Tips For An Amicable Separation

 You might’ve been married for 50 years or been together for 50 days - breaking up can be tricky, and many emotions are involved. When you spend time with someone and start to share more of yourself, you are automatically in a more vulnerable position. 

One of the most challenging things is that often when a separation happens, there is still a lot of love - unless there has been infidelity or other upset and harm caused. 

It gets more complicated still when there are shared bills and children. 

Photo by Millequand Corentin on Unsplash

So how can you aim to have an amicable separation? 

One of the first things is that even when you aim to have a reasonable and fair separation, you need to know what your rights are, and that is where divorce law comes into play. Be clear on what you can and cannot do and what you are or are not entitled to. 

Don’t let it linger

Many people become guilty of this; instead of being honest and letting the other person know that it isn’t working for them, they let it drift until both parties are resentful - and one of you might even be confused. 

The moment you know for sure that you need to move on and that the relationship isn’t going to work out for you (even if it has for tens of years), be honest. There is no right moment to wait for; both of you deserve to be happy and move on. 

Think it through 

You might think that being single sounds excellent, and then the moment you are sitting alone in your new place - or on your friend’s couch, you might think it was a big mistake.  

Until the moment the words leave your mouth, you might not realise that it’s just an idea and not what you really want. 

Be prepared for questions about what is going on too, and ones that might make you question what you are doing. You both deserve honesty at this point, so be open - but be sure. 

Avoiding Venting In Front of Your Children

Keep your children's best interests in mind. Although your heart may be hurting and venting is temping, saying negative things about your partner in front of their parent can be destructive to their relationship and to their emotional well-being.

Practice empathy for what they might be going through and consider their feelings before going on a tirade about their other parent.

Keep Calm

Keeping yourself calm is also important here because words said in anger in this space are hard to take back. Consider therapy and other helpful means to work through your hurt and anger. Communicating clearly and honestly is a more constructive way to reach desirable outcomes.

Setting boundaries can be a healthy way to protect your emotional health while still remaining collaborative and open to working through solutions.

If you have young children, keep in mind that they will need help navigating through this, too: What You Can Do To Help Your Children Through The Divorce Process. 

Making Life's Major Purchases

 

Image Source

We spend most days in life. We buy things that we need to get by. We pick up food to eat. We grab a coffee on the way to work. We pick up lunch with friends. We shop online when bored or to purchase things we’ve had our eye on for a while. Most of us are quite good with this small scale spending. We’ll price compare. We’ll search for deals. We’ll wait for sales. We’ll seek out discount codes. We’ll join loyalty schemes. There are all sorts of things we can do to make the process as easy as possible and to make sure that we’re getting a good deal. But we have a lot less experience when it comes to life’s major purchases. These are more costly purchases that come hand in hand with higher commitment. You’re going to want to make sure that you get them right the first time around. Here’s some advice that can help you with this.

Understand What You Can Afford

Before making any major purchase, you need to make sure that you know what you can actually afford. Large scale purchases don’t tend to be things that you buy outright. Sure, the lucky few can, but purchases that costs thousands or tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of pounds tend to be financed and paid off on a monthly basis over a series of years. This means that many people look at smaller monthly payments and assume they’re ready to take this on. Instead, you need to consider the long run. Make sure that you look at your budget, look at your current commitments, look at your disposable income and decide how much you do need left over to lead a good quality of life where you can cover costs and enjoy the things you want to do alongside bigger financial commitments. Affordability is really important and isn’t something that should be ignored.

Buying a Car

The first large scale purchase that many of us make in our lives is buying a car. Having a car gives you a lot of freedom and allows you to go where you want, when you want. You don’t have to worry about public transport timetables, can travel with luggage, can travel without getting wet or cold or too hot depending on the elements. However, cars cost a lot. You’re going to have to make sure that you’re choosing something that isn’t only affordable in terms of its monthly payments, but also something that is affordable in terms of long term maintenance and use. Consider ongoing fuel costs. Look at the Owner’s Manual to determine factors such as common repairs you may face or issues that may arise with the car and need to be resolved. Think how much its service and MOT and road tax will cost each yet. There are all sorts of factors you should consider to make sure that the vehicle is affordable for you. If you’re going to be going onto a finance plan or other payment plan, also check the interest to ensure that it is as low as possible.

Buying a Home

A home tends to be the largest investment anyone makes in their life. Homes don’t come cheap.    So, do your research and think things over properly before diving in the deep end. All too many people feel rushed to buy in order to actually get into the market and secure a deal. Sure, things can be competitive. But it’s much better to take your time and only bid on a house that you’re certain is worth your time and money than jumping the gun and finding that you’ve bought something problematic with a lot of issues. Carry out professional checks on any property you’re considering to make sure you’re getting what you think you are. This will ensure that any issues that may need to be rectified from your own pocket are highlighted and that you’re aware of them. You can make more informed decisions and determine whether your investment is worth it or not.

These are just a couple of major purchases you may make in your life. Sure, the pressure may be on when it comes to investing in these things, but at the end of the day, they’re assets, so it’s something to be excited about. Hopefully, some of the information outlined above should help to alleviate some pressure and guide you in the right direction!

How Changing Your Spending Habits Can Help You Achieve Your Life Goals

 If you’re sick of feeling like your life goals are not getting closer and possibly even getting further away from you, it’s time to make some changes. It’s hard to get to where you want to be in life if you’re not managing your money properly and saving for what you want to do and achieve in the future. That’s why the right changes to the way in which you spend money can have a huge impact on achieving your life goals. Read on and find out how and why.

Your Savings Will Increase

Your savings will increase pretty drastically if you’re able to replace reckless spending with more saving. That should be the main aim for most people. When you’re able to put that money aside and use it for something important later on, you’ll feel a whole lot better about yourself. Simply spending for the sake of spending is never a great idea.

Controlling Impulsivity Always Creates Better Outcomes

One thing that you should try to cut out of your financial life is impulsivity. When you’re too impulsive with your spending decisions, it makes your life a lot harder than it really needs to be. An impulsive approach to your money will always leave you with less of it. If you can change your habits in that department, the long-term outcomes will always be better.

Get the Home You Want Faster

It’s a whole lot easier to buy the home of your dreams faster if you’re focused on saving money for it. Do you want to pick up coffee from Starbucks every day and eat out three times a week, or do you want to put that money aside so you can build up a down payment on one of the luxury apartments you’ve always had your eye on? It’s up to you.

You’ll be Able to Deal with Emergencies More Easily

When you start saving and building up an emergency fund, it puts you in a far better financial position and that’s something that’s always going to be important. You’ll be able to deal with emergencies without having to stress out about where the money to cover those important needs will come from. It gives you all-important peace of mind.

Your Credit Score Will Improve

When you’re a little more careful with your money and start to display a more responsible approach to things, one of the things that will change will be your credit score. When you improve your credit score, you put yourself in a far better financial position going forward. That can only be a good thing in the long term.

Image Source - CC0 License

By changing your spending habits in the right ways and focusing your attention on the correct areas, there’s no reason why you can’t start working towards your goals in a more realistic and focused manner. For a lot of people, their life goals remain far away because they’re not paying attention to their month to month spending.

Purchasing An Older Home? Here Are Some Things To Do

Image Credit

The thought of being a homeowner is one filled with excitement and pride. You finally own your own home! However, there is a lot you need to consider before you make this choice. One of them is the type of home you would live in. While some prefer building from the ground up. Others are captivated by an older home's charm, style, and ambiance. Older homes are also prestigious and expensive, but you can find more budget-friendly options. So, regardless of your preference, there is an older home waiting to be loved by you. Despite this, ensuring your potential older home is a great option for you and your family is important. If you are interested in being a homeowner of an older home, here are some things you take note of before you do.

1. A budget

When buying a home, there are various factors such as location, style, and size. Although you may have preferences, your budget also influences your decision. Before you go out looking for the perfect older home, it is vital to create a budget to help you make a financially sound buy. When drawing up your budget, you should consider several financial decisions. For instance, homes in certain locations are usually higher than in others. 

Additionally, the style of the home may also affect the price. Your budget should also reflect the additional costs you may incur from the purchase. For instance, you may need to conduct renovations to make the home more livable. You also need insurance to protect your real estate investment and family, which should also be in your budget. With a budget in hand, you can make a better purchasing decision. 

2. A low price isn’t always a good bargain

Understandably, you are looking for money-saving deals when looking for an older home. However, it is important to be conscious when doing so. Whenever an older home is on the market at a lower value, your red flags should go up! Yes, it is a good deal, but you should wonder why. So get investigating. The low selling price may be due to the number of repairs needed in the home, how outdated it is, or other damages that affect its value. With this in mind, you should consider conducting a home inspection to see what your home offers. That brings the next point

3. Conduct a thorough home inspection

As you can imagine, many old homes have seen better days. In their quest to stand against the test of time, old homes may have various problems that may be concerning. For example, some old homes have structural issues making them advisable to live in. Some are also at risk of exposing you and your family to hazardous material such as asbestos which was only considered harmful in the 1970s. By taking a thorough home inspection, you can identify these issues to make a more informed decision. For example, you may identify faulty and old plumbing and electrical systems. You can consider hiring handyman services to assess the situation to determine if it can be fixed or wouldn’t be a good idea.  

How To Effectively Manage Your Business Budget

Image Credit

The first thought that comes to many people's minds when they hear the word "budget" is "constraint." The idea of budgets has been seen as a mechanism to hinder financial freedom. This is also the misconception seen in many organizations as managers and line heads struggle to balance costs and profits without following a budget. In some cases, where there is a budget, there is a challenge following it. Creating and sticking to a budget ensures a business's success and the smooth running of its operations. With that said, how can you effectively manage your business's budget? Here are a few tips to consider.

1. Ensure your numbers are always accurate

Your budget plays a significant role in the decisions you take daily concerning your business. Therefore, if the numbers are inaccurate, you may steer your business in the wrong direction. That said, accuracy is very important. Experts advise that the best way to ensure all numbers are accurate and complete is by improving how expenses are submitted through defined categories for your team members. By creating categories, you can create more context and ensure your numbers are not mixed up. For instance, an increase in employee overtime rates can be categorized as an HR expense.

You want it to be as convenient for your team as possible to submit expenses. To do this, choose budget management tools with added features such as automatic categorization, photo capture for receipts, and many more. These features help streamline the process, ensuring that expense reporting takes only a few minutes. 

2. State items within your budget

 

In addition to setting accurate numbers, your budget must be well-detailed. It is only until the right items are recorded that you can properly follow your budget. For instance, your company may spend a significant amount on office supplies every month. In that case, simply noting the expense and not the item makes it difficult to make the right adjustments. Therefore, it is important to take time to allocate the item details to ensure better management. 

If this task is challenging, you might consider breaking down your budgets to the departmental level as an organization. You might also need a budget that makes way for occasional tweaking and adjustment based on department performance. 

3. Learn to delegate

 

When starting a business, you will most likely be in charge of all major decisions, including creating and managing the budget. As the brand grows and evolves, bringing on more staff, it is vital to delegate this task. The truth is, some of your staff members are better suited to handle this financial responsibility due to their skills and expertise. That means you could have your budget well-managed as you focus on other aspects of your business.

4. Collaborate with all departments

As mentioned earlier, it is advisable for departments to create and categorize their budgets. However, for these budgets to benefit the company as a whole, they would need to be merged, and that's where collaboration comes in. Through collaborating and working together, various departments can find reasonable ways to help your business find innovative ways to save money and create a more effective budget. For example, your marketing and sales teams may have overlapping expenses and needs. Instead of following separate budgets, you can find ways to encourage collaboration so that both departments work harmoniously to satisfy these needs.

5. Aim for balance

In rare cases, your organization might have to spend money on something that isn't included in your budget. Budget experts advise that in such instances, your team agrees to postpone or remove an equal amount of money elsewhere within your budget. This simple act is known as a trade-off, and it's done to ensure that things always balance at the bottom. 

A trade-off involves spending a little less here and a little more here because, let's face it, things rarely go as we plan when you create a budget. 

6. Be frugal

Sometimes, a trade-off might be impossible, as ever expensive is a critical need to the company's growth. In such instances, you and your team might have to be frugal. Frugality is common in situations where your revenue does not develop as planned. It involves identifying where your intended monies were meant to go and skipping those until the intended revenue comes in. organizations don't need to spend as much to support their non-existent revenue streams. 

7. Standardized budget reports

Within an organization, there are several different departments, each with its budget, expenditure, and revenue. With every department managing its budget independently and differently, any update they make to their budget needs to reflect in your overall business budget as soon as the change is made. 

The best way to achieve this is by keeping a central budget management system. This means having a real-time form where all budgets can be reviewed, updated, and accessed. The system ensures that all budget reports are executed in the same manner, ensuring that the combination of the different reports is uniform, accurate and easy. 

8. Set budget update meetings

Every business experiences a crunch period where an intense workload causes every department to drop their tasks in a bid to finish up urgent projects. It is advisable to treat your company budget as an urgent project that always needs a hands-on approach by every member of the team. Set recurring dates and meetings for budget reviews, book clubs, and budget updates. It can be monthly or quarterly to ensure that overspending is caught on time and nipped in the bud.

9. Keep notes to be better

To ensure that your next budget is more effective than your last, it's imperative to review your budget and take note of any insight you gain. Reviews can be from your financial statements, as these documents illuminate spending patterns you might have missed in real-time. Keeping notes from your financial statements is a great way to prepare your next budget and make it more understandable than your last. 

The best and easiest way for a fast track to achieving its profit goals as a business is to build a working budget. Over the years, we learned the importance of a budget, but education surrounding how best to work with a budget is lost. Hopefully, with these management tips above, you know how best to work with your business budget to avoid overspending and backtracking. 

4 Tips to Keep Your Financial Institution Ahead of the Latest Trends

 Financial institutions are always looking for ways to stay ahead of the curve. In order to do this, they need to be aware of the latest trends and changes in the industry. Here are four tips that will help your financial institution stay ahead of the latest trends:

1) Stay up-to-date with new technologies

New technologies are constantly being developed that can help financial institutions improve their operations. It’s crucial to stay up-to-date with these new technologies so you can take advantage of them. Some examples of new technologies that have been developed for the financial industry include:

• Blockchain: This is a distributed database that allows for secure, transparent, and tamper-proof transactions. This technology has the potential to revolutionize the way financial institutions operate.

• Artificial intelligence (AI): AI is being used more and more to automate tasks such as customer service, fraud detection, and risk management.

• Big data: Financial institutions are collecting ever-increasing amounts of data. Big data analytics can be used to gain insights from

2) Keep an open mind towards change: 

The financial industry is constantly changing, so it’s essential to be available to change. This means being willing to try new things and experiment with different approaches. Some examples of recent changes in the financial industry include:

• The rise of digital-only banks: These banks offer customers a convenient way to bank online or through mobile apps. They often have lower fees than traditional banks and are appealing to younger customers who are comfortable using technology.

• The growth of peer-to-peer (P²P) lending: This is a type of lending that allows borrowers to obtain loans from individuals or businesses instead of from traditional lenders such as banks.

3) Offer innovative products and services:

In order to stay ahead of the competition, it’s important to offer innovative products and services that meet the needs of your customers. This could include things like mobile banking, contactless payments, or customer loyalty programs.

Via Pexels

Some examples of innovative products, ecommerce merchant services and services offered by financial institutions include:

• Mobile banking: This allows customers to bank anywhere, anytime using their mobile phones.

• Contactless payments: This is a type of payment that doesn’t require physical contact between the card and the reader. It’s fast, convenient, and secure.

• Customer loyalty programs: These programs reward customers for their business. They often include things like rewards points, cash back, or exclusive discounts.

4) Listen to your customers: 

Your customers are a valuable source of information. They can tell you what they want and need from a financial institution. It’s important to listen to their feedback so you can make improvements to your products and services. Some ways to get feedback from customers include:

• Surveys: You can use surveys to collect customer feedback on things like satisfaction levels, customer service, or new product ideas.

• Social media: Social media is a great way to connect with customers and get their feedback in real-time. You can use it to resolve customer service issues, gather product feedback or simply stay in touch with your customers.

• In-person focus groups: This is another great way to get direct feedback from customers. You can use focus groups to discuss new product ideas, marketing campaigns, or anything else you’d like to get feedback on.

In conclusion, following these four tips can help your financial institution stay ahead of the latest trends. By being open to change, offering innovative products and services, and listening to your customers, you can ensure that your institution is providing the best possible experience for its customers.

Thinking Like A Construction Professional As You Schedule A Home Build

 Pexels - CC0 License

Building a home on your purchased land can be an exciting prospect, and some work on this for decades as they plan for retirement, or throw all of their life savings into such a venture. Thinking like a construction professional as you schedule a home build can help you get into the right mindset for approximating the best result, and this takes time, energy, care and willingness to get right.

However, with a little patience and the means by which to eschew mistakes and focus on better advice, we believe you can make the most of this project should you wish to. Thinking like that construction professional, you’ll be able to set the right priorities, find the best supplies, and consider logistics so that your dream can be a reality.

But what if you have no construction experience? That’s okay too, as we’ll help you get started by offering a few tasks and principles to follow; from there, you can continue on with professional services to guide you.

Let’s consider what that might look like:

Essential Blueprints & Signing Off On Designs

No construction professional will work on a project without the plans being crafted and signed in triplicate before going forward. An essential element of this will be the essential blueprints designed by a willing architect, able to integrate all features and dimensions necessary for the most reliable outcome. Investing in these services to help with your renovation or home build is just as important here, contributing your feedback as necessary. Thankfully, you may be able to steer this a little more than a construction professional overseeing a large project, so that’s where the learning happens.

Sourcing Appropriate Materials

It’s a good idea to source the appropriate materials for your construction. Looking at wholesale suppliers or bespoke custom manufacturers can help you order either specific units or in volume. Consider the fittings, furnishings and staging, such as what kind of tile flooring you’ll place in the kitchen, the cabinet style, and what material you’ll use for your kitchen countertops. Such an appropriate will allow for appropriate materials to remain designed in the best way.

Selecting The Best Contractors

Just like any construction outfit, working with contractors is essential to manage all of the unique efforts needed. Sure, you’ll probably assign electricians and plumbers to remain part of the project, but what about essential measures unique for your build, such as utilizing the best drilling contractor for the private water supply you have the rights to? On top of that, you may consider outfitting your home as standard for the future by ensuring a smart home specialist is able to install technological systems from the ground up and controlled by one cloud-based device. New builds are new builds for a reason; so don’t be afraid of adding a little of that unique indulgence to really future-proof your home.

With this advice, you’ll be certain to think like a construction professional in the best light as you schedule a home build going forward. You may be surprised by just how worthwhile the end result is.

M