Simplify your personal finances by making sure your spouse or loved ones have an understanding of your financial picture. In many households the husband or the wife is the sole chief financial officer in the household. This means that the chosen individual handles all or the majority of the family financial matters without the much involvement from other spouse. This can cause financial stress if the CFO of the household becomes ill and unable to manage the household finances or even worse passes away. This leaves the other spouse the non-CFO trying to figure out what is going on and is left to manage the finances of the household. This can be very challenging task espeically for someone who has never managed the finances before and all of a sudden is forced into that role. To lessen the burden on your spouse and loved ones who must now manage the family finances here are some tips to help simplify your finances:

Make them aware of the location of all financial documents – Whoever will handle your finances should know where to find such documents as the will, account statments, life insurance, retirement statements and banking account statements. Many of us use online banking so make sure that individual has your passwords for all online access. Make a list of all family accounts and account  numbers.  Take the time to update this list whenever you open or close an account.

Know who to contact – This is just as important as knowing the location of the documents. Make sure they know the name and contact information your accountant, attorney, and investment advisor as well as bank representative. Any other person who has knowledge of your finances.  By knowing these individuals your spouse will be able to reach out to them for help if needed.

Know investment objective – How are your assets currently being managed? If something happens to you or your spouse your financial circumstances will change and your investment objective may change as well. You want to make sure your investment objective is in line with your current circumstance. For example, if you have a growth objective and now you will need income from your investments you will have to adjust your investment objective.  So make sure you are aware you how your investment are currently invested.

Know your current financial picture – You want your spouse to know all of your income sources, assets, and debts so they can step in an manage your finances immediately. Knowing this information puts them in a better position. Provide full disclosure. Keep an updated personal financial statement with your financial documents.  Your personal financial statement should show all of your assets and liabilities as well as your income sources.

Know what funds are available – If something happens to you will your loved ones have sufficient funds to take care of you as well as funds to support them. Discuss what life insurance is in place if any and if there is disability insurance in place to replace your lost income.   Review to make sure its enough if you are not there.

TAKE ACTION by making sure the non CFO in your household is aware of all five tips in case something happens to you. Its always better to be prepared then unprepared. By knowing this your spouse will have a much easier time handling the finances if you are not around. They will have enough to deal with if your not around so simplify it for them while you can.

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 – Its Getting Hot in Here Edition

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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

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.

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.

In a previous post Are your Personal Finances Ready for the Unexpected? I discuss the important of being prepared. With the recent earthquakes in Haiti, its a reminder that we all need to be prepared for those unexpected natural disasters. You never know when it will strike but you should be prepare in case it does strike. We all say it will never happen to us but trust me it can happen. Having lived through a natural disaster, I know what it is like.  Its not easy but having your personal finances and emergency plan in place helps relieve some stress.

Here are five things you will need to help you prepare financial for a natural disaster:

Emergency Fund – Make sure your emergency fund is properly funded in case of disaster.  Do you currently have sufficient funds in your emergency fund to cover the cost of your insurance deductibles or any other expense no cover by your insurance.

Home owner’s Insurance – Do you have proper homeowner’s insurance on your home?  Does your current homeowner’s policy cover natural disaster?  You want to make sure you are properly covered in case of disaster.

Disaster Insurance – Do you currently have flood, earthquake, fire, tornado, or hurricane in place in case of disaster?  If you have this insurance already in place is the coverage adequate?   Review your home owner’s and disaster insurance to make these two policies will coverage any damage to your home.

Financial Documents – Create a file to keep copies of all your important documents such as insurance policies, medical documents, and any other documents you may need in emergency.  You should keep these in file cabinet instead on your computer.  You will probably not have electricity or internet access.

Financial Contact List – Create a disaster contact file.  This should include numbers to your insurance company, mortgage company, and debt holders.  This list should also be keep with the financial documents so everything you will need is in one location.

Action Step

Here are three action steps:

1. Take some time this week to review your emergency fund to make sure its properly funded with enough funds to cover your insurance deductibles and other out of pocket expenses you can anticipate.
2. Review your home owner and disaster insurance coverage to make sure you are properly covered.  If not, call your insurance provider to increase your coverage.
3. Create your disaster plan file folder by gathering all the necessary documents and numbers that you will need in a disaster situation.

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

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.

This week’s edition of Simple Weekend Reading Roundup features some recent articles I have read that I believe can help you with planning your finances for the coming year:

In order to set goals and begin simplifying your finances you must have a objective or purpose.  Money Matters offers  Do You Have Financial Purpose Or Do You Just Manage Your Money? which can help you.

If you want to simplify your finances you must have clear goals and step to take, Steve Pavlna offers  11 Ways to Gain Clarity to help clearly define your objectives and goals.

Now is the perfect time to begin your financial plans for 2010.  Money Energy offers some tips on how you can plan in 2010 with Have You Made Your Financial Plan For 2010?

I am always looking for quick simple action to take to simplify things.  Budgets are Sexy does that in 3 Simple Steps To Rock Your Finances.

When setting your goals consider this question posted by Five Nickel
Can You Retire With a Million Dollars? This question will help you determine if you are saving enough and what type of financial lifestyle you want to live in retirement.

Now is also a good time to review your current asset allocation as well.  Oblivious Investor offers some basics to asset allocation in Asset Allocation for Beginner Investors.

Here are this week’s Personal Finance Carnivals which I participated in.  There are many other personal financial articles you may find interesting in these carnivals why not check them out.

Money Hack Carnival #96 hosted by Own the Dollar

Carnival of Personal Finance – Parts of Speech Abuse Edition hosted by Mighty Bargin Hunter

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.

Its the end of the year, we are all planning for the new year deciding what we want to accomplish next year. You are probably looking at your budget if you have one and looking to see how you can do a better job of sticking to your budget. If you don’t have a budget you are probably saying to yourself, I need to budget but I can not stick to one.  In a recent post Simple Financial Tips – Budget Busters, I discussed some common budget busters, which may help with your budget planning as well as help you stick to your budget.

Sticking to your budget is important but the way that its designed may be preventing you from sticking to it.  Maybe you have designed your budget to tight.  Maybe you have designed it to loose or baggy.  Maybe you have designed it just right.  So how is your budget designed:

Tight

This budget has no room for error.  If you make one simple miscalculation such as buy four apples instead of three, use one extra gallon of water, or one extra kilowatt of electricity your budget is shot.  You have put so much pressure on your budget it can not breathe.  You have your fingers crossed at the beginning of each month hoping that your budget does not pop.

Loose

Your budget allows you a lot of freedom.  Its kind of loose and baggy.  There is a lot of room for error just in case you do plan to overspend one month it will not impact your budget.  But it does cause you to overspend in some area since you just pool all of your money in to one large category.   It enables you to hide your overspending in some categories since its loosely maintained.  But you will never break your budget since it loosely maintained.

Just Right Perfect Fit

This budget is perfectly maintained.  It fits just right in all categories.  There are no worries if you overspend in one category because you have a planned for it.  You are not pulling your hair out at the end of the month wondering where you money was spent or your fingers are not crossed hoping that you use the allocated amount of water and electricity for the end of month.  This budget allows you to relax and not stress.

Take Action Step

Now its time for you to review how your current budget is structured and decide if you have a tight, loose, or just right fitting budget.  Then be honest with yourself and make some adjustments where needed.  By doing this it will help you stick to your budget and stay on course.

Remember take one step at a time to simplify your personal finances so you can live the financial lifestyle you desire.

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.

Here are this week’s simple financial tips to help you in case you lost your wallet or purse:

Make copy of all important contents such as credit cards, driver’s license, insurance cards, debit cards and any other card or identification.  I know I do not know my driver’s license number like I know my social security number.  This way if missed place you will have a copy of the information.

Make a list of all phone numbers needed to replace the information that was lost.  This way you will not have to go looking for old account statements.  The numbers should be keep with the copies of the contents so all information can quickly be obtained.

Contact your bank and credit card company to inform them that your cards have been misplaced.  They should be able to send out new cards with new accounts numbers.  If stolen you want to do this as soon as possible so that your cards and accounts can be closed.

Pull your credit bureau several weeks after you misplace your wallet or purse.  You need to do this to make sure no one has tried to use your information to open new accounts.   Reviewing your credit bureau will enable you to see if any additional accounts were opened without your knowledge.

Minimize the information you carry in your purse or wallet.  Limiting the cards and information you carry will eliminate the need to contact every credit card company, bank, or other company you have accounts with.

TAKE ACTION

Review the current contents you have in your wallet or purse.  Decide what you should carry everyday and what should not carry.  Then make copies of the information you believe should be held in your wallet or purse and put it in a file.  This way you can quick know what was in your wallet if you happen to misplace it.

Til next week take one step at a time to simplify your personal financial life.

This post was featured in Carnival of Personal Finance – Parts of Speech Abuse Edition hosted by Mighty Bargin Hunter

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.

Budget are Sexy posted Weekly Roundup: Comics, Coins, and Ridiculousness
which offers 9 post on getting rid of everything to how excess is a liability.

Financial Highway posted Weekly Round Up – Halo Effect, Year-End Deadlines & More which offers posts from year-end planning to making sure you have enough insurance.

Suburban Dollar posted Friday Finance Followers offers 5 posts from winning the lottery to having an estate plan.

Budget Pulse posted Weekly Personal Finance Roundup offers 8 posts from Saving for the Holidays to Ultimate Home Buyer’s guide.

Wise Bread posted Best of Personal Finance Roundup: Things You Should and Shouldn’t Buy at Walmart

Leo Penzo posted Black Coffee: My Favorite Blogs, Money News & Opinions #25

Darwin Finance posted Weekend Reading: Tiger Woods “In the Rough” Edition

Let me know if you like this Sunday Edition recap of the personal finance bloggers weekly roundups which offer the best personal finance post from the prior week. Leave me a comment to let me know your thoughts if you find it valuable I may make it a weekly post.

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.

What financial stage are you current in? Productivity 501 offers 10 Stages of Financial Freedom.

Having a good credit score can go a long way when trying to simplify your personal finances. Financial Highway offers 7 Credit Score Myths to help you with your credit score.

You must have goals and objectives if you want to simplify. Fiscal Fizzle offers tips on How to Write a Great Financial Mission Statement. If you have this in place making financial decisions will be much easier.

To simplify your finances you need to reduce the amount of debt you have. Simple Dollar offers you in The First Step Towards Getting Out of Debt a few basic steps you must take to get of debt.

Is procrastination preventing you from simplify your finances? If so My Super Charged Life offers you ways to Stop Procrastinating And Start Kicking Butt.

One of your long-term financial goals should be retirement. Personal Dividends offers the The 3 Most Neglected Aspects of Preparing for Retirement. Make sure you do not neglect these while you still have time.

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.

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?

Go paperless – Eliminate those monthly bills by signing up for online statements. This will reduce the amount of mail you receive but will also help you save time by not having to sort your through your mail looking for your bills.

Eliminate junk mail - You will get extra love for this one. Spend less time sorting the real mail from the junk mail. To do this you can sign up at optoutscreen to get rid of those pre-approved credit cards and insurance offers.

Use P O Box – If you really want to provide your mailbox some relieve but it may not forgive you if you start using it exclusively. Using a PO Box helps you eliminate theft from your mail box as well as the need to hold your mail if you travel a lot. It can help prevent theft from your mailbox which could lead to ID theft due to someone stealing your mail and obtaining your financial information.

Consolidate your accounts - Doing this will reduce the amount of mail you will receive. Help you keep track of where all of your financial assets are held. The less accounts the easier it is to monitor them as well as manage them.

Consolidate service providers - Reduce the number of monthly bills you receive by consolidating your service providers. For example consider consolidating your land phone line company with your cell phone company or eliminating your line phone line. This will reduce the number of bills you receive each month as number of bills you will need to pay.

Sign up for online mailbox service/ virtual mailbox – Consider signing up for online mail service such as Earth Class Mail

If your looking to simplify your finances begin by giving your mail box a break. You will be amazed at how much time you can save by reducing the amount of mail you receive on a daily basis.

Let me know how you have reduced your incoming mail.