Yes, it may sound strange, but we know there are some people who have never tried shopping online. This is in the face of numbers from the United States Census Bureau from 2008 indicating how e-commerce accounted for $93,280,000,000 of all total retail done in America, equating to around 2.5% of all major sales transactions. There are also figures from Nielsen that estimate that over 875 million shoppers worldwide go online, and that number is pegged to rise sharply in the future.

This rise in popularity is owed to the benefits that shopping online provides people with, especially those who are looking for very specific kinds of items or gifts. Yet there are still thousands who have not engaged in online shopping, and they have their reasons. Identity theft, money security and credit card fraud all come to mind when discussing the perils of buying online. This doesn’t include worries over shipping and product damage, or items that no longer suit their owners, such as clothes or shoes with sizes that don’t fit.

Never bought anything online? Here are a few points for people to remember:

‘Who’s That’ Is a Legitimate Question

There are lots of shopping websites, and they are often operated just like a normal store. However, a lot of shopping online gets done via auction sites, and the products put online are placed by users. The same goes for shopping bulletin boards on social media groups. You are often shown a description or a picture of the item, and you don’t always get a guarantee that it’s either the same exact thing or that it works properly.

Since you’re the buyer, try to make it known that he or she, the seller, has to be the one to establish trust. And make it a two-way street too: Take the time to get to know the person you are doing business with. Try to set up a phone call or a chat. If and only if you feel you can trust them, that’s when you can transact freely.

Shipping: Do They Tax? Do They Charge? How Fast?

Remember those three questions when paying for items online: Do they tax? Do they take credit cards? How fast? The most crucial answer to these questions is another question: “If yes, is it still worth it?”

Taxes come into play for some items, especially for imported goods. Some products, such as hard-to-find books, CDs or DVDs need to be shipped, and the buyers do need to pay certain tariffs. Whether it’s still worth it is up to the buyer, so if you’re buying, check costs. The same goes for shipping costs: if you have to shoulder the price, check if it’s too much. Do the same with the time it takes to deliver.

Credit Vs. Debit:

This is a common question asked on buying products online. The debate rages on whether to go with a credit card or with debit solutions. The easy answer: Go with what you’re comfortable with. Both credit and debit schemes have their own good points, so it comes down to what the buyer prefers.

Prepaid debit cards have the advantage of being more easily acquired by people who do not have credit to use. Debiting also means that buyers need not spend too much on interest every month. Meanwhile, credit cards may be more easily accepted by a wider range of shops, which is of critical importance when purchasing goods online. This should soon be a non-factor, though, as debit cards are becoming more and more prevalent.

Online Retail First-Timer Tips is a post from: MiCash Prepaid MasterCard

There are a lot of people who whine about their work. We don’t. It’s not because we have lots of assets or the best jobs. It’s because the best asset you can possibly have today is your job. If the events of the past few years have taught people anything, it should be this: Your home, car or bank account could all disappear one day. One day, your health insurance may not cover everything you need, or the business you set up may suffer great losses amidst a climate of fear and uncertainty.

Of all the things you ought to fight to keep, we have learned that people should keep their employment. Gainful employment helps people keep their health insured, assists in obtaining high credit scores and helps put money in the pocket. These three reasons alone make work worthwhile. This does not even mention the psychological rewards of being employed – a sense of security, a feeling of accomplishment at the end of a month or week, and the overall variety of a day in contrast to being unemployed.

Yet not everyone gets to enjoy their pay or their jobs. If homes can be improved and autos remodeled, how does someone ‘upgrade’ their professional lives? Think about some of these opportunities to rake in more cash and satisfaction.

Moonlighting?

Some people try juggling work with two jobs or more. People with freelance experience, or who have time on their hands, can in theory earn something on the side. It’s a pro-con question that comes down to personal choices and feasibility. Can you still look after the kids with two jobs? Do you have non-negotiable gym exercise dates so you can keep working on your fitness? What’s the nature of the second job? Will you get in trouble if you do take it on?

Surely, if your job has a two-hour commute from home to get to the office, or requires you to pull long, 12-hour shifts, you can’t feasibly handle that without compromising your health. A solution is to freelance on the side. Just avoid doing extra work during office hours, or using office resources.

Studying?

People have often viewed education to be an optional thing. 70% of people can’t afford to go to college without taking a loan or a scholarship, so this concept is not every alien. However, the career for someone who had finished higher up the educational ladder stands to command greater wages. According to the US Census Bureau, master’s degree holders on average earn approximately $11,300 more a year than someone with just a bachelor’s degree. PhD holders can earn over three times more: Some take in up to $37,265 a year. It can become quite advantageous to have finished more advanced degrees, because the opportunities can open up for you greatly.

BYOB: Be Your Own Boss (On the Side, Maybe)?

There are dozens of households who have made their own business ventures in their garages and backyards. What’s even more impressive is that companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple all had roots in the ‘We’ve got this idea’ vein. If you have a good idea, start with it and start small. Think long-term. Manage the business carefully, and try to keep a balance between what pays the bills and what keeps you hungry.

Keep an eye right here for more clever money tips! You can also find resources on directory sites like nkud.com under Money and Finances.

Making Money on the Side is a post from: MiCash Prepaid MasterCard

There is a parable that tells the story of a man who found a diamond the size of his fist. He didn’t want to sell it, pawn it or have it kept away. He didn’t want to take it to a gem cutter for the pieces to be used for jewelry or for industry. Instead, he kept it in his garden, buried under a tree. He did nothing with it, apart from digging it up to check if it was there, and buried it back again. This went on for a year, until finally thieves spied upon his curious habit and stole the diamond from him.

One of the toughest challenges we have with money is how to make it grow after we’ve worked so hard to save it away. What do we do with money, after all, when we’ve set it aside in the first place? Like the man and the diamond, we can’t just sit on our money knowing full well that the value of a dollar changes and fluctuates as time passes. To truly make our wealth worth something, we need to put it into something truly worthwhile, ideally into something that helps more than just ourselves, but the greater community as well.

Old conventional wisdom used to be that the good way to work around a lot of cash available was to invest this fund into something with an eye to helping it grow. It used to be best to save money in a bank, or in a proper hedge fund, but the chaos that has infiltrated financial markets has shattered hope of doing so with personal gain in mind. It got worse as jobs started drying up and companies started closing shop as well, and nobody considered trying to enter the competition because of fear of losing what little was left.

It is precisely in times of difficulty, with crises swirling around people, that the spirit of Social Entrepreneurship started to take root. The idea itself is not at all new – it had been part of the greater American consciousness decades ago, but it is in today’s special milieu that we see people talk more about it, share more about it. Around the world, people have decided to use wealth and equity to finance profit-making businesses that through their operations helps provide a genuine service to the community. Examples are Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank that lends money to small-time business owners so they can seed their money for small interest rates. There is Rags2Riches, a firm in Manila, Philippines that manufactures high-end fashion accessories using rags, while taking time to train and tap the skill and ingenuity of impoverished women.

All it takes is a good idea. American Richard Ludlow’s Academic Earth website, for example, is about using the Internet to open access to better education worldwide, while receiving profits from ad sales. Rachel Sterne of New York pulled together some savings to start Ground Report, a worldwide news network that has made dramatic findings thanks to reports from people on the ground, and is also projected to take in an estimated $225,000 in profits for 2009.

It’s been proven possible to do good work and make money at the same time. Give it a shot!

Making 'Good' Money – The Idea of Social Entrepreneurship is a post from: MiCash Prepaid MasterCard

Photo by Eustaquio Santimano

If you’re like us, you know that New Year’s resolutions go out the window when we think we can’t do them anymore. We say “I can’t stop eating,” and we end up ditching the diet. We quit on trying to wake up earlier to go to work, especially when it’s that very same work that keeps us up all night. We lose hope on trying to get exercise done, when we have work, family time, and other things that compete with the one hour we want to block off for jogging.

That’s why we’re determined to make it easy on ourselves this year. We’ve come up with some stuff that helps keep costs low, and dovetails straight into keeping the budget in check. Yes, that’s right: a lot of the money-saving tips you learn can actually make for a better, healthier, and more fulfilled you. These are tried and true tricks – you’ve heard them so many times, but like what every New Year brings, it’s time you refresh your memory.

So, here goes:

1.) DIETING: Eat less food, drink more water.
Yes that’s right. On average, the typical American family spends up to some 12% of its income on food. It’s a fairly hefty amount. That’s money that won’t come back – food needs to be consumed, and in doing so, we can’t hope for a return in the investment.

What can be done, however, is to diet a little smarter, and drinking water is one of the most proven ways how people reduce food intake. It has zero calories, it’s a basic household utility (we can get it straight from the tap most of the time) and is known to help promote good skin and fight dehydration. Also, it is known to quell what most people think are hunger pangs, helping people cut back on needless snacking.

2.) EXERCISE MORE: Hike, Bike and Bus, while Driving Less
Across the county people are fighting to pay the costs of rising oil prices. It impacts human health across many fronts – less exercise, higher air pollution, and a bigger carbon footprint that damages the environment long-term.

What people can do is to put away money by driving less. Taking public transport is a step to not just save money, but also to make the use of fuel more efficient. Walking also offers more time to exercise. It translates to more hours moving around, and it can quickly compensate for the “I’m too busy to hit the gym” issues that are all too common.

3.) HEALTH: Quitting Smoking
Smoking-related health care costs Americans some $150 billion a year. They’re also a habit that costs money to maintain, and is known to be socially repugnant in some circles.

So kick the butt and pocket your money!

4.) FINANCES: Putting Money Away
You don’t have to look very far! All throughout this very blog are tips to help you get started on building a more stable fiscal future. From using prepaid cards to do groceries and money transfers, to finding new ways to make money, the opportunities abound!

This year can be a great year. Let’s get cracking.

Do Your New Year's Resolutions and Save Money Too! is a post from: MiCash Prepaid MasterCard

Has it been a great year? 2009 is perhaps one of the most financially challenging years that we’ve seen so far, and today’s generation will look back to the year that is about to end as a very tough economic lesson that will teach them a great deal about finance in the same way that the Great Depression of the 1930s taught us about the volatility of the financial markets.

Despite the economic hardships, with some great financial tips, we were able to get by in one piece. This time, as the year closes, we will take a look at some of the best MiCash Blog posts that you voted as your favorite.

In 8 Ways to Earn More Money, we’ve discovered some of the best practical ways to earn more money apart from our day jobs. Some of the lucrative prospects that we might have at our disposal include selling old stuff, doing freelance writing and Web designing, tutoring kids and even becoming a personal shopper. The key here is to find what you are passionate about, and turning your passion into something that can help you earn extra cash during lean times.

A Comparison of Prepaid Cards, Bank Accounts and Check Cashing takes a good look at the advantages of owning a MiCash Prepaid MasterCard and discussed the fees associated with owning one. It also walks us through some main points on why the MiCash Prepaid MasterCard is the best solution for your financial needs.

Trying to get your head around your money-saving options during tax season? Saving Money from Tax Shelters just may be able to help you understand the different legal means by which you can reduce the amount of money you owe to the government. You will find that the same tax advantages that big businesses enjoy are also granted to each individual earning an income.

The 4 Ps to Saving Money is an especially interesting post that shows you four great and smart ways of saving and spending your money. It offers very timely and practical tips on how to prioritize your spending by identifying the most important things that need to be purchased or paid. The post also gives advice on how to save some more by putting some cash aside, picking the right quality and quantity (when purchasing any item), and checking if the price of an item is right for your budget.

We also share with you some great tips on accumulating wealth through investing some of your hard-earned money in mutual funds in Better Than a Piggy Bank: Wealth Accumulation Through Mutual Funds. The post discusses the basics of mutual funds, a remarkable financial instrument that lets you save money and hit an impressive ROI.

In Money Mistakes You Should Avoid, we discuss with you some of the financial blunders that many people fall into, and go through the ways by which you can avoid them.

We hope that we at MiCash have contributed to your quest to becoming financially savvy. Please be on the lookout for more financial tips that will come your way as we greet the New Year with a bang. As the year ends, the MiCash family wishes you a prosperous 2010.

The 2009 MiCash Recap: The Road to Financial Savviness in Retrospect is a post from: MiCash Prepaid MasterCard

Post-Holiday Blues. We all have them. It’s when we have to go back to work, get back to the grind and start the new year on a good foot, yet we’re all still a little hung over. We still rue all the food we ate, the gifts we didn’t get and that one drink too many we had on New Year’s Eve. Most critically of all, we all nurse that buyer’s remorse on all that money we blew on food and gifts and things. What happens next when we have a hole in our pockets, and need to get some of it back right away?

The smart way to get around it: Turn unwanted gifts into income!

Okay, to clarify, we’re not telling you to throw away gifts. That’s rude. But admit it – you’ve got a lot of stuff from previous holiday seasons. You know deep down inside that you don’t need that new set of tea cups, or that nice oven toaster.

What you can do is much better: make money! You probably received gifts that supplant or replace things you had: a new laptop or a new TV will replace what you had. What do you do with the old, other than get rid of them?

And let’s face it – if your household is like a lot of other average American homes, you have far too many possessions for your actual needs. Already, estimates figure that some $22 billion goes towards self-storage businesses all too eager to help put things away. Some go so far as to suggest that having more things can equate to more expenses. There is truth to that – costs for heating, air conditioning and even electricity can rise if living spaces are very cluttered and full of needless junk, rather than if they are less crowded.

So, to answer the question of what to do, here are two creative ideas you can do to chase away post-holiday blues and make yourself some sweet coin while you’re at it.

1. Sell Online!

Believe it or not, somebody out there does want those old shoes, or those old shirts that you’ve outgrown and don’t need. They can be collectors, bargain hunters or even some eccentric artist trying to put together a masterpiece. Put them online for auction, and watch your stuff vanish! Sites like eBay let you put things you don’t want any more up for sale. You can turn your old duds into dough, with no sweat!

2. Charities!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. The Salvation Army can always use that sweater you don’t like, or those boxer shorts you’ve outgrown. You probably already have replacements anyway, now that somebody probably got you that as a gift. You can de-clutter your place by sending in your used or unwanted things!

One great example that comes to mind is the Child’s Play Charity of website Penny Arcade. Often, video game consoles get outdated, and they get relegated to the side when the next generation machine comes. Holders of old game machines can sell their stuff online, and proceeds can go to helping children’s hospitals around the world get toys for their patients’ use.

How about you? Know any good ideas for de-cluttering for the New Year?

How to Keep Giving After The Holidays (and Make Money While You're At It) is a post from: MiCash Prepaid MasterCard

Some of the things that can certainly spark our interest are ways to earn more money. We definitely could use a few extra bucks on a regular basis to keep up with some of life’s mounting obligations – utility bills, credit card bills, mortgages, etc. Some people get by with just their full-time day jobs, but with the mounting financial obligations brought about by economic uncertainties, some simply need something to help them get by swimmingly.

Opportunities abound these days that offer lucrative means of earning extra cash when your full-time job is simply not enough to sustain you on a monthly basis. With the right skill sets, passion and knowledge, you might be able to land a successful entrepreneurial endeavor.

Below are some of the practical means to earn more money to help you jumpstart your finances. With determination and resolve, these opportunities may just be your ticket towards achieving financial freedom.

The Internet – changing the way we make money

The Internet has tremendously changed the way we work and do business. Many people are now enjoying the benefits of working either remotely for a company through the Internet or working independently on some business efforts at their own pace. The beauty of the latter is that you can work on growing your online business under your own terms. You work at a time that is convenient for you and wherever there is an Internet connection.

There are a couple of Internet opportunities to choose from. Online affiliate marketing, or referral marketing, has been around for more than a decade now, providing thousands of affiliate marketers all over the world with the opportunity to earn extra cash at the comfort of their own home. Because affiliate marketing is powerful yet more affordable than traditional marketing, thousands of companies are now employing affiliate marketing as one of their business strategies. Even some of today’s Fortune 500 companies are now recruiting an army of affiliate marketers to beef up their marketing efforts.

Selling your own products online is also a sure way of earning extra income on the Internet. In fact, selling your own products or promoting your own services online will offer you the biggest income opportunity as opposed to affiliate marketing. Why? When you sell your own products or services, you don’t have anyone else to share the profits with. And because you will be running your business online, you won’t have to pay for expensive monthly real estate rent, utilities and other expenses that are associated with doing business the traditional way. You can also provide convenient online payment schemes to your customers by accepting payments through PayPal or by credit card.

Selling your stuff online is not as hard as it may seem. You can choose to run your online business on eBay, the world’s largest online auction site, promote your products or services through Craigslist.org, or make your products and services known by capitalizing on the huge potential that social media offers.

There are plenty of other ideas that you can explore out there to help you augment your monthly expense. However, as doing business almost exclusively online through the Internet is the way of the future, it’s best to explore this opportunity early on in your entrepreneurial endeavors to reap the rewards in the future.

Some More Ways to Earn Extra Money is a post from: MiCash Prepaid MasterCard

I would like to think that today’s generation is the luckiest so far in terms of having tremendous free access to information. As the old adage states, knowledge is power, and that power is made readily and widely available today more than ever. Thanks largely to the advent of the Internet, practically every knowledge is within reach. People can now learn just about anything at their own pace and wherever they please.

So, your personal finance’s knowledge department desperately needs some re-tooling? Put aside those admission forms to business school, because we’ll walk you through some of today’s best online personal finance resources. Now, you won’t have any excuses to put off mastering the subject of personal finance.

The top online resources for personal finance

Whether you are a novice or a seasoned investor and finance guru, there is still a plethora of knowledge to be had from various personal finance sites. Here, we’ve picked some of the best finance sites in terms of their popularity, quality and user satisfaction rating. And because they are online resources, you can grab whatever knowledge you need anytime, anywhere and learn basic to advanced personal finance the fun way at your own pace.

Investopedia.com

Investopedia.com is a vault full of finance and wealth management treasure. Think of Investopedia as an online business school, minus the bank-breaking tuition fees and cleverly condescending academicians. Investopedia is virtually a one-stop resource for everything financial. Whether you are a newbie struggling to learn the ropes of personal finance, or a professional working in this industry and looking to update your knowledge, Investopedia will equip you with all the information that you need.

Quite impressively, Investopedia offers free basic to advanced tutorials on all subjects relating to investments, taxation and retirement. The site also even offers Exam Prep for those taking the Series 6, Series 7, CFA Level 1 and Series 63 exams.

Yahoo! Finance

If it’s Yahoo!, then it must be something worth your while. If you are an investor looking to track the market movements and trends or trying to find out which stock is today’s hottest, then Yahoo! Finance is for you. Yahoo! Finance will provide you with the latest updates on the market trends, the who’s who in the world of finance and a vast resource for personal finance. If you want to keep track of the financial community’s overall sentiment over the day’s economic condition, whether it’s bearish or bullish, checkout Yahoo! Finance every day.

There are other life-changing finance sites out on the Internet that are helping millions of people understand the finance game. Some of the other sites worth bookmarking include Forbes.com, CNNMoney.com and Kiplinger.com.

Make it a habit to devote at least 30 minutes of your time each day on one of these sites. Doing so may increase your success rate in improving your financial condition.

Personal finance – We need all the help we can get is a post from: MiCash Prepaid MasterCard

While stocks get the biggest attention in the world of finance, making it the most famous form of investment, there are other securities worth noting. Bonds, for example, don’t give as much appeal as stocks, but offer quite an attractive rate of return and provide some form of security and fallback when stocks seem to be failing on you. During a bearish market, bonds’ yields would seem negligible, but during a bullish market, bonds can offer some lucrative gains more than stocks.

What exactly are bonds?

As discussed, stocks offer stock holders equity shares or ownership in an issuing corporation. Bonds, on the other hand, offer bond holders creditor stake in the issuing entity. Simply put, stocks represent ownership and bonds represent debt.
Companies and even governments issue bonds to fund their operations with the understanding, under a contract, that the bond will be repaid with interest at fixed intervals until a specified maturity date.
To illustrate how bonds generally work, let’s take the case of fictional company XYZ. Suppose XYZ is looking to expand its operations overseas, and needs about $150,000,000. After figuring out that issuing bonds is the best option for them versus issuing stocks, one or more underwriting or securities firms will buy the entire issue of company XYZ bonds and resell them to investors. This way, company XYZ can collect the full proceeds of the sale amounting to $150,000,000, and the risk of not being able to sell the bonds to investors rests on the underwriting or securities firms. Company XYZ can then use the proceeds to fund their expansion, from where they can draw the amount necessary to pay off the interests and the principal amount owed to the bond holders which have to be returned in 20 years.
There are different types of bonds for investors to choose from depending on their investment preferences. Government-issued bonds, especially those by the United States, are classified into three main categories:

• Bills
• Notes
• Bonds

Bills are bonds that mature in less than one year. Notes, on the other hand, are bonds that mature in one to 10 years, while ‘government’ bonds mature in more than 10 years. Generally, government-issued debts or bonds are regarded as the safest form of bonds, giving investors a virtually risk-free, fixed income investment.

Municipal bonds, often referred to as ‘munis,’ are issued by local or city governments. Proceeds from the sale of munis are being used by local governments to fund the city’s projects such as infrastructure. Munis are ideal for those who seek tax shelters, as municipal bonds are free from federal taxes.

Find out more about bonds here.

Bonds 101 is a post from: MiCash Prepaid MasterCard

Here are some ideas to help you earn extra money:

Sell your old stuff.

If you’ve got a boatload of stuff in your home that you don’t need or use any more, why not sell it and create some extra cash for yourself? You can also list them on Ebay or Craigslist and join the successful sellers of these sites. If you have a ton of stuff to give away, having a garage or yard sale is also a good idea.

Do freelance writing or web designing.

Asking for a raise or getting a higher paying job is usually the most efficient way to make extra money. But if this is not possible, make use of your talent. If you have good writing skills, a solid grasp of grammar, spelling, etc. or if you’re great at web or graphic design, you can become a freelance writer or designer for newspapers, magazines, or online businesses. You’d be surprised at the number of jobs available nowadays!

Tutor kids.

If you have a college degree and love kids, you can use your knowledge by tutoring kids during your free time or in the summer. You can also do this over the Internet to make additional income. Drop by the local schools and offer your services! Teaching knowledge and enthusiasm can make learning really fun for kids.

Teach a language.

Do you speak another language, or have a very good command of English? Either way, your skills are in demand. Many people want or need to learn other languages, and many non-English speakers need to learn English as well. Most people prefer to learn the language through a conversational style, so this would be an easy job for you – simply engage in a conversation and earn extra cash!

Be a researcher.

Is Google your best friend? If you really know your way around the Internet, have actual experience being a researcher and enjoy browsing sites, you can offer your researching skills to local or online businesses. Now you can make full use of all that time you spend on the Internet – while earning extra too!

Become a life coach.

Are you full of energy and positivity? Encouraging others to strive for success and live up to their potential is what being a life coach is all about. Here’s what you can do: Prepare a kit for your inspirational talks, and contact offices and schools about the possibility of you conducting short training sessions or seminars for a minimal fee.

Set up computers and other equipment, and troubleshoot for others.

Technology may be a constant presence in our everyday lives, but some people just don’t have the patience or technical inclination to set up their own gadgets. And a lot of people need troubleshooting help ASAP! If you’re a pro at these things, you can offer to come in and help those with new gadgets get their gizmos set up, install new programs, organize any tangled-up cables, and make sure everything is plugged in correctly.

Be a personal shopper!

Here’s something fun for the mall rat – shopping for others for a fee! There are companies that hire people to perform a mystery shop and report their experiences. And there are also individuals who don’t have the time to shop, so they simply hire shopaholics to find stuff for them! If you live and breathe shopping, this part-time job is for you!

8 Ways to Earn More Money is a post from: MiCash Prepaid MasterCard