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.
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 [...]
If you subscribe to the do-it-yourself approach to managing money, then we’re on the same page. Many people have asked me through the years the same questions: What should I do with my money? Should I borrow more and build my credit? How do I invest what I have? How did YOU create your financial [...]
There have been some high profile cases featured in the news about people passing away and leaving behind more than sweet memories and a beautiful legacy for their loved ones. It’s sad enough when someone goes, but when the deceased’s family and friends end up with difficult issues to work through, then it’s even sadder. [...]
It’s not just how much you make that matters, but also how much you actually keep. There are but few words in the financial vocabulary that strike fear in me, and TAX is one of them. The annual chore of preparing and organizing my financial documents that comes around February or March never fails to [...]
It’s one of those things I fiddle with — those little financial tools from CNN Money or Bankrate.com that tell you how financially adequate you are. Aren’t you curious about how you stack up against the general populace? These money tools are meant to dish out test results to help us keep track of our [...]
Thanks to popular e-readers like the Kindle and Nook, financial ebooks are more available than they were a few years ago. I’ve searched for engaging and informational titles, then compiled a list that includes a number of free financial ebooks. Over the years, I’ve managed to collect financial ebooks from big name authors like Suze [...]