Streamline Your Finances and Make Your Life Easier By Not Hoarding

By MoneyBlueBook

It's not too often that I get to travel overseas to visit my parents, but this time I had to. My dad's job is taking him on a new foreign assignment to another continent, one that might be less accessible, so I decided to make the effort to visit them sooner than later.

Ever since I reached my financial independence milestone and declared freedom from my parents, I've thrived in the openness of my own free will, taking fairly decent care of myself. It's been so long since I've had to live under my parents' shadow and watchful eagle eyes, so having to do so now, even for a few weeks has been rather difficult. I'm not the same little boy who used to depend on my parents' guidance and tutelage when I lived with them, so living with them now is taking some getting used to. Since we've lived so physically apart for numerous years due to the sheer oceanic distances that separate our jobs, I always feel like I need to get to know them again for the first time and get accustomed to their quirky living habits every time I see them. Even for the purposes of a relatively brief couple of weeks stay, I always find I learn something new about them that I didn't notice before (perhaps it's because I get to view them through a refreshed set of perspectives).

What Is Compulsive Hoarding and Why Does It Lead To Excess Clutter and Household Planning Inefficiency?

Having lived with my parents for

By MoneyBlueBook

Ask yourself this question - when was the last time you balanced your checkbook? Do you even know what balancing a���� checkbook entails? The fact of the matter is, writing checks and issuing payments in the form of paper checks is a steadily dying practice, thanks to the tremendous growth of the Internet and all of the new fangled technological advancements in the area of electronic and automated telephone banking (even phone banking is getting phased out in favor of the web). Much the same way the future of newspapers and the outlook of traditional forms of written news are being called into serious question, and much the same way they are being slowly rendered irrelevant by the overwhelming convenience and cost efficient benefits of the World Wide Web, so too will the practice of check writing and manually balancing accounts ultimately go the way of the dodo bird.

Personally, I can barely recall the last time I actually went through the hassle of balancing my checkbook manually. The tedious bean counting practice of manually comparing my own personal account records with the recordation information provided by monthly bank statements is simply not something I've readily adopted over the years. The last time was probably in high school when my mom sought to teach me about basic account management by forcing me to watch her go through the motion of recording transactions neatly on the gridded transaction register that comes with each set of checks. But other than that first initial

By MoneyBlueBook

I consider myself one of many rate chasers out there - savvy savers who hunt for the best annual percentage yield (APY) interest rates at banks and credit unions, and who are keen on quickly moving large sums of money from one account to another in pursuit of that financial ideal. High yield interest rate chasers seek out the highest available interest rate offerings possible, whether available at popular brick and mortar branches or whether available only through obscure online banks. We keep tabs on them all regularly and shift our bank balances around in pursuit of that elusive, but perfect high yield savings account. Rather than be content with letting our savings accounts sit idle, earning stable, yet passive interest growth, rate chasers such as myself prefer to actively manage our bank accounts to maximize interest earnings. Interest rates periodically change, thus so should we. Currently, I use my compiled list of the Best High Yield Savings Accounts to actively keep tabs on bank rate updates and changes.

High Yield Savings Accounts Offer Not Only Liquidity, But Rock Solid Financial Security and Reliable Growth As Well

While I have a diversified investment portfolio made up of high performing stocks, bonds, exchange traded funds, and mutual funds, I still try to put a sizable amount of what I own in cash form, invested in stable interest bearing savings accounts. The type of money I put in a savings account is money I can't afford to risk or jeopardize, and the type of funds that I may

By MoneyBlueBook

These past few weeks have been tough on me. Not only did my trusty Honda Accord suddenly break down, but I've been experiencing major Internet service disruptions at home caused by the incompetence and admitted overselling activities of my current broadband service provider Comcast. For months now, I've been plagued by frequent Internet outages coupled with agonizingly slow download speeds reminiscent of my old 56k screech-and-hiss modem days. The breaks in service finally culminated into the complete stoppage and loss of my home Internet signal. Furthermore, the service disruption repair activities were hampered by a series of powerful thunderstorm waves that swept through my area this week, knocking out electricity, cable TV, and broadband Internet service for almost all seven days. While my car was washed and scrubbed sparkling clean by the rain and wind, lightening sparks managed to knock out the power in my neighborhood. Electricity was "quickly" reactivated in 1-2 days, but cable TV and my precious broadband Internet service wasn't repaired and fully restored until nearly a week thereafter.

For the last few days I've been a pretty sad fellow. Not only did I feel isolated and cut off from the real world without convenient home access to the Internet, I haven't been able to properly update my personal finance blog, nor have I been able to check my email messages, or tend to the operations of any of my online passive income businesses. On a normal weekday I usually receive close to 50 emails a day from a variety of personal

By MoneyBlueBook

Updated List of Business Credit and Charge Cards Offers Below!

Like most small business owners, I have my eyes on the prize with expectations based on the potential of future expansion. While my current small home business is still in the early growth stages and has not developed to the size where I needed to incorporate, I decided early on that now was a good time as any to start keeping my personal and business expenses separate by taking advantage of the expense tracking and management benefits afforded by business credit cards.

Whether you are a small business owner who works from your own home, or have your own dedicated virtual office setup, there may eventually come a time when you will need additional cash and credit infusion to pay for business expenses such as inventory, office supplies, or utility fees including wireless services. More than half of all small businesses currently use credit cards to pay for expenses, but less than half of the users utilize business credit cards. While most seem content on relying on their existing consumer cards, there are a number of key reasons why it's better to use business credit cards under your company's banner.

For those running a business as a sole proprietorship like myself, you may have already applied for an Employer Identification Number (EIN), sometimes referred to the Federal Tax ID. If so, you will need to enter it when applying for a business credit card.

By MoneyBlueBook

Due to my desire to go completely paperless and to streamline my finances, I eliminated paper billing from my life at the start of last year. Of course there are still a few pesky old fashioned companies that insist on sending me paper bills through snail mail, but the vast majority have complied and converted my monthly statements into E-billing. I've also taken it one step further by setting up and activating automatic online debit payments for all of my bank, credit card, and home utility accounts. Since I switched to online billing and automatic debit payments, it's been much easier for me to manage my finances. My primary Citibank checking account is now linked up with all of the paid services that I use, allowing me to easily pay home utility bills and credit cards at the touch of a mouse click. I view my account balances from one convenient page using an online account consolidator program like Fidelity Full View, which is powered by Yodlee. Most services provide the automatic debit option for free, as they should, since it allows companies to save money on payment handling expenses.

Your Payments May Be On Autopilot, But Don't Lose Track Of Recurring Charges

The convenience of automatic paperless bill pay is not without its hazards and pitfalls as I soon learned. Automatic bill pay is extremely easy to set up but it can be tricky to maintain. I'll tell you why. Yes, you no longer have to deal with tracking credit card due dates and