Money Management 101
Being a good steward over your finances is hard. Many of us find ourselves living paycheck to paycheck. There never seems to be enough money to cover our living costs no matter how much we are making. Our paychecks seem to be overcome by our debts. Take control of your finances today so that you and your family can live better now and in the future. Here are a few money management 101 tips to help your family make the best decisions you can when it come to your finances.
This conversation has been sponsored by Arizona Commission for Post-secondary Education. All opinions are my own.
Putting away savings is difficult when you live on a tight budget. There is always some to put away though. Even if all you can do is $5 a paycheck, it’s good to have a savings to fall back on in hard times. As you begin saving, put it in a harder place to reach. Having a growing pile of cash on hand can get very tempting to use.
Avoid debt like the plague. Learn to put off the things you want instead of giving into instant gratification. Focus on the difference between needs and wants. If there is something large you want, start putting the money away for it. Most credit cards charge a very high interest rate. That rate can go even higher up to a 30% easily, if you miss even one payment. Therefore, instead of just paying $100 for something, you may end up paying double or even triple for it. At that point, think of how many other things you could have bought for that money if you just would have saved in the first place. Credit cards should only be used in emergency situations after a lot of thought has gone into the decision.
Planning ahead can save a ton of money. Last minute choices are expensive. Especially for things like vacations. Flights and hotels can be double the price if your trying to make reservations or bookings too close to the date. Also, planning last minute makes it hard to shop around for the best prices. You end up taking one of the first choices you see. Even things in the far future like college need to be planned ahead for. Looking ahead and doing well in school can lead to scholarships and first choice schools.
Investing for the Future is something most people don’t think about until they are older and it’s harder. Starting a savings for retirement or college will continue to grow and will grow larger the longer it is put away. You don’t need to know much about the time value of money or of compounding interest to know that. The people at AZ529 College Savings Plan know about that and that is why they are giving away a $250 college scholarship today, for your child’s tomorrow.
The Arizona Family College Savings Program is sponsored by the State of Arizona through the AZ Commission for Post-secondary Education. It is designed to help families plan and meet the rising costs of higher education. The benefits of an AZ529 plan include: Tax free withdraws, Low minimum investments required, professional money management, Tax-deferred earnings, no income restrictions and much more.
Some more fun facts of the AZ 529 plans include, all accredited institutions in the United States are eligible for 529 plans. Assets in the 529 plans belong to the parents, therefore, it can not be considered when determining the child’s eligibility for financial aid. Children with a college savings are six times more likely to attend then children without.
To enter to win the $250 scholarship for your kids, you need to print out the coloring page, have them color it and e-mail or mail it back in by December 11, 2015. Take a look at the college savings planner to learn more about investing and saving for college today and for the future. If you would like to know more about the AZ529 plan and the scholarship contest click here. Follow AZ 529 on Facebook and Twitter for news and updates.
It never hurts to start saving for college early! Colleges are getting more and more expensive!
These are awesome tips. Setting a budget and sticking to it is very important.
Those are great tips! It is always important to plan ahead and set a budget.
Setting and sticking to a budget is essential if you want to avoid debt and save for your children’s college educations. Your advice is a great foundation for families today to live by because no one, no matter how much money you have, should be spending more than you have.
Sticking to a budget can be so hard to do!! There always seems to be little things that pop up that we want/need.
This is great advice! Sometimes it’s hard to enforce a budget but it’s totally necessary!
Using only cash works really well. I find you stick to your budget better when you can actually see your money. These are all great tips.
This is the plan that we have been living by for almost a year and we went from $60K in debt to $13K in debt (yes, you read that right) … and we are quickly chipping away at the $13K. It could be gone now but we have been putting money away in savings for the future as well. My point is this plan works. Good stuff!
I have a really hard time sticking to my budget and also putting money aside. If nothing else, I really do want to start saving a little. I’ll have to put a plan in place and really stick to it.
These are great tips, I love being financially smart, but sometimes I spend outside of the budget and then spend a month to recoup!
We try not to use our credit cards unless we have to. Store rewards programs are a great way to earn free products.
I have two kids in College and i have been teaching them about money management. It is so important to set a budget and stick to it.
Sticking to a budget can be so hard. When we make it a priority I am always amazed at how much more money we seem to have. It really pays off.
It can be so hard to manage your money when you live paycheck to paycheck. We still need to amp up our savings plan.
Those are great tips. Thankfully my husband and I are good with money. We have only our mortgage payment as debt.
I so agree with all of your tips. I used to be amazing at money management – then I started earning a really big income all of a sudden with the blog… and slacked off. Suddenly, when that really good run started to wind down after a year, I’d developed really bad spending habits – it’s so important to be money-smart no matter what your income is. I agree – $5 per paycheck is better than nothing!
And we have a similar college savings program here – I’ve been looking into it. I have HUGE student loans from college, if I can prevent that for my little one that would be awesome!
This is great, I wish our state had an initiative like this- I’m going to tel my cousin to check on this for her son. You can never start saving too early!
This is one thing that should be taught in schools! So many kids (and parents) have no idea about money management! Glad my grandmother taught me a few things!
We went through financial hardship a while back and REALLY learned our lesson. Everything you said above is exactly what we do. We are SO much happy for it too.
It’s so important to keep an eye on your finances. It’s important to your future and your kids’ future.
These are great tips. Managing money can be difficult, even when you know what you should be doing.
My hubby is an accountant, so we are in pretty good shape 🙂 Great tips.