Money Management
No matter how old we are, sound money management always comes in handy. It’s about keeping an eye on our budget and making sure that we keep more, get more, and ultimately enjoy more. It’s not always how much resources we have but our efficiently we use what’s available.
Mindset
- Can We Agree That Money IS Important?
- Can You Be Rich and Miserable?
- Toilet Train Yourself to Become a Personal Finance Expert
- Maybe We Spend Too Much Time on Money Management and Saving Money
- Our Thinking of Money Matters is Way Too Complicated
Practical Advice
- On Groceries and Food Towards Our Financial and Physical Well Being
- Tips on Budget Planning and Saving Money
- How to Not Lose Sleep in a Bear Market
Money Saving Tip: An incredibly effective way to save more is to reduce your monthly Internet and TV costs. Click here for the current Verizon FiOS promotion codes and promos to see if you can save more money every month from now on.
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Since budgeting allows you to create a spending plan for your money, it ensures that you will always have enough money for the things you need and the things that are important to you. Following a budget or spending plan will also keep you out of debt or help you work your way out of debt if you are currently in debt.
Money Management is all about keeping an eye on our budget and making sure that we keep more, get more and ultimately enjoy more. It’s Really true. I agreed.
Very good and nice post.
Thanks, Keep posting
My son, Tom, has been working for 2 years. I am very proud of my son as a good engineer. But I’m also very worried. How much money my son made was spent and no savings for himself. I really do not know how to advise my child. Can you help me?
47 married, 2 dependents In Irving Texas. 47,000 & 22,000 income 1240 rent, 230 electric/water, 470 car payment 900 every 6 months car insurance, 45 Internet, 45 cell phone. child support of 600 /month with past due of 15000. No active credit cards. No medical insurance payment On my credit 4,000 collections, repo 11,000, 35,000 default student loans, 220,000 in medical bills and the back child support shows up credit score 580 and wife no credit history How do I get all this paid off and have hope for the future. We would like to buy a house soon but I only see this happening if we pay a really high rate and monthly mortgage payment. Can you help give me your thoughts on what to do?
I’m living on disability and I feel no one with. Equity wants to even help me with any thing at all.Do you have any knowledge of some one who can get me started on my knowledge of these .
I’m recently retired and am faced with the RMDs this year. I have an annuity and two mutual funds and am trying to decide where to take my withdrawal.
I could begin taking the guaranteed withdrawal from the annuity and the remainder from the mutual funds or leave the annuity grow for another year and take the RMD from the mutual funds.
Any suggestions on how to approach this?
There’s just no right answer given the information you’ve provided. And plus, assuming you can even withdraw from the annuity to satisfy the RMD requirement, you are essentially asking whether the annuity or the mutual funds will perform better for the next 12 months – a question no one can answer.
Which investment do you want less of? I would start with that question to figure out where to take money out first.
I have old coin
Retirement Savings & Buying a house in the Bay Area!
Hi, my wife and I were horrible savers until 5-6 years ago when we started having stable jobs. Our retirement looks ok – We have about 500k in 401k on a good salary salaries, we contribute 12% and 10% company contribution and about 150k in saving account to buy out future home. We currently are saving about 4-5k per month after expenses while living in a rental (we also own a rental home). We set a stick budget to try and achieve our dream of finding a perfect place for our family, however in the very hot market like the Bay Area we are not shock on how outrages this have become. I see our investment will make us a millionaire in a few years but I am worried about finding a home for our family.
As we aggressively save about 60k-70k per year I feel we are loosing ground in finding a good home for us. Homes in the 700k-950k are mediocre and homes in the 1.1M-1.4M is way out of our range.
My questions: Do you think we should save more on our 401k and just deal with the mediocre homes in an OK area? or do you think we should decrease our savings and stretch a little to buy the home in a good area? (I prefer not to stretch and put a few more percents in savings)
Some people never want to own their home. They do not want the responsibilities of owner ship. But I have always lived in my own home. For me it is security. My safe place to change, to be proud of what I have achieved. The homeowners insurance is enough to make home payments.lol
One of the toughest lessons I’ve learned is spending less than you earn. This is such a simple piece of advice, yet you’d be surprised how many struggle with this idea.
Less is more. Thanks for guiding us to some really helpful resources, personally I really enjoyed reading; “5 Surefire Ways to Think That Your Paycheck is Never Enough” I also love the picture at the top of your post 🙂
My husband is about to recived his mother state , is about 200,000 , where is the best place to invest this money? thank you.
Dora- this is a situation that you and your husband need to evaluate closely in terms of your current financial position. Do you have any debt that could be paid off? Credit Cards, Mortgage, Car Payments, etc.? Do you have some money set aside incase of job loss of health emergencies? If you have your basics covered you can now explore investment options for the future. Take a look a your short vs. long term financial goals and set up a plan that is right for you. Research CD’s, Bonds, or maybe property investment. The options really are endless about where to invest the money- the questions to ask yourself are what risk am I willing to take? And when might I need/want access to these funds? Hope this helps. Would love to hear what you decided to do!
I have been a stay home for the past 15 years, only now that my children are going to school Fultime I feel comfortable enough to consider having mu own business from home. But I have no clue how to come up with any business ideas. Do you have any idea? I have a few ideas on inventions , again , do you have any ideas how to start making my ideas become a reality.
When prepaying a mortgage, or auto loan, you should write 2 checks, 1 for the actual payment, and 1 for the overpayment. And on the overpayment, is it also required to write “For Principle Only” on the check, along with the account number.
Here are a couple of money related quotes:
It is better to have a hen tomorrow, than an egg today.
When you combine ignorance and borrowed money, the consequences can be disastrous.
This is partly true, as contributing to a 401k means that you don’t have to pay for taxes on that contributed amount until you withdraw from the retirement account. But keep in mind that a 401k is meant for retirement savings. Each dollar you put in today means more money in the future, but less money to spend now.
I just picked up a 2nd job that is per diem and ended up owing the government more after I filed my taxes. Someone mentioned that I should increase my 401K in my 1st job so that I would be taxed less. Is this true? Any comments…short or long is welcomed =)
i guess i should be learning to live within my means before it’s too late
I agree with Mary. Nice articles, and I enjoy this website.
We should all keep in mind that our health is our most important financial commodity. With our health we have the ability, if we choose, to produce income.
How do I go about buying foreign bonds or CDs? My target countries are:
Canada, Australia, China.
I’d like enough detail to carry out a complete transaction – buy and sell (redeem).
Scotty Neal
You should seriously consider taking charge of your own investments. read “Trend Following” by Michael Covel, it will be a real eye opener for you and how you approach investments
Thoughtful advice. As a boomer, I seem to be hitting retirement at just the right time — when the market drops and no real value in fixed income. I do agree with commodities and certain CDs as investment tools. There is value and protection in certain types of real estate also. Keep sharing your insight.
hey nice info..really liked it..money management is always handy no matter how old we are it is convenient for us only.
Really nice compilation of articles. Good job 🙂 I especially like the one on paycheck perception — it never does seem enough for a lot of people, does it?
i dont think so
With the dollar on a steady decline relative to several foreign currencies, predicted for continued decline, possibly severe, what’s your suggestion for protection of savings used for fixed income earnings…..and for future fixed income.
Most people will suggest commodities and you can certainly buy ETFs like GLD (for gold) or USO (for oil). These are becoming good investments as the dollar decline and USO is especially good since it gets consumed, unlike gold.
Another approach you may take is to buy foreign currencies, or even foreign currency but beware that foreign currencies have principal risk. Another alternative is CDs like the MarketSafe CD from EverBank that offers CD type protection and some upside if the dollar keeps declining. This way, if the dollar goes up against the BRIC currencies, you won’t lost any money but if the dollar declines relatively to those countries, you get some upside.
But no matter which specific option you choose, commodities and currencies seem to be the best bet against dollar declines.
cornell: It really depends. You should lower the amount that your employer is withholding from each paycheck until you absolutely get no refunds nor need to pay taxes when you file them. If going from 2 to 4 does that, then do it. Otherwise, don’t. It really depends on your unique situation since too many factors play into this.
Cornell, MoneyNing’s advice is in general good. However, a good place to go to see if you should change your W-4 allowances is the IRS website, http://www.irs.gov. There, you can locate the instructions for both the W-4 form and the important Estimated Taxes (1040-ES) form. The latter is like a would-be mini-tax form for the current year (2009).
As MoneyNing wrote, you should ideally target a small amount of tax owed or due (i.e. refund) for the tax year when you files your tax return next April. If you get too large of a refund, then you were paying too much during the year and lending the government money interest-free (and not using the money yourself for things such as paying down debt or meeting other expenses). If you owe too much, you may end up paying tax penalties for underwithholding. If you owe in April (without penalties), then you were effectively borrowing money from the government interest-free.
I always targeted owing some, but not a lot of money in April. This balanced both objectives.
Some other points for you to consider:
(1) You may have some sources of income which had zero withholding. Unemployment insurance benefits do not usually have any taxes withheld, but are taxable as income. Same for unearned income such as dividends and capital gains.
(2) If you now have to pay your own health insurance premiums (i.e. your H.I. coverage was from her plan), those are at least partially tax deductible. Be sure to factor that into your 2009 Estimated Taxes.
(3) It is possible to have a different number of withholding exemptions for state tax purposes than for federal purposes. You should check your state’s tax website to find the form you can file with your employer to adjust your state exemptions without changing your federal exemptions. Otherwise, whatever you file on your W-4 will apply to both.
(4) If you itemize your deductions on your federal return, you should try to pay most of your state income taxes as possible by the end of the year so you can deduct them on the following April’s federal return. Otherwise, you will have to wait another 9-12 months before you can deduct them. Your state’s tax website will have information about how to determine and file Estimated Taxes. [And you will avoid penalties for underpaying state income taxes.]
If you’ve got any debt remember to contact your lenders asap, you’ll generally able to get 3months of suspended payments and interest that might help you out until your wife gets back to work.
my wife was laid off from her job should I increase my w4 allowances from 2 to 4 to cover some expenses that could hurt us financially?