Budgeting

Love it or hate it, money is an essential aspect of your life and plays a crucial role in determining your quality of life. However, many people lack the confidence to manage their money effectively. Building money confidence can have a significant impact on your financial and personal well-being and overall sense of security, so here are a few tips to help boost your money confidence:

As we travel through life, our financial priorities change and our financial goals and needs evolve. In this article, we explore how money priorities can change with age and what steps you can take to make the most of your finances at each stage.

The first quarter of the year is the perfect time to take stock of your finances and plan how to get them and keep them on track. Looking at your finances can be a daunting and, sometimes, terrifying task. However, here are four steps to help you kickstart your finances this year, and help make money matters less of a burden in the future:

1. Set financial goals

Setting financial goals is a key step to kickstarting your finances in the new year as they can help you to stay organized and motivated to reach them.

Budgeting is probably the most important part of managing our personal finances. A budget helps us keep track of our income and expenses, identify where money is wasted and where savings can be made and allows us to make better informed financial decisions. In its most basic form, a budget can be done on a piece of paper, but in this digitally connected world, budgeting apps for our mobile phones and tablets can make the process simple, straightforward, and convenient. 

If managing your finances isn’t difficult enough, finance and money matters seem to have their own language which you need to understand too! If you struggle to remember the difference between a debtor and a creditor, or inflation and interest, then here are some of the most common personal finance terms with simple explanations.

Learning from the Ghost of Christmas Future

In Charles Dickens’ classic festive story “A Christmas Carol”, the spendthrift Ebenezer Scrooge is visited late on Christmas eve by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future. These festive specters endeavor to show Scrooge the error of his ways and (spoiler alert) he wakes on Christmas morning a changed man; full of festive spirit and peace and goodwill to all men.

You will be aware that the cost of living is increasing, but what does it mean, why is it happening, and what can you do? Here we explain.

The ‘cost of living’ is a frequently used term that refers to the amount of money people need to cover basic expenses, such as housing, food, energy bills, and healthcare.

With the Covid-19 pandemic impacting the last two Christmases, this year is set to be extra special for many people. For the first time in three years, people will be able to travel and gather together to celebrate Christmas as they usually would, and as families and friends resurrect traditions that were temporarily put on hold it will, undoubtedly, be a period of great celebration for many.

“Short-term savings can cost more in the long run.”