Best Top 10 Financial Tips in Year 2019
Here are some useful tips for your financial planning, before year end, and help you on your money management for the coming new year. Have you ever felt you always have limited resources (money) and until now you still have not gone to that dream vacation of yours? Take a look at the following tips, hope it will help you better manage your finances.
1. Pay Off Credit Card Debt
You do not have to wait till every month end before settling your credit card debt. Create a habit in paying off your credit card once you had made a purchase with it. this way it will control you from overspending. credit card debt is the number one obstacle to getting ahead financially. It is so easy to use, and also easy to forget that it is real money we are dealing with when we paywave with them for a purchase, large or small.
2. Save Like a Kid
When I was a kid, I have a piggy bank, always contribute into it whenever I had money left from my S$1/day allowance. Eventually money in my piggy bank started to accumulate and I will use this money to purchase the toy I wanted. When a certain toy that may cost more than what my piggy bank had, I will patiently accumulate to the required amount and make my purchase. But as we get older, our purchase cost a lot more, and with the availability of loans and credit facility easily available, we started to drop the habit of saving. Start to save like a kid again, cultivate a saving habit it will benefits you in the long run.
3. It Is About How Much You Save That Matters Most
Do you know of anyone who seem to make a lot of money but always complain about not having enough? It is not about how much you make; it is about how much you save. One may earn 10 times more than you but he spends 90% of his income in partying and entertainment and remaining 10% on bills every month. Eventually you will be richer than him when you save more than he does. Thus, spend less than you earn and save 20% of your income.
4. Invest!
Have you ever heard of someone who had make it “big” as they had invested their money in the stock and share? Most often when we hear the word invest, we will think of equity (stock and share). Here I will want to remind you to invest in yourself. As the year is coming to an end, and now is the time to reflect and research upon yourself, what is the best investment on yourself for the coming in 2020. It may be a course related to your career which will enhance your chances in a promotion and pay increment. Or a book or a workshop which will further strengthen your talent, and might eventually turn into a new business opportunity.
5. Set Your Budget Right
What is the largest purchase in your life till date? Mine will be my home. I always wanted my own home, and after many years of saving I purchase it at last! And then comes the renovation and furniture shopping (it was all so fun!). It is so easy to overspend when come to spending in our dream home, car, luxury goods or even wedding dinner. We have to set our budget right, plan according to our liking and budget, without having the objective just wanting to impress other or plan base on how other people might see you thus severely scratched your budget.
6. Contribute to a Retirement Plan
Have you ever told yourself that, you are too young to plan for your retirement, there are still time to plan in the future? Retirement planning takes time, so it is best to start as early as possible, so you will be able to complete your plan in your early 40’s and even have an early retirement. There are many ways to do it, the piggy bank method, but you do not earn any interest. Have a fixed deposit with the bank, you will earn some interest. Both methods do save your money, but a formal retirement plan will be able to provide you with a guarantee stream of monthly or annual income, no matter where you are, what you do or what condition you are in, that other saving methods will not be able to provide.
7. Have a Savings Plan
You may already have heard it before, pay yourself first before you pay your bills. Set aside 20% of your income every month before you pay your bills and make your shopping purchases. If you wait until you have met all your other financial obligations before saving what is left over, chances are you will never have a healthy savings account or investments. Better yet, obtain a flexible endowment saving plan which provide a yearly cash benefits option from the 2nd policy anniversary year, which you can withdraw from when you need the money, while earning interest. Seek help from your friendly financial consultant or contact me for a holistic financial planning strategies.
8. Review Your Insurance Coverages
Have you ever made life insurance your last priority, even though you know it is important? You are not alone, honestly, I started my life insurance planning at a later stage of my life. As my parents are boomers, they do not leverage on insurance, and certainly they did not obtain any life insurance or children education saving plan for me went I was born, as compare to current generation of parents. There are many types of life insurance and income protection insurance. For life insurance there are whole life insurance, term life insurance and whole life term life insurance, you might want to find out more on types of life insurance comparison. Do at least a yearly review on your insurance coverage, or whenever you are going through a significant life event, like marriage, having kids, getting your new home, etc. Leverage on life insurance to protect your dependents with death coverage and if you are single without any dependents, focus more on income protection insurance and total and permanent disability benefits. As we will all grow old one day, and inevitably will fall sick and passed on eventually. Growing old and fall sick is a painted perfect situation, the truth is what if we start to fall sick in the mid of growing old? Leverage on income protection insurance when you are unable to earn an income due to illnesses, seek help from your friendly financial consultant or contact me for a holistic insurance planning strategy.
9. Create a Will
Having a will certainly be helpful If you have dependents, no matter how little or how much you own. If your situation is not too complicated you can even do your own. And remember to make your nomination for your life insurance policies, as this will make claim process much faster.
10. Pay for Quality Products and Services
Have you ever encountered or heard of a terrible renovation job done to their new dream home? Often, we want to save our money and engaged a cheaper interior designer or contractor for our office or home renovation, and eventually they could not delivery and cost us more money in the end. Do not save on quality, as long as it is within your budget get the best you can get, else save a little longer for it. If the situation does not allow to wait any longer, get the next best in line. By obtaining quality services and products, it will save your more money and less headaches in the long run.
One Last Thing
Remember, you do not need any fancy degrees or special background to become an expert at managing your own finances. The above tips are what I had experienced and encountered throughout my life and my clients’ life. Some of the above tips may resonate with you some may not. Therefore, I had created another 16 financial tips for your reference, hope it will help you in managing your financial seamlessly.
Note: Opinions expressed are solely in Mr. Chan Kong Meng’s personal capacity and neither express the views or opinions of Prudential nor represent any professional advice in Mr. Chan Kong Meng’s capacity as a PACS representative.