Money matters with Effie

Didn’t reach your financial goals in 2023? While a new year won’t wipe away pressures like rising costs, there are  a few things you can do now to refresh your money mojo in 2024.

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1. Inflation-proof your budget

To help tackle any financial curveballs, organise your accounts with purpose. Don't just dump everything into one bank account. I personally operate on a zero-based budgeting system; assigning a purpose to each dollar of income, ensuring all expenses are justified and (more importantly) not paying more than I have to.

Ideally, you want one main transaction account and then several other accounts that are clearly labelled (bills; splurges; emergencies, etc.). Your pay goes into the main account then funds are automatically dispersed into the appropriate "buckets".

You need to work out how much money should go in each bucket, but once you get this right you should never find yourself short on cash again.

If you have a home loan, talk to your lender about how many offset accounts you can have attached. An offset account is a transaction account linked to your home loan.

The benefit of an offset account is that the money you have in this account can be used to "offset" the amount you owe on your home loan, and you'll only be charged interest on the difference. Setting up your accounts like this means your money is still organised into buckets and collectively these buckets all work together to offset the interest on your home loan.

2. Slash your bills

Household bills like home and contents insurance often increase from one year to the next. The good news is you can always find savings if you put in the effort.