finance

3 Ways Your Restaurant Can Make More Money, Today

Angela Manning Business, Finance , , ,
3 Ways Your Restaurant Can Make More Money, Today

Restaurants today face a steep uphill battle: it’s always been a tough industry, but it’s only getting harder. Foodies have never had more choices of where to eat between the explosion of new restaurants and food trucks, so there’s a crowded field competing for their attention and food dollar.

Here are three things you can do which will help drive profit for your restaurant today.

1. Employee Scheduling Software

New employee scheduling software creates schedules all staff will love, and in up to 80% less time than it would otherwise take. This makes a frustrating task easier to perform, but also keeps your employees focused on the tasks that are most useful to the restaurant. It also helps with labor compliance, and saves your restaurant between 1-3% in labor costs, often one of the biggest financial drains restaurants face.

Employee scheduling software lets managers receive feedback from employees after every shift, so they might suggest menu pricing tips to increase your profits or other ideas that you can incorporate right away.

It’s important to let your frontline workers tell you about their perspective; they have unique and invaluable insights nobody else in your business is positioned to see. Employee scheduling software lets your staff submit their feedback anonymously if they chose, so they feel more comfortable speaking candidly.

2. Smart Promotion

Social media has given restaurants a free and powerful tool they can use to let the neighborhood and beyond know what’s going on inside their kitchen. Every restaurant is different, and how you choose to present yourself online needs to be based on your own identity and other circumstances unique to your restaurant.

But once you have your voice, it’s an invaluable tool for gaining public exposure for your restaurant. Be sure to depict your restaurant and food accurately — you don’t want people to leave your restaurant disappointed at the mismatch between your promotion and reality. On the other hand, you want to attract the people who really will love the restaurant once they’re inside it. Give them an accurate preview, so they’re motivated to try your restaurant.

3. Create a Fitting Digital Presence

The trend now for restaurants is undeniable: people are most likely to order food if they can do so through their phone or their computer. Maybe people are just used to doing everything through their phone, but whether it’s to consult a review before dining, calling or booking a reservation through a website or app, or actually ordering the food itself to your door, any restaurant is sinfully negligent if they don’t have a strong online presence.

Be sure you have a website or app that matches the needs and wants of your clientele. If you give them a means of interacting with your restaurant in the way that suits them best, you’ll love the financial return that inevitably follows.

If your restaurant can use modern technology like the latest employee scheduling software, social media, and website or an app, you’ll get the important boost your restaurant needs to stay competitive in this notoriously difficult industry.

Journey to Financial Freedom

Angela Manning Finance , , ,
Journey to Financial Freedom

Source: Unsplash | Bram Naus

Have you been working for a while to reduce your debt? Many people around the world continuously have debt stare them in the face day after day. While this is a common problem for most people, maybe you are one of the relatively few people that are working on getting your debt under control.

Keeping on Track Despite Obstacles

Even the best-laid plans have obstacles from time to time. For example, one family was just about out of the hole of debt. They had been working at their goal for several years.

Once they got the initial shock from the amount of self-discipline that it takes to get out of debt out of their system, the family slowly but surely climbed their way out of the hole.

They were at the surface of the black hole and almost free. The dad was driving on I-80 coming home from work and was involved in a car accident. He was injured and hospitalized for a little while. All their years of hard work of getting out of debt made the situation a bit easier, but with him not bringing home a paycheck, the debt was starting to mount up quickly.

While it was a huge disappointment for the family, they did look for personal injury lawyers Utah drivers trust and chose a good one. This lawyer helped them recover some of their losses. It took some time, but they did get back on their feet again and finished their climb out of debt.

As you can see from the experience of this family, unexpected things happen in life. It is important not to let the unexpected take control of your financial situation. Seek out whatever legal remedy you can and keep the goal of being debt-free in focus.

As with any project in life, the project of reducing your debt takes a lot of self-discipline. You need to continually analyze what is essential to buy or not. Let us consider a few tips that may help to lessen your debt even faster.

  • Put away the credit cards.Carrying around credit cards can encourage debt because you do not see the cash leaving your wallet.
  • Stop going through the drive-thru.The drive-thru at a fast food restaurant is very convenient. The convenience makes us not realize how much money we are spending. Take a drink and snack with you from home to save money.
  • When you are eating out, order water to drink.It is not really possible for most people to banish all eating out, so on those special occasions where you choose to eat out save a few bucks and drink water.
  • Know where your money is going.It is essential to keep your receipts and add the expenses to a spreadsheet. In this way, you will know exactly where your money is going and can make adjustments to your spending habits.

These are just a few suggestions to help you climb out of debt. As you are taking the momentous climb up the mountain, set little goals for yourself. Once you attain your goal, have a small, inexpensive reward system in place. This reward system will give you the encouragement you need to keep going.

Financial Freedom and You

The burden of being in debt can be very overwhelming and depressing. Going through the process of climbing out of the hole of debt is very educational and worth the climb. The slope of your climb may be steep and very uncomfortable, which may leave you feeling distressed at times. However, you do well to keep the hope of being debt-free alive. Remember, the feeling of being debt-free is uplifting, builds confidence and it is financial freedom from the enslavement of debt.

No matter where you are in the process of climbing out of your mountain of debt, keep going. If you are just starting your journey to financial freedom, lace up your bootstraps and get ready, it is a long walk. Whenever you are tiring out, remind yourself of the goal, and you are closer now than when you started. Keep going! You are going to make it to the top and have financial freedom.

Adapt Your Investments to Capitalize on the Crash

Angela Manning Finance , , ,
Adapt Your Investments to Capitalize on the Crash

A strong portfolio is a diverse portfolio. If you’re going to get ahead of the crowd in today’s economy, you need an investment portfolio that can handle the shocks and surprises that the world is coming to expect.

Since the 2008 recession, investor confidence in the global financial system has remained low. Stock markets have been bullish for years, but many have their doubts about the strength of the economies underpinning that growth. Many believe that bad auto loans in the US could trigger another debt crisis, while growing household debt, stagnant wages, and increasing worker precarity could prove to be even bigger issues across Western economies that haven’t yet seen a recession in the new economy.

Diversification means allocating assets in a way that decreases exposure to risk, protecting your money from uncertainty. But is that all diversification should do? With the right moves, you can adapt your investments to grow during times of crisis. It just might mean taking a more active interest in your money, and thinking hard about your goals. What can you do to protect and grow your finances even in the midst of a crisis?

1) Invest in Gold

Gold prices correlate negatively to share prices; when share prices go into a tailspin, investors move their money into gold as a safe haven. The pressure pushes gold up, and if you want to enjoy the benefits, you need to own gold ahead of the crowd. Gold is very much influenced by the perceptions and sentiments of investors.

Generally speaking, gold is not going to be the money-maker in your portfolio, but once it does move into that position, the benefits can be huge. Gold bull markets tend to happen when inflation is out of control or stock markets are too volatile to make money.

You can buy your gold from a proper online dealer conveniently and securely.

2) Buy Shares After Crashes

Gold’s negative correlation to shares should be your secret weapon to wealth building. As share prices fall and gold prices rise, their proportion in your portfolio will become imbalanced. Rebalancing after a crash will put you in a position not many other investors will get to enjoy; capitalized to buy shares at low prices.

While other investors, still nervous about the volatility that follows market crashes (it can take years for markets to recover), you will now have excess gold that others will be eager to buy at higher prices. You can use that cash injection to snap up shares at low prices and enjoy better returns from the recovery that follows.

3) Use Dollar Cost Averaging

Sometimes you wind up with a windfall, such as a holiday bonus or a tax return. It can be tempting to invest all at once, but there is always a risk associated with timing your investments. Prices could fall six months from now, or they could be higher in a matter of weeks.

Dollar cost averaging means investing a fixed amount of a particular investment on a set schedule. This spreads the risks of timing your investments.

With these strategies in hand, you should have no trouble diversifying the smart way.

Why Now Is the Time to Think About Gold as an Investment

Angela Manning Finance , , , ,

The odds of a recession in 2019 or 2020 are on the rise. Economists predict that there is now a 25% chance of a recession in the next year, up 5% from January. The likelihood of a recession in the next two years is 40%, and economic policies such as trade war with China are not helping the odds.

With a recession on the way, it may be time to start thinking beyond stocks when it comes to your portfolio. A recession can do a number on your portfolio, but there may be some surprising solutions. Gold could be your lifeboat in the coming storm. Few investments are better at weathering bad news in the economy than gold.

You need to think about gold as an investment, not just expensive jewelry. Consider some of the ways in which gold acts as an investment.

#1 Tangible Assets

Gold is unique in that it is an asset you can hold in your hand. Gold comes in the form of coins and bars and it must be physically stored. Unlike stocks and bonds which are paper (or digital) representations of your capital investments, gold is literally solid.

#2 Liquidity

Gold can be turned into cash wherever you are in the world. It’s the original international exchange of value and, until the 1970s, it was gold-backing that lent the U.S. dollar its international dominance. The most readily accepted form of gold is the bullion-grade 1 oz. gold coin. Bullion-grade refers to purity: .99 purity (24 karat and higher than most jewelry) is the easiest gold to exchange.

#3 Low Third Party Risk

You can further reduce the risks of owning gold by going with non-bank, fully-insured storage. The issue with bank storage is that your gold then becomes a deposit and you a depositor. In the event of another financial crisis on the scale of what the world saw on 2008, governments could introduce bank bail-in legislation (where they haven’t already), a regime in which banks that need a cash infusion take it from the investors and depositors rather than from taxpayers. Depending on how bail-ins are implemented, even small savers could be affected.

#4 Other Gold Risks

Every investment comes with risks, and gold is no exception. It pays to pay attention to gold prices before you buy. Have they been climbing rapidly in recent days, weeks, or years? That could be a sign of overbuying and an imminent price plummet.

It’s ultimately impossible to predict exactly which way gold prices are going to go depending on market factors, but use some common sense before you invest. Gold is riskier if a bull market has been raging for years already. Gold prices tend to fall due to speculation overvaluing it, and growing opportunities on the stock market.

#5 Why Gold Is Good

Gold is a good asset for investors who need to reduce their risks. Gold is a way of protecting your wealth from stock market jitters, global uncertainty, and inflation. In countries in crisis, gold can be a lifeline for families when inflation renders currencies worthless. For U.S. investors, gold provides some portfolio balance. Diversification leads to a stronger portfolio.

Gold can play an important role in your portfolio. If you’ve always treated gold as jewelry, it’s time to start thinking about how you can use it as an investment vehicle.

The Importance Of Paying Your Back Taxes On Time

Angela Manning Finance , , ,
The Importance Of Paying Your Back Taxes On Time

Despite being a vital part of the economy, not many of us like paying taxes. While we may not disagree with what the revenue is eventually spent on, the process of paying the IRS can cause quite a headache. This is made even worse when you consider that not paying on time, or not paying exactly what we owe, can result in a few different consequences that can be quite significant. Because of that, sometimes the process can be enough for us thinking about leaving society so that we don’t have to go through it.

However, this sadly isn’t a reality for the vast majority of us, so we’ll have to ensure that we pay the IRS on time. This may not always happen, though, and some people might find that they’re either paying their taxes late or even filing them late. These penalties can be caused by a variety of different things, such as failure to deposit estimated tax payments, insufficient check funds and much more. When this happens, it can cause quite a considerable amount of stress, especially when we consider how much we might have to pay in penalties and more. That doesn’t have to be the case, however, as the IRS Penalty Forgiveness program might be able to help you.

There can be a significant number of people who may not know what this is; as a result, a considerable amount of people who are eligible for the assistance might go without it. Because of that, they might go through a significant amount of financial burden as a result of the penalties associated with not paying your taxes on time. Then there’s the stress that may also come with figuring out how to pay these back taxes. With that in mind, it’s worth looking at what the IRS Penalty Forgiveness program is and how it might help you going forward.

What Is IRS Penalty Forgiveness?

While there is a certain amount of people who choose not to pay their taxes either on time or at all, this isn’t the case for everyone. Instead, the majority of people who pay or file their taxes late may do so because they weren’t financially able to pay on time. This is something that many people feel they shouldn’t be punished for, and the IRS agrees. This is what the focus of the penalty forgiveness program is. In essence, it’s when the IRS agrees to forgo any penalties or fees for failing to pay your taxes as a result of matters beyond your control.

Types Of Penalty Forgiveness

While many people may assume that there’s one type of penalty forgiveness, they’d be mistaken. Instead, the IRS has noted that there are a few different types. The first of these is a First Time Penalty Abatement, which is what the name suggests. As such, it’s something that can only be gotten if it’s the first time you’ve paid your taxes late. It should be noted that you can only apply for this abatement once you’ve paid your back taxes in full, as the fees and penalties grow for as long as you have an outstanding balance.

Perhaps the most common reason that the IRS has forgiven tax penalties is for reasonable cause. This is when someone is unable to pay their taxes because of unforeseen events that may be outside of their control. However, it should be noted that financial troubles may not be considered here, although the cause of this hardship may be considered. For example, paying off debt may not be considered reasonable cause. Some of the most notable reasons that the IRS has forgiven these penalties are a natural disaster, serious illness or loss of access to documents.

When you’re applying for the Reasonable Cause program, you’ll also need to provide proof of reasonable cause. This will include the likes of factual accounts and documentation of events, as well as how they caused you to miss your tax payments. This shouldn’t be too difficult, though, and the IRS will work with you to inform you as to what kind of documentation you’ll need to provide.

The IRS may also issue a Statutory Exception for your penalties, although this is relatively uncommon. This typically occurs when the IRS provides you with inaccurate information for filing your taxes which results in you underpaying or missing a payment.

From Mortgages to Home Inspection Costs: Getting your First Home

Angela Manning Finance , , , , ,
From Mortgages to Home Inspection Costs: Getting your First Home

Souce: Flickr

The dream of owning a home is something that still motivates many Americans. Owning your own home isn’t simply about having somewhere to live for as long as you want, it is also about making what could be a profitable investment in your family’s future.

And even though younger generations of Americans have seemed more reluctant than their parents or grandparents to join the ranks of homeowners, studies have shown that the vast majority of millennials still expect to own their own home at some point in their life.

But for those who are embarking on home ownership for the first time, the process of finding and buying a first home can be intimidating. Here are some key things to remember if you are thinking of taking the plunge and becoming a homeowner.

Financial Self-Assessment

The starting point to the home-buying process is to make sure that your finances are as strong as they can be. To start with, take the time to run a credit report on yourself, and analyze the results. Doing what you can to improve your credit rating, such as paying off credit card balances, can help when it comes to taking out a mortgage, and if your credit rating is likely to take a few months to improve, then it is worth taking this time out before beginning the house buying process.

Prepare Financially

Once you’ve done a little financial housekeeping, the next step is to assess how much money you can afford to spend on a house. This includes the level of deposit you will be able to afford, and the approximate amount you will be able to pay in mortgage payments, taxes, interest and insurance, along with an allowance for future maintenance costs.

Home Inspection Costs

Another expense that you should prepare for is the cost of the home inspection. There are plenty of resources online to help you find out more about home inspections, but essentially this is a report that you have to carry out later on in the process, after you have found a home and made an offer. Some home buyers make the mistake of overlooking this home inspection cost early on and may not have funds available to compete the inspection report, so make sure you put money aside at the start.

Realtors and Mortgages

The next stage is to find a real estate agent that you feel you can work with as you start your home search. A good agent will not only work with you throughout the process, they will also help you to get in touch with the different specialists, including financial advisors and home inspectors, whose help you will need to buy your property. And it is a good idea to go through your mortgage options with a financial advisor at an early stage. A key aspect of choosing the right mortgage is to work out how much money you have to put down as a deposit, but beyond this factor, there are many types of mortgages from conventional loans to FHA loans and VA loans, and a good financial adviser will take into account your circumstances and financial history to help you find the right one.

Starting Your Search

Whether your agent is sending you potential properties, or you are doing the searching yourself, start by narrowing down the areas in which you would like to live. If you are unable to find anything suitable within that area, be prepared to expand it. Then it is simply a matter of taking the time to visit the homes you are interested in, asking as many questions as you can think of and being prepared to make further visits as required, until you have found the best home for you.

Securing Your Home

Making an offer and having it accepted is only the start of confirming the purchase. There will still be many weeks and a lot of paperwork to get through, including the home inspection report mentioned earlier, before you are able to sign contracts. Don’t forget to put some money aside to cover additional closing costs, which can often amount to as much as five percent of the sale price. You will also usually have a final chance to look around the place before you move in, to make sure that there have not been any significant changes since you made your offer. And with all that complete, you are ready to take ownership of your new home!

Buying your first home can be a stressful process, but by making sure that you plan thoroughly and leave as little as possible to chance, you can keep the stress to a minimum and achieve your dream of home ownership as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Drowning in Debt: Ways to Recover

Angela Manning Finance , , , ,
Drowning in Debt: Ways to Recover

When you are in debt to many creditors at once it can consume not only your money, that’s a given, but also your life. Being in debt doesn’t feel good. In fact, it can cause you to sink into depression and leave you unable to perform to your best ability at home and work. Having excessive debt can also have an impact on your credit. The good news is that there are several ways to fix the problem and relieve the stress you now face daily.

Applying for a Loan

A quick fix to your debt is to earn cash quickly to pay up what you owe. However, in most cases when you are severely in debt, you also have a poor credit score, which will limit the number of lenders who will approve a loan application. Thankfully, there are other lenders who offer quick cash loans that don’t use the same guidelines as traditional banks, giving you a better chance at getting some money to help reduce the debt.

Debt Consolidation

If you feel that you are too far gone to straighten things out, a debt consolidation service may be of interest. You will need to have all your information including the names of the creditors and the amounts you owe each one before contacting the service. However, once you turn over this information, they will contact each one of them and try to reduce the amounts you owe and settle them. This will let you pay one payment each month to the debt service to cover all the balances. In many cases, you can pay them off completely within one to two years.

Contact Your Creditors

If you prefer to do it on your own, and you think that you can start to make your payments on time, contacting the creditors on your own makes sense. In many cases, the companies will work will you rather than have to place a bad debt with an outside company and lose a large portion of the money you owe them.

Give up the Luxuries

The best way to get out of debt is to pay off the debt as soon as possible. Giving up on the luxuries such as dining out or buying large items and refraining from spending ensures you have that money to put towards your debt. Paying it off sooner also will help you to save money on the interest accumulated, as well.

Other Sources of Income

Another way to reduce your debt is to find another source of income. You may take on a second job or use your skills to provide services to another for a fee. You can also sell things around your home. Chances are good that if you you’ve lived in your current home for more than a couple of years, you have things in good condition that you don’t need but that someone else can use.

Having a lot of debt can weight heavy on your shoulders. Luckily, there are many ways to reduce your debt and start enjoying life once more.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Filing Your Own Taxes

Angela Manning Finance , , , ,
Advantages and Disadvantages of Filing Your Own Taxes

Neglecting your personal finances can lead to all types of problems in the future. Therefore, you should stay organized and make sure to keep close track of your finances. Part of keeping your financial life in order includes dealing with filing your income taxes. Failure to do so can result in fines and various other charges. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may even decide to contact you by mail, which is usually not good news.

Therefore, you should make sure to plan ahead and prepare to file your taxes on time or even early if possible. However, whether you decide to file your taxes yourself or hire a competent tax professional, such as Western Shamrock Corporation (Local) tax preparation service(s), will depend upon your knowledge of tax laws and accounting and also how much time and energy you are willing to spend. You should carefully examine the pros and cons of filing your own taxes since there are some significant risks and disadvantages in choosing to do so.

Time factor

Time is money, as they say. This is one thing to think about before choosing to file our own taxes. In many instances, depending upon your situation, filing your own taxes can be an extremely time-consuming venture. Taxpayers spent an average of 13 hours, according to the IRS. If you have to file a Form 1040 then that amount of time goes up to 16 hours. However, if you have to file business taxes, the amount you will spend jumps up to 24 hours on average. In more complex cases, the amount of time spent can even be more. Depending upon your situation and how much you value your time it may make sense to hire a tax professional.

You can deduct tax preparation fees

One of the drawbacks of hiring a professional tax preparation service is the fees charged. However, if you itemize your taxes you may be able to deduct the fees charged for a professional tax preparer. If you file Form 1040, you can deduct tax preparation fees under miscellaneous deductions as long as your deductions under this category is 2 percent or less of your adjusted gross income.

Constantly changing tax laws

Another reason to consider hiring a professional tax preparer is the constantly-changing federal tax code. Each year the tax laws are adjusted making it almost impossible for the everyday person to be completely aware of the changes and if they may be applicable to his or her situation. A good tax preparation service should be up-to-date on all of the latest tax laws in order to make sure you are in full compliance with regulations while ensuring you are aware of all of your options. This will allow you to minimize your tax liability and possibly even help you receive a large tax refund.

Save money

Of course, the obvious reason to do your own taxes is to save money on the preparation fees. This may make sense if your taxes are fairly simple and straightforward. If you have a basic understanding of tax law you may be able to get by. With the amount of free information on the Internet, it is definitely possible to teach yourself. However, you will have to be careful to only use accurate sources of information. On the other hand, there are certain circumstances which are too complicated for most untrained people to handle, requiring the help of a competent tax preparation service.

If you own, sold or started a business it may not be a good idea to do your own taxes. Also having various investment gains or losses can make filing more challenging. Capital asset, real estate, and trust fund transactions will require significantly increased time and effort to report. If you receive income in a state or country that is not the same as your residence, certain tax laws may apply in different ways which could require significant tax law knowledge. Additionally, if you are self-employed your tax filings will be significantly more burdensome than the average nine-to-five worker.

Debunking 4 Business Bankruptcy Myths

Angela Manning Business, Finance , , ,
Debunking 4 Business Bankruptcy Myths

While there are plenty of articles on the web that dispel consumer (i.e. personal) bankruptcy myths, there are few if any that focus on the misunderstandings and misinformation that surrounds business bankruptcies.

To remedy this critical knowledge gap, here is the truth about 4 enduring business bankruptcy myths:

Myth #1: Filing for business bankruptcy spells the end for your business.

Fact: If you file for chapter 11 bankruptcy, you’ll be able to keep your business operational while you restructure and repay your debts. Many large companies like General Motors have successfully emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Myth #2: Filing for business bankruptcy means that you will lose all of your business assets.

Fact: Some of your business assets — such as those that are required to generate income and profit — are likely to be protected from liquidation (i.e. sold by the court-appointed trustee with the proceeds being distributed to creditors).

Myth #3: Bankruptcy court is pro-creditor and anti-debtor.

Fact: Overly-aggressive creditors (which unfortunately describes most of them) repeatedly tell debtors that the court won’t be sympathetic to their plight. On the contrary, they say, the court will be hostile and punitive. This simply isn’t true, and never has been.

The court is not for or against creditors or debtors. The court is interested in two things: correctly applying prevailing law, and ensuring that the bankruptcy process is properly structured and documented.

Myth #4: Filing for business bankruptcy will lead to an exodus of customers, employees, suppliers and vendors. 

Fact: As noted above, the purpose of chapter 11 bankruptcy is to give businesses a realistic opportunity to restructure their debts while they keep their business operational. If it was true that customers, employees, suppliers and vendors raced for the exits the moment they learned about a bankruptcy filing, then it wouldn’t matter if a business remained open: it would be doomed.

Fortunately, this isn’t true. Filing for bankruptcy does not indicate that a business has done anything deliberately wrong, and it certainly has nothing to do with criminal activity. Essentially, it is an administrative protection and process.

With this being said, businesses that file for chapter 11 bankruptcy will typically need to get the trustee’s permission to make investments, procure equipment, and so on. This is simply to ensure that the purchase is in alignment with the debt restructure plan.

The Bottom Line

Filing for business bankruptcy is a serious decision, and shouldn’t be done without consulting an experienced bankruptcy attorney. To give your business the best chance of long-term success, remember that bankruptcy-related facts are your friends — and myths are your enemies!

Loan Options for All Your Financial Needs

Angela Manning Finance , , ,
Loan Options for All Your Financial Needs

Most of us think of loans when we need to make a major purchase, such as home or automobiles. Really, there are loans that can help us with all sorts of situations that we find ourselves in. Today we are reviewing some options that are out there and what they do to help us repair our financial situation or obtain the things we need.

The Short-Term Loan Option

Imagine a moment in which you have a bill due and for any number of reasons, no money to cover it. Maybe you are about to have your electricity shut off, the cell phone turned off, or even just need some extra cash so that you can get groceries. It happens all the time to people and sometimes, the solution is as easy as a short-term loan. This is especially true if you have struggled with less-than-stellar credit. When you have bad credit, a bad credit payday loan alternative is going to get you the help you need without struggling to meet loan requirements elsewhere. These types of loans are based on the income you currently bring into your home, are paid off within six months to a year, and can be available for withdrawal as soon as the next business day.

The Personal Loan

Personal loans are smaller loans, often less than $5,000, that can be used for anything in your life. Many people use it to pay off old debt that has high-interest rates so that they can have one monthly payment that is sometimes lower and with a smaller interest rate. Others will use it for moving expenses or to get the home computer equipment that they need. The best thing about a personal loan is that they are not earmarked for any specific expense, like when you want to buy a home or car. Repayment terms will vary based on the bank that you select but most personal loans must be paid off in less than three years. Usually, you obtain a personal loan from a bank but a growing number of personal loans are easily obtainable by non-bank organizations. Peer to peer lending is popular for the personal loan and you can also find internet businesses that are in the lending business.

Loans From Your Retirement

If you have a retirement account, you can occasionally borrow from your retirement savings. This one is a very important option that can also make a mess of your retirement very quickly. Firstly, you should always consult with an accountant or financial counselor before opting to borrow against a retirement account. Simply put, they can look at your financial situation and take into consideration any tax penalties for the loan and let you know if it is a viable option. Having said that, there are other things to think about. If you want to take a vacation, borrowing from your retirement savings is not a good idea. If you are about to go into foreclosure on your home, it’s a pretty good idea to tap into retirement. Most of these loans must be paid within five years so be sure that your current income status will be able to handle the repayment while maintaining your current monthly expenses.

There are even more options when it comes to loans and these are some of the basics that just about every person can use in their lives. Don’t forget the importance of living on a budget, having an emergency savings account on hand, and talking with family about support should you lose your employment or home. Having a plan is the best way to go when planning for a very rainy day!