Archive for the ‘Money relations’ Category
Filed under: Money relations
Well I guess that many are saying the recession is done. However, I bet for many that won’t be a reality for another few months at least. I am working diligently to make sure that things continue to turn around for myself and hopefully along the way I will be able to help some others do the same. It takes a lot of effort though. There is a lot to create. So much content needs to be written and put together everyday for it to be profitable, to keep people’s interest. The accounts are slowly but surely filling up, of course that depends on what kind of accounts we are talking about. Your cash ISA savings account. My ISA. I don’t have enough, yet, to have bonds and such. I think I have some of those stock, left over from previous work. You can tell that I am very on top of it all.
There is a lot I do not know about investing, actually a whole lot. I am not worried though. I figure when I get to the point I need to worry about it, I will be able to afford having an accountant take care of it. I just need to make sure I also have enough to have the accountant checked out. Then if they want to talk about the best ISA accounts or fixed rate bonds or other things I can just politely nod and tell them to go ahead and do whatever they think is best. I am more used to just dealing with the regular savings and checking accounts. They are easy to deal with, little thought involved. That is not to day I don’t think! Just that I have other things that need to be thought about so I can make sure I actually have a reason to have the different accounts.
Tags: accounts, banking, cash, ISA
Filed under: Money relations
Well, figure you might be interested in being updated on the business card story I was relating in previous posts. I did not go with an offshore financial service but I also have not gone with any other banking institution yet. It was pretty irritating to have, but it makes sense as I am just starting my business and don’t yet have all that much income to show but still, it is irritating. And of course dealing with a new institution probably didn’t help as they have zero history with me. Ah well, maybe just get one later after I have been established as a business for a bit. Once the business finance stuff is in order and going well, and then I can probably get one with a lot less hassle at a new place. If not, then I will stick with my current institution. It’s really the principle of the thing though, that and dragging it out for a month or so. I could have told them to stuff it earlier and gone somewhere else if they hadn’t just dragged me along for so long. It does also seem to have an effect on my having opened accounts with them. At this point I am thinking about closing them up and going somewhere else for business services. It’s definitely a bit irritating. Best if I just forget it and move on though. Not getting the card won’t hold me back, mainly wanted it to keep everything business related together for tax purposes. I figured it would be easier that way.
The people I have dealt with at the banking institution are very nice and were extremely helpful though. It was just the person doing their business accounts that seems to be a bit of a putz. I am sure that person is not, but it was certainly the impression I got, and one I will be sure to warn my friends about.
Tags: business, cards, complaints
Filed under: Money relations
There was another thing I spoke of last week that is still bothering me. Banking, in particular business banking. I have issues with it. Small issues I guess, but irritating issues none the less. Wow, seems to be complaint week again. At least they are minor complaints, which is one point I am not going to be complaining about. Alright, enough with the digressions, back to your regularly scheduled complaint. Banks and business accounts. So, think I complained a bit about how long and what they are doing in regards to my business card. I have, at this point decided to forego the card and just use one of my own personal ones for business stuff only. It is just to much of a pain dealing with them and it has taken entirely much too long to even get the card. They did apologize a lot, saying the delay was really not acceptable, which it wasn’t, but it is somewhat to little to late at this point. I still think it would be less of a pain in the butt to open a foreign currency bank account. Actually, I know it is less troublesome. I originally went with the bank because they were friendly and had good savings rates, but the rest of their services are leaving a whole lot to be desired. So, guess I take my business business somewhere else.
Banks, especially credit unions should be consumer friendly as it is our money they are using, but they seem to lose sight of that fact. Most of the ones I have been to, if you go inside the bank they are fairly nice but if you call them you might as was have well not bothered, although that is really a lot less so with the credit unions. The big banks, though, are often good at wasting your time on the phone.
Tags: banks, business banking, business cards, credit cards
Filed under: Money relations
I missed car insurance last week when I was talking about my insurance stuff being due. Well, no real surprise here, but it will be due in about a month. I attempted to shop around last time it was due, but there really wasn’t much difference. It seemed like an average of thirty or forty dollars either way. Which is really not enough to switch for. Switching entails more paperwork which of course is usually a pain in the butt. So unless I can find a difference of one to two hundred I don’t think it’s worth the trouble. At least not right now. There really don’t seem to be that many quality insurance companies available. Many of them seem to focus on their profit not on their customers, which makes the idea of switching a bit scary as well because you really don’t know what you might end up with.
One of the big problems with choosing car insurance, and a big deterrent to changing it just based on price is quality. I have read through a lot of the reviews and it appears that several of the current insurance companies are wonderful, but then the next place I check has them as worse than in-laws. That makes it somewhat challenging to decide on who to pick for insurance. A car insurance quote is easy to get, long as you are willing to part with all of your private information. Up to and including the names you have chosen or are going to choose for your children or future children. And, yes, that is a complaint. General, good car news is so much easier to find, and easier to trust. But we still need to have car insurance, which unless there is a huge price difference, means it is easier just to stick with your current insurer.
Tags: car insurance, insurance, quality and insurance
Filed under: Money relations
Talking about insurance the other day reminded me I really need to look into life insurance. I am sure a lot of people don’t have it but I was thinking it would be a good idea to have if you have anyone you are taking care of or really close to. Especially if you have a family, small or large. Life insurance could be a really good thing, although at first glance it often seems like a waste of money. At least to me it does. I sat down and thought about it the other day though and I would feel better now knowing that those I care for would be given a bit of help if something happened to me, and if I was totally honest it would make me feel better to know that if the person I was closest too had something happen to them, while working through grief, work would not have to be something I had to focus on. That would be tough. I have done it with friends, but with family? I know that would not be the most fun thing I have ever done.
I have kind of looked into it and I am sure there are a lot of ways to find life insurance news and stuff, but I think it is best to have somebody you trust to talk with about it first. If it is something you know quite a bit about it probably isn’t necessary but myself, I just don’t know that much about it. There are sites and stuff online that you can find out some information about life insurance. I think there are even some places that will help you figure out how to choose a good life insurance. I have thought about it a lot but have yet to really do anything with the thought. It seems like a bit of a hassle cause I think you have to have a physical first, but it is probably something that would be a good idea for me to do anyway.
Tags: insurance, life costs, life insurance
Filed under: Money relations
It’s about that time of year again, when all my insurance stuff is due. It being due is not really a problem; the problem is that they always want money to renew things. Been with them for awhile now, wouldn’t it be nice if, just once they’d smile and say, “No worries, this one’s on us.” I might faint, but I would probably never look around for a better rate. Really, if a company would do that, what else might they do for their customers?
Right now, kind of checking around to see what kind of deals I can get on renters insurance. It is due in the next few days and I am trying to see what I can find that might be more palatable to my wallet. My wallet seems to change what it likes or dislikes almost daily. I am finding, though, that it seems to like bills that are cheaper, but only if it can still get similar quality in service or item. Especially now, more expensive does not always mean better quality. As an example I found a wheat bread that I really like at the local grocery store. It’s a whole loaf and it toasts well and tastes good toasted or not toasted. It is only about 88 cents. That beats even some of the discount bread loafs, it really beats the stores own type of bread. The great thing about it is that it tastes good! And it lasts awhile. Can’t really beat it. I often refrain from buying other bread, I’ll wait until this one gets restocked. Mainly because I know I like it and it is such a great price!
Choosing cheap on insurance is probably not a very good idea anyway. I often spend quite a bit of time reviewing car insurance companies, looking at reviews and calling friends to see what company they have and how it has treated them. With insurance it is better to shoot for quality and a company that has a good customer service record.
Tags: buyers, car, home, insurance, rental
Filed under: Money relations
I have been keeping an eye on the stock market and it certainly seems to be fluctuating a lot. This is actually good news, because that means that it is in motion, both positive and negative. Those are both intrinsic to the use of any stock market. To be honest, and keep in mind I am not a guru though I attempt to pay attention to investment news, some might even call me naïve, but to me it seems like things are picking up and for some investors going quite well. The investment news recently has, just from casual glances, appeared somewhat upbeat. Just from what has been reported in the different markets around the world there certainly seems to be a lot of opportunity. Of course there is also risk involved, but that is a given when you are dealing with stocks, bonds and equities. If you want some off the cuff advice from an absolute non professional, not currently investing, but looking into it, market wanna be dabbler then read on. I knew you did, and glad you have kept reading!
If you want to grow your savings, then I think investing in the markets is a bit like hitting the casinos. You must have some sort of strategy before you even show up. Know what money you have and what you plan on doing with it. Know your resources. Decide on how much you are going to invest, or gamble in the market, and stick to it. Invest that amount, and if you lose it, step back and look at why you did, look at the factors that were present, the causes for the stock or stocks you picked to drop. Then use that knowledge to attempt to pick a better stock next time, when you again, have some money free to invest. Of course, if things go the other way and your savings increases then invest in offshore banking. That’s a bit of a joke, a small attempt at humor. I think long term I would invest in agriculture or any type of bio-science, I would also be looking into tech because the chances are good that our society’s are going to require it to maintain, grow and thrive.
Tags: advice, investing, money, stocks
Filed under: Money relations
The business accounts are proceeding apace. I was able to get accounts set up in my business name and now just need to move on to the part of the business that fills those accounts up. It took a while and quite a bit of searching for me to decide on a bank to go with. Most of the banks recently have issues, plus many of the card givers definitely have issues. They are a few that are still good deals, but you seem to have to look for them. However, a credit union, on the other hand is normally a good deal. Credit unions are usually much better than regular banks, at least for their member/customers. After looking around at different banks I went ahead and settled on a credit union, because of their stability and because they are less inclined to screw you just on general principles like many of the banks and credit providers are currently trying to do. I thought of an offshore bank account but I think you already need quite a bit in an account before they will consider you for something like that.
I wonder if they look into credit ratings when they are deciding whether to offer you an offshore account or not? Even if you just went overseas with an account it might turn out for the better for you. That does of course depend on what country you choose and what, in general, their currency trades at. The only other factor I would think to be very important is stability. Will the place you are investing retain the rights it currently allows for non-citizens or will those be taken at the whim of those running that country? It makes a difference, trust me. The main difference being whether you get to keep your money or not, and how safe you feel trading in that currency and what your bank account looks like.
Tags: banking, banks, currency, money
Filed under: Money relations
Living overseas gives you a great perspective on currency and the differences between them. I loved it when my home currency was stronger than where I was living because that was what I was getting paid in and when it was stronger and I converted I got a lot more for my buck. I thought that was a great thing! Currencies, of course, fluctuate so it went the other way sometimes too. Where my home currency was almost equal to the currency of the country I was living in. That wasn’t so much fun. However, the other times really more than made up for it. I would often end up with a lot of cash in the foreign currency, the country I was living in. Which was great, cause it let me do a lot more traveling and sightseeing and general all around playing while I was working there. It also really helped to build up my foreign currency bank account.
I was talking about investing earlier and I remembered the currency stuff and was thinking about the trading I was talking about but instead of stocks maybe trading currency. I know people do it and do well at it but it is another thing where I really don’t know that much. I am not sure how you would work around to get more for your original currency than you had, unless. Unless you (and this just hit me as I write this, which I am sure shows how smart I am) buy high and sell low. However, you would have to do it in a different way. Let’s see if I can explain it. If you buy the foreign currency when your currency is strong you will get a lot more of the foreign currency, right. Now if you can wait until your home currency is weak relative to the foreign currency you could then buy you home currency and hopefully come out ahead. I think that is probably the theory, let me know if it makes sense or if I am completely off. Probably I am completely off, not sure how it would affect your current account, might increase might not. Going to have to think about it some more.
Tags: currency, currency trading, foreign currency, invest
Filed under: Money relations
It is kind of hard to know what to invest in right now, well it is probably the same at anytime but now your chances of choosing something that will crash and go away are higher. But, on the other hand there are a whole lot of absolutely great deals right now too. Knowing what they are though is the challenge. Doing some research and checking out finance forums can give an idea of what might be good. I think the other thing is to look at what will probably last, what is needed now and will probably be needed in the future? Personally, I think tech and bio are the way to go, at least for long term. Plus most of those stocks are at a bargain price right now. If you are really into it you could check out some money brokers, or stock brokers, whatever they call themselves at the moment. If you are willing to pay a lot of them are looking for jobs too, I believe.
I haven’t any plans to go that way myself. When I get some free cash, as in cash not being used for bills and to survive, I want to try those online trading things. Like E-trader and that one with the baby. Can’t think of it at the moment, might even be E-trader. I really haven’t looked into them but I know some people who swear by them, swear at them too actually. Might be fun to be a day trader, although it is probably much more challenging at the moment. However, I bet it can be really lucrative now too. Probably the best way to do it at the moment is to use pretend money and see how you do. That way once a person feels comfortable they can, if they have the extra cash, and invest a hundred or so online and hopefully grow from there.
Tags: currency, finance, investments, money
