In uncertain times it is especially important to properly view the debt that you are carrying and how to best strategically look at reorganizing that debt in order to give you options. There have been far too many individuals and even businesses that simply limited their options by not managing their cash. In a time like this, managing your options is key. Properly managing your debt will ensure that you are maximizing your savings and available credit lines, minimizing unnecessary spending, optimizing the terms of your housing costs, and ensuring that your transportation costs are streamlined. However, the most important factor when preparing for or in uncertain times is how well you respond. Responding with a clear mind while implementing a plan of action that you have already developed will ensure you do not box yourself in. This will keep your options open and in-turn protect and even create margin.

The stock market is heavily emotion-based. Just look at price to earnings ratios, IPO’s like Rivian, experiments like Dogecoin, feedback loops like GameStop or even the response correlated to news of soaring year-over-year inflation. You can see the emotion in the response of collective investors all over the market.

Part 2: There are four types of unsecured loan types that people typically take out to cover projects, emergencies, or shortfalls in their financial needs. These are a personal loan or signature loan, personal line of credit otherwise known as a PLOC, a credit card cash advance, and a Payday loan. We will be reviewing each type along with the pros and cons of each. Now not all unsecured loans are created equal, so you have to be especially careful to ensure that if you are utilizing an unsecured loan that makes sense for you.

There are four types of unsecured loan types that people typically take out to cover projects, emergencies, or shortfalls in their financial needs. These are a personal loan or signature loan, personal line of credit otherwise known as a PLOC, a credit card cash advance, and a Payday loan. We will be reviewing each type along with the pros and cons of each. Now not all unsecured loans are created equal, so you have to be especially careful to ensure that if you are utilizing an unsecured loan that makes sense for you.

We have a tendency of spending more when spending with a credit card versus cash but there are strategic purchases that can be made that will protect you on certain purchases. It’s important to know what these benefits are and what they are in-place to protect as these free benefits can give you peace of mind when utilizing a credit card over cash.

Jared created Millennial Margin out of necessity, as he has watched countless people schedule-away, mortgage-up, and max-out their lives. Margin is simply the antithesis, providing leeway in an increasingly margin-less culture.

When looking at a subjective topic like credit cards, it can be easy to get overwhelmed by the options and the opinions. As I have evaluated credit cards looking for one that had the best cash back and points program, I found one that seemed to fit best. I strategically utilize this card for purchases that there may be some level of purchase risk associated to. Typically this comes down to purchasing electronics or booking travel. It’s important to own your credit card, rather than your credit card owning you so choosing the card that fits your lifestyle is key.

Very few Americans have proper savings, but why is this? Having credit extended in a number of different ways gives people a false sense of security. Being that American’s habit to overspend has not changed, what are the risks that are seemingly unseen in using a credit card, personal loan, line-of-credit, or loan otherwise as an emergency fund? Many may not realize that credit cards in particular have limitations. In the event that you need to use credit for an emergency, you want to ensure that an emergency fund outside of credit is in-place to protect against digging a hole that you cannot climb out of.

The Fed met mid-December and as an outcome of that meeting, it was determined that they will be doing multiple interest rate hikes this year to slow the inflation rate, which recently hit 6.8% year-over-year. The outcome of these minutes will lead to interest rate hikes beginning in March, which along with fears of global unrest led markets into the red. Now, we can all initially applaud the efforts to curb inflation especially with all that I shared regarding the shocking numbers around inflation a couple weeks ago. Although slowing the rate of inflation is great, this interest rate hike will make aspects like buying a vehicle or home on credit much more expensive meaning that the buying power will dwindle further.

We are highly marketed-to from the credit card industry, which has contributed to record amounts of credit card accounts and revolving debt. These credit cards are crushing the ability of many American’s to build margin. Knowing that we spend more when we utilize credit cards, it is important to build in a plan for the credit card or cards you hold. In this series we will look at the purpose behind having a credit card, whether you have the right credit card, whether you are maximizing the benefits offered through the card as well as using your credit line properly.

Lifestyle creep can directly influence the amount of unsecured debt we carry and cause us to have little to no margin in our personal finances. Has your discretionary income increased therefore, increasing what you consider to be your basic needs? Well you’re not alone, today we are looking at 10 components that might be telling as to whether you are experiencing lifestyle creep. Daily decisions have a tendency of adding up quickly without necessarily realizing the impact that they are having on your financial margin. It’s easy to feel the pressure of media, marketing campaigns, family, friends, or even neighbors in influencing decisions, but the decision to make these purchases is on you.