Personal Finance Information

Understanding Your Finances Can Give You Power And Choice


What is finance and what do you need to know? Finance can mean different things. It may refer to your personal financial situation. It could refer to your investments or a business's investments. It could refer to a credit or loan purchase.

Financing can be involved in your life in different ways. For example, if you are going to invest in a large purchase such as a house or even a car. Large furniture purchases and credit cards all fall into these categories. Interest rates are the most integral part of financing. Why else would a company want to loan you money or offer you credit? How else would they benefit? They benefit from the interest that you have to pay in on financing your loan. There are different types of financing options available.

The percentage rate is the amount of interest that you pay. The percentage rate is the certain portion of your loan or credit that you pay back in interest. For example, if your loan was for $40,000 and your interest rate was 12.3% then you would pay 12.3% of $40,000 in interest. The interest would be added onto your $40,000 and you would pay it back via your monthly payments.

Fixed rate: A fixed rate means your interest rate will stay the same no matter what. People usually prefer these. If you can get a low fixed rate, it will stay with you even if other average interest rates are going up. Balloon rate: A balloon rate can fluctuate with the times and the stock market but depending on the situation, this can be beneficial to you as well. You will have to decide which you think is best for you.

There are different types of financing options as we mentioned earlier. Probably the most common example of finance in the United States is credit cards. A credit card allows you to make purchases with the card. The bank issuing the card will pay on your behalf and you then pay the bank back, plus the interest. The bank makes money off the interest and you get what you want right away.

The same thing applies to pay-as-you-go or rental furniture companies. There are even rent-to-own housing services now where your monthly rent can go towards buying the house if you want to stay. Financing should be a way to help you achieve something that you're going to be purchasing anyway. Financing can get you in your house quicker than saving up the cash. Become knowledgable and financing can be a tool that will serve you well.

The author has found that most people have little or no knowledge about financial matters. She believes this is not a "bad" thing. It's just that they haven't been taught about money. The "good" new is that financial knowledge is a learnable skill, just like learning to ride a bike. She enjoys sharing and teaching people how to have a harmonious relationship with money and their finances. Kathleen Sutera is passionate about finance and is the webmaster of Finance How

  


MORE RESOURCES:

More Personal Finance Daily stories
MarketWatch - Sep 3, 2008
Gee, you mean I shouldn't treat unrealized profits as actual profits, thereby exacting real moentary value from an asset that has yet to transfer? ...


7 Deadly Sins of Personal Finance
SavingAdvice.com, WA - 21 hours ago
The following list in reverse order details 7 deadly sins of personal finance illustrated with personal examples. These transgressions delay or possibly ...


Personal finance chat with Dan Galli
Boston Globe, United States - Sep 2, 2008
Personal finance is challenging enough. Dan_Galli: Well, we have come to the end of another quick hour. I sincerely appreciated the opportunity to talk with ...


Finance Secrets "They" Don’t Want You to Know
Augusta Chronicle, GA - Sep 3, 2008
I get asked to review all sorts of crazy personal finance books, plans, programs, and schemes all the time, ranging from the reasonable to the completely ...


High School Teachers Say Students Need More Preparation for ...
MarketWatch - Sep 3, 2008
Other personal finance topics teachers identified as particularly important for high school students included: -- Negotiating and acquiring financing for a ...


Apnaloan launches home loan and Personal Loan comparators
India PRwire (press release), India - 4 minutes ago
Apnaloan.com Service Pvt. Ltd. (www.apnaloan.com), India's first and largest personal finance supermarket have launched their home loan and personal loan ...


Mutual Funds & Personal Finance
Investor's Business Daily (subscription) - Sep 2, 2008
BY PAUL KATZEFF "I'm not among the most risky Fidelity funds," said Jeffrey Feingold, manager of $851 million Trend. "But I'm more comfortable with risk ...


New York Times Blogs

Are Personal Finances the Boss’s Business?
New York Times Blogs, NY - Sep 3, 2008
As an employee with an extracurricular interest in personal finance, I’m always fascinated when I see a co-worker who is careless with money or hear about ...


The week's top Personal Finance stories
MarketWatch - Aug 30, 2008
By MarketWatch In case you missed them, here are the top 10 Personal Finance stories from MarketWatch for the week of Aug. 25-29: Someday, we may be getting ...


How to drive a hard bargain on car finance
Sunday Herald, UK - Aug 30, 2008
Simeon Linstead, head of personal finance at uSwitch.com, says: "Motorists are set to throw away £168 million by opting for car dealer finance. ...
Money: Drive a hard bargain when you buy your next vehicle Scotland on Sunday
all 3 news articles

personal finance - Google News

Article List | Index | Site Map
All logos, trademarks and articles on this site are property and copyright of their respective owner(s).
The comments are property of their posters, all the rest is Copyright © 2006 CanadaSEEK.com - All Rights Reserved.