Smart Saving Tips And Tempting Tax Tips That Can Help Build A Financial Fortress

By Dee | January 25, 2012

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Enjoy this guest post by Neil Williams and visit the author’s site to let him know you saw him on Frugal Fancy!

Wrought by the 2008 financial meltdown, Obama termed something as “deleveraging” and this has been very painful for the consumers, investors and the financial analysts of the US economy. This awakened the entire economy and shook them into realizing that they have to produce more than just keep on spending money unnecessarily. The advice that applies to the nation as a whole even applies to every individual as the main motive of both the nation and the individuals is to save money and stop borrowing money from lenders.

So, before you start cooking the turkey or wrap gifts for your friends and family members, check whether or not you’re financially fit. The market will follow its own logic and rules irrespective of your preparation for it. In order to make sure that 2012 doesn’t go bad for you and your finances, you should follow certain finance management resolutions. Here are some of them.

I’ll look back and admit my mistakes: Before you start afresh in 2012, you have to resolve to give a retrospective glance at 2011 so that you’re able to locate the mistakes that you committed and thereby resolve not to do them again. You may have been dumb enough to make some dumb money mistakes that shook you all throughout the year. Recognize those blunders so that you can stop repeating them this 2012.

I’ll bargain with my banker without taking out a loan: There are many bank customers who feel that they’ll walk away from a bank account when they can’t keep up with the charges and fees. But this is not the way to adopt as this may hurt your credit score. Therefore, you should resolve to bargain with your banker so that you may get the checking account fees and interest rates on loans that are within your affordability.

I’ll not to forget the Roth IRA conversion taxes: If you’ve been transferring your IRA to a Roth IRA, you should remind yourself of the conversion taxes. Be smart while doing such conversions so that you don’t incur huge fees while doing the same. Your first Roth IRA conversion tax bill is supposed to be included into your 2011 tax return that you’ll file in 2012. Without having cash in hand, don’t take such steps.

I’ll do my homework before buying a home: Yes, statistics says that a large number of homeowners are defaulting on the monthly mortgage loan payments are not even qualifying for the home loan modification program due to the stringent lending criteria. Gather all your documents, shop around among different lenders, determine the loan amount you can afford and save money for paying 20% of the loan down.

I’ll follow a budget: In spite of seeing the extreme credit crunch that is going on nationwide, if you’ve still not been following a budget, you’re truly ignorant. Follow a budget that disregards any kind of unnecessary expenditures so that you can easily stay on track and keep your monthly income more than the expenses.

I’ll curb using my credit cards: If you’ve been using your credit cards like there’s no tomorrow, you should resolve not to do so in 2012. Freeze your credit cards so that you can easily use cash instead of credit and thereby stop being in default on the high interest debts.

Don’t let the new tax laws take a toll on your finances as this may waste a huge amount of dollars. Stay updated about all the laws and follow the smart saving tips mentioned above and enjoy a debt free 2012.

Neil R. Williams is a financial consultant and a writer. He is an active member of DebtCC community too where he discusses issues related to debt and other core finances. Follow www.debtconsolidationcare.com/ to know more about the community.