Hopefully everyone had a great Halloween this year. I’m sure the candy companies did at least. And now everyone is going to be gearing up for the winter holiday season. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, the holiday shopping rush is soon to begin.

Don’t let this year be just like every other year though. Don’t let January greet you with a slew of credit card bills and other financial headaches. All it takes is a little planning and self control. No one wants to be stingy during the holiday season, but try and think of creative ways that you can celebrate that won’t set you back financially.

This is just a thought to keep in mind, and again, I hope you all had a nice Halloween.

If you’re a regular reader of Fiscal Musings, you’re probably wondering what’s with the spotty performance recently. I know that I should write more and it’s on my mind, but I’ve had so many other things going on recently.

Tomorrow I’ve got an admissions interview with Arizona State that I’m taking a long lunch for. I’ve been trying to prepare for this while also getting other applications done and juggling everything else that’s been going on. Hopefully the interview will go well. I’ll let you know how it went when it’s over.

In addition to getting out of debt, being frugal, and saving for retirement, you would be wise to look into various forms of alternative income. If you think about it, looking ahead towards retirement you’re going to need another form of income other than your job. Most people hope to have enough money saved in their retirement accounts that they can live comfortably off of the interest or other investment income. So the question then becomes… Why wait until retirement to develop these income streams?

In fact, the sooner you create this alternative income, the sooner you will have reached financial freedom. Once your alternative income streams are greater than your expenses, you have the freedom to do whatever you’d like. You can continue to work, quit altogether, or find some happy medium in between. The point of all this is that you don’t have to wait until age 65 to make this happen.

There are many different forms of alternative income, and you’ll need to find what you’re most comfortable with. If you put your money into a money market account, you can view the interest earned as passive income. You might decide to purchase stocks that pay nice dividends. These dividends may serve to replace some of your current job income. One of my personal favorites would be real estate investment income. Here you may have an income producing rental property that gives you a hundred or so dollars a month or even more.

You may not want to put all of your money into income producing investments, but you’d be wise not to ignore them. It’s not bad to play the asset appreciation game, but there’s a whole other playing field with cash flow. Also, the more you look into this type of investing, the more opportunities you’ll find to increase your financial position.

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Do you struggle with credit card debt? Maybe a better question is… Are you still struggling with credit card debt? You know that you should get out of debt; you’ve read about it and been told about it countless times. You now need to figure out what it is that’s keeping you in debt or what it is that’s holding you back from getting out.

I’ve seen too many people that all but forget that they actually have a balance on their credit cards. When these people get their statements in the mail, they ignore the balance and only focus on making the payment that is required like it’s a gas or electric bill. This is not the correct way to handle credit cards. Don’t just make a payment. Realize that you have a balance, a debt owed, and make steps to eliminate it. You’ll never get out of debt if you don’t.

I’ve also seen people who just have to spend money. If they’re bored or don’t really have much to do, their natural inclination is to go out and buy something or entertain themselves in some way that usually costs money. This type of person is never satisfied with what they have, yet they figure that if they just get this next thing then that will be it. Unfortunately it doesn’t ever stop there. This issue is larger than just credit cards. You need to learn to be more content. You also need to be more conscious of what you’re spending your money on. Try a spending log in a small notebook or something similar if it would help.

Some people find themselves in so much debt from which it seems practically impossible to recover. They figure that it’s already a lost cause and they’ll never get out of debt. Because of this, they don’t worry about trying to pay it down; it’s just another drop in the bucket as far as they’re concerned. If you find yourself in this situation, realize that the situation isn’t hopeless. There are steps that you can take to eventually get yourself out of debt. You may not be able to do it all on your own, but you can get help. The best thing to do first is to stop using your cards and start making extra payments.

Whatever your situation is, find out what is holding you back and then take specific actions to remedy the situation. Credit card debt does not have to be a way of life.

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By now you’re probably aware of the extreme market downturn that has occurred over the last couple of days. I’m sure a lot of people have lost quite a bit of money. Many people are selling and you’ll probably also hear a lot people say that it’s another great time to buy. Whatever you want to do you can probably find compelling reasons to do it.

You might want to implement the dollar cost averaging strategy however. It’s a way to make sure that you’re taking advantage of the buying opportunities offered by a down market and buying less in an up market. However you decide to handle the current market situation, try not to let your emotions (especially fear) get the best of you. When you invest you incur a certain amount of risk and you’ve got to be able to handle situations like this.

I would suggest that you look to see if there are any bargains in market though. Everytime there’s a downturn like this people sell things that they normally wouldn’t sell. They just follow the crowd. You may be able to find some great companies for sale at an attractive price.