It might happen to anyone, a sudden unpredicted yet inevitable expense can leave you cash-strapped or even worse, scrambling hard to allocate funds. Your car’s transmission might have blown off, your child may have fallen seriously ill, you may have lost your job permanently, and any of these might happen to you all of a sudden. Wouldn't you be worried about how you could fulfill your credit card and mortgage payments? If such a situation arises, where would you turn for help? Would you depend on your friends and family members? Or are there other emergency options as well? 

So, if you’re someone who is looking to borrow money during an emergency so that you can bridge the gap between your income and expenses, here are few options that you can take resort to. Check them out. 

#1: Family and friends are always your first option

Whenever you’re in dearth of cash and you need them immediately, your first resort will definitely be your family and friends. If you have supportive family members and few bosom friends, this is the undoubtedly the fastest and the cheapest way of borrowing money. However, you should be aware of moving carefully as money matters often damage a relationship. Since a friend doesn't charge you hefty fees and interest rates, he will offer the money sooner. Try your best to repay the funds as soon as possible. 

#2: Credit card cash advance

This is yet another fastest ways of borrowing money and at the same time it is pretty simple too. From your credit card, you are allowed to get a cash advance and the proceeds can be got from the ATM itself. Doesn't that sound great? However, something that you need to note is that a credit card cash advance is pretty costly. You will require paying something around 2-5% of the amount that you've borrowed in the form of fees, that too upfront. Then you will be subject to a rather high interest rate of 25% or more than that. 

#3: Seek help of an online lender

There are several peer-to-peer lending websites and other online lenders which can also be a good option for you when you’re in need of money. These options have a quick turnaround and you can soon find cash in your bank account within very few days. However, the interest rates that you have to pay on these might vary depending on the credit rating that you have. On the other hand, if you have good credit, this can again become a rather costly option. Whatever case you might be in, make sure you repay the loan on time. 

#4: Home equity line of credit

Did you accumulate some good amount of equity in your home? If answered yes, this could definitely be a good option. This amount will equate the amount you are allowed to borrow. The interest rates on home equity loans are reasonable since they’re secured loans. So, keep in mind that defaulting on your home equity loan may put you at the risk of losing your home. Be timely about the repayments. 

Therefore, now that you are pretty aware of the online lending options that you have during an emergency, what are you waiting for? Go through the pros and cons of the above listed options and then choose the one which fits you in the best way. 

You may have heard of a reverse mortgage with or without realizing it. Sometimes it is also referred to as a reveres loan, retirement loan or home equity conversion mortgage (HECM). It all depends on the lender you talk to. The HECM term is most often used by government-controlled lenders. In either case, it is important to know as much as you can about a reverse mortgage before you apply for one. So, if you are considering filling out a reverse mortgage application, here is some info to help you make a final decision.

The Purpose of Choosing a Reverse Mortgage

The purpose of choosing a reverse mortgage over a traditional mortgage is essentially to help you maintain financial comfort when you retire. Retirement usually involves trying to live on a low, fixed income. A reverse mortgage lender can give you a special loan if you are over age 62 that will give you another source of money during retirement. Unlike a standard mortgage, you will not have a monthly mortgage payment to make back to the lender. In fact, you may continue to receive money each month, depending on the terms you set up when you sign the mortgage agreement. 

How Reverse Mortgage Repayment Terms Work

You may be wondering what the catch of getting a reverse mortgage is. If you do not have to pay any of it back regularly, how can the reverse mortgage lender possibly benefit? Well, the answer is a reverse mortgage is a long-term way to borrow money. You will not owe the full balance back until you leave your home. Therefore, the loan may last for many years. However, it will accumulate interest throughout that time. Therefore, the lender will eventually receive a benefit. 

Calculating Your Reverse Mortgage Benefit Amount

A reverse mortgage is a home equity loan, meaning it allows you to use part of the value of your home as money you can spend. Therefore, you may think the maximum you can borrow is the total amount of your current home equity. However, the government has instituted regulations preventing the full amount from being borrowed. Therefore, a reverse mortgage calculator must be used to determine how much you are entitled to borrow. First, the total value of the home must be determined. That value may depend on the condition, size and location of the home, among other things. 

What You Must do to Qualify for a Reverse Mortgage

It is a misconception that the only requirements to get a reverse mortgage are owning a home and being 62 years old or older. You must also meet other requirements. For example, the home itself must be your main residence. It cannot be a vacation home. Also, you must pass a credit check and be capable of performing ongoing maintenance tasks, such as paying the property taxes on the home. 

Tips for Avoiding Reverse Mortgage Scams

Like most other businesses, the reverse loan industry is not immune to scams. If you want to avoid such scams, you must be careful when applying for your reverse mortgage. Speak only to reputable lenders, such as government-operated agencies. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is a good resource. Many private lenders are also reputable, such as local banks. However, when seeking a private lender, you should speak to a representative of an institution that is well-established in the community. Ideally, you should choose an institution you have done some other form of business with successfully in the past.

If you've long had an interest in the world of investing, then do something about it by becoming an active trader. If getting over that first hurdle is what is putting you off from doing so, then remember,all the best investors had to start somewhere!

To find out what you need to get your life as an active investor up and running, and to see what you can do to hit the ground running when you do, make sure to check out the advice below.

Consider giving options trading a go

You don’t want to dive right into the sea of investment because doing that will, more than likely, see you drown — you want to dip your toe into it instead. To do this, you must consider giving options trading a go. You should do so because this form of investment would see you bid on an obligation rather than something outright, meaning the pressure is well and truly off. There are a number of different platforms that make options trading as simple as can be, thinkorswim being one of them — when you consider the thinkorswim brokerage fees, you may find that to be the perfect options platform for you.

Study the markets religiously

The best-laid plans of active traders often go awry when they do not study the markets religiously. Be it options or outfighting trading that you partake in, and whatever it is you decide to trade, studying your markets and knowing everything there is to know about them, from every bear to every bull, is a prerequisite if you want to be a successful investor.

Regarding the bear and the bull, you should know that a bear market is one where the prices are falling, meaning selling is or is about to take place, and a bull market is one in which the prices are rising, meaning investing is or is about to take place. Confusing either of these two terms with the other will see you make mistakes in regard to what you sell and what you invest, and that could see the end of your life as an active trader even before it has really taken off.

Know how to read the risk-to-reward ratio

Every investment comes with the possibility of reward, and every investment comes with a few risks attached to it. If you want to find success as an active trader, you need to be able to weight up whether the possibility of rewards outweigh the probability of risks whenever you make an investment, this being called reading the risk-to-reward ratio. If you don’t, then, more often than not, you’ll find yourself making bad decisions and investing in things that really shouldn't be invested, especially not by a novice trader like yourself.

The life of an active trader can be an incredibly fruitful for one, but only if they get off to the best start possible in regards to it. To do that, you’re going to have to put the advice above into practice.

You do certainly know how important reviews are for your company. They build your reputation, help your brand become popular in your industry and among your clients. Naturally, a better-known brand has better and higher chances of staying in business and receiving a steady inflow of consumers and customers. Earning credit in the market increases brand value, gaining respect in the market and earns the interest of investors more than the others. In this article, we’ll give you a brief guide to managing customer reviews. Read on:

1. Customer Service Should Be Top Notch

To earn good reviews, or even project yourself as an able businessperson, you must pay close attention to what your customers are saying and manage reviews efficiently. We would suggest that you organize a customer service team to do this job properly. Request your customers to review you, because it is unlikely that they will do it naturally. Keep a close watch on your reviews, and remember to monitor them every single day. Ensure that you respond through your company’s account to reviews, as this adds a very personal touch. Your customers expect you to be interactive and it is important that you do so, both to show your value for customers and to build or maintain your reputation.

2. Be Present on Review Sites

This could indirectly be a good way of increasing your company’s online footprint. Try to be present on as many famously known reviews sites as possible. By doing so, you can ask a customer to choose any site and place his/her review based on their choice. Select sites which have a user-friendly interface and ask specific questions. Something you must never forget is to ask them to include suggestions or opinions about the way you work. This should be the most important section in the questionnaire.

3. Work on The Reviews

We've already reminded you to pay attention to what your customers are trying to tell you. Now, we’ll add something more - you need to implement those suggestions. Make a table on an excel sheet to record each suggestion and how many times it appears in the reviews. If you find a particular repetition, you know you must implement it as soon as you can. You can also include terms like “we are already working on that” or “based on your suggestion, we have” to make the customer feel important and convey to them that their opinion matters to your firm. Try to approach customers personally to ask them for suggestions - this is another way of showing interest. In the end, if you can successfully prove that you do care about the quality of the service provided, you will almost definitely gather their trust.

4. Spread the Good Word!

When you’re done with all of the above, you can tell others how you work. Increase awareness by including your reviews in the websites of your company. Most people will read them to create an impression about your company even before they contact you regarding your services. People will also choose you from the rest based on your rating, so ensure this is done only by the most able people for the job. Meanwhile, reviews which are placed on search engine-based platforms, like Google Maps, will naturally have an effect on a related Google search. 

Your customers are definitely your first priority. Their experiences will eventually lead people to trust and approve of your company. If you have a company that is fairly new, this is certainly one of the most important things to focus upon. If you have an established unit or organization, you should ensure that your reputation does not enter the negative. With competition growing at record speed across all sectors, it necessary to stay updated to stay in business. So, reform, rethink and redo the basic things and you’ll keep getting enough promoters to keep you there on top.

Investing your hard-earned cash doesn't always mean you have to involve an experienced (and expensive) financial planner or investment advisor. In fact, investing is a lot easier than many people think, and you don’t need tonnes of knowledge either. To start investing and start making money from it, all you need is time, discipline, and a little self-control.

Financial freedom – the ability to have few financial obligations such as loans and having enough to do what we want to do when we want to – is something which many people crave. By being smart with your money and making investments, you can soon achieve this financial freedom and embark on a better quality of life.

The trick to developing your wealth and achieving financial freedom is being smart with your money. Regularly putting money away, cutting frivolous spending and investing it in the right places are all ways you can make your money work for you.

#1: Start Saving to Get Started

If you really want to begin investing, then you have to start saving some money up. After all, you can’t invest with nothing! Saving up money takes a lot less time than you may think, however, and you can do it in small steps by putting away small amounts at a time. Even if you've never been somebody who likes saving money, you can put away as little as £20 per week and this will soon add up to well over £1,000 in a year.With £1,000, there are lots of things you can invest in!

Dripping money into savings over time is known as the “cookie jar approach” and it’s very effective. You can even do it online with your internet banking, simply set up a standing order to move as little as£10 from your main account to a savings account once per week. When you do it like this, you don’t even see the money going anywhere!

You can even increase the amounts you put into your savings over time if your income increases or you find that you have a little extra to spare when you start spending less. There are clever applications which can figure out how much you can afford to save, and they will even do it for you, too.

#2: Invest in the Right Places

There are plenty of options when it comes to choosing a website or asset where you can make your investments. With new websites being launched all the time, it can be very difficult to choose one and stick with it. One of the better trading websites out there is called ZuluTrade and you can read this ZuluTrade review to learn more about it. In short, ZuluTrade is a fintech company which operates a copy trading platform, enabling its users to mimic FOREX market trades made by experienced traders. Diversifying your portfolio and investing in different places is one of the best investment strategies you can use, too.

Spreading your investments so you don’t put all your money in one place significantly reduces the risk your capital is at, and it means you have a higher chance of having money invested in a market which will deliver a good ROI. The primary goal of diversification is to carefully balance risk and reward, and a diversified investment portfolio is less prone to volatility.

#3: Sit Back and Wait

Investing is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time(sometimes lots of time), to get going and start making money. A lot of wannabe investors get frustrated and will pull their capital out when they don’t start seeing results straight away, however this is never a wise thing to do. You can’t plough your money into an investment opportunity and expect to see results overnight. Whilst this can happen, it is quite rare, and it is far more common to see returns after an extended period of time. 

The key to becoming a good investor is not only knowing where to put your money but being patient and waiting when you have invested it. The worst thing you can do is get frustrated because that £500 you have invested into something has not turned into £1000 in a week. Also, don’t be put off by slight losses as these can be recovered in the long-term – losses are just a part of the game.

There are plenty of options if you want to start investing and get complete financial freedom. Thanks to the internet, there are tonnes of online markets where you and anyone else can begin with as little as £10. It’s always better to start out with more, though, and saving up over time is your key to getting off to the best possible start with copy trading platforms such as ZuluTrade.

It is often said that the best way of going through life is by being a free spirit and seeing where the winds take you. Whilst this is a nice sentiment for a movie, the truth is that many people opt for this way of thinking because confronting what they are going to do in the future is a scary thing, or at least it is if you don’t have a plan in place. If you learn some of the basics of how to plan your life to ensure success and happiness, you will be able to think about the future with a smile on your face, eager for the next step in your journey. In this handy guide, you will learn everything you need to know about getting your life on the right track for the future of your dreams.

Planning ahead

The first thing you need to do is make sure you are not going into anything blindly while your enthusiasm and excitement are high, as this can lead to bad choices and using your money unwisely. You need to work out how to plan for your life goals in a meaningful way. For example, to create a life plan, begin by brainstorming the things you want, such as jobs and achievements, before working backward in steps to establish how you will get to this endpoint.

Sorting out the finances

The main thing about planning your future is that you make sure you have the funds to achieve what you want to do. For example, if you wanted to go to University, travel, or have a family, these goals cannot begin to be obtained unless you have the funds to back you up. Using a company such as Trust Point will give you access to tried and trusted financial planning schemes which will allow you to budget all the money you would need to start a business or buy your dream home. Taking care of your finances with the aid of professionals will ensure you are always on the right track.

A place to settle down

The final thing to think about when planning for your future is where you should base your life. Learning how to choose where you should settle down will be easier now you have a life plan. For example, if the industry you want to enter is thriving in one state, then you now know this is where you are going to have to have your roots in order to climb the ladder to success and meet like-minded people. The only thing you will need to factor into this is if you have a partner who works in an industry thriving in a different area. This doesn't mean you have to give up, but rather get creative and find a compromise that can provide a solution.

Planning for your future shouldn't have to be scary but rather an absolute joy as you can begin to see the life you have always dreamt of taking shape right before your very eyes.

As a business owner, you might have a great idea of what you want your business to do, and you probably know how you will do it, but you might not have the financial sense to get started. Many small business owners admit that they don’t have the skills they need to keep their finances in order, so here are a few tips to help you get on the right track.

Set Up a Business Account

It might seem like a straightforward thing to do, but many people that start their business, use their personal account for a while because they don’t think they need anything more. However, if your business suddenly starts to flourish, you will then have to arrange your business banking account which takes time. There are many banks that offer good deals on business banking accounts, so it is worth looking at a few until you find one that fits in with your business. Plus, when it comes to dealing with taxes, it will be easier to separate your business and personal costs.

Save Your Taxes

When taxes come around, it can be a stressful time for businesses. However, that doesn't have to be the case, because you can set up a separate tax account. With each sale you make, place the tax amount into this account and save it ready for your tax bill. You can get your tax rate from your accountant, so you know how much money to save from each sale. It means that you won’t have to find any cash when the bill arrives, and you might even earn some interest in the meantime.

Get Your Employees Pay Right

Business owners that don’t pay their workers on time will soon find them leaving for other jobs. That will not only hurt your productivity, but it will also get you a reputation as a bad employer. To help, make sure that you always have the money to pay your staff and that you ensure it is paid on the same day every month or week. There are sites that will help you create paystubs so you can keep a reliable record of your salary payments and your workers have something they can keep for their records.

Plan Ahead for Highs and Lows

Every business has its good times and bad, and how you deal with that will determine how your business does in the long term. Set yourself some spending limits that you can comfortably handle when times are not so good. You then know that you can survive these periods, so you can up the budget when times are better. After a while, you will know when your peak periods are, so you can always save a little extra for those times when sales aren't so good.

Even those who don’t have a lot of financial knowledge can quickly learn the basics. From there, you can decide if you want to get an accountant to help you, or you want to do it yourself.

If you have been wondering how some people achieve financial freedom and if that has been your dream for a while now, you might benefit from some of the easy, actionable tips below.

Here is our list:

1. Have a short list of goals

Long list of various goals can not only make you unfocused but it can ruin your chances of achieving any. According to recent research study, you should set a couple of measurable and specific goals that you can focus on. 

2. Define your financial freedom

Before you can even set your goals, you have to decide what a financial freedom is to you. For instance, it might be a carefree retirement or a debt-free life. This can help you in determining your goals. Financial freedom doesn't have to mean the same thing to everyone.

3. Environment affects saving habits

As with everything, your environment seriously affects your saving habits. So, if you are hanging out with people who never seriously considered saving money or being financially free, you are less likely to succeed. Tweak your environment so that it can work with you. 

4. Budget 

When you get paid, try to create a budget. Determine how much you absolutely need to spend each month or in that month specifically and set that money aside for spending. The rest can go into your savings account or for paying off more debt. 

5. Reward yourself from time to time

If you have done an outstanding job-saving money in a previous couple of months, or in the previous quarter,  there is no real harm in rewarding yourself with something that you have wanted for a while now. 

'It's recommended that you reward yourself when you can as it will boost your motivation to do even better as you go further. It can be a simple, inexpensive reward that means something to you, or a slightly more expensive one if more time has passed. 

6. Learn to reuse

Instead of constantly throwing away things, you can try to reuse and fix something. Replace paper plates or paper cups or bottles with something more durable and wash it after every use. It can help you save money.

7. Save for retirement

One of the best ways to stay financially independent is to have some savings for retirement. This way, you'll be able to enjoy your time off and spend money on things you love. 

8. Automate payments

It will be much easier for you to let go of the money and make sure that everything is paid if you automate your payments. This way, you'll never miss a deadline. 

9. Stay healthy 

Staying healthy is imperative if you want to have a great retirement. Medical bills could eat up most of your savings so you should either start planning for that or start a new, healthier regime right away. Address any health issues while you still have insurance. 

10. Combine your hobby and making money 

If you have an interesting hobby, you can easily try to monetize it on platforms like UpWork and UK Writings. These can help you earn some cash on the side and assist your independence. 

11. Understand your spending triggers 

If you are a spender, you need to understand what makes you spend the most. Maybe it's an emotional state or some issues that you have coming from your past – whatever it is, you should carefully examine your behaviour. 

12. Withdraw cash when shopping

Rather than using a credit card where you'll have no way of limiting yourself, withdraw enough cash for essentials and go shopping with that. 

Over To You

Achieving financial freedom is not an easy job and it might take you a while. Follow these tops If you want to be successful and financially free.

About the writer: Brenda Berg is a professional with over 15 years of experience in business management, marketing and entrepreneurship. Consultant and tutor for college students and entrepreneurs. She believes that constant learning is the only way to success. You can visit her personal blog at Letsgoandlearn.com