Joseph Then asked: It’s unbelievable that schools does not teach us everything that we have to know but left out one important subject, that is Personal Finance Management. No wonder we see rising cases of people with bad debts and bad credit.
Here are 5 ideas to better manage your personal finance.
Build a savings account
Your money is something that you work very hard for. If you want to build a savings account for yourself, and for your family, you can do it – but perhaps a little slower than you might like. You can get started by saving all the change you get from shopping at the grocery store, from the gas station and from anywhere else you might go. Putting all this change into a container, you can then fill the container, day by day. As the container is full, roll the coins and deposit this money into your new savings account. You might be surprised, but in just two weeks it is possible you saved twenty dollars, or even one hundred dollars. Your savings account will grow, and you will be managing your money at the same time!
Paying bills on time
Paying your bills on time is going to be a something you need to make a habit for your entire life. Your credit report, your credit rating and your personal credit worthiness is going to depend on how often you are on time when paying your bills. Paying your bills on time is important for a solid financial future. As you pay bills on time, you are less likely to pay higher interest rates, you are not going to pay late fees, and you will build a good credit rating at the same time. To pay your bills on time, all the time, use a system that will have all your bills put into a pile in the same place. Put the bills that are due first on the top of the pile. Put the bills that are due at the end of the month in the bottom of the pile. Look at the pile every day, or at very least every other day. When you have the money, pay the bill on the top of the pile and work your way through all the bills for the month, and then you can start on the bills for next month!
Building good credit
To build good credit you want to pay your bills on time, and avoid paying those higher interest rates. If you have good credit, you want to keep it. What some people do not realize is that you can hurt your credit if you are moving often. Moving every month, moving every year, and moving more than needed it going to lower your credit score. If you live in the same house, the same apartment for over five years this is going to help your credit. Avoid moving when possible. Get a copy of your credit report; review the addresses that are listed for you. Remove addresses that are not applicable to where you have lived in the past.
Use coupons and save money
If you are not using coupons now, you should be. With the price of everything going up, and up, you need to learn to make your money ‘go further’. To make your money last longer, and to get more for your money seek out coupons for the goods and services that you always purchase. The secret to using coupons is this: don’t use, clip or keep coupons for items that you don’t usually use in your home. Coupons are enticing to get you to try other items, and sometimes can cost you even more money. Clip coupons from the Sunday paper, from the Internet online coupon sites, and look for coupons on the products you already purchase. This is going to give you the best savings possible, stretching out the money you have, and that you want to make last much longer for your household budget.
Money management involves working for a living
Money management is a budgetary thing, meaning you need to know how much money you have, and how much money you can spend. If you are spending more money than you are earning, you are most likely relying on your credit cards just way too much. If you are relying on your credit cards, your payments are going up and you will never pay off those credit cards. Money management involves your earning money, and spending the money you earn, and not more than that. If you need more money in your home budget, you can do a few things: get a new job with better pay, ask for a raise, get a second job, or build a business of your own. Relying on others for handouts, making minimums payments on credit cards you can’t afford, and living beyond your means is only going to come back to cause you trouble later in life.
