As a financial consultant, I’ve coached many people on why emergency funds are important. You can get more information by searching google, or check our resource links for budget spreadsheets and other financial calculators. In the previous post you learned important personal finance basics about starting an emergency fund like budgeting, goal setting and automation. Today I’ll go over three quick tips to help you decide where to start your emergency fund.

Convenience – If you’re like most people, you want to make saving into an emergency fund as seamless and easy as possible. Coaching personal finance basics has taught me that if it’s not easy, it usually doesn’t get accomplished. You likely have a checking account. If so, you probably have a savings account attached, or could open one online or at your branch. If so, I would suggest using this venue to park your emergency funds. You may not get the best interest rates, but it’s an account you already have, or can set up in a jiffy.

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In the previous post, I wrote about the importance of having an emergency fund. Today, we’ll go over a few of the quick tips I give my consulting clients when I teach them personal finance basics regarding starting their emergency fund.

I’ll discuss budgeting, goal setting, and automating your emergency fund.

Budgeting – The first step in starting your emergency fund is to have a well planned out budget that not only gives you an idea of where you are financially, but lets you know how much money you’ll be allocating towards your budget. Budgeting is one of the first lessons in personal finance basics, and when you do a good one, you’ll find areas you can cut back so that you can put it towards your emergency fund or other financial goals. You can search google for budget tools, or look at the resource link to our budget spreadsheet.

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Don’t Let Your Electric Bill Zap Your Budget

In the previous post on household saving tips I wrote about conserving water. This post will focus on your electric bill. We’ll go over some personal finance basics regarding on of your larger utility bills. Hydro bills are especially high in the summer, with air conditioners raging. If you’re in the north and have baseboard heaters, you’ll find that hydro bills skyrocket in the winter as well. Here’s three tips to help reduce your hydro bill.

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I had a misadventure lately with my money recently. My automobile insurance broker called a few months ago to inform me that they had a deal for me. I could switch from my old company to a new one and I would save $30 a month. I made the switch with little hesitation. Those are the personal finance basics I like. I signed the forms and went on my way. Having a clean driving record does pay for itself. Normally I would advise that you negotiate these sorts of contracts on your own before they come to you, because let’s face it, they will usually avoid giving you a deal if they can.

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The great debate about money rages on. Depending how you view it, money can a good thing but it has the potential to be a bad thing as well. Money is good because it allows you any type of lifestyle you want. It can fund your goals such as going on vacation or allow you to retire early. Money provides the chance to have a family, live in the neighborhood you want and do just about anything you desire. Proper money management is the simplest form of personal finance basics.

The down side to money is if you live for it. If you spend the majority of your life slaving away at a job that you don’t like to earn money that makes it bad. Money misguides people enough to become workaholics and desert their friends and family.

Without question money has more pros than it does cons. The bad things that are associated with money are usually tied with misuse and greed.

What is Money to you?

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The health of your credit score is incredibly important to your finances for a number of reasons. For starters good credit scores are what lenders are looking for when determining whether or not they will lend you money. In a number of cases insurance company’s and landlords often look into your credit when determining whether or not to have you as a client or tenant. This article will show you a number of ways of how to improve your credit score and will help with your personal finance basics.

1. Pay Your Bills On Time

The reason why this is first on the list is because this is probably the most important rule to follow when attempting to boost your credit score. If you go to a bank and are applying for a home mortgage the first thing the bank will look at is if you pay your bills on time. This includes everything from your cable, telephone, credit card or internet bills. Your credit score will directly reflect if you make, miss or are late on your bills. If they see that you religiously miss or are late for payments, chances are you will not be approved.

Some tips so you will never miss another bill payment:

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Mistakes are made with money everyday by everyone when it comes to personal finances basics. The wealthiest people in the world make mistakes, the middle class makes mistakes and the poor make money mistakes. Therein lies the biggest problem. When the less money you have, the more damaging those mistakes are. What are the biggest money mistakes people make? Let’s find out.

1. Neglecting Your Credit Scores

These three-digit numbers are more important today than ever, specially today with more and more people defaulting on their debts. Money lenders are extremely cautious about to whom they will lend money.

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Wouldn’t it be nice if you could make your finances easier to deal with? I’ve compiled a list of 5 ways to make finances easier to help with personal finance basics. The nice thing about making your banking easier is you can usually save money and create more free time for yourself. Banking can be easy.

1. Use Direct Deposit: This is the first and easiest way to make your financial situation a lot easier. Amazingly many people don’t take advantage of this opportunity and still venture to the bank every week to deposit their paycheck. Your place of Read the rest of this entry