Buying a home is probably one of the most stressful and yet exciting moments in your life – your wedding being a close competitor. This is because while there is a lot of fun to be had when looking at properties and envisioning your life inside them, there is also so much more than you will be required to think about, and all of this constant intake of information can really begin to take its toll and overwhelm you.
This is why it’s always best to do things in stages. Try splitting up every different aspect into categories, and then you can deal with them individually rather than juggling too much at one time.
While it’s easier said than done, try not to let your experience be overshadowed by stress and anxiety to make the right decisions. Here’s what you need to do to get started:
Get your money together
The hardest thing that people struggle with, is the financial side of buying a home. Let’s face it, there are so many expenses that come into play, not to mention the actual mortgage itself, that is why you need to look at some sort of mortgage-to-income ratio calculator so you can gain a better understanding of affordability. This is why you may greatly benefit from finding a mortgage broker like Altrua Financial who is not only able to give you all the helpful information that you need but will also find you the lowest rates available so that you have a plan that is suited for you and your needs. You then want to take into consideration all the other costs like the general maintenance and upkeep of the home, the possibility of repairs and renovation, and anything else you may want to include.
Plan the must-haves
It’s no good looking for that perfect home if you have no idea what perfect is to you. If you don’t have any ideas in mind, you may end up having your decision swayed by someone else and then regretting it later on down the line, so make sure that you know what it is you want. Make a list of all the absolute must-haves, so this may be something like having a minimum of three bedrooms, or an open plan kitchen, or a swimming pool. Once you have the must-haves, then write down any bonus features, like an ensuite bathroom for example. Then you will be able to better rate the houses you’ve viewed because you know exactly what you need, and then what you want.
Investigate the neighborhood
No matter how beautiful the new potential home is, it’s not going to be any good if you’re in a bad neighborhood, and yet if you don’t do the right research, you may not find out until it’s too late. So if you have found a property that you’re interested in, have a walk around the neighborhood at various times in the day. See what it’s like in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening. You may find that it’s quiet and friendly, or you may notice things like reckless teenagers riding their bikes in the streets, or dangerous racing down the road, or arguments going on.
As we approach the end of what has been a very strange year, many of us will start to think about how we can make sure we are prepared financially to enter a new year. Some of us set New Year goals that are finance-related, whereas others just look towards much of the nation reopeneing in a post-pandemic world. Hoping to all start seeing more paydays, every day. However, there are things that you can do now to ensure that you are savvy with your finances and ready for the new year ahead. With that in mind, here are some of the things to think about.
One of the first things you need to think about is getting your taxes sorted and checked out. When you have money owed out to taxes, you need to think about getting those bills paid and not letting them turn up unexpectedly. This is when using specialists and field experts like Suraj Kumar Rajwani or researching accounting firms like Foley & Giolitto could be a good idea. Helping you to understand what is owed and putting money aside can help you to budget in other ways. The last thing you want is to have to pay out a big amount when you least expect it.
Look at your outgoings and make some savings
Another thing you can do is to look at your outgoings and see where you can potentially make some savings. Not only does this give you an accurate amount that you pay out each month, but it also gives you the opportunity to cut back on things you no longer need. Getting rid of different subscriptions, for example. You may also be able to make some savings on regular bills such as energy or insurance products. This could help you to get more in control of things and only pay out what you need.
Set up small savings pots
Savings are crucial for when you need to replace items that are broken, to pay for birthdays and even Christmas towards the end of the world. So setting up small savings pots can help you to start doing this more regularly. It is a great idea to help you to stay on credit as well so you avoid having to use credit cards or loans to pay for things when you need to. Savings pots can also be for small things from petrol and food shopping to other things like saving for your new car or a holiday. Putting money into these pots can help to visually give you an overview of where you are at with your money.
Make your goals and come up with a plan
Finally, it is a good idea to make some goals and come up with a plan for the financial side of things. Are there any big changes you want to make next year? Are you wanting to achieve something or pay for something specific? Having your finance goals written down will help you to stay accountable and also motivate you to make it happen.
Let’s hope these tips help you when it comes to making sure you are savvy with your finances.
Running a business is a real challenge, it’s an exciting venture, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. As a startup, you might not be making a huge profit yet. The good news is there are plenty of ways to improve your business finances. For some awesome ideas to get you going, let’s make a start with these four.
1 . Save Where You Can
To improve business finances, it’s wise to make savings where you can. There are plenty of ways to save your biz money including:
Outsourcing: Permanent staff members can be costly for startups, and you might not need to hire a large workforce. Outsourcing can help you to save money on various tasks, employing staff for short-term projects.
Free resources: There are plenty of free resources and software tools, which can support your business. For a top free marketing tool, try SendPulse. For support with your project management needs, check out Bitrix24.
Go green: From going paperless to purchasing second-hand office items, there are plenty of savings to be made when you go green.
2. Improve Your Budgeting
To improve your company finances, it’s essential to improve your budget. To help you create the perfect budget many software tools can help you. For a few of the best options, check out Prophix, Planful, and Jirav. All of these offer budgeting and forecasting solutions to help your business grow. From reports to financial analysis, you’ll soon improve your financial health.
3. Use The Right Accounting Tools
It’s important to use the right accounting tools to keep on top of your business finances. Quickbooks is one of the best accounting solutions for small and mid-sized businesses. The software can help you to track transactions, bills, and payments. You can organize your accounting notes, and use the accountant toolbox. If you’re planning to use Quickbooks for your business, check out this easy way to become Quickbooks certified. With the right certification, you’ll get the most out of this powerful accounting software. Using Quickbooks you’ll benefit from a wide range of features including:
Invoice Management
Auto Tax Calculations
Profit And Loss Reports
Payment Tracking
Balance Sheet Reporting
4. Improve Your Marketing
Making more money for your business is all about great marketing. To stand out from your competitors, you need a great marketing campaign. To enhance your marketing campaign this year, focus on the following areas:
Use plenty of video marketing, to increase conversions.
Host live events to widen your reach.
Focus on personalized marketing, to build rapport.
Work with the right influencers to boost trust and loyalty.
Improve the UX of your site, in response to new Google updates.
Your family is important so doing all you can to protect them is going to be a priority in life. They may not be the most exciting things to organize but when it comes to protecting your family you want to know that you have insurance policies in place to prepare yourself for any unwanted circumstances in life. So here are some examples of insurance policies which are important to have sorted.
Home Insurance
Your home is an important area to protect and is likely to be the most expensive asset that you will ever own, so you will certainly want to look after it to the best of your ability.
Protects personal possessions. It is bad enough if your personal possessions are either damaged or stolen but to pay more money to replace them would be even more frustrating and upsetting. A home insurance policy would cover this so at least you would not have to spend more money unnecessarily after a stressful ordeal.
Protects the Infrastructure. A home insurance policy would help you protect your home if any damages were to occur to it for example in the form of a natural disaster or fire. This would help contribute to any repairs or rebuilding that would be required after the incident.
Car Insurance
Now that summer is fast approaching you might be planning your next family getaway. So as well as planning your destination choice and where to stay you will want to make sure your car is covered by an auto insurance agent if you are planning on taking a road trip. The last thing you want is any problems if you were to have an accidenten route and were not fully insured.
Main reasons to have one are the following.
Protects you financially. If an accident were to happen and it was your fault then you would be liable for any damage repairs if you were not insured which can be very costly.
Prevents any problems with the law. Depending on which state you are driving in, will determine whether you are liable for covering the damage costs, as they will need to see that you are able to cover the necessary costs. Not showing proof could lead to legal prosecution as well which you would want to avoid.
Can protect you from Extreme Weather. Extreme weather conditions which can cause trees to fall over are incidents that are out of your control, so if your vehicle was to be damaged by this sort of event then at least with insurance you know you are protected.
Protection against burglary or theft. Another circumstance that would be out of your control is somebody deciding to break into your car and damaging it. At least by having an insurance in place you would know you are covered in this eventuality.
You never know when you or a family member might require hospital treatment or a trip to the emergency room. Your health and the rest of the family are important to look after. They can be quite costly visits so it is definitely worthwhile to take out medical insurance for the family, just in case.
Prepares you for the unexpected. At least if you know you have medical insurance in place it will be less stressful if a family member was unwell and needed medical treatment unexpectedly. It is always better to have it and not need it than the other way around.
Helps with ongoing care. Having access to medical treatment is certainly important when you have an ongoing diagnosis that requires treatment. Hospitals are more likely to provide this care if they know that the bills are going to be paid.
Will cost less in the long run. Though it might seem expensive to have to pay for this each month, essentially it will cost you a lot less having health insurance than if you were required to pay for medical bills without one.
Life Insurance
If you have children you want to feel reassured that when you are no longer around that they will at least be looked after financially. The average cost of life insurance in the US is considered to be around $126 a month for a 20 year period which would result in a $500,000 payout.
So ensuring you have life insurance in place will also be important to organize.
Covers any outstanding debts. The last thing you want to be adding to your children’s worries is any outstanding debts that need to be paid off once you are gone. This will help take the burden off your children to sort any payments as there will be money aside to help contribute towards the costs.
Contributes to funeral costs. Funerals can be quite a costly affair so putting aside some finances to cover this in your life insurance policy will help your children through an already difficult time.
Provides security for your family. If you have been responsible financially for looking after your children you will want to know that there will be some finances in place for them when they are older in the eventuality that they need money.
Overall it does not do any harm to try and be organized with your insurance policies and any paperwork that needs to be filled in, particularly when it involves the security and safety of your family. They are after all your priority in life and you want to protect them as much as possible.
When it comes to living a frugal life and cultivating a positive relationship with money, one of the biggest hurdles to overcome is the urge that many of us feel to overspend on a habitual basis.
From time to time, everyone needs to spend a bit of money on something fun or uplifting – and we certainly all have various obligations we need to fulfil, financially.
Whether you want more money set aside for those special occasions, or whether you need to send money to Vietnam to relatives, reducing the desire to overspend gratuitously can be very beneficial.
Here are a few tips to help you reduce the urge to overspend.
Keep your home tidy and aesthetically pleasing so that you can really enjoy what you already have
A lot of the time, the urge to overspend is really an urge to escape from an uncomfortable or frustrating environment or state of mind, by purchasing items that you feel – often on a more or less subconscious level – will help you to experience an enhanced sense of well-being.
Keeping your home tidy and aesthetically pleasing is a very good step to take in order to help you better appreciate what you already have, so that you can experience an enhanced sense of well-being in the here and now, rather than feeling driven to make impulse purchases in order to achieve that result.
Often, if your home is well arranged and organised, you’ll be able to better cherish, notice, and make use of belongings you’ve had for years that would normally have “flown beneath your radar.”
Focus more on “doing” and “being” than “having,” as a rule
Overspending – and especially impulse buying – is generally a matter of trying to enrich your life by “having” more, rather than by focusing more directly on what you are “doing” and who you are “being.”
While money can help you to “do” certain things, of course, a lot of the deepest meaning and satisfaction that you are likely to experience in life will tend to come from activities and ways of interacting with the world that are more or less completely separated from financial matters.
Don’t get these different “modes” of interacting with the world confused.
Set yourself savings goals and emphasise quality rather than quantity
A lot of overspending can be linked back to an approach to your possessions that emphasises quantity over quality.
In other words – feeling that you need to have the newest of everything at any given moment, in order to be properly satisfied.
By emphasizing “quality” instead – in the sense of buying things that involve more craftsmanship and that are built to last for a longer time – you can do a lot to remove yourself from this habitual spending cycle. Of course, these high-quality items will tend to cost a good deal in and of themselves – which is why you should set yourself savings goals to help enable yourself to purchase them over time, in a responsible manner.
Saving money can be a difficult thing for most of us in our lives. Understanding the best ways to put money aside for savings, emergencies and larger purchases is an overwhelming process so this guide will show you three ways you can save money for the future.
Taking advantage of cheap purchases
Whether you are doing some arts and crafts or looking for everyday items it’s always good to save money by taking advantage of cheaper purchases. Look for the best shops to go in and avoid pricier shops because this can tempt you into buying something you see. A store that is the best to get cheap purchases is in the Dollar Store because everything is a good price that if you see some items you like and it won’t break the bank by treating yourself to them. They have a wide range of items from lifestyle items such as wall hangings And candles to party plates and balloons. This is why it’s a great time to go to the shop because you can pick up most of your daily shopping needs from here.
Planning your ingoings and outgoings
At the start of every month you need to plan that you’re in goings and outgoings to ensure that you’re making the most of your money. Evaluate the past month By sitting down with a notepad and a pen and write down every single transaction that you bought including subscriptions. For example, this is a great way to add up how much coffee you had last month and to re-evaluate your spending to see whether you could cut down on your coffee spending to save you money. Often you Will be shocked how much You spent on certain items that you don’t really need that you could put towards your savings. Next plan for the next month ahead by looking back on the past month violations and deciding what percentage of money is going on to ensure that you have enough money left over for savings. If you’re really serious about putting money aside then take out at least 20% of your paycheck each month and put it straight into your savings then at the end of the month transfer anything that is left over before your next paycheck comes in it is a great way to budget with the money what you have left.
Control your shopping lists
When you are shopping, have lunch before you go because if you go with a hungry stomach then you often buy more unnecessary items. Whereas if you shop with a full belly then you will not pick up unnecessary food items and go astray from your list. When it comes to writing a shopping list be stricter though exactly you need and try your hardest to not go off it. A good idea is to buy your shopping online as you will often miss promotions and deals that are on the end of each aisle which will save you a lot of money on the necessary items.
How wonderful it will be to control whatever happens in your life and predict what will happen to you in the future. However, no one can determine what life will bring, as it often tends to throw unexpected situations your way that can put your family in an uncomfortable place if you’re not financially stable. A Bankrate.com report reveals that only 39% of Americans can foot a bill of $1000 for an unexpected expense. While you can’t control every issue, you do have the opportunity to put systems in place to handle them effectively while setting up a solid financial future for your family. If you’re wondering how to secure your family financially, here are some tips to help you out.
Settle your debts
Incurring debts can put a strain on your finances and restrict you from spending your money the way you please. It can get more strenuous if you have children, as taking care of them demands a lot. According to a report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the average cost of raising a child until age 17 is estimated to be $233 610, which goes into their housing, feeding, and other expenses. To attain financial freedom and security for yourself and your family, you need to pay off any debts.
You can start by creating a debt list to ascertain how much you owe and when you should settle them. You should also prepare a realistic budget to help you allocate your money to your various creditors. It will help if you start paying the debts with the highest interest rates, as postponing them will only accrue more interest and increase the amount you have to pay. If it doesn’t affect your budget, you can pay above the minimum amount required each month. It won’t hurt if you transfer spare cash into your debt payment, as the goal is to get rid of them completely.
Set feasible financial goals
Setting financial goals is essential should you desire a conducive economic environment for your family. Not only do they help you plan how you spend your money, but they also help you set priorities and monitor your progress. They also keep you accountable so you don’t misuse your money and fall back into debt. While setting financial goals is commendable, knowing how to go about it makes all the difference between attainable and impractical ones.
You should first pen down your targets and paste them on your mirror, desk, or car for motivation. It will also help if you’re specific about your goals, as a vague one does little to boost your resolve. For instance, instead of writing “I want to save for a house,” you can rephrase it as “I want to save $500 every month towards my dream house.” You should also set deadlines for attaining your goals and ensure that they’re measurable. To make it easy, you should start with short-term goals, and achieving them will motivate you to set long-term ones.
Embrace insurance
Insurance is another way for you to be financially protected; it buffers up the impact of unexpected events on your finances by covering the costs and keeping your other financial reserves intact. Also, you have the opportunity to select an array of insurance policies to guard against risks in various areas of your life. For instance, you can opt for health insurance, income protection, disability insurance, liability insurance, long-term care insurance, critical illness insurance, etc. This helps take care of any cost you might incur should you have a problem in those areas.
Now, there are certain factors you should consider before buying an insurance plan. First, you should thoroughly research various insurance companies to ascertain the right one for you. It will be best if you’re sure that your chosen insurance company is licensed; you can contact your state insurance department to be sure. You can also compare the monthly fees with the claims to get the best value for your money.
Set aside an emergency fund
Just like insurance plans, an emergency fund caters to unexpected needs without putting stress on your finances or disrupting your financial goals. A bank account is set aside for sudden expenses such as unemployment, major car repairs, unforeseen medical expenses, and home-reliance repairs or replacement. An emergency fund helps to build your financial security by preventing debts that would have come as a result of borrowing high-interest loans or frequent credit card use.
To build your emergency fund, you should deduct a specified amount from your pay every month and deposit it into your account before allocating the rest to other needs. An automated savings account is ideal because it automatically deducts your savings before receiving the rest of your pay. Remember, your emergency fund is strictly for emergencies, so you must be disciplined so that you don’t dip your hands into it without having a good reason.
Acquire multiple sources of income
Although having one steady job is excellent, uncertainties can take it from you at any time. This is why you should have multiple income sources to have a plan B if you lose your primary income source. Even if you don’t lose your job, you still benefit from getting more money from different angles, enabling you to save and secure your family financially.
There are various ways to earn money, and thanks to the internet, you can gather a large client base. You can buy and sell or explore drop shipping if you don’t want to keep inventory or don’t have space to store goods. You can also monetize your skills and talents; luckily, platforms such as Fiver help you get gigs and earn more money. You can also go for low-risk investments, as they generate higher returns than you might anticipate. You can also acquire night or weekend jobs to support your primary one. The more income sources you have, the more money you can save towards your family’s future.
Write a will
Although no one wishes to leave their family behind, life can lead people in unexpected directions. In this case, if you don’t have a will prepared for your family, the state would have all rights to determine what happens to your assets, and not all decisions might be in your family’s favor. Therefore, to protect your family financially, you need to have a will in place. It states how you wish your assets to be shared and how your children should be cared for. It also helps you determine your beneficiaries and your preferred guardian for your kids. What’s more, you’re assured that your family can stand on their own in the event of your death.
You can make a list of your properties and your desired beneficiaries (spouse, children, friends, extended family, etc.). You should also designate the properties to them in the manner you prefer. You can employ a certified lawyer to draft a valid will for you. Thanks to the internet, you can also choose a will from various online wills websites to make it easy for you.
Life is full of uncertainties that can throw your finances off the balance if you’re not prepared for them. Fortunately, you have the chance to secure your finances and provide a comfortable life for your family, irrespective of any circumstance. These tips are not exhaustive but will put you on the path to financial freedom and security while protecting your family from any shortfalls.
