| Savings: I suggest two kinds of savings
accounts
One for accumulating
cash to pay those annual, and semi-annual bills
or bills that span over two or more pay periods.
Taxes, Insurance, bi-monthly utilities, etc. And
if you get paid twice a month, weekly or biweekly
you could use this account to gather the funds to
pay your monthly bills. This is a relatively
short term account. This could even be a interest
bearing checking account to make things easier.
The second savings
account is for actual savings. Long term savings.
You'll set a certain amount aside each pay day
for this one. 5%, 10%, of your net or gross pay.
Or maybe a dollar amount.
Getting back to our
short term account, let's say you get paid every
two weeks. Now take any bill that spans more than
one pay period. A monthly bill, a bi-monthly bill
or a yearly bill.
For a monthly bill you
need to multiply by twelve. Since you get paid
every two weeks you'll then divide this amount by
26 (there's 26 pay periods in a year). This is
the amount you'll need to set aside every payday
to cover this bill (if you're current on the bill
when you start).
For a bi-monthly bill
you need to multiply by six. Since you get paid
every two weeks you'll then again divide this
amount by 26 for the 26 pay periods in a year.
This is the amount you'll need to set aside every
payday to cover this bill.
A semi-annual bill
would be multiplied by two and for a annual bill
you'd then just take the actual amount and divide
by 26. As these bills come due you should have
enough in this account to pay them right from
these funds.
If you were instead
paid weekly you'd use 52 to divide by and if
twice a month you'd instead use 24 to divide by.
Continue this process
until you've figured up all your bills. total up
the "payday amounts" and on the next
payday take that amount and start a second
checking or savings account. Now pay whatever
bills you'd have paid anyway until the money runs
out. If you run out of cash before all the bills
are paid you'll need to dig into your pocket and
pay those from there or else call the creditor
and explain why you can't pay them. You wouldn't
have been able to pay them anyway so there's no
difference at this point.
In practice you'll be
slightly short for a time. But some bills will
help you through the initial shortfalls. Let's
say the next bill is paid every other month
divide again by 26 to get the amount per payday.
This is what should help you make up the
shortfall until the savings takes over.
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