Four simple things you can do for a brighter financial future

Regardless of your life stage or financial position, it’s worth going through a financial health check every now and again.

Sometimes a few simple changes can make a big difference to the amount of money you have available to spend, save, or invest, and can help make your future more financially secure.

Here we talk you through five simple ways to get your finances in order:

1. Do some budgeting

It’s a good idea to have detailed knowledge of all your incomings and outgoings so that you can make sure you don’t overstretch yourself, and ideally save some for a rainy day.

As well as big costs such as mortgages and bills, it’s worth looking at everything you spend.

Lots of bank accounts now have apps or online access that allows you to see all your in and out transactions, and it’s a good idea to map these over the period of about a year to see what you are really spending.

Doing this will help you take account of some of the costs which can sometimes slip through the net such as birthday presents, one-off purchases or holidays.

You can then try and draw up a budget to make sure you are living within your means. There are some good budget planning tools around that can help you do this, or if you need help reducing some of your bigger costs such as your mortgage an independent financial adviser can help.

2. Review your big costs

One of the biggest costs most households have will be your monthly mortgage payment. It’s worth looking at this regularly to make sure you are on the best deal.

There are lots of different types of mortgage available, including fixed and tracker options, and it’s important to make sure that you have the best deal for your circumstances.

Also check that your current deal hasn’t ended, as this will sometimes lead to you going automatically onto your lender’s Standard Variable Rate and paying a lot more than you need to every month.

A financial adviser can help you to navigate through the options and choose the right deal for you and your circumstances.

3. Think about your future

Most of us don’t want to work forever, and so it’s necessary to plan for how you will fund your retirement. The State Pension isn’t enough to cover most people’s financial commitments so it’s advisable to also pay into a private pension.

Whilst you don’t want to leave yourself short, you need to make sure you are paying in enough so that you can live the retirement you want. At Amethyst we can work with you on cash flow modelling to take care of both your present and future financial needs.

There are various different types of pension pots, and different ways of taking your pension and getting financial advice can make sure you choose the best options for your plans and circumstances.

4. Plan for any eventuality

All of the planning in the world doesn’t take away from the fact that we never know what life is going to throw at us.

How would you cope financially if you lost your income due to ill health? If your household is dependant upon your income it could be an idea to look at critical illness cover, which would help pay your bills while you were unable to earn.

We would also recommend that anyone with dependants considers taking out life insurance, so that your loved ones would be ok financially should the worst happen.

To talk through cash flow modelling, mortgages, pensions or life insurance don’t hesitate to get in touch, our qualified advisers will be happy to help.