A carpenter uses a set of house plans to build a house. If he didn’t the bathroom might get overlooked altogether.

Rocket Scientists would never begin construction on a new booster rocket without a detailed set of design specifications. Yet most of us go blindly out into the world without an inkling of an idea about finances and without any plan at all.

Not very smart of us, is it?

A money plan is called a budget and it is crucial to get us to our desired financial goals.

Without a plan we will drift without direction and end up marooned on a distant financial reef.

If you have a spouse or a significant other, you should make this budget together. Sit down and figure out what your joint financial goals arelong term and short term.

Then plan your route to get to those goals. Every journey begins with one step and the first step to attaining your goals is to make a realistic budget that both of you can live with.

A budget should never be a financial starvation diet. That won’t work for the long haul. Make reasonable allocations for food, clothing, shelter, utilities and insurance and set aside a reasonable amount for entertainment and the occasional luxury item. Savings should always come first before any spending.

Even a small amount saved will help you reach your long term and short term financial goals. You can find many budget forms on the internet. Just use any search engine you choose and type in “free budget forms”.

You’ll get lots of hits. Print one out and work on it with your spouse or significant other. Both of you will need to be happy with the final result and feel like it’s something you can stick to.

Most ads for credit cards push a variety of benefits you can enjoy - buying freedom, cash back, rewards and points. But one item they all push since for many it is the most important part in selecting the card is the credit card rate or the APR.

The APR is the one feature receiving the most publicity in the ever-changing world of credit cards. Whether applying by mail, online or returning an application many consumers simply look for the lowest APR on a new card or when transferring balances and pick that card. Since the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is the selection criteria it is important to understand the topic of credit cards and the rates they carry.

For starters, what exactly is the APR? In very simple terms the APR is the interest rate the credit card company charges you the customer for the money owed them. Generally, they charge this interest on any purchases not paid in full at the end of the billing cycle.

When the credit card bill arrives each month it will contain the full amount required to pay off the balance along with a minimum required payment by a specific date. In order to not have interest charges or late fees the bill must be paid within a specified number of days. You do have the option of paying in full, partial payment above the minimum or a minimum payment.

If a full payment is received by the due date no interest charges are incurred. However, if anything less than the full amount is paid then an interest charge will be accessed. This interest rate is the APR, which the cardholder agrees to when they sign up for the card.

Card companies use the annual percentage rate to calculate the monthly credit rate charges on the owed balance. They take the previous balance - payment then multiply the unpaid balance by the interest rate. That total is added to the balance for the next month billing cycle. If partial payments are made the calculation process starts over again with the interest added again. This continues until the total balance is paid in full.

This is why the APR is so important to minimize additional charges or assist consumers who want to get out of debt by paying as much as possible each month and lower the balance on their credit cards.

Next time you receive a creditcard application in the mail take some time to read about the APR - you’ll soon discover how credit card companies make so much coin.

Debt, debt, debtI’m sure you’re tired of hearing about debt. Unfortunately, if you are having financial problems, you won’t hear the end of it from creditors until it’s paid off (or at least being paid off on time). With high interest rates, that can be easier said than done. Luckily, there is a way to fix your problem more quickly.

I’m sure you get ads all the time for balance transfer credit cards with 0% interest. Most of the time, there are loopholes that make it not a very good deal after all, but every once in a while, you will find a great deal if you look for it.

With a low interest transfer credit card , you can consolidate all of your credit card debts onto a single card with a lower interest rate. This will make it much easier to pay off your loans, because more of the money you pay will be going towards paying off the principal, not just the interest.

A lot of times the 0% offer is just an introduction, so make sure you understand this if it’s the case, and find out what the interest rate is after that period is over. Paying no interest for a short time, but much higher interest after, may not help you. It will provide short term relief though, and you may even be able to pay off your debt during the introductory period. If you find the right deal for your situation, you can truly save hundreds or thousands of dollars.

The simplest way to avoid credit card debt is to fully pay your bills every month. If you pay the balance down to zero every month, you will never have to pay interest, which is what makes the debt harder to pay back. Every month that you don’t pay, the amount you owe grows. Then you add more expenses to that, which also grows, etc. You should try very hard not to let this happen.

If you haven’t been able to keep your balance at zero, you should definitely think about getting a 0% APR credit card to transfer your balance to. This will give you a period of time to pay off your debt with no interest, so you can get your balance back to zero and your financial situation back on track, before causing major problems.

When you are considering getting a balance transfer card, be sure to ask to following questions:

These questions, and any other details you can find, are necessary to make sure you aren’t getting ripped off. Don’t be too quick to sign up based on promised of free flights or money back, etc. Read the fine print, and at some point, you will find the right card for you.