The Most Interest

Do you find yourself printing hundreds of receipts from online shopping? Do you also print out bank statements for your record or receive them in the mail? Don’t be at risk of having a paper trail of your financial records! You can save time and paper by creating simple PDFs of all of your financial transaction and protect them further through setting a password on each or all files. You can even create invoices, proposals and more for your small business using PDFs to make sure other parties involved cannot manipulate the document.

A great piece of software to create simple PDFs is the McBurrz PDF Suite from mcburrz.com. This software allows you to create PDFs from any program that is able to print. Use it to print all of your bank statements, online receipts, and more from your web browser or create PDFs from Microsoft Word, Excel, or Powerpoint. One of the coolest features of this software however is that you can password protect your PDFs, so that you have control over who can print or even view them! Passwords can be created with 128 bit encryption so you know your documents will be secure!

McBurrz has a lot of other cool software for small businesses too! If you are on the creative side, there are photo editing  and vector design programs, video and audio editing software, and more!

Althought consumer credit is no longer at an all time high, in this country it is still a problem. You know about credit cards, at least you think you know a decent amount. Our national savings rate is slowly increasing. Become part of the trend, here are 4 ways to combat Credit Card Debt.

There’s been a boom in online shopping. That trend is certainly not stopping. Online transactions are absolutely dependant on credit cards – and this isn’t helping the average consumer. Running a balance on your card and paying interest rates that are out of this world (when compared to what you would receive in return for such balances at a bank) is how the majority of consumers create the biggest issues for themselves. The proof is in the mail. Literally – how many direct mailers do you see on a yearly basis telling you that you qualify for 0% interest? The paper, the postage, the design and the time spent on creating these costs money. Credit Card companies don’t mind – they know they’ll make that back and then some off consumers.

Facts are, Credit Cards are a way of life. No one wants to carry cash anymore. So its wise to understand how to use them. Its impractical to not have credit cards at this day in age. Being prudent and limiting the number of cards you have, or simply just the ones you carry and use on a regular basis is important. Paying them, yeah, that’s also important.Indeed, having only a traditional American Express card, which doesn’t allow you to carry a balance, can be an excellent way to impose fiscal discipline on you and your family-although, as the Visa ads point out, not everyone accepts American Express. For the rest of us, who do occasionally dabble in credit-card debt, here are a few ways to keep your habit under control.

So here they are, 4 ways to combat Credit Card Debt and use Cards more wisely:
1. Take advantage of frequent-flier or cash-back programs tied to credit cards, but keep in mind that interest payments on a high balance can quickly turn “free” flights into outrageously expensive ones. At a dollar per mile, running up a debt of 25,000 may get you a plane ticket, but it will also saddle you with $4,500 in yearly interest payments, assuming an 18% annual rate.

2. Look very closely at credit-card offers before you bite. Obviously, most of those 2.99% and 3.99% rates will be in effect for only a few months. But there may be other catches as well. Making a late payment, even if it arrives only a day after it was due, may immediately trigger a permanent rate hike. Also, low initial rates sometimes apply only to transferred balances, and you could get charged a fee for making the transfer. Check, too, to see whether there is an annual fee, or charges for exceeding your credit limit or even for closing an account.

3. Avoid amazing grace-period tricks. What you’re looking for is a provision that says you’ll never be charged interest as long as you pay your bill in full by the due date. But some cards have no grace period, calculating interest from the moment you make a purchase, while others give you only a limited time after making a charge before interest is imposed. That period of 20 days or so may end before your payment is due.

4. Don’t forget to cancel cards you no longer use. If you don’t, they’ll show up on credit reports, and that could be a problem, particularly if you’re applying for a home mortgage. Your would-be lender may be reluctant to make a loan to someone who has a cumulative credit-card limit of $50,000, $100,000, or even more.

The following is a review for UFB Direct. The account I used for testing purposes has been open over 1 year.

I’ll try to answer the following for you:

1. Is UFB Direct safe to use?
2. Who is UFB Direct?
3. Is it easy to set up an account here?
4. Once I have an account, what can I expect?

UFB Direct is a subsidiery of Affinity Financial Corporation and is a safe and reliable place to park your cash. They also often have very decent rates for Certificates of Deposit (CDs). How do I know it is safe? You ask, well…the bank is an FDIC member. Check out their FDIC information by click here.

The drawback here is the lack of ACH transfers, at least not free ones.

Link(s):

http://www.ufbdirect.com

Signing Up:

Signing up was pretty simple and standard 10 minute process.  I did have to wait for a signature card to come via snail mail and this was an annoyance but necessary with many other banks. In the long run, I’ve always felt that taking the extra step to protect security and identity comes prioritized of convenience (to a degree). From starting the application until everything is set up and account is funded took about 8 business days.

Support:

I Made several calls to ask random questions, one of which was about the free ACH (or lack thereof) transfers.  Via phone call, I got the answer needed quickly. Hold time was only about 7 minutes. I emailed them to get some FDIC information from them.  Could have done the research but wanted to see how quick and willing they were to hand over that material. It took 2 days  Overall, support was as it should be. No complaints.

Website: Not very intuitive.

Interest Payments: When this account was first opened, it was paying more than FNBO and so I decided to switch over here. Throughout the least year or two, interest rates have gone over and under the par of high yield savings and money market accounts. Interest rate moved below competitors for a while (5+ months) and has recently started an upward trend again. I don’t allocate all my money here, but it pays to let some of it sit here.

Insurance is designed to protect a person and the family from disasters and financial burdens. There are many kinds of insurance of which, the basic and most important is considered to be life insurance. It provides for the dependents after your death.

Since there are certain financial commitments you need to meet throughout life and do contribute in some way to the family income, you need to provide something even in death to secure the home, help the family meet expenses for a while, protect dependent parents, or secure the children or spouse.

Financial obligations could include funeral expenses, unsettled medical bills, mortgages, business commitments, meeting the college expenses of the children, and so on.

How much insurance a person needs would vary, depending on lifestyle, financial needs and sources of income, debts, and the number of dependents? An insurance adviser or agent would recommend that you take insurance that amounts to five to ten times your annual income.   It is best to sit down with an expert and go through the reasons why you should consider insurance and what kind of insurance planning would benefit you.

As an important part of your financial plan insurance provides peace of mind for any uncertainties in life.

1.    Life insurance correctly planned will on premature death provide funds to deal with monies due, mortgages, and living expenses. It offers protection to the family you leave behind and serves as a cash resource.

2.    It secures your hard earned estate on death by providing tax free cash which can be utilized to pay estate and death duties and to tide over business and personal expenses.

3.    Life insurance can have a savings or pension component that provides for you during retirement.

4.    Some policies have riders like coverage of critical illness or term insurance for the children or spouse. There are certain rules regarding eligibility for riders which you will need to determine clearly.

5.    Having a valid insurance policy is considered as financial assets which improves your credit rating when you need health insurance or a home loan or business loan.

6.    In case of bankruptcy, the cash value as well as death benefits of an insurance policy is exempt from creditors.

7.    Life insurance can be planned such that it will cover even your funeral expenses.

8.    Term life insurance has double benefits, it protects and you can get your money back during strategic points in your life.

9.    Insurance protects your business from financial loss or any liabilities in case a business partner dies.

10.    It can contribute towards maintaining a family’s life style when one contributing partner suddenly dies.

Insurance is vital to good financial planning and security but you would need to assess your personal risk and long term commitments. Insurance stands a person in good stead throughout life and can be used in case of emergencies during a life time by requesting a withdrawal or loan.