7 simple solutions for managing your money provides a few ideas for managing personal finances. In summary:

1. Trick yourself into saving with a “secret” account that’s difficult to access.
2. Let someone else take care of your retirement fund by making use of a 401k account if your employer provides one. Most employers will also contribute to the account for you, so not using it is the same as giving up free money.
3. Use index funds to invest. Index funds follow the stock market as whole and the article recommends a US fund, a global fund and a real estate investment trust (REIT)
4. Use online account management tools to reduce the paperwork and make bill paying and money management easy. I personally try to avoid using accounts that I can’t pay online or that charge a fee for paying online.
5. Find ways to save on insurance. Most of us are required by law to have insurance and (hopefully) we rarely ever need it. So, if you can find adequate coverage for less than what you’re currently paying, save a little cash each month.
6. Buy stocks with dividends to bring in more income. This will provide you with an income from your investments.
7. Instead of going after rewards cards that offer free televisions, airline miles or other non-cash rewards. GetSomePlastic.com has some great cash back rewards credit card offers.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 28th, 2006 at 5:49 pm and is filed under General Personal Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.