Posts Tagged ‘financial planning’

3 ways to maximize your savings

Are you, like many people today, trying to make sure that you have a little bit of money saved in case something unexpected happens? It is no secret that building your savings is a good idea, but sometimes we find it hard to do this in a consistent way. For example, we often plan to save so much of our paycheck, but then end up spending so much of our savings-to-be money that we don’t even see the point to putting the rest back. Well, believe it or not, even though you have the best intentions to save, that right there might be your biggest problem.

The intention to save is a funny thing, because it is often what causes us to fail when it comes to putting money aside. Here are three ways to not let your intentions get into the way of your savings. (more…)

Planning for your childrens financial future

In world where economic instability plagues us in nearly every way, it can be hard for parents to look ahead to the success of their children. It seems that even professional, trained cannot find work nowadays, let alone someone who has had no former training or schooling. But, what you have to remember is that you cannot make or brake your child’s success. He or she will have to succeed on his/her own. However, you can help, and you can help best by making sure that when your child leaves home, he or she has their own savings account with enough money in it to get them by.

There are several ways to build up a savings account for your child, and here are some suggestions that you might want to consider. First, you could put aside a certain percentage of all the money your child receives for birthdays, holidays, etc. If you have a big extended family, than odds are that your child receives quite a bit of money for these occasions. Plan to put aside ten, twenty five, or even fifty percent of this money for your child over the years. 25 percent of your child’s birthday money, if saved for 18 years, can build up a pretty good savings account. Also, by not putting all of it aside, this gives your child spending money that they can use immediately. And trust me when I say that your children will thank you years later when they have that big savings account to pull them through tough times!

Another way to build up this savings account as your child grows older is by charging them a small amount of money for rent every month, and then putting all of that money in the account as well. For instance, lets say that your 16 year old son starts working at a pizza parlor. He makes like $60 a week. Well, charge him $30 a month for rent, and put this money in his savings every month. First, this will teach him to appreciate bills and deadlines, and second, it will build him a savings account at the same time.