FREE MONEY ROADMAP. Money Goals Worksheet & Personal Finance Glossary. Copyright 2018 Double Jacks Media, All Rights Reserved

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1 FREE MONEY ROADMAP Money Goals Worksheet & Personal Finance Glossary

2 A Little About Liz: I'll have the wine! Hey there! That's me, Liz. And I created this workbook to help you get started understanding your financial situation and working towards your money goals. I know first hand what a difference having control of your money can make. Since I started working to understand and take control of my money, I've been able to make a multistate move, save more, and make the move to self-employment after I got laid off. In case you hadn't figured it out yet, I run Less Debt, More Wine where I help you balance massive student debt and having a life. I'm super pumped to have you as part of the LDMW gang. I hope this Money Roadmap helps you to start taking control of your money so you can kick debt in the face faster and spend more time enjoying your life.

3 Disclosure: This resource contains some affiliate links for your convenience. When you make a purchase after clicking an affiliate link, I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission s 16 CFR part 255. I only recommend products that I personally use and genuinely recommend. Disclaimer: The following information has been prepared for general informational purposes only. The information presented is not legal or professional financial advice, is not to be acted on as such, may not be current, and is subject to change without notice.

4 What is your number 1 financial goal for 2017? Is your goal reasonable? What needs to happen for you to achieve your goal? I need to accomplish each week in order to reach my number one financial goal of.

5 What is your action plan? Outline it below. What is your next step? How are you going hold yourself accountable?

6 Personal Finance Glossary This glossary is broken out by topic, find the topic, and then you'll find the term. Money Management Bank Statements: Where you ll find all the details of your transactions from a month (or billing period ) for a certain account, like your checking, savings, credit card or a loan. Review these to make sure you re not getting overcharged, or so you can catch any fraudulent activity that looks suspicious (ugh, bad guys!). Definitely, make sure you have access to statements online, then you can trash your hard copies. Checking Account: Bank account where people who write checks expect their money to withdraw from. Or if you re not a check-writer, this account is often where your paychecks will deposit automatically, plus it s linked to your debit card for making purchases. This account sees the most action of all your bank accounts. Credit Card: Allows you to spend money you don t have, called credit. You ride the wave of borrowing the credit card company s money for a brief period (a month), with the chance that if you can t pay it back when it s due, you get slammed with crazy-high interest rates. The more you owe, the harder it is to pay it back, because interest sucks. Suggested: pay your statement balance each month, in full, on time. Credit Score: How banks or lenders evaluate your ability to handle a loan (like a mortgage). The health of your credit score determines what interest rate a lender will charge you to borrow money to get what you want. The higher the credit score, the lower the interest rates you can lock in and that s a good thing. Credit scores are calculated using six factors; the three biggest factors are how much of your credit card limit you borrow from on a regular basis, whether you make credit card payments on time and the length of time you ve maintained credit (called credit history ).

7 Debit Card: Directly tied to your checking account, this handy piece of plastic withdraws funds directly from your checking account to pay whoever you want (say, Target), immediately. Debt-to-Income Ratio: Especially after the housing bubble and recession of the mid-2000s, banks have to be more picky about who they give a mortgage to. They get cautious about loaning money to folks who already have lots of required monthly debt or loan payments each month. If less than 43% of your gross monthly income goes toward debt payments, you re more likely to get approved for a mortgage. Deposit: When you give the bank your money either by going to the bank in-person, direct deposit from your employer, a transfer from Venmo or Paypal, or a check deposit via mobile banking and they put it in one of your accounts to keep safe for later. Thanks, bank! Emergency Fund: Intended to be a safety cushion of funds, in case, of an emergency. It s recommended that you have 3-6 months of regular expenses saved up, in case you lose your job or can t work for any reason. It takes a while to save up, but you ll be glad you have it. Keep this for emergencies, folks. Mobile Banking: An app on your phone or device for your bank to see your account balances, deposit checks virtually (from anywhere!) or pay bills through a bill pay service (if your bank has that feature). Overdraft: When you withdraw more money than what s actually in your checking account. Like, you go below $0, and the bank doesn t love it (but they do charge you a fee, so they don t hate it either). This happens when a check you ve written is deposited in someone else s account, but there aren t enough funds in your checking account to cover it. Oops. Savings Account: Bank account where you keep that Emergency Fund. The funds in this account are often called fluid, because you can access them quickly you know, in case of an emergency. Most banks won t let you withdraw from this account more than a limited number of times each month. Put your money there and keep it there.

8 Interest: The amount of money the lender charges you for borrowing money from them. So when you pay them back, you pay more than you borrowed. It s how you get to say thanks for letting me borrow that moolah. Minimum Due: The bare minimum payment that the lender will accept to keep your account current and prevent defaulting on a loan. Think of it as getting a C on your payment report card. Principal: What s left of the money you borrowed that you still have to pay back. If you borrowed $1,000 and paid back $100, then the principal balance is $900, but you probably owe a little more with interest. Snowball Method: Another way to prioritize paying off your debt, order your debts from lowest to highest balance. Make minimum payments on all debt and put all extra money towards the lowest balance first. Once it is paid off snowball all the money you were putting into that debt into the next lowest balance. Repeat until debt free. This method is known for the emotional win of paying off that first debt quickly. Snowflake Method: When paying off debt, you put every extra bit of money towards your debt right away. A $5 rebate here, an extra $20 made there, it all goes directly toward your debt as soon as you get that extra money. All those small snowflake amounts add up to make a significant impact on your debt repayment.especially after the housing bubble and recession of the mid-2000s, : banks have to be more picky about who they give a mortgage to. They get cautious about loaning money to folks who already have lots of required monthly debt or loan payments each month. If less than 43% of your gross monthly income goes toward debt payments, you re more likely to get approved for a mortgage. Debt - Student Loans Consolidation: A method of combining all your different loans into one big loan with one payment.

9 Transfer: Moving money from one account to another. Do this through your bank s website or mobile app. Recommended: Set up automatic transfers to move money from checking to savings one or two times a month, so you don t have to think about it. You ll have your Emergency Fund saved up in no time! Withdrawal: When you use your debit card at an ATM to get cash. Or you can go into the bank and request dollar bills in-person too. You can also withdraw money from your account by using your debit card for online purchases or connecting it with apps like Venmo, or by writing checks for rent or other purchases. Lots of ways to get to your money. You do you. Debt Generally Avalanche Method: A way of prioritizing how you pay off debt. Start with the highest interest rate debt first, make minimum payments on all your debt and put any extra money towards the highest interest rate debt first until it is paid off. Then move to the next highest interest rate debt, and repeat until debt free. It will save you the most over the course of paying off your debt. Balance: How much total money you owe your loan servicers including both the principal amount of the loan and interest. It s the amount that has the bank singing b*tch better have my money. Consumer Debt: Debt from consuming things think credit card debt and payday loans. They usually have stupidly high-interest rates meaning they charge you top dollar for borrowing money from them. Debt: The amount of money you borrowed and now have to pay back to a person, financial institutions (bank), or soul-sucking student loan servicer. Due Date: The deadline for when you have to at least submit a minimum payment. If you don t send your payment in, you will risk defaulting on your loan, and it can wreck your credit score.

10 Defaulting on Federal Loans: What you want to avoid at all costs. If you fail to make payments or are late with payments. For federal student loans, if you miss a payment, your payment is considered delinquent, after 90 days of nonpayment, your delinquency is reported to credit bureaus = bad credit score. After 270 days (9 months) your loan is considered to be in default. Defaulting on Private Loans: For private loans, you are considered in default on your loan as soon as you miss a single payment Deferment: A time in which repayment of your loans is temporarily delayed. The most common instances of deferment are when you are still in school or if you are having difficulty finding employment. Forbearance: A period when your borrower may say it s ok for you to not make a payment. If you are struggling to make your payment, reach out to your loan service provider and see if they are willing to grant you a temporary forbearance due to financial hardship or illness. Forgiveness: Under income-driven repayment plans, after years of payments, the remainder of your student loan debt is forgiven. Don t get too excited, though; you ll be taxed on that forgiven amount as if you had earned it as income. Grace Period: The period after you finish school, during which you are not required to make payments on your student loans. Typically 6 months for federal loans. Refinancing: The process of trading a new loan with a lower interest for an old one that had a higher interest rate. This is great for those with private student loans, but those with federal student loans should be aware that they will lose access to income-driven repayment plans if they refinance with a private lender. Loan Servicer: The company that manages your loans and to whom you send a payment each month, common ones are Sallie Mae, Navient, and FedLoan Servicing. Student Debt: Money you borrowed to help cover the cost of higher education (college, grad school, law school, etc.)

11 Budgeting Expenses: The estimated amount things you will need to spend money one. Sometimes you have regular expenses that don t change month to month, like rent. Other times you have irregular expenses like groceries. Income: Money you make that has you doing a happy dance until you realize how many expenses you have. Mindful Budgeting: The process of budgeting and spending based on what you value. For example, you may value spending time with friends more than buying shoes, so you budget more for coffee dates with friends and less for new clothes. Transaction: What you spent your money on, could be rent, utility bills, or new shoes. Zero-Sum Budgeting The method of assigning every dollar to a job so that your income - expenses equals zero. That might mean you have an expense of setting aside money for an emergency fund. Benefits 401(k): An employer-sponsored retirement account, allowing you to automatically contribute pretaxed money from your paycheck. The maximum you can contribute to a 401(k) is $18, (b): An employer-sponsored retirement account where your employer is a non-profit organization.the maximum you can contribute to a 401(k) is $18,000. FSA: Flexible Spending Account, allows you to set aside pre-tax money to pay for qualified expenses, most often medical expenses. It is a use it or lose it account, meaning if you don t spend all the money in the account during the calendar year you will lose that money.

12 Health Insurance Employers with more than 50 full-time employees are required to provide health insurance. HSA: Health Savings Account, similar to FSA in that it allows you to set aside pre-tax money to pay for qualified expenses. Different from an FSA in that the money in your HSA will roll over into the next year if you don t use it all in the year in which you contributed to the account. IRA: Individual Retirement Account, allows you to contribute pre-tax income to go towards retirement. You aren t allowed to put more than $5,500 towards an IRA each year. Roth IRA: Roth (named after a senator) Individual Retirement Account, allows you to contribute post-tax income to go towards retirement, the advantage being that qualified distributions won t be taxed. Again you are only allowed to contribute $5,500 a year. Insurance Deductible: The amount of money you have to pay before insurance pays. For example, if you have a $2000 bill and a $1500 deductible, then insurance will only pay the $500 after your $1500 deductible. Life Insurance: The insured pays the insurance company in exchange for a sum of money to be paid to a beneficiary upon their death. One way to think about life insurance is to protect loved ones from expenses related to your death. For example, paying for the funeral or any outstanding debts they co-signed or for which they are otherwise responsible. Premium: The amount the insured pays the insurance company for the policy. Renter's Insurance: Renter s insurance: A form of insurance protecting your personal property were something to happen when living in a rental. Many apartment complexes will require you maintain a certain amount of coverage on your renter s insurance.