Harrison from Journey to Financial Freedom has put together a great list of 36 different tools to help you manage your money. These are either in the form of an online calculator or downloadable spreadsheets.
These tools have all been categorised into their different areas such as Debt, Savings, Retirement etc and they provide a great resource for anyone serious about dealing with their personal finance.
Kudos Harrison.
Anyone on the road to financial success - whether that's financial independence, becoming a billionaire or being debt-free - will have to tighten their financial belt at some stage. So, to make the process a little easier here are nine tips for the road ahead...
1. Know where you stand - The old adage of "You can't move forward until you know where you are" is still very true today. Unless you completely understand your financial position including incoming incomes, bank account balances, and outstanding debts trying to move forward will seem hard work at best.
Here's some items worth checking;
Income
Debts
2. Make a plan - Start to envision where you want to be financially in the next 6, 12 and 24 months. Then take it out further to 5 and 10 years. Once you get a picture of what your are trying to achieve it's very easy to start setting some financial goals and making a plan.
As you set about putting the plan into practice you will notice either goals will be achieved earlier than expected or take much longer than you thought. So, build in some key times when you will sit down and readjust your plan accordingly.
3. Communicate with your creditors - If there is one thing that creditors hate it's being kept in the dark on how you're going to pay them back. Once you have a plan arrange a time to meet with them and explain what you're trying to achieve. Creditors will more likely be accommodating if they're informed than if they're trying to guess whether they will see their money from you or not.
4. Find areas to cut back - Tightening your financial belt whether it's because you have succumbed to some financial crisis through over committing yourself in debt, or changing employment or starting a new business is never an easy process.
Choices need to be made to live within your means. The weekly dinner outing with friends may need to go on the backburner for a time. No-Name brands may begin to adorn your kitchen pantry and you may have cancel that subscription to Cleo. Whatever it is, remember that it is only temporary until you get back on your feet again.
Continue reading "Nine tips to tighten your financial belt" »
As the world's focus shifts towards Christmas the next flicker on the horizon is New Year and the subsequent resolutions that will emerge as people begin a fresh start.
MyGoals.com is making the prediction that Personal Finance will rank highly as people reflect on their 2006 personal performance. This information comes from a unscientific survey but I think that even dumb Freddy could have picked this goal being high on every year's resolution list.
In fact, I think we could all safely pick that losing weight, starting an exercise regime, spending more time with the family and picking up a new hobby will also feature quite highly.
The surprise packet in all of this is the importance of personal finance goals that are being set. Here's the highest ranking options;
With statistics like this I'm a little perplexed as to why this would be called MyGoals.com - it would have been much better to call it MyDreams.com because I can safely say that only the bottom 4% will actually make it a goal. Which is why most people keep adding the improvement of their personal finances as a constant resolution list ranker.
Why is only 4% willing to create a budget? Don't the others see that without a budget their dreams to save money, invest more or even pay off their debt are farcical at best?
It reminds me of the time-honoured quote "Most people don't plan to fail - they just fail to plan."
BBC have gone all out with their Radio 4 Money Box program this year offering a ...wait for it,...a digital radio (oohh aahh!!) to a lucky person who gets all 20 questions right in this Christmas competition.
What does the BBC get for your wanton desire to win your very own digitial radio? Your personal contact details off course.
So here we are balancing the balls of indecision. Does the chance of winning my very own digital radio (probably valued at less then US$30) negate the effect of handing over my personal details for which I may become random spam fodder. Tough decision.
I think I may go for the "I might leave that one thanks Tony" option after all.
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