Every single day we make multiple financial decisions without thinking twice about it. And considering a lot of people live paycheck-to-paycheck it would be great if we knew how to manage our money more wisely. In this article we've put together some useful tips that might come in handy for those who want to take control on their personal and business finances.
To start controlling your personal finances you have to, first of all, know exactly what your income is, how much your life costs, how much you spend on entertainment, traveling, shopping and so on. Knowing these numbers will allow you to get clear view of your current financial situation.
Keep in mind that having a budget is really important. Ideally, half of your paycheck should cover such essentials as rent, transportation and groceries; twenty percent you should put towards future: savings for retirement, vacation on Bora Bora or a new car. And only thirty percent is for entertainment, shopping, dining and whatever you like doing in your spare time. Try adjusting your lifestyle according to this plan and you'll see that you can afford some of those things you thought you couldn't before.
No matter how little money you make you should always have emergency fund. Even if it's just ten percent of your paycheck it will allow you to feel safer in this unstable economy.
If you don't want to drown in debt always purchase health insurance and, if possible, protection plan for your home and car, because it's better not to gamble with your own well-being.
It would be a great idea to create email account for all of your credit cards and saving funds. That way it would be easier for you to check on your bank accounts and credit card balances.
If you feel like you got lost in your finances you can always seek for professional advice. Financial planner might help you to pay off your debt much faster and set realistic financial goals.
Now let's talk a bit about managing business finances.
Finance is one of the most important areas for any business owner, and sometimes small mistakes caused by the lack of knowledge can become quite problematic. So, here are some tips on how you can avoid such mistakes.
Take time to find the best local credit union. Use online tools that search for credit unions based on your criteria.
To deal with routine financial procedures and to avoid completely unnecessary paperwork that usually goes with managing finances use specialized finance and administration software that would help you automate working processes, deal with invoices, accounts payables and manage expenses reports.
For those who want to manage financial and other working processes more efficiently workflow software might be a good option. Apart from providing great collaborative features and solutions for different departments it also offers constant safe access to any documentation, which allows business owner track tasks in real-time and always be in control.
We hope that some of these tips will help you in your finance management efforts!
About Author: Hi, my name's Jannet Sparts and I'm working as an editor of Online Issues. I write for several blogs sharing my experience and observations. I have worked as a project manager in several companies. So I have tried different PM tools, collaboration programs, including Comindware Tracker and task management software solutions. For the moment PM software is my primary field of interest.