Here are 5 steps to help you get back on the saving track (always the #1 financial priority, in WMR’s opinion) and reduce your debt simultaneously. Win-Win in WMR’s book!

I am not going to state the obvious (well maybe I am) but if there was a -1 step it would be:

DO NOT ACCUMULATE ANY NEW DEBT FROM THIS POINT FORWARD  🙂 

1. LAY IT ALL OUT RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU! I know, I know! This may sound arbitrary but it is definitely the #1 way to fool yourself into thinking you have less debt than you have if you do not do this step first. Find a nice big surface like the kitchen table and lay out your receipts, your credit card bills, match them up and move on to step 2!

   

2. So of course your second step would be to TALLY THOSE BILLS UP! Arbitrary and Duh sounding again, YES! Unequivocally necessary, YES!!

   

3. On to step 3, CREATE A STRATEGIC PAY DOWN PLAN! I have again included my free Financial Spreadsheet to help you get this done. This spreadsheet is fully customizable and I put some figures in it to get you started. This step is a little more in-depth so let me expand upon it:
   

   (A). Fill in your fixed expenses first, the column farthest left, make sure to include emergency savings in there even a little amount. If you take the savings right off the top, chances are you won’t even miss it.

   (B). Next estimate what your variable expenses will be for the month. This includes: food; gas; entertainment and so on and input them into the spreadsheet. This will leave you with the net income you have to work with to pay down your bills.

   (C). You have a few options now: 1. pay down the lowest balance first, provided the interest rate isn’t too high 2. pay down the one with the highest interest rate, not necessarily the one with the highest balance first or 3. any combination of the two. Use a free financial calculator found on the www to see how much you will be paying in interest overall to help you decide which approach to take as well. Most credit card statements now include the pay down breakdown with your monthly statement.

4. MONITOR DILIGENTLY YOUR PAY DOWN PLAN! Hopefully by step 4, you will have a better grasp of how much you owe and how long it will take for you to pay off your holiday debt. As with everything in life think of this as a learning experience. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, nothing more!

   

5. MODIFY YOUR PAY DOWN PLAN AS NECESSARY! Things happen, that is called life! For example if you can’t pay more than the minimum on a bill because you had an unexpected car expense, don’t sweat it! BUT please always make the minimum payment to maintain a good credit score as we have found out is very important!

   

I am a goal orientated kind of woman, I believe we all are! So when I think in terms of saving or paying down debt sometimes the joy of it, just isn’t enough. I need something else. For me that something else is always mainly traveling, this year it is Disney World with my Family, next year who knows but I do know I will be prepared, so will you!!  😀

]]> 702 https://kimberlyboutin.com/its-all-about-the-fico-you-know/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=its-all-about-the-fico-you-know Sun, 29 Dec 2019 14:05:05 +0000 https://kimberlyboutin.com/?p=641 FICO, FICO, FICO…is it really all about keeping score? When we think of credit scores, or the most popular FICO score our thoughts probably pop to acquiring a loan with the higher score “scoring” the lowest credit rates. That is the elementary definition  but what exactly does our FICO score tell lenders, what does it tell us??? I will share with you the common knowledge of FICO scores in layman’s terms and my experience with them, the good, the bad and the ugly, over the years. My intent here is not to reinvent the wheel so I have included several links throughout the article for more in-depth analysis of each FICO credit score criteria.

1. Of course the #1 criteria that goes into your FICO score is: Payment History (35%). I say of course because as the old saying goes “those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it”. Lenders do not want to star in your one man unworthy of good credit show. With that being said, let’s focus on the positive. Your payment history is derived from many different types of loans: mortgage loans; credit cards; retail/store credit cards; car loans and finance company loans. With such an array of credit going into the pot there is definitely lots to work with in terms of creating and maintaining a positive history. WMR is here to tell you from their experience that if a payment is due on the 1st but isn’t received until the 2nd, 3rd or 4th on occasion, your FICO score will not automatically drop. 
2. Criteria #2-Amounts Owed (30%). In as layman’s terms as I can get, if you carry high balances on your revolving credit-Visa, Amex, Mastercard, Sears, Macy’s, Petco (not even sure if they have one, but you get the point) your score can be very negatively impacted. Why say you??? Because it looks like you have overextended or may possibly overextend yourself in the future. Even with installment loans, which are usually backed by some sort of collateral such as a home or car, if you aren’t that far into your payment schedule it can impact your credit score a few points here or there. WMR is here to tell you from their experience even if you pay your credit card off in full every month depending on when your score is pulled it might still show you have a balance because your last statement balance is usually what is reported to the credit bureaus. 
3. Criteria #3-Length of Credit History (15%). I have not provided a link to this topic because it is pretty clear cut. This is just part of the score that simply comes with history. If you have a short history, but have managed your credit well your scores will most probably reflect your good decisions. On the contrary if you have managed credit for a long time but have done so not so good shall we say, this criteria might not help your score. WMR is here to tell you from their experience this criteria is only 15%, moving on. 
4. Criteria #4-What’s in your Credit Mix (10%). Getting down to the nitty-gritty, yeah only 10% does this criteria represent. It is often a good indicator of good credit worthiness if you have both revolving and installment type loans in your portfolio. HOWEVER, is not always necessary. This is one of those crazy criteria, IMHO, because it depends on many factors that come from your credit report and isn’t very quantifiable for the layman. WMR is here to tell you from their experience don’t stress too much on this criteria, just be mindful. 
5. Criteria #5-New Credit (10%). It just isn’t wise to open too many revolving accounts at once, if you are new in the credit game. On the other hand, WMR is here to tell you from their experience sometimes that isn’t so detrimental to your overall score if you have been managing credit for a good bit of time, 1-5 years or more. 

Synopsis: A FICO or any other credit score is just a numerical snapshot of your overall credit history. It helps lenders pull everything together into a quantifiable method to determine credit worthiness in an efficient manner to either extend credit to you or not extend it to you and determine the rates you will pay for their lending you money. Credit Scores are a fluid, living organism, if you will. They will go up, they will go down. Always remember you are more than just a “number” but that “number” will be with you for the duration of your financial life, treat it with respect and all that goes into it and it will repay in kind with lower interest rates!  🙂 

I encourage you to leave a comment or a success experience you have had!! The Leave a Reply fields are optional, if you want to remain anonymous just fill in the comment section and hit post! Thank you for sharing your experiences and remember “no [wo]man is an island.”

Finally, I get to the arduous task of setting up the actual budget. In the past I have based this amount on many different formulas to come up with that “target” budget amount:

• A per person monetary allotment i.e. $100 per person.
• Bonuses received.
• 3 pay periods based on a bi-weekly pay schedule.
• An arbitrary amount that sounded good i.e. $1500.
• Saving a monetary amount weekly or monthly throughout the year.

Regardless of what number I come up with, my goal is always the same: DO NOT GO INTO DEBT!

Here are the 5 ways I have successfully stayed out of debt every holiday season to date:

1. Set up a realistic, generous budget right from the start, it is the best way to set yourself up for success. If you set your budget too low and run out of money too early you might be tempted to turn to credit cards to fund the discrepancies. Keep your eye on the goal ⇑.
2. Track your purchases as they occur or minimum, weekly. Believe me this is key to staying on track and budget. Set aside a set time or chunk of time every day/week to input this valuable data. At the minimum keep a notebook or piece of paper in your wallet or pocketbook with your budget amount and minus off your purchases as you are waiting in line at the store. Again it is easy to get off track if you don’t have a visual reminder with you.
3. Shop early. All through out the year I add items to my watch or wish list in anticipation of costs going up during the holiday season. For example, my son wants an Xbox so I started shopping for it as early as when he mentioned he wanted one. I have done this many times throughout the years and find I usually save around 25% more than I would if I had waited until the end of November beginning of December to purchase the item as prices start to rise—supply and demand.
4. Use reward dollars. I have also done this many times throughout the years which has saved me tons of money. I have used credit card rewards in the form of points towards purchases. I have used my cash back reward from Costco to make holiday purchases. I have used actual cash from another rewards program to add to my holiday spending budget. “What’s in your wallet?” Take a look, could be holiday savings!
5. Implement a Yankee Swap. I have done this for years with my girlfriends. We gather after the holidays to get together and extend the holiday season. You only have to buy 1 gift and everyone ends up getting one. I know of many families who do this as well and it works out great.

Regardless of how you do your tracking: Excel Spreadsheets; Mac Numbers Spreadsheets; Good Ol’ Pen & Paper, the most important thing is that you just do it. I don’t know of to many people that like to start the New Year in debt and with a little prep and tracking, you don’t have to. Maybe you will even come out under budget! 😀 Happy Tracking & Happy Holidays!

Vacation, vacation, vacation: such a delightful 8 letter word—in theory. As I sit here and type this poolside the implications of that word seem like such a distant memory. In reality the implications include: accommodations; airline tickets; school vacations; work schedules and coordinating all of those so they match up! Often there is one coordinator of this venture we call vacation and if that is you reading this then I have reached my target audience. For it is with you I can have this candid conversation and keep it real. I consider myself a “sandwich” coordinator. The coordination for my most recent trip included these attendees: myself; my husband; my 8 year old son; my 22 year old daughter; her boyfriend and my Mom-in-Law. I felt “sandwiched” and pulled in many different directions, as a coordinator most often does, but add this well rounded group and added stress was imminent. Nonetheless, I am now typing this article from the comfy confines of my home office (boo) and with hindsight as my driver I will share with you my tips which made this trip an outstanding success and some of the pitfalls that seeing now I could have clearly overcome and will for sure on the next trip (which I am currently planning).  😀

Before I proceed, the unspoken, proverbial rule is: Set a Budget. Download my free budget Financial Spreadsheet and start from there. I know, believe me I know, budgets and fun are not synonymous but I assure you neither is fun and debt.

1. Schedules-Perhaps one of the most important if not the most important part of planning a vacation is scheduling. For this trip I had to coordinate 3 adults working schedules, one school vacation schedule and the very busy schedule of a very active retiree.

• When scheduling the call to action has to be to pick the schedule with the most impact, for me that was my 8 year olds’ school vacation schedule. Which for us had the least flexibility.
• Keep in mind, if you don’t already know, the travel periods of March and April increase rates upwards of 50%. If you do not have flexibility in your scheduling, adjust your budget proportionately right from the start.

2. Accommodations-Once you have a date the next exciting step is to decide, where are you going to stay? There are many factors to consider in this oh so important step, for any size party. For example, this past trip was a party of 6 (refer to “sandwich” attendees) that I was coordinating for. The previous year it was a party of 3 ladies to a foreign country. Even with half the size party in the previous year, accommodating us all came with its share of unique challenges.

• When thinking of where you want to stay my recommendation is one bathroom for every two/three max vacationers. To further dilute this, consider who is going to be occupying those bathrooms. For two parents and a child, one bathroom should be sufficient. For 3 ladies, two bathrooms was a must! Summary: adjust according to party size AND the party themselves.
• Hotel—Timeshare—Suite, OH MY! Depending on where you are traveling to, there are many options for lodging. Keeping in mind the bathroom accommodations, where you lay your head down is a very close second. In my experience with destination locations such as Disney or some all-inclusive resorts, rooms are very small. This “forces” you to have to purchase additional rooms based on party size or upgrade to suites. Both of those options can add lots of dollars to your vacation budget bottom line. My recommendation is to check out the local timeshares. A lot of them rent rooms in 2-3 night+ stays and at a steep discounted rate to fill rooms when the timeshares aren’t being used by the owners. I recently did this in conjunction with the timeshare I own because we traveled on “off” days (more on this in a sec) and had to purchase additional nights. For 6 travelers, we had 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, a full kitchen with dining, living room and laundry room. Togetherness has its merits but sometimes equally so, does solitude.

  

3. Traveling-Planes, Trains, or automobiles—that is the question. As I mentioned in number 1, peak traveling times command big premiums. I had booked our accommodations and then went to book airfares. Screeching halt! I went on every conceivable site known to my traveling hands and in a nutshell it was around $1,000 per person, round trip. Uh, NO!!! This was for flying Saturday to Saturday, Sunday to Sunday and Monday to Monday and a few combinations of those days. At first panic set in and then.

• I started checking dates just outside my target traveling dates, not dates before but right after. Checking before still put me into the peak traveling times for my trip, which fell in the March-Mid April peak. I didn’t have to go too far because you know the saying: what a difference a day makes and the difference one day meant for us was a savings of $650 a ticket. We traveled Tuesday to Tuesday. This meant my son had to miss two additional days of school and the adults had to take 1-2 additional days off from work but for a savings of $3,900 and not possibly going at all, it was well worth it!
• If you are staying in an off-site resort and are traveling with parties of two or more couples, rent two vehicles. I don’t believe I need to elaborate on that topic any further.

4. Attractions & Dining-I grouped these two categories together because they can be big ticket items and very well could go in conjunction with number 1 when planning your vacation.

• What is your vacation goal-relaxing on the beach, by the pool, soaking in the sun’s rays? Is it zip-lining in the jungle or visiting as many amusement parks and attractions as you can? Our recent trip to Disney was my Mom-in-Laws first time to Disney. We wanted to show her everything and see it again “for the first time” through her eyes. In theory this is all well and good, but we have an eight-year-old who could care less about parks and could easily spend 8-10 glorious hours in the pool. Add to that my grown daughter and her boyfriend with an agenda of their own as well. My recommendation get somewhat on the same page BEFORE you purchase tickets to parks or excursions. We purchased tickets with the option (for a fee) to hop between parks in the same day. Doing this allowed us all to visit the parks we enjoy but saved us money on purchasing an additional day which net a savings of approximately $500.

  

• I am going to dive right in with my first recommendation—Get on somewhat of a same eating schedule, at least for the week. I am a grazer in the morning, my husband likes to eat a little more substantial, my son can eat all day long. So by the time we got to the parks of course one of us was hungry (I will let you guess which one) which added to our food budget and could have been avoided if we loaded up before we ventured out. But hey, it is vacation. Which leads to which type of dining is best. I have done all-inclusive, dining plans and ala carte dining. Budget wise, all-inclusive and dining plans can offer some savings and flexibility but depending on where you are vacationing, offer ok food. My caveat is I don’t find this at Disney, all of their food is exceptional but I observed this past trip and in speaking with other diners, the choices can be limiting. Our timeshare comes equipped with a full kitchen so for us a trip to the local grocery store is always first on our agenda when we arrive. My recommendation here is to not let your eyes be bigger than your stomach. Shop wisely. Unless you plan on cooking and eating everything you bought, this could end up being a budget drainer. Take into consideration eating out, snacking and cocktailing poolside, vacation is no time for deprivation, however, you work hard for your money and vacation shouldn’t be a time to waste it either.

  

  

Hopefully you can walk or “fly away” with some useful tips when you go to plan your next vacation. Though Woman Market Ready is always focused on being financially savvy, we are often reminded with sayings such as this—you can always make more money, but you can’t make more time—to enjoy time with family and friends in exotic destinations or right in our own backyards.

Happy Travels! ♥

1. Know where your hard earned money goes! Most of the experts say and with good reason: the first rule of financial management is to have a budget. I believe that is the second rule. We cannot set up a successful budget until we know where we want to allocate our money. As Woman Market Ready is geared towards every “woman” as an individual it only makes sense that every woman’s financial budget should be as well. Trend with me on this. A normal budget spreadsheet appears something like this: you have your fixed expenses, your hierarchies which include: rent/mortgage payments and all applicable insurances & expenses; car payments and all applicable insurances & expenses and so on. Then you have your variable expenses again with its own hierarchies which may include: groceries; cell phone; cable; entertainment; etc. But in order to get to the budget process above you need to first know where your hard earned money goes. NOT only that I repeat, BUT where do you WANT your hard earned money to go. I have found the best way to track where your hard earned money goes is a financial spreadsheet. There are a lot of different spreadsheet applications you can choose from. I personally use Microsoft Excel because it is the application I was trained on. The following example is based on that application but I am sure whichever spreadsheet application you prefer, will have similar functionalities. Heck, the good ole pen and paper method would work just fine as well.

2. Know the impact of credit scores on your financial life and how to use them to your advantage. A credit score is just a numerical snapshot of your overall credit history. It helps lenders pull everything together into a quantifiable method to determine credit worthiness in an efficient manner to either extend credit to you or not extend it to you and determine the rates you will pay for their lending you money. Credit Scores are a fluid, living organism, if you will. They will go up; they will go down. Always remember you are more than just a “number” but that “number” will be with you for the duration of your financial life, treat it with respect and all that goes into it and it will repay you in kind with lower interest rates! The following article “It’s All About the Fico you know” breaks down what goes into a credit score.

3. Start thinking about long-term investments, now. I don’t believe many of us like to think about the mortality that will eventually befall us all. Thinking about retirement and planning for it, often takes on that same mentality—we always have tomorrow. However, pretty soon your 20’s turn into your 30’s, 30’s into 40’s and so on. I have spent many years observing two sides of the retirement coin—overly planning like you are going to retire tomorrow, forfeiting the life you could be living now, and failing to plan until late in the life game and finding when you retire you haven’t saved enough. I tend to fall somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. Though I can honestly say now that I am in my late 40’s, I wish I had taken on the approach of the earlier extreme. If you fall to the latter of the extremes, find a good financial planner who has your best interests at heart and get started. In the meantime, and for your consideration, the following are a few common or maybe not so common retirement planning tips that I personally use.

• Diversify your financial portfolio. In other words, don’t keep all your eggs in one basket, for example don’t let your 401(k) be your only source of retirement income.
• Take full advantage of your 401(k)/403(b) company match.
• Have a well-funded Emergency Fund.

Thank you Mom for the lessons! ♥

Get your copy of Woman Market Ready in 4, 3, 2, 1—ACTION.

Featured Image Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

I have been a certified Financial Counselor and believe with my whole heart, brain and soul that women have the responsibility to ALWAYS maintain even a minimal level of competence in their financial life.

On this particular topic let me just start out by saying I am the LEAST lenient! For me it is black and white with no areas of gray. When my parents divorced, my Mom was 33 years old. She was now a single mother of 4. Without knowing it at the time she was setting an exemplary financial example for me through osmosis that I have followed my entire life. With that intro I impart our (Margie and I) first rule of financial management: 

Know Where Your Hard Earned Money Goes!!

Most of the experts say and with good reason: the first rule of financial management is to have a budget. I believe that is the second rule. As Woman Market Ready is geared towards every “woman” as an individual it only makes sense that every woman’s financial budget should be as well. Trend with me on this. A normal budget spreadsheet appears something like this:

You have your fixed expenses, your hierarchies which include: rent/mortgage payments and all applicable insurances & expenses; car payments and all applicable insurances & expenses and so on. Then you have your variable expenses again with its own hierarchies which may include: groceries; cell phone; cable; entertainment and so on. But in order to get to the budget process above you need to first know where your hard earned money goes.  NOT only that I repeat, BUT where do you WANT your hard earned money to go. Insert here my financial spreadsheet!

The following is an example of a 1/2 month’s potential input data.

Here are five tips to successfully use this tool: 

Note, there are three tabs or worksheets located at the bottom of the spreadsheet.

1. Use the income sheet to calculate your monthly earnings. Include all sources of income then copy and paste the amount from this worksheet into the income cell on the expenditures worksheet.

   

    

2. When you first start tracking your expenses be very specific. Track it all! From the pack of gum you buy at the convenience store to the pocketbook you buy on ebay, and everything in between. Note I said: when you first start. As you become very aware of where your hard earned money is going you can lump some of the expenses into one category such as misc. so you don’t have to be SO stringent.
3. Take a mid-month inventory of spending. I purposely only included an example of a half month’s data to give you a visual reminder to check and recheck to make sure your spending is on par with your income.
4. PAY YOURSELF FIRST!! Note: under fixed expenses I listed Emergency Fund/Savings. I can NOT emphasize enough how important it is to have money in the bank!! I personally have been through a gamut of circumstances including but not limited to: leaving a job that did not suit me to pursue another; being laid off during an economic downturn; taking a leave of absence to care for my dying Mother and so on. My point is none of those events, in my control or otherwise, were able to financially devastate me because I was prepared for the expected and unexpected!
5. Think of this exercise as a journey not a destination. Over the years my “wants” and “desires” have consistently changed as I have. Isn’t it said the one constant is change. But what hasn’t changed is my desire to keep on learning all I can about finances and especially my own finances! As each journey, financially speaking or otherwise, is individual to each woman there is no “gray” area I repeat on our financial responsibility to ourselves. Be Woman Market Ready, you deserve nothing less!!!

Remember life is the market, be ready!

Download your free Excel Spreadsheet and start tracking! 🙂 Financial Spreadsheet

]]> https://kimberlyboutin.com/finance-market-ready/feed/ 5 407 https://kimberlyboutin.com/bulk-savings-month-in-review/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bulk-savings-month-in-review https://kimberlyboutin.com/bulk-savings-month-in-review/#respond Mon, 10 Oct 2016 19:58:50 +0000 https://kimberlyboutin.com/?p=1838 Always being the eternal optimist, I had high hopes that I would be able to follow my own guide, Bulk Savings!?, diligently to produce those thrifty outcomes I so desired. We all know the saying: best laid plans. Feel free to read Bulk Savings!? to get the whole picture before reading this month in review, but if you are pressed for time I have included the goal highlights below and the actual outcomes. Time Management is key!  😉

Goal: Dinners and Leftovers for Lunch-35% of total: The first thing  I do with bulk meat purchases is break it down into meal portions and freeze. I label them so I know how I have proportioned them when I go to plan my meals. From the amount purchased on this bulk trip I should be able to get 42 dinners and leftover lunches which comes out to approximately $2.50 a meal. That’s a Slam Dunk!

Outcome: 

I actually got 50 dinners and leftover lunches from this bulk shopping trip (pays not to be a big eater 😉 ). I also have 6 packages of frozen meat for an additional 12 dinners/lunches. I was very pleased with this outcome.  🙂

Goal: Breakfasts-20% of total: The breakdown here is as follows: I eat only fresh fruit for breakfast; my son eats cereal (and some fresh fruit); my husband has a granola bar. We both have coffee. I didn’t break the coffee purchase down, but if I do a rough estimate of cost it comes to approximately .15 per serving-no brainer that is cheaper than buying one at the local coffee shop, even when you add in your own creamer. Out of the potential 186 breakfasts I should be able to get out of this bulk shopping trip, that amounts to $1.00 per serving! Touchdown!

Outcome: 

Of the potential 186 breakfasts, 150 were consumed with the remaining 56 carrying over to the next month.  🙂

Goal: Snacks-15% of total: My 9 year old loves to snack! I already know for sure bulk shopping his favorites amount to savings right off the bat! How much? 159 snacks at .30 a snack! Goal!

Outcome:

Caveat, though I labeled this as an epic fail, the failure actually came because my son consumed all of his portion of the snacks-100 or so, halfway into the month.  😯

35 of the adult snacks still remain and have been carried over to the next month.  🙂

Goal: Miscellaneous-30% of total: The remaining 30% comes in the form of supporting characters to meals, snacks, well being—dealing with your wife (the gin purchase), etc. I didn’t break this down into a per serving cost analysis because it depends on a lot of factors such as how much ketchup you use with your french fries and the like. I can say however, the 3 bottles of ketchup I bought will last well beyond this bulk savings challenge, the gin probably not so much!

Outcome:

All I have to report on this is that the bottle of gin is full and unopened!  😀

Goal: Wrap Up-Throughout the month I will make trips to the grocery store for fresh fruit, perishables and dinner accompaniments. My goal over the next 30 day challenge is to keep those amounts down to $200 dollars or so for a total budget of $500 for groceries. Stay tuned and wish me luck!  😎

Outcome:

Ok, here is where it gets real—realer! My actual grocery tally for the month was: $938.79—approximately 47% over forecast target. The silver lining here is I have carry over groceries from the successful categories so I am ahead for the next month (that’s the eternal optimist talking  😛 ).

There were some wins and losses following the bulk savings guide but all and all I think it serves the bigger purpose of always being adaptable and to keep striving until we reach GOAL—in all categories!

Before you Head out on the Highway:

1. Know how much car you can comfortably afford. Shop with your head not with your heart, unless you plan on living in your car. 😉  You most certainly do not want to be “car rich” and “cash poor“. Take into consideration it is not just the output of your monthly payment but the insurance costs as well as routine maintenance costs and unexpected repairs. I have attached my budget spreadsheet here to help you do the math. Your payment and all of the other costs associated must fit into your, I am just going to say it—Monthly Budget! Financial Spreadsheet 
2. Know your credit score before you even step one foot into any car showroom. A difference of only a few points can automatically put you into a higher interest rate. For a nominal fee you can check your credit score at myfico.com or check to see if your credit card provides one to you monthly for free. Once you know your score, check all available financing options to you in addition to the dealership. Credit Unions and banks are great sources of alternate financing. I have found it is a very competitive arena out there these days with financing options so choose the best one that works for you. If you want to brush up on what goes into your credit score, check out my article, It’s All About the FICO You Know.
3. Know all about extended warranties. Of all the cars I have owned I have never bought the extended warranty until the very last one. There are two reasons for that. One, I had a good down payment and trade in so my monthly payment was below the budget I had set so the additional cost of financing the warranty was nil. Two, the technology that today’s cars contain and the costs associated with fixing them. When I was sitting with the finance person, I really listened to all of the options I had for extended warranties and what each one contained and covered. This was my 4th car I bought from this dealership and I have a trust relationship with them so based on our established relationship and their knowledge I based the warranties I purchased on the culmination of all the aspects. Trust is key but so is research, base your decisions on both. I won’t really be able to do a thorough cost-benefit analysis for you until the warranty period is up but I can tell you that purchasing the extended warranty has saved me approximately $500 in repairs in the six months I have had it. And unless you include a line in your monthly budget for car repairs, which are inevitably going to happen, an extended warranty already built into your payment might just be the right choice.
4. Know when to walk away. I want to go back up to number 1 for a minute—shop with your head not with your heart. Go in with a list of your 5 MUST have options. Even today’s base models come with so many options it shouldn’t be hard to satisfy the 5 right off the bat. The trick is to not lose sight of those 5 and get caught up in the bells and whistles on some of the pricier models. Guilty as charged! A car that can parallel park itself, bring it on! Oh, that option is $5000 more, no thank you! If there is not a car on the lot that has at least 3 or 4 of your 5 must haves, walk away. Believe me, your vehicle is out there, unless you are in dire straights of needing a vehicle, walk away and take your time. 
5. Know when to walk back. The vehicle I ended up purchasing had the 4 of my 5 must haves. I initially walked away and kept looking for all 5. It was during this search and looking at several other vehicles that I realized my 4 out of 5, was the one for me. BUT I had to initially walk away to really be sure about it. I also took that time to research alternate options for the one option I was missing, which was built-in navigation, in case you were wondering. I actually found an alternative that I have come to like much more than I ever liked the built-in navigation that I had in my previous car and thought I “must have” on my next one. By taking my time and weighing my options I got my 5 out of 5 must haves. 😀 Happy Shopping!

   

Post Script: Women of the Know, Virginia and Robyn offer these additional tidbits to ease your car buying shopping experience.

Virginia: Stop the “BS” before it even starts. Use the element of surprise. When I walk into the showroom, salesmen think, look at this old lady—this should be easy and then I open my mouth and the look on their faces say it all. I tell them I am here to buy a car, these are the terms and at the first sign of “BS’ I am out of here. —Author’s Note: Good job Virginia!

Robyn: Do your research. The internet is a vast stream of knowledge. Of course be careful to discern your information. Just because it is on the WWW doesn’t mean it is true. Get a CARFAX it if is available. And #1 be happy with the decision you make, for me a car is a multi-year committment and who wants to get into their car everyday and be unhappy? —Author’s Note: Well said Robyn!

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