Taking back control of your bills.

I had an interesting conversation with a friend who informed me how many of the black community having really difficultly managing their money on a day to day basis. I was really surprised, with so much help out there I couldn’t understand it.

However, if you’ve read Shaping Up Culture by Mark Maciver, one of the essential points he makes is that we need to work on “getting the approach to business correct” before we try to start our business and I think it’s the same when it comes to our money and financial affairs; we need to start with getting the approach right. So in order to build up our finances we need to dig a strong foundation.
   
The great thing is that much of the information is free, YouTube is a great starting place and Money Saving Expert and Money Advice are also good places to get free help and advice:
Moneysavingexpert
Moneyadviceservice

Hettie's Top 3 Tips
Tip 1:  Decide what works for you. 
Do you have more money when you pay for things by cash or card? Lean on your strengths; you know what works for you, so take full advantage of it. 
I prefer to pay my Gas and Electric bills via PP because that what works for me; I hate Direct Debit. So know yourself and decide what works for you. 

Tip 2:  Self Insure.
Use information to your advantage. This is an interesting one; look at your bills e.g. gas bill yearly statement; divide by 10. Dividing by 10 instead of 12 gives you some wiggle room in case something happens with your pay.
So £435.67 divided by 10 = £43.56

Tip 3:  Give yourself more wiggle room.
Round up you monthly payment of £44.56 to £44 or even £45. Make it a habit and pay your £44 every 1st Friday of the month or whichever day works for you.

If you are self employed or you are worried about work security then take it a step further and instead  divide by 8  to give you larger wiggle room. Rounded up it would work out to £55 per month, so if you are sick then at least you know your bills etc are covered. 

I am not a financial advisor; however, as a planning coach I help people budget their money on day to day basis.

WELCOME