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Are Your Finances in Disaster? Here's What to Do First

Time to get to work!

By Mary Adeola ScottPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

I’ll begin by telling you to calm down. Trust me, I know just difficult it can be to recover from a financial disaster. Plus, coupled with the state of things and economies around the world currently, it’s a pretty common sight to see lots of finances crumble, and people confused as to how to proceed from their financial setbacks. However, if you would only look beyond the problem at hand, you’d realize that there is a silver lining after all.

You may not believe it presently, but there is a proven way to recover your finances, as well as yourself. Irrespective of what caused your financial setback, there are a number of action steps that will get you back on track. And I know you may not believe me, but hey, there’s no harm in trying, after all, you’ve got nothing to lose. Remember that long before you, several others have walked this very path. So, let’s get right into the processes that will help you bounce back from any financial disaster.

  • Accept your reality

Accepting your reality is the starting point of true financial recovery. It’s sad. It’s heartbreaking. Worse still, you most likely are a victim of another’s mistakes. But, you’ve got to move on. Wallowing in self-pity and misery won’t get things fixed, but by getting up and taking proper action, then, you’re on your way to recovery. I’m not telling you to do this because it’s the easiest thing to do. In fact, it isn’t. I’m asking that you accept the reality of things so you can progress with the future. Trust me, you need all your energy to face the remaining challenges life will throw your way. So, get up, and get started!

  • Evaluate your current financial plan

You’ve accepted that this is the situation you find yourself in. No problem. But, how do you move on from here? Well, it’s time to do a critical evaluation of your financial plan. Right in front of you are the numbers, and it’s about time you uncover where it all went wrong. For instance, what are your spending errors? What debts need to be tackled? Critically assess and evaluate all of these before proceeding with the next step.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels
  • Take inventory of your current situation

To bounce back from a catastrophe as devastating as this, it is important that you take an inventory of your current financial situation. Understand the resources you have, the liabilities you face, and how best to approach tackling this situation. You must also have an understanding of what your remaining assets are, how many debts have to be repaid, your current income status, your expenditure, and a whole lot more.

  • Create specific goals and timelines

This isn’t the time to create vague goals. Your goals, as well as their timelines, need to be as specific as possible. Don’t say “I want to retire”. Rather, say “I need to have made one hundred and fifty thousand dollars by the time I’m 55 years old, so I can retire comfortably.” Now, that’s a great goal and one that has more prospects of being achieved than the first. Do the same with all of your financial goals, be it debts, liabilities, etc.

  • Avoid trading blame

The last thing you should do is play the blame game. The truth remains that whether you’re in this situation as a result of your bad choices, or even if it’s no fault of yours in any way, you are already in it. And trading blames won’t make it go away. I understand that when bad things happen to us, the first thing that comes to mind is blaming some person or the system. While your blame may be justifiable, it won’t help you out of the situation you’re stuck in. So, do yourself a world of good by letting go of the blame game, will you?

  • Make corrections and adjustments where necessary

You’ve laid all your cards on the table and seen where corrections and adjustments need to be made, going forward. There’s no better time to get those corrections in place than now. You already realize your mistakes, so get right to working on them and making fixes where necessary. The more you take action, the better your skills get. Rather than try to be perfect from the very beginning, why not lay out an intelligent approach and correct it as you go on. Get started the best way you can and make adjustments along your way!

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About the Creator

Mary Adeola Scott

Mary is an Editor at the online women’s magazine, AmoMama and is passionate about improving quality of life for the African girl child.When she's not writing, you can find her reading or just enjoying the hermit life.

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