Living in New England, many of us have older homes with a more historic look and feel and flavor. While these houses are built with great character and high attention to detail, they don't have the same energy efficiency that newer, more modern homes have. A lack of sufficient insulation, older single-pane windows, out-of-date electrical systems, out-of-date heating systems and hot water heaters can cause our energy bills to skyrocket.
I use that example often to illustrate conceptually what most people seem to intrinsically realize but NEVER fix without help — the idea that their personal finances are often suffering from similar inefficiencies. Every minute of every day, you, your friends, your family and your coworkers LOSE your money to institutions and governments in the form of taxes, interest payments and fees, resulting in a very inefficient and very drafty financial house. That wasted money is lost forever and cannot be redeployed back into your own financial world.
By working with a professional to re-engineer your financial world, you're able to avoid the trap of financial disorganization, recapture what is currently being lost and take control of your financial future.
It is not atypical for the people that I usually work with to be paying 25-30 percent or more of their income to taxes when you factor their various levels of income, Social Security, real estate taxes, excise taxes, etc. — all the while paying out an additional 25-30 percent or more in debt payments, such as mortgage, auto loan, and credit card payments.
What is your current savings rate? The average American family saves approximately ZERO on an annual basis, which frankly, is terrifying to me. What are you saving? Are you at 5%? 10%? More? In order to maintain your current standard of living in retirement you NEED to save 15-20% of your current income. Where will this increase in savings come from? What if you employed some strategies with the goal of dropping your tax liabilities 3-5 percentage points? What if by changing your own order of financial operations you were able to manage personal debt in a different manner and drop that outflow 3-5 percent as well?
Imagine the effects of saving another 6-10% of your income growing and compounding over the course of your working career. By employing small, SIMPLE changes, you could potentially build a robust savings account without digging in to your pocket and sacrificing your current lifestyle!
As a society, we seem to have been trained to search high and low for greater returns on our investment portfolio, leaving no stone unturned. Instead of taking more risk to only POTENTIALLY receive more returns, why not re-engineer your finances in such a way that you recapture what is being lost while taking on less risk and have a far more certain outcome?
It's your money; take it back!
If you feel you're financially disorganized, check out my new program to see how it can help you.
This article was written by Media Diva Maureen Campaiola. To get more great advice from Women's Toolbox Media Diva Maureen Campaiola, visit her website at: http://breakthroughyourmoneybs.com
