THE ‘S’ WORD …… SSSSSSAVING! WE’LL HELP U DO IT

It’s a word many of us don’t hear often, a word that most of us aren’t overly familiar with…The ‘S’ word! These days we r all so tempted by life’s little pleasures & with the cost of just living to survive so high it’s very hard 2 save. Being the incredible individuals that we are we’ve collaborated a list of tips to help you get your saving under control.

1. Reduce the amount of credit cards you use. Credit cards can easily distract you from a savings plan.  Failing getting rid of the dreaded card, pay your card off before the interest free period ends. Let the banks lend you money for nothing – which they do for up to 55 days. Interest rate charges accumulate quickly. By the same token, so long as you’re paying it off each month, put as much as you can on the credit card to qualify for loyalty points that can save you money. (Don’t do this if it makes you spend more easily).
2. Find something to give up! If you smoke cut down or give up. If you go out twice a week, go out once a week.
3. Plan to save small amounts of money on a regular basis.
4. Draw up a budget setting out your income and expenses.
5. Overall no matter what bank account you choose or whether or not you decide to invest in higher returning assets it is essential that you devise a good savings plan and stick to it. This will make saving a lot easier and faster. You’ll have your deposit with a lot less stress. Then you can usually relax a bit knowing that the mortgage payments will impose a savings discipline on you even if you don’t build up a lot more money in the bank, or the home loan.
   Small amounts of regular savings can lead to an impressive total over time and will demonstrate your consistent saving to a lender.
6. You also need to find the right vehicle in which to put your savings. Generally the banks will tell you that you need to choose between transaction accounts – with low interest but low transaction fees and savings accounts with higher interest but higher transaction fees. Indeed a number of financial journalists say the same thing.But there are some tricks. If you’re prepared to use B-Pay and other internet based technologies for payments, you can get accounts with low or zero fees but high interest rates. (Also, if you don’t have a cheque book you can avoid banking taxes.)
7. Access to your money is always a bonus if you are house hunting. However, if you are likely to be tempted to spend the money you’ve saved, you might want to tie it up. Various savings accounts provide penalties for early withdrawal as do term deposits.Another option, which is routinely ignored for the purposes of saving for a deposit is share investment. Share investment generates higher returns on average than most other normal investments, but it also is more volatile and comes with higher costs of establishment – brokerage etc. This means that you can lose some of your capital if you are unwise or unlucky.

   So the share option is not for everyone. But if you are young and you don’t mind if things go against you, or waiting a little to buy your house as your shares recover then you might like to pile your savings into a unit trust. If the fund goes well, you save more money. The upside is that in most occasions this will help you achieve your deposit sooner, so long as you understand that if you’re unlucky it could take longer!

8. In some ways the important thing is not what you invest in – though investing in your own home is tax advantaged and a very good asset to own yourself. Whilst we live in a capitalist economy, it’s important to get some of that capital and get it working for you – rather than hiring it from others. That means the sooner you get into the savings habit, the sooner you’ll get on top of things financially.

There’s no time like now folks! Good luck with your savings & we cannot wait to see you knocking on our door soon to buy that property, piggy bank in hand!