Sunday, January 30, 2011

The best free way to manage your money online

A quick search for personal budgeting tools will yield an impressive number of results. Without doing a little research, you might find yourself slightly overwhelmed. It is, after all, hard to distinguish the gems versus the gimmicks. However, Intuit's free online money manager, Mint.com, is quickly becoming one of the best. We can't quite quantify that statement, but it is difficult to argue with over 4 million users.

According to the website: Mint brings all your financial accounts together online, automatically categorizes your transactions, lets you set budgets, and helps you achieve your savings goals. See all your balances and transactions together, on the web or your phone. Mint automatically pulls all your financial information into one place, so you can finally get the entire picture. The fees that banks pay us for introducing new customers allow us to keep the service free for our users. We're committed to staying free for everyone, whether or not you ever act on one of our savings recommendations.


Find out more here: http://www.mint.com/

Thursday, January 20, 2011

10 Ways to Stay Broke

The Consumerist decided to take a different approach to offering financial wisdom. Consider the following tidbits from Consumerist's 10 Tips That Will Make Sure You'll Stay Broke:
We know you don't really like having money. That's why we've put together these 10 tips that will help ensure you never will:
1) Make Shopping Your Hobby.
Nothing to do on a Tuesday night? Go to the store. Doesn't matter which one. Just go and bring your credit card. Better yet, open a store credit card and buy a bunch of stuff. Hey! You saved 10%! Sure, you didn't actually know you "needed" this stuff until you saw it at the store, but its just so cute.
2) Don't Have a Budget.
Look, you know about how much money you make and about how much you spend on basic costs. Then you need your "play money." After that, if there's anything left, it can sit in your non-interest bearing checking account until next month. As long as there is something in there, you're doing well.
Sure, you overdraft now and then, but big deal. It doesn't happen every day.
3) Impress Your Friends By Buying Them Expensive Stuff You Can't Afford.
If Betty registers a $10,000 silver platter for her wedding... you should get it for her. Yeah, so you went in to debt? Betty is your best friend . She'd do the same for you. What? You don't want to look cheap !
4) Go Grocery Shopping When You're Hungry, With No List.
Don't plan you meals. Always eat "whatever you feel like." Go shopping when you're really hungry and make sure to buy everything that looks yummy!Mmmm! Lobster! Another good tip is to go shopping on "sample day" and buy everything you try. Smoked Gouda! Caviar! Little pigs in a blanket! Pizza rolls! Yay!
5) Go To The Little ATM At The Gas Station. A Lot.
It's only 1.50, get over it. The bank is sooooo far away. Just get money wherever it's convenient. Who cares about the fees? Same goes for overdraft fees and other banking fees. It's not that big of a deal.
6) Buy Lots and Lots of "Comfort Items" Without Considering The Cost.
You need your latte. You need your new shoes. You need Madden 08. You need a blu-ray player. You need cable. You need an iPhone. You need more DVDs. You need to buy a book instead of going to the library. You need to play a MMORPG . You need 150 shades of lipstick. You need to see every movie that comes out, then buy the poster and an action figure. You need to go to every concert. You need to buy the T-shirt. You need lots of brand new clothes every month.
You need these things to be happy. If you don't have each and every single one of them you will be so depressed that you may actually die. Don't take the risk.

7) Don't Open A High Interest Savings Account
High-interest savings accounts are for old people. You don't need to save yet. Or at all. You have that, you know, plan thing at work where they save money for you. And you can use your credit cards for any emergencies that might come up. So you'll be OK.
8) Run Up Lots Of Credit Card Debt
Don't worry, you'll pay it off at some point. When? Um. When you make more money than you do now. Duh. Besides, if the credit card company says you can afford to take out $17,000 at 18% they must know what they're talking about, right? They don't want to lose their money!
9) Let Yourself Go.
Don't work out or change the oil in your car. If you get sick, take half the medicine, that way you'll get sick again really quickly and get to spend more on medical bills. Take crappy care of your car and your house so that when something breaks it costs a ton of money to fix. Also, buy a gas guzzling car and leave your windows open with the air conditioning on. Don't brush your teeth or eat healthful foods. Make sure to buy lots of things that are very expensive to maintain, then neglect them. Who cares?
10) Buy Your Children Whatever They Want
Your kid can't go to school unless he/she is dressed in all the latest fashions. Also, he/she must have better toys than other children or you are a bad parent. Disappointment is bad for children. If children don't get everything they want, it makes them bad at math. True story. Also, if you don't sign your kid up for tons and tons of expensive classes and activities, he/she will fail at life and live under a bridge. And it will be your fault.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Start 2011 on Top

The excitement of a new year is often met with a flurry of resolutions. Most people tend to set fitness and health-related goals. Although we can all stand to be a little healthier, why not also focus on your finances? Did you find yourself falling behind on your bills last year? Are you still trying to catch up? 

There are many little things you can do to start saving in 2011. From packing a lunch for work to consolidating your debt, you can climb out of any financial hole. If you are in need of immediate help, we suggest you consider a cash advance loan. You can have the funds deposited into your account within one business day. Visit our site to pick from a list of safe and reliable lenders. Start 2011 in the right direction!