Tag: finances

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Martin Luther King Jr Service Quote

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! I hope Dr. King’s legacy has inspired you to serve today or soon to make a difference in your community.

I had the chance to serve with Capital Cause this weekend in support of the US Dream Academy. This organization is doing some great things to ensure at risk children in the DC area (and other major cities) are empowered to reach their dreams through academic, social, and values enrichment.

Financially FearlessAlso to catch you up on what I’ve been doing in other realms… Two weeks ago I had the chance to head to sixth&i in DC and hear Alexa von Tobel (@alexavontobel) the Founder and CEO of Learnvest.com speak. It was a great talk on finances from her new book Financially Fearless and it was also wonderful to hear someone who is really passionate about getting people to be “financially fearless.” I left there feeling empowered and ready to take my budgeting and saving to the the next level. I even decided to join their financial planning program which offers advisors for a monthly fee. So we shall see how that goes.

Last week I had the chance to participate in a twitter chat with Travel Noire and Black Enterprise. The chat was about travel and focused on the #ZeroBaggage challenge which encouraged travelers to take a trip in the month of February with no bag. This goal of the challenge is to empower people to “pack less and live more.” I know from personal experience that too many bags can hold you back in the travel process. This challenge shows that you can travel bag free and be ok. I am going to do the challenge (still deciding on destination) for a weekend and will definitely blog about how it went. The chats are continuing throughout the month of January every Tuesday at 1pm EST. So follow the #ZeroBaggage hashtag to participate and keep up.

Christen McCluney

This post covered A LOT. Which means I need to write more often. Next post will focus on creating your vision! I’m working on my vision board and am thinking about hosting a gathering so others can create them as well.

Also here are some of my blog articles from this month:

Until next time…

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By Christen N. McCluney
September 6, 2011

It’s a new month and a great time to plan for the rest of the year. Here are five financial to-dos as we kick off this month:

  • Check your credit score. Doing this at least twice a year will make you aware of changes in your score, see if there are any errors and can help you decide if you need to make changes in your spending habits.
  • Clean out your closet. All the clothes and even electronics you have laying around that you don’t use can be donated to charity. Giving these things away will produce a nice write off during tax season. Just make sure you get a receipt so you can itemize your donation when tax season comes around.
  • Start thinking about holiday plans. If you know you are heading home for the holiday season start checking out prices on flights and hotels now. The closer you get to the more prices will start to increase. Even if you only browse now you have an idea of how much you need to save.
  • Think about your budget and gift ideas for the holiday season. Having a plan in order will prevent you from overspending and will keep you alert in case you see an item ahead of time.
  • Write a financial mission statement. This statement lays out what you want in the future and how you plan on getting there by investing, saving, giving to charity or simply spending less. Having a clear statement written down (and posted) will keep you on track in your financial decision-making.

What can you add to your financial to-do list?