Ways to Make Extra Cash this Holiday Season

by: admin - December 10th, 2008   Filed under: Money Thoughts 2 Comments

This holiday season is looking to be one of the toughest ever for retailers. Stores, including the high-end ones, are offering large discounts and shoppers know that more bargains are coming in December and probably January. If you are looking to make extra cash, here are some ways to do so:

* Cash-back shopping websites offer to pay you while you are selecting your gifts. Ebates.com offers a percentage of a purchase back and, until December 24, it will double the cash back. On top of that, new registrants will receive $10 gift card. Other cash-back sites are Microsoft’s Live Search and BigCrumbs.com

* Selling your old books by going to such websites as Cash4books.net. All you need is to enter the bar coded ISBN number to discover how much the site is willing to pay you. The books that are most in demand belong to the categories of textbooks, business and non-fiction. You will be paid with a check or through your Paypal account.

* Selling your old electronics especially as a trade-in, can be done on websites such as Gazelle.com and CellforCash.com. You can also trade in your electronic items for Best Buy gift cards at the Best Buy Trade-In Center.

* Convert your coins to handy cash, by taking them to a Coinstar machine before December 7. Cash in $40 in coins and receive a $10 free by mail discount. You will get your money as a gift card to avoid the 8.9% coin-counting fee.

* Sell Your Gift Cards Back to sites such as Plasticjungle.com and Swapagift.com. These websites promise to pay back 60% or more of the card’s value.

* Have a garage sale, which isn’t that uncommon this time of the year according to a Washington Post report. Alternatively, you can sell this stuff on eBay or related sites such as Snappy Auctions or eBayTradingAssistant.com which will help sell your items for you while still paying you a portion of the transaction.

So make sure to check out these options. You could make a decent amount of cash that you didn’t have before, from items you don’t intend to use any longer.

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Figure Out Your Net Worth

by: admin - December 10th, 2008   Filed under: Money Thoughts 2 Comments

It is important to know your net worth so you can be more in tune with your present financial situation and assign yourself a target for the future. It’s also a good idea to figure out what your net worth is since it is likely to be taken into consideration when you apply for loans. Your ability to pay back the loans is based not just on your credit history but also on your actual financial worth.

This may appear somewhat odd to boil down your life to a number, but just remember it’s just a figure of your current assets not an exhaustive analysis of the complete person.

The calculation may get quite involved, depending on the total number of assets one has. When you begin, add the money you have in your bank: checking, savings, investment and retirement accounts as well as the contents of a safe deposit box, if applicable.

Other assets that are often forgotten include whole life policies, annuities, etc. Notably, term life insurance policies do not count since they will only possess a cash value when the insured person passes away.

Real estate and vehicles are considered assets as well but only after any related loans are subtracted from their total value.

Other physical assets that you may have include: art, furniture, jewelry and even major appliances. Basically try to extrapolate how much money you would earn if you sold everything you owned.

The next step is to take the total value of the assets and subtract from it all of the money that you owe, such as: credit card debt, loans, etc’. Any recurring bills, such as from phone or utilities are not part of the debt.

So now you have your net worth in front of you. No need to panic if you see a negative number. This doesn’t mean that you will get your loan request denied but, for the long term, you will need to turn the minus sign into a big plus. To achieve this, begin by paying off your debts first before obtaining more assets, which may not bring in capital in the near future, to affect your net worth.

Some people prefer to keep their net worth calculations to liquid assets such as cash and retirement accounts, and then subtract the debt. This is because the actual market value of physical assets, such as homes, isn’t truly known unless they are sold.

At any rate, do make it a regular practice to figure out your net worth.

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Chew on This – Tip #9. A Car Gift

by: admin - December 5th, 2008   Filed under: Innovation Add Comment

If Santa was to grant me a wish and placed a dream GMC Typhoon on the driveway, I would like to fancy it up so it looks more like a 21st century super truck, than a 1990′s has been.

Automobile enthusiasts often customize their vehicles according to their preferred style and taste. One obvious way to do that is to get custom wheels.

There is no denying that custom wheels provide a unique and trendy appearance to a vehicle. However, most  custom wheels can figuratively burn a hole in your bank account since they can get quite costly. As a result, it always helps if you know where to find the hot car look you are going for, but at a bargain price.

One such place is the website WheelFire.com, which is one of the leading companies that sell quality name brand Custom Wheels. The site offers a large stock of wheels, spanning any style, from more elegant to most extravagant. All of WheelFire’s discounted wheels and tire packages do meet the highest standards of product quality and their customer service is also top notch.

The site also offers other parts and accessories which you might consider when creating that million-dollar look for you car. Happy shopping!

Take the Risk Tolerance Quiz

by: admin - December 5th, 2008   Filed under: Money Thoughts Add Comment

Recently a bunch of finance-related websites have offered quizzes where you can determine your investment risk tolerance. These sites often inquire about ones age, income, family matters and how would you react to specific market events.

Most people might consider themselves calm and rational buy-and-hold investors, which would give them a rating of a moderate to high risk tolerance. This is especially true if you consider market declines as a buying opportunity.

Having said that, an imaginary 40% stock market plunge versus actually living through one often represents 2 very different situations. Judging by the large sell-off and long projected recovery, it doesn’t look like people are all that risk tolerant, but are more risk averse at this point.

Since real-life events are likely to change how people perceive themselves, risk-tolerance measures that aren’t money-specific could offer a better quiz to take. From an investor point of view, the goal of completing a risk assessment quiz should be to find out how one would actually act during the type of recession we’re going through. Otherwise what’s the point of taking the quiz?

You can try a fairly good financial personality quiz and see if your results change as the economy improves.

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When Will the Economy Rebound?

by: admin - December 5th, 2008   Filed under: Money Thoughts Add Comment

2008, One of the toughest years since the invention of money, is drawing to a close. The sharp downward momentum for the last few months in the Dow Jones index has reflected the dwindling corporate and consumer confidence in the current economy.

On the other hand, there are many tempting opportunities to buy stocks and follow Warren Buffet’s advice to Be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy.

Although for most trading days the market hasn’t dipped below 8,000 points, how can investors and non-investors alike really know that the worst is behind us.

Here are 3 time-tested indicators that would signify the end of the recession:

1) The TED Spread(T-Bills and the EuroDollar futures), which is the difference between the interest rate that the banks borrow from each other and interest rate on 3-month Treasury bills. The larger the TED spread, the less likely are the banks to deal with each other. The spread is currently at 2.18 and a figure of 1 or lower would signify a recovery.

2) Follow the Real Estate market since currently the housing inventory levels are at more than 10 months worth and a recovery would have less than 6 months worth.

3) The unemployment rate has been relatively high in the last year, now at 6.7%. A consistent trend toward 5% and lower would indicate a recovery.

So hang on tight and follow the data, as the economy eventually will bounce back.

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