The below article was composed by contributor Elaine McPartland. If you are interested in writing for My Money Design, please feel free to contact me. Debt, in general, can be extremely difficult to get a handle on. Between the misleading terms and harassing creditors, you may feel lost in a sea of uncertainty. Fortunately, there are ten easy ways for how to pay off debt fast that you can tackle and attain financial liberation once and for all. … [Read more...] about How to Pay Off Debt Fast in 10 Easy Ways
budget
It’s Time to Get Real About Our Household Expenses
Stop lying to yourself. … About your expenses that is. If you are constantly finding yourself short on funds every other month, or if you have to keep dipping into your life savings just to keep the checkbook healthy, then something is wrong. That was a harsh realization I had recently. Even after all the budgets and spreadsheets I’ve made, we were forecasting a huge deficit for the year. The only solution? It was time to get real about our household expenses. … [Read more...] about It’s Time to Get Real About Our Household Expenses
Learn How to Manage Money Better – Like a Large Company CFO
Why do we struggle when it comes to handling our money? Some of us live check to check and barely save nothing. Others of us do okay. But then we never take full advantage of what’s out there to make the best financial choices. What is it about our methods that make us so deficient at knowing how to manage money better? Ironically, the answer you’re looking for might just be behind those large retail giants where we spend the most amount of money each month. While some people may scuff at the likes of Walmart or Apple with their anti-consumerism attitudes, I ask you to take a second … [Read more...] about Learn How to Manage Money Better – Like a Large Company CFO
How to Reverse Lifestyle Inflation
The following post is a contribution from Tony at We Only Do This Once. Tony is a trombone player who has performed with major symphony orchestra, on Broadway in NYC, and in recordings and movie soundtracks. He blogs about simplifying your life through downsizing and becoming financially fit. One of the best and worst things that ever happened to me was that I had a five year stretch of massive raises in income. During this time, I chose to not live off of my old income, and instead buy a ton of stuff. A year and a half ago, I found myself with debt up to my eyeballs (about … [Read more...] about How to Reverse Lifestyle Inflation
My Alternative Emergency Fund Strategy and How It Works
Lately there have been a number of great posts and strong opinions about having an emergency fund, and I wanted to weigh in with my own opinion and experiences. I have had a long a standing love-hate relationship with emergency funds. Sure, you need them for critical situations! But my problem (and I think this is where a lot of people struggle) is how to save up enough. Depending on which advice you subscribe to, the recommendations can be anything from 3 to 12 months of your gross monthly income. If you’re a typical American household making $60,000 per year, that’s anywhere from $15,000 to … [Read more...] about My Alternative Emergency Fund Strategy and How It Works
Which is Better – Term or Permanent Life Insurance? – Part 2
In Part 1, we reviewed the fundamental differences between Term and Permanent Life Insurance. Basically Term is cheaper but it expires and gets more expensive as time goes on. Permanent life is way more expensive, but it lasts forever and has the potential to build up cash value. We concluded with me learning a fact about life insurance that made me question my Variable policy. I’ll explain below what exactly that was and how it caused me to request two new quotes so I could crunch the numbers to determine whether the Term or Variable Life Insurance policy was truly the better deal. … [Read more...] about Which is Better – Term or Permanent Life Insurance? – Part 2
Which is Better – Term or Permanent Life Insurance? – Part 1
Some of you may wonder “What in the world does life insurance got to do with my personal finances?” The truth is that it plays a more significant role in your money than you think for 2 reasons: 1) Life Insurance is about taking care of those you leave behind. Do you have a spouse? Children? Dependents? If something were to happen to you, who would take of the bills? Pay the mortgage so they can stay in their house? Pay for your kids’ college? Life insurance is part of your safety net for protecting those you love. 2) Choose poorly and you can significantly over-pay! There are … [Read more...] about Which is Better – Term or Permanent Life Insurance? – Part 1
Another Expense Reduced – Refinancing Your Auto Loan
It wasn’t one week after we closed on our mortgage refinance that my wife and I got our next “big break” on our expenses. As I’ve spoken about before, part of my annual budget is to pick a handful of expenses each year and see what I can do to reduce them. Sometimes this takes a fair amount of work and research as was the case with the mortgage refinance. But ironically, this next one came from an unlikely source: Junk mail. … [Read more...] about Another Expense Reduced – Refinancing Your Auto Loan
10 Tips for Saving More Money
Saving money can be a real challenge. You know you should, but some months it feels like you’re barely making ends meet. And no matter how much you actually make, it never feels like enough. Fortunately, there are some painless steps you can take to get your savings back on track. Below are a few of my favorite tips for ways you can save more money: … [Read more...] about 10 Tips for Saving More Money
Year-End Financial Checklist
The end is near! The end of the year that is … And with that, December is a good time to get you finances in order and get ready to settle with the tax man. Here are some tips to get yourself ready for another year: Set Your Budget for Next Year: Remember, a budget is simple: • Money In – Money Out > 0 = Success. The best way to do this is to create a table with 12 columns; one for each month. Start by listing your income towards the top. Then list all your bills and expenses. This strategy is usually a little more effective than just doing one generic monthly budget because it … [Read more...] about Year-End Financial Checklist