False Sense Of Financial Security - How To Manage Money by Brandon Schmid

You are currently living the 'American Dream'. Right now you are happily married, you have and a half kids, a dog, the house with a white picket fence, you own an SUV and a mini van and you are in debt. Your story is the same as millions of other Americans in this country. Well, your story isn't exactly as I just described but close. In fact the debt part is probably the only absolute truth. You are staying on top of all of your minimum monthly bills and are making ends meet - or so you think. You've been drawn into a false sense of financial security and think you know how to manage money. The reality is you could be in too much debt. Here is a list of 10 warning signs indicating that you might be in too deep.



1. You have little to no savings



2. You are only able to make the minimum payment on your credit cards and other bills



3. You've been denied credit



4. You use cash advances from your credit cards to pay other bills such as heat and hydro



5. You are sometimes late with your bill payments



6. You keep buying things with your credit card adding to the balance



7. You don't even know how much debt you have



8. Some of your bank accounts are overdrawn and once in a while you bounce checks



9. You have one or more credit cards that are close to the limit or are maxed out



10. You have lied to family and friends about your debt and over spending



Does one or all of these statements sound familiar? Even if just one of those is true you might be in a little financial trouble and may need to learn how to manage money all over again. The good part is you are able to fix it. The bad part is you must start taking control of your finances right now. The more you wait, the worse the problem will get. Finances are something that can't be swept under the rug and forgotten about.



STEP 1: Now is the time to make a check list and go through it. Sift through those 10 items and find out the parts that correspond with your life.



STEP 2: Discover a way to fix those problems. You have no savings? Start building an emergency fund. Deposit $25 a week or any amount that you can to increase that balance to $1000. You keep adding to your credit card balance? Start buying things with cash and start paying off your credit card. The list goes on and on but you have to fix those problems.



STEP 3: Set goals and start making them happen. Tomorrow isn't the best time to start making goals. Start today - better yet, start right now. Don't set your goals too high, create financial goals that can work such as cutting your electricity bill by five or ten percent or save some cash by quitting smoking. Small steps are key to goal setting and learning how to manage money.



Being lured into a false sense of financial security isn't hard to do when you don't not know the warning signs of serious financial problems. If you have gone through this list and have found any matches it may be time to start fixing those problems before that security becomes a major issue. Understanding how to manage money is easy and everyone is able to make it happen.


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