FINANCIAL FREEDOM

Your complete guide to achieve financial freedom. Proven tips, tools and tactics for you to achieve financial freedom. Make money, save money and effectively manage your money.

Your Debt Reduction Planning Tools

Written by Dian Herdiana on 5:08 AM

With the economy in such a poor state and many people losing their jobs, or having to take less pay, there is a bigger portion of the population that has resorted to living off of credit. When the time comes to pay off your debt and get out from under it all, using debt reduction planning tools can really help make a lot of difference.

Finding the right tools for you and your situation is as easy as surfing the internet. There are many things that you can use that can help you get a clear picture of where you are, a clear picture of where you want to be and, most importantly, a set plan on how to get there.

Debt calculators are one such tool because it will allow you to factor in the amount of interest you are paying on any particular bill. You can use the calculator by determining the date you want to be free and clear and the calculator will figure the amount that you will need to pay every month in order to reach that goal. As long as you don't incur additional debt, such as continuing to use a credit card or line of credit, the calculator can give you an exact time frame for when you can be debt free.

In order to make sure that the numbers you are plugging into a debt calculator are accurate and that you can make those payments every single month, it's important to come up with an exact budget in your debt reduction planning strategy. You need to have a clear picture of how much money you have coming in the house every month and how much goes out every month. Only then can you accurately calculate when you will be debt free.

In order for your budget to work you have to make sure to include everything. If you buy coffee every day when you go to work (and you're not willing to stop doing so) you need to include that amount in your budget. It's easy to remember the big things like car payments and mortgage payments, or the things where you get a bill in the mail every month,but the things that you might have trouble thinking about and including in your budget are things that you don't have to do every month such as dry cleaning, pet expenses, seasonal expenses, etc. Make sure that you take all of that into consideration before you make out your budget. The more accurate your budget the fewer bumps in the road to financial freedom you'll encounter.

Also, don't be afraid to contact your credit card companies and see what, if anything, they are willing to do to help. Just make sure that whatever they do to help doesn't have a negative impact on your credit rating.

There are a lot of tools and methods you can incorporate in your debt reduction planning strategy but the one best thing you can do for yourself and your financial health is to get started right away.

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Manage Money Without Depriving

Written by Dian Herdiana on 8:41 AM

It is a fact that there would always be a system wherein we will not be getting everything we want because of financial limitations. In short, we cannot have everything at the instant we would want it. There would have to be planning or if not, some careful deliberation about whether we would be getting the item we want or not. This is because sooner or later, finances would always fall short of the expenses. That is why we manage our money and budget for the things that we would want to acquire. Nevertheless, when we manage money without depriving, we would want to be able to enjoy a certain degree of satisfaction and fulfillment without compromising our savings.

Deprivation would mean curtailing our freedom to the point of not being able to enjoy some of our hard earned resources. Though it is an irony in itself that we are already limited with finances and yet would not want to be deprived, a balance of enjoyment and requirement is what dictates the existence of deprivation if ever.

Earn More

One of the most common means of people to raise the level of financial freedom is to earn more by working more. However, this is limited with the many social factors which include degree of educational attainment, time, job availability, and more often than not, personal accomplishments.

Some may get lucky to be in the lighter side of personal assessment by the human resource personnel and be accepted for a job despite the incomplete compliance of requirements. There are also some who, despite their educational attainment and personal socio-civic accomplishments, are still not able to land a job they desire due to a personal prerogative
of the recruiter to not accept the applicant.

What this presents is a semi-random chance of a person to fully comply with all the factors which constitutes landing of another job than the current one.

Save More

A classic means of how to manage money without depriving is to focus on saving the excess money that flows in the household after deducting all the other monthly expenses and bills. Saving money definitely means having money when the need for an important expense is required.

Saving more would merit to having more extra cash, but also poses a paradox in itself in a way that when you save money, you are already keeping that for something
projected as an event that could happen. In this manner, there would be a difficulty in using that fund intended for an important thing to be spent on something that would just be for leisure and
satisfaction.

Learn To Be Content

The degree of limitation and deprivation on a person’s financial resources is dictated by the personal level of satisfaction. A person’s idea of contentment is the same as his perception on what he needs and wants. A person who is “want” oriented will always be seeking for things that may already be unattainable at the current financial level, and would feel deprived of such. On the other hand, a person who is “need” oriented would be able to do away with leisure and may
also feel deprived deep inside of finer things that may have been acquired.

The key to manage money without depriving is to learn to already accept what is possible to be attained and work from there. If there is a rather unattainable thing to spend money on, then that is the time the person should plan and think about the means to reach that and make that attainable.

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Outstanding Student Loans

Written by Dian Herdiana on 8:31 PM

Outstanding student loan is a common and major problem for several students. You can negotiate with your creditors and convince them to reduce or even eliminate your debt, but for this purpose your case should be strong and based on facts. If you are not confident that you will be able to negotiate yourself, you can hire a company to bargain or negotiate with your creditors on your behalf.

Make sure if you are able to pay then don't cheat your creditors as this destroys relations, and if you are not in a position to pay then you should contact your creditors as soon as possible and let them know with your situation. First, ask your creditors to forgive some of your debt as this is a good starting point, and then gradually move forward for further negotiations.

Some creditors may entertain your request and some not, but you should try your best to convince them that you deserve to be awarded some relaxation in loan payments. If your case is sound and make sense, most probably they will consider your request seriously.

Keep in mind it is always helpful that you contact your creditors before they contact you because this shows your sincerity and loyalty, and creditors value such actions. You can also take services of a debt negotiation agency to negotiate your case with your creditors. Before you take services of a debt negotiation firm, make sure that your creditors are willing to work with that agency, and always take services of a competent and experienced agency as any mistake in choosing the right firm can result in denial from your creditors.

Keep in mind that your credit history should be excellent as all the lenders check credit record before giving any loan. So, you should manage to make a good credit history, and always try to pay your monthly payments on time. If your credit history is good, you can better negotiate interest rates with creditors.

College loan consolidation program:

Students take different types of loans with different interest rates during their college life to fund their educational expenses, and after graduation they see a big outstanding amount waiting for them. A college loan consolidation program is the solution to all these problems. This program takes all student loans and puts them in a single loan. This loan allows students to pay a single monthly payment instead of making more than one payments for different loans. Moreover, there are many consolidation programs which offer lower interest rates to students to help them manage their debts easily.

Hence, there are many advantages of consolidated loans like you can use this loan to pay off all your previous student loans, you will be paying a single amount per month instead of more than one amounts for different loans, it will be easy for you to remember one due date instead of many due dates for different loans. So, this is the best option for a student to fund his/her educational expenses with affordable interest rates

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Controlling Your Debt: How To Boost Your Credit Score

Written by Dian Herdiana on 8:13 AM

A credit score acts much like your high school report card. It features a three-digit “grade”, which reflects a person's credit worthiness to potential creditors, banks, insurance companies, mortgage companies and even employers. The higher your score, the greater will be your chances of availing credit. Here's how to control your debts, and boost your credit score.

Review Your Creidt Report

Ther are three major cretid reporting agencies today, and through these agencies, you can get a copy of your credit report, for you to closely evaluate it. Just like using a fine- comb to weed out tangles and loose hair, you need to review your credit report with a keen eye for incorrect data, or any inconsistencies. Check out any incorrect payments, credit limits, or collection data that you strongly feel is not yours. It's a fact that some typing errors or numerical glitches often show up on some credit reports; therefoe you need to get a copy of your credit report at least once a year.

Pay Your Obligations On Time

Always make sure that you pay off all types of debt or bills on time. Late payments or any delinquencies will truly have a major effect on your credit score. If you forget to pay one or two of your bills on time, prepare to have some red marks or black eyes on your credit history. To steer clear of any delinquencies, try setting up your bills for automatic withdrawal from your personal ckeching account, so that you won't have to deal with any collection agency in the future.

Balance Your Credit Card Spending

Regardless of whether you have one, two or three credit cards, remember to spend wisely and balance your credit card obligations. If you don't have the money to pay an existing credit card balance at the moment, try getting a loan from a family member or relative, so that your debts can be wiped off from your card, and your credit score also gets a helpful boost.

Never Do Loan Shopping

Whenever you continually shop for loans, or submit to as many lenders within just two weeks, your credit score will surely suffer a major drop. Try to do a cluster of loan inquiries within a proper period of time, like one every two weeks, so that your credit score remains strong, and won't have to suffer major drops in credibility with lenders.

According to credit experts, a credit score of 300 to 580 indicates that you'll only get approved for loans which offer very high interest rates. A credit score of 651 to 710 means that you'll be able to avail of credit at moderate interest rates, while a score of 751 and up indicates that you'll be able to get the most competitive and flexible loan packages available in the market today.

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Manage Money For The Home

Written by Dian Herdiana on 11:07 AM

Managing money may have been something that we have already started practicing since we started receiving allowances from our parents. Most of us learned to manage money at a later time when we got to elementary schooling since we only had our lunchboxes during kindergarten to support our ever hungry stomachs. As we grow older and leave the academic environment, we then begin to focus on managing our money on other things such as a relationship and self sustenance. As we go into married life and start our own family, we then focus on how to manage money for the home.

There are many things to take into consideration when we manage money for the home and allocate the appropriate budgeting of our salaries to prevent ourselves from having credits, and on a worse case scenario go into bankruptcy. This also happens even with a combined salary of each parent. Such end point would be damaging to the self esteem and living conditions of each member of the family.

Before we get into such confusion and inconvenient status, here are some of the basic things that we need to allocate tight and properly allocated budgeting, given that responsibility and the number of kids have been taken into consideration.

The House

One of the most important things to consider in allocation of budget would be the house. Mortgages and taxes that come along with the acquisition of a house would have the greatest impact in a family budgeting scheme as it would be the basis of living. Without a proper house to dwell in and a home to thrive in, each member of a family would have the trouble to set up the other factors for managing money for a home setting.

Even with non-owned dwellings such as apartments, condominiums, and the like would require an added burden on the budget scheme as the rates of the homes being rented would vary depending on the landowners’ preference. This factor would require one of the top priorities for budgeting besides food.

Food

Food is one of the essential things for human existence besides air and water. Without it, we cannot function properly for long and we would definitely expire. Food is not free like air and perhaps water in some cases, and definitely would have to be given allocation in the budgeting in a home setting. Even if food calls for the most urgent attention for compliance, it does not require as much financial allocation to meet the least requirement as compared to a house. Furthermore, food is abundantly available as compared to a house or dwelling location.

Utilities

Utilities are the different services that the home enjoys for a more efficient and convenient living. These include water, electrical, gas, and heat services, with the last two being applicable to more modern communities located in the colder regions.These are almost as necessary as the essential needs as they are already part of the living conditions of a home.

Being conscious about the things to be considered to manage money for the home is very crucial in attaining further goals in family existence, and being able to provide the necessary things in which the family would thrive and prosper. Without responsible budgeting, chances are that credits and bills would amount to drastic amounts which could damage the harmony of each
member’s living.

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How to use assertiveness in collections of debts

Written by Dian Herdiana on 10:34 PM

Being assertive means that you are able to stand up for who you are and what you want. You may know that you might not always get this but you have done all that you can to try. Finding out what you can do to be assertive in collections of debts that people around you may owe will give you strength and power to get what you want and feel better about it.

You need to use your assertive training for being strong when it comes to collecting debts. You have to figure out what you want and then devise a plan to get just that. It is not always nice, but in some cases, you may have to put a little bit of force behind your efforts and make it happen for you. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be paid for things that you have done or if you have loaned people money. You honored your part and now you have to get others to honor theirs.

Do you know that when you are assertive in life, you will get more things accomplished and have a better outcome in life? It can happen for you and with the right tools and training, you can make other pay you what they owe and move on. It may not be easy to stand up in this type of situation, but you will feel better once you have. Sometimes it is not always about the money that is owed, it is the principal and the fact that you want to be respected from others around you.

You need to get on top of things. You have to be more assertive with the way that you live your life. You do not have to be mean or be rude to do this. All you really have to do is make yourself known and show others how you are feeling about something. If you are owed money, you should make sure that you do what is necessary to make them see how serious you are about it.

Make things happen for you. Do not wait for the person to come to you and pay. You may have to go to them to get what you are looking for. There is no reason why you should have to wait for debts to be paid. You need to get assertive and use this feeling to collect your debts and make things happen for you.

Take advantage of everything that you can. You should not pass up opportunities to make things work in your advantage. If you see an opportunity, you should grab it. You are the only one that can make your goals of collecting debts happen for you. There is no reason to worry about how others will view you when you are being assertive. You are doing this for yourself and it is important that you are following through on your actions. Remember you do not have to be rude or pushy, you just have to be assertive and you will see that this emotion will get you where you need to be.

If the aggressive behavior that you are portraying is not working to collect the debt that you are owed, at least you know that you tried. You showed someone that you cannot be taken advantage of and that you can stand up for yourself. You will feel better because you did what you had to do and it probably felt good at the time. You will learn from this experience and take more with you for the next time you are trying to collect a debt from someone

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An Overview Of Reverse Mortgage

Written by Dian Herdiana on 9:59 AM

It is a natural occurrence in the life cycle of an individual to change priorities according to their age. In the case of financial needs, for instance, young children have trivial monetary concerns. Teenagers, on the other hand, have increased yet manageable needs. Young professionals have complicated and often unnecessary financial issues. Yuppies, as they are referred to in urban slang, have a higher propensity to buy because of the initial excitement of real-world adulthood.

Middle-aged people have even more complicated yet defined financial necessities. The senior bracket or those nearing retirement have defined financial requirements. Since most people in their retirement age have a unified idea of their needs, they are the ones who are usually targeted by bank and financial institutions to take out loans or reverse mortgages.

A person at the point of retirement age would most likely more concerned about funds and savings more than anything else. And this is perfectly understandable because leaving the labor force entirely would mean ceasing to receive a paycheck on a regular basis. Some people, after assessing and calculating their bank assets and savings would feel that their money might not be enough to last them through their retirement period. That is precisely why mortgages and loans benefit from this demographic.

A kind of mortgage that is designed specifically for the senior bracket is a reverse mortgage. It is only available for persons 62 years and older. The reverse mortgage is a loan that is placed on the home equity. It is referred to as ‘reverse’ because it is not like normal mortgages when the homeowner receives a lump sum and repays the lender for the debt. In this kind of mortgage, the lender releases money to the homeowner for the life of the mortgage and the loan amount increase is directly proportional to the amount released.

The contract expires when the homeowner dies, sells the house or moves out. At this point, it would be safe to say that, in effect, the mortgage expires when the house is sold. Should the homeowner die or decide to move out, the allotment from the lender stops when the intent to sell the house is expressed, otherwise, the release of money to the borrower will be continuous. In case of death, the heirs will inherit the mortgage and the home, and they can decide to continue the allotment or settle the debt, that is if they intend to move out.

When the house is sold, part of the proceeds will be used to repay the home equity mortgage. If there is an excess, the homeowner can keep it, if the proceeds are not sufficient to settle the amount, the bank or the insurance provider of the bank with the loan will absorb the mortgage.

Before taking out a reverse mortgage, one should research thoroughly and weigh its advantages and disadvantages. This mortgage binds the home to the lender with no chance of reclaiming the property because as mentioned, selling the house is the only factor that would determine the conclusion of the mortgage.

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Tips for Getting Out of Debt

Written by Dian Herdiana on 8:52 AM

Are you looking for tips for getting out of debt? Many people struggle every month to find ways to cover just the minimum payments on credit cards, personal loans, student loans and many other debts. The problem with paying only the minimum is that it's almost impossible to get out of debt any time in the near future.

When it comes to getting out of debt for good, there are several steps you can take. Always remember that it took you time to get into debt, so it will take a little time and patience to get back out again.

Here are some tips for getting out of debt for good.

Building Your Motivation to Get Out of Debt

The key to effective debt reduction is understanding WHY you want to get out of debt. Most people simply think that being debt free would be easier financially. Others simply don't want the stress and frustration of constant monthly repayments eating into their pay check leaving them with nothing left over for themselves.

Regardless of what your reasons for wanting to get out of debt are, it's important you have a strong, valid reason for creating a debt reduction plan. When you can answer the question of why you want to get out of debt with passion, you'll find it much easier to stay motivated.

Determination

If you're truly determined to work on getting out of debt, then you will need to make a promise with yourself not to add any more debt to your current balances. This means not charging anything else to your credit cards and not applying for more credit.

You might think this sounds like an easy step, but the real challenge comes when bills need to be paid or when you've run out of cash at the end of the week. No matter what happens, be determined to stop adding more debt to your balances.

Reducing Balances

If you're paying the minimum payments on your current outstanding credit card debts or other balances, then you may find it difficult to get out of debt quickly. The object is to find ways to pay more than the minimum due to get your balances down as fast as possible.

Reduce Expenses

In order to pay more than the minimum payment due, you'll need to find ways to reduce your current expenses so you'll have more money left over from your pay check each week.

Think about ways you can reduce your current repayment amounts. You might decide to look into balance transfers to lenders offering lower interest rates or you might think about consolidating some of your debts to reduce your payments.

You should also start thinking about other aspects of your spending habits and see if you can find areas you might cut back. Put any extra cash you have towards your outstanding balances immediately.

Increase Income

If you're struggling to survive financially on your current pay check, then you might consider looking at ways to earn a little extra on the side. This extra income should be designated for getting out of debt and put towards your balances each time you receive it.

You might simply hold a yard sale or put some unwanted items on eBay to raise a little extra cash. You could even look at some ways to create a little side-income online.

No matter what you decide, tips for getting out of debt are only going to be useful to you if you take control and make the firm decision to reduce your debts on your own. With patience and determination, you'll be debt free before you know it.

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