The holidays are over leaving a lot of Americans with a credit card hangover. Today some ideas on getting in better financial shape from an expert.
Chuck Bentley of Crown financial and a guest contributor to the Christian Post says your new years resolution should be getting in better financial shape and establishing an Emergency Savings account.
He has a suggestion to help you with both: get your taxes organized as quickly as possible so that you can file in January and put that money to work for you.
The average tax refund is more than $3,100, what he calls a good start on debt reduction in the New Years. If you can file your taxes by mid-January, and if you file on-line, a refund won’t be far behind.
To help in getting prepared you might want to check out the tax tips on Crown’s website.
Once you get your taxes filed and your refund is in your hand be sure to fully fund an emergency savings account.
Crown recommends an emergency fund of at least $1,000.
Then move on to getting rid of debt. Bentley recommends the debt snowball method. In that plan start by paying off the most expensive debt first. That is usually the credit card charging you the highest interest rate. Then work your way to the next debt using the money you are now saving by paying off the first debt completely.
Crown has many free resources to help you on your journey to becoming debt free, but if you need a debt management counselor to help you one-on-one, they suggest you contact Christian Credit Counselors.