To Buy or Not to Buy a Hybrid Car
Ever thought that 60 miles per gallon would cut your monthly gas bill in half? Me too. The idea of the hybrid is almost too good to be true. And from a financial standpoint, it is too good to be true. The following information is a cost comparison between the Honda Civic Sedan and the Honda Civic Hybrid Sedan. Essentially the same car, except the hybrid uses half electric, and half gas power, thus improving gas mileage.
According to Honda, the Civic gets 40 mpg on the highway, while the Hybrid Civic gets an amazing 51 mpg. This is where the salesman gets you. “It will help protect the environment while saving you tons of money on your gas bill every month”, a salesman might say. This is very convincing, as it appeals to both our emotional side in protecting the environment, as well as our wallet. But let’s take a closer look at the two:
* Civic Sedan: Starting MSRP - $15,010
* Civic Sedan: Highway MPG - 40
* Civic Hybrid Sedan: Starting MSRP -$22,600
* Civic Hybrid Sedan: Highway MPG - 51
Now, I have compiled a spreadsheet that will aid you in your financial evaluation of the hybrid vs regular car purchase. As always, I have run an initial estimation only, you will need to download the spreadsheet at the bottom of the post, and update the numbers per your circumstances. Let’s look at the findings:
Buy a Hybrid Car Financial Comparison
Make/Model Price MPG Hwy Miles Per Yr Price/Gal Gas $/Month
Honda Civic Sedan $15,010.00 40 15,000 $2.75 $85.94
Honda Civic Hybrid Sedan $22,600.00 51 15,000 $2.75 $67.40
Monthly Savings with Hybrid $18.54
Yearly Savings with Hybrid $222.43
Price Difference $7,590.00
Months to Recoup Price Difference 409
Years to Recoup Price Difference 34.1
The results are staggering! Look at how long it will take for the gas savings to pay you back for the difference in price of the car. 34 YEARS!!! Clearly not a wise investment. However, if you still are considering buying a hybrid car, the government does offer some tax advantages. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 allows a tax credit to be applied to an owner of a new hybrid car, as long as it meets the programs requirements (at least until 2009).
The tax credit is derived from statistics run on the particular make/model hybrid car you purchase, but usually will fall somewhere around $1,500-$3,000. This is a deduction however, not a check. Depending on your tax bracket, the actual dollars of tax savings will vary. The nice thing though, is the deduction can be applied on top of the standard deduction!
Having said that, if you are in the 20% tax bracket and got a credit of $2,000, your tax savings would be $400. Not bad, but you will still need to drive that Honda Civic Hybrid Sedan for about 30 years to get the payback. The bottom line is, if you want to buy a hybrid car for the cost savings, forget it. If you have a green thumb and want to help the environment, then it is still an option. Be warned though, the life cycle to obtain and use the additional batteries for the hybrid car puts extra pressure on the environment, not found in regular gasoline cars.
I hope that I did not shun everyone from buying a hybrid car, I still believe in the concept myself. However with the current technology, it just doesn’t make sense financially. I look for the day of the fuel cell car, or other concept car, that takes away the need for gasoline…
Find more of Jeffry Evans’ great articles at http://personalfinanceresources.com for all your personal finance needs and investing tips. Sign up for my RSS feed while you are there to get automatic updates to all the new articles.
Stock Trading Made Too Easy
Stock is ownership in a company. Each share of stock represents a small piece of ownership. The more shares a person holds, the more part of the company he owns. The more part of the company a person owns translates to more dividends he earns when the company profits.
That is if the company pays dividends. Many do not these days as they want to use cash flow to build a bigger business rather than pay out cash to shareholders.
A stock market is a market for the trading of publicly held company stock as well as associated financial instruments such as stock options and stock index futures. On the other hand, stock market trading is the buying or selling of securities specifically in the stock market, usually on stock market exchanges, like the New York Stock Exchange.
There are two basic methods of doing stock market trading. Traditionally, stock markets where open-outcry where trading happened on the stock exchange floor. The more modern way of doing stock trading is through electronic exchanges where everything occurs online real-time.
Stock market trading via the exchange floor could not look any more chaotic. When the stock market is open, hundreds of people are seen rushing about, shouting and gesturing to each another on the exchange floor. Traders are also often seen talking on phones, keeping a close eye on the consoles and entering data into terminals.
Online stock market trading moves the trading off the floors and more into the networks. The electronic market employs a vast network of computers to match buyers and sellers instead of human brokers. While lacking the excitement of the usual stock market exchange floor, it is faster and more efficient. Investors frequently get an almost instant confirmation on any trades done.
How does stock market trading work? Be it on the chaotic stock market exchange floor or electronically, one needs to get an investment broker first.
For traditional exchange floor trading, after asking a broker to buy a certain number of shares at the market, the broker’s order department sends this order to the clerk on the floor. The clerk alerts a trader who finds another trader who is willing to sell the shares the investor requested.
The two traders agree on a price for the stocks and close the deal. Notification is sent back the same way until the broker calls the investor to inform him of the final price. This process may take a while depending on the market and stocks. Days later, the investor receives the confirmation by snail mail. This process is so yesterday.
The electronic counterpart is less complicated because the stock buying and selling are matched by the computers in real-time. And the investors get instant updates on the price action and profits or losses for their stock trades.
With so many discount brokerage firms operating on the Internet trading stocks is easier than ever. An investor and stock trader can easily and inexpensively trade stocks from his home or office computer.
That’s why it is more important than ever to be disciplined in one’s approach to stock investments. These days it is so easy to buy and to sell stocks online that it is easy to over do it. Few traders will make money by constantly churning their own accounts.
Gerald “Taipan” Greene is a retired forex trader and portfolio manager who worked in Asia for over 20 years. The nickname was acquired in Hong Kong and is now used for a number of financial related blogs. One of them is at http://www.stock-trading-pro.com
Ethanol Producing Companies as Stock Investments
There have been numerous initiatives by companies to develop the potential of different alternatives to crude oil such as natural gas and ethanol. In the bid for the world’s search for alternative sources of energy ethanol has played a prominent role. Given the supply and demand factors of crude oil, time is running out to develop suitable alternative energy sources.
Ethanol is a colorless, clear liquid with an agreeable odor. This is the natural component of ethyl alcohol. Corn, wheat, potatoes, sugar cane, and other plants can produce starch that is made into ethanol by the process of fermentation. It can be used as fuel by mixing it with the regular gasoline and this becomes gasohol.
These sources of alternative fuels are currently one of the faces of future technologies that are being developed and researched by many technology energy companies listed on stock market exchanges. These technology companies have been popular picks of long-term technology savvy investors for more than 5 years.
The potential of ethanol has been the focus of a lot of technology companies in stock exchanges, most commonly those listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The popularity of this resource as a future alternative to fossil fuels has been recognized in the stock market and numerous initiatives for research and development to make this a renewable source of energy has been ongoing for quite some time.
Although investment performance returns from these alternative energy companies may not be as competitive as established companies that are currently in the business of the popular fossil fuels, the technology for these alternative fuel companies is still being developed. Putting in place the large amount of necessary infrastructure to produce and distribute alternative sources of fuel like ethanol will take quite some time.
Investors who are optimistic on the future of these alternative energy companies believe that the technology just requires longer waiting. Even with new production discoveries the infrastructure and distribution of energy products produced from alternative energy sources like ethanol will probably still be more costly than energy produced in other ways like coal or hydro electric power.
Ethanol will also not necessarily be competitive at its initial stages of introduction. Stock market investors should consider that alternative energy producing companies will be competing with the established production and distribution processes of companies producing fossil fuel energy products.
While the wait for the availability of alternative energy sources to the public may still be long and initially costly, the world will have to push forward the development of alternative energy sources as the world reserves of fossil fuels are depleting. Sooner or later alternative sources of energy will have to be much more of a priority not only of companies engaged in their development but also of the general public as well.
A major flaw in the USA on relying on ethanol to replace gasoline in a meaningful way as an energy source is that ethanol requires more energy inputs to produce it than the energy that it eventually produces. In the USA Ethanol is generally produced from corn. Corn requires a lot of work and energy inputs to produce. For one thing those huge tractors and harvesting machines burn a lot of fuel. The entire process is grossly inefficient.
The use of corn to produce Ethanol in the USA is a terribly misguided program as it has created a scarcity of corn that can be delivered to the food chain including humans. This has resulted in high prices for not only corn but for food chain animals that rely on corn as a feed grain, such as hogs, cattle, and chickens.
Farmers have also diverted land from the production of other commodities, such as soybeans and cotton, in order to increase corn production and this has lead to high prices for these crops. So the production of ethanol has contributed to food price inflation.
The thinking that ethanol can somehow save the USA from dependence upon imported oil as an energy source is fatally flawed. Therefore stock market investors who invest in ethanol producing companies are likely to be disappointed in performance, and in fact if they purchased stock near the top in the run up in prices, will probably eventually have to face up to heavy losses in the stocks of these companies.
Gerald “Taipan” Greene is a retired forex trader and portfolio manager who worked in Asia for over 20 years. The nickname was acquired in Hong Kong and is now used for a number of financial related blogs. One of them is at http://www.stock-trading-pro.com
Great Financial Panic 2008
What financial panic you might say? Hasn’t the recent Fed actions, lead by Helicopter Ben Bernanke, poured enough taxpayer money, pardon me, that is printing press generated US dollars, into the hands of his Wall Street buddies, to ware off any potential panic?
Nope, afraid not. While the government line may be coordinated with the talking heads on MBNC and elsewhere, as to that a crisis and panic has been adverted and that we no longer need to worry, I fear that the truth is that the financial meltdown has barely gotten started as the problems of over leveraging and the necessary deleveraging are still very much with us.
While the troubles with the subprime mortgage lending market has received most of the press on the debt deleveraging issue, and the actions of the Fed in arranging the bailout of Bear Stearns has smoothed out the turmoil in financial waters, the huge ticking time bomb of the huge derivative market has not even been addressed.
The size of this market is estimated at $45 trillion. It is really impossible for the human mind to conceive as to how big a number that is but let me tell you it is huge. Since this market was created largely by the same financial engineers who created the means to package and to transform junk quality residential mortgages into AAA rated securities, we can assume that the same care was taken in creating and packaging many of these often plain weird financial instruments.
The scary thing is this. If only a 10% markdown in value of this $45 trillion pile of potential toxic waste occurs that is a $4.5 trillion write down somewhere out in front of us. Even the Fed would have trouble dealing with a write down of anywhere near that magnitude. Should it occur surely a few major financial institutions would fail.
The fact is that the world has never faced such an over leveraged situation as we have today. Smart guys at major financial institutions who ready should have know better thought that since real estate markets can only go up there was no reason for their financial models to assess the risks of markets falling.
They then packaged and sold trillions of dollars of derivative financial instructions to investors all over the world based upon a flawed model of risk assessment. Some of these guys were greedy and stupid enough (yes, smart people often do stupid things) to keep a few billion dollars of these toxic sure to fail mortgages made to people who didn’t have the ability to repay on their firms own books.
And being extremely greedy they bet the farm that their make believe pricing models were fail proof and leveraged their bad investments at up to 40 x 1. At this high ratio only a 2.5% decline in a portfolio’s value completely wipes out the institutions equity base.
That is why there is such a high probability of a true panic at some stage of this financial disaster up to now slow motion financial train wreck. As the under lying values of the loan portfolios continue to fall as housing value further decline and homeowners stop paying on their underwater mortgages at some point panic will set in as equity disappears in a flash.
The banks and brokerage firms at some point will not be able to attract fresh investment capital to shore up their balance sheets because the new capital they previously raised disappeared so fast.
For all of the above reasons and more there is a high potential for an uncontrolled financial panic in 2008. Perhaps a bit of gold hidden away in a safe hard to find place makes a lot of sense. That and a supply of food and water and a far away place to retire to for awhile.
Gerald “Taipan” Greene, is a retired forex trader and portfolio manager who worked in Asia for over 20 years. The nickname Taipan was acquired in Hong Kong and is now used for a number of financial related blogs. One of them is at http://www.forex-trading-guru.com
Is Forex Currency Trading For You?
Forex currency trading is heavily advertised on the Internet. Some ads make it sound easy to make money by trading forex. However, like any activity that requires skill and judgement in order to be successful you had best prepare yourself before engaging in trading for real money.
The words forex currency trading are a bit redundant as forex stands for forex exchange and of course currencies are foreign exchange. Still many forex traders use the term forex currency trading when speaking of their trading activities so I suppose that the term is quite acceptable.
When trading forex you are always trading a currency pair. For example, you might be buying the Euro and at the same time selling US dollars. You have a pair of currencies. Or you might be buying Yen and selling US Dollars.
Or it could be that you live in London and are taking a trip to Japan. At some point along the way you are probably going to want to sell some British Pounds and buy Japanese Yen so that you will have the needed local currency for your trip.
In this way many travelers are involved in the foreign exchange market without even realizing it. Many billions of currencies change hands daily by international travelers selling their local currency for the currency that they will require at their destination. And again, each transaction involves a pair of currencies.
Trillions of dollar are exchanged daily as part of normal international business. For example, an English exporter may be sending goods to Japan and wishes to be paid in British Pounds. The Japanese importer will be required to sell Yen and buy Pounds to pay for the goods.
Interest rate differentials between currencies have a role to play in the demand for a currency as well. In general, speculative money will move towards currencies that offer higher interest rates on deposits. That is when the currency is expected to retain its value. It’s no fun to get the interest return but more than give the return up due to a weakening of the currency. This has been happening with the US Dollar over the past few years.
Forex currency trading is by far the largest financial market in the world with trillions of Dollars, Yen, Pounds, and other currencies changing hands daily. All of this activity opens up trading opportunities for the forex trader as the markets are always moving as they respond to the supply and demand factors surrounding each currency. It is the currencies volatility and the financial leverage offered when trading forex that makes forex trading so interesting and so potentially interesting as a speculative trading medium.
In recent years the Internet has played a large role in making forex currency trading popular. The forex trader or forex trader wannabe can now trade currencies from his home or office computer and receive the charting services and information flows, for free, that used to be reserved for the big players or for those willing and able to pay hundreds, even thousands, of dollars a month for similar services.
Forex currency trading is not for everyone as it is a risk management business. If you don’t manage the risk well you are going to lose money at forex trading. However, for those traders who have risk capital and are good at evaluating risk and profit potential prior to entering a trade the forex market offers returns that can be much higher than any other.
Since forex trading involves money at every step of the way it has a huge attraction to traders who can afford to take the risk in an effort to get over sized returns. But remember to prepare yourself and learn as much as you can about forex before placing your money at risk.
Gerald “Taipan” Greene is a retired forex trader and portfolio manager who worked in Asia for over 20 years. The nickname was acquired in Hong Kong and is now used for a number of financial related blogs. One of them is at http://www.forex-trading-guru.com
Credit Card Debt Counseling
Is credit card debt counseling really beneficial?
Not everyone believes that credit card debt counseling is beneficial. There are various reasons for that. Some people read articles in the newspapers or find advice on the Internet about managing credit card debts and take that as the final answer. So they don’t feel any need at all for debt counseling assistance.
Others feel that counseling companies are just trying to make quick money by telling you the obvious, that is, by giving you information that is being advertised for free everywhere.
However, the most important reason arises from the fact that not all companies are genuine and the industry suffers from a poor reputation. Even with those companies that are genuine not all are professional organizations and provide good service and advice.
Choosing a proper company becomes a critical factor in determining the success of counseling. Always go for a reputable credit card debt counseling company, even if their fee is a bit higher. Take due time to research a company before signing on with them.
Remember that proper counseling can help you to eliminate your credit card debt, but in addition eliminating your credit card debt in a way that is so cost effective that it will more than offset the fee that the company will charge you. Probably they can also work out your credit problems without the need for you to declare bankruptcy.
Proper counseling can save you a lot of time and energy that you would have otherwise spend in studying all about credit card debt, gathering information about various credit card debt elimination measures and comparing these measures.
In addition, a professional counseling company can present more than one solution to you from which you can choose the best solution for you.
Good agencies can also get your credit card debt settled much quicker than if you were trying to do it all by yourself (and without any credit card debt counseling).
In addition, counseling could bring to light things which you would not have been able to see on your own like the risks with the approach you were planning to adopt or a futuristic view of things. A person who earns his/her living by practicing counseling as a profession, would know the tricks of the trade.
No one but a professional counselor would have an inkling as to the pitfalls of a particular debt consolidation offer, or the advantages of another offer.
There is no doubt as to the benefits that credit card debt counseling can bring to you. However, you need to be careful and avoid the fraudsters and decide to employ someone who has a good reputation. It is also best to see a counselor early if you are getting into a difficult credit card debt situation.
Gerald “Taipan” Greene is a retired forex trader and portfolio manager who worked in Asia for over 20 years. The nickname was acquired in Hong Kong and is now used for a number of financial related blogs. One of them is at http://creditrepairpeople.info/
Selling Your Home In A Sluggish Market
There is no question about it, the real estate market is very troublesome for home sellers right now. Long gone are the times of listing your house and receiving several offers within the first day. With these challenging selling conditions, you must have every aspect just right in order to attract one of the rare home buyers out there. Selling a home involves presentation, which is one of the basic factors that determine the results of the showing. Although this idea may seem a bit odd, presentation is a way of life in the realm of real estate.
If the house you are trying to sell comes with a garage, you’ll need to clean and organize your garage before attempting to sell your home. Chances are that you store items in your garage, which can easily pile up over time before you realize it. If your garage is in a messy state, you’ll definitely want to clean and organize it. Buyers look for houses that are in perfect shape, and anything short of perfect will seem bad in the eyes of the potential buyer.
Most houses have some truly outstanding features inside of them. You should always highlight the best elements of your property, rather than just hoping that the buyer discovers what they are. The ideal way to enhance the best elements of your home is to take advantage of the proper lighting. If the house is clean, you can use lighting to enhance the best features in your house, and ensure that they get recognized by the buyer.
When a potential buyer initially drives up to your home the first item he will see is your lawn. If your grass is trimmed and well taken care of, he will have a good impression right from the start. If your grass is a wreck, he may immediately drive off. To give the best impression to the prospective buyer, you should put some thought into how things look. You should always plant flowers along the walkway and throughout the yard, which will look really nice to a potential buyer.
You must also be certain that the entrance into your house is a positive as well. The front door should be in perfect shape, as well as the entry space into the home. You can add some rugs, plants, and paintings to make sure that the buyer gets a good impression. When the buyer walks through the entry way into your house, you should be certain that the view he or she takes in is an attractive one. Your biggest goal when showing your home is to ensure that the prospective buyer is pleased.
Keep in mind that it may take some time to sell your home. These days, houses can remain on the market for months at a time before they actually get sold. If you are having trouble selling your home, you can always reduce the asking price or just go back to the basics. In time you will sell your property, although it may take more time than you think.
J Stromsteen has many years experience in the finance, real estate, and insurance industry. She writes for the website http://BushsDepression.com as well as http://First-Time-Home-Buyer-s.com to provide up to date information on the unfolding real estate crisis.
Abbey Reveals Money Concerns Of The Young
The current financial climate is causing concern for more than just the nation’s adults, according to new research.
In a study carried out by Abbey Banking, it was revealed that a significant proportion of young people between the ages of 11 and 15 are worried about their ability to manage their finances as they get older. Around one in five of those questioned claimed to be worried that they will get into debt and be poor in later life. Research from the financial services firm also unveiled that boys are most likely to have concerns over monetary matters, with just over a quarter (27 per cent) of males having anxieties about future debts. In comparison, just 16 per cent of girls hold these worries.
However, 12-year-olds are particularly anxious about getting into arrears. One in four children in this age group have fears “about future wealth and falling into debt”, while just 19 per cent worried about exams. Furthermore, young people from the north of England were shown to have the largest debt worries. Some 28 per cent of those surveyed were indicated as holding such concerns, closely followed by 11 to 15-year-olds in the south-west (27 per cent). Meanwhile, those children living in the Midlands are most anxious about the affordability of housing.
And should consumers continue to hold concerns about their money management in later life, it may be possible that they struggle to manage various demands on their finances in areas such as personal loan repayments, credit and store cards and household bills.
Money matters also were indicated as being of more importance than falling out with friends, with just 15 per cent of children surveyed concerned about disagreements. Perhaps unsurprisingly, failing important exams was shown to be causing the most anxiety on to schoolchildren, with just under a third (32 per cent) revealed to be worried about this.
Commenting on the figures, Steve Shore, director of Abbey Banking, said: “The news is fairly extreme and shows just how much information children absorb. Parents can calm their children’s fears on issues such as house prices and concentrate on teaching their children good financial habits such as saving their pocket money. Kids should also be taught about products such as current accounts as this will hold them in good stead for later years and helps teach them to manage their money and spending early.”
For those consumers who find that they still have financial concerns as they get older, taking out a debt consolidation loan might prove to be of assistance. By selecting this kind of loan, borrowers may find that they are able to merge numerous constraints on their spending, such as credit cards and mortgage repayments, into a single low-rate monthly repayment.
In turn, this may leave them with more disposable income at the end of each month. A consolidation loan might be of particular help to those struggling with household bills after a recent uSwitch study showed that the average water bill is set to rise by six per cent over the course of this year. As such, the typical bill will now cost 330 pounds.
Steve Smith writes for the 1 Stop Finance Shop where you can apply online for cheap consolidation loans. We specialise in all sorts of UK personal loans, and secured loans for homeowners with online application. Visit today http://www.1stopfinanceshopuk.biz/
If You Dream With A House On The Beach…
Los Cabos will fill all your desires. A secluded destination once only visited by power players and movie stars has become a location for everyone to enjoy.
Whether you want to call Los Cabos home or purchase property for a quick getaway at anytime, it’s one of the hottest places people are interested in today.
It is considered to be the number one fastest growing resort area on the continent. Everyone knows when you buy property at inexpensive prices and the surrounding area grows bigger, the worth of your real estate skyrockets.
This is what’s happening in the Baja California Sur as we write this and will be for years to come.
What started out as an area for pirates and buried treasures many centuries ago has become the center of a booming real estate empire.
In fact, this Mexico golden egg has increased its revenue since the turn of the twenty-first century by one hundred sixty percent. Definitely a low increase compared to what the future holds in the next twenty years.
Having trouble trying to put this all together and picture the development? Since 1997, Los Cabos has had three-quarters of a billion dollars invested in hotel resorts, golf courses, tourist events, shopping areas, and hundreds of businesses to give everyone who visits everything they ever wanted in a vacation destination.
The area is contained within the likes of the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez, giving off a tranquil serenity like no other.
In the distance, the mountains reveal to everyone around that this is a world of its own. All those who visit will not only enjoy the benefits of the accommodations and activities, but the scenery as well.
When you’re ready to purchase property in Mexico, there are a few things to keep in mind before looking. Since the area lacks largely in financial loans, sellers sometimes offer to finance the buying price themselves.
So don’t be surprised if this type of offer comes from them at some point during negotiations. Oh, one more thing, get your own attorney for the transaction.
Since most likely this purchase will be for vacation purposes, have fun with it. With Los Cabos growing to new heights, there will be plenty of options available.
The only difficulties you’ll have is figuring out how to choose a dream house on the beach because they will all look like one when you see them in person.
Los Cabos is truly a tropical paradise with miles of beaches, world class golf and fishing, five-star Resorts, unbelievable night-life and dining experiences, scuba diving, snorkeling, surfing and desert adventures.
These reasons, along with the friendly people and perfect weather, have created a location where international visitors are taking advantage of the real estate opportunities available here.
Dream no more and do what other dream seekers are doing by getting in on the boom of Los Cabos.
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Fashionistas Funds Furthered Through Frugal Finances
Although their spending on clothes might not match that of trendy American celebs, women on this side of the Atlantic still need to exercise a degree of financial caution when it comes to fashion, according to a recent study.
Research conducted by More Than shows that British females spend an average of 68 pounds and two pence on outfits each month. Over the course of a year such expenditure was shown to stand at 816 pounds and 24 pence. And while this in itself may seem like a significant amount of money, it pales in comparison to those American fashionistas who regularly go on shopping splurges.
Epitomised by Carrie Bradshaw - the star of US drama Sex and the City played by Sarah Jessica Parker - these people were shown to spend at least 10,572 pounds per year on clothes. Meanwhile, those UK women who are in the same demographic as Bradshaw - also known as the “British Carries” - were revealed to be splashing out just 76 pounds and 56 pence per month on fashion or 918 pounds and 72 pence over the course of a year.
Not only does fashion spending by the average woman pale in comparison to their more luminous peers but Brits are also underestimating the value of the items that they do own. Research from the firm showed that about half of respondents think their total clothing collection is worth less than 1,000 pounds. However, it was revealed that in reality the average consumer has 2,500 pounds in shoes, dresses and other items stored in their cupboard.
Following on from a lack of insurance, consumers who have had expensive clothes damaged, destroyed or stolen could find that they have to meet the cost of replacing such items by themselves. This in turn could affect their ability to make payments on loans, credit and store cards, mortgages and other sources of financial demand.
Annette Lepper, spokesperson for More Than, said: “Though British women may not have the means to build a Sex and the City style wardrobe, during their lifetimes many will have built up closets with significant monetary values - problems arise when people don’t stop to think about the combined value of all their purchases, or accurately account for their total worth. We would strongly advise all British women to take time out and reassess the worth of their valuable collections.”
For those consumers wishing for an effective way to finance the purchasing of designer clothes, taking out a personal loan might be of assistance. Such a loan could be particularly effective for Brits looking to take a shopping trip to New York to splash the cash on clothes in the style of Carrie Bradshaw.
The additional financial help that a personal loan brings could also help fashion-hungry consumers to purchase a comprehensive insurance policy to cover their prized designed goods. Getting a loan might also be of assistance for those women who have recently given birth.
In a recent study by Egg it was shown that an average of 1,062 pounds is being spent on mothers and their newborn children on items such as clothes, designer buggies and highchairs. Overall, it was indicated that 939 pounds of this amount is splashed out on babies, with 132 pounds going towards the mother.
It also was revealed that, in the wake of a birth, some 87 per cent of new mums have splashed out on new clothes.
Steve Smith writes for 1 stop finance shop where visitors can apply for UK secured loans and also focuses on cheap personal loans and bad credit loans for UK residents. Visit Today: http://www.1stopfinanceshopuk.biz
