finance

How to Fix Your Finances in 30 Days

Written by adminJune 8, 2019

Managing your finances can be a difficult process and even overwhelming. Many people don’t do it at all, but rather just ‘wing it’ throughout the month. Sadly, that is what leads to many expensive complications that can hinder your financial health. In reality, if you take the next month and decide to focus your attention on fixing your finances, you will be good to go.

“If you outline a 12 month or 24-month plan, often times you will be discouraged,” says April Lewis-Parks, director of education at Consolidated Credit. “It’s not small enough to see progress right away. In a short amount of time, they can see progress and understand the different steps that need to happen to get to the next level financially.”

Here’s how to budget out your money through the month.

Day 1 – Day 5: Budget!

The first real step in fixing your finances is taking the time to budget. You really need to lay out what you’re working with. Look at your monthly income. Go through every dime that you spend each month. Use an Excel or Google spreadsheet to write down every bill and every expense, down to the subscription or coffee you get at Starbucks.

By doing this, you’ll get a clear picture of your financial health. Are you spending more than you’re making? Can you find a way to save money? Look for things to cut out of your budget to give yourself more room. If you’re not saving money, you’re setting yourself up for failure in the long run, especially if you lose your job or things go downhill.

Day 6 – Day 10: Saving!

The greatest goal you can have is to save at least 10% of your monthly income after paying for essentials. Put it into a savings account for a rainy day. If you want to truly be prepared for an emergency, the best word of wisdom is to have at least six months’ worth of expenses saved in case of an emergency.

Day 11 – Day 14: Determine Basic Changes

There are ways to cut down on your spending you may not even realize. There are a lot of small basic things you can do that add up to big savings. For example, switch out your light bulbs for something more efficient. Keep your heating and cooling during the extreme weather months set a better setting and turn off at night. Clean out your dryer vents. Cut the cable bill.

Day 15 – Day 17: Banking Needs

As you get through you month, you need to take notice at your banking habits. You might be paying extra fees you don’t realize every month. You can determine how your direct deposits every month are divided so a certain percentage goes towards bills, a savings account, and spending.

Day 18 – Day 20: Healthcare Needs

Your healthcare should be a priority. Sadly, many Americans skip this crucial step, mainly because they don’t think they can afford it. It can really hurt you in the long run. Also, there might be ways to lower your health care cost. Do the research. Look at your premiums. Consider what you’re paying out of pocket. It’s all part of the process.

Day 21 – Day 23: Manage Your Credit

A massive part of financial health is managing your credit. You should know what your credit score is. Having a bad credit score can make things a bit more expensive. Your monthly payments on things like a mortgage and auto loan can be less expensive if you have a good score. If you improve your credit, you can refinance your loans to make monthly payments cheaper.

Day 24 – Day 28: Manage Your Debt

If you have debt, the goal should be to pay it down as much as possible. Whatever you’re not stashing away for savings should be going towards your debt. If you want to gain financial freedom, you can’t do it sitting on a pile of owed debt.

Day 28 – Day 30: Prepare for Retirement

You might be thinking “Wow, this is more money I don’t get to spend,” but you really will get to spend it. It can take most of your working life to save enough to survive your golden years. Unless you want to work until you’re 80, start saving now.

Written by adminMay 7, 2018

Saving

As we continue to recover from the last recession, there’s a lot of optimism for the future. We see unemployment numbers going down and the economy buzzing.

While optimism is strong, there’s a storm brewing. Something massive is forming out in the Atlantic, and this time, it just might be the storm of the century. No one knows when it will strike, but when it does, it will push millions of Americans over the cliff.

That storm is the next recession.

A lot of it has to do with the record high amount of personal debt we have. Almost every category you can count in the trillions of dollars.

-$1.02 trillion in credit card debt.
-$1.4 trillion in student loans.
-$1.22 trillion in auto loans.

What’s worse is a lot of us have debt in more than one of these categories, so we’re paying high interest all the way around.

What’s Going on With Our Budgets?

It’s not just debt we have to worry about. Consider the amount of money we have saved. It was recently said that most Americans don’t even have access to $400 if they really needed it in the event of an emergency. So, what happens when, not if, the economy fails?

The University of Chicago released a new study that revealed 44% of Americans avoided going to the doctor when they were sick/injured last year. That’s almost half the country! The reason? The high cost of health care!

If we can’t afford to take care of ourselves now when the economy is on a massive growth-spurt, what happens when the next recession hits? No one will be ready for the storm, which may cause a health crisis in the near future.

That brings me to my next point. When the economy is showing signs of upward trends and people are optimistic, that makes them feel safe. Of course, we all want that brand new shiny car sitting in the driveway of our beautiful home, but these are luxuries we can barely afford when things are going well.

We have to put ourselves in a heavy amount of debt and pay interest that’s tough to afford. As the economy continues to churn in an upward fashion, so do the interest rates. During the last recession, they might’ve dropped to 3%, but it wouldn’t be out of the question to see the rates rise to as much as 7%.

Over the next few years, that increase will make their almost unaffordable car loan definitely unaffordable, killing whatever savings they might have.

Doom and Gloom

The point of this blog isn’t to be a doom-and-gloom preacher who screams from the street corner that the end is coming. No, I want to encourage everyone who reads this to take the opportunity to get their debt under control before taking on new debt.

Yes, the signs point towards high optimism, but we just don’t know when the next storm will hit. If you’re going to survive the next recession, you will do it because you were prudent, have all your ducks in a row, and valued saving your money over buying the latest shiny toy.

Written by adminJanuary 12, 2018

The American dream. Financial freedom. Being able to do whatever we want, whenever we want. That’s the life so many people chase after, but often don’t know how to achieve.

We often get into the grind, thinking we’re making the right choices. The sad truth is, we’re running around and around in a giant hamster wheel, working our tails off to keep it moving, but going nowhere at all.

If you can have enough money in your bank account that you never have to worry about living month-to-month or paycheck-to-paycheck, that IS freedom.

So, how do you take your life to the next level?

Step #1: Look at your earnings and make bold calls if you need a change.

The difference between where you are now in life verses when you first got out of college or graduated high school is you’re a bit more experienced in life. Whatever you’re currently doing, you’ve most likely been working on it for nearly a decade.

You’ve learned, studied, grown, made mistakes, gave up, went after again, and so on. If you take all of this into account, what stage would you say you’re at?

And most importantly, where do you see yourself in another 10 years? On your way to becoming a millionaire? Then great! Don’t change a single thing. Keep plugging away doing exactly what you’re doing.

But be perfectly honest with yourself. Do you need to make a change? Maybe you’re in over your head? You might need to make a slight or a drastic change to stay ahead. As they say, “Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results”.

Step #2: Make sure you focus on your top client.

Here’s the thing, you need to remember one person. And that person is yourself. We often forget about our own well-being and seek to please others first. If you work at an office while attempting to start your own business, will working those extra hours really net you anything?

This might sound selfish, but you have to ask what’s in it for you. What will you get out of it?

As long as you’re working for your boss, you’re helping them fulfill their own dreams and reality. They get to go on longer breaks and vacations while you plug away extra hours to make them more money.

And it’s a waste of your time! Instead, make sure you’re getting something out of it. If you’re not, consider it time wasted away from what you should be doing: setting up your business!

Step #3: Other Money

This might seem counterintuitive, but If you need some money, borrow it. Don’t be afraid of borrowing money and using that to get things going. It’s used most commonly perhaps in real estate, where someone takes out a mortgage, buys and fixes up a house, and then uses rent payments he collects on the interest.

As with anytime you borrow, it does come with risks. There can be a downturn in the economy, but I’m willing to bet that most successful businesses started out with an idea, drive, and a loan.

They often say that you need money to make money, so you can try borrowing if it’s worth the risk. It may be the only way you get to take that step.

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