Finance
Get answer for your financial questions – 360financialliteracy.org is a free online resource to help consumer to make sound financial decisions.
Make better value decisions – valuepenguin.com is a personal finance web site focused on providing in depth research and interactive tool for all you financial decision, health insurance, car insurance, home owner insurance, credit cards etc.
You or someone you know may have unclaimed pension
Check the US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s online directory at search on – search.pbgc.gov to see if you or someone you know has unclaimed pension.
You may have unclaimed property – missingmoney.com, naupa.org are national data bases established by NAUPA enable owners perform multi state search for unclaimed property such as bank account, stocks, bonds, un-cashed checks, insurance policies etc.
Search state by state on unclaimed property – unclaimed.org allows you to search state individually to find your lost or forgotten assets with free of charge.
Tips
Avoid account inactivity under most state laws, your account in bank or financial institution are considered dormant and can be turned over to state if no activity in three years. Keep your account active by small transaction or communicate with financial institution regularly.
Investment
Top Online Brokers
Interactive Brokers www.interactivebrokers.com
TD Ameritrade www.tdameritrade.com
TradeStation www.tradestation.com
Fidelity www.fidelity.com
Charles Schwab https://www.schwab.com/
Research
Seeking stock info, latest article and investment strategy – seekingalpha.com is a leading crowd source equity research platform with real time articles and research cover board range of stocks.
Stock market, quotes – finance.yahoo.com is a portfolio management resources provides free stock quotes, up to date news, stock market coverage, international market data and message boards.
Tool for financial advisor – thinkadvisor.com a resource features investment news, in-depth analysis, market data and tools financial advisor need.
Mutual fund rating – morningstar.com is an investment research and management web site let investors compare mutual fund rating and expense ratio.
Buy or sell before IPO – sharespost.com connects buyer and sellers of shares of privately held companies, helps shareholder of privately held companies to cash out in advance of IPO.
Financial mentor – financialmentor.com offers online financial calculator and step by step blueprint for building your wealth.
Back ground check of broker and brokerage firm – finra.org brokercheck is a free tool provided by Finra, the largest independent security regulator in the US, for investors to search for information about brokers and brokerage firms.
Check out investment advisers and brokers – www.sec.gov
Verify the certificate of your financial planner – www.cfp.net
Current inflation rate – www.bls.gov
Banking
Look for the highest paid saving account?
Next Advisor – www.time.com/nextadvisor/
Money Rates – www.money-rates.com
Bank Rate – www.bankrate.com
Nerd Wallet – www.nerdwallet.com
Go Banking Rates – www.gobankingrates.com
Above web sites provide information and review of accounts with the best interest rates.
Free checking account with cash rewards – www.kasasa.com
Send money to foreign countries in a quick, easy way – xoom.com a PayPal service, allows customers to make online money transfer from checking account, credit card and debit card from US to family and friends in foreign countries fast and inexpensive.
Smart wallet, smart choices – wallethub.com an online financial community allows you to search, compare and review financial product, professionals and companies as well as sharing information with others.
Find the best rate in CD, mortgage, insurance and refinance – bankrate.com let you compare yields for accounts at banks and credit unions. Its mortgage and auto loan calculators will help you determine your affordability.
Discount on bank checks – secure.checksinthemail.com BBB accredited check printing services with 300+ designs.
Bank Strength Rating
Check financial strength of a bank – weissratings.com is the nation’s independent provider of bank and insurance company financial strength rating.
Credit
Free credit monitoring-Instead of paying $10 per month like most companies charge for monitoring your credit, you now can get free credit monitoring services from creditsesame.com
Free credit report-You can get a free copy once a year from each of the three credit reporting companies, Equifax, Trans union, and Experian via annualcreditreport.com
Discover your credit score for free at – credit.com is a financial resource for information about credit score, credit report and credit cards. It is found and run by credit expert to help consumers make educated financial decisions.
Tools to help you to improve your credit score – creditkarma.com offers free credit score and analysis tools to help you figure out ways to improve your credit score.
Understanding the meaning of reason code on your credit score – reasoncode.org offers insight in plain English into the meaning of each reason code on your credit score and ways to fix the problem.
Find the best credit card – comparecards.com , cardhub.com are credit card resources allow you to compare and review credit cards side by side to choose a credit card based on interest rate, reward benefit and cost savings.
Find the best reward credit card – creditcardtuneup.com features a free credit card reward calculator to help you to find the best reward card.
Solutions for people with bad credit or no credit history – badcredit.org offers advice and step by step guidance to help people with poor credit to rebuild their credit.
Your option in obtaining credit for mortgage loan, auto loan and credit card – knowyouroptions.com provides financial information, helpful tools and options for your financial situations.
Aid for identity theft – identitytheft.gov is the federal government’s one stop resource for report and recovery from identity theft.
Tips
You are likely to get a preferred lending rate with a FICO score of 760 or higher and you might have trouble getting a mortgage loan or are likely to get your credit card cancelled if your FICO score falls below 640. A FICO score of 680 is considered average and above 720 is considered good.
You are likely to get a preferred lending rate with a FICO score of 760 or higher and you might have trouble getting a mortgage loan or are likely to get your credit card cancelled if your FICO score falls below 640. A FICO score of 680 is considered average and above 720 is considered good.
The amount of the debt you carry affects your credit score. Try to keep the ratio of your account balance to your credit limit 10% or less to maximize your score.
35% of your credit score come from whether you have paid your bill on time. It affects high score more than the low score. A single late payment may drop a score of 700 by 100 points.
If your credit card is stolen, legally you are only liable for $50 in losses.
Debts and collections
Answers to your debt and credit questions – knowmydebt.com/ is created and run by Association of credit and collection professionals to provide free answer to consumer’s debt questions.
Advice for saving money and pay off debts – savingadvice.com a personal finance website that give you tips and teach you how to invest, save money and pay down debt.
The national Consumer Law Center – nclc.org offers guidance for surviving debt and advice from legal experts on how to deal with debt collectors.
Tax
Free tax advice and IRS news – taxmama.com provides a free tax forum where you can get advices and guidance from tax professionals.
Has questions and need help for tax filing – 360taxes.org 360 degree of tax is a free tax resource sponsored by AICPA to provide tips, facts and answer for your tax questions.
Saving for college – savingforcollege.com the internet guide for understanding and planning for your child’s future college expends.
Free filing of your tax return – irs.gov about 70% of tax payers qualified for free file. IRS provides a list of the companies that offer free file.
Get one on one personal help – irs.gov Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TAC) offer help for issues that may not be handled over the phone.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance – irs.gov VITA program offers help preparing tax return for people who make less than $53,000.
Tax tips for seniors and retirees – irs.gov IRS has tips and guidance for seniors and retirees in preparing their tax return.
Find a professional tax preparer – natptax.com National Association of Tax Professionals is the largest tax association serving tax preparers, certified public accountants and certified financial planners.
Money management
Be good with your money – mint.com is a personal financial management tool allows user to track bank, credit card, investment, and loan transaction and balance.
Check your spending and savings – clearcheckbook.com is an online check book register, balance your check book, view spending report.
Mange your personal expense in one place – yodlee.com financial application that offers solution for individual, entrepreneurs, small business, and banks.
Financial planning
Fee only financial advisors – napfa.org a country’s leading professional association of financial advisors provides fee only financial planning services.
Help your kids to plan for a secured future – themint.org provides tools to help parents to educate their children to manage their money wisely.
Path to financial stability – 360financialliteracy.org provides tools, tips and resources to help you to find a brighter financial future.
Retirement
Should you take early retirement at age 62 or wait till 70? – socialsecuritycentral.com combining education and technology, social security central provides expert guidance to maximize your benefit base on your situations.
Social security strategies – socialsecuritysolutions.com provides software tools that designed base on extensive research to help you evaluate and select the best social security strategy for your personal situation.
Make the right choice – socialsecuritychoices.com helps you to make a right choice based on your individual circumstance by using unique designed custom benefit calculation software.
Choose the right benefits at the right time – maximizemysocialsecurity.com is an online software that developed by nationally known financial planning expert to help you to choose the right benefits at right time.
Choose the right annuities – immediateannuities.com offers free quotes from many large insurance companies.
Find out what you should expected from your Social Security payment – ssa.gov
When to start collecting social security benefit is a major decision of your life time. You can start receiving payment at 62, but the amount will be reduced 25% to 30% from what it would be at your full retirement age which is additional 5% to 6% per year. It is hard to match the 6% guarantee return you get from delaying social security payment on any investment today. You will get 32% more than you would be at full retirement age if you wait till 70.
You have the option of taking spousal benefits first if you are at full retirement age and then switch to your own benefits later while those benefits have few more years to grow. But this option only available to people who burned before Jan, 1954.
Traditional IRA and 401 (K) require withdrawal by age 70 ½ while Roth IRA has no such requirement.
Complaint and Dispute
Dispute, complain and seek help – consumerfinance.gov CFPB is a government agency that regulate and enforce laws in financial industry. Unlike other government agency, CFPB follow up on your complaint and mediate your dispute.
Federal Trade Commission – consumer.ftc.gov is a resource for information about your rights and a place to file a complaint for deceptive and unfair business practices.
Report fraud – stopfraud.gov is a government financial fraud enforcement task force.
Apps
Save money and maximize your credit card reward – Walla.by – mobile app that helps you to maximize credit card reward by using the right one at the right time.
Tips
- Debt to income ratio is a key factor that lender use to determine approval of a mortgage loan. In general rule, they like to see the ratio of your mortgage payment comes in no higher than 28% of your gross monthly income. You are at a danger point if your payments exceed 40% of your monthly income.
- One credit card use once or twice a month for small purchase is all you need to maintain or to build good credit score. Your score could vanish if you only use cash and have no activity on any of your credit line in the past 6 months
- The lender may lower your credit limit or even close the account if you haven’t used it for 12 to 18 months.
- Tax haven, Alaska and New Hampshire levy no tax on sales, income or social security
- States that impose no income taxes, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.
Shopping shelters, Delaware, Montana and Oregon do not have a sale tax.
- Avoid account inactivity, under most state laws, your account in bank or financial institution are considered dormant and can be turned over to state if no activity in three years.
- To maintain your current living standard at retirement, you nest egg must be 11 times of your ending pay.