Managing your Money for Beginners
Resources for learning how to manage your money to fulfill your goals
In This Guide...
Handling your personal finances can be intimidating and tedious. However, if you manage your money effectively you can meet personal financial goals; whether that’s building an emergency fund, saving for a trip, buying a home or finally paying down your student loan debt.
In this guide, we have assembled resources to help you manage your money better and build a basic financial plan. Topics include:
- Following a Budget
- Saving your Money
- Managing your Credit and Debt
- Protecting Yourself
- Learning to Invest
- Planning for Retirement
Check out these featured resources below:
- Money Smart Week at HomeKirstein Business Library has turned Money Smart Week into a virtual opportunity for you to take control of your financial future. It's never too late, it's never too soon. Know yourself. Set your goals. Make a budget. Dance joyously into your financially fit future. The future is NOW!
- New Year, New Financial YouDo you make New Year's resolutions? One great resolution is not to spend more than you make. One way to do that is to look at all your finances, see where you can trim some extra spending, and look at ways you can save.
Best Bets on the Web
- Office of Financial Empowerment | City of BostonThe Office of Financial Empowerment’s mission is to link those seeking financial security and wealth generation with access to capital, financial education, and financial services.
- Consumer.govThe Federal Trade Commission's website on managing your Money
- Smart About Money: Free Online Courses At Your Own Pace and TimeA SAM Course is an in depth guided learning experience. The average course will take approximately 45 minutes to complete and includes valuable tools and resources including worksheets, calculators and quizzes.
Titles I can borrow from home!
How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street by
Investing is simple, but never easy. We carry a lot of investment baggage, including hot tips from friends and the financial media, as well as complicated financial recommendations from Wall Street "experts." Yet the biggest obstacle we face is the tendency to outsmart ourselves. In order to overcome this obstacle, you need to follow straightforward strategies that will consistently push your portfolio ahead of the pack by an additional 3 to 4 percent annually. These are strategies that work in up markets and especially in times of market crisis and panic. Most importantly, these strategies are basic enough for even a kid to understand. Follow the story of Kevin Roth-an eight-year-old who was schooled in simple approaches to sound investing by his father, a seasoned financial planner-and discover how simple it can be to become a successful investor. Learn how to create a portfolio with the widest diversification and lowest costs; one that can move up your financial freedom by a decade and dramatically increase your spending rate during retirement. Hear about fresh new approaches to investing. Listen as they debunk the financial myths and legends that many of us accept as true and show you what it really takes to build long-term wealth with less risk. You'll also learn how not to confuse the unlikely with the impossible.Whether you're young or young-at-heart, the straight-talking advice found here will help you: * Design a portfolio composed of a few basic building blocks that can be "tweaked" to fit your personal needs * Go beyond indexing, which owns the entire market, and actually beat the market * Reengineer your portfolio to stop needlessly paying taxes * Increase your return, regardless of which direction the market goes, by picking the "low-hanging fruit" we all have in our portfolios Engaging and insightful, How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street takes you through Kevin Roth's real-life story, while driving home key strategies and tools you can implement in your own portfolio. With just a little time and a little work, you can become a better investor. With this audio book as your guide, you'll discover how a simpler approach to today's markets can put you on the path to financial independence. For more information, visit www.SecondGraderPortfolio.com.
How to Be Richer, Smarter, and Better-Looking Than Your Parents by
Striking out on your own for the first time is exhilarating. But in a culture full of bad advice, predatory banks, and splurge-now-pay-later temptations, it can also be extremely dangerous--leading you to make financial decisions that could hurt you for years to come. Combine this with a slumped economy, mounds of student loans, and dubious examples from reality TV stars to politicians to your own parents, and it's no wonder so many twenty-somethings are struggling.Twenty-three-year-old Zac Bissonnette--the author of Debt-Free U--knows exactly what you're going through. He demystifies the many traps young people fall victim to in their post-college years. He offers fresh insights on everything from job hunting to buying a car to saving for retirement that will give you a foundation for a secure, stable, and happy life. In the process, he reveals why FICO scores are overrated, online job applications are a waste of time, car loans are for suckers, and credit card rewards are a scam.With detours to discuss wine connoisseurs, Really Broke Housewives, and Lenny Dykstra, Zac shows you how to make better choices today so you can be richer, smarter (and better-looking!) for years to come.
Making Money Simple by
Feeling paralyzed by the overwhelming number of complex decisions you need to make with your money?You don't need to be an expert to achieve financial freedom. You just need a framework that makes the right choices simple and easy to make. Making Money Simple takes you through that much-needed process so you can get on the right track to long-term financial security. This valuable resource provides a solid foundation for all the nuanced personal finance decisions you need to make as you go through your career, hit major life milestones, and look to grow wealth. It's a blueprint for financial achievement-even through tough-to-navigate situations where there are no clear-cut rules.After you listen to Making Money Simple, you'll be able to create your personal plan for success using proven wealth management methods and real-world financial strategies. From basic financial principles to advanced investing techniques, you'll get comprehensive coverage of fundamental financial topics with easy-to-follow advice from author Peter Lazaroff, who draws from his expertise as the Chief Investment Officer of a multi-billion-dollar wealth management firm to give you the tools you need to simplify your financial situation and make the right moves at every opportunity.
