Money Questions and Answers

A Cost Comparison: Buying a New Vs. a Used Car

You need a ride to get to work, to take the kids to school, and to run errands. Stretching each dollar to the limit is preferred, so it doesn’t matter if it’s a new or used car. It’s more about comparing costs and getting the best deal. Here’s what to know when buying a new or used automobile. Cost Comparison: Buying a New Vs. a Used Car What’s It Worth? Depreciation is a concept that car buyers soon come to understand. A car loses a significant amount of value as soon as it’s bought and driven off the lot. Consider the first year’s wear and tear, and you could lose $9,000 off of a $30,000 ride. Have you done a … Read more

Top 14 Easy Grocery Hacks to Trim Your Food Budget

by Hank Coleman

Grocery expenses comprise a large portion of most American’s budgets. According to data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average middle-aged male spends just under $300 per month on groceries when following a “moderate-cost plan.” But, you can save money on groceries.

The average family of four, meanwhile, can expect to incur around $1000 worth of food expenses each month when following a similar middle-of-the-road strategy.

How does your family’s spending compare with how to save money on groceries? If you and your spouse have two children, do you fall above or below the $1000/month figure? If below, you can congratulate yourself on being efficient with your grocery purchases.

Of course, you can always strive to realize added cuts that can bring your spending into the low-cost range (around $800/month) and allow you to put more money into your online savings account. But, if over that mark, you might want to make a concerted and sustained effort to reduce your food budget, especially if money is tight. Doing so can amount to tremendous savings in the long-run.

With food prices on the rise and wages relatively stagnant so far for 2016, many families are looking for new ways to save money on their food budget. If you fall into this category, then read on to discover useful grocery hacks that will cut back your food budget at the grocery store.

Grocery Hacks To Trim Down Your Food Budget

Don’t Shop While You’re Hungry

You’ve probably heard the generic advice that you shouldn’t shop while you’re hungry, but did you know that there are actual neurobiological studies proving that shopping on an empty stomach makes you spend more money on groceries?

In this experiment, participants were either injected with ghrelin (a hormone that controls hunger) or saline (basically a placebo) and then they were asked to bid on both food and nonfood items in a lab. The participants with elevated hunger hormones were much more willing to spend more money on food, showing that humans are more prone to impulsive purchases in the grocery market when we’re hungry. To avoid this pitfall, either schedule your shopping trips after meals or eat a snack before you go.

Become a Couponing Ninja

Have you ever seen that TLC show, Extreme Couponers? Although the idea of getting tons of stuff for pennies may be alluring, it’s probably not worth all the hours of coupon clipping and discount hunting on the web.

How to Get Off the Sidelines and Start Investing Again – It’s Not Too Late

by Hank Coleman

The stock market has had an amazing run lately, but too much money is still on the sidelines waiting. According to a recent survey conducted by Kiplinger’s magazine, almost half of all Americans do not even know that we have had a fantastic run in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index for the past 15 months. People need to get off the sidelines and start investing again. They thought that the stock market had been down in 2012 instead of realizing it was up 13%. And, still, others know about the stock market’s great and are still sitting on the sidelines waiting to get in the market or think that they have missed the boat. Many … Read more

What Financial Health Means to Me – Learning from My Parents’ Mistakes

by Hank Coleman

We all want a better life for our children. That’s the true American dream. It’s actually the dream of parents all over the world. That’s what financial health truly means. When I was deployed to Iraq while serving in the Army, I saw that sentiment play out there as well. Every Iraqi that I talked to simply wanted a better life for their children, and they hoped the United States’ intervention would bring them that goal – more so than Saddam Hussein ever could. The same was true in my parents’ house when I was growing up. My parents got divorced like so many others when I was young – about 12 years old. I can remember my single mother … Read more

Why the Big Banks Do Not Want to Fund Your Small Business

by Guest Contributor

James Cummings, the author of numerous books in the management space and Founder and CEO of www.dailyposts.co.uk. If you’d like to submit a guest post to Money Q&A, be sure to check out our guest posting guidelines.

28 million small businesses in the United States account for 54% of all sales in the country, are responsible for providing 55% of all jobs and 66% of new jobs since the 70s, and have added 8 million new jobs since 1990. With statistics like these, you might wonder why it’s so difficult for small businesses to secure loans from the big banks. Big banks are the preferred source for loans because they can afford to issue loans at lower rates than smaller banks, yet they are more frugal and more protective of their money.

Findings from a survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Cleveland, New York, and Philadelphia show that only half of the small businesses that requested for business loans in the first half of 2014 were able to get any funding. Ironically, the banks need these small businesses as much as the small businesses need them, especially with the rising trend of online lending. Yet, this does not seem to make much of a difference.

The recession was the worst for small businesses in need of loans and while many expected the tide to change once the recession was over, that hasn’t been the case. In fact, since the beginning of the recession, we have seen a decline of 20% in the total dollar volume of loans from banks to small businesses. What’s more, the figures seem to keep declining even further.

Financing a Home Purchase: Demystifying the Mortgage Process and Making Your Dreams Come True

by Guest Contributor

Lessons Learned from Selling My First House

You’ve decided to look for your dream home in the area of your choice, you know exactly what kind of home you need, you’ve crunched the numbers and now you’re looking for a mortgage lender. How do you know that you are getting a reliable lender that will give you the best deal? Do you know and understand the entire mortgage process? Here are a few tips and hints to help you navigate the mortgage process.

Understanding the Mortgage Process

What Credit Score Do You Need to Buy a House?

Although your credit score is by no means the only factor that will be taken into consideration by mortgage lenders, it will play an important role in determining how much interest you will pay on your loan.

Therefore, the better your credit score, the less costly your home financing will be. To date, if your credit score is at least 660, you will typically qualify for a mortgage with a decent interest rate.

You may also qualify for bad credit mortgage financing with some lenders who specialize in working with borrowers with poor credit, even if you’ve been turned down by other lenders.

What Other Factors are Important?

As well as your credit score, mortgage lenders will also take a close look at the other information on your credit report including:

Your account status – they will want to see that you have had credit or bank accounts open for at least one year, and that you do not have judgments or collections against you. If you do have outstanding collections or judgments, you will need to take care of these before you can obtain a loan (excepting outstanding medical bills).
Mortgage payments – they will want to see if you have made any other mortgage payments within the past year.

Another thing that lenders will want to see, which will not be on your credit report, but will be verified, is your rental history, to ensure that you have not made any late payments. If you have had more than one late payment within the past 12 months, you may have a hard time getting approved for a mortgage.