How Studying Psychology Can Enrich Your Life

Jan28

Psychological studies can often be misunderstood, especially by people that don’t quite understand the subject. Some people consider it as a career choice that eventually leads to a medical profession, while others believe that it’s a useless degree that offers no real opportunities.

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In this article, we’re going to show that studying psychology has numerous benefits for both your life and your career.

  1. A Better Understanding of People

People that study psychology usually have a much better understanding of the people around them. They also get a deeper understanding of themselves and will have an easier time coping with difficult or high-pressure situations.

2. Excellent Communication Skill Growth

Psychology is a field that requires you to communicate with others, and this can greatly improve your ability to communicate effectively with other people.

3. Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking is an important skill in virtually any industry or job role. When studying psychology, you’ll learn to think critically under many different circumstances which can help you develop a better sense of decision making.

4. Greatly Improves your Employment Opportunities

A resume with a psychology degree listed can greatly improve your employment chances and salary prospects. It can also open you to many unique fields that utilize your skill and experience in psychology.

We’ve included a helpful info-graphic that illustrates how it’s possible to apply psychology to various concepts in business. It’s just one example of how a deep understanding of humans and relationships can be helpful for many different industries.


Infographic: University of Southern California

Insurance Advice for the Small Business Owner

Jan3

If you own or manage a small to medium-sized based business with fewer than 100 employees and less than KSh. 5M in annual sales and are looking for insurance, you may be confused about what business insurance coverage you do and do not need.

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A business insurance policy typically comes as a packaged policy where several essential insurance policies are combined under one policy. This helps lowers premiums and is easier to administer for both the client and the insurance company. 

Many insurance companies also provide tailored business insurance policies to meet the insurance needs specific to your particular type of business.

Bear in mind that a business insurance policy sometimes may be inadequate to meet your needs and can leave you exposed to some risks. To settle on a business insurance policy, you need to find out what the policy does and doesn’t cover. 

Business insurance policies generally cover two basic areas of coverage, property and liability. 

  1. Property Insurance

Property insurance is one of the most important investments for your business as it protects your building, equipment and inventory. Many business insurance policies provide replacement cost coverage for buildings and most business contents.

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Replacement coverage means that in the event of a claim, you’ll receive a large enough settlement to replace your contents without any deduction for depreciation.

To help in this process, it is recommended that a small business owner have an accurate inventory of all of the contents in their premises and their replacement value. 

Business insurance covering property will often also come with business interruption insurance. When the property is damaged, you will end up losing business income.

Business interruption insurance covers loss of net income and normal operating expenses, including salaries. Typically, it covers you for up to 12 months as a result of an insured peril like fire and burglary. 

2. Liability Insurance

The general liability coverage in a business insurance policy protects your business against claims of a bodily injury, property damage or a lawsuit resulting from an accident that led to bodily injury.

Also, from potential loss emanating from libel, slander and false advertising claims, even if those claims have no merit. Product liability insurance would protect from claims arising from defective products that you manufacture or sell.

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But, general liability coverage does not cover your business where a client accuses you of making professional errors or being negligent. Coverage for professional negligence and errors is provided under a professional liability insurance policy.

It also does not include work injury benefits insurance. Work injury benefits insurance is required by Kenyan law under the Work Injury Benefits Act (WIBA). Most businesses ignore this legal provision with serious consequences once an employee is injured while at work.

3. Other Types of Business Insurance

In addition to above, there are other types of business insurance that your business may need depending on your industry, size and risk profile. Some of these include:

  • Fidelity guarantee insurance to cover theft by your employees.
  • Money insurance to cover actual money on the premises and while in transit to and from the bank.
  • Cyber liability insurance to cover data breach or loss of your client’s data.
  • All risk insurance to cover items such as electronic equipment and valuables. 
  • Motor insurance to cover your vehicles.
  • Directors and officers insurance to protect the directors and officers of a company in the event of lawsuits as a direct result of their actions.
  • Group life insurance for staff.
  • Group medical insurance for staff.
  • Group accident insurance for staff.

To ensure that you purchase adequate business insurance coverage, we recommend that you work closely with your insurance agent.

If you already have a business insurance policy, you should also consult your agent if there are any significant changes in your business, such as new employees, additions or reductions in assets, or expansions because these can affect your risk profile and premium.

Furthermore, when comparing premiums, always compare the costs versus the level of coverage you are getting. You may be offered a cheap policy but one that does provide you with an adequate level of protection.

Reputation also matters. No matter the cost, never insure your business with an insurer that has a bad reputation. 

Written by;

Kihara Kimachia; An Insurance Expert and a Consultant. To learn more visit; insuranceguru.co.ke

 

Read Also;

Home Insurance 101

5 Ways to Avoid Debt in 2020

3 Tips on How to keep your company safe and compliant

 

 

Photography Advice For The Small Business Owner

Oct15

When it comes to selling products and services to public photography and videography is at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Technology is so advanced now that you’re even able to track fleets of vehicles via gps fleet tracking companies, with video and photography.

So, what ways can a small business owner utilize this technology?

Well, professional photography can be costly, especially if you expect high quality. So many people are turning to their own cameras and even camera phones now, to provide their customers with visual representations of their work.

It’s important to note that a professional will be able to provide the best results, but you can, with a little help, produce photography that will get you noticed.

The first thing you need to do is research your tools, a DSLR is, of course, preferable. But with the right light, then any camera you have will work.

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Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

Light

Cameras are designed to capture light and color when you know a little bit about how to best light your subject, then you will be well on your way to mastering photography.

Of course, there is a lot more to it than just working out where the light lands, and it’s not as simple as having a bright sunny day to place your products.

But once you realize that you need to consider the shadows and the highlights of the subject that you are photographing, it all falls into place. Photography is ultimately as simple as this.

Photographing products is quite simple, and purchasing some basic lighting equipment will help you no end. With a simple white background, a camera, and some light, you will end up with some half-decent product photography in no time.

There are online resources that show you exactly how to light your subject. And even courses you can take too.

Position

It’s quite essential to make sure that you have all of your products in the frame when taking photographs. You really do need to consider if your customer will be interested in your pictures, all you need to do is think about the items you have bought yourself, and how they were presented to you.

Doing your market research at this point is something that will help you on your way. If you’re looking for more than basic product photography, then getting creative is essential.

Think about the working environment, any natural backdrops you may have, and also maybe consider having some work in action photos for people to see.

Potential customers left behind the scene photos, and this is something you may want to consider when arranging your photography session.

Editing

This will depend on what tool you have chosen to use to take your photographs with. However, software such as Light-room is quite simple to use with a little reading and research.

As with anything, it may seem daunting to start with, but many small business owners have mastered these tools to produce their own shots to share with the world.

Now we have Instagram and Instagram stories as well, so it is essential to note that the speed in which people share photography and their business is breakneck now.

So don’t get left behind.

What You Should Know About Passive Income And Property

Jul3

Investing in property can be a great way to make passive income. If you’re consistent with your efforts, you could find yourself easily paying off debts, living well, and retiring early and comfortably. 

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Property isn’t the only way to make passive income. Passive income can come from other investments, as well as stocks, bonds, annuities, and so on. However, here we’re going to focus on what you should know about passive income and property. 

1. Passive Income With Rental Property

Rental property is one of the best ways to generate passive income. However, this is only really true if you plan on working with a property management company. Investing in property and being a landlord is a lot of work without one, and the income you make won’t be so passive. 

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If you leverage turnkey investment properties, then almost everything is already done. All you need to do next is purchase the investment property, let the professionals handle it and collect your monthly cash flow. 

2. Making A Profit

Let’s say you have several rental income properties. Money can be made two ways. Many people rely on the revenue stream created by rental income.

The amount collected in rent should eventually be more than the amount you’re paying for taxes, mortgages, maintenance, and so on. It might take a while, but eventually you should be earning a decent amount in rental income each month.

Looking at properties with William Pitt can give you an idea of how much you’ll spend and how much you can expect to make. 

The other thing you can do is increase the value of the rental property and mining the equity that you build. 

Bear in mind that being successful at this will require a lot of research, and you might make mistakes in the beginning, just the same as any other venture.

You’ll want to make sure you visit properties, review tax histories, ensure the local market is appropriate, vet your tenants, and so on. As long as you do all of this and the property market is good, you can make money. 

3. Things To Remember 

When it comes to cash flow, not all properties are equal. Some investments can come with a higher risk, depending on what neighborhood they are in, for example.

A nice area with good schools is less risky and will likely offer higher appreciation over time, even if your monthly profits are smaller. 

It’s crucial that you don’t just let anybody move into your properties, either. You want the best tenants you can find.

A property in a lower income area might mean attracting tenants that won’t keep up with payments, don’t look after the property, move out without telling you, and more. 

It’s also likely that no matter what you do, you will have times where there is nobody living in your property. This means you’ll be paying for everything. Investing in a property that will always attract stable tenants is a wise move. 

Hiring a property manager to oversee your investment is one of the best things you’ll do for your venture, too. Unless you think you’ll genuinely enjoy being called up at 2 AM to fix a leak, then you should work with a management company. 

Going With The Flow For Millennial Real Estate

Feb2

Real estate is an industry that will never go out of fashion. There is no way for the market to completely become uninteresting. There will always be someone who needs a place to live and one that they can call their home.

However what the property market has seen in the recent decade is that the cost of homes has risen immensely. For older generations this is a bit of a pain in the backside but it’s not totally ruining their prospects.

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Yet for their children it is, as people in their late 20s and early 30s are finding is near impossible to find property that can be deemed a good home. But it’s good new for those that work in the real estate industry as they are easily accommodated by other means.

Of course, young families do want to buy a home but others in their same age bracket who aren’t raising a family want other things. There’s a lot of opportunity to be flexible and offer this kind of buyer something different.

1. It’s not always about the home

Millennials are more likely to look for and take a job in major cities. At least, more so than the previous generations were. This does mean however that they will want to move into something like a condominium or perhaps a high rise apartment like those offered by Meriton.

These apartments are luxurious and also modern. The decor is contemporary and a wide array of materials are used. The view is fantastic, as the coast can be seen from almost any angle.

The local commute is also great as there are many public transport options. This kind of apartment is just what the affluent career minded millennials want. They aren’t looking to settle down but because they work in the city and are now earning good money, they do want something that reflects their new and more finer tastes.

Invest in this kind of property, by buying it to rent or if you can, lease it out for a more flexible approach.

2. Something to themselves

You’ve probably heard and read many stories about urban development that is trying to accommodate the large influx of young professionals. There are lots of creative solutions but many fail while only a handful are being accepted.

Millennials are living in very busy cities, surrounded by lots of people. So, coming back into a neighborhood that is packed and has no much privacy is not very uplifting. Invest in gated condominium communities.

As they get into their late 20s and early 30s, being in a loud and bustling apartment block is no longer that attractive. They want a place that provides space to themselves. Luxury condominiums are also something that you should buy to rent. Search for a condo community that is being newly built and buy or lease as many of them as you can.

There are always brilliant and creative ideas in the real estate industry that will suit the needs of a totally new generation. But mindful that millennial’s aren’t all trying to get onto the property ladder and instead want apartments. However these apartments should be more affluent and luxurious to suit their growing tastes.

 

3 “Assumed Truths” Of Business Which Can Really Hurt Your Enterprise

Jan29

Entrepreneurship is a wonderful path to pursue. It’s a fantastic way to liberate yourself from the limitations and restrictions of the traditional career path. It can not only help you to transcend a career that was allowing your skills to go to waste, it can even inspire others to do the same and take a chance on themselves.

What’s more, small businesses are great for the economy. They pay their taxes proportionately unlike some of their corporate counterparts and they keep wealth in the local community where it belongs.

Yet, although running your own business is wonderful for many reasons, it doesn’t come with an instruction manual. There is no definitively correct way to run a business (if there were everyone would be doing it).

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In lieu of an established game plan, entrepreneurs must navigate the perilous path of running a small business must get by on a combination of their own experience, advice of peers and mentors, gut instinct and “common sense”.

The latter can be extremely problematic. There are many “assumed truths” of business that nascent entrepreneurs accept as Holy writ that can actually do your enterprise way more harm than good. For example…

1. Overheads need to be cut down

Overhead costs need to be managed, there’s no question about it. It’s an important way of keeping a healthy cash flow and ensuring that you can keep your vendors and employees paid on time.

But that doesn’t mean that you should always be on the lookout to scythe down overhead costs across the board. Some overheads will represent a greater return on your investment than others.

While you should make efforts to ensure healthy cash flow, you should also keep a pot free to invest into your business. Invest in new equipment, new employees or new digital tools like ELMO Performance Management Software.

This will facilitate growth, boost productivity, enhance your workplace organization and ensure the long term health of your business.

2. It’s better to have casual employees

Speaking of overheads, a new employee represents a sizable investment on your part. You have to pay their wages, give them benefits and invest in their training. Depending on where you trade, you may also be legally obliged to provide them with a pension.

You may feel that it’s best to sidestep this and employ people on a more casual basis. However, this may not necessarily be the best option for your business. The more you invest in your employees, the more they will reward you with their loyalty and hard work.

Casual employees have high turnover rates which can result in expense and diminished productivity. Moreover, casual employees may be less ready to embody your brand in the same way as salaried employees.

3. You should always be on the lookout for new customers

This is a half truth. While you should absolutely keep an eye out for new customers, this should never be at the expense of retaining the customers you already rely on. These are the foundation upon which you will build your future growth.

It may be easier to balance the two by incentivizing your existing customers to introduce their friends, family and colleagues to your business with exclusive offers, promotions and giveaways for both parties.

 

By all means go with your gut, but think long and hard about basing your business plan on any assumed truths of business.

 

Stuck In The Past? Being A Modern Entrepreneur In The Agriculture Industry

Jan23

In so many ways, the agriculture industry is a mish-mash of past and present. While the average agriculture startup in the modern day is doing its utmost to harness the technological aspects and use a more modern mindset, so many other aspects of the industry are still stuck in the past.

As a modern entrepreneur, what can you do to make sure that the past is firmly brought into the present, while still acknowledging the classic aspects of the industry that made it so successful in the first place?   

1. Slow Implementation Of Past And Present

Technology is one of those things that’s hurtling towards the future with such speed, it can be difficult for many industries to keep up, especially the farming industry.

As the farming industry is dependent on so many machines and tech to ensure a healthy development of crops and livestock, everything needs to run like clockwork, as it usually does.

As a result, you can’t shake up everything so quickly, because it will be a big shock to the system. But what you can do is implement the smaller components and phase everything in gradually.

A supplier like www.fertilizerdealer.com/ can supply Ag tanks and similar components. At least, when you implement these aspects, you have a stable foundation in which to grow. Slow and steady wins the race in the agriculture industry.

2. Connecting The Individual Components

As farming isn’t considered to be at the forefront of technological industry, what we can do is to bring farmers, distributors, retailers, and companies into contact with each other.

As there are online discovery platforms these days, it’s important that as the modern entrepreneur, that we take advantage of these two connecting aspects of the industry together.

Better communication means making life easier across the entire supply chain. It’s common sense, but communication isn’t always the speediest component, especially in the agricultural industry.

3. Helping Farmers Have Easy Access

Much like e-commerce, you can help the contemporary farmer have more access to raw materials, livestock and farming equipment through the equivalent of an e-commerce platform they can access from a cellphone.

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As the older generations are used to their own approaches, this can be quite an alteration. But as the younger farmers are coming up, these are the people that you are best utilizing so you can increase that idea of communication.

As the agricultural industry demands sufficient care and treatment, technology can prove to be a goldmine of resources, but as so many agricultural specialists are of the “old world”, this can prove to be a change they are not ready to make.

Modern entrepreneurs have to be adept and need to meet the demands of the current marketplace. But they also have to work with these agricultural specialists to ensure that they have a job at the end of the day.

Bringing agriculture into the present-day isn’t an overly complex task. But for those who are stuck in the past, it requires a little more coaxing. In fact, many modern farming lands are transformed into tourist attractions.

On www.independent.ie/ you can see how one man turned a 14-acre farm into a major empire! It can be done, no matter how stuck in the past you are.

Boost Your Retirement Pot With These Nifty Tricks

Jan22

When is the right time to give your retirement savings a boost? The answer is always right now. Whether you’re just starting out in your career or eyeballing giving up work in the next ten years, it’s never going to be a bad time to make sure your pension pot is topped up, after you’ve sorted out any debt you have.

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Image via Unsplash

 

The power of compound interest means you’ll be better off overall if you’ve started out on your savings plan early, but a boost is always welcome.

As we are all living longer and being much more active in later life, we need to become even more careful with our money, and make sure that we have a comprehensive retirement plan in place to manage our investments and any business ventures to generate additional income.

Here’s how to maximize your nest egg in the short to medium term..

1. Reduce The Costs Of Investing

Costs related to your investments are eroding money from your return, so it’s a good idea to look at reducing them as far as possible. If you have investment in mutual or exchange traded funds then there will be hidden fees associated with them.

In particular, there is an expense ratio attached to each fund – essentially the fee you pay for it’s management. If you pay an Independent Financial Adviser to help you in your purchases, that is on top of the costs you pay them.

When you also add on transaction fees and loads, it’s suddenly a lot of money. So it’s worth looking out lower cost options with a similar profile, or checking with your Financial Advisor they they are also using the lower cost options.

Even a small percentage, when looked at over the lifetime of your investment, can make a big difference to your future profits.

And sadly, it’s a common scenario for investments to be put into higher expense funds simply because they yield a bigger commission for the broker!

2. Get Into Property Development

Housing is a good way to make your investments work harder, especially in these days of rising property demand. You don’t have to be a tradesmen to transform a run-down property into a desirable new home – you just need a good network of contractors with CIS registration and a good head for a business case.

Pick up properties at auction and let location be your main guide – most other factors can be changed. Make sure that you have familiarized yourself with average selling prices in the area and factored in what you are likely to make as a profit margin once the sale and legal costs, plus the cost of the development work, are taken into account.

3. Add In A Lump Sum

You can top up your retirement income by adding lump sums to your pension plan. Any random windfall, tax refund or bonus at work – add a few thousand and with the power of interest rates it will make a big difference over a few years.

A few thousand at five per cent can be a really welcome sum to add to your retirement package.

5 Office Organization Hacks For 2019

Jan16

Now that the New Year is here it is time for us to start fresh and be more productive with our days. When it comes to working in the office it can feel as if you are going back to the same old same old right away and you can easily fall back into those bad patterns again. But luckily here are some of the way you can be more productive this year to make sure that you are truly working to the best of your ability.

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1. Colour code everything

Before you do anything else, go and raid your local stationery shop and buy a folder of every colour for your office.

The great thing about doing this is that you can place things of different projects into different folders and you will always know where to find something when you need it.

It is a simple trick but it can save a lot of time looking for lost paperwork.

2. Schedule time

If you want to make the most out of your working day it can be a great idea to have a meeting room booking system for the office for anyone to book a meeting through the week.

This means that if you have something to talk about which is too important to talk by email, you can use this system and have a meeting about it instead.

Meetings can be great because you can end up getting a lot more done and you can be much more productive.

3. Have a group calendar

It can be a handy idea to have a calendar which is shared by the whole office so that you can see what you need to do each day and you can see when others are busy.

Knowing when everyone else is working on something or in a meeting is invaluable, and if you need to talk to someone you can simply open up your calendar and request them at a time when they are free.

4. Create a quiet space

Offices can be pretty fast paced at times and sometimes they can also become a little bit loud and rowdy.

To avoid this from distracting you while you try to work, you can think about creating a quiet room for workers to escape to when they need to get something done in peace.

Having a room like this can make all the difference to you and it can make your life much less stressful.

5. In box, out box

Always have two piles of work on your desk: things you need do, and things you have completed.

This will make things a lot easier for you every morning as you can simply look through you in box and choose the task or tasks you want to do that day.

Organizing your work like this can make w huge impact on your working day and it will allow you to stop sifting through piles and piles of things in order to find what you are looking for.

5 Ways to Avoid Debt in 2019

Jan13

It’s easy to fall into debt, especially when you don’t know what your options are. Chances are, you’ve attempted to navigate the world as best as you can while trying to save as much money in the process.

That’s a good start, but there are some more strategies that you can try to get out of a financial sinkhole quicker. From refinancing your long-term loans to automating your monthly bills, you’ll be able to pay off more debt this year (and hopefully have some extra money left over).

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Photo from Unsplash

1. Refinance

Depending on what type of mortgage you have, how long you’ve had it, and how much your credit has improved, it might be worth refinancing, especially if you plan on keeping your current house for the foreseeable future.

By refinancing your mortgage, you could qualify for a lower rate, stop paying mortgage insurance, and shorten the length of your loan. However, you’ll have to do your research.

If you’re not careful, you could end up with a higher rate, more interest, and lots of closing costs. After all, refinancing costs, such as originator fees and an appraisal, could add up to 3% of your loan amount. Be sure you have all of your ducks in a row before refinancing your house.

Another type of loan you could consider refinancing is your student loan. Again, there are pros and cons to refinancing student loans but the benefits are impressive. Just like when you initially applied for a student loan back as a freshman, you’ll have to first be eligible for a new loan.

Refinancing basically means you’re taking out a new loan for the total amount of your previous loans, but hopefully with better terms, like lower monthly payments and lower interest rates.

If you have multiple student loans—say one per year of school—you’ll be able to consolidate these into one loan and one monthly payment.

Another advantage is that you’ll have the luxury of shopping around for a new lender whereas you may have had limited choices as a younger student with less credit history and, let’s face it, less knowledge.

2. Audit Your monthly Bills

Take a moment to look your monthly bills over. What could be cheaper? What could you stop paying altogether? Which subscriptions, like Netflix or Good Housekeeping, could you live without?

You can also try renegotiating some of your bills. In fact, there are apps out there that will do this for you. This might make you wonder, what else could be done for me?

Well, home maintenance is another expensive bill that could cost less. Signing up for a home warranty could cut your repair bills in half. For example, if your dishwasher breaks, you could be facing a bill of $150 to $1,000.

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If you have home warranty coverage, you’ll pay a small service fee of $75 to get it repaired or even replaced with a brand new appliance. Note: most homeowners file two major claims per year, which means you could pay $150 for thousands of dollars worth of repairs or replacements.

3. Improve Your Credit Score

Your credit score plays a huge role in your finances and vice-versa. It’s a measurement of your total finances, including your financial history.

Your score is based on information in your credit report, like how many credit cards you have, the balances of these credit cards plus your loans, any delinquent payments you haven’t paid, bankruptcies and other factors.

Lenders will look at your credit score to decide whether or not to approve your loan and at what interest rate.

To get the lowest interest rate, you should have a credit score of at least 760. To give your credit a boost, you can: put more money toward your monthly loan and credit card payments, keep your longest line of credit open, and avoid opening more lines of credit.

4. Be Cheap!

Creating a budget is one thing. Adamantly sticking to a budget is a whole other ball game. This means you have a certain amount of money to pay your major expenses each month, a certain amount to put toward debt, and a little cushion for personal spending.

You’ll have to make some hard decisions, like choosing to stay in on the weekend rather than going out with friends. You might have to push your vacation to next year.

You’ll have to keep the big picture in mind whenever you feel an impulse to purchase something for short-term happiness.

5. Enroll in Auto Payments

My last advice is to enroll in automatic payments for as many bills as you can. This set-it-and-forget-it strategy will make sure you don’t overspend on frivolous things and that you meet all of your minimum payments on time.

Setting up automatic payment methods will not only save you money, but it will save you time too. With these smart strategies in place, you’ll have a much more efficient year, which should set you up for long-term happiness for years to come.

Written BY;

Paige A. Mitchell

Paige Mitchell is a freelance writer who enjoys sharing practical financial advice. You can reach her at paige.a.mitchell18@gmail.com.