A hard copy file is easy to set up and stays at your fingertips for easy access. A basic filing cabinet costs about $30.00.

There are a lot of good software programs for keeping financial records and you don’t need an expensive one just for your personal needs. You do need to remember to back up this file.

Open your mail when it comes in. Put your unpaid bills in a designated spot so that when you are ready to pay them, they are all in one place.

Set a specific day and time for paying your bills and let nothing deter you from your appointed rounds.

Once every two weeks should be sufficient.

Balance your checkbook and do it often.

After every check written is not too often. It will prevent you from bouncing checks which is costly and unnecessary.

Banks charge up to $35.00 for a bounced check and businesses charge up to another $35.00 so that $20.00 check you wrote when you only had $19.95 in your account can cost you $90.00 and a lot of stress.

In a recent survey it was found that nearly three-fourths of middle income Americans were concerned about needing long-term care in the future but only one-fourth had actually purchased long-term care insurance.

Does that mean that even though we are concerned, we prefer to just stick our heads in the sand and hope for the best?

“Hoping and praying” isn’t a plan considering that one out of every five Americans over the age of 50 will require some level of care in the next year of their lives. The average cost of a nursing home is $55,000. If you are 65 or over, and on Medicare, don’t think that Medicare will cover long-term care…it doesn’t. Part B provides for a few days of therapy and rehabilitation…after that it comes out of your pocket.

The reason given in the survey for not having long-term care insurance, were that it was too expensive. But is it too expensive?

It wouldn’t take long for retirement nest eggs to melt away when paying over $50,000.00 a year for a nursing home or more that $20,000.00 for assisted living facilities. You should ask yourself if you would rather pay several thousand dollars a month for long-term care or a fraction of that to protect your assets with long-term care insurance.

Many times younger people think it is too soon for them to worry about long-term care insurance and older people think it’s too late…neither is accurate.

The estate planner you choose should be objective and offer more than just investment strategies and financial planning advice. You should ask questions before choosing your estate planner and the answers should plain to you…no beating around the proverbial bush.

Ask if he or she has worked with clients like yourself. i.e. If you are a teacher, has he/she worked with teachers? Has he/she worked with people who have your income level? Has he/she worked with people who share your goals? You are looking for an estate planner who has the experience you need to tap into.

Ask if he or she keeps up with relevant legislation, such as income tax laws, family law, and changes in probate regulations. These things change and the changes will affect the best course you should pursue over time.
Ask how he or she sets fees and earns income. Does he/she sell life insurance, mutual funds or other investment products? If this estate planner does, keep looking. You want objectivity.

Tell him or her that you want to set time lines and ask how he/she can help you meet those deadlines.

Ask if he or she can refer you to other professionals if the need arises… lawyers and accountants for example. Your estate plan is based upon many things that your attorney or your accountant handles for you. The estate planner needs to be able to work with and consider information provided by these other professionals so that your estate plan is based on your needs and goals and changed as your situation changes.
Choose carefully and wisely.

In return for making a house payment, you get a place to live and acquire some personal worth in the form of equity. Buying a house is not out of the question for most people any longer.

The largest obstacle between renters and owning their own homes in the past has been the huge down payment requirements. While renters slowly squirrel away money, property values and mortgage rates climb and climb. Many people have spent years saving for that down payment without making a lot of progress but times have changed.
There are a lot of home loan programs available and down payments are less important now than they used to be. Many require only one to five percent of the down payment to come from the borrower’s own funds and some home loan products don’t require a down payment at all.

Of course a 20 percent down payment means that private mortgage insurance won’t be required but saving that much might be more of a challenge than a borrower can over come.

A loan consultant can help to determine how much house a borrower should buy and what loan product would best suit their individual needs.

For low-income families there are non-profit organizations dedicated to affordable housing and offer payment assistance programs. In the early 1990s federal housing laws were changed to allow the non-profit groups to help low-income families fund down payments, closing costs and other upfront cash requirements.

The key for potential home buyers is to get as much information as possible prior to buying a home.

They can be sure to buy a property they can afford, improve their credit history so that they can get a better interest rate, and start to build a long term wealth potential for their family.