Looking for money management guides to improve your financial positions and to avoid cash issues ? Spending less doesn’t mean you’ll have more. Saving is a good way to stabilize your finances, but you still need to invest. “Pretend there are two islands,” advises Aliche, who is also known as The Budgetnista: “Financially Stuck Island and Wealthy Island.” She says that your savings can be like a car—you can’t drive off Financially Stuck Island without a bridge. Investing is the bridge to financial success. “To get from one island to another, you need to get in your savings car and drive it over your investment bridge.”

Now, your budget and net worth might give you some insight, but I like all my current debt down separately. Not only the total amounts, but interest rates, amount of the minimum payments, loan length, etc. It helped me organize what should be paid first, if I should make extra payments, and beyond. Nothing like seeing close to $50,000 in debt when you have $1,000 only in the bank, but that opened my eyes a bit more. See extra info at Money Management.

If your employer has a 401(k) plan and you don’t contribute to it, you’re walking away from one of the best deals out there. Ask your employer if they have a 401(k) plan (or similar plan), and sign up today. If you’re already contributing, try to increase your contribution. If your employer doesn’t offer a retirement plan, consider an IRA. You’ve heard it before: Pay yourself first! If you wait until you’ve met all your other financial obligations before seeing what’s left over for saving, chances are you’ll never have a healthy savings account or investments. Resolve to set aside a minimum of 5% to 10% of your salary for savings BEFORE you start paying your bills. Better yet, have money automatically deducted from your paycheck and deposited into a separate account.

Stay Out of Bad Debt: Debt means you owe someone money, and if I’ve learned anything from gangster movies, you NEVER want to owe someone money. However, not all debt is necessarily bad debt. So, what is bad debt? Bad debt is any debt that’s acquired through purchasing something that’s going to lose value and generate zero revenue. Some examples of bad debt would be credit card debt or an auto loan. What is good debt? Some people will say there’s no such thing as good debt, and while I mostly agree, I also can’t deny that some debt can be beneficial in the right circumstances. For example, if you are going to take out a loan to purchase something that will benefit you financially in the future, I’d say that debt is a lot more beneficial than credit card debt. Good debt usually has lower interest rates as well. Here are a few examples: Student loans. Since student loans typically have a very low-interest rate and going to school can increase your pay as an employee in the future, student loans can be considered good debt. Visit: http://aspiretomoney.com/.