Entries Tagged 'Financial Ideas' ↓

Everyone wants to have a good credit score. A good score can be the deciding factor in getting a mortgage, getting a loan, and sometimes even for getting a job. With the current state of our economy it is more important than ever to manage your credit score.

There are a lot of things that you can do to increase your score. But you need to be careful, as other things that you do can hurt your score. Some things that negatively affect your score are obvious, like not paying your bills, but other things are more subtle.

So without any more ado, here are some things that will hurt your score.
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Congradualtions! Once again you are getting a nice refund check from the IRS. That is great news… or is it?

As exciting as it is to be getting a big check, that money could have been in your paycheck -and from there your bank account- all along. A refund is just that. It is a refund on the taxes you paid, for most, the taxes withheld from your paycheck each week because you paid too much. Getting a refund means that you have loaned the government money for the year. Whats more, it was an interest free loan. That money could have been making you money all year. Continue reading →

The IRS wants its share of all the money that you make. Income from your job, income from a business you own, even income made on the side from a hobby should be included on your tax return. Wile you have to pay taxes on the full amount of income from your job, this is not always true about business and hobby income.

For those that own a business there are many deductions that can legally be taken to decrease the amount of taxes owed. Income from your hobbies might also be subject to some deductions. The deductions for hobbies however are often not as good as those of a business. It is important to know the differences and properly distinguish between the two so as not to run into trouble with the IRS. Continue reading →

Over the years of reading everything about personal finance that I could get my hands on, I’ve come upon many ideas to help save money and pay down debt. The following list has been compiled some of the best tips I’ve come across.

They are in no particular order and they are not a step by step guide. If you like a tip, apply it to your life. Continue reading →

Its payday. The money is deposited into your account and now the thinking begins. Which bills are coming do that need paying? How much do you need? Whats left over? Is there going to be any left over to save? I wonder how many people have struggled with this problem.

Like many, I used to have this problem and spent years doing mental math to determine how much of the money in my account was mine to spend. Then as I neared the end of my college days I got really interested in the area of personal finance. By this time in my life I had racked up some substantial debt -debt that I am still working to pay off- and had bills owed to many different companies. To say the least, it was stressful.

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