Financial Disciplines
These financial disciplines are for everyone, no matter how much money one earns. If these disciplines are adhered to it will make a huge difference in a person's financial situation. Here is a quick laundry list:
1. Create a budget - this is a priority a budget is literally a road map to your finances. Without it you won't know if you are losing money or where you might be spending to much.
2. Manage your debt - always know how much debt you have, it is a necessity in an attempt to manage your finances better. In this category include outstanding mortgage amount, credit card debt, student loans, medical bills and your monthly debt.
3. Increase your financial literacy - there is so much information out there but if you don't know what it means then you may have difficulty preparing and identifying changes as they relate to finance. This might mean you will need to have a financial adviser or coach to explain certain information.
4. Develop assets - this is a must. Assets are items that increase (or in some cases decrease) in value over time. This is really the only way to get ahead in the game. In asset which carries value can be sold or leveraged for cash.
5. Develop a plan to save and invest - this is where you setup an account to save for those "rainy days" ahead, vacation, etc. If you have two or more reasons to save I would suggest to have separate accounts for each need (i.e rainy day account and vacation savings account, etc). In addition to this you want to develop an investment strategy.
6. Be a money manager - money managers know the difference between need and desires. They are able to sacrifice desires for need and not get swayed another way. Money managers stay on top of their bills.
7. Check your credit at least once per year and do a financial assessment - this new financial disciplined life will begin to payoff dividends shortly. Therefore check your credit annually to ensure that you see scores increasing and verify that all accounts on your report are actual yours. In addition do an assessment of all of your financial accounts quarterly (minimum). You want to see if how much your investments are earning and the amount that you have saved up.
7. Have fun but be disciplined - this level of discipline isn't without fun, in fact it will allow you to enjoy life even more than you are currently doing. Continue to practice these simple financial disciplines for another year and see how far you have come.
Now get to it!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Your Retirement's Life or Death
During this time there are many who will retire within the next two to three years. This a great thing but I ask this question, are you prepared to retire? Before you answer think about this -
1. The US is slowly increasing the minimum eligibility age to receive full social security benefits.
2. Many employer sponsored retirements plans have yet to earn its losses back from the downturn we began to experience about six years ago.
3. The US economy, and the world's economy, has not reached a TRUE bottom yet.
4. Many of us have not experienced nor considered another factor known as inflation inflation.
What is inflation? In simple terms inflation is the rate the prices for goods and services rise and the purchasing power for the same things falls. Perfect example is that a little over six years ago the average price was $2.23 per gallon, today that average is $3.62 per gallon.
This means with $20.00 in 2006 you and I would have been able to buy just under 9 gallons of gas. Today we would only be able to buy 5.5 gallons. Imagine a spike in inflation while you are on a fixed income, exactly it could be the death of your retirement, especially if the rate of inflation is rising faster than the rate of your investment.
Is there any relief from this possibility? Of course there is, the relief is building assets. Assets have the unique ability to increase in value even in tough economic times. What asset can you build? There are several including real estate, businesses, collection items, etc. Look to build assets into your retirement.
During this time there are many who will retire within the next two to three years. This a great thing but I ask this question, are you prepared to retire? Before you answer think about this -
1. The US is slowly increasing the minimum eligibility age to receive full social security benefits.
2. Many employer sponsored retirements plans have yet to earn its losses back from the downturn we began to experience about six years ago.
3. The US economy, and the world's economy, has not reached a TRUE bottom yet.
4. Many of us have not experienced nor considered another factor known as inflation inflation.
What is inflation? In simple terms inflation is the rate the prices for goods and services rise and the purchasing power for the same things falls. Perfect example is that a little over six years ago the average price was $2.23 per gallon, today that average is $3.62 per gallon.
This means with $20.00 in 2006 you and I would have been able to buy just under 9 gallons of gas. Today we would only be able to buy 5.5 gallons. Imagine a spike in inflation while you are on a fixed income, exactly it could be the death of your retirement, especially if the rate of inflation is rising faster than the rate of your investment.
Is there any relief from this possibility? Of course there is, the relief is building assets. Assets have the unique ability to increase in value even in tough economic times. What asset can you build? There are several including real estate, businesses, collection items, etc. Look to build assets into your retirement.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)