Financial Planning

What is a family budget?

A family budget is a set of instructions or laid-out-in-advance procedures which act as a guide to paying your bills, buying things members of the family need, putting aside some money as savings, and so on and so forth. Nobody in your household should spend any money, outside of an absolute emergency, whenever doing so would cause the household to go over the family budget.

The family budget tells you your financial spending and consumption limits for a given period of time, usually for one month that based upon the following:

Your household’s total income, your debt load (including taxes), your regularly occurring expenses such as your electricity or phone bill the lifestyle you want to maintain or realize

All family budgets are intended to help you realize your goals and take care of all immediate needs, such as food, for yourself and your family while at the same time getting your household to make more money than it spends.

What makes a family budget successful?

The cornerstone of a successful family budget, or any budget, is by making sure that more money is brought in than goes out. You cannot realize your financial goals and lifestyle dreams if you and your family members are spending money that you don’t have. If you are living in debt, you must assure that your household income is greater than your consumption expenses every week, month, or yearly quarter. The most important goal of creating the family budget is to get yourself out of debt, and to do so as fast as possible.

How does creating and then maintaining an effective family budget work?

It all begins with preparation and thinking ahead. The word economics literally means “household management” in its Greek root. Apart from making sure all the people in the house gets along decently, the financial part of household management is the most important part.

You should draw up a plan of expenditures and you must follow it. If you do it right, you should be able to maintain your current lifestyle, and have enough money for recreation and leisure (which are important to mental and emotional health). But, maintaining this budget could mean changing certain spending habits. If that’s the case, you and all your family members who are working will need to comply with the family budget.

At least for most of us, money is limited. This means you need to prioritize how you spend your money. When most of your immediate needs are taken care of, your family budget will guide you to pay down your most pressing or outstanding debts first. For the vast majority of people, this will be their mortgage or credit card debt.

Pay Yourself First

Creating a family budget, however, also works on the principle of “paying yourself first”. This means that you put aside as much money as your budget permits toward savings and investments. Your “investments” might be a money market account, CD at your bank, or it might be some stock investments made with the guidance of a financial professional. But at any rate, you must make sure that you take some of your income off the top before you get down to the business of paying the supermarket for your food and then paying the bank for your mortgage.

A Household Budgeting Tool that Works

United First Financial has a proprietary software program called the Money Merge Account This unique software is designed to help you calculate with pinpoint accuracy how to balance your household finances to achieve the maximum debt pay down per period while still meeting all of your household’s financial dreams and goals. The Money Merge Account is an incredible tool that anyone serious about household budgeting should look into.

The cost of today’s average wedding has gotten so high, you might
think that the application of the word “budget” doesn’t apply.

Of course you’d be wrong.

Whether you’re spending $3,000 (far below average, even in the
least expensive areas of the U.S., but I know several people
who’ve done it quite successfully) or you’re spending $30,000
(only a bit about the average cost of a wedding today, so average
means plenty of people spend more), you still need a budget.

A budget isn’t necessarily an attempt to spend less. It’s a plan
for where you’ll spend the money you do spend, regardless of the
amount.

I hope you’re among the lucky few who can afford to spare no
expense when planning the wedding of your dreams. On the other
hand, I know some fairly wealthy people, and I don’t know anyone
who didn’t angst to a certain extent over the cost of their
wedding.

Most people simply can’t afford or just would rather not to empty
their savings and run up their credit for their wedding.
Weddings have this somewhat scary habit of being rapidly followed
by even MORE expensive things to spend your hard-earned money on,
more permanent things, like buying a house and having a baby (or
2).

Trickier still is the fact that many brides (the traditional
planners of weddings) are marrying a bit later in life, when
they’re well ensconced in a career and don’t have their weekdays
free for interviewing wedding vendors and sampling cake.

Do Wedding Planners Cost or Save?

Of course professional wedding planners have to be paid, so in
that way they obviously cost you. However an argument can be
made (and is made, both by wedding planners themselves and by
brides who’ve been happy with their professional planners) that
having a professional wedding planner can save you money in other
areas. An experienced wedding planner is involved in several
weddings each year. This means that they’ll have ongoing
relationships with certain wedding vendors, and it behooves those
vendors to cut the wedding planner a break on prices, so that
she’ll continue to use their services at all of the weddings
she’s involved with.

-Aside -

Not that it affects your budget, but it also behooves wedding
vendors to keep wedding planners happy with the service the
vendor provides. As an individual, you’re not likely to see
these vendors again after you finish your wedding (at least not
for a good long while, preferably not ever). A wedding planner,
on the other hand, will see these vendors again and again; she’s
a repeat customer for them.

Vendors will, of course, value a repeat customer more than a one
-time customer. They will convey this value with financial breaks
and extra-good service. If push comes to shove, they may convey
it by giving a wedding planner something (such as service on a
popular date or that includes a hand-to-find item) that they have
to take away from an individual bride. I know a bride who was
promised a wedding venue for a specific date and then a week
later the venue canceled on her, because they had a “repeat
customer” who wanted that date and was willing to pay extra. My
friend was not given the opportunity to pay extra or to outbid
the repeat customer. She just lost the date.

-Aside -

If you find a wedding planner with a great reputation (with both
brides and local vendors), you may get the best of everything: A
wedding planner who can easily get you top-notch vendors and
negotiate powerful bargains.

Even with a terrific wedding planner in your employ, you should
still do your own research and talk to your planner with a strict
budget in mind. If the planner can’t control costs
adequately, it’s always your responsibility to offer cost-saving
ideas of your own. If your wedding planner doesn’t stick to your
budget, then she’s the one who did a poor job, but it’s still you
who are out the money. The extra cost doesn’t come out of the
planner’s pocket!

Still, no wedding planner is likely to save you more than she
charges you. Hiring a wedding planner will result in higher
financial wedding costs for you. The area in which an excellent
planner will certainly save you, however, is in time. You’ll
need to invest far fewer hours toward organizing and ensuring the
details of your wedding if you hire a wedding planner than if you
don’t.

The question for you to answer is whether you have more time or
more money to invest in your wedding. Only you can answer that.

What’s The Cost

Wedding planners can charge you in any of three ways:

o A percentage of the total cost of your wedding

o An hourly charge

o A flat fee per specific services

Although it’s the least common, I recommend looking for vendors
who use the last of those options. The problem with the
percentage charge is that it creates an incredible conflict of
interest for the planner. In essence, the more your wedding
costs you, the more the planner gets paid. That’s the opposite
of how it should work, in my opinion! Most planners are ethical,
and they live and die by recommendations, so they’re unlikely to
triple your expenses just to increase their cut, but at some
level of consciousness, it’s just not encouraging them to watch
every penny in the way that I, personally, would like. If you’re
working with a planner who charges a percentage (15% is typical),
talk about paying them a percentage of your budgeted wedding
costs (rather than actual costs), plus a percentage of any amount
they can come in under budget. Essentially offer them a bonus
for coming in under budget. This will somewhat offset the innate
conflict of interest in the percentage-based payment structure.

An hourly fee at least solves the problem that the percentage fee
causes, but it causes an analogous problem with time. When a
wedding planner (or any vendor) charges you by the hour, they
lose their incentive to move fast, and you have very little
control over this. Since you’re not doing the work, it’s tough
for you to say exactly how long it should take. If you’re
working with a wedding planner who charges by the hour, set a
maximum number (or range) of hours you’ll pay for, while making
sure that the planner agrees that the maximum you set is an
adequate amount of time to plan your entire wedding.

Planners who charge a flat fee for each specific service they
provide give you great flexibility. You don’t have to hire them
to plan every part of your wedding. If you want them to handle
the venue and catering, while you hire your cousin’s band and
have your mom make your dress, you have lots of flexibility in
paying for just the services you need, but no others. Also, by
charging a flat fee per service, the planner maintains all normal
(and desirable) goals to get the work done quickly and
inexpensively. They don’t get paid more for failing at one of
those goals, as they do with the other payment methods.

Unfortunately, planners dislike this payment structure because
they fear that there will be something unusually difficult about
your wedding, and they’ll have to eat the cost of dealing with
it. Particularly wedding planners who are new to the field feel
uncomfortable trying to predict ahead of time how much time and
effort it will take to provide the services you require. If you
propose the use of this payment structure to a wedding planner
who normally charges differently, make it clear that you’re aware
of this concern and find it reasonable. Discuss the fact that
you’re willing to accept add-on charges (probably by the hour) if
an unusual situation, beyond the planner’s control, occurs. As
with all types of wedding planners, be sure to ask to speak to
references, and talk to these brides-who-have-gone-before-you
about exactly what the wedding planner did and didn’t do for each
service she provided.

Keep in mind that just because a particular wedding planner
usually charges clients a certain way, doesn’t mean they can’t
get paid by another method. Most wedding planners are freelance
agents, who can define their own rules for how they get paid.
Perhaps they’ve always charged percentages in the past, but that
doesn’t mean they couldn’t agree to get paid a flat fee for
specific services for your wedding, if that’s the only way you’re
willing to pay. Of course you must be aware that this also means
that they can walk away and not take you as a client, if they
really don’t want to accept the payment structure you’re
interested in.

Negotiate with a wedding planner just as you would with any other
vendor. Remember that you’re hiring them. They are your hired
help. If you don’t like their terms, you can find a different
wedding planner to contract with. You’re the one holding all the
cards. Play them.

(c) All Rights Reserved — Debbie MacGuffie

When thinking about retirement, most of today’s generation does not think about how much they will need to live a comfortable life. They only think about the surf and sand and peace and quiet. If you are one of these people, you are not alone. Most people today do not set aside enough for their retirement.

When it comes to retirement, most people do not discuss the issue of saving for their retirement years. You cannot live out your big dreams of sailing around the world or driving around in an RV if you cannot support those dreams. The financial responsibility, if not adequately planned for, can turn into a grave burden during retirement.

There are simple steps to follow when you are saving for retirement.

Needs versus wants: Determine your needs from your wants. Your microwave may break down and you feel that you need a new one. Do you really need it or do you just want it? Yes, they are convenient but convenience does not equal need. Spend wisely and use the extra to save.

Remind yourself why you are saving: Post a picture of something you dream of around the house to act as an incentive. The picture represents your dreams.

Pay yourself first: Many companies offer 401k’s and will match a part of what you put into them based on a percentage. Therefore in order to get the most from your 401k, you should contribute the maximum allowed.

Keep making payments: If you have a loan and pay it off, don’t stop using the amount of the payment. You were already living without that extra income so take the payment amount and put it into your savings account.

Put away the extra: Let’s say you receive some money from a family member’s will or you get a raise at work. Just like above, you already live without that money so unless you really need it, put the extra money into savings.

Lower your withholding: Put your W-4 to work for you. Keep a little extra out each pay period. It is better to have the money now to put away rather than wait for tax refunds to come around.

Make your money do the work: Make sure that your savings account has enough to support you for at least 3 months at all times.

Lower monthly fees: Get rid of all the services you pay for but do not use. Do you have cable but are never home to watch it? Even a $20 a month cable bill adds up to $240 a year.

Do the little things: If you find a coupon you can use, clip it. Pack a lunch everyday instead of eating out. Put the extra money into your savings and see how much, over time, your savings has grown from just the little deposits.

The most important thing to remember is that there is never a bad time to start saving for your retirement. Even if you only have a few extra dollars, putting it into a savings account will help it grow. No amount is too small to be saved.

The art of negotiating can be applied to anything, many of us are expert negotiators and we do not even know it. When we go out and buy the car of our dreams, we negotiate on its color, tires, stereo and much more. When we buy a house we use the art of negotiation, we look for a discount on the price to pay. It is exactly the same idea behind negotiating delinquent unsecured debt. No program or negotiation company has re-invented the wheel, there is nothing new to how negotiations took place a thousand years ago or how they are done today. The only thing that must be kept in mind is to know about what you are negotiating on. Before buying a car we buy a million magazines and get informed, before buying the house we talk to many different sources. We get informed. The same must be done before we decide to reach settlements on our unsecured debt.

Many debt relief programs are presented in a complex way, it does not have to be that way. Most of us are confused with the rules set up by many of the companies handling these programs. Debt negotiation is quite simple if you have the time. Most of us can save ourselves a huge amount of money if we take our time to get informed. It is true there are many laws to follow when negotiating unsecured debt, but these laws are easily accessible on the internet. Again, most of us would just require time to negotiate or own debt. All of the money paid out front to debt relief agencies is a waste, any money paid in between is a waste also. The only time we should pay any of these agencies is when a settlement is reached on any of our accounts because they actually took the time out to negotiate on it. Why should we pay any money out before anything is actually done?

Keep this in mind. If anyone stops making the regular monthly payments to their creditors the interest rates will go up, late fees and penalties will continue to accumulate until the account is brought back to a current status, we pay our debt in full or we reach a settlement on the amount owed. In the case of a settlement we will be agreeing to pay back a part of the money owed after we have accrued late fees and penalties. If this is the case, why do most debt relief programs place us further into debt by charging us retainer and maintenance fees that do absolutely nothing to help us get out of our debt?

Same as when we buy that new car or that home, we need to research our best options when it comes to finding the help we need to lessen our debt load. Debt settlement programs are not presented properly most of the time, many important details are left out so that prospective clients are not scared off right off the bat. The truth is money can be saved by negotiating unsecured debt, what is often not told are the possibilities of wage garnishment, having property attached to, lawsuits, etc.. If we are behind on our payments with out the advise of a debt relief agency debt negotiation is probably the best alternative, keep in mind the amounts of accounts settled is dictated by how fast funds can be accumulated for settlements.

Negotiations are dictated by funds available, no one will ever settle any account if money is not being set aside. Keep in mind the amount being negotiated on. We cannot set aside $200 a month on $25,000 worth of debt and expect to reach settlements on all accounts, this will be financial suicide. We must set realistic goals, most people usually save anywhere from 40 to 50% off their total debt if all the conditions are met, especially having the funds to settle when the offers come along. Do not be lured by false promises from companies that have nothing to lose on your behalf and get informed before making a decision.

If you are ready to dig deeper than you ever have in a workout – ready to push yourself harder than you have ever had to push before in a workout – if you want to see just how far you can push yourself both mentally and physically – if you want to get the body of your dreams in just 60 day and you are willing to work hard for it, then Beachbody’s Insanity is for you.  Insanity is a 60 day cardio based total body training program. Insanity brings total body training to a whole new level of extreme. At the end of 60 days you will have better endurance, slimmer legs, lower resting heart rate, faster cardiac response, and better body definition.

INSANITY does this with Max Interval Training.  Normal interval training allows you to push through the “stress adaptation response”, this is what happens when your body becomes accustomed to one level of training. Interval training includes short bursts of moderate intensity training in between lower intensity training.

Max Interval Training turns interval training on its head. With Max Interval Training you have long periods of maximum intensity training with short periods of lower intensity training. This higher intensity training forces your body to use fast muscle twitching when your heart rate is raised to 80% or more of its capacity. This higher intensity will result in faster increases in fitness and more efficient burning of carbs and fat.

Insanity not only challenges your body but also challenges your mind. You will pushed harder and challenged to dig deeper to reach your goals. Insanity will push you physically and mentally to the edge of your endurance.

To find out more about INSANITY and to see INSANITY success stories click HERE.