After a successful trial run that boosted home sales and brought buyers back to the table, the government has extended the $8,000 first-time home buyers tax credit through June 2010.
Now it’s not just first-timers who are benefiting — the president also signed off on a new $6,500 tax credit for existing homeowners who purchase a new primary residence.
Combined, the dueling tax credits may help spur even greater growth in the housing market, real estate experts say.
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Whether we like it or not, having a credit card is essential to a consumer like salt is to food. Many experts tell you that over usage is bad, but life just sucks without it.
But what about those interest rates? With credit easing a little bit and the economy strengthening, the once dependable method of lowering interest rates is working again. Here, we outline the steps to lower the interest rates on your credit cards so you can substantially lower your monthly payments each and every month.
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Shall we start making more money?
When I set out to write this post, I was going to talk about different ways to make more money but why talk general when I can take a more focused approach and share with you what people do online specifically? I live and breath the Internet these days, so when I ask you to take some time to make more money, I’m thinking about some of these as suggestions.
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In many ways, insurance is a lot like a game. The goal? Trying to get a payment for a claim since you have been paying insurance for that very purpose: Protection against large expenses due to unforeseen events. However, opposing you is the insurance company, which will be on the look out for red flags and indications that fraud may be at work. What you say to your insurance agent can mean a delayed claim — or even one that ends up denied. If you want to come out on top and be the winner, here are four things to avoid saying to your insurance agent:
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While researching on these 0% balance transfer credit cards the other day, I accidentally found out that many people actually search for 0% balance transfer for life credit cards. My first reaction was “come on, really? There’s no way anyone in the right mind would offer this.”
But the curious side of me took over and decided to take a look. Sure enough, Chase offered select customers 0% balance transfer for life in 2003. It came with rules though. You must pay the minimum balance every single month, and you must make a minimum of two purchases every billing cycle. Failure to do so and your rate will rocket back up to normal levels.
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Men and their egos…
Now there’s proof. Men aren’t better at investing, but they certainly believe that to be the case.
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Cruising has become an immensely popular way to get away and see a little bit of somewhere new. Cruises provide food, lodging and entertainment all in one place while taking you out into the ocean; a perfect vacation if it weren’t for the price. Luckily, there are some easy ways to cut your costs if you plan ahead and know what to look for.
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I love rules. In fact, the more restrictive the guidelines, the better.
It’s not that I like someone telling me no. But I just love trying to find a way around restrictions. Every time someone tells me how I’m not supposed to be able to do that, I always respond with “please tell me which rules I’ve broken”.
This time though, I don’t think I’ve just stretched a rule of the personal finance world, because I actually broke one. Not only did I buy a cup of latte, I kept buying them for the past few weeks.
Am I screwed?
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My wife used to compliment me whenever I communicated in Mandarin. She doesn’t anymore.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that though, because I couldn’t speak it back then and I could now carry a decent conversion using the language. In a short few years, she got used to hearing me speak in Mandarin (or at least my version of it).
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If you watch the news you have probably heard a lot about dollar depreciation these last few months. As part of the economic stimulus package, the Federal Reserve has had to keep interest rates at historic lows (thereby making the “price” of dollars very cheap) while borrowing enormous quantities of money from foreign and domestic lenders. These actions have weakened the dollar against several foreign currencies.
As a savvy investor, you should be worried about the decline of the dollar, because this directly hurts the value of your paycheck. However, like everything else in life, economic trends have two sides to them. In our case, dollar depreciation can actually be your opportunity to invest in other currencies. Even if you’re not particularly concerned about the recent decline, investing in foreign currency will help you to diversify your portfolio, which is always a good idea.
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Coupons, coupons, coupons. Gotta love those savings… right?
It’s a safe bet that most of us who read this blog love coupons. We routinely check our newspapers for special offers, and we refuse to make purchases without searching for discounts because we are very careful with our personal finance. I like coupons and saving as much as the next guy, but lately I have been feeling the effects of coupon invasion.
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Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Oh I bet you heard that before, but imagine with me for a second that you are paid every time that broken clock shows the correct time. Now, let’s also say that you are able to hit a button to randomize the time on that clock as many times as you want and when it hits the correct time, you get money.
What would you do?
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If there is anything more beautiful than the sight of a mother holding her newborn, I don’t know what it is. For many years I worked as a labor and delivery coach, and one thing I heard all the time was “How do I manage all the diapers and baby supplies without spending a fortune?”
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Sometimes, it’s difficult to get a sense of what people in other countries have to deal with. Luckily, the guest post today addresses this, even in a very small scale.
A massive stimulus plan, reduced consumer spending, increased unemployment – we aren’t just talking about the United States here. The effects of the American financial crisis have stretched worldwide, and Australia has not been left unscathed. The current recession’s sticky tentacles have managed to drag down with them many economies that before 2008 were functioning and growing quite well. Unfortunately, Australia is one of those countries and here’s several first hand effects that I noticed.
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