The Top Five Work at Home Content Writing Websites

Introduction:

Are you looking for an extra way to earn an income at home? Try writing online. There are several websites that you can apply as a content writer. Once you have been accepted and have created a free Paypal account, you can begin earning money writing at home.

Demand Media Studios

At Demand Media Studios, you can earn anywhere between $7-$15 per articles that you write. You begin as a writer for Ehow and also apply to write at other websites such as Garden Guides, LiveStrong or many others. Other jobs at Demand Media include film editors, copy editors, bloggers and experts. You can apply at www.demandstudios.com

Associated Content (Yahoo!)

Sign up and write about topics that interest you most. Writers are paid upfront for their articles as well as for page views. You may write about the news, technology, arts and entertainment, fashion, sports, politics or even display your creative writing such as fiction and poetry. Writers have the possibility of being paid between $3-$10 for their articles. Sign up at www.associatedcontent.com

 

Break Studios

Writers at Break Studios write for websites such as Break.com, MadeMan, Holy Taco, Cage Potato, Screen Junkies, and Chickipedia. Choose topics that are of interest to you and get paid up to $8 per article. Apply at: http://breakstudios.break.com/

Bright Hub

Bright Hub hires writers that are interested in writing in the following categories: 30+ Technology, Health, Education, Parenting, or Science channels. You may apply as a Community Channel writer or self publish as community writer. Beginner writers are paid up to $10 per articles and senior writers earn up to $15 per articles. Sign up at: http://www2.brighthub.com/writers/apply.html

Textbroker

Choose from a variety of assignments each week and earn money for your articles at TextBroker. Select your areas of expertise and select assignments that are of interest to you. Earn anywhere from $3.50 to $25 for your work. Sign up at http://www.textbroker.com/us/author-signup.php

Final Thoughts

Some websites might ask that you have prior experience to writing online or print. If you are an individual who is self motivated and can work independently, then content writing would be ideal for you.

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Post Rating Widget for Blogger

I will show you how to install Post Rating widget to your blog.The Simple steps given below will install this beautiful widget easily.Below is the screen shot of this widget

How to implement it on blogger/blogspot?

here are the steps;

1. Go to your template editor under your dashboard. Tick the “Expand Widget Template”

2. Find this code

<data:post.body/>

3. Put the codes below right after that line above (or download ithere),

<script language='JavaScript'>
var OutbrainPermaLink='<data:post.url/>';
var OB_demoMode = false;
var OB_Script = true;
</script>
<script src='http://widgets.outbrain.com/OutbrainRater.js' type='text/javascript'/>

4. Save your template, and done!

Please be creative. you can move the code as long it still inside the include=’post’ under the blog widget.

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10 Things Every Blogger Needs

Being a professional blogger isn’t as simple as waking up one morning and stating, “I am a blogger, look out world!” Like any other discipline or endeavor, being a successful blogger means that you have to take the job seriously. That means working with dedication, planning and forethought. Having the right tools is an essential part of being a blogger, as you need the right tools in order to get the job done.

1. Computer or Laptop: There is no doubt one of the key tools of the modern journalist and the pro blogger is the computer. After all, the computer has become the informational link to the world. Blogging is all about information and staying current with what is happening in the world around us. This means that your computer is an essential tool in your blogging toolkit. While it is not necessary to have a top of the line gaming computer, you should have one that can get the job done or you will lose hours and hours on productivity. Making sure that you have a quality anti-virus program and firewall might be savvy addition as well.

2. Top-Notch Monitor: A reasonably large high quality monitor is an essential tool not just for bloggers, but also for anyone spending a lot of time at the computer. Eyestrain can greatly impair your productivity and make working nothing short of unpleasant. Spending a little extra money for a quality monitor is a savvy move.

3. Broadband Access: It should come as no surprise that access to a broadband connection is essential for blogging. While some people do still use dial-up Internet, you will experience major setbacks if you don’t have access to a fast connection. If you are using a laptop computer, be sure that you have a 3G dongle device for your mobile broadband access.

4. The Smartphone: A good smartphone is an absolute essential for the blogger. This is particularly true if you have one with a good deal of functionality and apps. A smartphone can function something like a modern Swiss army knife and may include GPS, recording capability, note taking capability, as well as essential features such as a camera and video capability. Also a smartphone allows you to connect to the Internet whenever you like from virtually wherever you like. This can prove invaluable for any number of important reasons. Of course, your trusted smartphone also functions as a phone too! All of these factors combine to make the smartphone a simply essential tool.

5. The Notebook or Notepad: Sure a notebook or notepad might be a bit “old school,” but you never have to worry about the battery on your notepad running out! This makes the time honored, battled tested notepad something of a practical real world essential. It is something that you should not be without for quickly jotting down ideas on good old-fashioned paper.

6. Pens, Pens and More Pens: Pens are always a must for the blogger. Not all note taking is digital... at least not yet.

6. A Good Desk: Having a good desk might seem like a no-brainer, but if you are going to be spending hours upon hours writing, you need to keep the importance of a good desk in mind. A good desk will also help keep you organized and enhance your productivity.

7. The Chair: A comfortable chair, one that you can spend hours in, is probably even more important than having a good desk. After all, back problems will quickly end your workday.

9. A Bookcase: You never know when you might want to include a reference to a book in your blogging endeavors. A bookcase is important for staying organized. Don’t skip this inexpensive item that is essential for keeping books in order.

10. A Quality Keyboard: Lots of blogging means lots of typing. This makes an investment in a comfortable keyboard a must. Don’t just assume that the keyboard you received with your computer is adequate.

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Getting Started in Investing: The Difference Between Saving And Investing

On the face of it saving and investing seem like the same thing. They are both things that we do with our spare money, after all. But deeper thought suggests that there is a difference between them.

Saving is almost an unconscious act where we put money into deposit accounts, or even an old jam jar on the sideboard, so that we have something for that proverbial rainy day. It is a way of giving our ordinary life a bit of security so that we don't find ourselves strapped for cash at some point.

Investing is more of a conscious decision. It is about making plans for the future so that we know we can cope with expensive events like retirement or weddings.

Question time

When you save money, your capital is secure. You are (usually) guaranteed to get back the sum you put in, plus interest.

When you invest you have no such guarantee. Your capital is at risk. In return for this, you expect to get more back than you put in, plus a little income on the side as well, perhaps. So when you consider any investment you need to ask yourself a few basic questions:

• How much extra return can I expect, and with how much probability?
• Do I really understand what I'm investing in?
• Do I appreciate the risks I'm taking and how volatile this investment could be?

Before you invest...

You need to make sure the rest of your finances are in order, before you start investing.

Firstly, you need to get out of debt. By this we mean all debts apart from your mortgage. So you need to have paid off your credit cards and any personal loans you may have. The reason is quite simple. It is unlikely you will make more from your investments than you will pay in interest on your debts. So pay off your debts first. Arguably, it will be the best 'investment' you will ever make.

Secondly, you need to put cash aside for emergencies. How much cash is appropriate will depend on your circumstances. If you have dependents, or if you are uncertain about your job prospects, then you might more put aside than others. One rule of thumb is that you should have enough cash set aside for at least three months' living expenses.

Last of all you need to be prepared to invest your money for a minimum of five years and preferably a lot longer. Although you can expect to get more by investing than saving, the value of your capital will fluctuate all the time.

If you need to get your money out in a hurry then you may not get everything back. So, if you want to use your money to put down a deposit on a house or buy a new car, then investing is not the best way to do it. If you need a guaranteed amount of money within less than five years, something like a high-interest savings account is a much more sensible option.

2. Why You Need To Invest

The first step in choosing an investment is deciding what you what to achieve. For example, are you saving to provide your kids with money or a better education? Are you investing for your own retirement or just looking to make the most of your money?

Retirement

For most people the main reason for investing is retirement. The real value of the Basic State Pension dwindles each year it seems. In the UK, the government taxes the employed and uses that money to pay out pensions. Years ago, everything was tickety boo because there were lots of employed people and relatively few pensioners. However, our population is ageing and the sums simply don't stack up anymore.

In order to relieve the pressure, pension increases are now relatively modest and the age at which we can collect our State Pension is being pushed back.

The message is clear, we can't rely on the government to fund us through our twilight years. We have to do that ourselves.

Kids

Don't you wish that you had had a lump sum when you turned 18 or 21 to get started in life? Perhaps you did and now you realise what an enormous difference that made. Investing is most powerful when you start early and you can't invest much earlier than when you are still wearing nappies.

You might want additional funds to give your kids a better education, or to pay for university fees. With forethought and planning, investing can give you this option.

Lumping It

Many of us get a lump sum at some point in our lives. It may come from an inheritance or a bonus. You want to put it to good use but, having never invested such a large amount before, you're at a bit of a loss as to what to do.

The key here is to take it slowly. There's no need to invest everything immediately. Instead, drip your money into a variety of investments so that you can get comfortable with how they work and what level of risk and return they offer.

3. What Are Your Options?

How on earth do you choose an investment from the thousands of products that are available? Skimming through the weekend papers, we are bombarded with impressive-sounding numbers and pretty pictures. Where do you start?

A little background knowledge can help clear the fog. Despite the thousands of products on offer they all consist of just four basic investments, albeit in different quantities. They are cash, bonds, property and shares.

Cash

Safe, dependable cash. You know where you are with cash. You get paid interest too -- but take off tax and then adjust for inflation and you're usually left with next to nothing.

Bonds

Bonds are essentially loans that can be bought and sold. The most common are government loans, or gilts. But you can also trade corporate bonds, which are loans to large companies. The capital value of bonds moves up and down in relation to interest rates. Over the long term, gilts and bonds should return slightly more than cash, but not by much.

Property

Many people believe that property is the best investment of all thanks to rising house prices over the last few decades. The value of your house may have leapt over the years, but don't forget all that money you have paid out to fund the mortgage!

Just how well property has done is actually quite hard to calculate however (you need to include bills for repairs and maintenance for example). In addition, it can be awkward to buy and sell -- you can't sell little bits here and there when you need the money.

Most people already have a large chunk of their assets in property, by virtue of owning their own home. So, for the purposes of this guide, we're going to ignore it from hereon in.

Shares

Shares, or equities, mean investing in a company like Vodafone (LSE: VOD), Unilever (LSE: ULVR) or Tesco (LSE: TSCO). You can buy shares in individual companies yourself, or you can buy a fund that invests in a broad range of companies on your behalf.

4. Why Shares Are Best

So which asset should you go for as a long-term investment?

Numerous studies have been done about the rates of return that each of them have produced down the years. Generally speaking, assets that have demonstrated higher returns tend to be more volatile, especially when you look at short periods. And the asset that has generated the best returns over the long term is equities.

Average returns

According to Credit Suisse First Boston, here are the average annual returns for the UK since 1900. These figures are adjusted for inflation, also known as the real return. This is because you want to compare like with like, i.e. spending power now versus spending power in the future.

Cash	Bonds	Shares
1.0%	1.3%	5.3%

The numbers may look small but you need to consider the power of compounding. It's a virtuous circle, or snowball effect, meaning that even a real rate of 'just' 5% can produce a large sum, given enough time. It also means that apparently small differences can have a significant impact on the final amount.

Let's look at what would happen to £10,000 invested over 20 years at the above rates (i.e. still adjusting for inflation).

Cash	Bonds	Shares
£12,200	£12,950	£28,090

We must stress however that these returns are certainly not guaranteed. These figures are the average returns from the past 110 years.

Looking at shares, in the 1980s and 1990s, returns were a lot higher, while in the 2000s they were much lower. They could be higher, or lower, over the next 10, 20 or 30 years as well. No one knows.

Still, it is worth pointing out that these performance figures include the Great Depression that followed the 1929 crash, World War II, Black Monday in October 1987, the Asian Crisis of 1998 and the two bear markets we've endured since 2000. Investing in shares over the short term is very risky, but the longer you invest for, the less risky and more profitable it should become.

Watch out for charges

At this point we should also mention charges. All else being equal, the lower the charges you pay the higher you can expect your eventual return to be. As we saw in the table above, even small percentage differences can make a huge difference to the final amount. Unfortunately, here in the UK we have a financial services industry that has a talent for both high charges and clever marketing to obscure that fact!

The industry also loves to put several layers of middlemen in between your money and its eventual investment destination. Each takes their cut and that leaves less for you. So make sure you read the small print, as all investment products have to lay out their charges in what is known as a 'Key Features' document.

5. Common Investing Vehicles

Most people use some sort of investment vehicle that invests on their behalf. Here we go through the basic characteristics of the most common ones.

Unit Trusts, OEICs, ETFs and Investment Trusts

These are all types of funds that predominantly invest in shares. Some of them may invest in a particular industry, country or region whilst others will invest in the whole market. They are also responsible for most of the colourful adverts in the weekend papers. These are the most flexible type of product, allowing you to get your money out at any time.

The charges for ETFs and investment trusts tend to be lower so, given the choice, we'd lean towards them rather than unit trusts or OEICs.

> Read more on unit trusts/OEICs, exchange traded funds and investment trusts.

Pensions

Pension funds invest in shares, bonds, property and cash. You get tax relief on money you invest in a pension but there is a catch. In fact there are two of them.

First, you can't touch your money until you retire. Secondly, you have to use your money to buy an annuity which means you give up all your capital in return for regular income.

A pension is usually seen as the standard way to save for your retirement but in reality it is just one of the options. Unfortunately, their obscure nature and inflexibility means that the charges on them tend to be quite high.

ISAs

Strictly speaking an ISA is not actually an investment product, although it often gets confused with one. It is just a tax-free wrapper that sits around a fund like a unit or investment trust.

Like you, we quite like paying less tax. So there's a good chance that whatever we decide makes a good first investment, we'll want to protect it in an ISA.

> Read more on ISAs

With-profits and endowment policies

These products have been much criticised in recent years. And rightly so. They are highly inflexible beasts that require you to commit to investing a regular amount over a long time. That's no bad thing in itself, but if you do not manage to keep up the payments you end up paying heavy penalties.

These products are 'sold' rather than being bought. Like pensions their inflexibility and lack of clarity tends to result in high charges.

With-profit bonds attempt to smooth out the return of the stock market by awarding annual bonuses that cannot be taken away. But the largest bonus is kept right until the end and many people don't get that far.

As we saw earlier, over long time periods the stock market tends to rise so these 'guaranteed' annual bonuses offer little value. Therefore you pay a lot in charges for something that probably won't be necessary.

So where does that leave us?

What we want as a first investment is something simple and low cost. Therefore we're leaning towards a fund like a unit or investment trust, probably in an ISA. Onwards!

Why Trackers Make Sense

Having decided that we want a fund, how do we choose one?

The two basic types of funds

Funds can be split into two basic types.There are 'active' or 'managed' funds where the fund manager picks and chooses the shares on your behalf, getting paid handsomely for the privilege we might add.

Then there are 'passive' funds that merely buy the whole market or a certain section of it. These are known as index trackers because they attempt to track an index. An index measures the overall performance of a group of companies, such as the FTSE 100 (the 100 largest shares on the London Stock Exchange).

The 'active' vs 'passive' debate

Active sounds much more fun doesn't it? We all want to beat the market. By definition, before we take charges into account, half of our investment will do better than the overall market and the other half won't. When you take off charges and transaction cost, you can see that it's inevitable that most funds will underperform the market. We put that in bold, because we think it's rather important.

What this means is that, most people are better choosing a fund with low charges. And passive funds have the lowest charges. They are run by computers and computers tend to be a lot cheaper to run than fund managers. They don't eat, drink, drive fast cars, have to pay a mortgage or send their kids to posh schools.

In fact, studies have shown that over the long term (5 years+) index trackers tend to beat about three quarters to four fifths of managed funds.

Of course, there will always be some funds that do better than index trackers. The only trouble is identifying them in advance. Some people claim they can, although it's a lot more difficult than you might think. For one thing, oodles of research has shown that the past performance of a fund is no guide to its future performance.

For your first investment though, you want to keep things both simple and cheap -- and we thinks that means some sort of index tracker. So, begone managed funds!

The Benefits Of Regular Investment

Plumping for an index tracker takes a lot of the worry and stress out of investing. However, you may still be concerned that you might invest at the wrong time, for example when the market hits a temporary peak.

Tune out the noise

The trouble here is that you never know what the stock market will do next. Many column inches are devoted to predicting the short-term direction of the market, but it is all just pure speculation. No one knows which direction the market is heading although that doesn't seem to stop everyone having an opinion (unfortunately).

The best thing to do is ignore all this noise, which we appreciate is easier said than done.

The key thing to appreciate, in our opinion, is that the long-term direction of the market is upwards. You can't time your entry to perfection; the most important thing is taking part. There's an old investment saying that's worth mentioning here -- it's about 'time in the market' not 'timing the market'.Clever, eh?

Pace yourself

An excellent way of pacing your investments is by regular investment of say £25, £50 or £100 a month into an index tracker. Or even more if you like. Pretty much every fund has a regular savings scheme set up these days. Usually the costs are extremely low. Setting up a regular investment is also a good discipline, meaning that you effectively force yourself to invest every month. It's a good habit to get into.

Likewise, when you finally cash in your investment, the reverse of this strategy makes sense. Rather than taking your money out in one go, you can sell gradually. Of course, you may decide that the stock market is the best place for your money in perpetuity and that you intend to live off the dividends and let your capital grow further.

 To ISA Or Not?

Earlier we said that whatever we plump for as a first investment, we'll probably want to shelter it from the taxman by using an ISA. So let's spend a little time looking at ISAs.

Double the protection

An ISA protects you from both income tax and capital gains tax (CGT).

The income tax benefits are not what they were. Basic rate taxpayers don't have to pay tax on dividends, so you only benefit if you're a higher-rate taxpayer.

The key attraction of an ISA is the protection from CGT. The CGT rate of 18% is a lot less than it used to be, but it may not feel that way when you're writing out a big cheque to the taxman. And, although you get an annual exemption from CGT (£10,100 when we wrote this guide), if you're investing regularly over a number of years, you can soon build up profits far greater than this amount.

Tax rates change

Tax rates change over time as well. So although investments aren't taxed that significant at the moment, that may not always be the case. Of course, at some stage the government could also decide to do away with ISAs as well. We think that's less likely however, as it seems a sure-fire vote loser.

It pays to protect your investments right from the very start, even if you are investing as little as £25 a month. Most funds can be put in an ISA for no additional charge so you're getting valuable protection at no additional cost. Think of taking out an ISA as free insurance against paying tax in the dim, distant future. You may not need it, but it's nice to have it just in case.

Going Beyond Trackers

Yay! We finally got there.As an first investment, we think an index-tracking fund in an ISA is a great place to start.

We'd recommend that you look at UK index trackers first and ideally, you want one with annual charges of 0.5% a year or less.Here's what was on offer in Spring 2009.

For many people, regular investment in a small number of index-tracking funds will cover a large chunk of their investment needs. However, if you want to do , then you have to be prepared to get your hands grubby.

Buying funds

The first way you can try and beat the market is by investing in managed funds. As we said earlier in this guide, only a minority of managed funds actually do better than trackers, so this is a lot tougher than you might think.

But you may decide that you want a bit more exposure to overseas markets like the US or the emerging BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Or you may want to focus on a particular sector like healthcare or technology.

You can, of course, get trackers that follow other markets and sectors. The ever expanding range of exchange traded funds is a good and cost-effective place to start.

One thing to beware of is investing in an area just because it's done well recently. We're hard-wired to take recent events and extrapolate them far into the future. It's a condition called, er, recent events syndrome. Many new funds are launched on the back of what's done well in the last two or three years, often just as this particular investment runs out of steam.

Buying individual shares

Here at the Fool, we think everyone should own at least a few shares.

As always, it's important to keep your costs down. We've partnered with Halifax to create The Motley Fool Share Dealing service. Ordinary trades cost just £10 and you can also set up a regular investment plan for £1.50.

We also have two stock picking newsletters — Dividend Edge andChampion Shares PRO — that show you how to invest. Both use real-money portfolios, with funds invested by the Fool itself, to make the service both more authentic and educational.

Finally...

One thing we haven't touched on in this guide is asset allocation, but this is something you need to consider as your portfolio becomes more substantial.

Asset allocation is the process of maintaining a broad spread of different assets. The idea is simple -- by owning assets that do well under different economic conditions, you can make your overall portfolio less volatile but without reducing your overall returns

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Ten Steps to Financial Freedom

The Miracle Of Compound Returns

The first step towards wealth is sorting out your finances, and the first step towards sorting out your finances is understanding the miracle of compound returns. Basically, this is about interest, and how earning a slightly higher rate of interest can make a massive difference to the amount of money you end up with in the long run. How does it work, you ask? Like this:

• You earn some interest
• Next year, you earn interest on that interest
• The year after, you earn interest on the interest on the interest
• The year after that... and so on...

With compound returns, interest earned is put into the pot, rather than set aside, which means the pot keeps getting bigger. The bigger the pot of money, the more interest the money earns... and the more interest that gets put back in. Over the long term, this can really add up!

Compound returns are driven by two factors: rate and time.

Rate

More than anything else, interest rates determine how quickly and how much your savings grow. The higher the rate at which you invest, the more - and the faster - your savings will grow, which is why you should make every effort to get the highest possible rate. How much does one percent point really matter? You tell us:

Four accounts, four rates, and a consistent investment of £100/month

	Investment value at these interest rates
	1%	3%	5%	7.5%
Age 20	0	0	0	0
Age 30	£12,626	£14,009	£15,598	£17,904
Age 40	£26,578	£32,912	£41,275	£55,719
Age 50	£41,998	£58,419	£83,573	£135,587
Age 60	£59,038	£92,837	£153,238	£304,272

Even small differences in the rate of return have a huge impact on the amount of interest earned in later years. The two percent points between the 3% account and the 5% account yield a difference of over £60,000 after thirty years of saving - that's over £30,000 a percent point! Kind of makes it worth it to shop around for the right account, doesn't it?

Time

Another major factor in the growth of an investment is time - how long your investment appreciates interest. As a rule, the longer your investment sits around and gathers interest, the better:

The effect of 5% savings rate over time with regular contributions

		Age started saving
		20	30	35	40
Value of savings at different ages	30	£15,598	£0	£0	£0
	35	£27,188	£6,962	£0	£0
	40	£41,275	£15,598	£6,962	£0
	50	£83,573	£41,275	£27,188	£15,598
	60	£153,238	£83,573	£58,812	£41,275

What you should learn from this table: the sooner you start investing, the better. What you shouldn't learn from this table: "I'm forty-five years old and I haven't invested a penny! I won't even bother - it's too late!" No, no, NO. While obviously it is better to start early, late-blooming savers still get some time in the sun, we promise. All we're saying is... well, get a move on!

How much should I save?

The short answer: as much as possible. We've used a figure of £100 for our examples, but don't be put off if you can't afford to save as much. Small sums soon build into bigger ones and you can increase the amount you save each year. The trick, as we've said, is to start saving early and invest steadily in order to get the miracle of compound interest working for you.

A final note on smart saving

Locked-in savings vehicles like bonds and term deposits tend to offer the best interest rates. If you're willing to sacrifice temporary access in exchange for a top rate of return, consider locking your money up for a spell to give it a serious chance to grow.

Get Control Of Your Money

Getting control of your money is about spending less than you earn and using the difference to fund savings and investments to get the miracle of compound interest working for you.

You should aim to spend less than you earn each and every month. If you already do this, you're well on your way to gaining control of your money - you just need to get the money you're not spending to start earning interest. Do this by paying yourself first: set up a direct debit into a savings account just after pay day and put that money to work right away so you don't get tempted to spend it elsewhere.

If you don't spend less than you earn, don't worry. Most of us need a little help getting control of our money. In fact, those of us who barely make it from one pay day to the next need to start with basics: budgeting.

Budgeting - the key to a healthy bank balance

Budgeting is neither as scary nor onerous as it sounds. To start, make a list of your regular bills and how much they cost you each month. This should give you a good idea of your main areas of expenditure. If you're not sure where your money's going, keep a spending diary: for one month, make a note of everything you spend, even if it's 40p for a chocolate bar. At the end of the month, tot it all up to see how much you spend and where you spend it.

Once you know your outgoings, it's time to start trimming them. Often there's no need to cut back on the things you enjoy, but rather to get better value for money for the stuff you have to get anyway. If you're spending far in excess of your income, you will need to take more drastic steps, but for most of people, a trim should do it.

Trimming the fat - the same products for less money

Start trimming your outgoings by reducing one major bill each month, prioritising the bills you pay on a regular basis, as with these, one phone call could lead to sustained savings. Most people can save hundreds of pounds, if not more, just by making a couple of switches. You shouldn't have to look too hard, either...

• Financial products
  Changing your mortgage, savings account or credit card is often one of the easiest ways to generate some surplus cash.
• Energy
  One of the biggest expenses most of us have, after rent or a mortgage, is energy bills. You can usually get a better deal by switching energy providers - just shop around online.
• Getting around
  If you're a driver, you can probably save a packet on car insurance by switching to a cheaper provider - just compare online. Women drivers and drivers with clean records can stand to save the most here. Comparing online will also yield savings on journeys by rail and coach.
• Getting away
  Fancy a break? However and wherever you're making tracks, you can save at least the price of a meal by shopping around before you buy. With dozens of online resources dedicated to finding the cheapest fare, accommodation, excursions, and breaks, there's just no excuse for paying too much for your holiday fun.

A final note on getting control of your money

Getting control and keeping control are different things, and there's no guarantee you won't fall off the straight and narrow at least once. When this happens, just take stock of why you fell - so you can learn from your tumble - and calmly and proudly climb back on the horse.

Learn The Rules Of The Money Game

Banks and other financial companies are often portrayed as big, ugly beasts that have no interest other than ripping people off. This may be partially true, but don't forget that in comparison you are small, nimble, and perfectly formed. All you need is a little insight into the nature of the beast. Learn what to look for and what to watch out for to ensure you trust your money to only the most respectful of financial partners.

Fair and friendly financial behaviour

• Flexibility
  Avoid any loan products that impinge on your financial freedom by tying you in for any amount of time with early repayment charges. The only exceptions to the flexibility rule are products like bonds, which offer you a higher-than-usual rate of return in exchange for locking your money in for a set time.
• Low-cost
  With financial products, less money for the bank means more money in your pocket. The best way to find the lowest-cost products is to shop around online, but beware of hidden costs: a better rate could end up costing you more if it includes high charges or - heaven forbid! - commission.

Keep an eye out

• Best buys
  Banks often reserve their best deals for new customers, so the deal that got you in the door may fade over time. Banks expect you to put up with this - don't. Keep tabs on your money and move it elsewhere if you can get a better deal.

Stop, turn, and run as fast as you can in the opposite direction

• Complexities
  If you don't understand how a financial product works, don't touch it.
• Bundles
  If a company tries to sell you a combination of products in one go, chances are most of the add-ons are overpriced, unnecessary, and only serve to make them money. Don’t bother!
• Cross-sells
  Many companies grab you with a winning product and then try to sell you a load of tat. Few banks excel across the board; if you need a new product, be prepared to shop around.
• Commission
  Salespeople often recommend a product because they earn more commission on it. Whenever someone tries to sell you a particular financial product, ask what's in it for them.
• Scams
  From dubious emails asking for your bank details, to endowments, to pyramid schemes, the cliché stands: if it sounds too be good to be true, it probably is.

Dump Your Debts

These days, being in debt is almost considered normal. The average UK adult has non-mortgage debts of several thousand pounds, and pays interest rates well in excess of 10% on what they owe. While the miracle of compound returns can be a fantastic thing when you're saving, it works in reverse when you're borrowing, which explains why debts often spiral out of control.

Credit cards are a major culprit here. While it's useful for borrowing money, if your card has a high interest rate and you can't afford to pay off much each month, then the credit card company is getting the benefit of compound returns - and who wants that?

Savings vs. debt: the knockout round

A common mistake for well-meaning but misguided savers is to carry debt on the credit card while accumulating savings in the building society. Unless you have a 0% card, these are good intentions, but bad maths: with savings earning, say, 5%, but debts costing 15%, there's a shortfall of 10%. It makes far better sense to use the savings to pay off the debt and start again from scratch with savings that are earning real returns.

Beware the lifelong debt!

It's impossible to overemphasise dangers of debt. Even small, seemingly harmless debts can quickly grow out of control. Take a credit card debt of £1,500. If you're charged 1.5% a month and only ever pay the minimum monthly requirement of 2% of your outstanding balance, this bill will take an astounding 37 years to clear, and at the cost of thousands of pounds of interest!

If you have non-mortgage debts, paying them off should be your top priority. Only once this is done can you really start building up your finances for the future.

Don't panic if your debts are large. The Fool has plenty of advice, and you probably have more rights than you realise if lenders are knocking at your door and your finances are causing you sleepless nights.

Make It Home Sweet Home

Sooner or later, most of us buy a home, which means sooner or later, most of us need a mortgage. As far as borrowing goes, mortgages are considered acceptable debt: mortgage providers are prepared to lend people money at a reasonable rate, and it is usually a far cheaper way of borrowing than almost any other form of debt, because it is secured against a property.

As with all financial products, the one thing we cannot stress enough is the importance of shopping around for the best possible mortgage for your needs.

Repayment mortgages vs. interest-only mortgages

With mortgages, you must pay off the interest on the loan each month, but as for the loan itself, you have a few choices:

• With a repayment mortgage you can pay off the loan gradually: part of the cash you pay each month covers interest on the loan, and the rest pays off a portion of the capital sum you borrowed.
• With an interest-only mortgage, you will have the amount you borrowed outstanding for the whole term, as you only pay off the interest each month - the challenge with this type of mortgage is that at the end of the term you'll need a lump sum to pay off the capital.

Different types of interest rates

Once you decide whether you're going with a repayment mortgage or an interest-only mortgage, the next step is to look at the kind of mortgage you want, which is all about interest rate. Differentiating by the way interest is calculated, the most popular mortgages tend to be variable rate, fixed rate, discount and tracker, capped rate, and offset mortgages:

• Variable rate mortgages are up to your bank or mortgage provider. They set a rate on their own, usually heavily influenced by the Bank of England's base rate, and raise, lower, or freeze this rate as they choose.
• Fixed rate mortgages are fixed for a set time, so you know exactly what to expect. It's a smirk of satisfaction for you if your lender's variable rate rises above your fixed rate, but if it falls, your mortgage provider is laughing all the way to the bank.
• Discount mortgages offer a percentage discount off the lender’s standard variable rate, which means your monthly payments move up and down with the lender's normal variable rate, but you enjoy a discount over a set time. The trick with these is getting a discount mortgage that doesn't lock you in after the discount ends, as you'll want to remortgage as soon as it does.
• Tracker mortgages follow the interest rate of an independent body, usually the base rate set by the Bank of England: when the base rate changes, the tracker mortgage changes automatically. Interest rates on tracker mortgages are usually set at the base rate plus or minus anything between 0.5% and 2%.
• Capped rate mortgages ensure there is a ceiling to the interest rate you will pay over a given period of time. As with fixed rate mortgages, if your lender's variable rate rises above the capped rate, you benefit, but unlike as with fixed rate mortgages, if it falls below the capped rate, you pay what everyone else pays. The downside of capped rate mortgages is that they tend to have higher interest rates than fixed rate mortgages - the price of enjoying a fixed upper limit on your mortgage payments.
• Offset mortgages allow you to contribute your savings towards your mortgage, without losing access to the funds themselves. The more you have in your savings account, the less interest you have to pay on your mortgage, which helps you repay your mortgage faster and more cheaply. Offset mortgages tend to be best for people with volatile incomes or significant savings.

Buying to let

Buying to let is a popular investment option, but from a mortgage perspective, being a landlord requires a bit more planning than your average homeowning situation. If you need a loan to fund the purchase, you will need a buy to let mortgage. These are designed to give more favourable and flexible terms, with the main difference being that most lenders won't just take your salary into account, but will include potential rental income from the property when assessing loan eligibility.

Foolish tips for mortgage holders

Whatever your mortgage, remortgage! Most lenders reserve their best deals for new customers, which means you can often get a better deal by remortgaging every few years. While remortgaging can take some time, with rates for new mortgages up to two percentage points lower than the typical standard variable rate, remortgaging could save you hundreds of pounds a year.

Overpay your mortgage each month. If you can do it without penalty, overpaying even £50 a month could save you thousands of pounds in interest in the long term and take years off the term of your mortgage, bringing forward the day when you own your home outright.

A final note on mortgages

Be a savvy mortgage shopper! Look at the Annual Percentage Rate (APR - also known as the overall cost for comparison), how often interest is calculated (daily is better than monthly and monthly is better than annually), how long any early repayment charges will keep you locked in for, and if you can overpay without incurring penalties.

Retire When You Want To

The key to a happy retirement is having enough money to make the golden years count.The alternatives are grim either way: working long past the age at which you'd have liked to retire, or subsisting entirely on a diet of Value Baked Beans for the last thirty years of your existence.

The current pensions crisis has come about because people are living longer than in the past but not saving more to compensate. With many of the best company pension schemes shut to new members, or even closing down entirely, and the State Pension predicted to fall in value over the long term, the responsibility has now shifted to us to provide for our own retirement.

What's a Fool to do? Start saving early, and defer tax by starting a personal pension or joining a company plan. With compound interest at work, investments made when you're young can become much more valuable when you're older. Putting aside even a small amount can make all the difference in the world, 30 or 40 or even 50 years down the line, and you can always increase the amount you invest in manageable steps.

Start a personal pension

Personal pension plans are a way for people who don't have access to an occupational pension scheme to defer tax as they save for retirement. Your pension payments usually go into an investment fund, although you can also get Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) where you get much more control over how your pension fund is invested.

You receive tax relief on the payments you make: for basic rate taxpayers, the Government pays £25 into your pension for every £100 you put in, and for higher rate taxpayers there is an additional £25 of tax relief for every £100 you pay in. On retirement you can take out up to 25% of your pension as a tax-free lump sum, and the rest is basically used to provide you with a taxable income throughout your retirement.

Stakeholder pensions are personal pensions with a few unique features. Firstly, they must meet certain standards set out by the Government. They're penalty-free and they usually cost less than personal pensions if you’re putting in small amounts.

SIPPs, or self-invested personal pensions, are another personal pension option. With a SIPP, you pick the investments yourself, from stocks and shares to income trusts and business properties, and wrap them in the benefits of a pension. For the most part, SIPPs are subject to the same rules and benefits as other pensions, including tax breaks, limits on contributions, and the 25% restriction on the tax-free lump sum.

Join a company scheme

If you have a company pension scheme, it nearly always makes sense to join it, especially when you don't have to make contributions. With your employer putting money in on your behalf, not joining a company scheme is, effectively, refusing free money - and who would do that? Even if you have to contribute to your company pension, opting out is still turning down free money: less than half of the money you ultimately get through a company pension plan actually comes from your pay - most of it comes from your employer and through tax breaks.

If you don't have access to a company pension scheme, don't worry. You will need to save a little bit more, but it's manageable. It makes the most sense to save in a tax-efficient way – usually a personal pension or an ISA (more on these in Step Eight). Note that while you can put more into a pension than you can an ISA, a pension is not as flexible when the time comes to actually get at your money.

A final note on saving for your retirement

Your pension should form the foundation of your retirement savings plan. Build on it with a range of other savings and investment vehicles, from ISAs to funds and shares.

Invest! Seriously, It's Simple

What would you do if we said you were missing out on an investing strategy that, in the long run, has produced returns that far outweigh those offered by a building society? One that outperforms cash in a deposit account or bonds? Well, meet the stock market.

Internet bubble and credit crunch included, over the last 90 years or so, the UK stock market has returned an average annual rate of around 11%, outperforming bonds and cash in a deposit account by around 5% to 6% a year. Although recent falls have shaken many people’s belief in shares they also do pretty well over shorter periods too. For example, over period of five years, the returns from shares have historically beaten cash around 80% of the time. Over ten years, this rises to about 90%, and for twenty-year periods, it's 98%. With odds like that, investing for the long term remains one of best ways of building your wealth.

Investing in the stock market can be financially savvy, simple, and inexpensive.

Investing in the stock market: funds vs. shares

You can invest in the stock market by buying shares in an individual company, or by investing in a fund, which consists of a variety of shares in different companies – sort of like a basket of shares. With shares, as the value of the share itself (a publicly-traded company) goes up or down, the value of your investment does the same. With funds, the value of your investment is tied to the value of the fund, which is reflective of the value of the shares the fund is comprised of. It follows that one share's movement has a smaller impact on the fund as a whole, and thus on you, than it would if you had all your money tied up in that share alone. You do pay a price for the relative stability of funds, and that's the fund management fee – all funds have these.

Perhaps the biggest challenge with the stock market is knowing what to buy, when to buy it and when to sell it. This is where our two stock picking newsletters can help.Dividend Edge is focused on picking high yielding shares, while Champion Shares PRO leans towards digging out bargains about smaller companies. Both are 'real-money portfolios' meaning we have invested a portion of the Fool's cash to demonstrate how each strategy works in practice.

Introducing the index tracker

Individual shares and funds not to your tastes? The index tracker might be your best investment option. An index tracker is a fund that copies one of the main stock market indices (like the FTSE 100, for example) so that by buying into a tracker, you can buy the overall market without having to pick individual shares. The FTSE 100 contains the hundred largest companies on the UK market, with each company weighted according to its market value. This means movements in large, usually more stable companies like BP, GlaxoSmithKline and Vodafone affect the FTSE 100 index much more than smaller companies.

Index trackers charge less than other funds. A good index tracker will cost you 0.5% a year in charges whereas a managed fund, where a fund manager chooses shares for you, will set you back around 1.5% a year, plus an initial charge of 5% for investing your money in the first place.

Our share dealing service

If you’re interested in investing then you’ll want a low-cost share dealing service to keep your trading costs down. This is where The Motley Fool’s Share Dealing service can help. You can buy and sell for just £10 or set up a regular purchase plan for £1.50.

Further reading on investing

As a rule, the longer you invest for, the greater the chance that you'll do well. Investing for the short term, which we would describe as less than five years, is certainly risky. But when you're investing for your retirement you can afford to be a bit more patient.

Keep The Taxman At Bay

Pretty much all the money your earn is subject to some degree of taxation, but you can protect some of it from income tax, Capital Gains Tax (CGT), and inheritance tax. The easiest way to prevent all of your money from falling into the taxman's clutches? Wrap it up in an ISA, pensions, and trusts.

The Individual Savings Account (ISA)

The simplest way to protect your money from income tax and CGT is to hold your savings and investments in an Individual Savings Account, or ISA. An ISA is essentially a tax-proof wrapper for your money: as long as it's tucked inside an ISA, you won't have to pay tax on any income or gains you make from your money.

There are limits to how much you can put in an ISA in each tax year. For the 2011/12 tax year (tax years run from April 6 to April 5) you have a maximum ISA allowance of £10,680. You can invest all of this allowance in shares or funds but only up to £5,340 in cash. So for example, you could put in £5,340 in cash and £5,340 in shares, or you could put the whole £10,680 in shares. The Government has said it plans to raise the ISA limit each year, in line with inflation.

The Motley Fool offers a shares ISA through our Share Dealing service.

ISAs can seem a little complicated and the government tends to tweak the rules for them on a regular basis. They’re well worth investigating though. Many people who have invested in them each and every year since 1999 have built up portfolios worth in excess of £100,000 that are totally protected from the taxman.

If you have an index tracker, you should consider putting it in an ISA. It's a tax-savvy move that won't cost you anything extra, and it could significantly boost your returns in the long run.

Pensions

We talked about pensions in step six, when we looked at retiring. If your employer offers an occupational pension scheme, you're best to take part - as we demonstrated earlier, the contributions your employer will make to your pension fund amount to free money. If you don't have the option of an occupational scheme, you can start a personal pension, a stakeholder pension, or even a self-invested personal pension (SIPP).

All pensions offer relief from income tax, but they work slightly differently than ISAs: if you're a basic-rate taxpayer and you put £200 a month into a pension, the Government will give you tax relief on this amount, boosting your investment to £250 a month. Higher-rate taxpayers are able to claim more tax back - in this example they would be able to claim a further £50 a month back from the taxman via their tax return.

Money within your pension is free to grow without being taxed. However, once you begin to draw your pension, the money you draw from it - your income - is then taxed at that point, although you will be able to withdraw up to 25% of your pension as a tax-free lump sum, if you want to.

Inheritance tax: the taxman's last hurrah

Inheritance tax is the last tax you will ever have to pay, although technically your estate pays it as by the time inheritance tax is to be paid in your name, you will no longer be with us. Here's how it works: your estate is valued at the time of your death, and a certain amount is tax exempt. The balance is then taxed at 40%. Your estate is the aggregate of all property owned as well as any significant transfers of wealth made within seven years of death.

A number of exemptions arise with inheritance tax, including transfers between spouses, gifts to charities, annual gifts, gifts in consideration of marriage, and a lifetime gift. The most effective, but most complex, way to avoid inheritance tax is through the use of trusts - and for this we strongly encourage you to seek the guidance of a solicitor or financial advisor.

A final note on tax and your money

With a little time and effort, ISAs, pensions, and even trusts can save you from paying a fortune in tax. Just remember, the more money you put in and the longer you keep it there, the greater your potential tax savings will be.

Make Your Child A Millionaire

One of the best things you can do for your kids is to show them how money works: how to make money, how to manage it, and how to make it work for them. The best way to do this is to invest for them while they are young, slowly building a solid financial foundation for them to stand on. A lot of people are quick to dismiss this as indulgent behaviour guaranteed to turn out spoilt-rotten sponges, but we urge you to think a little more broadly.

Making your child a millionaireis about ensuring your child is able to enter adulthood without serious financial worries, and with the advantages money can buy, and the kind of financial sense - instilled in them by you - that ensures a healthy relationship with their pennies and pounds for a long time to come. Granted, with inflation and without guaranteed rates of growth, you may not reach a million pounds by the time your children become adults. No matter - by then, they'll be finance-savvy savers and investors themselves, building on the foundation you began.

How to invest for your children

Stock market, stock market, stock market! The long-term return on investment in the UK stock market has been around 11% per annum since 1918. Take a look at what might happen if you invest just £25 each month on your child's behalf, and what might happen if you leave it up to them to start on their own:

Investing for your children

Child's age	Invest £25pm until 21 then stop	Start investing £100pm from age 21
0-21	£24,064	£ 0
21-60	£1,409,189	£696,991
Total invested:	£6,300	£46,800

If you put £25 a month into a tracker fund until your child's twenty-first, and the historical return had been achieved, it would then be worth about £24,064. If you hand the fund over and it continues to accrue compound interest, then by the time they reach 60, a total outlay of £6,300 would be worth around £1.4m. However, if you invest £100 a month from age 21 to 60, you’d only end up with half this amount, despite having invested considerably more.

For simplicity, we’ve ignored the impact of tax, charges and inflation here, all of which would take a hefty chunk from these sums. But, even allowing for these, the basic message remains the same and that is the earlier you invest, the easier it is to build a significant pot of wealth.

To help parents prepare for their children's futures, Child Trust Funds were launched for babies born after 31 August 2002. The Government added money at birth and at age 7 and anyone could add a further £1,200 a year and all this money is completely protected from the taxman. Unfortunately, this scheme is now being phased out and won’t apply to children born after December 2010. Existing Child Trust Funds will continue until the child turns 18.

The easiest way to teach your children about finance is to get them involved.Investing money on their behalf is a great place to start, but that's just the beginning. Teach them how money invested sensibly will grow, and how, when the growth is added in, that will also start to grow. Show them how to save by opening a savings account for them, and get them to pay the money in themselves. You could even introduce the idea of buying shares in individual companies.

Protect Your Wealth

Once you've got your finances in order, you need to ensure they stay that way. Life can throw any number of unexpected oddities at you, and the value of financial security in the event that a "what-if" actually happens cannot be overstated. It's dull, it's depressing, it often feels like spending good money on nothing at all, but it's also the only thing protecting you when fate gets nasty: it's insurance.

Protect your income

What happens if I'm hurt or ill and cannot work? To protect yourself and your family against financial hardships brought about by accident, sickness, and unemployment, you're best to invest in income protection insurance, also known as Accident, Sickness, and Unemployment (ASU) cover.

As with all financial products, with ASU cover, you're urged to shop around carefully! Buy it from your mortgage lender and you will typically be charged £5 to £8 per £100 of cover per month for a policy that pays up to twelve monthly benefits during the course of a single claim. Shopping around could reduce this to £3. Also don't forget that on many policies you can't start to claim until you have been without a salary for at least three months (although it does get backdated).

A word of caution: Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), an insurance policy to reduce everyday risks, sounds ideal, but unsavoury industry practices mean that PPI is far less attractive than it should be. If you are considering PPI, try contacting an insurance broker, as most stand-alone policies easily undercut mortgage lenders' premiums. You may find that Income Protection (IP) insurance is worthwhile alternative to PPI.

Protect your mortgage

If you've got a mortgage, you know the warning: your home is at risk of repossession if you are unable to make your mortgage payments (or those on any loan secured against your home). The best way to protect your home and mortgage just in case the unexpected happens is with Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance (MPPI), best bought from a stand-alone lender as opposed to your mortgage broker.

Protect your savings

Thanks to inflation, not all saved money is safe money. Let’s say inflation is running at roughly 2% a year, which means every year, the same things cost 2% more. This means money put in a savings account with 2% interest would actually only be keeping up to the rate of inflation – in effect, not growing.

In fact, if you're a basic-rate taxpayer (paying 20% savings tax), you need to earn 2.5% a year just to keep pace with inflation. Higher-rate taxpayers would need to earn 3.3% a year. To beat inflation, you need to ensure your savings are in an environment with a growth rate strong enough to make a difference over not just over a year, but over the course of five, ten, or twenty years. The best place we can think of? The stock market, of course!

Protect your family

We've looked at everything else that can go wrong, now let's turn our tragic gaze to the big one: death, and what happens to the people you leave behind.

Your ability to earn money is your most valuable possession. If there are people in your life who depend on you financially, you cannot afford not to have some form of life insurance. Here's how it works, in brief: you pay your life insurance broker a monthly premium, and if you die during the life of your policy, your broker gives your dependents an agreed sum of money.

When you buy life insurance, you'll need to consider both the length and the size of the policy. Though the amount of cover you need will vary according to your dependents, at bare minimum you need cover enough to pay off your mortgage and other debts and replace at least some of your income. Realistically, cover of ten times your gross income (your salary before deductions) should leave your dependents debt-free and with a decent standard of living. In terms of policy length, it makes sense to cover yourself until your normal retirement age, usually 60 or 65.

An alternative to life insurance: Family Income Benefit (FIB). If you want to provide your partner or dependants with an income if you die before collecting your pension, FIB is a far cheaper alternative to life insurance. Whereas life insurance gives your family a lump sum, FIB pays them a tax-free income for a defined period. Buying FIB instead of a lump-sum policy could halve your monthly premiums.

A final note on wealth protection

Hopping back aboard the Grim Thought Express, even the savviest of insurance policies won't protect your family from all kinds of hardship if you haven't left your affairs in order. If you have possessions, family, insurance, or even just a parting comment, you absolutely MUST write a will and keep it current.

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