A Personal finance blog to get rich
Financial planning for businesses is as must as they are for individuals. Most business owners easily accept that financial planners can provide valuable expertise to help them achieve their business goals.
However, not as many people realize that financial planners can also serve an essential role in helping individuals organize their finances and establish their long-term goals regarding savings or retirement.
With the economy roaring back to new levels of stability, the time to save money for the future is now. Interest rates continue to grow, which means your money could work harder for you now so you have a nice nest egg on which to rely in the future.
Before you decide to open a retirement, checking, or savings account, you might want to know which banks have the best interest rates right now. You can easily find this information by doing a quick search online.
Most of us wish we could stretch our money further than we do. Too often things come up that steer us away from the budget we planned. A few social obligations arise during the week and suddenly monthly entertainment expenses have doubled; which increases food costs due to eating out with friends.
Not to mention the additional costs of failing to prep meals for the week because you were out late.
Financial planning isn’t just about hiring a financial planner to set your financial goals and hit a target. This process happens every day; almost every decision from getting up in the morning and going to work or buying your morning coffee involves finances.
Life isn’t just about enjoying every moment, it’s about preparing for what’s ahead, and getting stronger in the process. This is exactly why financial planning exists.
Even though the US economy has improved in recent times and unemployment has now fallen to around 5% after a high of double figures in the midst of the recession there is still the prospect of your losing your job. You must be prepared because if you suddenly have no income coming in you are in real trouble. It can happen as companies downsize or streamline in the face of competition.
Some businesses simply find themselves unable to trade profitably. While unemployment statistics currently suggest that if you lose your job there will be other opportunities out there you should still be prepared in case there is an interruption in your monthly paycheck.
You get 9 months to prepare for an arriving baby. Well in true sense its 8 months. You’ll make the nursery, you’ll buy clothes, blankets, baby’s furniture, medicines ,toys and what not. But are you financially prepared to meet the demand of a child birth? In US, a child birth is costliest in the world.
If you are relatively young and in good health, thinking about someone one day inheriting your money might seem like a very distant future. Similarly, it almost might not seem like a useful effort, if you presently don’t have much money. For both situations, I’ll say this: wealth doesn’t just happen.
Do you budget? If yes then I’d like to ask – do you really love to budget? I don’t think many people would answer in a ‘yes’. Let’s admit we don’t really want to budget. Some of us do but that’s because of extreme financial difficulties. But there are solid benefits that make budgeting essential for all.
Even for the billionaires. We just need a trigger to start with it. for some it’s being in debt, for others, it may be due to a financial goal. For me, the trigger was buying our first home.
When you combine mortgage, property taxes, homeowners insurance and compare them with rent you used to pay, you sense fire – you start budgeting.
This is first post in the Financial Planning series, over the weeks we will help plan for finances across different age groups. I am starting with an age which sees maximum changes in your life. From college to job, from being single to be in a relationship, from dorm to your first home, and, from student loan to mortgage.
This is also the most challenging time for your finances. First getting a job for living. Then, you start paying off student loans, while using your credit cards and probably also looking for a new home. This is most challenging more so because you are almost inexperienced at managing your finances. Since personal finances are not taught at schools, most in their 20s simply don’t have a financial plan.
