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Newsletter to Your Friends (Use this link only if you receive this newsletter by email) Week of August 3, 2009This is an OPT-IN list ONLY! If you feel that you have received this message in error, please follow the directions at the bottom of this email to unsubscribe. Thank you.Click Here to view this newsletter online. Navigate This ColumnGrandpa Terry's Update Welcome to The Budget Stretcher! Credit Card Debt Center If you have been looking for a complete guide to help you manage your credit card debt, look no further. CardHub.com has put together a Free Debt Center that includes two key features: Customized Debt Help that provides consumers with on-demand debt management advice, and Debt Education that offers an in depth understanding of the pros and cons of various debt solution options. I strongly recommend that you click on the below link to see what they have to offer: Credit Card Debt Center It's hard to believe that summer vacation is almost over. My grandkids start school on August 13, 2009. Get a long list of help and resources to make this year's back to school a breeze. It is offered by Kid Source.com Back to School Other Back To School web sites: Back to School Back To School Resource Center Family Education Back to school savings guide If someone asks how much debt you have you should be able to give a good ball-park figure off the top of your head. This knowledge is absolutely necessary if you are to get complete control of your finances and pay off your debt. I've developed a form that you can use to get this information down either on paper or on a simple Excel form. Just click on one of the below links and start filling in the information: Excel Format http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/calcforms/owe2.xls Printable Form http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/owe.html That's all for now. Remember, I really enjoy hearing from you folks. If you have any comments, complaints, suggestions or just want to say Hi, please send me an email to tre2000@midwest.net If you know someone that may be interested in subscribing to our newsletter just copy and paste the below link into an email to them and have them subscribe: http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/confirmsubs.html Have a great week, Grandpa Terry Sponsor Advertisement\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ THE FASTER YOU CAN PAY THEM OFF! Paying highest-interest debt first is the SLOWEST way out ... You can laugh at money worries - if you follow our simple plan. Discover savvy consumer money secrets your friends don't know and banks won't tell you. Limited time only. ACT NOW: How To Own Your Paycheck Again! \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Grandpa Terry's Tip of the Week(Reprinted from Jul 28, 2003 Newsletter) I was interviewed by a lady recently for an article that will appear on an investment web site that will run in their publication in the next week or so. Her topic was saving money on school supplies for elementary school age kids. I was able to come up with a few suggestions that I thought might help and I did a little research on the web to come up with a few more. I thought you all might be interested in seeing the list. Start out by checking to see what you already have that might be used for the upcoming school year. This includes school supplies and school clothes. Once you have determined what you have that can be used you will need to make a list of what you need. If you have older kids see if any of their leftover school supplies can be used. Check with your friends and family to see if they have any supplies you can barter. Collect as many Back to School flyers from your newspaper as you can to see what items you can save money on from your list. Pay cash for your back to school purchases. The interest on credit cards can easily eat up any savings you managed to get. Check the Dollar Stores. They normally carry some items you might need at very affordable prices. Try to buy your back to school items without the kids along. This may be a little difficult when you are buying their clothes but it could save you a bundle and a lot of headaches. Always store your school supplies in one location to make sure you can find them when you need them. This will save you money later on. Be skeptical of the initial list you receive from the teacher. It is best to buy the basics first and the rest after you see exactly what they need. Put your child's name on everything. Check to see if you are eligible for free or reduced lunches at school. If not consider packing your child's lunch. Buy your kid's clothes just a little large. This may delay replacing them. Instruct your kids that their school clothes are just for school. If they want to play after school they have to change in to play clothes. It's too late for this year but you may want to start your back to school shopping much earlier if you find items on sale. As fast as kids grow at this age it may not be a good idea to buy their clothes early. I hope this helps! Sponsor AdvertisementAre you frustrated trying to get by on the money you make? Would you like to get a good view to where all your money is going? Would you like to start saving your money, or save even more? Looking for something easier then software like Quicken or Money? Would you like to teach your children about finance? Click Here to check out My Budget Planner Today Grandpa Terry's EmailDear Grandpa Terry,Thanks for putting out a superb newsletter. I'm not sure what to do here. Let me explain. I'm being charged 25.70% on Merrick Bank credit card. I have a couple of things that are charged monthly (gym membership & netflix membership) and I pay it off monthly. I recently cancelled two of my other credit cards and then received a letter from Merrick saying that they are now going to charge an annual fee of $4.00 montly. If I want specific reasons I need to write to their credit department. Due to the fact that the interest rate is so high on this card, I'm tempted to cancel it. Do you think I should? Sincerely, Cheryl My Response: Hi Cheryl, I think if I were in your shoes I would cancel the credit card. It sounds like they really don't want your business. I would call them and tell them that with your credit you can do much better with another credit card. Until we start punishing these credit card companies for their abusive tactics they are going to continue to hit us hard with fees. All the best, Grandpa Terry Hi Terry, I hope you are doing well. I hope Obama’s plan for insurance does not pass. I know people who have to work beyond retirement to come up with $1300 or more for insurance coverage. The insurance companies have NO incentive to cut costs and if this passes, it will be a license to steal from us. I am sorry but insurance companies are untrustworthy like banks and if the law says we have to buy insurance, they will charge whatever they want. That’s all we need is to have another major fixed expense in our working and retirement years. On another note, my HELOC repayment is going to be delayed an extra 5 months due to major car expenses, house expenses and yes insurance costs! It will be 2 years and 5 months to repay the HELOC rather than just under two. At least it won’t be additional debt. I will still make double payments instead of quadruple ones. Back to the insurance issues, When more people use something then the prices go up. It is true of insurance. Plus we now would have to pay extra to pay for the arrogant smokers who refuse to give up the habit or overweight people who don’t exercise. I hope you are not a smoker. I am overweight but at least attempting to cut back. I would choose not to have (pay for) chemotherapy ($15,000 to $30,000 per injection) or kidney and liver transplants for myself. That would be my choice and should get a lower policy, but am sure that we will have to pay for people so terrified of death that they will spend millions of someone else’s hard earned money to live 3 more months. Sorry if it sounds harsh. What do you think? Jim P,S. I meant $1300 per MONTH! For insurance. I know of another retired couple having to pay over $1,000 per month for insurance and forced to work forever. It should not be mandatory unless costs are extremely low. We would still have to pay for the 20 million illegal aliens who though not a recipient of the new insurance will none the less not be turned away by hospitals and so our rates/charges will go higher to pay for them. There is also nothing to stop hospitals for charging $50 for a single aspirin and the other extortionist fees and charges they levy when you are laying on your back and forced to sign a document obigating you to pay for anything they choose to charge you for. As you may have experienced, insurance companies get out of paying for things by simply refusing to pay and they have lawyers to drag it out forever. I went to the dentist a few months ago and would not pay for a cavity because it was on the side of my tooth instead of on the top of the tooth! A cavity is a cavity! The problem IS the insurance companies. Just my humble opinion. Best, Jim Hi - I wanted to note another advantage that credit cards can have over cash or debit cards: if you have a problem with a purchase, you have more leverage in the dispute with a credit card. The credit card company does go to bat for you, without a fee, and I've always been pleased with the results. This has been a real blessing several times over the past few years, when something I ordered online doesn't arrive in good condition or is missing a part, etc. The company has always worked much better on the problem when I tell them I've let my credit card company know there's a problem with the purchase. Having this second level of recourse, especially when you have to make every dollar count, is worth quite a bit to me, yet hasn't cost me anything - no annual credit card fees, and no interest since I pay them off every month. I think the problem with credit cards has a lot to do with the lack of education around them - older folks not learning how to use them responsibly, parents not teaching their kids how to use them, people not taking the time to read the fine print, etc. Yes, the cc companies have set them (the cards) up to make them money - but none of them have held a gun to anyone's head to use them. I really hope that one of the silver linings to the current economic situation for many folks is that they will learn to handle what money & credit they have responsibly. wishing everyone all the best with today's challenges, Slee Hello, Regarding Reader's Tip #2 below, I went to the link, and the code "KITCHEN" had expired. I wonder how we can know what the code is from week to week so that the better price can be used? Is there a way to contact "Ken From Lakewood"? This is a wonderful tip. There are no restaurants within 30 miles of me or two of my children but in Denver there is, so 1 out of 4 isn't bad. Thank you very much. Featured ArticleBy Terry Rigg
With record bankruptcies, mortgage foreclosures and prices
skyrocketing, it's more important now than ever before to
properly and effectively manage your personal finances. Statistics show that most people could manage very well on the income they have now if they were able to keep their bills and expenses within their income. Sadly, too many people do not understand how to do this or how to recover once they have overextended themselves. Personal Money Management is not a one step process. Simply having a budget in place or keeping up with your checking account isn't enough. You need to follow a set process that covers several aspects of money management. Here are the basics of this process: #1 Set Your Goals
Basically, snowballing is where you add up all of your minimum payments and choose one bill to add extra money to the payment until it is paid in full. Then you take the extra money and the payment you were making on bill 1 and add it to the next bill and so on. The extra money you add doesn't have to be much. Just adding $25 will pay down your bills much faster because the amount of money you have allotted for bills remains the same until all of your bills are paid off.
The only way to really know what your credit looks like to lenders is to obtain a copy of your credit report regularly. Residents of the US can obtain a free copy of their credit report from the three credit reporting agencies each year. I urge you to get your free copies by visiting https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
Each of us have our own specific talents. Trying to come up with a one size fits all method of generating more income is next to impossible. But, if you take the time to really look at the talents you have you will probably find that you could use them to provide a product or service that people are willing to pay for. If you aren't aware of where you stand financially you may be a victim of what I call "Financial Complacency". That is simply defined as not being willing to put in the time and effort necessary to control all aspects of your personal finances. Normally, this is a result of being confused about your money and how it should work because you were never taught the right way. Simply by making a concerted effort to properly manage your money will go a long way toward solving any problems you may have. You may be surprised at how easy the solution can be. |
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