How to Prepare for the 4 Biggest Financial Decisions of Your Life
There are numerous major life events that you will likely experience over the years. In your younger adult years, you may get married and have children. You may also buy a home or upgrade to a larger home. Career changes, divorce, and other major events may occur in the middle of your life, and retirement will hopefully take place sooner rather than later. Each of these major life events can take a toll on your budget. Planning ahead for them as much as possible can help you to avoid or minimize financial stress as much as possible.
Update Your Budget
One of the first steps that you should take to prepare for these types of events is to update your budget. As soon as you are aware that a major event is going to take place, analyze the impact that it will have on your budget.
Conduct thorough research as necessary, and ensure that you can comfortably accommodate the change from a financial standpoint.
Reduce Debt Balances
Because financial stress is common with each of these major life events, it makes sense to prepare your finances through debt reduction.
Debt can unnecessarily inflate your expenses and reduce your financial security. Even if you cannot manage to eliminate debt, any level of debt reduction beforehand may benefit you.
Have a Rainy Day Fund
It is also smart to review the balance in your rainy day or emergency savings fund. Under normal situations, it is wise to have at least three to six months of regular expenses saved in this account for easy and immediate access as needed.
When you know that your finances may be hard hit by an upcoming life event, it makes sense to add even more money to this account in preparation.
Make the Adjustment as Soon as Possible
If your major life event requires you to adjust your lifestyle and spending habits, think about the benefits of making this significant adjustment as soon as possible and before it becomes absolutely necessary.
For example, if you plan to reduce expenses after retiring, get used to living on your retirement budget before you actually retire.
This can ease the stress of the transition and give you peace of mind. It’s also a good idea to hire a mortgage broker to help you finance your future house.
Life is full of changes. While some changes are easy to navigate through and have minimal impacts on your budget, others are financially stressful. Consider how these tips can improve your financial situation as you prepare for a major upcoming event.
Category: Financial Planning
Great tips! We really need a rainy day season fund because we are storm-prone country and our area is flood imminent. We usually experience 1 to 2 flood every year and its a struggle for us.