I have recently started to do some of my taxes and as I usual I prefer to do it through digital means to save time and paper. The funny thing was that when I went to the store to purchase the usual product it seems as though this year they increased the price by about 40% to 50%. Just to make sure this wasn’t just a crazy markup by the store, I did ask some of my contacts who did indeed confirm that the software creator has increased the price.

While I still ended up buying the product anyways since I pretty much planned everything around it, usually drastic increases such as that would make me inclined to try something else the next time around. I personally have no problem with companies increasing its prices to be able to stay profitable, but for myself anything over 20% kind of leaves a bad impression to me.

I guess that shows too that if you become too dependent on a certain product or service you are at the mercy of paying the company’s fees.

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I was just told this observation where when it comes to managing money and teaching younger people as well as some older people about it, one of the key reasons why one would tend to mismanage their funds is that they don’t fully grasp the concept that you can run out of money.

Sounds kind of strange when you think about it huh? In a broader perspective I guess that makes sense. For example, nowadays when one runs out of money there are so many options to still get what you want such as through credit or even borrowing from others.

This must be one of the simpler things to learn though if it is an issue in one’s financial situation as I’m sure even things like having to buy certain grocery items with an X amount of dollars would help lot.

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I was reading an article today that mostly revolved around how you shouldn’t try to grow too fast in a business as it can create financial obstacles. It then talked about how you should always expect the worst as well and to make sure that you are financially prepared to go through periods of limited income flow.

This made me think about personal finance too in terms of how much funds people usually establish to consider it as their safe nest encase something happens. Some people call it their emergency funds. Most people that I talk to seem to think between $2000 to $5000 is the good base to go by.

For some reason I tend to just be general and say that a good safe nest is about five times the amount of essential expenses that you pay per month. In most cases I also still use the mentality of if you can’t payout the expense right now if there was say a yearly contract to it then I tend to not do it. That’s one way to help ensure that income flow won’t be an issue in terms of creating a debt regardless of what happens to you financially.

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Today I went to get a haircut at the usual place that I go to and the couple that own and operate the business came back from a vacation. As expected, they mentioned that they had a wonderful time and their kids didn’t want to leave.

The lady mentioned how it wasn’t too bad financially as the whole two week trip for everyone came out to around $3000. While she mentioned she would love to do it again since it was so cheap, she brought up the point on how a lot of people neglect to remember that at the same time when you don’t work you are losing even more money in multiple ways. Example, no revenue is coming in and your building rent is going to waste.

With that in mind, that’s always the main reason why it is wise to try and establish some form of passive income source so that you can still generate an income even while you are not there. With her situation it kind of forces you to be more diligent with money since there is a business involved. In general though, it’s all about understanding where your money is coming and going.

Like with the vacation example, if you just see it as you have $3000 so it’s time to take a trip, it’s kind of a setup up to be living in a just getting by situation. Always have an income plan for downtimes as well.

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Around this time of the month I would get my cell phone bill and as you all know I switched to a new plan not too long ago. This month was my first billing under this new plan. I was just looking at the bill compared to last month on how much money is going to be saved once I saw this:

Granted every month it is a little different, just looking at the $55.93 total from last month to $17.87 this month while getting more features than before is quite a substantial difference. If those numbers were consistent, that would roughly mean a $456.72 savings a year.

While many people say who cares to a little bit of savings on various things, a little bit of effort to get a better deal can sure look nice in the long run.

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