Smartest Money Saving Tips ever

We asked experts worldwide for their best cash control tips in the different areas that can easily get out of hand.

Good Money Management

1. Pay yourself first. Before you start spending your monthly salary, set aside money each month that goes towards savings, insurance and your retirement plan.

2. Be prepared for money emergencies. Set aside a sum equal to six months of your income for emergencies, such as retrenchment or sickness. This should be over and above your other savings and investments.

3. Make savings automatic. Set up direct Giro payments, so a percentage of your salary is automatically transferred every month from your salary to an investement account. It makes saving hasslefree. Aim to save at least 10 t0 20 per cent of your disposable income each month.
4. Look out for clues you’re overspending. You don’t get into financial trouble overnight. There are warning signs: Have you used your savings to pay your bills? Do you borrow money often from friends and family members? Have you started to roll over your credit card bill? Are you at your credit limit? If you answer “yes” to some these questions, review your spending habits. Majority of bankruptcies are now linked to credit card debt.

5. Learn how to budget,  keeping a money diary. List fixed or regular monthly expenses such as housing and car loan repayments, kids school fees, grocery bills utilities. Plus , include 20 per cent of disposable income for savings.

Get More Cash Now

6. Cut down on the “latte factor”- the small amount of money you spend daily on posh coffee, mobile phones or cigarettes. These can up add to thousands of dollars a year.

7. Practice sound shopping habits. Make a habit of doing pre-shopping research, buy in bulk, use discount coupons, and compare brands and prices.

8. Small savings add up. Try emptying your purse of loose change every so often, or ask your husband to empty his pockets. Put the coins in a piggy bank. You can easily save hundreds of dollars a year for extra treats.

9. Get smart with credit cards. They all have different reward and discount schemes. Choose one which fits your needs, if you dine out frequently, consider a card with extensive dining privileges. But experts suggest you hold no more than two credit cards or it’s too confusing.

10. Avoid the “sale” mentality. When you buy a $100 item on sale for $60, you don’t necessarily save $40. you spend $60. it is only a good deal if you need the item in the first place.

11. Use interest-free instalments wisely. For pricey items such as electricals, furniture or jewellery, retails often offer interest-free instalment plans. The catch? It’s only zero per cent interest if you pay instalments on time and in full. Otherwise you pay high interest rates (typically 24 per cent a year) on the sum you roll over.

12. Get free cash every time you spend. Some credit cards offer cash back option based on your spending or balance. Cash might be more useful than reward points you never use.

13. Work in some fun. You may vow to live on rice and water for years to save, but realistically, if your budget is too tight, you’ll inevitably break it. Record every expense you make for a month – every cappuccino and hairclip. Now decide what you must have, and what you can cut out. Are you willing to give up weekly manicures to afford a luxurious monthly spa treatment? Keep one treat important to you so you won’t feel bad about saving in others areas.

14. Refinance your home loan. Don’t just take advantage of the lowest interest rates-also aim to pay off your loan earlier than the stated date. Shave a few years of your mortagage payments and you’ll save hundreds of thousands in interest.

Financial Planning Test

15. Take cover. There is such a thing as being over-insured, but most of us are likely to be under-insured. If you have dependants, consider insuring yourself against death, total and permanent disability, and critical illness.

16. Plan for the long term. As Leo Gough notes in The Citibank Guide To Building Personal Wealth, “We’d all like to get rich quickly, but a well-disciplined, measured approach to building wealth is more likely to produce good results in the long run.”

17. Consider a term plan. If short on cash, a term plan is the cheapest way to get insurance protection. It has no investement value, but many bankers suggest insurance should be treated as insurance, not an investement.

18. Do you homework. Compare financial products, understand the fine print. As financial guru Suze Orman, a regular on TV’s Oprah show, says, “It’s better to do nothing with your money than something you don’t understand.

19. Know your risk appetite. In general, riskier investements offer greater potential rewards. So, author Leo Gough explains, “Analyse the risks of each investment and decide if the potential rewards justify the risks, for you.” If you can’t afford to lose money, don’t pick high-return, high risk investments.

20. Gather information. Attend investment workshops, read the financial pages in newspapers, do research on the Net on what financial terms mean-or find a financial adviser who can help you educate yourself.

21. Make a will. With a legal will, you save you family the hassle of going through long-winded and sometimes costly legal processes.

22. Surround yourself with experts.”If you want to learn about money, learn from someone who has a lot of it.” Advises Charles Givens, author of Wealth Without Risk. No super-rich friends? Try talking to independent financial advisers and bank advisers to get different views you can consider.

23. Claim all the tax breaks and benefits by keeping abreast of changes. From this year, you can also file tax claims separately from your husband-and probably end up paying less tax.

24. Check bills and keep receipts. Studies estimate that every 5th bill from supermarkets has inaccuracies. So check every bill, from your phone company-you name it. Ask for proof if you don’t agree. Why pay for their mistakes?

Emotions And Money

25. Understand that financial control wins you freedom. “Before we can get control of our finances, we must get control of our attitudes about money,” say Suze in her book The 9 Steps To Financial Freedom. “Financial freedom is about realizing we are worth far more than our money.”

26. “Try not to be consumed with a desire for more, “say Jean Chatzky in her book The Ten Commandments Of Financial Happiness. Enjoy your life now.”Look around. Take a breath. Remind yourself that wanting more doesn’t breed contentment, it breeds more wanting,” Jean says.

27. Cheaper is not always better. If that cheaper item breaks and needs regular fixing, it’s no bargain. Sometimes it pays to invest in something a little more pricey, but better made, that will last.

28. Resist the temptation to spend more with every pay raise. In his book Don’t Sweat Small Stuff About Money, Richard Carlson points out there are two very different ways to become rich: 1. Make more money or 2. Have fewer wants. But there is middle ground. If you avoid automatically spending more every time you get a pay raise, you’ll discover a different type of abudance-peace. Why not invest the “extra” money every month instead? You’ve lived without it before, anyway.

29. Ragain control of your money. Author Jean Chatzky says, “The control you exercise over money has just as much (or more) to do with your contentment as how much money you have, the less money you need to be content.”

Cash And Family

30. Money talk is not dirty talk. Make Monday night money night. Don’t shy away from talking finance with hubby. Pick one night a week to discuss budgets. Add a “fun section” at the end, like how to pay for your next trip, says Jean Chatzky.

31. Donate money to enrich your life. Sharing your wealth and good luck throught charities will enrich your life too, say book author Richard.

32. Teach your kids to “pay yourself first”. Encourage them to save money from their weekly allowance. Put the money in a transparent piggy bank to encourage them to keep on saving.

33. A goal, like a new game or toy, will make it easier for your little one to understand why he is saving. The younger the child, the smaller the goal should be, say experts.

34. Make kids work for “extra” money. Walking the dog, putting toys back in her storage box and watering plants are small chores that can be rewarded with cash-they teach responsibility too.

35. Don’t be a desperate housewife. Blindly letting your hubby handle all the money cores makes you financially vulnerable. You should know where and when the money comes in – and goes. Do you know his salary? And your mortgage details? How much insurance you both have? If you don’t know these facts, find out now.

36. Give kids coin rather than a $5 bill. Small change looks more impressive, and it shows younger children that saving smaller amounts is how dollars add up.

37. Talk to your bank. If you are facing a problem paying bills, don’t wait until threatening letters land in your mail box. If you’re close to defaulting on payments, speak to your bank before the situation worsens. Don’t feel you’ve to crawl. Remember, you are the bank’s client – that means you can (and should) negotiate with them for a deal that suits you both. Perhaps they’ll agree to deffer interest payments for a period of time? Keep in contact.

38. Pay off higher interest rate loans first. Clear loans with the highest interest rates in the shortest time possible. Many financial institutions let you transfer debts from one account to another (and will pay the transfer fees)-so check if you should move your debt to another account, with a lower interest rate. (but check how long the rate lasts. Some promotional rates rise steeply once the offer period is over.)

39. Seek assistance. Credit counselling gives free general and credit management information.

40. Try to avoid bankruptcy. Think bankruptcy is an easy way out? Think again. There are numerous restrictions (on jobs,travel) placed on bankrupts. Most importantly, there is no automatic lifting of bankruptcy. Discharged bankrupts have a record on their credit reports at the Credit Bureau for six years, even after discharged.