Financing Tips

Daniel Joelson

Daniel Joelson

Total Posts: 461

Published Date: December 15, 2021

Daniel Joelson has been in the consumer finance space since 1994, he has helped to develop underwriting manuals for the financial sector. With a vast amount of Knowledge in consumer finance, he has been writing articles for all types of loans. With his knowledge, he is able to help many people to answer different financial problems.

Over 10 million people applied for unemployment in March as the economic shutdown from measures to fight the new coronavirus is forcing many businesses to slow down or stop operating altogether. Whether things get better or worse for us mere mortals in the near term depends heavily on how long the shutdown lasts.

After all, even companies that have remained open are dealing with the fallout of lowered travel, fewer gatherings, and people focusing their spending on the essentials. The longer that continues, the harder it will be for businesses that have been negatively affected to remain open and able to keep paying their people. During such hard times, you may get some financial help from some companies such as TFC Title Loans. We offer a car title loan even to those who have bad credit, poor credit, or no credit at all.

financing tips
Financial tips

6 Tips for Your Finances

With so much risk and uncertainty with what comes next, you have every reason to both worry about tomorrow and to make plans to help protect your family as best you can. To help on the money front, here are six coronavirus fighting tips for your finances that can get you in a better spot to handle what may come next.

  1. File your taxes electronically and get your refund direct deposited

Although the tax filing and payment deadline for your Federal income taxes have been extended to July 15, that extension only helps the people who still owe taxes and expect to pay. If you expect you’ll get a refund, waiting only serves to keep you and your money separated that much longer.

In addition to simply filing your taxes, do it electronically if you can. The IRS typically expects it will take around three weeks after you electronically file a return to get your refund deposited. Contrast that with around the six to eight weeks it takes for a paper filing and mailed refund check to work its way through the system, and operating electronically will get you your cashback much faster.

  1. Adjust your withholdings to reduce next year’s refund

In addition to filing quickly to get your 2019 refund, remember that for most of us, a tax refund is simply you getting money back that you had overpaid to the IRS over the past year. If you get a regular paycheck and have taxes withheld during the year, you can reduce those withholdings now to get closer to breakeven when you file your taxes next year. File IRS Form W-4 (or your employer’s substitute) with your employer’s payroll to request the adjustment for yourself.

The IRS doesn’t expect you to get your withholdings perfect throughout the year, just to get close enough to avoid penalties, and then true up any differences by the filing deadline. There are three basic “safe harbor” tests that the IRS uses to determine whether you’re close enough. As long as you pass any of them from your paycheck withholdings, you’re good enough to avoid penalties by settling in full anything you may still owe when it comes time to file. Those tests are:

If you’re within $1,000 of your total taxes owed through your withholdings.

If you’ve had at least 90% of what you owe for the year withheld.

If you’ve had at least 100% of what you owed for the previous year withheld (110% if you’re considered high income).

By adjusting your withholdings to reduce what comes out of each paycheck (but still staying within one of those safe harbor rules), you put more money in your pocket every payday.

  1. Cancel any recurring charges or subscriptions you don’t need

These days, it’s really easy to sign up for a service that automatically bills your credit card every month or quarter, and then simply not think about the charge again. Especially in this time of uncertainty, though, it makes a ton of sense to scrub through every expense you have and cut out the ones you no longer need. Ones that generate automatic charges can be low-hanging fruit to cut that can quickly improve your cash flow, particularly if they’re for things you don’t need. If you have a car and a car title in your name, you can apply for an online title loan from the comfort of your home. We offer you a title loan and get it approved in a few hours.

  1. Redirect “extra” cash toward topping off your emergency fund

An emergency fund is something you hope you never have to dip into, but if you do wind up needing it, you’ll be very glad you have. As a good rule of thumb, you should target having around three to six months of living expenses in an emergency fund invested in nothing riskier than cold, hard cash in an FDIC-insured account. The key exception to having that well-stocked of emergency fund is if you’re actively paying off high-interest debt such as a credit card.

If there’s an upside to being limited in where you can go and what you can spend your money on, it’s that any money you still have coming in may last longer than it would in normal times. That allows you to beef up your emergency fund to get you closer to that three to six-month buffer. If you’re particularly nervous about an extended stretch of unemployment, you can look to be toward the higher end of that target. We serve in different parts of the country.

  1. Consider taking your dividend payments as cash

As many companies suspend their dividends to conserve cash, it’s a sign that they’re expecting the fallout from the coronavirus mitigation efforts to last longer than their cash reserves would. That’s a pretty good signal to you that they don’t think this ends quickly and that their financiers aren’t too keen to lend them money while this mess is going on. If major companies are affected to that extent that quickly, then what chance do we mere individual employees and small investors have?

Still, not every company has suspended its dividend. If you happen to own investments that are continuing to pay their dividends, now might be a great time to collect those dividends as cash instead of reinvesting them. While that does mean you might be a bit less efficient in your compounding, the benefit of cash is that, well, it’s cash.

If the market continues to fall or the economy takes a while to restart, every dollar of your cash will still be worth exactly $1.00. Also, if you need to, you can withdraw and spend cash from your brokerage account almost as easily as you can from your checking account. If you don’t need to spend it, you can use it to bargain hunt in the market’s wreckage for companies whose shares may have been wrongly discarded.

Even if your existing investments do snap back quickly, the beauty of dividends is that they give you cash without having to sell your existing shares. Those existing shares will still participate in the rebound. While you’d miss out on a bit of the compounding you’d get through automatic reinvestment, it’s a small price to pay for having that much better of a cash buffer in the middle of a crisis.

  1. Keep your eye on your investments’ balance sheets

For the companies you own to survive this shutdown, it’s not enough to have a business model that works well in a thriving economy. It has to have a strong enough asset allocation plan of its own to enable it to have the money to pay its bills when times are tight.

Like all of us, companies have bills to pay, and many of those bills can have nasty consequences if they don’t get paid on time and in full. In particular, if a company defaults on its debt, the debt holders take priority over the shareholders. In some circumstances, those debt holders can take control of the company from its shareholders in the event of a serious enough default.

Key numbers to keep an eye on are a company’s current ratio, its debt-to-equity ratio, and its total cash and equivalents on hand. The higher a company’s current ratio and the larger proportion of that current ratio appear as cash and equivalents, the better the likelihood the company can handle a short-term stumble. The lower a company’s debt-to-equity ratio, the less total debt it has compared to the total of the things it owes, and the more likelihood its lenders will continue to be willing to lend it money.

In a healthy economy, balance sheets are easily overlooked. When the economy is largely shut down, it can very well be the key to a business’s ability to survive to see the bright future that may yet come.

Sometimes defense is the best offense

In ordinary times, having such a defensive posture when it comes to your money and investments may seem like it’s too conservative to maximize your net worth. In times like this, when substantial parts of the economy are shut down and there’s no clear answer as to when it will start up again, being a bit more defensive makes much more sense.

Certainly, if you have a solid financial foundation already in place, the market is offering incredible potential bargains on companies that may very well survive this coronavirus mess. Remember, though, that, those bargains are only available to you if you can hold on to them until the crisis passes. So, make sure your own financial house is in order first, and then go look for the opportunities to pick up great businesses at bargain prices.

The $16,728 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook

If you’re like most Americans, you’re a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known “Social Security secrets” could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example, one easy trick could pay you as much as $16,728 more… each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we’re all after.

This article was brought to you by TFC Title Loans, we try to bring to you the most informative information. If you are interested in getting car title loans in your area local to you, we are able to help you with our large referral network.

We will help you to get the most money by using the equity that you have in your vehicle, the application is fast and we can provide you with same-day funding.

All of our referral partners are in compliance with the CFPB. We will help you to get the money that you need but from a trusted and reliable title lender.

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Disclosures

DISCLAIMER: As our policy to make sure you know what we do and what are our limitations, we offer you these disclaimers. We are NOT A LENDER and we do not make short term cash loans or credit decisions. We are a referral service and work only with licensed lenders/brokers.

We may act as the broker for the loan and may not be the direct lender. Loan proceeds are intended primarily for personal, family and household purposes. We do not offer or service student loans.

*Loan amounts by the lenders vary based on your vehicle and your ability to repay the loan.

*Since we do not lend money directly we cannot offer you a solicitation for a loan, except in the state of California. In all other serviced states we WILL match you with a lender based on the information you provide on this website. We will not charge you for this service and our service is not available in all states. States that are serviced by this Web Site may change from time to time and without notice. Personal Unsecured Loans and Auto Title Loans are not available in all states and all areas.

*Auto Title Loan companies typically do not have pre-payment penalties, but we cannot guarantee that every lender meets this standard. Small Business Loans typically do have pre-payment penalties and occasionally will use your car as collateral to secure the loan.

*All lenders are responsible for their own interest rates and payment terms. TFC Title Loans has no control over these rates or payments. Use of the work competitive or reasonable does not mean affordable and borrowers should use their own discretion when working directly with the lender.

*The amount of people who applied for a loan and we helped and those who received a loan is not the same. We cannot guarantee we will find a lender who will fund you.Just because you give us information on this web site, in no way do we guarantee you will be approved for a car title loan or any other type of loan. Not all lenders can provide loan amounts you may see on this web site because loan amounts are limited by state law and/or the lender. Some lenders may require you to use a GPS locator device on your car, active all the time. They may or may not pay for this or charge you for this. This is up to the lender and we have no control over this policy of the lender. Typically larger loans or higher risk loans use a GPS.

*In some circumstances faxing may be required. Use of your cell phone to receive updates is optional.

*Car Title Loans are expensive and you may have other ways to get funding that is less expensive. These types of loans are meant to provide you with short term financing to solve immediate cash needs and should not be considered a long term solution. Residents of some states may not be eligible for a loan. Rejections for loans are not disclosed to our firm and you may want to contact the lender directly.

*Car Title Loan lenders are usually licensed by the State in which you reside. You should consult directly with these regulatory agencies to make sure your lender is licensed and in compliance. These agencies are there to protect you and we advise making sure any lender you receive money from is fully licensed.

*Trading Financial Credit, LLC dba TFC Title Loans, Car Title Loans California, Dineromax. If you are using a screen reader and are having problems using this website, please give us a call at 1-844-242-3543 for immediate assistance.

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