Saturday, November 18, 2006

How to choose keywords for your website

There are a lot of SEO or Seach Engine Optimization tools out there in the internet. I would recommend the following.

  1. SEO Book has a keyword suggestion tool that allows you to find alternative keyword suggestions and even shows you the estimated monthly traffic on each word. This is a great tool and I use it all the time.
  2. The other site that is really good for information on SEO is called SEO chat. They have a ton of tools that you can use to optimize keywords.
  3. My third suggestion is you read a book called Search Engine Optimization An Hour A Day. It is a great book to help you understand how to build traffic to your site.
Top five tips on dealing with Spyware
  1. I would start by downloading Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7. It has alot of updates that track and prevent spyware.
  2. Additionally you could download the Yahoo ToolBar which has a spyware protection as well.
  3. For standalone freeware try Spybot or Adaware.
  4. Another step that I have found that really helps, if you know roughly the date when your computer was infected, if you are running Windows XP you can do a system restore at a time a week before when you thought you got the spyware. This will take care of the problem as well.
  5. If you find that your computer is really messed up the best thing to do is to back up your data, format the hard drive and then re-install windows.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Calculating your net worth

How to calculate your net worth

Everyday people rush off to work, take care of the kids, save for retirement, save for rainy days, and so on. The question that a lot of people have is are they getting ahead? During their life in the rat race are they actually making progress in accomplishing their goals? After all if your savings and investments are growing but so are your debts are you really getting ahead? Can you reach retirment debt free. The answer comes in calculating your personal net worth on a regular basis, I would say you should do this at least one per year.

What is the definition of net worth: Net worth is the difference between your assets and your liabilities. Asset are things like cash, mutual funds, house equity, stocks, et. Liabilities are things like home mortgages, car loans, credit card debts, etc.

So now that you have calculated your net worth the big question is do you have a positive or negative net worth? If it is positive congratulations you are on your way, set a goal to increase your net worth by a certain amount for next year's net work and work toward making it happen. If it is negative you might be just starting out in your career or you may have poor spending habits. Either way if it is negative you need to make some adjustment in your life so you can pull up the savings and hold back on the spending.

Resources:
CNN has an online network calculator that is worth a look.
Check out the networth calculator for Microsoft Excel.

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Tags: investing, retirement, get rich, mortgages, making money online

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Sunday, October 08, 2006

Thirty Year Mortgage vs Fifteen Year Mortgage - Financing Your Home

Well it only took me buying my 3rd home to convince myself that I needed to bite the bullet and get a 15 year mortgage vs. a 30 year mortgage. We have been here for 5 years now and I am really glad that we did it. I actually enjoy getting my statement each month because 2/3rds of the the payment is actually going to principle. Think about it, a $1500 mortgage payment and $1000 of it is going to principle. It is more like a forced savings program.

What about the tax savings? A lot of people might tell you that the interest on your house is your biggest tax deduction. They say that you should borrow as much as possible for as long as possible if rates are cheap, so you can get the tax deduction. I my opinion, I don't consider paying interest on a loan a good tax deduction. Why would you want to spend a $1000s to get $250 back. Why not not payoff your house and not have to pay the $1000s in interest and then you would be $750 ahead. You could take the entire house payment and buy a CD, buy an ETF, save money in your 401K, start a 529 program for your kids college education, or even purchase an investment property. Additionally, there is something of a secure feeling to me about owning your own home and paying off your debts.

One of the most important lessons that I learned later in my house buying history is the power of the 15 year mortgage. Whether it is your first house or last house try to buy the house that you can afford with a 15 year mortgage. You will be so much happier after 5 or 10 years and you decide to sell and upgrade to a larger house. Don't be worried about the fact that your house isn't as big as your friends house, think about it you won't be house poor and they will be. By using a 15 year mortgage your principle on the loan will be so much greater. Here a few examples.

A $100,000 loan on a 30 year term at 6.25% interest.

Monthly payment: $632
Principal portion of payment: Under $95 each month for the first year
Interest portion of payment: Under $536 each month for the first year














Ok now lets take the same loan on a 15 year term.

Monthly payment: $871
Principal portion of payment: Under $350 each month for the first year
Interest portion of payment: Under $521 each month for the first year

Of course the 15 year loan will cost you $239 more per month. However, as I said above, your really should consider it savings because each month you will be contributing $350 to your principle. So after the first year you will have paid off $3500 on your house vs. $1200 on the 30 year loan. If you can't afford the 15 year loan either buy a less expensive house or put more money down. The chart below shows you how after just 8 years half of your payment will be going toward principle amazing.















Not sure how all this works or how to calculte this? I found a great mortgage calculator that allows you too compare 15 and 30 year mortgages all on one chart. Click here to compare. Additionally, if you want to be able to calculate your payments on the go you should consider picking up a financial or business calculator. I love it when I go into buy a car or get a new loan and I already know what my payment will be based on the amout that I put down on the car.

How to find current interest rates: I you are trying to find the latest mortgage rates in your area I highly recommedn you check out Bankrate.com.

Related reading or listening: If you are like me you might be more of a auditory listener, that is you learn more by listening. I purchased the audio book Turn Your Debt Into Wealth by John M. Cummuta. If you are more of a reader checkout a book from the Rich Dad series called The ABC's of Getting Out of Debt.

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Saturday, September 30, 2006

5 Reasons to start a 529 College Savings Plan

5 Reasons to start a 529 College Savings Plan

What is a 529 college savings plan? A 529 college savings plan is a state-sponsored, tax-advantaged investment vehicle that allows relatives and friends to invest in a child’s college education. How did it get this easy to remember name? The 529 college savings plan is based on a law created by the government called Section 529. The education savings plans are administered by certain investment companies and subject to contribution requirements and investment guidelines. The funds of the 529 plan can be invested in a portfolio of stocks, bonds, or mutual funds. Almost all states have their own 529 plans, I am not sure why they don't just have one plan but I guess the goverment likes to make it confusing. The funds can be used only for education withdrawals and if they are used non-educational purposes it triggers taxes and a 10% penalty, its still your money you just have to pay a penalty.

Five reasons to start a 529 college savings plan

  1. Tax advantages: The top reason for investing in a 529 plan is to allow the earnings to grow federal tax-deferred. When it comes time to paying for college the funds may be withdrawn federal tax-free. This is a pretty big deal, for example lets say you earned $2000 on year in growth on your investments in the 529 plan. If you nominal tax rate was around 25% you would have to pay $500 in taxes on the growth. With the 529 you end up having another $500 to keep growing for the future.
  2. Annual gift tax exclusion: Another advantage is the contribution limits are much higher and are not subject to the same limits as the the uniform gift to minors laws. Under the 529 plans, individuals can contribute up to $60,000 ($120,000 per couple) for tax year 2006 per beneficiary if contributor elects to recognize that gift in equal payments over five years for tax purposes and the contributor makes no other gifts to the beneficiary during that period.
  3. Keep control: You know I am sure you love your kid and when they are 5 you might think that they would never do anything wrong however, they are totally different people when they are 18. You need to keep control of the money to make sure little Jimmy or Sally doesn't decide he/she needs a new BMW for their 19th birthday. With the 529 plan the donor keeps control of the money – it is not irrevocably given to the child
  4. Things can change: Suppose you are saving for Little Sally again and she doesn't need the BMW or the savings that you built up for her for college because she pegs the SAT, has all A's and gets a full ride to Stanford. Guess what you are in luck. The 529 plan donor can change beneficiaries and you can allocate that money to Little Jimmy in stead.
  5. You get a state tax deduction: For example if you live in Michigan. You may also be eligible for a Michigan income tax deduction. The amount contributed by a Michigan taxpayer to MESP accounts during a tax year, less the amount of any qualified withdrawals from those accounts during that tax year, is deductible from Michigan adjusted gross income in an amount not to exceed $5,000 for a single return or $10,000 for a joint return for that tax year.

Related reading: Check out the following books if you are interested in learning more about 529 savings programs. The Best Way to Save for College 2007: A Complete Guide to 529 Plans or The 529 College Savings Plan Made Simple

Final thought do me a favor. If you enjoyed this post or any of my other posts why not subscribe to my Strategies for Life Blog? Again it is free, free is good right? Just click here.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Making Money With Amazon's Affiliate Program

Making Money with Amazon's Affiliate Program

Amazon has a tremendous affiliate program which allows you to sell almost anything through your websites or emails by placing adds to products available on Amazon.com. To get started with the Amazon affiliate program just signup for their free affiliate program at http://associates.amazon.com. The thing that I really like about the Amazon program is the ability to link to a specific product that you want to sell. For example if you want to recommend a particular book or specific product you can create an exact link to that product.

Amazon has also rolled out a feature called aStore's which basically creates the product webpages, including navigation, page titles etc. It is a really cool feature. It allows you to have multiple product pages and select featured products.

Related reading: Check out the following books if you are interested in learning more about affiliate program success. The Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online, Affiliate Selling: Building Revenue on the Web

Final thought do me a favor. If you enjoyed this post or any of my other posts why not subscribe to my Strategies for Life Blog? Again it is free, free is good right? Just click here.

Tags: investing, retirement, get rich, mortgages, making money online

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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Publishing your own book at Lulu.com

Publishing your own book at Lulu.com

Do you have a book idea? Have you written a book but don't know how to get it published? Are you a frustrated author just looking for an audience? The traditional publishing industry can be confusing and complicated maze to work through in order for you to get you book actually published. Enter Lulu.com which offers authors a one-stop do-it-yourself publishing shop Basically, it allows anyone to publish a single copy of their book which can be published on demand and purchased directly from Lulu or even Amazon.com.

How does it work: First of all Lulu is different from other on demand publishing outfits becuase there are absolutely no up front fees for the budding author. With Lulu you simply up load your manuscript, select the type of cover that you want, obtain an estimated cost of the publishing, and set your price. The great part about it is with Lulu.com the percent of the book price that you actually receive higher than the amount that you would receive from a traditional publishing company. Nothing wrong with that. Additionally, Lulu allows you the flexibility to select the type of book that you want to publish, hardcover or softcover.

Related reading: Check out the following books and articles on publishing your own book if you are interested in learning more. Getting Your Book Published for Dummies

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Tags: investing, retirement, get rich, mortgages, making money online

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Sunday, September 17, 2006

Option ARM Home Mortgages Danger In the Fine Print

Option ARM Home Mortgages Danger In The Fine Print

BusinessWeek Magazine had a very scary article in the last issue about Option Arm Mortgages also know as Negative Amortization. I am always amazed when I hear radio spots advertising Smart Loans Mortgages, or Interest only loans. It is hard for me to believe that the mortgage industry keeps pitching they types of loans to the public only to create and upside-down situation in the future. How would you like to be living in Michigan right now where the unemployment rate is getting higher, housing sales are very slow, you loose your job and you find out that the balance on your mortgage is actually higher than the value of your house. That's my definition of being upside-down on your loan. It happens all the time in the car loan business. But on your house that can be a real nightmare.

Businessweek said "the option adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) might be the riskiest and most complicated home loan product ever created. With its temptingly low minimum payments, the option ARM brought a whole new group of buyers into the housing market, extending the boom longer than it could have otherwise lasted, especially in the hottest markets. Suddenly, almost anyone could afford a home -- or so they thought. The option ARM's low payments are only temporary. And the less a borrower chooses to pay now, the more is tacked onto the balance.

Home buyers need to beware the Option ARM's low installments are not fixed for the first five years like a tradition ARM or Adjustable Rate Mortgage. Since the housing boom has come to a halt and because home prices have leveled off, borrowers can't count on rising equity to bail them out. Additionally the Option ARM has significant prepayment penalties which make it costly for you to refinance and get out of the loan. Basically, it is a trap.

One example given by BusinessWeek was "Gordon Burger a 42-year-old police officer from a suburb of Sacramento, Calif., is stuck in a new mortgage that's making him poorer by the month. Burger, a solid earner with clean credit, has bought and sold several houses in the past. In February he got a flyer from a broker advertising an interest rate of 2.2%. It was an unbeatable opportunity, he thought. If he refinanced the mortgage on his $500,000 home into an option ARM, he could save $14,000 in interest payments over three years. Burger quickly pulled the trigger, switching out of his 5.1% fixed-rate loan. "The payment schedule looked like what we talked about, so I just started signing away," says Burger. He didn't read the fine print. After two months Burger noticed that the minimum payment of $1,697 was actually adding $1,000 to his balance every month. "I'm not making any ground on this house; it's a loss every month," he says. He says he was told by his lender, Minneapolis-based Homecoming Financial, a unit of Residential Capital, the nation's fifth-largest mortgage shop, that he'd have to pay more than $10,000 in prepayment penalties to refinance out of the loan. If he's unhappy, he should take it up with his broker, the bank said. "They know they're selling crap, and they're doing it in a way that's very deceiving," he says. "Unfortunately, I got sucked into it." In a written statement, Residential said it couldn't comment on Burger's loan but that "each mortgage is designed to meet the specific financial needs of a consumer."

According to the ariticle 80% of all option ARM borrowers make only the minimum payment each month. As a result of this the rest of the money gets added to the balance of the mortgage, which is called negative amortization. Unfortunately the situation gets even worse because as the balance grows after a certain point the mortgage automatically resets at a new higher payments.

In conclusion, if something seems to good to be true it probably is. Make sure before you sign up for a non-traditional mortgage of any type understand what you are getting into. For free advice take the non-traditional mortgage paper work, before you sign, to a bank and take to the loan officer. Tell them that you are considering this type of loan and you would like there opinion on the loan vs. a traditional loan that there bank could offer you. In my opinion your best bet is to stick with a traditional 30 year or 15 year fixed mortgage and pay the thing off as fast as you can.

Related reading: Check out the following books if you are interested in learning more about mortgages, The 106 Mortgage Secrets All Homebuyers Must Learn--But Lenders Don't Tell , and Mortgages for Dummies.

Final thought do me a favor. If you enjoyed this post or any of my other posts why not subscribe to my Strategies for Life Blog? Again it is free, free is good right? Just click here.

Tags: investing, retirement, get rich, mortgages

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Thursday, September 14, 2006

Selecting the best mutual funds

Selecting the best mutual funds

Are you looking for the best mutual funds? Do you purchase mutual funds directly from the fund company's. Thanks to the online world there are many ways for you to research the best funds. Of course historical/past performance does not predict future performance. Below are a list of handy and useful online resources for helping you select the best mutual funds.

  1. Schwab Select List: One great way to find mutual funds is through the research tools at your broker. Even if you don't belong to the broker a lot of times you can get free research. For example the Schwab Select list is online and available to anyone.
  2. Morningstar online rating service: I always like to check the Morningstar rating of any mutual funds that I might be considering. Morningstar provides a very concise easy to understand guide to the objectives, management, holdings, and performance of the fund.
  3. Yahoo mutual fund screener: Yahoo has some of the best and easiest to use mutual fund screeners. I highly recommend that you check out their Fund Screener which allows you to search all the funds in the market, and the Top Performers which highlights the best-performing funds by sector, style, and strategy. You can also down load the prospectus of any fund at the Prospectus Finder.

There are several factors to consider in picking a good mutual fund below is a short list of things that I consider when picking a mutual fund:

  1. Management tenure: It is important to understand how long the current manager has been managing the fund. Remember the difference between investing in a mutual fund vs. investing in an ETF is the people managing the money. The manager that has a solid track record in the past could have good results in the future so it is factor that I look at when selecting a fund.
  2. Size of mutual fund: The size of the fund is important. Smaller funds tend to be able to out perform the market. For example it is a lot easier for a mutual fund that has $50 million in trading assets to beat the market than it is for a mutual fund that has $15 billion in assets.
  3. Risk level: The Morningstar rating service will explain to you the risk level of each fund. If you are looking for a stable fund with steady returns that doesn't fluctuate a lot then you probably do not want to select a fund with the highest risk level.
  4. Past performance: Of course the past performance is key. I want to try to find a fund that out performs in its sector. Or is beating the overall market.
  5. Last note in regards to mutual funds. Make sure as you add new mutual funds to your portfolio you determine how the mutual fund is different than mutual funds you already own. I made the mistake back in the late 90's and early 2000's of having a lot of different funds but almost all the funds had the same types of stocks in them. An as a result when the market tanked my portfolio was hit hard.

Recommended reading: If you are looking for additional information on how to invest in mutual funds check out The Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success. Also for information on picking the right mutual fund check out Someone Will Make Money on Your Funds - Why Not You: A Better Way to Pick Mutual and Exchange-Traded Funds.

Tags: investing, business, debt

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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Work at home jobs or telecommuting

Work at home jobs or telecommuting

Are your looking for a work at home business? A lot of people are trying to balance family life with the balance of trying to pay bills, make ends meet, and get out of debt. However, some people might not be able to goto the office everyday and they might not be cut out for the life of a entrepreneur. Sometimes the next best thing is to find a company that offers the ability for you to work at home or telecommute.

Wikipedia.org defines Telecommuting or, e-commuting, telework, or working from home (WFH) as work arrangement in which employees enjoy limited flexibility in working location and hours. In other words, the daily commute to a central place of work is replaced by telecommunication links. A frequently repeated motto is that "work is something you do, not something you travel to". [1] A successful telecommuting program requires a management style which is based on results and not on close scrutiny of individual employees. This is referred to as 'managing by objective' as opposed to 'managing by observation'. The term 'telecommuting' was coined by Jack Nilles and was first used in the United States.

I am always looking for interesting and innovative ways to work from home since it is one of the most popular questions that I get asked. Below are some of the recent work at home ideas that I have come across.

Airline customer service: I read about an airline, I believe it was Southwest Airlines that has setup it's entire customer service team as a home based or work from home department. This allowed the workers tremendous flexibility. When they are logged onto the system and answering calls they are getting paid. When they need to go pickup the kids from school they aren't. What a great idea.

Title insurance research: A neighbor of ours works out of her home dong title work research for future home buyers. Of course she still needs to run out to the office and drop off information for closing and so on however, she still can work from home and take care of her to small kids.

Other telecommuniting ideas include: selling life insurance for a company like Select Quote or processing rebate checks. The opportunities are there you just need to search for them.

So if you are looking for work at home opportunities and don't think you want to start your own business do some networking and look around for creative companies that offer the ability and flexibility of telecommuniting. One note of caution, be careful of any work at home opportunities that require you to pay first before you can earn. I believe there are real companies out there that will hire you, train you, probably even set you up with a computer and a hi-speed connenction at home without you having to pay. Why should you have to pay to get a job or provide a service. In most cases if you have to pay first the opportunity is not real and they are just making money off of you and not actually offering you and opportunity.

Recommended reading: For other great ideas on how to work at home I would recommend the The Work-at-Home Sourcebook. Or if you are interested in start a home based business I would recommend that you check out The 200 Best Home Businesses.

Tags: investing, business, debt

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Tuesday, September 12, 2006

How to pick a financial planner

How to pick a financial planner

So you and your spouse have decided its time to consider getting a financial planner. You are not alone. With the stock market challenges over the last five years it has become difficult for do it yourselfers to make any money in the stock market. With mutual funds, ETFs, stocks, bonds, and CDs all of the choices can be overwhelming and confusing. Therefore, a lot of investors have decided to seek help from a financial planner.

So now that you have decided to seek professional help, how do you go about finding the right financial planner? First of all you might be confused by what you actually need because financial planners come in different names from financial advisors, consultants, planners, or brokers.

How does your financial planner get paid: First of all you need to determine how your representative actually makes money. Does he/she charge a fee for advice, a fee based on the balance of your account like 1%, or make money via commission on your stock or mutual fund trade.

Where can you find a financial planner: One of the best sources to find a good financial planner is to consider a referral from relative or friend. However, I caution you not to hire a relative as your financial planner because if things don't go well it maybe very awkward to fire your brother in law. Another source is to consult the Paladin Registry which specializes in helping individuals pick a financial planner. If you pick a financial planner based on a referral or looking up the planner in the phone book or the Paladin Registry there are several questions you might want to ask the financial planner.

  1. How does the planner get paid, fee or commission?
  2. What is the commission or fee? 1% or 1.5%
  3. Do you have to pay for mutual fund or stock trades? Most of the time when your account reaches a certain size you will no longer have to pay for your trades.
  4. How long have you been a financial planner?
  5. How long has the financial planner been in business?
  6. What certifications does the planner have such as Certified Financial Planner?
  7. Is the planner a member of a NASD?
  8. How many clients does your financial planner have?
  9. What size does my account have to be for me to be one of your larger clients? If you have $50,000 and all of the other clients have $5 million it is potential that you may not receive as much attention as you might like since the financial planner might be spending time with larger clients.
  10. How has the planner done over the last several years in comparison to the S&P500 index. If you are going to have to pay someone 1% to manage your money and they are only averaging 6% return over the last several years you might as well keep your money invested in a Certificate of Deposit or CD.
  11. What type of investments can you buy through your planner.

Final thought do me a favor. If you enjoyed this post or any of my other posts why not subscribe to my Strategies for Life Blog? Again it is free, free is good right? Just click here.

Tags: investing, retirement, get rich

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Saturday, August 26, 2006

Online Certificates of Deposit


Online Certificates of Deposit

Did you know that you can buy CD or certificates of deposits online through your broker? I didn't realize this was available until the following happened to me. I don't know if you are as frustrated with stock market as I am. I feel like I have been treading water for at least the last 6 years. I have been saving for college for my kids for a long time only to enjoy about a 4% return on their mutual fund that I invested in. So anyway, I got tired of the performance and I moved their savings into a Schwab account. I figured I could spread the investment out among a bunch of different mutual funds in different market segments, check out my artical on investing in mutual funds.

So I got a good start on investing and I picked out 2 mutual funds and then May of 2006 came and the market started tanking. So I guess I was glad that I didn't invest all of the transfer money into the stock market. Several months went by and I didn't do anything and the cash was just sitting in the money market. So finally I got online and did some research on the CDs offered by Schwab. I was really excited to find that I could buy CD online through Schwab. This is not an article about Schwab but it was really convenient how they set this up. If you have ever bought a CD through a bank or credit union it is sort of a pain. You have to actually go to the bank and sign a small contract. Since I don't go to the bank very often this is not convenient.

Anyway, with the Schwab account you simply goto their website and select the rate and durations that are available and you buy the CD online. You can buy CD with maturity rates as short as 1 month. I bought a CD with a 2 month maturity rate of 5.3% on an annual basis. I was really impressed with the ease of this transaction and the fact that I could buy such a short duration so my investments could earn at least a decent return while I was waiting to figure out what to do with them.

Final thought do me a favor. If you enjoyed this post or any of my other posts why not subscribe to my Strategies for Life Blog? Again it is free, free is good right? Just click here.

Tags: investing, retirement, get rich

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Sunday, August 20, 2006

Making money online with affiliate programs

Making money online with affiliate programs

Maybe you don't have your own product or service to sell but you are still interested in making money online through the internet. One of the best ways to do this is through and affiliate program. I also like placing ads with Google Adsense as well.

What is an Affiliate Program? An affiliate program allows you to act a an agent for the participating companies. For example, Walmart is one of my affiates. If you click on the ads that if have placed on my sites and end up buying something from Walmart I would get paid. Dell is also one of my affiliates, the same goes for Dell.

Below are two examples of affiliate program ads that you can try.

Wal-Mart.com USA, LLC

Dell Home Systems

If you would like to enroll in Linkshare's affiliate program or Chitika click on the ad below to enroll.

LinkShare  Referral  Prg


Get Chitika eMiniMalls


How do I find the right Affiliate Program? The easiest way to find an affiliate program is to go to either Commission Junction or LinkShare. I have been a member of both Linkshare and Commission Junction. I am also a member of Amazon.coms affiliate program. I prefer Amazon and Linkshare because every time I join Commission Junction they kick me out because I have not produced revenue fast enough.

Final thought do me a favor. If you enjoyed this post or any of my other posts why not subscribe to my Strategies for Life Blog? Again it is free, free is good right? Just click here.

Tags: investing, retirement, get rich

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Saturday, August 05, 2006

Websites that save you money

Websites that save you money

I am always looking for ways to save money, reduce gas cost, get cheaper loans, invest more wisely. So I decides to put together a resource page on some of the interesting websites that I have found that help you save money.

The first site is Coupons.com. It is a pretty cool site that lets you search through the available coupons ranging from $1 to $2 off some items. Some of the items even have rebates that make them free after rebate.

Another is Freebiesshack.com this site is one of the Internet's leading web sites where you can get great samples of free stuff used by Americans on a daily basis. Basically you sign up on line and you receive that samples in the mail. I have tried it yet, but I would be interested in your opionion if you have.

I also like the Sundaysaver.com. This site allows you too lookup the weekly sale ads from most major stores. It is pretty handy if you don't get the Sunday paper or if you already pitched the paper and need to look something up.

Two other sites that allow you to do comparison shopping are Bizrate.com and PriceGrabber.com. The neat part about these websites is that they do the work for you. You done have to go to a zillion different sites to do your comparison shopping.

Final thought do me a favor. If you enjoyed this post or any of my other posts why not subscribe to my Strategies for Life Blog? Again it is free, free is good right? Just click here.

Tags: investing, retirement, get rich

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Sunday, July 30, 2006

Mirco loans at Kiva.org

Micro loans for your business check out Kiva.org

A popular question from my readers is where to find obtain a loan for a small business. The funny thing is the logical answer would be to check with your bank, however, banks don't like risk and loaning money to small businesses is risky. I recently read an article about a website cal Kiva.org. Kiva provides small business wannabees with an avenue to find loans from not traditional loan sources which generally means private individuals.


How does Kiva work: Basically, the prospective small business post want ads indicating the type of business loan that they need and a description of their business. Generally the small business owners is planning to repay the loan through profits generated by the business. The repayment time frame is usually 9 to 16 months.

How is Kiva different then Prosper.com: Kiva focuses on letting you loan to the working poor around the world. By specializing in loaning money to unique small businesses in the developing world you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. On the otherhand Prosper basically anyone around the world can request a loan for almost any situation. Basically, you are loan the money as a good will gesture. You are giving something back to the world community and helping the less fortunate.

Kiva has only been open for business for 5 months, however it has already fund 450 small business with over $200,000 in loans. The cool part is that all of the repayment transactions are handled automatically by Paypal.com.

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Saturday, July 22, 2006

What is a FICO score

What is a FICO score?

Thinking about buying a house, leasing a car, or taking on some other type of debt? When you apply for a loan, a credit card, car loan, or mortgage, the banks or lenders want to know what risk they'd take by loaning money to you. Higher FICO scores means you have good credit, lower scores may mean you have poor credit and are a higher risk. Are you looking for ways to Raise your FICO Score.

FICO® scores are the credit scores most lenders use to determine your credit risk. You have three FICO scores, one for each of the three credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Each score is based on information the credit bureau keeps on file about you. As this information changes, your credit scores tend to change as well. Your 3 FICO scores affect both how much and what loan terms (interest rate, etc.) lenders will offer you at any given time. Taking steps to improve your FICO scores can help you qualify for better rates from lenders.

FICO scores are designed to measure the risk of default, by taking into account various factors. Although the exact formula for calculating the FICO score is a closely guarded secret, the following components and the approximate weighted contribution of each:

  • 35% punctuality of payment in the past
  • 30% capacity used: the ratio of current revolving debt (credit card balances, etc.) to total available revolving credit (credit limits)
  • 15% length of credit history
  • 10% types of credit used (installment, revolving, consumer finance)
  • 10% recent search for credit and/or amount of credit obtained recently

If you would like to get an estimate of your FICO score you can to the FICO Esitmate calculator at Bankrate.com.

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Monday, July 10, 2006

Get your free credit report

How to get a free credit report

Probably the most advertised free credit report service is http://www.freecreditreport.com. However, I tried the site and I couldn't figure out a way to actually get a free credit report. The other day I was driving home from work and I heard a news story about actually getting a free annual credit report. This one actually works and you do not have to put in a credit card. Unfortunately, you do need to put in a social security number but I guess that makes sense.

The site is called https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp it provides a yearly free credit report from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, in order to monitor credit history and guard against identity theft. I tried the service and it works. It is amazing how many different credit cards and lines of credit at different stores you accumulate over the years. It is probably a good idea to go through the list of lines of credit and credit cards and cancel them. Some of them I didn't even remember opening.

Anyway it is a good way to get your free credit report on line. You don't have to pay for it. Of course they have all kinds of options that you can buy like subscribing to a service that informs you if your credit score has changed additionally in order for you to get your FICO score they also want to charge you something like $6.95. Not sure why they do that.

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Saturday, June 24, 2006

Top 10 ways to improve your credit scores

Top 10 ways to improve your credit scores

I read and interesting article at About.com on how to improve your credit score. Here is a summary of what they said.

  1. First of you should understand what goes into the calculation of your credit score, and after you do that you can develop a plan for improving your score. You can get your credit score from different places on line however, probably the easiest way to do it is to go to a bank and get prequalified for a loan and they will run the credit report for you. I have looked at some of the free credit report companies online and I am concerned about giving them my social security number and my credit card information. If they say free credit report then why do they need my credit card number?
  2. After you have a copy of your credit report, review it carefully and look for errors and if possible correct any significant errors. It was amazing to me one time we went to apply for a home loan and they said we had a late payment. I was pretty shocked and it turn out it was a stupid department store bill that we had forgotten to pay one month and they immediately turned us in as a late pay. Since then I have pretty much refused to have any more department store credit cards, gas cards, etc.
  3. Pay your bills on time. Of course this goes without saying as the most important thing that you can do to maintain and improve your credit score.
  4. Don't open a lot of new accounts over a short time period, especially if you have a short credit history. This ties into point number 2, if you have a Visa why do you need a department store card and a gas cards and a Lowes card, etc. Additionally, if you search around you can get a Visa or Mastercard that pays you rewards.
  5. Shop for credit over a short period of time. FICO scores distinguish between searching for credit for a specific loan and searching for lots of different credit lines. I wasn't exactly sure what this meant however, I believe what happens is if you apply for loans or credit cards this activity is turned in on your credit score. I didn't realize this but it is an interesting point.
  6. If you have a questionable credit history, open a few new credit accounts, use them responsibly, and pay them off on time. This is a core principle of life, pay off your credit card debts and live within your means. Your goal should be to get out of debt and build up savings for rainy days expenses, saving for retirment, and your kids college education.
  7. Don't open credit accounts you don't intend to use. See point number 2 again.
  8. A credit card or installment loan can raise your score as long as you don't have too high a balance and you pay it off in a timely manner. The credit score companies will look at your debt ratios. Having a high level of debt will raise your risk factor. So again paying off of your debts is one of the number one ways to improve your credit score.
  9. Keep your balance low in relation to your available credit. If your credit limit is $10,000, keeping your balance below $2,500 (25%) will improve your score. Better than that pay off that $2500, why do you even want to run a balance.
  10. Pay off credit card debt rather than move it around to lower rate cards. Moving balances to other credit cards and closing out the old account can hurt your score because it can change the ratio of your total credit card balances to your total available credit lines. By moving stuff around from one credit card to the next has the appearance of running from the problem. I always hate when you get a new credit card and they send you checks to do balance transfers. I am not going to transfer a balance. Key point borrow money from a bank not a credit card company. I just boat a new camper and the rate was 6.75%. Try to find some long term credit cards that have a rate close to that.
  11. Finally you need to remember that negative items affect your credit score much more quickly than positive items. Late payments can negatively affect your score in just a few months, whereas paying bills on time may take 6 to 12 months to generate a significant improvement in your score. Good credit scores are a sign of clean living, if you spent the money you have to pay the bills and pay them on time. Get yourself out of debt. One of the best things to do as well is to setup as many of your bills as possible on automatic payment. This will ensure that you are not late in making your payments.

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Saturday, June 17, 2006

Higher returns at Prosper.com

Higher rates of return with micro loans at Prosper.com

How would like to get a 17% return on your money by making a loan to a priest in Orlando? Ok so maybe your not religious, would you loan $15K to a second year Harvard student at 8%? With today's stock market it can be hard to find a good return on your money. Additionally, most people are looking for ways to diversify there investments. Prosper was started by Chris Larsen the co-founder of E-Loan. He started the service to take on the credit card companies that charge high rates and promote revolving credit that never goes away. The really cool thing is that all loans only have a 3 year duration.

Well if you are investor looking for these types of opportunities Prosper.com could be just what you are looking for. Prosper matches up prospective borrows with lenders in an auction/dating service type environment. Or if you are borrower looking for an alternative to the banks, credit cards or loan companies, this could be a great opportunity for you.

How does prosper work: Basically, the lenders get to evaluate the prospective borrowers each seeking loans from $1000 to $25000. The borrowers state their case on why the are looking for the loan. Prosper does the background work by providing homeownership, credit history, and debt to income ratio. The the loan is put up for bid at the maximum interest rate the borrower is willing to pay. The site has a maximum interest rate and charges borrowers a 1% fee and lenders an annual 1/2 percent fee. You can search through the prospective lenders by a variety of methods including credit rating or interest rate they are willing to pay. What's cool about Prosper.com is you can participate in a small way by loan $100 or $10,000 to the prospective borrower. Additionally, the loan is not actually made by you the lender it is made by Prosper.com. Prosper then sells the debt to you. They are effectively the middle man and they do all the work and distribute the payments.

How to participate: If you are interested in Prosper.com prospective borrows and lender must submit to a credit check and link the bank accounts to Prosper. All the money transfers are automated, which really simplifies the payment process. Good luck and happy investing

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Thursday, May 18, 2006

Virtual Stock Exchange and Stock Market Competition

Virtual Stock Exchange and Stock Market Competition

Are you one of those people that is smarter than the average investor? Are you ready to make yourselfs millions in the stock market overnight day trading? How would you like a risk free way to find out if you have what it takes. Now you can trade stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs thanks to Virtualstockexchange.com. You can even join in the stock market competitions and challenges.

One of the best ways to get ideas for picking stock to trade in these competitions is to subscribe to Investor's Business Daily. Additionally I would recommend that you listen to our take advantage of the Mad Money Picks by Jim Cramer. And if you are just getting started in investing checkout The Warren Buffet Way it is an excellent book on how one of the most successful investors of all time selects the stocks for his company Berkshire Hathaway.

Tags: investing, retirement, get rich, debt

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