Archive for May, 2010

May 31st, 2010

Money Strategies – Car Insurance

Here are 9 ways to save on car insurance right now!

Want to save  BIG on car insurance immediately?

You may not realize it, but the insurance rates you pay for your car can vary dramatically depending on the insurance company, agent or broker you choose, the auto coverage you request and the kind of car you drive. Thanks to some public information from our friends at Pueblo, other public domain sites, as well as my own articles, here are a number of things you can do right now to lower your car insurance costs.

  • Comparison Shop – Rates for the same car insurance can vary by hundreds of dollars, so it pays to shop around. Ask your friends, check the yellow pages or call your state insurance department. You can also check consumer guides, insurance agents or insurance companies.But don’t shop price alone. The insurer you select should offer both fair prices and excellent service. Quality personal service may cost a bit more, but provides added conveniences, so talk to a number of insurers to get a feeling for the quality of their service. Ask them what they would do to lower your costs. Check the financial ratings of the companies too. Then, when you’ve narrowed the field to three insurers, get price quotes.
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  • Ask for a higher deductible – Car insurance deductibles represent the amount of money you pay before you make a claim. By requesting higher deductibles on collision and comprehensive (fire and theft) coverage, you can lower your costs substantially. For example, increasing your deductible from $200 to $500 could reduce your collision cost by 15% to 30%.  I would not recommend this if you are accident prone.
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  • Drop collision and/or comprehension coverage on older cars – It may not be cost-effective to have collision or comprehensive auto coverage’s on cars worth less than $1000 because any claim you make would not substantially exceed annual cost and deductible amounts. Auto dealers and banks can tell you the worth of cars.
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  • Eliminate duplicate medical coverages – If you have adequate health insurance, you may be paying for duplicate medical coverage in your auto policy. In some states, eliminating this coverage could lower your personal injury protection (PIP) cost by up to 40%.
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  • Buy a “low profile” car- Before you buy a new or used car, check into insurance costs. Cars that are expensive to repair, or that are favorite targets for thieves, have much higher insurance costs. Write to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 1005 North Glebe Road, Arlington, VA 22201 and ask for the Highway Loss Data Chart.
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  • Consider area insurance cost if you are making a move – Costs tend to be lowest in rural communities and highest in center cities where there is more traffic congestion.
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  • Take advantage of low mileage discounts – Some companies offer discounts to motorists who drive fewer than a predetermined number of miles a year.
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  • Find out about automatic seat belts or air bag discounts – You may be able to take advantage of discounts on some coverage’s if you have automatic seat belts and/or air bags.
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  • Inquire about other discounts – Some insurers offer discounts for more than one car, no accidents in three years, drivers over 50 years of age, driver training courses, anti-theft devices, anti-lock brakes and good grades for students.

SPECIAL NOTE: For more information and tips on auto insurance and all other types of insurance, call the National Insurance Consumer Helpline (NICH) at 1-800-942-4242

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The truth is the average consumer can eliminate all debt including their mortgage with the money they currently earn in an average 7.5 years. I have been teaching people how to do this for years and you can see how it is done yourself by receiving the free Debt Freedom Mini-Course via email.

You might also want to know that that eliminating all debt is like getting a 40% Tax-free Salary Increase.  If you don’t believe me, read the blog about it.

 

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May 27th, 2010

Divorce and Debt Advice

In Divorce, Debt and Credit , you learned that until you are divorced financially you are still joined at the hip in debt.  This article continues with more advice on the divorce and debt arena from some pretty savvy divorce and debt folks I know.

Experian

Experian says, “There are several ways you can prevent credit obligations from making divorce more difficult – and reestablish your own distinct credit lines after divorce occurs. You may wish to consider the following:

  • Communicate with your ex-spouse. Make as clean a financial cut as possible.
  • Communicate with your creditors. Decide which credit belongs to whom, then ask each company and bank that extended you credit to transfer the debt to the name of the person who will be responsible.
  • During divorce negotiations, keep your joint bills current, even if you ultimately will have no responsibility for the debt. If you don’t, your creditors could become more reluctant to release one party from joint liability.
  • Ask the credit grantor to remove your spouse’s name as an authorized user or close the joint account to additional charges.
  • If your spouse runs up large amounts of debt, you should cancel as many of the accounts as possible. Inform all creditors, in writing, that you are not responsible for these debts. This may not prevent them from trying to collect, but it does show that you attempted to act responsibly.
  • Upon your divorce settlement, you and your ex-spouse might consider obtaining individual consolidation loans to cover your share of the joint bills. Pay off the joint bills with your individual loans and close all joint accounts. This helps ensure you’ll be responsible only for those bills you agreed to pay. It also will help you establish or reestablish credit in your own name. “

Points To Ponder From Yours Truly

Though critically important for surviving this terrible time, emotions and so many other issues divert attention away from personal credit and its impact. Here then is a checklist and summary for a potential divorce in order to best protect your credit and rating:

  • Get a bank account in your name only.
  • Get at least one unsecured credit card in your name only. At a minimum get a secured credit card but in your name only. (This should occur whether divorcing or not.)
  • Ask to freeze any joint accounts with an outstanding asset or liability (bank, credit card, loans, etc.) so that both signatures are required before any transactions can be made.
  • Notify all creditors in writing (and call them). Document dates and who spoken to.
  • Have joint accounts closed if a zero balance or if possible have the account placed in the primary responsible party’s name only.
  • Instruct all creditors that you want all authorized users removed except the primary holder.
  • Inform all creditors you are not responsible for charges from that point on if not in your name.
  • Get copies of your 3 credit reports and inform all credit bureaus when the divorce is final. Make every effort to separate your credit file from that of your former spouse.

The primary party of any credit may have to re-qualify with the lender. This also means whoever will be responsible for a mortgage will probably have to refinance in order to remove the secondary party’s responsibility.

MyVesta.com and Divorce.net

MyVesta.org adds the following great suggestions: “Make sure your name is listed on your utility accounts, an item often overlooked by many. When you go to get credit, they often look to see if you have a phone number in your name. If you don’t, even if you are listed in the phone book at that number, it can be problematic.

“Before signing the divorce papers, consider one addendum: change of name authorization. Crazy as it seems, many states require your ex-spouse’s signature before issuing you a driver’s license or other ID in a previous or maiden name. Men who added hyphens during marriage could encounter identity trouble, as well.”

Divorce.net offers very fitting final thoughts:  “Your spouse may be in contempt of court for disobeying a court order that requires him [or her] to pay certain bills. However, if you are jointly liable to a creditor as in the case of a mortgage or co-signed credit applications, your spouse’s contempt of court is NO EXCUSE for your non-payment. It simply isn’t a legally sufficient defense to say, “It’s no longer my responsibility because the court ordered my spouse to pay.”

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The average consumer can eliminate all debt including their mortgage with the money they currently earn in an average 7.5 years. I have been teaching people how to do this for years and you can see how it is done yourself by receiving the free Debt Freedom Mini-Course via email.

You might also want to know that that eliminating all debt is like getting a 40% Tax-free Salary Increase.  If you don’t believe me, read the blog about it.

May 24th, 2010

Divorce, Debt and Credit

Divorce, Debt & Credit… Facts you need to know.  Until your debt and credit are divorced, you are not divorced!

 

Before a divorce, during a divorce, and after getting a divorce you need to concern yourself with credit… credit establishment, credit files and credit scores. Though divorce and credit is a concern for both men and woman, woman tend to have the greater credit difficulty due to societal standards. Therefore, I encourage woman of any age or marital status to learn as much as possible from this and other articles.

But for all men and woman, essential credit and financial matters must be addressed when contemplating a divorce in order for either and/or both parties to fiscally survive. Even if legally divorced, until finances are divorced, there is still a partnership as will soon be apparent.

Here are some key points concerning credit that should be dealt with.

Joint Accounts – Joint Responsibility

The Federal Trade commission says: “If you’re considering divorce or separation, pay special attention to the status of your credit accounts. If you maintain joint accounts during this time, it’s important to make regular payments so your credit record won’t suffer. As long as there’s an outstanding balance on a joint account, you and your spouse are responsible for it.”

If you divorce, you may want to close joint accounts or accounts in which your former spouse was an authorized user. Ask the creditor to convert these accounts to individual accounts.

By law, a creditor cannot close a joint account because of a change in marital status, but can do so at the request of either spouse. A creditor, however, does not have to change joint accounts. The creditor can require you to reapply for credit on an individual basis and then, based on your new application, extend or deny you credit. In the case of a mortgage or home equity loan, a lender is likely to require refinancing to remove a spouse from the obligation.

SPECIAL NOTE: any time you open an individual account, you may authorize another person to use it. A creditor who reports (good or bad) credit history to a credit bureau, will report it in the file of any person you have named as “authorized user” as well as your own file.  

BEWARE – Defaulting on a Joint Account

Regardless of any court decision, if one joint account holder defaults on a loan, I guarantee the creditor will not care who the court ordered to pay it. The creditor will definitely come after the other joint account holder. Even if declaring bankruptcy, a creditor will make every effort to reclaim their lost revenue or property from the surviving spouse.

Therefore be fully aware that if a creditor does not agree to transfer joint accounts to an individual, then both of you are still responsible for full repayment to the creditor, regardless of how you’ve agreed to split the bills in the divorce settlement. If a spouse fails to make a payment, a creditor will come after the remaining joint holder, regardless of any divorce agreement. Additionally both joint holders will have negative comments on their credit file regardless of fault. 

Point To Ponder

And from yours truly I add this. Until you are financially divorced with your own credit established, you remain tied to your former spouse. Divorce is not the tidy little package some people would like to think it is. It is not simply a matter of walking out one day. Over and above issues of child support and alimony, there are other financial ramifications beyond the emotional ones. The greater the communication at these times on both parts, the less of an impact there will be to both parties and the sooner the final separation will occur.

Communication is critical in a marriage. It is just as critical in a divorce.


 

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The average consumer can eliminate all debt including their mortgage with the money they currently earn in an average 7.5 years. I have been teaching people how to do this for years and you can see how it is done yourself by receiving the free Debt Freedom Mini-Course via email.

You might also want to know that that eliminating all debt is like getting a 40% Tax-free Salary Increase.  If you don’t believe me, read the blog about it.


 

May 23rd, 2010

Poll – Ebook Cover

Here is a poll that may be of interest.


“NO DEBT IS SEXY – Sex is fun and stimulating but zero debt is even more so.” Would an E-book cover of that title interest you enough to look inside?
Yes as zero debt is of interest to me.
No zero debt has no interest for me
Yes as sex is of interest to me.
No as I have no interest in such things.
I have no idea what you are talking about.
I would not waste my time
  

pollcode.com free polls



 

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May 21st, 2010

Money Talk

Money Talk or “Debt Us Do Part”  is  about financial questions for a couple’s positive “state of the union”.

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Whether you are thinking of getting married, you are a newly wed, or you are a seasoned couple of marital bliss, you must have a joint money talk that includes debt and credit. Money talk is simply not an option. This debt and money talk article can open doors of communication and enhance the success of your marriage. In the case of pre marital situations, money talk may allow you to realize “problems” before they even start.

I firmly believe monet talk offers each couple a superior chance of surviving separation and/or divorce because of financial stress.  It opens the doors of financial communication.

I strongly suggest 4 areas of communication for any couple regardless of how long they have been together:

Hidden Debt and Personalities

  • Openly and without prejudice or pre-judgment share each other’s credit report and ask questions about past performances. For example: Why are there late pays? Why is there no credit history? Explain the bankruptcy. What is this judgment about?
  • Determine and discuss each person’s ability to be a spender or a saver. Do you have a tendency to live paycheck to paycheck or do you have a consuming desire to put at least something away for a rainy day? Do you track every dime or is anything under $10 unimportant to track?
  • Discuss any debts not listed in the credit report.
  • Determine who has what credit lines and what is each person’s feelings on separate credit lines, joint lines, becoming an authorized user and/or co-signing any loans. Similarly discuss checking and savings accounts.
  • Discuss who has what assets and should they be kept separated or joined. (Should there be a pre-nuptial agreement?)

Goal Setting

  • Where are you going and how will you know when you get there?
    Set specific goals together for the next year, 5 years, and 20 years.
  • Read and discuss How to Budget Money and  5  Steps To Change Any Habit (as well as other motivation articles under Best Motivation blog category.)
  • Commit a plan of action to paper stating how you will be accomplishing your goals.
  • List contingency plans when the inevitable “never expected emergency” pops up.

Budgeting and CEO

  • Who will carry the ball?   Who will have responsibility for paying the bills and balancing the checkbook?
  • How will you deal with existing bills? Especially for newlyweds? Will each continue to pay individually or will you join incomes to meet expenses?
  • Together plan out your Budget.
  • Frankly discuss “what if’s”.  No one plans on bankruptcy but what if the bottom falls out? Will you both declare so the one spouse does not have to absorb the other’s debt? What if divorce does happen? What if one spouse dies or becomes disabled? “What if…” and fill in the rest.
  • Will one person be assigned to listen to the partner but ultimately make the final financial decision or will both have an equal voice?

Estate Planning

  • Discuss the existing life, health, and disability needs of each partner. Does it meet current and future needs?
  • Talk to a reputable health and disability representative and determine your needs.
  • Based upon your future goals, what investment strategies do you intend on initiating and when?
  • Who will do your taxes and do you need tax strategies to offset tax payment?
  • How will you develop an emergency savings and how much will it be?
  • Are there education needs expected?

Now for the ultimate marriage counseling tip. Reschedule this exact same discussion for next year and the year after and the year after that. Just call it your “Annual State of the Union Discussion”.

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Special Note:  The average consumer can eliminate all debt including their mortgage with the money they currently earn in an average 7.5 years. I have been teaching people how to do this for years and you can see how it is done yourself by receiving the free Debt Freedom Mini-Course via email.

You might also want to know that that eliminating all debt is like getting a 40% Tax-free Salary Increase.  If you don’t believe me, read the blog about it.

May 17th, 2010

Financial Notebook

Here is a must read article by Nikki Willhite and offered by Dollar Stretcher.com

“What is a financial notebook? A financial notebook is basically a record of “All Things Money” when it comes to your family. Your book should have everything you (or someone else) need to know about your finances and other matters of daily living.

Why do you need a financial notebook? I can’t stress how valuable it may be to you someday or to your family…”  Read More About a Financial Notebook Contents and Construction….


 

May 13th, 2010

Helping Others Can Be Debt Disaster

The 4 Dreaded D’s of finance?

Death…Divorce…Disease or Disability…Downsizing or Disqualification

Helping others is not one of these 4 but certainly should or at least could be. Here are some guidelines for helping others to avoid a debt disaster.

Take Care of Yourself First

I cannot tell you how many folks I have counseled who got in over their head because they were helping others who had one of the 4 “D’s”. Either that or they were helping others who should have been responsible enough to take care of them selves.

Family members tug at our heartstrings and can so often lead us where angels fear to tread. Benjamin Franklin strongly suggested that we should never do something for another that they should be doing for themselves.

A hand for helping others  so often becomes a crutch to a dependent and the person with the good heart is so very vulnerable to getting sucked dry. And the worst of it is that the person with a good heart will not listen to advice until it is too late. If you know of someone who is considering helping others, the best you can possibly do is suggest they talk to a financial or pastoral counselor first. It is possible the helping heart might be able to see the options of developing a long-term responsible attitude, but normally the impending doom on the loved one usually overshadows such wisdom.

Key Questions

If you or someone you know is struggling with this issue, the individual must  ask:

  1. “Can  I afford it?” Do not delude yourself into thinking this is a temporary loan. If the individual repays the loan, great; but chances are when you give the money away, it is gone forever and you must assume you will never see it again. But additionally you should not be offering money except from excess funds. Never give away basic budgeted money or money from a necessary savings or investment. This includes simply co-signing a loan. You must be prepared to assume the entire amount.
  2. “What is the individual’s background?” The potential borrower who is hard working and frugal is a very different scenario from the person who is always getting fired and is late on their bills every month. You as a lender must view the individual asking for money just as a potential creditor does, even if you know you may never see the money again. A good question may be, why didn’t they ask a normal lender in the first place?
  3. “Are there other people who will be affected by your decision?” For example, offering assistance to a very responsible dependent but who has very irresponsible younger siblings could be an error in the making. What will be the result of such an action? You certainly do not want your good intentions to boomerang.
  4. “What are the conditions?” The question could be whether or not you want to attach any conditions? Is this a loan or a gift? What is the repayment schedule? What happens if the loan is not repaid? There is a difference between what you know in your heart what you will and will not do, and what is discussed in a transaction. They should be identical, however real life does not work this way.

The dread four D’s cannot be avoided in most cases. They are part of life. But helping others and not taking care of ourselves is simply a debt disaster in the making. Use the key questions above to avoid bad feelings and debt disaster.

May 10th, 2010

How Much is a Ton of Debt Interest?

Everyone knows that when you have  mortgage you will pay a ton of debt interest.  So exactly how much is “a ton of debt interest”.  If we stretch out our mortgage to its contracted length, we will have paid about 3 times the value of the mortgage in debt interest in just that one debt.

For example, to purchase a modest $100,000 home we will have to earn enough to cover taxes.  So we will need about $400,000 gross to have $300,000 net, to pay $200,000 in bottom line profit (debt interest), so that we can live in our modest $100,000 home.  What’s wrong with this picture?

That means we have to work like a slave for decades, just to fatten someone else’s pockets because the $200,000 in debt interest is theirs and not yours.   Debt interest is siphoning your wealth away.  This is money that you could be investing to develop additional wealth for our family.

Admittedly, a mortgage is the only way that most of us can buy a home. But we certainly do not have to drag it out any longer than necessary. In fact, in other articles you can learn how to pay off your mortgage in the shortest possible time. (See 40% Tax-free Salary Increase.) But for now, let’s just recognize the cost involved if you don’t pay it off in advance.

A 30-year mortgage for a $175,000 home at 8% has a monthly payment of $1500.  With 25 years to go, the monthly interest on this loan is about $1390.  That means your “friendly” financial institution just charged you $1390 in debt interest for the use of their $110 that month… and its legal!

If you think I’m kidding, look at your payment or ask the bank how much is going to debt  interest and how much to principle;  or check out the following examples.

  • 30 year 08% mortgage after 15 years, the monthly interest is 77%
  • 25 year 07% mortgage after 05 years, the monthly interest is 91%
  • 20 year 10% mortgage after 10 years, the monthly interest is 73%
  • 30 year 09% mortgage after 20 years, the monthly interest is 63%

If you have not already concluded that a mortgage is a bad thing, look up the term “mortgage” in the dictionary.  It is a derivative of two Latin words: mortuus means “Death” and gage meaning “Grip”.  It is a “Death Grip”.

Clearly I am not saying do not buy a house.  What I am saying is get that mortgage paid off and stop paying all that debt interest! Even if you just add a little extra against the principle each month, the results can be staggering.

The truth is the average consumer can eliminate all debt including their mortgage with the money they currently earn in an average 7.5 years. I have been teaching people how to do this for years and you can see how it is done yourself by receiving the free Debt Freedom Mini-Course via email.

You might also want to know that that eliminating all debt is like getting a 40% Tax-free Salary Increase.  If you don’t believe me, read the blog about it.

May 5th, 2010

Is Compound Debt Interest Killing You?

Why do you have month left after the money? Perhaps it is because you are up to your eyeballs in debt interest. Perhaps it is because you are dealing with the fallacy that monthly payment is the only way to do business. Of course your debt interest just happens to follow right along. So is a monthly payment your only option? I have news for you. It isn’t. The monthly payment is nothing more than the propaganda developed by advertising and which the IRS has aptly named “Gotta have it now” syndrome and its costing you a fortune in compound debt interest.

When on a car lot, have you noticed that after a little small talk the question eventually comes up, “What are you expecting your monthly payment to be?” The ploy is very simple. That shiny new car you just have to have does not cost $20,000. It only costs $400. Of course “monthly payment” is rarely mentioned above a whisper… and have you ever heard “debt interest” at a time like this? . I Know. I use to be a retail manager and this is how we trained our employees. “Anything in the store that you want is yours for less than $42.” (“But don’t mention what the debt interest will be unless asked.”)

Have you ever notice the large bold price of the monthly payment. If it weren’t for the Truth In Lending Law, the total price might not even appear. But the total price usually does appear in some small out of the way place in hopes you will never see it. And that is the point. You must reshape your thinking to think in terms of total cost and not monthly payment if you are to beat the debt trap you find yourself drowning in.

Albert Einstein was once asked what was the most powerful thing he had ever witnessed. His simple genius was quick to answer, “compound debt interest”. The following examples illustrate compound debt interest.

Finance a $2000 item at 19.8 %. By making minimum monthly payment it will take 31 years to pay it off and more than $10,000 in compound debt interest.

On the other hand, if you were to invest $300 per month at 10% (i.e. mutual fund) for 20 years the compound interest would accumulate your investment to $227,810.65. That amount would generate $1,898.41 per month for the rest of your life.

Ask yourself the question, “Do you want compound debt interest working against you or for you?” The choice is yours. But until we shut down the wealth sucking valves that are drowning us in debt interest, we will never get ahead. We need to live by the creed, “If I can’t afford to pay for it in cash, I can’t afford it.”

Is it essential to do so? To answer that ask yourself how your financial future is looking. Do you like juggling monthly payments and never quite having enough left over? Do you like paying 4-6 times more for an item than its value? If so, continue on the way you have been going.

But if you are tired of it, get out of the monthly payment rut.  The truth is the average consumer can eliminate all debt including their mortgage with the money they currently earn in an average 7.5 years. I have been teaching people how to do this for years and you can see how it is done yourself by receiving the free Debt Freedom Mini-Course via email.

You might also want to know that that eliminating all debt is like getting a 40% Tax-free Salary Increase.  If you don’t believe me, read the blog about it.

May 3rd, 2010

How To Budget Money

What defines good personal budgets? What expenses should you include in the financial worksheet? What can you do about variable expenses in your financial worksheet? How can you personalize a financial worksheet?  To answer these questions you must start with a question that may seem has nothing to do with how to Budget money.  But the truth is, it is the beginning and the end of developing good personal budgets.

Where are you going?

The key to a good personal budgets or a financial worksheet plan is knowing where you have been and where you want to go.  Knowing where you have been is done by insuring you have written down where all you money has been going. You can find this information by categorizing and reviewing your last 6 months of check registers or other accounting methods you have been employing. If you have no such method in place, you have just uncovered your main budgeting problem, which is the first item to be corrected.

If on the other hand you use a check register or other means but have numerous general entries such as “cash” or “miscellaneous” or other unidentifiable labels, this too must be corrected. You MUST know where your money is going before you can divert it. I recommend carrying a small spiral notebook for at least 2 weeks (longer is far better) and recording every cash transaction. I have never had a client or student do this who has not come back to me amazed by what they had learned from this experience.

Financial Worksheet Labels

Once you have a record of all your expenses for a decent period of time, the remainder of the financial worksheet is relatively easy. The following labels can be used to guide you in listing what debts and expenses go where in organizing your finances. Nothing from the list below is written in concrete. So adjust the labels to suit your particular needs. Where an entry is variable, enter a monthly average based upon past history and expected futures.

Suggested labels for financial worksheet

  • Income:   Your Income, Spouse’s Income, Other Income
  • Expenses:
    1. Fixed Expense: Rent (not mortgage), Other Housing (maintenance, association fees etc., Child Care, Child Support, Alimony, House insurance, Car Insurance, Medical/Dental Insurance, Life Insurance, Other Insurance.
    2. Variable Expenses:  Utilities, Phone, Cell Phone, Cable, Internet, Other Utility, Transportation (gas, maintenance, taxi), Food, Clothing, Medical Expense, Personal, Entertainment, Savings, Other Variable Expenses.
  • Secured Debt – Those bills/debts which have a tangible asset (Mortgage, Auto, etc)
  • Un-secured Debt – Those debts which offer nothing tangible that can be taken from you for non-payment (credit cards, medical bills, etc.)

Federal Guidelines For Household Budgets

The following are recommended percentages for household expenses. They are offered by the federal government in bankruptcy counseling nationwide. They should be used only as guidelines.

Housing 25%

Transportation 15%

Utilities 10%

Food 10%

Clothing 5%

Medical 10%

Personal 5%

Other 5%

Savings 10%

See also How To Budget in and Emergency