Finance Tips

Personal Budgeting Tips and Tools

Net-Worth Statement
Creating a Net-Worth Statement will help you to get an idea of the big financial picture, as it pertains to your assets, your debt, and your overall net-worth. Click Here to Download Now!

Monthly Income WorkSheet
Calculate your net monthly income – it’s a fairly easy and quick process. Your net income is the amount of income that you 'take home' from each paycheck, after taxes and other deductions. Your net monthly income is the total that you take home each month. Click Here to Download Now!

Spending Accounts Worksheet
Identify the different type of spending accounts that you will need. There are two types of spending accounts— monthly and periodic. Click Here to Download Now!

Monthly Spending Plan Spreadsheet
Record your annual and monthly spending for each of your spending accounts. You will likely need to make adjustments, so please be sure to use a pencil to record this information. Click Here to Download Now!

Debt Summary Worksheet
Before you can start to eliminate your debt, you need to first understand what your debt load is. This worksheet will help you create a list of your debt obligations. Click Here to Download Now!

Debt Roll-Down Worksheet
The debt roll-down principle helps you quickly payoff your debts. This is done by applying a small debt accelerator payment to the first debt you can pay off. Once that debt is paid off you take the amount you had been paying on the first debt and roll it down to accelerate the debt payoff of the second debt. You continue to do this until all you debt is re-paid. Click Here to Download Now!

Budget Spreadsheet

Download this customizable budget spreadsheet created in Microsoft Excel. Click Here to Download Now!

Free Budgeting Software

AceMoney helps you organize and manage your personal finances quickly and easily. With AceMoney, you can manage multiple accounts of different types: checking, savings, credit cards, loans, debt accounts, etc. You can even create your own specialized account types, such as cash allowances for the kids!
AceMoney makes it a breeze to create and manage your budgets. The program has more than 100 pre-defined spending categories, and you can define your own. You can set up budget limits for every category and track the difference between actual and budgeted values.
Track your spending habits and see where the money goes. Generate reports by categories or payees, as tables or pie charts. Now you can really find out just where last month's paychecks went! Find all your withdrawals and deposits by any parameter.
Never miss a bill-payment date. AceMoney takes control of your finances and shows you when bills and income are due. Account information can be shared or password protected. Scheduled backup is automatic. Many other features are instantly usable without prior experience in accounting.

Click Here to Download AceMoney Lite 3.8.3: AceMoney Lite

Does it sometimes seem like the dollars are slipping through your fingers while the bills just seem to keep mounting up? It's a familiar feeling for many of us nowadays. Sometimes, though, like most things in life, taking a step back from it all and starting to get some simple things right can make a huge difference on the big picture.

If your debts have been getting you down recently, here are 10 great ways to start slashing them today:

1. First off, consider going on a "cash diet" for the next few months. Lock away some of those credit cards in a safe deposit box... or just cut them up altogether! By all means keep a low interest rate card for emergencies, but definitely rid yourself of any store cards. Why? Because they encourage you to buy junk you don't need at exorbitant rates of interest!

2. If you're having difficulties with any of your lenders, approach and deal with them personally. Not only will they appreciate your initiative, but will be far more responsive down the line if you're having further repayment difficulties. The one thing that irritates them most is someone ducking and diving the problem.

3. If you think you can afford to pay off any of your loans in one go, approach your lender and offer a reduced final settlement of anything between 25 and 75%. Try and get the best deal. They can only say no, and might just say yes to get some money in. When I was deep in debt, I was fortunate to pay off a bank overdraft in this way. In fact, they proposed straight off a settlement of 75%... not me!

4. Ask for a promotion at work. Believe it or not, it's estimated that one in two people who actually do this get one.

5. Shop around to get the best deals on utilities like gas and electric... A home energy audit can help save hundreds of dollars a year on heating bills. Ask your supplier who may be able to this for free or at very low cost. Many countries now have websites where you can make sure you're getting the best deal. Try doing a web search for "energy savings" plus your country. A good US site for this is: http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/.

6. If you have a spare room, why not consider renting it out for a while.

7. Check to see you're paying the right amount of tax. You might possibly be due a refund. Every year governments rake in hundreds of millions in unclaimed tax. You can get free software programs to help you with this.

8. Buy cheaper insurance and investments. Shop around for the best deal on all types of insurance, including life, home, health, travel and pet cover. This could save you thousands over the coming years!

9. Consider shopping more online. Online stores often give a discount as they don't have the same overheads involved when selling offline. Search for those goods you want using a search engine or ask the retailers themselves if they have an online store.

10. Have a direct debit set up so that your debt payments leave your account the day your paycheck is paid in. That way, you'll be less tempted to spend it. And when you do get out of debt, charge a direct debit to another account and pay in a regular monthly amount (as much as you can afford.) Call this your own personal wealth insurance. You'll never regret it. By adopting the above strategies, the light at the end of the tunnel will start shining that little bit brighter. Instead of spending more than you earn, you'll soon be earning more than you spend!

One of the first things you have to do before any debt can be eliminated is to STOP USING CHARGE ACCOUNTS. If you continue to use the accounts, you are only continuing the problem, and building on it, not solving it. So, make a resolution now to stop charging anything and to get financially stable. If you can't pay cash for it, you don't need it, make it just that simple and you will find yourself out of debt in no time at all.

Home Budgeting Tips

Tips to get out of debt start with one that is absolutely essential to payoff debt. And that is to set up a budget you can live with, then follow it. Keep a diary of all money spent, whether it is by cash, check, credit card, etc. Once you know where your money is going, then, and only then, can you take the steps needed to prepare a good budget that you can live with and make huge strides to budgeting your debt away.

Comb through your budget and cut out the waste. This is essential to getting your financial life back on track. Some of those things you thought you couldn't live without are draining your money, and may only be conveniences you don't really need. You have to be ruthless in deciding what stays in your budget and what gets eliminated. But the time and effort you spend here, will determine the success or failure of your money saving endeavors.

Once you have established a budget you can live with, determine how much extra you can spare to apply to your bills on a monthly basis. But don't forget to pay yourself first! Set aside money for savings, and rainy days, every payday and stick to it. Use this money for emergencies, and special things for your family. This will help keep those credit cards in your wallet, and out of the cashier's hands.

Earmark larger payments to the higher interest accounts first. Once these are reduced, or gone, then apply that extra money to the next highest interest accounts. Stay with one bill until it is paid off, don't try to "spread" the extra money to extra payments on several bills at the same time. You need the emotional reinforcement of seeing your debt reducing quickly in order to stay focused on debt reduction and living within your budget.

Creditors use home budgeting guidelines when reviewing and approving credit. If your debt exceeds the financial communities recommended guidelines, then you have a higher risk of credit applications being denied. Plus, you will pay more interest since you will be perceived as a higher risk.

Getting, and keeping, your debt in line with recommended guidelines, is an important step in debt relief and debt recovery. Use the following guidelines to review the items in your budget, and make special note of expenses that are out of line:

Housing 35% - Mortgage or rent, taxes, repairs, improvements, insurance, and utilities
Transportation 20% - Monthly payments, gas, oil, repairs, insurance, parking & public transportation
Debt Budget 15% - Credit cards, personal loans, student loans & other debt payments
All other expenses 20% - Food, insurance, prescriptions, doctor & dentist bills, clothing & personal
Investments & Savings Budget 10% - Stocks, bonds, cash reserves, art, etc.

Next to each item that is out of line, make notes as to why you think they are out of line with recommended guidelines. Be honest, be brutal, but write it down. It is the only way to ensure that you consciously accept the reasons for your debt problem so that you can fix it permanently. Remember, debt relief is a temporary solution, only you can make debt problems disappear for good.

If you find one home budgeting guideline percentage to be more than you need, or less than you need for your personal situation, feel free to take from one to give to another. Keep in mind though, you want to eventually get your debt budget down to, or below, that 15% recommended guideline. That has to be your primary goal if you are using Home Budgeting Guidelines for debt relief.