Showing posts with label earning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label earning. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

BANKS: The Only Option For Savings?

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Money is an object we as adults work hard for. It is a medium wherein we use to exchange for something that adds value to our life. Every people have different definition of what money is and what it is for – positive or negative or both. This allows us to have things that answer your basic needs and wants. The more money you have, the more you become comfortable mentally simply because you are assured that for the coming days your basic needs would be provided for. It really makes the world go round.

All our lives, rich or poor, educated or not, we work just to earn money. Poor people, as early as they can think, they are trained to make money in whatever way possible – begging, collecting and selling garbage, and sometimes committing crimes. For us educated people, we were trained for 16 years more or less from nursery to college also to make money. We specialize on a certain field which will turn out to be our career that would provide us high paying salaries or business earnings. At the end of our formal educating years, what do we do next? Yes, make money. Everyone does, except of course kids who don’t want to work because they have filthy rich parents.

Once we start earning money, we take care of our basic personal needs. Then when our salaries will eventually be bigger than our basic needs we now can afford things beyond our basic needs – shopping, travel, etc. But there will be a time, either right away or later, when you would realize that this wouldn’t go on forever. Thus, we start saving money for our future.

Before, saving money is very simple. Keep it in a safe place in your house which would make it very vulnerable or keep it in a bank. This traditional way of saving is still being used right now. Banks certainly bring a lot of convenience to us. Deposit in your account, and the bank would be the one to protect it. Need money? Withdraw using ATM or through the bank teller. This makes us love banks even more. But will your money ever grow with them? I don’t think so.

Savings account earns 1% minus tax. Time deposit earns you 3-5% minus tax depending on the amount of deposit. Our inflation rate sometimes reaches to 5%. TRANSLATION: Your money isn’t earning well in the bank or sometimes the value even depreciates. Not everybody understands this, but you should! Your hard earned money depreciates in value over time in the bank. What if 10 years or so of saving you still haven’t found an investment vehicle? Then your money just depreciated before your eyes.

Are there any other savings tools aside from banks? My answer could create different reactions: LIFE INSURANCE. How? Through investment linked products of Life Insurance. Yup Life Insurance today isn’t just about claiming a lump sum amount when somebody dies. You can use it as a savings tool that earns 6% or more.

This savings tool is a bargain because it gives you life insurance coverage for free. The moment you open an account, not only did you simply open an account, you also are covered immediately. How’s great is that for a savings account? And just like the bank, you can withdraw and deposit.

That right there is an alternative when it comes to savings. But I am not saying that you empty your bank account and move it to insurance companies. Your bank account should be for immediate cash need purposes and Life Insurance for long term savings purposes because it out grows inflation rate and earns way bigger than banks.

So my question to you is, do you just let your hard earned money depreciate like that in banks? Or do you let it grow for savings purposes until you have come up with an idea where to invest it? What’s your pick? - DE

P.S.

Do you have a better savings tool? Comment here or contact me! Should you want to know more about investment linked products of life insurance, you watch out for my coming blog about that it. It would be a simple explanation of what it is. But if you want to know about it in full details, you can contact me through email first. Cheers!

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Thursday, July 29, 2010

Think and Re-think Before You Let Go of Your Money

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Letting your hand off your money is not as hard as earning it. You work your tail off the whole month, 5 to six days a week, just to receive what you are currently earning. That’s how hard you earned your money, only to spend it as fast as a flying jet plane on things you didn’t really thought about.

This results to shortage simply because of your failure to manage your money. When the time comes you are running out of money, you would think of ways how to earn extra. You then start thinking of investing in any option you encounter that could get you cash instantly. A get-rich-quick mentality would then trigger your emotions to invest in investments that you thought would yield immediately.

Usually these types of move aren’t thought about real hard. Before you invest you should think about it twice, thrice and many, many times over because you might only see the positive side of the investment which is earnings.

These are the factors you need to consider before you let go of your money:

  • Earnings. This is arguably the most important factor for any investor. However, this isn’t the only thing to consider. An investor must weigh the rate of return to the length of time of return. Some investment vehicles are just too good to be true.
  • Time and Effort. Before you invest, you must also look at the time you will spend for this income stream. If you plan to just make this part time or to make money work for you, consider the time and effort you would spend for this investment vehicle because your day job or business might suffer.
  • Cost. Check your finances first before you let go of your money. This would serve as a parachute in case all things go bad. The amount you invest in case of loss, should hurt, but not starve you and your family.
  • Expenses. Not all investment vehicles would give you big amounts in exchange for nothing. Expect expenses one way or another. Be it communication expense or travel expense, no matter how small it may seem, in time it will pile up. This wouldn’t be a problem if these expenses would generate you more income.
  • Background of the person you invest in. There are a lot of bogus people out there. They are excellent in selling themselves and their bogus ideas. They would try to make you invest on the spot by saying that they have a limited offer.
  • Background of the vehicle you invest in. Aside from the person who you will invest in, you must also check where he will use the money. It is important because you would want to know if your money would be invested in a high earning and legal vehicle. From there you could decide whether it would be a good idea to invest in or not.
  • Length of time of return. Weigh the rate and length of time of return. Sometimes the rate of return is too low for the length of time of the investment. This could be considered a bad investment because you could have reinvested the money again in a different vehicle.
  • Seek advices from people who have done it before.Opinions of people who have failed and succeeded in the path you will take would give you a guide line on how to do it properly. They could give you insights that you would encounter that you couldn’t see right away.
  • Alternatives. There may be similar investment vehicle that have a better rate of return, or a better background of company, or a cheaper investment with a shorter time of return. List down their pros and cons.

When I say investments, this includes education (enrollment to MBA or specialization degree programs), purchasing plans (gym, telecommunications, insurance, etc.), stocks, and start up businesses. Before getting into something, consider the factors above.

Make your mind work, it's healthy. Thinking many times over is way, way better than impulsive decision making that would make you regret in the end. Let’s put a stop on that and make better choices, make better decisions that would give you a better and happy life in the end. No regrets!- DE

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