Guest Contributor on Money Questions and Answers Blog

What You Need to Know in Order to Find the Best Mortgage Rate

With UK mortgage rates at an all time low, and house prices falling by 0.1%, now may be the perfect time to consider buying a new home. But even with today’s falling interest rates, taking on a mortgage is a major responsibility. Naturally, you want to find the best deal possible.

Mortgage rates may currently be low, but that’s no reason to take the first deal that’s offered, or to pay more than you need to on the total cost of your home loan. Before you sign on the dotted line, let’s review a few simple tips to help you find the best possible mortgage for your new home.

Credit Scores

Before we go any further, we will assume that you have found a property you are interested in, and that you have a firm idea of how much you can afford to spend on your new home. At this point, before you start looking for a mortgage, it is important to know your credit score as it will have a major impact on the loan process.

Knowing your credit score ahead of time will allow you to negotiate with a lender without them running your credit history. Remember, every time a lender checks your credit history, your credit score takes a ding.

How to Spend Smart for Your Business

by Guest Contributor

Every good business owner should have a plan for how to spend smart their hard-earned cash for the year. Whether it’s putting more of your cash into hard-line advertising or giving more discounts and promotional offers to your customers, there’s no doubt that you will have to spend on expanding your business and increasing its sales.

But before you take the necessary steps to spending for your business, you need to make sure that you have a well-thought-out plan on how much you are really going to spend smart, and for what. In addition, you should also keep a clear record of your expenses whilst still making sure you have money remaining in your savings for any contingencies.

How to Make Smart Business Spending Decisions

Below are some additional tips to spending smart this year and the coming years:

Create a plan to spend smart

As mentioned, you need to create a set plan for whatever expenses you have in mind for growing your business. Not only do you have to determine the amount of expenses you will have for your day-to-day expenses and other operational costs (such as taxes and salaries), you also have to determine your budget to spend smart when it comes to business opportunities, the purchasing of assets, and the like. This way, you are more likely to stick to your budget and will know when you are exceeding your projected budget as well.

Develop a plan for your savings

On the other hand, it would also be a wise idea to create a plan for your savings. How much do you need to save in order to continue growing? How much do you need to save for whatever unexpected expenses you may have? Allot a certain portion of your earnings for your business’ savings, as you never know when you will need it.

Financial Aggression – When it Pays Not to Save

by Guest Contributor

Financial writers are proponents of caution. And this is a sensible way to be. Most finance blog readers are young enough to set money aside and watch it grow for a long time.

But, this method assumes quite a lot about the individual: 1) That you won’t find a better rate of return on your investment through your own study, 2) That you are uncomfortable with bigger-than-average risk and, 3) that you don’t see yourself as your primary investment strategy.

Of course, I will always advocate a certain amount of conservativeness in investments, but I also think it pays to be a bit more aggressive with some of your money, especially if you are healthy and young.

Find a Better Return on Investment. If the entrepreneurial spirit runs in your blood, you may see a much better rate of return, in the long run, from starting a business than investing in mutual funds. Some people don’t know they have it in them until they try. But when you get that first taste of money that you earned through your own hard work and ingenuity, it’s hard to turn back. Consider using some of your savings or investment capital to make a business dream come true. If it pays off, you may end up living a life you never before imagined.

Be Willing to Accept Big Risk in Some Areas. As people age, they aren’t able to maintain the same degree of risk they did as young people. But if you have a lot of life ahead of you, you will be able to recover from a momentary stumble, if in fact you do fail. There’s a lot to learn from failure and, getting up and doing it again, you are much more likely to succeed because of your experience. In practical terms, this may look like withdrawing your IRA contributions to pay the down payment on a house, or having CIYA annuity buy up your structured settlement, using the lump sum to start a business. Generally, these aren’t actions a financial advisor would push you to, but personally, you may be able to handle it. And thrive from the choice.

Discounts – Not Just Another Post On How To Make Money

by Guest Contributor

Rob Pivnick, Author “What All Kids (and adults too) Should Know About . . . Saving & Investing”

“How’d you get that for free?” “You got a discount on that…how?”

To use a cliché, I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard something like that – that would be a real money-making tip. Sometimes, one of those questions is followed up with advice that I should write a book about all my money saving tricks.

My response has always been that any book I wrote would just get lost in the sea of other crappy books on how to save money. I did, however, write a more thoughtful book on good saving and investment habits, “What All Kids (and adults too) Should Know About . . . Saving & Investing.”

But, this article focuses on the short term win – how to get discounts when purchasing retail.

With a bit of insight into the mind of a salesperson, this post sheds light into why people might agree to give something for free – that allows us to more successfully seek items for free or obtain discounts. And since not too many of us on are on unlimited budgets, with holiday shopping upon us, you might actually save yourself some real dollars.

These are real money saving tips, strategies and methods that work – based on tried and true experience and human nature. It isn’t a narrative on wants versus needs. Nor does this article touch on life advise ideas like “set a budget and stick to it,” “downsize your house,” “don’t buy the latest expensive trend” or “cut back on your vacations.”

If that’s what you’re looking for, buy a self-help book. This article details a concrete method to save money on just about every purchase thanks to asking for a discount.

And it is simple: Just ask. Really, just ask for a discount.

Aside from the other beneficial coupons and discounts detailed elsewhere on the Living on the Cheap site, this simple technique works for various reasons:

the general foundation of customer service is to please the consumer,
most folks who work retail either (a) don’t have an ownership interest and don’t care if they give something away or (b) simply don’t know that they may not be allowed to give you the discount you’re seeking,
people generally want to make others happy and will gladly give you free stuff just for asking, and
people don’t like confrontation and will avoid it at all costs (which means giving you the discount you’re seeking).

Ben Franklin was way off when he said that a penny saved is a penny earned. If you pay any taxes, then a penny saved is actually much more than a penny earned . . . that’s because it would take you much more than a penny to net a penny for your savings.

For example, if you’re in the 15% federal tax bracket, you have to earn close to $1.18 to put $1.00 in your pocket – so you would actually “earn” much more than the amount you save.

Ask For a Discount and Ye Shall Receive

People want to be accommodating. And people generally don’t like conflict. So you’ll find that more often than you thought you would, you’ll get free stuff just for asking. Ask nicely. And smile. It will make your wallet fatter.

How a Master’s in Public Administration Can Help You Run the Show

by Guest Contributor

Earning a Masters of Public Administration offers you the opportunity to become your own boss. In the process of gaining your degree, you’ll learn much more than how to communicate with employees and the public. You’ll learn how to form limited liability corporations and how to use a trademark to differentiate your brand. And if you don’t want to build a company from scratch, there are several jobs in both the public and private sectors where a Masters of Public Administration will boost you to the top. Below are only a few examples of how an MPA can lead you to run the show. Masters of Public Administration Jobs City Director The city director oversees the daily operations of all … Read more

Affordable Homeownership: How To Get Help To Buy a Property

by Guest Contributor

There are more would-be first-time house buyers than ever before, who think that they will find it almost impossible to get on the housing ladder without a bit of help to get them started with affordable homeownership.

Many first-time buyers either have to make use of some funding from the bank of Mum and Dad if it is available, towards the deposit, or they turn to one of the homebuy schemes that have been set up to help people achieve their dream of owning their own home.

Home ownership schemes

There are currently four specific home ownership schemes that are being backed by the government for property purchase, with different schemes operating in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Here is a look at the schemes available and how you might be eligible to apply in order to assist you in buying your home in England, if can’t afford to do so without extra financial help.

Help to Buy With Affordable Homeownership

The Help to Buy program, or scheme, is probably the most accessible option in terms of eligibility, as the equity loans offered are available to not just first-time buyers but home movers as well.

The scheme is designed to help people buy newly built homes with a purchase price of up to £600,000 as long as it is intended to be your only property and you don’t sub-let it after purchase.

The government-backed equity loan is designed to bridge the affordability gap by offering you as much as 20% of the purchase price in the form of an equity loan, which is secured against the property. You will be expected to be able to put in a minimum of 5% deposit and then qualify for a mortgage of up to 75% to complete the purchase.

This scheme is understandably heavily subscribed when funds are made available, as you won’t be hit with any loan fees on the 20% portion from the government, not until the 6^th year of ownership. You will be expected to pay a 1.75% fee on the value of the loan as a fee in the sixth year and this will increase each year thereafter, in line with index-linked inflation plus 1%.

You will have to buy your home from an approved Help to Buy builder and the loan is repayable when you sell your home or after 25 years have elapsed, which is the normal mortgage term.