXA’s director of market research. “As a result, they’re taking retirement savings very seriously by starting early and consulting trusted financial advisors.”

As a result of sound advice, Americans are able to build diversified retirement portfolios.

When asked how retirement income is being secured, about two-thirds of respondents-working and retired-cited several types of assets, including IRAs, 401(k)s, investment funds and company pensions.

However, Americans are being cautious with the funds that should last a lifetime. Seventy-eight percent of workers favor investments with a modest ROI and no financial risk. Even so, Americans lead the survey in financial risk-taking.

The Retirement Scope survey was conducted by AXA, a leader in financial advice and wealth management. More than 6,900 working and retired people in 11 countries were surveyed.

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Spreading Your Investment And Savings Risks

Savings Interest | Posted by admin
Mar 30 2011

The world stock markets are going through quite a turbulent period at present and on average around ten percent has been wiped off some of the leading markets over the last month. In this article I write about how on a personal note I try to save in a series of different financial products which helps me to spread the risk, including when we have these stock market falls.

I started saving money on a regular basis about five years ago. At this stage the stock market in the UK had just had some dramatic falls after the terrorist attacks in New York. I wanted to build up a kind of rainy day fund and decided to invest monthly premiums into a unit trust. I started saving 50 a month and over time I increased this figure.

I have to say that I have been very lucky as my investment has done very well, I have even over the last couple of years cashed in some of the units to pay for our family holidays. At the start of this year the stock market in the UK was showing its highest levels in five and a half years.

In the five years that I have been investing, I have bought and now own a large number of units in this unit trust fund. What it now means however, is that if the stock markets have a period just like the one it has had, it costs me financially on paper quite a lot of money.

I now believe that my exposure to the stock markets is high enough and have decided that I will leave the units that I have invested in the fund as they are, but that I will not be adding to them. Instead I am going to put my regular savings into one of the high interest regular savings online bank accounts. This of course is a way of spreading the risk.

I have no idea which way the world stock markets are going to go over the next few months. Many people are saying that the United States interest rates may rise and that this could have a damaging affect on world markets. There could well be another major terrorist attack which could of course result in dramatic stock market falls.

I am hoping that the stock markets will continue to rise in the same way that they have over the last five years and that the falls over the last few weeks are just a blip. I just think that I have enough money invested and would like to start building some form of other savings in a safer type of environment.

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Smart Moves for Retirement

Savings Interest | Posted by admin
Mar 21 2011

With health care costs continuing to increase, the future of Social Security unclear and pension plans available to fewer and fewer workers, America’s retirement readiness is a major concern for both individuals and the nation as a whole.

Since June 2004, Fidelity Investments has completed about 200,000 income plans for retirees and pre-retirees who faced the daunting task of gauging their preparedness for retirement. Fidelity learned that some simple, yet often ignored, investment strategies can help ensure a more comfortable retirement. Here are some basic strategies to consider.

* Make it work while you’re still working. Investors in their peak earning years should take full advantage of employer-sponsored retirement plans, individual retirement accounts and deferred annuities.

Asset allocation should be age appropriate and investors should avoid two common retirement savings mistakes: being overly cautious or taking excessive risks when deciding how much of their assets to invest in cash, stocks or bonds. Remember, though, that this does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss.

Individuals also may want to take into account simple tradeoffs that can reduce expenses and increase savings, such as holding on to the family car a few extra years once it has been paid off.

* Make it last as long as you do. Once you reach retirement, stretching retirement savings to make it last is very important. Some investors are planning to work in retirement while others are postponing retirement to take advantage of added income and continued health care benefits.

Pre-retirees may want to consider putting their salaries into income annuities, which some call “self-made pensions” because they provide guaranteed lifetime income.

Finally, given that Americans are living longer, and that market returns are unpredictable, smaller withdrawals in the early years of retirement could lead to greater long-term financial security.

* Make it count to live the lifestyle you want. Typically, investors who are able to achieve the retirement lifestyle they want have created a detailed, realistic budget for retirement living expenses. Investors should plan for rising health care costs and other financial contingencies. To help stay on track, individuals and their spouses should review their plans annually, including expenses, investments and asset allocation.

Creating a successful retirement takes more than a one-step solution. Whether it’s finding a “fun” part-time job, eliminating one of the family cars or taking a vacation locally, retirees have implemented multiple strategies to extend their incomes, control their spending and maximize their savings. – NU

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Simpler Solutions For Managing Your Money

Savings Interest | Posted by admin
Mar 17 2011

Lets face it, coming up with smart and simple ways of saving money takes thinking that is a bit more creative.

Use some of these shortcuts to managing your finances. They are guaranteed to save you time and money.

Trick your mind into saving

Cant always come up with where your money goes? There is a simple solution: Trick your own mind into spending less and saving more.

If you are up for a challenge, allocate yourself a weekly allowance. Put a set amount of allowance into an envelope and determine that this will be all you will be allowed to spend for any given week. Next, divide your allowance to take care of your expenses. When you get down to the last $20, thats the amount you put into your emergency fund. When the money is gone, there will be no more until next week.

Each payday, allocate a percentage to go into a secret fund used only for emergencies. When its crunch time, you will know its there.

Establish one dresser drawer just to toss single dollar bills. This way when the pizza man arrives, you will have the singles handy and wont need to break the larger dollar amounts. This discipline forces your mind to think larger amounts and to save larger amounts. You get into the habit of spending only the singles. This works!

To control your credit card debt, carry just one card and pay it off each month. If you are tempted to over spend, the credit card goes into the safe where you only stash your emergency fund. When crunch day comes you have a credit card you can use that will always be in good standing.

Jot down expenses in a notebook and tally them at the end of each week to see if you are over or under your budget estimates. Build in more than you need so that you will always have a cushion in case of a cash emergency. Tracking your spending takes some work but if you take careful notes, you will always be able to see one or two areas where youre leaking cash. You can then come up with an extra $20 or more per week in savings. Thats $1,000 a year in real money for an emergency fund.

More tricks to add to your own savings routine: Have your paycheck automatically deposited directly to savings rather than to your checking account. You will transfer money to pay your bills, but youll think twice about withdrawing additional cash.

Make ONLY one ATM withdrawal each week. Subtract your credit card purchases immediately from your checking account so youre not surprised once the bill arrives.

When you pay off a loan, add the amount to payments youre already making to the next lender on your list. You can also send the money to a saving or investment account earmarked for a house, a vacation or a new car and this money will be made available in case of a money emergency.

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Savings bond makes life simpler

Savings Interest | Posted by admin
Mar 01 2011

The modern socio-economic scenario has made life really very complicated for us, as we all have to run after money to make ends meet. In this age of rapid commercialization of economy, we are always running short of cash no matter how much we earn. As the economy scale new highs aggressive consumers are always busy exploring new ways and means to augment their income. For spendthrift people it may however turn out to be an arduous task to save money.

Therefore, it makes sense to invest in saving bonds so that you never reach a stage of bankruptcy and always have some cash to fall back upon in times of need. Industry experts strongly recommend consumers to use saving bonds as a reliable means of letting your money grow at an amazingly fast pace. According to a recent media report, savings bonds currently bring greater benefits than many savings or money market accounts. With savings bond you can solve all your monetary woes. Savings bond takes care of your child’s higher education or even your post retirement ordeal.

Some of the advantages of investing in saving bonds are as follows- -The monthly interest rates on savings bonds accumulate on a monthly basis. Savings bonds offer enviable rates of return in comparison to other bonds.

-Savings Bonds come with a particular registration number so that they can be easily be replaced in case it is stolen or tampered.

-You do not have to dig deep into your pocket to buy a savings bond. You have to shell out as little as $25 to get a savings bond.

-Another unique feature of saving bond is that they are easily exchangeable. You can get cash out of your bond easily in case of an emergency.

-One of the greatest benefits acquired from investing in savings bond is tax exemption. The interest amassed on savings bonds is free from all state and local income taxes.

-Last but not the least, savings bond act as a great balancing factor to your existing investment folder paving a way to start building your own capital. This unique feature of the savings bond gives you enough room for diversification of funds.

There are a variety of savings bonds on offer. You just have to do a little bit of market research to find out which one suits your bill perfectly. Riding on its highly beneficial factor savings bonds have really emerged as a preferred investment option everywhere. Series EE or Series I bonds are the safest bet amongst all categories of savings bonds. Savings bonds have undoubtedly emerged as the best add-on to your investment portfolio.

Therefore, if you want to make your life simpler with little financial worries then investing on savings bond is a must. Your post retirement life or child’s’ higher education expenses may not seem to be at all difficult after investing on savings bonds. So, get ready to outsmart your peers by investing on savings bonds and it will save you from unnecessary harassments and gift you a secured peaceful life in return.

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Saving Money Online with Digital Coupons, Freebies, and Comparison Shopping

Savings Interest | Posted by admin
Feb 23 2011

Saving Money Online with Digital Coupons, Freebies, and Comparison Shopping

The Internet is a great invention for many different reasons. But, did you know that it can be a great resource for saving you money when shopping? You no longer have to clip coupons out of the Sunday paper; you can find them right at the tip of your fingers just by knowing where to look!

Coupons

One of the easiest ways to save money on the Internet is by printing online coupons. All you have to do is type the search criteria “online coupon” in your favorite search engine and you are on your way to savings! Here are some examples of great online web sites that help you save money:

CouponSurfer CouponSurfer has almost 300 coupons from over 100 stores on their web site. Do you need new brake pads on your car? You can save up to 50% just by filling out the free registration form at CouponSurfer and printing their coupon. Other recent savings at CouponSurfer were a 40-cent coupon from Tropicana, a 50-cent off coupon from St. Joseph’s aspirin, and coupons from Pampers.

Hot Coupons Hot Coupons lets you type in your zip code or city name to find discounts offered in your area. You can find savings for local restaurants, automotive centers, health centers, retail stores, and businesses including real estate, lawyers, hotels, and doctors.

Also, pay attention to television commercials. Many times, companies coming out with a new product will advertise on television and list a web page where you can print a money saving coupon. A recent commercial from Febreze listed their web page address. By going there, you can fill out a form and have Frebreze mail you $20 in coupons for many of their products, including their latest electronic air freshener, NOTICEables.

Coupon Codes

There are also web sites that offer a percentage off online purchases. Ultimate Coupons is a great example of this type of online savings site. Ultimate Coupons constantly updates their site with the latest in online savings. A recent search showed coupons for 10% off at Target.com, 15% off Pet Supplies at Petco, and $5 off $20 on Digital Photos & Gifts at Snapfish. Many times, if you search online, you can also find codes for free shipping to places like Macys, Sears, Amazon, and Old Navy.

Freebies

Many web sites have user forums where people can share online savings and free offers with each other. Big Big Forums is an excellent place to visit to find coupon codes, freebies, and reward programs. Members (there are over 31,000) post different offers they have seen on television or found online. There are folders for each particular type of offer, so it is very easy to find things here. Once you register for free, you too can post coupon codes and freebies. You may even be lucky enough to get in on a free subscription to a magazine such as TV Guide or link to a free Schick Quattro razor.

Comparison Shopping

A great feature of many Internet web sites is that they will give you price comparisons of items for which you are looking. Froogle is Google’s shopping search engine. All you have to do is type in the name of what you are looking for and Froogle does the rest! It will find web pages selling the item you are looking for and lists the price. That way, you can find the best deal available. There are several other web sites that will help you to do comparison shopping such as MySimon and Bizrate. Letting these sites help you find the best price can make every online shopping experience enjoyable.

Other web sites can save you money online too. You can refinance your home loan and find the lowest interest rates by searching at Ditech or search for the cheapest car insurance at Geico. How do you learn about all the sites available? The best way is to pay attention to the media. Commercials, newspapers, and magazines are always listing web sites. Also, join a forum such as Big Big Forums. When people share ideas and resources, it can be great for your pocketbook. Remember that every coupon and savings opportunity adds up!

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