Four little words that so many of us can relate to.. "How Much Is That?"

Do you welcome the day when you no longer have to check the prices on the menu to determine how hungry you are or whether you feel like steak or salad? Do you look forward to the time when you can take your family on the holiday they want, not the one you can afford. When you can drive the car, buy the house, support the charities and live the life of your dreams.

Do you longingly aspire for that day or have you hit so many hurdles that you have lost the vision and find that you no longer plan or even allow yourself to hope and dream anymore?

According to survey findings released recently, getting one's finances in order has topped the 2008 New Year's resolution list, with the recurring favourite "losing weight'' finishing a distant second.

Tips on How:

1. Teach your children about money and in particular the word, save
2. Never sign a loan document without independent legal advice particularly if asked to do so by your husband/partner
3. Never borrow money when you realistically cannot afford the repayments and don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can
4. Keep your own finances separate from your husband/partner
5. Have a joint bank account to cover conjointly responsible domestic expenses
6. Keep records of everything you purchase conjointly or individually
7. Get your own bank (monthly) statement of conjointly held loans or savings accounts – to ensure that no irregular payments occur that you cannot identify
8. Never give your partner a secondary credit card to your own credit card account
9. Have an up-to-date will and review it annually
10. Give an enduring power of attorney to someone you completely and totally trust – which may or may not be your husband/partner
11. Never have more than one credit card
12. Negotiate a better interest rate on your home loan and if you don’t know how to do it – find someone who can explain how this can happen
13. Never lend money to a friend
14. Regularly contribute to a superannuation fund – even when in your teens – it all adds up over time
15. Continue to contribute to a superannuation fund – even when you find yourself pregnant or whilst being a home Mum
16. Increase your superannuation contributions steadily once you get to thirty and continue to do so
17. Join a private health fund
18. Ensure you have an insurance policy on your partner particularly if they are the sole bread winner –  as a minimum at least enough to cover your mortgage
19. Have an insurance policy on your partner anyway
20. Find a good independent financial advisor i.e. someone who will recommend investment within and outside their employer’s recommendations
21. Only invest in property/share market if you know what you are doing, if you don’t know – find out how to with a professional                                                                   

A thirty six year career in banking, wherein I spent fifteen years as a on again, off again lender, ten as a bank manager and the rest – trying to survive as a woman, and having spent the last three years in the mortgage industry – Stephanie Retchless

Women, Debt & Superannuation – don’t be part of the ‘superannuation-less’ female population going into 2008  
 

I was interviewed the other day by a financial journalist (from the Courier Mail in Brisbane) who wanted some insight into what women in their thirties and forties are doing about superannuation. I believe she was quite taken aback by my answer.

I told her that in my experience women in those age groups are primarily concerned with debt - not savings, not their future - anything but really. 

There is plenty of information about what happens when a relationship dissolves but precious little to tell you what happens to your finances when such a situation occurs.

There is little written by the financial institutions to give couples the right information about STD as in most cases the finance world does not care because in the end, someone has to pay the debt or suffer the consequences. Those consequences may involve a listing as a ‘default’ hence a black mark against your credit rating, commonly referred to as CRAA.