Debt Free Life Hacks: Managing Money Like a Boss

Humans have some horse-like tendencies. Before you get offended, let me explain. I recently went horseback riding for the first time and during that ride, I learned a lesson or two. We chose a private ride instead of a group ride, so there were just three horses including mine. Well, as we were riding, a large group with maybe 15+ horses and riders was passing us. They were going left, and we were going right - well, should have been going right. Unfortunately, my horse Laredo decided to go off course and go left with the group. My memory lapsed and I was unsure of what to do, I tried to do as I had been instructed, but Laredo did not want to turn around. Without getting too far into the weeds, what I learned that day, was that horses are social animals who exhibit herd behavior explaining why he wanted to follow the other horses.  People are similar, often following the crowd. This tends to happen in many facets of life, but we also see this in the world of finance and investing. ...

There are some topics that we would rather avoid. This is understandable, but it's probably a good idea to have those tough conversations anyway. Today's post is about adding beneficiaries to accounts. Let's get to it! What Happens if Something Happens to You? While it is a little daunting to think about, tomorrow isn't promised for any of us. You work hard for your money and that money allows you to own assets that you hold near and dear. Have you ever thought about what happens to your assets when you're no longer around? Maybe you know exactly what you want to happen, you want it to go to your children, or another loved one. Knowing is one thing, but if you haven't explicitly made this clear,( you know officially ), it may not go to who you want it to go to in the long run.  There's a simple solution that gives you the control to direct what goes to who. Today we'll talk about different accounts you may have ( saving other assets for another post! ). ...

Auto-Pay Blues 😨 I'm a big fan of auto-pay. It ensures that bills are paid on time to prevent late fees and interest. Most of my bills are scheduled for payment using auto-pay, and typically it works just well. Recently, however, I discovered that bills I thought were paid through auto-pay had not been paid. How did that happen? I can only blame myself. You see, setting up auto-pay is great, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be paying attention; I learned that set it and forget it is not the best approach. Why my utility bill was over $400 ?😱 I received an email from the utility company with the balance of my utility bill. When I saw the number, I nearly lost my mind. It was over $400, the highest utility bill I'd ever received. Yes, it had been freezing, but this couldn't be right, could it? After some investigation, I learned that the bill was 3 bills in one. The previous bill, stacked on top of the current bill, stacked on top of the final utility bill from ...

So it's settled; another round of stimulus checks are making way to the mailboxes and bank accounts of eligible individuals. Don't know if you're eligible? Find out more by visiting the Economic Impact Payments page on the IRS website.  Extra Money, How will you spend it? Depending on your circumstances, this extra check can help in various ways. If you suffered a job loss or a cut in hours, the extra money could help you make ends meet. If you are fortunate to still be doing okay during these trying times, the check could help you in other areas. The key is not to be wasteful.  Here are some ideas on how to spend your stimulus check for those without an urgent need: Emergency Fund  💰- If you do not already have a fully-funded emergency fund, consider putting some or all of your stimulus check into an existing emergency fund. If you do not have one, start one with these funds.  Pay Down Debt ➖- Have some bills or debt you need to take care of? This is an excellent o...

What if someone promised to give you $.50 on every $1 that you put into your investment account. What about $1 for every $1. Would you accept their offer or pass?  The answer is obvious You accept! When it comes to managing money like a boss, you are not going to pass up 💰💸🤑 FREE MONEY💰💸🤑 . Unfortunately, some people do. While many employers offer retirement plans where employees are able to invest and earn, there are still employees who are not taking advantage of these opportunities. Amounts will vary,  however, employers often will match a percentage of the dollars you contribute up to a certain max. No matter the amount, it is often in your best interest to contribute and take advantage of any free money that may be available to you.  Get Started Better late than never. If your employer has a retirement plan and you qualify, you'll want to participate. If there is a match, at the very least contribute up to the match. You may be thinking, "I can't afford to cont...

 Saving money and budgeting may come easy for some but can be a struggle for others. While you may have no problem restraining yourself from spending or overspending, there are some people who are very good at spending - and sometimes blowing money. Find an Accountability Partner No matter which category you fall into, I bet you know someone who is just the opposite. Maybe it's a spouse, a relative, a friend. These individuals can serve as  accountability partners . Wikipedia describes an accountability partner as "a person who coaches another person in terms of helping the other person keep a commitment."  If you are a spender, having an accountability partner who is more so a saver could benefit you greatly. If you are a saver, reach out to a spender you know and offer to be their accountability partner. What a wonderful opportunity to help yourself or someone else! What does an Accountability Partner do? You establish the rules. Say the spender has a goal to spend less...

Spending is easy. You go to the store, you see what you want and you get it. Maybe you're more into shopping online. How easy it is to type in your credit card number and hit submit? Even worse, you have different websites that save your payment details so all you have to do is throw some items into a virtual cart and checkout.  Spending can get out of control. You ever hear people talk about retail therapy? You're sad, so you shop, you're lonely, so you shop, you're bored so you shop, you're happy, so you shop. Soooo many reasons to shop.  Reasons to Stop Spending I'm tired of spending money. Have you ever looked around and thought to yourself, "I don't need ANYTHING!"? That's how I'm feeling these days. COVID-19 has us spending more time at home and probably more time online. This is where online shopping can start to get the best of you. In the beginning, I think I did quite a bit of shopping, some for my birthday, some since I couldn...

Every month, I have the same reaction to the percentage of the monthly budget that goes towards rent. It's a large chunk of money, and quite frankly too much in my opinion. Unfortunately, the rent isn't something that can easily be changed ( at least at the moment ). I decided that my energy would be better spent focusing on spending categories where I could make a difference, that is, categories that did have some wiggle room.  Below is the breakdown of the monthly budget.   Monthly Budget Income Allocation Housing 54% Food 18% Savings 15% Transportation 3% Giving 3% Personal 5% Lifestyle 2% Health 0% Insurance 0% Debt 0% You'll see that most categories are below 5% which is great, and no debt is an added bonus. So what next? A few weeks ago, I posted about going over budget on food and groceries. This was not something I wanted to repeat, so of course, it was a topic for the next budget committee meeting. Upon reviewing the budget it was determined that after housing ex...

Many car insurance companies are providing a discount for policyholders due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Discounts or reductions vary by the company as well as how the credit is applied or will be applied. You may have received a letter or email with the details and there may not be any action required on your part as it will likely apply automatically.  Take advantage of this opportunity to either pay your policy in full or in fewer payments. This will help save you even more money! Find out what your insurance company is offering or has offered in response to COVID-19. Below are links to details for some of the major providers. If your insurance company is not listed, just do a quick search online for your company and COVID-19. Allstate Insurance GEICO Insurance Nationwide Insurance Progressive Insurance State Farm Insurance

Maybe the best motivation to get your finances in order is when you really take a look at your finances. Knowing how much you make and how much you spend is only a piece of that puzzle. Considering all of your assets and liabilities, are you looking at a positive or a negative difference? If  the difference is negative, than that is motivation to pay down debts. If the difference is 0, that’s good because you have no debt, but motivation to build assets up.  If the difference is positive, you’re definitely headed in the right direction. Keep it up! What is net worth? Most simply speaking, net worth is the difference between your assets and liabilities. If all your loans and debts were paid, how much money remains? Consider that your net worth.  Examples:  Betty has a total of $10,000 in savings, $40,000 in retirement, $30,000 in student loans, and a $10,000 car loan. Betty’s net worth is $10,000 ($50,000 - $40,000). Jackie has a total of $50,000 in ...

In times of uncertainty, we can sometimes become anxious and begin to panic. This is one of those times where a lot of things are happening all at once. Businesses are temporarily shutting down, schools closing, some are facing layoffs, the stock market has hit record lows. There are a lot of moving pieces, but we must remain calm, work together and get through this.

Budgeting and saving can be challenging at times, but here are some tips to get you started! Create a budget - you telling your money what to do.  Stick to the budget - really use it to limit extraneous spending. Watch out for wasteful spending . Do you need that? Put it back! Try to go a week without making extra purchases - During a typical week, I'm back and forth to work. I rarely spend any money during the week.  Bring your lunch and snacks to work -  limit going out to eat and trips to the vending machine.  Buy Groceries - While you may be spending money on groceries, grocery shopping can amount to big savings. This typically means that you're cooking and eating at home which usually is less than money you would spend in restaurants.  Stay home some weekends -  If you're anything like me, a day out usually means spending money. Picking up items here and there, going out to eat, throw in a movie and drinks and there goes your money! Find fre...

Words of Wisdom from a twelve-year-old. With a five-second countdown, I asked my twelve-year-old nephew to give me a topic to write about for the blog. He said that was too much pressure, so I turned around and gave him an additional three seconds. 😆The topic he came up with was to only spend money on necessary things. To say that I was impressed is an understatement.💕👍 First of all, many adults do not have this mentality, and if they don’t, it’s quite likely that their children are the same.  Adults who are responsible with money are likely to have children who are responsible with money. What does it mean to only spend on necessary things?  It means that once your basic needs are met, everything else is extra. Food , Clothing , Shelter, and Transportation are all important things. Beyond that, it’s easy to become a bit wasteful. We’re all guilty of it, but being mindful of how and why you’re spending helps you to gain more control. This does not mean that you should...

Time is our most valuable asset, and once lost, we can never get it back. That’s why it’s so important to spend your time wisely and make sure your efforts are not in vain. In order to truly manage your money like a boss, you must be vigilant about knowing what goes in and what goes out. Having auto-bill pay is easy and convenient, just as long as you’re actually looking at the bills. It’s easy to miss a charge or charges otherwise. I recently made a call to my internet provider because a bill that is normally $50, was over two times higher, nearly $130. This HAD to be a mistake. There were charges for items and services that should have not been charged. While valuable time had to be spent calling the company, in the long run it was worth it. When all was said and done, the bill ended up being under $7. Had I not been paying attention,   I would have automatically paid the unusually high bill and that would have been the end. The point is to not be too busy being busy th...

The end of the year is near! It's a great time to make final contributions, finish up challenges, and reflect on your money journey. Did you save as much as you wanted to save? Did you spend more than intended? What challenges did you face? What unexpected expenses threw you off track? Were you able to get back on track? Did you pay off one or more debts? What stands out? As we plan and set goals, we must be reasonable and flexible. Life happens, that's just a fact. Recognizing what went well and what did not allows us to plan for the future. If this year car troubles hit the budget hard, it may be time to budget more for future repairs and maintenance or even create a savings plan for a new car. As mentioned in a previous post, I took part in the 52-Week Money Challenge for the second year in a row. I've made my final payment and have successfully reached this year's goal. It's so rewarding to set a goal, work towards reaching that goal, and finally reach...

Have you ever heard someone say they're going to drive their car until the wheels fall off? While we know good and well that it's just a figure of speech, it makes great sense. Automobiles are non-negotiable for most of us; we need them to get from point A to point B. That doesn't mean we need new ones every couple of years. A car note does not have to always be a part of one's life. According to Edmunds ,  On average, a new car loses 11% of it's value the moment you leave the lot. How crazy is that? So while some may consider their car to be an asset, in all actuality it is nothing more than a huge liability that loses it's value every day. The value of a car almost in all cases depreciates rather than appreciates. This means we must appreciate our cars for just what they are, a necessary expense. This means it's important to be selective and thoughtful when making a car purchase. Look for a reliable vehicle, that has what you want and need, that...

There's a great saying that I learned from my mother,   Treat yourself don't cheat yourself .  I'm all for this, and I enjoy a treat when well deserved. An important question to ask is, are you doing too much treating? People work hard and I believe that when you work hard, one should also play hard.  In this light, there is nothing wrong with rewarding yourself for accomplishments or reaching major milestones. The key is to make sure your rewards are reasonable and fair. Reasonable and Fair? You just successfully completed a challenging night course and to celebrate you decide to treat yourself to dinner at your favorite restaurant. That's a reasonable and fair treat. If you went out and leased a brand new car to reward yourself, that purchase is not as reasonable and is more a trick than a treat. The trick is you'll have payments every month, higher insurance, and more debt. Rewarding yourself once has now become a reoccurring expenses.  That exam...

You ever heard someone proclaim, "the more you make, the more they take"? Most likely they were talking about a paycheck and the amount of taxes taken out of it. Perhaps you worked overtime or received a bonus and was expecting a pretty nice check only to have your bubble popped when you realized that taxes have too taken its piece of your pie. What can you do? Gross Pay vs Net Pay Gross pay is what you earn before anything is taken out (deductions, taxes, etc.).  Net pay is the amount you're paid after taxes and deductions.  Gross Income could be $4000 while the net or take-home pay is $2800. There are a number of factors that contribute to the amount taken out of a check. In this post, we're looking at how to fully take advantage of pretax deductions to hopefully lose less to taxes. Why taking more out before taxes is a good thing... We're all responsible for paying our share of taxes, but there are ways to lower your overall tax burden. ...

Many people are not strangers to the challenges of health and wealth.  People often struggle in one or both of these categories.  How Health and Wealth Compare When it comes to health, oftentimes we know what we should or should not be doing. We know that we should be eating a healthy balanced diet and staying physically active. We know that we should not be eating lots of fast foods, processed foods and that we should not be inactive.  When you think of it that way it's quite simple.   Health = Eat Right and Exercise Yet, so many of us struggle with it. Why is that? The same is true when it comes to dealing with finances. We know what we should or should not be doing. We know that we should live within, if not below, our means, that we should save more and spend less. We know that we should not be overspending, spending wastefully, and we should not be increasing our debt.  So just like health, when it comes to money, the concept is simple.  ...

As I mentioned in a recent post, last week I started Financial Peace University (FPU). Ever heard of Dave Ramsey? He is the creator of FPU. FPU is a course that teaches participants how to budget, how to pay off debts, how to save and give.  While not in debt, I knew the program still had lots to offer and that I could only benefit from participating.  The course follows 7 "Baby Steps". While familiar with the program and the baby steps from the books and podcast, I still learned some new things. One thing was that no matter what your financial situation there is always room for growth and room for improvement. I've become even more determined to build wealth and do what is necessary to protect said wealth, once accumulated (when, not if 😁). I went home immediately trying to think of ways to grow my emergency fund (Baby Step 3) and then focus on Baby Step 3b, which is to save 20% for the down payment of a new home. Another thing that I was introduced to wa...