Jill Russo Foster

Tips for Successful Personal Finances

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Oh No, The Holidays Are Coming!

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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

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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

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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?

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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:

  1. Social Security Card
  2. Passport (carry only when traveling internationally)
  3. 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.

Are You Paying Too Much?

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Do you ever wonder if you are paying too much for your bills?

We thought about this and have been making changes over the years.  We took steps to reduce our monthly bills.  We reduced our cable bills – haven’t totally cut the cord yet – but have reduced our bill significantly.  We are a family that leaves electronics unplugged unless in use.  We cook in the evening and on weekends and make enough for leftovers that can be taken for lunch.  We walk to do errands on weekend versus taking the car – a great way to get some extra exercise in your day.

We have eliminated some services and do them ourselves.  We do our own lawn mowing and yard work. We take our own trash and recycle to the transfer station (eliminating the trash bill).  We do some of our repairs and improvements ourselves.

How do you save money on your monthly bills?

 

 

Savings – Doubling Up

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I love to save money and I am sure you do too.  I am even more thrilled when I am able to save even more – with two or more discounts on one purchase.

Just this past weekend, I was able to do this three separate times!  First we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant with a coupon – $15 off the purchase of $30.  That alone was a 50% savings.  Then we charged it on a credit card that offered $5 statement credit.  That’s a good deal.

We did the same at the drug store.  We had the store’s manufacturers coupon for $5 off allergy medicine, plus the stores 30% off your total purchase and the allergy medicine was on sale on top of the coupons.  I received an email from the store stating the special sale price of the allergy medicine.  Bottom line, we paid $9.76 for the medicine that had a shelf price of $23.49.  A 41% savings for another good deal.

On to grocery shopping, I pick the store that has the items we need on sale (based on the weekly flyer) and use manufacturer’s coupons to save more.  For this store trip, this particular store has a $10 off if you spend $50 or more.  We get a monthly postcard in the mail with weekly savings offers – soemtimes $10 off and other times a free / discounted product.  Another win for us.

Saving with multiple discounts is good for your budget / wallet.  To be honest, it does take some time to coordinate these deals to save.  But not as much as you might be thinking.  We do get the Sunday newspaper with the coupon inserts.  I am on a handful of companies email lists for discounts.  Lastly, we get physical mail from rewards programs we are a part of.  All this adds up to savings for us.

Budgeting By The Numbers

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Do you ever wonder how much of your income should be going to this and how much should be going to that?

I know that you are aware that the general rule for your monthly mortgage payment should be 28% or less of your gross income.  The mortgage payment plus your monthly debts (credit cards minimum payments, auto payment, student loan payment, etc.) should be less than 36% of your gross income. 

These are the guidelines that help us to determine where your finances stand at any point in time.  You may be higher or lower, but your know how you stand against the suggested ratios.

Here are some other suggestions:

Emergency Funds – 3 to 12 months of income.  You need to have money aside for yourself when emergencies occur.  There are several thoughts here for amounts – I believe that homeowners should be more towards the 12 month or more range, as you never know when you might need to make an emergency repair right now.  Also, if you become unemployed, it seems that the older we get the more time there is in between jobs.  This plus many more scenarios could make you rely on this emergency fund.  Start or increase yours today.

Savings – the more the better!  You can never have too much savings.  Automate your savings and pay yourself first.  Have your savings deducted from your paycheck each and every paycheck – that’s the pay yourself first part.  You need to do this, as there is never money left over to save.  Living off what’s left is the way to go.  Remember to increase this amount often (at least every time your get a raise).  If you haven’t do this start small – maybe $20 / paycheck and keep increasing this.  I would love for you to aim for a minimum of 10% of your income.

Food – this one is a hard one.  I know that we spend a lot on our food budget.  Maybe you think this way too.  I personally have tried different ways to keep this under control – from vegetable gardening, to only buying with cash, to sticking to lists (meal planners and grocery lists), but it’s tempting to spend more – that are so many items (not on my list) that we seem to want.

For a general guideline of what percentage of your check should be, check out this article from Every Dollar.  Remember that these are suggestions and you can tweak them to fit your lifestyle.

 

Teens and Money

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Last week was amazing!  I had the privilege of working with 6 great high schools students in a 5 day workshop.  Listening and learning what they think and want to know about money, credit cards, borrowing, paying for college and so much more.  Thank you, Norwalk Community College for this opportunity.  If you missed this, I will do this again next summer.

Here is what some of the teens had to say:

“I learned alot about budgeting and finances”

” Good course very helpful”

“Learned about of new stuff and it was fun”

What do you teens know about money and finances?

Make Your Money Grow

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Do you have the best bank / credit union accounts?   How can you tell which is best for you?

For your bank / credit union account, you want to earn the highest interest rate (paid to you) with no (or the lowest) fees.  Start by looking at what you currently have – how much are you earning and paying?  Once you know this information, you have a starting point.  Now compare that with what other’s offer.  Can you do better?  Don’t forget while looking compare both local, out of state and virtual banks / credit unions.  What would you have to do to eliminate all fees?

Keep in mind, that the bank and/or credit union you are looking at must (non negotiable) be FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) for a bank or savings and loan.  Credit Unions are insurance through NCUA (National Credit Union Administration).  This protects your money up to $250,000.  Once you confirm this, then look at how you earn interest and what fees are involved before making your choice.

Personally, we bank both locally and virtually.  We earn interest on both our checking and savings accounts with no fees and do NOT have to carry a large balance in the account to do this.  So if we can do this, you can too.

Other quick tips, that may help you:

  • Don’t link your savings account to your ATM / Debit card
  • Set up automatic savings deposits with each and every paycheck (pay yourself first).

Remember, that every penny your earn or save is more money in your pocket.  Those pennies add up.