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4 Ways to Put an End to Your Debt

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We have strong impulses that can quickly get us in trouble, and that’s a fact. Probably the strongest is the impulse to spend money – too much money. Sometimes it’s just a stupid thing, like relying too much on the power of our credit cards, but you don’t have to be reckless to end up in large debt.  Borrowing money has become a pretty normal thing in every grownup’s life – in this capitalistic society it may be the only way to get things we want or even really need. You’d say that there’d be a great debt awareness by now, but that’s not always the case. Even when it is, not many people are prepared for the unexpected that can take many forms – childbirth, lost job, an accident, etc. All these life-altering experiences will also quickly alter your finances and prevent you from paying back your loans on time.

Even if you lead a pretty steady life and are punctual with your repayments, their end may seem far out of reach. You’d want to pay off your loans faster and be done with it, but coming up with enough money seems impossible. That’s how you get accustomed to your debt. If you’ve signed a loan to finance your business you might expect that the growth of that business will take care of the repayments. But nothing can grow in financial shackles – not your business, not your life. And you’re the only one who can break from them. Poor financial decisions can be overcome with the right ones, and debt can become a thing of the past.

1. Make it a Priority

This is the worst thing about debts – the bigger they get, the less we want to look at them. You might say that you’d rather live your life than deal with numbers all the time, but there’s not much life in the situation where you’re running in circles. If you want to find the way out you need to look the numbers straight in the eye. It is actually a pretty obvious move and a really simple one. All you need is a Google Spreadsheet or a piece of paper if you’re a pen person. First, you need to visit the websites of each financial institution you have a debt to. Then simply copy down all balances along with their respective APRs, exactly as they appear – and pay special attention to your minimum payments for every account. Only after you track down all your debts this way you’ll know how much exactly do you owe and that is the road to getting rid of it.

2. Set Goals Along The Way

Knowing the exact amount you need to pay back can be overwhelming even for the most goal-oriented person, so the best way to go is to break it. Once your debt is in the form of manageable parts it won’t be scary anymore, and every small victory will provide you with more determination. The first thing you need to do is to assess how much money can you set aside for monthly repayments since that will shape your periodic goals. It will also provide you with a rough estimate of how long it will take you to get out, eliminating the factor of a neverending financial nightmare. To make these goals even stronger and boost your motivation, try to negotiate a lower interest rate with your creditors. Most people think that this possibility of interest rate reduction is a fairytale, but if you’ve done your homework on comprehensive credit reporting you should know better.  And now you have a bigger monthly repayment budget.

3. Catch The Big Fish First

When you have a clear list of debts in front of you it might be difficult to figure out where to start and decide on debt payment portion. Most people decide to pay balances low to high, not thinking about interest rates. It is understandable to try to keep your money, but that way you’ll do quite the opposite. If you’ve succeeded in reducing your interest rates you might be encouraged to take this road, but this should actually serve as a motivation to attack the debt with the highest interest rate and continue with the buildup of your budget. Debt is probably the only area in life where working your way down will get you much quicker above the surface. So you need to focus on the big fish you wish to eliminate first, making the minimum payment on other accounts. Then simply pass onto the next debt on the list, adding the money you’ve freed up to the minimum payment. People call this the snowball method, but once you try it it will seem more like a cleansing avalanche.

4. Balance Your Work And Savings

It is obvious that you’re gonna need to work more to pay off your debt faster. People go at great lengths, working overtime, taking second jobs, babysitting in their free time, etc. Although this is a very responsible thing to do, it could take you to the extreme where you’ll make your final payment in the nuthouse. That’s why it’s important to find the perfect balance between your work and savings. Yes, but you’ve thrown your complete savings on that big fish we’ve talked about above. Well, there are other ways to save up without working your ass off. It is just the question of how you look at the money. You have your bonuses, tax returns, birthday and wedding gifts, don’t you? Instead of treating that indirect income as a reward which you’ll use to buy you something nice, apply it directly at your debt.

But this windfall money is still not the only way to save up. You can downsize, for start. You have a shiny new car in your driveway, but you also have debt. So trade it for something cheap and you’ve saved up. Do the same with all your ʽtoysʼ – there’ll be plenty of time to play once you’re out of your debt. Once you’re out of big-ticket items that don’t mean your race is run. Every house or apartment is full of things we’re never gonna need, and yours is not an exception. And there are many people who do need (or think they need) that stuff, so it’s time for a garage sale.

In the end, you’ll save up by careful spending. Start with your utility bills. It’s pointless to pay for cable if you only watch Netflix, right? Then take a look at your fridge. Do you really eat all that? How about planning your meals? Maybe you can walk to the store instead of calling delivery every time? When you go shopping, leave your credit cards at home – handing cash will always remind you that you have to save up.

There you have it – looking your debt straight in the eye and breaking it down into manageable pieces it’s already half of the work done. It will boost your motivation to work harder and determination to keep the cash flow in the right direction.

Guest author Lucas is a business consultant with a passion for writing. Doing his research, exploring and writing are his favorite things to do. Besides that, he loves playing his guitar, hiking and traveling.

Getting Help with Your Finances

/ nancyrubin

Most of us are in debt. We’ve got credit cards, loans, overdrafts, store cards, and car financing plans. Some of us even owe money to our utility providers and landlords. Even those of us that aren’t are cutting it fine. We want to save, we even open savings accounts, but find ourselves struggling to put any money in them. Many of us want to set up businesses and build home offices, but our financial situations won’t allow it.

But, just as many of us are doing nothing about it. We’re getting by paying the minimums back on our debts.We’re letting any savings that we do have just sit there, instead of finding ways to make them grow. We’re living paycheck to paycheck without taking the time to improve things.

This is often because we’re embarrassed. We don’t want to admit that we need help or that we’re in debt. We don’t want to ask for advice on how to save or make our money grow because we are ashamed to admit that we don’t know already or that we’ve been wasting our money up until this point. We are afraid of speaking to an accountant only to find that we’ve been recording our profits incorrectly and our small business accounts are in a mess. We bury our heads in the sand because we are embarrassed and afraid. But,there’s really no need to be. There’s plenty of help out there, and plenty of people that need it. You just have to make that first move. Here’s a look at some of your options.

Visit a Financial Advisor

If you’ve got debts, you might find that their repayments are crippling. That you’ve got very little disposable income each month because paying off your debts is eating it all up. It doesn’t need to be like this, but it’s so hard to see a way out when it’s your money.

A financial advisor can take a look at your situation and help you to find ways to improve it. They’ll look at your income and expenses and recommend consolidation loans or other options that could help. They can even help you to create a budget to manage your money.

Most banks offer a free financial advisor service. But, remember your bank is only likely to recommend their own products. You may have to pay to see an independent advisor, but you could be offered a wider range of options.

Get Help with Investments

Investing your money is a fantastic way to watch it grow. But, it’s complicated and confusing. If you’ve never invested,you might worry that you can’t because you don’t know enough. The good news is,you don’t even need to meet an advisor in person, read https://budgetboost.co/etrade-review/for another option that’s great for beginners and novice traders.

Hire an Accountant

If you run your own business or work as a freelancer, you might try to manage your own finances to save money. But, it can be all too easy to make costly mistakes. Hiring an accountant can actually save you money. They’ll ensure you are claiming any tax deductibles that you are able, and they’ll make sure you don’t face a hefty fine because you’ve either missed your tax return deadlines or made a mistake in your working out.Read more about deducatbles at https://www.raymondbenn.co.uk/services/businesses/detailed-list-of-tax-allowable-expenses.

Protect Your Business From Financial Blunders

/ nancyrubin

Have you ever thought about how you’re going to protect your company if your finances take a turn for the worse? Your business is more vulnerable than you think and there are many problems that you could encounter that could send your finances down the drain. If you don’t think about this issue before it happens, you could be saying goodbye to your business a lot sooner than you’d like. Luckily there are ways to get ahead of the problem and protect your business before it gets that far. So, here are some of the best ways that we recommend to save your company from financial blunders.

Get The Right Insurance Plan

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You need to understand that many of the financial difficulties that you could face are not preventable. Consider the matter of a hack on your company. Most business owners would like to think that hacks can be avoided if they invest in the right IT support and put security systems in place. Unfortunately, many cyber threats will occur regardless of the defensive measures you choose to use. That’s why you need to make sure that you have insurance. With business insurance, if a financial issue does rock the foundations of your company, you can at least get the capital needed to stay afloat.

Be aware that you may need at least several different types of insurance in place to fully protect your company. For instance, it is always beneficial to have liability insurance to guarantee that a legal claim does not cost your small business a fortune.

Careful How You Invest Profits

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Image Source

Many business owners will want to invest the profits or revenue of their company. It’s a great way to expand and grow your business funds. However, if you do this, you should think about hedging. An example of hedging would be derivative trading options such as cfds. According to CMC Markets, derivative trading options like this provide companies a certain degree of protection against changes that weren’t predicted or expected. For instance, a sudden rise in the cost of needed commodities or perhaps, currencies. The key message to take on board here is that you need to keep risk under control with business investments.

Fierce Yet Flexible 

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Credit Link

Plenty of company owners are intrigued and excited by the idea of growing their business beyond its current state. It’s true, if your business is going to survive, then it does need to evolve. However, you must work to keep your company model flexible enough so that it can handle sudden changes in the market that will impact your financial situation. Many business owners with expensive costs were caught off guard when the market shifted and ultimately crashed in 2008. Handling the costs and keeping them low will also allow you to fight back against larger competitors who can easily slash their prices and still make substantial profits.

We hope this helps you avoid the biggest financial blunders you can face with your company and guarantee that an issue with capital doesn’t bring your business model crashing down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Business On The Ball Is One That’s Always Looking For More Funding

/ nancyrubin

The story of a business succeeding often seems to follow the same narrative. You get your capital together, struggle for a bit, hit it big, grow and keep growing. It’s a nice story, but one that perhaps isn’t the most efficient way to grow a business. In order to really see your business and your finances booming, you have to keep looking for that funding. Well after you first get the capital you need. Here’s how you should keep growing that funding.

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Picture sourced by geralt

Get trading

For additional funding, one of the most reliable sources you can find is yourself. We know that you’re trying to make money off your business, not put even more into it. As they say, however, you have to speculate to accumulate. One of the best practices for getting more money into your business, as well as getting wealthy in your own right, is to invest. Look at investment potentials like the Brit wealth system. Even those who don’t have the expertise they think they need can invest successfully. Take some of the profit from your investments and use it in growing your business. Diversify those investments and improve your chances of making yourself some money as well.

Take care of your credit

The other most reliable funding source for an already existing business is in getting a loan. However, getting a loan means that you need to take care of your finances. In particular, you should always be taking the best care of your credit as you possibly can. Taking care of credit is about making sure that you’re eliminating debt and paying all loans on time. You should also arrange a closer look at your credit report. It’s far from uncommon that a report will contain one or more erroneous accounts. It’s as simple as finding these black marks on your account and disputing them. Otherwise, you could have a bad credit score for years without even knowing about it.

Accept a helping hand

You might have been told that nothing in life comes for free. However, that’s not always the case in business. In fact, there are a lot of grants that a business can get for all kinds of reasons. There are grants that help businesses take on extra staff from certain communities. There are others that support businesses that put some effort into being more friendly to the environment. There are even grants that can support a business because they have a woman in charge. Don’t assume that there aren’t any grants out there for you to take advantage of. Just make sure that you have a business plan laying out your plans for growth. They won’t give money to people who come unprepared.

The more money that you can put towards the business, the more you can reliably keep scaling it. Avoid the hassle of scaling all at once by constantly trickling funds inward. Whether it’s from your own efforts or from other funding sources, you need to keep those books well in the positive.

 

Take Credit For Running a Financially Healthy Business

/ nancyrubin

credit_scoreCredit scores can rise and fall as fast as temperatures during hurricane season.

One day you check your scores and you’re fine, and the next time you apply for a loan, you discover that you only qualify for the highest interest rates.

Business owners are particularly susceptible to the ebb and flow of their credit situation. Because business profits fluctuate according to the whims of the market, you could find yourself in dire credit straights in a matter of months.

As the following article looks at, there at least 5 ways your good credit can go bad.

Following is one common scenario that can happen to even the best small business owners…

Future Receipts Loan

Future receipts loans are a kind of business advance where you can get a certain amount of cash now in exchange for future sales. This loan is based on proof of past credit card sales. Your business is expected to perform in the near future as it has during the past, which is a reasonable assumption.

If you’re strapped for cash and perhaps looking to expand your business or need to make repairs to equipment, a future receipts loan can be a smart move. The problem arises when your business suddenly doesn’t perform as it has in the past, and those credit receipts don’t come in as expected.

Now here you are with an outstanding loan, with no way to pay it back. In addition, your regular business expenses are getting the best of you because of the unexpected downturn in profits.

Instead of feeling guilty or foolish, take immediate action before your credit score is impacted.

Collateral Loan Solution

One solution is to apply for a traditional collateral loan secured with one or more business assets. A collateral loan typically will have a lower interest rate since the loan is secured. With the money you receive from the collateral loan, you can pay off the future receipts loan you got, thereby keeping your credit score safe.

In the meantime, if you have to take cash advances on a business credit card in order to cover overhead expenses until business picks up again, you still can.

Don’t feel bad about having to weather through a financial storm.

There’s nothing wrong about borrowing money to expand or repair needed equipment. The trick is to face the problem head on and take care of it as soon as you can.

As long as you do that, your credit and your business reputation will be in good standing.

About the Author: Kate Supino writes extensively about best business practices.