Posted by
joslyn – December 30, 2010
Resolutions work better when they are realistic, manageable… and trackable. “Be better about money this year” is a tough promise to measure, but setting small, do-able markers for yourself is a great way to empower yourself to make a shift in your relationship with money.
To that end, here are some tangible and achievable ideas for ways you can start to get your financial life on track and healthy for 2011:
Mint Life’s “Financial New Years Resolutions You Can Keep”
CBS’s MoneyWatch has this short video on how to spent less and save more: “New Year’s Resolution: Financial Variety”
Here’s a great one on the Wall Street Journal’s website that is particularly career oriented: “Career Journal: Seven Realistic New Year’s Work Resolutions” (“Sign up for a magazine” definitely seems like an achievable resolution to me!)
“Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail (Especially Financial Ones) – And How You Can Make Yours Succeed“ on the Simple Dollar. This one isn’t particularly about financial resolutions, but it speaks to the concept of keeping resolutions achievable and particular.
Happy New Year from all of us at Centrro!
Posted by
joslyn – December 28, 2010
Wondering what bracket you fall into as far as spending personality types go? There are a bevy of good tools available on the web to satisfy any need you may have to categorize yourself financially:
- Credit Karma recently posted “How Do You Spend Money? Your Spending Personality Type,” which links to a pretty basic quiz that categorize spenders as “Super Savers,” “Moderates,” or a “Big Spenders.”
- Investopedia’s “Test Your Money Personality” breaks spenders into “Big Spenders,” “Savers,” “Shoppers,” “Debtors,” and “Investors”… and then takes it one step further to suggest some small changes you can make to your spending, depending on your type.
- And then there’s Divorce Mag, whose “Your Money Personality” is surprisingly relationship-angle free and the most complex quiz, from a spiro-psychological point of view.
Now the real question is, what you are going to do with this information, just in time for New Year’s Resolutions?
Posted by
joslyn – December 21, 2010
The website TopRetirements.com recently released a blog post listing the ten worst states to retire in—vilifying California in particular. Looks like Bay Area Baby Boomers need to look elsewhere, because the Golden State ain’t having them nicely.
Financially, the list was based on the fiscal health of the state as well as tax laws, but naturally, climate was also taken into consideration. Who wants to retire to a cold, bleak place just because the financial benefits are slightly higher?
These are the top ten states listed as WORST for retirees. However, you’ll have to go to the TopRetirements.com website to find out why.
- Illinois
- California
- New York
- Rhode Island
- New Jersey
- Ohio
- Wisconsin
- Massachusetts
- Connecticut
- Nevada
You’ll notice that Florida is not on the list, proving once again that the 17% of its population that are senior citizens can’t be wrong.
Posted by
joslyn – December 16, 2010
“…when you judge your friends, you’re usually right. Because most people are terrible at managing their spending, chances are they actually are wasting money.”
- From “In Defense of $500 Shoes” By Ramit Sethi, on Newyorktimes.com
Let’s face it, managing money is one of the hardest tasks that most of us have to tackle on a daily basis. And it’s a lot easier to judge others than to take a good hard look at our own spending. This is how we rationalize our wasteful habits: “I deserve a new pair of shoes. I haven’t gone out to dinner in weeks.”
Ladies particularly, am I right?
But when we compare ourselves to others, we let ourselves off the hook. We’re coming up on New Year’s Resolutions. How are you going to take charge of your finances this year?
The New York Times article has a few great tips about how to conserve your money proactively. READ IT.
