Make Money Fast: A Guide

Sooner or later, regardless of who you are, how much money you make, or how carefully you plan your finances, everyone is going to run into a situation where you need to make some quick cash.

It can be for any number of reasons, both good and bad. An unexpected bill comes in the mail. Your 16 year old son drives the car through your neighbor's dining room wall. You come across a legitimately good investment that you have to act quickly on. Whatever the reason may be, the point is that you need some cash and you need it soon!

Since just about every everyone will run into this situation at some point, let's take a few minutes to consider things. It's easy to write the people off who are in this situation as greedy, lazy or financially incompetent, but are they really? Perhaps there's an intelligent way to solve the problem. Let's take a look at how to handle needing to make money fast and see what you should know the next time you find yourself in that situation.

Most people would tell you that the best thing to do as far as needing cash quickly is to avoid the situation altogether. I disagree, and I think that most wealthy and successful people would agree with me.

People assume that needing some cash quickly is a bad situation to be in - and, I admit, it can be - but it certainly doesn't have to be. You might need to scrape some cash together quickly because a friend of yours is starting a business and you want to get in on the ground floor with an investment. You might find a painting that you love and want to purchase it before someone else snaps it up. You might come across a great deal on a real estate investment property and need to get some money together for the down payment on it. The possibilities here are endless, but the point is that needing some quick cash is not necessarily a bad thing or something to be ashamed of.

The bigger issue when it comes to generating cash quickly is that there are good ways and bad ways to handle the situation. With a little bit of planning and foresight, it's possible to avoid handling things in a bad or unwise manner. Let's discuss some of your options.

The general principle with making money fast in a wise fashion is that you don't want to focus so much on today that you cripple your chances of being able to make money tomorrow. These options below allow you to make some fast money without coming back to bite you in the rear end later.

Emergency Savings - The undisputed absolute best way to come up with some quick cash is to simply withdraw it from your emergency savings account. Obviously it helps if there is some money in there to start with. Everyone should have a small account with a few thousand dollars in it specifically for unexpected situations where you need some money quickly. Make sure to put some money back after you take some out.

Sell Assets - The second best way to handle needing some quick cash is to sell something of value that you own. You obviously don't want to sell something that you absolutely have to have (like your car) but how about that guitar you haven't played in years? What about that old baseball card collection? The good china that you never put out? If it's just cluttering up your house and you're not using it, why not sell it for some cash that you can use?

Freelance Work - Just about everyone has some sort of marketable skill set that you can use to make some quick cash. Legal experience, medical work, website design, language translation, administrative support, sales, the list goes on. Head over to elance.com, search through the job listings, and I guarantee you that you'll find something that you're qualified to handle. Submit a good bid, do quality work and you'll have some extra cash in no time.

Another option for doing freelance work is sites like TextBroker.com that allow you to sign up as an article writer for their clients. Good English skills are required for this, but only a bare minimum of writing experience is really necessary. Once you're signed up, you could easily make $50 to $100 in just a day or two. The great thing about doing freelance work is that it can easily turn into an actual home based business for you.

Family And Friends - I'm putting this last because it's a potentially messy solution, but if you have a good relationship with some decently well-off family members or friends, you can always ask to borrow the money from them. Obviously you need to be careful who you ask but sometimes people will surprise you with their generosity. If I were going to approach a friend for money, I would 1) make sure that I could pay them back, 2) stress to them that it's a loan and not a gift, and 3) put everything in writing so they know exactly when they'll get their money back.

The following options for making money fast are on the Bad List because they are 1) too risky, 2) too costly, 3) illegal, or 4) all of the above.

Credit Cards - Don't do it. I know you want to but the interest rates are just too high.

Pawn Your Car Title - Sure, it may get you some quick cash, but how are you going to get to work now to pay it off? Keep your title, keep your car and keep your job.

Heading To The Casino - This might pay off in the movies, but in real life it's far too dicey to risk what money you do have when you're in a situation of needing more cash. If you must do it, stick with blackjack and poker and avoid the slot machines, the roulette wheel and the craps game.

Selling Your Bodily Organs Online - And I thought selling your car title was bad?!?! I'm pretty sure there's at least one law against this. If you must though, you should know that you have two kidneys and you only need one to live.

For information on other related business and income topics, check out the links to my other Hubs below.

• Legitimate Home Based Business Guide