Analyze the payments you are making for all your credit cards every month. Ask yourself if you really need the number of credit cards that you own. If not surrender some and have as less as necessary.

Also make the monthly bills on time to keep a clean record of your credit score. Make use of offers given by the credit card companies. Do not fall victim for marketing gimmicks and buy a credit card on an offer as the APY might be a lot higher compared to the traditional ones without offer.

Determine how much credit card debt you owe to the company and start allotting a considerable amount every month.

Thats it!!! We are done for the day. This will not take more than an hour to analyze. So you can go to sleep with a satisfaction that you have completed more than 50% in your attempt to fix your finance.

Lets now discuss about people who appear to be rich. These are people who own a luxurious apartment, a dazzling car , jewels and clothes that are in par with today’s trend , inspite of the fact that its beyond their range of affordability.

As a result, instead of enjoying financial independence , they fall victims of financial dependence. Every month they have huge amount of bills to be paid, hence their job becomes an integral part of their life which they have to hold on to even if they hate it. Juggling the funds would become an everyday routine, where you have to decide about which debt to clear immediately and which to postpone. These people always expect themselves to be in good health , because a major health issue would incur a lot of cost and obviously an emergency fund is out of question when they are busy shopping.

In a nut shell these are people who are used to the fake comforts that money offers and are not ready to accept the reality that something might go wrong someday and we have to be prepared to face it.

I personally would hate a life like that. Instead i would prefer to be rich in my own way. I won’t have the most amzing car, but i will have a vehicle that falls under my bydget to solve my purpose plus i will have financial freedom and lot of peace of mind. Instead of breaking my head over how to settle my monthly bills for all the debts, i would be spending my time in a constructive manner.

If i get bored with my job, i will have the courage to quit and follow my passion.To me living a life by my own rules matters more than the outward glamor that only leaves stress inside.I definitely cannot buy what i want immediately, but with months and years of secure savings, i would be able to acquire all that i desired some day plus i will have a sense of satisfaction, which i prefer to the fear of losing myself in debt.

So its high time you decide, what you want out of life. Because in the end life gives you what you desire out of it. Make a wise choice and start to act accordingly NOW!!!

]]> http://www.8000credit.org/814/rich-rich/feed/ 0 http://www.8000credit.org/782/5-important-money-lessons/ http://www.8000credit.org/782/5-important-money-lessons/#comments Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:39:04 +0000 Teena http://www.8000credit.org/?p=782 Hi Everyone! We have come across various tips to save money, to build wealth and start investing. Yet some of us remain hesitant towards taking our first steps. I not going to give up. I will do my job to keep you all as much motivated as possible. Today i am gonna give you all 4 simple lessons about money.

Lesson 1

Never spend more than you earn. It is simple mathematics. Spend as much less as possible than you earn, the more the gap is the more beneficial it is for you.

Lesson 2

Never invest while you are in huge debt. Start paying your monthly installments towards your debt, once it comes down, you can think of investing. However if all that you have is just a home mortgage that is taken care of regularly, then you could think of investment.

Lesson 3

Once you do this the friendship takes a new level and there are fair chances that you don’t see your friend as the person yo used to before. Be careful.

Lesson 4

Prioritize and work towards your goal. You might be having one major goal to achieve which you will have to accomplish a number of smaller goals. Make a list, prioritize andgo ahead. If you fail to get things organized. you are never likely to get there.

Well i am sure these words keep constantly resonating in our ears, whether through external sources or through our inner voice. Although we have a burning desire every morning we wake up to make a new beginning towards the life we actually want to live, somehow the motivation gets faded as the day progresses. Sometimes due to laziness, sometimes due to fear of failures.

There is a great chance for you to stumble upon the pathway when you walk, but do you stop walking at all? There is risk in every little thing we do in our lives but we do not stop living. Do we? So its high time you start taking a hold on your life and begun realizing your dreams. Instead of spending hours together in front of the television, do something productive.

Ask yourself why you want to become rich. Ask yourself what would be the best possible way for you to go about it. Analyze various options and plunge into action. The world has plenty of opportunities but it presents them only to people who have what it takes to seize it.

Do not be a victim of circumstance but like Bradley Whitford rightly said, become a hero of your own life. In the end what counts is the gallops not the stumbles.

Let us be honest. How many of us follow our chores sincerely, or let us say, on a given time when we  are assigned a job ,given a deadline, when we are  getting  no extra incentive for our job, and most important ,when we are  quite sure that there is no one observing us, how many of us do our jobs sincerely?

Well barring just a few I suppose the answer is quite obvious.

In 1920 the managing authorities   at the Hawthorne Works factory also had the same query in mind when they decided to take some measures  to improve production. They realized that the lighting at the place of work was not adequate. The lighting was improved. Now the workers could assemble the parts faster. With the speed of the work increased, the production increased. The authorities were satisfied, so they were given extra breaks. With greater breaks   their efficiency further increased.

After some time the management decided to   go back to the original working conditions. But to their amazement they found that the changes had not affected the quality of the work. The production was still high. What could have been the cause? And they realized the extra lighting had done the trick.  The workers felt  they were under constant vigilance. So even after the changes in work conditions were withdrawn, the workers continued to work at the same pace. It was here that the idea originated .The    Hawthorne effect  as it was named ,originated  from the idea that any phenomenon being observed  will change just by the act of observation. This  was also called the “observer effect”.

This fact holds true even while handling our finances. How many of us spend compulsively?  Most of us, and how many of us really need the things we purchase?

If we keep a track of our purchases we realize that most of the times we end up buying stuff, we do not need. Instead of brooding over or justifying our expenses, just keeping a track   might help.

Today our problems have been simplified for all of us.  Our solutions are just a click away. If you are facing difficulties in managing your finances ,the solutions are right here. We have online aggregation sites to help us

Quicken Online:  They maintain interactive charts where all your transactions are categorized automatically, thus providing an overall perspective of your expenses.

They maintain a record of your monthly expenses.

Just imagine all your average expenses for any particular category can be accessed in a jiffy, giving you  the ratio of your income to your expenses. This curbs unnecessary expenses thus focusing on one particular category. Isn’t that wonderful.

We can see all our accounts in one place. No more multiple passwords to be remembered

It is 100% free.

They maintain your online banking information which includes keeping a check on your investments, credit cards payments and your loans.

Yodlee moneycentre:   Lost track of your expenses? Is your budget getting out of control? Or do you fear your financial information can be hacked? Well Yodlee moneycenter is your solution. All your information is safeguarded by latest security technology, and is password protected. It maintains reports which are pre-categorized for you to watch, and analyze your expenses. It sets your budget and your spending limits. So you see, your financial power lies in your hands.

Mint.com: Are you trying to categorize your expenses and going crazy? Well stop worrying. Let Mint.com do it for you. It is a budgeting site which automatically categorizes and graphs all your expenses the moment you spend .Just a glance, and you know how intelligently you have spent. Safe and secure it has been widely acclaimed.

So we see, these sites act like custodians of our finances. They   watch where we spend, and that helps us in curbing unnecessary expenses. We learn to keep track of our expenses, start spending sensibly and end up saving money And after practicing this kind of a curb, we become vigilant.

Just like the Nike+ipod users who wish to keep running and  improving their  statistics even after  they  have discontinued using a gadget,. Which kept a constant watch on them.

When the other passengers came to know that one of them is a personal finance blogger, they all tried to gain some advice and in return told him their personal financial perdicament.

Long story short, the article made for a damn interesting read. I would not only recommend that you read the article, but also subscribe to the gentlemen’s blog as it regularly churns out interesting tid bits about how to save money and maximize your earnings.

Why is it important to plan personal finances.

Give the phase America is passing through, it makes sense to be penny wise. If I have to sum it up, I would say, learn to live below your means and try to make as much as you can.

Check out the article from here.