How to Pay Your Mortgage Off Faster

Many of us want to be untied to our mortgage. It is likely the most expensive bill you pay every month. Although the interest you pay on your mortgage is tax deductible, all that interest would be better off put away in an investment account. Even at a low interest rate, you could still end up paying hundreds of thousands of dollars over the term of your loan.

So how can one go about paying off a mortgage faster? It's all about the term, which is how long the mortgage contract lasts. The term you choose - 1, 3, 5 or 7 years or some other period - dictates the amount of interest you'll pay. Whether you choose a fixed rate or a variable rate will also affect your interest payments.

The most common term is the five-year fixed, chosen by more than 50 percent of borrowers. Even though this term is the most popular, it's not necessarily the right choice for every home buyer. The right term for you may not be the one with the lowest rate. Some terms may lock you in at a higher rate for many years, while others may subject you to fluctuating rates. Discover the other options available, as well as their benefits and disadvantages.

How to Get Rid of Mortgage Arrears

Acceptance is Important

If you're being plagued by mortgage arrears, don't think that it's the end of the world. A lot of people are plagued with the same problem. You resolve mortgage arrears not by drinking yourself to death or wallowing in depression, but being pro-active and exhausting all options to arrive at a satisfactory solution. You'll have to be aware of how you arrived at your sorry state in the first place. Did you max out your credit cards? Were you unable to pay your car, house, or business loan for the past few months? Determining the root cause of your mortgage arrears is instrumental in solving your problem and obtaining mortgage arrears help. If your problem lies in your credit card bills, you can request for a payment date extension from your credit card company. If you're dealing with a bank loan, you can request the bank for lower payment rates or delay payment in exchange for higher interest rates.

Make Your Business Look Great by Using Free Invoice Templates

Every business owner knows that invoicing customers for services and goods is a necessary step. However, preparing invoices over and over again might become boring. Therefore, the help of an invoice template sounds terrific.

Appearance

A good invoicing project will make you look more professional, but at the same time it will let you schedule your invoices faster and easier. Moreover, every invoice is personalized. This means that all invoices follow the same format or layout and transform tax processing or bookkeeping into a simple task.

Standard templates

Standard templates include basic elements that are necessary in order to create comprehensive invoices. In addition to this, the templates are made in a way that allows you to include the logo, address, business name and various other contact information into their format. Having the details mentioned above, the clients have it easier to understand that the invoices come from your business. Further on, the clients can send out payments, manage administrative tasks and many other things. The standard invoices will be of great assistance in the administrative duties.
Keep in mind that professionalism and efficiency are the basic tools to create an outstanding job. The main advantage when it comes to a template of this type is the possibility to expedite the general process of invoicing without ruining the quality and professionalism of the job. This is why a template of this type will do wonders for your business.

Renewing Your Mortgage? It Pays To Shop Around

If your mortgage is coming up for renewal, you should shop around for the best deal, reports Rob McLister from Canadian Mortgage Trends. Most borrowers don't.

In fact a survey by Martiz/CAAMP revealed that only 56 per cent of borrowers negotiated their rates when they came to renew. So almost half of all Canadian mortgage borrowers are not getting the best deal because they don't comparison shop!

Lenders make money when you renew your mortgage with them. If you renew with the same lender, they don't have to compensate anyone for referring you. And if you don't negotiate, you won't be offered the best deal.

You expect to negotiate if you're choosing a new lender. But you should negotiate even if you're staying with the same lender. As the Bank of Canada discovered, you could be paying almost double the rate markups than savvy comparison shoppers pay.

But bank customers are often loyal. The Maritz/CAAMP survey found that 4 in 10 mortgage renewers accepted the first rate their bank offered. They trusted their lenders to give them the best rate at renewal time. This trust is misplaced.

Reposition Your Income And Growth Investments To Minimize Taxation

The before-tax contributions allowed for government-regulated retirement plans (such as 401(k)s and IRAs) entice many people to invest and grow a large fraction of their retirement savings within those plans. But money you eventually withdraw from them is taxed at ordinary income rates - a potentially high rate. And their required minimum distributions (RMDs) begin after you turn 701/2. How can you minimize taxation of your savings in retirement?

Generally people have two categories of accounts that hold their savings: (regular) taxable accounts (like bank and brokerage accounts) and government-regulated retirement accounts (like their IRA). The taxation of investments in each of these is fundamentally different.

All investment earnings and gains within deductible IRA-type accounts grow tax-deferred. But everything - earnings, capital gains and principal (contributions) - is taxed at ordinary income tax rates when you withdraw from them.

On the other for taxable accounts, principal (i.e. the amount you contributed or purchased to that investment) is their tax basis since you got no deduction for it: it's never taxed. But annual earnings such as dividends or interest are taxed annually. Any growth in value (capital) is taxed only on its increase, but only when it's sold, and, then, at the low capital gains tax rates if held over 1 year.

Annually Revise Your Savings Withdrawal Rate To Maintain Your Asset Value

Perhaps you rely on your savings to supplement your Social Security and Pension incomes. If so, make sure you revise how much you withdraw each year to make your savings last.

Ideally what you take out of your savings should increase with inflation each year so the purchasing power of your withdrawals remains constant to maintain your living style. But of course you don't want your remaining savings to shrink to support those withdrawals. So you must plan for what you can withdraw annually to also preserve your portfolio against loss in its value.

As a retiree, you ought to have at least 50% of your saving portfolio in high quality income generating investments. The remaining 50% should be in high grade equity investments. You need those equity investments to help grow your portfolio and offset inflation's diminishment of its overall value.

A tentative 4% withdrawal rate Considering the average performance of markets, many advisors recommend using a maximum of 4% as a withdrawal rate from your savings. That statistically allows for preserving the portfolio's real value and the real value of your withdrawal's purchasing power. So, the quantity of money you withdraw each year increases with the inflation rate.

Traveling Abroad - Here Are Some Tips To Make Your Money Go Farther

One of the nice things about retirement is that you have the time to travel to those places you've dreamt of. And, hopefully, you've the money to get you there and back. Nevertheless, here are some tips to help make those travel dollars go farther.

-Off-season savings:

Not having to stick to your kids' vacation schedule, you can travel anytime. So you can avoid traveling during the expensive 'tourist' season. Airlines, hotels, and resorts base their prices on demand. Choose to travel 'off season' and save money.

-Airline ticket savings:

* Make your travel arrangements well in advance. Checkout the discount websites (Google 'cheap flights') for good deals. They often combine flight segments from different airlines for even lower costs.

* Always check out the round trip option to any flight you make - even if you don't intend to return using it; round trip tickets are often cheaper than the one-way ticket.

* Using connecting flights - rather than direct flights- can help you save money. Forget about the inconvenience. Remember, you're not in a rush. Make it work for you.