Jeffery

There are certain skills that you need to have, if you want to be effective in managing your personal finances. It is very hard for you to manage your personal finances effectively if you don’t have these skills. They include budget-making skills, budget-implementation skills, debt management skills and financial goal-setting skills. We will be looking at each of those skills in turn, with a view to understand what each entails.

Budget-making skills

Budgeting is all about coming up with a plan on what you will be spending your money on. So you start by looking at how much money you currently have, or how much money you are expecting to get. Then you put some thought into the question of the specific ‘things’ you are planning to spend the money on, and how much exactly you will be spending on each thing. So you try to create a comprehensive list of things you need. Then you work out what each of those things will cost you over the course of period you are budgeting for.

You are more likely to be successful if your budget is realistic.

Ideally, a budget should be written down, though there are some individuals who are able to work with mental budgets as well.

Views vary on how detailed a budget should be. There are individuals who favor highly detailed budgets, with money set aside for each and every small item. There are others who prefer more general budgets – like where you just make a decision to spend X or Y amount of money per day, and then make the decisions on what exactly to buy/what not to buy as the day progresses – as long as you don’t go beyond the budgeted amount.

There are ‘low-tech budgets’, done using good old pen and paper and there are high tech budgets, done using the various budgeting apps that have become available nowadays.

All said and done, budgeting is the first step towards getting a grip on your money. In the absence of a budget, you will almost certainly feel as if your money is vanishing magically. On another note, in the absence of a budget, you are likely to keep on falling into the trap of impulsive expenditure, ultimately leading to financial failure. It is while budgeting that you get an opportunity to differentiate your needs and wants. Then you can prioritize the needs, even as you also try to figure out how many of the ‘wants’ you can meet within the period you are budgeting for. A budget is a very essential tool in effective management of personal finances. You really need to have some sort of budget.

Budget-implementation skills

As many of us have come to learn, creating a budget is one thing. Actually sticking to the budget is another challenge altogether. Therefore, besides having budget-making skills, you also need to have budget-implementation skills. The most important thing, when it comes to budget-implementation, is having self-discipline to stick with the budget. The budget has to be realistic, to start with. If a budget is realistic, making provisions for the whole range of things you are likely to need, your chances of sticking with it are high.

It is important for you to always keep in mind the consequences that may befall you, if you fail to stick to your budget. This would then motivate you to stick with the budget, even when there are numerous temptations for you to stray from the budget and indulge in impulsive expenditure.

It is also critical for you to have some way of tracking budget adherence. You need to be able to know how well you are on track in the budget implementation. If you have fallen off-track in following your budget, you need to know by how much and what you can do to get back on track.

To reduce the chances of falling off your budget, you need to make provisions for unforeseeable scenarios. Thus, for instance, you can have a miscellaneous vote in your budget, to cater for any unforeseeable costs you have to incur in the course of the period you have budgeted for.

Debt management skills

You can’t claim to be managing your personal finances effectively if you are unable to handle debts properly. At any point in time, you need to know how much money you owe others and what your plan for repayment of those debts is like.

Another important aspect here is that of thinking carefully before incurring debt. This applies to not only the formal loans, but also to things like expenditures made using credit cards (keeping it in mind that credit card expenditure has to be repaid later, with interest). Before borrowing any money , you should know what you are borrowing for. You should also try to figure out whether what you have in mind is worth borrowing for. You may then come to learn that you are better off saving for some things, as opposed to borrowing for them/obtaining them on credit.

If you are too deep in debt, it may be necessary to consider things like debt consolidation or renegotiating the terms of the various debts, to ensure that you stay on top of them.

Financial goal setting skills

You should ideally have some financial goals that you are working towards. The goals may be big or small, but they should be there. In the absence of financial goals, you may feel as if your financial life has no purpose, as if you are drifting about in a rudderless manner.

The financial goals you set should be challenging, but attainable within your means. The financial goals you set should also be aligned with your interests and your passions. They should be the sorts of goals that make you look forward to each new day.

After setting the financial goals, you need to create a pathway towards their attainment. You need to have a roadmap, made up of smaller (mini) goals that cumulatively lead to the attainment of the main goals. This way, you can keep track of your progress towards the attainment of the major financial goals. That way, you can also get to celebrate the small wins you get on the way towards attaining the major financial goals. In other words, you would get to enjoy not only the attainment of your major financial goals (which may take years) but also the day by day journey towards the attainment of those goals.

Most of us have encountered various warnings on how imprudent use of credit cards can lead to financial ruin. What may come as news to many of us is the fact that credit cards can also be used to improve financial well-being. Thus, just as there is always the possibility of financial ruin due to imprudent use of credit cards, so is there also a possibility of financial improvement through the prudent use of credit cards. In this article, we will be describing the exact mechanism through which you can improve your financial situation using credit cards. We will also look at the specific practical steps you need to take, if you wish to improve your financial situation using credit cards.

The exact mechanism

As it turns out, the mechanism through which you can improve your financial situation using credit cards is actually quite simple. You see, when you use your credit card responsibly, your credit score goes up. For instance, if you are consistent in using your credit card to pay for stuff and then repaying the credit card bill in a timely manner, it leads to a better credit score. Consequently, the higher credit score earned that way translates into an improved financial situation in several ways.

With a higher credit score (attained through the prudent use of credit cards), you will be in a position to access credit facilities that were previously out of reach for you. In other words, you will find that with a higher credit score, you are able to borrow bigger sums of money. Thus, for instance, you could find the higher credit score making it possible to borrow enough funds to set up a business with. That can subsequently be the turning point in your finances – because once you have a business up and running, it can translate into a vast increase in your income.

Or it could be a situation where the higher credit score (attained through prudent use of credit cards) leads into access to mortgage facilities. Once you are able to access a mortgage, you may be in a position to buy your own house, and thus stop paying rent. This too would translate into vast improvement in your financial position in the long run.

There is also the scenario where the higher credit score (attained through prudent use of credit cards) could lead into a situation where you are able to borrow at lower interest rates. This would, in the long run, translate into a better financial position – as you would get to save the vast sums of money you’d otherwise have spent on higher interest payments.

A higher credit score could even translate into a better job for you. We know that some employers have developed a tendency to look at job applicants’ credit scores as part of background checks. Thus, with a better credit score (attained due to prudent use of credit cards) you could find jobs that were previously out of reach for you now becoming available…

If you are seeking to improve your finances using credit cards, there are 6 specific steps you need to take:

1. Identify appropriate credit card(s): An appropriate credit card is one that you can afford comfortably. There also exists credit cards that are specifically meant for individuals who are seeking to improve their credit scores – the so called ‘credit cards for poor credit’. The most important thing is for you to undertake some due diligence, to identify the most appropriate credit card(s) for your situation.
2. Apply for the identified credit card(s): The most important thing here is to ensure that you don’t apply for too many credit cards. Remember, when you apply for a credit card, your credit report is subjected to a ‘hard inquiry’. And each ‘hard inquiry’ shaves a few points off your credit score. So, in an attempt to improve your credit score, you could actually end up hurting it by making too many credit card applications. In any event, if you apply for too many credit cards, you could end up having a difficult time keeping up with the various payment due dates. That could then lead to late payments and decline in the very credit score you were trying to improve… Thus, one or two credit cards (three at most) should suffice, in most cases.
3. Ensure that you always pay the credit card bills on time: This is the most important thing, if you are trying to improve your credit score – and by extension your entire financial situation — using credit cards. So it is very important for you to know when the various credit card bills are due, and ensure that you pay them well before the due dates. Remember that for the most part, it is this demonstrated ability to pay off your credit card bills on time that will, over time, translate into better credit score. So give it the seriousness it deserves and prioritize it.
4. Ensure that you don’t exhaust the credit limit(s): It has been postulated that if you consistently exhaust your credit limit, it is taken to mean that you are not fully responsible financially. You are viewed as the sort of individual who makes use of credit facilities just because they are available. So you can opt for a situation where you consistently make use of 30% to 40% of the available credit, in order to have an impact on the credit score. If you only use 10% or 20% of the available credit, it may not have an impact on your credit score, even if you pay the bills in the most timely manner. So use a big enough chunk of the available credit (to have an impact on your credit score), but don’t get near to exhausting it.
5. Watch as your credit score improves: The most important thing here is for you to be patient. For instance, the first timely credit card payment may not have an impact on your credit score. What the credit bureaus are looking for is consistency. If you are consistent in using your credit cards and paying off the credit card bills on time, you will eventually start seeing results in terms of improved credit score, by and by.
6. Take full advantage of the improved credit score: The moment your credit score improves to an appreciable point, take full advantage of it. For instance, you may now apply for jobs that were out of your reach when your credit score was lower. Then use the earnings to improve your overall financial situation. Or you may apply for business loans that were out reach when your credit score was lower. Then use the business income to improve your overall financial situation. Or at yet another level, you may apply for mortgages that were out of reach when your credit score was lower. Then use the rent savings to improve your overall financial situation… In a nutshell, take full advantage of the hard-earned higher credit score to improve your overall financial situation.

There are several things that you need to do, in order to attain real financial security. Key among those is making strategic investments, acquiring marketable skills and learning how to handle your money wisely. If you just focus on those three things, you would be on the path towards attaining real financial security. In this article, we will be taking a close look at each of those things that you need to do, if you wish to attain real financial security:

Making strategic investments

The strategic investments in question here are those that are capable of generating a good income consistently, over a long period of time. Once you have accumulated an adequate amount of such investments, you would have attained real financial security. The financial security would be based on the fact that you are assured of a comfortable income, ‘no matter what’.

The strategic investments here could be in a wide variety of things – real estate, shares, bonds, mutual funds, well-structured businesses… and so on. The most important thing is to invest in ventures where the returns on investment are reasonably good and where the risk is not too high. It is also important to ensure that you haven’t put all your eggs in one basket, when it comes to investments. You can’t claim to have attained real financial security if all your funds are invested in one venture (however huge the investment). It is only an individual with a huge enough diversified investment portfolio who can claim to have found true financial security.

Of course, if you are to have investible funds, you will have to figure out ways of enhancing your earnings and reducing your expenditure. When you maximize your earnings while minimizing your expenditures, you are able to save appreciable sums of money. Those are monies that can subsequently be used to make strategic investments.

Acquiring marketable skills

If you have good skills of the nature that will always be in demand, that translates into quite a bit of financial security. The skills in question here could be anything from technical skills, professional skills or business skills. With such skills, you can always be assured of a livelihood, however bad things become. In this regard, we can take the example of an individual who has successfully gone through medical school and attained the necessary licenses. With such skills, it would be highly unlikely for the individual in question to fall into abject poverty — because they can always get a job, or at the very least, they can secure locum positions.

The most important thing here is to identify the sorts of skills that will always be in demand. Then the next thing would be to go through training in such areas. You would then get to live with peace of mind, based on the fact that you have skills that will always be in demand (and from which you can always earn yourself a bit of money).

Learning how to handle your money wisely

It is highly unlikely for you to attain real financial security if you don’t know how to handle your money wisely. So this is the most basic thing, and it should actually have come at the top of the least. However much money comes your way, it will all eventually slip away if you don’t know how to handle it wisely. Even if you have made the most strategic of investments, if you are unable to handle your money wisely, you will eventually find yourself having to liquidate the investments to finance day to day expenditure. Or even if you have acquired the most marketable skills, if you are unable to handle the money you make out of those skills wisely, you will eventually go bust.

To appreciate just how critical wise handling of money is, you just have to listen to the numerous riches to rags stories out there. Haven’t we heard numerous tales of athletes and lottery winners who came upon millions of dollars, only to end up broke within a few years? What is it that would make it possible for you to have a million bucks today, and be dead-broke within the next 4 years? Is it not lack of ability/knowledge on how to handle money wisely?

Therefore, once you learn how to handle your money wisely, you will have attained a certain degree of real financial security, for sure. You will have the assurance that you can make effective use of whatever money comes your way, however high or low your income becomes in various phases of your life.

With the ability to handle money wisely, it becomes possible for one to save money (however little) gradually over time. With such savings one can eventually get to a point of being able to make strategic investments. Alternatively, with the ability to handle money wisely, one is able to finance the acquisition of marketable skills (among other things that can lead to lifelong financial security).

So it is very important for you to take the trouble to learn how to handle your money wisely. Admittedly, it may not be easy, as it may entail having to change hard-wired habits. But you can eventually get to a point where you are able to handle money wisely.

In practical terms, learning how to handle your money wisely means several things. Most importantly, it means learning how to budget for your income. Unless and until you learn how to budget for your money, you will always feel as if the money is slipping off your hands inexplicably. You will always have the feeling that ‘you don’t know where your money goes’. On the other hand, once you learn how to budget (and stick to your budgets), you will have developed a sense of control over your money. Having a budget will help you resist impulsive spending. Having a budget will help you in attaining financial goals…

Contrary to the widely-held misconception, handling money wisely doesn’t mean being miserly or mean. It just means being able to make good plans on the usage of your money, and being able to implement those plans in the best manner possible.

Conclusion

The specific things you, as an individual, need to do so as to attain financial security will depend on the stage you are at in your life. If, for instance, you are just starting out in life, you may be better off focusing on acquiring skills that will always be in demand, and learning how to handle your money wisely. Then once you start earning money (using the skills you would have attained), you can be in a position to handle it wisely, save as much of it as possible and direct the savings into strategic investments.

Another individual who inherited lots of investments can focus on acquiring marketable skills, so as to have another layer of financial security.

Yet another individual who already has marketable skills that he is earning some money out of can focus on learning how to handle the earnings wisely, so as to accumulate savings that can be used to make strategic investments.

All in all, a combination of marketable skills (and the income from them), the ability to handle money wisely and strategic investments translates into real financial security.

Nowadays, the process of applying for a credit card has become very simple. In most cases, you just have to go to the credit card issuer’s website, fill in a simple form there, and receive a credit decision within seconds. That simplicity belies the fact that in applying for a credit card, you are making a major financial commitment. The credit card you applied for so easily could turn out to be the genesis of your financial ruin, if you are not careful. So it is very important to always remember that credit card application is not something to be taken lightly.

As a matter of fact, there are several key questions you need to ask yourself, before proceeding to apply for a credit card. In this article, we will be looking at those key questions you need to ask yourself before applying for a credit card, and why each of these questions is important.

Without any further ado, some of the questions you need to ask yourself before proceeding to apply for a credit card include:

1. What is the credit card’s interest rate? Every time you make use of your credit card, what you are actually doing is borrowing money from the credit card’s issuer. This is money that the credit card issuer will expect to get back, with some good interest on top. It is important to have this basic fact at the back of your mind, while applying for a credit card. Only then will you understand that the credit card issuers aren’t doing you a favor when they approve you for credit card application. They stand to earn vast sums of money from you, in the long run, through the credit card. The biggest cost associated with a credit card is that of interest. It is therefore very important for you to take a close look at the credit card’s APR, in order to figure out whether the credit card is worth having. You need to understand what credit cards’ typical interest rates are like in your market. Then, if a particular credit card’s interest is too high, you may be better off not applying for it – however persuasive the issuers may be or however tempting the offer may be in other respects.
2. What penalties and fees are associated with the credit card? There are some credit cards whose interest rates are okay, but whose fees and penalties are exploitative. Unlike the interest rates that are usually printed out boldly, these other penalties and fees are usually only indicated as a ‘by the way’ in the credit card’s agreement fine print. Yet they could come to haunt you. It is therefore important for you to read the fine print, to understand the applicable penalties and fees, which you may be subjected to at some point. You need to know what the typical/acceptable fees and penalties are, for similar credit cards in your market. Then if the penalties and fees for the card you are seeking to apply are too high/exploitative, you may be better off not applying for it.
3. How does the credit card compare with others in the market? The most important thing here is to resist the temptation to apply for the very first credit card you come across. Another important thing is to resist the temptation to apply for a credit card just because the credit card’s issuer has sent you a flattering letter/email telling you that they have ‘prequalified’ you for the card. What you should do instead is undertake due diligence first, to understand how other credit cards in the market work. How are the costs associated with the card you are considering applying for as compared to other similar cards in the market? How are the terms and conditions for the credit card you are thinking of applying for as compared to the terms and conditions for other similar cards in the market? You should then only apply for a credit card if you are certain that it is the best or (at least one of the best) in market. In other words, before applying for any given credit card, you should know what its pros and cons are (compared to other cards in the market). All said and done, you need to ensure that while making a credit card application, you are doing so from an informed point of view.  That is as opposed to making an application while ignorant of what is happening in the broader credit cards market.
4. What exactly do you need the credit card for? In the market, you will find various credit cards meant to serve a wide variety of needs. There are, for instance, credit cards that are designed for people with poor credit who are trying to improve their credit scores. There are other credit cards designed for people who travel a lot. There are yet others that are designed for people who shop a lot and who seek to earn rewards… It is very important for you to understand your needs, and try to go for a credit card that is attuned to those specific needs. Otherwise you could end up paying dearly for the wrong choice of a credit card. Like if you take a case where, in spite of having a reasonably good credit score, you apply for one of the credit cards that are meant for folks with poor credit who are trying to improve their credit scores. You would then end up paying too much interest, because such cards are charged higher interest rates because they are deemed to be ‘riskier’. So you would end up paying much more than would have been the case if you had applied for an appropriate credit card.
5. What other financial commitments do you have? This consideration would be important in trying to figure out whether you can afford the credit card. If, for instance, most of your income is going towards repaying some other loans you already have, and you go ahead to apply for a credit card, you may find yourself struggling with the credit card payments… You need to remember that if you apply for a credit card you can’t afford, you would be setting yourself up for financial struggles in the future. Therefore just because a credit card issuer has given you a credit card offer or ‘prequalified’ you for a credit card doesn’t meant that you should jump on it. On the contrary, you need to reflect deeply. Only take up the credit card offer if your financial position (your income vis a vis your other financial commitments) allows you to take up the credit card. And only if you really need it.