Thank you to everyone that entered the Olympic Contest! It was a great success and exceeded expectations. The response has been excellent and for that reason we are going to hold another contest over the weekend! The winner will be announced sometime on February 21st. Be sure to check back to see if you are the lucky winner!  If it’s you, I am certain you will find the free gift to be an incredibly useful tool that will help with your financial success. The prize could be an E-Book, a Financial Video Tutorial or some excellent reports on ways to help manage your finances. It’s simple to enter…

Remember: if you entered the last contest you are automatically entered into this one.

How to Enter in 3 simple steps:
step 1 – Sign up clicking here: how to manage money tips contest.
step 2 – Confirm the email that will be sent to you.
step 3 – The winner will be announced on Sunday. Be sure to check back to see if its you! If you are the lucky winner, an email will be sent so you can download your prize!

With all that being said…

The winner is Mitch M.

Congratulations! You will be notified shortly with your prize!

Again, if you want to win, you must sign up here: how to manage money tips contest.

Good luck to everyone that enters!

If you are a normal person, you hate spending money on gas. Especially when, for no apparent reason, it jumps up 5-10 cents in one day. Many of my clients seeking personal finance help are looking for tips on saving money in various areas. I’m going to focus on how to manage money as it relates your fuel economy. As a side note, I think it’s important for you to have a good quality budget set up so that you have a pre-determined spending goal on gas. You can look in google for a budget tools, or check our resource link for a comprehensive budget spreadsheet. Here are the 3 tips I think are most practical

Drive Sensibly - My grandma’s lincoln town car has a mileage gage. It’s amazing the difference in mileage when I am accelerating aggressively (pretending it’s not a town car, but rather a sports car) versus taking it easy. Studies have shown that hard accelerating, speeding and braking can lower fuel Read the rest of this entry

It’s no secret that having children can be one of the most exciting, daring, enjoyable and frustrating things any adult will ever do. It’s also a pretty well known fact that kids are very, very expensive. With the cost of diapers summer camp, football, dance class, clothes food and college (just to name a few), your standard of living will change. Below are a few tips to help you learn about your kids and how to manage money.

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Have you ever spent way more money than anticipated on a date trying to make a positive first impression or re-kindle an old flame? Here’s three ideas I use when I try to be responsible and manage my money while planning romantic outings without appearing cheap.

Hiking and a Picnic – When we were dating, I thought my wife would be impressed with an expensive meal and a show. Then, along the way I learned to manage my money and tried a cheap dating idea. I Read the rest of this entry

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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The single greatest way to reduce transportation costs.

We all need to drive. Well, most of us do. I know that in order to get to work I need a vehicle. This does not mean I need a luxury sports car or a big SUV. My ego doesn’t need to be enlarged nor does my bank account need to be reduced. There is a difference between buying a car for travel and buying a car for status. Your finances can be impacted a great deal depending on why you bought your vehicle.

I will save you the time of reading the entire article to find out the single greatest way to reduce your transportation costs, so here it is: Downsize. I know you may be a little disappointed to hear that this is the big tip but I like simple, and simple usually saves you money. Consider the following example:

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Quick Phone / Internet / Cable Saving Tips

Are You Sure This Is The Best Deal? – In general, when I’m spending some time to work through my budget and making sure I’m doing my best to manage my money, I make a little time to go over my phone bill. It includes Internet and cell phones (I’ve completely cut out cable). Do not be afraid to get on the phone with your phone company. Check with your provider for promotions. Ask your provider if they have any new plans that could save you money on long distance, or basic service packages. Don’t be afraid to shop around and let your provider know about any deals their competitor is offering you. Because we made this call, we saved 10% a month just by bundling our three services. That’s $20 a month. Here are three quick tips.

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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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