It’s January. A new year. A chance to start anew. A blank slate to accomplish a fresh set of goals.
When it comes to your personal finances, January is also a good time to set up and automate your financial goals for the New Year. As such, listed below are 2 good goals / resolutions to shoot for in 2014.
1. Set up a Zero-Based Budget
How does traditional budget work? Essentially, you lay out some financial needs for the month ahead, and if saving or investing money is included on the priority listing, you commit whatever amount you have leftover at the end of a pay period to your saving goal. The problem with this is that life gets in the way, and there never seems to be any money left over at the end of the month, correct?
In comes zero-based budgeting.
Similarly to regular budgeting, with zero-based budgets, you lay out your financial requirements/wants for the pay period. However, instead of waiting until the end of the period to see if you have money left over for your strategic goals, you transfer that money out at the beginning of the period in order to get your “balance to zero,” hence the name, zero-based budgeting.
This is a very effective strategy. Give it a try and see if you like it!
2. Stop Paying High Interest Rate Debt
When it comes to paying off high interest rate credit card debt, a little bit of knowledge will go a long way.
One strategy that can work for providing relief from high interest credit card debt is to find a new credit card that offers a 0% balance transfer that you can transfer your higher interest debt to. This strategy often works well for fairly small amounts of credit card debt that can be paid off in 6-12 monthly pay periods.
In addition, something a lot of people do not realize is that if you are a pretty good customer for a credit card, you can often get your interest rate decreased drastically simply by calling them and asking for a discount. If the first person you talk to at the credit card company says they cannot help you, it is often effective to ask for their supervisor.
Joe is a former financial advisor and media representative for American Express and Ameriprise. He was the “Money Man” at Detroit television WXYZ-TV, appearing twice weekly. He’s also appeared in Bride, Best Life, and Child magazines, the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Detroit News and Baltimore Sun newspapers and numerous other media outlets. Joe holds B.A Degrees from The Citadel and Michigan State University.
Leave a Reply