Personal Finance Tips
"PAPERWORK IS JOB ONE!"
Personal Finance Tips To Save You Money
Check these tips to Managing Your Personal and Financial Records.
Anyone can learn how to manage their own finances with just a little effort and the right resources. My personal finance tips are things I explain to my family and clients in plain language. I really believe that "Paperwork is JOB ONE!".
PLP Tip #1: Keep (and Watch) Your Finances
No job is more important than keeping your personal financial records in order. Do you know where you stand - financially speaking?
Find out how to keep your records straight yourself with these simple methods.
PLP Tip #2: Pay the Lowest Interest Rates Available to SAVE Yourself Money Every Day
Whenever you use credit, you are paying to use someone else's money at the interest rate they demand. Interest rates are NOT STANDARD and are usually set according to your personal credit rating.
You can legally change your credit records and improve your credit score. You SHOULD take action to repair your credit records to raise your credit score. Read more about what you can legally do to fix your credit rating.
PLP Tip #3: Don't Pay More Tax than You Need To!
While this seems obvious, there are several things you should do to ensure you only pay the government what it requires. You SHOULD get all the deductions allowed by law. It is certainly your right to keep as much of your hard-earned money as you can.
When you complete your own tax returns, you can miss normal deductions that a professional will know about. I certainly recommend that you bring what he/she needs from YOU before you hurry out to their offices with your pile of financial records.
Find out what to bring and how to Pay Less Taxes, or pay the government and a tax preparer the minimum.
PLP Tip #4: Don't Use Your Tax Withholding as a Savings Account
If you always expect to get a large tax return, you are losing money every payday!
The government does NOT pay you anything to hold your money for you. If you withhold more money than you need to from your paycheck, you should decrease your deductions and pay the government less money.
As soon as possible, complete another W-4 form from your employer(s) and get more money in each of your paychecks. It is wise to invest that amount yourself and earn some interest on it.
PLP Tip #5: Review Your IRA
A lot of people overlook the need to review the holdings in their IRA's and investment accounts. It may be clear that some changes should be made when you review your financial statements. If you want to learn to do this yourself, you CAN.
Using the Internet, you can lookup the symbols of companies and mutual funds that are listed on your IRA statements. These statements list the value of each investments you own (in your IRA) and the changes since the last prepared statement. Reviewing consecutive statements will show you the past performance of the holdings.
You can look up the symbols as you would any company or mutual fund with the tools I give you here and in my ebook Researching Stocks with Yahoo. I recommend you maintain separate MyYahoo portfolios of what you "own" in each of your accounts so you can watch them easily.
Moving your investments from one stock or mutual fund to another (buying and selling) within your IRA is your right. Some people don't even realize that or have no idea how to begin. That is what this website and my ebook Researching Stocks with Yahoo is primarily about.
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