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So your savings are coming along tickety-boo (check out 7 Ways to Start to Save) but there comes a time when you need to make a decision. Do you or don’t you want to invest? Dun. Dun. Duuun. If the former, then here are some things to consider when investing.

1. DO. YOUR. RESEARCH.

This is one I can’t stress enough. No matter how much money you are looking to invest think of it like buying a car. You don’t just rock up, throw your money at the seller, jump in, and toot-toot off down the road. You decide on what kind of car you want to buy, how much mileage you want it to have, does it have a service history, is there a warranty. If you’re a fusspot like me, you probably also know the exact colour it has to be. Once on-site it’s then out with the magnifying glass and fine tooth comb to double-check that it matches the sales description.

For the investing equivalent, don’t throw your money at something your cousin twice removed has told you is a dead cert and that before you know it you’ll be rolling in it.

Do your in-depth research. What’s the consensus online? Who is behind the company/stocks/shares, or dare I say crypto? The latter of which is largely unregulated and can be very volatile. There are also a lot of scammers out there looking to make a quick buck, and you don’t want that buck to be yours.

If it sounds too good to be true then guess what? Red alert and sound the sirens.

2. DIY OR DONE-FOR-YOU

For DIY, how will you decide what to invest in? Perhaps a good starting point would be to sign up for investment newsletters so you can stay up to date with the ever-changing market. One of the most well known is The Motley Fool which offers stock market news, investing articles, and indeed share tips. For the latter still do your research. It’s no doubt a good idea to sign up for more than one newsletter. If you have a peek here there’s a plethora to choose from.

As for company sleuthing aside from their website and share price, one of the most valuable things to view is their annual report. How have they been faring? What are their future plans?

If you don’t have the time or energy to manage your investment strategy then a done-for-you service via an investment company would no doubt be your best option. These do incur a fee or service charge.

Investment companies and fees vary. Typically your bank also offers sharedealing services. You could also check out this Best Investing Platforms for Beginners as featured on The Times Money Mentor.

3. GOING. GOING. GONE.

Another thing to consider when investing and for want of stating the obvious ONLY INVEST WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE. Shouting? You betcha. It’s not all sweet-smelling roses popping up left right and centre. Investments can go down as well as up. They can also go kaputt and be no more. We’ve all no doubt seen those heartbreaking stories where people have thrown their life savings into the latest and greatest investment opportunity only to have it go down the pan. Sadly along with their hopes and dreams.

4. LONG-TERM OR SHORT-TERM?

What is your strategy? Are you investing for the long-term or will you need access to the funds sooner rather than later? If so short-term would be better. Your short-term strategy could be that you’ve got your sights on investing to obtain a potentially higher return than a standard savings plan. Say you’re thinking of your dream round-the-world trip. Generally, long-term is considered 5-10 years or more.

Do you want to pay into your investment monthly or pay as a lump sum?

Either way, investing generally occurs over a period of time as opposed to a quick turnaround. That is unless a major event (hmm Covid-19 anyone?) takes place that causes a dip followed by a swift-ish recovery. The former is where most people run for the hills but this is where good returns can also be made.

5. RISK? WHAT RISK?

Investing isn’t for everyone. If you’re going to lie awake at night worrying about whether you will or won’t have any money left at the end, may I suggest you give it a miss.

I (within reason) have a fairly high-risk temperament unlike a mate (Sammy the Squirrel) who doesn’t. Neither is right nor wrong. Choose what works best for you and allows you to Zzz’s at night.

So in a nutshell, add ‘factor in your risk threshold’ to your things to consider when investing list. Higher returns generally mean a higher risk.

6. HOW MUCH SHOULD I INVEST?

Ok, so you’ve made the decision that you’re going for it. How much should I invest – revert back to number 3. Investments go down as well as up and if it goes desperately wrong you could lose it all. Whether it’s a lump sum or £50 a month, or even $1 a month (as touted by Revolut) it’s whatever money you want to invest into your future. The key is that you are aware of the risks involved with your investment and that you have a strategy.

7. DIVERSIFY

Basket. Eggs. In. Put in the right order. Yep don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Aah, another saying, who knew that this one was first found in print in the 17th Century? Anyway, I digress. The moral is, as I’m sure you know, not to put all your investment money in one place. Rather it’s better to diversify. If one area goes belly up, then you have spread the risk and not lost everything.

So there you have my things to consider when investing. How’s it going for you. Have you started investing? Do let us know in the comments!

In my dreams I have a plan, If I got me a wealthy man, I wouldn’t have to work at all, I’d fool around and have a ball. Deep breath. Give it all you’ve got. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY... I thank you ABBA. Aah, the elusive dreams and wealthy man. Dare I say that, hmm, plan is financial planning for women. Doesn’t quite fit in with the lyrics eh?

So what is financial planning? Well according to good ‘ole Wikipedia in general terms financial planning is ‘a comprehensive evaluation of an individual’s current pay and future financial state by using current known variables to predict future income, asset values and withdrawal plans‘. Phew.

Ok, that’s that sorted. I’ll be off then. Byeeeeeee.

BREAKING IT DOWN

Right I’m back in the room. So think about what your financial goals are. What do you want to achieve? When do you want to achieve it by? What kind of lifestyle do you want? Really delve into your present and how you would like your future to be. Do you want to be swanning around the world, living on a cruise ship, or is that just me?

Start by looking at your money management spreadsheet to see where you’re currently at.

You might choose to review your mortgage as one item of your financial planning, and look to pay it off sooner rather than later. Break it down into chunks. What’s the redemption period i.e. if you pay it off early will there be additional charges? These tend to kick in during the first 5 years of your mortgage but check your terms and conditions.

What if you upped your monthly payments? Even a £50 a month increment can make a big difference to the length of your mortgage and the interest you pay.

Use a mortgage calculator in a slightly different way. Work it back using your current outstanding mortgage, your interest rate and the number of years you’d like to have it paid off by. That should show you what your payments will need to be to meet that deadline.

Note also that with regards to overpaying there’s generally a maximum (typically 10% a year) that you can over pay. Again check your T’s & C’s.

IT’S PERSONAL TO YOU

What are your circumstances? Do you have children? If so your financial planning for women mission could be to open savings accounts to cover expenditures when they’re older. Say university or mortgage deposit contributions.

Alternatively, you could open a children’s savings account that they manage themselves. Thus making it a fun way to learn about money and start to save.

Are you, like me, a continuously curious learner? Then perhaps you could open a separate account you contribute to monthly as your ‘education’ pot. When that latest course arises that you must attend you’re good to go.

When do you want to retire? How much money will you need?

Do you crave peace of mind and have insurance policies coming out of your ears to cover you for the unexpected? Income protection and critical illness cover might be something you wouldn’t want to be without. You might even have your funeral care policy in place and tickety-boo.

INVEST

You’ve got to the stage where your savings are coming along nicely. The next stage might be investing to make those savings grow. Bear in mind that investments generally have a risk factor too and can go down as well as up.

ISAs. Done for you service. Or DIY. Whatever you decide make sure you do your research. Everyone has different risk levels that they are comfortable with, be that low, medium, or high. 

PENSION

You can currently obtain your state pension when you’re 66 years old. However whilst all employers should also provide a workplace pension, dependent on set criteria, if you’re self-employed another decision for financial planning is do you take out a private pension?  It may be a way off but the sooner you start the better.

MAKE A WILL

No point in being super savvy with your financial planning only to not have a will and there ensues a bun fight between your nearest and dearest. If you’ve got no nearest and dearest then under the rules of intestacy, your estate goes to the Crown and not to a cause that is impactful and close to your heart.

CREATE A PLAN (AND TAKE ACTION!)

Make your plan with as many bells and whistles as you need to make sure you open it, use it and update it. For want of sounding like a learning and development executive, make sure that your defined actions are SMART. Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Realistic and Time-bound. 

REVIEW REGULARLY

Be flexible too. If your plan goals are too restrictive in time frame and causing you to pull your hair out, adjust accordingly. No point in stressing yourself out and eating vast amounts of chocolate. OK, maybe there’s a plus in some of that..

As to how often you should review it, depends on your personal circumstances. At a minimum, yearly to check that you’re on track. Life happens, there might be times when you want to revisit it more frequently.

So that’s my roundup of financial planning for women. Hands up who’s coming on that there cruise ship with me?

So you know where you’re at with your money, hell yeah, you’ve got your money management worksheet and your credit cards are in order. It’s tempting to s-p-e-n-d what’s left once you’ve paid your bills but step away. It’s now time to start to save some of your hard earned spondoolies.

Cue my 7 ways (and then you can go wild).

1. PAY YOUR SALARY INTO A SAVINGS ACCOUNT

Now, this I thought was genius. I can’t take credit for it, me not being a genius n all. This gem, I believe, was one of the methods, I heard about from David Bach. A financial expert and New York Times best selling author. Pay all your salary into an instant access savings account.

If you think about it, this is a great psychological hack. Every time you withdraw your money you’re depriving yourself of your savings. Tick Tock. Obviously, the plan is to leave in as much as possible each month and let it build up.

2. PAY YOURSELF FIRST

If you don’t think you have the willpower for the full on savings immersion i.e. you know that you’ll be lucky to have a tenner left in there by the time it comes to payday, then jump into the more set in stone, pay yourself first. A term that came into being courtesy of Robert Kiyosaki and Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

The normal way we save is to pay all of our bills first and then if we’re lucky aka refrained enough, to have some money left over from socialising, going on trips and shopping, we pop that into our savings pot. There’s that tenner again. Not with this method. Oh no siree. Instead open a separate designated savings account. Automate payment into it each month on (here’s the key) payday. You should aim for 10% or more but if that’s a stretch start at 5% with a view to increase the percentage as soon as you can.

3. ROUND UP APPS

Round up apps are money apps that make it very easy for you to start to save. This is where you round to the nearest £1 (or sometimes more depending on how you’ve set it up). So if an item cost £7.50 the round app up will bump it up to £8.00 with the remainder going into your savings pot. You link the app up with your bank account and hey presto. Well, it’s not quite the same as waving a magic wand but it’s not far off as you don’t even notice that you’re saving, so it seems like magic when you see the balance in your pot. You need to set them up first with your savings criteria. Plum is one such app and there’s the free basic version (which I use) and paid versions (Pro, Ultra, and Premium). Paid having more bells and whistles along with each one accruing higher interest returns.

There are 6 rules that you can use to set up your money rules criteria. 

An investing option is also offered but I fess up that I haven’t used that so I would suggest that you do your research if investing is the way you want to go with Plum as well.

Revolut proffer Spare Change as their round up method of saving and Moneybox is another rounding app.

4. IT’S THE SMALL STUFF (OR NOT AS THE CASE MAY BE )

I’m not proud to say that I had a recurring monthly membership that I barely used. Fast-forward a few years later when they cancelled it. Even then, that was only because the website ceased to exist and not because they felt sorry for me. Oops. Are you in the same loop?

How’s your coffee intake? A couple of latte concoctions in a working day, and, before you know it, you’re heading towards £150 a month out of your account for your morning and afternoon fix.

Are you a keen book buyer? Why not join your local library, and while you’re there, you can check out the best personal finance books for 2023 and more from female wealth experts.

Contrary to popular belief, when it comes to finance, it’s a case of sweat the small stuff as it’ll set you on the path for not only your start to save for a rainy day, but for every day.

5. RENEWALS

Renewals, car insurance, annual travel insurance, utility lock-in rates, boiler serving. Basically anything that’s an annual rolling contract. Rules implemented by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) at the beginning of 2022, forbid home and car insurers from charging more to loyal customers than newbies. Thank goodness. I always thought that was shocking. Deep breath, I will refrain from having a rant. You should receive a renewal notification but take ownership and diarise to shop around for the best deals a few weeks before your policy renews. Check out Uswitch, and Compare the Market.

6. LOOSE CHANGE

Not keen on linking your bank account with a round up app? Then go for the retro start to save DIY version. Nab yourself a big jar, bottle, or piggy bank and throw all your loose change in. There’s something satisfying about watching it fill up. Once it’s to the brim then take it to the bank to convert into notes. Alternatively, you could check out Coinstar. Coin changing machines generally located within supermarkets, but heads up that this is fee-based, between around 11% – 9%. The latter for a charity donation. Pour your coins in and receive a voucher to exchange for cash. Important – make sure you redeem your voucher on the same day as it was issued.

7. FOMO

Shouty 2-for-1 signs, promotions that encourage you to spend more, when you know one item will last you going on a year, and free workshops that turn out to be hmm not quite so free. After 5 hours of listening to sales guff, you look like you’ve gone into a trance. Now if you go along to sign up for something that will be of benefit and a great return on your investment, then fill your boots. But. If FOMO kicks in and before you know it you’re chomping at the bit to get to that there table first to sign up and hand over your hard earned cash, may I suggest you tie your ankles together. Newsflash – everyone wants your cash.

So over to you, what’s your go-to start to save technique? Do let us know in the comments!

As the owner of (ahem) a fair few credit cards, I thought I would present a case for and against. Also known as credit card advantages and disadvantages.

Credit cards can get a bad rap but there are definitely, in my eyes, some major plus points for having one or two. So without further ado, let’s look at credit card advantages first.

ADVANTAGES

A Good Credit Score

This, I would say, is one of the main advantages. A credit score is a means of showing whether you’re likely to be accepted for credit or not. If you have a good credit history of owning credit cards and paying them off on time, that counts toward your credit score.

Equally, your credit score is not affected if you check it, and as a by-the-by, the higher your score, the chances are you’ll have access to better interest rate deals.

Your credit score would also be checked when you’re applying for a mortgage or a bank loan. At any rate, to see how you’re currently doing on yours, you can do a free credit check on Experian.

For Emergencies

Should that be something that goes kaput with your car, within your home or, insert a.n.other. My shower springs to mind when water was cascading from the bottom as opposed to the shower head at the top. Ho hum.

Buy before payday

A convenient way to buy something before payday. Generally, an interest-free credit period of up to 56 days, check your small print (but don’t forget to pay it all off on payday, tut-tut).

Membership perks

Some cards offer free travel insurance, frequent flyer points, cashback rewards, and entertainment deals. Here’s a couple you might want to have a peek at, Barclaycard and Mastercard Priceless.

In addition, some supermarkets, for example, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, also have a banking element and provide credit cards which can have good rewards too.

Protection of goods and services purchased

In the UK, you’re also covered under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, when you purchase goods and services with your credit card. With regards to value, the goods/service must be over £100 but under £30,000. Particularly useful if the supplier goes bust or keeps ignoring your SOS communications.

Another example is if you haven’t received said goods/services or if they don’t match what was specified. Particularly these poor souls. I’m not sure what my favourite is; the teddy bear in his chilled waving pose or the dog getting comfy on his doggie bed…

DISADVANTAGES

Temptation Central

Easy to spend especially if you feel like cheering yourself up whilst at the same time yelling ‘I AM ABUNDANT!’.

Interest rates

The idea is to get a 0% introductory rate however like most good things, they always come to an end. Make sure you diarise when you’re going to start being hit with an interest rate hike.

If you’re no longer on 0% then be aware of compound interest. See also 5 Reasons Why You Need A Money Management Worksheet.

It’s so easy to just keep making the minimum payment but if you do so then it could be years before your card is paid off. Not only that but the difference between what you’ve spent vs what you end up paying back will be HUGE.

Just paying an extra £5-£10 a month can make all the difference. Check out how you’re faring on a credit card calculator here

Cash withdrawal fees

Withdrawing cash from your card can be more costly than using it to pay for goods or a service. Therefore make sure you read the fine print to avoid having a nasty surprize when you open your next statement.

Fraud

Scammers love using someone else’s credit card. However, although this is a disadvantage, an advantage is that if you notice something on your statement that isn’t yours and report it promptly, you usually won’t be liable. The Consumer Credit Act 1974 allows you to claim back unauthorised payments due to fraud.

Additionally, having been on the receiving end of a scammer, I’ve had my credit card company call me up to query a payment. As much as I would have loved an all-singing and a-dancing kitchen, purchasing one at the far end of the country, they realised, wasn’t my normal modus operandi.

Check out keeping your card safe online.

Misuse

You can damage your credit rating if you don’t pay on time. So either set up a direct debit or make sure you diarise each month so that you don’t miss a payment.

SYNOPSIS

If used sensibly then credit card advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

The main thing is that if you can’t pay it off in full each month, then to always overpay and pay more than the minimum.

Have an end goal too when you want to have it cleared by.

If you’ve got yourself a 0% deal over 12 -24 months then it’s easy peesy to divide your balance by the requisite months to get it cleared.

Oh and make sure you check your credit card statement!

How are you with credit cards? A ‘hell yeah sign me up!’ or a ‘hell no I run a mile from them’. Let us know in the comments!