Sometimes, when an emergency situation comes up, you need to find some cash fast. It might be that you need to pay for home renovations, pay down some debts, or help out a relative in need. People often resort to borrowing in these situations but that isn’t the only way and it’s not the most sensible choice in most cases. Before you do that, you should look into your other options. These are some of the best ways to raise some quick cash.
Release Equity From Your Home
This is the most common way that people raise large sums of money when they are in a bind. If you have been paying your mortgage for a while, you probably have a fair amount of equity that you can release when you need a cash injection. Equity simply means that the percentage of the property that you own, so if you have paid $30,000 off your mortgage, you have $30,000 equity in the property. You can release that money by remortgaging and get it in cash, so you can use it for whatever you need. However, this will mean that you extend the number of years that you’re paying the mortgage for so you need to think carefully about whether you can still manage the payments properly before making any decisions.
Sell Annuities
An annuity is an agreement to pay a fixed sum of money to a person each month. Most often, it’s used as a way of funding retirement but it is sometimes awarded as part of a legal settlement or an inheritance. If you have one or more and you’re in need of some quick cash, you should consider selling annuities instead of letting them run their course. You will most likely not get the entire value of the agreement back, however, you do get access to all of the cash now rather than having to wait.
Sell Assets
Selling things is a great way to earn quick money but if you need a large sum, a garage sale isn’t going to cut it. However, if you have more expensive assets like a car or some collectibles that are worth a lot of money, you could consider selling those to raise the money. If you can get the right price, you should be able to raise the money that you need.
Dip Into Pension Funds
If you’re paying into a pension fund, you have a pot of money just sitting there and you’re not likely to use it for a while, so you could consider dipping into it if you’re in need of quick cash. Just remember that building a healthy pension fund takes a long time and if you start taking out of it often, you will really struggle later in life. This is an option that you have but you should consider it a last resort and only do it if you don’t have any other way.
These are all ways that you can find a large sum of money in an emergency, but they do have consequences, so think carefully before you make any decisions.
