What is Personal Finance?

Credit cards

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It’s a phrase heard often, but what exactly are people referring to when they say ‘personal finance’? Well, personal finance refers to the application of finance and accounting principles on a personal level. Such as creating a budget for an individual or family.

Personal finance components could include things to do with:

  • Credit cards
  • Loans
  • Check and savings accounts
  • Investments (such as stocks)
  • Retirement plans
  • Social security benefits
  • Insurance policies

If you have never stepped foot into the world of personal finance or maybe thinking of getting installment loans, here are a few pointers.

Assess your personal financial situation. Analyze bank balances and income statements to assess where your personal finances currently stand. Some people find that they don’t need to create an in-depth personal finance plan, whereas others who have many different investments find they do.

Once you have assessed your need, set a goal for yourself. What do you want to achieve? Do you want to make sure things stay as they are, or do you want to get more money into your bank account? Perhaps you want to retire as soon as possible.

Next, in order to achieve your goal you need to devise a strategy on how to get there. You may start by reducing unnecessary monthly expenditures and put the extra cash into a separate savings account.

Whatever you decide, in order to reach your goal you need to execute your strategy. For some people this is easy while others find it more challenging. Whatever the case, you will see that personal finance is an important aspect of every adult’s life.

 

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What is a Debt?

Various Federal Reserve Notes, c.1995. Only th...

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A debt is anything that is owed by one party to another. It can be incurred by individuals, groups, businesses and government departments and can pertain to anything, not just money.

Types of Debt

Personal Debt

Personal debt is when a debt is incurred by an individual. The debt has been obtained by the person to carry out things such as:

  • to purchase goods such as a car or property
  • to set up a small business or to finance another type of profit making endeavor

For an individual, a loan of money is the simplest form of personal debt. The agreement is usually negotiated between an individual and a bank or other finance institution.

Agreement terms of a personal loan can include:

  • how much money can be borrowed
  • what the repayment schedule will be
  • how much interest will be repaid on top of the initial loan amount
  • any fees and charges that may apply if loan repayments are late or missed

Business Debt

A business debt operates on much the same premise as a personal loan, but of course involves a business as being responsible for the repayments and not an individual.

Many businesses require the use of a business loan for things such as:

  • day-to-day activities, such as workplace lunches
  • the payment of staff wages
  • the payment of office supplies, such as office furniture and stationery

A business can incur debt by accessing the following methods:

  • cash credit: whereby a business has access to an open line of credit based on the companies commodities
  • bank overdraft: whereby a business can overdraw its bank account to have access to more funds.

These are just a few examples or personal and business debt in the finance world today.

 

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