Debt has become the cross to bear almost all adults have to live with these days. Answering why would be like trying to make sense of anything Jaqen H’ghar has ever said (a little Game of Thrones reference for you there), which is nigh on impossible. At the more innocent end of the scale it has a lot to do with unexpected circumstances popping up in your life, at the more sinister end of proceedings it is to do with the lack of any formal education on money matters, and somewhere in the middle, it is to do with the cost of living.

Whatever the case, debt is something most adolescents don’t think about, getting help with paying debt down is something all middle-aged Americans have to focus on and enjoying a debt-free retirement is something more and more retirees are seeing as a pipedream.

To break this epidemic down a little more, we’re going to delve into the circumstance of each age group, something that will help you know you’re not alone and hopefully motivate you to change your fortunes, literally.

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Under The Age Of 35

The average debt for a household whereby the main breadwinner is under the age of 35 is a staggering $82,764. That is quite terrifying because most people won’t have started accumulating debt until they were eighteen, which makes that a dozen years of heavy spending. Of course, not all households that fall within this age bracket have debt, which is why this is simply an average based on those that do. It also worth pointing out that a mortgage is a big chunk of this – the average mortgage debt at this age is $143,890.

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Between 35 And 44

No surprises for guessing what happens here because, with more years to accumulate date and upsize a home, the debt increases with those that fall within this age group. In fact, the people residing in this bracket have the highest average debt of all at $153,239, with the average mortgage debt being closer to $190,000. This is a terrifying number if your debt is made up of personal loans and credit cards and not a mortgage and just one of the reasons why staying out of debt needs to be of the utmost importance to people growing up.

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Between 45 And 64

This is where the debts a household has accumulated starts to decline, which will have a lot to do with the sudden rise in average salaries at the age too. More money means less financial burden when paying off debts. For those closer to the 44 -ear marker, debts will stand at around $150,000, with this figure slipping away to $131,000 in that twenty year period as they start to focus on the kind of retirement they want to enjoy. They may well have assets that are worth a lot more than this figure or they may have a negative net worth. It i a flip of a coin at this age.

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Between 65 And 74

Most people hold the same dream: to be debt free by the time they retire. Unfortunately, though, this is becoming less and less realistic, especially for us Americans, and by unrealistic we mean carrying the burden of $108,765 with us. That is quite substantial. It is also worth pointing out that many of these secured debts are held against an average mortgage of $130,400.

Just because you’re twenty-something doesn’t mean you don’t have your financial head firmly screwed on. Now that you have a secure career, a good monthly salary and you have managed to pay off your lingering student debt, you may find yourself with disposable income every month. At the moment you are squirreling this extra cash into your savings. However, there’s a niggling voice telling you that this money could be better invested elsewhere to enable you to see more lucrative returns on your excess cash. You’re not wrong. Take a look at this helpful guide to point you in the right investment direction.

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Your Mortgage

It may not sound like an investment but if you’re lucky enough to own your own home, making overpayments on your mortgage means that you’ll end up paying it off a lot quicker. While you may not see lucrative returns as such, you may find that you are mortgage free and own your home outright two, five or maybe even ten years earlier than you expected. This is a massive asset that you can claim much quicker leaving you with even more disposable income to invest at a later date.

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Real Estate

The old adage is that bricks and mortar is the safest investment. If you’re after a long-term investment that isn’t super high risk, real estate is a viable option. You could choose to purchase a property in an up and coming urban area with your client focus being young professionals and long-term leasing. However, you could also take a look at the world of vacation lets. Companies like Chinquapin real estate can guide you through the process of purchasing a property in an established area that already attracts holidaymakers. The maintenance costs may be greater, and you’ll need a greater emphasis on marketing your property, but get it right, and you could have near maximum occupancy every year and secure a much greater rental yield than with a more traditional long-term lease. Just ensure that your income from the rent exceeds your mortgage repayments so you won’t be out of pocket.

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Forex

If you’ve always fancied yourself as financially astute and keep up with the nuances of the investment world, you may want to try your hand at a bit of Forex trading. By trading in currencies you are embarking on a more high-risk investment, but naturally, the rewards can be more lucrative. Predicting how foreign currencies will fluctuate takes practice which is why you should set up a free dummy account and ‘pretend’ you are trading with monopoly-esque money. This way you can master the art of trading before you commit to investing your hard-earned cash.

Being young and affluent means that you’re in an incredibly fortunate position. The fact that you’re reading this post shows just how keen you are to invest your money wisely. Follow this advice, and you could find that your money, invested astutely, could go a lot further than you think.

I don’t know about you, but right now, every time I turn on the TV or listen to the news on the radio, it’s pretty clear that there is a lot of worrying things going on in the world right now. No matter what side of the political divide you lie in, it’s clear to everyone that we are on a rocky road, the likes of which we haven’t seen before.

It got me thinking – what is our future, and that of our kids, actually going to look like? And what on earth can we do to ensure we are safe, happy and content?

Some things are out of our hands, of course. None of us can stop global problems and world leaders doing what they like on an individual basis. But what we can do is to give ourselves an opportunity to forge a secure future, no matter what happens. Here are some suggestions that might help you get through this particularly rough patch and come out the other side intact.

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Have yourself some fun

While you’re young, it’s important to get out there and enjoy yourself. Sensible financiers might tell you to pump all your money into a retirement fund and investments, and while this is excellent advice that you should consider following, it’s not the be-all and end-all. It’s all about striking the right balance, between spending good times with those you love and preparing for a sound financial future at the same time. You don’t need to live like it’s the last day of your life, but you do need to enjoy yourself – so make sure leisure and social activities are on your agenda, as much as financial planning. Ultimately, the friends you make now could be the support you need in the future – and money can’t buy you that kind of loyalty and friendship.

Invest in yourself

If you want to enjoy a happy lifestyle in your later years, you need to invest in yourself. Ultimately, the rewards you get from life will be down to your knowledge, skills, and experience you pick up, and the sooner you invest in your education and learning, the better off you will be. Start seeing yourself as an asset, and one that if you invest in will pay off for many years into the future. Work hard, learn everything you can, and make the right career choices, and you will not have to worry about financial dependence in later life.

Plan properly

It’s easy to say you want to be a millionaire by the time you retire. But if this is your only goal, it will be almost impossible to achieve. You have to break that aim into small chunks and focus on setting yourself a string of short-term goals, which will eventually lead to achieving the long-term objective. A lot can change in the next 25-30 years, so take thing slowly and make your decisions based on the current climate. For example, perhaps you could start matching your company’s retirement contributions so that you maximize your returns. Or maybe you could focus on paying off all your debts within a couple of years. Take baby steps, and you’ll find that your overall dream starts becoming more likely.

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Take care of yourself.

Your genetics will have a significant role to play in your later years, but there’s even more you can do right now to ensure you are happy, healthy, and content. It’s critical to start living a healthy and active lifestyle, and the earlier you start, the better. No one knows what the future holds, of course, but if you invest in your health and fitness right now, your life expectancy will increase.

Plan for ill health

However, as everyone knows, the older you get, the more likely it will be that you suffer from ill health. You just don’t know what’s going to happen, and the best time to start preparing for potential problems is right now. You might need money to fund your memory care, meet your physical needs, or even expensive medical costs that aren’t available via social security or your insurance plan. All of this can add up to an eye-watering sum, and unless you have a solid financial foundation, you will either go without or have to rely on your children’s money. So, start saving, making safe investments, and ensure you are ready for anything.

Educate yourself financially

Anyone can make money – it’s what you do with it that counts for the future. And given that financial literacy isn’t taught in schools, the best thing you can do for yourself is to learn about how to manage and invest your finances in the right places. Research proves that those who know their numbers will almost always be better off in old age – and their kids will enjoy a wealthier lifestyle, too.

Check your lifestyle

Most people earn more money than they actually need to spend. The trouble is that this excess income is often wasted, and pumped into fleshing out a more luxurious lifestyle. But at the end of the day, a $4,000 TV is going to last just as long as a $500 alternative that you find in a sale. And once you start spending on your lifestyle, it’s a lot harder to return to a more frugal way of living. So, no matter how much or how little you earn, always make sure the cost of your life is less than your income growth – and put what is left away in savings.

Borrow to invest

Finally, don’t be afraid to borrow money. As long as you are doing it the right way, debt can be a useful investment tool. However, never put lifestyle choices on credit, and only ever use debt as a platform to make money. Mortgages, business loans, stocks and bonds – and even your education – are all areas where borrowing should pay off.

No one can be certain of what will happen in the future, particularly in these troubling times. All you can do is focus on your future and that of your family. Make the right choices now, and you should be able to avoid any of the potential clouds that could show up in the years to come.

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Got some money stowed away that you’d like to make a return on? Investing can seem like risky business to many people, but as long as you take the time to do some thorough research you can usually maximise your chance of a profit. There are countless places to invest your money. Here are seven investment ideas that could be worth considering.

Property

Most first-time investors will try their hand at property. There are many ways to make money out of real estate. You could buy a property and then rent it out to people to live in for a profit. Alternatively, you could buy a property, up its value by renovating it and then sell it to make money. There’s a lot that could go wrong with property investment from dodgy tenants that don’t pay their rent to expensive repairs that you didn’t see coming. It’s important to prepare for all this by having some form of backup fund. Hiring property managers to handle rent and handymen to do renovations can take away a lot of the stressful hands-on work of property investment and make the reward more worthwhile.

Local business

Investing in a local business idea could be a great way of making a profit. This could be a shop or a restaurant that you’re sure will make a profit, or some kind of local service that your community needs. Just make sure the company that you’re investing in has a solid business plan and that there’s a lot of local interest – you don’t want to invest in a company that’s doomed to fail.

Think of buying rolls royce shares and imagine your net worth increasing while you are doing something else. That’s the idea behind investing in good businesses and making a profit out of it.

Gold

Whilst the value of gold fluctuates, it’s unlikely it will ever become worthless. Buying some gold from a company such as Bullion Vault and letting it rise in value before selling it could be a way of making a return. Just make sure to do your research as the gold industry can be complex.

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Renewable Energy

People are no longer investing in oil and are instead putting their money into the energy sources of the future. Wind farms and solar panel companies are already seeing huge profits. Investing in such a project could be great for making a return in the future.

Health insurance

Insurance companies are built on risk, however the likes of Health Insurance Innovations are proving to make a steady profit making them attractive ventures for investors. Your money could be helping to fund lifesaving medical treatment for people, making this one of the more ethical insurance investments that you could choose.

Peer-to-peer lending

Peer-to-peer lending sites such as Zopa allow you to offer loans to people. Just as a loan company would charge interest, you get your money back in interest charges. Peer-to-peer lending allows you to contribute any amount, no matter how small. Choose trusted sites that will moderate your lending to ensure you get your payments back.

Pay off your debts

Paying off debt may not seem like an investment, but it can be. Many lenders charge higher interest the longer you take to pay off a loan. By paying off your debts quickly, you’ll pay less interest and technically save money.

One of the hardest steps to take on the path to becoming an entrepreneur is stepping out of your comfort zone. As humans, we love comfort. We love the feeling of being safe at home and we love familiarity. However, it’s the successful entrepreneurs that thrive in unfamiliar environments. They know how to take risks, they understand when to gamble and they always have a plan B ready for when plan A fails.

This article could go on and on about what entrepreneurs do that you currently don’t. But, instead, we’ve distilled it down to just a couple of considerations that you should make if you want to upgrade your home business into a proper startup.

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Have a growth plan

Perhaps it’s never been on your mind before, but you need to have a growth plan ready for your business. This article from telegraph.co.uk will show you how to create a strategy for your business. It’s one of the fundamentals of running a business, and if you plan to step out of your comfort zone and upgrade your at-home business to a large-scale operation, then you have to be ready to accept change.

Secure the funds

Whether it’s through crowdfunding platforms or a business loan through a website such as smallbusinessloans.co, you need to have money in order to grow your business. Sure, there are plenty of ways to grow a business that don’t involve the use of money, but if you want to hire employees, rent an office and employ proper marketing techniques and materials, then you need to spend money. Just remember the saying; you can’t make money without investing money.

Have a continuity plan

Let’s admit it; growth plans don’t always work out. You could end up bankrupt because you lack the experience or you could grow so quickly that you crumble under the pressure and your business collapses. It’s difficult to expand a business, so always have an exit strategy. For instance, you could dissolve the business and continue your at-home business, or you could scale down your operations and fire all of the staff that you hired. Whatever you do, make sure you have some kind of plan ready for the possibility of your company shutting down.

Understand your responsibilities

As a business owner and entrepreneur, you need to understand that you’re no longer in charge of just a handful of staff or yourself. As an entrepreneur, you’ll have hundreds if not thousands of employees working under you at some point, so it’s your responsibility as the business owner to care about every single one to some degree. Your decisions will echo throughout the entire company, so make sure you’re prepared to have the fate of every member of staff in your hands. Whether they have a job to feed their families next week or not is entirely down to your decisions, so make every decision count and remember that you have more responsibilities the larger your company becomes. Some people can’t cope with this and ultimately pass the business on to someone else while they remain the founder. However, the successful leaders can inspire everyone that works for them, and it’s that kind of attitude that you should be aiming for.