All tagged Budgeting

How have YOU improved your financial situation?

How have YOU improved your financial situation?

Ruth
Index Funds, KiwiSaver, Money Education, Retirement, PocketSmith, Sharesies, ETFs, Budgeting

In my last blog post, where I was giving away a bunch of books on personal finance, I gave you two ways to enter. You could either just click enter and get on with your day, or you could take a moment to answer my wide-open question, “Tell me in 100 words or less how you have improved your financial situation”. I honestly thought most people would just enter to win the books without taking the time to write a response. Gosh, was I wrong! My inbox quickly filled up with over 260 fantastic responses, and I’m sharing all of them below. Yep, all of them.

Paying in advance is a far more relaxing way to travel!

Paying in advance is a far more relaxing way to travel!

Ruth
Budgeting, PocketSmith, Saving

I wanted to share the exact costs of a holiday we took in January of this year when we went to Australia and took our first-ever cruise. I went in hugely sceptical of cruising, but I absolutely loved it. We holiday differently from some: Our holiday is fully paid for before we leave. Paying in advance is a far more relaxing way to travel, indeed, the ONLY way to travel, in my opinion.

The Power of an Emergency Fund in a Crisis

The Power of an Emergency Fund in a Crisis

Ruth
Emergency Fund, PocketSmith, Budgeting

As I became aware of the weather event slowly unfolding in the upper North Island and, over the days that followed, the scale and breadth of the carnage it caused, it took me right back to the Canterbury Earthquakes and our experiences of coping with a natural disaster. Since the beginning of The Happy Saver, I’ve talked about Emergency Funds, and I’m not letting up. Although they are fantastic for solving minor money problems, they are even better for giving you strength when the absolute worst happens. An emergency fund comes into its own in a real crisis.

Budgeting for the first time?

Budgeting for the first time?

Ruth
Budgeting

Budgeting for the first time? Then, please let me make it as painless as possible! I regularly speak with people who are, for the first time, looking at their money correctly. Like, I mean, actually looking hard at each transaction, which is what you need to do to understand where your money is coming from and going to. For many, we get by; earning, spending, and not taking too much notice. But this “head in the sand” attitude to money will only get you so far and will keep you living week to week or month to month.

Begin at the Beginning: Step-by-step Path to Financial Independence

Begin at the Beginning: Step-by-step Path to Financial Independence

Ruth
Budgeting, ETFs, Index Funds, Investment, KiwiSaver, Personal Finance, Shares, Sharesies, Sharesight, Simplicity, SmartShares

Whatever it is that you are embarking on that’s always the best place to start in my opinion. The beginning. Then just follow the path, in my case, the path to financial independence and eventually not being tied to a job to earn my income. It’s a long journey but it’s one worth starting. I’m often writing emails that cover the same points over and over again, so I thought that today I’d put that information into a blog post for all of the people wondering where to start and how to string all the bits of information you have learned about money into a cohesive order.

Reimagining my budgets with PocketSmith

Reimagining my budgets with PocketSmith

Ruth
Budgeting, PocketSmith, Reviews

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of budgeting in some way, shape or form and knowing where your money is coming from and going to honestly helps you get ahead faster. There is no doubt in my mind about this. And from time to time I give my budgets an overhaul and this week I made a cup of coffee and took about an hour to look over every corner of my budgets in PocketSmith. The prompt to do this was because PocketSmith have launched a brand spanking new Dashboard with heaps of new customisable features and once I started having a look around, I was like a kid in a candy store.

What is a Sinking Fund?

What is a Sinking Fund?

Ruth
Budgeting, Money Education, Personal Finance, PocketSmith, Saving

I realised recently that I rattle off financial terms, assuming that people know what they are. And that annoyed me a bit, because the reason I started blogging was to demystify financial jargon and yet, here I was, rattling off a bit of jargon! One of these terms is ‘sinking fund’. Today I thought I would quickly explain what a sinking fund is and why I use them myself.

Did my financial plan stand up to the test?

Did my financial plan stand up to the test?

Ruth
Budgeting, PocketSmith, Sharesight, ETFs

Even though Level 2 had felt quite ‘normal’ here in Alexandra, going to Level 1 on the 9th of June did have me going “phew, we did it”. Collectively as a town, region and as a country, WE DID IT! That’s a pretty good feeling. Well done whanau of 5 million! But personally speaking, I don’t quite feel out of the woods yet. My thoughts are along the lines of “don’t relax too soon Ruth”. Therefore, I’m going to listen to my gut instinct and from a financial standpoint, I’m not done with being cautious just yet.

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