Saturday April 23, 2011
One of the biggest adjustments when you get married may be combining your finances. Fighting over money is one of the biggest stresses in marriage. If you do not go into your marriage with clear expectations and money goals, it may be something you continue to fight about over the years. If you have been married for some time you can still create a mutual plan to help you get on track with your finances.
You should start with a discussion where you share everything about your finances. This is where you confess anything you have hidden from your spouse. It is a conversation where you look at where you currently are. Then you work out a plan together, setting goals, and creating a budget to reach those goals.
If you aren't married yet, you should definitely have a finances discussion before you get married. You can set up your goals and determine how you are going to handle your finances as a couple.
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Friday April 22, 2011
If you have specific goals you want to reach such as opening your own business, retiring or traveling extensively you need to set financial goals to make those things possible. There may be times when it seems like your income is not enough to make a goal come to fruition, especially if you have a set timeline to make that goal happen.
As with any goals you will need to determine if your current wants are more important than the goal you are working towards. Sometimes the answer will be yes and you will need to put your goal off and focus on present needs. Other times you will need to sacrifice your current wants to make your goals happen. The way to achieve your goals is to find balance, and break the goals down into smaller ones you can achieve a little bit at a time.
It is important that your goal be realistic. For example you may not be able to take off a year to travel the world when you are in your twenties, but you may be able to take several smaller vacations to various places throughout your twenties to make your goal of travel possible.
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Wednesday April 20, 2011
There are times when a bank is going to make a mistake. It happens, more than you'd like to think about. This is one reason it is so important to balance your statement every month. It protects you, allows you to find the mistakes, and makes sure that no one has stolen your account information. You should check your credit report each year for these same reasons. While you can fix errors on those reports as well, there is a lot less stress in the process if you are not in the middle of buying your first house or refinancing your mortgage.
When it comes to fixing mistakes or errors on a bank statement or credit report, you may be angry that the mistake happened, and it is extra work on your part, but if you approach the situation calmly, it will be easier to come to a resolution. If you begin the conversation by yelling, you automatically put the person on the defensive. The mistake may not be the banks's fault, and it is most likely not the person you are currently dealing with. If you are not able to come to a resolution you can become more firm on the phone, but starting out politely is much better.
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Thursday April 14, 2011
The best time to start saving for retirement is the first day of your first job after graduation. This is the one time when you will truly not miss the money you are putting towards graduation, because you will be making more than you ever have before. Unfortunately some employers make you wait up to a year before you can begin contributing to their retirement plan. Some will let you contribute, but will not do matching contributions for a set period of time.
Even if you do not qualify for a 401(k) account through your job, when you first start you can still contribute to retirement by setting up an IRA. A Roth IRA allows your earning to grow tax free, and you will not be taxed when you pull the money out. This is the better option, because it will save you money on taxes in the future. You can set up an IRA account with an investing firm, if you will do automatic contributions each month, even if you do not have a large initial balance to open the account.
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