Who else wants more money in 2007?
It’s the money, stupid
I spend a lot of time thinking about money.
Sadly, I use to little of this time to dream up new ways to create money — my thoughts are mostly about paying off old debts and trying to not incur new ones. This focus will change over the next 12 months.
Here’s my rundown of how my wife and I track and build wealth at the moment.
Budgeting
Simple monthly budget: Family monthly budget
Percentages: How much you should spend on what: It Pays to Do the Math In the Budget Game
Saving
ING Direct
Or, check BankRate.com to find a savings account that works for you
Debt reduction
Debt snowball
I’ve also created a simple excel file to track our outstanding debt. Just a simple spreadsheet that lists all of our debts that I revisit weekly to remind me why buying a Wii, a new car or some other dumb want makes no sense.
Investing
Road to successful investing
Buying
CapitalOneAutoFinance
We used CaptialOneAutoFinance for the only new car purchase we’ve made to date. Easy + a great rate.
Ongoing research
That being said, here are some financial resources that I check up on regularly:
Scott Burns. If you haven’t read The Coming Generational Storm you should. If books aren’t your bag, at least read his latest column Road to successful investing.
He’s the most common-sense financial writer employed by a media outlet today.
Get Rich Slowly. Great tips, great site.
Beat the Press. Dean Baker’s insightful look at the often-crummy economics journalism.
Using these guides, we’ve turned our financial outlook around this year.
I couldn’t have told you how much I could afford for a car payment before September 30. I had no idea how much we were spending on gas, let alone tell you if we were spending too much as a percentage of our income.
Also, this is the first year we’re going to make a good return on my 401(k) plan. All thanks to the people listed above.
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