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Thursday, 20 March 2014

Dealing with a stressed finance


  Filed under: Personal Finance |
For obvious reasons, nobody ever wants to be financially stretched, because of its dire consequences. While most people strive not to be caught up in a financial mess others are bound to find themselves neck deep in this tasteless situation for the simple reason of living above their means.
 Curiously, some people who tend to work with a budget, posses a good saving culture sometimes still go broke because of slight financial mismanagement or an overwhelming situation that they couldn’t just nip in time.
Overspending as a habit is worrisome, though an atom of it exists in the life of every human as we all tend to always spend outside our budget but this is obviously more pronounced with some others. The implication of this is that you are hardly going to be able to save and even when you do a little, you are quick to retract it because you have exhausted your liquidity. Dealing with this would always be difficult but simple steps of shopping wisely and constant consciousness of your bottom line every time you spend and will be helpful.
 The fact that most people use some part of their income to settle debt is not really new but when you discover all your income is being used to see-off debts, then there is certainly a reason to worry because it simply implies you spend your income even before pay day, leaving you with no savings, recycling debts and perpetually broke. If you must take a loan ensure it remains a light one, at most 20 percent of your income so you don’t use your entire income servicing your debt.
 Another conspicuous sign of a stretched finance is when you hardly meet your regular financial responsibility such as rents, loan repayments and even utilities at the right time. Meeting these needs should be a must for your income and when it fails to meet them it reflects poor financial management that should be quickly tackled by either a financial consultant or a personal re-assessment of your spend.
 Constantly selling off properties and possessions to meet a financial need is another bad sign your finance is not efficiently utilised. Needs are bound to creep up and this is where your emergency funds should come in handy. While it might not be enough to abate the emergency it least should be enough to prevent you from immediately disposing your possessions, while you take some time in accessing what options you could explore.
 The non-utilization of income to optimum satisfaction is also a sign of a finance not formidable enough. Taming this will require a great deal of sincerity to yourself whenever you spend. You should clearly define your needs from your wants. You cant attend to all your wants at the detriment of your needs. Cultivate the habit of spending on what is necessary and important.
ODINAKA MBONU

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