anyThing: April 2015

Thursday, April 30, 2015

23 Rules of Personal Finance

Analysts: 76% Risk Of Crash For The US Dollar This Year

Low on cash? Always behind on your bills? Interested in starting to save up for a big purchase or investment? Here are 30 tips for your personal financial life:

1. Spend less than you have

In a world of easily-available credit, this is perhaps the most important and overlooked rule. Spending less than what you have allows for all the other maneuvering of financial success because you can start saving money on the side. The sum that you save, over time, will become the money that you either invest or play with in order to make even more money.

2. Emergency management

Your first concern should be a stash of readily-available emergency cash for that moment in life when an unexpected event leaves you in need of a large sum of money. Such unfortunate events could be anything from identity theft to medical emergencies or a hostage situation. Start building up a savings account by scheduling automatic transfers form your checking account – that way you don’t even have to think about it.

3. Cancel cards

If you have more than one or two credit cards, you’re clearly spending more than you should be and more than you have. Start canceling the extra cards and paying off the debt with saved money. Also, with multiple accounts in different places, you’re very likely to miss errors that companies make or potential account breaches.

4. Eliminate debt

Being in debt can often mean that no matter how much you earn, you’re actually making no profit because your debt is costing you a high interest rate. After starting your savings fund, your next focus should be on eliminating costly debt. Make double payments each month – not minimum payments – to start reducing the debt itself. Start with whichever loan has the highest interest rate.

5. Retirement fund

We often ignore the eventuality of old age and the fact that we’ll need a lot of money for care at that point. Open up a retirement fund, sooner rather than later – either a 401K through your place of employment, or a Roth IRA account – and start saving. Contributing a small fraction of your salary each week will make a small dent in your budget and pay off in the end.

6. Balance a checkbook and build a budget

The process of balancing a checkbook or bank statement is becoming a lost art in the digital age. Similarly, building a budget can teach you valuable lessons about financial responsibility. It will be helpful to know how much you actually spend each month and on what, versus what you make on an hourly or weekly basis. This can put many purchases and expenditures into perspective.

7. Slim down

Look over all of the monthly bills that you usually ignore. Do this every month, checking for mistakes and cutting them down where possible. This could involve canceling cable altogether and starting to watch TV online or simply turning off more lights at home to reduce your electric bill.

8. Figure out your hourly wage.

If you don’t know this outright, figure out how much you make per hour and use this figure as a reference point when making purchases from now on.

9. Set goals

What do you want your future life to look like? What do you want it to consist of? A house? Vacations? Start planning for your goals in terms of time and money and they will become more realistic and attainable.

10. Rent your house

You should not own a house unless the total monthly cost of keeping and funding it (utilities, etc.) is less than what you would be paying for rent. While the idea of home ownership is attractive, it should be approached only after you’ve saved enough money. The money that you save while renting can eventually go to a down payment on a home.

11. Obey traffic laws

It’s shocking how much money people throw away on parking and traffic tickets. Start obeying traffic laws and eliminate this expense from your life. Driving slower also saves gas, one of the biggest expenses in a person’s daily life.

12. Rate reduction

Whatever loans you have outstanding could have their interest rates reduced, depending on the bank or company that lent you the money. Be sure to explore the options they offer for rate reduction. Sometime debt consolidation can achieve the same outcome.

13. Don’t touch

Once you have a retirement fund, keep your hands off of it. It can be tempting to dip into these savings to pay for big purchases, but it’s a slippery slope.

14. Invest

Once your savings start adding up, you should start to think about investing, where your money could be making a lot more returns for you than if it stayed in your savings account, where it earns a low amount of interest. For long-term investments, safe stocks are usually a wise choice. Don’t be bothered by temporary volatility – if you hold for the long term, they usually offer good returns. It could also benefit you to have some money invested in United States bonds and Treasury notes. These are very safe investments, although they only show significant returns after long periods of time.

15. 401K matching

Many employers offer to match their employee’s contributions to an individual retirement fund. Read up on the rules of such arrangements and make sure that you are getting every penny you could be form your employer’s matching program. This is free money – take it.

16. Shop the list

Go grocery-shopping with a list – it will prevent you from wandering aimlessly and picking up unnecessary food items along the way. It will also allow you to incorporate your weekly food expenses into a budget and try to reduce it with time.

17. Weekly review

Once a week, review what you’ve spent, saved and how you’ve done so. Think about your work week, its achievements and mistakes. Plan your next week and what you would like to take care of in the coming days. This is a very beneficial practice for people with solid goals.

18. Start your own business

Almost all of us have some kind of career dreams – a job we have always wanted to try. Start spending some of your free time learning or planning whatever needs to be done to eventually open up your own venture. Don’t be afraid to start small and slow: a website or YouTube vlog or local group related to whatever your passion is.

19. 30 days of thought

Before making very large purchases, think about the product you’re considering for 30 days. This will let the excitement dissipate and give you time to evaluate whether you REALLY need this item in your life. This time can also be used to research cheaper options and competitor’s prices.

20. Bad habits

Start eliminating the completely unnecessary habits that cost a lot of money: parties, alcohol, fancy coffee, cigarettes, taxis, etc.

21. Compare

Start visiting supermarkets you wouldn’t usually go to and compare prices in your area. You’d be surprised how much you can save over time, simply by shopping at stores with cheaper prices for the exact same products. Many times you’re paying for a store’s real estate and ad campaigns rather than the products you need.

22. Get on the bus

While initially unthinkable to many people, using public transportation or carpooling can eliminate a lot of expense and stress from one’s daily life. Think of all the gas money you’ll save! Do you even know your neighborhood’s bus routes and schedules? The commute to your place of work might be as simple as one bus line.

23. Realize

It’s time to come to the realization, if you haven’t already, that “stuff” will not make you any happier, more popular, loved or successful. This knowledge allows you to stop wasting a lot of the money many people do on stuff that will never retain its value. The real way that money can improve your life is by reducing stress and providing security.

First-time buyers: Zone 2 shared-ownership flats from £129,500

This budding Zone 2 hotspot in east London holds plenty of appeal for young buyers. We take a look at the new homes available for first-time buyers...

Rebranding: new-build properties and cafés line Regent’s Canal, dubbed the Haggerston Riviera. Image: Alex Lentati

A remarkable wave of regeneration and gentrification has transformed the East End over the past five years. Areas that buyers might once have dismissed are today too expensive to consider.

Which is why the chance to buy a share of a one-bedroom flat in Haggerston for just less than £130,000 is a great opportunity for first-time buyers.

Its location makes it perfect walking distance to Brick Lane, Broadway Market, Hoxton or London Fields.

READ MORE: LONDON HOMES FOR UNDER £300,000

L&Q has 48 one-, two- and three-bedroom homes for sale on a shared ownership basis at The City Mills development on Haggerston Road. Later in the year, another 74 homes, including two houses, will be launched.

Each property at The City Mills has its own balcony or terrace and some come with parking spaces. Prices start at £129,500 for a 35 per cent share of a one-bedroom flat with a full market value of £370,000.

Priority will be given to people who live in Hackney and north-east London. For more information, call L&Q on 0844 406 9800.

There are many advantages to life at The City Mills. It is a five-minute walk to Haggerston station, which has services to either Moorgate or King’s Cross in less than 30 minutes.

It’s on the East London Line with direct services to Canary Wharf and, for those who prefer the Tube, Hoxton station is about half a mile away.

There is also green space nearby, such as Haggerston Park, which is home to Hackney City Farm, and masses to do within a short walk.

**Perfect chance:** prices for shared ownership apartments at The City Mills start from £129,500 for a 35 per cent share

Its only downsides are that, as yet, Haggerston is mainly a residential area, which means there is not a real centre. So you may have to walk for 10 minutes to reach your morning shot of caffeine.

And it is not the most beautiful place on earth, being a target of Second World War bombing and shameful Sixties and Seventies cheap and poorly designed social housing.

On the bright side, it has many attractions including the fabulous Geffrye Museum and Columbia Road Shops & Flower Market.

Nick Robinson, of estate agents Blake Stanley, says that the housing market here is “nice and strong, but not nutty” and he believes that over the next few years annual price growth will be healthy but not dramatic — between five and 10 per cent.

His typical buyers are 25- to 35-year-olds on good salaries and backed by financial assistance from their families.

“A lot of parents are dragged here by their kids and have never been here before — they are quite surprised that they are in east London,” adds Robinson.

There are few family houses so it is a young buyers’ market.

As well as London professionals, Robinson is also seeing overseas buyers helping to stimulate the market by investing in new-build homes along Regent’s Canal.

**First-time buy:** a good-sized (646sq ft) two-bedroom flat in a modern development on Celandine Drive is with Currell (020 3318 7460) for £479,000

Future: two of Haggerston’s post-war estates — Haggerston West and Kingsland — are in the throes of a £110 million regeneration, which will include 761 new homes.

Trivial pursuit: Edmond Halley, who discovered that comet, was born in Haggerston.

What it costs: average property prices stand at £438,977, up 4.69 per cent in the past year. Two-bedroom flats typically rent for £2,015pcm.

Landmarks: Haggerston School, designed by Ernö Goldfinger of Trellick Tower fame.

Eat: at Draughts café, where customers are encouraged to play board games. There are also cafés alongside Regent’s Canal if you can overcome the embarrassment of patronising an area recently rebranded the “Haggerston Riviera”.

Drink: at the Proud Archivist, a quirky bar/restaurant/event space, or at the Haggerston pub, a local institution.

Buy: wonderful mid-century furniture at Two Columbia Road.

Walk: to London Fields and take a dip in its heated lido.

Nasa's Messenger Capsule to smash into Mercury and die, ending a life of pioneering discovery

That all comes to a crashing conclusion Thursday, when the ship is due to perish in a massive impact with the planet it so diligently documented, according to the space agency. MESSENGER is about 10 and a half years old.

“It’s like losing a member of the family,” mission head Sean Solomon toldScientific American.

NASA knew this day was coming. The craft ran out of propellant last winter and has been slowly spiraling toward Mercury’s surface ever since.

Since then, the only thing keeping MESSENGER aloft was the creativity of the scientists who run it. After exhausting the liquid propellant used to keep the craft in motion, the team jerry-rigged an alternative source of fuel from the helium used to maintain pressure inside the ship’s gas tanks.

It was the first time anyone had tried to extend a spacecraft’s life this way, Stewart Bushman, lead propulsion engineer for the mission, told Astronomy Magazine. Finding replacement fuel is so rarely necessary, since something else almost always goes wrong on a spacecraft first.

But MESSENGER’s life story has been one of defied expectations.

The spacecraft, whose name stands for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging, launched in August 2004. It was the first mission in nearly 30 years dedicated to studying the planet closest to the sun. Its predecessor, Mariner 10, was able to photograph just half the planet in a handful of flybys before running out of fuel and losing radio contact with Earth.

This time, scientists said, the spacecraft wasn’t just going to zoom past Mercury and snap some photos. MESSENGER was scheduled to spend a full year in orbit around the little-studied planet, mapping its surface, probing its atmosphere and investigating its interior.

“It took technology more than 30 years … to bring us to the brink of discovering what Mercury is all about,” Solomon said in a State Department press release issued the day of the launch. “By the time this mission is done we will see Mercury as a much different planet than we think of it today.”

Solomon was right, possibly more so than he could have imagined.

After journeying 5 billion miles through space, conducting multiple flybys of Earth, Venus and Mars, MESSENGER pulled into Mercury’s orbit on March 17, 2011. A little over a week later, it sent home the first ever image of Mercury taken from orbit. The photo showed a vast, gray, pockmarked expanse of rock, seemingly even more barren than the moon.

This image, taken March 29, 2011, is the first ever obtained from a spacecraft in orbit around Mercury.But the MESSENGER mission revealed that there was much more to Mercury than meets the eye. Beneath that bland, gray exterior, the planet has a massive, spinning iron core that generates its magnetic field. Unlike Earth’s core, this one appears to be liquid and huge — about 85 percent of the planet’s radius.

That boiling liquid rock is entirely beneath the planet’s surface, but among MESSENGER’s other discoveries was that, in its early years, Mercuryseethed with volcanic activity. Scientists used to think that the planet lacked the “volatile compounds” needed for explosive eruptions, believing that such molecules were either fried or blasted away during Mercury’s formation. But evidence that volcanoes did explode, and that some of those “volatiles” still remain, meant that scientists had to reconsider their assumptions about the planet’s origin.

“This research is revolutionizing our thinking about the early history of the planets and satellites,” Jim Head, a MESSENGER mission co-investigator, said in a press release about the study.

Other surprises from MESSENGER’s four years in orbit include the observation of seasons within its barely-existent atmosphere, the realization that the planet is contracting as it cools and the discovery of unexplained, shallow “hollows” marring the planet’s surface.

One of the mission’s biggest headlines came in 2012, when MESSENGER provided absolute confirmation that there is ice on Mercury. Given the planet’s wispy atmosphere and dangerous proximity to the sun (Mercury’s orbit brings it three times closer than Earth’s and subjects it to solar rays that are 11 times as strong), it seemed a poor candidate for finding water, particularly in frozen form. But for years, telescope observations kept revealing strange bright patches at the planet’s poles.

MESSENGER gave scientists the first opportunity to examine those patches up close. What they found surprised them: Because the planet doesn’t tilt on its axis, there are pockets at the poles that never see sunlight. In those pockets, researchers found clumps of ice accumulated beneath a layer of dark, organic material. Not life, but something on the way to it.

“I don’t think anybody could count Mercury as habitable,” Solomon told Scientific American. But that organic material — “the ingredients for habitability,” as Solomon called it — must have come from somewhere. How it wound on Mars is a mystery space researchers are itching to solve.

“Those polar regions, I think, are calling out to people … and saying, ‘Send us another spacecraft, we have more stories to tell,’” Solomon told the LA Times.

All the while, MESSENGER took more than 270,000 images of Mercury’s surface, helping NASA to produce the first-ever complete map of the planet.

The year-long orbital mission was so successful that NASA extended it in 2012. The use of helium to propel the craft helped extend its lifespan even further, allowing scientists to collect more data. Even now, as the craft hurtles toward its doom, MESSENGER is beaming data to researchers back on Earth.

In this undated photo provided by NASA, technicians with The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Titusville, Fla., prepare the MESSESNGER spacecraft for a move to a hazardous processing facility in preparation for loading the spacecraft’s hypergolic propellants. (NASA via AP)

One of the last transmissions was a series of spectrometer images showing variations in the minerals that make up the planet’s crust.

Since Mercury has an insubstantial atmosphere, MESSENGER won’t burn up as it descends. Instead, it’ll crash into Mercury at a speed of about 2.5 miles per second, according to Scientific American, adding its own small impact crater to the hundreds that pock the planet’s surface.

It’s a bittersweet end for the researchers who have spent over a decade following the spacecraft from afar.

“We’re at the end of a really successful mission, and we can’t do anything anymore to stop it from doing what it naturally wants to do,” Thomas Zurbuchen, a member of MESSENGER’s science team, said in a statement. “The sun is pulling on it. The planet is pulling on it. It’s just physics. It has to crash.”

Copyright Washington Post

Monday, April 20, 2015

What Is Low-Mileage Discount And How You Can Get It?

Low mileage discount is the reduced premium for annual mileage, which comes under a certain cap. They vary with every provider. Typically, the mileage cap is between 7500-15000 miles per year. You must ask your auto insurance company for low mileage discount, if your annual mileage does not exceed this range.

How to get low mileage discount

First, you need to estimate your mileage as some insurers go through verification. According to a comparative data gathered, savings from these discounts will be in an average about 2 %

nationwide, if annual mileage is below 7000. It can be at maximum 20 % in some states where laws consider low mileage to be a rating factor.

You can also let the insurance company measure your annual mileage. Pay-as-you-drive (PAYD) program is also offered by several insurance companies that provides you a small discount at renewal time. Here many drivers save up to 30-50 %, if they are not regular drivers. You can also check some more insurance programs like what is collision insurance.

You can get a low mileage discount by a pure pay-by-the-mile, which is offered by some companies in very few states where your next month’s bill is affected by the factor of how much a person drives.

Pay-as-you-drive policies

The pay-as-you-drive models are very beneficial for low mileage drivers. Several insurance companies provide a good amount of introductory discount that vary from 5-10 %. This offer applies only until the incoming data is used to compute the discount of your future renewal. The amount may change at every renewal period once the data is used to compute your discount.

There are also many other advantages of PAYD devices rather than just to record mileage. They can also measure speed, acceleration, braking and location through current plans that do not compute discounts based on GPS data.

When to ask about low mileage discounts?

You can consider a low mileage discount even if you are unsure about annual mileage. You can ask for mileage discounts in following situations.

If you are retired and a senior driver
If you join a car pool that reduces your number of days of driving
If you purchase a second car for running errands
When you are not driving to work and it lessens your annual mileage.

Usage based programs and discount

“Pay-as-you-drive” or “pay-as-you-go” is some of the insurance programs that are offered by many car insurance companies. By reviewing your driving habits by car insurance company, you can also get a personalized premium. The discount may also go up to 50 % based on your driving skills. The costumer can also get a customized discount. The better a person drives the more he can save.

You can also get a discount just for signing up the program and also to install the device in some cases. A small telematics device is attached to your vehicle when you sign up the usage-based insurance program. It monitors.

Person’s average driving speed
How hard a person brakes
How many miles a person drives
The time of day or night you drive.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

What Are The Cons Of Comprehensive Auto Insurance?

Many car owners do not know much about the comprehensive auto insurance policy. People, who have already insured their vehicle, do not purchase this policy. You might have purchased collision insurance that will protect your car against all types of accidents. On the other hand, comprehensive car insurance policy will cover your car for everything other than the collision.

It will cover the damage due to natural disasters including earthquake, rioting, volcanic eruptions etc. Hence, the insurance company will become more vulnerable because they might have to pay for every other thing. Here are some of the reasons why you must not purchase this type of policy.

Why do people buy this policy?

If you check out the agreement of this policy, it states that the policy covers every type of damage to your car. Some people are attracted by this offer. There are always set of terms and conditions that apply to this policy. The comprehensive policy does not cover many specific events and common situations that a river might face on road.

You must go through the fine print of the agreement before making any decision. Not all people are aware of the fact that they need not buy this policy to cover basic car collision. Hence, they end up investing in this expensive option. The topmost disadvantages include-

Cost
Less damage other than the car collision

Why is this insurance policy costly than other alternatives?

One of the main drawbacks of this insurance is that the policy is quite costly. The reason behind this is that it will cover the range of damages to your vehicle. In case of a natural disaster or calamity, the insurance company has to provide large claim amount. If you live in high-risk area, the total cost of the policy could increase steeply. Hence, if you want to buy this policy, you must keep a check on the premiums.

If we consider the statistics of the previous year, most of the accidents occurred due to car collision. There is minimum or no damage to the car other than collision. This is the main reason why car owners prefer collision policy to the comprehensive policy.

Investing in extra features is waste of money

You might have to invest in a range of extra features. These features include the rental car options, emergency roadside services etc. Hence, people avoid buying these services to avoid extra expenses. This comprehensive policy is useful to you only if you need these additional facilities every time your vehicle is damaged.

You must consider all these factors before buying this policy. You must not buy this policy unless it is the only option left with you. You could check many other alternatives that will provide your car complete coverage without being comprehensive. In this way, you could conveniently safeguard your investment.

You could click here to compare rates of comprehensive policies by different companies. In this way, you will get to know, which company is best to make the purchase. We also provide you ratings of all the car insurance companies.

What Is Uninsured Motorist Auto Insurance And Is It Really Helpful?

There are different types of auto insurance policies that will provide you coverage during accident. If you buy liability insurance, it will protect you against car damage in a crash. What will happen, if you do not have any insurance policy? According to researches and studies, one out of 7 drivers in the United States is uninsured. There is another term used that is underinsured. If the other driver is at fault and he or she does not have sufficient insurance to cover your damage or expenses, he is underinsured.

Why is this policy introduced?

If you do not have the insurance policy, it will result in significant costs and damage during car accident. To protect such drivers, many countries have introduced uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage with their respective liability limits. You could check out the free online car insurance quotes of different companies. This will make it easier to find companies that will provide maximum vehicle coverage at affordable rates.

Read on to know the benefits of this coverage. This uninsured driver bodily injury insurance will cover you for –

Lost wages
Pain and suffering
Medical expenses

What all this insurance policy will include?

Besides this, the coverage will protect you, if you have met with hit and run accident. While purchasing the insurance, you are asked to select the limits. These limits could range from $20000 to $1million. However, you must learn how these limits work. Usually, the coverage will consist of split limits.

In this limit, your coverage varies, if multiple people are injured or only the single person is injured. They will provide you around $15000 per person for any bodily injury or even death. Many policies offer their clients up to $30000 per accident for total bodily injury. You could also purchase the combined single limit insurance. In this policy, the insurance company will provide you complete bodily injury coverage.

What will affect the limit of claim?

It is not always necessary to choose the bodily limits. Your insurance limit could depend on different factors like what type of medical insurance policy you cover, worth of your car, do you have long-term disability etc. Hence, you have to be really careful while choosing the limit.

Check out the rules of this policy

Not all the states provide the uninsured driver property damage protection plan. You could check the laws and regulations of your area before buying this policy. This policy will apply, if the opposite party is at fault during an accident. Moreover, they do not have insurance or they have inadequate coverage. Besides covering your vehicle, it will cover the damage to your personal property including the fence, house, personal items like mobile laptops etc.

If you want more details about the uninsured car insurance, you could visit our homepage. Our website will provide you inside out of this policy. We provide you platform to compare the quotes of different online companies and hence make the wise decision. Our customer executives are just a phone call away.