Category: Money

How to get Value for Money When Buying Foreign Currency

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal

My aim with each blog post is to help you move to a better financial future. I believe that there is not enough financial education in the national curriculum and I intend to share anything helpful that I have learned along the way. I am by no means a financial expert. None of the information on this website constitutes financial advice and is provided as general information only. This is my personal finance blog; my marketing blog is over here and I have been blogging there since 2010. I hope you have found this information useful. Thank you for reading.

Best regards,

Mike

Have you saved Enough into Your Pension?

* ‘Time is more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.’ – Jim Rohn

Why you Should Track Your Net Worth

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: http://www.astrapefinance.com/

I hope those you who did not already have a monthly household budget, have now had chance to create one. If not, this post will help you, How to Create a Budget That you can Stick to. One stage on from creating a monthly budget is to create another simple spreadsheet that records your total net worth.

Calculating Your Net Worth

Net Worth can be defined as the sum of all of your assets minus your liabilities. For many of you, the thought of creating a spreadsheet with all your assets and liabilities recorded in one place might fill you with dread. If you have large student loans or credit card debts, recording your total amount of liabilities and assets might be a painful process. However, this is a necessary step to track your net worth.

Your personal net worth looks at the bigger picture, it’s not just your monthly income and outgoings. You also get the opportunity to track all of your assets as well as your liabilities. Assets include properties, savings, investment accounts, stocks and shares and businesses owned where applicable; liabilities include, mortgages, student loans, credit card debts and loans.

For the sake of simplicity it is acceptable to leave out all regular monthly expenses that are paid out of your monthly salary or wage. When thinking about net worth I always remember a quote attributed to the mathematician, Karl Pearson.

“That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.”

Karl Pearson

Improvements to Your Net Worth

This is exactly why we are doing this! Your net worth will improve. When you complete your first total net worth tracker spreadsheet, it will take some time. By the way, feel free to think of a more exciting title than Total Net Worth Tracker Spreadsheet. 🙂

When you come to update it after a month, unless you have suffered some financial calamity, your total net worth will have increased. For example, if you have made payments to student loans and or credit cards, their totals will come down slightly and your net worth will have gone up. If you are like me, you will find this incredibly motivating! As an aside, do not compare yourself to others, just track your own progress. In time, deficits will turn into surpluses. Money that was originally to pay debts can be diverted into savings accounts when those debts have been paid. Tracking your net worth is an excellent habit and will help you to transform your finances.

What Should you do Now?

Create your total net worth spreadsheet and update it each month. Here’s a downloadable spreadsheet that you can use.

Are you already tracking your net worth ? If so, what has been the improvement in the last 12 months? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

Are you and Your Partner Financially Compatible?

Why Choose a Gold IRA?

How to get Value for Money When Buying Foreign Currency

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal

Best regards,

Mike

Are you and Your Partner Financially Compatible?

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: http://thepayoffprinciple.com

If you are going to be successful and achieve your financial goals you will need to face up to obstacles head on rather than wait and hope that they disappear of their own accord; usually, they do not disappear of their own accord. Are you financially compatible with your partner?

First of all, a quick definition, when I use the use the term financially compatible, I mean to share the same financial goals, vision and habits. Are you both saving regularly and maximising investment returns? Is your discretionary expenditure linked to value for money? I do not mean that you need to be earning the same salary. It is great if you are but it is not essential for financial compatibility. The key word in this context is together, ideally you need to be able to plan your financial future together and work towards it. This could mean saving to buy a home, a goal of becoming debt free or financial freedom (retirement) at an early age.

Financial literacy is not a skill-set everyone has, some are willing to learn whereas others are more interested in living for the moment instead of having a financial plan. Not everyone approaches personal finance and their financial responsibilities in the same way.

Are You Financially Compatible?

Disagreements over money remains one of most common causes of divorce. If one person is a disciplined, lifelong saver and the other is frivolous with money, there will be friction between the two. In my opinion, if these differences are entrenched there is no chance of achieving your financial goals together. It does not seem very romantic to consider a partner’s financial compatibility when you are just getting to know them but if you don’t, you could be storing up problems for yourself later on. Hopefully, if you are in a relationship you have already taken an opportunity to discuss money with your partner.

Depending on your starting point, following a budget for a prolonged period can be hard work. To achieve financial freedom for example, you and your partner will need to work as a team and to be consistent. You need to be in alignment.

Create a Financial Plan Together

If there are only slight differences between you then thankfully, with a calm approach, compromises can be agreed upon.

If that is the case, the following steps will help:

Arrange to have regular money meetings with your partner; during these meetings discuss financial goals and budgeting and agree a way forward.
If one of you is the natural saver, take the lead in these meetings but be careful to avoid being judgemental.
Build in quick wins on your financial journey together, this could be paying off a credit card with a low balance or saving for a planned weekend away.
Allow yourself small celebrations when you hit your financial milestones, be creative with these and do not spend a lot of money on them.

By working together you will dramatically improve your financial health and you will strengthen your relationship. Well done! Your future is looking bright.

Have you sat down with your partner and discussed finances? How did the conversation go? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

Why Choose a Gold IRA?

How to get Value for Money When Buying Foreign Currency

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal

Best regards,

Mike

Why Choose a Gold IRA?

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: abc.net.au

An individual Retirement Account (IRA) is a particular type of savings account that helps people prepare for retirement in the United States. There are tax advantages to saving in an IRA account. In the United Kingdom, the equivalent savings account is called a Personal Pension. A 401K is a company backed retirement plan (Workplace Pension in the UK), whereas IRAs are started by an individual.

IRAs can be subdivided into Roth IRAs and Traditional IRAs. With Roth IRAs, there is no tax deduction for contributions but when your investment earnings are distributed in retirement this is done tax and penalty free. Traditional IRAs by contrast, do offer deductions for contributions but when your funds are distributed at retirement taxes on investment earnings have to be paid.

IRA funds can be invested in individual stocks, bonds and cash. There are also many mutual funds that you could choose from. Either on your own or after receiving advice decide on an asset allocation that you are happy with for your IRA.

What is a Gold IRA?

Gold IRAs were created by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. A Gold IRA account is a way to diversify your retirement investments further. A Gold IRA gives the investor the chance to own physical Gold, Silver, Platinum or Palladium.

To invest in a Gold IRA, you will need to set up a self-directed individual retirement account (SDIRA), this is an IRA in which the investor is in charge of making all the investment decisions.

What are the Benefits of Gold IRAs?

Pros

Investors have created Gold IRAs because they perceive them to be a counterbalance to what is happening with their more traditional investments. If paper based assets such as stocks are trending downwards, Gold tends to move in the opposite direction. Adding a Gold IRA will diversify your retirement investments. Since the financial Crisis of 2008 Gold IRAs have increased in popularity because of this investors’ desire of investors to spread risk with their retirement investments.

You can potentially benefit from increases in the price of Gold, of course this cannot be guaranteed. Between 2000 and 2012 the price of Gold increased for 12 consecutive years. While stocks can literally become worthless, the price of Gold will never be worth zero.

Remember, it is possible and advisable for an individual to have more than one IRA. You could hold one mutual fund IRA and a Gold IRA, for example.

Cons

Setting up a Gold IRA is quite a complicated process. First of all, you need to find an approved custodian (Broker) for the IRA and an approved Depository, where the Gold will be stored. Then you buy the Gold and have it transferred to the Depository.

Historically, some Gold IRA companies have not are not completely transparent about their fees and investors have experienced surprises after they have invested. Before you create a Gold IRA or rollover an existing IRA into a Gold IRA ensure that your custodian has confirmed all costs and fees.

If you are thinking about setting up a Gold IRA, Regal Assets is one company that you should consider. Click here for a free Gold IRA guide.

Do you have a Gold IRA already? How do you think your investment is performing? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

How to get Value for Money When Buying Foreign Currency

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal

Best regards,

Mike

The owners of this website may be paid to recommend Regal Assets. The content on this website, including any positive reviews of Regal Assets and other reviews, may not be neutral or independent.

How to Create a Budget That You Can Stick To

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: https://business.mega.mu/

Creating a budget is like eating healthily, everyone knows that they should do but that does not mean that they will. I recommend that everyone who has regular earnings, or pocket money if they are children, creates a budget. Why do I recommend that? It’s about one word – control. Spending money without any sense of how much you have left or what other outgoings need to be paid for is a fast track to stress and ill health. Think of all those celebrities and ex professional sports people who ended up broke; they clearly were not in control of their budget. I do not want you to find yourself in the same position.

A Budget that You Can Stick To

Mindset Shift

I want you to start with a mindset shift, budgeting is something that will stay with you for the rest of your life. The right budget will give you peace of mind and a sense of well being. If we return to the food analogy, I want you to think of budgeting as eating healthier forever rather than going on a ‘financial diet’ for the short term. We all know what happens when people come off diets, they usually regress and lose the gains that they’ve made.

Start of with a Simple Spreadsheet

I know you do not want to start from the very beginning so click on this link to download a free household budget template. Print off your last two monthly bank statements and examine all your expenditure. If you do not know your monthly income, print off your last two payslips. Now record all the details required to complete your spreadsheet.

Image credit: http://www.excelfunctions.net/

You can download this budget template to use here. To change the currency on the template follows these instructions.

I always find it helpful to list mandatory expenditure above discretionary expenditure and savings. Mandatory expenditure includes your mortgage / rent and bills. Your mortgage or rent is likely to be the largest single expense in your budget. Discretionary expenditure includes entertainment and non- essential shopping items, saving is self -explanatory.

Budget For A Better Future

There are far more complicated spreadsheets available, but this is a good place to start. Having a plan for the month financially will make a big difference to how you feel. Sticking within your allocated amounts for each category will make you feel good. In time, you can add in additional considerations as you grow more confident working with your budget.

Apply the 50/30/20 Rule

It was US Senator and academic Elizabeth Warren who popularised the 50/20/30 budget rule in her book “All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan.” She co authored her book with her daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi. Once taxes have been allocated, the rule is to spend 50% of your net income on needs, 30% on wants and to transfer 20% to savings. Above, I have referred to these categories as mandatory, discretionary and savings.

I have great news! Once you filled out your budget, you have done most of the actual work. In the future, you will need to refer to it, tweak it, add extra details about new income or items or expenditure, but on the whole it won’t change very much. In most cases, it is possible to live within your budget and to plan effectively for future additional expenditure around Summer or Christmas time.

Do you have a budget already? Are you managing to stick to it? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

How to get Value for Money When Buying Foreign Currency

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal

Best regards,

Mike

How to get Value for Money When Buying Foreign Currency

How to Teach Your Children About Money

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: http://chillmaadi.com/

Few adults have truly mastered money and yet it is incumbent on adults who are also parents to teach their children about money. Parents are the number one influence on children’s future financial behaviour. If parents always seemed to be concerned about money or the lack of it, this is what their children will learn. However, by being proactive and intentional about the lessons we teach our children, we can set them up for future financial success. Below I have listed six key points that you can teach your children that will help them understand money. They have certainly helped me explain money to my son, I hope those of you who have children find them useful too.

Teaching Children About Money

Making a Choice

Explain to your child that you have a limited amount of money, it could be £10 or $10. The next step is for you and your child to decide to buy product x or product y, because you cannot afford to buy both.Those of you who have studied microeconomics, will recognise this as the ‘opportunity cost’ attached to the decision. This is a great way to introduce needs and wants too.

It’ is good for children of all ages to understand the need to make a choice between the two. Use it with real world examples when you are out and about. This website is great resource for explaining money to your children. Please make use of it.

Now or Later

Slightly more difficult to explain to many children is the concept of delayed gratification. Instead of buying something now, why not save your pocket money/ birthday money and save up to buy a larger item in a few weeks’ time? If a look of incredulity comes onto your child’s face, do not worry, you’re not alone. Once again, demonstrate with practical examples from their daily life.

Managing Pocket Money and Expenditure

Another great financial lesson is encouraging your children to have some financial freedom to make their own choices. If you are able, allow them to ‘earn’ pocket money by keeping their room tidy and helping out with chores. The money they earn is theirs and they should budget, save and donate; the remainder can be spend as they see fit. Please explain that if they deposit their money into a savings account it has a chance to grow because of the interest. Money stored in a piggy bank will not of course.

Financial Rationale & Commentary

I provide my son with a financial rationale for financial choices to build up his knowledge and help him to understand concepts such as value for money. For example, I have explained why I filled up the car with fuel at the local petrol station ahead of a long journey instead of at motorway services. Today, he told me that he would buy a Ferrari if he had the money so I’m not sure if everything I’ve said has been taken on board. 🙂

Regular Saving and Compound Interest

This website is a great resource that will help you explain to you child how compound interest works over time. The great amounts that can be created by regular saving and compound interest, as demonstrated by the website’s calculator tool should excite them.

As your children get older, over 14 years of age from example, there will be many opportunities to have specific discussions around money. Some may relate to the costs of higher education or how to sensibly use credit and debit cards. I will not be able to cover them all in this post.

How have your discussions with your children about money been? Were there any areas they struggled with? Let me know how in the comments section below.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal

I hope you have found this information useful. Thank you for reading.

Best regards,

Mike

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal

How to get Value For Money When Buying Foreign Currency

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Many of you will have realised at one point or another that you have not received a good deal when exchanging your hard earned Sterling for foreign currency.

In many cases, a zero percent commission might be accompanied by a transaction charge that you were unaware of. There may have been hidden fees that you only realised when you received your credit card or bank statements a few weeks later.

This experience is very common, I have been through it myself. It’s not a great feeling. If you are still buying foreign currency from your bank, the post office or worst of all, at the airport, you should stop now. The same applies for expensive travellers cheques.

via GIPHY

Exchanging your currency at the airport will result in a less than favourable exchange rate and fees. It’s similar to buying fuel for your car at motorway services instead of at your local supermarket prior to starting your journey.

Value For Money Foreign Currency

So, how should you buy foreign currency? Lets start with a slight mind-shift, shall we? You don’t actually need lots of foreign currency before you travel.

Instead buy a minimal amount of foreign currency for taxis from the airport and light snacks. Buy this minimal amount from the best currency exchange you can find. This is a good place to search.

A month or so before you travel, apply for and receive a specialist credit card that allows you to spend in your required currency without fees.

This Revolut card is a great example. The card allows you to spend fee free with the real exchange rate in over 130 currencies.

It’s not the only option, The Halifax Clarity Card is similar. Please ensure you research them and apply for the one that best suits your needs.

These two steps should ensure that you get value for money when buying foreign currency and spending abroad. Feel free to let me know how you get on in the comments section below.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

My aim with each blog post is to help you move to a better financial future. I believe that financial education is largely absent from the national curriculum and I intend to share anything helpful that I have learned along the way. I am by no means a financial expert. None of the information on this website constitutes financial advice and is provided as general information only. This is my personal finance blog; my marketing blog is over here and I have been blogging there since 2010.

I hope you have found this information useful. Thank you for reading.

Best regards,

Mike

Image credit: https://www.prestwick-airport-guide.co.uk/

Save up to £500 per year with a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

The lure of a new shiny mobile phone is very effective at keeping many people overpaying mobile phone companies. In most cases, customers upgrade to a new handset because they want to have the latest iPhone or Samsung handset. This is more to do with ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ rather than any new technical need. I have discussed this with friends and colleagues and have asked them the question, ‘What is it that your new phone can do that your current phone can’t?’ Most are stumped and cannot think of anything.

Rather than upgrading your phone for the sake of it when your contract runs out, why not consider a sim only mobile phone deal ? This means that you keep your existing phone and pay only for the text, call and data allowance that you select.

How to Select a Sim Only Deal

The process I went through to achieve this saving started with me calling my existing mobile phone company and asking them to review my recent call, text and data usage over the last 3 to 4 months. This only took a few minutes, once I’ d reviewed my actual usage it was clear that the most appropriate sim card only deal would cost me around £15 per month.

Please note, most of my work is online and because of that I probably need more data than you. It is likely that you will be able to follow the same process that I did and find an appropriate Sim conly deal for around £10 per month; there are even some available for £5 per month. When I switched to a sim only deal, I started saving £40 per month which equates to £480 per year. You can start searching for sim card only deals here via this link.

The money that you save could go towards paying off a debt or into one of one of your savings accounts. That choice is up to to you.

If you have enjoyed this post you will also like the following posts:

I hope you have found this information useful. Thank you for reading.

Best regards,

Mike

Image credit: http://www.smarttouchpro.com/

What’s the Best Strategy for Clearing Debts?

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: https://www.bloemfonteincourant.co.za/

It’s no coincidence that debt is a four letter word. As adults, we understand that debts are something we should eradicate from our lives as much as possible. There are different forms of debt of course; mortgage and student loan debts are deemed acceptable by most, whereas credit card debts and loans are not. It’s not a mystery how debt occurs, it is simply a result of spending more money than you have whether in the short term or on an ongoing basis. Debt can have far reaching psychological effects on people and unfortunately many people struggle to cope with the pressure it brings. If you feel this way, please contact the National Debt line via this link.

Strategy for Clearing Debts

Paying debts off can be a fantastic experience, which is quite strange when you consider there is nothing tangible at the end. There is no trophy, certificate or awards ceremony for paying off a debt. What is the best strategy for paying off debts? Individual circumstances may vary of course, but broadly speaking the approach I have outlined below is a good one for most people.

Calculate the Total Amount that You Owe

Be intentional about this, create a spreadsheet with all your debts and interest rates listed. It may not be pleasant reading but facing up to the full extent of your debts is a great first step.

Work Out Which Debt ‘Costs’ You More

In most cases this will be the debt with the highest interest rate. It is likely to be a credit card, they tend to have higher interest rates and cost more. The worst of your credit cards should be your focus. Prioritise this card for any payments you make towards debt without jeopardising your monthly budget.

If Possible Make Minimum Payments on Other Debts

I know, this is easier said than done of course; you may be presented with the choice of paying more of a costlier debt at the expense of missing a payment for a less costly debt. In that situation, I would pay more of the costlier debt. Ultimately, you will reduce your worst debt quicker that way.

Communicate with Your Creditors

Be careful with how much information you communicate to your creditors for this reason, you cannot predict how each will react. ‘Radio silence’ is not an option but proceed with caution. Let’s imagine that you have been made redundant. I don’t need to imagine because that has happened to me. When you tell some of creditors they may be sympathetic and give you some additional flexibility whilst you get back on your feet. However, some will now categorise you as ‘high risk’ and this will affect your credit rating and access to money even for basic essentials.

Be Consistent and Keep up the Momentum

You may be tempted to reward yourself for making progress reducing your debts. In principle this is fine, but my recommendation would be that the celebration is extremely low cost; your favourite bar of chocolate rather than a bottle of champagne, for example.

Peer Group Support

If you know of other people who are on a similar debt reduction journey form a group with them and support each other. It will strengthen your resolve. There are also lots of online communities, websites and podcasts that will give you additional support. Make use of them.

If you follow the steps above you will reduce your debt and by being consistent you will reach the day when you are debt free. On that day, I think you definitely should upgrade your reward or celebration. You will have earned it.

One final consideration for you, in the United States there is a personal finance guru called Dave Ramsey. Rather than the approach I have outlined above, he advocates starting with the smallest debt irrespective of the interest rate in what he calls the Debt Snowball. His rationale is that your Debt Snowball builds momentum and helps you to keep going.

If you have liked this post you will also like the following posts:

How to get Value for Money When Buying Foreign Currency

I hope you have found this information useful. Thank you for reading.

Best regards,

Mike

10 Ways to Make Money Now

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Image credit: Getty Images/Peter Cade/The Image Bank

Planning how to save money and considering how much to save are important topics to consider but sometimes on our financial journey we need to make money in a short space of time. Below I have listed 10 ways that you can do this in a fairly short time span. The quickest are at the top. I have not included surveys that will take you hours to complete or anything that feels like a scam or is misleading. I hope that if you find yourself needing extra cash (we’ve all been there), one of these suggestions helps you out.

Make Money Now

1. Sell Unwanted Items

Sell unwanted items on Gumtree or Ebay. My preference is for Gumtree because of its local focus. You are less likely to get ‘tyre kickers’ who are not really interested in buying. I have used Gumtree many times and it’s a great way to declutter your house and earn extra cash at the same time.

2. Sell Unwanted CDs and Books

There is a company called Music Magpie who will buy your CDs, books, games and DVDs. First of all, you scan all of your items using your mobile phone and then receive confirmation of the amount you will receive for each item. Next you pack all of your items and send off to them for free. They pay when they have received your items and processed.

3. User Testing

Some websites will pay you money to review comapny websites and give your feedback in the form of a short video. UserTesting is probably the most well known of these but there are others. Enroll is an example of one of the others.

4. Get Paid to Switch Bank Account

The introduction of the Current Account Switching Service in 2013 has made switching between banks very simple. Over 4 million accounts have been switched since then . Banks are offering incentives for account holders to switch to them. Fed up with how your bank has been treating you? Make a switch; even if you’re not fed up make a switch to pocket up to £150 just by moving your current account.

5. Ad Hoc Gardening Help

This is a great suggestion for Spring and Summertime. Create a flyer offering your services as a garden labourer and post through local letterboxes of homes with gardens that need a little TLC. You will not need to be an expert gardener. Often these will be gardens of those who are either too busy or unable to complete garden maintenance work for some other reason. Most will be appreciative of your flyer and you are likely to earn money for a couple of hours work for every person that agrees.

6. Hire Out Your Car

If you have a car that is not too old and you are not using it all the time, you may be able to hire it out on an hourly or daily rate. Easycar offer this service nationally in the UK ; it enables car owner to earn money from their car by renting it out.

7. Rent out Your Parking Space

If you are a homeowner and you have a parking space that you don’t use you could rent it to motorists looking for a guaranteed place to park. There are lots of companies catering to this niche. You could advertise your space on YourParkingSpace, JustPark or Parklet to name but three and go on to make between £50 and £300 per month.

8. Hire Out Your Spare Room

The Rent a Room scheme was introduced in 1993 and because of it homeowners can earn up to £7,500 a year tax free by getting a lodger. You can register your room for free on Spareroom or Easyroommate. Your room will need to be furnished and you will need a tenancy agreement.

9. Medical Trials

Perhaps the most controversial inclusion on this list. When people think of medical testing they remember horrific cases when things have gone wrong. Most medical tests are nothing like that. Before participating you would need to consult with medical professionals to assess whether you are right for any specific trial. Medical trials that require you to stay on the premises, like the ones organised by FluCamp can earn participants up to £3,500 for a two week trial. There are lots of other companies running similar trials all over the country.

10. Apply for a Job With a High Turnover of Staff

The best example of a job with a high turnover of staff is a nightshift shelf stacker at your local large supermarket. The unsociable hours mean that it is the sort of job that people are often leaving. As a consequence, there is likely to be a vacancy for you. If you can handle the unsociable hours it may help you earn additional cash during your time of need. This link will get you started. I will cover employment opportunities comprehensively in future posts but wanted to mention this opportunity now.

Of course, you will need to assess the tax implications of any additional income that you are able to generate. This article will give you some guidance.

If you have liked this post you will also like the following posts:

Save up to £500 Per Year With a Sim Only Mobile Phone Deal