Warning About Losing Of Money

February 28, 2010 by Guest Author  
Filed under Debt

Were you among the businessmen who laughed out loud when they heard this true story? In a Midwestern city a small supermarket was losing money in some unexplainable way. Every day the seven cash registers tallied; in each there was as much cash as had been rung up.

When an inventory disclosed enough shortage to warrant a check, detectives planted in the store could find nothing wrong. All goods going out were accounted for on the seven registers. Only when a further inventory revealed still-growing discrepancy did the parent chain bother to send a vice-president right to the scene personally.

What did he find?

That the seven registers received cash for all goods sold each day, that everything was in order so far as he could see. Extra police were assigned outside the store at night to prevent possible pilfering of unpacked goods. It was only weeks later, when worrying further over the store that the VP made his peculiar discovery: The average week’s results reported from that store were ordinarily exactly six-sevenths of the amount reported for the week when he personally had been on the scene.

From this he derived a fantastic hunch. He almost dismissed it from his mind but was so desperate to find the answer that he checked the early records of the store only to discover that only six registers had ever been installed there! Quickly enough it was found that the ingenious store manager had simply built his own seventh check-out counter and collected his personal portion of each week’s receipts in that orderly, precise way. What genius misused!

Couldn’t a man like that make a success of his own business instead of stealing from others and ending in jail? It is to laugh, surely. Especially when the joke is on the other fellow.

An alert owner can put his finger on just what the matter was in that situation. We usually can when it happens to the other fellow. It was a case of absentee ownership being too absentee. It was also a case of too much responsibility being placed in the hands of one man – the store manager. That is a more common mistake leading to countless embezzlement’s each year.

There is also the element of the bigness of the parent company – too far above the local entity to recognize its weakness and problems. That aspect of the case reveals a truth applicable to any and all businesses with more than one branch; applicable even to government. When business gets big, for all the advantages attendant on the bigness, there are also numerous disadvantages in the removal of policy making to a level above and removed from the actual level of daily business.

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The Key To Sound Investments

February 28, 2010 by Guest Author  
Filed under Debt

No one has solicited me but I regard the Webster’ s New International Dictionary as a true Oracle of our time. Here alone are answers, true, unmistakable. Whenever the brilliant economic minds of our nation pour forth obfuscations I retreat to my study and my beloved India paper edition with its clear print and clear thoughts.

Recently I had been poring over mountains of prospecti (plural of prospectus) and releases of many investment advisory services, all proclaiming the discovery of certain “growth” stocks. I had heard the word so many years and was so sure of its meaning that I thought I’d better check. Lo! What Webster says!

- A morbid formation…

And: “The ups and downs and growths of life…” Ups and downs is well said.

More recently at the party I was told the story of the new corporation president who was brought in to clean things up and make a fresh start. He immediately called in the company accountants with their books, dismissed the accountants and took the books home with him. Next morning he summoned the board of directors and demanded to know where the million dollars that was “reserved for depreciation” had gone to, since he couldn’t find it in any of the assets but saw it clearly indicated in the reports!

Directors were forced to resign and accountants were fired in the ensuing uproar. It took the wisdom and patience of a tolerant controller to convince the impetuous young executive that “reserves for depreciation” are merely an accountant’s device, existing nowhere but in their technical usage.

Note: Yes, I know they exist. But you get the point of the story. I can not explain them in a brief manner and I do not believe that anyone else can satisfactorily.) The fact is that, although our friends at Financial World and Forbes have done such a fine job in persuading many corporations to simplify and clarify their statements, prospecti still contain much that is quite obscure and the SEC will be happy to admit it:

For the outsider then, no matter how well informed technically, to attempt to analyze the value of a company and the offered stock from its statement or prospectus, is always risky. The only way anyone can ever really find out whether a stock is worth the going price is by consulting the company accountants as to the meaning of their figures, and then consulting a crystal ball as to the future of the company in an uncertain world.

Without even considering such obscurities the simplest mistakes are made every day by small investors in over-the-counter securities. For example a common reaction to an increase in published sales volume figures is “buy.” Recently the head of a nationwide chain of retail stores said:

“I cannot understand it. The bid and asked prices have no relation whatsoever to the business figures as I see them – and I certainly see them. Our stock has gone up three points in the past week simply because of the publication of sales volume figures which show an increase in total volume. Not only have the buyers not considered that this is a “gross” figure and that our net percentage is at an all-time low, but they have not even bothered to find out whether or not we have opened new stores recently, which we certainly have, and which explains the upped volumes”

Educate yourself before buying any financial instrument!

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The Government Paid My Debt But I Still Owe The Bank

February 28, 2010 by Guest Author  
Filed under Debt

I ask what is going on here in the USA? I am not a financial genius and I could be wrong but this is the way I see it. First we bailed out the banks because they gave out too many bad loans. These people who are financial geniuses gave out loans to people who could not afford them, hoping things would get better and the people could pay their Bills. Basically what they did was gambling. Its like me going to Las Vegas betting over and over on red figuring it will come up eventually and when it never does and I lose all my Money. I then go and ask for all of it back plus more!

The Banks who gave the Mortgages where given a bail out of around 600 Billion Dollars so they could stay in business. Now as I have read for around half of that the Government could have paid off all those bad loans and helped poor American Families keep their homes. If all the bad loans where paid then would not that take care of all the Banks problems? Instead they gave super rich bankers who mad bad choices lots of Money so they can continue to make the same decisions that failed before and live their incredible lives that most of us can only dream about.

Now we have the same thing going on with the Auto industry. I do not understand why we would bail them out. It seems to me that if you run a business and you fail, well then you fail. Aren’t these the same auto makers who over charge us for their cars? I can not believe none these manufactures can make a car that will last much longer and run on less gas or some other type of cheaper fuel. The Auto industry and the men who run it have been a major controlling factor in the world for many years. Aren’t these the same Auto Tycoons that we have heard stories about them keeping all the new smaller car companies from starting up or “buying up” any competitor who comes up with a better Motor Vehicle for over the last half century? The story of Tucker and his dream of making a better car for hard working Americans, Was that not a true Story?

If these Auto Companies where left to go out of Business many Americans who work at these Companies factories would lose their jobs. I do care and understand that it would be very hard on them. Right now is a tough time for all Americans. But I believe that before the dust could even settle from these companies collapse, We would have many small car manufactures starting up making much better cars at lower prices. These cars would last many years longer then the current ones we drive and I can only guess would run much further on a gallon of gas or some other cheaper fuel source. I would bet that fuel would be much better for the environment. Soon after with the huge super powerful big Three of the auto industry no longer in control and maybe crushing any small start up auto manufacturers, We would have hundreds of small car companies all across the Country and soon many more jobs for everyone along with much better automobiles to drive around in that burn cleaner fuels. Who knows maybe we could even get those dam flying cars we where all promised as Kids!

This is a hard time for this country. I think it is evident in the choices the American people have made as of recent, that we now know we can no longer have the same people in power making the same mistakes. These companies and the people that have been controlling this Country have lead us down this road. It looks to me that now that we have reached the end of the road and there is a cliff. Those that have been leading us are now asking us all to trust them and jump off that cliff and fill in the gap so they can walk over us and allow them to continue leading the way !

The idea of this country has always been if you can build a better Mouse trap you can become a Millionaire.What it looks like to me is these people did not allow any one else to build a better Mouse trap. Then they sold the only traps available making them so they would last only a short time, While charging a real high price for them. It has got to the point where the people can not afford to buy new Mouse traps when the old ones brake and have decided they will either try to fix the old ones or just live with the mice. They need their money for other things more important then new Mouse Traps. Now like in the case of the auto Companies they are asking the Government to give them the Money the people can no longer afford to spend on their products.

Now is not the Money they are asking to be given the hard earned Money the Government has taken from the same people in Taxes who can no longer afford to buy these products! These Companies are getting the hard earned Money of the American People who can no longer afford to buy these over priced Vehicles, That last a much shorter time then the ones made 50 years ago. Now our Government who has been over taxing us for years is thinking about giving away 15 Billion dollars of our money.

What charities and programs are we going to have to cut so these Auto tycoons who have houses all over the world, Their own private Jets and pretty much anything they have ever wanted continue to get richer? Will this money come from our Schools? What about the Hungry Children of the USA? What about all those people who are out of work and those that are going to lose their homes the banks are foreclosing on? I bet 15 Billion dollars could really help them out.

America is the land of dreams. It is the Country where a man can be poor one day and rich the next if he has a good idea. There is nothing that says if you have a great Idea and then you make a Mistake and lose everything the Government will bail you out! We are not helping the poor Auto factory workers here, They most likely will loose his jobs any way. We are only helping the Rich Auto Tycoons to be able to pay for all their many luxuries! Do I think our Government will bail them out? Well to that all I have to say is take a look at who funded many of today’s politicians campaign and then you will have your answer?

Again I am not a financial Genius and I may have this all wrong I am only Your Bro L.J. James AmericanBikerX.com

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Why ETF Options Are Better Than Index Options?

February 27, 2010 by Guest Author  
Filed under Debt

ETF investing has become highly popular in the last two decades. ETFs or what you call Exchange Traded Funds give you the benefits of both mutual funds as well as stocks. Now, ETFs are a basket of securities that are tailored to track a particular index whether it be a stock index, market index, a sector index, a commodity index, a currency index or other. You can trade options on ETFs as well. This makes ETFs a highly powerful addition to your portfolio.

ETF Options are settled with the underlying instruments that is shares of ETFs. This gives you the chance to use various combination strategies with ETF Options that you cannot normally use with Index Options.Now trading ETF Options is somewhat different than trading Index Options. Though both track almost similar indexes but Index Options are settled in cash at expiry.

Now when you are trading index options or ETF options both of them get affected by the dividend payments on the underlying stocks. You need to take this fact into account when calculating the values of puts and calls with an Options Calculator otherwise your investment returns may not be what you have been anticipating.

If you have traded stock options before, trading ETF Options should not be difficult for you. As said before, since ETF Options get settled with ETF shares, you can use the different options trading strategies on them unlike the Index Options that get settled in cash. This makes ETF Options a much superior instrument as compared to Index Options.

Now when trading ETF Options, you can use the famous Protective Put Strategy by combining long ETF with a long put. This way you can hedge against the downside risk with a small increased cost to the ETF. A Protective Put will limit the downside risk to the put strike price.

Similarly, you can use a Covered Call on ETF. A Covered Call is formed by taking combining long ETF with a short call on that ETF. The short call will give you some income in the shape of a premium and reduce the cost of the position. This will also slightly reduce the risk of the position. But on the other hand, a covered call will limit the upside profit potential. Your max profit now will only be limited to the call strike price.

Now, you can also use a Collared Position as well by combining a long ETF with a long put and a short call. This combination limits the downside risk to the put strike price with a slight increase in the cost of the ETF. This net increase in cost by taking a long put is offset with the premium brought in by the short call. On the other hand, the limited but high risk is turned into limited risk only.

What you need to do is first paper trade these strategies and master them. This way you will learn how to deal with unexpected risk. Options trading is risky in the sense that it has both time volatility as well as price volatility. Now, many traders trade options without getting good options trading education.

ETF options are always American Style meaning you can exercise them any time before the expiry. You can even use LEAP Options on ETFs. LEAP Options are long term options having expiry ranging from nine months to 21/2 years. Now just like stocks, not all ETF have options available for trading.

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How To Eliminate Credit Card Debt Legally – Legal Debt Reduction Anyone Can Do

February 27, 2010 by Guest Author  
Filed under Debt

Maxed out credit cards leading to mounting bills, constant threat calls from collection agencies, jacked up insurance premiums… all these adversities ,one leading to another, are widespread tribulations faced by generation X across the world. The credit card which bestowed an unprecedented purchasing power upon a common man is fast becoming one of the worst enemies of mankind.

Credit card debts are unsecured loans which mean that banks do not have any collateral against it and you are not even legally bound to pay it. However, by not paying the debts one can get into lot of trouble because unpaid credit card debts tend to ruin ones credit score. A bad credit score can make an individual’s life a living mayhem. In layman’s term, you will not be able to get a decent mortgage rate, a decent insurance premium or for that matter even another credit card or telephone. Sounds scary right?

On the other hand, by not making good on your contractual agreement, you will more than likely be labeled a dead beat, have a terrible credit score, and will likely never be granted credit again in the future. Basically, you wouldn’t be able to put something from the dollar menu at a fast food joint on layaway because you will be known as someone that doesn’t pay their bills. That would stink, right? So, the best thing to do would be to take advantage of various programs that the credit card companies have established to pay your balance off. In many cases there are even specific organizations that are there to help you in the process. This is important because most consumers are too intimidated to try and deal with and negotiate with their creditors, and for good reason. It’s no secret that the people that work in the collections department at the credit card companies have the personality of a pit bull with rabies. For the most part they have one goal and one goal only – To collect a payment regardless of the circumstances.

That is where the third party organizations come into play. They take the “heat” for you. Basically, you give them a list of your creditors, how much you owe, and what your typical minimum payment is and they take care of all the dirty work for you. The best part is that in almost every case, there is not an upfront charge to you the consumer. So, you don’t have to deal with the credit card companies directly, you don’t have to pay any upfront fee, and 99% of the time you end up with a monthly payment that is substantially lower than you are used to – one that you can actually make. Surprisingly, there is a large part of the population that has never even heard about this method to eliminate credit card debt legally. That really shouldn’t come as a surprise as I seriously doubt that the credit card companies themselves are telling consumers about it. However, it is definitely a method that is starting to gain traction as more and more people successfully eliminate credit card debt by using it.

Some of the other options that can be used to eliminate credit card debt legally have serious flaws. Lets take a look at 2 of them:

1. A consolidation loan – In order to do this successfully, you would either have to have an excellent credit score or have something that you could use for collateral. I think it is reasonable to assume that if you are having trouble paying your credit card bills that your credit score probably isn’t that great, fair enough? I think it is also pretty safe to assume that introducing something of value as collateral to pay off an unsecured debt probably isn’t a very good move financially. As a matter of fact, it is actually pretty ridiculous, if you think about it.

2. Borrowing money from friends or family: If you are having problems paying off your debts then it is obvious that you are having financial problems and on the top of it if you obligate yourself further by borrowing money from friends and family then it could even strain your relationship built over years.

As you can see, once you get into a situation where your credit card bills become hard to pay, there is really only one option that makes much sense. Seriously, you can let a third party negotiate your monthly payments or even your whole debt amount, take out another loan that you probably can’t pay, or get yourself into a situation that could turn ugly with friends or family. Which one do you think sounds the best? One thing to consider though is that time is of the essence. Once the credit card company has sent your account to their “legal” department, all bets are off. When this happens, they usually won’t take to you, negotiate with you or a third party company, or have any other communication with you. When it gets to this point, they are usually looking for a way to attach your wages or even lien something that you own. So, if you really want to eliminate your credit card debt legally, the time to act is now.

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What Is Momentum Investing? How It Can Make You Rich?

February 27, 2010 by Guest Author  
Filed under Debt

There is a difference between trading and investing. Trading is always short term while investing is long term. The time horizon in trading can be as short as a few minutes to a few days to a few weeks. Whereas in investing, the time horizon can be months to years. Many people day trade or swing trade stocks, currencies, futures, options, ETFs, commodities or other markets. In day trading, a trader opens a position and closes it in the same day making a quick profit. In swing trading, a trader tries to ride a trend in the market as long as it lasts. On the other hand, an investor is least pushed about the short term swings in the market. He or she has a long term time horizon like a few months to even a few years. This long time horizon matches their investment and financial goals!

An investor might have to wait for a long time before realizing a return on his or her investment. Many investors can learn a few tricks from day traders that can help them make a quick profit in a matter of days orn weeks instead of months or years. Now a company’s stock may have a good long term prospects supported by strong fundamentals. But the stock may stay still for a long time before it catches the attention of the media and the investing public before it’s price get’s bid up.

Many investors when they fall in love with their investments on the long run forget this cardinal rule of trading that you have to cut your losses. Market least care who you are and how long you have been in it.There is a general problem with so many investors. They fall in love with their investment after doing so much research and committing so much time for the position to work. Now, day traders are always hit and run types. They have developed an innate sense of discipline among themselves that teaches them when to commit money to a trade and when to cut and run.

When, there is momentum behind a security, it means that it’s price will continue to icnrease as long as it has got momentum. This way by investing in stocks having momentum behind them, you avoid the risk of getting stuck in stocks that might not move for months and months.

When investing, you try to buy low and sell high. In momentum investing, you buy high and sell even higher! One of the tricks that you can learn from day traders is momentum investing. In momentum investing, you look for securities that are expected to go up in prices accompanied by the underlying momentum. Now, when the price of a stock or security increases because of strong demand, it is said to have momentum behind it.

Now most serious momentum investors are infact swing traders who hold positions for a few weeks or a few months. Most of them employ some sort of momentum indicators to help them identify when it is good time to buy a stock. Some of the indicators that can be used is the Relative Strength Index (RSI), Moving Average Convergence and Divergence (MACD) and the Stochastic Index.

Momentum investing can also lead to bubbles like that happened in the dot com bubble in the last few years of 1990s. It is always a good idea to do some fundamental research on the companies before doing momentum investing.

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How To Back Test Your Trading System? Know These Shocking Limitations!

February 27, 2010 by Guest Author  
Filed under Debt

Developing a trading system is not easy. It requires first of all good trading experience. Than you need to test your trading system under live trading conditions. It might take time as well as involve the risk of losing money. To overcome this difficulty in testing a trading system or a trading strategy, backtesting has been developed. Backtesting is possible with the use of software. A trading system might comprise of a set of two or more indicators with a set of rules that tell when to enter or exit the trade.

How to do backtesting? Using a backtesting software makes it very simple and easy. Backtesting uses historical data to test the performance of the trading system under the past market conditions.

There are many problems with historical data. There is no slippage in backtesting. Slippage is one of the most important problem that a trader faces while trading live. The other problem that the backtest ignores is the widening of spreads under volatile market conditions. So backtesting results are no guarantee that the trading system will perform well under live market conditions. Things that worked in the past might not work now. Similarly something that didn’t work in the past, may work now! You never know!

What we can say is that no two trades are exactly alike. So when you look at back testing results, you should look at them with scepticism. But it doesn’t mean that backtesting is entirely useless!

Some markets are highly seasonal. For example, if you are a commodity trader and tend to trade agricultural commodities like the grain, seed or the livestock, these have a fixed planting and harvesting cycles.

For example, some markets especially the commodities market is highly seasonal and cyclical in nature. Now in other markets, you might not find any seasonal trends. For example, there is very little seasonality in curreny market or the bond market. In case of the stock market, there is much talk of the January Effect. Well, it is there no doubt about it. Some years, it is highly pronounced and others it is not that pronounced. Similarly stock prices tend to rise at the end of each month and the first few days of the new months. The reason for this is that many institutional investors tend to put the new funds to work at the end of the month and the beginning of the new month!

US Dollar Index trendlines might last for months to years. In other markets too backtesting can help you figure out important trends that lasts for last times. Backtesting can help you figure out how long a trend might last in a particular market.

There is no substitute for live trading results! To tell you the truth, backtesting can only give you a rough guess about the performance of the trading system under live trading conditions.

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Walmart Money Card

February 25, 2010 by Guest Author  
Filed under Debt

If you are one of the many consumers with damaged credit, low credit scores or no credit at all, Walmart now offers another option called the Walmart Money Card. This card can be used anywhere a VISA card is accepted.

It is a prepaid card, available to you immediately by depositing funds directly into your account. There is no credit check needed, and you are able to use your card for any kind of purchase you want, as well as pay bills, buy groceries or airline tickets online.

Monitor your balance by checking your account online or by alerts on your cell phone. This can be done by transferring any funds from any account, direct deposit of your paycheck, or any other method you wish to reload your card.

The card does not allow you to build your rating, as you are not being extended any line of credit, and no reports are made to the major bureaus. Because of this, those who are eligible for a standard credit card should consider that option first.

It is easy to set up an account at any Walmart store. After paying an initial fee of $8.94, the monthly fee is reduced to only $4.94 per month. When you reload the account with more funds, you are charged $4.94.

You might want to think about signing up for direct deposit as well since it is free of charge. A check cashing fee is $3 but if you cash a check to reload the account, that is free as well.

You will also be charged $1.95 each time you visit an ATM for withdrawal, but free of you use one at a Walmart. If you check your balance at an ATM other than at Walmart, it will also cost $.75, so its smarter to check online. Monthly paper statements will cost $3 per month.

It is essential to take the time and do the proper research before you agree to apply for any credit card. Surprisingly many cards fees vary and dramatically.

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Following Challenging Financial Times You Can Reconstruct Your Credit

February 25, 2010 by Guest Author  
Filed under Debt

After the occurrence of difficult financial times such as bankruptcies, repossessions and other financial hardships many folks have credit reports that have a lot of problems. In spite of this you should not let the anxiety of the past that is still showing on the credit report overshadow the positive monetary opportunity that you are now heading towards. Troubles on the credit report can become a thing of the past.

Many consumers harbor preventable suspicions that the credit difficulties will pursue them without end and that they may innocently fall back into the same bad spending practice and credit issues that got them into the economic discord in the first place. But with a little thorough planning these past difficulties can be avoided.

In order to restore credit, a individual must understand that the best approach to rebuilding credit is to think about the procedure like he or she was starting out clean and had not had any credit troubles in the past. Understanding how credit works is the second step to a triumphant path to follow when a person wants to reconstruct their credit.

Getting started with basic credit repair.

1. Get your credit report.

2. Evaluate your credit report.

3. Write down the negative items.

4. Send letters disputing your credit

5. Send letters registered or certified mail.

It is virtually not possible to rebuild credit before having control of your money. A lack of knowledge and overextended spending habits might have been the causative aspect to the tribulations in the past but gaining control and being liable with the credit is imperative at this time. If you think that you will have difficulties in rebuilding your credit may want to ponder working within a budget. You can make up a good budget on your own or with the help of a qualified credit counselor.

When making a financial plan all of the everyday expenditures of life must be noted. Many people are not entirely conscious of the expenses that they incur so the best way to verify that is to chronicle every individual expenditure and make a note of all of the outgoing monies every day for a period of 2 weeks to one month. It is possible that you will find that you are already overextended on your financial plan and if that is the case you need to consider cutting the unnecessary expenses at this point.

When expenses have been recorded and a financial plan has been worked out the next step is to construct a responsible spending plan and stick to it. Spending plans should also include saving money or using any spare funds in order to cut existing debt. Persons who do not carry credit cards or checkbooks are less liable to become impulse shoppers. Waiting for sales and shopping only from a written list are exceptional tools to be utilized in order to stick to the budget and recreate credit.

You may also have some inaccuracies or inconsistencies on your credit report. The FCRA or rather the Fair Credit Reporting Act makes it possible for a consumer to dispute inexact information on their credit report. After you issue a dispute the party reporting the incorrect credit must verify the truthfulness of the report within a particular time period or it must be removed from your credit. You need to take the steps to delete the inaccuracies on your information to avoid future problems.

Few of us escape times of monetary hardship entirely. Whether it was just horrific luck or a time of poor judgment that caused the difficulty when the times change you can take the steps to rebuild and renovate your economic life.

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How Living Within Your Means Can Make Life More Enjoyable

February 25, 2010 by Guest Author  
Filed under Debt

With the recent downturn in the economy, many people are realizing that they cannot afford to sustain the lifestyle that they have grown accustomed to living. Fortunately, this does not mean life cannot be enjoyable. There are a number of easy ways to live within your means without hurting your quality of life. With a little planning and knowledge you can live on budget without feeling the financial strain.

The following are a number of ways to live within your means while making life more enjoyable:

1. In order to live within your means, you have to be able to bring in more money than you are spending. Create a monthly budget that includes how much you spend on essential items such as home and vehicle insurance, utilities, food, cable, phone, mortgage payments, gas, etc. Then, calculate how much you earn monthly. Subtract your monthly income from necessary expenses to determine how much extra money you have to work with.

2. List extra expenses such as entertainment, recreation, and products you shop for in the home and on yourself such as clothing, personal care products, etc. Calculate how much you spend monthly on these items. You will then need to come up with ways to control your spending habits. This can include cutting down on the number of times you dine out each month, shopping for discounts at large department stores, second hand stores, surplus stores, etc. When shopping, look for deals, coupons, and sales. Never pay full price for an item. As well, you can often find great deals when shopping online.

3. Credit card debt is a major source of financial hardship. If you have several credit cards with high outstanding debt, you should at least pay the monthly minimum for each card, and then start to pay off the card with the highest interest rate. Owning fewer credit cards will make it easier to manage and remember. Always pay your bills on time to avoid having to pay any interest at all. To help wean yourself off of credit cards, start carrying cash with you at all times and pay using cash. Seeing the physical money literally change hands will help you consider needs vs. wants on a more regular basis.

4. If you are having trouble keeping up with debt payments, then maybe you should consider consolidating your debt in order to manage it better. Instead of making multiple monthly payments to several creditors, you can consolidate your debt and only need to make a single monthly payment. In addition to helping you get organized, this can also alleviate stress that is often associated with debt.

5. Clean up your credit score. Request a copy of your credit report from one of the following two major credit bureaus: Equifax, or TransUnion. Check it over for any inaccuracies. Look to see what debt is affecting your credit rating and work with a creditor to establish a repayment plan. Don’t ignore your creditors as they will send your debt to a collection agency.

At first, implementing a plan to live within your means can seem very unpleasant. You may miss a few of the luxuries you had grown accustomed to. However, once you get used to the plan, you will find life more enjoyable as you will not longer have the worry of how you are going to pay all of your bills. You may even realize that you are much happier living on a budget.

Adriana Noton is a freelance writer who specializes in providing great financial information for Canadians. When searching online for debt counselling or credit counselling, one of the many resources available is Consolidated Credit; offering a variety of debt counselling services and financial planning tools to help Canadians get their debts under control.


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