Are you Money Smart$$$?

September 22nd, 2008 Vijaianand No Comments »

“Money Smart” – I recently came across this catchy phrase when I was checking about Houston Money Week 2008. It is a week long event put together by Federal Reserve partnered with few financial instituations in and around houston to create financial literacy. It has be cancelled because of Hurricane IKE. Lets get back on the talk about “Money Smartness”. This phrase really intrigued me because it tells the core concepts of my money really matters mantra. I even incorporated it in my slogan as “Get Money Smart, The Right way!!”


Are you Money Smart?


Let’s take a quick moment and ask some questions to ourselves and figure out.
Are you the one,
clipping coupons for every grocery item you can find in any grocery store ad?

always try to be the first in line for any door busters sale beating the crowd?

who signs up for every freebie coupons and free raffles?

who checks the internet to find the cheapest gas station nearby?


The list just goes on and on. I don’t see anything wrong in saving money in whatever way possible. I agree with phrase, “A Dollar saved is Two earned”(Check out mymoney blog for the proof). But, only these activities won’t make one a Money Smart person. It is just one part of the Pie. There are few other important portions of the Pie which is as important as Spending.


What is Money Smart?



Money Smartness$$ is about “Making extra, Spending wisely, Saving graciously and Managing rightly”


Let me dwell into it more deeply and share my perspective on each of them.

Make extra – We all know, everybody needs money for survival and we all work towards earning that very money. You ask me, we are already earning it with whatever time we have. What do you mean Make extra? How can I make extra if I can only spend certain hours a day? Answer is, Yes You can make money in lot of other easy ways even while you are working. You are earning to pay bills using your hard learned educational knowledge. You can turn your passion or hobbies as a money making machine.


Spend wisely – We all got to spend money to live our life. We need a place to live, food to eat, clothes to dress decently, go places, do charity and list adds up as our need grows. It upto to us to sort out and prioritize which need is more essential and channel our spending to the right important ones. For example, if you really need a car to commute, instead of taking a cruise or vacation you better spend that money to buy a decent car. Spending for the right need at right the time with right price is totally wise thing to do.
 

Save graciously – Savings is like antibodies for a healthy family. If you store up health antibodies, it will help you make your body immune to bad disease. Simiarly, without any type of savings your family will sure to struggle when there is a urgent or emergency need for money. So Putting away money on periodic basis will help you save lot of frustration and save you from falling in debt. You don’t have to open a bank account to do it. You can even use your child piggy bank to start throwing away your pennies and dimies every day which will eventually grow in tens of dollars.


Manage rightly – You make the money and you should be in control of it. You shouldn’t let others make decision for you. You take their advise but you manage the way you want your money to be managed. They are not going to be living with the loss or gain. It is you and you only who is going to take the hit or miss. So Manage Money in the right way by investing in right place with proper education and guidance.

How can you become Money smart?

Getting Money smart is not just about following some tricks and tips. It is about changing your thought process and taking necessary actions which will eventually make a difference in your life style. In order for that happen, you need to start out slowly and make the change. Fast is in’t always good, Slow and steady sustains longer helping you to win your financial goals.



1. Change your attitude slowly towards Money and start thinking towards Making extra, Spending wisely, Saving graciously and Managing Righthly.


2. Try to check out things on the arena of good money managment tips and techniques from various resources like internet, expert advice and more.


3. Reguarly read books and magazines on smart money strategies, savings ideas and get updated on new financial changes. I have recommended few books which I think are real good to start out.


4. Attend free seminar or workshops arranged by resources like libraries, banks and financial institutions. Filter the marketing information, only take what you really need.


5. Implement the ideas and strategies in you real life slowly by changing your current habits and taking actions.


6. Start teaching your kids once they are at age about money and cultivate the habit of saving.



Happy reading on getting Money Smart!!!


Hurricane IKE’s impact on Houston & Galveston

September 16th, 2008 Vijaianand No Comments »
Hurricane IKE showed it’s wild act by devastating Texas coast – Galveston and Houston on Saturday – Sept 13th, 2008. After a week long speculation of whereh and when IKE will be headed, it finally made the landfall on Texas coastal line with the eye just brushing Houston on Saturday inking his footprints in the history of Space city. It will be talked for years to come as one of the hurricane which devastated the city like Hurricane Alisha and Carla.

Houston, the fourth biggest city was totally devastated and halted from it regular busy schedule for the few days because of IKE’s horrifying act. It was big storm labeled as Category 2 Hurricane with 110 mph wind speed when it hits Galveston and inland it was like 60-80 mph hitting us pretty hard. I never heard a wind gust like that ever in my life. It was that bad and fast. I can see out of my window, the trees were torched and many couldn’t withstand breaking into pieces. As of Sept 16th, the death toll was 40 and expected to increase as the rescue teams move into more destructed areas of the Galveston coast.
Due to well planned Preparedness by the city officials both in Houston and Galveston compared to the never came Hurricane RITA few years ago, loss of life was reduced. Traffic Jam wasn’t bad for people who tried to evacuate the day before the storm. It was very well managed except some hicupps in getting the help for the aftermath.
There were lot of damages outside our neighborhood, horrible scenes like tree falling on top of house roofs and cars, water all over the place, fence knocked out. It was like a war zone.
  • Power outages for almost 1-2 days minimum in many places.
  • Street lights and signals were out in all most every street and still yet to be fixed.
  • Almost every gas station was closed without gas supply. Just started seeing some opened up with people waiting in line for hours to get gas all over the city even with gas prices at around $5 gallon.
  • Many grocery shops were closed and people were looking for food as there is no place to eat out. Few grocery stores opened on Sunday with only left over stock supply. There were long lines to get in since they only have limited number of counters opened.-
  • Land line and cell phone network were out in many places. I couldn’t even able to call anybody or recieve any calls from outside.
  • Medical facilities had limited access due to power outages.

FEMA is still trying to reach many remote places which are still under water and no access to reach them. The loss is excepted to reach hundreds of million after all get sorted out.

On the economy front, IKE missed the largest concentrations of oil and gas refineries. But at least 14 Texas refineries closed before the storm made landfall, removing more than 20 percent of the nation’s petroleum refining capacity. Ike also destroyed at least a dozen production platforms and drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico — though only a tiny fraction of those there — and production is still shut down in the critical region.

Two major pipelines are up and running again, and power has been restored to a number of massive refineries. But it may be several weeks before the nation’s refining capacity is restored.
Overall picture is really bad but not bad as compared to Katrina in New Orleans but it did make a big impact in the Houston’s thriving economy. I never seen Houston or any other city for that matter in my life to be in the war zone type situation. But Houston is already in the right path to recovery and slowly getting back to normal with all the help from City officials, FEMA and most importantly friendly neighbors and Houstonians who is helping each other.
That’s the spirit, WAY TO GO HOUSTON!! We will soon be back with full throttle in no time.
Check out this link http://blogs.chron.com/closings/openings/ for store openings.

Life Saver Emergency Funds

August 24th, 2008 Vijaianand No Comments »

Last week, I got hit by sudden financial storm which put me a on state not allowing to concentrate on posting the blog. Now, I am back safely without any credit injuries, I really like to share my story about the Life saver incident. I am sure many of you experienced or experience this sudden financial crisis which hit us without any notice. I know it is not an easy task either to escape or get out safe and sound if you aren’t plan and prepared for it.


Delay in my Contractor job payment delay, my truck is about to breakdown and needed immediate fix and a must to do medical procedure for my son all of them hit me hard at the same time. I got in the midst of the storm and there is no escape other than take the hit but protect myself. I wouldn’t have taken that chance, if I didn’t have my saved store emergency funds.



It was like wearing a life jacket in a flood water which is rushing fast and won’t last long. Life jackets are safe and it will help to float and be on top of water without getting drowned. Emergency funds are life jacket/lifesavers to our financial life. I know I am using bit too much analogies today but I like it put this in a way so it makes real sense and shows the importance of the topic.


Alright, What is an Emergency Fund?


As I was saying, I like to call it as a lifesaver fund. Life obviously will have unexpected happenings. There are plenty of situations like I mentioned which will hit us without any prior notice. You don’t have any choice to take on the expenses. You can try your best to postpone those expenses but some medical and emergency situations can’t be postponed. In those tough times, you really need to have some funds available to depend on to take care of it. These funds are emergency funds.


Why do you need it?


Life hits us hard at times and nobody knows when and how. It is better to take the precaution and be prepared. Instead of waiting for it happen and figure out at the time. So it is always good to save up some money for those emergency situations. I know lot of people are struggling to even meet their ends at the tough economy crisis and it might be tough to save for any funds.

If you are one of them, I would recommend to consider at least put away your tax refunds or any bonus payments as emergency funds. It will surely help you. Instead of depending on the plastic money(credit cards) and racking up the balance in that account which will hunt you down later. It is good thing to have a store of money to help you.



What are types of emergency fund?


It depends each individual. I have 2 types of emergency fund setup right now. Medical and Emergency funds in a savings account. I also have 3 more savings account just for the purpose to handle any Short term, Home and other unexpected expenses. I put away $100 a month on the 2 accounts and at least $50 on these 3 accounts. It eventually adds up and at year end I just put them in a CD which I can take out anytime with or without penalty. Also if my credit card gets hit by these sudden expenses, I just draw the amount according to the expense from these accounts and pay it off.



How much do I need as Emergency fund?


That’s a tough questions since it also depends on each individual. Many experts recommend at least 3-6 months of your monthly expenses. That might be a bigger amount to target for starters. So I would recommend at least start putting something away like $25, $50 or $100 every month and set a goal to reach around $1000 in a year or so and move up the limit if you haven’t used up your savings.


Just put your money in a savings account that way at least you have some interest for the amount every month and helps your money grow. It also helps to access the fund easy and faster.




Emergency fund is such an important aspect for a financial life avoiding stress and frustration which don’t really need at the time of emergency situations. So start thinking about it and save up for the hard times. You will surely appreciate my post when it happens.

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »