Four Overlooked Estate Planning Documents You Need

The following is a guest post from Don at MoneySmartGuides.com where he posts about personal finance for the average person. Sadly, personal finance isn’t taught in school and many people are confused on the subject. Don is here to help educate everyone in hopes that they reach their personal finance goals! When it comes to estate planning, most people avoid the topic. It’s understandable, but there are four estate planning documents you need to have. It’s understandable since talking about your own death isn’t something most people look forward to. But estate planning isn’t completely about you. It’s about what you are leaving behind and the decisions that others will have to make in your absence. By having the proper … Read more

Counting The Cost Of Uninsured Drivers

There is a cost of uninsured driversThere’s no denying it: car insurance is pricey, and the cost goes up year on year. Add to that the impact of the global economy, and some decide that they’ll simply drive around without car insurance and save themselves $1,000 or more. They figure that it’s a victimless crime, but they would be wrong. We are picking up the cost of their negligence.

There is a cost of uninsured drivers in America. The cost of uninsured drivers raises others insurance premiums.

Worse For All Of Us

In 2007, uninsured drivers cost the rest of us over $10 billion, and 13.8 per cent of Americans are estimated to be uninsured. This sparks off a vicious cycle of repetition – as insurance premiums go up, more people will decide to drive without insurance, which will push

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Strategies To Stretch The Travel Budget

This Yakezie Blog Swap post is from Kay Lynn Akers who writes about money and life on the way to retirement at Bucksome Boomer. Head over there to read my best travel budget tip.

Save money on an Alaskan CruiseDo you love to travel? Me too but the costs can add up. I don’t want to be limited to camping trips or couch-surfing in order to travel. Fortunately, my family has found a way to stretch our vacation dollars regularly by utilizing two strategies.

Travel off Season

One way to save money is to travel to destinations when the weather is less desirable to most visits otherwise known as shoulder or off seasons. This tip made our last vacation to Alaska much cheaper.

Most people want to visit Alaska during warm, sunny weather which is why June through August commands higher prices. We went on the last cruise of the season in September and saved hundreds per person. The risk for bad weather is increased, but we decided we wouldn’t let rain stop us.

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The Benefits Of Using A Mortgage Calculator

Using a mortgage calculatorIf you are considering getting a home loan, it is essential that you do your research and fully understand what you are getting in order to find the best mortgages and interest rate for you and your family. For many types of home loans, you can research great mortgages ahead of time by using a mortgage calculator to figure out your major costs and expenses.

How to Use a Mortgage Calculator

When you are using a mortgage calculator, you need a couple of basic pieces of information: the mortgage amount, the mortgage term (usually 15 or 30 years, but could vary), and the interest rate. With these key pieces of information, you can get an estimate of what your monthly payment would be, and it will usually include your payoff date as well.

Other Things to Look For

There are some good things to look for in a mortgage calculator.  One of the primary uses is to compare what different scenarios will do to your monthly payment. For example, you could change the term from 30 years to 20 years, or 15 years

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How to Raise the Next Millionaire Entrepreneur

How To Evaluate Business Investments

The following is a part of Yakezie’s blog swap from Marissa. She writes about life after grad school, and personal finance over at Thirty Six Months. You can check out my post on her site. I was an inventive child. Inventive in a way to ask my parents for a bigger allowance if I did extra chores, asking my siblings for a part of their allowance as a fee for being younger than me etc. Some of those ideas worked and some of them got me grounded for bullying my little sisters. The point is that when your child has the entrepreneurial spirit in them and wants to earn extra income with their creativity, do everything you can to encourage … Read more

Savings In The Age Of Austerity

Ever since the world economy went belly up in 2008, life has been harder for all of us in the age of austerity. One particular group who have felt the pressure more than most are savers. Central banks across the Western world have set interest rates ever lower – so low in fact they can barely go any lower at all. This, of course, means that savers who keep money in bank accounts are feeling the pinch more than others as their money isn’t benefiting from very good interest either.

There are some routes that can be explored to see if we can make the most of our savings. Many people have been looking at websites like Bullionvault for investing in gold which is generally thought to be a more stable investment. Gold is a particular type of investment however and there may be a variety of reasons why you prefer another investment.

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