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August 30, 2008

5 Action-Ideas To Manage Your Personal Finance

Personal Finance
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.

August 6, 2008

Clean Up Your Finances Before You Invest

Investing
Denise Villani asked:


Before you consider investing in any type of market, you should really take a long hard look at your current situation. Investing in the future is definitely a good thing, but clearing up bad or potentially bad situations in the present is more important.

The first thing you should do is get a copy of your credit report. You should do this at least once a year. It is important to know what’s in your credit report and clear up any negative items as soon as you possibly can. If you have $25,000 set aside to invest, but you have $25,000 worth of bad credit, your best bet is to clean up your credit before you start any type of investing.

The next thing you should do is look at what you are paying out each month and get rid of any unnecessary expenses. Although things like high interest credit cards are convenient and nice to have, they most certainly aren’t necessary and can end up costing you thousands in the long run. Pay them off and get rid of them. Likewise, if you have high interest loans outstanding, you should pay them off as well.

If nothing else, you could do a balance transfer from one credit card to another, exchanging the high interest credit card for one with lower interest. You could also look into refinancing high interest loans with lower interest loans. You might end up having to use some of your investment funds to take care of these matters, but in the long run, you will see that this is the wisest course of action.

If you’re living from paycheck to paycheck like alot of people, it doesn’t necessarily make sense to start investing funds right away. If you’re struggling to pay your bills and your bank balance is always next to nothing, investing any money you have saved up will most likely put you in a worse financial situation. Your investment dollars would be better spent to rectify adverse financial issues that affect you on a daily basis.

Even if you are unable to invest money at the start, While you are in the process of clearing up your present financial situation you should make it a point to educate yourself about the various types of investments. Read up on things like savings accounts, CDs, money market accounts, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and annuities and choose the type of investments that best suit your needs.

Savings accounts are considered to be a safe haven for your money as your deposits are usually insured, but on the downside they usually offer low interest rates so it takes longer to get a good return on your investment.

A certificate of deposit or CD is an account that usually offers a higher rate of interest than a regular savings account. CDs are also insured up to $100,000 and the longer the period of investment the higher the interest rate. On the downside, there are usually penalties for early withdrawal.

A money market account generally earns a higher interest than a regular savings account. They are also insured and work like a checking account. However, there is a limit on the number of withdrawals or transfers you can make during a given period of time.

Investing in stocks gives you ownership of part of that company’s assets. When the company makes money, its stockholders usually receive dividends and have the opportunity to sell their stocks for a profit. On the other hand, if the company does poorly, the stock price will probably fall and you could lose some or all of the money you invested.

A bond is a certificate of debt issued by the government or a company with a promise to pay a specified sum of money at a future date. Bonds carry a fixed interest rate. The term of a bond can range from a few months to 30 years. Bonds can be traded and are considered to be safer than stocks because bondholders are paid before stockholders if a company goes bankrupt.

Mutual funds are professionally managed pools of money from a group of investors. A mutual fund manager invests your funds in securities like stocks and bonds, money market instruments or a combination of all of them depending on the fund’s investment objectives. Investing in mutual funds allows you to diversify, which makes the investment less risky. Keep in mind that mutual funds usually charge a fee for the service and you will have to pay taxes on any profits you earn.

Annuities are contracts sold by insurance companies to provide payments at specified intervals, usually after retirement. You will be charged a penalty for withdrawing funds prior to a certain age, but you won’t be taxed until you withdraw the funds. Annuities are considered to be safe,low-yielding investments. Additionally, annuities have death benefits that equal either the current value of the annuity or the amount that has been paid into it – whichever is has a higher value.

Once you are ready to start investing, you need a plan. Start by making a list of your most important financial goals like buying a home, paying for a child’s college education or living comfortably in retirement. When you have the extra money, make a habit of paying yourself first by putting money into your savings and investments.

If you feel you don’t know enough about investing on your own, you can always seek professional investment advice. Investment professionals provide a variety of services at different prices. Some are very expensive and others are very affordable; it pays to shop around.

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