Becoming Self-employed

I need to calculate the cost of pursuing my web business full time. Insurance is going to be expensive. I figure if I have enough work coming in I might be able to leave the paper in 2009. I’m not sure which insurance plans I will be eligible for. This is a huge step. It’s not that I am frustrated with my job. I’ve already gone through that and things are pretty much okay right now. Then why am I looking to work from home? One strong reason is the $2.85 I paid a the gas pump last night. I live in a part of town where everything I need is within walking distance of my house. That doesn’t mean that I would walk everywhere. However I can get to the grocery store, book store, gas station, hospital and a few restaurants in about 4 minutes. That doesn’t mean I won’t drive. It does mean that the daily 26 miles I am on the road will be greatly reduced. Insurance is a bit part of this. I would most likely need to beef up my homeowner’s plan in addition to finding a suitable health plan. My thoughts right now do not take into consideration any program that the government might come up with in the future. I am basing all research on the idea that there is no universal health plan in place. I will also have to put aside extra money towards retirement. I will be losing a lot from my company in the way of pension and I will have to convert my 401(k) money into an IRA. I may wait an additional year since I have a loan out from my 401(k) right now and that won’t be paid off until 2010.

It’s Decided. The Bush Rebate Goes to the Bank.

I’m sorry. I just can’t do what they want. This isn’t helping keep us from a recession or depression or whatever it is we are headed towards. If I take this money and use it to buy an iPod or camera or whatever I will just be following along with the rest of the mind-numbed who had a choice but took the easy route. I am going to look for a $500 CD and try depositing it on that for a year if possible. I really think that would be the best use of the money. This way I am “buying” something with it…just not a trinket. I’ve got iTunes on the laptop and an MP3 player. That needs to suffice for now. Maybe by this time next year they will have improved the iPod Touch even more. A camcorder would help since I plan to use one in my business. But that needs to be purchased with proceeds from the business not from this government funnymoney. Yeah it’s all coming out of my collective pool (Read: Casserole Dish) of funds. But the money from the government wasn’t budgeted for and shouldn’t be indiscriminately tossed about.

Interest Rate Slip

I’ve noticed that the rate on one of my accounts has dropped a little. I don’t know whether or not that has to do with the FED dropping rates a little or not. I like earning a bit more from my online bank account than the standard bank but I don’t think I want to go back to the post-Carter days of 14 percent interest or even the post-Reagan days of 8 percent. Whatever the banker is paying for the use of your money he’s charging more for the use of his. That drop of about a half percent also doesn’t tell us anything about how the economy is doing. If we could see some relief at the gas pump it might but with prices bottoming out at around $3 a gallon over the Winter we’ll probably see a floor of $3.89 or so by July. By floor I mean a lowest average price nationwide. We know that California will be up over $4 by then with their premium price much higher. I am glad I am choosing to not travel this year.

Shopping Math: I should have listened to Mom

I have started doing the math concerning stuff in the grocery store. Tonight I noticed that the single pack of 72 of an item costs more than two packs of 36 because the packs of 36 are on sale. I suspect most people are thinking big package, economy pack and so forth. Well in a lot of places that is the case. In this situation I was able to spend $1.64 less for the same amount of product. I noticed a similar thing when buying adult low-strength aspirin. It was actually cheaper to buy the bottle of 200 rather than 300. I’d like to find someone in charge of setting prices and find out why they price things like that.

MoneyMagic

Whether it is your first or fifth, a lot of work goes into getting Mortgages. You can do all the shopping around yourself and save a lot of money or you can hire someone to find you the best deal. Even if you choose this last option the more you know about mortgages the better off you will be. Mortgage search services like MoneyMagic are becoming more and more popular. They provide in-depth explanations of each type of loan product and free financing advice. You’ll be able to read guides for the mortgage types. You may find it better for your situation to break a loan up into two at different rates. Going in to see a loan officer understanding what your needs are can make things much easier in a month or two when it is time to begin paying the note. Use the mortgage calculator on the MoneyMagic website and request a free quote. Check them out at earth.co.uk

Direct Student Loans

When I was applying for student loans and other forms of financial aid, we had very few options. There were grants and loans but not much was explained to us about how each was funded. We knew we didn’t have to pay back the Pell Grant and the scholarship funds and that we would have to pay back the student loans but that was always 6 months after graduation. The three options available to you as an undergraduate or as a graduate are Federal loans, including both Stafford and PLUS loans, private loans and consolidation loans. Direct Student Loans explains each type of loan, helps you determine what you are eligible for and has the necessary applications available online. There are FAQ pages for consolidation loans so that you can understand why consolidation is important and what it entails. Most students graduate with several loans so consolidation is usually the best route to take. Directstudentloans dot com is a part of the Student Loan Network and is dedicated to helping you make the best decisions so that the process of applying for aid as easy as possible. You can also subscribe to Financial Aid News for information on financial aid as well as notices about scholarships and grants.

WaMu Checking Accounts

When choosing checking accounts you need to take a look at your financial situation. Do you have sufficient and consistent income to be able to afford to leave a minimum balance in the account so that the fees can be waived? If that is the case then you could benefit from the interest bearing feature of a premium account. Otherwise many people go with the free account. There are too many free accounts available to allow whatever balance you are able to carry to be consumed with fees. Free checking from Washington Mutual also comes with free services for identity theft, which is an ongoing concern of most people. After you look over your situation and decide what account is best suited for you, contact Washington Mutual to get started.

TrustSource: Cash Advance/Payday Loans

TrustSource dot org Cash Advance and Payday Loans reviews sites that offer Cash Advance/Payday loans online. In addition to posting their own reviews, they welcome input from the public. If you have had experience, regardless of how good or bad, with one of the cash advance websites they have evaluated, you can write your own review and give a ranking for the site. They also have a Cash Advance Guide which explains the payday loan process. From there you’ll learn what things you may have to submit in addition to your loan application, what you should expect, and how long it will take to get your money once they’ve processed your loan application. Experience differs from person to person, so if a product or service is being given consistent below-avg. ratings, it probably needs to be looked at. At the same time if it’s getting good reviews consistently this needs to be recognized. That’s why it is good to see consumer input in addition to an independent review. It allows people to communicate in a sort of micro-forum which saves time by you not having to waste time on a site that isn’t doing well. If you’re in need of a cash advance loan, go to their website, read the guide and pick a site that has good customer ratings.

Title Insurance

You need title insurance so that when the great grandson of the recently deceased owner of the house next door to yours hires an attorney saying that he wants the fence moved over two feet closer to your structure because his land is 75′ wide and not 73′. Your title insurance company agent will then do the necessary research and find the daughter of the original owner of your property and learn that seventy years ago through an unrecorded gentlemen’s agreement your neighbor’s great grandfather moved the fence over two feet to allow his neighbor room to walk by his house without having to turn sideways. In addition to defending your case in court the title insurance company will pay to have the fence moved or buy the two foot strip of land from the person who is suing you depending on the decision of the court. Even though the research done by title companies is thorough, there can be any number of issues outside their control. For example at some point during the ownership of property a signature on a deed may have been obtained from a minor or may have been forged. It is these types of undiscovered claims that a title insurance property protects you against as long as the property is owned by you or being passed along to your heirs. It is important coverage to have and like all forms of insurance, you’re paying the premium for the time that you may need it.

Rezko: No reason not to support Obama

It looks like one of Obama’s long time supporters got arrested for some skulduggery.

So?

Tell me why I should back Hillary or the Republicans. Rezko is chump change compared to some of the things that have happened in the last 8 years. Show me one politician who doesn’t have at least one backer under investigation. There’s all kinds of dirty money, blood money, organized crime money and other ill-gotten cash floating around Washington. The important thing is what we do with it when it is identified. Obama has already donated $80K in Rezko funds to charity and has vowed to give up the rest. Let Rezko deal with the consequences of his actions and let’s move on. As long as Halliburton has a single U.S. Government contract, don’t talk to me about objectivity, corruption or anything else.