Time for a financial health check-up

You do your best to keep your mind and body in tip-top shape. But how’s your financial health?

Lots of Australian families are finding money matters really tough going at the moment, so here, Financial Counsellor Elizabeth Terry, from Wesley Mission, shares her best advice for taking control of your finances.

Do a comprehensive budget, noting income and expenditure, being as accurate and frank as you can be. Include all payments for debts. Wesley Mission has a ‘Money Plan’ budget on their website (see details below).
Ascertain spending patterns. Take a notebook with you and write down everything you spend for a fortnight to get an accurate depiction of expenses to include on your budget. Include all household members in the assessment and, if possible, involve them in the notebook exercise if they are also spending out of the household income, or even to help others manage their money.
Determine if anything can be changed to either balance the budget, if required, or reduce expenditure to make savings or to pay down debt.
Note all debts including mortgage, car loan, personal loans, lines of credit such as credit cards, store cards, or interest free store cards (these are also a line of credit if not paid off in the interest free period).

It is helpful to know that with any line of credit, the interest is calculated daily and therefore is compounding interest. Paying minimum payment does not reduce the debt, which can increase by the compounding interest and take many years to pay off. If the whole amount of a line of credit can’t be paid in full, then it is best to look at your budget to see if more than the minimum payment can be paid to reduce the amount of interest that will be charged on this credit and reduce the debt.

Only use a credit card for items that can be afforded, according to your budget, so that the whole amount can be paid off at the end of the month in full. When credit is used to supplement income it will create a debt that may be difficult to repay.
Note that home and car payments are paid on time, as they are secured debts and can be repossessed if payments are behind. If there are problems, it is important not to ignore the situation but to seek help from a financial counsellor. There may be hardship provisions that you can request from your lender.
Don’t ignore any debts that fall behind. Communicate with the lender and seek help from a financial counselor.

“And it’s not how much money you do or don’t have that can be the problem. You can be very poor or very wealthy and still have arguments about money and how it should be managed.”

Anne explains that a family is like a small business – you need an understanding of both the day-to-day requirements of your finances, but also be able to plan for the future.