Finance

Some people assume that selling a home is as easy as putting it on the market. However, it’s not as simple as you might like to think. There are all sorts of factors that can lead to your home staying on the market. The longer it stays on the market, the harder it will get to sell it. So, how do you get your home sold to a buyer as fast as possible?

Take a look at some of the most practical tips for selling your home as fast as you can.

Take Care Of Problem Areas

Before you put your home on the market, it’s important that you address any issues that could push potential buyers away. Whether there is a pest infestation, or a leak in the roof, the sooner that you get rid of problems, the sooner the buyers will be interested.

Rarely do buyers want to buy a home that will require a considerable amount of work. Make things as easy as possible for someone purchasing your home, and they’ll be much more likely to buy from you.

Get an Agent

Many people trying to sell a home may avoid getting a real estate agent because they don’t want to pay a commission. However, a real estate agent is one of the best tools you can have for increasing your chances of a faster sale.

A real estate agent will know exactly what it is that you need to do to make your home sell quickly. From helping you get your home appraised to helping you choose the best selling price. Choosing a real estate agent who knows what they’re doing is probably the best favor that you can do for yourself in terms of selling quickly.

Pull Out The Paint

It’s a good idea to slap a new coat of paint on your house to give it a fresh breath of air. If you’re not sure what color to paint your house, consider consulting with your real estate agent. They might know what a great color is that tends to sell faster. In general, darker colors aren’t as appealing. Go for a light and airy, and you’ll immediately make your home feel newer.

Boost Curb Appeal

Curb appeal is what makes your home appealing to someone walking down the street. It should be the first thing that catches a buyer’s eye when they see your home from the outside. The better curb appeal that your home has, the more likely that you are to appeal to buyers. You can try anything from painting your front door to adding fresh flowers. It’s all about giving your home a little extra pizzazz.

You may have heard the expression “save for a rainy day,” and you certainly should. But how much should you be saving, and how much of that money should you be keeping in your checking account?

Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to keep your savings and your checking separate. After all, you don’t want to be tempted to spend the money that you’ve worked so hard saving on a frivolous impulse buy. But at the same time, you should keep a little extra on hand in your checking account. This will help you avoid overdraft fees, for instance, if you make a mistake and draw too much from your account.

So what’s the right amount? Well, that depends on a few things. Here are our five tips for knowing how much money you should keep in your checking account.

1. Maintain the Required Minimum Balance

Some checking accounts have minimum balance requirements. Before signing up for an account, check with your financial advisor to see what, if any, requirements are associated with the account. The minimum amount required often varies based on the financial institution and the particular type of account you have.

For instance, Rivermark Community Credit Union offers a Free Checking Plus account with a minimum opening balance of $25. Once your account is funded with the opening deposit, however, there are no further minimum balance requirements. If you do have a checking account with a minimum balance requirement, you should make sure you always have at least that amount in your checking account to avoid any penalties or fees.

2. Calculate Your Monthly Bills

Once you’ve made sure that you have enough money to cover any minimum balance requirements, make sure you have enough in your account to cover your monthly bill payments. Many people use the auto-deduct option for payments such as rent, utilities, and debt obligations, such as credit cards or student loans. Using auto deduct not only ensures your bills get paid on time, but you may also get an interest rate deduction by using this option.

This can save you quite a bit of money over time. But only if you have enough money in your account to cover these bills. If you forget you’re signed up for auto deduct and you don’t have enough money in your account to cover the payments, then you’ll likely incur late or overdraft fees. That’s why you should add up your monthly bills and always keep enough money in your checking account to cover the total.

3. Account for Monthly Expenses

Once you know how much you’re spending on your monthly bills, you’ll also want to add up how much money you need for other monthly expenses. For instance, you probably use your checking account to pay for things like gas, groceries, and other basic living expenses.

If you have a monthly budget, great. You can use that to know how much you spend in an average month. If you don’t have a monthly budget, now is a good time to sit down and create one. This free budget worksheet from Consumer.gov is a good place to start.

You can look at your checking account for the past few months and total up how much you’re spending on food, gas, entertainment, and any other regular expenses. Then create a budget with categories for these things, as well as for your monthly bills. Assign a maximum spending amount for each category in your budget and then add up all these amounts. This is how much money you’ll need each month to cover all your expenses.

If you see that you’re spending more than you’re making, you may need to cut back in certain areas. Your financial advisor can help you do that. Once you know how much money you need to cover all your average monthly expenses, you should aim to keep that total amount in your checking account.

4. Add a Little Extra

Remember that your budget is based on an average month. There will always be some months when you spend a little extra. You could have a water leak, for instance, that may cause your water bill to be higher one month. Or you may have certain expenses that only come around once or twice a year, like property taxes or membership fees. You’ll want to account for these extra expenses as well and add them to your overall monthly budget amount. If you have an annual expense, divide that amount by 12 and add that amount into your monthly budget.

Once you have a new monthly budget that accounts for all your annual expenses, add at least 10% to the total monthly budget amount so that you can cover unexpected expenses without having to dip into your savings.

5. Put Your Savings Elsewhere

In general, you should plan to keep a full month’s worth of expenses plus 10% extra in your checking account at all times. It may be tempting to keep more money in your checking account. However, you should set any extra aside in a separate savings account. As we mentioned before, this will help you avoid the temptation to spend the extra cash and will help you save for bigger-budget items, such as a vacation, car, or new home.

Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Wouldn’t it be nice to instead have enough cash in your checking account to use the money from this month’s paychecks for next month’s expenses? Doing that will keep you one step ahead of the game. It may take some time and work to get to that place, but we can help. Our financial advisors can come up with a plan to help you find extra savings, cut back on your spending, and plan for the future. So give us a call and we can put you on the path toward future financial success right now.

You need to be extra cautious when handling your tax documents. There are times when you rush to submit the paper to the government agency because you have to meet the deadline. As a result of rushing the process, you end up with documents full of mistakes. It’s not going to benefit your business, and it could even lead to possible losses.

Penalties and fines

Since you decided to rush the documents and there are tons of mistakes, the government could fine you for doing it. At first, you will have a chance to correct these errors. However, if they keep happening, you won’t receive another opportunity for an error connection anymore. Worse, the government will think of it as an intentional falsification of documents. Your business might end up receiving an order for foreclosure as a result. Anything can happen because you mishandled the tax document. Therefore, you have to do everything possible to avoid it from happening.

Keep the records up to date

You have to ensure that all financial documents are up to date. Any financial transaction also needs to be on the file. It doesn’t matter how significant the amount is. As long as the money comes in and out of business, it needs to be on the record. It’s easier to keep track of what’s going on if someone is making sure that no money gets disbursed without proper records. Every amount coming in also needs adequate documentation.

Apart from ensuring that you’re paying the right amount for taxes, it’s also important to document to avoid financial losses. You will know how much money you’re spending on certain expenses. You will also know if it’s time to cut down. There’s also no chance to corrupt the company’s money since everything is on record.

Partner with an accounting firm

If you’re running a small business, you might find it challenging to hire a lot of full-time employees. You need to prioritise jobs that are necessary to keep your business running. If you can’t afford to have a full-time accountant, you don’t need to worry. You can always partner with third-party firms. You can send your documents to the firm, and they will have someone looking into every item. If you need to have the tax document ready on a specific date, you can count on these firms to do the job. Check out www.gsmaccountants.co.uk for more information about accounting firms and the services they offer.

Make sure that you choose a reputable partner. You also have to check the terms to find out if they will be responsible for rechecking the documents for mistakes. Some firms would even go as far as taking the penalties given by the government if they made the errors. You will feel more confident about the document you’re handing over to the tax agency when you partnered with these accounting firms. You can continue the partnership in the future if you think it’s for the company’s best interest.

 

One of the reasons so many people play video slots and other casino games are because they want to make big wins. Although gambling shouldn’t be used as a means to make money, many people become excited at the prospect of making big wins. If you’re one of those players, it may be a good idea to play jackpot slots which provide players with a better chance of making wins.

Take a look at our suggestions of the five best jackpot slots you can play at UK online casinos and their sister sites.

Mega Moolah by Microgaming

Mega Moolah is arguably one of Microgaming’s most famous video slots and the biggest jackpot slot ever released. Available at most UK online casinos, the game launched back in 2006 and is played heavily to do this day. Due to its age, the game lacks some of the popular mechanics in modern-day slots but it’s still packed with bonuses and features.

Microgaming’s Mega Moolah features Wild symbols and Scatters which trigger a Free Spins mode of up to 15 free spins. What’s more, the website offers players a chance to win one of four jackpots including the Mega Progressive, the Major Progressive, the Minor Progressive, and the Mini Progressive. All of this, accompanied by the fun and colourful animal symbols, has made Mega Moolah and its spin-offs such as Mega Moolah ISIS some of the most popular jackpot slots around.

Hall Of Gods by NetEnt

Hall Of Gods is a Norse-inspired video slot which features well-known characters including Thor, Odin, Freya, Loki, and Idun. The slot is decorated with Norse-inspired symbols such as Mjolnir, ancient runes and nods to Nordic mythology such as Wild symbol based on the World Serpent. The game was released back in 2013 and includes several notable features including Wild symbols which can expand to cover reels, and a Scatter symbol which can trigger the slot’s Free Spins mode of up to 20 free spins.

If all of that isn’t enough, players can win one of three progressive jackpots in the game; the Mega Jackpot, the Midi Jackpot, and the Mini Jackpot. To win any of these, players will be required to bonus symbols and trigger the Bonus Game.

Gladiator by Playtech

Gladiator is an online jackpot slot developed by Playtech and based on the 2000 film of the same name. The game, which was released back in 2012, is one of Playtech’s classics and is widely regarded as one of the provider’s best games. Symbols in the game are based on characters in the film and, although it lacks some of the modern gameplay mechanics we enjoy now, the game offers players plenty of chances to win big.

The game allows players to gamble their winnings to double their reward, there’s a Coliseum Bonus where players can pick rewards including multipliers and scatters, and there’s a Jackpot Bonus which can award players with big wins.

Pirates’ Plenty: Battle For Gold by Red Tiger Gaming

Pirates’ Plenty: Battle For Gold was only released last year but will probably go down as one of the best video slots around. The game was developed by Red Tiger Gaming and acts as a sequel to the provider’s previously successful slot Pirates’ Plenty The Sunken Treasure. Now, both games plus dozens of others by Red Tiger Gaming all feature jackpots, but we believe that Battle For Gold is the most fun to play.

The game uses a pirate theme and the symbols included are all based on cannons, skulls, guns, treasure chests and more. The special features available include wild symbols, multipliers, battle spins, and so much more.

Holmes And The Stolen Stones by Yggdrasil

Finally, Holmes And The Stolen Stones is one of Yggdrasil’s biggest slots. The game is based on detective Sherlock Holmes and was released in 2015. It’s still popular today due to its fun theme and wonderful gameplay mechanics. Symbols in the game include Sherlock, a book, magnifying glasses, locks, and more.

Special features in the game include Bonus Games where players collect rewards, a free spins mode of up to 10 free spins and coins, as well as five different jackpots which can be won by collecting multi-coloured shards of a diamond.

If you’re looking to make big wins, we suggest you check out the five games listed here. They’re all incredibly fun to play and offer players plenty of chances to make lots of winning combinations and win jackpots. What more could you want?