Whilst we stare down a cost of living crisis amidst another recession, a lot of us are asking, “how can I improve my finances, and stat!?!’ Expert and author Cameron Wislang has a few top tips…
Welcome to The One Thing! Every week we’re bringing you the one nugget of info that you need to know or didn’t know you needed to know! Whether it’s a tip to make your life a little easier, a pearl of wisdom, something to make you think, or maybe something to make you laugh, The One Thing is here to serve you every Friday!
If you’ve got a suggestion or submission for The One Thing, please send your thoughts to [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!
Did someone say a second recession?
If you’re gingerly opening your bank app and crossing your fingers every time you make a transaction – we understand. All of NZ understands! Right now life is expensive. Often terrifyingly so.
So how do we get some relief?
When it comes to budgeting and finances, Kiwi Cameron Wislang is a wealth of knowledge – he’s literally written the book on it. The creator of Big Dollar Energy Budgets last month released ‘Budget Like A Legend: Hot Tips From a Guy Who’s Been There’.
He has LOADS of tips for how to make your money work smarter for you, how to spend less and make more!
But there’s one tip that he says you could do right after you finish reading this story, that will improve your finances quickly – by the end of the month!
“Look over and get new quotes for all of your insurances,” he says. “These are bills we often overlook. Insurance companies won’t ever give you a discounted rate. If anything, they’ll just keep charging you more each year. That’s why it’s worth getting new quotes to check if you’re actually getting the best deal, or if it’s time to change providers.”
Cameron also says it’s worthwhile shopping around different banks, to set up a system that works best for you. It might mean having different accounts with a couple of different banks.
“I always ask people – ‘why are you with your bank?;” says Cameron. “Nine times out of ten, people can’t give me a definitive reason or they just say that it was the one they were first signed up to.. We use banks to manage all of our money, and therefore the only reason we should be with a particular bank or account is because it does the best things for your money. Why would you be with a bank that charges you more and gives you less, when there are better options available?”
Lastly, Cameron recommends you consider changing from using a credit card to a debit card – especially if you’re looking to take out a mortgage any time soon. In his new book he writes that merely having a credit card in your name can be enough for a bank to decline a mortgage application. And, if you are still successful in getting a mortgage, on average, for every $1,000 limit we have on a credit card, it equates to about $4,200 less that banks will lend us for a house.
Cameron says that there are very obvious ways in which credit cards are tripping us up – the obvious one being that interest rates are almost always higher on credit cards than they are on other types of personal loans.
“But the sneakier, and possibly more sinister way that credit cards are tripping us up is the psychology around making purchases,” he says. “We tend to spend more than we would normally if we are using a credit card, simply because we are avoiding the pain of paying. This is the idea that it is psychologically easer to swipe a piece of plastic than it is to hand over your hard-earned cash.”
