5 Personal Finance Tips For Parents

As we grow older our responsibilities also increase and once you become parents you have to deal with them pretty seriously. Taking care of children, providing them with the right education and other facilities can lead to some heavy financial burden for parents. In this case what can you do? What is most important is to prioritize your responsibilities as parents and determine the financial support you need to accomplish it. This article will cover a few tips that can help you manage your personal finances diligently.

1. First of all understand that now you have some serious duties to perform, hence you cannot act as if you are a 20 year old and make liberal financial decisions. You need to create a balance between your instantaneous and long term needs so that you can invest wisely. Manage your income properly and keep a check on spending and investments.

2. Plan for your child's education early and keep funds aside for it. You will need to create a budget and estimate the finances that you will require for his schooling and higher education. Invest accordingly in schemes and investment plans that will have high returns when you require them most for your child's education.

3. It is very common that people when they grow old tend to invest in property and buy a house. It is certainly one of your basic needs and you may take some loan for the same. Adhere strictly to your budget and repay loans in time so that you can avoid getting a bad credit rating or bankruptcy. Remember by simply paying the minimum due you are not doing any good. Try and negotiate with the creditors for simpler installments.

4. Supervise your credit card payments and pay your credit bills in time to avoid heavy interest.

5. Remember that with children you also need some handy cash for few unplanned expenses like medical bills etc which may crop up anytime.

7 Personal Finance Tips For Working Adults

This article aims to provide a few tips regarding personal finance for working adults. In this time of recession and slow growth we all need to save enormously and curb any unnecessary expenditures. But, most importantly we need to manage our finances wisely.

1. Try to spend according to your budget and save some extra cash. Keep track of your income and expenditures. You should be able to save some cash each month and keep it aside for bad times.

2. Invest wisely and ensure that you get optimal returns for your investments. Avoid investing in one scheme or with single company. Instead spread your investments astutely amongst various schemes and companies.

3. Avoid missing your credit card or loan payments; else you may receive a bad credit rating. Do not miss the payment dates otherwise you may have to pay huge interests and find difficulty in getting further loans.

4. There is much we can do to save on our expenditures. Go green and save on expensive energy bills. Even the government is providing some tax rebates to people trying to make their homes more energy efficient. This way you can save doubly by receiving tax rebates and paying less on your energy bills.

5. Usually in tougher times people tend to invest less, but this should be avoided. Keep your investments regular whether small or big. Remember that even these small investments will pay you good returns in the long run.

6. Avoid exorbitant spending on expensive food and alcohol. These are few things that can be avoided in rough times. The more you save the better it is for you.

7. In case you need financial advice, do not hesitate in consulting. You can also do some research online to make wise investments.

These tips will certainly guide you to control your personal finances and pass through rough times easily.

Household Saving Tips - Personal Finance Help

Got Gas? - Part 3

There are a lot of elements in your house that use Natural Gas to run. My parents have a gas stove, fireplace, furnace, hot water heater and a clothes dryer. I think they are in need of personal finance help if they want to reduce these costs. When they discover their budget one day, they'll understand if their gas bill is in line with what it should be based on their income. I've already shown them to our resource link to get a detailed budget spreadsheet and various financial calculators, but they can also search Google. Here are three quick gas saving tips you can implement in your house.

It's Getting Hot In Here - I know you've heard the song. You shouldn't get to the point of wearing shorts at home in the dead of winter. Can I offer a simple bit of personal finance help you can use to lower your heating costs. Drop the thermostat setting by 2 degrees and you will save a large 5% on your gas bill.

Mmm Smells Fresh - Why does no one hang clothes out to dry. If your dryer is gas powered, you could save a lot of cash by hanging your clothes to dry. This is my favorite personal finance help tip as it helps with gas bills, because of the fresh odor it creates. If you find them stiff, tumble them on low heat for 5 minutes.

I Burnt Myself Again - Have you burned your hands while washing them or doing dishes? Think of all the things you use hot water for. I don't believe your water should be so hot that you are unable to hold your hands under it with minimal discomfort. If it's too hot to hold your hand under it, you water temperature is set too high and is costing you cash. My personal finance help tip regarding hot water heaters is adjust the setting so it's not around 100 degrees, but is warm enough to get your dishes clean.

As a personal financial consultant, I've helped many families reduce their overall costs. Their first step when receiving my personal finance help is to get their budget figured out. Simply doing this has often allowed them to allocate or free up hundreds of dollars a month. The next step is always to see where you can reduce expenses in other areas. In this case, I hope these tips will help you reduce your gas bill. Stay tuned for Part 4.

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How to Improve Your Credit Score - Personal Finance Basics

The health of your credit score is incredibly important to your finances for a number of reasons. To begin with good credit scores are exactly what banks are looking for when deciding whether or not they will lend you money. More often than not insurance brokers or landlords often look into your credit when determining whether or not to choose you as a potential client or possible tenant. This article will describe to you a number of ways of improving your credit score and will assist with your personal finance basics.

1. Pay Your Bills On Time

The reason why this is first on my list is because this is likely the most important rule to follow when trying to boost your credit score. If you visit a bank and want to apply for a home mortgage the first thing the bank will search for is if you regularly make bill payments when they are due. These bills include everything from your cable, home or cell phone, credit card or any other types of bills. Your credit score will directly reflect if you pay for, miss or are late on your bills. If they discover that you always miss or are late for payments, there is a good chance they will not approve you for the loan.

Helpful advice so you will make every bill payment:

-Create a new checking account and allocate enough cash at the beginning of each month for your bills so you always have enough.

-Create automated email reminders a few days prior to when your bills are due.

-Create automatic payments through your online banking.

-Keep a written calendar of when each bill is due. Update and check it regularly.

-Purchase everything possible with cash. Not having a credit card means one less bill to forget.

2. Never Let Bills Go To Collections

This may seem very simple but these collection agency's exist because thousands of people allow their unpaid bills to go this far. You can't forget about your bills. Your bills won't just disappear. If just one of your unpaid bills go to collections you will have to pay surcharges, major interest and your credit rating will be tarnished.

3. Keep Credit Card Balances Low

The most simple of personal finance basics is if you must use a credit card, keep the balance at zero or as low as possible. The less of your available credit you use the better. The number that most reflects your credit score the most recent balance on your statement. Even if you pay your bill in full every month you should never exceed more than 30% of your available credit. The less you use the better.

4. Use Old Your Credit Cards

This may seem a bit odd but try not to switch from one credit card company to the next. If you jump around and continually open and close credit cards your credit score can be adversely affected. If you can use the credit card you got when you were 20 and stay with it. If you primarily use a different credit card, attempt to keep your old cards active and use it every once in a while. Make certain you pay it off in full each time.

5. Check Your Scores Once A Year

Credit scores can change fast. One day everything may be going well and tomorrow your credit score might be awful. Looking into your score each year is a personal finance basic tip we all should follow. This will allow you to correct any mistakes that the banks or you might have made. Keep in mind, if you check your credit rating more than once a year or on a regular basis it will affect your scores negatively. Checking once a year is your best option. Be sure to dispute any errors like unpaid bills or late payments when you are certain that they were paid on time or there might be other issues that you could find.

High credit scores create the chance for lower interest rates on mortgages, car loans, personal loans and credit cards. The most simple of personal finance basics you should follow is to maintain the health of your credit score so you will be able to take advantage all sorts of different financial opportunities. The sooner you rectify any issues you might have with your credit, the sooner you will get everything back in order. By following these tips you will be completely on your way to improving the health of your credit score.

Controlling Your Credit Cards in the Name of Personal Finance

There's no doubt that the credit card is a common culprit in the destruction of our personal finance. However, we mustn't let it control us. We are ultimately in control of our personal destinies and that includes of course our financial destiny. If you feel that your credit card is taking control of your life, then reading the tips contained in this article will do wonders for you.

Ratios, Ratios, Ratios

What do I mean by ratios? By this, I am referring to your debt-to-income ratio and the need to constantly monitor this. Of course, the most ideal ratio would be 0, however a healthy and more realistic ratio that everyone should aim for is 15% or less of your after-tax income. You might be now thinking that such a ratio is too low or unrealistic, but keep in mind that if this ratio exceeds 15%, then you credit card is indeed controlling your life. Make a stand and take action.

You Make The Rules

If you don't feel in control of your credit card, then it's probably because you're playing by the bank's rules. Your bank keeps sending you statements highlighting the "minimum amount due" when all it wants to ensure is that you never fully pay off that debt and keep accumulating interest for the rest of your adult life. You're better off paying off the whole debt as soon as possible without having to pay potentially thousands of dollars in interest over many years.

It Doesn't Hurt To Ask

Don't ever forget that you are the customer and that your credit card company would do anything to keep you. Especially given these tough economic times. You now have more leverage than ever before to ask for lower interest rates and lower fees. All you have to do is ask or threaten to leave your lender for a rival company. It's as easy as that.

My only hope is that this article will greatly assist you in taking control of your credit cards for the sake of your personal finance and financial future.