Behavioural change: 11 tips to building wealthy habits

Linda and Kochie (Australian Finance gurus, with Kochie a notable television presenter) posted the following 11 tips to ensure your finance success. They're all quite simple, and valid.

BUILDING strong financial habits into daily behaviour is the most powerful way to boost wealth.
So often we talk about setting financial goals, having a household budget, updating your will and a myriad of other financial tasks. While all of these tasks are essential financial housekeeping, behavioural change is the most potent influencer.

Here are 11 behaviours which will change your life.

1. Be a year-round discount shopper/negotiator
Ask for a discount on every purchase. Australians have become enormous "sale" shoppers since the start of the Global Financial Crisis and that's a great behaviour to have.
But when an item isn't on sale, ask for one anyway. It should be part of your behaviour to ask for a better deal on everything. Don't be embarrassed, the supplier can only say "no", while a "yes" makes it all worthwhile.

2. Save 10 per cent of your income
Make it automatic all year round. An automatic transfer of at least 10 per cent of your salary every payday across to an "untouchable" investment account.

You'll change your behaviour to live within the 90 per cent which is left, while letting compounding work its magic on the nest egg.

3. Have a plan for credit card rewards
Credit card reward schemes are usually not worth what they're cracked up to be because the program is not generous, we don't maximise the program, or both. First make sure you have the best credit card with the best rewards program for your spending pattern. Then think how each purchase can maximise points.

4. Be more demanding on your bank
Question your bank on everything. The interest rate on your home loan, discounts if insurance is part of the bundle, slashing/abolishing account keeping fees.

But don't do it once, keep the pressure up all year round. If a penalty fee comes in, ask to have it removed. Be relentless.

5. Question any insurance premium renewals
Never, ever, automatically pay an insurance premium renewal. Always go to one of the insurance comparison quote sites to compare alternatives.
Ring at least one other insurance company for a quote.

6. Opportunities to earn money on the side
Whether it is a second job, a garage sale, starting a market stall or turning a hobby into a money spinner, there are a myriad of ways to earn extra cash. Keep all of this constantly in mind to identify any opportunities.

7. Manage your time ... don't waste.
Analyse your day, your week, your year. We all need downtime but there is a difference between leisure time and waste time.

8. Identify the waste time and turn it into earning or learning time with specific projects
From light bulbs to appliances and renovations, think energy efficiency when choosing a replacement. Electricity bills are set to skyrocket over coming years and this is where big savings can be made.

From solar hot water to simple door snakes to stop drafts, energy efficiency should be the first criteria behind selecting anything to do with the home.

9. Constantly ask the question: "Do I need?"
Rather than looking at something and thinking "I'd like" or "I want", train your first thought to be "do I need?"

We're not saying don't spoil yourself on occasions, life's too short, but asking "do I need?" before any purchase will cause you to pause, think and avoid those impulse buys which waste so much money.

10. Check that you are getting all your government entitlements
The facts are, an incredible number of people simply don't apply for the government benefits they're entitled too. Make sure you're not one of them. Make a habit of checking www.humanservices.gov.au for eligibility and the benefits that are available.

11. Organise all of your financial paperwork
The Tax Office wins most disputes because of the poor record keeping of taxpayers.
Spend time keeping the paperwork under control.

Wealthy start to the year
This calender year has started off well when it comes to the two biggest assets of most Australians superannuation and the house. But we still need to add some caution to that healthy dose of optimism.
Super certainly bounced back in 2012 with annual returns for balanced funds coming in at 11 per cent, Australian shares at 17.9 per cent and international shares at 13.6 per cent.
They are solid returns but are put in perspective when the five-year rolling average for balanced funds was just 0.8 per cent a year, which is way below even the inflation rate.
On the residential property front, RP Data's daily house value index has risen 1.7 per cent in January across all capital cities to be at its highest level since 2011.
The experts say buyers are now coming back to the market.
That's a good start but January is a very quiet property month, so we need let the market settle into the year before getting too excited.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/money/david-and-libby-koch/david-libby-koch-enriching-habits/story-fn7kicty-1226563312452#ixzz2JFbVeL7z

Happy New Year :)

Scheduling time

 

Earlier this week I joined the gym located conveniently across the road from my (new, yay!) office. A scant two workouts and pulled pectoral muscles later, I'm keen to step it up a notch this week.

At the moment, my (planned) schedule is

5.30am - wake, feed horse and dog
5.45am - put on make up and dress while eating breakfast
6am - drive to train station - as of Friday, I now have a CBD parking space, so can make things work a little better for my needs.
7am - Work
4pm - Drive home, in the saddle by 5pm for a quick before-it-gets-too-dark ride.
6.45pm - finish ride, put horse away, cook dinner.
7.30pm - eat dinner
8pm - 9pm - free time/time for freelancing if I have a job on
9pm - horse's second night feed, prep clothes and meals for next day
10pm - bed.

In that schedule, I have a bare one hour of non-scheduled time, provided I don't have a freelance client that week (to all the busy Mums out there, I know I'm very lucky to be able to commit so much time to riding/non-child personal pursuits!). So I signed on to the gym in order to workout during my lunch break - or possibly before work on some days, though the gym only opens at 6am (ONLY? Who am I?!).

But the reality is, I often go to bed between 11.30pm (on a good night) and 1am (bad night), but average around midnight. So, 5.5 hours of sleep.

Then, I rarely leave work before 5.30 - thus killing not only my ride time, but eating into my life in general.

Now that I have a car park and am not at the mercy of the packed-out-by-7am train carpark, I may ride before work and start at 9am. This would also mean I could safely do overtime at work and STILL ride :D I could then go to gym at lunch time or after work (providing I work out some kind of system to have dinner ready for Luke, or he'll be eating at 8-9pm every night.

But I quite like starting early. So, I'm going to give the 7-4 thing a go with the new carpark this week and see if I can make it work. Watch this space...

Make it happen

It's 4.30pm, a steamy 30 degrees Celsius and I'm about to head out to ride.

Crazy right?

I'm coming to realise that self discipline means many things.

Self discipline to not eat that Twix bar (I'm now on a no-twix for Oct challenge. It's like OcSober for non-drinkers).

Self discipline to get up early & exercise.

Self discipline to set aside time to prep healthy, clean meals for the week.

Self discipline to head into a hot afternoon & train my horse, even when I really don't want to (he'd probably rather be in air con too).

But each of these things will bring me closer to my goals and will help me to become a better rider. A fit body and rested mind plus perfect practice (any Jane Savoie lovers?) brings results, in the arena, the office and life generally.

This morning I woke up before my alarm - on a Sunday no less. Very proud of that achievement. If I have the self discipline to change a major bad habit (sleeping in), I have the self discipline to train, to eat well, to be fit and to make this happen!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Starting over: I'm gonna ROCK this

New adventures

So many things happened - my contract finished at work and I was unemployed for a chunk of time. I freelanced (and will continue to do so, part time) and loved it. Most recently, I was offered a short term contract in a job and company that is too hard to refuse. So, back to work I go.

While they finalise paperwork, I have a few days off. I plan to spend my remaining days partly as holidays - no work! Relax! And partly to knock over things that I won't get as much of a chance to do once employed full time.

Step 1
List out the things I want to get done.

Step 2
Set a game plan for life updates. What better time to create new, better routines (or routines at all) than when undergoing a big change (new job)? With all the chaos, it'll be easier to adapt to new ways of doing things, before I fall into any ruts.

Step 3
The fun stuff. Map out my wardrobe for my new job. Not knowing just how coprorate/not corporate the new office's style is - is driving me nuts! Am I missing key pieces? I'm convinced that part of my rough start in my last job was my failure to purchase a 'first day in new job' new outfit. I won't make that mistake again.

And if it isn't true - who cares, lets go shopping :)

Chic office details 

Source: Pinterest

Casual Friday in a very corporate setting

Source: Net-a-Porter

 

Peacocky Christmas

This post - oh swoon!

Such great decorating ideas; and even more so for Christmas. Not a Hint of red or green ANYWHERE!

A taste:

They used stencils; I wish I'd done that for my failed artwork gift for The Planner.