Finding information online seems like the proverbial search for the needle in the haystack – with so many sites and adverts vying for attention just thinking about searching for an internet bank is enough to bring on a headache. However, it might well be worth the effort – out of the five best-paying current accounts today, four are provided by internet banks. With a difference of two or three percent, the benefits could be substantial.

Enter ‘online banking’ into your search browser, and you’ll pull up several independent sites comparing different banks and accounts. While the special offers can change day to day, there are a few banks that have been performing consistently well – the big three being Cahoot, Egg and Smile. Cahoot is the online arm of Abbey National, and the Co-operative Group runs Smile, but both currently offer better deals than their high street counterparts. Intelligent Finance is also a contender. Shop around to find what suits you best – whether it’s a low rate loan or a high performance current account, the right choice will depend on your individual needs and situation.

Take into account things like customer service as well as the terms offered – it’s important that you can contact your bank easily when you need to, and that dealings with them are not an unpleasant ordeal. Even if you conduct most of your business online, there are still likely to be occasions when you need to speak to a human being, and friendly, well-informed staff can make a vast difference to your banking experience. First Direct is now planning to introduce a ‘virtual’ bank clerk to make online banking more customer friendly.

Ease of use is another factor – a bank with a website that is easy to navigate will help you plan your finances with the least amount of hassle. Online banking has now come a long way from the days you could only view your account online – you can now pay bills, set up direct debits and transfer money between accounts at the click of your mouse. Egg have recently introduced a service called ‘Egg Pay’ that lets you securely send money to friends and family via email, and in future we can expect ‘account aggregation’ – an overview of all your financial dealings on one web site that will help make your transactions more efficient.

‘Moneywise’ and ‘Which’ magazines are good sources of information to compare banks with – check out their websites.

Joe Kenny writes for Card Guide, offering the latest information on cardguide.co.uk/ credit cards in the UK, visit them today for the cardguide.co.uk/transfers.html best balance transfer credit cards and start clearing credit card debt today.

Before embarking on investing a lump sum it is advisable to check your financial health, to see how you measure up to the ideal.

Preparing background information

If you consult a financial adviser, you will first be asked for some background information. Here you are the adviser as well as the client so, although much of this information will be obvious to you, it is still worth writing it down as it will affect what comes later.

Personal profile

A financial adviser will ask:

your age;
whether you are employed, self employed, unemployed or retired;
Whether you are married, have children still dependent on you (or any other dependants, such as a widowed mother without much pension); and
what is your highest income tax rate (your marginal rate).

Budgeting

If you do not have a clear idea of your weekly or monthly income and expenditure, prepare a budget. Include in it any savings you are making for a specific event.

Your financial assets and liabilities

List any savings and investments you have, followed by a list of any liabilities bank overdraft, credit card debt, etc. The difference between the two is the value of your net current assets (if it is a negative amount, you need to plan to reduce your debt).

Your mortgage is a separate issue because it is a long term liability.

Doing your financial health check

The ten steps which follow are in order of priority.

1. Reducing borrowing
Are you borrowing money, except against your home? If so, consider paying it off as soon as possible as the interest will be expensive.

2. Establishing an emergency fund
Have you got a cash reserve to fall back on at least one month’s normal expenditure and preferably two or three, in an instant access deposit account or as a borrowing facility? At least half the population has less than £1,000 readily available and 10% have nothing at all.

3. Avoiding financial disaster
Is your income protected by insurance against the death, sickness or permanent disability of the breadwinner? Do you have adequate home and car insurance?

4. Retirement planning
Are you paying towards a pension? It is never too early nor too late to start.

5. Getting tax and social security advantages
Are you getting all the income tax allowances, reliefs and credits, and social security benefits you are entitled to?

6. Estate planning
Will your heirs have to pay inheritance tax? If so, consider how to avoid it or pay for it yourself.

7. Saving for special events
Do you need to save up for your next holiday, a new car, a wedding, long term care in old age? Putting aside just a small amount regularly is the best way.

8. Paying for education
If you have young children, are you saving up to pay for private education and/or university?

9. Reducing your mortgage
It is worth considering a reduction before investing surplus income or a lump sum.

10. Investment planning
Have you surplus income which can be channelled into a savings scheme or do you have a lump sum to invest?

Making strategic decisions

The result of your financial health check may cause you to change your budget, for example to pay for more insurance cover.

Or you may wish to change your existing savings and investments to fit in with the ideal – perhaps to put more into your cash reserve.

Make a list of your shortcomings compared with the ideal and decide what action to take.

Saving to invest

If you do not have a lump sum to invest but can afford to save, there are many investment products which accept regular monthly payments.

In other cases, where the minimum investment is low and monthly savings are high enough, they can be invested directly. For example, National Savings certificates have a minimum of £100.

Otherwise, savings can be put into deposit accounts until enough has been accumulated to make a lump sum investment.

The advantage of investing regular savings is that there need be no commitment to maintaining payments, e.g. there is no harm done by missing a monthly purchase of a savings certificate.

Analysing your savings needs

If you need or wish to save, consider the following:

What are you saving for to increase your cash reserve, for a special event, for your children’s education, for retirement and how much do you need? If you have more than one reason, decide the priority.

How much can you save, each week or month, and so how long will it take to achieve your objective?

Do you need quick access to the money? Bear in mind that, if not, you might get a higher return from a longer notice deposit account, or even in an equity investment, which should grow more in the long run (say at least five years).

Do you pay tax and if so what is your marginal rate? Compare returns on an after tax basis.

Can you save regularly? It is better if you can, but be wary of committing yourself to a regular savings contract if there is a penalty for missing a payment. Irregular deposits when you can afford them are better than nothing.

Is your priority income or capital growth? Some investments are better for one, some for the other, but many achieve both.

How much risk are you prepared to take? Higher risk should lead to higher returns but only in the longer term.

If you need to borrow money, homeloansonline.org.uk homeloansonline.org.uk provides a quick and easy application form. Get all the options clearly explained to you and then choose. Ideal for people looking for a homeloansonline.org.uk/unsecuredloans/badcreditunsecuredloans.php bad credit unsecured loan

To begin party planning for a NASCAR themed party, choose a day or race to focus your event around. Start planning 6-8 weeks in advance to give yourself time to do everything – from buying decorations to sending out invitations. Invitations should come about three weeks before the party to give guests adequate planning.

Party supplies can be gathered from any party store. They will have plates, cups, napkins and silverware as well as decorations. If you are going for specialty decorations, like personalized banners or posters supporting your favorite driver, a NASCAR store would carry them.

A fun party favor may be to have a Hot Wheels car for all to take home. Turn it into a game if you want and have other prizes for those who can race their mini car to victory in a competition between guests. If you really want to have fun with games, take things outside. Some more options are a race to climb in/out of a car using only the window or even to setup an obstacle course. You most likely do not have a racecar for guests to drive, but a lawnmower or go cart can prove just as fun.

Other activities may include games dealing with the race itself. Have each guest sign a sheet matching them to a driver who they are rooting for, for the day. Possibly take bets on how many wrecks will occur during the race. Give prizes like bags of chips or 2 liters of soda. Little things like this keep even the most moderate race fan involved in the action.

When it comes to the menu for your party, try not to overdo things. Of course you want good food, but snack or finger foods will be easiest in this type of setting. Some suggestions are chicken wings, mini sandwiches, chips & dip, cheesy potato casserole, cookies, brownies and anything else that is easy. Have fun from the green flag until the checkered flag!

Mrs. Party… Gail Leino is the internet’s leading authority on selecting the best possible partysupplieshut.com party supplies, using proper etiquette and manners while also teaching organizational skills and fun facts. The Party Supplies Hut has partysupplieshut.com/nascar” title=”Nascar Party Supplies Nascar Party Supplies, ideas, pinatas, games, costumes, decorations, and activities.

Tenants also are taking loans smoothly. This is thanks mainly to growing competition in the loan marketplace. There are now lenders who are always willing to offer loans to tenants. You will find many lenders who are solely dedicated to providing personal tenant loans and so getting a loan has become fairly easier for any type of tenant.

Personal tenant loans are provided for personal purposes like buying a car, paying for wedding or holiday expenses, clearing smaller debts and medical or educational bills. These are unsecured loans meaning the tenant is not at all required to place any security with the lender. One can say personal tenant loans are risk free for tenants. The risks however are intact for lenders. In order to reduce risks, lenders tend to charge high rate of interest on personal tenant loans, making the loans costlier affair for an average tenant. The lenders also want to make sure that the tenant has a good repaying capacity. So you are required to show proof of your employment and that you earn well.

As personal tenant loans you can borrower up to ₤25000 depending on your personal circumstances like income and credit history. Those who have good amount of balance and have a good record of repaying past loans in time are most likely to be approved higher amount. Such tenants also are likely to be approved personal tenant loans at competitive interest rate.

That however does not mean that bad credit tenants are refused persona tenant loans. If tenants now earn well and lender has faith in their capability to repay the loan in time than getting personal tenant loan is not a problem.

You will find number of lenders claiming best personal tenant loans for you. Better take their rate quotes so that you which lender has a lower rate for your circumstances. Generally online lenders are considered as having better rate of interest on personal tenant loans. Pay off the loan installments regularly for improving your credit score.

Peter Taylor is a senior financial analyst at Fast Cash Loan Tenant with an acumen for finance and insurance. In recent years he has taken up to provide independent financial advice through his informative articles. To find fastcashloantenant.co.uk/Personal_loan_for_tenant.html Personal tenant loans, Compare tenant loan, Best tenant loan, Adverse credit tenant loan, Fast cash tenant loan, Bad credit tenant loan UK visit fastcashloantenant.co.uk fastcashloantenant.co.uk

As amazing as it may seem, when it comes to getting a credit rating not all credit scores are the same. When you pay to get a rating number it may not be the same one your lender sees.

What are the implications of this? Well for starters it could mean the difference between getting a mortgage or not, getting any kind of loan or not, getting a good versus bad rate on a car loan, the list goes on and on. The implications are huge!

Where does the difference come from? If you go looking for a credit score you will find many sources from credit bureaus themselves to credit card companies. Some of these are free but most are not. These serve as additional profit centers for the providers. They all have their own take on what makes up your credit score and may or may not be close to what the real deal is.

What is the real deal? The real deal is the FICO score. Fair Isaac and Company has been THE source of credit scores for lenders for decades and will probably remain so.
The other score for the purposes intended are worthless. Checking your real FICO scores and credit reports is the best way to get an accurate picture of how lenders see you.

What’s the Problem? It’s all about the money. From the credit bureaus perspective, credit bureaus got tired of sharing fees w FICO so they came up with their own score and decided to market them. From a consumer perspective, it can mean thousand of dollars between an inflated bureau score and the real deal from FICO.

What’s the solution If you are looking for a loan-car, home, whatever-DON’T PRESS THE EASY BUTTON. Go to the extra effort of getting the one that counts. The FICO score. It may be a little more difficult to understand but it will pay for itself in the value of information it provides you.

What do they say about bad information? It leads to bad decisions. Make a good decision and get the best information-get a FICO score!

Jack Krohn is a leading free lance writer on Home Equity and Mortgage issues with over 35 articles to his credit. He is also the #1 author of Home Security Articles in the country according to Ezine Articles.

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I was speaking to someone the other day who was getting fed up with her martial arts instruction.

Claiming to be misunderstood, persecuted, and unpopular, she felt the whole commitment was too much to take, and she insisted she wanted time off from the dojo.

No problem, that happens, and sometimes it’s what everybody needs to regain proper perspective, to see that the grass isn’t greener, and most of our discomforts are self-inflicted.

But I gave her an illustration, one that I’ve read many times in martial arts books.

You have to “steal” your training, this wisdom says, which means you have to aggressively take from your training what you need. It’s not going to be handed to you on a platter.

I see it this way. There is a diamond, a big, beautiful multifaceted treasure that is waiting for us in martial arts.

But it is encrusted in dung.

If you want the diamond, you have to reach for it where it is, smack in the middle of that smelly stuff.

Your treasure is in the hands of your instructors, whose job it is to make you confront yourself, your inadequacies, fears, and submerged secrets.

You can blame them all you want for your woes, but that won’t help you at all.

Like any movie hero, such as Indiana Jones, you have to go through some scary, slithery, serpanty stuff before you emerge with the jewels or the Holy Grail, or whatever you’re seeking.

Once you commit to doing whatever it takes, the task becomes easier, but never really easy.

After all, we don’t respect treasures that are simply handed to us, do we?

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: mailto:gary@customersatisfaction.com gary@customersatisfaction.com

So often we hear how hard it is in America to retire with financial independence. We hear horror stories that only a small percentage of our population has any money in retirement and that most folks are poor in their later years. We hear stories from those who attempt to sell us stuff that 50% of us will be dead or broke at age 60. We hear this so much that many have begun to accept this as fact. In fact it is part of a sales technique used in MLM or Multi-Level Marketing.

Recently in a coffee shop a future teacher was told that; “only 2% of the American population’s retirees are financially independent.”

Of course being a teacher and of some intelligence she raised an eyebrow to that. And she said; “Quite frankly I find that to be unfounded and erroneous.”

The person who told her this was attempting to sell her on joining a multi-level marketing Internet type business. She asked what the true percentages really are and if this information was false. Well it would depend how you define financial independence really. But statistically things are not as rosy as many think. Stay off the heavy use of credit cards and respect your money of course. And watch out from scam artists who prey on Teachers. For instance this today in the news:

abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=3821454

The two-percent figure seems to be one a lot of people use and too often. And the 5% is also used a lot. I have traveled the nation and been to every city and I think it maybe higher than this actually, no matter how you define it. But if he is referring to the super wealthy he might be correct, you see? The Oppenhiemer website;

https://www.oppenheimerfunds.com/targetedCopy/InvestorPages/investorHomepage/homepage.jhtml;sessionid=5ELI2JUTPRWU5LARENVSFEQ?SID=0&_requestid=32489

has the most intensive studies and research that I have ever seen and they are showing “financially independent” as no more than 20%. If you surf around that site you will find an accurate snap shot of that continually changing number. I personally do not know what it is anymore. We live in a great nation and if you are smart with your money you can do well. Do not let anyone tell you that you are going to be broke when you retire. You certainly do not have to be if you plan ahead. Think on this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” – Online WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/ Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World; WorldThinkTank.net www.WorldThinkTank.net/

If you don’t have equity in a home, you can use a personal loan to consolidate bills and make your monthly finances more manageable.

Are you having difficulties paying off your bills each month? Do you have outstanding bills and you just can’t find the money to pay them off? Maybe it’s time to consider a personal loan to consolidate your bills.

When you consolidate bills using a personal loan, you replace all of your outstanding bills with one loan. The single biggest benefit is that you can arrange monthly payments that fit your budget. Instead of struggling and missing payments not knowing when collection calls may start (if they haven’t already) you can have a single, manageable payment each month to help you pay off your debt.

Another of the benefits is you now only deal with one lender instead of many. That reduces the chances of forgetting about a bill and missing payments. All of that helps you keep your credit rating in tact.

You’ll receive a lower interest rate than the total charges and penalties on all those bills. Take a look at the amount of extra charges and penalties you would pay on your outstanding bills. Companies usually charge a much higher interest rate (especially credit card companies) than you would receive on a personal loan. So if you add them all up, you could save a lot of money just in interest charges alone over the long run by getting a personal loan and using it to consolidate your outstanding bills.

Instead of juggling bills and potentially damaging your credit, you can use a personal loan to consolidate bills and get control of your monthly finances. No more nasty reminder letters or phone calls. One manageable monthly payment from one lender can help you get back on track.

Thomas Erikson is co-founder of

Why should I go for a loan and risk my property as collateral????? This question comes in mind of every individual when he needs funds for any of his personal needs. After all, who wants to put there asset at stake. Unsecured personal loans are right here for funding your dreams in the most appropriate way.

Unsecured Personal loans are offered by the lender without asking for any security. Here the lender charges a little higher rate of interest than secured personal loans. The reason for this is that the risk involved on the money of the lender is very high due to absence of the security. However, the benefits attached to these loans are so many which cover up for this single disadvantage. These are:

• You can apply for such loans whether you are a home owner or a tenant.

• No risk or anxiety of loosing the property for the borrower as no collateral is required.

• Faster loan approval and processing.

• Reduced paper work involved.

• Unsecured personal loans can be used for any purpose like home improvement, debt consolidation, buying a car or boat, buying holiday packages, wedding, etc.

Before applying for any such loans it is highly recommended to go through the terms and conditions of the loan. Repayment periods are shorter as compared to secured loans in case of an unsecured personal loan. Never ask for amount of loan which you will not be able to repay or you will unnecessary burden yourself with debts.

While processing your loan request lenders will be looking at your credit score. Your credit score is calculated by the credit rating agencies which keep an eye at your finances. So it’s always considered better to consult such agencies before going for a loan. They will suggest you the ways to improve your credit score fast if you are facing difficulties in getting the loan approval due to bad credit.

After getting a basic idea about the loan market from banks and financial institutions, you can search among the lenders. Bargaining can also be done with lenders regarding interest rates and repayment terms and conditions. The amount which you can get under such loans lies between ₤1000 to ₤25000.

Different lenders have different terms and conditions for deciding the loan amount. You have to do a little bit of hard work to find a good lender. And the best way to do that is to search for lenders on the internet. So now you know that your own computer is the best tool to find out a loan. Check those websites with free loan quotes and comparison tools. Apply now and make a difference in your existing life with unsecured personal loans.

Andrew baker has done his masters in finance from CPIT. He is engaged in providing free, professional and independent advice to the residents of the UK. He works for the Secured loan web site loans fiesta for any type of Loans uk, Secured Loans, loansfiesta.co.uk/unsecured_loans.html Unsecured Personal loans, Debt consolidation loans- At Low interest in UK please visit loansfiesta.co.uk loansfiesta.co.uk.

Most Investors have no read idea what to do with their money and that’s why fund managers and loads of investment instruments have sprung up to cater to this need by the market for “return on investment”. Real Estate Investment Trusts or Asset Securitization which is the legal term of art used to describe the phenomenon of convert asset cash streams into tradable securities and selling them to investors.

This article after a short explanation about REITs, reveals two dirty little secrets that Property Developers play on unsuspecting REIT investors.

Asset Securitization as it is known in the legal industry in its Non-Enron form is legitimate due to the lower cost of raising funds. Property Developers take the chance to put their best properties into the REITs at the start as it would be cheaper for them to raise funds when compared to getting loans from the Bank which would increase their debt and reduce the credit rating for the company. These property developers having effectively sold their properties away, then manage the same properties through their management companies and charge fees. They then take the money to develop and purchase other properties and their capital gets bigger and bigger.

What most REIT investors are not aware of is that, some unscrupulous Property Developers start sneaking in their underperforming assets into the REITs so as to get rid of property duds and the investors in the REITs end up getting poorer returns on their investments. This can diminish your returns substantially.

For example, in Singapore which has one of the most thriving REIT markets in Asia, there was talk that some of the worst properties almost being sold into one of the REITs, before someone intervened to stop this trend. Investors should therefore take more than a perfunctory glance at the Annual Reports and Market Announcements concerning the REITs that they are invested in.

Another thing that most investors are unaware of is the basis of valuation stated in most prospectus documents for REITs. The prospectus is this large document that states out the basis of the investment and reasons why you should invest in it and the risk factors that any reasonable investor should note when purchasing units in the REIT.

For example, there was this REIT Company that wanted to list some properties and when one takes a closer look at the basis that the Financial Analysts calculate the potential rental income, its all guesswork. It took the historical rental income and calculated the potential yield for the investor. That’s why investors should remember the adage of past performance is no indicator of future returns and scrutinize the basis of valuation of any investment that they make be it shares, bonds or REITs.

In conclusion, is your money in safe hands? Are you investing in a REIT today that has ancient property rental return valuations or are you buying into a REIT that has a few good properties in its stable with the rest being duds? Take active control of your money today and you will start seeing more visible returns on your investment.

Copyright © 2006 Joel Teo. All rights reserved. (You may publish this article in its entirety with the following author’s information with live links only.)

Joel Teo writes on various financial topics relating to Ahwatukee Real Estate Investment. Signup for his free online Real Estate Investing newsletter today and gain access to the “Six Day Real Estate Investment Profits Course” now at realestateinvestment101.info/Ahwatukee.html realestateinvestment101.info/Ahwatukee.html