Joy Olivia Miller

Archive for the ‘Financial Tips’ Category

Today we are faced with what might be potentially the next great depression? Now don’t panic because there is always a solution to a problem so you are in good hands if you just try and think outside the box a little bit. What can you do to ensure that this doesn’t affect you as much as others? Well for a starters you can begin to review all of your expenses. What I mean by that is your spending habits. We all have them and to varying degrees but If you earn $50k per year and you are spending $60k per year then something has to change right! Right it does because you can’t keep living on borrowed time. Eventually this will catch up with and you be forced to downsize your car and your house aswell. This is if you still have a job to pay for it. The middle class will affected the most because of the fact that they like to keep up with the Jone’s so they decorate and buy new toy’s all the time, and get the best car possible.

Well you might like your life now but I think you had better at least be a bit prepared for the uncertain future we will all face. There are many things you can do right now to ensure you have some savings. So you are looking at your spending habits but what can you eliminate from them? What things could you do without? What things could you downsize? Are you prepared to cut down on your spending of luxury goods? You have to get clear on this unless you want to stress yourself out and your kids in the future. Take what you have now and look carefully at what you really need. Do you need 8000 channels on your TV channels?

It really is up to you to begin thinking of ways to maximise your cash and get rid of credit. I will help you a little now though because I will list a few simple ways to save $100′s per month starting right away. Take what you want from this and get started on eliminating debt. Good Luck!:)

Here are a list of helpful ways to start saving!

1 Drive the car less (if you can!) OR buy a smaller car, it will save you a ton of money on fuel/Gas not to mention Insurance and Tax.

2 Quit the Gym membership and use free exercise mostly like running,swimming,Yoga or walking.

3 Cut out luxury food items all together or at least keep them to special occassions or weekends.

4 Cut down on drinking, smoking, junk food, and material spending (i.e clothes, jewellery). If you already have a Nice Black shirt why get another?

5 Make your own Sandwiches for work. Alot cheaper.

6 Drink less commercial coffee. Just 1 cup less a day could be $60 to $120+ per month in your pocket. Amazing really!:)

7 Try to download free information from the internet instead of buying books all the time. It’s an online library.

8 If you can grow vegetables then grow them. This includes growing herbs and keeping chickens too.

9 Break down Monthly bills and subscriptions and cut them in half. What are you spending on monthly that you could stop now?

10 Don’t be drawn into commercial adverts or shops. Walk away and realise what you have just saved money and space.

11 If you want a particular item let’s say sunglasses and they are $70. Look online first and buy the item for less, that’s what I do.

12 Check your car yourself, Oil, Water and tyres and you will need less services. Also keep the tyres pumped up as it saves on fuel.

13 Do you have old video’s or books? Or any items you can throw on eBay? Check the loft you might have an antique you could sell.

14 Start a small business on the side. ( I recommend an Internet Business because of low start up and low overheads!) Learn more Below.

15 Get rid of Credit Cards and just keep One because they are not money they are debt! Only buy what you can afford.

I hope this has helped you to make some savings!:)

Every month we end up spending more and feel the stretch over financial commitments. Often people think about saving more than doing it seriously. This recession period and subsequent lamed growth, has compelled us to give some serious thought to managing personal finance prudently in order to save enough. This article gives some significant input regarding administration of personal finance.

1. The first step is to create a feasible budget that allows you to spend comfortably and meet your basic needs as well as save sufficiently. It should not just be put on paper to forget; instead the budget must be followed stringently. Keep a track of all your payments including electric, phone, fuel and your credit card bills. You can pay through direct debit which can ensure your timely payments and create good credit ratings for you.

2. Good personal finance management requires some compromises and sacrifices on your end. Try to keep a check of your unnecessary food, snacks and alcohol expenditure. Even saving on them just once a month can make a big difference.

3. Your outstanding mortgages, loan repayments and credit card bills must be a priority while planning your savings and investments. It is important to remember that even a few non payments towards your loan installments can lead to severe financial problems or even bankruptcy in worst cases. If you sense that your credits are mounting and it is difficult for you to pay them, it is advised that you immediately review the situation and consult creditors for a solution. You can ask for easy payment solutions or even raise money from other sources to get out of raising debt.

4. Diversify your investments in insurance, shares and other policies that are safe and give good returns. Remember that wise financial planning can help immensely in solving many of the economic problems that you may encounter in your life.

Following finance management tips has become absolutely imperative in the present times. These tips allow you to make the best of your financial resources and use them in the right way. Also, by using finance management tips one is able to pay back his loans and also increase his savings. Here are some finance management tips that can help you to lead a more prosperous life.

1. Set your objectives. To begin with, you need to set your finance goals. You have to see if you want to make some savings or payback some loan by managing your finances. Your goals will help you to decide the finance plan that you should follow. Ask yourself if you want to better manage your finances to get a car or home or to travel abroad.

2. Set your priorities. It is very important to set your priorities so that you can know as to which way to go. For this reason, you can see if it is more important to buy a car or payback your loan first. Whatever is most important you need to concentrate on that. If you do not set your priorities you will not be able to manage your finances in the right manner and meet your objectives.

3. Make a budget. It is also essential to make a monthly budget so that you can know what your expenses are. Once you know it, you will be able to manage your finances in the best possible manner. You can clearly break down different expenses so that you can follow your finance management plan with ease.

4. Make a plan. Once you know your goals, budget and priorities, you can make a plan and follow it on daily or weekly basis. It is also important to monitor your plan so that you can be sure that you are going in the right direction to meet your goals. You can use software or a manual planner for this purpose.

5. Get professional help. If you are not able to manage your finances on your own or if they are too much to handle, you can seek professional help. There are professional planners or lawyers who are expert in this work. They can guide you as how to make the best of your resources and meet your financial goals.

Last fall, after years as a “do-it-yourselfer” in the area of fitness, I surprised myself and decided to hire a personal trainer, Laura Creagan of New England Endurance Training. No, I’m not a Hollywood starlet trying to get her pre-baby, red carpet-ready body back or an elite athlete trying to win Olympic gold. I’m not even trying to compete in, much less win, any races at the local, “age group” level.

I’m just someone who loves the same activities Laura loves – cycling, cross-country skiing, running, etc. Someone who gets a kick out of reaching new milestones in old favorite activities. Someone who loves getting out in the great outdoors for a couple/few hours of aerobic activity. Someone who values the resulting health benefits…

So why on earth would I need a personal trainer? The thing is: I like these activities so much so that I sometimes overdo it and end up injured. (So much for those health benefits!) Plus I’ve got a few new milestones in mind for next bike season.

So when I read an article about Laura describing how she’d excelled in a grueling winter triathlon in Austria, I couldn’t help but think: “If she can perform at that level, she obviously knows something I don’t. And I’d sure love to know whatever that is (sooner rather than later) without Googling and poring over books and distilling boatloads of information and using trial and error.”

It took a few months before I could convince myself to take action – what with not being a starlet or star athlete – but I kept hearing the echo in my head of words I’d said to potential financial planning clients thinking about making the switch from do-it-yourselfers. “Yes, you might achieve your goals on your own, but getting one-on-one advice from someone who’s been trained and is around this stuff all the time is likely to get you there sooner with fewer missteps.”

So I finally decided to give it a try. And – no surprise – it turns out Laura does know plenty that I don’t about training, but our work together has also taught me a lot of lessons about advisor/advisee relationships of all sorts, especially those I have with my clients. Not all of these lessons are new, nor are they rocket science. But my experience working with Laura has helped me to better understand them from the advisee’s perspective, which I’m convinced will reflect benefits back in my practice.

In keeping with the fact that this is the third in a trilogy of articles of physical/fiscal fitness analogies ( see footnote for other two ), and to reuse a fun gimmick I recently ran across, those lessons… each in exactly 3 words.

1. It’s not magic. There are no guarantees in personal training or personal finance, but if you stick to a plan based on time-tested principles, you’ll get better results.

2. Goals dictate actions. Only do enough to reach your goal, no more, no less. Less isn’t enough, and more could cause burnout or injury. (Remember, you can always up the ante with a new goal once the current one proves achievable.)

3. Trained eyes see. If there’s a hole in your plan, the advisor can’t help but notice cause/effect relationships that the advisee may not recognize. For example, just as having no emergency fund can lead to costly credit card debt in the personal finance realm, no strength training can lead to physical strain and injury.

4. Reach new heights. With the help of an advisor who has more insight into what’s possible AND what needs to be done to achieve it, you can reach new heights, e.g. “You really think I can retire (complete the Assault on Mt. Mitchell ) this year?”

5. Reconsider discarded ideas. Just because you tried spinning (monitoring expenses) before and hated it doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t work this time. Getting creative with a new tool or technique, or finally seeing the power of the idea, may be just the thing that makes it click.

6. Apply technology judiciously. You can benefit greatly from using the technology that exists to measure heart rate (investment performance), but if you try to watch it 24/7, you’ll probably get distracted from your goal, perhaps even crash.

7. Measure progress periodically. Monitoring your heart rate, power, and strength (net worth and cash flow) over time will tell where you are vs. your goal, allowing you and your advisor to adjust as necessary.

8. Accountability is good. We’re all adults here. Still, having to ‘fess up to having skipped an important workout (IRA contribution) sure is a great motivator.

9. Avoid boom/bust. Overtraining (living like a pauper) when you first start a plan is more likely to result in injury (binge spending) than in improved performance (a bigger nest egg).

10. Persist through setbacks. Reaching your fitness (financial) goals takes time, and you won’t always make progress in a nice straight line. Instead of getting discouraged and abandoning your plan for the new hot shortcut you saw in “Get Fit (Rich) Kwik” magazine, check with your advisor. While you may need a course correction, it’s possible a few words of encouragement will do the trick. (Thanks, Laura!)

Financial security alone does not constitute happy retired life for baby boomers. There are other important elements which makes your life contended. And those may be non-financial in nature. Do not neglect them.

Here are some of those.

Voluntary activities:
Engage yourself in activities that have a common and social cause. You will befriend many new people and your friends circle will grow.

Get involved:
Identify those activities that are permanent in nature like hobbies, grandchildren care, getting training for a new job and the like. You will find yourselves busy with these activities.

Socialize:
Strengthen your friendship and relationship. These are investments in your social portfolio.

Health is wealth:
Invest in your health. Prevention is better than cure. Strictly follow a fitness and diet regimen to stay healthy. Money saved on health care is money earned. Eat healthy foods that suits your age. Reduce your weight to keep your blood pressure down.

Manage finances
Deal with financial matters with care and caution. Cut down your expenditure gradually as you near retirement. Partial retirement is a good option if you cannot bear the burden of retirement. Try if you can earn through your hobbies or working from home.

Relax
Are you good in reading? Do it. Do gardening if you like it. Keep your mind and body light for your wellbeing.

Do not have fixed mind:
Do not think that you should do the same what other retirees do. If you did not have time or opportunities to do something when you were young and employed, do it now and derive satisfaction.

Everyone would like to be able to experience the benefits of financial freedom. Many people are out there struggling in this time of economic crisis and could probably use some financial freedom tips that can set them free from worry over bills and other expenses.

Taking control of your money is the first step in reaching the goal of financial freedom. This is is easier said than done, more so for some than others. Take time out to sit down and figure out just what you owe and how much you make. The reason for doing this is learning to face just how much debt you are in. When you have an exact figure to look at, it is going to be a lot easier to take it down.

Another way to get yourself out of debt is to slow down the shopping sprees and spending money unnecessarily. You must learn to live with the fact that you don’t have to run out and buy something because you want it. You need to learn to get by with only those things that you need until you can honestly say that you are out of debt and how the money for a little frivolous spending. Your best bet is to learn to curb any kind of wasted spending at any time.

If you have tremendous debt, then maybe you need to consider taking on a part time job until you get that amount of debt payed down. Take all the money you make from an extra job and sink it into the debt. You may be surprised at how fast the owed balances go down. A plus from working two jobs is that you are going to have less time to spend money on those things that you don’t need to spend on.

Read about the financial freedom tips that successful people have written about. You can learn a lot to remedy your situation by doing so. Some of the most successful people in the world have made a comeback from being way over their heads in debt. Learn how they got back to the top.

If you have a savings account that you have been working on for some time, you need to get that money out, stop saving it, and use it towards the debt you owe. What is the point in saving money when you are paying high revolving interest rates on some credit accounts? That is bad money management. You can return to saving money when you are out of debt. That way the money that you save will be truly yours to save.

Learning to manage money and to find the best ways to use it comes from learning the the hard way what happens when you make mistakes. Take good advice and learn how to take care of your finances using these financial freedom tips and you can avoid the hard road of trying to get your finances in a safe order. Making sure that you are prepared is always the best way to handle your money.