Why Find a Certified Financial Planner?

By Paul J. Easton

A financial planner can be very helpful in dealing with the complicated personal financial issues. With a financial planner, you get through proper planning, which includes the major areas of your financial life like education planning, cash flow management, investment planning. Depending on your preferences, a planner can even discuss retirement planning, risk management, and estate planning. Standard parts of the financial plan are insurance planning, tax planning, and, for business owner, a business succession plan.

The purpose of financial planning is to set goals based on your current resources, lifestyle, and preferences. This is to ensure that the goals set both by you and your planner is meaningful in the context of your situation. Through careful analysis, the goals are subjected to a reality check to increase probability of achieving them.

If all these seem complicated to you yet you think is very vital for your success, you definitely need the help of a financial planner. Since we are talking about planning details, begin with yourself. You should have a good idea of what you really want with your financial life. The planner will only create plans and suggest tools to meet those goals.

Once you have a solid visualization of your goals, it is time to find the professional with whom you are comfortable with. After understanding your own needs, you need a match to help you guide you in your journey towards financial success. Find someone you like and, more importantly, a professional you trust with your money.

In the process of the planning, some constraints and difficulties to these goals are well noted. With a realistic and a sincere planner, you can set priorities versus these difficulties to manage your finances well. A trusted planner can be very helpful as they monitor these difficulties along the way. This information is necessary to determine the sufficiency of resources available to achieve these goals. In the event that the resources are insufficient to meet the goals projected, some adjustments are considered to a more conservative level by the planner.

Your financial planner will closely monitor to ensure you are implementing your plans. Periodic reviews are undertaken to assess your situation and to look for misalignments in your situation. With an observed significant change to your situation, your planner can revise the plan accordingly. A financial planner will serve a good purpose in managing the stresses with your financial life, so better search for the best one.

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How To Sell A House

By Ras Reed

As a potential home seller, it is highly essential for you to be aware of the different form of listing contracts that are available. Listing contracts is defined as the agreement between you and a professional estate broker. With this agreement, you are authorizing the estate broker to represent you in the process of selling your home. We shall deliberate upon four categories of listing contracts in this script.

One of the categories is exclusive right to sell listing. What this contract is saying is that you have given the estate broker unchecked freedom. In other words, you have given him or her permission to do anything it takes to sell your home for you. It means that the broker can function without any restriction and can therefore make use of a number of marketing strategies in order to accomplish the goal of successfully selling your home.

Another category is the exclusive agency listing. Under this contract, there is a limit to what the broker can do as the right to sell your home stays with you. Furthermore, the broker is not given any commission under this contract since you are handling the sale of your house from the beginning to the end. This form of contract is very popular among home sellers because of the extra cash they are able to acquire.

One time show is another category. This means that you hire a broker to sell your home through home showings. As the name implies, your home is showed off to a prospective home buyers only once. This contract places a restriction on the use of other marketing strategies by the broker. In other words, he or she can only use home show as a means of selling. Under this listing, a broker is entitled to a commission after the sale of your home.

Open listing is another listing contract. It is similar to the one time show listing only that the house is shown to the prospective buyer more than once until the house is bought. In other words, the buyer can inspect the house more than once in the process of bidding for it.

Which listing contract is the best? You are the only one that can decide. But it is highly sensible that you explore the size of your pocket when you want to make a final choice.

About the Author:

Ras Reed provides interesting resources about For Sale By Owner Home , or Find Homes For Sale on his resourceful website.

Rely on a Fee Only Financial Planner

By Paul J. Easton

Finding the right financial planner can be tough. Here is a simple guide to getting your financial planner for life.

Let us first discuss the role of your planner. Financial planners will only guide to where you are going financially. With their help, you get through the proper financial planning details. So, unless you have a set of goals in mind, your planner will have no role in your life. Visualize first your dreams and general objectives.

Financial planning involves education planning, cash flow management, and investment planning. These may seem a little complicated but that is the reason why are getting some help. Additional financial aspects where your planner can help out are retirement planning, risk management, insurance planning, tax planning and estate planning.

It is always recommended that you find a person you are comfortable dealing with. Get a referral from your network if they have satisfactory service from their financial planners. You must make sure you only work with professionals certified with respected designations.

Here is one tip to assure you only deal with a trusted financial planner. Fee-only financial planners are impressive because you only get the most objective financial advice. These planners are compensated exclusively by fees from clients. They can be paid through a retainer or an hourly fee. Because they do not accept commissions or compensations from companies they endorse, you only get the most objective advice as possible.

With financial planning, you will be required to face self-constraints in setting aside some enjoyment and comfort today for long-term gratification in the future. To be successful, your financial plan should be based on your lifestyle. Postponing some current pleasures of today will be tolerable when set at the very beginning. Over the term of the plan, you will learn discipline and the joy of delayed gratification.

In situations where it involves current sacrifices, the plan is a concrete basis to provide you with a guide. This helps ensure that your pursuit of the goal will carry on. A plan should also prioritize goals based on importance. Many financial plans are doomed to failure because some of these practical points were not given consideration at the start.

This is just a basic guide in looking for a financial planner and setting up a plan. With adequate communication and by understanding first your own needs, your financial plan will have a greater chance of success. Find the right type of service from the right type of financial planner and build our trust gradually. And only look for a fee-only financial planner as much as possible.

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A Certified Financial Planner can Give You Peace of Mind

By Paul J. Easton

Personal financial planning is defined as a process of determining an individual's financial goals incorporating the purposes and priorities in one's life. With financial planning, resources are considered with the risk profile and current lifestyle to tailor fit a preferred plan for the client. The plan solidifies a detailed and balanced plan to realistically meet those goals based on the above considerations.

With the goals as guideposts to clearly illustrate a course of action to reach those goals, financial planning is very necessary not only as a guide to a more secured future but will serve as a learning process as well. Finding the right financial planner is a must have in today's unpredictable times.

Going to the financial planner search proper, here are some tips you need to understand before committing to that professional service. Get yourself acquainted with your personal idea of what your planner needs provide as a service. With a good idea of what you want, your search for a planner will work in your favor.

Get yourself a financial planner who is certified, preferably from a reputable a certification board and internationally recognized. A designation from different certifications will likely narrow down your search as this will relate to your specific needs. Most importantly, find someone you are confident in revealing your financial situation with. Trust and confidence is what you are looking for and you can only discern this with a personal interview.

It may sound hard to believe but there are more than 50 financial planning designations. One of the most respected designations is the Certified Financial Planner or CFP. This designation is well recognized and relates to most aspects of financial planning.

The Certified Financial Planner designation is a valuable certification for financial planners. It is conferred by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards in the United States and recognized internationally with other organizations affiliated with Financial Planning Standards Board all over the world. To be given authorization to use the designation, the candidate must get through a stringent application process with education, ethics, and experience requirements, examinations, and other tests.

On the other hand, a certification is just half the battle. One of the most important parts of your search is to find the right certified financial planner who you are comfortable with. Since you are going to communicate every detail of your financial life, you must make sure that this person is trustworthy and loyal enough to you. After all, you get a financial planner for peace of mind, so better make sure you are in good hands.

This process might take some time but finding the right one is a tool you will need all throughout your lifetime, so begin the search right now.

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Painless Way To Save Hundreds of Tax Dollars

By K. Russell KA Russell

Keeping accurate business records is essential if you want to save tax money and have adequate records in case of, heaven forbid, an audit.

Keeping your business records can be accomplished in as little as 5 minutes per day. And what a reward come tax time. You could save hundreds or even thousands of tax dollars and pocket the money instead of giving it to Uncle Sam!

The amount of time it takes to record your expenses if done on a consistent basis is less than 5 minutes a day and is not hard.

Make the following a habit and you might be surprised how quickly little things add up to big tax savings and more money in your pocket!

You need to record EVERY transaction into your Accounting Software. The easiest way to do this is spend 5 minutes every night or morning and "post" the days receipts.

One way to make sure you have all the receipts "posted" is to use the following method:

Make a folder on your desktop labeled "Daily Receipts" For anything you purchase online, save a copy of that in your "Daily Receipts" file.

Cash receipts should be put in a folder on your desk.

Post these 2 files daily and it should only take you a couple of minutes.

File your online receipts that you have posted in your "Tax Backup Files"

To keep up with your receipts it's easier to file them by month in your "Tax Backup File"

Back up your "Tax Back Up" folder monthly. Put them on a DVD or CD and file them with your tax information.

For your "hard copy" receipts keep monthly envelops to file "posted" receipts in.

That's it! Receipts are posted, filed and will in all probability never be needed again.

Collecting receipts for everything that you do is a good habit to get into!

Over the year a lot of little deductions can cost you tax dollars! For instance did you go get copies for 50 cents and fail to post it in you accounting program. That's lost tax dollars!

Regular and consistent record keeping will pay off for you at tax time guaranteed!

About the Author:

Karin Russell has owned a small business specializing in income tax preparation for home based businesses for 36 years. Her web site: Home Business Owners-Reap the Rewards offers more income tax tips for home business owners. She highly recommends the book 'It's How Much You KEEP, That Counts! Not how much you Make' for all her customers.

Houston Credit Repair Coach Explains the Golden Account

By Cliff Pape

The key to an 850 credit score

Many mistakes people make is closing dated accounts. This prevents them from reaching an 800 credit score. You should always leave open older accounts because these are what we call "Golden accounts."

Golden Account

The difference between a 700 credit score and an 800 is often the length of time the revolving accounts (i.e. credit cards) have been open. Once we have an account that has been open for seven years we should never close it, because this account will help you get a 800 credit score. One of the best strategies is to acquire two to 4 Golden Accounts in our credit report.

Don't Have Too Many...

If you are over-flowing with credit cards BUT you currently have four Golden Accounts, you should close the revolving accounts (credit cards) that were opened the most recently. Try to keep a few national or bank credit cards such as a Chase Visa for example.

About the Author:

Home Buddies is a houston credit counseling coach for real estate investors. Home Buddies develops and implements a customized strategy to improve credit and builds a business development strategy to help investors or homeowners overcome problems to financing properties and building their portfolio.

Secure A Mortgage Then Choose A Realtor

By Linda Coombs

Securing a mortgage is often just another step to buying your new home. You may choose to use a realtor to help find your new home.

What kinds of things should I look for when I choose a realtor? There are many Realtors out there who will bend over backwards to accommodate you and satisfy your needs.

If you have any friends, co-workers or family members who have recently purchased a home, ask them if they can highly recommend the realtor who helped them. If you are for any reason not satisfied with the realtor you've been speaking with, by all means find another

It is a good idea to work with a Realtor that is local to the area you are interested in. A good Realtor should provide you with statistical reports regarding appreciation as well as be able to suggest the best local schools.

They should be trying to determine what your wants and needs are for the new house. A Realtor should ask you lots of questions when you meet them for your initial consultation.

What area do you want to live in? What type of home are you looking for? Do you have children that will be attending school in the area? How long do you plan to live in the home?

Waiting hours or days for a response can add too much stress to the home buying process. Look for a Realtor that responds quickly to emails and phone calls.

If you get a recommendation of a Realtor from your mortgage professional and you are not happy with that Realtor, by all means let the mortgage professional know. Customer service cannot be made better if people are not aware of a situation.

Working with a seasoned realtor will aid in your search to sell or purchase a home. A seasoned realtor will have the history of your neighborhood and information about a given area, which can help you determine the true value and likelihood of appreciation in a purchase.

With a sale of a home, a seasoned realtor will be able to truly assess the value of your home and have a better understanding of how to increase the potential of your home for sale

About the Author:

Linda Coombs frequently writes about mortgages personal finance . To learn more about the mortgage process visit Compare Mortgage Rates for tips on How to get cash out from a refinance mortgage

What Is The Best Credit Card?

By Ras Reed

You may come upon drawback during your search for a credit card that accommodates your needs if you are not confident of your needs. In other words, the research can turn out to be an extensive and challenging one. So, it is highly commendable that you name your needs first before searching for a low interest credit card.

One of the things you must name before looking for a low interest credit card is your income. It is suitable for you to drop the concept of possessing a credit card if your monthly income is not enough for you to acquire a credit card.

Don't make the same mistake that many folks out there regularly make with credit cards. They are not sure if they are able to maintain a lifestyle with a credit card. You should sit down and suitably analyze if you can defend a lifestyle with credit cards. If you can't, it is desirable to wait for the right time. The explanation countless human beings shop for low interest credit cards is because of their financial status.

For your information, low interest credit cards are cards that have very low annual percentage rate. A low annual percentage rate refers to the percentage of any amount of money you owe your credit card supplier. In the case of low interest credit cards, it means that the rate is very low. Uncountable human beings that cannot afford high annual percentage rate regularly patronize this sort of credit cards.

With a low APR, it means that the amount of money that builds up with a partial payment is reduced. A person with a high APR credit card is quite different from a person with a low annual percentage rate. The former pays more than the latter.

Hence, if you cannot find the money for a credit card with high APR, it is highly recommended that you go for a low interest credit card. Customarily, human beings who go for high APR credit cards are individuals that can find the money for the extra interest on amount owed without breaking into a bank. If you don't fall into this category, it is highly prudent that you go for low interest credit cards.

Contrary to what you may have heard or read elsewhere, it is quite possible to acquire a low interest credit card. There is stiff competition among low interest credit cards suppliers out there and this gives you an occasion to obtain one. It is sensible to compare what is on offer out there before selecting one. This is the certain way to obtain the best deal.

About the Author:

It matters not how much you think you are informed regarding Credit Cards information such as resources about Online Credit Card Payment , and No Annual Fee Credit Cards , see Ras Reed's site to be amazed at very essential information.

What you need to know about the Bankruptcy law change

By Josh Ramos

Many people are currently under the impression that bankruptcy is no longer an option for them because of recent changes to the bankruptcy law. They have been told through word of mouth about the bankruptcy reform law, and they assume that this option for a new financial start is no longer available.

While there have been changes made in recent years, bankruptcy is still a viable option that you should consider with your attorney. While it isn't for everyone, bankruptcy might be the best option for you depending on your circumstances.

In 2005, Congress passed a law which reformed the bankruptcy code. The law is pretty complex, even for attorneys, and many have criticized it for making things tougher on consumers. Nevertheless, the credit industry was successful in convincing Congress to pass the law.

The bottom line is that declaring bankruptcy will require you to take some additional steps including mandatory financial counseling. The most important revision in the bankruptcy code requires that you pass something known as the means test. The point of this test is that you have to prove that you do need bankruptcy.

The means test is designed to prove to the bankruptcy court that you really do need bankruptcy. If your income is lower than average (based on your state), then the process is much easier and you don't have to prove anything through a means test. If you have a higher income, however, you will have to take some additional steps.

If you do have to go through the means test, that means that you'll have to go to greater lengths to document your income (as well as your expenses). You must be very careful in putting together these documents, because any errors can create a world of hassle for you down the road.

It may seem like a painstaking process, but your lawyer should be there to help you through the process. In case you're wondering about trying to declare bankruptcy on your own, let me save you the trouble. Don't even think about going it alone. The new bankruptcy reform makes things much more complicated even for lawyers, let alone lay people.

A good bankruptcy lawyer will have kept up to date on all the developments. This is important because the new bankruptcy law is quite complex, and there will be various court rulings on how to apply the bankruptcy code to various situations. Your lawyer must be well versed in all these things.

About the Author:

Don't let the fear of your debt take over your life. Get the facts about bankruptcy and learn how to get control of your debt. To learn more about is there life after bankruptcy visit us at http://personalbankruptcyquestions.org

How to Find a Certified Financial Planner

By Paul J. Easton

People seek the help of a financial planner because they provide guidance and direction to your every financial decision. By seeking this professional help, you are allowing yourself to be educated by financial decisions and how it affects the other areas of your personal finance. By letting your financial planner guide you through the way, you will learn to adapt more effortlessly to life changes as you pave the way to a more secure future.

If you are searching for one good financial planner, here are the basics to finding the best one. Seeking a financial planner's help requires you to have a definite plan before consulting what you want your planner to do for you. Another thing is to learn how different financial planning certifications relate to your personal financial needs. Lastly, just find someone you are comfortable with in disclosing your financial life. This article briefly explains the basics in looking for that trusted certified financial planner you've been searching for.

Many people need financial planners for various reasons. Factors like your current life stage and your financial objectives are what determine the kind of financial planner you need. Some demands for a financial planner is to manage all the different aspects of their financial portfolio and various future plans. Some of the rising demands today are all types of planning regarding retirement. Still, the need for a financial planning on how a business can fit in one's overall individual financial plan is very much sought.

The most important step is to always rely on the authorities with your choice of a person to trust to. Look for a planner that has the proper certification; there are more than 50 different financial planning designations you can find. One of the most respected and is wide-ranging that can relate to all aspects of financial planning is the designation Certified Financial Planner.

Internationally recognized, this Certified Financial Planner designation is a certification for financial planners bestowed by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards in the United States. To receive this designation, the candidate must meet the necessary education, pass the examinations, and have the experience and ethics requirements.

Easily said than done, this process may take some time so devote a few hours a day starting right now in looking for this financial planner. By understanding your own needs and matching this with a trusted and certified financial planner, you will be well on our way to bright financial future. So better get started right away.

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Investment Property Financing for Small Investors

By Laeverneus Homebuysky

Before you think about investing in real estate, you have to have financing for investments properties in place. Your financing will affect the long term cost of the property as well as your net capital gain. It is therefore important to choose the best investment property financing option for your circumstances.

Think about your plans for this investment. Do you plan to improve the property and re-sell it quickly, or is this to be a long term investment. Your goals for your investment make a difference in terms of which of your options for financing for investment properties are the best way to go. If you want to flip the property quickly, then you should look for investment property financing which will not charge you a large fee for early repayment of the loan.

Different states have different requirements with regards to financing investment properties so you need to do your due diligence with regards to your obligations. Where investment properties are concerned, it is a good idea to consider a fixed rate mortgage for the first few years to give you stability. This way you know exactly what your costs are and can plan accordingly.

You should always have a plan B when it comes to financing an investment property. If you find your lender backing out of the deal, you'll have an alternate source of investment property financing that will allow you to proceed with your investment. Due to the current state of things in the financial world, this is especially important.

Before you go about trying to secure financing for investment properties, you'll need to have a good credit rating. This will let you secure financing for investment properties on the best possible terms. The best way to do this is to get yourself in some debt and manage it well. For example, use your credit card rather than cash and keep your balance paid off. This can build you a good credit rating in short order.

If you are not sure of your credit score, you have the right to check your credit history with a credit reference agency. Once you know your details you can begin to remedy any problems. If your credit score is good, you can also act with confidence to obtain investment property financing at the best interest rates.

Before finalizing any investment property financing agreement, be sure that you understand any implications, which your purchase may have, for your tax obligations. Ask an accountant how to make the best use of your property investment tax-wise. Is it best to make this a personal investment or through a company? Talk to your accountant and get his or her advice on selecting the best financing for investment properties.

Preparation is the key to being successful in securing investment property financing. You need to establish a good credit history so as to get the most favorable terms on a loan. Next, decide what you plan to do with your investment property and how long you want to hold on to the property in order to decide which type of investment property financing will best meet your needs. Before you sign anything, get an accountant's advice about how your purchase will affect your taxes. By being well prepared, you'll be able to make wise decisions about financing your property investments.

About the Author:

Due to the global financial crisis getting financing for investment properties could be difficult. Make sure you have fallback plans when locating an investment property loan.