Top Ten Financial Tips

Keys to Financial Success

Although making resolutions to improve your financial situation is a good thing to do at any time of year, many people find it easier at the beginning of a new year. Regardless of when you begin, the basics remain the same. Here are my top ten keys to getting ahead financially.

1. Get Paid What You're Worth and Spend Less Than You Earn

It sounds simplistic, but many people struggle with this first basic rule. Make sure you know what your job is worth in the marketplace, by conducting an evaluation of your skills, productivity, job tasks, contribution to the company, and the going rate, both inside and outside the company, for what you do. Being underpaid even a thousand dollars a year can have a significant cumulative effect over the course of your working life.

No matter how much or how little you're paid, you'll never get ahead if you spend more than you earn. Often it's easier to spend less than it is to earn more, and a little cost-cutting effort in a number of areas can result in big savings. It doesn't always have to involve making big sacrifices.

2. Stick to a Budget

One of my favorite subjects: budgeting. It's not a four-letter word. How can you know where your money is going if you don't budget? How can you set spending and saving goals if you don't know where your money is going? You need a budget whether you make thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

3. Pay Off Credit Card Debt

Credit card debt is the number one obstacle to getting ahead financially. Those little pieces of plastic are so easy to use, and it's so easy to forget that it's real money we're dealing with when we whip them out to pay for a purchase, large or small. Despite our good resolves to pay the balance off quickly, the reality is that we often don't, and end up paying far more for things than we would have paid if we had used cash.

4. Contribute to a Retirement Plan

If your employer has a 401(k) plan and you don't contribute to it, you're walking away from one of the best deals out there. Ask your employer if they have a 401(k) plan (or similar plan), and sign up today. If you're already contributing, try to increase your contribution. If your employer doesn't offer a retirement plan, consider an IRA.

5. Have a Savings Plan

You've heard it before: Pay yourself first! If you wait until you've met all your other financial obligations before seeing what's left over for saving, chances are you'll never have a healthy savings account or investments. Resolve to set aside a minimum of 5% to 10% of your salary for savings BEFORE you start paying your bills. Better yet, have money automatically deducted from your paycheck and deposited into a separate account.

6. Invest!

If you're contributing to a retirement plan and a savings account and you can still manage to put some money into other investments, all the better.

7. Maximize Your Employment Benefits

Employment benefits like a 401(k) plan, flexible spending accounts, medical and dental insurance, etc., are worth big bucks. Make sure you're maximizing yours and taking advantage of the ones that can save you money by reducing taxes or out-of-pocket expenses.

8. Review Your Insurance Coverages

Too many people are talked into paying too much for life and disability insurance, whether it's by adding these coverages to car loans, buying whole-life insurance policies when term-life makes more sense, or buying life insurance when you have no dependents. On the other hand, it's important that you have enough insurance to protect your dependents and your income in the case of death or disability.

9. Update Your Will

70% of Americans don't have a will. If you have dependents, no matter how little or how much you own, you need a will. If your situation isn't too complicated you can even do your own with software like WillMaker from Nolo Press. Protect your loved ones. Write a will.

10. Keep Good Records

If you don't keep good records, you're probably not claiming all your allowable income tax deductions and credits. Set up a system now and use it all year. It's much easier than scrambling to find everything at tax time, only to miss items that might have saved you money.

Reality Check

How are you doing on the top ten list? If you're not doing at least six of the ten, resolve to make improvements. Choose one area at a time and set a goal for incorporating all ten into your lifestyle. 

10 Steps To Improve Your Financial Situation

Here are ten steps you can follow to help improve your personal financial situation and inevitably save more money:

1. Pay Yourself Weekly

This may seem a bit odd, but this is an excellent way to start building a substantial savings. On a weekly basis, pay yourself $25-$50 and immediately put it in a safe place. You can even open a special savings account where this weekly "payday" can by placed to help minimize or eliminate impulsive spending. Think about it this way, if you paid yourself $25 a week, in two years you'll have accumulated $2600 (not including interest)!!! That's almost $3000 from just putting $25 aside every week! Take advantage of this money-saving opportunity. Simple, yet very effective.

2. Don't Shop

For those of you that love to shop, you may find that this is one tip that could save you hundreds, maybe even thousands every year. Start using the "Need or Want" strategy. Before you spend a single dollar on anything, ask yourself, "Do I really NEED this item, or do I just WANT it??" You may find that many of the items we purchase, we do so just because it "caught our eye" or it was "an impulse buy" or "my friend bought the same thing". All these excuses just add up to wasteful spending. You can probably get by without another sweater, or a new pair of jeans, so just buy what you absolutely need, and pass on those items that aren't necessities.

3. Use Your Bank's Own ATMs

Some banks will charge you money for using other ATM machines. Even though you will be able to withdraw money using your ATM/debit card from literally any machine, banks will charge you $2 (generally) for using a machine other than theirs, in addition to a standard $1.50 charge the machine charges for its use. In other words, if you use the ATM at your local 7-11 to take out $20, you'll most likely end up paying $3.50 in additional charges! If you do that 5 times a month, you'll lose $17.50 for that month, or $210 per year! What a waste! Try and stick with your own bank's ATMs whenever possible.

4. Track Your Spending

Take the time to track your spending habits for one week. Take note of every single dollar you spend, even those sodas and candy bars purchased here and there. This will give you a "birds-eye" view of exactly where your money is being spent, thus allowing you to refine your spending habits to essentially save more money.

5. Lower Credit Card Balances

Another very important tip that many often overlook. Pay off those pesky credit cards as soon as possible because you are losing up to 19% of the total. What a waste of your hard earned money! Keep chopping away at the balances until you get to an amount that is reasonable $100-$500 dollars.

6. Use Your Debit Card Instead of Credit Cards

Get in the habit of using your debit card instead of your credit cards. For the most part, debit cards are accepted anywhere a credit card is accepted, however as you know, with a debit card the amount is taken directly from your checking account whereas credit card usage is billed at a later date (along with a hefty interest rate).

7. Changing Jobs? Roll-Over that 401(k)

When people change jobs/careers they will be faced with a decision to either "rollover" their 401k (retirement plan) or to withdraw it. It will be ever so tempting to withdraw the money since it will be a substantial amount, but don't! You will be charged fines and penalties for an early withdrawal that will cut YOUR total by 40%-60%! That's like giving half of your earned retirement savings away to a stranger. Why would you do that? Even though you may want the money now, resist the temptation and roll it over. It will be well worth it in the long run.

8. Avoid Getting Too Many Credit Cards

Why have eight credit cards? That's just going to provide you with more opportunities to go further into debt. It's fine to keep 1-3 cards to build credit, establish yourself, and for emergencies, but credit cards are double-edged swords. They can help or hurt you depending on your self-control.

9. Check Your Credit Score/Report

It's important to know where you currently stand as a consumer and since your credit report is the most important historical list of your financial past and present, it's a very good idea to check it from time to time. There are a number of places where you can get your credit report, however the most detailed compares information from the top three national credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Once you get your report, look through it carefully to see if all the information is accurate. If there are any discrepancies, get those solved as quickly as possible to improve your credit rating - a score of up to 800. Often times, consumers are unaware of unsettled accounts, or accounts that are still open/active when they should be closed. Pay close attention to this when inspecting your report.

10. Finally: Review - Revise - Retry

Once you start implementing these tips and become more familiar with the money saving opportunities you have, take the time to REVIEW your progress. Check and see where it may be possible to REVISE some of your techniques or where you can implement new ones. Once you have revised your plan, RETRY to see if your results improve. The more frequent you review, revise, and retry your saving ideas, the more "in tune" you'll be with your finances and spending habits, and learn what works and what doesn't for you.