manage your personal finance

What is Personal Finance? 7 Tips You Should Know

What are Auto Title Loans?

Title loans let use your vehicle as collateral for a loan. It can be a car, truck, van, motorcycle or RV. The vehicle just needs to be registered under your name and lien-free. That means it has no outstanding loans or judgments against the title.

What are the Benefits of a Title Loan?

  • You can apply even if you have a bad credit history, or no credit history
  • You can continue to use your vehicle, as long as you follow the payment schedule
  • You can raise emergency money quickly

Learn more: 5 reasons college students are using title loans more than ever.

Is it Hard to Apply for a Title Loan?

If you go to a reputable lender like Wisconsin Auto Title Loans, the application process is actually very fast and easy. It has many branches all around the state, or you can inquire online and get a quick call-back from a representative from the branch nearest you.

Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Go to https://wisconsinautotitleloansinc.com/ and fill out the form
  2. A store representative will call to explain the process and requirements
  3. Go to the branch for the vehicle inspection. Remember to bring your car, the lien-free title, and your government-issued ID.
  4. The representative will check the vehicle and documents and determine the loan amount you qualify for. The entire process takes 30 minutes or less! If the loan is approved, you walk out of the branch with the money in your pocket.

Find out more about our car title loans and installment loans Wisconsin.

Personal finance is learning how to take charge of your money, as we learned above, but there are times when saving money or creating and sticking to a budget may prove to be difficult. When that happens and you are struggling with the question, what is personal finance, and determining what that means to you, you may need a little help. At Wisconsin Auto Title Loans Inc. we can offer assistance when you need it most with a same day auto title loan.

what is personal finance

What is personal finance? The term “Personal Finance” may sound as tedious, difficult, and boring, but it’s actually just a fancy way of saying “taking charge of your money.” Even if you’re not good at math, you can and should be able to manage your paycheck and meet your financial goals. Here’s a simple guide to personal finance that anyone can understand.

What is Personal Finance?

It’s your strategy for spending, saving and investing your money. It covers things like:

  • Monthly budget
  • Savings and investment
  • Insurance policies
  • Retirement planning

Personal finance helps you set financial goals and take concrete steps to achieving them. It helps you prepare for emergencies and feel more in control of not just your money, but your life. You no longer feel that you’re just living from paycheck to paycheck. You never stare at your empty bank account balance and think, “Where did all my money go?”

What are Some Personal Finance Strategies?

You don’t need to take a crash course in accounting to manage your money and answer the question, what is personal finance? Just use these tried-and-tested tips—and if they sound familiar, it’s because personal finance experts say them often. Why? Because they work.

1. Make a budget

A budget helps you live within your means and save money for unexpected expenses or long-term goals. So, you ask, what is personal finance? Its understanding your money, so that you can effectively save and budget.

You can find budgeting tools to help you keep track of your money. Download a personal finance app or software. Try Mint, YNAB (You Need a Budget), CountAbout, Acorns, and so much more.

The great thing about these apps is that they already provide a budget template—just plug in the information! Some of them have features like bill reminders or ability to track your savings accounts and credit card balances.

Learn more: making a financial plan.

2. Have a Rainy-Day fund

There are some things in life you can’t control. Your car breaks down, someone gets sick, or you need an emergency root canal. And if there’s anything we painfully learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, you never know when you’ll suddenly lose your job or have to get a cut in your paycheck.

To prepare for these financial emergencies, experts suggest setting aside 20% of your money every income in a Rainy-Day fund. It should be able to cover 3 to 6 months of your monthly expenses, though you may want to allocate for more if you are the sole breadwinner of a family.

3. Avoid frivolous debt

Debt, in and of itself, isn’t bad. There will be times when you need a loan for an important purchase (a house, college tuition) or urgent need (medical emergency, house repair).

But we all know the feeling of shopper’s remorse, when we used our credit card one too many times during a Black Friday sale. Impulse purchases usually only give a temporary high. If you want to treat yourself, plan and save for it.

Then, you can really enjoy what you bought, instead of worrying about how to pay for it later. Knowing the difference between good and bad debt will help answer your question, what is personal finance? Your personal finance is knowing how to take charge of your money, that also includes your debt.

4. Know your credit score

You are entitled to receive one free credit report a year, so take advantage of it. Your credit score affects your ability to get a lease, qualify for a mortgage or a business loan, or your credit card interest rates.

It’s important to get your credit reports, not just to know your score, but spot any discrepancies that could have been caused by a clerical error, identity theft, or a glitch in the system. You can request a credit report from credit bureaus like Experian and Equifax, or go to site like Wallet Hub and Credit Karma.

5. Plan for retirement

You want to live your golden years in comfort—it’s the least you can do for yourself, after working hard all your life. But because of inflation, a traditional savings account isn’t the most effective way to build a retirement fund.

So, part of personal finance is learning how to maximize your 401k plan (or other options if your employer doesn’t have one) or using low-risk investment tools that can grow your money.

6. Compare insurance plans

Health insurance, car insurance, crop insurance—there’s an insurance policy for nearly everything. However, don’t just sign up for a plan without understanding the coverage and the fine print. You may need to spend time learning the terms, or going through the documents with your agent, but it saves you the frustration of finding out later on that your insurance doesn’t cover your financial emergency.

7. Have a financial back-up plan

What will you do if you face a sudden emergency—a big house repair or a huge medical bill—and you don’t have the insurance or the savings that will cover it?

You need a quick, easy way to raise emergency cash. That’s where title loans can help. These are short-term loans where you can borrow up to $15,000, and receive money within the same day you apply.

Note: The content provided in this article is only for informational purposes, and you should contact your financial advisor about your specific financial situation.

June Mckaig

June Mckaig writes articles on finance and budgeting, hoping to provide insight amidst the overwhelming crowds of information on the internet. She feels that with all this accessibility comes a lot of false data, and she would like to contribute astute, helpful input that she knows can help others. If you would like to learn more about June's research, read more here.