As someone who performs professional bookkeeping in Houston, I get tons of questions on how to make and save money – many of them from stressed clients or clients to be. All too often, I will find that they are stressing about items they shouldn’t be, and I decided to collect a few of the most prevalent below for your own personal and professional use.
1. The Stock Market
Yes, the stock market is crazy with all of its ups and downs, and your investments, portfolios, and retirement accounts are usually the ones that take the hit. But this is common. In fact, it is perfectly natural for the market to go up and down several times a year, with a big or mid-sized crash every few years or so. Stressful? Somewhat. However, if you are ten or more years away from retirement or whatever goal it is you have set for your investments, don’t take each up or down take too seriously.
2. Paying the Bills
A common source of stress, if you are constantly worrying about having enough to pay your bills, do you have too many bills? Are they too high? When buying a new item via credit or loan, it is urgent to shop around for the best rate. However, those who have already committed to a long term purchase can still find ways to lower their rate, such as calling a credit card company and asking for a better rate. And of course, if you stress over your cable, power, phone, or other non-fixed utility bill, there are ways to decrease your usage. Or in a worst case scenario you could watch regular TV, get a $30-$40 cell phone plan, and turn down the AC – which in Houston is saying something. But would you rather have to work a fan or stress about the power bill?
3. Paying Debt
With each American averaging about $15,950 in credit card debt alone, it can be nerve wracking. However, there are ways to reduce the rate of interest. And of course, it doesn’t help if you keep racking up the charges. It may be difficult, but simply cutting the plastic devils and paying for everything in cash can literally save you thousands. Thinking about a balance transfer with 0% APR? Not a bad idea as long as you don’t have a ton of other credit cards weighing you down.
4. Paying the Mortgage
Ah, the home bill. In most cases your biggest investment, losing a home can be very stressful. If you find the mortgage bills are getting to be too much, there are options. Those who are having difficulty paying their home loan or anticipate tough times in the future should call their banks immediately to see if they can work out a new deal or deferred payments. Most times, the bank would rather work with you than spend the money and time it takes to foreclose. Refinancing your home loan is also a possibility that can save thousands to hundreds of thousands (depending on the loan). Those who are interested and live in Texas can find a great refinancing professional resource here.
5. Buying Food
A universal rule no matter where you are: you’ve got to eat. And groceries aren’t getting much cheaper. While coupon clipping can seem drastic, the time spent vs. money saved can be a great boon, especially if lowering your grocery bill by a few dollars would be helpful. However, with meals costing about $0.25 (bowl of cereal) to $1.00 (meatloaf) per serving, stressing over it shouldn’t be something you do often.
6. Weaker Dollar
It seems no matter where you turn, you’re hearing myths about how weak the dollar is. And while there is evidence that a dollar today buys less than it did “yesterday,” this has always been true. Seriously, when was the last time you ever heard any expert or other wise guy remark that a dollar today can actually buy more blue staple items today than it could yesterday? That’s not to say the dollar is always weak. Sure, it could get weaker at a slower rate, but as for constantly stressing over it? Don’t bother.
Bookkeeping in Houston
And if you are in need of expert bookkeeping services, tax preparation, or other related area and live in Houston or the surrounding areas, please contact me.