Financial Planning

Financial Planning

It’s quite scary how little people know about money these days. Few people understand how to make money efficiently, how to increase their incomes, how to go into debt the “right” way, how to get out of debt, how to invest their money — people are financially illiterate.

In order to help people increase their money education, Learn Financial Planning was launched in 2008. Since then we’ve helped hundreds of thousands of people get debt free, invest wisely, and live with more financial comfort than they thought possible.

Ready to learn? Then get a cup of coffee, a pen and paper, and browse this website to your heart’s content.

If you are self employed and want to learn financial planning that will help an entrepreneur find financial freedom here are a few articles to start with:

401k for Self Employed

Financial Planning for the Self Employed

Financial Quick-Start Guide

After you sign up for the newsletter, read this website to learn the basics of financial planning. Feel free to skim the articles and click links looking for more articles on the site — just make sure you find what you’re looking for. Chances are, it’s been covered on this website before. Here are the basics:

• How to Make Money — a free guide to learning the most efficient way of earning an income, finding a job, getting a raise and more.

• How to Save Money — want to find the best way to “get rich”? Save your money. If you aren’t saving money, you’re wasting it.

• How to Get Out of Debt — debt is slavery. Learn how to beat it forever by reading over the articles in this free debt tutorial.

• How to Make Money Online – my entire income comes from a few blogs I set up. I don’t have any “techy” skills. You can do this.

Don’t forget to subscribe to get more financial planning articles in the future. We’re constantly pumping out great new content that will help you get where you want to go in life. You can subscribe at the bottom of this page, or on the right sidebar.

Financial Planning Advice for 2012

Financial success is ensured by a number of skills, namely the ability to predict natural economic fluctuations and trends. Especially when supporting a family, research and planning are imperative to developing this helpful “clairvoyance.” With college savings, retirement plans, investment portfolios, and housing market head spins, however, the best financial planning practices can get lost in the torrent. The following methods are highly recommended by the Financial Planning Association for a worry-free 2012.

Financial Planning for Families in 2012

As always, families must assess their capital and projected earnings before drafting financial plans in 2012. This holistic process involves more than just adding salaries together and deducting expenses; the ability to account for the unexpected while still managing payroll deductions into retirement funds demands a multi-tiered approach. A disciplined and forgiving financial plan, however, is possible when every penny is accounted for. In addition to tracking, saving, and budgeting, maintaining a strong financial plan involves being constantly aware of market conditions.

The new year is projected to introduce rising interest rates into a down market; a defense mechanism against inflation. Families can take advantage of the “down market” part by using stock market losses to reduce their taxable income, while investing in steady saving measures like IRAs and 401k plans. Homeowners may be facing negative equity for a few more years, but they can share the savings of first-time buyers by refinancing with an excellent interest rate—and then sitting. All of these factors and dozens more will serve as the staples of financial planning advice for 2012.

Track Your Spending-Know Where You are Now

Especially for young families, keeping track of spending habits is pivotal. Recording all debits and credits is not only crucial to making accurate projections and plans for the future, but it also eliminates unpleasant surprises. Now that the world is well beyond the check-and-ledger transaction days, logging transactions must be a more conscious effort. Once it is a steady habit, it’s as automatic as morning rituals.

The best way to track spending is to apply Occam’s razor: the simplest way is the most appropriate way. This could not be more apparent than in the effort to keep financial records. Yes, PDAs are more than capable of tracking spending and may even support some helpful software programs, but they still can’t rival the permanence of written records. Memo books and daily planners are perfect for storing transactions, but how does the practice become a habit? By marrying the memo book to a piece of personal property that is required to leave the house: a wallet, purse, or even keychain.

The Average of what Families Are Spending Money On

According to Family Economics Specialist Debra Pankow of North Dakota State University, families have radically changed their spending habits over the past 60 years. Families used to spend a third of their income on food alone, and about 12 percent on housing costs. Today, housing costs account for 34 percent of the family income, while food takes up 13 percent. In addition to the necessities, the consumption expenditure in America has been steadily increasing between recessions. Socioeconomic status is affected by region and a slew of circumstances, which makes finding “average” expenditures difficult. Generally, rural families spend more on health care and insurance, where urban families spend more on transportation and housing.

How to Stick to a Family Budget

When regimented with care, budgets afford families security and peace of mind. The first step in creating an effective one is to assess monthly income. Exactly how much money is coming in every month? Then, establish spending categories such as food, mortgage, entertainment, savings, and so on. The next step is to allot appropriate amounts to each category, starting with the most important ones first. As Pankow’s research and financial planning advice dictates, food and housing alone should comprise just under half of total expenses. After the necessities are taken care of, the rest of the money should be assigned to entertainment, savings, and miscellaneous.

If a budget is too inflexible, it won’t be easy to stick with. Maintaining buffer zones like the “miscellaneous” category will guarantee that family members won’t get flustered when they buy something that isn’t covered under the budget. Treat the monthly budget as a living document: Each passing month can expose areas that need to be improved. After integrating a budget into their financial plans, tracking their spending, and staying aware of market conditions, families with high hopes for 2012 will not be disappointed.

BEST iPHONE FINANCIAL APPS OF 2011-2012

How to Get Organized for Free

The biggest financial problem most people face is found in the “organization” arena. Budgeting, tracking spending, managing credit card balances and bank accounts — imagine if managing all of these were easier. Now it is, because Mint.com is free.

Mint is one of the most trusted and popular sources of personal finance software. The rest of this website is based on the assumption you’re using the free website, because:

1. It’s free. You don’t have to spend a dime to track your money.
2. It’s online. You don’t have to download any program — it’s online.
3. It’s easy. You don’t have to be “techie”. It’s very “point and click”.

Managing your money shouldn’t be complicated or hectic. In the “information age”, it should be easy to manage your financial information. Sign up for Mint.com and browse around. When you get an account, check back here to learn more about financial planning.

Who Should Learn Financial Planning?

Everyone should learn financial planning. You deserve to have the right financial advice to make the right decisions so you’ll almost always land on your feet if life throws you a curve. The ultimate goal of this website isn’t just to give you financial advice; the purpose of this site is to invigorate you with the tools you need to survive in a world economy that is about to get very, very volatile.

Unfortunately, little attention is given to the real causes of several extremely likely world-economic crises coming in the next few decades. Remember to subscribe above — I’ll be explaining soon exactly how the world economy might affect you. You can subscribe for future updates at the end of this page. Don’t worry, there’s no economic mumbo-jumbo — this website is written layman terms.

Why Should I Study Financial Planning?

Financial planning isn’t just for “some” people – financial planning is for everyone. In a sense, we’re all financial planners and everyone has a financial plan on some level, whether they are trying to learn about debt consolidation loans, save for college, buy a house, buy a car, find the best credit card deals, find coupons or even discover the best online savings account.

A financial plan is simply anything that you do for the purpose of getting some kind of material gain. A job, an investment, an education — these are all part of your financial plan. But preparing for the future is simply essential. Remember, the unexpected can happen at any time, whether you’ve hired a financial planner or not.

Will you be prepared for the coming Social Security crisis? The coming fierce competition from India and China’s new workforce? The current economic crisis? Do you have a plan for when you lose your job? For when your house burns down?

Those are just a few examples of what you should be prepared for. It takes a lot of work, and a healthy dose of realism. But don’t worry — that’s what we’re here for. You can understand financial planning… it’ll just take a little reading.

So What Should I Do Now?

Great question. There’s a ton of information on this website, covering everything from career advice to surviving a financial storm — we even explain how to pay for college.

If you have a bit of time, feel free to browse as long as you’d like. The information here is and always will be free. If you are short on time, just bookmark this page so you can read the information later.

Author: David Gass – Yahoo Featured Contributor Business & Finance