With high costs of living and interest rates starting to increase, here are some simple things that you can do to make a difference to your own financial position.1. Set goals
Think about setting some personal and financial goals. Write the goals down and start to develop a plan of how to work towards achieving them, and what might need to change to make them possible.
2. Have a budget
It’s not rocket science, but it’s important to know where you spend your money. A good budget will allow you to live your life comfortably, but will also have money left over at the end of each pay period.
Make direct debit your friend and set up a bank account for that surplus you’ve created.
3. Consider how to get another income stream
If no matter what you do, you can’t seem to find a surplus in your budget, you may want to think about how to get extra income into your household. Can you do overtime at work, or get a part-time job? Maybe you’ve got things at home you could sell on ebay or have a garage sale?
4. Have the right loan structures
Get the loan structure right, so that when good investment opportunities arise you’ll be well placed to take advantage of them.
5. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
If you’re interested in investing, remember to diversify, diversify, diversify. In a perfect world you should have a spread of investments to reduce your risk as much as possible.
6. Get the right advice
When making major financial decisions it’s important to know where to get the right advice. Develop a good relationship with an accountant, loan provider, solicitor and financial adviser, whose opinion you value and respect.
While it might cost money to seek their advice, it’s often a small sum of money compared to the mistakes and costs that can be incurred when acting without any or poor advice.
Sandy Hopps is an authorised representatives of Matrix Planning Solutions Limited AFSL 238256.
