One Cent At A Time

A Personal finance blog to get rich

Archives for October 2014

How to Get Your Credit Score for Free

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Knowing your credit score is very important as it greatly affects your financial ability, but for some reason no regulation exists that gives you the right to know it for free. Your credit score affects the interest rate you get when applying for a loan or even affect your eligibility for one. It also affects your fees why applying for financial services such as credit cards. Even your housing association, where you rent or your employer might want to verify your credit report and credit score. For Americans, having a good credit score makes things less costlier and more attainable.

Resources for Free Credit Score

Your credit report, which contains a lot of information about you and your financial whereabouts and it even required to calculate your credit score, is available for free according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act which allows you to order a credit report once per year from all 3 of the nation’s credit reporting companies (TransUnion Experian and Equifax). Each company uses a different method of calculating your credit score and each compiles its own credit report.

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How to Save Money While Providing Everything your Child Needs

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Having a child is a wonderful thing. At the same time, parenting is expensive! Whether it’s your first kid or your fourth, you always want to give the world to them. However, the costs can rise up, and too often parents find themselves stretched too thin. It doesn’t have to be this way though. Although we are not parents we know exactly how costly it is to raise a child. So I thought of writing a ways to save money while raising your kid in an ideal way. Hope you’ll like it.

Saving Money while raising child

First and foremost, before we list the money-saving ways. No money-saving scheme actually work in longer term unless it’s associated with some form of budgeting. Budgeting may consist of target on each item to having only one target, that is saving a fixed amount per month. Whatever it is that you are comfortable with, simply get it going as soon as possible. Else, you’ll save money on food but end up spending more on child care, just as an example. A budget can keep all your spending in control.

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How to Avoid Working in Old Age and Meet your Retirement Goal

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This is not an astrological prediction, but, a possibility for most of us. 20% of workers aged 50+ are in the workforce; 75% of workers aged 50+ are expected to have retirement jobs in the future. So most of us will still be working for a job to meet our basic needs for food and shelter. This is a scary situation. Retirement is a time to cherish the hard work of yesteryear. Retirement is to enjoy things we postpone during our working life.

Enjoying Retirement

The best thing you could do now is to realize that you are falling behind and try to correct your situation. Unless you really enjoy your work and enjoy being in a company of colleagues, you must look out for a safe and comfortable future, where your money could bring in the returns that let you enjoy the same or a better lifestyle than what you have today.

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Importance of Personal Finance Lessons for Teenagers

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Earlier this year, I came across an article from the Los Angeles Times.  It’s about how millennials won’t be able to get mortgages on their own and will rely on their parents to co-sign on loans and mortgages in the future.  More recently, I came across this article on CNN Money – it’s also about how the student loan debt is making home ownership out-of-reach for millennials.

millennials

While home ownership is not a goal for everyone, I strongly believe that financial independence should be a goal for everyone.  Unfortunately, millennials are not there yet for a number of reasons, including: no financial literacy skills, dangerous amounts of student loan debt, and not establishing credit early enough. I think starting the conversation about financial literacy early is the best way to prepare young people for financial freedom, just as  about educating teenage girls about the importance of personal finance.

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7 Ways to Market Your Small Business at a Low Cost

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So how many of my readers are actually small business owners? If you are are self-employed I guess you are one. Even bloggers who quit their day job, the blog is a small business. This post will cater to them, the small business owners. Spending money on advertising, marketing and spreading the word out takes a lot of time, energy and money. So what about getting some tips on none-to-zero-cost marketing? Which is as effective as spending thousands of dollars! read on.

Small Business 1

When it comes to marketing, the small business owner has a tough job. Not only are resources tight when it comes to paying for airtime with radio and television, but oftentimes, the marketing department is small or non-existent, which forces employees and owners to comes up with ideas and ad campaigns, regardless of whether or not that type of expertise is in their wheelhouse.

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Precautions before You Trade in Penny Stocks

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Trading penny stocks is considered a risky business for many and there are reasons why this is true and reasons why it is still a good option for making money. Experts define penny stocks as company shares below $5 each. Even though beginners start trading with these cheap stocks, they experience the volatility and risk immediately. However, before you start investing, take heed of these common precautions to start trading in a prudent and reasonable way.

Penny Stocks

Trading in itself is a risky proposition, trading in penny stocks is more so. Low liquidity, dependence on momentum and manipulative nature makes penny stock trading a riskier option than normal stock trading on stock exchanges through your broker.

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Real Estate Investment in its Many Forms

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The real estate crash is still fresh in our mind. This year we cautiously bought our first home amidst a booming real estate market, we are a bit afraid. Although, this real estate boom is not widespread and property prices are appreciating at a slower pace. In a place like south Florida where we crossed the bottom two years back and on our way to the level last seen in 2006-2007, we are skeptical and keeping our eyes and ears open. We shouldn’t have another crash now. Let’s hear a story from Steve who was in the UK before and now lives in Turkey which is all about risks and rewards of real-estate investment. Sometimes it’s nice to know stories from people in other countries. Enjoy this guest post!

Real estate investment

Real Estate has always been a solid medium to long term investment. The problems have come for those that are after a quick buck and buy just before there is a hiccup in the market. That was certainly the case back a few years ago. Financial institutions were falling over themselves to lend money to the most dubious of applicants. Obviously, their logic was that because prices were rising strongly their loans would be more than covered by growth in the event of defaults.

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How to Cope With Investment Risk

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Investing always carries some amount of risk, whether you’re investing in stocks, bonds, real estate, or a lower-risk investment like CDs or Treasury-issued securities. When you think of investment risk, you probably think of the risk of losing some or all of your money because of a bad investment decision or a market downturn. But that’s not the only risk you face as an investor. There are some apparently harmless risks as well.

Coping Investment risk

What many investors don’t realize is that if you don’t invest aggressively enough, inflation will cause your money to lose value over time. If you rely on socking money away in a savings account to get you through retirement, your future purchasing power is sure to disappoint. While you can’t avoid all investment risk, you can mitigate it by learning about the different types of investment vehicles available, developing a sound investment strategy, and letting time work its magic to help your portfolio grow.

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Three best Forex Books To Read for Beginners

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A while ago I wrote about 10 best personal finance books. Here’s another list of best books. This time, it’s only about Forex trading. I have been reading about Forex trading for some time. Hope you’d get value put of reading these books.

Best Forex Books

If you are ready to jump into the world of foreign exchange trading, you know that doing your research is one of the most important first steps to take.  Sometimes, though, it is hard to know where to get started.  Fortunately, some of that work have already been done for you in the form of a few great books on the subject.

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