Friday and Finances. . .

Since it is Friday and I try to talk about finances on Friday I am going to talk a little about them today.  You all know how much I like Dave Ramsey and I will start by saying if you have not read his book or at least looked at his website, Dave Ramsey, I highly recommend it.  You may not agree with everything he has to say but he does make a lot of sense about money matters.  I do not agree with everything, but there are areas that he really helped my family.
I would suggest you also check out his "Tools" section on his home page.  He has what he calls "ELP's"  this is an endorsed local provider.  This is a real estate agent, insurance provider, or financial adviser that follows the Dave Ramsey plan but is located in your area.  The hubbs and I looked up an ELP to help us move our kids 529 plan that we had set up years earlier and just to talk to someone else that followed Dave Ramsey.  They have helped us for the past ten years and they were one of the first folks I called when my very sweet hubby was displaced.  We knew we were going to have to move his 401K and possibly his pension and a few other benefits.  We had no clue how to proceed, thankfully these guys knew exactly what we needed to do and they made this part of our displacement very easy.  
One other thing I will point out that was a big benefit to us is Dave's debt snowball.  This helped us get out of debt except for our house and helped us get our emergency fund in place.  That emergency fund is really important because, should the worst case scenario play out, that will pay our bills.  The funny thing is, since they stopped contributions on his 401K and his HSA his severance pay is actually more than when he was actually working.  This has allowed us to add to our emergency fund and to add extra on our house.  I am also still using my envelopes just as I did before our displacement.  The envelope system is great and I encourage you to check it out too.  The envelope system helps you stay with your budget and helps you save for specific items like:  vacation, a car, college tuition, or the braces your kids might need.  I have an envelope for each one of those myself.  I put my college on hold when my dear hubby was displaced but we used my tuition money I had already saved to buy him a new laptop and a printer.  That money did not upset our regular budget because I had already saved it in my envelope.  If you are going to use a particular envelope's money for something other than what it was intended it is very important that you and your partner are in agreement on that move.  A budget and the envelope system only work when both parties are in agreement and work together.
The most important thing to remember is that a budget is a living organism, it grows and changes with each month or even week depending on your life style and where you are in life.   You must look at it each month to make sure you have everything covered.
Have a good weekend!