Jill Russo Foster

Tips for Successful Personal Finances

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Finances and Money

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Finance and money is more than paying your bills on time.  Yes, this is extremely important – paying bills late may effect your credit and can cost you money with late fees / finance charges.  But there is more getting your finances organized.  Do you have the money to pay your bills each and every month?  You will want to have money for today and for the future.  Do you have goals you want to achieve?

There are many ways to deal with your finances and money and you have to find the plan that works for you.

The major parts of finances and money:

Determine your goals – what do you want in life?  Maybe a short term goal is having your month last all the way to the end of the month, or to be able to pay all bills in fulls each and every month.  What about long term goals?  How about saving for …. (insert goal such as paying for college, a car, home, vacation) all the way to financial independence.

Action plan – how are you going to achieve your goals?  Break this down into action steps, using the smart goal formula.  What is the first step you need to do to start down this financial road?  Maybe it’s starting to save … (insert amount every pay period).

Budgeting – now’s the time to put your money on the table.  How much money do you need to achieve your goals?  Start by tracking your net income and your expenses (every penny) to see where you stand.  Don’t think your have money to save, then you need to make changes to reduce your expenses and/or increase your income.  Remember that making a budget is not a one time thing, your are making a budget, review and sticking to it.

Savings money – break it down into manageable amounts and be realistic.  Your not going to be able to save $1,000 in a month, but your could start out by planning to save $20 or more per paycheck.  Automating your saving is the easiest and best way to stick with this goal – paying yourself first before you paying anything else.

Paying down debt – we all know that the finance / interest charges are the enemy of your budget.  This is money that could be used in other ways.  Don’t stick you head in the sand, we have all been there at one point or another.  Make a plan to payoff your debt – avalanche or snowball methods are way to start.

Take some time and take a look at your finances and start to deal with your finances and money to get on a path to achieve your goals.

This is very simplified and not all plans work for everyone.  Take the time to modify or find a plan that works for you and your finances.

If you want more information, please visit my website for my upcoming workshops.

 

Holiday Tipping

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It’s that time of year and we are all faced with this issue.  Today, I am rerunning this newsletter if hopes of helping you decide.

The holidays are coming! The holidays are coming! You probably know this and the retail stores are starting the holidays off during the summer. From Labor Day weekend, I see the holidays all over the place in retail stores. I’m thinking the beach and heat and they are thinking December. While it’s not bad to plan ahead and be proactive, it’s too early for me, but it’s never too early to think about your budget.

Tipping is always something that comes up around this time of year. Here are my thoughts and what we do.

First, we don’t wait for the holidays. In my opinion, good service doesn’t have to wait until the end of the year. If someone goes out of their way or does an exceptional job, then by all means tip them.  A while back we bought dining room chairs and the person in the store took the time to go out of his way. That deserved a tip then and there.

Second, give what you can afford. While it’s nice to give cash and to be able to give to everyone, that may not work for your budget. You can thank people verbally and express your gratitude with a conversation, special note in a card, contact the company or supervisor and express the great service you received, instead of cash. I have made calls to the airline to express how grateful we were for a particular person and the excellent service we received. Rarely do companies get calls like this and they can seem shocked at the call.

This is my plan of attack. Create a list people in your life and here are some examples:

Mail Carrier / Package Delivery
Personal Care (Hair, Nails, Massage)
Child & Elder Care
Teachers
House Cleaner / Lawn Care / Snow Removal Care
Pet People (Groomers, Walkers etc.)
Doorman / Maintenance Workers
Assistants / Key Employees

Then make a plan. If you were to tip everyone in one week, you would break the bank. I like to start after Thanksgiving and end this by New Year. Now if you have decided on an actual tip, it can take the format of the cash or possibly a cash gift card, unless you know them well enough to pick a specific merchant’s general gift card. Spreading out the tipping, helps my budget. Plus, I like to do this in person. So when I have a service done, that’s the time I tip, and again throughout the year helps my budget as well.

Finally for cash tips, make a trip to the bank and get nice new crisp bills and have thank you or blank note cards. People who get many tips need to know who they received it from, so a short thoughtful note handwritten in the card works well. It always is so much nicer to give a tip with a good presentation. I feel that the recipient thinks you took the time to think about them versus handing them crumpled bills from your wallet.

Not sure how much to give? That’s entirely up to you. There are many guides on the internet to assist you, but ultimately it’s your choice. Make your plan now so that you check one thing off your holiday to do list.

Holiday Debt!!!!

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Did you vow to not accumulate holiday debt this year!

According to Wallet Hub, the average person is expected to spend over $1,000 this year, that is up 4.1% over 2017.

What’s your plan to stay out of debt this holiday season?  Here are some questions you need to think about?

  1. How much can you afford to spend this year without going into debt?
  2. How many people are on your list?
  3. Can you eliminate or reduce the number of people?  Think group gifts where you can pool your money with others.
  4. Could you offer a service they need instead of a gift?  What can you do that they need? Think childcare for an evening, so they can go out without the kids.

Take some time to think about what is important to you and your family.  Don’t forget to think about your budget too.  This is something that is really important so that you don’t have a January hangover. Everyone wants to celebrate the season, but no one wants someone to have all these bills come in January.  Make a plan and stick to it.

Make sure you don’t fall off your plan with Black Friday this week.

Enjoy the holidays with your family and friends.

We’re Back From Our Anniversary Trip

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This year we celebrated our anniversary with a Pacific Northwest cruise.

Back in the early summer, I wrote two newsletters about planning our fall vacation.  We are back and wanted to share the trip with you.  Here’s the link to the two earlier newsletters – first and second issues to remind you of the details.

We took a Pacific Northwest cruise out of Seattle with stops at Astoria, Oregon, San Francisco, California and Victoria, BC and few days in Seattle too.

With all this planning and paying ahead, we spent very little on the actual vacation.  Mostly everything was paid (or paid with points / miles) in the months before as our budget permitted – hotel, cruise, airfare, attractions and some meals were included.  We selected hotels with breakfast included, bought City Pass’ (discount admission to attractions) and walked and/or public transportation.  Lots of steps – over 21,000 in San Francisco in one day!

Yes, there was a lot of research and planning, but this step saved us money and we have fun – lots of money!

Here we are at the Space Needle.  To view more photos, visit our Pinterest page.

Upcoming Workshops

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Now that we are gearing up for the fall, I wanted to share with you some workshops I am teaching at Norwalk Community College (Norwalk, CT) in the Extended Studies Dept in the Fall term.

Take Control Of Your Finances

Welcome To The Real World: Teens and Money

Budgeting For The Fluctuating Income

For more information and/or to register click here.

Vacation Insurance

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With vacation season underway, are you covered if something happens?

According to Wallet Hub, 1 in 6 Americans have an illness or natural disaster happen to them. Are you covered so that you don’t lose you hard earned money? Of these 1 in 6, only 22% have insurance to cover their travel costs and expenses.

Some credit cards offer you coverage for lost or delayed luggage, missed connections, trip cancellations and even death sometimes. All credit cards are different and you need to check your individual card for what your offers you. If you are covered, they offer you reimbursements. That means that you pay upfront. Do you have that money? And they come with restrictions. Remember my Microsoft Surface Pro experience from last fall?

We have one credit card that we always use to rent a car. It gives us coverage so that we can decline the optional rental car company insurances and feel comfortable. We have another credit card that gives us the travel protection of lost or delayed luggage, missed connections, etc. We have done the research for us and you should too.

You should think about what you may need and find out if you are covered with the credit card you already have. Typically, if you don’t charge the trip to that specific credit card, you don’t have the coverage. Then check with your personal insurance, such as auto insurance for rental car coverage, home owners / renter’s for loss of property, etc. Then look into travel insurance, if you need or want more or additional coverage.

You should do this process for your health insurance as well. Most insurance policies don’t cover you when you travel outside the US. All of this pre-planning could offer you the needed assistance in your time of need. So do your research and make the choices that are right for you.

Happy Travels!

Fact Checking Charities

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Fact Checking Charities

My heart breaks with all the information and photos from hurricane Harvey and now Irma. We all want to help and these people need our help. but you want to give where your money will do the best and not go to scammers. If you choose to give, and I’m sure you do, make sure your money goes to those in need through a charity that you have researched.

Unfortunately, it’s fairly easy to set up a charity, and fundraisers can legally keep most of the money donated to the cause. Not to mention the scammers who are out there to take your money. Before you donate, find out whether the charity is legitimate. You should also find out how your money will be spent.

You can start your research at www.Give.org (associated with the Better Business Bureau). This organization researches charitable organizations to find out how they use the funds they receive.

Here are some tips to help in your research:
•  Find out if the charitable organization has a 501(c) status (IRS code for non-profit organizations). Non-profits have stricter requirements, and your donation will be deductible on your tax return.

•  Find about how much of each dollar is being used for the cause versus administration costs. The more administrative costs, the less of each dollar is being used for those in need. Look for the lowest administrative costs.

•  For cash donations, request a receipt to use as documentation on your tax returns. All donations over $500 will require additional paperwork, so speak with your tax preparer  ahead of time.

•  When donating non-cash items such as food, clothing, furniture, etc, you will need an itemized list of the items you donated and the total value. Most charities will ask you to value your own items.
Make sure you get a receipt for your donations with the charity’s information on it.

Do your research and chose the organization(s) wisely. This is a great way to help out others who are less fortunate than you during this hurricane season.

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