Video Professor

A Quick Quickbooks® Review

Tax time. Don’t you just love it? I mean is there anything you’d enjoy more than pouring through receipts and files and form after form? I can. In fact I can think of about 762 things I’d rather do. Included in that list is getting my wisdom teeth removed without pain medication.

As I am anything but organized, I find that my problem is keeping track of all my expenses. For a while, I put receipts in envelopes. Then I tried manila file folders. Yeah, real helpful. And my important statements? Let’s just say finding those involved a lot of swearing.

Someone told me I need to buy Quickbooks financial software. So I listened and ran to the store and picked up a copy of Quickbooks 2007. To date, I have been happy with my decision to purchase Quickbooks and here is why I decided to go with Quickbooks instead of other programs. The Quickbooks review was more favorable than those of others.

Quickbooks, for those of you not familiar with the product, is a financial accounting software program that allows the user to better organize and manage their finances. Quickbooks primary competitors are Quicken and MS Money.

The Quickbooks review I read was favorable towards the product but also highlighted a few problem areas. Here is a synopsis of a review posted by ZDNet.

The good: QuickBooks 2007 provides minor improvements to an already top-notch interface; new Google-specific marketing tools.

The bad: QuickBooks 2007 doesn’t offer many new accounting goodies for QuickBooks 2006 upgraders.

The bottom line: Despite its lean list of improvements, QuickBooks 2007 remains a terrific small-business accounting package. Longtime QuickBooks users who haven’t already upgraded to QuickBooks 2006 should leap to 2007 instead.

From there I decided to find another review of Quickbooks. About.com posted the following Quickbooks review that also proved helpful.

Overall, QuickBooks 2007 remains an easy-to-use software program for small business accounting. This is a must-have upgrade for users with versions from 2004 or earlier (since Intuit does not support software over three years old). Manufacturing, wholesale, and retail businesses will benefit from enhanced features in the 2007 version.

After reading the various reviews of the Quickbooks product I was confident in my decision to purchase Quickbooks 2007. I think that if you need help managing your finances, Quickbooks would be a product you could benefit from. But make sure to do your research to ensure that Quickbooks is the product for you. Aren’t reviews great?

Consolidate Your Debt

You do not have to be a news junkie to know that consumer credit card debt loads (and consumer debt in general) are at dangerously high levels. If you are like me, you know this through firsthand experience. If you are one of the millions of Americans juggling multiple credit card balances you may want to consider a debt consolidation credit card.

Or should you?

Debt consolidation is nothing new. My guess is you receive countless debt consolidation offers from any number of banks and credit card companies. They throw around low interest rates in hopes of enticing you to apply for their debt consolidation credit card. For some, these low-interest offers can help them pay off their high interest debt and get their finances in order. However for others, such offers only help make things worse.

If you are considering applying for a debt consolidation credit card you should know a few things before doing so and ask yourself a very important question: do I have the financial discipline to pay off the balance and not charge more to the card? Such a question may seem obvious, but many folks do not understand the ramifications of making purchases using their debt consolidation credit card.

You may not be shocked to learn that those zero percent interest rates only apply towards balance transfers and not towards purchases, but did you know that any purchase you make will accrue interest until your balance is paid off? That’s right, if you transfer $3,000 to a debt consolidation credit card at zero percent and then make $1,500 worth of purchases at 15 percent, you will not begin to pay off the $1,500 until the initial transfer is paid off.

However, if you have the financial discipline to ignore your debt consolidation credit card and not make additional purchases with it, then you will be doing yourself an obvious financial favor. After all, it does not take an economist to figure out that carrying a balance at 15 percent versus the same amount at zero percent is not the wisest financial decision a person can make.

Debt consolidation credit cards are an excellent option for those who know what they are getting into. So long as you know that you should not make additional purchases and know that the interest rate that was initially offered will remain, you will be in good shape. However, if you are not sure you have the financial discipline to follow the aforementioned rules, a debt consolidation credit card will wind up being no different than the others in your wallet or purse.

Keep It Simple: Index Investing

If you are new to the world of investing or are simply looking for different investing options, you should consider index investing.

Every investor has heard of the NASDAQ, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500. Perhaps the most well known indices, the numbers we associate with them, function as statistical measures of the changes in the portfolio of stocks that make up their index. As it would be next to impossible to track every change made by every stock, investors have come to rely on indices such as these to track changes in the market.

The reason index investing is fast becoming a popular means of investing is due in large part to the indices simplicity and performance relative to other funds. Index investing is easy because rather than devote large chunks of time to researching actively managed mutual funds — whose performance relies on the intelligence and wisdom of a fund manager — the investor can simply invest in an index fund that tracks the specific index they are interested in. Index investing does not rely on fund managers, thus index funds are often referred to as passive funds.

Many new to index investing mistakenly think that actively managed funds always perform better. However, the truth of the matter is that index funds often perform just as well, if not better, than actively managed funds. More important, index investing allows the investor to circumvent the administration fees commonly associated with mutual funds.

So what index should you invest in?

For those considering investing in large, established U.S. companies, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is the index to consider. Comprised of the 30 largest and most influential companies in the country, the DJIA is typically seen as the least risky of all indices.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the Russell 2000 index. This index measures the performance of smaller stocks that are often not included in the larger indices. For investors who are looking for bigger returns and are comfortable with risk, the Russell 2000 is worth considering.

However, investors should be aware that within each index are several smaller indices. Additionally, there are industry indices for those who want to invest in precious metals or telecommunications. As index investing becomes more popular, investors are finding more indices to choose from.

Index investing may not be as involved or exciting as other types of investing. But, for those who are seeking performance, not fees, and who do not want to spend the time researching mutual funds or individual stocks, index investing is the way to invest.

Online Investing Basics

Video Professor Reviews: If you have been thinking about investing in the stock market, you’ve probably done some research on the subject. Perhaps this article is part of that research. Depending on how far into the decision making process you are, you will at some point need to decide how you are going to handle your investment transactions.

In the days before the Internet, if you wanted to invest your money you had to go through a banker or stockbroker. You still can as a matter of fact. Doing so most definitely has its advantages.

If you choose to invest via a stockbroker you will have to pay for it. Usually their fee is based on a percentage of your portfolio. Investing through a broker is a wise decision to make when you do not know a whole lot about investing money. You are paying for expert guidance and assistance. Your broker will handle many of your investing decisions and because of this piece of mind you pay a fee.

However, more and more individuals are realizing the advantages of investing money online. For the new investor, investing money online can be an intimidating proposition. It can be disconcerting to some because they do not feel secure in handling such important transactions online. However, such concerns, while valid, should not prevent you from investing money online.

The advantages of investing money online are many. Investors are able to expedite their trades, and in some cases, execute trades in real time. Investors also find that they enjoy the control they have over their portfolios. After all, no one cares about your money more than you. Additionally, investing money online does not mean you are forsaking the client/broker relationship. In fact, many online brokerage firms are just extensions of the brick and mortar firms you may have heard of. Many times, you do not have to pay a fee to discuss your investing strategy with your broker.

If you are considering investing money online via an online broker, you should spend the time researching and test-driving the options each broker has. Each site has different user interfaces and offers different versions of the same service. You may find that you like one site’s research options but dislike the overall layout. Likewise, you might decide to go with a specific online broker because you like their commission structure and mutual fund choices.

Investing money online should not be an intimidating choice. The security features in place ensure that your transactions will be safe handled. Investing online is one of the most convenient ways to invest your hard-earned money.