As I have said before, I never studied finance, I never worked in financial services, and I have never been rich.
And also, I never did much research on the subject.
Actually, I either just did it, or I learned along the way.
Of course, I wasn't able to get as far as I did without ANY help at all.
I think there are three people that are must-haves in your life to get you on the right track financially.
1) A Finance person.
When I first got serious about all this, I did have one person in my life that I considered to be a money/finance/investing expert.
That person is my mother.
I had someone in my life that I trusted and who knew quite a bit about the areas I just mentioned.
Maybe that person will turn out to be me for a lot of you.
If not, it needs to be someone.
You need to have someone in your life who you can ask questions, get advice, etc.
Trust me, once you get going on this personal finance stuff, you will come up with ways to save money on your own.
But in the beginning, you'll probably want a guide.
You may already have one in your life; you just don't know it yet.
Find out a little more about the people in your "contact list" and you can probably find someone.
I would seek out the help of a professional financial adviser only as a last resort first because I despise most of them with a passion only because they are mostly just out to sell you things.
And remember the point here is to try to save money, not spend more unnecessarily.
2) A good insurance person.
Think about it.
What kind of insurance do most of us currently have? The biggies are health, home owners/renter's, auto, life, and then there are a variety of others.
That's a lot of insurance.
Now, for most of us, health insurance is mostly a non-issue, because our coverage is through whoever our employer uses.
But for some who have private health insurance, there could be some room there to save money.
With regards to all the other types of insurance, trust me, you can easily impact your wallet.
It seems to me that these are some areas that one may not realize at first that you can save money.
I say this because your home owner's insurance bill is usually wrapped into your mortgage payment, so you really don't even pay this bill, and with life insurance, I always assumed that everything was about the same.
This is a perfect example of the saying "It's not what you know, it's who you know.
" The best advice I can give you for finding a person like this is to choose an independent agent.
These are the people who basically work for themselves, and who are not really associated with any one particular company.
Therefore, they don't really care who your insurance is bought through.
So, they will obviously do their best to see that you both have the best insurance that you need and the cheapest.
I personally have used the same insurance agent for the past 12 years, and she has been able to save me a lot of money.
3) A Mortgage Guy.
Again, with everything that has gone on of late, I am sure you know that there are a lot of let's say less-than-ethical people in this industry-Making it even more important to have someone you can trust.
There are so many bad mortgages out there; so much "crap" out there that having someone you can trust can give you the peace of mind of knowing that you have the best and least expensive mortgage out there.
The person that I know in this field I have known again for over ten years, he has done 3 re-fi's for me, and I would actually consider him a personal friend now, that's how close we have become.
For those that rent, plug in a "computer guy" here.
That's a guy that knows how to fix computers, knows how to help you with them, etc.
They are invaluable pieces to your financial puzzle, and can save you a ton of money if something ever goes wrong with your computer.
And also, I never did much research on the subject.
Actually, I either just did it, or I learned along the way.
Of course, I wasn't able to get as far as I did without ANY help at all.
I think there are three people that are must-haves in your life to get you on the right track financially.
1) A Finance person.
When I first got serious about all this, I did have one person in my life that I considered to be a money/finance/investing expert.
That person is my mother.
I had someone in my life that I trusted and who knew quite a bit about the areas I just mentioned.
Maybe that person will turn out to be me for a lot of you.
If not, it needs to be someone.
You need to have someone in your life who you can ask questions, get advice, etc.
Trust me, once you get going on this personal finance stuff, you will come up with ways to save money on your own.
But in the beginning, you'll probably want a guide.
You may already have one in your life; you just don't know it yet.
Find out a little more about the people in your "contact list" and you can probably find someone.
I would seek out the help of a professional financial adviser only as a last resort first because I despise most of them with a passion only because they are mostly just out to sell you things.
And remember the point here is to try to save money, not spend more unnecessarily.
2) A good insurance person.
Think about it.
What kind of insurance do most of us currently have? The biggies are health, home owners/renter's, auto, life, and then there are a variety of others.
That's a lot of insurance.
Now, for most of us, health insurance is mostly a non-issue, because our coverage is through whoever our employer uses.
But for some who have private health insurance, there could be some room there to save money.
With regards to all the other types of insurance, trust me, you can easily impact your wallet.
It seems to me that these are some areas that one may not realize at first that you can save money.
I say this because your home owner's insurance bill is usually wrapped into your mortgage payment, so you really don't even pay this bill, and with life insurance, I always assumed that everything was about the same.
This is a perfect example of the saying "It's not what you know, it's who you know.
" The best advice I can give you for finding a person like this is to choose an independent agent.
These are the people who basically work for themselves, and who are not really associated with any one particular company.
Therefore, they don't really care who your insurance is bought through.
So, they will obviously do their best to see that you both have the best insurance that you need and the cheapest.
I personally have used the same insurance agent for the past 12 years, and she has been able to save me a lot of money.
3) A Mortgage Guy.
Again, with everything that has gone on of late, I am sure you know that there are a lot of let's say less-than-ethical people in this industry-Making it even more important to have someone you can trust.
There are so many bad mortgages out there; so much "crap" out there that having someone you can trust can give you the peace of mind of knowing that you have the best and least expensive mortgage out there.
The person that I know in this field I have known again for over ten years, he has done 3 re-fi's for me, and I would actually consider him a personal friend now, that's how close we have become.
For those that rent, plug in a "computer guy" here.
That's a guy that knows how to fix computers, knows how to help you with them, etc.
They are invaluable pieces to your financial puzzle, and can save you a ton of money if something ever goes wrong with your computer.