Jill Russo Foster

What Are Your Financial Goals for 2020?

What is it that you want to achieve with your finances? Is it to have an emergency fund? Is it to save for a specific goal such as a down payment on a home / car? Do you want to save more for retirement? Whatever you want you can achieve it.

Start by writing down your goal (in a SMART format). Then break it down to manageable steps.

For example, I want to save $500 by the end of the year – that’s

that’s $41.67 per month
that’s $9.62 per week

Now think of ways to find that money to save

could you bring your lunch / coffee to work one day a week
could you add an extra week between haircuts / manicures (if you do your nails every other week that’s 26 times a year, switching to every three weeks would be 17 times a year – that’s a savings of 9 manicures)
could you cancel or reduce your unused memberships / subscriptions
could you research lower costs for utilities / insurance
could you eliminate a fee (bank account, credit card and more)

With this in mind, you could find the $9.62 a week to save to meet your goal.

Remember that breaking it down to manageable steps is key so it doesn’t seem so over whelming.

Let me know what your financial goal is and maybe I can help you break it down in to smaller steps.

Your first credit report of 2020

This month use Experian

Hello, it’s Jill again, reminding you to get your finances in order so you can start the new years off right.

How to Order Your Credit Report

The only authorized source for your report is AnnualCreditReport.com. You won’t be charged and they won’t force you to sign up for “credit monitoring”. It’s yours to review by law. Learn more.

Visit www.AnnualCreditReport.com:

Select your state, then click Request Report.
Fill out your information, then click Continue.
When it asks you to select a service, select Experian.

Not comfortable ordering online? There are other ways to order your report:

Mail your postal order by downloading the form at AnnualCreditReport.com
Call in your order at 1-877-322-8228

What should you do with your report?

Review it for accuracy!
Follow the instructions to correct any errors.
And, always remember to keep copies for your records.

Were you hoping for your credit score instead? Try CreditKarma.com. It doesn’t give you a FICO score, but it comes close. And, there’s no charge for you. CreditKarma funds their service through website advertising.

P.S. I’ll send you another reminder in April for your next report of the year.

Happy Holidays!

My Year’s Recap

2019 has been a year of cleaning out for us. We have eliminated lots of items from our home by recycling / tossing, selling, donating and more. Each and every month we have gotten rid of items – everything from paperwork (which was scanned and originals shredded) to unused exercise equipment to streamlining our clothing.

Here are some of the specifics we did:

Donated formal attire to the local high school formal attire club, work clothes to Dress For Success and more
Sporting Equipment to the local sports drive
Books to the Library Book Sale fundraiser
Cell phones and accessories to Cell Phones for Soldiers
VHS movies to local senior living facility
Tools and ladders to Habitat for Humanity Restore
Old sheets / towels to the animal shelter
Electronics to the Salvation Army
Stuffed animals to the local thrift shop
Office supplies to several non-profits based off their wish lists
Clothing to the local food / clothing bank

Sometimes this seemed like a never ending project, but there has been much progress. For more information and ideas on what to do with your stuff, please visit my Resources page.

Here’s to a more organized 2020!

Get A Better Understanding of Your Money

Do you want to get a better understanding of your finances? Do you want to pay down or off your debt? Do you want your teens to better understand how money works?

Start off 2020 with a better understanding on your finances and what to do next.

Here are some workshops I am doing in the coming months at Norwalk Community College. Register now to join me and learn about personal finances and get your questions answered.

For my schedule at Norwalk Community College and information on how to register,

Oh No, The Holidays Are Coming!

The holidays are coming! The holidays are coming! Guard your budgets and hold onto your wallets. You might be thinking I’m crazy, but the retailers have positioned their holiday displays to disarm you of your cash, especially this year with fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and the Holidays.

Did you shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

Can you make this year different? Can you stick to your list and not overspend? You can if you make a detailed plan. Write down exactly what you will be buying and the dollar amount you plan to spend.

Here are some suggestions that should help you with your holiday budget list.

1. Gifts

How much for immediate family?
How much for extended family?
How much for friends and co-workers?
How much for people whose services you use?

2. Entertaining

How much will it cost when you host a gathering?
How much will you spend on hostess gifts when you attend a party?

3. Travel

How much will it cost for local travel (gas, tolls, parking, etc)?
How much will it cost for long distance travel?
How much will it cost for vacation?

4. Traditions – this can be anything from an afternoon tea to a night on the town.

If you write it all down, you might realize you’re planning on spending $300-$500 on gifts for people who aren’t on your immediate family list. And hosting dinners can be expensive just because you want to put on a good appearance. Ever notice a big stain on the tablecloth and found yourself running to the store at the last minute to buy one full price?

Holiday fun can wreak havoc on your budget, but it doesn’t have to. Now is the time to get a jump start on planning, and to put away money for the details that are important to you. Think of it as your own layaway plan. Take money out of each check, and spread out your spending, that way you won’t have buyer’s regret in January.

Doing this now may make January 2020 less stressful.

Tipping – Should You And How Much

Do you ever wonder should you tip this person? Personally, the answer for me is sometimes “yes” and sometimes “no”. For me it depends on the service I receive – was it Thank You! good or exceptional, did someone go out of there way and do something extra?

When I am in a restaurant, yes I tip the server. When I use a car park service, yes I tip the attendant. Also, I tip for personal services – hair cuts, nails, porter at airport and more. The list goes on and on. There are so many to tip in our lives, and even more so now that the holidays are approaching. But who and what do you tip and how much?

And the next question for me is – how much? Cash is always a great option for giving, but may not be the answer for your budget. Other ideas, might be a thank you note, a call to a company to tell them what I great experience you received from someone that works there, a bouquet of flowers, baked goods, etc.

As the holidays approach, here are suggestions from Real Simple Magazine with who and what.

Asking Those Questions

With the holidays fat approaching and family gatherings, now is the time to assess your life.

For those of us in the sandwich generations (parents and kids), you need to think about your aging parents. Are they prepared for what comes next? Are you prepared for what’s next?

Where are some ideas for what you need to know:

What are their finals wishes
Do you know what assets, insurance policies, etc they have and where are those documents?
Do they have all the legal paperwork in place – wills, power of attorney, medical directives, etc

It’s a difficult conversation to have, but it’s extremely helpful to do this ahead of time.

Personally, my father was very forthcoming with this information, so I had it easy. But even then, there was still a life insurance policy he must have forgotten about. I found it through a search of unclaimed funds website for my state. It was probably a policy that he (or his parents) had taken out years before.

I can’t imagine not having this information and knowing where things are. What about you? Do your kids know this information about you?

Take some time to have this important conversation when your family gets together.

What’s In Your Wallet?

As the holidays approach, I want you to have a a happy, healthy and safe holiday season. Spend some time with family, friends doing the things that you like and want to share.

As you are having a great time out and about, I want you to consider this. To coin a phrase, what’s in your wallet? Here are a few things that should NOT be in your wallet for the holidays or other times of the year:

Social Security Card
Passport (carry only when traveling internationally)
Passwords List

The less in your wallet, the better it is for you, if it’s stolen. For more items, AARP’s article 7 Items To Leave Home.

When my purse was stolen, I was fortunate to be able to cancel my credit cards, cell phone etc. The transaction that occurred, took quite a while to have reversed and cleared. Don’t let this happen to you.

Bon Voyage to Your Debt – Part 5

Say Bon Voyage to Your Debt Part 5: Make a Custom Plan

Originally posted August 15, 2014 By Jill Russo Foster

With Step 5, we’re going to get into the hard stuff – the actual debt payoff. If you have kept up with the series of newsletters or the Facebook group, you have completed the following:

You have reflected on the actions, inaction, thought process, or events that got you into debt.
You have “faced the truth” by compiling a complete list of your debt.
You have reflected on ways that you can find more money in your budget or bring in more income.
You have started your emergency savings plan.

With these steps in place, it’s time to create your own custom action plan for paying off the debt.

To start, you need to do some brainstorming.

Sit down with paper and pen (or at your computer) and write down your answers to this question: “What can I do today to lower my debt?” Just write the first 20 ideas that come to mind – you can worry about whether they’re even possible later.

Your list might look like this:

“What can I do today to lower my debt?”

Consolidate my credit card debt into one monthly payment
Apply for a home equity line of credit for debt consolidation
Sell home and downsize
Live frugally and only buy essentials so that I can pay off the debt faster
Stop funding my / our retirement until the debt is paid off
Apply for zero percent balance transfer to pay off debt quicker

Now, put the list away and wait a few days. Stepping back from what might be a difficult choice will help you reevaluate your priorities.

After 2 or 3 days, come back to your list and choose one. There is no right or wrong answer. Remember, you are designing a plan that tailor-made for your individual goals and needs. You have to determine what is best for you and your situation.

Now, go through the process of exploring whether that choice will work for you. You may have to contact a third party like a bank, mortgage broker, real estate agent, etc. You may have to look for zero percent balance transfer offers. You may have to get the whole family on board to see if they can live on a smaller budget. If it all works out, then you can start your plan. If not, go back to your list, choose another option, and explore it thoroughly.

Because you didn’t accumulate your debt overnight, it won’t be going away overnight either. You will make your choice (you can try many choices on the list), and you may need to follow through on it for over a year or for several years.

This whole process is definitely worth your while, because you will gain control over your finances. You will stop working just to pay your creditors, and actually save money as you eliminate the finance charges you’ve been paying.

Yes, I know (and have been there) that these are hard choices to make. But if I can do it so can you.