Like everyone else during this pandemic, my online shopping has increased.

Whether it has been a pair of shorts or a more expensive item like an inflatable tent, pretty much all of it has been bought online.

This increase in online shopping has led me to come across the ‘buy now pay later’ company Klarna again and again. I’m sure you’ve noticed them popping up as a payment option too.

As much as many personal finance bloggers abhor the idea of purchasing a car on finance, it is interesting to know that in the year of 2018 more than 3 quarters of the cars sold privately in the UK were in fact bought using a finance arrangement. It is understandable then that many people may at some point find themselves in a position where they need to sell or change their vehicle while it still has some kind of finance attached to it. So is it possible to do this? 

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We’ve always stated on this blog that we don’t believe that credit cards are all bad. When used sensibly they can offer extra protection when making online purchases, can offer a low cost way to spread the cost of other necessary purchases (just as long as you make your repayments on time) and it can also be handy to have one available for financial emergencies. Some credit cards even offer rewards to their customers which can really build up over time.

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As much as we all like to avoid taking on credit when possible, there is no denying that credit cards can be useful things to have, as they offer extra protection when shopping online, can be good for financial emergencies and they can also provide very cheap access to credit when used in the right way. And I guess that’s the key really, using them in the right way to make your credit card work hard for you, rather than the other way around.

Stock trading can sap the resources of even some of the best traders. There is always a desire to go for more and more stocks, so the trader can amass a large portfolio, and that may not leave the trader much money for other things they would like to do. While their trading may pay off in the end, it can take a while for the stock to mature and become worthwhile. As traders wait for profits, they may want to see the world, buy a car, remodel a house or do other things that they were hoping to do with the profits they earned through trading.