The Importance of Your Family Wealth Structuring: What You Need to Know

As the head of a family or household you’ll understand just how important your finances are. The money you have is what keeps your home – and indeed your personal lives – in order, and without properly managing this you run the risk of getting into monetary troubles.

Knowing exactly what to look out for and how to effectively manage money is quite a challenge – especially if you lack experience in handing your finances. There are a variety of different aspects to consider such as where you should invest your money, how to ensure you have enough money and what’s the best course of action for your financial future – certainly a headache for many of us.

Luckily though, there are alternatives and also ways you can ensure you have a solid family wealth structure. In this post then, you’ll find a number of different examples of financial concerns and expenses and why you need to manage these. Then we’ll discuss what you can do to prevent any problems and offer some useful tips for making the right choices with your money.

Family Expenses

In our day to day lives, we have plenty of different things we need to spend money on each month in order to maintain a decent standard of living. Naturally, this is increased depending on if you have more than one child, and ultimately without keeping these in check you may run into debts. Here is a breakdown of some the main expenses you’re likely to encounter:

  • Rent or Mortgage Payments – regardless of whether or not you own or rent a property, the chances are you’ll have some form of payment to make each month. These are often a significant part of your monthly costs.
  • Food bills – the food you eat is another necessity which can again become more and more expensive over the years with a growing family.
  • Utilities – the bills you have to pay can be spread in different payment plans, but the reality is that every day you’ll be adding to your expenses with your use of gas, electricity and water.
  • Taxes – you’ll also have to pay taxes which more often than not will be taken from your monthly salary, what’s more you can also pay council tax on your home or accommodation.
  • Travel – another typical expense is for your travel. From your commutes to work, to taxiing your family around you’ll have to pay for fuel, tickets and/or fares.

Additional Expenses

These are just the basics though, the wealth management of your family can also cover additional costs like:

  • Leisure – the time you spend enjoying your life or socialising can add up over the month.
  • Clothing – you’ll need to buy new clothes fairly regularly, especially if you have a growing family.
  • Maintenance – there may be unexpected issues with your home or your appliances which need to be fixed.
  • Childcare – if you work full time and have a young family there’s also childcare costs that you’ll need to factor in each month.

All of these are aspects you should be budgeting for on a monthly basis.

Savings and Investments

With the money you have left over, you also need to consider what you’re going to do with it. The most obvious step is to open a savings account, but there are also real investment opportunities you should look at.

Heading to the stock markets is one avenue you might want to go down, but another popular choice is to buy additional properties as lets, or to renovate and sell for a profit. With this though you’ll need a decent understanding of finance and how the markets work to ensure you see a positive return.

The Simple Solution

While you can simply look into the markets yourself, or budget each month to manage your investments, if you feel you lack the expertise needed to keep your money secure there are other simple solutions. A sensible choice then is to put your trust into a financial expert to take care of the responsibilities for you.

There are plenty of companies and firms such as Withersworldwide who offer a variety of financial management services, from offering advice on investments to simply helping you look after your money more effectively. It’s also worth choosing an established company with a long history of success, that way you know they’re obviously doing something right with their services.

The Bottom Line

As aforementioned, the last thing you’ll want is to put your family’s welfare at risk by making poor decisions with your money. Consider the above options with investments, or make the smart move and search for expert advice and leave your finances in safe hands. This way you can count on a more secure future, not just in the present but for many years to come.

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New to investing? 5 tips and tricks to get you started

Investment

If you’re the sort of person who stays up at night worrying about the price of milk, or who would rather hide cash under the mattress than open an account, investing might not be for you. For the rest of us, though, the sensible, well-researched use of investing can be a way to maximise your money. If you are keen to make your money work harder and have long-term/short-term goals than need funding, it might be time to check out the IG glossary of trading terms and start making some well-informed decisions to grow your wealth.

Of course, if you’re new to world of investing it can all seem a little wild and confusing, but below are five essential tips and tricks to get you started.

  1. Do your research

While you might decide to contact a financial advisor or speak with numerous investment experts about what they think you should do with your money, ultimately it’s your decision. For this reason, it’s absolutely crucial to do your own research and ensure you know the difference between the many different kinds of investments from opening a savings account to buying stocks and shares. Whatever you do, don’t start investing without reading up on the jargon (much of which will sound complicated but is actually rather straight forward, see the glossary linked to above) and make sure you weigh up your options.

Moreover, before investing in any particular company, always do your homework so you know what you’re getting into.

  1. Think about your goals

When it comes to investing, thinking about your personal goals will help you to decide how risky you want to be with your hard-earned cash. If you have a little spare money and are willing to take a gamble in a bid to get high returns, you may decide to act on an exciting trade signal or market boom. If, however, you are looking to prepare for retirement, you might prefer to make a longer-term investment such as buying bonds or property that could bring high returns down the line. You may even decide not to put all your eggs in one basket, making numerous investments to avoid a complete gain or loss. Your investment plan should reflect your personal circumstances and outlook.

  1. Know your limits

Investing can be addictive, particularly if you get hooked on watching the fluctuating currency on the foreign exchange or are continuously being sent signals from brokers telling you now is the perfect time to act based on the current price of gold. That’s why it’s essential to have a budget. You must know exactly what you want to do with your money before you make a move and stick to the plan to avoid doing something you later regret.

  1. Keep an eye out for investment fees

If you’re an investment novice, choosing a fund manager may be the easiest option. After all they’ll help develop and manage a portfolio on your behalf and help guide you in the right direction with regards to making sensible financial decisions. That said, fund managers almost always charge more fees than an account you manage yourself and this will, of course, eat into any profits you may make. Similarly, if you’re buying individual entities such as stocks, you may be charged per order, so keep a look out for sneaky fees and try to keep your outgoings down.

  1. Consider exchange-traded funds

The markets change at such a rapid rate that, unless you have copious amounts of free time to analyse what’s happening in the business and financial world second by second, it’s probably best to consider exchange-traded funds (which follow a wide range of stock, or sometimes then entire market). As a rule, this type of investment tends to be less volatile than individual stocks as they tend to grow over the years and reduce the risk of you losing out should a singular company crash and burn.

Investing may seem like a brave new world if you’ve never done it before, but with plenty of research and guidance it can be productive – just take it slowly and don’t make any moves without having all the facts to hand.

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3 Ways To Become A More Disciplined Investor

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It’s fairly indisputable that discipline is one of the most vital attributes for a person looking to establish financial security. But it’s also particularly important for those who are looking to invest their money, whether in stocks, commodities, or some other venture. A reckless or carefree approach can get you lucky now and then, but will ultimately prove unreliable or at least unsustainable. On the other hand, a more practiced, careful, and strategic approach to investing can result in a stable long-term outlook and steady growth of funds.

Some of this depends on personality and experience, but here we’ll look at three tips anyone can follow for how to become a disciplined financial investor.

1. Divide Your Expectations Into “Buckets”

If you haven’t heard of the “bucket approach” before, you may want to learn a little bit about it before reshuffling your financial strategies. Basically, this is the approach of dividing your money into buckets for specific goals. For instance, if you want to buy a car, you’ll have a set venture dedicated to your car fund; the same might go for a home, an engagement ring, tuition, or even something a little smaller like a vacation. The point of doing this is to gain a more comprehensive understanding of what money you need for which purposes, and when you need it. You can then plan investments accordingly, and if necessary break up your strategies from one “bucket” to another, allocating risk as seems appropriate.

2. Keep A Trading Journal

If that sounds like it might be a technical term, don’t worry, because it’s not. There’s no exact format or method for a trading journal, but it’s been described as a comprehensive record of data related to a trader’s performance over time. Basically, that means it’s a detailed set of notes on everything that’s gone into your trades. Ideally, it’s not just what the asset was and whether it was a gain or loss, but also what the conditions were upon entry and exit, why you invested, why you pulled out, etc. It can be as thorough or simple as you like, but the underlying point is that past performance can help you to learn a great deal about your own habits, and what your best conditions for success have been. The best traders are unemotional but still introspective!

3. Eliminate Your Emotions

We just mentioned that the best traders are unemotional, but this bears further attention in its own category. Simply put, it’s been expressed by innumerable experts and publications that reacting emotionally can lead to poor decisions at the worst times. You might panic and pull out of a perfectly stable investment simply because of a downturn, or you might get excited and pump more money into a rising asset that isn’t poised for long-term success. Those are very basic examples, but they illustrate the larger point that too much happiness, excitement, sadness, or worry with regard to investments can lead you to make decisions that aren’t based on logic and knowledge. Of course you’re going to be thrilled when your investments are making money and frustrated when they’re not—just don’t let these or any other “feelings” dictate your actions.

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How Much Money Do Singaporean Olympic Athletes Make For Each Medal?

Olympics is the world’s biggest international multi-sport event that is conducted every four years. Officially known as the “Games of the XXXI Olympiad” and popularly known as “Rio 2016”, the 2016 Summer Olympics takes place in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). More than 10,500 athletes will compete for the prestigious medals that are up for grabs from August 5 to 21.

The games features 28 sports including Archery, Fencing, Diving, Table Tennis, Golf, and Rugby Sevens. 33 venues across 4 regions of the city were allocated especially for these sporting events. The dedication of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee expands beyond venues allocation as they aim to “deliver excellent Games, with memorable celebrations that will promote the global image of Brazil, underpinned by social and urban sustainable transformation through sport, contributing to the growth of the Olympic and Paralympic Movements.”

Olympic athletes who are able to bring home the bacon can reap the sweetest rewards of their victory. By sweetest rewards, I pertain to the cash payouts. The money that Olympic athletes receive for each type of medal varies by country.

You may be surprised to know that most Southeast Asian countries including Singapore are pretty generous when it comes to winning this global distinction. For instance, Feng Tainwei’s Olympic bronze medal in 2012 (Women’s Single – Table Tennis) earned her a quarter of a million dollars.

This amount is in accordance with the Multi-Million Dollar Awards Programme (MAP). MAP is an incentive scheme set by Singapore National Olympic Council in 1990s. In the recent years, MAP provides monetary payout to the winning Singaporean athletes of the Olympic, Asian, Commonwealth, and Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

According to the MAP 2012-2015, here were the payouts given to the successful Olympic athletes:

INDIVIDUAL MEDALS

GOLD: S$1,000,000

SILVER: S$500,000

BRONZE: S$250,000

TEAM EVENT MEDALS

GOLD: S$1,500,000

SILVER: S$750,000

BRONZE: S$375,000

TEAM SPORT MEDALS

GOLD: S$2,000,000

SILVER: S$1,000,000

BRONZE: S$500,000

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Image Credits: pixabay.com

These attractive awards were sponsored by the Tote Board and the Singapore Pools. Instead of having five rings as a symbol for the Olympics, perhaps five dollar signs are more suitable! 😉

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Why Budgeting Is Beneficial To Your Financial Health

Budgeting is a quantitative plan to manage your money. It has various benefits such as tracking your cash flow, controlling your expenses, and reaching your goals!

Be motivated to start budgeting by reading through its financial advantages:

1. TRACKS YOUR CASH FLOW

With budgeting, you can easily track how much you are earning and how much you are spending. It prevents you from wondering where your cash actually goes. Being aware of your cash flow enables you to know what you can realistically afford. With this purchasing power comes great responsibility, which is why you must aligh your cash flow to your financial goals.

2. HELPS REACH YOUR GOALS

A friend of mine was at a Tokyo flea market and she saw this beautiful Beige suede boots and tried it on. Her husband warned her that she probably would not wear it because she always goes for comfortable ballerina flats. She did not listen! She ended up donating the underused boots. This unnecessary item is an example of a purchase that is not in-lined with one’s financial goals.

If you are disorganized with your finances, there is tendency for you to spend your cash on unnecessary products and services. Budgeting helps you to reach and focus on your financial goals. It works especially if you have limited resources or live from paycheck to paycheck.

3. CONTROLS YOUR EXPENSES

When your budget is working efficiently, you are able to recognize how much you are spending in a month or a week. It requires you to refer to your existing bank statements and outgoings. This means that you will be able to see whether there are some expenses that need to be altered.

If you need to cut down on your spending, you can create a proper budget to make this financial activity easier.

4. IDENTIFIES POTENTIAL ISSUES

Aside from identifying the unnecessary expenses that you need to reduce or eliminate, budgeting enables you to identify the potential problems that can affect your financial health. Budgeting gives you the “bird’s eye view” of your current situation and enables you to make adjustments before issues appear.

5. ALLOWS YOU TO SAVE EXTRA MONEY

Budgeting goes beyond helping you with identifying and eliminating non-essential spending as it prevents you from penalties or late fees. By organizing your finances and allocating budget before the bill arrives, you are able pay your commitments on time. This will create more room for savings.

Not to mention, budgeting opens opportunities for investment. Passive income may grow your wealth even more.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Despite all these benefits, budgeting has one huge drawback. It needs conscious effort for it to work! Are you ready to commit to a healthier financial life?

Sources: 1,2, & 3

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