Life Happens…What To Expect When You Are Expecting…

We have all been in a place in our lives when things are going according to plan. Your budget is in order, and you have extra money every month, right? Then it hits you out of nowhere, a big change. Life happens. This new addition may not affect you for months to come, but trust me it will hit you. Yes, you are about to be the proud parents of a brand new loan payment. 

The Learning Period

You know how loans work, and you have dealt with payments on other loans before, right? Maybe you are a first-time payment parent? In either sense, there is an adjustment and learning period which takes place with all new payments. The first of these steps if going to be the learning period. You are going to have to learn and adjust to how this new payment is going to fit in your budget and how you are going to treat it. Is it going to be a nuisance and the bane of your existence? Are you going to treat it will love and understanding as to not have ill-feelings towards it? It will be up to you to decide. Remember, you have this payment due to a decision you decided to make or had to make based on your circumstances. Thus, if you do decide to get mad about anything, remember you can only blame yourself.

The Acceptance

It is going to get chaotic at times with a new payment. You have probably lived for some period of time without this thing looming over you, and you miss the good ol’ days. The sooner you accept where you are at, the better. Yes, they are going to be times early on where it is going to stink up the rest of your plans because all it does is eat up your disposable income. There will even be thoughts of wanting to run away from your responsibility to take care of it, but don’t give in to these temptations. The repercussions are not worth taking the easy way out. If you choose to take this route, be ready to be separated from whatever the loan is tied to. Give it time. You will learn to manage it.

The Management and Growth

After a time you will begin to easily manage this payment regardless of what messes it causes. Taking care of it every month will be a piece of cake. You will know exactly what to do every time there is an issue. Over time you will even get to see some growth. No, not in the loan (that wouldn’t make sense). You will see a growth in your own understanding and how you are managing your money to fit the need of this lovely addition. Another growth may come in the form of payments. Being a wonderful payment parent as you are, you are now able to make additional principal-only payments to the loan. This extra cash flow formula in your budget will grant your freedom that much sooner.

The Goodbye, For Now

Eventually, we have to say goodbye to things in life. If you have had the opportunity to make additional payments or principal-only payments to your loan, you will have to say goodbye that much quicker. For some, it is years together, and others months together. We spend so much of our time managing these payments and making the budget work, we can forget what it was like to be without it. One day you will reach the end. Either you will have paid it off with bigger payments, or you have reached the end of the term you have with it. In each sense, you are able to say farewell, for now.  Yes, inevitably we will all be stuck having many different loans through our lives. Be sure to take care of them all.

The Understanding

Although I am sure you caught it, there are many references in the above about dealing with loans with a strong inference about having a baby. It was subtle, I know. The truth is, we are all going to have to deal with loans in our lives. Cash is king in most cases, but it is not always practical.  Many financial gurus discuss having the cash to pay for everything and not to get a loan. This is true if you are not financially literate to understand what you are doing in the big picture. This is even true if you are being forced into a reasonable loan due to circumstance. However, this does not hold true when you finance $50,000 on a $25,000 annual income. Please finance responsibly.  Essentially, we have to deal with the situations we are being given. If having a new loan is a part of a change in your life, remember the above. It will all come to an end eventually.