If you are one of the lucky ones who have your finances under control at the moment, then you are in better shape than a lot of other people are. It is becoming really difficult to have enough income to keep current with monthly bills and expenses without going deeper in debt and creating even more expenses.

The hardest thing about maintaining your finances in a manageable state is the ability to know the warning signs of possible financial distress and fixing these issues before they become a real disaster. Do you know what these warning signs are? If not, you need to learn them to avoid the pitfalls that so many others have already become a victim of.

Even though at this point you may be meeting all of your bills each month, do you know exactly how much debt you have and to whom? It is always important to keep abreast of the debt you owe. This makes it much easier to set long term goals for getting out of debt as quickly as you can.

Do you pay many of your payments late because you are juggling your finances in order to get everything covered? This indicates that you need to try and cut back on some expenses or extra activities until you get a couple of things paid off in order to give you room to breathe a little easier. If you have to borrow additional money to meet your current payments, this is definitely a warning sign also.

If you find that you are often only able to make minimum payments on things like credit cards, then again, you need to find ways to cut down expenses and pay more towards the real debt or you will continue to throw good money after bad just keeping the interest paid and never make any headway on the actual principle.

Make sure that the additional debts you owe do not exceed 20% of your income after your mortgage or rent each month. This way you should have enough left to save something for the future in an IRA or other savings account.

One question you need to ask yourself is if you lost your job would you be in a financial dilemma immediately? If so, then you need to do whatever you can to get prepared for a crisis such as this. It can happen to anyone unexpectedly and nothing can destroy financial stability faster than when you lose your regular income.