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It doesn’t take long to rack up a lot of debt. You buy a home, purchase a new car, and have student loans and multiple credit cards. Unfortunately, before you know it, all of your money coming in is going straight out the door. Once you reach this point with your finances, it’s only a matter of time before you are unable to keep all of your bills in good standing. The good news is that, if find yourself currently in this situation, there are ways to work towards becoming debt-free.

End the Late Fees

It’s a vicious cycle when you fall behind on your bills. You finally make the payment and now there are additional fees added. In order to stop the fees, you need to get current on all your bills. You can borrow money from a family member or try to raise the money by having a garage sale. If those are not an option, you can apply for a loan. Bad credit installment loans direct lenders take into consideration your income, whether you have an active checking account and are a U.S. Citizen. So even if you have a low score, you still have a good chance of getting an approval.

Ways to Reduce Your Debt

With a tight budget, paying down your debt may seem like an impossible task. It’s not. You can take on a part-time job until you get your debt under control. Or, if you have many credit cards, apply any extra money to the one with the highest interest rate and, once you pay that one off, move on to the next one. If you have too much debt divided between many places, you can always contact a debt relief agency.

Reduce Your Spending

Most people spend more than they need to on any given day. Maybe you buy your coffee each morning on the way to the office and you order take-out food at least once a week. Just those two items can cost over $200.00 a month, money that you can apply to your debt.

Lower Your Household Bills

There’s always room for improvement with your household bills. Take advantage of the de-regulation laws that have passed in many states which now allow you to shop around for the best rates on your utilities, etc. Review your utilities, such as the gas, elastic and water, and then contact other service providers in the area to see if their rates are better. The same goes for your cell phone and cable bills. Shop them around to see who can offer you the best deal. If you own a home and a car, try bundling the insurance with the same carrier. In most cases, you can save 10 or even up to 20 percent.

Establish a Savings

In order to prevent you from falling behind on your bills due to an unexpected expense, you need to create an emergency fund. Even if you can only contribute $5.00 or $10.00 a week, if you leave it alone, it will add up quickly. And then, the next time you have an unforeseen expense, instead of taking money allocated for your bills, you’ll pull the money from your savings.

Stop Impulse Spending

In life, there are things you need and things you want. The things you need, such as a roof over your head, you must take care of. However, the things you want–like a new 50″ TV can wait. Stopping the impulse spending and learning how to save up money for big-ticket items will help you stay on track, reduce your debt, and pay the exact cost with no interest or penalty fees added.

Becoming debt-free is something that you can accomplish. If you work towards paying down your debt, reduce your spending, learn to shop for services and create a savings plan, you’ll slowly start to see more of your hard-earned money.

If you are in debt, chances are high that you are looking for a solution to be debt free as quickly as possible. The three most common forms of debt solutions are debt consolidation, debt management plans, and debt settlements. Debt relief can also involve:

• extending the terms of loans
• lowering loan interest rates
• partially or totally reducing the amount of the outstanding principal

Typically, creditors will opt for debt mitigation if it’s a better alternative than debt default when the repercussions are too severe.

The 5 most common Questions asked by Debtors

While every debt relief case is different and no two debt relief companies are exactly alike, there are 5 questions that every individual usually asks when exploring their debt relief options. These are:

Are there any guarantees that all of my debt will be settled? Unfortunately, NO. Every debt relief case involves some type of negotiations. No debt relief company can guarantee that kind of an outcome or how the negotiations are going to proceed. The success of the debt relief company is usually based on the debtor’s ability to save enough money each month to cover the payment amount that will be due.

Can I negotiate with my creditors? YES, you can, if you want to save anywhere from 18% to 25% off the debt you owe. Most debt relief companies are going to charge you between 15% to 25% depending on how much you currently owe and the state you live in. Many people call debt relief companies so they can avoid dealing with creditors as much as possible or because they lack the confidence to negotiate with them.

How much time is involved in becoming debt-free? That typically depends on how long it takes you to accrue the funds and save up the settlement amount. Debt relief programs can range from 24 to 48 months. So, the faster you can save up the money to make that settlement offer, the sooner you’ll be out of debt and feel financial relief. Just remember that it would take 10 to 20 years to pay off a credit card if you only make the minimum payment each month. Plus, you could wind up paying 2, 3, or even 4 times the amount you originally owed.

Will debt relief impact my credit? YES, in varying degrees depending on the debt relief option you choose. Typically, the immediate impact to your credit score will range from relatively minimum or small to severe damage while the long-term impact ranges from a minimal to extremely long recovery period.

Will I still get calls from bill collectors? Unfortunately, this is still a possibility despite the federal and state legislation that was designed to protect the consumer from being harassed by debtcollectors. Just keep in mind that the goal with debt relief companies is to get the creditors to call them and not you. That will save you hours of phone-calls and harassment.

Fitness professionals, gym owners, and personal trainers work with clients to help them be fit, lose weight, and get rid of their chronic injury. Although a job that provides a lot of value in the client’s life, being a personal trainer or a gym owner comes with significant risks.

Fitness training requires lifting of weights and utilizing the strength of the body to its maximum potential. Clients might get injured, or may claim of not being satisfied with your training, and services. This condition can lead them to file a legal suit against you. Trainers in the gym working for you may get injured at your gym premises, and you being the owner of the gym will be held responsible. Moreover, some clients will not be satisfied with your services and may demand compensation.

If any such thing happens, you will have to face a significant loss in your assets and can turn out to be disastrous for your business. While some of these conditions can be avoided by being extra careful, there are a few situations which are not under your control. To avoid such problems, gym owners and personal trainers should always buy personal trainer insurance and a group health insurance.

Although none of these insurances are mandatory to buy, there is no good reason to avoid them.

Public Liability Insurance

Public liability insurance is one of the most critical insurance fitness professionals should buy. People working out in the gym may get injured. This injury can be as small as a muscle strain and can be serious conditions like fractures, and dislocations. Although the trainer is not always responsible for the injury, if the client files a lawsuit against you for being responsible for the injury, you will need to spend a lot of money while defending yourself. Public liability insurance covers the cost and expenses you will incur while going through the legal and court proceedings.

Having public liability insurance gives you mental peace while working because injuries in the gym are common. And, a minor looking muscle pull can turn out to be some serious muscle tear.

Employers Liability Insurance

Insurance liability insurance is a type of group health insurance that covers the cost of injuries that can happen to your employees in the gym. If you are a personal trainer or a gym owner with no employees, you might not need employers liability insurance. But, if you have a few employees in your gym working for you, group health insurance is vital.

Employers Liability Insurance covers the cost you might incur if any of your employees get injured or fall ill while working for you in the gym. The employer’s liability insurance also provides coverage if any of your employees get into a quarrel with a client or sudden events in which your employee gets assaulted by a client in your gym.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

Your clients may not feel satisfied with your services. Or, your clients may claim they have not noticed the desired progress that was promised. In some cases, your clients can sue you for not providing adequate services.
Professional indemnity insurance is important because no matter how good a trainer you are, or how effectively you manage your gym, there will be some clients who will not achieve their goals.

Some of them will accept that it is their responsibility to stick to their routine and recommended diet; some of them may file a lawsuit against you for not working properly with their regime. Therefore, professional indemnity insurance covers the cost of defending yourself in the costs and providing your clients with their compensation payments.

James Eckardt is the founder of Peak Advisors Inc., a boutique insurance brokerage on Long Island, NY. The firm has a stellar record of service with three decades of experience in health insurance coverage and hundreds of clients including small businesses, commercial enterprises, sole proprietor-ships and seniors.

Economic freedom and a debt-free lifestyle is everyone’s dream. You can achieve financial freedom and increase your savings for future use through proper budgeting. No amount of money is ever enough to satiate your needs and irrespective of our income, you should always save money for rainy days. A carefully crafted budget and being disciplined in your plans will enable you to save money and get out of debts. The following are some money saving tips, which will lead you to financial freedom.

Planning

Proper budgeting is a critical step towards controlling your finances. You can quickly outline your expenses in a month to form the budget’s baseline. A reasonable budget should cater for some savings after allocating funds for all the expenses. Prioritizing your basic needs as well as other needs requires discipline. This will control your costs and enable you to live within your income.

Personal Savings

Coming up with a good plan will enable you to save at least 10% of your monthly income. Total expenses should not exceed your income, and in the case it does, you need to review the budget to cut back on the non-essential expenditures. You should make it a habit to set aside some savings for future use. For example, if you’re looking for English teaching jobs in Taiwan, you can use the saved money for your transport and accommodation expenses.

Account for your expenses

Every dollar spent should be accounted for to realize some savings. Keeping track of your costs can easily pick any wasteful expenditure, which you can quickly pinpoint and cut out. Categorizing expenses will help in meeting your needs and organizing yourself. Expenditures can be grouped in terms of monthly bills like electricity, gas, house rent to transport, food, and so on. Without a proper tracking mechanism, you may not be able to save money. Several tools can be used to track down your expenses like an Excel worksheet or mobile phone apps installed freely on your mobile device.

Never spend more than your income

This is the secret to achieving financial success, and without which, you will always be in debts. At no given time should your expenses exceed your income, and if it happens, you will have to borrow money with interest to cover your needs. Also, this will create a hole in your income as you have to cater to the loan and the interest amount. If the process becomes cyclic, you might take forever to pay up your credits.

Debts payment plan

To clear off debts, you should prioritize the debts to repay first. Outlining liabilities in terms of the highest debts, interest rate, or period of repayments can help you get out of debt faster. Doing secondary jobs will go a long way on your debt repayment plan as you will have some extra cash to pay for your debts.

Conclusion

The most important means of becoming financially independent is to spend less than you earn. Budgeting will help control your money. If you’re traveling to seek English teaching jobs in Taiwan, you can use your saved money for the expenses such as accommodation.

While one takes a holiday to relax and get away from the grind of everyday life, unexpected can happen anywhere. Therefore, it is important that you invest in a good travel insurance policy before you fly out for the well-deserved holiday. But a lot of jargon associated with travel insurance can leave you confused. Worry not, here is a quick glossary to help you with the most common terms.

Annual multi-trip cover: A policy that is valid for a period of one year from the policy start date, and covers multiple overseas trips taken during this period. Typically, these policies have a limit on how long each trip can be, and they should start and end in India. If a medical condition arises during the policy period, the insurer needs to be informed even if it was when the insured was not on a trip.

Baggage and belongings: A baggage and belongings (or baggage and personal effects) cover protects you against loss, damage or theft of your belonging either while you are on holiday or during transit. Check your policy document to be sure of the maximum coverage provided. There could also be a single article limit. You should check this if you are carrying any expensive items (like a camera) with you.

Cancellation and curtailment: Two of the important events covered by travel insurance policy. If for any reason you have to cancel your travel plans or have to cut short your trip, the insurer would refund all your prepaid expenses. The cancelation/ curtailment can happen due to a number of reasons like a family member falling sick or your leaves at the office being canceled. Do check the policy wordings to be sure of the scenarios that may not be covered.

Delay: If your flight is delayed by over 6 hours, your travel insurance would pay you a compensation. The delay is typically calculated based on scheduled arrival time at the destination, and not based on departure times. The minimum delay for which the insurance cover is invoked varies from policy to policy. Some travel insurances also cover incidental costs resulting from the delay, so make sure to keep any spending receipts you get during the delay.

Geographical limit: This is the destinations for which your travel insurance policy is valid. For example, if the geographical limit for your policy is the United States of America, the policy will only cover loss events in the country and travel to and from the country. Make sure the geographical limit for your policy includes all the nations you plan to travel to. A dependable insurance provider such as Bharti AXA GI helps secure trips to more than 130 countries.

Hazardous activities: Any activities that increase the risk of injury to yourself or to others. Such activities are typically excluded from travel insurance policies. Before you book any such activity, check with your insurer if it is covered or not. You can always invest in an add-on to cover such activities include any adventure sports activity.

Maximum policy coverage: This refers to the maximum compensation that a policy would provide towards a given expense. Make sure you are comfortable with the limits put by the policy you choose.

Personal liability cover: This term is common across many different kinds of insurance policies. In the context of travel insurance, it means that if you cause damage to someone else on your trip the insurer will cover the costs if they make a claim against you.

Pre-existing medical condition: Any medical condition that was diagnosed or treated before you purchased the travel insurance is called a pre-existing medical condition. It is important to declare such conditions to your insurer as hiding them may lead to claims being rejected.

Repatriation: Repatriation means arranging for your return home for any reason. If you get injured or fall ill during your trip, the insurer will arrange for repatriation, if required.

Usual, customary and reasonable charges: The insurers typical refund only “usual, customary and reasonable charges”. This is nothing but the prevailing amounts charged for a service at a given location in a similar facility.