My newest assignment for my commerce class is to write a research paper on estimated cost of living.  We needed to prepare a budget on what the estimated cost of living as a single person, a couple, and a family would be over ten years.

The first thing I looked at was mortgages.  I researched what the average cost of a mortgage was right now and then estimated the increase in mortgage payments over the next ten years.  I did this for three different sizes of houses for the different family sizes.

Then I did the same thing for other major expenses such as car payments, car insurance and home insurance.  The hardest part was estimating the costs of smaller things such as groceries, but I did my best using historical statistics and the average inflation rate provided by the government.

Next, I had to estimate family income.  I used historical statistics again and I used the average salary increases as recently reported in the personal finance news section of the paper for the last twenty five years to calculate wages over the ten years.  Childcare was the last number I had to come up with for the project.

What I came up with is that I need a good mark on this paper and in this class, so I can afford to live in ten years.

I have been working with my supervisor now for a couple years.  We work very well together, but we have had our share of confrontations.  Being the assistant supervisor means that I need to challenge her ideas from time to time when I think they are not correct.  Except for these odd exchanges, we get along really well.

My only pet peeve is that she is dyslexic.  Now, I realize that it is not fair to say something about her disability, but I don’t hold it against her.  It is kind of funny too, as it is only a problem when she writes something, not when she types it out (I suppose thanks is due to the spell checker on her computer).

I am really frustrated with her because she ordered a test for dyslexia online, found out that she had a lot of the symptoms of dyslexia and has done nothing about it.  It ticks me off that work would pay for her to get special training to help her out with her condition.

I try not to butt in, but sometimes you need to do what you do.  Maybe I will get her attention now that I said something here… wait till I tell her at work tomorrow.  I am sure she will be so happy…

If you are not familiar with banking on the Internet you should be.  The internet provides a one stop financial store for you to use.  The following are some things that you should familiarize yourself with that you can do online:

1. Credit Cards

   Now, if you haven’t seen an ad or offer to sign up for a credit card online, you are missing something.  In fact, by looking online you can see the best credit cards side by side and find one that works the best for you.  Try going to your bank and ask them to show you their best offering and the best offerings from their competition - bet you they won’t.

2. Bank Accounts

   If you are like most people, chances are that you have banked with the same financial institution for years.  But did you know that there may be better options for you?  You can use the internet in the same fashion as looking for credit cards to compare bank accounts from other institutions side by side.  Want a better interest rate, lower fees, or other rewards - you can find it all at your fingertips online - something your bank won’t share with you.

3. Car Insurance

   Now, if you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of commercials on the television advertising that you can go online and compare car insurance policies between the different companies.  Whether you are looking for cheap car insurance or lower deductibles, you can use your computer to compare all the companies side by side.

Don’t be afraid to look online for your next financial product - with so many resources at your fingertips, you are bound to find a product meant for you from the large selection of companies around the world.

You know, I use the Internet for a variety of tasks.  Sometimes I shop, pay bills, look at auctions, and follow the stock market online.  Were you aware that many people use the Internet for common financial tasks that they used to go visit a bank just a few years ago?  Here are some common financial tasks that are done online today.

First off, we should mention mortgages.  You can now apply for mortgages online and usually get a response instantly.  Also, you can take advantage of the fact that there are many companies that are willing to compete for your business, and you can see all the competing offers online.  It saves you time from shopping around as you can do it all in the convenience of your home.

In the same group as mortgages would be home refinancing.  You can look online to see what the interest rates are and refinance your home to get a better rate.  Basically, you have the same options as with a mortgage - there are competitors willing to present you offers to get your business.  Approval for refinancing is usually instant as well, unless you have bad credit or other blemishes on your credit history.

Lastly you can apply for a home equity loan online.  You can use this as a tax free way to get money out of you home if it has increased in value or use the money to renovate your home.  Again, there are plenty of companies competing for your business, so you could get a better rate online that you can from your traditional bank.

These are only a few of the many daily financial tasks people perform on the Internet.  As years go on, there will be more and more things that we go to the internet to do as opposed to a regular store.

I am a loans officer at a bank and sometimes you just feel bad for people that come in to visit you.  Mainly I deal with loans and mortgages, and I have a story to share with you today.

Steve (name changed due to privacy laws) came in to talk to me today about his mortgage.  He has been living at his home now for about ten years and he is an excellent client.  He always pays on time and really there are no problems.

He came in today to renew his mortgage as his five year term was up.  Steve seemed kind of embarrassed and more timid than usual.  I asked him what was wrong and he looked at me with sadness in his face,

"I went bankrupt."

He seemed really ashamed.  Talking to him a big, I found out that their business had gone under and his wife needed some expensive surgery and they had used all their life savings.  I felt bad for him as this was something he really didn’t have a lot of control over.

I proceeded to explain that this time we would have to go through and file his application as a bad credit remortgage.  You could see fear in his eyes:

"We cannot lose our house!"

I calmed him down and explained there were a couple of hoops to jump through.  I also explained that since he never missed a payment, there shouldn’t be much of a problem getting is remortgage.  Worst case, he would have to pay a higher interest rate, but that was it.

He left my office feeling better than when he came in.  I will find out in a few days if he got it or not, but I feel in my gut that he did.  I am sure that will lift a weight off his shoulders.

Just a few days ago, I talked about credit cards.  Specifically, I mentioned that I had some financial chores to do in my household like I do every year.  I just wanted to mention I found a new resource that anyone can use to compare credit cards: the Internet.

I guess you could call me a little slow when it comes to technology, but I realized this week I could use the Internet to help me deal with my finances.  What gets me that the Internet is such a great resource - but no one really mentions it.

The reason I call it a resource is that there is so much information at your fingertips.  You can find information about the credit cards that your financial institution uses but you can also find out about what the competition offers.  If you are looking for a particular card (for example cashback credit cards), you can actually compare credit cards side by side to see what the differences are.

Another thing to consider is that the Internet is a little more environmentally friendly.  I mentioned before that I grab a pile of brochures about credit cards, but by using the Internet to to your information gathering, you save trees from being cut down.

Sadly, I still haven’t made a decision yet as to what credit card I am going to get - but I am getting close.  I don’t feel that I need to rush as I don’t have any big purchase plans for the new card I get, rather I am just trying to see if I can save myself money if I switch credit card companies - something I look at every year.

I am not too good with websites yet - you see my husband is the one that has more experience than I do.  But I am learning how to promote my websites.

One thing I have noticed is that it is kind of tedious promoting websites - you might submit your sites to directories, write articles, and maybe participate on forums.  Lets not get started on finding link exchanges - what a headache.

To my relief I found a site today that helps people like me promote our sites without a lot of hassle.  The site is TNX.net.

TNX offers a marketplace where advertisers and webmasters can get together to buy and sell links.  The best part about it is their software handles all the messy stuff - no more sending emails to try and get people to advertise your site.  In fact for me it was simple, all I did was select my ad, pick the number and popularity of the sites I wanted my advertising on and POOF! my ad campaign was setup.  Simple as that.

For those of you who have older, established sites, you can make some money selling links on your sites.  Also, if you have a list or a group to market to, their affiliate program maybe the solution for you.

If you are new like me or an experienced web marketer, you can take advantage of the special at a forum on text link ads here.

I am in the process of buying a new car and am checking out my payment options.  I have not completely decided on getting a car loan through the dealer.  I know that there are many other options available.

I could just get a cheap loan from my bank which may end up costing less than a car loan.  I could also go for an unsecured loan, which could end up costing even less, but would depending heavily on my credit rating - which isn’t so good at the moment.  I could borrow money from my parents, interest fee, but this would put them out and make me feel less independent.  It also would do nothing to help with my credit rating, which isn’t that good considering I’ve never borrowed money before.

I guess in the end, what it comes down to is what is best for me in the long run - and getting me into the driver’s seat of my new car the quickest.

If you are anything like me, you get mail all the time stating that you are pre-approved for various credit cards and loans.  Instead of just tossing this as junk mail, I decided to make an assignment out of it.

To see what exactly what was out there, I started my own sorting methods.  The first of course was two piles, one for loans and one for credit cards.  Then I broke down these two piles into companies (some of these companies are very persistent).  I then broke them down into what I thought were the best offers.

The best loan offers included low interest rates and low repayments.  The best credit cards included the 0% credit card offers and the cash back credit card offers.

In the end, what I came up with was a lot of trash all at once, rather than one or two envelopes per week.  But it was fun and interesting.

I decided to look at property companies that were across the world from me.  My reason for doing this is that you can always learn something new and find new markets to invest your money.  I wanted to pick somewhere very far away and somewhere I have never thought to look before.

In order to find a place that was a little less traditional, I decided to get my group together to brainstorm and hopefully come up with a place to look.  I got my lawyer, my accountant, and a few other trusted advisors together in our conference room to come up with ideas.

After about an hour of throwing ideas around, Stu, my accountant came up with the best idea of all: South Africa.  To be honest, I didn’t know anyone that has any investment property there and I thought it sounded like a good market to check out.

I assigned a group to find out about the prospects in this area of the world as well as the major real estate groups there.  We needed to have all our facts together before we decided on whether or not this would be a good market for us.

A week later the group came back with its’ report.  They found that the return on real estate in the region was between 25%-45% year over year.  Also, they had contacted two major real estate companies (Pam Golding International and Seeff Properties) and they both were interested in working with our company to find investment properties.

With that task completed, I have assembled another group to find good investment properties in the area.  They are currently working with the real estate companies and will present their findings early next week.  I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with.