manage my finances

Nice surprise at work, received a bonus. I’ll look at options tomorrow, for where I should put that money. I could either…
*Invest it
*Put it in the travel fund
*Use it for singing lessons
I’m thinking I’ll go with the investing option, as I’m going fine and have enough to do the other things as it is. But the other options look good too. Flights are well priced at the moment. Will have a sleep on it zz :)

I just discovered my bank I have my major savings with has been steadily decreasing their interest rates for the last 6 months. Their marketing campaigns advertising their high interest rates were the reason I joined them.
Now I want out.
I’m going to look into term deposits tomorrow and try to explore ways I can make this money work for me.

As it’s the second half of the calendar year, and beginning of the new financial year, I felt like checking on my progress. (this will be a long entry, so maybe grab a drink first if you do plan to read it;)

Taking Stock
I’ve just checked the balances of all my accounts, and if I also include the money in my daily account, I’m hovering at the amount that I had as my mid year financial target. Once my next pay is allocated I will be sitting comfortably above that amount, so things are going well.

Budgeting
When my pay comes in, and I’ve calculated my bills and savings, I work out a daily budget. Admittedly I have sometimes completely ignored the budget until 2 weeks into the month, then I have to be super strict to get back on track. But I feel very much “on top” of my savings and budget. I think I’ve struck the right balance in how much I should save and how much I can spend.

Recent Progress
-Sorting out one of my accounts that had been locked up (due to the bank’s error). I had put this off for years! It took a couple of visits, but not only is the account now starting to earn interest, the bank actually credited the fees that account had been attracting. That doesn’t happen every day!
-I’ve finally learned how to do internet banking, so I’ve saved time where I otherwise would be needing to physically go to the bank
-I’ve set up my payments and savings several months ahead through my internet banking. I feel so organised, yay

Advice/Influences
I haven’t exactly been looking very hard, but I have not yet found an advisor to help me accelerate my savings plan. I have a couple of friends and a cool cousin who I like to talk finance with. Also done some reading up on personal finance.

Rewarding myself
I rewarded myself with two handbag purchases this month :) Also made a few concert ticket purchases. The main reward to myself this year is the money I’ve invested in doing short courses. I think I’ll always have a course of some sort to look forward to.

Holidays
I’m trying to be much more clever about my holiday spendings. I have a holiday fund, and I will try to only use money from that when I travel. I entertained the idea of going overseas this year, but at this stage I feel it’s much more important to build my wealth than go away. Will take 1 or 2 interstate trips this year, and still should be able to comfortably have a trip overseas within next 12 months

Major goals
Buying property, looking at other investments (ie. shares), a vehicle, major trips are the major goals I have in mind

Where to from here?
-I need to sort out my health cover, and work out if it’s worthwhile to get private cover (it probably is, but I’ve not ever had it. Don’t miss what I never had)
-Read the rest of those personal finance books on my shelf
-Try to get some more clarity on what I want! My visualising goal will help with this
-Go to bed! It’s so late. I got carried away, but I must now sleep zzz

Just to keep the finance feng shui energy up, I should list some more financial goals to work on over the next few weeks;

• Establish how much money I have saved to this point. As I have several accounts with different organisations, and need to see where I’m at right now.

• Have a mid year and end of year financial target. If I have a dollar figure to work towards, I think it will be a great motivator

• Educate myself more financially. I have a couple of books about finance that I have not read yet, and need to do so

• Be more organised with expenses like birthdays and events that I am aware of months in advance. I’ll have a look at which birthdays are coming up over next 2-3 months and start planning for them

• Be more organised with my holiday expenditure. This is one area I’ve been known to throw money out the window, due to being disorganised. Last minute flights and accommodation. Not again, unless I’m looking at bargains. I may decide to keep all my holidays local so I don’t put a massive dent in my savings, as I usually tend to do once a year

• A couple of admin things- sort out my internet plan (see if the cheaper option is possible) and organise monthly direct debit into one of the accounts that isn’t attracting monthly bonus interest yet

I’m sure there will be more to add to this, but that should be enough to get me started!

I was not too happy today! It actually takes a lot to really p#$@ me off, but someone managed to do that to me today. The tone of this post is unlike the usual me, and probably going to startle anyone playing at home (I apologise in advance!).

So I’ve been waiting for 2 months to hear back from insurance people regarding setting some insurance up. Not that I even wanted the insurance, the planner was just strongly advising it. So in December we completed a form together which (no exaggeration) took approximately 2.5hrs, and included some very invasive questions regarding my bedroom behaviour. The sorts of questions I wouldn’t expect a doctor, or family or a lover to ask me. That’s 2.5hrs of my life I will never get back, and the violation had me feeling like I needed to take a long shower to recover.

Putting that aside, they had 2 MONTHS to contact me if they had any questions, but not a peep from them. So we contacted them to see what the hold up was. Finally they get back to us to advise there were a couple of questions they did want to ask, and it was implied they thought I was holding back information. WTF?! I provided all my contact details and even ticked the box that said I’m available to be asked questions at work or at home regarding this application.

So I asked Mr Financial Advisor to invite this insurance company to take their policy and stick it. I told him there must be a more professional organisation we can deal with, that attends to their clients a bit more promptly? Surely that was not the only insurance company option that I have? He had no interest in letting me know what other policies exist (I wonder if it has anything to do with the commission structure of that particular policy being a better deal for him?).
So it looks like I’m on the market for another financial advisor now…

Ok, now that’s off my chest, I’d like to focus on the good. Since seeing this advisor late last year, it has sparked some great action in me. Never before have I been so savings focussed as I am now. I think I’ll enter all the good stuff as a separate post to follow. There is a lot to be happy about, and my financial situation is improving every day. Next step, to make my financial situation better than it has ever been. Which is entirely possible this year :)

I’ve not had many “breakthrough” moments this year, so today was really special. I really dig that I am putting proper attention into this goal, and that I am starting to do the best I can with what I have.

I had my second meeting with the financial advisor today. I feel like I crossed a knowledge barrier today, and better still, am developing a new mindset. For years I have been plodding along and saving reasonably well, and managed to avoid any debt traps. However, without any clearly defined financial goals, I have not done too much to use money as a tool to create the life I want (which is a goal I am going to soon adopt).

I had a couple of disasters in the past when seeking financial advice. One I saw a few years ago was really yuk. He was the resident advisor at the bank I used, and the bank were the ones who requested the meeting with me. He had the greasy hair, a condescending manner, and repeated my name over and over again like a mantra (which is a pet hate of mine, and something that makes me truly recoil. I love my name, but I don’t like strangers repeating it like a parrot). Putting that aside, his big proposition to me was to buy into a plan that would see me with the princely sum of 10 grand at the end of 10 years (minus his chunk of commission), and with that money I could buy some rewards for myself, like a sewing machine. I did that without help, buddy, and it didn’t take 10 years!

So I am practically crying tears of joy that I have finally found a decent advisor who doesn’t have hair or behaviour that bothers me. He speaks my language, and concepts of different types of savings are starting to click. It is a breakthrough! Through a couple of meetings, I have taken action with a couple of things all ready. He has made suggestions in some areas, and through our talks I have found myself contributing to the planning process. Hooray!

with financial adviser. It will be good to get some advice rather than have to wing it on my own. I’m all ready doing some good things, like adding to my super when I can. But I only go by guesswork, and I could really use some outside guidance. Also going to try to get my tax done over the next couple of days. It may sound like such a bland and boring goal, but I’m actually pretty excited about it. Looking forward to moving a bit closer towards independence :)

I feel a lot better about my situation since my last entry. Life’s great, and I have nothing to complain about. But I can see areas of improvement, and all ready have some ideas. I was thinking about my dilemma next year. Do I spend all my money on a big adventure and spend most of my savings, or do I continue working and make the deposit grow?
I realise that next year is perfect for me to go on a trip, and I’m not going to deny myself if the timing and situation are right. I have a few months to play with and get on track.

So what I need to do is try to find other ways of generating more income between now and my trip. I’m going to look at Christmas casual work on the weekends, try to cut down unnecessary expenses and look at having a garage sale or market stall. I find those sorts of things fun, and most of my career (except for now) I’ve worked 6 day weeks anyways.

Well I’d better sign off and do some more sewing now;)

My financial situation is by no means dire. I have never been in debt, don’t have credit cards and never have borrowed from the bank. All my belongings, holidays, education so far, have been funded by my earnings.
However, I look at myself at my age and think my attitude towards money needs to be reassessed.
If I keep going at this snail’s pace, yes I will always remain debt free, and enjoy a nice holiday here and there, but not much beyond that.
I feel myself in a bit of a rut, and needing some attention to the way I approach my wealth creation.
I have some goals (visit Portmeirion,visit Europe again,walk the Camino) that I have the funds to do tomorrow if I really want. But jumping on a plane and doing those things would bring my life savings right down to nothing.
On one hand, I think why not spend my money on a car so I can zip around easily, like most people I know. Or why not just hand in my notice at work and get on the plane for my next adventure?
At the end of the day I don’t want to compare my situation to others, but I also don’t want to deny myself of a life just because I’m so darn cautious!
The purpose of this goal is to help me facilitate other goals, and to help me build my wealth so I am not always back at square one after a big holiday etc.
I’ll feel more clarity on this one after reading a couple of personal finance books that I’ve not made time to read yet. I’ll also seek out a financial advisor and look out there for resources that can help me with this.
Well I guess I’m one entry closer to financial freedom. Yay :)