Your Financial Plan Develop a Plan

Your Financial Plan - Develop a Plan

A key step in resolving your financial problems is developing a plan.

Based on your situation, your plan may include:

• Creating a Budget
• Reducing Expenses
• Increasing Income
• Selling Your Assets
• Consider a Short Sale

Create a Budget

Creating a budget makes sense for everyone, no matter how much money you have. Unfortunately, not everyone has a budget, or maintains the one they have. In the simplest terms, a good budget allows you to prioritize your spending, make purchases that are necessary to live a decent life, make purchases for items you need to improve your life, while supporting yourself and your family. A budget should also plan for foreseeable financial setbacks, plan for the future, and prioritize financial goals.

Unfortunately, you may be at a point where creating a budget will not solve your financial problems because your debt is too much to overcome given your income and expenses. A budget that makes sense for every family’s given situation is ALWAYS a good idea, but it may not be the only solution to your particular financial problems. You may have to explore other avenues to relieve you of your mounting debt, including but not limited to:

• Borrowing money from friends and family
• A Debt Management Plan
• A Home Equity Loan
• Balance transfers of credit card debt
• Negotiation with creditors
• Refinancing your home mortgage
• Reverse mortgage
• Unsecured loans
• Borrowing from or Utilizing Retirement Funds
• Short sale of your Home
• Selling your real or personal property
• Surrendering a Car
• Surrendering a Home
• Filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
• Filing Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

Reduce Expenses

Reducing your expenses is the most effective way to either solve your current financial woes or prevent financial problems in the future. It is important to honestly distinguish the things you want from the things you need. Consider whether there are expenses you can eliminate, particularly luxury items, especially if these purchases are made on a regular basis. Try to take make your meals at home instead of eating out. Refrain from going shopping for clothing, shoes, gadgets or other items that may seem necessary, but are actually things you can go without for a period of time. Consider actively using coupons or only buying items that are on sale. Read a book, exercise, or find other sources of entertainment that do not cost money.

If you own personal or real property that is costly every month, consider whether you would be better off with living in a cheaper home, paying less rent, or driving a less expensive car than dealing with the strain of keeping up the payments. Sometimes these expenses are overwhelming and it negatively affects your health, family dynamic, your credit, and prevents you from paying other expenses that are important to maintain. Honestly look at all your expenses and determine what expenses are the most burdensome and assess your financial situation. Then, make a choice or seek advice as to what you must do to solve the problem.

Increase Income

Increasing your income is a possible solution that everybody would love to be able to accomplish, but it just may not be feasible. However, it is something to consider if you are having financial difficulties and can’t meet your obligations. Consider whether there are ways to earn more money by adding an additional part-time job, working more overtime hours, or seeking other employment. Increasing your income in conjunction with developing a practical budget can go a long way to getting your financial situation in order.

Selling your Assets

Should your financial situation get difficult enough, it may be time to think about selling some of your assets. This may include putting your home on the market, selling a car, or selling other personal property such as computers, old clothing, collectibles, or jewelry. It is rarely easy to take this step, but it may be necessary in order to prevent an eventual repossession, foreclosure, lawsuit, garnishment or bankruptcy. This may entail contacting a real estate agent, car dealership, auction house, posting advertisements in a newspaper/online or simply hosting a garage sale. Having extra cash may be helpful in preventing a potentially bad financial situation if you are pushing your budgetary limits every month. However, nothing replaces a sound budget and selling your assets may be nearly impossible or a quick fix to an ongoing problem.

If you are already in very difficult financial shape and have come to the conclusion that bankruptcy is your only option, DO NOT SELL YOUR PROPERTY. You may be able to keep all your assets while discharging your debt, depending on the value of your property and the exemptions in your state. Seek legal advice to make this determination.

Consider a Short Sale of Real Estate

If you own a home or real estate where you are behind on the mortgage payments, and you want to get rid of the property but can’t sell it on the open market, a short sale may be a good option for you. A short sale is when you sell the property back to your lenders for less than what you owe them. This is a result you borrowing too much from the property by way of mortgages, or the value of the home decreases after the property was purchased.

Positives: A short sale allows you to avoid a foreclosure, which can affect your credit for up to ten (10) years. If done properly, you also avoid being responsible for any deficiency between the sale price and the amount you owe the lenders.

Negatives: Short sales can be difficult to obtain because you need a potential buyer to make an offer, and the mortgage companies have to agree to take less than what you owe them to pay off the loan. If you are not considered insolvent or in bankruptcy at the time of the short sale, there can be tax consequences of any debt that has been forgiven.

Be wary of:

• Make sure you get all terms in writing.
• Contact your accountant about possible tax
consequences.

American Financial Benefits Center