Category Archives: Personal Finance

After all of the New Year’s Eve festivities wind down and midnight strikes the clock, it’s officially 2019, and like most people, you probably want to set a resolution that you can achieve in the next 365 days. Some people focus on their physical health and opt to make weight loss and a better diet their resolution while others plan to find their dream job or cross a few destinations off of their travel bucket list.

While these are all great solutions, a new year is also a great time to set financial goals. By taking charge of your finances, you can pay off debt, save more money, and increase your overall financial standing.

Here are 5 financial goals that you can accomplish in 2019.

1. Create a Budget & Stick with It

Creating a budget is a simple yet highly effective way to achieve financial success and freedom. Yet studies have found that only 1 in 3 households use a budget to keep track of their finances in an organized way. Budgeting is a great way to devise a plan on how you will spend and save your monthly income. By budgeting, you can ensure you have enough money to pay for bills while also having money left over to put into a savings account or to spend.

The good news is that in today’s digital world, budgeting is extremely easy. In fact, there are all sorts of budgeting and financial apps available to make managing your money a breeze. Top apps include:

• PocketGuard
• Mint
• Wally
• Acorns
• You Need a Budget

After ringing in 2019, open your app store and download one of these tools. Budgeting and money management is much easier when you’ve got a trusted app to help you along.

2. Pay off Debt

Getting into debt is easy, but getting out of debt can feel like a never-ending uphill battle. Start the New Year by making a resolution to manage your finances and Get out of Debt. No matter if you’re in $5k worth of debt or $50k, it’s never too late or too soon to start chipping away at that number. Begin the new year by having a plan to reduce the amount of money you owe creditors.

To start, make a list of your debt, to include how much you owe and to who you owe. Using the list you can determine which debt to tackle first. Some people prefer to pay off their highest-interest-rate debt first while others pay off the lowest amount of debt, known as the snowballing method.

No matter how you decide to pay off your debt, the important part going into 2019 is that you have a plan to pay down and pay off debt. Even if you don’t end the year entirely debt free, reducing your debt load is a huge accomplishment.

3. Save More Money

How much money do you have in savings? If you’re ashamed of the answer, you aren’t alone. A 2016 study found that 35% of U.S. adults only have hundreds of dollars in their savings accounts while 34% have nothing saved.

Having and continuously funding a savings account is beneficial in many ways. A financial emergency can happen at any time. Wouldn’t it be ideal to have money set aside for car repairs instead of charging a credit card? Financial emergencies shouldn’t put you into debt.

Savings accounts are also beneficial in that you can start and continue good financial habits early on. By putting money into your savings account each paycheck, you can get into the habit of saving and have peace of mind that you have money available to use outside of your checking account.

4. Build an Emergency Fund

Similarly to savings accounts, people rarely also have an emergency fund. An emergency fund can be seen as a secondary savings account. With an emergency fund, you can use your savings account to save for an upcoming vacation or to pay for a large expense. On the other hand, the emergency fund is used strictly for emergencies such as:

• Car repairs
• Appliance repair or replacement
• Medical emergencies

Because financial emergencies can truly happen at any time, having an emergency fund allows you to have money to fall back on during a rough patch. Emergency funds are also beneficial in the event that you lose your job or are unable to work.

In 2019, make it your resolution to build an emergency fund that can pay all of your expenses for at least three months. Happy saving!

5. Start Saving for Retirement

No one wants to work for the rest of their lives, yet it seems so many people, especially younger generations, are opposed to saving for retirement. Most Americans have less than $1,000 saved while half of all adults in the U.S. have nothing set aside for retirement.

To get the most bang for your retirement buck, utilize any retirement benefits that your company offers, such as an IRA with company matching. Even if you can only contribute 3% of your paycheck or $50 a month, setting aside something for retirement is better than nothing! Plus you can enjoy the various tax benefits of saving for retirement early on in life.

Conclusion

With the New Year right around the corner, now is the time to start thinking of what you want to accomplish in 2019. If financial security sounds good to you, try achieving one of these five financial goals.

Starting a new business is no small endeavor. With the start-up culture on the rise, there is the creation of a lot of competition for the new businesses that are starting up each day. Lots of innovative ideas, which are stemming from the boom of industry, technology, infrastructure, and human needs, have created a vast array of various products and services that are developing newfound businesses.

The requirement for having professionals who have vast knowledge regarding the many spheres of business to guide and consult you during these forging periods of your business journey is a must. You might have great business knowledge but knowing someone who has dedicated his entire life to a particular niche of the business field is an indispensable asset. This article aims to provide you with the knowledge of some of the most needed professionals while starting a new business as well as shed some light on why you need them.

Need for an Attorney

The need for an attorney in your start-up business completely depends on the type of business that you are pursuing. While some businesses have legal complexities and therefore need an attorney right from the beginning, others are more accommodative and might not require an attorney till a major issue arises.

The most accommodative of these businesses is a sole proprietorship. It is a simple business that does not require the business owners to register themselves with the state. Having a few necessary legal licenses is enough for owning a business of this sort and you wouldn’t need to have an attorney unless a major legal crisis takes place. Paper works other than the business licenses are also dependent on the niche of your business and in some cases, even the licenses are not required.

LLC’s and Partnerships are more complicated than sole proprietorships. They require specific documents to be created and the business to be properly registered with the state. The help of online services or domains to register with the state might be used, but the prudent resource is to take the help of an attorney in order to deal with the complications of these kinds of businesses.

The advantages that hiring an attorney provides to your start-up are many.  An attorney assists you in making sense and logic out of the many incorporation documents that are involved with the starting up of your business. It also provides you the assurance that the efforts you are putting in are enough. They also help you focus on the more specific business goals of your corporation rather than having to deal with the legal part of everything, and they will provide assistance with customizing your legal forms with the tailor-made needs of your specific corporation, while online blanket forms are unable to achieve.

Need for an Accountant

Having an accountant for your start-up company is probably one of the most important tasks that you should undertake. No matter the business, having an accountant is a must. A business is after all, in all its basics, mere transaction of cash, expenses, and a tracking of budgeting and income. In order to have a successful company, especially when you are starting up, having an accountant who is well versed with the nuances of the financial world and data is a must, so as to have a clear understanding about the exact position that your business stands in financially. The flow of cash is the livelihood of any business and knowing where you are underperforming and what needs to be improved on a financial level is a very important task when it comes to accruing success for your company.

Need for a Licensing Company

Every business is subject to licensing and regulatory bodies of the country that they are functioning in. These bodies decide the kind of permits and regulations that a business needs to pass or adhere to in order to be functional. Although setting up an online business or a physical one seems to be easy, it wouldn’t be the same if a government body snoops in and decides to shut it because you have violated a licensing term or regulatory clause. Having a professional deal with all the licenses and certificates that a business needs to adhere with is a must in order to dissipate any future problems. One such great company which is highly experienced in providing sound licensing advice to start-up debt collection companies is Cornerstone Support, Inc. This company has a huge amount of experience in its field and is capable of providing you with the best solutions for licensing while starting up your business.

Need For a marketing agency

Marketing is probably the biggest responsibility that any business has to handle. A business will only prosper if it has enough customers. Nobody is a clairvoyant and the news about a business just starting up is required to be distributed to the desired audience in an efficient and effective manner so as to provide the best marketing solutions for a company. Marketing simply helps in letting other people know about the profits of the products or services that your company offers and also about the solutions that they help in providing. A vast variety of marketing solutions, starting from offline marketing to online ones are available in today’s day and age. Getting hold of a marketing solutions agency that is capable of providing a great boost to the visibility of your company is ideal.

Need For an IT agency

The present world is a world that is steeped in the virtual universe. Everything is on the internet and every different sphere of a business functions on a technological scale. Having a profound IT and Technology team that can tackle the many technical issues and requirements of your start-up, while providing unhindered connection with your customers is a must. Seeking the help of a professional agency, that helps to tackle the difficulties that this department deals with, is a wise idea when starting up. For example, banks and credit unions benefit from working with a consulting group like The Copper River Group to ensure the best selection of core software choices, and to negotiate vendor agreements.

Many IT agencies will cover a specific industry or specialty, so look for one that fits your need and market. For example, one of the growing IT needs is for the healthcare industry, and Medicus IT covers this field as a dedicated agency that is esteemed and experienced in the services that they provide.

As has been made clear from this article, taking the help of a designated professional regarding some departments of business, especially while in the beginning stages of your business, is beneficial to the success of the company.