Posted By Consolidebt.Us
Author: Adam Khoo
Before you can ever reduce your expenses and increase your savings, you must first know where your money is going to. Many people share the same experience of having no idea where their $5,000 salary went. ‘How did I spend so much money?’ ‘I thought that I should have $1,000 left at the end of the month, but it seems to have all disappeared!’

With a simple yet powerful system which I personally use together with specially designed Microsoft Excel templates like the ‘Monthly Personal Income Statements’ and ‘Daily Expense Sheets’, you just need to invest fifteen minutes a day to manage your money.

If you want to be wealthy, do not expect it to happen automatically. You must commit to spend time on your finances. Earlier on in this book, I talked about the millionaire’s daily hour. Millionaires spend an average of an hour a day on personal wealth management, while most people spend less than an hour a month, usually on paying bills.

So out of this one-hour a day, you’ve got to devote the first fifteen minutes to do these five Money Management Steps.

1) Always Ask for a Discount
If it is not a fixed price store, there is a 70% chance that you will get a discount if you just ask for it. If you get a 10% discount, it is equivalent to earning an immediate 10% return on your money. Over the long term, you will save a huge amount that will accelerate you even faster towards your targeted net worth.

2) Always Ask for a Receipt
Always get a receipt so that you can track every single expense at the end of the day and, if possible, claim it as a business expense and get a tax deduction.

3) At the End of the Day, Record all Expenses in your Daily Expense Sheet
You can do this manually in the sample ‘Daily Expense Sheet ‘at the end of the chapter or you can key it in electronically into a template.

I highly recommend you key it into an excel spreadsheet, so it can automatically add up the total each month.

4) Use a Credit Card Whenever You Can (but always pay the full outstanding sum every month)
Again, this will allow you a convenient way of having all your expenses recorded for you in the monthly statement.

5) At the End of the Month, Update Your Monthly Income Statement
At the end of every month, add up the total expenses from your daily expense sheet and update your monthly income statement. At the same time, update all your income for the month. Deduct your total expenses from your total income to get your monthly savings.

You must use a system to track where every single dollar goes. Only when you know where your money is going, can you take steps to channel it to your savings and investments.

Doing this month after month may seem tedious, but it is absolutely necessary if you want to build your wealth. Only when you develop the habit of managing your personal finances, can you manage the finances of your own business. So many people financially mismanage their businesses into bankruptcy because they mismanage their own finances. Don’t be one of them!

Posted By Consolidebt.Us
Author: David Mclauchlan
What is Money Management: describes strategies or methods a player uses to avoid losing their bankroll.

Money management in the foreign exchange currency market requires educating yourself in a variety of financial areas. First, a definition of the foreign exchange currency or forex market is called for. The forex market is simply the exchange of the currency of one country for the currency of another. The relative values of various currencies in the world change on a regular basis. Factors such as the stability of the economy of a country, the gross national product, the gross domestic product, inflation, interest rates, and such obvious factors as domestic security and foreign relations come into play. For instance, if a country has an unstable government, is expecting a military takeover, or is about to become involved in a war, then the country’s currency may go down in relative value compared to the currency of other countries.

The Forex, or foreign currency exchange, is all about money. Money from all over the world is bought, sold and traded. On the Forex, anyone can buy and sell currency and with possibly come out ahead in the end. When dealing with the foreign currency exchange, it is possible to buy the currency of one country, sell it and make a profit. For example, a broker might buy a Japanese yen when the yen to dollar ratio increases, then sell the yens and buy back American dollars for a profit.

There are five major forex exchange markets in the world, New York, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo and Zurich. Forex trading occurs around the clock in various markets, Asian, European, and American. With different time zones, when Asian trading stops, European trading opens, and conversely when European trading stops, American trading opens, and when American trading stops, then it is time for Asian trading to begin again.

Most of the trading in the world occurs in the forex markets; smaller markets for trade in individual countries. Simply put forex trading is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another. Over $1.4 trillion dollars, US of forex trading occurs daily and sometimes fortunes are made or lost in this market. The billionaire George Soros has made most of his money in forex trading. Successfully managing your money in forex trading requires an understanding of the bid/ask spread.

Simply put the bid ask spread is the difference between the price at which something is offered for sale and the price that it is actually purchased for. For instance, if the ask price is 100 dollars, and the bid is 102 dollars then the difference is two dollars, the spread. Many forex traders trade on margin. Trading on margin is buying and selling assets that are worth more than the money in your account. Since currency exchange rates on any given day are usually less than two percent, forex trading is done with a small margin. To use an example, with a one percent margin a trader can trade up to $250,000 even if he only has $5,000 in his account. This means the trade has leverage of 50 to one. This amount of leverage allows a trader to make good profits very quickly. Of course, with the chance of high profits also comes high risk.

Like many other speculative investments, a key part of money management for the forex trader is only using money that can be put at risk. It is wise to set aside a portion of your net worth and make that the only money you use in forex trading. While the chances of good profits are there, if you should have a problem and get wiped out, you’ll only have a limited amount of money placed at risk. Also remember that the market is n constant motion. There are always trading opportunities. If a currency is becoming stronger or weaker in relation to other currencies there is always a chance for profit. For instance, if you believe that the Euro is gong to become weak compared to the US dollar then selling Euros is a good bet. If you believe that the dollar is going to become weaker than the yen, or the pound sterling, then selling dollars is wise. Staying current on the news and current events in the countries whose currency you hold is a smart move. Many people reach points where they can predict currency changes based on political or economic news in a given country. Remember though that forex trading is speculation, so be careful when managing your funds and only invest what you can afford to risk.

Please always make sure you check with the pros when dealing in this market unless you are doing this as a hobby and don’t have a lot at stake in it. There are a lot of big boys playing here and they won’t lose much sleep if you and thousands others lose their shirts…