Phishing Emails Allegedly From The Taxman

As we are all aware there are various deadlines for filing in self assessment and failure to do so can result in fines and other charges from the tax authorities.  Fraudsters are now taking advantage of these deadlines to send spam emails to individuals. We need to watch out for such emails and avoid being victims of fraud.

These emails, usually emailed around these self assessment deadlines, ask for your card and bank details, date of birth, national insurance number and your mothers maiden name. These emails usually say that you have overpaid tax and are therefore due to a rebate. If you are fooled to hand in these details, the fraudsters either sell your details or use the details to defraud people.Q8JR8PQT9S2V

As these emails continue to get more convincing by the day, what can you do to avoid being a victim of these scams. The best answer is simply to ignore them. Tax authorities never email about tax matters such as refunds or other important issues such as change in tax code. The official mode of communication for such matters is usually in writing, by post.

You will also do well to forward these emails to the government email address for phishing emails of your tax or government authorities. In the case of the United Kingdom, it is phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

What Are The Causes of Financial Problems?

In the video below, Cordell Thomas, MBA provides the causes of financial problems. No subject on personal finance is complete without tackling the causes of financial problems. It is important that we learn the causes of financial problems so that we can then find solutions to those potential problems. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. As explained in a previous post quarrels on the issue of money is one of the major causes of divorce or friction for those that are married. 

Credit Protection and I.D. (Identity) Theft

As more and more purchases are now being done online nowadays, identity or I.D. theft is now on the increase.  Identity theft is reported to be the fastest growing white collar crime in the US. 

Identity theft can take the form of hacking where hackers penetrate or hack into the databases of organisations such as banks that do their business online to steal people's passwords and other personal details. They then use the details and passwords to defraud the people concerned. This kind of fraud is of course difficult to prevent for laymen like you and me because of the sophistication of such attacks.  And in most cases any losses can easily be recovered from most organisations such as banks unless you as the client was at fault which is rare. We however as individuals need to continuously monitor our bank accounts or other online accounts for any unusual transactions so that we can alert the authorities in time.

There is however another form of identity theft where the con-men trick you into providing your personal details and passwords which they then use to defraud you. This is something that if you take the necessary precautions can be avoided. For instance there is no reason why you should disclose your passwords to anyone. No one  should under any circumstances disclose his or her password to anyone. If you receive a call from any organisation where the caller asks you to provide details that should reasonably be under their custody, you need to be suspicious and report such issues to the organisations.

The video below presents steps you can take for Credit protection and ID theft. The presenter is Cordell Thomas MBA, a financial expert.

Saving and Investing For The Family

In an era of easy access to credit, it is easy to forget to maintain a savings account but that is a terrible mistake. As I pointed out in a previous post  when drawing a budget for your household, savings should be considered as one of the necessities just paying your water and electricity bills etc. No good household budget should exclude monthly savings. You need to provide for savings even if it means cutting down on some necessities so that there is always room for savings. 

No one is immune from emergencies in life and savings will come in handy for you during such times. Emergencies such as funerals, sicknesses can easily be taken care of when you have a savings account. And in these tough economic times, you could easily find yourself declared redundant by your employer unexpectedly. That is when you will appreciate the importance of savings.

Another way to prepare for the future is through investing your excess cash. I would refer you to a previous post for a detailed talk on investing. The post is entitled worry free investments.

The video below is a talk from a financial expert, Cordell Thomas MBA on savings and investing.

How To Get Rid Of Debt

The financial crisis has brought to the fore the fact that a significant portion of the us in the western world are heavily indebted. This is stuttering economic as the consumers who drive it are now failing to get access to credit. Until these excessive debts are paid off it may take a few years for our economies to recover fully to pre financial crisis days. We some how need to find a way to get rid of these debts but as individuals or as governments otherwise we will continue to experience tepid growth.

The banks had made it so easy to access credit that we forgot to consider how we were going to repay all the loans we had accumulated. They allowed us to to be so heavily indebted that a slight increase in interest rates was enough to put us off guard and lead to high default rates. While in other parts of the world, it was the norm to provide at least 10% deposit before obtaining a mortgage, most of the western world lending institutions did not require one. The lending institutions appeared desperate to lend money to consumers that controls were either ignored or not enforced properly. 

In view of the foregoing alot of us have of now run of ideas on how we can extricate ourselves from this pit. The following video will offer expert advice on how we can get rid of our debt.

Worry Free Investments

For some reason there are people who think that if they invest in stocks they are almost guaranteed a profit in the long run. However the hard truth is that you can lose your life long investments in a matter of days as some people found out in the Enron disaster where the company hid its losses. It led to innocent people losing their life long investments in days when the share prices plummeted and the company filed for bankruptcy.

Bernard Madoff scandal where he defrauded his clients of $65 billion in the largest ponzi scheme in history is another wake up call for us all. This was in spite of the fact that the US Securities and Exchange Committee had oversight responsibilities over his fund. This only goes to show that it is extremely dangerous to put all your eggs in one basket. It is better to spread the risk and go for almost worry free investments.

The following video by G Edward Reid will endeavor to acquire worry free investments.

Dangers and Risks of High Personal Debt

As we study personal finance management, we cannot avoid the subject of the dangers and risks of high personal debt or high indebtedness. If there is one lesson that we have learned from the current financial mess in the world is that unless you control the amount of debts you have, you will learn the hard way when you lose what you considered to be your properties. If at all possible it is important to avoid debts and only enter into debt when it is absolutely necessary and only enter into debt you can afford to repay without problems. As one writer puts it, avoid debt in the same way people in the bible avoided contact with lepers. 

I have heard of people who repay their loans using their credit cards and therefore eventually end up paying more interest on the credit card debt than the interest on the loans or mortgage they are repaying. We seem to be addicted to credit cards that we sometimes disregard the consequences of using credit cards especially when we end paying the minimum repayments on the debt.

The following video, Tyranny of Debt by G. Edward Reid goes through the dangers and risks of debt. It is my hope that it will open your eyes to the dangers inherent in debt.

How To Live Within Your Means

To begin with blog I thought the first step should be to learn some tips on how to live within your means and avoiding getting into unnecessary debt. So here we go.

• It Takes Time To Spend Money Wisely.

It takes time to spend money wisely. You need to sit down and analyze your needs and bills before your paycheck comes. By the time you end this exercise you will discover the things that you can do without or items that can wait.

Take time to compare prices of goods especially for big items. You will be surprised at the savings that you will make by taking some to compare various prices. This has been made easier nowadays by the various onlines services and websites for comparing the market. Don't be in a hurry. You may buy in haste and repent at leisure.

• Shun Spur of The Moment Purchases.

Don't make shopping a pastime. Only go for shopping when you have something to buy and has been budgeted for. Avoid spur of the moment purchases and you will live within your means. Spur of the moment purchases usually disregards the necessary in favor of the superficial and excessive.

Don't waste your pennies. They add up at the end of the period and you will be amazed at the amount you spend on unbudgeted items.

• Keep A List

To keep a list is a good memory aid. On that list you start with those items that are a must that month. Things such as bills, shoes for a child etc. Secondly, you have items you will buy if there is enough money such as a new book, new hose pipe etc. Thirdly you list long range items we will begin to reserve or save money for e.g. new suit.

Keeping a list will focus your mind on urgent issues first and eliminate the secondary.

• Live By A Flexible Budget

There are many ways to budget your income but common principles exist. First, if you are a christian could be tithe and offerings, then house rent or mortgage payment, utilities, gasoline and car repairs, food and household expenses, school fees and books for families with school going kids and last but not least savings. These are necessities that should not be avoided.

You should make sure that the necessities should not consume all the income. Money should still be set aside for miscellaneous items such repairs for household items such as cookers etc.

• Plan And Stick To The Budget

If your budget was down after thorough planning then stick to it. If emergencies occur then resort to your savings account. That is why savings should always be budgeted regardless of how little you earn.

• Avoid Installment Buying

There are times when it may be necessary to go for installment buying but it should be avoided. Wise handling of money means that you do not include in your budget installment buying. The rule is if you cannot pay cash then we do without. Using money for any purpose before it is earned is a snare.

• Economise by Doing Things Yourself

Make sure that you take an inventory of the services that you are paying for, they could be some things that you are capable of doing yourself. You will be surprised at the amount of savings you can make. If you can buy some Do It Yourself Manual and determine the things that you can learn to do yourself. You will enjoy the satisfaction that comes from doing certain things yourself and at the same time saving your money.

• Be Careful Not To Desire Too Much Too Soon

Most young people live college with high expectations. They have a dream car or house in mind and they put unnecessary pressure on themselves to have these things as soon as possible. This leads most young people hopelessly shackled to high indebtedness. The rule is take your time to acquire the things that you need and make sure that you don't put yourself under unnecessary pressure but only do things you can afford to.