Budgeting advice to get in control of your finances.

We’re now right in the busiest part of tax season, as we begin to collect all of the materials we’ll need to be able to compute and file our tax returns. These will include not only our wage and other income statements from employers and those we’ve done business with over the course of the past year, but also various other types of forms. You can expect to receive one or more tax documents from any banks or financial institutions that you have accounts with. Unfortunately, not every institution sends their forms out at the same time, so it’s important...

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Unless you happen to live and work in a densely populated city, chances are you’ll have to buy a car at some point during your life. In fact, the chances are good that you’ll own at least a half dozen vehicles over the course of your life. But unlike small purchases that you’ll almost always pay cash for, or very large purchases that you’ll always borrow for (such as buying a new home), you may find yourself faced with a choice of whether to pay cash for your new car or to take out a car loan. Here are some...

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It seems like virtually everyone has a mobile device these days. We use our phones to communicate with our family, friends and business colleagues, of course, but many of us also use them for entertainment and other purposes. With the increasing popularity of smartphones, what was once just a method to talk (or text) with someone has now become a computer that we have with us practically at all times. Given the convenience that it provides, you can harness the power of your cell phone to help you manage your personal and professional budgets. Here is some banking advice on...

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A well thought out plan is a prerequisite for reaching just about any financial goal you may have. Your plan will invariably involve making certain assumptions; both regarding things that are within your control, as well as externalities that you can do little about. But sometimes the items outside of your control can take a turn for the worse and hit you with a financial setback. In fact, everyone is likely to paint counter these hurdles and stumbling blocks from time to time. The key is to work through them and to minimize the long-term financial damage. Here is some...

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With the arrival of summer, many households will turn to their yearly custom of giving their home a top to bottom cleaning. This summer cleaning tradition is usually something of a chore, but the results are usually appreciated and enjoyed throughout the year. You can extend your summer cleaning tradition to your budget and your personal finances as well. After all, what’s the essence of summer cleaning? At its core, summer cleaning is about tidying things up, getting rid of unnecessary clutter and making things easier for yourself going forward. These principles make a lot of sense in the personal...

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Cash flow analysis is an underutilized but extremely important element of personal financial planning. In its most basic form, cash flow is a measure of an individual’s total income versus their total expenses over a certain period of time. By incorporating a number of different financial measures into a single number, cash flow can help an individual plan for their future. If a consumer never calculated cash flow before, they shouldn’t spend countless hours making sure every last cent for every account is in their budget. The point of a cash flow analysis is simply to gain an understanding of...

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Having to deal with an unexpected financial crisis can be one of the most stressful events an individual will ever face. When we’re facing some type of cash crisis – whether it’s not being able to pay our mortgage or pay our bills – it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and simply do nothing. In the northeast many folks are now facing a cash crisis due to super storm Sandy. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to handle a cash crisis in the best possible way. There’s usually a solution to the problem, even if it’s not immediately apparent,...

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Saving money is one of those habits that we know is good for us, but might not have developed particularly well. For an individual who doesn’t currently save, perhaps it’s because they’ve faced some financial hardships in the past, that they’re too busy “enjoying life” or that they simply never saw the value of devoting any of their energy to saving. But at the end of the day, none of those reasons is particularly important. Rather than spend time figuring out why we don’t yet have that good habit in place, it’s better to simply start building one. Here is some...

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Having a well thought out budget can make it much easier for you to reach your financial goals. This is true regardless of your income level, current debt and savings, and ongoing financial obligations. Unless you have a plan on how much you’re going to save and spend each month, it’s difficult to ensure you’re always making progress towards your goals. Coming up with your budget is one thing. But making sure you stick with it is entirely another. After you prepare your budget, it’s a good idea to come up with a system for tracking your actual spending and...

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With all the effort we put in to keeping ourselves on a sensible financial plan, it might sometimes seem like there aren’t enough opportunities to treat ourselves or to splurge on things that might not otherwise appear to be “sensible” purchases. But making appropriate financial decisions doesn’t have to mean that you can’t splurge from time to time. Denying yourself each and every “guilty pleasure” – even small ones – might eventually lead you to make an expensive and indulgent that does significant damage to your financial health. The key is to limit yourself to splurging when it makes financial...

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