Finance Roadmap » Money

Lessons in Personal Finance

David Allen — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 04:18:16 +0000

These days more than ever are times when personal finance should be taught to young adults, especially if they are leaving home to go to college or just starting out on a new career. Whatever the route taken, personal finance is going to take up a large part of their life from now on.

Yet with such responsibility they are never taught about the basic of personal finance, maybe it is about time that banks got involved in the communities and started this off.

Until then here are some crucial points that everyone should know about:

The difference between “wants” and “needs”
The power of compound interest
How to use credit cards responsibly
How to live within your means
How to plan for the future
Understanding contracts you sign
How to create and maintain a budget
How to protect your assets
How to do your own taxes

Source [Main Street]

Twitter can save you money

David Allen — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 06:09:43 +0000

Twitter used to be laughed at as being a waste of time, after all who can bothered with sending and reading short messages? Well as it turns out quite a lot of people and the information, being sent around the Twitters can be very useful indeed.

Money matters has become one of the hot topics on Twitter, which is no surprise considering that this topic concerns everyone. This is because people are finding that for the first time money and personal finances are the in topic.

However sometimes things are hard to find on Twitter, but this is made simple with the http://search.twitter.com/ URL, once this page is displayed the by using the hash tag, there are some great posts. Use these tags to see for yourself: #frugaltip, #bargains and #coupon.

Source [Twitip]

Credit crisis can be good for your bank balance

David Allen — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:30:08 +0000

The current financial crisis is going to have different effects on different people; it all depends on how their finances were holding up at the time when the credit crisis first started.

However the recession can be good for some people as there are many opportunities for UK consumers to get some great deals and even move the services that they use up to higher levels with no or little cost at all.

Banks although having a bad press need customers, without them they are finished. So currently, there are some good deals out there for customers to upgrade their accounts or take our additional services.

In the high street there are constant sales, so buyers are able to get some deals on high value products, it is an opportunity for those who can afford it to get out there and grab some bargains.

Source [Wallet Pop]

Wasting energy will cost consumers pounds

David Allen — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:28:27 +0000

This time last year most people in the UK were celebrating their good fortune of living in a booming economy which in turn fuelled foreign holidays, cars and just about anything else that you could think of, then all of sudden it stopped.

Almost over night things began to crash around us, but as people tighten their purse strings one habit could end up costing some people a lot and that is wasted energy, households have become used to leaving the lights on and TV’s on standby etc.

However, this habit could end up costing millions of energy customers thousands of pounds, for many households they have been drifting along paying a direct debit for their power and heat that they could be building a huge bill, which at some stage will need to be paid.

Source [UK Net Guide]

Making global finance work

David Allen — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 06:04:46 +0000

There is no doubt that the current financial situation is down to the problems associated with global finance, this is because as banks and institutions grow they take over other companies and so on.

This means that despite taking an established business, the way that the business has been set up with customers, credit and debt the problems only come to light when something goes wrong.

Global finance has been overstretched to the extent that there was no chance that it could continue, in one respect it could be good that it happened when it did, as most countries have been able to support their economies.

Where to look for opportunities:
New markets in the developing world
Europe
Accessing capital markets
Managing Forex risk versus speculation
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the alternatives

Source [Capstone Global Finance]

Recession played out in games

David Allen — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 07:01:25 +0000

The cause of the current financial situation can be seen in the type and style of computer games that have been available over the years, but not just any old games what we are talking about are the business and world development games.

These games like the Sims, Tycoon, SimCity 2000 and 3000, SimTower, Capitalism, even Theme Hospital and Pizza Tycoon, these all replying on the user building an empire with no regards for people or places.

The games have now been reflected in real life where everything has been pushed to the limit and now it has all come tumbling down around our collective ears, most of us helpless to watch the lives of our families and friends end up totally ruined, but this is no game, there is no restart in the real world.

Source [Tumeroks]

Tips for saving money

David Allen — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:05:50 +0000

There is no magic formula to saving and managing money, it just takes a bit of will power and the need to get your finances under control, before they get on top of you. This is because if they are left unchecked then they will surely get on top of you.

However, it does not have to be a hard job, which drives you mad or simply makes you wish that you had not started to get on top of your personal and even business finances, because at the end of the day this is a serious matter.

Where to get information:

PearBudget – Really Simple Budgeting
Mint.com – Refreshing Money Management
Accounting and Budgeting Tools from the Mashable Blog
Everyday Budgeting from SmartMoney.com
Mvelopes – Personal Financial Management
BetterBudgeting.com – Budgeting Tips
Wesabe – Part Money Management, Part Community
The Simple Dollar Blog
Wise Bread – Living Large on a Small Budget Blog & Community
Expensr – Free Online Personal Finance Manager

Source [Best Site Picks]

Spend or save in the credit crunch

David Allen — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 07:31:11 +0000

There are two different ideas here, the first is to save and cut back on all expenditure, this would seem to be sensible as the current financial climate is unsure and in some cases very fragile.

Therefore, by saving money this could make sure that if the worse happens then you have something to fall back on.

But the other side of the coin is completely different, in order for the economy to recover the is a need for people to go out and spend in the stores and buy services etc, if this does not happen, then the economy will just get worse.

This is a serious matter, but at the end of the day, it is better to have money to fall back on, rather than having none at all.

Source [Free Online Advisor]

It is a $100 Trillion note for Zimbabwe

David Allen — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 07:33:16 +0000

There is a real sign of hyperinflation and that is when the central banks start issuing high denomination bank notes. We have been following this in Zimbabwe where the president, Robert Mugabe has found his country virtually cut off from the outside.

The central bank has had to introduce the highest denomination bank note ever recorded in the world in order to cope with the out of control inflation. The Z$100 trillion note is one such note that is only worth around £22, so it is clear how much this amount is really worth.

There is no end in sight for the Zimbabwe government in fact thing will no doubt get a lot worse with the central bank struggling to cope to out of control inflation. In the mean time, it is the ordinary of the country who suffer, as per normal.

Source [Telegraph]

Fixing your finances

David Allen — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 06:48:43 +0000

These days getting on top the personal finances should be a priority for most as by doing this it can be a way of getting ready for a new future where finance does not control you, but rather the other way around.

If ever there was a better time to get on top of the finances this is it and there is no doubt that there are some lessons to be learned from what has happened in the past, which has to be good thing for everyone’s point of view.

Here is what you can do:

Imagine how good life will be once the debt is paid.
Do a budget.
Live within your means.
Cut up your credit cards. (Well, maybe keep 1 for emergencies, if you have to.)
Find bargains – have fun.
Set aside a savings amount.
Do not compare yourself with others.

Source [Vision Lifestyle]