The following article is a guest post.

If you are looking into buying your first home at the moment, the thought of whether or not you will be granted a mortgage no doubt fills you with dread. Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of gaining that first time buyer mortgage. Keep reading to find out how to make yourself more appealing to the lenders.

Credit scores
Analysts have spent the last few years predicting that it is only going to become tougher to get a mortgage as lending criteria is tightened – meaning that those with poor credit scores will stand less chance of being able to buy. To stop this happening to you, the first thing to do is to get a basic version of your credit report. There are many providers who will be able to provide you with this for free or at minimal cost. Once you have received it check through your entire report to ensure that all the information included is correct. If you find an error, contact the credit reference agency to get them removed.

Responsibility
One of the main factors lenders use to decide whether or not they can trust you to repay your debt is how you have handled credit in the past. If you have a long history of taking out credit and paying it back in line with the agreed terms, you are much more likely to receive a first time mortgage as lenders will see you as a safer bet than someone without any credit history at all.
This means that if you have never borrowed at all, lenders have no idea how good you are at paying back, and may well refuse your mortgage application. If you are in this position, the best practice is to take out a credit card, use it a few times a month, then ensure you pay off your balance to avoid paying interest. This will help build up a positive credit history for you, and your chances of receiving a mortgage are greatly increased.

Deposits
Although smaller deposits are increasingly becoming common place, the fact still remains that the larger the deposit you can make the better the chance you have of receiving a mortgage. It is recommended you attempt to save up at least 10 per cent of the total price of your new home if possible to improve your chance. Raising a larger deposit will also mean you get access to lower mortgage rates too.

Speak to different lenders
Despite all of this, remember that all lenders are different, so just because you have been turned down by one doesn’t mean you will by all. To improve your chances considerably, speak to a mortgage broker before you go to a bank. They are likely to know which banks or lenders are right for you, so a quick chat with one of them should help you navigate the process.

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The following article is a guest post.

If you’re looking to make a little extra money, there’s a huge benefit to running your own business, whether you want to go full-time self-employed or just have a small business on the side to complement your day job. There are all sorts of things you can do: make and sell your own crafts and produce; provide an expert service like tutoring or writing; you can even buy and sell products using your expert marketing abilities to turn a profit.

However you’re planning your new venture, it’s important to have a solid business plan. To get you started, we’ve put together this quick guide – start thinking about each section before you set your new venture up!

Planning
To determine whether or not your business is likely to be successful, you’ll need to do some preliminary research. These are the questions you’ll need to think about:

Are you providing something useful? There’s no point setting up a business unless you know that what you’re offering will be beneficial, so make sure there is a real need or requirement for the service you’re providing.

Do you have the relevant skills? Qualifications aren’t everything, but they can come in useful when you’re promoting your business. Make sure you have something to use to promote your authority in the market – whether it’s a certificate for a Personal Trainer service or cupcake tasters for a baking company!

Do you have customers? If you don’t have a base of people who know and care about your business, you don’t really have a business at all. Think about where you are going to promote your services or product, and to whom.

Research
Join a growing network of freelancers and self-employed people to gain access to support and advice when you need it. There are many websites which offer communities of like-minded business people who will always be there for you to bounce ideas off and navigate the sometimes scary world of self-employment! Online networking is also a place to get your brand name out there and meet other new businesses.

Registering
You’ll need to register your business to ensure you’re paying the right amount of tax. There are several ways you can do this, depending on how you’re running your business.

Sole trader: If you’re the only person working on and running your business, you’re a sole trader. This is simple to setup; all you need to do is register online with HMRC.

Partnership: If you’re setting up your company with somebody else, or several other people, and you all have equal financial responsibility, you’ll need to set up a partnership. You’ll need to head to a law stationer’s and pick up a Memorandum and Articles of Association, and request the relevant documents from Companies House.

Limited Company: These are a little more complicated – if several people own a share in your company, and the size of their share determines their financial responsibility, you should speak to a solicitor or seek out a dedicated service for help registering as a limited company.

Are you nearing retirement or have you thought about retirement lately? Financially speaking, I think that retirement is one of the craziest transitions in any person’s life. Think about it. All your life, you’ve been earning money, then earning more money, and still continuing to earn money. All the while, you’re stashing a small portion of it away for your retirement which seems to be in the very distant future. Your savings grow and your nest egg REALLY grows (hopefully)! Then comes that point when it’s time for you to retire and you realize that you’re suddenly not going to make money anymore. Nope, you’re actually going to spend your lump sum very slowly, and hopefully have some by the time you pass away.

Isn’t that just crazy! If I had $500,000 and I found out that I spent $50,000 in a year, I would absolutely freak out! If I kept that up, then I’d really only have enough money to live for 10 years after retirement, and that’s assuming that I don’t have any major ailments or physical accidents. Living off of a large sum of money can be quite stressful, so it’s important to plan it out very carefully. Let’s review some ways that you can still earn some money on that lump sum even after you’re retired.

The Annuity

I’m sure you’ve heard of the term ‘Annuity’ before, but do you really know what it means? Since many people are accustomed to earning a paycheck at regular intervals, many retirees like to invest a lump sum of their retirement account into an annuity, which pays a certain amount of interest (usually fixed) and pays you back your money once a month for a certain period of time, and sometimes for life! The interest isn’t amazing (it’s typically 2% or so), but it’s quite safe when investing with a reputable company, and you get a nice consistent paycheck as well.

Checking Account

Many people don’t think of a checking account as a good investment, but credit unions are offering 3-4% interest on their checking accounts. For my local bank, they only require you to have a regular direct deposit (which could be your annuity), you need to make 10 transactions with your debit card, and you need to check your online account at least 4 times. That’s it! And, you can earn up to 4% on $15,000 (some credit unions may pay on a higher amount than this too), which equates to an extra $600 a year. Now that’s pretty simple.

Bonds

Bonds are typically not thought of as a great investment because they don’t yield high returns, but they are very low risk and perfect for a retiree. Now, there’s no absolute guarantee that you’ll get your initial investment back, but if you choose a high-graded bond, it’s quite certain that you’ll earn your principle back and earn a little bit of interest on top of that. Play it safe in your retirement. You’re not going to earn 20% on your investments, but since you spent the time to build up a nice nest egg, you really shouldn’t need to.