The financial successful road map means never giving up on your finances, beginning in earnest, right now, to focus on three basic financial tools to build your finances for your lifetime. Those three basics are: setting up and automatic savings plans, developing a budget and sticking to it, and becoming a lifelong learner in your own personal finance education. Here are the key skills/habits you need to become your own personal financial manager starting today.
Saving must be automatic, and lifelong.
Everyone knows they need to save build their personal finances if they want to be able to attain their goals in life, but they also know that putting their savings aside weekly or monthly is a very difficult task. Now with automatic savings, by depositing your weekly check into your bank, is not enough, ask your bank, to open up a high interest savings account for you, and transfer 10% of your weekly check, into your savings account. If you earn $1,000 a week, this is $100 a week, and $5,200 a year,($100X52wks+$5,200), and in 10 years excluding interest income, you will have $52,000($5,200X10=$52,000). This is the first step in building your personal finance goals.
Develop a budget that is lean and meaningful.
A budget means you are putting controls on what you spend, and how much, and how often you review and adjust it regularly. You only need a pen and paper to start your budget, but you can consider a website: Mint.com that can make your budget come alive, and make it easy to make corrections, and add or subtract expenses, check expenses versus income. Go over your budget regularly, bring the ideas of family members into play to gather new ideas on how to cut some budget items in price, and cut out others altogether if needed. Get a bundle from one contractor or when buying electronics, such as cable, Internet, and phone you might be able to save $50 a month, or $600 a year, this is a mortgage or two car payments. Consider looking over your insurance expenses, get a new estimate from a different insurance company, and you might cut both your auto and home insurance costs by $50-$75. Make your budget work harder for you.
Invest in your lifelong education and personal finance ideas.
Today fast moving world means it will require you to educate yourself lifelong with new educational tools to stay ahead of your field today. The courses that are offered at your job are crucial, but you must also consider studying for different fields that will tap you skills, interests, and build you income over the years. Never get tired of learning, be a lifelong learner.
Keep learning how to build your retirement and second half of life funds, by not only participating in your 40l(k) plan at work, with at least l0% of your income, and if your employer matches it, then you jump your weekly contribution up to 20% weekly, this is like getting a l00% raise in your weekly contribution. Never leave this money on the table. If you get laid off from a company, or get a better job, do a IRA(Individual Retirement Account) roll over to a national financial mutual fund company, who will do the paperwork to transfer your old 40l(k) you can find them on the Internet. Collect as many future IRAs, and 40l(k) accounts as possible lifelong. Let's sum up.
Summary. You are in charge of your future, by starting a financial plan for your life, monitor your use of your budget, this is where you money is either saved or spent for your own good, consider doing automatic savings in your regular savings and in your retirement savings. Become the dean of your own university, by using your energy to keep learning new fields for successful employment lifelong, and learning the key elements in your own personal finance success. Build your own road map of success. You can do it. Go for it.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
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