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As we begin the New Year, the nation's economy is crumbling. It is becoming apparent that protecting your finances is extremely important in addition to protecting your identity. To get you off on the right foot, we have listed several tips and suggestions to get your financial house in order.
1. Make sure you know the difference between your needs and your wants. Financial security depends on you spending money in the smartest possible way. For instance, gasoline is a need while ordering a pizza is a want. Frugality is absolutely a necessity. Clip coupons and watch for sales or deals on things you will be needing soon.
2. Have 6 months of living expenses in Savings. Take account of your monthly bills, including groceries and gas, and save 6 months of these in a savings account for a rainy day. It's very easy to save a little every month from your paycheck and put it into an account that may be difficult to get into. This will become your emergency fund and should only be touched in emergencies ( i.e. someone looses their job). If you must dig in, be sure to replace it immediately.
3. Begin paying off your debt. Start with the highest interest bearing loans, like personal loans and credit cards and begin paying them off. These you should take care of BEFORE you begin saving any money. The interest accrued on these loans can be staggering over time and will save you money in the long run if you pay them off first.
4. Now, more than ever, it is vital that you protect your identity. Identity theft has become a huge problem in recent years. The cost to victims each year is approximately 5 to 7.5 billion dollars with over 500,000 reports coming in every year. You can protect your identity with a service like LifeLock. LifeLock offers a guarantee up to $1,000,000 on their service, reduces the amount of credit card offers and pro-actively guards your good name.
5. To keep you from dipping into your savings unnecessarily, put extra money into CDs, money market accounts, or other securities that are harder to access. That way, you won't be tempted to spend all that hard saved money.
6. Put yourself on a budget and KEEP that budget no matter what. This is easy to do, folks. Make up jars or boxes with labels like entertainment, pizza, or eating out. Each payday, put $20 in each jar. That is your allowance for that extravagance until next payday. When the money in the pizza jar is used, you simply dont eat pizza again until next payday rolls around. Sounds a little harsh, but it works and you HAVE to limit yourself or you will have no idea where the money went to.
The status of the current economy is awful, but that isn't a secret. Therefore, we must look for ways to protect ourselves and our financial situation so that we don't need the kind of financial assistance that some of the big companies have needed. Don't let any of that nonsense happen to you this year. Keep a budget, look for deals, and spend smart!
If you are careful with your money, you will not require a bailout in 2009. Hey, maybe we can become the example and teach the major corporation CEOs how to do this.
1. Make sure you know the difference between your needs and your wants. Financial security depends on you spending money in the smartest possible way. For instance, gasoline is a need while ordering a pizza is a want. Frugality is absolutely a necessity. Clip coupons and watch for sales or deals on things you will be needing soon.
2. Have 6 months of living expenses in Savings. Take account of your monthly bills, including groceries and gas, and save 6 months of these in a savings account for a rainy day. It's very easy to save a little every month from your paycheck and put it into an account that may be difficult to get into. This will become your emergency fund and should only be touched in emergencies ( i.e. someone looses their job). If you must dig in, be sure to replace it immediately.
3. Begin paying off your debt. Start with the highest interest bearing loans, like personal loans and credit cards and begin paying them off. These you should take care of BEFORE you begin saving any money. The interest accrued on these loans can be staggering over time and will save you money in the long run if you pay them off first.
4. Now, more than ever, it is vital that you protect your identity. Identity theft has become a huge problem in recent years. The cost to victims each year is approximately 5 to 7.5 billion dollars with over 500,000 reports coming in every year. You can protect your identity with a service like LifeLock. LifeLock offers a guarantee up to $1,000,000 on their service, reduces the amount of credit card offers and pro-actively guards your good name.
5. To keep you from dipping into your savings unnecessarily, put extra money into CDs, money market accounts, or other securities that are harder to access. That way, you won't be tempted to spend all that hard saved money.
6. Put yourself on a budget and KEEP that budget no matter what. This is easy to do, folks. Make up jars or boxes with labels like entertainment, pizza, or eating out. Each payday, put $20 in each jar. That is your allowance for that extravagance until next payday. When the money in the pizza jar is used, you simply dont eat pizza again until next payday rolls around. Sounds a little harsh, but it works and you HAVE to limit yourself or you will have no idea where the money went to.
The status of the current economy is awful, but that isn't a secret. Therefore, we must look for ways to protect ourselves and our financial situation so that we don't need the kind of financial assistance that some of the big companies have needed. Don't let any of that nonsense happen to you this year. Keep a budget, look for deals, and spend smart!
If you are careful with your money, you will not require a bailout in 2009. Hey, maybe we can become the example and teach the major corporation CEOs how to do this.
About the Author:
Linda Seamore is an expert on the subject of personal finance and has written many articles on it and on credit protection programs like LifeLock. She suggests researching all credit protection programs like www.lifelock.com before signing up.
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