Top Five Cheap Flight Destinations
Jul 9th
Author: Suzanne Bradley
At the moment, it’s easy to see how some people would be worried about vacation costs this year. Travel is too expensive for many people because of the economy and threats of layoffs. However, there are still cheap travel destinations if you are willing to do your homework. The bulk of your vacation cost will probably go towards your flight and your hotel stay. So, finding a cheap flight and taking advantage of other options can greatly reduce the cost of your vacation. Here are the top five cheap flight destinations that you should consider:
New York City and Other Big Cities
You can often find cheap flights to New York City and other big cities because they are home to large airports. When you fly into a large airport, you have more airline options, which can lower the price. Big cities can be a lot of fun, but are not usually high on the list for tourist destinations, since people are more likely to want to head to the beach or mountains for vacation. As an added bonus, that means that other activities in the cities are also less expensive. Most big cities even have government-sponsored museums, parks, and zoos which are free or under $10 for admission.
Florida or Southern California
The price of your flight often depends on your point of origin. One thing that is almost always a sure bet, though, is that it will typically be cheaper to stay in the United States than to travel abroad. If you live in the eastern half of the country, Florida is a natural choice. You can find flights into Orlando and Miami for just $100 to $200 if you are leaving from a larger northern airport. In the west, southern California is a great destination for the same reason. If you live in the center of the United States, check both Florida and California prices. Also, don’t forget that visiting the gulf of Texas is also an option.
Canada
If you absolutely just want to experience a different country, Canada is a great option. Staying near the United States and not having to cross an ocean helps keep the price of the flight down as low as possible. Canada is also not a huge tourism center, so prices for flights are naturally lower than, for example, Hawaii. Keep in mind that travelling can still get pricey once you arrive at your destination with the current exchange rate, so budget accordingly. However, with the money you’ll save on a flight, it could be worth it. You won’t find warm, sunny beaches in Canada, but you will find some great wilderness resorts, and there are a number of cities that are fun to visit, such as Toronto.
The Caribbean
Believe it or not, the prices for plane tickets to the Caribbean are actually fairly affordable. Although this is a tourist hotspot, the sheer number of flights going into and out of these airports drives the price down. When you work with your travel agent, you can also often get a lower price because they get discounts for selling a certain number of flights on one airline – and flights are easy to book to the Caribbean. There aren’t as many tourists flying to, for example, Italy on the other hand, so they aren’t likely to get a discount on that airline. You can save even more money in general by choosing to fly to Puerto Rico, since it is still a territory of the United States.
Mexico
Some vacationers have been shying away from Mexico recently. However, if you stick to tourist hot spots and use a little discretion, you can be very safe in this country. Flights into Mexico are inexpensive for the same reasons that flights into Canada are inexpensive, you are staying near the United States and you don’t have to cross an ocean. You’ll still pay more for a flight to Mexico than most domestic flights, but if you shop around for good deals, you should be able to travel fairly inexpensively.
Flying will always be expensive, no matter how much price comparison you do to different destinations. There are a few things you can do to keep the price as low as possible, wherever your destination may be. First, be flexible with your dates. Flights are usually more expensive on weekend and near holidays. You can also add more layovers to your flight or take nighttime flights to save money. Finally, when you book your flight, try not to plan activities that you have to rush to as soon as you land. That way, if there is an overbooking problem, you can volunteer to take a later flight. If you do that, most airlines will refund your ticket and give you an additional free flight to use in the future.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/top-five-cheap-flight-destinations-868419.html
About the Author
Suzanne Bradley is a freelance writer and blogger who writes about vacations and the travel industry in general, often discussing vacation tips such as finding cheap flights.
Consumers To Get Dave Ramsey Financial Advice With High Yield Checking
Jun 29th
Author: Erik Keith
With the economy and investment opportunities slimming, consumers are looking for alternative, safe avenues for storing their money other than their mattress. CheckingFinder.com, home to the highest yielding free checking accounts at community banks and credit unions across the nation, has announced a limited time offer of a trial membership to Dave Ramsey's MyTotalMoneyMakeover.com for every person who submits an application.
In addition to the advice and tools from Dave Ramsey, a personal money management expert and best-selling author, consumers will find checking accounts yielding up to 5.15% APY and be able to open them within minutes on CheckingFinder.com.
"Dave Ramsey is renowned for offering life-changing financial advice on his nationally syndicated radio talk show and in his books, and we're proud to be able to offer his MyTotalMoneyMakeover.com, especially during these tough economic times," said Gabe Krajicek, Chief Executive Officer of BancVue, the company responsible for providing high-yield REWARDChecking® to community financial institutions and aggregating them with the help of marketing partner, FIRST ROI on CheckingFinder.com.
CheckingFinder.com is an online search engine that helps consumers find free, high-interest checking accounts with no minimum balance from community financial institutions across the country. Consumers have the peace of mind knowing that all these accounts are insured through the FDIC, NCUA, or ASI. The advertised rates are not introductory teaser rates, there are no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements associated with the accounts, and ATM fees are refunded nationwide.
Dave Ramsey's MyTotalMoneyMakeover.com is a subscription site helping people discover financial peace by walking them through Ramsey's 'baby step process' for dumping debt and building wealth. MyTotalMoneyMakeover.com is widely considered to be one of the best tools available to keep people motivated and accountable for their finances.
"Dave Ramsey has been a solid supporter of what we're doing at CheckingFinder™ and with the REWARDChecking accounts," said John Waupsh, Chief Executive Officer of FIRST ROI. "He truly understands what it means for money to work harder."
For more information on these free, high-yield checking accounts at community financial institutions and the free trial offer to Dave Ramsey's MyTotalMoneyMakeover.com, visit http://www.checkingfinder.com.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/personal-finance-articles/consumers-to-get-dave-ramsey-financial-advice-with-high-yield-checking-830397.html
About the Author
http://www.checkingfinder.com
Seven Of The Cheapest Places In The Us To Live
Jun 27th
Author: Jane Michael
With the economy the way that it is today many individuals are looking for ways to save money and coming up with some pretty creative ideas. Everything from cutting back to cutting down to looking for deals has been thought of and tried in order to save some money. Some individuals even relocate to cities that have a lower cost of living so that they can live the way that they are used to but spend less money doing so. Many individuals assume that the cost of living is high everywhere but this is hardly the truth. There are a number of areas that have continued to stay steady regarding the costs of the things that we need the most. Some cities continue to have a competitive real estate market, low cost necessities, and lower taxes than other areas of the United States. Listed are seven of the many cheaper places in the US to live in no particular order, just in case you are thinking about relocating in order to keep the standard of living that you are used to even when it seems as if it is impossible.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Although you may not think that you can live for cheaper in a big city Pittsburgh is actually a highly competitive when it comes to cheaper cities to live in. Although the unemployment rate is considerably high the cheaper cost of living tends to make up for it.
Fort Collins, Colorado - This is an area with about half the unemployment rate of Pittsburgh with similar cost of living averages. Many cities in Colorado continue to grow because they can compete with many other cities in this manner.
Albany, New York - This is another bigger city with a significantly low cost of living. Because of its size and the fact that it is a capital city you get a lot of bang for your buck here.
Manchester, New Hampshire - Not only is the cost of living here significantly low but the unemployment rate is nearly nil as well. Combined this makes this a great city to live in.
Marietta, Georgia - Yet another place to live with a very low unemployment rate as well as affordable housing and other necessities. The cost of living here is so low you may be living even better than you are now should you decide to relocate here.
Little Rock, Arkansas - Little Rock is not only a cheap place to live but an exciting place to live as well. With a low unemployment rate added to that this is an excellent pick for relocation.
Rochester, New York - This is another city with a higher unemployment rate but the cost of living makes it still land on this list. Housing in Rochester is extremely cheap and leaves extra money for many other things.
Relocating can be a difficult move but also can be well worth your while. In many cases you can find a cheaper place to live not far from where you currently live and you can be living better in no time at all.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/seven-of-the-cheapest-places-in-the-us-to-live-1900704.html
About the Author
Jane Michael is a successful webmaster and owner of popular and comprehensive corporate gift basket web site. For more article and resource on condolences gift baskets visit here.
Implosion Of The Credit Card Banks
Jun 26th
Author: Mark S. Hankins, JD, LLM
Anybody with a credit card from a major bank needs to read and understand this article. You may or may not have seen Ann Minch, the Internet YouTube debt revolt phenomenon on Fox News or on Suze Orman's popular CNBC financial TV show, but what has happened to the credit card industry over the last few months is astonishing. The company that tracks credit card chargeoffs ("charging off" is the act of making an accounting entry indicating that a debt is not expected to be repaid), Fitch reports that starting from an already high overall figure of 7.4% in January, by August the rate was 11.52% and the number of credit card holders being charged off each month would contract the base of credit card holders nearly 12% in a year's time. That means that each month the customer base for credit card companies shrank by almost 1% and that assuming those chargeoffs reflected the average amount of credit card debt carried by the other cardholders, the bad debts owed to the banks went up by that amount also (keep in mind the cardholders being charged off may well have run their cards up and have higher than average balances).
Taking the figures month-by-month, and assuming that no new cardholders are being added (probably a negligible figure in this economic climate), for every thousand cardholders at the beginning of January there would be just 880 at the end of December. Fitch expects the chargeoff rate to continue increasing through the first quarter of next year, so the cardholder base will perhaps erode even faster than that. With cash flow from defaulted cardholders drying up, the banks are squeezing everybody else with increased interest (called "ratejacking" and fees) and when their squeeze pushes some over the edge into default they have to squeeze those who remain all the harder. Advanta Bank, once the 11th largest issuer of credit cards in the country had to shut down all of its cards to new charges at the beginning of June and its chargeoff rate reached 55.95% in a single month (June). Advanta now has probably less than 10% of the performing cardholders they once had because they raised everyone's rate over 30%.
That's happening to the other major banks, just a bit more slowly. For instance, the last three months of chargeoff rates at Bank of America were 12.5%, 13.8% and 14.54%--much worse than the averages found by Fitch. Within a single quarter, they lost 3.5% of their cardholders. In fact, Bank of America lost $9.6 billion on their banking business in the third quarter of 2009, making up $8.6 billion of it on trading profits that may or may not be real, probably don't reflect actual cash flow, and in any case are the result of taking on large amounts of risk. In other words, if it weren't for accounting trickery, BofA's situation would have been much, much worse than they reported.
To rub salt in the banks' wounds, the debt buyers who relieve the banks of their defaulted credit card receivables have been pulling back sharply. During good times banks could expect freshly defaulted acounts to fetch twenty-five cents on the dollar. As the recession worsened that figure went substantially below ten cents on the dollar. Now with the opportunity to pursue defaults at an all-time-high their difficulty collecting on those defaults means the junk debt buyers are themselves laying off workers and unable to make purchase of fresh defaulted debt at any price.
Defaulted debts require adding "Tier 3" capital to offset them, which is painful for banks-it's a category that regulators scrutinize closely in assessing a bank's health and that banks work hard to minimize in order to avoid triggering additional regulatory oversight of their daily operations. It is likely that some of the "too big to fail" banks will require another bailout. Other banks will have to be taken over by the FDIC, which itself does not have nearly the funds it needs to perform orderly liquidations of all the failed banks and pay back the insured funds of their depositors.
Officials first suggested the FDIC assess the banks to make up the shortfall, but the banks don't have the money. Then it was thought that having the banks prepay three years of premiums would solve the problem, but again the banks could not have funded that plan either. It appears the FDIC itself will require a bailout.
For consumers, this is the end of the credit line. For the least-impacted consumers life will return more closely to an all-cash lifestyle, while the consumers who were heavy users of credit cards and carried balances will either struggle to pay them off or face a future of uncertain consequences after they default. Once the economy improves enough for junk debt buyers to obtain access to funds with which to make purchases of defaulted debt, the consumers who defaulted will have to grapple with being in collections, and in many cases they will face lawsuits and wage garnishment, liens, levies and additional federal taxes because of the debt. Many consumers are unaware that legal and practical mechanisms are available to them to prevent those consequences even in the absence of repayment or bankruptcy
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/credit-articles/implosion-of-the-credit-card-banks-1359855.html
About the Author
Attorney, Debt Expert and author of "Debt Hope: Down and Dirty Survival Strategies"
How To Save Money On Car Insurance
Jun 25th
Author: Robert Rogers
Are You Still Paying Too Much for Car Insurance? You will find a checklist of items to ask your insurance agent that may qualify for discounts. Keep in mind that not all discounts can be applied with all insurance companies in all states.
1. Shop Around
Go to your favorite search engine and type in free car insurance quotes online. You'll see a long list of insurance companies that you may even be familiar with. Visit at least five car insurance websites and look for a link to free quotes. You will then be asked basic information about yourself, your driving history, and your car's make, model, and year. It just takes a couple of minutes, and shortly thereafter, they will email you a no obligation quote. Write down their website address, their toll free number, and customer service email address.
Each insurance company will ask you generally the same questions, and will give you options about how much coverage you will want. Find your current policy, if you have one, and take note of the coverage you currently have. Always provide the same information and ask for the same coverage at each company so you will be comparing apples to apples. Read the fine print and make sure nothing is excluded from the quote like Rental car coverage, towing, medical, etc...
For the purposes of the quote, the insurance company will not ask you your social security number, but keep in mind your actual cost maybe higher or lower depending on your credit history. If you're not sure about some of the terminology or coverage, take notes so that you can ask the insurance company about them directly.
Once you have at least five quotes emailed to you, take the lowest two or three quotes and see if they are less than what you are paying now. Most likely at least one of them is much lower. At this point you will want to call them directly to get the most accurate quote by providing additional personal information. For additional discounts, here is a checklist of things you should ask about.
[ ] $500 deductible
[ ] $1,000 deductible
[ ] Paying monthly, semi-annually, or annually
[ ] More than 1 car
[ ] No Accidents in 3 Years
[ ] No Moving Violations in 3 Years
[ ] Driver Training Courses
[ ] Defensive Driving Courses
[ ] Anti-Theft Devices
[ ] Low Annual Mileage
[ ] Air Bags
[ ] Anti-Lock Brakes
[ ] Daytime Running Lights
[ ] Student Drivers with Good Grades
[ ] Auto and Homeowners Coverage with the Same Company
[ ] College Students away from Home
[ ] Long-Time Customer
[ ] Other Discounts
2. Saving Insurance Premium on cars you own outright.
If you own a clear title to your car, meaning there is no bank loan on it, then you may want to consider dropping the collision/comprehensive coverage. As a rule of thumb, if the cars value is less than $3000, it may not make sense for you to pay for this additional coverage. Over time, the cost of the additional insurance premium will exceed the value of the car. It's pretty simple math.
Check the fair market value of your car either through Edmunds.com or even your local newspaper. See what other people are trying to get for the same car. Keep in mind your cars mileage, condition, and age. Has it been in an accident before? Does it have unusually high mileage in excess of 15,000 miles per year? Does it need new tires? You get the idea. Be realistic, because in the event that this car is in an accident and is damaged beyond repair, it is unlikely you will get the full value of the car.
3. Ask About Insurance Rates in Different Areas
Rates can vary widely even in the same state. Different locals have different accident rates, population, and crime. These all factor in to the final cost. If you are moving to a different area, ask about what the rates are for that town.
4. Ask About Getting Other Insurance Policies Together With Your Auto Insurance
Combining insurance policies with the same company can often give you additional discounts. If you own a home, ask about combining your homeowners insurance with your auto insurance. Also ask about other polices, such as life, health, and business insurance. Most insurance companies cover a wide range of policies and will give substantial discounts when you do business exclusively with them.
5. A Clean Credit History Can Reduce Car Premiums:
Having good credit can also lower your insurance costs. Many insurance companies will use credit information to price auto insurance policies. Drivers with good credit and a clean driving record may qualify as a "preferred" customer with lower risk and will be rewarded with lower premiums.
6. Low Mileage Discounts
Some companies offer discounts to drivers who drive a lower than average number of miles per year. If you car pool, take public transportation like the subway, or work from home, you will most likely drive few miles per year than the average driver.
7. Group Insurance
Some insurers offer discounts to drivers who work for certain companies or belong to professional associations, and alumni groups. Ask your employer, group or clubs that you belong to if they have any special arrangements with different insurance companies.
Using all of these tips can save you hundreds of dollars per year, especially when you have multiple cars and multiple drivers in the same household.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/how-to-save-money-on-car-insurance-42877.html
About the Author
Robert Rogers is a writer in the Washington DC area. For more free tips and resources, visit his website
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