Your Personal Finances Made Easy!

Managing your personal finances, does not have to be difficult or need to be boring, it can be exciting and of course with a little help from me it also can be very easy. I always find the best way to begin is to do a quick review of your personal finances. Start by making a list of every financial product you have, here is a list to get you started:

Transaction accounts

Bank accounts

High Interest Savings accounts

Cheque/Check accounts

Credit cards

Debit Cards

Home loans/Mortgages

Personal loans

Superannuation/Retirement Savings accounts

Shares/Stocks held

Margin Loans

Life Insurance

Income Protection Insurance

Health insurance

Car Insurance

Home & Contents Insurance

Term Deposits/Fixed Interest Deposits

Investments

Investment Loans

Car loans

Note: Some items on this list may not apply to you, it is to be used as a guide to get you thinking about what YOU have.

I am an Aussie, so translate this list if necessary. All products and financial needs are similar across most countries we just sometimes may give different names to our products, you even find this happens between each different financial institution.

The next thing is to list the banking institutions each item on your list is held with.

To make managing your personal finances easy you need to consolidate as much of these things as you can. You will find that the more products you have with an institution the more savings you will get. Most institutions also offer a free financial health check if you are unsure of how to tidy up your finances you should ask about your banker about it. You may be surprised by what they can offer you.

Most insurance providers offer multi-policy discounts, shop around and always ask “is that the best price that you can give me?” You will never know how much this can save you until you try it.

Also you will find that most mortgage providers offer packages which can reduce the fees on credit cards and bank accounts just for having a mortgage. It can’t hurt to ask can it?

Also look at consolidating your superannuation, for each superannuation account you have you will be getting charged fees, consolidating to just one account will save on fees.

Keeping you finances primarily with as little providers as possible is going to make managing your personal finances easy and cost effective. Your fees and premiums will be lower and you will have less places to go.