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Best Tools to Successfully Manage Your Finances

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Projects By Shawn LLC

It's the beginning of a new year and if you are like me you have lots of "New Year, New You" goals. Health and wellness are among the common themes for self-improvement.

 

When thinking about your wellness holistically, you can't forget about your financial health. It is important to make sure that you are financially fit.

 

Successfully managing your finances might sound just a difficult as losing those 50 lbs, but there are tools available to make the process manageable.

 

In this post, I'm going to share some of the best tools to help you manage your finances.

 

Note: This page contains affiliate links, which means that if you buy something using one of the links below, I may earn a commission.

 

Best Tools to Manage Your Finances

 

 

Finance Planner

 

Finance Printables

In today's age of the Internet and Smartphones when you think of tools you automatically think of online applications and apps.  These are great, but some of us still prefer good old fashion pen and paper.

 

Finance printables help you stay organized as you create your budget, track your spending, and even work on reducing your debt.  There are tons of great free finance printables available.  You can instantly download what you need and start working on your finances immediately.

 

You Need A Budget App

 

You Need A Budget (YNAB) App

One of the first things you will need to do when working on your financial health is to create a budget.  There are many budgeting methodologies.  These include the 50/30/20 Method, Zero-based, and the Envelope Budgeting System.

 

You Need a Budget (YNAB) is an app that helps you create and maintain a zero-based budget. The tool is designed to help you stop living paycheck to paycheck, get out of debt, and save more money.

 

Credit Cards

 

Credit Karma

Credit is an important area of our finances.  Having good credit is a must when it comes to making large purchases like buying a home or car. When managing your finances you must focus on monitoring your credit.

 

Credit Karma is an online service that allows you to monitor your credit for free. It helps you track your credit score and allows you to see your credit report anytime, without lowering your score.

 

Credit Karma will send you alerts if any items change on your credit report. This means that you don't have to pay a credit monitoring service to stay aware of what is going on with your credit.

 

Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets

If you don’t want to use online software, you can use spreadsheets instead to analyze your financial situation. You can easily create your own custom spreadsheets to manage different areas of your finances.  

 

You can also find various ready-made spreadsheet templates that you can download.  These come ready made with formulas and all you have to do is plug in the numbers. Healthy Wealthy Skinny offers a free Monthly 50/30/20 Budget spreadsheet to get you started with budgeting.

 

Books

 

Books

Last but certainly not least in my list of the best tools to manage your finances is books. Yes, you can still get tons of valuable information from books.

 

There are great books available both hard copy and ebooks from Finance subject matter experts.  Some of my favorites include (affiliate links):

 

I hope you find the tools above helpful. There are many ways to manage and keep track of your finances.  Find the tools that work for you and you'll be rocking your finances in a flash.

 

William Feela
WHISPERING PINES REALTY - North Branch, MN
Realtor, Whispering Pines Realty 651-674-5999 No.

This is something more people could and maybe do if they really want a house

Feb 08, 2019 06:58 PM
Shawn Jones

I totally agree.  Having your finances in order is a must if you plan on purchasing and maintaining a house.  These tools can help anyone reach those goals.

Feb 10, 2019 11:40 AM
Roy Kelley
Retired - Gaithersburg, MD

This is good advice to share.

Have an outstanding weekend.

Feb 09, 2019 06:24 AM
Shawn Jones

Thanks Roy! Enjoy your weekend as well.  :-)

Feb 10, 2019 11:38 AM
Gabe Sanders
Real Estate of Florida specializing in Martin County Residential Homes, Condos and Land Sales - Stuart, FL
Stuart Florida Real Estate

Good morning Shawn.  This is excellent information that all professionals should know.

Feb 10, 2019 05:02 AM
Shawn Jones

Thanks so much Gabe!

Feb 10, 2019 11:38 AM
George Souto
George Souto NMLS #65149 FHA, CHFA, VA Mortgages - Middletown, CT
Your Connecticut Mortgage Expert

Shawn Jones this is good advice especially for putting a first time homebuyer on the path to purchasing a home.

Feb 10, 2019 05:52 PM
Shawn Jones

Thanks George! Having a secure handle on your finance is a very important piece of the home buying puzzle.

Feb 11, 2019 09:11 AM