Tools for Increasing Personal AssetsTuesday, September 15, 2009

There are several methods we are all familiar with and that many of us use to calculate our personal finances. The Aimiya financial goal software program has all the basic tools for this, yet many people continue to use other calculating methods. Professionals in the financial world are daily working with calculations to analyze derivatives, like stock options, future trading, and swaps. Of course, derivative trading has contributed partially to the current financial troubles we face today. So it would seem to be a good idea to understand the basic tools for financial calculating more clearly, so that they can be applied efficiently.

 Personal Cash Value

 The most basic indicator of personal worth is how much a person earns. Although this is how most people establish their asset value, it equates to nothing more than selling yourself. It gains cash through income, but does not create any other profit such as dividends or interest. It only creates a cash flow to cover basic living expenses and some extras.

Learn How to Improve your Personal FinancesFriday, September 11, 2009

Personal finance is what you have in savings, your checking account, any income you receive from working and what you have to put into investments. Increasing your personal finances seems to be one of the hardest things to do in today’s economy. With a little bit of help from your family and a little bit of sacrificing on behalf of the entire family, you can increase your personal finances and breeze through this economic down turn.

Investing in Real EstateThursday, September 10, 2009

Many investors are finding that investing in real estate is a great way to supplement their current income and help others at the same time. This is in part due to the economic status of the country and the foreclosure status of many homes. Before investing into any investment property you should consider a few things such as the market, your initial investment cost, management costs and resale possibilities.

When considering investment property, it is vital that you consider all of these things and ensure yourself that you are making the right purchase. For instance you must consider where the demand is the greatest. You may want to purchase a home in a prestigious area of the city but there is no demand for rental property there so your investment is not a good one if the home sits empty for long periods of time. Next consider what type of property you will purchase. Sometimes purchasing multi-unit homes can be more work to maintain but bring in the greatest return for your money.

Purchasing real estate that is substandard can cost you a great deal of money before ever getting a penny on your return. There are thousands of homes that can be purchased at a discount due to being in foreclosure. This enables investors to purchase a property low and after only a few years of ownership, sell high once the market begins to recover. Many of these homes have been well taken care of and need little to no repairs before being able to rent them out.

How to Invest in Mutual FundsMonday, September 7, 2009

Mutual funds are a collection of stocks and/or bonds. Your employer may offer you the opportunity to invest into mutual funds. They then take all of their employee’s investment money and purchase stocks and/or bonds with the money. Each employee owns a portion of the company’s mutual fund therefore owns shares which represents a portion of the holdings. They can earn you money in three ways:

- By earning dividends and interest on stocks and bonds

- By capital gain where the fund sells securities that have increased in value

- By fund holdings increasing in price and held by the fund manager. You can then sell your mutual fund shares for a profit.

If you are thinking about investing in mutual funds, there are a few things to consider before jumping right in and throwing your money at the fund manager. For instance each fund has a specific investing strategy, style or purpose. Some invest only in specific companies while others invest in business start-up. It is imperative that you know what you are investing in and understand that type of investment before handing over your money. 

If you know nothing about Aerospace Dynamics, then you should probably choose a different mutual fund to invest in. Knowing something about the fund you invest in is vital to your investment success. You may choose to research a specific fund on your own before investing. This could save you time and money in the long-run and considering you are investing your hard earned money into someone else, it is advisable to know everything you can about them.

Our story, how we created our businessMonday, August 24, 2009

I.       In the Beginning

Amerco International Limited and the Aimiya Software brand began as a project designed by two friends who spent many years working for a large company dealing with the implementation of accounting and management systems.

One of those two people was a specialist in finance and the other was a lead programmer. The work was tedious and routine and they spent many hours training people and maintaining the already designed systems. Corporate finance being what it was, there was not much room for advancement and no room for creativity. There had to be a better way to make a living and the time had come to make a move.

Personal Finance was a new venture for both people. The core concept behind the Aimiya Software was developed using a spreadsheet on Microsoft Excel. Several years of trial and error lead to a data model that left only the most valuable instruments which immediately showed performance and position.

The model was initially based on an individual achieving financial independence by the age of 40 and to design all the aspects and conditions of the finances around achieving this goal.

One of these portfolio decisions was the creation of a personal business.

Going into Debt – Is it Good or Bad‎Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Debt is a common problem in our fast paced world today. You purchase an item and pay for it later, spend without any consideration to how much you are spending, open credit accounts with the intention of building credit and keep our economic world turning, right? Wrong! Going into debt costs everyone in the long run. Consider this; your neighbor borrows $22,000 to purchase a new car. Their payments are more than they can afford and they end up defaulting on the loan. The loan company therefore must raise their interest rates in order to recover from hundreds of customers defaulting which in turn costs every new customer they deal with.

Let us examine some of the pros and cons of going into debt. On the pro side we have the fact that you can get something you really wanted quickly and pay for it later, build your credit score for future large purchases, maintain a certain lifestyle and join the ranks of the plastic world. The cons tell us that sometimes our spending habits get us into trouble and we find it hard to get out of debt, the interest rates we pay on credit purchases ends up costing us more than double for one item, we can maintain our lifestyle by saving for purchases and more people end up filing bankruptcy than paying their debts off.

Choosing a 401K or an IRAMonday, August 17, 2009

Retirement plans that you invest in are an important part of many people’s personal finances and include both 401K and IRA’s. A 401K is a tax-deferred retirement savings plan that employers offer their employees. This type of retirement plan is a mutual agreement between employer and employee. Whatever contribution the employee makes, the employer matches that contribution up to a certain amount. This money is then invested according to the employee’s choice from stocks that the company has chosen to invest in. An IRA is an Independent Retirement Account that allows you to save money for retirement without being taxed on the money until you begin withdrawing from the account.

Investing in either of these two retirement plans requires careful consideration and knowledge of how each plan works. For instance a 401K allows you to invest up to 20% of your pay each pay period. Then you must consider what stocks or securities you want your portion of that investment to be placed in. An IRA has two different ways of saving your money; tax deferred or tax-free. Tax deferred means you do not pay taxes on the money until it is withdrawn and tax-free means you never pay taxes on the money. Both of these retirement plans have government regulated limits to them and should be carefully examined before choosing the plan.

Being Frugal is Not Being CheapFriday, August 14, 2009

Being frugal is different than being cheap. A frugal person knows where every penny of their money goes and watches what they spend. A cheap person doesn’t spend any money and depends on others to supply them with any form of entertainment they receive. This isn’t the exact definition but it gives you a clue as to the difference between the two.

Frugality is admirable in a person. Being frugal means you compare prices of items before making a purchase and get the best deal you can possibly get. For instance if you are faced with buying two cans of asparagus at the grocery, you would compare ingredients first. After finding that they contain the exact same ingredients, you notice that the cheaper one has more nutrients than the higher priced one and is lower in sodium and fat. Choosing the higher priced one simply because it is a name brand would be wasting your money so you choose the lower priced one.

Why choosing and managing your own goals is so important?Tuesday, July 28, 2009

It seems so basic and simple for each person to decide their own path in life. It is the subject of countless studies and writings and is a fundamental curriculum for everyone from parents to educators. The basic and underlying truth is that having goals in life is the most important factor in success for any endeavor.

Oddly enough, most people forget this fact either because they feel they don't have the time it takes to formulate a plan and stick to it, or they feel that the goals they may have set for themselves earlier in life are no longer attainable. Whether the reasons for this attitude are that their current situation takes all their attention or that trying to start something new would be too risky, few people bother to assess where they are now, and even fewer think to evaluate their actions so far and make any necessary adjustments.

Ways to plan for economic crisesMonday, July 13, 2009

As the world’s economical crisis revs up to its full force, many people are scrambling to save in almost any manner they can. Some are falling into a panic while others follow a more of a moody attitude towards the situation. Whatever your way of dealing with the situation is, you have to keep a clear mind and use intelligent decisions in order to fight the crisis and protect your financial security.

Worrying about the menial things in life should be set aside. For example; worrying about taking the kids to dance practice is less important than a situation with a problematic bank. Financial problems will no doubt take a front seat to the less serious problems of everyday life. It is recommended that you set new priorities that will allow you to settle financial situations before they become a money pit and ruin your finances.

Understand financial markets and their institutionsMonday, June 29, 2009

A financial market is any business that deals with your money and making it grow for you. This is a huge business today and covers all walks of life, from the single family’s finances to the rich and famous. Before deciding which financial market to place your money in, you should understand what each of these markets can do for you and your finances.

Banks are used by most everyone in the world. The single family puts their money into banks for not only safe keeping but also helping them manage that money and save for the future. They offer many services that make using them convenient and easy. All banking institutions are guaranteed by the Federal Government for a limited amount of money so placing your money into a bank is secure.

Can you beat the money market?Monday, June 22, 2009

So many people these days try their hand in the stock market with such high hopes. Whether they have been enticed by the plethora of advertising campaigns on the internet or television, or they have heard fantastic tales of making  a big killing in securities investments around the water cooler, the dreams of striking it rich are just too hard to resist. This seems to be true especially among young investors. 

The facts show that nearly 90% of these "get rich quick" dreamers give up on the money markets within the first year, usually departing with quite a bit less of their investment than they started with. You might be considering entering the money market yourself right about now. If so, you would do well to follow our learned advice to avoid making the same mistakes that these others have made.

How to choose a financial goal and make it work for you?Friday, June 19, 2009

We all have goals in life. They can be functional goals for the immediate future, like changing negative habits, taking up a hobby, or learning a new trade skill. They can be goals of a more universal nature that will require more time, such as learning to communicate better or getting involved in the protection of the environment.

One factor that is intrinsic to nearly any one of our goals is money. The way that money influences what we do and how we do it can be categorized as a three step process: securing and  protecting our money, then securing enough to be comfortable, and last, securing more than enough to live the life we might dream of living.

How to use a budgetThursday, June 18, 2009

Families across the world are finding, now more than ever, that they must set a budget and be able to stick to that budget. Although the decision is made to do this, many are unaware how to actually use a budget. Using a budget requires more than simply setting down spending limits and sticking to them, it requires that your spending habits to be reviewed regularly and focus be placed on how to cut expenditures that are being over extended.

When you first set up your budget, you must sit down with everyone in the family and discuss what is happening and how it will affect everyone. Some parents feel that children under the age of 10 are completely unaware of what financial distress is but they should be involved as they are part of the family. Discuss how each person spends money and find out where each member of the family can cut back on expenses. For instance if you teen goes to the movies three times a week, you may want to cut that back to once a week.  If your eight year old gets a toy each time you go to the store, restrict them to one toy of their choice each month.