Posts tagged: financial crisis

Life Hardships That Cost You Financially

money crisis timeLife isn’t always plain sailing, I think we can all agree. Often we are dealt a deck of cards and within those situations we can suffer financial hardships as well as emotional setbacks. This isn’t always going to be easy to overcome. But people live on, grow accustomed to their new set of circumstances or see some bad situations as a time to shine and an opportunity to make positive changes for the future. I wanted to share with you what some of these life hardships can be, and how they can cost you financially. However, I also want to provide some tips and hope that you can, with the right actions and steps, move forward.

Committing a crime

There are times in our life where we can make poor choices. Decisions we are faced with for one reason or another. Maybe desperation, a lack of judgement, or just not thinking. We can all be there, and then in some cases we can make the wrong decision which can ultimately result in us committing a crime. Whatever that may be it is always worth getting criminal law lawyers on your side to fight your corner. Whether it is a driving offence, a burglary, or something more there is always a way to move forward positively. Be that taking the consequences for the crime. Always be mindful that anything that happens can be a reason to learn and become a better person for having gone through the situation in the first place.

Losing your job

While it is never easy to lose your job, it can also have a real negative effect on your self-esteem and your mindset. Losing a job, whether that being because you no longer fit within a company structure, for not meeting targets or performing or simply feeling pushed out, is ever going to be a confidence boosting thing. But, what you can do is take the criticisms, learn the lessons and move forward and do something that you love and enjoy. This could be a huge blessing in disguise. It may give you the boost to take on a new career challenge, or learn a new skillset. It could even be a change that provides a more positive future for yourself and your family. The options are endless, and right now it may seem like you are stuck. So it is important to get out of that mentality as soon as possible to enable you to move forward.

Going through a relationship breakdown or divorce

Finally, a big hardship that we can all go through perhaps at some stage in our lives is a relationship breakdown and/or a divorce. It can be devastating on both parts, especially when there are finances to work through and children involved. Of course, what you have to accept is that sometimes these things are best happening, and it isn’t always a good thing to stay in an unhappy marriage or relationship, no matter what consequences or issues you need to resolve. You only live once, and it is better all round to be in a loving relationship that makes you happy.

I hope that this has given you some idea of some of the issues anyone can face at anytime.

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.

How To Pull Yourself Out Of Financial Difficulties After A Challenging Life Event

help in financeSometimes, life can throw you a challenge, and they can often lead to unprecedented emotional and financial difficulties. Therefore, whether you’ve been made redundant, extreme weather has damaged your home beyond repair, or, you’ve gone through a costly divorce; it’s vital that you get your thinking cap on and figure out what to do financially. Working out your money and where it’s going as soon as possible, will help protect you and your assets in the future. The following are some things you might need to consider, should you find yourself in financial strife.

Maintaining Your Income

During difficult life events, like divorce, it’s important that the other key areas of your lifestyle remain as intact as possible. Therefore, it’s essential that you inform your employer of any significant changes to your situation, so that they understand that you may need some time out of the office, and you won’t have to jeopardize your job. If it’s your job that you’ve lost, and you find yourself redundant, then you must financially plan immediately, and pick up any work available, while you search for your next career move.

By maintaining a steady income, and carefully considering any purchases, you’ll be able to ease the transition into any other major life changes. This will help your and your family, both financially, and emotionally in the future.

Rebuilding Your Credit

Life changes that cause financial hardship and struggles can often lead to you to paying for things with a credit card or not paying back loans and bills on time. These difficult financial situations can result in bad credit, and for you to figure out how you’re going to rebuild your life, you’ll need to seek professional help and advice. You can research into credit repair services, find out; does Lexington Law really work and discover what you’ll need to do to get yourself out of the red again.

Selling Your Assets

In order to release some equity, and get back on your feet financially, you might need to make some tough decisions in regards to your property and bigger assets. Downsizing your accommodation, or replacing your car with an affordable alternative, are decisions to make quickly so that you can save as much of your money as possible. Check out 10 tips to sell your home fast here.

Even though it might be a tough process to go through, relinquishing your expensive assets could give you the cash you need in the present, and secure a lucrative future for you and your family. Remember that nothing has to be permanent, and if you’re willing to make the sacrifices now, you’re likely to benefit in the long run.

Changing Your Lifestyle

It’s all very well ensuring that you’re still working and that you’ve downsized to affordable alternatives; however, if you continue to spend money in all the same places as before, you’ll run out of it pretty quickly. You’ll need to rethink where and how you shop, and ensure that your monthly outgoings are significantly reduced; so that if you do have spare cash, you can save it for the future.