What To Do When you Need Money Immediately

While we all hate the thought of not being able to pay our bills on time, more Americans are finding themselves stuck in a difficult situation when it comes to their finances. Whether it is because a member of the family recently suffered a job loss, a decrease in pay, or an unexpected bill that was not budgeted for, many find themselves burdened with a high level of stress that causes them to seek out any means possible to obtain the cash they need to cover their expenses. While many options exist to help you accumulate some extra cash over an extended period of time, very few options are available when you find yourself in the situation that I need money today. Before you throw your hands up in the air in despair, here are a few of the most popular options that can help you get the money you so desperately need when you need it most.

First, consider asking your friends or family for some financial help. If you have recently hit a patch of bad financial luck due to a job loss or decrease in pay, there is a good chance that those who love and care about you will be sympathetic to your financial situation. If you only need a small sum of money to tide you over until your next paycheck, don’t be afraid to ask your friends and family for help. Just don’t expect that the money they give you will be a gift. Although they may not say it, there is a good chance that they will expect you to pay back the money that they lend you in a timely manner. In order to stay on good terms, it may be in your best interest to draw up a lender contract and specify what your expected repayment date may be. You can choose to repay with interest or not, but when you put it in writing it goes to show that you are serious about making good on the loan when you get back on more stable financial footing.

Lastly, consider opting for a payday loan. If you don’t want to ask your friends or family for help simply because you do not want to be judged for your financial problems, you could always consider applying for a payday loan. While these loans most commonly come with excessively high interest rates and added fees, they usually can deliver the cash you need when you are in the I need money today situation. If you choose this option, make sure you have a good understanding of all the fine print associated with the payday loan. Make sure you can meet the repayment date and that you will be able to afford all the added fees and interest that will be charged on the money you plan to borrow. If you can’t afford the added fees, this may not be the best option for your I need money today woes.

These are just a few of the options you should consider when you find yourself thinking I need money today. Consider asking your friends and family for help, but if you are embarrassed about your financial situation, a payday loan is always a good option. Regardless of the option you choose, both are a good way to obtain the money you need, when you need it.

Go back in time to learn how to manage money!

Ever heard of your dad or grand dad take a loan for a vacation or for that matter for a festive and high spending involved occasion like a wedding? Do you recall them buying clothes because retail therapy helped their blues every other month? They always preferred quality over quantity on anything purchased be it the furniture, utensils, clothes or home accessories.



We are a transition generation trying to find a balance between retaining our traditional values and also finding a way to ape the west in terms of lifestyle changes. Well, one of the areas that seems to face marked change due to this shift is that of personal finance. Managing money has been a constant challenge for today’s young generation who have upped the antennae on the spending. They are more brand conscious than any generation before has ever been, the wardrobe has 10 or more different styles of attire for every occasion, vacations abroad are common, buying a house and a car by availing loans is also common. Educational loans and vacation loans are also on the rise.


CONSERVATIVE WITH LOANS AND EXPENDITURE

Ever heard of your dad or grand dad take a loan for a vacation or for that matter for a festive and high spending involved occasion like a wedding? Do you recall them buying clothes because retail therapy helped their blues every other month? In fact the average person belonging to the previous generation would spend money on clothes for festivals, weddings or periodically once or twice a year. They always preferred quality over quantity on anything purchased be it the furniture, utensils, clothes or home accessories.


LIVING LIFE KING SIZE!


This is not the case in today’s generation. They like living life to the full. What is the point in hoarding away money for a future which is as unpredictable as the weather! They would rather enjoy themselves to the hilt, while the party lasts! Stress is a huge factor that contribute to these drastic lifestyle changes one is a witness of now. Today’s generation work very hard and play very hard. They want to experience everything in a short span of time. They are impatient for goals to be reached and in the hurry to reach their destinations they forget to savour the simple pleasures of life that our parents and grandparents had all the time for. They lived within the incomes they received and saved as much as they could. Their income expense statements showed more cash inflows rather than outflows.


However, the younger generation argues on this aspect. We have but one life and it is too short, so we need to pack all the action in before old age sets in. What’s the point in trying to spend on entertainment, travel, food, looks and grooming with creaky joints and false teeth.


SLAVING AND SAVING LIKE ANTS!


There sure is a point there. Our dads and grand dads lived like an ant generation. Slaving away day after day in the same environment, in the same job for years together, stowing away finances in different debt instruments to accumulate and serve their purpose, when they are old. Of course some invested it in land, stocks, gold etc. as well, which was left to their discretion and knowledge in such matters. The point then is to step back and look at both the lifestyles. Take the good out of both and ensure that our life is to the fullest, with the best of both worlds.


TAKING A FEW LEAVES FROM THE BOOKS OF OUR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS:


1. Ensure that there is an emergency fund stowed away for a rainy day. A job loss, recession, illness etc. could prove to be a temporary setback for which you may incur additional expenses best managed with this emergency fund.


2. Keep impulse purchases to a minimum. Indulging in branded items for certain purchase choices like consumer durables and other long lasting products is fine. However, it does not mean that you should go overboard with being brand conscious all the time. In case of clothes, look out for the sales season where you avail discounts, shop for quality over quantity, which is any day better. However, if you are the kind who loves a lot of variety and like to outgrow your liking for the same kind of clothes over a period of time, indulge in less expensive clothes with a comparatively lesser shelf life, which can be discarded and refilled with other choices.

3. Don’t live life king size all the time, try and bring it down a few notches most of the time. For eg. Instead of planning a vacation that is out of the continent, you could try a vacation spot in Asia or India, which will bring the same benefits in terms of relaxation and fun and yet be less cumbersome on your purse strings.


4. When there is a boom, there is bound to be crash around the corner. So hold your horses and don’t overindulge in luxuries, tomorrow may not work out as planned, nevertheless it is wise to be prepared for it, even if it is bound to take you by surprise. A little foresight could save you from a load of trouble.


5. Take care to have a mixed portfolio with investments in debts and equities apart from an emergency fund and other savings.


6.Debt counsellors advise 60% of your income should be set aside for savings and investments and 40% should be able to cover your living expenses as well as any debt expenses you might have incurred.


7. Use your credit card judiciously or don’t use it at all and keep a tab of your debts to ensure they are safely manageable. In fact do not take a loan unless it fits it well with the rest of your financial goals and you can safely repay it without any stress to your budget.


By all means enjoy life, but in moderation. Balance is the key element to have the best of both worlds. A little bit of this and a little bit of that make for a wholesome, balanced life sprinkled with variety.

Teaching your child the value of money

Use real-life experiences to demonstrate everything you want to teach. Learning by observing and doing is the most powerful tool. Such as when you go grocery shopping, and can use the opportunity to showcase planned spending, or how to recognise value for money. Or if you decide to use a credit card at a restaurant, you could show your child how a credit card works, when it can be used, and how to calculate a tip!



How important is it to teach your children about money, its place, and its value? Considering that money does, in a lot of ways, make the world go round, you might think it one of life’s obvious lessons, gained through experience. Or you might assume that money management is tackled in school. Think again. Arming your child with the right attitude and necessary skills at the right time will afford them with the greatest possible advantage: the opportunity and power to make decisions.

How, and when to communicate money values to children is, however, one of the toughest challenges that parents face. Educating, motivating, and empowering children to become regular savers and investors will enable them to keep more of the money they earn and do more with the money they spend.


HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY GO ABOUT DOING THIS?


Discuss money openly. So many parents do not discuss finances within the family either because it’s considered inappropriate, or personal. Consider this: if you don’t actively provide the correct information to your child, how is he/ she to know, understand and inculcate your values? Therefore, as soon as your child can count, introduce him/ her to money. Observation and repetition are two important ways in which children learn. As they grow older, have frank discussions about how to save it, how to make it grow, and how to spend it wisely.


Help distinguish between needs and wants. These are habits that die hard, and influence how your child will approach money and its place in his/ her life. If they can differentiate between need-to-have and nice-to-have, then they’re halfway to a solid and secure future.


Set goals for your child. Better still, help your child set his/ her own goals. If it’s a toy that they must have, then regard this as a good opportunity to teach your child how to be responsible with money, and prioritise between what they want, and mindless spending. Allow your child to make spending decisions, which means that they will learn from the choices they make. And learn that it’s to their advantage to do a little homework before buying, waiting for the right time to buy, and actually deciding if the product selected is what they really want.


Encourage your child to save. Begin simply, as your parents might have done, with a piggy bank. If you do give your child an allowance, get them to set aside a small portion of it every time. Explain and demonstrate the concept of earning interest income on savings. Provide an incentive; offer to match what your child saves on his/ her own.


Help your child maintain a record of money saved, invested, or spent. To make it easy, use 12 envelopes, 1 for each month, with a larger envelope to hold all the envelopes for the year. Encourage your child to save receipts from all purchases in the envelopes and keep notes on what he/ she does with his/ her money.

Use real-life experiences to demonstrate everything you want to teach.Learning by observing and doing is the most powerful tool. Such as when you go grocery shopping, and can use the opportunity to showcase planned spending, or how to recognise value for money. Or if you decide to use a credit card at a restaurant, you could show your child how a credit card works, when it can be used, and how to calculate a tip!


Finally, your child needs to understand that spending money can be fun and very productive when spending is well-planned, and that a penny saved is, indeed, a penny earned!

Things to remember about your personal loan

Evaluate all loan offers. The first condition for loan offer selection is the total money outflow that the loan will cost. The second factor is the EMI. A loan offer with a lower EMI and a longer tenure may seem attractive, as it could be easy on your purse strings, however not all such loans prove to be cost effective in the long run. Hence, first calculate the total loan cost and then try to opt for a higher EMI, which you can comfortably manage to enable a shorter loan tenure.


Personal loans constitute around 17% of the retail loan market share. However, in recent times banks have tightened unsecured lending due to the prevailing financial uncertainty and the increasing number of defaults in this segment. The focus of the banks currently is to keep defaults to a minimum. However, a personal loan for the credit worthy is indeed a boon in the hour of sudden need. This article explores the advantages of a personal loan for such an individual and provides a checklist one needs to keep track of when choosing a loan offer.


Why an unsecured loan


A secured loan would mean that you need to pledge a house or other forms of security as collateral to obtain the loan. However, a personal loan needs no such security pledge.


An unsecured loan is easier and less time consuming to access compared to a secured loan, which has a longer processing time. A personal loan can be accessed within a day’s notice and is easy to procure with minimal documentation. The borrowing range varies between Rs.50,000 and Rs.20L and the repayment tenure ranges from a year to 5 yrs.

The purpose for an unsecured loan is loosely defined and is not intended for one specific use, you could obtain it for wedding expenses, cruise holidays, as an education fund, to pay up sudden hospitalization expenses, purchase a car or a consumer durable and so on.


Six pointers to choose your personal loan


Calculating the cheapest loan offer: Personal loans come with very high interest rates ranging from 14% to 24%. Compare interest rates and get the complete picture by understanding the annualized interest rates for each offer. Then figure out the total amount of repayment you need to shell out with all the offers before opting for the loan of your choice.


Processing fee: You need to keep in mind the processing fee and other fees that will be levied when you apply for your personal loan.


Prepayment penalty check: Ask upfront if there would be any penalty payments for prepayment of the loan at any point in time. More often than not loan consumers tend to pay up their loans earlier than planned to be rid of debt. Hence, its important to know if your personal loan offer allows part prepayments. If that is the case, then you should be aware from what time frame in the loan period you can start prepaying and understand the cost you incur due to such prepayments in part or full.


EMI and tenure: Evaluate all loan offers. The first condition for loan offer selection is the total money outflow that the loan will cost. The second factor is the EMI. A loan offer with a lower EMI and a longer tenure may seem attractive, as it could be easy on your purse strings, however not all such loans prove to be cost effective in the long run. Hence, first calculate the total loan cost and then try to opt for a higher EMI, which you can comfortably manage to enable a shorter loan tenure.


Keeping track of your credit history: Especially in the case of unsecured loans, your credit history, which is recorded by CIBIL ( Credit Bureau India Limited) plays a critical role in your loan application being accepted. A good repayment track record ensures not only an instant loan approval but brownie points in the form of more attractive interest rates.

A personal loan is the best way out when you cannot access your personal savings to meet an unexpectedly huge expense. These pointers should help you on your way in landing the best deal on your personal loan.