Personal finance/cash advances – a whole new meaning

The Concept of Personal Finance

The key to your financial success is in your hands

When we hear the phrase ‘personal finance,’ we immediately think of banks lending to individual customers and of small ticket personal loans and cash advances.

However, we are not talking about taking loans or cash advances in this article. What we are talking about here is the actual ‘personal finance,’ which means financing your dreams personally. That is how the great American dream was born and funded. It was only in the later phases that public money and cash advances became a part of the story, and, as they say, the rest is history (or a mystery!)

Personal Finance Planning

All of us have dreams that we aspire to accomplish. It can be something as obvious as retiring early, or something as ambitious as setting up your own manufacturing unit. Almost all the big business names of today started small. The excitement of seeing something growing from a small to big scale is one of the biggest joys of life. Anyway, here are a few time-tested tips which will ensure that we can personally finance our own dreams, and make them count – without depending on banks, cash advances or public money for support.

Savings

• Though it might sound clichéd, this is the biggest secret behind successes, and no – it does not take a lifetime. According to 2006 stats, the average savings in an American family was 12.8% (Source – Money magazine); just for comparison’s sake, the average savings in China was 50%, and in India, it was 33%.

The best way to fund your dreams still is to save money – but then, you need to start early. If you are in the age group of 25-30, you should be able to turn your dream into a reality before you are 35 or 40, irrespective of the amount you earn. Proof – Oseola McCarthy, a washerwoman on the southern Mississippi university campus donated $624,600 to the university in July 1995. All of that money was from her savings! Check out Google for more info on that.

Save at least half your money in traditional ways, not the stock markets. The markets are a good way to make money, but they are an excellent way to lose money too – when you go in uninformed. Always take the advice of a professional planner and divide your savings among safe and liquid investments.

Invest wisely :

• Investments need not be only of the stock market variety. With today’s property prices, if you can afford them, you should certainly buy low and sell high (not tomorrow – stay put in your investments till you reach a ballpark figure you have pre-set). Same goes with other solid investments like Gold, and even non-mainstream investments like Art and Antiques. Like we said above, have a figure in your mind and a practical time frame to achieve that. Sell immediately on reaching that amount and do not give in to greed.

No credit card:

• We know that this is difficult, but when you are on a mission, do not spend money you do not have. You will only end up dipping into whatever you have saved to pay off your credit cards, loans, cash advances and other payments. The best way is to keep just one card on you for emergency purposes and leave the rest at home or better yet, take out cash advances when you absolutely need extra cash. Don’t worry, the card company will not feel bad if you don’t use your card (and keep paying them late fees and over limit charges).

Cut down on expenses:

• If you have come this far, you must be thinking, what is so strange about all these points? I have known them all along! But the trick is actually implementing them and not just knowing them. Making an expense list with your family members and each of you cutting down on one little expense will ensure that you get to your dream amount more quickly.

Solve it yourself

All of these are just little ways and more importantly, traditional and time tested ways, to reach your personal finance goal. Why go to a bank and pay interest when your savings can finance yourself? If you love paying interest, pay it to your own bank account. However, if things don’t fall in place as usual, don’t wait for miracles to happen but act within your resources to save yourself and contact a reliable cash advances company to get your financial problems fixed.