How to Rebuild Bad Credit: A Guide

How to Rebuild Bad Credit: A Guide

Having bad credit can keep you from owning a house, a car, and more. Read on to learn how to rebuild bad credit and get your life back on track.

Struggling with debts or a poor credit rating? You’re not alone.

With the average household debt in the United States now standing at an unbelievable $137,000 on average, millions of us are living under the burden of their credit commitments.

And with that much existing debt, the idea of rebuilding our credit lines and repaying what we owe can seem impossible. But it doesn’t have to be.

We’ll talk you through how to rebuild bad credit and secure your financial health for the future.

Know Your Financial Health

If you’re looking at how to rebuild bad credit, the first thing you need to do is understand your financial health in its entirety. That means knowing your ingoing and outgoings, and getting a copy of your credit report.

Your credit report is the financial story you’re telling your creditors. It lists payment histories, existing and previous debts, where you live, and whether you’ve previously been bankrupt. You can learn more about it here.

By understanding your financial health, and having a full copy of your credit report, you can understand what problems may exist that stop you from accessing new forms of credit.

If your income is the problem, why not take on a side hustle or two? This list of side hustles for 2018 has some ideas you could run with, starting today!

Form a Sensible Budget

With a clear financial picture in mind, the next step is forming a budget that is affordable with your existing commitments and income.

Put simply, it’s time to cut out the lattes. Any unnecessary expenditure you have should be cut back as much as possible to allow you to repay any debts quicker. If you’re spending more than you bring in as income every month, cutting back your expenditure can help plug this deficit.

Be realistic with yourself, too. Leave yourself a little bit of cash for fun things to give you an incentive, or you may find the temptation to ignore your budget too great.

These strategies to organizing your finances could have a massive impact on your budget. By fully understanding your spending, you can begin to target any areas that could be having a negative impact on your credit rating.

Organize Your Debt Repayment Dates

After establishing a new, more refined budget for your household, it’s time to start identifying any existing debts.

Make a list of your current debts, and identify how often you repay. It might be a good idea to organize your payments, where possible, at the same time you get paid, so you don’t have any excuse to miss your payments.

Lost track of your debts? Your credit report should help. If you’re a sucker for bad credit already, it’s likely to be filled with large debt balances or payments in arrears.

If you’re behind on any payments, it’s time to reach out. These 10 tips for negotiating with your creditors should help you arrange repayment schedules you can afford.

Don’t Miss Any Payments – Ever!

If you’re looking at how to rebuild bad credit, one of the most important lessons you can learn is to never, ever miss a debt or bill payment. Not once.

Just one late payment can cause your credit score to drop 100 points. The longer it goes unpaid, the more damage it causes, and this will stay on your credit history for several years.

No matter what, pay your bills on time. Showing you’re reliable and consistent with your payments can help your credit history and get you access to better forms of credit, like a mortgage, in the future.

Lower Your Outstanding Debt Balances

You’re not likely to get any kind of credit – even bad credit – with a large debt balance already on file. With your budget in order, it’s time to start tackling your outstanding debt balances.

Funnel as much money towards your debt as you can possibly afford to lower your balances as quickly as possible. Target debts with the highest interest rates first, so that you’re not wasting your money on unnecessary interest payments.

Of course, the ‘snowball method’ of debt repayments could have a better psychological impact. This is where you repay debt from the lowest balance up, to see you reduce the number of outstanding debts faster.

Whatever your approach, if you’re reducing your debt balances, you’re making yourself seem a far more stable financial option to future creditors.

Get a Credit Card for Bad Credit

Opening new lines of credit may seem counterproductive if you’re already in debt, but it’s actually a good choice to make if you’re looking to help prove you’re more responsible, financially.

If you don’t have any existing credit you can use, you can demonstrate your commitment to regular repayments, which will be recorded on your credit report. This is a good final step on the road to demonstrating longer-term financial stability.

A credit card for bad credit is one source of credit, even if your credit score is currently poor.

Why not take a look at this article from Bonsai Finance to see what a credit card with bad credit could do for you?

Once you’ve demonstrated your commitment to rebuilding your finances with a credit card for bad credit, your credit score will improve, and you’ll soon be able to access better forms of credit in the future.

Knowing How to Rebuild Bad Credit Is Only the First Step

While an achievable budget is a respectable aim for anyone looking into how to rebuild bad credit, it’s only the first step in a long road towards better financial health overall.

It also takes commitment. There’s no point creating a budget, arranging repayment schedules and taking out new credit lines if you’re just going to ignore it and spend far beyond your means.

Keep your goals in mind, and keep your spending commitments affordable. If you’ve got your own financial tips to share, why not leave them in a comment below?

How to Choose The Right Investment Fund For You

How to Choose The Right Investment Fund For You

Choosing the right investment fund doesn’t have to be overwhelming and confusing. Click here to learn how to find the right one for you and your family.

Are you thinking of investing in a mutual fund? Not sure where to start or which investment fund is best for your needs?

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about investment funds and finances, so you can pick the right one for you and your family.

Let’s take a look!

How to Choose the Right Investment Fund

Selecting an investment fund seems stressful, but it’s pretty easy if you go about it the right way. Here are our top tips that will help you pick the right investment fund for you.

Identify Your Goals and Risk Tolerance

The first step in picking an investment fund is knowing what you’d like to accomplish. Do you care more about current income or do you have long-term capital gains in mind?

There are many mutual funds available to investors, so identifying your goals is key to cutting back on your options.

Beyond identifying goals, you need to figure out your own personal risk tolerance. Are you okay with dramatic swings in your portfolio’s value or are you a business owner who needs the comfort of more conservative investments?

Risk and return are related to investments, so you need to balance your desire for returns with the risk you’re willing to tolerate.

Think About Your Timeline

How long do you plan on holding onto your investment? Do you think you’ll need to liquidate your investment in the near future? If so, you should know that many mutual funds have sales charges that can cut into your return.

To avoid these charges, you should aim for an investment horizon of five years or more.

Consider Charges & Fees

Most investments come with associated fees that you should know about before picking one.

Some funds will charge a load fee, which you either pay at the time you buy the fund or when you try to sale your investment.

The front-end load fee is what you pay out of the initial investment, and the back-end fee is what you’re charged when you sell your shares.

These charges can range anywhere from 3% to 8.5%. No, load funds don’t charge either of these fees, but they do have other fees that can be very high.

When reviewing an investment, always make sure to review the management expense ratio, as this will help you determine what your return would be at the end of the year.

Evaluate Any Portfolio Manager Options

When picking a fund, it’s important to research both the fund and the portfolio manager. Here are some questions you should make sure you ask when reviewing a fund’s previous performance:

  • Were the fund’s results consistent with general market returns?
  • Did the returns vary dramatically throughout the year?
  • Was there high turnover or larger tax liabilities?
  • What do I need to know about personal capital vs betterment?

The answers to these questions will give you insight into how this portfolio manager performs, and tell you more about turnover and return with this fund.

Final Thoughts on Choosing a Fund

Knowing how to pick an investment option is an important part of building your portfolio.

By following the tips in this article, you can pick the right fund for you, and start making money!

Is this your first time choosing a fund?

Have any other questions? Let us know in the comments!

4 Unwise Financial Decisions to Avoid this Quarter

4 Unwise Financial Decisions to Avoid this Quarter

No small business owner deliberately mismanages their money. Indeed, even the worst financial decisions are made with the best of intentions. The unfortunate truth is though, plenty of entrepreneurs simply make mistakes when it comes to investing their working capital. However, there are ways you can mitigate against fiscal catastrophe –– and ensure your business stays on the right track. Here are four investment plays you should avoid like the plague:

Rapid Expansion

If your business has experienced substantial gains over the past couple of months, you may be tempted to expand your operation quickly. Opening up a new location, hiring new staff, or adding onto your current setup might sound great now during a period of high profits. But before you begin your expansion in earnest you need to be certain of your company’s sustainability. Jumping into new markets and spreading yourself too thin is one of the fastest ways a successful business can go bust.

Fads and Flavors-of-the-Month

The stock market –– like nearly everything else in our society –– is subject to fads and unpredictable trends that fluctuate wildly. One of the latest and most prevalent was the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency boom of the past few months. So though you may be intrigued by such an investment, understand that often your chances of striking it rich this way are slim at best.

Utilizing Personal Savings

You shouldn’t treat your savings account like a checkbook. If your business experiences a cash-flow problem, resist the urge to dip into your personal accounts before considering all other options first. Note that there are a wide variety of secured business loans that can benefit your company, and provide you with the funding you need. Plus, this way you can avoid gambling with your own personal funding.

Uniform Investment

No smart entrepreneur would put all their eggs in one basket. That’s why it’s essential to diversify your investment portfolio. Otherwise your entire financial standing could collapse with one bad turn. Make sure to spread your chips around to ensure you’ll never go bankrupt because of one bad decision. No matter how certain you are of success, always be cautious about an investment that could sink you. Because one day –– it might.

The Bottom Line

Regardless of your financial standing, you can always make wise decisions to improve your own situation –– and your business’s –– even while on a budget. Just remember to stay objective, calm, and avoid making any of the above mistakes. Do that, and you’ll be well on your way to fiduciary stability in no time!

Turn your hobbies into side hustles

Turn your hobbies into side hustles

It can be challenging paying all of your bills, your debt, or anything else related to your home or car. Especially if you’re young, you might find that navigating through all of these expenses and actually budgeting on your own can be very baffling. That’s why you should consider getting a side hustle almost as soon as you get your first job.

Side hustles can help you put some money into your emergency fund so that you can use it whenever you’re left without a job, for instance. In theory, you should have enough money raised to keep you for as many as six months, because you never know how hard it might be for you to find another job.

But how do you go about finding the right side hustles?

Do what you love

This note is particularly important because there are millions of people out there who have jobs and they hate them. If spending nine hours in front of the computer at a desk in some corporate building in some town doesn’t seem appealing, you might feel more attracted to things that are a tad more creative.

For example, if you like working with your hands and you have your own garden, you can start selling spices, herbs, and even vegetables to some of your friends. If you’ve always liked to make your own jewelry, you can start doing just that and then use sites the likes of etsy.com to sell it. For finding the right microscope for jewelry making, reading a buying guide might come in handy.

The point that we are trying to make is that you should choose an activity that really gives you pleasure. If you don’t see yourself doing this and that twenty years from now, choose something else because it might not be the right thing for you.

Use any resource you can find

Sometimes, it can be a little confusing telling just what you want to do. If you’re having trouble making up your mind, we can recommend a website that’s packed with creative courses ranging from social media marketing to the jewelry making we were mentioning before. It’s called CreativeLive and it is one of the most extensive collections of online courses.

Basically, this site can help you learn anything unless coding — although who knows when it might also offer that, too?

Invest in yourself

Most hobbies don’t call for big investments unless you like fishing or hunting, in which case you are going to spend a lot of your bucks on getting the right equipment. Do a little research and find out what financial moves you need to make to improve your skills and get more clients.

Use platforms like Upwork to sell your services, especially if you specialize in areas like online marketing or copywriting. Spending money on a course or a certification is not a waste. In fact, it’s one of the few things that can let others you are good enough at what you’re doing and that you’re worthy of being hired by them on a part-time basis.

How A Weak Dollar Policy Makes Money For Silver Investors

How A Weak Dollar Policy Makes Money For Silver Investors

The U.S. has shifted gears and is now following a weak dollar policy. At least, that’s what economists believe following Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s comments in January 2018 welcoming a weak dollar, saying that it’s great for American businesses and will help reduce the U.S.’s trade deficits. With trade deficits a top priority for the Trump administration, it looks like the U.S. government is out to weaken its dollar against other currencies to help improve manufacturing competitiveness and boost exports.

What does the weak dollar policy have to do with silver prices? Over 50 percent of silver demand comes from industry. Silver may be the most widely used precious metal in industrial applications. If a weak American dollar means more exports, it also means more industrial activity. Only about a quarter of silver is used in coins and medals, including silver collectibles, collectible silver coins, and silver bullion coins.

The largest industrial uses for silver are in computers and electronics, medical uses, silver brazing and soldering, chemical manufacturing, engine manufacturing, solar panels, and glass and mirrors.

Electronics accounted for 5.9 percent of U.S. manufacturing shipments in 2012 while chemical production was more than $767 billion in 2016. Pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing is another major U.S. manufacturing sector. As all of these sectors use silver as a key component in many consumables and devices, silver demand will see gain thanks to stronger exports.

Keep an eye on the latest price of silver in the coming months and years to see how industrial demand becomes great news for silver investors. Would-be silver investors should start buying silver sooner than later if they want to take advantage of increased industrial demand spurred on by a stronger U.S. manufacturing sector.

The silver market is not easy to predict, but there are more factors than just industrial demand playing into silver price predictions. An uneasy stock market and rising interest rates are also factors that could contribute to rising silver prices in the near future. Supply is another concern as there could be silver shortages down the pipeline due to present under-investment from mining companies.

You can start investing in silver online from sources like Silver Gold Bull, precious metal distributors who connect consumers with silver bullion from around the world. Silver coins, silver rounds, and silver bars are some of the most common silver bullion products you can invest in. Silver coins like the Silver Maple Leaf and American Silver Eagle are not available for purchase directly from national mints. You will have to buy the from silver dealers like Silver Gold Bull, which are also convenient sources for silver products like privately refined silver bars. Privately refined silver bullion often comes at much lower premiums than silver coins, but there are restrictions on which silver products can be purchased as part of an RRSP portfolio. Do your research into which silver products qualify for tax advantages and whether or not it makes more sense to buy at a lower premium. Silver investors are about to see major gains in their portfolios. Don’t miss out on the opportunity.

Side hustles that could be big in 2018

Side hustles that could be big in 2018

If you’re looking to supplement your primary form of income, you may be interested in taking on a series of small side jobs, which will dramatically increase your bank balance. If you’re in need of a little inspiration,, simply continue reading to discover 3 amazing side hustles that ShiftPixy suggests could be big in 2018.

Side hustles that could be big in 2018:

  1. Part-time web designer

If you have the necessary skills to build professional looking websites, it’s well worth considering freelancing as a part-time web designer as there are no shortage of clients looking for a professional web designer who can create a stunning, functional website for a competitive fee. After all, in today’s technology-obsessed society every single business requires a professional website.

You may also want to consider diversifying your services in order to sell personalized websites or blogs to professional bloggers, whose earn their bread and butter from their websites and blogs.

If you’re interested it’s well worth creating a few example websites, which you can show off to your potential clients, in order to close a deal.

  1. Part-time fitness and well-being coach

If you’re passionate about leading a healthy, lifestyle and are confident that you can help others achieve their health and fitness goals, you may want to consider becoming a part-time fitness and lifestyle coach.

In order to find clients, you may want to start off your part-time business by creating a website and a blog, which you can use to post regular articles, which will help potential clients get into the best possible shape of their lives. Another way to create a name for yourself as a lifestyle coach is to post photos from some of your workouts on social media accounts, which you set up for your new business!

  1. Part-time virtual assistant

As small to medium-sized online businesses are becoming increasingly more common, the demand for part-time virtual assistants has skyrocketed. So if you’re looking to bring in extra money, from the comfort of your own home, it may be worth applying for a potentially lucrative position as a part-time virtual assistant. As there is no shortage of online businesses, which don’t have a physical premise but are keen to hire a remote virtual assistant, in order to help answer emails and phone calls on behalf of the business’s owner.

Better yet, you should be able to negotiate your own hours. As an example, if you plan on hanging on to your day job, you may prefer to work as a virtual assistant in the evenings or during the weekends.

One of the bonuses of this particular opportunity is that you don’t require a particular skill set, in order to apply for a position as a part-time virtual assistant. If you’re able to complete basic administration tasks such as sending and receiving emails, you’ll have a high chance of finding a suitable position.

So if you’re interested in picking up a lucrative side hustle, in order to get you one step closer to obtaining financial freedom, it’s well worth considering becoming a part-time lifestyle coach, a part-time virtual assistant or a part-time web designer. All of which have the potential to explode in 2018.

3 Strategies for Organizing Your Finances

3 Strategies for Organizing Your Finances

If you struggle with saving money and paying your monthly bills on time, you are not alone. In 2017, the employment site CareerBuilder reported that eight out of ten Americans live from paycheck to paycheck and have little to no money set aside. However, you may be able to change your financial circumstances with a bit of effort and insight. Organization can be key when it comes to managing money, and there are several strategies you can use to build your confidence as well as your savings account.

1. Start With Your Net Worth

Discovering your net worth can be an important step in organizing your finances because once you know what this figure is, it may help you build a more effective budget. Your net worth is the number of assets you have, minus the debt you owe currently. For example, if you own your home, you have more net worth than someone who is paying a monthly mortgage. Seeing your net worth on paper can provide you with a springboard for creating a more viable budget.

2. Be Detailed When You Track Spending

Today’s mobile banking apps come with a variety of pros and cons, and while they may offer some tracking features, they might not give you the big picture when it comes to your spending. Detailed tracking can bolster your budget and help you see where you might be wasting money. Track your spending manually and divide your expenses into different areas, such as what you spend on gas, groceries, lunches out, and monthly bills. You may be able to see where you can cut costs when you look at these expenses individually.

3. Have a Bill Tracking System

Even if you pay your bills online, it may help you to stay organized if you develop a quick and simple bill tracking system. Whether you write them down on a calendar and keep them on your desk or keep an online day planner you can access at any time, tracking your bills can be helpful for avoiding late fees or missed payments.

For example, if you pay your car insurance online or through an app, you can still track your payments in several ways. Note the amount, when you paid it, when the payment was posted, and whether you use auto debit or pay it manually. The more you know about your monthly bills and how they relate to your budget, the more efficiently you can handle them.

Managing your money and building a savings account, whether you want money set aside for emergencies or a major purchase later, can be challenging. However, if you work to organize your finances, it can help you discover paths to savings you might never have considered.

Make a difference with your corporate donations

Make a difference with your corporate donations

These days it’s increasingly important for businesses to be seen as socially and environmentally responsible, by donating time or money (or both) to meaningful campaigns and institutions. Not only can these financial gifts be advantageous in the business to which you’re donating, but they can also be beneficial to your own business by raising your profile or the perceptions of the work you do. Next time you go to make a corporate donation, consider if there’s a charity or worthwhile cause whose values, ethos or ambitions match your own.

If you work in education: donate to a school

Education is fundamental to success, and if you work within the field of education few people will respect that more than you. That’s why, when looking for a beneficiary for your corporate donation, finding a school who could make use of your money would be a great place to start.

Reach out to schools in your local area; it maybe you can donate to a collection of schools across the country or indeed the world. For example, Cognita Schools has a portfolio of educational establishments in three continents including Clifton Lodge School based in London and encourages students to strive academically.

If you work in manufacturing: invest in a product of the future

As a company at the forefront of modern solutions, using your CSR budget to invest in small, trailblazing innovations could be a savvy move on your behalf; it will reflect well on you and help push the industry forward. Of course, you should ensure that the product you’re funding isn’t a competitor, or threat, to your own manufacturing first!

If you work in the medical world: sponsor a fitness event

Corporate sponsorship can be big business, offering a magnitude of publicity opportunities. There are many organized fitness events, such as marathons or triathlons, often looking for sponsors. Generally speaking, you’ll need to put some money in for finishers’ packs and some other branded merchandise, but the pack in terms of visibility can be enormous. Additionally, you’ll be promoting a healthy lifestyle, which is likely important for your brand. 

If you work in hospitality and events: fund care for the homeless

Modern cities are often an image of polarization, such as makeshift tents lining the world-famous Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. As such, organizers of high-end events would do well to donate money towards homeless shelters and other charities looking to help those on the streets. Beyond financial aid, there’s often a large amount of food remaining at the end of an event, which doesn’t need to be thrown in the garbage if there’s somewhere that will make better use of it.

Meaningful donations: a ‘win-win’ for your business

It’s time to be smarter about where you spend your corporate donations. If planned properly, corporate sponsorship or funding can be a strong strategic tool for your business; look for beneficiaries with whom you share a common goal, or team up with a company in a parallel field. It may be the start of a long-lasting, mutually advantageous arrangement.

Importance of loans in modern world

Importance of loans in modern world

With a good use of credit, a large number of situations in the personal, family and business economy of these times can be solved. A bad use of credit can lead us to have an economic problem. The loan is therefore useful and the problems are caused by us, when we make an inappropriate use such as: contracting a debt greater than our ability to pay.

The loans can be for individuals or for companies or even legal persons. To borrow properly it is important to take the credit indicated for our case, for example, to know exactly the amounts of capital and interest payments. A promissory note is a one-year loan, which requires quarterly payments of 25% of the capital, it is very likely that this type of instrument is not suitable for a natural person and it would be better to look for a loan by installments, for example to three years.

The credits for natural persons are generally those of consumption (purchase of vehicles or credit cards). You can also borrow to set up a business or purchase an asset. The credits can be short, medium and long term, look for the option that suits you and remember, that you should not get into debt if you have doubts or do not understand exactly the obligations assumed.

Obviously, the recommendation that we are going to give you is that you should get into debt with the bank of your preference, but always go to formal markets, to go to lenders you will pay usury rates, hence the importance of being banked. You can also consider getting cashfloat as long as it is provided by a legal company.

Do not place money in institutions, companies or with people who are not banks or regulated and supervised institutions. Another aspect of interest when it comes to borrowing is that the rates are attractive, even the highest credit cards are at 29%, since all rates are below inflation, is therefore a good opportunity to borrow and buy an asset or make an investment. If you also qualify for an activity that has regulated rates such as agriculture, tourism, manufacturing or housing, the recommendation to borrow becomes more important. It is a good business to get into debt, as long as you have the ability to pay.

In the case of companies, I am going to refer to the main modalities: They represent the money received from a financial institution and the net creditor balance of the current accounts that are in the books of the banks. Bank loans are requested for different reasons, among which the following can be cited: (1) financing of working capital; (2) purchase of inventories; (3) acquisition of fixed assets; (4) cancellation of debts.

A loan is received for financing working capital, when a company requires cash to pay off short-term debts or to acquire a property that is quickly realizable. When this type of financing is requested, there must be reasonable assurance in obtaining sources of income for the cancellation of the debt.

The second option for which a loan may be required from a financial institution is for the purchase of inventories, which are goods that are made in the short term. The third reason is the acquisition of fixed assets, which aims to take a debt that will be invested in the acquisition of a long-term asset that must be used to generate operating income.

Great Job Ideas for Those With Numerical Skills

Great Job Ideas for Those With Numerical Skills

I was always  pretty good with numbers throughout my education and in all honesty I loved nothing more than number crunching, it was for that reason that when the time came to choose a career, I decide on a career in finance.

I have always felt the two requirements for choosing a career should be a combination of something you love and something you are good at. Unfortunately for many of my friends, they cashed the money or picked up a career based on something that they were good at but not something that they loved. Fast forward ten years and many of them are unhappy in their work and looking to switch careers. In order to avoid this then you should do as I did and elect a career based on your passion and your skill and if you are a fellow math enthusiast then here are some career ideas for you.

Financial Advisor

This is the role which I currently do and I love it, a financial adviser works with businesses and individuals and offers counsel on how best to spend, save and invest their money. You must be a great salesmen to sell your ideas, you must have great analytical skills to process huge amounts of financial data and condense it into advice and you must have the confidence in your ideas. This profession can pay very well depending on how many clients you have or who your clients are.

Investment Manager

My friend Marc Leder is one of the finest investment managers I know, so successful in fact that he started his own investment company and is now CEO of Sun Capital Partners, a company which helps hundreds of businesses . What my buddy and his colleagues do is to work with businesses and individual investors and help them to manage their portfolios. They offer a personal service to investors and regularly offer them advice or investment opportunities so that they can make the most out of their money. This position requires comprehensive knowledge of finance and housing markets and if you are good at it then you can make a great deal of money from salaries and from commission.

Tax Accountant

As much as I love figures and finance, one thing that I was never very good at was understanding taxation and it takes a special kind of person to be a tax accountant. Businesses rely on tax accountants to amiantus their legality and to ensure that they are never paying too much or too little by way of taxes. To be a tax accountant you will have to study hard and take 3 different tests in order to be allowed to practice. Once you have passed your exams however you will be able to have the pick of your jobs as tax accountants are always in demand such are the complexities of the taxation laws. You must also be prepared to constantly keep yourself up to date with the ever changing tax laws and also be a confident individual as you will likely be dealing with some high profile men and women.