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Money Management Program - Financial Road Map
A good money
management program gives you money and more time for what's really
important for you. Unfortunately many of us have never been
taught how to be good money managers. It is a continuous
process. It is not something that can be done for just a few
weeks or months, but must be a continuous process that is periodically
refined and tweaked to meet your current goals and circumstances.
Develop
A Budget Plan
First and foremost you must plot a plan of your
income versus your outgo. Your outgo must be less than your income.
A hard concept to stick to with the options that abound for
your money to be spent. Use a computer financial program to
help develop your budget plan. A great program is Quicken.
It'll help you automate the process and track your progress.
Where
does all the money go? With today's high usage of debit and
credit cards it can be a difficult task to stay on budget with all that
plastic running around. A tool to help you stay on track with
your budget goals is mVelopes.
mVelopes is an online money management tool suitable for both
individuals and small businesses. Mvelopes links all of your
financial institutions together to easily manage your
cash flow.
Become Debt
Free
Debt
can be a paralyzing proposition. To free yourself from the
anxiety and stress of being in debt, we'll show you how to become debt
free including your mortgage. Debt prevents you from taking
advantage of money saving opportunities, of experiencing lots of life's
adventures and journeys. Learn how to turn debt into wealth
Where
to Live?
Money.com
features a list of the top ranked places to live. They
feature
such items of importance as crime rate, educational systems, cost of
living, health care availability. They even include a cost of
living calculator that lets you figure comparative cost of living
situations for different locations.
A
lot of people approaching retirement age, find that they really don't
have enough money saved to last a lifetime in the lifestyle they wish
to live. An alternative to make your retirement savings stretch
is to consider moving to another country. Countries such as
Mexico & Costa Rico offer warmer climates, and a far considerably
cheaper cost of living. Along with many "American" lifestyle
pleasures to add to the prize. A great resource for checking out
information about relocating to Mexico is: Mexico- Information.com. This site has great insights to the culture and how to transition to living into Mexico.
Retirement
Retirement
looms large in your future. Are you ready? Will you
have
enough money to live on till your death, or will you out last your
money?
It's
never too early to start planning for retirement. If you're in
your 20's invest in a 401k or other retirement account. Set aside
enough to maximize the amount your company will match. If you're
in your 20's pick your company's most aggressive 401k fund(s) to invest
in. If you're in your 30's & 40's max out your contributions
to your retirement fund. The easiest way to set an appropriately
aggressive level of investment is to choice a 'lifestyle' or 'life
cycle' fund that automatically adjust your holdings to less risky
investments based on the number of years until you expect
to retire. If you're in your 50's you can take advantage of
the 401 k catch up provision which allow you add an additional $5000/
yr to the amount you contribute to your account. Consider
downsizing your home at this time in your life. You can take up
to $250,000 in gains ($500,000 if married) tax free from the sale
of your home. Consider putting what's left after the purchase of
your new home into your retirement accounts.
Develop a plan for making sure you'll have a rich and rewarding
life after retirement. Quicken has a
wonderful retirement planning tool that makes this sometimes
overwhelming task much easier
Redirect
your raise this year into your 401K or Ira. If your
retirement
plan offers a "lifestyle" fund put all of your savings into it. These
plans split your money among stock funds, bond funds and cash to give
you a mix that is appropriate for your age.
Want to earn
retirement funds by spending
on your everyday purchases? Then Nesteggz.com is your site .
They'll invest your rewards shopping account into mutual
funds,
IRA or money market accounts.
Be sure you are taking advantage of retirement savings tax laws and contributing the maximum you can afford each month.
College
Costs
College
is an expensive proposition.
Learn the best places to save and get
free money for college.
You can prepare your teen for the next step in their
financial journey to college. Number one rule is to remember not to use
your retirement funds to finance college. Your student can
always
take out a student loan and has a whole career to pay it back.
You can not recoup those lost dollars by borrowing from your
retirement fund(s). 529 savings plans allow parents,
grandparents and other relatives to deposit money into an account that
can be used for college, technical and trade schools after high
school.
Planning
for your heirs
Be
sure you have a will or living trust. Without this you have
no
say so in where your belongs go and to whom. Save the
headache
for your loved ones by having and/or updating your will.
Prepare
a master document list for your family that includes your insurance
policy numbers, bank account, brokerage account, retirement account,
deed and mortgage, tax records and the location of safe deposit box and
key, employee benefits and their contact number, social security
number, personal papers such as marriage certificate, or military
discharge, your computer passwords, credit card numbers, health
insurance card, the names of your lawyer and accountant, and name the
location of your will or living trust. This information saves
your family untold hours of searching for information to settle your
affairs. And in case of illness or incapacitation for you,
everything is listed and easy for your designated trustee to step in
and continue your affairs until you recover.
You
can consult a lawyer about wills and trusts or use computer software to
create your own. One particularly good resource for excellent
software in this area is Nolo Press. They
have excellent
software such debtdede Pro, and Legal Forms.
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