10 Financial Services You May Not Know You Need

When it comes to your finances, it’s safe to say that you usually know what you’re doing. Most of us know how much money we earn, and roughly how much our bills come to each month - even if it’s just because we tend to know what we have left to spend each month. Either way, it’s relatively easy to know where you’re at with your money without being a financial expert.

But if we were to take that idea one step further, and say that you’re generally incredible with your cash and you even have systems in place to make sure you do stay on top of things, you may consider yourself to be a bit of a financial pro. So much so that you don’t really need much help with how you handle things. But if that’s how you think, you’re more than likely wrong. Because most of us may require some kind of financial service without really knowing it.

Sometimes, the financial services we need are things that we could implement now just to make life much easier, and sometimes they’re going to be things for the future. And sometimes, they’re even things that could come in handy, despite never really knowing that we may need them. So, if you want to make your financial life even more efficient, here are the financial services you should consider taking on board.

An Accountant

When it comes to accountants, you’ll often find that people are all for them, or they’d rather do without. Even if you tend to fall in the latter camp, it may do you some good to realize that actually, an accountant is going to make your life much easier. When it comes to filing your tax return, it may take you hours and hours to do each year. Whereas hiring an accountant could be quicker and most-cost effective for you, as you can get on with other things as they do it.

A Financial Advisor

Next up, you may also want to consider taking on some financial advice. Again, this isn’t going to be for everybody, but it could prove invaluable to you. You may think that you know what you’re doing with your money, savings, and investments, but you may not be getting the most out of your money. With a skilled financial advisor, you’ll be able to maximize your savings and ensure that you’re getting the best return.

An Assistant

If you’re self-employed, you may also want to think about taking on an assistant. Because it doesn’t make a lot of sense for you to be spending all of your time working on your financials when you have other work to be doing. So, it will often pay for you to hire an assistant to handle, chase, track, and manage your finances for you, freeing you up to get on with your work.

Specialist Finance

Lots of people will require different kinds of finances in life, you’ve probably had a loan or mortgage in the past. But what about specialist finance? From working with a bail bond company to a business investor, you may not know it now, but they could be essential for your future. Because you may not always have access to the money you need for specific ventures.

Realtor

Then, there’s also a realtor to think about. And before you say that technically they’re not a financial service, they are there to help you sell your house and they want to help you make as much money as possible. There are many benefits of working with a real estate agent, but their expertise is always one of them. Not only will they help to maximize your properties worth, but they can also manage any rental property you own which can make it more efficient for you.

Insurance Broker

Next, there’s also an insurance broker. This is going to be a particular service you should take advantage of if you have lots of different insurance needs. From health to home to business to car, and more, you may find that having an insurance broker to handle the policies for you means that you can get them cheaper overall.

Specialist Dealer

Again, we have another service here that isn’t quite a financial service as such, but it’s there to make you money - so we’re going with it. And it’s the service of a specialist dealer. Should you be interested in collecting things like art or jewelry, you may wish to sell certain pieces at some stage, and this is where the specialist will come in. As they will have the expertise and connections that will allow you to get the most money for your sale.

International Bank Account

From here, it’s the on to the idea of your international financial affairs. Because if you work overseas, or have some international interests, then you may find that you won’t be getting the most out of your money by constantly transferring between currencies. So, you may want to work with an international bank for this exact reason. With an international account, you won’t have to keep losing funds when exchange rates are poor.

Cryptocurrency Advisor

With talk of international transactions, it then leads us nicely to the idea of cryptocurrency - which is taking the world by storm. It’s proving essential for international transfers due to the lack of fees. But, if you want to get involved with cryptocurrency, and you have no idea what you’re doing, or you just don’t have the time, you may want to consider working with a cryptocurrency advisor.

Financial Software

Finally, you may also want to consider taking up the use of financial software. Staying on track with your finances is only easy if you’re organized and you stick at it. But we don’t always have the time to do this ourselves. And while you may not want to hire someone as point three suggested, you may choose to work with a software service instead. This could streamline your financial life and make it so much easier to manage.

How To 'Adult' With Money

Being an adult isn’t easy, suddenly you have to know how to do a million and one things that you weren’t taught in school. For a while you’re in that horrible stage where you are an adult, having to understand the adult world yet you can’t buy a beer. But worry not - here are some brief explanations on how to get your head around some money situations you are going to find yourself in over the coming years.

Taxes

Schools really should cover this in class. Because doing your own taxes isn’t something that comes naturally to anyone. More than 43.6 million Americans filed their own taxes in 2013, and the figure has been steadily rising. How did they learn to do it? The internet. Like everything in this day and age, the web holds all the answers to your questions - and some answers you really didn’t need to know. Businessinsider.com lays out what taxes are and why they are so important. Basically ‘tax’ is a percentage of your income which goes back to the government. It pays for public and emergency services.

Loans

Applying for a loan can be a foreign concept and make you feel like you can’t even understand your own language anymore. After you have double checked you’re in the right country, break the information down. Often websites will have a frequently asked section, and banks will have people on hand to explain things to you. Online forms should be designed to be as straightforward as possible as there is no one with you to explain them. There are many different loans from student to personal, and they all come with their own interest rates and contractual commitments. Before applying for a loan, check out sites like personalloan.co (if you’re looking for a personal loan) to figure out if you are getting the best deal.

Budgeting

You might have done this throughout college, or you might have touched on it with your parents. And starting young is always the best. If you start budgeting and keeping track of your money when you only have your phone bill and your Netflix subscription, it becomes a lot easier when you have to start adding on more and more things. Think about it like sliding into the pool rather than jumping into the deep end. Budgeting templates and tools are out there to help you to get started, Office.com have thousands of templates where you just fill in the relevant areas, whereas others help you to build one from scratch.

Accounts

Opening an account at the bank is easier than ever before. With online banking, all you have to is click a few buttons. But just opening a savings account or a cash ISA isn’t enough - you need to do the research. You want a high-interest savings account, but a low-interest overdraft. Go into different banks and see what they can offer before opening anything new.

Will Payments Bank Ecosystem Disrupt Banking Industry?

A Payment bank can maintain both a current and a savings account which includes issuing of banking instruments like ATM or debit cards, net banking & mobile banking. Currently, payment banks are restricted from offering loans or credit cards & investments in government securities. Deposits from NRIs are also not allowed at the moment. 

India is warming up to this new digital banking ecosystem called as “Payments Bank”. This is the brainchild of the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) that allows institutions that operate such banks to accept and restrict deposits beyond Rs. 1 Lakh with interest on the money being deposited by the customer using a mobile device.

Perhaps the biggest driving factor for payment banks is that they offer banking at your convenience. You can use your payments bank account from your home or elsewhere without visiting physical a bank whereas traditional banking is still heavily relies on you to visit a physical bank for most things. While the traditional banking system requires you to maintain a minimum of Rs 1000 as monthly balance, payment banks offer a Zero Balance Account where no minimum balance is required for operating such accounts. 

Security on such platforms is of uttermost importance and hence many payments banks employ many security layers & are considered safe for the most part. One of the key advantages of such accounts is that they are more consumer centric in many ways - you can simply use your mobile number as your account number. You also get to avail several offers at your disposal such as cash back and discounts once you register for such an account.

The Rate of interest on a payments bank account is way more than these traditional bank accounts, where the highest rate of interest being provided is up to 7.25 %.They arealso known for their easy KYC norms and minimal fees so open a payments bank account to compliment your savings account today!

Hard Ball Questions You Should Ask Your Financial Advisor

Most people spend more time figuring out what car to buy than they do working out where they should put their money, according to data presented by CNBC news. Cars are a major purchase, so you’d expect people to invest considerable time into working out whether they are making the right choice. But where to allocate your assets is arguably a much bigger decision.

This is why quizzing your financial advisor is important. They’re going to be responsible for a much larger chunk of your wealth than, say, a car dealer. And as such, they need to be asked some tough questions.

Are Your Fees Transparent?

The first question to ask is how an advisor actually gets paid. Are their prices transparent? Or do you not know exactly how they’re getting paid, and how much?

It’s also worth finding out what their charges are compared to other firms and why they cost less or more than the competition.

According to CNBC, advisors should always be 100 percent transparent about how they make their money and how they get paid. For instance, some advisors ask for a commission on any gains that they generate using your money. You need to know what this percentage is before you give them permission to invest your money. Others use a complicated fee structure, where some of your capital gains are paid to the advisor and some to the firm.

Do You Have Experience In A Particular Market?

Many people looking for financial advice, want advisors who have experience in particular markets. For instance, expats looking to invest in property abroad will want advisors who are able to guide them through the particularities of those specific markets. Enness International, a consulting firm, recommends that people choose companies that have people on their teams who are fluent in the local language and who offer ancillary services to help smooth things like buying a house.

It’s also worth investigating the work that a firm has done before in a particular field and asking previous customers for testimonials about their experience.

Do You Actively Communicate With Clients?

Another sign of a great advisor is one who regularly communicates with clients, especially when new information becomes available. For instance, in the run up to the election of Donald Trump, most advisors thought that Hillary Clinton was sure to win the Whitehouse. As a result, those advisors who saw the writing on the wall that Trump would ultimately win, also saw that a Trump victory would cause stocks to spike - which they did. As such, they told their clients to invest heavily in stocks beforehand and then sell when the market peaked in the weeks after the election.

Advisors shouldn’t need to call you about every buy and sell decision. But they should keep you updated when they take risks with your money. Look out for advisors who do things like have a weekly market commentary, send out a newsletter and produce educational videos. These tend to be the most informed and the highest-quality.