Embracing Technology

This is according to KPMG, who have suggested that 77% of British shoppers actually prefer to buy goods – especially media products such as CDs and DVDs – compared to the 65% globally that do.

In contrast to this, it seems that the UK is actually more reluctant to take on mobile banking than those in other parts of the world, with only 27% of people saying that they had used a form of mobile banking in the last six months.

8 Finance Tips for College Students

Never having enough money is something you never quite get used to--even while in college. The following finance tips may help.

Spend Less on Food

Because you don’t have a lot of discretionary cash, you need to limit your purchases. Instead of eating at restaurants every night, you should eat in the cafeteria as often as possible, and when you don’t have the time, you eat in your dorm room. Buy a small refrigerator and hot plate for your room and start cooking your own meals. Buying groceries from a store is much less costly than eating out. Being frugal is all well and good, but you may soon get bored with it, so treat yourself to a restaurant meal once a week--but opt for a less expensive eatery, and don’t order the most expensive meals. The ‘night out’ will break up the tedium without breaking the bank.

The importance of life insurance

No one likes to think about dying, but if you have a family, you need to make plans to ensure that your loved ones will be taken care of after you are gone. Getting life insurance is a good way to be sure that your family’s needs will be met after you die.

Your final expenses can be very high. Burial costs alone can be thousands of dollars. If you spend time in the hospital, your family will have to pay the medical bills. By getting life insurance, you will provide a way for your family to pay these costs. At the time of your death, your family will be grieving and will likely be overwhelmed at all that has to be done. Having life insurance to cover expenses will relieve some of their burden at a very difficult time.

Life insurance can pay your outstanding debts. Depending on the amount of the insurance, it can pay off your credit card debt, mortgage, car loan and any other bills you have. Without the right life insurance, your family could be forced to sell the home and other assets to pay debts. In addition to losing you, the family would also be losing their home and other things they hold dear.

Getting The Right Car Insurance

For most consumers, getting the right car insurance is a constant source of consternation. Not only does it have to cover all of the different things that are necessary, but it also should be within a certain price range (i.e. affordable). However, with the plethora of available choices that are on the market, what is the right choice?

The American citizen is blessed with so many different insurance firms that there should be no problem finding one that meets their needs. But faced with all of that information, how does one go about narrowing down the field? It is not as daunting of a task as it may seem, and with a little effort, this process can certainly be streamlined.

At this time, getting the right car insurance is now more simplified since it is a buyer's market. This means that shoppers for this service have more power than ever and are not at the whim of the major coverage providers.

Using a Payroll Service to Create a Retirement Plan Solution for Your Company

With more and more companies going global and needing to streamline their processes, hire better workers and improve their bottom lines, human resources is an essential piece of any companies core. For a long time companies have had internal human resource groups whose job it is to hire and manage employees, set up benefits and workers’ compensation systems, set pay grades and do many other things with regards to maximizing the firm’s return on investment with regards to its employees and their salaries. Salaries can get pretty high, especially when you’re talking about senior-level employees, so it is important that companies keep salary spending as low as it can go to keep the company running smoothly. In order to do this, payroll service providers started providing payroll services to companies looking to reduce payroll in a department of its choosing. Because human resources is a highly peripheral department, it would make sense that this is the department that should be outsourced.

With many baby boomers reaching retirement age and many other people looking forward to retiring in the near future, it is essential to have a solid retirement package in place for anyone that wants it and for anybody that is willing to earn it. Businesses that provide payroll services come in handy here. They can help your company set up the following programs within your company with regards to retirement, plus many other things:

- 401(k) plans

- SIMPLE IRA plans

- Executive deferred compensation plans

- Premium only cafeteria plans

The preceding types of services are only a subset of the capabilities that a payroll service provider has in its arsenal. If a company would like to focus more people and resources on product development, customer satisfaction and financial maneuvering it should highly consider using a payroll service provider for its retirement plans; usually setting up and administering these plans is done by human resources people but, as it turns out, many payroll service providers can do more quality work than human resource departments in less time and at a lower cost. This is a no-brainer!

Retirement packages have come to be expected from many people in the workforce because they have been offered for many people in the past. It is only fair that when someone puts in enough years to vest their retirement plan they have the right to receive a retirement package that will help them get through their retirement without having a shortage of funds. 401(k) plans are among the most common retirement plans for employees yet some companies do not offer them because they can’t afford them. In order to save money so you can afford to pay your employees during their retirement, consider hiring a payroll service provider to handle your retirement plan needs so that you don’t have to spend money on human resource departments and can trust that whoever is doing the work is doing a quality job.

How to Insure and Protect Your Financial Assets

Because you work hard for your money, you want to make sure it is protected and will be available when you want it. Having your assets insured is a sound financial practice, and it is imperative that you have a financial plan in effect if you hope to protect your cash. There are at least as many ways to lose money as there is to make it. Once you have it, you need to insure and protect your financial assets. Following are a few tips on how to do that.

Credit Rating

For most people, there is a need to have a good credit rating in order to have a sound financial portfolio. Unless you’re independently wealthy, you will undoubtedly need to borrow money now and then in order to have the working capital to expand your enterprises and make more money. That means you will need a good credit rating, and when you work hard to establish a good credit score, you need to make sure it remains that way. One way to do that is check your credit report often and make sure there are no errors or fraudulent entries. If you notice something amiss, you should bring it to the attention of the credit bureau immediately so appropriate steps can be taken to correct the problem.

Diversify

One way to make sure you will retain as much of your assets as you can is to diversify your portfolio. A simpler way to say that is, ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket.’ Both statements mean the same thing: spread your money around so it’s not all tied up in the same thing. If you have a large number of shares of an automobile stock, make sure you also stick some money into real estate. That way if the bottom falls out of the market and your stock become worthless, you will still have a portion of your wealth in real property. An even better way would be to buy different kinds of stock so if one stock drops significantly you will still retain a portion of your investment. Instead of buying 1,000 shares of auto stock you could spread it around and buy 100 shares of 10 different stocks. It would be very unusual if they all dropped at the same time. Consulting a professional financial planner or stock analyst could help you come with a plan that will suit your purpose of financial diversification.

Carry an Adequate Amount of Insurance

If you want to be absolutely sure you will never suffer a devastating financial loss, you have the option of taking out an insurance policy on your tangible assets. Whatever you own can be insured against loss or theft. It doesn’t matter what it is, if you’re willing to pay the premiums you should be able to find a carrier that will write a policy. If your present policy won’t cover all your assets, you could take out an umbrella policy to cover what your traditional policies don’t. When you sit down to figure out how much coverage you will need in an umbrella policy, don’t forget to include such things as artwork, the value of your homes contents, and your retirement accounts. All of these are tangible assets and should be protected.

Retirement Funds

If you’re smart, you will have begun a retirement fund at the beginning of your career. If you ever have to change jobs make sure those funds go with you. Money from a 401k or an IRA is a valuable asset that should be protected. Make sure the institution that handles those funds is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC.) The FDIC recommends that you don’t keep in excess of $250,000 in your checking, savings, or retirement accounts in any one bank. Instead, you should spread the money around to a number of financial institutions so if one fails the rest of your money will be kept safe.

Guest post from Jessie Mars. Jessie writes about cheap insurance quotes for InsuranceQuotes.org.

Why Should I Get a Self Directed IRA?

At a certain point, an employee must consider saving up for retirement. Planning for retirement is an important step for workers of all kinds. Who knows what the future might hold? It is best to plan accordingly and secure your future finances.

When it comes to retirement plans, you may want to consider a self directed plan. Hundreds of self direct IRA companies are at your disposal. They can help you figure out what plan works best for you and answer any question you might have about IRAs.

Why Choose a Self Directed IRA?

Quite simply, with a self directed IRA, you are the one who makes all the decisions about where and how you would like to invest your money.

Although IRS regulations stipulate that a qualified trustee or custodian holds all assets for the owner, you obtain sole responsibility over the investments you make, whether it’s bonds, private stock offerings, or, most commonly, property.

Self directed IRA services are available to help you establish retirement accounts and manage your funds.

Furthermore, there are several different types of self directed IRA plans available, allowing you to choose the plan most suitable for you.

Types of Self Directed IRAs

A few common self directed IRA plans include:

• 401(k) – A self directed 401k is a defined contribution benefit plan, allowing you to save for retirement and invest savings while deferring income taxes on all saved money prior to withdrawal. A portion of your wages is paid directly (deferred) to your savings account.

The 401k is generally the most popular employer-sponsored retirement plan. Your employer can choose to match part or all of your contributions by depositing additional funds into your account or by offering a profit-sharing plan contribution. Many employers also offer the option to purchase stock in the company.

• Traditional IRA – As the most common type of self directed IRA, this retirement plan is tax-deferred, allowing funds to grow faster than other taxable accounts. Taxes are only paid after withdrawals have been made, and contributions made to your account are deductible. The taxpayer receives benefits immediately.

• Roth IRA – This retirement plan has no upfront taxes, allowing funds to grow tax-free. Withdrawals that are made after retirement are free of taxes, and unlike most savings plans, a Roth IRA does not have any age requirements for its distributions.

However, contributions are not tax deductible, and eligibility narrows after certain income limits.

Losing Value for Your Money

As an expat, you would be sending money to your home country in some form or another. Because of this is your hard earned money away from home, you would want full value to be received in your home bank account. The following are some ways you can protect your money’s value when undergoing the transfers from one country to another.

• Watch Currency Exchanges. Often, the money you earn in your country of work would be different from your home country’s currency. When sending money, there is an equivalency rate pegged by the market (or oftentimes, the bank) for your home country’s currency for the money you have earned. Do learn about the currency exchange rates to get more value for your money when sent home. From there, you can learn about when the best time is to send money and when not to, depending on the currency valuations to provide the most value for your money when sending from abroad.
• Do Your Research. With the many banking products offered to expats by way of their savings, you need to read up and learn about all of them to make a decision on what to do with the money you earn abroad. You may need to do your research on the bank, the interest rates, the expenses and other financial matters for you to be able to maximize the value for your money while abroad. There may also be some financial product or scheme that can give you value in the long run and instant liquidity offered by some bank. In searching these products, find out and get testimonials from others using it to see what the value you can earn for your money while abroad.
• Saving May Earn More than Sending. This may be a conundrum to many, as people tend to send what they earn right away to their home country. With your knowledge of the exchange rate, you may learn that saving your money in the country of work may earn more than sending the money over to your home country. In earning interest, you would be able to overcome the losses that you suffer when transferring funds, thus earning more value for your money in the long run.
• Overseas Purchases May Not Be a Safe Investment. Many would tend to purchase overseas properties or items of value in the country where they work as investments for their future. This is a risk you need to read and learn about in order to be properly apprised of the obligations you are entering into, as the financial system you are accustomed to may not be the same as the obligation you would assume back home. Thus, it would be best to read up and learn in order to make the right decision about your finances.

As you can see, there are many things you need to consider about the money you earn while abroad. You need to read up and learn about currency exchanges, financial products and investments while you are away for your work. Being prudent is the best way for you to earn value for your money and make the finances you receive bear fruit in the long run.

For a more comprehensive discussion on sending money home, do visit us at Demand for Private Banking Soars in Brazil please visit the author’s site The Gringos Forum.

SAVE MONEY IN SMARTER WAY IN COLLAGE

It is always difficult to manage your college expenses.  You are getting tensed thinking about your future savings?  Finding college a little more expensive than you expected? Check out these tips to help you can save cash during the college years—I’ve used a lot of themin my days.

Keep your eyes open to all those opportunities which you will get in future.

1.Do not buy the books rather get it from public libraries. It will not be of use once you have read. So, public libraries have huge collection and are free at the same time or you can buy used books which is  available.

2 .Check  always if your job has tuition assistance or education reimbursement program—if it does, use it.

3. Saving is not always easy but if you get into the habit of looking at saving for anything as money that just isn't "yours", it makes it easier.

4. Start saving today rather than tomorrow for college expenses. The sooner you start, the more you'll get!

5. The most important money saving trick is to pay off all your credit card balances and get a savings account.Pay the balances which have highest interest rate first.

6.  Always make sure that you know your bank balance and avoid the unnecessary fees like over draft fees.

7.Ditch the landline and  always use mobile phones. You can go for the packages that consolidate broadband internet, telephone and television using the same service provider. To prevent overshooting the mobile bills use Skype, IM or email services.

8.Cut down your alcohol and quit smoking.After all health is wealth.

9.Cut down your fuel costs by carpooling. Get a cycle or take a walk to the nearest grocery store or the mall.

10. Always buy seasonal fruits and vegetables and eat less meat. Have a veggie meal few times a week.After all health is wealth.