Personal Finance Blog

Tips And Stories To Help You With Managing Money

Web Tools To Help You Manage Money

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Fox Television financial expert John R. Quain has specific advice on some of these individual components of a good overall plan to get control of your finances.

Eliminate Debt: To go straight to the heart of the problem, there is a free website, ReadyForZero. It links to your credit cards, loans and bank accounts, totals what you owe and estimates how long it will take to pay off your debts, depending on the interest rate of each account. A sliding bar of what you can pay each month shows dynamically how you can shorten the time to pay off everything, and save money in the process. Even a small extra amount added to monthly payments can make a difference over time. ReadyForZero’s graphs show at-a-glance how you can improve your economic health. The program was originally designed with credit card debt in mind, but it has been expanded to include other types of debt. It includes recommendations for improving your overall financial picture, such as calling credit card companies to arrange different statement dates to accommodate your income pattern.

Pay Bills On Time: Late fees not only cost you dearly, but they can damage your credit rating. Pageonce.com has a mobile application that is designed to keep you on track with payments, according to the site’s COO, Steve Schultz. The company is a “financial nanny,” he said, that warns when payments are due and collects monthly statements into a single, convenient place. The greatest advantage is the ability to pay directly from your Android or iPhone. That’s particularly appealing to those who travel for their business and tend to lose track of payment dates. The fee for the mobile bill-pay feature is $4.99 per month.

Plan ahead: You can get even more support in budget planning, bill notification and financial advice through Mint.com, considered by many to be the most mature app and service online. The software is free and it tracks bills and accounts to give you detailed expense balances. It automatically categorizes certain charges or fees under headings such as “shopping,” “alcohol and bars” or other expenses common to your individual spending patterns. It shows how much cash you have on hand, how much credit card debt and what your cash flow looks like. Mint is available for Android and iPhone handsets and has an extensive website. The software is not, however, integrated with the desktop software of its parent company, Intuit’s Quicken.

Quain suggests hiring a coach if you are serious about getting a handle on debt. That could involve signing up online and sharing details of your financial standing with a third party. If that’s a leap of faith greater than you feel comfortable with, try DebtCoach at Bills.com. The site doesn’t require you to post private account numbers, just the overall data. It may suggest that you seek professional help or simply take steps such as increasing payments, reducing spending and paying off debt early, depending on the depth of your problem. Handling debt is an individual matter. It’s a different problem for a recent college graduate, for instance, than for earners who have a family to support. Look for advice from those who recognize these differences.

10 New Years’ Financial Resolutions

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Losing weight and stopping smoking are the two most common New Years’ resolutions Americans make. But harder than either of these may be the determination to get your finances into shape. In fact, if you’re in shape and your finances are not, life can be miserable.

Here are 10 New Years’ Resolutions that will help you get your finances back on track.

1. Know What You Want

Write down what you want this year. Knowing what you want will give you goals to shoot for and reasons to save for those goals. Keep a list of the things you want the most and target them by not overspending on things you think you have to have but don’t really need.

2. Kill Your Debt

Take a good look at what kinds of debt you are carrying. Evaluate whether you are able to do anything about them this year that you weren’t doing last year. Are there numerous credit cards that still have outstanding balances? Can you consolidate any of them to the lowest interest credit card. Can you make a long term plan to get rid of this type of debt? How long will it take you? Be sure to work on paying them off, not making minimum payments. The credit card companies love it when you do that because they make more money from you.

3. Pay Bills On Time

Nothing can hurt your credit more than paying bills too late. Not only do you loose money when this happens, you lose in your credit scores. That will hurt you when you try to get a loan for a home purchase or a business loan.

4. Plan Ahead

Planning helps in most areas of life, but with finances planning is key to your long term security. Talk to a financial planner to help you with estate planning. Forecasting what you will need as you age is critical to do while you are young. The longer you stick to your plan, the better returns you will get.

5. Monitor Your Credit Report

Keep an eye on your credit report. You may think that everything is alright, but you really need to make sure. Unexpected reporting errors do happen all the time. Make sure it isn’t happening to you.

6. Track Spending

You have probably heard this a million times. Some people do this with ease, while others struggle. If you have a hard time writing things down as you spend cash, make it a habit to use your debit cards for spending. You will be able to categorize your spending much more easily this way. You can also use your personal checks to act as a record of spending. Just make sure you can evaluate what is going out from your hard earned dollars.

7. Reduce Expenditures

This seems obvious, but are there areas that you don’t really need to be spending money on? Are you dining out too frequently? Take a cooking class to make your home cooking taste better so you won’t want to go out as much. Just look at things you can live without and do it. Live without it.

8. Make Money Doing What You Love

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that you are going to do what you love to do so why not figure out a way to get paid for doing that. When you love what you do it hardly feels like you are working. Time goes by quickly and you tend to improve your skills along the way.

9. Use Financial Software

There really is no excuse for being in the dark about where your money is going. Free websites like Mint.com will help you set a monthly budget, set financial goals and help you to save money by alerting you when you are getting charged fees through your bank. Many people use Quicken software or Quickbooks to help them get organized. The price of the software is worth it to gain some peace of mind and financial plans.

10. Read A Book About Finance Every Month

Although this is the last of the resolutions, it is probably the most important. There are hundreds of books out there that can help you at any stage of your financial planning. The more you know, the better you can plan for financial security.

Life Is Crap? Entrepreneur Capitalizes On The Fact

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Everyone who is actually inhaling and exhaling on a regular basis knows it. Life is crap. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we end up in the soup. Anyone over two has already learned to expect the unexpected. (Actually, it starts long before you reach two, but Mom takes care of it. It’s part of her crappy life.)

So, what’s a person to do? Paul Wheeler believes the only answer is laughter. The whole focus of his company — predictably named Life is Crap — is to take the inevitable, put it up front and visible and laugh it off. “It’s our mission,” says Wheeler of his Manchester, Vt., company. Together with his partner, Ken Lefevre, they have successful brought the company to the marketplace.

“Everything we do revolves around the idea that crap happens and that laughter is the cure.”

That means the message shows up on T-shirts, caps —anywhere an individual can make a statement on the way things are in this troubled world. The company is now expanding into cheap checks that give folks a frequent opportunity to reflect on the vagaries of life and apply their sense of humor. “We’ve seen what works, now we’re scaling up. We’re always looking for ways to expand.” Always within the boundaries of the basic concept, he adds. That careful attention to sticking to initial principles has turned Life is Crap into a $10 million dollar enterprise.

If you ended up with a bad split in the bowling alley, there it is—a shirt showing the ball rolling easily between the two widely separated pins. Out of wine? Lament the fact with a public display of the empty glass. The bicycle depicted crashing into the pile of dirt at the bottom of the hill? It has happened to all of us. Wheeler and crew simply take the universal hazards of everyday living and put them out there where everyone can laugh along. The company customizes such items as magnets, books, calendars, shirt, caps, towels, hoodies, key rings, shot glasses, beer steins, decals, greeting cards, page a day calendars items— any desired surface that will accommodate an image.

Looking at the irritations of life might seem like a negative approach, but those who retail his products don’t seem to mind, Wheeler has found. No one has ever complained. Of course, that means finding the best outlets for Life is Crap merchandise. Someone lacking the sense of humor to appreciate the products, obviously, isn’t the one to present them to his purchasing public, Wheeler has found. The bah-humbuggers who refuse to find humor in life are to be avoided. And there are, believe it or not, some “crap” areas that don’t translate well to the buying public.

There have been some bombs along the learning curve. The company thought that politics was a logical target for its kind of humor and found that, in fact, no serious person of any political persuasion wanted anyone publicly poking fun at their well-known areas of crap. That venture was a failed effort that cost time and money, he said.

Another spot too sensitive to subject it to humor, the company found, is the current economy. No merchant wanted his customers reminded that times are tough. The popular idea of what’s funny changes with time and events, Life is Crap has found, but there is always plenty of grist for its mill in just the ongoing, everlasting irritations that humans endure. The company expects to continue to thrive on items that make the enduring easier.

The whole road to success, Wheeler said, has been a process of trial and error. When the group started, they were up against the same basic questions each new small business faces. How to put their ideas into concrete products. How to find the best business model to meet their goals. How to allocate the existing resources most effectively. Where to find the most effective market outlets. They spent a year in development.

To date, the company has developed some 500 images, licensed them and marketed through over 1100 stores. As the small business got a toe hold in the market, the next logical step was putting the goods online, he said. “We buy back product from the manufacturer and sell it online. We’ve done well and have seen it grow. Now we are focused on getting traffic to our site.”

The basic concept for Life is Crap requires employees who are in tune, he said. The group is small—just five employees—but they comprise the gamut of artistic and business savvy that is making Life is Crap a growing concern. Being constantly alert to possibilities has contributed to the growing of the company’s product lines. Pure serendipity, in fact, had a hand in bringing designer checks into the fold. Wheeler, et al, met the owner of Carousel Checks during a trade show. There was an exchange of ideas and voila! Another licensing arrangement was born.

Life Is Crap T-Shirts
Fun T-Shirts By Life Is Crap

In 2012, the company will be focused in building and expanding our direct to consumer internet business. New products to be launched include several other related sub-brands: Life is Poop — for infants, Life is Ruff for dog lovers, Old Life is Crap for Senior Citizens, College Life is Crap for College Students and Life is Beer — for BEER LOVERS.

The fact that life is crappy is not likely to end soon. There is always the bird overhead looking for a place to unload. That bodes well for Wheeler and Life is Crap as they look for new targets for their brand of humor.

Depression Caused by Debt

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Many experts say that getting depressed over mounting debt is normal. For many individuals just the thought of not being able to overcome their debt can trigger major psychological problems. Generally, the depression is just a phase, as the debt loan lightens, so does the depression. However, for others, the depression can lead them down a dark and tragic road, ending in suicide or thoughts of suicide.

It is critical for anyone that has had thoughts of hurting themselves or others to seek out the care of a doctor or mental health care professional. They will be able to offer a proper diagnosis and help develop a care treatment plan. In conjunction with a doctor’s care, it is also important to get to the root of the problem. If the root of your depression is seemingly insurmountable debt, a debt relief counselor can help assess your situation.

A debt counselor can offer just as much help in lifting depression as a doctor or psychologist can if debt is your main source of stress. They will take note of your financial crisis, develop a plan of action to start managing your debt and a budget that will help you avoid new debt and financial pitfalls in the future.

Financial stress can, at times, feel unbearable. Whether you are stuck in a cycle of late payments, growing credit card debt or you unexpectedly lose a source of income, it can negatively impact all aspects of your life. This allows depression to take hold as you feel a distinct lack of control over your situation.

The brain does not always think logically during a depressive phase and debt that can be successfully managed looks like a never ending battle. Some people feel they cannot face a battle that seems like it offers no way out. That is why it is so critical to seek outside help if you or someone you love exhibit any signs or symptoms of depression.

Seeing outside help through a debt relief counselor is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Many times, just the act of asking for help can make you feel more in control of your situation and lighten the dark cloud hanging over you. A debt counselor can help you determine the best course of action to begin paying down your debt and recognize any areas that you may be able to save money in order to maintain you living within your means.

Being in debt can feel like a heavy burden around your neck, but there is help out there and often it is just a phone call away. You do not have to wait to hit rock bottom before seeking help. Debt should not be a source of depression or anxiety, but an opportunity to better your situation by taking control over your finances once and for all.

You can tackle your personal finances by first recognizing that it is a problem beyond your means and acknowledging you need help. Climbing out from under deep debt is not easy and it does take commitment and some sacrifice, but you will be better off accepting that and deciding you are willing to fight rather than give up because of money problems. There are solutions out there that will work for you.

Guest post by Suzan Bekiroglu

Presents Call for Presence of Mind

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In this era of rampant gift-giving, it is the ghosts of Christmas presents past that often put the ho-ho-ho into holiday.

Consider the woman, then 16 years old and skinny, who received a size 40-D bra from her Granny. If she had followed that glib notion that “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” she could have hung it on the wall by its straps and used it to store oranges and apples for treating Christmas guests. Granny had been through the Great Depression. Well, truthfully, she hadn’t ever quite fully gotten through it and she was an inveterate bargain shopper who couldn’t pass up the scaled-down price tag on the super-sized undie.

In her philosophy, it was the thought that counted, not the size, as she spread joy and cheer for the holidays. The girl could grow into it. (She never did.) Granny’s family members were used to receiving unusual items from the thrift shops and bargain bins. It became a game to see what came next and no one was surprised when, one year, what came next was what had been gifted to Granny the year before. In the end, 364 days of loving interactions couldn’t be swamped by one day of off-the-wall Yule gifts. Besides, the insanity of Granny’s unusual gift-giving was cancelled out when the frenzy of opening presents was over and Grandpa whipped out the envelopes with crisp new $50 bills inside. Life tends to balance out somehow.

Actually, the idea of re-gifting makes some sense. If you have items you’ve received that have no use but to gather dust on a shelf, why not? The trick is to remember from whence the gift came and avoid shuffling it back to the original purchaser. Like the friend who sent a special card to her father one Christmas only to receive it back with his signature the next year. That can cause consternation. And if the gift you got was really so horrible that you don’t want it in your house, what makes you think anyone you know would like it in theirs? Reminds me of the sisters who for years passed a fruitcake (long since hardened to concrete status) back and forth. Disguising the disgusting bit of undigestible comestible so it would come as a surprise on Christmas morning became a challenge. If the thing had not finally disintegrated, it probably would still be making the round trip every other year dressed in every imaginable disguise.

Speaking of lingerie, it seems to be a favorite inappropriate choice with some gents who are gift-giving impaired. A faux zebra-skin teddy for a body that has more wrinkles than the Grand Canyon? Or the hot pink number with a juvenile print that sports matching pink slippers for the wife who is expecting in January? Help! On the other hand, such dainties would look pretty good to my daughter who once received a crankshaft for her ailing car on Christmas day. Or the woman who got a new barbecue because her husband wanted a barbecue. It’s one of the fatal mistakes of giving presents—buying something you are sure the recipient will like because it’s just what YOU always wanted. It can seem so right.

Some men, unfortunately, don’t get the picture when it comes to gifting. What’s a woman to do when she plants her list in big letters on the refrigerator, repeated on the car dash and in the bathroom and the message never penetrates? No wonder there are those like the one I once served when I was working in a large store wrapping packages for Yule shoppers. She had a large pile of things waiting for dressing in cheery holiday paper and—she requested—lots of bows. Making what I hoped was genial conversation, I asked if she had a big family to shop for at Christmas. “Oh, no,” she assured me. “These are all for me. Now I know I’ll get what I want.” Served her purpose, I guess, but felt a little lacking in the expected joyful spirit of giving—and receiving— that the season ideally generates.

Kids are great gift-givers. When mine were small, they never had much money to spread among those on their lists and that led to some strange packages on Christmas morning. Such as the empty thread spools—individually wrapped, of course—that showed up under the tree one year. Or the toilet brush. Now that was a gift with feeling. Using it all year round brought warm memories of that Christmas Past. Of course, there was the year I got little pieces of Christmas wrap wrapped in Christmas wrap. Really tight budget that year. Then there was the year I got a very nice —very cheap—little statuette of the Virgin Mary, although my religious sensibilities don’t lie in that direction. I had seen it on sale in our local all-purpose shopping emporium at $1.49 and knew that was a real sacrifice for my little Brian. For many years, the statue was part of our Christmas decor until in some move around the country the cheap plaster disintegrated from the stress. I missed it when it was gone.

A poet once said it best: “The gift without the giver is bare.” Gift it or regift it, but give it from the heart.