How Easy is Planning Financially?

Financial Planning starts with identifying your financial aspirations, then building up a personalized detailed plan to achieve them. It’s like drawing up a ‘map’ specific to your goals and needs, and based on what you want out of life, your attitudes and goals whether personal, professional or financial. That map shows you how to get there and if necessary it should be kept secret….!

Some of the areas that will be covered include:

•  Your goals — a new house, children’s education, travel, a secure retirement, etc.
• Your investments and assets — your house, car, fixed interest, shares, etc. 
• Your income and commitments — mortgages, cost of living, etc. 
• An action plan and investment strategy — to achieve your goals.

 There are three basic money problems that a person will face during the course of his or her life. 

• Accumulation problem. This is the problem most of us actually have, how to accumulate money.  
• Investment problem or what to do with money when you have some.  
• How to create money and provide for the availability of money in the time of need or crisis.

 Putting hard-earned dollars back to work is the cornerstone of accumulating capital and building wealth. Choosing the optimum mix of savings and investments from the many options is the secret to achieving financial success.

Everyone has different goals...Think about your own for a minute. They may include buying a house, planning for your retirement or getting into a new business. In other words, the financial security to help you enjoy what you want out of life. This is why financial planning covers such a wide area. Once you've determined what you want out of life, you start the planning. This planning puts financial strategies such as investments, shares, fixed interest, unit trusts, superannuation, insurance and cash management into a written plan or map designed to work just for you.

Simple Ideas to Cut Down on Your Expenses-00-10

By: grumpyjack sa

In these tough economic times, many of us have to keep our expenses in check. Unfortunately, it seems like an impossible task, considering how expensive everything has become.

It is actually not as complicated as it may seem. it may mean you have to modify a few habits, but it is not rocket science by any means. With a little common sense and commitment, anyone can do it.

Firstly, get into the habit of noting all your expenses, even the sodas you bought on the way home. You will quickly see where your money is slipping away, and decide for yourself what is essential, and which are luxury items. How much of the luxury you cut back on will depend on your particular situation.

Next, take a look at how you do things around the house. Could you maybe use a little less hot water when you bath? Do you switch the light off when you leave a room? Do you use the stove a lot, when some of it could have been done in the microwave at less than half the cost? Do you get in the car to visit a shop every time you miss something? Simple things like these can add up over time, and if not attended to, keep on draining your cash flow.

Do you indulge in simple luxuries like having a soda on a regular basis? Have you calculated the cost over a period of a year? Do you smoke? Did you calculate the cost over a year? You do not need to quit altogether, because simply smoking a bit less will already result in a significant saving.

Have you considered starting a club to share the expenses of driving to work? City driving is heavy on fuel and maintenance. Even if you car only runs half the time, it will still amount to a considerable saving due to the saving on wear and tear.

Lastly, have a look at your financial management. Can you possibly obtain cheaper insurance without sacrificing cover? Have you looked at the option of refinancing your home at a better interest rate?

These points are all common sense, yet many people overlook them, and wonder why their budgets don't fit. Find the little holes in the bucket, and plug them up. They usually spill a whole lot more than the few big ones. Don't allow your habits to rule your finances. Take control - your life will be a whole lot easier.

These ideas were brought to you by Discussedhere.com and House Talk , both of which are websites dealing with discussions about real estate. Click here to read more on expenses.

Related articles

• Five tips for buying a new car (timesbusiness.typepad.com)
• Consumers Cut Spending, Save Money, Pay Down Debt, Ruin Economy [Economy] (consumerist.com)
• Online savings (onlineshopster.blogspot.com)
• Fashion management (danielgreenz.blogspot.com)
• Save with your friends (yourfriendsremark.blogspot.com)
• Homegrown Pinay (filipinastudes.blogspot.com)
• Tips for refinancing your mortgage (cnn.com)
• When To Give Up A Side Hustle (frugaldad.com)
• Excessive Nature (momblognetwork.com)

Financially Overcoming a Job-Loss

Getting a new job isn’t a cake walk either. Evidently, the signs of worry show up. But if you thought that’s the end of the road, you got it all wrong. Job loss is common, so are its ways to cope with it. You just need to wise up money-wise to recover.

First, if you’ve heavy outstanding bills and debts, go for debt consolidation. It reduces your monthly payments, and also helps you to make a single monthly payment by tacking all debt into one loan. A single loan is always easier to handle in financial crisis as it’s lower than the total payable amount on several loans and bills. Therefore, you get a chance to organize your finances, without any debt woes.

Next, ensure that you have fully received your entitlements from your employer. Some companies have redundancy packages, offering financial advice, outplacement, and career opportunities. Use it if you can.

Then you must reorganize your budgets to meet the situation. The same earning-to-spending ratio wouldn’t stay; therefore, you may fail to pay for your mortgage or credit card. In such a case, be explicit and negotiate fresh payment terms with your creditors.

Don’t make rash financial decisions that may land you in hot water. For instance, push aside all plans for holidaying or buying a new car when you’ve just lost a job. Also, avoid using all your payout to pay off your loans as you’ll have to survive on that money till you find a new job.

You must also change your lifestyle to get over the crisis. Forget being the same party animal or impulsive shopper that you were before. On a positive note, job loss allows you to look back on life and re-evaluate yourself. A job loss also helps you reconsider your career plans and future, which you wouldn’t have done otherwise.

If this thought isn’t cheerful enough, and you’re still having creases on your forehead, seek professional help. Get a financial advisor to plan your finances. Alternatively, go for counseling.

Related articles

• Retired home owners face repossession as banks refuse to extend mortgages (telegraph.co.uk)
• Best Way to Consolidate Credit Cards and Get Out of Debt (indebt.singlesceneuk.net)
• Debt burden of retirees 'growing' (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Mellody's Free Money Tips (abcnews.go.com)
• Stop Those Harassing Debt Collectors (abcnews.go.com)
• Do What's Financial Right For You (bargaineering.com)

Related Sites:
Naked Pinay Views, Friendly Remarks , Greeny Fashion, Money Talks , Marc Nand's Blog , Nodding Nanding's Journal, Amusing Disclosure , PC Operatis , Online Shopster
Sites to visit :

Mizuno, Calvin Klein, Nike, Moschino, Adidas, Puma, Converse, Dickies, Skecher, DKNY, Emerica, Kayland, Miss Sixty, Umi Kids, Tommy, Wee Box, Onex, Olukai, FlyFlot, Fratelli, Gravati, Daniel Green, Jumping Jack, Yellow Box, Nine West, Tatami, Coclico, , Via Spiga, Naturalizer, Ecco Golf

How to Teach Money Management to Your Child

Financial responsibility is one vital attribute of a successfully managed life. It is a lifelong effort that should start at an earlier age up to the twilight years and even beyond. Learning financial responsibility while you are young prepares you for proper money management later in life. Training your child to manage his money is not just a gift, but a responsibility as well for the parents. When a child learns how to responsibly manage his finances, he gets a foretaste of financial stability when he grows up.

Teaching a child financial responsibility should start early. This can be as simple as telling a 3 year old "no" when they want you to buy something. Or even saying, "We don't have money for that today". These statements are helpful for a child to hear as they are based on reality. It will also allow the opportunity to open a discussion about money. This may not happen at 3 years of age, however, it will allow a child to be more comfortable when he/she is developmentally prepared.

Next, teach children the actual value of money. Teach them the meaning of a penny, dime, quarter, dollar etc. Teach them how to count money. Although this is taught in school, it is vital to financial responsibility to grasp this concept early. There are many books or workbooks that are helpful.

Next, teach a child the meaning of money by teaching them how to earn money. Discussions often happen early about why a parent must go to work or pay bills, etc. Discuss ways an adult earns money by discussing various jobs or careers. You can then discuss how they can earn money. Common jobs for children are chores, lemonade stands, paper routes, mowing lawns, and babysitting.

After a parent has taught a child how to earn money, it is time to teach a child how to spend and save money. 1 way to teach spending and savings is to have 2 piggy banks. Mark 1 as spending and the other as savings. Have a standard plan of how much goes into each piggy bank. For example, if a child earns $5.00 per week by completing chores, maybe $3 goes into savings and $2 goes into spending bank. It takes quite an effort to teach your child how to spend and how to buy something. This is also a delicate task to handle as a parent because it should be modelled and appreciated.

After there is enough money saved to open a savings account, take the child to the bank. Explain why people use banks. Next explain their new account by discussing their savings statement. This is very helpful for young children, as it is a hard concept that you have money being cared for by someone/something else. Banks are often initially frightening for children. Continual friendly explanation is often helpful.

As a child grows, you can have them place their checks for birthdays or holidays in their respective piggy banks. As he becomes ready for work until he finds a job, try to keep them on the same system. This helps encourage proper appropriation of funds for wise spending and saving.

Related articles

• Do You Save Loose Change? (frugaldad.com)
• Greeny Fashion (danielgreenz.blogspot.com)
  
• Spend and Save coin bank (ubergizmo.com)
• One Income, Separate Bank Accounts (usnews.com)
• Filipina Students (filipinastudes.blogspot.com)
  
• Become a better saver, build financial muscle (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• "Active Savers" Start Early and Often (usnews.com)
• Can The Lottery Make People Save More? (techdirt.com)

The Real Story Behind Credit Cards

by Carmin Olivier

A credit card can be an asset to your lifestyle, but if not handled carefully it can become a liability, especially if you find it so convenient and easy to use that you lose control of your spending. This short guide will help you understand how you can use your credit card so it works to your advantage, not against you.

A credit card can:

1. Offer free use of funds, provided you always pay your balance in full, on time.
2. Be more convenient to carry than cash.
3. Help you establish a good credit history.
4. Provide a convenient payment method for purchases made on the Internet and over the telephone.
5. Give you incentives, such as reward points, that you can redeem.

On the other hand, credit cards can:

1. Cost much more than other forms of credit, such as a line of credit or a personal loan, if you don't pay on time.
2. Damage your credit rating if your payments are late;
3. Allow you to build up more debt than you can handle;
4. Have complicated terms and conditions;

A credit card is first and foremost a flexible payment tool accepted at 30 million locations worldwide, and if the card balance is paid off every month, then no interest is charged on purchases made so, essentially, short-term credit is granted without the consumer paying any interest. Among its many features it provides:

1. Access to unsecured credit (no collateral required against amounts charged)
2. Interest-free payment from time of purchase to the end of the billing period
3. Instant payment of purchases, allowing for instant receipt of goods and services
4. 24/7 access
5. Fraud protection

However before you decide to use your credit card, carefully consider all of the factors and weigh them against your personal needs and values. Handling money and credit cards wisely is a talent few of us are born with. But it is a skill that can easily be learned. The place to start is with budgeting. It's simply an organized way of managing your finances, basically, it gives you an overall picture of where your money is coming from, when it's coming in and how it's being spent. A budget should be flexible, changing according to your circumstances.

Budgeting helps us achieve short-term goals like paying the monthly bills on time; it's also for longer-term financial goals like buying a home, a car, paying for an education, a wedding or a holiday. When you take control of your financial affairs, you're more confident about the future.
A budget is key to financial control. It gives you a "Polaroid picture" of where you stand financially and where you're heading.

Credit card control tips

1. Use a low or no-fee credit card and save on the annual fee that some companies charge.
2. Only charge to your credit cards what you can pay off in full when the bill comes.
3. You might not use your credit card as much if you start believing that you have to pay off your entire balance at the end of each month.
4. A good way to help to reduce what you pay on your credit card is to search for a card with a lower interest rate. Many financial institutions now offer at least one of these types of cards.
5. Remember that when you take a cash advance on your credit card, the interest starts accumulating immediately and not on the due date of your credit card bill.
6. Also keep in mind that if you make only the minimum monthly repayment you may never get out of debt.

The main advantage of having a credit card is convenience but if you're not good at budgeting and managing your finances, the over-use of credit cards can leave you with a debt that's very difficult to pay back. Take this friendly advice...

Related articles

• Eight tips on how to protect yourself as a consumer (seattlepi.com)
• My Financial Implosion: Recovery is Possible (queercents.com)
• New Fee Added on Some Credit Cards (momblognetwork.com)
• Youngsters and Students 'Need Lessons In Borrowing' (filipinastudes.blogspot.com)
• Greeny Fashion on Credit (danielgreenz.blogspot.com)
  
• Credit Card Reform: The Law of Unintended Consequences (themoderatevoice.com)
• Credit Card Consolidation Services (data-bg.info)

3 Steps To Increasing Your Income

Most accountants, financial planners, wealth-building experts and real friends agree that there are really only three ways to increase your income. You can either:

1. Increase your revenue (make more money),or
2. Decrease your expenses (spend less money), or
3. Do both 1 and 2

However, what is not so obvious are the words that should always follow these income-increasing statements. Accountants, financial planners and wealth-building experts are often so close to these principles that they assume we all know them to be true. They also tend to believe that everyone , not particularly a woman, has the necessary discipline and patience to automatically make them happen. Here are the reality-based revised versions of the statements that, although might not be as easy to relate to, really make more sense and, if you follow them to the letter, will help keep you on track. If you want to increase your income you must either:

1. Increase your revenue (and at the same time keep your expenses the same or less than before) , or
2. Decrease your expenses (and at the same time maintain or increase your revenue), or
3. 3. Do both 1 and 2

One version of Parkinson’s Law is that “expenses rise to meet income.” Put another way: “The more you make, the more you spend.” If you truly want to increase your income, it is important to maintain the same, or even a scaled-down, style of living for a period of time.

For example, if you make $45,000.00 per year and receive an annual raise of 10%, you gain an additional $4500.00 per year ($375.00 per month) for a new total of $49,500.00. It is awfully tempting to spend this extra $4500.00, rather than invest or save it. In addition, it is easy to talk yourself into upgrading your lifestyle by trading up for a more expensive car, taking an unplanned vacation, shop online for that much talked about gadget or some other deserved reward. After all, you just increased your income by $375.00 per month. Right? Wrong if you spend it!

If you spend the extra money, you have not really increased your income at all. In fact, if you spend it and then take added taxes and other liabilities into account, you may actually have less income than you had before the raise! Weird, huh?

The point here is that it’s not just about making more money. It’s about what you do with the extra money that determines whether or not you have truly increased your income. The reverse is also true. Let’s say that instead of the 10% raise, you get no raise at all. But, you decide to raise your income by cutting expenses. If you find a way to cut your expenses by 10%, you actually are gaining over $375.00 per month. If you are able to cut your expenses by $4500.00 per year, in reality, you just increased your annual income by 10%. Weird again, but true.

Your desire, ability and willingness to both cut expenses and increase revenue will determine how fast and how much your income will jump. It’s a powerful combination, and this is the secret that most wealthy people use all the time. The usual color of money is green, so refresh your financial gain by following these eco-friendly(economically friendly) steps.

10 Guide Questions for a Better Financial Life

"You answer my questions with questions..." The lyrics of the song "Question" strike me often.

What does it really mean? So, each of us has the ability to find the answer to any question. They key is to ask the right questions. If you're frequently asking yourself, "Why was I so dim-witted to get into debt?", your mind will provide an answer like, "Because you're a loser."

You should remember that your brain will keep working on your question subconsciously until you obtain an answer. We've all had the experience of waking up in the middle of the night with the answer to something you were thinking about earlier in the day. The quality of the answer is directly related to the quality of the question. A better question is "What action can I take today to start reducing my debt?" Your brain will ponder this until it returns an answer. like a concerned friend. That may be something like, "Get financially organized. Look through all my credit card statements and see if I can determine if any one card is better than another."

According to Scott Bilker, the founder of DebtSmart.com, here are 10 questions whose answers will guide you to a better financial life:

1. What action(s) can I take today to start reducing my debt?
2. How can I start making more money within the next 5 days?
3. What can I do to start saving money?
4. What did I learn about finances today?
5. What day, this week, can I commit to going to the library and researching my financial options?
6. How can I use my computer to improve my life financially?
7. How can I double my income within one year?
8. What dreams did I have when I was younger that I should revisit today that would improve my life?
9. Do I have the right amount of insurance?
10. How can I enjoy the process of working to reduce my debt?

Now find the answers...


Related site: Pinay Questions (filipinastudes.blogspot.com)

Success Factors for Becoming Debt-Free

Perhaps you have noticed that debt is nasty and importunate. Debt has a sticky feature, like chewing gum that gets in your hair and wedged into the tread of your sneakers. It's like a splinter you can't get out . The harder you try to get rid of it, the more of it there seems to be. When you dislodge a chunk, you can't believe how much is still left and how hard it is to clean out. It's not an illusion -- or a sign of your own personal failure -- that debt is so sticky. Once you're in debt, researchers have established, you're much more likely to stay in debt for a extended period.

Resolving to get out of debt is easy; actually getting started is a bit harder. But the real ordeal is sticking with your plan. Here's what makes an effort succeed.

Persistence
It's the secret element that is as imperative as, possibly even more important than, finding the funds: persistence. The idea was that each person would race against herself to pay back her debt -- not against each other. You work at your own pace, and everyone's pace is different. It doesn't sound much different than making those monthly payments on your own. In other words, there's no question that debt tends to persist, and you have to cultivate an extraordinary persistence of your own to deal with it.

Accountability

Determine and recognize exactly how much you owed and how much you were paying, and regularly update your progress (or stumbles). If you don’t update your records, you fail. You tell yourself that this is your pursuit and no one’s gonna think and work as determined as you will and can do. We all know that feeling, whether from being on a diet or a too-strict budget. You've tightened your belt to the point that you're afraid to loosen it, lest you go hog-wild crazy. It's a valid fear, and being aware of it is your best defense.

Because most people make a simple but drastic mistake when they borrow from their cards or homes: They don't think about having to repay the money with after-tax dollars. If you feel like your debt is dragging you down and you don't know how you'll get out from under, maybe it's time to put on your running shoes. Ready, set . . .

Reinforcement

In a world where senseless shopping and fashion pursuit always get a gold star, it's hard to find any support for putting money toward financial freedom instead of feeding that plastic monster. To that end, reward yourself (not monetarily) whenever you overcome the temptation. How? That’s easier than looking for the money. You just got to be sensible and resourceful because there is more to life than buying the items or services that you thought are important.

It's not necessarily the big-ticket items that sink your budget. It's the steady onslaught of little ones. Sometimes you need to take drastic steps if you want a dramatic improvement in your financial life.

Camaraderie

Community spirit -- call it what you will. I think of it as the buddy effect. It’s not like you can talk to your best friend about your financial problems -- or your mom or your sister. So having a forum where you can say, 'I just got a $100 birthday check, and I'm putting it toward my credit card balance” -- and then getting a round of cheers from other people -- it's incredible. You don’t simply struggle on your own, others too are struggling like you do and others have already succeeded. Why don’t you find a common ground to share your experiences and get their push. That's because what getting out of debt requires, more than anything, more than money itself -- is stamina. Not only men, but women should build their stamina around supportive peers.

Pay these Links a Visit:

• Getting A Bonanza: Pay Off Debt Now Or Over Time? [Ask Consumerist] (consumerist.com)
• The Secret to Managing Credit Card Debt (indebt.singlesceneuk.net)
• Recession Solution: Rethinking 401k Loans (abcnews.go.com)
• My Financial Implosion: Recovery is Possible (queercents.com)
• Payday Advances: Controversy and Criticism (ukscams.co.uk)