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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…)

photo credit: James Cridland
Starting a new job is an excellent time to look into setting your finances up better. An interesting article from Mint gives a long list of tips for new employees who want to do something about managing their finances from the word go. The tips include:

• Get your pay check paid by direct deposit rather than a check in the hand - it’s less tempting to spend it. (In most countries outside the United States, getting paid by check is impossible - bank deposits are the only way).
• Arrange for direct payments from your salary into a savings or investment account - pay yourself before you pay others!
• With a new income amount, it’s a great time to draw up a personal budget and find good strategies to help you stick to it.
• Use part of the new income to build up an emergency fund.
• Make sure you get sufficient health coverage from your new employer, or set up your own if the employer doesn’t offer any.
• Learn more about tax deductions and tax liability so that you can maximise how much money you get to take home each month by knowing what should be withheld.
• Use the regular income to regularly service your debt and try to reduce it as much as possible.
• Set up the right kind of retirement savings accounts. If you have a 401K that your employer will match, contribute the maximum amount possible.

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Over at the No Credit Needed blog, a recent post looked at the writer’s financial priorities for the future. It makes for an interest list and something that a lot of people in debt are probably striving to achieve - and we know that making a list of your goals always helps you to achieve them faster and better. So let’s take a look at the key financial priorities on this list:

• Live within a budget - always have a written budget so you know where you plan to put your money
• Have insurance - always have sufficient coverage of the necessary kinds of insurance (for example, health, dental, life or disability)
• Have an emergency fund - for at least six months’ worth of living expenses
• Fully-fund retirement accounts - that makes the annual tax bill lower and increases the wealth for the retirement days
• Fund self-education accounts - the No Credit Needed blogger has three young children, and has the goal of saving enough for their college tuition
• Live without borrowing money - but with one big advantage - this guy has a house funded by his employer
• Continue to live without credit cards - he uses a debit card instead for situations where a credit card is usually very convenient.

It might be interesting to reconsider your list of financial priorities, too.

photo credit: Biology Big Brother

Your health care can be a source of huge bills, but it’s really not something you want to neglect. But what many people don’t realise is that most hospitals are happy to negotiate on costs. Here are some tips to help you save money on your health care without compromising the care that you receive: (more…)

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Women are facing a financial problem. They generally earn less and start saving later, but they live longer than men: so how will they have enough money to fund their retirement? (more…)

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Self-employed people are often a bit bamboozled over the whole IRA idea, but it’s not as hard as it sounds: the best way is to set up what’s known as a SEP-IRA, which stands for Simplified Employee Pension. Daniel Sorid recently wrote an overview which made the SEP-IRA process clear. (more…)

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The internet isn’t just an easy way to do a lot of things these days - it can also often be a cheaper way. That makes sense because companies operating over the internet have lower overheads and can provide their services and products to customers more cheaply - so why not take advantage of it. (more…)

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Only 30 million Americans are lucky enough to be covered by a traditional pension plan, and if you’re one of them, you’ve probably wondered whether taking a lump-sum payment would be better than your monthly pension check. Though it may seem complicated, when you take the facts into consideration, the answer is clear: (more…)

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When the summer heat hits and you just want to cool the house down, the electricity bill that comes with the air conditioning use can be crippling. But there are many ways to keep this bill as low as possible this summer: (more…)

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If you’ve got some heavy credit card debts, your key priority has to be to pay down some of your debt so that you can start getting financially on top of things again, and you can start planning for the future. A recent article at About.com had some great suggestions for ways you can find some money to start reducing your credit card bills: (more…)