Zen Finance Advice

Welcome back!

Following the article on the BBC News Website this morning concerning a compulsory duty that could possibly be launched to help pay for social care for adults in England; of which procedures are to be unveiled by ministers in a white paper later. They will demand a new official group to examine when and how the charge would be applied, and how much it would be.

It’s alleged that some council domains plainly can’t afford to offer the levels of care the elderly need as a result this white paper will outline how those wanting care will have to help fund it.

Unfortunately as the whole lot is down to money it is really the point is that the elderly can be in pecuniary difficulty themselves. Recent comments denote a increasing figure of older people at retirement age, are confronting their own Debt Management crises. Some have had to re-mortgage their house in order to carry out some Debt Consolidation.

it is really feared that this has not been owing to the desire to buy new cars or expensive vacations but owing to the immediate requirement to buy critical living items. These range from foodstuffs, house hold payments and energy. Whilst borrowing money is not a terrible thing it may perhaps spell out trouble if this white paper as regards social care comprises the potential sale of a person’s house. If it is really the case that these properties are at the present mortgaged as a consequence of Debt Consolidation, then the prospect remains uncertain.

The Citizens Advice Bureau reported recently that they are seeing an rise in the age of people who are required to take advantage of government backed Debt Management schemes as in IVA’s or a Trust Deed, the latter being the Scottish equivalent. They further added that loads retired people are confronting enormous difficulties as they can’t even afford to buy food.

Therefore the strategy laid out for the future of the elderly, though crucial, could nevertheless prove tough to bring about as a consequence of the gigantic individual debt crisis this country is confronting, With loads of people having to add a gigantic amount of their monthly wage to these schemes, including a Trust Deed and IVA, how can people afford to get elderly and be cared for?

The Tories have even pointed out a planned voluntary £8,000 insurance model to cover residential care costs. How can the elderly and retired afford this? It shows that care preparation must start out a good deal earlier in life. All too often it is really left much too late and as a result difficulties crop up like they have for us all at this time.

We really should try to bring this UK affliction of Debt Management under control by education and bringing to an end this growth in credit card and individual debt. Only then might we look to the future with peace of mind and maybe benefit from a retirement not spent worrying as regards how much things are costing us.

The next few weeks in British politics should spell out success or failure for those young enough to have that worry concerning a future when it come to social and residential care. As the term well states, “Youth is wasted on the young”. Let us all try to not fritter away our precious days being slaves to money issues by planning and saving for a future we have control over, and not leave it to the uncertainty of the financial system to decide.

This must be a scenario all too common during the current economic downturn when businesses are concerned about the future after some big organisations have gone to the wall, such as Woolworths. For small businesses who perhaps have a relatively small client base it is important to their revenue stream that accounts are paid on time. So when a large business who they have done projects for or provided goods leaves the latest account unsettled after the agreed final clearance date, it puts the small business in a tight been to see the bank for a temporary loan to tide them over they might well have been rejected, for despite the trillions handed to the banks and orders from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, there seems to be a reluctance to assist businesses.

So, what remains for the small business to do, if this account is so crucial then they cannot simply write it off, nor would they want to have to pay the charges for employing either legal practices or Debt Collection organisations to take care of the Debt Collection on their behalf? One good strategy open to them is Debt Collection Software since if they have the will to take on the challenge, they can take care of the Debt Collection process with their available resources and hopefully, not only recover the debt but also equip themselves with the skills to handle any future debts.

Of course the Debt Collection Software does carry some overheads, the purchase price is possibly from around £50 to over £100, but this is a one-off price whereas traditional Debt Collection methods are charged on a per debt basis. The small business will also need to set aside resources such as people to run the Debt Collection Software and create the Debt Collection Letters, which are such an important part of the Debt Collection process. This means that the skills of the people need to be thought about; they should be computer literate and also have a good command of English. The Debt Collection Letters will be sent to the large business as formal requests for payment and so any spelling or grammatical mistakes would put the small business in a bad light and at least slow down the Debt Collection process.

Since the small business is taking on a new venture, they will need to evaluate the help side of the Debt Collection Software package prior to purchase since that can provide them with a good grasp of the details of the Debt Collection process. Then they will need to know how to create good quality Debt Collection Letters and this information is best handed over by someone who has been through Debt Collection themselves. Hopefully there will be some tricks of the trade as used by Debt Collection organisations, as well as relevant current Acts of Parliament that can be used and a list of do’s and don’ts.

With this sort of learning, it is hoped that the small business can be successful in their first Debt Collection project and with the skills in composing good Debt Collection Letters they should be untroubled in any future Debt Collection projects.

The British consumer would be better advised to get a decent Debt Consolidation Management strategy instead of ploughing money into their savings account.

Pierre Williams, a specialist in the industry has made public that it truly is a awful time for those fortunate to have some spare cash to save. He has encouraged us to pay off our debt on account of the abysmal interest rates for saving accounts.

That’s pretty decent advice when you bear in mind that the average interest account has a measly 0.7 per cent.

It’s logical then, if we do have surplus funds that it may be much better to use that against any outstanding debt then endeavor to put any aside.

The way things are at the moment it’s hardly surprising that saving interests are so low. The economy is trying to be put to rights and a huge crack down on people getting into so much debt is very much in action.

Its pretty miserable for those of us who have remained judicious or have come what may steered clear of the overpowering grasp of the recession. We don’t appear to have any incentive to save; neither do we have the rewards.

It just reflects the weak state of finances in the UK. It’s not just down to people being careless with their money, no not at all. Quite a few of us have lost our jobs and have needed to go into debt merely to keep the roof over our heads. It hasn’t been a nice time for the majority of us and now that we are coming out of the recession we really need lots of assistance to get back on an even keel.

To balance things out a little bit many are entering into a Scottish Trust Deed, or IVA as it’s more normally known as in England. This is a legally binding contract between you, your creditors and a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner. It means the pressure of dealing with those money lenders is alleviated as your insolvency practitioner acts on your behalf.

A Scottish Trust Deed benefits one and all. You agree to pay one monthly repayment according to your situation and what you can afford, a form of Debt Consolidation which puts you back in a bit more control. Your creditors are not allowed to hassle you; you feel less stressed, more in control and thus more able to pay off as much as you can.

Definitely sounds like a good scheme and certainly worth considering if you are in trouble and in search of Debt Consolidation Management assistance as in 3 to 5 years you can be considered debt free.

Debt Consolidation means that you become a lot more knowledgeable of what you owe and as a result won’t feel so overwhelmed. When we do feel at our wits end we get into more trouble and max out more credit cards since we’re not totally sure of what we owe and what available cash we have.

Being overwhelmed also prevents us from facing up to what is in fact going on with our money, but this can only lead to additional trouble down the line.

Hence, if we are one of those who could do with this type of assistance then all is not lost. We shall get through this, but we have got to be responsible and accept that some sacrifices will be made.

We merely have to bear in mind that when we have tackled that debt we should feel a great deal better and live our lives feeling a lot more contented and not so bogged down with worry.

Interesting issue, can pre pay cards help our Debt Management and hence prevent us running up extra Credit Card Debt? Are they a more viable solution to credit cards? Before we respond to these inquiries let us have a look at precisely what a pre pay card is.
Put incredibly simply, it’s a card that you can bung any amount of cash on and use whenever you acquire anything. Once you’ve used the amount allotted on the card you cannot exceed it. You can put cash against it by all the customary methods; ATM, on the web, on the telephone or even by method of text messaging. Then again you can go to your area post office or bank and even many non finance merchants and get preloaded cards.
A pre pay card can assist us to budget well, permitting us to allocate money for specific reasons; the weekly food allowance, or fuel for instance. Also as David Roger, managing director for the Debt Foundation charity suggests, it can help prevent us erroneously using that overdraft yet again and going in to the red.

In theory it should make it better for all of us out there who are just a little bit too friendly with our credit cards. After all anything that lowers the hazard of running up extra Credit Card Debt has to be worth a try hasn’t it?
An additional good feature is that they are not linked back to our bank account. This means if some despicable little individual steals our card and tries to take up our identity then they will not have access to all of our precious funds. In addition if they were to try and use it on-line they would not be able run up exorbitant bills.
Yet before you get all excited and charge out there to get one, there are a number of things to remember. Firstly the most obvious; you can only load it with income that you already have. Would seem blatantly plain but it is very easy to not remember that that piece of plastic in your hand is not an infinite stock of credit that we can do not take into account when the bill comes through. Visualize the embarrassment at the checkout if you try and procure something that is more than the money available on the card! A significant item to remember; only load it with what you can pay for.
Furthermore there are lots of costs incurred, monthly payments for instance and a few even have inactivity costs.

So, yes an alternative means of Debt Management they may well be, but what other possibilities are there, other than not spending what we have not got? For starters we may help our finances by being stricter with ourselves. We need to check those impulse buys that we later regret, but still have to pay for.

Having a practical budget and keeping to it goes a great distance towards sustaining a vigorous bank balance and reducing those stress levels.

If we are in debt up to our eyeballs then budgeting is a must. We can look at methods such as Debt Consolidation for one, so as we never feel so overwhelmed with it all. By placing all those debts into one pot allows us to see what we’re dealing with, not only that but Debt Consolidation will enable us to have one reduced monthly payment.
Whatever we choose the bottom line is, do not get into more debt than we can handle.

Times are tough, and our bills are getting larger. Our belts are becoming tighter yet we have a lot less disposable earnings to help us. As a consequence of this we are seeking the services of financial advisors to give us good Debt Management plans.

How many of us each month simply work out how much we have by the figure that shows up in our current account? Or perhaps worse how many of us are continuously trusting on our overdraft instead of managing our finances more effectively? Before we get to the situation that we have to deal with things like a Scottish Trust Deed or Debt Management Consolidation loan to bail us out, let’s see if we can take responsibility.

How might we budget wisely? Well keeping track of your incomings and outgoings will tell you how much disposable earnings you have each month. I for one have an excel database with up to a year’s activity. It may perhaps seem a little extreme but for the next 12 months I know the essentials of what I have to pay for like rent; council tax etc also I know accurately what disposable earnings I have.

I can plan for things like as holidays, anniversaries, vehicle maintenance etc and not worry that I’ve overstretched myself. I know if I have by checking further down the months. It also means I know when bills are due. We get paid at the end of the month so I know that I’ve got X amount to cover for the subsequent month. After I get paid I then go through and pay all the bills that do not need to wait. I tend to rationalize why pay a bill on the fifteenth if you can pay it on the 1st. It will not make a difference to how much money you have left spare and you needn’t have to agonize that you’ve forgotten to pay for it.

I’ve in addition set up direct debits or standing orders for things like rent and council tax, the food budget etc. Following my experience with forgetting the fuel bill, I’m at present thinking about setting one up for that as well.

You may imagine that things like petrol and food will vary each month so why set up a direct debit? I would say that it really is better to pay something than nothing. If you do fail to rememberto pay a bill then at least you know something has been paid and you will not incur a late payment charge. Just make sure its more than a minimum repayment. If you do not forget then all you have to do is pay the extra.

By way of example let’s say we spend £200 a month on essential groceries but want to allow a little spare for some niceties. Set up a direct debit for £200, but budget for £250 on your spreadsheet. By allowing for a little extra on your spreadsheet it is easy to see whether or not this overstretches you or not. If it does not then you know that after the £200 has gone out the bank, all you have to do is pay the £50 to pay the rest off.

The trick is to be sure you do not go over your budget and that you always pay off in full. That is good Debt Management practice and could keep your finances is good health.

If we have already reached financial crippling then do not dismiss the idea of a spreadsheet to help you budget. Even if you’ve a Scottish Trust Deed, you can see after the month to month payment goes out each month, what you have to work with each month. The same applies with a Debt Management Consolidation loan or transferring your credit card debts into one more manageable debt. By placing it all down on ‘paper’ we deal with our money and in the end our lives better.

Debt Management - Women verses Men, who is better at it?

Oh dear here we go again; the old women vs. men fight but a new study has discovered that women are much better at Debt Management than the opposite sex.

Ok how do we know this? Well a study by Lovemoney.com has revealed that from a review of 3,000 individuals, on average women are less in debt. For illustration when it comes to Credit Card Debt, men get an average of £2,176 on their cards whilst women only £1,987.

Now before each male on the earth begins excusing themselves by arguing that they are spending on their partners it does seem that men do love their gadgets and tend not to count the cost, trusting on credit instead of cash to get their little toys.

For what would seem forever, women have always been charged with lavishness. All those boots and shoes, bags, clothing and make up. We are continuously spending are we not? Agreed that is very true and okay we can’t resist that Gucci handbag that dazzles just like expensive diamonds calling our name. But and it is a big BUT; it looks like women are more aware of the finances and will always ensure that any Credit Card Debt is judiciously maintained. Men it seems forget to make payments and accumulate additional interest.

So women may happen to squander more but men perhaps are little more secretive about what they are spending their cash on, now there’s a thought.

Regardless of whether women are better than men at Debt Management the fact remains that it doesn’t matter what we do we should be levelheaded. Today’s monetary climate is far from dependable and debt is a huge problem in the united kingdom.

We should all practice first-class Debt Management by keeping track of what we have a tendency to spend. Credit cards are of use and can tide us over when we are dire need, perhaps if it is for that must have toy or pair of shoes that we feel we can’t live without. So long as we’re still sensible and pay them off and live within our means then desperate measures tend not to need to be taken.

Do you realise the number of credit cards you have? I bet several of us do not. Next question, Are you aware how much is on all of those cards and how much in total that amounts to? Once more I doubt that we do. If that is the set of circumstances we certainly are in risk of getting into a right old pickle.

Go off now and look at those cards and if we have been putting it off for fear of what we may find then thats all the more grounds to sort it. If we realise that there are way too many cards and an unacceptable quantity of debt then we can try Debt Consolidation to get things back on track.

Debt Consolidation is the right technique to help free us from the reign of terror that rules over us. It puts things in one place that does not seem so overpowering. It may perhaps still be an awful lot we owe but the sooner we face it the sooner we can deal with it. There is no point in putting things off. It might merely get worse.

Does your heart sink every time you see that infamous envelope pop through your letterbox warning you of yet another month of scraping together the pennies just to pay the monthly interest on your credit card? Well you’re not alone. It seems according to a recent piece from the BBC that the government is also worried at the exorbitant interest rates that seem to be piling up our Credit Card Debt.

Credit card businesses are capitalising on our debt making certain that we always need them. How? Well, by charging unnecessary interest rates we remain in debt for longer. The longer we are in debt the more possibility of needing more borrowed funds to aid us along what we think is the road of Debt Management. But are we kidding ourselves? Logic dictates the more we borrow the more we owe. But so many of us are stuck in that vicious cycle of borrowing more and having less disposable income as a result that it seems there is no way out.
However as we are now paying the highest interest rates in 12 years, shouldn’t we be taking back the control that is properly ours?

How do we escape? Well in an ideal world we wouldn’t allow ourselves to be enticed in by the nice shiny offers and promises of a enhanced life if we just use that credit card. Or become so disorganised that we acquire poor Debt Management skills in the first place. But, the demands we all face on a daily basis, whether it’s through overindulging, bad budgeting or urgent obligation, the reality is that it has become all too easy to get dragged in. Credit cards do have their place and if used rationally they can work to our gain and NOT the credit card companies. Clearing them each month for instance means there is no interest and therefore no profit for the credit card company.

Though once we have become entangled it can all too easily become a nightmare of rising debt that has a negative effect on all aspects of our lives.

The only way we can tackle this is by drawing in that belt, looking at our budget and taking action. We can either bury our heads pretending the debt doesn’t exist, all the while it increases ever bigger, or we can face it head on and deal with the alternatives.

Although it’s painful to look at the state of our finances, it is an awesome relief once you’ve sat down and looked at the figures and done something positive towards improving your Credit Card Debt. Whether we go down the Debt Consolidation route or simply keep track of what we’re spending and maybe wasting our money on, it goes a long way to reclaim that control and escape the clutches of those credit cards!
There are no miracle cures but through seizing control and looking at options to help us along the way, we can escape!