April is not just the kickoff to spring cleaning. It’s also Financial Literacy Month! So along with the mop and bucket, let’s do some financial housekeeping. Throughout the month, we’ll be sharing some helpful tips you can use to tidy up your finances.
A credit score over 700 opens a lot of doors, from finding a new home to better interest rates on loans, refinancing, mortgages and credit cards. Yet, roughly one in five Hawaii residents has a credit score that falls below 600, according to a recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank. For tips to improve your credit score, read our blog, 5 Easy Tips to Improve Your Credit Rating.
With the rise of direct deposit, many people never look at their paystubs anymore. However, paystubs contain critical information that can help you understand your finances and manage your money, including planning a budget or setting up a 401(k) retirement account. Regularly reviewing your paycheck can also help protect against any errors in your income and prepare you for tax time. For things to look out for, check out our article, Everything You Need to Know about Your Paystub.
Should a disaster happen, an insurance policy can help to minimize your out-of-pocket expenses. There are a wide range of insurance policies available for purchase—everything from travel insurance to wedding insurance—but there are a few kinds of insurance that, statistically speaking, are important to carry to ensure your financial future. Learn more about these important kinds of insurance in our post, Important Kinds of Insurance You Need to Have.
Before creating a budget, it’s important to take some time to understand why you are doing it. Thinking through and writing down your life goals, why you’ve set these goals, and how your life will be different once you’ve achieved these goals will help provide motivation, direction, and a clear focus when creating and maintaining your budget. Learn more about how to answer these questions, develop your ‘bigger picture,’ and create clear actionable goals to set yourself up for budgeting success in our post, The Bigger Picture: Creating Goals is Key to Budget Planning Success.
Having control of your finances is an amazing feeling. There is a sense of calm, power, and freedom knowing how much money you have available to put towards your wants, needs, and savings goals. Creating a budget will help ensure you have a plan to do just that. Using our step-by-step guide and interactive budget spreadsheet, you’ll be on your way to saving for the things you want, managing your debt, and planning your future. Find it all here in our article, How to Create a Budget Using this Simple Spreadsheet.
Many people think the best way to save more money is to earn more money. But, there are lots of little ways to cut expenses and build smart money habits that can help boost your savings today, even if the economic climate right now is stormy. For a few useful spending and savings tips that can help you avoid making mistakes with your money, and start putting more of it into savings, check out our article: How to Save More Money by Following These Simple Dos and Don’ts.
It's important to regularly review your credit report to check for possible errors and identity theft, as well as to learn more about how you might improve your credit score, which may help in qualifying for future credit cards, buying a home or getting better interest rates on loans. To learn about what you should look for when you’re checking your credit report, read our blog, How to Read Your Credit Report.
If you're one of the thousands of people in Hawaii out of work or facing a reduced income due to COVID-19, you're probably worrying about paying your bills. Fortunately, there are a few simple, straightforward things you can do to improve your situation. By getting ahead of the problem and reaching out to creditors now, you should be able to find solutions together to help take the pressure off. To learn more about how to prepare and talk to creditors, read our blog, How to Talk to Creditors if You’re Having Trouble Paying Your Bills.
While you can’t always prevent unfortunate (and expensive) incidents from occurring, there are a few common-sense steps you can take to protect yourself ahead of time. In fact, the right plans can help to shrink financial burdens and minimize the disruption to your life. Read our blog, How to be Financially Ready for the Unexpected, to learn ways you can get prepared.
Planning and saving for retirement is a lifelong process, and it's worth checking in with yourself periodically to make sure that you're on track. Toward that goal, we've got several savings and investment milestones you should be hitting to feel confident in your retirement planning. To learn more about how to save for retirement at every age, check out our blog, Are You Hitting Your Retirement Investment Milestones.
Paying down debt that doesn't work for you can help you qualify for other loans that will better fit your needs, or free up money in your monthly budget. Plus, repaying debt can be rewarding. But, to get out of debt you need a solid plan that will set you up for success. For help getting started, read our blog 4 Simple Steps to Get Out of Debt.
You likely have a lot of financial goals. And with all of those goals, things can get overwhelming…fast. But by taking a few simple steps to organize your income into the appropriate savings vehicles, you can achieve your goals while keeping things easy to manage. To help optimize your strategy for what you want to achieve next year to a life goal that might be 30 years down the road, read How to Optimize and Achieve your Savings Goals for the Short-, Mid-, and Long-Term.
Research shows, 2 in 3 Americans have created a budget. And while 93% say it's important to maintain a personal budget, only 33% actually do so. One of the best ways to make sure you stick to your budget, is to recognize when your motivation begins to drop, take accountability, and course correct to get back on track. From using an Accountability Partner to controlling temptations, read 9 tips on how to maintain your budget in our article Tips on How to (Actually) Stick to Your Budget.
A budget should be a living document. Regularly reviewing your budget gives you the opportunity to ensure you’re on track by allowing you to make updates to your plans as your situation changes (say, for example you get a raise or start a side hustle), and gives you valuable insights into your spending habits. To learn more about how to review and revise your budget, read our blog.
You don't have to face financial challenges alone—professional help is available. Through one-on-one counseling sessions, a credit counselor can help you come up with a game plan to address your financial issues. They can also help you understand some of the important basics of personal finance, so you can become more financially stable. To learn more about how credit counseling works, check out our blog, Credit Counseling 101: How It Could Help You.