Getting Started With a Budget
Using a budget is one of the smartest money management moves you could make. For guidance on using a paper & pencil system, read the Budget Quick Start Guide and make use of the Cash Flow Plan, Cash Flow Tracker, and Recommended Spending Guidelines, all found in the Resources section. For help using the online tool Mint.com, watch my tutorials here, here, and here. And for help with the Envelope system, read this article.
Remember, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” – Proverbs 21:5
Back in the day, jobs were for life. You put in your 30-40 years and got a pension. Maybe even a gold watch. That was then. Of course, there’s no such thing as guaranteed employment anymore. But there is such a thing as guaranteed employability. Learn to Earn In most jobs, if we’re standing still […]
People who’ve never used a budget usually hate the idea. They think of a budget as the wicked witch of personal finance whose sole purpose is to drive any semblance of fun right out of their financial life. In truth, it’s just the opposite. A budget, or as I prefer, a Cash Flow Plan, is […]
One of the best steps you can take to prepare for your later years is to use a retirement calculator. Doing so can help you see if you’re on the right path and figure out what, if any, changes you might need to make. On the latest installment of my new video feature, Two-Minute Money […]
Say what you will about the Occupy Wall Street protesters, but at least they’ve gotten people thinking and talking about our economic mess. While I can’t say I agree with their demands (at least, as I understand them), and I could do without all the name-calling that’s swirled around the discussion, I like the passion […]
If you’re thinking about using an online budget tool, you may be concerned about security. That’s because in order to do what they do best – automatically track your spending – you have to provide them with the passwords to your bank accounts, credit cards, and other accounts you want them to track. Recently I […]
There are tons of great personal finance articles on the web. Every week, I wade through many of them in search of the best of the best. Here’s my latest highly subjective top 10 list, with 5 from traditional sites and 5 from blogs. Recall! E-Mail Habits That Could Cost You At Work (via MSNBC.com). […]
People who’ve never used a budget – or cash flow plan, as I prefer – usually assume it’ll be restrictive. They think of a budget as something you go on like a diet. They see budgets as being about cutting back, tightening the belt, reining themselves in. For them, budgets are about less. But a […]
Anyone enjoy filing papers? I didn’t think so. But you’ll be glad to have done the job with some sense of order should Uncle Sam ever come calling with a question about what you put on line 43 of your 1040 from ‘08. I recommend keeping financial paperwork in three different places: an easily accessible […]
There are some personal finance teachers who believe no one should have a credit card. They seem to think that carrying credit cards is like carrying little sticks of dynamite that could blow your finances to smithereens at any time. While there are definitely some people who would be better off not using credit cards, […]
It used to be that a lot of people were confident they’d be able to retire comfortably one day. Funny thing was, even in those good old days, far fewer people were actually taking the necessary steps, like saving enough money. Today, things have changed. More people are facing the fact that they’re behind on […]
