We have all seen the advertisements talking about gold, either the buying or selling of this precious metal. For many consumers looking to make quick cash or invest in something tangible, the rising price of gold makes this option attractive in a recovering economy.

There following are some factors you should consider prior to buying gold.

• Do you have a safe place to store it?

• Do you want to take possession of it in the first place?

• Do you want to go into the commodities end of trading?

• Can you afford the risk of a sudden drop over an extended time frame?

• Where do you purchase gold?

• Where do you sell it?

For most consumers; beyond a safe deposit box at our bank, there isn’t anywhere that we can reliably store something as valuable as gold. Is that going to be adequate if for some reason you would need the gold during non-banking hours?

Provided you opt to go to one of the myriad commodities or foreign exchange outfits and physically purchase and take physical possession of gold, do you have a way of transporting it?

Generally, the mindset of the novice investor in platinum, gold or silver is one of dire emergency and expectancy of terrible events in the future. This opens the door to further imaginings and scenarios of exactly how you will end up profiting or bartering for things you need. Incremental values of exchange have to be set up to accommodate the fact that one full ounce of gold is probably too valuable for anything you would want to barter for in the event of an emergency.

Thus, you find yourself in a situation of attempting to buy ½ ounce, ¼ ounce or even 1/10 ounce gold pieces – followed immediately by a realization that you probably should have some silver as well.  With each increment of precious metals comes a fee to purchase and a fee to sell, which can prove detrimental to your intended savings or profit building.

If you would happen to go into the commodities end and purchase quantity through leverage and possibly even consider risking margin investment as well, you will find yourself in a further quandary. A precipitous drop in market value overnight, since it is a 24/7 bid and ask process, could leave you devastated financially.

The final question you need to consider; what if things do in fact go “south”? What do I do with my precious metal investments? Where do I find someone that agrees with the value?

There is that impression of security, often a false impression which can evaporate in an instant. So, consider this avenue very carefully; before you react foolishly. Evaluate the true history of gold performance, adjusted for inflation, over the past 40 years. Consider the risks before investing your hard earned money.

Unless you are independently wealthy or anticipating a huge (guaranteed) payout in the future, no one can afford to be unemployed. Even though the economy is showing small signs of recovery, there is still a long way to go before consumers will feel confident in receiving a paycheck. Unemployment as most of us know is at an all time high and even though there are fewer people losing their jobs each month, the number of individuals who have lost their income in the past year is higher than ever. For many of these consumers, unemployment benefits are running out and finding employment is not a guarantee. If you are facing this situation now or anytime in your life there are a few tips that will help you through these tough times.

• Unemployment benefits are designed to help people until they find a new job. They are not intended to replace your income. Unfortunately if you have done everything in your power to find employment to no avail you will reach a point where your unemployment benefits are due to expire. In a recession the government is well aware of the lack of job opportunities and often extends unemployment benefits. If you are receiving unemployment and are nearing the end of your benefit period, find out if there are any extensions available to help you through until you find a new job.

• Half of unemployed people will not find a job within six months of first becoming unemployed. In many cases you might have to consider jobs that you previously would not have looked at twice. When the economy takes a turn for the worse, any job is better than no job. It is often a hard pill to swallow to accept a position for which you feel you are overqualified, however it is important to remember every job is necessary in society. Remaining gainfully employed, even if not in your field is more important than finding your next career.

• Do not be afraid to accept help during tough times. Individuals who are making every effort to fend for themselves often find that they still need help making ends meet. There is a difference between people who abuse the system and those who legitimately need help during down times. Do not allow your pride to stop you from accepting help from government or community programs which have been specifically designed to help people during tough times. If you are having trouble buying food, heating your home or providing medical care for your family- contact local government offices to see if you qualify for assistance.

Dealing with unemployment is difficult in the best of times. It becomes even more difficult when there are six other people vying for the same job you are interested in- for this reason it is important to have realistic expectations. When times are tough it becomes more important to not fall behind than to get ahead. Do not let this discourage you from your long term financial goals….in time the economy will right itself and as long as you have made every effort to stay afloat you will be able to get back on track soon.

Those who have found themselves out of a job and in need of income often look for anything that they can find from a job standpoint to bring in money. That is not a bad thing to do when money is scarce and bills are going unpaid.

However, if you are in a position to be able to consider this, it might be a good time to make a career change. Many people who feel trapped in their current career positions, may never make the effort to try something that they would rather do. But, as long as your financial situation is stable, this could be the best time to try.

Prepare Financially

Before considering such a move, examine the financial implications. If you will be experiencing a drop in income because of your choice, then you should have enough money set aside to finance your venture for a period of time. This will help you be able to give it a go without having to worry about money for expenses. Avoid raiding your 401k or other retirement funds.

Eyes Wide Open

Be sure that you set realistic expectations for yourself in your new career. You cannot expect to be at the top earning level when you just start out so, watching for opportunities to advance as openings come up. Or, if you are not able to advance because of the type of career, then set expectations accordingly. If you are taking a severe cut in pay, you might have to take a part-time job to make up the short fall. And, a reduction in expenses can help, too.

Give Yourself Time

Set a realistic time-frame to make the new career work. Success does not happen overnight but you should not continue to drag out your attempt if there are clear signs that it isn’t going to work. Add to this the realization that economic forces sometimes have an influence on business success.

Obtain Advice

People who consider career changes are wise when they seek the advice and input from those who are already in the positions that they are seeking. If you can find a mentor or one who is willing to give you instruction on what to do and how to do it, then your chances for success will be greatly increased.

No Regrets

Whether you fail or whether you are a success, determine that you will have no regrets in your decision.

For those of you following the news, there have been whispers that the recession is over. Are the rumors true and we are finally out of the recession or is the economy just declining at a slower pace? In either event, it is almost a certainty that things will not go back to business as usual anytime soon. Hopefully we have all learned some lessons over the past year and a half; lessons that we should not soon forget even when the economy begins to improve. Here are a few things to keep in mind while the recession is fresh in our memories. 

• There are no guarantees in life. Whether it be your health, job or retirement account, no one is immune from changes. This point was driven home in recent months as people lost seemingly “secure” jobs, watched their savings dwindle and found themselves struggling to maintain day-to-day expenses.

• Exercise caution when using credit. One area that has seen big changes recently with more changes to come is the credit card industry. As we watched the housing market crash, banks fail and major corporations file for bankruptcy it was only a matter of time before the credit card industry was affected. Unfortunately many people have learned the hard way that the contract between creditor and card holder is binding only on the end of the card holder. For many, the terms and conditions have been arbitrarily changed to favor the credit card issuer, leaving the card holder “holding” the bag.

• Debt hampers your ability to reach financial goals. In the best of times, having a lot of debt prevents you from investing money in your future. When the economy takes a turn for the worse, it can make it impossible to pay both your debt obligations and other financial responsibilities. If you fall behind on your credit card or other loan payments you will quickly see your balances grow exponentially, making it even harder to get back on track when your finances improve.

• Those without savings will suffer. There are many people who make it a priority to save money for emergencies, retirement and other future needs. There is however a large percentage of the population that has little or no savings to fall back on during hard times. Without some form of “backup” plan, people who don’t have savings will find themselves facing a difficult time as the lending industry increases the standards for loaning money and using credit cards becomes less lucrative.

These are just a few of the lessons we have hopefully learned during the recession. Now is the time to put those lessons to use and make adjustments in the way we view and spend money. Even if the economy is on the road to recovery, there is bound to be another point in the future where things take a turn for the worse. If you were not prepared for this recession, take the steps necessary to improve your personal finances, putting yourself in a better position to weather the next storm.

During times of economic uncertainty, fixed annuities gain popularity. In fact, during the first quarter of 2009, the sale of fixed annuities increase 74%, according to a research association called LIMRA. Fixed annuities give people tax-deferred growth at fixed rates that are typically higher than certificate of deposits now. They also give the owners the ability to turn their fixed annuity into guaranteed income for life. Sounds too good to be true, right? A fixed annuity has a number of advantages – but it may cause you to miss opportunities that would result in earning more money.

Fixed annuities are often called “deferred annuity”. These are different from immediate annuities, in which you give a lump sum of money to an insurer and then begin receiving payments from the immediate annuity within a year’s time. Fixed, or deferred annuities operate more like a certificate of deposit in that you deposit your money under a teaser interest rate that can readjust annually based on the current economic and market conditions, but with a guaranteed minimum rate. People like this because they know their interest rate will not go below this guaranteed minimum rate, and that it could readjust for a higher rate in some cases.

Fixed annuities do not have a set time period that you must leave your money alone, however, you would pay a 7% surrender fee if you withdraw your money before five or seven years in most cases. This makes fixed annuities extremely difficult to back out of – which means if you find a higher interest rate somewhere else, you can’t just pull out your money and re-invest to benefit from the interest rates. Some fixed annuities are more flexible in that they allow you to withdraw up to 10% of the balance once per year without paying a fee.

As many experts predict, we will soon be entering an inflationary period. So locking in your money in a 4% fixed annuity could be financially devastating for you in terms of what you could have gained with other investments.

Where as money saved in a certificate of deposit is subject to taxable income, the money in fixed annuities will grow tax-deferred. Unfortunately, if you withdraw the money before you are 59 you will pay a 10% tax penalty, just as if it was a standard retirement fund. When you withdraw cash from a fixed annuity, you’ll also pay ordinary income tax on the interest you’ve earned.

Most annuities give you the option to “annuitize”, which is to turn the balance of your annuity into lifetime payments sometime after the first year. Many people with annuities choose not to do this though, because they use the annuity to grow their money tax-deferred.

If your goal is to find a safe growth for your money, you might consider putting your money in short or intermediate-term corporate and municipal bonds instead of annuities. They still offer interest rates that are higher than current CD rates, and have fewer restrictions than what fixed annuities offer. If the idea of the guaranteed income for life has tempted you toward a fixed annuity, you might want to look at immediate annuities which gives you pay outs within a year – the payment amounts will be greater than if you annuitize a deferred annuity later.

Years ago, families lived more simply and much more frugally than the average American household. Today, the Amish continue to live simply and frugally, and as more families experience the difficulties of the lingering recession – it’s becoming more commonplace to look for new ways to live on less.

The Amish are careful with their finances. They are taught to save money from the time they are children, most are entrepreneurs and most have family and friends and churches to assist them if they fall onto difficult times.

Here are some ideas for living simply and more frugally – things we can learn from the Amish:

Start Saving As a Child: if you’re an adult that didn’t save when you were a child, unfortunately you can’t turn back time and do it all over again! But if you have children of your own, you can teach them to save money from a young age. A good way to do this is to allow your child to keep 10% of any money they earn or receive as gifts and save the rest in a bank account for the child when they turn 18 or 21.

Live at Home: In Amish families, most people live with their family until they get married. They work and help contribute to the family expenses, but it is far less expensive for everyone involved to not have a family with multiple mortgage or rent, multiple utility expenses, etc.

Own Your Own Business: If you own a business as a family, you can employ your own children for much less than it takes to hire workers.  Many times you can work a small business around a full time job, making it possible to increase your income.

Get Group Health Insurance: Many Amish families contribute to the church for health care premiums. The amount each person pays is based on the age and number of family members. The money is placed into a group fund, and if any member of the church has health expenses that cannot be paid on their own, money is pulled from the fund to help pay for the health care expenses. While you will be hard pressed to find a church doing this outside Amish country, there are many group health insurance plans that exist to help keep premiums more manageable for all participants.

Don’t be Wasteful: Use what you have rather than buying new whenever possible, don’t waste things. You can often make do with what you already have, but we’re so used to running out and buying something new whenever we need it that we forget to re-purpose items we have to fulfill other needs.

The unemployment rate has been steadily increasing throughout the recession. Many businesses have been forced to close their doors, and families have looked to reduce their expenses in order to stretch their hard earned dollars as far as possible. Entertainment is typically the first to be eliminated from the budget, followed by reductions in utility use, and unnecessary expenses like cable television or cellular phone bills.

In an effort to keep customers coming through their doors, and to help families continue to enjoy restaurants despite the tightening of their wallets, many restaurants are offering discounted menus. If you’re looking to enjoy a meal at a restaurant while still keeping to your budget, here are several restaurants you might consider, and their reduced price menus:

Chilis

Chilis offers ten meals for under $7. These menu items are perfectly portioned – instead of getting enough for three meals, you get just enough to be totally satisfied. Menu selections under $7 include mini beef burgers, half portion of the Chilis famous Monterey Chicken and your choice of a side, tacos, full sized burger, mini chicken sandwiches with fries – both regular and buffalo flavor, flavored chicken tenders, quesadillas, cajun chicken pasta and nachos.

Applebees

Applebees offers a 2 for $20 menu, featuring your choice of a shareable appetizer and two entrees for $20. Choose from four popular appetizers: mozzarella sticks, boneless buffalo wings, crunchy onion rings or spinach and artichoke dip. Meal choices range from four different burgers, two different salad options, ribs, chicken tenders, fiesta chicken, or three cheese chicken penne, steak or shrimp.

They also have a lunch menu that starts at $5.99 if you dine before 3pm on weekdays and includes a two-dish combo that you select yourself from soups, sandwiches and salads.

Red Lobster

Red Lobster offers several lunch options starting at just $6.99 in their new “Quick Catches” lunch menu. You an add a side salad to any lunch for $1.99. Choose from favorites like beer-battered shrimp and chips, soup and grilled shrimp salad, shrimp and chicken, salmon BLT, fish sandwich, wood fired shrimp skewers, chicken BLT, and caesar salad with your choice of chicken or shrimp.

Red Lobster also features a pick-any-two (from the list of options) combo lunch for $9.50.

If you have the Entertainment book, you can take advantage of a number of buy one get one free meals at your favorite local restaurants, as well as discounts and coupons good at most fast food restaurants.

With both the economy and the housing industry still working at a recovery, consumers are also still focusing hard on getting out of debt and avoiding bankruptcy and foreclosure. Many homeowners may be interested in refinancing their current mortgage at a lower rate to help save money and pay down some of their bills. They feel that reducing one of their larger financial obligations each month, they will have some extra cash to use elsewhere. However, in the current economic times, refinancing may not be the option to save any money and, in fact, may cost you even more than you are already paying.

However, refinancing your mortgage is not exactly going to be an easy procedure. Due to the economy, lenders, including those who are doing FHA mortgages are going to be raising the bar and those consumers who do not live up to the new standards may be out of luck for a good refinance. Lenders now want to see consumers have a higher credit score and tangible proof of income and asset before they will bring a good deal to the table. They would also like to see that any home equity loans and second mortgages have been paid off before a refinancing deal is made. Some consumers may find that even with a lower interest rate, a refinance is not a money-saving endeavor. There are higher fees associated with the refinance and end up deciding that a refinancing deal is too expensive to be relevant.

Credit scores and down payments will make a big difference in a lenders decision. Even with a score in the 700’s, lenders still would like you to contribute a 20% down payment, which is industry standard. Scores may be one of the determining factors because what used to be considered an excellent score now may just be average. You also better be ready to prove that you have income and assets. Even with all the right tings in place, lenders are not scared of raising interest rates if their conditions aren’t met exactly.

Before you go shopping for a refinancing opportunity, make sure a refinancing deal is a financially sound idea for your current financial situation. If your credit score has recently taken a hit, at below 720, or you still owe a balance on your second mortgage or home equity loan, you might be better off working first to improve your credit score and pay down your debt, while keeping your current mortgage intact. Rash decisions may lead to even higher fees and less savings of your money.

Whether we like it or not, our society and economy has become accustomed to using credit as a means of obtaining good, services and in some cases necessities. Since the recession hit many consumers are regressing (in a good way) to living a simpler life, cutting unnecessary expenses and focusing on better management of their money. Unfortunately for some folks those changes have been made AFTER experiencing a eye opening event such as bankruptcy or another financial mishap. Your credit history and credit score can take a beating after a financial hardship. Many people recovering from a hardship will argue that they do not plan on using credit ever again. Even if you do not intend to use credit in the future, it is vital to your financial security to at least have the option available which requires taking steps to rebuild your credit. Here are a few tips to get you on your way to better credit. 

• The first and easiest step to rebuild your credit is by paying your bills on time- every time. If you have trouble remembering when bills are due or getting organized to ensure they get paid on time, consider using an auto-pay method to avoid late payments. You can schedule these payments through your bank website, merchant website or a direct withdrawal from your checking account. Remember thirty-five percent of your credit score is based on payment history, making paying your bills on time very important.
• If you haven’t already eliminated your debt, develop a strategy to do so as soon as possible. Your debt to credit ratio is considered when calculating your credit score. Ideally you will not use more than 30% of your available credit, however up to 50% is acceptable.
• Keep track of your credit by viewing your credit report. People with bad credit generally have a tendency to avoid reviewing their credit report. After all, who wants to see more bad news. If you have changed your spending habits or overcome a financial hardship, viewing your credit report can be a great way to track progress as you rebuild credit. Get your free credit report from each agency each year for free. Space your requests between agencies to see your report at beginning, mid-point and end of the year.
• Credit card companies have been changing the rules on how consumers should handle their accounts. If you are going to be using credit you must stay on top of changes in the credit card industry. At one time using your credit responsibly was all that was required to stay in their good graces. The best way to avoid sliding backwards in your journey to better credit is by using credit minimally and paying your balance off in full each month. If you don’t feel confident that you can control your spending, you may have to avoid using credit cards all together.

In the last 12 months, nearly every asset class has gone down in value. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is sitting 5000 points lower than where it was last June. Commodity prices have dropped, real estate prices have dropped, and interest rates on money market accounts have dropped to near zero. Despite devaluation in just about every part of the market, there’s been one set of investments that have actually performed well in the last year–municipal bond funds.

A municipal bond is essentially a loan to a municipality or state to fund a public works project. Typically they’re used for things like the swimming pools, schools, convention center, and other public buildings. The major advantage of investing in municipal bonds (as opposed to corporate bonds) is that the interest and growth from them are typically not taxable. There are some exclusions for those that fall under the alternative minimum tax.

Why have municipal bonds faired so well in this down market? It turns out that municipal bonds typically gain value after interest rates fall. For example, if you invested in a municipal bond that had bonds out at 7%, then the prevailing interest rate that was offered dropped down to 5%, your set of bonds would be more valuable than another fund that only had loans out at 5%. Additionally, municipal bonds are considered very safe investments. When the market took a nose dive, investors searched for safer investments. Since there was more of a demand for municipal-bonds from investors, the value of the shares naturally increased.

Bond prices did fall initially when the major problems of the financial sector first were announced in September of 2008, however they recovered all of that value by the end of the year. Vanguard’s Limited-Term Tax-Exempt Bond Fund has earned a rate of return of 3.36% between April of 2008 and April of 2009. The Short-Term Exempt Bond Fund that Vanguard has earned 3.42% between April of 2008 and April of 2009. Their Massachusetts Tax-Exempt fund has already grown 4.08% this year.

It’s important to remember that just because municipal bonds have done well in the last year does not mean that they will continue to see the same appreciation in the coming months. If the Federal Reserve starts to raise interest rates as the economy recovers, it’s possible that municipal bonds will lose some of the growth that they have had in the last year.