Monday, January 9, 2012

Happy Money Monday!


Post Holiday Financial Assessment...by Austin the Realtor


Welcome back and I hope your New Year has started off prosperous and fulfilling. As we continue on the journey of financial awareness and success, it's time to make an assessment of where we are and where to go from here. Holiday spending is long gone, and now it's time to get on track and utilize some of the tools we discussed in previous Money Monday discussions.


1 – Lay it all out on the table: Literally get all your bills and lay them on the table to see what you are dealing with. As discussed, prioritize by interest rate and setup up your payment amounts and schedule.

2 – Grab your list of “Trimming the Fat” items and keep it close so we can keep up with it as much as possible. Post on your fridge if needed so that it can be reviewed every morning. Go for the gusto and see how far you can go and make small adjustments as needed.

3 – Track your spending and the differences so you can see if you are actually making a difference or see if an adjustment needs to be made in your daily spending to maximize the value of your money.

4- Lastly, let’s try a change in mindset. Ask yourself, “If I can’t pay it off by months end, can I go without buying it?” It’s easy to charge an item and say, "I’ll pay it off later." Think about this statement: “I’ll eat this entire cake and work it off later.” How often do you immediately work off calories consumed, pound for pound? Debt works the same way! It’s much easier to maintain it as you go along as opposed to spend, spend, spend and then say, "let’s fix this."

I’ve found the more you repeat something, the more you grasp it and it becomes second-nature, so this is a recap of what we already discussed as a refresher. In the coming weeks, we are going to discuss various saving and investment objectives so we can put all that money saved to work.


Topics to be discussed:
Mutual Funds
401k tips
529 Plans (saving for college)
Real Estate – the process of buying and tips

Let’s make this your best financial year yet!

-Austin the Realtor

27 comments:

Anthony Otero said...

first bitches!

Anthony Otero said...

I beat Stef again...I think I may do this all year...

Stef said...

DAMN YOU!!!

Anthony Otero said...

Love this topic Brooke, I am finishing up my post called Investing in Myself. We are on the similar pages.

Yolanda said...

Happy Monday, y'all. And a happy founder's day to Austin.

After getting my home assessment in the mail and seeing just how much my condo's value has depreciated, I'd like to put in a request for a post on what to do when you're losing value in your home. I owe more than this place is worth but I plan to ride it out (let's pray).

Thanks!

Powerz the Realtor said...

Hey Yolanda and thanks for the shout it! Sigma Men celebrating 98 years.

I'll keep that topic in mind but feel free to contact me offline for additional information in the meantime.

austin@austintherealtor.com

@Ant - keep sending the message, it is long over do!

SarKism said...

Happy New Year all!

@Yolanda. You are not alone. I think we are at half the value:(I told the hubbster the only brightspot is our taxes on our mortgage will go down *shrug*

Lets ride this thing til it dies. Thank the good Lord we can pay our mortgage and decorate cause we'll be here for awhile.

Stef said...

I've been trying to do the "trimming the fat" thing since New Years and it's starting to work! Not like I'm saving thousands or anything, but I found an extra $50 a month to save, so that helps!

Now I need to figure out how to make my money work for me, so I'm looking forward to the savings and investing topics to come.

Courtney said...

So is it safe to assume that if you buy a house or condo in this economy, that your investment will "appreciate" even though everyone else's property seems to be "depreciating"? What is the upside to buying a house if the property values are going down?

A-Buzz said...

This post brought to you by my Hubby...aka Austin the Realtor.. aka POWERZ...aka Sir Tase a lot. :-) From the MONEY MAKING Xi Alpha Chapter of PHI BETA SIGMA FRATERNITY. Ok I'm done now. :-)

Fyi: You should do a Balling on a Budget blog for one of your MM!

Brooke said...

Yeah, you can call it "Hood Rich" LOL!

Powerz the Realtor said...

@Courtney - this is a buyers market so the ball is in their court. A home purhase is a long term investment so unless you are buying as an investor looking to flip, you are getting a property that may have been worth more years ago. Buy Low, Sell High. The highs is the problem but not for the buyer.

My advice, if you are currently looking to purchase, now is a good time but their are other factors to consider......

Balling on a Budget is a good one. LOL, Hood Rich is a whole other topic! I knew some dudes in the PJs driving a Lexus! Really! LOL

I think another good topic is: What IS considered an investment?

Stef said...

I can't stand to see dudes (or women) riding around in expensive cars but live at home or in the pj's. Just DUMB!

The Cable Guy said...

Looking forward to the 529 plan for college savings. I got 3 young'ns to plan for!

Powerz the Realtor said...

Looks like investing will be next and we'll alternate with some Real Estate tips in there.

Thank you all for giving me the opportunity to share, teach and help any way I can! Knowledge is Priceless.

Jay said...

Thank YOU Powerz - keep 'em comin'!

Serena W. said...

Class is now in session!

Happy Founders Day Austin and all Sigmas!

Looking forward to investments! As I told you before I'm looking into a different investment (buying property for a cafe and bed n breakfast).

Savings for the lil one! A must as well!

Looking forward to the financial lessons!

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