Health Insurance, Part 1

Growing up, I took health care for granted. I thought everyone had access to great doctors, regular dental exams, and a new pair of glasses every 2 years. And I thought all this stuff was free.

Yeah. Not so much.

Just In Case: Insurance

Growing up, I never realized the huge role insurance played in my life. My parents’ health insurance allowed me regular access to doctors, dentists, and optometrists. Their auto insurance ensured a regular taxi service for me. And, although fortunately this was never utilized, their life insurance policy would have provided for my brother and me if anything happened to them.

Announcement: Case Study Fridays

Well, I have decided that Fridays will be Case Study days. Are you so excited? No? Maybe just confused? Well, ok, I guess I can explain.

Case Study Fridays will involve real world-ish examples of people who want to use their finances to meet certain goals. Since I will probably be addressing one financial issue per week, the case study will involve someone trying to deal with that particular issue. Single people, married people, people with kids, retired people, all kinds of people! All kinds of goals, too: saving for an emergency fund, getting out of debt, early retirement, funding a college education, and so on and so forth.

Emergency Fund How To, Part 3

What constitutes an emergency? While it is obvious that losing your job, wrecking your car, or major health problems fit the category, you really need to define “emergency” for yourself. This is a wise thing to do because it will probably keep you from frittering away your emergency fund on impulse purchases.

I know, I know, this requires discipline, and that’s never fun. I mean, there are going to be times when you’re tempted to use your emergency fund to buy some big ticket items. You’ll think to yourself “I have $1000. I can afford this. I’ll have time to save up again!”

Emergency Fund How To, Part 2

Where should you keep your Emergency Fund? I think you’ll do best if you keep it somewhere too difficult to access on a daily basis where it can earn a decent amount of interest. This eliminates anywhere in your house, your checking account, and, in most cases, a savings account associated with your local bank.

Emergency Fund How To, Part 1

So, you want to create an emergency fund. How do you do it? Here’s a shocker: it all starts with goals.

First, decide how much you want to save. If you’re like most people, you probably have little to no savings right now. If that is the case, it can be a little overwhelming to make your goal 3-6 months worth of living expenses. Heck, if you just started your budget, you might not even know what 3 months worth of living expenses amounts to!

Getting Started: Emergency Funds

Previous posts have covered budgets and goals, which are necessary building blocks for a strong financial future. Another important element is the emergency fund. Once you decide on your goals and create your budget, funding your savings against future emergencies can keep you on track when bad stuff happens.

One of my dad’s favorite sayings is “Just remember, life doesn’t always match the picture in your head.” He was right. I always imagined the perfect ideal, but reality often turned out quite different. The thing is, nobody really knows what their future holds.

The Goal of Financial Freedom

If you’ve read the “About” page, you know that my training so far has been through Crown Financial. Crown’s goal is to see people reach financial freedom, defined by them as being completely out of debt and having no need to rely on a job for your income.

The reason I bring this up is because financial freedom is a good example of a long term goal that can be met through several shorter term goals. It is also something most people want to achieve! What follows are the steps recommended on Crown’s “Money Map”:

Getting Started: Setting Goals

Although I wrote about creating a budget first, I firmly believe that the most important part of financial planning is setting goals.  The whole point of having a budget isn’t to keep you from having fun or force you into a life of self-denial.  The reason you have a budget is so you can meet your goals.  Your goals.  The things you want or dream about or just really, really enjoy!

Budgeting Tools: More On Mint

Well now, Get Rich Slowly just posted quite an in-depth review of Mint. How timely!