Search Results for: budgeting

Upcoming Workshops

Want to take your finances to the next level?

Come to hear me and get your questions answered at Norwalk Community College (Norwalk CT):

Start Your Finances Off Right – Thursday 4/2/2020 6 to 8pm

Budgeting To Pay Down Debt – Monday 3/23 and 3/30/2020 (2 sessions) 6 to 8pm

What about your teens, do you want them to learn about finances?

Have them come hear me at Norwalk Community College:

Teens and Money: Teen Personal Finance – Saturday 3/28/2020 10 am to 12 noon

For more information or to register, please call (203) 857-7080 or Email: extendedstudies@norwalk.edu

I hope to see you there

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?

Upcoming Workshops

It’s going to be a busy July for me. Do you or your teen want to learn about money and finances? If so, I will be offering classes / workshops both in Norwlak and New Haven, CT:

For Teens:

July 15 – July 19, 2019 from 1:00 to 4:00 pm (Norwalk, CT)

Norwalk Community College – Welcome To The Real World: Teens and Money

July 22 – July 26, 2019 or August 12 – August 16, 2019 from 9:00 to 4:00 pm with one hour lunch break (New Haven, CT)

Integrity 1st Learning Support Solutions – Life Skills Boot Camp – I will be teach the financial portion on both Mondays, July 15 and August 12.

July 22 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm (New Haven, CT)

Integrity 1st Learning Support Solutions – Welcome To The Real World: Teens and Money

For Adults:

July 15 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm (Norwalk, CT)

Norwalk Community College – Budgeting To Create A Spending Plan

August 12 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm (New Haven, CT)

Integrity 1st Learning Support Solutions – Budgeting To Create A Spending Plan

For Norwalk Community College classes registration at call 203-857-7080 or please visit Norwalk Community College.

For Integrity 1st Learning Support Solutions class registration call 203-800-4100 or please visit Integrity 1st Learning Support Solutions

Finances and Money

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.

The Mindset of Debt

There are times in life we all have had debt, sometimes more than others. If your resolution is to payoff your debt once and for all, it takes conscious efforts on your part.

This is a great article about breaking your spending addiction, not only paying off your debt but staying debt free.

Upcoming Workshops

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.

Teens and Money

Last week I had the honor of teaching a Teens and Money class at Norwalk Community College – 5 afternoons of teens in grades 9 to 12.

We discussed money management, credit, credit cards, banking, car buying, paying for college, budgeting and more. Teaching teens is a passion of mine. This is something they don’t seem to be getting elsewhere.

Here are two of the teen comments:

I definitely learned a lot about money and how to pay for college and a car.
I liked the hands on simulations, like the dilemma packets we were given free range with, so that we could play with the elements of rela life situations in a safe setting.

Make sure to talk with your children about money and finances, so they can make educated choices based on knowledge that are right for them, making them look at their choices both the pros and cons.

If you are in the area, I will be teaching a shorten version of this class on Saturday, October 20 at NCC. To register, call NCC at 203-857-7237.

Money Habits To Avoid (Part 1)

In my opinion, there are seven money habits you want to avoid.

You may be currently doing these or have done them in the past (and I have been guilty of them myself), but now is the time to break the habits and get on with your finances.

Lending Money — I think we all did this at some point in our lives, whether it be loaning $5 to a friend and not getting paid back, or lending more. Not only does this put a strain on your finances but it can affect your friendship. Make a resolution to give up lending. If you want to help someone out, then make it a gift with no repayment expectations.

Spending It All — Yes, you know what I am talking about — living paycheck to paycheck. We all have choices we make with our finances — whether to spend this today or save for tomorrow. Budgeting is about choices that your make. So make the choice to not spend it all and save. Making this decision is the first step to starting to save and the next step is to actually do it (automate the savings process to make it foolproof).

Check out the next two posts to find out the rest of the Money Habits To Avoid.

Take Your Child To The Library Day!

This is a great memory from my childhood. I loved going with my mom to the library and taking out a book. In fact, I still use the local library and read many books each year.

In honor of Take Your Child To The Library Day which is February 3, 2018, I am offering you a 20% discount on my book Cash, Credit and Your Finances: The Teen Years from now until February 3. For $20.00 you can purchase a copy of my book directly from me, have it personalized to your recipient and it including priority shipping. This is only available from my website. Click here to purchase.

Voted “Best Teen Book” by Radical Parenting Teen Team

The Perfect Teen Gift

Help your kids:

Cope with product advertising
Understand that credit isn’t magic money.
Develop strong short-term budgeting skills
Create a long-term financial plan

Cash, Credit, and Your Finances: The Teen Years looks at finances through the eyes of five different teenagers. They all have things they want and need, but they all handle their money differently. Some will succeed and some will give up… which one do you want your child to be?

Start your child off with the gift of reading and learning great money skills. Buy Cash, Credit and Your Finances: The Teen Years now!

Sticking To A Budget In The New Year

Happy New Year and welcome to 2018!

The reality of January has arrived, bills from the holidays are coming in, it’s cold outside and you have set your 2018 goals. If one of your goals is to budget your money, then here are some tips that might help you stay on track.

Check out this great article by the Daily Worth about budgeting.