You can surely have a peace of mind when you know you have money. Money can help us get a good night’s rest and reduces stress in our lives. Discontent and restlessness are often the results of neglected finances. Essentially, money does buy happiness, so read on to learn how to get your personal finances in better shape!

Set financial goals for yourself so you can be wise with your money. This plan will encourage you to stay on track, and stop you when you become a spendthrift.

Remember when dealing with credit collectors that there is a limited amount of time that they can work to collect the debt and report it on your credit report. Ask an expert about when your debt will expire and do not pay anything to a collection agency that tries to get your money for an old debt.

When talking to a collection agency, see if you can negotiate the payment down. Debt collection agencies purchase the debt for a fraction of what was originally owed. Even a small amount of your total debt will put them in the clear. Use this to your advantage to get eliminate debt inexpensively.

Avoid taking out huge student loans unless you are certain you will be able to make the payments on it. Attending an expensive school for a major you’re unsure of may put you into serious debt.

Many spend significant sums on a weekly basis thinking they will win the lottery, but it makes more sense to put that amount into savings instead. You will then know the money will be there and grow instead of flushing your money away!

If someone notices that they always have a left over dollar bill after paying for something, there may be a way to stretch that to have some fun and win some money. Using the dollar bills and buying lottery tickets with them is a fun way to possibly have much more money than was spent on the tickets.

Don’t beat yourself up if you make a mistake with your finances, as everybody does sometimes. Many banks offer a one time fee waiver for individuals who bounce a check the first time, so if this happens to you it is worth making the request. This request is normally granted one time.

Try buying store brands over national ones. Many brand names are more expensive because of advertising costs. You can realize significant savings on the purchase of generic products. Most of the time, generics are no different than store brands in key areas like performance, quality, and taste.

Look out for letters in the mail that involve your financial accounts. The law says that they have to let you know 45 days ahead of time. Examine the changes and decide whether the account will be worth keeping. If the account is no longer worth keeping, pay the balance and close it.

Rebalance your portfolio yearly. Re-balancing your portfolio helps realign your investments as well as your goals and risk tolerance. You can also have an opportunity to sell your stocks high and buy some low.

Try to adjust your insurance policies to reduce your total payments. Look into options like dropping coverage that is excessive and bundling policies. This will let you save some money down the road.

Make contributions to an IRA, or individual retirement account, if you have eligibility. This will go a long way to improving your future financial health. Interested parties could open an IRA account through brokerage firms, credit unions, banks or even through mutual fund companies. Contribute to this fund monthly and watch your retirement fund grow substantially.

The previously discussed pointers have, hopefully, helped illustrate a number of ways in which you can get your finances in better shape. Staying in control of your finances has plenty of long-term gains that make the patience, effort and upheavals required to fix financial problems worth it. These factors will help add to you having improved happiness.