This guest post was written by Henry Truc from Go Banking Rates, a website that brings you informative personal finance content and helpful tools, as well as the best interest rates on financial services nationwide. Follow them on Twitter at @Henrytalksmoney and @GoBankingRates.

If you've ever had a credit card, you've probably been told that one of the worst things you can do is to just pay the minimum balance each month. Making only the credit card minimum payment means you're sometimes paying twice or even three times as much for your purchases over a longer period of time.

From a practical standpoint, focusing on only the minimum monthly payment doesn't make much sense. If you have the cash, chances are you're not going to find an investment that will match the interest rate you're being charged on your debt, at least without taking on significant risks. If you don't have the cash, well, you really shouldn't be spending that much on your credit card in the first place and should be finding ways to pay off that debt as soon as possible.

Any way you slice it, there are only a few instances where it should be acceptable to pay only the minimum balance on your credit card. Here are some of the few situations when it's okay.

When to Pay the Credit Card Minimum Balance

In a perfect world, no one would have any debt and everyone would be able to cover everything with cash. In reality, though, there are times when carrying a balance just can't be avoided or actually is the better option.

• Emergency Savings: One of the worst situations is finding yourself with little or no money in your savings account--not spending money, but money stashed away in case of an emergency when your credit card just won't do. If you need time to build up your cash reserves, it may make sense to just pay the minimum for a short while or consider the risks of using your credit card as your emergency fund.
• Costlier Debt: Credit card balances are only one form of debt. You may have other personal loans, student loans, auto loans, a mortgage or maybe even another credit card that charges you a higher rate on your balance. Focusing on paying down debt with the highest interest rates first could mean having to pay only the minimum on some cheaper debt for the time being.
• No Interest Periods: If you have a credit card with a 0% APR introductory period, then you have more flexibility on when you have to pay it off. Keep in mind, however, just because you're not getting charged for the money you owe doesn't mean you should be carrying a balance. You'd be surprised how quickly the amount you owe can spiral out of control, not to mention once the intro period is over rates usually get jacked sky high.
• Investment Opportunities: This situation will probably never happen, but in some once-in-a-lifetime type of circumstances where you find an opportunity to take advantage of an investment with a return that outpaces your credit card interest, it may be acceptable to allocate your cash away from paying down debt to capitalize it. However, finding a risk-free investment is hard enough as it is, let alone one that produces such an attractive return.

Again, there are very few instances where only paying the minimum balance on your credit card is acceptable. The reason is because minimum payments are only a short-term solution to tide you over while you figure out your finances. Being debt-free is one of the major foundations of improving your financial management, so make sure that's what you're focused on.

You can even find more efficient methods to paying down your balance if you're juggling multiple types of loan payments. Maybe consolidating them under a personal loan or trying out a peer-to-peer (P2P) personal loan can help to eliminate situations where you feel that you can only pay the minimum.

The following is a guest post by Kyle Psaty of Perkstreet Financial, the progressive online financial services company that offers the most valuable online checking account and debit card rewards combination in the U.S.

The buzz has been exciting.  The videos have been empowering.  The last entries are rolling in and the votes will be tallied this very weekend.

The Shred Your Credit Card video contest is helping people get motivated to dump their debt in the new year, and the grand finale is almost here!  The sponsors, including Perkstreet Financial, Lending Club, and a dozen or so of the best independent personal finance blogs online, are declaring January 31st the first-ever Shred Your Credit Card Day.

So here is your last chance to submit a video to ShredYourCreditCard.com to get yourself in the running for the $1,000 grand prize! We’re also giving away hundreds more dollars to the most creative submissions.

Not competing in the contest?  Motivate friends to get out of credit card debt by sharing the site with them.

Tell them about ShredYourCreditCard.com on Monday, January 31st by tweeting, Facebooking or emailing a link to the contest.  Remind them that it’s never to late to fight back against debt!

You can also show your support for the Shred Your Credit Card community by liking it on Facebook, following it on Twitter, and voting or commenting on the site.  By visiting and sharing ShredYourCreditCard.com between now and February and you’ll be helping us spread the message that debt can be conquered and no one should be alone in the battle.

Give everyone out there who made a New Year’s resolution to dump debt and cut their credit cards motivation to try again this February by spreading the word about ShredYourCreditCard.com.

Call it a second-chance New Year.  Call it social motivation.  Call it video vindication.  Just don’t call it too late to try!

Note to contestants: All videos and votes must be submitted through ShredYourCreditCard.com by 12:00 midnight (ET) on Friday, January 28th. (That’s tomorrow) We’ll declare the $1,000 Grand Prize and two $300 Second Place winners in the contest on January 31st (Shred Your Credit Card Day), as well as a bunch of $25 runners-up.

The Shred Your Credit Card contest is well underway, and with 3 $50 weekly prizes out of the way, it's getting down to the last 2 weeks of the contest.  So what are you waiting for?  Get shredding, blending, slicing, or hammering that pesky credit card.  Not in a destroying mood? Just tell us your debt story and what your plans are for getting credit card debt under control.

Need inspiration? Check out these videos first or read Denver's 9News take on the innovative and fun challenge we are posing to you.

@RobGarciaSJ

The following is a guest post by Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO and Founder of CardHub.com, an online marketplace for credit card offers and gift card exchange.

Small business success has always been a risky proposition.  This fact is ever more glaring in difficult economic times such as those we are currently experiencing.  Thus, small business owners often search for the best money-saving deals possible and look to minimize cash flow uncertainty.  Interestingly, one way in which they can accomplish both of these goals is to avoid funding certain purchases with business credit cards.

The new credit card law (CARD Act) has safeguarded consumers from predatory issuer practices by instituting numerous protections for personal credit card use.  Credit card companies now can’t do things like change a customer’s interest rates during the first year his or her account is open.  Similarly, issuers cannot increase the APR of an existing balance unless the account holder is at least 60 days delinquent.  Such measures have increased the predictability and usefulness of personal credit cards, but, business credit cards, unfortunately, did not receive the same protections.  Thus, holding a balance on one is risky because credit card companies can raise interest rates at any time and for whatever reason, making debt more costly and extremely hard to manage.

Small business owners need not be resigned to using business credit cards simply because they sound like the logical choice. In fact, either a loan or a personal credit card would be a very good replacement to fund purchases that would lead to an owner carrying a balance at the end of the month.

Many owners might be reluctant to eschew their business credit cards for these options for fear that doing so will make them more vulnerable to liability.  People often assume that because a business credit card is geared toward businesses, it naturally shields them as individuals from any financial troubles like delinquency and default by conferring liability on the business itself.  However, there are no liability differences between small business credit cards, personal credit cards and personal loans.  The individual owner is solely liable for each because, in the minds of lenders, a small business owner is essentially his or her business.  There is, therefore, no reason to risk using a business credit card for purchases that will not be paid in full at the end of the month.

A personal loan from a company like Lending Club would actually be a good option for funding this type of spending because such organizations often offer loans with fixed interest rates and lower net costs than those provided by traditional banks.  This type of loan would provide the debt stability that a business credit card cannot.   You can use a Lending Club personal loan to boost an existing business or as a complement to your start up funds.  However, taking out a loan to pay for future purchases requires foresight and discipline.  An owner employing this method would have to be able to accurately determine future spending and would need to allocate his or her funds intelligently once a loan is garnered.

Small business owners can also use personal credit cards for those purchases that will lead to them carrying balances.  As mentioned, personal credit cards are covered by a variety of CARD Act protections that, among many other things, make their future debt payments predictable.  Therefore, with the use of such credit cards, owners are afforded a clear sense of their company’s overall finances without having to worry about or account for a potential increase in the cost of their debt.

Still, business credit cards are valuable to small business owners.  Such cards make it easy to track business spending and allow business owners to dole out cards with personalized limits to employees, while earning rewards on employee spending.  Thus, because of their operational utility, business credit cards should be used only for those purchases that will be paid for in full at the end of the month.

Therefore, in practice, a small business owner should use either a personal credit card or a personal loan in combination with a business credit card.  Doing so will ultimately confer upon this individual the benefits of each payment type, allowing for full debt control, certain business utility and organizational stability.  Long-term business success centers on the ability to adapt, so adjust to the changing credit card landscape, evaluate your business and select the combination of funding options that will best suit your needs.

As 2011 gets underway, many people have sworn to get their finances in order in the new year.   Come on, admit it!  You probably made a money-related new year's resolution.  The problem is most people go back to their normal routines and those financial resolutions get forgotten pretty quickly.

The first week of the year is a perfect time to define a plan to help you accomplish your finance goals in 2011. That means that it is not only financial goal setting time, but also planning!  If you want to set effective financial goals (and achieve them) for 2011, there are some steps you can follow:

1. Establish Your Priorities

Before you can set goals that work for you, it is important to know your priorities. Take a brutally honest look at your finances, and determine what is most important to you in terms of getting on track for 2011. Trying to do everything at once can be discouraging; having priorities to help you decide what to tackle first can help you set more effective financial goals. Have a hard time deciding what your priorities should be? Take a look at this list of 10 smart money moves for 2011.

2. Write Down Your Financial Goals

Once you know your priorities, you can write down financial goals that can help you manage your money in a way that is in line with what’s important to you. It is a good idea to write down your goals so that they become “permanent” somewhere. Additionally, make sure that the goals you set are measurable and achievable.  For example, if your goal is to stay within a tight budget, it helps to write the budget down (or set it up using budgeting software or web based tools).

Here are some popular financial goals for 2011 you may want to include in your plan:

3. Create a Plan

When you write down your financial goals for 2011, they might be rather general. In order to meet your goals, you will probably need to break them down into smaller milestones, as Lauren Young from Prism Money funnily reports for Reuters  in this video. Create a plan for reaching your 2011 financial goals, and be sure to offer small yardsticks along the way so that you can measure (and reward) your progress.

4. Periodically Evaluate Your Efforts

Your plan should include the opportunity to evaluate your efforts regularly. Check to see if you are still on track with your 2011 financial goals throughout the year. You can also tweak your plan if it appears that it is not working, or that you are having trouble meeting your priorities. Remember, frequent tracking is the only way you have to know you are on your way to achieve your financial goal.

5. Avoid Common Mistakes
As we get back to our daily lives, it is easy to fall into money routines that conspire against our own goals.   Keep an eye out for these common money mistakes and fence them off.

Setting financial goals can be a great way to take charge of your finances and begin to effect change in the way you manage your money.

Image courtesy of Morgan.