It’s a new year and a fresh start! Make it count this year by getting your finances organised. The more organised you are the more you can do the things you love with your extra cash!

1. Get Your Budget Organised

Do you have a household budget? When you can understand your cash flow you can really start to get control of your finances. It’s hard to get started with this kind of thing but there are a few different tools to help make it easy for you. Check out our financial tools that include a budget planner to make the process easier.

2. Sort Your Super

Have you consolidated your super into one account? Do you know how you’re super is being invested? And do you know where your super will go on the event of your death? If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’, now is the time to address it. If you don’t know where to start, see a financial planner and they can help you make the best decisions for your situation.

3. Get Up to Date on Tax

There are lots of things we can do to make the best of our tax returns. If you haven’t got a system for recording expenses and receipts throughout the year, take the plunge! We have a tax organiser here that can help you figure out what documentation you need to keep. If you don’t know what applies to you, ask your accountant.

4. Organise Your Filing Cabinet

The dreaded filing cabinet! It’s hard to organise your files right the first time. It’s a good idea from time to time to go back, reassess and re-organise. You will not only have a better system but it will remind you what files you have and where they are.

5. Take the Plunge & Invest

Have you thought about investing but never got around to it? Investing is a great way to grow your wealth. Your financial adviser can help you find the type of investments that will suit your attitude to risk and your budget. Importantly they can help you avoid making costly mistakes. The important thing to know about investing is the earlier the better! Early investors are consistently better off in the long run and can make more money over time on less risky investments. So now is definitely the time! Don’t put this one off any longer.

6. Get Insured!

You might have your house and car insured but are you insured against, death, injury or illness? Or have your circumstances changed since you last looked at your insurances? If you haven’t looked at these insurances for a while it’s a good idea to review them. Being over or under insured could cost you or your family a lot of money. Here is a calculator that can help you to find out if you have enough life insurance.

There it is! These probably aren’t the most original new year’s resolutions but they’re important to get on top of and will benefit you immensely down the line. So what are you waiting for?

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• Related articles:
• How to Protect Your Wealth in Case of Anything
• Accessing Super in times of Financial Hardship

The information in this document reflects our understanding of existing legislation, proposed legislation, rulings etc as at the date of issue. In some cases the information has been provided to us by third parties. While it is believed the information is accurate and reliable, this is not guaranteed in any way. Any advice in this publication is of a general nature only and has not been tailored to your personal circumstances. Please seek personal advice prior to acting on this information.