Free Financial Fitness iPhone Apps

If you are one of the many Americans who own an iPhone, you can take advantage of the free financial fitness apps available for download. There are apps for budgeting, investing, mobile banking and managing credit cards.

Track your spending and savings and stick to your budget with Mint.com's personal finance app. There are also free apps from CNN Money, Bloomberg and Yahoo! Finance for general financial information, as well as up-to-date stock quotes from Charles Schwab and E*Trade.

If you have an iPhone, be sure to check out these free financial fitness apps available at the App Store.

Top 5 Banking Annoyances

Harry Smith and Vera Gibbons discuss the top 5 things that drive us crazy about banks!
1. Fees
2. Lack of Disclosure
3. Changing Interest Rates
4. Low Savings Rates
5. Poor Customer Service

Building Models for Budgeting and Financial Planning in a Recession

Chances are you or someone you know has been hit hard during our current economic recession. Knowing when and how much to spend or save can seem daunting when faced with the present economic crisis. There are ways of building your own financial models for budgeting and financial planning so that you can deal with the ever present financial obstacles of life while weathering the storm of a recession. Budgeting, strategic financial planning and simple common sense are several ways to start.

• Working Budget - Begin by creating revising a realistic and working budget which outlines your income, dividends and expenses. A budget allows you to examine how much money you make and where it goes and gives you an opportunity to make changes where needed.

• Strategic Financial Planning - Decide where to make adjustments in your budget. Budget variable expenses by cutting back on eating out, buying non-label or generic items and, making local plans rather than vacationing out of town.

• Common Sense - Preparing for the worst may be the best attitude to adopt in our current economic situation. Increasing the amount of money that's put into your savings and building a three to six month emergency savings fund model into your financial budget can help you prepare for unforseen circumstances.

Be ready to make good financial choices for you and your family during this recession with sound judgment, strategic financial planning and realistic obtainable budget. Tough economic times call for tough financial planning and budgeting decisions to be made; let common sense be your compass when building financial models for you and your loved ones.

Credit Unions Remain a Safe Haven

With banks failing weekly, savers worry about the longevity of their financial institutions and the security of their savings, while borrowers scramble to find willing lenders offering affordable rates. 

Thankfully, more and more former bankers are finding safe haven in their local credit union. Credit unions seem like a no-brainer, boasting higher interest rates for savings and lower rates for loans than traditional banks. 

Credit union membership rose 5 million from 2004 to 2008. Credit union lending rose $36 billion from 2007 to 2008, coinciding with a decrease in bank lending of $31 billion in the same year. 

Not only do credit unions offer better rates, they blow the competition away with outstanding customer service, all without monetary assistance from the federal government. 

"The credit union industry has proven solid," said Karen Dorway of BauerFinancial, a firm that analyzes banks and credit unions. Loans from credit unions increased 7% last year, largely due to first time mortgages and auto loans. Delinquencies on these loans are less than half of the amount of bank loan delinquencies.