Getting your financial house in order is today's theme. The economy may hurt the family budget, retirement plans and so on, but there are usually some steps you can take to limit the damage.
Monster tips. This article at the Monster job site offers six tips for getting things in order. Among them is the sage advice to make your savings automatic through a payroll deduction plan that puts money in your 401(k) or IRA retirement plan, or both. It also suggests paying your monthly bill automatically from a bank account to avoid penalties that add to fees or interest rates you pay.
Millionaires' habits. Here's another from Monster: Five Habits of Millionaires. If you expected "Spend, spend, spend" to be first on the list, you would be wrong. Instead it starts with "Avoid the Earn-to-Spend Mentality." It says millionaires consider money "something to save and invest, rather than income to spend." Also on the list are habits of staying focused, taking calculated risks, and being generous - though we were left to wonder how giving rates so much better than spending.
Selling a business. A site for heating and air-conditioning contractors provides some get-your-house-in-order guidelines useful to almost anyone hoping to sell a business. Your business is not ready for market, it says, unless you can prove "positive earnings and cash flow" for the last 12 months - and preferably for the last three years. That's a tall order, of course, but as the article says, such factors make the difference between selling your business as a "mansion," or as a "fixer-upper."
Dollar stretcher. The Dollar Stretcher site says the first thing in getting your financial house in order is to come up with a family budget. Set goals, and then celebrate when they are reached, according to this page. Money-saving links offer to show how to "bail yourself out," and to explain the considerable downside of walking away from your mortgage.
Contact staff writer Reid Kanaley at 215-854-5114 or rkanaley@phillynews.com.
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