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  Manage Finances

• Manage Finances, They say money can’t buy you happiness, but it provides you comfort in life. Worries over financial matters in the family can increase tension. Managing your personal finances can save you and your family from a lot of trouble. Here are areas you have to bear in mind and why you should manage your personal finances: * Necessities of the family. You have to save money so that you can buy groceries and other personal necessities of yours and your family, and to be able to tend to other things such as water and electricity bills, maybe school tuition of your kid, school supplies, fixtures, fixture repairs and the like.
• Manage Finances. One should be prepared when it comes to floods, accidents, death, failing health and the like. Acquire insurance for these. There are some cases in which these casualties are self-insurable; however most require that you sign an insurance contract. * Tax. Taxes are one of the expensive expenditures that occur in the household. When your income rises, you will have a much higher tax payment. The government may give incentives, like tax deduction, that may lessen tax burden. * Retirement Planning. How much expenditures would occur when one lives after retirement? Can the household income support it? With these in mind, you cannot sleep peacefully or think clearly, can you? Here are ways on how to Manage Finances: * Save. Allot a portion to your income as your savings. A large amount of savings will make you be prepared for any unforeseen events and casualties. Ten dollars a week seems a good start. If you can go any higher than that then it’s good. But don’t deprive yourself and your family of necessities. * Manage Finances, Budget. Create a simple guide or a list as to what will you be spending and how much money you can afford to spend. Stick to it. Sticking to your budget will lessen your burden from otherManage Finances you may deal with later. When shopping or simply going to the grocery store, why not write a list or simply remind yourself that you should only max your expenses on a certain amount? * Set priorities. Carefully plan your finances. Prioritize what should be needed at first than settling on what you want. Choose: A new bag or paying the electricity bills? Setting priorities first can eliminate consequences that will tear your family apart. Overcome your splurging habit – this will make it easier for you and your family. * Don’t “play” with your credit card. Exceeding your card limit and paying it late will cost you an enormous sum. Credit Cards have limits. Control yourself and don’t be impulsive when it comes to buying. * Make yourself aware of the present interest rates. When borrowing money from financial institutions or having your jewelry pawned, pay attention to the payment terms and conditions. Pay before or within the deadline date and you will save yourself from any problems that will happen. * Deposit your money in the bank. Know your bank – whether they’re trustworthy or the bank is not that reliable. You can choose from a variety of accounts available – savings account, time deposits, etc. Savings accounts have rates that can raise your deposits a little higher. Most people can Manage Finances to do their work jobs successfully. Many people can manage other people who work with them. But a lot of people have trouble managing the person they know best, themselves. This is especially true of family finances where so many people spend their whole lives wishing they had more money to do the things they want to do. Yet, successful personal and family finance is well within their reach if they only get a few things right in respect to finances. It is difficult to buy a house without a mortgage and most people can’t do it without borrowing most of the cost of a home. But even with a mortgage, assuming you get one that allows lump sum payments from time to time, you can own your own home free and clear in much less than the 20, 25, or 30 year term of the mortgage. To give you an example with a $15,000 mortgage years ago when housing didn’t cost so much as now with a 9% interest rate over 20 years, I paid $5,000 in a lump sum after 3 years and cut out $17,700 in payments. $5,000 was paid on the principal and $12,700 in interest was saved. With the saved interest, my family and I enjoyed many other benefits and pleasures that we otherwise would not have been able to do. It takes a little determination to pay yourself first and the mortgage company only if you have to. We followed the same practice again and had the house paid off in 8 years. Admittedly you can’t buy a descent house at present for anything like that low price, but applying the same principles to a house with a $150,000 mortgage will result in even greater dollar savings in interest. As part of your personal discipline, you need to adopt a policy of buying only what you can pay for in the current month. That means paying off your credit card by the billing date every month. One further thing about your home. Don’t ever take out a home equity loan for any reason. You are just getting more costly debt and it may cost you your home if you lose your job. Banks want to lend you money especially on credit cards because once they get you to a stated maximum on your card, you are effectively paying them 18% to 29% on that amount each month. In effect you are cutting them in on approximately a fifty of all you buy. When you get yourself in that situation, they own a chunk of you. You are their personal slave. Remember that while the banker might be friendly, the bank is not your friend. Ever! So if you can’t pay now, don’t buy or you will pay maybe 20% more for each purchase. You wouldn’t buy an article if a merchant said that the regular price for it was $100, but for you I will sell it for $120. So don’t pay more because you borrow and don’t pay off each month. A second thing to get right and keep it that way is if you have to borrow to buy a car, pay it off as quickly as you can. If you have a 3 year loan on your car, pay it off in 2 years. Then after it is paid for,keep it for at least 6 or 8 years. Modern cars are quite reliable for close to 300,000 miles (480,000 kilometers). Then make it a point to never buy a vehicle unless it is at least 1 year old. Combine these two practices and you will have four or five years without vehicle payments. Live within your means. Lots of people making less than you are doing this and living better than you even though you have a higher income. Unless you have 6 kids you can live quite nicely in a 1,000 sq. ft. three bedroom house and it will be much more affordable than the 2,500 sq. ft. house of your dreams. In fact the dream home may well turn out to be a nightmare for you because you don’t need it and can’t afford it.
• Manage Finances, The same goes for a vehicle, buy one that gets good mileage rather than one that has an extra 100 horsepower that you don’t need. Apply the same principle to buying appliances and furniture. You don’t need the top of the line stuff. the lowest cost automatic washer will last just as long as the highest priced one and get your clothes just as clean. Ask yourself this question: If I could pay myself instead of a lender which would I do. If you are like me, you will always be the winner in that and the bank will always lose when it comes to a choice between yourself and the bank. Think of it this way. Which class of people have the most money? Is it those who pay interest or those who receive interest payments. The answer is obvious so don’t borrow except for a home or possibly a vehicle.

Manage Finances

Manage Finances

Manage Finances