Personal Finance

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Step 1- Download the free "Income and Expenses Tracker" excel spreadsheet to record the economic activity for each month that involves your cash, checking account, debit card, and credit card(s).  Instructions are provided on the first tab of the spreadsheet to help you to fill out each month's worksheet.

Step 2- Each month, record all of your financial transactions, and follow the instructions to calculate your totals at the bottom of the worksheet for each month.

Doing all of this tracking, listing, and recording can sometimes feel tedious and boring.  I understand.  As a free spirit myself, I sometimes struggle with disciplining myself to do the tracking, too.

But, it's about going from a mindset of being a passive income-earner and consumer, to being in business for yourself and working towards economic sovereignty.  

More on that in future updates on this site. 

Work towards saving one year of living expenses.  Your income and expenses tracker spreadsheet will help you to calculate what the amount should be.  Don't forget about expenses that are annual such as subscriptions for computer software programs or insurance payments that are quarterly or semi-annually paid.

Different types of insurance policies can provide your household with different types of protection.  Please view the free "Types of Insurance Protection" word document from the 'Downloads Section' above for information about insurance you may want to consider for you and your family.  Please also see the "Mitigating the Costs of Long-term Care" power point presentation.  You can listen to the video recording of the presentation by clicking on this link-  Watch Recording  

Owning your own home provides housing security.  Do not view your home as a speculative investment.  Yes, you may someday sell it for more than you paid for it, but, by the time you add up all the costs associated with it, such as closing costs, repair and maintenance, insurance and taxes, any interest paid on mortgage note, and HOA fees, it's unlikely that you will have a substantial profit, if any.  Pay off your home as soon as possible.  Make sure you choose a loan contract that allows you to do so. Base your mortgage on one income in the household, not both.  Also, base it on your take-home pay, not your gross wages.  Before purchasing a home, have a fully-funded emergency savings and a home repair/maintenance fund that is at least 2-5% of the value of the home.  Do not take out home equity loans for anything other than work on the home.  However, you can avoid these by having your repair fund ready ahead of time.

Consider investing in dividend-paying stocks.  You will want to talk with a licensed professional to determine what ones are appropriate for your individual situation.  Re-invest any dividend payments you receive back into your investment account.  Continue doing this until your dividend payments increase to the point where your annual income from this is at least $100,000 per year.  This will provide you income security in case you or your spouse loses a job or is unable to work for some reason, either temporarily or permanently.

Learn a skill that you can earn money from.  Make it something that you can do independently without being hired by someone else.  This way, you always have an ability to earn money.  A marketable skill can never be taken away from you like an asset could potentially be.  

The more you can produce what you need on your own, the less money you will need to give to others in order to access the things you need and want.  For example, growing and preserving your own food.  Making your own fresh pasta or pasta sauce, desserts, etc. rather than using store bought.  Maybe do a little homesteading with chickens or even a cow or two.  Or invest in a share of someone else's homestead or farm to access locally produced food.  

Learn to make your own clothing and jewelry, upholster furniture, process fibers for yarns and fabrics, the list is endless.  Take it one step at a time and one skill at a time.  This will save you money and provide a hedge against market instability.

Where possible, keep your wealth within your family.  For example, if you are looking to purchase art to decorate your home and you have a talented artist in your family, commission your family member to produce the art for you and give them the money, rather than to a stranger outside of your family.  This can help your family member have more income security and it helps stabilize the wealth within your family group.  If someone in your family produces a surplus of food, purchase from them first before shopping at the grocery store.   Do this in an organized and intentional way.  Have a family meeting and take an inventory of everyone's skills and talents and what they are willing to put time into.    Develop a skill that you can use to engage in commerce within your family network.  If you are a renter, rent from a family member rather than from a stranger if possible.  

You can also do this as a barter system, but you will still need to report the transactions to the IRS and pay Federal and State taxes.

Once you have completed all of the steps above, consider purchasing precious metals such as gold and silver as a hedge against inflation.  

I personally would keep the metals in my possession and not store them somewhere else.  

 Please lick on this link to listen to the presentation for the power point titled "Taking Charge of Your Financial Wellness" in the Free Downloads Section above:

 Watch Recording