Monthly Archives: July 2018

So You’ve Bought Your First Home: Savings 101

Congratulations! You’ve taken a big step in your financial future by purchasing your first home. As a new homeowner, you may be worried about the chunk of change you just spent, and your bank account may be looking a little slim right now. Luckily, Iowa State Bank & Trust Company is here with a few simple saving solutions to help your funds increase.

Slow Your Spending

As you have just made a big dent in your savings, now is the time to slow down on your purchasing behavior. Be sure to be aware of your spending habits. Don’t go shop for an extra pair of shoes or dine out multiple times a week, as that can add up in a hurry!

Revamp Your Emergency Fund

A bigger house means bigger emergency expenses. Put a little extra money here and there into your emergency fund to save up for problems such as needing a new roof, replacing a broken appliance or common plumbing issues. Being prepared means your bank account will take less of a hit since you have your emergency fund to fall back on.

Stretch Your Grocery Dollars

Eating out can cost you a fortune! According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average household spends an average of $3,008 per year on dining out. Instead, find discount grocery stores such as ALDI in order to meet your budget. Setting a budget and only buying items you truly need will help stretch your money. Finding recipes for casseroles, soups and other large portion meals will help save money by creating leftovers for you to bring as lunch every day to work.

Don’t Buy New Furniture

Even though you’re excited and want to decorate your new home to the extreme, try to wait. Slowing down and taking the time to find second hand stores, garage sales and so on will help save you hundreds to thousands of dollars on furniture. It’s easy to do a little digging and find store-quality items.

Clean Out the Closet

As you’re already packing to move into your new home, now is the time to get rid of items you no longer need. Facebook Marketplace, Ebay and other online platforms allow you to easily sell items to others all over the world! Not only are you freeing up space in your new home, you’re making a few extra bucks along the way!

Being a homeowner is an exciting new journey, but keeping up with your finances can be a little hectic. These tips will help you put a few more dollars in your bank account while enjoying the joys of your new home!

Wedding Waivers – Ways to Cut Costs for the Big Day

Say ‘I Do’ to savings and “no” to debt on your big day. Weddings can grow out of control and expensive in no time when the planning begins. That’s why it’s important to learn savvy ways to save before you walk down the aisle. Luckily, Iowa State Bank & Trust Company offers a few creative ideas to trim your wedding budget.

Cut the Cake

Many couples now are ditching the idea of cake and doing mini cupcakes or a donut bar. Find something that fits your quirky personality and go that route. By making your own sweet treats with friends and family or outsourcing to a grocery store bakery, you’ll save big on cutting the custom made cake. Be sure to have your relatives make their favorite desserts to allow a widespread table of goodies.

Flower Power

As everyone knows, flowers can make or break a budget. However, you’re still going to dream of having the perfect bouquet when walking down the aisle to your hunny. To fix this, find another use for the bouquets such as becoming part of the decor after the wedding. Decorate the tables or dessert bar by putting the flowers in vases, so you can get the biggest bang for your buck. Be sure to use in-season flowers, as this will help you save big on importing costs for exotic blooms. You can also mix non-floral embellishments into the flowers to fill out the bouquets and make them yourself. This way you’re spending less on flowers, but they still look fabulous.

DIY Darling

With sites such as Pinterest, Etsy, DIY Network and more, you have a whole arsenal of ideas people have never had before. Getting crafty is easier than ever! Use these sites to find decor ideas that will look incredible but cost a quarter of the price. Get friends and groomsmen to invest their time into helping create your dream decorations.

Raise the Bar

Instead of a full open bar, you could offer beer, a red and white wine or a few signature cocktails. By doing this, you aren’t paying for every single alcohol imaginable. You want everyone to have fun, but this will help you enjoy your wedding too because you won’t be worrying about the thousands of dollars that could be waiting for you on the tab.

Big Day Borrow

Borrow, borrow and, oh, borrow! If a friend has a wedding veil they’re willing to loan you, use it! That could save you hundreds of dollars depending on what you had in mind for the wedding. Other girlfriends may have a pair of shoes or jewelry that matches perfect with your dress. You can also see what decor and items family members may have that you could borrow and use as decorations for the wedding.

We hope these ideas help stretch your budget for the big day! Stop in or give us a call if you need a little extra cash or credit in order to prepare for taking the next big step. Congratulations!

3 Keys to Managing Your Money When You’re Self-Employed

If you’re similar to 10 percent of the active American workforce, you are self-employed. Those who enjoy going into business for themselves find a great degree of freedom and empowerment. You have more value for your work, no uniforms, get to choose your customers, not to mention unlimited vacation days. However, these benefits can be quickly overshadowed by the effects of poor money management. In order to make your dream successful, there are certain key habits and skills you should have or develop in order to help your business thrive.

Organization

You may have already thought about the most exciting aspects of your new business such as the products you are selling and your logos. However, in order to keep the things you are passionate about alive, you need to keep your finances highly organized.

Taxes – Many self-employed people forget about Uncle Sam until they are hit with a shocking letter. Unlike the days when your employer would automatically deduct taxes from your paycheck, you will need to do this all yourself. This should take priority over everything else because the costs of not doing so can shut you down. Keep in mind that you may need to pay an additional 15 percent self-employment tax in addition to your regular income taxes.

Budget – In addition to a personal budget, you need to create a business budget to allocate expenses like postage, childcare or insurance. Calculate the basics of that you will need to make ends meet. Decide what salary you are going to pay yourself every month. These are the items that many forget about that could cause your business to fail. Decide what percentage you are going to spend on what categories each month and stick to them.

Tracking Expenses – It may be easy to dismiss a small business lunch here and there, but not having a system of tracking can severely disrupt your budget.

Open Separate Accounts – We can’t stress the importance of this enough, but the secret to staying organized and on track is having your business accounts separate from your personal accounts. You can create an account where you put a percentage of your income in just for taxes so you never have to sweat when the quarterly taxes become due. Come see us at Iowa State Bank & Trust Company to look at our business account options.

Plan Ahead

While there are many items to stay on top of for your business, you shouldn’t neglect your own goals for the future such as retirement or emergency savings. While it may be great you are your own boss, you no longer have the matching 401k contributions that many employees receive as benefits. This means you will have to make it even more of a priority to save for your post-work life.

Self-Control

There may be some months where you make double or even triple the amount of profit you had estimated. When this happens, take out the same amount that you always do towards the items in your budget and anything extra put into the Emergency Fund. We recommend doing this in percentages, so no matter if you make a lot or a little you are still funneling money into every priority you have.

On months when you don’t make as much money or even if you make no revenue, you’ll be thankful that you saved your profits from the high income months. Eventually, you should aim to hit the point where you can go 3-6 months without a salary because you have built up a significant savings. This takes diligence and self-control. It takes doing the little things right, every month.

Adopting these key habits into your business plan is going to set you up for success, so you can focus and enjoy the fruits of your labor.