Why You Should Avoid Tax Refund Anticipation Loans
<p>Have you ever filed your tax return and hoped you could get your hands on your refund early? You're not alone. In fact, this has been a common practice in recent years. Most large tax preparers would offer what's called a tax refund anticipation loan. How it works is they determine how much of a refund you'll be receiving when filing your taxes and then lend you the money immediately so that you don't have to wait a few weeks for the IRS to send you a check. Then when your refund actually does come in it goes towards paying off the loan, less any fees. Sounds good, right?</p> <p>Well, the problem that this is an expensive proposition. Sometimes they will charge you fees in excess of a few hundred dollars just to get your hands on your tax refund a week or two early. This often translates into an APR well over one-hundred percent. Would you willingly get a loan with a 200% APR? Of course not, but that's exactly what these short-term tax refund loans give you.</p> <p>Thankfully, the IRS recently issued a statement that says they plan on eliminating the information they used to send to tax&#160;preparation&#160;services that would allow them to underwrite these tax refund loans. That doesn't mean companies will need stop offering them, but it may curb their wide&#160;availability&#160;in the coming tax season. That's good news because it's a form of predatory lending not much different than payday loans. <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/taxplanning/a/Tax-Refund-Anticipation-Loans.htm">Learn more about these loans and what the IRS has to say about them</a>.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/02/10/why-you-should-avoid-tax-refund-anticipation-loans.htm">Why You Should Avoid Tax Refund Anticipation Loans</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Friday, February 10th, 2012 at 17:28:48.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/02/10/why-you-should-avoid-tax-refund-anticipation-loans.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/02/10/why-you-should-avoid-tax-refund-anticipation-loans.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/02/10/why-you-should-avoid-tax-refund-anticipation-loans.htm&#038;zItl=Why You Should Avoid Tax Refund Anticipation Loans">Email this</a></p>
Keep Spending Under Control By Using Cash
<p>If you're like most people, you probably use plastic for many of your daily purchases. Since more places take credit or debit cards and many of these cards offer rewards or cash back, it is no wonder they are so easy to use. But this convenience can come at a cost. If you don't keep detailed records of your spending, using the card can lead to spending more than you normally would.</p> <p>When you use cash for your regular daily purchases, you have a physical connection to your available money, and you can visually see how much you have and how much you spend. With a card, it's all digital and you may not review your purchases until the end of the day, week, or even month. By then, the money has long been spent. But with cash, you open your wallet or purse and immediately know how much you have available to spend, and it may keep you from buying something you don't need. So, if you have trouble keeping your spending under control, <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/budgetingyourmoney/a/usecash.htm">you may want to consider giving cash a try</a>.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/31/keep-spending-under-control-by-using-cash.htm">Keep Spending Under Control By Using Cash</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 20:42:52.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/31/keep-spending-under-control-by-using-cash.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/31/keep-spending-under-control-by-using-cash.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/31/keep-spending-under-control-by-using-cash.htm&#038;zItl=Keep Spending Under Control By Using Cash">Email this</a></p>
Ready to Buy a Home?
<p>With the housing market still in the dumps and mortgage rates at record lows, a lot of people are considering buying a home for the first time. Taking advantage of depressed real estate prices and cheap lending does indeed make this a buyer's market. But buying a home is no simple decision. In fact, it may be one of the largest financial decisions many people make in their lifetime. So rather than jump in head first it pays to make sure owning a home is really the right decision. Here's how to determine <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/realestatemortgages/a/Are-You-Ready-To-Buy-A-Home.htm">if you are ready to buy a home</a>.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/24/ready-to-buy-a-home.htm">Ready to Buy a Home?</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 11:44:57.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/24/ready-to-buy-a-home.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/24/ready-to-buy-a-home.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/24/ready-to-buy-a-home.htm&#038;zItl=Ready to Buy a Home?">Email this</a></p>
Pick The Right Mortgage
<p>People love the idea of owning a home, and sometimes that allure makes people do the wrong thing. That's where risky mortgages come in. For decades, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was the gold standard. You put 20 percent down, you got a 30-year loan, and that was all she wrote. But in recent years the types of mortgages offered have made a mess of the marketplace, as can be seen with the current financial crisis. Now you can get interest-only loans, 40-year loans, adjustable rate mortgages, and so on. All of these new loans make it easier to make payments on a house, but the problem is they usually put you in a worse financial situation. Here's what you need to know to avoid some of the more <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/realestatemortgages/a/Risky-Mortgage-Rundown.htm">risky home loans</a> out there.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/22/pick-the-right-mortgage.htm">Pick The Right Mortgage</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Sunday, January 22nd, 2012 at 20:02:50.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/22/pick-the-right-mortgage.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/22/pick-the-right-mortgage.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/22/pick-the-right-mortgage.htm&#038;zItl=Pick The Right Mortgage">Email this</a></p>
Saving Money in a Tough Economy
<p>Gas prices are relatively high and the cost of groceries are increasing faster than inflation. People everywhere are feeling the financial pressures of today's economy, and for most, the thought of saving money is a distant one. When times are tough, saving money can be difficult. Even if you're living paycheck to paycheck, there are ways you can save if you follow a few simple rules</p> <h3>Start Small</h3> <p>Saving money is a marathon, not a sprint. If you want to save up $1,000, it is much easier to accomplish that goal in a year compared to two months. In order to <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/savingmoney/a/wheretokeepsave.htm">put your savings plan to work</a>, the key is to start small. Can you find a way to save $5 each week? Think about it--five dollars a week is less than a lot of fast food value meals or even a few fancy coffees. Five dollars could be shaved off of each weekly grocery bill by buying a few things on sale or buying store brands. When you start with a small amount, you can find ways to save, and it adds up over time.</p> <p>So, saving five dollars a week doesn't sound like much, but that's okay. If you saved just the five dollars a week for a year, you'd have $260, less any interest. If you're married and your spouse does the same, you will have amassed over $500 painlessly. But the idea isn't to start small and stay small. You may start at five dollars a week, but once a few weeks or a month goes by and you're used to saving that money, bump it up to $7 or even $10 each week. If you could live without five extra dollars, you could probably find you can get by without seven dollars just as easily.</p> <p>These small incremental weekly increases will gradually change your spending habits so that you become accustomed to how much money you have available, and before you know it, you're stashing away a nice amount of money.</p> <h3>Make Saving Automatic</h3> <p>You've heard it before, but to make saving work, you need to pay yourself first. If you wait until all the bills are paid, groceries bought, and money otherwise spent before seeing what is left over at the end of the week, you'll always come up empty. The key to saving is to treat your savings as a bill. You find a way to pay the phone bill each month, don't you? Well, think of your weekly or monthly savings as a bill that has to be paid, and pay it before it gets spent on frivolous things.</p> <p>To make sure you pay yourself first, you need to <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/savingmoney/a/automaticsave.htm">create an automatic savings plan</a>. This is best accomplished by setting up direct deposit with your paychecks so that a little bit goes into savings on the day you get paid. That way, on payday you don't have to worry about making a deposit yourself, and you have already put that savings out of sight and out of mind.</p> <p>If you don't have direct deposit set up, you can always create an automatic transfer between accounts with your bank. You can schedule a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly automatic transfer that moves money from your checking to savings. If you don't have to think about it, it's much more likely to get done.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/15/saving-money-in-a-tough-economy.htm">Saving Money in a Tough Economy</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Sunday, January 15th, 2012 at 18:46:50.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/15/saving-money-in-a-tough-economy.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/15/saving-money-in-a-tough-economy.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/15/saving-money-in-a-tough-economy.htm&#038;zItl=Saving Money in a Tough Economy">Email this</a></p>


have to deal with one agent who understands your combined coverage’s. This agent will also be able to better keep on top of any changes to your policy that will be of benefit to you.

With a combined coverage your payments will be much easier. Most companies with combined home and auto insurance coverage’s will invoice you for both policies at the same time. This means that you will only have one payment a month for both types of insurance and would no longer need to remember which time of the month you would have to make a payment for which insurance.

As mentioned earlier a major benefit of combining your home and auto insurance into one package is saving money. Many companies will discount your insurance premiums up to 10% if you purchase a combined policy from them. Over the course of a year those savings can add up, meaning more money in your bank account.

If you currently have your home and auto insurance with separate companies you might consider asking both of them if they offer a combined policy and how much, if any, money you can save by switching to them. If you are able to this you will find your life to be a little easier and you can save some money in the process.

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To see if you can save money with a combined home and auto insurance policy visit the web site Home Insurance Quotes by Clicking Here.

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