I have been known to drive around town in attempt to save some money on gasoline.  Most of time I am able to save at least a couple of pennies per gallon - which makes me feel great.  I thought that I was doing myself a big favor by buying the gas at a discount, until I realized one thing:

I was wasting a lot of gas trying to “save” money.

In fact, in most cases, I was wasting more money trying to find a deal than if I just went to a gas station in my area.  After shaking my head a little bit (to try and get my brain working again), I decided that I should figure out a better way to save money on gas.

I asked the pump attendant while filling up what I could do to pay less at the pumps.  He suggested that I try getting a gas credit card and get paid for each time I put gas in my car.  I had to ask if the gas cards were new, and he said that he has had one for a long time.

The next time I am at the bank I will be inquiring about their gas credit cards.  Getting a discount everywhere I go sure seems like a good deal to me.

I was wondering if there was a difference between college student credit cards and regular credit cards. It seems like a lot of my college friends have credit cards. I chose not to go to college for a few years and I just got my first card. It was like pulling teeth, so I was wondering how it was so easy for them to get them.

I also wondered what would happen if I filled out some student credit card applications. Other than the fact that I am not currently a student, I am working and am in the same age category as the rest of them. Could I really be turned down due to the fact that I was not a student?

I think that credit cards for students also have a lower interest rate than my credit card does. Not that it matters because I pay it off every month. But, some day I may not be able to. I think I am going to try and get one. I will not lie, but it is worth giving it a shot. If all else fails, I will be going to college next year and I can get one then.

My daughter wants a mobile home loan, so that she and my granddaughter will have a real place to call home. They are currently renting an apartment and my daughter said she was tired of paying for something that would never be hers. She looked into mobile homes and soon realized that she could own one for less than what she was paying for her apartment lease.

She went to talk to someone at the bank about a manufactured home loan and when they went over her finances and credit history, decided that she would make an ideal candidate and would certainly be approved for the loan, if she was able to find a home for sale.

She applied for a PMI mortgage and was approved. Now she needs to find a mobile home for sale in the area in which she currently lives. She is quite excited and we are very proud at the mature decision she is making as a young single mother.

It is a very scary day for me. I am off to see one of those people who gives out mortgage loans. The scary thing is that I don’t know if I am eligible for one, but it is certainly worth the try. I am ready to own my home and I feel that I am now at a point in my life where I am responsible enough to handle a mortgage.

I have had some great mortgage leads, so I know what kind of price range that I would be needing and it is fairly low, so that should help in me getting approved. I am keeping my fingers very crossed.

I know a real estate place that will help me out if I do get approved and they will find me the very best deal possible. I am going to go there right as soon as I find out if I am approved.

I am applying for one of those FHA loans and I would love to be into a home as soon as possible. I know that these things take time, but I am willing to be patient. But, just a little bit!

I love to comparison shop.  I go from store to store to find the best deals.  Not only do I save some money, but I love it.  Just this past week I found out another thing that I am good at - finding good deals on financial products.

You see this week I was online doing some research for a friend regarding debt consolidation loans.  She is bogged down in debt and cannot make all her payments, so I was trying to find her a better solution than bankruptcy.  I found a few sites that had information that would help her out and I printed it off.

She had mentioned that they borrowed against their paychecks and I wanted to know how that worked.  I researched payday loans online to see how they worked - and I saw what her problem was.  The cash advances they were getting were not helping their situation out.

I thought I would take a look at other types of loans online.  I did some research for myself on home equity loans to find out how they worked.  I know our home has gone up in value this past year, and we were thinking of borrowing money against the house to build a garage.  I see that there are a lot of companies that offer these loans, so I will get to shop around (which is great).

So, for those of you who are like me and are in the market to get a loan, take a look online.  It is a great resource and research tool for you to shop around for the financial product that will be the best for you and your situation.

I was at my favorite lounge for lunch today and took some time to talk to the bartender.  I usually go once or twice a week for their awesome steak sandwiches - it is a bad habit, but it is worth it.  The bartender knows me by name as I have become one of the regulars.

On the way in, I noticed that the ATM machine looked different - they must have bought a new one.  I decided to ask the bartender about it, and he told me that a few days ago their ATM broke.  He said that the one that was sitting there was a rental, that an ATM rental company supplied for them.

He told me the rented them one of those mobile ATM machines that you hear about.  Mobile ATMs?  I had never heard of them.

I guess that they are self contained units, that only need a wall outlet to function - no more dedicated phone line required.  He told me that they were going to rent it until the old one is fixed - and they were considering replacing the old one next year - and they would get a mobile one instead.

I finished my lunch and the conversation, and promised that I would be back in a few days.  Who knew that I would learn something new going to a lounge…

I just finished a day long seminar on the alternatives to bankruptcy.  It was put on by a local company that offers a debt negotiation program to help those people who are at risk of going bankrupt.

They started off the presentation with the numbers: the number of people that go bankrupt each day and the number of people that could avoid bankruptcy if they just got some credit and bill consolidation help.

They continued on how debt consolidation works and what as the consumer we should look for.  They also touched on how your credit score is affected by both debt consolidation and bankruptcy.

I must say the arguments for debt consolidation are strong as you don’t suffer the effects that you would if you went bankrupt.  Also, personally, I feel that even though you weren’t able to pay off all your debts at least you tried - unlike someone who went bankrupt and basically said "screw you" to their lenders - I couldn’t live with that.

They finished their presentation by detailing their credit card negotiation services and how they could help us if we had credit card debt problems.  All in all, I quite enjoyed the seminar - it was both thought provoking and informative.

Who knew that living too long would be a bad thing?  Seems that when you are younger you are doing whatever you can to try and age slower.  Now, there is a "catch 22" if you will from these activities - chances are you will live longer than you expected.

In fact, as medical technology gets better and better, people are living longer and longer.  According to some blogs I read, the average life expectancy of a 80.9 years for men and 84.5 years for women.  This means that we should expect to live about half as long as we were in the work force after retirement.  Thing is, when we were working our health is usually good, with very little problems.  But as we age, we are more likely to need medical attention or care - which can be very expensive.

Sadly, most people prepare for their retirement, but leave out any sort of financial planning for their health.  This can turn into a horrible oversight, with most retirement nest eggs wiped out in a few years after one enters a nursing home.  This can cause stress on your children, that need to foot the bill - and may lead to marital problems in their lives.

In order to avert the financial consequences of long term care, you should take the time to plan for the worst case before you find yourself there.  Consider getting some long term care insurance - it will protect your loved ones from the financial burden of taking care of you.

If you are a home owner that has missed a lot of mortgage payments, your credit score is in trouble.  Chances are that you will see a drop in your credit score because of your missed payments, but if you don’t get your act together, you will be heading for trouble.

If your home becomes one of those repossessed properties your lender has, your credit score is in big trouble - expect it to free fall.  Not only will this harm you in the short term should you need a loan, but even in the long term you will have big problems getting another mortgage, when you decide to buy another home.  Repossession is definitely something you should avoid.

If there is absolutely no way that you can avoid getting your home repossessed, take advantage of the many sell and rent back programs in your area.  Instead of defaulting on your mortgage, they will buy your house from you giving you the money to pay off the mortgage.  They can then rent the home to you, so that you don’t have to find a new place to stay.  Most of these programs also allow you the option to buy back your home at a later date - when you are doing more financially.

I was looking for a good way to obtain the necessary equipment for a new copy shop - part of an assignment for a commerce class.  We are required to find out how the business owner can maximize their return on investment, while at the same time ensure that they will have access to enough capital to maintain their operations.

A daunting task don’t you think?

Well, the answer is yes and no.  I believe the hardest part will be getting answers from lenders and commercial leasing companies regarding the numbers we will need to make our calculations.

After getting the answers, it shouldn’t be so bad.  Really, it only comes down to two things: leasing or purchasing the equipment.

Leasing the equipment should be the most profitable and secure option.  Equipment leasing would allow the company to reduce its’ chances of being short of capital (by leaving the credit available to the company alone) as well as taking care of the maintenance of the equipment (reducing expenses).  Also, the company would save some money by taking advantage of the tax advantages of leasing.

The other option would be purchasing through some sort of equipment financing product.  The advantage here would be that the assets are the company’s and could be sold in the case of a low cash position.  The catch is that all the maintenance costs are part of the business expenses for the company.  Also, there are no tax advantages obtained from getting a loan for the company - which should result in lower net income.

It will be interesting to see which method is better: financing or leasing.  I won’t know the answer until I crunch the numbers - it should be pretty enlightening.