A 2017 study revealed that the amount of cash in offshore accounts is equivalent to 10 percent of the world GDP. Most people use these accounts as tax havens, so it’s vital to learn more about them before opening one.

Inasmuch as stashing money in foreign accounts is portrayed a shady thing, it isn’t entirely illegal to open a bank account in a foreign country. Using foreign bank accounts can make things easier for people who like traveling or for business owners who want to diversify their assets.

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3,664,292 babies were born in the United States in 2021 alone. If you’re about to start the journey into motherhood, know that you don’t have to go it alone.

Millions of women across the country are dealing with or have dealt with the challenges of motherhood. And they have excellent advice and tips on the best products for new moms to make your experience easier.

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Kids between the ages of 8 and 12 are getting a whopping four and a half hours of screen time each day. Between school, homework, and family time, that screen time amounts to the majority of your kid’s free time each day.

It’s great that kids have ways to entertain themselves and stay out of trouble, especially since you practically have to take out a loan to pay for the video game consoles they beg for every Christmas.

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The average American credit score has risen steadily since the Great Recession. The national FICO score average is now 704. If you have good credit, your main concern should be avoiding mistakes that may lead to this score getting lowered.

By finding out what hurts your credit score, you can use this information to keep your credit in good shape. Without good credit, you will find it hard to do things like getting approved for car or home loans.

Not only will you need a good credit score to make these larger purchases, you will also need to save money. One of the biggest trends in the world of savings is the 12-week challenge. This challenge requires you to save between $100 and $150 a week for 12 weeks.

The following are some of the things you need to avoid when trying to keep your credit score high.

1. Missing Payments is What Hurts Your Credit Score the Most

If you are like most consumers, you have a number of credit card minimums and loan payments to make each month. While keeping up with these payments may be difficult, you need to avoid missing one by mistake.

Not only will missing a credit card or loan payment lead to additional late charges, it can also hurt your credit score. A payment that is over a month late can lead to a credit score being reduced by nearly 90 points.

The last thing you want to do is significantly reduce your credit score due to a mistake. This is why you need to get organized when it comes to when payments are due.

2. Avoid Maxing Out Your Credit Cards

Did you realize credit card utilization accounts for nearly 30 percent of your credit score? This means that the lower your credit card balances are, the higher your score will inevitably become.

Practicing a bit of restraint when it comes to credit card spending is vital. Maxing out one or more credit cards is a horrible idea that could cost you dearly.

Higher credit card balances will lead to your monthly minimums increasing, while your credit score decreases. Maxing out your credit cards can reduce your credit score by up to 45 points.

3. Too Many Hard Inquiries Can Affect Your Credit Score

Every time you attempt to get a loan or a new credit card, a hard credit inquiry will usually be performed. Lenders need to pull your credit report to ensure you are a good candidate for a new loan or credit card.

Applying for a number of different loans or credit cards in a short time frame can lead to a number of hard credit inquiries being generated. Instead of hurting your credit score with the inquiries, you need to be selective about applying for new lines of credit.

Doing some research before applying with a particular company is a must. With this research, you can figure out which lender offers the best terms on the loan you need. Once you have this information, you can apply for one loan instead of a handful of them.

4. Steer Clear of Charge-Offs and Collections

Having unpaid debt can affect your credit score in a negative way. If you avoid making an attempt to pay a particular debt, the company that holds this debt may sell it to a third-party collection agency.

While this may not sound like a big deal, it can actually hurt your credit score. In some instances, a company will classify your debt as a charge-off. Basically this means that a company is removing the debt from their books due to it being unpaid for a long period of time.

Checking your credit report regularly can help you find issues with unpaid debt. Taking out a personal loan to pay off these debts is a good option. If you are looking for information about the best personal loans on the market, you can read more here.

5. The Damage Done by Bankruptcies and Foreclosures

Being unable to pay your debts will put you in a very compromising position. Often times, people who are unable to make these payments will have to file for bankruptcy.

If you are unable to pay your mortgage, the bank may decide to foreclose. A bankruptcy can lower your credit score significantly. The negative mark left by a bankruptcy can stay on your credit report for up to 10 years.

A bankruptcy or foreclosure can lower credit scores by up to 240 points. Contacting your creditors and letting them know about your financial hardship is a step in the right direction. Usually, lenders will offer a reduced payment plan designed to help you avoid foreclosures and bankruptcies.

6. Debt Consolidation Should Be Avoided

Some consumers think that consolidating their debt into one easy to make payment is a good idea. While a single monthly payment may be helpful for you, it can be damaging to your credit score.

Generally, companies that offer debt consolidation loans will have to pull your credit report. This means you will have a hard inquiry, which as previously mentioned can lower your credit score.

Paying off mounds of credit card debt can be a daunting task. By doing this on your own without the help of a consolidation loan, you can avoid affecting your credit in a negative way. Meeting with a financial advisor is a great way to get a plan of action when attempting to pay off debt.

Focus on Keeping Your Credit Score High

Getting low-interest rates on loans and increasing your buying power is easy with good credit. Now that you know what hurts your credit score, you can avoid making these mistakes. Keeping your credit card utilization low and your savings high can benefit you and your family.

Looking for more information on paying off your debt? Be sure to check out our article on how to create a debt avalanche.

Do you run a small business?

Do you struggle with managing your company’s finances? Are you able to set aside for yourself and your family without disrupting the cash flow of your business?

A recent survey revealed that about 41% of small business owners in the United States face cash flow struggles. These problems affect small business owners beyond the financial aspect. Around 56% said that the struggles had a consequential emotional impact.

There is also the question of how should you pay yourself as the business owner.

The answer can be very tricky. There are certain factors that you need to consider especially when you are the boss.

If you want to know how to pay yourself as a small business owner correctly, continue reading below.

How to Pay Yourself the Right Way

Regardless if you are running a small business or a freelancer who works alone, you need to pay yourself. If you have people working under you, you need to set up a payroll system. If you are doing things by yourself, there is payroll for self-employed people.

1. The Structure of Your Business

First, you must consider the structure of your business.

The most common structures include sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company (LLC), corporation, and cooperative. The corporate structure has five types, namely, the C Corp, the S Corp, the B Corp, the close corporation, and the non-profit corporation.

If you’re starting small with a few trusted friends, an LLC might be the better option. It ensures everyone has a firm grasp on the company’s finances and ownership. This guarantees no one can out-profit the other, an issue that can happen in a traditional partnership.

We advise that you sit down with your trusted accountant regarding your payroll options in relation to your business’ structure.

2. Identify the Appropriate Payment Method

There are two common types of payment methods that small business owners tend to use: the owner’s draw and the salary.

If the structure of your company falls under a sole proprietorship, LLC, or partnerships, the IRS considers you as self-employed. Hence, the owner’s draw is the one for you. This is because you are not paid through traditional wages.

Keep in mind, however, that you still need to pay your individual taxes even if the owner’s draw is not taxable upon withdrawal.

Traditional salaries, on the other hand, work for C Corps and S Corps. Salaries are recurring payments. Unlike the owner’s draw, the IRS imposes taxes on salaries.

3. Compute an Amount

Now that you have determined that suitable payment method, you can move on to the amount of pay you should receive.

To avoid overpaying or underpaying yourself, you need to look closely into your daily duties. Determine an amount that equates to your daily business tasks. You should also consider how the amount impacts your business’ long-term growth.

Review your profit and loss statements and zoom into your monthly net profit. Take out your desired pay from the net profit. Do you find the pay fair and justifiable?

Identify the major duties you have in relation to your business operations. Find out how much you would pay if you hire someone else to do those things. The amount can serve as a guide to how much pay you can take from the profit.

There are online resources you can use for your computations. You may also consider services that help manage business cash flow.

You should also consider looking at the standards set by the industry.

How much do your competitors pay for services? How much do they pay their employees? How do they break down salaries and how do factors like hours worked, experience, and seniority in the company come into play?

4. Schedule Your Payroll

You need to follow a payroll schedule even if you only have one or two employees working for you. The usual pay schedules among companies in the United States are twice a month, bi-weekly, or weekly.

Majority of the states follow a basic payroll calendar. If your state enforces one, then you should abide by all means.

Not many companies consider one important factor: collaborating your schedule with local, regional banks. Some banks are strict in releasing credit cards or loans to employees and require a weekly or bi-weekly direct deposit account. You can support your business and manage cash flow by sticking to the schedule your local banks abide by.

5. The Mode of Payment

Lastly, you need to determine how you are going to get your paycheck. You can deposit your salary directly into your bank account. You can also write a check if you wish to.

Which modes of payment should you prioritize?

Direct bank deposits should be the primary method available. You should also consider methods such as PayPal. PayPal is great for people hoping to save money since it’s always online and you can’t simply withdraw the cash from an ATM.

As mentioned, checks should be an option for those who prefer a more traditional method.

Bonus Tip: Fragment Your Pay

One extra tip is to fragment your own pay. It’s likely you already have a spreadsheet of different bills to pay, employees to pay, and personal desires to purchase. You should set your account to automatically pay these things out upon receiving your own pay.

This guarantees you won’t forget to pay out anything. The money left in the account is purely a surplus you can spend on business expansion and personal wants.

Grow Your Business and Eliminate Debt, Today!

Taking your small business to the next level requires patience and the thirst for learning. The same thing goes for eliminating your family’s debt. Following these tips should help you pay yourself, keep your business afloat while also guaranteeing steady growth and expansion.

If you are struggling in both areas, we encourage you to get in touch with us. Simply fill out our contact form and take the first step toward becoming debt-free. Don’t hesitate to speak with the professionals to get back on solid ground!

Are you finding good success with your part-time home business endeavor and you would like to expand operations to a full-time effort? If so, then you may wonder what you need to do in order to move to the next step. A logical search of the Internet will probably yield many success stories about similarly situated entrepreneurs who have been in your same ‘shoes’ and have undertaken such an expansion. The Internet probably would also be good for offering many tips to help entrepreneurs, such as yourself, navigate such a move. The following offers a few tips in order to successfully transition your part-time business into a full-time, home-based business success.

Use the Internet as a Resource

Many businesses, both large and small, utilize consultants to assist them with a particular project or an aspect of their operations. Hiring a consultant means that you gain a particular individual’s expertise and experience in helping you execute the vision for your business. However, as a small, part-time business, the cost of a consultant may be cost-prohibitive. But the expansive knowledge and well-documented experiences of these same types of consultants are available via the Internet for free. Thus, between the consultant articles and blogs, experiences of like-situated entrepreneurs and other pertinent information, you can gain some important assistance going forward just by knowing how to navigate and search the internet.

Financing Your Growth

As you attempt to grow your business, additional resources will be needed. These resources may require additional capital outlays. The cheapest way to finance this growth is with your own funds because there is no interest associated with a loan to yourself. However, if such self-financing is not available, then consider applying for a small business loan as soon as possible. Having the proper funding can be critical in the attempts to sustain the growth of your business.

Economies of Scale

An important concept to consider also as you try to ramp up your operations is that of economies of scale. Economies of scale say that as you produce more, you have to use fewer inputs to get more out. In order to transform your part-time business into a full-time business, you can look at areas where you can add in greater efficiencies to help the full-time version of your business succeed. Look at the things that you do well so that you can figure out how to do more of them. Likewise, look at the things that you might not be doing so great at and figure out what you can do to improve upon these areas.

Do a SWOT Analysis

The introspective review mentioned above actually goes a bit deeper with a full examination of your business’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. Doing a SWOT analysis helps prepare a road map for what you want to see out of your business as this transformation goes forward.

Be Prepared to Revise as Needed

One of the keys to having success as you make the move from a part-time endeavor to a full-time effort is to be flexible. Flexibility is needed in order to help your business adapt to situations as they come up. Situations such as timely fulfilling customer requests, the need for additional financing/funds or re-evaluation of goods or services that you are offering are just a few of the areas that may require you to be flexible going forward.

If your home-based business has been going well and you think moving to a full-time effort will be able to sustain you financially, as well as intellectually, then you will be joining the ranks of many entrepreneurs who have also made entering the business world a successful transition. Working from home and being your own boss has many perks associated with it. Having home-based business success affords such a wonderful business opportunity. If you have the idea, drive and passion to go for success, just remember to be flexible in pursuit of that goal. If needed, and the option is available, consider applying for a small business loan to help sustain your business operations as you attempt to grow its success. In general, remember to utilize the tools and resources that you have available to you, including the Internet.

We love our kids, but when they have summer break it gets stressful. You’ve got work to do, leaving the tikes to their own mischief doesn’t sit right.

To Google you go and summer camps near me is your search intent.

You find a lot of results for camps but which one’s good? How can you tell if your kids will have fun while staying safe? Keep reading for answers to these questions.

Qualifying the Results of Summer Camps Near Me: What to Look For in Overnight Camps

Letting others care for your kids is already a stressful decision, and having your kids go to a camp for the summer is doubly so. You want your kids to have fun and learn a few things. Yet, you also want them safe and within reach.

Ask these questions when you touch base with an overnight summer camp:

1. What’s My Kid Like?

What are your child’s personality, interests, and hobbies? The answer to this question may determine what type of summer camp they’ll enjoy.

There are several summer camp types, like:

• Religious
• Art
• Sports
• Science

Talk with your child about what they’d prefer as this lets them meet peers with similar interests. Plus, they may learn and bring back something neat!

2. What Activities Do They Offer?

The different camp types offer different activities. Sports camps are self-descriptive whereas adventure camps may involve hiking, camping, and more.

Consider things like:

• Physical activity
• Thoughtful challenges
• Safety and wellbeing

Choose a camp that’s more than a babysitting experience. Look for a camp offering daily activities and weekly challenges. This will keep your kids entertained and help them get beneficial stimulation!

3. How’s the Experience?

Take these three steps when vetting the camp:

1. Check their reviews
2. Ask for referrals
3. Visit the location

Online reviews or information found through camp websites answer your common questions. A referral from neighbors can help you rest assured you picked a great location. And, a trip there can confirm your thoughts.

4. What Are the Costs?

Forgoing fun experiences to save a penny may have lasting consequences. Your children should spend their youth exploring and discovering themselves. Try your best to balance the budget with summer camp costs.

• Look for online deals or promotions
• Ask about financial aid
• Seek camp/educational scholarships

It doesn’t hurt to ask, but mind your budget!

5. What If They Don’t like it?

Some kids dread the summer camp experience. They don’t like being alone at camp and rather spend time back home. That’s okay, but it does mean you could continue paying for something they’re not using!

Ask about the camp’s refund policy in case your kid doesn’t like it. Or, haggle for a partial refund if necessary. Choose one offering refunds to keep your investment safe (just in case).

Summertime and the Living’s Easy

So, you decided it was well worth doing the search for summer camps near me. You found a camp you and the kid(s) will enjoy, it’s safe and in the budget.

Use their break as a savings challenge while you’re focused on work. See our get out of debt guides to make the most of your kid’s time at the summer camp!

Are you finally ready to give your kitchen that long-overdo remodel? While it may look great and increase your home’s value, it won’t come cheap. In fact, the average kitchen renovation costs more than $20,000!

With everything from counters to flooring costing you a pretty penny, it’s more important than ever to stick to your budget. Spending a little extra here and there can easily cost you an additional couple hundred or even thousand dollars.

But the good news is that sticking to your budget doesn’t have to be so hard. Keep reading to discover our tips that will help you get the kitchen of your dreams without going over budget.

Break Down the Costs

It’s no secret that your first step should be to make a budget. But it’s not enough to say, “I don’t want to spend more than $18,000.” You’ll end up losing track of how much everything has cost or you won’t leave enough room for the final touches, and you’re almost sure to overspend.

Instead, you should break down the costs. Write down every single thing you need to pay for, including materials and labor, do a little research to learn the average costs, and decide how much you can spend on each item.

This way, when it’s time to go shopping, you know exactly how much you can spend on flooring, counters, cabinets, and whatever else you need.

DIY Where You Can

Some things are better left to the professionals. However, there are plenty of things you can DIY in your kitchen remodel.

Consider doing things like demolition, painting, and installing new ceiling lights yourself. If you’re knowledgeable about flooring or cabinetry, do these too! You’ll save a ton of money and can put that cash towards something else.

Have a Buffer

No matter how carefully you plan, you’ll inevitably end up paying unexpected costs when it comes to bathroom and kitchen renovations. Or, maybe you fell in love with a counter that’s a smidge too expensive.

Instances like this are why it’s important to have a buffer in your budget. Allocate about 20% of your overall budget to this, so you have plenty of money to play with when surprise costs come up.

Prioritize

So, you bought cabinets that were a hundred dollar over budget? You can take that money from the buffer, right? While it’s okay to do this for small amounts, you don’t want to rely on this method or you’re sure to spend all your buffer money in no time and break your budget.

Instead, you want to prioritize the different aspects of your renovation. Know what areas you want to splurge on and make a plan to cut back on less important areas if necessary.

Budgeting for Kitchen Renovation Costs

If you’re planning on remodeling your kitchen, those price tags are probably stressing you out. But just follow our guide to ensure you keep your kitchen renovation costs within budget and get the perfect kitchen.

Do you want to wait a few months and save more before you tackle your kitchen remodel? Then check out our 12-week saving challenge to help you get started.