Four months before you reach the state pension age, you will get a letter from the Pension Service telling you how to claim your pension. If you are already receiving certain benefits there might be no need for you to claim at all.

Some people, who might keep working or have other sources of income, decide to defer their state pension, putting it off either to receive one large lump-sum or a larger weekly state pension income when they eventually claim it.

Who can get it?

Most people will have the right to some form of the basic state pension, and some will have the possibility of getting additional state pension. The state pension is based on how many years you contributed to National Insurance. In order to get a full basic state pension, most people need to have 30 years of qualifying years, but for some people it can be more.

Those who have between 25% and 100% of their necessary years will get some income, ranging from £26.86 to £107.45 per week.

For those who do not have all their required qualifying years, there are some things that can still be done. On option is to work longer, which helps you fund your own personal pension savings as well as add additional years of National Insurance contributions that could qualify you for the full state pension. You could also make a voluntary contribution to qualify, if you have the money.

Coming Changes

There are some planned changes to the state pension system already. The current law says that the state pension age should rise to 67 between 2034 and 2036 and 68 between 2044 and 2046. However, the government has expressed desire to raise the age to 67 quicker than that, between 2026 and 2028. This has yet to be approved by parliament.

The amount of money pensioners receive each week is also changing with the times, with the government raising it again for the 2012-2013 tax year just a month ago. Along with the increase, they also got rid of the tax credit pensioners previously enjoyed, so that age-related tax allowances will not be available for new pensioners in the future. The state pension is a foundation and a safety net, but most experts agree that to retire comfortably it’s very desirable to also have some private pension savings.

Leo Jhumunen from www.pensioncalculator.org writes about the state pension and other pension-related news. 

One of the biggest decisions parents need to make is who will watch the baby. Some parents will get a nanny or place their child into daycare so both parents can go back to work. Others would prefer if mom or dad stayed home with the baby. But deciding who will stay home isn’t the decision—it’s determining whether or not you can survive on one income.

Some people don’t think it’s possible to live on one income, but these people don’t have a good enough grasp on their finances.

Take a good hard look at your expenses

Make a spreadsheet composed of your necessities and your non-necessities. In the necessities column, list items such as your mortgage payment and your utility bills. In the non-necessities column, list all of your other expenses, such as dining out, entertainment and even travel.

Once you have tracked your expenses, take a look and see where you can cut down. Maybe you can stop eating out so much. Maybe you can carpool to save on gas. Maybe you can make coffee at home instead of stopping at Starbucks every morning. When you realize the money you’re throwing away on non-necessities, you will be surprised to learn how little money you actually need to survive.

Create a new budget based on the money you would bring in with one income and what you need to pay your expenses and have some wiggle room. You also need to add in the extra expense of having a child. Diapers, formula, doctor visits—all of these items add up, so be sure to include these into your budget.

Live on your new budget

Before you actually decide to have one of you stay home, do a trial run to see if you can actually manage living with one income. Put the paychecks from the other parent into a separate savings account, and only use the income from one parent to pay your bills and do your grocery shopping, etc. If after three months you have survived, you could actually put the plan into place and stay home for real. (You will also have three month’s worth of pay in a savings account for emergencies.)

If you were unable to pay for everything without touching the other person’s income, reevaluate your expenses and determine where you went over and by how much. If you were only over by a small amount, reevaluate your budget and see if there are any other cutbacks you could make.

If you’ve found that you can’t make any other cuts, determine if whether or not you could cut back to a part time job. There are plenty of part time jobs available that allow you to work from home. These jobs will allow you to stay home and raise your baby while also helping add to your family’s finances.

Take the next step

If you realize that you can stay at home, enjoy the time spent with your baby. If you can’t, make it one of your goals. Try to create a healthy savings account so you can stay home after six months to one year. Or maybe you or your partner could try to earn a raise or find a better paying job that will allow you to be a one income family. Living on one income isn’t impossible—it simply takes a great deal of hard work and sacrifice.

Mark Weatherford is a high school English teacher and father who enjoys giving advice in his spare time. He is a grammar fanatic and always proofs his writing with a grammar checker before allowing anyone anywhere near it.

Photo Source: More Good Foundation

Some of these Patterns Include:

As an applicant you should never pay any money upfront, sometimes these fake companies ask for a payment in order to enroll you in the company’s introductory course. Stay away! This is the typical way that these fake job offers behave. You should never pay for any kind of uniform, tools or materials, these should all be provided by the company.

Fake companies often try to hide their contact information such as phone numbers, address, name of the people in charge and more. A good and honest company should not be afraid of providing this information, transparency is the key thing to look at here. A good idea would be to make a quick search for the company in a local companies’ directory and make sure they are registered and operating within the law, find reviews of the company online that should give you a very clear perspective of their business model.

Also try to stay away or at least give the benefit of the doubt to those companies offering extremely well paid positions for little work hours, although it might be possible to find a job like that they are generally just empty promises. Titles such as “work from home and make thousands” or “become the next millionaire working from home” are easily found online and many innocents have lost tons of money hoping these promises were real and they were left with a headache.

Multilevel-type jobs are illegal in many countries and in most cases you will be forced to pay in advance in order to enroll the program. These multilevel companies pay you a small fee for every person you refer to their program, in other words you become part of their dirty business and in most cases you won’t see a penny.

The final advice is to avoid jobs that you were not looking for, sometimes scammers can call you or email you about an incredible opportunity on a company you might never heard of… Don’t listen to them! Even if the offer sounds tempting don’t believe them for a second.

Miriam Duran is the HR representative of the www.sunsetscostarica.com/blog/. She loves sharing useful advice about job hunting and Human Resources on her personal website.

Working a normal job can be a hellish experience. Repetitive tasks and mindless routines clutter your mind with seventeen different flavors of boredom. Couple that with ornery bosses and angry customers and you will start contemplating various avenues of escape. Most people begin to consider what it would like to be self-employed and dream of the riches that come with. However, there is a reason most people in the end stick to their normal jobs.

Making a living through self-employment is extremely difficult and few people are ever successful. Moreover, failing means having to find and secure a job all over again, possibly one without the benefits and station you earned in your previous place of employment. So before you quit your job and test out the waters, here are 5 reasons it’s getting harder to be self-employed.

1. Insurance and Taxes

You might have forgotten that as an employee of a company, your employer is responsible for paying for taxes and insurance premiums that you would have to pay for as a self-employed individual. For instance, half of Social Security and Medicare taxes are picked up by your employer. As a self-employed person, you are responsible for all of it. Health insurance is also another expense that is commonly picked up by companies that you will now have to fit the bill. Retirement plans such as a 401k is another benefit that you may receive from a company that the self-employed do not enjoy.

2. You Reap What You Sow

You will be surprised at how much money you make at a regular job for not working. Every time you lean back in your chair and stretch, go for a coffee break, or take a trip to the restroom, you are still being paid. Holidays, vacations and sick days are all instance where you are earning money for doing nothing. In contrast, self-employed individuals only make money for what the things they produce.

3. Qualifying for a Mortgage

Self-employed individuals may find it a lot more difficult to apply for a mortgage loan. In the past, these individuals would simply show the lending company their last two years’ worth of income tax returns in order to prove their were a viable candidate. However, thanks to new laws introduced by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the self-employed must now take an additional step beyond what was originally required by law. They must supply a quarterly profit and loss statement along with their tax returns to show that their current revenue flow is healthy.

4. Global Competition

Self-employed work often relies on using the internet as your primary source of sales. This means having to compete in a global marketplace, with many of your competitors willing to undercut your prices as they may live in a region with an extremely low cost of living.

5. Cost of Living

Everything from the cost of gas to the cost of food is on the rise. A dramatic increase in the cost of living can be precarious for the self-employed, as their income has largely been stagnated and depressed by global competition. Being self-employed will mean undergoing a lot of sacrifices. You will have to cut back on eating out and even request the government for assistance if need be. Worse yet, your income will fluctuate from month to month, and you will need to save accordingly to account for the lean times.

John Adams writes on behalf of PLI UK (www.publicliabilityinsurance.org) an online resource for small business owners and sole traders in the UK. You can learn more about the importance of liability insurance for self employed workers by reading their online guide: http://www.publicliabilityinsurance.org/sole-trader

There are ways you can counteract those costs and that’s by earning more money. Of course, you’re thinking, there aren’t enough hours in the day and by the time you’ve battled the traffic on the way home it’s 6:30pm and you haven’t even had your dinner yet. Well, there are ways to earn money that don’t require much effort or need much time thrown at them:

Online Surveys

Fill out a few surveys per week during your lunch break or when you’re stuck in traffic on the bus on your way home and you can earn a good amount each month. You’ll find that an extra £50-100 per month in your bank will clear some of your bills, most likely your smartphone bill that you complete the surveys on! That’s a great way to reduce the living costs you have.

Mystery Shopping

Help companies with their customer service skills by posing undercover as a customer and getting paid for it. If you complete the projects you can usually earn a great amount that can pay for your electricity or gas bill.

Refer Others

Both of the ideas above are great ways to earn extra money online. You can pay bills, save it for your next holiday, keep it for home or car repairs, or use it to bolster your income. However, don’t think that it just stops there. If you refer others to the online survey or mystery shopping agency that you use, there is most likely a monetary reward for doing so. Some might pay a one-off payment for each person or you could earn from every project or survey they complete. This is a fantastic way to build a constant stream of income on autopilot.

If you spend more time each week developing a strategy to not only complete more surveys and earn more online, then you can build a team of people that do the same and you can earn money from them too. It might take a little while and a little ingenuity to get people on board, such as having a website on how to make money or handing out leaflets to people looking for a job, but it’s worth it in the end.

Imagine other people making you money and then referring people themselves, so you continue to earn? You can see why there are so many ‘get rich quick’ schemes out there, but starting with something that you see results from first is the best way rather than trying to sell the idea. If you have cold hard facts to back up your earnings then it’s much easier to get people interested.

Donny Robinson has been referring people to his online survey company for 12 months now and makes a great extra income from completing surveys as well as from referral commissions.

 Does this Purchase Make Financial Sense?

The purchase of any holiday home is a luxury many people are unable to afford. Those who can must consider if it is a wise investment. There are many areas holiday homeowners must consider when it comes to the financial impact of purchasing a second home.

• What is the total cost of the holiday home? When you purchase a holiday home not only are you responsible for the purchase price of the home, the property, and applicable taxes and fees attached to the home; you are also responsible for the daily upkeep of this property. Many potential holiday home owners never consider this financial impact and as a result, they often find their decision to purchase a holiday home was a poor decision. Before you purchase a holiday home, make sure that you calculate the total ‘cost’ of owning the home such as utility costs, applicable taxes, and maintenance fees and schedules and other monthly expenses.
• What is the economic climate surrounding your holiday home? Just like purchasing a primary residence you will need to consider the property value and economic status of the community prior to purchasing the new place. Ask yourself if this property is in an area which is growing or if it is slowly declining? Is there room for expansion or is it overpopulated? The answers will tell you whether purchasing the property is a wise investment for resale potential.
• What is your goal with this property? Again, the purchase of any property needs to make financial sense. This is especially imperative with a holiday home. Prior to purchase ask yourself what your intent is for this property. Will you rent the property from time to time? Are you going to allow friends, business colleagues and family access to your holiday home frequently? Are you planning to keep this holiday home for a short term or long term?
• What type of communication and transportation methods is available at your holiday home? With today’s hustling and bustling business world we have, even when we travel on holiday, the reality is we must keep in communication with our employers, our family and others in case emergency situations occur. When considering the purchase of your holiday home you should also consider what type of communication methods are available with this property? Do you have an internet connection available? Is there telephone communication? Television communication? These are all realistic questions to consider when purchasing a holiday home since the reality of life is keeping in touch with the events in our personal and business lives.

When we utilize these questions, we realize that the purchase of a holiday home should never be a rash decision. There are many financial considerations to take into account. Considering all of these factors are ways to ensure that the purchase of your holiday home is a wise financial decision.

Jess writes for Schofields holiday home insurance who are always there to help out with all things holiday home related.

Even parents who find a Junior ISA with half that rate would come close to the £100,000 ‘dream nest egg’ for their child, as just 3% growth over 18 years would mean £86,821, according to figures from high street bankers Halifax.

Choosing the right account

With a three-year degree programme costing up to £27,000 – and well over £60,000 for parents looking to pay for their child’s living and accommodations – the Junior ISA represents a powerful tool that parents can use to better their children’s future.

But how can parents know which type of account to open? With over 30 providers all offering different types, it may be hard for parents to know where to start. One decision that is important to make early on is whether to take out a stocks and shares or cash Junior ISA, The first is an account that invests your savings in equities and gilts and carries a higher probability of risk and returns, while the second is less risky but will generally be outperformed by market-based investments over the long term.

Savings habit

The positive effects of saving won’t just be felt when the child turns 18 and can withdraw their savings. Children whose parents have been saving all of their lifetimes, and who have grown up aware of their parents’ savings habits, stand a much better chance of growing up to be good savers themselves. The Junior ISA can be the gift that keeps on giving, or in this case the savings account that keeps on saving, as it rolls over into an adult ISA if your savings-savvy child wants to build on the growth that you have started rather than spend the cash.

Even if they do choose to spend it, your child can withdraw the cash without the worry of taxes, as the Junior ISA is free from all capital gains tax or income tax. In other words, every penny of the interest earned will go to line their pockets and not the Treasury’s.

Mike Brakem from www.comparejuniorisa.com writes about the benefits of saving into a Junior ISA and other tax-free children’s savings vehicles. 

Head-on Car Accident (Photo credit: Chris Yarzab)

Top tips for getting the best protection at the lowest cost

Car insurance is one of those necessary evils. Nobody really wants it, and many might even consider it a waste of money – “Why pay for something you never use?” is a common question many people throw out there – but anyone know owns a car needs car insurance. The second you find yourself in a car accident it’s reassuring to know that your policy will cover any repair or medical expenses.

One of the biggest gripes people have about their car insurance is the seemingly escalating cost of car insurance premiums. It is possible though to save money on your insurance premiums without compromising on your level of protection. Here are some handy tips to save on your car insurance quotes online:

1. Many people opt for a higher excess in order to reduce their premiums. It can be quite a gamble choosing this option but the monthly savings on your insurance premium can amount to a tidy little sum depending on what you set your excess.
2. Some cars are much harder to insure than others and thus will pay more in premiums, so if you’re looking for a new car and don’t want to pay through the nose with your insurance, steer clear of the sports cars that many providers are reluctant to insure and look towards more mainstream vehicles. Even then the make and model you own car affect your insurance premiums so choose wisely.
3. Find out just how flexible your insurance provider is with their payment structures. While most people are content to pay their premiums on a monthly basis, many insurance companies who allow their customers to pay in an annual lump sum will often provide significant discounts which means more money left in your pocket!
4. Speaking of discounts, ask your insurance provider if they offer any! Some might offer discounts to loyal customers, others might offer discounts to customers who have not made a claim. You may even receive a discount on your premiums if your vehicle has done low mileage. But you won’t get discounts if you don’t ask.
5. Make sure your car is secure and that the security measures are functional. Get your vehicle fitted with a working alarm and immobiliser. Insurance companies look favourably on that. If your property has a garage and you can avoid parking on the street, do so. The more secure your car is, the better chance you have at shaving off some of your premium costs.

This is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to reducing the amount of your insurance premiums. So when it comes to finding the best car insurance quotes online don’t just settle for the first policy you come across, nor should you simply settle for just the cheapest as it might not be the best policy for your needs. Decide what you need from your car insurance policy, get several online car insurance quotes and find out where you can make savings on your premiums. Those savings might just take the sting out of paying for that ‘necessary evil’ that could save you in the long run.

1. First things First: Create a Budget

I will be the first to tell you how easy it is to get carried away when you step into a nursery and see all the beautiful plants and flowers, and imagine having them all thriving in your lush garden. Though you may feel the urge to take home one of each, your budget will keep you strictly on target. When building your budget, make sure you take into consideration the cost of tools, a fence if necessary, any pots you’ll need, soil, compost if you don’t plan on making your own, and of course the actual plants or seeds.

2. Don’t Go Nuts with Tools

I’m sure we all know people with entire sheds full of gardening tools, but those folks probably garden full-time or boast an entire yard of a garden. If you’re just starting out, you really don’t need to go overboard buying every tool in the Gardening section. From what I’ve researched, you can probably get away with a trowel and shovel, hoe, and pruner or garden shears. Again, it doesn’t have to be top-notch or designer stuff (you don’t NEED the matching Martha Stewart tool set.) I found trowels on Amazon for under $5, and a 5-piece set on Overstock.com that includes a gardening belt, work gloves, a spade, trowel, and cultivator for just $22. Check discount stores, yard sales, and friends who have two of each for inexpensive gardening tools.

3. Prep Your Garden

Based on my research, fall seems to be a good time to prepare the soil in your yard. You’ll need to get rid of all sticks, rocks, and stumps in the area, and till the earth to prepare it to yield plants. It was also recommended to take a soil sample in the fall, to see whether or not your soil will need fertilizer to properly grow your garden. (I found out that the three main ingredients soil needs to produce a great harvest is nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. A soil sample should test for these things as well as the pH of your soil.) You’ll also need to consider a fence, if you will need to keep out rabbits or other animals.

4. Opt for Seeds over Plants or Seedlings

Finally, time to plant! I had to make myself a list of which fruits, veggies and flowers I wanted in my garden so I wasn’t tempted to buy everything in the store. I recommend doing the same! And from what I’ve read online and seen in stores, seeds are drastically cheaper than purchasing already flowering plants or seedlings. They take a little TLC at first, but won’t you feel that much more accomplished? Also, you don’t really need to use the entire packet of seeds at once, so you can use some this season and save the rest for next (make sure you save them in a tightly sealed bag so no moisture gets in.) You’ll need to start the seeds out in small containers before transplanting them, so make sure you do this with enough time to get them in the ground in ample time for gardening season.

5. Score Plant Cuttings for Free

You don’t just have to buy seeds or seedlings to grow a garden. If you have friends or family members who garden, it isn’t impolite to ask for cuttings from their plants if you like what they have. Cutting is the process of removing the stem of a plant from the main growth, and replanting it so that it grows roots and eventually flowers a new plant. WikiHow offers a step-by-step guide to getting good cutting, and how to nurture it to become a full-grown plant.

6. Make Your Own Compost

Compost is important when gardening because it gives added nutrition to the soil in your yard, which can be crucial to producing a good harvest. You can start this one while you’re still doing all the other steps, or before you’ve even planted a thing in your garden. Toss in things like fruit and vegetable scraps, used coffee grinds, grass clippings, dead leaves, and shredded paper to get a good compost pile going. Mother Earth News has a great article about how to start your own compost pile, plus a list of things you should never toss in your compost pile.

Okay all you green thumbs, I am excited to start my garden and I hope you are too! With some simple strategic planning and foresight, having a garden can prove to be both a fun hobby and a wise investment, yielding fresh, organic fruits, vegetables, and herbs from the convenience of your home. And if budgeted properly it does not have to make a dent in your bank account or stomp on your credit score. Happy gardening!

Dk loves to blog about anything finance related. Please check out more of his work at RoadFish.com

While I was in the UK, many young, single people I met from abroad had come over to save money and travel. Some were also looking for an opportunity to make a better life for themselves. Their motivations were usually different, depending on the skills they had. Those who could make a good living working anywhere were saving money and planning on eventually moving back home and settling down. Unskilled youngsters saw better opportunities for themselves abroad. What it usually boiled down to was that they met a partner and decided to move back to one of their home countries together. Most of these couples are happily married now with kids.

For families or married couples who decided to move abroad it was different. There was the future of their dependants to think of. If a good job is already waiting then emigrating is much easier; however, on arrival one must still get used to a new culture and being away from family and friends back home. The elderly parents of one of my friend’s decided to move to the UK. They had been victims of a violent crime in South Africa and packed up everything and moved within a couple of months. They were impressed with the public transport system and how organised everything was overall.

When they spoke about South Africa they were full of negativity. However they only lasted a few weeks and went back home. The change was just too much for them to adjust and they realised the lifestyle they enjoyed in South Africa would take many years to achieve abroad. I think they had underestimated how great their homeland actually was. Another family I knew, who were very well off,  wanted to emigrate and could have enjoyed a good lifestyle abroad They also talked very negatively about their homeland. In the end though, they stayed in South Africa and just moved to a small rural town about a day’s drive away.

It seems your age plays a large role in emigrating; the younger you are, the easier it is. Being single helps and having a skill or qualification also plays a role. Most importantly, however, I believe a positive attitude is key to crossing over. When you are full of negativity, you could rush into a situation with the belief that the grass is greener on the other side. Being positive helps one weigh up the situation more fairly.

Image credit: luggage tags by Fontshop International, CC BY-ND 2.0, via Flickr URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fontfont/4109633920/

Donna van Wyk writes on behalf of Skilled Migrant Jobs, a job portal that helps migrants find jobs in Australia.