{"id":1647,"date":"2018-01-19T03:00:25","date_gmt":"2018-01-19T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kerryaclark.com\/?p=1647"},"modified":"2018-09-05T18:24:37","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T23:24:37","slug":"3-ways-credit-cards-can-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/3-ways-credit-cards-can-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Ways Credit Cards Can Work for You"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 5 Basic Financial Categories \u2013 Part 3<\/span><\/h2>\n

Because like most, we had a number of credit cards<\/a><\/span>, you have to see the need of having a single place to see your credit card activities<\/a>. \u00a0Besides, if you\u2019re relying on your memory to recall all the times you spent what, then you\u2019re in bad shape<\/a> anyway<\/span>. \u00a0We needed Mint<\/a><\/span>\u00a0to help us track our credit card activity. \u00a0There\u2019s no need to have to go to each card website or wait on a statement to see an overview. \u00a0You can use one place to see it all<\/a>. \u00a0Today we discuss the second of the five basic financial categories<\/a><\/span>.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Credit Cards.<\/strong> \u00a0We no longer recommend the use of credit cards for anyone who has credit card debit. \u00a0In other words, if you have at least one credit card that holds a balance that you can\u2019t and will not pay off within the next 30 days, we don\u2019t believe a credit card is the right answer for you. \u00a0It\u2019s just practicing how to be in never-ending debt. \u00a0However, if you are one of the fortunate ones and have your credit cards under control, we do recommend the use credit cards. \u00a0Let me offer you three purposes for which you can use a credit card to your advantage as we do.<\/span><\/p>\n

Purpose 1: \u00a0Ease of paying.<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0A credit card offers a way to make paying for things very easy. \u00a0When you have a credit card, you don\u2019t have to waste the time it takes to send checks, wait for the check to cash and then reconcile your bank statement. \u00a0\u00a0It makes securing travel and accommodations very easy. \u00a0Try to book a flight or hotel or rent a car without a credit card and see how painful this process becomes. \u00a0You might stop traveling if you didn\u2019t have this method available. \u00a0Having a credit card makes paying for things easy.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Purpose 2: Insurance against theft, fraud and accidents.<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0While this isn\u2019t always obvious and doesn\u2019t apply to some credit cards, a credit card can offer you additional insurance. \u00a0\u00a0It has the ability to insure you against theft. \u00a0If someone steals the card, you can report it and the charges won\u2019t count against you. \u00a0Many credit card companies will also inform you when you credit card is used in abnormal ways to help you detect fraudulent charges. \u00a0Lastly, a credit card will provide you auto insurance when you rent a vehicle for your travel needs. \u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Purpose 3: Your money can make money.<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0It took us a while to get here, but we did it. \u00a0You can use credit cards as a way to provide you an opportunity to earn money for your spending (i.e. cashback purchasing or flight miles). \u00a0The point is, if you\u2019re going to use a credit card, let it work for you not against you. \u00a0We pay for everything using a credit card that provides 2% cash back on every purchase. \u00a0We let the points (dollars) accumulate until Christmas.\u00a0 This is how we pay for Tamia\u2019s big Christmas gifts. \u00a0It\u2019s her reward and ours for being disciplined in using our credit card<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The key to anything in life, especially credit cards, is to know the purpose. \u00a0I\u2019ve heard it said that abuse can only occur when something is used outside of its purpose<\/em><\/span>. \u00a0Here are a few practical examples of how we use our credit cards.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Barclaycard.<\/strong> \u00a0This is our card for any business (company-related) travel we do. \u00a0We figured that we didn\u2019t want these transactions mixed in with our family\u2019s.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Capital One.<\/strong> \u00a0This card had to be our favorite. \u00a0They offered 1.5% cash back on all purchases. \u00a0We no longer use this card for all purchases, but rather for our personal travel only. \u00a0It\u2019s our way to segment our travel spending from any other spending and the cash back points don\u2019t hurt either.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Fidelity Rewards Visa.<\/strong> \u00a0This is now the card we use for all our purchases and all the spending that we do. \u00a0This card gives us 2% cash back on every purchase made using it. \u00a0We also use this card to pay our monthly expenses. \u00a0It\u2019s the one card we use daily and have with us wherever we go with the exception of travel.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Again, I wish to reiterate the main takeaway. \u00a0Have a plan for everything.\u00a0 In this case create a plan for how your family uses its credit cards and for what purpose. \u00a0\u00a0Get your family on board with the plan and see how the plan can work towards your overall goals.<\/span>
    \n<\/span>
    \n<\/span>Today is Friday!<\/span>
    \n<\/span>What would having a plan for your credit cards make happen in your family, your life, your business?\u00a0<\/span>
    \n<\/span><\/p>\n

    The Family Plan Binder<\/a>\"\"<\/a> is available now!

    <\/p>\nOur team has worked very hard putting it together. We designed it to help you and your family move the needle forward in making your life your business. \nFind out more about the Family plan here.<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The 5 Basic Financial Categories \u2013 Part 3 Because like most, we had a number of credit cards, you have to see the need of having a single place to see your credit card activities. \u00a0Besides, if you\u2019re relying on your memory to recall all the times you spent what, then you\u2019re in bad shape […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,51,50],"tags":[63],"class_list":{"0":"post-1647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-accounting","8":"category-mint","9":"category-the-5-basic-financial-categories","10":"tag-mint","11":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/20180119-TIF-Blog-Three-Ways-Credit-Cards-Can-Work-for-You.png?fit=760%2C360&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4jb7V-qz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1647"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2003,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647\/revisions\/2003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}