May 19, 2012
Although you may not want to think about the state of your finances, there is no getting away from the fact that money is an essential part of everyday life. This article is full of tips that will help you get your finances under control.
Be sure to include your post tax income. For starters, include all after-tax money that you get each month from your salary, alimony, child support, rental income, or other sources. Make sure your expenses are less than your income on a monthly basis. A great way to consolidate many bills into a smaller payment is by getting personal loans and these loans are typically desired because they offer a much lower rate of interest. You can imagine how much money you will save by consolidating higher interest loans into a personal loan with a lower rate.
To make this process effective, you should compose a detailed listing of your expenditures. You need to also include quarterly and yearly payments. Some of these expenses may be home improvement and repair costs, or car maintenance and registration payments. You need to also write down other, smaller things that you pay for daily or weekly, such as child care or grocery shopping. You should make sure that your list is as comprehensive as possible to ensure you have a true picture of what you spend.
There are always things you can eliminate from any budget. One easy thing you can do is bring coffee from home instead of stopping for expensive lattes on the way to work. Seek out anything similar to this that you can get rid of without difficulty prior to putting together a lasting financial plan.
See what improvements you can make to help you lower your utility bills. Windows can be a weak link in your homes armor by letting out heat in the winter and cool air in the summer. Make sure your windows are properly insulated. An on-demand hot water tank is a good way to reduce spending. Have a plumber come out and fix any leaky pipes you have to help lower your monthly water bill. Be sure to run your dishwasher only when it is full, so you can make the best use of it.
If you can, purchase new energy efficient appliances. These energy-saving appliances help you save on your utilities. Also, when you are not using something, unplug it. You can save both money and energy by doing this.
Some home improvements pay for themselves over time with the reduction in utility expenses. For example, replacing your roof and installing new insulation prevents you from losing energy for both heating and cooling because of insufficient structural materials.
Try to save money by being careful with appliances. Even though you are spending money to repair or replace items, you will see a savings in the long run.
Posted by admin under Personal Finance | Comments (0)
March 26, 2012
For the sixth year in a row the Village of Nobleford is preparing to drop property taxes.
While the final figures have yet to be approved for the 2012 budget, the village has confirmed it will be dropping the municipal portion of the taxes again this year and is looking to those with requisitioning power over local municipalities to follow their example.
Nobleford has been successful in managing its internal revenues and expenses but is subject to outside financial requisitions that have continued to go up year after year, said Mayor Marguerite Wobick.
Nobleford village council encourages these organizations to develop and implement strategies that would reduce costs while delivering quality services.
CAO Kirk Hofman said village council is considering whether to implement a large decrease for the 2012 budget or consider the option of planning for continual reductions in taxes over future budgets. In 2011 a home valued at $300,000 in the village paid less than $1,000 in property taxes and that number is expected to drop in 2012.
A healthy financial situation allows us to do this, he added.
The current budget debate has the 2012 village budget pegged at $3 million. Included in the budget is continued contributions to financial reserves which are also near the $3 million mark. The budget also includes the villages own development, marketing and sales of 24 new industrial lots along with the purchase of a new fire truck in cooperation with the County of Lethbridge.
The budget also calls for a reduction in water utility rates and an increase in councillor honorariums and staff salaries.
Hofman noted in the recent Financial Indicators Report from the Alberta government, Nobleford ranked as having nearly the highest asset and financial savings per capita along with the lowest property taxes in the province compared to other smaller municipalities.
At the heart of the villages ability to reduce property taxes over the past five years is the rate at which Noblefords population has grown in that same time period.
In the recently released 2011 federal census it was noted Nobleford, with a population of 1,000, had experienced at 45 per cent growth since the 2006 federal census. The largest sector of growth came mostly by way of young families.
Growth is a result of everything weve done.
Hofman said everything the village has put in place over the past five years from a new water system to planned development is all focused on growing the community. It all works together.
Hofman said the village council plans to finalize the budget figures in April with a reduction in property taxes.
This is what we planned on doing. Its nice to see it work out.
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March 24, 2012
Happy Sunday, folks. Im going to try out something new and see if it sticks — a look back at some of the stories you may have missed on the City Hall beat.
o Today, we looked at the citys revenue troubles, and gave an update on the proposed 1-cent sales tax that the Legislature OKd last year.
o On Wednesday, we talked about how the city is starting its budget process earlier — and what it means for council members.
o We began the week with some good news for Belhaven-area residents like myself (and really, everyone else in Jackson): bids have gone out on the Fortification Street project, so dirt could fly as soon as May.
And heres this weeks Buzz if you havent seen it yet.
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March 22, 2012
LAKEWOOD, Calif., March 9, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
The Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) has received notification by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) that it was awarded GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its fiscal year 2011-12 budget.
This award is the highest recognition in governmental budgeting from the GFOA and represents a significant new award for WRD.
In order to receive this prestigious budget award, WRD satisfied nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These stringent guidelines are designed to assess how well an organization’s budget serves as:
A policy document
A financial plan
An operations guide
A communications device
Budget documents must be rated “proficient” in all four categories, and the 14 mandatory criteria within those categories, to receive the award.
Since 2005, WRD’s Finance Department has garnered more than 17 national and state awards for its exceptional finance and budgetary practices.
In an effort to increase the District’s financial transparency and public accountability, the WRD Board of Directors approved the establishment of the District’s Audit & Budget Advisory Committee (ABAC). As a direct result of this Board action, WRD has further increased its financial accountability and transparency with the public, as well as having its efforts recognized by the highly regarded GFOA.
“This award is recognition of WRD’s sound and prudent budgetary practices,” said Albert Robles, President of WRD. “It exemplifies the District’s efforts in providing the public with greater transparency and clarity in financial documentation.”
For budgets including fiscal period 2010, more than 1,250 entities received this honor and only 15 water districts in California were recognized by the GFOA. Award recipients have pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and provide an excellent example for other governments throughout North America.
The Government Finance Officers Association is a nonprofit professional organization serving more than 17,000 government finance professionals throughout North America. The GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting.
WRD is very proud of the way we go about our rate-setting and budget process. In the last seven years, we have won 17 awards from state and national public finance associations for the clarity of our financial documents and transparency of our budgeting process. We are one of only 5 water districts in the entire state to receive the Distinguished Budget Award from the Government Finance Officers Association and the Excellence in Budgeting Award from the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers.
Today WRD kicked off its public budget workshops at its headquarters in Lakewood. For more information on future workshops go to:
http://www.wrd.org/120309_budget_workshop_01.pdf
The Water Replenishment District of Southern California is the regional groundwater management agency that protects and preserves the quantity and quality of groundwater for two of the most utilized urban basins in the State of California. The service area is home to over ten percent of California’s population residing in 43 cities in southern Los Angeles County. WRD is governed by a publicly elected Board of Directors which includes Willard H. Murray, Jr., Robert Katherman, Lillian Kawasaki, Sergio Calderon, and Albert Robles.
For more information, please visit WRD at
www.wrd.org
SOURCE Water Replenishment District of Southern California
Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved
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March 21, 2012
The long-term survival of a business depends on its ability to establish a budget and operate within its confines. Like many business software packages, budgeting and forecasting software reduces the danger of potential human error and facilitates collaboration among departments. Although some of the most important points of the budgeting and forecasting process are the same across industries, some features will appeal more to specific users. You can save weeks of research and costly mistakes by checking out our free buyer’s guide. In just fifteen minutes, the experts at Software Advice can help you narrow down the right software for your organization.
Click here to read the free whitepaper!
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March 19, 2012
There seems to be some confusion about what Participatory Budgeting (PB) is and what it is not. To begin with, PB is not a scheme nor is it mythology (Your vote does count, JT Miller, March 1). As explained in the Vallejo City Councils study session on Feb. 21, PB is an established democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend a portion of a public budget. Community members engage in making decisions through a series of local assemblies and meetings, identify and research viable projects and services to fund and then vote on them.
PB has been used in more than 1,200 cities worldwide in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Elected officials, community groups, as well as the United
Nations and the World Bank have proclaimed PB as a model for democratic government.
As Vallejo citizens, the great potential of this uniquely democratic tool is that it gives us the method and power to decide how to spend the 1 percent sales tax passed by the voters last year. PB provides overall community benefits such as developing newly active and engaged citizenry, more equitable monetary decision making, building and strengthening community, and making government more accountable and efficient. After a long and frustrating experience with bankruptcy and years of extremely reduced services and a lack of funding for projects, Vallejoans could finally have a real say in how our taxpayer dollars are spent!
The question to answer
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March 19, 2012
TORONTO, March 8, 2012 — /PRNewswire/ – TGO Consulting Inc., leading experts in
financial and business systems, officially launches True Sky#x2122; Planning,
Budgeting and Forecasting tool at its CFO Summit Series in Toronto and
Ottawa.
True Sky is a powerful and flexible solution that helps organizations
manage and streamline planning, budgeting forecasting. True Sky
features Excel as its user interface and is designed to be
independently managed by the finance or operations department. The
basic philosophy of True Sky can be best described as: Budget in Excel, Manage in SharePoint and Store in SQL.
In addition, True Sky provides the following benefits:
-
Spreading/calendarization of values
-
Mass adjustments by amount or percentage
-
Attachment of detailed notes, explanations documents
-
Global what-if modeling and unlimited versioning
-
Integration to other business systems
True Sky offers ease of use, centralized control, scalability and
reliability with low cost of ownership. True Sky is based on
experience gathered over 20 years of deploying financial, business and
planning solutions, commented Alan Whitehouse, True Sky Chief
Architect. The solution is already reaping numerous benefits for early
adopters as they have significantly streamlined their planning
processes with True Sky.
Microsoft Canada CFO Brian Armstrong stated, the elegance of the True
Sky product is that it harnesses the power of Microsoft Excel,
SharePoint and SQL Server to deliver a solid and flexible solution for
planning, forecasting and budgeting.
Further information on True Sky can be found at www.TrueSky.com
About TGO Consulting Inc.
Headquartered in Toronto, TGO Consulting has been helping companies since 1988, enabling them to propel their
businesses forward through the implementation of financial and business
systems. TGO is there from the initial installation through the
implementation, providing support at every point along the way. And
after the implementation, TGO works to ensure the client gets continued
value from their investment. The TGO team includes industry certified
experts in leading edge technologies which is how they are able to
deliver on their Mission: Make a Difference, Do it Right, and Do it Together.
SOURCE TGO Consulting Inc.
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March 18, 2012
LAKEWOOD, Calif., March 9, 2012/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –#xA0;The Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) has received notification by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) that it was awarded GFOAs Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its fiscal year 2011-12 budget.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120309/DC67869)
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110121/DC34153LOGO)
This award is the highest recognition in governmental budgeting from the GFOA and represents a significant new award for WRD.
In order to receive this prestigious budget award, WRD satisfied nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These stringent guidelines are designed to assess how well an organizations budget serves as:
- A policy document
- A financial plan
- An operations guide
- A communications device
Budget documents must be rated proficient in all four categories, and the 14 mandatory criteria within those categories, to receive the award.
Since 2005, WRDs Finance Department has garnered more than 17 national and state awards for its exceptional finance and budgetary practices.
In an effort to increase the Districts financial transparency and public accountability, the WRD Board of Directors approved the establishment of the Districts Audit Budget Advisory Committee (ABAC). As a direct result of this Board action, WRD has further increased its financial accountability and transparency with the public, as well as having its efforts recognized by the highly regarded GFOA.
This award is recognition of WRDs sound and prudent budgetary practices, said Albert Robles, President of WRD. It exemplifies the Districts efforts in providing the public with greater transparency and clarity in financial documentation.
For budgets including fiscal period 2010, more than 1,250 entities received this honor and only 15 water districts in California were recognized by the GFOA. Award recipients have pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and provide an excellent example for other governments throughout North America.
The Government Finance Officers Association is a nonprofit professional organization serving more than 17,000 government finance professionals throughout North America. The GFOAs Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting.
WRD is very proud of the way we go about our rate-setting and budget process. In the last seven years, we have won 17 awards from state and national public finance associations for the clarity of our financial documents and transparency of our budgeting process. We are one of only 5 water districts in the entire state to receive the Distinguished Budget Award from the Government Finance Officers Association and the Excellence in Budgeting Award from the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers.
Today WRD kicked off its public budget workshops at its headquarters in Lakewood. For more information on future workshops go to: http://www.wrd.org/120309_budget_workshop_01.pdf #xA0;
The Water Replenishment District of Southern California is the regional groundwater management agency that protects and preserves the quantity and quality of groundwater for two of the most utilized urban basins in the State of California. The service area is home to over ten percent of Californias population residing in 43 cities in southern Los Angeles County. WRD is governed by a publicly elected Board of Directors which includes Willard H. Murray, Jr., Robert Katherman, Lillian Kawasaki, Sergio Calderon, and Albert Robles.
For more information, please visit WRD at www.wrd.org
SOURCE Water Replenishment District of Southern California
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March 18, 2012
Christian Credit Counseling Center wants families to escape debt.
Fargo, ND (PRWEB) March 09, 2012
The total amount of consumer debt in the United States was nearly $2.4 trillion in 2010, or nearly $7,800 per person, and has surely grown during the down economy as more families have turned to credit cards to meet monthly obligations. For college graduates who are starting careers and family life with education loans, estimates are over $20,000 of debt per person. The average credit card debt was $6,500 per person and growing.
Family budgeting is not something society does a good job of teaching and with credit readily available it’s easy to get underwater fast. So where can a person turn to learn budgeting? What if faith is important to that person and incorporating biblical teaching into budgeting decisions is important?
It is important for Christians to be able to recognize financial bondage, but it is equally important to know how to achieve freedom. Financial freedom manifests itself in every aspect of lives–relief from worry and tension about overdue bills, a clear conscience before God and before others, and the absolute assurance that God is in control of our finances.
Christian Steps to Financial Freedom
Christians must transfer ownership of every possession to God. This means money, time, family, material possessions, education and even earning potential for the future. This is essential to experience the Spirit-filled life in the area of finances (see Psalms 8:4-6). It is simple for a person to claim a total transfer of everything to God, but it’s not so simple to do. At first, a person will experience some difficulty in consistently seeking God’s will in the area of material things. But financial freedom comes from knowing God is in control. What a great relief it is to turn financial burdens over to Him.
A Christian must get out of debt altogether. Debt exists when a payment is past due for money, goods or services that are owed to other people. Debt exists when the total value of unsecured liabilities exceeds total assets. In other words, if a person had to cash out at any time, there would be a negative balance in that person’s account. A family’s basic needs are not being met, producing anxiety in the area of financial responsibility.
To attain financial freedom takes a written plan where a family determines living essentials, long-term purchases, elimination of credit purchases and savings.
Learning to Budget
The written budget allows a family to develop a financial path to freedom from debt. Understanding how to create a budget is important and Family Life Credit Services has created a free tool to help families develop a budget – and stick to it.
The Family Budgeting Guide (available as a free download at http://www.familylifecredit.org/education-resources/) includes the forms a family will need, including a budgeting guide, a monthly income and expenses worksheet, and an income allocation worksheet. Using these tools will help a family get on the road to financial freedom.
Family Life Credit Services has been providing credit counseling for over 20 years, helping thousands of families find hope. They are a Christian organization that understands the importance of your faith and have maintained 100% client satisfaction rates. Family Life Credit Services is accredited by the Council on Accreditation (http://www.coastandards.org/).
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/3/prweb9263863.htm
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March 16, 2012
Adaptu knows that finance is personal for everyone and no ones personal financial situation is the same as anyone elses.
Your finances are not the same as your neighbour, your friend, or your co-worker.
One of the many great things about this site is that its completely free. Its free to sign up, its free to get advice, and its free to manage your money.
All we have to do is add our accounts to our personal profile on Adaptu and we will be on the path to getting our finances in order, managing ourbudgets, and achieving our financial goals.
Adaptu Helps You Learn About Money
TheAdaptu websiteis very user friendly and very easy to get started. Their Helpful Hints page provides step by step guidelines on how to add our accounts, how to create a budget, how to set up alerts, and how to project our monthly cash flow.
Adaptu provides users with several money tools to help us learn firsthand about our money. Many other budgeting sites simply ask users to download our account information and then they provide us with alerts and weekly account updates.
Adaptu also provides this service but the quality that sets Adaptu apart from other budget and money management websites is that they help users learn about money, budgeting, and investing with hands on tools.
If we are forced to manage our own money (with a little bit of help from Adaptu) then we are also forced to adapt helpful money habits.
Adaptus helpful tools provide us with a complete overall picture of our finances. We can set and track ourbudget online, we can view and keep track of our investment account performance, track our debt repayment progress, and we can also set up a monthly calendar which helps us manage due dates and important dates.
Adaptu Provides Well Rounded Advice
Adaptuoffers advice from industry professionals on several different topics such as Budget for Life, Love and Money (featuring yours truly), College Savings, 401K How To, as well as Debt Relief.
- David Ning is the Adaptu Budget for Life coach; he brings his expertise fromMoney Ningto Adaptu to help us manage our income and expenses on a daily basis.
- Dorethia Conner is the College Savings coach and expert for Adaptu. She is the President ofConner Coachingwhere she helps people save for their goals.
- Jeremy Vohwinkle is the 4001k How To coach at Adaptu. He helps us manage our retirement savings and 401K plans. You may know Jeremy from his work onGeneration X Finance.
- Glen Craig helps us get out of debt as the Debt Relief coach for Adaptu. Glen also helps people with their finances, their debt, and their budgets atFree From Broke.
Adaptu is Interactive
The Adaptu Community is a place where users can interact with each other, share their stories, ask the Adaptu experts their ask questions and get some answers.
Adaptu also has aMobile Appavailable on iTunes so we can manage our money from anywhere at any time of the day.
This post originally appeared on Dinks Finance.
Now see the 9 steps one writer took to get her finances back on track gt;
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March 13, 2012
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
STOCKHOLM -(Dow Jones)- Swedish companies expect the krona to be weaker against the euro on average this year than it currently is, a survey of chief financial officers published Thursday showed.
The survey by Swedish bank SEB and the financial services company Deloitte showed companies were on average budgeting for an exchange rate of SEK9.00 kronor to the euro, compared with the current rate of about SEK8.92.
This contrasts with SEB banks forecasts for the krona to appreciate in 2012 and trade at SEK8.50 to the euro by year end.
If EUR/SEK continues to trade below 9.00, export conditions may be challenging as sales in the euro zone could translate below budgets, the surveys authors said.
Copyright copy; 2012 Dow Jones Newswires
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