Posts tagged: cash flow

Need Some Extra Cash? You Could Get It Without Working Harder

more money in needThere might come a time in your life when you could do with some extra capital. Maybe you want to start a business, or you fancy taking the kids away for the holiday of a lifetime? Either way, most people think they have to work harder than they do at the moment to build their bank balances. However, in many instances, it’s possible to do that without making too many changes to your routine. Believe it or not, the average family wastes thousands of dollars every single year, and so you just need to stop doing that as soon as possible. The advice below should come in handy.

Transfer the balance from your credit cards

Lots of people take out credit cards and then only make the minimum payment every month. That is fine for the first year because most cards come with 0% interest. However, after twelve months, the provider will often begin to charge interest on the balance, and that’s where folks tend to make mistakes. If you continue to send the minimum amount, you will never make a dent in the debt according to sites like thesimpledollar.com. So, search online for a new credit card that offers 0% on balance transfers. You can then move the money you owe to a different creditor and continue reducing the amount you owe.

Look for a debt consolidation deal

Debt consolidation arrangements have many advantages including:

  • Only having to deal with one creditor
  • A single affordable monthly payment
  • Lots of breathing space

The people behind debtconsolidationprograms.co and other industry leaders claim that a significant percentage of individuals could benefit from a deal of that nature. In most instances, you just have to get in touch with a consolidation expert and explain your situation. They will then take a look at your finances and let you know if they can assist or not.

Use comparison sites to find better contracts

You live in the digital age, and so it makes sense that you should use technology to your advantage. There are many different price comparison websites around today for almost everything. That means you could secure some astonishing savings if you visit the right domains and shop around. People who compare deals online could save a fortune on:

  • Home energy
  • Home insurance
  • Cell phone contracts
  • Car insurance
  • And more

If you’re not aware of the top comparison domains at the moment, just search Google, and you should discover lots of sites that will help you to reduce your outgoings.

The suggestions made in this article are almost guaranteed to provide you with some extra cash. Now you just have to work out the best ways of spending that money to improve your situation even further. Some people might want to use it to start a business or make investments. Others may choose to pay more than the minimum amount each month and get themselves out of debt a little faster. The decision is down to the individual. Just make sure you don’t waste the money or get yourself deeper into financial trouble.

Stuck for Cash? 5 Short Term Solutions

money stuckWe’ve all found ourselves, at one time or another, financial strapped. It could be an unexpected car repair, a short work week or even an unexpected medical expense. Whatever the reason, it causes stress and anxiety, especially if you don’t know where to turn for solutions. These 5 short term solutions may just help you get by until your cash flow picks up again or until you can get past the unexpected expense.

1.Cash Loans/Short Term Loans

Cash loans don’t have the best reputation in the financial world, and that is mostly because they bear higher interest rates and can be easily abused. However, if you are in a bind and know that paying back the loan won’t be an issue, they can be a short term solution to a financial need. Be sure to read the terms, understand your obligations as the borrower, and plan ahead so you can ensure the money is paid back on time preventing further interest or penalties. A cash loan broker will connect you with multiple lenders who may offer different terms, rates etc. IneedmoneytodayASAP is a website that provides this service and you can visit their website here.

2. Sell Unwanted Items Online

You would be amazed at the amount of clutter you might find by simply cleaning out your garage or basement. You might find items you haven’t used in well over a year or more. These items are great candidates for online classified websites where you can sell you items locally and receive cash for them fairly quickly. Do a quick online search in your area for local buy and sell groups or even on social media for places to post your unwanted goods.

3. Visit the Pawn Shop

Similar to selling online, but much faster turn around, taking unwanted items to a pawn shop will yield you some extra cash. You will not be paid the full value of your item in most cases, since the shop will want to make money too. Alternatively, you could put valuable items in hock until you can pay to get them back. Be sure to read the terms so you know exactly how long you have before that item becomes property of the pawn shop.

4. Take the Bus, Walk or Car Pool

Simple but definitely cost effective, taking public transit or walking places will save you tonnes of money compared to driving everywhere. With the rising cost of fuel, driving is a costly commodity. You could talk to a co-worker and see about car pooling if public transit or walking are not an option. Even if you did this for a week, you would save a fair amount on gas.

5. Make Coffee at Home and Pack Lunches

While this short term solution won’t put cash in your pocket, it will keep the cash you have in there. Making a coffee at home every morning could save you between $1 and $2.50 per day for just one coffee. Packing your lunch from home will save you even more–somewhere around $10 per day! That’s around $2500 a year if you ate out every work day. Imagine that nice chunk of savings you could be using for more important things, in your bank account.

The Essential Pre-Christmas Financial Check

pre xmas savings“Isn’t it a little bit early to think about Christmas? It’s not even been Halloween yet…”

Okay, so we’ll acknowledge the fact that that’s a legitimate complaint. Christmas seems to come earlier every year and this article isn’t helping that. However, there’s no denying the fact that for people who focus on the health of their personal finances, Christmas can be a testing time. That’s why it deserves focus this early on, even if it does feel strange to be contemplating buying gifts and decorating your home when the leaves have only just begun to change.

If you begin now, you have an early start on your Christmas preparations, meaning that you can survive the festive season with your financial state intact. There are four key questions you need to be able to answer, and then you can forget about Christmas until December.

Who Do You Have To Buy For?

Try and keep the list small, if you’re going to be financially responsible. Family members usually go to the top of the list. If you have a big family, then time.com have some great tips on how to keep it affordable.

Friends are more difficult, so it’s often best to just ask if they want to swap gifts, or would everyone prefer a get-together around Christmas in lieu of actual gifts. You’re unlikely to be the only one of your friendship group worrying about money, so it’s always worth venturing the idea.

How Much Are You Going To Spend On Each Person?

This decision is largely personal, depending on your financial circumstances. However, there are a few universal things you need to keep in mind:

Set yourself a budget per person and don’t exceed it; there will be something you can find within budget, if you’re willing to look hard enough to find it. Christmas gift guides will explode online in the next few months, so scan through them and see what might work. There’s no point setting a budget if you’re going to break it — plan to be very stringent with yourself, keep the numbers amenable to your financial circumstances, and be willing to hunt for good deals.

What Can Make Christmas More Affordable?

Obviously, saving for Christmas is the best way to make it affordable. However, if you haven’t saved anything yet, then it’s unlikely you’re going to be able to put away as much money as you need in time for December.

If that means you’re going to have to borrow to fund some of your Christmas frivolity, you need to make it as affordable as possible. Look through creditrepair.co to see how you can reduce the cost of borrowing, and move any existing debts onto low-interest repayment plans. Combine this with a little extra saving for the next few months, and your personal finances should come through the holiday period unscathed.

With the above answered, you — and your bank account — can look forward to Christmas, rather than dreading the financial toll it may take!

Business Stuck In Financial Turmoil? Simple Ways To Save The Day!

money crisis in businessThe number one reason why businesses fail is due to finances, or a lack of them, we should say. You’ve probably heard this statistic before, but it’s worth repeating as it’s such a significant statistic – within the first year of launching, half of all businesses fail, and all because of a lack of funds. While that statistic may be terrifying if your business is facing financial turmoil, however, the good news is that it is possible to turn things around. Just because your business is struggling financially that doesn’t have to mean that it is the end of the line for your venture, it’s just a case of thinking outside of the box and being creative.

The fact is that getting your business out of financial turmoil isn’t always easy, but if you take note of the advice below, it is possible to get things back on track.

Determine ways to cut costs

The first step that you take should be to determine how you can cut costs. The fact is that it isn’t easy to reduce your business’s spending, but it is doable, it’s just a case of looking at your budget and determining ways that you can cut costs, such as by making your business premises eco-friendly or by utilizing the cloud to help reduce your spending. Look at your current spending, set a price that you would like to reduce your spending too, and then research ways that you can reduce your spending down to that price. It is doable, believe it or not – you may find working with a business mentor or a financial advisor helpful.

Consider how you can boost your budget

If reducing your spending alone isn’t enough to save your business, the next step is to find ways to boost your budget. Your business is your baby, and you don’t want to see it fail, so it’s important to take into account every avenue that you could attempt to go down. How about taking out a small loan to give your business the boost it needs? If you think a loan might help, you can use resources like the Banking.Loans website to look into what you could borrow. Don’t want to take out a loan? How about finding an investor for your business or a silent partner perhaps? If you want to ensure that your business succeeds, it is vital that you are smart about the steps that you take.

Ensure your finances stay on track

It is vital that you put a plan in place to ensure that once you have got your business’s finances back on track that they stay on track. You don’t want the same problem to occur again, so it pays to make sure that you know how to keep your finances on track this time. Whether that means implementing a strict budget and sticking to it or working with a specialist account who can ensure that your business is creating a good profit, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you monitor your business finances and ensure that everything stays on track.

The fact is that getting things back on track after your business suffers from financial problems isn’t easy, but if you take note of the tips and advice above, it is possible to do so and to make a go of things, building a future for your business.

Fighting The Financial Struggle Later In Life: Saving Money In Your 20s

early money savingsWhen you’re in your 20s, you feel like your whole life is ahead of you, you may have just got out of college, so you feel like you owe it to yourself to relax for a while and take everything in your stride. However, the issue for a lot of people in their 20s is that they don’t put money aside. A GO Banking Rates survey found that 44% of people between the ages of 18 and 24 have no money in their savings accounts or don’t even have a savings account! And while it’s important to make the most of life when you’re young and exuberant, but there are some things to begin thinking about now.

Start An Emergency Fund

The fact of the matter is that there will be financial issues that crop up from time to time that you are ill-equipped to deal with. You may end up having an accident and are faced with a medical bill you are unable to pay straight away. And there could be many potential issues that arise that could affect your ability to work, and while making an injury claim is all well and good, it’s not something you can bank on to get you a huge pile of cash. So make sure you start to find ways to stockpile money from your existing earnings. The best way to do it is to set up a transfer, so the funds out of your bank accounts on the same day every month to go into a savings account. That way you don’t need to think about it. And it doesn’t necessarily need to be a huge amount of money either, whatever little amount you can put away will be of some benefit.

Prepare For Retirement Now

If you started saving for your retirement in your 20s, as opposed to later in life, you would end up saving more in the long term, but you can also put away less money during your 30s, 40s, and 50s because you tend to have less financial obligations. Let’s do the math, someone who is 25 and saves at $700 every year will have saved $28,000 by the time they are 65. Compare this to someone who is 35 and just started saving, they will have only saved $21,000 and will need to save that bit more to catch up.

Go For The High-Interest Bank Accounts

Common sense prevails in this, the more interest in a bank account, the more money you will be able to save. And not just this, but there are savings accounts you can take advantage of, such as Certificates of Deposit (CD) accounts, money market accounts, as well as traditional savings accounts.

Get Investing

The final point to make when saving money in your 20s is that it can be very difficult, especially if you work a low paid job and are barely making ends meet. You may want to think about a type of investment that can pay out on a regular basis. While savings bonds, peer to peer investments, as well as real estate are common methods, you may want to start thinking about other approaches to investments, such as gold bullion, or even Bitcoin. Having a decent amount of knowledge in terms of investments will give you that extra bit of money you will need to set yourself up for a life without financial struggle.