Tag: money management

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Debt Consolidation Credit Card Consolidation Personal Loans

Saving Money On a Lower Income

saving money on a lower income

There is a range of strategies you can employ to make saving money o. One of the major areas that can save you a lot in the long term is debt consolidation. There are also some other lifestyle choices you can make to improve your financial situation.

Many people think it is all too hard, but everything you do will help, even small changes can make a huge difference. We can all employ a range of measures that will prevent budget blowouts without sacrificing all the things you like doing.

If you are finding yourself on the roller coaster of no savings, bad debt management, poor (or no) budgeting and everything is a bit chaotic, Australian Lending Centre has some tips and tricks to get you out of bad debt employing activities such as debt consolidation, saving and feeling in control again.

First things first – Where Does Your Money Currently Go?

If you don’t yet have a budget, keep a financial diary for your pay period and track how you are spending your money. The Money Smart website offers a great money tracking app to make this easier. This will give you valuable insight into your habits and areas you can save.

  • What are you spending your money on?
  • How much is left over at the end of the pay period?
  • What money needs to go out on payments and bills?
  • Are there any areas of waste or unnecessary spending?
  • Are there areas where you are going backwards and getting into arrears?

Planning and Budgeting  – Where Will Your Money Go?

Once you have a record of what your current spending entails, get online to the Money Smart website and complete the budget tool. Be sure to include all your debts, payments, bills, and income. Mark payments and amounts in your calendar. Most bank online apps have the ability to schedule payments, so they come out when they are due, but if these are also in your calendar you won’t get any unexpected payments coming out. These regular payments can including things like:

  • Mortgage or rent
  • Car payments, car registration and insurance
  • Household/health insurance
  • Credit card payments
  • Loan repayments
  • Store card payments
  • Afterpay/ZipPay (remember that defaulting on these can effect your credit score)
  • Utilities such as gas and electricity (you may want to discuss bill smoothing with your provider – this is a regular payment over time rather than a massive and shocking bill each quarter)
  • Internet and phone

Bad Debts? Talk to the Credit Provider

The bottom line is that companies want to be paid. They are always receptive if you explain your situation, especially if you have, or are, experiencing financial hardship. You may be able to negotiate with them to reduce or put a hold on payments until you get back on top of things. Of course, you still have the pay the money back, but a hiatus on payments can help in the short term. Some credit providers will allow you to reduce the final figure if you can pay the debt outright. If they offer this, it may be time for debt consolidation. If you are too overwhelmed by the phone calls and letters, then talk to us about negotiating on your behalf.

Next Steps – Take Control With Debt Consolidation

When loans and credit cards get beyond what you can cope with in terms of interest and late payments, it might be time to call in help from the experts. Companies like Australian Lending Centre can offer a solution for a bad credit debt consolidation loan. This is where you negotiate with lenders for a reduced payout figure and then apply for a single loan that will cover all your bills in one payment with a lower interest than general credit cards and late payment fees. Having one simple debt consolidation loan payment to go out eat pay period is going to be a lot easier than trying to remember everything. The sooner you simplify your payments, the sooner you will be in an easier financial situation.

Money-Saving Tips

Turn off the TV

Are services like Netflix, Foxtel, Stan, Hayu and the iTunes store getting beyond ridiculous? Try cutting out all but the most popular one, to cut back. Turning off the TV will also help cut back on power and expose you to less spend-inducing ads. You might also have app subscriptions that you don’t need. Although these are small they can add up in a month.

Stop Hoarding and Start Selling

If you have closets full of unwanted clothes, try selling them online. A good clean out also helps you to see what your wearable wardrobe looks like so you can plan your clothes shopping to maximise your shopping budget. Also if you buy anything make sure it goes with the other items in your wardrobe. Take advantage of sales, why pay retail when most clothes will go on sale towards the middle of the season.

Look for those habits that add up

You can cut back on your habits, such as drinking alcohol during the week, smoking (probably goes without saying but your health and budget will thank you), buying coffees, can all save a surprising amount as well as having general health benefits. Limiting your drinking to the weekend can save hundreds a month, depending on your drink of choice. That bottle of wine after work at $15 a night can really add up over the week. Similarly, a $4 coffee each day is $20 a week. Make coffee at home in a keep cup and save money and the environment.

Stop using your credit card

By switching to using your debit card or cash for purchases, you will be more aware of your spending habits. It will also prevent the slide into bad credit debt.

Be frugal at the supermarket

Most of the time, buying in bulk or larger sizes are cheaper over time, so check on the prices for the larger sizes. Don’t shop with kids. Pester power is a thing and can increase your spend at the checkout. Never shop when you are hungry. Buy less meat, which is expensive, and opt for more meat-free alternatives, such as tofu, beans, and pulses.

Eat Smarter

With a busy life, planning meals can be a real chore, but while using services like Uber Eats seems like a good alternative, you are actually paying $5 on top of takeaway prices and it really can add up at the end of the pay period. By shopping in bulk, cooking healthy meals and taking the leftovers to work for lunch, you can save quite a lot each day.

Are You Missing Out On Government Payments You Are Entitled To?

Lastly, make sure you check all your entitlements with regards to government payments. As a low-income earner, you may be eligible for some form of financial support if you aren’t already receiving a government benefit. When every dollar counts it’s worthwhile claiming all you can. To check on payments and entitlements, check out the Department of Human Services. Even a small additional payment may ease your financial burden. Living on a low income is hard, but these payments are designed to help.

Small Changes with Big Returns

Once you have a clearer picture about where your money goes, you make changes to your lifestyle and start on the path to greater financial control, the happier, healthier and less stressed overall you will be.If you need help with debt consolidation, please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.

Note: This information is general, and doesn’t take into account your specific personal and financial circumstances.

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Financial Planning

Tips to Manage Financial Challenges

family facing financial struggles

If you are in a difficult situation facing financial challenges, learning how to properly use loans, for bad credit applicants, can help.

Do you have a steady source of income which covers not only your needs but also your wants as well? If you’re one of the thousands of Australians who want secure finances but are also dealing with financial issues, you may be wondering how you can achieve that reality.

What Are Your Financial Challenges?

Like many individuals in serious debt, you are probably worried about trying to pay for your daily living expenses and outstanding debts, while wishing to buy a home, a car and probably take a vacation. If so, don’t ever think that you’re alone in this aspect. There are also many struggling parents who need to save for your children’s education while paying off debts and adults with elderly parents to support. And, things get worse when you are going through a divorce, dealing with a death in your family or probably looking for a substitute job for the one you recently lost.

The truth is that there are many events in life that test not only our ability to cope financially but to think positively and overcome these trials with a smile.

Use your financing options to manage these financial challenges

Learn how to take control of your finances, boost your borrowing power and secure a better financial life with the following tips:

Write down each of your goals

Are you really determined to pay off all your high-interest loans? Or do you just need to have a better credit rating so you can borrow even more? Sometimes, we don’t actually know what we want. We just keep on looking for solutions to our immediate problems without looking into their root cause.

For example, if you have $5,000 worth of debts, both in consumer credits and loans, do you trace back to the causes of those purchases? Or, do you simply skip the reflection aspect and look for better financing that could lower your interests so you can have more money to spend on your needs and wants?

While there is nothing wrong in looking for better deals, such as low-interest and easy to pay bad credit loans. Finding the root of the problem in your finances can help you make better decisions with regard to budgeting and balancing your sources of revenue.

Swap the present wants for future needs

Are you spending a few hundred dollars on things you can live without—such as a gym membership, magazine subscription and a trip to your favourite coffee shop? If so, think of how you could use the money to build wealth, like starting a retirement plan to secure your finances in later years.

The sooner you start saving for retirement, the more financially secure you can be when you finally stop working. These contributions are typically tax-deductible, so aside from getting a tax credit for starting a retirement plan, you can also grow your money faster because savings grow faster in a retirement plan as a result of tax-free compounding.  In the end, even small contributions can make a significant difference over time.

Diversify your investments

Do you know how to protect yourself against ignorance? Warren Buffet says that it is through ‘diversification’. Since you’re not really sure if an investment will appreciate over time, you should diversify your portfolio to ensure that your exposure to any individual asset is limited.

What are the asset classes that you currently hold?

Are you involved in alternative investments like real estate, or are you simply invested in stocks or bonds?

Instead of chasing performance for a single investment class why don’t you add a good mix of real estate, cash, bonds and stocks in your egg basket? This way, you can protect your financial portfolio from wreaking havoc when the market declines. If you put more than 15% of your money into a company’s stock, you may be heading for disaster. While you may not be thinking of the worst-case scenario, preparing for these things can help you when you lose your job and your other sources of income. Losing your investments as well, all at once is not an easy crash to bounce from.

Grow your wealth

One of the most important benefits of bad credit loans is that you can use it for wealth maximisation. Create a long-term investment strategy that requires adjustment in your personal budgeting and your appetite for risk. This helps to ensure that no major market glitch will pull your finances down. You never know what will happen tomorrow, but one thing is for sure… life goes on and with the right mindset and professional help, you can enjoy a comfortable and financially stable lifestyle.

Contact the Australian Lending Centre today and receive financial advice from our specialist loans team.

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Debt Consolidation Financial Planning News

How to Manage Your Money like a Millionaire

money management||money management tips

How do millionaires make their money, especially when they’re so young? And just as important, how on earth do they manage it? What are their secrets, and can we learn from the methods that they apply?

Well, Capgemini Consulting made it a little easier for us with the report in which they reveal young millionaire money management methods. Do you want to know how to manage your money like an under-40 millionaire? Then keep reading for some valuable tips.

Manage Your Money like a Millionaire

Socially responsible investing

Do you think millionaires invest all willy-nilly? They do not, and they don’t just support the causes dear to their hearts through donations, they also invest in them. That way, they make a hefty return, but they also have a clear conscience, knowing that the cause is a good one.

They usually benefit from the help of a financial advisor, who can tell them what to invest in. And the method is not limited to just millionaires. More and more millennials (two thirds) and about a third of generation x-ers were found to be involved in such socially responsible investments.

Dubbed as a “feel good return”, this allows people to invest without guilt, but they should still retain a balance and not invest everything in just one place, which is a good tip if you want to manage your money like these millionaires.

The case for cash

Studies have found that people who spend cash spend around 12%-18% less than their counterparts who use credit cards. But that’s not why millionaires like cash. In fact, the reasons given were diverse:

  • They want to have money ready for investments
  • They want to have easily-accessible disposable income to spend in order to live the way they desire, including shopping, vacations, eating out, etc.
  • They want to have a means to protect themselves financially, in case of a market crash or a changing market

If you’re looking to manage your money like a young millionaire, going with cash cannot steer you wrong, especially if you have a safety cushion to land on in case times get rough.

Real estate investments

Real estate remains the tried and true of investment, because it offers multiple income sources that are more or less steady. While investing in stocks of a major company can pay out really big, it can also be incredibly risky, so maybe that’s not something to emulate when it comes to how you manage your money. Rental income, by comparison, is safe.

Interesting is that these young millionaires seek their friends’ and their families’ help, but also the Internet’s advice, when it comes to financial matters. Baby Boomers, by contrast, were much more likely to trust a professional with their money and their investments in their future.

This is just one of the signs that money management in traditional ways doesn’t fly anymore. A growing number of millionaires (not only the young set) claimed that they would like to receive automatic advice from a robot, per the same report from Capgemini.

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Debt Management Credit Card Consolidation Home Loans

Credit Card Debt and Mortgages Being Managed Properly

debt consolidation

This year has been a profitable one for Australian credit card debt and mortgages. According to the latest percentages, Aussies seem to be managing much better with their mortgages; their mortgage repayment appears to be going along much better than when compared with the previous year. Reports from the ABS data showed that their credit card debt had already dropped by 2.4% in January.

In the Money Survey from 2016, Mortgage Choice has discovered that at least ¼ of the respondents were faced with almost 12% month’s worth of wages in their offset account or going towards paying their mortgage. When compared to this situation, around 13% of Aussies claimed that they were facing this exact financial position somewhere around last year.

Aussies Can Now Manage their Credit Card Debt

CEO John Flavell has come to the realisation that today’s mortgage holders have become much more comfortable when it comes to dealing with their credit card debt. He also added that this isn’t surprising in the slightest since interest rates are currently standing at 60-year lows, which results in drastic mortgage repayments. This, in turn, makes it easier for homeowners to pay off their debts.

So, it seems Aussie cardholders have become used to managing their card debts, keeping it 34% lower in the month that followed Christmas. Average balances have gone from $77 to $3,114, and the conclusion was that the users are now savvier regarding the use of their credit cards. They are now paying off their debt before their deadlines and maximise their loyalty points by using their cards.

Australians have also become more imaginative when it comes to creating strategies that keep their balance down. They are now mostly opting for cards that have a 0% balance transfer, and thus they can pay off their balances without creating even more debt in return.

Ways to Manage Your Credit Card Debt

In case you were also wondering how to keep track of your credit card repayment, here are some money and credit card tips that could prove very useful.

  • Check your budget and see if you can make some extra mortgage repayments to lower your debt in interest which is going to get built up over time. Find a good strategy that would suit you, or look up for repayment calculators that will allow you to do the necessary calculations.
  • Make your next repayment a little higher than you normally do in order to lower your credit card debt. This way, you will be paying less interest.
  • Make use of features that are relevant to your home loan. Make extra payments to minimise the interest, then redraw the facility to make it convenient for you.

While managing your debts can prove to be difficult at first, with a little bit of research, you can find out ways to properly manage your mortgage and credit card debt.

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Tax Debt Loans & Relief

Tax Time – How to get organised to make most of tax deductions

how to maximize tax deductions

It’s that time of the year again, filing for taxes and making the most of tax deductions. It also marks the end of the financial year.  It’s the time of sending paperwork to their respective accountants, the time when their tax returns must be compiled. Finding needed receipts can be a hassle if not a waste of time, and the situation is not something new to many Australians. In fact it is a routine every year. The general consensus is that paying taxes is a stressful time for most people, but it doesn’t have to be like finding a needle in a haystack every time. With some planning and preparation throughout the year, you can significantly reduce the amount of taxes that you owe.

The months of May and June provide a perfect opportunity to start getting organised and plan to make the most of those tax deductions. The following tips should help to guide you on creating a stress free plan, to get organised and maximise your tax deductions.

Planning for Maximum Tax Deductions

Claim any potential deduction that you are aware of: Know your potential deductions. A deduction is something that reduces the amount of your income that is taxed. These can include charitable donations, job-related expenses, interest paid on student loans and mortgages, energy-efficient home improvements and more. Make sure you keep track of all your assets and claim any potential tax deductions. You can also claim, if you’re into business, a tax deduction on pre-pay or stock up on supplies that you buy regularly like office equipment. Even bad debts are tax deductible. To know more about tax deductions you are eligible for, it is best that you review your tax form.

Know Potential credits you are eligible for: Being eligible for credits on taxes entitles you for a reduction on the actual amount of money you have to pay for your taxes. Examples are child tax credit, earned income tax and student tax credit. Furthermore any business with a turnover less than $2 million is potentially entitled to a range of tax benefits, like capital gains tax, income tax, GST and fringe benefits tax. Knowing potential credits may help you get the most from your tax deductions

Evaluate your Financial Position: Having a stable financial position is important in maintaining financial life and business. A stable financial position lessens your burden on taxes. More importantly, it will give you peace of mind knowing your finances are stable.

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Financial Planning

Start a Savings Habit

start a savings habit

Decide your savings goals – this will help you work out the best way to save to achieve them.

Term
Purpose of the loan
Short-term (0 to 2 years)
• Christmas and holidays
• An emergency fund for unexpected expenses
Medium-term (2 to 5 years)
• Pay off loans
• Put a deposit on a house
• Buy a car
• Pay for home improvements
Long-term (5 years or longer)
• Children’s education
• Your retirement
• Long-term financial security

Good Savings Habits

Initiate a savings plan

Many people find it very difficult to save. Any money they get they seem to spend. If this sounds like you, fear not. Below are some helpful tips to kick start your savings habit.

Even if you start by saving small amounts regularly, it will help you;
Manage your money better and be more prepared for the unexpected
Not have to rely on personal loans to buy the things you need in the future

Clear your current debts

First things first, in order to start saving, the best thing to do is clear your existing debts from personal loans, credit cards, store cards and overdrafts. The rate of interest you will be paying on your debts is usually far higher than the rate you will receive on your savings.

Maximise Your Savings

Once your debts are under control you can then start to save. Most financial institutions will allow you to have your savings automatically debited from your account. Once you have gotten in to a savings habit it is worth considering which account will now offer you the best return on investment.

If you need assistance to clear your debts call us here at the Australian Lending Centre. We have a number of debt solutions available and will be happy to discuss these with you over a phone consultation. Call us today on 1300 138 188 to speak with a debt consultant, or alternatively fill out an express enquiry form on our website and we will get back to you shortly.