The new course starts with more and higher bills, so it is a good time to adopt a strategy with which to save
Citizens tend to make promises about changes in behavior with the arrival of the new year. But this month of September is also full of news and, from a financial point of view, they are demanding. Inflation suffocates families because all basic products are experiencing considerable price increases. In this scenario, it is important to put your finances in order and adopt a strategy in order to save.
Have you stopped to think about what you spend a lot of money on? Do you have expendable expenses? Do you dare to do a self-assessment exercise? With the help of the financial comparator HelpMyCash, we review some guidelines.
Why wait to put your finances in order?
The new course, together with the lack of certainty about the near future, should be reason enough to take advantage of and seriously take control of your finances: review, assess, reorganize and adjust. Do you know that electricity has gone up a lot, but you don’t know how it is affecting you or you are not aware exactly how so many expenses accumulate?
What recommendations do you give to identify the problem?
We will disclose four steps, which are linked together.
-The first thing we recommend is to obtain a global picture of the movements registered in your accounts, at least during the last three months. Subsequently, and with the help of a tool such as Excel or even a simple sheet of paper in case technology is not your strong point, it should be a priority to break down the statements. It is enough to organize them into around five categories, such as leisure, food, fixed and essential expenses, savings and variable expenses.
-Once you have made this diagnosis, you should ask yourself several questions. How much do I earn each month? Do I have more outflows than money inflows? Am I in a debt situation? Our advice is never to allocate more than 30% of your monthly net income to paying debts, with interest, so as not to compromise financial stability.
First step
You must obtain a global photo of the movements registered in your accounts, at least during the last three months
This percentage should mark the maximum threshold after bringing together the installments of all the debts you may have, be it the mortgage, the car loan, installment purchases or credit cards, for example. About the remaining 70% should be available to pay bills, save, eat or dress.
-Although complying with this rule would be ideal, the truth is that the personal situation of each person is very diverse. The important thing is to be clear about what yours is and what objectives you need to meet. I barely make ends meet and I can’t save? I save, but not enough as I would like? Do I need to reduce costs? Do I have an emergency fund? Am I spending more than I earn? Do I tend to buy compulsively? From the comparator they emphasize that knowing what the individual situation is and locating the problem or the desire to fulfill is the key.
emergency fund
We advise you to create one that allows you to meet motivational challenges, whether it is a dream trip or buying a vehicle
-From there you can start reorganizing and adjusting your finances. Although it may seem like a cumbersome task, the truth is that being in control of this part of your life will most likely give you enormous satisfaction and will avoid the so-called ‘financial stress’, which is nothing more than one of the main consequences in life. health derived from a bad economic situation.
New technologies
Familiarize yourself with the website or mobile application of your financial institution so that you can keep track of your position
What priorities should be marked?
Each person’s priority will be very different. It is crucial to start making conscious and responsible decisions by optimizing expenses or drawing up a monthly budget that can be assumed with the income obtained. It is also essential to save, at least to create an emergency fund, and even to meet motivational challenges, whether it is a dream trip or buying a car. To maintain control of your position, we advise you to familiarize yourself with your entity’s website or mobile application or use the financial aggregators if you have several bank accounts. If you don’t know how to make a budget or plan your savings, on our website you can find multiple tips to manage your finances and use its online tools to help you achieve it.