With the US dollar going downwards, having your money saved up in US dollars at a US bank might not be the best way. If you keep your money there the value of it keeps going down, while the value of Gold is much more stable. You might consider buying gold.
Gold’s liquidity is one of its fundamental investment attributes. Gold is a real asset that you can readily buy and sell. For this reason it has historically been the ideal way to store value.
Converting wealth into gold is a sensible idea because gold itself will always maintain most of its value, even in times of instability. It is therefore an excellent hedge against high inflation and economic uncertainty.
When cash rapidly loses purchasing power on goods and services, the value of owning common financial assets rapidly declines. For they convert into cash at its current depreciated value. Inversely, the value of real assets increases as people realize that they are the only way to protect the purchasing power of their money. Converting cash into gold ensures economic security.
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Financial experts will tell you that owning a home is much better for you than renting. You get a host of tax breaks by owning a home that you don’t get by renting and the home payments help to build up equity. While this is all true, you have to ask yourself how much house you can afford on your salary and how long you expect to be in the house before selling to really understand whether owning is really better than renting.
To understand an appropriate level of mortgage debt, lenders require that not more than 28% or at most 30% of your income go towards housing. On a $25,000/year job you have about $7500/year or 625/month to spend on mortgage. If you end up missing mortgage payments, the bank can foreclose on your home and all the advantages are instantly wiped out, not to mention that your credit is ruined for years.
Making your mortgage payments on time helps to build up your credit history and adds to your equity. If you are short a month, you might have to juggle some bills to cover the shortfall. Whatever you do, be aware that missing more than 3 payments can automatically trigger foreclosure procedures. It will also trigger a late fee. All this can be avoided by making those payments on time, even if you have to take out a payday advance to do it.
With the risk being so high, you have to ask yourself: Is owning really better than renting? If you are not going to be in the house at least five years, the answer is almost always no. You have to pay 6% commission to a realtor simply to sell the house and it needs five years to appreciate significantly.
Keep in mind that late payments affect your credit score, even if you’ve only done it once or twice. Finding other sources of income are important in paying your mortgage on time. They can be credit cards, personal loans, or a payday advance.
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A Cash ISA is an excellent idea for any UK based saver as it means saving a set amount and keeping that amount tax free. The amount of money that can be saved in a cash ISA changes annually, but it is currently £3,600 that is able to be saved tax free if you are aged under 50, or £5,100 if you are older – But from April 2010 this is changing to allow everyone save £5,100.
When the term ‘cash ISA’ is discussed generally people ask how they differ from regular savings accounts. The main difference is that a cash ISA does not charge 20% interest each year like most savings accounts do. Cash ISAs permit the account holder to keep all of the interest earned which means it is extremely unlikely that a cash ISA will give you less interest than standard savings account – even if the gross interest rate is lower.
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Part of the Ethernity
