Making your savings goals a reality

Is it too late to wish you a happy new year? In any case, happy new year! The last few weeks have been much busier than I anticipated hence the delay in posting January’s blog post but as the saying goes, better late than never so here we are.

Perhaps by now you’ve set your goals for the year and mapped out the areas of your life that you want to develop. If you haven’t, it isn’t too late to do so a great place to start is by identifying what your priority needs or desires are and developing your goals from there.

With the rising cost of living and the reality of living in a heavily consumer focused society being able to achieve the savings goals we set for ourselves can be extremely challenging. Here are some tips to help you to make your savings goals a reality this year.

• Be specific about what you are saving for and the amount of money you aim to save.

• Calculate your monthly disposable income- the amount of money you have once your bills and essentials are accounted for. This will allow you to identify how much you can realistically commit to saving each month.

• Automate and allocate: if possible set up a standing order to automate the amount of money you aim to save each month to a savings account to align with your payday or a few days after. If you are saving for multiple purposes separate your savings into more than one account to allow you to get a true picture of your progress for your savings goals.

[Example: a savings account that contains your emergency fund and a separate savings account for a different savings goal. Depending on the features of your bank you may be able to easily set up multiple easy access savings accounts which you can rename and set goals for.]

• Break your goal down and set review dates to assess your progress. Breaking your goal down into smaller time increments will allow you to focus on making small progress over time i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly etc.

I hope you found today's post useful, in my next post I'll be discussing the different types of savings accounts accessible in the market.

Have a great January and do let me know if you have any questions.

-Peta-Kay

YFPT December 22 blog

Hello December

It’s surreal to think that we are in the last month of 2022, it feels like the year has flown by and what an eventful year it has been not only in the UK but globally! Perhaps this year has been a difficult one for you, as it has been for many who have experienced significant life changes, losses, anxiety due to the cost of living crisis and other personal challenges. Whether this year has been one of your best so far or one you would rather forget, I hope that this post will help you to gain some perspective and clarity as we come towards the end of the year.

An appraisal or end of year review is common practice in most companies to evaluate an employee’s performance over the year. This is a process that I believe we should adopt in our personal lives, it's easy to become busy and consumed with things that do not align with your priorities. Doing an end of year review can feel quite daunting and anxiety inducing when things have not gone according to plan, but it can create an opportunity for you to gain the clarity that you need to make changes moving forward. Avoiding your current reality will not change it, confronting the issues you have no matter how uncomfortable it may make you feel during the process and addressing those issues one by one is where the process to change will come.

Set aside some time this month to review your year and set it in your calendar (procrastination is real), I have created some prompts to guide you but expand on them as you feel necessary.

End year review prompts

Experiences: Make a list of the experiences you have had that impacted you the most this year, this could be a combination of difficult experiences as well as positive ones (aim to list at least 4 experiences).

Once you have written your list, rank your top 3 impactful experiences and write down any life lessons you may have learned from those experiences and any experiences that you feel are currently affecting you negatively.

Financial wellbeing prompts:

• Make a list of the positive aspects of your current finances

• Make a list of the things you would like to see change in your finances over the next year

• Are there any habits you currently have that are affecting you positively financially?

• Are there any habits you currently have that are affecting you negatively financially? (If so, select at least one habit to focus on building)

• If you find yourself wondering where your money is going each month analyse at least 1 months worth of your bank statements, choose a month that represents how you typically spend. Take time to review your transactions and categorise each expense.

[Example categories: Bills, Groceries, Eating out, Travel, Leisure, Clothing & Footwear, Health & Wellbeing, Gifts, Debt repayments etc.]

End of year offer: From 1st December 2022-31st December 2022 get 10% off all coaching services using code: EOY22 at checkout.

Goals: If you had set goals for 2022, review the progress you have made on those goals.

• Are you happy with the progress you have made on your goals?

• What’s gone well & what could you improve on moving forward?

• What are the goals that you want to work towards in 2023? Do those goals align with your priorities?

• What are some of the actions you need to take to help you to achieve your goals?

When setting goals be specific about what you want to achieve and why you want to achieve it. Be ambitious but realistic about the length of time it may take for you to achieve your goal. Once you have completed your end of year review, write down any insights you gained and summarise 3 key things that you need to focus on going forward in 2023.

I hope you found this month's blog post useful. I'll be posting monthly blogs at the beginning of each month with useful tips, prompts and topics to help you to improve your personal finances and wellbeing.

Let me know what topics you'd like me to cover over the next year in the comments.

-Peta-Kay

Identifying Financial abuse

Financial abuse or economic abuse is often a type of abuse that is associated with couples, but it can occur within other relationships within the family such as a parent and child or vice versa, within a friendship dynamic; it can also occur outside of the home in secular and religious organisations.

The Care Act 2014 describes ‘financial abuse’ as a type of abuse which includes having money or other property stolen, being defrauded, being put under pressure in relation to money or other property and having money or other property misused.

Financial abuse is often carried out in a very subtle and manipulative way, in many cases victims do not realise that they are being taken advantage of. It can be difficult for victims to identify the signs of abuse when they are in a close relationship with the perpetrator who may be someone that they trust. The perpetrator(s) may be charming, friendly but may have underlying controlling tendencies or narcissistic tendencies.

Types of financial abuse:

• Controlling someone’s purchases or access to their money

• Borrowing money and not giving it back

• Someone taking or misusing someone else’s money or belongings for their own gain

• Stealing money or belongings

• Forcing someone to give access to their personal financial information such as passwords or access to accounts

• Forcing or manipulating someone to sell their home or assets.

• Tricking or putting pressure on someone to make bad investments

• Forcing someone to make changes in wills, property, or inheritance

• Taking pension payments or other benefits away from someone

• Religious organisations: manipulating members to give money above their means, promising that God will bless or repay them.

It is important to note that financial abuse can happen to anyone not solely to people that society would consider as vulnerable. People that are vulnerable or may be at a vulnerable stage in their lives due to their mental state, significant life event, age, physical health or learning difficulties may be more prone to becoming a victim of financial abuse.

If you are currently experiencing financial abuse or know someone who is, you do not have to suffer in silence there are resources and organisations who are able to support you. If you have any questions that you'd like to ask me private feel free to email me on info@pearlsandperils.com.

Organisations and helplines:

Surviving economic abuse

National domestic abuse helpline

Victim support

Citizens advice bureau