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It doesn’t take much to handle your credit at the most basic levels. If you care about your credit, paying on them regularly and keeping from having too much debt. Plenty of people fail at this, however.

But if you really want to do well with your credit cards you need to think beyond the basics. You want your debts to be as easy as possible on you.

Rule number one is to not fall for the various financing schemes or offers of more credit than you need. This is an incredibly basic trap, but one many, many people fall for. It’s the 0% introductory APR. Credit card checks. The higher credit limit.

All designed to encourage you to spend more money. All designed to earn more money for the credit companies. And yes, to cost you more money, even if they make you think you are going to save money. They know how often people fail to pay off balances during the 0% APR periods.

If you’re proud of yourself for always making your payments every month, but aren’t paying your cards off, why not work at getting them paid off? Worse yet, what if you’ve only been doing the minimum payments? Those debts won’t go away with that, especially if you keep spending money. Read the rest of this entry »

Summer is a great time to get out and see the world. But for most people, the budget they have for vacations can be pretty tight. You want to be sure that you are getting the most for your vacation dollar.

A good travel site will help you plan your entire trip. You can go for an all-inclusive package or build a custom vacation for yourself.

For example, when you’re trying to find cheap holidays in Greece, this site can help you plan it. They offer quick links to some of the more common requests, or navigation off to the left for figuring it out on your own. The system will build trips for you at a variety of price ranges, so you can pick what works for you.

How financially responsible are you? Is relying on your credit cards to get by, yet making your payments regularly enough to think of yourself as financially responsible? Or is there more?

I’d say there’s much more involved.

Let’s take a look at that first part. Relying on credit cards to get by. What happens if you can’t meet the payments anymore? What if you lose your job? What if…?

Got a backup plan?

Even if you’re making all your payments on time, if that credit card is all that is keeping you from financial ruin you have a ways to go to become financially responsible.

You can start by getting that card paid off. This can take time and require some sacrifices, but for the sheer peace of mind it is well worth it. You may even be surprised at how much more leeway your budget has if you aren’t having to make credit cards payments.

Ooops! What was that word there? Budget?

Do you have a budget? Read the rest of this entry »

Hopefully not nonexistant.

But there do come times for many people when they don’t have health coverage through their work. They have to get health insurance on their own. It’s not fun.

But one of the great things about the internet is how easy it is to get a health insurance quote online. Even multiple quotes. Makes comparing rates much easier than it used to be.

Like many sites these days, the site linked above offers online quotes. It’s pretty much a must these days. But if that doesn’t suit you, you can call or email them to get your quotes. That’s nice for people who really don’t like sending information out online.

It’s summer and the kids are out of school, but that doesn’t mean you can’t think about what the schools should be offering your children. And the question comes as to whether or not personal finance should be one.

I could see it as a part of another class. There are a few basic things that would generally be good to teach.

Balancing a checkbook would be one. Coping with debts of all sorts would be another.

But really, the best people to teach children about personal finance is their parents. Show them how you use your checkbook and credit cards. Show them that living on a budget is a priority. Show them that you don’t need all the latest gadgets to be happy.

Realistically, of course, this is an example that many parents do not set. And so one must wonder if the schools could find a little room to help. I don’t think the only option is an entire semester, but as an add-on to another class it could be a good thing.

Technorati Tags: personal finance, schools, education, money skills

Even if you aren’t doing much with the stock market it can be a good idea to keep up with at least the basics of financial news. It’s just a generally good idea to know how the economy is going as it can impact much of your life, whether you realize it or not.

I found a site that gives financial news for the UK. If you live there or if you have reason to be interested in what is going on there, this is a good thing. The site offers forums and a blog so that you can keep up on what interests you and discuss it with others. You’ll also find out what other people think.

The blog does not appear to be updated too often, which is a pity, but the news sections do get new information most days. Financial information changes regularly, so this is necessary. And of course the news does not cover only the UK, as the economy of other nations has plenty of impact.

Depending on what you are looking for, you can get relevant news. While I am not in the UK, I found the mortgage news interesting. I live in an area where there is plenty happening with mortgages, most notably foreclosures, so this is of interest to me.

All in all, if you’re looking for financial information, this is a fair resource. They share news that you might find interesting. It is presented as more informational than opinion, which is often what you need on financial topics. Better to keep the opinions to when you discuss things with others on the forums.

If you’re one of the fortunate ones who has managed to manage your money well, you may find that sometimes you do wish that you had done more to build your credit score. A near complete lack of a credit history can be quite a disadvantage.

But is it worth it to get a credit card and carry a small balance just to build your credit score?

Carrying a balance – no, not worth it.

Getting a credit card – yes, probably worth it.

The trick is to have it, use is and pay it off each and every month. You don’t have to use it a lot, just enough to show that you are responsible with credit. That’s all you really need to start building a credit history.

One very important thing to avoid is paying an annual fee on a credit card. Very few people really benefit from cards with annual fees. Some do, as they use it in a way that more than makes up for it, but if you’re keeping things to a minimum, there really is no point. Read the rest of this entry »

College is a time when you make huge changes in your life. You may be living away from your parents for the first time. The classes you take can be very different from what they were in high school. And in many cases the campus is just huge.

It’s also a great time to learn more about handling your personal finances. If you were lucky, your parents worked with you on this already, and you have a pretty good idea how to live on a budget, balance your checkbook and maybe even handle a credit card well.

If not, it’s definitely time to learn, provided you have the self control to only use it when you need it, not when you want something extra. Control is vital to keeping your credit card debts down.

But even choosing the right credit card to get started is important. College is one of the easiest times to get your credit history started, but it is also one of the easiest times to mess it up for years to come.

On many campuses there will be tables with credit card representatives wanting to sign you up. They may have little gifts for those who do. There’s nothing wrong with signing up at one of these, so long as you really understand what you are getting into. You are better off knowing first what you want from your credit card. Read the rest of this entry »

When I went to college, I did it the hard way. No loans, no grants, not even money from my parents, aside from being able to live at home rent free. It was tough, but at least I didn’t have debts to pay back after college.

But thinking back, it would have made a lot of sense to get stafford loans or other financial aid. I could have gotten through college with a lot less stress and spent less time there. Years were added to my time there just because I had to work to pay my way and couldn’t take a full class load every semester.

Deciding whether or not to take on debt as a way to get through college can be a very personal decision. There are a lot of advantages, such as not having to worry about where the money for each semester is coming from.

Scholarships and grants are the best, of course, since you don’t have to pay them back, but not everyone will get any money or enough money from these sources. Student loans of one type or another can really help.

One of the great things about Stafford loans is that if you qualify, the loan is subsidized and you do not start owing interest on the loan until after you graduate. The government pays the interest until then.

In the long run, I really think student loans can be worth it. You don’t want to overdo it and be hugely in debt after graduation, but as a way to help yourself get through college promptly they can be wonderful.

Identity theft is a painful crime to suffer, especially because it can take so long to find out it happened. There can be very little evidence of a problem until you check your credit report or you get mysterious calls from unknown creditors.

Being careful with your personal information is very important in helping you to avoid identity theft. But it is not an absolute protection.

Unfortunately, one way identities can be stolen is through your job. An unscrupulous coworker with access to your personnel file can get enough information to get credit in your name. But of course that is not the only way this happens.

Sometimes theives will simply steal your mail and see what they can use. This makes it very important to get your mail inside as soon as possible daily and to make sure someone trusted is taking care of your mail when you go on vacation. It can even be temporarily stopped by the post office if necessary.

A tactic that is very popular online is phishing. This is where you get an email that claims to be from a bank or other online service you might use. They send you to a faked site where they ask for your personal information.

Fortunately, these are easy to avoid. When in doubt, type in the website address of your bank rather than clicking on the email link. This way you know where you are going.

There are other ways your identity can be stolen, but these are some of the more common ones for you to watch out for.