Financial Tips and Advice

Money Management Advice

• Prepare a comprehensive budget taking into account all living costs and repayment amounts you have to make. This is the most important thing to do before you spend any money
• Plan gift buying ahead of time. You will often find suitable gifts at lower prices at sales and you can avoid the rush before holiday periods, such as Christmas time.
• Plan buying a house one or two years beforehand. This will enable you to investigate the most suitable sources of finance, and arrange to satisfy requirements such as a history of saving with a particular institution.
• Be aware of interest free periods on items, check the type of borrowing, is it if you pay it off in the time period no interest, if you do not pay off in time the interest may go back to the start and you will be paying at line of credit charges, it is like a credit card and interest will compound
• Credit card payments, interest charges, interest compounds, don't rely on minimum payment, if you do use credit you must know by your budget that you can afford to pay it back and not incur interest or too much interest.
• Before lodging an insurance claim for the cost of repairing damage to your car, check the future loss of no-claim bonus which this might involve. The insurance payout you receive could be more than offset by the loss in your no-claim bonus.
• You may be able to pay insurance premiums by the month instead of yearly, without incurring a penalty for doing so. It should be easier to pay a small amount each month than a large amount once a year.
• Organisations such as credit unions sometimes have special group arrangements with insurance companies so members can buy home, contents or life assurance at a discount.
• Remember if you buy a mobile phone that it may be on a contract — be careful of this and any disconnection fee if the contracted amounts are not paid