Financial Planning Tips For Your Family | #CP

Listen, money can’t technically buy happiness for you and your family. But, it can buy a sense of financial security and stability that helps you feel comfortable in life. It’s horrible to worry about your family finances all the time. Whenever you buy something from a shop, you think about whether or not you can afford it. You feel like you’re letting your kids down by not being able to buy them nice things or go on lovely family holidays. It doesn’t have to be this way, you just need to take control of your finances.

As someone who feels relatively content with their financial situation, I thought I’d give you a few financial planning tips to help your family. Here are a few ideas that I believe will help you improve your family finances and have fewer things to worry about:



Always Have An Emergency Fund

Every family needs an emergency fund! The way you save and keep this money is entirely up to you, the main focus is how you treat it. An emergency fund is basically money that you set aside in case you need it. It’s not something you should continuously be dipping into. In fact, an excellent way to tell if your family finances are drifting into bad shape is if you need to keep taking money from your emergency fund!

Ideally, it should only be for emergencies - hence the name! I’m talking about medical emergencies, car accidents, inflated bills that come out of nowhere, etc. If you’re in a situation where you desperately need money, and you don’t have enough cash in your current accounts, then you can dip into your emergency fund to help cover some of the costs. As a result, you can avoid ending up in debt as the only other option could be to take out a loan.

Like I said, you can save this money however you want. But, in my opinion, setting up a savings account is the best step forward. Find the best savings account interest rates out there, and deposit money regularly into it. This way, your emergency fund is secure, and you can earn a little bit of interest while also being able to withdraw funds whenever you need to.


Invest 

A lot of you probably have some savings that you’ve been collecting for years. Most financial experts agree that putting all of your savings into a standard savings account isn’t the best idea. The rates aren’t too favourable, and there are other ways you can keep this money secure.

One way is to invest it in property in the UK or overseas, with someone like Simon Conn. Now, if you don’t currently own a home, then buying a home is an excellent investment for your family. It gives you somewhere to live for the rest of your life while tying your money up in an asset. Alternatively, you could invest in another property if you already own one. Check out some of the local and overseas property 2019 has to offer. The reason this is a smart thing to do is that property investments are generally low-risk. You buy a property, and even if you do nothing to it, the price tends to rise over the years.

Plus, property opens up a new revenue stream for your family as well. You could invest in a small flat and then rent it out. This way, you get more money coming into your account every month. This additional income can help you save more money, which helps create a healthier financial cycle!

You could also consider investing in cryptocurrency, but you must do your research and know the risks beforehand. Consider looking at something like wrapped Bitcoin Kaufen first, to give yourself a good understanding of the market and its potential. 

Review All Your Contracts

We’ve all got money that leaves our account regularly. Basically, these are your bills. Some may have more than others, but we should all have energy bills, phone bills, and internet bills at the very least. All of these different bills have you tied up in contracts with different companies. Now, a mistake we all make is that we just carry on with the same deal for years. As it happens, this can mean we waste so much money as there are cheaper options out there!

My advice is to review all of your contracts when they’re due to expire. Even something like your Sky TV package can work out considerably cheaper when you examine the contract. Why? Because you can find a better deal from a different company - particularly if you’re a new customer. Then, the current contract provider will want to keep you as a customer, so they offer a cheaper rate anyway. If you do nothing, these contracts keep on rolling, and you stick to the same plan for years. So, save money, review your contracts!

With these three tips, you should improve your family finances quite considerably. Save money for emergencies, invest money to make more cash, and ensure you aren’t overpaying for all your bills.

Retirement 

You can never plan for your retirement too early. Making sure you have enough squirrelled away can ease your mind on the run up to your retirement. To ensure you are saving enough for your retirement, make sure you look at an online IRA, individual retirement account. IRA is also a retirement account that you open and fund yourself not through an employer.

Karl Young

Part-time daddy and lifestyle blogger. Father of 2 boys under 2. Golfer, scare-fan, tea-lover, traveller, squash and poker player. I write on the @HuffPostUK http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/karl-young/

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