Smart Financial Management Tips for the Upcoming School Year

So you’ve covered the tuition payments and you’ve created a budget you can totally follow. The key to financial success, however, lies in smart management of the funds in the day to day. It’s not as complicated as you think, and are actually easy enough to follow. Here are simple tips that you can follow in order to manage your money well.

Tip #1: Keep Your Budget Tight

Use your budget as a plan to keep you in the black. This means that you aren’t spending more than you earn and can live with. It also means that you are able to set money aside for emergencies and unexpected expenses. Living on a budget means that you plan carefully where each and every peso goes to when it’s needed. Many people are too lazy to make a budget, thinking they can “wing it”. In reality, a budget gives you the freedom to plan what you can spend, and avoid overdrawing yourself.

Tip #2: Pay Your Debts

Spending on a lifestyle you can’t truly sustain will catch up with you down the line. Smart money management always means paying what you owe and keeping how much you owe in check. This also means that if you need to apply for a personal loan or credit card, you’re more likely to get approved. This is something you can’t get if you have lots of debts and owe more than what you can pay.
If you already have more debt than you can manage and the stress is getting you down, there is help available. Pawning is one of the better options because it leverages on a item you put in as collateral. Being unable to repay might entail the loss of an item but it doesn’t negatively impact your credit rating in the future. In a sense, it’s a more responsible way to go because you’ve only borrowing what you can afford.

Tip #3: Don’t Wipe Out Your Savings

When you’re just getting by day-to-day, it can be very tempting to dig into your savings account once in a while. Don’t. Some of the smartest tips about managing money come from those people who seem to have a limitless supply of money. However, the richest and most financially secure people in the world didn’t start with big pay checks. They learned early on that saving money and investing it wisely is the key to long-term success.
Start setting aside what you can based off your budget even if it’s small amounts at first. This start builds up over time and lets you build up savings account that will lead to long-term security.

Tip #4: Don’t Think of Your Credit Card as a Pot of Gold

It’s easy to think of credit cards as an unlimited source of funds. Especially when you can keep buying a lot of stuff. Firstly, don’t use credit cards to pay for daily living expenses. Save them for planned purchases and especially emergencies. Make sure that when you do this, you set money aside in your budget to repay what you owe in no more than 6 months so as not to be trapped in a debt cycle. Ideally, you want to pay your credit cards off every month by the due date, but when you can’t, save on other expenses to pay them off as soon as you can. Because nothing can weigh more heavily than unpaid credit card debt.
Follow these tips and you should be “in the green” for the upcoming school year! And if you’re in need of quick cash, try PawnHero. We offer fair appraisals on a wide range of items. With a fully online system, you can enjoy the convenience of pawning from home today.