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Your financial security is one of the keys to a happy life and a good future for those that you love. You, of course, keep your money mostly in a bank in order to keep it safe from thieves. Yet we live in a different world where that isn’t always enough anymore. There are cybercriminals who would like to steal your hard-earned money online or steal your identity and sell it to the highest bidder.

You cannot let this happen, so you should review these tips to make sure your data is as secure as it can be.

Protect Your Email

Your email account is probably the most important account you have to protect because it is likely what you used to create any other financial accounts you use online, and should it fall into the wrong hands, it could potentially be used to get into any accounts you have that contain personal or financial information. And without your email, it will be much harder to retrieve those accounts.

What you need to do is take every single security measure and option possible and maximize the protection on your email, even if it sounds like an inconvenience for you. Know that the inconvenience of identity theft is much, much greater. Make sure that you are using the best possible password and security questions (nothing that anyone can guess).

As a stronger measure, you might even wish to have a separate email account where you can take care of all of your various business and financial accounts and transactions. This way you don’t have to worry about a slip in security with one of your more casual accounts, and you can do easier damage control should something happen. Creating a new email is free and definitely worth the five minutes of effort.

Follow Common Internet Security Guidelines

The basics of internet security are the basics for a reason. There are all sorts of people trying to trick you out of your financial information online, and this doesn’t look like it is going to change anytime soon. Your passwords, as mentioned, are important and thus need care and attention to make sure that they are the strongest available. In addition, you need to have an internet security program, and you need to make sure it is updated along with your operating system.

You should also take great care about which websites you use when you are making purchases or other financial transactions online. Major players such as Amazon, PayPal or any of the major banks are probably okay, but some websites don’t even have basic protection. You shouldn’t trust such websites with your data, and the risk isn’t worth a discount of a few dollars or whatever else is offered to you. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Use a VPN in Public

All of the best passwords and internet security measures won’t help you much if everything you send over the internet were printed and distributed to the world. Yet this is essentially what happens when you use a public network without any protection for your computer. Your computer, when using the public network, effectively broadcasts the data over the network, and anyone with the right receiver setup (they aren’t complex or expensive) can intercept whatever you send without you knowing. Financial data gets no special treatment in this scenario, and thus it is vital to protect yourself.

The best way to do that is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which will connect your computer to an offsite secure server that masks your IP address. This connection is encrypted and protected so that you will effectively have a tunnel that your data passes through (instead of an open broadcast). This means that you can safely make financial transactions while you are using any network because the only information a hacker will be able to figure out is that you are using a VPN, and even that isn’t guaranteed for the hacker.

There are quite a few VPNs that will secure your finances, but be sure to pick out a well-reviewed one. There are some services that are sufficient but won’t give you service that you might require, so you are going to have to watch out.

Avoid the Cloud

While the cloud is for the most part a safe solution to storing personal data, sometimes data is just too important to arbitrarily give to a server you don’t have complete control over. The likelihood is that your financial data isn’t too large and thus can be stored easily on your personal computer. If you want to create a backup, which is a great idea, you can use a protected flash drive and put it in a safe. Should anything happen to your computer, you can load it onto your new system and then put it back in the safe. There are few safer methods than that.

Make a Weekly Review

While you should have a close eye on your finances as it is, there should be a special time set aside each week where you can properly take a look at the data that you are sending out and see if there are any abnormalities and react if necessary. While there are great alert systems that banks provide and you should be using them, there is nothing like a human pair of eyes to notice the things that a computer wouldn’t understand. It doesn’t need to be long, just take fifteen minutes or so each week to make sure that all the numbers add up. You can even do it while paying your bills.

Thank you for reading, and I hope that you have learned something new about the internet security habits and guidelines you should use so identity theft won’t happen to you.

The statisticians may tell us that the recession has been over for three or four years and that incomes have returned to pre-crisis levels. But for millions of people in the UK, the reality is that times are still hard and money short.

The good news, however, is that while you may have had a difficult year financially during 2015, there is no reason why you can’t make a New Year’s resolution to get your finances back on track in 2016. The situation is rarely hopeless, particularly if you are in work or have some other regular income. Even if you have large unsecured debts, there is usually a way for you to start reducing them and increase your disposable income at the same time.

If you want to tackle your financial issues in the year ahead, then you’re going to need some discipline and some determination to change the way that you may have behaved over the last few years. Getting your finances back on track may not be easy but it is probably simpler than you think:

1. Stop beating yourself up

 This is a prerequisite if you want to reduce your anxiety levels and make a start on tackling whatever financial problems you may currently be facing. It’s human nature to keep going over past mistakes and blaming oneself for silly decisions but what is done is done and now is the time to drop the blame and start concentrating on the future. Learn to accept what has happened and move on, concentrating instead on implementing positive steps to improve your financial outlook.

2. Make a financial inventory

Do you actually know how much you owe banks, mortgage companies and other financial organisations? It’s important to have a grasp of your total liabilities so that you can put in place long-term plans to repay this debt entirely. That means making an inventory of everything you owe – both secured and unsecured – as well as the remaining loan terms and the interest rates which you are being charged on each loan and credit card.

3. Prioritise credit with higher interest rates

If you’re going to make inroads into your debts in 2016 and relieve the pressure you’re under, then you should start increasing the amounts you repay on the mortgages, loans and credit cards that charge the higher amounts of interest. This is the only way that you’ll be able to increase the speed that you reduce your total amount of debts.

4. Make a list of everything you spend for a month

If you’ve got Excel or other spreadsheet software and know how to use it, then this is a brilliant tool for doing this important task. Make sure you list all of your income and all of your expenditures. Don’t be tempted to miss out things like coffees from the coffee shop or the odd treat – you need to be completely honest with yourself about where your money is going before you progress onto the next step.

5. Make a household budget

Once you’ve worked out everything you spend for a month, you’ll be in a good position to set a household budget. Using your spreadsheet program, list all outgoings (with the fixed ones at the top) and all of your income. Let the software work out totals (if you know how) and then calculate whether you should have money left over or if you are spending more than you earn. If it’s the latter, look at the non-essentials on your list and consider what to cut. Think about your food budget – could this be reduced either by using a cheaper supermarket or by cutting out some of the items which might be considered luxuries? The household budget will make it much easier to see where you can save money and divert that into reducing your household debt.

6. Consider consolidating debt

If the amount you’re paying in interest, fees and other charges is overwhelming you, you might want to make 2016 the year when you consolidate all those cards and other loans into a single, monthly repayments. Plenty of companies beyond the high street banks offer consolidation loans and the amount of interest you’ll pay may be surprisingly lower than you’re currently used to. The amounts on offer go all the way up to £25,000 for unsecured loans and even higher if you consider secured lending.

7. When you’ve paid off a card, close it

If you’ve got unused credit available, there is always going to be the temptation to start buying things that you probably can’t afford. The easiest way to stop yourself doing this is to close card accounts when you have paid off the outstanding balance. Always leave yourself one to cover financial emergencies but get rid of the rest and use the money you are saving to pay off further debt.

8. Debt repayment is a snowball – learn how to use it

When a snowball rolls downhill, it not only gathers speed but it grows larger and larger as it picks up more snow. Debt repayment is exactly the same if you are disciplined about it. When you start paying back debt, you reduce the amount of interest that you’re paying and so release money to pay off even more debt and so on. If you hit the loans and cards with the highest interest rates first, you’ll be tackling the biggest source of your financial worries and releasing more and more money to pay off other debts more quickly.

Article provided by Mike James, an independent content writer in the financial sector – working with a selection of companies including Solution Loans, a technology-led finance broker with many years experience – who were consulted over the information contained in this piece.

You’re not alone if you’re asking the million dollar question; “How am I going to make more money?”! In fact this question is on the minds of so many of us. Now some of us are thinking about it, because we are strapped for cash not able to make ends meet and get by every month without landing ourselves in the read. While others ask themselves this question as a way of improving their financial status and security.

Discovering new ways to make more money can be really exciting, especially if you’re thinking creatively and out of the box. But before you jump the gun, take a look at your money earning strategies that you currently have and see how those can be improved, before adding more to your repertoire!

Sometimes we get so comfortable in our jobs that we lose track at what our markets offer in terms of salary, and we forget about other opportunities that could improve our income. Perhaps it’s time to give some thought into changing your job. When you have a job and you’re looking for a new job, you have the luxury of being picky and asking for exactly what you need! When you’re hired for a new position, after demand an increase on your previous income, you have automatically changed your earning potential for future positions, as you continue to move up the ladder. If you’re too nervous to jump ship, then see if your boss is willing to bump up your salary. A raise in dollars can go a long way!

So often, we have a full time job which is our primary focus, that we lose track of other money making opportunities, because we aren’t really looking for them. If you’re looking to make more money, then you need to change your mindset and actively seek out opportunities that will help you to do this. With every job we have we own a set of skills, and things that we do well. So why not use that to your advantage and try to find so freelance work in your free time, to add to your already steady stream of income.

Adding onto that idea, is to really give some thought, if you haven’t already, to the things that you are good at doing. Offering services, either locally or online have shown to be the quickest way to increase your cash flow. People like to hire others for short term projects, to help them do things that they aren’t so good at themselves. When you find what you’re good at, offer that service to others, or offer an online course to help others gain the skills that for you are so simple. In our society today we are taught not to brag and it’s sometimes seen as egotistical to say that you’re good at something. But when it comes to making extra cash, it’s important to be clear on what you’re good at and to not be afraid to publicise it.

Overview

Mutual funds are one of the best ways for people to enjoy a high rate of return over the long term. A mutual fund is generally a collection of stocks that are chosen by the fund manager. There are some fees associated with investing in a mutual fund, but generally the rate of return that is offered will offset the higher fees. One of the most important things for any investors to do is to reevaluate the mutual funds that are owned every year. Over the long term, this can be a great way to take a look at the overall strategy that is in place with your investments. Here are several reasons why this is so important.

Diversification

Having a diversified portfolio is one of the most important aspects of earning a solid return over time. There are many people who have too much of their portfolio invested in one type of mutual fund. Spreading out the capital that is invested in various mutual funds is a great way to diversify the funds that a person owns. Over the long term, a diversified portfolio generally has lower rates of risk than portfolios that are not diversified.

Better Selection

Over time, an investor can have a better selection of funds by looking at them every year. Although the past is the best way to gauge the future, there are some funds that have performed well in the past that are not performing well now. This would only be noticed by taking a hard look at the funds that are owned by a person. By taking an unbiased look, an investor can decide to reallocate his or her funds into different sectors of the market. This can make a huge difference over time in the rate of return that is offered by the investments.

Rate of Return

The rate of return that an investor earns on his or her portfolio is one of the most important metrics to follow. There are many different ways in which the rate of return can be increased. Always make sure that a portfolio is diversified over the long term. In addition, there is a correlation between risk and return. Younger investors can afford to take on a higher level of risk because they have more time to recover from the risk. This is important to keep in mind for those who are just starting out investing. By looking at all of your funds every year, this is a great opportunity to invest in those funds that will go up more in the future. Over the long term, this will help to boost the rate of return that is earned.

Final Thoughts

Mutual funds are a great way to have a diversified portfolio that has a proven track record of success. However, it is important to choose the correct mutual funds to invest in. There are many different sectors and funds for investors to choose from. One of the best ways to keep a portfolio working over time is to constantly reevaluate the investments that are made. This is one of the best things that any investor can do in order to have a high rate of return over the long term.

Jessica Kane is a professional blogger who focuses on personal finance and other money matters. She currently writes for Checkworks.com, a leading supplier of personal and business checks.

Buying a car is not a simple decision to make and you have probably spent quite a bit of time thinking about it. From choosing the type of car you want to thinking about how to finance it, you need to put a lot of serious thought into the decision you are making. Once you have settled on make of vehicle that you want, it is time to start thinking about how to pay for it. So which is the best financing option for you?

Buy in cash or savings?

Buying your car on your savings is the best option when interest rates are low on your savings account yet you have enough savings. It is much better than keeping the savings with a low interest rate and borrowing a personal loan at a higher interest rate to buy the car. You can also combine your savings with a personal loan that covers a partial cost of the vehicle.

It is advisable to only use your savings when you have enough to leave some for emergency costs after paying for the car. If you do not have enough savings to pay for the entire price, you can use it to give the biggest deposit possible and reduce the car loan repayment amount.

Personal Loans

Personal loans are the cheapest way to finance a vehicle if you have a great credit score. Personal loans are available from banks, building societies and other finance providers. Avoid securing personal loans against your home as you will be at risk of losing it if you do not make your payments on time. You can shop around for personal loans from the different institutions available. The only challenge with taking out personal loans is that it may take some time to receive the funds and it will affect your other borrowing options.

Hire purchase

This is a way of buying certified pre-owned cars through paying in installments. You need to put down a deposit and make the rest of the payments for the vehicle between 12-60 months. Hire purchase programs are arranged by the vehicle dealers and can be very competitive for brand new cars. You do not own the vehicle until you make your last payment.

Hire purchase is a great option for you if you are in a rush to purchase your vehicle and cannot wait for finance provider protocols. The deposit can be as low as 10% with flexible repayment terms and competitive interest rates. The only challenge with hire purchase is that it may turn out be more expensive for short-term agreements.

Personal contract plan

A personal contract plan is a special car financing option that is a variation of the hire purchase option but with lower monthly payments. This personal contract plan is where you agree to pay the difference between its sale price and price for resale back to the dealer based on a forecast of annual mileage. It is a short term plan usually with a maximum of 36 six months after which you can give back the vehicle to the dealer at no extra cost, trade in the vehicle for another one or pay the resale cost of the vehicle and keep it. This payment plan is great if you do not want to settle on one type of vehicle, it is also much cheaper with a choice of what to do at the end of the payment period.

Grace Malloy is a loan officer with a lending firm. You can read more about your car financing options at Ideal Auto USA.