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  • Reducing Debt: Top 5 Money Management Tips – FindLaw

    Posted on July 16th, 2010 No comments
    FindLawThomson asked:


    FindLaw provides tips for avoiding debs. URL: www.findlaw.com

    Gilbert

  • Parenting Teens – Three Money Management Tips to Teach Our Teens

    Posted on June 5th, 2010 No comments
    Tina Pestalozzi asked:




    The more financial knowledge we can help our teens acquire, the better their money management skills will be. From the basic knowledge, such as knowing how to write a check, to the more complex, such as being able to discern between good and not-so-hot credit card terms, our teens need to leave the nest prepared to use their financial knowledge as a useful tool in creating their life. Here are three points to cover with your teen:

    Understanding Financial Terms.

    A CD is more than just an old-fashion way of listening to music. It’s also a way to save money. Don’t assume your teen knows exactly what different savings instruments are available to them or how they work. Knowing how a traditional savings account differs from a CD or exactly what a money market or mutual fund is, is information they need to know in order to eventually make wise decisions about where to place their money. Be sure they also know the difference between a bank, credit union and brokerage house, as well as between a US Treasury bill, note and bond.

    Getting the Right Checking Account.

    Eventually your older teen will probably need a checking account and they need to know not to grab the first one they see or just use the bank closest to home. The best checking account is the one that is totally free. (As well as being closest to home!) This may require some leg work and research to find but it is well worth the trouble. Help your teen develop an understanding of how a checking account works and they will naturally be better able to ask the right questions to get the information they need to make a good decision.

    For instance, once they understand that a bank is in business to make money, they will be more aware of how the bank intends to get it from the account holders. Is there a minimum balance required to maintain the free status? What is the policy for fund availability? Does the account have overdraft protection, and if so, does that involve an additional fee? There are several things we need to teach about maintaining the checking account; such as how using a ATM or debit card responsibly requires maintaining a few good habits, such as making sure to always enter a withdraw in the check registry and knowing how to successfully avoid surcharges. Also, while it may be an easy exercise to show your teen how to write a check, making sure they understand how to keep and reconcile their checkbook may take a bit more time. Fortunately, most teens are pretty excited about getting their first checking account and are more than willing to learn.

    The Credit Card.

    It need not be a given that every young adult needs a credit card. Sometimes the need for a card can be put off well into the twenties. However, every teen needs to develop an accurate picture of what behaviors produce what results when using a credit card. Using a card as a way to live beyond one’s means is a sure way to create problems, whereas responsible credit card use might be considered just another way of handling one’s expenses. Knowledge of the credit card game should come long before the actual acquiring of one. Teens need to know that it is not only possible but also desirable to live a debt-free life and that one of the biggest obstacles to that goal is often the credit card. Credit card companies will seek out your teen and your teen needs to be armed with the knowledge to make responsible decisions from the very beginning of their credit history. Be sure to teach your teen the ins and outs of the credit card. Go over what terms and behaviors are favorable and which ones will get them in trouble.

    Show them what to look for in an interest rate, that it’s not only about getting the lowest rate, but also one that is calculated on a one month, not two month, balance. Explain to them the different categories interest rates can be calculated on. Don’t assume they know all the nuances of how to use a card and don’t hesitate to find out information that you yourself may be a little fuzzy on. Teaching our teens about money can be a great time for an examination of our own money management skills.

    Claude
  • FOREX Money Management Tips

    Posted on May 20th, 2010 No comments
    Timothy Rohrer asked:




    Whether you are a seasoned trader or new to FOREX, without a good money management it will be hard to ever make a dime. Good money management will be out a great trading system any day. Without knowing how to keep losses to a minimum will only jeopardize you’re trading efforts even if you have more winning trades than losing trades.

    One of the worst mistakes traders make is trading without sufficient capital. This does not mean a trader has to have a lot of money to trade with, but enough to handle the movement in the market. The trader with limited capital will always be a worried trading looking to minimize losses beyond the point of realistic trading.

    A good rule to follow is never risk more than 2% to 5% of your FOREX trading capital. Too many traders open mini accounts and begin trading heavily and end up margining out their accounts in a few months, if not a few weeks. Fore example, if a trader opened a mini account for $5,000, they should never trade more than $1 per pip. This way if a trade goes bad, the trader suffers a minimal loss.

    Exercising discipline and following a specific trading plan is one of the most important aspects in FOREX trading. Discipline is also the ability to continue to trade your system even after you have suffered a loss. Emotional and revenge trading can easily wipe out entire accounts. Sometimes it’s good practice to ignore the dollar amount in a FOREX account and interpret the number of trades in pips only.

    Think backwards when trading the FOREX market. Instead of trying to make money learn how to protect what you already have. If in the event that a trade does not develop in a reasonable amount of time or the market begins to form an opposite setup, you should employ the strategy of cutting your losses short to protect and preserve your capital.

    Always use a stop-loss when trading. This will stop your position when the market moves too far against your position. Save your money to trade another day or on another trading setup. Too often traders are convinced of where they believe the market is going and lose their sense of reality and begin to trade on hope. They remove their stop-loss and hope the market will turn around, only to lose more money.

    Trade light and never risk too much per trade. When in doubt of a trade, stay out of the market and wait for the trade to come to you. Use a system and follow the system without breaking the rules. Traders who are consistent and follow a definite plan are the ones that make money in the FOREX.

    Renee
  • Forex Money Management – Deal With Volatility or Lose Your Equity

    Posted on March 1st, 2010 No comments
    Kelly Price asked:


    Many traders have forex trading systems that can pick the direction of the currency correctly but they continually get stopped out by volatility and cannot stay with the trend. Here are some money management tips to help you stay with the trend and enjoy currency trading success…

    A typical scenario which occurs for most traders is they enter a trend with their currency trading signal the price retraces, takes out their stop and then the trend immediately goes back the way they thought, piling up thousands of dollars and their not in!

    If this has happened to you, you’re not alone. Most traders have this problem and volatility is the cause.

    Of course prices don’t trend in a straight line otherwise currency trading would be easy – they constantly retrace against major trends. Quite simply, you need to employ money management rules to keep you in the major trend and not get stopped out so here are some tips.

    1. Don’t Trade the Market Noise

    If you want to avoid getting caught by random volatility avoid short term trading strategies such as forex scalping or day trading. All volatility in a day is random. So if you place stops using daily support and resistance you are wasting your time.

    Forget day trading and look at long term trend following.

    2. Be Selective

    You don’t get paid for how often you trade you get paid for being right with your trading signal and getting your market timing right. The big high odds trades don’t come around every day and you need to be patient to wait for them. I know traders who trade less than a dozen times a year, who make triple digit gains and you, can to.

    You will also find many of the best trading moves come from breakouts and you need to look for these.

    3. Use Breakouts.

    Most major trends start from breaks of highs and lows and pick valid ones (check our other articles for more information on breakouts) When a break occurs your stop is obvious below the breakout point. If the breakout continues do not trail your stop to close! This is the major error of most traders in any form of trend and we will discuss this next.

    4. Moving Stops

    Most traders fail to win because they trail stops too soon. They want to restrict risk so much they create it by bringing their stop within normal volatility and getting bumped out the trade.

    Make sure you leave your stop until the trend is well underway and trail outside of random volatility.

    A good way of doing this is using the 40 day Moving average as a stop. Sure you miss a bit of the trend when it turns – but you can’t predict that anyway, so there is no point in trying. If you caught 50% of every major trend you would be very rich.

    5. Deciding Risk per Trade

    Today you can get leverage of 200:1 or more but for a small trader to use all of this is madness.

    Sure your gain will be huge – but your stop has to be so close, you are guaranteed to get stopped out. De-leverage and use 10 or 20:1 and risk more per trade.

    In forex trading you have to take a risk and you need to be outside of daily volatility with your stop, or you’re going to lose. Risking more to your stop means your chances of winning are higher, if you hit high odds trades and that’s what you need to do.

    Volatility can destroy your account quickly, if your forex money management doesn’t handle it.

    The above tips will work. In the next series of these articles we will look at how to measure volatility and look at standard deviation of price, which is essential forex education for any trader and a great tool to help time trading signals – the Bollinger Band.

    Many traders think forex money management takes care of itself, it doesn’t and you need to get protection for your trades and deal with volatility to win.



    Dustin
  • The Abc’s of Money Management Tips for College Students

    Posted on June 30th, 2009 No comments
    Tessie Setiabudi asked:


    Being in college is a great way to prepare your future. Money management tips for college student is a powerful starting point that will encourage you to find ways to make money online by finding the best affiliate program. The fact that you are reading this article shows your concerns about the subject.

    Four powerful ways to manage your money:

    1. Increase income

    Do you have income now? How do you increase it? Is it by working longer or starting to make money online?

    2. Create multiple streams of income

    Some ways to have sources of income:

    - Tutoring students such as high school students or junior college.

    - Using your skills such as writing, drawing or repairing computers.

    - Working part-time at local stores or college.

    - Starting an internet business. It doesn’t require a lot of capital nor a company. You can start now.

    3. Manage expenses

    Reduce your personal expenses such as food, clothing, and transportation.

    4. Increase Return of Investment (ROI) in your investment

    Learn to invest your money. You can get so much valuable information on investing from libraries or online. There are many sources of investment. One of them is how to make money online by finding the best affiliate program.

    I regret that I wasted my college years only for fun and study. Now I realize the importance of understanding money management tips for college students. Money management works the same way like exercising in the gym; you can’t see your muscle built the first time you lift weight, but as you exercise consistently and correctly, you’ll see the muscles develop nicely.

    You must master money management tips while you are in college. Otherwise, you will end up with large percentage of our population that deal with debts.

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    http://www.WorkingFromHomeLifestyle.com/Review.pdf



    Lois
  • Money Management Tips for the Home Business Owner

    Posted on May 20th, 2009 No comments
    Chris Simpson asked:


    Working from home is becoming a large desire for many people. The ability to set your own schedule and to be your own boss is a large benefit. As with any business opportunity, there are risks involved and you could lose more money than you gain. To help you avoid any financial losses with your business, it is important that you follow basic money management tips.

    While your idea of working from home probably does not involve annoying record keeping, it is still important to set a side enough time in order to manage the money that you have coming in and going out. Having an effective management system will lessen the time that it takes and ensure that all of the records are organized.

    The following are effective for money management systems:

    Software

    A software program that you can load onto your computer is an easy and convenient way to keep track of your entire home based business finances. You can input checks, keep track of a payment calendar and create a budget. There are various business software programs on the market by different companies, but you will have to choose appropriately so that it will benefit your business.

    Invoices

    Having professional supplies is important for any business. Customers feel more secure with companies when the receipts and invoices look legitimate. For example, creating invoices in word-processing programs will benefit your company and your money management system.

    Look to see if your computer is already equipped with a program for invoices. Usually, they have templates that you can use. Not only will these invoices be effective with companies, but you can refer to these when you are trying to compile your list of incoming finances.

    Business Bank Account

    It is never a good idea to mix your business money with your personal money. Not only will this be a red flag for customers, but it will be very confusing when you are trying to manage your money. Open an account at a reliable bank that has suitable interest and very low fees. You can find a good bank by asking other business owners. Many banks also offer a program that is beneficial for business owners.

    Create a Budget

    While this is probably common sense, you would be surprised at the amount of home based business owners who forget this aspect. The end result is that they overspend and are left digging in their personal money accounts in order to get out of the negative with their business account. As mentioned earlier, you can do this in a computer software program.

    A budget is essential in planning for future income and any expenses that occur on a monthly basis. Make sure that you compare the planned income and expenses with your actual income and expenses.

    Before you make a purchase for your business, consider if it will actually improve your sales, or if it will set you back for the next month. Not only will budgeting help you gain control over your finances, but you will feel more secure about your money.

    Cash Flow

    It is your responsibility to collect the necessary cash from customers. To do this appropriately in order to maximize your business, collect all necessary cash made from products at the time of delivery. This will decrease that amount of customers that do not pay and decrease your overall money loss. A great way to make this happen effectively is to offer a credit card payment option with your customers. This will motivate them to pay faster.

    Overall, the way that you manage your money for your home business is responsibility and discipline. You are the only one that can impact the funding of your business and the way that the money is controlled. If you manage your money effectively, you will greatly improve the way that your business is operated.



    Kimberly