4 Financial Steps to Protect Yourself from Bankruptcy

Dealing with overwhelming debt can be a serious burden. Dealing with bankruptcy, however, can often be just as frustrating. Bankruptcy can do a number on your credit, after all. If you want to safeguard yourself from all of the stresses of bankruptcy, these financial tips can be highly effective and useful.

Work on a Budget

Assess the amount of money you use on a monthly basis. Set up a budget that can keep you accountable and focused. Tell yourself that you won’t go over your designated budget no matter what, too. 

If you want to take charge of your monthly spending patterns, maintaining a budget can make a strong foundation. You can handle your spending by using cash for anything you get. You can do so by throwing all of your credit cards away as well.

Say Goodbye to Frivolous Purchases

Viewing your purchases in a totally new light can help you steer clear of bankruptcy. Refrain from buying anything you absolutely do not need. If it’s not rent money or food, then there’s a strong chance that you can cut it out. 

Say goodbye to eating out at restaurants. Say goodbye to cigarettes, costly cable television packages, movie theater trips, spa pampering days and more as well. 

You can even save money by cancelling your fitness center membership. Jogging at the park can be just as effective.

Reach out to a Bankruptcy Lawyer

Attorneys who have bankruptcy expertise can supply you with comprehensive insight that can potentially help you keep filing at bay. 

If you want advice from a legal professional who knows all of the pitfalls that get people on track to bankruptcy, a lawyer consultation can be a superb idea. Book a consultation with a bankruptcy lawyer who possesses a blue-chip track record.

Put Your Property up for Sale

Putting property up for sale can often help people who want to stay far away from bankruptcy. If you have a vacation home that no one occupies, you can think about selling it. 

If you have a vehicle that you rarely use, you can consider putting it up for sale, too. Contemplate any and all items you may have with high value. Selling rare antiques may help you dodge bankruptcy filing.

The thought of bankruptcy shouldn’t make you lose your cool. If you’re calm, you may be able to think your way out of a scary debt situation. The answer is to think things through rationally.

Mistakes To Avoid While Applying for Business Loans

Businesses today are largely synonymous with business loans. It would be a monstrous gaffe to assume that business loans are only taken when the business has hit a rough patch. 

Business loans are also meant to sponsor business expansion plans. Unfortunately however, business owners often end up committing a string of mistakes while applying for these loans. 

Loans make for a crucial “decision” impacting the fortunes of your business—irrespective of whether you are securing them to fulfill your expansion plans or to tide over present financial difficulties. 

There are times when a wrong step can actually go on to derail short-term or long-term goals. Here’s a look.

Thinking that they can actually access these business loans only when they are struggling

Yes, it’s true that many businesses do apply for high-interest quick online loans like the ones from Lendgreen to get around $1000- $1500 credited to their accounts in no time. The fast loans help them to see through short-term financial crunch. 

However, as has already been mentioned above, business loans can be secured to plan your business expansion prudently as well. All your lenders would want you to do is furnish a thorough business plan. 

They want to find out whether you understand your business well or not—whether you know how it will make money or not. If you are able to provide a business plan which demonstrates your goals clearly then you would actually be considered seriously by your lenders.

You are not aware of your credit rating

Before applying for a loan you should be prudent enough to secure due information about your credit rating. There are many business owners who are simply not aware of where exactly they stand as potential debtors. All you need to do is approach one of the major credit bureaus to find out about your exact scores.

In fact, credit scores make for one of the common reasons why businesses are so frequently turned down by lenders.

Your financial records are not up-to-date

Most of the businesses out there are never ready with their precise and up-to-date business records when they are approaching lenders. This makes it difficult for lenders to measure the exact position of the business. 

Businesses as such can expect to be greeted by any one of the two types of responses – their application will either be rejected. Or else, they will actually be asked to invest more time to prepare their business records. 

Instead of wasting time thus, it is much better to prepare yourself properly before meeting the lender. Make sure you are getting your balance sheets, business activity statements and profit and loss statements up-to-date. 

Based on the scale of your business, you might as well be required to furnish your personal financial details as well.

Not reading the fine print thoroughly before signing

Blame it on your over–excitement (to have finally secured access to the money you need so badly) or anxiety (associated with repayment), there are times when entrepreneurs just don’t read the terms and conditions thoroughly before signing the agreement. 

This one makes for a major mistake – quite simply because it may lead to grave financial troubles later on. Make sure you’re not committing this mistake at any cost. Do not sign without making sure that you have actually understood each and every clause very carefully. If you have doubts, don’t forget to ask the lender before signing.

Real Coins: The Traditional And Safe Way To Invest

It’s no secret that the financial market can be volatile, especially now with the rise of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Since the U.S. markets are so unpredictable, leading 70% of investors to lose money in 2015 alone, more people are now seeking out other trustworthy, dependable ways to invest their hard-earned cash. 

Now, the focus is returning to making solid investments in ventures that will actually lead to returns, rather than testing out a trendy but precarious track, like crypto.

Even if you are new to investing, one venture that will almost always be worth your time, energy, and money is buying gold coins. Nowadays, since we are all so used to trading through online stocks and bank accounts, real money has become rather obsolete. 

But investing in something that is both solid and reliable—like gold coins—has a number of advantages and may be the wisest strategy to bolster your bank account.

Benefits of buying gold and other hard metals

Buying coins like 1 ounce gold American eagle or Canadian Gold Maple Leaf has always been a smart option for traditional investment plans. There are a number of undeniable advantages to buying gold coins, including the fact that it is a bulwark against inflation. 

Plus, gold tends to go up in value while other investments decline, which provides a stabilizing effect for your investment portfolio.






Another advantage of buying gold or other hard metal coins as an investment is that you don’t have to pay any capital gains tax on the coins until you sell them. If you do not want anyone to know about your investment, buying coins is an entirely individualized process that you can keep to yourself. 

And while this concern is unlikely to happen, in the rare case that the U.S. markets would face massive currency devaluation, investors could use gold and silver to buy and sell.

How to purchase and keep gold coins

If buying gold coins is something that interests you, you will want to make sure that you purchase the coins from a reputable financial institution or dealer. Just as you would be aware of cheats when making other investments, you should always be on the lookout for coin scams. 

If you decide to purchase the coins from an individual or someone you may not exactly trust, you should have the coins’ authenticity verified before you actually buy them. This way, you can avoid handing over large sums of money for gold-plated copper or lead.

It is important to know that U.S. gold coins come in one-tenth, one-quarter, one-half, and one-ounce denominations. Most dealers will make you pay a premium over the price per ounce, which is how they make a profit off of the transaction. 

If you buy gold coins that are less than one ounce each, you will pay a much higher premium. It is generally a safe bet to buy bullion coins, including the American Gold Eagle, Canadian Gold Maple Leaf or South African Krugerrand.

Unless you have researched and are knowledgeable about collector’s coins, you should stick to buying bullion coins. As a rule of thumb, you don’t want to get carried away with buying gold coins—instead, designate 5 to 15% of your investment portfolio to showcase hard assets, like coins. 

That way, a majority of your portfolio will still be in stocks, growth funds, and other investments, which is the best way to generate a healthy balance of both return and risk.

Without having to worry about the volatile financial market, people can invest in hard assets like gold coins and reap the many benefits of gold’s hedge against inflation in order to augment an individual investment portfolio.

How to Save Money on Internet Service Every Month

The Internet is practically indispensable for people in modern society. People rely on it to take care of bill payments. They depend on it to get access to the latest news developments. 

They even use it to receive local temperature and weather updates. If you love the Internet but want to save on your monthly Internet expenses, you need to test these suggestions out.

Do Significant Research

Don’t ever assume that your Internet service provider is the cheapest one around. Take the time to research other providers that are available in your region. Online price assessment devices can help you figure out which providers may be better value for your money. 





If you discover a cheaper option, reach out to your current provider. Inform the staff member on the line about your discovery. You may be able to get access to an even better monthly rate.

Search for Promotions and Deals

Be on the lookout for exciting promotions and deals that may be accessible to you through Internet service providers. If you score a terrific deal, you could end up paying less for service for a significant stretch of time. 

Some companies offer deals that are good for as long as a full year, believe it or not. If you want to continue saving big, talk to your provider once the deal period is coming to a close.

Find out if You’re a Subsidy Candidate

There are many subsidies out there that can help people decrease their satellite internet for streaming costs. You may just be a good candidate for one. 

If you want to reduce your speedy satellite internet service costs considerably, subsidies may be able to help you achieve that goal. 

There are subsidies for public housing residents. There are even subsidies for households that fit into certain income brackets.

Decrease Your Internet Speed

You can also minimize your monthly Internet costs by decreasing your speed. Don’t assume that higher is always better. It’s not always necessary for people. If you don’t do a lot of video streaming on the Internet, you may not even realize that your speed is any different than it was before. 

The majority of households out there are A-OK with speeds that are in the range of 20 to 30 MBPS (megabits per second).

If you want to decrease your Internet service costs monthly, you should have no issues. There are many convenient and practical options. It’s just a matter of being proactive and learning about them.