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Archive for September, 2009

In case anybody is wondering I thought I’d clear up the potential confusion of the word ‘finance’, what it means and what it involves.

Finance is the science of funds management; there are different areas of finance such as personal finance, public finance and business finance. Finance deals with the concept of risk, time and money and how these factors are closely related, other aspect such as how much money is required via spending and budgeting also apply to the area of finance.
Banks tend to be the main facilitators of funding through credit although other methods are now available to the customers of finance as an alternative.

Finance has many different facets to it which open many different avenues, why not research them further, you never know you might learn something!

Many people do their food shopping and also shop for electrical goods, bedroom accessories, DIY items, DVD, games etc but do people know that Tesco offer some very good solutions to your finance problems.

They sell all sorts of service such as Car Insurance, House Insurance, Pet Insurance, Travel Insurance, Loan, etc. The variety of services that are available to meet your financial needs are endless, they are available in store, by phone and over the internet. The services are easily accessible to all sorts of people and with the high variety of methods to access the information.

So why not get in touch with Tesco and see what great deals they can offer you? The options are endless and you won’t be disappointed with the service you get, in typical Tesco standard it is excellent.

Finance in football is an interesting topic that has many facets to it; there is general management of the finances as well as the PR and marketing of the football club to generate income.

The most important aspect of any football club is the balancing of the books; unfortunately this is something that is not always on the agenda of the runners of many football league clubs who on occasions do not live within their means. This is the downfall of a few clubs such as Stockport County, Darlington, Southampton, Leeds United etc who have all experienced administration as a result of their lack of financial management.

The most IMPORTANT thing for a football club is to live within their means, otherwise they will come up short when it comes to paying bills, a lot of clubs simply get to ambitious without a realistic business plan, caution is always the best plan.

The marketing and PR strategy of a football club is also key to the survival and progression of the financial situation. For example corporate hospitality and advertising can play a key role in the income that can be generated, this is something that needs to be exploited to the full.

The global financial recession has had a huge bearing on the economy of all nations throughout the period that it has been in effect, businesses have closed, employers made redundant and unemployment levels have risen beyond all recognition.

What is the definition of a recession I hear you ask? Well, it is a 2 quarters in which the GDP of a country has a down turn, and then you have a recession.

We now seem to be slowly coming out of this recession with the economy finally recovering and job levels starting to increase once again, about time as many people who should be in jobs have been on the dole twiddling their thumbs. The worst appears to be over although it is traditionally the jobs that are last to pick up at the end of a recession.

This is something that all of us would like to be able to do although a lot of people don’t know how to go about it, well you’re in luck I’m going to let you in on the secret! There are lots of different ways to save money such as reviewing your mortgage, contents insurance, checking your credit file, making a will, the use of direct debits, switching energy suppliers reducing your phone bill etc.

HERE ARE A FEW EXAMPLES

Reduce Your Phone Bill

Reducing your phone bill is a good way to reduce your outgoings, on occasions people do pay too much for their contract and don’t even use what they pay for; this can be easily reduced by taking out a contract that you realistically use.

Switch Energy Supplier

Another great way to save cash is to have a look into switching your energy supplier. It is not uncommon to find that better and cheaper deals can be had elsewhere, but you have to do your research and shop around a bit to find the cheaper deals.

Use Direct Debits

By paying your bills by Direct Debit you can reduce your bills as discounts are given to people who set up regular payments, so why not look into the possibility of paying in this way? It’s easier for yourself as you know the exact date which you pay your bills.

When applying for a loan or mortgage it can be confusing at times with the jargon that they use to describe certain things, so to help you out a bit here is a few jargon busters to help you on your way.

APR

APR is the annual percentage rate that you pay on top of the money you borrowed, this is charged by the lender so to make money of the customer’s lending.

Typical APR

The Typical APR is the rate a lender will offer to the majority of customers, although this isn’t necessarily the rate that will be offered to everyone.

Quote

This is simply the estimated total cost of a loan including the repayments and the total amount to be repaid to the lender. The quote can be different to the total cost dependent on personal circumstances.

Payment Protection

This is to protect the customer from illness, injury or any circumstance that prevents you from meeting your loan repayments.

One of the best things since sliced bread and Sky + is undoubtedly the invention of Online Banking! It is so convenient and easy to use and I absolutely love it, whoever invented it needs to be knighted by the queen as far as I’m concerned.

You can do pretty much anything with Online Banking, from checking your balance and recent transactions to applying for loans, mortgages and savings accounts. I find it very easy to check my balance at home or at work, it’s a lot easier than the old way by going down to the bank and checking at the ATM.

I applied for my savings account my putting an application in on my Online Banking account; also I pay payments such as my rent or bill payments online, it’s brilliant!

Mortgages and loans information can also be found via Online Banking, you can also apply online for them.

If you have had a Student Loan then you will know that at some point you will have to pay the amount you borrowed from The Student Loans Company, how much at what points are anybody’s guess as they don’t exactly make it easy to understand.

You aren’t supposed to pay anything back until you are earning £15,000 or more per year, although the problem with this of course is that you end up accruing quite a in interest which isn’t really want you want to do.

The system that they use is very nice not making you pay anything back until you are earning a decent amount although the problem is that the loan amount increases with interest, so it isn’t like it stays the same.

My advice would be to set up a Direct Debit of a small amount, for example £30 per month just so they loan is getting steadily less rather than more, It’s not as if they will ever come knocking for the money although you really don’t want it getting larger do you?

There are lots of different ways to save money and it’s important to save money in the way that suits you. You can set up things such as Savings account with your banks, cash ISA, Premium Bonds etc, and these options are plentiful with varying rates of interest and accessibility.

My personal view is that with the current lack of high interest rates means that it doesn’t matter too much about the savings account you choose, it’s more important how accessible that account is.

Cash ISA’s are a great way to save money although a sticking point can be that for the higher interest account you have to wait 7 days to get your hands on your money, that is a bit of a pain when it comes to withdrawing your money.

My personal view is that a savings account with you bank is a better option as it is easily accessible and easy to transfer your money into. I have a savings account with my bank which runs alongside my bank account, all I have to do on my Internet banking is switch between the two.

As for saving the actual money I would recommend putting away a set amount per month with maybe a long term target of how much you’d like to save, or simply your money away as something to dip into for things such as car insurance, rent deposits.

A few little financial tips from me today, they may seem simple to some and good to others but here goes.

The main thing is to ALWAYS live within your means and always know what you’ve got and what you can afford to spend, this may sound simple but to some this is difficult, so always know what you can and can’t afford. It may be difficult to say no to getting a new kitchen in when it has been needed doing for years, but if you go and get a loan to pay for it and don’t meet the repayments is it really worth it?! NO! So don’t do it! You only end up with less money than you had before, think about the short and long term.

It may seem boring but if you don’t manage your money very well and are always left with no money with 2 weeks until you get paid then you need to sit down and work out a weekly budget. If you can’t make your money last then you have little choice than to make a different plan.