Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Financial Tips

On March 9 we got some wonderful tips from our guest speaker Jeff K. Thank you for your great advice.

Here are just a few.

-First thing to remember is that everything with finances is a personal thing, everyone has different goals and needs.

-Before making any financial changes make sure to speak with your spouse, kids, qualified Tax professional and consult books.
-2 recommended books to read:
-Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
-Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
-Not always the best idea to have all of your money invested in your house.

Budgeting/"Spending Plan" Tips
6 LEVELS

Level 1: 3R's
R
oof (housing)
Refrigerator (food)
Religion (tyth)
-Everything else comes secondary
Level 2: Necessary Bills
-Utilities, communications, anything that actually makes life livable.
Level 3: Minimum Payments (on Debts)
-Work on getting this to zero
Level 4: Plan
-Savings/ Debt
Level 5: Non-essential Bills (not necessary for life)
-example: cable, phone features, etc.
Level 6: FF (fettered frittering)
-Fun Money
(where family values come in, this could be clothes, things for only one person in the family, allowances for kids)
TIPS:
-Should have $1000 in savings before work on other debts, then try to make an emergency fund with enough money that if 2 major things go wrong, you are covered.
-When debt is down and handled, get a CD ladder so that you get about $1000 dollars a month
-Try to have 5 months (minimum) worth of income saved in CDs
Life Insurance
2 major kinds:
-Term- in 20 yrs you get this much money
(get enough to pay off mortgage, a couple years of life and cover burial costs)
-Whole life- build cash value, can pay own premiums (if interested in whole life, spend a long time looking at policies, do your research. Be careful, because agents make a good commission off whole life. Never sign papers on first time visiting an agent)
-Good to get life insurance on kids. Good to wait until they are 5, because cheaper rates, then get about $10,000 dollars in life insurance per child. Look into Gerber Life insurance (whole life policy)
Investing When on a Tight Budget
-Pay down debt, so all money you are making is yours
-CD ladder
-Stocks (piece of ownership in company)
-Growth mutual funds (company buys shares of other companies. As company grows, you make money) (Don't put money in that you want in the next 5 years)
-Investing Books- Books by Warren Buffet, http://www.fool.com/
TIP: DON'T INVEST IN ANYTHING YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND

College Savings

TIP: Make sure your finances are in order (retirement) before you start investing in kids college funds.
TIP: Start investing in college when children are young.
Check out the websites: savingforcollege.com and upromise.com
-Savings bonds are not the best for college savings, don't keep up with family gain.
-Can buy stock, but make sure to put in the child's name, since they are in a lower tax bracket
-Investments to look into:Coverdale IRA plan, UGMA (buy stocks into kids name), 529 plans (tax deferred payment plan)
-If don't make a large income, think about helping getting kids scholarships (make sure involved in lots of activities) and look into financial aid loans and grants

MOPS meetings...

Childcare is provided for birth to 5 years old by our happy workers and they look forward to attending to your children so you can have a break. Learn and laugh with other moms with young kids.

Returning moms: the meeting cost is $2. If you are new to MOPS, worried about what to expect, please come and let us welcome you -- your first meeting is free! A one-time fee of $23.95 pays for the MOPs International membership and includes a subscription to MOMsense magazine, weekly emails, and a book.

MOPS is the second and fourth Tuesday of every month, from September to May.