Healthy Personal Finance

Develop a budget and stick with it

A good way to start the year on the right track financially is to make sure that you have a budgeting system in place. Start by identifying your income and expenses. Next, add them up and compare the two totals to make sure you are spending less than you earn. If you find that your expenses outweigh your income, you'll need to make some adjustments to your budget plan (e.g., reduce discretionary spending).

Once you have a budget, it's important to stick with it. And while straying from your budget from time to time is to be expected, there are some ways to help make working within your budget a bit easier:

•          Make budgeting a part of your daily routine

•          Be sure to build occasional rewards into your budget

•          Evaluate your budget regularly and make changes if necessary

•          Use budgeting software/smart phone applications

Set financial goals or reprioritize current ones

The new year is also a good time to set new financial goals and reprioritize your current ones. Take a look back at the financial goals you set for yourself last year--both short- and long-term. Perhaps you wanted to increase your cash reserve or save money for a down payment on a home. Maybe you wanted to invest more money towards your retirement.

Did you accomplish any of your goals? If so, do you have any new goals that you would now like to achieve?

Finally, have your personal or financial circumstances changed during the past year

(e.g., marriage, a child, job promotion)? If so, would any of these changes warrant a reprioritization of some of your goals?

Make it a priority to reduce debt

Any healthy financial plan is one that makes reducing debt a priority. Whether it is debt from student loans, a mortgage, or credit cards, it is important to have a plan in place to pay down your debt load as quickly as possible.

Review/take steps to improve your credit history

Having good credit is an important part of any sound financial plan, and the New Year is as good a time as any to check on your credit history. Your credit report contains information about your past and present credit transactions and is used by potential lenders to evaluate your creditworthiness. A positive credit history is important since it allows you to obtain credit when you need it and at a lower interest rate. Good credit is even sometimes viewed by employers as a prerequisite for employment.

Textophiles Love the Lowly Pen

Guess what remains one of today’s most popular instruments of communication – even in our wired world? Here’s a hint: Look around your desk, your car and your briefcase and you’ll find a common denominator.

Another hint? It’s everywhere, it’s accessible and it’s the solution to leaving your smartphone at home. The answer is the pen, and don’t go writing it off anytime soon.

The pen’s importance to consumers was investigated recently in a study cosponsored by BIC Graphic USA, a well-known company selling – you guessed it – pens. The study interviewed 1,114 consumers on their writing habits, and as researchers fast discovered, we consumers love our pens. Here are some of their findings:

·       Of those surveyed, 73% carry a pen at all times.

·       Almost 92% of car owners keep one or two pens in the car.

·      And, somewhat surprisingly, respondents under age 35 ranked the importance of pens higher than did those over age 65.

You know it’s in for the long haul when even textophiles love it.