A Penny Saved

There are times all of us have been tempted to be dishonest: maybe its when the store clerk forgets to ring up a purchase or gives us too much change, or when we are doing our taxes. When we are dishonest with others, we are also dishonest with ourselves. it is easy to become trapped into a life of deception - and it is very easy to do with finances. We need to avoid unethical or dishonest behavior - not only could it ruin our reputation, but in the end we will pay for our dishonesty.

“You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.” (Bible, Leviticus 19:11)

Budgeting is one of the main pillars of personal finance.  Without a solid personal budget and a means to stick to it, your chancees of improving your financial health are pretty poor. 

Enter YNAB.  What in the world is YNAB?  You Need A Budget, of course.  There are two different flavors of YNAB budget software - YNAB and YNAB Pro.  With the vanilla YNAB you get a fancy set of Excel spreadsheets.  They are very user friendly, but do require some very basic Excel familiarity.  If Excel isn’t your thing, consider YNAB Pro, which is a standalone Windows application.  You also get some extra features such as unlimited categories, reporting, and the ability to import transactions from your bank.

YNAB Pro Interface

Though YNAB Pro runs $39 as opposed to $19 for the basic version, I recommend it fully.  It simply feels more full-fledged and polished -which it is.  The budget and expense screens are very simple to use and input your numbers.  The reports are exceptional, and can show you just about everything you can imagine.  If you don’t quite follow how you spend your money, YNAB Pro can be a livesaver.

Bonus Time

If you order YNAB Pro direction from this site, you even get a couple bonuses.  They include the YNAB Debt Snowball, Retirement planner, Mortgage Analyzer, and more.  In other words, they really round out the package.

For $39 bucks you really can’t go wrong.  You get a full-fledge budgeting package complete with excellent add-ins.  If you really use the software and pay attention, it will pay for itself time and time again.

Note:  Just wanted to mention.  I’m not selling YNAB or YNAB Pro - you’ll notice that there are no affiliate links in this article.  I simply think it’s a very good product, and something that my readers should look in to.

How we all want more! It can be so hard to be content with what we have. We see our neighbors and friends with things - a new car, a nice house, a beautiful garden, a great vacation. And a little bit of envy creeps in. It’s hard to stay in budget when everyone around us isn’t staying within theirs! But envy or covetousness is a cruel master - it is never satisfied. It always wants more, and in the end, it can consume us. The news is filled with individuals who all wanted a little bit more and now it is destroying them (think Ed Mcmahon among many others). Contentment is priceless.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Bible, Exodus 20:17)

Debt is something that we’re all familiar with.  Nearly everyone has some sort of debt, whether it’s a mortgage, car loan, credit cards, even hospital bills.  No matter what the source, just about everyone makes monthly debt payments.  It’s no fun, and sometimes it can be overwhelming.

In the case of credit card debt, things can get out of hand pretty quickly.  If you’re not careful, you can quickly find yourself in over your head with those shiny little plastic rectangles.  It’s nothing to be ashamed of really - I’ve been in pretty serious credit card debt before myself.  Just because you made some bad choices in the past doesn’t mean you’re doomed to a terrible financial future.  If you need credit card help, there are companies that can help - and NetDebt is one of them.

What does NetDebt do?

To put it simply, NetDebt offers a debt solution.  In other words, they help you consolidate and manage your credit card debt.  Rather than making 12 monthly payments that add up to a small fortune, you make one, smaller, monthly payment.  NetDebt retains a lawyer on your behalf as well, to help with debt settlement.  Why would a credit settle for just part of the debt you owe?  Simple.  If they can get part of the debt, it’s much better than getting none of it.  If you’re overwhelmed with debt and many payments every month, you may be tempted to give up and look at bankruptcy.

How about cost - it can’t be free

And you’re absolutely right - NetDebt is not free.  The lawyer that they retain on your behalf charges a fee equal to 15% of the debts that you include in the program, and there is also mention of a “small monthly fee”, though not a specific number.  You’ll have to decide for yourself if you’re comfortable with paying the fees involved.

Is NetDebt for me?

If you’re just about to throw in the towel and file for bankruptcy, maybe.  If you’re having trouble keeping up with your multiple credit card payments, maybe.  Naturally if you can handle your payments and pay off your debt alone, that’s the best case scenario.  With NetDebt, any credit cards you include in the program will be closed - so you can’t use them and rack up any additional debt.  There are fees involved, and drawbacks.  Take your time, do your homework, and make sure that you know what you’re doing.  NetDebt can be a great help in certain situations - as long as you’re aware of what the program does and does not do. 

We all need good counsel from time to time. It’s not good for us to always “go it alone” by relying just on ourselves. We need help. But we need to be careful where we get our advise.  There’s a lot of bad counsel, especially financial, that is floating around. Even when we pay “trained professionals” we need to be careful. We need to choose counselors based on not just their ability, but also if they share our value system and beliefs.

Get the help you need-but choose wisely!

“He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm” (Bible, Proverbs 13:20).