3 Signs You Need Help of A Professional in Managing Your Money!
Do you feel that your life is going smoothly without any troubles? Do you feel that you do not need to make New Year’s resolution anymore? Do you feel that your life will remain the same forever?
If the above thoughts run through your mind, then you need to think again. You should never be complacent about your present financial position. Unexpected events can turn your rosy life into a nightmare. The only way to ensure that you live through the tough times is to be prepared.
Here are the….. 3 Signs You Need Help of A Professional in Managing Your Money!
The danger signs that indicate you are heading for financial disaster are:-.
1. You Don’t Have a Clue Where Your Money is Going
The most obvious sign that you may need professional help is when your money evaporates even before you have a chance to check in the balance (in your bank account). You may know for sure how much money enters your account. But you may have no idea where it all goes. The problem is that most of us continue to live in this manner without even knowing how and where we spend our money.
Ignorance about the spending habits is one reason of living hand to mouth. If you also have no clue where you are spending your hard-earned income, you may need to contact a professional money management expert the moment you finish reading this blog.
2. You Don’t Have an Emergency Fund
Another danger sign that you may need help of a professional financial expert is when your emergency fund does not even exist let alone having some paltry balance in the account for it. When we are living through good times, it is easy to forget about saving for tough times.
Have you ever considered what you will do when your car breaks down, you fall ill or are fired from a job? Life is full of unexpected events. And during such events money tends to be your best friend. Gail Cunningham, spokeswoman for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling in Washington, D.C. suggests that you should have nine months to one year of income in your emergency account to survive tough financial times[1].
3. You Don’t Know Whether you Will Survive After Retirement
There are two kinds of people in this beautiful earth: those who save enough for their retirement and those who don’t. And in case you fall in the latter category – it indicates that you may need some financial counselling. Retirement is as inevitable as death. And giving the reality of this event, it is ironic that some of us may not have given enough thought for our long term retirement funding goals.
It is important that you lay out your retirement plan in detail just as generals do when determining strategic moves during war. You need to decide the potential retirement age, estimate the retirement living expenses (including medical and health care costs), and determine how long you are expected to last. According to a study published in a British morning newspaper, The Independant, most of us in Australia tend to live for around 80 to 84 years, so you must have enough money in your account to ensure that you do not outlast your savings[2].
You should not worry if all or some of the above applies to you. What is more important is to get professional help early to avoid the negative consequence of bad money management habits. When you have identified where you are going wrong, you should seek professional help to ensure that you are prepared to tackle all the life’s challenges without any trouble.
[1] Bankrate. “How big should your emergency fund be?”, Retrieved on January 29, 2015 from http://www.bankrate.com/finance/savings/how-big-should-emergency-fund-be.aspx
[2] The Independant. (2014). “Life expectancy for Australian men goes over 80 years-old for first time ever – but why do they live so much longer than Britons?” Retrieved on 29 January 2015 from http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/life-expectancy-for-australian-men-goes-over-80-yearsold-for-first-time-ever–but-why-do-they-live-so-much-longer-than-britons-9844200.html
“Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.”
~ Benjamin Franklin“The amount of money you have has got nothing to do with what you earn. People earning a million dollars a year can have no money. People earning $35,000 a year can be quite well off. It’s not what you earn, it’s what you spend.” ~ Paul Clitheroe
“There are plenty of ways to get ahead. The first is so basic I’m almost embarrassed to say it: spend less than you earn.”
~ Paul Clitheroe
