We can all benefit from making financial resolutions at the start of the new financial year. Here are five tips to help you.
Revitalise your goals
This tip is all about your lifestyle objectives. Goal setting is the engine room of your financial plan and provides the motivation and drive behind any of your financial activities. That means that regularly reviewing them can help keep you motivated.
The key to great goal setting is to make them concrete. That means making them specific by writing them down and making them as precise as possible. Of course it needs to be realistic too. It pays to get some help so speak to a financial planner about your overall plan to get an objective viewpoint and assist with quantifying and prioritising goals.
Target your bad habits
If goals are the engine room of your financial plan, habits are the fuel. A habit can be defined as turning some form of behaviour into an automatic action. Positive habits such as saving a certain amount each fortnight or paying your credit card on time each month can improve your financial situation and your sense of achievement.
Reduce costs and invest in knowledge
It’s all too easy to become complacent and have our hard earned dollars frittered away through unnecessary costs. Find out about getting a better deal on your home loan, car and home insurance, electricity and phone and internet accounts.
You should also invest in areas that will improve your skills and grow your longer term financial situation. It might be buying a book, subscribing to a magazine, going to a seminar or picking the brains of a financial planner. Any and all of these things can improve your financial literacy and generate financial gains that can be multiple times the initial cost.
Smarten up your super
Super is one of the most tax-effective avenues for investors. Make this financial year the year that you take control of your super and maximise your position. Tools and tactics such as salary sacrificing, consolidating your funds, making deductible personal contributions and reviewing your investment profile all make a big impact. Talk to a financial planner about doing an audit on your super strategy to help pinpoint areas of opportunity.
Reward yourself when you succeed
Make sure you reward yourself when you achieve a goal. Build in a specific reward such as dinner out at a special restaurant if you complete six months of your new savings goal. Just make sure your reward is proportional to your goal!
Bridges Financial Services Pty Ltd (Bridges). ABN 60 003 474 977. ASX Participant. AFSL 240837. This is general advice only and has been prepared without taking into account your particular objectives, financial situation and needs. Before making an investment decision based on this information, you should assess your own circumstances or consult a financial planner or a registered tax agent. Examples are illustrative only and are subject to the assumptions and qualifications disclosed. Part of the IOOF group. In referring customers to Bridges, Summerland Credit Union does not accept responsibility for any acts, omissions or advice of Bridges and its authorised representatives.
