In Case of Emergencies.

What circumstances constitute an emergency for you?

The husband and I try to categorize our spending, like paying for cash for everything else and only using the credit card for emergencies. What would emergencies mean for us? These would be hospitalizations, unexpected school expenses and death. However, we set aside about 50% of its credit limit to big purchases – and we snag them whenever there would be a 0% installment rate offered at malls, known as best credit card deals. We really think over it because we cannot get another big ticket item not unless the one we got is fully paid. So we usually just end up paying for it in cash. We really try to make sure our citibank credit cards maintain their good credit standing.

However, it is not too wise to charge every emergency to the credit card, since you might not be able to pay for it in full when it is due and this is where credit card interests, which are huge, kick in. It can become a potentially big problem if one does not know how to manage business credit cards. The point is, make sure that there is actual cash for emergencies and save the big ticket purchases when there is almost half of the amount in your savings.

Money Food

It seems that we will be saving a lot of money food this year. Since I need to be put on a strict diet to prevent more complications of my already complicated health, eating out would need to take a backseat. Buy Gold Krugerrands coins might even become a possibility because of this! Finally, we might be able to save. We don’t know our financial forecast for the year yet, so we must learn to prioritize things. Investing some of our savings is on top of them. We need a reliable investment just in case we decide to venture into business or buy property,

Why You Should Buy a Coin Sorter

My aunt is currently trying to decide whether to buy a coin sorter or not. They own a small convenience store and she thinks that getting one will help them a lot. A coin sorter will definitely make counting coins so much easier and faster. With a business like theirs, getting one is almost a necessity. In fact, a coin counter will also be a good idea for them so that they do not even have to sort the coins before putting them inside the coin sorter.
If you are also thinking of getting a coin sorter or even a money counter, below are some reasons why you might want to do so.
• Saves time. Imagine the amount of time you will save if you have this equipment that can quickly sort and count your coins or money for you. If you own a business then these will definitely save you or your employees a lot of time, giving you or your employees more opportunity for other tasks.
• Accuracy. These machines are very, very accurate. In a business, accuracy is important especially in counting the money. Your employees could make a mistake in counting your coins but a coin sorter won’t.

Habits That Save Money at the Grocery Store

The biggest culprit in an over-sized food budget can be attributed to habits that add money to the bottom line. Simply living in one of the most expensive neighborhoods, for instance, can leave you with grocery chains nearby that cater to wealthy people. However, travel a little further and you might find discount grocery stores that have better prices elsewhere. It’s not just where you live, however, that contributes to a larger food bill, just the act of walking in the wrong areas of the grocery store can keep your food bill high.

Eat Before You Shop

Don’t ever go to the grocery store when hungry to do your grocery shopping. When you walk in the door, you should have a grocery list in hand, and stick to the list. Grocery store layouts are set up to tempt you at every corner to buy things you don’t need or to buy too much. Stick to the outside aisles for the bare necessities and avoid the inner aisles where much of the convenience and packaged food, with high costs, reside.

Learn to Cook

Just learning a few good recipes that are inexpensive can help to reduce the need for convenience food. Making your own casseroles is not only healthier for you, but can also provide brown bag lunches for the following day. Learn how to re-use leftovers so that you can make more than one dish from an ingredient, like roasted chicken. The following day cut it up and make chicken salad sandwiches for lunch.

Schedule Trips

If you have a day when you plan on shopping, you can avoid additional trips to the convenience store or shopping center when you run out of milk. The minute you do make an extra trip, it costs more gas, and also will make you more susceptible to think of other things to buy while you’re there. If you’re not there, you can’t spend any extra money.

Food Retail and Health Care Reform

Health care is a struggle for most companies, but even more so for the food retail business that relies on employees to provide service to their customers. New rules scheduled to go into effect in 2014 are going to dramatically impact many food businesses, forcing some to look for small loan options to cover the increasing costs. Restaurant owners are convinced that the changes in health care reform may end up meaning a 30 percent increase in health care costs from opinions evaluated at restaurant conferences around the country. With the federal government demanding that businesses provide health care to a larger number of their workforce, businesses are scrambling to come up with a plan.

Opting Out

The government’s goal is to include more people in health care plans, and in order to enforce compliance have required businesses who don’t provide insurance to pay a $2,000 penalty for each uninsured worker. Many restaurant owners are looking at the penalty imposed and deciding that they may end up just paying it and foregoing the health care plans in 2014 as a way to manage health care costs. With uncertainty high on further business regulations and upcoming taxes, businesses, especially restaurant owners, are going to be conservative about their choices and try to limit their liabilities as much as possible by opting out and voluntarily paying the penalty.

Bad News for Workers

Obviously, this defeats the purpose of putting health care reform into action. It seems the incentives to provide a 50 percent tax credit for premiums that companies will be forced to pay is not enough to offset the liability of being forced to offer health care to all their workers. Another possibility that some  experts predict may happen is that business owners simply choose to reduce their workforce rather than pay benefits or a penalty. For restaurant owners who rely heavily on their workforce, this is probably not a good option, but for other businesses it could lead to more layoffs and a rise in unemployment.

Investing on Gold Bars

A financial adviser recommended we invest on gold bars instead of gold coins. We are getting ours from the US Gold Bureau.

Here are some tips on how to buy and where to buy gold bullion bars:

* Always be aware on what kind of gold bullion bar size you want to buy, since it has different sizes and weights.
* See to it that you have enough money to purchase the size of gold you want to buy.
* Have some knowledge regarding gold and always be alert of the current price of gold since gold prices change every day.
* Ask some of your friends if they know gold dealer that is reliable and has a good reputation regarding this kind of business.
* Always look for the well known gold dealer or mints.

Christmas Gifts

I have about 8 godchildren and more than 30 nephews and nieces – sum it up and that would spell great trouble for my pockets this Christmas. I was thinking to give out gold coins or cash to the older ones (ages 10 and up) since they know what they want already. I will just buy for the little ones.

Personally though, Id love to get a gold coin collectible for Christmas – it’s a great investment. I can get from the US Gold Bureau.

United States Gold Bureau is home to a large and dedicated staff of hard asset professionals committed to serving your precious metals investment needs and being America’s best dealer with a convenient market and competitive precious metals prices.

Thinking of Investing.

After much thought, I think I am decided to invest in gold bullion from the US Gold Bureau. United States Gold Bureau is home to a large and dedicated staff of hard asset professionals committed to serving your precious metals investment needs and being America’s best dealer with a convenient market and competitive precious metals prices. I am thinking if I should the mint coins or the gold bars. It would all depend on what can fit in my measly budget. I think I can buy one gold coin from my earnings. It would just be which coin I would want to buy first!