The Beggar Blogger

Buying insurance can be tricky, since you agent cares about which one bring him/her the highest commission, not the best one for you. Buying insurance from internet can be even trickier, since you don’t even get to ser the face of the agent. However, we all need insurance. One of the companies I am checking out a lot lately is Insweb. They are a real company.

Insweb

I tried auto insurance with them. First I put in all of my data: vehicle, age, marital status, driving record, coverage needs, etc. And then in a few moments, the site shows me the quotes from several top insurance companies in the nation.

In summary, they are an insurance broker. They save you the hassle of calling each individual insurance company and repeating everything to each of them and listening to their sales pitches and gimmicks. This service allows you to narrow your choices down to two or three top carriers to call.

As many of you know, I am not a credit person. I use cash all the time. However, mysteriously, my credit score has been improved a lot from two years ago. At the same time, I kind of think using credit wisely is not a bad thing.

The card I am considering is the Discover Card, which has 5% cash back. This is the highest out there. I definitely will pay off my balance every month. That way, I get to keep the cash back and stay out of trouble.

The card also has zero percent APR for 6 months. I find good article on applying for zero percent APR Credit card. You should definitely check it out before applying for a new card.

I think this is a good plan.

One of hobby is to snap photos. I am not into expensive equipments because my budget limitation. I am more into sub $300 digital cameras. Besides snapping them, I also edit them. However, for years I have been struggling with it.

I borrowed a book from my local library. It is not helping. If you have the same experience, you will know going from one page to another, explaining all the effects is not possible.

Finally, I got a deal on Video Professor. As their name suggested, they are the leader in learning software by video. I open a photo shop software and while the CD is playing in the computer at the same time. It is a lot easier to wrap my head around things being done while I get to watch how it is done, rather than reading about it.

There are two things I like about Video Professor. 1. They have a comprehensive, wide range a selection of topics. You got discount if you order more. After learning Photo Shop. I may start to learn Excel. I never figure out how the numbers are crunched there.2. Right now they have specially deal to get a free digital camera. Did I tell you I like it very much?

Are you in heavy debt like me? Credit card is the worst kind of debt. I have been struggling and lower my balance considerably. I have not dined out for more than a year.  A lot of time, I am starving like I was in college. For those of you not starved in college, I guess you probably not getting it.

I read about the following story in a web site. It is a very moving story.

“I am in very very bad credit card debt. I owe $26,000 on one credit card!! I have a full time job and I am paying a $625 minimum payment. I was not getting me anywhere and it was taking all the money that I had. So I did one of the hardest things I have ever had to do….. Call the credit card company and see if they could do anything for me. I called and told them I wanted more info about programs that they had to help people who need a lower minimum payment. I got transferred to a different person and he said they could help. YOU NEED TO HAVE YOUR ENTIRE FINANCIAL INFO READY. The credit company asked about it. They wanted to know how much I took home after taxes, how much my utilities cost, loans for cars, mortgage and if we had any other credit cards. Once he had all this info he made me an initial offer. They have a program that would allow me to pay off the entire debt in 5 years at 2% interest for $437 a month.  Something that the 24% interest I was paying would never allow. The problem was that I did not want to even pay that much a month. So I pressed for a better deal. I asked for something that would allow me to pay less each month for the next year and then we could look at it again. He offered a 6% interest rate and a payment of $246 a month for 12 months. It would not pay down the debt much, if any, but it would also not get me in trouble with them for the next 12 months, as long as I paid this payment. After the 12 months, then I would be able to do the 5 year plan if needed. I agreed to this deal and now only need to come up with $246 a month. What a relief. I read in a forum that you were looking for people with stories like this, so here it is”

Comments:

Do not sell your debt to someone else. Don’t call anybody and you can do it. The WORST kind of advice is “Stop paying your balance and let us handle it”. Do NOT fall for this.

Bottom line, our advice is to keep paying the debt and call the credit card company yourself.

One thing in recession is to buy cheaper products and get the most out of your money. I bought one Blood Pressure Monitor for my old man, which is $32 regularly. and now with $8 instance saving and $24 rebate from manufacturer. I essentially got it for free.

Here is the link for the product.
Blood Pressure Monitor

The $8.00 instant saving is no longer available, But the rebate is good, So your total cost will be $8.

“A magic chemical mixed with water can be put into your gas tank and power the car.” If you think this is the trick I am about to talk about, then you are wrong. This will not work and it will damage your car. I am talking about this site:

Running Car on Water

Use the electricity from your alternator, turn water into hydrogen and oxygen, then pump the gas into engine, help gas burned cleaner, and improve gas mileage. I think this is a doable idea. Check it out. It is pretty plausible idea.

The following table s how Dave Ramsey think your monthly budget should be. What do you think about yours?

I have to admit, my housing is up to 50% zone and I don’t save, I hope you can do better than me. The current financial situation is killing me. I don’t know how lone can I hang on.

It turned out there is a large community of underground “traders” out there who complete trial offers for company and get paid anywhere from $20 to $50 per try. And then they cancel the orders right before the the trial period ends.

IFW

This screen shot is taken from here Make Money On Line of freeppmoney.com.

I have known Project Payday for a long while, I know they claim they make on the north of $5000 per month. I saw some pictures of guys hugging large screen TV, showing off his Paypal account. Until I found one site, this is a lady getting out of “Incentive Freebie Website”, and she said it feels like a full time job. She is not like many others doing this. She is not very vocal about how much money she made. And she did find a real job after a few years stay home mom life. I guess, if you can really make that much money from “Incentive Freebie Website”. You probably will not want a real job.

One of my friend did a offer for someone else and then send an email to “paypal@some place”. He never got paid, He told me this is a dog-eat-dog business. Is this really bad? I hope someone from inside can comment on this.

Recently I watched the video in YouTube site. Dave Ramsey said a few good things about getting out of debt and build wealth. I think this is helpful to all readers. I myself is a graduate from his financial freedom university. SO I will write some of his techniques in this blog. For now, you can watch his video here.

You know, Dave was nearly broke twice before 30. he was in great debt. He learned his lessons and become a self made millionaire. I think it is wise to learn from someone’s else mistakes.

As expected, the numbers from Friday’s job report weren’t good: Over 240,000 Americans lost their jobs in October alone, and the Labor Department revised August and September estimates upward. All told, over 1.2 million people have lost jobs in 2008. With the major automakers in a cash crunch, these numbers could triple in the months ahead. About the only good news is a drastically slowing economy alleviates inflation concerns, which in turn lead to lower mortgage interest rates. The benchmark 30-year-fixed mortgage opens this week at 6.0% with 1.0 point up-front from most lenders surveyed…