Get A Grip On Your Finances!
If getting a handle on your finances is your New Year's resolution, here's some more advice that'll help you out. This comes from financial guru Steven Strauss, a business columnist for USA Today:
- First, get some credit. Before you spend a dime on holiday gifts, tell your credit card company that you want to use their card to make all your holiday purchases, and ask if they'll lower their interest rates. Most likely they'll do it, because if they don't, another company will.
- Then, resolve to keep better track of where your money goes.Label 12 big envelopes for every month of the year. Then at the end of every day, just put your receipts into the envelope for that month. You'll thank yourself at tax time.
- Lastly take out a home equity loan. Use that money to pay off your credit cards and your car. Two reasons: The interest will be much lower, and the interest you do pay is tax deductible.
