Steadfast Finances

 Personal Finance         No comments

Are you looking to spice up your home with a little redecoration? It’s understandable to want to change things up a little bit. No one likes to keep the things the same for too long. Some new furniture or different colors may be exactly what you need to liven up the place. Before you get [...]

 Entertainment,Personal Finance         1 comment

Popcorn, the dark theater, a comfortable seat, the big screen, a good film, and booming surround sound…. This set-up lures people to attend the movies. Although going to the movies is good, clean fun and is enjoyed by everyone, this entertainment source does not come cheap. With the prices of commodities getting higher and higher, entertainment, including watching a movie, becomes a luxury. Still, it is impossible and probably unwise to totally eliminate entertainment expenses.

 Personal Finance         No comments

Here’s a statement that guarantees me some grouchy comments: it’s better to be in credit card debt than to bounce a check. Of course, it’s better to properly manage your money and face neither scenario, but we don’t live in a perfect world. Somewhere, in the great big financial world, someone is short on cash for the month and they are planning on bouncing a check, when really they ought to be going into credit card debt.

 Personal Finance         No comments

In the tough economic climate it is extremely important to save money wherever possible and when it comes to saving money around the home, thinking small is often times the best way to make some of the biggest savings. Making small adjustments throughout the home means you can accumulate some big money savers over the course of a month, this can free up money for mortgage payments, family holidays, you name it. Below we’ve listed some of the best ideas and places to make little adjustments around the home so you can start making savings immediately.

 Personal Finance         No comments

If there was one word that could sum up our decade so far, it would be austerity. Governments, companies and especially individuals are all cutting back on spending. If you’re thinking of adopting your very own austerity programme, a great place to start is at home. Nadine Bourne from XLN Business Services explains how With [...]

 Personal Finance         2 comments

The thought of just hopping on a plane to go anywhere at a moment’s notice, with no worries or qualms, leaving everything behind to travel for a bit is a romantic, thrilling notion. However, unless you’re Donald Trump, it may be a little unrealistic. While you definitely can just fly far far away, taking a couple steps to make sure your finances are in order first will save you a lot of trouble during and after your trip.

 Personal Finance         No comments

Many Americans, like myself, enjoy nice things. We are known for our consumerism, it seems, more than any other attribute. While there are Americans that have trouble paying the bills, many of us buy stuff that we don’t need. We justify splurges like our lives depended on it. While the recession did help cure some of our thoughtless spending habits, we still have a long way to go.

 Investing 101         1 comment

It is hard to avoid. At some point, you need to work with a banker, broker, agent or realtor to obtain the financial products that can help make you wealthier. The Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances showed that nearly 40 percent of families will consult a banker or a broker for financial and investment advice. Aside from friends and family, financial agents are the second or third most common source of financial information.

 Business Trends         No comments

Are you looking to start your own business? While the initial stage may be exciting when starting out on a journey like this, it is often the most challenging period for a small business owner. Not only are you tasked with creating the system or systems in order to increase later efficiency, you are also forced to come up with the funds to run the business. Every business needs money – it’s just a matter of how you are going to acquire the money.

 Personal Finance         No comments

For most parents, having a child is a joyous event in their lives, and there is no bigger responsibility than having the welfare of another person in your hands. If you are a new parent or a parent to be (or probably even the veteran parents), you will probably agree, that it is not an easy task. Aside from ensuring the welfare and safety of the child, you need to struggle with every little detail of the child’s presents needs. You do not provide just for your needs anymore but for the child’s as well. It is the time when your needs take a backseat.

 Auto Sales         1 comment

A colleague of mine, who is much older than I am and has teenage kids, is thinking about how he wants to get his eldest child a used car that can be their own. This is common for most middle and upper class families. A few extra thousand dollars to buy a used car can go a long way to helping a teenager grow into adulthood. Yet, that doesn’t make it an easy decision. In fact, there are a lot of variables. How new of a car do you get? What make? What model? What are the goals for buying this car? How long should you expect it to last? While I am no expert, I thought I would share my perspective on what to buy your child for their first car.

 Consumer Education,Personal Finance         1 comment

The other night I was wasting some time on craigslist when I was looking at some possible cars that I might buy next time I need to upgrade. My wife asked what I was doing and I of course responded that I was looking at cars. She challenged my decision to waste time on this asking, “when do you think we need to buy a new(er) car?” I knew she had me there. I don’t plan on buying a different car for 2-3 years at the earliest. It’s just that I like to know the “going rate” for cars so that when I do need to shop for a new car, I have a general knowledge of the market. You, like my wife, can call me crazy but I like to be prepared. Considering that I obsess about this, I figured I would share my thoughts on minimizing the cost of a car, which is often a depreciating asset.