Budgeting Finance

Coming to a different country to work can be really tough!

In a new country one is literally a fish out of water. All the towns are different, the traffic may be flowing from the wrong side, people may be speaking with a funny accent and most importantly you may not know any of the banks or lending institutions!

If you are in Australia on a 457 visa, you are here to work and you've found a sponsor who needs your skills in your nominated occupation. All is good and you're on your way to start your new job in a new country. But what is the first thing that your employer requires? That would be a bank account so they can deposit your pay!

If you're like me, all the banks in Australia look like an alphabet soup! You just have no idea which bank can give you a debit account without charging monthly fees, which banks can give you a credit card right away and which bank has the best interest rates for your savings account!

I wish someone had given me some guidance before I opened up my first Australian bank account with the first bank I saw in the corner of the street from where I live! I'm not saying I'm not happy with the service, but I pay monthly service fees and get a very low interest on my savings! However, I'm happy that there are many ATMs so I never struggle to pull out cash when I need it.

There are four major banks in Australia. These are the Commonwealth Bank (CBA), National Australia Bank (NAB), ANZ and WestPac (WPC). There's also a fifth option for the internet savvy, which has no fees and highly competitive interest rates. I will talk about this option later.

The Commonwealth bank places great emphasis on excellent customer support and they have an extensive network of ATMs. When you set up a savings account, they will also give you a debit card and set up your internet banking account. However, if you use the branches for transactions you will be charged $6 per month if your bank balance is below $1000.00. Also, your transaction account only receives 0.01% interest p.a.

NAB transaction accounts are similar to Commonwealth but my personal opinion is that Commonwealth is much easier to reach and the branches are more streamlined to provide quick service.

WestPac is Australia's oldest bank and as such they have an excellent reputation. However, being the establishment does not mean that WestPac passes on the prestige to its customers. There's still a $5 monthly fee for transaction accounts.

ANZ bank has an excellent internet webpage that helps you navigate their products and get a credit card as soon as possible. ANZ transaction bank accounts also have a $5 monthly fee. However, ANZ term deposits have good interest rates starting at around 5% p.a. for a 90 day term deposit for $5000 and more.

The fifth option is a bank that has no ATMs or branches. They can afford to give you more interest with the money they save on cost of business associated with having branches and ATMs. U-Bank offers interest rates starting at around 6% for your savings. However, if you are transferring money from a U-bank savings account, you need to be aware that it can take up to four days.

What would I recommend? My personal recommendation is to initially set up a transaction account with any of the big four banks and then once you have some savings, to deposit it to U-Bank and let it collect interest.

I sure wish I had someone giving me this advice when I first arrived in Australia. However, with money, it's never too late to watch it grow. Just make sure you're placing it in a suitable account that will allow for the growth to take place.

If you're a big spender, locking away some of your cash will actually force you to have savings on the side and this is a good thing!

Ella Utku is a SEO writer / online content manager on a 457 visa in Sydney, Australia. Ella received useful help from visacorp in attaining her 457 business visa.

Visacorp has helped many people with their Australian work visas. They are experts in helping those coming to Australia, looking to contribute to the Australian economy.

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One way to become rich is to invest in getting a higher education. Having a higher education opens up new job opportunities for you and will also increase your likelihood of getting paid more. In a few years the money you spent on an education can be made at the job you choose.

Another option is researching which companies are expected to do well in the upcoming years and to buy stock in those companies. Technology based companies would be a good thing to invest in as the world is becoming more and more entirely based on computers. International companies making billions every year are another thing to invest in. Some newly started businesses may be a great investment, as you can buy stock for a low cost now and earn much more when those companies begin to boom. Watch the stock market and learn how to predict stocks and educate yourself well before investing!

If you're smart with money, and innovative with ideas, starting your own home business is yet another option. E-commerce is especially beneficial as you can widen your reach of influence from your business and gain more customers. Think of a product or service that is unique, can be inexpensive in relation to how much your customer will pay for it.

Becoming rich will take time and hard work. Some of the online businesses take a lot of work, but they do eventually pay off. You're going to have to put effort forth to have a good turnout, in other words you reap what you sow. Most of the programs online will give you guides on how to set up a business. All you have to do is pay for the knowledge, but if you think of it like paying for a class in college it can be the best investment for you. Many classes in an average college cost 300-500 dollars per class. And you have to invest years into an education. With most online businesses you can set it up and forget it and watch your profits roll in. With a little start-up money and proper planning, you can get rich over time.

You could also play the lottery. The chances are slim but if you play every day for a couple of years your odds can be better. And if you hit it'll make up for every dime you spent. If you buy the rolls of tickets you are bound to get a 10,000 or higher payout eventually and it has much better odds than picking numbers.

Imagine doubling your money every week with no or little risk! To discover a verified list of Million Dollar Corporations offering you their products at 75% commission to you. Click the link below to learn HOW you will begin compounding your capital towards your first Million Dollars at the easy corporate money program. Click http://www.makeamillionguide.com/ to learn how to make fast money!

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In these harsh economic times, cutting down on bills has probably become one of your top priorities. While the gas prices may be rising and thus straining your pockets, you can mitigate this by reducing your household bills. Make your home more energy efficient by reducing its energy consumption levels. A simple step such as upgrading your windows can reduce your costs by a sizeable margin. Consider the following tips to help you improve your home's energy efficiency.

Tip 1: Replace or Upgrade your Windows

Old and leaky windows significantly raise your air-conditioning and heating bills. To counter this, replace them with models that are more energy efficient. You can also shore up their efficiency with storm and weather-stripping windows. These newer models are Energy Star-rated, and can save between 7 to 24 percent of your bills. Single-glazed windows are the most energy-taxing and in need of replacement than other types.

Tip 2: Be Frugal

One way to keep your bills low is to learn to switch off lights or unwanted appliances. While lighting up the whole house creates a sense of security, it also pushes you to dig deeper to pay the rising bills. If you can do without them, why not switch the lights off? The resulting savings can be channeled towards replacing any inefficient devices in your home.

Tip 3: Install Compact Fluorescent Lights

If you use incandescent bulbs, replace them with CFLs. The energy needed to power a single bulb during its shelf life is more costly than the bulb itself. A certain type of CFL about three dollars more and uses 27 watts to produce the same amount of light as a 100-watt incandescent bulb. Its usual life is 10,000 hours, in which it consumes $22 of energy. On the other hand, a 100-watt bulb, though cheaper (at $5), lasts for 1000 hours, hence 10 bulbs are needed to last for 10,000 hours. In this period, the bulbs will consume energy amounting $80. In short, CFLs are much more energy-efficient and although they are initially more expensive you need to purchase less of them to equal the same lighting lifespan and you'll pay for about a third of the energy.

Tip 4: Improve the Efficiency of Water Heating System

Set your water heater's temperature to a warm setting of 120°F. Then enclose your hot water pipes with a proper insulation to avoid loss of temperature in between usage. Next, install low-flow fixtures in your baths and showers. Such measures reduce the amount of energy spent in pumping and reheating water in your home.

Tip 5: Insulate you Wall and Attic

During the winter, heat flows out of your house, while the reverse happens in summertime. With proper insulation, the rate of heat outflow during winter is minimized, while in summer, flow of heat into the house is slowed down. As such, your house will consume less energy to cool or heat the house. If there is no wall insulation in your house, install a blow-in insulation system. Lastly, you should ensure that your attic is properly insulated.

Tip 6: Conduct an Energy Audit

A vital, and possibly first step to improve your home's energy efficiency if you are truly committed to the cause, is to schedule an appointment with your local energy auditor. This expert has specialized skills and equipment such as infrared goggles, which he uses to calculate your home's energy efficiency. He also recommends any measures you should take to improve the existing efficiency levels and also offer you an independent opinion of your contractor's job quality. This way you can find out the most significant upgrades you can do for your house first and use the money you save because of that renovation to fund the other suggested renovations.

Randal Clark
Turnaround Consultant
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
http://www.randalclark.com/

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Just because you don't make a lot of money, doesn't mean you can't save some. Technically, my income is below the poverty line in Canada, and by 'technically', I mean it is. If you're like me (no special skills, suck at math/ science and socially awkward) you have to go the extra mile to save and do what others are afraid, scared or mostly embarrassed to do. First, let's be clear, if you don't have a job and don't want to work at all then sorry, I can't help you. You must have at least some motivation to work, and if you don't, you could never accomplish the 5 steps anyway.

1. No Debt - If you're poor (like me), and you have debt, or worse, high interest credit card debt, it is virtually impossible to get ahead. Even if you save and are good enough to get a decent return in stocks, the 20% interest on credit card debt effectively cancels out any returns, and you are still in the hole. So pay off your debt, or never go into debt.

2. Set Achievable Goals - If you're poor, the savings process starts off very slow and can be frustrating when you're trying hard to save but have very little to show for it. You must start small; save $50-100 per pay check and build up from there. One of my favorite small goals is to not spend more than $5 a day on discretionary items including food. Some days I go way over but if you are trying hard, you will save extra.

3. Think Long Term - Investing is a marathon not a sprint. The money that you save should be put away until you are financially secure. Being a long term investor sounds easy, yet when you wake up one day and all your investments are down, and the culture of crisis is preached on the television, the easy thing to do is sell. Not to mention, the iPad you always wanted just went on sale. Will you cave and spend? (Wait, iPads never go on sale)

4. Think and Act Independently - I find this the hardest thing to do for most people. Generally, people are slaves to society and what other people deem as normal. In my late teens, early 20s, friends of mine would spend a lot of money partying/ drinking, going shopping or collecting DVDs. You must create your own path. If you want to get ahead financially, and you're poor (like me), you simply can't afford to do the above things frequently. Otherwise you'll just be like everyone else; even more poor and in debt.

5. Consolidate Your Expenses - If you're poor, and you just make enough to cover rent, you have to decrease your fixed expenses if you want to get ahead. The easiest way to do this is to find roommates to move in with, or downsize your living space. Maybe there's a nice basement apt in a neighbourhood that has some character (ghetto) that will cut your rent bill in half. If you took on too big a mortgage, admit your mistake and sell your house to downsize. As a renter, go the roommate route or find a significant other to split rent. Id recommend moving back with parents as a very last resort because it's not worth going into debt if your just getting by.

Maybe there should be a number 6, embrace thrift. We don't need 95% of what we buy. If you spend $20 a day on any number of things, that's $7300 a yr, a terrific amount to begin saving. The more thrifty I get, I realize how society shapes us to consume things we don't need. As a teenager, I use to feel sad after I bought an expensive pair of shoes because I knew I didn't need them and they wouldn't make me any happier. All that was left was a whole in my wallet and empty feelings. Remember that feeling, because you don't have to feel like that again if you take control and act independently. (see #4)

Any questions, email me personally. I'm John, my passion in life is teaching about saving, investing and stocks. Glad to answer questions or chat. john@riseofamillionaire.com

John Laframboise is founder and author at http://www.riseofamillionaire.com/, a personal finance Blog that follows his progress to become a millionaire. John has held positions within the Canadian banking industry and has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Windsor in Canada.

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Finance categories make it simple to manage your cashflow and to keep more of your money for investing and for using toward securing financial freedom. Many clients who I speak to have tried budgeting and have set up finance categories which were far too complicated to keep up with when life started to get busy. In this article, I'll be showing you four simple personal spending categories which you can use to achieve financial freedom starting right now.

The Four Simple Personal Finance Categories

Most likely you have seen the budget spreadsheets which are 60 feet long and which contain numerous personal spending categories. The problem with these is that they are far too numerous and complex to live on and even if you do succeed, they take all the fun out of your life. You can become more involved with the budgeting procedure and lose site of the intent of budgeting. When it comes to succeeding with your personal spending, you need to keep things simple. Here are the four personal finance categories which I found to be the most basic when it comes to managing personal cash flow:

1. Living expenses
2. Giving
3. Cash Reserves (for planned spending or for emergencies)
4. Investing

Every kind of spending that you do can be narrowed down to one of these four categories. By keeping track of your spending in these areas and planning your cash flow management according to them, you will have a much easier time getting control of your financial life. Let's look at a simple way for managing these categories...

The Order of the Four Personal Finance Categories is Key

Making the four personal finance categories work is all about allocating your disposable income according to what your highest priorities are. Here's an example:

1. Investing of 10%
2. Giving of 10%
3. Cash reserves of 10%

Once you've made these three a priority, the remaining 70% is usually more than enough to pay your expenses. Of course, this can be difficult to believe if you've been living paycheck to paycheck, but just try it for a month. Even if you think you cannot allocate the percentages above, choose a lesser amount, which you can allocate consistently until an increase can be made. If you manage your spending according to these four personal finance categories, you'll discover that you have more money than you thought and having more control of it will help you get more value out of it.

Before you spend any more money, download this FREE personal finance report.

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Creating a budget may not be the solution to all your financial woes but it is a start to redefining and setting straight your financial path. Basically, a budget is a financial plan; a simple way to record your income and expenses. It is a goal that you set for yourself to obtain and maintain a stable financial health by keeping track of how much comes in and how much goes out. Simply put, a budget is a combination of your income, expense, and goals. If you need financial security in life and want to save yourself from piling on debts, creating a budget is a necessity.

Though, it is fairly easy to build a budget, sticking to it will be a tad bit tougher. Initially, you may have problems abiding by your set budget but know that, your budget shouldn't necessarily be restrictive. You can accommodate few changes here and there but remember to not go all out. The main aim for creating a budget is to have control over your finances and if that is fulfilled then, tweaking a bit isn't a problem.

How to Budget Money

There are many ways to create a budget. You can use spreadsheet programs, accounting software or simply a pen and a paper, whichever you are comfortable with. A good budget plan incorporates all sources of income, expenses (all 3 types- fixed, variable and periodical), debt (if any) and savings. The most important thing to remember is to be realistic while creating a budget. Setting unrealistic goals will only fail you in the end. So, don't cut out, cut back. For instance, instead of going to movies every week, go twice a month. If you are eating out everyday, start cooking few days a week at home. Remember, these small changes will add up to a larger sum.

A Sample Budget Format

Categories
Budgeted (B)
Actual (A)
Difference
Income (I)

Total
Total
Total (B)- Total (A)
Expenses (E):

Fixed

Variable

Periodical

Total
Total
Total (B)- Total (A)

Record all your sources of income in the income row. Similarly, list your forecasted expenses- all 3 types: Fixed expenses (rent, electricity, water bills, loan repayment, pre-paid costs), Variable expenses (shopping, restaurants, utilities), Periodical expenses (tax, insurance). At the end of the month, input your actual income and expenses. If there is a difference between the actual sum and the budgeted sum, you need to find out where you went wrong. Work on those areas and see if you can stick to your budget next time around. Hence, it is important to review your budget time and again; make changes where necessary.

Penny Likes to write about how to budget money on her site pennyseeds.com!

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These days we all have to keep a tight rein on our household expenses. One of the best ways to keep control of your finances is to use a budget calculator. This will help you see where your money is going and where you may be able to make savings.

Budget Calculator - Getting Started: It is probably a good idea to collect your last twelve months bank statements to make sure you don't forget to include all your quarterly and annual bills. Collect the records of all your income, including investment income and interest on savings. Your expenses fall into several categories - some are unavoidable, some are discretionary and some are unexpected. Your unavoidable expenses include things like mortgage or rent, electric and gas and of course food. Discretionary expenses are things like eating out or a day at the spa. Unexpected expenses include things such as repair of an essential household appliance or a new boiler.

Which Budget Calculator? When you have got your paperwork to hand it is time to find a budget calculator. There are loads of budget calculators on the internet - have a look at a few and see if there is one suitable for your needs. If you can't find one that looks right for you, you could set up a personalised one on a spreadsheet. Go through your bank statements and make a list of all your monthly, quarterly and annual bills. Then add one third of the quarterly and one twelfth of the annual bills to your monthly column. Next list all your monthly income in the same way. Transfer the information to your chosen budget calculator and see where your money is going.

Go through your discretionary expenses and see if there is anything you could do without - eating out once a month instead of once a week, walking to work rather than using the car every day or taking a packed lunch instead of going to the café. If your budget calculator shows that you do not appear to be able to live within your budget, don't despair - there are steps you can take.

Adjust your Budget: Firstly your mortgage - you have several options here. You could increase the term of your mortgage, making your monthly payments lower. You could take a further advance and use the money to pay off your much more expensive credit cards - it is important to get rid of your most expensive debts first. Next check that you are with the cheapest suppliers for gas, electric, telephone and internet - it's not much trouble to switch and you could save a lot of money.

Food shopping - always make a list, it's too easy to pick up things you don't really need. Consider buying different brands if they are cheaper, instead of just picking up the one you always get. You will find that fruit and vegetables are generally cheaper from a market or a greengrocer - and you have the added advantage of only buying what you want (instead of a pack of three lettuces for instance). Hope this has helped with your budget calculations.

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