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Although many people think saving and investing are very similar to one another, there are some key differences.

By being aware of those differences you may change your mind when deciding which action to take.

We listed some pros and cons of both saving and investing to help you to weigh which is the better solution for you.

Similarities and differences between saving and investing

The thing that connects the two is that they are both strategies to accumulate money! Saving or investing both imply putting your money aside for potential future needs.

They can both protect you from debt. However, if you find yourself in that situation, be active in the process and claim Payment protection insurance if needed.

The difference between the two is the type of assets used in the account.

Another one is that if you want to be able to use the cash quickly, save (but it can also be done for some long-term future plans).

If you don’t want to play it safe and your desire is achieving a higher return – invest!

Where to go?

Savers – go to a bank or a credit union and open a saving account. When opening a saving account, look for the APY (highest annual percentage yield) to maximize your earnings.

Investors – open an account with an independent broker, which includes mutual funds, bonds, stocks and exchange-traded funds. Also, keep in mind when investing that you should invest only the money you won’t be needing any time soon.

You should keep your funds in the investment for at least 3 to 5 years minimum.

Are there some risks?

While investing, you should always think twice before doing something. Saving is safe with the minimum amount of risk – it is very easy to do and the chance of losing money is equal to zero.
You are always familiar upfront with how much you will earn in your balance.

On the other hand, investing is always unpredictable and you have to be aware of the risk of potentially losing everything, but also of earning a lot more!

When talking about risk, the thing that needs to be mentioned is the price of saving and investing. Saving is not expensive, since opening an account is free.

But, you have to keep in mind some unpredictable factors such as inflation. Saving doesn’t protect you from it, while investing potentially can save you (if you think in a long-term period).

How should I decide whether I should save or invest?

This decision should be based on your wishes and needs.

If you’re looking for earning money and taking risks that can possibly have very good or very bad consequences, you should invest.

If you are thinking about putting some money aside just in case you might need it someday and you want to be able to use your money whenever you need it, you should save.

This decision is not always easy. Thinking it thoroughly, make the best decision for yourself. It can be a lot easier than you think – contact Optimal Solicitors in Manchester, they know what to do!

Are you in a credit card debt? Credit card debt is something that most adults out there tend to struggle with. However, for some, it becomes a frightening cycle in which they might get stuck for the rest of their lives. As per a recent study report, it was revealed that around 75 percent of consumers having credit cards tend to carry around $6200 as the average balance.

Lately, in the year 2019, credit cards having higher than average balances had increased by as much as 3 percent. This implies three-quarters of earning adult population is trying to manage credit card debt in some way or the other. This is the reason why learning to manage, and paying down your credit card debt turns out to be more important than ever.

Here is our guide into managing credit card debt like a pro:

#Learning How to Use Credit Cards Responsibly

When you are trying to get out of credit card debt, the first thing that you would like to ensure is to understand the proper use of the credit card. Credit cards serve to be great financial tools for aspects like earning reward points, building the credit card history, and serving as a highly secure way of ensuring payments other than cash.
When you make use of the credit card responsibly, it also implies that you are expected to pay the bills on time for the given due amount. When you do not aim at paying your bills on time, it is going to ultimate harm the overall credit. This is because credit history turns out to be the biggest factor that is regarded when you are analyzing the credit score.

Huge amounts of debts would also reflect poorly on your overall credit score. Therefore, it is recommended that you should not make use of the credit cards out of your financial limits. You should aim at making use of the credit cards for buying what you need within the budget and have the ability to pay back.

#Knowing Your Budget

A budget serves to be a detailed plan about how you will be managing your money. This can be done by tracking your overall dollars that you earn as well as spend. A budget helps in providing you a clear picture of your overall financial life. It also allows you to be aware of the extra money that you are required to spend or the loss of money that you have currently.

When you are aware of the budget, it serves to be a vital part of your debt management strategy. This is because it reveals how much money you will have for paying your bills on time while paying down the debt. Particularly when it comes to paying off the debt, you will be required to know the amount of free cash flow that you should put in additional funds for debt payments.

#Paying More Than the Minimum Payment

With the passage of time, when you pay only the minimum amount, it will end up costing you more money. This is because as you would carry a balance on the respective credit card, balance accrues interest on a daily basis. However, when you are paying the full balance off as per the due date, you will not be getting charged any interest.

#Understanding the Credit Utilization Rate

Do you know what credit utilization rate is? A credit utilization rate is regarded as the ratio between the amount of revolving credit that you have in comparison to how much is available out there. Individual credit utilization rate is a major part of what will be used for determining the credit score.

A lower value of the credit utilization rate implies that your credit cards have not been maxed out. This also implies that you are managing the overall credit properly.

On the other hand, a higher credit utilization rate implies that you are not spending your money wisely while having higher amounts of debt related to credit cards.

As per the ideal credit utilization rate, it is expected to be around 30 percent. If the same goes above 30 percent, then you should aim at lowering the credit utilization ratio in the respective management plan for your credit cards.
Lowering the same will help in decreasing your debt while increasing the credit score.

#Improving the Spending Habits

If you are not adept at your spending habits, you should aim at fixing the same right away. Poor habits including spending more than what you are earning are not right. It is recommended that you should consider changing the spending behavior to be in line with the respective budget.

You can consider implementing techniques for effective money-saving like buying on sale, using coupons or discount codes, ensuring frugal living, and so more. All of these techniques can help in improving your overall spending while allowing you to save more to pay off all your debts.

You should take time at developing good spending habits. This will serve to be a long-term strategy for managing the overall debts & finances. You would not like to have healthy spending to serve as a temporary solution. Rather, you should aim at making the same as your long-term lifestyle habit to achieve your financial goals.

#Reviewing the Credit Report

The credit report that you have is the review of all your past as well as present credit activity. It allows you to know about every creditor to whom you owe money. Most importantly, it allows the lenders to be aware of the history of the respective debt payments. This will help in determining if they would like to loan the money to the borrowers and the interest rate for the same. The credit report is known to affect the overall ability of the borrowers to borrow money. Therefore, you should ensure that it is positive and accurate.

Conclusion

Make use of the right strategies for waiving off debt on your credit card history.

Exercise at Home and Get Life Insurance Without a Physical Exam

You probably know how important it is to regularly exercise so you can stay fit. It’s a good idea to spend at least 30 to 60 minutes each day being active. Even just moving continually for about 10 minutes can significantly impact your health for the better, making it less likely that you’ll need a physical exam for life insurance. It’s also a good idea to get in lots of steps.

You might not like going out to a gym for your workout, or it may be closed. If that’s the case, you’ll be happy to know that you can be active in your own house. The insurance underwriters at Sproutt.com want to share a few tips with you for staying active.

Run Up and Down the Stairs

Get your favorite tunes going and start moving. You don’t have to run, but it can be an even bigger impact on your fitness. However, you can also get your heart pumping with a brisk walk. Of course, you’ll want to be careful when you are going down the stairs. If you have any health issues, it’s a good idea to check with a health care provider first.

Try Squats in Your Living Room

Doing squats is an effective strength training exercise. You need to have both upper and lower body strength so the muscles can work together. There are many benefits of doing squats. For example, it can reduce your risk of injury when being active while making your core stronger and helping you burn calories. Most importantly, you can do them anywhere.

Put Away Your Family’s Things

Whether your partner forgot to put their clothes away or your kids didn’t clean their rooms, don’t get frustrated. Instead, think of it as a way to start moving. When you bend over to get the items off the floor, your legs and back might improve their flexibility. That’s a great time to add some squats in, too.

Get Some Home Equipment

From resistance bands to exercise balls and dumbbells, there is a wide range of home equipment that won’t break the bank or take up too much room. It’s fairly easy to find a few minutes here and there to use them.

You might be waiting for some water to boil or having your kids do some homework. Now is an excellent time to add in a few bounces or reps. You’ll be much more likely to do this if you have the equipment easily accessible.

If you don’t know how to use your home equipment, you might look for some exercise videos. They can help you start moving while putting you in a great mood. They can make your home routine a little bit more interesting, and there are hundreds of free ones out there on different websites. You could go with a different video every day.

Try Gardening

Just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you have to stay inside all the time. If you have a garden that someone else has been taking care of or have been neglecting it, you may be surprised to learn that it’s a good way to be active.

It’s a moderate form of exercise that’s good for your entire body. It helps you spend time outside, which might elevate your mood. Plus, it can burn those extra calories, making you a better candidate for life insurance.

How to Stay Motivated

Working out while you’re at home might be even more effective than regular gym visits. But as is the case with many types of exercise, you may not feel motivated all the time. Or maybe chores around the house, like dirty dishes or laundry, are piling up. So, how do you get yourself to keep up your routine?

One way to keep up your motivation to get fit for life insurance is by using a pedometer. That may make it more likely for you to reach your daily goal. But don’t just wear it while you’re on a walk. Even running up and down the steps or working in the kitchen counts. That helps you see just how close you are to meeting your goal.

Many people find that having a workout buddy helps them stay motivated. For example, you could have a short phone call or text conversation to tell each other about your workouts for the day. It’s a great way to get new ideas to help you increase your activity.

Benefits of Active Lifestyles and Getting Life Insurance

When it comes to improving your quality of life, being active is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Some of the benefits include:

• Feeling Better
• Having a Healthier Body
• Being More Content

Plus, staying healthy often gives you better rates for life insurance. Click here to answer a few quick questions to help us find the best life insurance policy without you having to get a physical exam.

You’re never too young to plan for retirement. In today’s busy world, however, developing a retirement plan can be quite daunting. Fortunately, many financial resources make it possible for people to plan for their retirement early enough. Generally, these tools come with advice, great benefits, goals, and progress reports, all at your fingertips.

Plan Your Retirement

Retirement planning is simply the process of determining income goals in retirement and the necessary steps to achieve this. This part is important because it inspires you to take charge of your finances.

Knowing exactly what’s draining your purse is vital to planning your retirement. If you’re not sure of what’s emptying your account, what you have left, and at what level of saving you should be for your planned retirement, then you may need digital apps to help you budget and plan accordingly.

Determine A Good Amount For Retirement

When it comes to saving for your retirement, asking a stranger how much is the right amount is like asking a Londoner how much it costs to commute from Chicago to New York. He/she would more than likely reply with some follow-up questions such as “Will you drive or fly?” and “Where are you now?”

In the same vein, when it comes to how much you need to save for retirement, you need to put some things into consideration for effective planning, including:

• Your current financial status.

• Your anticipated retirement lifestyle.

• How much you stand to collect from social security?

• When do you plan to retire?

• Your investment options.

For early retirement, some financial planning experts suggest between 10-15% of your current income. Whether you’re pursuing early retirement or not, the best way to determine your savings level is to create a retirement limit plan and to do the math to see if you’re still on course.

The rule of thumb is that after you’ve calculated what you believe you possibly need during retirement, multiply the amount by 25. For instance, if the amount is $20,000 per annum, you’ll need 25 × 20,000 = $500,000 to retire comfortably. In contrast, if you’ll receive a $5,000 annual pension and another $5,000 in Social Security benefits, you’ll need only half of the $20,000 per year from your savings account. Therefore, you’ll need just $250,000 saved, which is a good amount for retirement.

Set A Guide For Your Retirement

The majority of the news about retirement nowadays is negative – you may have to work longer because Social Security won’t be enough to save you, and with a longer life span, your savings may not last. This sad commentary may spur you to give up and abandon your retirement goals. But, this approach is likely to complicate things in the long run.

The truth is that having an hitch-free retirement isn’t all about being wealthy, but more about investing your assets wisely. The steps you need to consider in formulating an effective retirement strategy include:

1. Setting your retirement goals to include what you wish to achieve and your financial needs.

2. Creating a financial retirement budget to achieve your objectives.

3. Getting online help from professional financial planners, counselors, financial institutions, and digital applications that could help transform your funds into investment vehicles for a financially stable retirement.

Conclusion

Now you’ve got one or two tips to set you up on the way to plan efficiently for your retirement without hiccups. If you’re finding it difficult to draw a proper retirement plan, consider hiring a financial advisor to help you outline your retirement plan and guide you accordingly.

You may also try out digital apps that are sometimes free to use and quite efficient.

However, for those who are not so tech-savvy, selecting the best apps to help plan your retirement early could be difficult since not much information is provided about them in the popular app stores. To this end, we compiled a list of the best applications to help you plan for your retirement.

Apps to help go into early retirement.

While going through the list, you’ll find many useful apps with unparalleled features for your benefits.

Life insurance is a mystery to many people. Knowing when to get a policy and how much cover you may need often stump those looking to help protect their family’s financial future. There seem to be no shortage of insurance companies to choose from, so how can anyone know that they’re getting the best deal?

For many people, the cost of life insurance is important. Research presented by the Financial Services Council in June 2019 found that 28% of New Zealanders felt life insurance policies were too expensive. With household budgets already stretched thin, this comes as little surprise.

Though the cost of life insurance may be important, it’s only one factor to consider. The policy with the lowest premiums may not be the right fit for your needs. For many Kiwis, finding flexible cover that’s backed by a trusted and caring life insurer may be just as important as price.

Other factors when choosing life insurance

There are many factors that may come into play when you choose a life insurance policy. After price, the company selling the policy could be the most important.Going with a trusted insurance company may play just as a big a part in your decision making as finding the right price point.

When comparing life insurers, you may want to look at these four factors:

1.Who issues the policy?

Life insurance in NZ can be sold directly by the insurer themselves or through a distribution partner. This information is often found on the company’s website and in the policy wording. You could also learn this through news items or press releases (such as this one, announcing that Momentum Life had received their life insurance licence).

This information may matter, as it could affect the amount of money your family can claim in the future. Insurers often limit how much cover you can have with them, even if you bought the policy from two different brands. If you have more than one life insurance policy that’s backed by the same insurer, the benefit paid under one of those policies may be reduced.

2. What’s the insurer’s Financial Strength Rating?

Choosing a life insurance company may feel like an exercise in trust. You’re paying money now and trusting that the business will be there in the future. How can customers know the company they pick will be there when they need them?

A Financial Strength Rating is an indicator of how healthy an insurance company is, including how well placed they are to pay future claims. This rating is provided by independent financial reviewers and can help give customers more confidence when taking out a life insurance policy. In New Zealand, this information must be placed on the company’s website by law and in the policy wording.

3. Independent awards or quality marks

Life insurance companies typically aren’t shy about singing their own praises. However, this could help you decide who to go with. Awards can give customers important information about a life insurance company.

Industry awards may be a good indicator of how well an insurance company is performing, as well as how innovative or forward-thinking their business is. Insurers may also receive awards from independent companies recognising their strong customer service or community involvement. NZ insurers can also receive quality badges, such as the WriteMark, that demonstrate their commitment to customer care.

4. Customer reviews

Word of mouth can be great for all types of businesses, and life insurance is no exception. Reading customer reviews could help you get a better sense of the service you might expect after taking out a life insurance policy.

Customer reviews can vary depending on where you find them. A Google review could be left by anyone (even someone who’s never held a policy with the company), while reviews on Feefo only come from real, verified customers. You may also want to take some negative feedback with a grain of salt. Customers are much more likely to voice a complaint than sing a company’s praises. However, if the feedback for an insurer is overwhelmingly positive or negative, then this could be a good signal of how well they treat their customers.

Finding the right life insurance policy can be tricky, but knowing what to look for could help you make this decision. The above tips could help you narrow down your options and find cover that works for you and your family.