101 Top Personal Finance Tips - Part 1

You may think you've heard it all before, but maybe you haven't!

With so many fantastic tips and advice around, I'll be covering the absolute top personal finance tips and advice in a series. These tips are about getting out of debt, building wealth, being frugal and keeping on top of your finances. To be sure you get all of these, click here to subscribe.

1. Spend less than you earn

The golden rule of debt management. You have to stop adding to it if you want to pay it off. 

Many people would advise cutting up your credit cards or making a budget. I would add to that and say that if you're making a purchase of over $50, you have to pay for it in cash. No excuses. If you don't have the money, don't buy the item. If it's a major incident like a home repair or a medical issue, then dip into your emergency fund.

2. Snowball your debt

Sort your debts out in order of the amount. Pay the minimums on everything but your debt with the lowest balance. Throw everything extra onto that debt. When it has been paid off, add the minimum from that to your next debt, lather, rinse and repeat as needed. This will enable you to have little victories as you go to keep you motivated, and to make larger and larger payments as time goes by. Be sure to keep track of your progress!

3. Pay off your credit cards

Getting rid of credit card debt is hugely important. You're paying finance charges that are adding to your debt regardless of whether or not you are still spending. If you are paying any interest at all, knocking out that credit card should be very high on your list of things to pay off. Paying interest to giant corporations is soul crushing after a while. 

4. Lower your interest rates

It doesn't work every time, but calling your credit card company to see if you can lower your interest rate only take a few minutes and can save you a lot of money. If you let them know you love the company and want to stay with them but it's hard to turn down these 0% offers, they may just double check and see if there is a special offer that they can give you. 

5. Open a high yield Savings account

If you've got money put by, be it an emergency fund or saving for college for the kids or for a house, getting the best return on those savings will only help you build your wealth faster. Most bank savings account not only have minimums or maintenance fees, but they usually have a very low APR, often below 1%. For the best savings account, it's best to check out the ones available online such as ING Direct. They will usually have no minimums, no maintenance fees, and an APR of over 3%. Make that money work for you!

Be sure to check back for more of the 101 Top Personal Finance Tips!

This post is also my entry into the ProBlogger Killer Titles Contest.