Every New Year we make resolutions to eat better, get slimmer and finally go travel the world in Eat, Pray, Love fashion. But have you thought about your financial resolutions?
We could all use them, especially if we spent a little bit more than we could afford over the festive season. Let’s take a look at some of the best financial resolutions to make.
Budget, budget, budget:
The same way you hear: “location, location, location” when it comes to business, the same way budget, budget, budget applies to personal finance. Keep all your slips for the next month, check your bank statements of the last six months to see exactly where your money is going.
Then decide where you can cut your spending and save some extra cash.
Pay off your debt:
Start with the store card, credit card, or personal loan that has the highest interest rate and pay it off as soon as you can. Once you’ve paid one card off, take the money from that installment and put it towards paying off another debt.
Carry on the trend until you are free of your short term debt, the quicker, the better.
Re-evaluate your cover
Everything from medical aid to short-term insurance should be reviewed at least once a year. Use the comparison service offered by Justmoney.co.za to find the medical aid and insurance cover that is best and the most affordable.
Plan for retirement
In 2010, there was a lot of noise being made about people not being ready for retirement, despite having a work provident or pension fund. Speak to one of our experts or use our retirement calculator to see exactly how much you should be putting aside and chat to one of our consultants to find out how you can actually make this happen.
Get a better mortgage rate or consolidate your debt
If your credit record is in good standing and you have been paying off your mortgage on time every month, then you might be able to consolidate your short-term debt into your homeloan. If you don’t have any short-term debt but you are paying and high interest rate on your mortgage, you might want to consider remortgaging your home.
Ask for help
If you are paying off more debt than the money you are getting in every month, you need to get help. The first thing you need to do is admit to yourself that you have a problem and ask for help. Speak to one of our debt experts to find out exactly what your options are and you can not only reduce your monthly debt repayments, but also become debt free.