Home Financing:
If you have an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM), go to your banker and refinance your mortgage to a Fixed Rate Mortgage. Locking in the interest rate is crucial right now because banks have already
announced plans for six interest rate hikes for 2022. Each time the interest rates go up, so does your
Adjustable Rate Mortgage payment. A Fixed Rate Mortgage stays at the same monthly payment
throughout the life of the loan
Income and Cash Flow:
Do you keep track of what you make verses what you spend? It is important to anticipate what you will
spend out of each paycheck especially when your spending habits are going to change. As your dollar
buys less, the amount you buy will be less as well, and you will develop priorities as to what you really
need and don’t. The dollar has lost 17% so far in 2022, that means each of your dollars can only buy 83
cents worth of higher cost goods. Tracking money-in and money-out is critical to understanding and
managing your personal finances – more about this in the next section. You need to see this in writing
to understand the full impact. There are pre-modeled home budget forms and software for you to use
to help you track it each month…use them! You will be amazed at what you learn about yourself when
you track your spending.
Personal Spending:
There are common sense cost reduction actions for household expense; which includes minimizing
frivolous spending you do such as compulsive buying of items while waiting in a checkout line, online
purchases based off infomercials for things you don’t need, and buying items not necessary for day-to-
day living. Put your utilities on a budget so you have some consistency in what you pay each month.
Finally, shed high interest debt on credit cards because as interest rates go up it becomes more
expensive to carry a balance month-to-month. Avoid relying on credit cards and use cash or debt cards
for making purchases so you can reserve your line of credit for emergency expenses only!
Boost Your Earnings:
All businesses are hiring right now. If you can, get another part-time job in addition to your regular job.
The more money you earn at today’s dollar values will pay down that much more debt than
tomorrow’s value of the dollar will. You will be doing a tremendous service to local companies keeping
them stay in business as the economy goes into recession – yes, recession is coming. When you take a
part-time second job, bring your work ethic with you. It will be a refreshing change to your new
employer when they add you onto their team!
Invest in Your Community:
BUT LOCAL, BUY LOCAL, BUY LOCAL! This is a main point we are pushing in the BESTOhio Sector
Partnership. We are telling our economic development people to look for companies to move into our
area that will help the existing companies, instead of competing for the existing employees. We do not
want the 10,000-employee automotive or Intel chip plants, we want supplier plants for our existing
plants. The existing local businesses being strong in an economic downturn is critical to how local
people will endure financial hard times. The better area companies do during these times result in
continued jobs for its citizens. It is easier to make ends meet when you have a job with a company that
is doing well.
If you want to help area companies, buy from them. There are a lot of great stores and classy
restaurants bringing old buildings back to new life in our renovated downtown. Even the big chain
stores and restaurants on Bridge Street are usually locally owned. Right now, start giving gift cards
from area stores and restaurants as birthday, Mother’s Day, anniversary gifts, etc. This provides instant
cash to those businesses, at today’s values, and helps them pay down today’s bills. Another way you
can help out area shops and eateries is to round up to the next dollar on your purchases. If your bill is
$14.35, round up the purchase to $15.00. This may not sound like much, but if everyone did this at the
drive thru window at your local McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, etc., all of that change goes directly
to profit for that business owner. The more profit they make, the more employees they retain and/or
hire. You will receive better service with the reduction of tension, pressure and drama caused by them
being understaffed. Another advantage is if employees at the pay window do not have to dig for coins
as change when you pay, the line of cars you are in speeds up as well.
Grocery Shopping:
This includes substituting items of lesser cost from name brands to local brands for items that will go
up in cost as inflation rises. Buy them in bulk where it makes sense. Items like canned tuna, frozen
chicken (the bird flu), non-perishable canned and boxed food items that will survive for a year or two
on the shelf in your home are good to have on-hand for an emergency food supply. When you buy
these items, buy two when you need one, and put the second one in your basement stash. You will be
thankful you did later on.
Invest in Yourself:
Take this time to assess your future. Are their jobs you wish you had but are not qualified for right
now? Visit local Career Technology Centers for Skilled Trades classes, Community Colleges or
Universities offering courses or degrees that will give you the resume you need. If you dream of
starting your own business, or want to grow a hobby into income, upskill your knowledge and abilities
to get qualified for the jobs you dream about. Another smart move is to make yourself as valuable to
your current employer as possible by being the best at doing your current job. If we get into a situation
where employers start trimming headcount to control costs, they will generally keep the best
employees.
Dave Ramsey Debt Reduction:
To condense a whole book into a single paragraph, you are probably making payments on various
types of loans as part of your household, credit, and automobile debts. Do these payments total 2, 5,
10, 20 checks a month? Take the smallest one in total outstanding balance owed, and using the extra
cash from all the ideas above, increase the payment to pay it off ASAP. Then take what you were
paying on that smallest bill and apply it to the next lowest bill until it is paid off. Then combine the
payments of both of these former debts and apply it to the third lowest debt balance…and so on. You
do not increase the amount of debt payments you write out each month, but you sure clean up the
mess quickly, and simplify not only your life, but your credit as well.
Reconsider Your Financial Investments:
Along with treasury inflation-protected securities, REITS (Real Estate Investment Trusts), or gold, look
into alternative investments not directly impacted by inflation that can preserve the purchasing power
of your money. Seek professional financial advice with a focus on inflation protection. Cryptocurrencies
are a somewhat new investment with limited data on performance during inflationary periods,
however, their independence of movements in global financial markets make them an attractive
addition to any diversified investment portfolio.
Pass These Ideas on to You Family and Friends:
It takes a community to affect the impact of inflation. Working together to maximize our collective
financial strength is the best course to weather the upcoming storm. Print this out and put it beside
your checkbook and monthly bills. Utilize what makes sense to you to manage costs and add to your
income and home supply as you see fit. Then share it with family and friends. We are better together!