May 25, 2013

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Tips on How to Lower Your Car Insurance

Cheap car insurance exists. It’s just a matter of being able to find it. But keep in mind when looking for a new car insurance provider that cheaper doesn’t always mean better. You could be lacking out on proper coverage simply by choosing the cheapest car insurance quote you can find. Consider lots of things when shopping for a new car insurance provider or trying to get discounts from your current provider. It is possible to find cost-effective car insurance coverage, but it may take some time to find the right provider. Follow these tips and you’re guaranteed to find car insurance coverage that works for you.

Determine What Coverage You Need

reduce your car insuranceThis can be one of the biggest things to consider when you’re looking to save money on car insurance. Often times, you may be paying for car insurance coverage that goes way above what you actually need. Check out what kind of coverage you have for different categories such as bodily injury liability for a single person, bodily injury liability for all injured people, and property damage liability. If you’re paying too much for any one or multiple categories, consider either reducing your coverage or switching to a new car insurance provider completely.

Shop Around

If you want to save lots of money, even thousands, on car insurance, you need to shop around before you settle on a provider. There are plenty of websites out there that let you compare car insurance quotes, and doing so can be the easiest way to save money on your insurance. Gather a list of car insurance quotes by visiting websites that let you compare many different quotes from many different providers. Compare what kind of coverage you get for what prices, and definitely compare what kind of discounts each provider offers. You’ll find that comparing is the best way to save money on car insurance, as insurance providers are essentially competing for your business.

Look for Discounts

If you’re looking to knock a few hundred bucks off your car insurance bill without the hassle of switching providers, simply ask your current provider what kinds of discounts they offer. Car insurance providers offer a ton of discounts for a number of different scenarios. The most common discount is a good driver discount, but there are a lot more such as a discount if you’re married. If you have a teen driver, check with your provider to see if they provide a discount based on your teen’s report card. If your teen gets good grades, you may be in store for an additional discount!

Install a Theft Device on Your Car

If you have an anti-theft device on your vehicle, your car insurance prices are likely to go down. Many newer cars already have anti-theft devices that will lower your car insurance prices, but if you have an older car that doesn’t have you, consider installing one. Most anti-theft devices mean lower car insurance prices, plus you’ll have the peace of mind knowing your car is more secure.

Filed Under: Reduce Tagged With: , , , ,

Different Effective Binary Options Trading Strategies That Will Work for You

Trading binary options can be a real hit or miss way of investing. If you’re good at it, you can make a lot of money fast. But if you don’t take time to research good strategies or brokers, you can easily lost a lot of money on your investments. It’s important to have consistent, proven, solid strategies when playing the binary options markets.  Search around, and you’ll find plenty of advice on how to supplement your income with binary option trading.

binary options tradingThere are quite a few different strategies out there to consider when getting in to binary option trading. Searching through different binary option sites will give you a good idea and background on strategies that can work for you. It’s important to develop a strategy before investing so you won’t start out in the red. Check out some of these proven binary option trading strategies that will help you be successful.

Fast and high volume

If you want to make money fast, choosing a high volume strategy like the 60 second strategy could work for you. Trading fast will likely lead to more losses, but you make up for the ground lost with the sheer amount of trading you do. Recognize that you will likely incur some initial losses when using the 60 second strategy, but that once you develop a rhythm you will start to see your bank accounts rise. Once you’re able to start identifying trends that work for you, you may find that the 60 second strategy is the fastest, most efficient way to make money trading binary options.

Knowledge and analyzing 

If the 60 second strategy seems to be too hectic and fast for you, taking a more knowledgeable approach to binary options trading might be a better fit. If you’re able to analyze exactly how much you will win or lose on each investment, you’ll be able to invest much more wisely which will ultimately lead to bigger returns. Once you are able to identify binary options trends in addition to understanding your trading risks, you’ll know exactly how to invest in the most efficient way possible. There are definitely a lot less risks when taking this kind of strategy as opposed to the 60 second strategy, but it may take a bit longer to start seeing those huge returns.

Demo accounts

Using a demo account to learn effective binary option trading trends is possibly one of the best ways to become successful in learning the market. Many different brokers will offer you demo accounts to use once you’ve made a deposit, so you can learn to invest strategically before using your own money. Try your strategy on the demo accounts and make sure it’s successful, because losing fake money is much better than losing real money. Demo trade more than you think you need to before using your real account. You will learn from each demo trade you make, and this could prove to be valuable experience when it comes to finally making your first real investment.

Filed Under: Investing

The Time To Get Out Of Debt Is Now!

Elizabeth Roque is an in-house writer for FranklinDebtRelief.com. She presents information about debt relief services, credit card debt relief and getting out of debt on a variety of financial sites online.

Do not inflict more damage to your finances by putting your debts aside and attending to them later. Act now and start safeguarding your future and your financial security. With the multitude of debt relief solutions available — whether done on your own or with the aid of expert solution — what matters is your decision to rise above the situation and chose now as the best time to combat debt.

Many people think that ignoring their problems would eventually make their problems disappear. While this is false in every sense and logic, the absurdity of the idea becomes more eminent when we talk about debt. Debt accumulation is one good illustration of how ignored problems translate themselves into bigger ones, making them harder to deny and more difficult to confront. It is important to keep in mind that every problem has its solution, and this knowledge must spur you into action the instant you become aware of it. This would save you from being forced to face an even worse situation, in addition to the possibility of losing more in the process.

For instance, if you have credit card debt and you do not know how to deal with the creditors who relentlessly call you, sending you warning statements time and again, and taking extreme measures just to get you to pay back what you owe, you may have the tendency to sit on one corner and decide to ignore them until they become tired of haunting you. Every debtor wishes this to be the case —that their creditors would eventually give up and find other debtors to bother and compel to pay.

But sad as it is, this never happens. And as for you, it does not negate the fact that you are indeed responsible for returning what you borrowed, and that the creditors are only doing their job. Early on, while the situation is still manageable, you must choose to act and consider options. When it comes to debt, you can look into debt relief and study the programs that can possible help you get rid of your financial troubles. Granting that every solution promises debt freedom once you sign up and commit to the program, it becomes your obligation to assess what solution suggests the best approach to address your debt concerns.

Your participation in terms of ensuring that you are enrolling your accounts into a trustworthy company and you are informed of the plan that you would take to get out of debt is key to achieving success. Early resolve to deal with your debt, partnered with commitment and involvement in the process would make debt freedom possible and within your reach.

Photo Credit: dborman2

Filed Under: Debt Management

Another Link Roundup

I periodically bookmark links here and there. Here are some that caught my eye:

5 Money Lessons We Can Learn From Grandma and Grandpa – from the Mint.com Blog.

4 Rules To Building Your Wealth – The Fiscally Fit Man from Men’s Health Magazine.

What’s Next After Debt Freedom? – From TheSimpleDollar.com Blog.
This is also something that my wife and I struggle with. She wants to save a large chunk for retirement. I would rather to some of the things we’ve talked about doing when we are older now, while we can enjoy them.  We’ve kind of settled on one destination trip a year, while also saving to build our dream home.

3 Ways to Pay Off Your Mortgage Faster – from MoneyTalk News

Do You Save Your Pocket Change? For One Indiana Man It Adds Up To A New Car Every 10-15 Years. – from SmartOnMoney.

 

Filed Under: General

Need a Kick in the Pants To Become Debt Free?

You hear it everywhere. Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey, your parents, your banker, your credit score.

You need to pay off your debt and become debt free.

That is fine and dandy, but you need to make that decision for yourself. And finances rank right up there with religion and politics as things you probably don’t want to chat about. Or you may be stubborn, “I’m getting along just fine the way I’m going now.” That’s cool, I get it.

Enter ReadyForZero.com. I know what it is like, and it took me years to get over my stubbornness and finally decide to get debt free, and I didn’t talk with anyone or take anyone’s advice (let alone seek anyone’s advice). ReadyForZero.com is a website that provides a free, powerful tool for you to get out of debt on your own program. It would have save me a bunch of time after looking back on my plan – which I thought was stellar. I plugged in my numbers from the day I made my decision and had I followed the program it set up – with my input – I would have been out of debt 13 months faster than it actually took me.

Go get started today, even if all you do is look around. I won’t tell.

Filed Under: General

30 Days to an Improved Financial Focus

The folks at Good.com are running a 30 days series for Financial Fitness.

I like these kinds of programs because there are easy to bite off in chunks, digest for the day and you get a fresh task the next day. Plus, they stretch it past the magical 21 day target at which point a task becomes a habit.

I’d recommend getting started at Task 1: Know Where Your Money Is.

This may seem obvious, but have you ever found yourself saying something like, “So, my grandmother used to put some money into some account every year for my birthday. I’m not sure where it is or what’s happened to it, but it’s there”? It’s time to find that money and fold it into your portfolio. Perhaps you can use it to pay off outstanding debt or start a short-term emergency fund. Maybe you’ll leave it where it is, but when you know about it, you can use it to your advantage.

You can also follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #30DaysofGOOD.

Speaking of Twitter, I really need to get hip with the times. I’m adding that to my T0Do list.

Filed Under: General

16 Small Ways to Save Money

Want to save money? Everyone does.

Small steps over the course of the year add up to big savings when you look back on them. Much like the anti-smoking line “Imagine how much you’d save in a year if you quit smoking.” And if you do smoke, quit now, please. If not for you health, then for your finances :)

Here are 16 ways to pinch that add up to big savings over the course of a year.

1. Compare store prices for the basics in your pantry. This will help you decide which store offers the most competitive price for those products. Stock up in bulk, when larger saving opportunities present themselves.

2. Never shop when you are hungry. Everything looks good.

3. Make a list before you go and stick to it. Impulse purchases are budget killers.

4. When you buy meat or packages of poultry buy the family sized cuts. You can repackage them to the size your family needs on your meals before putting them in the fridge or freezer.

5. Know your vehicle’s fuel preferences. Ethanol gasoline is usually cheeper than regular 87 octane, but the higher combustion point usually shaves a couple miles off each gallon. Run a couple tanks of each and track your mileage per tank to determine the best option for your vehicle.

6. Going shopping? Shop with cash rather than your debit card. You are more likely to overspend with plastic – even if it is a debit card – than you will with cash in your pocket.

7. Have magazine subscriptions? Cancel them. Most pubs are running the same articles for free on their websites a couple weeks after the print issue comes out.

8. Recycle, Recycle, Recycle. Used clothes can be reused into washing sponge or cleaning clothes. Some garbage companies are also partnering up with recycling reward programs.

9. Shop off-season. Sure, your kids may feel the social pressure to be up to date with their stylings, but you don’t.

10. Gardening. Not only can you save money on produce in the late summer, but you are also taking a step toward self-sustainability which is also a hip skill in this day and age. So forego your style and be a hipster.

11. Buying items in packages costs less than purchasing individual wraps.

12. Breast milk is still best for babies so feed them with your own milk instead of milk formula.

13. Set up a babysitting coop with other parents in your neighborhood. Returning the favors with neighbors sure beats the $20-$50 that usually goes in to a babysitter’s hand after a night out.

14. Homemade products such as pastries and cookies are good gifts to give on occasions. Try doing some for gifts rather than buying from stores.

15. Be an usher to concerts or plays in order to get free special pass on these events, not to mention a nice part-time job.

16. How old is your vehicle and are you still carrying comprehensive insurance? Generally speaking, as your vehicle’s value drops to around the $2-3000 range it doesn’t make financial sense to carry anything other than liability. Take that difference and stick it in the bank in case your vehicle does meet with an accident (that is your fault).

Filed Under: Frugality

Avoiding Fees & Saving Money

Over at Lifehacker, they have an article on Avoiding Fees and Getting Free Money.

In my book, it should be only 8 tips they have there, but numbers are just numbers. But there list is as follows:

10. Find the Right Bank
9. Switch to a Credit Union
8. Skip the Fee-Ridden Perks
7. Use Jenny’s Number for Grocery Store Discounts
6. Combine Your Cash Back Credit Card and Checking Account
5. Try a High Interest Savings Account
4. Apply Student Discounts to Everything You Can (Even If You Aren’t a Student)
3. Find Unclaimed Money in Your Name
2. Use a Debit Card Without Getting Screwed
1. Maximize Your Credit Card Rewards

It isn’t too hard to guess that I’m against #1 and #6, but I also think you should just forego #10 and jump feet first into #9 and open a credit union account.

Using Jenny’s number (867-5309) was a new one to me. But in this age of reward card discounts it makes sense and goes hand-in-hand with the early days of paywalls on the web and using the username cypherpunk with the password cypherpunk.

Using Student Discounts should be a given, but I’d also recommend checking to see if your employer has discount programs available as well. Many large companies have discounts negotiated with cell phone providers, gyms and other fitness programs, and even some discounts on retail purchases. If you are a government employee, you may not realize the wealth of discounts available to you with your government employee ID card. My wife is a government employee and we receive discounts from the Apple Store (the website, not sure about physical Apple stores), hotels & rental cars, our gym membership, and our cell plan (even with iPhones).

Also in line with Jenny’s Number, if you are doing any online shopping, make sure you take a run through RetailMeNot.com to find out if there are discount or promo codes available for the site you are shopping on.

Filed Under: Frugality

History of the Calculator

That handy tool, the calculator, that you probably use each and every month to manage your budget, can be traced back to 2000B.C. Another fun fact is that the software that powered many of the space shuttle’s systems were stored on an HP-41C, and a couple of them were included in all shuttle flights in case of system failure.

Think about that the next time you are tapping away.

Filed Under: General

Link Roundup

Had a few links I’ve been meaning to post sitting with flags in my inbox. Here you go:
Best Money Tips: Strategies for Saving Year-Round
The holidays are coming up and this is the time of year when money conversations start to rev up. Wise advice is to think saving year round.

How Money Works: 10 Principles Everyone Should Know
I try not to push faith-based advice because dropping religion in to the middle of conversation can polarize the conversation, but there is solid advice here.

5 Reasons to Switch to A Credit Union
Credit Unions are the way to go, but if you don’t have that option available to you, consider moving to a small, locally owned bank.

Filed Under: Links
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