8 Tactics To Defend Your Family Finances From Whatever Comes Next

Ethan Rotberg   Mon, July 12, 2021

A family budget is a delicate thing to balance, even without a pandemic crashing in and jumbling your finances.

In uncertain times like these — with the country dealing with an uneven economic recovery, rising inflation, stubbornly high unemployment and worrisome COVID variants — you need to keep yourself armed with extra financial tools to protect your household from potential money troubles.

Here's an eight-point battle plan to harden your family’s financial defenses, starting today.

1. Clear as much debt as you can

Paying down debt may be the most effective way to protect your household's finances — especially if high-interest debts like credit cards are draining more of your cash each month.

So long as your credit score is in decent shape, you should consider rolling your various high-cost balances into a single debt consolidation loan with a lower interest rate.

That will make your debt more affordable and help you clear it more quickly — to give your budget some breathing room.

You can quickly compare loan offers from multiple lenders online, to find the best interest rate possible.

2. Stop up the leaks in your budget

The pandemic forced many of us to cut back, whether we wanted to or not. But you may still be leaking money out of your family budget if you're ignoring basic ways to save.

Plug those holes by looking for the better deals that are out there.

You can save money every time you shop online if you download a free browser extension that instantly searches for lower prices and coupon codes.

With a little comparison shopping, homeowners may be able to cut the cost of home insurance by hundreds of dollars a year. And, shop around for your car insurance each time your policy comes up for renewal, because you might easily be overpaying.

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