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The statisticians may tell us that the recession has been over for three or four years and that incomes have returned to pre-crisis levels. But for millions of people in the UK, the reality is that times are still hard and money short.

The good news, however, is that while you may have had a difficult year financially during 2015, there is no reason why you can’t make a New Year’s resolution to get your finances back on track in 2016. The situation is rarely hopeless, particularly if you are in work or have some other regular income. Even if you have large unsecured debts, there is usually a way for you to start reducing them and increase your disposable income at the same time.

If you want to tackle your financial issues in the year ahead, then you’re going to need some discipline and some determination to change the way that you may have behaved over the last few years. Getting your finances back on track may not be easy but it is probably simpler than you think:

1. Stop beating yourself up

 This is a prerequisite if you want to reduce your anxiety levels and make a start on tackling whatever financial problems you may currently be facing. It’s human nature to keep going over past mistakes and blaming oneself for silly decisions but what is done is done and now is the time to drop the blame and start concentrating on the future. Learn to accept what has happened and move on, concentrating instead on implementing positive steps to improve your financial outlook.

2. Make a financial inventory

Do you actually know how much you owe banks, mortgage companies and other financial organisations? It’s important to have a grasp of your total liabilities so that you can put in place long-term plans to repay this debt entirely. That means making an inventory of everything you owe – both secured and unsecured – as well as the remaining loan terms and the interest rates which you are being charged on each loan and credit card.

3. Prioritise credit with higher interest rates

If you’re going to make inroads into your debts in 2016 and relieve the pressure you’re under, then you should start increasing the amounts you repay on the mortgages, loans and credit cards that charge the higher amounts of interest. This is the only way that you’ll be able to increase the speed that you reduce your total amount of debts.

4. Make a list of everything you spend for a month

If you’ve got Excel or other spreadsheet software and know how to use it, then this is a brilliant tool for doing this important task. Make sure you list all of your income and all of your expenditures. Don’t be tempted to miss out things like coffees from the coffee shop or the odd treat – you need to be completely honest with yourself about where your money is going before you progress onto the next step.

5. Make a household budget

Once you’ve worked out everything you spend for a month, you’ll be in a good position to set a household budget. Using your spreadsheet program, list all outgoings (with the fixed ones at the top) and all of your income. Let the software work out totals (if you know how) and then calculate whether you should have money left over or if you are spending more than you earn. If it’s the latter, look at the non-essentials on your list and consider what to cut. Think about your food budget – could this be reduced either by using a cheaper supermarket or by cutting out some of the items which might be considered luxuries? The household budget will make it much easier to see where you can save money and divert that into reducing your household debt.

6. Consider consolidating debt

If the amount you’re paying in interest, fees and other charges is overwhelming you, you might want to make 2016 the year when you consolidate all those cards and other loans into a single, monthly repayments. Plenty of companies beyond the high street banks offer consolidation loans and the amount of interest you’ll pay may be surprisingly lower than you’re currently used to. The amounts on offer go all the way up to £25,000 for unsecured loans and even higher if you consider secured lending.

7. When you’ve paid off a card, close it

If you’ve got unused credit available, there is always going to be the temptation to start buying things that you probably can’t afford. The easiest way to stop yourself doing this is to close card accounts when you have paid off the outstanding balance. Always leave yourself one to cover financial emergencies but get rid of the rest and use the money you are saving to pay off further debt.

8. Debt repayment is a snowball – learn how to use it

When a snowball rolls downhill, it not only gathers speed but it grows larger and larger as it picks up more snow. Debt repayment is exactly the same if you are disciplined about it. When you start paying back debt, you reduce the amount of interest that you’re paying and so release money to pay off even more debt and so on. If you hit the loans and cards with the highest interest rates first, you’ll be tackling the biggest source of your financial worries and releasing more and more money to pay off other debts more quickly.

Article provided by Mike James, an independent content writer in the financial sector – working with a selection of companies including Solution Loans, a technology-led finance broker with many years experience – who were consulted over the information contained in this piece.

You’re not alone if you’re asking the million dollar question; “How am I going to make more money?”! In fact this question is on the minds of so many of us. Now some of us are thinking about it, because we are strapped for cash not able to make ends meet and get by every month without landing ourselves in the read. While others ask themselves this question as a way of improving their financial status and security.

Discovering new ways to make more money can be really exciting, especially if you’re thinking creatively and out of the box. But before you jump the gun, take a look at your money earning strategies that you currently have and see how those can be improved, before adding more to your repertoire!

Sometimes we get so comfortable in our jobs that we lose track at what our markets offer in terms of salary, and we forget about other opportunities that could improve our income. Perhaps it’s time to give some thought into changing your job. When you have a job and you’re looking for a new job, you have the luxury of being picky and asking for exactly what you need! When you’re hired for a new position, after demand an increase on your previous income, you have automatically changed your earning potential for future positions, as you continue to move up the ladder. If you’re too nervous to jump ship, then see if your boss is willing to bump up your salary. A raise in dollars can go a long way!

So often, we have a full time job which is our primary focus, that we lose track of other money making opportunities, because we aren’t really looking for them. If you’re looking to make more money, then you need to change your mindset and actively seek out opportunities that will help you to do this. With every job we have we own a set of skills, and things that we do well. So why not use that to your advantage and try to find so freelance work in your free time, to add to your already steady stream of income.

Adding onto that idea, is to really give some thought, if you haven’t already, to the things that you are good at doing. Offering services, either locally or online have shown to be the quickest way to increase your cash flow. People like to hire others for short term projects, to help them do things that they aren’t so good at themselves. When you find what you’re good at, offer that service to others, or offer an online course to help others gain the skills that for you are so simple. In our society today we are taught not to brag and it’s sometimes seen as egotistical to say that you’re good at something. But when it comes to making extra cash, it’s important to be clear on what you’re good at and to not be afraid to publicise it.

Overview

Mutual funds are one of the best ways for people to enjoy a high rate of return over the long term. A mutual fund is generally a collection of stocks that are chosen by the fund manager. There are some fees associated with investing in a mutual fund, but generally the rate of return that is offered will offset the higher fees. One of the most important things for any investors to do is to reevaluate the mutual funds that are owned every year. Over the long term, this can be a great way to take a look at the overall strategy that is in place with your investments. Here are several reasons why this is so important.

Diversification

Having a diversified portfolio is one of the most important aspects of earning a solid return over time. There are many people who have too much of their portfolio invested in one type of mutual fund. Spreading out the capital that is invested in various mutual funds is a great way to diversify the funds that a person owns. Over the long term, a diversified portfolio generally has lower rates of risk than portfolios that are not diversified.

Better Selection

Over time, an investor can have a better selection of funds by looking at them every year. Although the past is the best way to gauge the future, there are some funds that have performed well in the past that are not performing well now. This would only be noticed by taking a hard look at the funds that are owned by a person. By taking an unbiased look, an investor can decide to reallocate his or her funds into different sectors of the market. This can make a huge difference over time in the rate of return that is offered by the investments.

Rate of Return

The rate of return that an investor earns on his or her portfolio is one of the most important metrics to follow. There are many different ways in which the rate of return can be increased. Always make sure that a portfolio is diversified over the long term. In addition, there is a correlation between risk and return. Younger investors can afford to take on a higher level of risk because they have more time to recover from the risk. This is important to keep in mind for those who are just starting out investing. By looking at all of your funds every year, this is a great opportunity to invest in those funds that will go up more in the future. Over the long term, this will help to boost the rate of return that is earned.

Final Thoughts

Mutual funds are a great way to have a diversified portfolio that has a proven track record of success. However, it is important to choose the correct mutual funds to invest in. There are many different sectors and funds for investors to choose from. One of the best ways to keep a portfolio working over time is to constantly reevaluate the investments that are made. This is one of the best things that any investor can do in order to have a high rate of return over the long term.

Jessica Kane is a professional blogger who focuses on personal finance and other money matters. She currently writes for Checkworks.com, a leading supplier of personal and business checks.

The business environment in most cases is extremely dynamic and fiercely competitive. It is not unusual for business to fold up even after making a great start. Many retail businesses need to keep on experimenting with location, and hence may be found to be closing down one store only to open up another one somewhere else. The reason for wanting to terminate commercial property leases can be varied; the business at that location could be bleeding money, or the demographics may have changed substantially, or the competition may have been too hot. Businesses need to enter into commercial leases for property all the time and may also need to foreclose them a lot many times too. Before walking out of the lease, you should carefully consider a number of things:

What Do You Really Want?

Closing a business at a particular location could often be the solution that is obvious but one that is not necessarily always right. Before even attempting to discuss the lease termination, be sure that you have considered every option available to you. If the reason for moving out is a need for more space, then your landlord could come to your rescue with offer for a fresh space and facilitate the lease termination. It is also important to evaluate if the necessity of terminating the lease is born out of personal circumstances rather than commercial ones. It is important for you to understand the real reasons for the change as this will give you a platform for effectively negotiating with the landlord.

Quantify Lease Termination Benefits

The option of terminating your lease can only be beneficial if the savings you get out of it is more than the compensation required to be paid to the landlord. The only way you can arrive at a rational decision is if you can quantify the value accruing to you so that you do not end up paying more than what you are benefiting by. One way of calculating the benefit is by finding the difference between the net profits expected to be delivered by the new location over the old one. If the reason for lease termination is to get time to attend to personal issues, then you would need to establish if the monetary loss on account of the termination is more than offset by what you are trying to achieve after you close down your business.

Identify the Landlord’s Financial Impact

To ensure that you are able to negotiate to good lease termination it is also necessary for you to establish the impact of the termination on the landlord. The most obvious is that he would lose out on the lease rentals till such time he can get a new tenant to occupy the space and start paying the rentals. If the business environment is down, then he may not get the same rental as what you had been paying, however the opposite could be equally true if the space is commercially attractive. Lease termination negotiation goes better of you can get an idea of the redeployment opportunities available to the landlord.

Compensate Your Landlord

Among the ways you can add value to the solving the landlord’s predicament is find creative solutions to what the landlord could do with the space becoming available. If you have been able to assess the location constraints that led to your business failing and how other business can thrive in the same property, you may be able to convince the landlord to change the usage of the space and get a better income stream. You could also tap the local real estate brokers for market information, including the duration that the landlord is likely to take to find a new tenant and the sort of rentals he can expect to derive out of his property. You could also try and identify a prospective tenant for him who can take over your lease. There are a number of internet resources that you can take the assistance of to locate a prospective lessee.

Nancy Mulligan is the senior business reporter at one of the top financial dailies. She periodically writes on trends in commercial real estate and financing. She also consults for leasequit.com.

If you’ve decided to make contract-for-difference trading your investment strategy of choice, picking out a good trading platform can be tricky. You need to make a well-rounded decision that accounts for more factors than just the commission fees imposed by a given broker. Take a look at the advice XFR Financial Limited gives below to educate yourself on what’s available out there in the CFD trading platforms market.

Regulatory Necessities

Before you pick out a trading platform, it’s important that you make sure you’re not engaging in trading behaviour that will have adverse legal consequences. Difference trading is not legal in all countries, and it’s regulated differently in the ones where it is allowed.(CFD trading is particularly heavily-regulated in the United States.) Do a little research to confirm that the CFD platform you’re looking at is fully compliant with the laws of your home country.

CFD Trading Platforms Required Features

As with a lot of products aimed at the small-scale “retail” investor, CFD trading platforms have exploded in popularity in recent years. This has led to a burgeoning market that presents you with a lot of different options. Before you commit to using a particular platform, make sure it offers you the bare necessities you need to make effective trades.

Stability and reliability — in terms of both hardware and software — are extremely important. This will be relatively difficult to judge based on a platform operator’s claims; obviously all of the brokerages offering CFD platforms want to emphasize the reliability of their products. Reading reviews from other traders will give you a better idea of how reliable a platform XFR Financial Limited has actuallyis.

Good platforms need to give you excellent execution control, especially if you plan to concentrate on short-term trading. Look for CFD platforms that feature automated execution, which allows you to complete orders even when trade volume is very high. You’ll also need a full suite of execution features (e.g. boundary setting) to ensure that you retain full control of your trading activity.

Attractive Bonuses At XFR Financial Limited

Even after narrowing your search down to regulatory-compliant brokerages which offer platforms with a decent set of basic features, you’ll still probably have a wide field to choose from. This is when you should look more closely at the extra functions included in various platforms.

Most platforms come with built-in analytic tools like automated charting, risk management functions, and predictive tools. Once again, the actual operators of a platform will tend to state the value of these extras as positively as they can. Look to reviews from past users to get a more realistic sense of how helpful these features can be.

It can take some time to properly evaluate the features of CFD trading platforms and decide whether or not it will make a good fit with your trading strategy. Don’t rush this decision! It can have a profound impact on your overall effectiveness in the difference-trading market. Demo account at XFR Financial Limited will give you a decent feel for how a single trading platform performs, but you need to shop around and consider multiple options before you commit to one and entrust it with your live trades.