Now is the perfect time to regain control over your life if you have been having financial difficulties. The financial world is extremely complicated. However, it is no longer necessary to get an economics degree in order to understand it.

Free financial tools are sprouting up all over the internet. Instead of using difficult math problems or graphing calculators to figure out interest rates or plan budgets, programs exist that can do it for you.

Consider using some of these financial tools next time you’re sorting out your finances. Chances are, they will help you save time and money.

Mortgage Repayment Calculators

One of the best internet financial tools you can utilize is the mortgage repayment calculator. Calculating mortgage interest by hand requires advanced calculus formulas.

However, mortgage repayment calculators allow users to type in the loan amount, the rate and the duration of the term.

After clicking a button, the calculator will show the user how much their monthly payments will be as well as their total interest.

If you are considering purchasing a new home, find a couple of houses for sale that you love, one or two that you could live with and then a few in the middle.

Using a mortgage repayment calculator, enter in the cost of the houses. Compare the monthly payments to your monthly income and figure out what you can afford.

This will make your search for the perfect home go much more smoothly and you will have a lesser need for a real estate agent or financial adviser.

Financial Product Comparison Charts

Modern technology has also provided us with the ability to compare financial product rates across several different companies.

Prior to computers, people had to shop around for car loans or insurance rates in person. Doing this can be very time-consuming and awkward, especially since salespeople are constantly trying to convince shoppers to choose their deal.

Comparison charts completely eliminate this problem. Instead of sitting through an uncomfortable sales pitch, you can compare all of the numbers that you need in one place.

You can do calculations, pull up your budget spreadsheet and look up information about what you are getting into. You can make an informed decision without hurting someone’s feelings by turning them down.

Budget Planners

Prior to smart phones and computers, people had to hold on to receipts and physical bills to keep up with their expenses.

Now, there are programs that allow you to enter in your expenses directly on your phone. Many banks also offer free apps that update a list of your expenses automatically every time you use your ATM or credit card.

There are also programs and apps available that will automatically sort your expenses into categories such as dining, bills, or entertainment.

These programs often allow users to create a pie graph out of the sorted information. This makes it extremely easy to figure out where you need to cut back on spending.

Everyone knows that carrying a few too many pounds can be bad for your health, with more than 112,000 Americans dying each year from obesity-related problems.

However, not so many people stop to think about the effect that their weight has on their wealth, but when all factors are taken into account, the overall impact is considerable.

Setting aside the higher grocery bill that anyone eating calorific or excessive amounts of food must fork out for, there are a number of other additional expenses that those with a more streamlined physique do not have to face.

Individuals caught in a yo-yo cycle of dieting often attempt a number of different methods to trim down and pay out for diet pills as well as alternative methods such as patches, hypnotherapy or in extreme cases, even surgery.

Needless to say, these costs can quickly eat into money that has been set aside for a rainy day.

Individuals with a particularly large frame may find they also are unable to squeeze into a single airline or cinema seat and have to purchase two tickets in order to fit.

Medical insurance also comes at a much greater cost for those who are obese, with a sliding scale of charges that increase as the BMI goes up.

Some insurers will refuse to provide any coverage for individuals who are morbidly obese, who rather ironically, are the very people that need the insurance the most as the probability of falling ill is much greater.

Another strategy some health care providers adopt is to exclude pre-existing conditions, meaning that anyone whose weight was at the wrong end of the scales when joining up could find themselves having to pay for their own bills if weight played a factor in the illness.

If you are overweight, it is therefore more important than ever to keep a reasonably sized financial buffer in the bank and to make the most of your money it is recommended that you look around the market to see where you could find the best rates.

Comparison websites can help take the pain out of researching; checking out savings at moneysupermarket would be a good place to start.

Even more worrying for those with a larger physique are the results of recent academic studies in to the impact that being overweight has on earning power.

Research conducted by both Cornell University and Ohio University demonstrated that wealth and weight were irrevocably connected, with heavier individuals lighter in the bank than their more slimline colleagues.

Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics used in the Ohio publication showed that for every increase of 1 point in the BMI ratio, the net worth of the person dropped by $1000.

In the other piece of research carried out by John H. Cawley at Cornell, salary was found to go down as weight went up. Women who were 64 pounds heavier than the average had a wage that was 9% lower – a significant drop.

Whilst no-one can irrevocably prove that the drop in value is due to weight, other studies have reproduced the same results, leaving only one conclusion; that being obese is as bad for your wealth as it is for your health.

Saving for that first home can be daunting. Navigating the challenges and requirements of first-home buying is overwhelming for young families, but it doesn’t have to be.

A first-time homebuyer is not always defined as someone who has never owned a home. While it does include first-ever buyers, the definition extends to anyone who hasn’t owned a home for three years or more.

This rule also applies to displaced homemakers and single parents following a divorce, as long as they haven’t lived with a spouse in three years.

One of the advantages is that first-time home loans are generally easier to qualify for than standard mortgages. Grants and other types of financial assistance may be available to those who qualify.

Before you look into buyer that first house, consider your current financial situation. The lender will look into your credit history as well as your debt-to-income ratio.

Paying off debt will give you a better debt-to-income ratio and will make things easier for your family to save up money for the down payment.

A good rule of thumb is to have 10-15% of the total purchase amount of the home to put toward the down payment. For a $180,000 house, this means saving $18,000 in cash before you even begin to look at houses on the market.

This may seem unmanageable, but you need to figure up how much house you can afford. Use a mortgage calculator to determine a smart borrowing amount and get a good idea of your monthly mortgage payments.

Remember to estimate homeowner’s insurance, taxes and other annual fees. The total amount should never be over 28% of your gross annual income. Again, you can do this utilizing a simple mortgage calculator.

Set up a specific savings account for your down payment. Make sure it isn’t linked to your checking account so you won’t be tempted to dip into savings.

A high yield savings account is best, since you could end up earning more in interest. Have a certain amount automatically deposited into the account with each paycheck. Figure up how much you need to put back each month based on the down payment estimate from a mortgage calculator.

If you have a traditional IRA, pour some extra money into it. The law allows first-time homebuyers to withdraw as much as $10,000 from their IRAs to cover homebuyer expenses. That’s a down payment for a $100,000 house!

If saving for a down payment still seems impossible, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) offers federal mortgage programs through local housing counseling agencies.

You may want to consider professional credit counseling to come up with a solid budget. Sticking to a budget for a year or more can see your savings add up quickly and you’ll have a down payment in no time.

Your local housing counseling agencies will also offer advice, free of charge for those who qualify, on saving for and buying a home. Contact your local HUD office for more information.

If you still have trouble saving money for a down payment, look into down payment assistance programs. These vary by state, but may include cash grants, closing cost assistance, low-interest mortgages and even educational programs.

Many people have invested in cell phones that have the processing power and connectivity to keep you in touch with friends and open up a world of downloadable applications that can entertain, amuse and help in your daily life.

With economic worries causing people to be thriftier, it makes sense to equip yourself with apps that are specifically designed to save you money and manage your household and business budgets without tearing your hair out in frustration.

If you just search the app store linked to your particular smartphone, you should find a wealth of these apps to peruse, so here is a look at the best on the market and some future releases to consider.

Mint.com has an app for both iPhone and Android devices, although even if you do not have a compatible handset, you can still access its account management services via your cell’s web browser.

The app is free on both primary platforms, allowing you to see your savings accounts, credit card bills and loans in one place, but you will have to put up with in-app advertisements which help Mint make some money.

iPhone users who want to manage their credit card spending might want to download Debt Dog, an app that helps you calculate how much you will have to pay in interest when you make a particular purchase or fail to keep up with fees.

This app is particularly useful for anyone who does not want to get any nasty surprises when the open up their next credit card bill, because all the math is laid bare before the event.

One particularly saturated area of the money save app spectrum is barcode scanning. iPhone apps such as RedLaser and Barcode Scanner for Android will let you snap pictures of barcodes when you are in stores and then compare prices online to help you get the best deal and not waste cash on overpriced products.

Obviously this category of apps really takes advantage of the connectivity power of smartphones, allowing you to search the web without typing out lengthy key phrases and save money without investing hours in research.

For all the latest news relating to finance and budgeting you might be interested in the Yahoo! Finance app, available in standalone form for iPhone, but also accessible from most cell web browsers.

You can chart the rise and fall of your stocks and shares using the dedicated Bloomberg app, which is one of the most widely available programs, finding a home on iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and even Nokia’s Symbian platform.

Many other apps keep you in touch with the ups and downs of the markets, with free apps available on Windows Phone 7 inluding the MSN Money app from Microsoft itself. This lets you watch currencies, personalise your stock selection and get free quotes on your phone.

In the future, cell phones will be far more flexible as devices for helping you both save and spend money. MasterCard is one of the many firms working on an app to take advantage of NFC (Near Field Communication) technology for contactless payments when you are out and about.

Google Wallet shares a similar segment of the market, letting you make small payments at compatible kiosks in stores.

The next iPhone from Apple is alleged to come with an NFC chip built into it, but if you do not want a high end smartphone then there should be NFC technology onboard SIM cards of the future, albeit without apps to go along with them.

Cell phones have the power to help you balance the books and with many of the related apps and services coming free of charge or for a tiny fee, then your investment will easily be made back in savings.

Of course it’s not all apps. Smartphones are more than capable of browsing the web, meaning you can use price comparison sites to help you cut back on your bills. Click here to visit moneysupermarket, where you can compare auto insurance, utilities providers and finance products.

If you have ears or eyes, it’s pretty much guaranteed you’ve heard or read an urban legend. It’s the kind of thing which usually starts with “a friend of a friend told me that…” and goes on to describe some cool-sounding life hack or shocking fact which raises your eyebrows and intrigues you.

Rather than being completely false, urban legends usually begin with a grain of truth and are then exaggerated to within an inch of their life. Because of the truth element, they’re often quite believeable by even the smartest people.

To add to the confusion, some urban legends have actually been proved to be true, such as the one about the real body hanging in a funhouse, or the fact that Disneyland used to prohibit long-haired males from entering the park.

Urban legends exist for pretty much every area of life, but for the purposes of this post I’m going to look at some of the more common money-related myths and commonly held beliefs. I’ll throw the odd true one in there too!

The anti-counterfit strip in paper money can be used to track the notes

FALSE

The earliest reference of this legend I could find was 2001, and it claimed that the source was told by a bank teller that the plastic strip on the US banknote was actually put there as a way for the government to see, via satellite, how much cash an individual was carrying at any given time.

Another version of the myth is that airport security uses special scanners to see how much cash travellers have; too much and you could be detained as a smuggler.

Having a prayer room in your home exempts you from council tax

FALSE

Until I began researching this article I’d never heard of this myth but apparently it originated as a racist myth in forums, and was subsequently believed by enough people to award it urban legend status.

But, unless the building is a certified place of worship (which a private family home is not), still council tax needs to be paid at the going rate.

A large proportion of dollar bills contain trace amounts of cocaine

TRUE (sort of)

People hearing this story believe that the trace amounts of cocaine are there because of the bill having been used to snort lines of it, and by using the bills they’re at risk of getting high, done for possession, or worse. But this isn’t strictly true.

In actual fact, if just one bill in a cashier’s drawer or bank’s sorting machine was used in this way, all of the other notes in there could become contaminated too.

But because the amount is so negligible, only those with jobs requiring them to handle huge amounts of money on a daily basis (bank tellers, casino workers etc) are at any risk whatsoever. However, the fact remains that yes, there are notes out there with traces of cocaine, but the method of contamination isn’t quite as people often believe.

Writing a cheque in red ink delays the verification process for longer

FALSE

The myth goes that as cheque-scanning machines can’t read red ink, the cheque floats in the system longer, giving the writer more time before the funds disappear from their account.

While it’s true that most cheque scanning machines can’t in fact read red ink, it’s not to the benefit of the writer. What’s more likely to happen, and indeed has, is that the cheque will be marked ‘blank’ and returned as a bounced payment, or even result in your account closed under suspicion of fraud.

So if you do still use cheques, make sure you keep a blue or black pen with your book at all times!

I guess the moral here is to take anything related to money with a pinch of salt, unless coming from a reliable source like a bank manager or financial advisor. Even articles on financial blogs like this shouldn’t replace professional advice; we’re here to guide, inform and help with the research of credit cards, isas, mortgages and other financial products, but never base your decisions solely on one website’s content.

Want an incentive to start saving for retirement early? How’s this – if you contribute to your retirement plans every year from age 18 to age 30, you never have to save for retirement again!

Suppose that, at age 18, you start working part-time. We’ll say you’re going to college so you can’t put in a lot of hours, but you’re still able to set aside $100 per month. After two years, you double that to $200 per month. (Yeah, that’s a big jump, but we’re just trying to make the math easy; in practice, just increase what you’re saving whenever your income increases).

After you graduate, keep living simply and start putting aside $1000 per month. Yes, that’ll hurt – you won’t be able to live it up the way you’d like – but if you’re used to living frugally as a student, you should be able to do it. Continue to save until you turn 30; the money should be going into either a Roth IRA or a 401(k).

After 12 years, you’ve saved:

$2400 at $100/month
$4800 at $200/month
$96,000 at $1000, month

Pretty impressive, huh? Just by living frugally for a decade, you’ve put aside  $103,200! Now let’s assume that you’re earning a reasonable 7.2% return on your investment, which means it doubles every ten years. In this case, your savings have grown to a whopping $144,794! Finally, let’s assume you want to retire at age 65. At age 30, after 12 years of saving, you stop contributing to your retirement account for the rest of your life. Thirty-five years later, your account should be worth just a shade under two million dollars.

Of course, with inflation, two million may or may not be enough to comfortably retire on, but then, nobody says you have to stop saving when you turn 30! Ask yourself, though…is it worth living frugally for a few years while you’re young in order to have two million dollars in savings waiting for you when you retire? If that’s not an inventive to start saving, I don’t know what is!

This is a guest post from Louise Tillotson:

In the UK, each adult is allowed to save a maximum of £10,200 per year in an Individual Savings Account, or ISA. An ISA works in a similar fashion to a regular savings account, with a couple of exceptions.

The first is that you can only deposit a maximum of £10,200 into the account during one tax year, regardless of how much you later withdraw. For example, if you’ve already deposited £10,200 into your ISA by November, then decide to withdraw £2000 in December, you cannot then replace the £2000 until the start of the following tax year in April.

Another difference between an ISA and other types of savings account is that the interest you earn from money in an ISA is safe from the tax man. Essentially, it’s a form of tax-free income. This can make a big difference because, if you have an ISA paying a rate of 6% interest, you would need to find a regular savings account paying an unlikely rate of 7.5% in order to get the same returns.

There are two forms of ISA, the cash ISA and the stocks & shares ISA. The deposit limit of £10,200 applies to them both as a whole, meaning if you deposit £7000 in a shares ISA you can only place up to £3,200 in a cash ISA. Also, no more than £5,100 can be placed in a cash ISA, so the remaining £5,100 of your allowance must go in a shares ISA if you wish to invest further.

Although there is a limit on the amount you can deposit into an ISA in one tax year, this doesn’t include transferred funds from old ISAs. For example, the previous year’s ISA limit was £7200. If you had this in an account paying 4% interest you would end up with £7,493 at the end of 12 months. This amount could then be transferred into a higher-rate ISA and continue to accumulate interest along with the new year’s allowance. You can transfer funds from a cash ISA into a shares ISA, but not the other way around.

Transferring ISAs is easier than people think. The important thing to remember is you shouldn’t draw the money out yourself. Instead, go to your new provider and they will process a transfer for you, which includes informing your old provider of your intentions. The latter may charge you a fee for transferring, so before you do, make sure the new rate is worth it. Banks sometimes drop the interest rate on their existing accounts after the first year, so shop around and compare ISA rates from different providers to find the best AER (Annual Equivalent Rate). A savings calculator will come in useful here, as you can use it to see how much you could earn with a given interest rate.

[bio]

Louise has worked in the financial sector for many years. She currently works as a writer for Moneysupermarket, and writes financial articles for a number of other sites as well.

The benefits of a personal savings account far outweigh the potential negatives that storing money at home can bring. Not only are there instances in which cash can be lost for good in being stolen or in a fire, but there is not going to be any insurance at all that will cover for the loss either rendering it impossible to get the money back. On the positive side, opening a new passbook savings account or money market account allows for someone to store up to one hundred thousand dollars and have it completely covered under the FDIC (Federal Department Insurance Corporation) that boasts a record of no customer having lost money since it was formed in 1933.

While some people are afraid to use banks because there are sometimes small monthly fees that are required, a few dollars is nothing compared to what could happen to a few thousand dollars in a matter of seconds at home. Furthermore, individuals with poor spending habits are likely to take that “extra” money and spend it on things that they really do not need because if they could afford to set the money asside in the first place it simply is not required or demanded for paying monthly expenses.

If someone is not able to hold a sufficient amount of money in a potential account, a passbook savings account may be the perfect option as they have low minimum balances if any at all as well as lower interest rates as a result of their lenient standards. For a money market account, customers are required to have a higher minimum balance and are restricted to a certain number of withdrawals monthly which could be problematic for some people.

However, on the positive side, higher interest rates are always granted to these individuals who have these accounts and that means they are going to be able to gather much money more overtime than those with a passbook savings account. Although there is a comparison between the two, the most important piece of information to know is to just get any savings account, basic or not, so that money can be stored away and safely. All in all, keeping money in a bank or credit union is a great way to save money and taking advantage of new checking account offers could lead to even more opportunities for utilizing these tools and financial institutions.

Retirement planning education can cover a large variety of topics such as Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), Self Employment Plans (SEPs), Roth IRAs and IRA rollovers just to name a few.

Deciding on which investment vehicle is better for you overall can be a daunting task.  Below we’ll compare the Traditional and Roth IRAs since these are two investment options that often confuse a lot of people.

Investing in the wrong type of IRA could potentially have large financial consequences but it’s important to note that it’s better to choose one than not to invest at all.  Both IRA profiles are excellent ways to save for your retirement, although each offers distinct and different advantages.

Description

Both are savings plans created by the government that offer certain tax advantages for individuals who are willing to set aside money for retirement.  In a Traditional IRA your contributions are made with pre-tax dollars and under the Roth IRA profile your contributions are made with after-tax dollars.

Tax Advantages

Under the Traditional IRA your investment grows with all of the taxes deferred until you begin to withdraw funds.  Under a Roth IRA your account balances are allowed to compound tax deferred and the funds are withdrawn tax-free if the account is at least 5 years old and the owner is over the age 59 ½.

Eligibility

Under the Traditional IRA the participant must be under the age of 70 ½ and have earned income.  With the Roth IRA your adjusted gross income cannot exceed $120,000 for single individuals and $176,00 for married couple.  These amounts change frequently so its best to verify the income limitations the year in which you decide to invest.

Tax Deductions on Contributions

A Traditional IRA allows the participant to deduct their contributions from their income but a Roth IRA does not.

Penalty for Early Withdrawal

Both the Traditional and Roth IRA profiles impose a 10% penalty on withdrawals made before the age 59 ½.  However, the 10% penalty on the Roth IRA is only on the earnings and not the principal.

Required Distributions

The Traditional IRA mandates that you begin making minimum withdrawals from the account after the age of 70 ½ but there are no required distributions imposed on the Roth IRA participant.

The difference between a Roth and Traditional IRA are just a few nuances and which one you choose depends on your individual situation.  Most of the time the Roth IRA will be your best choice providing you within the income limitations.

To start building your nest egg the right way, opening a savings account is a good option. Unlike investing in the stock market immediately after you’ve decided to save for the future that may result to losses without warnings, a savings account houses your money safely until you need access to it. Housing your funds in a bank account also lets you take advantage of the savings account rates.

If you are someone who prefers to see your saved money under your mattress though you always end up spending it little-by-little, when you set aside your money in a bank or other financial institutions, you will find it more difficult to splurge your extra cash. These financial investing vehicles offer a safe place to store your money for whatever reason. In return for trusting them to look after your money, you receive monetary gain in connection to the type of account you chose to invest your funds into.

Generally, the savings account rates are lower than what can be obtained in other types of investment platforms since there are lesser possibilities for losses because bank deposits are most of the time insured.

Guarantee
In May 2009 in the US, savings accounts are insured and protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) up to the amount of $250,000 per savings account. But unless the term is lengthened, this insurance amount will significantly drop down to $100,000 by the 1st of January 2014.

To be able to take advantage of the FDIC protection, it’s very important to check if your bank is FDIC protected. The great news is that you are allowed to set up multiple savings plans if your money exceeds the guarantee. Due to this protection, a savings account is considered as an asset that has high level of security.

Financial Institutions
To acquire the highest possible savings account or IRA rates of return, you can check the offerings of mutual savings banks, commercial savings banks, credit unions, and savings and loans companies in your area.