Believe it or not, your household is really like a business. If you do not run your home like a business, you are not maximizing your family’s potential and the ability to enjoy the profits or dividends for your hard work. While your goal is not to turn a profit from the inner workings of your home so to speak, you and your family will save money and be more financially successful overall if you follow a few simple business principles.

Do You Have a Balanced Budget?

Tax audits are certainly unpleasant occurrences–but let’s face it, they happen. Just because they’re a fact of life, however, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t avoid an IRS audit like the plague. Nobody wants to go through that experience, which is why it’s so important to be extremely thorough when completing your annual tax return.

But what if you’re like many people who rely on a tax professional instead? Isn’t the purpose of hiring an expert to do your taxes specifically to prevent errors that lead to an audit? You would think so. Unfortunately, having your taxes completed by your CPA or other professional does not make your finances audit-proof. If you’ve been selected for an audit and think it’s because of something your accountant did, here’s what you should know:

As many of us struggle with the current economic conditions and life’s curve balls– unemployment, foreclosure, medical bills or divorce– missing a credit card payment can put us in a tailspin, as increased interest and added fees make it impossible to catch up on the balance.

Enter the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009, put into effect February 22, 2010. Not exactly a knight in shining armor, but coming to the rescue of already distressed consumers.

Money management software tools have become quite popular among consumers. As more and more are trying to tighten their purse strings and lower their debt now more than ever, these convenient applications help people organize and streamline their strategies and accounts. One of the newest ones to hit the market is Pageonce.

Pageonce is a web and mobile device application that serves as a portal to all of your online accounts. It goes beyond being just another money software or budget software option. The application actually has several categories that even some of the best money management software on the market currently lack.

An intrinsic part of excellent parenting is teaching children about money. By the age of about six, kids should be well aware that cash doesn’t magically appear in our pockets, but is a direct result of work. For this reason, I’m a strong advocate of instituting an allowance system that incorporates at least some income earning opportunities.

After all, when they’ve got money of their own to spend, they soon learn how far it can go before it runs out and the value of saving. If they can and do more for extra, all the better.

This post comes from Michael, chief editor of DoughRoller.net, which helps consumers find the best online banks available today.

The loan-to-value ratio (LTV) is a measurement that expresses the ratio of a first mortgage debt to the value of a home. For example, if you wanted to borrow $150,000 to buy a $200,000 home, the LTV ratio would be 75 percent. How is this factored into borrowing decisions?

If you are one of the millions of people who are eligible to participate in an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan, do it! There are numerous benefits–both present and future–that are available to you for contributing to this type of retirement plan.

First Step: Contribute

Photo by Esparta

We all know that debt takes it toll on your financial situation and does so rather dramatically. When debt mounts higher, your money is no longer your own. You are paying more and more in interest charges, getting nothing in return. You have less freedom to do the things you want to do and you may even find your financial situation on the verge of complete collapse.

By Stacey Bumpus

Anyone who has never received public assistance may wonder why someone would want to sacrifice “good living” to live on welfare. However, some who have received contributions from the government for many years could argue what they have is good living.