Personal Finance Advice

Let’s face it; money can be a dry subject sometimes. While it is true that there are many people who are intrigued by money matters, there are also many people who would rather not subject themselves to any talk involving interest rates, investing, or anything else that has numbers involved. The problem is that people who shun financial talk are depriving themselves of some really valuable information that may wind up saving them quite a bit of money if they take the time to listen.

The trick is to find financial information that does not bore you. It helps if you can find a financial guru who falls into the category of someone who:

1. Knows what he or she is talking about.

2. Is excited about financial matters.

3. Can present financial information in a manner that does not make you want to take a nap.

This may seem like a tall order, but if your goal is to learn more about your money then there are three financial gurus who you will want to check out. None of these three will bore you, and each of them know what they are talking about.

Jim Cramer:  If you are looking for someone who is completely passionate about investing, and who presents information is such an excitable way that you may fear he will develop an anxiety attack, check out Jim Cramer. He has the educational, occupational, and life experience to justify his popularity.

Dave Ramsey: If you are looking for someone to explain the basics of budgeting and getting out of debt, Dave Ramsey is a good choice. Rarely does he ever delve into complicated financial topics. He explains everything clearly and has the added credibility of once having gone bankrupt and building himself back up to where he is today.

Clark Howard: If you are looking for someone to help you stretch your money further and to also help you recognize money scams, you will like Clark Howard. He is a man who knows where to find a bargain and he is happy to share his knowledge with everyone.

All of the above financial gurus offer advice on their websites, they are all published authors, and you can catch all of them on the radio or television. Their advice is accessible and easy to understand, which makes them stand out from the crowd of experts who want to tell you what to do with your money.

When you get serious about making an attempt at getting your personal finances in order, what should your first priority be behind getting up to date on any delinquent accounts? While some people advise that the very first step should be paying off debt, there are many people who argue that it is far better to build up savings before attacking debt. The truth is that for most people, the best decision with regards to getting your personal finances in order is a combination of the two: Save money and pay down your debt.

Both goals are admirable, and while the truth is that it is usually easier to meet one goal quickly instead of working simultaneously on two goals at the same time, if you are starting from a point where you have no savings and plenty of debt, it really is a good idea to initially work toward both for a while.

Your circumstances will also dictate what your priorities will be. For example, if you know that you will need to have a large chunk of money in the near future for a certain anticipated expense, then your priority might be largely shifted to saving money. On the other hand, if you carry credit balances with really high interest rates, and because of credit score issues you can’t qualify to transfer the balances to new accounts with lower interest rates, then paying down your debt makes a lot more sense. As a bonus, paying down the balances you owe will probably help your credit score, making you eligible for better interest rates down the road.

If you have no special circumstances that dictate what your immediate financial priorities should be, and you aren’t quite sure what your goals should be, then consider having a plan that initially involves saving as well paying down debt. It is a good idea to build up a savings account that will tide you over in case you have a financial emergency, but at the same time you do not want to totally disregard the mounds of debt you have (or the dollars you are throwing away to the interest on those debt accounts). For this reason, build up a relatively small savings account and then turn your attention to aggressively paying off your debt.

How much money should you put into your savings account initially? While it depends on how much money you spend and how much it would cost you to bounce back from an unexpected financial problem, $500 or $1000 is a good number to start with. This amount is a nice buffer to have until you pay off your debt and then can fully fund your emergency savings.

If you have no savings and a huge pile of debt, this process can seem to take forever. While it is true that it can take quite a bit of time before you debt is paid off and your savings account is large enough to tide you over for a few months if necessary, it is also true that it will not take long before you start seeing results. Noticing a growing savings account and a dwindling debt load can be fantastic motivation to keep going and get your finances in order.

How long can you go without paying a bill before you get charged a late fee? The answer depends on the policies of the company you owe money to, although the best idea is to always pay your bills on time so you can avoid this issue altogether.

Late fees can be quite costly, especially if they are assessed on a credit account with a revolving balance that you don’t pay off every month because then you wind up paying interest on the late charges. That means that not only are you forced to pay a late fee because you didn’t get your payment in on time, but you also wind up paying interest on that late fee for quite some time if you don’t pay it off immediately. You can see why some companies adore late fees; they are the “gift” that just keeps giving, at least as far as profit goes.

Lenders usually do a good job of clearly spelling out when payments are due. If you receive a statement from the lender, either electronically or through the mail, you can find out what the payment due date is. You can also read the Terms and Conditions of the account to find out if there is any grace period after the due date before a late fee is charged. You should not make a habit of sending your payment in based on the grace period. Instead, you should adhere to the due date specified on the statement.

With other types of bills, on the other hand, figuring out the payment due date can be a little trickier. For example, if you have a recurring lawn service or if you hire an independent contractor to do some repairs around your home, the invoice you receive after the work is done may not specify when the money is due. Some may specify a “Due By” date, others will state “Due Upon Receipt” and others may not have a due date written anywhere on the invoice. It is common for some people to look at an invoice with no due date specified on it and toss the invoice into the pile of bills and figure they will just get to it when they get to it; an invoice without a due date can seem to lose a little of the urgency behind the need to send in the payment.

Even if the invoice does not have a due date, you cannot assume that there will not be a late fee charged if you don’t pay the bill in a timely manner. There is a good chance that there may be wording somewhere on the invoice -either on the front or back- that specifies a certain late fee if payments aren’t received within a specific period of time.

In other words, “Due Upon Receipt” does not mean that you should toss the bill to the side and pay it when you next think about it. It means that you should pay the bill when you receive it. Don’t make the bill grow in size just because you don’t pay it on time and you wind up with a late fee. That is not good financial management, and it really is not fair to the company or individual who did the work for you and who are waiting to be paid for their work.