Review and adjust your priorities, goals, and budget regularly.

Review and adjust your priorities, goals, and budget regularly. The things that are important to you will change. Maybe not the top three items but below those will. While you learn how to save money, you will experience parts of life you never knew existed. This all changes what our priorities are, what our goals are, which then changes our budget.

Are you still paying a gap insurance with your car payment?

Gap insurance is designed to pay the difference in the insured value and the loan value early in a car loan in case of the event of totaling. This is a nice coverage to have if this is a concern, but you would be better to not buy a higher value car. Better yet, walk in and pay cash for your vehicle.

Save up to buy a car without financing.

Interest costs you. A lot! Buy the best beater you can afford and survive with no car payment. Take the money you would have paid for a car payment and pay that to your "new car fund." Wait a few years paying your car fund every month and go shopping for a new - used car. Only do this if you need to, your current car may suit you just fine for even more years. Drive this new used car for many years with no car payment. Continue paying your "new car fund" each and every month to make sure when you want to make a purchase you can do it with cash. By doing this you avoid paying double the price when considering all of the financing charges. Never, ever buy a brand new car. Let other people find out what's wrong with the models and take a beating in depreciation those first few years.

Stack term policies.

 Once your considered your life, you can reasonably plan the timeline of what you will need for insurance throughout. By stacking policies, you can lock in at the best rates and only add on additional amounts as needed. These additional amounts can then be removed as you move out of those phases of life.

		Child Support
		Mortgage & College Funds
		Income Replacement
	Adjustment Period to Return to Work
Burial Costs
Single Person	Young Married Spouse	Young Married with Kids	Married with Older Kids	Married with Grown Kids

Buy term and invest the rest.

There are a lot of life insurance packages out there. This one will accumulate cash value for you and this one will send you to Disneyland and this one... I'm somewhat kidding. These package policies that do more than insure cost more. That money is never really returned to you. Term insurance is a basic insurance that does all it is supposed to do, pay on your death a specific amount. Because of its simplicity, it costs a lot less too. Purchase term insurance if you have calculated that you need life insurance. The money you save by not paying the price of whole life or Disney life you can invest and earn compounding interest on without paying someone else most of those profits.

Consider if you need life insurance and get it if you do.

 Life insurance for some is an absolute in their minds. Life insurance is for two things: to replace a lost income and for the burial costs. Does an 80-year-old need to replace an income? No. Hopefully they have enough in their estate that they don't need that money for burial costs either. A 35-year-old husband with two young kids definitely should have the insurance to replace an income that could be lost. With no kids in the house, a spouse could move on to support themselves and would not need an income replaced when there was no longer a family to support. These are not rules, simply thoughts to help make good decisions.

Have a will.

 (Try to get it written for free.) Not having a will can be very costly. If you die without a will, your estate will be tied up intestate and its fate decided through your state. THIS is not what you want, make sure they know what you do want. Free wills can be found through sources online but there is debate as to how good those wills are without the personal assistance from actual legal aid. If you do create your own will, be certain to get it notarized.

Find an affordable college.

Really, you can find much more affordable colleges than the big names that are out there. Some people say it matters a lot but if you can graduate without any student loans, that's a big difference, too.

Check out Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas. The town is fantastic but they also have a virtual college that allows you to live where you are. The University, though, is one of the most affordable in the country but their programs are getting top rankings at the same time. (Specifically their Elementary and Secondary Teacher Education Programs in 2014).

Another great option for an affordable online school is Western Governor's University. This school is also one of the most affordable in the country with programs earning top marks. I was really impressed with the master's program I completed. The total cost of my master's degree was $2,500 and it only took me seven months. The school is amazing because there are minimal requirements you must complete for the courses. What you do is work and study to complete the comprehensive exam or performance assessment. The idea is that you are coming in with all this knowledge so the program allows you to not just test out of but prove your competency in the required set of skills for almost every class.

Live at home.

If you can keep your kids near you or at home for their first two years of college you can save them a ton of money on housing and the cost of school. Being home near the normal accountability can also hold early college students better in place through their first two years. Having this strong foundation can really bolster success in reaching a degree.

Go to a junior college first.

 Whether it's for you or your child, consider a junior college first. There is so much learning that happens in those first two years. Junior colleges are generally less expensive per credit and have a smaller student to teacher ratio.

Have a replacement fund.

I know this is a lot of money to just be sitting around. A replacement fund is there for things you know you will be replacing. When you move into a new house, generally your inspection report will tell you about how many years you have left on major purchases in the home: the roof, the water heater, the HVAC (heating and cooling system). If your inspection said to replace your roof in five years, and it's been 15 years now, the roof leaking is not an emergency per say it's better labeled as neglect. A replacement fund is a monthly deposit you make to yourself in preparation of those major purchases that you can foresee.

Have an emergency fund.

An emergency fund is a savings in place for real emergencies. Losing a job can be really rough. An account holding six months of living expenses can make that job loss a much easier transition. By avoiding the additional stresses of attempting to support your family with no income, you can more calmly set about preparing and looking for a new job. In the current economy, many experts are recommending an emergency fund of 12 months because of the difficulties many are facing in finding new jobs.

Budget a freedom fund for regular non-monthly expenses.

 I love the name "Freedom Fund" by author Mary Hunt (http://www.debtproofliving.com/). What is it you ask, well it's setting up a special account to make monthly payments into your savings for things you don't pay for monthly. If you pay $600 every six months for car insurance, then make a $100 deposit into savings every month. Then when the bill comes you have the money there waiting for you. It's the freedom to not have to worry about those big bills that come. You can preplan for purchases like replacing tires. This Freedom Fund is your chance to make a readily available pot for those stressful payments and purchases. You may be thinking - hey but that's an emergency fund. Is your car insurance an emergency? Did you know your insurance would be coming due? Then THAT is NOT an emergency. Your emergency fund should be a separate amount, maybe in a different account and it should be protected as much as possible from inappropriate expenses that you should have known were coming.

Automate your savings deposits.

 Once you have an income you should begin saving. Whatever your financial goal you should immediately begin putting part of that money automatically into a savings device. If you have your emergency fund in place, consider immediately depositing into an investment device.  Do this automatically, though. Your employer can typically deposit into two accounts, have them put 10% into your savings account. Investment products can be set up to automatically draft to make investments. This autopilot can be adjusted whenever needed but the effortless investing can be much easier than making regular deposits manually.

Are you paying a load fee for your investments?

Most investment funds have a load fee of some sort which is their charge to you for putting your money into their accounts, a charge which ranges generally from 1-6% of your investment. Front end load, back end load, no loads, and expiring/deferred load fee options all have their calculable opportunity. Load fees are nearly unavoidable but you need to know what you are paying. The point is to realize there is a fee involved in most cases and to understand the fee basics before making the investment. 

Invest money wisely.

 Who is more foolish - the cautious man sitting on his money so it doesn't go away or the risk taker who grew his money? If you tuck your money in your mattress, when you take it out it will be worth less than when it went in. A dollar does not just exist, it is constantly effected by inflation. Even a simple savings account is better than a mattress at beginning to combat the effects of inflation.

Find a financial counselor/coach.

We're out there. Find a financial counselor who can help you with your spending and budget, help you visualize your goals for the future, and help you map out a route for a fabulous future.

Decide to do something and do it.

Acting now on your retirement or on a good idea is better than waiting and waiting for the best inspiration. We found ourselves in many traps trying to find the best decisions. Sitting on the other side it's much easier to see how making a good decision would have been way better than waiting on a great decision and never doing it. If something in this book sparks your brain - book mark it, highlight it, or write it down! Get it down folks!

Save your tax refund.

 Do you really need that hot tub? It's a reward for surviving the tax year right? By taking that tax return that is an irregular income to your family and investing it directly in a savings goal you can really jumpstart your goals. If this sounds really depressing, consider saving 3/4 or 2/3 and using part of it as a reward but not all of it. In reality you need to adjust your withholdings with your finance office so that your tax return is quite small and you are getting access to that money every month instead.

Free tax preparation.

It's out there so take advantage of it. Many free tax preparation offices are highly qualified and trained by the IRS. Even the best and highest paid tax preparation offices can do taxes badly and make mistakes. If you can learn what your taxes mean,  this can help you to make decisions throughout the year and to audit the product of your tax preparer.