Each May we take time to honor and celebrate the women who give us so much; our mothers. It is easy to be tempted into spending money on overpriced gifts and novelties that have been priced higher in light of the holiday, but many of us cannot afford to break the bank. Use these tips to show your Mom how much you love her without depleting your checking or savings:

Give Mom Plants and Flowers:


Buying flowers for your mother doesn’t have to mean paying $50 for a dozen roses. Consider buying flower bulbs or seed packets and planting a flower garden for your mom. Using annual or perennial flowers might be an extra special idea since she can look forward to flower blossoms every year.

Give Mom Family Photos and Collages:


With digital cameras and one-hour photo, printing high quality photos is easier and more inexpensive than ever. Gather some of Mom’s favorite photos, make copies, and design a collage for Mother’s Day. You might also choose to find your best picture of each member of your family and combine them into a single frame of your whole family. Creative photos and frames can be priceless gifts that Mom will cherish for years.

Give Mom a Day Off:


Give Mom a break this Mother’s Day by taking on her chores and spring cleaning projects. Take charge of whatever household jobs she does on a daily basis, and let her sit back and relax. Has your mother been hoping to have the laundry done, the yard raked, the ceiling painted, or the carpet cleaned? Take the initiative to complete the projects Mom needs around the house and she’ll truly be thankful for your gift.

Give Mom a Mother’s Day Dinner:


Mother’s Day isn’t only about flowers, Sunday brunch, and gifts. Take some time to plan out a family dinner that you can organize, cook, and serve. Find out your mother’s favorite dishes and prepare them yourself. Light a few candles, pour Mom a glass of her favorite wine and give her a dinner that came straight from the heart.

To secure a loan that can suffice to your personal needs, there is no need to go far anymore. They are available to you sitting in the privacy of your home or office. These loans are called personal loans. Personal loans can act as a major help in maintaining self sufficiency in times of any financial crisis.

Securing a personal loan is not very difficult anymore. An application for the personal loan can be requested online along with the necessary information that is required. This application will fetch quotes from numerous lenders. Out of these quotes, the best offer that suits the borrower relating to the annual percentage rate plus the terms and conditions can be chosen. Annual percentage rate is the sum of interest rate plus the overhead expenses involved in the deal. Approval of the personal loans is also very fast.

Personal loans can be borrowed for many purposes like:
• Debt consolidation
• Home improvement
• Wedding purpose
• Funding college education
• Auto loan
• Holidaying

There are two ways of obtaining a secured loan. The first way is the secured way in which collateral has to be pledged as security. Rate of interest offered is very low with a longer repayment term. Unsecured personal loan is the other way in which no collateral is required to be pledged for the money.

Obtaining a personal loan is easy even if you have a bad credit history. Defaults, arrears, CCJs, a bad credit score have discontinued impeding you from getting a personal loan. Convincing the lender about good repayment capacity, a regular employment can help in getting personal loans at feasible rates.

Personal loans have now become a big support to people in the hard times as they can be borrowed according to the need. The repayment of the personal loan is also very comfortable. This makes it a favourite choice of the borrowers.

When you are ready to get serious about your finances, it is time to get a financial planner. That is great and all, but what should a financial planner do for you?

Life is busy. It is simply amazing. The more gadgets that come out that are supposed to make our life easier, the busier we seem to get. Throw in a career and a family, and down time is sparse. This is where a good financial planner comes in.

The world of financial planning is a complex one. In this case, there are so many different strategies and financial products out there, it is difficult to know where to begin much less what exactly to do. I mean, who has time to research it all? Well, a financial planner. All this professional does all day is deal with planning, and you can use their expertise to your benefit.

A quality financial planner should do some very important things for you. Let’s take a closer look.

The first service they should provide you with is objectivity. When each of us looks at our finances, we tend to place too much importance on the positives. In turn, we discount many of our problems. A financial planner should objectively review and lay out the frank facts on where you stand, potential problems and solutions. This step alone makes them worthwhile.

The second service is a symbiotic combination of two things. The planner should help you identify your financial goals and then they should provide you with strategies for meeting them. This sounds simple, but most people have no real idea of what their goals are. If you don’t know your goals, how can you possible meet them?

Identifying your financial goals is a critical step, but not the only one. Once the goals are clear, a quality financial planner is going to gently force you to prioritize them. Yes, everyone wants to buy a boat at some point. If you have kids, however, the planner might suggest that saving up for the $100,000 to $150,000 cost of sending them to college might be a better priority.

If you are married, a financial planner may be needed to bring an objective voice to the financial planning process. You and your spouse may have very different ideas about the goals you should have and how to prioritize them. A planner is often critical to getting both spouses to agree to a particular plan. Alternatively, the financial planner can come up with a unique approach that makes everyone happy. This is almost always a more successful approach than just letting the spouses battle it out.

At the end of the day, a good financial planner should be like a family friend. They should help you get organized on your finances in such a way that you can both identify and realize your ultimate goals.

At some point in your life, you are going to start thinking seriously about financial planning. When you do, the question of whether you need professional help should come to mind.

It happens to everyone. Something comes up that makes you realize you need to get a financial plan. The event can be something as benign as making good money one year and nearly fainting when you get the tax bill. For many people, it is the birth of a child. Suddenly, you are no longer responsible just for yourself. You have a much more important responsibility for the welfare of your child. Somewhere, you dad is snickering!

Whatever the triggering event, the realization you need to do some financial planning is a good thing. The sooner you do it, the more benefit you will receive. Most financial planning is time sensitive. The longer it is in place, the bigger impact it will have. For instance, the sooner you start stuffing money into retirement plans, the more time it will have to grow before you need it. The same goes for sticking money into a college savings plan.

Once you decide to do financial planning, you should really get some professional help. Jumping into financial planning without it can lead to some serious mistakes. If you need a financial planner, however, how do you find a quality professional?

The first step is to ask around to friends and families. Don’t just look for any old referral. You want somebody they are enthusiastic about. If they have a ho hum opinion of their planner, that should be a bad sign. At this point, your best option is to jump on the net and look for planners in your area. Pay close attention to what is on their site. Do they offer a lot of free information? If so, does it carry the tone that you are comfortable with? Pick out three or four and set up appointments. It is time for the face-to-face.

When you meet with a prospective financial planner, there are a number of things to look for. First, how aggressive are they with you. Keep a nose out for the smell of desperation. Quality financial planners already have a sold portfolio of clients. As a result, they are more than happy to sit and calmly talk with you regarding your situation. A person that is promising incredible results or very aggressive, is a planner that probably is not what you are after.

When discussing your situation with the planner, pay attention to the questions they ask. Are they trying to get a full picture of your life or just trying to sell you something? A quality financial planner is not looking at you as a client now. Instead, they are looking for a long-term relationship. If you are uncomfortable in any way with the person in question, move on to the next planner on your list.

The Government has made it clear that it soon hopes to allow easier access to Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVA), today's number one and fastest growing alternative to insolvency. This plan for an easier to obtain IVA should be in effect within the year according to the latest reports.

The changes hope to make a law that requires only 51% of the lenders who are owed debt to give approval for an IVA. Currently, 75% of the lenders for one's debts must approve for an IVA. This 51% rate would only apply on debts below £75,000. This new plan would also make it quicker to file an application for an IVA and involve less paperwork.

In an IVA, the lenders erase part of the money owed and the creditors must make a fixed agreeable monthly payment every month for a given time.

Charles Howson, the chief executive of Accuma, a personal insolvency specialist, said: 'The existing laws are outdated and don't apply to the vast majority of people applying for an IVA today. These rule changes would simplify the process and make taking out an IVA more viable for people in debt.'

There were over 47,000 bankruptcies this year and the easier process for filing an IVA is an attempt to help reduce this number.

Around 20,000 people filed for IVAs this year and it is expected that a total of 30,000 will file for an IVA this year.

One of the main benefits is that creditors cannot get your home while you are on an IVA.

Let's face it: Students = Broke. From paying for tuition, food, books, and the other creature comforts of college life to engaging in those "not so productive" times away from home, we college students have several expenses that add up very quickly. Without extra income, it can be very difficult to just get by, let alone have a little fun with our new found freedom. There are many ways to make extra money in college, whether you are looking for quick and easy money or a substantial income. As I am sure you already have found; an honest effort in school can go a long way. Spending some good time and effort "making the grade" online could make you the richest kid on campus. The good thing about making money online is that you will not need to leave your dorm room in order to do it. As long as you have a computer with an Internet connection, you can already earn some money online.

EASY MONEY
Overdue cell phone bill? Parking ticket? Looking to take a girl out but you don't have the cash? There are many ways to get money now and/or really quickly! Incentive Rewards Programs can help you have a fat wallet for that concert the weekend and paid surveys are also extremely popular. You could even make money by cleaning up your dorm and selling old stuff online. These are just a few examples of how you could make a quick buck.

ONLINE BUSINESS
Setting up an online business is easier than ever before, requiring very little startup capital in terms of money especially if you are setting up a business that will only require your skills. Many students find that they can make money in college providing services in their field, such as marketing. If you can write well or design websites, offer your services online. You can work on your assignments during your spare time. This will provide you with real life training and often your work becomes much more. For instance; I once designed a website for a client for a few hundred dollars. The website doubled as a project for a class that I was taking.

WORK WITH OTHERS
Working on your internet business online can sometimes turn you into a hermit and you could miss out on fun with your friends. If you do not want to work by yourself, involve your friends in your online money making endeavors. If you have a group of friends that have the same interest as you, you can propose a partnership and work together. There are many, many ways to make money online. No matter how much money you want to make or in what time frame you want to make it. No matter how much or how hard you want to “work” to get it, there is something out there that will help you make it the money that you need in college.

Have you ever thought that organizing and managing your money was overpowering and hopeless? By using personal finance software, many of the concerns you have with managing money can be squashed.

Picking the right software package for you can build your confidence in managing your money and making sure your finances are in order.

Some of the advantages of using personal finance software are:

* You can pay your bills online by using online banking.
* Manage your stock and 401K portfolio by trading stocks, bonds and mutual funds.
* You can get real time stock reports.
* Export your tax and financial data to your tax return.
* Build reports and graphs to find our where your money is going.
* You can keep all your financial information in one place.
* Maintain a list of usernames and passwords for all your investment websites.

An excellent personal financial software program will allow you to store your information and data for as long as you would like. You will not need to store files of pager in boxes with all your yearly statements.

Some financial websites will actually limit how long information is stored on their site. Personal financial software can help you to store your data on your computer so you can track your spending. You can build budgets and do long and short term goal planning.

Personal financial software will not do everything for you. You still need to set up the program when you begin and depending on the difficulty of your financial information and how comprehensive you are, it could take your some time. You can download a lot of your data from your financial websites, but you will still need to record some transactions manually. You also will need to be attentive in recording your data.

Here are some considerations and features when buying personal financial software.

* Make sure the software is user friendly and easy to set up and install.
* The software should be current on new tax laws.
* You should have the ability to do online banking and bill paying along with account transactions and reconciliation, exchange currencies, electronic payments and write checks.
* Features for investing should be including getting stock quotes, managing your 401k, stocks, mutual funds and bonds.
* Retirement planning options to achieve your financial goals, manage taxes, lifetime events, plan college expenses home purchases, expenses, debt relief and more.

A Stupid Credit Card Debt

I was recently divorced and I had no job. I was living at an old aunt’s place, since I couldn’t even rent a room and all I had was a credit card. I had already started paying the minimum amount and it was excessively overloaded. In the end, as it happens to most individuals in the same situation, they called me in to hand over the card, so they could void it.

Accumulative Interest

What came next was an endless “pilgrimage” with my few belongings, from house to house. No steady job, since I was quite battered due to the fact that in the course of just 30 days I was left without a job, without a family and no place to live in. I started a “dry” spell and it remained with me until I finally got round to a new atmosphere, new job and new energy. But the card debt… was accumulating interest.

It Is Easier Said Than Done

I had started a new era in my life, finding a new niche and exploiting it very well, since it was a free-lance job. In the end I slided into a self-employed situation that was very well paid. I had learnt to sell my services very well and quite dear. I remembered the debt at all times, but I just didn’t feel like putting my head on the chopping block.

The Inevitable

One day, the inevitable happened. My father had passed away and my family needed to sell the house to buy a smaller one for my mother. Seven brothers and sisters had to sign an authorization for the sale… But I was barred from all commercial operations because I had a debt. What started as a $5,000 debt was now, after 7 years, a nice fat sum of $20,000.

The Solution

My sister took a loan under her name and a small part of it was used for the moving and some repairs that had to be made on the new apartment. The rest was all to pay for my debt, cash down, so as to accelerate my legal rehabilitation. And now, came the real difficult part. I had to pay an installment of $800, at a time I had not planned to allot that much money to a debt I didn’t even want to pay back.

Four Long Years

Forty-eight months of bleeding my pocket from its precious greenbacks. There was no other option. If I failed to pay, it could mean serious trouble for my sister and in the long run a default with the probable loss of my mother’s house.

I still don’t know how I managed to pay every single payment. The summer months are usually bad for business, since I was teaching English to Korean immigrants and when their kids had vacations, they dropped off. I skipped a payment at the very beginning, but made up for it the following month.

Conclusion

What I mean with this is that when you want to hold on to your precious home, and especially the home of those who depend on you, you don’t know how you manage, but you pay up. And your property is never at risk. With a firm intention, there is no fear of not making it.

You know what motivates people to save money. Fear. Fear helps people to get into the saving habit because it makes people realize that they can lose it all. You will end up loosing many things if you don't learn how to manage your money. Don't wait until something has happened, like getting your car taken off of you. You will want to make sure that that you want to find the motivation early in life. If you learn how to save your money a little bit at a time you may be able to have a good hunk of change in the end. Saving money is important because you never know when the hard times are going to hit. You will find that there is a lot of motivation in knowing that you can have a safety new.

When it comes to a safety net, you will find that it has a huge opportunity because you never know what will happen. Saving money is very important because you never know what could happen. You may end up losing your job. You may end up getting hurt. You need to make sure that you are able to cover yourself by saving the money.

Some other things that might come into mind when you are looking for motivation for saving money is something that you always wanted. Maybe you have a purpose to save the money and it is not for a rainy day. Maybe you want to save your money so that you can go away on vacation, purchase a car, purchase a home, purchase something huge and that you normally wouldn't buy. You will to think about the amount of money it is going to take to make the purchase and then you are going to have to work hard saving the money. This is a great reason to save some money because you will love yourself in the end. You will know what it feels like to work hard for something that you truly want.

If saving money for something particular is not what you want to do then you might want to save the money for your future. There are so many people who are from the baby booming age who are now worried about how they are going to make it. They are worried about how they are going to be able to live after retirement. It's scary to be at an age where you can't work and not have any money saved for the future. If you want to be motivated to save money then you should always think about what you are going to do for the future. You can never have enough money for the future and you will learn that the more that you save, the better you are going to be able to live.

Another reason why you are going to have to save is for those unexpected things. Maybe you will end up at a crossroads in the future. You are going to have to choice one way and you need to know that you have the money to cover up the losses that you might come into account of.

You will find that there are lot of things that are going to happen, however, if you save money for your future and those unfortunate mishaps will always be covered and you'll plenty of time to focus on the things that matter the most, not your money issues. You are going to have plenty of time to focus on the things that you really care about and not pity things like money.

You know what motivates people to save money. Fear. Fear helps people to get into the saving habit because it makes people realize that they can lose it all. You will end up loosing many things if you don't learn how to manage your money. Don't wait until something has happened, like getting your car taken off of you. You will want to make sure that that you want to find the motivation early in life. If you learn how to save your money a little bit at a time you may be able to have a good hunk of change in the end. Saving money is important because you never know when the hard times are going to hit. You will find that there is a lot of motivation in knowing that you can have a safety new.

When it comes to a safety net, you will find that it has a huge opportunity because you never know what will happen. Saving money is very important because you never know what could happen. You may end up losing your job. You may end up getting hurt. You need to make sure that you are able to cover yourself by saving the money.

Some other things that might come into mind when you are looking for motivation for saving money is something that you always wanted. Maybe you have a purpose to save the money and it is not for a rainy day. Maybe you want to save your money so that you can go away on vacation, purchase a car, purchase a home, purchase something huge and that you normally wouldn't buy. You will to think about the amount of money it is going to take to make the purchase and then you are going to have to work hard saving the money. This is a great reason to save some money because you will love yourself in the end. You will know what it feels like to work hard for something that you truly want.

If saving money for something particular is not what you want to do then you might want to save the money for your future. There are so many people who are from the baby booming age who are now worried about how they are going to make it. They are worried about how they are going to be able to live after retirement. It's scary to be at an age where you can't work and not have any money saved for the future. If you want to be motivated to save money then you should always think about what you are going to do for the future. You can never have enough money for the future and you will learn that the more that you save, the better you are going to be able to live.

Another reason why you are going to have to save is for those unexpected things. Maybe you will end up at a crossroads in the future. You are going to have to choice one way and you need to know that you have the money to cover up the losses that you might come into account of.

You will find that there are lot of things that are going to happen, however, if you save money for your future and those unfortunate mishaps will always be covered and you'll plenty of time to focus on the things that matter the most, not your money issues. You are going to have plenty of time to focus on the things that you really care about and not pity things like money.

Credit card debt consolidation counseling services are the saviors of the people who have a poor record of maintaining their credit card debts. The growing figure of these credit card companies baits you to accept their credit cards and then fleece you from all nooks and corners of your finances. Credit card debt consolidation counseling helps you to take care of these financial strains. They can be approached by submitting some essential documents.

The documents required for Credit card debt consolidation are related to credit card debts, which you owe to different creditors. Taking in view of your financial standing and ability to pay, these counseling services design and suggest a debt consolidation program to pay off your debts. The services rendered by them help you in paying your debts in easy monthly installments. Negotiating on your behalf, they try to bring down the rates of interest and erase the penalties charged.

An Effective Service To Pull You Out of The Debt Marsh

Credit card debt consolidation counseling helps you to ease the ever-mounting pressure of credit card debts. The credit card debt increases manifold in a short span of time as for their high rate of interest and simultaneously the penalties charged every time for non-payment of dues.

These counseling companies are generally non-profit making companies and hence advise you on free credit card debt consolidation program. Counseling companies do not charge for their services, instead help you to reach a level, whereby you are able to free yourself from the clutches of credit card companies. Do remember that whichever Credit card debt consolidation counseling company you choose, it should give you debt consolidation quote free of cost.

Credit Card Debt Consolidation Calculator - A Great Reliever

The credit card debt consolidation calculator is a great reliever when it consolidates all your debts to your convenience. Using these calculators, you can consolidate your total debts into single monthly payments and keep a track of the stipulated period, to pay back your debts. A particular rate of interest can also be fixed as per your repaying capabilities. Optimum advantage can be achieved from these calculators by getting a helping hand from your Credit card debt consolidation counseling company.