Whether you know it or not, you are always setting your financial priorities. Some may decide that a new stereo system is more important than this month’s electric bill. This may be a little off the wall but it is still setting your priorities.

Anyone wanting to better manage their money would be wise to determine what their financial priorities are and stick to them. Of course, if you see that these priorities will not put food on the table and pay your bills then you will have to rethink your priorities.

Setting your priorities is simple. You just decide what is the most important aspect of your finances and put that item on top. However, if you decide on that stereo over your electric bill, you may find yourself in the dark with no need for a stereo.

There are basic priorities that pertains to everyone. These are simply a matter of survival. Here is a list of the basics:

Water
Food
Shelter

That was a tough one.

What does it take to ensure that our basic needs are met? The main ingredient is a source of income to pay the rent or house payment, pay the utilities, and buy the groceries. This is where you start setting your priorities.

Before you can spend another penny, you have to take care of what you need to survive. Don’t put off the rent or house payment, utilities and don’t skimp on your groceries and necessary health items. If you do you will start experiencing money problems much sooner than you would if you had delayed paying other bills instead.

What’s next? If your source of income happens to come from a job, then I would say your transportation. You have to get back and forth to work so you can afford all of the other stuff. This would include your vehicle payment, gas, insurance and maintenance. If your source of income is not a job then go to the next step.

And Now? Naturally, this would be your other bills. You can even split this category a little further.

First, you have your bills that are secured by property. You should always pay these bills first.

Secondly, your unsecured bills which are probably credit cards.

The reason you should always pay your secured bills first is that it is much more likely that they can take the secured property and probably will unless payment is made. While credit cards companies are notorious for their threats, they very seldom follow through. I’m not saying not to pay them, just that they aren’t as high a priority as your secured bills.

Next would be your savings. I really to hate to list savings as your last priority because having a savings can prevent the use of those dreaded credit cards and help in so many ways. If you have the money to cover all of your other priorities then you should always put savings at the top of the list. However, if you don’t have enough money to cover your bills and expenses then your savings will have to be the first to go.

Just to recap. The below list is an example of what your financial priorities should look like:

1. Groceries and Necessary Health Items
2. Housing (Rent or House Payment)
3. Utilities
4. Transportation
5. Secured Bills
6. Unsecured Bills
7. Savings

Let’s hope that you never get in the position to have to decide which of the above list will have to wait. But if you do, following the above priorities is absolutely necessary to ensure your survival.

http://articlekarma.com

Secured loans are slowly but surely becoming more and more popular amongst British homeowners today for the simple reason that there are more individuals in debt than ever before. The UK’s personal debt is extremely high and has risen by over 10% since July 2006 and, as a result, many individuals are looking into putting a viable solution into place once and for all. Secured loans represent one of those options and secured loan rates can be extremely effective.

Secured loans are offered to individuals that own their own home but your credit rating and personal circumstances will not affect their availability for you as long as you fall into that category. However, that is not say that your credit rating does not play a part in determining the secured loan rates that you are offered. Nine times out of ten an individual with a good credit rating will get a slightly better deal than someone with a poor credit rating. However, the rates associated with secured loans do not feature as wide a gulf as unsecured loans that are available for those with good and poor credit scores.

To give you a quick summary of what to expect from secured loan rates in accordance with your credit score, you can take a look at the guide below. However, before doing so, you may want to look into your credit scoring itself. This can be obtained by contacting one of the credit agencies. This has been made easy for you as some now have online facilities enabling you to do so.

Excellent/Good Credit - Secured loan rates are at their best for those individuals with excellent or good credit. In fact, many rates are between 6% and 7%. This is a fantastic rate for any loan at the moment, and considering that the majority of those are actually fixed for the duration of the loan, it represents good long term value as well. There are very few loans with interest rates below 6% and they are near on impossible to find so look for those that are just over 6% instead.

Fair Credit - Fair credit secured loan rates are also good value, but they often tip 7% and can go as high as 10%. However, when you consider that unsecured loan rates are often around 15% for those with fair credit, this puts that in perspective.

Poor Credit - Those individuals with poor credit will often not experience difficulty when applying for a secured loan, but secured loan rates are slightly higher in most cases. The routinely exceed 10%, but usually remain below 15%. However, there are odd exceptions that may be as low as 7%.

Both credit rating and personal circumstance may affect the product’s interest rates, but the availability of secured loan rates is usually excellent. Whilst companies reserve the right to elevate interest rates as they see fit, it is unlikely that individuals that own their own home are offered nothing. This is and will remain a viable debt or expense solution for the foreseeable future!
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Hulott