5 Ways To Spring Clean Your Finances
Spring is the perfect time of year to open up your finances - not because something’s wrong with them, but because a seasonal change is the ideal prompts which reminds us that great days are ahead.
Unsure what to do first?
Here’s what I tell me clients to do, by addressing these 5 areas, you have knowledge over your cashflow and a clearer picture of your finances and when it comes to finances, knowledge is power.
1. Where is your money actually going?
Not a full budget rebuild, just a look at what you’re spending and where. Pull up the last three months of your primary bank account and take notice what’s changed in the last quarter.
You might notice new subscriptions, changed childcare costs, a season of higher power bills.
This isn’t to make you feel guilty about your spending, it’s to uncover your spending habits and see where you might be spending unnecessarily.
2. What’s sitting in your KiwiSaver and is it still right for you?
Life can change a lot; a new job, a change in working hours, a new baby, returning to work - your KiwiSaver funds don’t automatically adjust themselves. If you want to ensure your KiwiSaver fund is working as hard as you do, I recommend doing a quick check of your fund type and contribution rate against where you are now, not where you were when you signed up. This is one of the highest-leverage five minutes you can spend your time on this spring.
3. What financial decisions have you been putting off?
Most people have at least one financial decision they’ve been meaning to get to; reviewing their insurance, talking to a partner about a joint account, asking a question they feel they ‘should already know the answer to.’ What question have you been considering?
Write it down. The goal isn’t to solve it today. It’s to acknowledge it and no longer carry it alone. Ask a friend, partner or family member if they have been considering the same thing - start a conversation about finances, you will be amazed at how much you learn.
4. Does your plan still match your life?
If you made a financial plan more than a year or two ago, it was built around the life you were living then. Since that plan, you might have experienced a change in your work pattern, family structure or income - if you have, this is a good opportunity to revisit it. Not because the plan failed, but because your life changed (as it does) and your plan needs to change and adapt with you.
5. Where might money confidence (not money knowledge) be the real gap?
This is the one people often forget. There are plenty of capable, financially literate women who still hesitate when it comes to making decisions on their finances. Many women defer financial decisions to a partner, an adviser, or “whoever sounds most sure.” If that sounds familiar, that’s not a knowledge problem, it’s a confidence problem and it’s a sign you might benefit from having financial conversations with someone you trust.
The takeaway
A spring financial clean-out isn’t about finding everything that’s wrong with your finances. It’s about replacing a vague, low-level sense of “I should really look at that” with accurate information which is relevant to your stage in live. Once we know where we are financially, we can make clearer, more confident decisions to help improve our future financial health.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post.
To your financial future,
Mary.
P.S. If reviewing your finances feels daunting, I would love to help make finances feel less intimidating with financial advice that allows you to take control of your financial future.
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