It used to be the case that only low income families lived paycheck to paycheck. As the recession strikes deeper into the economy, the problem is spreading upwards through the middle class. The majority of people in the US have no savings and are currently unable to save any money after paying all the bills. If, for any reason, the regular paycheck is delayed or lost – say, through illness or unemployment – people will not be able to continue their lifestyles unless they borrow. This leaves them very vulnerable because, with only unemployment and other benefits available for a short time from the state, existing and all new debt quickly becomes unaffordable. This makes it sensible to plan for a financial emergency. The alternative is panic and decisions taken too fast to ensure they are the right decisions. So now is the right time to sit down quietly and work out what you would do if there was a real emergency. It might be an accident like a fire at home, or a sudden illness or perhaps a family breakdown threatening divorce. Whatever the cause, you should have a plan.

So what should go into the plan? If you have assets, you need to decide what can be sold and what should be kept. Sometimes, you keep an asset like your home because it is necessary as a place to live. Equally, you can sell an asset because it costs too much in maintenance and upkeep. The best plans set a list of priorities. That you fight to keep some assets and aim for the best price you can get for the others. Once the cash starts to come in from this forced liquidation, you now have to decide what to do with the money. Some debts carry high rates of interest. Paying them down as quickly as possible can save you a great deal of pain later on. But you must always look at the big picture. If your current review finds many debts, most with high rates of interest, a good strategy is to try negotiating a consolidation of those debts while your credit score and general finances are in a reasonably good state. If you wait until your income is disrupted, lenders are not going to be so willing to offer you new loans. Packing as many of your current short-term liabilities into one longer-term loan can not only save you money now, but also give you a good buffer against bankruptcy should an emergency occur.

All this to avoid the need to take a payday loan or its high-interest equivalent as a solution to a financial emergency. It’ easy to tell yourself that, should there be a small to moderate crisis, everything can be solved by a short-term loan. The problem with this view is that the costs of these loans quickly run into interest payments of more than 100%. The statistics show that people who take what is supposed to be a bridging loan to tide over for one month end up in debt for ten or eleven months. Having a plan helps you avoid being caught in the debt trap.

There’s a simple rule when it comes to debts. Unless the debt is interest free, continuing to borrow the money is costing you money. If you can earn interest on savings or get a return on other investments, it usually benefits you to pay off the debts and invest your money. Except, if you are overpaying to reduce your debts this can leave you short if there should be an emergency and some lenders dislike people repaying more quickly than they should and charge fees and impose penalties for early repayment. So, applying the general rule, you should always pay off the most expensive loans first. That means those store cards, credit cards and high interest loans you are carrying. Under normal circumstances, mortgage interest tends to be less than commercial loans.

So, for these purposes, let’s assume you have few credit card debts and some savings. What are your options? One is to use the savings to reduce your mortgage debt. This immediately reduces the interest you pay and it will help if you are thinking about refinancing. Property values have been falling fast. In fact, at the time of writing in May 2009, the market has probably not yet bottomed out. That means your loan to value ratio has been falling. Even though you might have had a mortgage for years, you may now find the current balance of the loan is worth more than 90% of the resale value of the property. This will make finding new finance difficult. Even when the ratio is between 80 and 90%, the interest rate is likely to be quite high to reflect the risk of further falls in property values. If you have a capital sum that will lower the amount borrowed, this will make the chances of refinancing at a cheaper rate possible. However, before you pay, make sure you know when the mortgage interest is calculated. You need to ensure you make the capital repayment at a time when you will get the maximum reduction in interest. Also check to see whether there are penalties if you make an early repayment of part of the principal.

The other factor is practicality. Once you pay a lump sum into the mortgage, that money is locked up. If there’s an emergency of some sort, that forces you to borrow all money needed at higher rates of interest. With the current recession in full flow, unemployment is rising fast. It can be worth having some capital set aside to live on should you lose your job or fall ill. In particular, you should have enough to cover your mortgage repayments for six months should your income dry up. So you can save on your mortgage by overpaying installments or paying a lump sum, but it’s not for everyone. Sit down and do the math to see whether it’s really for you. But, if you are looking at mortgage refinancing, having a lump sum to hand makes a very good bargaining chip in both getting a new deal and getting that deal at a low interest rate.

When buying their homes, most people never really think about the costs of insurance. Yet the building you choose has a direct effect on the amount of premium you will pay to insure it. Where you buy is critical. Should there be a track record of hurricane, tornado or flood damage in the area, many insurance companies will either not offer insurance or will want high rates to match the increased risks of a claim for storm damage. Now come to the age of the property and the building materials used. Older buildings may have an ageing electrical system more likely to catch fire and a plumbing system more likely to leak. So you should never finalize your decision to buy any property until you have competitive quotes from local insurance on what the annual premiums are likely to be. In today’s market where there are difficulties in finding mortgages, you may not be able to finance the purchase of a new place to live. This at a time when there are thousands of properties about to be or actually foreclosed going at eye-poppingly low prices. Never allow yourself to be seduced by the purchase price. Always look at the hidden costs of ownership as well.

To reduce the costs of insuring your existing home, start by shopping around to get as wide a set of quotes for renewing as possible. Always make sure you get quotes you can compare, i.e. always use the same set of information when using the online sites or completing a questionnaire on a site operated by an insurance company directly. That way you always compare like with like. Then get a different set of quotes for an increased deductible or for combining your home and auto insurance with the same company. There are several different packages available from insurers that will give you a discount. If you are in doubt, start talking directly with the insurance companies that seem to be offering the best terms. That way, you can explore what’s on offer with a human being and get a better idea on how much you can save. There’s just as big an incentive to get new business for the companies and many offer welcome discounts to encourage people to switch their policies.

In all this, make sure you are insuring at the right value. Remember, the insurable amount is the cost of rebuilding not the purchase price you paid which includes the value of the land. Even though the resale value may have fallen in the recession, this does not mean the cost of rebuilding has fallen. Before you firm up on your home insurance policy, talk to some local builders to get guideline quotes for rebuilding costs. It may also be worth spending some money to make your home more secure against burglary, and renewing old wiring and plumbing systems. The better your property is able to withstand storm damage, the cheaper the premiums. So, to sum up, always shop around by using the free insurance quote sites, getting as many insurance quotes as possible before deciding which policy to buy, renovating and rebuilding where it will save you money in the longer term. That way, you should maximize your insurance savings.