Develop a Good Home Budget

Jun 24, 2014 by

Develop a Good Home Budget

This is probably the most requested topic that I receive, normally after someone gets a large unexpected expense, or they start thinking about retirement and realize that they have saved a woefully inadequate amount of money. I recommend using a monthly time-frame to look at your cash inflows and outflows, because most bills are monthly and four weeks is a short planning period that most people can manage. The first thing to do is determine your monthly after-tax income. Usually, this is the amount of money from your paycheck that gets deposited into your checking account. If your income is variable, then use an average of the last three months. (Any savings account interest income would be a bonus.) Next, list out your fixed monthly expenses, such as rent, mortgage, car payment, phone, electric...

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Develop a Family Budget in 7 Steps...

Jun 24, 2014 by

Develop a Family Budget in 7 Steps

How to Create a Family Budget For singles, creating a budget is relatively easy. They tend to have a good handle on how much money they have coming in, and when tracking expenses, they only have their own to think about. But creating a family budget is a whole new ball game. Most families have multiple sources of income. And when there are multiple spenders, that makes things much more confusing. This is one of the main reasons that families lack a formal budget. But having a budget and sticking to it can greatly improve a family’s financial outlook. Making a family budget may be tricky, but it can be done. Here’s how. 1. Take inventory of all income. If a certain source of income fluctuates from month to month, use the lowest amount...

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10 Tips to Make Sure Your Financial Budget Will Succeed...

Jun 24, 2014 by

10 Tips to Make Sure Your Financial Budget Will Succeed

10 Tips to Make Sure Your Financial Budget Will Succeed You’ve analyzed your past expenses, put them into spreadsheets, loaded Quicken with all of your data and come up with a budget. Now what? The tough part! You actually have to stick to your budget and put your plans into action. This is easier said than done. In many cases you will have forgotten about your budget and your financial goals 6 months or a year down the road. How do you keep this from happening to you? Here’s how. Make sure you follow some of these tips below so this doesn’t happen to you. 1. Create a budget with realistic targets – Let’s say one of your budget goals is to not eat out for lunch or dinner on a regular basis. If...

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3 Tips to Stick to Your Budget

Jun 24, 2014 by

3 Tips to Stick to Your Budget

So you’ve made your budget and it looks good on paper. Great! Now it is time to implement it. But are you ready to follow the budget you’ve developed? Here are some helpful tips to keep you on track with your budget. 1. Determine why you made a budget. There is a reason you have put time into developing your budget, now you need to put into writing what your goals are. Do you want to be debt free, live on one income, or save for retirement? Make this into your personal or family financial mission statement. Write it down or type it up nicely and then have it laminated and display it in a prominent place where you can see it often. Many times we just need a reminder to ourselves for why...

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Get Richer by Changing Your Thinking...

Jun 18, 2014 by

Get Richer by Changing Your Thinking   Imagine two situations; 1) finding $1000, that is yours to keep with no strings attached and 2) earning $1000 through hard-work. I’m curious – is there any difference between the value of them? Do you consider one to be worth more than the other? Is there any difference in how you would spend them? Are they different to you in some way? You can do exactly the same thing with them. I wonder if you really would. Well if you do attach a different value to them you could be missing out; read on to learn how to get more for free! My point in all this questioning is that if we only value the ‘things’ that we have to work hard for there is a danger...

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