Planning Your Financial Year Ahead
January 5th, 2009 1 Comment » | POSTED BY ROB
If you haven’t made any resolutions this New Year, here’s a couple of ideas to help you through the coming year, which if last year was anything to go by could, financially, be very tricky for many.
Firstly, take a look at Money Hospital’s financial year planner, which is a month-by-month guide to important dates and events in the financial calendar.
Then, have a think about the key dates for your own current finances. Here are some examples:
- renewal and payment dates for insurance
- when your salary gets paid into your account
- the date your mortgage or rent is paid
- when your credit card bills need to be paid
- when you need to pay any car tax or have your car MOT
- when any subscriptions (such as gym membership, magazines) expire
By keeping track of all of these you’ll have a better handle on your incomings and outgoings, and you will be less likely to miss paying important bills, which can be costly if you end up paying late fees.
And here’s an added tip – by setting up reminders, using a free online tools, you can be even better prepared with your finances.
Google Calendar allows you to set up both email and SMS (text message) alerts at various intervals before your chosen date, so you can, for example, get a reminder a couple of months before your car insurance is due for renewal and start shopping around for a new deal. When your current insurer’s renewal letter drops through your letterbox, you can then be ready and armed with a few quotes for them to beat or lose your business.
Got any more tips for keeping tabs on your finances in the coming year? Let us know in the comments below.
photo credit: sixty69niner
1 Comment on “Planning Your Financial Year Ahead”
The Credit Cruncher, January 6th, 2009
I use an Excel sheet for each of my accounts and every transaction goes in there, then I check them against the statements when they come in. I add ALL my Direct Debits at the beginning of the month so I know exactly how much I will have left. If there is a short-fall I know about it a month before it happens.
Every month I just copy and paste the previous list of DD’s making sure I update them when they go up (or even down – like the mortgage)
I can then use the data to produce budgets and trace expenditure (I also know exactly how much gas and electric I have used in the last ten years – that stops those utilities salesmen in their tracks! – they will NEVER give you a KilowattHour price…)
