4.Put yourself on your payroll
給自己支付工資
There comes a time every month when the bills start piling up and you force yourself to sit down and write out all the checks.Well,there's one more check you should be writing one to yourself.Jay Fine,a longtime financial planner based in Monroe,New Jersey,offers this easy way to put your retirement planning into high gear�！癙ut yourself on the payroll”he says.“Every month or even better, every paycheck make sure you set an amount aside for investment.A good number would be about 6 percent.Anything more would be great.If you have to,you can even write yourself a check to deposit or send to another account.but just as you pay your mortgage and your electric bill without fail, now you'll be making sure to pay yourself as well.”
當賬單開始堆積起來時，你就要逼著自己坐下來填寫支付每一筆賬單所需的支票。這樣的事情每月都會有一次。但是還有一張支票你應該寫，那就是一張寫給你自己的支票。來自新澤西州門羅鎮的長期理財規劃師Jay Fine，給出了一個建議幫助你。他說：“每月為自己支付工資，確保拿出了一筆錢做投資。理想的比例是6%。如果更多，就棒極了。如果需要可以用自己的名義進行存款或是存在另一個賬戶里。就像你支付按揭和電費從沒中斷過一樣，現在你要確保能一直為自己付工資。”
5. Make, and stick to, a budget
制定預算并堅持執行
Budgets are the first steps to gaining some financial order in your home. Stanley Kershman, an author, lawyer, and creator of the website www.debtonadiet.com, has a six-step plan to accomplishing just that:
預算是保證家庭財務有序進行的第一步。身兼作家、律師和理財網站(www.debtonadiet.com)創辦人三職的斯坦利·科什曼，提供了一個六步走計劃：
(1) Don't attempt to do your entire budget in one sitting. Take a few days, breaking the work down into manageable pieces.
不要試圖一次就想搞定你全部的預算計劃。花幾天時間，把這個工作分成可以控制的幾個部分。
(2) Gather up all of your income information, including salaries, interest, and gifts.
匯總你的所有收入，包括工資，利息和禮物贈品。
(3) Next, gather up all of your expense information. Do this thoroughly, even if it takes three days, a week, or a month. Make sure you're not missing anything.
下一步，匯總你的所有開銷。做這一步，要全面徹底，即使它要花費你三天、一個星期或是一個月時間。確保你沒有任何遺漏。
(4) Using a budget worksheet add up all of the totals for the income and outflow.
使用預算表，在表里填上所有收入和支出的項目。
(5) Figure out where you can do some fine-tuning, either to pay down your debt or increase your savings goals. However, above all, make sure you're making as much money as you're spending. Stay out of the red.
想一想你在哪些方面可以做細微的調整，比如在可以支付你的債務或是能提高你的儲蓄金額方面。但首當其沖的是，確信你賺到的至少要比你花費的多。遠離赤字。
(6) Redo the budget with the new totals, and post it around your house, lest you forget you are now living within the cozy confines of a household budget.
根據新的總額重做一份預算，張貼在家里，提醒自己，現在過的是有家庭預算控制的舒坦生活。
6. Follow these financial rules of thumb
遵循財務黃金法則
Concerned about how much you're spending, how much you should be saving, and how much house you can afford? Use these easy equations to determine how financially healthy you are:
在擔心要花多少錢，存多少錢，以及你能負擔的起多大平米的房子了嗎？用這些簡單的等式來看看你的財務健康狀況如何吧：
The price of your home should not be more than 2.5 times your annual gross household income.
房子價格不應超過你每年家庭純收入的2.5倍。
Your total monthly debt payments (including mortgage, student loans, car, and credit card payments) should not be more than 35 percent of your monthly gross income. Some mortgage brokers will stretch this ratio up to 40 percent, but that leaves you very little budgetary wiggle room.
你每月要支付的債務總額(包括按揭付款、助學貸款、汽車貸款和信用卡支付)不應超過你每月純收入的35%。一些房貸經紀人會把比率提升到40%，不過這樣的話你的預算空間將非常受限。
To retire comfortably, your nest egg should be about 20 times what you want your annual income to be. If you anticipate needing about $75,000 a year to live on when you retire, you'll need to save a nest egg of about $1.5 million. Of course, this will vary if you retire early or continue to work longer than usual.
為了舒服地退休，你的儲備金應該說是你年收入的20倍！如果你退休以后，你需要一年75,000美元來維持生活，那你就得攢夠一百五十萬美元的儲備金。當然，如果你要早點退休或是繼續工作，這筆金額會有所調整。
