Steven's Financial Tips!

Hey everyone!

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. (Can you actually "fall" off the earth?) Anyway, I have not been posting a tip of the week the past two months because we are in the process of changing up how we are helping others. We are expanding our team to better serve our clients. In the near future you will begin to see and hear about the changes being made, from website updates, community events, to various new programs that we will be offering. We are very exited here at FFFC and we look forward to better serving you!

Thank you for your patience!

8-27-09

Yes, another money savings tip!

"Insurance"

Here is another easy one. I must be getting lazy! Have you shopped around for insurance quotes lately? If not, you need to. You always want to make sure that you are getting the best price with your insurance. Don't stay with a company because you have done business with them forever. Make sure they are rewarding you for that with the best prices. (Remember to compare apples to apples when shopping insurance) Also make sure you have the necessary insurance you need and get rid of what you don't need! That part gets a little mind boggling. (You can contact us to help figure that out) So the bottom line is, to check the bottom line!

I think I broke a nail typing this. I wonder if I have Ins. for that?

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8-11-09

Another money saving tip!

"Groceries"

We have all heard not to shop when you are hungry, right? Have you ever heard not to shop for food without a PLAN? How many times have you gone shopping for groceries and have bought more than you were going there for. Even if you had a list! The problem is that you did not have a plan that will limit what you WILL spend. Going back to the B-word (the budget), you must have a set dollar amount that you spend on groceries every pay check, and stick to it!!!! Now be reasonable with this amount. If you fund it with too little you will end up on a crash diet the last week of the month. If you fund it too high, well you may need to go on a crash diet! Here is a good guide line on how to fund your grocery money for the month.
$110.00 to $130.00 a month per person in the household. If you live alone or it's just you and your spouse, then you might need to go a little higher to $140.00 per person a month. I know, I hear it all the time, "What are you trying to do Steve, starve us!" This is a very reasonable number and we see families live within this amount all the time. We, as a family of 7 can do this on $750.00 a month. Yes, this includes the paper products, and yes, we eat healthy! So here it is- Plan your meals, make a list, set a dollar amount to spend, and     "STICK TO IT!"

"Look, a person with a plan, aisle 5"

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7-27-09

Money saving tip!

"O.K., hear is an easy one!"

"You NEED a NEW car!" "A used one will break down!" "You don't know what problems you will get with a used car!" HOGWASH! You don't know what kind of problems you will get with a new car. Although there is one problem I know that you will have for sure when you buy a new car! 30 seconds after you sign your name, you are upside down on the value -v- debt owed on your new purchase! There are some great deals out there on used cars if you do your research, and you can save thousands of dollars too!

"Hello, can anyone hear me?"

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7-9-09

"The Budgeting Blues" Part 9

"The American Dream"

O.K. The last of the B-word series. Let's recap! Your out of debt, have 6 months of expenses in the bank, your investing into your retirement and college for the kidos, and the home is paid off! WOW! This looks great! Remember-

NEVER BORROW MONEY AGAIN!!!

Now begin to load up on your investing. Also, If you know you are going to have to buy something in the near future, save up and pay CASH for it!

WHAT A CONCEPT!!!

Is this not what hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of people who came to America called the American Dream?

 Now we can work on all our other problems. Don't kid yourself, we all have problems!

"The American Dream"

God Bless America!!!

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6-15-09
"The Budgeting Blues" Part 8
There goes my tax write-off!

Now that we are funding 15% into our retirement, and the college (or not), let's look at the biggest problem we have facing financial freedom. Our mortgage! "Whoa! Whoa! Wait a minute Steven! I get to write off my interest on my taxes. Why would I ever pay off my mortgage?" Well let's look at that. Let's say you pay $10,000.00 in interest every year. Let's also say you make $70,000.00 a year income. If you write off the 10k in interest you will pay taxes on 60k. (70k income - 10k interest = 60k) With your income you would be in the 25% tax bracket. If you did not have the write-off, you would pay taxes on the extra 10k of income which would be $2,500.00 (25% of 10k = $2,500.00) So what this "GREAT WRITE-OFF" is, if I get this straight, you pay the bank 10k a year in interest + the principal, so you don't have to send the government $2,500.00 in taxes! GREAT PLAN! At this point you have 6 months of savings in the bank, you are funding 15% to retirement, and college (or not). Now attack the mortgage with everything you got! This can be done on average in about 6 to 8 years. Now your living large! 

Where do I sent the sympathy card for losing your tax write-off?  
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5-04-09
"The Budgeting Blues" Part 7
Education!

Now that we are investing 15% into retirement, let's look at college. For some of us this will not apply. For others, now let's get started. If we can and are willing to help with college for our kids, this is when we start. If you do this before the first four baby steps chances are you will not get as far as you think you will. Let me explain. If you don't have an "Emergency Fund" and you are saving for college, what happens when Murphy knocks on your door wanting money? You will empty the college account! "Steve, that won't happen!" It happens all the time and if you think it won't happen to you, your in denial! (And I don't mean your swimming in Egypt!) One last thing about college funding. It's great to help your kids with the expenses of college. Even if you can pay for the whole thing for them, I don't recommend it. (I know I will get a lot of slack for that comment) A great life lesson is that you will appreciate what you earn far more than what is given to you! Let them WORK for some or most of what they have. It's a great character building experience!

Has anyone seen Bueller? ANYONE? ANYONE?

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4-20-09
The "Budgeting Blues" Part 6
Here comes the sun!

I love oldies. Who sings that anyway? Well, we are now looking pretty good. We are "DEBT FREE" (except the house) and have 6 months worth of living expenses in the bank. Looking good! this puts you in the top 10% of Americans. Now let's get to investing. Let's start at 15% of your net (take home) income. "But I got all this extra money now. Why not as much as I can?" Because we still have a house payment, or we need to save for a down payment on one. (Hopefully 100% down, but we'll talk about that later.) 15% will give you a good start while we work on other things. I suggest starting with your employers 401K program ONLY up to the match! If they don't match anything, then I would start with a "ROTH IRA". After you put into the 401K "UP TO WHAT THEY MATCH" then max out the "ROTH". Now go back to your 401K. Do this up to 15% and stop where ever it takes you.If you do not have a 401K available to you then after you max out the ROTH IRA, start a Traditional IRA. Remember, ONLY 15%! Next time we will talk about what to do with all that extra money.

Where are my sun glasses? It's getting bright over here!

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4-06-09

The "Budgeting Blues" Part 5
Now that it's spring, get out the umbrella!

O.K., now that we are out of DEBT except the mortgage, it's time to go back to saving. "But I have a thousand in the bank already. Why would I save more?" Do you remember what your grandma use to tell you? "Save for a rainy day" Well, as Dave Ramsey says, It's going to rain. Get ready!" You need to make the cushion bigger between you and life if you want a shot at "Financial Freedom". Don't worry about investing right now, we will get to that. Also, this "Emergency Fund" is not a typical investment. It's an investment into your life, your marriage, & your future. It's also considered Insurance. You see, when you pay auto insurance at, lets say $100.00 a mo., you can consider it as saving up for your next accident. The insurance pays for it. The same applies for an "Emergency Fund". You can't buy insurance on every little thing in life, but you can self insure those little things. So here's the deal. Build your "Emergency Fund" up to 6 months of living expenses. This will insure life's "GOT YA'S" as they come at you. When you have to dip into it, stop everything else and refund it A.S.A.P. One last thing for those of you who think that using credit for an "Emergency Fund" is O.K. You cannot dig your way out of a hole. You must climb! Were talking about "FINANCIAL FREEDOM" here, not "SAME OLD, SAME OLD"
So who remembers Frank Sanatra?

"I'm singing in the rain"

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3-23-09

The "Budgeting Blues" Part 4
Did I mention to break out the shovels?

Let me be clear about the "Debt Snowball" This can be a HARD process! For some people, it is a matter of cutting some checks to pay off debt and they are on to the next step. (Which we will discuss in part 5) For others, this process can be an up hill battle, or even a vertical all out war. Remember that with a plan and direction, the outlook will not seem as bad as it once would have. The thing is, when you're in the middle of this assault on your debt, it can get tough. Murphy moves in with you and your life can look like a bad country song. (No offense to country music) Sometimes you will fall back a step and have to use your "Emergency Fund" (ONLY FOR EMERGENCIES!!!!!!!) Don't be discouraged! Get up and start to rebuild it and get back to the "Debt Snowball". Don't give up! You now have a PLAN and DIRECTION. It's not IF, It's WHEN, I pay off this debt! But you have to BUST IT! You have to get out the shovels and move that snow manually at times. I'll promise you two things if you carry through with these steps:
1. It will be really tough.
2. It's worth it!
So get out your boots, grab your shovel, and move some SNOW!!!!
O.K. Enough Snow


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3-9-09

The "Budgeting Blues" Part 3
Who likes SNOW!

Lets recap! In January I said to get a PLAN. Without one you will wander around life and never get anywhere. In the area of your finances, you need to start with a BUDGET, or "CASH FLOW PLAN". In part 1 of this "Budgeting Blues" series I said that step 1 is to "give". In part 2 it was "saving". Now we need to have a plan to pay off everything but the house. WHAT?!! "Steve, your off the deep end. How or why would you ever do that? You will at least, always have a car payment!"  This is what most people who are always broke will say. The truth is that 80% of America's millionaires are "first generation rich" according to Thomas Stanley and William Danko in their book "The Millionaire Next Door". (It's a great book, read it!) One of the key tools that these millionaires use to build wealth is their income. This means that you can't continue to have someone else's name on YOUR money. Begin by cutting back on your spending and putting every extra dollar toward paying off your debt with the smallest balance. Then put that minimum payment plus everything else that you can toward the next smallest debt, and so on. This is called the "Debt Snowball". As you pay off debt after debt it will pick up momentum. Soon you will be on your way to
"FINANCIAL FREEDOM!" 
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!  

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2-16-09

The "Budgeting Blues" part 2
"Savings" MUST be your second priority! 

Come on Steve, First you say to "give" off the top, and now "save" right after that! I can't even make my monthly payments on time! I know, I know, I hear it all the time. Now, to make myself clear, you do need to find a way to get current on your payments.(We will be discussing that in the weeks to come) For those of you just making it and are current, "LET'S GET SAVING!" You need to have a cushion between you and life. This is an "Emergency Fund". For most of us a $1000.00 will do. If you make less than $20k a year, then $500.00 will work for now. If you make over $100k a year, you may want to have $2000.00 in savings. This money is for ONE purpose ONLY! EMERGENCIES! 
You will never get ahead if you don't have this in place. (Murphy always hangs around people who don't have money). This cushion will keep Murphy's blows of life from hurting so bad. Example: If you put together a budg- opps "Cash Flow Plan" before the month begins, and every dollar has a name, then the tire blows out two weeks into the month. "HI MURPHY!"
If you have an Emergency Fund, you just fix the tire! If you don't, Well- "I told you so". Get the point?
Get your Emergency Fund in place QUICKLY! Lets go! Sell something! Work extra hours! What ever it is, this should only take about 4 weeks to do.
HAPPY SAVINGS!

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2-9-09

The "Budgeting Blues"
Let's talk about the dreaded "Budget"

I know, I know, Not the "B" word! Fine, lets call it a "Cash Flow PLAN" instead, for those of you who feel that a "Budget" is too confining or restrictive. Over the next several weeks, I want to go over what a healthy "Budgeting Plan" should look like. Let's start at the very top of the list (or should be at the top!).
GIVING
 Giving? How can I give if I can't afford to after paying my bills? That's why it's at the top. For me, My Faith requires me to give 10% of my first fruits. (Giving only 10% back of what someone has given me sounds like a good deal to me!) So It comes off the top. If I don't do it in that order, I will always find another place to spend it. For those who may not have the same Faith or disagree with giving to a church for one reason or another, there is still the saying "Good will to all men (& women)" Does that not mean to help others? To give to others? I know that it's very easy to look inward when you have troubles of your own. Although everyone has troubles, if we all look inward at those times, no one will help anyone. We must give help in order to get help! So my question back to you would be, How can you not afford to GIVE? So I encourage you to start somewhere, as little as it may be at first, at least start. Most of us can squeeze it out of our "Budg- oop's "Cash Flow Plan" from another area, and we will be talking about those areas in the coming weeks. In our experience, this will make you feel better as a person and GIVE YOU a more abundant life knowing that you are a part of helping provide for someone else's needs.
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1-26-09



The Christmas Blues!
Did Christmas hurt your wallet again this year?

Are you looking at another year of credit card payments that funded Christmas? Let's start this year right! Make a commitment to set aside $20.00 to $25.00 a week starting with this week's pay check. This will give you more than $1000.00 for next Christmas.

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1-19-09


Secure your cell phone!
Bank robbery with a Cell Phone?

Do not use dead give aways in your cell phone address book to identify family members or your residence, for instance HOME, HUBBY, HUNNY, AUNT/UNCLE, MOM/DAD, etc.. I was told of a woman that had her purse stolen. Inside her purse was her cell phone. Within 25 minutes of the theft, the thief had text her husband for the pin number to their bank account and cleaned out the account. The reason the thief knew who to text was the name listed for the number- "Hunny". You should ALWAYS call back and/or have a secret code word to confirm who text you when personal information is asked for, or if asked to meet them somewhere. 
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1-12-09

 
GET A PLAN!
Failing to plan is planning to fail!

The Bible says in LUKE 14:28-30 Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he first not sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, "This fellow began to build and was unable to finish." 

You must have a plan! Not only for your short term and long term goals, but you also need to have a plan for what your going to do with the next four paychecks. Going around playing "Pin the tail on the next bill that comes in", is not a plan! You must put a plan in place every month, if you want to get ahead. It does not matter if you make $1,000.00 a Month or $10,000.00 a Month. If you don't have a plan, you won't keep much of that money. I promise you it will flow to someone that "DOES" have a plan!
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