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Tag: Money Tips

Managing Your Personal Finances: The Best Routes to Financial Wellness

Looking after your household finances can be a deeply stressful thing to do, even at the best of times. We are living in unprecedented times, as costs continue to rise against relatively stagnant household income; the result has been disastrous for many across the country, and has made clawing back control of the family kitty that little bit harder.

The route to financial wellness isn’t the easiest, but with a little research and a little elbow grease it is entirely possible to get on top of most financial situations. What are some basic steps you can take to get on the road to financial wellness?

Creating a Budget

No two people’s financial situations are ever exactly the same. A near-endless array of factors and variables can affect the specifics of our situation, and require different approaches as a result. However, the first steps to approaching financial management in general are always the same, and always effective – including the creation of a personalised budget.

The very first step to this is gaining a specific understanding of your financial situation. With basic information like your total monthly income and total monthly household outgoings, you can get an idea of your situation – and start to take steps to improve it. This is how you start to track unnecessary spending or potential monthly savings goals, and will be useful to you for the entirety of your financial journey.

Pay Your Debts

Another constant in the practice of good financial management is the importance of paying debt. Having debt, in and of itself, is not a bad thing; indeed, demonstrating that you can utilise credit and repay it in a timely manner can be a positive thing for your credit score, as well as for bigger life costs. However, failure to pay debt in a timely manner – and allowing debt to run up without due care – can be disastrous.

Where debt has accumulated in multiple areas, debt consolidation loans can be the key to getting on top of it. These kinds of loans enable you to pay off the outstanding debts and create a new, singular debt agreement. With this, you can simplify your outgoings and make longer-term financial management far easier.

Establish an Emergency Fund

Before you invest in long-term financial wellbeing, you should first create an emergency budget. This would ideally encompass three to six months’ worth of your household costs and contributions, and is designed to be a breakwater for unexpected costs or life events. Whether your car breaks down or your find yourself unexpectedly unemployed, your emergency fund can lighten the load and give you more time to react.

25 April 2024
An Individual Retirement Account (IRA) Guide For Beginners

When you start looking at what you are going to be doing in your retirement, your first question should be how will you live? Although some countries offer their citizens a regular superannuation payment, not all do, and for most that do it is only enough to cover basic expenses but not enough to allow you to travel or get out and enjoy life. It certainly isn’t enough to cover emergencies that come up.

For most people giving up work is something that will require savings in order to enjoy a financially secure retirement, and for this you can look towards setting up an IRA – which stands for an Individual Retirement Account, or occasionally this may be interchanged with Individual Retirement Arrangements.

What Is An Individual Retirement Account?

An IRA is a special account that can be set up to assist you in making a financial investment for your retirement. One of the reasons why people will use this type of account is that it offers tax breaks for investing, and incentives to maintain the account until retirement age (usually 60 to 65 years).

Reviewing a comprehensive IRA guide with a great FAQ section will also highlight the penalties that may be applicable if you withdraw your funds from the account before you are 60. You should also be aware that by the age of 71 you will be required to start withdrawing your required minimum distribution or face hefty tax penalties. Once you start withdrawing you are no longer allowed to make contributions.

Should You Get Financial Advice?

Absolutely! Although you do not always need to consult with a financial advisor or broker in order to obtain investment advice, it is usually a good idea. In fact, research has shown that having good financial advice not only helps you to make better decisions, but actually increases your ability to seek out new investment opportunities https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02419/full

Income Restrictions For Investment

With this type of account, you are only able to invest what the IRS considers to be “earned” income. This means that if you have inherited money, had a dividend payout from other investments or receive money for child support payments you are unable to use any of these sources to invest in an IRA. However, you can use income from self-employment or long-term disability payments, as well as any salary or wages earned.

Is There A Limit To Investment?

Although there are different types of IRA available, for most people they will be looking at a Traditional account or a Roth account. With these variations there is generally a limit of $6,000 per year that can be contributed to the fund (although this may alter from year to year).

Should I Do 401(k) or IRA?

You can actually do both, but there are limits to how much can be contributed to either. With a 401(k) investment you may find that your employer has a scheme where they will match your contributions, making this a great one to maximise your savings potential first. A 401(k) has a contribution limit of around $19,000 while an IRA has a contribution limit of around $6,000. Both have different tax status and differing benefits; you can get more information about this from your financial advisor, accountant or click here to see the IRS website for information.

Should I Consider A Self-Directed IRA?

Like anything to do with investment, the answer to this is “it depends”. The advantage to having a self-directed account is that you have a greater range of investment options available to you. With this type of speculation, you may be able to look at investment in markets like real estate and precious metals.

Obviously, one of the downsides to this option is that you will need to do your own research into finding secure ways to invest your funds, and not everyone has the time or expertise to be able to do this well enough to create a growth fund. You may find that your options may be restricted by your custodian, so it is certainly something to look into before moving into this style of account.

What About A Roth IRA?

This could be a great option if you are currently on a low income and anticipate moving into a higher tax bracket when you retire – which is often the case when low income earners start saving for their retirement early in life, you years of investment will often result in a very healthy retirement income.

3 October 2019
Three financial goals you can achieve in three months

A big part of changing your future for the better is creating small goals. If you’re stuck in a tough financial situation, sometimes it can seem like turning things around will be a long and bumpy road ahead. In fact, by setting short-term, achievable targets, you’ll find that financial stability is closer than you think.

Three months might seem like a short period, but you can make some serious changes in that time. Commit to some of these goals, and you should find yourself in a much better financial situation in just 90 days.

Change your spending behaviours

In our buy-now culture of convenience, it’s easy to get carried away with your spending. In fact, without really realising, you’ll probably have got into some bad spending habits. Acknowledging and changing these behaviours could save you hundreds over the month.

Once you come to the end of the month, take a moment to sit down and analyse your spending. If you haven’t been budgeting, it should be easy to find areas to cut back on, whether it’s the morning coffee, lunch spending or monthly subscriptions you don’t use.

Calculate your total monthly outgoings on luxury items and use that figure to motivate you to cut back. Over three months you should be able to develop better behaviours and become more considered in your spending, which should free up a significant chunk of money each month.

Automate your financial life

Forget three months, within a few minutes you can take key steps to optimise your financial discipline, all through the helpful tools of online banking.

Automation means getting your bank accounts and financial responsibilities working in sync with one another. Online banking technology allows you to merge accounts and schedule payments from one source to another. This means you can redirect incoming payday funds from your current account to your savings, as well as setting up regular payments for utility bills.

Essentially, this automatic redistribution of money means your sensible financial decisions take precedence over your impulse ones. Normally, you might be tempted to go on a spending spree on payday. If the money’s gone out before you can get your hands on it, you’ll be avoiding silly spending and doing yourself a huge favour in the long run.

Get out of debt

If you have debts hanging over your head, you may well be throwing at a little bit of money at them when you can or just ignoring them all together. Of course, it might make you feel better to forget about them, but they’re not going anywhere, so you’re best off doing something about them.

Often, paying off your debts can seem incredibly daunting and a long-term problem. However, developing an efficient debt strategy could help structure your repayments and motivate you to keep going until you’ve completely ridded yourself of your arrears.

Take a look at the ‘debt avalanche’ and ‘debt snowball’ techniques. Both of these methods are effective for steadily getting rid of your debt, but one may suit your situation more than the other.

In short, the ‘avalanche’ method focuses on your biggest and highest interest debts first. This will save you the most money in the long run by attacking high-interest debts initially before moving on to the smaller fry. The ‘snowball’ looks at knocking off the smallest debt first; the idea here is to offer you the satisfaction of clearing one of your debts quickly, which should give you the motivation to continue attacking the rest of your deficits.

Both methods require regular commitment but appeal to different mindsets, and utilising one of these, or indeed a combination of the two (the ‘debt blizzard’), could give you the focus you need to finally solve your worries. Depending on the level of your debt, three months of hard work could see you in the clear or at least well on the way to being in the black.

There are many ways to manage your finances, and these three methods are just a handful of short-term strategies that can help you out. Really, it comes down to what works for you. Whether that’s a quick fix or a long-term commitment, the most important thing is securing your financial future.

29 May 2019
How Would You Spend £1 Million?

Even if subconsciously, it’s a question you’ll have pondered on multiple occasions. If you suddenly found yourself with £1 million in your pocket, what exactly would you do with it? Splurge it all on meaningful nothingness, or invest it more carefully in your future? Realistically, you’d probably find yourself slightly more limited than you might expect. The reason being that £1 million isn’t worth quite as much today as it used to be. It’s still a serious amount of money, but not necessarily enough to lead a millionaire’s lifestyle…so to speak.

Sensible Spenders?

In order to shed a little light on the whole thing, the folks at Betway recently commissioned an international survey. Polling 3,000 across the UK, Europe and the United States, they asked those polled to honesty reveal how they’d splash the case, if they won £1 million. Suffice to say, some of the findings were more (and less) surprising than others. In the United Kingdom for example, a full 43% stated that they would definitely buy a house. Hardly surprising, given how difficult it is to get on to the property ladder in the UK these days. Likewise, 15% stated that they would pay off their mortgages before anything else, while a further 11% stated that clearing their debts would be their number-one priority.

Considerably further down the table, only 8% said that they would prioritise buying a new car. Winning £1 million might conjure images of sports cars and champagne, but it seems most Brits have more sensible purchases in mind.

That said, 13% said that they would definitely book an immediate luxury holiday, while just 5% said they’d invest their winnings in a new business idea.

Charity donations don’t appear to be a priority for Brits striking it rich – just 1% said they would give some of their winnings to a good cause.

Men Vs Women

There were also a few interesting discrepancies between male and female prospective millionaires. For example, while 45% of women said they’d buy a home, this dipped to a slightly lower 41% for men. Surprisingly, while 3% of British men stated they would donate some of their cash to charity, precisely 0% of British women said the same. 17% of UK women would immediately pay off their mortgages, while just 12% of men would clear their outstanding mortgage balances.

Entirely unsurprisingly, a solid proportion of those polled – 50% to be precise – stated that they would quit their jobs if they won £1 million. 30% would keep working, while 20% would take an extended break. Interestingly, while 54% of men said that they would quit their jobs, the same was true for just 47% of women.

Of course, exactly what you’d do with £1 million comes down to countless variables regarding your current position and financial status. Nevertheless, the findings from Betway would seem to suggest that when Brits strike it lucky, we’re far more sensible with our purchase decisions than you might expect.

Not particularly generous, but sensible nonetheless!

28 November 2018
The Best Apps To Help You Make Money

It’s amazing what resources we currently have at our fingertips. In just a few taps we’re able to connect with friends from around the world, browse breaking news, and if you’re feeling particularly savy you can even start earning some extra cash. There are so many apps which can help you to start making money. Some involve more work than others – it all depends how much time you have to put into them. Have a read below and get inspired to start increasing your income.

Depop

Clothing apps such as Depop can be such a resourceful tool. Not only do they help save you money, but it gives you a chance to sort out your wardrobe at the same time. Depop is a user-friendly, fashionable app. It’s like thrift shopping, but all from the comfort of your own home. So you can have a clear out and make some cash at the same time. What’s not to love? Even better, when it comes to sending out your packages, with Parcel2Go you can save additional money on your postage fees. It’s a win win.

Etsy

With Etsy, you can begin to make a profit from your hobbies. It is an online marketplace bursting with homemade goods. It has everything you can think of: from sock animals to jewellery inspired by pieces of literature, with plenty more as well. If you like creating, this can be a great place to start selling your work. It can be anything you like: from knitting to painting to homemade beauty products. Explore your passions and you may be pleasantly surprised when you start making a profit from them.

Job Spotter

According to Which Job Spotter is a great app for earning you a bit of extra money. How does it work? All you have to do is take pictures of job advertisements you see and upload them to the app. You collect points as you go, so the more uploads you do the more points you get. Spotting ads for a small business gives you more points than an advert for a large company. The app was created by Indeed and the photos you upload will be browsed by people looking for work.

Ebay

This is easily the most well-known app on this list and for very good reason: it’s the biggest online marketplace. You can sell literally anything you like on there. You no longer have to go to your local car boot sale to shift your knick knacks, you can do it simply by using your smartphone. If you’ve been meaning to have a clear-out, you may as well try make some money from it. Ebay may not be as creative as some of the other apps that make up this list, but it gets the job done. There are so many potential buyers out there, so what’s stopping you from becoming a seller?

23 October 2018
The Shopping Tricks They Don’t Want You To Know

Shops are there to make money, we all know that, but they don’t always have to win. Most people think that the prices are set and that’s it. The truth is that things are often a bit more flexible than you would think. Under the surface, there are lots of secrets that only the insiders know. Secrets that could save you a good deal of money if you know how to exploit the loopholes properly. Here are the shopping tricks that the retailers don’t want you to know about.

Hidden Discounts

According to old employees in the retail trade, most high street shops use a set of secret codes to mark items that are going to be discounted. They usually mark any items that are going to be in the sale around a week before the prices come down. If you look out for these markings, you can hold off until the price drops and save yourself big money. One of the most common systems of marking the tags uses numbers and letters. It will usually be a letter followed by a number, e.g. E14. Ignore the letter as it usually denotes where the items are going to be put when the sale starts. The number is what you are really looking for as it is normally the price that the item will be reduced to, so the code E14 means that the item will be put down to £14 in the next week or so. You won’t be able to tell exactly when the sale is going to start, and the staff probably won’t tell you, so it might mean popping back every few days but it’ll be worth it for the savings.

Haggling For Clearance Items

Clearance sales are one of the best ways to get cheap prices, especially when it comes to tech goods. The shops want rid of them as soon as possible so they’ll give you a great price on them. But they don’t always advertise the items as being clearance items. If there are just a few of them, they might just put them in with everything else. However, there is a way you can sniff them out. Any prices that end in 7, 8 or 1 are almost guaranteed to be items that have been discontinued; prices ending in 1 are the oldest items. Normal prices usually end in a 9 or a 0 so it’s easy to tell them apart. Retailers will often be willing to haggle on price when it comes to clearance items. It’s always worth asking if they’ll give you a reduction, most of the time they’ll say yes because they need the space for newer lines.

Be aware of clearance items when you are shopping. If you ask a member of staff for advice, they might sometimes direct you towards this out of date stock so they can try to get rid of it. But you can catch them out by checking the price tag and either ask for a reduction or ask to see some more up to date items.

Haggle Online

You know those annoying help chat boxes that pop up in the corner when you go onto a retailer’s site? I bet you close them straightaway, just like the rest of us. Try talking to them next time, you’d be surprised what they could offer you in the way of savings. If you’ve got vouchers from places like DontPayFull.com that have gone out of date, you might get sent some new ones if you ask for it. It’s also worth asking whether you can have discounts generally, there are some companies that will be rigid on their prices but others will send you discount codes without question. You don’t know if you don’t ask.

Just Ask

Believe it or not, a lot of high street retailers will offer discounts without advertising them. According to employees, some shops have a policy whereby they will give you a discount if you simply ask them for one. It rarely happens because nobody knows that this is the case, but next time, Just ask. You never know what you might get.

Abandon Online Shopping Carts

One of the best techniques when you’re haggling is to simply walk away. The likelihood is that they will call you back and give you the price that you asked for in the first place, it’s better than not making a sale after all. The modern version of this is abandoning your shopping cart online, the retailers will come crawling back to you, begging you to buy the stuff. What you need to do is fill up the basket with items and then simply save it and logout. If you leave it for a couple of days, you are likely to get an email from the company offering you a discount on the items. Then simply log back in and buy them at a cheaper price.

Check The Best Days For Deals

If you’re struggling to find discount codes online, you might be looking on the wrong days. The majority of websites seem to launch their new deals at the beginning of the week. Statistically, Wednesday is the most popular day, followed by Tuesday and then Monday, so always check sites on these days. These rules aren’t uniform and there will be new deals released all the time so if you are serious about making savings then you need to be checking all of the discount code sites every single day.

Paypal And Credit Cards

This is a big mistake that thousands of people are making without even realising. When you buy something on a credit card, you have insurance on the items from them as well as the retailer, giving you an extra level of protection if something is faulty or breaks. However, the wording of that law is fairly specific and it only applies where there is a ‘direct relationship’ between the bank and the retailer. If you pay with Paypal that is linked to your credit card, those protections don’t apply because instead of a direct relationship, you’ve gone through Paypal.

27 May 2017
10 Mobile Side Business Ideas You Can Operate from a Van
With a deluge of goods and services and consumers with disposable income and time constraints who are looking for the more convenient option with top value, it is wise to consider mobile side business as it is bound to yield amazing returns. You don’t have to bother about the logistics of running an office, you can conveniently run any of these lucrative businesses from a van. Be sure to seek expert advice and study the best ways to package a bestselling business. Here are 10 ideas you can operate from a van.
1. Mobile photo studio
  
  With the rush of selfies and the whole planet turning into one giant photo studio, a mobile studio is one of the greatest ideas. Not only can you shoot and print on the street, you could venture into event photography.
2. Mobile makeup artist
  
  With many more people who are always picture ready- thanks to social media, with a mobile make up studio, you could reach clients in a snap and quietly make quick cash.
3. Food vendor
  
  Who doesn’t eat or love good food? The only challenge in this kind of business is making a choice of what kind of food service to venture into. The reach is limitless and this is one business that could easily expand. Who knows? The business could soon turn into multiple and then you may well be advertising this franchise for sale.
4. Mobile auto mechanic
  
  Most times, vehicles give no warning before issues arise. No need to hide your skills anymore, pack your tools and brand your van.
  
  Here’s five more mobile business ideas…
5. Mobile masseuse

Clients will run you over if you know how to rub down those kinks in the muscles. Stock up on the scented candles and massage oils and you are in business.

6. Ice cream truck

While people want to cool off on a hot day, some people just crave the cold desert. From soft serve to pre-packaged ice cream with an array of flavours. This is a potential hit.

7. Packing/unpacking van

Moving and packing is one business which has easy to handle logistics. All you need is to be more careful and have extra muscles.

8. Mobile decorator

Whether it be interiors or event locations, this business is in high demand all year round and gives you the opportunity to meet more potential clients.

9. House cleaning

The potential clients for this line of business are as varied as the number of houses there are. Whether you are busy parents or that lone occupant, everyone needs the services of a good house cleaner.

10. Courier services

What better use for a van than delivering parcels which makes for a tidy profit.

This is an opportunity to get paid for doing those things you love, and at your convenience. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a step so take that step today and get expert advice.
3 January 2017
Make Money From Your Fitness Workouts

Fitness is a worthy pursuit at the best of times. If you consider yourself a fitness fanatic, why not take it to the next level by turning it into a career? You’d get to pursue what you love, and have the satisfaction of helping other people, too! We’re going to take a look at a few of the fitness business pursuits you may want to consider.

OPENING A GYM

If you have money behind you, opening a gym could be the right choice. If you’ve never been able to find a gym that suits, make it yourself! As with any business, you’ll need an original angle to make you stand out. Think about what could make your gym different to others. Would you have equipment that isn’t available elsewhere? Would you offer classes with a difference? If you’re going down this route, consider the space you’re going to use for your business. Do some research on units available and decide which would be best.

BECOME A PERSONAL TRAINER

Why not study to become a personal trainer? That way, you could use your fitness knowledge to help other people. Research courses and qualifications you would need to turn this dream into reality. The good thing about being a personal trainer is that you can get started with little expense. You can also be as flexible as you need. Though some personal trainers work through gyms, most work on a freelance basis. If you’ve always dreamt of working for yourself, this could be the way to do it. Take a look at personal trainers already established in your area to see if there’s room for you out there!

WRITE A FITNESS BLOG

Blogs are an ever growing business. All you need to make it work is patience and an original angle. The good news is, you already have your angle in fitness. You could write reviews of fitness equipment, or share you sports routines online. Again, research related blogs out there and see what you could do differently. The good news about taking this route is that you can make money from something you already do for fun. You won’t have to change your behaviour. All you’ll need to do is learn how to share your fitness tips with your audience.

MAKE FITNESS VIDEOS

With sites like Youtube, making videos is becoming increasingly popular. Why not get the most out of that by turning your hand to some fitness videos? You’ll be doing the same thing as a personal trainer, but you won’t need the qualifications to go with it. You’ll also be able to work from the comfort of your home. Don’t worry about buying expensive filming equipment to start with. Leave that for when you start making money! At first, even a basic camera can provide all you need. People are more likely to subscribe to someone with personality. Try to bring personal touches to your videos. Incorporate that into some fantastic fitness tips to ensure you’re onto a winner!

31 December 2016
The Tricks That Can Help You to Save Money on Your Next Car

Buying a new car is rarely cheap. Other than our homes, cars are the things that we pay the most for. But there are some tricks that could help you to save some serious money on your next car purchase. You don’t have to spend more than you can afford to and plunge yourself into a bad financial situation. Learn more about what you can do below.

Know the Market Average Price of the Car

Once you have decided which car you want to buy, you should start doing a bit of research. This can help you to ensure that you don’t end up paying more than you need to for the car. If you just take the first price you see at a dealership, you’ll probably regret your decision later. By failing to shop around and discover the going rate for the car on the open market, you could easily throw money away. It’s a mistake that is easily dodged, so be sure to avoid it. I’ve used the free used car valuation from Parkers in the past which works well.

Minimise Extra Fees

There are all kinds of added extras that a car dealer might try to sell you before you get the keys to your car. You should reject all these offers because you don’t need any of them, and they just add to the total cost for you. On top of that, you should ask about any hidden fees that are attached to the deal. Sometimes, you can save money by opting to buy from a dealer with lower hidden fees. Always factor these in when deciding what the best way forward for you is.

Opt for an Ex-Demonstrator Model

Rather than buying a new car, why not opt for an ex-demonstrator model? These are always cheaper, but they still have low mileage, which is a pretty big advantage. You could get Volkswagen Ex-Demonstrators for a fraction of the prize of a new car, and it’s important to know that. Many people don’t even realise that this is an option that is open to them. So, don’t close your eyes to all the possibilities and options out there.

Avoid a Loan

If you take out a loan to cover your car purchase, you’ll end up paying more in the long-term. That interest will start to pile up, and it won’t be long before you are paying a great deal more than the original price. Whereas, if you were to pay in cash, you would have the issue settled on the spot, and you would never have to pay anything more for the car. So, wait a little longer and save up for your purchase.

Negotiate Better

Do you want to buy a used car? If you do, then you need to understand the importance of negotiating. If you don’t negotiate properly, you will not get the best price for the car you want to buy. Don’t be afraid to offer less than the asking price. The seller will then come back with a slightly higher offer, and you can reach a settlement from there. That’s the best way to go about it if you want to save money.

10 November 2016