What is Your Why? Setting your financial goals is not a simply a process of deciding how much money you need. Examples of common financial goals are: To save $5,000 over the next year To save $500,000 for retirement To have a passive income of $50,000 a year Goals such as these are unlikely to be achieved. That’s because money has no intrinsic value; its value comes from what it is used for. Unless you are clear a...

Get to Know Your Investments It is not uncommon for investors, particularly those in superannuation or retirement savings schemes, to be unfamiliar with how their money is being invested. All too often, there is disillusionment when the investment does not perform in line with the investor’s expectations. In most cases, this is not because the investment has been a poor performer, but because the investor either had unr...

Advice for Kids Leaving Home There are times as a parent when you look forward to the day your children head off into the world to make their own way. When that day comes, it often comes with worries about how your children will cope with life as adults, and in particular whether they will succeed financially. Here are three basic principles to teach your children before they leave home. Set a limit for spending on non...

Turn Resolutions into Reality A New Year, a new start and resolutions to get fit, lose weight and spend less. Every year it is the same story. The trouble is, most people fail to understand how to turn resolutions into reality, so nothing changes. There are some very simple ways of making sure you achieve your goals. Avoid making high level, non-specific goals. If you want to save money, think about how much you want to s...

Declutter Your Money Holiday time is a great time to declutter. As well as cleaning out your cupboards and wardrobe, it’s a good idea to do some housekeeping on your financial affairs. Start with your bank accounts. Do you have accounts you seldom use? It is best to have all your accounts at one or two banks rather than three or four, especially if you use internet banking to track your spending. Having too many account...

Grow Rich Gratefully One of the most important lessons learned by our forebears in the Great Depression was to be grateful for whatever you have. There is nothing like experiencing disastrous financial times to make us painfully aware of the potential for future hardships. Focussing on what you have rather than what you don’t have increases feelings of happiness and contentment and reduces the urge to spend. Our forebea...

Spending your Nest Egg There comes a time in life when you have to flick the spend/save switch from saving to spending. If you have been careful with your money during your working life, it can be hard to spend and watch your savings dwindle. Spend too much and you might run out of money; spend too little and it will be your children who get the benefit of your life savings. There are three phases to retirement which each...

The True Cost of Lunch People who complain about not having enough money to enjoy life are often guilty of spending their money on things that aren’t important to them but which make them feel good for a few brief moments. The classic example of this is money spent on takeaway food and drink, especially lunches and coffee breaks at work. If you spend $10 a day on lunch, that’s $50 a week. If you ‘brown bag’ your l...

Make Smart Financial Decisions Life is full of financial decisions. Whether you are deciding how much to spend on your holiday, how to finance your car purchase, which house to buy, or how to invest your nest egg, the consequences of your choices can have a lasting impact on your financial future. Sometimes the way things work out is a matter of luck, but rather than leave your life to chance, here’s how to be smart wit...

The Plight of Charities It’s been a rough year for charities and my guess is that over the next year, some very worthy organizations will be forced to close up shop. There are many factors working against charities at present: The Christchurch Earthquake has sucked up a huge amount of money from the big charitable trusts, leaving little behind for charities who have in the past relied on those trusts for funding. Go...