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During the winter months, utilities seem to be more expensive when constantly heating your home or apartment. However, there are a lot of ways to save money on your utilities when the weather gets colder. One very simple way to cut down on expenses is to bundle up while you’re at home. Wearing warmer clothes allows you to keep your house at a lower temperature. Another way is to use limit the use of space heaters as they consume a lot of electricity and drive up your bills. To combat this, use your space heater to only heat a single room and keep your door closed to keep the heat in. Instead of leaving the heater on for long periods of time, turn it off once your room is warm and wait as long as you can before turning it back on.

There are also a few other ideas that some people don’t typically think of. For example, if you are using the oven, leave the door open once you are done and have turned the oven off. There is a lot of heat that stays inside of an oven that gets wasted, but if you were to open the door, that residual heat can be used to heat your house. Another way to help heat your house is to keep your ceiling fans on low. This setting allow for warm air to be circulated downwards to help heat larger areas.

For more information on money saving tips or if you have questions or concerns related to your personal finances, contact the Financial Literacy Center to schedule a coaching session.

An Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is a type of investment account that is built for retirement savings. As fewer Americans have money saved away for retirement, I think that it is important to inform those who are looking to start saving, at some of their options. There are two main IRA’s; a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. A traditional IRA is an account that you can put up to $6,000 annually ($7,000 if you are over 50) and that money can be deducted on your taxes for the current year. A Roth IRA is similar in the sense that you can contribute $6,000/$7,000 annually, however the money is not tax deductible at the time you put it in, but your qualified distributions on the back end are tax-free.

Why are these tools so important? The answer is time! The power of compound interest is incredible. These retirement accounts are easy to set up and easy to contribute to every month. You can also take any amount of the principal that you put into these accounts at anytime. The only amounts that have to stay in until you are 59.5 (without paying a 10% penalty fee) is the growth. This allows you to even use an IRA as an emergency fund if needed. If you suddenly were to need some money, and you had it invested in an IRA, go ahead and take out as much principal as you need (with the plan to replace the full amount). Take advantage of retirement accounts as soon as you can, and you will reap the benefits in the future.

The start of a new year is often celebrated by resolutions.  Why not make changes to your financial situation in order to reach your goals?  Here are a few money resolutions you might consider to improve your financial well-being.

• Limit entertainment expenses.  College is suppose to be fun, but the more you spend on entertainment, the less you have towards tuition.  You don’t have to completely eliminate your entertainment, just become more frugal.  Seek out free or low-cost options on campus, and take advantage of student discounts by showing your student ID at restaurants, movie theaters, and more.
• Utilize your savings account. After each pay period, place some funds (any amount is good) into savings.  If you don’t want to think about making the transfer, set up an automatic transfer or utilize apps provided by your financial institution.  Creating the habit and having funds for emergencies is a good idea.
• Use credit cards wisely.  Avoid impulse purchases and only charge what you can afford to pay off each month.  Paying down credit card debit over months and years incurs expensive interest charges.
• Create a budget.  Estimating income and expenses is not difficult, but keeping track of expenses and comparing budgeted to actual amounts take time, and is often the hardest part of the budget cycle.  The advantages to completing the budget process includes personal knowledge of where your money goes and the ability to plan for changes.
• Check your credit.  Use annualcreditreport.com to check on your credit history once a year.  Although this free site will not give you a credit score, it will allow you to look for errors and discrepancies in regards to your credit.  Often times, the credit report will alert you to any signs of  identity theft.

Pick one, two, or all of the above resolutions and implement a plan to work towards your goals and improve your overall financial wellness.  Take charge of your finances now to set yourself up for future success and freedom.  For more information or to set up a financial coaching session, contact the UWW Financial Literacy Center.