Student Loans

As soon as I graduated college I wanted to know how to repay student loans quickly. I definitely didn’t want them hanging over my head. Another reason is that after the passage of the 2005 bankruptcy reform bill student loans are no longer fall under bankruptcy protection. In other words, if you go broke you still have to pay back your student loan. You would think that interest rates would be lower since the lender has more protection from bankruptcy.

If you are in the early stages of looking for a student loan before going to college be sure to look into alternate sources of student funding. Not to say that all schools may engage in bad behavior, but in 2007 Andrew Cuomo (Attorney General of New York State) investigated several schools that had preferred lenders. Most of these preferred lenders actually charged higher interest rates and were giving kick backs to financial aid staff.

There are also many different types of loans to consider for college. Even within the category of Federal Student Loans there are numerous types.

• Federal Perkins Loan - Need Based
• Stafford Loan - No payments while the student is in school. Can be unsubsidized which means you can have a loan not based on need?
• Federal Family Education Loans - Private loans backed by the government

Lastly, it definitely is to your advantage to shop around and try to find the best rates for yourself. It could save you a large sum of money.

Ultimatum game - How to trade effectively

In life we are constantly making deals in ways we might not even think of. It doesn’t have to be as big as buying a house, paying off debt or some other major life event. We make deals as simple as splitting a piece of gum with someone. Traditionally, I’ve used the 50/50 split rule. It seems intuitive and fair. Growing up when I used to split a piece of gum my mom used to tell me, “you split, I pick.” This method ensured that we both had a common interest in making sure the split was as fair as possible. However, you may be able to get a little more if you don’t get to greedy.

Enter the science of what economists call the ultimatum game. In this scenario, there are two participants. One participant is given a sum of money. He or she is told that they must make an offer to the second participant. If the 2nd participant accepts the offer they can both keep the money. Remember, the 2nd participant will always be better off by accepting some offer. For example, a single penny is better than nothing. As you can imagine, the 2nd participant declines the offer at some level. What numerous studies have shown is that regardless of income level or size of offer that the 2nd participant usually declines when their share drops below 30%.

This has numerous implications for deal making and sharing of resources. As long as you can position yourself to let the other person think they are getting more than 30% of the benefit in a deal there is a good chance they will accept.

If they have the gum in the future you may want to opt for a more even split

Faxless Payday Loan: Helping Hand or Quick Sand?

When we talk about loans in any forms, they are always related to debts.

Taking loans can offer you two things: good debts and bad debts - good debts put money in your pocket, bad debts lose money from your pocket.

Your financial needs, situation and knowledge play important roles in making the loan bad debt or good debt.

Loans come in many flavours - One of the most talk about, in my opinion, is payday loans. Why is that?

Faxless payday loan - offering you financial solution, fast - a bit too fast to handle

Payday loan is a small amount, short-term loan that is intended to cover borrower’s financial need until his/her next paycheck received.

With the advent of the Internet, payday loans are becoming more and more accessible. The term “faxless payday loan” refers to payday loan which application is processed online, thanks to the Internet.

While in essence payday loan aims to help people regardless of their credit score, many accuse payday loan as the culprit that drown many people deeper in debt.

Not quite.

In my opinion, people inherit a common weakness. They want more for less, and they want it fast.

People are always looking for fast and instant remedies for their problems, including financial problems. Just like everything in life, such as fast food, instant means immediate gratification first and quality second.

Payday loan offers fast solution. Faxless payday loan even does things faster, due to online application processing and instant approval. The drawback, as always, is the sky-high interest rate.

Those bring interesting relationship: No matter how negative the reputation of payday loan is, it seems that more and more people need payday loan these days, and payday loan providers are thriving these days. Some sort of love-hate relationship between lenders and borrowers.

Reality check: Stop blaming payday loans - have you ever look things from the eye of payday loan providers?

I am appalled to know people are blaming payday loan. Although I’m not offering any payday loans or similar things and not involving in one either, I think there are too much bad apples thrown at lenders, accusing them as scammers.

Have you ever thought that it is borrower’s responsibility to keep him/her-self well-informed regarding what type of loans he/she is about to take? It is borrower’s responsibility to know what question to ask and when to take payday loans.

Many payday loan providers I know are trying hard to offer a solution. They bear huge risks - they lend to borrowers with no regard of their credit scores. That is why payday loans charge huge interest rate: to supplement the high risks of lending to borrowers with bad credit ratings.

The right borrowers do regard payday loans as the life-savers. do help people - the right one and the well-informed one, that is - getting out of debt.

Image by toolfan.hess.

Your Biggest Asset: Your Mind, Financial Knowledge and Information

People often forget that their biggest financial asset is not money, stocks, bonds, real estates or business. Your and my biggest asset is financial knowledge and information.

It is heartbreaking to learn that people work hard for years only to trust their money blindly to the so-called fund managers of mutual funds.

Not that mutual funds and the likes are bad - but it is about time that people start to put their money to what matters most - financial education.

The premise is, if you have the right education, you can control your financial in whatever your personal financial endeavours.

Why you need to invest your money and time to obtain financial education and information

Your mind is your biggest asset - your mindset, what you know, and what you believe can command your decision making.

What many people experience in today credit crunch and financial slumps is mainly due to their lack of financial knowledge and information. Lack of these commands your decision making quality, as people act according to the reality they have in their mind.

Well-informed mind will result in well-thought decision making, and this includes decision making that involves money.

How the lack of financial education affects you

Many personal bankruptcy stories are evolving around people that lost their money due to the stock market crash. The most irritating thing is, they lost their money not because of their bad investment decision, but because of their blind trust to fund managers to manage their fund.

The truth is, it’s not the fault of the fund managers - they do whatever they can, but the money owners themselves, for their lack of financial knowledge and information.

The moral of the stories is that people should regain control of their money - they have to decide where to invest in what, and when.

That is achievable through proper financial education, that can comes in many form - courses, seminars, mentorships, and many more. Unfortunately, those could cost you hundreds to thousands of dollar.

Fortunately, there are large amount of free resources available, thanks to the Internet

The best thing of the Internet is information. You can access finance articles, such as loans articles, personal finance articles, and other finance-related articles.

However, the Internet is so flooded with information, that you can get yourself biased due to the pros and cons, as well as different perspective of a financial issue.

The best way to choose which ones are the right ones for you, you can consult finance forums for recommendations, as well as, of course, visiting financial authority sites, such as Financial Times’ FT.com. Visiting finance section of large networks is also a good start - sites, such as Yahoo! Finance, CNN Finance, and other similar sites can offer you credible information that will help you in your personal finance endeavours.

Conclusion

Every single person should take care of their own financial welfare - The Government can’t do that for you. Your boss can’t do that for you. Your parents can’t do that for you. You have to stand up, take responsibility of your personal finance management.

Learn as many as you can, as knowledge will set you free - literally.

Image by Duncan Rawlinson.