Always question the authority or legitimacy of anything you see. I love calculators that tell me how much I should save for retirement and calculators that will help me do away with debt. However, keep in mind that certain factors are assumed in most calculators that are not solely based on math.
For example, the ING retirement calculator tells me I will need $1,000 per month if I want to travel internationally. To me, this seems insane. However, I can always find a deal and maybe some people cannot. Who knows, maybe my standards of living will raise this much when I am in retirement. However, I doubt it. There is always a better way to spend money or give money away than five star hotels.
Also, note that ING and other companies want your money in their accounts because this is how they make money. Maybe they are overestimating the total needed for retirement because they want more of your money. There is such a thing as saving too much for retirement. When you are currently not enjoying life because you are socking 40% of your income into retirement, the situation has gone too far.
Therefore, always think about where your financial knowledge comes from and what is the objective of your source.
Showing posts with label Warning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Warning. Show all posts
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Don't Skimp on Things that Matter
I'm looking for a new used car and yesterday I needed to run a CarFax report, however, CarFax no longer has an unlimited option. Therefore, I decided it would be best to run another report for $3.75 from CheckThatVin. However, that report only let me know that the title was issued 4 times and the title is clean. CarFax usually gives service information, the amount of owners, accident details, etc.
Therefore, I ran another report for $6.99 because it was supposed to be comparable to CarFax, however, that had similar information. I did find out that the car was never in a collision, but I knew I could get more information.
I wanted to see the service records and ended up going with CarFax nonetheless. Therefore, the first two checks were a waste of time and money since I ended up with the company I knew was good in the first place. I wanted to know as much as I could before I spent a large amount of cash on a used car.
Moral of the story: don't skimp on the things that matter like used cars.
Therefore, I ran another report for $6.99 because it was supposed to be comparable to CarFax, however, that had similar information. I did find out that the car was never in a collision, but I knew I could get more information.
I wanted to see the service records and ended up going with CarFax nonetheless. Therefore, the first two checks were a waste of time and money since I ended up with the company I knew was good in the first place. I wanted to know as much as I could before I spent a large amount of cash on a used car.
Moral of the story: don't skimp on the things that matter like used cars.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
BBB
BBB or the Better Business Bureau is a company that rates other companies. One might think that if a company has a good rating such as an A, it is a reputable company, and if a company has a bad rating such as an F, then you could probably find another company to give your money to, however, that is not always true.
BBB is a paid for service. To be a BBB accredited business, a company must pay a membership fee. Once that membership fee is paid, it does not matter how many complaints the business could have, as long as the business responds to each complaint, then the problems are seen as solved. Only unsolved problems significantly affect a business' rating. Your business could have one negative complaint, however, because your business does not pay membership fees to the BBB, it will not be able to respond to that complaint and the BBB rating could drop straight to an F.
Therefore, be wary of BBB accredited businesses, they are not always what they seem. A better way to find out more about the business is to research the business online and to find reviews about the business (or individual) with which you will do transactions.
BBB is a paid for service. To be a BBB accredited business, a company must pay a membership fee. Once that membership fee is paid, it does not matter how many complaints the business could have, as long as the business responds to each complaint, then the problems are seen as solved. Only unsolved problems significantly affect a business' rating. Your business could have one negative complaint, however, because your business does not pay membership fees to the BBB, it will not be able to respond to that complaint and the BBB rating could drop straight to an F.
Therefore, be wary of BBB accredited businesses, they are not always what they seem. A better way to find out more about the business is to research the business online and to find reviews about the business (or individual) with which you will do transactions.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Escrow Account
If you are renting through a realtor, the realtor might ask you to place a security deposit in an escrow account when you are placing an offer on an apartment. Be wary of this type of a situation.
If you place your funds in an escrow account, they are typically your funds to be put towards the move in cost of that or any other apartment. However, if you do not rent through your realtor, you might loose that money. This weekend, a realtor told me verbally that I can receive that money back, however, when I researched the company on the internet, there were a great number of negative reviews that stated that the potential renters submitted a deposit on a place, however, the place was rented out to someone else before their realtor were able to submit their offer. The renters were told that they could find any other place through their realtor and use the money in the escrow account towards the next apartment they found. However, the realtor fell off the map after that.
I can't reach my realtor now either. Thankfully, we did not submit a check. Supposedly, it is a rule of their company that if you do not rent through them, after a certain time, the funds in the escrow account are taken as their payment for "looking." Of course, not every company is there to scam you, however, even large and known companies such as the one I dealt with this weekend can have unpleasant rules. Be wary of anything you sign and read up on the company before you do any business.
If you place your funds in an escrow account, they are typically your funds to be put towards the move in cost of that or any other apartment. However, if you do not rent through your realtor, you might loose that money. This weekend, a realtor told me verbally that I can receive that money back, however, when I researched the company on the internet, there were a great number of negative reviews that stated that the potential renters submitted a deposit on a place, however, the place was rented out to someone else before their realtor were able to submit their offer. The renters were told that they could find any other place through their realtor and use the money in the escrow account towards the next apartment they found. However, the realtor fell off the map after that.
I can't reach my realtor now either. Thankfully, we did not submit a check. Supposedly, it is a rule of their company that if you do not rent through them, after a certain time, the funds in the escrow account are taken as their payment for "looking." Of course, not every company is there to scam you, however, even large and known companies such as the one I dealt with this weekend can have unpleasant rules. Be wary of anything you sign and read up on the company before you do any business.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)