This year, the SAVING FOR WEALTH team supports you throughout the year to help you improve your personal finances and achieve your goals.
Managing finances helps improve quality of life.
Some projects you are thinking of may not have come to fruition due to a lack of organization in the management of your budget. So the first resolution for this year could be to better organize yourself financially. Some projects can be carried out by going into debt with a bank, but you will always have to make a contribution. Before credit, it is good to think about building up your own reserve.
This year, SAVING FOR WEALTH is at your side to offer you a simple action plan that will help you improve your financial management and achieve your goals.
Step 1: Take stock of your finances at the start of the year
What is the state of your finances at the beginning of this year? Take the time to look at your accounts:
- How much do you have in your various bank accounts?
- Have you made a 2020 budget of your income and expenses?
- Where do you spend the most?
- Do you have any debts?
- Do you have a plan in place to pay off your debts on time?
- Are you saving? If so, regularly or occasionally?
- How do you save? On a savings account or on investment products (insurance, securities accounts, FCP) If yes, how much do you have in your investment account?
Are your expenses going up or down?
Have you had a change in your income? Up or down?
Step 2: Define your goals
- Do you have any short, medium or/and long term projects? How much are you ready to save? Do you have precautionary savings?
Establish a monthly budget based on your goals:
- Amount to save (as a precaution or to invest)
- Current expenses (rent, electricity, food, etc.)
- Exceptional expenses (provide an envelope every month)
Do you need to increase or reduce some of your expenses?
If it seems impossible to you to save because you consider that your income would be too low, tell yourself that you must first get into the habit of putting money aside. When you get used to it, you will manage to make more and more efforts in this direction.
Step 3:Verify your priorities
Which are the least important?
In order of importance, you must take into account: rent, food, bills, transport, your children’s schooling…
Among the expenses you can do without, you will surely find the regular outings that make you spend. Consider reducing these expenses to once a month or buying when you need it. For example, you can choose to receive your friends or visit them at home rather than going to a maquis.
Step 4: Open accounts based on your goals
- Depending on the type of savings you want to build, open a dedicated account.
- For precautionary savings, you need a regular savings account at a bank.
- For financial savings, you will open a securities account or an FCP account.
- For real estate savings, you will open a Housing Savings Plan to benefit from your bank’s real estate financing system.
Step 5: Systematize your savings
- Set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to each savings account on the day you receive your salary.
- You can start by saving 10% of your income each month.
- To improve your personal finances, saving should be your priority each month, well before your rent. Remember to save and invest before paying your expenses. If you can’t do that, you’re living beyond your means.
- If you have chosen to build up financial savings with our FCPs, the transfer can be programmed directly into each of the FCP accounts.
Step 6: Diversify your savings
- For your emergency fund, opt for a savings account in a bank. But also choose other supports. Choose media that you understand or that you can trust specialists for.
Mutual funds are a response to this concern and allow you to benefit from professional and supervised management while reducing the risk of direct investment in the stock market.
Step 7: Treat yourself
Once you have implemented the first 6 steps, and you manage to fuel your savings and invest, you deserve to be rewarded.
From time to time, think about congratulating yourself on the efforts of your work and your financial discipline.
