We all know that the global recession has left a permanent impact on everyone’s life. While some people lost their jobs, some lost their home to a forced foreclosure and some experienced drastic salary cuts. Overall production, corporate profit, income and investment expenditure of the US economy reached an excessive low level and therefore, it is very natural that the economy will take some time to recover even in the post-recession period. All of us are facing the upshots of recession in the form of distressed finances and lack of funds at our disposal. If you want to ensure that you won’t face any more financial hardship after the recession, the best step that you can take is to improve your personal finances. Although there are various tips that we already know, there are some more that you should revisit so as to make sure that we’re taking the right steps forward.
Since the last recession, everyone has started looking closely at their spending level in the last few years. Job security was weakest and the sub-prime lending problems hit the US economy throughout the world. Although experts say that there has been slow but steady improvement in the US economy, there are still some steps that need to be taken in order to improve the unemployment statistics and make some noticeable improvement in the economy. Surviving the recession can be done only with a positive financial attitude and discipline. If you’re someone who would like to revisit the personal finance tips that would help you live to tell the tale of the recession to your children.
- Trigger your debts: In order to improve and augment your present financial state, the first thing that you should do is to trigger your debts. Among all the loans that you’ve taken out, choose to repay the unsecured debts as they’re more expensive that the secured counterparts. Unsecured debts include personal loans, credit card debt, student loan debt and payday loan debts. You can use extra cash and also use your savings that earns an interest rate that is lower than the rate that you’re paying on the loan.
- Create and build an emergency fund: Having a nodding acquaintance with the bank is required for all the consumers and debtors. Unless you create an emergency fund, you might always go through the risk of getting help from the professional companies who might charge you high fees. A small emergency fund can offer you great help during emergencies and therefore, ensure contributing bits of money in this fund and storing them for future usage.
- Protect yourself and your loved family members: Before you acquire any financial assets, you should make sure you have enough insurance policies against the big risks of life. There are some insurance policies that are required and among them the most common are the health, life and auto insurance policy. You might get benefits from the insurance companies in the event of a claim that you file after an unfortunate accident. You can sew the hole in your wallet by getting yourself insured.
- Borrow money cautiously: When you use credit, make sure you use it to purchase things of lasting value like a car, education or might be a home. For everything else, you should carry cash and that may include travel, clothing, entertainment and furniture. Even better, you can leverage the 30 day loan period offered by the credit card company every month. Ensure borrowing money cautiously so that you don’t borrow an amount that is not within your affordability. There’s no one who has fallen into a huge debt mess as they didn’t borrow enough money.
When you fall in debt, borrowing a consolidation loan is also a means of fighting-fire-with-fire approach towards debt reduction. Use money and analyze the significance of money so as to be able to understand the worth of your dollars. If you’re an investor, make sure you diversify the portfolio in order to reap the highest returns.
Jason Holmes is a professional financial writer. Mostly he is a freelancer, working for various finance community including debt consolidation care who are interested about good writing. He is quite knowledgeable of various financial matters like credit card issues,saving planing and frugal living.