Imagup General Magazine 2024
Stress comes in different forms and manifests itself in different ways, however, the most common causes of daily bitterness and tension are often related to health problems, family problems, and financial problems.
Modern societies have put aside the ancient recourse of barter and are now revolving around the exchange of products for money, and we use the money for the things we need and don’t need.
The statistics of the degree of indebtedness reached by some sectors of the population can be really impressive. According to research, student debt has reached figures as exorbitant as the trillion US dollars, which is, in fact, a higher rate than debt for credit card debt.
Some people take on debts to meet academic goals; others for health reasons and others for the mere acquisition of products or banal consumerism. However, there is an important and common background in all cases: the psychological impact that debt can cause.
Here are some practical, easy-to-use tips:
Analyze your cash flow
To start, you should do an analysis of your current financial situation and know in detail how your money behaves.
At this point, you should answer questions like the following:
- Where does your income come from? How many sources of income do you have?
- What do you spend your money in?
- What percentage of your income are you allocating to save and invest?
- If you lose your current source of income, how long could you survive without resorting to debt?
- What percentage of your income depends 100% on your physical or mental effort?
Identify the cause of your financial problems
Already knowing the behavior of our money, it is time to put order … and, for this, we must identify each of our income and expenses. With such information, what we are going to do is organize it in such a way that we can have control over our finances.
At this point, it is worth using tools such as:
- Templates, spreadsheets
- Software
- Mobile apps
- Statistics
- Accounting software
- Cloud tools
The important thing is that our financial information is organized and available to keep it under control. Use the system, tool or method that is most simple and practical, you can even do it with a notebook and a pencil.
Take responsibility for your expenses
The biggest mistake we can make is to start victimizing ourselves. Such behavior will only deepen our depression, increase anxiety, and this is certainly not the way to solve the problem.
By this point you should have put your finances in order and it’s time to seal the “holes in your pockets”. Review your financial information and identify unnecessary expenses to eliminate them, but don’t forget that it doesn’t make sense to minimize expenses at the cost of quality of life, unless it’s temporary sacrifices that contribute to a long-term financial plan. Surely you have several unnecessary expenses, find them and eliminate them.
Start being more organized
Often times, the main cause of people’s indebtedness is the tendency to avoid the expense planning process. They find it uncomfortable to feel limited so they prefer to buy compulsively without stopping to look for a moment at their bank accounts, the state of their credit cards or their balance of income and expenses. If you really need the money you do not have at that moment, it is a better option to take some cash through loans with no credit check than to take a loan from a bank. Click here for more details on no credit check loans.
Find out, divide your capital by categories or draw up a savings plan so that you can buy what you want and need without running short on money. Having a plan will prevent you from putting yourself in an unpleasant situation.
Set priorities
Chances are, you don’t really need everything written on your to-do list. We all have accumulated cravings and desires to achieve different things, but we are much more likely to achieve everything by following a progressive and strategic acquisition plan than obsessing over the idea of having everything at the same time.
Actually, defining that everything we want at the moment is a real priority will only lead us to acquire a lot of things that we do not need in the short term and to put our bank account in the red. So you begin by distinguishing between needs and wants, set priorities based on this definition, and follow an organized plan to meet your goals. Your mental and physical health will be a reward.
Increase your income
Building new sources of income may seem complicated, but it is a key step to financial growth. It is not an easy thing, but surely with a lot of creativity you can manage to find ways to generate extra income.
To increase income, you can, for example, start a business, lease or rent machines or properties owned by you, invest in financial markets or offer freelance services in your spare time. It’s just a matter of you getting excited to explore and try some options.
Save
Something very interesting is that, with reducing expenses and increasing income, you will be left with money that you must save to build investment capital and then launch into creating assets that generate income that does not depend 100% on your physical or mental effort. The more your money works, the less you will have to work.
Invest
The investment world is exciting and full of opportunities to grow financially, but you must be willing to train yourself if you want to achieve sustainable results over time. Investing without having the knowledge or experience to do so is nothing more than gambling.
The more you invest (correctly), the more income you will receive and you will be able to re-invest. It is like a cycle in which you put the limit, but also remember to invest in your happiness, in your quality of life, and in contributing to positively impact the lives of others. There is no use having a lot of money if you are sacrificing other important aspects in return.
Conclusion
Of course, choosing to educate ourselves financially is also a great way to solve problems and learn to invest our money wisely.
