Efficient financial planning tips for growing children
By financen | April 23, 2015 - 4:47 am - Posted in Financial planning, Investment

Every parent wants their children to get the best education possible and be successful in life. However, life is uncertain and the path to fulfilling all your desires may be a convoluted one. Hence you need to implement a sound investment strategy. With proper planning and a variety of investment options, your child will have a good journey to a valuable college degree. Follow these tips for an efficient planning for growing children.

1) Creating a financial plan and know where to end: When you are planning for your children’s education, work out an estimate of all the costs involved. Keep this estimate as a guide and start piercing together your investment plan. You will see a variety of education planning options each with its own risks and benefits and you will use it accordingly to achieve your goals.

  • a. To get started, make an education saving plan in the early days. You will have money available when your child enters college. These education savings plan come with different protection benefits to the child and the parent.
  • b. If you have property, it will provide rent and capital appreciation and this can be used in your child’s education. Rent money can be used to pay for your child’s tuition fees and other related expenses. And when the value of the property increases, it can be sold to obtain capital gains. When you invest your money in the property market, do a thorough research because this market will fluctuate and you may not get the selling price as anticipated.
  • c. Unit Trusts and Structured Investments can also be a part of your investment planning.

2) Set up an automatic system to invest regularly: Make an action plan where your savings or investing can be made automatic. Many savings, investment linked plans and unit trust funds can be operated monthly, quarterly, half annually or annually. When you are investing regularly, you will also benefit from Dollar Cost Averaging. It is an average of highs and lows of an investment and lower the total average cost per share of the investment.

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3) Reviewing the plan: When you reviewing the plan regularly, you will stay on track with your target goals. Make sure that you review it at least once in a year and with any major change in your life, such as a new child, career advancement or move to a bigger house, find ways to top up if it is not up to the mark in reaching your investment goal.

4) Top up annually or whenever you can: You can always increase your contributions annually or top up your contributions when there is an increase in your income or you get a bonus or increase in your pay. You will be able to meet your target quicker and achieve a large fund.

5) No dipping into the funds: Choose the right plan that will lock your funds for your children’s education until they are ready to go to college. You should not be able to withdraw the fund easily otherwise you will use the money for other emergencies or needs that may come up.

Financial planning for child

6) Contributions from family members: You can encourage grandparents or other relatives in your family to not to spend money in gifts but opt for a cash contribution towards their education fund instead.

7) Making a team effort: Encourage your children to do savings for their future education. While you are reviewing your investments for their education funds, you can discuss it with them so that they know how hard you are working and putting your efforts towards achieving their goals. If they want to contribute a small portion towards their education fund, appreciate it. And when they are ready to leave for university, make sure that they have learnt good money management habits so that they are able to live within their means.

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How to increase your control over bank overdrafts
By financen | April 18, 2015 - 5:28 am - Posted in Banking

Bank overdraft happens whenever you execute a debit, check or credit card transaction and there is no sufficient balance in the checking account it is connected with. Bank will immediately reject the transaction whenever an overdraft happens.

You can protect yourself from frequent overdrafts by enrolling in an overdraft protection program offered by the bank. Whenever a merchant or an individual hits your checking account and there is no sufficient balance in your account, your bank or the credit union will cover the overdraft amount by paying the required amount to the merchant or the individual. The bank will usually charge a fee for such services. And if there are multiple transactions in a day, you might end up paying a hefty amount to the bank in overdraft charges.

In most cases, it is the banking customer who has overdrawn his bank account should be liable to pay for the fees to the bank, provided he has been informed of the fees. But if you dig a little deeper, the reality is a bit different.

Many banks usually do transaction stacking, where they process the larger transactions first in a given day before processing the smaller ones. As a result, it will increase the chances of the account getting overdrawn because of insufficient funds and thus more fees being incurred. This is one easy way for the bank to increase their fee based income. It can cost up to $25 billion per year business for the banks.

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Many a times, people find it confusing to understand the bank online statements. You might have to manually track and do back-of-the-envelope calculations to figure out the actual account balance at any given time. Even though you might see a positive balance in your account, but because of uncashed checks, pending credit card transactions, your balance will run low or into the red in no time, and before you realize, the bank has already charged you a fee for the overdrawn transactions.

Once there is an overdraft, you will notice a charge in your statement. It can be $20, or $30 or even $35 in the red. First you have to clear this fee to the bank before your account balance turns black.

  • So how to control these bank overdraft charges? Follow these tips and you will be able to keep a check on your account.

1. Whenever you incur any overdraft charges, you should call the bank and clarify it. It is worth a shot, especially if you are a new customer to the bank or if this is your first overdraft in a very long time. If you are not satisfied with their services, you can close this account and open a new account with another bank. There are chances that they might waive off the fee because they don’t want to lose your business.

2. Contact the bank’s customer service department and request for a refund of the entire overdraft fee if you notice any error by the bank that led to an overdraft.

3. Shop for a bank that does not charge any overdraft fee.

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Getting the Best Short Term Loan in a Hurry
By financen | April 3, 2015 - 3:45 pm - Posted in Loan

Sometimes bad finances happen to good people. An unexpected car repair, an emergency medical expense or a leaky roof can throw your careful budget for a tailspin. When these money emergencies happen, it’s good to know that there is somewhere you can turn for extra cash. Getting a short term has never been easier or quicker.

How Short Term Loans Work:

Short term loans are intended for one-time events that require you to come up with a lump sum of cash. When these situations arise, you can apply for a quick loan and have money delivered to your bank account quickly. Repayment terms for these loans vary, but in most cases, you can make weekly payments that allow you the flexibility of paying back your loan over time.

You can often get short term loans regardless of your credit situation. Many companies that offer loans work a network of lenders that loan to a variety of applicants from a wide range of credit scores. This means that even people with less than perfect credit have a chance at getting approved for a short term loan.

Applicants usually have to pass minimum qualifications for getting a loan. This include being at least 18 years of age, earn a minimum annual salary and have an active checking account. You can get info here on how you can get a short term for all your financial needs.

Don’t let an unexpected expense throw you for a loop. Apply for a short term loan and get your money back on track today.

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