Staying Out Of Debt
As it turns out, in many scenarios, a small business’s financial situation mirrors that of an individual.
This is true even in a legal sense—after all, a corporation can be defined as a “person” in certain courts. What this means is that watching the way small businesses handle debt can serve as a model for your own personal finances.
The breakdown comes in debt. While many financial advisors maintain that having some level of debt is a good thing, life is often too complicated for this to be a safe bet.
Sure, maybe that $20k debt is sustainable now; but what if you took out the loan in Houston a few weeks before Hurricane Harvey hit? Now you might have to go bankrupt.
What you want to do is take out a loan that you can pay back. Sometimes it’s worth it to start slow. For example, if you’ve got $2k in the bank, and you need $1k for something that will make you money, perhaps take out the $1k loan, get that which you need, and then pay it off with the earnings which come from your purchase.
If things go sour, you can pay off the loan through your personal assets before it becomes too big of a burden. Otherwise, you can see how interest rates affect what you pay back in real time, and perhaps even see the increase you need without having to diminish your own personal assets.
Getting Money Online: What’s more interesting when you consider such a move is that it’s possible for you to secure a loan from the comfort of your own home with the click of a mouse.
It’s actually quite easy to securepersonal loans online, provided you meet the right qualifications.
While it’s certainly possible to secure a loan with poor credit, this is unadvisable because there will usually be exceptional interest costs as well, and these can keep you from ever getting out of debt, should your situation be dire enough. That said, other online funding solutions exist if you’re unable to get a loan for one reason or another.
There are also online fundraising solutions. These are a bit of a longshot. If you’re central to a given community and find yourself hit with some massive fine or something of the kind, you may be able to make an appeal which will net you the necessary funds. However, your campaign could fall flat; so be careful when considering such a move.
Cutting Out The Fat: Something else you can do to buff up personal finances is cut the “fat”, as it were.
Do you spend more than $10 a month on coffee? You’re spending too much. Buy a can for under $10 and make your own coffee. Spending $3 to $5 daily at Starbucks comes to between $84 and $155 a month, depending on what you spend and the days in the month.
Either way you slice it, that’s going to be near a grand annually. You can’t afford that, it’s fat; cut it out. Do the same with fast food. Do you pay a parking meter a dollar a day? Walk an extra block and save $365 a year. How about car payments—can you sell the car, buy a “beater”, and get rid of the monthly $500? Do that.
Until you get out of bad debt, building good credit is next to impossible. If you’re in good financial shape, you can get in better shape by taking out loans and paying them back on time. But if you’re in bad financial shape, getting a loan just digs the hole deeper. So figure out where you stand and take it one step at a time.