Saving - Money Facts Weekly

How Profitable Are Series Ee Bonds

by Fredrick Taylor

When the stock market is bad, more people seek refuge in safe investments such as in the excellent series EE bonds. Series EE bonds are US savings bonds that are considered default-risk free. They are low risk savings that pay interest for up to 30 years.

Like most bonds, series EE bonds pay interests. However, the interest rate of series EE bonds are very low compared to other fixed income investments. An example of what the interest rate on series EE bonds is 1.4% fixed rate paid in 2008. Fixed interest rates apply for series EE bonds purchased in May 2005 and after. Before that, series EE bonds paid interests based on current market rates.

Buying series EE bonds is easy. The US Treasury Department has made it possible to buy them online through a governmental website. However, you can still buy series EE bonds at your local financial institutions or banks. Many employers also offer the option of buying series EE bonds through payroll deduction programs.

The smallest amount of money you need to invest in series EE bonds at a time is $25. If you buy paper series EE bonds, your $25 will buy a $50 series EE bond. However, if you buy electronic series EE bonds, your $25 will only buy a $25 series EE bond.

While paper series EE bonds are sold at 50% of their face value, electronic series EE bonds are sold at the full face value. That means, to buy series EE bonds online, you pay $50 for a $50 series EE bond whereas you only pay $25 for a $50 series EE bond certificate.

Bonds are often long term investments. Series EE bonds must be held for at least a year before cashing out. The interest on series EE bonds accumulate for 30 years. The longer you hold series EE bonds, the more interests and value at redemption.

If you redeem series EE bonds before 5 years after purchase, there is an interest penalty. The interest penalty for early redemption of series EE bonds is the most recent interest payments for 3 months. If you redeem series EE bonds after 5 years, there is no penalty.

Since series EE bonds are guaranteed by the US government, they are considered one of the safest investments around. People buy series EE bonds for many reasons, not just for investments but also for education funding as well as retirement funding. Best of all, Series EE bonds come in many different denominations and are extremely flexible for your budget.

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Interested in learning more about Savings Bonds issued by the USA, or specifically the Series EE Bonds? Visit us at the US Savings Bonds resource site today for additional resources and information.

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Family Budgeting to Increase Wealth

Budgeting is all about making our dollar go further. Stretching our income to create a savings surplus a credit rather than deficit balance. Every household is different in means, circumstances, level of debt and savings. Setting up a family budget will support your efforts to control spending and accumulate assets and savings. Each one of us is different too. We have varying levels of money-management skills and motivation levels. We typically believe that we spend responsibly and are genuinely astonished by how quickly our money disappears.

Budgeting is systematic. It is a way to achieve financial discipline by changing the way you think about money. Many steps need to be taken and applied when creating a budget. It needs to be planned out with your family in an honest and willing manner and joint decisions made. It is essential that sacrifices are identified collectively and each family member must understand their part in accomplishing goals and creating the future they want.

Working together with your spouse or a family member will be beneficial. Open, honest communication will net the best ongoing results. You need to know all the facts to set up a transparent, realistic budget. Negative attitudes may need to be replaced and expectations clearly stated. Establishing joint goals helps everyone to view budgeting as a joint venture.

Encourage members of your household to talk with work colleagues about ways to budget and save money. Read widely and consider how you could make suggestions work for your circumstances. View your first budget as a trial and keep everything that works and discard or replace the elements that are not practical.

Discussions about finances can cause feelings of discomfort, anxiety and stress. Be mindful of how others are feeling and communicate frankly and respectfully. The key to success is to work collaboratively and to set up a realistic budget that addresses individual and household goals.

A good place to start is to make detailed lists of all expenses. It is helpful if you categorize. Living expenses would include food, home expenses like cleaning products and gardening, lunches for work and school, clothing, newspapers, stationary and postage. Family expenses might be child and elder care, pharmacy, veterinarian if you have pets, health and life insurance and doctor and dental. Dining out and take away meals, vacations and weekend or day trips, books, movies and rentals would all be placed in the recreation category.

Some bills must be targeted as very important and those are the ones that you are under an obligation to pay. If you enter into a formal contract like taking a student loan or having a credit card you must meet the conditions of the agreement. Student loans, child support, alimony, and charitable donations would all be listed in this category.

Living in a house or apartment and having a car are usually major budget items. Whether you rent or have a mortgage you will have to budget for monthly payments as well as utilities (oil, gas, energy, water, garbage, sewage). Cost to maintain telephones, both landlines and cells, cable and internet services are substantial. We are prone to forget items like escrow (taxes and insurance) and repairs and maintenance and if these are not included when a family is setting up their budget an unexpected cash flow problem can arise.

Whether you choose to own a car or several vehicles, ride a bicycle or catch public transport you will need to include transportation as one of the categories in your newly formulated budget plan. Loan payments, insurance and repairs and maintenance need to be paid for more regularly than we would like. Parking fees can mount up very quickly. Fines for traffic misdemeanors are usually large and if they are not dispensed with by speedy payment substantial late fees will escalate. The cost of fuel seems to be affecting almost everything and price increases are apparent in all budget categories. Fuel costs now need to be considered more than ever before!

Setting up a budget means that we are more pro-active in looking out for innovative ways to reduce spending and costs. We may have been unmotivated to budget until and some realities had to be faced. While it may take some time to reduce fixed costs budgeting will help you minimize other expenses so that there is money to pay for the fixed expenses. Setting up a family budget will soon make you realize how fundamental it is to make your money worries disappear.

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People say that Columbia Lee gives great help on family budgeting. She tells how to plan, pay the bills AND save money. She can stretch your budget. Get peace of mindby good budgeting. Get How To Set Up A Family Budget and enjoy a family vacation soon. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

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Saving a Small Amount of Money Adds Up Quickly

Saving seems like such a simple task, right? While it should not be hard to do, many Americans simply do not have a dime in the bank. With the sorry state of Social Security, the future economic status of the country is in peril in the opinion of many.

Is there a reason we cannot seem to save a single buck? Yes. There are two of them. One is a culture where spending money hand over foot is the norm and the second is a lack of personal responsibility. Well, credit is getting tight so you have to save now.

Saving in general is very difficult. Saving for something specific is usually very easy. With this in mind, it is vital that you set targets for your saving effort. If you foresee the need for a car in a year, start saving now. It can be pretty easy.

Time is cheap unless you are talking to a lawyer. With saving money, it is on your side. If you put aside $100 from each paycheck, that is $200 a month or $2,400 a year. Do this for 5 years and you have $12,000 free and clear to use as you like.

Start saving a small amount of money per week, month, or paycheck. Since you have already figured out how much you need to save, you can now start to figure out how much to put aside every month. When it comes to saving, try to save the same amount every month in order to get into a saving rhythm.

Saving money is just one part of the equation. Cutting unnecessary expenses represents the other side. Write down a list of every expenditure you have in a month. At the end, total up all the money you spent on extraneous stuff. Shocking, eh?

Pay attention to the routine expenditures you have that are not really necessary. Hit Starbucks every morning? At $4 a pop, that is $80 a month. How about lunch time expenditures? Buy DVDs? Why not rent them? You can really cut costs if you just try.

Once you start trying to save money, there can be a tendency to overdue it. The goal is to save money, not become offensively cheap. Set aside some splurge money, but do not spend more than that.

We are a society of debtors. Everyone seems to be up to their eyes in debt. It is incredibly stressful, so why do it? Cut your expenses. Save some money. Pay off your debts and be truly free. No credit card company should every have authority over you.

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When it comes to commercial loans for real estate construction, CommercialLoanStop.com simply cannot be beat.

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The Importance of Carpooling

We have heard about carpooling since we were young but until today when we have grow older, I wonder if anyone of us have tried carpooling before. A long time ago, people are encouraged to carpool in terms of saving fuel thus saving money. However, there was hardly anyone who pay attention to the calling. Now, things are different. Everything has been pricey and so people are realizing the need to carpool. Why you should carpool?

Saving the environment. Cars produce more Carbon Dioxide as they burn fuel to generate the power to move the cars. The reason why you need to carpool is to make sure there is less cars on the road so that there will be even lesser Carbon Dioxide being released into the air. Carbon Dioxide is also the gas known for causing Global Warming - Green House effect.

You can save money on fuel. What would be better than to divide the fuel cost among the carpoolers? This way, you get to save even if just a small amount of money. A small amount of money makes a big difference in saving money. Don’t underestimate what a few dollars can do to your bank account. Read more about The Importance of Carpooling →

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