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Oddly, excess is supposed to be a way to save the consumer money in the event that a claim needs to be made on a warranty, but this is often not always the case. Yes, the cost of repairs will be reduced by the amount of excess the plan holder pays, but that is not where the problem lies. Most car warranties do have excess written into them and Warrantywise can do the same. However, that is where the similarity ends. If you pay excess on a warranty plan from Warrantywise, the savings get passed on in other ways.

The real problem resides in the fact that most warranty companies will have excess on their plans but consumers still pay full price for the warranty. Not only are consumers paying perhaps up to £50 excess when a repair needs to be made, but they are not given reduced payments based on the fact that they have agreed to a prespecified amount of excess. Warrantywise will give consumers a choice of whether or not they want to pay excess and will also reduce payments as well if excess is chosen. This is what excess should do for you and if it does not allow for reduced payments you need to look for another warranty company that operates like Warrantywise.

Naturally most warranty companies don’t want you to know this because they want to get full payments for the warranty and they want to pay a little as possible when claims are submitted. Get quotes on car warranties and you will see that there are very few companies out there willing to reduce the cost of a warranty plan when excess is chosen, even if you are given the chance to opt out of excess. At Warrantywise you are given the choice and you will get a reduction in price. That’s what you should know about excess and what most warranty companies don’t want you to know.

Summary: Did you know your minimum credit card payment is rising? A new government program working to get Americans out of credit card debt is pushing credit card issuers to raise minimum monthly payments. Will you be able to make the higher monthly payment? Here are some tips for getting by.

If you’re an American, your minimum monthly credit card payment may soon be doubling. If you’re only paying the minimums now, you’ll have to be careful to adjust your budgeting to pay more.

Who’s Raising Your Monthly Minimum Credit Card Payment?

Whose idea was it to increase credit card minimum monthly payments? The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department that has become more and more involved with reigning in the abuses of credit card companies. Yes, this credit card minimum payment increase was thought up by people trying to help you.

Who will be raising their monthly minimums? So far, some of the largest credit card issuers have agreed to the new standards. Bank of America has already been asking for the higher monthly minimum payment. MBNA, Citigroup (a.k.a. Citbank), Discover, and Chase (on some of its cards) will be breaking the news to their cardholders as Fall 2005 progresses.

How Much Will Credit Card Minimums Increase?

For many credit cards, such as MBNA and Bank of America, the new rates mean that monthly minimum payments will double.

Right now, the monthly minimum payment is only 2% of the balance on most of these cards. The new rate will be around 4% (the actual number may vary from card issuer to card issuer). This means that if you have the average American credit card balance of about $10,000, your minimum monthly payment will go from $200/month to $400/month.

Of course, if you have any additional fees, whether a late fee or a cash advance fee or any of the other fees that the credit card guys cook up, you will have to pay that, too.

Why the Credit Card Minimum Payment Increase?

You may be wondering why anyone would want to make you pay a higher minimum monthly payment. The basic reason for making you pay more is: for your own good.

According to Mike Peterson, co-founder of American Credit Foundation, by doubling the amount you pay per month toward credit card debt, you will cut down on what you pay toward interest by much more. Look:

Old monthly minimum payment of 2% of balance, $2,000 credit card debt at 18% percent interest:

* Time to pay off debt in full: about 30 years.

* Interest paid: about $5,000two and a half times what you initially borrowed!

New monthly minimum payment of 4% of balance, same debt:

* Time to pay off debt in full: about 10 years. Time saved vs. old payment: 20 years.

* Interest paid: about $1,100slightly more than half what you originally borrowed. Amount saved vs. old payment: $3,900.

Tips for Paying Double Easily

How do you pay off your new, higher credit card balance?

Stop Charging

Yes, you will have to make major sacrifices to stop using your credit card. But just look at all the money you’ll have in ten or thirty years that you wouldn’t have if you had to pay all that credit card interest. If you have trouble resisting the temptation to charge, here are some solutions that have actually worked:

* Give your credit cards to a friend or family member to hold in safe keeping.

* Freeze the cards in a block of ice.

* Never carry more than one credit card with you.

Economize on the Small Things

According to Michael Peterson of the American Credit Foundation, even tiny savings really add up when it comes to debt. His favorite example is the Diet Coke example:

* If you buy one Diet Coke a day at $1/day, that’s $365/year.

* If you instead invested that one dollar a day at 10% interest (the average yearly return on major stocks over the last half century), you would be a millionaire within 56 years.

* Of course, with credit cards, this logic works in reverse: if you are lucky enough to be paying only 10% interest, fifty years of charging Diet Coke to your credit card will mean you’ve lost the same amount, not only in interest paid, but in the lost opportunity to save and invest.

* You don’t have to put aside one dollar a day for fifty years to see a big difference. One dollar a day is $30/month, 15% of the average $200 increase in credit card minimum monthly payments.

* In order to get that entire $200 increase out of your daily budget, you would only have to save $200/30 or less than $7 a day. OK, maybe you aren’t drinking seven Diet Cokes a day. But there are very few credit-card-holding Americans who can’t cut $7 a day out of their spending.

* Saving weekly rather than daily, $200/month works out to about $45/week, or the cost of a restaurant meal for a small family–another luxury you might want to skip until you’re debt-free.

Bigger Savings

* Taxes. Most Americans could pay hundreds of dollars less tax each year if they just took all the deductions they were eligible for upfront, rather than waiting to get a refund in April. By April, you will have spent a big chunk of money on interest on debt that you wouldn’t have spent if you’d had the money at hand.

* Pleading. Call the credit card companies and ask if they can allow you to set up a payment plan, or at least provide a brief extension. Simply calling and letting them know you haven’t forgotten about them can help keep you out of the worst trouble.

* Credit counseling. Credit counselors can talk with credit card issuers to help you get a repayment plan you can keep up with. They can also open your eyes to untapped sources of income you never knew you had, like kicking the $1,000,000 Diet Coke habit.

In short, don’t panic. With only a little bit of planning, you can make the higher minimum monthly payment work to your advantage, just as the policy’s authors intended.

Most U.S. citizens walk into, get online to, or drive up to their bank several times each week and hand over their hard earned dollars. Why do they do it? How many other strangers would they trust to hold their savings, and return the money and additional funds back to them at any point in time? What makes banks safe, and how do we know they are?

Well, the first indication that you’re money’s in a safe place is the placard that greets you at the door – FDIC. This federal U.S. agency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, typically protects up to $100,000 of your deposited funds from loss. Established in the 1930’s, the FDIC became a way to curtail the runs on banks that occurred directly after the Depression. By 1934, with the initiation and support of the FDIC legislation bank runs had been reduced by nearly 4000.

In addition to FDIC protection, banks also pay for supplemental banking insurance from private carriers. This insurance is set up to protect investors’ funds from vandalism and bank robberies.

Banks offer a variety of options to their customers, many of them an evolution of the traditional checking and savings account operation. While a checking account is still the most familiar and most common banking feature, there are now a variety of checking account choices – some, known as negotiable order of withdrawal (NOW) accounts, actually pay interest on the balance. Besides the traditional savings account, banks also now offer loans, certificates of deposit, and money market accounts. Some offer IRAs and education savings accounts.

With a traditional savings account, you are able to deposit and withdraw virtually at will, with no minimum deposit or balance required. For this you earn a small interest – currently at an all time low range of .6 – 2 percent.

A money market account offers the immediacy and convenience of a traditional checking account along with the interest bearing advantage of a savings account. There are some limitations, however. Generally you can write just a few checks per month – at some banks as few as three. You are also limited to just a few more withdrawals as well. You’ll also be held to a minimum running balance, although a money market account almost always pays more interest than a traditional savings account.

A certificate of deposit is a banking account purchased in a specific amount for a specified period of time. Banks traditionally offer a variety of time periods for certificate maturities – anywhere from 30 days to 15 months. The longer the time to maturation the higher the rate of interest paid. For the length of the certificate, however, you are not able to withdraw any of the funds.

Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and education savings accounts are designed to accrue a substantial amount over a lengthy time period for a specific purpose, IRA’s for retirement, education savings account for college education. They generally offer the highest rate of interest but also deliver hefty financial penalties for early withdrawal except for emergency hardship situations.

With as many options as are offered by today’s banks, and the protections established by the FDIC, you can indeed bank on your local bank.

Work At Home Moms – Save Money This Holiday Season

As the holidays approach, many work at home moms begin feeling a sense of dread —

* How will we afford gifts?

* Will I start the new year even further in debt?

Saving money is the same as making money, in my opinion. Either way, you’ll have more money in your bank account. Here are a few ideas to help you save money this holiday season as well as earn a little extra cash. I hope these help give you some hope heading into the holidays.

Save on Advertising Expenses

Reduce your Advertising Budget. I hear so often from moms who are using paid advertising as their sole method of promoting their online businesses. Advertising is great, but it is just one of the many ways to promote your business. Enhance your exposure with some of the free ways to promote your business, from press releases and articles to more effective networking. Make an effort to stretch beyond your comfort zone to try new ways to draw more traffic to your website.

eBay – List it Now

People are spending money like crazy this time of year. List all your extras on eBay to earn a little extra cash for the holidays. Outgrown clothing, toys that your kids don’t play with, movies, books — all the items currently taking up space in your home could put cash in the bank. Plus, by cleaning out the house, you’ll have more room for the new
goodies that Santa brings.

Bartering

Have you tried bartering? You can trade products or services with other work at home moms that you meet. If you have a talent with writing or website design, trade with a mom in Direct Sales for products. It benefits both of you. The mom receives much needed help with aspects of her business that she may not enjoy or care to learn – and gets rid of extra inventory. She may also receive an ongoing customer from the barter, once you fall in love with her products. And, you receive products that you can give to loved ones for the holidays.

You do not need to start the new year further in debt. Plan your business promotions, barter for gifts, and sell your excess stuff. The holidays will be much more enjoyable, knowing that you took efforts to make them affordable.

The benefits of commercial real estate greatly outweigh the costs. In fact, I would say that commercial real estate is the best industry to be involved with because of the profits that can be made, as well as the fun nature of the work.

There are many who feel that commercial real estate is greatly out of their league, but this couldnt be the further from the truth! Commercial real estate is accessible to everyone who is willing to learn about a new industry and reap benefits no other industry can offer. Below you will find the best reasons why you should get involved with commercial real estate. It is truly the best kept secret of those already succeeding or just starting out.

Lets look at the many advantages of commercial real estate.

The first, and probably the most enticing benefit of commercial real estate, is profit. Huge profits, in fact, which can be made with a limited amount of effort. You can make the same amount of money quick turning or selling 100 single family residences as you would make with a single commercial real estate deal. The profits can be astonishing!

It takes the same amount of work for every commercial real estate deal, meaning you must go through the same processes each time. Why not maximize your results and go for the larger returning deals, rather than the smaller ones? Synergy is a key word in commercial real estate, as small changes can yield huge results.

Another great benefit of commercial real estate is you can work full or part-time, depending on your individual situation! Commercial real estate can easily be a part-time job that brings in incremental cash flow. You can even start out part-time, and hold a job until you have enough cash flow and money so that, eventually, all you do is commercial real estate.

Commercial real estate as a full-time job allows you to have many benefits such as being your own boss and having the ability to work from home. You can create your very own commercial real estate business and quickly build a strong net worth as well as positive cash flow.

In commercial real estate, your financial investment is very low, perhaps even non-existent. You can purchase property with 100% of other peoples money (OPM), and create large profits for yourself. This is the only industry where there are literally hundreds of millions of dollars just waiting to be borrowed! Find the money and get to investing!

Commercial real estate is an industry of abundance, not one of limits. In fact, there is very little competition because there is always commercial property becoming available. There is more than enough for everyone, which allows every person to have their opportunity to succeed in this business.

Another great benefit is that you can start right now, today! It does not take years of training or years of moving up the corporate ladder to be successful. You can begin your commercial real estate endeavors whenever you so desire because there are very few barriers of entry to this industry.

Finally, the greatest benefit I think commercial real estate has to offer is freedom. When you become involved with commercial real estate you have the freedom to do as you please. When you are not stressed about making rent, or finding your next job, life can be enjoyed to the fullest.

Commercial real estate can give you financial and personal freedom that, otherwise, would be wrapped up in a 9-5 job and someone else telling you where you have to be and at what time. For you already successful professionals and business owners, commercial real estate can be a great way to build wealth and equity quickly, without much time investment and headache! It is a great alternative to other types of investments that return 1/100th of what commercial real estate can return!

No matter what business, job, or current occupation in which you are involved, no other industry can supply you with the ability to be in charge of your very own life and create a lifestyle that best fits you and your personality.

It is truly amazing how peoples lives drastically change with only a few income producing properties in their portfolio. I urge you to delve further into this industry and get excited about it! Commercial real estate is a sound, extremely profitable, extremely doable, tried and true business that will always be available to those wanting the benefits commercial real estate has to offer.

Retiring in Thailand has been my dream for many, many years. My dream will come true in about 2 years and I am making some serious plans now. I can be anal when planning and there are numerous considerations when planning for the final chapter in your life. I intend to plan everything down to the nitty-gritty details.

Let me preface this by saying that I have been going to Thailand for the past 35 years. I have served there as a soldier and visited numerous times on vacation. I love the people, food, customs and culture and plan to live out my life there.

I have been doing my homework checking out my financial status and how much I will be getting when I hit retirement age. My situation is unusual in that I will get a small pension from my current government job, additional fund from a military retirement in about 4 years, and even more from social security in about 6 years. I also have a 401K and a government equivalent (Thrift Savings Plan) and will also profit from selling my house when I retire.

So, money is no problem. I plan to buy a house in Thailand. Well, actually, lease a house since foreigners cannot legally own land. I dont want to put the property in my girls name because she could potentially sell it and I would have no recourse. There is also a small loophole allowing foreigners to incorporate themselves and lease the property back. I dont trust this one and worry about laws changing and having my property taken out from under me. I will go with the lease or something called a usufruct.

The usufruct I dont entirely understand but I will be meeting with an English speaking lawyer during my trip in March, 2008 and will get all the details. All I know is that it is similar to the lease but has some benefits. I have gotten some email answers but prefer the face to face explanations.

I have had my girl looking for properties so that during my next 3week vacation I will only have to spend a short amount of time looking. So far, I have seen some pictures of nice properties for about $50,000 USD. This is for a 3-bedroom, 2 bath, 2-story place. Will be nice to see them in person and then make my purchase.

The monthly pension/retirement checks will easily take care of my day-to-day needs. Food and drink are cheap as are the utilities for the house. I will be able to have air conditioning and a satellite dish to receive English speaking programs along with the Thai TV shows.

Shopping is dirt cheap so clothes and other daily items will not be a burden. Going out will be very pleasant as a night on the town with dinner, drinks and going out to a club will be less than fifty dollars and that is living large.

Medical plans are available and care is comparable to US or European standards maybe even higher. Prescription drugs can be had over the counter and medical treatment is second to none.

Staying in Thailand legally has gotten easier with the loosening of visa requirements. Foreigners can now get one year visas that are easily renewable. All you have to do is check in every 3 months. Thailand likes expats money even though we cant own land.

Retiring in Thailand will make my life much easier than retiring in Hawaii even if my condo is paid for. The cost of living, the attitude of the Thai people, and the food and culture has me counting the days until April 4th, 2010.

Debt settlement, also known as debt negotiation or debt reduction, is a relatively new way for dealing with your debt problems. In a debt settlement program, by negotiating with a creditor, a client can reduce their debt by as much as 50 percent and be debt free in as little as 12 to 36 months.

Debt settlement is a great solution for consumers feeling overwhelmed with credit card debt that find themselves either falling behind on their payments or just able to afford the minimums. Considering the savings, in most cases its worth doing if you find yourself in any of the aforementioned situations. As with any debt solution, however, there are potential downsides to debt settlement that should always be considered prior to enrollment. First, debt settlement may have an adverse impact on your credit, particularly while youre in the program. To put this point in perspective, however, its important to remember the following: 1) any third party debt counseling program and even debt consolidation loans from finance companies like Beneficial may affect your credit negatively in the eyes of lenders, 2) the effect on your credit in the long-term is minimal, given the fact youll be eliminating all your credit card debt (amount owed is 30 percent of your credit score, compared to credit history, which makes up 35 percent of your score) and 3) if youre falling behind or about to fall behind anyway, then your credit has been or will be affected negatively anyway.

Realistically, the two main draw backs of debt settlement that are unique to debt settlement are the following: 1) the possibility of legal action being taken by the creditor to collect the full balance and 2) the possibility of creditors harassing you until the debt is settled.

Thankfully, if youre doing debt settlement in Texas or even debt settlement in Florida these concerns are very much diminished. Why is Florida debt settlement so preferable compared to a lot of other states? The reason is Texas has highly favorable debtor laws that give consumers a lot of rights and protections when it comes to past due unsecured accounts like medical bills, credit cards, repossessions, and personal loans.

How State Collection Laws Benefit Texas Debt Settlement

Every state has laws that say if a collections agency is collecting a debt, they are legally obligated to stop contacting a consumer if the consumer sends a Cease and Desist letter and/or a Power of Attorney notifying the collection agency that a third party is responsible for handling all communications with the creditor. Texas law takes it a step farther and not only limits harassment from collection agencies, but also from the original creditor as well. In most states, when a consumer falls behind on their payments and the debt is still being collected by the original creditor (the bank that originally lent you the money or the hospital that serviced you, for example), then the creditor is reserved the right to call the debtor on a daily basis in order to collect whatever is owed, and although debt settlement companies servicing these clients can very easily reduce the calls (changing of your phone number and address and notifying the creditor that you are seeking third party help, for example), no one can ever make the calls completely stop.

This is not the case however for Texas debt settlement clients. In Texas, the same law that deals with what collections agencies can and cannot do when collecting a debt also pertains to the original creditor. What does this mean in practice? It means that a debt settlement company servicing someone from Texas can easily get the calls to not only reduced, but completely eliminated all together (sometimes within days).

State Homestead and Garnishment Laws and How They Benefit Texas Debt Settlement

For Texas debt settlement clients, their wages and home are completely protected, which gives the creditor even more incentive to settle. Given the fact that creditors already have every incentive to settle even with clients who reside in states with less favorable debtor laws, Texas debt settlement clients are in an even stronger negotiating position with their creditors. What does this actually mean? Typically it means even greater protection in the event of a lawsuit and greater savings than what is typical. Let me explain.

Although the vast majority of cases settle, as anyone who has ever read a debt settlement contract will tell you—its impossible for a debt settlement company to guarantee that a client wont be the target of any legal action by their creditors. After all, creditors are always reserved the right to sue debtors to collect a past due account, regardless of whether the consumer is taking any action to resolve the outstanding debt.

In the event a creditor sues a consumer in court and wins a judgment, theyll usually go about executing the judgment in one of the following ways:

1)Wage garnishment—contacting your employer and asking that they set aside a percentage of your wages every paycheck until the debt is paid back in full. (Its illegal for an employer to fire you for this unless more than one creditor is garnishing your wages).

2)Lien on your property—obligates you to pay back the creditor with any proceeds from the sale or refinancing of the property. A creditor prefers to put a lien on your home since it usually increases in value over time, which means the proceeds from your homes sale will be higher, and thus theyre more likely to actually get paid back.

3)Seizing your bank account—contacting your bank, showing the proof of judgment, and asking to withdraw any monies held in deposit under your name.

Fortunately, Texas laws protect debtors from having their wages garnished (unless you authorized in writing to allow your creditor to garnish your wages) and entitle Texas consumers to 100 percent homestead protection in the event of a lien. (Note: this does not apply to tax liens, alimony, or contractors liens.) One downside, however, is that bank accounts are not exempt under state law. That being said, for most consumers who are drowning in credit card debt, there probably will not be much for the creditor to seize anyway, and if so, its unlikely that it will constitute enough to decline a settlement offer. On top of that, bank account information can be difficult for creditors to locate, unlike your home, which is public record.

In sum, these are major advantages for Texas debt settlement clients. Keep in mind that the vast majority of cases are settled successfully regardless of the legal advantages of the consumer. When you consider Texas state laws, debt settlement makes even more sense for the credit card companies, debt collection agencies, and most importantly, for the consumer.

Debt Settlement in Texas and Community Property Laws

If you are married, reside in Texas, and are seeking debt settlement services, you should enroll any and all debts that were accumulated during the marriage by both you and your spouse. Just because the debt is owned by only one partner the other partner is not exempt from having to pay for it as well under Texas law. Creditors know this and may use it to their advantage in the collections process.

Fantasizing about great wealth is a frequent pastime for many of us. How wonderful it would be not to worry about paying bills, to be able to buy whatever we want, and have the freedom to travel as often as we’d like. It’s a lovely fantasy, but how accurate is it, really?

One mistake most of us make is believing that money will solve all of our problems, and our lives will become smooth and serene. Not true! Having more money might help ease certain struggles, but it will not transform our lives. If anything, having a lot of money will bring on a new set of problems beyond anything we might imagine.

Before we will TRULY be ready to handle increased abundance, we need to foster certain qualities within ourselves:

Self-Worth – We first need to be willing to believe that we deserve better financial circumstances. If we struggle with poor self-esteem and don’t have a positive self-image, we will continue to push abundance away when it presents itself. Though this is largely a subconscious process, we can gather clues from the rest of our lives to determine if this is an issue we need to work through. If we continuously resist positive changes in our lives, in everything from relationships to health habits, we might need to work more on our level of self-worth before we can accept true abundance.

Confidence/Courage – Wealthy people need to be strong people. Why? Because of all the shysters out there who would do anything to get their hands on our money. This could be anyone from close friends and family members to complete strangers and scam artists. If we are timid by nature and afraid to stand up for ourselves, we might subconsciously push prosperity away because we’d feel threatened by all the attention we would receive from others who want a piece of our pie. Wealthy people need to be shrewd, firm and confident about saying “No” when necessary.

Perspective – As mentioned above, money will NOT solve all of our problems. When we don’t have any money, it’s easy to convince ourselves that money holds much more power than it really does. In its tangible form, money is simply slips of paper and chunks of metal. It has no magical abilities. We don’t really want money, we want what money can provide us with! Understanding that money is simply a form of energy in our lives, we can learn to welcome the ebb and flow of financial abundance, and therefore attract more of it without being emotionally attached to it.

Responsibility – Though this is a hard thing to admit, we need to acknowledge the part we play in our lack of financial resources. We need to examine our own spending and saving habits. We need to look at the ways we might be careless with the money we do have, and the ways we set ourselves up to experience lack. If we live paycheck to paycheck and never seem to have enough left over, we might need to explore higher-paying jobs, or other avenues of income generation. We might need to learn how to wisely invest our money so it will grow, rather than continuously leak out of our budget. The truth is, proper handling of the money we do have right now will encourage more money to appear in our lives.

We need to remember that we create the quality of our own lives, moment to moment, and it all begins with our thoughts. If our lives don’t resemble the lives we’d rather be living, we can choose to examine the reasons for it, take responsibility for our actions, and make a commitment to improving our circumstances. While this can be a daunting task, how freeing it is to finally understand that it’s all within our control.

Many homeowners make the mistake of thinking re-financing is always a viable option. However, this is not true and homeowners can actually make a significant financial mistake by re-financing at an inopportune time. There a couple of classic example of when re-financing is a mistake. This occurs when the homeowner does not stay in the property long enough to recoup the cost of re-financing and when the homeowner has had a credit score which has dropped since the original mortgage loan. Other examples are when the interest rate has not dropped enough to offset the closing costs associated with re-financing.

Recouping the Closing Costs

In determining whether or not re-financing is worthwhile the homeowner should determine how long they would have to retain the property to recoup the closing costs. This is significant especially in the case where the homeowner intends to sell the property in the near future. There are re-financing calculators readily available which will provide homeowners with the amount of time they will have to retain the property to make re-financing worthwhile. These calculators require the user to enter input such as the balance of the existing mortgage, the existing interest rate and the new interest rate and the calculator return results comparing the monthly payments on the old mortgage and the new mortgage and also supplies information about the amount of time required for the homeowner to recoup the closing costs.

When Credit Scores Drop

Most homeowners believe a drop in interest rates should immediately signal that it is time to re-finance the home. However, when these interest rates are combined with a drop in the credit score for the homeowner, the resulting re-financed mortgage may not be favorable to the homeowner. Therefore homeowners should carefully consider their credit score at the present time in comparison to the credit score at the time of the original mortgage. Depending on the amount interest rates have dropped, the homeowner may still benefit from re-financing even with a lower credit score but it is not likely. Homeowners may take advantage of free re-financing quotes to get an approximate understanding of whether or not they will benefit from re-financing.

Have the Interest Rates Dropped Enough?

Another common mistake homeowners often make in regard to re-financing is re-financing whenever there is a significant drop in interest rates. This can be a mistake because the homeowner must first carefully evaluate whether or not the interest rate has dropped enough to result in an overall cost savings for the homeowners. Homeowners often make this mistake because they neglect to consider the closing costs associated with re-financing the home. These costs may include application fees, origination fees, appraisal fees and a variety of other closing costs. These costs can add up quite quickly and may eat into the savings generated by the lower interest rate. In some cases the closing costs may even exceed the savings resulting from lower interest rates.

Re-Financing Can Be Beneficial Even When It is a Mistake

In reality re-financing is not always the ideal solution, but some homeowners may still opt for re-financing even when it is technically a mistake to do so. This classic example of this type of situation is when a homeowner re-finances to gain the benefit of lower interest rates even though the homeowner winds up paying more in the long run for this re-financing option. This may occur when either the interest rates drop slightly but not enough to result in an overall savings or when a homeowner consolidates a considerable amount of short term debt into a long term mortgage re-finance. Although most financial advisors may warn against this type of financial approach to re-financing, homeowners sometimes go against conventional wisdom to make a change which may increase their monthly cash flow by reducing their mortgage payments. In this situation the homeowner is making the best possible decision for his personal needs.

Most experts on the subject believe that the Social Security system will be bankrupt in about 15 years. However, some new studies have offered a ray of hope. They seem to indicate that the assumption that the boomer generation will retire at 65 or 67 and sit back to collect their social security checks is incorrect.

They believe a sufficient percentage some estimates are as high as 80% – will continue to work in some capacity or another, relieving much of the pressure on the system.

This is probably the only ray of hope for many who have visited financial planners or bought personal finance software to see how much they need for retirement. These usually show you need a million or more dollars to retire with your current lifestyle. But again, they dont take continuing earnings into account.

Many in the baby boomer generation plan to retire at around 65, but then start a second career, doing something they enjoy. Most dont want to continue on in their present jobs or move to low paying work at fast food restaurants or supermarkets.

Rather they would rather make their accumulated knowledge work and, if possible, also give something back to society at the same time.

Health experts say this trend will be beneficial in that by staying involved, those past retirement age will stay healthier and will be happier with their life.

So it seems that several trends are converging. Those in their 60s, 70s and early eighties are healthier than ever. Because of their increased longevity and the shortfall in their retirement savings, they need to continue to earn. And many companies who once looked on older workers with distain, now seem to realize the value they can contribute to the company and to society in general.

There is speculation that colleges and universities may allow retirees to earn fast track degrees, taking into account their prior education and work experience. Also some states are already loosening license requirements for teachers to allow those with degrees in fields other than education to become teachers with little if any further training.

Another way to continue to earn in retirement is by making wise investment choices now.

Buy rental properties, learn how to manage money effectively or start your own business now in your part time so that you have something up and running by the time you retire.

The internet has opened up new ways to earn, be it drop shipping, affiliate marketing or selling goods on Bay.

If you always wanted to be an author or if you can write software programs, it is simple to self publish and sell electronic goods through services such as Clickbank.

Or you could just do something youve always wanted, like baking breading or making shoes. If youre good at whatever you choose, you should have little trouble finding a clientele.

But if you are depressed because you have to continue to work after 65, dont. Youll have a lot of company and youll will also be healthier and happier for it.

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