DIY Financial Planning: Plan A Fantastic Future In Just A Couple Of Hours This Weekend

You work hard – life in Canada isn’t cheap and every extra penny your work brings in is worth it – but being able to use your time off to take it easy is also worth it and it’s very tempting to maybe take it a little too easy and neglect your financial planning.

This weekend, we’d like to issue you a tiny challenge. It doesn’t have to be a painful challenge, either. In fact, it’s a challenge that will work wonders for your future if you decide to take us up on it.

What is this challenge? Simply for you to set aside an hour or two to take careful (and honest) consideration of your present financial situation.

Are you already doing everything you could to best manage your finances and augment your present wealth?

Here are the points you should be reflecting on:

• Financial Planning Step #1: Think hard about your present job

Analyze how you’re faring in your job at the moment. Are your bosses happy with you? If they entrust you with more and more tasks and responsibilities, they surely see you as an asset to the company. If they don’t, you need to concentrate on improving your current performance

Too often is the case that we really do live for the weekend, meaning, so long as we have that pay off of getting two days to ourselves per week (sometimes less depending on who you work for), that we don’t open our eyes to where we’re truly at in our jobs. Are you happy at your present job…as in TRULY happy? If so, great – what could you do to get more from your position (promotion, raise)?

If not, what could you be doing to find something more rewarding? What new skills could you learn in your spare time to bring in a higher income with growth potential through a new employer?

• Financial Planning Step #2: Speaking of raises…

Analyze your potential for growth both within the company as well as elsewhere in the same city or province. Once you make sure that you’re consistently delivering over and above the requirements of your job, you can try to get a raise.

When it comes to determining if you should get a raise or promotion, print up a copy of your resume, then write down everything you’ve learned at your present job. List all the new skills you’ve learned since coming onboard. What kind of value do those skills bring on online job search boards? If it’s not what you’d like, search out complimentary skills that would tilt the balance in your favor.

Another great way to learn is on the go – freelancing is an excellent way to bring in additional revenue while building on the experience you already have. There are many success stories out there of people who started freelancing on the side and did so well they were able to do it full time.

• Financial Planning Step #3: How to find those new skills to learn

So the good news is that you’re ready and willing to learn new skills to boost your value in the job market, but you’re not exactly sure what it is you need to be learning. One of the areas to turn to our online learning platforms such as Udemy and Udacity. Here, you’ll find tons of courses and the most popular ones tend to teach the skills that are most in demand.

Another tip is to google the term [your industry/profession] + trade journal. So for example, if you’re in the accounting industry, you’d look up accounting+trade journal. This would bring up sites and online magazines that are exclusively focused on new developments / advancements in your field, giving you a focus on where you need to grow your skill set.

• Financial Planning Step #4: The secret to finding that better job

Sure, you could hit up all the conventional channels such as Indeed and Monster when embarking on a new job search, but the secret to truly launching an effective search is in building up your network. There really is truth to the expression, “your network is your net worth”.

The key to getting started is to check out online resources such as meetup.com. There is so many groups from many different walks of life to be found there and you’ll no doubt meet people who can act as a referral in their place of employment. Also, if you have started freelancing, don’t hesitate to check out local listings for the BNI (Business Network International). Here you’ll meet potential clients or maybe even your future boss.

• Financial Planning Step #5: Set a Spending Limit

Now that we’ve covered your job (pretty extensively!), it’s time to take into account any areas where you’re overspending. List all of your monthly expenses from primary on down (primary being things like rent and food, which you cannot avoid). Then start listing other items that are less pressing.

When it comes to food, how much are you spending on restaurants that can be saved by sticking to groceries? How often do you visit the cinema when you could just stick to Netflix?

• Financial Planning Step #6: Pay your bills (even when you don’t want to)

There are two very good reasons to make a point of always paying your bills on time. Reason #1: it’s great for your credit. Too often, people find themselves in a position where paying their bills comes at the cost of sacrificing a night out and choose the night out. Because you chose to go out instead of paying the bill, you’re causing your credit damage.

The second reason is that the companies issuing your bills can levy late fees, which makes your monthly expenses more expensive

• Financial Planning Step #7: Become a deal junkie

Who knows – maybe you were one of those people who was raised to look down on “coupon clippers”. Well, those coupon clippers are on to something – shopping for deals by way of flyers and circulars as well as hitting up sites such as Groupon can really go a long way and put as much as a couple thousand more dollars in your pockets by the end of the year.

• Financial Planning Step #8: Be as much of a do-it-yourselfer as you can

Getting your car cleaned can cost as much as $15. These days, most companies charge $25 to mow your lawn. Add that up on a quantum level and it amounts to a lot of extra money spent that you could have concentrated on something more worthwhile like your stock portfolio. Besides, the work is good for your health and helps you better appreciate those things in life you can afford (like a car and a home).

This also extends to fixing stuff around the house. We’re not talking about complicated things like electrical wiring – that is very dangerous and should be left to a professional. But fixing a table leg, stripping wallpaper – these are all things you can learn to do for free on Youtube.

• Financial Planning Step #9: Become a planning junkie

Cooking and cleaning might look like a chore when you picture having to do both with a busy, cluttered mind. But done, right they can save a lot of time and money. By planning your laundry days, you can save a lot on your hydro bills.

For cooking, many cooking websites now list recipe times – that’s your first indicator of how to plan how long it’ll take to cook your food. However, what you should try to do is setting aside 2 to 3 hours a week where you “power cook” and prepare not one specific meal, but bowls of food you can mix and match on the go.

Example: a pot full of sauteed veggies, a bowl of couscous or rice, several pre-cooked meats. When you get up in the morning, packing a lunch will be quick and effortless and remove the temptation of wasting money at a restaurant.

The washing machine and dryer consume a sizeable measure of electricity and water. By planning your family’s laundry, you could save big on electricity and water costs.

Financial Planning Step #10: Consolidate your debts

If you have small outstanding bills and debts payable to varying sources, they’d all be attracting different interest rates. Your one solid financial move this weekend could be to gather all of them under one loan at a lower interest rate and then pay off all your other debts, once and for all. Learn more about debt consolidation

The steps outlined above are fairly simple. You do not even need to make a big sacrifice to follow these steps. But if practiced regularly, you can certainly build a big saving over time. And subsequently, a better, healthier future. Have a great weekend!

What would you do this weekend to make your future better? Do you have a special plan to save some money? Or earn some extra money? Do your friends have some unique method by which they save a little more than others?

Along the way of financial planning, you may need some help. Loan Away is willing to help. Apply for your loan today!