Personal Finance Today

I love my people but something has to change.

Who in this world is going to speak to Hispanics in a loving way? In a way where Hispanics can get educated and know how to take care of their personal finances. I read a lot about Hispanics in Hispanic Business Review, Hispanic Trending, Entrepreneur.com but everywhere I read its about marketing to Hispanics. Everyone wants to know how to Market to Hispanics. Marketing to Hispanics does not help us build our economy, it does the opposite.

If you help Hispanics in the area of Personal Finance, they can earn their way to becoming homeowners instead of renters. Not all Hispanics rent but the majority do. It’s not unusual to find more than one family living in a rented home. First of all, you need a SS Number to qualify for a home loan, now how are 1st & 2nd generation Hispanics going to get approved for a loan without a SS Number? They won’t qualify so they rent.

2nd & 3rd Generation Hispanics such as myself are homeowners because we have been educated in finance and we qualify for mortgages. My heart goes out to all Hispanics who are busting their butts, working hard for a living, but using that money for the weekend or to purchase vehicles.

I wish I could sit down with more Hispanics and show them how to retire with dignity, with pride, but more importantly, with money. I’m going to change my family tree forever, will you?

Debt Free Hispanic ( http://www.debtfreehispanic.com )

The internet has infiltrated every aspect of our modern lives. We can watch movies, listen to music, talk with friends, and make phone calls online. We can buy a car, buy a house, or meet a future spouse, all online. Why should our banking be any different? Online banking is not only convenient it is safe, as long as you are responsible with your banking practices.

Banks are really hyping up online banking. They offer special incentives for opening checking and savings accounts online; higher interest rates, free checking, free personalized checks, the list goes on and on. What are the advantages to using online banking? Well, there are many. First of all, many banks offer higher rates for your savings or checking accounts if you use online banking. The higher your interest rate is for either of these accounts, the more money you make every year.

Banks want you to use their online services because it saves them money. If a person can use online banking to electronically pay a bill or transfer money from one account to another, that means their phone bankers or tellers do not have to do this, enabling them to help more customers and in the end making the bank more money. So, the more customers use online banking the more business the bank can do, and the more profitable they are. More profit for your bank isn’t always a bad thing; if the bank is profitable then they may offer more incentives like even higher interest rates, which means more money in your pocket if you have an interest bearing account. Who doesn’t like more money?

Online banking can have a seedier side. In today’s climate of identity theft, one can never be too careful with personal information. Many banks require username and passwords to access account information online. Security questions are another method these sites verify customer identity. When choosing usern (more…)

Eastern philosophy is based on the concept of balance. The symbol of Yin/Yang illustrates the theory. (If you can’t visualize this symbol, a Google search will lead you to several illustrations of the Yin/Yang.) Day and night, good and evil, pleasure and pain, inner strength and physical strength are examples of opposites that need each other in order to maintain equilibrium.

The approach commonly used in personal financial planning focuses on a rigid set of rules that works well in business budgeting but fails too often when used by individuals. In developing a business plan the primary day-to-day expenses, such as rent and utilities are identified first. Then the next level of expenses is listed, and so on. Having all expenses prioritized in this manner allows for a systematic reduction of expenses when income targets are not met.

Individuals are told to do something similar. Review all personal expenditures and categorize them into two categories, “needs” and “wants”, forming a table.

After you pay for all your “needs”, you can then decide which “wants” can be fulfilled with whatever money that’s left after the “needs” are paid for. People fail to meet their goals with this system for several reasons:

1. We live in an “instant gratification” society. We’re encouraged to buy now and pay later making the distinction between “needs” and “wants” difficult.

2. The rigidity of partitioning all expenses in a table form is intimating requiring a level of discipline that few people have.

3. No expense fits neatly into either category. For example, you can pay $500.00 a month in rent or $5,000.00 a month. There’s no question that you “need” a place to live but there certainly is a “want” component in determining how expensive a place you decide to live in.

Devel (more…)