Credit Card Debt

Today's consumer society is driven by easy short term unsecured debts. Most of these are related to credit cards. You may find yourself in a dissatisfactory financial situation if you fail to maintain a balance between your income, and your expenditure. If you have credit cards, you need to know how to manage your transactions, as well as the credit limit. Otherwise you may end up in a credit card mess.

Credit card companies, including banks, try to lure customers with enticing offers. The idea of buying now and paying later is usually irresistible for most people, which make them collect credit cards from different companies. They make a lot of purchases using these cards, and pay the minimum amount due each month. This leads to the accumulation of debt, which keeps climbing with each passing month, until the severity of the problem gets so acute, that they are unable to pay even the minimum amount. In these circumstances, the only way out is to opt for debt consolidation.

Consolidation is the perfect solution for credit cardholders to better their future credit. There are several reasons for debt consolidation. Many people opt for debt consolidation to extend the loan term from 5 to 15 years. Another reason is to lower the interest rate. Consolidation can get you a better interest rate than the one you currently have. Furthermore, consolidation will ease the burden, as it gives you the option to pay just one bill, instead of making separate payments to different creditors.

If you wish to consolidate your credit card debts, a thorough research will help you decide if it is the right decision for you. Several credit card companies and banks offer debt consolidation services to their customers. The first step is to make a detailed inspection of your debt. Make a list of the interest rates you're your credit cards offer. If you feel that the new interest rate is lower than the average of the old one, then consolidation will be profitable for you. Once you have all the details, get in touch with a professional, who can help you both with your consolidation, and to get the best deal.

Debt consolidation can also be done through credit-counseling firms. These firms will add up all your monthly dues, and have you make a single payment to them. The firm uses this amount to pay off creditors until all the debt is wiped out. However, you need to be cautious about choosing a credit-counseling firm, because some of them charge money for their services. People who have gone through debt counseling can help you in selecting the right firm. Alternatively, you can also apply for a debt consolidation loan, which has a considerably low interest rate.

Getting trapped in debt is like going down a spiral without knowing how you to ever regain your footing. Credit card debt consolidation will help you in starting afresh on the road to a healthy financial situation. It is the most popular solution to get rid of the burden of debt, providing you make sure that consolidation is the right choice for you before you opt for it.

Ipad Touch

The iPad has finally landed in the UK and we've bagged one for a test. The launch was put back until the 28th of May while Apple scrambled to manufacture enough units to satisfy US orders, and even now there are still supply problems - orders taken after 13 May have been delayed until the 7 June, for example.

So, what is the fuss all about? The iPad essentially revolutionises the concept of a tablet computer. Previously tablet devices addressed a legitimate consumer need (casual, lazy, couch-bound computing), but left most people frustrated with a stylus-driven handwriting recognition system and an operating system that was really designed to be used on a desktop PC.

As good as the iPad is, it is not perfect. Here's a short list of things that iPad critics usually complain about:

* No camera
* No USB ports
o We're stuck with that iPhone port for everything
* No background execution (multi-tasking) for third party applications
o No always-on IM
o No app-based music in the background
o No data crunching in the background
*This should be addressed by the iPhone OS 4.0, due to be released for the iPad in the Fall.
* Virtual keyboard is not as productive as a real one
* No Flash (see our Web Browsing section)
* AT&T-only (in practice)
* No widescreen
* Closed application market (iPad has been jailbroken)
* Can't create a list of apps/files to buy/download
* And more...

Get Tax Help!

Nowadays we have to pay taxes on most things. We pay tax on the money we earn at work and this is called income tax. Income tax is applicable to business income, capitol gains, wages and salaries. There are two specific rates of income taxes and these are known as flat or progressive tax rates.

Flat tax rates are defined as the same flat rate of taxes on all income regardless of earnings. Progressive tax rates on the other hand are based on the amount of money earned by an individual or business. The progressive rate goes up as the level of earnings rise.

We all have to pay sales taxes. This is the way that businesses charge consumers for a product or service sold. Because of the many forms that taxes take it is advisable to get some tax help if you want to know exactly where you stand.

Some other forms of taxes include personal property tax, inheritance tax, transfer tax, property tax, use tax, toll tax, excise tax, corporation tax, and others. These could all become confusing when it comes to determining which applies to you, therefore, you need tax help.

Where To Get Tax Advice

When income tax time comes around each year, businesses and individuals seek tax help. Many people simply do not understand all aspects of filing their tax and so it makes sense to seek help from tax professionals in this matter. Income tax professionals can help you when it comes to preparing and filing your tax forms.

Accountants and lawyers are both able to advice on income tax matters. Your particular tax problems will determine which one you would be the most suited to your needs. The IRS and other financial websites can also be excellent resources for tax help if you need it.

Resources On The Net

The internet is a good place to start when you are looking for tax help. The first place you should visit for tax information is irs.gov. This is the website of the Internal Revenue Service, where most of your tax dollars are dealt with. The IRS website can provide you with plenty of information when it comes to different areas of tax, as well as information on which areas may apply to you. It will also tell you where you can find help for specific problems.

Try H R Block at hrblock.com. They can help you with filing your income taxes, and if you require it, they can provide you with software to help you prepare your taxes yourself. They also offer advice on other financial matter.

Summary:

It has been said that there are two certainties in life, death and taxes. While you can do nothing about the first there is all kinds of help available when it comes to paying taxes. Getting the right kind of advice is crucial if you are to save at least some of your dollars.

Forex Trading

The rollover is the arrangement of artificially postponing the actual delivery settlement of a currency in position by normally a day. In actual practice, ideally all traders are required to take or give delivery of the currency they bought or sold (settlement) on the second business day after the deal was closed. But the actual practice differs by way of artificially extending the settlement day. But this rollover differs in the forex trading parlance fom that of stock trading.

It can be fairly well assumed that most of the forex trading accounts are leveraged with the broker having extended the trader a loan for the day which is the exposure limit. At the closing every day theoretical closing; though- at 21:59 London time, traders need to close their position unless they actually want to take or give delivery of their positional currency. But due to the loan leverage the traders account will not be having that kind of capital that enables him to take delivery of the currency.

Brokers have a stated policy of closing all accounts at that precise time and almost instantaneously open a new account for the quantity of that currency pair at the corresponding rate. This means although the account has been closed theoretically, the positions are still open from the traders' perspective. This effectively means hat he traders do not have to take or give delivery nor do they have to payback the loan extended to them.

Broker, on the other hand charges an overnight interest for the amount rolled over. How is the differential interest calculated by the broker? Assume that you have a 1 lot position of euro/dollar with euro being your long position. If during the trading day the dollar appreciates by 25 pips and the broker rolled over your position to the next trading day at the close with dollar having further appreciated by another pip overnight, this 1 pip is the difference in interest between the two currencies. So you pay this 1 pip premium to the broker.

On the other hand if you were short on euro and long on dollars you would gain that differential interest amount. To put things in perspective, if you bought a currency and it gained overnight you are to benefit by that incremental differential and if the reverse were to happen, you have to pay this to the broker.

In actual practice, all rollovers and overnight interests are automatically calculated and credited or debited to your account by the broker. For tax purposes, IRS treats the interest gained or paid separately.


Jason Uvios writes about "Rollover in Forex Trading" to visit:forex, online forex trading and forex broker.