Trimming Your Budget - continued - National Guard Family Program

Introduction to Personal Finance

An Overview for State Family Program Directors, Wing Family Program Coordinators, and Families.

Introduction

Evaluating Your Situation

Budgeting & Debt Management

Goals & Plans

Insurance & Disability Planning

BUDGETING AND DEBT MANAGEMENT

2.	Introduction
	2.1	Why Do We Acquire Debt?
	2.2	Debt Can Become a Habit
	2.3	The Reality of Borrowing
	2.4	The Credit Trap
		2.4.1	Fees
		2.4.2	Rates
		2.4.3	Types of interest
	2.5	Eliminate and Avoid Debt
	2.6	Trimming Your Budget
	2.7	Learning Check

2.6 Trimming Your Budget – continued

Some Money Saving Tips

Reduce Housing Costs – Refinancing
can sometimes save you money and reduce your interest rate.

The Veterans Administration
web site has information regarding home

loans eligibility.

Consolidate Debt with a Home Equity Loan
– Refinancing isn’t the only way you can use your home for additional

investment funds. If you have high credit card balances, you may want

to consider using a home equity loan to pay them off.

CAUTION: If the root causes of
credit card debt are not addressed, you could repeat the bad spending

habits and accumulate more credit card debt on top of the home

equity loan.

Review Insurance Costs – Insurance
costs can be a major expense. Take a look at your policies and consider

these cost-cutting measures:

Raising the deductible on your homeowner’s
or automobile insurance from $250 to $500 could cut your premiums

by more than 10%.

Consolidating your home and auto policies with the same insurance
company may knock another 5% to 15% off your premiums

without sacrificing coverage.