ReAnn Rothwell’s Money Saving Ideas, Tax & Organizing Tips

 As I look back at this last tax season and the clients that I helped, I can not help but think that personal finance is not just about money. Personal finance is really about personal development: about having a good life at the same time as you are moving toward your goals. It’s about a holistic, balanced, approach to life.

Personal finance is centered around money, sure, but it is also about emotions, responsibility, priorities, and how you choose to spend your time and energy. All of those things need to be taken into account when you create and live your own Personal Financial Plan.

There are some excellent financial literacy resources around the web to help you with the money part of your Personal Financial Plan. A few really good ones are noted below. I strongly believe that we all need to educate ourselves with this kind of information.

However, when you are sitting down and figuring out your plan, don’t forget the reality of your personal life - who you, and anyone else affected by your plan, truly are, want and need.  Life needs to be lived and enjoyed along with being planned and organized! :)   

• 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy is a site from the American institute of CPAs. It includes many articles and tools on various life stages such as ‘College’, ‘Couples & Marriage’, and ‘Home Ownership’. I highly recommend the section on ‘Military and Reserves’ and the ‘Sandwich Generation’ (where you are caring for your children and your parents). This site has lots of good, solid information.
• CNNMoney has an outstanding overview of basic personal finance topics called Money 101. Each of the 23 topics includes several pages of information, and many of the subjects include an interactive calculator or tool. I recommend reading ‘Buying a Home’, ‘Controlling Debt’, ‘Kids and Money’ , ‘Buying a Car’ and (of course) ‘Taxes’.
• The Federal government has a website called MyMoney.gov, which is “dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics about financial education.”
• The Federal government also provides the Federal Citizen Information Center, which offers free (or cheap) publications on a variety of topics including personal finance. Many of these publications are available in free PDF versions.
• Both Illinois and Wisconsin have sites devoted to personal finance education. These two pages contain a wealth of links to information on many subjects.
• Ramit Sethi at I Will Teach You to Be Rich has ‘The world’s easiest guide to understanding retirement accounts.’

“Money is only a tool.

It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.” 

- Ayn Rand