The new year is upon us, and this means it is time to start planning for the next 12 months. Do you have any financial goals for the new year? If you are behind in this area you need to catch up at once. Believe it or not, financial planning for the new year is not as hard or as time consuming as some so-called experts will want you to believe. Yes, you need to take time to ensure that you are setting realistic goals and making the right moves. But at the same time this does not have to take several weeks of headaches and mess-ups.

The way you plan your finances for the new year is up to you. For instance, some people will want to save more money this year. Others will want to pay down their debt. Some will want to do both. It is up to you to decide on your financial goals for the next 12 months. They can be whatever you want as long as they will benefit you in the long run.

Don’t overlook the power of having a financial plan for 2009. A solid plan, coupled with goals, are what you need to succeed.

The latest bunch of tips from Gerri Willis at CNN concern what you can do if you’ve been laid off recently. As usual her tips are varied but probably all useful, and unfortunately tips targeting those who’ve been laid off are becoming relevant to more and more people at the moment. In summary, she suggests:

• Don’t withdraw money from your 401(k) - unless you have absolutely no other option. You’ll be cashing in an investment that is at a low point (therefore losing money), and you’ll have to pay the 10% penalty unless you’re already almost 60 years old. In other words, you’re losing a lot of money on dollars you will still need in the future.
• Find some other sources of money - if you have a home equity line of credit, use that; if not, try to find even some part-time work (not necessarily related to your usual work) or possibly look at freelancing.
• Consider retraining - certain professions have some obvious retraining possibilities at the moment, for example Willis mentions that construction workers are now commonly being retrained as green retrofitters. Look around for something where you can use some of your existing skills and experience but in an industry where getting a new job is a better prospect.

There are a few reasons why some parts of the United States are simply a safer investment than others, where the market is nearly always robust enough to survive the economic ups and downs that destroy other real estate markets. A diverse mix of income sources and companies to provide steady employment, zoning and urban plans that don’t allow for wild building frenzies and a tendency not to attract sudden influxes of people moving in are just some of the factors, and Forbes has used all these criteria and more to create a list of five US real estate markets that they think have longevity. If your real estate investment is in any of these five cities, you can consider yourself pretty fortunate (or smart!):

• Seattle, Washington: because there’s still been good job growth and no out-of-control building
• Washington, D.C.: in part, because it has the lowest unemployment rate in the whole country
• San Antonio, Texas: with good job growth and not too much building
• Minneapolis, Min: because it didn’t go crazy with a boom and has a strong base of manufacturing and multinationals
• New York, N.Y.: because there was no crazy building boom - there’s nowhere left to build - and it has the lowest accommodation vacancy rate of all cities

According to Nora at the Wisebread blog, you can stick to a budget on vacation and still have fun. She recently wrote about a bunch of vacationers she ate with at a Hawaiian restaurant’s “Taco Tuesday” night and noticed how each of them had a different budget - but the ones who didn’t spend so much were still having just as much fun on their vacation as those who were maxing out their credit cards.

Some of Nora’s useful advice for not blowing all your savings on vacation - but still having fun - include:

• Focus on the people you’re spending your vacation with. You can enjoy time with them without having to spend a lot of money - you can even skip a fancy restaurant meal by buying wine, cheese and crackers and have a relaxing picnic in a local park or near the beach.
• Don’t spend heaps of money on souvenirs and gifts for friends back home. If you see something that you think a friend would really love, by all means buy it, but don’t try to get something for everyone out of some feeling of obligation.
• You don’t have to go to expensive restaurants for special meals to make it a special vacation.
• Don’t justify doing all the extra trappings (a helicopter ride, for example) “just because you’re on vacation” - there are always other ways to enjoy the trip and some sightseeing and sometimes they’ll be much more enjoyable than the pricier activities.

If you have children it is important that you give them the knowledge they need to succeed. And while “book smarts” are very important, you must remember to teach your children about money as well. This is not a subject that is always touched on in school so it is your job to do so at home. With the right money management skills your children will have the knowledge they need to get a good start with their financial life when the time comes.

It is not always easy to teach children about money management, but it is more than possible. As soon as your children begin to receive an allowance is when you should begin to talk to them about money management. This includes everything from how to save money, how to spend, and how to set a budget. Of course, you do not have to get to in-depth; you don’t want to confuse them.

The earlier you teach your children about money management the better. As long as they have an understanding of what money is and how the system works you should be able to start talking with them about money management and other financial topics.

There are a lot of scared and worried people out there right now. If you’re one of them, maybe you could use some of the advice Tina Su gives at her Think Simple Now site on how to overcome fear during the current economic crisis. Rather than dwelling on the problems and feeling worse and worse, Tina has several useful pieces of advice for how to emotionally survive the recession:

• Focus on what you’re able to control: For example, accept that you can’t control the stock market, but you can control your reaction to what happens to your stocks.
• Reduce news consumption: In crisis times, people tend to glue themselves to the TV to find out all the latest (bad) news - just stick to getting the basics instead and don’t make yourself more depressed.
• Be grateful: Don’t think about what you’re losing or can’t have - focus on what you have to be happy about and grateful for, like family and friends.
• Remember that things will get better: The economy runs in cycles. Things will bounce back, although we can’t be sure when.
• Make sure you have an emergency fund: Just in case you lose your job or have unexpected expenses, you should always have an emergency fund, but in times like these it’s even more important to save part of your income every month.
• Choose to be happy: Learn more about maintaining a positive attitude to life and choosing happiness rather than a negative emotion.

With the new year here it is very important that you have a budget in place to guide you through the next 12 months. Do you have a budget that you can rely on? If so, you should be set from here on out. But if you don’t have a budget you need to stop what you are doing and fix this problem at once. Many people feel that budgeting is a waste of time, but you will find out soon enough that this is not the case.

Contrary to popular belief you don’t have to spend a lot of time devising a budget for the new year. You don’t want to rush but you don’t want to spend several weeks figuring things out either. Instead, set aside some time during which you can set a budget based on your income, expenses, and savings goals.

It goes without saying that you need to have a budget in place for 2009. If you have yet to do so you are already behind the eight ball. Fortunately, you have time to catch up if you get on your toes and take the proper steps. No matter who you are and what your finances look like you can benefit from a budget.

If you’re heavily in debt and looking for a way out, it’s quite appealing to hear someone saying they can help you get your debt reduced or canceled. Unfortunately, there are a number of illegal debt reduction and cancellation scams being operated these days, and you can end up owing more money and having a worse credit rating.

Basically, the rule of thumb is that if it is too good to be true, then it just can’t be true. Debt scammers generally use a few particular tricks, including: (more…)

Saving money by shopping online is something that many consumers have found beneficial. If you are not the “online shopping” type you may want to reconsider. With the online world offering so much you are making a mistake if you continue to shop at local stores without giving the internet a chance.

How can you save by shopping online? The best way is to use the internet to compare prices and products. For instance, you may be in the market for a new computer. While you could opt to buy from a big box electronics store in your city, the internet offers more options. The internet gives you the chance to find and compare computers at a wide range of stores. Soon enough you will have the knowledge to make the right decision. This means that you will not only find the best computer, but you will also locate the store that is offering the best price. Does it get any better than that?

You, as well as anybody else, can save a lot of money by shopping online. No matter what you are in the market for, use the internet to find the best deal. You may be surprised at how easy it can be!

credit: amishsteve
So you’ve blown the budget, spent more than you could really afford, or life’s changing circumstances mean that you’ve accumulated more debt than you want to deal with. Sometimes it might feel like a pit that you can’t get out of, but here are three basic steps to get you back on your way to financial success: (more…)