Do You Know How Much Money You Have?

In my life I have met all kinds of people. At least once a week I hear a story about someone who is talking about their finances. I am always amazed at how many people do not know how much money they make, how much money they have in their bank accounts (if any), how much money they have in a retirement account (if any), and how much debt they owe.

I work with many people in my credit repair business and sometimes the stories I hear are shocking. One story that has really bothered me was someone I recently encountered who recently became the owner of her parent’s home. She is in her fifties and she never moved out on her own and as a result never learned about paying bills, saving money, retirement accounts, investing, etc. I have been helping her with creating a budget for herself and identifying how much money she has and how much she needs for monthly bills and expenses.

It really saddens me that she is totally unaware of these things. I sort of blame her parents because they never taught her about money and saving but I partially blame her because in reality everyone knows your parents will not live forever. Sometimes we take our situations for granted and when something traumatic happens we scramble trying to put the pieces back together. Everyone should develop a plan and prepared for anything that might happen, an illness, loss of a job or loved one, car accident, reduction in pay or benefits, long term disability, etc. So many people live day to day that they don't think about their future, what will happen to them if they lose their job or their partner or spouse's income.

Today this is more critical than ever before because companies are not stable and many companies are downsizing. Employees only stay at jobs for a few years and it is difficult to find a company that has a retirement plan or 401(K) or good benefits. Employees can no longer stay at a job until they retire. We can no longer believe that we will remain employed at a job for a long period of time. Today it is time to prepare for your future. Today you must start thinking about your future and developing long term financial goals.

You should begin asking yourself, Where do I want to be in the next five or ten years? What age do I want to retire? Do I have a college savings account for my children to go to college? Do I have life and disability insurance? Do I have health insurance? What will I do if I don't have these things? How will it affect my life? The answers to these questions will help you become better educated about your finances and future goals in life and help you begin to view your life in terms of the future instead of just day to day. For more information on how to reduce your debt and manage your money you can visit my website at http://www.hefreemanenterprises.com/ or contact me at hfreeman@hefreemanenterprises.com. Good luck!