This time of year, everyone is getting extra money. Whether you are getting a tax refund, economic stimulus payment, or a bonus at work, you need to think about how you are going to spend the money. Year after year, I have gotten checks like this, spent the money in a week, and then wondered where the money went. If you use the money the right way, you can benefit from it all year.
10 Ways To Spend Your Money And Benefit All Year
Mortgage / Loans - By paying a few hundred dollars extra on your mortgage or loans, you can save thousands over the life of the loan. Take a look at my Calculators Page and use my loan calculator or credit card calculator to see just how much you will save.
Credit Cards - By paying down your credit cards, you can save hundreds on payments each month.
Home Improvements - You can spend the money making home improvements such as a deck/patio, needed repairs, landscaping, or even a tankless hot water tank (see my article on Going Green, Saving Green This will add value and enjoyment to your home.
Emergency Fund - Everyone should have an Emergency Fund. Your first goal should be to set aside $1,000 in a savings account for emergencies. Eventually you should try to put back 3 months salary. This protects you against losing your job, unexpected car or home repairs, medical needs, etc.
Vacation - Everyone needs at least one vacation a year. If you find time to get away and relax, you will come back to work refreshed. Work hard, but know what you are working for, and take time to enjoy your life and your money. See my article Dealing With Stress At Work.
Employment - Take a class. Self improvement in your line of work can help you at your current job, or help you to get a promotion or a better job.
College Fund - Got kids? When you become a parent, you find out that kids are not as expensive as everyone says. Diapers, milk, and clothes are all you have to worry about…for now. Start a fund for when your kids get older…You’ll need it. College, a car, a downpayment on a house. Kids aren’t expensive until they move out. Make sure you’re ready.
Retirement - Maybe your 20 or maybe your 60, but if you haven’t started putting money away for retirement, start now. You can’t live on social security, and unless you want to be working at 80, you will need a large retirement fund.
Student Loans - Student Loans are probably the worst credit trap. Pay for school, books, a car, nights out, … and pay later. Pay a lot later. Student loans payments can grow very quickly and haunt you for a long time. Pay them down as fast as you can.
A Night Out - With all this talk about money and bills, before you spend it all, take your significant other out for a night to relax. Money is the #1 cause of arguments in a marriage, so turn it around, and let your money give you an evening out to relax.
Budgeting Your Money
You should always try to get the most out of your money - the most benefit and the most enjoyment. Before you get you tax refund or bonus, plan out how you will spend the money, and stick to it. Set aside money for some or all of the suggestions above. With one refund or stimulus check, you can take a 3 day vacation to the beach with your family, pay down your credit cards, and come back from your vacation with lower bills for the rest of the year. Whatever you do, make sure you get enjoyment and financial benefit from your money.
The World Wide Web has staked its claim in both the financial and social world. Today, whether you are an indivual or a company, an employee or an employer, you probably spend a large portion of your day online. So, there are 101 reasons to have your own webpage. Here are a few reasons to have your own site:
A business site to bring in customers.
A site to make money online.
A site to house your resume and other information for interviewing and networking.
A site for your personal group or organization.
A personal site for socializing and meeting new people.
Most people are afraid of building their own site. It’s not easy to find out how to get started yourself. There are thousands of articles online, thousands of services to choose from, and thousands of books to tell you how. However, once you sort out what you want, it can be very easy.
Having A Website Built For You
Your first option is to pay someone to develop a website for you. The most popular site for finding a coder is Rent-A-Coder. You describe the job you want, and experts bid on your project. If you choose a bid, you send the money to Rent-A-Coder, and they place it in escrow until the job is done. The coder doesn’t get paid until you agree that the work has been done to your satisfaction.
Using A Free Service
There are many free service where you can point-and-click and build your site in a few minutes. Here are some of the most popular by website type:
Creating Your Site From Scratch
Once you get your feet wet with webpage creating, you may want to learn to create a page yourself. This is the most fulfilling option, and you have complete control over the page, but it takes a little more time. Here is what you will have to do.
Pay for Webhosting. Companies like SiteGround only cost about $6 per month. They give you a place to put your webpages after you write them. They also buy your domain name for you - like www.yourpage.com. Then, when someone goes to www.yourpage.com, Siteground shows them your page.
Create your webpage.
Advertise it.
There are several options to create your webpage. You can use a WYSIWYG, or What You See Is What You Get, editor like Microsoft FrontPage. This lets you point-and-click to create your webpage, and then you just copy the file to your Site Host. You can also learn a little html and write the page yourself. This is the most fun, and gives you complete control. Html is very simple to learn. You can pick up a book and learn all you need to know in a week. All you have to do is create a text file in a program like Microsoft WordPad, type in the html you want, and you have a webpage. If you want to go a little further, you can learn JavaScript, and add some excitement to your site. This is also an easy language to learn.
Smart Personal Finances is about providing free information and calculators to help you understand your financial situation and make the best decisions. Topics include mortgages, credit cards, jobs, personal income, expenses, retirement, student loans, and many more. Smart Personal Finances doesn’t just mean spending and borrowing wisely. To get the most out of your money, you have to earn and save wisely, and understand the financial decisions you make.
10 Ways To Improve Your Finances
Minimize Your Expenses
Understand Your Mortgage
Start An Emergency Fund
Understand Your Student Loans
Start A Retirement Fund
Lower Your Utilities
Maximize Your Income
Pay Off Your Debt Quickly
Start A College Fund
Follow A Budget
Each week, I will add articles and calculators covering these topics.
Financial Calculators
For each topic I cover, I will maintain a free calculator on this site. You can use them here, add them to your personal iGoogle page, or put them on your website or blog. This allows you to see the effect of any financial decision you make. The more informed you, the more likely you are to make good financial decisions.
Articles
The most difficult part of dealing with a difficult financial situation is not knowing or understanding your options. My goal is to develop an encyclopedia of finance knowledge where you can find the answers to any questions you may have. I will add three articles a week to this site on the topics important to your everyday life. There are links to bookmart this site at the top of the page so you can check back weekly to see what has been added. There is also a button in the righthand column to get my blog as a widget from widgetbox. This lets you see at a glance from your homepage new articles as they are added.
What Makes Smart Personal Finances Different?
There are thousands of blogs and websites on the internet giving financial advice. What makes this site different? There are hundreds of programs with financial calculators. What makes mine different? Everything on this site is free. I have nothing to sell. I have no reason to suggest one service or another. I only provide information and tools to help you make your own decisions. I do have sponsors whose ads appear on my site, but I only use sponsors whose services I feel will be beneficial to my readers.
Most people don’t go out and buy Quicken or any other financial software before they sign their mortgage or student loan. If you don’t currently have a retirement or emergency fund, or think you can’t afford one, you are not going to pay for advice. If you need advice on the getting the best deal on a loan, you don’t want to ask a lender. That is why everyone needs a free, unbiased source of information to make their decisions.
Who Am I?
My name is Christopher Johnson. I am a husband, father, mathematician, actuary, computer programmer, and web developer. If you have any questions about or comments about content on my site, or if you have suggestions for articles you would like to see, please feel free to Click Here to email me.
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