Financial Planning, Retirement Plan, 401k, Investment Blog

Financial Planning, Retirement Plan, 401k, Investment Blog

Posts Tagged ‘financial goals’

Coupons – Great Way to Save on Groceries

Posted May 29, 2011 by Bernz

Saving money has become a way of life for many people who are trying to adjust to living on a budget. If you would like to know more about saving money on groceries, then you should really consider using coupons whenever possible. Using coupons for everyday expenses may take some getting used to, but the money you will save will be worth it in the long run. If you have never used coupons before, there are many resources available on the internet that can help you with whatever questions you might have.

For some people, the concern with coupons may be the time it takes to find them and cut them out. In reality, it really does not take a long time to pull the coupon inserts out of the Sunday paper and cut them out. One thing that will save you time though is to only cut out coupons for things that you use. Don’t waste your time on the dog food coupons if you do not have a dog! There are also many other places that you can find coupons besides the Sunday paper.

If you spend a lot of time online, you may already know that there are sites that are dedicated to coupon lovers and offer you the chance to print off whatever coupons they have available for free. When searching these sites, it is important to remember one thing and that is that when you print lots and lots of coupons, you may spend a lot of money on ink to print them. An idea to keep the cost of printing coupons down is to only print the ones that think you will use.
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Training your Kids to be Financially Savvy

Posted May 12, 2011 by Bernz

Teaching children about money may not be something that you think you can do if you are not a financial genius. But don’t worry because given the fact that you are an adult means that you already know more than they do about many different things including money. Children love to learn, especially very young children. If you have children you have probably already noticed that they want to absorb as much knowledge as they can about every topic possible.

This is good news for both parents and teachers because it makes teaching them easier. What you do have to remember when you teach them important life skills like how to manage money is to make it fun. If learning is not fun, it will be more difficult for the children to pay attention and they will soon forget what you just said to them about saving up their pennies instead of spending them.

A great way to make sure that you have their attention is to use something to represent money that they will pay attention to, like their favorite candy or something similar. Another idea for parents to use to teach their children about money is to buy them a piggy bank. There are these great piggy banks that are specifically designed for children to teach them about financial responsibility. The banks are shaped like pigs, but have four separate slots so that the child can divide their money up equally.

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Posted in Financial Education, Financial Goals, Saving Money, Wealth Building | No Comments »

Estate Planning – When and Why it’s Needed

Posted April 17, 2011 by Bernz

It is very important for everyone, not just those with a lot of money to plan out what they want to happen with their estate once they are gone. Though many people do not like to talk about death, it is a necessary part of life and everyone should make the time to write out an estate plan. While many people think that a will is the only part of the plan that they need, you will also want to think about power of attorney as well as a living will.

No matter how small your assets are, if you do not have a will in place when you pass away, you could be leaving a legal mess for your loved ones. Not only will they have to sort out your possessions, but they will probably have some unexpected expenses that could end up costing them a lot of money. Even if you know that you need to make a plan for your estate, you may not know where or when to start.

Well, the answer to the when question is easy. You should definitely start working on putting together a will as soon as possible. If you have a home or any other large assets then it is even more important that you make creating a will a priority. But an even better reason than because you have property is if you have children. Life can get pretty complicated if Aunt Nancy and Grandma Mary both think that you would have wanted them to become the guardians of the kids because there was no will to tell them otherwise.

 

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What is Hard Money Lending And When Should You Use It?

Posted January 12, 2011 by Bernz

Seasoned real estate investors often use a type of financing called “hard money lending”.  While this type of financing is mostly used by investors specializing in single-family properties, it can also be used to finance commercial properties.  If you’ve never heard of “hard money lending”, you’re not alone.  Most people haven’t.

One of the reasons this type of financing is not well known outside of the real estate investing industry is that the source of funding comes from private parties.  There are no large stockholder-owned corporations doing this kind of lending.  Typically it’s a private individual with deep pockets.

Another reason you haven’t heard of it is that a very specific type of business loan.  “Hard money” loans are usually set up as short-term balloon mortgages.  The monthly payments consist of interest only, and the principle is paid at the end of the loan term in one lump sum.  It’s not a good long-term financing vehicle, but it can be an excellent source of funds for investors who are acquiring fix-up properties.

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Posted in Financial Goals, Investing Strategies, Loans | 3 Comments »

Financial Goals, You Have Those Right?

Posted November 1, 2008 by Bernz

The media is really making a big deal about the stock market right now and how much money people are losing. However, those with clear set financial goals are not sweating at all or certainly a lot less.

At each stage of life we have different goals and different plans. These all usually involve money, so you have to balance these investments around your cash allocation, income, and your age. Setting your financial goals should involve two steps.

By Nadav Dov Boretzki

Step one: Where are we in life?

Are you going to stay where you are? Do you have any school plans? Are you married, single, engaged? Are you planning on buying a house? Sometimes it feels like we need a financial planner to aid us in figuring all this out, but in effect you need to gauge where you are going or where you want to be in the next 5-10 years. If you are going back to school, plan for more debt, if you are buying a house, then plan for large down payment, and so on and so on. Risk capital can be a great vehicle to achieving these goals.

Set your financial goals. It’s your money, use it to your advantage!

Step two: Time to distribute the money

So now its time to take your income deduct living expenses (see my article on a spending plan), and then use those savings to grow and achieve your financial goals. Using this plan, you can plan your large purchases and see how soon you can be in that new neighborhood, or in that new dream job that you have always wanted.

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