I don’t know about you folks but after looking at the news’s reports of the President’s budget request, it appears that we had better be ready to go all in on our personal finance plans. Emergency funds, you bet. I read mention of anywhere from two times your monthly income all the way up to $20K. Health-plan, if you don’t have one, except to stay healthy, than get ready to join everyone else who won’t be able to afford one now. Job security, well have you ever thought about emigrating to a country that could use your English language skills and American trained experience. Might as well follow the jobs. Investment portfolio, well, it is really great that we’re all bogelheads and in long term index funds, right? And about that home garden, sell the car buy a bike, and wear last year’s clothes frugality idea, now is the time to start seeing if you are still up for it.
Actually, now that I think about it, of all the people who might be prepared for this sea change in our economy, excepting of course the very rich, we personal finance folks might be the only ones who are ready to go all in.
Here are some links that may help:
At the Fine Art of Money, you can take a look at how your paycheck is divided up and even find out a little bit about the why.
At MSNMoney, Liz Pulliam Weston explains the reasons why you might want to re-think your early mortgage payoff strategy that’s if you haven’t already joined the foreclosure ranks.
If you are thinking that maybe now would be a good time to redo your retirement plan, then the worksheet at the Investor Guide should be of help.
The thing is is that only our grandparents have actually been through the tough times of a national depression. And those that survived did so through perseverance, luck, and by being ready to try any solution that would put food on the table and money in their pocket. What has been obscured by the passage of time is that this is the really the best way to approach your life at any time. Be ready to go all in.
Finance is Fun 