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What are UGMA and UTMA accounts?

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What is a UGMA account? What is a UTMA account? How are they different? What is the purpose of using one over other savings vehicles?

We’re going to dive into those questions and a few others in the following piece.

What are they?

The UTMA and the UTMA are custodial accounts. An adult (the custodian) opens an account for the benefit of a minor.

UTMA stands for Uniform Transfer to Minors Act. UGMA stands for Uniform Gift to Minors Act. The difference has to do with the age of majority, but more on that later.

Characteristics

For all intents and purposes, these accounts are treated the same. As I said, an adult opens the account for the benefit of a minor.

The account itself does not have a limit of how much you can contribute to it, however, there is a gift tax exclusion for the custodian or anyone else that contributes to the account. While I’m here, I should mention that anyone can put money into the account, not just the custodian.

Anyway, the gift tax exclusion is $15,000 per recipient. If the person doing the gifting this amount, they could owe the gift tax.

As far as the age of the majority goes, generally the UGMA is 18 and the UTMA is 21. However, every state is different, so make sure you check to see what the age of majority is in your state.

Prior to the age of majority, the minor is unable to use the funds in the account UNLESS it’s for the benefit of said minor. Once they hit the age of majority, they can use the funds however they want.

Disadvantages

Two of the more common vehicles for education savings are the 529 plan and the Coverdell ESA. Now, I’m not going to go into those two, but they each share one key advantage. Any funds withdrawn for education-related expenses, come out tax-free.

The UTMA/UGMA does not have this capability. What’s more, the taxes on any capital gains made and/or dividends received throughout the year must be paid by the minor.

Also, funds sitting in a UTMA/UGMA, for the sake of the FAFSA, are considered the minor’s assets, and can negatively affect financial aid.

Advantages

There’ve been a lot of negatives so far, and if I’m being honest, there are other savings vehicles available that have more advantages.

The one thing I can think of as an advantage is accessibility.

With the 529 and the Coverdell ESA, any funds not used for education-related expenses are subject to a penalty.

With a UGMA/UTMA, the beneficiary can use the funds for anything that benefits them (while they’re a minor), or they can use them for anything at all once they’ve hit the age of majority.

Conclusion

If you are looking for accounts that are designed around saving for college, then a UTMA/UGMA is not for you. However, if you are looking for an account that is easy to set up, easy to use, and gives you more control, then I definitely would recommend utilizing one.

To make a formal recommendation, I’d go with the UTMA. Again, depending on your state’s rules, this enables you to save more for the beneficiary and prolongs when they can have access to those funds.

If you have any questions about what was said here and for my disclosures, go to my website.

 

If reading this blog post makes you want to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.

Saving Money With Regular Maintenance

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When was the last time you exercised, had your furnace worked on, or had your oil changed? Performing regular maintenance, in any part of your life, can be quite annoying at times, but it can really make a difference.

The difference can come in the form of money saved, longevity, and/or decreased stress. That said, let’s look into why maintenance is important.

Health

As a nation, the United States is unhealthy. We put junk food into our bodies and lead a sedentary lifestyle that is causing more problems than gaining weight.

Not only is physical exercise good for your body, with benefits like preventing bone loss, increasing muscle strength, improving coordination and balance, and reducing your risk of cardiovascular disease, but it also helps your mind.

Just over half of all Americans are meeting the physical aerobic exercise requirement (Source). The requirement is either 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week. Not a lot, right?

Americans spend $3.4 trillion per year on healthcare (Source), and I believe this number could drop dramatically if we all just took better care of ourselves.

Bottom line, regular exercise, and a well-balanced diet can (depending on other genetic risk factors, etc.) can dramatically reduce your long-term healthcare costs.

Home

Regular maintenance of your home has a number of benefits.

  1. It saves you money because all the mechanical components are running optimally. Efficient use of utilities is less expensive. It also increases the longevity of that equipment.
  2. Maximizes your home’s value and resale potential
  3. Peace of mind knowing your home is well-cared for. Stress has negative health effects. Reducing it can improve your health and lower healthcare-related costs.

Car

Keeping your car in optimal running condition will extend its life. It also makes the vehicle more safe to operate because the odds that something breaks while driving is reduced.

A poorly tuned vehicle can use up to 50% more fuel (Source). Spending $50-$100 every three months on an oil change is definitely worth it.

For example, let’s say you fill up once per week at $25. Over a three month period, you’d normally spend $325 on gas. If you’re driving a poorly tuned vehicle, you’ll spend $487.50. Over 1 year, that’s a difference of over $600.

Budget

Creating a budget and regularly checking in to make sure that a) you’re sticking with it and b) it’s still appropriate.

Often when people start budgeting, they find themselves with more money to play with. If they have outstanding debt, they can use that extra money to pay it off.

This could free up more cash that can be used for saving, investing, or getting that cable TV back.

Another thing you should do is cut or eliminate expenses that are otherwise unnecessary. The average American spends almost half of their food budget on eating out (Source).

Investing

This section will revolve around asset allocation and not about picking stocks and the like, specifically, in ones’ retirement plan.

If you have a retirement plan (you really should) my advice is to allocate your assets according to your risk tolerance, time horizon, and comfort level (from a psychological perspective).

If you have a retirement plan through your employer, I strongly recommend utilizing a target-date fund. This takes the worry and the guesswork out of the equation.

Where was I, oh yeah, asset allocation? Unless we’re in a bear market, your stock allocation will do better than your bond allocation.

Over time, the stock part of your portfolio will take up a larger share of your overall portfolio. It’s wise to regularly (though opinions differ) to rebalance back to your original allocation, otherwise, you risk being more aggressive than you intended.

Conclusion

Whether you’re talking about your home, car, or anything else, regular maintenance can save you a lot of money.

Please visit our website to learn more and for our disclosures.

Read More:

Fuel Up and Save Big: Costco’s Secrets to Slashing Your Gas Expenses!

If reading this blog post makes you want to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.

Become A Smarter Trader With ForexCT

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When you are looking to become a better trader, the best option that you have is to start trading with ForexCT.

ForexCT, as one of the most reliable Forex brokers in Australia, is also a great source of information and education.

One of the main goals of the company is to ensure that all traders are able to make good investments and good trades. So, with this in mind, they developed a wide range of education tools that you can use.

[Read more…]

Creating A Financial Plan You Can Stick To

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The more I read and the more I meet with people, the more I realize that setting up a financial plan is more than dollars and cents.

Yes, the better financial plans have your typical items. Save this much, invest in these things, and contribute to this retirement plan.

But the best plans not only have this to take care of your financial needs but they’re also set up in a way that your psychological needs are met as well.

Can you stick with it?

The best plan is anyone that you can stick with. When setting up your plan, go through it slowly. Take each item one step at a time and consider possible scenarios when determining a particular section.

For example, when setting up a plan for your emergency fund, figure out what’s realistic for how much you’ll need and how long it will take you to get there.

Also, figure out how it will be replenished if/when it’s ever used. Perhaps you’ll have an automatic deposit setup indefinitely?

Another thing to keep in mind is including some flexibility in your plan. For example, if part of the process is setting up a budget and your weakness is eating takeout, include a little bit of money for it.

I generally advocate for eating your meals at home, but if it’s inevitable that you’ll go out to eat, it’s better to include a little bit of it, rather than trying to avoid it.

Will you gasp every time the market dips?

Investing is a vital part of your financial plan. Investing is what helps your savings grow, but at times, your investments can lose value.

Our psychology plays a big role in our success as an investor. It’s said that we experience the pain of a loss two times stronger than we experience the joy of a gain.

That said, you need to plan accordingly to keep your emotions in check. If you let them take control of your decisions, you could end up selling your investments after you’ve already lost value, at which point it may be better for you to stay in.

Most investable assets are in a retirement plan of some sort, so your time horizon is, more than likely, long-term. 20+ years for instance. Your risk tolerance is the other part to take into consideration.

How much are you willing to lose until you say, uncle? In a six month period, would you have to sell after you lost 10%, 20%, 30%, or more? Your answer to this will help determine what you are able to stomach.

The next thing to do is to stress test your portfolio. The popular investing/research websites will have this. You plug in your portfolio with dollar amounts and ticker symbols, and then (depending on the site) you can select a variety of scenarios to see how your portfolio would do during that scenario.

The 2008 Financial Crisis is a common one.

Conclusion

Creating a financial plan that has the potential to meet your goals is important, and having a plan that you’re comfortable with and one that will help you sleep at night is optimal.

Make sure, when you are developing your plan, that you are factoring in your behavior as an investor and as a human. We are emotional creatures, and that makes investing a little more difficult.

If you’d like to learn more about what was discussed here and for our disclosures, visit our website.

 

If reading this blog post makes you want to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.

How To Pump Up Your Finances

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By “pump up,” I mean to do something that improves your financial situation in any way. Reduce expenses, start a rainy day fund, invest for the future, etc.

With that said, let’s take a look at some simple strategies to pump up your finances.

Cut the fat

I’d start by creating a budget. Look at the past three months of income and expenses. Total the expenses, total your income and compare the two. This will give you a clear picture of how much you are spending versus how much you make.

After that, you can go back with a magnifying glass and see exactly where your money is going, and stop spending money where it is necessary, or at least reduce it.

You can also reduce the fees you pay to invest. Mutual funds and ETFs are the most popular vehicles used today, but they come with a cost. It’s listed as an expense ratio. That ratio should be as low as possible. Ideally, it’ll be under .20%.

A quick tip to cut your expenses – get rid of cable/dish. There are too many services available now. You don’t need to spend $100+ on TV anymore.

Increase savings rate

Hopefully, you are saving something. If you are having trouble setting money aside because of limited resources, give this article a read for some help.

You should be saving in at least two places. An emergency fund and a retirement plan.

  • Emergency fund – Say you are contributing $20 per month. This is a good place to start, but you’re going to want to save more so you have enough in case your car breaks down or you lose your job. After three months of saving $20/month. Increase that amount by $5. After another three months, at which point you’ll have gotten used to not having that extra $5, increase it again. Rinse and repeat.
  • Retirement plan – If you have a retirement plan with your employer and they match, you’ll want to contribute at least enough to get that match. That’s your starting point. Then you’ll follow the same steps as the emergency fund. After a few months, increase the contribution percentage. If you don’t have a plan with your employer, set up an IRA, start contributing what’s comfortable for you, and follow those same steps.

I mentioned you should have AT LEAST these two accounts. Personally, I have several savings accounts. They are set up for different reasons. I have one for holiday spending, one for car repairs, and one for travel expenses. Giving your money a “job” makes it more likely that you’ll use that money for that “job.”

Switch to an online bank

Most online banks have higher interest rates on savings accounts. They also, typically, have lower rates on loans (based on credit score).

If you are saving money for a rainy day and putting it with a brick and mortar bank, you’re most likely earning next to nothing. Better to put that money in an account where you’ll earn a little interest.

Refinance high-interest rate loans

I’m going to dedicate this section to credit cards because that’s what most people think of when they hear high-interest rates.

There are three strategies you can use.

  1. Balance transfer – Many credit card companies offer a 0% APR on balance transfers for a certain period of time. Some have terms for 21 months. The interest rate will jump after the 21st month, though, so make sure your balance is paid off before then.
  2. Personal loan – If you have credit card debt and don’t, or can’t, utilize a 0% balance transfer, then a personal loan is your next option. You get a loan for the total amount of outstanding credit card debt. Then the institution will send a payment to each credit card company and pay off your credit card debt. You’ll be left with one payment. Be advised, credit matters here (also for balance transfers) so if the interest rate on the personal loan is higher than the average interest rate of your credit cards, don’t do it.
  3. The last option is to call the credit card company and ask for a lower rate. More often than not, if it’s available, they’ll give it to you. It won’t lower your payment a whole lot, but it’ll definitely help.

If you want to learn more about credit cards, click here.

Improve your credit

Your credit score makes a difference. It can impact what loans you qualify for, the interest rate, where you live, and where you work.

If you want to start making moves in your financial life, you need to improve your credit.

There are three really simple ways to do this.

  1. Pay more than the minimum on your outstanding debt and pay on time – on time payments is the #1 factor when calculating your score.
  2. Call your utility company and see if they report to the credit agency. It’ll count as another credit account (a factor) and it’ll influence your on-time payments.
  3. Open a secured credit card – You open this type of card with a deposit. The deposit will act as your credit limit. If you deposit $500, you’ll have a credit limit of $500. Make regular, small purchases and pay the entire balance right away. Credit agencies like to so activity and, as I’ve said, on-time payments.

If you want to learn more about improving your credit, click here.

Conclusion

If you want to improve your financial life, it’s actually pretty straight forward. Spend less than you make, save money for the future, pay down debt, and improve your credit. If you do these four things (obviously, easier said than done), goals that once seemed far fetched, can be within reach.

Please visit my website for our disclosures.

 

If reading this blog post makes you want to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.

A Few Tax Tips Suitable for Anyone

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Seeing as how next Monday is tax day, I thought it would be fitting to write about taxes. This article will have little to do with income taxes, however.

Instead, I’ll be focusing on the taxability of retirement accounts and brokerage accounts.

Qualified Accounts

A qualified account is pretty much anything that has a tax advantage. Tax advantage simply means that the investments inside the account grow tax-deferred – you aren’t taxed on the growth within the account, and/or the money can be withdrawn tax-free.

There are several different kinds of qualified accounts. Instead of listing them all, I’m going to list a few of the common ones and link to an article containing all the accounts and what they’re about.

  • 401k – The most common employer-sponsored retirement account. It’s not offered by all employers, but the money going into the account is pre-tax. Additionally, the money grows tax-deferred. However, when withdrawn, the money is taxable as income according to your tax bracket.
  • Traditional IRA – This is an individual retirement account. This type of account is contributed to using post-tax money, but most people are able to deduct the contribution on their taxes. However, there is a level of income when you no longer qualify for that deduction. The money is taxable when withdrawn as income.
  • Roth IRA – Also an individual retirement account, but with three key differences. One, the money that’s contributed is not tax-deductible. Two, the money is tax-free when withdrawn. Three, not everyone is eligible to open a Roth IRA once a certain level of income is reached.

Each of these plans has unique characteristics and rules. I encourage you to give this article a read to learn more about them. (Note: income eligibility for IRAs is listed in this article)

Non-qualified accounts

No bells or whistles. These accounts are designed to hold your cash, securities, and give you the ability to invest and trade.

Qualified accounts do the same thing, but have tax-advantages. Non-qualified accounts don’t.

There are usually two types of accounts: individual and joint. An individual account is for one person. A joint account is for two or more.

With a non-qualified account, there are two things you have to pay attention to.

  • Capital gains/losses – A capital gain is when you sell an investment for more than what you paid for it and a capital loss is the exact opposite. A capital gain comes in two variations. Short-term, which is when you held an investment for less than one year and is taxed at your income tax bracket. Long-term, when you held an investment for longer than one year and is taxed at a reduced tax rate.
  • Dividends/interest – These are paid by the company or fund and are taxed as income.

Tax return as savings

The last thing I wanted to talk about is your tax return and how you use it/view it. There are three types of returns. When you owe, when you break even, and when you get money back.

What I try to do, and what I generally recommend people do, is get as close to breaking even as you can. This just means you paid about the exact amount in taxes that you should have. No more, no less.

Here’s when I’m okay with people getting money back.

As a collective, we are horrible at saving money. The statistics show it. Now if you go through the year and pay more taxes than you need to and want to use that tax return as a makeshift savings account, then have at it.

My philosophy is if it helps you save money and it works for you, then do it. Some people need that type of set up.

Regular savings account don’t work for everyone because often, they are able to access the money whenever they want/need to. If you’re using your tax return as your savings vehicle, you don’t have that opportunity.

Conclusion

Love it or hate it, taxes are a part of life, and they won’t go away. There are certain strategies and certain accounts you can utilize to help make them more manageable/bearable.

If you’d like to learn more about anything discussed here and for my disclosures, visit my company’s website!

 

If reading this blog post makes you want to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.

How to Make Long-Term Investing Decisions

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One of the most valuable attributes of successful investors is being able to stick to their guns and trust their analysis even when the market is tanking.

How do you invest for the long-term? Are there certain strategies and mindsets that can be used to your advantage?

We’ll explain that and more in the following article.

Know what you are willing to risk

Whether you are someone that allocates your assets between a select few mutual funds but are looking to use a small portion of your account to enhance your returns or an investor that owns a handful of stocks, you need to be wary of how much of your total portfolio is in one security/strategy.

With either scenario, the decision of how much of your portfolio you are willing to risk in an individual security is whatever you are comfortable with. Personally, if I were in your position, I wouldn’t use more than 5% in this type of situation.

Taxes matter

If you are investing in a qualified account (tax-advantaged account) taxes don’t really have any effect on whether you should buy or sell something, or what type of security you invest in.

You’re either taxed before you deposit the funds or you pay taxes when you withdraw, otherwise the account grows tax-deferred.

If you’re investing in a non-qualified account (standard brokerage/investment account) the taxes and what securities you invest in, matters.

For example, when you invest in a mutual fund, at the end of the year, that fund will pass capital gains to the investors. It’ll come in similar to a dividend, but a much bigger number (depending on the year). You have to pay taxes on that, just like you would a dividend.

Another example, if you invest in a security and sell it for more than you bought it, you have a capital gain. If you held the security for less than 1 year, it’s a short-term capital gain. If you held it for more than 1 year, it’s a long-term capital gain. A long-term capital gain is taxed at a lower rate than a short-term gain.

Asset allocation is important

Stocks/bonds/cash. They are the three most important asset classes in investing.

I’ve written about stocks and bonds before, but the cliff notes version is stocks are risky and can reward you with high returns. They get hit hard during bear markets.

Bonds are generally less risky so you usually get a lower return. However, they tend to hold up a little better during bear markets.

Depending on where you are in life and what you’re comfortable with determines how much (by percentage) you should have in each asset class.

Someone in their 20s should have almost all stocks and a little in bonds. Maybe 90/10 or 80/20. I’d only recommend cash if they were waiting for a significant pullback and wanted to put money to work at lower prices.

Conversely, someone in their 60s that has less time to make back what they lose, would be much more conservative. Their allocation could be 40/50/10 or somewhere around there.

Keep in mind these are general rules of thumb. The most important thing with any investment is your comfort level. If you are 25 and aren’t comfortable with hanging on to your stocks during a 40% decline, be more conservative.

Fees will eat your returns

There’s no denying that trading fees, advisor fees, and the various other types of fees will reduce your returns over the long-term.

On average, expense ratios on mutual funds are much higher than expense ratios on ETFs. Though I believe paying your advisor their fee (I don’t think it should be higher than 1%) is well worth the expense, not everyone needs an advisor.

If your financial situation is relatively simple, you’re comfortable and confident with how you handle things, and you don’t foresee making any significant changes, then it’s probably not worth it.

However, it might not be a terrible idea to see one every few years to have an objective set of eyes review everything.

What’s your exit strategy?

When you invest in a security, and this is more than just asset allocation, you need to have your exit already planned. Too often, people will invest in a stock, see it climb 10% higher and then fall back down. Instead of selling with a small gain or at cost, they’ll hang onto it in hopes it’ll climb back up, even if it keeps falling.

Our emotions and our behavior is our worst enemy in investing. Having a plan and a strategy in place before you even get started is a great way to help mitigate those things from getting in the way.

Regular contributions

If you have time to ride out down markets and are comfortable with the investments you chose/the asset allocation you picked, then hang onto what you have.

An added bonus is if you are regularly contributing and adding to those positions. In a down market, those securities you invested in will get cheaper. When you regularly invest at lower prices, you effectively lower your average purchase price.

Conclusion

Investing can be very difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. In my opinion, keeping your investment plan as simple as possible paired with a unique ability to keep your emotions out of the equation is a recipe for success.

For more information about investing and for my disclosures, visit www.crgfinancialservices.com.

 

If reading this blog post makes you want to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.

6 Best Marketing Strategies To Help Increase Sales

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six best marketing strategies

Image source: Pixabay.com

A good online store will definitely want to improve their conversions and traffic. Before considering improving, it is important to put different strategies in place. There are various tactics needed to Increase sales. The problem lies in the best admissible one to choose.

Due to this constant issue, we have come together to select good marketing strategies as well as tools for e-commerce combined with profitable ideas on how to implement it. All are centred on getting the customers attention and encouraging them to make more purchases.

If possible make use of these ideas at least once every day and use it for weeks to come. When making use of these ideas, it is advised that you pick one that best suits you.

The first question to consider centers on the meaning of e-commerce marketing. This simply means making use of useful and promotional tactics to get more traffic. To increase the success of your strategies use a heat mapping tool to visually see consumer trends in your location data.  You should be able to convert the traffic you get into leads.  For example, using items like promotional stainless steel bottles are a fun method to build awareness in communities or events, and they can result in increased sales and leads for you.

Here are some tips to help you increase your online sales:

Use Instagram Efficiently

use instagram efficiently

Image source: Pixabay.com

On a grander scale, Instagram has more than 500 million users. Most of these users are active on the platform. Presently, it is regarded as one of the most visited social network applications in the world. It helps connect users, brands, and influencers. Taking good photos and dropping hashtags is the best way to develop your product through this social media platform. Most of the times if you are to gain the attention of your target audience, you may have to organize contests and competitions.

Minimize Abandoned Cart

The basic truth surrounds the fact that when you have a lower cart you will be at a financial loss. Visitors that surf a site, will add some purchase to it but what happens when they abandon their cart? It is nice to always have an email recovery campaign as it will help you retain your visitors. By creating this email, you can remind your visitors why they selected a particular product in the cart.

Start-up a Facebook store

This is another viable platform for e-commerce marketing and social media. It is advisable to start making sales from your Facebook store. Just so you know, your Facebook store can be joined with your Shopify store so as to avoid having to keep an inventory.

Increase your Email campaign

Getting enough email address is not enough, It is important to share and receive images through your Email. This will ensure that your channel is effective. There are a number of things your customers can enjoy from an email reminder when they make purchases on your online store. They include but are definitely not limited to these;

  • Send out a welcome email after your client has made a purchase.
  • Give out promo codes and gifts.
  • Send newsletters to show subscribers of a new product as well as company news.
  • Appreciate your best customers by sending them good notes and thanking them for their patronage.

Forward wish list e-mails as reminders

This is another type of email which is important to add to your marketing ideas. It can help you remind customers of products on their cart and also encourage them to add more products or items to their cart.

Customers should get what they want with ease

Image source: Pixabay.com
A poorly designed store will definitely not attract new customers. It may even chase your current customers. The question now would be; what makes a online store poorly designed?

First, they will be less trustworthy and at the same being difficult to navigate and also having difficult fonts.

To enable you to improve your sales, you have to find out how to sell on etsy with Printify.
You shouldn’t be surprised as their customer reviews are overwhelmingly positive.

This is just a few tactics that should be applied when planning on generating good online sales and traffic. Profitindustry.com shows you some of the best ecommerce platforms for a large catalog. Various online platforms have techniques which they use to Increase sales but yours can be different.

How Far Can You Trust Online Reviews?

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Before making a purchase, you probably check online to see what other people have to say about the product or service. These reviews – often with a 5-star rating system – have an enormous effect on people’s purchasing decisions.

The UK CMA (Competition & Markets Authority) estimate that over £20 billion of sales are a direct result of positive reviews. In separate research in 2016 they also found that a 1/3 of consumers were disappointed by something they’d bought online having trusted the excellent reviews they’d read beforehand. None of us can afford to waste our hard-earned cash in this way. If you do face problems funding purchases, Online Credit USA is a reputable forum to apply for payday loans online.

Reviews are important money earners for businesses, but how can you tell if a review is genuine or a fake? There are some signs that should make you wary of reviewers’ comments.

Style of English

Realising the money to be made from online reviews, some companies hire writing mills (often located in the Indian sub-continent) to churn out online reviews. Although they might pride themselves on the high standard of their English, you can sometimes spot a fake review because the English just doesn’t sound natural. Also, there might be inappropriate use of capitals and/or punctuation marks especially overuse of exclamation marks to transmit a feeling of enthusiasm.

Content

When reading online reviews, consider what information you’ve actually been given about the product or service. Gross generalizations such as ‘Best ever!’ and ‘It changed my life!’ don’t really add anything to your understanding of the product and should be ignored.

On the other hand, lots of technical jargon might be the sign of a professional writer’s research. Similarly, if someone mentions the name of the product in full, it’s often the tell-tale sign of a pro. This would only be written as SEO content and is aimed at a search engine rather than other consumers.

Trust 3-/4-Star Ratings

Are you always 100% happy about your purchases? Often fake reviews cluster at the 2 extremes – enthusiastic 5-star ratings to boost sales or 1-star reviews to trash their rivals’ products. Ignore these reviews unless you feel they make a valid point and concentrate on the ratings in the middle. These are much more likely to be authentic and aren’t written with an eye to making money.

What are the alternatives to online reviews?

Instead of placing your trust in anonymous online reviewers, your research before buying a product or service should be more widespread. Ask around your family and friends for their own buying experiences or access blogs and other forums to see what is being said about these products. You’ll usually find that they discuss matters with more in-depth information and some disagreements too (which can help you decide).

One good example is a recent analysis of instant loans. Visit the page to see how they compared the claims of lenders with the reality to reach an unbiased decision.