Financial expert: Mark Coan has some handy advice for anyone hoping to get a handle on their finances ...
ACCORDING TO A 2018 study conducted by Laya Healthcare before the cost of living crisis hit, money worries are the biggest source of anxiety for Irish families.One in 10 families has serious struggles with money day to day, three in 10 have no savings and over half have no retirement savings.
These cost of living price hikes are beyond our control, but what is within our control is what we do with our own money. How we manage it. Clearly, the economy has a huge bearing, but your personal financial understanding can also make a big difference to your financial outcomes. The first step is the most important as it unlocks the following steps. Without more cash available you obviously can’t pay down your debts or build up your savings.Step 1 – Get money fit The way we talk about getting money fit in the programme is to think of it as the opposite of dieting. In dieting, the aim is to take in fewer and use up more calories.
The average annual tax refund weighs in at over €1,000 according to Taxback.com the biggest of the many firms who will do your tax return for you online, with tax credits for home care and tax relief for medical plus flat rate work expenses still being left unclaimed by many. Over 30% of us have found ways to buy less in the last six months and almost 20% of us are buying for less by switching providers.
Step 2 – Pay down debt Once you are in better financial shape you can hopefully start to work on the next two critical aspects of your financial health – paying down high-interest debt and building up savings. If you pay off your debt, you will double the impact of any savings you make as you will shed all that extra interest you are currently paying. If you find your debts getting on top of you, however, make sure you get in touch with Mabs.ie to help you before things spiral out of control, when it comes to debt the worst thing to do is bury your head in the sand.
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