Give The Reins of Life to a Personal Finance Manager

At times your own flesh and blood disowns you. You may not be a prodigal returning home pauper, still you lack luster that holds you in their heart. Then you should realize that its time to fish or cut bait. A personal finance manager alone could guide you through this mess. Reap the benefits extended by accounting software and make headway to conquer your miseries. It tides you over the crises with out much bruise. Even one born with a silver spoon goes through a rough weather when financial stars are not in favor. When paydays are not around, one who lives from paycheck to paycheck, struggles to make both ends meet. At this juncture Building an effective personal finance plan acts as a redeemer and saves you from falling into disgrace. It gives a chance, a second chance, to those who mishandled the first innings to recoup what’s been lost. The software makes processing and budgeting easier. It offers a breathing space for those who struggle with their limited resources. Personal finance is where we apply the principles of finance in the maintenance of family budget. It involves planning, saving and spending. How to save money using personal finance manager is something every person should know. If your finances are managed well you will never have to resort to credit cards to meet your daily needs. The hectic life schedule you lead makes it difficult for you to administer personally your budgeting. More than that, you may not be aware of various investment plans and other opportunities. A person who is adept in handling financial matters can guide you in this regard. A successful person is someone who handles his finances prudently and a spendthrift is one who is groping in the dark without anyone to guide. Now software is available to manage your finances. Just click and do away with your financial blues.

This week on Money and Markets, we check in on the health of the US economy, and offer our prognosis for the pace of recovery in 2011. Mike Larson tells us whether economic growth will speed up next year, and offers his perspective on last week’s disappointing employment report. Personal finance expert, Amber Dakar, examines the one factor that makes up the biggest chunk of the US economy: Consumer spending. Bryan Rich explains why the imbalance in international trade is the biggest issue facing the global economy, and why America’s success or failure in the future may depend on what happens in China. In our Picks and Pans we give you concrete investment ideas, based on the economic outlook of all the Weiss Research editors. And at the Economic Round Table, Sebastian Leburn of Weiss Capital Management and John Browne of Euro Pacific Capital offer their forecasts for economic growth, and their strategies for taking advantage of global economic trends in 2011.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Personal Financing for Canadians for Dummies


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Some people might say the title contains a redundancy..

Personal Finances – Getting Off the Paycheck to Paycheck Roller Coaster

There are three traditional methods of managing personal income.

1. Budgeting,

2. Keeping a spending history, and

3. Doing nothing (also known as living from paycheck to paycheck).

Budgeting involves setting what percent of future income is to be spent on which categories of expenses, and then recording all purchases in order to track how well spending is staying within the predefined limits. The process sounds very simple, however, it is difficult, in my opinion, to stick with a budget for very long. The energy and dedication needed to keep track of where the money goes is tremendous. I’ve tried budgeting on several occasions and failed miserably because I couldn’t stomach keeping track of every penny I spent.

Traditional budgets also tend to fail because the setting of rigid spending limits does not lend itself well to being flexible. When unforeseen expenses pop up, a budget can be rendered useless very quickly. It’s my experience that budgets can feel like monetary straight jackets that are soon abandoned.

Spending Histories – A Vicious Cycle

Keeping a spending history also involves the recording of every penny spent. The intent is to use the spending history as a basis for identifying spending habits that can be improved and then making needed changes to future spending patterns. The main weakness of keeping a spending history is that it is focused on past activity and, therefore, is of little help when a person is trying to make immediate decisions about spending for current and future requirements.

Here’s the normal cycle of keeping a spending history. This cycle highlights the spending history’s weakness as a personal cash flow management tool.

1. It takes time to accumulate a spending history. While accumulating the history, inappropriate spending habits will probably continue. If you don’t consistently continue your bad habits, you won’t be able to document them in your spending history.

2. You have to keep track of, and record every penny of your spending. Spending information must be recorded in some type of tracking device that is capable of organizing the information and displaying useful reports and graphs. Two popular examples of these tracking devices are Quicken and Money. As mentioned earlier, keeping track of every penny spent, and dutifully recording that information, takes dedication and a lot of energy.

3. Whether or not changes to spending habits are effective, and whether or not habits are really starting to change, cannot be determined until additional spending history has been accumulated. After you have accumulated sufficient spending history such that you can see some of your bad habits, it’s time to adjust your spending patterns. To determine whether these adjustments are appropriate and have the desired effect, you have to return to step 1.

The failure of keeping a spending history as a personal cash flow management tool is, in my opinion, to be expected. This money management technique is, I believe, based on GAAP (generally accepted accounting practices) which are used by businesses specifically to keep track of what happened; not plan for what is about to happen. The “about to happen” part is left to annual budgeting processes. This accounting approach is appropriate for businesses; but, is cumbersome and unresponsive for personal use.

The software used to accumulate a spending history, in my opinion, also contributes to the failure of the spending history technique. These types of programs tend to be too complicated and inflexible for many people. I’ve tried both Quicken and Money. In addition to my own dislike for these programs, I have met very few people who actually use Quicken and Money for their intended purposes. The usual reason I hear for buying either of these programs is because they contain a check register. That is the only feature being used.

The “Doing Nothing” Method

I believe most people end up doing nothing either because they’ve never been shown a better way, or because, like me, they’ve tried and failed at budgeting and/or keeping a spending history. Doing nothing means their personal finance management is reduced to paying bills when the bills come due with the money that is on hand at the time. They live from paycheck to paycheck with periods when they have lots of money interspersed with periods when there may not be enough on hand to buy bread and milk. This roller coaster approach to personal cash flow, in my opinion, encourages ill advised spending and almost guarantees growing indebtedness.

What Is Month-To-Month Personal Finance?

There is a new alternative which overcomes all of the above personal cash flow management problems. Created out of practical necessity, this new alternative may require new ways of looking at, and thinking about personal finances and the tools that are used to manage those finances. Before looking at this new approach to managing personal cash flow, let’s first take a new look at the activities that comprise personal finances. Before you can begin to effectively manage your finances, it helps to have an understanding of what you are managing.

I break down month-to-month personal finances into the following five activities.

1. Receiving income.

2. Paying bills.

3. Paying day-to-day expenses.

4. Paying for larger than normal expenses.

5. Setting aside a cushion.

This list does not include any activity intentionally associated with wealth building. The concern here is dealing with the fundamental issues of living comfortably day-to-day and paying the bills on time. Once those issues are dealt with successfully and consistently, building wealth becomes a possibility.

It is my contention that the main reason people get into trouble with their finances is because they let activity 1, getting a paycheck, control when all of the remaining activities happen. Bills are paid typically on payday because that’s when money is available. Depending on how much is needed to pay bills each payday, the amount left over for day-to-day expenses could be a lot or a little. Sound familiar? And, since the receipt of paychecks is determining when bills are paid, and the size of the bills are determining how much pocket money is left, there is rarely any excess money for activities 4 and 5. Setting aside money “for a rainy day” just doesn’t happen. Making major purchases, such as replacing the refrigerator when it goes on the fritz or buying a new set of tires, adds even more to the credit card balances.

Having growing, uncontrolled debt and no savings can, I believe, be attributed directly to letting your paychecks control your cash flow.

Getting Off The Roller Coaster

How do you break the living from payday to payday roller coaster cycle? Budgeting and keeping a spending history, while very useful to some people, are, in my opinion, not the solutions that work for most of us. Getting control of your finances is, instead, a matter of simplifying your finances. This is done by decoupling all of your personal finance activities. The five activities listed above are related, but they can be managed separately. Once you begin handling your personal cash flow management activities separately, something magical happens. The domino effect of (1) get a paycheck, (2) pay bills, (3) put what’s left in your pocket, is stopped. Instead, your bills begin to get paid on time, and money for day-to-day expenses is consistent from week to week.

The decoupling of personal finance activities is achieved by consistently applying these two techniques.

1. Separate the receipt of income from the paying of bills. Instead of paying bills on payday, sit down and arrange for the payment of bills on a consistent schedule that is independent of when income is received.

2. Fix the amount of money for day-to-day expenses at an appropriate weekly amount. Instead of pocketing what’s left over after paying the bills, “pay” yourself the same amount on the same day every week regardless of when you get paid.

When consistently applied, these two very simple rules for managing personal cash flow are powerful. I’ve been using them for several decades in my personal finances. Prior to stumbling on these techniques, I used to lie awake nights worrying about how I was going to pay the rent. It was habit for me to be continually on the lookout for yet another bill consolidation loan. Sometimes buying groceries was not possible on short paydays. Setting aside savings wasn’t even something I thought about.

Since starting to use personal cash flow management tools that are based on the above two simple rules, money is no longer a controlling force in my or my wife’s lives. We always pay our bills on time. Lois and I continually have money in our pockets for day-to-day expenses. We have no credit card debt since we pay our statement balances in full every month on or before the due date. And planning for major and unexpected expenses is simple because we have a detailed, forward focused view of our current and future cash flow. Money and bills are not the sources of stress and discord they used to be.

It’s Easy If You’re Willing

Applying the above decoupling rules to your personal finance does not require any special tools. A properly constructed manual or software spreadsheet will do the trick. I used such a spreadsheet in Excel to help a teacher friend of ours go from “more month than money” to “more money than month” in just a few weeks. The problem was that our friend had to come see me regularly so I could update her spreadsheet. She was not that knowledgeable about using Excel. Plus, I was having to coach her on the techniques that made the spreadsheet work. That was when I made the decision to write a program so that I, and anyone else who is interested, would have a readily available, easy to use tool for simplifying management of their personal cash flow.

You also can achieve financial peace of mind. It’s easy if you are willing to make a few simple lifestyle changes including using a personal cash flow management tool that is based on the two decoupling techniques discussed above.

The Myrtles Plantation


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Debt Management Company-forget Trends and Bring Stability in Your Financial Life

 

Sick of living paycheck to paycheck? Tired of being short on cash because you’re always sending out a payment for this or that?? Trying hard to consolidate your debts??? Well, now you can stop the madness as Debt Management Company is bringing one consumer at a time closer to achieving the ideal of being completely debt free. You can experience how you can take advantage of efficient and practical debt reduction strategies to achieve your goals. Bet you never knew debt elimination could be this easy. Check it out.

It’s as easy as taking a few moments of your time to fill out some complimentary applications. The end result will be your chance to review non-obligatory quotes and referrals. Make bad credit a thing of the past with the help of Debt management company. Debt Management Company will provide you with the ultimate solution to your debt dilemma. By filling out our free, secure form, you’ll be taking more than a small step–you’ll be taking a giant leap towards making the transition to a debt free existence.

 

Understanding the working mechanism:

Within 24 hours of application, you will be sent free quotes and referrals to the best, most reliable non-profit credit counselors in the industry. This free analysis will give you a better idea of what needs to transpire in order to pay off your debt swiftly and efficiently. Debt Management Company acts as an effective debt management solution that is unbeatable. It will work on your behalf to reduce your credit card debt balances by as much as 57%, reduce your interest rate by as much as 50% and get all accumulated nuisance fees waived.

When dealing with the debt consolidation industry, a lot is at stake. So search for a reputed debt management company. So kick start your job today to find a reputed debt management company to manage all your debts. Combine with individualized debt counseling and you’ll not only be more capable of paying off debt, but more prepared to face a successful financial future.

The 2nd in a series of educational videos from the MoneyHarvest Institute. We help change lives for the better and empower people to have Prosperity Thinking. More about us and our non-profit Christian Credit Counseling Services at www.cccfree.org
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Choosing Checking Accounts With the Lowest Bank Fees

Banks make most of their money through convenience fees charged to customers. When you are in the market for a new checking account or want to move to a new bank, there are a number of things you should take into consideration before selecting the bank to open your checking account with.

Insurance

It used to be very rare for a bank to fail. The current economy has increased bank failures though, and when looking to open any bank account, it’s important to take the possibility of a bank failure into consideration. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp insures deposits from eligible banks and financial institutions in the US up to 0,000 per depositor. Make sure your bank is covered by the FDIC before you open an account with them.

Choosing a Checking Account

Most everyone relies on a checking account in order to pay their bills and hang on to their money before it’s needed for a purchase or expense. You have a number of checking accounts from which to choose, from free accounts (no maintenance fees) that don’t require a minimum balance; to accounts that offer interest if you maintain a certain minimum balance; to money market deposit accounts with higher interest paid but higher minimums required and a limit to the number of transactions you can make in any given month. There are specialty accounts for groups of people, too – like student checking, or senior citizen accounts.

Compare your local bank checking account options with online checking account options to find an account that will charge you the least amount of fees and provide the most interest for how you are likely to use the account.

Avoiding Overdraft Fees

People who live paycheck to paycheck often end up paying hundreds of dollars each year in the form of bank overdraft fees. At an average of per occurrence, overdrafts are costly fees that you should do everything in your power to avoid! What happens when your account falls short is the bank will honor the largest debit or check that’s outstanding first, which means each of your smaller checks will result in individual, overdraft fees. Instead of bouncing a single check, you end up paying an NSF (non sufficient fund) on each of the individual transactions.

While many banks will cover the non sufficient funds for you under “overdraft protection” all that means is your money is paid out to the person or business you wrote the check for or used your debit card for; but that the bank will charge you for that privilege. See if you can get standard overdraft protection, and link your checking account to a savings account. If your account is overdrawn they can tap into your savings account for the funds instead of charging you for the NSF.

Some banks hold your deposits for 10 business days for larger or nonlocal checks. Standard wait time for a regular check deposit can be 2-4 business days. This can make it difficult – if you are cutting things close, always find out when a deposit will come available so you know when you can use the money from the deposit.

Understand Your Debit Card

Almost all checking accounts include a debit card, but this is another way for banks to make money off their account holders. Sometimes if you use the debit card as debit at the retailer, you pay a fee – but if you chose credit instead at the same retailer, it wouldn’t cost you anything more than the cost of whatever you’re buying.

Using your debit card in an ATM machine owned by another bank will result in paying fees to the other bank, and your own bank as well. Paying or to take out in cash is never a good idea, but you may not even realize it since the ATM only announces the fees of their OWN bank (not what your bank will add at the end of the month).

Using a debit card to reserve travel accommodations or purchase gas sometimes puts a hold on your account that’s more than what you actually spend. It can take a week or two for the hold to be lifted, and meanwhile you don’t have access to any of those funds which can result in overdrafts if you’re not aware.

Checking Account Vs HELOC


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