Thank you for taking the time to read another blog about the importance of financial planning. I hope everyone is living life to their fullest and having fun. As some of you would know I have been assisting many people attempting to enter the housing market for the first time or they are attempting to upgrade or re-enter.
What my staff and I are finding in our modern society is the lure for many of our clients to suffer from instant gratification. What is instant gratification you may ask? To put it simply it’s wanting something NOW rather than planning and waiting to get to where you want to be.
A perfect example is first home owners who are in their early 20’s who come to me with finance enquiries. Both on starting incomes, but what hurts them is the personal loan. This was a personal loan which was used to refinance out their first set of credit cards. Then they have a car loan, because they didn’t want to drive their old car anymore, their friends had a new car, so they took the quick and easy option of a brand new $50,000 vehicle. Then they tell me they have another $20,000 in credit cards plus a young child. As you can imagine their servicing has now just fallen through the floor.
When we tell this client we need to work on a plan for debt reduction, and it may be a 4 year plan, they throw their hands up in the air tell me it’s not worth it and they may as well give up.
If they are 20 or even 36, it’s worth planning and creating a strategy. If by 40 they are ready and they have a small deposit and reduced their debts, they still have the loan term to own their house before retirement. Extra repayments can be made to reduce the loan term, let’s not forget $100 a week extra repayments will take approximately 7 years off a loan term. So it isn’t doom and gloom.
The best advice we can provide all of our clients is education and the earlier the better. Let’s remind them the longer they can prolong needing that big car loan or jumping for a personal loan, let’s reinforce that saving instead the better is a much better option. Encouraging savings will also allow them to have options in choice. eg I have $20,000 saved up do I use this towards a car, holiday or house? What is most important?
Helping our clients with goal setting in relation to their debt will definitely help them in the future when applying for credit. It is also providing another value added service, which may help bring that client back to you and retain them in your business.
Happy tax season for 2014, may your refunds be large and your payable very small
