Buying your first home is a pretty exciting milestone in life. It’s usually something you’ve saved for and worked towards for ages - sometimes years! You’ve often made sacrifices to cut back on your spending, go on fewer holidays, skip expensive nights out. You’ve had a goal and a purpose and you’re now at the point where you have a deposit saved that will buy [...]
Melbourne Cup Day is known to be a day of rate changes and this year has proved to be no different with the Reserve Bank of Australia yesterday announcing a cut in the cash rate to 0.1%. And they’ve promised to hold it there for three years. This is unheard of! These actions are being taken in a bid to stimulate the economy on [...]
There are big milestones in life like finishing school/uni, getting a job, getting married, buying our first home. We often focus on the actual event, not what happens afterwards. So what happens once you’ve signed the sale contract and the mortgage documents? Firstly, there’s the excitement of moving into your new home. What improvements are you going to make? How will you furnish it? [...]
How do you know you’re getting the balance right? So often we’re faced with decisions that have an impact on the balance of our life. Do we stay up late because we’re having fun with friends and then suffer in the morning because we still have to get up early? Do we skip out of work early because it’s the only time we can [...]
I was reading a blog the other day from a US based financial planner and the writer was talking about Financial Self-Care and I just love this concept. Self care is something that is so important to both our physical and mental health that I just love the idea of moving it into the financial realm as well. The writer @Ellevest defined financial self [...]
If you’ve taken on the challenge to improve your money management, you will notice that it takes a while to change old habits. It might feel like sometimes you’re taking two steps forward and one backwards. As long as you keep your focus on your goal rather than your slip-ups, you will get there. Hopefully, you should be starting the shift from “mindless” money [...]
Retirement… is this something you’re planning for now or something that will just happen when you get there? It seems that you’re in one of two camps - the active wealth creators or the passive savers. The active wealth creators have strategies in place to “grow” their money. They’re investing in shares or property - or both. They have a number that they’re aiming [...]
Technology has brought us so many great things but has it done us any favours when it comes to money management? My answer is yes and no. Yes because it makes it so easy to pay bills, transfer funds, set up direct debits, automate payments etc. No because of the exact same reasons. It's too easy to spend. All you need to do it [...]
This year I think it's become apparent that we need people. We need friends, family, advisers, supporters, experts, comedians, listeners, distractors, leaders, managers, followers, challengers, and everyone else that I haven't mentioned. People keep us connected, motivated, informed and safe. They can also drive us a little bit crazy sometimes - so it's important that you choose the right people to surround yourself with. [...]
When buying a home, you tend to face three main problems, so let’s tackle them head on! Information overload There is so much information coming from every direction. If you do a search online, everyone from real estate agents to banks and brokers to bloggers will be offering advice. Parents who haven’t borrowed money since the 1990s will be telling their children what they [...]
