Research_Strategy_Paper

Research Strategy Paper My most pressing problem at this time is money management. I have to find a budget that will work for me to be able to run my home. In the past few years I have had several setbacks, including the loss of my husband and a salary decrease of almost fifty percent. My husband’s salary was not being considered because for the year before his death he only worked intermittently. There were very few bills associated with his hospitalization and I had been working on lowering any credit balances and any payment plans we had. I worked a private nursing job until the fall of last year so my salary was twice as much as I would be getting working in the private sector, unfortunately I was only given two weeks’ notice that the job would be ending, so I did not have time to put anything away for the time I would be out of work. As it turns out it has taken me almost a year to find a job where the patient is not in and out of the hospital all the time. I have taken in a border which brings in a steady monthly income. Now that I have a steady income I can start looking for a way to budget my money. My first consideration is to find any information that I can on budgets. Since I never had a budget before I need to find out what a budget really is, what types of things are taken into consideration. Do I just want to pay my bills or do I want to have an emergency fund' Will I be able to keep the things I enjoy now or should I give up anything that can be considered a luxury for a while' Should I invest in some kind of money market fund, buy stocks or open a savings account and what type of investment might bring in the most in interest' I can start my research by turning to my family and friends to see how they manage their money. I can ask questions about how they budget their money and how much they spend on items like food and home heating oil, asking these questions might save me money if they are purchasing items in different places than I am where the cost is less. After canvassing these resources I can turn to the computer and research how to tailor a budget to fit my needs. There are sites such as CNNMoney.com that have lessons I can take that will teach me the value of my money and how to spend it, save it or invest it. The information I can access on the computer needs to be evaluated and I can use the CARS system for evaluation of the site I choose. CARS stand for Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness, and Support. If I am to believe the information on the site then I need to know where the information is coming from, starting with Credibility, is the author knowledgeable in this field or known in this field, and is the information accurate and up to date. Accuracy is next, what types of research was done to prove the information and how has worked for others' Reasonableness would be how this information relates to my lifestyle and income. This area also includes how well I can understand why I am doing the things that are suggested to control my money. Does the site offer any support if I have trouble personalizing my budget' Are there forums where I can post questions and get help' Do everyday people chat on this site about how they are using this information' Once I have established that the information I have gathered is credible and useful to me I can start to apply it to making a budget for myself. Using the information I learned I now know that I can use Microsoft Money to make my budget and that using a budget will get my spending under control. I will have access to my budget on the computer and will even be able to pay bills on line. I can go online to view my bank account so I can see how much money is in the bank and have signed up for direct deposit of my paycheck, which saves me gas to get to the bank and also makes the money available faster than if I deposited it myself. My budget is made and I hope to have a savings account started in the future.