living-on-one-income
Living On One Income
Writen by Martin Lukac
It seems as if every family today is a two income family. It can be difficult to live on one income today. Housing cost in many metro areas are simply outrageous. The cost of living in many places is sky high. Can you be a one income family.
Yes. One third of all households are led by single parents. Some statistics seem to say that nearly one-half of all women stay at home. That means that a lot of us are making it on one income. So it definitely is possible.
Many couples begin to realize that having both spouses work doesn’t really add up to that much extra. Jonni McCoy’s book, Miserly Moms, says that it can cost $9 to %15 an hour to pay for work related expenses. So if you aren’t making more than that, it could cost the second spouse to work.
For example, we realized that not only were we paying the maintenance, gas and repairs on a vehicle that was logging many, many miles for me to commute to work, my income was boosting us into the next tax bracket. When we looked at having children, the day care expenses finished wiping out the income I was bringing in working outside of the home. A lot of my friends are in the same situation.
But the step to living on one income is not an easy one. We had always planned for me to be a stay-at-home mom, so we tried not to depend on my income at all. That was impossible. It took us paying down our debt and taking steps to live more frugally for me to be able to stay at home. You will probably need to make changes as well.
It is really hard to adjust to one income. You may have to cut out some extra things to make it work. But once you start cutting things out and changing your spending habits, you will begin to see more areas that can be limited without hurting your sense of having what you need. Over time, you simply begin to look at things differently.
You don’t have to have children to stay at home. We are conditioned that everyone has to work outside of the home to be a worthy person. We tend to look at those who don’t need to work as spoiled. But that isn’t the case. Many people work hard to run a household, especially when there is less money coming in.
What are some things you can do to prepare yourself for one income?
1. Start with cutting down your debt. Credit cards have to go. They are way too tempting to have around when you are trying to cut back on spending. Cutting your debt is the easiest way to find extra money in your budget. It will take a while, but is worth it.
2. Look at what is necessary. For example, do you really need to pay a water service for a water softener when they are relatively cheap through a home improvement store. For less than one year’s rental on a softener unit, you can purchase one and cut the rental from your monthly bills.
3. Be frugal in your decisions. This is a habit that takes time to form. The key is to focus on your goal. You are looking to keep your household running smoothly without having to go to work. Work with your partner to make a list of financial priorities. Make plans for the future.
4. Take on extra work. If you are highly skilled, you will probably be able to find some way to add to the family income while staying at home. Whether it is crafts that you sell locally, babysitting or catering, you can do things that you enjoy and make a little extra money for the budget The key is to not become dependable on the income you are bringing in.
5. Have an emergency fund. When only one person works, if they are injured or have an accident, chances are that nothing will be coming in. If you are a stay at home mom and become ill or hurt, you will need to have someone watch your children. An emergency fund helps cushion your budget from emergencies. You should have at least three months worth of expenses in an emergency fund. That way, when things go wrong, your budget doesn’t suffer.
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Martin Lukac, represents http://www.RateEmpire.com, a finance web-company specializing in real estate/mortgage market. We specialize in daily updates, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies! Visit http://www.RateEmpire.com today |
government-grants-for-dummies
Government Grants for Dummies!
Writen by Kate Ross
Getting finance from a government grant can solve funding problems and the money doesn’t have to be repaid. Nevertheless, qualifying for a government grant is not an easy task and there are different requisites for each kind of grant. Though explaining each grant in detail exceeds the purpose of this article, we will give a general idea of what to expect when applying for government grants.
Types of Grants
There are grants available for first time home buyers, for college students, for non profit organizations, for starting businesses, for small running businesses, and so on. Each type of grant is handled by a different government agency and of course, they have different requirements.
What all these different grants have in common is the fact that their purpose is to provide finance for those in an underprivileged situation in each particular field. That being said, it is important to make clear that the rule by which government grants are awarded is in most of the cases based on the needs of the applicants.
Requirements
Due to the nature of government grants there is no such thing as a fixed set of requirements that the different grant types have in common. Generally speaking the underprivileged factor is an important variable; however, there are certain types of government grants that can be easily awarded to people in a good financial position. Government grants intended for production or services are the best examples of this.
There are also grants that are awarded if the applicant is resident in certain state or certain territory. The geographic variable can turn out to be very important as the federal government provides founds in order to reduce the differences. Being part of specific minorities can also be a requirement for approval. This is called positive discrimination or affirmative action and as the previous requisite it serves the purpose of reducing differences.
Though the above are all common requisites, they are not present on all government grant’s types and, as stated before, each grant has different requirements. Thus, there is no other choice than to obtain the specific forms and learn which are the requirements you need to meet in order to apply for a government grant.
Where to find them
There are many government agencies providing founding. Each agency has a web site where you’ll be able to find the information or at least a contact number to inquire about it. If you already know which type of grant you might be entitled to obtain, you can try to contact the government agency directly and get all the application forms and documentation needed.
However, if you are unsure or you would like to know which grants are available and what requisites you need for each specific grant, there are many online sites that can offer you all the information already packed from many government agencies in the same web portal so you won’t have to spend many ours doing research.
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Kate Ross is a professional consultant with fifteen years in the financial field. She helps people in the process of securing personal loans, mortgage, refinance or consolidation loans and prevents consumers from falling into financial scams. Smart tips and interesting articles on this subject and other financial related topics can be found at her website: http://www.speedybadcreditloans.com |
reasons-to-go-offshore-for-your-banking-and-financial-needs
Reasons To Go Offshore For Your Banking And Financial Needs
Writen by Richard Price
There is a myth perpetuated by the press and the IRS that people only go offshore for illegal purposes or to hide something through complex offshore formations. This is completely false as there are many large legitimate companies and business people who use offshore jurisdictions on a daily basis.
To identify and list all of the reasons why one would go offshore would be impossible. However, one can identify some of the major factors:
1. A need for increased privacy and confidentiality. With faster, more powerful computers integrating more databases together, and the dramatic increase in government power since 911, there could ultimately be no financial or personal privacy left in the US.
2. Rampant litigation in the US. You now have a 1 in 4 chance of being sued in the US if you earn over US 100,000 a year and the US has more law suits than any country in the word.
3. Protection from divorce or an aggrieved significant other, or as an alternative to a prenuptial agreement.
4. Provisions for your retirement and concern for the financial security of your family and loved ones.
5. Protection of a lump-sum payment with an IBC company, such as a personal injury, workers compensation, or a no fault settlement.
6. A solution for high-risk business owners, such as online casinos, poker, pharmacy (RX companies) and tobacco merchants who wish to accept payments in privacy offshore, and who can not secure merchant accounts at domestic onshore US banks.
7. Private and confidential trading for online brokerage and Forex traders through an offshore account.
8. Shipping companies that require free port zones for tax-free operations (Panama being one of the best areas for formation).
The list really is endless. With the advent of the Internet the world has indeed gotten smaller and offshore banking has never been more relevant.
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Richard Price is the publisher of http://www.confidentialbanking.com, a resource and service for those seeking offshore banking services, and http://www.confidentialbanking.co.uk, offshore banking services for UK citizens. |
