With interest rates fluctuating – a situation unlikely to change any time in the near future – and the global financial picture far from settled, the idea of rolling debts over for years on end is fast coming to an end. Even those who traditionally relied on credit – and we’re thinking here particularly of […]
For those looking to grow their wealth there have always been pitfalls and minefields to negotiate as well as advantages which can come with the help of professional finance experts. Now, with the growth of tech tools such as robo advisors and artificial intelligence, it is possible to do away with financial advisors altogether and […]
Whether you are currently working or have worked in the past, one thing you will have seen on your payslip will have been National Insurance Contributions of NIC’s for short. They are a deduction that you pay from the age of 16 until the time that you reach State Pension age for as long as you are […]
With interest rates having risen again and prices showing no sign of coming back down, or even slowing up, it is little wonder that so many people are concerned about the rises in costs that we have already seen in 2023. With this in mind, it can be a good idea where possible for people […]
At the beginning of February 2023, the Bank of England decided to raise the base interest rate to 4%. This makes interest rates the highest they have been in the last 14 years. With fuel and utilities prices at a high and prices of food items increasing, people are struggling more than ever with managing debts. For […]
Personal finance as a term wasn’t brought up or even talked about amongst friends while I attended college 2 years ago. In fact, I only remember it vaguely discussed by professors. Many people in college have the responsibility to create their own income, to remain in college. Study full time, work part time, social life-no time. That time spent earning their way, whether it was for school or to have money to go out with friends, it was a meaningless burden to me. People like this understood personal finance better than I did after 4 ½ years majoring in Accounting and Finance.
We all experience times when we get into debt – or, at least, more debt than we are comfortable with. It could have been an emergency situation like needing to pay for repairs to our home or needing to buy a new car to get us to work. But often enough it can be put down to bad spending habits – it is so easy to be tempted into spending more than we can reasonably afford, especially when we have some spare capacity on a credit card. But then the reality of having to pay off that debt hits hard and what we have to show for it is probably very little in the greater scheme of things.
Budgeting effectively requires steely determination, avoiding the shops and avoiding online shopping, especially late at night when we can make irrational decisions. It means only buying what you really need not all those extras that are not essential.
Having a certain amount of debt is pretty much normal these days – many people have a home loan, car finance and a couple of credit cards. Often we don’t even think about that being debt – it’s just the way we live. But it’s when we start to struggle to meet our repayments that […]
If you’ve recently been denied a bank loan and are struggling to make ends meet, you might be interested in other methods of borrowing to get the cash you desperately need. Some people are lucky enough to have wealthy family members or friends that can provide them with a cash advance with no interest required. However, needless to say, that option isn’t available to many people, and that means you might need to explore other options. Of course, you might be worried that you’ll have to risk your home in order to secure a loan, but that’s not the case if you apply for a guarantor loan. Guarantor loans are often more accessible to those with a poor credit score than bank loans, and the money you borrow can be paid back over a period of five years if you need to keep the monthly repayments manageable.
It is easy to become overwhelmed by debt and do nothing but worry about it but if you focus on just reducing the smallest debt first that is a great step in the right direction. The smallest debt will be the easiest to reduce so just concentrate on that first. Once you have paid off the smallest debt then you can move on to the next smallest debt and so on. This approach makes managing debt much more… well, manageable. And it really works in a way that trying to tackle a bit of every debt you hold each month. So forget paying off a small amount on each credit card each month – just pay the minimum on all but the smallest debt. Once that’s gone simply repeat the process.
