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Best Of Debit versus Credit, December 2008

January 5, 2009 | Filed in: Personal Finance | No comment

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December marked the end of a unique year. We saw everything from a major financial catastrophe to a historical presidential election. Here at Debit versus Credit we saw some interesting articles as well on everything from Investor Psychology to an argument in favor of making as small a down payment on a home as possible.

Go on ahead and check out the best of Debit versus Credit, December 2008.

Investing

An Interesting Thought On Investor Psychology
Determining Your Future Return With A Fixed Income Investment

Real Estate

Does A Large Down Payment Save Money In The Long Run?
Why A Large Down Payment Isn’t Always Best: Take Two

Personal Finance

Have You Made Your Financial Resolutions?

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Tags: Best Of, Finance, Investing, saving

Have You Made Your Financial Resolutions?

December 31, 2008 | Filed in: Personal Finance | No comment

I spoke earlier about how it’s important to set personal finance goals. Today I’d like to expound on this idea a little. It’s absolutely important to sit down and make finance related goals, and what better time to do this than at the start of a new year? Of course if you’re going to sit down and make goals for yourself you’ll have to think about your finances and if you have a family it’s probably a good idea to talk with them about your financial situation as well (especially your significant other).

Have you begun to think about your financial situation and where you’d like to be in a year? If you haven’t yet it’s not too late. Go ahead and sit down, do a little brainstorming and see what you can come up with. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Review Your Insurance Coverages and Needs

Do you have a family? Are you the primary (or the sole) breadwinner? Do you own a home?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions (or more than one) there is a good chance that you need life insurance. If you don’t already have life insurance then now would be the time to look into it. God forbid that something bad were to happen to you or your significant other, but if one of you were to tragically pass then what sort of a financial situation would that leave your family or significant other in?

Another thing to consider is disability insurance. If you were to become disabled would you lose your income? Most employers offer disability insurance as a benefit to their employees. Check to see if it’s a benefit that you’re receiving, and if you’re not then consider signing up for it. My friend Trent at The Simple Dollar has made it a goal of his to review his insurance needs so he can be prepared in the event of a disaster.

Review Your Retirement Accounts & Plans

Are you participating in your 401k retirement account, or if it’s not an offered benefit are you investing in an IRA or Roth IRA? It’s important to start planning for retirement at an early age because the sooner you begin saving for retirement the sooner you’ll be able to retire, or the more money you’ll have when you retire.

Make sure to review the retirement plans that you have in place and if you’re not already investing in a 401k or similar retirement plan it’d be a great idea to set a goal to start saving for retirement.

Pay Down Your Debts

Do you owe thousands of dollars in credit card or other unsecured debt? This would be a great time to review what you owe and what you can do to pay down your debt as much as possible. My friend Doctor S at Finance Your Life has set himself a goal to pay down a large portion of his student loan debt throughout the next year.

Don’t Do Nothing

I hope these tips have helped to give you an idea of the kind of planning and resolution setting that you can do in order to improve your financial situation. The important thing to remember is this: don’t do nothing. I know it’s worded weirdly, grammatically speaking, but it’s true. Plan for the future and you’ll be in a much better position than you’re in today. Good luck on those New Year’s Resolutions!

Tags: Debt, Goals, Insurance, Investing, New Years Resolution, retirement

Are You Prepared for The New Year?

December 30, 2008 | Filed in: Self Help and Motivational | No comment

The start of a new year is a great time to not only reflect on the previous year but also to think about what you would like to accomplish in the upcoming year. It’s true that to many people a New Year’s Resolution is often nothing more than a wish-list of self-improvement and related goals (such as finally quitting smoking) which are often left unfulfilled. Unfortunately even those who do set goals and accomplish them throughout the course of the year often forget to include financial planning in their new year planning process.

It’s usually a matter of perspective and visibility. If you follow the tradition of setting New Year’s Resolutions what thought process do you use? It’s easy to find yourself thinking about only what’s visible and at the forefront of your mind.

For example when I was a teenager my goal was to work out every week so I could expand my strength, and more importantly the size of my muscles. Of course I’d often make personal finance related goals as well, but they were usually vague and generic. As an example I’d often make a goal to save up enough money to buy the latest and greatest video game that all of my friends had.

The point I’m trying to make is twofold:

1. Make achievable and specific resolutions that can be easily tracked.
2. Don’t forget about money. Always take a look at your financial situation and where you’d like it to be at the end of the following year.

I think I’ve mentioned before how I think it is important to do, at the very least, a semi-annual checkup of your finances to make sure they are in order. Well there’s no better time than the start of a new year to look at your situation and make sure all of your ducks are in a row. As always if you have any comments or questions please feel free to contact me or leave a comment below!

Tags: Financial Planning, Goals, New Years Resolution, saving

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