Car Insurance and Your Age

That’s because age is one of the factors that influence the premiums charged by the insurance company. So let’s take a closer look at the link between insurance rates and the driver’s age.

Insurance companies are all fixed on risk and use different methods and statistical data to determine the risk of insuring different drivers. It was observed that insurance claims tend to fluctuate in frequency among different age groups and insurance companies have instantly adopted the driver’s age as one of the things that can influence their rates. Nowadays, by simply belonging to a certain age group you will get different rates no matter what driving skills and claim history you have. Of course, these things will also influence your rates too but this will be an addition to the age-related rate fluctuation.

Early Years

Things start a bit bad because the youngest drivers usually get the highest car insurance quotes. That’s because this group of drivers lacks the necessary experience and skill but also tends to drive more aggressively, especially younger males. Drivers aged less than 25 tend to get in serious accidents far more often than all other age groups, that’s why they get the highest rates.

Mid-20s to Early 30s

Once you get closer to the age of 25 the car insurance quotes you’ll get will start to decrease and there will be a drastic slope after you turn 25. That’s because with age young drivers tend to accumulate more skills and learn how to drive correctly. This effectively reduces the number of insurance claims filed by this age group and respectively lowers the cost of auto insurance.

Middle Years

The downward slope of car insurance quotes continues onward up to the age of 55-50. During this period other factors have more importance when determining a driver’s rates. Moreover, there are usually serious changes in a person’s life like marriage, moving to another place of residence, buying a different vehicle and so on. So the age won’t be playing an important role here.

Later Years

However, once the driver reaches the age of 60-65 the rates starts going back up. The increase isn’t very serious at first, but as the person gets older and reaches the age of 75 car insurance quotes usually get really expensive. This is mainly due to the health condition senior citizens are known for. The speed of reaction in an older body decreases yet the risk of having an accident due to inaccuracy or health complication increases. Older drivers tend to file claims often because they end up in accidents caused by their health condition more often. And that’s why the insurance companies charge them with much higher rates.

 
Credits to Aidan for this article.

Eating healthy can be done on a budget too!

Doesn’t it seem that healthy food is more expensive? To stretch your dollars while eating healthy, always keep the following tips in mind…

1. Cook at Home
We all know that eating out is not only more expensive, but also much less healthy. The portions are typically larger than necessary and you truly don’t know what’s in your dinner. Hitting that drive-thru might seem fast and easy, but we pay for it both in cost and health.

2. Plan Your Meals in Advance
One way to avoid the temptation of last-minute drive-thrus and processed, pre-prepared meals in our constantly busy schedules is to create a weekly menu plan. Sticking with simple, healthy meals along with cooking ahead and freezing meals works wonders in this area.

3. Eat Less Meat
Many times, the most expensive item on your grocery list is… (yep, you guessed it!)… meat. Although fresh meat is part of a healthy diet, don’t forget about other healthy sources of protein such as beans, eggs, fish, and even canned tuna or chicken, which is usually less expensive and just as nutritious. Toss these on a salad or whole-grain pasta dish – and there’s your healthy dinner!

4. Buy Locally
Farmer’s Markets are an excellent resource for discounts on fresh fruits, and vegetables. Many communities also have small businesses that focus on gathering fresh produce from local, organic farmers each week.

5. Save on Canned & Frozen Vegetables and Focus on Healthy Sale Items
In planning your grocery trip, focus on the healthy sale items each week. When canned or frozen vegetables go on sale, stock up… and keep in mind that just because that sugary snack is on sale, it doesn’t mean that you need to buy it!

6. Focus on Whole Grains
Stock up on whole grains when they go on sale. Cereals pasta, and oatmeal have a long shelf-life, and you can get excellent deals on these products when combining Buy 1 Get 1 Free Sales and coupons!

7. Avoid Processed Foods
Processed and pre-packaged foods are often a source of unidentifiable and unhealthy ingredients. If you focus on whole foods, you’ll avoid these unknowns all together.

8. Keep a Stocked, Healthy Pantry
We try to keep our pantry stocked with healthy choices, such as whole-grain pasta, canned vegetables, whole-grain crackers, nuts, canned healthy meats and more. Use those 6-week sales cycles and stock up at that rock-bottom price on those healthy choices! Plus, knowing that I can throw together a quick meal for my family that is both healthy and frugal gives me a small sense of peace in our hectic, busy 4-kids-in-lots-of-activities everyday lifestyle!

 
Credits to Valerie Reed for this article.

How does a mortgage refinancing work?

A home loan is a long term commitment. For most people, signing on the dotted line is a 30-year contract. In this amount of time, many things can change. Many people will outgrow their home and sell their house. Sometimes, people also outgrow their mortgage. In this instance, mortgage refinancing can be useful.

Benefits of a Mortgage Refinance

There are many reasons why people decide to refinance their home. As you pay off your home loan, the principle of your loan reduces while the value of your property increases. The difference between these two figures is known as equity. When you refinance your home, the bank may give you a home equity loan. You can use this money to improve or enlarge your home, pay for tuition, or even take a holiday.

Sometimes, as a home loan decreases, home owners decide to refinance in order to lower their monthly repayments. This is a good option if you are struggling with difficult financial times or are just looking to free up cash flow for other projects.

Refinancing your home also gives you a chance to renegotiate your loan terms with your bank or lender. This means that you may be able to achieve a lower interest rate and also lessen the fees and charges which are attached to your home loan.

The Refinancing Process

When you refinance your loan, you can stay with your current lender or shop around for a new one. The refinancing process is similar to the one when you originally bought your house and applied for a mortgage, although sticking with the same lender will require less paperwork.

The bank or lender will most likely go ahead with the usual checks, such as employment and identity checks. They will also require a valuation of your home, which they will arrange. Once this has all been finalized, your old mortgage will be discharged and your new loan will come into effect.

There are usually some fees attached to a refinance loan. These can include a loan establishment fee, a valuation fee, and the possibility of ongoing fees. There is a chance that there may be a fee from your lender for the early discharge of your loan.

Home Loan Research

Finding out as much mortgage information as possible before you sign up for any loan is a good idea. Being aware of not only the interest rate, but the fees and charges attached to the loan product, is essential. Reading the small print now can save a lot of heartache later.

 
Credits to Paul Dabb for this article.

Clipping coupons are not limited to physical coupons at the grocery store any more. Coupons are available for redemption at many online retailers!

If you think about cutting back on your expenses when you are shopping, you should avail from the online coupons that help you save a considerable amount of money. Online coupons help you get discount on various items at online as well as actual stores.

Upon hearing of free coupons, I thought of the good old days when we used to cut them out of the newspapers or magazines and take them to the stores to cut back a few bucks. But in the recent times, free coupons are usually addressed to the Internet coupon codes that are to be used while shopping at online stores. Online coupons work the same way as the traditional paper ones. The coupons offered by websites are codes that help you get discount on many items such as groceries, clothes, shoes, gadgets, jewelery and many other products. Some of these codes are numeric or alphabetic whereas others are alphanumeric.

You can purchase many items online and get good discounts with the help of these coupons. All you have to do is search for a website that offers free coupons to get discount on a varied range of items. When you find such website, you can get all the great discounts offered by numerous online stores. You can choose the ones that give you the most suitable deals. Many of the discounts expire unexpectedly, so you should ensure that you are entering a coupon code that is valid at the time. You can find coupons at these websites along with the relevant information such as the actual discount available on products, the store where it can be redeemed and the date it expires.

Most of the websites directly link you to the website of the store when you click on the coupon. When you visit the online store through these websites, you automatically get a discount on the product you wish to purchase. You can click on as many coupons you like and check out the product on the website. The other kinds of coupons are printable coupons that you can get printed from the computer and avail the discount at an actual store, not the virtual one. You can take the coupon print to the store of the given company and save a considerable amount of money on each purchase.

Many online stores also give away free coupons as part of their brand marketing campaign. They want more and more people to visit their stores. Discount coupons, free coupons, freebies and giveaways are the incentives used by manufacturers to attract consumers towards their products. This way, they get consumers to try out their products and beat the competition with their counterparts. Some companies give discounts on services as well.

In order to mark their presence over the Internet, all the major companies use many tactics to attract new costumers as well as hold on to the existing ones. The online printable coupons and free coupons are the easiest way to achieve this. The discounts offered by the companies draw people towards the free coupons that let them purchase many products at low prices. If you really want to avail from the great discounts that are offered by many online stores, you should visit these websites regularly to get free coupons and save some bucks on each purchase.

To save money on various purchase over the Internet, you can search the Internet for websites that offer printable free coupons to get discounts on numerous products.

 
Credits to Gagan Singh for this article.

The Basics

Same day cash loans are a source of cash for urgency when you need it in the same day without any hassles. These types of cash loans are usually approved for employed people and the loan amount is wired within 24 hours in your bank chequing account.

These loans are typically provided in the same day as its approval comes without credit checks and other hassles for the borrowers. This loan makes for a hassle free approach as you are not required to fax any documents to the money-lender. This saves time, energy and effort. However, while filling an online loan application form you have to provide necessary details such as employment status and bank account details.

Same day cash loans are quickly provided within 24 hours in your bank checking account that you should be having for past three months. You can borrow the loan amount ranging from $100 to $1500 for a short duration of two weeks, until your next payday. Money-lenders sanction the loan amount depending upon your repaying ability and current income.

Do I qualify?

In case you are carrying a bad credit history with late payments, defaults and county court judgments, individual voluntary arrangements and missed payments, you can still borrow from the lenders without credit checks. Even your very low credit rating is not a hurdle.

So what’s the catch?

Same day cash loans are highly expensive. This is due to the high APR that goes many times higher than any other loans. Consequently, you should be prepared to make high interest payments to the lenders.

You should borrow the cash only when other options cannot be explored. Make sure you avail this facility only when in dire need of money because these loans carry a high interest rate. You should make comparisons of several lenders online so that you can search competitive offers of same day cash loans.

 
Credits to Angela Alderton for this article.

The Economist came up with what they call the Big Mac Index to compare Big Mac prices all over the world. The Big Mac is sold in over 120 countries and the idea is based on purchasing power parity or PPP. You don’t have to be a Wall Street professional to know what the concept behind PPP is. Basically, what the Big Mac Index is trying to tell us is that a Big Mac should roughly cost the same from one country to another. A lone U.S. or Canadian dollar should buy the same amount of goods and services in all countries. That means we can use the Big Mac index to gauge expectation on future exchange rates between two countries as in the long run, prices tend to converge to minimize arbitrage.

The Big Mac Index and Purchase Power Parity (PPP)

The Big Mac Index can be used as an informal analytic tool to compare if a currency is over- or undervalued just based on Big Mac PPP. In essence really, a basket of goods and services is generally used to compare year over year inflation for a particular country, or to compare purchasing power between identical basket of goods and services in different countries. In the case of the Big Mac Index, it’s the Big Mac as the one and only item in the basket. Interesting concept and a very basic one that everyone should understand from their Economics 101. This is economics simplified. It’s Burgernomics.

I’m getting me some McDonald’s tonight.

Since graduation, for almost two and half years, I have been making the biggest financial mistake of my life. I would always leave my chequing account at TD Canada Trust at either a zero balance or a negative balance (overdraft protection). I felt that each and every dollar left over from my pay cheque should go to pay my credit card balances and other debt that I had. The car loan, the student loan, the student line of credit, anything and everything I consider debt.

The Devil is in the Numbers

I hold TD Canada Trust’s Value account which includes only ten (10) free transactions per month and a $3.95 monthly account fee.

• Monthly fee: $3.95
• Overdraft Protection fee: $3.00
• Average monthly interest: $1.00-$2.00
• Other bank fees: $3.00

However, I also paid a $3.00 ODP (overdraft protection) fee to allow my chequing account to go negative and owe the bank like a revolving credit card. This fee was to protect myself from insufficient fund fees of $35 whenever my account didn’t have enough funds to cover recurring bills and miscellaneous withdrawals.

There’s another issue. I would normally keep a negative balance until the next paycheque came in which meant I was being charged interest everyday on the amount that I owe them. I averaged around $1.00 atleast for these interest payments and the last time I checked, the interest rates on overdraft balances run around the same rate as credit card interest rates which should be in the neighbourhood of about 20%. Add to that going over the maximum allowed of ten transactions per month and that’s another $2.00-3.00 of ‘other’ bank fees.

The total I would usually pay on my chequing account was $(3.95+3.00+1.00+3.00) = $10.95 per month!

That’s outrageous! That’s a cost of more than $120 per year! So how can we get rid of this totally unnecessary expense and pocket that sum instead? Keep the minimum balance required by your bank to waive the monthly fee! The minimum balance for my account to waive the fee is $1,000. However, since I do plan to keep a balance, I no longer have a need for overdraft protection so long as I keep a healthy buffer from the minimum.

Doing a quick calculation, that’s atleast $10/$1000 = 1% return per month on your $1,000 guaranteed. That’s almost like a 12% gain per year on a $1,000 investment. Compare this with the amount of return you’re getting putting the same amount in another investment vehicle such as a savings account or a GIC. You will not get a 12% return guaranteed anywhere else.

Stop paying those pesky account fees and if you have an ODP fee like I did, get rid of it. You’ll be saving more money starting today. It just makes sense!

While inflation has pushed the prices of most products to a sky-high level over the past decade, it has been enough to drain off the wallets of the middle-class consumers in the US. In fact, if you look back, you’ll find many inventions in the last decade that were made to help consumers save more money so that the national debt level could be brought into control.

Unfortunately, all such inventions have already been misused and irrespective of the money-saving technologies, the US has yet incurred the highest amount of national debt. With the debate over the raising of the debt ceiling hovering around the US government, it has become a necessity for all Americans to save money religiously and boost the US economy.

Though the debt relief services in America are trying their best to assist the consumers in reducing their debt burden, yet there is no such havoc response in the riding debt profile in US.

For more information on debt & credit please visit : http://www.creditmagic.org/

Tips for a fatter piggy bank this year

Have a look at the 5 sneaky money saving strategies that’ll help you secure a safe financial future.

1) Start a savings account, a high yield one

The biggest hindrance that bars you from saving money is not being into the habit of saving money. The best and the most effective way of getting into the habit of saving money, is to open a savings account with a reputable bank. As you deposit money from your salary into the savings account, you can gradually create a dedicated savings account. This is a certain way of achieving your financial goals and paying down your financial obligations as soon as possible.

2) Create a budget to restrain your expenses

Your very next step towards your money-saving endeavor would be creating a perfect, strict and frugal budget. Though it is a fact that Americans hate following a budget, yet it is a pre-requisite to leading a debt-free life. Rather than seeking help from legal debt relief services who’ll charge you hefty fees for their services, it’s better to follow a budget and keep a track on your expenses. Always try to keep a balance between what you make each month and what you spend. Make sure that every month, your income is more than your expenses.

3) Start contributing to your 401 (k) account

If your employer provides you with a 401 (k) account, make sure you contribute a portion of your gross monthly income to it. Not only is it a great way of saving money, it will also provide you tax benefits after retirement. This is the best way you can secure a safe financial future and lead a happy retired life. In case of a financial emergency, you may also withdraw money from the 401 (k) account and utilize it in meeting your emergency financial needs.

4) Reconsider your insurance coverage

You must be having your insurance policies and when you’re going through a credit crunch and are looking for ways to save money, stop to reconsider your insurance coverage. While you had taken your insurance policies, you might have been in a particular financial condition. Now, if your financial state has deteriorated, you must abort some coverage that you do not need. Review all your policies and check where you’re paying more or for no reason. Speak to your insurance lender and get that particular coverage cancelled to value your dollars.

5) Look for free stuff

If you’re an entertainment buff and you’ve misused your cards in buying tickets of concerts, you need to become a bit more responsible, now that you’re in danger. To cut down entertainment expenses, look for free shows in theatres; hunt for free events in your localities. This will help you satisfy your quest for entertainment and will also help you save your dollars at the same time.

Making minor but consistent changes in your everyday life will certainly help you boost your savings. Stop using your car, try carpooling instead. Stop eating out, make your own dinner and save those extra dollars to utilize them in paying off your financial obligations. If you think you can’t manage your debt on your own, get help from the legal debt relief services so that you do not find yourself buried in debt in 2011.

Thanks to grace for this guest post.

Ok, so Christmas is just round the corner, and if you haven’t already started your shopping…then what are you waiting for? But just before you get your wallet out… have a think – could you save yourself some money?

Christmas is going to cost you a lot this year, and finding things ‘on the cheap’ can be quite hard.

So that’s why I’ve put this short guide together, to help you reduce the cost of Christmas the easy way.

1) Use price checkers to lower the cost of presents

There are plenty of websites that provide free ‘price-checking’ facilities, so you can compare the price of your desired item from several retailers, and find out which one offers it the cheapest.

Price-checking facilities can help you save some serious cash at Christmas. For example, last year – I used a price-checker to find the cheapest retailer of the latest computer game for my son, and found that one retailer was offering it $20 cheaper than another one!

So, just do a search for ‘price-checker’ on a search engine and take a look at the results!

2) Use discount vouchers

Shopping for food, drinks and presents can be a real drag, and before you know it, you’ve spend $100s. So, to help you reduce the cost of your shopping, you should take a look at the selection of discount vouchers on the internet.

Just search for ‘discount vouchers’ on a search engine and you should be provided with plenty of links.

Some vouchers will offer you the chance to get 50% off at your favourite retailers, while others will allow you to buy cheaper food, drinks and other items.

Discount vouchers aren’t just available online, you can find them in your local paper and some retailers may even give them out once you have shopped there.

3) Shop online

This is the easiest way to do your Christmas shopping – you can order everything you need online and have it delivered straight to your door.

Online shopping tends to be cheaper than shopping in your local store. The demand for products can be much higher online, and retailers lower their prices to compete with each other – so look out for the cheapest online stores, and like the first point in the guide…check the prices using a price checker to make sure you’re getting the best deal.

So, there you have it, a short but sweet guide on how to reduce the cost of Christmas and stay out of debt… the easy way. (for more debt information visit ThinkMoney)

Of course, there are many other ways in which you can save yourself money over the festive period, but the ones mentioned above are certainly worth a try!

Thanks to hannah for this guest post.