If you’re like me, it’s hard to believe that 2010 is already half over! How are you doing on the financial resolutions you set for yourself in January? Not so great? Don’t worry, now’s the perfect time to assess your financial resolution progress and determine if you should make any changes to meet your goals by the end of the year.
Over the past 10 months, Money Talk has covered a number of subjects related to helping you achieve your financial goals. In this post, I’ve linked some great online feature articles and calculators you may have previously missed on subjects that can help you recommit to meeting your 2010 resolutions.
Financial Resolution #1: Save More - Sounds easy, right? But changing your habits so that you save more of your take home pay sometimes requires creative thinking. First, if you have regular child care or medical expenses, be sure to look into flexible savings accounts. Seek out employer matches to your retirement contributions; if available, and if you are over the age of 50, you’re eligible to use catch-up contributions. Don’t forget to investigate whether you are qualified to use the educators’ expense deduction or lower income saver tax credit. Lastly, check out the online calculators How Much Should I Set Aside for Emergencies? and for longer term or retirement saving, Am I Saving Enough? What Can I Change?
Financial Resolution #2: Spend Less - This goal goes hand in hand with saving more, but requires diligence to break some “less than helpful” spending habits you may not even know you have. Be sure to seek out discounts wherever you can like brown bagging lunches and bringing your own coffee to work. Use the public library and other free community resources whenever you can, and read Works4Me to find creative cost savings for the classroom. Also, don’t forget to check out online budgeting tools like How Much Am I Spending?, What’s it Worth to Reduce My Spending? and How to Make a Budget and Stick to It.
Financial Resolution #3: Decrease Debt - To be effective in decreasing the amount you owe on debt, consistency is key. Develop a plan you can stick with to break down your debt and learn about the fees you are paying on the consumer debt you currently carry. Other good debt decreasing advice can be found in the article Using a Snowball to Melt Away Debt and for education related debt read Put Your Debt in Detention.
Financial Resolution #4: Learn More about Finance - This topic can sound overwhelming and ever changing, but just like eating the proverbial elephant, take it one bite at a time and consider it lifetime learning. A good start is to pick a few smaller topics and build from there, such as determining your financial opportunity cost, understanding the rule of 72 and how compounding and dollar cost averaging work. For some investing basics, review subjects like risk tolerance, asset allocation and the reasons for rebalancing. Lastly, bookmark the Money Features section of neamb.com and check it regularly for new articles on the subjects of finance, money and saving.
© 2009 NEA’s Member Benefits Corp. Please see important information about this blog.
