10 ways to get your finances

Here are 10 tips from personal finance expert, Holly Andrews, on how consumers can get their finances sorted as we go into the new year. Holly has over 15 years’ experience in the finance industry and is currently the Managing Director of finance broker, KIS Finance.

The start of the year is a chance, for many people, to make some changes in their life. For some this may be to change their diet or to take up a new hobby, but it can also be a great time to take a look at your finances.

This guide will go through some of the steps you can take to get your finances in order and start the new year off the right way.

1. Set your main goal(s) for the year

Before you do anything else, it’s important to decide what your main financial goals are for the year ahead. This could be saving money for something specific like a house deposit or family holiday, building up an emergency fund or significantly reducing or paying off your debts. Whatever it is you want to achieve, having this in your mind from the offset will steer you in the right direction.

2. Review the previous year

If the goal is to make significant changes to your financial position, then it’s important to review all of your transactions from the past year, or maybe two years, so you can figure out how you got into your current position in the first place. Collecting up your bank statements, receipts and bills and looking through them thoroughly will allow you to see where you are spending unnecessarily and where you can start to cut back and make some savings. You can also review all of your accounts to see what’s working for you, what’s not and where you can maybe get better interest rates. Once you’ve done this, you can start to make a plan.

3. Create a realistic budget/plan

‘Create a budget’ is something you hear so often, but it really is important to do if this is something you haven’t done already. A lot of people associate the term ‘budget’ with strict rules on spending and various other restrictions. But actually, a budget can be used to monitor your income and outgoings, regulate and keep track of your spending, help you to pay off debt and help you to save money. Creating a budget is the first step to organising and regaining control over your finances if this is something you’ve been struggling with.

If you already have a budget in place, now’s the time to review it. No budget should ever be set in stone – income changes, bills change, and needs change – so you need to keep your budget up to date.

4. Review your credit report

If this isn’t something you do regularly, now is a great time to have a look over your credit report. You need to check for any discrepancies in personal details or account information as well as make sure that everything is up to date. It’s also a good way of viewing your current financial standing, and credit reference agencies will sometimes even give you advice on what changes you can make to improve your score.

You can also use your credit report to make sure you haven’t fallen victim to any kind of identity theft