Tips for Successful Personal Finances
With Thanksgiving around the corner, I wanted to express my gratitude to all my readers.
It’s time for change and I have made the decision to stop writing this newsletter. I have enjoyed all the readers feedback, suggestions, and the friends I have made over the many years. But it’s time for me to move on.
Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving and a Joyous and Healthy Holiday Season!
2020 has been a challenging year – job losses / furloughs, pay decreases, health challenges and more. This was the year that you needed your finances in order and an emergency savings to fall back on. Plan ahead so that you will be financially prepared in your time of need.
Before 2020 ends, you may want to consider these steps to help with your finances and do them in this calendar year:
These steps may work to your advantage with your income tax. Always check with your tax preparer about your individual situation.
For several years, we were planning this big vacation for this year. We would be visiting several European countries over the course of three weeks. Lots of time and efforts was put into the planning and coordinating with friends we would be seeing along the way. Enter 2020 and the pandemic, and we cancelled everything.
That left us with many refunds / credits to pursue. The airlines tickets were amazingly easy, we cancelled, and miles were returned to our account within days. We have a credit for future travel – easy. Hotels were all booked without a deposit – so that made cancellations easy. Excursions were fairly easy to cancel, although we have credits for one to use in the near future (I hope).
Now on to the hard part. We chose to cancel our cruise before the cruise line cancelled the cruise. We did it before final payment, as we did not want to have our money tied up. Now, we needed to get back our deposit plus some extra charges. We cancelled our cruise more than 90 days in advance, so all was refundable. We understood that refunds were taking quite a while and were patient. The credits started to come in and various amounts. No amount refunded was equal to the charges. So, we totaled up what was owed and started to subtract the refunds, but not all the money was returned. (Thanks to meticulous record keeping, we knew what was owed to us and how it was paid for).
Why is this important? Because when all was done, we were not made whole. We were shorted some of our money paid. We ended up filing a dispute with our credit card company. When you use a credit card for payment you have the added benefit for protection. We were able to provide all the details, original charge information and all the calls / emails to rectify the situation. This is important for your dispute case. Then just this past week, the dispute was resolved by our credit card company and we are all set, and we were made whole.
When you find yourself at your wits end and frustrated, know that your credit card company can help you resolve the situation. Remember this only works if you use a credit card for payment.
I want to share with you my top 5 list of what we have done with our finances over the years that have taken us from being in debt to having a safety net for our fina
nces.
I wrote this so that you can know what is possible. Start today and make changes so that you can achieve your goals. For us, this was not something that we did overnight, it took many years of making small changes to get to where we are now.
Do you ever wonder how your financial pictures stacks up? Are you on track to meet your goals? What do you need to still do? These and other questions are always on the man
y people’s minds.
I have discussed the importance of having an emergency savings, a budget to know where your money is going, great credit /score to have the best interest rates when you need to borrow and minimal high interest debt. Check out some of my past emails for more information on these topics.
This is a great article Six Numbers Reveal the State of Your Financial Health. How well do your finances compare to these six areas? All are important areas that should be goals for you to accomplish with your finances.
In honor on Cyber Security Month, I am rerunning this newsletter to help you access your accounts safely. You know you should have completely unique passwords for every online account, and you’re not supposed to write them down anywhere. But that’s not enough. They also have to be hard to remember.
If you’re like me, that’s just not possible because you use a lot of online services. The internet has made my life easier in so many ways, but it comes with its own risks.
So, how do you keep your online accounts safe? Many people are turning to Password Managers.
A password manager is software that stores and organizes your passwords in an encrypted state, which makes them hard to hack.
The most popular versions will fill login forms automatically. Once you’ve downloaded the software and stored your passwords, they’re fairly easy to use.
Are they safe? The experts are mixed on this point. Some feel that it’s never safe to store your passwords. Others are comfortable with the encryption used on the best versions.
My assistant swears by LastPass. It’s free for your PC, but the is a cost for using it on your smartphone.
If you want to use a password manager, you can choose between a web-based or a local service. LastPass is web-based as is Dashlane and Roboform. The information is stored in the cloud so you can easily use it on all your computers and devices. Keepass and SplashID are local, meaning they’re stored on your PC.
To do your own research, check out the links below.
If you use a manual system, remember to use unique passwords for each site. When was the last time you changed your passwords? One of the most common passwords in the actual word “password”. Not a good choice. Be creative and make something you can remember that isn’t public information (mother’s maiden name, pet’s name, etc.).
Two factor identification is another great way to keep your accounts safe. You’ll receive a text or email with a code, that you have to enter so that you can prove you are you. Yes, it can be an added step that takes time, but it can save you in the long run.
How do you manage your passwords? Let me know in the comments.
Can you believe it, it’s fall and the year end is in sight!
For me, there is lots to do (and I am not thinking the holidays yet).
This time of year means it’s time to review my health insurance choices. Open enrollment for health insurance is here (or just a week or so away). Medicare is already in the open period, the state of CT will open up the 1st of November and many company plans have the open enrollment at this point too. It’s time to reevaluate and determine if I want to stay on the same healthcare plan or make a change.
If you have a FSA (Flexible Spending Account), start to look at the balance and determine how to use the funds. This is a use it or lose it type of account. You wouldn’t want to lose money, would you? If you have an HSA (Health Savings Account), have you maximized your contributions for 2020? This can be a great way to lower your taxable income. Make sure you pay all your eligible medical expenses with this account.
Take the time now to do your research and make the choices that are right for you and your family now.
The holidays are here. Yes, with many retailers starting there holiday shopping sales early this year, are you ready? This is a good thing, if you need to stay within a budget, start early.
First, make a list of all the people on your holiday gift list, then see if you can make changes.
Could you give a family gift instead of individual gifts?
Can you go in on a gift with someone else and share the cost?
Would a name draw work for the family party? With a name draw, each person buys only for the person whose name they drew. It’s fun and inexpensive. Do a separate drawing for the children so each child receives one gift and gives one gift. Make sure to set a dollar limit that everyone can afford.
Once your list is complete, set a firm amount for each person and don’t go over. The grand total of all your gifts should be a realistic amount that you can afford. Be honest with yourself and don’t overspend. You’ll regret it when the bills start coming in.
When shopping, keep your list of people and your budget amounts with you. Check the sales fliers now because holiday sales are already starting. Big retailers are also adding holiday layaway plans. Layaway plans work great if you know your budget. They allow you to make affordable payments without using a credit card.
You could also try giving gifts that don’t cost a lot of money. Service coupons are a wonderful gift. For example, you could cater a meal for a family that has a busy lifestyle. Try an inexpensive but meaningful gift, like a photo CD or memory album. The choices are endless if you take the time to think of what each person might enjoy most. This year with being at home more, I have come up with some great gift ideas that are meaningful, but not a budget breaker. I can’t tell you what they are as family members ready my newsletter.
The most important thing this holiday season is to have fun and enjoy your time together. Create new memories instead of new debts.
2020 has been filled with challenges – COVID 19, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes and more. What will come next? Are you ready for whatever comes your way?
Are you prepared for a fire? Several months back, the home next to us had a fire and we were talking to the firemen about many things. We discussed an emergency action plan. We talked about several things that we needed to be prepared:
We personally were fine with #1 and #2 but had not considered #3. We have wired carbon and smoke detectors in our home and just replaced them this summer. When was the last time you replaced yours? Hardwired detectors need to be replaced every 10 years. For battery operated ones, when was the last time you tested them and replaced the batteries? Please check into this for your own well-being,
The fireman suggested the meeting place for us to be across the street on the neighbor’s porch. That way everyone could meet and know the others are safe.
How well are you prepared for a disaster? Take the time to be prepared if disaster strikes in your neighborhood.
If you have to evaluate your home in minutes, what do you need to do and bring with you? You will need food, water, clothing, medicine, important papers and more if you have pet(s). Be prepared. Here are several lists from Ready.gov to help you prepare all different types of disaster kit.
It’s time to get your home ready for the upcoming winter months. I’m not sure we will be as lucky with winter as last year, with only one minimal storm here in CT.
Here are some things that we do at our house:
1. Get all the patio furniture cleaned and put inside if possible. We have a lot – and most comes inside – but there are a few pieces that are too big and heavy. For the pieces that stay out, we put those orange cones atop the table and cover with patio furniture covers. This prevents the water from puddling up. Make sure to secure the covers tightly.
2. Turn off the outside water and drain the lines. You don’t want to have to call a plumber in the middle of winter to fix a frozen line or burst pipe. Remember to bring in the outside garden hoses once you have drained them.
3. Clean those gutters before you have problems. Scoop out the debris from inside (even if you have gutter guards), so that the water can flow easily. Remember to clean out the down spouts too.
4. While you are on your roof… Check for leaks that might need fixing, cracks, and moss growing in the roof (not a good thing as moss holds moisture and that can mean rot). Don’t forget to look around the chimney. All these could become a major problem as we get into winter. As I have told you, it’s easier to fix a small issue now rather than a major issue later. You can either do this yourself or call a professional for help. While you are checking the roof, do any trees need to be trimmed? Now is a good time to do this too.
5. Get your heating systems tuned up and serviced before winter to make sure it’s in working order. There is nothing worse than waking up to no heat on a cold winter morning.
6. Caulk around the windows to seal up any drafts. You don’t want leaky, drafty windows sucking the heat outdoors. You should caulk every few years as preventative maintenance. Don’t forget to remove window air conditioners, as they create drafts.
7. Because winter storms can mean loss of electricity… You will want to check up on your emergency supplies – lanterns, batteries, flashlights, battery powered radio, warm blankets, non-perishable food with a manual can opener, bottled water, portable power chargesrs and matches if you want to cook on the barbecue grill.
It’s much better to prepare ahead of time and do little projects now while the weather is nice. You don’t want to deal with emergency repairs in the winter.