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How To Have A Bright Financial Future
Struggling to make ends meet is a challenging way to live. It may cause you frustration and put additional stress and strain on your marriage and family. The good news is that there are steps you can take to ensure a bright financial future. Now is the time to turn bad habits around and make changes that will have a positive impact on your life and the days ahead. Learn from your mistakes and let your past guide you to making better choices going forward. You’ll look back and wonder why you didn’t start sooner once you see for yourself all the rewards that come from taking these steps. Set…
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5 Tips to Boost Your Financial Health
Most of us like the idea of improving our finances, but how do we know where to start? From debt reduction to side hustles and savings, let’s take a look at a few options. 1. Rework The Budget To boost your financial health, it’s useful to rework your budget every once in a while. Your budget should involve several categories, from your mortgage to your utilities and food expenses. You should assess where any cuts can be made and figure out how you can save more money. Whether it’s switching energy providers or purchasing less luxury items, budgeting is the key to financial success. Financial applications such as Albert or…
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When Is It Okay To Borrow Money?
We might be amid a lockdown, but that doesn’t mean that opportunities to make money have disappeared entirely. In fact, with the economy shifting in a new direction, this is the perfect time for people with cash to start investing in new projects and ideas. Even as old companies fail, new businesses with pop up, and the country will continue to move forward. These opportunities bring up an important subject – that of borrowing. Using credit from direct lenders has become commonplace in our society, but when should you do it? When does it make sense to take out a loan? When You Need Something For Work When you think…
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How to Cut Your Budget to the Bare Minimum
In the current uncertain environment, many of us are rightly looking for ways to reduce our expenditure right back to the bare minimum. For some of us, money has stopped coming in or has been greatly reduced. Meanwhile, expenses carry on as normal. It is terrifying the speed with which savings can shrink, if you are lucky enough to have savings. Here are some tips on slashing your outgoings as far back as possible: Start with household bills For many of us out greatest outgoings will be repayments on our houses and cars, If you are currently in a financial pickle, take advantage of mortgage or other debt holidays –…
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Why credit cards can be a GOOD thing (a collaborative post with Carina Advisors)
We hear it all the time – debt is bad, avoid debt at all costs. Often, people are terrified to even take out a credit card, fearing that it will start them on a slippery slope to financial ruin. I have had credit cards since I was 18 and I must confess, in my younger years I was irresponsible with them, barely managing to make the minimum payment each month whilst my balance grew higher and higher. Even though I had only accrued less than £1,000 of debt, my credit card bill felt like a chain around my neck. I educated myself and realised that I needed to clear my…
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How To Spread The Cost Of Large Expenditures
Large expenditures are something that you need to prepare for throughout your life because you’re likely to have one or two of them. Being able to manage these costs takes a little practice, and the ability to look after your money wisely. So here are some tips to spread the cost of large expenditures more easily. Budget Your Money Better Your money is important to the household because as you grow it, you become more responsible not only for yourself but for other people too. With that in mind, you want to ensure that you’ve always got a steady income of money coming in. When a big expenditure comes along,…
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Ten Things Everyone Should Be Doing To Maintain a Healthy Credit Score
There comes a time in most people’s lives when it is time to apply for a mortgage – and by that point, its too late to do much to quickly remedy your credit score if it’s too low to secure a loan. That’s why it’s important to practice good financial habits throughout your adult life so that when it’s time to buy a house, your credit score doesn’t let you down. Use a credit card little and often Using credit regularly and responsibly is the key to building your credit score. It goes without saying, but set up a direct debit each month to pay off the balance in full,…
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Important Steps You Must Take To Improve Your Family’s Finances
Raising a family is far from cheap, especially in this day and age. With endless expenses to take care of, all with their own hefty price tags, making ends meet can be difficult. Although you might have coped with little cash on your own, as a parent, you need money to look after your little ones. This is why it’s so important that you keep a tight grasp on your financial affairs. With that in mind, here are six important steps that you must take to improve your family’s finances. Live Below Your Means There is very little that you can do to improve your finances if you’re always overspending.…
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Budget Not Adding Up? Here Are Your Options
In an ideal world, managing a budget would be relatively straightforward. You would simply list all of your expenses, and then use the amount you earn to cover these expenses with a little leftover to use as you choose – no worries, no hassle. However, it is not uncommon for people to find themselves facing a big budgeting problem. They list their total expenditure, then assess this against their income as normal… and realise that there is a shortfall. If a budget shortfall develops only occasionally – perhaps due to needing to pay for a holiday, or meeting a car repair bill – then there’s no need for particular concern;…
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Dealing With Unhealthy Debt: The Dos And Don’ts
Many people have debts. So long as you’re able to keep up with repayments, there’s no limit as to how many debts you should have. However, if you find that you’re falling behind, it’s a clear sign that your debts are becoming too much and that you need to do something about them. Digging yourself out of debt isn’t easy. Different debts need to be dealt with in separate ways and you need to take steps to control your spending. Here are just a few dos and don’ts that will help you to eliminate that debt and get back to being financially stable. Don’t ignore your debts You can’t ignore…