Do you are your spouse manage all of your financial matters? If so what happens to your personal finances if the other is hospitalized or unexpectedly passes away? Would the non-CFO of the house know what to do to manage the family finances? In my post Financially Prepare your Spouse in order to Simplify I explain what the non-spouse needs to know in order to manage the family finances. Now its time to take it a step further. In order to make it even easier for the non-CFO spouse, you must create a file to explain what needs to be done to manage the family finances. I would label this file Emergency Financial File. This file should be filed with all of your other financial documents or in a location your spouse has access to and can quickly put their hands on it when needed. I would even purchase a red folder so it stands out from all of your other files.

This file should contain the following information:

Passwords and Login IDs
If you are truly trying to simplify your personal finances most of your personal financial information should be accessible online. You want to leave a listing of all of your passwords and log in information in the file. Make sure you are updating the file when you change any of your passwords.

Account Numbers
You want to leave a listing of all account numbers. This should include deposit accounts numbers, credit card account numbers, investment account numbers, retirement account numbers and any other financial related account number. If you have multiple banking relationships be sure to identify each bank as well. You don’t want them guessing what account number goes with what bank. A simple way to do this would be to make a copy of the first page of each account statement at least once a year and place the copy in the file.

Contact Names
You want to make a list of all financial contacts and place them in the file. These contacts should include all insurance contacts, accountants, attorney, investment advisors, and bank contacts. Many of these contact names should be on your account statements.

Location of assets
By keeping a copy of the statements this will help identify the location of assets but don’t forget those assets that you may hold in a safe deposit box or in personal home safe. Many individuals hold important financial documents, wills, jewelry and stock and bond certificates in deposit box or safe. You want to identify where those assets and documents are held. NOTE: If you hold assets or documents in safe deposit box make sure your spouse has access to the box and knows where the key is located.

Listing of all expenses
Create a list of all expenses and due dates so if your spouse had to step in and take over the finances. They would be aware of what needs to be paid and when it is due. Yes a bill may come in the mail but its better to provide them a list so they know what needs to be paid and when.

TAKE ACTION
Begin gathering all of the information discussed above so you can create your Emergency Financial File immediately. You just never know when it will be needed. The more information you provide the easier it will be on your spouse or whoever is left to manage your personal finances.

Remember take one step at a time to simplify your personal finances.

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In order to simplify your personal finances, you must identify your financial ugly ducklings and turn them into financial swans.  What I mean by this is if you want to simplify your financial life so you can manage your finances better you must identify your bad financial habits which I refer to as your ugly ducklings and take action to turn this bad financial habits into a positive financial situation or what I refer to as financial swan.

Here are some ugly ducks you can turn into swans which will help you simplify your personal finances:

No financial goals – You have no long-term or short-term personal finance goals.  If you establish goals you can simplify your personal finances quicker.

Not living on a budget - You do not set a monthly or annual budget.  You are just spending money without setting limits.  Establish a budget will enable you to reach your financial goals you set and help you take control of your finances. Gazelle budget is a simple solution to help establish a monthly budget.

Not planning for the unexpected – You do not have an emergency plan in place in case of an emergency.  Establishing an emergency fund is like the goose that laid the golden egg when you are finances are in a bind due to an unexpected situation.

Not planning – You have not planned for the expected things that you know will happen in your life.  Read this to find out what you can plan for.  Establishing a plan for those expected financial situations will take the pressure off of you and your finances because you have planned for them in advance.

No estate plan – You have no plan in place to handle your assets upon your death.  Read this if you do not believe you need a will.  You do not know when it will occur but you can plan for it.  Establishing a plan prior to your death is much easier on your family.  You may not see the benefit but your family will definitely benefit and save some money in the process.

Too many credit cards – You have more than 3 credit cards with balances on them and you do not have plan in place to reduce your debt.  Read this to make sure you are practicing safe credit card usage. Reducing the number of cards you carry and the outstanding balances on them will simplify your personal finance.  This is one ugly duckling that you must turn into a swan rather quickly.  If not it can get uglier rather quickly.

Not automating – You are still not using online banking, still cashing your payroll checks, or mailing you bill payments.  Establish online banking which will enable you to pay your bills on line.  Setup automatic deposit of your payroll checks to simplify your finance and save you time.

Too much paper – Is your mailbox screaming for relieve because you receive so much mail?  Go paperless is more convenient  and will save you time.

Forgetting due dates – Do you seem to forget the due dates of your bills or just forget to put the bill in the mailbox.  Setting up your bills on your credit card or bill pay service will help you eliminate forgetting to pay your bill on time as well as save you from paying those late fees.

Living beyond your means - Trying to keep up with the your co-workers, neighbors and friends is causing you some financial stress but having the latest or newest whatever is more important.   Stop trying to keep up.  It will reduce your stress and enable you to live a healthier and wealthier financial lifestyle.  It will trust me.

ACTION STEP

Take some time to review your current financial situation and identify your financial ugly ducklings and take action by turning the ugly duckling into a financial swan.  Just like a duckling will not turn into a swan over night is the same with your personal finances.  You must take one step at a time but if you take action I am sure your ugly duck will turn into a swan quicker than you planned.

If you enjoy what you’re reading and want to stay up to date on the latest posts please make sure you follow me on Twitter and subscribe to my RSS feed. If you are serious about simplifying your personal finances also subscribe to SIMPLE FINANCIAL LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER.

If you enjoy what you’re reading and want to stay up to date on the latest posts please make sure you follow me on Twitter and subscribe to my RSS feed. If you are serious about simplifying your personal finances also subscribe to SIMPLE FINANCIAL LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER.

If you want to simplify your personal finances, we have to give up somethings or break old habits. But by giving up old habits, we can make our financial life simpler, however, we don’t always see it that way. We want to continue to do things we have always done them but expect our financial situation to change. It does not always work that way so if you want to simplify your finances are you willing to give up somethings you believe you cannot seems to live without.

Here are somethings you will have to give up in order to simplify your finances but I am not sure everyone is willing to give these up:

LICKING STAMPS
I know you like the taste of the stamp glue and the continuing raising the stamp price but you must stop licking if you want to simplify your finances. You may have an addiction but I am sure you can overcome it. You must give up the stamp licking because you will not have to mail your bills. To simplify your personal finances you will have your bills paid directly from your bank account or directly charge your credit card. I don’t recommend going cold turkey on the stamp licking. I know it is a hard one to get over so slowly reduce the number of stamps you have to lick over the next few months.

RECEIVING MAIL
I know you find pleasure in going to the mail box everyday to see what bills or junk mail the mail carrier has delivered. You will have to give this up because all of your bills should be received electronically if you want to simplify your finances. It may take sometime to get over going to the mail box but I am pretty sure you can handle not going.

PAPER CHECKS
Many of us enjoy writing out that check to purchase items at the store and to pay your monthly bills. If you plan on simplifying your finances you must be willing to leave those paper checks at home. You should instead pay your monthly bills with your online bill pay service or use debit card, credit card, or cash to make your purchases. There are several reasons while these other methods of payment are better than paper checks.

THAT OTHER BANK
I know its easier to just go to the ATM that is closest to you even if its not your primary bank. Its always easier to pay the transaction fee instead of using your bank and not have any ATM fees. If you want to simplify your personal finances you must give up one of those banks. You are not benefiting from using another bank if you are just using it for convenient purposes and paying a fee for the convenient. Decide which bank provides you with the services you need and dump the other one. It’s easier to open another account because they offer a higher rate.

3rd or 4th CREDIT CARD
I know your wallet will become depressed if card #3 and #4 are no longer members of your wallet club. You enjoy using card 3 and 4 when card 1 and 2 have reached their limit. Card #3 and #4 come in handy when you are in a bind. If you want to simplify your finances your wallet will have to get over the lost of card #3, #4, and even card #5. To simplify your finances your goal is to eliminate as much debt as possible. By not have those cards you can focus on eliminating any balance you may have on them. Two cards should be enough to manage your finances.

REGULAR BANK VISITS
I know you enjoy social hour in the teller line and seeing that bright shining face in the drive-thru but if you simplify your finances you can eliminate your time at the bank. Simplifying your finances means you sign up for online banking and you have your payroll check deposited directly into your bank account. This will allow you to eliminate those trips to the bank.

STRESS
I know many of us stress over our personal finances because we have not simplified. If you simplify your finances you can reduce your stress level because your finances should be organized, payments should be automated, you should have a plan in place to reduce your debt, and you should be living within your budget or spending limits. Having these in place will eliminate or reduce your stress level.

Now is time for the truth can you live without these things so you can simplify your personal finances. If so, its now time to TAKE ACTION. Decide which of these you can live without and put an action plan together to simplify.

Remember take it one step at a time in order to simplify your personal finances.

Reducing the number of accounts you have is key to simplifying your personal finances as I mention in The Power of 1 can simplify your personal finances.  In addition to reducing the number of account you maintain, you should also have a Are you living a Financially Proactive or Financially Reactive Life? Having a proactive mindset will enable you to handle financial emergencies in a timely and efficient manner.  For example if you lost your credit card or cards do you have a plan in place to have them canceled and replaced in a timely matter as well as remember all of the charges you have automatically charged to your card.  Instead of spending hours trying to remember everything regarding your credit card, why don’t you have a credit card disaster plan in place.   Having this plan in place will help you simplify your personal finances.

Here is this week’s simple financial tip to help you design your credit card disaster plan:

• Write down your credit card number. Write down the number of each credit card you hold and file them in a safe place that you will remember they are located.  What you don’t want to do is write them down and forget where you stored them.  This will defeat the purpose of putting the disaster plan in place.  This should not take long since you should have reduced the number of credit cards you are holding.  You can also just make a copy of the front and back of each card and save in a file.

• Write down the 800 number to credit card company. Alone with the credit card number you also want to keep the phone number of credit card company in case you need to call the company to replace or cancel your cards.  Keep this number with the credit card file as well.

• Write down the recurring bills you have tied to each card. Its not always easy remembering which recurring charges you have on each card so write them down.  This will make it easier on you if you have to cancel your existing card and reestablish those recurring payment.  What you don’t want to occur is establish autopayments to your credit card and forget to provide the new credit card number which results in your bill not be paid.

Action Step

Review the credit cards you currently hold and look to see if you have the credit card number, credit card company phone, and which recurring bills you have charged to each card in a file.  If not set up a credit card disaster file.  It will save you time when you do need to replace your existing credit cards.

What are some things you have implemented in case you lost or need to replace your credit cards to simplify things?

Remember take one step at a time to simplify your personal finances.

If you would like learn more tips to help you simplify your personal finances make sure you subscribe to simple financial lifestyle email newsletter and subscribe to RSS feed for blog updates.

How can one number simplify your persona finances?  Yes it is true.  One number can help you simplify your personal finances.  This number will make things easier for you and will help you reduce your financial stress.  This number is not a large number.  You are probably thinking yes one very large number can help me simplify my personal finances.  If you read Would winning the lottery simplify your personal finances?, you will know that I do not believe having a large amount of money will simplify your finances.  Let me stop the suspense and tell you.  The number 1 can help you simplify your finances very easily.  Think about it if you only had:

One checking account and saving account- you will know where all of your money is held.  There is no need to have a spreadsheet to keep track of all of your accounts.  Less mail to receive with only one account.  Less accounts you have to balance at the end of each month.

One bank – you will never have to think which bank account do I need to take the money from.  No need to think about which online bank account I need to log into.  Everything for your finances can done at one location or one login.

One mortgage – if you need two mortgages to purchase your house should you even be purchasing the house.  You can only live in one house at a time so why would you need two.  Just think of the up keep you would have with two homes.

One car per driver – If you are lucky you may be able to have one car for the entire family.  That would save you alot of money.  But that is not always practical.  So stick to one car per driver in the home.  If you have three cars and only two drivers, how often is the extra car driven.  You can save on maintenance  and insurance by getting rid of that extra car.

One cell phone – unless your job requires you to carry a phone for work.  You do not need more than one cell phone.  Eliminate that additional expense.

One investment account – its much easier to keep track of your investments if you only have one account.  You will have a better understanding of your overall asset allocation as well as keeping track of your investment performance.

One credit card – yes having only one credit card came significantly simplify your finances.  It limits your spending, can help you eliminate credit card debt and enables you easily track your spending and credit card debt.  Eliminates the need to pay multiple bills each month.

One service provider – if you can consolidate your utilites to only one provider that will eliminate the bills you have to pay.  This is not always possible but can simplify your finances if you can do this.

One advisor – do you really need more than one investment advisor or accountant.  Probably not.  Decide which one provides the services you need and best fits with your goals and objectives.

One insurance provider – usually you can consolidate your home and auto insurance which may lead to a discount.  Is there really a need to have separate insurance companies.  Again reduces the number of bills you must pay and keep track of.

So you can see how the power of one can help you simplify your personal finances.

Can you think of any other ways to reduce to one to help you simplify your personal finances?

If you would like learn more tips to help you simplify your personal finances make sure you subscribe to simple financial lifestyle email newsletter and subscribe to RSS feed for blog updates.

This post was featured in Carnival of Personal Finance: Parts of Speech Abuse Edition hosted by Mighty Bargain Hunter.

We all love to use credit cards for their convenience but are you using them to help simplify your personal finances or is your credit card usage making your personal finances more difficult.  For example, we sometimes forget to make that monthly payment or our balance keeps getting larger and larger and we feel overwhelmed.  The only way to stop the bleeding is to stop using the credit card completely.  However, if you use your credit card properly you will not have to stop using the credit instead you can use the credit card to your advantage.  It can even become a valuable tool to use to simplify your personal finances.

Here is what you need to do to make sure you are practicing good credit card usage:

Payoff your balance at the end of each month – This is a must do every month.  If you want to simplify your finances as well as avoid unnecessary debt you must pay off the balance each month.  If you do not you will be paying unnecessary interest payments.  So only charge what you can pay off at the end of each month.

Spend within your budget – Do not charge things that you are unable to pay off.  If you did not budget for the purchase this month do not use a credit card to pay for it.  Yes, I know it is very easy to just use your credit card because of the convenience.  But think before you use it.  Also you do not want to spend more than your credit card limit.

Pay on time - make sure your credit card payment is paid on time.  If not you will incur those dreaded late fees.  One way to avoid this is to set up auto pay from your checking account to pay your credit card to make sure it is paid on time.

Avoid applying for unnecessary cards -Yes you may receive an offer for zero interest for six months or receive ten percent off on your purchase.  But think before you say yes to this offer.  Why do you want to add an additional card to your existing credit cards.  That is just another card payment you have to keep track of.  Before signing up for new credit card call your existing card company to see if they will match the offer you received.  Think before you say yes and ask yourself does this card fit my lifestyle and do I really need another card?

Limit the number of cards -You do not want to carry more than two credit cards with you.  Why would you need more than two cards?  The more cards you carry the more likely your going to spend.  Also if by chance you lose your purse or wallet that’s one more card someone can have access to.

Monitor your interest rate – Know how much interest your being charged.  Many times you do not know the interest rate you are paying because the balance is paid off at the end of each month so your not charged interest, which is a great reason.  However, if you are carrying a balance you may be charged a high rate of interest when its not justified.  Also your credit card company may raise your rate from the time you initially signed up for the card so you want to monitor the rate.

Reduce your credit card debt – If you do not have any outstanding credit card debt congratulations but if you do have outstanding debt you want to reduce this debt as quick as possible. Getting out of credit card debt is not easy so set a goal to begin reducing this debt.  You will be amazed at how much you can accomplish by simply setting a goal and taking action to reach your goal.

If you want to simplify your personal finances take action now by following these simple tips to make sure your practicing safe credit card usage.   Which tips do you plan to implement now.  Do you have other tips which have helped you simplify your credit card usage?

Warning: If you do not pay off your credit cards off at the end of the month.  Do not attempt this it could be hazardous to your financial health.

Are you looking for a quick and easy way to simplify your personal finances? Are you finding it difficult to establish a budget?  Do you wonder where you money has gone at the end of the month?  Do you wish you could write less checks or carry less cash?  If so, I have a solutions for you.  I call it the two card financial trick.

Here are the rules of the game.  Choose either one debit card and one credit card (should be a credit card with no outstanding balance), or two credit cards, or two debit cards (make sure the debit cards are linked to two separate accounts).  Its your personal preference which option you use.  My preference is to use one debit card and one credit card.

Once you have chosen the cards you will be using to play two card financial trick to simplify your finances, here is how it works.  Use your debit card to pay your everyday expenses and use your credit card to pay all of your monthly bills such as utilities and other recurring expenses.  There are several benefits to using two cards to simplify your finances.

Allows you to track all of your spending – Instead of having to remember to record your checks in your check register or having to keep track of your receipts when using cash this will be done automatically for you.

Helps you create your budget – Makes budgeting easier because everything is tracked for you.  Also enables you to know where and how much your spending.

Allows you to write less checks – By doing this you will not have to spend time each month writing out your monthly bills for your water, phone service, or any other monthly bills it will automatically charged to your credit card

Allows you to earn more rewards on your card – If you decide to use a reward card (which would be my preference) to pay your monthly expenses it will enable you to  earn rewards faster.

Helps to automate your personal finances – Having all your bills charged to your credit card will save you time each month.  Read Who else wants to save time, and have less stress when managing their personal finances to learn about the benefits to learning about benefits to automating your bills.

If your looking for a quick and easy way to simplify your personal finances consider implementing the two card financial trick strategy. Let me know if you think the two card trick would help you simplify your finances.