By Gregg Mashack, Vice President of Mortgage Lending, Marine Credit Union
Money management can be an intimidating for some and a breeze for others. It’s different for everyone depending on your living situation, employment and family life. Use these tips to get yourself started down the road of money management.
- Your financial situation can change at the drop of a hat. Review your budget biannually to plan ahead for those changes to your finances.
- Review your bank accounts annually with your bank to make sure that they are still the right products you should be using.
- When beginning a budget, gather a list of all of your expenses, planned or unexpected, along with all of your household income. With extra income allocate portions to be saved for vacations, future expenses like cars or houses, college funds, etc.
- Plan ahead! Anticipate and save for life’s unexpected events. It’s a good idea to have a six-month emergency fund.
- Maintain a health insurance premium. It will be much easier to handle the cost of an emergency visit.
- Start planning for your retirement early. You will be much more comfortable financially later on in life if you start early.
- If you are employed seasonally, make your budget stretch for the entire year.
- If you work on commissioned income, budget based on your salary and use the commissioned income to save for those future expenses.
- If you own your house, utilize biweekly mortgage payments to pay off your mortgage more quickly and reduce the amount of interest you will have to pay.
- Use automatic payments to avoid missing a payment or the addition of a late fee. Making those monthly payments will also help increase your credit score.
- Use your mobile application to budget on-the-go. This can be useful when tracking expenses while traveling for business or pleasure.
