5 Benefits that Come with Improving Your Credit Score

Written by adminSeptember 19, 2019
Credit & Debt

Most of us had a lot of learning experiences when it came to money. Our eyes got bigger than our wallet. Even if we were fairly responsible, building credit takes time and we all start with a big, fat 0. Unless you’re getting student loans, most banks and lenders won’t even touch you at that point. You have a lot of work of proving you can pay your bills ahead of you.

So, what happens when you do finally put in all the work and get a good score? Are there any noticeable benefits that can make life easier for you? The answer is YES! Improving your credit score may not be easy, but it can be one of the best moves you make, along with paying off debt. Let’s look at five ways your life will improve with a better credit score.

1) You Have a Better Chance at Reaching Your Goals

Whatever your goals are in life, having a great credit score can set you up for success. If you want to go back to school, you can’t do it if you’ve defaulted on previous loans. Want that new car or truck? Starting a family and need a bigger home? Want to start a business and need to borrow cash? All these things require a great credit score. You can still attain some of them with a lower score, but that ultimately is not the way to go, as we’ll discuss below.

2) You Might Need Help

Emergencies come when you least expect it. You might be living paycheck-to-paycheck and suddenly your vehicle breaks down. If you have credit cards, you have the money to get the repairs you need. You can name anything that might happen where you’ll need money. You can get injured and lose out on work and only get a percentage of your normal pay. The roof can cave in. Whatever the reason, having good credit means you have more options.

3) Life is Cheaper

Interest payments are a major killer of budgets. If your credit score is low, odds are you’ll be expected to make higher monthly payments and shell out more for interest. Once you begin to work on your credit score and have a record of on-time payments, you can refinance. If you decide to get a loan in the future, not only will you be accepted, but the loan might even be interest free!

4) Housing Options Open Up

With bad credit, it can be difficult to get a landlord to accept you or even an apartment to rent. Buying a house is out of the question. You may be forced to live in a bad area for a time if you can’t figure it out. Most housing places want to see a history of on-time payments before they’ll let you rent or buy with a mortgage.

5) It Just Feels Good

Believe it or not, there’s a major sense of accomplishment for having all your financial ducks in order. In a great scenario, you’d have money saved in the bank, debts paid off, and a good score for if you ever need it. Life will be much easier, cheaper, and less anxiety ridden. So many people struggle through many decades of their life, so finally having it all in order will feel really good.

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5 Big Retirement Mistakes You Want to Avoid Early

Written by adminSeptember 19, 2019
Saving

Not realizing what you don’t know could come back to haunt you later in life.

If you know someone or are yourself in or near retirement, it can be easy to misunderstand how Social Security works. It can be difficult also to estimate life expectancy or plan for big expenses like long-term medical care.

You may think you have everything planned out, but before you dismiss our advice maybe things won’t work out the way you think they will.

Most people don’t have the luxury to hire a financial planner, and therefore they don’t get the best, objective financial advice before retirement. Steve Vernon, a consulting research scholar at the Stanford Center on Longevity, fears that many people today just go with the flow. He warns against thinking that a Social Security check and a little savings is enough, “There’s no way that somehow everything will work out.”

Retirement can get complicated, and sometimes decisions can have severe consequences. Talking with a financial planner can save you from making a costly mistake.


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1. Assuming Your Funds Outlive You

If you die early into your retirement, your worries about paying for the rest of it are over right there. Live longer though, and you easily could outlive the funds that you’ve painstakingly accumulated.

This favors the decision of waiting to get on Social Security, since every year you put it off increases the benefit you receive. This is a guaranteed return on a stream of income that you can’t lose in a recession.


2. Ignoring Your Spouse

When one spouse passes, that Social Security check goes away. The surviving spouse has to get by on the larger of the two checks. To maximize this benefit, it will be prudent for the higher earner to delay filing for Social Security for as long as possible.

Married couples who are on track to receive a pension should also consider applying for a “joint and survivor” option that allows payments to continue in the event one partner passes prematurely.


3. Procrastinating on Debt into Retirement

Being rich has its perks. Debt may not be a big deal if you have the means to cover the payments and interest. If you are not rich however, you may be pulling too much from your savings to pay off your debts. If you dig into your retirement funds early, that could push you into a higher tax bracket or even increase your health insurance premiums.

Consulting a financial planner will give you some options to have your debt paid off before retirement. It would be wise to do so before you think of digging into retirement savings to pay off big debts like a mortgage.


4. Sidelining Plans for Long-Term Care

A big fear of many people is that they slowly slip into infirmed care in their golden years. Roughly 70% of people over 65 will need help in the future with daily tasks such as bathing, eating or dressing.

Family and friends can only help so much, and long-term care costs can balloon to over $250,000. A solution to prepare for this will be to apply for long-term care insurance.


5. Getting Realistic on your Retirement Date

Half of retirees believe that they left the workforce earlier than they had intended. Some are lucky enough to retire early due to windfalls or high-performing stock markets. Many more start retirement early due to losing their jobs or being too ill to find another job.

You can choose to work longer in an attempt to save more, but it is not an option that is guaranteed.


Understanding that time and good health are finite resources, it is better to not put off retirement for too long. Give the Financial Helpers a call today – and you can find out if it’s time to start saving for the future that you want.


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Here’s What Bill Gates Said Recently About Implementing a Wealth Tax

Written by adminSeptember 19, 2019
Politics

A lot of the 2020 Democratic candidates so far have made plenty of promises. From offering free health insurance to free college, paying off student debt and even offering every American $1,000 extra per month. Of course, the biggest question from critics and supporters alike has been how the U.S. expects to afford such expenditures.

The answer is usually the same: implement a wealth tax. Democrats staunchly believe the rich in this country should be taxed way more than they are. The goal is to redistribute the wealth so a handful of people don’t control most of the wealth. Whether it’s a good idea to actually start increasing taxes for the wealthy has yet to be seen, but we’ve already had some impact in the past.

Bill Gates is definitely in the camp of believing the wealthy should pay more. As one of the richest men in the world, one wonders why he doesn’t pay out more than he’s expected to if he thinks this way. But he also thinks it might not be good for business in the U.S. and doubted we could ever pass such a law.

“I wouldn’t be against a wealth tax,” he said. “Unless you get a lot of nations … dealing with some of the problems – like people leaving the country or how do you do these valuations that can get quite complicated … if society got behind a wealth tax, yes you can raise money that way.”

Leaving the Country

Essentially Gates is saying that you can certainly raise more money to pay for entitlements by taxing the rich, but it’s a complicated process. The entire society as a whole would have to get behind it for it to work. Otherwise, suddenly those costs will be passed down to the consumers. Extra costs already are.

Consider the trade war with China. Many opponents of the trade war look at the fact that costs are going up because the additional tariffs are being passed down to consumers. How do they not think the same won’t happen if the government dramatically increases taxes on these same companies?

The reality is, businesses are in business to make money, not pay for entitlements. If they don’t pass the buck down to us, then they will cut jobs or move out of the country. They certainly won’t stay where it’s not profitable to do business. Gates uses Europe as an example of where this happens often.

He says most European countries don’t implement a wealth taxes because it’s “too easy for wealthy people and businesses to pull up stakes and move to a new country.” Back in 1990, 12 countries had a wealth tax, but they were so difficult to manage and hurt the economy so much that now only 3 exist. Countries are dropping the wealth tax because it doesn’t make sense.

“The government is spending more than it takes in, so at some point … somebody is going to pay more in taxes and I do think that should be done in a progressive fashion,” Gates said.

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Millennials with Student Debt Are Poorer than the Rest of Us

Written by adminSeptember 19, 2019
Loans

Many people have questioned whether canceling all student debt is the answer to the crisis going on right now. Currently in the United States, 44 million people owe $1.53 trillion. This is a crisis that is getting worse and is expected to hit the $2 trillion mark very soon. It’s causing a major problem in the lives of young adults who are struggling to make it.

A new survey conducted by Consumer Finances looked at who was more impacted by the crisis. It turns out that young adults are being impacted more than anyone realized. Is forcing many millennials to move back home with their parents after they graduate college. This new analysis of the data finds that we overestimated exactly how much money they make after college.

People living at home have more spending money than those who are struggling with their debt. By living at home, they don’t have to worry about rent and other major bills. Their parents are taking care of the finances. But, if they were living on their own, the data would reveal that the younger generation is poor.

Do We Have It All Wrong?

Matt Bruenig is the founder of a progressive think tank called the People Policy Project. Bruenig said in an interview that “the debate raging over whether recent proposals from Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren unfairly benefit the well-off are on shaky ground.”

“If we’re going to basically talk about how fair the student-debt forgiveness plans are and your notion of fairness has to do with whether it is distributively equal,” Bruenig said. “You have known what the distribution is and this data source does not allow you to know this distribution very well.”

One of the biggest complaints about offering complete and total student loan forgiveness is that it would benefit many wealthy people. Not everyone going to college is poor or comes from a lower-class background. You have many Ivy League schools full of students with millionaire and billionaire parents who can afford to pay for their kid’s education.

It’s mostly the poorer students who are taking out student loans to afford to get a degree. They just want to make life better for themselves. So, the argument that wealthy people would benefit from student loan forgiveness might not have any place in reality. It would mostly impact the lower-class who would then have an easier time finding a job and moving out on their own after they graduate.

Presidential Candidates

So far, most of the Democratic candidates running for office in 2020 have offered their own plans and ideas for offering student forgiveness. Each plan is progressive and effectively helps young adults in this area. President Trump, on the other hand, has done very little to curb this problem.

He has recently signed an executive order making it easier for disabled veterans to get their student debt completely wiped. Otherwise feels it’s unfair for taxpayers to wipe out a $1.53 trillion debt. He says if you take out student loans, that’s a decision you made. Others shouldn’t have to pay for it. We’ll have to wait and see what the future holds for this growing problem.

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Meijer Stores Unveiling Scan-As-You-Shop Technology

Written by adminSeptember 18, 2019
Business

As large retail and grocery stores are fighting to see who can create the greatest convenience, we all seem to win! Meijer stores, a chain predominantly located in the Midwest, decided they would start introducing a new technology. Amazon sort of started the process with their few chain stores, but Meijer is the first major brand to implement this type.

Rather than standing in line, either for the self-checkout or for a clerk, you can now scan your items as you put them in your basket. It’s called Shop & Scan and was tested in stores in the Grand Rapids area for about 15 months and now looks to be released in all Meijer stores today. It is a great way to make shopping that much quicker and easier for their customers.

How Shop & Scan Works

If you decide to use this option, you can log into the Meijer app on your phone and scan the barcodes of items you want to purchase. You can even bag the items as you shop. As you do that, the system will tally up your total. When you’re done shopping, there’s a special checkout lane where you can just scan the barcode and the payment goes through. It only takes a few seconds to complete.

“As we’ve rolled the program out in six states, the response has been incredibly enthusiastic,” said Stephanie Brackenridge, director of customer experience for Meijer. “Customers have appreciated the ability to have a choice in shopping how they want, depending on how their day is going. Many are finding the opportunity to personalize their store visit with a cell phone is a great way to save time and help avoid lines.”

As a busy shopper, you even have the option to go onto the Meijer website and put together your shopping list and ‘download’ mPerks coupons that automatically apply to your order. No more having to clip coupons and scanning each one individually. Meijer has stated that more than 80% of the customers who downloaded and used Shop & Go use it every time they shop, proving its usefulness at saving time at the store.

Target, Kroger, Walmart, and other stores are all looking at developing technology that makes it easier and cheaper to shop with them. As online shopping continues to grow, more businesses are making brick-and-mortar stores worth the time to stop in.

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The Fed Expected to Cut Interest Rates Again

Written by adminSeptember 18, 2019
Credit & Debt

If you’re a borrower, this is great new for you! The Federal Reserve is expected to drop interest rates for the second time this year later on today. This cut could be as much as 2%, according to policymakers. Many investors are cheering this move, which might go a long way in helping the economy and our own personal finances.

Most of us pay interest rates on a lot of the things we buy. From cars to credit cards and other things we purchase with credit, how much we pay each month is determined by the interest rates. When the interest rates go up, consumers pay more money for their loans. And, obviously, when the rates are cut, it can save consumers thousands of dollars each year.

It’s not all good news, though. Curt Long, an economist with the National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions says it’s not a great move for people who save money.

“It kind of depends on which side of the fence they’re on,” he said. “If you’re potentially going to be a borrower in the near future, the fact that the Fed seems determined to be patient, in their words, is probably good news. It means rates will probably stay lower than they would have otherwise. On the other hand, if you’re a saver, that might not be as good of news for you.”

Making Up for It

By lowering the interest rate, the banks sort of lose money on the interest they would’ve collected. Just like with any other economic sector, they then pass that cost on to consumers. Others, like the managing director of Bel Air Investment Advisors says that a 2% interest cut really won’t be felt by too many people.

Still, right now is the perfect time to start getting rid of your bed. “Interest rates at some point will go higher, and it’s important to reduce in good times so as to not feel overburdened in leaner economic times,” he said.

Interest rates are often lowered when the Fed wants people out there spending more money. President Trump has been calling Fed boss Jerome Powell an “enemy of the people” as he pushes for the Fed to drop rates. As the trade war increases costs for consumers, lowering interest rates can be a good way to counter that and encourage spending.

The trade war continues to offer many uncertainties, along with a possible no vote with the Brexit deal. The global economy is also facing a recession and many countries are feeling the hurt. The U.S. is still going strong with job numbers looking encouraging.

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Financial Mistakes Millionaires Make and How We Can Learn from Them

Written by adminSeptember 18, 2019
Life Style

Millionaires often live financial lives we couldn’t comprehend. They have the money to burn to buy things we can only hope to look at while they’re driving past us on the freeway. It’s easy to be jealous of that kind of buying power, but it’s also important to learn from their mistakes. Many of their purchases we covet really are unnecessary and have no real value other than, “just because I could buy it.” But should they buy it?

Yes, even the rich and famous are capable of making financial mistakes, many of which they might regret themselves. Let’s take a look at several of those mistakes and put it into context.

1) Buying the Mansion

You might be asking yourself how buying a mansion is a mistake. We all want that dream home in a nice neighborhood, but more often than not, the bigger the house, the larger the regret. Many people get to a certain age when the kids move out and have all this space they don’t need anymore. For the rich, it’s the same.

Why buy a 20-room mansion? Then you have to find a way to keep it clean, mow the massive lawn, and the vast majority of the space goes unused. It’s simply impractical. If it’s a status symbol for you, it really doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. Too many people want the best of the best but don’t consider the amount of extra money and work they have to put into it.

2) Yachts and Boats

Unless you live on the ocean or a lake, buying a boat is a wasted purchase. Especially if you’re a millionaire. You get to take a quick vacation, but most of the year, the yacht is put up in storage. You’re literally burning dollar bills to keep the thing in storage for most of the year. Then there’s upkeep and so much more.

If you really want to go on a fishing trip, you can rent a boat or go on a fishing tour. You don’t need to waste money on a boat that’s going to sit in storage and barely be used. That’s money that could be used elsewhere. Making better financial decisions will leave you better off in the long run.

3) Airplanes

If you’re rich enough, you might buy a plane or two. Again, this is a frivolous purchase that has no real value. You just want to get from one point to another. Instead of spending millions to buy a plane, you can charter your own flights or just ride in first class. You’ll save a lot more money that way.

Really, the big point here is that our desires can get us into financial trouble. We want the extra space and the freedom to buy whatever we want, but with those things comes more responsibility. It means money is being drained from your bank account on things you barely used just so you can say you own it.

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The Sony Walkman is Going to Attempt a Comeback

Written by adminSeptember 17, 2019
Entertainment

Long before there was digital music, iPods, and iTunes, the Sony Walkman was the coolest gadget on the planet if you wanted to bring your music with you. It was a handheld device that allowed you to take your cassette tapes and later CDs with you wherever you went. Now, Sony is looking to release a brand-new 40th anniversary edition of the classic with a new, modern interface.

Sony announced in Berlin during their annual technology conference that they want to put into the market two new digital music devices. The first is called the NW-A100TPS and the second, a much less expensive model, is called the NW-A105. They are both designed after the original Walkman and will cost around $489 U.S.

The bad news about this release is there are no current plans to release the new Sony Walkman in the U.S. Perhaps Europe is going to be their testing ground first. Apple recently announced plans to ditch iTunes and create a newer, updated version for their music, so maybe Sony felt it was time to jump into the market and compete.

“You can enjoy the best of both worlds with the heritage design of Walkman whilst having cutting edge technology at your fingertips,” Sony said in a press release. “You can also enjoy a cassette tape user interface that takes inspiration from classic Walkman models.”

Specs of the New Walkman

The new Walkman devices are set to run on Android systems and will have 26 hours of battery life, so you can literally listen all day without charge your device. They will also have 16GB of total storage (which can be upgraded) and a touchscreen panel. The more expensive model will have the Sony 40th Anniversary logo and come in packaging that is very near what the original Walkman came in.

You can also get your new Walkman in a variety of colors, like orange, red, blue, green, and black. It will even allow you to both download new music and stream your favorite music from Pandora, Spotify, and other online digital music channels. This decision also comes as older companies are looking to release updated versions of their classic items.

For example, Nokia recently revealed they plan on bringing back their famous flip phone, but it will be updated to fit today’s consumer base. Companies have been experimenting on how to create smart phones that fold in your pocket and are less of a burden to hold onto.

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The Job Market is So Plentiful, People Aren’t Showing Up on their First Day

Written by adminSeptember 17, 2019
Business

Imagine looking for a job, finding one, getting hired, but not showing up for your first day. That’s what a lot of jobseekers have been doing recently. That’s because at the job market is so strong that opportunities are plentiful. That means people aren’t forced to take the first job offered to them anymore. No, they get to choose, and in a lot of cases, they find a better job before they even start the first one was offered to them.

“People are getting multiple offers in a market like today, and they are not showing up on their first day of work,” said Paul McDonald, senior executive director at staffing firm Robert Half. Steve Lindner is the CEO of another employment firm called the WorkPlace Group. He recalls the ghosting that has been happening as of late, even as he hires people for his own business.

“We had already shared the name with our support team and had a training program in place. Everything was ready to go,” said Lindner. “They just never arrived. It was complete job abandonment.” They never heard from the person at all. Even trying to follow up with them, sending emails and texts and not hearing a single word back. Eventually they had to send a termination letter.

This can be quite common when the job markets are so strong. People who are looking for work have more power in this instance. You don’t have to settle for jobs when it’s looking good that you’ll get multiple offers. This also has the impact of forcing those companies to offer more to attract good workers to the company.

Improving Opportunities

Jeremy Tolley hires people CareHere, a health and wellness company. He says that back in 2016, he started noticing that many people they were trying to hire never even showed up for their first day of work. That really force them to look at the types of employment opportunities they were offering. They decided to upgrade their website and improve contact relations with candidates to build a better relationship with them before they start their first day.

“We are creating a sense of obligation to this person,” he said. “That way it’s not just some company they don’t know much about, they start to think: ‘If I don’t show up, I will let them down, I know they are expecting and preparing for me.'”

Businesses are forced to make a move when workers simply stop showing up. Looking for good people to come and is a very expensive and time-consuming process for most companies. It takes time to weed through the resumes and have multiple interviews to choose the right candidates for the job. It’s even worse when they find someone and offer them the job, only for them to duck out on their first day and never hear from them again.

“It causes a lot of internal issues. The employer was counting on them and it could be embarrassing if customers and clients were also waiting for the arrival,” said Lindner.

Burning Bridges

Lindner warns that ghosting companies is not the best way to handle a situation. It might come back to bite you later on. What happens if the job market turns sour? As a new employee, you might be one of the first ones who gets axed. You’ve already burned bridges with other companies that you might be considered a good candidate for. What will you do then when the hiring power switches hands and the bosses have the upper hand?

“When the job market turns… applicants who ghosted are going to have fewer job opportunities available to them,” warned Lindner. “Own your decision,” said Lindner. “Most prudent people will understand. I may be disappointed as an employer that you initially accepted my job and are turning me away, but I respect the call.”

By ghosting the company, you might also be turning away from a better opportunity. The business you ghosted might have been willing to counter the offer they made.

“We understand the industry we are in and what the market is like,” said Tolley. “Sometimes this gives us an opportunity to counter the offer or figure out why you accepted another position. Maybe there is something we can do about that.”

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How to Become an Entrepreneur While Working Full Time

Written by adminSeptember 17, 2019
Business

Most of us have grand dreams about one day becoming an entrepreneur. Maybe you’re working on that dream right now. It would give us so much joy to be able to work on our own, set our own hours, and make good money from working at home. This is the dream life for so many people, yet it can be difficult to understand how it all works.

Like most entrepreneurs when they start out, you might have a 9-to-5 job. You have kids to take care of and a spouse. How do you manage your life and your dream at the same time? Guys like Warren Buffett did that. They had a regular job and created a thriving empire out of the chaos.

The Internet certainly makes doing this type of job easier. It’s going to require a lot of sleepless nights and doing side jobs and gigs as you continually build your business. Over time, the profit you make from your side gigs or your hobbies will start growing. Here are several ways to manage both your job and grow your entrepreneurial spirit.

1) Do Something You Love

This is an easy one to figure out. If you’re doing what you love, it won’t seem like work. Maybe you already do something as a hobby, like painting. You have a lot of friends who like your stuff and ask where they can buy it from. This can easily turn into a full-time business if you stick with it and devote time to doing the thing that you love. So, think of starting your business as simply extending your hobby. If you love doing it, it’s much easier to figure out how to make time to do it.

2) Start Slow

You’re going to want to take massive leaps in your journey. You may get frustrated because it’s not going as quickly as you would like when you’re not making the kind of money that you want to be making from it. It can take time to build an audience and to grow your business and to something that helps you thrive. But by getting frustrated and taking giant leaps you’re not ready for, you’re only adding more work to yourself. Work you probably cannot handle and you will lose interest in the business and walk away. You might even think that it won’t be for you. Instead, start small. Go at a slow pace.

3) Find the Best Market and Platform

There are a ton of websites out there that help entrepreneurs get going in their business. Again, you might start off slow like it’s just a side gig, but websites can help you get traction. Not just building your own website, but using social media. Facebook is the marketplace. Instagram is a marketplace. You can sell things on Pinterest and Etsy. eBay and Amazon are great for e-commerce. Whatever it is you want to do, there’s a platform out there for you to showcase your talents. Do your homework and find out we are audiences hanging out and start there.

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