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Read my blog! www.politico.com Some sound advice for these turbulent economic times, Barack Obama raises $66 million, and Karl Rove says the campaigns are going too far.

Every one is looking forward to a great vacation trip. Need holiday financial tips?

2 or maybe three holidays a year to Europe and the Caribbean are now considered the standard with £74bn being spent on vacations and spending money in 2006, according to Axa. The issue starts when the vacation is over and the feared Visa card bills start landing on the mat! Only then do some people notice that they have spent beyond their means and the ‘holiday hangover’ starts to set in.

Holiday financial tips to forestall the holiday hangover :

? Set a limit – Think about how much you can realistically afford before you decide where you are going and, more importantly, where the money will be coming from. Stick to this budget!

? Start saving – Put some money aside each month leading in to the holiday – don’t forget that most package holiday corporations require the balance to be paid up to 12 weeks before departure. Attempt to put the same amount away and deposit the funds into a separate bank account to bypass the temptation to spend.

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5 financial tips to keep you ahead of 90% of the population

You are never too young to start financial planning.  In order to stay ahead of what I call the “Traditional Spending Curve” (TSC) you need to start planning your future as early as possible – here are 5 steps you can take to stay ahead of the curve and be better off financially than 90% of the population

I think most people will agree that financial planning can be a great tool in helping you to build a nest egg for retirement.  The only problem is that most people don’t start their financial planning and budgeting until after they graduate from college and get a job.  For most people their financial planning consists of a 401k from their employer and maybe a personal IRA on top of that.

You might be saying well there is no point in planning your finances if you are still in school and don’t have any finances but that is where it is actually most important.  This is where you have the opportunity to get ahead of what I call the “Traditional Spending Curve” (TSC) which is basically the level of necessary spending you must engage in at any particular time in your life.  When you are young it is very low because your parents pay for everything but as you get older it goes up as you start to pay for your own meals, or cell phone bills  etc. It takes a substantial leap when you move out and have to pay rent, utilities etc.  Naturally the amount you save is inversely proportional to the amount you spend so ideally the more you can save when you are younger when your expenses are lower the better.

When I say stay ahead of the curve what I mean is that if you wait until you are out of college and out on your own and working to start saving then you may have missed the boat already because then your expenses are very high and it is harder to save money for a house.  And the biggest problem people run into is that houses often appreciate faster than they are able to save.  So they get stuck paying rent and never have enough saved to put down 20% on a house and are always stuck behind the curve.

So here is a list of things you can do to stay ahead of the curve:

1) Get a job while you are in high school and save every penny you can.  You may not be earning much but you’ll find if you have a few thousand in the bank when you get out of high school you’ll probably be ahead of over 90% of your fellow students (and most adults too!).

2) Drive the cheapest car you can stand.  Don’t make the mistake a lot of kids make when they take all the money they’ve saved and spend it all on a down payment on a car and then they have no more savings and a car payment!  If possible try getting by without a car by hitching rides from friends or family or taking the bus, or borrowing a family car from time to time.  The money you save can make a huge difference when you get to #5.

3) Get a college education – this one is obvious – in this day and age its really not an option anymore it’s a necessity.  According to the US Census Bureau a college graduate will average about $20,000 more per year than someone with just a high school diploma which can translate to about $1,000,000 of extra earnings over a persons lifetime. So get a college degree and more specifically get a degree that will teach you a skill to get a job.  Majoring in art might be very interesting to you but it probably won’t help you find a very good job.  Specific majors include: accounting, engineering, nursing, law etc.

#4 Live at home for a few years after graduation.  This may be the hardest one to follow but it is the MOST IMPORTANT.  In order to stay ahead of the traditional spending curve you need to save as much as possible when you don’t have many expenses.  Well, the problem is that you’re not really making a lot of money until you get out of college and get a decent job so it’s hard to save a lot of money.  Then when you move out you have a ton of expenses so it’s still hard to save a lot of money.  However, if for example you live at home for a few years after you graduate and get a job then you should be able to save half of your income or more.  So if you are a college graduate making about $45,000 a year living at home you should be able to save about $20,000 of that or more annually!  In a few short years if you budget wisely then you could have $50-$100,000 saved up and ready for you first and most important major investment.

#5 Buy a House- Hopefully by now you’ve saved your money you earned in high school and college working part time and saved about $20,000 a year for the last 3 years by living at home with your parents.  This is when you buy your starter home. Lets say you are single and making about $50,000 a year.  So to be safe you buy a condo or townhouse that is 3 times your gross income or $150,000 and you put down 20% which is $30,000.  You are still left over with about $10-20,000 and now you have an asset that will appreciate as you pay it off.

You will be one of very few 25 year olds that has his or her own property with 20% equity and over $10,000 in the bank.  As your house value grows so does your equity and your ability to upgrade as you save more and increase your earnings potential.

As you’ve seen all this was possible because you started planning for your future while you were in high school.  If you had waited until you were already out on your own and paying rent it would be much harder to achieve the savings necessary to buy a house.  Many people are well into their 30s and still struggling to save enough money to buy a house.

You might be saying this is all fine and dandy but its too late I’m already behind the spending curve – well you can still improve your finances with financial planning but this article is really geared toward high school students and their parents.  This should really be taught in every high school in America but since it isn’t it’s your responsibility to teach it to your children if and when you have them.

Financial tips for loans & credit cards

Credit Cards Vs Loans

If you want to take out a personal loan you can borrow up to £25,000; the main point is you get structured repayments so you know how long you’re borrowing for and what it’ll cost each month. If you were to borrow on the cheapest credit cards it substantially undercuts the cheapest loans on offer; so in many circumstances credit cards should be the first choice. Check out the latest loan deals at www.peekoo.co.uk.

Are you trying to make existing credit card debts cheaper?

In most cases a loan will not be the cheapest option for you. Most credit card providers offer 0% balance transfer deals and they are designed to allow you to transfer other card debts to them at a special rate, usually these rates are much cheaper than the best loan rates.

By going for this option it does not mean that you need to keep transferring debts between short term 0% deals; some of the deals available last until all of the debt has been repaid. Do try to ensure that you make at least similar repayments to what the loan would normally cost you each month

Are you borrowing for less than a year or less than £1000?

Majority of the loans available over a short period or low amounts are usually very expensive. Instead there are other options available to cut the cost. Some of the credit card providers allow new customers to spend on there cards at 0% for up to the first year. As long as you can make your purchase on a card and will definitely pay it off before the 0% deal ends, then this could be a lot better option than a loan with a high APR%.

Are you trying to cut the cost of an existing loan?

Most would think that by switching to a cheaper interest rate will save you money. Many loans, especially the older ones, have lock in penalties so even though you will end up paying less interest on the loan, when you add in the fine for switching, overall you end up paying more.

Secured Loans Vs Personal Loans

Most of the high street loans available are un-secured. You would think that this option is a bad thing but it isn’t. The other alternative is secured loan the kind you’ll see all over the TV. For the following reasons I’d steer well clear unless you really have to…

Your home could be taken away if you fall behind on payments.

A secured loan means you are securing the debt on your home (or something else you may own), and if you can’t repay, the lender can repossess your home. With unsecured loans this is a lot less likely to happen.

Most personal loan rates are fixed, and secured loans are usually on a variable rate.

Majority of the un-secured loans available are on a fixed rate; from the start you know exactly what you will pay, and this will not change if the UK’s interest rates change or the lenders rates change. For the latest rates on secured loans visit www.peekoo.co.uk.

With secured loans the rates are variable, meaning the lender can change the rates when it likes, especially in a credit crunch when you really don’t need added pressure on your finances. Many secured loans have seen rates doubling, hitting people’s pockets hard which is resulting in the falling behind on payment and in some cases having the homes repossessed.

Secured loan payments are usually stretched over many years.

Secured loan lenders often tell you that there is “one easy low monthly repayment”, this may sound good but this illusion is made by stretching the debt over many years, so you will end up paying more and more interest, costing you a fortune.

This is very important information and something you should take seriously if considering a secured loan. Remember secured loans give your lender the security, not you. A much better option is to take a normal unsecured personal loan than one secured on your house.

Secured loans are rarely the best possible option and should be considered as the last resort of lending. If you have a reasonable credit score then you should consider a personal loan first. There are other options like cheap credit card deals or even extending your mortgage.

Choosing the right loan

Some of the lowest interest rate loans can turn out to be the most costly due to hidden costs from the lender. Before you pick the type of loan you want to apply for decide the most important factors. How much, for how long?

The math’s behind it is very simple; borrow as little as possible and repay as quickly as possible. When looking for a loan always base borrowing on what you can comfortably afford to repay as over borrowing can cause debts to build up. Also before borrowing question everything; can you avoid any debt? The PeeKoo loan calculator will let you calculate how much you can borrow and at what cost.

The Cheapest Personal Loans

Have a look at the best buy tables in the PeeKoo loan section to find the best rates available. The cheapest loans with out insurance, all you need to do is find the loan with the lowest APR (Annual Percentage Rate) of interest for the amount you are borrowing.

Please be aware that all the top loans compared in our tables are ‘typical rates’, which means only 66% of those accepted actually need to be given these rates; depending on your own personal credit score you may end up paying a lot more.

Financial advisor, Farida Chookolingo shares tips on ethical spending, saving and planning strategies.

Lesley Scorgie, author of Rich by 30 a young adults guide to financial success, withRob Carrick from the Globe and Mail discuss financial tips for 20 somethings. * How do I get rich by 30? * How much of your paycheck should you save? * How do you decide where to put your savings? * What are the benefits of a TFSAs compared to an RRSPs? * How do you begin to save for a house? The Investor Education Fund is pleased to be cosponsoring this video series with the Globe and Mail called “Lets Talk Investing.” The series is hosted by renowned Globe and Mail columnist Rob Carrick and features prominent Canadian financial experts discussing topics that are relevant to investors.