At Locumsgroup, we recognise that understanding the defining financial events of the past is essential to achieving a secure financial future. As experts in financial advice and accounting, our speciality is identifying the key facts to advise and direct you toward realistic financial goals for the future.
Whatever your goal may be, whether you want to resurrect the lost art of saving with a specific financial target, secure your first investment property, expand your current portfolio, or join the rest of Australia in Europe for a much needed July holiday, the key to attaining these goals is establishing a realistic plan with achievable steps.
• Look back, to move forward
As mentioned in the introduction, essential to understanding where you want to go, is knowing where you’ve come from. What is your regular income, and where does most of your expenditure go? Are there patterns of spending that, if adjusted, could save you significantly in the long term?
Once you know where your money comes from and goes to, Locumsgroup focuses on identifying and developing strategies to reduce unnecessary expenditure and align your relationship with money with your goals. What we won’t do is tell you to stop all unnecessary spending, but rather identify areas where you could save. This will provide you with a healthy balance between enjoying the things you love while working towards that long term goal.
• Refine and quantify your goals
Rather than sharing broad-sweeping statements, we encourage clear, realistic and time-bound goals to be set. This involves establishing specific goals, that detail exactly where you want to see yourself, say 2, 5 and 10 years from now.
With a clear objective in mind, we can then establish a strategy that may see these goals realised.
• You can’t know what you don’t measure
Essential to achieving a well crafted financial plan is having the right checks and measures in place to track where you are in relation to your goal.
Locumsgroup has developed a range of tools, including a personal budget tracker, to ensure your goal stays within sight and on target. One of the key benefits of a personal budget is that, in the case you overspend, your budget shows you where and why you diverged from your plan. These insights provide you with information that will help you stay on track, or get back on track.
• Reduce your debt
A significant aspect of achieving any long term goal, is reducing current debt to minimise interest and open up future opportunities. A systemic approach to tackle debt may help you manage loans more effectively. Depending on your situation, the avalanche method – a technique whereby you focus on paying off the loan with the highest interest first – may be an effective strategy to manage multiple or high-interest debts.
At Locumsgroup, we recognise the benefits of you achieving what at times are small victories. To apply this to debt management, we recommend client’s pay off high-interest, small debts first. Achieving this short term goal can help create a sense of achievement and motivation to continue paying off other debts.
One of the tools we use here at Locumsgroup is a custom loan repayment calculator. This tool can be used in multiple ways, to help you understand what additional repayments can achieve in reducing overall debt in the long term.
Now is the perfect time to map out your financial goals and define a strategy that you can implement.
With access to a range of tools on our website, and more bespoke guides and templates accessible to clients, you can get in contact with our friendly team at Locumsgroup today by emailing info@locusmgroup.com.au.
