Wednesday, December 6, 2006

5 Ways to Better Personal Finance Management

Personal Financial Management is not easy and you have to learn what it means to better manage your finance.

Here are 5 tips to better Personal Finance Management:

Teaching children about money management

Do you find your children often want things that are expensive and out of your range for any budget? If you find that you don’t have the money to buy your children everything they want, you need to teach your children a little more about money. Children should be given an allowance, but only for the chores and things, they help you do around the house. Simple things like folding the clothes, sweeping the floor, doing the dishes and feeding the pets. As your child earns money, and receives money for their birthday or special occasions, they can then buy their own things they want. As they realize how long it takes to save that money they will treat it better, and they will appreciate it more. Money management can start at a young age, and children will learn easily, taking their habits to their older years.

Money management and your home

Do you need to save money in the home? Managing your money is all about saving money, finding more money to do things you want, and to create savings accounts for rainy days. If you need to save a little more money and to spend less on household things, you can start with your utilities. Shut off the lights when you are not using them, and shut down that computer when you are not working on it. This will lower your bill a little. Look at the lights you are using in the house, if you have forty or sixty watt bulbs you are using less energy than seventy five and one hundred watt bulbs in all the lamps in your home. Cut costs by starting with the electric bill. Manage your budget; manage your money by adding more to your monthly household budget.

Saving for a rainy day

The basic thoughts behind any type of savings plan is that you should have at least three months savings in the bank, or at least have access to three month of your pay in case of major disaster or problems in the home. Right now, if you were unable to get to work for three months, how would you survive? Prepare for the future and start now. Your personal finances demand that you prepare to protect yourself. You can start by putting just ten dollars a week in a savings account. If you find this is easy, up that to twenty dollars per week. If you have the money taken out before you get your paycheck, you won’t even miss the money. When you are putting, at least $200 a month away you are preparing yourself for a great savings and in the long run, you will find it easier and easier. Yes, it is going to be difficult to start, but after a few weeks, you will adjust and your household budget will as well.

Spend less on entertainment

Are you finding it difficult to pay your bills on time all the time? If you are not paying your bills, your heat, your credit cards, and your utilities on time, you are putting yourself at risk for bad credit, and a lower credit rating. To keep your personal finances on track you should sit down and write out a list of all the bills you have every month. Next, you are going to write down everything that you spend other money on. If you are not able to pay all the bills every month, you need to find where you can cut back on money spent. Generally, this is going to be in gifts, gas, going out to the bar, to the movies, renting movies, your television channels, the subscriptions for your cell phone, and the long distance bills you pay for your landline. Review your budgets, cut back on expenses so you can afford your bills, and when they are paid off, you can get back out there, and have a bit of fun!

Personal money management and your future

Your personal life involves more than the job you are working at, but also the welfare of your family. If you were unable to work, or if you died, how would your family continue on, paying the bills and getting groceries? If you don’t have an answer, you should look to personal lines of insurance. Insurance policies are a form of money management that will protect your family in case of emergencies or in case of death. Many families find that disability insurance comes in very handy when someone breaks their legs, or perhaps needs an operation and can’t get back to work for a few months. Insurance in the case of an accident, for a disability or in case of death is going to protect your family and everyone’s financial future. Get some amount of insurance and protection for the future.