Best Financing Options – Money Saving Ideas etc..

Watch out for getting credit cards as they appear on your CRAA. Most banks when assessing serviceability assume that 3% of the limit is outstanding each month. This can really eat into your serviceability!

Here’s a tip. Start off with a low limit. then get credit increases as these will not appear on the CRAA. Any card held more than 5 years also will not appear.

Terryw
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Some banking ones:

If you use an eftpos card for transactions consider getting a VISA debit card (wont let you go below $0). This way you can put all of your transactions (except ATM withdrawals on the credit function and you wont pay any transaction fees.

The Adelaide bank offers 5% interest on their savings account with access via a cheque book or debit card.

Close accounts you dont use, or consolidate several accounts. This could reduce monthly account fees and also government fees.

If you’re a student St. George and Westpac both offer really good student accounts with no fees at all (to a limit).

John Burley’s books (seven secrets of the rich – I think) gives good advice on managing your finance, including a debt terminator which shows you a very effective way to quickly reduce your debt. (It’s also a great real estate book covering, positive cashflow, wraps, no money down etc). An interesting one from left field that he mentions is that most travel insurance (personal belongings) is a waste of money because a lot of home & contents insurance policies cover you for this.

Oh… and avoid breaking traffic rules!!

Another quick one – You can borrow most real estate books from libraries for free. I’ve borrowed a good 20-30 from my local, then bought about 5 of the ones I thought were really good. Just borrowed Real Money, Real Estate by Brad Sugars, Davaid Hows & Phil Jones – the guys from Richmastery for those who are talking about attending their seminars this year.

Hi,

Money saving ideas – hmmmm let me see. Difficult to really pinpoint – but will give you an overall picture of my experience.

A bit of background – I am 37, de facto, 3 small kids, work full-time, get paid well, husband at home with 2 of the 3 kids under school age.

Have very nice home and a few investment properties – positively geared – except for one.

We have cheap cars – we do not believe in spending money on flashy cars – although we need to buy something semi-reasonable soon – you should see the station wagon!

I remember when I was 24 and had bought my first house (during the times of 17.5%) – not having the money to buy things (and obviusly choosing not to)other ‘girls’ with lesser pay were buying items I couldn’t understand how they could afford- eg., designer bags, designer shoes, designer clothes, designer make-up, designer hair-dos. I used to think about this and think there was something wrong with me and couldn’t understand how they did it. Aaannnd…years later it clicked! – I know women my age still doing this and not having a place to live in or invest in and……wondering when someone will come and save them.

The moral of all of the above – is you do not need expensive labels and other material possessions to look good – you can look great without the labels – save that extra bit and put it towards investments (property in my book).

I mentioned the word saving – the only way I can save is if I am forced to – ie., by having debt to pay off – in our case – debt incurred by purchasing properties. I find it difficult to put money away – if ever there is spare money (rare)we put it on the mortgage and then withdraw if we need it for anything major – eg. deposit for property, renovation on own home, etc.

I hope my two bobs worth helps someone.

Have a lovely day!
VB

That should of course read ‘Don’t go shopping on an *empty* stomach’!

A very simple, yet amazingly powerful tip I heard once was to adopt a “no coin transaction” principle.

How it works, is that you never make a transaction using coins, always notes, regardless of what it is. Any change you get, you put in your piggybank. Even if you need coin for a parking meter, never use coin from your pocket, buy something from a shop using a note, then use change from that.

Depending on how many transactions you do in a day, you can find yourself collecting coin at a rate of $10 to $50 a week without missing it.

I empty my change into my bedside drawer, and after three months, I found I had accumulated over $200 which I didn’t expect.

All bits and pieces of saving counts. The best one I have to say is to amalgamate all your car, credit card, perosnal loan into a housing loan. This way you pay the minimal interest. Then get a credit card with minimum limit (i think it is $500) and top it up with your monthly budgeted amount. This way you only use your money in CR card. In the same time you might be gathering flyer points, top up interest etc,

Anyone try this. You will be surprised how much you save in a monthly basis.

Ta, Paul