Personal finance is a topic not quite faced with detailed explanations.
Some money saving tips here, some debt pay-off talks there, and some investment phrases going on and off someplace else.
To end such hap-hazard discussions and bring the basics of smart money management to one place, better in a nut shell, a primitive post from the Oak View Law Group Education segment is brought to your attention.
We motivate your active participation on this article post, and look forward to see your comments and queries posted below in the Disqus Section.
**But, if you are searching for debt assistance and landed here by chance, then please refer to our Client debt help page, without any hesitation or delay.**
Therefore avoiding much of the pep talks, let’s get straight to the topic and evaluate the ways for you to become money smart and debt wise.
For, if you don’t know the basics of how to build wealth, save money, and manage debts, then you can never attain financial freedom in your personal life.
How to become money smart then
It’s not a one day affair, that today you learn a few tricks, and tomorrow you become money savvy. This is an age long habit formation that you have to initiate right about now.
Money is like your lover.
Pamper it, kiss it, love it, take it along with you wherever you go, and always take a stern look at it before handing it over to someone else!
That’s a single line summarizing the whole deal in one place.
On the contrary, this is not enough to make you money smart!
In the end, money is all about rightful calculation and practical mathematics!
If you can’t number out (1+1=2), then money is not what you should be seeking. Then again, we are humans and our brain evolved with time, to understand mathematics, and it is this awarding metamorphosis, that sets us apart from other species of Earth!
Accordingly, money smartness looks like:
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A well-structured budget:
You are money smart, if you know exactly where and on what, each and every single dollar of yours is getting spent.
And, the only way to keep a trace of it, is to have a budget with you, which you can stick onto forever.
Discussing all the personal budgeting strategies, down here, is nearly impossible and would choke this sweet post unnecessarily. But, don’t you worry, I will briefly explain one budget, that will come of some real help to you.
This is called the Zero-Based Budget!
This budget has obviously been discussed in many Internet portals or blogposts, and even covered by us (OVLG) in the ‘Plan a budget’ portion of “Living a limitless lifestyle while having a limited budget”.As stated above, where I said money is about rightful calculation, Zero-Based Budget is nothing but basic mathematics. All it does, is help you to arrange your expenses, calculate the total sum, and subtract it from your income.
The name implies that you should be left with nothing, or a big Zero, after you deduct your total expense amount from the income.
Even if you are left with anything, then you got to find out suitable ways to utilize that money. To keep in mind, in Zero Based Budget, any type of savings you do will also be considered as an expense.
So, you can put that extra money to do some extra savings or anything as such.
The game is simple, where you will list down all your expenses one-by-one, with the highest priority expenses coming at the top of the list. Then you deduct them from the total income you have.
Follow this budget pattern on a monthly basis, for a better view of your expense and paycheck patterns.
If you can consistently keep up with Zero-Based Budget (there’s no reason not to), then you will never have much problem in managing your money smartly. -
A stable spending behavior:
The job’s still not done. Smart money management will have no place in your vocab, unless you have some cool ethical spending behaviors to showcase.
If your tendency is to spend more than what you earn, then that’s where you are uncouth and unsmart with money!
Stable spending behavior comes into shape when you start to differentiate between needs and wants! When most of your expenses get inclined toward wants, rather than driven by your needs, it is then the biggest blunder is made.
Most importantly, you can’t feed your wants unless you earn in some millions. With the average household income, in the USA, standing at $45K, it is very unethical to take care of luxury expenses, while falling in this median range!
Your income defines your wealth, and more so your savings. The credit cards you have or the loans you take out can never be considered as your buying power.
You need to develop at least some frugal spending habits to build a bright future. Don’t expect to see your debts go away, or ample savings sitting in the bank vaults, when all you do is spend $3000 and above at shopping complexes each month.
Know your limit clearly. Start to say ‘NO’ to yourself when you see that shiny shoe, or that dashing pair of denim, or that Macbook Air, or this, or that.
Understand the things that you need to survive! Spend on the necessities first, then you can take your wishes into consideration. -
An invigorating tenacity to build wealth and increase net worth:
Money smart!!
Why do you want to become smart with money? Is it so that you can spend each and every dollar you earn appropriately? Well it’s quite true, but only if you assess your savings as a part of your expenses.
Otherwise, you are not building wealth, and have become stagnant or rigid to financial growth. You need to squeeze in as much money as you can into your savings accounts, from your paycheck.
Hard work is also seen as a trait of smartness. Your continuous endeavor to save money, will set you apart from the general crowd, and make you, what we are calling, money smart!Your net worth is calculated by how much wealth you have, and not by how much you earn. When the mission is to build wealth, stop thinking everything else, and focus completely on increasing your savings vault.
If required, and if favorable, set up multiple savings accounts to enjoy different interest rates and experience optimum money management.But, doing expanded savings can become troublesome, if you have debt payments to make per month. It is then, when the priority shifts toward paying off debts, from increasing net worth and building wealth.
**If your income does not permit to do both savings and debt payments, then plan to get rid of your debts first! Please refer to Client Debt help page, by clicking on “Know Your Options”, displayed either at the top or the bottom of this page.**
In the modern world of finance,
you need to be debt wise, along with becoming smart with money:
The present world runs on debts. The economy is designed in such a way, that each country benefits from the other, to establish political and social growth. And, how do they benefit from one another?
None other than borrowing debts in the shapes of investment vehicles.
To be very precise, our very own credit cards are designed to promote a country’s growth at a micro level, which influences a major surge in the socio-economic development at a macro environment.
Take this for an example. You take out one personal loan, that will help you to establish your own start up. You didn’t have to wait for money to start your business. From the profits of your business you can pay off the loan in time.
So, you made your own financial move, have a good income now because of the debt you borrowed. For this, you will be paying taxes to the government, and that will help the country to flourish.
It’s a long circular chain system, which is not at all possible to lay down in simple words in a blog post.
But, why tell you all these things, in the first place? Coz, we’re making you ‘debt wise’ buddy.
Debts are not bad, unless your objectives are bad:
Debts are all about how you are using them. Using debts to buy clothes, fancy foods, trendy gadgets, alcohol, make-up accessories and all, every now and then, will only encourage bad debts.
Debts are no doubt important, but only important to help you build wealth. One wrong step with them, can make you fall to the ground empty handed!
Debts can be both good and bad, depending on the purpose. A mortgage loan is seldom a bad decision, while that is also a debt.
Mortgage is an investment! But, buying random goods with your credit card is not an investment, unless you are into moral investments, like buying the latest tech to write reviews about it and selling to magazines, or getting yourself a high spec MacBook for business or work purposes.
To pen it down in a single line, all secured debts and student loans are usually deemed to be good debts, whereas all unsecured debts like credit cards, payday loans, or personal loans are typically tagged bad, unless they have any moral investment value attached.
Have you thought about debt settlement and debt consolidation?
If you want to become debt wise, then you have to understand debt settlement and debt consolidation thoroughly, and apply them in real life.
Most of the debts we have, are comprised of unsecured debts, say credit cards for the time being. We all know that most of the things we have bought on credit cards are depreciating goods.Even the banks know that the present value of all those goods is pretty much decreased.
We, just need to make use of this fact.
Debt settlement helps you to clear debts by paying off a lump sum amount, which will be much lower than the original owed amounts.
Then, you also have debt consolidation, where you get the option to make one single payment for all your debts. In easy words, with consolidation you will be bringing multiple debts into one place.
Both debt settlement and debt consolidation have very distinct roles to play in the debt industry. They are both used interchangeably by the majority of consumers, and without any second thought, and these people have benefited a lot from these two debt relief options.
It’s better, that you give us a call at 800-530-6854, 7 days a week, anytime between 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM, to know more about consolidation and settlement from our financial counselors.
The ultimate money smart title is attributed to those who act fast.
Therefore, without wasting any time, approach us now, become debt free quick, and plan your money smart future henceforth.
We look forward to establishing a fruitful service-client relationship with you. Please leave your comments below, and we will reach out to you immediately.
Have a happy and serene life, ahead!
