For those who carry balances on their credit cards, high interest rates have resulted in higher monthly bills, with many seeing their minimum payment increase substantially. Fortunately, now, more than in recent years, 0% credit cards offer a safe harbor from high rates. There are two basic types of 0% credit cards: those that offer a 0% rate on balance transfers, and those that offer a 0% on purchases. The best credit cards offer 0% interest on both. How much savings can these credit cards provide? Lets take a look at the math.

Lets assume youre carrying a balance of $10,000. If you simply pay the minimum each month, you will accrue close to $2000 in interest over the course of a year, thanks to daily compounding balances (too bad savings accounts dont pay that type of interest). With a 0% balance transfer, you can expect to save all of that money, plus, youll be given time to pay down that debt. When the 0% period expires, not only is there a chance your interest rate will be lower, but, if rates do not go down, you can always transfer the balance to another 0% credit card. Plus, if you make a minimum payment of $150 a month, your balance at the end of the year will be closer to $8200, rather than $12,000. Thats quite a difference.

Now, if youre fortunate enough to have no credit card debt, a 0% interest rate can be handy tool to avoid interest expenses on new purchases and free up some cash in the short term. Need a new fridge? Have to fix your car? Want granite counters for the kitchen? With a 0% credit card, you can defer the cost of these expenses for a year while taking advantage of high interest rates. How? By placing the cash that would have left your bank account into a high-yield savings account and taking advantage of rewards credit cards.

Lets assume you will make $10,000 of purchases over the next few months. Using a credit card with a 0% interest rate and 1% cashback rewards, coupled with a high-yield savings account with a 4% interest rate can put about $500 extra in your pocket over the course of the year.

Of course, not everyone pays their balance in full each month. With average credit card interest rates in the 12% to 15% range, carrying a monthly balance of only $1000 can cost close to $150 a year. Saving $150 in interest charges may not be a fortune, but its surely enough to buy a nice dinner with a good bottle of wine.

No matter how you use your credit card, a 0% interest credit card can have a positive effect on both short and long term cash flows. Given that the alternative is paying more than 12% in interest, choosing a 0% credit card in this atmosphere of high interest rates is a no-brainer.

Imagine you are going to give out your entire business process to be handled by another organization. I am sure you will want to know all you can about this particular aspect. You will surely not want to be caught unaware; if goes wrong with the entire process. Research and more research is the answer for you to meet such eventualities.

Choose the right outsourcing company to do your accounting outsourcing work. Numerous outsourcing come up with attractive and lucrative offers to do the work for accounting firms like yours. Find out carefully as many things as you can about the company before you actually let them do your work.

The internet is a storehouse of information and utilizing it in the best possible manner is in your hands. Check out the services provided by the various companies. Also try to get testimonials from firms who have already done accounting outsourcing from the particular outsourcing company.

Check out the various security measures put in place by the company to protect your company and customer data. This is an important aspect of with which you must take special care. In this internet age, people have become increasingly skeptical about giving out information about their financial details online. Security measures must be stringent enough to deal with this issue and to also bring back the faith of customers to the entire process of accounting outsourcing.

Your work will be done very quickly and you will be able to meet customer deadlines with plenty of time to spare. Highly qualified professionals are always hired for doing outsourcing work. So this means that you serve your customers with the best possible service that you can afford with in your budget. Accounting outsourcing work is done faultlessly by the professionals.

Monetary wise accounting outsourcing works out just perfectly for your accounting firm. You do not need to undertake any additional financial investment for the process. In fact you can earn through accounting outsourcing. Imagine you do not spend an extra cent and yet end up earning profits. This is just incredible; you must not waste time pondering over pros and cons of accounting outsourcing.

Check to see if the outsourcing firm provides any offers for free trails. You can actually take up this opportunity to see for yourself the quality of the work done by the firm. Based on this work done, you can decide whether you actually want to work any further with the company for accounting outsourcing work or not.

Accounting outsourcing can turn out to be beneficial to you in many ways. All of these benefits are subject to your working with the right accounting outsourcing company. So try outsourcing your accounting and experience a faster and more efficient way of doing business today!

Do You Hate Research? . . . I do!

I have always wanted to find an investment strategy that made sense. An investment strategy in which I do not need to know the intricacies of the market, predict market trends or follow specific stocks. How can I get the inside information of what is hot before the rest of the market knows? I can’t. Nor do I need to.

Plus, I don’t have that kind of time to commit to in-depth research. Like you, I have a regular job that I need to devote my time to. I am not a day trader; nor do I want to spend all of my free time on the computer doing research. Always following the stock market and getting stock quotes is not how I want to spend my free time.

I Avoid Individual Stocks . . . they are too unreliable!

Everybody wants to buy low and sell high. While millions of people do make money this way (and many millions loose money), I have found an easier and more effective way to use the market to my advantage. I do not trade in stocks. I do what I can to avoid individual stocks. And I consistently beat the market . . . month after month after month.

If not stocks, what’s the alternative?

Like many people, I got heavily involved in the stock market in the mid to late Nineties. Tech stocks were going through the roof and I, like everybody else, wanted a part of the action. It seemed an easy way to make money. Everybody was getting rich. You did not need a special investment strategy to beat the market.

During this time, I engrossed myself in the financial markets. I wanted to learn as much as I could without giving up my day job. I was trying to find the next best tech stock, IPOs and the occasional pre-IPO offering. But it was not until I discovered options trading that I discovered an investment strategy (The Yager Trading Strategy) that can work in any kind of market . . . Bull, Bear or stagnant.

That’s right…OPTION trading!

And I am not talking about stock options or writing covered calls. Options trading…I started selling options on S&P futures, using different methods and trading strategies. And I did well. VERY well.

Between July 1998 and January 2000 (a span of 18 months), from my option trading system, I turned an initial $25,000 investment into $167,615. That’s over 670% increase. And this was not paper money where you buy a stock and it has a certain listed value. This was real, taxed income. Profits collected on a monthly basis.

Market fluctuations and volatility have diminished greatly since then…reducing the premiums. Those types of returns are no longer available, but the option trading strategy is still very sound. I still consistently beat the market. Even the years the DJIA, Nasdaq and S&P were all down, I posted more than a 22% gain.

Learn the option trading strategy or see how to make money with this strategy. I describe the strategy and show actual recent trades on YagerInvesting. The information is FREE. No subscription required. This is a method for risk capital only.

For the preceding 12 months (May ’06 through April ’07) this is how my strategy, The Yager Trading Strategy, performed:

DJIA—–20.3%
NASDAQ—–14.7%
S & P 500—–17.3%
Yager Trading Strategy—–32.2%

It’s startling to learn that of all those thousands of eager folks who attend these seminars only about 5% buy even one investment house. Why? The real estate gurus sell the “sizzle” and make profiting from real estate sound easy. The truth is that it’s simple, but not easy.

Here’s a quick plan that will enable anyone to begin building financial independence.

There are basically four steps to investing in single family homes:

1. Buy homes below full market value. Yes, people really do sell homes for less than the home’s full value. The key is to understand that most home owners will only consider a purchase offer that is all cash and within 5% to 10% of their asking price.

The successful investor learns to find financially distressed home owners who have no choice but to sell for less than market value. They have lost their job or been suddenly transferred; they are divorcing; they been living beyond their income; the family has been overwhelmed with medical bills and, not uncommonly these days, their money has gone to support a drug habit.

Those are examples of motivated sellers. They have to sell and they will accept something other than a conventional, all cash offer.

2. How do you find motivated sellers? You work at it! Like any business it is important to develop a little marketing plan. One that is simple, yet very effective, is the one that was proven 75 years ago by the Fuller Brush company; door to door sales.

You are selling your skill as a home buyer to people who must sell. Your are there when they need you and you have the skill to help them solve at least part of their problem. With door to door prospecting you will learn more and buy more homes quicker than any other method. However, most people just won’t walk door to door for three or four hours per week. OK, there are other ways.

You can watch public notices for the announcement of foreclosure sales. Meeting with a home owner right after they’ve received a notice that they are about to lose their home allows you to deal with a very motivated seller. Other public notices that provide buying opportunities include probate, divorce and bankruptcy. You can follow the Homes For Sale listings in your local newspaper or Internet site.

You can telephone the names found in these notices or, and this is the least time consuming, send a postcard expressing your interest in buying their property. It will produce buying opportunities, just not as many as personal contact.

3. After you’ve found a motivated seller you must understand how to frame offers that provide benefits for both you and for the home owner. A good real estate investor quickly learns that this is not a business of stealing property, but of solving problems in a way that benefits the seller.

The home owner is in a tight spot of some kind and you can save them from public embarrassment and, in most cases, give them at least a little cash to get a new start.

No investor can afford to leave cash in every deal. No one but Bill Gates has that much available money. You must use creative techniques like, leases, option and taking over mortgage payments. Little or no cash is needed for those deals. You can find plenty of reasonable priced educational material on those subjects in book stores or on EBay. The same education that seminars sell for thousands of dollars.

4. You make your profit when you buy! Never make a purchase until you’ve carefully determined exactly how you will get to your profit. If you hold it as a long term investment will the monthly rental income more than cover the monthly mortgage payment? Will you sell the deal to another investor for fast cash? Will you do some fix-up and sell the property for full value? Will you quickly trade it for a more desirable property? Have a plan before you buy.

There you have four steps that even a part-time investor can execute in three to four hours per week. What’s the missing ingredient? Your determination and perseverance. If you will unfailingly follow the plan for a few months you will be well on your way to financial independence.

To provide 10 quick tips to save money is almost like a first-aid approach to a very intricate problem perhaps faced by almost each of us. It is important to know how to manage money efficiently to ensure bulky savings. Whether to save some part of what we have to spend or whether to spend at all on a service or commodity should be the first question to be answered.

Firstly in case of large investments, the first step for a prospective buyer is to identify and correlate the valuable item or service with need or desire. It is better to test its utility first, for example, by borrowing it for a fixed time period. If you are satisfied and convinced about its necessity and think that you really need that, you may buy it. But to save money, you as a wise consumer must find the best seller in terms of comparative pricing, quality & market reputation.

For lower priced items, one has to shop for the lowest prices, also keeping an eye on the quality aspect. For example, if you take the instance of buying clothes, the best purchase is off-season discount sale, wherein you can get good clothes at cheap rates.

For financial investments, like the stock market, follow the golden rule of buying volatile stocks when the price of an item is down & sell it when it is at a high. The profit thus earned can be invested in the equity market for steady items.

Today’s Internet has provided the best opportunities to shop vigorously for the best price before you actually drop the money. Especially for insurance, loan facilities and financial management, one is spoilt for choices. Proper analysis of rates and amortization goes a long way in saving even hundreds of dollars in a year.

Change of plan in case of services like telephone, insurance, etc. can save you costly dollars provided you simply have the knowledge about the best existing plan.

Making a monthly budget for buying the essential items and regulating the number of luxury items can yield considerable savings.

Expensive weekends and extravagant outings should be replaced by reasonable excursion for wholesale entertainment.

Proper food planning and food habits result in better living, both financially and mentally. Stay healthy and you can save on medical bills. Having a proper food plan also prevents food from being wasted.

Paying the bills within due dates provides invaluable savings, because, in this case, as you have to pay, it is better to pay in time to avoid penalty.

If you are an employer, you should encourage flexible job responsibilities for your task force, making each one compatible with the work within a department. This will help in cutting down employees cost and help complete a task within time, even if someone is absent.

There are obviously several other ways to save money and lead a frugal life without tension. It is always told that money saved is money earned. Just keep it in mind and stay happy.

Timing the market is difficult. To be successful, you have to make two investment decisions correctly: one to sell and one to buy. If you get either wrong in the short term you are out of luck. In addition, investors should realize that:

1. Stock markets go up more often than they go down.

2. When stock markets decline they tend to decline very quickly. That is, short-term losses are more severe than short-term gains.

3. The bulk of the gains posted by the stock market are posted in a very short time. In short, if you miss one or two good days in the stock market you will forgo the bulk of the gains.

Not many investors are good timers. “The Portable Pension Fiduciary,” by John H. Ilkiw, noted the results of a comprehensive study of institutional investors, such as mutual fund and pension fund managers. The study concluded that the median money manager added some value by selecting investments that outperform the market. The best money managers added more than 2 percent per year due to stock selection. However the median money manager lost value by timing the market. Thus, investors should realize that marketing timing can add value but that there are better strategies that increase returns over the long term, incur less risk, and have a higher probability of success.

One of the reasons why it is so difficult to time correctly is due to the difficulty of removing emotion from your investment decision. Investors who invest on emotion tend to overreact: they invest when prices are high and sell when prices are low. Professional money managers, who can remove emotion from their investment decisions, can add value by timing their investments correctly, but the bulk of their excess rates of return are still generated through security selection and other investment strategies. Investors who want to increase their rate of return through market timing should consider a good Tactical Asset Allocation fund. These funds aim to add value by changing the investment mix between cash, bonds, and stocks following strict protocols and models, rather than emotion-based market timing.

30 Year vs. 15 Year Mortgages

Any discussion of mortgages tends to turn on two points. How can you qualify for the most money with the lowest payment? How can you get the lowest interest rate for the mortgage? While these are two important issues, there is an addition one that people fail to consider, resulting in significant wasted money.

The term of a mortgage is extremely critical for a couple of reason. First, it sets the length of the obligation you are undertaking. Second, it defines the amount of interest you are going to pay over the life of the loan. These are huge issues when it comes to building equity.

The longer the loan, the more total interest you are going to pay. The trade off, of course, is you are going to have smaller monthly payments the farther you stretch out the obligation. While this may sound like a good goal when you first get the mortgage, it can backfire on you in the long run.

Most people focus on interest rates as a way to save money on mortgages. This is a valid approach, but playing with the length of the loan is a better way to save money. If you can cut the payments in half by going with a shorter loan, you can save huge amounts on the total interest repaid to a lender.

The decision on the term of the loan is relatively simple, but entirely dependent upon your personal situation. There is no absolutely correct choice. First, you need to determine if you can comfortably afford the higher payments that come with a shorter term loan. In general, a 15 year mortgage will have payments 20 to 25 percent higher than a 30 year loan. Of course, you will pay the loan off faster, to wit, be building equity in the home quicker.

The modern mortgage industry has a variety of different term length products. When applying for a loan, take the time to evaluate the different terms to see if you can find a loan that is perfect for your situation.

Clean up your credit

Lenders use your credit score as one tool for determining your interest rate. In general, the better your score, the lower your rate. Before applying to refinance your mortgage, check your credit report and look for any errors. If you find a mistake that’s negatively affecting your score–such as a payment marked as “late” when you sent it on time, or a line of credit that doesn’t belong to you–be sure to correct those errors.

Shop around

You might not necessarily get the best deal from the same finance company that holds your mortgage loan. Make sure you check out offers from other lenders. You can do this by submitting your application to multiple lending companies, or by hiring a mortgage broker that will check out numerous lenders for you. To get the largest variety of offers, try different types of companies, such as banks, credit unions, online mortgage lenders and local mortgage brokers.

Negotiate

Once you’ve received a few offers, take the time to negotiate with lenders. Let them know that you have other options and that you’re looking for a great deal. Mention their competitors so they know you’re serious about your loan, and be prepared to walk away if the loan company won’t give you the best rate. However, once you find a deal you like, ask the lender to “lock it in.” Interest rates change daily, and locking it in guarantees that you still get a low rate even if rates soar the next week.

Remember: the interest rate is only part of the expense of refinancing. In many cases you’ll have to pay fees, points and other extra charges. You can lower the cost of your loan by asking to have these fees waived or lowered.

Having the latest high-tech equipment is crucial for an IT company, so they may lease the best computers and have a continuing upgrade in their contract. This is much more cost-effective than regularly having to purchase the latest model, especially because computers are constantly being improved upon and the older ones become obsolete in no time.

Many other types of equipment, such as those used in construction, entertainment, weddings, and offices are typically leased to the user. Bulldozers, loaders, graders, and cranes are just some of the equipment needed when constructing a new building. If the building owner bought these items for the temporary use needed, he would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars needlessly. By leasing the machines, he is paying less and also being guaranteed service, repair, and maintenance on them.

Equipment rentals are a big part of the entertainment industry, from a childs birthday party to huge corporate events. Many parents lease massive waterslides, cotton candy machines, and moon walks to enhance their childs party. Corporations trying to impress clients host big blowouts complete with extravagant light shows, live broadcasts, and other huge presentations, all requiring leased equipment.

Weddings and bat/bar mitzvahs are other big sources of leasing needs. These events often require large amounts of silverware, linens, tables and chairs. Some even opt to have huge tents erected for their event, another leased product. A wedding typically has five or more vendors, all providing various leased services, such as catering, supplies, and music for the event.

Business offices must supply their workers with adequate equipment required to produce a huge amount of paperwork and computer files. Machines such as computers, printers, scanners, copiers, and fax machines are often leased because the lease contract provides the lessee with service and maintenance. Many contracts also include supplies, upgrades, and installation, all of which would be too expensive to buy individually. Leasing is much more cost-effective than buying in many of these situations.

Another item that is frequently leased is the automobile. There is a lot of debate over whether it is better to lease or buy a car. On the one hand, the lessee gets the best years of the automobiles life at a slightly discounted price. But, of course, the buyer is able to sell the car at the end of its run, unlike the lessee, who must return it to the owner for no monetary return.

Homes, such as houses, mobile homes, and apartments, are very often leased. This is a great option for a person who is trying to save money for a down payment on a home. It is also a good way for homeowners to profit without selling their property. Many people make their entire earnings from the process of buying dilapidated homes, refurbishing them, and leasing them as homes to others.

Business leasing works similarly to home leasing. A person or company will buy a strip mall and lease each of the storefronts to different businesses, focusing on what sort of businesses will do well in the community and offering a variety of services on the property. The business owner would rather lease the store than buy it, because it is less expensive and the landlord will handle all service and maintenance of the building.

1. Know your current financial situation. Know you debts level. Calculate your income and expenses by taking into account the following:

Mortgage repayments
Personal tax
Loans and overdrafts
Living expenses
Emergency funds
Car expenses
Entertainment
Holidays
School fees
Credit card debts
Family commitments

Before you start investing your money on any investment products, you should know how much you could spare each month for investment. General rule is that, you should clear your debts first, then save and invest later. That is to say the more money you put aside now, the better it will be for your future. I would say put aside 10% of your income for rainny days. 10% is a small amount that you won’t feel a pinch. Save it until you have managed to build a “dam management funds”.

2. Prepare funds for dam management. This goes in line with point 1. You need to keep at least 3 to 6 months ofyou income as dam management. After you have managed to do that then additional money that you saved can be used to invest.

3. Protect yourself and your family first. By this point, I mean you should have the basic life insurance that insure you and your family against terminal diseases and accident. This is very important as even though you might loose all your money through investment and if you or your family members need medical attention, it will be well taken care of.

4. Know your risk level. If you are not able to take big risks, short term investment and swing trading is notfor you. It’s better to invest in mutual or trusts funds which will give a steady payout and have lower risk.If you are a high risk or medium risk taker, you can try invest in stocks, growth and hedge funds.

5. Diversify your investment. Expert would tell you it is a must to diversify your investment. Your investments needto have a steady mix of stocks, mutual funds and/or bonds. Beside that, your should invest in different industryand/or different regions. This will help you minimize your risk as fluctuations in the markets will not have a big impact on your investments. Your ideal mix will be 20-40% stock and the rest mutual funds and bonds.

6. Do your homework before you invest. It is good to seek expert advice. But, the money is ultimately yours. So you need to do some research and make a sound decision on what to invest even though your financial advisors might have already worked it out all for you. This is to make sure you know what you are investing and able to keep track of them. If your investments suffer loses you will be able to make a right decision whether to sell or hold if you know your stuff well.

7. Do stock take yearly if not frequently. Your investment might already be reaping in profits. But, it is good to know how well you fare at the end of the day. Reinvest the profits and celebrate if you have success. This will serve as motivations for you and will make you more determined to acheive your financial goals.