Smart Money Management

Most people have a cup, jar or piggy bank full of change that you fill each day when you empty your pockets or clean out your purse. How much do you have? Count it up and take a look!

Whether you are trying to save for big screen television, a new car or for a down payment on a new home, time, money and rate of return will all be determinant factors of when you will meet your savings goal.

Getting your spending under control and in line with your income is an essential element to building a healthy financial future. Analyze your spending (including what you put on a credit card) each month to make sure you are not spending more than you are bringing in. Once you have got that under control, consider placing what 'extra' you have every month in savings. You will never know when you will need it and it is better to take money out of a savings account to pay for unanticipated expenses rather than adding it to a credit card balance.

If you are already a saver, you might ask yourself the question "what if I save more"? Increasing your current savings rate by even 1% can yield significant results. Save even more, and the results are even better. The more you can save, and the longer you can save will open your savings up to the magic of compounding, or the ability to earn interest on your re-invested earned interest.

Setting a goal for paying off a mortgage, auto loan, credit card or personal loan makes sound financial sense. Some loans, such as a mortgage or car loan have defined repayment periods. Others do not. To reach a debt repayment goal, you will need to know what you need to pay each month. You also might want to compare it to your current repayment schedule to see how helpful reaching that goal might be.

It is always a good idea to have savings tucked away for a rainy day. Emergencies such as legal or medical bills or loss of a job can all force you into 'rainy day' mode. Planning can make these types of events easier to handle. Determine how big your rainy day savings need to be by factoring in emergency spending needs and essential spending needs if your source of income is interrupted. Once you know what you will need, put together a plan based on your current savings, monthly savings and the number of months you want to take to build your rainy day fund.

Determining how much money you are worth is like having a personal balance sheet. On the asset side are things you own: homes, cars, investments and personal property. On the liability side are your debts: what you owe on your home mortgage, outstanding loans, and credit card balances. Over time, you want to be reducing your liabilities by paying down debt and building your assets by saving and allowing your assets to work for you by earning interest or building value.

Everybody wants to be a millionaire, but few have the savings discipline to get there. Your current savings, additional monthly savings and the rate of return you receive all go into saving to be a millionaire. However, it may not stop there. If you want to have a million dollars worth of purchasing power, you have to factor in inflation into your savings plan. That means that depending on the amount of time it takes you to save a million dollars you might have to have saved even more to have a million worth of purchasing power.

A certificate of deposit (or CD) is a savings instrument offered by a bank or credit union that has a fixed date of maturity and a fixed interest rate. A credit union might use the term Share Certificate, Term Certificate or just Certificate to refer to the same product. Most CDs require a minimum deposit amount and may offer rates contingent on the size of the deposit. Certificates of Deposit are insured by the FDIC for bank deposits, or by the NCUA for credit union deposits, up to $250,000 per individual depositor. As a CD depositor, you are committing to leave your funds in the CD for the term of the CD. As a result of that time commitment, rates offered on CDs are typically higher than traditional savings or money market accounts. Keep in mind that an early withdrawal of funds will likely come with a financial penalty.

How interest is calculated can have a great impact on the interest earned by your account and how your savings grow. Compound interest arises when interest is added to the principal and when the interest that has also been added earns interest. You will see your account balance grow more quickly with accounts that pay interest more frequently. The "Annual Percentage Yield" or APY is the effective annual rate of return once the effect of compounding interest is factored in.

Saving for a college education requires advanced planning and knowledge of what the cost of a college education will be when your student begins their college experience. You will first need to know how long it will be before your student sets foot on campus, what the cost of that education is today and how much the cost will increase between now and then. You will need to know how many years of college you will be paying for, which is dependent on the degree program being pursued. Once you have that information, you will be able to know how much you will need to save. Putting together a plan will depend on what you currently have saved, how much you can save each month and the rate of return you will receive on those savings.

How many times have you asked yourself "where does our money go?" The first step is to categorize your spending into each particular category. If you have got multiple monthly bills under a category, you can use the worksheets linked to the right of the input field to enter each separately. Once you see where you are spending your money, it becomes easier to look at reducing spending in particular categories.