If you’re like most people used to driving, then the prospect of not having a car would be akin to the feeling a child has when they are sent to their bedroom and grounded – cars offer us freedom and huge convenience, yet they are also considerably expensive to run and own. Your vehicle can make up a large part of your household finances, so this article looks at the three most common ways of having a car; leasing, renting and owning – in order to work out which is the most cost effective option for you.

OWNING

This might seem like the most sensible choice, as at the end of the day, whilst buying a car outright – whether in cash, or on finance, is a significant expense, it is at least an ‘asset’ you own yourself. However, a car is a depreciating asset that loses its value each mile you drive and each day that passes by – it’s not like a house which appreciates in value. If you are to buy a brand new car, then as soon as you drive off the forecourt, the financial hit you can expect in terms of depreciation is in four figures!

Buying a second-hand car, particularly one that is just a few months old, seems to be one of the smartest moves you can make if purchasing a car… however, even then, the cost of insurance, road tax, MOT, servicing, maintenance and repairs can mount up to the point any ownership of a car will take its toll on your finances. This is where the less popular option of renting a car can pay dividends.

RENTING

It might seem a strange idea to rent a car, as an alternative to owning one, but if you don’t always use a car (e.g. you live in Central London or travel a lot for work) then hiring a car could prove to be the most financially beneficial to your situation. This way, you are only paying for the car when you actually need it (there’s nothing more annoying than paying for a 24 month lease, when you’re out the country for a few months, and the car is sitting in your driveway)… but more than anything, the insurance is included. When you consider how much insurance costs – renting a car that comes with fully comprehensive insurance can actually end up saving you money, particularly for inexperienced drivers or those without no claims bonus.

LEASING

The middle ground between owning a car and renting one is to look into long-term leasing; indeed, you may wish to visit intelligentcarleasing.com in order to consider your options and see what deals are available – as you can find some incredible offers particularly at this time of year. The great thing with leasing is that you aren’t always responsible for maintaining the car in terms of servicing, and if something goes wrong with the car, you can simply go back to the leasing company and they’ll replace the vehicle. Leasing offers a hassle-free option but the downside is you never end up owning the car, so a bit like renting a property – you’re not building any equity in an asset, however, with a car… it’s a depreciating asset anyway, so this shouldn’t be too offputting.

In summary, there are three main options to consider in terms of having a vehicle; and the right option for you will be heavily dependent on your individual circumstances.

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Some say that money is the root of all evil. And there are definitely certain circumstances in life that would make us all believe that at some point or another. But when you find yourself with financial problems, you can definitely feel like dollars are the devil on your shoulder. While they’re there dancing away, you know that you really need to work on something to make them go away. Although it’s tempting to bury your head with everything, that’s never the best solution. You’re definitely going to want to tackle this issue face on, but you don’t always know where to start. And that’s where this post comes in.

Suffering financially can be really scary. You often worry if you’re ever going to get out the other side. And you will – but you have to make it happen. This means being transparent with your finances, being frank, and also committing to making changes. Because when you can do all three, you will be able to sort your current financial situation. Whether you’re in debt, not earning enough, or just in a bit of a muddle with everything, then it’s time to strip it all back. So let’s take a look at the four simple approached you can take to achieve this.

Budgeting Better

When you’re in a less than ideal financial situation, you have to be really honest with yourself. And this always means considering your current income and expenditure. By working on a better budget, you should be able to get things under control.

Understanding What You Earn

The first step here is all about getting to know your earnings a little better. Because we always tend to assume that we make X amount each year or month, without really knowing what we get. So if you’re employed by one company, it’s time to go through your paycheck. Then, you’ll be able to understand the income you get each month. If you’re self-employed, you should definitely start to track your earnings so that you can be more aware of the money you’re making going forward.

Tracking What You Spend

The next step is to hone in on your expenditure. And this is often what the bulk of budgeting is all about. To do this, there are different apps to track your spending that you can look to use. By ensuring that you know what you’re spending, you can not only ensure you don’t overspend, but you can often be more careful with what you spend your money on too.

Cutting Down Unnecessary Expenses

You may find that the last step opens your eyes a little. Because it’s easy to think that you’re spending a certain amount of money each month, to then realize that you don’t really have a clue. And it can then make you aware of the unnecessary expenses that you have, but that you can cut back on too. Saving on monthly expenses can be quite easy, as long as you’re prepared to be tough on yourself.

Saving Money

Then, you’re going to want to think about how you can save more. This is both in terms of having a pot of money saved up, and ensuring that you save money on whatever you buy going forward too.

Allocate A Percentage Each Month

The best way to ensure that you’re able to put some money away for savings each month, is to allocate a set percentage in your budget. That way, you’ll automatically save however much you can afford, and you won’t miss it going forwards either.

Shop Around

But you also want to make sure that you’re not spending too much money on the things that you do buy too. To do this, you definitely want to shop around. While considering the prices of different items in different stores isn’t always quick, it is smart. Because you can often save a significant amount of money buy biding your time and shopping around first.

Use Coupons

Finally, you should definitely consider using coupons too. When you never really use them, it can definitely feel odd to clip coupons or search online for discounts. But as soon as you get started, you’ll find that it’s easy to get the hang of. And if you’re really not sure how you’re going to save this way, these coupon tips will definitely help you to maximize your money every time you spend.

Earning More

Your next step is to look at your income. Because you’ve pretty much mastered your spending now, and you probably can’t get that down any further. So your next solution is to increase your earnings.

Make A Plan

While some people will earn more by not really planning for it to happen, for most of us, that’s never going to be the case. Because if you want to increase your earnings, you need to know exactly how you’re going to do it. And this means that you’re going to need to have a career development plan in place. You should have your end financial goal in mind, whether that’s five or ten years away, then work backwards and plan out what you need to do to get there.

Start Something On The Side

Another great way to ensure that you earn more is to do something on the side. If you have a particular interest or skills, you may be able to commit your evenings and weekends to it, or whatever free time you have, to ensure you make some extra money each month. From writing to selling crafts, you should definitely look into where your passion and talents can take you.

Get A Second Job

And, of course, you’ve always got the option to take on a second job too. This isn’t always going to be the best idea for everyone, but if your first job just isn’t paying you enough and you want to be able to bring in some more money for a short space of time, a second job can be a great idea. But, you will have to make sure that you have the time available to do this without it causing your stress or impacting on your quality of life.

Alternative Avenues

And finally, you’re then going to want to consider what other avenues you have to get your financial situation under control. Not all of these will apply to you, but it’s always useful to consider each in case you can find the perfect solution.

Considering Compensation

First up, you’re definitely going to want to consider any avenues that will allow you to access additional money that you’re entitled to. Because when you’re in a tough financial situation it can help. You can click here for information on payday loan repayments as a starter. But you may also have other forms of compensation that you could be entitled to due to your circumstances too.

Saving To Invest

Next up, you may also want to think about the future, and how that can improve your financial situation. Once you’ve mastered spending within your means, you could then look to save money so that you can invest in something that will make you more money in the future, such as property.

Starting Your Own Business

Finally, you may also want to think about starting your own business too. Because if you want to change your life and prepare for the future, this can be an incredible venture for you. Yes, it will take work, and it won’t happen overnight, but if you have vision, it’s something that you should definitely look to start now.

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While home ownership is the goal that many people share in life, very few homeowners actually consider the negatives of home ownership. That is until they are a problem for them. Although for the most part, home ownership is a fantastic financial choice, there are also times when owning a home can have a detrimental impact on your financial health. However, this is usually when you don’t take the necessary steps to protect yourself and your home from financial issues. To learn more about protecting yourself from financial problems that could be caused by your home, read on.

Protect your property from the unexpected

There are times in life when we choose to skip paying certain bills because we see them as being necessary. Whatever you do, don’t make property insurance ones of them. The fact is that anything could happen at any time, which is why taking out homeowners insurance from a reputable company like Trusted Choice is so important. Whether a storm hits and destroys your home, a house fire ruins your property, or a break-in leaves your home in tatters, it is vital that you have adequate protection in place. Every home needs insurance, because the fact is, you never know what might happen, and it is always best to be protected.

Make maintenance a priority

A common mistake that far too many homeowners make, which turns their properties into money pits, is not taking maintenance seriously. If you take the time look after your home and deal with any issues that occur as and when they do, your home should remain in better shape. However, if you leave these issues to worsen over time and don’t deal with them, then you may end up with a home that is falling apart and will cost a lot of money to put back together again. If you aren’t big on household DIY, don’t let that put you off of keeping up with your home’s maintenance, call out a contractor instead. Never put off with household problems as they will only end up costing you more to fix.

Invest for the future

If you want to ensure that should you want to sell your home in the future, you are able to do so easily, and for a good price, it is important to keep your property up to date. This means being willing to invest in new technologies as and when they are available, such as solar power, for instance. These kinds of investments will come at a cost, but the fact is that by choosing to invest in them, you can give yourself and your future the financial security needed. The more up to date a property is, the more easily it should sell.

There you have it, a guide to everything that you should know about ensuring that your home is not the cause of financial problems. Take note of the tips above, and you can make sure that home ownership does not leave you in a financial hole.

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Improving your investment results is no easy task. The stock market is not for the faint-hearted and emotions can get the better of us as investors. As 2017 comes to an end, you may have noticed that your investment portfolio doesn’t look as healthy as it originally did. However, there are tools in which you can use to your advantage and boost your stock returns to the numbers you want to achieve. These are three strategies to receive more financial gain.

Value vs growth method

With the use of index tracking, value companies have outperformed growth companies in the U.S. and international stock markets. Focusing your investments on value instead of growth companies will increase your chances of receiving higher returns.

By doing this and using financial tools such as a covered call screener, you are more guaranteed to get an increase of returns in 2018. Even though value companies have lower stock prices than growth companies, several value firms will offer stock brokers an annual dividend payout. Dividends are particularly useful if the price of a stock has slow appreciation during a time period.

Rebalancing strategy

Inevitably, your investment portfolio will decrease from its original asset class percentages and won’t appear as healthy as it first did. The method of adjusting the portfolio back to its original allocation is known as ‘rebalancing’.

There are a couple of ways in which this can be accomplished. These are: adding money to the under-weighted section of the portfolio, selling a portion of the over-weighted section and adding this to the under-weighted piece, or, taking withdrawals from the over-weighted assets.

By rebalancing, you are enhancing your portfolio performance and making it look more financially appealing to potential sellers. Not only does it do this, but it puts your investments back to the original level of risk tolerance. Keeping an eye on your portfolio and ensuring that each investment is being efficient with beneficial results is key to selling high and buying low. This means that you’re more likely to make profits than losses.

Prioritising equities and bonds

Before we go into detail over this strategy, let’s first establish the difference between an equity and a bond. Equity is essentially another name for a stock, where investors buy them to generate growth. The ideal equity is one which increases in price over time which allows the investor to sell their share for a large profit. However, a bond doesn’t give much opportunity to grow in value and instead, provide regular portfolio income.

Even though investing in equities can be more volatile and risky, the stock market has consistently outperformed the bond markets over the past decade. But, by carrying out a manageable combination between the two within your portfolio, this can offer better stock returns.

Let’s round it up

As an investor, you can see just by reading these simple strategies how boosting your stock returns and improving your portfolio can be easily done. The key rule is to prioritise your portfolio by keeping it balanced and consistent. Don’t get carried away with the influx of money and lose your main financial vision.

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Your first credit card is milestone in being able to stand on your own two feet. Not only can you improve your credit score, making mortgages more available to you, you can afford more bills and groceries each week, and you have plenty of backup cash in storage just in case of an emergency. However, we all know it isn’t simply sunshine and roses, so we need to think about the benefits and drawbacks of having a credit card. If you’re a young adult or someone older who never got the chance to before, and you’re just deciding to invest in a card of your own, here’s the biggest things for you to consider.

The Pro: Credit Cards Have Reward Systems

Credit cards, the more you use them, often have rewards for you to use at the end of the week or month. This makes them a lot more useful when it comes to shopping, and provides a little more incentive to use a credit card in a healthy manner. For your first card, looking into the systems each provider offers can require a bit of shopping around (to make sure you can use them for all purchases), so don’t make any decisions based on simple want alone!

The amount of different cards there out there means rewards can vary wildly from person to person. For example, with this in mind, you can get a variety of things on your credit card use, such as cashback for the standard types, or free flights for people using a travelling orientated card. It’s often a good idea to have more than one card in your possession, as being able to handle more than one at a time shows off how versatile and responsible you can be with money. It also means more rewards!

The Con: Debt Can Pile Up

Let’s face it, we can lie to ourselves a lot when it comes to money: ‘I need a new TV’ or ‘A few more dog treats won’t hurt!’ Even just thinking about the hypotheticals shows off how many different walks of life can bring in some debt when we let ourselves lose control.

At its core, credit is predatory, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use it safely. With this in mind, we can all agree that debt is a big drawback of using a credit card, and using your available credit too much is dangerous. Even the fact that credit card consolidation loans exist suggests that this is a common habit for people to fall into, so be aware of making excuses for yourself to use your credit card.

Don’t let yourself be intimidated by the amount of options there are on the market for getting a credit card. They’re there to help you rather than hinder you, and there’s no trap for you to fall into when you fully research terms and conditions, and any better alternatives! Balancing a checkbook gets easier and easier when information is so accessible like this.

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