What is personal finance?
It is a broad umbrella that houses taking care of your money and its functions, such as procurement, deployment, expenditure, and investment. It is managed by functions like banking, tax management, budget preparation and flow of money. In terms of the service sector, personal finance companies help people in areas related to financial management. Personal finance comprises of components such as follows:
- Income: It is the flow of cash into your bank account which is used to manage the expenses.
- Expenditure: It refers to your expenses incurred when you buy products or services for consumption.
- Saving: This is the act of preventing the excess expenditure of income.
- Investing: It is the act of deployment of finance with the aim of getting returns.
- Protection: It refers to anything which can protect your finance or you from any sort of financial shocks.
How does personal finance work?
It is very important for one to use finances in a proper way. The very idea of personal finance can be divided into three areas such as follows:
- Prioritizing: Here you give importance to which requires more expenditure of money and which doesn’t. Here you can cut down unnecessary expenditures.
- Assessment: Sometimes you might be having a lot of plans in terms of personal finance but it is not enough as you should also measure how much you have performed by comparing your performance to the standards you have set. This step can also refer to the act of looking into potential places for the deployment of finance along with checking if it is really worth the expenditure.
- Restraint: Although it might sound tough, it is one of the most important components of personal finances. It is the act of preventing yourself from getting into any unnecessary expenditure. By restraining yourself from any unwanted expenditure, you tend to add more money to your net worth. Although it might sound difficult, it is definitely worth it in the long run.
Remember that this is a continuous process but that does not mean that only after the last step you have to go back to the first step. Sometimes in the middle, you can go back to your previous steps and execute the same too.
Why should you plan your personal finances?
- You can gain an understanding of your financial status by paying attention to your expenditures, incomes and its sources, savings and your accounts.
- The core component of investment in return. A person who is not into financial planning cannot gain more returns than the investment whereas a person who is into managing his/her personal finances can do so.
- People tend to spend a huge sum of money at a very fast rate and in the end, they complain of the lack of finance to manage expenses, whereas a person who has managed the personal finances will not as that person has control of his/her finance.
The internet is a hub for information. Here are Top 15 Personal Finance Sites which can help you with managing your personal finances
Based in Atlanta, USA, it is the 1980 brainchild of Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld. Although it comes under the CNN banner, it is a hub for gaining knowledge related to a plethora of topics related to finance. It is quite obvious that the current trends in the economy can also impact the earnings, investment and expenditure decisions of an individual on a personal basis. In that case, CNN Money is one of the reputed news portals which can provide finance-related content.
This website is based in the USA. It comes equipped with content related to a lot of topics related to finance, such as news about money, mutual funds, how to generate income, how to invest money and many more. It is pretty obvious that it comes with content related to personal finance too. This provides a lot of information related to a lot of topics related to finance.
A subsidiary of The New York Times, one can find content and information related to finance from major media hubs that have finance and business as their forte. It also has information related to how the regulations imposed by the government will have an effect on personal finance too. This website is basically A brainchild of The New York Times, it has contributors from a lot of experts in finance. It also offers its own interpretation of current affairs and ideas related to finance.
Investopedia is a website which is known for not only providing information related to investments and finance, but it is also known for providing some of the simplest definitions for complicated or jargon type of words. It also provides tutorials related to topics like personal finance and investment.
A publication of the Wall Street Journal, this is a confluence point for those who are interested in the markets. Although new visitors might find it difficult to cope up with the information, it is rich with content.
This is rated as one of the best forums for personal finance. This is also a rendezvous for content from other websites as well as finance, especially personal finance. This is a suitable website for people who are looking for are looking forward to earning more and cut their expenses.
One of the best sources of information related to finance, it displays its content in an impressive manner. You can also find a lot of news related to finance along with the trends in the market. From beginners to experts, Bloomberg has content which can cater to anybody.
A quite familiar name in the business realm, you can find a lot of interesting content about topics like investing and finance. It not only covers finance but also topics like leadership as well. It is known for annually announcing various top 10 listless, such as influential people and richest people.
Based in Bengaluru, India, this website provides information about the different types of investments like gold, stocks and personal finance. With a lot of writers contributing articles regularly, it is one of the most visited websites for finance-related topics.
Being a government-owned website, it provides a unique approach towards finance through information related to expenditure, saving and earning through its financial tools and a lot of quizzes related to finance.
A subsidiary of Thomson Reuters, this is one of the well-known news portals in the world in terms of quality of content. As it covers finance-related content too, it is known for its top-quality articles about personal finance and other topics revolving around finance too.
This website is claimed to be one of the best websites for finance-related news along with its globally recognized content. This website has analysis, news and tips and tricks related to finance.
This website was created keeping in mind the younger generation and teenagers who might feel personal finances is rocket science. Apart from content which talks about how to get away with a burden called student loans, it also talks about how students can devote some time in earning some money on a part-time basis.
Personal financial management is something which is the need of the hour for people who do not have an idea about how to manage their expenses or areas and ideas revolving around the same. Apart from these Top 15 Personal Finance Sites there could be more out there which can offer underrated advice in areas related to personal finance. Just like how personal finance is an ocean, so is the internet in terms of content available for the same.