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Financial Planning Week - Free Tips on Creating My Own Financial Plan
| Author: Joanne Oxenham | Published: 28th November 2011 14:35 |
Financial Planning Week (21st - 27th November) is a consumer awareness campaign which helps you take some simple steps to improve your financial situation. To support this campaign we will be providing some free tips that you can look at yourself, which you may find beneficial.
Now we have looked at Budgeting, Savings & Retirement, Debt and Protection, we will summarise what we have learnt and how to put an effective plan in place.
Everyone has dreams and aspirations, but have they been written down and stored somewhere safe? Have they been discussed with your partner to make sure they share your dreams?
In order for your goals to be accomplished, you will need to work out the costs involved and the timescale over which you wish to achieve them. Your goals can be big or small and try to spread them across different times in your life i.e. 1-2 years, 5-7 years, 10+ years.
My Dreams & Goals I Costs Involved I When I want to achieve this
Watch football team on home turf I £100 (Ticket and travel) I Next 6 months
Install a new kitchen I £10,000 I 1-2 year
Go on a dream holiday I £10,000 I 3-5 years
Buy/Move house I £80,000 I 5-7 years
Buy a boat when I retire I £20,000 I 10+ years
Once you have identified your goals, then work out whether your timescales and goals are possible given your current circumstances. To do this you need to calculate your disposable income.
Disposable Income: Income - Expenditure
Income:
•Salary if employed
•profits/drawings if self-employed
•interest or dividends on investments
•any state benefits
•income from pensions (after deduction of tax)
Expenditure is a more complicated matter - but if you put the time in, you will be able to see where you can best make savings and where you are unknowingly wasting money. Get in the habit of keeping receipts and comparing with bank and credit card statements - you will learn a lot.
Afterwards
Are your dreams/aspirations too much or are they achievable? If not, do you need to re-evaluate them?
• If you discover you need to increase your income and/or reduce your expenditure, refer back to your Budgeting newsletter which contains tips on how to do both.
• If you discover you need to remove a lot of debt, please refer to the Budgeting and Debt newsletters, which contain helpful tips.
• If you are fortunate enough to be in a position to start saving immediately towards your goals, please refer to your Savings and Retirement newsletter, which highlights the different options available to you.
Remember that whilst you are working towards your dreams, make sure you don't put your family at risk and make sure they would be ok if something was to happen to you tomorrow - see the Protection newsletter for further tips.
Summary
Life is for living, and we hope we have been able to provide you with some simple tips to help you live your life to the full by:
• reducing expenditure and debts
• increasing your income
• making your money work harder for you
• protecting your family
• making sure your wishes are met
If you have missed/displaced any of our newsletters, email klarkins@beacon-financial.co.uk and we will forward them onto you.
The contents of this email are not intended as advice but rather as general information on looking at and controlling your finances. If you are in doubt, you should seek the advice of a professional Financial Planner.
T: 01480 869466 I tlarkins@beaconwealth.co.uk I www.beacon-financial.co.uk
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