In examining your financial condition and setting financial goals, you succeeded in nailing down where you are and where you’re going financially. But it’s important that you conduct these exercises at least annually. Keep the cash in a checking account, and watch it disappear! Wouldn’t it be better to put all the money you’ve saved on that extravaganza toward financing your child’s pay college education? (more…)

Take out your last checking account statement. Add up all ATM withdrawals. Now, tell me where the money went. If you’ve got a really good memory you can probably recall $.75 of every dollar. Most of my clients have a hard time remembering more than half their cash expenditures. Since the best—in fact, the only—way to cut back on unnecessary spending is to figure out exactly where your money is going, you’ve got to improve that percentage. (more…)