There are a ton of budgeting apps out there, but many people end up using some sort of a spreadsheet for their budget.

Spreadsheets offer control and flexibility to users, and allows them to look closer at the transactions going through their accounts.

I have nothing against apps. Many people find them useful, and there’s no denying that there are a ton of good ones out there.

But I personally have used a budget spreadsheet for years and have found it useful. The more people I talk to about budgeting, the more I hear that people desire a spreadsheet-based budget without all the manual work that comes with it.

Today we finally have a budget spreadsheet in Excel that is automated and easy to update. But first let me tell you a bit about the budgeting process I’ve used in the past.

My Budgeting Process

 
I’m an Excel nerd so using a spreadsheet to budget was a no-brainer for me. I’ve had the same spreadsheet for over four years now. But why haven’t I shared it?

When I share spreadsheets and tools I want them to be as easy to use as possible. The biggest issue with spreadsheet budgeting is getting all the data in the proper format.

I have a number of credit cards due to credit card churning, plus throw in a bank account and you can see why it would take quite a bit of time to reformat everything. No two financial institutions seem to export data in the same format. So there’s a lot of work on the backend.

I didn’t want to share a budgeting spreadsheet until I solved this key piece of the puzzle. Fast forward four years and I still haven’t shared a spreadsheet.

That all changed when I discovered Tiller.

Tiller – The Key to Automation

 
Tiller is what I have been waiting for: it automates the process of pulling in your financial data into a clean, uniform format.

Now there are a ton of apps out there that link to your accounts. But they don’t allow you to dump your data into a spreadsheet because they either haven’t built a tool that can do that or they have a huge incentive to not allow their users to dump data into a spreadsheet.

Once you sign up for Tiller you simply have to connect your accounts and your financial transactions will be dumped into a Google Spreadsheet each day. They will come through in a uniform format that looks something like this:

 
Tiller does cost money. You can use my link for a free 30 day trial, but after that it’s $6.58/month. If you’re like me and spend an hour or more getting your data into a uniform format or have avoided budgeting because you don’t want to take the time to mess with your data, $6.58/month is well worth what you are getting in return for Tiller’s service. (Don’t worry they have a 60-day money-back guarantee as well).

Tiller has bank-grade security and has partnered with a company that works with some of the biggest banks in North America to ensure it’s up to the same high standards banks are held to. What was even more reassuring to me was hearing that their employees can’t even see your financial data. You can read more about their security and other features of their service on their website.

I’m all for Google Sheets, and Tiller absolutely can work simply using Google Sheets, but Excel is where it’s at if you want a clean and good-looking budget spreadsheet.

So I took it a step further and created an automated budget spreadsheet in Excel.

An Automated Budget Spreadsheet in Excel

 
Tiller is a great start, but my automated budget spreadsheet in Excel is where people will feel most “at home.” Excel is widely used and I’ve created a spreadsheet that someone with limited experience can use.

The spreadsheet has a directions tab that guides you through the process of updating the spreadsheet with your data. It also points out best practices that will help you not “break” the file.

 
The data tab is where you will want to paste your Tiller data. The data will then become part of a table that uses formulas to automatically populate the monthly summary tabs and the annual summary tabs.

Note that Tiller does not automatically populate the category for each transaction. Having the user populate the category allows the user to assign relevant categories and look at the transactions at a lower level of detail than they would if category was auto-filled.
 

 
On the categories tab you can add or delete categories as you see fit.
 

 
On the monthly summary tabs, everything is automated except for the budget column and the categories. You can add and delete categories as you see fit. You can unhide the hidden rows towards the bottom if you need to add more categories.

Everything is formula-driven, making it easy to see a snapshot for the month. While tabs have already been created for each month in 2024, you can easily make a copy of any of the months tab and choose a different month and year drop-down as you see fit. Everything will update automatically for whatever month you choose.
 

 
One additional thing included in this file is the annual summary. If you go to the 2024 tab you can see an annual summary of your income and expenses by month. This is automatically populated and you can easily make a summary for future years by choosing a different year from the drop-down.
 

 
This spreadsheet takes a lot of the manual work out of the budgeting process and gives you nice clean views of your financials, both budgeted versus actual as well as net inflow and outflow of cash.

My hope is that this easier process of importing and tagging data will encourage others to start budgeting. After all, using this process you can easily update your budget in less than 30 minute a month, perhaps even less than 10 minutes depending on how many transactions you need to tag.

The Biden administration recently announced a new proposed student loan repayment plan that, according to the Department of Education, will provide millions of borrowers with lower required monthly payments and increase the speed of student loan forgiveness.

Technically this proposal revises an existing plan, not an entirely new plan.

Let’s dive into what the details of the proposed new Biden student loan repayment plan.

Key Details of the New Biden Student Loan Repayment Plan

 
As I mentioned, the proposal does not create a new income-driven repayment plan, but changes an existing one, Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE). Including REPAYE, there are four income-driven repayment plans. You can see the details of each of the four plans here.

The revised edits to the REPAYE plan, which I am going to call “New REPAYE” from here on out, can be complicated at times.

Let’s start with the key points and then we’ll unpack each of them in more detail.

• The calculation for discretionary income will increase the federal poverty guideline factor from 150% to 225%

• Required payment will be 5% of discretionary income if debt is 100% undergrad (currently 10% or more for the four existing plans)

• Required payment will be between 5% and 10% of discretionary income if there is any grad school debt (we’ll walk through the calculation in a moment)

• Spousal income excluded when taxes are filed as married filing separately

• Interest will not accrue if a borrower’s monthly payment is so low that they it doesn’t cover the interest portion of the monthly payment

• Loan forgiveness will be between 10 and 20 years for undergrad only debt; if a borrower has any grad school debt, forgiveness will be after 25 years

• Parent PLUS loans will continue to be excluded as they were under existing REPAYE regulations; Parent PLUS borrowers will need to use the Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) plan instead

Now that we’ve covered the key points, let’s unpack them each a bit further.

Required payment calculation

 
There are a number of changes to how the required monthly payment is calculated.

The first one is the change from 150% to 225% of the federal poverty guideline factor when calculating discretionary income. Discretionary income is a key variable, since income-driven repayment plans use a percentage of discretionary income (currently 10% to 20% depending on the plan) to calculate the required monthly payment.

The discretionary income calculation is:
Adjusted Gross Income – federal poverty guideline factor = discretionary income

Let’s walk through an example.

A single individual living in Delaware who has no dependents would have a monthly federal poverty of $14,580. This is at 100% of the guideline. Currently REPAYE uses 150%, or $21,870. New REPAYE would use a factor of 225%, or in this case $32,805.

This individual has an Adjusted Gross Income, or AGI, of $50,000. (Note: AGI can be found on your tax return and excludes things like 401k or 403b contributions).

Under the current REPAYE plan their discretionary income is $28,130 ($50,000 less $21,870).
Under the New REPAYE plan their discretionary income is $17,195 ($50,000 less $32,805).

Now let’s assume that this individual only has undergrad student loans. Under REPAYE they would be required to pay 10% of their discretionary income, but under New REPAYE they would be required to pay 5%.

Under the New REPAYE plan their required monthly payment would be $72 ($17,195 * 0.05 / 12)
Under the New REPAYE plan their required monthly payment would be $234 ($28,130 * 0.10 / 12)

Needless to say, that’s a big difference. The combination of the higher federal poverty guideline factor plus the percentage of discretionary income being cut in half leads to this individual’s student loan payment going down to less than $100 a month.

Want to plug in your own numbers? Download our income-driven repayment calculator by entering your email below. We just updated it with New REPAYE in addition to the existing income-driven repayment plans.

What about grad school loans?

The above example was an individual with only undergrad loans. But what happens if someone has grad school loans?

A good starting point is this: in New REPAYE, a borrower with grad school loans will not need to pay more than 10% of their discretionary income towards their loans.

Well, this is no different than REPAYE, so is there any benefit for grad school borrowers?

The answer is yes, because of the increase in the federal poverty guideline factor, which doesn’t change depending on whether the borrower has undergrad loans, grad loans, or a mix of both.

They also will benefit in the sense that they will pay between 5% and 10% depending on the mix of undergrad and grad school loans.

Let’s say that a borrower has $50,000 in undergrad and $100,000 in grad school loans.

That means that 2/3, or 66.67% of their loans are grad loans.

You would take (33.33% x 5%) + (66.67% x 10%) to get to 8.3% as the percent of discretionary income that they will be required to pay towards their loans each month.

Spousal income excluded when taxes are filed as married filing separately

 
Currently on REPAYE, a spouse’s income is included in the calculation for monthly student loan payments even if you file your taxes as married filing separately.

This has caused some borrowers to switch to the IBR plan (Income Based Repayment) despite it requiring 15% of discretionary income instead of 10%.

New REPAYE changes this. With New REPAYE you are able to exclude your spouse’s income from the calculation as long as you file your taxes as married filing separately.

Interest will not accrue if a borrower’s monthly payment is so low that they it doesn’t cover the interest portion of the monthly payment

 
One of the biggest complaints about the current student loan repayment system is that borrowers can see their balance increase even after years and years of making payments.

Why this happens is because on income-driven repayment plans the required monthly payment may not cover all the interest, let along make a dent in the principal of the loan or loans. For example a borrower may be required to pay $1,050 a month on a standard ten-year repayment plan but on an income-driven repayment plan be required to pay $200. That $200 likely won’t cover the full interest portion of the $1,050 payment. If the interest portion was, say, $400, then $200 of interest ($400 – $200 = $200) would accrue and eventually be added back to the principal.

The New REPAYE fixes this problem. In the above example, the additional $200 of interest not covered by the $200 payment would not accrue.

Loan Forgiveness Implications

 
Changes to loan forgiveness timelines under New REPAYE will be impactful for some but minimal, if not entirely unchanged, for others.

• Loan forgiveness will be between 10 and 20 years for undergrad only debt; if a borrower has any grad school debt, forgiveness will be after 25 years

The easy aspect of this to get out of the way is anyone who has taken out any grad school loans. Their path to loan forgiveness will remain at 25 years, as it is under REPAYE.

For those with undergrad loans only, it’s a bit different. Here’s how it works:

• If a borrower took out $12,000 or less in loans, they will receieve loan forgiveness after making the equivalent of 10 years of payments.

• For each additional $1,000 borrowed above $12,000, the borrower would require one additional year of payments to receive forgiveness.

• No one who borrows only undergrad loans will need to make more than 20 years of payments to receive forgiveness.

With these rules in mind, an individual who took out $13,000 would need to make 11 years of payments, $14,000 would need to make 12 years of payments, and so on until you hit 20 years in which case that is the maximum number of years.

To be clear, this is for income-driven loan forgiveness. Public Service Loan Forgiveness, or PSLF, would still be on a 10-year timeline for all borrowers. Read more about PSLF here.

What else is in the proposal?

 
I focused on the key points here, but there are some other aspects of the proposal I haven’t touched on.

There are some changes to access to income-driven repayment plans for those who are in a delinquient or default status. The proposals here are all positive and move in the right direction. Because of the complexity of student loans many borrowers aren’t aware of all their options and could benefit greatly from moving into an income-driven repaymetn plan. That’s challenging for a borrower when they don’t even know income-driven plans exist.

There are a few proposed changes around what counts as an eligible payment, specifically focused on forbearance and deferment.

And perhaps the most notable thing I haven’t shared yet is that the administration would plan on phasing out new borrowers entering PAYE and ICR income-driven repayment plans, and make it difficult for a borrower to move from New REPAYE to IBR. IBR is written into law and therefore the administration is unable to fully limit access to it.

If you want to plug in your loans or a friend or family member’s loans to see what the paymennt would be under the New REPAYE plan, you can grab a copy of our calculator.

What’s next with the new Biden student loan forgiveness plan in 2023?

 
At this point the New REPAYE proposal is just that, a proposal. The Department of Education “expects to finalize the rules later this year and aims to start implementing some provisions later this year, subject to any changes made based on public comments.”

We will be closely watching this, the upcoming Supreme Court case on loan forgiveness, the ending of the COVID emergency order, and everything else impacting the student loan space. Subscribe to our email newsletter to stay up to date.

Feeling out of control with how much you are required to pay every month towards your federal student loans? Then you may want to consider other options.

For anyone with federal student loans, you have a few different choices when it comes to your repayment.

Income-driven repayment plans were created to help borrowers potentially lower their required minimum monthly student loan payment, making their required payment more affordable. Student loans are complicated, so think of this post as a an intro to income-driven repayment options.

Note – we don’t go into detail in this post, but there is brand new student loan repayment plan that was proposed by the Biden administration in January 2023. You can read all the details of this plan, which we are calling New REPAYE, in this post.

Types of Income-Driven Repayment Plans

 
When you start paying back your federal student loans, you are automatically enrolled into the standard ten-year repayment plan. This repayment plan assumes that it will take ten years to pay off your student loans, and will require you to pay a set minimum monthly payment. This payment doesn’t change from month-to-month – it remains constant throughout the ten years of your loan.

While the standard ten-year repayment works well for some people, it may not be an ideal fit for everyone. If your monthly student loan payments eat up too much of your take-home pay, you may want to consider an income-driven repayment plan.

The term income-driven repayment is a broad term that encompasses four different types of repayment plans. Each plan is a little different, and will be outlined in this post. Generally, with income-driven repayment plans, instead of paying standard monthly payments to your loan balance, the amount you will be required to pay is directly tied to your income (more specifically, your adjusted gross income as reported on your taxes). The idea behind this is to ensure payments are actually affordable for student loan borrowers.

Below are the four income-driven repayment plans, starting with the most favorable to least favorable:

• Pay As You Earn (PAYE)

• Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE)

• Income-Based Repayment (IBR)

• Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR)

Eligible Loans for Income-Driven Repayment Plans

Not all federal loans are eligible for income-driven repayment. Here is a summary of eligible loans for each plan:

PAYE: All Direct loans except Parent PLUS loans and consolidation loans that repaid Parent PLUS loans

REPAYE: All Direct loans except Parent PLUS loans and consolidation loans that repaid Parent PLUS loans

IBR: All Direct loans and FFEL loans except Parent PLUS loans and consolidation loans that repaid Parent PLUS loans

ICR: All Direct loans except Parent PLUS loans; Consolidation loans made after July 1, 20016 that repaid Parent PLUS loans are eligible

Note that private student loans and federal student loans that were refinanced through a private lender do not qualify for an income-driven repayment plan. If you have private student loans read this post for tips on how to best go about repaying them.

Here’s an overview of each repayment plan.

1) Pay As You Earn (PAYE)

 
Pay As You Earn, or PAYE, is the most favorable IDR plan. Monthly payments are capped at 10 percent of your monthly discretionary income, and there is an opportunity for loan forgiveness after 20 years of qualified payments.

You must have been a new borrower as of October 1, 2007 or had no prior outstanding loan balances and took out a new direct loan on or after October 1, 2011. If you are ineligible for this repayment plan, you REPAYE is a good alternative.

2) Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE)

 
The Revised Pay As You Earn, or REPAYE, repayment plan is the newest option for anyone seeking an income-driven repayment plan. It works similarly to the PAYE plan, except it doesn’t have the “new borrower” requirements that PAYE has. It does come with a “marriage penalty,” though; your spouse’s income is taken into consideration in the calculation of discretionary income. On the PAYE plan a spouse’s income is only considered if you file taxes jointly; you can file married filing separately to exclude their income from the calculation.

Loan forgiveness is possible after 20 years of qualified payments for undergrad debt, or 25 years if you are repaying any graduate debt.

3) Income-Based Repayment (IBR)

 
The Income-Based Repayment, or IBR, plan sets your monthly payments at 10% if you are a new borrower or 15% if you are not a new borrower. To be an eligible “new” direct loan borrower for IBR you must satisfy a couple of requirements: you have not taken out a federal direct loan prior to July 1, 2014 and have no outstanding balance on a FFEL Program loan when you receive a direct loan on or after July 1, 2014. If you are a new borrower you are eligible for loan forgiveness after 20 years of qualified payments, or 25 years if you are not a new borrower.

The biggest benefit of IBR is that FFEL loans are eligible, which isn’t the case on any of the other income-driven repayment plans. Granted you can create a direct loan by consolidating FFEL Program loans.

4) Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR)

 
The Income-Contingent Repayment, or ICR, plan, is the least favorable income-driven repayment plan. It caps your payments at 20% of your discretionary income and offers loan forgiveness after 25 years of qualified payments.

The biggest benefit of ICR is that it’s the only IDR plan that Parent PLUS Loans and consolidation loans that repaid Parent PLUS Loans are eligible for.

Is an Income-Driven Repayment Plan for You?

 
There are several benefits to income-driven plans. One of the most obvious benefits is that they allows for more affordable monthly student loan payments.

If you have a smaller income, a large amount of student loan debt, or both, you may be finding it difficult to pay your monthly student loan bill. While Income-Driven Repayment plans often cost more money over the long-run, it’s a better option than simply ignoring your student loans because you can’t afford the payments. Not making your student loan payments will eventually lead to default, which ultimately increases the amount of money that you owe. An income-driven repayment plan can help avoid default.

Depending on which plan you enroll in, you may be eligible for student loan forgiveness after 20 to 25 years if you make consistent, on-time payments. Just keep in mind, any remaining student loan balance that is forgiven will be considered to be taxable income and could result in a large bill come tax-time (something we commonly refer to as the “tax bomb”). With that being said, getting loans forgiven can be a big win. Student loan interest also doesn’t compound as long as you don’t have a capitalization event (i.e. switching income-driven repayment plans), so the actual debt you get forgiven will build up slower than, say, credit card debt, which has interest that compounds over time.

Finally, if you are working towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), an income-driven repayment plan is what you want to be in.

Understand your Student Loans using a Student Loan Spreadsheet

 
We have a free student loan spreadsheet that helps you organize all the details of your student loans in one place. This snapshot of your loans can help you determine what repayment plans you are eligible and what plans make sense.

You can download the spreadsheet in the box below, or read about all the features here.

You’ve come to the right place if that describes you.

My goal here is to share a simple personal finance checklist. This won’t cover everything, but it will hit on some key actions to take to start managing your financial life better.

Here is the simple personal finance checklist, followed by more details on how to actually do each of these things:

• Review Your Income and Expenses from the Past 3 Months

• Create a Budget for the Next Month

• List Out your Debt

• Make a Plan to Address your Debt

• Make a Plan to Build an Emergency Fund

• Check your Credit Score

• Calculate your Net Worth

Let’s dig into each of the items on the personal finance checklist, including ideas of how to accomplish them.

Review Your Income and Expenses from the Past 3 Months

 
If you want to make positive changes to your finances – or confirm you are making the right ones – you need to understand where your money is going.

First you will need to track your income and expenses for at least three months. You can do this by pulling your income and spending information from your bank and credit card statements. If you use cash often you will need to capture that going forward and should estimate the past three months for the time being.

I track my income and expenses by using Tiller, which pulls all your income and spend data from your credit cards and bank accounts automatically. The key word here is automatically. I used to do it manually, but I’ve found Tiller to save me a decent amount of time each month so I’ve used it for a few years now.

When you have three months of data in front of you, it’s time to reflect on it.

Are You Spending More than You Earn? If you are spending more than you earn it could be due to a couple things. You may have too much coming out of your paycheck each month for your retirement or Health Savings account. The other reason is you are simply spending too much for your income.

If you are spending too much, take a look at each category. Are there things that stick out? Is your rent or mortgage way too high? Do you have a $500 car payment? Do you spend too much on restaurants and take-out? Or perhaps your grocery budget is too high?

You will also want to think about what you actually want to spend money on. I personally don’t think a latte a day will kill your finances, so if you enjoy spending money on it then by all means continue to do so. But your car loan or lease of $600 could be pushing your finances over the edge. It may be time to sell and purchase a more reasonably-priced vehicle.

Create a Budget for the Next Month

 
Using your three months of spending data you now have a good idea of how much you spend on various categories in an average month. Using this information combined with what you discovered when you reviewed your spending, you are now ready to make a budget for the next month.

I use a budget spreadsheet for my budget. Some people use apps. Test out both and use whatever is easiest for you.

We have a free automated budget spreadsheet that you can download. This budget spreadsheet uses Tiller to populate the “actuals” data. A typical monthly budget sheet looks like this:

 
Setting a budget isn’t difficult when you have your past three months – or more – of expenses to help guide you. Set a reasonable budget for each category and challenge yourself in categories where you are spending more than you would like to.

There are a number of expenses that are difficult to change, think housing and car payments or leases. Even though you can’t change these costs immediately, don’t let them fall off your radar. If your housing costs are way too expensive for your income make it a priority to find more affordable housing. If you have a vehicle that is keeping you in debt because the payment is $500, consider selling your vehicle and buying something more reasonable. These aren’t the easy wins, but they are the big wins that have the potential to drastically help your financial life.

List Out your Debt

 
Do you have debt? If you have debt you should, at minimum, know these things:

• Type of Debt (Credit Card, Student Loan, etc.)
• Amount
• Interest Rate
• Whether the Interest Rate is Fixed or Variable
• Remaining Number of Payments (for Installment Loans like a mortgage)
• Minimum Required Monthly Payment

If you’ve never done this, take a deep breathe. When my wife and I listed out our student loan debt it was more than we expected. This was especially true after my wife finished her master’s degree and we had her undergrad loans in deferment for a few years while also taking out additional student loans.

In our free Student Loan Spreadsheet we have a couple of sheets where you can drop in the details of your debt. One tab is specific to student loans while the second tab is for all debt.

Once you have your debt listed out, move on to the next step: make a plan to address your debt.

Make a Plan to Address your Debt

 
When it comes to debt everyone’s situation is going to be different. $30,000 of debt at 3.25% interest is different than $30,000 of debt at 23.0% interest. $10,000 of debt for someone making $125,000 a year is different than $10,000 of debt for someone making $20,000 a year.

With that in mind, there are a few strategies that may be relevant to your situation:

 
Make a Strategic Student Loan Plan

If you have student loan debt there are a number of paths you can take. You can refinance your student loans and pay them off as quickly as possible. You can pay them off on the standard ten-year repayment plan. Or you can strategically repay your student loans on an income-driven repayment plan and head down the path to student loan forgiveness (either income-driven loan forgiveness or Public Service Loan Forgiveness).

I go into much more detail on student loan repayment and broader personal finance in my book Student Loan Solution: 5 Steps to Take Control of Your Student Loans and Financial Life. My wife and I are going the strategic repayment route. I talk about our personal situation in my post I can afford to pay off my student loans, but I won’t: here’s why.

 
Lower Your Interest Rate

The reason credit card debt can feel so crushing is because of the interest rate. Credit card debt is double-digits in most cases. It can easily reach the high-teens or the low 20s.

When your interest rate is high you end up putting a lot of money towards interest before you make progress on the principal. The lower your interest rate the better. Typically the higher your credit score the lower the interest rate available to you. We’ll go over credit score in more detail soon.

One strategy is to open a 0% APR credit card. With these cards you can transfer your credit card balance and pay 0% interest for a period of time. For example with the Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card you get 15 months of 0% interest on both purchases and balance transfers. You can use this time to make as much progress as possible towards the principal balance of your debt. You may even be able to knock it out entirely. Here’s our picks for the best 0% APR credit cards.

We already mentioned student loan refinancing, which I highly recommend for any private student loans. You can get rate quotes from multiple companies through Credible. For credit card and personal debt you can see what rates are available if you refinance through a personal loan.

 
Get Help

The last thing I want to mention is that it makes sense to reach out for help if you are overwhelmed. This may mean reaching out to a certified credit counselor or working with a debt attorney (I interviewed a debt lawyer about what prospective clients should expect when working with one.

Regardless of what strategy you take, the sooner you confront your debt the sooner you will have a plan for taking control of it. A couple additional posts you may find helpful are how to deal with debt on a low income and options for dealing with a large unexpected expense.

Make a Plan to Build an Emergency Fund

 
One of the most basic and repeated pieces of personal finance advice is “build an emergency fund.”

I know, I know, it’s easier said than done. But it is important.

As I mention in my book Student Loan Solution, a better and more inspiring name for an emergency fund is a F*** Off Fund. When you have no cash savings you are in a vulnerable position. You may put up with an abusive manager longer than you should because you need money, right? When you have an emergency fund you can say F*** off to those who need to hear it.

As far as importance, building an emergency fund is on par with making a plan for your debt. There is simply nothing more empowering than having cash in the bank.

Instead of getting fixated on a goal that may seem unattainable today, such as having three or six months of expenses in a savings account, I encourage people to focus on what they can accomplish today. $100 a month is better than $0 a month. Whatever you can manage is what you should be setting aside. For more details, read our post build an emergency fund $100 at a time.

Check your Credit Score

 
A credit score impacts, for better or for worse, your ability to take out a loan or open a credit card. It also can impact the interest rate you receive.

Here is a general guide to how creditors will view your credit score:

• Less than 500: Very bad
• 500-549: Bad
• 550-599: Poor
• 600-649: Average
• 650-699: Good
• 700-749: Very good
• 750 or Higher: Excellent

You can check your credit score for free with most credit cards through the online dashboard when you log in.

If you have a bad credit score, don’t panic. Nearly a third of Americans in total and 43% of millennials have a poor or bad credit score, which is defined as a credit score of 600 or below.

If you want or need to increase your credit score, read how this blogger increased their credit score 150+ points in 8 months and 5 ways to fix a bad credit score.

Calculate your Net Worth

 
The final item in this simple personal finance checklist is calculate your net worth. Calculating your net worth, at a high level, is really simple: you take your assets and subtract your liabilities (i.e. debt). That’s it.

In practice it’s a bit more difficult because the amount in your bank account changes often. If you have retirement savings that also moves around daily. The value of your house and the outstanding principal on your mortgage changes. The debt you have goes down (or up).

To get an accurate picture of my net worth I use Personal Capital. Personal Capital is a free tool that links to your accounts and pulls in your data real-time. Once you do the initial setup work you can get a real-time look at your net worth whenever you want.

 
Checking your net worth may not be the most uplifting experience. Let’s say you just finished grad school and have $225,000 of student loan debt from undergrad and grad school. You worked, but any money you made went towards your living expenses. In this case your net worth will be negative.

If you find yourself less-than-inspired by your net worth my recommendation would be to not check it that often. Instead focus on what you can control today. You can budget. You can create a strategic student loan repayment plan. You can create a plan for eliminating debt. We didn’t talk about it, but you can also focus on increasing your income at your 9-5 or through a side hustle, and you can start socking away money in an investment account.

By proactively making these money moves you can set yourself up for success. Years go by quick and before you know it all your hard work will translate into a net worth that puts a smile on your face.

By working through this simple personal finance checklist there is a chance you will drastically improve your financial life. With that being said, taking control of your financial life can take time – don’t get overwhelmed! Realize that even tracking your income and expenses is a huge step towards owning your finances.
 

The increase in the amount of private student loans isn’t surprising, as there are a couple of major drivers in the trend.

First, the cost of college keeps increasing. This includes the cost of living, which many students take loans out for. As the cost of college increases, the amount of debt students need to take on increases as well. That drives many students to private student loans.

There has also been a big uptick in advertising related to private student loans. Both startups and banks have started to offer student loan refinancing as a product. This has naturally led many students to refinance federal student loans, which then turn into private student loans.

Refinancing federal student loans isn’t always a bad thing, but federal student loans have some major differences compared to private ones. We’ll kick off this private student loans guide by talking about how they differ from federal loans, then go into options for dealing with private student loans, and finally get into how you can potentially save thousands on your private student loans.

Let’s get to it!

Federal Student Loans vs. Private Student Loans

 
Federal student loans are owned by the federal government while private student loans are owned by a private company. Federal student loans come with a number of benefits including.

• Interest Benefit During Deferment – Subsidized federal student loans (not unsubsidized federal loans) do not accrue interest when they are in an eligible deferment period such as while you are in school at least half-time and during your grace period (the first six months after you leave school).
   
  Not having interest accrue can result in big savings, which is why direct subsidized federal student loans are the best option. Unsubsidized federal student loans do not come with this benefit, nor do private student loans.

• Income-Driven Loan Repayment Options – Borrowers have the option of moving federal loans onto an income-driven repayment plan, which essentially caps the required minimum monthly payment at 10%-20% of your discretionary income.

• Loan Forgiveness Opportunities – Federal student loans are eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, or PSLF, which provides eligible borrowers tax-free loan forgiveness after 120 qualified monthly payments.
   
  Another loan forgiveness option is income-driven loan forgiveness. When you go on one of the four income-driven repayment plans and make payments for 20-25 years, the remaining loan balance and accrued interest will be forgiven. With this option you will owe taxes on the forgiven amount, but it’s still much better than not getting your loans forgiven.
   
  There are some other options for loan forgiveness with federal loans, but these are the two major ones. Private student loans do not have loan forgiveness opportunities.

Student loans are nearly impossible to discharge in bankruptcy, but federal student loans at least offer a path to forgiveness. They also offer the most flexibility in repayment.

These are just some of the reasons why I highly recommend prioritizing repaying private student loans over federal student loans.

But this brings up another important point: in general it makes sense to not refinance federal student loans. That’s not to say federal student loans should never be refinanced, but you will want to be very confident that it’s the right decision before refinancing. These post may be a bit repetitive, but I go deeper into federal student loan refinancing in this post.

Refinance with another company – There are a growing number of banks offering student loan refinancing. If your current lender isn’t willing to work out a reasonable repayment plan, there are plenty of other banks competing for your business. Credible is a company that gives you free rate quotes from multiple companies. If you use my link and end up refinancing your student loans, you will get a $300 cash bonus if you refinance less than $100k and a $750 cash bonus if you refinance more than $100k. (All bonus payments are by gift card. See terms.)

Even if you can afford your private student loan payment, it makes sense to look at what refinancing offers are available to you. You can refinance your private student loans over and over again, so I recommend looking at what rates are offered to you every 6-12 months. Put it on your calendar (seriously).

Let’s look at a quick example of what sort of savings you could be looking at.

Jeff has $60,000 of private student loans at 9.0% interest rate. On the standard ten-year repayment plan he would pay $31,207 in interest.

If he refinanced at 5.0%, he would pay just $16,367 in interest. That’s a savings of $14,840.

It’s also worth pointing out Jeff increased his monthly cash flow by $124 a month by refinancing.

Let’s say Jeff wants to get rid of these loans even faster. He started a side hustle and he’s diverting some of his earnings towards his student loan debt. If he refinanced at 5.0% and voluntarily made a $900 monthly payment instead of the required $636.

The result is paying only $7,067 in interest, a savings of $24,410 compared to the original loan of 9.0%. He also eliminates his loans after seven years and five months instead of ten years.

 
Clearly refinancing student loans can be a powerful tool. It makes so much sense to refinance private student loans. You may have less options, but it also makes it clear what you should do if you are looking to save money on interest.

Your credit score is going to be key when it comes to getting access to the best rates. I recently wrote a post about a fellow blogger who raised their credit score by more than 150 points in eight months. In the post I share what worked for him as well as tips for improving your credit score.

 
A couple of additional notes:

• You can potentially free up cash flow to knock out your private student loans faster by moving your federal student loans onto an income-driven repayment plan. Whatever cash flow savings you have from making the switch can be diverted towards paying down your private student loans faster. This does not have to be a permanent move, you can move your loans back onto the standard ten-year repayment plan once you’ve eliminated your private student loans if it makes sense for your financial situation.

• If you are drowning in debt and none of these strategies are working for you, consider reaching out to Leslie Tayne. She’s a debt lawyer who has experience helping people with an overwhelming amount of student loans. I interviewed her in this post about the topic of what to expect when working with a debt lawyer?

 
Ready to get some refinance quotes for your private student loans? You can use Credible – you will get a $300 cash bonus if you refinance less than $100k and a $750 cash bonus if you refinance more than $100k. (All bonus payments are by gift card. See terms).

One specific ways borrowers can feel helpless is with their job situation.

Borrowers may even hate their job, but they feel stuck because of their student loan debt. They have a lot of debt, so why would they ever rock the boat by applying to a different job? Or, God forbid, leave the career they went into so much debt for?

One of the most difficult stories I read when I was doing research for Student Loan Solution was about someone who turned down their dream job in marine biology because it wouldn’t pay enough to cover their nearly $100k of student loan debt. Instead they moved back home and took a store manager job at a retail store, which paid more than the job in marine biology.

They interviewed one of the borrower’s parents in the article and they said he seemed very unhappy. All he did was work, come home, and go to his room.

He was miserable.

He isn’t alone. There are millions of student loan borrowers in default, and millions more who are miserable in their current work situation but feel like they can’t change anything because of their loans.

If I could speak to the person in this story I would help him see how he could make working in marine biology possible.

There are always options for dealing with debt strategically. This is especially true with student loans.

If you hate your job but feel helpless because of your student loans, or this describes someone close to you, I wrote this for you. I’ll go through some of the options available to you and show you that by making a plan of action you can move on from your miserable job and not let your student loans keep you from living a happy and fulfilling life.

How Bad Is Your Situation?

 
The first thing I want to discuss is how bad your situation is. If you are being verbally, physically, or sexually abused at your current employer, it goes without saying that leaving ASAP is a top priority. I won’t pretend to understand how difficult this situation is for you, nor would I ever judge you for whatever choice you end up making, be it quitting tomorrow or staying for a longer-period of time until you have arrangements in place.

With that being said, in an ideal situation you would report your employer and put the ball in the employer’s court to make things right. If they retaliate against you, you should have a legal case for pursuing damages against them. (I am not a lawyer so please seek out legal advice from a qualified lawyer).

Now let’s focus on a less serious situation. Your job is a grind. Or boring. Or your manager sucks. The work is awful.

For whatever reason, you hate your job and want out. But you have student loans.

What should you do?

I’m going to state something obvious that I’m sure you’ve thought about: it’s easier to find a job when you are currently employed.

If you are willing to stay with your employer while searching for another job, use your disdain of your current job as motivation to take action. Update your resume, browse job openings, apply for open positions, and connect with your network. This is likely the right course of action if you have no emergency fund or a limited one, since leaving your job without another one lined up will likely result in you falling behind on bills and taking on credit card debt.

If you do have an emergency fund you will have to weigh whether or not quitting your job before finding a new one is worth it. The bigger an emergency fund you have, the better. Six months or more would be an ideal amount, but you could get by on less (and trust me, I know how difficult it is to build even a one-month emergency fund). If the economy was in a downturn I would advocate against quitting your current job before finding a new one, but with the economy being hot there is a higher likelihood you can find gainful employment relatively quickly. Regardless, you should have a good idea of how difficult this will be before you quit your current job.

In Student Loan Solution we talk about an emergency fund as an F off Fund. Having money set aside will allow you to not be reliant on anyone financially, and to tell people (like an abusive boss) to “F Off” if that’s what they deserve to hear (it’s up to you whether you say it in your head or out loud!).

If you don’t have an emergency fund, there is no better time to start than now. Even $100 a month can be beneficial, and any amount is better than $0.

This post isn’t just about emergency funds though. The underlying issue is student loans and how that makes borrowers feel stuck in their current jobs and careers, unsure how they will get out.

So let’s move into a discussion on student loans specifically.

What Does Your Student Loan Situation Look Like?

 
The type of loans you have will dictate what options are available for you. If you have never dropped all your student loan information into a spreadsheet, now is the time. Download our free student loan spreadsheet and follow the directions to populate all the details of your private and federal student loans.

Let’s start by looking at private loans and then federal ones.

 
Private Student Loans

Private student loans are becoming more common each year. One reason for this is how expensive college has become, which drives borrowers to supplement their federal student loans with private ones. The other reason is the millions and millions that have been spent marketing student loan refinance products.

With your private student loans you have a couple different options to make your payment a more reasonable amount:

• Work with your current lender – See if your current lender is willing to restructure your loan, either with a lower interest rate, longer payback period, or both.

• Refinance with another company – There are a ton of banks today offering student loan refinancing, so if your current lender isn’t willing to give you a better loan you can look elsewhere. Credible is a company that gives you free rate quotes from multiple companies. If you use my link and end up refinancing your student loans, you will get a $300 cash bonus if you refinance less than $100k and a $750 cash bonus if you refinance more than $100k. (All bonus payments are by gift card. See terms.)

Private student loans don’t have nearly as many options as federal student loans, but the one big benefit is that you can refinance over and over again if you find a better offer. I recommend people look every 6-12 months to see what sort of rates they will get from lenders. If you get a better interest rate you can ditch your current lender for the better loan.

 
Federal Student Loans

Federal student loans come with a lot of benefits, which is why I start with a word of caution on refinancing federal student loans. Once you refinance a federal student loan your federal loan no longer exists; you now have a private student loan. That means you no longer have access to benefits like income-driven repayment or opportunities for loan forgiveness, so take a pause before refinancing federal loans (private loans already don’t have these benefits, so feel free to refinance). Especially if you are struggling financially you shouldn’t consider refinancing your federal student loans.

With that in mind, here are a couple things you should look into:

• Income-driven repayment plans – There are four different income-driven repayment plans, each one with slightly different features. What they do have in common is they max out your minimum required monthly payment at 10-20% of your adjusted gross income (AGI), which can be found on your tax return. You can read more about the income-driven repayment plans here.

• Student loan forgiveness – There are two primary forms of student loan forgiveness: income-driven loan forgiveness and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Income-driven repayment works like this: make 20-25 years of payments on an income-driven repayment plan and your remaining loans (and accrued interest) will be discharged. You will have to pay taxes on the amount forgiven. For example if you had $100,000 forgiven, you’ll have to pay taxes on that amount as if it was income you earned.
   
  PSLF is the other major type of loan forgiveness. It’s received bad press, but fears about the program are overblown and more and more people will be granted PSLF over time. PSLF is the best type of loan forgiveness because it only requires 120 qualified monthly payments and you aren’t taxed on the amount that you are forgiven. It can be a difficult program to navigate, but for some borrowers it can literally result in a six-figure swing in their net worth. You can read more about PSLF here. I also wrote a post that shared tips for maximizing PSLF.

By strategically taking advantage of things like income-driven repayment, you can increase cash flow which allows you focus on goals like building a healthy emergency fund. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a lot easier to leave a job you hate when you cash in the bank than if you have no savings.

What Does the Rest of your Finances Look Like?

 
Your student loans are important to address, but it’s only a piece of your finances. There are other things to think about such as:

• Credit Card Debt – If you have credit card debt it should be prioritized over your student loan debt and you should be even more motivated to move onto an income-driven repayment plan and/or work towards getting your private student loans down to a more reasonable monthly payment. If your credit is good enough you may be able to refinance your credit card debt into a personal loan with a lower interest rate. Another option is a 0% APR transfer card, where you won’t be charged interest for the first 12-18 months. If you do take this approach you have to be sure you are 100% committed to paying down the debt and not simply letting it sit and/or increasing your credit car debt, which is common.

• Cash Flow – To track my income and expenses, I use Tiller, an automated tool that pulls all your credit card and bank information into one spreadsheet. I use it in tandem with an automated budget spreadsheet in Excel to keep tabs on how much we are spending on things like restaurants, auto insurance, and other spend categories. Ultimately I am able to see whether or not we have positive cash flow.
   
  Key to understanding your cash flow is knowing how much you spend, and on what. Use this as an opportunity to ask yourself whether you are spending your money on things you care about? If you value your daily Starbucks, that’s something that you should keep in your budget. If you don’t care about your car then you should find the best value (I fall in this boat and have been very happy with my inexpensive but reliable Kia Spectra). Only you can decide what you should and shouldn’t spend money on, but take this as an opportunity to prioritize your spending.
   
  One note on student loans specifically: moving your federal student loans onto an income-driven repayment plan can have huge positive implications for your cash flow. For example, a therapist with an AGI of $40k and $100k+ of student loans could see their required monthly payment go from more than $900 on a standard ten-year repayment plan to less than $150 a month on an income-driven repayment plan. That’s a lot of extra cash each month that can be used to transform the stability of your financial life.

• Credit Score – We talked a lot about refinancing, and nothing impacts your ability to refinance at the best interest rates more than your credit score. Virtually every credit card provides you access to a free credit score.
   
  If your credit score isn’t as high as you’d like (650 to 699 is good, 700 to 749 is very good, and 750 and up is excellent), don’t worry. There are plenty of practical things you can do to start improving your score. Here’s a post about a fellow blogger who improved their credit score 150+ points in just 8 months.

 
You don’t have to wait until your student loans are gone to start living a life you love.

I repeat: You don’t have to wait until your student loans are gone to start living a life you love!

Some borrowers will benefit from loan forgiveness, and for them paying off their loans either won’t be possible (think of a social worker making $40k a year with $160k student loan balance) or would cost them tens of thousands that could have been forgiven. Moving from a hopeless (and to be frank, bad) student loan repayment strategy to one that makes sense can be life-changing. For some that will be a strategy that involves pursuing student loan forgiveness, for others it will look different.

For various reasons, federal student loan debt is the best type of debt because of the numerous options it gives you for income-driven repayment and loan forgiveness. Private student loan debt is tougher, but there are still options for managing it through refinancing to a lower interest rate and/or extending the payment terms.

If you’re feeling stuck, don’t avoid your personal finances. I have people who are very close to me who didn’t read my blog for years because they were afraid to confront their finances. The sooner you do, the sooner you can take control of your money and your financial life.

Don’t let student loans keep you in a job you hate. You don’t have to be miserable because of your student loans.
 
 

Increase Your Savings

 
1) Open an online savings account with a higher interest rate. Online savings accounts, like CIT Bank, are able to offer a higher interest rate because they do not have to spend money keeping up brick-and-mortar locations. Consider making the switch and earning a few extra dollars in interest.

2) Set automatic increases. You can increase your retirement savings easily by setting auto-increases every year or so. You likely won’t even notice an additional 1% being deducted out of your paycheck, but that little extra contribution can add up overtime.

3) Automate your savings. The easiest way to meet your savings goals is to automate your savings. You can have money automatically set aside into a separate savings account each month. The important thing is to not touch it once it is there.

4) Keep a budget. Budgeting can be time-consuming, but it’s a habit that can have big implications for your finances. Check out our free automated budget spreadsheet if you don’t currently keep a budget.

5) Start an emergency fund. An emergency fund can save you and your loved ones from financial disaster. Make it a goal to set aside at least 3 months of living expenses in an emergency fund.

6) Meet your employer’s retirement match. If your employer offers to match a portion of your retirement fund contributions, make sure you are contributing enough to receive the full match.

7) Contribute to an HSA. If you are on the high deductible health plan, you are eligible to contribute to a health savings account, or HSA. HSAs offer huge tax advantages and can cover any health related expenses you may have. The best part is that they carry over from year to year, so you can build it just like a regular savings account.

8) Utilize catch-up contribution limits. For anyone over the age of 50, you are eligible for catch-up contributions, meaning you can contribute more to both an IRA and 401(k).

9) Save for your child’s education. A 529 plan allows you save for your child’s education while providing you with tax advantages.

10) Consider whether you should rent or buy. Depending where you live, it might make more sense to buy a house. If you are in an expensive city, you may not be able to afford to purchase a home right away. You’ll need to compare your financial position and personal priorities to make the best decision for you.

11) Compare car insurance rates. Get quotes from other insurance companies periodically. They may be able to offer you a cheaper rate for the same level of coverage.

12) Avoid ATM fees. ATM fees are ridiculously expensive considering that they are essentially charging you to access your own money. If you frequently use ATMs, locate machines that are free to use. If your bank does not offer free ATM use, consider switching to a bank that does.

Frugal Living

 
13) Meal plan. Planning out your meals can not only save you money in groceries, but it can save you a ton of time as well. You can plan out your meals, cook them all at once and be ready to go for the week.

14) Use a cash-back site. If you frequently shop online, Ebates will give you cash back for your purchases. It is free to use and sign up.

15) Turn off items electronics when not in use. Why spend money on things you are not even using at the time? You can save money by unplugging items when not in use.

16) Sell items you no longer need. Not only will selling household items declutter your home, but you can make good money by doing so. Take a few photos of what you are trying to sell and post it to sites like Craigslist, LetGo, and OfferUp.

17) Buy used or go thrifting. By buying used, you are saving money and helping the environment. You might be surprised at what you can find in a thrift store for cheap.

18) Adjust the temperature. You can save money every month by adjusting your thermostat by just a few degrees. To really save money, consider installing an adjustable thermostat. Many of the new thermostats allow you to control it from an app on your phone.

19) Plan gifts in advance. If you tend to frantically look for gifts last minute, you likely aren’t finding the best deals. You can save money (and prevent stress) by shopping in advance.

20) Consider cheaper hobbies. Everyone should invest in their hobbies, but some hobbies can drain a budget really quickly. Consider finding a few cheaper activities and splurging on your expensive hobby less frequently, or find a way to make money on your hobbies

21) Pay for maintenance. By prioritizing maintenance for the most important things (such as your house, health, or car), you are saving money in the long run. By doing regular maintenance, you are saving money in the long run by improving efficiency.

22) Learn to DIY. If you have the time, skill, and resources to do it yourself, you can save a sizeable amount of money.

23) Prolong purchasing anything new. If you tend to be an impulse shopper, make sure you are taking time to really evaluate the value of your purchase. After doing this practice, you will likely find that there are actually very few things you need.

24) Use less. With most things, you can get by with using less of a particular item. Using less is a practical way to save money in the long-run. For example, you can use less toothpaste, makeup, paper towels, or cleaning supplies with each use.

25) Make coffee at home. You can make your own coffee for literally pennies after you purchase a coffee maker. You can find a decent coffee maker for around $30. If you consider that each speciality drink at a coffee shop costs $4 to $5, you will quickly earn your money back.

26) Purchase discounted gift cards. Raise.com allows you to buy gift cards for less than what they are valued. Likewise, if you have gift cards you aren’t going to use, you can sell them on Raise.

27) Carpool. Carpooling to work can save you 50% of gas and will prevent wear-and-tear on your car. In some cities, you even get the added advantage of using the carpool lane, which results in you spending less time in traffic.

Career

 
28) Improve your soft skills. You can improve soft skills, such a public speaking, organization, and communication by participating in free organizations and classes around the area.

29) Take on additional responsibilities. By taking on additional responsibilities at your full-time job, you can show your boss that you are serious about the work you do. Management is more likely to give you a raise after clearly seeing the value you provide.

30) Organize yourself at your job. By prioritizing organization, you are ensuring that you are always prepared and operating efficiently.

31) Network, network, network. The best opportunities come through networking since everyone you know has a network of their own. If you are nervous about networking, you can read some tips here.

32) Make use of LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a great tool to collect with other professionals in your industry and community. Best of all, it is free to use!

33) Ask about remote opportunities. You are able to save money in gas and time if you are able to work from home even a few days a week. Plus, you may find that you actually increase your productivity. Talk with your boss to discuss the possibility of working from home.

34) Get certified. By getting certified in your field, you are able to better your chances for a raise or promotion.

35) Join professional groups. Professional associations and other organizations keep your skills sharp while simultaneously giving you plenty of opportunities to network within your field.

36) Consider switching jobs. If you feel stuck at your current job both professionally and financially, then it may be time to apply for new jobs.

37) Keep your resume up-to-date. You never know when the right opportunity may open up.

38) Always keep a business card on you. You should always be prepared. You don’t want to lose out on a potential connection simply because you didn’t keep a business card on you.

39) Spend less on accounting. If you are a business owner, you can save money by switching to Freshbooks for your accounting needs. They typically offer lower fees than many other software.

40) Take advantage of all employer benefits. Does your employer offer a 401(k) match? Free gym membership? Tuition assistance? Cell phone reimbursement? Failure to take advantage of employer benefits means you are leaving money on the table, so be sure to make use of everything your employer has to offer.

Pay Off Your Debt

 
41) Create a debt payoff plan. Before you can become debt-free, you have to know what you are up against. Make a list of all of your debt, the balance, interest rate, and the minimum monthly interest rate. This free spreadsheet was made to list out student loan debt, but you can use it for any debt.

42) Utilize the debt snowball method to pay off debt. The debt snowball is a very effective method of paying off debt. Essentially, you pay off your smallest debt first, even if it has a low interest rate. The psychology behind it is once you pay off one debt, you’re more motivated to pay off another.

43) Refinance your student loans. You may be eligible for a lower interest rate on your student loans through SoFi.

 
44) Refinance your credit card debt. If you have credit card debt, refinancing may help you to pay it off more quickly. Check out SoFi to see if you are eligible for a lower interest rate.

45) Avoid taking on more debt. Save for purchases ahead of time to avoid falling into a debt pitfall.

46) Settle on your car. Cars lose value the second you drive them off the lot, so they are not a wise investment. Settle for a less-expensive car and pay it off as quickly as you can.

47) Refuse to carry a credit card balance. Credit card debt has high interest rate and it can be one of the most difficult financial holes to crawl out of. Prevent credit card debt by paying off your credit card every single month.

48) Calculate your debt to income ratio. To calculate this ratio, add up your minimum monthly payments on all of your debt. Divide that amount by your monthly net income. If this percentage seems high, you should focus on either lowering your debt or increasing your income (or both!)

49) Make multiple debt payments. Instead of paying your minimum debt payment every month, split that amount into a few smaller, but more frequent payments. For example, instead of paying $400 once a month, pay $200 twice a month. This lowers the amount of debt you owe, so ultimately, you are paying less to interest.

50) Call your creditors. If you are struggling to meet the minimum debt payment, call your creditors. They might be willing to worth with you to setup a payment plan.

Make More Money

 
51) Start a blog. Blogging can be very profitable if you keep at it. Best of all, you can blog about any topic that is of interest to you.

52) Earn money through freelance writing. If you can write well, create detailed content, and meet deadlines, you can earn money through freelance writing.

53) Drive for Uber. Driving for Uber is perfect for anyone who is looking to make some extra cash in their spare time.

54) Rent out a room on AirBNB. If you have extra space in your home, you can rent it out on AirBNB. You can choose the days you are willing to rent out your space and charge as you would like.

55) Take surveys for extra cash. Surveys won’t make you rich, but it is a good way to earn a few extra dollars while sitting in front of the television. A few of our favorite survey sites include CrashCrate and Earning Station.

56) Evaluate your productivity. They say time is money, so it’s a good idea to know how much time you are spending on various tasks. RescueTime is a great tool to help you track your productivity.

57) Become a virtual assistant.Virtual assistants are administrative assistants that work from home. They might work for a large company or for a single business owner. Common virtual assistant tasks include scheduling, updating social media, coordinating travel, answering client questions, and more.

58) Earn a raise at work. Don’t forget that you can make more money at your current job. If you are trying to get a raise, here are some good tips.

Lifestyle

 
59) Read financial blogs. Blogs are a great way to learn a few personal finance tips as well as to stay on top of the latest personal finance news.

60) Have a mentor. Do you have someone you can talk to about your financial situation? A mentor can help guide you and hold you accountable.

61) Purchase a few personal finance books. Reading is such a great resource, and there are so many good personal finance books out there. Here are a few of our favorites.

62) Take free classes. Sites like Coursera and Udemy offer online classes from real colleges for free.

63) Find a financial community. Finding a community that prioritizes finances provides a huge advantage. So few people want to talk about money, but it’s holding everyone back. Maybe you find a financial class at your church or within your city, or you join the personal finance blogging community.

64) Keep a planner. Keeping a planner helps you keep your finances organized, ensuring that you never miss anything.

65) Write down your financial goals. Did you know you are over 40% more likely to accomplish a goal if you write it down first? Write down your goals and keep them somewhere visible to help keep yourself motivated. Here’s 15 financial goals to consider

66) Teach yourself something new. As we get older, we tend to stop teaching ourselves new things. Learning new skills or tasks keeps our minds sharp, which in return helps us make wise financial decisions.

67) Avoid FOMO. FOMO, or fear of missing out, can push a lot of your financial decisions if you aren’t careful. Keeping up with what everyone else has is not cheap, and you don’t want to be spending money on things that aren’t a high priority for you.

68) Listen to podcasts. Podcasts are a great way to learn about any topic. You can download podcasts for free on your phone and listen to them at the gym, in the car, or while at work.

69) Hold yourself accountable. Don’t let yourself slack on meeting your goals. Figure out how you can hold yourself accountable. Maybe you need to set small incentives for yourself, or maybe you need to find an accountability partner.

70) Stay healthy. By eating well, working out, and sleeping plenty, you are helping to lower your overall healthcare costs.

Perfect Your Budget

 
71) Always pay your bills on time. To avoid late fees or a potential negative impact on your credit score, it’s important to pay all of your bills on time.

72) Practice good record keeping. You want to be sure to always keep receipts and organize your finances. In case a mistake was made on a bill or taxes, you want to ensure that you have proof and documentation of each situation.

73) Track your net worth. Your net worth gives you a snapshot of where you stand financially. We recommend using the free Personal Finance app.

74) Cancel services that aren’t a priority. You can cancel services like cable, subscription boxes, and magazines to save money.

75) Analyze your budget every month. No two months are the same, and you won’t have a perfect budget right away. It takes some trial and error, especially in the beginning. You may find you regularly have a higher spending in one specific budgeting category and need to reallocate money to that.

76) Use a cash-only budget if you do not respond well to credit cards. Some people find credit cards too tempting. If you have racked up credit card debt in the past, it may be better for you to stick to an all-cash budget.

77) Figure out which budgeting system works best for you. Some people like to write their budget with pen and paper. Other people prefer spreadsheets or apps. However you decide to do it, the important thing is to just track your finances.

78) Like spreadsheets? Use our free automated budget tracker spreadsheet to keep track of your finances.

79) Use Personal Capital. Personal Capital is a financial software that puts all of your finances in one place. It essentially gives you a snapshot of your overall financial health. And it is free to sign up.

80) Learn to say no. Saying yes to everyone can result in a lot of unexpected expenses and can cause you to stress. By learning to say no, you are able to dedicate your time and money to things that are truly valuable to you.

81) Negotiate your bills. A quick phone call to your providers can save you money every month. You can negotiate almost any bill, including cable, car insurance, and internet.

82) Enroll in autopay. Autopay is an easy way to make sure all of your bills are paid. Some bills, like federal student loans, even give you a small discount if you enroll in autopay. Plus, it saves you time.

83) Check your tax withholdings. Though it might be nice to get that big tax return every year, you are essentially giving the government an interest-free loan by doing so. You also don’t want to be on the opposite end of the spectrum and owe the government money come tax time. Double check your withholdings to make sure they are correct.

84) Talk to your significant other about finances. Whether you are newly dating or married, you need to be on the same page with your finances. Be open and honest with one another.

85) Consider how to give back. Giving money away might not seem like a typical financial tip, but by donating your time or money, you are reminding yourself of the value of a dollar while improving the lives of others.

86) Budget for fun. Your budget won’t be very successful if it’s all work and no play. Be sure to set aside some money for entertainment and hobbies.

Use Credit Wisely

 
87) Open a credit card that is a good fit for you. Everyone has different financial priorities, and it’s important to find a credit card that works best for your lifestyle. You can compare the best credit cards here.

88) Learn about credit card travel hacking. You can take free trips across the world by learning how to travel hack.

89) Don’t open up lines of credit just for the deal. How many times have you been told you could save 20% on today’s purchase by opening a credit card at the checkout line? Avoid signing up for any credit card just for its short-term rewards.

90) Keep a credit card open. You can increase your credit score by having older lines of credit, so it’s always a good idea to keep your oldest credit card open, even if you rarely use it.

91) Have a low credit utilization. Credit utilization is another factor that makes up your credit score. By utilizing a small amount of the total credit available to you, you are working to increase your credit score.

92) Monitor your credit score. You can have peace of mind by monitoring your credit score with Credit Sesame.

93) And your credit report. According to the FTC, 1 in 3 consumers find an error on their credit report. An error on your credit report could result in a lower credit score, which may be costing you money by increasing the cost of borrowing. By checking your credit score, you are protecting your finances.

Secure Yourself

 
94) Get life insurance. Even if you are young, you never know what could happen. Life insurance is a way of providing financial security and peace of mind to your family. If you don’t already have life insurance, you can get a free quote to see how much it would cost for various levels of coverage.

95) Backup your computer. If your computer crashes, you might not realize what you have lost until it is gone. To prevent losing important data, backup your computer files regularly.

96) Keep important files in a safe place. You want to make sure you have all of your most important and private files locked away in a fireproof safe.

97) Get a will. Writing a will isn’t a fun thing to do, but failure to do so can result in big financial consequences for your family should something happen to you. You can contact a lawyer to start the process.

98) Compare your insurance premiums. If you have adequate money saved in an emergency fund, then it doesn’t make sense to pay extra in premiums to have a lower deductible. Consider the effects of having a higher versus a lower deductible, and you will be able to save money while still securing yourself.

99) Give instructions to your loved ones. If something were to happen to you, you will want your loved ones to have access to all of your important documents.

100) Change your account passwords frequently. You do not want to risk anyone getting access to your private information. You can prevent this by changing your account passwords frequently.

 
 
What are your best financial tips? Which of these tips has made the biggest impact on your finances?