fbpx

The Free Financial Advisor

You are here: Home / Archives for business planning

Pros and Cons of Self-Employment

by Leave a Comment

self-employment

The number of businesses that have started since the start of the pandemic has shot through the roof. People realized how short life can be and decided to take their earning potential and work-life into their own hands. Here are a few stats to illustrate the self-employment picture in the U.S.:

  • As of 2019, the self-employed section of the population accounted for nearly 30% of total employment (Source).
  • As of November of 2021, there are 9.9 million self-employed people in the United States.
  • 96% of self-employed people don’t want regular jobs (Source)

Business structures

Sole proprietorship – There is no separate business entity. You are the business entity. That means your assets and liabilities are your assets and liabilities. Banks are more hesitant to lend to sole proprietors than they are for other entity types.

Partnership (LP/LLP) – An limited partnership (LP) has one general partner with unlimited liability and all the other partners have limited liability. Creditors can come after all of the general partner’s assets including things they personally own. Limited liability partners can only lose what they put in. A limited liability partnership provides limited liability to all partners. Profits are paid through on personal tax returns, except for the general partner – they must pay self-employment taxes.

LLC – Very similar to the LLP in terms of how profits, losses, and liabilities are treated. Profits are passed through to employees on personal returns. However, members of the LLC are required to file and pay self-employment taxes. 

Retirement plan options

As a self-employed individual, you have a few options when it comes to retirement accounts – Traditional IRA and Roth IRA (available to everyone), SIMPLE IRA, Solo 410(k), and SEP IRA.

Traditional IRA and Roth IRA – Contribution limits up to $6,000 ($7,000 if you’re 50 and older). Withdrawals prior to 59 ½ are subject to a 10% tax penalty unless certain conditions are met.

SIMPLE IRA – available to employers with fewer than 100 employees. Contribution limits up to $14,000 ($17,000 if 50 or older). Employer match available.

Solo 401(k) – Contribution limit is $61,000 ($67,500 if 50 or older). Available to self-employed individuals and self-employed individuals that have their spouse as their only employee.

SEP IRA – Contribution limit is 25% of employee compensation up to $61,000.

Click here for more information about business retirement plans.

Be your own boss

You get to set your own hours and work with whoever you want to. There’s no one to tell you what to do and how to do it. For people that like to make their own schedule and like to go to the beat of their own drum, self-employment makes a lot of sense.

Earning potential

There’s no ceiling on your earning potential. You don’t have a salary range, you make what you make. You can make $10,000 or you can make $10 million. That’s a double-edged sword though, your effort determines your income. You will only make money if you work for it. Someone who isn’t a self-starter, should not be self-employed.

Costs

You have to pay for everything. Whatever the cost of business is for your sector or industry, that’s on you. Health insurance, you have to pay for that. There’s no business or employer that can foot those costs for you. Same with your retirement plan, a lot of employers offer an employee match. If you’re the business owner and the employee, ALL of your contributions are your responsibility.

Related reading:

6 Ways to Save Money When You’re Self-Employed

How to Be Self-Employed Safely and Wisely

Disclaimer:

**Securities offered through Securities America, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Securities America Advisors, Inc. Securities America and its representatives do not provide tax or legal advice; therefore, it is important to coordinate with your tax or legal advisor regarding your specific situation. Please see the website for full disclosures: www.crgfinancialservices.com

How to Lower Business Expenses Without Compromising Quality

by Leave a Comment

If you simply think about cutting expenses alone, then you’re going about conserving your funds in the wrong way. In addition, you’re likely to create headaches for yourself, such as damaging your brand image and disrupting the quality of your products and services.

A smarter way to cut your business expenses is to reorganize your business to make it more efficient and productive.

When you look at lowering your business expenses systematically, you’ll notice something interesting: this approach not only improves cash flow but also improves the quality of your business operations.

Naturally, the better you run your business, the more money you will make and the faster it will grow.

The key idea to keep in mind here is this: if you can cut your business expenses strategically, you’ll improve the quality of your business.

Some rather straightforward ways to do this include outsourcing technical work, increasing the efficiency of business operations, and decreasing overhead costs by identifying and eliminating waste.

Let’s take a closer look at these various options.

  1. Outsource technical jobs.

You don’t always need to hire full-time or part-time people for everything. You can outsource some of your work. Certain work, specifically technical work that can be done online, could be delegated to independent contractors.

You can save a considerable amount on your labor costs by hiring people from all over the world. Many are subject matter experts at the technical work you need to get done.

Consider using global employment services to find workers overseas. They will find people with the technical skills that you need for high-quality work. Often, you can hire someone from another country at a lower fee because of the economic discrepancy between different countries.

Start outsourcing in a small way to familiarize yourself with the process.

To ensure high-quality work, don’t simply hire someone because of the lower cost of hiring them. You also need to screen them. Do they have the knowledge and skill you need to get the job done quickly and well? Carefully review portfolios of promising candidates and ask for samples of their best work.

  1. Improve the efficiency of your operations.

You may be wasting more money than you realize on inefficient operations. Review your most important business operations and brainstorm ways that they could be done quicker, cheaper, and more efficiently going forward.

Here are some examples of what to review:

* Compare the price of the different vendors who supply the goods or services you need to run your business. Is it possible to switch vendors? You may be able to get the same or similar goods or services at a lower cost.

* Notice if you have too many unnecessary steps in some of your business processes. This could be a waste of time and money. Is it possible to streamline this business process?

* Evaluate the productivity levels of your staff. Is it possible to boost productivity by providing in-house training? Although this would initially increase costs, a more skillful team will do everything better and faster. This, of course, will improve profits.

  1. Reduce wasting money on unnecessary overhead costs. Your business may be spending more on overheads than necessary. Do a line-by-line analysis of your overhead costs to detect waste that you can either minimize or eliminate. For example, perhaps energy costs may be unnecessarily high because you are using antiquated lighting systems or your trash collection could be changed to bi-weekly or monthly because you focus on additional recycling and sustainable kitchenette and bathroom products at the office.

Think of ways to go green. For example, by getting solar panels installed, you could dramatically reduce all your energy costs.

Besides improving energy efficiency, there may be many more instances when you overlooked creeping costs. For example, you may never have taken the time to notice how much money you were throwing away on things that you didn’t need at all.

The Bottom Line

When you tally up how much money you save by taking these three steps, you might decide to review your business costs quarterly.

If you don’t periodically monitor creeping costs in a variety of things–things like labor efficiency, supplier pricing, and wastage–then you will be increasing costs and reducing profits.

Are Business Gifts Tax Deductible?

by Leave a Comment

How do you strengthen relationships with customers and/or business partners? A tried and true way is using gifts. However, gifts cost money, so the next question is, are business gifts tax deductible?

The straight answer is yes, but it’s much more nuanced than that.

There are limitations

Business gifts are tax deductible, up to a certain dollar amount. You can deduct no more than $25 of the cost of the gift you give to each person through the course of the year.

Incidental costs such as engraving, packaging, and shipping are not included in the $25 limit as long as it doesn’t add substantial value to the gift.

Gifts that cost $4 or less are not included in the $25 limit IF the company name is permanently placed on the item and the gift is widely distributed.

Entertainment

Any item that can be considered a gift or entertainment is usually considered entertainment and is deducted at 50% of the value of the gift. For purchases that fall under both categories, use the “gift deduction” on lower-cost items and the “entertainment deduction” on items larger than $50.

Gifts to others

If you and your spouse give gifts to the same person, you’re treated as one taxpayer. The same rule applies to partnerships.

Gifting to a customer’s family counts as a gift to that customer, unless the customer’s family member(s) is a client as well.

The $25 limit only applies to gifts given to individuals. Gifts given to other companies, generally, don’t apply and are fully tax deductible.

Gifts to employees are taxable compensation.

Other relevant information

Keep adequate documentation that includes the purpose of the gift, what was spent, the date of purchase, and the business relationship.

Gifts given to a 501(c)3 non-profit are tax-deductible. Up to 25% of taxable income for a corporation.

A large majority of the information I have listed above came from the IRS publication about “Gift taxes”.

Related reading:

Some Often Overlooked Tax Deductions for Business Owners

 

**Securities offered through Securities America, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Securities America Advisors, Inc. Securities America and its representatives do not provide tax or legal advice; therefore, it is important to coordinate with your tax or legal advisor regarding your specific situation. Please see the website for full disclosures: www.crgfinancialservices.com

How Much Cash Is Needed to Start a Pawnshop?

by Leave a Comment

How Much Cash Is Needed to Start a Pawnshop

So you want to start a pawnshop. Where do you start? What do you buy? How much is this all going to cost?

A pawn shop can be a very cash-positive business. While doing research for this post, I stumbled onto a Quora thread that showcased how much money can be made with such an operation. The profits ranged from $30,000 per year to $60,000 per month.

But, you have to get started. In today’s post, we’ll highlight what you need and what it’s going to cost.

What do pawn shops do?

First off, we have to talk about what a pawnshop actually does. Pawnshops buy, sell, and trade items. These items can come from the owner’s personal collection, something they acquired via purchase, or something they acquired via loan collateral.

When someone comes to a pawn shop to borrow money, they have to bring something of value for collateral. When the pawnshop lends money to this individual, they retain that valuable item until the principal (plus interest) is repaid. If they fail to repay, the pawnshop keeps the item.

Legal and location

There are many things you need to obtain when you start a pawn shop.

You need to take care of the legal requirements first. This includes licenses, articles of incorporation for your business entity, and permits.

Licenses include a pawnbroker’s license, precious metal dealer license, secondhand dealer license, and Federal Firearms License (if you plan on selling firearms) from the ATF.

The next thing you need is space. Where you set up shop is an important decision. The right location can bring in a lot of traffic and improve your earning potential. However, the right location comes at a cost.

Areas with high foot traffic cost more. Often, pawnshops will choose a space that’s close to a popular area, far enough away that it’s not too expensive, but close enough to make it convenient for the consumer.

Assets

There’s a minimum asset requirement needed to open. That number depends on the municipality, state, and country you plan on setting up shop in. For example, Texas has a $150,000 minimum requirement.

What do you need?

After you have all of the proper licenses and permits and pick where you’ll operate, you need to buy things to be operational.

These items include a computer (computer system/network), cash register, signs, equipment to display your products, record keeping, insurance, lockable cases, and a state-of-the-art security system.

What you’ll also need is an adequate amount of capital to purchase more inventory and lend money to consumers.

What’s going to cost

Depending on the size of your pawnshop and the anticipated foot traffic, your start-up costs will vary. If you’re a larger shop with a high probability of having a lot of visitors/customers, your starting capital could be between $50,000 and $75,000. A smaller shop with lower projected traffic can get by with $15,000.

Last bit of advice

When you start a pawnshop, you need to refine and learn some new skills. You have to educate yourself on how to assess the value of goods so you can acquire sellable items, but not at a cost that eats into your profit margin.

Also, you have to come up with a business plan. What interest rate will you charge on your loans? How much will you mark up the items you sell? How much are you willing to pay for inventory?

All of these questions need answers. Keep in mind, that this planning process should take place prior to buying the necessary licenses and other items to get the business started.

Related reading:

3 Ways to Get Financing for your Small Business

4 Ways to Use Business Loans

Some Often Overlooked Tax Deductions for Business Owners

Business Retirement Plan Guide

 

**Securities offered through Securities America, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Securities America Advisors, Inc. Securities America and its representatives do not provide tax or legal advice; therefore, it is important to coordinate with your tax or legal advisor regarding your specific situation. Please see the website for full disclosures: www.crgfinancialservices.com

When are Per Diem Payments Taxable?

by Leave a Comment

per-diem-tax

 

Per diem payments are used when businesses have employees that travel. These payments are designed to relieve the employee from certain costs associated with traveling. Particularly meals and incidentals (ground travel, laundry, room service, etc.), and lodging.

This is great for both the business and the employee, but there are certain situations when per diem payments are taxable. In this article, we’ll explore exactly when an employee will pay per diem tax.

Two types

There are two types of per diem payments, meal-only, and meal and lodging. The names imply their use. One pays for meals, the other pays for meals and lodging.

It’s important that we specify the meals must be “non-entertainment related” meals.

Stipulations

As with many parts within the tax code, per diem rules are very specific. Meals and lodging have different rates.

Also, different cities have different rates. These differences are typically relegated to “big cities” and “small cities”, with bigger cities getting the larger rates. This is referred to as the high-low method. Businesses may also make payments based on the state in which you travel.

The per diem payments must be equal to or less than the federal allowable limit (depending on what method is selected). The employee is responsible for filing an expense report within 60 days. The expense report needs to include, date and location of the trip, purpose of the trip, and lodging receipts (if the meal-only option is selected).

You’re not allowed to “transfer credits”. What’s meant by this is if you use less on your lodging than is allotted, you can’t use the excess on food, or vice versa.

Tax Consequences

As I mentioned in the introduction, per diem payments can have tax consequences.

  • If per diem payments over the limit are taxable on the employee’s wages
  • If an expense report isn’t filed, or the filed expense report doesn’t include the required information, those per diem payments become taxable to the employee.
  • If the employer allows you, the employee, to keep whatever you don’t spend.

If you travel for business and receive per diem payments, just make sure you keep good records, and you hang onto your receipts. It’s better to have too much information than not enough.

Related reading:

Some Often Overlooked Tax Deductions for Busines Owners

Top 5 Overlooked Tax Deductions You Should Be Using

Why Financial Literacy is Important

 

*Be advised: Securities America and its representatives do not provide tax advice. Please consult a tax professional for specific information regarding your individual situation.

How to Grow Your Business Credit Score To New Heights

by Leave a Comment

Much like individuals, businesses also have their own credit score. This score is entirely separate from the personal credit score of whoever owns the business, and is used whenever the business would like to obtain a loan, line of credit, or other types of agreement in which a service is provided before payment is rendered. A business with a high credit score is seen as financially stable and trustworthy, while a business with a low score is often seen as unscrupulous and more likely to engage in shady practices.

To make sure you’re on the good side of the banking system, here’s how to grow a business credit score from non-existent to stellar:

Pay all your bills on time.

This is the most obvious and should be one of the easiest things to accomplish when it comes to raising your credit score. The credit history of your business is part of calculating your overall score. If you always pay your dues in full before they’re overdue and continue to do so for long periods of time, that’s a track record guaranteed to boost your score.

Decrease your credit utilization ratio.

For businesses that have a line of credit they can draw from at any time, the actual utilization of that credit must be low. If your business is always using 80% of its available credit, that isn’t a positive signal for your business. Banks much prefer credit utilization rates between 10%-20%, with minor upticks in usage acceptable as long as they aren’t held for long periods of time. If you have high credit utilization, but a lot of spare funds are lying around, consider using it to bring down your overall credit usage.

Take out a loan.

As counterintuitive as it might seem, taking out a loan that isn’t wholly necessary, but is entirely manageable can be a very effective and speedy boost to your credit score. If you never borrow money, how can a creditor assess how fit you are to pay the money back? If you look for a source for small business loans, you’ll notice these loans tend to be fairly agreeable in terms and conditions and aren’t too much of a financial burden to bear. Of course, this strategy only works if you make your payments on time and eventually repay the entirety of the loan. Consider it practice for when you start asking the bank for more serious sums of money.

Conclusion

At certain stages of the life cycle of a business, massive injections of cash from creditors are sometimes necessary. Whether it be to acquire a smaller competitor or upgrade your business to the next level, it’s good to build your credit score sky-high. Also, higher credit means a quicker approval time and lower interest rates, saving you both time and money. That’s something every good entrepreneur knows they could always use more of. This is why you must ensure your business operates in a way that creditors think they have a minimal risk by lending you money. Then, you’ll reap the fantastic rewards of good credit.

Choosing A Retirement Plan For Your Business

by

What type of retirement plan to use is a big question for employers. Not only do they want to do what’s right for the business, but they also want to do what’s best for their employees and future employees.

In the following article, we’ll break down three of the most popular options for employer-sponsored retirement plans.

What are your options?

If you’re an individual, your options are pretty straight forward. Outside of your employer-based plan, you can either contribute to a Roth IRA or a Traditional IRA.

As a business, however, you have many other options. For organizations that are for-profit and not a government body, you the SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA, and the 401(k).

More than likely, you’re most familiar with the 401(k). We’ll explore each of these below.

SEP IRA

Stands for Simplified Employee Pension Individual Retirement Account.

This retirement account is typically used with one-man shops or small businesses with a couple of employees.

The reason is the money contributed to the employee’s accounts can only come from the business. Employees are not eligible to contribute to their SEP account.

Here the characteristics of a SEP IRA:

  • Must contribute the same percentage of salary for each employee
  • Don’t need to contribute every year
  • Maximum contribution is $54,000 per year or 25% of annual salary, whichever is less
  • Contributions are deductible as a business expense for the entity
  • Money grows tax-deferred
  • When funds are withdrawn, they are taxed as ordinary income
  • Rules similar to a Traditional IRA
    • Withdrawals prior to 59 ½ unless used for a qualified purpose (qualified meaning exempt from the penalty, which is 10%)
    • Required Minimum Distributions must begin at 70 ½

SIMPLE IRA

Stands for Savings Incentive Match for Employee Individual Retirement Account.

Designed for small businesses, and has an employee limit of 100. If you go over 100 employees, you need to switch to a 401(k).

The SEP and SIMPLE (compared to the 401(k)) are inexpensive to set up and administer, and may be a great option for small businesses that want to offer a plan for their employees, but don’t want to pay the costs associated with a 401(k).

Here are the characteristics of a SIMPLE IRA:

  • Contribution limit of $13,000. A catch-up contribution of $3,000 for those 50 or older
  • Employees can contribute to their own plan (unlike the SEP)
  • Employers match contributions
    • Match up to 3% of employee’s contribution (doesn’t have to contribute if the employee doesn’t contribute).
    • Contribute a flat 2% whether or not the employee contributes.
  • Similar to the last plan, withdrawals before 59 ½ are penalized.
  • Also similar to the last plan, distributions must begin at 70 ½
  • There’s a weird quirk with the Simple, as well. If you withdraw funds earlier than 2 years after your first contribution, you’re penalized 25%.

401(k)

The 401(k). The plan that most people are familiar with, and if you have an employer-sponsored plan, it’s more than likely, this one.

The 401(k) gained popularity as companies switched from defined benefit plans (pensions) to defined contribution, where it became the responsibility of the employee to save for retirement instead of the employer.

Here are the characteristics of the 401(k):

  • Contribution limit is $19,000 with a catch-up of $6,000 for people 50 or older.
  • Total contribution limit, including employer contributions, is $54,000.
  • The 401(k) is an expensive plan to set up and administer, especially when compared to the previous two plans.
  • Like the previous two plans, the 401(k) penalizes you if you withdraw before 59 ½ unless your reason for withdrawal qualifies for an exemption. And you must begin withdrawing funds when you turn 70 ½.
  • With this plan, however, you are able to take a loan out against your savings. This loan has to be paid back, usually in the form of increased monthly contributions.
    • If you are let go from your job while you have a loan on the plan, you will be forced to pay it back with 60 days. If you don’t you’ll be taxed on the amount, and if you’re under 59 ½, you’ll be penalized 10%.
  • This type of plan is designed for larger employers, though there is no maximum or minimum on how many employees you can have.
    • They have a type of 401(k) called the solo 401(k). It has all the same rules and quirks as the standard 401(k), but it’s designed for someone who works by themselves OR their only employee is a spouse.

How to choose

Unfortunately, I can’t say which plan is the best. Each one has its own unique advantages and disadvantages.

When deciding which plan is best for you and your business, there are a few things I would take into consideration.

  1. Number of employees – some plans disqualify you if you have too many employees.
  2. Matching ability – Most 401(k) plans match up to 6%. The SIMPLE requires you to match up to 3% or contribute a flat 2% for every employee.
  3. Cost – Some plans are less expensive to set up and service than others. In terms of the 401(k), the more participants and assets you have in the plan, the less expensive (per user) it becomes.
  4. Attracting talent – More and more employers are using benefits packages to attract employees rather than salary, in what’s called all-in compensation. If you want to get qualified candidates in the door, you have to offer good benefits.

Conclusion

It should be known that whatever you decide, it’s not set in stone. If you set up a SIMPLE and you need to hire more employees than you anticipated, you can set up a 401(k). The SIMPLE will have to stay in place, and you’d just have current and new employees contribute to the 401(k).

For more information on all of these plans and others, read this article here.

Be advised: The numbers and figures listed in this article are for 2019. Contribution limits tend to change over time. Please review the IRS website for up to date information.

Saving More by Doing Less Through Outsourcing

by Leave a Comment

Outsourcing a part of your business or even just a specific project can be a highly cost-effective solution. You forego a long list of expenses for a single contract price. Plus, you can focus all of your time on your core business, such as growing your customer or client bases. Not every business has the resources to assemble an in-house team for everything that needs to be done. Sometimes, it makes sense to hire an agency that are already experts on certain tasks to do it for you. Learn more about how you can lower expenditures and get more time by unloading a part or your business through outsourcing.

Cost benefit analysis (CBA) is key to doing business. It projects the net amount of costs and benefits of at least two choices when making decisions. This guides executives to make an economic decision based on quantifiable data.

CBA is especially relevant to investments involving substantial cash flows like choosing new capital expenditure over major equipment overhaul, finance lease over land ownership, and offering a new product line over expanding existing product lines. This makes it easier to choose the best option that offers the highest net benefit or the lowest net cost.

Deciding whether to outsource a part of your business or to do it on your own is one of the common business decisions and one of the toughest to make. You need to consider all the pros and cons of choosing the option that is more favorable to your business within the next twelve months and in the long run, and this can be made even easier if you get the help of Expert IT Consulting Services. With CBA, you can list all the figures that matter to both choices, compare analytics such as cash flows adjusted in the present value and eventually pick the better one that will lead to lower costs but higher returns.

Outsourcing one of these managed it service providers to handle your technology or an external call centre to deal with customer service can be a great way to keep the business manageable within reason. You can usually pay for a fixed contract price which will be cheaper than hiring the staff, either on a per-project basis or a monthly rate, and you are free from managing parts or divisions of the company that will often require specialist expertise. That means savings on both time and money.

Additionally, highly skilled and experienced workers are then able to do the job for you. You get to experience the expertise of professionals who might have been specializing in the task you hire them for. These are just several of the benefits of outsourcing your contact center, manufacturing, bookkeeping, marketing, and other departments of your business.

The caveat and probably the greatest risk with this set-up is the reliability of the third party service contractor. You might read compelling proposals backed by persuasive client testimonials, case studies and impeccable presentations.

But, these alluring words tend to be shallow. You need proof and that means doing research, confirming reviews directly from clients, performing ocular inspection on-site and even asking for a demo tour or free trial. The price, although cheaper, is still a big investment for you. And you need to reap the best value for your money. If the supplier fails, it is going to hurt your business. You can usually ask for a trial or demo period to test their service and see if it produces results at a smaller scale, before committing to them completely.

If you choose not to outsource, you need to tackle the birthing pains of handling it on your own. You need to hire the right people with the right skills. And you need ample time to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate the important aspects. The good thing with doing it on your own is you get full control. You see how a project progresses and you can easily tweak the processes along the way. But if you don’t have the time, the people and additional capital, then you can always ask for professional help.

Several companies have partnered with other companies, domestic or abroad, to work on business process outsourcing. Telecom giant AT&T has long-term business relationships with contact centers based in Asia for its customer service and technical support. Nike has let go of its footwear manufacturing processes to various Asian countries. Goods sold at Wal-Mart are produced from its Chinese partners. These are just of business mammoths that fueled their growth by outsourcing several of their business segments.

It takes guts to let someone do a job for you. But, if that someone can give you the expected benefits and even more, then there is no reason not to outsource. Think which works better for your business now and the years to come.

How to Get Free Financial Advice

by 1 Comment

If you’re just getting started with financial planning and investing, you may not have the funds to hire a professional to help you. But there are ways you can get great financial advice for free.

There is one important factor to keep in mind with free advice though, it’s often times not based on your personal information. The free advice you get is based on generals so you will need to figure out what works best for you. But that doesn’t make the advice any less valuable for your purposes. It’s always good to learn something new; you never know where it might lead.

If you’re looking for free advice and you’re willing to weed out what you need based on the general information you receive, here are a few good places to start:

Meet with a Financial Planner

Some financial planners offer a free consultation if they think you’re in the market for hiring someone. Keep in mind, their advice will be very general because they’ll want you to hire them to do the work.

Many also offer complimentary group classes. They do this as an introductory to their services to try and get at least a few new clients out of each class. Again, the information is general, but there is usually some very good advice offered. Check with a few financial planning firms in your area to see if they have any upcoming classes.

Lastly, the CFP hosts a “financial planning day” where anyone can come and meet with a financial planner for free. The event usually takes place in the fall. Go to Financial Planning Days to find out when and where one will be offered near you.

Go Online

Visit your retirement plan or brokerage website for financial information. Many, including TD Ameritrade, offer online courses for their customers to learn important financial planning information. If you’re investing through a brokerage firm, take a look at the account management tools they offer on their site. Another great site for free financial planning courses is Udemy.

Sign Up with a Robo-Advisor

Many online financial planning tools offer a variety of financial advice. In many cases, that advise is free. (Sometimes there is a fee so be sure to read the fine print.) You can receive guidance on managing your portfolio, the best investments to reach your goals, and retirement planning.

Read Reputable Financial Sources

Even if you decide to hire a financial advisor, it’s always a good idea to do your own research and keep up with the financial world. You should never put all your faith in someone else to manage your finances. There are a few good sites for keeping up with financial news:

Local Financial Services Programs

Community-based programs are nationwide and offer free financial advice. Search your local area for organizations that offer free programs and check your local community centers and libraries. There are other resources specifically for survivors of domestic violence, active military and veterans, and people who are considered low-income.

If you’re dealing with a significant amount of debt, you may want to consider credit counseling. Visit NFCC to learn about their free counseling programs.

Not being able to afford a financial advisor is no excuse for not getting your finances in order. With so many free resources available, you can at least get started reducing your debt and increasing your income so that you can move towards a better financial future.