Top Ten Paid Survey Sites to Make Extra Money

Whenever we get some free time or short breaks we use it to earn some extra money by doing paid surveys. This helps us to donate more money to our favorite charities. Last year we earned around $127 by doing paid surveys from Pine Cone Research. So we thought of expanding our paid survey portfolio to other paid survey sites as well.

We've centered our research on paid survey sites which

How To Protect Our Finances From A Market Crisis?

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]With the stock market nose diving and banks failing every other day, it's natural to think about protecting our hard earned money and assets from the current financial crisis. For a common person, most of his/her assets are either stowed away as savings in a bank account, or invested in a portfolio in the

Top 10 Sneaky Credit Card Tricks

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).] We recently concluded a series which dealt with increasing our awareness about some common caveats of the credit card game. Knowing about these oft practiced sly tricks can help us save hundreds of dollars and hours of head ache as well as stress. It will also aid us to be better debt managers while

Sneaky Credit Card Trick #10 - Beware of Disability Coverage & Card Theft Insurance

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).] Once we sign up for a credit card we frequently get offers to sign up for a disability insurance or purchase a card theft insurance. Often when we call our card's customer service they try to sell us these programs. Simply avoid them, they are not worth it.What is sneaky about these offers?The disability

Sneaky Credit Card Trick #9 - 0% APR - Take Care with the Fine Print

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]If we have a good credit history, we'll receive plenty of 0% APR offers for new cards from reputed credit card companies. Congrats!Beware of the fine print though. Perhaps it's time to grab a magnifying glass and read the fine print well.What is sneaky about 0% APR offers?Most cards sneakily mention whether

Sneaky Credit Card Trick #8 - Fixed Rates are NOT Fixed

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]It is a known fact that credit card companies attract new clients by advertising low "Fixed" APRs. Newbies might think that APRs on their balances are fixed till they pay it off, right? No dear, we are nowhere near the truth!What is sneaky about fixed rates?According to credit card jargon, "fixed rate" means

Sneaky Credit Card Trick #7 - High Cash Advance Fees & Rates

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]Cash is king when its not a debt but has been accumulated as a result of our savings. And like convenience checks, cash advances from our credit card accounts is a terrible mistake. We should avoid it at all costs.What is sneaky about cash advances?The rate for cash advances is much higher than the APRs

Sneaky Credit Card Trick #6 - Lower Minimum Payments

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).] To boost their profits, credit card companies often lure their clients by sending lucrative offers with lower minimum payments on debts. The lowered minimum payments can be as low as 2% of our owed balance.What is sneaky about lowering minimum payments?Stay away from this gimmick at all costs. Else we might

Sneaky Credit Card Trick #5 - Skip A Payment Invits

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]During the holiday season when our card balances are usually high, credit card companies often send offers which invite us to skip a payment. This might appear to be helpful, more so since it has come at an opportune moment when our balance is high and our wallets stretched. But be careful, whenever the

Sneaky Credit Card Trick #4 - Convenience Checks

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).] Often we receive attractive "convenience" checks from our credit card companies. The convenience offered is the ability to write checks against our credit card account. Beware, even the most tempting offer comes with hidden fees that make the risk far greater than the reward.What is sneaky about these

Sneaky Credit Card Trick #3 - Late Fees In Minutes

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).] Most credit companies charge high late fees to the tune of $35 to $39 per late payment. So a smart credit card user has to be careful to avoid this trap.What is sneaky about this fee?The sneaky thing about this fee is that even if we're late by one minute it would still cost us $35 to $39. So its simply not

Sneaky Credit Card Trick #2 - No Grace Period

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).] There are many credit card programs which do not offer any grace period. A wise strategy is to simply avoid such cards whenever possible.What is a grace period?The period from the statement date to the payment-due date is known as grace period. If we make a full payment by the end of the grace period, the

Sneaky Credit Card Trick #1 - Over The Credit Limit Fees

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]Often credit card companies charge various types of sneaky fees that catch us unaware. They do list all fees in their fine print and we do agree to abide by them when we open an account. But often there are some practical difficulties which might cause us to err. And then we end up paying heavily.One of

Sneaky Credit Card Tricks - A Series

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).] Every year we earn a tidy amount to the tune of $3k - $5k in credit card sign-up bonuses, airlines' rewards miles, cash back rewards and special card promotions. It is a nice way to supplement our income. We feel enthusiastic about these deals since they help us to reach goals set for our annual charitable