Accounting Tips Guides

Few families pass on actual knowledge about wealth building to their children. Negative feelings of poverty and scarcity can last for generations.

Accountant and financial advisor, Dr. Joseph Simini says, “Most people are illiterate about finance. Finance isn’t all that tough. If you want to become financially independent, you can’t depend on someone else to do that for you. You have to do it yourself with knowledge.”

Dr. Simini started out in life in a poor immigrant family and learned the basics of creating personal wealth from his father’s teachings and the school of hard knocks. He manages family owned investments and advises people on the subject of financial independence.

He offers practical advice on how to become financially literate and financially independent:

1. Buy Your Own Home: It is important to buy your own home because with a small amount of money, and a lot of someone else’s money, you can get started. Instead of paying rent and making your landlord wealthy, you will be paying into your own mortgage. Eventually, you are going to own the building, leading to tax benefits.

2. Deduct Property Taxes and Mortgage Interest: These items can be deducted from your regular income and that is a big savings. Most people just use their standard deduction, but by adding the property tax deduction and the mortgage interest deduction, you can increase your deduction by thousands of dollars.

3. Save 10 Percent of Your Income: Fill out a budget categorizing all your bills and when they should be paid. At the top of the list of bills to be paid, put your own name. Pay yourself first. Nobody can help you, but you.

4. Make a List of Necessities: Make a list of the necessities that you need to live: rent, mortgage, clothes, food, etc. After this, make a list of the discretionary things. Decide if you really need all the things you are spending your money on. Are they necessary? Can you cut back? These are the financial questions you need to answer.

5. Take Advantage of Compound Interest: One of the most important fundamentals of wealth building is compound interest. Instead of giving you a nice return, compound interest will give you a sensational return.

Compound interest is the interest added to the principle, and then the interest rate is on the new amount of money. Each year it becomes a little more. After years of compounding interest, it becomes a tremendously larger amount of money than if it were only simple interest.

All of these wealth building strategies require awareness and a change in habits. Change your attitude about money. Change your financial habits. Read financial magazines, the business section of the paper, and financial magazines. Know what money can do for you.

Look beyond just employment income. Put your skills and talents to work for you. Create additional streams of income teaching or selling the hobbies you are already interested in. This additional income will give more opportunities for saving and paying the bills. You have to go out and build income of your own.

Avoid putting your money into cash. That includes: a bank account, notes, and bonds. These will only give back a small amount of interest. They are the worst things to invest in.

The stock market has the potential for incredible wealth building if you learn the rules of the game. Do your homework, researching all the information available about investing in stocks. Become stock literate to protect your investment in the stock market. Find advisors and take responsibility for your own choices about your own money.

Do not get caught up in limited thinking. Expand a little bit and take some different actions to benefit yourself financially. This is the foundation of building financial independence. Get yourself started onto the road of financial success by becoming financially literate.

Once you learn the financial principles and practices pass them on to your children. Get your children involved in the basic skills of finances and building wealth. Knowing about money is as important as knowing the ABC’s in today’s world.

Financial literacy will lead you to additional wealth building techniques. You will be able to come up with a plan that will take you from paying someone else, to becoming the person who other people are paying.

Dr. Proactive, Randy Gilbert enjoys producing the “Inside Wealth Success Show”. He presents his insightful interview with Joseph Simini based upon the tips from his book. Hear the entire interview for free by going to: http://www.insidesuccessradio.com/Guests/Joseph-Simini

Saving your hard earned cash on your next electricity bill just got easier than you ever imagined. In this article, I have compiled the a list of the top 10 tips to help navigate you on your campaign to save money and knock your electricity bill down. Along with each tip you will see the possible energy savings you can potentially expect to receive.

In addition to conserving your money, you will be making your house more enjoyable, and you will be helping to preserve the enviroment and your surroundings.

1. Adjust your water heater’s temperature to 120 degrees (save up to 10 percent on water heating costs; verify this by placing a thermometer below some of your taps). Most people in general don’t comprehend that their electric water heater is essentially constantly on heating the water.

If you will set the water temperature around 120 degrees your water heater will not have to re-heat the water as much as it does at hotter temperatures therefore saving you electricity and money.

2. Wash and dry only full loads of garments. Use cold water as much as possible (save 2 to 4 percent on your energy costs). This additionally saves time when you plan ahead and wash a full load of your items. Who wants to fold thir stuff more than necessary?

3. As a general rule, typically once a month, change your air conditioner’s air filter (save up to 5 percent on your yearly electricity bill). Moreover, this helps with dust and dirt in the air making your house cleaner and more enjoyable place to live.

4. Put compact fluorescent lights in high-use fixtures (save close to 66 percent on lighting cost per light). Furthermore, these type of lights manage to last much longer than the conventional light bulbs that many of us use today.

5. On hot, sunny days, keep your drapes shut on windows facing to the south and west (save 2 to 4 percent on your energy bill). The drapes will help keep the suns heat from heating up your house which means you use less energy to stay comfortable.

6. Keep your doors and vents shut in rooms that are not being used (save up to 3 percent on cooling costs). There is no need to spend money cooling off rooms that are not being used - this can be a huge savings depending on how many square feet you have in your house.

7. Caulk and weather-strip around windows and doors (save 1 to 4 percent on your energy bill). Many folks skip over this step, but heat seeping around cracks means you have to use more air condition and essentially more power which means you’re wasting money.

8. During hot weather place your thermostat at 78 degrees or above when you’re at your house, and at 85 degrees when no one is there (you save 1 to 2 percent per degree increased on your electricity bill). Additionally, use a ceiling fan or a fan that rotates back and forth. This can make a room appear nearly 4 degrees cooler!

9. Use your microwave oven instead of your conventional cooking range (save up to 50 percent on cooking costs). Microwaves are much more electricity efficient than ordinary traditional ovens. A traditional oven uses a lot of energy to heat up and to stay hot.

10. Take advantage of super low electricity rates from Ambit Energy and save up to 16% on your next electricity bill - for the average user this is over $250 per year!

This is one of best ways to save money right off the top of your electricity bill with doing almost nothing. All you have to do is switch your electricity provider and you can do it online in just a couple of minutes.

Ward Miller is an expert at helping others save money on their electricity
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Many who are in debt understand how it feels to have less options. Those in debt can often feel helpless and uninformed about how to successfully get out of this seemingly unforgiving bind. It may be intimidating, stressful, shameful and hopeless. But there is always a solution to these types of problems.

Sometimes the answers are so completely basic we neglect to give them any credence. Listed below are some basic and simple ways to fight debt that may cost under five dollars or less to use.

These are just a few simple ways that anyone who wants to be rid of debt can do themselves to make the fight easier. Also, these same steps can be incorporated for any goal one wants to achieve in their life. Debt is never an easy task and the more tools you have to fight it the better off you will be.

1. Get a copy of your credit report free. Often times, you will see special offers online to get a copy of your credit report free. Sometimes they have trial periods in which you can opt-out at any time. I am not suggesting however you get the special offer an run. But If the price is right, and often times it is, you can get a head start at looking at your credit before you have to pay for it. This buys you time before you recieve a bill for it.

Getting a hold of your credit report can give you smart analytics to your debt and how to fix it. Think of yourself as a landscaper and your credit report as a map of unscaped ugly land that you are going to fix. Use this “credit map” to help you start planning for your future.

2. Get a book on personal finance. Believe it or not many individuals simply do not understand the basics of personal finance, ie. financial planning, balancing a checkbook, keeping records, investing, etc. By getting a book on personal finance, one can help get a well-balanced understanding of what they want to achieve as far as getting out of debt and building a plan for the future. Remember, the more of a professional you are at your own money, the more you can take control of it. Read books about successful financial advisors and how they achieved their successes. The more you know, the better you are equiped to battle such a financial burden.

3. Make a specific financial plan and stick with it. This is the tricky part for sure. You must make a step-by-step blue print of how you are going to deal with your debt. This plan should include specific goals that are not only achieveable but time specific as well.

You must be able to say, “I am going to have all my debt paid off by (some date), and to do this I will…”

Make a clear road map of how you plan to fight your debt whether or not you are going to Settle your debt, go through debt consolidation or debt negotiation, visit a consumer credit counseling center, pay off one credit card at a time, or whatever the means. This is a very crucial part in dealing with your financial difficulties that takes a certain type of desire to accomplish.

After you design a clear blueprint of your goals, you must act! When I say “act” I don’t mean kind of sticking to them, I mean make it a number one priority and not just a side project. If anything is worth doing, it’s worth doing right. If you truly want to be free from debt, you must at all cost, stick to your plan.

4. Be able to see yourself achieve success. Just like the old proverb, you must be able to visualize yourself as financially independent, if that is your goal. It is extremely important to be able to mentally believe that you are capable of achieving success. Without this, any goal to fight debt and rebuild your credit is futile. Trust that you are capable and don’t look back!

5. Be willing to reward yourself for you achievements in fighting debt. If you are planning to rid yourself of debt and regain your credit score, you must be willing to give yourself a reward at certain points of achievement. These points should coincide with your financial plan and should be worth fighting for. By doing this you can help keep yourself on task.

Writer, Web Publisher,on topics of Debt Consoladation, Consumer Credit Counciling, and non-profit Consumer Credit Counciling Agencies.

Why a Budget is Important. Let it be your guide from beginning to end.

Starting your own home business is a very tricky proposition. Starting your own enterprise is exciting, but it is also inherently full of risk. Enter discipline. Unless you get yourself going on the right foot, then the chances of achieving success are very small.

Conversely, as long as you have the right foundation, and keep working on that foundation, success is almost an automatic thing. It is vital that you run your home business on a strict budget, if you aspire for long term success. Strictly budget your time and your money.

As little as one hour a day, everyday, is enough to make your personal business get better everyday and grow steadily to keep your confidence up. Avoid distractions.

One of the most important parts of running your business is operating on a budget of money and time. Every ad and every supply and tool you buy must earn the value put into it. This is a golden rule that can make you successful as you are going to be at any business.

Many men and women, mostly unsuccessful ones, prefer going with the flow rather than with actually setting goals and budgets. For the most part, this attitude is a mistake. Unless you have an incredible memory and unnatural clear sightedness, planning for both the present and the future is a prerequisite to success.

No matter how you define that elusive concept. Remember, no sloppy ad, supply or equipment buys. Check everything out scrupulously before putting your hard earned funds into it. Always shop for better prices and quality with every purchase you make.

Because this article is about home businesses, we will begin by defining success as the growth and eventual profitability of your particular business. By growth we mean that the business will expand, hopefully outgrowing your home and eventually participating in the corporate arena or whichever one you feel comfortable to work in.

By profitability, we mean that the business will become a cash generating machine, so much so that you attain financial freedom, and never have to work a single day again for someone else, if you do not feel like it. You will be your own woman or man.

This article argues that in order to achieve growth and profitability, discipline is needed, and plans must be made and acted upon. I cannot harp on and emphasize this enough to you.

Crafting your budget

One of the most important plans you must conceptualize is that of your budget. Many businesses, even if they have great ideas and wonderful products, still fail for lack of proper planning and efficient allocation of resources. Do not let this happen to you. Only a home business on a strict budget can ever be truly successful.

First, make it a habit to write down, both what you earn and what you spend, on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis. A common stenographer notebook will be perfect for this. Make a different page for every expense. Every expense and every sale must be recorded so you know where you are everyday.This is the least that you can do.

Look over what you have written down and you will easily see the areas that can be improved upon, especially in the expense column. It is astonishing how many expenses we never notice until we get them down in paper. As the business grows larger, accounting knowledge might be needed. If you have neither the time nor the inclination to acquire the knowledge yourself, find someone who does.

Second, analyze the figures and determine the areas where you can control costs, and where you should add capital. Every business has areas that generate above average returns, as well as areas that under perform. As much as possible, redirect your resources to the projects and ideas that give you the most return. You will quickly start to learn this from experience.

Many years of experience have frequently given me the positive experience of having the lowest cost item or ad working for me best.

The great secret here is to, are you ready? Shop around for the best buy and do not let your emotions run wild on you when you read or hear presentations that have wild claims or will not give you the whole detail story until you pay them first. Hah! Never do it. Give me the details or forget about it. You do not need to take unnecessary risks.

Lastly, stick to your budget. Never forget this. A plan not acted upon is essentially useless, and a budget not followed is as useful as a page of doodles. Once you have written down and finalized your budget, do not make any departures from it unless absolutely necessary. Always have a solid reason for doing so.

Be disciplined. It is the only way you will get anywhere. By running your home business on a focused budget, you are securing your future at a small expense to the present and a nice profit in the future.

James M. Lowe writes original articles about home business opportunities.

In our last article we focused on a few ways to save money. This time, you’ll find a few more ways to save money and maybe a couple that you didn’t think of. As always, it’s not my intention to make you a cheapskate, but rather to give you the choice of where to spend your money instead of wondering where it went.

I mentioned this in the previous article but it’s so important that I have to repeat this again.
The first thing you should do after reading this article is grab a notebook, PDA or some other way to keep track and start recording your spending. Write down every purchase you make, even a soda or snack from a vending machine. Keep it up for at least a month and then look at where your money goes. You may start to see a trend that you want to stop before the month is over and by all means, change it. You may also want to do this more than once. It’s a great way to keep from falling back into or developing new bad spending habits.

Here’s a pet peeve of mine, ATM fees. Not only do you pay 1-3 bucks for the ATM you’re using but another 1-3 bucks to your bank. If you stop at the wrong ATM for $20 for dinner then you may be paying $26. Take a look at your bank statement and see how much you could’ve saved by planning over the last month. Personally, I saved almost $100 when I stopped using other ATMs.

Bank fees Depending on your bank, you may have free checking or pay a fee each month. If you’re paying a fee, then you really should think about how much it is and if it’s worth changing banks. You should pick a bank that has a lot of ATMs that are convenient to you and free checking. If you pick the correct bank, you can easily cut down the number of ATM fees that you incur simply by having your bank’s ATMs on the way to your destination.

Gas prices Use a search site like Gasbuddy.com Prices can vary by as much as 25 cents a gallon in the same city. It’s not worth your time to drive across town for a penny a gallon but if you can detour a few blocks for 10 cents a gallon then it’s worth it.

Prescription drugs According to a recent study, the prices can vary widely between pharmacies so unless you have drug coverage from your insurance, you should call around to different stores and check. You can also use a mail order pharmacy but be careful on those.

Pay down your mortgage Unless you have a loan that doesn’t allow this, you can over pay each month and that money goes directly to principle. Depending on your loan and the amount you over pay, you may save thousands over the life of the loan. Incidentally, some auto loans also allow this.

Pay your bills on time. A little known bit of fine print in many credit contracts allow unrelated companies to increase your rate just because you were late on a different account. Not only that but some companies will raise your rate to 29-31% interest if you’re 1 day late.

Free cycle is a group of people that choose to give away items instead of throwing them away. Not only does it save the receiver money but it keeps it out of the landfill. Do a search for your area and see if there’s a group in place.

Brian Baldwin is an entrepreneur who enjoys saving people money by offering some of the best products and services available today. Brian invites you to visit http://www.southerntechservices.com to compare our rates. If you’d like to read more, please visit http://stservices.powerfulintentions.com/library