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A Strong Financial Future Requires Logic And Creativity

March 31st, 2017 Posted in learning about money, Money Tips
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Quite often you can split humans into two camps, the logical thinker, and the creative thinker. These two sets of people go about their lives and decisions in very different ways. You will usually see the logical thinker enjoying a well-rounded life. With all their financial affairs in order and a stable, if not a little safe, future ahead. Whereas the creative thinker is someone who always seems to be on a rollercoaster, either riding high or low. It is more usual to see a creative thinker at the head of a large business, although they will have learned a lot of logic on the way.

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Logical thinkers and creative thinkers are often in turmoil with one another, if you are in a relationship where your partner cannot understand your create reasoning, you could find yourself in between lots of arguments. If you are creative, you may believe that you are an optimist and your logical partner is more a pessimist. However, this isn’t true. Usually, creative people are late, very optimistic and refuse to give up even when failure looks sure. A logical person finds these traits OTT and believes that their optimism is simple denial.

When both these sets of thinker come together, though, that is when the magic happens.

One of you will be pushing forward, showing the other that failure can lead to successes and should not always be avoided, the other will be taking on the safety net tasks and highlighting any possible issues, monitoring your assets and ensuring your cashflow is working. When logic and creativity combine there are very few things that can stand in their way.

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If you are a single person and lie in one of these camps, then you need to start learning about the other side of things. Being creative is something that comes naturally to others. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn the skill. You simply have to look outside the box a little bit and take yourself out of your comfort zone. Learning to be more logical is also not impossible. It is as simple as asking yourself the question, does the risk outweigh the reward. To think more logically you need to step back inside the box, momentarily!

To have a stable financial future and to build an incredible legacy for your children, you need to get creative and reasoned. Push the boundaries a little, fuelled by your research. Take a systematic risk on investment. If you are creative then why not build yourself a safety egg, make some money out of an investment and put it in your personal savings account.

When we find the balance between logic and creativity that is when all the magic starts to happen, it is where millionaires are made; it is how companies become global, take Apple for a good example, it is how names go down in history. So, look into your world and ask yourself, do you need to push a few more boundaries, or take a couple of steps back?

 

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Dealing With Accidental Debt

March 30th, 2017 Posted in Money Tips
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Not all debt will turn out to be your fault – despite the fact that many people see those who are struggling to get by as victims of their own actions. Given that so few families are prepared for a financial disaster, it’s not much of a surprise that when the proverbial hits the fan, the consequences can be devastating.

In this brief guide, we’re going to go through a few of the situations where it is clear that debt is incurred by accident – and how to protect yourself from, or repair, the damage. Let’s get started with the basics of accidental debt.

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Debt by accident

There are many ways you can fall onto hard times, and it can happen in an instant. Maybe you suffer from a serious injury or get hit by some maniac in a car. Perhaps you get made redundant or are fired by a boss that has never taken a shine to you. Or, maybe you have been struggling to get by on a low wage, and inflation comes into play. What costs you $150 in food shopping one week might end up costing you over $200 the next – putting your finances in great jeopardy. The simple truth is that we are all at risk of losing a significant part of our income at a moment’s notice, and it’s important to have some protections in place.

Insurance

So, the first step to take is to make sure you have proper insurance cover. Of course, this can be tricky, because you never know what might happen, and you can’t possibly predict when a grave accident or financial emergency will occur. However, you can play the odds.

Your health insurance, for example, needs to give you enough cover in the case of a nasty accident – otherwise, you will be facing enormous medical fees. Maybe you could get some unemployment insurance, or self-employed insurance to make sure that you are covered in the event of an illness or periods where you can’t work. Think carefully and do your research of insurance plans to ensure you are getting the best deal – for the best cover.

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Attorneys

Apparently, if an accident that causes you harm isn’t your fault – from a car crash or a medical malpractice incident, for example – you deserve compensation. But, as Hastings Law Firm point out, it can be tough to actually get what you deserve without the help of an aggressive and experienced attorney. Finding one could be the difference between a negligible payment and a comfortable rest of your life.

Education

Of course, all these accidental debt issues could be significantly reduced with the right financial knowledge. Sadly, however, this kind of stuff is rarely taught in schools – which is why we started this blog. It’s no real surprise that so many people get caught out with accidental debt when you bear this in mind and lack the knowledge to build up emergency funds and take a right financial precautions.

As you can see, anyone can get in debt by sheer accident – the big question is, do you have the knowledge and resources to survive if it happens to you?

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Money Drains In Every Small Business

March 29th, 2017 Posted in Entrepreneurship
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Whether you are a business owner yourself or helping your children kick off their own startups, it’s important to understand that there is many different money drains that can have a significant impact on profits. It’s important to remember that the best way to boost your business profits is to plug up these money drains and cut costs – without affecting quality. With this in mind, let’s take a look at those biggest small business financial drains and explore what you can do to improve them.

Employee turnover

If your small business has a high employee turnover, you are wasting a lot of money. The hiring process is expensive – advertising for available positions; setting aside time and resources for checking resumes and holding interviews, and training up new staff all costs cold, hard cash. If you want to plug this particular gap, focus on training current employees, so they are up to speed, offer them a fantastic working environment, and ensure they are happy – it is a far more cost-efficient way of working than continually hiring new people.

Process inefficiencies

How tight are your business operations? While small businesses tend to be leaner and more flexible than their bigger competitors, many suffer from inefficient processes, which, ultimately, cost you a lot of money. It could be stumbling blocks in your marketing that mean you are focusing too much on cold prospects rather than warm ones. It might be that a particular team in your business is using programs or software that is far too complicated and cumbersome than needs be. As a business leader, you need to be proactive in finding these inefficiencies and productivity drains if you want to save money.

Contract issues

There is a huge range of issues that can occur with contracts – or the lack of contracts. You have to make sure that your contracts are as tight as possible, or the likelihood is that you will face problems in the future. As https://www.meadowbrookdirect.com/ points out, you could counteract any issues with contractors that break the law by looking at surety bonds. And you should also consider including indemnity clauses in every contract you make, whether with a customer, supplier, or employee.

Poor customer service

Treat a client well, and they will be more likely to come shopping again. Treat them poorly, however, and they will never come back – and, even worse, they will also tell up to ten of their associates about their experience. According to https://www.snapsurveys.com/, bad customer service is a huge money drain for small businesses, and if you want to survive – and thrive – you will need to have a long, hard look at your service provision if you want to turn things around. Don’t forget, finding new customers costs six times more than selling to new and old customers alike. That’s a lot of money that you won’t need to spend if you can provide first-class service each and every time.

As you can see, there are many areas of your business that can lose a considerable amount of money. Plugging those gaps is essential if you want to get your business finances in good shape.

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Selling Property? Read This First

March 23rd, 2017 Posted in Money Tips, Property Investment
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Selling a property isn’t quite as simple as a lot of people make out. It can be a complex and daunting task. After all, there’s a good reason why so many people hire outside help during the process!

If you’ve decided to sell a property, be it the home you’re living in currently or another property, then guides like this are pretty essential. Read on to make sure the process is smooth and gives you the best return. These are the things you must take into consideration.

The reason

Why are you selling the home? This may dictate how you’re going to sell it. You need to consider how fast you need to sell it and how much you need to sell it for. Let’s say you’re an investor. If you have the time on your side, then you can afford to wait to ensure you get the best price possible.

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Now let’s say you’re a family who are looking to move home. This, of course, is very different and even more sensitive. You’ll want to sell the place fairly quickly. But you need the best price you can get so you can afford the best house possible for your move! All this is to highlight that the reason for selling a property will determine how you go about the sale – and what results you should expect.

Getting the word out

Most people will choose to work with real estate agents in order to get the marketing done correctly for their house sale. But it’s not a process you should be completely divorced from. There are several steps you can take in order to be more proactive.

For example, writing up an in-depth introduction and description of the property will be appreciated by many customers. Using floor plans software to provide detailed floor plans along with the listing will help give people a clearer vision of the house. And you can even use social media to help advertise the property you’re trying to sell. The more proactive you get during this process, the more you may end up getting out of it!

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Value

This can be the most sensitive part of this process. Some would say it’s the simplest; it can’t be that hard to find out the home’s monetary value, right? Well, don’t jump to any conclusions. Do your best to get to a close estimate. You should do this from a few angles. Getting a valuation by a professional home value assessor is the obvious and best step, but you can also judge the value by other means. If possible, find out the values of some of the other homes in your neighborhood. Check out crime rates and the proximity from valuable amenities, too.

Let’s say you want a good mix of a fast sale and a good price. Try this popular (but slightly risky!) tactic: find out the value, then take 15% or so off that price. It should be a tasty-looking price that brings all the potential buyers to the yard, much like the famed milkshake of Kelis. The desired outcome? These people bidding against each other. This results in the value increasing to the original value, and perhaps even further.

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Save The Pennies Now For Your Children’s Future

March 21st, 2017 Posted in Money Tips
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All of us try to save as much money as we can, whether that be on the smaller things or the bigger things. When it comes to any aspect of saving money we look for the cheapest deals and the best promotions in order for us to live well, but to live frugally. With bills we will do research on the cheapest yet most reputable utility providers, with food shopping we will scout out what promotions and money saving offers supermarkets local to us have got on, and when we decide to socialise or go out for the day with the family we will, again, do research on the best offers and savings that are available. Our financial situation is something which is very important to everyone – a bad situation can lead to detrimental effects whereas a good situation needs to be tended to, nurtured and looked after so that we keep on top of our good financial state.

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The state of our finances does not just affect us personally, though. If we have children then our finances can be paramount in our thoughts and actions, as we may want to save money and put some aside to help our children in the future. Every bit of spare cash that you have left over could be put into a savings account to benefit your children. If you were to put £5 a week, over the course of a year that adds up to £240. If you were to save this amount of money over a period of, say, 10 years that would add up to £2,400. And that is a nice amount of money to help your child when they decide to move home, go to university, buy a car etc.

If you find yourself in a situation which seems as if you may be nearing financial trouble, then it is not a good idea to panic and stress obscenely over your situation. There are places and professional which can help you, and all you will need to do is do some research on websites such as selfcertremortgages.co.uk/bad-credit-remortgages where you will be able to seek professional help, and this could allow you to calm down and reassess your situation in a positive light.

If you feel that your finances could be better, you could also write down all of the expenditures over a month that are necessary and then write down the expenditures which are not necessary. Then, work out whether you could save money on bills such as gas and electric, whether you are buying too much food when shopping (to find this out, take a look in the freezer: is there anything in there which you had forgotten about?) and whether you are being overly generous when socialising or out with the family. Looking after your finances is extremely important not just for the state of the way we live but also with the state of our mental health. Do all you can to keep your finances in check.

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