Have a look at the 5 financial tips for the 3rd week of August 2011

1. Install security equipments to achieve a low car insurance premium

Installing anti-theft and security equipments can help you lower your insurance premium by as much as 10%. Various kinds of safety devices are available in the market. You can install air bags, head restraints, steering-wheel clock, alarms, hood locks, back-up sensing system, passenger sensing system, seat belts, etc, in your car.

Proper safety devices help to reduce the car theft and damage risks. This is why car insurance companies lower the premium rates. You may have to spend few hundreds of dollars for purchasing and installing these equipments. But you'll earn long term benefits by installing these equipments. Your car will remain safe and you'll save money on your premiums.

2. Opting for online documents can help you monitor your accounts regularly as well as save environment.

You can monitor your accounts online nowadays. You won't have to stand in the long queue for several hours to get your account statements. You can get the account statements in your personal email. You can check your account statements at night when most of the banks are closed. You won't have to take out your car to reach the nearest branch of the bank. This means that you can avoid exhausting fuel and polluting environment.

Online documents can help you save the environment in another way. The banks don't need to use thousands and thousands of pages for printing the account statements. Everything is done via emails.

3. Do not use too many credit cards

Using too many credit cards is not a healthy financial habit. Credit cards come with high interest rates. As such, it may become hard for you to keep up with the payments. If you are unable to make the required payments on time, then your credit score will get hurt. Late payments will be reported on your credit report and make a negative impact on your score.

If you are irregular with your payments or miss payments for a long period of time, then the accounts can be assigned to the collection agencies. Thereafter, you'll have to deal with the aggressive debt collectors.

4. The best place to start saving is from home.

There are various ways in which you can save money in your home. For a start, you can potentially save hundreds of dollars on your electricity bill. You can turn off the lights when you are going to your office or college. You can use CFL bulbs at your home.

If some items have been broken, then you can try to repair them yourself. You can even purchase second-hand items for your house. These items are available at a low price. You just need to pick the items that are in good condition and can be used on a daily basis.

5. Use mortgage calculators before getting a mortgage in order to decide on your affordability

Mortgage calculators help you calculate the total cost of the home loan. These calculators help you compute the annual interest rate, monthly payments, amortization period, etc. The calculators also help you compare the different kind of mortgage loans. This way, you can know which loan will be suitable for you.

There are various types of mortgage calculators available nowadays. These are monthly payment calculator, cost calculator, early mortgage pay off calculator, interest only mortgage calculator, adjustable rate mortgage calculator, etc.