Valerio Financial

I recently discovered that unless you change a few settings, Facebook can watch your phone activity, even when you are not using their app.  Think about it, do you check your bank account, email, shopping, or other social media? Everything is being watched and used against you.  Now I don’t know the real science of how they use the information (for Marketing purposes, is my guess). Still, knowing that one social media app can watch every move to know everything at all times unless you change a few settings is surprising. How to change your settings: From your phone, open your Facebook app. Press the three stacked bars in either the top or bottom right corner.  Scroll until you see “Settings & Privacy” and click on it. Now click “Settings.” Under “Your Facebook Information,” about four sections down, click Off-Facebook Activity. Just above the line, you will see all the apps they tracked even while you were off of Facebook. Click “Clear History” to clear out your history. Click the

Does planning your financial year sounds crazy to you? It may be a little crazy, but I can’t tell you how much time and money this process has saved my family.  So let me tell you what I mean by planning your year. Get a calendar, any calendar, or maybe you prefer a year-at-a-glance; it doesn’t matter, but it should be something that you and your spouse (if applicable) will refer to, especially when creating your monthly budget.  Put the kids to bed and schedule an at-home date night, or two or three.  This process can take more than one attempt, but it is worth your time and effort in the long run.  Take some time to go through the process together and mark things that may affect your budget.  Yes, even if the amount is small.   Here are some items to consider as you go through the process of marking them on your calendar. Work holidays and school calendar Holidays, especially ones that require advanced planning Special events – birthdays, anniversaries, date nights, and the like Fami

  Have you ever made goals that you were excited to track but lost steam after a few weeks or months?  Well, 2021 is the year to stop with the "good intentions" and create goals that will keep you motivated throughout the year. Of course, there are many areas where you could and should set goals, but we will focus on financial goals for now. What are your 2021 Financial Goals?   Get out of debt? Build an emergency fund? Are you saving for a car, a home, college, or retirement? Or maybe you want to be more intentional with your spending, or create monthly budgets and tracking expenses consistently. Whatever your 2021 financial goals are, let's go through a step-by-step approach to creating goals that will work for you. First and foremost, take some time to reflect on 2020. Stay with me here, I know 2020 was a challenging year for many people, but the idea is to improve and to ensure that you are moving in the right direction, you have to reflect. Think about what worked an

There is no doubt in my mind that Americans have had a long-standing love affair with motor vehicles.  There's no escaping it, from celebrities to commercials, and even songs that we hear on the radio, cars have become a trophy to most Americans. So let me ask you, do you see your car or the cars that others drive as a status symbol?  What exactly does it tell you?  In my opinion, nothing!  You see, just because someone drives an expensive car doesn't mean they are financially healthy.  In fact, it could mean quite the opposite, we just don't know.  So why do Americans tend to put so much value in the car they drive?  After all, they rapidly decrease in value and add no real value to your net worth.  In fact, it shouldn't be considered an investment, in my opinion.  So why are we so quick to come up with all the excuses to buy or own a particular vehicle?  I am not sure, but if you are reading this post, it is likely that getting financially healthy is on your mind. So,

If you have been around for a while you probably guessed that the very first thing I am going to tell you that you need to do to save money is...**drum roll please**...  1. CREATE A BUDGET !  I cannot begin to tell you how important a budget is in the big scheme of gaining financial independence. Creating a budget allows you to determine how much money you want to allocate to each line item so that you do not overspend, and it empowers you to be intentional about saving. To prove my point, do one of two tests.  a. Pull the last three months of your bank and credit card statements and categorize your spending by month. b. Compare your bank and credit card statements from the same month last year. For example, if you are evaluating June 2020 expenses, compare it to June of 2019. Trust me; you will be surprised by what you spent in some categories. I advocate for a monthly budget, but if that seems too big of a task, try budgeting each pay period. The point is to find a method that makes

Have Americans been fooled into believing that a three-digit number defines our real success? It is time to dig deeper into the FICO score to understand what that number really tells us. In 1956, Bill Fair, an engineer, and Earl Isaac, a mathematician, started a business called the Fair, Isaac, and Company (FICO). After only two years of starting the company, they built their first credit scoring system for American investments. In 1981, FICO introduced its first FICO credit bureau risk score, but it did not debut until 1989 and has since become the powerhouse of credit reporting. That’s right; the almighty credit score is just over 30 years old, which means it could be younger than you. Now let’s keep digging to see exactly what makes up this mighty number.   Notice anything odd about the makeup of the credit score everyone so heavily depends on to determine how likely you are to repay? The FICO score does not look at how much savings you have and the trajectory of time it took to sav

So what exactly is a budget?   A budget is merely estimating income and expenses for a given period in time.   Consider it an intentional plan to assign every dollar a responsibility, if you will, where your income minus expenses should equal zero; this is called a zero-based budget.  Before the beginning of each month, take some time to create your budget for the upcoming month.  You may be surprised to discover that you have money that you didn't realize you had.   You may find that you were careless with your spending, which caused you to feel like you were living paycheck to paycheck.   Maybe you didn't realize just how much you were spending in a particular category.  Whatever the case, creating a monthly budget will help you to be intentional about what's important to you.   What's spurring you into action, what is your why?  Are you trying to get out of debt so that you can build wealth and save for retirement, start saving for kids college, or do you want to be

Welcome back! All right, now its time to get busy!  Last time we discussed the steps to gather and determine what you owe, which was a critical step to getting started.  You have to know what you are dealing with so you can tackle it with gazelle intensity.  Now, let's take action and continue with the steps to get out of debt. Steps 6 - 10 of my 10 Steps to Get Out of Debt 6)  Breathe, I promise, you can do this. 7)  Starter Emergency Savings  -  before you start paying off debt, it is essential to save up or set aside an emergency fund.  Dave Ramsey suggests that you save $1,000, if you already have more than $1,000 in savings, use any savings above the $1,000 to pay down debt.  This will provide a buffer should you have a real emergency while trying to get out of debt. If you don't have a  $ 1,000 emergency fund yet and a

Did you wake up one morning and realize that you are one emergency away from financial disaster? You may have told yourself (for months now) that you are going to get a hold of this debt, only to look up and realize that it is entirely out of control. Regardless of your story, I will give you some tips and tricks for getting out of debt and staying out. Listen, we as consumers are brainwashed to think that we need a "healthy" amount of debt, but why? Why should we live in constant bondage, is that the American dream? NO! The problem that we face as consumers is that we get approved for most debt based on our current income, but we all know that no job is guaranteed. Our financial income can all change in a heartbeat, and I think the Coronavirus Pandemic has made us realize that all too well. So why do