8 Ways To Defend Your Family Finances From Whatever Comes Next

Ethan Rotberg  Sat, November 7, 2020

A family budget is a delicate thing to balance, even without a pandemic crashing through and jumbling your finances. In a chaotic year like this, with the country dealing with a recession, ugly unemployment rates, political tensions and new waves of the coronavirus, you’ll need to arm yourself with extra financial tools to protect your household from potential money troubles.

Here are eight ways you can defend your family’s finances, starting today.

1. Clear as much debt as you can

Paying down debt may be the most impactful way to protect your family’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 consolidating your debts with a personal loan. With a good debt consolidation loan, you can replace all of your debts with a single loan at a much lower interest rate.

That will save you money and give you some breathing room. A free service will allow you to quickly compare loan offers from multiple lenders, making it easy to find the best rate possible.

2. Stop up the leaks in your budget

The pandemic has already forced us to cut back, whether we like it or not. But you may still be leaking money out of your family budget if you're paying too much for services like your cellphone plan, or if you're not using a cash-back app to save every time you shop.

Plug the leaks by looking for the better deals that are out there. For example, with a little comparison shopping you may be able to save $1,000 a year on your homeowners insurance.  And shop around for your car insurance at least once a year, because you may be severely overpaying for your coverage.

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