Tag: budget
5 Reasons Why You Need a Budget!
If I asked you to tell me how much you spend eating out or buying gas each month, could you tell me? What about your household’s true cost of living? This is the most basic reason you need a budget: To be able to plan and track where your money goes! Most people who I speak to about their finances have no clue how much they spend on a monthly basis. All they know is that by the end of the month, their bank accounts are nearly empty and they are waiting for their next paycheck. Even if you don’t find yourself scraping together pennies at the end of the month, you still need to have a budget in place. In order to take control
Personal Finance Software Review: Moneydance
Back in the day, I used Quicken. It was the first personal finance software I used, and I used it faithfully for more than a decade. The problem is that I use a Mac, and Quicken stopped supporting Quicken 2005 (often considered one of the best versions of Quicken) somewhat recently. I’ve not been overly impressed with the latest Quicken offerings for the Mac, and I’m not interested in running Windows on my Mac just to get Quicken. So I looked for a replacement. After a lot of poking around, I settled on Moneydance. So far, Moneydance has been fairly easy to use, and I’ve been satisfied with my experience. Based on my experience using the software, here’s my review of Moneydance. Features of
Quick Tip – Taco Seasoning
Mexican food is one of my all-time faves (comes with the territory of growing up in Texas and currently living in Arizona…I’ve always been very close to the border!) It tends to be cheap, quick and easy to make, and delicious! So I just wanted to peek in today with a quick tip on cheap taco seasoning. One word: COSTCO!!!! I mentioned a couple months ago that I buy Taco Seasoning from Costco because its so cheap and I had several commenters mention that they make their own for pennies compared to the store bought stuff. So feast your eyes on this photo…. That’s $4.29 for a 24 oz jar of seasoning, coming out to .179 cents per ounce. (To be clear, this is
Would You Change to Make Millions?
Would you change to make millions? Saving for your retirement can be impossible unless you know what to do. Putting money into a 401K is a no brainer, but where do you find the money? Small changes in your spending can achieve $1-2,000,000 over your lifetime. You can start today! 10 Small Changes: Save your change – this can be as much as $50 a month. This can be almost painless! I never carry change, so every time I receive coin in change I put it into a jar. At the end of the month, I have as much as $50 in change accumulated. Stop buying soda, coffee, and junk food when out – $100 -150 per month. This can be a hidden expense because you are going to
Is It Time to Dip Into Your Emergency Fund?
One of the most important things you can do for your financial security is to build an emergency fund. Unfortunately, many Americans aren’t prepared with a fund that they can tap in the event of a financial emergency. The Americans that do have an emergency fund, though, might not know when to tap into it. It’s easy to feel as though any setback is an emergency. Another temptation is the fact that you have a large amount of money sitting there, and it seems like you could do something better with it, like buy a new TV or go on a vacation. Before you dip into your emergency fund, you need to take a step back and ask yourself whether or not it’s truly
Is A Zero Based Budget Right For You?
One of the budgeting techniques that has gained some popularity in recent years is the zero based budget. In this budget, you make sure that every dollar is accounted for at the beginning of the month. You look at what you expect to get in terms of a paycheck, and then use every penny to pay bills, or accomplish your goals. As part of your budget, you decide what will go to debt reduction, or to building an emergency fund, or to your retirement account. You can also put money toward a vacation or some other goal, on top of making sure your groceries, gas, insurance premiums and other expenses are covered. Every dollar of income is assigned to a spending, saving or giving category. No dollar
What Do You Do With Your Savings?
One of the basic pieces of advice that we are often given about money is to save more. But where do you put that money? And what should you do with it? Create Goals for Your Savings While saving money just to save money does make sense in some ways, the reality is that few of us are willing to keep doing something “just because.” As a result, it makes sense to carefully consider your desired outcomes and figure out what you hope to accomplish with the money you are saving. First off, really think about what you hope to have happen with your money. Do you want some of it to go toward creating a comfortable retirement? Do you hope to save up enough
