Personal Finance and Investing

Over the years I’ve found myself, both here and in my real life, telling people with financial problems that small changes will help. I’ve told people that, “If you just stop eating out,” or “Stop spending on magazines at the grocery store,” or “Save $10 per pay period,” you can really help your financial situation. Other financial gurus pitch the same thing. I used to think this was good advice. After all, any amount of money you can save is a help, right? Recently I’ve given this some thought and I’ve about decided to change my tune. I’m not sure that l

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Retrain your Brain –

If you deprive yourself of the things that bring you pleasure, you are going to have trouble saving money. Retrain your brain by visualizing a future that is more fulfilling, like credit card bills that are smaller, and higher savings account balances to give yourself a sense of purpose with your saving.

Choose Your Extravagances –

Choose the extravagances that you can do without, and the ones that you can occasionally take advantage of. Eat out once every week, but give up extended cable television and TiVo.

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Historical inflation rates are not longer just a distant mirage that lays ahead. There is a real likelihood this can happen sooner than later. Wheat prices in 2010 have seen the fastest rise in price for over 50 years. This is just a hint at what we might expect in the future and indicates there is a coming shortage in agriculture very soon.

Historical inflation rates merely work in cycles, but leading studies suggest that another bubble could be forming. If this was to happen, the prices of food, perishables and other commodities would rise significantly.

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This is part 3 of a 4 part series on getting out of debt quickly. Make sure that you read all four parts in order to get the most out of this sequence of hints on getting yourself or your family out of the debt trap.

Make sure that you are recording absolutely everything, including gifts that you give, early morning coffee runs, lunches out, even how much you put into the vending machine at work or at school. When you end up totaling all of the various columns up come the end of the month, you may be shocked at just how quickly everything added up for you.

Categorizing your expenses and purchases is going to help you to identify the weak points in the way that you are spending money.

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