Sears Receive $50 Come Back Cash Coupon Towards Future $50 Purchase of Men's Apparel When You Buy $50 of Men's Apparel*

It is a great deal at sears for Fathers day. Buy $50 of mens apparel and get $50 in sears come back cash. More details

Living Debt Free.

Living debt free is a dream. But it is possible.
We are so used to buying things with credit card, that we need it or not, we puchase it because that looks attractive at that time.

Few tips to living debt free ( Where there is a will there is a way)

• Make yourself strong and do not get trapped in this credit card offers, 0% interest for 6 months or 12 months is very common. There are still a few catch in these offers. If you look at the details of the credit card , yes I am talking about the fine print of the offer, there are some clauses like if you do not make the minimum payment you will be charged at 25% rate. With interest rate so low even if 1 out of 10 defaults every month credit card company has made their money back. Anyway live within your means. You may want to get rid of credit cards one a time and set up a target dead line to get rid of all credit card by some date and follow your dead line.
• If you start spending cash and make payments at store in cash, this will have two effects counting money and handing that money to cashier will make you think that you are spending x amount of money, while if you pay with your credit card you do not care or do not think twice even if the amount is beyond your capacity to pay in the future and you get trapped in that cycle of "Dream - Living Debt free"
• If you have a student loan or some other loan that you have taken, you may want to sit down and calculate how are you going to pay for it. No one else is going to help you but yourself and remember that you have to pay that money back sooner or later becomes your choice. Sooner you pay smaller the amount is and later you pay you will pay more in interest.
• If you are smart and have a good control over yourself, you can try this. Take a credit card offer that is 0% on balance transfer for x amount of months, take that offer but make sure that you make a plan to pay that amount in time to the credit card company and also you have to make sure that you repay the full amount before end of that offer. If you can remember that somehow to do this in time. With such a busy life, specially in the mid age with kids you may forget about it and end up paying more. So be careful.
• Bottom line, is to try to limit you debt slowly and finally eliminate it totally.
• Who needs a credit, if you plan on living within your means. It is difficult to understand this concept as we grow up in a different environment where every one says to build a good credit history, which is ultimately a  trap with busy life.

CONTROL YOU SPENDING HABITS-  This is the key  to living debt free.
Any other options? Please share.

How to earn money in stock market

This is my own opinion, follow at your own risk.

There are several ways to earn money in stock market in my opinion:

1. If you have a good knowledge about a company and its management that is the best way to put in your bets accordingly.

• Other way of being a winner gambler in stock market, is to take a particular stock only. The following example will make it easy to understand the strategy.         

         Let's say you buy 100 stock of good comp any paying dividents ( I call it a kind of insurance as the company is willing to share its benefits and is running in profit at this time. Say you bought the stock at 50 dollars. Let's say stock of that so called insured company fell to 45, buy 200 shares. Let's say the stock still fell to $40 buy 400 shares and so on. This way you keep the average cost of stock to close to the value that the current value of stock is. But as soon as the stock prices increase by $ 5 every time start selling the stock, in the same increments that you bought  them. This assumes that you have good capacity to invest and good appetite to hold the losses. This works most of the time but fails in some cases like company failing due to some frauds or some other unforseen reason.
The above strategy can also be done in day trading.

What is your way to invest? Any bright ideas? Dare to share?

US Dollar is strong

US Dollar is getting stronger as compared to other foreign currencies. I believe that this trend will keep on going for a while till Europe's position is cleared. Once that happens then US Dollar will depreciate a bit, but still keep strong as world has a belief in USD. This is good and bad. Good in the sense that people have more confidence in USD and more and more investment will be done in USD. Bad in the sense lesser US exports keeping a misbalance in Import and export. More imports and less exports is not good for economy.


What is your take on this issue?

Friendship

I got this in email and really liked it. Want to share with everyone:

Dear   Friend ....... 

  

HOW FRIENDSHIP BREAK ?  Both Friends Will Think The Other Is Busy  And Will Not Contact Thinking It May Be Disturbing  As Time Passes  Both Will Think Let The OTher Contact  After That each Will Think Why I Should Contact First ?  Here Your Love Will Be Converted To Hate  Finally Without Contact The Memory Becomes Weak  They Forget Each Other..  So Keep In Touch With All And Pass This TO All Your Friends...  .  I Don`t Want To Be One Of This Kind.  So Here I Am sending Mail To Every One  To Say  Dear Friend  I Am Fine Here  Please keep in touch with me

                                        "It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them"

Why do we have to wait long in emegency at hospitals?

Your view?

Legal insurance plan thru employer?

Many employer provide legal insurance plan and that is worth taking with a small monthly or biweekly fee they cover a lot. You may want to check to the dates legal plan is covered. The catch most of the time is that this legal plan is set to auto renewal every year. So in case you do not want to carry on with that legal plan that will keep on renewing every year.
My view is to enroll into legal insurance plan at least once and  utilize it to full at the earliest and then cancel it before next open enrollment if you do not want to continue. Normally legal plan covers Will and if you do not have one then just preparing WILL will pay for your legal insurance plan itself. Other features are a bonus if you use them.
You get to try what you use in a year. If you do not like legal insurance plan thru your employer, make sure to cancel that during next open enrollment.
Have you tried legal insurance plan and what is your opinion on this?

Time to Buy Oil stocks

With BP's problem in Gulf coast not getting resolved, I would think that it is time to buy oil stock or ETF. Reason is problems never linger for ever. BP will overcome Gulf problem if not today then tomorrow. Once that happens BP's stock will shoot up. Also with the loss of oil that BP had in Gulf coast there are chances that new oil drilling will not be starting any soon.

So unless any special alternate energy resource comes in our dependency on oil will remain and with less drilling OIL will go up.

What are your views on buying oil stocks or ETF?

Checklist when you move.

Following checklist is helpful when you move from one address to another.

• Call your telephone provider for switch in address
• Call your internet service provider before moving to the new address.
•  Change your mailing address with effective date at USPS.
• Change address on your driving license at Secretary of State branch
• Change address for your car registration at Secretary of State branch
• Change your address for Voting at Secretary of State branch.
• Change address with your Heating / Gas provider.
• Change address with your electricity provider.
• Change address with your trash removal company.
• Change address with your banks ( they normally require address in your license updated)
•  Change address for your credit cards
• Change address with your employer HR.
• Change address in your retirement account (401K etc)
• Change address with your insurance agency.
• Change address with your kids( if any) schools.

Any more place to change your address.

Health Insurance abroad

If you are visiting USA, you better know that buying a health insurance is the best idea. US is best for medical treatment of complex diseases as doctors go very deep in diagnosis and are the best in the world. If you are travelling to USA as a visitor, hope you do not have any issues with you health, but in case you get into some health issues, then hospital expenses are very costly. Without health insurance the cost of treatment can go beyond your imagination sometimes.
There are several insurance companies who sell health insurance for vistors and you may want to try these. One thing to keep in mind ( my view only) is to go for high deductable if you are healthy and assuming you would not need health insurance. Also there are various terms when deciding for health insurance:
1. Maximum benefit : This is the maximum amout health insurance company will pay for treatment.
2. Office visit: This is a visit to doctor's office. Your copay is the amount you would pay with every visit.
3. Deductible: This is the amount you would pay before health insurance pays anything.
I am not sure if heath insurance is required if you visit other countries. Do you have any idea on this?

Outsourcing good or bad

Outsourcing in my opinion is not good for America. Although the initial thought with outsourcing was to send low cost work to other countries and get it done much cheaper. This was the price of the product will be kept less and competitive.
The reason I say that outsourcing is not good for America is in short term companies saved money by sending their jobs outside of the country, but on the other side Americans lost their jobs and with lot's of unemployment in America, life style is changing. Unless some other big innovation happens jobs gone out of the country are gone and unemployment will not improve much.

So overall due to unemployment, government has to spend a lot of money in unemployment benefits and then government also has less revenue as less people are paying taxes. In my opinion it would have been good to give initiatives to the companies to keep the jobs in America.

What is your thought on offshoring jobs?

Is it time to buy BP stock

BP  is a strong company with a good record of dividend. It's future is really dependent upon the outcome of the spill problems in the Gulf. It is not predictable when that spillage will stop. My view of looking at BP's future depends on  three main factors :

1. How much of the loss happens to BP due to this spill in terms of Cost of oil lost.
2. How much BP will have to spend for clean up efforts.
3. How many lawsuits to be followed due to these spills.

Although BP's stocks have fallen about $60 to $45 (about 25% down) , but anyway stock market have gone down about 7-8 % anyway. Just because there are investors who are bullish about BP, I still think that BP's stock rate would fall more, before it starts going up again.

You never know with this spill problem in Gulf BP would go way too down, but my understanding is it would come down to about $35 before going up. If it comes down to $35 that would be worth taking risk with BP stock.

What do you think about BP's future?

Vacation planning

Summer time is here and kids will be having a summer break. My wish list for vacation is as under:
1. HAWAII - Nice place to go during winter time if you are in Northern part of America. You will never forget the vacation at HAWAII.

2. Europe : With financial crisis going on in Europe would be the best time to go. Euro is down and you can get deals for travel to Europe. I would normally go with a package tour. How about medical insurance. Do we have to take that in Europe. I will have to research about it or the agency providing package deal could tell us if that is required in Europe. Hope medical insurance in Europe is not as costly as Medical Insurance in America. Best time to go to Europe is summer.

3. Florida - DISNEY, time to go to Florida is winter. You need about a week to go to Florida and visit places there. Nice beaches and lot of other fun. With economy down you can get good deals to Florida.

Remember, as soon as economy recovers, unemployment starts going down, inflation will kick in and your travel will become costly. Enjoy the power of Dollar now and have fun.
What is your favorite place for vacation?

Is it time to buy stocks?

 Stocks have gone down about about 3-4 % again today. Is the economy getting better, I think so. Although there were more claims for unemployment last month, but I still feel that economy is getting better. Lately how many companies have come up with bad results, almost none. That is an indicator of economy getting better.
If you want to invest in stocks short term or long term it may be the best time. I suppose that stock will be up by at least 5 -10% from this level within a month, unless something big comes up. The news media plays a big role in stocks, when something goes positive, there is lot of news about it and stocks sky rocket. But when news media talk negatively, no one talks about the fundamentals of the companies. Why?

So for short term that would be a very good investment but you will be a big gainer in long term.
If you do not have stock trading account, I would say open one today and start investing with your extra money. I would not recommend taking loan to trade.

What do you think about the stock market, is it going to go up or down?

Where to invest before inflation?

Everywhere we hear inflation is going to be the next big thing. So far it has not. But my belief is it is coming soon. My way of thinking is that it will not hit as long as unemployment does not go down. Once unemployment goes down then, next thing which will happen is people will have more money to spend and will be willing to pay more. Also the extra money that government has put into the market will also start flowing. So with lot of money in the market flowing ultimately prices of the goods will grow.

With that said the prices of real estate will also grow and dollar will devalue. So the best place to invest during inflation is in the products that are existing like land, gold etc.

You can see the similar inflation problem in developing countries like India.

What is your view about investing during inflation?

How to keep track of your credit history?

There are lot's of advertisement on the internet, about getting free credit report. Normally there is a catch to those free credit report. Companies will enroll you into their trial period for free may be for one month or so then start billing you monthly later. This way these companies make their money.
I normally go with authentic credit report site and legally and freely get my credit report for free with no catch in that. The site http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre34.shtm provides you the steps to get your free credit report. You can also visit annualcreditreport.com directly to get your credit report one time a year from three different credit rating agencies.
I would get one in January, One in May, One in August and then folow up back in Jan of Next year. This way you are checking your credit history for free every 4 months.
I do not like going to any other site where you get it for free first month then you get busy with your personal life and forget to cancel and are charged every month after that, till you find that out and after long talks with those companies over the phone finally get rid of the problem.
 How do  you keep track of your credit history?

Where to buy auto insurance?

Auto Insurance costs are going up every year. My thinking is, if you have some points on your driving record do not change the insurance as the current insurance company may not have checked the records and may not be increasing your insurance premium.
If you have a clean driving history or had points in the past then you should shop around and find the cheapest insurance. The best way is to seach online and compare the costs. Instead of going to an agent from a particular insurance company, I would look for an insurance agents who compare the insurance costs for you from different companies and provide you the best deal.
Also you get a good deal if you buy other insurance from the same company. Also make sure that all your car features are included in the insurance policy, as some features may help reduce the insurance cost (Like security system).
Also new vehicle insurance would cost you more. Also one more thing about insurance is that some vechicles do cost a lot of insurance, so if you have not bought the car yet, make sure the insurance for that car is would not shoot up.

So with these do shop around and buy the best insurance policy. Good luck shopping for insurance.

How low will oil go?

My Views on Oil prices:
Seems like at the present time, all the prices are managed by hedging and financial companies owining stocks or having interest in the oil companies. It is not exacltly a reflection of future of oil all the time. The reason I say this is as we have a lot of OIL in stock in USA and still oil prices keeps on going up. Then as soon as the news became more public oil prices fell a little bit.
 Still the best strategy is to buy low and sell high. Although it all depends upon your timing and if your estimates fall correct. If you go on buying stocks or keep interest in oil, and buy it depeding upon your knowlege and statistics of the oil,  then short term startegy may fail if lot of hedging goes on but long term it would be a success.
I still think that oil would go down for a little while but utlimately its rate will go up as more and more people start travelling in summer. It may not go as high as it has been in previous years as more and more people are driving compact cars giving good milage. Another factor keeping it low is unemployment. As soon as more and more people get employed they will start travelling more and this would increase the prices of oil.
What is your take on OIL prices?

where to invest Shares, Gold or Land

My view on investment:
During these hard times, when worldwide economy is going up and down, the safest way it to invest in basics. With basics I mean housing. If you already have the house that you want for yourself and have extra money to invest, go for extra land or house or precious metals.
One more trend I have seen and would like to try myself " Invest at low rate and sell at high rate". If you have the capacity to hold for some time look for stocks that are below it's value. Here is what I would like to do. I would invest in companies that would give good dividends. Even if their price go down I would get some money in dividend till the prices go up and I sell them.
    My thinking is that US dollar is going to be devalued very soon, Inflation is going to come as soon as the unemployment starts going down. As employment goes up people will start buying and people with extra money will buy and invest more which will bring up the inflation. Goverment may increase the interest rates to keep low inflation but once it hits US dollar will devalue.
    Once US dollar devalues housing price will rise and so will the precious metals.

Why insurance cost increases?

In my experience, I looked for various insurance company and finally bought auto insurance from one insurance company. The cost of insurance was OK initially. After you are with the same company for 1-2 years the auto insurance costs keeps on increasing. If you are smart enough you would shop around for insurance and then change the insurance company. During your mid age when you get too busy with kids and family, changing insurance company becomes a lower priority and you keep on paying the bills till it becomes very very high. By then the insurance company has made huge profits.
           My opinion is insurance premium of each insurance company goes like a stock market and while insurance premium is high with one company the other insurance company may be selling the policy cheaper. After some time the other company which was selling the insurance cheaper will start increasing the premiums. I suppose this happens when the insurance company has a big number of insured, then they least care about the customers. Then customers starts leaving the insurance company and the insurance companies then decrease the insurance premium to attract customers.
           So this is a cycle. Smart customers should keep on changing insurance companies after every 2-3 years. Have you experienced the same ?

My Opinion on Insurance Industry

Insurance is a growing industry. It already is big in Developed coutries and is capturing developing countries. As humanity grew, in good old days people used to work in smaller community and one would work with his/her specialization and would depend on others for their specialization. Overall it was a good social life balance.
Later society became organized that one would not need others help directly. This is how the splitting of families happened and smaller and smaller families wanter more security if something happens to the bread earner. Insurance concept came in then.
It was a nice concept initially and not all the people have to buy insurance. But later on insurance spread so much that people not only wanted life insurance policy but other types of insurance like car insurance, health insurance. Now if you see a medical practicioner they will charge you more if you do not go thru the insurance. People started being careless as they were being covered by insurance policies for their health etc. But then started the real game, once people are used to living with insurance the insurance companies started getting greedy and the price of insurance increased. Like a drunkard who has no choice but to drink, people have to buy insurance. This has happened in developed countries and is happening in developing countries.

MY bigger question is how many of us really like the insurance concept today?