Personal Financial Tips

Archive for August, 2011

Many banks offer attractive schemes to draw customers to them. Some of them are as follows:

1. High interest savings accounts. These accounts are those that offer investors a higher than average interest on their money. However, these accounts might have several restrictions too. So be aware of them before opening up this type of account. However, many find that the factor of interest is in itself an appealing factor to open up an account.

2. Tracking of account and money management is made easy with the detailed statements that banks send their patrons at the end of the month. These show complete information about deposits and withdrawals, and in some cases, even provide details of any special services on the account.

3. The fund transfer option makes account maintenance easy. Using this feature, you will be able to send and receive funds without any hassles.

4. These accounts can be linked to checking accounts in order to prevent overdrafts. This reduces the chances of your cheques being bounced due to insufficient funds in your account. There are some banks that levy a onetime fee on this service. So ensure that you get all details before signing up.

5. The feature of online access to your account is excellent in that you would be able to keep track of all transactions as well as get information on products and services for which you might be eligible.

The biggest selling point, as mentioned before, is the interest, which is not available on checking accounts. Therefore, it is ideal to open up a savings account so that you can earn money instead of keeping your money idle.

There are many issues involved with the application for a loan and also the approval of loans, there are also different kinds of loans available. The home equity loan is one of the different kinds of loans which involve the using of the home’s equity to get desired funds to meet the needs of the borrower. The lender gives out money to gain more money in return, and the best avenue for the lender to gain is through the interest rate attached to the loan, this is negotiable between the lender and borrower and an agreement is reached. The loan can be a fixed or variable interest home equity loan; this goes a long way to determine the other factors affecting the loan.

The variable or adjustable interest rate home equity loan is another type of home equity loan, this means that the interest rate is not stable and is subject to change at any time throughout the life of the loan. In this kind of situation the amount given is between the ranges of 80 – 100 percent of the equity of your home. This means that if the amount invested in your home is one hundred thousand dollars, the amount of the home equity loan will vary between eighty to a hundred thousand dollars. It should be noted here that the money is divided into different small installment, unlike the case of the fixed rate.

Most times, the adjustable interest rate home equity loan is more expensive to pay back than the fixed rate loans. This is because the interest rate is ever changing, most lenders utilize this opportunity to always hike the interest rates of loans offered; making it difficult for borrowers to actually determine what the monthly pay backs will be like, and with this you will end up paying more. In fact the total amount of payback cannot be determined at the beginning, making it impossible to plan.

Comparing the fixed interest with the variable/adjustable interest rate home equity loan, it will be discovered that the fixed rate is better since it enables one to budget, planning the loan repayment well since there is a knowledge of the total amount of payback, unlike the variable rates that makes it hard to plan because there is no definite total payback amount. But, with the variable rate loan, one can collect money at different times in small installments making one able to spend the money of the loan well, since the amount is used bit by bit to actualize the borrower’s desire.

Car insurance is mandatory not only in the United States but in many countries around the globe. We all know about the kind of insurance that we can have in the event of a fender bender or an outright accident that protects the driver and passengers. But, what happens when there is an accident on which your car is involved but you were not the driver. Many of us will lend out cars to friends or relatives without thought to accident or injury to the driver or the car. In that case there is third party insurance.

Third party car insurance covers you in the event of damage caused by your car, in the event of an accident,  to property owned by a third party. This would be considered coverage for damage done accidentally to someone’s property and the coverage can go to Twenty Million dollars.

Your car may not be worth insuring the think of the other person’s property. If you have experience car repairs you know that a scratch or a bump can sometimes cost thousands of dollars for repairs. If you car may not be worth insuring what about your peace of mind that has some worth.

There are advantages to having third party car insurance as some companies will cover you if your car is damaged by a driver that is uninsured. In addition, most of the third party car insurance companies understand the importance of you car to your daily needs and resolve the claims as quickly as they possibly can. There are many options as every third party car insurance company has different coverage options.

It is mandatory in the United States that you have liability insurance to cover injury and damage to property. However, each State has its own requirements regarding insurance. Although penalties for not having auto insurance vary by State there a usually substantial fines, license suspension and sometimes jail time. The minimum insurance that is usually required by law is third party car insurance in order to protect third parties to cover financial loss in the event of damage or injury to property or person that may be caused by your vehicle.

Do people over 50 want a life insurance policy? I noted some figures on how people over 65 are covered today. Americans over 65 kept around four percent of life insurance by dollar amount, but that group of older people has 3/4 of the deaths. So why would an age group who is most likely to need to plan for their own deaths be an age group that also is not well insured? Here are a few reasons.

First, many of these people probably were insured at one point in their lives. They could have had a term life insurance policy that ended after a few decades They could have had coverage from a job, but lost it when they quit or retired Now, just when they are over 50 or 65 they may think that they have passed the age for getting life insurance. Or they just have not thought about it, or they may think it will be too expensive for their budget. Because we are living longer and healthier lives, insurers are actually dropping premiums. In addition, many top life insurance companies are looking at the aging baby boomer market and selling policies to middle aged and older people.

Reasonably healthy people can find term life insurance well into their 70′s, while almost everybody can find a whole life policy until they are 80! Some whole life policies even accept 85 year olds! Reaching the golden years does not mean that a person’s obligations have ended. It also does not mean that people do not want to provide for their own final expenses and also give money to their loved ones. A life insurance policy for an older person can be an affordable way to deal with financial planning.

Many older people want to leave money for their own funerals. That is simple to do with a small final expense policy. Others have more complex wishes like the transfer of wealth, or even of keeping a business running after they pass away. Older people still can need life insurance. The good news is, that it is on the market!