How to Save Money on Days Out and Holidays

How to Save Money on Days Out and Holidays

Families often struggle with budgeting for their summer holidays and days out during school breaks. The good news is that you don’t have to spend a fortune if you learn the small tricks only a handful of parents know about. Whether you are planning to go to the beach or visit a popular seaside town for the day, there are plenty of ways you can make your money go further. Below you’ll find a few tips on how to enjoy time with your family more for less.

Book Midweek

When planning a summer vacation or a main beach holiday, it is important to know when to book. A couple of months before your travel date is recommended. It is also a good idea to check popular flight comparison sitesand sign up for alerts. Some of the pages will even tell you whether you should book your flights now or wait for the prices to drop. Plane tickets are generally cheaper Tuesdays through Thursdays, and rise again by the weekend.  

Go All Inclusive

When traveling with kids, it is hard to control your spending budget. They will see the next shiny thing, such as an ice cream flavour they haven’t tried yet or Bubble tea, and there goes your money out of the window. It is always better to book all inclusive when you travel with kids, so you can at least feed them three times a day and only have to pay for snacks and special treats out of your pocket.

Use Vouchers and Coupons

Before you visit holiday booking sites, you should also check out voucher and coupon pages, to see if you can get a discount offer or a money off voucher. Visit netvouchercodes.co.uk to grab a discount offer on cruises and package holidays. You are likely to find some attractive offers that will suit your budget and travel style.

Get a Pet Sitter Instead of a Kennel

One of the greatest expenses of families going on vacation is getting the cats and dogs boarding. You don’t necessarily need to pay up to £50 per night for your pets. If your dog or cat is safe at home, and they are not likely to damage the furniture, you can hire a pet sitter or a dog walker who will look after your four-legged family members while you are enjoying your holiday, as well as keeping an eye on your house.

Family Insurance

You might want to take out an annual travel insurance that covers all your family members and save money. Individual policies are not good value for money. If you have a premium bank account, chances are that your policy will be included in your monthly fee. Check the terms and conditions to find out about the details, such as the excess amount and the events covered.

Families should make their money go further by shopping smarter when planning holidays. Use the above tips to stretch your budget and enjoy your family time.

Source: https://blog.themoneyshed.co.uk/how-to-save-money-on-days-out-and-holidays/ 

The 4 Money Principles That Will Make You Rich

Everyone wants to be rich, to have enough money to live and create their dream life without the need to work for someone else to make that money.

But most people believe that it is only the very lucky who will get there, or have to rely on a lottery big win to ensure that happens in life.

Here’s the truth – ABSOLUTELY ANYONE can be rich enough to have the life of their dreams with commitment and dedication.  

All you have to do is know and trust a few simple money principles and keep your eye on your financial goal.

Here are the four principles tried and tested that will get you to your goal.

Step 1: Start investing in your future today and DON’T STOP!

The single most important principle, and the younger you apply it the better, is to pay your future self a portion of every pound you earn right now.

A good place to start is aiming for 10% of your Gross Salary each month to go straight to your future self in Pensions or Investments.

Reason being if you use a portion of your money each month to generate income when you choose to retire from working, you are creating security and income when the days come that you don’t want to or can’t work.

To aim for the Goal of financial freedom and retiring earlier than normal retirement age of 65 – you want to aim for as high a percentage of your Gross Salary as you can comfortably live, and usually at least 25% and above.

Understanding the power of Compound Interest on your money and investments, where the natural laws of time allow your money to grow and multiple faster, is key to this wonder of saving a portion of your money each month.

Normal savings accounts currently offer between 0.1% – 1% interest rates if you are lucky, so do all you can to feel comfortable and research investing in Stocks and Shares to get the maximum return on your money you are investing.  

A good place to start might even be to look at ISA accounts (Cash or Investment) where the government will not charge you Tax on your interest increases up to a limit of £20k a year per person.

If you feel confident enough to – Put your money into the stock market, giving someone else your money for short term to make more money with on their efforts and create passive incomes from your savings too.

Never pass up the opportunity for FREE ADDITIONAL Pension contributions from your employer towards your future.  

Most companies offer additional pension contributions as a way to effectively pay you a higher wage, without the tax costs to themselves.  

If you company offers your matched contributions, make sure you sign up to the maximum percentage you can afford as for every wage you put in they are also adding even more money to it for your future.

Want to become Financial Free? There is even some simple maths to find out the exact amount of money you need to have saved to generate income for life.

Simply take the total amount of money you need each year to live and survive, or have the life of your dreams with, and multiple that by 25 to give you your exact Financial Freedom Goal Number.

Next is to work on a plan to save and achieve it.

Step 2: Spend your money like it was your last penny.

Rich people who stay rich for life spend their money smarter than most people.

They take time to find the best deal, time to consider if they really need that purchase and make sure that it is an investment worth their while and won’t lose money.

Too often we end up mindlessly spending money on luxuries we don’t really need, so perhaps give yourself a 24 hour cooling off period each time you “Click to basket”.

Check if you truly want that item, have found it at the best price possible, before you hit the order button.

Take time to be more mindful with your spending and you will find that the pennies all start to add up quickly to a small fortune.

Step 3: Keep your living costs as low as you can

Minimise all your expenses and keep looking to exchange your hard earned money for what you truly love only.

When you start a journey to financial security or freedom, we need to take time review our spending habits each month and make sure what we spend money on is worth it.  

Regularly look for ways to reduce your subscription spending – think car, home insurance, phone contract costs, credit card charges and ask the company for a better deal.  

You can save potential hundreds of pounds back into your pocket with a 10 minute phone call and a little effort with comparison websites.

Test your spending every few months by taking non-essential bills (such as that magazine subscription or gym membership) and go “cold turkey” for a week or monthly only.  By setting yourself a temporary goal of going without for only a short time, the sacrifice won’t seem so tough and you never know what you might find out about your spending patterns in the past.

Use the 10% Overpayment Rule to get rid of as many debts as you can, if you can without any overpayment penalties.

By paying 10% more on your monthly repayments for any debts, such as your home, car, credit cards and store cards you will very easily and without noticing pay one extra monthly amount towards that debt each year.

That overpayment could take years off your payments, returning more money to your pocket sooner than the bank or company would have liked.

Step 4: Start your own side business.

We live in a world where a single source of income, one job all your life, is no longer guaranteed.

We also live in a world where we have information and resources are literally at the touch of our fingers via the Internet, and absolutely anyone can put in the time to start their own side business.

Look to start a side income to add even more money to build your fortunes with, and also something you are passionate about if possible.

When you are able to control and generate profit from your own business, rather than work for an Employer, there will be no limit to the confidence it will bring in our life and to your earning potential.

By diversifying your household income as much as you can with a few income streams is not only a smart thing to do, but a great way to protect your financial security in the future too with your own talents and merits.

Think about turning a hobby into a small weekend business, or perhaps using a talent from your main job as a freelancer for some income in the evenings.

Over to you now…

Source: https://blog.themoneyshed.co.uk/the-4-money-principles-that-will-make-you-rich/

Financial Advisor Told Me To Invest Instead Of Paying Debt

That's a big question - is it better to invest my money and pay of my debts with my returns, or should I get my debt cleared first?

You'll get different advice from different people - so who's right?

Check out this great video that should answer this very question for you!

Alternative Ways To Invest In Stocks (That Don’t Require You To Be A Stock Market Expert)

There are lots of alternative ways to invest in the stock market. Some are certainly more complex than others and may require a financial degree to get your head around, however others are relatively simple. Not only that – you don’t need much money to try out these investments. Here are just a few unique ways to make money out of stocks.

Use a robo-advisor

Many people hire a stockbroker to identify the best places to invest, however stockbrokers won’t always guarantee you the best deal – many will choose stock based on the commission that they get from the exchange. Fortunately, there are now robo-advisors that can offer unbiased advice on investing based on hard facts and figures. These are essentially pieces of software that monitor all the stock prices out there to find you the best deal for your needs. It takes all the confusion out of shopping for stocks whilst not having to rely on a commission-hungry broker. That said, most of these programmes aren’t free and charge a small fee for using them. Others are free, but require a minimum account balance. Comparison guides can help you to find the best robo-advisor for you.

Try micro-investing apps

Micro-investing apps are great for anyone regardless of your budget. They save up your spare change in a savings account and then use this to make small investments in available stocks. These apps recommend the best places to invest and you get to choose whether or not to invest in them. They’re essentially robo-advisors on your phone that also encourage you to save up money to invest with.

Try spread betting

Spread betting isn’t so much a form of investment but rather a form of gambling based on how much you predict a stock will rise or fall. Spread betting in the UK is becoming more popular and there are software programmes out there that can help you get into the swing of it. Such programmes can weigh up the risk of whether a stock is likely to rise or fall. You can do spread betting with commodities like gold and oil and foreign currencies.

Join an investment club

Investment clubs allow you to put money in each week into a pot. This money is invested with and the profits are then shared out amongst everyone. By teaming together, investment clubs are able to take advantage of stocks with high minimum investments that might otherwise be too expensive to invest in alone. This is only one form of crowdfunding and there are all kinds of other groups such as mutual funds groups and real estate investment clubs for investing in property. Some investment clubs may be aimed primarily at the rich and may require high weekly contributions, however others may only require a small contribution each week.

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Source: https://blog.themoneyshed.co.uk/alternative-ways-to-invest-in-stocks-that-dont-require-you-to-be-a-stock-market-expert/

A Guide to UK Property Bonds

There are loads of investment opportunities available, offering varying levels of risk and rates of return. Property investing remains one of the most popular, however, particularly given the returns available in the UK market. Property bonds are one of the options you have if you want to invest in UK p

What are UK property bonds, however, and how do they work? We’ve got the answers to your questions.

What Are Property Bonds?

With a property bond, you invest in part of a property development. Your investment is typically secured by an asset, such as the land the property will be built on. Developers can issue multiple property bonds on a single development. As a result, the cost of individual bonds is relatively low – considerably lower than the cost of the overall development.

How Do Property Bonds Work?

Developers issue property bonds for planned developments to raise funds for the construction work. In other words, property bonds are an alternative source of finance for the developer.

The bonds are usually issued for a fixed term, often in the region of three to five years. The fixed term is typically set for a period of time that allows the property developer to complete the construction and generate a return.

How Do Property Bonds Generate a Return?

The returns you get from a property bond investment typically come from the developer completing the property and then selling it. The returns you get may also be funded from rental income generated by the property.

In other situations, developers will generate returns for property bond investors by refinancing the property.

Who Are Property Bonds Suitable For?

There are two main types of investor that property bonds may be suitable for:

• Small investors
• Hands-off investors

Small investors are those who don’t have access to the capital required to make a traditional property investment. Traditional property investments include buying land and building on it. Alternatives are purchasing properties to renovate and sell for a profit or purchasing properties to rent as a buy-to-let landlord.

The amount of money required to invest in a property bond is often much lower than traditional investments, making property bonds an option for smaller investors.

Hands-off investors, on the other hand, can invest either small or large amounts of money. In fact, a hands-off investor could have enough capital to invest in a property bond that covers the entire cost of development.

Hands-off investors choose property bonds because they don’t want to become involved in the actual development work. This could be for many reasons, including not having the time.

Are There Any Risks?

All investments carry risks, and there are risks when investing in property bonds too. Whether this investment is right for you depends on your personal circumstances. You should get advice on these matters before deciding to invest.

What Should You Do Now?

If you decide property bonds are an investment option you would like to explore further, you should research the market. There are many property bond products available, and each is different.

Finding the right opportunity, however, can get you into the property investment market and will generate a return.

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Source: https://blog.themoneyshed.co.uk/a-guide-to-uk-property-bonds/

Making Serious Money From Your Rental Properties

As a landlord, you are probably already aware of many of the ways in which you can expect to increase your profit from your properties. However, you might not have considered everything you could do on this front, and it is a good idea to take a look at some examples of the kinds of things you can do if you want your portfolio to bring you as much wealth as you like. The truth is that there are no ends to the things you can do to improve the financial strength of your rental properties. In this article, we are going to look at just a few of the best examples.

Increase Tenant Interest

It should go without saying that you need to be able to draw enough attention in order to boost your yield. You need to get interests from many tenants so that you can be perfectly positioned to increase the rent as much as possible. There are many ways to actually go about increasing the tenant interest in your local area. One is to use a letting service who already have a good backlog of interested and respectable tenants. Click here for rental properties which might be able to make use of that kind of service. You can also consider drafting up a perfect ‘target tenant’ – in other words, the ideal candidate for your home. That alone can ensure that you are doing everything in your power to increase the interest you receive from tenants, and so give yourself the ability to keep rents high.

Decrease Vacancy

For any landlord, the worst nightmare situation is when you have a number of subsequent tenants, rather than one who is keen to be there long-term. Increasing the tenant interest will help, as we have discussed above, but it is also a good idea to do what you can to try and find those who are happy to stay for along time. Having this decreased vacancy is one of the simplest and yet most powerful ways of ensuring that you earn as much as possible from your rental properties. It also means that administrative costs are lowered, making it possible to lower the costs for the tenant – and thereby making your property even more desirable in the marketplace. It all helps.

Interest & Fees

Most tenancy contracts will have written unto them that if rent is late there will be interest added, with the possibility of late fees too. You should have these written into your contract – but not just as a deterrent. You should also make sure that you do actually follow through with this, and that you don’t allow your tenants to not pay rent on time. This will help in the long run, as you might be surprised how often your tenants will pay rent late – and in the end these fees and interest will make a huge difference to your final income. It’s worth following through whenever there is this possibility, as it will help you to make serious money.

Source: https://blog.themoneyshed.co.uk/making-serious-money-rental-properties/

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Is Property The Right Investment For You?

Most people tend to assume that, out of all of the investment options out there, the best for those who are just starting out is property. One of the main reasons for this is that it’s one of the most risk-averse investment methods out there due to the fact that, while it can change quite a lot over time, the property market isn’t prone to the same kind of manic fluctuations that you see in other forms of investment. However, it’s a mistake to assume that property investing is somehow easy, because that’s simply not the case. However, just because there are challenges involved, that doesn’t mean that it’s somehow impossible for a beginner investor. With that in mind, here are some things to consider when deciding if property is the right investment for you.

Get the right guidance

When it comes to investing in property, the biggest mistake you can make is to assume that it’s going to be a simple process. The truth is that property investment, like any other investment, is far more complicated than a lot of people expect. If you want to succeed in the world of property investment, the first thing you need is the right guidance. Luckily, there are plenty of people online who can help you with that. People like Paul Ainsworth Lord are online offering investment advice for those who need it. Make sure that you do as much research as possible before you decide to jump into the world of property investment.

Decide what you want to do with the property

Of course, investing in property can actually take a lot of different forms, and it’s a good idea to decide which is right for you. One the one hand you can flip properties. This simply means that you purchase them, raise their value through improvements, and then sell them on at an increased value in order to earn a profit. The other option is to let the property out to tenants. Neither of these is right or wrong; they’re simply different investment methods and which you choose will depend on a whole host of factors including how much time you’re able to dedicate to maintaining the property.

Ensure that you can afford it

One of the things that get in the way of property investment for a lot of people are the upfront costs. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean your ability to apply for a mortgage, although that’s certainly a factor. What it does mean is that you need to think about all of the other costs involved in both buying and selling properties which include everything from legal fees to the cost of decorating and deep cleaning the property.

The most important thing to remember is that, while it is certainly one of the least risky investment options out there, that by no means makes it risk-free. The reality is that there are no risk-free investments and if someone tells you that they have found one, they are either deeply misinformed, or they are lying to you for their own profit.

Source: https://blog.themoneyshed.co.uk/property-right-investment/

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