Financial Planning

Make your Money Work for you

Good Financial Planning can be summarised quite simply – making sure that money is in the right hands at the right time.  This means you should ensure that your income exceeds your expenditure, your assets have a higher value than you liabilities, you have money available if you are unable to work, for example due to ill health, you have money saved for holidays and other treats and you have a robust plan in place to fund your retirement.

I am not suggesting that you live frugally, where is the fun in that?  If your finances have got out of hand, you may need to tighten your belt a little in the short term whilst you regain control.  Prioritisation is key – weigh up in your mind which you want more – for example, a takeaway every Friday night or a holiday abroad?  Perhaps the takeaway could be once a fortnight or once a month instead?  Avoid mindless spending and plan to have money available to do what you choose, when you choose instead.

The starting point of any financial plan — whatever you hope to achieve — is to know exactly where you are with you money and set a workable budget in place that you stick to. How far you choose to take your planning; whether you simply want to repay some debts or whether you want to become a multi-millionaire — is down to you!

Sapphire Coaching will help you to:

  • Take stock of where you are: work out what your income and outgoings are and summarise your assets and liabilities.
  • Live within your means.  If your current expenditure exceeds your income, then you must either reduce your expenses, increase your income or both.  We can look at ways to do this.
  • Plan how to repay any outstanding borrowing as quickly as possible and save yourself a fortune in interest charges.
  • Build an emergency fund to give you some security if something unexpected happens.
  • Consider what money you will need in the future and how you might plan for this.
  • Implement a plan to put money aside each month to save up for the things that you want, such as holidays, so that you are earning interest before you spend rather than paying a high rate of interest after the event (which of course means the purchase will cost you more and you will be paying for it long afterwards).
  • Learn how to stop impulse buying. Only buy what you really want or need.
  • Identify if there are other ways of raising some cash – Perhaps you could have a look around your house for anything that you no longer use that you can sell second hand to raise some money.  Car boot sales and the internet offer a great way of raising some cash.  Or hold a “swaps” party with some friends to swap the clothes you no longer wear.
  • Learn money management skills.  For example,  planning your food shop so that you buy only the food that you will eat over the next week and nothing else.  Make a list and stick to it.  The average family throws away £610 worth of food each year (source: Natwest Sense)

Please call 07855 496132 to discuss your individual situation and take control of your money right now!

“Both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought”

Napoleon Hill ‘Think and Grow Rich’