There may be a time in your life that you find yourself in a real difficult financial situation. We have all been there, and while it can feel embarrassing at the time, it doesn’t necessarily mean that is going to be your fate for the future. Things can change, you can change, and you can do things to improve your situation massively. Often at the time, there may feel like no way out and you are heading to bankruptcy, but in most cases, this isn’t true. There may be a solution it is just a case of knowing where to look. Which is why I wanted to share with you some of the realistic options you could consider. I hope that it provides you with some hope in what can be a very difficult and emotional time.

Have you got an asset

One of the first places to look when you are going through a difficult time is your assets. Many assets have huge potential, and we can often be to blinkered to realise what you can and can’t do. First of all, you could consider your home. While it may not be nice to potentially sell your home it could be holding the key to improving your financial situation by releasing valuable equity. Selling may seem like a long drawn out process but actually, using companies like Wren Realty could be an ideal solution. Enabling you to change your situation fast. Releasing funds could then mean you pay off your debts, get yourself straight, and allows you valuable breathing space. Of course, selling your home might not be an option, so think of the other larger assets you have. Do you own a car that you can sell? Maybe you have land you could sell from your property or renting out your drive for commuters and people surrounding for their vehicles. Once you know where to look you can start to improve your situation.

Increase your disposable income

Maybe you need to look at your outgoings a little more closely. Too often people let their bills leave their account dutifully without giving it another thought, but this can be a big mistake. There are bills that you could perhaps get cheaper, things you may no longer need but are still paying for, or simply making some changes to your habits to brings some costs down. Analyse your bank statements and look at what is costing you the most. One big expense is the food bill each week, but this is one bill completely in your control. Why not try meal planning, buying only what you need, or changing the shop you go to? Even switching from brands to supermarket brands can make a big difference to your expense. Next up, consider changing providers for things like energy. Many companies save their best rates for new customers.

Could you spare time be a money making opportunity?

Finally, you could think about making money in your spare time. Filling out surveys online, performing mystery shops and even just selling unwanted things online on platforms like eBay or Facebook groups could help to improve your income and pay of debts that are costing the most each month.

I hope that these tips help you to consider other avenues you can take to get you out of a financial struggle.

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As awful as it is to think about our loved ones passing away, unfortunately, death is the only thing guaranteed about life, aside from perhaps taxes as the saying goes. Most of us dream of having something to leave our children when we go, property, money or a family business being the ultimate goals. Some of us are even lucky enough to be able to pass things on before we die. Giving us the chance to see the people that we love benefit from our life’s work. Your parents and family are no different. Leaving you a property is something that will have pleased them, so it’s certainly nothing to feel guilty about.

When you inherit property, there can be a period of adjustment. Whether your loss has been expected or come as a complete surprise, it can be a lot to take in. In these situations, it’s best to let yourself grieve and take your time to adjust before rushing into a decision on what to do with your new property. An instinctive reaction can be to either move straight in or not want it at all and offer your inheritance to someone else. Both of these things could prove to be a mistake. So, take your time and give these options some consideration.

Rent it Out

Renting the house out is an interesting option, with both pros and cons. If you choose to rent your house to someone else, you get a steady monthly income from it. Sometimes, there’ll be very little you’ll need to do for this money. Then, other months absolutely everything will go wrong, and you’ll need to work ridiculously hard as a landlord. You will also be subject to landlord’s insurance and taxes as well as having to ensure that your property meets all health and safety standards and completely adheres to the law.

But, it does keep your options open. When your tenants move out, you can rethink, sell, move in or search for a new tenant.

Finding tenants is much easier than it used to be now so much business is done online, and properties rarely sit empty for long. Keeping your property in good condition and appealing to tenants is also easier than ever. You don’t even need to do any of the work. Learn more about these options before making your decision.

Live in it

Whether or not you chose to live in the house can depend on a variety of circumstances. You need to consider your current housing situation. If you already own your own home and feel happy and comfortable where you are, you may not want to move. It will also depend on your past experiences in the house and with its previous owners. If it’s the happy home of your childhood, you could either love going back or feel a bit odd, like you’ve been out and made your own life only to find yourself taking a step backwards.

If you don’t own a home, work locally and still have relationships with people in the area, moving into your new property could be the perfect answer. You won’t have to worry about selling, finding tenants or the pressures of being a landlord.

The value of the home should be another consideration. Is it worth selling? Or could you make more in the long term by renting it out? If you already own a house, could selling or renting that out instead be more cost-effective?

Of course, if you do decide to live in it, for now, you’ll still be able to sell at any point in the future should you change your mind. However, it is worth bearing capital gains tax in mind. If you inherit a house and choose to sell, you get a bit of a tax break. Say the house was bought for $150000 and is now worth $300000, only the difference will be subject to capital gains tax. Once you’ve lived in the house for two years, this tax break starts to decrease.

Sell it On

Selling the property on is a popular choice. If you need money quickly, because your current financial situation isn’t great, then this can be the best option. You save money on capital gains tax; you don’t have the constant responsibility of being a landlord or the hassle of moving to a new house yourself and you get a large cash injection. If you currently rent but have significant debts, selling to enable you to pay things off could be a good idea too, as it will allow you to improve your credit score before you get on the property ladder. You could even have plenty left for a good deposit.

However, selling has associated costs of its own. You’ll need to make sure the house is in sellable condition, pay to get it valued and pay estate agents fees. If it’s on the market for a long time, these fees increase, and you have to wait for your payout.

It’s also the only option on this list that’s final. Once the house is sold, that’s it. There’s no changing your mind once the sale has been made.

Use it as a Business Premises

Another option is to use the property in another way. If it’s in a great location, you could convert it into a business. Perhaps a shop or restaurant. If you work from home and need some more space, it could give you an ideal solution. These options very much depend on location and how much the conversion would cost.

Another alternative use is hiring it out as a holiday property. If it’s in a great location that would attract tourists or people on business trips, list in on Airbnb and make some money off it. Then, there’s nothing to stop you keeping it as a second home when you need a break yourself.

When deciding what to do with your inherited property, there is a lot to consider. Your own living situation, your income, cash flow and debt levels, your long-term plans and the home’s condition and location for a start. So, wait if you can, let yourself grieve and then take you time to reach the right decision.

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By now, you might be confused what a “tree change” means. Experts are advising that people need to start thinking about their retirement early because the current economic trends have brought about a hike in property prices. There are very few living options for retirees and even then, they have to rely on someone, after their savings run out.

When it comes to retirement, people have three options – tree change, sea change and inner city living. As you can understand from the terms, a tree change is where you move to a rural setting, a sea change is where you move to a beach side and inner city living is when you move into an apartment in an urban locale.

Tree Change

A country retreat is mostly preferred by people who have or aim to purchase a few acres of land, some space from the hustle bustle of the city, scenery, fresh air and a sense of peace. With retirees, the most pressing concern is their health. Living confined in a house and being dependent on others for making small trips to the market can get rather depressing. When they feel like a burden, they retreat into themselves and destroy their chances of living a quality life. Having freedom insurance can make them feel secure and independent in such times.

Living in a rural area offers many perks, which include:

• Growing your own vegetables and fruit (this can become a source of income)
• Owning animals
• Less security problems
• Less pollution
• Healthy environment
• Greater sense of belonging and community
• Peaceful living

How to Make the Decision

Savings run out easily and as a retiree, it’s hard to find a source of income. This means that you have to carefully plan and count your potential expenses before making the move. Make a checklist of all your “wants” and “essentials” and then crosscheck it with your partner’s list, if you have one.

Most people remain at a 200 km distance from where they used to live because this allows them to remain in contact with their service providers such as a mechanic, hairdresser, medical professionals, etc. This also gives you the benefit to visit your neighbors or friends in times of crisis or celebrations. A lot of money is spent on repairs and by hiring someone who has been working for you for quite some time can be a plus. You will be able to save more and can spend that money on other important things.

Before moving, the most important thing you need to make sure is whether or not medical aid will be available to you in the vicinity where you are moving. It can be quite difficult to get medical help for medical emergencies in rural areas. Before moving, visit the location and check the medical facilities on site. Find out how well equipped they are to handle your problems and then make your decision.

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You can’t have missed the rumblings in the air. From water-cooler chat to major media focus, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the phrase on every business owner’s lips. A lot of the noise concerns what the shape of society will look like with robots in our midst and whether our skills will become redundant under the slow creep of automation. With estimates from the PEW research centre showing that two-thirds of us in the US expect robots in the workplace to be a common sight within the next 50 years, it’s easy to take a dim view of society’s desire for a walking, talking embodiment of our knowledge. But robots are not exclusively a force of the future – since Victorian times humans have created and refined machines to take on drudge work and liberate them to dream bigger and achieve more. So could the future be brighter for small business owners who embrace AI? And how can you use it now? We take a look…

Customer Care Made Easy

One of the most significant challenges facing a young start-up is manpower. You need staffing to grow, but you need more revenue to employ those people. It’s a chicken and egg situation that’s stifled the development of many promising start-ups. And that’s why AI technology is so promising for entrepreneurs struggling to do it all. The advent of a more transparent, internet-connected customer base means that reputation is a more important sink-or-swim factor than ever in business, and whole sectors are now driven by customer review platforms. This means that excellent customer care is simply a hygiene factor, and customers expect an instant response when something goes wrong. For small businesses without an army of staff, this can be all but impossible – so investing in chatbot technology can be a real breakthrough moment. Thinking through the customer journey and created some scripts is simple and doesn’t require any real programming skill. You will find that a lot of basic enquiries are the usual suspects, so this can be an extremely efficient way of filtering those out to allow you to deal with more complex cases. Chatbots are good at instantly retrieving customer information, which can cut call queuing, and it’s a scalable solution that will grow with your company while helping to reduce barriers to sale with potential customers.

Get Your Accounts on Track

Smart software can make your financial management a smooth process, from solutions that allow you to access business loans and receivables all in one seamless system such as www.octet.com to machine learning that can use big data to predict spending patterns. If the day-to-day functions of finance become fully-automated, the resource can be diverted into strategic, long-term planning rather than the bandwidth-drain of servicing routine processes – returning you to being more of a specialist rather than a jack of all trades.

Your Personal Assistant in the Clouds

Keeping on top of the day-to-day onslaught of a small business involves being on the ball about hundreds of micro-decisions that need attention, but not many entrepreneurs can afford a PA from the get-go. Using a remote virtual assistant to schedule and monitor tasks such as travel arrangements, diary planning and admin support makes perfect sense. Using a virtual assistant can free up time and headspace for more demanding tasks, even if we’re not quite in the era of being followed around by a Jetsons-style sassy robot yet (although those will be on shelves in the very near future).

AI doesn’t have to be scary – in fact, it’s working with us right now, and its influence could future-proof your business.

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When you are young and care-free, planning for a silver-haired future might feel weird. It’s difficult to image how next week is going to go, never mind figuring out how you are going to support yourself when you no longer want to work.

However odd it might be, planning for the future while you are young will give you the best chance of a happy retirement. It may be unpleasant to imagine a day when you will need full time care or perhaps can’t make decisions for yourself, but thinking about it now will certainly help.

Start Young

As soon as you start earning, you should be thinking about how you are going to save up and build your retirement nest egg. By starting young, you are giving yourself plenty of time to build up your financial portfolio and save without really feeling the loss. The older you are when you start, the more aggressive your saving plan will have to be.

Set out your financial goals early on and work steadily toward achieving them over a long period of time. This method will help you to budget properly without sacrificing all the good things you enjoy like meals out with friends or holidays.

Invest Smart

In order to accumulate, you must speculate. This means making smart investments in things such as stocks and shares or alternative opportunities like antiques or gold. In fact, a gold-backed IRA is an excellent supplement to your portfolio as it reacts slightly differently to the rest of the market. This is an advantage because it will help to smooth out any risks as the market naturally fluctuates.

If you aren’t too confident about what you should and shouldn’t be investing in, or how to balance risks, you must see an independent financial advisor before you part with any cash. They will be able to create a personalized financial plan for you and offer good advice to ensure you can save enough for your future.

Save, Save, Save!

If you have a budget, and stick to it as best you can, then saving a portion of your income each month should be fairly easy. In fact, if you get the balance right, you probably won’t even notice it’s happening.

Some of the best advice for building your nest egg is to put any windfalls into savings rather than splurge on things you don’t need. Find other ways to treat yourself without completely blowing your budget out of the water. This isn’t to say that you can’t treat yourself every now and again, but just to make sure that you adjust your budget accordingly.

With a sensible portfolio, your retirement plan should be easy to manage and your nest egg will gradually build up over the years. Try to keep this fund separate from your other savings to prevent you from being tempted to dip in for some extra cash. Keep a rainy day fund as well as a contingency fund and your nest egg will be safe for the future.

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