Posts filed under 'General'
If you are an heir to an estate, it is possible to receive an advance upon the inheritance you expect to (eventually) receive. The person receiving the inheritance advance generally has to be of legal age and the legal heir of an estate that will be distributed within a set time frame (depending upon the policies of the company providing the advance). A good credit history, employment history, and similar factors generally have no bearing at all on the process, because an inheritance advance is not a loan.
Rather, it is money paid to the heir up-front, before probate has settled the estate. For this service, the company providing the advance generally charges a processing fee. The amount of the fee is determined by a number of factors, such as the complexity of the settlement process, whether or not real estate is involved (because disposition of real estate is more complicated), how long the process is expected to take (because the longer the company has to wait to get their money back, the more it costs them).
Because it is not a loan, you should not generally expect to pay interest, per se, nor to have to make monthly payments. Instead, the company is repaid the advance plus their fee when the estate is settled an you receive your inheritance.
Factors that enter into the equation later and are unknown to the applicant, such as those that delay distribution of the estate, or claims that can reduce the inheritance amount, do not generally change the repayment amount. However, every such possibility should be discussed, because if there is potential fraud on the part of the applicant (such as withholding information regarding an expected claim), the applicant could be liable in that case.
Inheritance advances can be especially helpful and appropriate in cases where the estate must have ongoing amounts of money invested in it in order to keep it running, or in cases where the heir does not have the money necessary to pay probate costs. It is possible to advance only a portion of the inheritance in order to receive needed funds, while retaining full value on the remainder of the expected inheritance.
Two acts that help to facilitate efforts to repair credit history include the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (also known as the FACT Act), which has been developed from the former Fair Credit Reporting Act (or FCRA), and the Fair Debts Collections Practices Act (FDCPA).
The FACT Act allows you to receive a copy of your credit report free once every twelve months, and also regulates (among other things) who is able to access your credit information and how it can be used. It is important to monitor your credit history on a regular basis and identify any errors that may negatively affect your credit rating. The credit report will highlight any items that warrant credit repair efforts.
The purposes of the FDCPA are to prevent abusive debt collection practices and to give consumers an avenue to require validation of various debt information and, if necessary, to dispute items and have them removed, if the creditor cannot prove their accuracy within a period of time. Generally, creditors have 30 days to respond to consumer requests.
These acts can be used to a consumer’s advantage, as outlined by credit repair services websites. These service websites offer to contact creditors on behalf of their clients in order to demand proof of the original late payment, charge off, collection action, etc. and, when the creditors fail to respond with the proof, as they often will, the services will report this to the credit reporting agencies (Equifax, TransUnion, Experian) in order to have the negative credit information removed.
The increasing development of technology continually opens new doors in every area of business. Other factors influence the applications of that technology. Currently, one of the most influential of these factors is the ongoing fuel price increases, resulting in costly transportation of everything from goods and produce on their way to market to clients and professionals commuting to their offices and meetings. A complementary influence is the desire to find more “green” solutions to a variety of problems. These factors together make telepresence company services an up and coming avenue for conducting many types of business.
Telepresence allows persons to interact with one another in real time, preserving all the nuances of speech and inflection, along with body language, and can be further enhanced by the projection of data in various forms, just as people meeting in the same meeting room would be able to share a power-point presentation or printed reports with one another.
Finance is one area that can benefit from these types of services. Because moment-to-moment changes in the stock market and fluctuations in interest rates affect virtually all aspects of finance, being able to meet immediately with consultants or advisers who may be geographically distant confers a great advantage to those with that capability.
In the near future, the choice of business partnerships, consultants, agents, etc. may be influenced by their level of access to this kind of technology, so keep that in mind in case you need to evaluate the services of various professional consultants regarding your personal finance needs.
There are several principles to employ when managing accrued debt, and making plans to pay off debt. While these can be accomplished by filling out a plan on paper, some people prefer to use software to develop a plan to payoff debt legally. The benefits are that it is easily managed in your computer and it becomes much easier to view the overall picture, and ability to view the projected savings can be a good motivation to continue.
There are several factors to consider when developing your personal debt payoff plan. First, you need to honestly consider your current and potential earnings and your total monthly expense for your current debts. If you are behind on payments, or if your income doesn’t adequately cover your current obligations, it may be wiser to seek a debt consolidation loan. The goal of such a loan is to bundle high-interest debts together and lump them into a single loan of lower interest, thereby lowering the monthly payment so that it becomes more manageable. The danger is that the “extra money” each month is no longer going to reduce debts, and particularly if it creates the illusion of having more money to spend and lulls the consumer into acquiring more debt, the overall financial position becomes worse in the end. In the hands of responsible consumers and those who must reduce monthly payments in order to survive, it can be very beneficial.
If you are fortunate enough to have income sufficient to meet your current obligations, a better choice for overall financial health can be a debt stacking repayment plan. The benefits of debt stacking are that the overall amount spent on monthly payments does not increase, but the time needed to become debt free is reduced, along with a substantial savings in overall monies paid to debtors due to less interest being paid over those years you save.
The principle is to list all of your debts and the amounts being paid. Generally, you will list these in the order they will be paid off under your current monthly plan. It can be beneficial to adjust this to list debts with higher interest rates first, especially if they can be paid off within a reasonable amount of time. A caveat here … often credit card companies will require only a very small monthly payment relative to the overall debt owed, and usually charge the highest interest rates. These debts should be paid off as quickly as possible, so it is better to allocate more funds each month than the minimums required and most importantly, DO NOT further increase your debt by continuing to use those cards!
Any debt that can be paid off, particularly those with higher interest rates, should be concentrated on first (while of course making payments as required to all of the others). If any extra money is available, it is usually best applied this debt. If you use some money each month for investment or savings, it is usually a better return to apply this money to your debts instead, once you have a sufficient amount in your savings account to cover an emergency situation (usually about two months’ worth of expenses). The reason for this is that the interest you pay on your debts probably far exceeds the interest you receive on savings or the return on any investments.
Concentrate on paying off one debt at a time. As soon as that one is paid off, take all of the money you had been sending each month to that creditor, and add it to the payments you are sending to the second creditor, increasing the amount paid for the second debt. This will of course result in the second debt being paid off even sooner. When that one is repaid, take all of that money and add it to the amount being paid to the third creditor, and so on. By the time you reach your longest-term or lowest-interest bill (usually the home mortgage in both cases) you will be able to send considerably more than the regular monthly payment, and will pay down the principal much more quickly than with your regular payment schedule. Your mortgage (along with all of your other debts) should be paid off years sooner than it would otherwise be, saving you a substantial amount of interest.
You will then be debt-free, often in far less time than your mortgage was scheduled to run. The savings for each person will vary, of course, depending upon your personal debt profile, but for almost everyone the savings of both time and money will be significant. If it is possible for you to use a debt stacking plan, you can be debt free in much less time than with traditional repayment methods and save substantially on interest.
One of the biggest way to impact your personal financial portfolio over your lifetime involves the decisions you make concerning your education. According to the US Department of Labor, graduating with even an Associates degree will increase your weekly earnings 25% over those with a high school diploma, and at the same time reduce your risk of unemployment by almost 1/3. Schools that offer internship programs, such as the Gibbs Norwalk location, further benefit the graduate immediately by increasing the likelihood of entering directly into the workforce in the field for which training was received.
The relationship your chosen school has with the community is one factor to be considered, especially if you plan to remain in the same area after graduation. Having a good reputation for producing capable graduates improves your prospects for employment after graduation, and the school’s career services can often help.
Even if you don’t plan to remain in the area, a school that offers internship opportunities give you a big advantage, even in fields where internship is not strictly required. Lack of work experience is the main factor that limits college graduates in their employment opportunities, as well as decreases the starting pay. Being able to point to work experience within the chosen field may set you ahead of other applicants, and might even garner you a higher starting salary, giving you a boost up in your earning potential that you might otherwise have to wait a couple of years to enjoy.
Another advantage of internships are the opportunity to discover whether or not you really are suited to work in a particular field and will enjoy your work. Participating in work internships early on in your college career will allow you to change majors before too many credits are wasted, if that turns out to be your decision.
Internships may be paid, in some cases, providing you with some additional income, but in many cases they are unpaid positions. College credit can often be received for work as an intern, however, so there are other monetary advantages besides compensation.
Overall, internship programs are something to consider in your college career.
There are TONS of credit card sites that allow you to apply online for credit cards. Some of them give good side-by-side comparisons or offer services to unique markets that make them stand out. However, we’ve found another interesting and, from what we have seen, quite useful, approach by a website offering credit cards.
This website includes an in-depth blog as part of their services. The posts that feature particular cards are useful in that they detail all of the information on a particular credit card offer and also explain exactly what kind of applicant would receive the most benefit from a particular offer. There is a notation if the card requires very good credit in order to be approved, saving time for unqualified applicants. Some cards provide special benefits for people living or working in a particular city.
However, we especially enjoyed the blog entries with general credit information. The explanations were easy to understand and the issues covered were those that affect many consumers. For example, does your spouse’s late payment affect your credit? (It can if you have a joint account, otherwise no.) Is it a good idea to have back-up credit cards? (It depends … especially on how you apply for them.) What is piggybacking? What exactly is encoded in that magnetic strip? Can I just keep applying for free initial interest cards and transferring the balances? There were dozens and dozens of informative articles on topics like these in the blog, and we found it to be quite useful and informative.
There is even a bit of humor on the blog (although admittedly we wouldn’t feature how to make a prison shank from a credit card, even if we were joking). However, the main benefit is in the large quantities of information that help with topics such as building a good credit score, managing debt responsibly, and understanding how the credit industry works. Overall, we really enjoying visiting their blog, and can recommend it to our readers.
With the advent of the growing network of cell phone service providers and carriers, there is a new opportunity cropping up for many landowners to easily earn lease income. Cell companies are leasing land (or in some cases, space on top of buildings) on which to erect cell towers, paying the owners a lease fee in consideration. The industry promises to be one involving a lot of flux, however, especially recently as a number of cell service providers merged and so eliminated some newly-redundant towers at the same time as areas under service have grown exponentially, so we have seen some opportunities fizzle while others increase. If you have considered leasing space to a cell service provider, or would like to approach one for the sake of making lease income, first learn all you can about the industry in its current state. You may also want to consider seeking information and/or help from an advocacy group dedicated to cell tower leasing. A number of programs are offered, including rent continuation programs that will continue to pay your lease rentals in the event the lease is terminated without cause.
Ideally, every college applicant would have a fully matured college fund in place to pay for necessary expenses when the time comes, but in reality, that seldom is the case. With the cost of college these days, parents generally need to start saving soon after the birth of their child, and put fairly significant amounts on deposit each month. There are several strategies to develop a strong college fund, but for the time being we are going to address the situation where no fund or an insufficient one exists.
One of the first steps, which should be undertaken during high school, is applying for any potentially available scholarships. Be sure to talk to the financial aid office at schools you are considering for available options. The next source to consider is federal student loans, like Staford or Perkins loans. Parent’s PLUS loans can also be pursued. The next option is private loans, which should include a cosigner if possible if the applicant is a student with no established credit, even if the loan can be approved without one. (Having a cosigner will probably reduce the associated interest rate.) As much of the expenses as possible should be filled from the first options mentioned above, and continue down the list until the need is met.
Another important factor is to keep college costs as low as possible. One way to do this is to attend a local or at least in-state school in order to avoid out-of-state tuition. By seeking a college near the parents’ or some other relative’s home that will allow the student to live there during the college years, a great deal of money can be saved on dorm costs or other room and board. Web resources are available to locate colleges in a certain area, such as schools in St. Louis.
Another way to save money is to purchase used textbooks. Most college bookstores deal in used books as well as new, and many colleges have a used bookstore nearby. It is also worth checking online sources of used books such as Half.com, Alibris, and even eBay.
If it is not possible for the student to live with parents or other family, consider housing that offers only what is needed, like a studio apartment, or perhaps sharing an older home or apartment with several other students. Kitchen facilities are important, however, as the cost of eating out will significantly increase costs. Transportation can be a financial factor as well, so make sure economical transportation is available, and consider the distance from the college.
If necessary, the student may need to consider working in order to finance part of their education, although care should be taken to assure that this will not damage the ability to pursue education effectively. Certain employment is especially well suited to students in that it may not require their full attention, such as some security and caretaking positions, allowing the student more opportunity to study.
A college education makes a big difference in earning potential for an individual, so it makes good financial sense to earn a degree. Even if you have to do without some non-necessities for a while, your earnings in the long run will repay you many times over.
Structured settlements are tax-free arrangements where an individual will receive a regular payment over a period of time. For example, if an injured party has been awarded a claim amount in a lawsuit, instead of being given a lump sum settlement they may be awarded a set payment each month for a period ranging from perhaps a few years up to the remainder of their lives. One of the benefits of such an arrangement is a high level of financial security over time. However, some individuals may wish to have a larger amount of liquid cash up front, for something like the purchase of a home or sending a student to college. In such cases, structured settlements can be used to determine income in order to be approved for a loan, and this is often the best option for individuals who need extra cash in the short term. However, there are also options for those wishing to sell structured settlement payments.
Before considering this option, it is important to determine if this is the best course in the particular case, because overall money will be lost due to discount rates (because the money to be received years down the road is not worth as much in today’s dollars). Also the person’s financial stability will suffer if the structured settlement is the only means of stable income. Additionally, the sale must be approved by a judge, who must be convinced of the financial necessity and wisdom of completing the sale.
If the decision is made to sell structured settlement payments, it is possible to sell only a portion of the payments instead of the full amount, thus retaining the long-term stable income as well as receiving a portion of the cash in advance for current necessities. This compromise can provide the benefits of both options. Also, we advise contacting a settlement firm that provides a number of quotes from different potential purchasers, making it possible to select the best fit for the particular need and thus increasing the likelihood of court approval as well. Always consider the various discount rates offered and any commission to be paid and, if necessary, contact a financial adviser regarding the best course of action.