It’s just about that time of year, yes indeed April 15th (Tax Day) is almost here. Not many people look forward to Tax Day, and I can’t blame them, but there are many tips and opportunities available right now that make filing your taxes and the amount you may owe (or receive), much more satisfactory.

The positive of the slumping economy over the last couple of years is that it will actually help you during tax time. The government has added all kinds of deductions and tax credits that will go a long ways toward making your amount owed much smaller, or hopefully the amount received bigger. Tax credits for 2009 are much more abundant than most years. What are the most popular tax credits in 2009? The Making Work Pay tax credit, which most who receive a normal pay check are eligible to receive, helps most families receive a $400-$800 tax credit. The first-time home buyer tax credit is sitting at a hefty level of $8,000, so if you qualify, that will help a whole lot! Also, both tax credits and tax deductions have become the norm for products that serve to use less energy. Many things apply, such as most heating/AC units, as well as automobiles, windows, doors, etc.

Remember to continue to take advantage of an IRA to defer taxes or build up a nice retirement nest egg, which can be taken out without taxes. If you have been receiving unemployment compensation, remember that you will qualify for a one-time benefit in 2009 of tax free compensation up to $2,400.

This may sound silly, but please remember to sign your tax forms before you mail them in. You’d be shocked at how many people forget to do this. Also, don’t forget to mail your taxes out by the tax deadline of April 15th. Take advantage of the write-offs and credits available to make this tax season a little less painful.

Today crude oil futures hit a new 17 month high, closing at $86.75. It has been a whirlwind for crude oil futures over the last couple of years. In the summer of 2008, oil prices traded as high as $147 a barrel and gasoline prices at the pump topped $4 per gallon. As the economy went into the tank in late 2008 and early 2009 the price of crude oil and gasoline dropped quickly. Crude oil futures plunged below $45 a barrel and gasoline went slightly below $2 per gallon. Fast forward to today, and crude oil prices have doubled from their low and gasoline prices are on the rise.

The writing is on the wall, gasoline prices are certainly going to cross $3 per gallon soon. The extra money you had in your budget because of the drop in gasoline prices is going to go away, and once again travel expenses are going to start causing many consumers headaches in the next few weeks and months. The biggest negative about this news is that summer driving season is coming soon, and prices are almost assured to be higher then, which will hurt vacation spending as well. It is all a vicious cycle that has the potential to slow down the economic rebound that appears to be underway.

As a wise consumer, I strongly suggest you start finding places to cut your expenses little by little to account for the higher costs of travel that are coming soon. Find areas of your budget that you can cut back ever so slightly to make a small differences. Those small differences will quickly add up to a significant amount over time. The sooner you start making changes in your spending habits, the better prepared you will be when these prices continue to rise in the months ahead. Preparation is a huge key to financial success, so start getting ready today!

The single biggest tip that I can give individuals looking to improve their personal finances is to hold yourself accountable for every single action you take. In all other aspects of life we are accountable for the decisions we make, and our finances should be no different. Let’s take a look at some ways to hold yourself accountable and make yourself more responsible when it comes to your finances.

First of all, you must always stay up to date on what is going on with your finances. It’s difficult to hold yourself accountable if you don’t keep track of what your current situation is. Every time you get any kind of bank, credit card, or any other financial statement, make sure you take a close look at it and see how you are doing and if any changes have been made. Many consumers end up paying because they don’t stay on top of fees and expenses that change over time, so make sure you aren’t one who does this.

Another important way to hold yourself accountable is to set goals and then track your progress. Setting personal finance goals are recommended by almost all of the top financial advisors. This allows you to sit down and plan out where you want to be in the future, then check to see how you are doing as far as reaching your goal. I think it is wise to set both long-term and short-term goals so you have intermediate goals to try to meet along the way.

Finally, make sure you understand that you are in control of your personal finances. This means you need to take the reigns and accept all responsibility. There is no reason you should be blaming other people or complaining, but rather you should be making the most of your situation and trying to improve your situation in the future. You are accountable, so make wise financial decisions for your future!

Investing your money is a vitally important step to reaching your financial goals. When you set financial goals you certainly have to make your goals realistic and not off the wall or not attainable. The same thing should be done when you set your investment goals. Many people look at the potential surrounding certain investments and decide that they will achieve that highest result themselves, when that is not a realistic expectation at all.

In order to understand what you are doing when you invest you should first understand the definition of investing. Investing is the act of committing money or capital to something with an expectation of obtaining a profit or additional income over time. Basically, investing is making your money work for you and your family’s future. Being wise with your investing throughout your life can really help set up your future and make things a lot easier for you and your entire family.

Realize that when you invest your money there will always be a trade off of some kind. If you are looking for the highest returns possible you will also have to deal with a much higher risk level. At the same time if you would like to get into an investment that has little or no risk you should also understand that your returns won’t be too terribly high. Most people should balance out their portfolio with some amount of risk, but not too much.

Though the stock market and other asset classes can go through great stretches where you may earn 25% or more in a single year, never start believing that will be the norm. The fact is in finance everything works in cycles and when one asset does well another will be doing poorly. Over time you need to realize that even the best of investments can’t earn a ridiculously high amount. Keep those expectations in check and you’ll have a much healthier investment portfolio.

In today’s economy each individual needs to pay even closer attention to their finances than normal. In a poor economy with over 10% unemployment one of the worst things that can happen to you is falling prey to a scam artist. Scam artists absolutely love this type of economy because people are more desperate and it is easier to lure them in. It really is sad that a bad economy brings them out in full force, but it is reality and every consumer needs to understand this. Right now probably the biggest scam out there that many consumers will fall for is the “Free Trial Offer” scam. Simply put these free trial offers aren’t at all what they seem to be on the surface, and it is very easy to lose a lot of money in a short amount of time with these scams.

Free trials aren’t always a bad thing, but in this era it is wise to ask extra questions and know exactly what you are getting into. How do free trial offer scams work? Often they will tell you that you can cancel at any point, when in reality you cannot cancel until after you have already been charged several times for the product or services. One of the best examples out there today is the Acai Berry Free Trial Scam. Acai Berry is all the rage right now when it comes to its nutritional value and its ability to help a person’s health. In fact there is a site solely dedicatedto letting you know about Acai Berry Scams and how to avoid them. Generally what happens with this scam is they get you signed up and get your credit card information, only to not allow you to cancel until later, and even when you try to cancel you are often placed on hold for hours at a time.

Free trial offers often aren’t what they seem, and in the end the one who ends up hurt is the individual who is scammed. Be very careful with free trial offers in this environment.

Everyone does it, yes indeed it is the time of the year for New Year’s resolutions. For many people it can be something such as weight loss or exercise, but for many others it may well be related to personal finance. My strong suggestion to readers this year is to make a resolution to work hard at keeping part of your paycheck back to help pay for unsuspected bills and expenses. This can be thought of as an emergency fund if you’d like or it can simply be thought of as a savings account to help you keep more money in your name over the long run.

No matter how good you are at controlling your spending you are far more likely to spend money that you have as cash or in a checking account than you are when you have the money stashed away in something like a savings account or an investment vehicle such as a Certificate of Deposit. Money market or savings accounts are generally more useful if you want to use this as an emergency fund since this money is available to you at all times with no penalty, where CD’s are not so easy to get into without incurring a fee.

Depending on your personal financial situation you should set a continuing amount of your paycheck to hold back, whether it be 10% or even 5%. Even if it seems like a small amount at the time you would be surprised how quickly that will start to add up if you stick with the plan over the long haul. In difficult times it may seem next to impossible to hold back any of that hard earned cash, but you can make a way by reducing expenses little by little in each area. The benefits of building up some cash in a savings account are well worth the short-term pain it may cause! Make this one of your personal finance resolutions this year!

Forget clipping coupons and checking comparison shopping sites to find best shopping deals. If you have iPhone or Droid smart phones, you can find best deals using ShopSavvy application available for iPhone and Droid. Just scan the bar codes of the products you want to buy, the application will tell you where you can get better deal.

TheFind.com also has application for shopping deals. The website has good information too. Just like ShopSavvy, Redlaser also has application that scans products’ barcodes and find the best deals available. These applications don’t work in iPod Touch. If you have iPhone or Droid, give it a try. Most of these applications are free.

Related Link: Keep your personal spending in check

This is definitely not what all of the major retailers want to hear or what the government wants the citizens being told right now, but the truth is it would be wise for all consumers to keep spending in check during this holiday season. The economy does appear to be recovering, but as of right now the labor market is still in trouble and personal wages haven’t been growing at the pace they need to for the normal person to feel comfortable about their situation.

I’m certainly not saying you shouldn’t be buying any gifts this season or spending any money, rather I am simply saying that even though things look better than they did at this time last year I think it would be wise to act with a lot of restrain before spending too much of your hard earned money. Personal savings tips you learned during the recession and the ability to make your dollar go as far as possible shouldn’t be dropped just because things look a little brighter right now.

The retailers and the government obviously and understandably want people to go out and spend money in large amounts to kick start the economy, but as a consumer you must look out for yourself first and remember not to try to do more than is wise for your budget planning. 

Use things such as special promotional sales, coupons, buying in bulk to try to make your money get farther all throughout the year. The holiday season is a time where extra expenses are inevitable, but limiting those expenses and not stretching yourself and your family too thin during that time is absolutely vital to your overall well-being. Have a great holiday season and enjoy all of the festivities, but don’t forget about your personal savings and the status of your budget or you’ll end up with a holiday “hangover” of sorts.

In recent weeks Ben Bernanke has been taking a lot of heat in the Senate as they debate whether to confirm Bernanke to a second term or not. His first term expires on January 31st of 2010. At least for the moment Bernanke will get his day in the sun as Time Magazine announced him as their Person of the Year for 2009. Since Time Magazine started naming their Person of the Year in 1927, the honor has gone to the person with the most influential and newsworthy person from that year.

Time Magazine described Bernanke as “the most powerful nerd on the planet.” While at Princeton Bernanke was a leading scholar of the Great Depression. Bernanke concluded that the passive Fed of the 1930′s contributed to the depression, which is precisely why he decided that the Federal Reserve could not afford to be passive during this financial crisis. Most definitely this severe economic recession that dominated the news in 2009 could have been another depression, but Time Magazine, as well as many others, believe Bernanke helped stop that depression. He led the charge in reshaping monetary policy and injected millions of dollars into an economy that was screaming for help from somewhere.

Personally I find Bernanke to be a solid choice as Person of the Year for 2009. Bernanke gets little credit for his understanding of Main Street, but he really isn’t a Wall Street man by heart. In Time Magazine’s interview of him Bernanke says “I understand why people are frustrated, I’m frustrated too.” He goes on to say, “This is all very real to me,” and lets the world know he understands this isn’t a video game or anything to be messing around with. Probably the best quote of them all from the interview is “I’m not happy with where we are, but it’s a lot better than where we could be.” I couldn’t agree more with the Fed Chairman on that quote. While our economy isn’t in a good place, things looked as if they could get much worse. There will definitely be different challenges going forward, but in 2009 Bernanke did a solid job at the helm.

A bond is a debt security. When you purchase a government bond you are lending money to the government. In return for that money, the issuer, which would be the government in this case, provides you with a bond in which it promises to pay a specific rate of interest during the life span of the bond and then repay the face value of the bond (the principal) when it matures. There are many different types of bonds, but government related bonds are much safer than corporate bonds or junk bonds, so we will focus on government bonds in this particular post.

What are the benefits of bonds? The biggest benefits of investing in bonds are you will receive a predictable amount of income from them and they will certainly protect your capital. Government bonds don’t come with the same risks that many other investment assets come with, which is definitely a positive for many people.

What is the downside to government bonds? The single biggest downside is that over time they generally can’t keep up with other asset classes from a performance standpoint. The fact that they carry so little risk also brings no chance for great returns.

Bonds should be used in conjunction with other investment assets such as stocks, mutual funds, and commodities to make up a fully diversified investment portfolio. Bonds create a very nice safety net that is very good to have when the economy goes into a tailspin and other asset classes plunge.

As one gets close to and then enters retirement bonds become a much better investment option. Bonds are a terrific way to preserve your capital while also earning a decent amount on top of that initial investment amount. Those who are looking to have a safe place for their money should look toward bonds and top bond mutual funds as solid investment choices.