Category: Managing money

There is no right way to manage your money

When it comes to managing your finances , it is important to know that there is no right way to manage your There is no right or wrong way to manage your moneymoney.

I read lots of other blogs that talk about how they have tackled debt or gone about their investing journey.

And whilst there are some consistent themes among the stories, it becomes pretty clear that there is not just one way to manage your money.

The ways friends, family, work colleagues or even fellow bloggers handle their money will not necessarily work for you.

If you believe that there is a right way of paying off debt, managing your cash flow and saving for your retirement, an argument could be formed that if you are not doing things “the right way”, then what you are doing must be wrong.

I don’t prescribe to this way of thinking.

Of course there are different ways that can help you to reach your goal sooner or to get better returns on your investments, but that does not mean they are right for you.Continue Reading →

The Barefoot Investor review: Is it really the only money guide you will ever need?

Scott Pape’s The Barefoot Investor: The only money guide you will ever need book, has taken on a world of it’s Barefoot Investor Book Reviewown and become a bestseller here in Australia.

Everywhere I turn someone is sporting their orange ING cards and referral codes are found at every turn (sorry I don’t have one).

I read his previous book which was written more than ten years ago now. Which detailed 5 steps to financial freedom for someone in their 20’s and 30’s.

The 5 steps were essentially setting goals, managing cash flow, debt reduction, investing (or working your Mojo account – yep the Mojo was around back in the early 2000’s) and insurances.

Given I was only in the early stages of my financial journey it was a good book to lay a foundation.

But after the latest book came out, I was not really that inclined to buy it. From what I had read on the steps I didn’t really think it could teach me anything I did not already know.

But since a reader reached out to me and asked me to do a book review, I bit the bullet and grabbed a copy.Continue Reading →

Why a dollar saved is more than a dollar

Note from Cath: I have a very special guest on the blog today – Serina from Ms Frugal Ears (you can learn the inspiration Why a dollar saved is more than a dollarfor her site name over on her blog).

Since starting this site I have discovered that the personal finance blogging community is a lovely bunch.

No one I have come across see each other as competition, just another person looking to share their knowledge and help other people to understand their finances better.

What is really cool is that Serina and I actually both started our savings and investing journey in the same place. We were a part of an online savings forum back in the day before Facebook Groups where all the rage.

So without further ado over to Ms Frugal Ears for today’s guest post.

My goal is to become a billionaire. My stepping stone goal is to pay off my mortgage. Then I want to grow my net worth to one million (who wants to be a millionaire? I do!), then to double that to have $2 million net worth by 2020.Continue Reading →

How to budget for large irregular expenses – Guest Post

I recently featured on the Kylie Travers website as part of her goal to help 1,000,000 Australians thrive, survive, How to save for large irregular expensesand where possible, get off Centrelink.

The post is all about How to budget for large irregular expenses.

You might like to check out my Resources section that includes a number of spreadsheets to help you track your money and budget better.

A good place to start is with my Simple Monthly Budget spreadsheet. Or to take your budgeting to the next level, my Monthly Tracker spreadsheet will really help you to have a deeper understanding of where your money is spent.

Plus you can learn the secrets to setting financial goals, getting rid of debt, and so much more, in my FREE 7 day Kick Start your Wealth challenge.

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Raiz Review (formerly Acorns): the spare change jar of today

Raiz (formerly Acorns Australia) is an App that can be said to replace the spare change jar of old.

Raiz ReviewBack some years ago whenever I would get some spare change weighing down my purse, I would put it in a jar.

By the end of the year, I had always accumulated a decent amount to deposit in the bank.

I never missed the spare change going into the jar and was always pleasantly surprised at how quickly it added up.

If you still use predominantly cash I suggest in my 50 ways to save more post about starting a spare change jar. And making savings jars with your kids can also be a fun kids activity.

However, as we move more and more to a cashless society,  the Raiz App has given us an option to squirrel away our spare change.

Except this time the change is invested virtually in a diversified portfolio.

Raiz Review

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Accessing retirement savings won’t fix Australia’s housing affordability

With the Australian Federal Budget being announced tonight one of the hot topics over the past few months Using retirement savings to fund a home deposit is not the answeris around housing affordability in Australia.

The median house price in March 2017 according to CoreLogic is $585,000 based on averages across the main Australian capital cities.

With Sydney coming in at a whopping median price of $805,000.

There is no doubt that the great Australian dream of owning your own place is getting harder for first home buyers.

So it being on the political agenda is no surprise.

Accessing Super for a deposit

An idea that has been floated around the past few months in the media is to allow first home buyers to access what they have in their Superannuation to contribute to a house deposit.

Basically it is reducing someone’s retirement savings by allowing them to invest in buying their first home.Continue Reading →

6 financial mistakes I have made and how you can avoid them

Even the wealthiest people in the world have made mistakes in relation to money.

So don’t bfinancial mistakes and how to avoid themeat yourself up if you are only just getting in control of your finances and discover that you have made a bunch of financial mistakes along the way.

The key is to learn from our mistakes and use the knowledge to help us make better decisions in the future.

Below is a wrap up of what I consider to be the main money mistakes I have made along the way, what I have learned from the mistake and how you can avoid doing what I did.

Stopped keeping track of money

For a good six years or more I kept a running spreadsheet of every cent we ever spent.

My epic tracking spreadsheet is the exact one I used.

I knew exactly what the break up of our spending was on and I filled it in religiously at least once a week.

Continue Reading →