The Bottom Line Is Discretionary Income
A recent edition of the Washington Post newspaper carried an article about the increase in the number of fixed expenses in the budgets of American consumers. In the article they recall that a generation, or 20 years ago, the average American monthly budget or cash flow carried fixed expenses for utilities, transportation and a mortgage payment. Now Americans pay an average of twelve bills a month that represent fixed expenses. Every increase in fixed expenses impacts the bottom line of the budget - discretionary or disposable income. Read more...
Saving Money - Why So Many Americans Aren’t.
“Money talks…but all mine ever says is good-bye.”-Anonymous Over the past 40 years, savings rates in the United States have declined significantly. The old rule of thumb was to save at least 10% of your salary into a “rainy day” fund. Now at the outset of the 21st century even this number is decreasing. Read more...
New Year’s Resolutions and Your Personal Finances
I have just finished the task that was my most important resolution for 2005. It was one I make every year - to take the time to sit down and review the state of my personal finances. It is a resolution you should make too! Because this exercise will answer, for you, the two most important personal questions you should know the answers to. Read more...
Minimum Monthly Payments Also Rise
In addition to the impact of rising interest rates forcing monthly payments higher, another recent development will push minimum monthly payments up is a growing concern on the part of bank regulators that a minimum payment of 2 percent of the outstanding principal debt on credit card accounts is not adequate. Read more...
Losing Your Float - the Emergence of E-checks
If you have a checking account, as most of us do, and if you have played the float game with it - now is the time to quit! On October 28, 2004, a new banking law goes into effect that can eliminate the two to five days it has taken to process your personal checks. Read more...
How the leopard changes his spots
‘Tis the season to make your New Year’s resolutions. The beginning of a new year is a time when we traditionally promise to turn over a new leaf and adopt better habits (or end bad ones). Given the fact that most resolutions fall by the wayside, what can you do to improve your chances of making a permanent positive change? Read more...
Consumer Spending Outpaces Income
Many people have concluded that U.S. household spending is out of control. Clearly over the past 25 years household spending has outpaced household income by a factor of nearly three times, that is median household spending has increased at a rate of nearly three times faster than the rate of increase in median household income. Read more...
A Penny Saved Is a Penny Earned
In a recent discussion with a young man who had just received his first month’s salary as a design engineer and working on his personal budget, I was urging him to include an item for savings. As I often do, I quoted Benjamin Franklin’s admonishment, “A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned”. Read more...
