what money plan do you follow?

[DisneyBill]

NEVER HEARD OF CROWN FINANCIAL? WHERE CAN I FIND OUT ABOUT THIS? TV, RADIO, BOOK?

I started listening to Dave Ramsey this summer - this is pretty much how we usually live meaning - living within our means etc - but we do have credit cards and pay them off monthly..

www.crown.org

 

[S. C.]

none

 

[Happyjen27]

I love Suze too!

I feel like she deals with the emotional side of money, and once you sort out your relationship with money, it's easy to make sound choices.

I do like listening to Dave Ramsey, and he keeps me in line, but, for sound future planning, I love my Suze.

 

[blanq]

I don't have a formal plan, but follow principles that are important to DH and me. For a number of years we followed a strict budget and tracked our spending. We have not done that for about 10 years. Now our principles are:

1. save 15% gross income each in our 401K and deferred comp plans
2. maintain 5 months worth of income in an accessible account for emergencies
3. contribute to HSA accounts for medical expenses in retirement
4. maintain short and long term disability, and life insurance
5. tithe
6. pay off credit cards each month
7. when we take loans for vehicles we only do so if we have very low interest rates (currently have 0% on my Toyota Camry and 1.9% on DH's Honda Pilot) and we put a minimum of $10k down on any vehicle we purchase. We tend to keep our vehicles for a long time.

We still owe on our home, and our interest rate is 3.90%. I am not adverse to debt, as you can see by how we live, but we do have a threshold we are comfortable with. We have a fair amount of discretionary income that allows us quite a bit of flexibility in our spending and how we live.

 

[pryncess527]

no particular plan, but we do use You Need A Budget (YNAB) budgeting software and have found the zero-based approach to be transformative for our family.

 

[married2mm]

Thanks for the input folks.

I'd never heard of YNAB,been having a read-
think as someone mentioned previously,the best plan is probably a combination of a few different methods.

Has anymore made it to rule 4?

 

[crisi]

Thanks for the input folks.

I'd never heard of YNAB,been having a read-
think as someone mentioned previously,the best plan is probably a combination of a few different methods.

Has anymore made it to rule 4?

Lots of us have made it to rule four, and past. Rule 4 is really just a variation of "have a month's salary in the bank" - and since most of the methods talked about tend to talk about three or four months - or more, that's a done deal.

 

[married2mm]

Lots of us have made it to rule four, and past. Rule 4 is really just a variation of "have a month's salary in the bank" - and since most of the methods talked about tend to talk about three or four months - or more, that's a done deal.

Thanks for that.
Duh-I obviously need to read properly.

Oh well,we've got there too.

 

[tvguy]

I pick the "conservative" funds in my 401k and IRA.

15% into retirement per year (for 34 years.)

Refinance mortgage when rates fell (my original mortgage was 12 1/4%, and had just dropped to that from 16%). Add $100 to monthly payment to pay off house early.

If you want a big ticket item, save until you can pay cash.

Only buy a car when you actually NEED it, and only buying a car you can afford to pay cash for. (making pretend car payments to your savings account insures you have enough to pay cash)

And carefully examining your expenses to determine if data plans, HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Cable, gardners, massages and facials are really necessities for luxuries.

 

[pocomom]

I think the biggest advice we listen too that is out there other than spending less than we make, is to pay ourselves first. Retirement is our first bill paid and when things happen we still pay in, even if it means less for the kid's college savings etc. Can't get a loan for retirement!

 

[tvguy]

I think the biggest advice we listen too that is out there other than spending less than we make, is to pay ourselves first. Retirement is our first bill paid and when things happen we still pay in, even if it means less for the kid's college savings etc. Can't get a loan for retirement!

True. We made retirement, paying off the house, and college money a priority.....and warned the kids if they spent too much on college, we would be moving in with them in our old age.

 

[eliza61]

True. We made retirement, paying off the house, and college money a priority.....and warned the kids if they spent too much on college, we would be moving in with them in our old age.

Lol, we tell our kids all the time that yes, we plan on being a burden in our old age.

Op, also wanted to say that I keep trying to learn about finances. When my kids were in college we read endlessly stuff on helping to pay for college. Now that I'm heading toward retirement I'm learning about how my finances will be effected.

So remember, no matter what method you pick there's always some thing to learn

 

[crisi]

Lol, we tell our kids all the time that yes, we plan on being a burden in our old age.

Op, also wanted to say that I keep trying to learn about finances. When my kids were in college we read endlessly stuff on helping to pay for college. Now that I'm heading toward retirement I'm learning about how my finances will be effected.

So remember, no matter what method you pick there's always some thing to learn

And while there is always something to learn, the base advice is pretty much always the same...

Spend less than what you earn.
Have an emergency fund
Avoid "bad" debt (what bad debt is varies from Dave Ramseys - IT ALL IS! to you really shouldn't have anything sitting on a credit card at 21% interest)
Save for the future (retirement, college)
When investing, understand risk

Some of these (the last one in particular) have some complexity underneath, but most of it is common sense.

And while the theory is easy, managing money is like dieting - all it takes is healthy eating and exercise - burning more calories than you take it - but it isn't easy to put into practice.

 

[married2mm]

And while there is always something to learn, the base advice is pretty much always the same...

Spend less than what you earn.
Have an emergency fund
Avoid "bad" debt (what bad debt is varies from Dave Ramseys - IT ALL IS! to you really shouldn't have anything sitting on a credit card at 21% interest)
Save for the future (retirement, college)
When investing, understand risk

Some of these (the last one in particular) have some complexity underneath, but most of it is common sense.

And while the theory is easy, managing money is like dieting - all it takes is healthy eating and exercise - burning more calories than you take it - but it isn't easy to put into practice.

Your last paragraph is so true-and I struggle with losing lbs,however gaining them is not an issue at all!


Our current main issue is our income has dropped,however how spending has not particularly altered-
therefore we've been dipping into our savings-and dipping clearly leads to more=not good practice.

 

[eliza61]

Your last paragraph is so true-and I struggle with losing lbs,however gaining them is not an issue at all!


Our current main issue is our income has dropped,however how spending has not particularly altered-
therefore we've been dipping into our savings-and dipping clearly leads to more=not good practice.

And one of the reasons diets fail is because they are so stringent to be impossible. In some ways that's the same issue with finances.

So some things to think of while you're getting a plan.
1) Is the new income level going to be that way for the near long term? for example, if you got laid off, you maybe actively looking for a new job then your income may bounce back but if you just had a baby and decided to be a stay at home mom, then you income drop is going to be long term.

2) now your savings are there for exactly that reason but you're right its not a long term solution. Keep track of the things you are dipping into it for and priortize them. once again are you dipping into them for things you could possibly cut back on or are you using them to pay monthly bills like the mortgage. the first may just require some sacrifice, the latter may require an entirely new look at life style.

3) try to come up with some realistic solutions. Can you increase your income? right now all the stores are hiring seasonal help, is that a possibility?

Good luck. You guys are probably doing better than you think, you at least are already aware that some thing has changed and are making moves to handle the change. LOL, A friend of mine quite her job a few months ago? why? because they were planning for the Christmas party and she doesn't celebrate Christmas so she didn't want tobe around for it. go figure?

 

[married2mm]

. LOL, A friend of mine quite her job a few months ago? why? because they were planning for the Christmas party and she doesn't celebrate Christmas so she didn't want tobe around for it. go figure?[/QUOTE]


This is crazy-I've certainly never heard that one before!!

 

[Ember]

Thus far our financial plan consists of:

- We paid off our school/credit card debt several years ago and NEVER AGAIN.
- We are a two income family that live on one income. We decided this was how we would work years ago. It means we don't live any where near as luxuriously as our friends, but we do have a very healthy retirement savings and we travel a lot. It works for us.
- We don't have kids and are happily childfree. (This choice is not financially motivated, but it does free up a lot of cash!)

 

[pryncess527]

Thanks for the input folks. I'd never heard of YNAB,been having a read- think as someone mentioned previously,the best plan is probably a combination of a few different methods. Has anymore made it to rule 4?

Absolutely! And it feels great. YNAB is really flexible enough to work with many plans. It's designed as a very flexible zero budgeting/envelope type system. I love it so much

YNAB is currently half off through Dec 2nd

http://www.youneedabudget.com/blog/2013/black-friday-sale-get-50-off-ynab-you-need-a-budget/

 

[TnTWalter]

we have an AM EX that we pay off every month. We subtract it from our weekly envelopes like cash.

Because the world still worships the FICO score, I didn't want to lose my credit rating. I do agree with him that it isn't a good measure of wealth.

I like the smallest to largest approach to debt to get you fired up [even though it's not always the 'smartest' way financially, you'll get to the end faster and that will be better in long run].

We also didn't stop contributing to retirement. We didn't do the full amount but didn't stop. [He wants you to put everything into the debt with intensity so it goes away faster and then you can build wealth, etc.]. I just couldn't give up compounding interest. You can never get that time back. It took us a year and a half to get out of debt and stay out back in '05/'06 so it probably wouldn't have mattered much but for others, might affect them.

I don't really know much about Suze. Tried to listen to her a bit, but some reason was turned off. Might have to listen again for kicks. What is her general philosophy? I love listening to Clark Howard but sometimes, when he gives advice I twinge. He has a higher risk meter. His philosophy is easy 'spend less, save more and avoid getting ripped off' or something like that.

But just like with the best answer to 'how do you lose weight or stay thin? Eat less move more,' it's just as simple and really really hard at the same time. 'Spend less than you make and save.'

Trish

sorry didn't read others before i posted....