Credit Card Offers

Need everyone to chip in on this lucrative offer. I just found out this new credit card offer from continental.com. It says apply for a new credit card and get 40,000 miles with no fee for the first year.

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/products/chase/continental.aspx?v_ctrk=HBAN2$0-916-2365-1-1348&offer=OPP40K&mkid=6S2B

40,000 miles should be good enough for one-round trip within continental US. Round-trip ticket these days could be worth upto $500.

There could be similar offers out there which are as good as this one if not better.

Could anyone comment on what are downsides of taking this offer and closing the account in less than 1 year to avoid the annual credit card charges?

I would love to hear from your experience on similar offers like this one. So, keep them coming.

How to cut your Debt?

You are fed up with your debt and want to start all over again? Tired of collection calls and worry about what would happen tomorrow? Tired of living pay day to pay day?

You are not alone. Each and every human being takes a debt atleast once in their lifetimes in one way or the other. The key to get out of debt is self-discipline. The best part about this is that you do not have to depend on financial advisor or some wall street guru or anyone else to get your life back on track. So, let us take a look at how it can be done.

Professionals often say that we should pre-pay our mortgage or you should keep paying the minimum due to the credit card companies but not the full amount due. Their argument is that if you have extra cash, you are better off investing in the stocks, bonds, real estate, gold etc etc for a better return rather than paying off your debt. 

Well, this is true in some cases who have enough cash to pay off their debt in a flash. For others like me, I would prefer to pay off any debt I have. Investing in the market in any instrument like stocks, bonds, precious metals, real-estate etc in no guarantee to get returns. Rather, we could loose that money pretty quickly especially in this volatile market. However, what is guaranteed is that we are paying interest on our mortgage every month until that is paid off. Most importantly, having no debt on your shoulders, just changing your life. It gives you confidence to try out new ventures and in your abilities to manage your debt.

Let us consider a very simple example. Banks lend us money at a mere 3.5%-4% these days. Banks are guaranteed to keep collecting 3.5-4% interest on the their loans every month in the normal situation. If there are 10 such loans they are guaranteed on collect 35-40% income on their investment.
Banks have enough smart people working for them. If we were to follow the so-called financial experts, banks should not make lend money on just 4% rather they should invest in hot items like stocks, bonds and real-estate and that will generate a very high return.

Guess what! Banks followed their advice in 2008 and we all know what happened.

Again, There are no guarantees on the returns in any investment. However, any interest charges/late charges etc are guaranteed every month if there is any outstanding dues against you.

So, save some money every month and focus on reducing or eliminating your debt before we start investing. You will have more success and more favorable results.

Have a question? Please leave a comment and I would be glad to answer.

Sure, You can live debt free

I never thought I would write something like this on the internet. Thanks to my sister, she motivated me to go online and share my thoughts with the outside world. Here I am writing my very first post.

Do you ever wish of having financial independence? Do ever think of living debt free? Do you enjoy the life on credit?

Well, life is certainly beautiful and too precious to fret over financial ruins and crisis. It is entirely in our hands to write or build our financial status.

To get our financial house in order, we need to start distinguishing between needs and wants. We all know what needs and wants are. We can easily distinguish between them. All we need is discipline and will power to stay within our needs until the debt is paid off.

In order to get there, we need to know what we are spending on. Lets list down all our expenses on a easy to locate and reachable place.  Every time we spend any money, it should be written down with the date, amount and type of expense like food, clothing, rent, mortgage etc. Once we know where and how much we are spending, it is easy to categorize the expenses. It is really surprising at the end of this exercise to see how much we are spending on items that we don't really need.

It is not that difficult rather you can enjoy this process and in the process you are sure to learn a lot about yourself. So, lets start writing down our expenses...

Credit Cards are not necessarily evil elements. You can really save money with credit cards. Just remember to use them like debit card. Spend only what you can pay in full and enjoy all the perks your credit card offers. Always check all the benefits your credit card offers and keep them in mind when in need. For instance, I was very upset when my laptop got stolen in NYC. Obviously there was no scope of getting it back. Fortunately, I had bought it on my credit card. I contacted my credit card, completed the paper work like forms, the receipts, police report etc and there you go, I got the amount credited on my account. I then bought even better laptop. 
There are tons of credit card with 'NO ANNUAL FEE'. No need to pay the hefty fees if you are not going to use those extra features. You may want to check this out for all the great credit cards on offer.
/http://www.creditcards.org/

So keeping our financial health in tact in really in our hands. Spend wisely and remain disciplined focusing on needs. Make of prioritized list of your wants. Set the goal for your top priority 'want' and start saving for it. I am sure you will start appreciating the process and get your financial house in order.

In the closing, I wish you and your family good financial health and I sincerely thank you for spending your valuable time with me.

I will be back with more....