Financial person in Mont Cty you would recommend--need overall advice-budgeting/investing/etc

[Anonymous]

We have been together many years and have just decided to combine our funds and pay off all credit cards and start fresh financially. We make enough combined but we are not spending wisely and I want someone to put us on the right path. This is more about organizing us financially than someone to decide what stock we need but maybe that is the same person? I could use some basic advice on investing in my 401K better and my rolled over account from another job but I guess my main focus is setting up a budget and doing this jointly for the first time. We have kept our paychecks separate and we both put $ in a joint account to pay bills but it left neither of us accountable for the other $ we spent.

[Anonymous]

Here's some advice:

Max your 401k contribution
Pay off all high-interest debt
Put away at least 6 months expenses for emergencies
Stop buying things you don't NEED - if you see something you want, wait 24 hours and if you still want it, go ahead and purchase it, but a lot of the times this will reduce your spending on unnecessary items

[Anonymous]

Thanks. We are going to sit down and make a budget using our total monthly net pay and then from there I can see what we have left over as far as upping the 401K, etc. I don't want to do that without seeing what we are spending and where esp when we are paying down debt as you agree we need to do. I want to pay the debt and have savings but its overwhelming trying to do it all at once. We know what the areas are that we need to cut back on. I am already rethinking every purchase esp and keeping much better track and now focusing on what can I return!

[Anonymous]

I just don't see why anyone would pay someone to help you do these common sense things that PP said. If you can't pay more down on the highest-interest-rate debt, see if you can't transfer the balance to a 0% intro-rate CC (don't forget about balance transfer fees)

[Anonymous]

I have a couple of suggestions:
- Financial Peace University - based on Dave Ramsey principles; it's a 9 week class that will really help get you and your spouse on the same page and give you some great tool.
- Related to FPU would be the DR site www.mytotalmoneymakover.com - there is a budgeting tool and lots of resources
- You Need a Budget (YNAB) - a budgeting program that is really good at unveiling where you've been spending your money

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a couple of suggestions:
- Financial Peace University - based on Dave Ramsey principles; it's a 9 week class that will really help get you and your spouse on the same page and give you some great tool.
- Related to FPU would be the DR site www.mytotalmoneymakover.com - there is a budgeting tool and lots of resources
- You Need a Budget (YNAB) - a budgeting program that is really good at unveiling where you've been spending your money

Good luck!

I agree with this advice. I'm amazed at how well I know my spending habits now. You need to spend time to set it up properly, and if you have cc debt, etc. it'll be complicated. But once you do this, it runs very smoothly.