False Sense Of Financial Security - How To Manage Money

Would you say that you are living the 'American Dream'. Right now you are happily married, you have two kids, a dog, a nice home with a white picket fence, you own an SUV and a mini van and you are in debt. Your story is just like thousands of other people in this country. Okay, so your story isn't exactly as I just described but close. In fact the debt part is probably the only absolute truth. You are able to make all of your minimum monthly payments and are making ends meet - or so you think. You've been lulled into the false sense of financial security and think you know how to manage money. The truth to be told is you could be in too much debt. I've created a list of 10 warning signs indicating that you may be in over your head.

1. You have little to no savings

2. You can only make the minimum payment on your credit cards and other bills

3. You have been denied credit

4. You use cash advances from your credit cards to pay other bills such as heat and hydro

5. You are sometimes late with your bill payments

6. You keep making purchases with your credit card adding to the balance

7. You don't even know how far in debt you are

8. Your bank accounts are overdrawn and once in a while you bounce checks

9. You have one or more credit cards that are close to the limit or are maxed out

10. You've been secretive to family and friends about your debt and over spending

Does one or all of these statements sound familiar? Even if only one of those statements is correct you might be in some sort of financial trouble and should probably learn how to manage money once again. The good part is you are able to fix it. The bad part is you must begin taking control of your finances right now. The more you wait, the worse the problem will get. Finances are one thing that cannot be swept under the rug and forgotten about.

STEP 1: Now is the time to make a check list and go through it. Sift through these ten items and find out what ones correspond with you.

STEP 2: Discover a way to correct those problems. You have no savings? Start building an emergency fund. Deposit $25 a week or any amount that is possible to increase that balance to $1000. Do you keep buying things and increasing your credit card balance? Start buying things with cash and start making larger payments to your credit card. The list is important to take care of and you have to fix those problems.

STEP 3: Create some goals and begin to make them into reality. Tomorrow isn't the best time to start making goals. Start today - better yet, create them right now. Don't set your goals too high, create financial goals that are able to achieve like cutting your hydro bill by five or ten percent or save some money by cutting back on entertainment. Small steps are instrumental to goal setting and learning how to manage money.

Being lured into a false sense of financial security isn't hard to do if you don't not know the warning signs of serious financial problems. If you have gone through this list and discovered any matches it may be time to start fixing those problems before your security turns into a huge issue. Knowing how to manage money can be simple and anyone can do it.