At this point in my life, I’m no longer accepting dumb finance advice that says I just need to give up my morning coffee/joy to save money and kick all of my financial goals. Anyone who tries to tell me it’s an easy step to saving bulk money are just not my people.
Life is for living and while I’m all for, you know, getting ahead, owning a home or generally just financially winning at life, I’m also not prepared to give up everything I know and love.
The world is awash with terrible money advice and we’re not about to add to it. That’s why we interrogated the minds behind the ANZ Financial Wellbeing Challenge, which is designed to help you manage your finances, achieve your goals, and enjoy life while doing it.
Tip #1: The Envelope Hack
Okay, here’s the deal. Go out and buy yourself a 100-pack of envelopes and number them 1-100. Give them a shuffle and then every day, pick out an envelope and whatever the number is, put that many dollars into the envelope. You can change up the frequency of when you pick out an envelope based on how aggressively you’re keen to save. Once you’ve worked your way through all the envelopes, you’ll have a nice chunk of cash to either put in your savings account, or book that holiday you’ve been desperate to take.
If you’re not a cash person, swap envelopes to small pieces of paper in a hat and transfer that amount into your savings every day.
Tip #2: Automate Your Savings
One thing that gets in the way of savings, I believe, is the temptation of sneaking in an expensive purchase on payday when you feel rich. Inevitably, that means cash that could go into your savings often doesn’t. Enter: automation. “Nominate a separate bank account for your employer to pay a defined portion of your pay into automatically, so you never even see it,” suggests Liana Cauchi, ANZ Financial Adviser. Didn’t know you could do that? Well, now you do, friend.
Tip #3: Visualisation
Manifesting, goal setting, creative visualisation — call it whatever you want. The bottom line is, keeping your eye on the prize is a stupidly simple trick that could help you kick your financial goals. Print out a pic of your financial goal (a home, a holiday, whatever) and put it on your desk so that every time you go to whip out your credit card to buy something you don’t really want or need, you’ll be reminded of the bigger picture.
Tip #4: Say it with me: buckets
Instead of dividing your internet banking into two simple accounts for spending and saving, toss in a couple of extra buckets to make it more interesting. We’re talking about having four or five separate accounts that all have their own purpose. You can make one for rent and household expenses, groceries, entertainment, or even work lunches but the rule is this: when payday rolls around, transfer a specific amount into each and then try to stick to that amount all month, without cheating. For more information on how to manage your buckets (and figure out how much should be allocated to each one every month), check out the ANZ Budget Calculator.
You can sign up for the ANZ Financial Wellbeing Challenge here.
