San Diego, CA - "Many people welcome in the new year with a burst of new found energy to do things differently. A lot of this gets focused on personal finances. Resolutions are aplenty, however they often come with what some folks would call the “but firsts.” You want to save some money,
“but first” pay off credit cards. The “but firsts” become disincentives to change anything at all.

ICFE has five resolution solutions for 2005. There are no “but firsts.” All may be activated and
energized the moment they are read. All are simple, proven and effective ways to do things differently with personal finances. They are called resolution solutions because they will help those who use them keep more of their income or the money they make and do more with what they keep.

1) Resolve to become a comparison spender. There are two forms of overspending. There is the borrow and spend crowd, however they come in second to the biggest group of over-spenders in America, because an estimated 60-65 percent of all consumers pay too much for things. Comparison spending will put a quick stop to that financially detrimental practice.

Example: A popular gift item for Christmas 2004 was the hand-held kitchen appliances called
“Gizmos” from Black and Decker. When first advertised, they were at retail $29.95. Within a week
they were being advertised in a major drug store chain flyer for $24.95. The best buy, however
was for $19.88 at two other discount retailers. Comparison spending on this item saves $10.

2) Resolve to become a regular saver. “When it comes to saving money, most people will simply stop at nothing.” In other words they never seem to get started. That's the way it often is for other new year resolutions too. A regular saver is one who saves a portion of all income received. Becoming a regular saver is quick, simple, something most people can and should do everyday. Start right now by taking a dollar bill and all of your pocket change and set it aside. Do this every day, even on the weekends. It will average $50 a month. An extra incentive to save a little more is to take all the folding money with your initials on the serial number, and save those $1, $5, $10,
$20, $50 and $100 bills.

3) Resolve to extend the value of your income. Get more bang for your bucks no matter if they are
invested, being spent on entertainment or real estate or yourself. Part of becoming a regular saver is looking for ways to save money in every part of your life.

Example: 30 cents of every take-home dollar is spent on household and grocery items. The best and most immediate way to extend the value of household and grocery spending dollar is to employ the use of coupons, rebates and special sales. Now many folks will bellyache they don't have time to clip coupons. Time is money so, if it takes 15 minutes to clip coupons out of the Sunday paper and grocery flyers in the mailbox and you save ten percent or $10 on a hundred dollar tab, that is equal to $40 per hour.

4) Resolve to increase your net worth. Increasing net worth is done by accumulating money and
other assets (as opposed to piling up the debts). Also, by having assets grow and appreciate in value and paying down indebtedness. Consumers are building up or tearing down their net worth with every financial decision and things they do. So for 2005, keep building your net worth up and stay off the deconstruction crew.

5) Resolve to get your free credit files. One of the best gifts to consumers in 2004 from Congress was the ability to get free credit reports annually from the three major credit reporting agencies. By September 2005 all US residents will be eligible. Click on www.annualcreditreport.com, call 877-322-8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. The form may be printed
from www.ftc.gov/credit. If you need help figuring out what all the stuff on the credit report means, contact an ICFE Certified Credit Report Reviewer.

Have a safe and prosperous 2005.