Spring is a great time to give your finances a once over to see how those goals you set back in January are tracking. Reviewing your financial situation, starting afresh this spring and making sure you aren’t spending more money than you need to.

Below are a few tips to help organise and freshen up your finances:

Start with a Budget: if you haven’t tracked your spending for a while, it is likely that your income and expenses have changed. There is potential for you to save money by simply making a few small adjustments.

Automatic payments: everyone has been guilty of not paying a bill on time and this often incurs additional fees. Automatic payments could be extremely beneficial and scheduling a direct debit is one way to avoid these extra fees especially for regular payments like utilities.

Check your bank statements: running your eyes over your monthly bank statements for mystery charges. By doing this you may come across charges that are not yours or old subscriptions that you may have forgotten about.

Eliminate non-essential items: small inexpensive items add up over a month. If you didn’t purchase that morning coffee or afternoon snack every day you could save yourself over $1,000 a year. Look for cheaper alternatives – if you can’t leave the house in the morning without your coffee, purchase an eco-coffee cup and start making your coffee at home to take to work.

Protect what you can’t afford to lose: If something is important and you can’t afford to lose it – it needs to be protected. Your income is imperative to your financial freedom, you need to ensure it’s adequately protected.

You work hard for your money, so make it work for you. Creating a budget and monitoring your expenses doesn’t mean you miss out on all the fun stuff. It’s about knowing where your money is going so you stay in control.

If you struggle to stick to your budget or your financial situation is becoming a bit overwhelming, JBS has a program that can help give your finances that spring clean feeling. Contact us today to discuss how Cash Coach can help you.

No matter where you are on your financial journey, you need to know that it’s possible for anyone to turn their financial life around. As with most things, sometimes that very first step is the hardest part. We have created a list of tips to start saving money today.

None of these tactics will be life-changing on their own, but they can make a difference over time if you are able to implement more than one. Some of these suggestions take just a few minutes, while others require a bit of regular effort. Still, they’re all incredibly simple – anyone can do them.

So here we go with our money saving ideas:

 
– Have a save buddy. Saving while hanging out with spenders can mean your money goes on impulsive or unnecessary items

 
– Review your bank accounts. Are you paying fees? Are there cheaper offerings? Are you restricted on what you can do with your money?

 
– Master the 30-day rule, waiting 30 days to decide on a purchase can give you better perspective on whether it’s truly worth the money, often the urge to buy the item has passed

 
– Write a shopping list before you go shopping to avoid impulse buying

 
– Lock up your credit card for a month and only pay for things with cash

 
– Set a limit for birthday and Christmas presents and don’t go over

 
– Buy in bulk

 
– Have a portion of your salary paid directly into your separate savings account

 
– Set a savings goal

 
– Pay your bills on time to avoid late fees

 
– Shop around for necessities such as car insurance, house and contents insurance, gas, electricity, phone, etc.

 
– Unsubscribe from sale email alerts. This is just constant temptation

 
– Stop buying bottled water! Buy a water filter instead if you can’t drink tap water

 
– Only purchase classic clothing that you can wear again. If you know you’ll only wear it once or twice, consider borrowing from someone rather than buying that sequent and lace floor length ball gown

 
– Empty your pockets and wallets of coins at the end of each day into a jar. But make sure to deposit into your savings account and not dive into because you want a coffee

 
– Double down. If you do have to buy luxury items, like makeup, wine or clothes, try saving the same amount. $15 on that gorgeous red lippy you had to have might not seem so great when it comes with another $15 savings requirement. If you can’t afford both, then you have to step away.

If you struggle to manage your money and wonder where your savings disappear to each month, fear not! Our comprehensive program will put you back into the driving seat, using high impact track and reporting technology teamed with expert advice. We’ll help you get your finances on track, so you can achieve your goals, plan for the future and say hello to a happier, healthier life where YOU are in control.

Cash Coach is a program run by JBS Financial Strategists. We believe that the biggest influence on achieving your goals is how you use your cash flow, so we start from there and help you develop great money management skills. Our aim is for you to consistently have money left over at the end of the month, so you can direct it towards the stuff that really counts!

If you’re not sure where to start – contact the team at JBS and we can run through a financial health check with you. This is a great way to understand your financial position and the team can identify any trouble areas, offer possible solutions and could also find growth areas you may not have considered.

Happy Saving 🙂

Well that got your attention! What are we talking about? We definitely don’t have spare cash to throw out to you all but the Government might. I know this sounds very fishy – especially when I say that the Government wants to give you money but it is true for some of us.

How long have you been working? 5 years? 10 years? 30 years? And how many superannuation funds have you had along the way? What about that job years ago that you had for 6 months? Working at McDonalds didn’t agree with you but they may have paid you superannuation and where is it now? Superannuation legislation for employers to make compulsory superannuation contributions came in in 1992 and since then, people have had fund after fund and are losing funds at a staggering rate.

In 2011 a Westpac survey found that there was a massive $19 billion in unclaimed superannuation in Australia, with $4.7 billion here in Victoria alone. The report also showed that the areas with the largest amount of lost super included Brandon Park, Glen Waverley and Wheelers Hill with a total of around $57 million from these suburbs alone. Workers and retirees in the western suburbs of Werribee and Point Cook have about $53 million waiting to be claimed, while Fountain Gate and Narre Warren residents are missing just over $50 million.

These staggering figures show the need to keep track of your funds. So if you’re thinking that you could have some lost super from the days as the mail clerk or even before you left work to have your kids, then you need to click onto the ATO’s SuperSeeker website. It is a secure, convenient service designed to track and find your super accounts.

So that’s one way to get free money from the Government and I hear you asking what’s the other? The answer: by checking for lost cash, insurance policies with balances and shares. The ATO have records of more than $670 million in lost funds (outside of superannuation listed above). So if you’ve moved house and you think you once held some shares in Billabong that your grandmother gave you, you might be lucky enough to find them again (OK, so if you had Billabong shares, they’re probably better lost – but if you had Commonwealth Bank shares, now that’s one that you’d hope to find).

All you have to do for this one is log on to the moneysmart.gov.au website and type in your name. Within seconds you could be $10 or $1,000 richer, or no richer but feel comfortable knowing that you’ve not lost any of your hard earned cash.

And that’s the other way to get free money from the Government. Well, technically it’s your money anyway, you might have just lost track of it. In any case, it takes a couple of minutes to check and you might find some money you didn’t realise you had.