4 Ways to Be More Money Conscious When Life Throws a Curveball at You
Life is weird, wonderful, and extremely unpredictable. One minute you might be enjoying life with a beautiful family climbing the career ladder of your dreams and the next, you could find yourself homeless and worrying about how to pay for everything your children need to thrive. And, while you should absolutely live life to the fullest, you should also be prepared for the things in life that could turn things upside down.
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The best way to do that is by making sure you’re as financially stable as possible. While money isn’t the most important thing in the world, it can certainly help many different situations that you could find yourself in. So, let’s take a look at how you can be more money conscious so that if life does throw a curveball at you, you’re ready for it.
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Have an emergency fund
Having an emergency fund is never going to be a bad idea. If you lose your job or get in an accident that means you can’t work for some time, being able to have that peace of mind that you can dip into your savings will really help you stay on top of things. Even if you can only put in a tiny bit each month, it will soon mount up and you’ll be glad you did it if you ever have to use it.
Be level headed
Sometimes being level headed is important when it comes to financial stability. For example, if you’re going through a divorce and you’re the breadwinner, have you thought about what might happen to your children’s home if you have to sell it to split the assets? Instead, you could use a quitclaim deed to sign over the property to your ex and take something else as your share of the assets instead. That way, the assets are divided fairly and your children don’t have to uproot their lives and move out of their family home.
The same goes for preparing how your assets are going to be divided when you pass away. Rather than selling your family home, why not make it so that it’s signed over to someone you love, like your children, so they’ve got a roof over their heads even when you’re gone.
Consider investing
Investing is never going to be something that’s guaranteed, but it can be a great way of having money if you ever need it quickly. Investing works by putting your money to back something with the aim for it to make money in the long run. It can be stocks, property, cryptocurrency, or even collector’s items. Either way, it might be worth doing in case you ever need to fall back on it.
Reduce the cost of living
Finally, sometimes saving money simply isn’t possible, and that’s where you need to reduce your cost of living. Look through your statements to see what you’re able to cancel – even if temporary – so that you can start building money again. It might be your gym membership or your Netflix subscription; anything you can do to make sure all of your essential bills are always paid will help in the long run. Then, anything left over can help you start that savings account you’ve been thinking about opening!
Ken Boyd
Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies
(amazon author page) amazon.com/author/kenboyd
(website and blog) https://www.accountingaccidentally.com/