The key to successful money exchange is to plan in advance. It is important anticipate how much money you will need for a particular country, for it is costly to convert to a new currency because each time you convert, you pay a service charge. You can exchange money at banks, traveler's check companies, airports, railroad stations, large hotels, some tourist information centers, and travel agencies. 

With currency exchanges, if you have the ability, it is best to exchange money through a national [chain] bank (or even a local bank or credit union) in the US for they generally offer the best exchange rates.  It is important to compare prices on exchange rates by various banks and currency exchange companies.  It may also help to watch the exchange rates daily during the month or two prior to your trip.  If you notice they are rising and do not plan on slowing, then exchange more money ahead of time so you save on the increasing exchange rates. 

It is a good idea to exchange some money before you depart (the amount is up to you, but I would suggest enough for a half week for your estimated expenses for the country of your visit).  This is a good idea in case you cannot exchange money for a few days after your arrival to the country or if you need money instantly after your arrival for lodging, transportation, or food. 

Plan ahead and set aside some money (already exchanged) before you depart.  Avoid exchanging your money last minute and/or at an airport or other highly-trafficked tourist spots.  Airports and tourist spots are traps for higher exchange rates.

The best form of currency to travel with is your credit/debit card.  Credit cards can easily and quickly be canceled if lost or stolen.  As well, Visa is truly accepted everywhere you go, for the most part.  Other credit cards, such as MasterCard, may be more difficult to use as they may not be accepted everywhere.  If your credit card is of the PLUS or CIRRUS networks, then you are in the best condition to use your credit/ATM card worldwide. Also, credit /debit cards generally offer better exchange rates than traveler cheques or even currency exchange companies.

Travel cheques are a good idea for a security/backup plan, in case your money may be lost or stolen. In case the cheques are lost or stolen, they can be easily canceled if they are lost or stolen. Traveler cheques offer decent exchange rates, but it is difficult to use them – they are best only for a last resort of emergency funding.  Many banks charge a flat service fee for cashing any amount of traveler's checks; others charge a percentage of the amount you exchange. Remember to bring your passport with you as identification every time you exchange money.

In case of an emergency where not even your backup emergency money will help, have money sent abroad with caution. The quickest way to send money overseas is via American Express Moneygram. This is an immediate cash transfer, and neither sender nor receiver needs to have an AmEx card to use it.  The fee varies according to the amount sent. Avoid sending money that is cabled through Western Union, which can be much more expensive.

We’ve all heard and seen the gimmicks to buy more, save more. "The more you buy, the more you save" theory works IF you are out to buy a lot from the beginning.  Plain and simple, if you are not out to buy 10 t-shirts for $20 and only need one for $5, stick with just buying one. Yes, it may be nice to have nine other t-shirts available to you, but if you don’t need them, don’t buy them.  It’s a great deal if you specifically need to buy 10 t-shirts.  However, if not, then you are left throwing away that extra $15.
 
The same goes for food and other household necessities and commodities. Buying food and household goods in bulk always seems like you’re saving money.  Although you may eventually use up that 40-pound bag of Cheerios within the next year, do you really need to save that $3 in hopes that you use it all before it gets stale?  Will you and your spouse really need five-pound bottles of shampoo and conditioners?  It makes sense if you have a large family, but if you do not need such large quantities of an item, do not be sucked into the scheme to buy big just to save big. 

If you have the resources to buy bulk and know that in the end it will be a wise investment, then by all means do so, because it will save you an average of more than 30% over the course of a shopping trip and year.  However, if you do not need to buy bulk or know you will have to let some of it, or all of it, go to waste, not only should you avoid it for the sake of not wasting food and other items, but also for the fact that you’d be wasting money. 

Buying in bulk really can save you money, if you shop appropriately for what you need. 

With so many more bulk warehouses/stores being put up in place of everyday grocery stores, it only makes sense to check out the savings you may find there.  However, do not be fooled by all you can buy at a bulk warehouse.  Not everything at warehouse clubs is sold in bulk, such as a single gallon of milk or one ink jet printer. In those instances, the savings may not amount to much, so be sure to compare prices first, as always.

As with any type of shopping, not only compare prices, but also make sure you are not buying too much of an item that may perish before you can use it all. Do not over-buy for savings – even if it may very well be a steal. You will end up losing money if you buy and but do not make full use of your purchases within their [limited] time frames.    

Bulk shopping does save, if you know how to shop. 

The most recent [official] poverty statistics from the US Census Bureaus are from 2005.  During that year, there were 37 million Americans affected by poverty (nearing 13% of the US population).  Those numbers are outrageous for the fact that, in short, poverty consists of anyone living below US living standards.  

Poverty Among the Races and Ages
These poverty rates remained statistically unchanged for Blacks (25%) and Hispanics (22%). However, the poverty rate has decreased for non-Hispanic Whites (8.3% in 2005, down from 8.7% in 2004). Meanwhile, the poverty rate in 2005 for children under 18 (17.6%) remained higher than that of 18-to-64-year-olds (11%) and that of people 65 and older (10%), all of which were unchanged from 2004’s results. 

The Technical Poverty Calculator
With help from the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Statistical Policy Directive 14, the US Census Bureau uses a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to determine who is affected by poverty.  If a family’s total income is less than the family’s threshold, then that family, and every individual in it, is considered in poverty.  The official poverty thresholds do not vary geographically, but they are updated for inflation using Consumer Price Index.

The official poverty definition uses money income before taxes and does not include capital gains or noncash benefits (such as public housing, Medicaid, and food stamps). The lines of poverty are found through calculations of monetary income and through the measure of need (dependent on the size of family and the ages of the members). For individual members, the same calculations apply.  However, if a family is found in poverty, each member of that family under one house is considered living in poverty at the same level.   

For example, based on the OMB calculator, if a family has five members (two children, a mother, a father, and a grandparent) living under one roof and, collectively, they make an approximate of $25,000 between two working members of the five-member household, then the family’s income is above the threshold limit (calculated for this specific family at $23,108 for need and income, inclusive of all five members).  The family comes out ahead of the poverty limit. 
 
Any family or individual that has calculated their yearly income (based on needs) to be more than their calculated threshold set by the OMB, then they are not in poverty.  If their yearly income is less than their threshold calculations, then they are living in poverty. 

The difference (in dollars) between family income and the family's poverty threshold is called the Income Deficit (for families in poverty) or Income Surplus (for families above poverty). 

Living Without Status
There are people in the US unaccounted for living in or out of poverty. These people do not have a determined poverty status due to their living conditions/arrangements. For example, foster children and children under 15 years of age, not living with a family member and without official income results, are prime examples of people unaccounted for due to lack of income results.  As well, people placed in institutional group quarters, such as prisons or nursing homes,  and college dorms or military barracks are also without an account for poverty status.

Subprime mortgages are loans that are made to borrowers with poor credit histories, and make up approximately 13% of the $10 trillion mortgage market. Lenders have traditionally been more generous when it comes to house loans since they can be collateralized. And since property values have done exceptionally well during the past few years nobody had a problem. This changed, however, during the past year or so when the residential housing market began taking a downturn. Many people with poor credit who owned houses had mortgaged it to help pay off credit card bills, and found themselves in trouble when the appreciation on their house suddenly stopped. This caused a sharp increase in defaults on loans during the past few months.

Risky lenders like NovaStar (NFI) and New Century (NEW) saw their income erode as borrowers with poor credit found themselves unable to pay off their loans. Subprime lenders like these make a profit by making loans and then selling them to brokerages that resell pools of mortgages as securities in a process known as securitization. The problem is that with the increasing number of defaults, buyers of these loans began demanding that the lenders buyback bad loans. Shares in New Century and NovaStar each lost more than a third of their value in a single day earlier this month after the lenders warned of deteriorating lending conditions while three other subprime lenders have already declared bankruptcy.

The lesson? Make sure to only spend what you can afford. Don't take out mortgages on your house if it doesn't make sense. It may take awhile for lenders to dig themselves out of this hole as a result.

For most people severely in debt, they already have contacted, or will soon contact, a credit counseling agency/organization.  When doing so, there are a few factors to be cautious of.  Please note that most credit counseling agents are free for initial techniques and budgeting practices, as well as advice for the future and your next steps in the debt process. 

Be cautious of agencies that charge high up-front or monthly fees for enrolling in credit counseling, or that pressure you to make "voluntary contributions."
Avoid agents that don't offer, or won't, to send you free information about the services they provide without requiring you to provide personal financial information, such as credit card account numbers, and balances.

Agencies may try to enroll you in a DMP (debt management plans) without first teaching you budgeting and money management skills, and that is a definite discretion.  

Never get involved with a DMP program that requires you to make payments before your creditors have accepted you into the program. 

The FDA warns us against buying prescriptions from abroad. There is always the danger of either getting the wrong drug entirely or receiving too much or too little of the right drug.  These complications could be very dangerous, and it won't be worth the cost of the little you'd save.  How then are you supposed to afford those overly-priced prescription drugs that are funding the pharmaceutical parties and retreats every weekend?  

There is hope for lower prices for prescription drugs.  The most basic strategy to getting your hands on cheaper prescriptions is to simply get generic drugs from your pharmacy and to avoid the name-brand drugs.  This may save you some money, but it may not be enough.  
 
It is important to talk to your doctor right away about your financial troubles with the high costs of prescriptions. Your doctor may have instant help/access to discounted or free drugs. As well, your doctor can help you find prescription assistance programs. Depending on the type of drug and the degree you need, your doctor may be able to recommend to you OTC (over-the-counter) drugs that you can buy at any store or pharmacy for much less than prescriptions of the same, or similar, drug contents.  

There are various community, state, and national prescription programs which help you access pharmaceutical freebies, or at least discounted drugs.  Through these assistance programs, which are free to anyone, you can apply for different types of programs of prescription coverage or for individual drug assistance.  PPA's (Partnership for Prescription Assistance) are becoming ever more common and accessible with the growing prices and troubles with healthcare (www.pparx.org).  Also try an online search run by volunteers in health care for medicines and manufacturers, as well for assistance programs nationwide that best apply to you (www.rxassist.com).

As with anything, you must shop around your neighborhood or legitimate online pharmacies for the best prices on prescription drugs.  Whether you shop at local pharmacies or online, the FDA recommends purchasing only from state-licensed pharmacies that are located in the United States.  Contrary to theory, Canadian prescriptions actually cost more on average than US prescriptions when both compared with the US dollar (always include shipping fees to Canadian prescriptions as additional charges).

You know of eBay and of its glorious power to sell/recycle your old clothes, furniture, books, electronics, and the rest of your life under the sun.  However, there are many more opportunities to earn money by getting rid of your old possessions through recycling.  Not only will you be saving the earth from more garbage, but you'll be earning cash on the side by doing a good deed or two. 

You quite possibly are involved in recycling your aluminum cash for a few extra bucks every month, but there are far more items to recycle for cash. A few things that are becoming ever more common to recycle include ink/toner cartridges, cell phones, eyeglasses, and scrap metals.

Scrap metals involve old air conditioners, vehicles, appliances such as refrigerators and washers/dryers, and much more, and can be sold for good money through such sites as xomba.com. Not only can you earn good money for them through whatever means you choose to sell them, but they will also be donated to good use the majority of the time, such as emergency situations and reconstruction for cities and families that have gone through such disasters as hurricanes and tornadoes. 

We are in a generation of amazing technology, continuously changing and expanding; this allows us to continually update our old cell phones, leaving the old ones to sit in a drawer. There are companies that will buy back old cell phones for up to $50 or $60, depending on the style and condition of the phone. 

As well, take part in the ever so popular means of re-selling, or recycling, your old clothes, furniture, books, and electronics through such sites as eBay.com and amazon.com.  This not only helps you earn money for your old possessions, but it helps others have the ability to buy items they need or want for a discounted price.  

You have the power to earn money by recycling a wide array of items.  Look into online sites and find the best prices for your items of all sorts before you sell to the first site you find. Do your part by recycling and, in turn, earn cash as your reward.  For a listing of many various items to recycle, go to http://www.obviously.com/recycle/guides/hard.html. Some of these items you may never be able to earn money for, but at least you can help out the environment a little.

We've all been offered the valued shopper cards and deals. If you join a grocery store's "club," you feel like you'd save a lot more money with the savings offered through their club cards. However, in general, this is a definite misconception. Club cards are used more as an incentive to consumers and consumers don't always recognize the fact that the price differential is not nearly present.

In the majority of major (chain) grocery stores that offer all customers their club cards, you may actually be paying more for those guaranteed savings.  On average, the majority of these stores raise their overall prices, in which you may then possibly save enough to break even. Stores that don't offer club cards have proven that they offer lower prices, overall.  

The best option is to shop around and price compare. From there, make sure you are really saving with "club card" offers and deals.  If you are ultimately paying more, with or without a card, it makes no sense to shop at those stores. The worst deal you could find is to pay money for a "club" membership if you cannot prove that you will be saving more in the long run.  As well, if you are ever a new, or visiting, customer to a store, always opt for the club card for those additional savings, even if you are to never use that card or store again. Sometimes the only savings you may find on a club card are in comparison to those who don't use a club card on the same items/stores, but you are still saving in that aspect.  

The best way to save is to shop around and compare prices. Find the best deals with a little time and energy, and never fall for the club cards without first doing your homework. Your savings may simply mean the exact opposite in that you are paying more.

Most people are aware of credit scores, as they are used in determining lending rates on homes, cars, and other large loans. Credit scores measure how likely a person is to pay back a loan based on their past credit history of obtaining and paying off debt. But few people know about another metric that lenders have also been using during the past twenty years: the bankruptcy risk score. Rather than determining how likely someone is to pay off their debt, the bankruptcy risk score takes a look at how likely they are to file for bankruptcy. This metric is then used in conjunction with credit reports by long-term lenders to determine interest rates and loan amounts.

Unlike credit reports, bankruptcy risk scores are not available to the public, making it impossible for people to dispute records or view their ratings. Credit agencies have kept this information confidential, claiming that it is "proprietary data"; however, financial experts believe that it incorporation your spending habits, credit card use, and your credit score. The score is calculated on a -200 to 2018 score, with lower numbers indicating lower risk and higher numbers indicating higher risk. While there is nothing that can be done to affect bankruptcy scores, it is important for people to know that they exist and that it may play an important factor in larger future loans.

Many of those who are in debt are afraid to seek help through credit/financial counseling.  This resides in the fact that some counseling agents charge a fee, which would only seem contradictive to the problem of already being in debt.  However, most credit counseling services are free and offer service to anyone with any degree of financial struggles. 

Credit counseling services can be found online as well as in your local phone book. Make sure to search specifically for free credit counselors through online sites, the White pages, or the phone book to save you the time and hassle of dealing with services that may charge you a fee.  You may have to shop around to find the service that best suits you or that you feel most comfortable with, but you will find someone to help.  While looking around, make sure to inquire about any and all fees that may apply right away.  Don’t put yourself in greater debt while seeking credit counseling. 

Think of debt counselors as volunteers to a cause of financial advice.  If you are in need of food, you have food shelters to go to.  If you are in need of medical attention or advice, you can find free services.  This is the same concept with debt counselors – there are people in this world that are willing to donate their time, energy, and expertise to help you with your financial struggles – for free.  Take the time to seek credit counseling through a local, or online, free non-profit credit counseling service right away before your debt takes off.   

There is a simple factor to saving money on shopping: outlet stores.  Instead of paying high prices for brand names, locate the closest outlet mall near you and check out their stores.  There are hundreds of outlet malls in the US, offering thousands of higher-end stores and brands. 

There are a couple of tentative downfalls to an outlet mall consumer, however.  You may have to travel a bit to get to an outlet mall, but most are found in either larger cities, or in nearby suburbia. Also, outlet malls may not necessarily be up-to-date with this year’s trends as they may be using last year’s lines.  It is possible that some items found in an outlet store may be defective and/or only created for the outlet store and not found in the company’s regular stores elsewhere.  This, however, is no reason not to shop at an outlet store.   

The fact is that outlet malls offer amazing savings in all areas of shopping, whether clothing, home décor, appliances, or electronics. Whether or not a store may be offering deals (which are common), you are still bound to find savings of an average of half price off all items, in comparison to shopping at a mall or department store.  Outlet malls offer new items, but at a great discount.  As well, outlet malls offer more variety than the average store, with continuously changing selections.