My Life As Insurance Agent

Raising four children on a single income makes me somewhat of an expert on this topic. For my family, it’s not about saving, it’s about getting by. Here are some of the ways we do it.

Shop at thrift stores, especially when buying clothes for children. Children do not need designer clothes, and their clothes aren’t going to last them longer than 6 months to a year anyways. The younger the child, the faster they outgrow the clothes. Frequent thrift stores and garage sales. (you can find lots more than clothes, which will save money in other areas as well)

Don’t pay more than you think it’s worth, no matter how badly you feel you “have” to have it.

Shop at wholesale clubs, such as BJ’s and Sam’s Club. It seems more expensive at first, but it really pays off in the long run. This is something we’ve recently discovered. You don’t have to start off buying a ton, especially if you don’t have money to “stock up”. Many items are most definitly cheaper in the long run at the wholesale clubs. Buy a little per week, and freeze or store what you won’t use right away. That way you have a little stored up for a rainy day, or it is less you have to spend the following week. Overall, it adds up.

Buy store brand items where and when you can. We’ve found we like some store brands just as much as the name brand, and it saves us a bit of money.

Put your pocket change in a jar. At the end of the month, deposit it in a savings account that has a decent interest rate.

Save bottles and cans, return them every month and deposit that money into said bank account.

Use credit cards sparingly. Pay more than the minimum payment.

NEVER SPEND MONEY YOU DON’T HAVE! This was always our biggest problem. We are such impulse shoppers that we would write checks for things, knowing full well the money wasn’t in the bank, or if it was, that checks were already written against it. We did this assuming we’d get money in the bank before one or both of the checks were cashed. We were wrong. Both checks ended up cashing before we could get the money in, and suddenly our bank account goes negative, and we’re being charged fees on both ends for writing a bad check. The bank continues to charge fees for having a negative balance, and eventually that needs to be paid off. It costs far more than it’s worth. Just don’t do it!

If things are really tight, it’s good to analyze your lifestyle and see where you can cut back. Do you really need caller ID on the phone? Is basic cable not enough? How important is the internet, can you cut back to a cheaper provider? Do you absolutely have to have 2 vehicles right now, or can you share one vehicle, driving each other to and from work, or taking a bus even?
Make a thorough list of all your monthly expenses and figure out which ones can be cut back a bit, and which ones cannot. Then put it into action.

The total cost of borrowing money is the amount borrowed plus the interest charged, and any insurances you add to the loan for your safety, plus any lending fees charged for the privilege. It can amount to quite a bit more than you’d think depending on the loan, length of term and interest rate. The fee charged for brokering such a deal also varies. The insurances also vary cost considerably. You can get life insurance, or disability insurance or both, or spousal insurance, and each will cost a little more.

You can greatly reduce the amount of your loan just by finding an institution that will give you a better rate, or won’t charge a fee. Don’t be fooled by banks who say they don’t charge a fee. You have to have an account to repay the loan into, and the account fees each month add up too. Everyone seems to want a slice of the pie, and since it’s such a small pie to start with, make sure you really need the money before you borrow, or you are borrowing for something worthy like a home or a new vehicle. These are things that hold their value at least for a while.

If you can take your loan over a shorter term you also reduce your overall cost of borrowing. It may be hard to come up with the higher payment, but it will save you large dollars over the term. As far as the insurances go, don’t cheap out. If you have a large item, get the insurance. Life and disability. You might not need it, but if you became disabled, would you really want to start losing things too? It’s worth the extra dollars now, whatever they are.

It is a dream of everyone to live in Paris including me. People who want to live there and buy a house they can find a cheap luxury real estate or  open tour bus paris . The real estate business in France is quiet promising. Besides the real estate business, the hotel business in France is also good. In a year, there are millions people come to France and stay there for couple weeks for vacation. They usually find a hotel to stay. They need to find and book the hotel before they come to France especially in high season. They can book a hotel Paris or hotel Avignon from the internet.

Money issues for singles can be just as vast for marrieds and living togethers. It all depends on how long the single wants to stay single, too. If somebody just intends to stay single and is just dating, money issues can be as varied as putting away for retirement, being able to support one’s self, maybe having to help take care of sick and aged relatives, getting and maintaining lines of credit to help get a car, a condo, a house, or travelling through Europe or some other far-flung forweign location to where you are.

Also, you may wish to go back to school to get a better job or a promotion at your existing job, as you start to scale the ladder of life to bigger and better things. There can also be the money issue of carrying debt for that and other acquisitions that we all want in our life to make it more of a decent existence is what all singles and non-singles want. A decent existence can easily entail climbing through all of the ladders and hoops to get the ever increasing better things in life till we all a reach a point of personal satisfaction and security. Being single is full of financial pitfalls and many unanswered financial questions that reach into every point of our existence. At least some degree of financial planning becomes absolutely critical.

Most of us don’t plan to be single forever. But we are still daunted sometimes by extreme money issues (as if we were more than one). There can be issues of being a single parent and paying your part of child support every month, as well as saving and investing monies to help put your child through university. There can also be the paying of legal fees to lawyers to get child support from the non-paying other parent, as well as getting alimony. So, being single can have just as money money issues, or more than being in a relationship.

Sticking with the theme of being a single parent, there can be paying for clothes, food, schoolbooks and fees for your child. There can be the paying into little Timmy and Jennifer’s soccer camp. While all of this is going on, your mom and/or dad might have to go into a nursing home and you might have to pay part of it. You can be single with money issues at any age, any point in your life, for we live a life complicated by many unanswered financial questions that need planning from the get-go, to avoid unnecessary financial storms down the road. With careful planning, comes a ship of life that navigates the ocean well, mostly through calm and placid beautifully-sparkling blue oceans.

The magic number is three.

I was talking to my mother the other day and discovered that she had independently come to the came conclusion as I had. Sn so had my brother. And so had my friend the doctor’s wife. In fact a general survey of my friends revealed that they felt that three cards for different situations was best.

Now, my mother is 65 and freshly retired. She doesn’t travel much and spends most of her time hanging out at home reading books from the library. Occasionally, she substitute teaches for something to do. My brother is 45 and drives a truck earning around $90,000 a year. With no family of his own, he’s got more disposable income than should be allowed by law. I am an EFL teacher currently working heading back to Korea with my husband. We have no children and we’re selling our house and our car because we plan to be world citizens for a while. My other friends range from fairly wealthy with stable incomes to earning a pittance. Somehow, if we have all figured this out by ourselves (well, the doctor’s wife had a financial consultant tell her, but still) then it must be true.

You need:

1. A Discover Card for the great kickbacks. Discover was the first card to use the cashback bonus and they still have the best program going. Check the website regularly for special programs that will increase your bonus. Recently for 2 months you got 5% back for using your Discover in restaurants. Currently you get 5% back for travel expenses. The catch is that you have to sign up on the site. Unfortunately Discover is not accepted everywhere.

2. A Visa or Mastercard. These are accepted everywhere and, while you can find good bonus programs, they usually aren’t as good as Discover’s. Pretty much everybody has a card now so if you buy a lot of books you can choose between the Borders Visa and the Barnes & Noble Mastercard. If you fly a lot, you can get a card for any of the major carriers that will pay in miles. Head to www.BankRate.com and pick your poison.

3. An American Express. While American Express also has a convoluted points program, mostly they are good for travel because they provide so much back up. The problem with American Express is that they were stunningly inefficient. The doctor had to spend three months after his father died sorting out his American Express and I’ve only had my card for a few months and I’ve been back and forth with them a couple of times. Sign up for one card and when you call to verify the card when it arrives, then add other. Don’t try to do more than one thing at a time.

Once you get beyond that number of cards you are wasting time and risking money on late fees and exorbitant interest. you are also damaging your credit rating by carrying more credit than you should and you are risking a headlong fall into major debt. Three cards with the same payment date and you will be fine.