Money Management Tips - Guide to Shopping Online Safely
Guide to Shopping Online Safely by: John Mussi
Shopping on the Internet has now become commonplace. The Internet is an exciting tool that puts vast information at your fingertips. With a click of a mouse, it lets you buy an airline ticket, book a hotel, send flowers to a friend, purchase your favourite item, bank and invest online.
Shopping online offers lots of benefits that you won’t find shopping in a store or by mail. The Internet is always open – seven days a week, 24 hours a day – and bargains can be numerous online. Most consumers use credit or debit cards to pay for online purchases.
Online Payment options:
Most online shoppers use credit cards to pay for their online purchases. But debit cards - which authorize merchants to debit your bank account electronically - are increasing in use. To complete a debit card transaction, you may have to use a personal identification number (PIN), some form of a signature or other identification, or a combination of these identifiers. Some cards have both credit and debit features: You select the payment option at the point-of-sale. But remember, although a debit card may look like a credit card, the money for debit purchases is transferred almost immediately from your bank account to the merchant's account. In addition, your liability limits for a lost or stolen debit card and unauthorized use are different from your liability if your credit card is lost, stolen or used without your authorization.
Precautions:
Shopping on the Internet is no less safe than shopping in a store or by mail. Keep the following tips in mind to help ensure that your online shopping experience is a safe one.
•Use a secure browser - software that encrypts or scrambles the purchase information you send over the Internet - to help guard the security of your information as it is transmitted to a website. When submitting your purchase information, look for the "lock" icon on the browser's status bar, and the phrase "https" in the URL address for a website, to be sure your information is secure during transmission.
•Check the site's privacy policy, before you provide any personal financial information to a website. In particular, determine how the information will be used or shared with others. Also check the site's statements about the security provided for your information. Some websites' disclosures are easier to find than others - look at the bottom of the home page, on order forms or in the "About" or "FAQs" section of a site. If you're not comfortable with the policy, consider doing business elsewhere.
•Read and understand the refund and shipping policies of a website you visit, before you make your purchase. Look closely at disclosures about the website's refund and shipping policies. Again, search through the website for these disclosures.
•Keep your personal information private. Don't disclose your personal information - your address, telephone number, bank account number or e-mail address - unless you know who's collecting the information, why they're collecting it and how they'll use it.
•Give payment information only to businesses you know and trust, and only when and where it is appropriate - like an order form. Never give your password to anyone online, even your Internet service provider.
•Keep records of your online transactions and check your e-mail for contacts by merchants with whom you're doing business. Merchants may send you important information about your purchases.
•Review your monthly credit card and bank statements for any errors or unauthorized purchases promptly and thoroughly. Notify your credit or debit card issuer immediately if your credit or debit card is lost or stolen, or if you suspect someone is using your accounts without your permission.
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About The Author
John Mussi is the founder of Direct Online Loans who help UK homeowners find the best available loans via the www.directonlineloans.co.uk website.
Money Management Tips - Planning Starts with the Basics
Planning Starts with the Basics by: Jonathan Citrin
When developing a plan for your finances, the toughest question often is: “Where do I begin?” Before investing in stocks and bonds or buying life insurance, before implementing any change or making any decisions, you first need to analyze and understand your entire financial picture. Two documents allow you to do just that. A Balance Sheet and a Cash Flow Statement enable you to take an in-depth look at your current financial situation and make better decisions about the future. With a little work, you can develop these two tools and be on your way to a solid plan for your finances.
Balance Sheet
A balance sheet is a snapshot of your personal finances at one point in time. It contains two main elements: what you own (assets), and what you owe (liabilities). Your net worth is expressed as: Net Worth = Assets – Liabilities. That is, what you own minus what you owe.
A balance sheet clearly lists all assets and liabilities. Examples of assets include: house, investments such as stocks and bonds, savings and checking accounts, 401(k), IRAs, business interests, artwork, and jewelry, among others. Liabilities include mortgage balances, credit cards, education loans, and any other debt. Once you have created a list of everything you own and everything you owe, simply subtract the sum of the assets from the sum of the liabilities- this is your net worth.
The ultimate goal of most investors is to increase their net worth. The balance sheet is a very useful tool to identify strengths and weaknesses in your current finances, as well as to determine your goals for the future. Someone with a disproportionate amount of liabilities might set a goal to eliminate this debt. On the other hand, someone with a positive net worth (more assets than liabilities) might plan to save and invest towards retirement, college, or another goal.
Cash Flow Statement
After analyzing your balance sheet and determining your goals, you need to decide how to fund these goals. A well formulated plan is one not only with realistic goals, but also a sensible means of achieving them. That is, having goals is good, but you must be able to pay for them. Using a cash flow statement will enable you to determine how to pay for your goals.
A cash flow statement is a detailed look at all money coming in and going out over a period of time. It illustrates what you earn (revenue) and what you spend (expenses). Your net cash flow is expressed as: Net Cash Flow = Revenue – Expenses. That is, what you earn minus what you spend.
Some examples of revenue include: salary and wages, self-employment earnings, dividends, interest, and other investment income. Expenses may include: mortgage payments, rent payments, insurance costs, utilities, clothing, food, child care, alimony or child support, travel, entertainment, loan payments, education costs, taxes, charitable contributions, gifts, and gasoline. After listing all you earn and everything you spend, you can calculate your net cash flow by simply subtracting expenses from revenue.
By analyzing your cash flow statement, you can more easily cut expenses and identify excess net cash to use towards your goals. Generally, someone with negative net cash flow should first concentrate on cutting expenses to achieve positive cash flow before attempting to save or invest towards any future goals. Once positive net cash flow is achieved, excess money can be used directly for funding and achieving your goals.
In developing a balance sheet and a cash flow statement, it is important to remember one general rule-of-thumb- Quality in – Quality out. The more detail and care you put into your planning documents, the more effective they will be. A plan is only as good as the effort you put forth when creating it.
About The Author
Jonathan Citrin provides financial goal planning services. Go to http://articles.citringroup.com for hundreds of educational articles about Personal Finance, Retirement Planning, Investment Planning, and College Savings.
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Money Management Tips - Create Tax Savings And Transfer Wealth To Your Child With A Roth IRA
Create Tax Savings And Transfer Wealth To Your Child With A Roth IRA by: Richard A. Chapo
Parents must give serious thought to protecting their family through estate tax planning. While life insurance and trusts should be a part of every plan, Roth IRAs can be a simple tool for passing money to your child on a tax-free basis.
Roth IRA
First, we need a quick summary of the Roth IRA. A Roth IRA is an after-tax retirement vehicle that produces huge tax savings because all tax distributions are tax-free. That statement can a bit confusing, so lets break it down. The downside of a Roth IRA is the fact that contributions are not tax deductible as with traditional IRAs or 401(k)s. The upside of a Roth IRA, however, is that all distributions are tax-free once the person reaches the age of 59½. So how can you use a Roth IRA to pass money to your child?
Opening A Roth IRA For Your Child
One of the biggest keys to retirement planning is “time”. The more years you spend saving money for retirement, the more you should have when that blessed day arrives. Imagine if you had started saving for retirement when you were 16. How much bigger would your retirement nest egg be? What if you purchased Microsoft stock in 1990 and watched it split eight times? Okay, that was painful example if you missed that opportunity. Nonetheless, why not do for your child what you didn’t do for yourself?
The fundamental goal of estate planning is to pass as much of your estate as possible to your family on a tax-free basis. You can transfer relatively small amounts of money to your child now. If you have a 16 year-old child with a Roth IRA, you can contribute $4,000 in 2005. That $4,000 is going to grow tax-free for 43 years and be worth quite a bit. A ten percent return would result in the account growing to roughly $200,000 and the full amount would be distributed tax-free.
There are other practical advantages to opening a Roth IRA for your child.
As a parent, it is vital that you teach your child the value of money. Opening a Roth IRA gives you the opportunity to sit down and teach your child the value of saving and investing, instead of yelling at them to clean their room. While a parental lecture on the need to save money would typically meet with glassy eyes and yawns, your child’s attitude will undoubtedly change when you are talking about their money.
Work and Maturity Issues
Before you rush out to open a Roth IRA for your child, you must determine if your child is eligible to open an account. To open an account, your son or daughter must be working at least part time for an employer that reports their wages to the IRS. Hiring your child to take out the trash each week is not going to cut it, nor will this strategy work for your 5 year-old. Many teenagers, however, have summer jobs that should suffice for IRS consideration. To avoid any trouble, you should consult with your tax advisor.
A more sublime issue concerns the maturity level of your child. Keep in mind that the Roth IRA will be opened in their name. Your son or daughter will have the legal right to do what they will with the account. It is strongly suggested that you clearly explain the consequences of taking money out of the account [taxes, penalties, being cut out of the will, forced to eat healthy food, grounded for life, etc.] but the decision lies with them. As difficult as it is, try to be objective in evaluating how you child will react to knowing the money is sitting in an account. If you have doubts, you should probably investigate other tax saving strategies.
Opening a Roth IRA for your child can be a very effective means of transferring wealth to your child and teaching important life lessons. If your child exercises restraint, your relatively small contribution to their Roth IRA can grow into a sizeable tax-free nest egg.
About The Author
Richard Chapo is CEO of http://www.businesstaxrecovery.com - Obtaining tax refunds for small businesses by finding overlooked tax deductions and credits through a free tax return review. He can be reached at richard@businesstaxrecovery.com.
