Financial Ideas by Thomas

Archive for the ‘Debt Management’ Category

Most of the advice you receive on career advancement will come from people who have ulterior motives. Some of them even have an interest in seeing you do something that will benefit them. Objective career advice is often elusive. Let’s look at some of the most common places people receive career advice and assess their objectivity.

Your Employer. Many companies offer training and development programs. Some of these are well designed and they can provide you with some valuable skills and knowledge that you can use through out your career. One thing is almost always true – the training and development that is offered or sanctioned by your employer will benefit them. Sales representatives will be offered sales training to help them sell more. This may benefit the rep if he moves to another company, but his present employer will certainly reap the rewards in the short term. What does this have to do with career advice? Well, if the company has invested several thousands of dollars in training you for a position, how willing are they going to be to help you move out of that role? Some companies will be willing to see you advance beyond that role, after you have produced a significant return on their investment. However, the employer will want to make sure that training is put to good use in your current role.

Your Boss. When you sit down for your performance review your boss is supposed to give you feedback and help you outline a road map for your future. Nine times out of ten your promotion will mean more work for your boss. This can take the form of having to train someone new to do your job or just to pick up your work while he looks for someone to replace you. In the end it is in his best interest to tell you that you stink – or at least tell you that you have a long way to go to get to the next level.

A Headhunter. Recruiters get paid to do one thing – fill positions. They want to get the right person in the right job because they don’t want to fill the same position multiple times within a short period (this is more work for them). Once a headhunter recognizes that you have the skills to fill a certain role, it is his job to get you to take that position and to get the employer to take you. Sure this makes sense for the short term – getting a job. What about your long term career goals? What incentive does the headhunter have to make certain that the current job fits in with the big picture for you? Who is paying the headhunter?

There is a simple but undeniable truth in the financial consulting and wealth planning industry that Wall Street has kept as a “dirty little secret” for years. That dirty little, and nearly always overlooked secret is THE WAY YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR IS PAID DIRECTLY AFFECTS THEIR FINANCIAL ADVICE TO YOU!

You want, and deserve (and consequently SHOULD EXPECT) unbiased financial advice in your best interests. But the fact is 99% of the general investing public has no idea how their financial adviser is compensated for the advice they provide. This is a tragic oversight, yet an all too common one. There are three basic compensation models for financial adviser – commissions based, fee-based, and fee-only.

Commission Based Financial Adviser – These advisers sell “loaded” or commission paying products like insurance, annuities, and loaded mutual funds. The commission your financial adviser is earning on your transaction may or may not be disclosed to you. I say “transaction” because that’s what commission based financial advisors do – they facilitate TRANSACTIONS. Once the transaction is over, you may be lucky to hear from them again because they’ve already earned the bulk of whatever commission they were going to earn.

Since these advisers are paid commissions which may or may not be disclosed, and the amounts may vary based on the insurance and investment products they sell, there is an inherent conflict of interest in the financial advice given to you and the commission these financial advisers earn. If their income is dependent on transactions and selling insurance and investment products, THEY HAVE A FINANCIAL INCENTIVE TO SELL YOU WHATEVER PAYS THEM THE HIGHEST COMMISSION! That’s not to say there aren’t some honest and ethical commission based advisers, but clearly this identifies a conflict of interest.

Fee Based Financial Ad visor – Here’s the real “dirty little secret” Wall Street doesn’t want you to know about. Wall Street (meaning the firms and organizations involved in buying, selling, or managing assets, insurance and investments) has sufficiently blurred the lines between the three ways your financial adviser may be compensated that 99% of the investing public believes that hiring a Fee-Based Financial Advisory is directly correlated with “honest, ethical and unbiased” financial advice.

Credit card companies do deal with some debt settlement companies, but not everything that the company chooses to do is agreed upon by the company. This is information that is often left out or glossed over when reviewing the terms of agreement with your debt settlement company. This also means that they are in no way able to prevent you from being sued from your credit card company for the outstanding debt that you have with them.

Debt consolidators do not like to let on how tied their hands are when it comes to dealing with these companies. They claim that they will work everything out and get a payment plan started with the credit card company, but this does not often happen in a way that is agreeable to the company, and still leaves the door open for them to come after you in court should they choose to do.

Credit card companies have experienced every excuse under the sun for reasons why the debt has not been paid off by the consumer. More often than not, the excuse is flimsy and does not hold true. After they attempt to work with the customer to try and make payments on their debt and it is proven unsuccessful they will then turn to going after them legally.

A consumer can avoid the difficulties involved in having a collection lawsuit filed and not having any help or assistance in dealing with the matter. The answer is simple. Don’t get involved with a debt settlement company! Use a qualified practicing attorney at law for credit card debt management and debt settlement. Your money is too important to hand it over to debt consolidators.

By law, an attorney representing a client in credit card debt assistance cannot keep a client from getting sued. The chances, however, are greatly diminished. By dealing attorney to attorney, a debt settlement attorney has more leverage in keeping suit from being filed. Moreover, the attorney will give the client legal advise and do all of things necessary to represent the client in court proceedings. The attorney will make the burden to the client much, much lighter.

Because of the nature of debt settlement, it is important for you to make the right decisions on how you can once and for all settle your debt. Choosing a licensed attorney in your state will greatly help you with your debt problems and the stress that comes along with it.

Melvin R. Singleterry, owner of is a practicing attorney who specializes in Consumer Debt Law and debt reduction Singleterry, who holds a Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from Oklahoma State University and a Juris Doctor from The University of Oklahoma, has practiced in both State and Federal Courts.

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The UK is going through a period of austerity drive the like of which we have rarely seen before. Faced with a national debt of billions the Government is launching cuts in the public spending which will result in the loss of thousands of jobs in the public sector, with further unemployment in related businesses in the private sector.

The UK has the highest level of personal debt in Europe; credit cards, store cards, loans, mortgage arrears all create a cocktail of depression, despair, fear, and hopelessness, which leave those affected feeling trapped in a cycle of poverty and hopelessness from which there seems no escape.

If you find you find yourself in debt you will now have to make some tough choices:

1. Do you have a debt reduction plan?

You need to have a plan for getting out of debt. The reason for this is that most people struggle with trying to pay off a number of debts all at once and simply get nowhere, almost like a revolving door. This simply compounds the problem.

So here is some advice for your plan:

• List your debts in a schedule including your mortgage, credit cards, loans and overdrafts, credit zone, hire purchase and any other financial liability.

• Prioritize your debts by firstly identifying those which failure to pay may result in you losing your home or going to jail; Council Tax, Income Tax, and your Mortgage are your most important debts and must be your number one priority for payment come what may.

• Secondly, failure to pay utility bills such electricity and gas (but not water) will result in loss of service so these are the next priority.

• Debts such as credit cards, overdrafts, store cards and loans are also important, as failure to pay these can damage your credit rating but they are not important as those above. Do not therefore be intimidated by threats of legal action from credit card or loan companies, stick to your plan.

2. What can you do without or reduce?

To clear your debt you may need to undergo a period of austerity where you set about reducing your spending, and refining your budget so you look at your spending and see where you can make cut backs. Sky TV, eating out, foreign holidays may all have to be sacrificed in the short term to help you get out of trouble.

3. What can you sell?

Do you have things you do not need which could be a potential source of income? There is an ever increasing market for the disposal of unwanted items which can raise additional income. eBay, car boot sales, and the classified sections in the local papers are a few of the ways you can sell unwanted goods. Make a list of all your assets and get selling.

You may think that such an exercise is a waste of time, however, the reality is that any money you can raise, no matter how small, that you can put towards tackling your debt is worth it.

4. Can you find a secondary income?

You may need to seek short-term additional employment to supplement your income. The recent growth in the areas of network marketing and internet businesses provide a host of opportunities for secondary income. There are also the more obvious routes to getting a secondary income such as overtime, a second or part time job or letting a room in your home; do not rule anything out.