The start of the year is full of new promises to eat healthier, exercise more frequently and stop any bad habits that affect your health. These are all honourable and hopefully you are still managing to keep them up, however, are you giving the same discipline and dedication to the health of your finances?
Are you “good” with money?
Depending on your character will depend on your attitude to money and wealth. Are you “good” with money, or just good at spending it?! Do you still balance the cheque-book every month to the penny or is your account always in the red, for reasons unknown to you.
Most doctors and dentists are in the fortunate position to have excess income each month. Are you making it work for you?
Here are 7 simple tips to improve the health of your wealth this year:
- Reduce your debt – it’s an obvious one but when you look at how much interest you are paying each month on credit cards, personal loans and the like then it makes sense to tackle this first. There is no point in tucking away any stash of cash under the mattress unless you are first of all in the clear with any outstanding debt balances. Mortgages are slightly different but the logic can be applied.
- Improve your mortgage rate – the UK mortgage market currently has all time low rates of interest and there are plenty of deals to be had. Ensure you are not paying over the odds on your mortgage commitment. If you are, look to remortgage.
- Trim your outgoings – even if you don’t have your own business, knowing where your personal money goes is important to being able to improve the health of your wealth. Every month spend some time reviewing where costs can be trimmed and ensuring your monthly salary covers the outgoings.
- Boost savings – excess income can be used to boost your savings. ISA’s are a tax efficient way to save and with changes on the horizon from April 2015, savers benefit from more flexibility over the type of ISA they hold as well as an increased tax-free limit. Read more on recent changes to ISA’s.
- Plan for the future – the sooner you can start to plan for your financial future, the better. Pensions, buy to let properties and investments are all great additions to a retirement planning portfolio. They do take consideration up front though as most are more effective long-term.
- Don’t delay – if you have clear ideas and even a small pot of funds available then make this year the start of either building on these funds for bigger plans, or using these funds to get your ideas in motion.
- Seek help from a professional – you wouldn’t expect someone who isn’t trained in dentistry or medicine to perform even a routine checkup on themselves let alone anything that could affect the future of their health. Seek out those who can help you in areas unfamiliar to you, like financial planning and mortgage advice. It is good to research and there is plenty of information available to help with generating ideas but when it comes to implementation then someone with experience can make sure you get it right.
Dental & Medical Financial Services have been helping doctors and dentists with robust financial plans, including debt management, savings & investments, pension planning and mortgages, for over 20 years. Call Darren:
Tel: 01403 780 770