How to Consolidate Your Debt and Pros and Cons

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Getting into debt is really easy if someone is willing to give you a credit line. It’s the getting out of debt that is the hard part.

Many financial gurus advise against debt consolidation.  There’s the old adage of “You can’t go into debt to get out of debt.”

While consolidating does have its risks, it can be beneficial in helping you turn your finances around.

Pros and Cons of Consolidating Debt

First let’s look at the positives and negatives of using debt consolidation to helping you get out of debt once and for all.

Pros of Debt Consolidation

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What Can You Expect From a Premier Credit Card?

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One of the “rules of thumb” that is often expressed when it comes to credit cards is that it’s important that you avoid paying an annual fee.

Even with rewards credit cards, many suggest that you stay away from the annual fee.  After all, your annual fee reduces the value of the rewards that you earn.

There are some credit cards, though, that might be worth the annual fee.

These are premier credit cards, and they often come with annual fees that many of us consider excessive: $100, $200, or even $450.

Why would you pay that much for a credit card?

As with all things personal finance, it largely depends on what you expect to do with the credit card, and the benefits that you get.  If you really look at the perks associated with a premier credit card, you might be surprised.

Here are Some of the Things You Can Expect from a Premier Credit Card:

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Roth IRA 5 Year Rule on Withdrawals

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Roth IRA’s have become enormously popular in recent years especially with the conversion of traditional IRA’s to Roth’s.

Now that it seems as if nearly everyone has a Roth, let’s take a look at the rule’s withdrawals.  Sooner or later, we’ll all be doing it.

Before we get started, I recommend that you get advice from your CPA or tax advisor before taking any withdrawals from your Roth IRA. The rules on this are fairly complex and your individual circumstances will have a material affect on the outcome.

General rules on Roth IRA withdrawals

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Apple’s Botched Maps Snafu and Links

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Apple launched the iPhone 5 this week with the 6th version of its operating system, iOS.

As part of this new operating system Apple decided to eliminate Google Maps on the phone and replace it with their own mapping program. That’s all well and good, Apple is within their rights to limit their competitor’s access on their phones.

But the mapping application they included is full of errors including turning a farm in Ireland into an airport. We’re not talking about small errors, these are massive. Apple’s decision to remove one of the most popular mapping programs (and likely the most accurate since Google has been working on it forever) without giving their users a choice to go back to Google is a poor one to say the least.

(Don’t fret for Apple, though. They’ll still sell a bajillion iPhones and have further record profits.)

While you’re trying to figure out how to go from Point A to Point B (you can try MapQuest’s app), don’t forget to map out your finances.

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5 Tips to Help You Deal with Economic Uncertainty

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We live in uncertain economic times.

No one knows what will happen next. Between a difficult job market, a housing sector that refuses to recover, and Europe on the brink of complete financial disaster, it’s easy to feel anxious about your money.

Will we see another recession? Could things turn around and be great? Are a eurozone collapse and slowing growth in China about to dump us into another global financial crisis? While you want to be prepared for the possibility of economic problems, it’s not a good idea to let fear rule you.

Once you let fear master you, you start making very poor decisions based on that fear.

Whether it’s making a bad investment decision, a risky business choice, or sabotaging your relationships, fear and anxiety can lead to problems in your finances and your life.

Before you let your worries about economic uncertainty turn into a full-blown financial emergency, it’s a good idea to take a deep breath, step back, and consider these 5 tips to helping you cope with the uncertainties that come in an economy like what we’re seeing now:

Tips to Help You Deal With Economic Uncertainty

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Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express Review

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Do you travel Delta airlines? Want a better experience at the airport?  Maybe even a better experience on the plane?

How would you like to earn free flights for using your credit card?

You can have all this and more with the Gold Delta Skymiles® Credit Card from American Express.

Keep reading our review below and I’ll tell you why the Gold Delta Skymiles card may be a great card for you!

Here’s a quick rundown of benefits with the Gold Delta Skymiles card:

• Bonus Miles: earn 30,000 bonus miles toward Award Travel after you spend $500 on the Card within the first three months of Cardmembership.
• Earn As You Spend: Get 2X miles on Delta purchases and 1X miles for all other eligible dollars spent.
• Check your first bag free on every Delta flight – that’s a savings of up to $200 per round trip for a family of four
• Premium Travel Perks: settle in sooner with Priority Boarding, and enjoy the skies with 20% in-flight savings to use toward meals, beverages, and movies awarded as a statement credit.
• $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95.
• Terms and Restrictions Apply.

Earning and Using Airline Miles

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Swagbucks Review: Join to Receive Free Gift Cards and Other Prizes

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Swagbucks_Signup

We are in gazelle intensity mode paying down our debt, and one of the ways that we can still give our kids a nice Christmas without spending a lot of money is through Swagbucks.

I simply search the Internet as usual using Swagbucks as my search engine instead of Yahoo! or Google; occasionally I will be rewarded with Swagbucks (usually ranging from 7 to 79 points per time).

What Is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is an Internet search engine.

You can use it much the same way you use Google or Yahoo.  However, as you are searching, you are sometimes rewarded with Swagbucks.  These Swagbucks can be redeemed for gift cards or other prizes.

I have won anywhere from 7 to 79 Swagbucks at a time, and because I frequently need to search the Internet as a freelance writer and blogger, I usually win Swagbucks several times a day.  All of the Swagbucks I win accrue until I decide to redeem them for a prize.

What I like is that I am getting rewards for doing something I would do during my day anyway—search the Internet.

How to Sign Up With Swagbucks

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Payoff Mortgage Faster – How Do I Do It? – Four Ways

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Housing Money

Who wouldn’t want to pay off their mortgage faster?  The big question is “how do I do it?”

Whether to pay off your mortgage faster, is an important personal financial decision.

But before one can answer “how do I do it,” you must first ask the questions of “can I do it” and “why should I do it.”

The can-I part reveals if one has the financial ability to put more money aside for bigger and quicker payments.  The why-should-I part involves whether to use the additional money available, alternatively, for investing or consumption purposes since funds borrowed under mortgage probably have a lower interest rate than say credit card debt.

Paying off a mortgage faster also has tax implications on mortgage interest deduction.

If one has the financial means; is willing to forgo any investment opportunity; is prepared to postpone any would-be nice consumption; and has weighed on any tax savings, there are ways that one can consider to pay off a mortgage faster.
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Bernanke Launches QE3 to Further Stimulate Economy and Links

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The Federal Reserve announced what is being called QE3 – which means the third round of quantitative easing – in hopes of improving the American economy.

Quantitative easing is where the Fed wants to lower the cost of borrowing debt in some manner in order to push interest rates even lower than they are.

QE1 and QE2 helped push and keep mortgage rates at historic lows.  Now QE3 is going to kick in to the tune of $40 billion per month in purchased mortgage-backed securities.

There is a real risk of inflation and you are essentially increasing the money supply by that amount each month.

It will be interesting to see if the plan works — the stock market has liked it thus far, but will it work long term?

As the government and Federal Reserve try to amp up the economy, here are some articles to help you amp up your financial life:

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Discover® More Credit Card Review – 14 Months of 0% APR on Balance Transfers and Purchases

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Discover More Card Balance Transfer

Are you looking for a new credit card to transfer a balance to?

How about one with 0% APR for new purchases?  Maybe a credit card that offers cashback rewards?

The Discover® More Card offers all of that and is worth looking into.

Let’s take a closer look at the features of the Discover More Card:
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