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Are You Your Worst Financial Enemy?

March 10th, 2017 Posted in Money Tips
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We all have big financial goals and milestones that we want to reach. The economy may be tough and your job may not be paying as much as you’d like, but often, our worst financial enemy is ourselves. If you want to reach those goals faster, you need to be critical about the way you’re spending. Here, I’ve listed some common wasteful habits that countless people need to drop.

Staying Loyal to Brand Names

With the sheer amount of advertising that we’re bombarded with, it can be easy to believe that brand name products will always give us more for our money, without counting the cost. This is especially true when it comes to clothes shopping, which is covered more in this Yahoo finance article. The next time you do your regular grocery shop, try substituting a few brand names for more generic, affordable products. Yes, the quality may not always be what you’re used to, but you’d be surprised at some of the hidden gems you’ll find.

Regularly Changing your Oil

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Okay, so staying on top of routine car maintenance is a good habit, and can save you a small fortune by avoiding hefty mechanic’s fees. However, if you’re changing the oil in a modern car for every 3,000 miles it clocks, you could be wasting a lot of money. This is because many of the latest cars to come out can run on synthetic oil, which can be good for 8,000 miles or more. Obviously, you should always do your research, and make sure that your car can run on longer-lasting oils and still perform well.

Drinking Bottled Spring Water

If you always make a point of getting your recommended water intake, then great! However, if you always buy bottled water from a store, rather than simply refilling a bottle with tap water, it could mean the difference between spending a few hundred pounds a year or a couple of quid. I’m pretty lucky in that my area’s tap water tastes crisp and clean. I for one can’t tell the difference between the bottles you find in a store’s fridge and the one that I fill up before I leave the house. However, even if your tap water has a twinge of chlorine to it, simply refrigerating it can make a huge difference.

Eating Out

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I’m not saying you can never set foot in a restaurant again. After a lot of hard work, treating yourself to an exquisite meal at a great restaurant is one luxury that you should really make time for. However, eating out should never be a regular habit. If you get used to eating in your favourite restaurants every few days, it can be very hard to break the habit, and it will keep haemorrhaging money. You may not be an expert chef, but cooking good food can be much easier than you’d expect. Furthermore, when you make this one change in your dining habits, the amount you’ll save will encourage you to spend more time in the kitchen, and less looking at menus!

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Don’t Apply For That Job Just Yet

March 7th, 2017 Posted in Jobs and Careers
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Hunting for a job is one of the testing and trying times of any person’s professional career. It takes persistence, concentration, and steadfast optimism, and that is because you are going to trawl through pages and pages on job sites and receive rejection and rejection. It takes serious courage and determination to keep your chin up.

But eventually you’ll find a job pop-up, and you’ll wonder how you didn’t find it before now. It is a company you’d absolutely love to work for. You seem to tick all the requirements they are looking for in a candidate. It is within the right salary range. Everything seems to be a great fit and you suddenly feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

However, before you jump the gun and send an application off without being ready, here are a few things you need to do first:

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Improve Your Online Profile

It is common knowledge that, when you apply for a job, the first thing the hiring manager and HR department is going to Google your name. They are going to look at your LinkedIn page, your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and why wouldn’t they? You would do the same thing. This isn’t to assess whether you drink occasionally, it is more to see if there is anything they should be wary of. It means looking at how up to date your profiles are and about how seriously you’ll take the role. It is about whether your personality will be a good fit.

Do Your Own Googling

Do not apply for a job without swatting up on everything there is to know about the company you are applying to. You’ve spend ages searching for a job, so you may as well spend ages making sure you know all you can about the job. It may be that you don’t need to exercise your newly gathered knowledge. However, it might be that you do, and you don’t want to seem unprepared. Pay special attention to the company’s career page so that you can see what they are looking for and what their ethos is. Look at their blog. Read any news articles you can find. Look at who is on the board. Check out the company’s journey. The more you can arm yourself with – the more you seem like you care – the better your chances of succeeding.

Do A Background Check On You

Any respectable and thorough employer will do a background check on you, so make sure there is nothing out there that could come back and sting you unexpectedly. A DBS check would be required which ensures unsuitable people are not employed, CRB direct make this process a lot smoother. If there is any niggling feeling at the back of your skull or a quiet whisper in your head that keeps asking do I really have a warrant out on me, then make sure you get it checked out so that you know for sure. You don’t want to find out during the interview process that there is a problem with your history, especially one you can’t explain.

Bespoke Your Application

A generic application is so obvious to anyone that has looked at more than 5 CVs. So make sure you tailor your entire application to the job role at hand. You don’t want to find your dream job, but miss out because of laziness. Yes, it is hard work tailoring each and every cover letter, and each and every CV, but it will be worth it in the end.

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Funeral Costs: Alternative Fundraising

March 7th, 2017 Posted in Uncategorized
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The loss of a loved one is never a good time, and it can be even more stressful if you have to try and find the finances to make sure that you give your loved one the funeral they deserve. There are many financial worries, but it can feel a bit of pressure to get the funds, and especially if you are wracked by grief. If you have any concerns about ever having to raise money for a funeral, there are some options available to you.

There are different ways we can raise money in the social media age, and although it may not sound like a sensitive option, you can start a Kickstarter or GoFundMe campaign if you are really desperate for the funds. It has been known to be an option for people who have nowhere else to turn, and because of the sensitive nature of the subject, people are willing to donate, which is a great relief. There are other options available to you that are considered an alternative route. It can be a stressful time, but depending on the cause of death, you may be entitled to a payout from the parties responsible, and there are firms like Krebs Law Firm Personal Injury Attorneys who can work with people to recover the funds they are owed after negligence or an accident. The funds that are paid out would be enough to cover the costs of the funeral. If there is no option to fund a funeral, the local council or the hospital may be able to arrange a funeral service. The stipulations of this are that the service tends to be a cremation, and the service date is chosen for you and is usually shorter than the average funeral service. These are, of course, downsides if you planned on having a specific type of send-off.

If you are in a partial financial position to pay for the funeral and there are funds in the estate of the deceased party, you could claim it from the estate afterward. However, you should check to see if the money can be reclaimed from the estate first because it might not be possible. Another option would be to access the funds from the deceased’s account. This needs to be done as legally as possible because it could be perceived as an act of fraud. It is a delicate matter because when a person dies, their account tends to be frozen unless it is a joint account. But it is possible to ask the bank to release funds if you have ID and a copy of the death certificate, but it is down to the discretion of the bank, and this may only be granted if there is no formal will in place.

Apart from the standard methods, there are some alternate ways of paying for a funeral, as outlined. The stress and heartache of a situation like losing a loved one can be made worse by going through things like probate and arranging the funeral, but there are some options available if worse comes to worse.

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4 Ways To Own Real Estate

March 6th, 2017 Posted in Property Investment
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Getting on the property ladder is becoming increasingly more difficult. Before taking the dive into real estate, it’s important to consider all your options. Here are the four major ways that you can own property.

Traditional Buying

Traditional buying is still the main route into property. This is where you buy both the building and the land. Many choose to go through real estate brokers to find property. Finding a seller direct can sometimes be cheaper, but limits options. Some agents may charge buying fees, but this is generally reserved only for sellers. In either case, negotiating the price is recommended – you should aim to haggle of 5% of the value if you can.

You can also buy property off of an auction. Auctions are also a great opportunity for flipping property – discussed later on.

Leasing

In most cases, leasing property involved renting for a fixed term. This could be anything from a year or more. Some lease opportunities are more flexible than other – you may own the property, just not the land. In this instance, you may be able to make minor adjustments to the house as if it were you own. When it comes to traditional renting, hammering a nail in the wall might need permission from your landlord. Leasing is only half owning property, but is a cheaper alternative to buying and a more fixed alternative to renting. In many major cities around the world, the bulk of property is leased.

Self-building

Can’t find a property that meets your criteria? You can always build your own. It can cost up to a third of the price of buying (building and buying the land included), with the option of a self-build mortgage preventing you from having to pay outright. However, it can be a lengthier and more complex procedure. Whilst hiring architects, solicitors and builders isn’t too difficult a task, buying the land is a complex procedure. Land may be environmentally protected, may have limiting restrictions set by a local planning committee or may be physically unbuildable due to the ground. Before buying always check with the current landowner as to what the current restrictions are. In most cases you may negotiate prices.

Flipping

Flipping involves swapping one property directly for another, and so requires you to already own some form of property. By doing it effectively, you can earn a lot of money. Fail to flip correctly and you’ll lose a lot of money, making it a risky venture. Many who get involved in flipping property will buy property off an auction, possibly renovate it and then sell it for a profit. You can flip property without being worried about the profits however – if you want to directly swap with someone to a property that is less value but may be in a better location, you can do this.

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How To Survive The Next Big Economic Meltdown

March 2nd, 2017 Posted in Money Tips
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It is NOT a matter of IF another economic collapse happens, it is a matter of WHEN and HOW you can prepare for. We don’t mean to be fear-mongers or cynics, but history would suggest the world cannot operate without an economic crash every so often. It could be a political move that sends us spiralling down, perhaps Trump will annoy Putin or vice versa. It could be that the next generation of bankers doesn’t remember the risks they run, get greedy with mortgages again and see another bank too big to fail actually fail. It could be a zombie apocalypse that sets it off.

The point is, any economic collapse will worsen spending habits, poverty, disrupted social order, protests and maybe even violence is inevitable. That is why you should always prepare for the worst. And here is how you can do that.

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Your Finances

This is a huge part of protecting yourself from the turmoil of a crash, and your first move should be saving up an emergency fund of at least $1000. Once you have reached this figure, divert all of your attention to paying off your debt. Once that is done, go back to increasing that emergency pot of yours, and make sure you keep it separate from all of your other accounts. Temptation can be a hard thing to resist. The reason for this is simple; an economic crash sees people lose their jobs and it can be near impossible to land yourself another role until the economy picks up again. If it is a total crash, then you need to protect against the unknown, which will be you not being able to access your account. As such, it is worth having your emergency fund available in cash, cold hard cash, or consider stocking other commodities like gold; anything that can be used to barter.

Clean Water

When an economic crisis happens, a serious one, it is possible that certain supplies may get cut off, such as water and power. Now, it can be hard to store power, unless you have a generator, but you can store water. So make sure you have a stash of drinking water than can be used for drinking, hygiene, and cooking. As a rule of thumb, store a gallon of water for each person, and store it in a clean place.

Food Supply

This is not a grocery shop. No. Storing food for an emergency means buying non-perishable goods. This may seem like a drastic measure to take unless you are in a war zone, but an economic crash can see fuel run out and prices of essentials sky-rocket, so make sure you have enough food to cover you for when times get hard. This should be stuff that doesn’t require refrigeration and has all nutrients you need to sustain a healthy and balanced diet.

Emergency Kit

Once again, in an economic crisis, these items tend to go quickest, so make sure you have a stockpile of specific items that you may need in an emergency. These are things like blankets, multi-use tools, matches, battery-powered radio, cell phone, charger and maps, and torches. You should also make photocopies of any proof of ID and address, as well as have first aid supplies just in case. Know the contact details of family and friends that you may want to contact and, if you have a baby, then make sure there is a supply of nappies, food, and formula.

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