Resumo de Dollars And Sense (a Mom's Guide To Money Matters)

No doubt, money is the most important commodity in the world. Every one appears to be running after earning money, by rightful means, or otherwise. We never receive money uniformly, or in an upward trend. Some times due to lay-off in service or downward trend in business, income comes down. We may also be required to spend, unexpected amounts of money for family sickness, some other problems & bills. Basically, we require a control on our expenditure, long term savings & investments, with careful & peaceful thoughts & with some strategies. In eleven Chapters of this book, the author discusses various aspects of money management, with several examples, & gives guidance on all matters of money, as a mom in a family. Money is earned with hard work, & therefore, it should be managed properly. We should have adequate funds for rainy days, & we should not get stress of financial problems. Expenses are rising, while incomes are dwindling. Nowadays in a family, both husband & wife are required to work. No uniform yardstick is possible for money management of all families, since all families are unique in themselves, & each family has to make a choice of its own suitable solutions.
The most important & major advice of the author, given in one of the Chapters of this book, is to keep the debt down. She advises us not to compare ourselves with our friends & neighbours, & not to take debts for owning large houses, several & luxury cars & other costly acquisitions. We should think of our total income, monthly expenditure, expected difficulties in payment of bills, possibilities of lay-offs etc. Amount of large debts is a big demon like burden on our mind. We have to find out, as to what makes our total family really happy, commensurate with our financial status, & then make necessary changes in our style of living. Besides other things, we have to also consider present level of jod insecurity, increases in medical costs, expenses required for children & aging parents. We have to make a commitment to focus & spend, on our needs & necessities. If we are in debt already, we should try to earn more & spend less, pay cash & not by credit cards. Also, we must pay those bills first, where interest rates are higher, & which will protect our assets etc. If debts are high, we may even pay some part of our savings of retirement funds etc., so as to reduce the total quantum of interest on the debts, or arrange repayments of high interest loans, through refinancing. We should examine various options available, for reducing amount of total debt. Items like credit cards, vehicles, house mortgages etc. need looking at, from the points of view of debt & interest reduction. The topic of house mortgages is discussed by the author at length (& is worth giving a deep thought), suggesting loan modification, bi-monthly payments, paying more money & more frequently, & mortgaging for a lesser number of years etc. We should also reassess & reduce if necessary, the level of our requirement e.g. a smaller house, less expensive car, house in not so posh a locality etc. We should carry out ABC analysis, & for items where larger sums are required, we should examine whether these are required at all, how much interest will be required to be paid, & which other items will have to be given up to pay for these etc. Judicious judgement is required by us, at every stage in life, since we have to be always prepared for unexpected times. We should not consider it as loss of prestige, if we adjust & manage our requirements, but future financial stability & security is a must. In the event of any likely problems of payments to creditors, we must immediately talk to them, & explain our problems & revise terms of payments, if required. Guidance & help of credit counselors can be taken, for debt management, for nominal fees. However, one should becautious of those counselors, who give false promises & dupe the persons. Further, when we are deep in debt, we have to face the stigma of bankruptcy & file for the same. However, it does not solve all our problems, since we lose our credit worthiness, we may not get loan for several years in an emergency, and taxes have still to be paid. In author's opinion, the only answer for us is, to learn responsible & farsighted money management.

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