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Be a boss of money matters this year by giving up the resolutions and drawing up a money checklist. It could make 2018 your most prosperous year yet.
It’s the New Year and chances are you’ve set a few money-based resolutions. The trouble is, even the best intentions often fail to make it past Australia Day. So this year try a different approach. Bypass the resolutions and draw up a money checklist instead.
Your money checklist represents personal goals that individually, and collectively, improve your finances. Take some time to think about what would really make a difference to your financial wellbeing (no, we’re not talking Lotto wins), then follow our three-step guide to make your money checklist a personal blueprint for a prosperous 2018.
1. Pick your top three goals
For your money checklist to work it pays to stick to a small number of achievable goals. Select the three goals that matter most to you, rank them in order of importance, and write them down. Presto! You have the beginnings of a money checklist.
2. Set realistic targets
Next, refine those goals. Start by making them specific. If ‘saving more’ is at the top of your checklist, think about how much you can afford to save. Could you manage $20 a week or even $50 a week? Setting measurable targets makes it far easier to stick to your goal.
If reducing debt is on your checklist, consider which debt you want to pay off first. Your credit card is likely to come with the highest interest rate so it makes sense to make this your top priority.
Take the same approach if you’re keen to reduce the balance of your home loan. A goal like ‘I will pay an extra $10,000 off my home loan this year’ is a lot more concrete than ‘I’ll pay off more of my mortgage’.
3. Make it happen
The key to ticking off each goal on your money checklist is to have a plan of action in place. Here’s how you do it.
Remember that goal to grow savings by $20 each week? Make it effortless by setting up an automatic transfer to move $20 out of your transaction account into a savings account every week. Do the same with payments used to trim debt – you don’t have to wait until the monthly payment date to make extra repayments on a home loan or credit card.
If you’re struggling to find the cash to achieve your goals, start challenging your expenses. Plenty of apps are available like the free TrackMySpend app that show where your money goes. It’s a great way to identify where you can cut spending and really get back on track financially.
Finally, take a step closer to ticking off each goal on your money checklist by checking you’re getting a good deal on financial products. It’s a lot harder, for instance, to clear the slate on a credit card charging 20% interest when you could pay less than 12% with other cards.
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