Author and Certified Financial Planner™, Jacob Gold, has

four common sense tips that can help individuals through an economic meltdown.

1.      Reduce your homeowner’s insurance policy

Most, if not all, homes in the U.S. have lost value over the last 18 months.  A simple and easy way to slightly reduce your monthly outflow is to lower your homeowner’s insurance policy to reflect the decline in the replacement cost of your home.  You very well could still be paying your homeowner’s policy on a value much higher than your home is currently worth.  Give your insurance agent a call and it could be possible to start saving without having to sacrifice anything.

 2.      Manage your cash flow appropriately

Normally when someone thinks of a budget they automatically think that they are going to have to restructure their spending and give up something.  That does not always have to be the case.  I suggest that people get their arms around their fixed and discretionary expenses by using a personal finance software program.  Quicken and Microsoft Money both are inexpensive and do a great job.  Initially you do not need to set parameters for your spending, just track every dollar for a few months and then start to corral your areas of weakness.  Just like a fad diet, if it is too difficult, people will abandon it and in some cases end up worse than they originally started.  Successfully managing your cash flow is a lost art, but can truly be a beneficial factor in your family’s financial stability.

 3.      Rid yourself of credit card debt

Over the last 10 years the spending of Americans has gotten out of control.  In many cases people financed a lavish lifestyle through the use of credit cards and equity from their homes.  Today the roosters have come home to roost and in most cases no additional credit is being allowed.  Therefore not only are Americans needing to cut back on their spending because they no longer have available credit but now they have to come up with a strategy to pay off their credit card debt.  Credit card interest rates can be astonishing and people need to design a way to pay them off as quickly as possible.  Do not think about any other investment in real estate, bonds or stocks until that debt is paid off.  There is one exception to that rule and I will discuss that in the fourth common sense tip below.  Realize that it may take years to pay off the debt but it must be done.  Pay more than just the minimum payment and going forward, never put anything on your credit card that you cannot pay off in full that month.

 4.      Investing up to the match in your 401-k

If your company offers a 401-k with a match, you should at least max out the match.  For example, say XYZ Company offers a dollar-for-dollar match up to 3% of your pay.  Assuming your salary is $50,000 per year, if you contribute $1,500 (3% of pay), the company will give you $1,500 in the form of a match.  This is free money as long as you become fully vested.  If you have credit card debt, invest only up to the match and apply everything else you would have invested in the 401-k to pay down your credit card debt.

 These are four simple common sense tips individuals should live by.  In the book, Financial Intelligence; Getting Back to Basics After an Economic Meltdown, Jacob Gold educates his readers on how to become financially independent through the use of proper money management skills.

 Financial Intelligence; Getting Back to Basics After and Economic Meltdown is now available in all major bookstores.

 For an interview with Jacob Gold, please contact his publicist, Marty Matyas, at 480-998-4653 or e-mail her at mmatyas@jacobgold.com.