Rewarding careers don’t always come with a steady paycheck. For people who work in agriculture, construction, tax preparation, entertainment, landscaping or other types of freelance and seasonal businesses, income may vary wildly depending on the time of year. This uneven cash flow makes budgeting especially challenging, but it’s by no means impossible. Here’s how to budget for long-term financial stability when your income changes with the seasons. Determine your average monthly income With most traditional budget plans, you start by determining your monthly income. But how can you complete this first step if your income keeps changing? The most effective…

The hardest part about having a budget is sticking to it. But usually it’s not emergencies that bring you down – it’s your own willpower. Telling yourself the sale is too good to ignore or you deserve to treat yourself can make it easy for you to spend money you don’t have. It’s time you arm yourself with ways to combat the temptation to spend money you don’t really want to be spending. Ask Yourself: “Do I Need This?” Possibly the easiest tactic to employ is just talking yourself out of buying something you don’t need. If whatever you want…

Sometimes life throws expensive surprises. To cover them, you’ll need to borrow. If you’re borrowing to finance one of these costly events, consider a personal loan. 1.) Weddings. When it’s time to get married, the wedding is on- there’s no waiting for funds! The average wedding costs over $30,000, too much for one credit card, and the interest would make it incredibly more expensive. A personal loan beats credit cards and financing; you’ll have both a better repayment plan and interest rate. You may even benefit further if you skip the deposit and offer to pay more of the total…

If you are looking to improve your personal financial situation in order to achieve a goal, there are a few ways to do so.  Although many of us believe that becoming wealthy is unattainable, it can  happen over time with perseverance. 1. Set a Goal As with anything you set out to accomplish, you need to set a goal instead of just saying you want to do something.  You need to plan out how you will get from where you are now to where you want to be: Educate yourself on that field/subject Determine how much/ if any money it will take to…

If today you ran into a financial hardship, what would you do? According to a survey from the Federal Reserve Board, around 25% of households dealt with a financial crisis in the last year, with the top hardship experiences being: Job loss (37%) Health emergency (37%) Work hours/pay cuts (29%) No matter what income bracket a person falls into, people in each category have difficulty maintaining a financial safety cushion. Survey Findings The Federal Reserve Board conducted a “financial fragility” test in which people were asked how they would manage a small disruption in which they would need $400.  Here are the…