Learning about money may seem such a boring, selfish slog but really, it can be a bit of fun and very rewarding.
In fact, effort = return because financial literacy studies have proven it.
Up-skilling your financial nous isn’t just about the big questions of ‘will I be rich?
Will I retire well?
It’s the little daily questions which are important and vital to manage:
‘How can I ever meet my goals when I love to spend?
‘How can I cut my (massive) debts?
‘How can I max up my super now that I’m in my 30s?
What’s your plan for this year? And did you make last year’s goals happen? Well, here’s a list of what most Australians want for 2008 and the surprising thing is that most of us prefer to save for things that go down in value (plasma TVs, homewares and luxury brands) over real investments.* Why is that?
A survey on popular personal financial goals for 2008 by Virgin Money ranked lifestyle as number one…but just remember that living in the now isn’t always helping your future!
Here’s the top ten most popular picks from their survey:
1. Put money aside for lifestyle choices like travel, luxury items, gym
2. Put money into a savings plan
3. Consolidate debt
4. Get a better deal on the mortgage
5. Contribute money to super
6. Save a deposit to buy a home
7. Buy an investment property
8. Start your own business
9. Save for kids' education
10. Get the tax return in on time
11. Create a share portfolio
12. Buy a bigger home
13. Consolidate all super funds into one.
*Source: Virgin Money. Reproduced with permission