Have you always been busy saving your money and planning the budget that works until you burst? Did you ever bother to check how your money is faring? Sometimes, budgeting and saving are not enough to establish yourself as someone who can be regarded as a financially healthy person. You need to make sure that your hard-earned money is doing well.
Here is a list of 10 things to help you determine if you are financially healthy.
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Your Income is Greater than Your Expenses
Are you spending more than the amount of money you earn? This is an important question that you must answer with all honesty. It may seem like a trivial question, but it should prompt you to scrutinize your finances and how they are doing. Did you even try to reign in your spending?
If you are spending more than you earn, try to analyze how you spend your money and do something about it now. You may need to cut back some of your expenses, especially those that you don’t need to survive. Your objective is to make sure that you spend less than you earn. That way, you don’t need to worry about living beyond your needs.
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You Can Cover Unexpected Expenditure with Your Emergency Fund
It is vital to have enough money in your emergency fund so you can get by in case of an urgent situation. This includes unexpected travel, ill pets, accidents, hospital emergency, and others. You will never know when your emergency fund may come in handy. It is essential to keep adding some of your earnings to your emergency fund. House repairs can also be regarded as a form of emergency. You will be able to save yourself from dealing with more troublesome repair issues when you contact a repairman to help you fix things in your house right away.
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You have Considered or Already Practicing the Long-Term Saving Scheme.
You can do many things to make sure that you will have a secure and comfortable future. You may invest your money in a profitable venture, which you need to analyze thoroughly before taking a plunge. A certain business venture may be profitable but demands that you give your full-time support, which is impossible for you to do due to your day job. It may be profitable but does not sit well with your current circumstance. Choose something that will not make you compromise your current situation and still earn extra money.
Are you paying your car insurance premiums annually? If you have the means, paying your premiums annually is much better than making monthly payments. It can help a lot in easing your worries so you can focus on making yourself more productive.
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You No Longer Worry About Where to Get Money Each Day
Worrying about where to get money or arguing with your partner regarding your finances almost every day can prevent you from attaining harmonious relationship with one another. Arguments that involve money often harm the relationship between husband and wife or partners. Take a break for a while and ask yourself about the thing that’s stressing you out whenever you think about your financial situation.
Do you keep thinking about what you should eat at dinner? Are you bothered about your daily expenses? Are you at your wit’s end thinking of ways to stretch your budget without giving up something? You need to define the issue first to find the most fitting solution to the problem you are facing. There is a huge possibility that money is not the main issue but something else. If you are used to eating expensive, delicious takeouts for dinner, it’s about time to learn how to cook delicious food and save money. Takeouts are often costly.
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You have no Debt to Pay
If you have no debt to pay, you should congratulate yourself on a job well done. It is not easy to survive in today’s world without taking a loan. Having no debt is an achievement that you should be proud of. as a matter of fact, only 1 out of 4 American consumers live without debt. But, staying debt-free is another story. You need to do everything in your power to ensure that you will continue living a debt-free life.
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You Can Pay Your Monthly Bills and Other Expenditures with Ease
If you can pay all of your monthly expenses without trouble and still have some leftover cash, you are really doing pretty well. However, don’t even think about splurging and forget about your goal to be financially healthy. You can put the extra cash into your emergency fund. That way, your emergency fund will continue growing. This can give you added peace of mind in case an emergency occurs.
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You have Considered Paying Extra Contributions or Invested in Super Account or Fund.
You need to take advantage of making extra contributions while your health and earning capacity permit it. This can help ensure the steady growth and strength of your finances even when you retire. Anyone in their 60s will tell you that they should have paid more care to their super when they were younger and able. Click here to read our article on how to manage your money.
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You No Longer Live Paycheck to Paycheck
You should not continue living paycheck to paycheck if you want to be financially healthy. You may be okay now, but the increasing cost of living will soon make it difficult to rely solely on your salary. You need to pay for your obligations and buy daily necessities. You need to have a source of passive income that can help augment your finances. That way, you will no longer rely on your paycheck to live a comfortable life.
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You Can Settle Your Charge or Credit Cards in Full Every Month
To continue living a debt-free life, you need to make sure that your credit or charge cards are paid in full every month. If your credit card bill exceeds your monthly pay, you may need to stop using your credit cards. You are spending more than you should, and your credit cards are turning you into their slaves. When you noticed that you had become a slave to your credit cards, it’s time to put them away and save yourself from falling into the brink of debt.
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Losing Your Job Becomes a Trivial Matter
If you are financially healthy, losing a job is not something dreadful for you because you can still pay your monthly obligations on time and in full. Your other income sources may not be doing well, but you still have your emergency fund that can cover everything for a while. This is only temporary until you find another job, or your other income sources begin to go well.
