Many people would’ve gone into the new year with plans to address their personal finances. Whether it be savings related, reducing debt, or getting round to that big-ticket purchase of a holiday, property, or car, all require good money management and a focus on what needs to be done to get there. Now as spring and summer approaches, how are these plans going? If the good intentions have already started to fall behind, here are some top tips to help you get your personal finance plans back on track.
Choose Specialist Lenders
If you’re planning to make a purchase this year that you don’t already have the credit or savings to cover, you’ll be looking for loans and credit cards that can help. Rather than going for options you’ve used before or are linked to your bank account, specialist lenders can provide what you need and sometimes be a better choice depending on the circumstances. If you have been budgeting and then an unexpected expense crops up, this can derail your carefully made plans. To resolve it, you’ll want to find the best short term loans available that will quickly provide the credit you need. Many specialist lenders of this type of loan can provide approval and pay-out within a day or two even if your credit score is less than perfect. If you’re short on cash during the month and the unexpected occurs, look at your options and choose one that will provide flexible repayments at an affordable term.
Create Low Spend Months
Sometimes your budget may leave you with very little room to move, so if this is difficult to maintain, one alternative could be to have designated low spending months. Put simply, this is where a few months throughout the year you keep non-essential spending to a minimum. Purchases such as clothing, restaurant food and drink and other miscellaneous items should ideally be avoided during this time. This is great for people who are at a loss of where their money goes each month even if they can comfortably cover the essentials. Looking through your bank statements will tell a story of where this non-essential spend goes, so arranging low spend months can quickly bring this down and create more money for savings. If you’re not sure which month to choose, it’s a good idea to avoid months that have a lot of birthdays, for example or the Christmas period. If spend is kept low in between these busy months, you won’t feel as financially stretched during them.
Boost Your Emergency Savings Fund
Whilst many will have plans on saving up for something they need or want, how many people do the same for emergencies? Typically, a financial emergency will arise when you least expect it, but when it does, it will become a priority over everything else. A good habit to get into this year is saving money to cover the unexpected. This doesn’t need to be any special account, just a normal savings facility that will provide instant access when you need it. Even if you can only afford to put a small amount in each week or month, this can build quickly over time and really make a difference in a worst-case scenario. You should aim towards having at least 3 months’ worth of essential outgoings covered in this fund so if say you lost your job, you can still pay the bills.
Hopefully, your personal finances for 2021 are in a good place so far, but if they need some adjustments here and there, you can visit website for wealth management services.
