15 ways to never run out of money!

I’ll be the first to tell you that I don’t agree with 100% of the article, but for those who don’t know where to start. This is as good a place as any.

In February 2011,  The Consumer Report published an article that detailed 15 ways that you can protect yourself from running out of money,  no matter what income level you were. I have listed a few below that I have found valuable. But, as always, never take one person’s word; read the entire article to formulate an opinion for yourself. Then let me know what you think!

Live below your means – Nothing kills a financial dream more than trying to get too much too quick. Live within or below your means now. This way, later, you can live the way you want to.

Keep a budget – As I’ve said before, living on a budget is not a 4 letter word. This is actually a smart thing to do. Tell your money what to do. Don’t let your money tell you what it will be doing.

Start saving Early – The earlier you start saving, the more you will have later. No matter how much income you have, if you put a little away over a long period, in the end, you will have a nice-sized cookie jar.

Diversify your holdings – Having all your eggs in one basket is not wise. Mix up your portfolio.

Pay off debt – Living a debt-free lifestyle (don’t borrow money and live on less than you make) will help you to afford the things that you need and the things that you want. The basic rule of accounting  Let your assets outweigh your liabilities.

The law of 4% – Only withdraw 4% annually from your retirement (After you retire.) This way, you are not outpacing your retirement fund. This law assumes that you are earning interest on your money that is higher than 4%.

As stated earlier, these are only a few of the 15 steps detailed in the article. I urge you to continue your own research and discover the best methods that work well for you.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2011/february/money/financial-planning/overview/index.htm

What If: 5 Tips For Budgeting

Even though money is one of the taboo topics to bring up, people often talk about it openly. Although it is never in a positively.  Rarely do I hear someone say, “I’ve built up a very nice savings account over the past year”.  When I talk to people about finances I tend to hear lots of negative comments such as, “I just can’t seem to make ends meet”.  When the subject of budgeting comes up, all I hear are “What If’s”!   “What if You don’t make enough money to…”,  “What if you can’t budget because…”, “What if…, What if…”.  For a while, I would let all the “what if’s” get to me.  They all had valid arguments.  But, after I stopped to think about it. I realized that they were their own blockade to the freedom they desired.  You can ask “what  if” until you are blue in the face, but that won’t change your situation. Nor will it help you to find a valid solution. What will change your situation is a plan.  That is exactly what a budget is.

Definition :  Budget – A written plan that tells you what to do with your resources.

In this instance your resources is your finances.  Here are a few tips you should consider when creating your plan if action to reach your financial goals.

1. Pay First things first.
The first checks you write should not be the credit card or the cell phone company’s.  Take care of your necessities first. Food, shelter, and transportation. Then with whatever is left,  pay everyone else until you run out of money. If you have no money after you take care of the necessities, then that it. You have no more resources to spend. But, at least, make sure you have a food to eat, a place to live, and a way to get to work.. If you are out of money and there are still items that you need to pay, consider taking a look at my creating multiple streams of income post to find out things you can do to generate extra income.

2.  Pay your obligations second
If there is money left after you pay your necessities, pay who you owe. This is where most people are hindered in their endeavors for financial security. They spend the majority of their time paying companies they borrow from,  it seems they never get ahead.  The trick here is not only pay the people you owe,   also, stop borrowing money. This includes loans(except for mortgages), credit cards, overdrafts…etc.  The less money you borrow the less money you have to pay back. The less money you have to pay back, the more you have for other things, like building a nest egg.. The sooner you start to understand this the better off you will be.

3.  Don’t be so rigid, Leave room for change
Once you have your financial plan written, leave room for it to change.  Let’s face it, change is the only thing in this world that is guaranteed. As long as you live, something is going to change.  Since we know that life is going to happen, let’s plan for it.  Leave room in the budget to catch the things that may come up.  In the beginning this may not be so easy, but stick with it.  It gets easier as you go.

4. Don’t overspend.
When the money is gone, stop!  If your register (or whatever you use to track your spending) says you have zero dollars left, you can’t spend anymore.  Don’t go get the credit card and start spending on it.  As I stated in step 2, The less money you borrow the less money you have to pay back. The best solution to make sure you have enough money to go around, is to stop overspending.

5.  Talk about money
The subject of money is such a taboo topic, in many households that generations have gone by and the knowledge of how to manage money properly has gotten lost.  It is time to start the conversation about what money is and how to manage it.  If you are married, communicate about your budget, even create it together. If you have kids include them too.  If you are single, well… you’ve lucked out! You don’t have to answer to anyone but yourself.

Are these the fix all tips for budgeting; Not by a long shot.  But, it is a good place to start.  For all of those “what if” questions that may be going through your head… “What if you started telling our money what to do, instead of letting our money dictate the direction you are going”? “ What if you stopped overspending every month by using credit cards, and  payday loans”?  What If you had control over every dime that came into your household and you directed it to where you wanted it to go?  If you asked these what if questions instead of negative ones, do you think you can build the life you want for yourself?
What if?

Forgot your Windows Password?

If you are like me I’m pretty sure that you sometimes may forget your password. In fact, I’m willing to bet that like me you have a wallet full of passwords that gets pretty difficult to tell which password goes for which site. More on password keepers in another post.  But what if you actually don’t remember your computer password.  As I did when I was trying to update my password wallet into a digital format.  What if you also haven’t set up the nifty windows password recovery option. What do you do then? Password Reset We’ll I had the chance to find this out first hand. Initially I was using a program called ERD Commander. But when I upgraded my operating system I couldn’t use it and Microsoft was not help with it. That’s when I found OPHCrack. OPHcrack is a free Windows password cracker based on rainbow tables. It is a very efficient implementation of rainbow tables done by the inventors of the method. It comes with a Graphical User Interface and runs on multiple platforms. It is also very simple to use. OPHCRACK logoSo if you are looking for a way to get back into your computer. I would recommend using OPHCrack. http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/download.php?type=ophcrack Now I understand that everyone is not as technology savvy as I am, so here is a link to the how to guide. http://sourceforge.net/p/ophcrack/wiki/ophcrack%20Howto/ I will tell you when you download turn off your Virus Protection, this download will trigger you virus protection.  I assure you however, it is not harmful to you system. After the few minute download. remember to turn your virus protection back on. Now if you still are having problems once you run the disk that you will create, and following the prompts,  I’m more than welcome to give you a hand.  Simply post your question here or use my Contact page to get hold of me.  I’m also pretty sure your local IT guy can figure this out pretty quickly. If you are stuck on using the windows system.  Howtogeek.com has a great post on how to create a windows password reset disk.  But OPHCrack has not let me down yet.