Your credit rating is extremely important to your financial future, and those with a low credit rating will often find it difficult to get any sort of finance until their credit improves. This could affect your abilities to get anything from a credit card or loan to a mortgage or car finance, and as a nation that relies heavily on credit this could spell disaster for many.

Your credit rating can be adversely affected in a number of ways. Most commonly is failure to make bill and finance repayments on time or defaulting on payments altogether. However, other factors such as association with those with bad credit or being the victim of identity theft can also affect your credit rating – as can a simple human or computer error by credit reporting agencies or agencies that register details with these companies.

There are a number of ways in which you can help to improve your credit or maintain good credit. This includes:

1. Always maintain timely repayments on bills and financial obligations, as this will help to maintain good credit. If you already have a tarnished credit history or rating make sure that you focus on making all of your repayments on time and for the amount s requested to try and start improving your credit.

2. Keep a check on your credit report. This can easily be ordered from the credit reporting agencies. Monitoring this will enable you to check that no errors have been made that could be affecting your credit rating, and will enable you to identify any cases of fraudulent activity that could also be affecting your credit.

3. If you already have poor credit consider taking out a credit card or loan that caters for those with bad credit. By taking out a bad credit loan or credit card, and making sure that you make the repayments on time and for the amounts requested, you can start to slowly bring your credit back up.

4. Focus on paying off your debts. If you have a high level of debt then you run the risk of falling behind with repayments and adversely affecting your credit. By clearing the debt as quickly as possible you can reduce this risk. If you already have bad credit and are in debt, you could see improvements in your credit rating by clearing the debts as quickly as possible and ensuring that you pay at least the requested amounts on loans and bills each month.

5. Look out for scams that offer fast solutions to repairing credit. These usually charge a fee and offer only a temporary reprieve by questioning any factors that may be affecting your credit. The best way to repair your credit is to be sensible and responsible about repaying your debts and paying your bills, and although it may take some time this is the most effective long term solution to credit repair.

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When gasoline prices are high, nobody wants to be fuelish. High gasoline prices act like an additional tax on American families. According to the Department of Energy, passenger cars and light trucks account for almost 42 percent of U.S. oil consumption and are a major source of air pollution. By doing these simple things to reduce gas mileage, you can save money and help America reduce its dependence on foreign sources of oil. Driving Tips

• Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and hard braking) wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage up to 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town.

• Idle as little as possible-idling gets you 0 miles per gallon. The best way to warm up a vehicle is to drive it. You need no more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days before driving away. Anything more simply wastes fuel and increases emissions.

• Combine errands into one trip. Several short trips taken from a cold start can use twice as much fuel as a longer multipurpose trip. Slow Down

• Avoid high speeds. Each five mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.15 per gallon for gas depending on the current price. Your equivalent gas savings will be from $0.12 to $0.82 per gallon.

• Use air-conditioning only when driving above 30 miles an hour. Car Maintenance Tips

• Keep tires properly inflated and aligned and improve your gas mileage by around 3.3 percent.

• If the yellow (check engine) light is on, your car might need service.

• Start carpooling and using mass transit, plus arrange to telecommute.

• Get the junk out of the trunk; light cars use less fuel. A vehicle that gets 30 mpg will cost you $750 less to fuel each year than one that gets 20 mpg (assuming 15,000 miles of driving annually and a fuel cost of $3.00/gallon). Over a period of five years, the 30 mpg vehicle will save you $3,750. $ Long-Term Savings Tip

• Consider a fuel-efficient vehicle for your next purchase, such as a hybrid or flex-fuel vehicle, which are available in more models every year.

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$Clip coupons. This is the single most important rule of personal budgeting. Why? Simply because a few minutes spent clipping coupons could end up saving you multiple dollars in the checkout line.

$Buy in bulk. If your favorite products are on sale, buying in bulk may cost you more at present but could end up saving you a lot in the future. Some good examples are items that do not have an expiration date, such as soap, shampoo, toiletries and other household items. Canned foods, which carry a long expiration date, are also ideal for buying in bulk.

$Saving your change can be a great help in your quest for personal budgeting. You would be surprised how quickly change can add up and, even if it’s $50 or $100 per month, your coins can add up to some serious cash. Many people discard their coins or simply toss them around without thought, but saving them in a bowl or dish will help a great deal when it comes to personal budgeting.

$Put a portion of each paycheck into a savings count each week or month. Whether it’s a few dollars or several hundred, always make sure that you are putting aside some amount of money into a savings account. If possible, deposit 10-20% from each paycheck.

$If your listed in ChexSystems find yourself a good local second chance checking or bad credit checking account and stop using the prepaid credit cards.

$Avoid impulse shopping. This type of buying is what ultimately leads to buyer’s remorse. In order to avoid it, think about what you want to shop for and make sure that you avoid any last minute additions unless they are absolutely necessary or you can afford them without being in a crunch.

$Shop the sale racks. Everyone enjoys sprucing up their wardrobe now and then so, when it comes time to add a few new pieces of apparel, stop by the sale rack for big savings. There’s nothing wrong with keeping a few extra dollars in your pocket, which can be later be used for life’s little essentials.

$Avoid using high-interest unsecured credit cards unless you can repay them within six months. Otherwise, you are more likely to get swallowed up with interest and end up paying for the original purchase several times over.

$If you do use a credit card for purchases, try to use one with an introductory APR or a regularly low interest rate. This could end up saving you big bucks every month and also in the future, which is one of the most important rules to personal budgeting.

$Request free samples. A number of websites, including StartSampling.com and WalMart.com, offer customers the opportunity to request free product samples of certain items. Everything from skin lotions and shampoo to dog treats and household products are up for grabs to all who ask. In addition, many manufacturers offer free samples of new product releases directly through their own website.

$If you find yourself in increasing credit card debt, call the creditor and request to be placed on a hardship program. This type of program allows for lower interest and smaller payments for a specified amount of time. Depending on the creditor, it can be in effect for several months or until the balance is paid in full. This method will not only help your immediate personal budgeting, but will also give you additional financial freedom in the future when the debt is paid in full.

Curious about how much money you'll accumulate in your Roth retirement account?

If you’ve got Microsoft Excel (or just about any other popular spreadsheet program) running on your computer, you can use its FV function to forecast the future value of your Roth IRA or Roth 401(k).

The FV function calculates the future value of an investment given its interest rate, the number of payments, the payment, the present value of the investment, and, optionally, the type-of-annuity switch.  (More about the type-of-annuity switch a little later.)

The function uses the following syntax:

=FV(rate,nper,pmt,pv,type)

This little pretty complicated, I grant you. But suppose you want to calculate the future value of an individual retirement account that’s already got $20,000 in it and to which you are contributing $400-a-month in to cheap Roth IRA investments and you understand the Roth IRA rules about contributions. Further suppose that you want to know the account balance—its future value—in 25 years and that you expect to earn 10% annual interest.

To calculate the future value of the individual retirement account in this case using the FV function, you enter the following into a worksheet cell:

=FV(10%/12,25*12,-400,-20000,0)

The function returns the value 771872.26—roughly $772,000 dollars.

A handful of things to note: To convert the 10% annual interest to a monthly interest rate, the formula divides the annual interest rate by 12. Similarly, to convert the 25-year term to a term in months, the formula multiplies 25 by 12.

Also, notice that the monthly payment and initial present values show as negative amounts because they represent cash outflows. And the function returns the future value amount as a positive value because it reflects a cash inflow you ultimately receive.

That 0 at the end of the function is the type-of-annuity switch. If you set the type-of-annuity switch to 1, Excel assumes payments occur at the beginning of the period (month in this case), following the annuity due convention. If you set the annuity switch to 0 or you omit the argument, Excel assumes payments occur at the end of the period following the ordinary annuity convention.

We are living in a society of consumerism. Prices skyrocket, demands multiply; the only thing that remains static is your income. How to survive in a consumer society keeping a control of the expenses?

Personal finance is all about planning how you use your money and credit. You need to keep a budget in every step of your life. Start from the household budget and categorize the household expenses as follows.

-    Fixed expenses – These are monthly bills to be paid such as rent, telephone, cable, electricity, and investing such as funding a cheap Roth IRA etc.
-    Variable expenses – These include the cost of all essentials including your food, medicine, entertainment expenses, etc., and may vary slightly depending on the items purchased.

The extra cash that you have after deducting the expenses for the above determines your true financial status. If your extra cash is zero, or if it is negative, you have to seriously think about reworking your personal finance plans or consult a financial adviser.

What if you have loans and debts to be paid off? Most of the people have mortgage payments, auto loans, credit card payments and other types of loans recurring every month.

The best possible way to balance these is to maintain a decent debt-to-income ratio. Always make sure that your debt-to-income ratio is never higher than 50%. If you are overloaded with too many loans, consolidation of the heavier loans will be a better option than keeping a bad record of the debts.

Refinancing your mortgage is chosen as the best option by many debtors to consolidate their debts. The only thing you need to be careful while refinancing is to get a better deal, in terms of the market value of your property and also the best interest rates. Higher the market value of the property, higher is the loan amount. With lower interest rates and longer mortgage period, your monthly payments will be reduced considerably, relieving you from your debt worries.

Possessing a credit card is another way to keep your finance move without worries. You can handle the day-to-day expenses without looking into your pocket always. But make a habit to pay off the balance at the end of the month. You can opt for credit cards that offer lower interest rates so that you can bear a certain debit in times of crisis. 

Insurance is another important rider in personal finance. Possessing a personal insurance, home insurance, and auto insurance are the smart ways of dealing with the hurdles that may jump on your way. It is also a good investment option and a beneficial tool to secure your life and property from the unexpected disasters.

Once you take care of your loans and emergencies, the next step is to think about the investment options. There are many investment plans that ensure huge returns irrespective of the market fluctuations. There are long-term and short-term deposits offered by different banks and credit unions. One of the safest ways of saving money is to invest in money market accounts (MMA). MMAs offer a greater interest rates and also insurance for your deposit.

To overcome the rainy days of your life, you need to keep a good control on your finance, whatever may your present status be.