|
|
|
12 Signs it is REALLY Time to Leave Your Job
If you're not thrilled with your present job, you're not alone. In fact, you're in the majority. A survey in Quality Digest magazine of 5,000 U.S. households found that fewer than half of all Americans are satisfied with their jobs.
"The level of...
Beyond the pain and stigma to healing
Like many other divorced women I was depressed; had questions about why I could not keep a man; and angry. For almost twenty years I successfully raised my children. This article discusses how to raise responsible children even with this...
Helpful Hints for First-Time Home Buyers
Buying a house can be a daunting task, even for someone who has owned several homes. My husband and I recently purchased our first home together, and it was hard to find good advice that we truly found useful. We had to learn a lot on our own,...
Mother's Day: 5 Gift Ideas Guaranteed to Make Any New Mom Happy
Sure, you can call it a Hallmark holiday. But don’t be fooled: Mother’s Day is serious business. A big deal. Especially for new moms. How do I know? Because I make my living surveying moms for my books. I ask them everything from which diaper bag...
Work as a Spiritual Calling - 7 Steps to Heeding Your Life's Calling
People have now begun trading
Work as a Spiritual Calling: 7 Tips to Heeding Your Life’s Calling by Bud Inzer, Career Coach
Since September eleventh many of us have begun to look for what...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yes, You Can Budget!
Author's Note: This article is one lesson from the free email
course "Beginner's Guide To Budgeting"
There are several factors that contribute to budgets failing.
The most common is that people just don't want to change the
way they live and how they handle their money.
We get comfortable with the way we live and making a major
lifestyle change is something that scares most of us. But,
my friend, this is probably what it will take to get your
finances in order and keep them that way.
I can almost guess what you are thinking, "I'm done with this
article. This clown is trying to make me change everything and
I don't want to". Am I right?
This change doesn't have to be devastating. When you change the
way you think about your finances this change will be welcome.
The first and most important thing you have to do is to decide
what it is you want to do with your money. I'm talking about
setting your goals. When you have a goal that is really
important to you it is easier to do what's necessary to reach
that goal.
"That goal stuff is all fine and good but what if I can't even
pay my bills now? What good is a goal to me?" If you don't have
a goal there is little motivation to solve the problem.
We are working backwards here. You set your goal first (the
solution) and then work on how to get there (the problem).
Let me give you an example. You have a goal to be debt free
in the next 5 years. The problem is that you don't have enough
money now to pay your bills and put food on the table. This
seems like an impossible mission. If being debt free is really
important to you then you will find a way to make it happen.
Recently I received an email from a lady that wanted information
about what she could do to keep here bill collectors from
contacting her work and discussing her finances with her friends
and family. I won't go into details here but you can read the
case study by visiting:
http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/articles/takecontrol.html
This lady and her husband had car loans totaling over $1300 per
month. They voluntarily had these vehicles repossessed. This
action will have a devastating effect on their credit report,
however, I don't believe it will be quite as bad as having to
file bankruptcy.
This couple made a hard choice in order to reach their goals.
While you may not have to have anything repossessed, you are
still going to have to make hard choices. My point is that you
can do it if you try. This is just one example of how you can
budget even if you are behind on your bills.
There are many other things you can do if you are behind. One
of the best ways to get started is to contact your bill
collectors and see what arrangements can be made. You may be
surprised to find that these people are willing to work with
you to solve the problem.
How many times have you considered a purchase just to ask
yourself "Can I Afford This?". When you have a budget in place
this is a question that you won't need to ask. You will have
the numbers in front of you. If the payment is too much to fit
in your budget then the answer is No.
The time to start a budget is now. It doesn't matter whether
you are 18 or 65. Once you set up your budget and have it in
place for a couple of months you will start to realize that it
isn't
difficult.
As with anything else there are basic guidelines that are
universally accepted. These vary somewhat depending on who you
talk to but the below percentages will get you close to what is
accepted.
What I am talking about is the percentage of your income (take
home pay) that you should allot for each category of your budget.
At Budget Stretcher I have broken this down to just 4
categories to make your budget experience as simple as possible.
Here are the percentages:
Housing - 30% of your take home pay. Housing costs cover your
rent or mortgage payment, taxes, etc.
Other Bills - 30% of your take home pay. This is the catch all
category that includes your regular bills excluding housing.
Your credit cards, utilities, loan payments, car payments,
insurance, etc. are all covered in this category.
Household Expenses - 30% of your take home pay. This is what
it takes to run your household. This includes groceries, car
gas and all the other stuff you have to pay for between paydays.
Savings - 10% of your take home pay. This is possibly the most
important of all of the categories. If you don't have a long
term and short term savings program it is going to be difficult
to solve any money problems you may have.
At least %5 of your take home pay should be used for short term
savings. This is very important because it is what is going to
cover any unexpected expenses that may pop up. This will prevent
the use of credit cards to cover these expenses.
Your short term savings should be kept in a savings account or
other savings program that will allow you to lay your hands on
it quickly. This isn't to say that you should use this when
money runs short at the end of the month.
You should also put aside at least 5% of your take home pay for
your long term savings. One day you will want to buy a house or
send the kids to college and this is the pot of money that is
going to accomplish that.
Even if you have a 401k or other retirement plan it is still a
good idea to put this money away. This money needs to be in an
account that will pay you the most interest without a lot of
risk.
Since I'm not an investment expert I won't even begin to make a
recommendation on where to invest this money. You will need to
consult a competent investment broker for this advice.
As you can see by the percentages above your budget is actually
as simple as 2+2. If your bills and expenses doesn't fit into
the recommended percentages then you need to work on it until it
does.
If you are like I was you can probably come up with a thousand
reasons why you can't budget your money. Either you have too
many bills, you are too far behind on those bills or you just
don't want to make the perceived sacrifices necessary to live
on a budget.
I'm not going to try to fool you into believing that there won't
be sacrifices. I am going to tell you that what ever sacrifices
you have to make will be well worth the effort.
About the Author
Terry Rigg is the author of Living Within Your Means - The Easy
Way http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/ebookadpage.html and editor
of The FREE Budget Stretcher Newsletter and Budget Stretcher
web site http://www.homemoneyhelp.com. He has 25 years of
experience counseling individuals and families concerning their
personal finances.
|
|
|
|
|
| Kiplinger.com - Timely, Trusted Personal Finance Advice, Financial ... |
| Investing, personal finance, calculators and financial advice. |
| www.kiplinger.com |
|
| Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine - Your Guide to Making Money ... |
| Subscibe to Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine to help you manage your finances. Achieve your financial goals and objectives with help from our ... |
| www.kiplinger.com |
|
| Personal finance advice, news - CNNMoney |
| News & advice on retirement planning, college saving, taxes, mortgages, autos, real estate, investing and more from CNNMoney.com. |
| money.cnn.com |
|
| Business, financial, personal finance news - CNNMoney |
| Combines practical personal finance advice, calculators and investing tips with business news, stock quotes, and financial market coverage from the editors ... |
| money.cnn.com |
|
| Personal Finance, Personal Finances, and Financial Advice - Forbes.com |
| Personal Finance - Get financial advice and information from Forbes.com. |
| www.forbes.com |
|
| SmartMoney.com — Investing, Saving and Personal Finance |
| SmartMoney has daily stock and mutual fund recommendations, hourly market updates, personal finance investing research tools and advice, ... |
| www.smartmoney.com |
|
| Personal Finance Home (Personal Finance: Personal Finance ... |
| Links to articles covering a range of topics where monetary planning is or should be involved. |
| www.smartmoney.com |
|
| Personal Finance - Front Page |
| Read the details in Personal Finance this Saturday. Also in this weekend's edition:; You should take financial services companies' marketing material with a ... |
| www.persfin.co.za |
|
| Get stock quotes, market news, rates, and more - Netscape Money ... |
| Market News. • Market News. • News Search. Financial Planning. • Finance Calculators. • Saving for College. • Personal Finance ... |
| money.netscape.cnn.com |
|
| globeandmail.com: Personal Finance |
| Personal Finance. Home · National · British Columbia · Prairies · Ontario · Quebec · Atlantic · Politics · World · Americas · Europe · Asia-Pacific ... |
| www.theglobeandmail.com |
|
| Personal Finance - MSNBC.com |
| Answer Desk: Submit your question about personal finance or the world of business ... Personal Finance. • Learn more about RSS ... |
| www.msnbc.msn.com |
|
| Personal Finance Newsletter |
| 7600 Leesburg Pike, West Building Suite 300 • Falls Church, VA 22043 703-394-4931 (ph) • 703-905-8100 (fax) • personalfinance@kci-com.com ... |
| www.pfnewsletter.com |
|
| Personal Finance Advice - Personal Finance Management - Personal ... |
| Tips and stories for managing your personal finances. |
| www.marketwatch.com |
|
| CNBC.com: Personal Finance |
| Investing home page features investment tools like stock quotes, charts, a portfolio manager and much more. Plus market news and financial commentary from ... |
| moneycentral.msn.com |
|
| Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Business: Personal ... |
| Knowing retirement, health plans can help avert disaster · At one firm, financial crisis crushed 401(k)s, insurance · Personal finance news briefs ... |
| www.dallasnews.com |
|
| Morningstar: Personal Finance |
| Sharpen your personal finance and investing skills with Morningstar. Access articles covering stocks, mutual funds, bonds, retirement, 401(k)s and 529 plans ... |
| www.morningstar.com |
|
| Fool.com: Personal Finance |
| Personal Finance - The Motley Fool exists to educate, amuse, and enrich the individual investor; to prove to you that the best person to manage your money ... |
| www.fool.com |
|
| Fool.com: Investing, Stock Research, and Personal Finance |
| Expert advice on picking stocks, investing for retirement, and dealing with life's major personal finance decisions. |
| www.fool.com |
|
| Telegraph | Money |
| Market news from the Telegraph newspaper online. Includes money product finders. |
| www.telegraph.co.uk |
|
| Compare Prices and Read Reviews on Personal Finance at Epinions.com |
| Epinions has the best comparison shopping information on Personal Finance. Compare prices from across the web and read reviews from other consumers on ... |
| www.epinions.com |
|
|