Before you retire, should you pay off your mortgage?

It is always a better idea to pay off your mortgage loan before you get retired. You never know what is going to happen at your old age. If there is a burden of paying off your mortgage then it can be tough for you to handle any critical situation. So, be relaxed at your old age by paying it before you retire. It will also help you to take other decisions because after your retirement it is obvious that you will be in shortage of money. Here if there is no burden of paying mortgage loan then it will help you immensely.

You should also compare interest rates. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage interest rate is 6.57%. It will be a wise decision to keep mortgage loan long if you can earn more than the interest rate you are paying for mortgage. You should pay off mortgage loan as quick as possible if you are not sure whether you can earn higher from the stock market.

"We don't know what the earnings are going to be in the market," says Vern Hayden, a certified financial planner and president of Hayden Financial Group in Westport, Conn. "The guaranteed return on your money is the interest you were paying" on the mortgage.

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Increase the sales potential of your business by accepting credit card payments

We all work very hard to increase the volume and sales potential of our business. The best and easiest way to increase your sales potential is by opening a small business merchant account and accept payments by credit cards or debit cards from your customers.

When you accept payments by credit card or debit card, your business will automatically grow and the sales can go high as much as 400%. Over 87% of all internet sales are paid off by credit card merchant accounts.

You will be able to accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover for your products and services instantly upon completion of the online merchant account application form. You can do it on the website of the merchant account provider. Accepting payments by credit cards is the best way to increase your sales. However, you can accept other modes of payments like echeck or by ACH authorization from the customers.

Internet has made so many things possible. It is the fastest growing market of advertising in history. If you have a business, you must open a small business merchant account and accept payments by credit card on your website. This business policy is adopted by many small businesses to large corporations.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a budding entrepreneur selling your great new idea or a large corporation searching for new ways to increase their sales, internet is the most vital part that will help in expanding your business.

Small business merchant account is like a line of credit that allows the credit card networks to route funds to you quickly after you have got the payment from your customer. When your customer places an order on the website and makes the payment by his credit card or debit card, his credit card information will be used to process the transaction. Once the transaction is approved, you will be notified through email confirmation and it will get documented in your online transaction manager. And, funds will be transferred to your small business merchant account

Critical illness cover

Cancer or heart attack is the most common serious diseases that is hitting one in every four women and one in every five men around the globe. To ease the gruesome effects of such serious diseases to some extent, critical illness insurance is designed for the welfare of the ordinary people.

If you are one of the affected by such diseases or permanently disabled, you will get a tax free lump sum amount when you are covered by a Critical Illness Cover. You will get the benefit of this policy if you are able to survive at least one month after becoming critically ill.

These types of insurance covers are also known as dread disease cover. Critical Illness Insurance will cover the cost of the diagnosis and medical treatments on certain specified critical illnesses. You must understand the terms and conditions of each insurance company before purchasing the insurance policy, because the policies differ from one company to another.

There are a number of diseases that can be covered under certain Critical Illness Cover. However, every insurance policy with different companies must cover the following diseases: Cancer, coronary artery bypass, heart attack, kidney failure, major organ transplant, multiple sclerosis and stroke. If the policy holder becomes permanently disabled due to some serious injury or illness, he is covered under one of such critical illness insurance.

Most of the insurance companies have changed some of their rules in the year 2003 as set by the Association of British Insurers. The rules were strictly tightened and the customers could only claim on critical illness insurance policies.

As per the changes applied on some of the insurance policies, some of the diseases like non-invasive skin cancers and less advanced cases of prostate cancer cannot be covered. In some of the critical illness cover, you will not get a cover if the tumors have not yet invaded the organ or tissue, and lymphoma or Kaposi's sarcoma in the presence of HIV are excluded.

Someone who is living single with no dependants will find the Critical Illness Insurance more important to be taking care of his mortgage payments and other debts. This way, he will have fewer bills or a lump sum to play with if you are very unwell. Whether you are living alone or have dependants, you must get some insurance policies for your own personal benefit and taking care of your family in a better way.

Using negotiations for debt solutions

Debt settlement or debt negotiation is the most appropriate method of contacting your creditors and working out a settlement of a lump sum pay off your total debts. If you have started missing your payments, creditors will start sending letters or making repeated phone calls to pay your bills. They may even be ready to offer you a settlement of around 50% on the outstanding balance if you agree to pay the lump sum amount within 10 or 20 days. If you are unable to accept the offer and make payment, the settlement offer will go void. They will offer you different ways of debt solutions so that you are ready to pay back your bills.

How to negotiate with your creditors and find debt solution: You should be able to do this directly or if you need help, contact a reputed company offering debt solutions. You will find many professional debt negotiator, or arbitrator to set up arrangements with your creditors. It is not uncommon to pay just 50% of the outstanding balance because the creditors want to get their money back, even by offering some huge discounts.

If you have some ready amount of money, then you should accept such kind of settlement offers from your creditors. This way you will be able to save the most of your money that would have otherwise gone just in interests and principal payments. You should be aware of the fact that if you accept some settlement arrangements with your creditors, they have the rights to report your accounts as “settled” or “paid as agreed” to the credit bureaus. When you are trying to come out of your overwhelming debts, you should not be too much worried about your credit ratings because debt negotiation is often the most economical option of debt solution.

In case you are falling short of money to pay the debt settlement amount, there are ways to arrange the required amount. You can use the money from your savings, tax refunds, second mortgages, home equity loans, or refinancing of an existing mortgage. Professional debt negotiators will set up payment plans with your creditors so that you don’t miss the settlement offer given by your creditors on a certain period of time. You may even ask help from your family or friends to pay the settlement amount. If you are able to take care of issues, you might save yourself from some unforeseen situations like creditors taking you to the court, or garnishing your wages. There are many other available options in debt solution, but debt settlement happens to be the best in eliminating your existing debts.

While settling the debts with your creditors, you should focus on those accounts that are charged the highest interest rates and that will make the most dramatic change in your monthly budget. If you started missing payment in some of the accounts recently, you should focus on those accounts also and consider debt settlement, because it will eliminate not only the debt, but also the delinquencies.