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Tips On How To Budget For Home Renovations

By Thomas on November 18, 2021

Renovating your home is always a bigger job than you think it will be. Budgeting is super important for a successful renovation, because there is almost always something extra you’ll find along the way.

If you want to get the ball rolling on your home renovations, you should start with a thorough budget. Check out a few tips on how to formulate that budget, and go into your home renovation with confidence.

Decide on what you need renovated

Take the time to think over which needs aren’t being completely met by your current living situation. You may need more space. You may need a new bathroom. Whatever it is, deciding on exactly what you need to get done is the first step to formulating a budget for the work.

Pricing can shift rapidly, depending on what sort of work you need to get done, so think hard about how you use the space in your home before you go knocking down any walls.

Weigh the cost versus the value

When you spend money on upgrading your home, it’s important to know what kind of equity you’re gaining with the work. If you want to sell your home down the road, the equity you gain will help boost the selling price.

A minor bathroom remodel can draw more than a hundred percent ROI (return on investment) if you don’t go overboard with materials. Finishing the attic or basement are also two high return investments for your next renovation project.

Figure out how to finance the project

The most challenging part about renovating your home may be figuring out how to finance the whole thing. Unless you have a lot of money in savings, you will need to finance the work done to renovate your home.

Try looking into what a HELOC or a home equity loan can do to help you get the job done. Credit cards may also be a viable option for funding.

Get bids from several different contractors

Finding the right team to do the renovations on your home is another notable step to managing your renovation budget. You have to know what it’s going to cost you to have professionals do the work you aren’t capable of doing.

It’s great to have a strong DIY effort, but some things are better left to the pros. Scout out contractors, and be thorough. Interview at least three different options before making your final choice on hiring.

Mix materials to save money

You can save money on your renovation budget if you think rationally about the materials you use. For instance, you could spend a little more to put hardwood floors in the living room and kitchen, but add tile or vinyl to the rest of the house to save some dough.

Tips for Families When Choosing a Credit Card

By Thomas on November 17, 2021

A credit card can be a great way to save money as a family. While you might assume that a family should stay away from credit cards, as they can definitely lead to debt if you’re not careful, there are also many ways to use a credit card effectively for better savings. You just need to know how to make the best of them. When you’re thinking about signing up for a credit card, here are four things that you need to do to make sure you’re choosing the right one.

1. Consider the Yearly Fee

One of the first things you’ll likely think about when you’re choosing a credit card is the yearly fee. Remember, while no-fee credit cards are definitely a good option, they may not be the best for your family. Some families may benefit from a credit card with a moderate yearly fee, as the benefits you receive from these cards may actually give you more bang for your buck.

2. Make Sure You Can Get the Sign-On Bonus

If a card you’re interested in has a sign-on bonus, you need to be sure that you can qualify for that bonus. The BoA Premium Rewards card, for example, has a pretty significant bonus, with 50,000 bonus points, equivalent to a $500 value, that you can redeem for a number of rewards. To qualify, you need to make at least $3,000 in purchases within the first three months. Make sure you can hit that number to get the most out of your card.

3. Utilize All Statement Credits When Available

Statement credits can effectively nullify your annual fee. Some credit cards offer statement credits to help you cover certain purchases, and those credits can be as much as your card’s yearly fee. If your credit card has any statement credits available, make sure you use all of them. It’s the best way to make sure you’re getting the most out of your yearly fee.

4. Maximize Your Rewards Earnings

It’s important that you do whatever is necessary to maximize the number of rewards points you’re earning with your card. Check to see what categories provide the most rewards for the specific credit card you’re interested in signing up for. If you strategically use different credit cards for different purchases, you may be able to get more rewards points than if you were to just use the same credit card on all your purchases.

Conclusion

Families often end up needing a variety of credit card benefits, which is why a credit card can be such a useful tool for a family. However, if you’re interested in getting a credit card, you need to make sure that you’re getting the right card for your family’s specific needs. These four things are all important things to make sure you’ve thought about before you sign up for a credit card. With the information from these things, you’ll be able to get more with every credit card purchase.

Factors that Influences Customer Experience in Modern Times

By Thomas on November 1, 2021

What’s the one thing that’s always evolving when it comes to businesses? The demands of customers.

You may think that your business has everything to make your customers happy, and then what you have is just not enough. That’s because times change, and customers’ expectations change with it. You have to keep evolving your business strategies in order to stay ahead. Today, the success of a business is defined by the customer experience it offers.

Customer experience has become the top priority these days. Your clients may compromise on how technologically advanced your business is or what is your brand value, but they won’t compromise on the standards of customer experience.

So, if you want to earn and retain a loyal customer base, then you must focus on developing a top-notch customer experience strategy. And to do that, you should know what factors influence the customer experience.

Factors Affecting Customer Experience

There are many factors that can affect a customer’s journey. Here are the top 3 key aspects that can have a huge impact on customer experience. Read on to know all about them.

Demographics

Demographics refers to the structure of your target audience. You should know the age group, gender, and other traits of your audience before developing your CX strategy. Once you understand your target audience, you will have an opportunity to better design the way you interact with them.

According to a recent survey by #CXInsights, your customer’s demographics decide how they interact with you. The survey revealed that younger people (age bracket: 18 to 24) are a lot more technologically advanced as compared to older people. So, providing a good experience to younger customers can be easier than that of seniors. Therefore, you have to use different CX strategies for people with different demographics.

Industry

Customer experience is equally important in all industries. However, some industries need a bigger improvement when it comes to communicating with customers.

The survey by CXInsights revealed that for some sectors, the time and resources required to complete customer communication might be greater than others. According to the survey participants, who were customers or customer service providers, the financial services industry takes the longest interaction time with customers.

The more time you take in communicating with your customers, the lesser the quality of customer experience becomes.

Language

It’s not what you say, it is how you say it. We have always heard this statement, and it applies accurately to the way you interact with your customers. We live in an ever-changing world where the tactics of communication are always changing.

If you want your business to succeed in these times, you should keep updating the lingo in which you talk with your customers. For example, using gender-inclusive language can significantly influence the way your customers perceive your brand. As per #CXInsights, 70% of 18 to 24 year olds said they are aware of gender-specific pronouns and know when a brand uses them.

Wrapping Up

There are many more factors to shape your efforts in offering better CX. These factors decide how your customers perceive your business. The more effort you invest in discovering and implementing such factors, the easier it will be to produce extraordinary experiences for the most important asset of your business, your customers.

TAX SAVING INVESTMENTS UNDER 80C

By Thomas on October 27, 2021

Come year end, and taxpayers get all worked up to invest in the right tax-saving investment for their portfolio. Why, you may wonder. Well, all tax-saving investments offer a tax deduction of up to Rs 1.5 lac per annum under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961. An investor can save up to Rs 46,800 each year by investing in tax-saving investments under Section 80C, provided that they belong to the highest tax slab. However, this habit of procrastinating things often comes at a cost. The cost is that in a hurry to choose a tax-saving investment for that particular year, investors often make an ill-informed decision and end up investing in investment options that might not be suitable for their investment portfolio. In this article, we will understand different tax saving investments that you can consider adding to your investment portfolio.

Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS)

As mandated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, ELSS funds are a type of equity funds that invest at least 80% of their assets in equity-linked investments. Note that investments in ELSS mutual funds are associated with a mandatory lock0in period of 3 years. This also happens to be one of the lowest lock-in tenures when compared to other tax-saving investments. As ELSS mutual funds invest majorly in equities, these mutual funds have a huge potential to generate significant returns over long run. Thus, ELSS tax saver mutual funds offer investors with dual benefits of capital appreciation and tax saving benefits.

Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP)

As the name suggests, ULIPs offer the combined benefits of a life insurance policy and an investment option in a single fund. Basically, when you invest in ULIPs, a smart part is invested towards securing your life and remaining is allotted towards different types of investment basis your financial goals, risk profile, and investment horizon. Investors investing in ULIPs have the flexibility to switch between different types of funds around three to four times in a particular year.

Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS)

SCSS is a type of savings scheme which is backed by the government of India. Any Indian citizen can invest in SCSS provided that the investor is at least 60 years of age. The interest rates earned on these savings scheme is declared by the Indian government before the investor purchases these schemes. As compared to other savings schemes in India, SCSS offer comparatively higher interest rates to investors. The maturity tenure of senior citizen savings scheme is 5 years. However, you can choose to extend it further by three years.

These were some of the tax-saving investments that you can choose to add to your investment portfolio. Even though tax-saving investments are a great way to reduce one’s taxable income, one should not invest in these investment options with the sole purpose of saving tax. The tax-saving investments that you choose to invest in must align with your financial goals, risk profile, and investment horizon. Happy investing!

Going Into Business For Yourself: Tips And Tricks

By Thomas on October 4, 2021

Sometimes working for someone else just doesn’t work with your personality. Some people are made to be the leaders of their own destiny. Becoming an entrepreneur is a journey, and for some people, it’s the spark that lights a fire.

If you’re someone that wants to make your own way in life, you may be seeking a way into a gig of your own. Take some time to start researching the way now, and check out a few tips and tricks to remember when going into business for yourself.

You need the right attitude

Succeeding on your own means that you will have to pull up your boot straps, and really dig into the nitty gritty. A successful entrepreneur works long hours.

You’ll have to dedicate a lot of your time to your goals to truly achieve independence. It’s crucial that you have the “go get ‘em” mindset from the very beginning.

Get a visual on your goals

You need an idea of where you want to go to start taking steps forward. If you want to run your own business, develop a solid business plan. If you plan to be a real estate agent, start researching the path you’ll need to take now.

You could start getting your creative thinking amped up by building a vision board. Put your mind to work envisioning what you want out of the next year of your life. Don’t go more than 5 years on the board, so you don’t lose focus.

Wake up and step out

You have to have the go-getter spirit to get things moving as an entrepreneur, and part of living in that mentality is taking literal steps towards your goals. Take chances, and get yourself out in the world of whatever kind of business or specialty you wish to operate within.

Spend time networking. Talk to people who know more about the industry than you do, and take notes. Being thorough in the knowledge you absorb will serve you well along the way to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Wrangle your personal finances

Every entrepreneur has to have a little bit of money to invest in their passion, and it’s a good idea to start reframing your financial situation sooner than later. If you have several thousand in your savings account and an excellent credit score, then you’re already on the right track.

If that’s not the case, then you have some work to do. You’ll need a decent credit rating to get the funding you might need in the future. Start working on reshaping your financial situation, so money isn’t a hurdle to clear when you’re ready to start a business.

Never stop the learning process

Always work towards learning something new about your area of interest. Even when you’ve got a thriving business that’s been running successfully for years, you could still stand to learn a thing or two.

Professional steps to ride the major trend in the stock market

By Thomas on September 22, 2021

Trend trading strategy has always been the best way to avoid losing orders in the stock market. Every professional trader is taking their trades in the stock market in favor of the existing trend. On the other hand, new participants in the stock market are taking their trades in an aggressive manner and trying to earn a big amount of profit without respecting the market trend. Thus, they keep on losing money most of the time.

To become good at the stock trading business, you need to consider the overall direction of the trend. In this content, we will share some professional techniques by which you can ride a major trend without having any major obstacles. So, read this article very carefully.

Evaluating the daily time frame

You need to start evaluating the higher time frame to find the overall direction of the trend. If you keep on relying on the lower time frame, chances are high you will never learn to find the good trade signals in the market. The professional traders usually determine the trend in the daily time frame as it gives a much more accurate reading.

Since the daily time frame is a bit boring some traders often rely on the hourly time frame. But if you chose to trade in the hourly time frame, you should be extremely cautious about your trade execution process. In fact, the risk factor should be less than 1% of your account balance.

Learning the candlestick patterns

Japanese candlestick is very popular in the investment business. Most of the experienced traders rely on Japanese candlestick patterns to find the best trade setups in the market. Navigate to this website and learn about the importance of Japanese candlestick patterns in trend trading methods. Once you know about the basics of the price action trading strategy, you can use this technique to trade the major trend.

Instead of setting up pending orders at the trend line support or resistance level, you should be looking for reliable price action confirmation signals. As you learn to use this technique, you will become much more confident with your actions, and thus making regular profit is not going to be a tough task.

Focus on the prime indicators

You might be thinking about what the prime indicators in the stock market are. Since you are discussing the trend trading method, the prime indicators are going to be the moving average. With the help of the moving average, you can easily determine whether you have assessed the trend line in an effective way or not. For instance, you may use the 200 period SMA to determine the overall direction of the trend in the daily time frame.

If the price trades above the 200 SMA, you should be looking for the long trade setup only. On the contrary, if the price trades below it, look for the short trade setup. You may also use the oscillators to find the strength of the trend and it will definitely help you to ride the key trend.

Use the trailing stop loss

The use of trailing stop loss is a must when it comes to riding the trend in the stock market. By using the simple trailing stop loss you should be able to ride the major trend with a high level of accuracy. Some novice traders often think that using the trailing stop loss is not a good idea to ride the major trend. But this is not all true. If you do some digging on the internet, you will realize that using the trailing stop loss features is by far the most effective way to ride the trend.

While using it, make sure you rely on the minor support and resistance level. If you place the stops in a random way, you will keep on losing money most of the time and thus you will never learn the proper way to execute the trades in favor of the key trend.