Our car loan will be expiring next year and this means that we will have a little extra money that we can save in case of emergency. But aside from saving, my husband and I have been thinking of investment options to maximize the potential of the extra money that we will have.

We attended a seminar of Bo Sanchez a few months ago and it is all about investing and managing our finances. After the seminar, we have been considering investing on US silver coins and in the stock market as well.

I have always been scared to invest on stocks as I find it too risky and complicated. But thanks to Bo’s teachings, I finally understand how to invest safely in stocks and over time, will give our money its maximum potential.

I have printed out the forms and hopefully I will be able to submit it to CITISEC so I can start with stock investing real soon.

I am so excited for this month as I will start on a new investment that I learned when I attended a Bo Sanchez financial course. This is investment in stocks which I will be doing via Citisec’s website.

I have printed the forms but I haven’t got the time to fill it up yet and complete the other documents required like IDs and billing statement. I target to finish all of these next week as I still have to submit it to Citisec to apply for an account so I can start buying stocks online through their website.

Two of my friends already started with this by last quarter of 2012 and their investment are already solid.

I am really claiming that my husband and I will be millionaires when we retire with the help of this stock investment plan.

I am really happy that my sideline work has been doing really well the past months. Because of this, I was able to consistently give my share to hubby for our monthly amortization. I makes me really proud because I am now using my earnings from my sideline work to good use instead of just using all of it for shopping.

If work will continue to come, we will be able to save a little for some renovation work at our new home. We actually need to do some floor works and repainting of the walls that we need to buy materials like Halogen Free Solder Paste, paint, new tiles, wood and many more.

Hubby has a lot of projects line up for our house and I know he is eager to start with it soon. That is why I am really praying that work and business will continue to be good for the year of the dragon so we will finally have the budget to push through with some of our projects that we line up for 2012.

Since the tenants of our 2 apartments is giving us so much stress and headache, hubby and I are thinking if we should just sell the property. I actually don’t want the location of that property. We just got it at a very affordable price that is why hubby decided to buy it. I did not even take a look at it when the seller was offering us the house. I told hubby that he take a look at it without me as I will surely say No if I see it.

And now we want to check for our credit report so we can get a new property instead after we sold the 2-door apartment. I told hubby that the stress that our two tenants is giving us is not worth it and I would rather get a new property to get rid of the two tenants that we currently have.

I actually wanted the two tenants to evacuate but unfortunately, Philippine law is more in favor of the tenants who does not know how to honor their obligations as the law dictates that we can’t force them to evacuate the property unless they fail to pay 3 months rent and after that, we should give them 3 months allowance, for them to find a new house where they can move to. So frustrating, that is why it would be wise and less stress for us if we will just sell the property.

Are you ready to do your Christmas shopping? If you are like me who have a very long Christmas shopping list, then you must prepare as early as now and start looking for the best credit card deals that you can apply.

We all know that December is the busiest time of the year as people start to cram to complete their shopping list. So it would be better to shop way in advance to avoid the crowds who are in a mad rush for their Christmas shopping. The only problem is, you don’t have a budget until the Christmas bonus has been released which happens on the 1st week of November, the earliest.

So the solution would then be to start with your credit card application so you will be armed with a good credit card like citibank credit cards so you have the means to shop even if your bonus hasn’t been released yet.

If you know how to manage your credit card right, then you don’t have to worry if you will use it for all your purchases as long as you will be able to pay for everything in full upon receipt of your much awaited Christmas bonus.

So what are you waiting for? Start your application for a credit card so you can begin shopping and so by December, you can just relax instead of joining the crowds who are stressing over their Christmas shopping.

That is how I am every time I go out. I don’t want to bring cash with me as I feel safer if I only have my credit cards in my bag.

And so I realized, since I am so dependent on credit cards and I use it for all my purchases, then I would get great benefit if I will get visa reward cards.

This is how Good Sam’s Credit Card Rewards work:
• I can get 5 points for every $1 of purchase on Good Sam products and services
• I can get 1 point for every $1 spent wherever Visa is accepted
• I can get free camping, Good Sam membership, free fuel and even cash back rewards

At least every time I use my card, I can get something like a freebie or rewards. How cool is that?

Too bad I only realized this now. If not, I have accumulated enough points already to redeem something big. But at least I can use this for my upcoming Christmas shopping which I am sure will max out my credit limit but at least I will get reward points in return.

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Psprint codes and wewood discount codes are available through Coupon Triumph online. They work diligently to offer consumers some of the most valuable coupon codes over the internet. You can find a discount code for almost any item imaginable. The codes they make available to consumers are from a wide variety of retailers and surely have something to offer any consumer.

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Author Bio:
Costea often writes about social marketing, web design and blogging tips. He also blogs about coupon and promo code offers such as psprint gift codes and wewood discount code. Currently, he is writing for CouponTriumph, a coupon blog that offers psprint gift codes and wewood discount code.

It was January 2011 when I received a call from HSBC to confirm an online transaction that was credited to my account. The transaction was from UK and the amount was around $1200. I was in complete shock after hearing about this as this is the first time that my credit card has been hacked.

I have several citibank credit cards which I have been maintaining for almost a decade now and never did I experience this problem. My HSBC card is actually just new and it was with me for less than five years only. I was actually not happy with their service in the first place since it is difficult to deal with their customer service agent, the credit limit that they gave me is way too low than the one that I have with Citibank plus they don't really offer that much promos and discounts that I can benefit from.

I filed a dispute the very day I learned of the hacking incident and it has been 8 months already and there is still no resolution from the dispute that I filed. I have been following up with them almost everyday from January to May but despite my efforts, all I get from their customer service agent is the same answer over and over again :Ma'am, we still have no updates. You can call us again after 3 banking days to check if we will have news about your dispute."

Of course I got tired of them already. I don't deserve this kind of service especially for a customer who has a very good credit standing. So as soon as my dispute has been settled (which I hope will not reach its 1st year anniversary come January 2012), I will have my HSBC credit card cut and I will just go to the site of credit card applications so I can apply for a new credit card.

It is very easy to file for a credit card application from them as everything is online. I just have to choose what type of user I am and what requirements I am looking for in a credit card and a list of credit card companies will be displayed. Then I can just apply online and wait for the approval in a few days. That easy.

Hopefully, I can say goodbye to HSBC as their service really sucks big time.

My husband and I never carry cash in our bag. Well for one, we don't find it safe and secure to carry around large amount of money when we go out especially since I am a bit careless with two kids in tow, that I sometimes forget where I left my things. That is why we pay either by credit card or we order checks so we can pay using our personal checks.

But I got more encourage to order checks after I have heard about Carousel Checks. They can make our personal checks more fun and interesting to use because if we order checks from them, we can select from their gallery of a wide collections of licensed characters, colorful images, and even panoramic views as backgrounds to be printed on our personal checks. And to even make our bank checks more interesting, they can even print photo checks. We can choose to put our favorite family picture or cute picture of our kids or memories from our last vacation.

Carousel Checks is really so cool. It gives me all the more reason to pay for our purchases, weather online and in store, using our customized checks from Carousel Checks.

I did not realize that deciding to buy a new car would be this stressful. LOL. Since we applied for a loan a few days before Holy Week, we were only able to get the bank’s approval last Friday. So yesterday, we went to Toyota again to get a quotation for Toyota Vios 1.3 J and 1.3 E if it is through bank financing.

Howell was already set on getting the Vios 1.3 E (The only difference of the E model with the J model is that the Vios 1.3E has power lock, power window, power side mirror and mag wheels). And Toyota is also having a promo wherein they are giving the Insurance and the LTO registration for free if we purchased our car through Toyota Financial Services.

I made an Excel sheet yesterday so Howell can get a bigger picture of the price difference between the J and E model and if we will get the car through bank financing or through Toyota’s in-house financing. And after seeing the total amount after adding the interests, he is starting to have second thoughts again. LOL.

So we will see….We badly need to make a decision soon since we have no car to use since we sold our SUV weeks ago and Bela is already going to school for her summer class. Wish us luck and hopefully we can finally make a decision soon.

My husband and I are thankful that banks offer housing loans because without them, we will not be able to fulfill our dreams of owning our own home. We actually got approved for a housing loan and because of that we were able to purchase a house and in fact, we will be moving to our new home in a few months.

But since the bank will be loaning us a big amount of money and since they are businessmen, it is expected that they will earn something from us through the interest that our loan will incur. And when we computed for the interest, we were surprise because it is almost the amount of our loan.

So when we learned about Nationwide Biweekly Administration, and on how they can help us save on interest, we got really interested. With the Interest Minimizer Program that they can facilitate for us, we can convert our payment from monthly to weekly or bi-weekly scheme without changing lenders or without any balance transfers. This will significantly reduce our interest by thousands of dollars and it can reduce our years of payment by six to 10 years.

We will be reviewing Interest Minimizer Program, as we know that this can help us save big and use that savings for some other useful things for our family.

Since we bought the property in the suburbs five years ago, hubby and I have been thinking of a better way to utilize the property. We can't make it as our permanent home as it is far from the city and from where we work so it can only serve as our weekend home.

But hubby and I were thinking that we should be able to come up with something to put the property to good use and that might even give an additional income for us and that is when we thought of fruit tree.

There is a big vacant land at the side and at the back of the house where we can plant different fruits trees like Grape plants, nuts, and even flowering trees. Thankfully a friend recommended Willis Orchards. This is where we can buy the fruit trees, plants and even flowering trees that we want for our farm. Their price is so affordable and they give excellent customer service as they will even give us an advice on which tree and plant is perfect for our environment. And their commitment does not end after we purchase our blueberry plants from them as they will give us tips on how to maintain the flowers and trees that we will plant in our land.

And in the future, income will come to us as we harvest our first crop.

2011 will be a very challenging year for our family as a lot of major expenses are lined up for this year:

• Our US trip this May
• Cobi’s 1st birthday party
• Acquisition of our new house

Though I am scared a bit because we have a though financial challenge to beat, I am happy and excited too for my family for the new adventure that we are taking this year especially the purchase of our new house.

Though it will be difficult for us financially as the monthly amortization is a bit big, I am proud and happy too because this is a major investment for me and my husband. Hubby and I believe that investing on something is always a wise choice as it is for the security and future of our kids. That is why when we learned about United States Gold Bureau, my husband and I got really interested in investing in gold.

Gold is a very stable form of investment as its value appreciates easily so it is a very good way to preserve one’s wealth. Hubby said that it will be a difficult first three years for us as we start to pay for our monthly amortization, but as soon as we have extra money, we will not think twice and Buy Gold Krugerrands as our initial gold investment.

I thought hacking just happens in movies and I never really thought that one day I will be a victim of it, but I was wrong.

Friday, around 1:45 PM, I got a text from HSBC asking me to call them as they noticed suspicious transactions in my account. I got nervous right away and I quickly checked my wallet to see if my credit card is still there as I know that I haven’t used my credit card for days now so I know something is really wrong. My credit card is safely tucked in my wallet and so the first thing that came to my mind was, it is for sure an online transaction and my credit card details have been hacked.

I called HSBC and I was in shocked when I learned that almost P48,000 has been charged to my card but they can’t really verify the complete details of the transaction as the account is still floating and it hasn’t been posted to my account yet. All they can tell me that time was the transaction was from UK.

I was still in shock when I put down the phone and I can’t think of anything else but to just go home so I can see Bela and Cobi as I know they are the only person who can take all my problems away.

Surprisingly after the situation has finally sunk in, I did not feel any anger or worry. I told myself there is really nothing that I can do about the situation and all I can hope for is that HSBC will find in their investigation that it is not really me who made the transaction and they will accept that my account has been hacked.

As I told hubby, I don’t want to waste my time stressing over it. I will just pray and hope for the best.

Merry Christmas everybody!! And In just a few days, we will al say goodbye to 2010 and welcomes 2011.

So how can we start the new year right? I must admit I was not able to save that much for this year as I wanted my family to enjoy the fruits of my labor. But now that our family is growing and soon Cobi will go to school also, I think 2011 is the right time to start saving up.

One of the things that I am considering is to invest in gold and buy gold bullion. I checked out the site of United States Gold Bureau and I have learned a lot about gold investment. After reading the information found on their site, it gave me confidence that gold is a best investment as it is a stable way to preserve one’s wealth.

So as we bid goodbye to 2010 in a few days, I am glad that I have some plans now on how we can manage our finances for 2011.

I got a call from hubby this morning and is asking me to check my email as he sent me an Excel file for our projected budget sheet for 2011. I am impressed as at least now he is really becoming serious in really saving up and investing for the future of our kids.

Aside from the monthly amortization that he allotted for the property that we will be buying, I also saw a separate column in hubby’s budget sheet for additional investments and hubby told me that it will be our savings in case we want to make additional investments like buy gold coins.

Gold is a very good investment as its value does not depreciate over time so hubby believes that if we have extra money, gold is the best way to preserve it.

I am very positive that we will have a good year ahead in 2011 as I can see how serious and dedicated hubby is in attaining our financial goal.

One of the most important things in life is following your passion. As such, if you have a passion for photography, as I do, then I encourage you to follow your dreams and turn that love of photography into a full-time career. Taking photos is one of many passions I have and improving my skills to transfer this love into a career is the best choice I have ever made. Here are a few things I’ve learned that I hope will help you in this journey towards becoming a professional photographer.

Organize Your Finances

The great piece of advice I can give to any aspiring entrepreneur is to organize your finances as soon as possible. If you are currently carrying several forms of debt, then I encourage you to utilize a debt consolidation service to get the situation under control and pay off the money you owe.

The more organized your finances are, the more likely you will be to succeed. You will have less stress each day and will therefore have more energy to focus on business tasks. Additionally, by having less debt, you can more easily qualify for business loans if you need them.

Diversify the Business

If you have several passions, then find a way to transform each of these passions into a business venture. Chances are good that not all of the ideas will succeed. So, by diversifying your business ventures, you will have income sources to fall back on if one idea doesn't work as well as you had hoped.

Keep it Fun

Regardless of where your business ventures take you, remember to appreciate the lighter side of life. Those who take their businesses and lives too seriously end up creating unnecessary stress. Starting a business is a major undertaking so remember to appreciate the energy you have dedicated to it.

No matter what anybody may tell you, keeping a clean house also involves keeping a carefully maintained, detailed checkbook. Now this isn't to suggest that I'm some kind of bookie (I don't like doing illegal things — not worth it in the end). I also don't want you to think that my occupation is that of an accountant or anything like that. I'm just an ordinary mom that likes to keep on top of things. I know what can happen to people when they let their expenses (or even just their "fun stuff" spending) get out of control. While it might be fun at first, it never seems to end well for anyone.

In some people's cases, they just spend and spend until they have pretty much nothing left of their paycheck by Monday or Tuesday. And while that fun and fancy free style goes great when everything is going well, the first time something unexpected pops up they are up a creek without much of a paddle. Granted, Payday One is always a lifeline if you need it, but who wants to lean on lending services all the time? It's nice to have things like that available but imagine trying to pay back your loan if another bad thing happens a little while later.

If your spending is too nuts, it's like having a nasty home. When your home is a mess, critters want to stay there. Diseases and bugs breed in the mess and filth, and pretty soon your entire family has taken ill. While having a bad habit of not keeping your register up to date (and keeping a decent amount of money in it) probably won't make you sick, it will make things more difficult if you do. Do you really want to live from check to check like that? Do you really want to live with all that constant fear?

It is almost the end of the year of already so for companies, this means that they have to finish their financial reports before another year begins so they can assess the growth and profit of their business.

As for me and my husband, as another year is about to end, we also try to assess our financial status so we can make plans and goals for our family for the coming year. Just like now, we are checking the site of United States Gold Bureau to learn more about gold investment.

Gold is a very stable investment as its value does not depreciate over time so it is a very good way to preserve one’s wealth. And since it is universally accepted, there is no problem in converting it to cash if the need arises. That is why we are really considering to invest in gold and this is one of our financial goals for 2011.

I'm just looking at the screen of my computer when suddenly a message popped out. It came from my sister. She told me about the sale of the bags that we both love.

Excitedly, she told me that it is on 20- 30% off promo. And I was like, really? And asked her if she'll buy though I already knew her answer. She said hell yeah, just like what I thought.

I asked her if she's sure and again received the same response. As a loving sister, I told her out of the blue, why don't you try to invest your money into a business and when you are already earning a lot, then buy all the bags that you like. She was like shocked when she read my message. She sent a laughing smiley and asked if I'm sick. I told her that I'm just concern about her future, for we all knew that the cost of living today is so expensive and she might get broke if she'll continue her addiction to bag. She got my point and asked what to do.

I gave her the site that my chum recommended me. She often saves her money to buy gold because she said that it's a good form of investment since gold’s value are so high and don't depreciate easily. My sister said that she'll give it a thought and will message me when she already decides about it.

I just hope she comes up with a good decision.