Valerio Financial

Are you looking for ways to make extra money to pay off debt or save for that piece of furniture you have been dreaming about for months? Here are four tips and tricks you can incorporate to find extra money to put toward debt or savings without getting a side hustle. Tighten up your budget. Many want to get out of debt or save up for a large purchase but are hesitant to make cuts to their budget to achieve that goal. Look, I get it, it's hard to make sacrifices from the lifestyle you have grown accustomed to, but doing so will help get you to your goal quicker, and that's what should be your focus. Here's my challenge to you, commit to making cuts to your budget by a certain percentage on individual line items that you control the amount allocated. So what's it going to be? 5%, 10%, 20% challenge yourself, even if you already live a lean lifestyle.  Do weekly check-ins. By now, you probably know I am a huge proponent of living with a monthly budget, assigning every dol...

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, d...

  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 work...

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 getti...

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 meth...

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 ki...