Personal Finance

I have a few tenants.  They can all afford to pay the monthly rent but cannot secure a purchase loan to buy a house. One of them even closed his bank account recently because of the excessive fees. I have decided to help them to improve their credit score, so hopefully in due time, some bank will be willing to extend a loan to them to buy houses. It all bores down to the issue of credit. You’ve got to have good credit to get credit. So if you have  bad credit no credit history at all, how should you go about? It really depends upon your personal circumstances.  Debtkid.com has a good write-up on how to raise your credit score fast and free. If you just don’t know where to begin, try the following three tips first. 1. Piggyback on Someone Else’s Good Credit if you do not have a credit history Piggybacking is a technique that allows consumers with good credit to help boost other’s credit scores by adding them as authorized users on accounts. If you haven’t heard the term before, it’s not a new thing by any means. Parents have used the technique for a long time to help their children build solid credit while young. So, if you have a spouse, relative, or close friend with good credit who is willing to add you as an authorized user on his or her account, you’re in luck! This may be the fastest way to establish a credit history without actually securing a credit card in your personal name. 2. Get a Secured Credit Card from Your Bank Ask your bank where you have a checking account if they offer secure credit cards. Chances are they do, and secured cards are one of the best options for individuals building or rebuilding their credit histories. They’re called “secured” credit cards because your credit limit is secured by the amount you deposit in cash with the creditor. For example, if you deposit $1,000 in cash, then your credit limit will be $1,000. And since you have basically pre-paid for the maximum amount you may charge to the card, the creditor is guaranteed you will never miss a payment. In return, most banks will report your activity on a monthly basis to the credit bureaus just as they would for a “regular” credit card. If your bank does not offer one, then there is Capital Bank. It currently offers a credit card, that charges 17.5% interest and an annual fee of $29.  Find the Capital Bank Open Sky Secure Visa Credit Card on this page to apply. The truth is, establishing a good credit history at the youngest possible age has never been as important as it is today. Doing so will not only save you plenty of headaches in the long run, but your pocketbook will thank you as well. Don’t waste any more time procrastinating. Follow these three tips today and begin your journey to excellent credit on the right path. The post How to Build Credit from No or Bad Credit appeared first on Debt Kid. Related posts: Understanding the Benefits of Business Credit Cards Credit Card Rate Reduction Negotiation Letter Example How To Raise Your Credit Score Fast and Free

It’s easy to find lots of personal finance information online. Most of the time, it’s easy to see how it applies to your life. Frugality tips, for example, are very easy to incorporate into day-to-day living and see exactly how they’re saving you money. When you start moving beyond that and start looking at things like insurance and investments, it starts to get less clear, for two reasons. First of all, everyone exists in a different personal finance situation. It’s easy to apply most frugality tips to anyone’s life without knowing exactly how their finances are because, well, they work for everyone. When it comes to questions about specific insurance policies, how to save for future education expenses, and how to save for retirement, you can’t simply take every piece of advice out there at face value. Different solutions work better for different people in different situations, and without someone laying out their full financial plan on the table, it’s basically impossible to say what the best choice is. Second of all, when there’s a product to be sold, salesmen are in the water. Most salespeople are good people who believe in what they’re trying to sell you. Some, however, will sell you almost anything just to get a sale. The internet provides a great anonymous forum for those kinds of salespeople. They’ll spin a story about how this specific insurance or this specific investment is the one you need. Finding unbiased information is the first and most important step to solving this problem. The best way to do that is to read information from a lot of different sources and try to make sense of it as a whole. The best result is that you feel knowledgable enough and confident enough to make your own financial decisions based on your own situation and what you’ve learned from as many unbiased sources as you can. However, a lot of people prefer to trust the advice of a financial advisor in those situations, which brings us to another problem: quite a few financial advisors are also salespeople. If a financial advisor works on a commission, that means their income is somewhat reliant upon people signing up to buy specific financial products. Now, most salespeople believe deeply in their products. Very few are the kinds of “sharks” that salespeople are depicted to be – the vast majority truly believe in what they’re selling. They believe it’s the best option for you – or at least one of the best ones out there. The problem is that they have a financial incentive to feel that way if they’re working on a commission-based system. In the words of Upton Sinclair: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” People whose income relies on them selling you a very good product are going to sincerely believe that it is a good product, regardless of whether or not unbiased sources say that it’s a good product or not. They’re going to believe in sources that say it’s good and disregard sources that say it’s bad. We all do this when it comes to what we believe, and we tend to do it more when there’s financial incentive on the line. The solution to this is to seek out a financial advisor who isn’t beholden to commissions. While you’re never guaranteed to find one that is truly unbiased, a fee-based financial advisor is one that earns his or her income solely based on the fee you pay them, not on commissions from any products they suggest to you. On the occasions when I’ve needed to talk to a financial advisor, I’ve sought out a fee-based one first and foremost. Generally, I had to pay to secure anything beyond a very brief discussion, but rather than just slapping a product on the table and telling me that this is what I need, fee-based advisors usually give me a big list of optio

When you book a hotel reservation online the representative will ask for single, double, or multiple occupancy and charge accordingly. It’s the same idea when you rent out your property to prospective tenants. Those who plan to rent your property are written in the lease predominantly for liability purposes. Those who plan to stay in your property who are not on the lease are considered guests. Sometimes your tenants will abuse the lease by having multiple guests stay for long durations of time. Of course having the girlfriend stay over for a couple nights a week or the parents visit for a couple weeks at a time is fine. However, where does one draw the line? Although restricting guests and their duration of stay is almost impossible to enforce, there has to be some language and understanding in the lease to prevent a rental from turning into a boarding house. During my latest tenant search, I almost accepted two guys who would have fully taken advantage of the lease by having two to four guests all throughout the year. Here’s how things played out. PREVENTING GUESTS FROM OVERSTAYING THEIR WELCOME My main rental is a two bedroom, two bathroom condo with parking in a nice part of town. I decided to raise the asking price by 12% to take advantage of current tightness in the market. The realistic range I could charge was between $3,500 to $3,800 based on my market research and I decided to shoot for the top. Demand was strong at $3,800 but several prospects who showed tremendous interest flaked out in the end. Then a software engineer who just relocated to Google’s San Francisco campus from Mountain View paid me a visit. He was a nice guy who made a low six figure income. His roommate would be arriving later next month from Bangalore, India for an internal job transfer at Google on an L1 visa. Before I Skyped with the prospective tenant from Bangalore, his roommate was so eager to secure my place that he offered to come by my house that evening and leave the $6,000 rental deposit with me. I agreed and told him I would not cash his deposit until the interview was complete and we all signed the lease. During the tail end of his visit, he mentioned that his father would be paying him a visit next month for a couple weeks. Not a problem. Then I politely asked what about his mother, afraid that he might say they were divorced or worse, was deceased. He responded, “My mother is coming too, and will stay with me for one month. Is that OK?” I was surprised by the duration of her stay and asked him, “Where would she stay?” given he would have a roommate. He politely responded, “In my room, with me of course.” I realize it’s common for 20-something year olds to co-habitate with their parents until they build up their financial reserves, but I have never heard of living in the same room with your mother for a month if you are making a six figure income. Why not just put your parents up in an inexpensive motel for a month if you’re making $10,000 a month in gross income? Besides, my apartment isn’t big enough for four adults. My prospective tenant is either a big time mama’s boy, which may be good because when mama is in the house, there won’t be raging parties that will disturb the neighbors. Or, my prospective tenant might be uncertain about his financial situation or is super frugal. He asked me if I could put in a clause that said I would not raise the rent for two years for example. If you’re constantly going to have your parents stay over, at least get your own place or a place with one extra bedroom. Don’t parents deserve better? As a grown adult, I’m not sure if I could voluntarily live in the same room with either parent for one week, let alone a month. Could you? I chalked the situation up to cultural differences as Indians have a very strong family bond. My tenant then mentioned that he’d probably have his five brothers and

What if Earth had rings around it like the rings of Saturn. Wouldn’t that be an incredible site from space? Earth, already a gorgeous planet, would have the kind of jewelry it deserves. Well, Earth may have had rings at one point in the earlier part of its formation. As gravity slowly pulled material together we were left with just the planet and the moon. And while the moon is quite pretty from our perspective on the surface, rings might just have been a lot nicer. Read: If Earth Had a Ring Like Saturn (io9) Related posts: Weakend: Earth Day Mangagement Rings: A Diamond Is Forevhim Smaugonomics: Money Supply In Middle Earth Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Each week, I highlight ten things each week that inspired me to greater financial, personal, and professional success. Hopefully, they will inspire you as well. 1. Aristotle on the educated mind “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” – Aristotle If everyone was capable of doing this, the world would be a far better place. Too many people immediately discard an idea either because they already hold one on the same issue or because they don’t want to listen to the source. 2. Peter Singer on effective altruism If you’re going to help others, it makes sense to choose ways to do it that maximize the effectiveness of that help. 3. Groucho Marx on mistakes “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can never live long enough to make them all yourself.” – Groucho Marx The only thought worth thinking about the mistake of someone else is what you can learn from that mistake. 4. Judy MacDonald Johnston on preparing for a joyful end of life This is the best way I’ve ever heard of to approach end of life issues. 5. Zach Sobiech on the meaning of life “It’s really simple actually. It’s just, try and make people happy. Maybe you have to learn with time. Maybe you have to learn it the hard way. But as long as you learn it, you’re going to make the world a better place.” – Zach Sobiech If you focus on making others happy, things, in the long run, are going to be a positive for you. 6. Bernard Baruch on speaking your mind “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Bernard Baruch The people who are worth having in your life won’t respond to your curiosity and opinions with negativity. 7. Handwritten letters Few things seem more wonderful to me than a handwritten letter. Thanks to Liz West for this great image. 8. Erica Jong on blame “No one to blame! That was why most people led lives they hated, with people they hated. How wonderful to have someone to blame! How wonderful to live with one’s nemesis! You may be miserable, but you feel forever in the right. You may be fragmented, but you feel absolved of all the blame for it. Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.” – Erica Jong Blame is the crutch of people who are unwilling to change. 9. Farmers In a world where it’s so easy to get food, it’s vital to remember where that food comes from. Largely, it comes from the labor of farmers in the fields. Never forget their honorable work. Thanks to upyernoz for the photo. 10. Mary Catherine Bateson on learning “We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.” – Mary Catherine Bateson When you stop learning, you accept that you will never be more than you are today. The post Ten Pieces of Inspiration #127 appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

I've generally been a do-it-yourself person. From repair and maintenance of appliances to our house, I would take on most minor jobs. Being an engineer by training, I'm able to figure out how to fix many things,especially now with many good instructions being on the the Internet. Doing it myself also saved a lot of money. Now that I'm older, I'm moving more towards having professionals do the work. First, it started about 10 years ago with cutting the grass. We hired on landscaping company to cut and edge our lawn. The cost was $35 a week and saved me 2-3 hours a week. It was worth the cost of about $600 a year. For my most recent vehicle, I started having my car service regularly instead of doing the work myself, as I did with previous cars. Over the past few years, we've moved the following maintenance and repair work to professionals: Gutter cleanout. I used to climb up on the roof, clean out the gutters and do minor roof repairs. Now I pay professionals solve the issue. We put in gutter guards and have the roofers periodically check our gutters. Gas piping. I used to do my own gas piping with black iron pipe. I am not certified to work with the flexible gas piping so I hire professional to make repairs. Gas lamp maintenance. When we moved in the outdoor gas lamps were not working. During periodic checking over several years, I wasn't able to find any information on how to repair them. After several years, we found a company that repairs and maintains gas lamp and paid for an annual service contract. Although I could probably handle some of the repairs and maintenance, I'm finding that some of the tasks take too much time and effort to become competent. In those cases, it makes sense to pay for the service. For the tasks that are still easy, straightforward and safe to do, I continue to handle them. However, I expect some of these will convert to the "too much time and effort" category as I get older. For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday for a new segment. This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor. Copyright © 2013 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Flickr | http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlwwycoff/3561055851/sizes/z/in/photostream/ It’s been quite the week here at MyBankTracker. Kicking off next week is Memorial Day, and we have been preparing Memorial Day deals for you to score, frugal ways to celebrate, and information on which banks will be closed. For other helpful news you may have missed, check out our Weekly Wrap down below, and be sure to take our poll: Apple is being accused of evading billions of dollars in taxes. See Apple’s defense here. We highlight 5 financially savvy gift alternatives for grads. Learn how to turn your attic junk into treasure and identify which items have potential. The editorial team at MyBankTracker discussed our best and worst money decisions. Join the conversation on our Money Chat. Airline prices are spiking for the summer. Read up on the increasing prices. Our new writer Bishoy recalls his childhood collectibles. Are they worthless? Or priceless? The editorial team at MyBankTracker is selling some old items for our biweekly challenge. Participate for a chance to win a $50 GC! Want to see the future of the cash register? Check it out here. These apps seriously make life easier. See the top must-have 11 apps for 2013. Simon fields another question in his weekly column Simon Says: see how to calculate your average daily balance. Our weekly Review Roundup focuses on Discover Bank. Going abroad used to mean getting hit with foreign transaction fees. But now there are certain credit card companies that are kissing those fees goodbye! See those cards here. Did you know you can be charged for withdrawing from your savings account? Learn why here. Take Our Poll Take Our Poll Weekly Wrap (and Poll): Memorial Day Edition

Have the Discipline to Say NoArming yourself with a sound investment philosophy and search strategy puts you on the path to selecting businesses suitable for investment. Once a business is valued, the most difficult determinants of whether to invest or not come into play. Unlike valuation, which primarily relies on quantitative measures, investors now must rely on qualitative factors:Having the discipline to say no.Being patient.Having the courage to make a significant investment at a maximum point of pessimism.These factors are exceedingly important because the probability of suffering investment loss is significantly higher due to the emotional underpinnings of these factors.Most investors are smart; few, however, are disciplined enough to say no and move on or, more important, be patient. Very few activities in life can be practiced successfully without some degree of discipline. Being disciplined requires you to think independently and ignore crowd psychology. Discipline requires investors to be confident in their research and analysis and be prepared to receive criticism from all angles. Yet disciplined investors clearly realize that investment success comes from sticking to their methods and not participating in crowd folly.Health is Wealth Bullbear Stock Investing Notes

We recently asked if Walmart was letting you down and got dozens of comments. Many of you mentioned empty shelves, long lines and not enough employees.Here's what Walmart is doing about it: adding neon green dots around the store, Bloomberg says.You'll find the dots next to price stickers for everything from peanut M&Ms to Hanes boxer briefs and Crest toothpaste. Those are among 800 products Walmart considers important and that it pays a consulting firm to track the availability of, Bloomberg says.Read 3 remaining paragraphs on MoneyTalksNews.com.

Here's one lesson not enough students are getting in college: Debt is easy to rack up and hard to destroy.Half of 2013's graduates were surprised by how much college-related debt they had acquired, according to a new Fidelity survey of 750 new grads.It also found that more than one-third of students wish they had made different choices on their path to a degree, such as saving sooner, controlling costs better, and looking for more financial aid. Read 4 remaining paragraphs on MoneyTalksNews.com.