When you have a windfall — a bonus, gift, or extra cash for extra work — use the rule of thirds to

determine how to use it:
    当你得到一笔意外之财时--奖金、礼物，或是赚到的外快--使用三分之一法则来决定如何使用它：

    One third for the past. Use one third to pay down debt you owe.
    三分之一用在过去。把三分之一的钱用来支付你欠下的债务。

    One third for the future. Put a second third immediately into some sort of savings or investment.
    三分之一用在未来。把第二个三分之一立刻进行储蓄或是投资。

    One third for the present. Use the final third to make a home or personal improvement or purchase

you want.
    三分之一用在当前。把的三分之一用于家庭或个人改善，又或者是买你想要的东西。

    If you follow this rule, you'll see your debt shrink and your savings grow, and you won't feel deprived.
    如果你遵循了这个法则，你将看到你的债务在减少，而你的储蓄在增加。你也不会再觉得拮据了！

    Something — be it a car repair, an emergency root canal, or a job layoff — always comes up to throw

you off your monthly budget. To keep these incidents from running you into debt, you need to have an

emergency stash in an easily accessible account, preferably a money market account (they earn a little

more interest than regular savings accounts).
    总有些事会给你一个措手不及，打乱你的每月预算，比如修车、牙根治疗或是下岗之类的事。为了避

免因为这些事而让自己背负债务，你需要准备一个随时可用的紧急账户，比较好的是货币理财账户（比起

一般的储蓄账户，它们赚到的利息会更多一点）。

    How much is enough? Easy. Track all of your spending for a month (including everything from your

mortgage payment to lunch at the deli), and multiply that monthly total by three. That three-month

operating budget is a scary number, eh? Well, this is the minimum you should have on hand in case the

roof caves in (literally or figuratively) and you need some dough to get you through the rough spots.

And don't worry if this money isn't accruing the big interest; it's there for emergencies.
    多少钱才足够？很简单。记录下你一个月的总花销（所有林林总总的账目，从按揭支付到去熟食店吃

午饭的开销），然后把月消费总额再乘以三。这份三月收支预算看着有些吓人，是吧？这个数字其实是你

手头应该有的费用，用来防止意外的发生，不管是房子倒塌了还是出现其它意外。你需要一些钱帮你

度过这些难关。如果这些钱不能产生很多利息，也不必担心，因为预留这些钱是为紧急状况准备的。

    We're always making impulse purchases, from a pack of gum at the supermarket checkout line to that

new Van Halen-meets-bluegrass CD. How can you stop your bank account from hemorrhaging? Take a

page from the old-timers and shred your ATM card. Figure out how much cash you'll need each week for

your regular, cash-based purchases (things like lunch at the cafeteria and your daily cup of coffee), head

on over to the bank teller's window, and get your walking-around money for the week. With a finite

amount of cash, you'll start to think twice before those spur-of-the-moment spending sprees.
    我们不可避免地会冲动购物，比如在超市排队结账时会买一盒口香糖，或是在唱片店买一张范·海伦乐

队新出的CD。你怎么做才能守住你银行里的钱而不是铺张消费呢？跟老前辈学一学，丢掉银行卡。你要

算出每个月满足正常生活需要所花的现金数目（像在自助餐厅吃的午饭，你每天要喝的咖啡），接着径直

走到银行柜台，取出你这一星期所需要的零花钱。因为金额有限，在你想冲动购物时，你就会开始再三考

虑了。

    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. "Put 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."
    当账单开始堆积起来时，你就要逼着自己坐下来填写支付每一笔账单所需的支票。这样的事情每月都

会有一次。但是还有一张支票你应该写，那就是一张写给你自己的支票。来自新泽西州门罗镇的长期理财

规划师Jay Fine，给出了一个建议帮助你。他说：“每月为自己支付工资，确保拿出了一笔钱做投资。理想

的比例是6%。如果更多，就棒极了。如果需要可以用自己的名义进行存款或是存在另一个账户里。就像

你支付按揭和电费从没中断过一样，现在你要确保能一直为自己付工资。”

    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:
    预算是保证家庭财务有序进行的步。身兼作家、律师和理财网站（www.debtonadiet.com）创办人

三职的斯坦利·科什曼，提供了一个六步走计划：

    (1) Don't attempt to do your entire budget in one sitting. Take a few days, breaking the work down

into manageable pieces.
    不要试图一次就想搞定你全部的预算计划。花几天时间，把这个工作分成可以控制的几个部分。

    (2) Gather up all of your income information, including salaries, interest, and gifts.
    汇总你的所有收入，包括工资，利息和礼物赠品。

    (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，汇总你的所有开销。做这一步，要全面complete，即使它要花费你三天、一个星期或是一个月时

间。确保你没有任何遗漏。

    (4) Using a budget worksheet add up all of the totals for the income and outflow.
    使用预算表，在表里填上所有收入和支出的项目。

    (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细微的调整，比如在可以支付你的债务或是能提高你的储蓄金额方面。但

首当其冲的是，确信你赚到的至少要比你花费的多。远离赤字。

    (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.
    根据新的总额重做一份预算，张贴在家里，提醒自己，现在过的是有家庭预算控制的舒坦生活。

    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:
    在担心要花多少钱，存多少钱，以及你能负担的起多大平米的房子了吗？用这些简单的等式来看看你

的财务健康状况如何吧：

    The price of your home should not be more than 2.5 times your annual gross household income.
    房子价格不应超过你每年家庭纯收入的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.
    你每月要支付的债务总额（包括按揭付款、助学贷款、汽车贷款和信用卡支付）不应超过你每月纯收

入的35%。一些房贷经纪人会把比率提升到40%，不过这样的话你的预算空间将非常受限。

    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.
    为了舒服地退休，你的储备金应该说是你年收入的20倍！如果你退休以后，你需要一年75,000美元来

维持生活，那你就得攒够一百五十万美元的储备金。当然，如果你要早点退休或是继续工作，这笔金额会

有所调整。
 
    6. Follow these financial rules of thumb
    遵循财务黄金法则

    5. Make, and stick to, a budget
    制定预算并坚持执行

    4. Put yourself on your payroll
    给自己支付工资

    3. Ditch the ATM card
    丢掉银行卡

    2. Keep a slush fund handy
    手头要有一笔备用金

    1. Divvy up any unexpected income
    分配好福利收入