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4 Reasons Why You’re Stuck In Debt

Are you drowning in yesteryear’s debt? You are probably pessimistic about your financial future. Eventually, all these bills may push you to your boiling point. When this happens, a fresh start is essential.

Start by being aware of the reasons why your pile of debt exists. Then, do the necessary actions to eliminate it.

YOU ARE ADDICTED TO SHOPPING

Whether you call it shopping addiction or retail therapy, you simply cannot control your spending habits. It is harmful to associate your power and confidence with material possessions. Acquiring a new designer purse may give you short-term happiness, but its price tag may bite you in the long run. At some point, your addiction may turn into financial piles of debt.

Furthermore, our society has a skewed view of what we can afford. For instance, it encourages you to purchase something as long as you can pay off the minimum amount (i.e., when purchasing a car). This mindset may take you to financial regret. You will end up spending more on a monthly or quarterly basis. Instead, do not buy things that you cannot pay for in cash.

YOUR PARTNER IS NOT ON-BOARD

Mixing finances with relationships is complex, especially if you do not see eye to eye. Differences in spending habits and financial beliefs may cause conflicts when not addressed. One of you may be fully committed to being debt-free and practical, while the other spends carelessly. To make this relationship work, you and your partner must come to terms.

In matrimony, it is solely not your money or “their” money. It is “our” money and “our” debts. You are on the same team. Please start acting like one! Plan how you will pay off each other’s debts per month.

YOU ARE UNWILLING TO SACRIFICE

One of the quickest ways to reduce debt is to cut down your expenses. If you are unwilling to sacrifice some of your wants, you will not be able to thrive. How could you possibly justify eating out four nights a week? Do you really need a cable and Netflix subscription?

When stuck in debt, you must be willing to make temporary and permanent lifestyle changes. Ask yourself on what you are willing to give up in order to build a better financial future. Or, you may start by eliminating temporary expenses.

YOU WANT TO KEEP UP WITH OTHERS

Sometimes, the social circles we expose ourselves into can dictate how we lead our lives. Constantly keeping up appearances or doing things for Instagram posting may be costly!

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Yes! Your friend just had a Euro trip with her boyfriend. However, that does not mean that you have to sacrifice your credit to do the same. Following the lifestyle of others may lead you to debt or bankruptcy. You know your financial limitations more than anyone else. Be your own critique when it comes to your spending habits.

How To Deal With 3 Divorce-Inducing Money Issues

In the hustle and bustle of the city life, Singaporeans are exposed to the high economic pressures. What makes this concrete jungle thrive? Money, of course. Putting matrimony into the mix makes things more complicated.

Managing money is a complex task fraught with emotion. It is natural that conflicts can arise from time to time. To keep your marriage and finances in tact, open communication and teamwork are essential. If only more couples are having regular conversations about money issues before and after walking down the aisle then, we will less likely to have divorces.

MONETARY IMBALANCE

What will happen when there is a massive earning gap between partners? Or, when a spouse comes from a wealthy family and the other came from humble beginnings? More so, living in a single-income household is not uncommon. Sometimes, the imbalance between two people creates power play.

When power play occurs, the person who earns the most dictate the spending habits of the other. He or she will have personal spending priorities in mind. The other partner simply complies.

Handling this situation is tricky. You can either make a pre-nuptial agreement or open a joint account. Nonetheless, marriage should be founded by cooperation in all aspects.

OPPOSING PERSONALITIES

In the list of reasons why couples divorce, money is among the top answers. Friction brought by money can be due to the opposing personalities of two people. Personality towards money plays a vital part in a couple’s marital bliss or the lack thereof.

Imagine living 24/7 with a hoarder when you are a spender yourself. Or, living with someone who is a risk-avoidant when you are a risk-taker yourself. To the extreme, you may live with someone who believes that the person who dies with the most money wins. These opposing personalities can be mediated by empathy. Walk in the other person’s shoes to understand where he or she is coming from. You may also adopt your spouse’s money habits for a month to see how it works. Paying attention to money habits before and during matrimony can be beneficial. Talking about your financial views and feelings can help put both of you at ease.

OVERWHELMING DEBT

From school loans to shopping addiction, many people come to the altar bearing a financial baggage. If one partner has an outstanding mountain of debt and the other does not, this situation can spark a conflict.

In such situations, people often take solace in knowing that debts are not carried over thru the marriage. However, it is understandable to share the responsibility over housing and child care debts.

Knowing what you are getting yourself into can help you decide how to deal with it. Both partners have to be honest and non-judgmental when discussing about their financial habits and bad records. Apply several payoff strategies soon after. And, seek professional help when needed.

Sources: 1 & 2

Tips for a Debt – Free Future

Many individuals begin their educational career repeating this mantra over and over: “I will not accumulate debt. I will not accumulate debt. I will not accumulate debt.” No matter how many times you say it, it still doesn’t change the fact that a large percentage of individuals find themselves in debt for most of their early adult years.

Investing in your education and career early on can be the difference between a long, beautiful career, and a series of short-term jobs that you “settle” on. But getting to that long-term career can be incredibly difficult when you are living with debt. This debt can come from a loan taken out to finish a master’s degree, or to open up a business, or a myriad of other things.

There are ways to avoid and subvert these debts that stick with you for years after your educational career ends. Here are some of the top tips compiled to help you live your adult life debt-free.

Let Your Money Earn Money

One of the surefire methods of securing financial success is investing in yourself, which is a phrase I use to describe the act of putting money in a bank account. Taking out some low-risk investments to grow your money gradually is a great way to keep up with interest rates that are simultaneously growing your debts.

By putting your money into an account, you are able to let your money earn money for you. Saving while leading up to taking out a loan can be a great way to set yourself up for being able to pay off the loan in a timely manner. The more money you are able to save, the more that money can earn for you over time.

The Benefits of Stock Loans

You’re obviously going to do some research when you take out your first loan. You’ll want to take out a loan without exorbitant interest, but that can still support the amount and duration that you need in order to effectively use that money to secure your future or your education.

Many who would like to make investment decisions risk losing money if those investments fail. This is why they make use of stock loans. With companies like Easy Stock Loans, investors can put up their stock as collateral in order to make more investments and increase their revenue without having to spend or risk defaulting on the loan.

You can find more information on the Easy Stock Loans website about how to make financial moves using your own stock as collateral. You could be making more money without even having to lift a finger!

Work Smarter AND Harder

Many university students get themselves a job in order to offset the cost of tuition and fees for their education. These jobs though can end up exhausting them, resulting in less successful grades and results. The outcome is that their post-grad prospects don’t look as stellar. These jobs are also often by-the-hour jobs, meaning that better work doesn’t necessarily equal more money.

Finding a salary or commission job while in school is difficult, but not impossible. This step is a huge investment in your future, and an asset to your education and finances. Online and remote work is one of the best ways to do this. Working online also means that you can choose your own schedule, so you can work around your schoolwork and obligations.

A Debt-Free Future

While it may be difficult to utilize every opportunity to save money and remain debt-free, even just implementing one of these things can make your life much easier in the short and the long term.

You shouldn’t have to live with overwhelming debt as the price to pay for a good education, a leg up on your future, or a new business venture. We know how hard it can be to feel secure in your finances, but these few simple steps are a start toward a brighter future.

Key Signs You May Be Heading for Bankruptcy and Not Even Know It

When you hear the word “bankruptcy”, you might have found yourself forming a mental image of a destitute and homeless person begging for money on the street while carrying a sign that says, “Will work for food”. While it might sound a bit too extreme for an outcome of bankruptcy, the stigma surrounding the term itself isn’t entirely unfounded as bankruptcy usually serves as a last resort measure that a person considers only when all other options for repaying the money owed from a creditor have already been exhausted. Thus, you would want to avoid heading straight into bankruptcy as much as possible by knowing some of the key signs that you should watch out for so that you can try your very best to remedy them before it’s too late.

What Are Some of the Key Signs That You May Be Heading for Bankruptcy Without You Even Knowing It?

While it’s completely normal to incur debt from a creditor as long as you can commit to timely repayment of the money that you borrowed from them, you might have taken up too much debt so that you’re unable to get through a single day without thinking of how you can pay your creditor back. As much as you’re putting off the idea of filing for bankruptcy, if your debt has grown to become increasingly unmanageable that you could barely settle it yourself, you would want to identify these key signs that you might be headed for bankruptcy without you even knowing it:

You’re making only minimum payments for your credit card.

Every credit card billing statement has a minimum amount due, but it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t aim to settle your credit card’s entire outstanding balance on a monthly basis.

Unfortunately, some credit card holders pay only the minimum amount due every month as they feel that it’s more convenient for them since it usually costs less than their credit card’s total amount due.
When you’re settling only your credit card’s minimum amount due, a huge portion of it goes to interest with the remaining small amount serving as your actual payment to be deducted from the outstanding balance.

You’ve been taking out loans from your retirement account.

Often considered to be a rainy-day fund, the balance of your retirement account shouldn’t have a single deduction in it since you’ll be using it for when you’re required by the law to retire from your job due to old age.

However, you might be tempted to take a small loan out of your retirement account if the entire balance of your bank account isn’t enough to repay your debts.
While using a retirement account loan to pay back the money that you borrowed from your creditor might seem like a brilliant idea at first, you would have to deal with the need to deposit money back into your retirement account every month as well, which only adds to your existing debt problem.

You’ve been receiving calls from a third-party agency that your creditor had hired to collect your debt.

If you still haven’t paid back the money that you owe your creditor several months after you borrowed from them, they would entrust the collection of your outstanding debt to a third-party agency who might not take to your situation as kindly.

A debt collection agent would gently remind you at first over the phone to settle your debts, but if you still bail out on it, they might start making increasingly urgent and sternly worded calls to break you into paying back the money that you owe your creditor.
Worse comes to worst, your creditor might file a lawsuit against you that would require your employer to withhold a certain portion of your wages and send it as repayment of your debt.

If you find yourself unable to manage your finances properly you may have begun to feel that you can’t repay your debts on time. This situation only leaves you with more debt that you’re unable to keep up with it, and you might have started swallowing your pride and looking into filing for bankruptcy. However, it would greatly benefit you if you can read the above-listed signs to watch out for if you’re heading into bankruptcy without even knowing it so that you can address and resolve them immediately. To help you decide more clearly on what to do when faced with insurmountable debt, you should talk to a lawyer who can assist you in mitigating the ill effects brought about by those signs that might be telling you to file for bankruptcy and what you would need to do in case bankruptcy is the only solution left for you to wipe your slate full of debt clean.

Veronica Ferguson is equipped with more than 20 years of experience as a businesswoman. She is currently writing her next big project and hopes her pieces would impart vital knowledge to her readers. Veronica is a family woman, and is often with her family during her free time.

Disclaimer: The information presented below is meant to serve as a guide on some of the key signs of bankruptcy that you may not know about, and shouldn’t be interpreted as legal advice. If you want to find out more about how you can file for bankruptcy, you would have to contact a licensed bankruptcy attorney who can guide you throughout the entire bankruptcy filing process.

Turn Your 2018 Money Resolutions Into Reality

It all starts with a dash of imagination…

Vividly envisioning where you are headed improves the likelihood of meeting your financial resolutions. Allocate at least a few minutes of your day to contemplate on your past experiences as well as your current standing. Afterwards, visualize the financial situation that you desire to experience in the future. Some people may find satisfaction in their year-round travels. While, you may find serenity through altruism. The mere act of visualization will motivate you to reach the goals that you set.

Plan to start small…

Like anything in life, you must have strategic plans. Money resolutions such as paying off debt or building retirement savings are not always easy! This is why you must commit to small things first. Commit yourself to a “small” task that you will accomplish for the rest of the year. Consider writing down every dollar that you spend. For the adjustment period, you can write down each transaction in a notebook or in a journal. Awareness is increased through the mentally exhausting act of writing. It is exhausting in a sense that it activates different parts of the brain. The enhanced brain activity improves your attention and memory.

As the act becomes second nature, you can turn to electronic devices for help. Find an efficient budgeting app or a software to track your transactions. Keep a record. This will help you spot the weaknesses and strengths of your budget. Please adjust accordingly.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Divide and conquer…

Absorbing the essence of all your financial resolutions is overwhelming! Try dividing a single goal into bite-sized pieces instead. Focus your efforts on a goal before moving on to the next. Observe your progress by ticking off the “resolutions” that you have accomplished.

Remember to be as concrete as possible when identifying your financial resolutions. You may state something along the lines of avoiding credit cards for a month. Or, you may pay an additional of S$50 to your credit card debts. Aim to minimize your debt in a shorter span of time.

Parting thoughts…

Use affirmations to remind yourself that being responsible for your finances will impact your personal life and that of your family’s. Valuing your hard work starts with making few financial alternations.

Sources: 1 &2

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