A guide to financial stability.

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Iron Out Your
Money
Beginning Steps to Creating The Life of Your Dreams
By: Randa Manning-Johnson
Week 3 of The Four Weeks To Fabulous Challenge

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Inspiration -
There is no other person who is smart enough, or experienced enough, or informed enough or
insightful enough to tell you how to live. That's up to you.
Certainly the advice and guidance of others can be extremely valuable. Yet when it comes to
expressing and fulfilling the best of who you are, you are the world's foremost expert.
It feels good to be praised and it hurts to be criticized. Always keep in mind, though, that
those who offer their opinions of you cannot possibly see the whole picture.
Your life is your responsibility. That is simultaneously a sobering obligation and a
fantastic opportunity.
Successful living is difficult work and yet you are absolutely qualified to do it. You are
worthy and capable of creating and enjoying whatever it is that truly fulfills you.
Make the commitment, do the work, accept the responsibility that is necessary for that
fulfillment. Live the outstanding life that is yours to experience.
-- Ralph Marston
End of the Week Journal Writing - Have you gained a better understanding of
your financial situation? Do you see where you have gone wrong and are you able to see change in
the future?
Daily - Review your budget sheet daily. Make any additions or subtractions needed. This will
become easier once you read the attached worksheets. They will give you ideas on how to cut back
on things. Use your task tracker to track your progress. By the end of the week you should be able
to change at least 3 money habits that you have accumulated.
(Cut out one day of Starbucks and opt for regular coffee...YOU CAN DO IT!!)

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Week Three
“Iron out your Money”
OK, so your house is clean, your mind and spirit are at peace, what’s next? It’s time to get
your finances lined up with the rest of your new found way of life.
Better ways of thinking make it easy to make better financial decisions. This week
will help you with the decision making process.
We will work on realistic budget strategies, developing discipline, ways to cut back
and save as well as small investment strategies for the future.
It is a known fact that Cash is King! You can’t consider yourself a player in the chess game
of life if you don’t have any....Unfortunately you are considered a pawn and will be treated
accordingly......
Don’t misunderstand me; this is not designed to make you think that you are above
anyone else if you have more money than them. This is merely an exercise to help
you properly manage what you have now, so that in the event you are given that
dreamt about increase, you will know how to properly handle it.
Your financial growth should never surpass your personal growth!
Now with that being said...
$how me the Money!

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Monthly Budget Worksheet for ___________________________________________
Most of us don’t take the time to actually sit down and calculate what expenses we have each month.
We know how much we have coming in, but often times have no idea what we actually have going
out. This worksheet will help you conceptualize why you may or may not be living paycheck to
paycheck. Or in some cases, you may not even be making it to the next paycheck.
To calculate your monthly budget simply print this budget worksheet and write down how much you
currently spend for each of the budget categories per month below. Then add up all your budgeted
expenses and compare that to your net monthly income.
BUDGET CATEGORY AMOUNT
Allowances: (Your Name)
Allowances: Spouse
Auto: Gas & Oil
Auto: Registration
Childcare
Clothing
Debt/Payment To: Credit Card #1
Debt/Payment To: Credit Card #2
Debt/Payment To: Credit Card #3
Debts: Car Payment #1
Debts: Car Payment #2
Debts: Mortgage
Donations
Entertainment: Cable & Internet
Entertainment: Movies & Events
Financial Plan: College Fund
Financial Plan: IRA
Financial Plan: Investments
Food: Dining Out
Food: Groceries
Health: Co-pay & Supplies
Household
Insurance: Auto
Insurance: Health
Insurance: Housing
Insurance: Life
Savings
Taxes: Property Taxes
Utilities: Electricity
Utilities: Gas
Utilities: Mobile Phone
Utilities: Phone
Utilities: Water/Sewer/Trash
Other Expense #1

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Other Expense #2
Other Expense #3
Other Expense #4
Other Expense #5
Total Monthly Expenses
Monthly Net Income
Minus Expenses (from above)
Available Income
Are you surprised at what you see?
(You didn’t forget to add in that Starbucks did you?) At those prices.....It is definitely an expense!

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Keys to Financial Success
Although making resolutions to improve your financial situation is a good thing to do at any time of
year, many people find it easier at the beginning of a new year. Regardless of when you begin, the
basics remain the same. Here are my top ten keys to getting ahead financially.
1. Get Paid What You're Worth and Spend Less Than You Earn
It sounds simplistic, but many people struggle with this first basic rule. Make sure you know what your
job is worth in the marketplace, by conducting an evaluation of your skills, productivity, job tasks,
contribution to the company, and the going rate, both inside and outside the company, for what you
do. Being underpaid even a thousand dollars a year can have a significant cumulative effect over the
course of your working life.
No matter how much or how little you're paid, you'll never get ahead if you spend more than you earn.
Often it's easier to spend less than it is to earn more, and a little cost-cutting effort in a number of
areas can result in big savings. It doesn't always have to involve making big sacrifices.
2. Stick to a Budget
One of my favorite subjects: budgeting. It's not a four-letter word. How can you know where your
money is going if you don't budget? How can you set spending and saving goals if you don't know
where your money is going? You need a budget whether you make thousands or hundreds of
thousands of dollars a year.
3. Pay Off Credit Card Debt
Credit card debt is the number one obstacle to getting ahead financially. Those little pieces of plastic
are so easy to use, and it's so easy to forget that it's real money we're dealing with when we whip
them out to pay for a purchase, large or small. Despite our good resolves to pay the balance off
quickly, the reality is that we often don't, and end up paying far more for things than we would have
paid if we had used cash.
4. Contribute to a Retirement Plan
If your employer has a 401(k) plan and you don't contribute to it, you're walking away from one of the
best deals out there. Ask your employer if they have a 401(k) plan (or similar plan), and sign up
today. If you're already contributing, try to increase your contribution. If your employer doesn't offer a
retirement plan, consider an IRA.
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5. Have a Savings Plan
You've heard it before: Pay yourself first! If you wait until you've met all your other financial
obligations before seeing what's left over for saving, chances are you'll never have a healthy savings

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account or investments. Resolve to set aside a minimum of 5% to 10% of your salary for savings
BEFORE you start paying your bills. Better yet, have money automatically deducted from your
paycheck and deposited into a separate account.
6. Invest!
If you're contributing to a retirement plan and a savings account and you can still manage to put some
money into other investments, all the better.
7. Maximize Your Employment Benefits
Employment benefits like a 401(k) plan, flexible spending accounts, medical and dental insurance,
etc., are worth big bucks. Make sure you're maximizing yours and taking advantage of the ones that
can save you money by reducing taxes or out-of-pocket expenses.
8. Review Your Insurance Coverage’s
Too many people are talked into paying too much for life and disability insurance, whether it's by
adding these coverage’s to car loans, buying whole-life insurance policies when term-life makes more
sense, or buying life insurance when you have no dependents. On the other hand, it's important that
you have enough insurance to protect your dependents and your income in the case of death or
disability.
9. Update Your Will
70% of Americans don't have a will. If you have dependents, no matter how little or how much you
own, you need a will. If your situation isn't too complicated you can even do your own with software
like WillMaker from Nolo Press. Protect your loved ones. Write a will.
10. Keep Good Records
If you don't keep good records, you're probably not claiming all your allowable income tax deductions
and credits. Set up a system now and use it all year. It's much easier than scrambling to find
everything at tax time, only to miss items that might have saved you money.
Reality Check
How are you doing on the top ten list? If you're not doing at least six of the ten, resolve to
make improvements. Choose one area at a time and set a goal for incorporating all ten into
your lifestyle.

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8 Financial Tips For Young Adults
by Amy Fontinelle
Unfortunately, personal finance has not yet become a required subject in high school or college, so
you might be fairly clueless about how to manage your money when you're out in the real world for
the first time. If you think that understanding personal finance is way above your head, though, you're
wrong. All it takes to get started on the right path is the willingness to do a little reading - you don't
even need to be particularly good at math.
To help you get started, we'll take a look at eight of the most important things to understand about
money if you want to live a comfortable and prosperous life.
1. Learn Self Control
If you're lucky, your parents taught you this skill when you were a kid. If not, keep in mind that the
sooner you learn the fine art of delaying gratification, the sooner you'll find it easy to keep your
finances in order. Although you can effortlessly purchase an item on credit the minute you want it, it's
better to wait until you've actually saved up the money. Do you really want to pay interest on a pair of
jeans or a box of cereal?
If you make a habit of putting all your purchases on credit cards, regardless of whether you can pay
your bill in full at the end of the month, you might still be paying for those items in 10 years. If you
want to keep your credit cards for the convenience factor or the rewards they offer, make sure to
always pay your balance in full when the bill arrives, and don't carry more cards than you can keep
track of.
2. Take Control of Your Own Financial Future
If you don't learn to manage your own money, other people will find ways to (mis)manage it for you.
Some of these people may be ill-intentioned, like unscrupulous commission-based financial planners.
Others may be well-meaning, but may not know what they're doing, like Grandma Betty who really
wants you to buy a house even though you can only afford a treacherous adjustable-rate mortgage.
Instead of relying on others for advice, take charge and read a few basic books on personal finance.
Once you're armed with personal finance knowledge, don't let anyone catch you off guard - whether
it's a significant other that slowly siphons your bank account or friends who want you to go out and
blow tons of money with them every weekend. Understanding how money works is the first step
toward making your money work for you. (To find out how to have fun and still save money, see
Budget Without Blowing Off Your Friends.) (Article can be found in your “Extras”)
3. Know Where Your Money Goes
Once you've gone through a few personal finance books, you'll realize how important it is to make
sure your expenses aren't exceeding your income. The best way to do this is by budgeting. Once you
see how your morning java adds up over the course of a month, you'll realize that making small,
manageable changes in your everyday expenses can have just as big of an impact on your financial
situation as getting a raise. In addition, keeping your recurring monthly expenses as low as possible

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will also save you big bucks over time. If you don't waste your money on a posh apartment now, you
might be able to afford a nice condo or a house before you know it.
4. Start an Emergency Fund
One of personal finance's oft-repeated mantras is "pay yourself first". No matter how much you owe in
student loans or credit card debt and no matter how low your salary may seem, it's wise to find some
amount - any amount - of money in your budget to save in an emergency fund every month.
Having money in savings to use for emergencies can really keep you out of trouble financially and
help you sleep better at night. Also, if you get into the habit of saving money and treating it as a non-
negotiable monthly "expense", pretty soon you'll have more than just emergency money saved up:
you'll have retirement money, vacation money and even money for a home down payment.
Don't just sock away this money under your mattress; put it in a high-interest online savings account,
a certificate of deposit or a money market account. Otherwise, inflation will erode the value of your
savings.
5. Start Saving for Retirement Now
Just as you headed off to kindergarten with your parents' hope to prepare you for success in a world
that seemed eons away, you need to prepare for your retirement well in advance. Because of the way
compound interest works, the sooner you start saving, the less principal you'll have to invest to end
up with the amount you need to retire, and the sooner you'll be able to call working an "option" rather
than a "necessity".
Company-sponsored retirement plans are a particularly great choice because you get to put in pretax
dollars and the contribution limits tend to be high (much more than you can contribute to an individual
retirement plan). Also, companies will often match part of your contribution, which is like getting free
money.
6. Get a Grip on Taxes
It's important to understand how income taxes work even before you get your first paycheck. When a
company offers you a starting salary, you need to know how to calculate whether that salary will give
you enough money after taxes to meet your financial goals and obligations. Fortunately, there are
plenty of online calculators that have taken the dirty work out of determining your own payroll taxes,
such as Paycheck City. These calculators will show you your gross pay, how much goes to taxes and
how much you'll be left with, which is also known as net, or take-home pay.
For example, $35,000 a year in California will leave you with about $27,600 after taxes in 2008, or
about $2,300 a month. By the same token, if you're considering leaving one job for another in search
of a salary increase, you'll need to understand how your marginal tax rate will affect your raise and
that a salary increase from $35,000 a year to $41,000 a year won't give you an extra $6,000, or $500
per month - it will only give you an extra $4,200, or $350 per month (again, the amount will vary
depending on your state of residence). Also, you'll be better off in the long run if you learn to prepare
your annual tax return yourself, as there is plenty of bad tax advice and misinformation floating
around out there.

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7. Guard Your Health
If meeting monthly health insurance premiums seems impossible, what will you do if you have to go
to the emergency room, where a single visit for a minor injury like a broken bone can cost thousands
of dollars? If you're uninsured, don't wait another day to apply for health insurance; it's easier than
you think to wind up in a car accident or trip down the stairs. You can save money by getting quotes
from different insurance providers to find the lowest rates. Also, by taking daily steps now to keep
yourself healthy, like eating fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising, not
smoking, not consuming alcohol in excess, and even driving defensively, you'll thank yourself down
the road when you aren't paying exorbitant medical bills.
Guard Your Wealth If you want to make sure that all of your hard-earned money doesn't vanish, you'll
need to take steps to protect it. If you rent, get renter's insurance to protect the contents of your place
from events like burglary or fire. Disability insurance protects your greatest asset - the ability to earn
an income - by providing you with a steady income if you ever become unable to work for an
extended period of time due to illness or injury.
If you want help managing your money, find a fee-only financial planner to provide unbiased advice
that's in your best interest, rather than a commission-based financial advisor, who earns money when
you sign up with the investments his or her company backs. You'll also want to protect your money
from taxes, which is easy to do with a retirement account, and inflation, which you can do by making
sure that all of your money is earning interest through vehicles like high-interest savings accounts,
money market funds, CDs, stocks, bonds and mutual funds.
A Financial Basis for Life Remember, you don't need any fancy degrees or special background to
become an expert at managing your finances. If you use these eight financial rules for your life, you
can be as personally prosperous as the guy with the hard-won MBA.

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Budgeting Without Blowing Off Your Friends
by Amy Fontinelle
You and your friends may have shared a similar economic situation when you were kids or while you
were in college, but now that you are adults, your incomes might diverge widely. Perhaps you've
chosen to join the volunteer corps or pursue a Ph.D. while your friends are already working high-
paying jobs. Differences in spending habits can destroy a friendship when they result in wildly
different lifestyles or feelings of resentment, but if you approach the money situation with care and
you have good friends, you can avoid blowing your paychecks on luxury cruises and sushi dinners
that you can't afford.
1. Don't Assume You Can Afford It Too Just because all your friends recently purchased new luxury
cars doesn't mean you should follow suit. If you've always been on similar spending levels in the past,
your inclination might be to think that nothing has changed. However, your friend might be earning a
bigger paycheck, or be willing to make sacrifices in areas that you aren't, like living in an inexpensive
apartment or giving up vacations, in order to afford his or her new wheels. Of course, for all you know,
your friend can't afford it, either. Most people don't volunteer information about how much they make.
Stick to purchasing decisions you know you can comfortably afford, regardless of what the other
people in your life are doing.
2. Be Honest People who are your true friends won't drop you because you can't afford to dine at
four- star restaurants. You may have to miss out on some pricier outings, but good friends will be
flexible and incorporate inexpensive activities into their social lives that you can join in on.
3. Suggest Alternatives If your friends invite you to a restaurant you can't afford, suggest meeting up
at your favorite coffee shop instead or offer to host a potluck. If they want you to join their gym,
suggest going hiking or taking a stroll around the block. If they want to visit San Francisco and stay in
a pricey hotel, suggest camping on the outskirts of the city or getting enough friends to come along so
that you can share the room bill and make it affordable. When you give your friends options instead of
turning them down outright, they'll know that you care about spending time with them and maintaining
the relationship, even if you can't always afford the things they want to do.
4. Plan the Activity Instead of taking the defensive position of trying to steer your friends' plans in
different directions, go on the offensive and start coming up with the plans yourself. You could
suggest a volunteer activity, a movie night at your place, playing Frisbee, or a museum visit. Good
friends will understand that spending quality time together doesn't have to cost money.
5. Spend on What You Want This is an important life lesson. Whether you're making a small
purchase or a large one, you should be the one to decide how your money is spent. If you want to
pay off your credit card more than you want to go clubbing, don't go clubbing just because your
friends are doing it. Let your friends in on why you are turning down their invitations so they'll know
that you're rejecting the expense and not their company. As mentioned previously, always follow up a
refused invitation with a new invitation.

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6. Save So You Can Spend If your friends really want to fly to Spain for a trip and you really want to
go, don't automatically turn down the invitation just because you can't afford it as easily as they can.
Make it a priority to save for the trip ahead of time. Sometimes stretching your budget doesn't seem
so bad when it's for an experience you'll value for years to come.
7. Minimize the Cost If you do take your friends up on an expensive outing or trip, leave the plastic at
home and take with you only what you can afford to spend Then, think about ways you can minimize
the cost of the outing. Eat before you go to the restaurant and order an appetizer as your meal. If you
aren't driving, have a drink or two before you go to the bar, then order a soda while you're there. If
you must drink while you're out, drink beer or wine instead of pricier cocktails.
Conclusion
Having friendships isn't supposed to be costly, and it doesn't have to be. If you make a conscious
effort, you should be able to stick to your budget without losing your friends.

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List the major goals you hope to accomplish or the assignments you plan to
complete
List the major goals and or assignments that you actually completed
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
List Two (2) things that you are grateful for