Taking a vacation can be an important part of your yearly routine… after all, it’s been shown in medical studies that individuals who go on vacation at least once per year not only tend to live happier lives but also may have longer lives as well.

Unfortunately, vacations aren’t free; it can sometimes be all that a person can do to scrape together the money to go on their vacation and the person generally comes back to face their various financial problems without the money that they need to repay them. With a little bit of effort throughout the year, however, it is entirely possible to build up a vacation fund without breaking the bank. Below you’ll find some suggestions about how you can save up the extra money that you need while keeping the rest of your finances in check.

Yearly savings

One of the easiest ways to save money for a vacation is to do it a little at a time over the course of a year. Find a large container and designate it as the “change” jar, filling it with loose pocket change and the occasional loose bill at the end of every day. Though it may seem like a small amount, after the end of a year you’ll find that you’ve managed to set aside a pretty significant amount of money. Depending upon how much change you have, you might even have to empty the jar once or twice before the year is up!

Make it a family affair

To help make saving for a vacation more enjoyable, get the entire family in on it and make it somewhat of a game. Set up a small savings account to be used for vacation money, and make a note each time a family member sets aside some money to go into the vacation fund. At the end of the year, you might have whoever had put in the most money have a larger say in where you’re going for the vacation or perhaps they’ll have more spending money allocated to them on a shopping trip.

It’s important to make it fun for any children who might be wanting to participate, and make sure that they have a little bit of extra change or other money to put in from time to time so as to give them an above-average chance of winning the grand prize.

Borrowing for a vacation

Though many people might think it to be an unnecessary expense, taking out a loan to pay for vacation expenses is actually a common occurrence. The loan is often a smaller amount and should only be used to subsidize the money that you’ve saved in other ventures. Taking out a loan can mean the difference between an okay vacation and one that’s truly great, so as long as you can afford to repay the loan later you should at least consider looking for a good loan rate.

Reducing vacation expenses

You might also want to consider ways to make your vacation a bit more friendly on your wallet. Plan visits to certain attractions outside of the peak season, or go on theme vacations that involve a lot of sightseeing or camping in order to have a good time without spending a lot of money. Take the time to plan out your vacation in advance, estimating your expenses and cutting unnecessary expenses where possible. Remember that it’s a vacation, however, and don’t sacrifice a good time for the sake of saving just a little bit of money.

By: Jerry Warner

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The most common form of secured finance is a home loan. Here are the basics that are universally the same. The first thing you must know that, even though it is secured finance which has relatively fewer risks for the lender than an unsecured loan, it is still a major purchase and a loan of a substantial amount of money for a private individual to borrow.

Be prepared, for that reason, to fill out an extensive loan application, and a lot of information on the property that is being used to secure the financing. Be prepared to explain your budget – your income and your expenses, your assets and your liabilities.

Be aware as well, that your secured finance options can change at any time, as rates do change. Once you have that secured financing in place keep an eye on interest rates.

It may be that somewhere down the road you will see interest rates drop and can save some money through a refinance process on the same secured property. Refinancing a mortgage has become quite commonplace.

When you see a better rate that will save you some money, and more attractive terms, try to take advantage of that secured refinance opportunity to save yourself a considerable amount of money over the life of the mortgage.

No matter which finance option you choose – and for a home loan its almost undoubtedly going to be secured – you must make your payments on time. This is the most important thing you can do to your credit and your ability to retain your home. Nothing can hurt your credit rating than making your mortgage payments late.

And since it is a finance options secured with your own home, youre risking the roof over your head when you are late with a payment. If your mortgage company offers automatic debit payments through your bank account take them up on that. Dont risk your home and your credit.

The options for buying a new car with a loan are generally going to be secured finance deals, although you can make them with the auto dealer or with the bank. You generally have a greater percentage of your own money in the way of cash or a trade in of your present car than you do for a home loan, but you almost always need a secured finance lender as well.

The other choice you would have is to lease the car. The problem with leasing is that the car is never really yours and to make it so you will end up with a huge balloon payment at the end of the lease.

The auto dealer finance option, still secured with your new vehicle, means higher interest rates than most financial institutions. It does have its benefits, however. For one thing you can buy the car, finance the car on the spot and drive it home. For busy people this can be a considerable savings of itself.

Auto dealers have relationships with many lenders and know what institution will lend you what money and at what particular rate. They can, therefore do your comparison shopping for you and generally get you the best deal possible. If your credit is good these auto dealers may also have a special limited time offer on new car loans that they use as incentives.

By: James Copper

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If your like many, you don’t always understand what people are talking about when it comes to loans. Without understanding the basic terminology when it comes to loans you just aren’t setting yourself up right to make an educated decision when it comes to applying for a loan. There are hundreds of terms; Below are some of the most important:

Assets

Assets can be described as anything that holds value. Assets can be all types of things from cars to houses. Assets can be used in helping to build credit. For example if you are applying for a house loan, you might use your car as an asset, to show that if you default on a payment, that you have assets to fall back upon such as your car.

Capital

Capital can be a bit of tricky term as it can be used in several different situations to do with finances. Capital can be described as the assets that are available for use towards creating further assets; it can also apply to the cash in reserve, savings, property, or goods.

Debt

Debt is amount of money or something of value that is borrowed from a person referred to as a debtor. Usually a debt that is borrowed will carry some type of penalty along with the payback such as an interest, or service.

Debt Consolidation

Debt Consolidation is replacing multiple loans with a single loan that is normally secured on property. This can often reduce your (the borrowers) monthly outgoing interest payments by paying only one loan which is secured on the property sometimes over a longer term. Because the loan is secured, the interest rate will generally be considerably lower.

Equity

Equity is the difference between the value of a product (for example a house) and the amount that is owed on it.

Liabilities

Liabilities refers to the sum of all outstanding debts in which a company or individual owes to it’s debtors.

Principal

Principal is used to describe the amount of money that is borrowed without including any interest or additional fee’s.

Term

Term refers to the length of a debt agreement. For example if you were to take out a loan for a house over 10 years. 10 years would be the term.

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By: Ryan Fyfe

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If you have a credit rating score that makes you being concerned about putting on an application for an auto finance, you have to know that many others are going through the same fiscal credit crunch right now. But you also have to consider that a dependable auto is all important for you to carry on with your normal routine, commute to workplace, drop off the children, therefore many lenders have set up finance especially planned for folks with poor credit rating. So do not give up, there is an answer and yes, you can get a automobile loan, even with bad credit rating.

You might need to consider a couple of facts firstly, and it is very crucial to do so if you are browsing for a bad credit auto loan.

1. You have to consider how poor is your credit actually: what affect those missed or belated payments have made on your credit account. You can never be sure enough until you actually request your credit file to be sen to you and check out how many nonpayments show up there. Probabilities are that if you were belated once and it was the first instance, your creditor did not file a default note on your report, but it is the right thing to do to make sure.  

2. You need to consider too, that you might need to compromise. You can be provided  with different terms than someone with sound credit rating, therefore choose the auto cautiously, and also for the role. You need to avoid going for unnecessary luxury, and make sure that you can pay back the finance on time every single calendar month, while paying up your servicing prices, fuel, road taxation and insurance policy likewise. Make an initial reckoning for the expenses, too, so there will be no awful surprises!

3. Consider part exchange or trading in your previous automobile to get a better deal! When you trade in your old car, you might be eligible to a price reduction, and it can also mean that the credit amount of money is going to be much less. Therefore you will get much more opportunities to get offered for new finance.

4. Pick out supplier and product with care! You have two choices to get a finance for a car: Hire Purchase and Personal Loan. Let me just quickly outline the difference between the two:

A Hire Purchase means that you are less hazard to the loaner: you still have the auto and are the recorded keeper but the proprietor is the credit firm, therefore if you do not repay your monthly rental, they have the right to take the car back at any point in time. But you can still benefit from a low APR finance, a frozen term repayment and a checked out, lawfully clear car.

A Personal loan can also be wont to purchase a car, also as holidays, weddings, home improvements, but there will be a different criteria for putting on an application for a personal loan than Hire Purchase. Loosely talking you will need to have a better credit score, as you get the money sent to your bank, and you purchase whichever car you want to with it, recording it on your own name. This also means that loaners will come down on you much more firmly for tardy or missed repayments, as they do not have the protection to take the the bought car back. The interest rates will also depict the eminent hazard, and you need to check up on the vehicle’s legal documents yourself to make sure it will service you for long enough.

By: Laura Wolf

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Personal finance has always been one of the crucial aspects, which largely affects the success of an individual in various fields. Just like a house needs strong foundation to withstand the various charges of weather similarly all individuals require strong foundations of personal finances to withstand the basic charges of life. Strong financial situation has always been the sure shot route towards a sound and independent financial situation. Maintaining a control over personal finance enables one to maintain a control over the entire financial situation and to maintain a control of where is money coming in and for what use it is being used. There are a range of topics covered under it. Some of the vital areas are budgeting, investment, retirement and debt handling.

Personal finance tips cover many crucial aspects that one has to do with his money, starting from generating it to spending it. The various areas -

Budgeting – Budgeting is one of the most essential and crucial areas. Since it is a time consuming and a tedious process, many people refrain from doing it and hence create acute financial problems for themselves. Budgeting is nothing but to ascertain what you must spend versus what you want to spend. Budgeting allows one to maintain a balance between his income and expenses so that all the priority needs are fulfilled optimally. Investments – This is another crucial area as it allows individuals to lock some amount of money and hence stop spending money impetuously. Investments can be of various types like short term investments, long term investments, current investments, etc. Each of this investment has their own specific features like rate of return, minimum amount, lock period, etc. Individuals must invest in accordance to the capacity and such that their financial independence is not hampered. Retirement – it is very vital to plan for retirement, because the cost of living index is escalating at a rapid pace and it’s very important to safeguard one’s future. Debt handling – The fact cannot be ignored that all most all of us raise debts to tackle our various financial needs. However, at the same time individuals should not trap itself in the web of debt. One should ensure that they raise debt according to their repaying capacity and make sure that the payments are discharged at the time.

Some other quick personal finance tips -

Insurance is a must – it is very vital to have optimum insurance policies as they are nothing but safe investments. Insurance protects dependents of the insurer and the income in the case of disability or death. One must insure according to his financial situation. For example, there is no sense of life insurance if an individual does not have any dependents and it is very much necessary for every car owner to have car insurance.

Have a proper savings plan – It is always said that one should always pay himself first. Proper and regular savings helps individuals to take care of all sorts of emergency financial needs.

By: Jonny Pean

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Whether you are shopping for a new credit card or wondering about the one that you may already have, knowing how to calculate the finance charge applied to that card is important. First, however, it is equally important to know what finance charges really are.

A credit card finance charge is the amount of money that you pay to the credit card company in order to use their credit. This is not the same as the purchase amount balance. The purchase amount balance is the dollar amount of the purchases that you made using the card. If you pay off the purchase amount balance within the stated amount of time that the company allows, you will have no finance charges applied to the amount. It is when you carry over your balance that finance charges are triggered and added to your account.

Finance charges are calculated using the amount of your outstanding balance and APR. The APR is the Annual Percentage Rate and all credit cards use them to figure finance charges. It is important for consumers to understand that the ARP can vary from one company to the next, and it can even vary within the same company. It is for this reason that consumers should always look for the companies with the lowest APR’s. This will save you money in the long run.

There are several ways that credit card companies can calculate the finance charges that they apply to consumer credit. Many people do not realize it but the method that is used can make a difference in the amount of money that you will have to pay. Here are some of the methods that credit card companies use to figure finance charges on your outstanding balance:

They can calculate using one billing cycle or two billing cycles.

They can use the adjusted balance, previous balance, or the average daily balance.

They can exclude or include new purchases in the balance.

You will normally find that you have a lower finance charge when the company uses what is known as one-cycle billing and uses the average daily balance method which excludes new purchases. Much of this, however, depends on the balance and the time of the month that you make purchases and payments.

The next lower finance charge method is the adjusted balance, followed by the previous balance method. You can see which method the company is using by reading the bill that you receive. This information is usually contained on the back side.

It is also important that you understand that some companies will have a minimum finance charge system. When a credit card company uses this system you will be charged that set amount even if your calculated finance charge is less than that amount.

Of particular importance to some credit card holders are the cash advance programs that come with some cards. Consumers should be very careful when using credit cards for cash advances. Many companies that offer cash advances treat those advances differently than they do purchases. Before you use your credit card for a cash advance, make sure you look for the details of how you will be charged for that advance.

You will certainly want to know what the APR is for cash advances. Keep in mind that this may be significantly higher than the APR that is used for purchases. You should also investigate the fees that may be applied to the transaction. Fees are in addition to the finance charge that you will have to pay.

Lastly, find out how your payments will be credited. Some companies will apply your payments to your purchases first and then to any advances in cash that you have taken.

Use your credit card wisely and keep track of your finance charges and you will enjoy your credit more fully and avoid some of the pitfalls that many consumers experience.

By: Peter Kenny

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I would like to make myself clear on a few items of interest before I get too deep into the sales processes at any dealership, including: automobile, recreational vehicles, boats, motorcycle, and even furniture or other big ticket items. A business has to turn a fair profit in order to stay in business. I believe that they should make this profit and use it to pay better quality employees a premium wage in order to serve you better. The financial strengths or weaknesses of any business can definitely have a dramatic effect on your customer service and satisfaction. I do not, in any shape or form, wish to hurt a dealerships profitability, as it is essential for his survival. I merely want to advise people how to negotiate a little better in order to make the profit center more balanced.

Let’s get right down to this! Every dealership has a finance and insurance department. This department is a huge profit center in any dealership. In some cases, it earns more money than the sale of the automobile itself. Profits are made from many things that most buyers do not understand.

You as a consumer should understand the “flow” of the sales process to understand the profit centers that are ahead of you. Most negotiating from the consumer seems to stop after the original price is negotiated and agreed upon. Let’s examine just a small portion of what leads up to that point.

The first thing that every consumer should understand is that when you go to a dealership several things come into play. One of the most important things that I could point out to you is that you are dealing with a business that has been trained to get the most amount of money from you as they can. They are trained and they practice these tactics everyday, day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. Let me point out a couple of important facts that I have said in this paragraph. First, you’ll notice that I said a dealership and not a salesman and secondly, I emphasized times of day after day, week after week, etc. etc. This was done to let you know that the salesman is working very closely with the sales managers in order to make as much money as he can. Your interests are really not their objective in most cases.

One tactic that is used heavily in the business is that the salesman says he is new to the business. This may be true or not, however; keep in mind that he does not work alone. He is working with store management, who gives him advice on what to say and when to say it. These guys or gals are very well trained on how to overcome every objection that you may have to buying from them. They have been trained in the psychology of the buyer and how to tell what your “hot buttons” are. They listen to things in your conversation that you may say to one another as well as to the salesman. They are trained to tell their desk managers everything that you say and then the desk manager is trained to tell the salesman exactly what and how to answer you. A seasoned salesman does not need as much advice from his desk and may negotiate a little more with you directly without going back and forth.

The process of negotiation begins the moment that you walk into the front door or step foot out of your car and begin to look at vehicles. Different stores display inventory in different ways. This is done for crowd control or more commonly known as “up control”. Control is the first step in negotiating with a customer. Ever who asks the questions controls the situation. Let me give you an example: A salesman walks up to you and says “Welcome to ABC motors, my name is Joe, and what is yours?” The salesman has just asked the first question- you answer “My name is George.” He then asks you what you are looking for today, or; the famous “Can I help You?” As you can see, step after step, question after question, he leads you down a path that he is trained to do.

Many times a well trained salesperson will not answer your questions directly. In some cases, they only respond to questions with other questions in order to avert the loss of control. An example of this could be something like you asking the salesman if he has this same car with an automatic rather than a stick shift. Two responses could come back to you. One would be yes or no, the other could very well be something along the lines of: ‘don’t you know how to drive a stick shift?” In the second response the salesman gained more information from you in order to close you. Closing means to overcome every objection and give your customer no way out other than where do I sign. The art of selling truly is a science of well scripted roll playing and rehearsal.

We have established that the negotiating process begins with a series of questions. These questions serve as two main elements of the sales process. First and foremost is to establish rapport and control. The more information that you are willing to share with you salesman in the first few minutes gives him a greater control of the sales process. He has gathered mental notes on our ability to purchase such as whether you have a trade in or not, if you have a down payment, how much can you afford, are you the only decision maker (is there a spouse?), how is your credit, or do you have a payoff on your trade in? These are one of many pieces of information that they collect immediately. Secondly, this information is used to begin a conversation with store management about who the salesman is with, what are they looking for, and what is their ability to purchase. Generally, a sales manager then directs the sales process from his seat in the “tower”. A seat that generally overlooks the sales floor or the sales lot. He is kind of like a conductor of an orchestra, seeing all, and hearing all.

I cannot describe the entire sales process with you as this varies from dealer to dealer, however; the basic principals of the sale do not vary too much. Most dealerships get started after a demo or test drive. Usually a salesman gets a sheet of paper out that is called a four square. The four square is normally used to find the customer’s “hot points”. The four corners of the sheet have the following items addressed, not necessarily in this order. Number one is sales price, number two is trade value, number three is down payment, and number four is monthly payments. The idea here is to reduce three out of the four items and focus on YOUR hot button. Every person settles in on something different. The idea for the salesman is to get you to focus and commit to one or two of the hot buttons without even addressing the other two or three items. When you do settle in on one of the items on the four square, the process of closing you becomes much easier.

One thing to keep in mind is that all four items are usually negotiable and are usually submitted to you the first time in a manner as to maximize the profit that the dealer earns on the deal. Usually the MSRP is listed unless there is a sales price that is advertised (in may cases the vehicle is advertised, but; you are not aware). The trade value is usually first submitted to you as wholesale value. Most dealers request 25-33% down payment. Most monthly payments are inflated using maximum rate. What this all boils down to is that the price is usually always negotiable, the trade in is definitely negotiable, the down payment may be what you choose, and the monthly payment and interest rates are most certainly negotiable. If you do your homework prior to a dealership visit you can go into the negotiation process better armed. You still need to keep two things in mind through this process. The first item is that you are dealing with a sales TEAM that is usually highly skilled and money motivated. The more you pay the more they earn. The second item to remember is that you may have done your homework and think that you are getting a great deal and the dealer is still making a lot of money. The latter part of this statement goes back to the fact that it is essential for a dealer to make a “fair” profit in order to serve you better.

Once your negotiations are somewhat settled, you are then taken to the business or finance department to finalize your paperwork. Keep in mind that this too is another negotiating process. In fact, the finance manager is usually one of the top trained sales associates that definitely knows all the ins and outs of maximizing the dealerships profit. It is in the finance department that many dealers actually earn more than they earned by selling the car, boat, RV, or other large ticket item to you. We will break these profit centers down for you and enlighten you as to how the process usually works. Remember that finance people are more often than not a superior skilled negotiator that is still representing the dealership. It may seem that he or she has your best interests at heart, but; they are still profit centered.

The real problem with finance departments are that the average consumer has just put his or her guard down. They have just negotiated hard for what is assumed to be a good deal. They have taken this deal at full faced value and assume that all negotiations are done. The average consumer doesn’t even have an understanding of finances or how the finance department functions. The average consumer nearly “lays down” for anything that the finance manager says. The interest rate is one of the largest profit centers in the finance department. For example, the dealership buys the interest rate from the bank the same way that he buys the car from the manufacturer. He may only have to pay 6% to the bank for a $25,000 loan. He can then charge you 8% for that same $25,000. The dealer is paid on the difference. If this is a five year loan that amount could very well be $2,000. So the dealer makes an additional $2,000 profit on the sale when the bank funds the loan. This is called a rate spread or “reserves”. In mortgages, this is disclosed at time of closing on the HUD-1 statement as Yield Spread Premium. This may also be disclosed on the Good Faith Estimate or GFE. You can see why it becomes important to understand bank rates and financing.

Many finance managers use a menu to sell aftermarket products to you. This process is very similar to the four square process that I discussed in the beginning. There are usually items like gap insurance, extended service contracts, paint and fabric guard, as well as many other after market products available from this dealer. The menu again is usually stacked up to be presented to the consumer in a way that the dealer maximizes his profitability if you take the best plan available. The presentation is usually given in a manner in which the dealer wins no matter what options are chosen. With the additional items being pitched to you at closing, your mind becomes less entrenched on the rates and terms and your focus then turns to the after market products. Each aftermarket item can very well make the dealer up to 300-400% over what he pays for these items. Gap coverage for example may cost the dealer $195.00 and is sold to the consumer for $895.00. The $700.00 is pure profit to the dealer and is very rarely negotiated down during this process. The service contract may only cost a dealer $650.00 and is being sold for $2000.00. The difference in these items are pure profit to the dealer. You see, if you only paid $995.00 for the same contract, the dealer still earns $345.00 profit from you and you still have the same coverage that you would have had if you had paid the $2000.00. The same is true for the gap coverage. You are covered the same if you paid $395.00 or $895.00 if the dealers costs are only $195.00. The only difference is the amount of profit that you paid to the dealer. Another huge profit center is paint and fabric protector. In most cases the costs to apply the product are minimal (around $125.00 on average). In many cases the dealer charges you $1200-$1800 for this paint and fabric guard.

As you can see, these products sold in the finance department are huge profit centers and are negotiable. I also have to recommend the value of most all products sold in a finance department. It is in your best interest to get the best coverage possible at the best price possible. Always remember this: The dealer has to make a fair profit to stay in business. It just doesn’t have to be all out of your pocket.

By: Leland A. Murray Sr.

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