We all know how great it is to treat our family and ourselves to a large purchase. Maybe you have needed a new family car for quite some time. Or perhaps you have a relative’s birthday coming up, and you want to really push the boat out and get them a gift that they will never forget. But are you totally sure that you can afford the big purchase? If you aren’t too sure, it is a much better idea to check in with your finances rather than flashing the cash without knowing how worse off it might leave you. Thankfully, it isn’t too difficult to figure out whether or not you can afford a big purchase – you just need to ask yourself these questions.

Where Is The Money Coming From?

The first thing you need to figure out is where the money for this big purchase is going to come from. Ideally, you should already have the money in a bank account. This should be an account that allows easy access to the funds and doesn’t charge you for withdrawals. If you don’t have the money just yet, you should look into getting the best credit card available. When you are looking for a credit card, you should always take note of the interest rate, as this will affect your monthly payments.

Where Can I Get The Best Price?

Lots of us now do our shopping online, and most people have their favorite sites that they always visit. Most of the time, it tends to be the likes of Amazon. But are you sure you are getting the best price on your favorite site? If you only shop at Amazon, for instance, out of habit, it could be time to start to compare prices elsewhere. By shopping around, you will be able to find some really great deals and discounts.

What Else Could I Do With This Money?

Another really important question to ask yourself, do you have an idea of how else you could use the money? For example, you might have some responsibilities that might need the money. If your rent is due, then you shouldn’t use the rent money to buy a fancy new dress. Have you also started to put some money to one side for retirement? If not, then you might be better off using the money to start a pension pot. As you can see, there are a few useful things you could use the money for, and your big purchase can wait.

What Is The Returns Policy?

These days, most shops and stores have pretty good returns policies. However, there are still a few places that make it difficult for customers to return their items. If you do make a big purchase, it should be from a store that allows a full refund within thirty days. And make sure that they aren’t just going to refund you in store credit!

So, are you really sure now is the right time to make that big purchase?

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It goes without saying that there are ways in which you can make smart investments and ways in which you can make dumb ones. Investing your money in real estate is a smart investment. It’s a great way to tie up your money in a physical asset that can increase in value over time.

Generally speaking, all real estate investment earn money over time, as the market tends to always increase in value. However, there are ways you can speed things up and improve the value of your real estate investment in a short space of time.

How? By making home improvements. But, not just any improvements, cost-effective ones. You want to make improvements that don’t cost a lot of money but can add serious value.

Here’s how to do it:

Look For The Best Value Option

No matter what work you want to carry out on your property, always look for the best value option. This could mean looking for an option that uses different materials, but costs less.

As an example, say you’re building a garage – which is a great way to add value to the property – you have different materials to choose from. There’s the regular brick and mortar, then there’s steel. Most people go for the first option because they think it’s more traditional. However, the metal building cost per square foot is a lot less than this option. So, in this scenario, steel is the best value option. You still get a garage, it’s still sturdy and strong, you just pay less – simple.

Apply this tip to all your home improvements too. Say you want to replace your roof with a more modern structure, weigh up the material options and find one that offers the best value.

Try And Cover The Cost Of Labor

Often, it’s not the actual improvements that cost a lot but rather it’s the cost of labor. What I mean by this is that paying for someone to come in and make the improvements could cost a lot of money. So much so that it could prevent you from making a profit on your investment.

Bearing that in mind, what you should do is try and cover the cost of the labor yourself. Try and carry out the home improvements yourself or with the help of friends/family. You won’t have to pay any labor costs, and it could save you a fortune. Now, you’ll earn more from the improvements you make yourself, as they don’t cost as much.

Of course, there are probably some home improvements that you can’t make yourself. In which case, you will be forced to hire some outside help. But, refer back to the first point; find the best value option. Look around for a contractor or handyman – or whoever you need – but choose one that offers the best price as well as a proven track record of quality service. Even if you can only do one or two improvements yourself, you still save some money.

It’s all about finding cost-effective ways to improve your home and increase its value. Now, you could sell it earlier than you intended and still make a sizeable profit.

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People who flip houses sometimes have a bad reputation because the work that they do necessitates that they be rather ruthless. To buy a house and quickly try to renovate it so that it can be sold for a profit is not an easy job at all, not least because so many factors in the success or failure of the enterprise are out of the person’s control. For instance, if someone was to buy a house and start pouring money into it to get it to the point that it is marketable and then the economy started to suffer, that person could potentially lose lots of money. It is not just shifts in the country’s economic well-being that can be a factor though. There is so much paperwork and legal fees that have to be processed to buy and then sell a house. Also, sourcing all of the materials and redesigning an entire house is something that some people spend years doing (although with the intention of creating a home rather than a profit). If you flip houses, you have to do it all much quicker. However difficult it may be, here are a few reasons why it is a great way to make money and something that you may want to consider doing:

It is not always the case that shifts in the economy are necessarily going to work against you. While it may seem rather callous, property foreclosures offer a good business opportunity. If you can buy a house as cheaply as possible, that gives you a greater chance of making a profit. Another good thing about the recent financial crisis was that it has lowered mortgage interest rates. This means that more people will want to take out mortgages, which means that there will be more potential buyers. Besides, the market is good right now. There are lots of people who are thinking ‘I want to sell my house fast’, a fact demonstrated by 5.71 million existing homes being sold last month, up from 5.47 million in February of this year. You always have to be aware of the rate of inflation, but right now is the best time to buy, renovate and sell houses in several decades.

Do not let anyone tell you that it is easy though. The sweat equity of flipping houses plays a big part in your final profits. If you do lots of the work on the property yourself, you can cut down on costs, but if you do not have the time or the skills and choose instead to hire outside labor, you can quickly see your future profits disappear. If you are not as handy with a tool belt as you’d like to be, you should consider trying to find contractors with whom you can negotiate a deal. If they work for a lesser rate, you could perhaps guarantee them work for several years.

Finally, to make money flipping houses, you have to be patient. Do not buy a house unless you are confident that it is the perfect one. Do not accept the first quotes that you receive from contractors and do not try to sell the place as soon as it is finished. Timing is everything.

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There comes a time in every single person’s life where the penny drops and they realise that it could be time to invest in real estate. However, most people have a warped sense of what that actually means and so they start thinking about how they can afford to, the complexities around doing so, the trials and tribulations, the effort and the work involved.

But investing in real estate doesn’t have to mean buying a structure. It doesn’t have to mean investing in an apartment, flat, house, condo, commercial property or residential space, and it doesn’t have to mean fixing up somewhere. You see, real estate does include land, you know. Yeah.

So many people overlook vacant land as an investment, though, which is foolish if you ask us, and here is why:

You Buy It. That’s All.

When you invest in a structure, you have to think about renovation works and replacing stuff, which you never have to do with vacant land. You buy the land and you have the land. You don’t need to have a knowledge of construction or anything, just an idea of whether the land could be suitable for building on. Simple.

It’s So Cheap

Vacant land is so cheap compared to other types of real estate. You could buy a decent chunk of land with the cash that is in your savings right now, probably, and if not, all you have to do is compare personal loans and take the one that you like the look of. That’s it, then. There are no other outlays. No structure to pay for, no mortgage to battle, taxes are teeny-tiny, and so is insurance, if you want to have insurance.

No Hassle Whatsoever

The thing with investing in vacant land is, well, it’s vacant. That means there are no tenants you have to chase up because their rent is late. You don’t need to pay an agent any maintenance fees or get a gardener or a plumber or anything. No. Vacant land is the least demanding real estate investment you can possibly make. Period.

Prices Can Only Increase

Your options with vacant land are endless. Either you can hang on to it and live safe in the knowledge that no one is making any more land, which means your little piece of the earth is only going to become more in demand and demand is good. You could start using it for business purposes, in which there are only a few things to consider. You could even seek out some planning permission and watch as the value skyrockets, and we mean skyrockets, and that’s without even having to put a nail in anything. Whatever you fancy, you can do.

Earn An Income

The thing with vacant land is, you always have options on how to generate money. Think about it. You could turn it into a campsite, you could rent out some of it to a telephone company to erect a mast or a farmer who wants some grazing grounds. Maybe there is an energy company sniffing around. If it’s wind power, then you can go online and see exactly how much wind your land gets. If it’s solar, then you’re an option so long as you aren’t covered by a giant canopy. Money, money, money.

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One of the most popular ways to secure financial freedom in this current generation is to establish multiple streams of income. It could be from multiple jobs, a personal business or even investments. With job security an ever-growing problem for people all over the world, it seems like the most secure living you can get these days is to invest in the internet and work from home. Not only does working from home bypass the minimum wage that is set in your country, you also guarantee a wide range of clientele and the ability to work with people all over the world.

But most home-based investments require a lot of money. Trading stocks, starting up a business or investing in a company takes a lot of cash to start, making it a difficult option for someone who’s climbing out of debt but still wants to secure a comfortable future financially. In order to give you a hand, here are a couple of low-cost investments to get you started with making money from home.

Low-Risk Investments

When investments are concerned, we often think about expensive high-risk purchases like stocks, foreign currencies and even property. However, among all of the investments that people can make in life, there are some low-risk ones that have a very small chance of making you bankrupt. For instance, you can learn how to trade penny stocks online as a way to practice stock trading and you could invest in land purchases instead of entire properties. There are many low-risk investment options available to you as long as you do your research and look at the stability of a market instead of the potential gains.

Penny shares are, as the name implies, very low in price, meaning you can trade them freely without much consequence. However, don’t expect to turn $10 into $1,000 in a single week, and don’t even expect to make money within the first week of getting started. It’s a gradual and slow process, but that’s the nature of low-risk investments.

For property investments, you typically have a lot of factors involved when developing a property to be sold such as the location, target audience and so on. However, when it comes to investing in land, not only is the price a lot lower because you’re factoring out the development costs, it also doesn’t have a defined use, making it a versatile purchase for your buyers.

Starting a Content-Focused Business

A business could mean anything from a YouTube channel to a small company. However, the cheaper options here are definitely content-focused, such as a video channel, news website or a blog. You can monetize most of your content with the help of advertising services, but if you’re feeling brave then you can always upgrade to affiliate programs or even offering a product.

For instance, if you have a popular blog about the history of candy, then you could compile all of your material and blogs into a book to be sold. Ebooks are a natural transition for blog owners due to the content being relatively similar. All you need to learn is how to publish your own eBook and then advertise it to your viewers, social media and so on.

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