Archive for 'Financial Planning' Category

By Aaron Crowe

The start of a new year is a chance to start with a clean slate and plan for a better year ahead. If your finances didn't fare so well in the previous year, it can be a time to rethink your approach and give yourself a financial checkup to ensure you're on the right path.

An annual financial checkup doesn't require hiring a financial adviser or an investment broker to go over your documents. It can be done at home with a few hours of planning. Here are some things to go over...

By Francine Huff

Don't wait until graduating from college to think about your credit score. It's easy to get pulled into a debt trap as a student if you have student loans, credit cards, utility bills, rent, etc. But there are some things you can do even while attending college that can help you build excellent credit.

If you regularly pull out your credit card to pay for purchases with the attitude that you'll pay off your balance once you graduate and have a job, you could be setting yourself up for major financial disaster.

Worse yet, don't rely on your parents' promise to pay off the card for you because they could end up unemployed or have some other financial catastrophe that strips them of their income.

Keep your credit history clean

All it takes to derail your finances are regular late-night pizza parties, shopping sprees at the mall and impulse purchases, among other things. So make sure you do all you can to build your credit score going forward. Here are five things that can help:

By Ryan Hurlbert

When I was starting out, a wallet full of credit cards was a sign of success--if you had five or six cards, you were obviously doing well. Like so many others, I got myself into a bit of a payment crunch; each minimum payment by itself was small, but when I lumped them all together each month, well, it was more than I had! I consolidated as many together as I could, took a second job, and paid, and paid, and paid.

Eventually, I paid everything off and now carry one general credit card and one gas card, although I have another account at a men's clothing store I use occasionally. In today's society, you can't buy anything on-line without one, can't rent a car without one, and try and find an airline that will let you write a check for a ticket!

It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of getting a credit card, and not read the terms. Luckily for you, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 makes understanding your credit card easier than ever. Now, credit card companies have to post their disclosures on-line, and they have to be written in "plain English".

Now that understanding credit cards is made easier for you, here are five terms that you should be sure to understand when evaluating credit card offers:

• Grace period. You have to have at least 21 days from the

By Joe Taylor Jr.

Take care of your credit, and credit card companies will want to take care of you.

Banks have put together some hard-to-find credit card offers to attract consumers with high FICO scores. If you've built a strong credit history, you can earn unusually high cash back rebates, travel perks, and low interest rates on balance transfers. According to CardRatings.com, five credit cards rank highest at offering great perks to consumers with excellent credit:

1. Discover More Card--Over the past few years, Discover Card has made some of the boldest moves to attract more consumers with high credit scores. Earn this card, and you can enjoy a zero percent balance transfer for 18 months with just a 4 percent transfer fee. During your first six months with the card, you'll pay no interest on purchases while earning between 1-5 percent in Cashback Bonus rewards.
2. Simmons Visa Platinum--You've probably never heard of Simmons Bank, and they're probably okay with that. Simmons saves its credit card invitations for consumers with the very highest credit scores. Apply via one of their credit card applications online, and you can surf your other debt to a Visa card with an APR as low as 7.25 percent and no balance transfer fee.
3. Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express Card--One of the best cash back credit cards on the market requires you to maintain a brokerage account at Fidelity Investments. If your FICO score
   

By Richard Barrington

Overdraft protection.

The words sound almost comforting--like an extra layer of security around your checking account--or perhaps a safety net to catch any mistake you might make in your account records.

Under certain circumstances, overdraft protection can be those things, but to many bank customers, overdraft protection is an exorbitant expense that just makes overdrafts worse.

Since one of the things you'll be asked to do any time you open a checking account is whether to have overdraft protection for your account, you need to know how overdraft protection works, and whether it is likely to work for you or against you.

Overdraft protection--how it works

An overdraft occurs when you use more money than you have available in your checking account. If you have overdraft protection, the bank will temporarily make funds available to you to cover the purchase--think of this as a short-term loan. This way, you are able to complete your transaction without having a check bounce or your debit card declined.

By helping you out in this way, overdraft protection can save you from inconvenience and embarrassment. However, there is a hefty cost for this service. According to economic research firm Moebs $ervices, the average overdraft fee is currently $27.50. These fees are charged per overdraft transaction, so if you use your debit card four times while your account is overdrafted, you would incur four overdraft fees.

Trends in overdraft protection

Over the years, overdraft fees

By Peter Andrew

Long before he became a cop, Kevin was my best friend. So when he joined the police, it seemed natural that I'd often join him and his colleagues for an after-work drink. They were a great bunch, and I really enjoyed the time I spent with them. But as they told their job-related stories, I'd frequently think to myself how much I enjoyed being their friend, and how little I'd like to meet them professionally.

I don't know any IRS agents, but I suspect that the same would apply. They're probably charming people socially, but you really, really don't want to spend time with them when they're working.

Luckily, there are simple things you can do when filing your federal income tax return that can help you avoid finding out whether I'm right.

Beware of these 5 common mistakes to avoid Tax Trouble

Here are five common mistakes routinely made on taxes, and how they can be avoided:

1. You didn't double check
   

   Among the most common federal income tax filing mistakes are some that are so embarrassingly elementary that you wouldn't want to admit to them outside a confessional. So, before mailing your return, ask yourself these three questions:

   • Have I signed and dated the form?
   • Have I entered and triple-checked my social security number?
   • Have I attached Copy B of the W-2 form(s) my employer(s) sent me?
2. You got the math wrong
   

   According to the IRS, the most common mistake of all is people making basic errors in their arithmetic. You can