Financial Planning
Budget Mentality Versus Net Worth Mentality (GP)
May 15, 2008 :: Financial Planning :: 5 Comments
One of the mantras that we hear a lot in the world of personal finances is "budget, budget, budget." But is this type of mentality really the best way to build wealth? More and more, some in the personal finance realm are starting to switch to a net worth mentality ...
Mint.com Money Management Software Review
May 6, 2008 :: Financial Planning :: 4 Comments
Money management is a tedious endeavor for many of us. It takes a significant amount of time and energy to keep track of expenses, come up with a balanced budget, and figure out ways to save money. Personally, I put my finances on autopilot and don't worry about ...
eFinPLAN Online Financial Planning Software Review
April 16, 2008 :: Financial Planning :: 9 Comments
Kent Irwin, who recently wrote a guest article: Is Suze Orman Right, Can You Be Your Own Financial Planner?, sent me a free license to use his eFinPLAN online financial planning software. In this post, I am going to provide you with my initial experience, and I will follow ...
Updating My Goals And Shooting For The Stars
March 31, 2008 :: Blogging, Financial Planning :: 22 Comments
At the beginning of the year, I shared several goals and established some milestones to be achieved by April 1st. In this post, I am planning to update these goals and set new ones for the future. I am doing this because I believe having clearly defined goals is the ...
5 Strategies to Survive An Economic Slowdown
March 25, 2008 :: Financial Planning :: 24 Comments
With the recent turn of events, I have been giving a lot of thought about what to do in event of economic slowdown -- i.e., recession, stagflation, depression, financial doom, or whatever you want to call it. As I put this list of 5 strategies together, I realize that they ...
SmartyPig Teaches Your Children About Savings For Financial Goals
March 24, 2008 :: Financial Planning :: 6 Comments
Yesterday I stumbled upon SmartyPig. It is an online piggy bank where you could set up savings goals, and invite family and friends to contribute to your account. While your savings is accumulating, it's earning a competitive interest rate of 4.30% APY. Once you reach a savings goal, you can ...
Is Suze Orman Right, Can You Be Your Own Financial Planner? (GP)
March 13, 2008 :: Financial Planning :: 18 Comments
About the Author: This is a guest post by Kent E. Irwin. He is founder of eFinplan.com, online comprehensive financial planning software for consumers. He is also a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) and a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU). He can be reached at kirwin ...
Living Stress Free Without Budgeting
February 18, 2008 :: Financial Planning :: 16 Comments
This article was part of the Money Blog Network February 2008 Group Writing Project. When it comes to budgeting, there are two main camps on this matter -- either you swear by it, or you believe budgeting doesn't work. For example, Nickel coined the term reverse budgeting and pretty ...
What To Do With The Fed Economic Stimulus Package Tax Rebate?
January 25, 2008 :: Financial Planning :: 26 Comments
So the stock market is doing badly and there's fear of recession. To combat our economic downturn, the Fed slashed interest rate by three-fourths of a percentage point, and the Congress hammered out a deal for a $150 billion in economic stimulus package. What does this mean? According to ...
Money Matters for All Ages - The Chaotic Thirties
January 21, 2008 :: Financial Planning :: 38 Comments
This article is part of the Money Matters for All Ages group writing project being conducted by the M-Network and other blogging friends. See the bottom of this article for the full list of participants and links to their articles. Please check back daily, as I will update the links ...
6 Easy Ways To Simplify Your Finance
January 10, 2008 :: Financial Planning :: 31 Comments
One of my favorite motto is: "simpler is better." I think it's crazy how someone like Madison can have 181 accounts and still live a sane life (hi, Madison). Since she shared her strategy on how to manage her 181 accounts and complex finance, I'll share how I ...
Review, Revise, and Revitalize 2007 Goals for 2008
January 3, 2008 :: Blogging, Financial Planning :: 27 Comments
As many of you know, I started this blog on July 15, 2007. During this time, I shared several goals with you, and there are some that I haven't shared (at least until now). In this post, I will review my goals, make some revisions, and set up ...
Do You Have a Will? Estate Planning 101
December 26, 2007 :: Financial Planning :: 16 Comments
About two weeks ago, my friend at Being Frugal asked You Tell Me: Do You Have a Will? I do, but it's so old, it's probably useless...unfortunately. With the recent arrival of my son, it's time for me to follow my own advice and create a basic ...
Quick Wins, Pareto, and Personal Finance
December 7, 2007 :: Financial Planning :: 9 Comments
In "Using Pareto Principle to Improve Personal Finance" post, I demonstrated how we could use the Pareto principal to focus our limited resources on the things that will give us the most benefits. Raymond from Money Blue Book commented: "Interesting concept -- so is it suggesting that I would be better ...
My 2008 Financial Resolution and a Chance to Win an iPod!
November 29, 2007 :: Financial Planning :: 13 Comments
Cash Money Life is running a contest Share Your 2008 Financial Resolution for a Chance to Win an iPod! that will end December 4th at 11:59 PM, Eastern Daylight Saving Time. I never own an iPod before, so I am going to give this a try. My best friend and his ...
