Personal Finance

Personal finance is not an issue you should be forced to face

when in a crisis like so many people end up doing. Your personal

finances are vital for your life, security and prosperity. Face

it and don’t hide your financial issues under the rug. Learn and

practice personal budgeting. Create your own financial destiny

and your life will be so much better.

You’ll have to:

know your current personal financial situation

estimate how your financial situation will develop in a short

term perspective

set long term financial goals, make a plan to achieve them

and then execute your plan.

Get a view of your current financial situation

Collect accurate information about your personal financial

situation. Calculate your your net worth, This information

includes:

real estate

saving and retirement accounts

stocks and bonds

all other assets.

What is the total? Are you surprised?

Make a budget

A personal budget is information made up of your income and

expenses and the more accurate this information is, the more

likely you are to be able to meet your goals and realize your

dreams. An income/expenses budget should be made for at most

one year at a time and include a list of your monthly expenses.

All expenses must be included. To be sure of that go through

all your paid bills, check register and credit card receipts

to find expenditures that recur every month and expenditures

that happen less frequently. Divide that total by twelve and

you have your monthly average expenses. To be able to make

good personal financial decisions and set priorities, you

must know where your money is actually going.

Get electronic bill pay

This is a very convenient way to pay your bills. You pay them

electronically, by direct withdrawal from your bank account.

The transaction is processed immediately. You can even link

your bill pay service to your budget, so that your expenditures

are automatically entered in the appropriate category. Personal

financial management can be really easy, don’t you think? Check

out programs for enabling this on the internet

Make an investment and finance plan

Now that the fundamental state of your personal financial security

has been established, the time has come for the more prosperous

part of your personal financial life. What I mean is:

investments

retirement planning

loan shopping

other ways to build a fortune.

You need to make a plan of what you really want in life that

money can buy. Then you must find out how to get the money it

takes to finance it and finally start to implement this plan.

This is the long term part of your financial life – the process

of personal financial development from the state you are in

right now – to the state you want to be in. This journey toward

financial freedom is in my opinion the most interesting and

exciting part of personal financing you can have.

Article written By Terje Ellingsen.

Tags: Finance, Personal

The know-hows of personal finance and frugal living

Every month do you speculate where your money went? Is it always your financial responsibilities that set you back from managing other things? If you have been questioning yourself on this subject, then you must see your financial position and analyze whether you are following good personal financial management. A good management of the finances are they who spends within the income, good future planning and solve the financial troubles as they come. If you are not being able to do all that is stated above then your management of finances is poor. One can learn to take control of the personal finances by proper planning.

Planning the personal finance always does not come naturally, even if one is only beginning to take your personal finances sincerely, it is required to take some personal financial tips on your stride.

A very important aim for most of the population is to achieve the financial independence. Gather correct facts about your present financial condition. Work out your net value including the real estate, savings, retirement account and all the assets. This will aid in settling on setting aside the money required for the future.

Make your finance budget. A finance budget is the particulars of the income and expenditures, the more precise is the information, the easier would it be to realize you goal. This budget should be made for one year and should include the monthly expenses.

Include all the expenditures. Examine all the paid bills; check the registers and the credit card receipts to see the expenses that take place each month an the expenses that are happen less often. You would need to make small sacrifices for your personal finance. Set basic priorities, as you would require knowing where your money is going, if you want to make a good decision for your personal finance.

The personal management of finances can be very easy if you pay your bills electronically. This way you can link the bill payment with the personal budget. Therefore the expenditures and income would be maintained properly.

An investment and finance plan should be chalked out. Now that you have prepared a basic plan, you can shift the focus to the more prosperous part of the finances. Here you need to chalk out what do you want to do with your money. This is a more long term goal for your finances. Discover how you can execute your plan and get your money put in the right place. By following these simple tips you can not only maintain and secure your finances but also have a complete control over your money.

Tags: Finance, frugal, knowhows, living, Personal

G. Jeffrey Aaron: Program spurs educators to teach personal finance

G. Jeffrey Aaron: Program spurs educators to teach personal finance
Excuse me, but I’m having a ‘Why didn’t they have this when I was in high school?’ moment.

Read more on Elmira Star-Gazette

Tags: Aaron, educators, Finance, Jeffrey, Personal, Program, spurs, Teach

Personal Finance: The Benefits of Budgeting

A budget is the most fundamental and effective financial management tool available to everyone and it doesn’t cost a penny. Absolutely anyone can work out their budget and simply doing so helps you to see how much you earn, how much you spend and where you are spending it.

If you want to work out your own personal budget you can do so in many ways. If you prefer the traditional paper and pen method that is fine as it works just as effectively as using a computer. If you are more akin to personal computers or laptops then you could use a spreadsheet to note down your budget. You can also buy computer programs designed specifically to help with personal finance planning.

A budget tends to have different headings for various kinds of income and spending, against which you can note down your own figures. Monthly outgoings are a good starting point for any budding budget planners.

Begin by making a record of exactly what you spend money on each month. If you cannot remember all outgoings off the top of your head then take a look at recent bank statements and look for regular payments such as gas, electricity, telephone, rent and council tax. If you have any direct debits or standing orders don’t forget to include these.

The next step in the budgeting process is to ascertain what you spend on everyday items such as food and petrol. When budgeting, it is important to include all expenditure to do not forget to include even the smallest of details. If you grab a morning latte before each work each day then this should be accounted for within your budget.

Last but not least, a comprehensive budget will also take into account estimated amounts for occasional costs such as birthdays, Christmas presents, holidays or dentist and optician bills. You may not have an exact figure but an estimate works just fine to give you an idea of how much this adds up to every month.

There are always going to be unexpected bills, if your car breaks down or pet needs to be taken to the vet. These are problematic to accurately account for so it might be easier to set aside a contingency amount each month for unplanned expenses.

Next step in the budget is to list all of your income. Look at recent payslips to get an accurate figure for wages and remember to include any benefits you receive, such as Child Tax Credit.

Work out your total income for a set period of time, usually a week or month, and then subtract your expenditure for that time period. This helps you to work out if you have a shortfall or spare money and from there you can work out what action you need to take, whether it is to cut costs or to save more.

You’ll find several different types of budget calculator on the internet which can also help to sort out your finances.

Tags: Benefits, Budgeting, Finance, Personal

Personal Finance Guidelines for Stretching Your Paycheck

In this post, I would like to present personal budget guidelines, and hopefully, point out some potential holes or problems in your budget. The goal here is of course, to help you find ways to increase your disposable income, or the amount of money left over after all bills are paid. After reviewing this post, I hope to ignite some ideas in your mind about ways to cut expenses, and the things that are really eating holes in your budget. The following chart is a mixture of what other personal budget experts think, and my personal opinion of how to allocate your money:

Percentage of Income

Expense Description

10% God / Church

25% Housing

10% Utilities

18% Transportation

10% Food

2% Clothing / Attire

5% Misc. (eg Phone, Internet)

5% Medical Expenses

5% Other Debt

6% Savings

4% Entertainment

In the above table, I have listed the expenses in order of importance (to me, anyway). There are a couple of key things I want you to notice in reference to the above table:

Taking God Out of the Equation

The absolute worst budget mistake you can make. Without God and his blessings on your life, you are doomed. Do not cut your budget here!

Housing

This is where many people make a huge mistake. Many lenders will allow you to borrow up to 50% of your monthly income towards a house. This is ludicrous! Buy something within your means, or wait, and offer on several different houses at a discounted price to fit into your budget.

Transportation

Most people will not be able to fit into the 18% allocation for transportation, because they have a car payment that is 10-20% of their monthly income already. By the time you add the cost of gasoline and general maintenance, you are well above the 18% mark.

Miscellaneous

Cable TV, Long Distance Service, House Alarm System Service, Incredibly High-Speed Internet Service, etc. are budget killers. Stick to the basics in every service, and do without as many of them as possible!

Food and Entertainment

Do you need fillet mignon, caviar and two nights and the Weston 2-3 times a month? Do you have to have name brand cereal, Netflix, and StarBucks? Count up the cost of these and you will be shocked. Stay with off brands in the grocery store, and limit or cut back the high dollar, high frequency entertainment, I guarantee it will come back to haunt you. On a personal note, buying movies at Walmart in the $5.50 bin is a much better bargain than paying $3.99 at the rental store for only 5 nights of viewing.

I think you will find it remarkable how implementing just one or more of these personal budget guidelines and suggestions can make a difference in your family budget. The main thing is to group and count the cost of all the various expenses in your budget, and start trimming the fat. I track all expenses in my budget (except for entertainment) to make sure I do not overextend myself. If you are wondering why I do not track my entertainment expenses, it is because I hate wasting money, thus I have no budget for entertainment. This forces me to think twice about any entertainment expense, because I know it will put me over my total personal budget!

Tags: Finance, Guidelines, Paycheck, Personal, Stretching

Personal Finance Spreadsheet – Do You Need More?

If you are on a budget or looking to start one, trfacking your finances plays a major factor in whether or not your budget will be successful. Personal finance spreadsheets are a great way to track how much you are making and how much you are spending each month. By using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or Google docs spreadsheets you can easily view exactly how much you are spending and how much you are saving each month.

The great thing about personal budgeting spreadsheets is they can easily be adapted to fit your budget. All you need to do is designate categories to use for your monthly income and expenses. These categories can be really detailed such as having individual credit cards listed by name or they can be broad such as having one group named credit cards for all your credit card bills.

If you are skilled with spreadsheets you can also add extra features such as the ability to create graphs from the data you entered. Graphs allow you to quickly see how you are doing financially. By reviewing the graphs you can quickly spot areas of your budget that need some attention.

If creating a financial spreadsheet is something you find a little to complex, don’t worry. There are some options out there that will combine all the powers of the most advanced spreadsheets without you having to create advanced modifications. The out of the box software may cost more than creating a spreadsheet, but they provide enough advantages and features to be worth the extra cost.

Tags: Finance, more, Need, Personal, Spreadsheet

Creating an Effective Personal Finance Budget

A Personal finance software is the most progressive solution that you can get with your limited or extended cash options. The easiest to use personal finance software with which you can manage your personal finances is Desktop Budget. You can create your own customized financial budget using this new accounting software. You can record the monthly as well as annual income and expenditures to keep you focused on your expenses. This will enable you to be on guard against spending outside your means. Be it your retirement plans or your expenses on your children’s education personal budgeting will keep you in sync with your resources. It helps you to analyze your spending and savings habits. You will also be informed of the latest currency exchange rates. As these types of budgeting offers calculators you can calculate the loan amount without depending on others. It offers a tabular representation which makes it easy to process and calculate future payments. Your day to day financial activities are recorded for future references. A Personal finance manager alone can guide you through this imbroglio.

This will help you to stay off from indulging in unwanted expenses. Its effective personal debt management keeps track of your expenses and guards you against falling into debt trap. It will also introduce you to many insurance policies and funds that will enable you to save for a rainy day. A personal finance software is a reliable tool and is like a good friend who will warn you of lurking danger. Your life will be secured if you give the reins to the personal finance manager. Expenses are numerous and it needs the ingenuity of a useful tool to track down. Expenses like house help, grocery, medical help, laundry, basic amenities, phone, mobile, transportation that contribute to the household expenses and the Lifestyle expenses include expenses on newspaper, clothing, entertainment books, personal care, eating out, travel, holiday, and club or gym membership all get incorporated in personal finance.

Tags: budget, Creating, Effective, Finance, Personal

Personal Finance Budget Planner

how many times you ask yourself where all my money gone? you know no matter how much money you earn you might find yourself in debts. and this due to spending without control. some people have a filling that they have unlimited supply of money in the bank just passing the credit card and you can buy everything you like. but one day you came to a point where you understand that something has to be done with your budget planning.

i have seen all kind of personal budget planners. i thought maybe the budget planner will somehow give me more money in the pocket. well i guess not. The bottom line is, a paper personal budget planner will work as well as a fancy computerized one. It isn’t about how the personal budget planner looks, its about using it. And for most people, it is something we don’t really like to do either with personal budget planner or without it.

so it seems like i must live according to my budget. and if i know my budget, i can tell what i need to change in my money spending. a personal budget planner can track my immediate monetary sources and can help me achieve my financial goals.

For me, the problem wasn’t the personal budget planner that I used. it has no problems with it. i thought that my problem used to be that I simply did not use the personal budget planner enough. years ago I was making a lot of money working full time job I was living above my means. But my means were so great that, use of my personal budget planner was not really necessary. but as now i retired and receive only pension allowance. i know that my problem was not that I wasn’t making good use of my personal budget planner.

I felt like I was broke, and always some bill or other payments hanging over me and disturbing my sleep, and I was in some kind of deep trouble. It took me a while to realize that my problems had nothing to do with the personal budget planner. My problems had a lot to do with me making very little money, however. It was then that I knew that I needed to take a second job to really balance my budget. After a lot of looking, I found a job that pays the bills. i found a part time job with less salary, Now, even when I do neglect my personal budget planner for a week or so, it is okay. You see, I still have some money in my budget to plan!

Tags: budget, Finance, Personal, Planner

Personal Finance Budgeting – Secrets To Keep Your Budget On Track

Being disciplined when it comes to personal finance budgeting is a key component for anyone seeking financial freedom. Taking control of your finances is the first step to starting down the road to building the life you always wanted and the quickest and easiest way to do this is with a budget. The most critical part of the personal budgeting journey is the emotional and mental side of the equation. Why?

Our behavior with money is the reason most of us get into financial problems in the first place. Our own wants over ride our common sense and before we know it we have a house full of stuff that we end up paying for twice over. Many financial experts say that personal finance is 80 percent behavior and 20 percent math.

This is where the household budget comes into play. In this day and age the great majority of people have no idea how much money they make each month let alone where the money goes once they cash their pay check. Before long this behavior catches up with everyone and they are in perpetual catch up mode when it comes to paying bills and meeting their financial needs. A budget, if done honestly, allows you to see exactly how much money is coming in and not only how much is being spent but also what it is being spent on.

Once you see what you have been spending money on you can come to grips with the bad behavior that has gotten you, and so many others, into a financial mess. Eating out two or three nights a week, going out to lunch everyday, that morning visit to the coffee shop, they all add up and chances are once you look over your written budget you will find many areas where expenditures are a little to high and are breaking the budget.

Here are four personal finance budgeting secrets to help keep a new budget on track.

1. Probably the hardest part of keeping a budget is keeping track of daily expenditures. One way to do this is to keep a small log book or ledger where you can keep track of your daily expenses.

2. Before going grocery shopping it is a good idea to make a list of the things you need. Check the fridge, the cupboards, and the pantry to make sure you aren\’t buying stuff you already have. Stick to the list once at the store and do not buy things not on the list.

3. Going to the store just to do some shopping is one of the easiest ways to suffer from an impulse purchase. Nothing will destroy a well thought out budget quite like an impulse purchase.

4. For large purchases over $300 or more it is a good idea to step back and wait a day or two before committing. Once given the chance to think it over chances are you will realize you don\’t really need it.

Personal finance budgeting is about taking responsibility for your money and hunting down and killing those behaviors that are costing you money. The beauty of the budget is it shows you exactly how your behavior with your money is affecting your financial situation.

Tags: budget, Budgeting, Finance, keep, Personal, Secrets, Track

1st Mariner Bank Selects Geezeo to Provide Online Consumer Finance Platform

1st Mariner Bank Selects Geezeo to Provide Online Consumer Finance Platform
HARTFORD, Conn.—-Geezeo , a diversified online banking provider that offers personal financial management , social networking and Web community platforms to financial institutions, announced Baltimore-based 1st Mariner Bank has signed on to provide Geezeo’s online consumer finance platform to its customers.

Read more on Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance

Tags: Bank, Consumer, Finance, Geezeo, Mariner, online, Platform, Provide, Selects