January 2022 - Credit Connection

This is your official warning that Valentine’s Day 2022 is fast approaching.

We understand that there are too many ways folks show their love and affection for their significant others, so we’re not trying to encapsulate everyone with this blog. Some folks think the way they show their love daily is enough to give Valentine’s Day the big ole skip. Then others think Valentine’s Day is the only day to show their love by buying something super-expensive. These examples are extreme opposites, and there are plenty in the middle that we hope we can help.

Busting your budget should never be how you express your love for your significant other, especially if you want to maintain 2022 as your year to hit your financial goals. If it is, our very tongue-in-cheek suggestion is couples financial therapy which will both help you get over this and also is expensive, so best of both worlds?

With that in mind, here are some inexpensive but emotionally enriching gifts that will make your love bloom even more.

A thousand words…

Capturing a moment in a picture is always a winner. While the cheapest option would be to airdrop, text, or email a picture to your Valentine, it might be missing the emotional edge. A lovely photo placed into a nice frame is a great gift that is very cost-effective, depending on the frame. Kicking it up a notch, you could get a photo edited or popped through a photo filter to make it even more cinematic and printed on canvas. A standard print typically runs no more than $20.

No more excuses…

Can you believe that folks still claim they can’t cook? If you are one of them, we mean this in the nicest way, but saying “you can’t cook” actually says “I can’t follow instructions” because there are thousands of hours of step-by-step cooking videos made for free on YouTube. A beautiful meal made by you, especially if you’re not the main cook in the house, will say “I love you” louder than any chocolates or rose.

Cooking at home will always be cheaper than going out for dinner and much less frustrating than trying to get reservations this close to Valentine’s Day.

DI-WHY? Because I love you!

Let’s get creative this Valentine’s Day. Everyone has a talent that they can use to make a super-meaningful Valentine’s Day gift. If you’re a writer, writing out the story of your first date or your wedding day is a winner. If you’re an artist, create them a masterpiece. If you’re a builder, build them or fix that thing they’ve always wanted. If you are one of the millions that own a 3D Printer, there are tones of Valentine’s offerings online for free that you could print for them.

While trying to become debt-free and live that “Less Debt More Life” lifestyle, love shouldn’t be measured by how many numbers come BEFORE the decimal point in the price tag of your Valentine’s Day gift.

A gift that keeps on giving is cutting years and thousands off your mortgage! You can get started on this before Valentine’s Day by contacting one of our experts here.

Happy Valentine’s Day, lovebirds!

Financial literacy is one of the most important topics to us, and there is no better time to start teaching kids about it than in 2022!

If you have read our other blogs about financial literacy, or FI for the “cool kids”, you know that it’s such a critical tool in our lives lacking in the current Australian school curriculum.

So, it comes to you, parents, to teach the little ones how to earn, budget, and respect those dollars and cents.

Discuss money

For a lot of children, money is infinite. This idea is probably one of the things I miss about childhood besides not throwing my back out getting off the sofa. It’s essential to be open and honest about money with your kids without worrying them about it, and explaining how the finances of the family work and how everyone can do their part to help the household budget will teach them the importance of money management and financial literacy.

Earn their own

Many parents still give their children allowances, which is excellent, but making them do chores will help them feel a sense of accomplishment and reinforce the idea that if they want money, they need to work for it. Adding odd jobs around the house, such as stacking the dishwasher or washing the family car, for extra cash is a great incentive not only to get things done but for them to understand the value of their efforts.

Saving Goals

Most kids have that “big thing” that they want to buy, the latest fade toy or tech. Take these opportunities to show them how many weeks it would take them to save their chore money to buy it. In talking with some parents, some of them use this to teach kids about loans and offer to give the children some money to buy their item, but the kids need to pay it back. Some experts agree with this, while others insist that this reinforces the “buy now, pay later” mentality the current adult generation has, which can hurt personal budgets, but that’s a blog for another time.

Track & Save

Helping the kids track their money is a great way to teach them budgeting and monitor their money. A simple chart on the fridge or in their room that allows them to add and subtract money earned or spent will let them know where they stand with their money.

Giving the kids a place to keep their savings is also important. Setting up an actual bank account for them for their spending money might be overkill, though setting one up for them for long-term savings is advised but also a blog for another time.

A jar or money box kept out of reach is an excellent recreation of a bank account. They know the money is safe and have access to it when they want, but they need you to get it. It saves the coins going walkabout as well.

These little steps will help your kids learn the value of money and how to handle it. It may be only the initial steps in lifelong learning about financial literacy, but it’s a start nonetheless.

If you need a brush up on your financial literacy or want to discuss your finances with one of our experts to see where you can save more and start that “Less Debt More Life” journey, you can contact them now for a risk-free appointment.

There are a lot of financial hacks on the internet. Some of them are useful, and some of them are so obvious that even the most seasoned Captain Obvious would exclaim, “well, duh.”

So, for the sake of this post, we’ll dispense with the “stop buying takeaway” advice and go for some that you might not have thought of before. Though, cooking at home is the best way to save a little dough. See what we did there? Ok, enough of that and into the actual financial hacks.

Mailing Lists

If you have done any shopping online, you no doubt have a bunch of promotional emails from websites trying to sell you the latest thing or telling you what’s on special for a “limited time”. It should be no surprise that these sales emails are designed to make you feel like you’ll miss out if you don’t purchase—the good ole FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) method.

Seeing a deal on something you might want, but don’t need, could force a snap financial decision that could have some real ramifications on your budget. Unsubscribing from these emails can help you save future you from temptation.

By law, all of these emails have to have an “Unsubscribe” link at the bottom.

Second-Hand Treasure

There is no doubt that if you are looking for something for the house, checking out places like Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace is fantastic for getting second-hand goods at a reasonable price. However, selling on these sites is just as easy as buying. Have a look around your house for items you could sell on Marketplace and have the double whammy of decluttering while making a few extra dollars.

Chill out

One of the main expenses of the Aussie summer is the air con. Running it during the day might be necessary as the temps rack the high 30s, but there is a cheaper option at night.

Products like ChiliSleep offer bed tops that cool you down at night without running up the bills. Running the air con during the night could cost you upwards of $15-$20 a night, while running one of these chilled pillow tops for your mattress could cost a cool twenty cents a night.

You don’t need a calculator to work out the yearly savings there….a lot.

These are just a few less obvious financial hacks that we have compiled to save you money.

Of course, one of the most significant ways Credit Connection can save you money is by eliminating years and thousands of dollars off your mortgage. One of our experts can explain how to book a risk-free assessment. You can contact them here.

If you would like some more financial hacks, please let us know via our social media pages, as we would love to bring you more of the content you want to read.

Happy savings!

It’s Back to school time, even if you live in Queensland where the school year was deferred two more weeks, it’s almost that joyous time of the year for parents as the little ones go back to school. This also means school fees, supplies, uniforms, and of course a new lunchbox because the other one still had food left in it from the previous year, and it’s easier to let that one go than clean it.

There are savings to be had when spending for the school year ahead, and that’s what we’re going back to school with back-to-school savings, ok, still working on the title.

Book Packs

Book packs are the number one area where a parent can save money when sending the kids back to school with everything they need. At the end of the previous school year, the school will send home a list with their preferred supplier. It is always easier to go with this supplier, making it easy to click and buy. However, the prices are usually marked up as you pay for convenience.

Taking the list and doing your shopping at Officeworks, Amazon, or another retailer could mean significant savings when it comes to supplies. It means a bit more leg work or finger work, but the savings will make it work.

Licensed lunchboxes or bags

As a parent, it can be hard to keep up with what cartoon, video game, sports team, or fictional character your child is into right now, but it isn’t hard to realise that the image of that character jacks the price up of anything it’s on.

A standard school bag can go from $10 to over $40 if it has an image of a licensed character on it. While there might be a little complaining from the little ones, a standard bag, a nice printed one, or a plain lunchbox can save a lot of money. Maybe even enough for some character stickers for them to decorate the lunchbox themselves.

The second hand is your right hand!

Even some of the most dedicated “reuse-recycle” people pooh-pooh the idea of second-hand clothes. When it comes to school uniforms, having some of them from the second-hand bin can save a lot of money, and most kids wouldn’t even know the difference. An even better option is if you know a parent with a child in a higher grade than your child, those free hand-me-downs will be a life and budget saver.

Sending your kids back to school shouldn’t drain your budget and should mark an exciting time to help those little ones grow into amazing adults. Hopefully, financial literacy is on the curriculum this year at school, but if not, we’re sure you have the best tool to offer them.

If you would like to learn more about how you can save your budget, our team of experts is ready to help you make 2022 the year of financial goals!

Defeat emotional spending!

We’ve all been the victim of emotional spending. Sometimes referred to as “impulse buying”, emotional spending is when a product or service’s advertising makes you emit strong emotions that will separate you from your hard-earned money.

Marketing is one of those necessary evils. For people to know about goods and services, it’s needed and helpful. However, some have been refining marketing into a Harry Potter level “dark art” for over a hundred years.

Once upon a time, these marketing traps were called “snake oil salesmen” and were run out of town. Now, “too good to be true” marketing is the norm. This type of marketing is called “hidden persuaders”, and even ABC has an entire television program dedicated to it.

The key to the ploy is to make you feel a connection with the good or service. A bank’s ad might make you feel like “the whole gang is here”, making it feel safe to put your money with them as “everyone is doing it”. Then there are the ones that make you think that if you buy their “thing”, it’ll make life easier, make you younger, more intelligent, sexier, healthier, more successful, and even wealthier.

Do a lot of these products deliver on their promise? No. Do they get our money? Yeah, yeah, they do.

This type of marketing triggers the brain’s natural want for a shortcut of information. You have a problem; the marketing gives you the answer, and the brain releases the “feel good” endorphins. However, if you’re trying to save money, this type of “solution” will cause you more problems.

How to combat it?

One of the easiest ways to combat this emotional spending is to have a budget. Hopefully, a budget is created when the most logical part of the brain is in control. Having a strong enough willpower to see that whatever is advertised to you is not in the budget and overrules the emotional pull will be critical.

If the pull to the item is too strong, pencil it in for your following budgetary review with the promise that if you can fit it in, you can have it. By the time the review comes around, the allure of the item might have broken, and you can move on without it.

Another handy tactic is the tried-and-true method of research. If there is something, you think you need or that a company is offering, look at all the companies offering it. Read reviews and watch videos to decide which is right for you. This method also lets other people give in to the emotional spending work in your favour. If someone bought the item and then regretted it, chances are they left a review online. Follow them up to see if what is marketing to you is right for you.

Hopefully, these tips and tricks will help you recognise and combat emotional spending. However, if you still feel like you need an expert hand to guide you through the financial mazes of life, our team of experts are ready to help. You can contact them here.

Everyone makes the new year’s resolution to get physically fit, but what about being fiscally fit? Sure, having six-pack abs is always great, but having financial freedom is even sweeter and will save you money instead of costing you a gym membership.

We’re not talking down to physical fitness, but we’re not ones to give you tips on burpees and squats, but we can help with being fiscally fit.

How to get started? Glad you asked! Below we have broken down the pathway to not only being fiscally fit but fiscally ripped, but just like a gym routine, you have to keep working at it.

Check the score.

There is always some sport on TV in Australia, but we’re not talking about checking that score. If you are applying for mortgages or loans, knowing your credit score is good. While many folks seem to skate through life without knowing their credit score, you are on a different journey, so you can apply to get your free credit score report. Moneysmart.gov.au states, “You have a right to get a copy of your credit report for free every 3 months. It’s worth getting a copy at least once a year. Your credit report also includes a credit rating. This is the ‘band’ your credit score sits in (for example, low, fair, good, very good, excellent).”

They also state you can contact the below places to get your free credit report.

Experian 1300 783 684
illion 132 333
Equifax 138 332

Moneysmart.gov.au also has some great information on what is in a credit report and what it means here.

Get to know your assets and liabilities.

If you have a budget or started a budget for 2022, you are probably already across this part. Much like weight training is the backbone of getting physically fit, knowing where your money is coming from and going is the essential part of getting fiscally fit.

An added tip from this could be to calculate your net worth. This calculation is done by adding the value of all your assets and subtracting all liabilities; it’s like getting the BMI of your finances to give you a clear picture of where you currently stand.

The dreaded tax!

Tax is something that we prefer to set and forget about. Well, at least forget about it. But it’s essential to keep on top of your tax to ensure that you are more likely to get a return at the end of the financial year than you are a bill. Make sure to double-check your payslips to ensure that your employer calculates the right amount of tax. If you are paying your tax, make sure to put that money aside out of the clutches of your household bank account so that you are not tempted to spend it.

Insurance double check!

While your coverage might not yet need to be renewed, it’s always good to double-check the amount of insurance you have and check if the coverage is too much or not enough. If the coverage is over and above what you need, this is an excellent area of savings that can be made. However, not having the right insurance cover could cost you more than a higher premium if an unexpected event occurs.

Calling around to different insurance companies to get quotes is also a great way to ensure that you are getting the right price while you have the right coverage.

Goals!

Now that you have given your finances a once over, it’s time to look at the goals that you have. The ultimate goal for anyone is to be financially free or debt-free. However, it’s also great to have other goals to keep you motivated. Maybe you want to invest more, get an investment property, start a business, or pay off a debt.

Making goals and regularly assessing how you track those goals will keep you fiscally fit.

Just like keeping physically fit, being fiscally fit might mean that you need a trainer. Our team of experts are ready to put in the work with you to ensure that your finances break a sweat working for you. If you are ready to not only fiscally fit but fiscally ripped, then contact a member of our team today!

“Expense creep” has a bunch of different names, and it’s also known as “budget creep”, “the slippery scale of ‘where’d my money go’”, and “Kevin.”

Ok, the last two were made up, but the point is that there are a lot of terms to describe the occurrence of small micro additions to your budget that can blow out your expenses, and we are going to dive into a few of them.

We can also agree that “creep” is an apt term for the little microaggressions towards your budget.

Streaming towards zero balance

The first, and for some the largest, expense creep is digital streaming services. When platforms like Netflix and Stan first appeared, it was a revolution of “cord-cutting” that saw people shed off the expensive pay-TV for the cheaper and more fruitful world of online streaming.

So, what happened? Why are streaming services on this list? Simple. Because like most extraordinary things, the competitors and imitations soon flooded the market, and now there are hundreds of streaming services offering different content. If the average family wants to watch all the shows, movies, and sports their family wants, then most subscribe to at least three different services.

Most of the streaming services start with a free trial or a low-cost first-year offer, which quickly balloons what most were paying for terrestrial TV in the first place. While many blogs focus on “the cup of coffee” as the budgetary item that can be cast aside first, I think the more modern version is there are streaming services that can have their flows cut to make your budget happy.

In-App Purchases & Smart Device stores

Continuing from streaming services, another group is also very guilty of some hidden charges, with Apple products being among the top offenders. However, no matter if you have an Apple or Android home, you’ve downloaded an app or two. Many of these games or apps seem perfect on the top and then will make you pay for the good parts or play just ONE MORE level. While Google Play stores have a lot of conditions around allowing apps to do this, the Apple Store doesn’t. Some apps which appear to be free will start charging you a weekly fee after a week of use without notification.

While we know that the “terms and conditions” screen makes many an eye glaze over, that’s how a lot of these apps get you. Make sure to check your “subscriptions” tab regularly to ensure you are not paying for something you don’t want or won’t use.

Fees and Insurance

Remember customer loyalty? When would you be a long-serving customer and be rewarded for it? Yeah, those days are long gone for the most part. There are still a few companies out there offering such a thing. For a lot, though, the “loyalty program” that banks and insurance companies offer is hiking up the fees each year while automatically rolling your commitment over—putting the” creep” in “expense creep”. On top of this, they designed the exit from these services to be difficult to make the few bucks you save switching to another provider “not worth the time”.

It’s always worth the time. Simply calling around to find a better rate, better additional services, and a better price and reporting that back to your current provider might be an incentive to make them match or make a better offer.

A few hours of calling around to competitors could mean hundreds in savings each year. Always worth it.

Expense creep has many different faces and names, but it pays always to track your expenditure to ensure that you always know where your money is going and where you can save.

Doing this weekly or daily, you will never be caught by hiding expenses and reaching your financial goals quicker. If you want even more advice on how you can achieve Less Debt More Life in 2022, contact one of our experts here.

A mentor can really change your life. Think back to the early years of your life when that one person went above and beyond for you with some life lessons and changed how you saw the world. If you’re lucky, you’ve had a few of these mentors and probably more than one that taught you something from the mistakes that they have made.

Somewhere along the path, we forget that we can reach out to a mentor for guidance and think we can “do it on our own”. Sadly, while there is a plethora of information online, having a mentor helps you cut through the noise and personalise that information to help you the most.

Let’s make 2022 the year we get back on the mentor train and achieve your financial goals.

Where to start? Great question, not because I thought of it, but because it’s the most important one.

The Inner circle

Unless you have secluded yourself to a cabin in the middle of nowhere for the last decade, and I know after the pandemic a lot of wished he did, you probably have a healthy selection of family, friends, and peers. Out of that group, there usually is someone that you look up to as “having the answers” or “having it together.” Looking to your inner circle for a mentor means a straightforward approach to someone you already have a relationship with.

Are they “the one”?

While some people might have the knowledge, many are unable or unwilling to teach it. They may have too much on their plate or are not the “teaching type”, but they will make it an easy process if they are keen to teach. There are plenty of people who want to share their secrets, so if the number one choice isn’t willing, there are many who might have even more knowledge to give.

Asking for the first “date”.

Are your palms sweaty at the thought of asking the mentor to make you their mentee? That’s understandable, especially if the person you’re going to ask hasn’t mentored anyone before, and they might not think they can do it. Approaching the subject with them about wanting a mentor could either get them to offer their services or offer up the person who mentored them. That’s a great win as who better to learn from the master or the master that taught them?

Relationship

I know this sounds more like dating advice than a mentorship, but the structure is similar. A great mentor is someone that you can relate to. Is there part of their story that speaks to your journey? Are they good listeners? Are they generous with their time and their advice? And can you see yourself grow with this person?

While I know that some of it sound like you’re looking for love instead of a financial guru, having the right person to nurture your curiosity around financial freedom will help you achieve your goals sooner than struggling on your own.

Suppose you don’t know anyone in your inner circle that could fill this role, some online directories that can help you. Think of them as mentor “dating” sites and take the time to find the right one.

Our team of experts can’t offer free mentoring, but they can offer you some top tier service and assistance in reaching your financial goals that would work perfectly in tandem with a mentor. You can contact our team here for a risk-free discussion.

If 2022 is the year of your financial freedom, you’re going to need a budget.

I know the thought of setting up a budget is about as an attractive idea as cleaning the gutters, but it is the backbone of your financial goals. Plus, we’re going to give you all the steps to make it as easy as falling off that ladder while cleaning your gutters. (Editor’s Note: Please don’t do that. Always work safely.)

Even if you already have a budget, there will be plenty in this article that can help you reassess your budget and maybe find some room for improvement.

Hello, Income, my old friend…

We have to start your budget somewhere, and that will be with your best asset, your Income. You should look at your Income just like the first time you laid eyes on your true love. It is something to be admired, respected, and lovingly watched grow into everything you need and want. Sorry, it must be getting close to Valentine’s Day and getting all Miles & Boon with that description.

You need to know how much money is coming in for your budget to work. Count every cent. Your primary Income, investments, side hustles, interest from savings, loose change found in the sofa, and that $50 note that you forgot about in your winter jacket. All of it. Pop it in the budget, and you’re already off to a fantastic start.

Oh, yes, spending, we meet again.

Now that you have your Income mapped out and the balance of your budget is looking good, we need to make it realistic by adding your expenses. Fear not; this is not all money that is just going into the winds of nothing. Your spending also counts for the money you invest, put into your super, or savings that you will not touch. Make sure to dig through your credit card or bank account expense statements to know where all of your money is going. Be on the lookout for cheeky bank service fees as well, as they might be small, but they add up.

It’s all about the goals!

Let’s focus on where you want to go—paying off a debt? Investing? Holiday? Nothing is off-limits. Put your goals into your budget and plan to add money to those goals each week.

Plan your route!

A plan is the best way to ensure that your budget stays on course. It’ll be the place where you can find the extra couple of dollars that you spend on that weekly, or daily, coffee could be put towards something more worthwhile.

It’s fluid!

One of the reasons that diets fail is that if people have a “bad day”, they think it’s all over and give up. The same goes for budgets, but you don’t have to be so hard on yourself. Things come up, and those things always cost money. You have to learn to be fluid with your budget so that you are never left feeling like you failed.

Be like Santa.

When we say “Be like Santa”, we don’t mean giving all your money to the world’s children in one night. That would be weird. No. We mean to check that budget twice, three times, and keep checking it. There will be excellent parts and naughty parts of your budget, and you have to find the balance and make it work.

There are many great budget templates online that can help you get started with the actual formatting of your budget. However, these and this blog are just tips and tools to help you. You will have to put the work in to ensure that 2022 is the year of your financial freedom!

If you need help sorting out your budget, one of our experts will gladly help you. You can contact them for a risk-free assessment.

It’s 2022. We made it! Another year in the books and another year to get on top of our finances.

A lot of blogs are posting their top tips for your personal finances in 2022, and, well, we’re no different. There is a lot of information out there, and we want to make sure that you are getting the best advice to be able to make informed decisions.

We will always suggest speaking to an expert, whether one from our team of your own accountant or financial advisor, but to get you started on making 2022 the year of finance, here are some tips on starting that journey.

Take a look into the past…

We’re not talking about life regression hypnosis or anything. Looking back over the last year of your finance will help you have a look at where your money came from and where it went. If you have a budget in play, January is a great time to review it and see what adjustments can be made.

If you don’t already have a budget, taking your bank and credit card statements and making a timeline of debits and credits can help you get a clearer picture of what you can do differently in 2022.

Time to dust off your learning hat…

While the pandemic has made sure that the grocery store has some limits to their supply, the supply of online learning is never short. Sites like Skillshare and Udemy are amazing resources to upskill yourself on a variety of topics. They also include some informative financial literacy courses that can give you the confidence to start investing or getting into cryptocurrency. These sites, and others like them, also get into the basics of budgets and financial literacy.

Whatever platform you decide is your learning tree, sit under it and gain some new skills that will make 2022 the year of financial freedom.

Write it down and get started!

If you have particular financial goals this year, paying off a loan or your mortgage, write it down. It’s been proven that writing a goal or task down means that it’ll stick with you longer as almost a written contract with yourself that you’ll achieve it.

The next step is an easy one; get started. If you want to invest, there are plenty of articles about how easy it is to get investing; here’s our one. While it’s easy to make a plan and learn some new skills, the hard part and the part that will take discipline is getting started.

There is help available right now if you need some coaching to get started. Our team of experts has decades of experience in helping people get on their journey to Less Debt More Life, and they can help you too.

Make 2022 your financial year so that in 2023 you can look back at today as the day that changed everything for the better.

Less Debt More Life™

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