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Credit scores are designed to measure the risk of default by taking into account various factors in a person’s financial history. Credit scoring is often used in determining prices for auto and homeowner insurance as well. Lenders, such as banks and credit card companies, use credit scores to evaluate the potential risk posed by lending money to consumers and to mitigate losses due to bad debt. Using credit scores, lenders determine who qualifies for a loan, at what interest rate, and to what credit limits.

In the United States, a credit score is a number that is based on a statistical analysis of a person’s credit report, and is used to represent the creditworthiness of that person–the likelihood that the person will pay his or her debts. In the case of insurance companies, the likelihood that the person will pay his or her debts directly correlates with their likelihood of filing a claim against their insurance policy. People with lower credit scores have a greater history of filing claims according to an overwhelming amount of research and statistics done over the past 15 years or so.

The theory is that when times are tough smaller less relevant claims are now getting submitted to the insurance company, also claims are padded to look bigger so people can get a little extra cash from their company. A credit score is primarily based on credit report information, typically from the three major credit bureaus. Although the Fair Isaac Corporation develops these credit score versions for the different agencies (known as FICO scores), they are different numbers, and are periodically updated to reflect current consumer loan repayment rates. Recently, some of the agencies that generate credit scores have also been generating more specialized insurance scores, which insurance companies then use to rate the quality of potential customers as I mentioned before.

Understanding your credit score is the first step to improving it and making it work in your favor instead of against you. With an improved credit score, lower expenses,proper asset and identity protection, and maybe some extra income on the side; all of which I will discuss in future posts, you can eliminate your debt completely in a few years (not a joke) and live a less stressful life. Here are some tips on improving your credit score relatively quickly:

Payment History - Your monthly bills consist of expenses and debt. The debt is loans such as credit cards, car payments, mortgages, etc. You must make sure your debt is paid on time every month. Any history of late payments (including missed payments and derogatory payment statuses) is a negative factor. No reported history of payments on any account is also negative because lenders cannot tell whether you paid on time or were late. Some cases of late payments are worse than others. If you have not been late with any payments recently, lenders may think you are responsible and do not (or will no longer) miss payments. Lenders realize that many people occasionally pay late. Therefore, being late with a single payment is typically not as harmful as being late with two or more consecutive payments. Similarly, being late on many accounts is typically worse than being late on one. Also, lenders may view late payments as a more serious problem if you have collection accounts or negative public records such as bankruptcies or court judgments. These types of credit records indicate a pattern of credit problems.

Debt To Credit Limit Ratio - Having accounts with a high credit limit or loan amount is a positive factor, because it indicates to a lender that other lenders have trusted you with a lot of credit in the past. On the other hand, having accounts with low credit limits or loan amounts is a negative factor. It may suggest that your credit reports contained information that was of concern to lenders at the time they determined your credit limits or loan amounts. Finally, having no accounts with a reported credit limit or loan amount is a negative factor because lenders cannot evaluate how much other lenders have trusted you with credit so far. It might be beneficial to close the lower limit accounts and ask for higher limits on your preferred accounts.

Activity - Having accounts listed in your credit reports is a positive factor because the payment history of these accounts shows lenders how well you pay your bills. Therefore, having too few accounts or too few open accounts may be considered negative. However, having too many accounts or adding new accounts too quickly may also be considered negative because lenders worry that you are spending (or preparing to spend) beyond your means, even if you have never been late with any payments. Note that closing accounts will not change this. Also, if you do not currently have credit, getting your first few credit cards may be difficult and may involve high fees, high interest rates, and low credit limits. Note that accounts from personal finance companies (which specialize in lending to people with credit problems) may be considered negative.

Revolving Credit Balances - High balances are a negative factor because lenders worry that you are living beyond your means and may not be able to repay them. This is particularly true for credit cards. For installment loans such as mortgages and auto loans, lenders often use the proportion of the loan that is still unpaid to judge your ability to take on new debt. If very little of your installment loan balances have been repaid, lenders may not give you more credit that could add to your debt. In general, lenders evaluate how much you owe (your debt) in relation to how much you earn (your income). However, no matter how high your income, having a lot of debt may lower your credit scores because lenders know that adverse changes in your employment and life events such as divorce or illness may make it hard to pay your bills. Low balances, on the other hand, are a positive factor because lenders do not stand to lose as much if you become unable to repay them. However, not using your credit accounts may be considered a negative factor, because it does not provide lenders with information about how you typically use credit and repay your debts.

Applying For Credit - Applying for credit many times within a short period can lower your credit scores. When you apply for any type of credit (such as an auto loan, credit card, department store card, or mortgage), the lender considering your credit application checks your credit history. This is recorded in your credit reports as a “hard inquiry.” Although inquiries are an unavoidable result of applying for credit, lenders dislike seeing many inquiries within a short period (such as 6 months). This is because they cannot tell whether you are “shopping” for the best offer or if you are desperately trying to get credit because of financial trouble. Therefore, try to limit your comparison to a small number of lenders when “shopping” for the best offer.

In summary, it is quite easy to improve your credit score by 30-50 points in just a three month period. This could be difference between paying 25% more or less on your car insurance, or getting a credit card or mortgage with rates of 3-5% higher or lower. These little differences will most definitely affect your ability to get ahead of the game. People that pay more for insurances and have higher interest rates on their loans will never become debt free or get out from under it all.

The Differences between Debt Reduction and Credit Card Consolidation

Using credit cards to consolidate your debts is not as effective as debt reduction. Credit cards often have high rates of interest, and will often lead you into deeper debts. In fact, credit cards are one of the leading causes that debtors seek out debt consolidation solutions.

Debt reduction means that you are working to decrease your bills, not add or keep the bills in existence by using another source to pay off the debt. Therefore, instead of considering credit cards as a source for debt consolidation, you must find a way to reduce your debts.

Let’s say you owe money for your mortgage, car payments, insurance, utilities, and other bills that add up to $1200 per month. Now, is there a way we can reduce this amount? Absolutely, but can we find a mortgage that will refinance our loan and help us to combine our monthly bills into one payment?

Yes. There are loans available that offer cash back, underpayment, and overpayment plans; as well as loans that will wrap your bills into one, combining the bills and adding them to your monthly installment.

Do not misinterpret this: your utilities are your responsibility, but for the most part, your car payment, mortgage, and any credit cards or other loans will be rolled into one monthly payment. Therefore, if you’re paying out of the $1200 up to $800 per month toward car payments and mortgage, you may find a lender who will reduce this amount to $600 more or less per month.

Furthermore, if you land a loan that offers cash back, you can use this money to payoff your debts.

Finally, utilities can be reserved and grocery bills can be reduced. In addition, insurance coverage can also be reduced. Therefore, debt reduction is wiser than credit card debt consolidation in the long run.

Retirement planning is not difficult. The goal is to make sure that you have an adequate income so that you can live the way you want even though you are no longer receiv- ing a paycheck. To plan for retirement, then, you first need to figure out how much money you need to live on when you retire. A good starting point is what you already live on. Obviously, you want to adjust your living expenses estimate for a mortgage that may be paid by the time you retire and for work expenses you may no longer have. Also, you need to adjust your living expenses for any hobby expenses, such as travel, that you don’t have now because you are working, but will have after you retire. Finally, you should be prepared financially for the possibility of an increase in health-related expenses, especially those of a long-term nature, for yourself or for your partner.After you determine what you need to live on when you are retired, you are ready to begin to figure out where that money is going to come from. Clearly, for anybody who has worked, national pension plans, such as Social Security, are an important factor. In spite of the hand wringing and calls to arms concerning the Social Security benefits that U.S. residents may or may not receive, we think you can count on Social Security as a source of retirement.

After you have identified how much money you need during retirement, and have some idea what you will receive from Social Security and any other pensions, you need to calculate how much money you have to save in order to amass an investment portfolio that will provide any additional income.

The safest way to make the first part of this calculation - the calculation of how much money you need at the start of retirement in order to provide dependable retirement income, is simply to divide the amount of annual investment income you need by an appropriate rate of return. For example, and just to make the calculations easy,  suppose that you want to receive $50,000 of annual retirement income from your investment portfolio when you retire. Further suppose that you expect to be able to earn a rate of return equal to 5 percent during retirement. To calculate how much money you need at the start of retirement in order to earn $50,000 of retirement income, divide $50,000 by 5 percent. The result is $1,000,000.226

An important variable here is the rate of return that you expect on retirement. Particularly tricky is the fact that you need to deal with inflation that occurs over the years when you are retired. We recommend using a real rate of return, which is a rate of return that has been adjusted for inflation by subtracting the inflation rate from the rate of return. By using a real rate of return, you don’t need to worry about inflation.

In effect, you subtract inflation from the rate of return and therefore from your future financial forecasts. Real rates of return should typically run 3 percent to 7 percent. You can, for example, buy bonds from the U.S. Treasury that will return a real rate of return equal to approximately 3 percent. In other words, the bond will pay whatever inflation is, plus 3 percent. Over time, the stock market has produced real returns of around 7 percent. We recommend that you use a 5 percent real return for calculations of your income during retirement.

After dividing your annual retirement income by the real rate of return and thereby calculating how much you need to accumulate you need to use a financial calculator to determine how much you have to save on a monthly basis in order to amass the retirement nest egg you need. Unfortunately, Money doesn’t provide such a financial calculator in its features set. You can locate in several other places a financial calculator that will make this computation, however. If you have a copy of Microsoft Excel, for example, you can use Excel to make this calculation. If you have a handheld financial calculator, you can also use it. See the calculator’s documentation for step-by-step instructions on how to do this.

Debt consolidation works to save your funds and time, while reducing your total paperwork load at the same time. Not only will you save money when you begin the debt consolidation process, but you will also save money on gas if you find a source online and can avoid dozens of trips to your consolidator’s office.

Some debt consolidation programs offer resources with “no lending fees” and “guaranteed” low costs. Most debt consolidation online sources provide debtors relief by handling their cases “one-on-one.” Some debt consolidation agencies online even claim to get your debts reduced in a matter of minutes. All you need to do is fill out an application online. You may want to note that having all your bills together while filling out the application can also save you hassle.

Property Owners

Property owners are also offered debt consolidation resources online. Some companies will work to find you a loan that will reduce your monthly mortgages and interest rates. Few debt consolidation lenders will even help you get a loan up to 125% of your property value.

Non-Property Owners

Debt consolidation sources online can offer people who do not own their home a loan to help them consolidate their bills. Keep in mind that the loan is not directly handed to you in most instances; rather, the loan is applied to your debts. In addition, if you are a student, there are sources online that will help you reduce your student loans, or else get you the cash to payoff the debt. Many of the online debt consolidation sources have online tools to help you review the savings of consolidating your debts. Again, having your bills together when you go online will save you time and energy.

Finally, you may want to consolidate your bills by asking for help from a trustworthy source that will not charge you costly fees or rates of interest.

If you turn on your local financial news, you’re bound to hear the phrase Dow Jones Industrial Average at some point. Most people assume that this just means the stock market, or that it refers to the New York Stock Exchange. But what is the Dow, and what exactly does it measure?

The Dow is a market average. It is used by investors to figure out how certain companies that are being traded are doing. The Dow isn’t the only market average out there, there is the S&P 500 and The Russel 2000, as well.

The Dow takes into account 30 industrial stocks of well-known companies. The 30 companies are likely ones you’ve heard of, like Goodyear, Exxon, IBM or General Motors. The Dow calculates the rises and falls of these 30 stocks and presents a picture of how the overall market and the overall economy are doing. While it may sound complicated, it really isn’t. The Dow is simply a list of 30 companies that have their estimated values averaged together with a particular formula.

The other averages follow essentially the same methods. The S&P 500 uses the values of 500 major companies, while the Russel 2000 keeps up with 2,000 companies that are smaller than the ones used in the S&P and Dow.

The key to following the Dow or any of the other market indexes is to look for trends. Market analysts can decipher problems or benefits in the current economy by looking for particular stocks that go up in certain situation, and particular stocks that go down in others.

The Dow company, now known as Dow Jones & Company was founded in 1882 and they classify themselves as a financial information and publishing firm.

The Dow is responsible for the publication of the Wall Street Journal, maybe the most well known financial publication in the world. The Journal’s first issue was on July 8, 1889. Dow also publishes several other financial publications, as well as Barron’s Magazine.

The Dow also runs several websites dedicated to financial news and information, such as CareerJournal.com and OpinionJournal.com.

The Dow also has a hand in the broadcasting world, where it helps to provide financial content for the CNBC cable network, as well as two finance-oriented radio shows.

The Dow Jones & Company machine is one of the most powerful forces in American investing. Their indices are the industry standard, and the Wall Street Journal has the second highest circulation of any newspaper in North America. The Dow helped to start finance in the US and they look to be a big part of finance in the future.