Money Management

[thirdeye]

Hi,

 

Whatever money I get I am just not managing it well. I have not done any intelligent investment and pay a lot of tax.

I claim to be strong in Finance though I am an IT person. But at the outset I am a jack of all and master of none kind of person.

 

How do I learn money management and Financial management.

 

I also want to improve my IT skills at the same time.

 

Please suggest and advice.

[laboheme]

I can't really recomment any kind of program that will improve your financial management and IT skills...but...

 

I found that it really helps to keep track of EVERY expense that you have. 75 cents for a soda from the vending machine? Write it down. 2 bucks for the parking meter? Make a note of that. Bills and such go without saying. At the end of the month, see where you spend the most money, which expenses are not necessary and can be cut out, etc. Heck, make a pie chart if you need to! It really does help to know EXACTLY where your money is going -- once you do, you can work on really managing it, saving, investing, etc.

 

As far as paying a lot of tax, for the last 3 years, I've had my taxes done professionally (even though I'm not even out of college yet). I think that it's well worth the price -- there are so many things the consultant told me that I had no idea about, and same with my parents...their tax returns are much larger now than they used to be!

 

And investment...I don't have experience in that area...for now I just rely on bank accounts with good interest rates.

[jurupa]

I am going to take your three things in seprate sections. So hopefully you won't be confused.

 

Money Management

The first thing when it comes to money management is to make a list of everything you spend money on. The next thing is to see how much money you spend per month and week, from your over all list. The next thing is to make two more list, one with things you need (ie food, clothes etc), and things that you want, but don't need (ie spa treaments, Starbucks, etc). Then see how much money you spend for each list.

 

The money for your need list is what you must need per month to live on. The money you spend on your want list is what we are going to work with. Take a look at your want list and see what you get weekly and daily on it. If you get coffe from Starbucks everyday, cut back to once a week. You will save at least $20 to $30 right there. Next look at any of the big ticket items you have on your want list, and see how much you spend money on them. Lets say your big ticket items is spa treaments that you get every week. If you really want them, then get them only once a month if that. You will save even more money.

 

Hopefully your getting the idea here. What most people don't know that are having money management problems is that they spend to much money on their wants and/or over spend on things as well.

 

Investing

 

One of the safest investing things you can do is to get a CD from either a bank or from a fianical business like E-Trade. And most places will contuine the CD if you don't pull out the money when it matures.

 

IT

 

There is no best way to learn IT. You have to find the best method for you. There are loads of schools, books, papers, articles, and you got the Internet as well to learn from.

[TheRock]

Really the first thing to do is define your goals. What are you trying to manage for? retirement, a house, a vaction, general savings.

When you define your goal, set aside an account for that purpose and begin saving money in that account. Do not touch that account for any other reason. it will cause you to become more disciplined. It is a good idea because if you keep all your savings in one account, it is easier to just keep taking from that one account. this way, you have separte parameters to work with.

Then learn about your risk tolerances and start investing---- CDs, stocks, bonds etc.

Then read some magazines and the wall street journal to get better acqainted with this information.

Good luck