The Super Bowl will be played in a few hours when my hometown Saints will face the Colts. To prepare for this big day each team has put in hours of preparation time so they can execute their game plan to win the game.  The Saints have designed a defensive game plan to stop the Colts and Peyton Manning from scoring while the Colts have designed a defensive game plan to stop the Saints and Drew Brees ( I hoping the Colts game plan does not work). Just like each Super Bowl team has designed their offensive and defensive game plans to win the Super Bowl. You should design your own personal financial game plan to help you simplify your personal finances so you can win the personal finance game.

Here are a few keys to winning the Super Bowl as well as your personal financial game:

Financial Offensive Keys to the Game

Accumulate Yards

In the game of football, you want your offense to accumulate a lot of yards so you can score.  In the Super Bowl both teams will design plays to gain yards.  Some plays will be designed to gain a lot of yards while other plays will be designed to gain a few yards.  The same can be said for your financial game plan.  Instead of yards you want to accumulate money to save.  So design some short term and long term saving plans to accumulate money.  This will help you win the financial game.

Don’t Get Sacked

Both Super Bowl teams will try to protect their quarterbacks from being sacked.  Having a good offensive line can help you protect your quarterback from being sacked.  In the financial game, the best way to avoid being sacked is to have a financial budget.  A financial budget will show you where the pressure is coming from and will enable you to put extra protection in place to prevent the sack.

Don’t Fumble

To win the Super Bowl each player must protect the football and not fumble it.  To prevent you from fumbling the ball in the financial game, consider consolidating your accounts.  The more accounts you have the more likely you are to fumble.  Consolidating will help you have a better grip and hold on your accounts so you can monitor them better and avoid fumbling.

Financial Defensive Keys to the Game

Protect Your Endzone

On the defensive side each team wants to limit the number of touchdowns the other team scores.  The best way to do this is to have a good defensive game plan in place to eliminate those touchdowns.  In your financial game, you also want to protect your end zone.  The best way to protect your end zone and eliminate those scores is to have insurance in place.  Insurance is a great defense, which can help you hold the other team to field goals or not allow them to score at all.

Avoid the Big Play

If you want to win the Super Bowl your defense can not give up the big play.  The other team may have a few trick plays in their game plan to get that big play to score.  In the financial game, you have to prepare yourself for those unexpected trick plays.  To do this establish an emergency fund, just in case one of those trick plays are called you will be prepared to quickly response and prevent that score from occurring.

Good Red Zone Defense

In the Super Bowl, each teams red zone defense must tighten up to prevent the other team from scoring.  The same goes in the personal financial game.  You should set up red zone alert when your accounts reach predetermined amounts.  By having red zone alerts, you can make adjustments in advance of some things happen like your account being overdrawn.

What are your financial keys to help you win the personal financial game and simplify your personal finances?

TAKE ACTION

If you don’t already have a personal financial game plan in place put one.  You cannot win the game without a good game plan in place.  Once its in place you must execute on your plan.  What good is a plan without execution.

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

This post was featured in Carnival of Personal Finance #243: Valentine’s Day Edition hosted by Get Rich Slowly

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We all wish it would happen to us one day.  We dream what our lives would be like and all of the things we would buy and the vacations we could take.  But would winning the lottery really simplify your personal finances. It will help you paid off some debt and depending on the amount of money you win you may be able to quit your job. Will paying off debt and quitting your job solve your financial issues?  For some maybe.

However, winning the lottery is a dream many have.  Its the way some feel is the only way they will be able to solve their financial issues. But if you do not properly manage your finances now how would you be able to manage your finances if you won the lottery?  It will not matter if you win the lottery  your financial habits and issues you have now may only get worse.  Even if you won the lottery you would still need to manage your money properly.  Winning the lottery would still require you to:

Set financial goals and objectives – You must know where you want to go.  Do you know where you want to be in one year, two years, or five years from now.    The goals and objectives you establish will be the financial foundation you will build upon.  Without setting financial goals and objectives it is like going on a road trip without a road map.

Establish a budget – Yes you will still need a budget even if you win the lottery.  You can have a bigger budget but you will still need to have one.

Monitor your cashflow – By having a budget you can monitor your inflows and outflows.  You will need to monitor if you are spending more money than you are earning especially if the interest earned on your lottery winnings will be your only source of income.  If you spend more than you are earning regularly you will end up running out of money.

Hire financial advisors – You will definitely need to hire at least an accountant to prepare your taxes and a financial advisor to help you invest your winnings.  You will not want to do this on your own.  Let the experts help you.

Put a estate plan in place – Winning the lottery can have  significant consequences on your estate if you do not properly plan for it.   Your winnings can impact your children’s and grandchildren’s financial future so you want to plan properly if not uncle sam may end up with a significant portion of your winnings upon your death if you do not have a plan in place.

See managing your lottery winnings is no different than managing your current personal finances.  The only difference is the number of zeros on your account balance.    So why not begin to simplify your personal finances just in case you may win the lottery one day.

What are your thoughts would winning the lottery simplify your personal finances?

Will never retire so I have decide not to save for retirement. I can instead spend the money on a new car maybe two.  I already have social security deducted from my pay check.  So why do I need to have additional funds put into a 401K.  Having the government set my asset allocate works for me. They do not lose money.  Social Security will be available when I am 65 at least 30 to 40 years from now.

Daily overdraft alert is the best value added service my bank offers.  For only $35.00 per occurrence they inform me that I need to put money in my account.  If they did not inform I would never know when I need to deposit my pay check.  Its a great reminder service and its cheap.

Social hour in the teller line. Did you that you can meet some very interesting people while stand in line waiting for the bank teller at your local branch.  Friday afternoon seems like the most popular day of week.  The tellers are also very nice.  They personally make sure my check is deposited into my account.  I like the personal service and I don’t need to worry.  Its time well spent.

Late payment service charge.  All of my monthly bills allow me for a few extra dollars per month to pay my bill on my schedule.  I like that convenience.  I gives me more time to pay my bills.

ATM Convenience for little fee of $3.00 I can use any ATM machine I want.  You can’t beat that.  Why cross the street to use my bank’s ATM or drive around looking for my bank’s ATM when I have the convenience of using any ATM for a few bucks.

Unlimited check writing is the way to go.  You don’t have to worry about balancing your checkbook as long as you have checks in your checkbook.  Also balancing your checkbook takes to long.  I have daily overdraft alert already established so I can write as many checks as I like without any problems.  If there is a problem my bank will send me a letter to let me know.  Also writing a check to pay my bills also gives me more time to pay the bill since it will take a couple of days to clear plus the mail time it takes to get there.  That’s why I like the late fee charge service.

Multiple credit cards. I like having multiple credit cards with me at all times you never know when you may need to buy something.  If one does not work just keep trying until you find one that is not reached its limit.  The best part about having multiple cards is that I can purchase anything I want each month and I don’t even have to pay the entire bill.  The credit card company provides me with the amount they recommend I pay.  I love the rewards I receive with each card and I only have to pay an annual fee and they provide me with all kinds of services that I never get to use but plan on using them one day.

Financially lucky so who needs a emergency fund. I never have any financial emergencies.  Why establish an emergency fund when I can just charge it to my credit card and I can pay the payment the credit card company recommends.

Prefer the reliable mail service instead of signing up for online banking.  What will the computer show me that my monthly statement won’t show me.  I won’t lose a paper statement but I may forget my online password.  I prefer having the postal service deliver my bills to make sure it will arrive on time instead of relying on my bank to pay my bills.  Just not sure they will get it there on time and my bank is not in the delivery business. So why give up all of these conveniences to simplify my personal finances.  What are your thoughts?  Why haven’t you simplified your finances? If you are still wondering if you should begin to simplify your finances and not sure where to begin sign up for my Simple Financial Lifestyle newsletter and receive a 14 day e-course to help you.

How do I know if I need to simplify my personal finances? What should I look for to determine if I need to simplify my finances? Some signs stick out like a sore thumb while others are not so obvious. Here are some signs that are good indicators that you need to simplify your personal finances.

1. Going to your bank to deposit or cash your payroll check
2. Wondering at the end of the month where all of your money was spent.
3. Not taking advantage of employee benefits
4. Not having a will in place – this one is not for you but your loved ones.
5. Regularly paying overdraft fees
6. Monthly paying late fees on your bills
7. You are charged service fees on your bank accounts because you did not maintain sufficient balances
8. Not automating your monthly bills
9. Multiple investments accounts with similar assets
10. Not opening your monthly bank or investment account statements because you have some many
11. Carrying more than four credit cards in your wallet
12. Paying the minimum balance on your credit cards
13. Using multiple spreadsheets to manage your finances
14. Still writing checks to pay your monthly bills
15. Not establishing financial goals and objectives
16. Receiving monthly paper statements
17. Not saving money
18. Not establishing an emergency fund
19. Using the bank teller to withdraw money
20. Calling your bank to find out your account balance

If you find yourself doing several of these you need to simplify your personal finances. Sign up for my newsletter and begin to simplify your personal finances with my free e-course.

In Brian Tracy’s book titled 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires he describes the 21 traits that were found in self-made millionaires. This book was a good read and also made me think why can’t we apply some of these traits to help you simplify your personal finances.

Here are 12 of Brian Tracy’s traits he discusses in his book that you should apply if you are looking to develop a simplify financial lifestyle:

1. Dream big dreams – You must know where you want to go or what your perfect financial situation looks like.

2. Develop a clear sense of direction – You must know how you’re going to get there and what you need to do or stop doing to get there.

3. Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning – You must continue to learn how you can simplify your finances and always look to implement new ways of doing things.

4. Pay yourself first – The easiest way to do this is to automate the process

5. Be absolutely honest with yourself and others – Don’t say you are doing something to change your financial habits when you are not.

6. Determine your highest priorities and concentrate on them – You should take one step at a time to accomplish each of your goals and objectives.

7. Be prepared to climb from peak to peak – There will be ups and downs but don’t give up. Stay the course.

8. Practice self-disciple in all things – You must stick to what you set out to accomplish. You can always make adjustments along the way.

9. Get around the right people – Find individuals who have the same goals and objectives as you.

10. Be decisive and action oriented – Make sure you take action don’t say I am going to do it or should be doing it. Do it.

11. Never allow failure to be an option – Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see progress immediately. Keep at it.

12. Pass the persistence test – You won’t accomplish anything if you’re not persistent.

Take action #10 on the list by applying these 12 secrets to help you simplify your personal finances. Remember you can’t simplify overnight but if you take one step at a time you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

If you would like 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.

Here are 8 financial habits you must break in order to help you achieve your financial goals and objectives as well as begin to live a simplified financial lifestyle.

Bad habit #1 Not creating a monthly budget – You must know where your money comes from and where your money is spent on a monthly basis.  This way your not wondering at the end of the month where did my money go or why I do not have any money left at the end of the month to save.

Bad habit #2 Not creating an emergency fund – You just never know when financial emergency will occur.  By not having an emergency fund you can set yourself up for financial disaster.

Bad habit #3 Making only the minimum credit card payment – If you want to get out of financial debt and your only making the minimum payment you will never get out of debt.  You might as well just stop using your credit card if you can not make more than the minimum monthly payment.

Bad habit #4 Paying your bills late – If you find yourself always incurring late fees every month, you need to look to see why your incurring these fees.  Paying your bills late can significantly impact your credit score which can impact your ability to borrow money or increase your cost to borrow money.

Bad habit #5 Using store credit cards - If you sign up for those store credit cards just to receive the 10% to 20% discount on your recent purchase, is it really worth the money you save in the long run.  These credit cards usually have high interest rates and most can only be used at that individual store.  Its also one more bill to keep track of and one more bill to pay at the end of the month. Just say no to those store credit card offers.

Bad habit #6 Not checking your credit report regularly – Most of us only check our credit report usually when we are going to make a large purchase such as house or car if you even check it then.  Many times we don’t look at our credit reports unless there is a problem such as we were denied credit because of an issue on our credit report and then find out it was a mistake.  If you check your credit report at least annually you can prevent these issues from arising.  Know where you stand when applying for credit so your able to dispute any discrepancies prior to making an application for credit.

Bad habit #7 Living for today only – Many times we only live for today not for our future. How we spend and what you save impacts how we will live in the future.  We don’t know what the future holds but we can help predict your future a little better by planning for it and taking action now.  Not saving for retirement today will impact you later in life.  You look back and say if I only would have saved a little more I could be living a better life.  You must plan for your future financial life so it can be better or just as good as the life your living now.

Bad Habit #8 Stop trying to be a financial do-it-yourselfer – We all have the Home Depot mentality. I can do it and save myself some money or I can do it better than the expert.  Think about how much time will you spend trying to learn the new tax laws or researching stocks to add to your portfolio. Hire the expert you will save time and money by letting the expert handle your specific financial task.

What are some other financial habits you have that you would like to break to help simplify your financial life?