December 23rd, 2008 -- Posted in Wealth Strategies |
For some people, getting personal finances in order is more grueling than wandering the desert for 40 years. But it doesn’t take a miracle. If you are looking for some basic guidelines, just follow these 10 commandments:
1. Thou Shalt Take Action
Reading about how to improve your personal finances is a start, but it has absolutely no meaning if you don’t take the action of putting what you learn into motion. Before you can get anywhere with your personal finances, you need to begin — right now. If you are reading this article, you know that you should be taking steps to get your personal finances in order.
Print out this list and place it where you will see it every day, so that you are reminded that personal finance is a priority in your life and that you will take some action each and every day to try to improve your lot. If you aren’t sure where to begin, start with getting your banking accounts in order.
2. Thou Shalt Pay Off All Credit Card Debt
Credit card debt is, in most cases, continue reading »
December 4th, 2008 -- Posted in Home Business Ideas, Misc Ranting, Time Management, Wealth Strategies |
In a time when we rely so heavily on technology, what would you do if one day you woke up to not having access to all the familiar "tools" to run your business, even simple things such as your computer? In a nutshell, you’d be forced to press the "pause button" – just as I am today! It appears my system was overtaken by something bigger than what my skills could eliminate, so off to the "computer whiz" shop it went. I am borrowing my husband’s "clunker" this morning until he needs it.
While I won’t be able to run my business today and possibly tomorrow "as usual", it will give me an opportunity to catch up on other types of business activities that I tend to put off such as filing, and possibly reading the last couple of issues of Success magazine! (Yes, I am that far behind). Meanwhile, here are some items for you to think about doing, so an event like this doesn’t turn catastrophic.
1. Perform Regular System Backups – I cannot stress this enough. It will make a system "hiccup" or hard drive failure much less stressful when you know all of your files can be retrieved. Either back them up on a disc, a thumb drive, or as I do, on an external hard drive. This is the easiest because continue reading »
September 29th, 2008 -- Posted in Another Welcomed Weekend, Book Review, Wealth Strategies |
"Make a Million While You’re still Young Enough to Enjoy It" by Peter Bielagus
I had the pleasure of listening to this young entrepreneur and writer speak at the last M2 Wealth Masters Int’l. Conference. He was energetic, humorous, wise for his years, and has a message for young adults (primarily college age) ….. HE speaks their "lingo". I purchased his book and after reading it this past weekend, I will be purchasing numerous others to give to the young adults in our lives for holiday gifts.
Like his speaking style, Peter discusses a variety of financial topics and breaks them down in simple language. Here are some general categories that he explains with examples that kids "will get": continue reading »
September 5th, 2008 -- Posted in Wealth Strategies |
So now that we have reviewed the pros and cons of having a home business, let’s take one more look at things before you leap. For every entrepreneur, the ultimate goal is to be able to quit your day job and work from home full-time. The motivating factors are things like those we noted before. Here are a couple reminders
· Avoiding rush hour commute, both the aggravation of sitting in traffic and the time spent on the road commuting
· Relief from gas prices
· Ability to be home with your children
· Freedom from asking permission for days off
· Flexible hours, specifically not having to show up during specified hours
· Not having to participate in boring and pointless staff meetings
Once you’ve decided on a business to pursue and your home business starts to show an income, you may begin to think about quitting your day job. You may notice that the more hours you put into your business, the more money you make, which is something you probably can’t say about your day job. You may start to think that you’d be better off putting in full-time hours where your heart is.
But before you rush into that decision, there are some other things to consider carefully.
How much do you make?
You may think you know the answer to that, but your salary is probably only a small part of what your employer is paying you. While it’s true that some companies don’t offer great benefits, if your company offers any benefits at all, you have to consider their value, and what it will cost to replace this benefit to yourself with your home business.
Some things to consider are:
Health insurance: Purchasing health insurance as a self-employed person is considerably more expensive than purchasing group care through an employer. If you have a lapse in coverage, premiums go up and there is usually a waiting period for coverage.
If you are married and covered under your husband’s policy, don’t think this is something you don’t need to consider. Women tend to outlive their husbands. A smart businesswoman always considers the possibility of having to be completely self-supporting, because most women are self-supporting at some point in their lives.
Also consider costs of dental and vision insurance coverage.
Life insurance: If your company has offered life insurance coverage, find out if it is possible to continue this coverage if you leave. If not, look into the cost of adequate life insurance coverage.
Paid time off: For any disgruntled employee, it may seem that paid vacations, holidays and sick time offer little consolation for the lack of freedom that goes along with a full-time job. One thing that you have to keep in mind is that when you work full-time at a home business, often in the early years, there are no holidays or vacations, and if you do manage to arrange time off, unless you have a business that earns on automatic pilot, you will not get paid for that time.
Disability coverage: If your company offers short or long-term disability coverage, you don’t have to worry about an unplanned illness or accident – your income will continue. Not so for a home business. Think about what you will do if something catastrophic occurs.
401K: Don’t forget to plan for retirement. Many companies offer 401K matching. Can you afford to give that up?
Lack of a steady paycheck: Although your business may seem solid when you first begin to consider quitting your day job, businesses often run into unexpected bumps in the road. You can no longer count on a paycheck on a particular day. Make sure you have a cushion in the bank of at least three to six months salary before you even consider making the leap.
Income taxes: Working for an employer doesn’t prepare you for the responsibility of monitoring your own income taxes. You have to remember that you don’t get to keep everything you earn from your business, and you have to anticipate deducting 25-30% of your income and setting it aside to pay taxes. If you’re making a significant income from your home business, you should consult with an accountant to setup quarterly tax payments for you.
Leave on good terms: Certainly you want to believe that it’s ok to give notice and walk out one day without looking back. Becoming 100% self-employed is an exciting decision, but make sure you’re ready. Don’t burn your bridges. You may find you don’t like being self-employed as much as you think you will, or you may find you might want to get a part-time job to supplement your income at some point. Good references are always something to be coveted.
Your dream of working from home full-time can become a reality. Make sure you’re really ready when you take the leap.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Janet Giacoma is a long-time home business marketer. You’ll discover more work from home information on her home business blog . An excellent resource for additional information.
