Over the last few months, our guide to keeping both your business and personal finances in good order has looked at some of the useful things you can do. From thinking ahead to establishing goals and even dealing with financial skeletons in the closet, we’ve covered it all.

We’d like it to be a positive, informative and useful guide, which makes this instalment, entitled ‘Sooner or later, things will go wrong’, feel a little negative. But it shouldn’t, because whatever you do for a living, if you’re running a business there’ll be times when it’s just not going to plan.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin

Things go wrong, certainly in business, and as business people we need to plan for those events. We build in contingency for periods of poor trading and we manage cash flow to allow us to deal with clients who forget to pay on time. We allow for investment to take the business to the next level, whether that’s new premises, extra inventory or hiring more people.

But things go wrong in life too and we need to apply the same belt and braces approach to make sure everyday eventualities are just as soundly covered as those in our business. That means looking closely at where we put our money and how much of it we might need to access at short notice.

It also means thinking about things we don’t necessarily want to think about, but the reality is that marriages can break down, people can get ill and loved ones do pass away. Even if it’s not an emotional blow, finding out you need to pay a large sum of money for an unexpected home repair or tax bill can be a real headache. Sometimes businesses can take a dramatic wrong turn and that failure can also impact your own personal situation – and the reverse is also true, your business could suffer if your personal finances and life situation are in a mess.

Planning for the worst involves more than having a vague awareness that bad things happen sometimes. You need to have a plan in place that sets out how you’d take care of yourself and your family if the worst should happen. Planning ahead won’t stop it happening, but it can at least make it easier to deal with.

Where Citywide can help

Why leave anything to chance? Talk to us and we’ll help you put plans in place to protect your family and your business, no matter what life throws at you. Then, should the worst happen, it will be far easier to pick yourself up, dust yourself down and face the future with confidence.

Want more tips?

If you’ve enjoyed reading this part of our guide to keeping your personal and business finances in shape, you can download our full guide, 10 actions successful business owners take to grow their personal wealth, today.

Download our full guide here

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This article is distributed for educational purposes only and must not be considered to be investment advice or an offer of any security for sale. The reference to any products is made only to make educational points and must, in no circumstances, be deemed to be any form of product recommendation.

This article contains the opinions of the author but not necessarily the Firm and does not represent a recommendation of any particular security, strategy or investment product.

Information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable but is not guaranteed.

Past performance is not indicative of future results and no representation is made that the stated results will be replicated.

Errors and omissions excepted.