The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. (CFP for short) most recently published the results of a poll that showed that Americans are optimistic about a national economic recovery within the next half year. Bloomberg reveals that these very same Americans do not have the exact same positive outlook when it comes to their personal finances, however. Developing a savings, financing college and preparing for retirement are all areas of great concern.

Personal finances don't light up the headlines like recession busting

The CFP found that 44 percent of people expect the U.S. economy to rise before their personal finances find relief, when 28 percent have a doom and gloom outlook. Robert Glovsky of the CFP told Bloomberg that "Americans are generally hopeful, and much of the economic news leads us to conclude that we are out of the recession, and a double dip is unlikely".

However, that hope largely doesn't extend to the arena of personal finances. Consumer confidence is on an upswing and unemployment is down slightly – at least what has been declared – yet two-thirds of the CFP poll respondents are gripping over some of the big questions of personal finances. Many consumers believe they need payday cash, but are frequently ineligible for a bank loan because of the still-tight credit market. Relying upon a a bad credit score personal cash loan is an alternative, but not one that has inspired consumers to view their financial futures within the most good manner.

The trinity of personal finance worries

CFP survey findings from the 1,000-member sample group (aged 18 and over) showed that most feared whether they'd be able to conserve money, pay for college and prepare for a financially stable retirement. Not only that, but 80 percent of the group agreed that Congress wasn't doing enough to regulate financial markets. But soon that may be addressed by the upcoming financial reform bill.

Sources

bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-13/americans-are-more-optimistic-about-economy-than-own-finances-survey-says.html

cfp.net/media/release.asp?id=253

Recently I have been thinking more and more about hiring a cleaning service. Several of my coworkers discuss how it is some of the best money they spend each month, yet I can't seem to get myself to pull the trigger.  From what they tell me, for about $15/hour a local cleaning service will dust, mop, vaccuum, clean the bathroom and more.  Oh, and did I mention I hate cleaning the bathroom?

Currently there is only two of us so it's not too difficult to manage the cleaning and we usually tackle it each weekend by dividing things up.  I'll take the living room, my wife will take the kitchen, and so on.  With work and grad school though, it makes it even more difficult to justify using precious free time on tasks such as cleaning

What If You Get Sick and Miss Work?

It's always tough when you get sick for an extended amount of time and need to miss work. If you develop an illness or are involved in an accident that leaves you disabled, call your employer as soon as you can.

I'm lucky and have only had one major event occur that caused me to take off time from work for an extended period.  After getting my tonsils taken out, I had to have emergency surgery to fix a complication and was out of work for a few weeks.  It was a difficult period of time, but was a good learning experience for how to handle that kind of challenge.

Included in most benefit packages is disability insurance, which usually ranges from 40 to 80 percent of your income. It is important to notify and provide your company with the documentation they need right away in order to initiate the process.

Make sure to be friendly with your doctor, the hospital staff, and your HR department at your company because at any moment you could need one to call another in order to provide claim information and you want it to go as smoothly as possible. If it will be several weeks before the disability pay will kick in, scrutinize your vacation package and sick leave package to see if your company can pay you until disability kicks in.

If this won't work and you don't have the savings to help you by, you may have to look into finding another form of work during the interim.

What if You Lose Your Job?

Recently I was past of a massive layoff at my employer of six years.  It was a traumatic event and brought into question many of the recent choices I had made regarding my budget. Had we not prepared to deal with a few months of less income it could have led to disaster!  Luckily we were prepared and a massive job hunt yielded some new work.

If you lose your job, don’t give up on your budget! Chances are you feel angry, betrayed, overwhelmed, lost or all of the above. The important thing is to remain focused and remember that you will be alright. It is important to keep your wits about you, formulate a plan to get back on your feet, and to get started.

One of the most important aspects of your plan will be the financial aspect. Every decision you make, down to whether or not to purchase your normal morning coffee could mean the difference between a sinking budget and a successful budget.

So try to cut as many expenses as you can, regain any composure you may have temporarily lost, and begin searching for a new position immediately.  You may get lucky and find something sooner than you think!

Planning for emergencies is critical to maintaining a successful budget and building a strong financial foundation.

Keep Budgeting!

Chris

BuildMyBudget.com

Once a person creates a budget, far too often they give up on once they are faced with an emergency. Don't be that person! If you are faced with an emergency and don't have enough savings to cover it, try to cut some expense from your budget until things stabilize. If you run into problem with your car, here are some ways you can overcome the pain and stick to your budget.

What If My Car Breaks Down?

For some people, the thought of their car breaking down is their biggest fear, especially if they are on a tight budget. Repairs can be costly and can set your budget back significantly if you are not prepared to deal with the expense.

For starters, if your car does break down, immediately find an alternative way to get to work. Catch a ride, use the bus system, borrow a scooter or ride a bike. No matter what, do not put your job in jeopardy because you can’t find a way to get there. There is always a way. Too many jobs have been lost because an employee failed to be on time to work three or four days in a row and failed to explain the situation to their supervisor. If your car breaks down, call your supervisor and explain the situation right away. Maybe they can even help you find you a ride to work.

After you find an alternate way to work and have talked with your supervisor, it is time to take care of fixing your car. First, figure out if you have a repair warranty or if your insurance will cover the damage. If it is a new car, chances are you have an active warranty, which will cover any non-accident related damages. If the car is used, there may be a short-term warranty remaining on the car that you may not know about. Talk to the person or company you bought the car from to find out. If the damages are due to an accident, call your insurance company right away.

What If I’m in a Car Accident?

If you have been in an accident, after you have called the insurance company, get your car to a repair shop that will provide you with a free estimate. Make sure they will provide the estimate without requiring you to fix your car there, in case your insurance company will cover the damages or you can find a shop that will fix it for less. It is very important to get a printed copy of the estimate because your insurance company may try to inflate the cost to repair your car, in order total it out (not repair the car, and just write you a check!). If you have a printed estimate though, you can prove to your insurance company that you can get the car fixed for less than they thought.

If you weren't in an accident, still try to get your car to a shop that will give you a free estimate. Some shops will charge a fee to provide you with an estimate or will charge you a small fee if you then take your car to another shop. That is ok though because if you can find another shop to fix it for less (including the fee and towing), then you will actually have saved some money.

Call several garages in your area and explain what work needs to be done based on the estimate the shop provided you with. Explain that you are on a tight budget and ask what they can do for you. Also ask if they have payment plans that you can utilize to pay the costs over a period of time. Once you find out how much it is going to cost and what your payment schedule will be, adjust your budget to include that expense until it is payed off.

These situations are always tough, so do your best to stick to your budget and you will come out ahead at the end.

Keep Budgeting!

Chris

BuildMyBudget.com

So, you've figured out it's time to take control of your financial future.

How Do You Start?

Although it probably wasn't, the first thing that you probably should have learned in school was how to create a budget. Unfortunately though, most high school and universities don’t offer classes on personal finance to students. By the time you realize that you actually need a budget, your financial situation may be in complete disarray because you never really knew how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Insurance, Investing, Spending, Taxes, Budgeting....they all fit together to make up a pretty important part of your life. And the puzzle just keeps getting more complicated as you get older!

The problem with this puzzle is that it just keeps getting more complicated and is just plain tough to figure out! Add to that the common mistakes that most people make such as wasteful spending, failing to forecast, failing to do research before making good financial decisions and so on and the problem becomes even more difficult. These days, it is just as hard to find someone trustworthy to help you figure out your financial situation as it is to figure out the problem itself. Too often financial planners skip the basics of your budget and go straight to investing your money. They take a biased approach to investing and sell you the products for which they receive commission, giving you advice for each piece of your financial plan without looking at your entire situation. Even if you understand the basics, it can be difficult to look at your financial situation in a holistic way. Right now your number one goal should be to start from ground zero and build a strong foundation for your financial future.

The good news is that you have come to the right place; we have a great solution for you! BuildMyBudget.com is an objective resource for helping you to build that foundation. We aren't going to try and sell you insurance, stocks, bonds, or even advice. Every part of BuildMyBudget.com has been created to help you make objective, more informed decisions about your financial situation. Now get started, build your budget and take control of your financial future. It's easy and it will change your life!

Keep Budgeting!

Chris

BuildMyBudget.com

If you're struggling with your debts, check out the following guest post from DebtConsolidationCare.com.

Debt Help Options You Can Go For, Author: Robin Williams

If you are struggling to get out of knee-deep debt, you can check out the options available to you at debt help.

Help Yourself by building a budget: - List your income from all the sources. Then list your fixed expenses and variable expenses so you can see whether you need to get debt help.

When it comes to budgeting and saving, my wife and I save as much as possible each month. When we get paid, we typically pay ourselves first by making a transfer to savings and then pay our bills that are due out of that paycheck.

We don't "splurge" very often on anything other than eating out and pretty much stick to our financial plan. Often enough, we wind up spending our "extra" savings on traveling because that is one of our favorite activities to do together.

Another activity we really enjoy is going to local arts & craft shows. We enjoy seeing what the artists have to offer and almost always find something that we would "love to have." It's almost always too expensive, however, and we wind up just purchasing our favorite treat (usually fried!) from one of the vendors.

When I stop and think, it's easy for us to avoid purchasing anything at these shows because of sticker shock. All we have to do is take one look at the price and we're out of there before the seller can say "Hi."

It's time to shop! It's that time of year again when the brave individuals who really want to take advantage of some Black Friday deals will wake up at 4am and venture out to their favorite store.

It can be difficult to get your hands on all of the best deals, so you're going to have to form a plan of attack!  Below is a list of 10 shopping tips which might be the difference between saving a lot, or just wasting a lot of time.

Check the end for a bonus tip or two which might really save you money too!

Look at Online Buying Guides first
For those of you who already have the your desired items in mind (TV, Laptop, Camera, Printer, GPS, Vacuum Machine, etc), there are existing Black Friday buying guides for each popular category, so that you only need to do minimal research.

I read a very interesting passage recently which really hit home:

"Since 1980, we have transformed ourselves from the world's biggest creditor nation to the nation most in debt. Mirroring this change, personal debt has skyrocketed. Credit cards allow us to get it "now," and make it easy to dig ourselves into some very deep holes.