Financial Fitness

Physical Fitness is an essential element of a healthy, robust and vital life. As with our physical fitness, our financial fitness starts with goal oriented solutions, including financial planning with debt management.

1) One of these would include a healthy credit profile.
Starting, maintaining and consistently monitoring are the keys to a healthy credit profile. It's easy to start a credit history however it takes discipline and strength to maintain one.

2) Another strong fitness exercise is to manage your debt debt management.
TAKE CONTROL! This means start living within your means and not letting impulse and pressure make you a victim of unhealthy debt management.

3) More importantly, reduce debt.
Rather than making that next "must have" purchase, put that money toward managing the debt you currently have. Just like the first attempt at a push up, it's never easy. But over time it not only gets easier, but feels good, too.

4) We would be remiss if we did not mention the pinnacle of financial fitness and financial planning - which, of course - is a healthy and strong budget. Stepping on the scale, looking in the mirror, or seeing the photo of the person we want to be means we get honest with who and where we are. A financial budget allows for an clear look at our finances. No one is born knowing how to create an effective budget. It is a task that must be learned, and this is where credit unions and financial planning come in.

Credit unions provide the financial planning and debt management resources to begin this life long healthy exercise.

Many customized financial planning and debt management programs are available to develop and implement financial solutions to empower individuals and families to avoid falling into financial chaos. Some of these include Home Loan Programs, Young Adult Programs, Retirement Financial Planning Programs and many more.
Members of credit unions obtain this financial health when they are guided by sound money and debt management practices with financial planning.

Members of Credit Unions have the opportunity to benefit not only from high yield savings and checking accounts, but also high return CDs and other benefits. This is because credit unions are owned by you, their members. And Credit Unions fortify their financial strength by being a not-for-profit organization where profits are returned to their members in the form of lower interest rates and higher dividend returns, or yields, on savings accounts.

This article was brought to you by Cina Tucci on behalf of Tropical Financial Credit Union. Tropical Financial Credit Union offers free checking, the best current interest rates on used car loans, mortgage rates and other financial services to members in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County, Florida.