HarvestingDollars

These days credit cards seem to be very hard to get but this website can find you a good deal.
Categories
- Banking
- Basics
- behavior
- Books
- budgeting
- Career
- Carnivals
- Dave Ramsey
- Debt
- economy
- education
- family
- Frugality
- giving
- Goals
- Health and Fitness
- Index Funds
- Insurance
- Investing
- kids
- Motivation
- Rant
- Retirement
- Saving
- Self-Improvement
- Taxes
- Uncategorized
- work
Blogroll

Top 4 Things Everyone Should Know About Their Finances

November 22, 2009 – 2:10 am

I listen to one hour of the Dave Ramsey show each day I workout, and it drives me crazy how many people that call in who are overwhelmed and yet don’t even know the most common values. I do know what it feels like to be in debt and behind on bills, but I still find it hard to believe that people don’t even know how much they earn.

Below is a list of the four key things everyone should know at all times:

Monthly (or annual) income. Ideally you should know both your gross and net income, but in a pinch your net income (i.e your take-home pay) is the most valuable of these two choices.
Total Debt Outstanding
Average Fixed expenses (rent or mortgage, minimum debt payments, insurance, utilities, etc).
Expected savings or spending overage.

If you think about it, this is essentially a very basic budget.

Gross Income

-Taxes

=Net Income

-Debt Payments

-fixed payments

-savings (hopefully)

Budgeting doesn’t have to be complicated, although I am an advocate of keeping a detailed budget if you truly want to make quick progress towards your financial goals. I’ll be expanding on the topic of budgeting in future posts, including how my wife and I budget and some of the benefits to keeping a detailed budget.

Share and Enjoy:

If You Liked This Post Then Please Check These Out...

If you liked this post please click here to subscribe to the RSS feed!

Posted in Basics, budgeting | No Comments »

The Best Advice I’ve Ever Recieved

November 13, 2009 – 6:16 am

I’ve been trying to figure out the best advice I’ve ever received, and I’m having a hard time narrowing it down. I’ve had a lot of mentors in my life, and I’ve also read a lot of books. Sum up all those thoughts, ideas, and tidbits and I start getting confused where I heard things.

Ultimately though, I think this was the clincher for me: “You are in control of your own life, and the actions you take will dictate the results you achieve.” Personal responsibility and ownership can be both scary and freeing!

The more difficult question, however, is what advice would I like to pass on to others? I’d like to break these down into a couple of categories as follows (in no particular order):

Financial Advice:

Spend less than you earn and strive for value in all of your purchases
Use money in this order: give, save, spend.
Trust in the Lord to provide for you, and work diligently to provide for yourself and your family.

Non-financial Advice:

Read at least three non-fiction books a year. This will allow you to improve your skills, knowledge, and ability to communicate effectively.
Don’t be in a hurry to get married, and don’t settle for someone that doesn’t meet your ideal.
Foster your own creativity and apply it regularly.

What was the best advice you ever recieved?

Share and Enjoy:

If You Liked This Post Then Please Check These Out...

If you liked this post please click here to subscribe to the RSS feed!

Posted in Basics | No Comments »

Don’t Let Stock Market Performance Change Your Economic View

November 10, 2009 – 5:14 am

It’s sad to admit, but in this volatile stock market I find that I’m happy if the market has a major uptick and I feel more down and gloomy if the market takes a beating. I want my (and your) retirement portfolios to grow and my investments to yield a reasonable return just as much as the next guy.

Unfortunately the daily gyrations of the market have almost nothing to do with the economy or anything else that will impact your daily life in the short term if you’re still in the workforce. Over time reduced spending will hurt retailers and manufactures. Banks that have stopped lending money will struggle to produce profits, and their stock prices will eventually drop to reflect a poor financial outlook. But day to day, the positive or negative return of the stock market does not dictate whether we’re headed for a recession, depression, stagflation, or just indigestion.

Image Credit: Martini Captures

Share and Enjoy:

If You Liked This Post Then Please Check These Out...

If you liked this post please click here to subscribe to the RSS feed!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Have You Frozen Your Credit Yet?

November 5, 2009 – 5:57 am

In speaking with friends it still surprises me how many have yet to freeze their credit reports. I know it seems like a bit of a hassle, but it’s not and the protection it provides is remarkable. It will take you less than 30 minutes and will cost $30 per person to fill out the forms and mail in your credit freeze paperwork to the three credit bureaus.

Then if you need to apply for new credit you simply have to call the necessary credit bureau, pay $10, and “thaw” the credit freeze for a day or two.

It’s painless, and it could save you from major pain in suffering if someone were to apply for credit in your name. Do you really check your credit reports every few months? I bet most people don’t even order their free credit reports once a year. Therefore someone could easily apply for credit in your name a full year before you ever know about it. Good luck getting all of those charges removed. It will take you hours and hours to clear all of that up.

If you’re prone to signing up for new credit offers and know that you shouldn’t this will slow down the process as well. You can’t just walk into a Costco and sign up for a new American Express card. By having to wait a second, think, and call the credit bureau you my just have enough courage to skip signing up for yet another credit card or car loan.

Give it a try!

Share and Enjoy: