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Children of Debt: Using Your Financial Struggles as Tools for Teaching

September 7th, 2017 Posted in family finance, kids and money
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All households can experience tough times, and some more than others. Having less to spend is not all bed new, though, and It’s actually quite common that children of low-income families grow up to be more financially savvy than their peers. If your family is going through a dip in finances at the moment, you can easily take advantage of this to teach them a few valuable lessons – just avoid the pitfalls.

Here is how some families use financial struggles to safeguard their children from similar problems, as well as a few words of warning on what to steer clear of.

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Have constructive money conversations

Talking about money problems with children is on the top of the to-do list. When times are tough, and you keep it to yourself, it tends to cause a bit of confusion. Be open about it and you’re giving your children a chance to understand the situation.

Explain that you need to save money, as a household, and that they can be of big help by simply remembering to use less electricity. These conversations are healthy and constructive; the problems are presented together with a solution, rather than mindless worries.

Some parents take the money-talk too far and burden their children with it. The conversations about money are used to unload themselves of worries, and the parents may even feel a sense of relief afterwards – while the child is left with a sense of being unable to help.

Admit your mistakes

While we should all learn from our own mistakes, your children are in the unique position of being able to learn from your mistakes as well. Take responsibility for the situation you’re in, admit that you haven’t been as on top of your finances as you should have, and avoid blaming it on your circumstances.

However tempting it may be to point out that you’ve gone through a costly divorce or that the economy is tough, save these blame-shifting talks for your friends. When you’re talking to your children about it, it’s all about being the grown-up, and grown-ups take responsibility.

If your child or teenager ever find themselves in the same situation, they won’t spend time on pointing fingers but instead get right to work and sort things out; just like you taught them.

There are so many words of wisdom to be found in financial problems, and you can use the situation to teach them about the importance of budgeting, the code of practice 9, and general saving alternatives. By being stubborn and proud, you’re just letting a fantastic teaching opportunity slip away from you.

Growing up in a family that needs to save money rather than spend it can actually be quite healthy for their future finances. It teaches them to understand the value of money and how important it is to have a backup fund in case something should happen, so keep teaching the right kind of values while picking yourself up. http://credit-n.ru/microzaymi-blog-single.html

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Guiding Your Child Entrepreneur To Business Success

September 4th, 2017 Posted in Entrepreneurship
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Some people are just born to be in business, and if you see the entrepreneurial spirit in one of your children, you’ll want to make sure they’re set on the right path to make a success of themselves. While there are plenty of youngsters out there making a name for themselves in the business world, behind every success story are dedicated parents who helped them along the way. Below, we take a look at some of the ways you can aid your child’s quest to run their own company.

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Encourage Their Passions

You’ll be encouraging your child in different ways, depending on how old they are. If they’re too young to really make a mark in the world (say, they’re still in school), then foster their entrepreneurial spirit by encouraging them to pursue their passions. If your business minded child is passionate about pets, then you might help them set up a dog walking/grooming business during the school holidays. If they are old enough to go into business (which is anytime over 16), then help them find what they really love doing, and base their business around that.

Help Them With Finances

A lack of finances is probably the biggest reason more people don’t go into business. If it’s tough for adults, you can bet it’s very difficult for individuals who haven’t yet had the opportunity to get a well-paying job and build up capital. Because they’re just starting out, they won’t need too much money – and that’s where you can come in. If you have the money to spare, give their small business a cash injection. If not, there are a range of loans available to you that you can then use to provide them with a head start. Alternatively, if at an early age you’ve spotted your child will one day be a business owner, you can start putting money into a savings account which they can then use when they’re older.

Teach Them The Rules

Your child might have money on their mind, but they won’t have the life experience that’s necessary to succeed in business. You can help this by talking to your child about all the other factors that go into running a successful company, such as man management skills, organisation, showing patience, and so on.

Invest in their Ideas

There’s only so much that your child will learn in school about business. They’ll have to get the ideas that’ll really make them stand out from other sources. By doing things like buying business books and taking them to talks presented by successful entrepreneurs, you’ll be doing your bit to give them the education that the school system just can’t provide.

Use Your Connections

Finally, use your connections to help your child get experience in the business world. They won’t have any connections of their own, but if you know a friend who has a business, you can set up an internship or part-time job and expose your child to the inner workings of the business world at a young age. http://credit-n.ru/kreditnye-karty-blog-single.html

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How to Keep on Top of Your Businesses Accounting

September 3rd, 2017 Posted in Entrepreneurship
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Accounting is one area of business that sometimes even the most successful entrepreneurs get stuck on. They let things build up and get out of control. Then, when it comes to filing a tax return, they’ve got no idea where they stand and have to pay an accountant a fortune to sort everything out.

Even if you’ve got an accountant, it’s a very good idea to keep on top of your finances. This way you’ll always know where you stand, be prepared for any financial issues your business may face, and easily spot ways to save yourself money. Here are some great ways to keep your accounts organized and easy to manage.

Filing

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File everything. Keep a folder for invoices and another for expenses. Organize these into months and type. Then, make sure you use them. The best way to stop things getting lost is to file them straight away before you have a chance to misplace them.

Online

Saving things to the cloud is another great way to avoid losing things and simplify your systems. Saving everything online means it’s there when you need it, wherever you are, whatever device you are using. Keeping things on a screen in front of you also makes it easier to compare and spot issues. Compare your receipts and invoices to your financial forecast regularly to ensure you are still on track for your projections. If you aren’t, make the necessary alterations.

Spreadsheets

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Spreadsheets are so simple to set up; you can just download a template, customize it to your business and get started. Save your spreadsheets each month then when you need figures you won’t have to go trawling through invoices or do any sums.

Set Aside Time

One reason accounts get messy is that people simply don’t make time to look after them. Set aside an hour or two at the end of every week to look through that week’s paperwork.

Prioritize

As with anything else in business, some things are more important than others. You will have financial concerns and issues that need to be dealt with as soon as possible, and there will be things that can wait until your end of week admin slot. You need a small business insurance quote as soon as your old policy is coming up for renewal, but filing the receipt from a business lunch can wait. Write things down, so you don’t forget anything and try to prioritize your tasks.

Regular Maintenance

The accounting and filing system you use when you start your business might be fantastic, but it won’t necessarily keep working well once you take on more clients and your business grows. Regularly look at your systems, make a note of anything that could be better and find new systems. While having a routine is great, you don’t want to get so stuck in your ways that it hurts your business or inhibits growth.

Finances only get out of control if you let them. Try to set up good habits and learn as much as you can about economics and finance as soon as you can to avoid financial pitfalls and continue to develop a successful business. http://credit-n.ru/oformit-kredit-online.html

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How to separate your family finances from business ones

September 2nd, 2017 Posted in Entrepreneurship, family finance
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How to separate your family finances from business ones - financial report image

Mixing work and our personal lives never ends up being a good thing in the long-run. Apart from the fear of having your two worlds collide, there’s also the issue of practicality. When setting up a business, it is considered wise to remove all and any traces of your personal life from the mix. This makes it easier down the line when the ol’ tax records are due and even before that. Separating these two makes it easier to track everything on either end and make sure that nothing gets buried in the paperwork.

Make it official

Simple as that, if separation is your goal, make your business official. Choosing what entity to go as is crucial because it affects your finances down the line and legal protection should you ever need it. Because of the gravity of such a step, it is paramount that you run this through your accountant, insurance agent(s) and your legal representative. Two options usually find themselves as a good fit for fresh companies, these are a limited liability company or LLC and an S corp. Both effectively function as pass-through tax entities, this means that taxes aren’t paid on a business level but passed-through to the tax returns of the company holders.

Open a separate account

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When that’s out of the way, the next thing that is recommended for any potential business is to open a separate account. This makes sure that all of your business expenses are separated from your personal ones, making everything transparent and easier to grasp once taxes are due. Another benefit is having the IRS deem your business as valid, as opposed to classifying it as a hobby if you kept everything on personal accounts. The idea of separate accounts can be expanded upon, making the process even smoother – investing in several accounts for the business itself, making each transaction visible in more than one spot.

Use different software

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This essentially ties into the previous idea. If you’re already focusing on separating the two, go the extra mile. It may be a hassle to get used to two different accounting systems, but it will grow into a huge quality of life improvement down the line. Ostracizing your accounts may seem a bit extreme, but it removes any possibility of having errors and mistakes pop up from trying to do your books last minute. Separate software leads to less opportunities for problems to arise and keeps you in good standing which is imperative for a business’ success.

Opt for a business credit card

This goes without saying, a business credit card is your best friend. Every expense, every transaction, every single solitary change in your finances is logged and kept. This may not seem like much, but having actual proof of a transaction is a godsend for anyone who’s had trouble with tracking finances. If you should ever be faced with an audit, these records will help back up your own logs and make the whole thing go a lot smoother. Should your business credit not be established enough to secure a card, work it out, at least try to use on of your personal ones for business to make it easier on yourself.

Consult professionals

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Although mentioned above, it still deserves a segment of its own, consult a professional. No one likes to be the person asking for help, but this is our livelihoods we’re talking about. Seeking out professional help at the beginning is still cheaper than doing something wrong and have your business finances embody the concept of the domino effect. A plethora of companies like Darcy Bookkeeping & Business Services offer free quotes to help you get an idea of where your company’s currently at and where it could go. With a seasoned accountant on board, all of the aforementioned steps get kicked into high gear. Think of it as learning to ride a bike, we all started with training wheels.

Tread carefully

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Even with all of these steps, the road will be difficult. By separating your accounts and keeping them that way, both sides of our lives are given equal opportunity to flourish without impeding the other. Make no mistake, business is all about playing the hand you’re dealt and seizing the opportunities you’re given. We may not be able to predict what’s coming over the horizon, but we sure can prepare for the worst. Just like any venture, a good plan will see us through and that is the point we’re trying to get across – be prepared. http://credit-n.ru/zaymyi-next.html

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Teens: What You Need To Know About Flying The Nest

September 1st, 2017 Posted in learning about money, teaching students about money
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As you approach the end of high school, you’re probably looking toward college with a heady mix of fear, apprehension and outright excitement. This is your time as a young adult – too old for babyish curfews and rules, too young to be totally independent from the bank of mom and dad. It’s your time to strike out and live the way you’ve always wanted to live; away from home, from rules, from regulations and from being under the watchful parental eye. The question you have to ask yourself is whether you are ready. Are you ready to make that leap and be in charge of yourself?

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You’re probably answering yes, saying it loud and proud and demanding the number for the moving companies you will call to help you gather ye rosebuds and sow them elsewhere! But wait – there are some things you’re going to need to know before you take that step. College may be ‘moving away’ but you’ll be back for holidays, and if you want to be truly independent you have to look within yourself and decide whether you really are ready.

Self-Help Skills. Before you move away from home to go to college, there are going to be a few skills you need to have under your belt. Ideally, your mom and dad instilled in you from a young age some tricks and tips in looking after yourself, namely being able to do your own laundry, cook something more than Ramen on toast and how to pay your own bills. If the idea that you have to do any of this stuff is concerning to you, then you’re not ready to make that leap. You need to learn how to plan ahead with your money so you can balance a grocery bill, your utilities, rent and even have cash left for socialising. You don’t want to have to call up your parents every week because you blew your cash – so be smart.

Once you are at college, if you need help with writing essays and reports consider a term papers writing service

Values. As a teenager, you’re going to come under all kinds of pressure from people around you. Drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and any number of taboo items that you would have had many lessons on saying no to. Upholding your values as a person is a key part of your developing maturity. Aim to fit what you want from yourself, rather than fit in with the crowds and be a sheep. You don’t have to follow the crowd for a good time. Have some self-assurance and if you feel like your own morals are in question, it’s a pretty accurate reason to stay confident in your beliefs and just say no.

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Your parents are equally as nervous about you moving out of their home. They’ve cared for you and provided for you your whole life, all they want is what is best for you. Know that even if you’re living halfway across the country, they’ll always be there for you as a confidant, as someone to lean on and as a back-up just in case. Rely on them but trust yourself. Moving is a big step, but it doesn’t have to be a scary one.

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