Sequestration is now in place, and along with it came a good amount of uncertainty, causing many Americans to wonder how they will be impacted. By some estimates, more than one million employees of federal agencies may receive furlough notices.

Some workers are not adequately prepared to deal with a loss of income, even a short-term one. For those living from paycheck to paycheck or without significant savings, any income interruption is likely to put them over the financial edge.

For example, consider the statistics below from the NFCC’s Financial Literacy Survey:

• Thirty-three percent of respondents admit to not paying all bills on time;
• Thirty-nine percent have zero non-retirement savings;
• Thirty-nine percent carry debt over from month to month, and
• Sixteen percent have utilized overdraft protection in the last 12 months.

Even if a person does not anticipate being impacted by sequestration, now is a good time for a comprehensive financial review. Whether due to an unplanned expense or a job loss, no one has ever regretted being financially prepared, and preparation starts with understanding where you stand today.

The NFCC advises consumers to take the following steps to put themselves in a better financial position, regardless of what the coming months may hold:

• Assess Current Financial Situation – The NFCC’s free financial self-assessment tool, MyMoneyCheckUp™, is a good place to start. The tool provides consumers with a means of evaluating four key areas of personal finance: budgeting and credit management, saving and investing, planning for retirement, and home equity. After answering a series of topic specific questions, a personalized assessment of the individual’s overall financial health and associated behaviors is generated. With areas of concern identified, the analysis suggests changes that consumers are encouraged to implement in order to become more financially independent. The traditional green, yellow, and red traffic light colors signal whether the consumer should continue on their current money path, proceed with caution, or stop and make a change. Individuals can also complete an optional budget to further help them assess their financial health. The tool is available in English at www.MyMoneyCheckUp.org and in Spanish at https://www.miayudafinanciera.org.
• Face the Financial Facts – After completing the financial discovery step, consumers may find the results surprising. Don’t ignore them. Financial problems rarely resolve themselves, particularly in emergency situations. Take action sooner rather than later, as delaying only makes the problem harder to resolve.
• Take Control – Admittedly, some things are beyond a person’s financial control, but some aren’t. Control what you can by doing the following:
  • Review your credit report and score, both necessary to fully understand the current financial situation, and provide a framework for next steps.
  • Create a cash-flow calendar listing all sources of income. Next, plug in the dates all bills are due. This will ensure that bills are paid on time and protect the credit report and score from future damage.
  • Commit to paying down debt, and if necessary, suspend all charging, consistently moving toward solid financial ground.
  • Reach out to a legitimate credit counseling agency for help creating a survival plan.

If there is a quick resolution to the sequestration, nothing has been lost by implementing the above steps. If not, you’ll be better prepared to face whatever comes your way financially.

3 Crucial factors for you to consider

In the debate between whether or not you should save money or pay off debt, there are 3 crucial factors that you’ve got to take into consideration. After all, it’s only when you judge these factors and weigh the pros and cons would you be able to come to the right decision ultimately.

The concept of free money

Fact remains that the concept of free money makes saving all the more attractive. For instance, if you choose to save a certain amount in a retirement account, then it could ultimately go on to mean more money especially if the amount goes on to be saved in a 401(K) plan along with your employer making a worthwhile contribution. Moreover, there’s also the prospect of being eligible for the savers tax credit and that can go up by a considerable amount. This credit would also be available even when you choose to add the amount to an individual retirement account. All the more reason why it proves to be beneficial is the fact that it aids in reducing the cost that’s associated with funding of your retirement account. Hence, you see in your endeavor to pay off debt you can’t really ignore saving altogether.

The interest cost against the interest earned

This again happens to be a rather common decision swaying factor and it includes the cost of the debt versus the interest that you could be earning on the saved amount. Given this situation, your main objective would be to determine the net financial results of savings plus interest against the reduced interest on debt. The best idea would obviously revolve around the fact that you split your disposable income between saving and paying off debt. No need to reiterate that saving remains important at any given point of time. For it’s more than obvious that savings is essential. Without savings it’d almost be as though you’re hunting for financial salvation in the dark with no idea of which way you should go.

The necessity of rainy day fund even when paying off debt

In case it so happens that you don’t yet have a rainy day fund set aside, then well it’s high time that you worked on one. This is obvious since a rainy day fund is the only thing that can come to your aid, be it in case of an emergency or even for paying off huge debt amounts. Financial emergencies are known to take people by surprise and it’s for instances like this that you need to be prepared. For in your quest to pay off debt, if you haven’t put aside any savings, then it’s quite likely that you’re going to hit a roadblock when faced with an emergency which is going to pull you deeper in debt.

So, you see there actually can’t be any debate when it comes to saving for it’s all important and will remain so. The essential idea is to set aside proper savings that’d in turn help you pay off debt.

About the author: Janice Burns is a renouned writer associated with http://www.debtcc.com for the last three years and has written articles on several topics. She is an expert in solving money related problems of innumerable people. Some of his master pieces are based on topics such as finance, credit card, money saving tips, budgeting and so on.

• Have a work schedule. If you don’t set aside a specific time to work every day, you will not work. Set your alarm to get in the morning and give yourself a fixed amount of time before you start working. If you tell yourself “oh, I’ll start on that later,” later is going to be tomorrow and you may not get it done. You can set your schedule in a way that works best for you. For example, you might want to do a few hours of work in the morning, maybe 8:30 to noon, then take a long afternoon break and then take another round of work from 3:00 to 7:00. Know your own rhythms, but create a solid schedule that you can hold yourself accountable to.
• Have a dedicated work area. When working from home, you need to have a place that is designated for work. Your brain associates different places with different activities and states of mind. When you get in bed, your brain knows it’s time to sleep and your brain should also learn that when you go to your work station it is time to work. If your house or apartment doesn’t have a good work area, take up residence in a local café or library for part of the day. This has the added bonus of getting you away from household distractions like dishes or things that suddenly need to be organized when you have a lot of work to do.
• Set goals and make to do lists. At the end of your workday, make a list of all the things you need to get done tomorrow and put it in a prominent place where you can see it (I have a whiteboard on my wall for this purpose). A list serves as a reminder of what needs to be done and can help you to not procrastinate. On your to-do list, you can also list daily and/or weekly goals for things you need to accomplish. With this system, you recognize that there are some things that are going to take more than one day. If you know you need to get a report done by Friday, make it Monday’s goal to research, Tuesday’s to organize your notes, etc.
• Let people know you’re in work-mode. If you have family or children at home during the day, make sure they understand that you have things that have to get done. Explain to them that just like they wouldn’t drive to your work place and barge in to ask what happened to the laundry soap, they shouldn’t interrupt your at-home work. If you have friends who are available during the day, they too need to understand that you have work to do and you can’t go out for lunch/shopping/day trips to the beach whenever you feel like it.
• Keep in touch with colleagues. Maintaining communication with your boss, coworkers, or clients is critical to the success of working at home. Establish a schedule for communication, like a morning email to the boss to make sure you’re on the right track or a weekly update for clients.

With these few guidelines, you can be sure that working from home can be en exercise in productivity. A dedicated list of things-to-do with clearly set goals can go a long way, especially when there are additional distractions that you may not experience while in an office.

Angie Picardo is a writer at Nerdwallet, a personal finance website that offers advice on topics ranging from working at home efficiently to navigating the Charlotte airport.  

In the February/March issue of AARP The Magazine, AARP financial ambassador Jean Chatzky shares four smart ideas on how to “buy” happiness:

·         Know what you treasure most: The things in life we value usually fall into one of four categories. If you’re a personal-values person, you’re happiest spending on yourself. A wardrobe boost might do the trick. If you’re a social-values person, buying gifts for friends and family improves your spirits. If you’re driven by physical values, you enjoy getting things that engage the senses (like a new bike or a luxuriously renovated bathroom). Finally, if you’re driven by financial values, you relish money in its purest sense, from saving and investing it to getting good deals. Figure out your desires and spend accordingly.

·         Bigger isn’t better: Use your money for a variety of less expensive purchases, instead of one giant on. Sitting in the balcony of a great concert series eight times a year is better than one blowout evening where you sit in the front row.

·         Don’t go overboard: Nothing kills happiness like bouncing a check. Overspend and you’ll be trading short-term pleasure for long-term anxiety. So take care of your needs (your monthly bills and retirement-savings obligations) before you spend on anything frivolous.

·         Pay down your mortgage: If you’re still searching for joy, consider lightening what’s probably your biggest financial burden. Getting closer to kissing the bank good-bye offers tremendous psychological benefits.

http://www.aarp.org/money/budgeting-saving/info-01-2013/spending-money-on-happiness.html

1. Give Them an Allowance

If you want to help your kids understand how to handle money, you’re going to have to give them some money. Since they can’t really go out and get a job at the age of four or five, it’s up to you to help them out. You can make them do chores or help out in other ways around the house in order to earn the money that you give them. Many experts say that you should give them a dollar for each year old that they are each week. You could also cut that number in half or come up with another figure. By doing this, it allows them to accumulate more as they get older.

2. Teach Them to Budget

Once you have provided them with some money to work with, it is time to teach them how to budget. The first few times, let them blow the money on whatever they want. More often than not, they’ll simply take the money and spend it on candy or toys right away. Usually, kids will realize that they’re not going to be able to buy anything of value by doing this.

Teach them that they have to allocate their money to certain things in a budget fashion. This way, when they want to buy something big, they’ll have some money to do it. You may want to show them that there are ways to extend their budgets and save money; for example, you could show them how to get coupon codes for DogFunk.

Then once you have DogFunk coupons, you can show them how they save money when they buy something that they want. This helps them see that their budgets can be stretched a bit with careful planning.

3. Show Them Investing

In the grand scheme of things, there are only two ways that anyone can earn money. They can earn money by working or they can earn money by relying on their money to do it for them. If you want your kids to get ahead in life, it is important to show them that they can make money with their money. Many parents use a system in which they pay their kids interest when they save.

This teaches them that they can make money when they invest it. You may also want to teach them about investing in securities like stocks and bonds when they get a little bit older. You could even help them open a Roth IRA at some point. This way, they can invest and they still have the option of taking their deposits out in the future without any penalty.

4. Use Reality as a Teacher

Every parent has been in a situation where they really want to buy something for their kids when they can’t afford it themselves. While there’s nothing wrong with occasionally getting them a gift, reality can be one of the best teachers that you ever employ. Instead of just chipping in and automatically making up the difference, let your kid wait on that big thing he wants. It will show him that it takes time to accumulate money and it’s not just some limitless good.

These lessons have the potential to change your child’s life and get him off on the right foot.

Despite the fact that some people continue to overpay for motorcycle insurance coverage, you don’t have to find yourself in the same position. Instead, there are steps you can take to save money.

While most people are familiar with the basics – such as increasing their excess – it is important to note that there are other little known ways to save on a motorcycle insurance policy.

Shopping around should be taken for granted, which is why it isn’t included in our list of three tips. In this internet age, there are many places where you can compare insurance deals to find the cheapest one for you. The search tool on Motorcycle News is a great place for start.

So, now that we’re ready to get started, here are three ideas to consider:

1. Join a motorcycle club. Did you know that members of some motorcycle clubs qualify for a discount on insurance? For example, you may want to think about joining the British Motorcyclists Federation for our UK readers or American Motorcyclist Association if you live in the USA.

Tip: before joining just any club, ask your insurer if there are some in particular that will qualify you for a discount.

2. Choose the right bike. Don’t have a motorcycle just yet? This is your chance to make a decision that will save you money now and in the future.

You don’t want your entire decision to be based on how much you will pay for insurance. That being said, it is important to note that some motorcycles cost more to insure than others. Sure, that sport bike that can hit a high speed may seem exciting now, but wait until you see how much you are going to pay for coverage.

Tip: before making a purchase, contact a motorcycle insurance company to receive a quote for several makes and models. This will give you a clear understanding of how much you will be spending on insurance upon making a purchase.

3. Full coverage is often times for fools. No matter what, you need liability coverage. This will cover any damage that you inflict on another party or their property. But do you really need collision and comprehensive coverage? Well, this all depends on the age of your bike and its value.

Tip: request a variety of quotes, each one with a different type of coverage. This will allow you to see what you can get for your budget.

With these three little known ways to save on motorcycle insurance, you are closer than ever to buying an affordable policy that will keep you protected while cruising the open road.

A new survey by CNNMoney found that many Americans are not saving enough for retirement or emergencies. Only half of respondents reported good saving habits, including having a spending and/or saving plan in place,

“We know from other research that if one does not have adequate emergency savings, it’s much more difficult for people to save for other purposes, either a home or retirement,” said Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America, which conducted the survey along with the American Savings Education Council.

So how can you start building (or rebuilding) a nest egg? Start by following these steps:

• Get Clear on the exact amount of your net income and current expenses, including the inevitable unexpected expenses such as auto and home repairs. With this information, you can begin to design a solid spending plan that makes sense based on current realities. Look at your income and expenses line by line. Where can you make adjustments? There are many software programs for doing this, but even listing your expenses and income on a legal pad works.

• Plug Money Leaks – Many people consider only large expenditures, such as refinancing a home, when looking to save money, but finding small areas where you can save is just as important. These are usually areas of spending that are almost unconscious: the latte on the way to work each day, the extra $15 per month on cable channels you don’t watch, the additional money spent on “name brand” groceries. The first step to plugging these leaks is to identify them. Note each small spending habit and add up its annual cost. Next, ask yourself, “Do these small expenditures really make a difference to me? Do they really add to the quality of my life? Or are they just habits that could be eliminated or changed?”

• The 10/10/10 Financial Formula – To build true financial security, consistent saving is critical. I recommend the time-tested “10/10/10 Savings Formula. It may seem like a stretch at first, but work towards setting aside 10% of your income for short-term needs, 10% for mid-term needs and potential emergencies, and 10% for long-term retirement planning. This will put you in control of your money and finances.

• Look Beyond Traditional Saving and Investing Methods – Many people do not realize there are proven and time-tested ways to grow a substantial nest egg without the risk or volatility of stocks, mutual funds, real estate, and other investments. One asset class has increased in value during ever period of economic boom and bust for more than a century: dividend-paying whole life insurance. A dividend-paying whole life policy grows by a guaranteed and pre-set amount every year. These policies also provide peace of mind for retirement planning, because you can know the minimum guaranteed value of the policy on the day you plan to tap into it…and at every point along the way. In addition, riders can be added onto the policy that make the cash value grow significantly faster than a traditionally designed whole life policy.

Whatever your financial circumstances, you can take steps today – even if they’re just small steps – to move toward your financial goals. As soon as you take positive action, you will reap the reward of more peace of mind.
About the Author: As a consultant to financial advisors, Pamela Yellen investigated more than 450 savings and retirement planning strategies seeking an alternative to the risk and volatility of stocks and other investments. Her research led her to a time-tested, predictable method of growing and protecting savings now used by more than 500,000 Americans. Pamela’s book, BANK ON YOURSELF: The Life-Changing Secret to Growing and Protecting Your Financial Future, is a New York Times Bestseller. She has been featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, NPR and in The Huffington Post, Fortune Small Business and hundreds of other publications. Learn more at www.BankOnYourself.com.

1. Dining Out – Frugal spenders will find coupons or discounts in order to have a fine meal at a fine restaurant with a date or spouse. He or she may not necessarily have the money to do so without these discounts. They are still able to provide a fine dining experience without the worry of covering the entire dollar amount.

Cheap consumers will take a date to McDonald’s even if they do have the money for a lavish dining experience. Why waste the money on an expensive meal when one can get fed at a burger joint for less? Although it may be cute to some, this experience is only the tip of a very large iceberg.

2. Bulbs – A frugal shopper will sometimes understand the value of the LED light bulbs in terms of the future. As these bulbs provide more light while consuming less power, they will help save electricity. Bulbs powered by LEDs also tend to live far longer than standard bulbs which means less money to spend on replacements later on.

The cheap buyer will see that incandescent bulbs are one-tenth the price of LEDs. They live in the here-and-now and would rather not spend so much money on a simple light bulb regardless of what benefits can be wrought by them.

3. Birthdays – As coupons can be found for nearly any merchandise or service, planning a birthday can be cost effective while providing a gift the person wants. A frugal shopper will put consideration into the gift and try to make it as low costing as possible.

Everyone likes balloons, right? A cheap shopper will spend $1 for a bag of balloons for a birthday present although he or she may have an extra $20 in his or her pocket. As long as the present can cost as little as humanly possible, the cheap consumer is happy.

4. Clothing – Scissors and printers will produce as many coupons as possible for the frugal shopper who would like some decent clothing. Sometimes, the clearance isles can yield excellent results. Perhaps a visit to the local thrift store to find a nice suit could be beneficial for the frugal person.

Cheap buyers will haggle over the price of a $1 pair of used shoes at a yard sale. After all, that person isn’t going to use them anymore and is more likely going to throw the shoes away if they don’t sell. Why should he or she pay more than $0.10 for those pair of Nikes?

Those who are frugal have more of a meaning and purpose behind their spending. Most of the time, frugal consumers don’t have a lot of money to spend on merchandise so they find the best deal they can of the same item. A large portion of cheap consumers will have the money to spend on nearly anything they want, but feel they need to horde it for some unknown cause. Just because you purchase according to your budget so you can comfortably survive, doesn’t mean you are cheap.

Author Bio:

Ken Myers is the founder of  http://www.longhornleads.com/ & has learned over the years the importance of focusing on what the customer is looking for and literally serving it to them. He doesn’t try to create a need, instead he tries to satisfy the existing demand for information on products and services.

That being said, it’s very impressive if a company can get close to a perfect 10 rating.  Take Signazon.com for example.  They have an overall ranking of 9.66, which is stellar, considering they’ve had around 600 people who were satisfied with their online purchasing experience.  Signazon.com sells all types of promotional materials from personalized calendars to window decals, and all of them can be customized to your liking.  It’s truly remarkable that they can maintain such a high rating when each customer’s specifications must be accounted for, and it’s very likely that their employees take the time to make sure everything is done right before they send the customer the final product.  To emphasize their rating of 9.66 out of 10, Amazon.com received a rating of 7.50, and they have had a strong customer-centric approach for years:

Anyways, before you buy something, see if they have a Reseller Ratings score before you purchase.  You could save loads of precious time and money, not to mention the stress!

Multiply that figure by four and then multiply that number again by the number of kids you have. A family with just two college-bound kids is looking at a college bill between $161,120 and $327,944. The figures are outrageous and getting worse. Many families are faced with two options:

1. Give up. Just throw in the towel. Send your child to community college or simply avoid college altogether.
2. Dig deeper into every source imaginable to figure out how to get your children to their dream college – a school that will give them an enormous advantage the rest of their lives.

The large majority of parents I’ve spoken with over the years have chosen option 2. They’ve been digging deeper and deeper into every college funding source possible. But there are many things you can do to lower the overall cost of college. Here are the five best strategies to help pay for college during these challenging times:

College Financing Strategy 1: Need-based & Merit-Based Financial Aid

What better way than to have someone else foot the bill, or at least part of the bill? The best way to do that is to put yourself in the absolute best position to maximize the two major sources of free money for college.

For need-based financial aid, you must position your financial assets and income in the best light. Certain asset classes are not included in the financial aid formula. Complete the appropriate Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms on time and correctly. Identify and apply to the college with track records of paying out the best financial aid packages.

For merit-based financial aid, it’s important to search for and find the right school – the one school your child may be viewed as a star, whether it is in academics, athletics, music, etc. It’s also important for your child get the best grade possible on the SAT/ACT. Encourage your student to take practice tests as often as possible, and to take the SAT or ACT at the beginning of junior year. This gives the student the previous summer to study and practice at a leisurely pace without it interfering with school work. Acing the test essentially becomes a summer job. The student can then spend junior year focusing on making the best grades in school.

College Financing Strategy #2: Select the Right College

Choosing the right school for your child is a matter of finding the college where your student can shine, be it in academics, athletics or the arts. This is perhaps the trickiest one on the list. There are literally thousands of colleges to choose from. And the financial and merit-based aid for each school is not readily available for parents. It can be found, but it does require some knowledge and experience on where to look. Finding this information is critical. It is absolutely necessary to know what percentage of need met a college typically pays out if you want to maximize the free money your child can get for college.

You’ll also want to find out what percentage of gift aid each college typically gives in free money, and what percentage is in loans and work-study. Some schools will cover a high percentage of need met, but only a small percentage of the need is filled with free money, with the rest in loans and work-study. This is not a great deal. The goal is find the colleges that not only cover a high percentage of need met, but also give a high percentage in free money.

College Financing Strategy #3: Explore Work-Study Opportunities

Both kids and parents share in the cost of college. There is no doubt that you’re going to put some of your monthly income and current savings towards college costs. So why shouldn’t you have your child do the same? There are many additional benefits to having your child work and pay for college, such as learning life skills in budgeting and time management, avoiding the wrong major or career, building a resume and better grades. In fact, a US Department of Labor study concluded that college students who work 20 hours or less get better grades (and also have a higher chance of graduating).

You may also choose to have your child take out loans for college. Student loans often have better terms than parent loans. And you, the parent, can always help your kids pay those loans back down the road.

College Financing Strategy #4: File Financial Aid Award Appeal

Most parents assume that the initial financial package a college offers them is final. Please don’t make this mistake. Colleges are a business. They need students to the make the business work. And often times they will work with a family on getting a better financial and merit award package. But there is a right and wrong way to go about the appeal process.

Step one is to determine if you received a fair offer. You can do this by comparing your initial offer with what the school’s past track record is for financial aid.

Step two: Write a financial aid appeal letter. A step-by-step guide to writing an appeal letter is available on our website at http://www.collegemadesimple.com/how-to-write-the-financial-aid-appeal-letter

Step three: Use a better offer from a competing college to help improve the initial award package. Don’t be afraid to appeal or negotiate with a college. This is a proven strategy that a lot of parents overlook.

College Financing Strategy #5: Reduce Non-tuition Expenses

Consider having your child live off-campus (or live at home if possible). Each of these can provide a huge savings on room and board. You can buy college books for less by using sites such as bookrenter.com, chegg.com, or half.com. Each of these sites offers textbooks for a fraction of their retail cost. Select a meal plan that allows more flexibility by covering meals for the semester, rather than a weekly allotment.

Here is one last strategy, and it is possibly the most important one: Make a plan and take action on it. These strategies won’t work if you don’t put them into play. If you’re strapped for time or unsure of the best way to take advantage of each of these cost slashing methods, get help from a qualified professional. They could potentially save you a lot of time, headaches, and money.

One easy way to get started (and doesn’t cost a thing) is to use our Free College Funding Analysis. Follow this link to learn more: http://analysis.myonlineworkshop.com/8F8F0B9A63D47945040D0333F15A8366

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About the Author: Scott Weingold, co-founder of College Planning Network LLC and publisher of CollegeMadeSimple.com, is one of the nation’s leading authorities on college financial planning. He was ranked the #1 ‘College Financial Aid Expert Worth Knowing About’ in the country by CollegeStats.org and is co-author of The Real Secret To Paying For College. As a sought after speaker, Scott contributes his expertise to CNN Money, Smart Money, and Reuters, and gives insider tips to parents directly through his e-letter College Funding Made Simple. For more information and resources, visit http://www.CollegeMadeSimple.com and http://www.CollegePlanningNet.com. Contact Scott at info@collegeplanningnet.com.