Personal Finance, Loans & Insurance

Money Pros and Cons – Personal Finance Basics

Is money good or is it bad? Depending how you view it, cash can a good thing but it can be a bad thing as well. Money is good because it creates the opportunity for the exact lifestyle you want. It can fund your dreams such as going on vacation or could allow the chance for an early retirement. Cash creates the chance to have a family, live in the neighborhood you want and allows to you to do anything you desire. Proper money management is the simplest way to understand personal finance basics.

Money can be negative or a bad thing if you live for it. By slaving away at a job that you don’t like to earn cash can make it bad. Money misguides many of Americans to become workaholics and pay little attention to their loved ones.

Without a doubt cash has more pros than it does cons. Unfortunately the bad things that are associated with money are usually tied with misuse and greed.

What is Money to you?

Do you think that making lots of money to live the life of luxury is important to you or do you want to make just enough so you can kick back and enjoy a modest lifestyle. The choice is simple with hardly any grey area and we all make that choice when we deal with the personal finance basics in our lives.

If you want to work 80 hours every week so you can boot around in an expensive vehicle and live in a 3500 square foot home is how you want to live then more power to you. Unfortunately, I believe|in my opinion} you have become a slave to cash if you force yourself to work that much to drive that car or live in that home.

On the other side of the scale if you want to have 100% freedom and 0% responsibility then you have become a slave to your lifestyle. Money probably has no value to you and you earn just enough to make ends meet. Is that a bad thing? Who am I to say.

I’m certain there can be a happy medium when it comes to money. It’s possible to get all of the pros and none of the cons. Hard work is incredibly important but you should never work for money. The more you understand personal finance basics, the more it will start to give back to you and the less likely you will be a slave to it.

The best case scenario is to find an occupation that you truly enjoy and would love to do for free anyway. If you’re not happy at your job chances are it’s because you only see the dollar signs associated with the job. The way to make money a good thing to you is to alter the way you think and love where you are. Ironically, the more passion you put into everything in your life, the more the money will actually flow in. You will work less and earn more.

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Recently I had a misadventure with my cash. My car insurance broker called a several months ago to let me know that they wanted to give me a deal. I had the opportunity to switch from my old company to a different one and it would save me a month. I made the switch with little hesitation. Those are the personal finance basics I like. I signed the paperwork and left it at that. Having a clean driving record does pay for itself. Normally I would suggest that you take care of these kinds of contracts well before they come to you, because let’s face it, most insurance companies will usually avoid giving you a deal if they can.

I was thrilled. I was using an older savings account from which my old insurance was being withdrawn and decided to use a new account with my new insurance company. Mistake number one. I neglected to look at the old savings account. I more or less forgot it existed. The simple plan was to assume that all was well and planned to let the small amount of cash in the account collect a few cents worth in interest every week or so.

Fast forward 6 months. My bank calls me with an urgent message. One of my accounts is in a negative balance by almost 0. How can this be? I always pay attention to everything I buy and budget my finances accordingly. When I saw the statement from the old account the issue was obvious. My old insurance coverage plan wasn’t cancelled by my broker. They had continued to withdraw money from my old dormant bank account for 6 months to the tune of nearly 0.

Monitoring your money is one of the personal finance basics everyone should take care of. It’s simple to make a mistake like this and that is a type of mistake that is totally avoidable. I was both angered and embarrassed about what had happened. ‘How could I let this happen?’ I kept asking myself on the way to my insurance broker. I’ve always understood how to manage my money since I had my paper route when I was 12. Since that time I had never had a negative balance in my account.

I’m happy to say that my insurance broker apologized and fixed the problem ASAP. The problem might have been worse. Much worse. For that period of time someone with cruel intentions could have taken out massive amounts of money without me knowing and I could have been forced to foot the bill. My advise to watch your money is probably the most simple of the personal finance basics to follow. If you have any unused account terminate it. If you have a credit card you don’t use, cancel it. Your hard earned cash can be fleeting if you don’t stay on top of it.

Please visit more of my blog to receive the free E-Book, free budget spreadsheet, free calculators and links to various tools. We also have a few leaked videos to help with your finances.

Until next time,

Conrad

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For many people it is hard enough as it is to raise a child with the help of your spouse, but what if you are raising the child on your own? This is the case for millions of parents each year who have to raise their children without the help of a spouse or significant other. The cost of living is so expensive these days it can become very hard to provide for your children when being a single parent. This is when using online personal finance programs as a single parent can become very important. Using online personal finance programs to save and keep track of your money as a single parent is extremely important because you are a sole provider for your children so you have to make every penny count.

Using an online personal finance program can be very easy if you keep a very close eye on your weekly income and weekly expenses. In order to maintain the amount of money you need monthly it is very important to keep track of your spending, and you have to remember, you can’t spend more than you have. One way to do this is create a weekly or bi-weekly chart of your necessary spending online with a online personal finance program. This chart should include how much you need for each week, and how you are going to go about getting that money. This will enable you to plan for each week. Also, it is very important to factor in child support you may be receiving, and if you are not immediately spending it, make sure that it is going into a savings account for your children.

Using online personal finance programs can save money while being a single parent is by allowing you to focus your time on your other priorities because using online personal finance programs are so easy. We understand that money is very important in the life of a single parent, but we also understand that you don’t want to spend all of your time dealing with it. You want to have time to go see your sons soccer game, or your go to your daughters school play, and by using online personal finance programs, this is easily done. The best part about many programs like this is that you are able to sign up for easy, on-time alerts about your money. Many of these great programs send weekly notification to anywhere you like whether it is through e-mail or even text message. This can be very helpful when you are in a situation where you need to know the balance on any of your accounts immediately.

There are plenty of simple tips for you to save money when it comes to personal finance basics. Some are a little more time consuming than others but despite that fact it is well worth the time it might take. Even if you follow one or 2 of the following tips you could save hundreds of dollars every year.

REQUEST FREE SAMPLES:

There are lots of websites that offer free samples on every day products. Even the huge stores like K-Mart or Home Depot have excellent opportunities for you and I to get free products. Those items range from skin lotions and personal hygiene products to pet food or bathroom products. Another option is to go directly to a manufacturer’s website to locate some free samples on newly released items. If you need something, type ‘free sample’ into google before you go to the store to buy that product. This is the beginning of mastering personal finance basics.

CHANGE CREDIT CARD SPENDING AND HABITS:

Credit cards can be wonderful but can be hazardous. With high interest rates and monthly fees, credit cards may wind up costing you a lot more down the road than you may have planned.

Things I keep in mind:

- always use cash unless its for a major purchase

- always make sure you are able to afford the item before you use a credit card

- always pay the balance of your credit card

AVOID IMPULSE BUYS:

We all know what it’s like to push a shopping cart through the aisles of the grocery store and when we get to the check out we ‘ve picked up double the amount we planned to buy. Always, always, always make a shopping list, follow that list and never purchase anything that isn’t on your list. This goes for any type of shopping including wardrobe, books or movies or CD’s. Stores are designed specifically for impulse buys with magazine racks and gum within easy reach. Make your list, check it twice, and follow it.

SHOP THE SALE RACK:

This is another personal finance basics rule but don’t confuse this with an impulse buy. If you made your list and know what you need, so check the sale display before you shop. It’s pretty likely you might locate that said item on sale and pay far less than the regular price. Food stores work the same way. They often over order items and sometimes run unadvertised specials on overstock items. Just be sure the product is on your list.

SAVE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY:

This may be the hardest thing you have to do when cash is tight, but it just might be the most important of these steps. According to the book ‘The Wealthy Barber’ you should save ten per cent of the money you make each month. That may not seem like a lot but it does add up rather quickly and if properly invested it will go a long way towards your retirement plans in the future.

SAVE YOUR CHANGE:

This may sound a little silly but this simple tip is a great one. How? Because it’s just like found cash. After you come home from the store put any loose change into a jar. Each month or every few months count up the change, roll it up and deposit it into your bank account or reward yourself to a well deserved evening out. These are the personal finance basics you learned when you were very young.

BUY IN BULK:

We’ve already touched on shopping but I have another shopping idea that mostly applies to grocery shopping. Buy in bulk. If you mostly drink orange and you see that it is on sale at half price, buy 4 instead of two or buy the 24 pack of water instead of the 12 pack. It seems to make sense but many people don’t make bulk buys on every day items.

CLIP COUPONS:

I know this may make you feel like your grand mother but this is another great way to save lots of cash. It takes just a couple minutes every week and you will probably save hundreds of dollars every year on things you were already planning to buy. Go through the local newspaper or check the Internet for some money saving coupons.

RECYCLE PLASTIC BAGS:

This is a wonderful way to ‘Go Green’ and it will put money in your pocket too! Lots of retail outlets are now charging around ten cents for plastic bags. You probably have about a million of them hidden away somewhere in your house. Couldn’t you just bring those bags when you go shopping and re-use them? Try to use those plastic bags from the store for the garbage under your kitchen sink or in the bathroom. You don’t have to spend money every month on a pack of kitchen garbage bags when you already have them at home.

These easy tips will not only save you hundreds of dollars every year but they are simple and might even be fun. It’s always rewarding to know that you have started to take the right steps to becoming debt free. If you follow these tips to save money you are one your way to understanding the personal finance basics all of us should know.