personal finance

Personal Finance Problems In Desperate Situation

by CS · Aug 15, 2020

In this current conditions we are facing, talking about personal finance is very annoying but also very relevant. For people who lose their job, or business which facing with failures it’s not a great topic to talk about.

For some people who still have a job, they want to know how they can save better and how they can gain more income on their side. The personal finance topic is never taught in schools, because teachers teach about theories and not practical one.

If at any point of our life, we taught ourselves about personal finance, we surely won’t make any mistakes about any choices in life. When you were an employee, and some stranger ask you to invest in the get-rich-fast business, you won’t even consider about that, but since you don’t know the principal of finance and how it can helps you in life, you will at some time, fall into their scam business traps.

In desperate moments like this, the eagerness to learn about personal finance starve people even more, and it’s really great to know how people changes perspective with suffering at hands.

So basically, personal finance is actions of managing your money and your financial decisions. It involves all personal financial issues such as saving, investing, debt management, insurance management, taxes management, and much more.

In other words, everything involves your personal money, money in your wallet, in your bank or under your pillow wherever they are, it’s the area of personal finance.

You might need to rethink about your decisions in managing your money in every phase of lie. There are some important things to consider which include cash flow, buying insurance, personal taxes, saving and investing, and of course your retirement planning.

It’s very much easy to do those thing in today’s world. There are a lot of tools you can use to plan your finance effectively.

There are a lot of times when things doesn’t work your way and you may face difficult financial times. These times are really hard times to face alone. It can affect you and people close to you very harshly. If you can create a plan, there’s always ways to deal with those difficult times.

Unemployment – You can be unemployed at some point of your life, don’t worry if you feels sucks. This times indeed very annoying times, because you might ended up homeless, or you can have parents, relatives, or friends to help you to get through this. Losing your job, savings, and then building up debt due to the unemployment situation, is a common problem.

Underemployment – People can find jobs, but they don’t pay enough for life, so it’s one of problem that you can’t take lightly since you still may not able to live a good life, but it’s better than nothing.

Illness – You can help it if you get illness. The costs to go to doctor and medical treatments would be so expensive, but if let’s say you work in a company with good medical benefit, it really can make difference in how you face your illness and the financial problem arise from it. At these times, you might regrets not having health insurances.

Live on Your Own – To get out your parent’s house and be on your own will be much more comfortable for you, but problem of not having enough money will be arise and you will be surprised on how much money you need to live on your own.

Children – This is surely will cost you a lot of money. It begins from the children’s necessities, health and education. You will need to take out more money if they have disability for example.

Divorce – I’m sure all of you understand that this is very uncomfortable moments, not only it cost you money but also your health and kids. This is kind of problem that you should avoid for the rest of your life.

Death – It’s quite a business for people who owns cemetery, priests, or people in the business. It’s different between cultures. Some culture might have to spend billions for the death of his closed ones, while the other just need small quiet ceremony which has small costs. But the desperate effect is not money but your mind conditions after your loved ones died.

Retirement – Do you hopes to retire someday? There are not many people has retirement savings, and for those who has savings, it’s just not enough. The changes in retirement plan can affect those who has this type of saving.

Consumerism – Well this is always bad for people who can’t measure up their financial capabilities. It will always be a huge problem in our society, and it will be there for long. People will keep spending money they don’t have.

You might face one or more of these experiences in your life at some points, but it can be managed as long as you can make a good planning. Think that when you face one of this experience, it’s probably because you are lack of knowledge about personal finance, but don’t worry, it still can be fixed with good knowledge and plan going forward.

Credit Cards Solution In Crisis

by CS · Jul 20, 2020

Have you ever been in debt because of your own mistakes? Let’s not talking about billion dollar loan from bank. Let’s talk about your credit card! That’s right! How many of us can’t pay back the credit we owe from banks?

What are the advantages of credit card? In this era, there is an increasing number of people using credit card, but they should be very careful when dealing with this type of loan. One thing that makes it so easy to use credit card is that they are so convenient, easy, and safe to use. They might even better than cash, especially if you don’t bring any money with you. It has become requirement to use credit cards in today’s economy.

However, all of those benefits come at a potential cost. Consumers can quickly find themselves in trouble by spending too much and too easy, or because your family member use it without your concern or credit card’s hacked by other people. If you count yourself among this growing majority, there are several options you can use to get yourself back on the right track.

Transfer Your Other Account Balance To Your Credit Card Balance

Credit card companies such as Banks or Credit Union knows what exactly what they’re doing. If you switch a balance to them, they will make money from you.

They will offer attractive rates for balance transfers. It’s better for them to have some of your money than none of it.

At one point, this can be a good way to get your debt under control, but make sure to check the terms and conditions for those transfers, so that you will get the best deal and able to pay off your credit balance sooner with the lowest rate for a couple of months in future.

As you know that this low rate will only applied on specific times, once the time is up, the rate will go up, so you better calculate the numbers first very careful otherwise by the end of your balance transfers terms, you still end up with quite amount of debt.

Ask for Consolidation Loans

Nobody loves having loan for so long because of their incapability to pay, but thinking back, why people ended up having these loans? Because of their lifestyle? Being scammed? or simply because they never try to manage their money. Whatever the reasons are, people are here now with this situation.

Another solution to manage your debt is using debt consolidation loans. Even though, some people think that this is a quick and easy way to get credit card debt help, but it doesn’t work with everybody, because each of us has different to make this solution doesn’t work at all.

This solution requires you to pay several creditors in one payment only plus the lower monthly payment of course. But if you calculate the cost of money, you will find out that that so-called solution actually will cost you much more bigger expenses.

You will have to pay more interest expenses during the life of your loan, in which actually will put you in even more distress, at least not in the short term perspective but in the long term one. Or maybe they will give you with low monthly payment but extending the life of your loan. This tactic resulting in making more money coming out from your pocket once again.

Once again, suggestion for you is to take a look again on the terms and conditions of any of your consolidation loan to make sure that you understand the impact and the consequences of the agreement. Whatever you decision is, knowing what will happen in the future is better than not knowing your financial condition and be shattered by the consequences that you should know before.

Be Brave To Ask For Help From Credit Consultants

It may depends on the amount of your loans. If you are a small business owner, you might want to consult about your solution to these consultants. They can become a quite good option if you are looking for debt help. They will help you to formulate solutions and might also help you to deal directly with your creditors, so you can get the best deal.

As they are very professional with their job, you will have an agreement with them, and they will take payment on the hours of their service to solve your loan. The arrangement will be simple as your consultant will calculate the total monthly amount for the new terms they have been dealing with your creditors (plus a nominal amount for their service).

Every month you need to send them those total amount, and once they receive your money, they will distribute it to your creditors as needed. It’s easy for you so you don’t have to take new loan to pay your old loan, and also it’s very convenient because you don’t have to deal with your creditors directly since it will be a lot of headache to take in.

Have You Understand Your Credit Score

by CS · Apr 29, 2020

If you feel as though your credit score is some sort of mysterious secret, then you are not alone. While there is no verifiable statistic as to how many people feel this way, the fact that the credit reporting agencies don’t readily reveal their calculation methods makes easy to see why people are in the dark about it.

You may not need to know the exact formula, but it’s still smart to have an understanding of how they come up with your credit score so you can whatever possible to maintain or improve your score.

After all, if you don’t know what goes into your credit score, there is no real way to do anything about it. Having a better idea of what elements go into determining it and how it’s calculated allows you to have more control over your financial health. With that in mind, here is a breakdown of what the credit score is made of.

The most important part of your credit score is based on your history of making payments. Believe it or not, this counts for a staggering 35% of your overall credit score.

Now, if you have a spotless record of making payments on time, then this is actually good news. However, if you occasionally forget to pay a bill and are routinely a few days late, then this could be bad news.

I say ‘could be’ because different creditors have different policies on when they will report a late payment to the credit agencies. However, you don’t know what that threshold is, so it’s best to pay all of your bills and loans on time.

Your blend of credit adds up to 10% of your score. Having a mortgage, car loan, credit card and perhaps a store account that you pay on is a sign to the agencies that you are able to handle a variety of credit options. Be sure that you are able to handle all of them, though, as not paying on time on even one type can count against you.

15% of your credit score is determined by how long you have had a credit history. Of course, the better you have handled that credit over the years, the better it will be for your score. But it’s still better to have a more established credit record than a shorter one.

Second in weight to your payment history is the total amount you owe. This factor accounts for 30% of your score. The total amount you owe is compared to your income in what’s known as the “debt to income” ratio. The lower, the better. You should aim to keep your total debt at 25% or less of your annual income to have the best effect on your rating.

New inquiries into your credit are a warning sign that you may be overextending yourself and account for 10% of your total score. The one exception is if you are the one looking at your credit report.

As you can see, there is no real mystery when it comes to your credit score breakdown. Knowing how much weight is given to each portion of your score can help you decide where to first focus your efforts when you start trying to improve your credit score.