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Unemployment
“ But can you access it somewhere else if you have to ?” And despite what the financial services industry tells you , Nelson says you shouldn ’ t feel pressured to continue making contributions into a personal pension or ISA . “ Your priority is to maintain payments on the home you live in and the really important bills on a day-today basis ,” she explains . “ In an ideal world , this is a great environment to make regular payments because of pound / cost averaging . However , if it ’ s to the detriment of paying everything else , it ’ s the first thing that ’ s got to go , because it ’ s not an essential expenditure .”
A five-point plan to get your finances in order
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Plan and make use of your emergency fund
Check entitlement to state benefits
Check if you hold any payment insurance policies
Make a budget and try to stick to it
Prioritise your debts and formulate a plan
Loan survivors Most important of all when looking at what you can and can ’ t afford to pay is any debt – just like with your budget planner , Lowcock recommends recording every credit card or loan in a spreadsheet , with the amount owed and the interest rate in the adjacent columns . Then , if you can , pay off the most expensive debt as quickly as possible . “ The thing to remember with debt is , not only is it taking you longer to pay off , it ’ s also eating into your ability to save , because every £ 100 you ’ re paying in debt is £ 100 you can ’ t save and the interest compounds that issue ,” he says . “ Paying off the debt in the short term will boost your cash flow in the medium term .” Again , it is better to take this step while you still have a job . If you find yourself with mounting debt and no money coming in to pay it off , Fisher says it is important to admit you are in trouble – and the faster you do this , the better . He recommends contacting lenders as soon as possible and letting them know the situation . “ Quite often they can arrange a repayment plan that may help you ,” he notes .
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