We have all said at some point when we look around at our apartments “I wish I had a house”. In reality besides cost; your first home purchase can be a nerve wrecking prospect.
Owning a home is not a realistic prospect for everyone. Besides cost there is responsibilities with owning a home. It is always better to sit down and take a serious evaluation of your situation before signing a contract on a home you may not be able to handle in the long run.
Unless you are rolling in cash, you will have to get a loan from some kind of lender to get a mortgage. Whether you qualify for a loan or not is based on several factors and your credit is a big one.
So, the first assessment for you to decide if you can take on the responsibility of a first home purchase is that you have to see if you are credit worthy to own a home. If your credit rating is 620 or less rest assured that your interest rates on a home will not be good.
They will run extremely high. In a case like this it is better to fix your credit first before even considering a house.
If you decide you want a home anyway with bad credit then you have to be careful. The lending predators will come out of the wood work to prey on you because of your situation.
Your job situation is another factor in deciding whether to rent or pursue your first home purchase. If you do not have a secure job that will make a problem when it comes for you to make your mortgage payments.
Beside mortgage payments there is upkeep and maintenance issues you face to maintain a house and all those things cost money too.
What you have to do if you are thinking about buying a home is to sit down with a paper and pencil and seriously analyze your finances. You have to make sure that you can afford a home on your budget.
For example if you are renting a dwelling for $2,000 dollars why would you decide to buy the same dwelling for $6,000 dollars a month. If you do the math to own the same home you would be renting would end up costing you $48,000 dollars more a year. Think of your first home purchase as a business decision.
To top that off if you are in a 30% tax bracket you will never recoup what you are putting out. Just food for thought.
In addition to the mortgage there is other costs that have to be met when you become a home owner. These costs include utilities, heat, property taxes, repairs, insurance, service costs for things like trash or snow removal, landscaping and assessments and replacement for appliances when needed.
This does not include your food, clothing and other things you need to survive with. All these things have to be looked at closely to see if you really want to take the plunge from renting to buying a home.
Most importantly (and I say this time and time again), your first home purpose has to be made upon good, sound, logical reasoning. Emotion has no place in the decision making process. If you are “desperate” to get into a home, fall in love with a house or feel you need to purchase a home because “everyone else is”, then you are not in the right mindset.
Buying a house should be like a business decision, do your sums, work out your needs then find a home that ticks all the right boxes.

Are Cheap Cars Really Cheap To Own?
I know that the sticker price is very important to most auto shoppers. This is true if people are looking for a new or used vehicle. However, the actual price of the vehicle should just be one factor to consider. It may not really illustrate the cost of owning a vehicle very well at all!
Consider an obvious example. A lot of people are trying to sell their gas guzzlers for very cheap prices today. You may not pay much for the used vehicle, but with rising gas prices, keeping it fueled can be a larger expense than paying for the car. In addition, if you have not done your homework, you may take home a used car with some mechanical problems. Repair costs can eat into your budget too. All of a sudden, the bargain you picked up at the used car lot is not looking like a very good choice any longer.
Sometimes, paying more for the vehicle, and getting a car that is easy on fuel and does not need major repairs, ends up being a much more frugal choice. Before you purchase a vehicle it is a good idea to have it checked out, and to do some research on fuel economy.
I gave a used car as my first example. However, you can have the same problem if you are shopping for a brand new car from the dealer’s lot. The low end economy car may seem like a great deal. It may even have great gas mileage and a warranty that will save you from a lot of extra costs.
However, you also need to consider the cost of insuring your new car. If you look at a list of the least expensive cars to cover, you will find a lot of minivans, sturdy SUVs, and even some pickups on the list. The lowest priced, economy models may actually cost more to cover. If you have purchased an inexpensive car to control car payments, but then end up with an expensive insurance bill, you may not have really gotten such a good deal after all.
You might have paid $50 a month less for your compact car than you would have for the slightly larger SUV. But you may end up sinking that extra cash into insurance. You could have paid the same total amount of money, and ended up with a more expensive car.
Are Used Cars Always Cheaper?
If you want to buy a reliable used vehicle to save money, be sure it will really save you money in the long run. Some financing companies charge higher interest rates for used car purchases. The difference in interest rates can mean higher car payments in the end. You also have to check into how much money you might save by getting a new car with a good warranty.
Some new cars have advanced safety features which also make then less expensive to insure than used cars. If you want to estimate the cost an auto policy, you cannot always go by the vehicle sales price either!
What Is The Cost Of Car Ownership?
You have to consider the total cost of car ownership. This is not always possible to predict, but you can find out a lot about most makes and models. Look into estimated repair bills, warranty coverage, the cost of an auto policy, and available financing. These are important factors, and they can change the equation much more than the selling price of the car!

There are some people who really get huge returns from their investments in the stock market and their success acts as an inspiration to many who also decide to join stock trading. As a beginner, you may find it challenging since you may be expecting some returns but end up making losses. Outlined below are some stock market tips for some wise investment:
Learn
You should try to understand how the stock market works, learn some concepts and try to understand some common terminologies used in stock trading. You should then go ahead to learn some analyzing skills which should assist you in identifying the best performing stocks. It is also important to understand some common ratios used in analyzing companies. Learning all this will take you time and you will therefore need to be dedicated.
Consider risks
There are definitely risks involved in stock trading and you should always be in a position to analyze these before investing in stocks from a given company. As a beginner, you can start by first practicing using some demo software, proceed to real market trading where you should start small and later invest more depending on your performance. You should also understand your risk tolerance to avoid frustrations.
Automate your trading
Nowadays, you can get some trading software to automate your stock market deals where this will really save you time and energy. You will also be making more accurate decisions which will assist you in making wise investments for greater returns. You can invest in some software to help keep proper records of things like subscription costs, stock brokers, tracking and analyzing stocks and personal money management among others.
Set and follow your rules
When starting your investments in the stock market, you should formulate some goals and ways of achieving them. You should put into consideration some things like your investments per trade, time frame, your risk tolerance and the expected returns. You should then be disciplined enough to stick to these rules and this is what will amount to personal success over time.
The stock market is very dynamic and keeping up with the changes will require you to be always updated on the latest happenings. You can subscribe to stock market news or any other stock investment services where some are free but others will cost you some fee. It is also important to be spending some adequate amount of time with other investors as you may end up benefiting from some important ideas.