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How Families Can Get Back On Track With Their Financial Planning

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Financial planning can be an overwhelming task&comma; especially when you have other mouths to feed and care for on a day-to-day basis&period; Families oftentimes struggle when it comes to finances and how to prepare accordingly&period; It’s understandable that these struggles occur seeing as one or two parents have to take care of multiple children and sometimes their own parents&period; Although it’s a daunting&comma; relentless and seemingly never ending task to stay financially prepared and stable as a family&comma; it can happen and with the right planning&comma; families can get back on track with their finances&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9107" alt&equals;"How Families Can Get Back On Track With Their Financial Planning" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;medusamagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;10&sol;How-Families-Can-Get-Back-On-Track-With-Their-Financial-Planning&period;jpg" width&equals;"400" height&equals;"266" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Common Financial Setbacks<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The first step to financial planning is to look at what’s not working and what’s putting you and your family behind&period; Before a family can move forward with their financial planning&comma; they must understand their weaknesses and&sol;or what’s hindering their progress&period; There are of course common financial setbacks that families don’t have any control over&comma; such as hospital bills&comma; emergencies&comma; etc&period; However&comma; with the right planning&comma; these unavoidable setbacks can have less of an impact than they normally would&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Some common financial setbacks that families can avoid include lack of planning to save&comma; dipping into savings&comma; lack of understanding and no budgeting&period; When proper budgeting and planning don’t occur&comma; families make financial errors&comma; which force them to spend money in their savings or investment accounts&period;  Savings and investment accounts are the first thing to go when budgets get squeezed and too many times that is a deadly spiral for families to fall into&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Financial Planning Improvements<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The best thing families can do to improve their finances is to track their expenses and incomes&period;Budgeting is key&period; It includes a breakdown of expenses&comma; incomes and frequencies of each&period;You have to know where your money is going before you can make sound decisions about what to spend and what to save&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Once an accurate budget and schedule are formed then other improvements can be made&comma; such as identifying what spending patterns are necessary to the budget or what routines can be restructured to make the schedule more efficient&period; Once the items&comma; services and routines that need to be removed or restructured from the budget and schedule are noted&comma; only then can efforts be made to improve upon them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Ways to Save<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">There are several ways to save money&comma; but given the complexity of any individual family’s situation&comma; some ways only apply to specific families&period; However&comma; generic guidelines exist that any family can take advantage of&comma; such as cutting down on impulse purchases&comma; owning a car beyond the time that the loan on it has been paid off instead of buying a new one every 4 our 5 years and paying off your high interest credit cards faster than your other cards&period; For an assortment of specific ways to save you can always consult a professional financial planner for any financial planning services you may need&period; There are a myriad of ways a professional can help people find areas in their financial lives where they can save money&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Avoid Future Pitfalls<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Once you&&num;8217&semi;ve formed a budget and schedule&comma; identified common setbacks with you and your family’s financial planning&comma; and started saving&comma; now it’s time to keep your family on the right track&period; The best way to do that is to avoid future pitfalls and mistakes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Make sure your family has a rainy day fund&period; This fund should be large enough to last your entire family between 6-9 months of living expenses in cash at all times&period; That helps buffer them from the times where the car blows up or some other major expense comes up&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The thing that sets financially prepared families apart from the financially unprepared ones is the dedication and self-control to continue budgeting&comma; saving money and avoiding unnecessary purchases&period; If families can do these&comma; there’s no doubt they’ll be able to get back on track with their financial planning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><em><strong>Gregory M&period; Reed&comma; CFP® with Raymond James Financial Services&comma; Inc&period; Greg is a member of FINRA and SIPC&period; His office is located at 3201 S&period; Providence Road&comma; Ste&period; 102&comma; Columbia&comma; MO  65203 and he can be reached at 573-777-1934 or by visiting his website&comma; www&period;raymondjames&period;com&sol;gregoryreed&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><em><strong>The information contained in this report does not purport to be a complete description of the securities&comma; markets&comma; or developments referred to in this material&period; Any information is not a complete summary or statement of all available data necessary for making an investment decision and does not constitute a recommendation&period; Any opinions are those of Gregory M&period; Reed&comma; CFP®  and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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