Personal Finance Blog — Page 25 — Tips And Stories To Help You With Managing Money

Successful Habits Of Billionaires

July 11, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

Learning a few successful habits can improve the quality of your life. Interviews with more than 200 highly successful people, conducted by Kevin Kruse, revealed several repeating themes that might be guides for others aiming for success. He talked with billionaires, Olympians and a selection of entrepreneurs. The question was simple: “What is your number one secret to productivity?” The most consistent answers included the following:

Successful Habits

Many people look to their family, friends or mentors to learn successful habits. It’s better to learn from the experts.

Time Management

There are 1,440 minutes in a day and nothing is more valuable than time. Time spent can never be reclaimed. Most people block out one-and-a-half hour segments of time. Olympic gymnast Shannon Miller told Kruse that her schedule is almost minute-by-minute. Mastering minutes means mastering life.

Focus On One Thing At A Time

Identify the most important task ahead of you, the one that will have the greatest impact on reaching your goal, and work on it without interruption. Dedicate your morning, when you are most productive, to that objective.

To-Do List

Only 41 percent of what’s on the to-do list actually gets done, according to research. Those unfinished talks lead to stress and insomnia and occupy your mind until they’re done. Put items on your calendar and then work by the calendar in the order that is most feasible.

Predicting Future Success

You can’t trust your future self. Most of us are time inconsistent. For instance, we load up on fresh veggies anticipating salads for a week, then throw away the rotting mush before the week is up. Do what you can do right now to. Look ahead and see what you can do now to defeat your future self.

Family Time

Successful people include family time, exercise and health time and time for giving back. There is always at least one more thing to do, so know where you can draw the line. Think about where your priorities lie and allocate time to what you think is most important. Don’t allow work to nudge out the more important things.

Journaling

Richard Branson, who built Virgin, says a simple notebook goes with him everywhere. That’s a “million dollar lesson” they don’t teach in business school, said Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping executive. Writing down things as they occur to you leaves your mind free to think of other things.

Manage Emails

Process emails a few times a day. Don’t feel obligated to respond to every vibration that ends up in your inbox. Schedule time to respond to emails quickly and efficiently and then leave them to the next session.

Protect Your Time

The advice of Mark Cuban is “Never take meetings unless someone is writing a check.” Meetings tend to start late, have the wrong mix of people, meander around topics and run long. Avoid them if possible. If it is necessary and you can influence the proceedings, made them short and to the point.

Learn To Say “No”

Remember that old 1,440 minutes thing. Trying to respond to every request for your time will use them up in a hurry. Screen your time and protect the minutes.

Pareto Principle

The reality that 80 percent of results come from 20 percent of activities. Those who succeed best learn which activities drive the greatest results and stick with them, ignoring the rest.

Delegate

Take the “I” out of the equation whenever you can. The question should be “How can I get this task done?” not “How can I perform this task?” The successful don’t get bound up in control issues and they don’t micro-manage.

Touch Things Once

Picking up a bill then setting it aside without handling it means you have given twice the time to the same objective. Try the “touch it once” approach. Deal with everything when it arises, if possible. You can then free your mind from that particular chore.

Use A Morning Routine

Many of the people Kevin interviewed shared a consistent morning routine. The successful habits varied, but repeat suggestions included a good breakfast, light exercise and mind soothers such as meditation, prayer, inspirational reading or journaling. Over the day, maintain your energy level. Don’t skip meals, sleep or breaks in an effort to fill more time with productive work. Food is fuel, sleep an opportunity for recovery and breaks the way to recharge periodically.

Caregiver Survival Tips

July 8, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

Anyone caring for the ill or elderly people needs to know a few caregiver survival tips. Caregiver burnout is a reality that can drain physical and psychological resources to the limit.

Caring for a family member who is ill or disabled can be a draining, depleting experience that calls for adjusting schedules and setting priorities, according to experts. The solution is effective time management that gives you some breathing room during demanding days.

Caregiver Survival Tips

Focus on what must be done and put other items into a “can wait” category. Do the most demanding things first, at the beginning of the day when you’re at your best. Be flexible so you can handle unexpected demands.

Make Some Time For Yourself

Failing to eat healthfully, exercise and allow yourself some “down” time to restock and restore can quickly lead to burnout. Try to prepare some healthy snacks, rather than grabbing what’s fast and convenient. (How come that seems to include everything you have an appetite for?)
Some physical activity, such as a walk, can help defuse stress and give you a mental lift. Don’t let your caregiving responsibilities keep you from getting adequate rest. If your patient naps, you do the same.

Use Technology To Help With Time Crunches

You may spend a lot of time in medical settings with your “patient.” Use a smartphone or other portable device to make use of waiting time to keep others updated, check your emails or simply listen to music or podcasts for a break.

Organize And De-Clutter

Caring for a person who is ill or otherwise in need of constant attention can be stressful. Messiness in the surroundings can multiply that stress. An organized environment will make it easier to deal with the demands of caregiving. Clean up messes as you go. Have a place for everything and keep “stuff” in its proper place. That takes a lot less time than cleaning up when things get into disarray.

Know And Acknowledge Your Limitations

Be honest about how much you can give to the demands placed on you. Often, the person being cared for is a loved one and you may be tempted to push yourself beyond your limits to provide the needed care. But failing to recognize signs of burnout may be detrimental to both you and the person for whom you are providing care. If it is possible, build a network of family or friends who can give you a needed break now and again. Look into community and social resources for help as needed. Physicians and other caretakers may be able to offer suggestions.

Emergency Savings Tips

July 7, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

Make sure you rebuild your emergency savings if you've had to use it. — Make sure you rebuild your fund if you’ve had to use it.

Using your emergency savings to pay off credit card debt may look like a good idea at first glance, but there are some things to consider, according to Jean Chatsky of Bankrate.com.

Size Of Debt

If the size of the fund meets or exceeds the amount of the debt, it may be all right, but you should then begin to rebuild the emergency cushion. Then if the emergency comes, you are still ready.

Use Fund Not Credit Card For Emergencies

Using the emergency stash is preferable to having to meet an emergency with a credit card, Chatsky says.

Rebuild Fund When Used

If for whatever reason, paying off debt or meeting an actual emergency, your cushion is depleted, start immediately to build it up again. Set a goal and faithfully infuse new funds into it. Think of three categories: minor emergencies such as small car or home repairs and health care deductibles. Major repairs and having to meet a health care max would fall into the second category. Job loss is the third unexpected calamity that might demand that you dip into the emergency fund.

Emergency Savings Calculator

The old goal of saving enough to pay expenses for six months is a rule of thumb, but you may want to assess your own situation and make an upward adjustment. HelloWallet has a calculator to guide you if you need help making an analysis. Bankrate also has an emergency savings calculator.

Automatic Transfers

If you use a calculator and the recommended savings seem beyond reach, begin with the small emergency category, then move up as you are able. Reaching small goals gives you incentive to work for a higher level. Automatic transfers from your bank account into your emergency fund is one way to alleviate some of the pain. Don’t give yourself the opportunity to spend what you intended to save. If you wait until the end of the month to cough up the emergency fund payment, it is less likely to happen.

Bottom line: An emergency account is essential to a healthy personal finance scheme. Give it some priority.

Save Money For Important Things

July 2, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

Save Money

Some say that saving money is difficult. You make personal finance choices every day, most likely without any conscious thought about the end result. Whatever you choose, it is going to use more of your money or less. If you begin to make conscious choices, you can take the steps that will put more money in your pocket.

The truth is that having more money means spending less.

Setting Money Goals

If you are determined to add to the asset side of your ledger, it is wise to choose a specific goal that requires more money. What you really want can be the motivator to put your dreams into action. And you’re the only one who knows the purpose that will be worth the effort.

Think of the possibilities: Retirement needs, starting a business, buying a home or car, making improvements to the home you have now, making provision for future medical needs, planning a special event for your family, building your emergency fund. Your money, your choice.

When you have narrowed the list to one specific goal, it’s time to begin.

Analyze Your Financial Situation

Begin at the beginning. Analyze your current income/outgo patterns. Sometimes as life goes along, it is easy to lose track of specifics. Look at last month. Were all your basic bills paid in full? Look at your bank statement closely. You can’t start setting money aside for your goal if you are already losing ground.

Even families with healthy financial practices can find themselves in debt and needing to save money. Not paying off credit card bills monthly will build a negative balance faster than you would suppose. Habitually spending more than you earn is fatal. Debt is not neutral. It costs. Sometimes it costs so much that you sacrifice your ability to work toward your chosen objective.

Create A Budget

Set up a budget that will take care of your main living expenses. If you are serious and there seems to be no wiggle room in your budget, consider how you can cut corners. Find a cheaper place to live, if necessary. Brown bag instead of eating out for lunch and eat at home for breakfast and dinner. Plan less expensive entertainment and more cheap outings. Avoid payday loans and tax refund anticipation loans. Live on what you have without mortgaging your future.

Start Saving Money Now

With a goal in mind and your finances under control, you’re ready for the next step.

Medicare Fraud Over $60 Billion

June 29, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

Medicare fraud caused over $60 billion in fraud every year. — Medicare loses over $60 billion in fraud every year.

Medicare Fraud Extensive

Medicare fraud is a huge problem. Thousands of older Americans depend on Medicare to help them meet medical expenses, but fraudsters are taking a big scoop from the federal funds before they get to legitimate health care providers, a recent article in the AARP Bulletin says.

Medicare Fraud Causes Multi-billion Dollar Losses

Medicare fraud is estimated to cause more than $60 billion per year. In one very infamous case, a Texas thief methodically siphoned some $375 million from the fund over a five-year period, using a variety of methods. That man now faces life in prison, but the heavy toll taken by unscrupulous people continues to scrape billions from the heath care program.

Fraud Tactics

Fraud and abuse involves such tactics as phantom outpatients, “ghost” clinics, undelivered services, over-billing and identity theft using Medicare information, the AARP reported. The problem is so large the program’s administrators don’t even have a reliable bottom line or a methodology for arriving at the fraud rate. Many experts believe the $60 billion estimate may be too low. They say that fraud could suck off up to 30 percent of the $600 billion per year the program spends.

Large Size Opens Door To Fraud

The problem lies partly in the sheer size of the program, according to Shantanu Agrawal, who is quoted in the AARP article, He is director of program integrity at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). He points out the number of claims made every day in the huge system – some 4.5 million. More than a billion dollars are paid out every day.

That volume inherently opens the door to fraud, he said. “We are larger than the largest private payers in the country.” In addition, Medicare is a much more open system than the majority of private payers. Laws required that Medicare admit providers who meet a base set of requirements. They are then allowed to treat patients and bill for those services.

Pre-paying

CMS is trying several methods to ferret out fraud. One approach is by making provider reviews on a pre-pay basis, withholding payment until the applicant has been approved. The agency has made tens of thousands of site visits over the past two years in an effort to close down “false storefronts.” Working with private payers by exchanging data that may identify irregularities has saved the program hundreds of millions, Agrawal said.

Identifying Fake Doctors

The agency also has been more successful in identifying fake doctors. New tools provided by the Affordable Care Act make inroads into the number of unlicensed fraudulent providers. Connections have been made among more than 100 different databases on the state and federal levels. More than 500,000 providers have been removed from the billing system through this effort, he said.

Effects On Medical Research

It is not only patients and legitimate health care providers who suffer from Medicare fraud, experts point out. Medical research that relies on billing data, hospital rankings and cancer studies can be skewed by fraudulent reporting. In some instances, patient deaths have been attributed to fraudulent care.

Legitimate providers are increasingly blowing the whistle on those that they are aware are scamming the system., but they take a risk of repercussions if a case goes against their charges.

Under pressure from critics, program administrators are tightening their oversight, but the challenge is huge and growing.