Professional Money Management

By Greer Lean

Many of us cringe at the thought of budgeting, some of us may even feel ill to the stomach! But it doesn't have to be hard; sometimes all you need is a helping hand. But where do you start and what advice should you seek? There are a range of options available for all different issues and a whole wide web full of information out there too.



Let us consider the situation of a fellow we’ll call Bob. He is 27 years old, works for an insurance company, drives a new car, lives in a nice apartment close to downtown, and likes to go out with friends for drinks and dancing. He is also up to his ears in debt. He has no savings. Many months he runs out of money before he can pay all his bills, and he’s been making up the shortfall by running up charges on his credit card. His cards, however, are now near their upper limit and his bank is not allowing any more charges. Bob is struggling to even make the minimum monthly payment, so he is having trouble imagining how he can ever pay off his credit card account.



Bob undoubtedly needs help with his finances. He seems to be incapable of drawing up and sticking to a budget, and he doesn’t realize the perils of running up high interest long-term debt. He is living way beyond his means, and he is on a sure path to bankruptcy unless he seeks help soon.



Does Bob’s situation describe your life as well? No, hopefully, but you may be a good candidate for financial help as well. Anyone who has tried to place their spending on a budget and repeatedly failed, causing them to fall farther and farther behind in their bills and grasping for easy cash injections, should consider trying to find some help.



What sort of help should you seek? That largely depends on the type of help you need. If it is just assistance in figuring out your budget and getting some basic advice you may consider hiring a bookkeeper or accountant to sort out your finances. If you need a loan consolidation to rid yourself of multiple high interest loans your bank might be able to help. If you need more complex help, such as negotiating with your creditors, you might seek the services of a debt relief organisation. In severe cases, you should seek professional legal advice.



If all you need is information, the world is at your fingertips. Just look on any good search engine for help on budgeting or debt management and you will be swamped with information. Much of it is good, much of it is redundant (good advice tends to be the same, no matter the source). But be careful for scams and do not give out any personal financial information until you are sure the organisation can be trusted.



About the Author: After helping Australians out with payday cash advances for over two years, Payday Online know what matters. We welcome everyday Australians to use our service at their convenience, for a quick, safe and hassle free cash injection in less than an hour. Check us out today at http://www.paydayonline.com.au



Source: www.isnare.com

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Eliminating Credit Card Debt

Five Easy Steps to Credit Card Debt Elimination

For many consumers, credit card debt elimination can seem like mission impossible. When you're thousands of dollars in debt and trying desperately to find a light at the end of the tunnel, the outlook can be quite bleak. Fortunately, no one is beyond help when it comes to breaking free from credit card debt. Here are five easy steps that will have you on the road to credit card debt elimination in no time.



1. Get All of Your Credit Card Statements Together



If you're serious about credit card debt elimination, the first thing you need to do is gather all of your credit card statements together and begin creating a "debt elimination" spreadsheet.



What's going to go on this spreadsheet? You'll want to note how much you owe on each credit card, the interest rate and whether that rate is an introductory teaser rate or a long-term rate. If any of your credit card rates are currently on an introductory time line, make note of when that rate will expire and what it will go up to when it does.



2. Figure Out How Much You Can Afford Each Month



Once you know exactly where your debt stands, it's time to form your game plan. This is critical if you want to pursue credit card debt elimination in the quickest and most efficient manner possible.



First, take a look at how much you can afford to put towards your debt each month. Add up all of your monthly expenses (not including the minimum monthly credit card payments you must make). Take all of your other expenses (include rent/mortgage, car payments, insurance, gas, groceries, utilities, phone, etc.) and add them up.



Once you have your monthly expenses added up, deduct them from your income and see how much you have left over. Take as much of that amount as you possibly can and put it towards your credit card debt elimination plan.



For instance, let's say you have $400 a month left after all of your monthly expenses have been paid. Take $350 of that (leave $50 for emergencies, etc.) and put that towards paying off your credit card debt.



3. Addressing Your Minimum Monthly Payments



The next step towards credit card debt elimination is adding up all of the minimum monthly payments for all of your credit cards. For instance, if you have three credit cards, all with a minimum monthly payment of $75, your total minimum monthly payments would be $225.



If your credit card allocation were $350 each month like the scenario we outlined above, you'd be in okay shape so far. However, if your minimum monthly payments were $400 and you could only afford $350, then you have a serious problem and you need to start cutting out expenses. This may mean turning off your cable till you've achieved credit card debt elimination or foregoing your Starbucks runs, but it will be worth it in the long run.



4. The Plan of Attack



Now that you know exactly how much debt you have and how much money you can afford to pay off that debt each month, it's time to form your plan of attack.



First, take the total of your minimum monthly payments and subtract it from what you have allocated towards credit card debt elimination. So if you have minimum monthly payments of $225 and a credit card debt elimination allocation of $350, your remaining balance would be $125. Take that $125 and apply it towards the credit card with the highest interest rate.



Once the credit card with the highest interest rate is paid off, you're going to take the money you were paying towards that card each month (in this case, it'd be the $125 plus the $75 minimum monthly payment) and pay that $200 towards the card that now has the highest interest rate in addition to the minimum monthly payment. Keep repeating this process until you have achieved total credit card debt elimination.



5. The Fruits of Your Labor



Once your credit cards are all paid off, take half of what you were paying towards your debt and put it into a savings account. This will help you avoid having to rack up credit card debt in the future.



What are you going to do with the other half? Take that half and apply it to the things you were doing without while pursuing credit card debt elimination. After all, once credit card debt elimination is achieved, you do deserve to treat yourself.

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For more tips on credit card debt, saving money and avoiding getting taken, check out CreditCardTipsEtc.com, a website that specializes in providing credit card tips, advice and resources.

Sell Your Structured Settlements

Sell Your Structured Settlements - Why, When and How!
By Hunt Robert

With a structured settlement, you do not simply get money at a regular interval to cover your basic living costs and other expenses like medical costs; you also have the option to sell the right at any point of time to get a lump sum amount to meet up sudden needs.

At the same time, you can also settle for periodic payment options to cover occasional costs like education, marriage if you have other means to support you in regular life. In reality, a structured settlement offers you enough flexibility to plan your income depending on your financial conditions.

To add to this, the amount you receive on a regular interval is completely free of federal or state tax. Whereas if you had taken a lump sum amount and invested them otherwise to earn a monthly income, you would have ended up in paying a big part of your earning as tax. For the last comment, we assume that the concerned person have invested the amount wisely.
These are reasons enough that people in general love to get a secured structured settlement instead of a onetime lump sum amount.

Nevertheless, here comes the crux – why, when and how do you sell your settlement in an urgent need! Say, you settled with your company for a monthly coverage option but all of a sudden, you got yourself deep in soup and needed some liquid cash urgently.
What would you do if you do not have any other option to support yourself with a lump sum amount! If this is not enough, you may find some people who sell their settlement to get lump sum amount to start their own business or to build their portfolio.
If there is no option left, you can sell the right of your structured settlement and Government allows you the provision to do so.

Many companies purchase the structured settlement rights at a discount price. The amount you can get depends on your attorney’s negotiation skills and market reputation of your previous employer and other conditions. Often the settlement purchaser demand for a higher discount rate not only to cover all the risks involved in the process but also to draw a bigger profit margin.
There is a common misconception that you must sell all the annuities at one go. However, here you have all the flexibilities to sell your annuities partially and thus you can sell only as much as needed to overcome the immediate expenditure. The rest can be left, as it is, to cover your regular expenditure.
The first thing you need to do is to hire a professional financial advisor and/or an attorney to get the best

deal for you. An attorney can guide you further through the legal procedures like court oversight, consumer protection statutes and legal approvals for selling structured settlements.

Robert W. Hunt is a financial advisor by profession. For more
information on structured settlements, he recommends you to visit http://www.structuredsettlements.bz

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hunt_Robert
http://EzineArticles.com/?Sell-Your-Structured-Settlements---Why,-When-and-How!&id=612222

Financial Freedom! Is It For You?

By: Yvonne Finn

Financial Freedom!



What does financial freedom mean to you?

Does it mean buying anything you want regardless of how much it cost?

Does it mean spending your days in ways that enrich and empower you instead of being at the beck and call of an employer?



Is there anyone in the world who wouldn't agree that the dream to be financially free is a universally desired goal?



But how does one create and maintain this sought after state of financial freedom.



Surely, it is not by working hard at a job. We've all heard the grim statistics of people working hard, only to end up old and very poor.



Having a job is not a secure method to achieve your desire to be financially free!

Many employees, from clerks to CEO's have found themselves unceremoniously dumped from jobs they thought were secure.

Even employees who are lucky enough or maybe foolish to hang on into retirement, working for someone else, are finding that the pension that they counted on is insufficient to cover their hoped for and deserved life of ease.



Taking an informed, involved and hands on role in your finances is the only way to be financially free.

No one else can be as passionate about your financial goals, dreams and desires as you are.

Others may or may not share your commitment to achieve your financial independence, however, that does not reduce your responsibility to make every attempt to achieve it.



Very often, when I talk about money and how freeing it is to have enough to live a self-directed life, there is always one person who will say," money is not that important" or "money can't buy happiness".

Of course it's true that money cannot buy happiness, nothing can, for happiness is a state of mind that you choose for yourself, regardless of circumstances or the attitudes of others.

And money IS important for the things that money CAN do, such as good schools for your children, spending your time how you choose, supporting charities and so much more.



So, how do you achieve financial freedom?

Acknowledge and accept that whatever financial state you are in presently is a result of the actions you have taken up to that point in your life.

Then decide that you want to create a brighter, more secure financial future for yourself and those who depend on you.



Do an in-depth financial analysis beginning with your credit rating.

If your rating is not a good one or you don't yet have a credit history, begin the process of restoring or establish one.

Excellent or even just good credit will be your solid foundation on which you will build your financial freedom.

After addressing your credit score the next step will be to learn about wealth creation tools and strategies.

Get help with this step by leveraging the knowledge of a trusted team of financial planners.

Enjoying a life of financial freedom need not remain just a distant dream.

Get passionate about your desire to build wealth, make a new plan and take well-advised actions.



Create a new plan and achieve your goals.

You provide the dreams and the desire and we will provide the sound, customized advice and planning that will help you build wealth and achieve financial independence.

Send this page to:

Author Bio

Committed to life-long learning and helping others achieve their financial goals of independence and security, Yvonne is known as the "go to" person to her friends, clients and business associates. Go To Her Here!

Article Source: http://www.articlegeek.com

Personal Finance Tips

5 Key Personal Finance Problems - Which One Do You Want to Overcome? by Bruce Hokin (FCPA)

You can take control of your personal finances by applying the lessons listed below.


Problem #1. Spending Without Knowing Your Limits


As in business, you will not last long financially if you spend without regard to your income. Knowing your spending limits is not hard to do. Just find the answers to these 4 easy questions:


Question #1. What is my take-home income per pay? (that is your total income less taxes)


Question #2. What do I need to spend to live?


Question #3. What is the difference after taking spending from income?


Question #4. Can I save enough for my future from the answer in Question #3?


There are many tools to help you gain answers to these questions. You can find many on the Internet. Helpful Hint: Find one that helps you set your savings targets, checks your ability to meet the targets and then shows your progress towards your goals.


Problem #2. Spending Without Setting Savings Targets


It's OK to spend to the limits of your income but that does not provide you with any buffer for urgent purchases, or protect you from a financial emergency. Urgent purchases could be renewing a broken fridge or stove, calling a plumber to fix a broken pipe or having to spend for major car repairs. Financial emergencies could be temporary loss of income or hospitalization of a family member. How would you survive financially in any of these situations?


You can begin to save today, it's easy. What if you went without your bought lunch each day at work? That saves you $1,000 per year on $5/day. What if you reduced your Starbuck's coffee by 1 each working day? That's another $1,000 per year on $5/day. Just those two amounts alone can mean a holiday for you, the beginnings of a savings plan, or an emergency buffer.


If you set a target of 10% of your take-home pay each payday that would be a good start. If you think creatively, you are sure to come up with ways to achieve this. Think of the peace of mind that would bring.


Problem #3. Spending Without Knowing How to Save


There are many easy ways for you to save money that allow you the freedom to spend when you see something you really want. Some of these are:


1. Don't buy on impulse. Ask yourself 2 or 3 times "Do I really NEED this?" before you buy. If you cannot answer with a resounding "YES " let it go.


2. Don't buy things JUST because they are on sale. Only buy things you need. If you do need them wait a few weeks the price may fall even further.


3. Don't buy the latest fashion items at the height of the season. Just wait a while. The prices usually reduce.


4. Don't compare yourself with others and what they have. They may have purchased making the same finance mistakes as you.


5. Set yourself a savings target. Put this money aside each payday BEFORE spending any of your pay.


Problem #4. Spending Without Feeling Satisfied


Spending can leave you feeling pretty shallow and unrewarded when you purchase on a whim or fancy when you really know you cannot afford the item. What's more you may not even use it. What a waste!


To really FEEL GOOD ABOUT SHOPPING and spending you need to know these 4 things:


1. My budget allows me the freedom to purchase this item


2. I have the cash put away already for this purchase (even though I will use my credit card for the transaction).


3. This purchase is something that I really want and will use.


4. I have purchased this item at the best possible price, saving as much as I can.


Problem #5. Spending Without Caring About Your Future


Unless you are planning for your future and financial security, you cannot be really happy. There are always worries lurking in your mind about how you would survive in a financial emergency if you have no savings. It can be very rewarding to see how quickly your savings multiply over time with only a small investment each payday.


Did you know that by saving just $5 every day this would grow into $1,867 in 12 months at 5% interest and then it grows into a whopping $10,343 in 5 years? Isn't your future worth investing in?


Why not start to overcome your personal finance problems today? Looking back you'll be so glad you did!


If you click on the links below you will be taken to a great budget solution. It helps you set your savings targets, checks your ability to meet the targets and then shows your progress towards your goals.


Bruce Hokin has designed a simple budget tool called "5 Steps to Freedom Personal Budget." It based on his extensive background as a qualified, experienced accountant, manager, consultant and financial adviser. You can download this powerful budget assistant today and be on your way to financial freedom within the hour. It is available at his website www.freedom-personal-budgets.com.

Article Source: FreeArticleSubmission.com