How to Take Charge of Your Debt

4 Things You Can Do Right Now to Manage Your Debt

First Published Date: December 22, 2011

If you have difficulty handling your debt, the very first thing you need do is to admit that you have a debt problem. It is our nature to not see the real picture and keep adding up debt – unrealistically thinking that our debt is still manageable. Today, let me describe these simple steps you can take right now to get rid of this vicious cycle of debt.

Admit and Stop – Admit that your debt situation is beyond control and you need to take steps right now to get rid of your debt. Stop charging more to your credit card or adding more debt into your existing balance. The most important thing you can do is to start your journey towards a debt-free world and you do it starting this moment.

Add Extra Money – Whether it is $10 per month or $50 per month, adding extra towards paying your debt can have a enormous effect on the life of your debt. By adding additional amounts, you are shaving off years from your debt-paying timeline and saving lots of money. So, if possible, pay extra money every month. For those months when you cant pay extra, stick to the minimum.

Stick To Reducing Your Debt – Yes, you can do it. You can have a debt-free life. Start visualizing how life will be and how much freedom you will have when you won’t have debt anymore. To make it happen, you need to stick to reducing your debt and continue paying off all your loans until they turn into zero.

Educate Yourself and Seek Professional Help – Learn about managing money to build your financial future. There are many independent personal finance websites, Canadian government websites, and U.S. government websites out there for free where you can learn about money and finances. Use these free resources to educate yourself. However, there will be times when these resources are not enough to handle your situation – in a situation like this, seek the help of financial professionals to walk you out of your debt situation.

6 Things You Can Do Right Now to Manage Your Credit Card Debt

How to Take Charge of Your Credit Card Debt

First Published Date: January 5, 2012 ADawnJournal.com

Credit cards are a modern-day necessity, and it’s unrealistic trying to survive without them. However, if you are unable to manage them, credit cards can take over your life. Let’s look at 6 simple things you can do right now to take charge of your credit card debt.

Stop Charging – If you have credit card debt that you can’t pay in full every month, do not charge anything on the credit card unless you have the money to pay it. This is your first step towards managing your credit card debt.

Avoid Making Late Payments – Always pay on time and never make a late payment. Late payments can affect your credit score. Pay at least the minimum if you are unable to pay the full for any given month. I have seen people not paying a 70-cents bill thinking it would not make sense to pay this small amount. They ended up paying a penalty for late payment and affecting their credit score. A small amount can drag you down a lot if it’s not taken care of in a timely manner.

Call and Ask – Call and ask your credit card companies for a lower interest rate and waive any penalty fees you may have occurred. Optimizebalance transfer offers to lower your interest on credit card.

Pay Extra Amount – Pay whatever extra amount, whether it’s a small or a big amount, you can possibly arrange to pay towards your credit card balances every month. If you look at paying addition amounts in terms of longer time frame, it will accelerate your debt-free endeavour a lot faster.

Be Aware of Credit Repair – The Consumer Reporting Act has rules regarding how long accurate information can appear in a report and no credit/fix companies have the authority to remove, erase, or change this in a consumers’ file. Beware of these companies claiming to fix your file.

Take Charge of Your Finances – Learn about managing money, investing, and building wealth for your financial future. There are many independent personal finance websites like A Dawn Journal, Canadian government websites, and U . S. government websites to help you build your financial roadmap.

5 Tips to Automate Your Finances and Manage Your Debt

Simple Debt Management Strategy

Published Date: January 19, 2012

Debt management is all about managing your finances efficiently, so you don’t fall in the trap of spending more than you have to. Money is such a thing that if you see it, you spend it. It may not be possible for some of us to stop spending unnecessarily if we have cash in hand. That’s why the best way to deal with it is to take care of your monthly recurring expenses automatically so you don’t need to worry about not paying that phone bill or occurring late charges on your rent or mortgage payment.

Here are 5 tips to automate your bills

1. Make a list of all recurring bills you pay every month. Some of these bills can be cable TV bill, Internet bill, cell phone bill, electricity bill, water bill, rent, mortgage, and so on.

2. Call each of your service providers and tell them that you would like to automate your bill payment so it comes out of your bank account automatically. You may need to complete a form and then mail or fax it back to the service provider to complete the process.

3. Automatic bill payment can be done using a credit card as well and in that case the whole process can be done over the phone – you may not need to complete and fax/mail back a physical form. However, use your credit card only if you pay your credit card in full each month. If you are trying to reduce your debt and you have had habits of not paying your credit card bills in full each month, stay away from paying bills using credit cards.

4. Make sure your bank does not have transaction limits or you are not exceeding your monthly allowed transactions, if you have a fee based bank account. I recommend no fee banking account such as President Choice No Fee Bank Account.  

5. It is possible to pay all your bills online each month once you get your bills by accessing your bank’s online banking. However, this process will cost you time every month and there are chances that you will forget to pay bills once in a while.

5 Tips to Help You With Your Work After Retirement

5 Retirement Planning Tips

Published Date: February 2, 2012

As the global economy plunges and retirement portfolio shrinks, many Canadians are worried more than ever for their financial well being after retirement. Some retirees will be able to maintain their expected living standards regardless of how the economy does. However, this may not be the case for everyone. If you need to work or are thinking of working after retirement, here are some tips to help you with your decision.

1. Some of the government programs for retirees such as Old Age Security (OAS) credit, the government pension plan (CPP), and so on may be affected if you work full- or part-time after retirement.

2. The best way to handle your clawbacks or drawbacks to government benefit programs is to consult a financial planner or tax specialist. They have tools and calculators to show you exactly what your own numbers will look like based on your unique situation (as everyone’s scenarios are different)

3. There are free online tools and calculators available as well to help you with your retirement planning. Such online tools and calculators are available here: Sun Life’s Retirement Tools and Calculators

4. Service Canada offers Canadian Retirement Income Calculator to generate retirement income information and post retirement benefit information, including CPP benefits and OAS.

5. Regardless of how much research you do on your own, my suggestion would be to still sit with a retirement professional and discuss your situations. Due to the complex nature of retirement benefits and clawbacks, it is worth paying for advice and take action based on accurate and updated information. 

Personal Finance Software Quicken: Should You Buy It?

A Simple Personal Finance Software Quicken and Mint Review: Both Quicken and Mint Will Do The Job

First Published Date: February 9, 2012 ADawnJournal.com

I received a complimentary copy of Quicken 2012 – the most recognized Personal Finance Software. Today, I will do a brief review of this product and also will talk about whether you should pay for Quicken 2012 or stick to free personal finance software Mint. A point worth mentioning is that both Mint and Quicken are owned by Intuit.

New Features in Quicken

Some new features were added to Quicken 2012. These features are:

– A redesigned better budgeting tool
– Debt reduction planner was revamped
– Bill and income reminders were improved
– Fonts were improved for better visibility

Adding Accounts to Both Quicken and Mint

I found it easier to add accounts to Mint than Quicken. For the Canadian version of Quicken, I had to download transactions manually for each account. It was a hassle. For Mint, I had to just provide the user ID and password, and the rest was a breeze.

How About Other Features

Both Mint and Quicken have very similar features, such as the ability to see all your bank and credit card accounts in one place, track your investments, create a budget based on your actual spending, set financial goals and see progress, receive bill payment reminders, and much more. However, the confusing part is to decide whether to pay for Quicken or use free Mint. I will discuss some points below so you can make an informed decision on whether to buy or not.

When To Use Quicken

– If you are an investor and looking for in-depth portfolio monitoring such as cost basis, detailed stock quotes, and other info, then Quicken is your choice.
– If you are not comfortable with cloud-based or online personal finance software, Quicken is your choice, as all your data is stored and run on your computer, not on a cloud server.
– Except for updating your accounts, you don’t need to be connected to the Internet to use Quicken, as it runs locally on your computer.

When To Use Mint (And No Need for Quicken)

– If you are looking for portability and would like to access and manage your finances anywhere on Earth, Mint is your choice.
– If you would like to have a mobile app on your smartphone, Mint is your choice.
– Although Quicken gives you more in-depth information on some of the features, I find it a bit more complex than Mint. So if you are looking for a simple and streamlined solution and don’t mind giving up some advanced features, Mint is your choice.
– And the best part of Mint – it’s all free.

Last Word

Currently I am using both Quicken and Mint. However, had not I received a free copy of Quicken 2012 I would be reluctant to buy Quicken and would only stick to Mint.