Discount Vouchers to Help Your Budgeting
Similar to how you can save money with orange vouchers, voucher codes are still a great way to save money on purchases online (or sometimes even in store..). You may of heard of Myvouchercodes and similar sites, but The Coupon Chief (http://www.couponchief.com/) is a new player in this market with a
range of US and U.K coupons. Generating over 250,000 visits a month, the site has been updated with over 5,000 different coupons to use.
If you are likely to make a purchase online anyway, it is always worth searching for discounts before making a purchase. Usually, all that is required is to add a specific code to the checkout process or click through to the vendor from the Coupon Chief site.
Some of the best on the site for UK readers include Play.com coupons and others well known brands like Tesco and Argos. Give the site a go, it has a simple navigation to use and a user friendly list of all available coupons. You can tell the site itself has a solid team of bargain hunters at the helm, as the homepage is updated frequently with the latest offers.
Easy Money Management
Kublax allows you to aggregate your financial data into one place.
In my experience with everyday money management, the simplest and easiest way to make sure you don’t end up in debt is to make yourself a budget. I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before, but if you’re not budgeting, you’re not really keeping a close eye on your spending - and that’s where money problems begin. If you’ve been making excuses not to budget, I’ve found a free tool online that simplifies things.
It’s called Kublax, and it works by aggregating all your bank, credit, and building society accounts together. It’s a free to use program, and once you spend a few minutes tinkering with your settings, you’ll start to see your finances in a whole new light.
What I like about it, is that it takes the parts out of budgeting that people normally trip up on – such as calculations, missing out an expense or forgetting about a direct debit – because it does the calculations for you and categorises your spending into your budget automatically.
I’ve been road testing this financial software for the past six weeks now and have been really pleased with it. Once you’ve uploaded your details, you define your expenses into as many categories as you like. The software then plots your finances for you on an easy to read graph. After you enter in the figures for your budget, your graph will show both your actual spending and your budget visually.
Now I was happy with just those two functions alone in Kublax, and then I noticed the ‘compare me’ tab. The team at Kublax has come up with a way for you to get some perspective on all your finances by allowing you to anonymously compare your finances with others. You can then check out what areas you might be overspending in by seeing what the average amount others spend on that expense.
I’ve been waiting for a decent money management platform like this to launch in the UK for some time now, and would recommend you try it out if you’re not a fan of traditional budgeting and hate spreadsheets. There’s still some room for improvement in the software, but it definitely lives up to it’s promise - ‘Making sense of your money’. If you choose to road test Kublax or know of any other online money management tools, make sure you let us know.
Have you been driven to Debt?
Filed under: Debt Management, Money Saving Tips, Mortgages, Savings
As if rising utility bills aren’t enough, now motoring can drive you further into debt. It’s a little bit of a catch 22 situation, as most work requires you to drive, but with rising costs for running a car, this can put you in a difficult situation.
If you are in some financial difficulty and you rely on a car to get around, take note of some of these car insurance money saving tips and you can save a few pennies along the way.
When completing a car insurance form:
- Check if your car has an advanced security device. If so, note the model and number and let your insurers know. They may offer some form of discount.
- If you have had a long period of ‘no claims, note this thoroughly as you will be rewarded with lower premiums.
- If you are an advanced driver ie: you have passed your PassPlus exam, again note this on the application as some insurers reward drivers who have this additional certificate.
- Make sure you obtain quotes from a large number of insurers before signing a contract. There are a number of car insurance comparison sites which will find you the best deal based on your car and personal details.
By following a few of these simple tips you can ensure that the pleasure of driving doesn’t drive you further into the red.
Student Bank Accounts
If you have ever been a student, then you are probably used to being short on money. Student debt is becoming a major strain on young individuals within education, and it is extremely important to learn how to control your finances while in further education. Otherwise, you may find yourself coming out of university with more debt than you can afford to repay.
Luckily, in most circumstances, student loans are only payable back to the Student Loans Company when a postgraduates salary reaches around £19,000 per year (or £1,250 per month takehome, after tax and National Insurance has been deducted.)
Banks within the UK are extremely keen to attract student accounts, this is because although they make very little on the accounts by offering interest free overdrafts, they can often secure long term customers once the students graduate. They are also willing to offer student credit at attractive rates to encourage reckless spending. Be wary of your bank offering you attract, low limit credit cards, instead focus on managing what money you do have correctly rather than amassing a large credit card bill.
As consumers rarely change their banking providers in later years, getting students to sign up for a current account before they start earning big salaries is a no brainer. With that in mind, be sensible and don’t be drawn to a student account which offers cheap perks. Carefully study their interest rates, overdraft charges and any other additional fees which may affect you after you graduate.
As long as you don’t blow your student loan in freshers week, student loans and student bank accounts can be a fantastic way to get you through university without ammasing a large level of debt.
Cash ISA’s - Making your money work harder
I’m a big fan of the term “make your money work harder”, and you will probably become accustomed to this as you continue to read my posts. I feel that money that isn’t earning as much as it can is the same as burning money. One example i will give you today is how to make your money work harder by using cash ISA’s.
A cash ISA is basically a tax free savings account which is shielded from the government’s ability to skim a bit of the top - they don’t take any tax. It’s basically their incentive or way of allowing you to make a little more on your savings each year, and means the savings are passed onto you. There is a limit to how much you can put in an ISA per year, so don’t delay and get your ISA set up immediately. Before April of this year, there is a limit of £3,600 which can be put into the ISA which cannot be increased. After this, the limit is reset for the following financial year – effectively capping your interest free saving ability for that year once it has been maxed out. Money can be withdrawn at any time, hence the slightly lower interest rates, but once you withdraw money you cannot re-deposit it if you have reached the £3,600 limit for that year.
How safe are cash ISA’s?
Very safe in fact. The UK government will guarantee up to £50,000 of your
Earn more from your savings with cash ISA's
hard earned money from any financial establishment which keep your peace of mind. Because of the economic climate, you have every right to worry about the safety of your finances, do not worry, the money is backed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), and is capped at £50,000 per institution.
Please note that this protection isn’t applicable to shares and stocks as they have the element of risk, and as you are ‘risking’ your money, this protection does not apply.
How do i apply?
Most banks allow you to fill in forms at their branches, or you can apply at most online banking sites, who will then send you forms to fill out. Natwest currently offer 3.51% on their Cash ISA, and also allow online management of the account – however, if you search around for a while in Google, you can boost your AER significantly! Because this is a government backed scheme, your eligibility is checked and will take a few weeks to set up. Despite this, a cash ISA is a great way to boost your savings compared to the abysmal savings rates currently on offer in the UK!
