To protect yourself financially and to make sure you are fully covered, setting aside time to review your estate planning documents is imperative.  You should ideally review these documents every year or two.

You may want to considering the following:

Do you have enough life insurance coverage?  Perhaps you bought life insurance at 10 times your income 10 years ago when you had your first child.  Since then you have had two more children and have had considerable increases in wage.  Is your life insurance policy from 10 years ago still enough?

Is your beneficiary still appropriate?  Much can happen in our personal lives over the course of several years.  People die, married couples get divorced.  Perhaps you had your father as your beneficiary 10 years ago, but he has since passed away.  Maybe you had your spouse as the beneficiary but you have since divorced.  A few months ago, a wealthy man’s death made national news because he still had his ex-wife as his beneficiary.  His current wife was taking the ex-wife to court to try to get the money she claimed should rightly be hers.  The death of a loved one is hard enough on its own without fights over money.

Has your health changed significantly for the better?  If you were a smoker when you bought your life insurance policy or you were overweight and you have since stopped smoking or lost weight, for example, it may be worthwhile to get quotes for new life insurance policies to see if you can get a cheaper rate.  You may also be able to call your current insurer to see if they can give you a better rate based on your healthier lifestyle.  (Many require signed confirmation from your physician.)

While you are analzying your life insurance, you may also want to review your will and trust.  Your assets change as do your personal relationships; if there are any significant changes, you want to make sure to update the document.

One of the most responsible things you can do is to buy life insurance to protect your loved ones financially in the event of your death.  In addition, you need a will and trust to dictate who will care for your children and inherit your money.  However, once you have both of these documents in place, your job doesn’t end there.  Take some time every year or two to make sure your life insurance policy as well as your will and trust are current.

Originating post: Have You Reviewed Your Life Insurance Policy and Will Lately?

Have You Reviewed Your Life Insurance Policy and Will Lately? is a post from: The Family Wallet.

SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
Download your free copy of my Chicken Crockpot Recipes Ebook for a limited time. Make sure to save a copy!

Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #220

Canadian Finance Carnival #71

Totally Money Carnival #51

Festival of Frugality #320

Carnival of Financial Camaraderie #17

Originating post: Roundup For The Week of February 3, 2012

Roundup For The Week of February 3, 2012 is a post from: The Family Wallet.

SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
Download your free copy of my Chicken Crockpot Recipes Ebook for a limited time. Make sure to save a copy!

Does this happen in your house, too? Do you cave in and buy them the latest must-have game, or do you stand your ground and protect your budget? In our house, we’ve found a way to try to do a little bit of both. It takes a little extra work and little patience from the kids, but we’ve developed a few tricks that allow the adults and the kids to live in harmony.

Purchase used games.
Families all over the country experience the same phenomena. Children insist that a certain game is the game that they must have. However, once they’ve played the game once or twice, they realize that the game isn’t as much fun as they thought it was going to be. These games make their way to secondhand video game stores. These stores are the only place that we buy videogames now. We can get games discounted to almost 50% less than their normal retail price.

Purchase aftermarket accessories.
I have to admit that we succumbed to temptation last year and bought our family a Wii. However, we did find a way to save on all of the little accessories that go along with playing with the Wii system. We bought aftermarket pieces like the steering wheels and charging stations for a fraction of the price of the ones that have the Nintendo logo on them. The kids don’t know the difference.

Preview games before buying.
To avoid being the disappointed family I described in Tip #1, we preview a lot of our games before we buy them. How do we do that? Well, we rent them at places like Game Rush. Sure, it costs a few dollars. But I figure it’s better to spend a few bucks and find out that we don’t enjoy a game than it is to spend $40 on a game and then find out we don’t like it.

Visit eBay.
I love scoring video games on eBay. Games, accessories, and even game systems are all over this popular auction-based website. I even found our Wii for a bargain price there.

What tips do you have for saving money on video games?

Originating post: Money Saving Tips for Buying Video Games

Money Saving Tips for Buying Video Games is a post from: The Family Wallet.

SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
Download your free copy of my Chicken Crockpot Recipes Ebook for a limited time. Make sure to save a copy!

1. Plan your meals for the week before you go to the grocery store.
If you go in with no idea of what you will be eating, it’s hard to buy the right amount and types of food. You will either come out of the store with too much or not enough. Buying too much food means you’ll spend more than you should have, while not buying enough will make more trips to the store necessary. So write down what you will prepare for each meal, and make your list from that.

2. Add snacks to your list.
Make sure they are things that your family will actually eat, and realistically figure up how much of them you will need. If you fail to do this, you could end up buying a lot of unnecessary junk food.

3. Stick to what’s on your list.
This is a rule with few exceptions. If you get to the store and see a great unadvertised sale on something that you use frequently, go ahead and stock up. Otherwise, buy only what you’ve written down. If you’ve properly planned your weekly menu and based your list on it, you won’t need anything else. (On a related note, always eat before you go to the store. If you’re hungry, you’re more likely to buy things you don’t need.)

4. Cook in bulk, and use the leftovers to make different dishes.
For example, if you roast a chicken, you could use what’s left after dinner is over to make soup, chicken and rice, or some other dish. Alternatively, you could cook meals in large batches and freeze them in individual portions to eat later. Either of these techniques will yield several meals at a low cost.

5. Combine coupons with sales to get items you will use at very low prices. When you get your hands on a valuable coupon, scour the papers to see if any local store has the item on sale. As long as it has a long shelf life, it doesn’t matter if you’ll use it right away or not.

Simply shopping smarter can save you lots of money on food each week. So don’t go in the store with no list and no idea what you actually need. Plan ahead, and keep your budget in mind. By following these simple guidelines, you can spend your money on the right things and avoid ending up with a cart full of expensive junk.

Originating post: 5 Tips To Slash Your Food Bill

5 Tips To Slash Your Food Bill is a post from: The Family Wallet.

SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
Download your free copy of my Chicken Crockpot Recipes Ebook for a limited time. Make sure to save a copy!

Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #219 hosted at The Skilled Investor

The Wealth Builder Carnival #62 – hosted at My Wealth Builder.

Festival of Frugality #319 – hosted at The Frugal Toad.

Carnival of Financial Camaraderie #16 – hosted at My University Money.

Canadian Finance Carnival #71 - hosted at the Canadian Finance Blog.

Originating post: Weekly Roundup For 01/27/2012

Weekly Roundup For 01/27/2012 is a post from: The Family Wallet.

SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
Download your free copy of my Chicken Crockpot Recipes Ebook for a limited time. Make sure to save a copy!

If your car’s engine starts smoking, you don’t worry; you can fall back on your emergency fund. If your home’s hot water starts clanging, you know you have the funds to replace it. Whatever unlucky incident preys upon you, you’ve come to rely on your emergency fund to handle.

I was struck with an unsettling thought the other day, though. I wondered if my emergency fund was really enough to depend upon in today’s economy. In years past, I’ve relied on the emergency fund for small bumps in the road of personal finance. But today there are stories everywhere about major financial catastrophes. People are losing jobs and homes. In fact, some families are losing everything.

Thoughts like this must make you think, “Is my emergency enough to help me if I faced a real financial nightmare?” Before now, you may have considered your emergency fund of $1,000 completely adequate. What could possibly happen that you couldn’t fix with that kind of money? Now, however, you see everything in a different light. What would you do if you lost your job and couldn’t immediately find a new one? What would you do if you were in a car accident and couldn’t work for a month or two?

In order to really feel secure in your emergency fund, I suggest trying to achieve a balance as high as three, or even six, months of your living expenses. Add up all of the bills that you have to pay every month: rent, utilities, debt payments, and food. Those are your monthly living expenses. Then, simply multiply your expenses by the number of months’ reserve you’d like to store up. That is your new emergency fund goal.

Of course, you will not build your savings up to this level overnight. Today you may only have one month of expenses in your emergency fund. By choosing to put off making any major purchases, however, you can quickly start padding your savings. You might consider making this your primary financial focus until you reach your new savings goal.

Having a large emergency fund won’t be the answer to all of your financial problems if you lose your job or face a medical emergency. What the large fund will do, though, is give you the cushion you need to build a plan to survive your problems. You will be able to sleep at night knowing you can pay all of your bills while you focus on getting a new job or healing.

Originating post: Do You Have Enough Saved in Your Emergency Fund?

Do You Have Enough Saved in Your Emergency Fund? is a post from: The Family Wallet.

SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
Download your free copy of my Chicken Crockpot Recipes Ebook for a limited time. Make sure to save a copy!

My home phone service typically ran $30 to $33 a month, and that didn’t include any extras or even long distance.  (I used a prepaid card from Costco to pay for my long distance at 2.2 cents per minute.)  I looked into alternatives, and found a home service that only costs $3 per month.  You can do the same.  Consider the following options:

Your cell phone.  Many families have eliminated their landline and simply use their cell phones for all of their phone calls both at home and away from home.  Crunch the numbers to make sure this will result in a savings for you, or consider moving to a plan that offers a family option if you don’t already use such a plan.  If you rarely use the phone, you may want to switch to a pay-as-you use plan rather than a monthly plan.  Every family’s situation is different, so you have to choose what works best for you.

magicJack.  magicJack touts low prices–$40 to buy and $20 annually after that.  There are a few important issues with magicJack that may trouble some users.  The hardware must be installed on your computer, and your computer must be on to allow you to receive calls.  (If the phone is not on, calls will go to voicemail.)  In addition, some complain that there is only limited tech support available from magic Jack.

Ooma Telo.  Ooma Telo works much the same way as magicJack with a few important differences.  First, it does not install anything on your computer, and your computer does not have to be on to use it.  You also have the option to keep your current phone number for a fee.  Ooma Telo is more expensive than magicJack; the device can be had for between $179 and $199, and the monthly fee is $3.  It also has 911 capabilities.  This is what we recently switched to.  While I have had no problems with it, a few of my callers have complained that the phone cuts out randomly.

Vonage.  Vonage also offers home telephone service through your Internet.  They offer a 3 month starter plan for $9.99; after that the cost goes to $25.99 a month, which is still a bit cheaper than conventional phone service.  For that fee, you are allowed unlimited minutes of free local and long distance calls.  There is also a 300 Plan that gives you 300 minutes of local and long distance calls for $11.99 a month.

With so much competition for your home phone service, there is no reason to continue to use your local phone company and pay their high bills.  Instead, take some time to research the many options that are available.  Amazon offers plenty of online reviews to peruse to help you make the best decision for your family.  Also, consider whether you can make 911 calls with alternative phone services.  For a few hours of research, you may find yourself saving hundreds per year; that is a smart use of your time.

Originating post: Seek Alternatives to Save on Your Monthly Phone Bill

Seek Alternatives to Save on Your Monthly Phone Bill is a post from: The Family Wallet.

SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
Download your free copy of my Chicken Crockpot Recipes Ebook for a limited time. Make sure to save a copy!

When you open a savings account, you are given a passbook. Every time you make a deposit or withdrawal, the amount is recorded in the passbook.

Let’s say, for example, that you have an online business where payments are made to you through PayPal and then transferred to your savings account.

While you may know how much you have deposited into your account utilizing a PayPal printout, it is still important to update the passbook whenever possible. This way, you can be sure that the funds you have deposited are noted in the passbook. You also want to receive the quarterly interest from your bank.

Unlike a family budget where you have to record expenditures and income, the passbook does the work for you. Each time you make a deposit or withdrawal, it is duly recorded.

The discipline needed is in cases when you cash a paycheck and set aside money to deposit into your savings account. Both can be accomplished in one visit to the bank. If you keep deposit slips in the glove compartment of your car or in your purse, you can easily make the two transactions at the same time.

On the other hand, if you merely cash your paycheck at the bank and take the money home, there is no inducement to fill out the deposit slip until another day. Perhaps you decide that you do not want to deposit the amount you initially set aside. Or perhaps you have a deposit slip already made out but decide to rip it up because you need a few extra dollars for something else.

Let’s face it; we have all been guilty of changing those deposit slips ? even with the best intentions. But doing so sets a pattern for future deposits. This is where the discipline part of saving can make all the difference.

In these difficult economic times, we cannot afford to change the numbers that can adversely affect our savings. If the household budget calls for depositing a certain amount of money into the savings account, then that is the amount that needs to be deposited. No ifs, ands, or buts.

It’s quite easy to say we will make up the difference the following month, but the odds are that will never happen.

If you have a budget that requires a specific amount of money to be deposited in the bank weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly ? try to stick to the budget. That is the true test of discipline and your willingness to abide by your own financial policy.

Originating post: Stay Disciplined With Your Savings To See Your Money Grow

Stay Disciplined With Your Savings To See Your Money Grow is a post from: The Family Wallet.

SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
Download your free copy of my Chicken Crockpot Recipes Ebook for a limited time. Make sure to save a copy!

While looking over my family’s budget, I noticed that we do a pretty good job keeping our food expenditures down. That savings, however, isn’t accomplished without a lot of effort. We use a lot of different methods to keep the family fed without spending more than we have to spend. A few things that have worked for us are…

Keep dining out to a minimum. I don’t want to say that we never eat out. We don’t do it a lot, though. Eating at a restaurant, even a cheap restaurant, is always more expensive than eating a meal at home. So, unless we’re celebrating a special occasion, we don’t eat out.

Give leftovers a second (or third) chance at the table. Leftover hamburger from last night’s taco night is great for using with today’s Hamburger Helper recipe. Likewise, leftover lasagna heats up wonderfully in the microwave for a lunch that you’ll look forward to. Saving money on your groceries means getting the most out of the items that you buy, so make every scrap of food count.

Stock up on your favorite groceries when they’re on sale. If pasta is a staple in your home, you know you’re going to be buying many jars of your favorite sauce over the next year. You can enjoy deep discounts on items like these, though, if you buy lots of them when they’re on sale at your local grocery store. Any item that is shelf-stable is perfect for buying in large quantities and storing for future use.

Purchase meat in large portions. Although it doesn’t always make sense, meat usually gets cheaper when you’re buying bigger packages. (I don’t understand it, since it all came from the same cow or chicken, but go figure.) If you’ve got enough freezer space to store it, you can buy these large packages even if you don’t need it all right away. When you bring it home from the store, split it up into more user-friendly containers and place them into the freezer. They’ll be there waiting when your next recipe calls for them.

Plan your meals out ahead of time. Not knowing what to fix for dinner on any given night will only lead to your making unwise grocery purchases or defaulting to going out to eat. If you plan your meals, though, you can take advantage of grocery items that are featured in that week’s sales ads.

Originating post: Tips For Feeding A Family On A Budget

Tips For Feeding A Family On A Budget is a post from: The Family Wallet.

SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
Download your free copy of my Chicken Crockpot Recipes Ebook for a limited time. Make sure to save a copy!

The Wealth Builder Carnival #60

Canadian Finance Carnival #69

Totally Money Carnival: First Foot into 2012

Festival of Frugality

Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #218

The Wealth Builder Carnival #61

Originating post: Weekly Roundup for 01/16/2012

Weekly Roundup for 01/16/2012 is a post from: The Family Wallet.

SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
Download your free copy of my Chicken Crockpot Recipes Ebook for a limited time. Make sure to save a copy!