Archive for November, 2009

Test your Personal Finances Iq With This Quick Quiz

Bruce Hokin asked:


Managing your spending habits, saving sufficient funds and clearly seeing your personal financial situation are important elements in managing your personal finances correctly. This test will give you an idea whether you need some more help, or if you’re on top of this important part of your life. (The answers are listed at the end of this article.)

Question #1. What does “living within your means” really mean?

Question #2. What damage can only paying the minimum credit card payments each month do to your financial future?

Question #3. What is the most widely advocated and proven method of getting your finances in order?

Question #4. What are the most important financial goals you can set?

Question #5. Why is it not safe to spend all your income each month?

Question #6. What is the recommended percentage of my income that needs to be saved for emergencies and a savings nest egg?

Question #7. In what order should your bills be paid?

How did you fare with these questions? Did you know the answers? If not, or if you wish to check your responses, check out the answers listed below.

Answer to Question #1.

“Living within your means” means spending to live as comfortably as possible, from your income, while saving sufficient funds to adequately cater for emergencies and building your savings nest egg. It also means that you should not rely on external funding such as credit cards and bank finance just to live day-to-day.

Answer to Question #2.

Paying only the minimum credit card payment each month can condemn you to life-long poverty. It is that serious. If you only pay the minimum off your credit card each month you quickly start paying interest on the interest and the debt can spiral out of control. Live within your means, don’t add to your debts, pay cash and pay down that credit card debt as quickly as possible.

Answer to Question #3.

The most widely advocated and proven method to getting your finances in order is to prepare a budget. Please don’t go glassy-eyed and lose interest now. This is an easy task that can finally put you in control of your finances once and for all. There are many resources available on the Internet to help you quickly make a start.

Answer to Question #4.

The most important financial goals you can set are as follows:

a) Set a goal to pay down that credit card debt, both for the amount and the time period. For example, I am going to pay $5,000 off the credit card debt in the next 12 months. Commit to only living off my income starting today. I will always pay cash from today onwards.

b) The second most important goal is to set a savings target. A budget can show you how much you need to set aside for emergencies and that savings nest egg.

c) The third most important goal is to determine to be debt free. This will transform your life. Work out what you need to live and see how much better your life would be if there was no money being applied to debts each month. It’s like giving yourself a pay raise.

Answer to Question #5.

It is not safe to spend all your income each month for the simple reason that life is unpredictable. If you have no savings buffer then how will you afford the bills that occur when you least expect them? Will you pay for them with your credit card? Then how will you pay that bill?

Answer to Question #6. The most common percentage recommended to keep aside from your monthly income is 20%. This is a target of course. Not everyone can manage this immediately. Any amount you put aside will be better than nothing as long as you are shooting for a target.

Answer to Question #7.

If you are struggling with paying all your bills each month, the most vital bills are listed below in order of importance:

a) Housing – rent or house payments. If you don’t pay these you may have no home

b) vehicle

c) groceries

d) power, water, gas etc.

e) credit cards

The costs of shelter, food, clothing and transportation always come ahead of paying the credit cards.

Are you now a little more understanding of this critically important part of your life? Could you do with some help? There are many agencies and websites dedicated to offering advice and tools to help you better manage your finances. Check them out today. Financial success can be yours. Don’t you deserve it?



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Personal Finance Software – Choosing the Best

Neha Gupta asked:


Personal Finance Software – Choosing the Best

Budgeting can be frustrating.Visit Here http://gov-debt-grantbenefit.blogspot.com

 It can be hard to keep it organized and maintained. Using personal finance software can help keep your budget straightened out. It helps keep everything organized and easy it is easy to use.

Personal finance software goes beyond the typical budget you may have. Personal finance software allows you to track your spending, track your investments and even figure out and compare long term financial prospects, like loans.

You can make charts so you can see your budget at a glance. You can also figure just about anything mathematical because the software does all the work for you.

To use personal finance software all you need to do is insert your information one time then the software will prepare your budget for each month or as you need it with all your information right there.

You can even use the personal finance software to set up a plan for a goal. You can easily track it and watch your progress. It will help keep you on track to your personal finance goals.

When choosing personal finance software you should first ensure that it is compatible with your computer and operating system. You should also make sure that it is easy to use and that you understand all of the functions and can use the program without a lot of hassle. Remember the idea of using personal finance software is to make budgeting easier.

Personal finance software comes with many features that can make it even nicer to use. Look for some of the following in the personal finance software program you choose:

- Automation – You want a program that is as automated as possible. This will cut down on the work you have to do.

- Pre-made forms – This means you have everything pre-made for you and you do not have to do anything except enter your information.

- Loan calculators – These are nice because they let you input information on different loans so you can compare and easily see which would be the best option.

- Internet compatibility – Being able to sync with the internet will allow you to keep up with your internet banking, including paying bills.

Personal finance software can make maintaining and using a budget simple. It can take the headache out of trying to manage your finances and put you back in control over your money.Visit Here http://gov-debt-grantbenefit.blogspot.com



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How to Pick The Personal Finance Book That

Ouida Vincent asked:


7 I picked up my first personal finance book, The Millionaire Next Door. I had heard that the book revealed to the world that millionaires were cheap folks who drove old cars and didn?t send their kids to college. Nothing could have been further from the truth. In fact the book revealed to me the common qualities of millionaires and that becoming one is not that far fetched an idea. They have certain characteristics and habits and developing them is the surest way to join the ranks of the world?s millionaires.

Truthfully, personal finance books are a dime a dozen. You cannot roll a boulder without hitting one. What makes one book better for you than another? Since 1997 I have read 10-15 personal finance books per year. Well over 100 books later, there are only 10 who have made a genuine difference in my life. The rest were filler. At 10 dollars a book that is a lot to spend on filler.

How can you pick the right book for you and still keep your money in the bank? No, I am not just going to suggest that you get a library card. Wasting time on the wrong book is just as bad as wasting money. There are a few simple steps to follow that will help you pick the right book for the stage you are in life.

Ten action steps for selecting the right book for you:

1) Before you go to the bookstore or the library, decide what is most important for you at your particular point in time. Are debt elimination, starting a savings plan or investing most important for you?
2) Look for a book that teaches a new concept about an idea. In its first few pages, Rich Dad, Poor Dad introduced the balance sheet in simple, easy-to-understand way.
3) Look through the table of contents. Is there a chapter there that appears to address your problem? If so scan that chapter to make sure it contains information valuable to you.
4) Is there a glossary of terms? Or will you need to have your financial dictionary or Internet connection handy to understand your book?
5) Read the preface, does the author communicate his or her purpose for the book and is it in line with your personal philosophy?
6) Is the author?s language style appropriate for you? In the 1990?s personal finance books were written for baby boomers in their late 30s and older. The language was pretty staid. Today?s personal finance books are written for Gen x, Gen y, and Gen Whatever. The language style is more aggressive.
7) Is the book filled with exercises you won?t do? Be honest here. One of the main reasons that people don?t finish a personal finance book is because it is filled with exercises they won?t do. These exercises are very different from action steps, the steps designed to help you remedy your current situation. Exercises in personal finance books are often aimed at helping you figure out how desperate your current situation is. If you didn?t already know how desperate your current situation was, you wouldn?t be looking for a personal finance book in the first place. You need action steps not psychoanalysis.
8) What are other people saying about the book? The Internet allows any one to connect with book reviews. Folks are generally pretty open about their situations. Has the book you are considering helped someone in a situation similar to yours?
9) Is the book simply a rehash of something you have already read? Many financial books, especially books by the same author, are merely ?also-rans?, books that rehash the same material repackaged for a different audience.
10) Is the book an end in and of itself or simply a promotional piece for a financial seminar? I cannot stress this enough. You are looking to solve your current financial situation through education not become part of some author?s marketing machine.

Once you master the basics there is much in the world of money mastery to know. Right now my focus is on books that teach new concepts about work, play and life. Just because I find a book intriguing I don?t run out and buy it. Instead, I place it in my queue and wait. I am always reprioritizing and looking at the materials I already have; if that book is relevant in 30 days, I will put it in my active queue to purchase and read.

Using the 10 steps I just outlined will help you gain the most book for your buck, avoid the unnecessary and redundant purchases, save you time and help you keep more of your money in the bank.



Is The Law of Attraction All Hype?

Personal Finance: What People Buy On Payday

Dinar P. Wiria-atmadja asked:


eople think that to become wealthy, they need to live in a certain lifestyle and buy certain things that the real wealthy people have. By doing so many of them would finally end up in a financial turmoil and are far from being what they had always dreamed of: real wealthy or simply financially free.

The truth is, different people with different financial conditions buy different things on payday not because of how much money they have but because of their particular mindset that drove them to buy those things in the first place.

When the poor go shopping…

Poor people would go and buy the things we would simply call ‘little stuff’. They buy things that are inexpensive (and sometimes useless) simply because they are inexpensive.The ‘little stuff’ won’t cost them much but it won’t worth anything to them over the years — and because the money was all spent on ‘little stuff’, this will be the only thing they will have.

Some people who are even less fortunate like many in my own country, Indonesia, won’t even have ’stuff’. When they go shopping on payday they buy food and maybe some clothes — just basic things they need to survive for one month.

The poor won’t have enough money to save, let alone invest. So what comes in on payday, goes out on ‘little stuff’ or food to survive. They simply just don’t educate themselves that their income could have been used to create more income — and this has caused a lot of financial pain. Yet, it does not need to be this way.

When the middle class go shopping…

These are successful people with well-paying jobs and great carreer. Because of this, society mistakenly considers them as ‘the rich’. The middle class would buy things that we would call ‘liabilities’. Liabilities are things that cost you money. A car would be a liability — you would spend money on gasoline, insurance and not to mention the thousands of dollars of monthly payment for the new car. A house should also be considered as a liability — although some people would call it ‘asset’, we can’t escape the fact that buying and owning a house would actually cost you — which makes this more a ‘liability’ instead of an ‘asset’. But when you buy a house and rent it out and it pays you money regularly, then the house is called an ‘asset’.

Typically, the middle class split their big fat check into two and one portion of it goes out to pay for the downpayment of a new car (or a new house) or anything that are actually ‘liabilities’. By the next month, they will have created another thousands of dollars of monthly expenses for paying the installments. After this, they would want a new Rolex watch, or another car, or a boat, or an expensive vacation.

The middle class may make big fat paychecks because of their successful carreer. But if the money that comes in are constantly spent on ‘liability’, it won’t take long until they wind up highly stressed out in a financial turmoil. In the end, the middle class find themselves enslaved by their jobs because of the liabilities. It means they have no choice than to go to work and make more money every month to be able to pay off their liabilities.

The problem with both the poor and the middle class is, generally their income is dependant on their own effort/ time. The case with the poor is, that they exchange their time with their employers money — while there is only so much you can do in 24 hours with your own effort. On the other hand, the middle class exchange their high education and expertise with someone else’s money. As soon as they stop ‘exchanging’ time and education, the money stops coming.

When the real wealthy go shopping…

Real wealthy people would go out and buy things that we would call ‘asset’. Assets are things that pay you money. The example would be investments, stocks, bonds, real estate,… Another example of asset is education. If you buy education and apply it to produce income, your education is an ‘asset’.

Real wealthy people would always put aside a certain portion of their income to buy assets like those. The wealthy simply spend their money on things that can produce more money.

If you want to become wealthy you have to find assets that would earn you income and with the income, buy more assets to earn you more income and so on. One example of affordable asset you could buy is a business. Any business that creates for you passive ongoing income is your asset.

Passive income is income that requires little work or no work at all. This type of income is the income that you earned from work you did just once.

There are numerous of passive income creation opportunities. One asset that I have found (and is affordable for me) is investing in my own small business, Success University. I find this an invaluable asset because I have free access to the most powerful success oriented personal development education, presented by over 50 of the world’s greatest minds in personal achievement. The education that I get is applied in my day job, causing me to earn even more income than before. And the business opportunity of Success Universityis just an outstanding asset that allows you to earn money even during your 14 day free trial.

This article has been written in the hopes that it will be an eye-opening piece of information on managing you personal finances better.



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Personal Finance is As Easy As 1 2 3

Neha Gupta asked:


Personal Finance is As Easy As 1 2 3

We are drowning in information and choices these days,Visit Here http://gov-debt-grantbenefit.blogspot.com

 often leading to becoming overwhelmed. With your personal finance there is a guru every direction you turn telling you to consider this or buy that, when really personal finance is as easy as 1, 2, 3. There is no need to over complicate managing your personal finances and these three steps to personal finance will keep you on the path to success.

Isn’t often the case that we find ourselves so focused on the details and options that we forget the absolute basics of personal finance. Every pundit has a favorite investment plan, to buy gold, or mutual funds, or maybe to start a business. The importance of not losing focus on the basics of finance though, with a proper focus on the following three steps of financial management will not only keep yourself on track, but put yourself on the path to financial increase.

The first step, or focus of personal finance that I recommend is to pay attention to your money. Simply this means, know each month how much money you have coming in, and how much money you have going out. How much are you making with pay checks, second jobs, annuities, settlements, etc. Keep detailed track of exactly how much money you bring in each month from all sources, and call this your income. Next, keep detailed track of how much you spend each month in bills, payments, settlements, expenditures, food costs, etc., and call this your expenses. Each month account for your money, and this focus will keep you always aware of your personal financial status.

The second personal finance focus is on reducing your expenses. Treat your personal finances as a business, you are in the business of you, and like a good businessman you must always keep an eye on reducing costs and becoming more efficient. Perhaps after assessing your personal finance budget you see that you are spending too much in credit card interest, seek to reduce it. This is a constant process and this constant focus will help you streamline your finances and free up additional monies.

The third personal finance focus should be on increasing your income. Maintain a constant focus on your finances and your means of bringing in income, and keep your eyes always open for opportunities to increase the amount of money you bring in. Sounds simple, as we all want this right? You would be surprised how often the promotion across the avenue is overlooked, or the promotion within your own company is not seized. Consider looking outside your job, find ways to help and service while creating additional money doing what you love. There are always opportunities, create the personal finance focus to always be watching for these moments, and seize them.

Maintaining the focus of your personal finance on these three simple common sense pillars will yield surprising results. Don’t overcomplicate your finances and you will not cloud the opportunities that abound around you. With daily focus on these simple financial secrets you will be well on your way to creating the abundance in your life that we all want.Visit Here http://gov-debt-grantbenefit.blogspot.com



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