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How to Set Good Financial Goals

Posted on by Ramone Smith

Having personal financial goals or financial goals for a business that motivates you, excites you, and pushes you forward can help you get the most out of life.

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If your financial life is in order and you’re headed toward accomplishing good financial goals that support your greatest values and dreams, you’ll be happier and more self-confident as a result.

Use the following tips to begin setting good financial goals today:

Brainstorm without editing

Grab a pen and paper, and sit in a room where you won’t be disturbed for about 20 to 30 minutes. As fast as you can, write down as many financial dreams and goals as you can. Allow your thoughts to flow freely onto the paper without editing or judging them. The time for that will come later.

If you are under 30, this is a great time to think about setting financial goals by 30. The earlier you start the better. You can take advantage of interests and opportunities that may not be available as you age.

As you brainstorm the possibilities, think about the financial difficulties that frustrate you and the financial dreams that you’ve been afraid to pursue. Think about what you’d do or dream if it were impossible for you to fail.

As you brainstorm ideas, think about every area of your life. Would you like to be free? Own your own home? Become financially independent? Help out a loved one that has a big financial need? Supply money for college for your children? The possibilities are endless.

Prioritize your list of personal financial goals

After about 30 minutes, you should have a page or two full of possibilities for your list of good financial goals. Once you do, begin to think about which of these goals is most important to you. Which ones bring you peace inside? Which ones excite you the most? Those are the ones to put at the top of your list.

Write down all the challenges that stand in your way

After you’ve chosen about 3 to 5 personal financial goals or financial goals for a business that excites you, create a new page for each one. Write the goal at the top of the page. Then, list all the reasons you think you can’t achieve this goal. Write down all the challenges that stand in your way.

Your list of obstacles will provide you with concrete next steps that will quickly banish your fear of failure. Come back to this list later and ask yourself how you can overcome each of these challenges. Who can help you? What resources do you need? What information do you lack? What next steps need to be taken?

Instead of denying that there are challenges on the road to any worthwhile goal, meet those challenges head-on by thinking through them in advance. When you do, nothing will stop you from reaching the financial goals you set.

Create an emergency fund first

One of the simplest ways to dramatically increase your sense of excitement, peace, and joy in life is to be prepared for when things go wrong financially. An emergency fund of one month’s income frees you from much of the financial stress you’re currently feeling.

Once you save enough money for your emergency fund, commit to only using this money in the case of real emergencies. This fund ensures the train to your financial dreams stays on track. You’ll be surprised how much of your day is spent worrying about finances. This is banished with your emergency fund.

Focus on action steps to accomplish good financial goals

The result of your exciting financial goals should drive you to keep putting one foot forward. But it can also hinder you from progress by making you feel overwhelmed. Instead, focus on one step at a time until you reach the financial destiny you were born to live. Finances are a source of stress for many people. However, if you put these tips into practice, your financial situation will be different. Instead of chasing your tail and feeling like you’ll never get ahead, you’ll be excited about the future and about the peace of mind that comes with a healthy financial life

How To Prepare for Retirement

Posted on by Ramone Smith

When you think about how to prepare for retirement, you should know that the earlier you plan and save, the better. Due to compound interest and tax deferrals, you will benefit more the earlier you start saving for retirement. You may be wondering how to prepare for retirement in your 30s or generally how to save money in retirement

Do you know how much you need to save for retirement? How can you maximize your savings?

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Prepare for retirement checklist:

Think about the kind of retirement you want

This visualization will help you understand how much money should be saved for retirement. Will you want to live differently when you retire? Start visualizing the type of lifestyle you want to live when you retire so you can tailor your savings goals to that lifestyle!

At what age would you want to be when you retire?
Will you still work part-time?
Where will you live? Do you want to live domestically or internationally?
Will you be renting a house, or will you own your house?
What will your monthly costs be?

Start saving today

Most (if not all) how to prepare for retirement articles you read will encourage you to start saving today. The reason being is over time you can earn money from your savings via compound interest.

Compound interest is the interest you earn on interest. It comes from reinvesting the interest you earn. It works in your favor.
Hypothetical examples suggest that even a 25-year-old who invests $75 per month would accumulate more assets by 65-years-old compared to a 35-year-old who invests $100 per month.
Put as much as you can away now so that you can reap the rewards later.
Some financial experts recommend saving 15% of your pre-tax income towards tax-advantage accounts.

Set a goal

Take time to carefully consider retirement expenses while factoring in inflation. Will you have other expenses that you might not have right now (such as children’s expenses)?

How much do you want to have when you retire?
Will you be traveling when you retire?

Automate your savings to a retirement plan

Take advantage of tax deferrals to a retirement account. Set up automatic payments to your Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or 401(k). This way, the money gets deposited into your retirement savings plan before you have to think about it.

401(k)s have a high contribution limit ($19,500 if under age 50), and sometimes employers are willing to match your contributions. Check with your employer to see if they match what you put in.
If you are under 50, you can contribute up to $6,000 to an IRA. If you are 50 or older, you can contribute up to $7,000 to an IRA.
Money contributed to a Traditional IRA may be deductible on your taxes that year. Then, when you withdraw money from that account in retirement, you pay taxes then.
Money contributed to Roth IRAs are not deductible on your taxes that year. However, withdrawals you make from that account when in retirement are not taxed.

Diversify your savings when thinking about how to prepare for retirement

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket! Your IRA is just one piece of the puzzle. Consider investing in other assets, such as property, mutual funds, or bonds. These investments also help you save money in retirement.

Take advantage of employer matching

If your employer matches your IRA investments, take advantage of that! Deposit the maximum amount that your employer matches.

Continue to reduce your debt

Pay off your credit cards every month or pay as much as possible towards your credit card debt. When possible, accelerate your mortgage payments. As a rule of thumb, reduce your existing debt and avoid accumulating new debt.

Saving for your ideal lifestyle when you retire is a marathon, not a sprint

When you build your wealth over time, you don’t have to worry about tackling everything all at once.

Remember that over time, your retirement account will build! Try to save at least 10-15% of your pretax income to start. You’re already ahead of the game by thinking about this now!

Online Marketing vs. Offline Marketing

Posted on by Ramone Smith

Every successful business owner understands that marketing is an important part of their business. After all, marketing brings in new customers, profits, and long-term benefits for the business. There are two types of marketing. So, let’s discuss online marketing vs offline marketing.

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In thinking about marketing your business, you may have many questions, such as:

What’s the difference between online and offline marketing?
What are online and offline marketing strategies?
In the battle of online marketing vs offline marketing which is better

These are all important questions, and this guide will help you in making a decision.

What Is Online Marketing and How To Do Marketing Online?

Online marketing involves promoting your business, product, or service on the internet via your website, online ads, or social media.

Benefits of online marketing include:

You can see the engagement of your content and promotions. With social media channels, you can physically see what your audience thinks of your brand and marketing. If you’re seeing lots of likes and shares of your content, then surely, you’re doing something right!

It’s easy to track your return on investment (ROI). You can track clicks and sales when using ads online, so you can easily see which ads are the most profitable for you. This will help you to make smart decisions regarding future marketing strategies and campaigns.

You can target specific demographics. With online marketing, it’s possible to drive specific types of people to your offers – people who are more likely to buy your products.

There are also some negatives to using online marketing, such as:

Digital advertisements can be annoying. While it’s certainly clever that advertisers can target ads specifically to you, showing you ads for products that you searched for days previously. They can be highly annoying and even drive you away from a brand.

The ads are fleeting. Unlike a billboard, an online ad can easily be missed or ignored. It’s easy to scroll past an ad and click to the next page without even taking notice.

Online marketing is constantly evolving. Whether it’s the latest social media platform or a change to the search engine algorithm, there’s always something new to learn. If you don’t keep up with important trends, you may find yourself being left behind.

What Is Offline Marketing?

Offline marketing is typically anything that does not involve the internet, so any magazine or television advertisements are good examples of this type of marketing.

Benefits of offline marketing include:

It can be impactful and easy to understand. A billboard or TV commercial will often become part of a person’s daily life, so it will usually be easy to understand and digest.

Printed marketing materials are often permanent. Unless a magazine is recycled or put in the trash, then the advertisements found within will be permanent, so they can still work weeks, or even months, after first being published.

They are memorable. Many offline ads are memorable and likely to be remembered much better than an Instagram ad for example, which is almost instantly forgotten. Think of all the popular Super Bowl ads and other commercials that we all know so well that they become part of our culture.

Offline marketing also has some negative aspects, such as:

It’s difficult to measure the success of a campaign. There are ways to measure the success of a campaign, but they are not as in-depth or accurate as those available for online marketing.

It can be expensive. Typically, offline marketing can be expensive. Even a small run in your local newspaper or a single 30-second spot on TV can set you back a considerable amount.

Little feedback from your audience. After running the marketing campaign, you can rarely gauge the reactions from your potential customers.

Online marketing vs offline marketing?

Both online and offline marketing have their pros and cons.

Offline marketing is seen as more traditional and will be better aimed at the older generation, while online marketing is generally a better option for the younger generation. However, these are only generalities and might not apply to your business.

Plus, you don’t have to choose one over the other. Perhaps a combination of online and offline marketing will work best for your business.

You will need to understand what you want to achieve marketing-wise, what your budget is, and most importantly who your target audience is. Study your audience and go with what you think will work best with them, keeping your budget in mind. This will get you started.

Then, track what you can to determine which campaigns bring you the greatest profits. Run new campaigns and track those. Experience is the best determiner. Analyze as you go and stick with what’s working the best for your company until you find a new campaign that drives even greater profits.

Making Money in Your Spare Time

Posted on by Ramone Smith

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Even if you have a good job, you may not have enough to pay all of your bills and still have money left over. There’s a way around that, though. You can look into making money in your spare time.

You don’t need to dedicate all your leisure time to making money in your spare time, either. Just a few hours a week would be enough. You could use your evenings after dinner or a day on the weekend. It’s not about getting rich or replacing your day job – it’s just about having a little extra. Even fifty or a hundred dollars a week might make the difference between paying a bill or not.

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Where Do Your Talents Lie?

Everyone is good at something. Even if you aren’t sure what kinds of talents you have, think about what you like to do. Do people compliment you on your singing voice? Your cooking? Your handy work? The compassion that you have for children or the elderly? You have the potential to make money from your passions, interests, and skills! It’s not as hard as a lot of people make it out to be.

What kinds of hobbies do you have? Do you write? Take pictures? Paint or draw? Can you teach or tutor others? Are you handy? Make a list of what you’re good at and what you enjoy doing – sometimes, these aren’t the same things.

Choose an activity from your list and then try these strategies when thinking about making money in your spare time:

Advertise your services in the newspaper so you can find people who need help.
Post your information on Craigslist and other ad sites where people hire others.
Start a website or blog where you can offer your talents and services.
Network with others who do the same things, so you can get ideas and advice.
Attend community events and hand out business cards.
Create a portfolio of your work and start showing it to others.

You never know when you might be able to make a connection that leads to something great. If you’re not prepared, that chance could slip away. Rather than wait for that moment, be ready in advance.

Start preparing now, knowing that making money in your spare time could take a little while. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen when you remain committed to it.

Yes, Attitude Does Matter

Remember that how you act can make a huge difference in whether someone hires you to do something. Even if you’re the best in the business, a bad attitude won’t get you very far. Stay positive, even when you get turned down for work.

Keep your head up and continue to improve. When people see that you’re committed to making money in your spare time and you’re actively looking for work, you’ll find people who will buy from you or hire you to do something.

A quick tip: Get letters of reference from people who hire you and use them in your portfolio to show future customers.

Word of mouth is also vital, so do your best job every time. If you make a mistake, admit it, and then work to make it right. People appreciate honesty, and you’ll get more work from those who see that you’re a quality person with the right mindset. These attributes can actually help you go farther than the actual level of talent you have.

So let your talents inspire you, rev up your can-do attitude, and you may be surprised how easy it really is to bring in some extra money in your spare time!

Financial Detox for Financial Security

Posted on by Ramone Smith

Do you often wonder where all your money went at the end of a pay period? Are you living from paycheck to paycheck? Is your wife spending out of control? Or maybe is it you who is spending out of control?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, a financial detox for financial security might be just what you need to get your financial life back on track

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A detoxification process doesn’t just apply to your body. It can apply to your finances as well. Detoxification is a good word for the process, as the discomfort and challenges of spending withdrawal can feel quite real, just like physical detoxification.

However, in the end, you’ll experience the relief of being able to live within your means and the joy that comes with financial security.

What is Financial Security?

The peace of mind you feel when your income is enough to cover expenses is having financial security. When someone feels secure, it leaves them with more energy to focus on other issues like family or work-related stressors which can lead to a happier life overall!

Are you ready to give this financial detox for financial security a try?

Follow these steps for your best results:

Locate the cause(s) of your financial challenges:

The first step is to go over your bills and bank statements carefully. If you see something you don’t recognize, mark it and investigate it.

This is especially true for any online purchases. There should be a phone number you can call. Call them to get the details of the charges.

It’s worthwhile to pay special attention to your phone bill. They always seem to be adding new fees. Look at you bank fees, too. They are another group that likes to find new ways to nickel and dime you to death.

Admit the truth about the current state of your financial security.

You probably already know where your spending weaknesses lie. If you didn’t before, you should recognize them now.

Look over your spending and search for areas where you’re being wasteful.

Are you spending $100 a month on your morning coffee? Going out to eat five nights a week? Buying too many magazines at the checkout? Too many beauty treatments each month? Maybe one too many beers with the guys? Admit the truth.

Ask yourself ‘why?’

Why do you think you’ve been spending money unnecessarily? Are you bored? Are you sad? Do you simply want more than your income can support?

One big challenge in life is dealing appropriately with feelings of anxiety, boredom, and sadness. Some people overeat. Some overspend. Others find other outlets.
What are some alternatives that don’t have negative consequences? Wouldn’t it be great to be ‘addicted’ to exercising instead of spending?
Think of some other habits you can develop that you might enjoy doing. Going for a walk might make you feel better when you’re stressed. Walking is free and good for you, too.

Start the detox. There are several ways you could go about your financial detox for financial security:

Go cold turkey. Simply decide to eliminate all the unnecessary expenses from your life, starting right now. This is tough but doable. You’ll have to be strong.
Eliminate a few expenses. Maybe you’ll skip the weekly massages and stop buying lunch every day. You’ll keep some of your optional expenses but eliminate others.
Cut back on everything, but don’t eliminate it. Maybe you’ll decide to cut all your discretionary spending in half. This way you still get to do everything, only not as much.

Take steps to make it permanent

If you’re going to take away your spending habit, raise your odds of success by replacing it with something else you enjoy.

Evaluate your spending and a general sense of well-being every month. How are you doing? If you’re having spending withdrawals, you might need a different substitute. However, like being on a diet, it’s never totally without its challenges.

A spending detox for financial security might be just what you need to get your spending under control and help to guarantee a positive financial future. Try these tips today. Be strong. Change is challenging, but you can do it!