How can I learn to manage my personal finances?
I’m a recent college grad with a pretty good full-time job, but as far as overall budgeting goes and just managing my finances and being smart with my money, I’m clueless.
I want to learn how to do this, but I don’t know where to start.
Can anyone recommend any books, authors, websites, anything in order to help me understand what I’m doing and how to do it?
I really appreciate your help.
Thank you!
Try David Bach. He’s a no nonsense type of guy and his books breaks down information into individual paragraphs with charts to make it easier to understand.
I recommend the book Start Late, Finish Rich.
http://www.finishrich.com/free_resources/fr_lattefactor.php
Keep in mind that almost all writers (David Ramey, Suze Orman etc) basically say the same thing but in different styles so you just need someone you can get comfortable with.
Another suggestion is use the internet. You have free information at your finger tips
http://finance.yahoo.com/
http://money.cnn.com/
http://www.smartmoney.com/
There is a program that I could not live without.
Microsoft Money.
It has a check register. It shows bars and graphs of where your money is going. It has an excellent budgeting tool.
About $50 at office depot – you might download a free old copy off the net – give it a try.
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References :
The book I recommend is ‘The Total Money Makeover’ by Dave Ramsey. I recommend his website (www.daveramsey.com) as well.
The short form is WRITE a budget for THIS month immediately. If your total income does not EXACTLY match what you plan to do with the money, fix your budget. Once you finish the budget, you are not allowed to do ANYTHING with money that is not in the budget. Repeat the ENTIRE process every month. Note: this is not a budget for the ‘ideal’ month. It is a budget for the CURRENT month. Next month WILL be different.
Judy: MS Money (or Quicken) are excellent for TRACKING your finances. They are WORTHLESS for planing anything.
References :
Try David Bach. He’s a no nonsense type of guy and his books breaks down information into individual paragraphs with charts to make it easier to understand.
I recommend the book Start Late, Finish Rich.
http://www.finishrich.com/free_resources/fr_lattefactor.php
Keep in mind that almost all writers (David Ramey, Suze Orman etc) basically say the same thing but in different styles so you just need someone you can get comfortable with.
Another suggestion is use the internet. You have free information at your finger tips
http://finance.yahoo.com/
http://money.cnn.com/
http://www.smartmoney.com/
References :