Foreign Exchange Vs. Prepaid Credit Card

The holiday season can either turn into the best time of the year or an outright disaster, depending on the right decisions and a bit of planning. If you are going abroad then one of the things you will need to do is make sure you have your travel money exchanged into the local currency. Back in the days, going to the foreign exchange bureau to pay a costly commission fee and getting a poor exchange rate was the only option at your disposal. Today, however, you might want to think about using a prepaid credit card instead. Let's have a look at their respective merits in turn.

Foreign exchange: A tainted image

Although its image has been considerably tainted over the past decades, there are still a few benefits to using foreign exchange. Most importantly, you will have cash at your disposal in the country of your destination. This means you can perform small purchases like coffee or bus fares without having to draw money out of an ATM, which can be costly. Especially when you're arriving at a remote destination without any cash at all, this can come in handy.

Read more...

5 Tips When It Comes To Choosing Your Insurance Plan

Choosing an insurance plan can be the most daunting and frustrating task you could ever do in life at this time and age. This has been attributed to the many service providers available in the market all who claim to have the best insurance plan for your needs. This has also been made a complicated process thanks to the confusing insurance jargon often found in these contracts, exclusions, as well as the political debates and unrests that surround insurance in general. Besides, considering the tumultuous economic times that have characterized the recent past, you want to ensure that you settle for the best insurance plan in the market.

Here are some tips to guide you in the process

The first tip to getting the best insurance plan is to evaluate your current insurance needs. For example, if you are looking for a medical insurance plan and you rarely go to the doctor, or at the very least you have no known condition that makes you a frequent visitor to the doctor, you can consider going for a low-cost insurance plan which has a limited coverage. This way, you can be able to get the best coverage for your needs without having to pay too much for it.

The second tip is to evaluate your financial status. You cannot be able to service your insurance plan if you are not financially stable, that is a fact you need to keep in mind even before you start looking for the best insurance plan in the market. By clearly defining your financial status beforehand, you can be able to settle on a plan whose monthly remittances, interest, and rate will not interfere with your monthly budget.

Comparison shopping is also a very important tip when thinking of taking an insurance plan for whatever reason. Be advised that not all insurance plans are the same in terms of cost and features. Although they may all bear the same name, by doing a thorough comparison shopping, what is generally known as an apple to apple comparison, you can be able to find a plan that is ideal for your needs. It is always advisable to do so for the same insurance plans from different service providers so you can check the key features in each.

The fourth important tip, although often ignored by many people, is consolidating all insurance plans under the same service provider. If you already have a car insurance plan and are looking for a health and home insurance plan, by taking the two with your current service provider, you can always have some great bargaining power to ask for an attractive discount for giving the insurance company good business.

Last but not least, when choosing your insurance plan, you need to take the time to go through the terms and conditions before appending your signature and committing yourself to any plan. Be advised that insurance is a long-term commitment and you cannot afford to legally bind yourself in an unfavorable commitment just because you did not take the time to go through terms and conditions. Take the time to go through the fine print, and if you do not understand the complex jargon, have someone interpret it for you.

Paul writes for http://www.whoishostingthis.com/ where you can get some useful web hosting ratings to help you choose the most appropriate host.

Read more...

Avoid Late Credit Card Payments – How a Loan Can Help

Most people automatically have an adverse reaction when payday loans come up in conversation – and with good reason. When not properly managed and used sparingly, this type of loan can do more to hurt a person’s financial situation than to help it. Many of the horror stories of people falling deeper into debt and succumbing to astronomical interest rates as they repeatedly obtain payday loans without ever quite catching a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel – or getting that financial leg up they had hoped for – are true. This is one reason why many states are implementing new legislation that includes limitations on how much or how often people can borrow money in this way.

Read more...

Auto Insurance Deductibles: How Much Can You Save?

The amount a driver pays for auto insurance premiums is determined by a myriad of factors. These include the year, make, and model of the vehicle they drive, their driving record, their credit score, where they live, the types and amounts of coverage that are added to the policy, and the deductibles they choose.

Insurance Companies And Deductibles

Auto insurance deductibles are like get out of jail free cards for insurance companies. They don’t have to pay their insured’s damages until the deductible amount is surpassed. The amount of the deductible can greatly significantly affect the monthly cost of comprehensive and collision protection and the cost benefit should be carefully considered. Insurance providers are in the business of managing risk and costs. Since much of the damage caused to vehicles comes in the form of small scratches, scrapes, dings and broken windshields, insurance companies don’t want to pay and manage the claims of each and every mishap of their insureds. Deductibles are a way of protecting the coverage provider against minor damages that are very common among vehicle owners, but can really add up.

Read more...

Craig Whyte: Self-Made Billionaire at 39

So many of us stay away from investments and Forex trading because we don’t know what’s going on and it looks too difficult to even begin to understand. Craig Whyte, self-made millionaire, saw things very differently and at the age of 15 Craig started trading on the stock market and in Forex. When he left school he had just over £20,000 in his account.

First Business Venture

Craig had opened his first plant within four years of leaving school. Unfortunately it closed in the nineties and Whyte was left with hurt pride. But, not one to be pulled down, he got back up again and went on to invest in security and property; eventually the Scottish entrepreneur became the youngest self-made millionaire in Scotland by the age of 26 and made it onto the rich list.

Read more...

Small Business Can Offer a Personal Touch for DIY Customers

Throughout the United States there are mega discount stores that all have a do it yourself section. They offer cheap prices and big on hand inventory but not much else. These stores can make it really hard to stay in business if you are a small store offering the same products.

The first step to take when up against one of these mega stores is to look at your business plan. A business coach can be very helpful when looking at your business plan. These people can be objective and they have the knowledge base that you need. Personal business coaching is a huge industry that specializes in helping smaller business to thrive. Whether you go it alone or you hire outside help you will need to see the points of weakness in the big chain stores and come up with a way to exploit that weakness. Frequently the big chain stores do not have the best customer service. As a small store you can offer advice and great service.

Read more...