Proper Money Management, Planning & Fiscal Organization
How do you feel about your personal financial situation? If we’d asked you that question before 2007, you would have probably said “pretty good”. These days, a lot of us are no longer as comfortable with our finances, no thanks to the recent financial trials that our country and the world are undergoing.
But even the big picture hinges upon what goes on in each individual household. That’s something we particularly care about here — we try to answer the question: how can we best manage our personal and family finances? How are we handling our everyday money management needs? In our Money Management category, we discuss the tricks we use to plan for our daily expenses, how we track our saving and spending better and how we can best be financially accountable to ourselves. We cover the basics, such as how to balance your checkbook, and also chime in on where to find the best budgeting software. We talk about financial planning and working with advisers, planners and professionals in this field. We try to talk about the practical concerns that most households have when it comes to dealing with money at the ground level.
Let’s use this forum as a way to share our successes, challenges and even frustrations with our bank accounts and our purses. Do feel free to take a look around. We’re sure that you’ll find answers to many of your questions as well as a few you may not have thought of yet. If you have some suggestions or experiences we haven’t touched on yet, we certainly welcome your comments!
Money matters are easier to deal with when things are organized. We talk about financial planning and everyday money management practices here.
You don’t need a lot of brains to be rich. In fact, there’s not much of a correlation between intelligence and wealth. I found a few pretty provocative studies and discussions on the subject of being smart. Rob Pitingolo, who runs a blog called Extraordinary Observations, has come up with a chart showing “where the […]
According to a recent U.S. government study, seventeen million Americans manage their money without the use of a bank account. This means that they have no savings or checking account. Many look down upon this way of life, but it is difficult for me to say it is a bad thing given the fact that […]
When you embark on a trip, the first thing you do is map out your journey towards your destination. In the same way, when you begin the journey of taking control of your finances, you must figure out where you want to go. Financial goals are keys to determining this. There are three types of […]
I picked up my first personal finance book as a college senior. As soon as I read it, I wanted to go around telling every other twenty-something how important it was to get their finances in order as young adults. Unfortunately, my girlfriend rolled her eyes at me and my friends couldn’t have cared less. […]
How does one end up with a million? It’s all in the mind. My grandpa always told me that I would become rich if I learned from the rich. I’ve had the good fortune and opportunity to come across a few wealthy people in my life, and I learned one important fact: they can be […]
In every household, somebody’s got to handle the finances — whether it’s the Mister, the Missus, or both, running things as a team. And in our case it’s moi. We figured long ago that it’s easiest that way so that we don’t get into each other’s nerves by sharing custody of the finances, though knowledge […]
Have an emergency? Find the money from both expected and unexpected places! The other day, I had an emergency: my computer hit the dust a second time in 2 years. The first time it croaked, my hard drive crashed but most of it was recoverable. I ended up spending close to $1,500 to get my […]
Who manages the investments in your household? And who tinkers with and sets the budget in your family? Read on and find out who tends to prevail in each financial task. I don’t want to start a gender war, but I found several interesting surveys on finance that seem to be at odds with each […]
None of us really want to think about the idea of getting older. But it’s something we can’t escape, and ironically enough, the best time to start thinking about planning for that time is when we are younger and healthier. Have you ever thought about what to do when you’re older or how to deal […]