Sink or Swim

Trying to make ends meet in between one payday to another is a common occurrence to most households. We’ve all been there – unexpected purchases for the house or school, medical emergencies that are outside our health insurance plans, car repairs, last-minute trips and many more. No matter how good we are at budgeting, there are some things that we just have no control especially if we only have enough to work with.

For short term or quick funds, there’s always cash advance payday loan to help you get by. It doesn’t have to be just for emergency, the funds can be used on just about anything; purchase of high ticket items, a much-deserved vacation, pay off a huge chunk of credit card debt or even start a home-based business.

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I heard from the radio about this guy who was lucky enough to find a very expensive timepiece in Central Park. It wasn’t anything like Chopard or Patek Philippe but still pricey enough that you can afford one or two months rent in Manhattan. I didn’t catch whether he left it at the park’s Lost and Found or kept it for himself. All I know is that if it was me, I wouldn’t be so careless in wearing a pricey item. I’d probably go crazy if I lose something as expensive as that (if I can even afford to buy one) so I might as well not indulge on luxury items unless I’m rich enough that $20,000+ is no big deal to me.

Ever since we bought a life insurance for me and my husband, I just feel so secure and confident that our daughter will be fine if something happens to us. That was five years ago and now that we’ve finished paying both our policies, we are thinking of getting another one now that a new baby is on the way. After a couple of computations, we decided we can afford it without having to give up one of our little pleasures such as semi-annual trips and occasional splurge on gadgets and electronics. And even if we do have to give up some (not all) of them, it’s totally fine because being prepared for the future is much important.

Finally, I’m done comparing one life insurance rate to another from all the previous quotes that we received last week. I wasn’t planning on getting a new plan but decided my benefit is not enough anymore considering the new addition in the family. Aside from that, we need to start planning for an educational plan for the baby just like the one with my firstborn. And here I was feeling so unburdened when we paid the last of our insurances last month only to start anew. It’s okay though because before we know it, we’re done paying. Plus it’s better to do them now while the kids are young. Soon they’ll go to big schools and our expenses will be twice or three times higher, no doubt about that.

I’ve been checking out the US Gold Bureaue website for months now because I’m really interested to buy gold coins. With the continuous drop of US dollars, we need to consider diversifying our investments. I checked the rates of both gold coins and bullions and although I don’t think we can afford the rare coins just yet, I’m happy to note that we can buy a mixture of Gold American Eagles, Silver coins and even platinum. According to their fAQ, it’s important to buy a mixture of precious metals to protect yourself from risks.

I believe gold is the safest way to protect your family’s wealth. Unlike paper and stocks, it is indestructible whether it’s melted, cooled or smashed. Plus if you look at the records, gold has proved to be a very successful method of preserving value when national currency fails.

Strapped for cash? Why don’t you try and get a cash advance? Cash advance or cash payday loans have been around for years and it has never failed to help those who seek solution on their short term cash problems. Your unexpected expenses could be as serious as as car repairs, replacing broken appliances that you can’t live without or hospital trips that are not covered by health insurance. Or it can be as simple as purchasing an item you’ve been saving up for so long, a trip to the beach. Either way, you can get cash advance from $100 to $2500 as long as you meet the very easy qualifications: a steady recurring income, a bank account, gross income of at least $1,000 per month. The reason for easy requirements is because cash advance is not a solution for long term financial problems. For mortgage or overdraft loan scenarios, a debt consolidation is still the best approach.

Everyone wants to be their own boss. But finding the most successful home based business isn’t that easy. For one, you need to be very good at what you do in order to succeed. You can’t just pick from a list of “great business ideas” because not every idea works the same. Why start with a web design company when you have zero clue to the process? You can try but the odds that you will be successful is higher if you understand the most technical aspect of your business.

Lastly, and this should be a given, you must be happy with what you do. When you’re happy, you work better, you reach above and beyond of what you can do and you are more inspired. Quality work or product always attracts clients so you can be sure that money will follow.

So why should one buy gold bullion? The reasons are plenty but the number one factor is that it can protect your money from inflation. For centuries, gold has been a quite indestructible piece of investment, therefore making it the best candidate for storing your money. But just like any other investments, diversifying is very important. You might want to try buying a mixture of gold, silver and platinum to reduce your risk. Still, precious metals can gain you higher returns than the normal bonds and stocks. If you’re interested, go and check out the US Gold Bureau website. They don’t only sell gold and silver but also offers plenty of useful articles that can help you decide which type of precious metal is right for you.

One of the things I’d like to have when I retire is a Florida vacation home. And I don’t want to rent it, I want to have my own property by the beach. It could have two rooms for all I care as long as it’s near enough the ocean that I can hear the sound of the waves crashing before I sleep and when I wake up each morning. And now that I’ve thought about it, it doesn’t have to be in Florida. To make this dream realistic, I’d probably settle anywhere safe (low crime rate), with white sandy beaches and affordable properties.

If there’s one thing I love to do aside from designing, it’s budgeting our expenses. You’ll always see me holding my calculator, listing all incoming and outgoing earnings. You could say it’s my stress reliever too because I can sleep better knowing where our money is going. This is the reason why my friends ask my help all the time when it comes to budgeting. One of the tips that I always tell them is to get a home budgeting software. This kind of software can help you learn where all your money is going, how to budget in three or six months, compute savings and interest rates from your bank, schedule recurring transactions and many more. I don’t use a software because I love doing all these manually but for those who have no time yet simply want to get out of debt or expand their finances, a home budget software will be perfect for you.

If only we could diet from shopping. We spent too much on Christmas gifts lately that I had to get some from our Disneyland budget. This is definitely going overboard and I really need to stop. It’s not like there’s a Fastin version for shopaholic people like myself. But looking at the bright side, most of the stuff we bought we’re not only on sale but exactly what our friends and relatives would love. So in the end, we still managed to save money. Christmas comes only once a year after all.

Some tips when shopping:
1. Check out the October and November sales. Most toy stores hold a 50-70% off / warehouse sales on these months.

2. No matter what it is you’re buying online whether you’re just registering for a domain, make sure to check out websites offering free coupon codes. I got a $4 off just now when I renewed me domain name with GoDaddy.

3. Use cash if you can so you’ll know when you’re spending too much. Credit cards can give us a sense of having too much money when in reality, our debts are just piling up.

4. Just because it’s on sale doesn’t mean it’s a good buy. All the items I purchased as gifts are things that I wouldn’t be able to afford unless they are on sale. I don’t buy things that I don’t need and don’t even remotely like just because it’s cheap.

5. This one never fails. Make a list and stick to it. My husband tends to shop for people who’s not on the list so I always write the list with him to make sure that we haven’t forgotten anyone.

I always say that December is our most expensive month of the year. Aside from buying gifts and holiday trips, there’s the annual credit card renewals and yearly payment of all our insurances. We are already paying up to 5 insurance packages as of this year and might add another one now that baby #2 is on its way. I’m checking out the free insurance quotes online just to have an idea of how expensive it is to get a new policy now compared to five years ago. Luckily, we’re just about done paying my first child’s educational plan so we can now afford to get a new one for our next baby.

Finding cheap health insurance is easy with the help of Internet. Just type it in Google and you’ll get plenty of options to choose from. This is why I don’t understand why some people still prefer not to have one when they can obviously afford the annual premiums. I’ve seen how much savings you can get in the long run if you have health insurance. Medical emergencies are unexpected and can totally leave a huge dent on your wallet. And even if you think you can afford to pay for your professional fees and room and board, chances are you’d still have to touch some of the money you’ve saved. Hospitals bills are brutal and you’d be glad to have insurance when the time comes that you’ll need all the financial help you can get.

Precious metals like gold have been around thousands of years ago. However, plenty of people are still unaware how powerful this kind of investment can be. For one, it can protect you against the declining U.S. dollars. Gold is being traded all throughout the world and not dependent on the rise and fall of dollars.

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Things a web designer should invest on when working from home.

1. A powerful enough machine that can handle multiple graphic software and web development tools.

2. You can never have enough file back ups. Aside from your extra hard disks, go get an online backup service as well.

3. Although you can get cheaper or even free photo editing tools, nothing beats Adobe Master Suite collection – Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Illustrator.

4. An antispyware software to protect not just your files but your clients as well when uploading to their servers.

5. Hosting and domain name for your portfolio. You can also use the hosting space for uploading your artwork and assets.

6. Generator or UPS for unexpected power shortages.

7. Fast and reliable internet connection.