Happy New Year
As the dust settles on week one of the New Year, it is an opportune time to set your 2017 financial goals. Making plans or setting goals for your financial future is just as important as the personal goals we set each January. We firmly believe your health is your wealth but closely tidied into that is managing your finances so they don’t negatively affect your health. Avoiding stress or worry where possible is on most people’s list of priorities for peace of mind.

There are various ways you can take control of your personal financial management (or take back control if you feel 2016 didn’t work out as planned). Whether you have a personal budget for your finances that helps you control / review you’re spending or whether you believe putting in place or reviewing insurance cover during 2017 for the future would help you, we are available to assist if needed.

Many people we speak to in relation to personal financial planning are not fully aware of where their cash ‘disappears’ to each month. Money is hard earned and easily lost.

Yes, we all know the large expenses, but with a detailed budget devised for a three month period, all of a sudden it brings clarity of additional funds that tend to get spent without an ‘awareness’. Whether it’s the few euro each day for a coffee or where an additional few hundred go to each month, recording and analysing your spend each month has proven well worth the time.

For clients that had extra funds last year that ran to the thousands, one example was a client that saved the additional funds of €1,500 per month last year (as it was additional income that could be short term) and by the end of 2016 there is €15,000 saved in his rainy day fund.

As a smaller example for illustration purposes, saving an additional €100 per month for 10 years is an additional €12,000 in the bank! Setting up a small savings account for this €100 can be very simple with an online savings account. The money is set up to go out the day after payday and before long, people don’t miss the €100. Reviewing that per year and re-setting the amount for an additional €100 is also easily done and within that 10 year period mentioned, all of a sudden there’s €33,000 (before interest) in that account for a rainy day or to achieve a longer term financial objective.

We are all aware of the lack of return from the banks on savings accounts and therefore from an investment point of view with longer term savings, pensions for the moment still have the advantage of the tax savings made (tax savings of 40% for higher earners brings the return substantially up on saving in the bank which is almost next to nothing in most cases).

Taking stock of the year just past, we helped clients save additional funds throughout 2016 which has gone towards their medium and longer term financial planning and no doubt helped them feel more in control of their financial future.

Throughout 2016 we also assisted many start up business to understand their financial numbers, enabling them to focus on where they ultimately earn their profit and in turn, their salary. Whether it’s a mentoring service to refocus or take time out to review the business strategy, we will always be available to assist.
Our wish for the readers of this e-zine for 2017 is that your year is a healthy one. Most importantly personally, and secondly financially.

Wendy