Find Your Cash

Where’s all of your cash?

Understanding your personal finance situation can be a challenge, and not having a handle on your finances is frustrating. You’re working hard- but where did all your cash go?

Here are some ways that you can generate more cash, and keep more of the cash you earn.

Ask For More

Here’s something that not many people think to do, but should: ask for more money! Your salary isn’t set in stone. It can be adjusted.

Companies aren’t in the habit of just handing out raises at random, but, because they know the cost of replacing a worker, are usually pretty receptive to the idea.

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This story can help you plan for a salary negotiation.

A Story

I smiled.

“Yes- I think that number is reasonable, given my skill set and what you need.”

The next one who speaks loses- and I didn’t say a word.

Andy, the CEO thought for a minute. He had asked me three times if I was willing to come off (come down) on my salary demand, and I wasn’t willing to. There were a few reasons why:

• High-risk position: The CEO was “creating a position for me”, which meant that I wasn’t replacing an existing job position. As I find out later, the CEO had come up with this new position idea after meeting me- which made it that much more risky. There was a higher risk that this job might not work out, and I wanted to be paid for taking that risk.

• Others in similar roles: I was interviewing in 1997 for a role selling a corporate retirement product to corporations. The product was complex and had a long sales cycle. When I interviewed, I noticed that the people in similar roles were all older than me, and all well-qualified. If the firm had money to pay them, they have the resources to pay me.

• #1- Willing to walk away: Most importantly, I had other options and was willing to walk away. This attitude is critical for both salary negotiations and if you’re pricing work as a self-employed person (as I am now). Everyone needs to belief that they can find another job or another client. You need the willingness to say: “I appreciate it, but I can’t meet your needs.”

I’ve used that phrase a lot over the years- feels good to say it every once in awhile.

Ironically, my son has NO hesitation telling people no when the money isn’t right. He’s a recent college graduate and a freelance film and video producer. That skill will serve him well as a self-employed person.

Get What You’re Owed

There’s a lot of money in the world, and if you’ve been wronged in one way or another, you have some options to recover funds you’re due.

Compensation for, say, an accident that wasn’t your fault and which left you with an injury, won’t just come to you. You need to fight for it. If you find yourself in this position, then take a look at this lawyer’s website, and fight your corner.

You shouldn’t be left out of pocket because of costs attached to something that wasn’t your fault; the legal system has a process in place to prevent that from happening.

Take action to monitor your credit report, correct errors, and improve your credit score. Read this article to learn about recent changes in the credit scoring process. Find out more about business credit scores here:

Is Your Money Working?

If you’ve got a lump sum of money just sitting in the bank, then there’s a chance that you’re wasting an opportunity to build your income. Instead of putting a lump sum in a savings account, look at investing it.

Of course, this isn’t something that you should blindly jump in to; research is needed. Talk it through with a financial advisor, and come up with a strong plan of action for putting your money to work.

Find out more about business credit scores here: Know Your Business Credit Score.

Home and Vehicle

If you don’t have any excess cash because all your money is going towards maintaining your home and vehicle, then put them to work!

You can look at getting a tenant for your home, for example – it might bring in enough cash to cover the mortgage payment, if you live in a popular and desirable area.

For your car, you can list journeys you’re making on ridesharing websites. It won’t bring in mountains of cash, but it’ll ensure that your travels don’t cost anything – and that’s a pretty big deal.

Take Action

If you have the courage to take action, you can find more cash and improve your financial situation.

This post is for educational purposes only.

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

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) https://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl