.How to Be the Executor of an Estate
.How to Be the Executor of an Estate: Duties & Responsibilities
Beth Braverman Jun 4, 2019
Dealing with the aftermath of the death of a loved one can be an incredibly emotional time. That said, it’s also a very important time financially, for you and for other people named in this person’s last will and testament.
If you’ve been named the executor of an estate, duties include making sure all of your loved one’s belongings are collected and distributed in accordance with their wishes. Being named an executor of a will is a big honor, but it’s also a big responsibility.
Follow these steps to make the process go as smoothly as possible.
How to Be the Executor of an Estate
Posted in Dinar Recaps Archives on 7/26/2019
How to Be the Executor of an Estate: Duties & Responsibilities
Beth Braverman Jun 4, 2019
Dealing with the aftermath of the death of a loved one can be an incredibly emotional time. That said, it’s also a very important time financially, for you and for other people named in this person’s last will and testament.
If you’ve been named the executor of an estate, duties include making sure all of your loved one’s belongings are collected and distributed in accordance with their wishes. Being named an executor of a will is a big honor, but it’s also a big responsibility.
Follow these steps to make the process go as smoothly as possible.
1. Find the Will Naming You Executor of the Estate
Start by finding the original will. “There’s only one original document, or there should be,” says Mari Galvin, a partner at the law firm Cassin & Cassin, who specializes in estate planning. “That’s presented to the court to be verified as the true wishes of the decedent, done according to the statutes.”
The deceased person’s attorney will typically have the will. If this person didn’t have a lawyer, or you don’t have their lawyer’s contact information, check file cabinets, safe deposit boxes and desk drawers.
Once you find the will, keep it in a safe place where you’ll have continuing access to it. If there’s no will, a probate court will appoint an executor to administer the will in accordance with the state law. If you’ve been named executor but don’t want to do the job, the court will appoint someone else.
2. Secure the Property
If your loved one has left behind an empty home, it’s important to make sure that the property is protected. Remove any tangible items of value and change the locks on the doors. That way you’ll ensure no one can enter the property without your permission..
You’ll also want to forward any mail to yourself, and update the insurance company that the property is now vacant. If damage occurs to the property while it’s in probate, the executor of the will could be liable for the costs if she hasn’t taken reasonable steps to protect it.
If family members or others ask about specific items in the home, it’s your legal responsibility to inventory everything first. If any creditors are owed money from the estate, they should get paid first, even if other distributions are explicitly outlined in the will. Otherwise, you might end up without enough cash on hand to settle outstanding debts, Galvin says.
To continue reading, please go to the original article at
.What Is a Payable on Death Account
.What Is a Payable on Death Account (and Do I Still Need a Will if I Have One)?
Jessica Sillers Jul 16, 2019
When you login to your bank account online, you might notice an option to choose a beneficiary. Generally, this is someone who’d inherit your bank account after your death. The official name is a “payable on death” or POD account.
Easy enough. Enter your beneficiary’s name and contact info: Done. So, if you go this route, do you still need a will? Isn’t it easier to just type in your beneficiary’s name and be done with it?
...
The short answer is that, when done right, most people would benefit from both a payable on death designation and a last will and testament. POD accounts are better for quick cash for people handling your final affairs or counting on money for bills, while your will lets you get into clearer detail about the more nuanced aspects of settling your estate.
From the Recaps Archives originally posted on 7/25/2019
What Is a Payable on Death Account (and Do I Still Need a Will if I Have One)?
Jessica Sillers Jul 16, 2019
When you login to your bank account online, you might notice an option to choose a beneficiary. Generally, this is someone who’d inherit your bank account after your death. The official name is a “payable on death” or POD account.
Easy enough. Enter your beneficiary’s name and contact info: Done. So, if you go this route, do you still need a will? Isn’t it easier to just type in your beneficiary’s name and be done with it?
The short answer is that, when done right, most people would benefit from both a payable on death designation and a last will and testament. POD accounts are better for quick cash for people handling your final affairs or counting on money for bills, while your will lets you get into clearer detail about the more nuanced aspects of settling your estate.
What Is a ‘Payable on Death’ or ‘Transfer on Death’ Account?
POD and TOD stand for “payable on death” and “transfer on death,” respectively. (TOD would be more likely to apply to assets such as a house.)
Most types of financial accounts—such as savings and checking accounts, CDs and investment account—let you name a POD beneficiary.
If you die, this person would inherit the money without going through probate (the often-lengthy process of executing a will). Generally, all he or should would need is ID and a copy of the death certificate. That’s generally ready in a matter of days to a few weeks after a death.
TOD is somewhat less common than POD, but some states will let you designate someone to inherit property like a house outside of probate. To set this up, you’d need to prepare a special deed and record it with the appropriate state or county office.
You can set up a POD beneficiary for a joint account with your spouse, as well. If you die, the account would go to your spouse first, and then to the POD beneficiaries after your spouse’s death.
You can also name multiple POD beneficiaries. Talk to an advisor at your bank if you want to assign a different proportion other than an even split. Ditto if you want to choose an alternate beneficiary in case your primary beneficiary is not around. It’s also worth searching your state’s law on whether a POD account would still pass to your (ex-)spouse if you divorce.
To continue reading, please go to the original article at
https://meetfabric.com/blog/payable-on-death-accounts
9 Millionaire Success Habits That Will Inspire Your Life
9 Millionaire Success Habits That Will Inspire Your Life
Leon Ho Founder & CEO of Lifehack
As technology evolves and information becomes more accessible, it has also become more challenging to define success. A lot of people are trapped in the rat race while trying to discover the actual formula for success.
You could become overwhelmed with what tools, techniques or philosophies to imbibe while trying to get tips over the internet. At every click and turn, there are ‘how-tos and quick-fix’ on how to become successful overnight. You will find several courses, articles, videos and books on how to achieve financial success.
But what if I tell you it doesn’t have to be complicated as people made it out to be? What if you could achieve success by merely following these 9 millionaire success habits?
9 Millionaire Success Habits That Will Inspire Your Life
Leon Ho Founder & CEO of Lifehack
As technology evolves and information becomes more accessible, it has also become more challenging to define success. A lot of people are trapped in the rat race while trying to discover the actual formula for success.
You could become overwhelmed with what tools, techniques or philosophies to imbibe while trying to get tips over the internet. At every click and turn, there are ‘how-tos and quick-fix’ on how to become successful overnight. You will find several courses, articles, videos and books on how to achieve financial success.
But what if I tell you it doesn’t have to be complicated as people made it out to be? What if you could achieve success by merely following these 9 millionaire success habits?
1. Read for Personal Development
A daily habit I have discovered millionaire share in common is reading. For instance, if you are an entrepreneur, you need to read to become an efficient leader and a productive business owner. Reading helps you to grow and learn without going to a business school.
A research conducted by Thomas Crowley indicates about 85% of self-made millionaires read at least two or more books each month. [1] Warren Buffett is one of these examples. He spends 80% of his day reading. In the early days of his investment career, he would read 600 to 1000 pages in a single day.
While millionaires sometimes read for pleasure, they also learn to improve themselves. They read topics on leadership, how-tos, self-help, biographies, lifehacks and also follow current events.
2. Establish Multiple Sources of Income
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
George Washington Gave America This Advice the First Time He Tried to Retire
Washington’s Four Essentials for America
By Andrew Cannizzaro FEB 14, 2020
George Washington Gave America This Advice the First Time He Tried to Retire
The American Revolution had just come to an end. George Washington, 51 years old and then the commander in chief of the Continental Army, had resigned his duties and wanted nothing more than to retire to his estate at Mount Vernon and study his crops.
Before he stepped back, though, he had some hard-earned wisdom he felt compelled to share with the country. So in the summer of 1783, he drafted his “Circular Letter to the States,” in which he detailed what he believed it would take for this American experiment to succeed.
In many ways, it was a precursor to his famed Farewell Address 13 years later, a prescient warning to the country of the most likely political pitfalls.
Not that he was angling for the job of leading the transitional new nation. After seven years in the battlefield, Washington wanted nothing more than a respite from public service.
Washington’s Four Essentials for America
By Andrew Cannizzaro FEB 14, 2020
George Washington Gave America This Advice the First Time He Tried to Retire
The American Revolution had just come to an end. George Washington, 51 years old and then the commander in chief of the Continental Army, had resigned his duties and wanted nothing more than to retire to his estate at Mount Vernon and study his crops.
Before he stepped back, though, he had some hard-earned wisdom he felt compelled to share with the country. So in the summer of 1783, he drafted his “Circular Letter to the States,” in which he detailed what he believed it would take for this American experiment to succeed.
In many ways, it was a precursor to his famed Farewell Address 13 years later, a prescient warning to the country of the most likely political pitfalls.
Not that he was angling for the job of leading the transitional new nation. After seven years in the battlefield, Washington wanted nothing more than a respite from public service.
“Notwithstanding my advanced season of life,” he wrote in a letter to Colonel Henry Lee, “my increasing fondness for agricultural amusements, and my growing love of retirement, augment and confirm my decided predilection for the character of a private citizen.”
'With our fate will the destiny of unborn millions be involved'
But Washington knew that America had arrived at a momentous crossroads—a place of both great promise and great peril. While the colonists had won the Revolution, a formal peace treaty had not yet been signed with Great Britain. The state governors were wary of handing over any power to Congress, and a wartime army had the daunting task of transitioning back to civilian life. Not to mention, the war had saddled the fledgling nation with massive debt.
With those hardships in mind, General Washington drafted his “Circular Letter,” in which he detailed what he believed it would take for this American experiment to succeed. By June 21, 1783, the letter had been sent to all state governors, but Washington was speaking directly to the people of America through his words.
“It appears to me there is an option still left to the United States of America. That it is in their choice and depends upon their conduct, whether they will be respectable and prosperous, or contemptible and Miserable as a Nation.”
Washington appeared to believe that winning the war would be meaningless if the people of America did not do something with their newly achieved freedom. How Americans chose to act in this moment, he felt, would reverberate for future generations: “For with our fate will the destiny of unborn millions be involved.”
Washington’s Four Essentials for America
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.history.com/news/george-washington-resignation-circular-letter
Got Gold?
Got Gold?
Sanjib Saha February 7, 2020
YEARS AGO, I spent a few days in Bangkok touring the city. A highlight of my short stopover was the temple of Wat Traimit, which houses a five-and-a-half metric ton Golden Buddha, made of approximately $250 million of gold.
Cast more than 700 years ago, the statue symbolized the prosperity and cultural heritage of Sukhothai, the first Thai kingdom. Sometime in the 18th century, the statue was completely plastered over to conceal its value from Burmese invaders.
The significance of the statue was forgotten for some 200 years, until the plaster accidentally chipped off to reveal the gold underneath. The miraculous 1955 discovery made headlines and the statue was restored to its former glory. I was mesmerized by its brilliance and beauty.
Got Gold?
Sanjib Saha February 7, 2020
YEARS AGO, I spent a few days in Bangkok touring the city. A highlight of my short stopover was the temple of Wat Traimit, which houses a five-and-a-half metric ton Golden Buddha, made of approximately $250 million of gold.
Cast more than 700 years ago, the statue symbolized the prosperity and cultural heritage of Sukhothai, the first Thai kingdom. Sometime in the 18th century, the statue was completely plastered over to conceal its value from Burmese invaders.
The significance of the statue was forgotten for some 200 years, until the plaster accidentally chipped off to reveal the gold underneath. The miraculous 1955 discovery made headlines and the statue was restored to its former glory. I was mesmerized by its brilliance and beauty.
Our longing for gold is as old as recorded history. It was significant thousands of years ago, as evidenced by Egyptian archeology. Ancient Greeks, Incans, Aztecs and many other civilizations used gold. It was viewed as a status symbol to separate the elite from the ordinary. Holding gold was synonymous with holding power.
Why such a deep-rooted fascination? There’s no simple answer. The color and luster of the metal create a unique aesthetic appeal. Gold is scarce, yet durable and resilient, hence it’s historical role as a way to store wealth and transfer it to future generations. Even today, in many countries, gold is widely used in social ceremonies and religious offerings. Strong consumer demand persists.
For centuries, gold also played a vital role in monetary systems. The gold standard, a system that promised a fixed gold-based exchange rate for circulating paper currency, was widely used by many countries until World War I. In 1944, gold’s importance was reestablished by the Bretton Woods agreement.
This new system pegged all other currencies to the U.S. dollar and allowed them to be converted to physical gold at $35 per ounce. But the new system soon faltered. The international currency-to-gold convertibility was finally abolished almost half-a-century ago by President Nixon.
Nixon’s decision triggered two shifts in the global monetary system. First, the smooth functioning of fiat—or paper—money around the financial world became solely dependent on the responsible, collaborative action of central banks. Second, the price of gold went haywire.
It spiked almost 20-fold in less than 10 years, only to lose 60% over the following two decades. The rollercoaster ride continued in the current century. Gold climbed from less than $275 per ounce in 2000 to more than $1,900 in 2011. From there, it dropped below $1,075 in 2016 and then crept up again, closing yesterday at $1,570. Widely differing views on its value have made gold a highly speculative asset.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
What Is A Power Of Attorney?
.What Is A Power Of Attorney?
By Cameron Huddleston
If there’s one thing I think no adult should be without, it’s a power of attorney.
You were probably thinking I was going to say something more essential to a happy life – such as love and affection or a sense of purpose. Of course those things are important, but I’m a financial journalist and this is a blog about money (mostly). So that’s why I want to highlight how essential having a power of attorney is for everyone.
Unfortunately, most Americans don’t have this legal document. Only one-third of adults 55 and older have a durable power of attorney, according to a survey by Merrill Lynch and Age Wave. The percentage among younger generations is likely even lower.
If so many Americans don’t have a power of attorney, it can’t be that necessary, right? Wrong. If you want to have a say in who gets to make financial decisions for you if you can’t on your own, you need a power of attorney.
What Is A Power Of Attorney?
By Cameron Huddleston
If there’s one thing I think no adult should be without, it’s a power of attorney.
You were probably thinking I was going to say something more essential to a happy life – such as love and affection or a sense of purpose. Of course those things are important, but I’m a financial journalist and this is a blog about money (mostly). So that’s why I want to highlight how essential having a power of attorney is for everyone.
Unfortunately, most Americans don’t have this legal document. Only one-third of adults 55 and older have a durable power of attorney, according to a survey by Merrill Lynch and Age Wave. The percentage among younger generations is likely even lower.
If so many Americans don’t have a power of attorney, it can’t be that necessary, right? Wrong. If you want to have a say in who gets to make financial decisions for you if you can’t on your own, you need a power of attorney.
The ABCs of POA
A power of attorney is a legal document that allows you to name someone to make financial and legal decisions for you if you can’t. You might need someone to make financial decisions for you if an injury or other health emergency leaves you temporarily unable to make decisions on your own.
You might need someone to manage your finances for you if you develop dementia. Or you might simply need someone to make a one-time financial transaction for you if you’re overseas and can’t access your accounts.
In short, there are a variety of situations when you might have to rely on someone else to handle your finances for you. You want that to be someone you trust and have chosen to take on the responsibility.
Otherwise, if something happens to you, the person who steps into this role – or is appointed by a court — might not be the person you would want handling your finances (more on this below).
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
What Is A Living Trust?
.What Is A Living Trust?
By Cameron Huddleston
Chances are, you know what a will is. This legal document spells out who gets your assets when you die. It also allows you to name an executor to oversee the distribution of your assets and guardians for your children.
If you don’t have a will, your state’s laws will dictate who gets what. That means your home, car, investments or any money in your bank account could go to someone you don’t want to get it. Even your children could end up with someone you wouldn’t have chosen.
Some people go a step beyond a will by creating a living trust. You’re probably thinking those people are the rich and famous. However, trusts aren’t just for the super wealthy. There are benefits of a living trust that make this estate planning tool ideal even for the not-so rich and famous.
What Is A Living Trust?
By Cameron Huddleston
Chances are, you know what a will is. This legal document spells out who gets your assets when you die. It also allows you to name an executor to oversee the distribution of your assets and guardians for your children.
If you don’t have a will, your state’s laws will dictate who gets what. That means your home, car, investments or any money in your bank account could go to someone you don’t want to get it. Even your children could end up with someone you wouldn’t have chosen.
Some people go a step beyond a will by creating a living trust. You’re probably thinking those people are the rich and famous. However, trusts aren’t just for the super wealthy. There are benefits of a living trust that make this estate planning tool ideal even for the not-so rich and famous.
Living Trust Basics
Like a will, a living trust allows you to specify who gets your assets when you die. However, a trust can give you a lot more say over when heirs get the assets you’re leaving behind and how they get those assets, said Geoff Madsen, CEO of Independent Trust Company, which provides trust management services.
The primary difference, though, between a trust and a will is that you must transfer your assets to a trust before you die. That can involve changing the title on property deeds from your name to the trust and filling out forms with your financial institutions.
You also have to name a trustee to manage the assets in the trust. “It’s like forming a business entity,” Madsen said. You can name yourself to be trustee while you’re alive then name a successor trustee to manage the trust once you die.
The trustee has a lot of responsibilities – including distributing assets to beneficiaries, filing an annual tax return for the trust, ensuring the trust complies with state laws and much more.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
5 Signs Your Parents Need Help With Their Finances
.5 Signs Your Parents Need Help With Their Finances
By Cameron Huddleston
November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. When my mother started exhibiting the early signs of Alzheimer’s, I wasn’t aware that her lapses in memory were the beginning stages of a disease that has gripped her for more than 10 years now.
In fact, I initially thought that she was asking the same questions over and over because of hearing loss from a tumor that she had behind her left ear. I didn’t want to believe that my mom was starting to lose her memory in her early 60s. That was something that happened to people who were much older, I told myself.
But one night while I was at her house, it became painfully obvious that her hearing loss wasn’t the problem.
5 Signs Your Parents Need Help With Their Finances
By Cameron Huddleston
November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. When my mother started exhibiting the early signs of Alzheimer’s, I wasn’t aware that her lapses in memory were the beginning stages of a disease that has gripped her for more than 10 years now.
In fact, I initially thought that she was asking the same questions over and over because of hearing loss from a tumor that she had behind her left ear. I didn’t want to believe that my mom was starting to lose her memory in her early 60s. That was something that happened to people who were much older, I told myself.
But one night while I was at her house, it became painfully obvious that her hearing loss wasn’t the problem.
My mom asked me if I wanted to see a new bench she had bought for her patio. We went outside, looked at the bench, then went back in and started talking. Within a few minutes, she asked, “Do you want to see the new bench I got for my patio?” My heart sank.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, every 65 seconds someone in the U.S. develops Alzheimer’s disease. As I learned, the early signs of the disease can be easy to miss.
However, it’s so important not to write off the lapses in a parent or loved one’s memory as just part of the aging process. That’s because Alzheimer’s and dementia can lead to problems managing money and making financial decisions.
Certainly, you don’t want to see your parents put themselves into financial dire straits or become victims of financial fraud. But these scenarios could easily become reality if you don’t recognize the signs that your parents need help with their finances. Here are five red flags that dementia could be affecting your parents’ ability to manage their money.
They’re Getting Lots of Donation Requests
When visiting with your parents, pay attention to their mail. Is it full of donation requests, sweepstakes entry forms and other solicitations? Do you see numerous “thank you” gifts from organizations around their house – calendars, notepads, pens, stickers, mailing address labels?
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://cameronhuddleston.com/5-signs-your-parents-need-help-with-their-finances/
6 Strategies to Protect Income From Taxes
.6 Strategies to Protect Income From Taxes
By Barbara A. Friedberg Updated Jan 29, 2020
These tips can help you preserve the income you earn
Earned income gets taxed in many ways: at the federal and state levels, and by Social Security and Medicare, to name a few. Taxes are difficult to avoid, but there are many strategies to help ward them off. Here are six ways to protect your income from taxes.
Key Takeaways
Contributing to qualified accounts with pretax dollars can defer or exempt some income from taxation.
Business ownership includes several work-related tax breaks, as does owning a home or being a student.
Tax-sheltered income from eligible municipal bonds can also help taxpayers save.
1. Invest in Municipal Bonds
Buying a municipal bond essentially means lending money to a state or local entity for a set number of interest payments over a predetermined period. Once the bond reaches its maturity date, the full amount of the original investment is repaid to the buyer.
6 Strategies to Protect Income From Taxes
By Barbara A. Friedberg Updated Jan 29, 2020
These tips can help you preserve the income you earn
Earned income gets taxed in many ways: at the federal and state levels, and by Social Security and Medicare, to name a few. Taxes are difficult to avoid, but there are many strategies to help ward them off. Here are six ways to protect your income from taxes.
Key Takeaways
Contributing to qualified accounts with pretax dollars can defer or exempt some income from taxation.
Business ownership includes several work-related tax breaks, as does owning a home or being a student.
Tax-sheltered income from eligible municipal bonds can also help taxpayers save.
1. Invest in Municipal Bonds
Buying a municipal bond essentially means lending money to a state or local entity for a set number of interest payments over a predetermined period. Once the bond reaches its maturity date, the full amount of the original investment is repaid to the buyer.
Municipal bonds are exempt from federal taxes, and may be tax exempt at the state and local level as well, depending on where you live. Tax-free interest payments are what make municipal bonds attractive to investors.
Municipal bonds historically have lower default rates than their corporate bond counterparts (for investment grade securities, the default rate is 0.1% for municipal bonds versus 2.28% for corporate). However, municipals typically pay lower interest rates. Because of the tax benefits, bondholders must understand their tax equivalent yield. The higher your tax bracket, the higher your tax equivalent yield.
2. Shoot for Long-Term Capital Gains
Investing can be an important tool in growing wealth. An additional benefit from investing in stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and real estate is the favorable tax treatment for long-term capital gains.
An investor holding an asset for longer than one year enjoys a preferential tax rate of 0%, 15%, or 20% on the capital gain, depending on your income level. If the asset is held for less than a year before selling, the capital gain is taxed at ordinary income rates.
Understanding long-term versus short-term capital gains rates is important to growing wealth. A married couple filing jointly would pay 0% on their long-term capital gains if their income falls below $78,750.
A tax planner and investment advisor can help determine when and how to sell appreciated or depreciated securities to minimize gains and maximize losses. Tax-loss harvesting can also offset a capital gains tax liability by selling securities at a loss.
3. Start a Business
In addition to creating additional income, a side business offers many tax advantages.
When used in the course of daily business, for instance, many expenses can be deducted from income, reducing the total tax obligation. Especially important tax deductions are health insurance premiums.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
The Best Money Advice I’ve Ever Gotten
.The Best Money Advice I’ve Ever Gotten
By Cameron Huddleston May 29, 2019|In Budgeting, Financial Planning
I have been writing about personal finance for a long time – more than 17 years. As you can probably imagine, I’ve had the opportunity to interview countless financial experts, lots of ordinary folks who’ve shared their money journeys with me and even some big names in the world of business and finance – such as Tony Robbins and David Bach. I feel fortunate that I’ve had the opportunity to learn a lot about personal finance from these interviews.
You can imagine, though, that it might be tough to pinpoint the best money advice I’ve ever gotten in the nearly two decades I’ve spent as a financial journalist. But that’s what my friend Shannon McLay asked me to do when she recently was interviewing me for her podcast, Martinis and Your Money.
The Best Money Advice I’ve Ever Gotten
By Cameron Huddleston May 29, 2019|In Budgeting, Financial Planning
I have been writing about personal finance for a long time – more than 17 years. As you can probably imagine, I’ve had the opportunity to interview countless financial experts, lots of ordinary folks who’ve shared their money journeys with me and even some big names in the world of business and finance – such as Tony Robbins and David Bach. I feel fortunate that I’ve had the opportunity to learn a lot about personal finance from these interviews.
You can imagine, though, that it might be tough to pinpoint the best money advice I’ve ever gotten in the nearly two decades I’ve spent as a financial journalist. But that’s what my friend Shannon McLay asked me to do when she recently was interviewing me for her podcast, Martinis and Your Money.
I quickly racked my brain to come up with something truly consequential – not just a clever hack. I didn’t have to think long to come up with some great advice I got a few years ago that has dramatically changed the way I think about money and has had the biggest impact on my finances.
The Advice: You Don’t Need a Budget …
You’ve probably heard this advice again and again: If you want to take control of our finances, you need a budget. The problem is, most people hate budgeting. In fact, a survey by GOBankingRates found that sticking to a budget is the biggest money challenge Americans said they face.
That’s because budgeting can feel like dieting – and we all know how diets usually turn out. People tend to lose weight then go back to their old ways, gain back the pounds they lost and then some.
Like a diet, a budget feels restrictive. You have to track your spending and figure out what to cut. If your mind works anything like mine does, you feel hungry as soon as you tell yourself you’re on a diet, and you want to go on a spending spree as soon as you tell yourself you need to cut back. So how are you supposed to take control of your finances if the key to doing so – budgeting – is so darn hard?
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://cameronhuddleston.com/the-best-money-advice-ive-ever-gotten/
How to Get Better at Anticipating Your Financial Needs
.How to Get Better at Anticipating Your Financial Needs
By Trent Hamm
Getting Started
Home » How To Get Better At Anticipating Your Financial Needs
One of the most valuable tools for keeping your financial life as stable as possible is to improve your ability to anticipate your future expenses and financial needs.
This enables you to take some steps to prepare now for those expenses and thus reduce their impact in the future.
For people who aren’t naturally familiar with planning ahead, this can feel like a major shift in thinking. Many people simply buy groceries as needed by visiting the grocery store and wandering through the aisles to grab items needed for their next few days worth of meals. Many people respond with chagrin when they find an unexpected bill in the mail.
How to Get Better at Anticipating Your Financial Needs
By Trent Hamm
Getting Started
Home » How To Get Better At Anticipating Your Financial Needs
One of the most valuable tools for keeping your financial life as stable as possible is to improve your ability to anticipate your future expenses and financial needs.
This enables you to take some steps to prepare now for those expenses and thus reduce their impact in the future.
For people who aren’t naturally familiar with planning ahead, this can feel like a major shift in thinking. Many people simply buy groceries as needed by visiting the grocery store and wandering through the aisles to grab items needed for their next few days worth of meals. Many people respond with chagrin when they find an unexpected bill in the mail.
When you live your financial life solely in the moment, you cost yourself a great deal of money. Often, you find yourself with inflated regular expenses like the higher cost of unplanned grocery shopping.
You’ll also regularly find yourself “surprised” by fairly predictable financial events, and that can frequently cause people to go into a bit of credit card debt just to get through it.
A much, much better approach is to learn to become better at anticipating financial needs. There are expenses in your life that you know are coming, so if you take at least some action now regarding that expense, you’re going to be able to handle it easier when it comes due.
While this is far from a be-all-end-all list of everything you would need to do to become perfect at anticipating your upcoming financial needs, here are seven things you can do that are quite useful in terms of making upcoming expenses clear to you and preparing yourself for meeting those needs.
Buy Groceries As Though You Won’t Enter a Store Again for the Next Week
It’s easy to go to the grocery store and get items for one or two meals. You just wander through the aisles, picking the items you need for those couple of meals, and you’ll probably grab a few incidental goodies on the way.
The first problem with this approach is that it takes quite a bit more time than necessary. The time spent wandering the aisles as you think about what you need is time that could be spent elsewhere.
The second problem with this approach is that it doesn’t take advantage of what’s on sale. Sure, you might happen to notice a sale and use it in those meals, but you’ll often miss sales entirely or have no idea what to really do with a sale item.
The third problem – and this is the big one – is that it doesn’t take into account what you already have at home in your pantry. You may already have most of what you need for a good meal or two sitting in your cupboards or refrigerator or freezer, but you didn’t even take them into account.
A much better approach – one that anticipates your future needs – is to start off your grocery shopping at home by making a meal plan for the upcoming week. Go online and grab your grocery store’s sale flyer, then build a meal plan that’s based upon what you have on hand and things that are on sale in the flyer.
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