15 tips to help couples manage their joint finances

1. - If both husband and wife work, most couples find it easier to have a joint household account for routine expenses and a separate personal account for each partner. Discuss whether you will both contribute equally to the joint account or if you will each contribute in proportion to your respective incomes.
2. - Set aside a regular time for discussion of money matters, preferably a day when neither of you has to work. By scheduling regular times for doing this, less time will be necessary and problems can be avoided.
3. - Discussions will be shorter, calmer and more productive if you discuss facts and figure on paper.
4. - Avoid blaming each other for financial problems. Rigid attitudes, beliefs or expectations about how you think your spouse “should” act will stifle your financial happiness and progress and cause problems in other areas of your lives as well.
5. - During your discussions try not to bring up how your parents or friends handle money. It is irrelevant and will make it more difficult for you and your spouse to reach mutually acceptable financial decisions.
6. - Keep each other regularly informed about all individual assets and debts whether in savings, checking or credit accounts. Avoid surprises, they will often be misinterpreted and cause problems.
7.- Make sure each of you has individual credit cards in your own name whether they were obtained before or after marriage. Two good individual credit histories are better that one joint history when you apply for a loan. If one of you has a blemished credit record, the other’s clean record can be a great advantage.
8. - From time to time, look at other ways of managing your money better, particularly if there is a change in job status that has or might lead to a change in income and expenses.
9. - Divide responsibilities for regular financial tasks as evenly as possible so that neither of you feels you’re shouldering the entire burden.
10- Refusing to take an interest in or failing to develop some competency in something as important as financial matters can be just as destructive to a relationship as insisting on complete control in such matters.
11. - Using money to control your spouse, as emotional blackmail to get your way or to bolster your self-esteem is likely to lead to retaliation either financially or in some aspect of your relationship.
12. -Make sure that you both discuss and agree about the use of any expected or unexpected windfall. If one spouse receives a windfall of money and makes a decision about its use without the agreement of the other, can seriously damage the trust you have established and harm your entire relationship.
13. - Involve your children in your family financial discussions and decisions as much as possible. Children usually want to be involved in family financial decisions that affect them, such as plans for a vacation, or whether to buy a new television or a VCR. They find out about them anyway, and are even more frightened and insecure when they see you attempting to hide such problems from them.
14. - If one of the thinks that your own or your spouse’s spending has gotten out of control, or if one of you has constant or frequent worries about money that you can’t resolve together, seek help immediately from a professional financial counselor.
15. - Develop some short and long range financial goals to together, and check your progress toward such goals as through the use of a net worth statement.

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Ten Basic Rules of Money Management

Money Management article featuring 10 essential rules.

1. PLAN- Plan for the future, major purchases and periodic expenses.
2. SET FINANCIAL GOALS- Determine short, mid and long range financial goals.
3. SAVE- Save for periodic expenses, such as a car and home maintenance. Save 5%-10% of your net income. Accumulate 3 to 6 months salary in an emergency fund.
4. KNOW YOUR FINANCIAL SITUATION- Determine monthly living expenses, periodic expenses and monthly debt payments. Compare outgo to monthly net income. Be aware of your total indebtedness.
5. DEVELOP A REALISTIC BUDGET- Follow your budget as closely as possible. Evaluate your budget. Compare actual expenses to planned expenses.
6. KEEP A RECORD OF DAILY EXPENDITURES- Be aware of where your money is going. Use a spending diary to assist you in identifying where adjustments need to be made.
7. DISTINGUISHING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WANTS AND NEEDS- Take care of your needs first. Money should be spent for wants only after needs have been met.
8. DON’T ALLOW EXPENSES TO EXCEED INCOME- Avoid paying only the minimum on your charge cards. Don’t charge more every month than you are paying to your creditors.
9. USE CREDIT WISELY- Use credit for safety, convenience and planned purchases. Determine the amount that you can comfortably afford to purchase on credit. Don’t allow your credit payments to exceed 20% of your net income. Avoid borrowing from one creditor to pay another.
10. PAY YOUR BILLS ON TIME- Maintain a good credit rating. If you are unable to pay your bills as agreed, contact your creditors and explain the situation. Contact Springboard Non-Profit Consumer Credit Management for professional credit debt advice, and inquire about our credit counseling service.

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Follow These 7 Steps to Fix Bad Credit

Good Credit Is Essential In Today's World When you have bad credit it seems like everyone slams the door in your face when you try to obtain and kind of financing or lending. Or they want to charge you an outrageous interest rate because they know that your options are slim to none. If you ever want to buy a home, a car, get a credit card, or apply for certain types of jobs, you need to have good credit. The task to repair your credit may seem overwhelming, but it's actually a fairly easy process. It just takes a little organization and time.
Just remember that your main goal to fix bad credit is to remove as many negative items as possible from your credit report. Then you must add positive trade lines to begin to rebuild your credit. So its like a two layer process. This article will give you an outline of the 7 steps to help you fix bad credit.
Step 1 - Order a copy of your credit report from the three major credit bureaus. This is essential because you can't fix it until you know what you are up against. A 3 bureau report should cost less than $30.
Step 2 - Analyze your credit report and make not of any inaccuracies or out-of-date information. Outdated information is anything older than 7 years. These can easily be removed. You are going to dispute anything that you do not agree with, anything that is not 100% accurate, and anything that is outdated.
Step 3 - Write a dispute letter to each of the credit bureaus and also the creditors. This is the part that takes some effort and organization. You can dispute the negative items online with any of the three bureaus or you can type up a letter and sent it to each bureau. In your letter be sure to provide your personal information (name, address, social security, date of birth), the account or tradeline that you are disputing, and the reason why you are disputing it (inaccurate, out of date, never late, etc.). I also recommend that you include a copy of your drivers license as proof of your identity and current address. Many times the credit bureau will ask for this so it's best to send it in the first place to avoid wasting time.
Step 4 - Wait. The credit bureaus have 30 days to investigate your dispute. After their investigation you will receive a response, which will say whether the item that you disputed was deleted or verified. If the negative item is removed, then that's great news. If the item is verified then you can wait for the item to fall off after the 7 year mark, or you can dispute the item again. Sometimes the dispute letter will work on the second or third time. Continue this process until you feel that no more negative items can or will be removed.
Step 5 - Once you've cleaned up your credit as much as possible, you should get a secured credit card to help you rebuild your credit. This will add a positive trade line to your credit report.
Step 6 - Late payments and maxed out credit cards will affect your credit negatively so make sure you pay all of your bills on time and avoid overspending. Don't let all of your hard work go to waste by letting your credit go down the tubes. Handle your credit responsibly. As you make on-time payments to your credit card, you should be able to apply for an unsecured credit card. Continue to add positive trade lines to your credit report.
Step 7 - Protect your newly repaired credit. A credit monitoring program is a good investment. They usually cost less than $15 per month and they will alert you if there are any changes in your credit- negative or positive. It is a great way to protect yourself from identity theft.

By: Patricia C Jordan