Money Market Blog: Personal budgeting Tips to Know!

When it comes to money management and getting things right the first time around, you have to know how to budget. You don’t need to be an accounting genius to do this. It’s just a simple case of knowing what comes in and what goes out. The latter is the tricky part. But all in all once you have budgeting down to the T, money management becomes so much easier. I don’t say you won’t have any problems but you’ll be well on your way to recovery. In this post we’ll be taking you through some personal budgeting tips. So without taking up much of your time, let’s begin!

Personal Budgeting Tips

First of all is Budgeting for you?

Heck Yeah! Big Companies don’t do them for nothing you know. If big companies have a budget drawn up they’re doing it for a reason. Budgeting tells you where you’re going to put the money after you receive it every month. Without knowing this you may spend it on all and sundry not knowing whether you’re left with something or are in the negative.

Besides this, budgeting is the first step in attaining your goals. Your goals could range from getting out of debt to retiring early to owning your own house. By taking care of what you earn you can have something leftover to help in meeting your goals.

The next advantage of budgeting is that it makes you feel good. Once you’ve planned on spending on something and you go to spend on it, you don’t feel the pinch. At the end of the process if you have something left, you think of it as extra cash. But don’t go spending it now! Save it.

Start with the Basics: 

The first in this list of personal budgeting tips is to start with the basics. This means take out all your expenditure and start justifying it. Well some are essentials there’s no doing away with them but what about others. During this process you’d notice that there are certain things you don’t really need spending on. This where the saving process begins. This is also known as a zero based budgeting. Ok enough of the lingo over here. Keeping it simple.

Get your Partner into the budgeting process: 

If you’re living with your spouse get them in on the budgeting process too. Sit down once a month preferably the beginning of it and note down all your combined expenses. This is one of the most important personal budgeting tips to know. You need to be on the same page when it comes to spending things and setting of goals. It makes no sense that one saves while the other spends like there’s no tomorrow.

Budget Month to Month: 

While some expenses occur every month like groceries there are others that you have to pay only at certain times like an insurance premium. This where month to month budgeting will come in handy.
The most important of all personal budgeting tips is to STICK TO THE PLAN! Happy budgeting!

Money Management Basics- Money Market Blog

Money- you can’t live without it and when you have it, there are problems too. If you’re one of those people where you live paycheck to paycheck and wonder how others don’t face the same, then this post is for you. In this post we’ll be covering money management basics. If you don’t want to be living hand to mouth then continue reading. The secret of many people doing well is not their higher paycheck necessarily but their money management skills. But it’s not only their skills that take them far it’s also a strict disciplinary approach that sets their affairs right too. But not to worry you don’t need to possess any hi- fi knowledge to be able to manage your money effectively. It’s actually quite simple. So without further ado let’s take a look at some money management basics.

Some Money Management Basics: 

Live according to your means:

The first and foremost thing to remember in money management basics is spend within your means. If you’re one of those people who spend all their earnings or are even left with a negative balance you aren’t far behind the majority of Americans. Hey it’s not me saying these things but a study conducted by FINRA Investor shows this.

Anyway, if you fall in this category, it’s not late to start living within your means. This means cutting unnecessary expenses.

Know what you Spend - Money Management Basics: 

This is kind of like budgeting. Budgeting is basically knowing what you have coming in and what you have going out.

When it comes to income, we pretty much have an idea on what comes in but we’re less sure of what goes out. You can check what goes out by looking at your monthly bills or bank statements.

After doing this break down your expenses into the following:

• Living expenses- this is what you have to pay each month like rent, insurance, car loans and other EMIs

• Essentials- these are things you have to spend to live such as electricity costs, gas, groceries etc. 
• Other expenses- these are basically your non- essentials

Pay your Bills on time: 

The next most important tip in effective money management basics is to pay all your bills on time. This is something that you will be able to do if you have a positive balance on hand. To get that positive balance you have to avoid all non- essential purchases.

If you don’t have the dough to pay your bills on time, then prioritize what you pay first. What you pay first is what costs the most. This means those loans that have a higher interest rate or those debts that you need to pay ASAP. You need to balance out higher costs with those that absolutely need paying.

Once you do this take steps in paying off your debt. Sure it will take time but in the end you would have paid off everything and may have something leftover which you can save.

In the end follow this course with a strict approach and hopefully in no time, all will be well!

Leverage Analysis – How to Fast-Track Your Financial Goals

Leverage – Well Though-Out Tool

Saving and capitalising for the later stage of one’s life is considered as a long-term objective which can be achieved steadily with scheduling and discipline. Leverage is a well thought-out tool which can magnify one’s capital using the right strategy. With it an individual has the capacity of enhancing the resources beyond his expectations with amazing results. In the present scenario, it gives excess to improved technology with the provision of wider networks, better insights followed by smarter system. Understanding leverage could –

• Fast-track an individual’s financial portfolio.

• Grow your wealth

• Improve your life-style

Leverage Analysis

Understanding the leverage analysis is a concept wherein one can overcome the limitations which could restrain an individual from his achievements of an improved life-style within a short period of time. However very few are aware of the concept of leverage. For instance, financial leverage could be related to mortgages in real estate or debt financing. It’s one type of leverage which could tend to be risky. However there are other categories of leverage which are beneficial in enhancing the financial portfolio without much risk.

 All one needs to do is to understand the concept of the system. Leverage is a tool that is utilised in making wise business plans which could be beneficial to those involved with their resources to override the hurdles. This would further prove to be effective on success in achieving great result with reduced personal struggle.

Leverage done accurately will enable in creation of job wealth growth and a better way of living. Tutors on success advice are available though many of them could be misleading and half-truths. Often through default these half-truths may tend to work well for some which could be regular and accepted as a fact. But the danger lies here when any half-truths is considered as a fact when essentially it is not, it will limit your capability of checking on improved options.

Financial Portfolio 

Planning for retirement is not about saving and maintaining a financial portfolio till one reaches the age of 65. One can enjoy a good retired life and be financially independent at any age. Distribution of asset across diversified portfolio of bonds, mutual funds and stocks may not be the only means of investing for later age.

Enhancing your portfolio is not about getting a promotion or a raise or working for extended hours. Trading time for money tend to control your revenue since it has a limit on the period of hours put in to achieve the results. One should know to segregate revenue from the working hour in order to ensure to earn more while putting in less hours of work.

Values of leverage will provide the insight to the various strategies in attaining success and the progress in reaching the goals to a strong financial holding.

Apply Leverage to your working system. 

One should always consider applying leverage in order to be successful. Without the principles of leverage in one’s wealth and business plan, it would mean that one is co-operating with time, effort of working and speed which is essential in attaining the level of success.

To understand the strategy of leverage is not complex. It can be implemented with ease and benefit from the consequences at a later stage of your life. The study of leverage will give you an understanding on how to break the series of living from one pay-check to another and start building your financial portfolio.

Leverage Enhances Wealth

Amassing of wealth could be from sources like personal capital and financial capital which tends to accumulate over a period of time. The benefits of utilising leverage enables an individual in segregating wealth growth from return on equity equation thus enabling him to draw a line between income and the hours of work.

Leverage is also enables you with the restrictions of predictable financial planning. This can be done by opening enhanced methods utilising the resources of others wherein the growth of one’s wealth is not restricted by your time, money, abilities and skills.

The additional capitals will enhance the wealth growth from return on equity limitation together with the income growth. Leverage tool can be utilised for enhancing your wealth growth. It is advantageous and beneficial in overcoming any roadblocks which may hinder the steady growth of success.

Risk/Profit

Moreover it is not risky since only financial leverage tends to increase risks as well as profit. Smart savers comprehend the balance between risk and the resulting earnings. They are aware of the characteristic risk with regards to property, business or shares. They have the understanding that in order to achieve success one needs to take a risk to gain profit.

Smart players need to have a confident mind-set in taking and reducing risk to enhance their profit. Leverage tool can totally change the concept of financial strategy enabling the individual to work smartly though not harder with amazing results in reaching and achieving goals in one’s financial life

How to Manage Money? Money Market Blog

The moment you start earning is the time you have to start managing your money. Many simply don’t or don’t know how. Getting money matters in order is the first thing you should learn. In this post we’ll be taking you through some tried and tested ways in which you can manage your money. Once you start earning you’ll start having bank accounts, insurance, places to save your money, credit cards and so much more, keeping all this in track is key to good management. So without further ado let’s look at how to manage money the easy way.

Getting things right with setting a Budget: 

Start off with a budget. Believe me this is essential. Knowing how much is coming in and how much you need to spend with an emphasis on the word need, is key to learning how to manage money. By having a budget you know just how much you can spend and you stick to it no matter what. This stops you from going into a never ending cycle of debt. Not only that knowing what you have coming in and how much you have left over will help you save.

Saving is essential when it comes to planning your retirement and other necessary unforeseen expenditures.

How to Manage Money- Know your Expenses: 

Maintain a list of all your expenses you incur in a month. This is something a lot of folk don’t do. Ask them how much they spend in a month and they don’t know. If you’re one of these people, here’s the chance to start maintaining accounts. Plus it’s easy to do. For a month start making a list of all your expenses. Remember to take into account all the cash as well as credit card payments too. Once this is done you will get a fair idea of all you have spent. You can then tally this up with your income to see how much if any you have left over. This step in how to manage money is great too when it comes to avoiding any unnecessary expenses. Believe me we all have some of those.

How to Manage Money- Knowing your Income: 

In this step you’ll know all you have coming in. whether it be from bank interest or salary or any other place. Many people already know how much they make in a month. This is an important step when it comes to managing finances. It’s only once you know what you have can you then know how much to spend.

As mentioned in the earlier step take all your monthly expenses and subtract it from your income. If you’re left over with a negative figure, it’s time to take stock and start cutting your expenses ASAP.

Alternatively if you have a positive figure, this is great. You can either pay off some debts and maybe start saving something.

How to Manage Money Better- Get your Debt Together: 

Many people who want to learn how to manage money, have debts they need paying off. In this step you need to figure out all that needs paying. In many cases there is even an option where you can get all your unsecured debt together and make one payment. The advantage of this is that you don’t have to pay things individually and you won’t lose track of what all you have to pay.

Understanding the Stock Market for Beginners!

Why is the stock market important for you? The simplest answer to that is that you can invest your money. Yes there are other routes to go when it comes to investing your money. But often times those routes do not pay adequate returns. That’s where investing in the stock market comes in. you can many a times get more than a good payout by dabbling in shares. But of course there’s always the possibility of losing all your money too. This is known as a risk return payoff. The higher the risk the higher the payout but also more the chances of losing all your investment. There are two types of investing- day trading (steer well away from this for now) and long term investing.

Understanding the Stock Market for Beginners:

In this post we’ll be taking you through an understanding the stock market for beginners.

Decide on the Type of Investor you are: 

Before we delve further into an understanding the stock market for beginners you need to know the type of investor you are. Whenever you open a brokerage account, which you have to by the way, they often ask you what your goals are and how much risk are you willing to bear.

Some investors are the put – my – money – in – and – forget - it kind of type while others want to take a more active participation in their investing. Most brokers allow you to invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs or exchange traded funds and index funds.

Knowing which Broker to Take: 

This will depend on your preferences and what each has to offer. But basically there are two types of brokers:

• Full Service brokers- they give you all things related to money management. These include retirement advice, healthcare, also where to invest your money in order to get adequate returns to meet your financial goals. Since they give you a big bang for your buck, they also charge a lot. These service providers are therefore mostly used by higher net worth clients. These costs include a percentage of your transactions, a percentage of your assets managed and even a yearly membership fee. The minimum ranges from account sizes of $25,000 and above.

• Discount brokers- this type of brokerage has become the most common nowadays. They have features where you can place the transaction you want and even a place where you can invest it and forget it feature too. Since they have become so popular they even have apps, graphs and many more features on their websites. As for cost, yes they do take a percentage of your transactions but the costs are relatively low as compared to the brokers up above.

There’s always the option of investing through your employer: 

If you don’t happen to have much laying about to invest then there’s always your employer’s retirement plan. These plans don’t require a lot of investment. In some cases it is as low as 1% of your salary. What’s even more great with this route of investing is that it is tax deductible. This means that before you calculate your tax payable from your income you can deduct this investment. Thus lowering your tax payable. Also with annual increases you can even add to your contributions later on too.

Minimum Deposit requirements when it comes to understanding the stock market for beginners: 

Many brokers or financial institutions have a requirement of a minimum deposit. This means they won’t accept your investment if you don’t invest a certain amount. This amount varies from firm to firm. The best advice we can give in this regard is to look around. Check your brokers available for the amount of commissions they charge, what their reviews are and so forth.

In some cases a deposit is not even charged while in others if you commit a higher amount to investing then they waive off a portion of their management fees and trade costs. Some also offer commission free- trades for initial trades when you open an account.

Now Coming to Commissions and fees: 

When it comes to understanding the stock market for beginners, you need to first understand that nothing comes free. This goes for brokers too. Although you don’t need to pay much when it comes to investing with brokers, the fact is that something is still chargeable.

In many cases your broker will charge you an amount for every trade you make. This can range anywhere from $2 to $10 per trade. Still other brokers may not charge you for trades, believe me they make up for it in other ways. That’s where the fine print comes in handy.

Whenever and however you trade you need to keep this in mind. Ultimately it will have a bearing on your profit margins. In more practical terms if you’re an active investor and like to frequently buy and sell stocks, with every transaction there are trade fees to pay. This eats into your profits margins leaving you with little or in some cases nothing. A trade is considered to be buying or selling stocks in a company. Note the “a company” here. If you happen to buy stocks of three different companies at the same time, it is considered as three different trades.

Mutual Fund Fees: 

If you happen to like mutual funds you also need to know that there are additional costs when it comes to this form of investing too. Besides the normal trade fees you even have management expense ratio or MER for short. But more on this later.

First of all what are mutual funds. Mutual funds are basically a pool of stocks from various companies. As they say never put all you money into one basket of eggs. The same is applicable here as well. In the stock market you never want to put all your money into one company. Mutual funds help in diversifying the risks. Now to MER, these are fees where the management charges a percentage normally ranging from 0.05% to 0.7% of the assets in the fund.

There is much more to understanding the stock market for beginners. A lot of reading and learning is required before you put you hard earned money anywhere.