Guest Contributor on Money Questions and Answers Blog

Three Tips for Making Extra Cash If You Don’t Have Time

Time and money go hand in hand especially if you want to make money. Quick loans are being used as the top way to have the financial platform in order to be successful. Anyone who wants to earn extra money needs to think about how they will achieve this and specifically how much time do they have to achieve it. If you are one of the many people who do not have a lot of money at your disposal to make extra money, take a look at the top tips below on how to achieve a cash pile: Step 1: Devote weekends While it may be tempting to go out with your friends a lot on the weekends, you need … Read more

What Is COBRA Health Insurance And Why You May Need It

by Guest Contributor

What is COBRA health insurance? Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) is a law that was passed by Congress in the mid 1980s that gives some employees and their dependents the ability to continue receiving health insurance coverage even after leaving employment. There are many times when you need to continue to receive private health care even though you may have lost your job. Health insurance is expensive, but COBRA health insurance can help you cover the gap in coverage until you find a new job with adequate health insurance for you and your family.

Who Is Eligible For COBRA?

An employee and their immediate family is eligible for COBRA health insurance coverage if one of the following qualifying events occurs that results in loss of benefit coverage:

Death of the covered employee
Employee loses coverage due to involuntary termination
Employee loses coverage due to a reduction in hours as a result of resignation, discharge (except gross misconduct), layoff, strike or lockout, medical leave, or slowdown in business operation
Divorce or legal separation that terminates the ex-spouse’s ability to receive coverage
A dependent child reaching the age when he is no longer covered

What Is Cyber Liability Business Insurance?

by Guest Contributor

What is cyber liability business insurance? Very few businesses these days get by through word of mouth or paper advertising – most will have a website or be cited in various online sites (such as general advertising-listing sites or comparison sites). Many businesses also carry out much of their work online, creating and sending often sensitive data via email.

Whilst it is advantageous to use technology so effectively, there are risks associated with conducting work over the web. This is where cyber liability insurance comes into its own.

Which Is First: Paying Off Your Debt or Investing for Retirement?

by Guest Contributor

This question has plagued financial planners for years. Should you pay off debt, or should they start a retirement account first? This assumes that the same amount of money is involved in each transaction. We will use $5,000 for our examples. Below we will take a look at the pros and cons of each option, and give our opinion. Paying Off Debt First Paying off debt is a great way to use a lump sum of money. Being in debt can be burdensome to the individual in debt, and feeling like you are never going to get out can be awful. If you do not have a lump sum, you may want to consider a debt management plan to help … Read more

The Best Investing Advice I Ever Received

by Guest Contributor

The following is a part of Yakezie’s blog swap from Dannielle. She blogs about personal finance and Barbados at Odd Cents. You can check out my post on her site this morning as well about the best investment advice I ever received – Start Early!

The best investment advice I ever received For someone that’s now getting acquainted with the investment world, I’ve been trying to get as much advice as I can. In the last six months, I’ve attended seminars, done research online and asked friends for specific investment advice. As a result of my persistence, I’ve received several helpful tips which I’m very excited to share.

Take Advantage Of A Disaster To Invest

The most recent bit of advice came from a post entitled Taking Advantage of Disaster to Invest on Bucksome Boomer. The post advised to buy stocks in companies which are going through a disaster. Kay Lynn, the author, recently bought stocks in Carnival Corp which owns the Costa Concordia ship ( the cruise ship in the horrific Italy accident). The accident caused share prices to drop significantly and opened up opportunities to buy shares at a “reduced” price. In a short space of time after her purchase, the stock prices were on their way back up.

Obtaining A Merchant Account For Your Online Store

by Guest Contributor

Can credit cards make you a millionaire? A merchant account is an arrangement a merchant makes with a bank or other merchant account provider in order to facilitate payments with a credit or debit card. Obtaining a merchant account is a necessary step for an online store wishing to accept payments online rather than having payments mailed to them.

If you have an online store and want to accept credit or debit card payments, efficiently, you will need a merchant account. You can compare merchant service providers online, which will help you find the best providers for you and your business.

One would think obtaining a merchant account would be relatively simple, but the process can seem difficult and overwhelming if you are new to the business sector. The main reason you will need a merchant account is to have the ability to accept credit or debit cards on your online store.

There are some ways to get around needing a merchant account including going through a separate payment gateway that does not require one. However, going through a payment gateway without a merchant account will cost you much more in fees and charges.

Obtaining a merchant account can take anywhere from a few days up to six months depending on which merchant account provider you go through, which paperwork is needed and if there are any mistakes made on any of the paperwork or if they are hard to verify. If you are unfamiliar with this process, you will want to start as soon as feasibly possible, especially if you go through a bank as they are notoriously slow.