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.

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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.

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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.

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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...

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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)

Being the family reserve fund…

If you've saved well and others in your family or clan haven't, should you feel duty-bound to spend on their behalf? Well, here are some situations you could be falling into:

• Your mom just called again. It seems that because you and your husband live a lifestyle that is careful, frugal and paid-off, you 'owe' your brothers' kids gifts; you 'owe' it to other family members to go and visit, and when you 'fail,' your brothers call her and complain. They all seem to think that you should spend because you can.

• Or, no one on your side of the family talks to you anymore because you finally said 'No more' -- to thousands of bucks streaming from your bank account to theirs. The blood connection seems weakened and even the friendship goes low.
  

• Your mother-in-law expected you to let a struggling relative and his wife live in a property you own, for less than market rent. But you are planning to rent it to augment the expenses for your daughter's education.
  

• And, you know what it's like, too, when a family member is in financial crisis. You’re helping a relative now, with some amount here and there, when you can. It's intended on your part; You were asked directly only once, for help with a car problem. It may not be wise but you continue out of . . . guilt . . . sympathy . . . fear of them suffering if you don't help.

You begin to ask yourself if you have to bust your butt for someone else's gain especially when that someone feels like they only need to work 25 hours a week! You are fed up with being treated like the local ATM by family members who either expect gifts (the biggest gripe) or who need the occasional bailout.

What's outrageous is when the request is a demand, an expectation. "You have more money, so you should share it!" And it could be worse when that expectation threatens your own financial stability. What happens if you get consumed?

Whose fault is it when relatives expect a handout? Is it your responsibility to communicate what you are and aren't ready to do. Should you be forced to wear a "Reserve Fund" label?

Protect Your Assets through Proper Financial Management

Your financial status is on a crunch and you are uncertain on the course of action to take. You are terrified of declaring insolvency and dropping all your assets. You feel that even your creditors are bullying you. What are your options under such circumstances?

I believe that your best option is to pursue a debt management scheme. You can facilitate or structure payment of arrears using an arrears management program from an arrears management firm or even a credit cooperative. You can also seek out a fiscal counselor to assist you manage your arrears and there are free counselor services available for you.

Under debt management, your initial consideration is the retention of your properties. This is your first priority, and you have two paths of action to track. The first path of action is to consult a debt management firm. The second is to apply for individual volunteer agreement.

If you go for a debt counselor, they will request for details of the amount of arrears that you are in and what are the properties you have. They will also wish you to tell them if you have a job and how much your income is. They will then contact your creditors and try to work out an arrangement with them. In this, they will endeavor to get the highest section of your arrears written off and will attempt for your properties to stay with you. Bear in mind that debt management covers debts like mortgage payments, credit cards, and any other loans that you may have accumulated. On the whole, the key section of arrears that you owe is the interest that has to be paid against any credit or credit that you have acquired. In case of your mortgage, the arrears analyst will attempt to reschedule the mortgage payments. In case of other loans, they will attempt to reduce the interest charge. Debt counselors will work out a realistic repayment schedule. In this case, you are only required to make a single monthly payment to them. They in turn pay off your debts according to the schedule that they have worked out. In this, you get to retain your assets and also work off your debts.

If you apply for an individual voluntary program, you will have to hire a legal representative and apply for this program in a court of law. Your legal representative will call a meeting of all the representatives of the companies that you owe money from. He or she will try to settle your repayments with them. If 75% of your creditors consent to an amount and a repayment plan, the other creditors eventually have to sanction it. This is how a repayment plan is worked out, and you have to stick with it. You cannot have enough money to default on you repayments. When you agree to follow a debt management plan, you cannot go about acquiring fresh arrears or new loans. In fact, you should carefully plan your monthly expenses, cut down on all unnecessary expenditures, and repay your arrears. Don’t expose yourself to additional risks by acquiring further arrears. If you do this, you can end up losing your properties and no sane individual wants that.

In debt management, if there’s a will, there’s a way. You just have to carefully plan your steps and stick to a more prudent system of running your finances because in the final analysis the help that you can get is as successful as the determination you offer to your finances.

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How to Handle Your Debts

In this time of global recession, there’s such a mounting hitch when it comes to debt. Many men and women nowadays are burying their heads in the sand rather than facing up to the situation that is escalating. There are various things that can be done to rally round your situation. It is vital to face up to your debt. By working out your monthly expenses you can make a plan.

Write down how much your monthly outgoings are. Start with utility bills, rent/mortgage, shopping and any other outgoings you have. Once you have calculated how much you need for all your expenses you can work out what you have left to spend or save for rest of the month. This is a good way of making sure you do not exceed your monthly income.

There are many options out there for people who are getting deeper into debt. Regrettably, people are not aware of the options that are available; There are a lot of options available and a debt consolidation loan is one. However, there is a lot of advice available so it would be wise to look into it. A bad debt consolidation loan can be very helpful to some, however if you are looking at getting one, it would be useful to look at more than one loan company and see what deals are being offered.

If you have a poor credit rating it is usual for people to think that it would be a lot harder for them to get help for a loan. This is not always the case and although not all companies can help a few can, making it possible. The interest rates are normally higher if you have a bad credit rating, nevertheless it is still obtainable. In fact some companies use people facing bankruptcy as an example.

Debt consolidation loan means merging your bills into one monthly payment; this is what makes a consolidation loan appealing to many as it takes away the pressure. The monthly amount can be considerably reduced although you will be paying it back over a longer period of time. It should be researched carefully before any decisions are made on consolidating your loans.

Improving your debt will take hard work and dedication this is why a debt consolidation loan shouldn't be taken lightly, much consideration should be taken to make sure monthly payments can be met.

Read Also

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Get on the Right Financial Track by Tracking Your Expenses

We keep track of our expenses because things add up, sometimes in surprising ways. To make significant changes in your spending habits, you need to know your outflow or expenditure score. Record-keeping enables you to spot that all-important “big picture”: exactly how much you spend, and on what, as well as how it swings over time. If you can’t trace your expenses, making changes in your habits will be fairly jumbled. You might strike on something that will save you a lot of money, or you might not. You might cut down expenses a lot in one area, only to spend more in another area without realizing it. On the other hand, if you do know where your money goes, you can target those areas that need work the most, and you can make good decisions about how to spend your money. Often, your assumptions will be wrong.

Whether you earn much or just enough, the same principle applies. We frequently commit the error of considering each expense in isolation, deeming it worthy, and moving on… only to find that somehow there seem to be more worthy expenses than there’s money to pay for them. The technique is to look at the big picture and the real one…

How to track your expenses

Let’s fire up with the traditional method of record-keeping, and suppose that if you’re a computer geek, you’ll settle toward software later on. For the time being, keep it straightforward!

I suggest purchasing a small, cute or manly notebook. Why so? Because this is a constructive venture; strengthen it by using an nice-looking notebook, one that says “I’m doing a good thing for my life!” when you look at it.

For daily expenses, you can either write everything down in your notebook right away, in which case you need to carry your notebook with you, or you can save the receipts from your purchases and then use those receipts in the next step. But if you do the receipts-saving method, make sure you actually get a receipt for everything, and that you actually do save them.
Once you have gathered enough information to start looking at the big picture – and this could be after as little as a week or two, if you’re eager to get started – then start categorizing the expenses and adding up the totals. To do this, you’ll need not only your daily record of purchases, but also any credit card bills, utility bills, checkbook register and any other bills that you have paid.

Keep in mind, be honest, be detailed, and be prepared to be surprised.

Hidden Expenses

Jotting down even the little bitty expenses is significant, because if you’re not sure where your money is going, it’s often going to what I call hidden expenses: ones that are small enough that ignore them.

The hidden purchases usually fall into one of three types:

• impulse buys
• Low-cost purchases
• part of a routine or habit

Impulse buys often don’t get noticed because we don’t tend to plan for them: the CD on sale, the chocolate bar at the drug store. Even when they’re expensive, the fact that they seem spontaneous somehow tends to sabotage our rational spending: we justify the purchase as being exceptional. Even impulse buying often falls into some sort of pattern overall, though.

Low-cost items are another type of purchase that tends to fall under the radar. Something that only costs a dollar or two, like a cup of coffee or a little knick-knack, seem almost too small to be worth tracking. Except that little items add up to bigger totals. If you let a $1 purchase slip by every day without thinking about it, by the end of the year you would have let $365 drift away without knowing where it went. I bet you’d be interested in keeping track of the $365 if it were given to you all at once!

Purchases that are part of a routine are often the hardest to track, but in many ways the most important. These are purchases that we don’t even think about, but they can account for a lot of money: buying sodas from the soda machine at work, popcorn at the movie theater, coffee and a magazine on the way to work in the morning. Each purchase individually may not be expensive, but they add up, particularly since you may make these purchases frequently. The fortunate thing about this kind of spending is that it’s possible to change your routine slightly and eliminate a lot of these expenses: bringing a snack from home to work instead of plugging money into the vending machine, for instance.
In the long run

Once you’ve gotten a clear picture of your finances over the course of a year or so, you may or may not want to stick with the “record every penny” method, depending on your personal style, I still recommend that you keep a reasonably exhaustive record, so that you can keep track of changes in your spending… are expenses in one category starting to creep up again? Recordkeeping also ties in well with budgeting, so it’s a win-win situation to keep track of your expenses. Good record keeping is essential to your financial survival.

7 Biggest Money-Making Strategies

Nearly everyone desires to have more funds and retain more of the riches they have for their future or for some pursuits. However, a good number of us live paycheck-to-paycheck, deep in arrears and unsure on how to break out of the snare.

Here are the 7 biggest Money-Making Strategies you should learn:

1. INVEST. Whether you're 20 or 60, you are never behind schedule to begin. You'll be no better off in three years than you are right now if you don't start investing right now. Even a dollar a day in a mutual fund can make a big difference in a short amount of time.
2. MAKE YOURSELF IMPORTANT. You deserve to have some money set aside for you and to make as much money as you'd like. No one can stop you unless you let them.
3. GET A GOOD RATE OF RETURN ON YOUR MONEY. If most of your money is in a checking account paying 4 1/2 %t, you're losing money! Inflation will make your money worth less tomorrow unless you're getting at least 5-10 % interest on your account.
4. THINK THAT NO ONE ELSE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU FINANCIALLY. Whether you're depending on the government or meeting Mr. or Ms. Right, you're banking on something very unpredictable. It's time for you to take control.
5. ASK FOR HELP. There are lots of money advisors, books, seminars -- you name it -- on making your money work for you. Only people who want to succeed ask for help.
6. PLAN FOR THE FUTURE. Retail therapy can be fun. But how long does the thrill of a new outfit or gadget last? Will you regret what you spent later when you are barely scraping by? How good will that purchase make you feel if you can't pay your bills?
7. TAKE TIME TO MANAGE YOUR MONEY. Good for you -- you've read this far so you have invested in yourself already. Spend at least five minutes each day managing your accounts, learning more about money and investments, and tracking your expenditures.

The time you spend will yield wonderful outcomes and facilitate your having your richest life!

Read Also

• How To Save Money In A Depression (savingcashtips.com)
• Financial overhaul misses easy fund fixes (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Play it safe with life-cycle investing (financialpost.com)
• Investing Advice for the Small-Business Owner (nytimes.com)

Buffering Up Your Safety Zone

Money doesn't grow on trees. There's never enough money. You have to sacrifice or work hard for money. Money is the root of all evil. Whew! Such clichés about money make you squirm? Well, money isn’t really the most essential thing in life, but it’s practically close to oxygen on the ‘gotta have it’ scale.

Have you ever been to the circus and watched aerial acrobats perform their live routines on a high wire act? Then, you should also have noticed, at least momentarily, that the safety net strung out directly below the trapeze artists serves a critically important function! Likewise, to thrive in our financial lives, we too need a 'safety net'.

More specifically, I urge you to establish a reserve fund for 3 - 12 months' regular expenses. This reserve fund or cash buffer or economic safety net shall serve as an emergency buffer fund. Its fundamental purpose is to provide both fiscal certainty and emotional stability.
Do whatever you must to develop a certainty about money, a certainty that you deserve money and that money will be a resource to assist you in your contingencies and in the accomplishment of your goals. There is one key secret known by all of the world's money masters: money by itself has no power whatsoever. The power or energy of money lies in our attitudes, beliefs and control about it. And this is true for you.