Online Credit Card Comparison: What You Need to Know

When comparing one credit card against another, you quickly see that not all cards are created equally. While they all allow you to accomplish the same basic goal of making purchases on credit, the way they go about it differs greatly. If you want to be a savvy shopper, it's important for you to choose a card that fits your needs as an individual. Comparing credit cards online can provide you with the information you need to make an educated decision. When comparing, there are a few factors that you'll want to look at to ensure that you make the best choice.

Annual Fee

One of the areas that you'll want to look at when comparing is the annual fee. Many credit cards charge you an annual fee just for having an account. This fee is charged once a year and is typically a fixed amount. In some cases, the credit card company will waive the annual fee if your balance goes above a certain threshold. It is important to read the terms of the credit card to find out if your annual fee can be waived once you reach this level. Some credit cards do not require an annual fee. Without looking at the other factors, choosing a card with no annual fee usually makes the most sense.

Interest Rate

Besides the annual fee, the other way that credit card companies make the majority of their money is with interest charges. These interest rates are multiplied by your card balance to determine how much you pay in interest. Credit card interest rates can vary greatly from one case to the next. Some credit cards charge interest rates as high as 20%, while others have more affordable rates at 10%. This can be a big difference if you typically carry a large balance on your card.  

In addition to looking at the basic interest rate of the credit card, you should also look at the introductory rate. Introductory rates are typically lower than what the credit card will charge you over the long-term. For example, a credit card may offer an introductory rate of 0% for the first 18 months on purchases or balance transfers. Then after the 18 months is up, the rate jumps up to 15%. Finding a card with a 0% introductory rate can be beneficial if you want to transfer a balance from another credit card account. This will give you 18 months of no interest in which you can pay down your balance. Find out how long the introductory period is and then find out what the interest rate jumps to after that period is up. Also clarify whether the introductory interest rate applies to balance transfers and purchases or just balance transfers. Each credit card offer is different in this regard.

Rewards Programs

When shopping around for a credit card online, you also have to look at the rewards programs that they offer. In today's credit card market, many cards offer customers rewards for using their cards to make purchases. It is important to shop around and look at the terms and conditions of these programs before making your selection. If you do not choose the best rewards program that you can get, you are essentially leaving money on the table. These rewards can be used for free things like airplane tickets, hotel accommodations, food and electronics.  

When looking at the rewards programs, find out exactly how you accumulate rewards. Some credit cards give you one point for each dollar that you spend on the card. Others give you two points for each dollar that you spend on the card. In certain spending categories, you may be able to get even more points for each purchase that you make. Then take a look at how many points it takes to get something in the rewards program. If the program that offers double points requires you to get twice as many points to get something you want, you wouldn't gain anything by selecting it.  

Once you've weighed these factors, fill out the application and get approved for the card you want. Just be careful that you don't use more credit than you can afford to pay back in the future.

Contributor Andy writes about credit cards for the Australian credit card comparison website, CreditCardHelp.com.au. Click here to go to their website where you can find more of his writing.

4 Trends Not to Forget About For Investing in 2012

Here Are 4 Trends Not to Forget About For Investing in 2012

 

2012 is here and as is the case with the dawning of any new year, investors take a look back at what worked and make plans for the coming year. 2011 will be a year to forget for European investment markets as a whole but some investors still managed to come out ahead. Will 2012 bring more of the same and how should we prepare for a year that already has investors understandably nervous? 

 

1. Dividends Will Work

It has been such a common theme that we’re tired of hearing it. We should all have a portfolio of dividend paying stocks that guarantee us income even when the market is severely challenged. We heard this advice all year and it worked. 

 

Not only were investors looking for sources of income when their growth strategies broke down, but as money poured in to these defensive names many of these stocks went from boring income names to more exciting growth names. Watching dividends enter our accounts is about as thrilling as watching paint dry but as Europe weakened, dividend stocks strengthened. 

 

Don’t expect that to change. Until the European debt crisis is a distant memory, low beta, high dividend names will continue to work. 

 

2. Don’t Try to Make Money

Sometimes we play defense and sometimes we play offense and 2011 was a year for defense. Making money took a back seat to trying to preserve capital. We were happy if we minimized our losses and we were elated to see any returns that were green in color. 2012 isn’t setting up to be a year of offense. 

 

Once again, investors will start the year in a defensive position and hope that the latter part of 2012 may turn around but until then, greed will take a back seat to fear. 

 

3. But we’ll Look for Opportunities

Just because we’re thinking defensively in our trades doesn’t mean we won’t jump at the chance to make some exciting long term investments. Challenging markets aren’t fun but for long term investors, severely discounted, high quality companies are as good as gold. Taking a long term position in a company that has seen a 30% or more decline because of the overall market is a sale not to be missed. 

 

Not only does that set up a fantastic growth opportunity but it also increases the dividend yield.

Profitable investors know that there is little money to be made when you trade with the masses. The stock market is already on sale and if Europe remains under pressure the sale prices might become even better. Putting your emotions aside and buying when the market is at its weakest will eventually pay off in a big way. 

 

4. Say No to the Banks

With the thousands of stocks on the market, there is no reason to take a chance on a sector that has proven for multiple years that it doesn’t want to perform. 2011 was a year where some of the most respected analysts continually said that banks have bottomed. They were proven wrong many times over and investors lost money. At some point in the future banks will outperform the markets. They will return to the glory they once had and the investors who buy the financials and wait will see returns that far outpace the overall market. 

 

But we don’t know when that will be and our money will work harder for us in other sectors. Nearly every corner of the markets did better than banks and that probably won’t change any time soon. 

 In Conclusion, We Don’t Know What Will Happen

Although the financial media will bring us thousands of guests in 2012 who will tell us where the market is going, the truth is that they are making a prediction based largely on their opinion and biases. Nobody knows where the markets will end up at the end of 2012 or even the end of January. 

 

What we do know is that markets will continue to be choppy and volatile. They’ll be hypersensitive to world economic news and short term trading opportunities will present themselves amidst that choppiness. 

 

Make cash a large part of your portfolio in 2012. Not only will you have funds ready when the market presents an incredible buying opportunity but also to avoid the heavy volatility that will certainly continue. 

 

Tim is a stock trader and freelance writer who writes reviews of the best credit cards for CreditCardCompare.com.au, an Australian comparison website where he recently wrote a related post on the rules for investing in stock. If you'd like to track his work on CreditCardCompare.com.au, follow @thecreditletter on Twitter.

5 Start Up Tips for Businesses

The economy has always depended on small businesses for growth and even in a poor economy, starting a business could provide you with a golden opportunity. While starting a business can be lucrative, it can also be disastrous if you do not approach it from the right angle. If you're interested in starting a business, here are five tips that you may want to keep in mind.

1 Create a Business Plan

Many people have business ideas and pursue them as potential businesses. However, few entrepreneurs actually go through with the process of creating a business plan and testing the viability of that business. With a legitimate business plan in place, you can determine if your business idea could be supported financially. It will also force you to think about issues that you may overlook otherwise. Having a business plan in place will also be beneficial when it comes time to obtain financing for your business idea. Lenders will like being able to look at a professional business plan and see that you've covered every possible angle.

2 Choose a Legal Structure

Entrepreneurs need to take some time to think about the proper type of legal structure for their businesses. Without some type of legal structure for your business, you leave yourself open to litigation and other problems in the future. Taking the time to set up a corporation or LLC could help protect your personal assets and give your business the credibility it needs to get started.

3 Get Business Insurance

Many businesses start conducting business without the proper insurance covered in place. Most businesses need several different types of coverage before they can be adequately protected. For example, you may need protection for your place of business and for your equipment as well as protection against liability. Check out a site such as BusinessInsurance.org to get help in this area.

4 Focus on Employees

Even if you have a great business idea, you will need some good employees to help you get it off the ground. Focus on hiring the best employees that are available in your market. Provide these new employees with some incentives to be loyal and work hard for you. This could involve a solid compensation package or benefits that your competitors don't offer. If you treat your new employees with respect, they will return that respect and be more willing to stick with you for the long-term.

5 Research

When it's time to start your business, you have to spend some time researching the competition and figuring out a price your products and services. If you price your products too high, no one will buy them. A little bit of time spent in research could save you big dollars later.

Can Social Media Help Me Save?

Before I even start I need to let everyone know that I had a video in the works being edited to be my third vlog. Because I am seriously so green at this somewhere in the transfer and editing process I managed to wipe the camera hard drive and accidentally delete the uploaded footage. Now I know that these are not the most spectacular videos ever but I set a goal to get these vlogs out and I have been trying to stick to it. Again, not that anyone is really missing me yammering on for 4 minutes but I will try my best to get a video up before the end of this week!

You don’t have to be web savvy anymore to contribute to the wide world of social media existence. Most smart-phones, tablets and any other tech device comes pre-loaded with Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Sometimes even Foursquare, Google+, and even Skype. It is so easy to contribute to and be connected with virtually anyone else that spends any time online. For the most part people are either screaming “look at me”, “look what I did”, or “look at this really cool thing I found online” - which is perfectly normal and expected. I want to share a few tips to help you stay connected but also motivated on saving more for yourself.

1. Join the conversation! Well not all of them but there are a few #tweetchats that happen that are sponsored by places like @wisebread, @bankrate, and @moneycrashers that are really good. It will give you the opportunity to not only see that other people might have the same questions and concerns that you do but also pick up some useful information. They are used staffed with “experts”, financial professionals, financial bloggers, and general knowers of things finance that can help give some solid advice. It’s also a great place to shout your goals to the world and hopefully have someone find you and hold you accountable - or who wants the same thing and needs support.

2. Stop keeping up with the Jones’ and start creeping their profiles. Social media is a great thing that allows people to share all kinds of personal information. It becomes an information playground where you can actually see how people are allocating their scarce resources - time and money. So if there is a particular lifestyle you were shooting for, a product, or service you were interested why not make your way through Facebook. Help beat irrational purchases! It can also be used a polling ground to get opinions on purchases or plans. One of my favorite parts of doing this kind of research is seeing that it really isn’t always greener on the other side.

3. Creating a game that goes with you. I am guilty of downloading personal finance apps and not really sticking to them because they weren’t intuitive and really not engaging. Using a few different apps to keep track of where your day takes you might help out. Sites and apps like mint.com actually give you approximate age appropriate rankings of status - where you currently stand vs. where you possibly should be. Add a geo-location app to that and now you can start to track where your money goes by mapping your day - I like Foursquare. Not only that but these apps might also be able to provide you with savings tips or suggestions to keep more money in your pocket. The best part is you are not doing it alone as you can interact with other users who are checking in or looking for the same kind of savings you are. You were already going to Tweet about it any way, so might as well offer some help to the next person.

4. Listen. If you watch your social media feeds long enough you won’t even have to engage to figure out what might be best for you. Places like YouTube, Revision3, and TWiT give great reviews on all kinds of products and services. People are constantly sharing the experiences and your social media networks have the potential to connect you to almost anyone. So use it! Don’t just ask about products go straight to the creators and dig a bit. Don’t just talk about saving money, announce it and have people follow your journey. Listen represents the act of you listening to others but also having people listen in on you.

Hope these 4 tips help make you think about using social media in a different light. It can really be more than just a place to tell people what your eating and that you are watching your favorite TV shows. I’ve linked a few of my profiles up there so if there is anything I can ever to help please let me know! I love helping people do better for themselves.

Insurance keeps you happy, healthy and frugal

Good health is something you may not appreciate until it disappears. With the ongoing economic woes of the nation, it is easy to overlook the importance of obtaining adequate health insurance. Healthy individuals may feel that medical insurance is an unnecessary expense. Research shows otherwise.

People with good health insurance tend to live longer and happier lives. They don’t have to worry about the consequences if they should suddenly develop a major illness or suffer a serious accident. They are able to continue working and remain financially secure despite the rising cost of medical care.

Finding affordable health insurance may be easier than you think. Online sources are available for locating cheap health insurance plans that will provide the security of a backup in case of trouble. No one likes to think that an illness or accident may be in their future. Having that insurance policy can give you peace of mind so you don’t actually have to think about that possibility.

When looking for health insurance, consider more than just the cost of the premium. Read the fine print to find out what restrictions are placed on coverage, and when the policy will become active. Some policies cover unplanned pregnancies but others do not. If pregnancy is a possibility, it is important to make sure that contingency is covered adequately.

Advantages of health insurance include:

-No need for medical coverage in automobile insurance

-Longer life

-More preventive care leading to greater health

-Prompt treatment when ill or injured

-Lower cost for prescription drugs

-Convenience of having a primary care provider

-Reduced worries about financial costs

-Reduced medical costs overall

People who opt out of health insurance cite the following reasons:

-No need for insurance when healthy

-Increasing cost of insurance

-Difficulty with finding coverage

People who decide not to purchase health insurance need to keep in mind that providers charge private-pay patients a higher rate for the same services. While this may seem unfair, the practice is due to the fact that insurance carriers pay doctors and hospitals for supervising the care of patients. This payment is not available if the patient is uninsured.

Medical costs are the most cited cause of bankruptcy in the United States. Unpaid medical bills can lead to wage garnishment and a poor credit rating, costing the individual even more of his hard-earned money. Without a primary care physician, you are obliged to go to either urgent care or an emergency room if you are sick and wait until the attending physician gets around to seeing you. This is a major inconvenience, especially when you don’t feel well.

It is more affordable and simpler than you may realize to find cheap medical insurance online. Many sites offer comparisons of various companies, making it easier to find a plan that will cover your needs and still be reasonably priced. When looking for insurance, compare both prices and coverage to decide on the best available option. Health insurance is important to your well-being and may not cost as much as you expect. Look online to find the best choices available. Health is worth protecting.