Friday November 6, 2009
Open enrollment is the time to make changes to your benefits package. You can drop some of your coverage or enroll in additional plans. If you have recently married or have had a child you may want to consider changing some of your coverage options like increasing your life or disability insurance. You may also want to atke advantage of your Flexible Spending Account to cover health and day care costs. These plans can save you money in the future, and are worth taking the time to figure out if they are right for you.
This weekend take a few minutes to sit down and go over your benefits. Determine if you want to continue where you are or if you want to add or drop any of the plans. It is also a great time to think about increasing your retirement contributions.
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Thursday November 5, 2009
Are you stuck in the cycle of credit card debt? It may start with you putting a few unexpected charges on your card and then it grows to a point when you are relying on your card to cover some of your bills and the groceries. If you stepped back from the situation and you looked at your budget, would you be able to make it without the credit card payments you make each month. You may even be saving money. But you're stuck with those payments and you don't see a way out.
It is possible to get out of the situation. The first step is to stop using the cards. The second is to get on a strict budget and stop all unecessary spending until you get control of your payments. That means cooking at home and keeping your shopping to a minimum.
Next you need to find some extra money to use to pay down the credit cards. While you can cut back on your budget, to really jumpstart getting out of debt try to find additional extra money. You can do this by selling something or getting an extra job or using money that you received as a gift to put towars the balance on your credit cards.
Once you have done this you need to stick you budget and work each month to paying down the balance on your credit cards. It is possible to live without using credit cards and without debt.
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Wednesday November 4, 2009
The holiday season is just a month away. It is a time to give gifts to others and a time when many people overspend and break their budgets. Many people just funnel the excess onto their credit cards and take a few months to pay them off in the next year. This year is the year to make changes and to stick to a Christmas budget. This year you can make the changes necessary to not overspend.
Coming from a family of six kids, yes six, we have always drawn names at Christmas. This has made Christmas shopping much easier. I think my parents instituted this quite early on because the sheer volume of gifts received was overloading the house. I like it because it means that we can spend a nice amount of money on our individual (and now family) instead of splitting the money up and giving five not so great presents. You may want to think about instituting this in your family.
Another good idea is to start with a list and take time to shop around for the best deal. Don't forget to look online for good deals as well.Starting early will help you to find the best deals and get the most for your money.
What are your best holiday shopping tips?
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Tuesday November 3, 2009
Student loans can take forever to pay off. Most people set up a payment plan when they are first looking for a job and the payments are fairly low. Then they continue to make those nice easy payments once they begin to earn more money. It is too easy to stick with the status quo when it comes to paying off the student loans.
The student loan payment may not seem like that much money, but think about what you could do if you had that extra money available in your budget each month. A few hundred dollars can add up quickly if you are trying to save money, or it could help you be able to finally afford a home. The extra money may give you a little bit extra to spend on the things that you enjoy most.
You should add your student loan into your debt snowball and work on paying it off as quickly as you can. You will save money on interest the sooner that you pay off the loan. Since the itnerest rates on student loans are lower, it makes more sense to have the loan at the end of your debt snowball. The interest you pay is tax deductible up to a certain point, and this is another reason to put the student loan towards the end of the snowball. However, it is not a reason to continue to hold onto the debt. You can only claim a portion of the interest, and it takes a percentage off of your taxes.
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