Business Marketing & Finance Resources

Unless you are a Saint, you are bound to make a mistake or two in your lifetime. The mistakes that you have made can be insignificant or it can be a life changing event. You can make a huge mistake by accumulating so much debt that you only choice out of this jam is to file for bankruptcy protection, or you can make a tiny mistake such as forgetting about your son’s first birthday. Filing for bankruptcy shelter is absolutely a life changing event and most people would not want relive this ordeal in their lifetime. If you had to file for bankruptcy protection, what led you to this financial crossroad, and what do you plan to do to fix this in the future?

Poor budgeting and not watching out what you are spending and how much you are spending can be a major contributor to those who had to file for bankruptcy shelter. Poor financial planning can take the form of many scenarios. During the real estate bubble of the 2000s, many people got into deep financial debt because they bought homes they cannot afford. Even if you are making a lot of money, for example, $10,000 of net income per month. But if you ended up spending more than $7,000 on your home related expenses, can you live off the remaining $3,000? A good rule of thumb is not to spend more than 30% of your income on housing expenses.

By not living within their means, some people find themselves in a financial hole that they had to file for bankruptcy protection. In simpler terms, this means that you are spending more than you are making. During the mid 2000s and even the time leading up to the recession of 2008, using credit cards seems so easy to everybody. People who find themselves with a mountain of credit card debt forgot that charging purchases on credit card does not mean that the debt do not need to be repaid over time. Buying things or services using credit card does not mean that you do not have to pay for it, it just lets you pay for it at a later date. It is a useful tool to help you purchase that new TV that you have always wanted. In order not to abuse the credit card use, you have to know that you can pay for this new purchase in reasonable amount of time. You will know if you cannot afford to pay for this new purchase, because you are hoping to pay for this purchase using the minimum payment on the credit card bill.

The majority of the people who had to file for bankruptcy tend to abuse their credit cards. And to make matters worst, some of these people even use the credit cards for daily living needs. Can you imagine someone who is already heavily in debt, and yet he or she has to use the credit card to buy that food or shelter for the day? Cash advance from the credit card is one way that people tend to abuse the credit card usage. Cash advance is one of the worst financial transaction one can incur in his or her lifetime. The drawback to using the cash advance from the credit card include extraordinary high interest rate which means you will have even a harder time paying back this debt. Some people will justify this action by promising that this is just a one time occurrence. Those cannot manage their finances properly tend to find this cash advance way as an “easy” way to get by from month to month.

For those who are thinking of filing bankruptcy, or have filed for bankruptcy recently, here some advice that you should adhere to (coming from a person who had gone through this ordeal):

You should only spend on what you have earned and not more
Create a budget and use it wisely so that you can follow rule #1
Saving money is the best thing you can do, just in case you will need it one day

The objective to filing bankruptcy is to give yourself financial relief from the wrath of the creditors. Filing bankruptcy is not a get out of jail free card, like the one from monopoly. You should not use it as a way to wipe out your debt so that you can accumulate debt again. Take this chance given to you and rebuild your life without the massive debt hanging over your shoulders each and every day. Look at this from the positive side at all times, instead of focusing on the negative aspects of filing for bankruptcy. If you are uncertain of what is involve in the bankruptcy filing, seek the advice of a local bankruptcy lawyer near you.

Saving in terms of personal finances is the act of reserving or saving some of our money for future use, either for use in an emergency, to give us some pleasure, to invest, for use in times of crisis, to use in our retirement, etc.

Here we present a compilation of the top 5 tips on saving money:

1. Spend less

This advice seems obvious, but in reality is the first tip to consider if you really want to save money.

It means being aware how we spend our money, and always looking for ways to spend less or, in any case, stop spending money on some things.

One method that can help us to implement this advice, is to develop a personal or family budget, allowing us to know what the parts in which we spend more, and discuss whether we can spend less on them or, in any case, them out of our budget.

We could be spending a lot, for example, subscriptions to newspapers or magazines that do not always read, always buy in cafes, cigar harm our health, we can get books delivered in the library, etc.

Find ways to spend less may also involve: purchase some used instead of new, eating at home instead of eating out, always look for offers or discounts (always ensuring that the offer or discount to be real), take our time and look always places where you can buy the products at the lowest price (for it can, for example, compare prices online), buy wholesale or in quantity (and thus take advantage of quantity discounts, etc.).

Once we are aware what we are spending our money, and we are constantly looking for ways to spend less, we will become experts, and actually begin to save money.

2. Consume or use less

This council is a variation of the first, is to eat less or use the products or services that we use, for example, we try to use less shampoo, toothpaste use less, use less detergent, use less electricity or energy (e.g. off we do not need lights, buying energy saving light bulbs, turning off the television or computer when you’re not using), consume less water (for example, arranging the droppers, showering instead of bathing, etc.).

Consume or use anything less might not mean much as savings, but if we add all the little savings we can do to use this board, we could actually get to save money.

3. Making a budget

An effective way to save money is by creating a personal budget, which is a document where we note for future income and expenses that we will have in the month, and the difference between them.

The family budget will allow us to identify areas or items where we are spending too much, or those in which we could reduce costs or, in any case, removed from our budget.

Also, we will know the difference between revenues and expenditures, and thereby to determine an amount that we can set aside as savings.

4. Book an amount as savings

Is to acquire the habit of putting aside each month or a certain amount of our revenue product in a stock savings.

We can begin to allocate a small amount, and gradually increase the quantity as our revenues increase.

For this we use our family budget, which can help us determine what would be the amount that could be used as savings. It is recommended that represents at least 10% of our total monthly income.

It is advisable to deposit that amount in a savings account at the bank, so we have it in a safe place, we do not feel tempted to take money out of it and, incidentally, we can gain some interest.

To use this advice must be disciplined and always reserve that amount, no matter what happens. Acquiring this habit and see how our savings are increasing, will motivate us to save more, and to seek new revenues that allow us to increase the amount of the amount allocated as savings.

5. Avoid debt

Some debts could be helpful as a mortgage debt, or debt needed to build a business, but to save money, we always strive to have as little debt as possible. We seek to purchase after obtaining the money, not buy and then get it.

The first debt to be avoided is generated by the use of credit cards, usually higher-cost debt that has (the one with higher interest rates). We should note that credit cards are to be used in an emergency or to any opportunity that presents itself, and not to be used constantly in everyday purchases.

The use of credit cards may give momentary satisfaction, but then can bring big problems. It is advisable to cut off all credit cards, or at least keep only one, which present the lowest cost and most convenient payment terms.

So the first step in using this tip is to try to settle all our debts as soon as possible and then try to always buy in cash, except for some occasions, for example, when buying a good investment.

The move to become environmentally friendly is not a new movement, but it is definitely one that has been picking up a lot of steam. Indeed, the push to become more conscious of the world around us is something that has become a multi-tiered approach. The first approach is on the consumer side to use products that have less of an impact on the environment. However, in order for consumers to get those products, companies have to go out and focus on manufacturing them. Companies that have switched to environmentally-friendly processes have reported saving a lot of money, and the products that they end up offering to consumers have a remarkably less impact on the environment.

This is a trend that investors can definitely capitalize upon, and one of the leading firms that agree with that sentiment is Kravis Kohlberg Roberts & Co, a private equity firm located in New York. Ken Mehlman is a Senior Adviser leading the Global Public Affairs department. As KKR expands its Green Portfolio Program, it’s clear that the company is set on helping companies reduce their environmental concerns while saving money. A more efficient company is something that investors can capitalize on as long as they’re willing to take on some risk as companies get organized.

Ken Mehlman has been instrumental in expanding the focus given to the program through his role within Global Public Affairs. However, there have been no interviews from Ken Mehlman indicating exactly what investors need to do to get involved in the green business revolution.

However, anyone that has been watching the news surrounding KKR can draw a few conclusions from the newest facet of KKR’s agenda. Investing in the companies from the Green Portfolio Program will definitely pay off in the years to come, but you’ll have to get involved today to really make the most of the new shift in the market!