Finances: The Importance of Creating a Budget for Yourself Part 2

Part 2.

 

To get you started with saving your money, to help relieve the stress and other issues often associated with debt, you will want to start by outlining all expenses that you must pay for on a monthly basis.

These expenses are ones in which you cannot go without paying, like rent, mortgage, homeowners insurance, auto insurance, auto loan payments,your utility bills, and finally, groceries.  These are the expenses that must be paid, no matter what.  If you have any money left over after all these obligations are met, you are fortunate.

Once you have a detailed list of important expenses, the next items are luxuries you have to decide upon. There is no right or wrong answer. You just need to remember that everything involves a sacrifice. So try to keep your long-term financial goals in mind when deciding on whether or not to spend money on these luxury items.

Such items include internet access or cable television.  If you are just looking to save money, possibly to put into a savings account, you should be able to continue paying these expenses without any problems.

On the other hand, if you are looking to dig yourself out of all of the unpaid debt that you have accumulated, it may be a good idea to go without internet access or cable television, if at all possible, even if it is just for a short period of time, to pay down that debt, so the interest doesn’t keep accumulating. Some credit cards can carry an interest rate as high as 30% and some sort cards, almost 50%.

There is no point in putting money into a savings account at 4-5% if you are paying 30% for debts.

You can also use your budget to determine how much extra money you will have each month.  You can do this if you regularly work the same hours or if your pay is salary-based.

Once you have totaled up all of the aforementioned expenses, you can subtract that from the amount of the money that you bring home each week.  Any extra is money that you may want to consider putting towards your debt or savings.  Once you are free of debt, then you can start to save.

We have other articles at the site on budgeting and on asset management and investing. The important thing to remember is to get out of debt as fast as possible, or never get into it. Then, once you are debt-free, you can start saving towards your long-term financial goals.

A budget is not meant to be a straight-jacket, but it will help serve as your road-map to a more successful financial future.

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Finances: The Importance of Creating a Budget for Yourself Part 1

Are you a debt-ridden woman?  Even if debt may not be an issue for you now, there is a good chance that it will become one in the future if you don’t keep an eye on your income and expenditures with a workable budget.

Whether you are in debt now, or if you are looking to prevent yourself from falling victim to it, you need to put a sound budget in place as soon as possible to start planning better for your financial future.

Before examining how you can go about creating a budget for yourself, it is important to understand why you need a budget.  As previously stated, budgets are a tool that can be used to make sure that debt does not become or remain an issue for you.

By creating a budget, you can track your spending, and make sure that your make it a priority to ensure that all needed expenses, like your car, insurance, rent or your mortgage, all get paid.

A budget also gives you the opportunity to examine how much extra money you have each month, money that you could put towards paying down your debt, or putting into a savings account to start working toward your long-term financial goals.

When it comes to creating a budget for yourself, you should be able to find a number of budget templates online. There are a couple of suggested ones here at the site as well.

While these free resources are nice, you may only want to use them as starting points.  You can get great ideas from them, but you may want to create your own budget. This is important because not all individuals lead the same lives or have the same expenses to take care of.

For instance, a budget template for those in New York City may not necessarily call for car payments or auto insurance, but if you had a vehicle, you will need these sections displayed on your budget.

It is also advised that you take the time to create a budget for each month of the year.  As previously stated, a budget allows you to account for what you spend on a weekly and monthly basis, but not all months are created equal.

For example,  you may have a ton of family birthdays in August, or have to go see your family for Thanksgiving every year, which will mean budgeting for travel expenses. Christmas is always a very expensive time of year, and can get really out of hand if you don’t budget for it.

Creating individual budgets for each month of the year may seem like a complicated process, but it doesn’t have to be.  It may take a few extra minutes, but those few minutes are more than worth it.

 

Continues in Finances:  The Importance of Creating a Budget for Yourself Part 2

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Good Home Security on a Budget Part 2

Part 2.

Since the video that is picked up by these webcams is being stored on the hard-drive of your computer, which takes up valuable computer space, you can invest in an external back up hard-drive so you can back up your computer, and also have more storage space.

 

But it can be more cost efficient to use this technology instead of buying a surveillance system that relies on video tapes, an added expense, and very cumbersome to use, especially if you want to look at films quickly.  No one wants to watch hours of a dead room when trying to find a missing wallet.

 

To store the video it takes a lot of hard-drive space. To record for a 24 hour period with one camera, it can take up to 1GB of hard drive space per day. This number will also depend on the kind of image quality chosen.  The lower the quality the video feed chosen, the less bandwidth required to save the video within your hard drive.

 

Another good trick to keep the storage issue to a minimum is to set the FPS (frames per second) to a lower level. By doing this you’ll be saving even more space. If for some reason your computer comes equipped with a large hard drive with lots of space, then you have nothing to worry about apart from just wanting to get into the habit to back up your hard drive so if anything ever does happen to it, you are covered.

 

Remember, webcam software combined with a few inexpensive webcams can be used to watch over loved ones or precious items within the home. There is no need to spend tons of money on a surveillance system when one can be made using your own home PC.

 

One of the best features about doing so is that if your PC has internet access, you can also watch the webcam feeds from anywhere just by logging in.  This is great for parents who want to keep an eye on their child and home via a nanny cam, and for anyone who travels a lot.  With features and convenience like this, it’s a wonder that everyone doesn’t have a surveillance system to help watch over their prized items.

 

So set your budget for your home surveillance system, comparison shop on the software and features, and best prices, and soon you will have the comfort and safety of knowing you have a good in-home security system watching over you and your family.

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Good Home Security on a Budget Part 1

 

Many people want their own private surveillance equipment for better home security. Besides the surveillance systems that are run through various VCR or DVR systems, there is computer software that can be used to control the security cameras around your home and property.

 

Most of the large companies and businesses purchase surveillance equipment with the software it uses already installed. Most of these systems are far too expensive for the regular business owner or private home owner to use.

 

So how can you get good value without breaking the bank when it comes to home or small business surveillance?

 

Your personal computer can now be used as a valuable surveillance tool. By connecting a webcam to the computer and installing the correct software, your PC can become a powerful security device.

 

This is a fairly inexpensive method for home security or small business security compared to the systems that some people purchase that require a whole installation crew just to hook up the wiring alone.

 

As a matter of fact, with current technology upgrades, up to 16 different webcams can now be displayed through the same PC, and improvements are being made all the time.

 

This is like having a whole home security system installed at the touch of a button. All you have to do is set up the software and cameras, and check them to see that they are in the right places and giving off the right signal, and then you can monitor everything from your PC.

 

You have a number of different options when setting up your surveillance system.  For example, if you don’t want to record everything that goes on in the room even when someone is not in it, these cameras can be set to detect when there is motion present within the room. Once motion is detected, the camera and software will start recording at that instance.

 

Continued in: Good Home Security on a Budget Part 2

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Tips On Understanding Company Asset Management

 

Before you can understand asset management you have to understand what an asset actually is.

Assets include, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and real estate.

Stocks are fractional ownership shares of a company.

Bonds are basically IOU’s that pay an interest rate.

Mutual funds span different classes of investments, between stocks and bonds.

Real estate is usually income generating property, be it privately or commercially owned.

Asset management is basically managing a person’s or corporation’s money by putting it in certain stocks, bonds, or other investments.

Asset management and investing is intended to improve your assets, using some of the money and  maintaining the wealth of the assets as best you can  at the same time.

There are many different strategies used when it comes to asset management and it will all depend on the investment strategies used to try to use the assets to their best advantage.

With many investment portfolios, or types of assets, there can be hidden costs, for example, maintenance, brokerage fees, or different types of insurance.

By being flexible with your asset management strategies, you can add value to your personal portfolio or business, and potentially be able to cut costs in their business.

There are many investment services available now on the internet, so you should research what is available and find three that look right for you. Then you should compare costs, performance, and customer satisfaction.

These aspects are key, because your asset management company will be mainly responsible for your portfolio’s or your  business’s growth and productivity. They will invest your money into many different areas, and will have to keep track of these diversified investments.

Asset management services have a variety of investment objectives, so make sure you know what your own is before you engage their services.

There are many companies that offer similar services, and many which offer different types of investment opportunities; you must make sure you understand that they are before risking any of your money.

Remember, no matter what the strategy, the overall goal of these companies is to produce better investment returns for their clients.

Asset management companies do have risks, but if you look before you leap, the can be the best way to go in order to get rid of all of those expensive individual costs which typically occur within regular business operations to do with investing on your own.

Not only will an asset management company benefit you by reducing the costs of the business, it will also improve the business’s overall profits. Study the companies and the opportunities they offer, and if you choose well, it should be only a short period of time before you will start seeing good  results from using your asset management company in your business.

 

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