Money Questions and Answers

Focusing on Large Expenses to Save a Ton of Money

12 Things You Should Know Before Buying A House

The following is a guest post by Jon who blogs at Money Smart Guides, a personal finance blog whose goal is to help you get out of debt and start investing for your future. If you’d like to guest post on Money Q&A, be sure to check out the site’s Guest Posting Guidelines.

We all know that small expenses add up over time. This concept has been popularized and tagged as “the latte factor” by various experts and authors. The idea goes, if you cut the spending on smaller items, not only will it be easy, but you can reap a large amount of savings over time.

While the potential for saving money is not in doubt, many people solely focus on the small expenses and forget about the big ones, when in fact, the big ones can help you learn how to save a ton of money. Here is why you should focus first on the big expenses first, and then concentrate on the small ones.

How to Save a Ton Of Money on Large Purchases

Bigger Potential Savings Mean Bigger Impact

While cutting out a $3 coffee two days a week will add up to a nice $312 extra over the course of a year, if you focus on the big expenses in your life, you can easily save much more than this.

For example, I shop my insurance needs every year or two. At first, I was skeptical that I could save money doing this. After all, I thought the company I was with for over 10 years valued me and offered me their best rates.

Boy was I mistaken. It turns out many insurance companies use the practice of price optimization. What this means is that those who don’t shop around for insurance coverage pay for those that do. How does this work?

At its most basic, let’s say you are with ABC Insurance Company. I shop around and get a quote from ABC Insurance. They offer me an incredible deal to come on board. This deal might even cost them a few dollars. How do they overcome this? They raise the rates on their long-term (loyal) customers, who happen to be you.

If you don’t shop around for insurance coverage, most likely you are costing yourself money. When I switched companies the other year, I ended up saving $200 a year

The Dangers Of Income Tax Refund Anticipation Loans

by Hank Coleman

Pay Off Debt or Invest - What Should You Do with Your Income Tax Refund?

Income tax refund anticipation loans are not a good deal for consumers. In fact, they are downright crummy and can cost you hundreds of dollars. Unless you are in dire need of funds right away for a legitimate emergency, you are better off being patient and waiting for your income tax refund to come to you through direct deposit or even the mail instead of getting an income tax refund loan. What Is an Income Tax Refund Loan? A tax refund anticipation loans is a program offered by many of the nation’s largest tax filing companies. The program allows taxpayers to get their tax refund from the filing company immediately that day instead of having to wait for the IRS … Read more

How to Save Automatically and Eliminate Bank Fees with Chime

by Hank Coleman

Chime Card Reviews - What Is Chime Card?

If you often find yourself struggling to save money on a regular basis and at the mercy of monthly fees, overdraft fees, and nearly every other type of fee your bank cheerfully tacks onto your accounts, then perhaps it’s time for a new approach to personal financial management. Chime bank and the Chime card may just be the right bank account and debit card to help you take back control over your personal finances, finally start saving, and stop paying bank fees once and for all.

Chime, for instance, is an up-and-coming online and mobile bank account that offers a simple way of tricking yourself into saving more money. Rather than gouging you on bank fees, Chime offers a spending account and a savings account with no monthly minimums or fees, no overdraft, no international fees, and a fee-free ATM network. Plus, they offer an automatic savings program that delivers weekly savings bonuses to their cardholders.

Additionally, Chime has some pretty cool features if you’re having trouble getting started savings. I had the opportunity to check out Chime for myself. And, the results were awesome!

Chime Card Review – What Is Chime Banking?

When you sign up for a Chime bank account and a Chime Visa Debit card, you can transfer funds into your new Chime account for free and use the card anywhere Visa cards are accepted. It’s a demand deposit bank account with a debit card. So, like all checking accounts, you can only pay for items with your Chime card after you’ve deposited funds into your Chime bank account.

You also have the option of setting up direct deposit from your employer directly to your Chime spending account. You also receive access to the Chime Checkbook feature, in which Chime will mail physical checks on your behalf after you authorize a payment and provide them with the name and mailing address of the recipient.

Chime members can get paid up to two days early when they fund their account through payroll direct deposit. Chime makes it easy to set up direct deposit with a form that can be emailed or printed and provided to the employer.

There are many different options when it comes to managing your money with Chime. Not only does Chime offer its own Spending and Savings, but Chime also offers easy access to mobile check deposits and direct deposits into your accounts through the Chime app.

The Chime app is available for both iPhones and Android devices, allowing you to access real-time updates on your account balances, recent transactions, locate nearby fee-free ATMs, and contact Chime’s customer service on-the-go.

How to Invest in Poker Players and Earn Larger than the Stock Market

by Hank Coleman

If you’ve been a reader of Money Q&A for any length of time, it’ll come to no surprise to you that I’m always looking for cool and exciting ways to earn a greater rate of return on my investments. I want to find ways to squeeze out 10% or more ROI. And, I’m always looking for new and different investments and opportunities to do just that.

That’s why I was intrigued with an old Wall Street Journal article that talked about professional poker players investing in each other to hedge their bets, find entrance fee money, and limit their risk. As a fan of poker for over ten years now, I was intrigued and wondered if average or intermediate investors could take advantage of this phenomenon.

Professional Poker Players Often Stake Each Other

Professional poker players hedge their bets by investing in each other or what is otherwise commonly known as staking a player. Getting staked or staking a player is to financially back a player’s entrance fee into tournaments, typically by former and current players.

According to reporting by the Wall Street Journal, almost half of the estimated 6,600 contestants in last summer’s World Series of Poker Main Event championship in Las Vegas received financial support from past and current players, family members, or other poker investors. A lot of people seem to want to invest in poker players these days.

How To Truly Earn Passive Income From Lending Club

by Hank Coleman

I thoroughly like investing in Lending Club and peer-to-peer lending where I can earn a higher rate of return than many other investment options and definitely higher than a savings account or money market fund. I have been investing with Lending Club for almost four years now, and it has truly been a great experience that I would highly recommend to others who are looking for a greater rate of return on their investments than others. Lending Club is a great way to earn a passive income that will supplement and diversify your investments. And, it’s easy to earn passive income from Lending Club and earn a great rate of return on your investments. Lending Club Makes A Great Diversified … Read more

Is the Stock Market Gambling? Why Trading in Stocks Isn’t Gambling

by Hank Coleman

Is the stock market gambling? Should people consider trading in the stock market to be a form of gambling? The answers to these questions are unequivocal – No! Investing in the stock market is not gambling, and novice investors should not think of it in that way. Equating the stock market to gambling is a myth that people on the internet and television pundits have perpetuated for years. And, it’s simply not true. While investing and gambling have a few similar characteristics, they are very much different. And, if an investor does not take trading stocks or buying shares of mutual funds seriously and equates it to gambling, they are in serious jeopardy of losing money or missing out on … Read more