Personal Finances – K.i.s.s.ing your Checking and Credit Card Accounts

My Dad and father-in-law were at both ends of the spectrum when it came to managing their checking accounts. Dad would spend hours, sometimes days, tracking down a two cent error in his checkbook register. It drove him bonkers when his checkbook didn’t balance to the penny with the account statement.

My father-in-law, on the other hand, didn’t even keep a checkbook register. He couldn’t be bothered with balancing his account. His philosophy was, “If I run out of money the bank will let me know.” That is a hands off approach that few of us can get away with, but, it worked for a person that was born and lived in a town of less than 800 people. The bank did, indeed, let my father-in-law know when he was overdrawn. They never, to my knowledge, charged him overdraft fees.

That approach can work in a small town in Northern Idaho. Most of us, however, do not have that kind of a relationship with our bank. In order for our personal finances to run smoothly, it is our responsibility to make the lifestyle choices, and do the work associated with managing our day-to-day finances. How we handle our checking account and credit card transactions is fundamental to keeping things running well.

My Approach Is Somewhere In The Middle

My approach to managing our family checkbook register is somewhere between the two parental extremes cited above. My wife, Lois, and I record all transactions in our register and, like clockwork, I balance our account every month. What I don’t do is spend an unnecessary amount of time trying to find errors when our account doesn’t balance with the statement. If the error is within comfortable limits, I adjust the account balance and then get on with my life. What’s a “comfortable limit?” That depends on the account balance. My error tolerance is directly proportional to how much money we have on hand when the error occurs. Balancing errors don’t happen very often. More often than not our checkbook balances to the penny. The accuracy can be attributed in some measure to the fact that I use personal finance management software.

The point is that personal finances do require some work, but, perfection may not be desirable. There are a lot of people involved in the processing of the various transactions each of us generates as part of our monetary lives. Those millions upon millions of transactions, large and small, are all subject to our own human error as well as the human errors that can be committed by all of those people behind the scenes who we rarely think about. It behooves us, therefore, to keep tabs on the pulse of our personal finances as recorded in our checkbook and credit card accounts. This ongoing monitoring can be psychotic or a normal, healthy part of our lives. It’s up to each one of us to decide where we stand on this issue. Will we adopt a fringe behavior like one of my parents? Or will we keep it sane and simple (K.I.S.S.)?

Using Tools Imposes Lifestyle Choices

Using a cash flow management tool forces you to make choices by imposing lifestyle traits that are required if the tool is going to work as intended. That may sound intimidating, but, for a well written, user friendly program, the required lifestyle traits are not an undue burden. For those of us who are sincerely interested in having “more money than month” instead of “more month than money,” developing a few, possibly new habits need not be a harsh adjustment. The payback in financial peace of mind is very well worth it.

Choices We Make Regardless

First, let’s take a look at those habits that will make your financial life easier regardless of whether or not you use personal finance software.

* Keep your checkbook register accurate. Your checking account is probably your primary money management tool. It just makes common sense, in my opinion, to keep your checkbook register up-to-date and accurate. If you are not used to writing every transaction (e.g. checks, ATM transactions, deposits) in your checkbook register, or balancing your checkbook every month, these are habits you may want to look at developing immediately. Should you decide to use a money management program, an accurate checkbook is imperative.

* Keep an accurate record of charge transactions. If you use charge cards, keeping an accurate record of your charges and returns is also vital to the success of your cash flow management efforts. In my opinion, not keeping track of charges is a main contributor to why many people get into trouble with charge card debt. I think it is vitally important that, starting today, you keep the receipts from all of your charge transactions for no other reason than for reconciling your monthly credit card statement. If you are using appropriate personal finance software, charge transactions are entered into the program as soon as convenient. The program will, with accurate charging information, keep you informed of where you stand on your charge card debt.

Choices Imposed By Software

The following issues are specific to the successful use of many personal finance programs.

* One checking account. How people manage their personal funds is very, well, personal. For a single person, the choices are simplified. Once a person takes on a partner, however, personal finances can become complicated depending on how much financial autonomy each partner requires. Regardless of how many savings and checking accounts each single or partnered person may have, at least one checking account is normally required for use with the software. This one checking account, coupled with the program, is used to plan for and pay bills; plan and pay for planned purchases; and to smooth out weekly living expenses. The intent is for the program and it’s associated checking account to encapsulate a person’s entire month-to-month financial records.

* Pay bills on a schedule. Instead of paying bills when you receive them or when you get paid, pay your bills on the same days each month. An appropriate schedule for most people would be on the 1st and 15th of each month. The mechanics of bill payment (e.g. check, cash, online, automatic withdrawal) are entirely up to you, but, sitting down twice a month and arranging for your bills to be paid on or before the date they are due will simplify and smooth the paying of your bills.

* Pay yourself on a schedule. “Paying” yourself a fixed amount of spending money the same day each week regardless of when you receive your income will smooth out your day-to-day expenses. How much weekly spending money you give yourself is entirely up to you as is the weekday on which you “pay” yourself. The trick is to find that amount of weekly spending money that is enough for day-to-day expenses, but not so much that you don’t leave yourself enough to pay bills. An appropriately written personal finance program will automatically include your personal “payday” in your month-to-month financial projection so you can easily see whether you have correctly set your weekly spending money amount.

* Keep accurate records. An appropriately written personal finance program gives you a “forward looking” projection of your month-to-month cash flow. When using such a tool, keeping your cash flow projection current is the key to giving you a continual picture of where you are and where you’re headed. You will, therefore, have to be consistent with keeping your month-to-month financial records current. With the right personal finance software, this does not have to be a big chore like keeping track of every penny you spend, or entering and categorizing every check you write. In an appropriately written personal finance program, most of your record keeping will consist of entering bills when you receive them, entering charges as you incur them, paying yourself once a week, reconciling bank and charge account statements, and paying bills. Typically, all of this financial activity will take two to four hours per month.

Paperwork Flow

There are a couple of habits that Lois and I have developed that simplify tasks like the keeping of accurate records. When any piece of paper is received on which is recorded a financial transaction, that piece of paper is placed in our “In” basket. While most of our financial transactions are handled electronically, there are still items like charge slips, magazine subscriptions and account statements that are printed. By placing all such printed items in one place, they get recorded in our computer records accurately and in a timely manner. It is unusual for one of our paper transactions to be forgotten.

Those pieces of paper that are needed for account reconciliation, like credit card receipts, are put into a “Hold” folder after having been recorded in our personal finance software. Those pieces of paper that are not needed after being recorded are shredded or burned. After reconciling credit card statements, all of the pieces of paper for transactions that have cleared are removed from the “Hold” folder and also destroyed.

It’s a simple system, but, it works for us. As long as everyone in a household knows the “paperwork flow,” and habitually uses that flow, the chances that transactions will be lost, resulting in potential financial errors, are greatly reduced.

Being Big Brother To Your Checking Account

Another habit that I have adopted is the close, online supervision of our checking account. I’m a big fan of online banking which gives me almost up to the minute information about the status of our checking account. As part of my computer startup procedure, I take a look at the activity in our checking account. This may sound a bit paranoid, but, I’ve been able to spot unexpected activity on several occasions. There has been nothing traumatic like identity theft, but, by keeping a close eye on checking account activity I’ve caught unexpected withdrawals shortly after they happened instead of being surprised on the next account statement. The most recent example involved automatic credit card payments that I thought I had cancelled. It took two months working with the credit card company’s customer service staff to straighten that one out. Had I not spotted the first unexpected payment when it happened, our checking account could have been short by .00 each of those two months. That may not be a large amount, but, it could have been enough to cause a potential, inconvenient problem if left undetected.

Financial Peace Of Mind

All of the discussed lifestyle habits are so firmly embedded in Lois and my everyday lives that we no longer even think about them. Consequently, our month-to-month finances are smooth with few interruptions. When we do have to discuss financial issues, it’s a discussion over known choices instead of fights over who is doing, or not doing what. Money is not a source of discord in our lives like it can be for couples. Lois and I have been enjoying financial peace of mind for most of the 40+ years of our marriage. This financial bliss can be attributed directly to the unique cash flow techniques upon which our personal finance management software is based.

When searching for personalised number plates, there are numerous different types dating back to different periods over the last hundred years. Knowing the different sorts will give you a much better idea of just what is possible when looking for that perfect plate for you.

The most common kind is the prefix plate, the kind that was issued on cars between 1983 and 2001. They generally adhere to the format of one letter followed by between one and three numbers, followed by a further three letters. The registration plates of this time were often bought and sold to reflect the driver’s initials but over time people became much more imaginative, using combinations such as S73 VEN and R4 NDY to produce names or quirky words.

The current style of number plates came into being in 2001 and have also had a massive effect on the scope of personalisation. These unanimously take the form of two letters followed by two numbers (the year of manufacture) followed by a further three letters. With just a little bit of creative thought, these can lead to even more potential in creating words and names, such as HU55 LED or PRO5 PER.

Other types include the suffix plate (the opposite of the prefix one) and dateless number plates which date back to the turn of the twentieth century when registration plates were first made compulsory. These dateless number plates are considered much more desirable than any others being not only ‘antique plates’ but also because they can be much more succinct and interesting. For instance the first ever plate issued was simply A 1. They are between one and three numbers and one and three letters long, giving infinite potential for short unique private number plates.

Besides the Northern Ireland style, these are the types you can pick up online today, personalised to create whatever is right for you.

Getting The Finance Management You Are In Search Of

When you are looking into getting finance management, you want to make sure that you get the most, and best help that you can possibly receive. When looking for the best management, it shouldn’t be hard to tell which one to go with by the options that they offer you, and also by the type of customer service that you receive when you ask questions about their services.

The professionals that this company will make sure you feel secure by letting the professionals help sort out the bills you have, so you can get back to your life without having to worry about what gets paid on which day.

This allows you to feel more accomplished when you have someone else who has been doing this type of work for a while, and they know exactly how to organize your bills in the way that is easy for you to cover them all. Financial management services can be inexpensive, so this may be a plus when you need someone to help you a bit.

This can be reassuring to know that you are not spending more money then what you are trying to put towards bills, and hopefully have a little extra at the end of each week. Since you have to figure out how much you have each week, you should keep in mind that you should low ball your income, and put your expenses higher than what they are to make sure you are covering everything you have to pay every month.

This will also give you more money to do stuff with out of every paycheck. This can be the perfect opportunity to start saving for things that you want such as vacations, or a brand new big screen TV.

Managing Business Data: Putting Information to Work

So you think of yourself as a diehard entrepreneur. The guy with the big dreams, the vision, breathing fire and brimstone, passionately leading troops from one venture to another! Wake up, pal. Your desk is overflowing with unread reports, the hard drive on your computer can take no more data and your geeky whizkid IT manager has given you such a complex sales update, even Einstein would find it a challenge….

Have you noted the irony of life? How often have you wished you had more information on which to base crucial business decisions, yet cannot deal with the data you already have. Managing business data is a BIG challenge, a task of Herculean proportions. But, as usual, we’re going to make it easier for you.

Business data comes in unending variety! Whether it’s informal market intelligence gleaned by an enterprising sales executive, a gut feel for something based on past experience, or hard data neatly arranged into spreadsheets of a gazillion megabytes – it’s all worth nothing unless managed the right way. By that we mean the data should be in the right form, right place in the right hands at the right time! You’re thinking that’s an impossible dream? Don’t bet against it, we say.

Let’s start at the beginning. What do we mean by the term “managing business data”? Let’s skip the jargon this time, and get to the point. Managing business data essentially refers to organizing and manipulating it in such a way that it becomes “information” – that which is capable of generating insight. Think of data as the raw ingredient, information as the processed product.

The first step to managing business data is to compile and organize it. In the good old days you probably used an indexing or filing system, now you use databases. Database management software helps you arrange the raw data into neat little tables, which not only makes subsequent access and updating easier, but also enables de-duplication. Databases are wonderful things – you can query, sort and even perform calculations using them. There’s hardly an area where a database cannot be put to good use – inventory lists, customer data, sales and revenue numbers….even weather information! The great thing about managing business data using these tools is that they help to correlate information that may come from different sources – for example, a single production job number can be used to link input raw material, work in progress as well as items ready for dispatch.

Needless to say, the structure of the database is all-important, and that is why one needs special expertise to get it right. Fortunately, there are plenty of tools available to assist you. Visit PrimaSoft’s to see some examples.

While creating a database is the most sophisticated and efficient way of managing business data, there are times when that is neither feasible, nor applicable. Say you’re working on a new business plan. You will probably use a spreadsheet to perform calculations for projections and payback. Spreadsheets are great for intensive number crunching, but are obviously not the ideal tool for managing large volumes of data. Similarly, you might want to prepare a manual or report that a number of other people are expected to use. The obvious tool for managing business data, which in this case is either a “process” or general information, is a word processor. When it comes to communicating with others, there is no substitute for the written word. On the other hand, if it’s a certificate, legal or mandatory original document, there is no other option than to file it away safely in a binder! Office Depot has an array of accessories to tempt just about anyone who needs files, folders and other supplies.

Whatever be the final form, the key to managing business data effectively is to ensure that it serves the following objectives:

• The information is captured accurately

• It is easy to retrieve and update, and satisfies most requirements

• It is laid out in a manner which is instinctive to use

• It is accessible to all those who need it

AND most importantly, all the users know where to find and what to do with it!

Easy Ways to Protect Your Personal Finances From Further Economic Contraction

While the economy has already certainly softened, there may be further economic contraction for American consumers to face.  Increasing job losses, higher inflation rates, and the growing food and energy costs are making personal finance budgeting difficult for most American families to achieve.  The variable interest rate of recent mortgages makes critical, and the prospects for personal finance do not look bright for the next several years.

 

 

However, an ounce of personal finance planning is certainly worth more than a pound of monetary cure.  It is not too late to start preparing your personal finance budgeting efforts to brace yourself for further economic contraction – ensuring that when America does recover from its economic weakness, your personal finance will be intact and still healthy.

 

Debt management strategy: watch your interest rates

 

When economic uncertainty is on the horizon, interest rates are the first to react – making debt management critical.  Powered by both the Federal Reserve rate and each banking institution’s tolerance, interest rates can either soar or plummet, depending upon several factors.

 

Whereas our interest rates were at historical lows, the Fed Chairman Bernanke made adjustments to the rate in order to curb inflation, while attempting to simultaneously stimulate economic investment.  What does this mean for your debt management?  In essence, banks will now offer you great interest rates if you have good credit, making your debt management easy.  If you have bad credit, then banks will increase your interest rates, as the risk of a default grows greater during an economic contraction.

 

Therefore, for debt management that will prepare for further economic contraction, you want to lock in low interest rates, which will be easy for those who already have good credit.  You can refinance your credit cards by consolidating your debts, or you can even renegotiate your interest rates with your existing credit card company.

 

For those who have less than stellar credit, you want to carefully watch your mortgages, loans, and credit cards to ensure that they are not raising your interest rates.  You may be particular susceptible to interest rate hikes in further economic contraction.

 

Smart personal finance budgeting

 

Keep in mind that regardless of how much income you earn, the key to maintaining financial stability is through intelligent debt management and personal finance budgeting.  Even if you earn millions, your spending habits and debt are what determine your financial stability.  In preparing for a further economic contraction, it is important that you take several personal finance budgeting steps:

 

•               Tally all of your required expenses including your mortgage or rent payment, car payment, health insurance, and utilities.  There are the bills you must pay each month, and therefore, are part of your mandatory personal finance budgeting process.

 

•               Allocate a set amount each month for groceries.  Keep in mind that you should try to purchase everything “on sale” for smart personal finance budgeting.  Research shows that simply by purchasing the brand that is on sale, you can save approximately 20% each time you go to the supermarket.

 

•               Minimize your entertainment expenses.  Smart personal finance budgeting means limiting how frequently you eat out, or spend money on entertainment.  For example, if you have a four-person family and you typically watch a movie at the theater each week, cutting this expense out could save up nearly 0 each month.  Or, brown bag your lunch instead of eating at the local sandwich shop.  This small change in your personal finance budgeting can save you conservatively 0 per month.   Just these two small changes alone in your entertainment expenses can give you an extra 0 per month for your personal finance budgeting.

 

•               Set money aside for your savings.  In a further economic contraction, the greatest, yet most probably fear, is losing your job.  Therefore, by taking conservative approaches with your personal finance budgeting now, you can still set aside emergency funds that will help your family if times are difficult.  Saving 10% of your income each month is a healthy, yet reasonable, amount to save in your personal finance budgeting. 

 

The key to protecting your personal finance against any additional economic contraction is through smart debt management and intelligent personal finance budgeting.  By taking several preventative measures now, you can ensure that your financial situation will remain healthy – regardless of what happens to the economy.

Personal Finance Software to Help You Survive Financial Crisis

Do you know how to avoid getting caught in the financial crisis? This question addresses one of the biggest fears most everyone has today. If giants like Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers get shaken to their foundations, how can an average person resist getting caught? The answer is simple: spend less than you earn. The era of blithe consumerism is coming to an end, and we should prepare for lean times. It’s time to keep track of all income and expenses and cut down unnecessary expenditures. These simple things will help you to stand bad times.
Part of the survival strategy is organizing your financial life using a good personal finance manager. It will help you to see where your money goes without the hassle of doing everything manually. There are many money management tools out on the market today. One of them is Personal Finances – http://www.financessoftware.com

Overview
Personal Finances is a personal finance manager that will help you to control your budget better than ever. With a glance at its summary view and reports, you will understand where your money goes, pinpoint areas of excessive expenditure and cut down unnecessary expenses. The program also provides future planning you can project expected spending and income and find out how much money you will have at a future date.
The program is ideal for beginners as it keeps budget management simple and intuitive. The program has a simple, uncluttered interface and a lack of advanced features, which are rarely used by ordinary users. For example, Personal Finances has no college or retirement planner. However, when it comes to managing financial accounts, designing and tracking a family budget, the program outshines many others.
Getting started with Personal Finances is a matter of a few minutes. Simply click around to familiarize yourself with the functionality and refer to the program help file if there’s anything you do not understand at first glance.
You’ll also be pleased to discover no advertising “bells and whistles” that could be found in other money management software. Personal Finances is calm and keeps you that way as you focus on organizing your budget.

Getting Around the Interface
When you run the program, it opens into the main window that puts the financial details, tools and options that matter most to you up front. At the top of the window you can see the main commands. A list of transactions – income and expenses – is displayed in the central area of the window and all accounts are in the left area. The icons at the top of the main window let you quickly go to any part of the program, create an account, category, view calendar and create reports. In the left area, there are buttons that let you add, edit or delete transactions.
There are two views for transactions – Account and Summary. By default, the program opens into the Account tab where you can see the transactions associated with a particular account. However you can click on the Summary tab and see all the transactions, regardless of the account they are associated with.

Setting Up Accounts
Accounts in Personal Finances describe where money comes from. The program supports different accounts, such as real bank account, credit card, cash and pocket money. Setting up an account is a breeze to do. Click on the Accounts icon at the top of the main window, click the Add button, then enter the properties of a new account – name, currency, comment. Personal Finances also allows you to set up an account budget for any period of time, so that the user doesn’t overspend. Existing accounts can be edited or deleted.

Entering Transactions
Entering transactions is just as easy. It requires a click on the Add button in the right area of the main window. In the dialog that opens, you need to select the type of transaction – income, expense or transfer between accounts, then enter all details associated with this transaction such as the account, amount of money, and date that will appear on the calendar or in the list of transactions that are due. Transactions can be defined with categories, family members, and tags. Tags provide a way to differentiate between similar transactions that fall into the same category. Categorization by family members will tell you about spending habits of each member of your family.
Transactions can be scheduled, which makes Personal Finances very handy for repeating transactions – tax payments, electricity bills, etc. The frequency for which you can set up a scheduled transaction is weekly, monthly, and annually. When the due date for the scheduled transaction comes, you should select the transaction in the scheduler list, right-click its record and select the Apply Now option to enter the scheduled transaction into the account used to pay the bill. You should also remember to make this payment in the physical world.

Reporting
Personal Finances helps you to understand the flow of your money and control expenditures with handy graphs and reports. You can see the reports generated by categories, family members and tags. Clicking on any item in the report you can drill down to transactions associated with the item. You can generate reports that cover any period of time. Results can be printed out or saved to HTML, CHM, or TXT.

Security
For your peace of mind, Personal Finances allows you to protect the budget database with a password so that no one will get access to your confidential financial information except you.

Portability
If you want to keep tabs on your budget on the move, you can get a portable version of Personal Finances that will run from a USB flash drive. The program can be run from any computer, without leaving any tracks behind.

Personal Finances has a free version and a full-featured commercial version with a 30-day free trial, so you can download the program to see if it will meet your personal finance management needs.

Keeping a budget with Personal Finances (http://www.financessoftware.com) provides big benefits in the form of savings and elimination of unnecessary expenses. This will definitely help you to survive the financial crisis and step into better times.

Hardware Asset Management – Managing Your Computer Inventory

To better manage your IT asset you need a tool that gives you instant IT Visibility — the detailed configuration you need of ALL of your computer assets. You should be able to easily view the updated configuration and physical location of each computer, server or laptop you have on your network. Tag each asset and assign it to users and technical owners. These hardware hardware properties includes CPU, BIOS, disks, sound cards and many others, and know exactly which software titles are installed and used on each of your computers.

When selecting an hardware asset management tool you should seek a tool that helps you track the hardware across your network, allowing you to know everything that happens on your network, with your computer assets and allowing you to easily maintain and access a full history of changes.

Corporations, small business, government agencies or educational institution, all require a comprehensive solution for managing software and hardware assets, controlling expenses, and automating license compliance. These are the key areas that you need to focus on when selecting a solution for your organization:

Inventory hardware assets, including computers, software, servers, laptops, and mobile devices that connect to your network. Get Instant IT visibility: View updated configuration and physical location of each computer, server or laptop. Search every hardware asset by CPU, by operating system, by vendor and many more. The Compliance Manager ensures IT compliance by tracking computers and software that are installed on your network.

Implementing an hardware asset management system will help you gain better visibility into your hardware assets and better control your IT infrastructure resulting with reduced IT costs.

Cheap Personal Finance: Money at Low Rate for Personal Needs

Are you searching for some bucks to meet your debts, are you in need of money because you have a home repair ahead? Or you may be in need of money because of certain business need. Well, all these needs require you to have money and that you may not have in your pocket. So, are you interested in finance scheme? Just don’t go by any finance scheme for this. There is cheap personal finance available for any of these purposes.

Cheap Personal Finance is available for any of the above mentioned needs. Well, you can also buy a car or can go for a holiday with the aid of cheap personal finance. As most of these needs are personal in nature, they have termed this finance as cheap personal finance.

Cheap personal finance is available at affordable rates of interest, indeed, at cheap rates because there is the collateral pledging in the secured cheap personal finance. Collateral makes your go cheap because it assures the lender that his money will be paid back timely. In lieu of this, he advances the cheap personal finance at cheap rates. Cheap personal finance of secured tag is available for a term of 5 years to 25 years while the amount varies between £ 5000 and £ 75000.

Yet, there is another type that sparks another luminous side of cheap personal finance. It is the unsecured options of cheap personal finance, where you are not pledge any collateral for the money. Here, you can grab the amount ranging between £ 1000 and £ 25000. The term for the advance of this finance goes up to 10 years from 1 year. Cheap personal finance is available for the bad credit holders also. Only they have to pay slightly higher rates of interest.

Well, cheap personal finance is available online where every click of your mouse makes your move smoother and this also works to make the finance scheme cheap enough. Applying online is free and one has to fill in only a small application form to apply. Personal finance becomes cheap here because there are more choices you have here. Cheap personal finance is real cheap as the lender claim and the one who chooses this, is sure to earn a rainbow.