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Most of us will face expenses in later life such as university, new car, wedding and first home. If you can afford to start saving for your children, a nest egg in later life can be a huge benefit. Saving just ?30 a month for 18 years at an interest rate of 4.5% will amount to almost ?10,000. Bank and Building Society AccountsMost banks and building societies offer savings accounts specifically designed for children. These savings accounts are open to children of a certain age ranging from birth to 24 years. The interest paid on these savings accounts is often higher than that paid on standard accounts.

Some children?s savings accounts have restrictions as to how many withdrawals can be made without losing interest. How you can access your savings depends on which account you choose. Some may not require notice to be given to withdraw cash; they may be branch-based savings accounts or come with a passbook or cash card.

Some providers also offer regular savings accounts for children that come with restrictions on the maximum and minimum amounts that can be invested each month. They usually have a restriction on the number of withdrawals, which if exceeded can mean a dramatic drop in the rate of interest paid or even that the savings account has to be closed. A certain number of monthly payments also have to be made into these savings accounts each year to prevent loss of interest or closure.

Tax on children?s accountsInterest on savings is usually taxed at 20% before it is paid. However, children also have a personal tax allowance which stands at ?5,035 for the 2006-07-tax year. When opening an account for your children, you can complete a Form R85 for each account to receive interest without tax deducted. Young people aged 16 or over complete this form themselves.

Obviously there is no limit to the amount that you can invest for your children, but be aware that the interest may be taxed if they are under 18 and are unmarried. Parents and step-parents each have a ?100 limit on interest earned. This means that if money given produces interest of more than ?100 a year, that interest is treated as the income of the parent who gave the money. However, each parent has a ?100 limit, so you can receive interest of ?200 a year without having to pay tax.

Grandparents or friends and other relatives can give as much money as they like without interest being taxed as their income. Inheritance tax exemptions may mean that tax will not have to be paid on cash gifts given to children but if the provider dies within seven years this may change.

Child Trust FundsThe Child Trust Read more…

We are only just into the second month of the New Year, but already 2006 has delivered more than its fair share of bad news for the nations savers.

Although many financial pundits are forecasting small cuts in interest rates later this year, many banks and building societies have made some fairly substantial rate reductions already.

Since the turn of the year, the AA, Abbey, Alliance

While most of us do not like to think of the subject of our own death, the fact of the matter is that death is a part of life and in order to protect our families we need to give some thought to the subject of life insurance. The more you understand about life insurance the better you can prepare not only for your final expenses and protect your family.

First, understand there are different types of life insurance. The type that is best for you will depend on a variety of factors including your current age and health condition. The two major types of life insurance policies that you need to concern yourself with are term life insurance and permanent life insurance.

Term life insurance provides coverage for a specified period of time. This type of coverage will usually be less expensive than permanent life insurance. Policy periods are usually divided up into easy periods such as one, ten or twenty years. In the event you die within that time period, the death benefit will be paid to your beneficiaries. On the other hand, if you should reach the end of the time period and you are still alive your protection will end unless you elect to renew the policy. The option of building up cash value is not available with this type of insurance policy.

Individuals who only need temporary life insurance and those who need a large amount of coverage but who can?t afford to spend a lot benefit from this type of policy the most.

Permanent life insurance is designed to provide coverage for the duration of your life, although in some cases, the policy may be limited up until a specific age. When you reach that age, the cash value of the policy will be paid to you. Because you are building a cash value with permanent life insurance you can also withdraw from the Read more…

When people ask me about getting out of debt, they often ask ?Doesn?t it take quite a bit more time to be frugal?? Of course, doing work yourself does mean you spend more time doing certain things, but it also means that you will spend a lot less time and money working to pay someone else to do it. Many people work more hours to pay someone else to do a job than it would take them to do it themselves. Of course, if you make a million dollars a year and have no manual dexterity, this article is not for you.

Here are some examples based on my own experience with a family of 4. Because your household income is probably not the same as mine, some things that make sense for me will not make sense for you. I suggest that you read my examples and consider your actual costs.

Example #1: Buying clothes- One great way to save on clothes is to go to garage sales. This seems very time consuming to many people, but it really isn?t. In the summer, I usually spend 3-4 hours every 2 weeks (May – September) going to garage sales. That may seem like a lot, but if you compare that to how much time the average person spends shopping at the mall, it really isn?t any longer.

Example #2: Meals- I usually average an hour and a half each day preparing and cleaning up from meals. Compare that to going out to eat: It takes the typical person 20 minutes to drive to the restaurant and 20 minutes to return home. That is 40 minutes. Then you spend 15-20 minutes ordering and waiting for your order. You are now up to one hour. If you plan an hour for eating, you are up to two hours total. Don?t forget the 2-3 hours you had to work to pay for it! This assumes an income of $30,000 per year and a $40 family meal.

If you go to fast food restaurants instead, you could cut your time down to 40-50 minutes and 1-2 hours working to pay for it.

If you stay home and cook, it will cost you 15-30 minutes preparing the meal and less than $5 paying for it. I?m not saying that you should never eat out but, that if you do it regularly, it will cost you a lot more (in time and money). Is it really worth it?

Example #3: Buying a car- If you buy a new car with $500 a month payments for 5 years, you pay $30,000. Let?s say you earn $30,000 per year at your job. If you assume 25% income tax, you Read more…

A check printing company not only prints but also sells and distributes checks to consumers. Consumers use these checks to withdraw funds held in checking or saving accounts in banks and other financial institutions.

Check printing companies are granted the right to advertise and sell checks to consumers. They are required to comply with the Check Printer and Number Act. Check printing companies have the responsibility of verifying the details of new customers such as the accuracy of a person?s name, address, city, state and account number. Verification can be done by way of a recent account statement issued by the bank or a copy of the account agreement. Check printing companies are also required to sell checks to consumers that are in compliance with the requirements of Section 3-104 of the Uniform Commercial Code.

Some community banks in the United States have also started printing checks as a value added service to their customers. Professional Check Systems, Relyco, and Ganson are some of the major companies that offer check-printing services. Check vendors typically charge banks, $9 for an order of 200 personal checks, who in turn charge their customers $12. Banks that receive requests from customers for specialized designs, such Read more…

Forget about the threat posed by North Korea?s missile program. It?s already scoring damaging hits on the west with what?s known as the ?superdollar? – an almost perfect counterfeit US$100 that the rogue nation has been producing by the million and dumping on the world currency market.

One estimate puts the amount Nth Korea makes from counterfeiting more than US$100 million a year.

In November the US put a range of financial sanctions in place against North Korea after the US Treasury revealed it had been using a bank in Macau to put counterfeit currency into circulation. According to US Treasury the bank, the Banco Delta Asia was ?a willing pawn for the North Korean government to engage in corrupt financial activities?.

The bank, which had links to the North Korean regime stretching back two decades, had accepted large deposits of counterfeit US currency and put them into circulation. The bank had also been used for laundering the proceeds of drug smuggling and counterfeit cigarette sales carried out by front companies set up by the North Korean government, according to the US Treasury.

Shortly after the revelations the Macau Government stepped in and placed administrators in the bank to ensure all connections with North Korea were cut.
North Korea broke off international nuclear disarmament talks in November in what was seen as retaliation for the US?s sanctions over its counterfeiting and money laundering.

It was also revealed late last year that a Taiwanese national arrested in the US on charges of dealing in counterfeit bills had disclosed to the FBI that North Korea was also using Chinese organised crime groups to distribute its Read more…

There are many kinds of cash advances available in the marketplace. These advances are designed to allow individuals to pay their bills until they receive a paycheck. Payday loans are readily available, as are business loans and other loans, which impose a fee. Many people take advantage of these loans, including restaurant owners. Businesses must be able to take in at least $2000 per month, and a credit vendor must accept the money. This means that credit card receipts must be produced before a loan is considered. Business owners can apply for business cash loans if they have receivables from credit card purchases. If the business is not going well, it may still qualify for a loan, and some lenders will offer as much as $100,000.

One of the major drawbacks for some businesses is the need to transfer cash from one bank account to another. Delays may occur during this process, which results in banking overdraft charges. A bank overdraft can cost more than the fees imposed on payday loans, although business payday loans are different than the common cash advance.

Taking a business loan through banking institutions can be difficult, so some businesses prefer to take out cash advance loans. With these loans, cash is delivered quickly if borrowers meet the lender?s qualifications. Business fast cash loans are optional loans that are typically considered in cases of emergency. These loans are available for making renovations, marketing, expanding, and paying inventory costs as well. Businesses can take payday loans to remodel, expand their business, or to pay marketing expenses.

Repayment agreements on advance cash loans for businesses vary from lender to lender. Once the parties agree to a loan, a percentage of the receipts generated from credit cards will be deducted periodically. When the balance of the Read more…

Debt is a lot like cholesterol. Some debt is good and too much bad debt will make your life miserable. Through our financial lives, it?s only the good debt that we want to allow on our balance sheet. Good debt improves our lives over the course of time. Here are 4 types of good debt.

Real Estate
Real estate is the cornerstone of much wealth in the US. For most of us, our homes will be the largest and most valuable asset we?ll own. Unless you?ve ?come into money? chances are good that you are going to have to take out a mortgage to pay for your home. This is considered good debt because you?re buying an asset that should increase in value over time.

Investment Real Estate
Right along with your home, owning rental property can be very lucrative. If you have the chance to purchase a rental property and then rent it to someone for a monthly payment larger than your mortgage payment, jump at the chance. That?s a great way to build wealth and generate income.

Education
It is impossible to put a value on a college degree. With a college degree, the money you earn over your career will eventually make the cost of school pail in comparison. There are always going to be stories about people without college educations ?making it big? somehow. Those people are the exception rather than the rule. Get as much education as you can. Read more…

Debt management as the name suggests is all about ways and means to manage your debts. Debt management has become very important these days when people are reeling under huge debts. This is mainly because of numerous people applying for loans or planning to get instant cash in some or the other way. As both personal and corporate debt levels are increasing each day, bankruptcy too is becoming a very common phenomenon.

However there are several ways to debt management.

? At first you must try not to spend too much of money over your usual balance.

? Secondly avoid the credit card usage as much as possible. If you are badly in need of a credit card, opt for one that has minimum interest rates.

? Nowadays the most basic and widely used method of debt management is debt consolidation. Debt consolidation refers to the consolidation of one?s debt into a single account. Debt consolidation helps taking out a loan to pay off many other debts. Consolidation companies such as ABSA, Ned bank, Old Mutual Bank, First National Bank etc. usually offer debt consolidation loans. Since the debt consolidation loans form a part of home loan they are offered at low interest rates. As a result more and more people are attracted towards these loans.

But the fact is that loan consolidation too comes at a price. Though it may relieve you of your repayment amount and terms yet finally you end up paying more by way of interest rates or service charges. So you should always think before going for debt consolidation.

? If the debt consolidation process does not suit your condition then repaying with a windfall, if you happen to receive one, or drawing up a debt reduction plan are other alternatives to it.

? You must try and understand the debt to income ratio. Debt to income ratio will help you know about your financial health. This can tell you about your debt Read more…

Debt can make the life of any individual miserable. Interest rates and day by day mounting debts, can actually kill a person. Thus it is very essential to manage debts and get rid of them as soon as possible. Debt management is the need of the hour. A person should seriously pay heed to his debts before it gets too late.

This article provides you some simple steps to debt management.

1. The first thing you should do is not to get disturbed. Different loans end up giving you huge debts, but you should plan to pay them off judiciously. Lying in tension and anxiety will not help you repay your debts.

2. Create a budget for yourself. Add all your income, payments, expenses and everything else that requires expenditure. This will help you check wastage of money. Your budget will tell you all small and inconsequential expenses that are unnecessary and can be eliminated if you try to. Also cut the credit card purchases. Make it a habit to pay in cash. This will restrict your expenditure to the amount of cash you are carrying.

3. Make a repayment fund and remember to don?t forget to keep aside some money for this fund. In the beginning the fund may seem to be of no use but gradually it will benefit you a lot. So any excess of cash should be put in the repayment fund.

4. Try and put a limit to your unnecessary expenses such as on entertainment till the time you have paid off your creditors. Create a list of creditors in the order of urgency of repayment. Once you have saved enough money in your repayment fund, pay off your creditors one by one in order.

5. At times when the debt is too big, people plan to refinance their mortgages. You can refinance your home and pay off the debt but this would mean taking on a bigger mortgage. So to avoid it you can keep your existing debts and pay non-deductible interest to the credit card banks. But prior to adopting either Read more…