We all have experienced the “drip-drip-drip” of a leaky faucet. It’s not only annoying, but if left unattended, it could add up to thousands of gallons of wasted water and a very large water bill. Individually each water droplet that is wasted is a fraction of a penny, but over time the pennies will add up to dollars. Many of our everyday purchases are also causing a drip on our finances. Some of it is due to poor money management and others are due to our lack of attention to detail. At times it can be difficult to detect financial leaks, but with some proper tools, you will be equipped to fix the financial “drip-drip-drip”.
The average smart phone owner uses 256 MB of data each month but pays for 10 GB. With a simple review of your usage, you could significantly save on your plan every month.
Check your auto insurance policy every year. Most auto insurance policy holders renew their plan with their current company each year without investigating the competition. Family needs change each year, and switching plans could reduce your monthly bill.
Use a programmable thermostat. If you don’t currently have a programmable thermostat in your home, get one. You can purchase a moderately priced model for about $40. If you already have one, make sure you’re taking full advantage of its features – some models allow you to program a different temperature for different days of the week. On average, every degree you raise your thermostat in the summer or lower it in the winter saves 2% on your energy bill.
Eliminate your Home Telephone line. As long as you have a reliable Internet connection and at least one cell phone in your home, you can save big by eliminating traditional land line service. Products like MagicJack connect a land line to your personal computer via USB, so you can still have the comfort of speaking on a telephone without shelling out the big bucks. Skype is also a convenient (and for most calls, free) alternative to a land line.
Make a grocery list. American families throw away about 25% of all the food and beverages they purchase when they do not have a shopping list. Buy what you need, use what you have, and make less if you don’t like leftovers.
Take some time and do your research. With some minor adjustments, your financial drip will be fixed. Contact us at mail@WayPointsFinancialServices.com for more creative ways to save.
Hard work pays off. The greater your capacity for hard work, the greater your reward will be. Being healthy is hard work. Temptations are all around us to eat fast-food, indulge in high fat sweets, and vegetate in front of the TV, computer or iPad. Finding and maintaining a successful relationship is hard work. Healthy relationships require sacrifice, dedication and compromise.
Raising kids is hard work. Nothing in the entire world is going to test your patience, your limits, your tolerance, and just push the absolute envelope of your mental health more than raising children. Getting organized is hard work. Setting goals, making plans to achieve them, and staying on track is hard work. Even being truly happy is hard work.
Acceptance is a key ingredient to hard work. We must accept that there are areas of our lives that just can’t be surrendered to anything less than hard work. You may have had difficult relationships that just weren’t fulfilling. Maybe the only way to a rewarding relationship is to do what you have recklessly avoided; to work harder by giving more of yourself. Perhaps you want to lose weight. Maybe it’s time to accept that the path to your goal requires disciplined diet and exercise (both are hard work). Perhaps you want to eliminate your debt. Maybe you should accept that the only way it will happen is with a lot of hard work and personal sacrifice.
Your life will reach a whole new level when you stop avoiding and fearing hard work and simply surrender to it. It’s a powerful tool to have on your side.
Have you ever used a budget tool or cash flow system that did not quite perform as you had expected? Was there something missing with the tool that made it difficult to use or implement over a period of time? Did you get frustrated with the missing elements that were omitted when the tool was built?
There are numerous budgeting tools and systems available on the market via on-line and in software format. Some are free and some may cost you a purchase price or a subscription fee. Some may incorporate an aggregate component that ties your bank card transactions to the tool.
Many products out there do not have daily tracking tools built in or they may not be able to separate a monthly expense from a periodic expense. Many will not give you the flexibility to add your own category and some aggregate systems are unable to fully identify the classification of your purchase or expense.
Over the course of four years, WayPoints Financial Services developed a Financial GPS (Goal Planning System) that is unlike any other tool or system on the market. It’s not just a budgeting tool but a suite of tools that will give you financial information that is relevant and useful for your short and long term journey.
Our Financial GPS is a multi-functional and interactive financial management system developed for personal and small business use. This financial system will help you make sound objective decisions with managing your income, controlling spending, planning for your periodics, eliminating and staying out of debt, building an emergency fund, saving for purchases, investing for college and retirement, paying off your home early and building wealth. The system will also allow you to track your daily and monthly results helping you reach your short and long-term financial goals giving you the power to plan your financial journey.
The Navigation Chart shown above, describes our 10 WayPoints and provides a realistic snapshot of your progress and projected target dates for completing each of the 10 Waypoints as you move forward with your financial journey.
The CashFlow Plan shown above, allows you the leverage to give every dollar a name. It is a user friendly database input tool that allows you to freely enter your projected monthly expenditures, monitor your income, track your debts, and view your assets. It will compare your budget line-item allocations to the National Average and give you the ability to make adjustments that are most prudent to your lifestyle.
The Navigation Plan will give you recommended step-by-step actions for you to take to become successful. Your personal WayPoints Navigator will develop an individualized plan that is based off your needs and personal goals.
The Chart Locker will give you valuable resources for you to reference as you progress through your financial journey. It will contain websites, calculators, training videos, resource organizations and other pertinent information at your fingertips.
The FinancialFreedom Score above, will revolutionize the way you think about money. It will provide you with a scorecard that will rate your individual success with money. You will no longer be concerned with your FICO score once you see this tool in action.
The CashTrak Log is the propulsion system that will provide the thrust for implementing your plan. It will give you the necessary tool to track your expenditures in real time, give you the ability to plan your purchases in advance and monitor your daily cash flow. It will become your own personal virtual envelope.
The Navigation Instrument Panel provides the Financial Navigator with all the necessary gauges and calculators to monitor your progress and to make sure the proper navigation plan is prepared.
As you can see, Our Financial GPS is quite dynamic and versatile. It is one of a kind and will help you make sound decisions as you move forward with your financial journey.
The average American pays more than half of their income to a mixture of taxes. Off the top of my head, there is income tax, property tax, sales tax, gasoline tax, school tax, and state tax to name a few. Experts estimate that in 2014 Americans paid 54.24 cents per dollar on taxes. In addition to the 54.24% paid in taxes, an additional 17.25% disappears to interest and fees. In 2014, the average American household credit card debt exceeded $15,000, over $33,000 in student loans and over $150,000 in mortgage debt. If you do the math, only 28.5% of your hard-earned income is left to pay for everything else. We need to become educated on how to effectively survive in this economy. We need to find ways to become more efficient with our taxes and eliminate as much of the fees and interest as possible so we can have a better tomorrow.
