2022

Budgeting Money Tip: Cash Envelope System Meets the New World

Credit and debit cards can lure you into spending frenzy that can spiral out of control before you know it. Have you ever come to the end of the month and asked, “Where did all the money go?” The convenience of plastic has made it far too easy to make purchases that we might not make if we had to dip into our wallet and make a cash purchase.

Studies have shown that spending increases as the means to pay for an item becomes easier. In other words credit cards have made buying transactions easier, so we’re more likely to buy stuff without concern, until the bill comes at the end of the month! Likewise, new ‘pay with a wave’ credit cards will make it easier still and foster even more poor spending habits.

I’m a big believer in the notion that cash is king when it comes to paying for items. If you don’t have the cash, you can’t afford the item and shouldn’t buy it. Traditional means of budgeting to help curb spending is the Cash Envelope system. But there are clearly some disadvantages of that. There’s also a 21st century version of the Cash Envelope system called Virtual Envelopes. We’ll explore how you can implement a Virtual Envelope system using your budgeting worksheets.

Traditional Approach: Cash Envelopes for all your Spend Categories

One past useful money budgeting technique was to set up your saving and bill paying system using cash envelopes. Basically the cash envelope system consists of keeping separate envelopes for your spending categories and populating them with cash from your income source. Then when a bill comes due or you need to go shopping for food or an item you need, you simply pay for it with cash from the appropriate envelope.

The big advantage of cash envelopes is that, if you budget properly, you will always have the cash to pay a bill when it comes due. No more worrying about where the money will come from, be it for mortgage or rent, utilities, car payments, repairs, taxes, discretionary spending, etc.

However, there are many disadvantages of this old technique in keeping all that cash around. It’s cumbersome and simply not safe as you can easily accumulate hundreds or thousands of dollars in your cash envelopes. Just imagine the heartbreak and financial setback should something happen to all that cash.

Alternative Approach: Use Virtual Envelopes for most of your Spend Categories

In today’s electronic world, there’s a version of the envelope system that can take the old proven approach and revamp it for the 21st century: Virtual Envelopes. Built on the solid foundation of the Cash Envelope system, Virtual Envelopes works seamlessly with your existing cash envelopes and your budgeting worksheets. The only difference from Cash Envelopes is that for some budget categories you will now deposit the cash into your bank or credit union and manage those categories online, or “virtually.” Hence, the …

2 Investment Bubbles Ready To Pop!

In the early 2000’s, we had the technology bubble. More recently, we had the real estate bubble. Now, I see two new bubbles that may be developing – and may be putting your nest egg at risk. I’m talking about bonds and gold.

The reason I won’t be surprised if there ends up being a bubble in bonds is that I just saw a statistic stating that year to date close to $150 billion dollars has gone into bond mutual funds. And in the same time period, over $50 billion dollars have been taken out of stock-oriented mutual funds. If my math is correct, that’s about $100 billion dollars that has flown from money market accounts into bond mutual funds.

When you think about it, that’s the herd mentality in action. After all, the real estate bubble was at its peak when it seemed like everybody was jumping into real estate, with “flip this house” and “preconstruction condos” and “flip the contract” and all that craziness. When I see a huge migration of money into a particular area, to me, that means a bubble may be forming. This could be the case with bonds.

Interest rates are at historical lows. Bonds go down in market value when interest rates go up. So if you’ve got money in a bond mutual fund, you need to be very aware of any increase in interest rates, because a raise in interest rates will cause the value of your bond mutual fund to go down.

Note that I’m not talking about individual bonds. When you hold those until maturity, you get your money back even if the value goes down. You just need to be careful about bond mutual funds and all the money that’s flocking in to them. The question you want to ask yourself is “what’s my exit strategy? How will I know when it’s time to get out of my bond mutual fund?” Now is the time to develop your exit plan.

The other bubble that might be forming up is gold. If you haven’t heard, gold just hit an all-time high. It crossed over $1,300. And that makes me kind of nervous. I’m not worried that gold can’t or won’t go higher, and I’m certainly not suggesting that the floor is getting ready to fall out from under gold. I’m just talking about being careful. Right now, when the media is saturated with advertisements to buy gold and nationally syndicated radio talk show hosts are peddling gold, I’m reminded, again, of the real estate bubble.

Remember all that advertising for “make money in real estate seminars” and home study courses and workshops? They were all over the place. But I haven’t seen those kinds of advertisements lately, have you? That’s how I feel when I see “sell your gold”, and “we buy gold “and “get your gold coins” everywhere. When an investment is suddenly advertised all over the place, that suggests to me that …

It would be great to dream about having everything we want without the need to purchase them but that would never happen in reality that’s why we must get a job to earn for our expenditures. But there are times when this money is not enough so we rely on various lending companies – read from finnforbrukslån.com/ for more ideas on how to find affordable consumer loans available in Norway. You will find here different rates, terms, and costs offered so it would be a good idea to learn from them.

Finding the cheapest offers is not even easy to get because of various restrictions and requirements so how can we choose a lending company in Norway? I guess we just need to be more cautious and smart especially now that these lenders are highly competitive so they’ll have marketing techniques as well. That’s why you can see all sorts of promotions and these will make it hard for you to decide on what offer is the best and who you are going to believe.

Well, if your primary goal is to find a cheap offer, then you might have to consider personal loans because of more flexible options and cheaper costs, too. Keep in mind that requesting a fund is not always easy because lending companies vary in standards and policies so you’ll have to look at those factors as well. Anyway, the whole process would be lighter if you have a good rating that reflects your creditworthiness but there are also other factors that you have to deal with before sending out your applications.

Realistic Amount

Let’s try to be realistic when it comes to figures which means that we should only request funds that we can pay back since it would be an added expense to our usual obligations. We can calculate how much repayment we should deduct from our paycheck through DTI or debt-to-income ratio. This is a way to compare your monthly debt repayment and gross income.

Let’s assume that your gross income is $25,000 with a 38% DTI ratio so the cost of your debt would be $9,500. Given these figures, you will still have enough funding for other expenses so it would be nice if the ratio is lower. Repayments will not only be your obligation and it is just one of your expenditures so make sure that your pocket not be left with a zero balance.

Type of Personal Loan Offered

If you will apply for secured loans then be aware of the policies as well as requirements associated with this, especially when it comes to the collateral. Remember that if you failed to pay your obligations on time, the lender has all the rights to seize this property and you can’t complain since you signed the agreement. Due to the collateral involved, you may borrow a huge amount and this can be paid over a longer term so can surely pay this.

When you want to request small amounts, then you …

If you have taken out car loans to pay your vehicle, there is a good chance that you are able to refinance that debenture to lessen the financial burden. Refinancing car loans involves taking on new debentures to pay off the remaining balance on the existing loan.

Most of these debentures are secured by the vehicle and paid off in a fixed monthly payment over predetermined terms – usually a couple of years. Individuals usually remortgage their loans to save money since it could score them much lower interest rates (IRs). Because of this, it could minimize a person’s monthly payment, as well as free up funds for other financial needs.

Even if people cannot find more favorable rates, they may be able to find other types of loans with longer terms, which might also result in lower monthly payments (although there is a good chance that it might increase their total interest cost over the period of the loan term). If a person is still not sure whether refinancing their car debentures is the right option for them, keep reading and learn about when it perfectly makes a lot of sense.

Want to know more about common loan terminologies? Click this site to find out more.

When should people remortgage their vehicles?

Decisions as big as car remortgaging will depend on various factors. With that being said, individuals may want to give it serious thought in the following cases.

Interest rates have dived since they took out their original car debenture

Interest rates changed frequently, so there is a good chance that these rates have fallen since the borrower took out their original car debenture. Even a drop of two or three percentage points can result in huge savings over the debenture term.

Let us say the original car loan of an individual was for $25,000, carrying a seven percent IR and a 60-month term. If they keep this debenture, they will end up paying $29,702 on this credit. After one year of payments on this debenture, the balance remaining will be $21,000.

If the individual were to remortgage on this credit for $21,000 for the remaining four years with a lower IR of five percent, they would end up paying $23,214 on their refi debentures. Combined with the additional $4,000 they paid on the previous credit, they would have paid $27,214 to finance the vehicle – $2,488 less compared to if they had kept the primary loan.

If the borrower’s financial situation has steadily improved

Lending firms can use various factors to decide the borrower’s car debenture rate, including debt-to-income or DTI ratio and credit scores, which are calculated by dividing the monthly income by the person’s monthly debt payments. As such, improving credit health, as well as decreasing the debt-to-income ratio, can lead to favorable terms on refi loans.

People did not get the best available offer the first time they applied for a loan

Even if IR has not dropped or their financial situation has not …

Many people love to spend recreation time playing pool. As a result, tables feature prominently in restaurants, bars, lounges and residences, enticing young and old players. However, a poorly maintained table lessens the players’ enjoyment, negatively impacting the game. Consequently, you will want to spend a bit of time routinely cleaning your table. By focusing on three aspects of pool maintenance, you can always ensure that your pool table looks great and responds as it should in the heat of a game.

1. Protect the Felt

The felt top surface of the pool table needs routine maintenance so that your game does not suffer. In addition, dirty felt can damage the pool balls, inhibiting the balls from rolling smoothly on the table’s surface. For these reasons, many pool table owners choose to cover the table after use to prevent dust build-up on the felt. To help remove chalk dust and indentations from ball pressure on the felt, you can brush the felt with a soft-bristle brush designed for the purpose, or use a vacuum’s soft brush attachment and low setting to get into the corners and crevices to remove dust and grime. If you own a table in poor shape, consider utilizing a professional Raleigh billiards service to maintain and repair your table so that you can enjoy it once again.

2. Exterior Care

The wooden cabinets of pool tables and the pockets benefit from regular care. You can use a gentle wood polish to shine the wood. Furthermore, occasionally applying a small amount of mild leather cleaner to the outside of the pockets helps prevent leather cracks.

3. Maintain accessories

Keep the pool balls clean by wiping them with a damp cloth, or for more stubborn dirt, give a soap and water wash. In addition, wipe down the pool cue shaft and store it in a case to help prolong its useful life.

Your pool table will always be ready for your next game by following these three tips. Moreover, a professional billiards maintenance service can provide the extra care your favorite table deserves.…

There can be lots of scenarios in which you might find yourself in need of extra space. Perhaps you’ve just inherited a sizeable collection of grandfather clocks, or you’re converting the room with 1,000 records into a nursery. Maybe you have a piano that is going to live with a friend, but that friend is at least a month away from being able to take it, while the new treadmill arrives next week. Whatever the reason, when looking for a storage unit, you want to make sure that there are certain features before you seal the deal.

Security

When looking for public storage units Petaluma, it’s imperative that your belongings be secure. Ideally, you want to go with a company that employs an on-site manager, somebody on premises whose tasked with helping with client issues as well as minding the proverbial store so that you don’t have to. A locking door and a password-controlled entryway are a plus, and cameras (visible and hidden) can help to deter bad intentions.

Accessibility

When you need to access your things, the path of least resistance is the most preferable, right? It’s as important that those security applications that keep the bad elements out also let you in, whenever you need. Look for a storage unit that is open for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Maintenance

The property needs to be clean and functional. Make sure the space doesn’t look like it’s taken on any water damage, and that the roof is leakproof. Look for storage units that are constructed of metal or concrete, as these are proven to be efficient.

Contract

Make sure to advocate for your needs with this one. If you’re only in need of the unit for a month, you shouldn’t need a six-month lease. If you aren’t quite certain how long you’ll need the space, try to find a lease that has some flexibility, like a month by month payment plan, or a pre-payment plan in which you can get a percentage of your money back if you need to end the lease early.…

In simple terms, a proxy is an intermediary between a client and a server that often acts as a safeguard. Through proxies, clients can also access information stored on various servers as well as being used for various other purposes. Although often compared to VPNs because they have more or less similar functions, proxies are also often used in general, the same as VPNs, proxies also offer free services. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of using a proxy, especially if you use a free service.

Proxy Server Advantages

The main reason for using a proxy server is that users can rely on its various features and can rely on its security assistance. Here are some other things if you use a proxy.

Maintain user anonymity

Proxies have been used mainly to mask IP addresses which from this way, any hacker trying to access your computer will not be able to find out your address. When they try to access your computer, they will go to the proxy instead of the real IP address. Also, the website will not be able to track you because the real IP address is hidden and in this way the proxy can provide anonymity to its users.

Provide protection to clients

While you are surfing the web, there are high chances that you end up visiting a malicious website. If you visit such sites, malware will sneak into your system causing permanent damage. There are also many untrusted sites that are specially created to hack the users who log into those sites which makes your information vulnerable. With the help of a proxy, your system will not make a direct request to the site but instead the proxy end will filter threats from the site. This is why a proxy will provide maximum protection from these types of suspicious sites. Agora is a recommendation for you if you want to use a cloud proxy.

Open blocked websites

Many site owners restrict their content and copyright laws so that not all visitors on the internet can access it. So for users who live outside the region who want to visit the site must use a proxy that works by hiding the IP address.

Control and block harmful content

Besides opening blocked websites, proxies can also do the opposite. Proxies can be used to restrict access to sites that have malicious and suspicious content. It’s no surprise that proxies are commonly used by parents to restrict inappropriate content in an effort to protect their children online.

Better performance

Some proxy services use cached data where after a user visits a website, the proxy will store all the necessary information through cached data. Therefore, when a user visits the same page, the page will be displayed faster. However this can only happen if the proxy has the required cached data from the website because otherwise the proxy needs to request it from the remote server.