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Top tips to cut down your energy bills.

October 16, 2011 – 10:55 am

This winter it is thought that hundreds of thousands of families will struggle with their energy bills after seeing a huge hike in the cost of fuel over the course of the summer. A report by the Citizens Advice Bureau has recently suggested that this year those that are the most vulnerable will have to make a choice between either feeding themselves or keeping warm.

This week marks world Energy Saving Week, an initiative that aims to get everyone thinking about their energy usage and look at what they can do to cut down and reduce their bills.

Here are a few tips that we would like to share:

Although only a few small steps, they can not only save you money but will also make the planet a little bit greener.

We would now like to hear your tips, what do you do to try and keep your bills down?

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Tags: Bills, Energy Bills

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Home Ownership Rates Second Highest in History

October 14, 2011 – 11:37 am

The US Census Bureau just released new data showing that the home ownership rate for 2010 is the second highest on record, behind 2000. That’s since the collection of this data began in 1890. But home ownership has experienced the largest decline since the period between 1930-1940. In the last ten years home ownership has dropped 1.1 percentage points.

The data shows that inventory increased by 15.8 million housing units in the decade between 2000 and 2010. That’s a 13.6 increase nationwide. In all states the housing inventory grew, but it grew most in the South and West. The South saw a 17.9 percent increase while the West saw a 17.3 percent increase. The states with the largest percentage of increase in housing units included Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, Texas and South Carolina. West Virginia had the lowest increase of any state with a 4.4 percent increase.

The data shows that cities except for Manhattan, Kansas had more homeowners than renters in 2010. In

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Tags: Highest, Home Ownership, Second Highest

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Mortgage Refinance Loan

October 11, 2011 – 1:05 am

Before opting for A mortgage refinance loan, it is always better that you take into consideration your financial condition and requirement. There are plenty of options available with mortgage refinance loan so you need to be extra careful when selecting one. Ideally, you should choose a mortgage refinance loan with monthly installment set on the basis of your financial condition so there is no pressure on you in terms of repayment.

Fixed or Adjustable Interest Rates

Before applying for a mortgage refinance, you need to be clear what kind of loan package you are looking for. You can go for a loan with fixed or adjustable interest rates. Each has advantages and disadvantages but, in the long run, fixed interest rates are a much better option.

The main advantage of fixed interest rates is that your monthly installment will remain the same throughout the duration of the loan.

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Tags: Loan, Mortgage Refinance, Mortgage Refinance Loan, Refinance Loan

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Why ATM charges prove financial inclusion is out of fashion

September 26, 2011 – 8:10 pm

The basic account was introduced by banks almost a decade ago after coming under pressure from the Labour government to give financially excluded people access to banking services. It is a no-frills account without overdraft facilities that allows people to have their wages paid into a bank account and to set up direct debits to pay bills.

The Treasury estimates that between 2002 and 2008, nearly half of the 2.2 million people without bank accounts in the UK signed up to opening one – the vast majority, to basic accounts. Of these, 1.1 million – more than half – were from the lowest income quintile.

The short-term financial benefits of having a basic account have turned out to be limited, as savings made by moving to electronic banking have been offset by penalty payment charges if a direct debit bounces or the account goes into the red – basic bank account customers are not able to negotiate an agreed overdraft. But the

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Tags: Financial, Financial Inclusion

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Marc Faber: Gold could fall to $1,100

September 24, 2011 – 4:10 pm

The price of gold, which has fallen in recent weeks as part of a broader market sell-off, has even further to fall, Marc Faber, author of the Gloom Boom, and Doom Report, told CNBC Monday.

We overshot on the upside when we went over $1,900, said the fund manager, who has 25% of his portfolio in gold.

Were now close to bottoming at USD 1,500, and if that doesnt hold it could bottom to between USD 1,100-1,200.

Faber, who said that the recent sell-off had come about following nervousness about industrial metals, added that a 40% correction wouldnt surprise him.

US gold suffered its biggest daily drop in more than five years on Friday.

Recent falls in the gold price came after a sustained rally which saw some predict that prices would hit USD 2,000 or even higher.

While he is bearish in the long-term, he forecast a rebound in markets in the short-term.

Both equity markets and gold markets have become very oversold, and I think a rebound is occurring, he said.

Following this rebound, which I expect to get underway this week, there will be a longer slowdown.

John Woods, Chief Investment Officer at Citi Private Bank, told CNBC Monday that he believes gold will fall to around USD 1,400 before continuing its long-term rise.

It was massively over-bought in the last couple of weeks and now it will get over-sold, he said.

I dont think the long-term trend is broken.

The markets started off Monday in jittery mode after the failure of the weekends International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting to announce any new action on the euro zone debt crisis.

Faber predicted a short-term rebound when he spoke to CNBC at the start of August.

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Tags: Fall, Marc Faber

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