As a stay at home mom, I am the manager of our household. I am expected to be on top of the family’s schedule and the finances. One of the important skills I need to learn is to manage the family’s finances. The dynamics of each family is different but knowing the income and expense of the family is a must to be able to properly appropriate the finances. Our family is operating on single income and limited financial resources. Knowing the exact amount would help me map out where our resources would be allocated.

We are still paying the huge credit card debt we have incured over the years. I am sure that many of you are also undergoing the same problems. I’d like to share with you what we do.

We check on the low interest rates promo of the credit cards to be able to pay off our bills. Best credit repair websites give us some ideas what we can do to further find solution to our credit card debts.

Make sure we pay the minimum amount on time to avoid further charges from the credit company.

If we have some savings, we invest in high yielding interest investments like stocks, time deposit and treasury bonds.

Study your family’s lifestyle and adjust when needed to make sure that you don’t use the credit card unless on emergency situations.

Save whenever possible. Even a single peso can make a difference at the end of the month.

If you have any credit card tips, do share it with me on the comments section too. I’d like to hear what you do to resolve credit card debt.

These days, it’s vitally important that people begin looking toward the future, particularly when it comes to their finances. Money matters can seem confusing at first, especially for those who don’t really pay attention to such things, and it could cause people to hesitate when trying to set up a savings, but retirement plans are important for everyone to have. It will take some time and effort on your part, but there are a few ways to make it easier for you to get the ball rolling.

First and foremost, the sooner you begin saving for your retirement plan, the better you’ll be in the long run because of the compounded interest. High yield CDs have a higher interest rate so for those who haven’t got access to a 401(K) or similar program, they’re going to be your best (safe) bet. They’re typically available at most credit unions or banks just by asking them and many times, there are monthly promotions on CDs that offer higher interest rates for several months after signing up. If your local CU or bank doesn’t offer a good enough rate, you can look to an online bank too.

The good thing about CDs in regards to saving money for the long term is that most of them have a fee attached when people try to withdraw money earlier than they should be, which drastically reduces your chances of taking the money out for some lavish purchase in the near future.

Paying off debt should be one of your top priorities when you’re trying to save up for a retirement plan. This might seem counterproductive to the objective of putting money aside for down the road, but the fact is that debt accumulates interest and with interest comes more money out of your pocket each year. The quicker you pay off the debt you’ve got, the more money you’ll save and therefore be able to put back into CDs or savings accounts to collect interest rather than paying interest.

Try to shoot for a specific amount that you’re trying to save up rather than just throwing money into an account each month and hoping for the best. Having an exact goal will do wonders in keeping you in check each month and year and it will help you see how you stand currently to where you’ll stand later. It’s also a nice motivator because some people assume that all they need to do is put money into bonds or mutual accounts and they’ll be set in forty years. This isn’t quite the case and some people might be surprised at how little they’ve accumulated, which will keep them from skipping months or withdrawing the money altogether (there are usually fees for withdrawing also).

With something as significant as a retirement plan, you would do well to talk to a financial advisor about it. They can provide information specific to your needs and circumstances and can show you the proper ways of handling the money you currently have versus the money you’ll need in a few years’ time. They’re experts and they deal with things such as retirement plans nearly every day, so you don’t need to be nervous speaking with them. Any question you have has probably already been asked before and they’ve dedicated their lives to helping people with money management.

Building a retirement plan can be scary and a little stressful, but it’s an important thing to start doing immediately if you really want to build a nice future later on. Taking some simple steps in the right direction help you reach your goals immensely and you’ll be thankful you tookt he time to do it.

After knowing your current financial status and deciding to save a specific amount every month, it is important to know where to invest your money. There are several investment opportunities but we need to be aware which ones would be most beneficial for us.

1. Bank savings account which includes time deposit, regular savings account and other accounts which they offer. This is the easiest and mot common way of saving but in the long run, after considering inflation rates, you are actually not growing your money but just putting it somewhere you can save.

2.  Jewelry. This can be an asset but it doesn’t give you liquidity.

3. Properties. You would need a bigger amount to be able to buy a property which can generate income and pay for its expenses.

4. Mutual funds. You can invest in companies like Sunlife or Manulife and they will invest your money for you. There are several plans available which can help you save monthly and generate income at the same time. It is of utmost importance that you learn how mutual funds work before you invest.

5. Stocks. You can invest in the Philippines stock market thru stock borkers or Citisec Online. They have easy investment plans you can start with.

Whichever you choose, it is important to do some research first. Read, ask around and be proactive. Financial independence is achievable, you just need to plan and act on it before it is too late. Do you have any other tips about financial independence?

Being a household manager, it is important that we are on top of our household’s financial situation. Budgeting and proper handling of our our hard earned money is as important as earning the money itself. Financial independence is being able to afford not working for a number of months and still maintaining the same lifestyle. It is something most of us haven’t really thought of. If we suddenly can’t work, our family would be in danger.

There are several important life events that we need to save for as well. Here are two of them:

1. Our children’s education in the future. Every year, the tuition fee increases almost 12.25%, it is important to save for their future.

2. Our retirement. We need to consider our retirement so that we will have some money to work with when we are old.

Aside from properly allocating the money, we should also be aware of investment opportunities where we can make our money grow. There are several information we need to consider before we can invest. We need to know our family’s monthly income and fixed expenses. We need to know the annuity information, consider inflation rates and or miscellaneous expenses.

Knowing our current lifestyle and evaluating it would be most critical to ensure our way to financial independence. There are those who are called accidental savers, they use this formula when it comes to their savings: Income less expense = savings. Then there are those who are in debt, expense less income = debt and there are those who use income less savings = expense as their formula in savings. If you are the third type, you are on your way to financial independence.

Watch out for my second post where I will share investment opportunities to help us achieve financial independence.