Tips on Budgeting - Emergency Fund

Have you ever run into a situation where you needed money and it wasn’t there? Well, you’re not alone. Everybody has to start somewhere, and we usually start to seek personal finance help when the pain of our situation drives us there. In a previous post I wrote about why an emergency fund is important. Today I’m going to tell you a personal story about the risks of not having an emergency fund from before I was a financial consultant. I’m going to take you back to a time where I didn’t have the budgeting spreadsheets, proper tips on budgeting and other financial calculators we provide in our resource links.
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Mortgage Prepayments - Tips on Budgeting

Written by: Gary Foreman

The Dollar Stretcher Blog

I am trying to find the best way to really take advantage in reducing our mortgage to save on interest paid. We are in our home for 5 years with a 30 yr fixed @ 6.1% rate. Payment is $1500 mo. We are now sending in our regular payment weekly by dividing 1500 by 4. On top of that we are sending in $400 to $500 weekly to add to principal. We did not know if dividing the original payment by 4 if it would make a big difference since it is getting there early in weekly amounts. We would sure appreciate advice and help.

TR

Wow! TR is to be congratulated on her dedication to paying off the mortgage quickly. But, let’s see if all those extra payments are reducing the length of her mortgage.

Hopefully, TR has already taken the first step. That’s to make sure that her mortgage allows for prepayments without penalty. Most mortgages do allow it, but it’s good to be certain. If not, they’ll take all her payments and just apply them to the next regular due date. Effectively making all her early payments an interest free loan to her mortgage company!

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Tips on Budgeting – Budget in less than 5 minutes per week

Do you like budgeting? Neither do I. In fact I have not met one person that likes budgeting. However, the fact remains that budgeting is a big part of how to manage money and create overall financial success. There are many reasons why budgets don’t work for most people, I know for me I want to spend as little times as possible doing it. Here is how I can budget in less than 5 min per week in 4 simple steps because I follow tips on budgeting. Read the rest of this entry