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Tips That Will Help You Save For Your Travels

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Travel is an addiction. Once you are hooked to it, you cannot stop. But traveling costs money and you need to have that kind of finances. Except for the lucky situation that you have millions of dollars bequeathed to you by an unknown benefactor, you have to provide for your travels.

Travel is indeed an expensive option no matter where you are and where you are travelling to. The various components of travel expenses that you would need to budget for are as under:

Flights 

Flights to and from form a major chunk of the travel expense. Whether you want to book Mumbai to London flight tickets or tickets from London to Zurich, the expense is definitely going to burn a hole in your pocket.

Hotels 

Another substantial contributor to the travel expenses is what you need to shell out on accommodation. Of course you can save on this if you are ready to compromise on luxury and quality. But for luxury travelers for whom nothing but star hotels will do, this is definitely going to eat away a significant portion of the travel budget.

Sightseeing & Activities

When you reach your destination, you are of course going to take in the sights and experiences of the place. You have to pay for entry tickets, logistics and incidental expenses which can be substantial depending on where you are. For example the entry tickets to some amusement parks and safaris cost close to a fortune. 

Food

Just because you are travelling does not mean you have to forego those meals. You need to have your three or four meals of the day. In fact travelling makes you more hungry and the temptation to try exotic food and drink will fuel more expenditure.

Visa & Documentation

Depending on your home country and where you are traveling to, the visa formalities and other documentation could eat into a significant chunk of your travel budget. Travel Insurance is also a cost that needs to provisioned for.

So now we know what all expenses need to be provisioned for when planning to travel, in addition one always has to provide for a contingency fund for emergencies. Let us see what steps will help in saving money for your travels. 

How To Save For Your Travels

Plan for Your Travel in Advance

You cannot just pack your bags and leave. You need to have planned and have sufficient funds in your coffers to embark on your travels. The best way is to save consistently and regularly. Allocate a percentage of your income to a travel fund and do not touch it for any other purpose. It would be good to invest that amount if it is substantial in safe investments so that the fund is not idle and also keeps growing.

Review The Plan Periodically 

So now you have a travel fund which hopefully is growing. But finances and life itself is dynamic and subject to change. So review your income and expenditure periodically to see if you can divert more funds to the travel fund or need to cut back on it.

Increase Your Income 

Though this is easier said than done, see if there are any avenues to increase your monthly income. Can you put in an hour of extra work and get paid for it? Can you take on another part time job or freelance for some additional income? Of course the extra income generated goes straight to the travel fund. 

Cut Down On Your Costs

Always adopt a two pronged strategy for savings. On the one hand focus on trying to increase the income and on the other try tightening up the spending. Review all your expenditure and classify them as essential, can manage without, totally frivolous and unnecessary. Weed out the ones that fall under totally frivolous and unnecessary and try to minimize expenses that fall under the category, can manage without. This exercise is sure to result in some savings which again can be allotted to the travel fund.

Optimize on The Travel Costs Itself

So finally the day for which you had been saving has arrived and you are all set to plan for your travels.So there is no point in emptying the coffers of the money you have saved. After all travel is an ongoing process and the more money left in your coffers, the earlier you can plan for your next travel. So plan your current travel wisely. Look at various flight options and choose the most economical route and time. If you are flexible travel during the off season as flight costs come down drastically. Also traveling off season means hotels have reduced tariffs as compared to the peak tourist seasons. Of course an added bonus is there will be lesser crowds everywhere and you will enjoy your travel experience more.

Top 4 Personal Finance Tips

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Ensuring that your household finances run smoothly isn’t always easy, but utilising a few simple tips can help make everything run like clockwork.

Keeping expenditure lower than your income is the key to success, although even this most simple statement can be difficult to put into practice in the real world.

Read on for our top four personal finance tips to help you keep your finances on track.

Only spend what you can afford

Many people live beyond their means and end up in debt, so start by creating a budget of your income and expenditure to identify if you can cut any costs.

Look for savings on utility bills, examine household shopping expenditure and if your money stretches to online entertainment always make sure you take advantage offers like Mohegan Sun Casino bonuses for the chance to boost your bottom line.

Avoid using credit wherever possible. Taking out a mortgage is usually unavoidable, but incurring any other type of debt is rarely advisable.

Try and buy items up front – if you can’t afford to do so, question whether you really need to make that purchase.

Automate your finances

Setting up an automated system for paying your bills and saving for emergencies will ease the ongoing worry of managing your finances.

Link all your various accounts together and establish automatic payment methods as close as possible to payday for your priority expenditure.

Respected financial expert Ramit Sethi advises breaking down your personal finances to cover four key areas – 60% fixed costs, 25% guilt-free spending, 10% towards investments and 5% for savings.

Automating your finances based on these guidelines saves time and is easy to implement via online banking and money management applications.

Find a secondary source of income

Your full-time job provides the core of your annual income, but make sure you try to increase it where you can.

Take advantage of bonus schemes and overtime, but don’t miss out on opportunities away from work either.

Look for additional freelance assignments, build a property portfolio or create an online shop to boost your income and give your household finances some breathing space.

Save for your retirement

Starting paying into a pension as soon as you can, as the benefit from the reinvestment of your contributions will be far greater.

Someone starting a pension in their 20s will need to put aside far less of their salary than people who leave it until later in their working life.

Joining a workplace pension scheme is extremely advisable, with your pension fund boosted by payments from both your employer and the government.

How To Improve Your Credit

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It’s essential to have a decent credit score when you are making a big purchase like a vehicle or a house. It can also make it easier to purchase things like electronics, a mattress, or a couch. A good credit score can also help with educational loans or renting an apartment or house. The higher your credit is, the lower your interest rates on anything you borrow will be.

Life can be difficult when you have a poor credit score. All of your loans or credit cards will have very high interest rates. This is assuming you qualify for any credit cards or loans at all. You may be wondering what to do to improve your credit score if you wind up having a poor score. Here are four tips that will help you fix your credit.

Understand What Your Score Is and What It Should Be

Getting a copy of your credit report is the first step you want to take when you’re fixing your credit. With a service like Credit Sesame, you will be able to see a copy of your credit report. This will show you any negative items, any open accounts, and any hard inquiries. A hard inquiry happens whenever a potential creditor does a credit check to see if you qualify for an account.

Use Any Credit You Already Have with Responsibility

If you do have a credit card or loan that is still active, make sure you start using it responsibly. Don’t max out credit cards, and try not to utilize all of the credit that’s available to you. Make sure you are making payments before or by the due date as late payments can hurt your score. You may even want to just use a card for something like gas or groceries and pay it off every month.

Pay Off Any Outstanding Debt You Have

It’s important that you pay debts that you owe. You may still have negative items on your credit report if you had a lot of late payments, but it’s always good to pay debtors what you owe them. You may need to do a credit consolidation or you may need to negotiate with creditors to see if they will accept lower payments.

Be Dedicated to the Cause

You’ll need to be persistent when trying to repair your credit because it’s going to take some time. No one can shoot their credit score up from a 550 to a 750 overnight. You might find yourself getting frustrated as you work to improve your credit, but it’s important that you don’t give up. Be persistent and keep going forward.

These are a few suggestions you can try when you’re in the process of saving money to fix your credit. There are also a lot of helpful resources available online that will educate you and teach you how to make better financial decisions. Most people have made financial mistakes at some point in their lives. It’s important that you don’t beat yourself up about it and you just commit to making it better.

Refinancing Your Auto Loan: Is It Good Or Bad?

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Refinancing your auto loan can be beneficial or detrimental to your current financial status. Sometimes it tends to seem as if it’s the best option for your situation. However, before you refinance your auto loan, consider its advantages and disadvantages.

How Does It Work

Perhaps the best way to learn about refinancing your auto loan is to understand how it works. When you refinance your auto loan, you’re technically replacing the current auto loan that you’re having with a completely new one on different terms. In hindsight, this means you’re essentially going to pay off the current auto loan that you have with a completely new one, usually happening through a completely different lender.

This is a very different process for every owner, so be sure to pay extra attention to how your contracts work by the time you even consider taking a refinanced loan. You can find some options here: https://crediful.com/best-auto-loans/.

  • Most people tend to appreciate the appeal of refinancing car payments because of its ability to help them save money.
  • After all, some refinanced car loans are also capable of lowering monthly payments for users.
  • Other refinanced car loans also help users have lower interest rates and even adjust the lengths of their terms.
  • Sometimes, there are other more personal reasons to refinance their cars. These usually range from removing cosigners, and other different factors. No matter the reasons are, it’s essentially important to look at refinanced car loans from the perspective of its potential outcomes.

When To Refinance An Auto Loan

Refinancing your car loan can actually get you a lot of different scenarios. The point of course is clear, in that its primary goal is to alleviate some of the hardships you have with your current loan by hopefully replacing it with a plan that can be of more use to you. Of course, whether or not refinancing your car loan is a good idea depends on how you take these following effects.

If You Need Lower Monthly Payments

A lot of people actually want to refinance their car loans because they need lower monthly payments. Perhaps you’re having a rough time financially and you need more time to recuperate. A refinanced loan can get you in a state where, theoretically, it would be much more convenient for you to pay. This can be done in two ways.

  • The first is to get a lower interest rate than your previous. This normally means extending the length of time you’re going to have to pay for your automobile.
  • Another option is to extend the term of your loan, but chances are this may actually have you paying more in total compared to your total without extension.
  • Some actually have a third option, where they do both. Some lenders are actually considerate enough to allow you to extent both the loan term and the lowered interest.

Reducing Interest Charges or Decreasing Interest Rates

As stated above, you’re actually capable of requesting for lower interest charges and decreasing interest rates throughout the rest of your loan period. This can actually be done with a simple adjustment.

  • The best way to do this is to increase your credit worthiness to your lenders. If you do this prior to your refinancing, then you may potentially be able to get lower interest rates.

If You Need To Change Loan Length

Another way described above is to change the length of your loan. Always remember that you should try to do this is if you want to potentially decrease your monthly payments.

  • Don’t opt for loan length changes as your car depreciates in value every day.

If You Need To Add/Remove A Cosigner

You may actually also be able to remove or add cosigners to your loan. Removal or adding them may have personal reasons, but you’re actually capable of doing these kinds of adjustments when refinancing.

  • If you need a cosigner removed from your loan contract, you can actually opt for refinancing to get this change started.
  • Of course, this also means that the usefulness of your refinanced car loan inevitably depends on your situation. It’s always best to consult with an expert or with a consultant when you have specific questions about how refinanced car loans can affect your finances and credit reports on a more specific level.

Regardless, if you have any plans of refinancing your car loans, always maintain a spirit of caution and always double check if this plan is really for you.

Conclusion

Refinancing your auto loan can be a good option or a bad option depending on your financial status. In order to achieve this life goal of paying off your loan, there are a lot of factors to consider before even getting one. Always remember, however, that refinancing your auto loan must always be according to your current financial plan. Assess your current financial status before refinancing your auto loan.

What about you? Do you think refinancing your auto loan plan is a good idea?

How To Save Money While Travelling

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Travelling is one of the pleasures of life. The opportunity to see new places and to learn new things is an enriching experience.

The cost of traveling is often one of the limiting factors. So being able to save money traveling is something that we are able to do with some planning.

Find The Cheapest Flights
There is now a whole range of online services that are able to provide you details of cheap flights. Booking your flights well in advance and being flexible with your dates will also provide you with greater opportunity to find the cheapest options. You may also find that once you are in a country that there might be alternative travel options you can consider.

Use Local Travel Services
In many places overseas, there are local travel services. These may not always be easily found online and you will have a much wider range of choice from a knowledgeable and skilled local agent. There may be some variations in the quality of those services and you may need to be prepared to deal with some language barriers but you could make some substantial savings.

Discounted Hotel Rooms
There is a range of sites online that are able to offer you discounted hotel rooms. You may choose from other types of accommodation as well. There are even  sites that provide you with the opportunity to stay in somebody else’s home for a while. By looking around, you may be able to find yourself a very good rate for the level of accommodation you want, which will leave you money available for other enjoyable activities.

Avoid Local Scams
When you are travelling offshore, there are often local scams that are there to trap the unwary traveller. Some of these will relate to unofficial cash exchange transactions and others will relate to schemes to trap unwary users of equipment to pay the costs of repairs of damage that they did not do. There are also bag snatching and pack slashers who will try to steal your things. Being security conscious and aware will reduce the chance of you losing money during a trip.

Try The Local Food
Often when you go overseas you will find that the local food will be cheaper to purchase then western style food. If you live in a resort then the restaurants will provide quality food, usually at a higher price. But if you are interested in finding out more about the local culture then you could try some of the local restaurants as well. You will find that online reviews are available for many restaurants but if there are plenty of people going there then chances are you will not be getting any stomach problems from their food, or they would be going out of business.

Speak To The Locals
There will be spruikers who will appear friendly coming up uninvited to engage you on the street. But really they will just try to con you into their special arrangements where they profit from your lack of knowledge. If you are able to avoid those and speak to locals who are interested in giving you some genuine advice then you may find out more about the best way to see things. Often the organized tours are very limited in what you can see and do. Using local knowledge may give you the chance to see things at a better pace and you may find a lower price with a more flexible arrangement.

There are many ways to save money when you travel and you will have an enjoyable time doing this as well. Be prepared to do some background research before you go so that you have an understanding of the environment you will be going to. Then you will be able to relax and enjoy your holiday with a sense of adventure but also the confidence you are not wasting your time or money.

5 Money Saving Tips that Actually Work

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If, like many people we know, you are currently bemoaning another year of unplanned expenses and unintended spending, these tips can show you how to save money in the coming year! They are easy to implement, do not require you to talk to a friend of a friend who is an expert on finances and will actually show you a difference when you tabulate your spends and savings same time next year!

 

Pay Attention

Your mail and message inboxes are probably crowded with offers for discounts, cash back or gifts. Don’t just shrug them off. Spare the 5 minutes it takes to actually read through them. There could be a bank offering you a sign-up bonus to transfer your account or waiving service charges. There could be a huge discount on movie tickets. Special loyalty benefits from a retailer. Pay attention – you will end up saving much more than you think!

Take a Walk

A walk can save you a considerable amount of money. First, plan it for an hour that you are usually plonked in front of the TV. Money saved on cable and electricity! Unless you have a really tough fitness regimen or a gargantuan weight loss goal, you can safely cancel that gym membership. An hour of brisk walking or running can help you achieve your health and fitness goals and your body also benefits from the fresh air and sun. Savings: considerable. Benefits: enormous.

Shop Big And Shop Smart

This is something your mother always did and now you know why. Buying in bulk not only saves you time and fuel spent on several trips to the supermarket, it also makes a big difference to your monthly grocery bills. While you are at it, also look at customer loyalty programs and make use of them. Plan early for gifts so you can cash in on sales – you beat the rush and save a considerable amount of money. Also, non-emergency spends like towels and sheets can wait till you spot a great sale.

Monetize Your Hobby

Have a sizeable following on Instagram? You can think of putting your best loved pictures for sale. Friends love your cupcakes? Offer to cater for their gatherings and establish a small online presence that you can manage in your spare time. If you have a popular blog where you post regularly, you can have an ad presence on it. No reason you shouldn’t make a little extra on the side as you indulge your creative side.

Let The Small Things Add Up

Don’t buy colourful craft paper for the children to play with on a holiday. Give them a stack of newspaper instead. Trust us; it won’t affect the quality of their playtime! Clear out the refrigerator. Plan wash loads so the washing machine is functioning at full capacity per load. No wastage of water or electricity. Simple things like having a snack before you set out grocery shopping and having regular sips of water will ensure you don’t have the urge to indulge in unnecessary treats or bottles of juice or soda.

You don’t have to be a financial expert to make these small changes to your lifestyle. Take it one mindful step at a time and you will see that you have managed to make quite a difference to your bank account. Happy savings to you!

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