Money-Magnets.Net

Whether you agree with it or not, in several major countries the governments are giving stimulus money to help stimulate the economy. The idea behind this is that you will stimulate the economy by spending the money and if you’re in the USA then two-thirds on your economy is based on consumerism. However if you are successful in personal finance then you would think twice before spending any stimulus money.  

Australia is one of these countries that has already given out one handout and now wants to give every eligible adult up to A$950 (Household stimulus money bill 2009 ) for them to spend to help the economy. However the first handout was used mostly for savings so will this second handout do any better?

It’s hardly surprising that most people chose to spend the money on savings considering what the media tells us, and the media is where most people get their financial information. What we have to remember is that in most cases the media is selling advertising space, and bad news sells.

People need to work out how to use the stimulus money to their best advantage since it doesn’t make sense to spend the money if you’re already in debt or you’re in fear of losing your job. Successful personal finance isn’t really that difficult. At the very basic level work out your income and your expenses over a month and see what you have left. If you don’t have anything left then you need to one of two things – decrease or spending or increase your income.

Don’t just decide to spend the stimulus money because it’s what the government expects – they don’t know your individual circumstances and you do. No-one actually cares about your money as much as you do which is why successful personal finance is so important.

If you decide to save the money look around for the best interest rate you can get. Even though interest rates are going down there are still some good interest rates around in reliable banking institutions. If you’re in a relationship maybe you can put the money together and open a joint account with more money that may attract more interest.

What would I do with my stimulus money? I would invest in shares but that’s because I’m a share option trader and there are some shares that I’m interested in.

To achieve successful personal finance you could always chose to invest in yourself, to improve your own financial knowledge so that you are not relying on anyone else to look after you no matter what the economy is doing.