Budget for single mom.Q A I'm a single mother with a monthly take-home of $6,500 after taxes. Where do I turn for legitimate help when budgeting family? --A. Dae-Harlan Chicago Our Declaration of Financial Empowerment em·pow·er tr.v. em·pow·ered, em·pow·er·ing, em·pow·ers 1. To invest with power, especially legal power or official authority. See Synonyms at authorize. 2. Principle No. 4: to engage in sound budget, credit, and tax management practices, encourages you go be proactive with the budgeting process. So before you turn to credit counseling Credit counseling (known in the United Kingdom as debt counselling) is a process offering education to consumers about how to avoid incurring debts that cannot be repaid. This process is actually more debt counseling than a function of credit education. services that may charge to teach you about budgeting, try learning on your own, First, make sure you are maximizing your pre-tax retirement savings through your 401(k) plan at work, Then create a budget for your monthly after-tax income by starting with the basic steps offered under principle No. 4 in Our Wealth Building Kit (www.blackenterprise.com/WBK.asp). Personal Mvelopes (www.mvelopes.com) offers a budgeting system that includes a software program and book by Steven B. Smith, Money for Life Budgeting Success and Financial Fitness in Just 12 Weeks, that will help you keep an eye on cash flow. Also, Quicken A popular financial management program for PCs and Macs from Intuit, Inc., Mountain View, CA (www.intuit.com). It is used to write checks, organize investments and produce a variety of reports for personal finance and small business. software (www.quicken.intuit in·tu·it tr.v. in·tu·it·ed, in·tu·it·ing, in·tu·its Usage Problem To know intuitively. [Back-formation from intuition. .com) can help you do everything from track spending to pay your bills online. Good books See how to find a good computer book. on the subject of budgeting include: 7 Money Mantras for a Richer Life: How to Live Well with the Money You Have by Michelle Singletary (Random House; $24.95) and Girl, Get Your Money Straight! A Sister's Guide to Healing Your Bank Account and Funding Your Dreams in 7 Simple Steps by Glinda Bridgforth (Broadway; $12.95). Mail your money management questions to Money Matters, BLACK ENTERPRISE, 130 Fifth Ave., New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , NY 10011 or send an e-mail to scottm@blackenterprise.com. |
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