It may sound like a crazy notion to increase your personal wealth by taking a pay cut – however can that work?

It’s simple really.

Most people have a limited income yet infinite needs and wants. They earn a fixed amount, or the household has a fixed monthly income, they spend, spend, spend first and save what is left over. I will be the first to admit that I used to “waste” money each and every month – bottled water (!), pre-packed sandwiches, not shopping around for more competitive insurance/utilities etc….

Result = there is rarely anything left over at the end of each month – “which runs out first, the month or the pay packet?”

It has been quoted many times (such as in The Richest Man in Babylon – a great book and worth the £3.46 price tag!) that those who build lasting wealth are those who SAVE first and then SPEND what is left.

By taking something off the top of each pay packet you can set this aside, firstly to build a “rainy day fund”, and then to consider medium and long-term investments.

It will be difficult at first as the decrease in monthly income can be noticeable, but over time, your spending patterns will be altered to match your new “lower” income level and quite quickly you will notice the increase in your personal wealth.

How Noticeable Will This Be?

If you set aside just £50 per month, and invest it to receive a net return of 5% per annum (which should be achievable) over a ten year period this will grow to £7,764.

If you could achieve 7% net per annum, this would amount to £8,654; which if continued for a further 10 years would £26,046.

The more you save, the quicker it will grow.

My Experience

I am fortunate in that I earn a decent income and am able to set aside £700 per month. If I continue this level of investment, I am currently on course to achieve full financial independence by the time I am 50.

It’s hard at first, but after a while your lifestyle adapts to the “pay cut” you choose – I find I now plan purchases ahead – I got rid of my credit cards – it’s addictive (although I do still enjoy life to the maximum – I just don’t waste money any longer!).

Where Should You Start?

Simple really – just keep a track of what/where your money goes on a regular basis for the next month or so – then analyse and be strict with yourself –

  • Do I really need to spend money on this item?
  • Is there a more cost-effective alternative?
  • What changes can I make in my lifestyle now to build the future I want rather than the future I currently have in-store?

Let me know you’re successes in “taking a pay cut” below.

The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, will deliver his pre-Budget Report on Wednesday December 9th 2009.

One of the key questions facing the Chancellor, and indeed the Government, will be how to balance the books – ensuring there is enough money coming in to match the amount of money going out.

The country and business community wait with bated breath to hear what the Chancellor has in store.

There are concerns in the pensions industry that he could make further changes to personal pension taxation and in particular with reference to higher rate income tax relief.

If you are fortunate enough to fall in this category it might be a shrewd move to consider discussing any pension contribution planning with your financial adviser and, possibly, taking action to make any pension contribution ahead of the announcements on December 9th.

For a list of local Independent Financial Advisers visit IFA Promotion

Here is our usual monthly list of the top 10 read articles on shrewdcookie.com in September – there are some surprising entries!

1. Change in ISA allowances in Budget 2009

The changes announced in the Budget in respect of increases in the ISA allowances come into effect on 6th October for those over age 50 before the end of the current tax year – can invest up to £10,200 into a Stocks and Shares ISA. Woo hoo!!!

2. New Tax Year – New ISA Allowance

More detail on the changing ISA allowances.

3. Download a Free 2010 Yearplanner

I have put together a great little yearplanner for 2010 – it can be downloaded in A4 (landscape) or larger A3 (printed on 2 sheets of A4 for those without an A3 sized printer!). Feel free to send copies to friends, family and colleagues at work.

4. 19 Essential Money Tips for Students

With the start of the University/College/School term upon us here is a great article which might help a few students who are struggling through on their limited finances.

5.  Pay Yourself First

One of the first principles spoken of in the great book “The Richest Man in Babylon” is the need to pay yourself first – the principle here is to take a fixed percentage off your take-home pay and keep that money for yourself forever – then your lifestyle will change itself to allow you to live on the remainder. Get a copy of this book – a truly great read. It could be the most valuable £4.99 you ever invest!

6. Cashflow Forecasting – Planning Income and Expenditure

Here is a really helpful little spreadsheet which will allow you to plan your income and expenditure on a monthly basis – you will be able to see exactly where your money goes to each month – allowing you to make changes in your expenditure – a great tool for “what if” scenarios – what if I stopped eating out, what if I increased income by £200 per month etc.

7. Personal Pension Minimum retirement age increasing to 55 from 6th April 2010

Those people who will be over 50 before 5th April 2010 and were planning to retire in the next 5 years may have to take some urgent action between now and then – in the worst case scenario you may have to continue working for another 5 years!

8. Wear a uniform to work – here’s some free money!

If you have to wash your own work uniform you could be entitled to some money from the taxman – read the article for more information.

9. Get Money for your Old Mobile Phone

Did you know you can sell old mobile phones – I recently sold my old Sony Ericsson K800i and got £28 for it – worth checking out what yours might get you – see the article.

10. 10 Great Reasons for Writing a Will

Everyone needs and should have a Will – it saves so many problems in the event of your death – and let’s face it the only two certainties in life are death and taxes! Read the article now – you might be surprised.

And finally……

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Anyone who is committed to increasing their personal wealth would be strongly recommended to buy a financial calculator.

I bought my first financial calculator when I was at University some 18 years ago, it was a Hewlett Packlard 10B Business Calculator, and I still use it today. The model has been updated now – Hewlett Packard 10BII – but the new model still offers the same great facilities I have come to know and love.

It carries out all the normal calculations you would expect of a scientific calculator, but also provides the ability to calculate the following:

Growth of a set level of regular savings, given amount, rate of interest and term in years is known
Net Present Value (of a range of regular inflows of cash)
Internal Rate of Return
Compound Interest Calculations
Time Value of Money

For example, if I save £100 per month, for 25 years, at 6% interest this calculator will calculate the future value of my savings (the answer is £69,299!). If I change this to 26 years, the answer is now £74,807 – an additional £5,508 for investing for another 12 months!!!

For retirement planning, say I have identified that I need a pot of £360,000 in 23 years time to retire on the income I need to live in retirement, I can calculate how much I need to invest on an annual or monthly basis, assuming any rate of return, to hit the target.

The third calculation I like to use the calculator for is calculating how long money will last for, for example, I have £10,000 today and I wish to draw £250 per month from it. Based on an interest rate of 4%, my calculator shows me that my money will last for 43 months.

Here’s the manual (4.0MB) for my Hewlett Packard calculator – it shows all the different calculations you can do with a financial calculator.

Buy a financial calculator from Amazon.

Related articles:

Rule of 72 – Time Value of Money

It’s Not How Much you Save, But How Long

As part of my ongoing frugal blitz of my finances I have now identified 5 things I waste money on on a regular basis which I will now cut from my expenditure going forwards. These are common items which most people will buy now or at some time.

By opting for an alternative I can save a considerable amount of money each month!

Pre-packed Sandwiches

This is big business – everyone is selling them – supermarkets, newsagents, petrol stations. I usually buy a sandwich for my lunch as there is a large supermarket near my office. When you add the cost of the sandwich, a packet of crisps, a drink and some fruit I am easily spending upwards of £5.00 per day for lunch.

A typical pre-packed sandwich will contain the following:

1 Slice of bread
Some margarine
A filling (normally more salad than filling)
Plastic packaging

From now on I will buy sandwich bags from the supermarket and make my own sandwiches.

Bottled Water

Crikey – this stuff is more expensive than petrol! If I am in dire need of buying a bottle of water I will always opt for the larger 1.5 litre bottles as the smaller bottles are prohibitively expensive in my opinion. I have invested in a water filter for the office and keep it in the fridge.

Monthly Gym Membership

I signed up for the local gym about 18 months ago and, at first, I was very regimented and went 3 times each week. The monthly subscription started at £60 per month, which, based on my initial usage was £5 per visit, which I considered good value for money based on use of the gym, sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and a few lengths in their olympic-size pool.

Time and work pressures mounted to a point were now I go one a week if possible – this works out at £15 per session which is not great – I have looked around and can get the same equipment at my local “leisure centre” for a third of the price – so I am cancelling my gym membership but will reinstate it if my use of the local leisure centre increases again in the future.

Extended Warranties

I, like many others, are offered extended warranties when I buy goods in electrical stores. I never take the extended warranty as I don’t personally believe they offer great value for money – I instead ask what the cost is and place that amount in a savings account – I have managed to accumulate over £1,400 in the last 3 years.

Instead, I rely on the Sale of Goods Act 1979 – all products should be fit for their purpose and of merchantable quality. I have had to argue on a couple of occasions with shop managers but both times I have managed to get my item replaced.

Newspapers and Magazines

I generally find that newspapers and magazines are filled with articles I am not interested in or page after page of advertisements. Knowing that the majority of magazines with low circulation make their income from selling advertising space rather than selling copies, many magazines these days seem to simply be a collection of adverts, interspersed with the odd article.

Any news in print is out of date! I can get instant news online and therefore have no need to purchase a newspaper any longer.

Can you think of any other wastes of money? Please add your comment below.

I was reading an excellent post over at Seth Godin’s blog which got me thinking about budgeting, wealth and financial independence.

The article talks about how over 2 billion people on this planet live below the poverty line. Now for one moment, the chances are that if you are reading this article, you are not living in the abject poverty being suffered around the world but you could be in a state of personal financial “poverty”.

Do you spend more than you earn? Does more money float out of your bank account each month than flows in?

If you spend just one more £1 than you earn each month, you will get further and further into debt. If you spend £1 less than you earn each month that is £1 extra put in reserve.

To achieve financial freedom in your life time you need to spend money only on necessities, and save for a later time, when you can afford to buy luxuries.

Actions:

1. Prioritise your debts – pay those carrying the higher interest rates first

2. Draw up a cashflow forecast – see how your money comes and goes each month over the next 12 months.

3. Prune all those “luxuries” you don’t need – e.g. possibly downgrade on your satellite or cable package, cancel that gym membership you never use.

4. Destroy those credit cards – only use cash for purchases – open a separate savings account for those large, one-off purchases you need to make each year.

5. Live by the mantra, “10% of all I earn is mine to keep forever”.

What else can I add to this list – please comment below.

101-ways-to-make-extra-cash

When considering whether to move to a new employer, many feel that it is important to ensure that they maximise the amount of increase in income that they achieve.

Many would not consider moving to a new job for just £1,000 or £2,000 extra per year.

But it is the point of this article that a small increase in income can make a BIG difference.

When we consider the normal income and expenditure profile for a family we can roughly divide it’s expenditure into “fixed” and “variable”. An example of a fixed expense would be a rent or mortgage payment. It is generally fixed in relation to an increase in income – if you earn an extra £2,000 per year then generally you may stay living in the same property. A “variable” expense on the other hand is an expense which does or can change with income – for example – entertainment – if you’re earning more you may have a tendency to go out for meals, cinema, holidays more, therefore spending more on entertainment as your income rises.

So having considered this, we can see that all people have “fixed costs” and “variable costs” of living. The difference between total expenditure and total income is therefore what we like to think of as “disposable income”.

Having assessed your income and expenditure (see this article on cashflow forecasting) you will arrive at a figure for your “disposable income”.

For example, say your monthly take home pay, after tax and national insurance is £2,000, you have fixed costs of £1,200 per month and variable costs of £500 per month.

This gives total expenses of £1,700 per month and a disposable income of £300 per month.

Now let’s say for arguments sake that you could move to another job which earns you just another £100 per month after tax (£1,200 per year). Many would not consider taking this course of action, yet when we consider this in relation to your “disposable income” you have now seen an increase in your “disposable income” of £100 per month, from £300 to £400 – a 33% increase in disposable income!!!

This is an example of “leverage” where a small change in one variable results in a large change in another variable.

Now you might not get very excited about an additional £100 per month, but what if it was an extra £250, £500, or even £1,000 per month – what could you do with that additional income? I’m sure you could let your imagination run wild on this one.

Could you move to another job for an increase in income, or do something in your free time to earn more money????

The following is a list of the top ten articles visited in June 2009.

1. Pay Yourself First – the first step in wealth creation

Those who save first then spend invariably end up better off than those who spend first and save what is left.

2. New Tax Year – New ISA Allowance

Increase in ISA allowance following the start of the new 2009/2010 tax year on 6th April 2009.

3. Changes in ISA Allowance – Budget 2009

How the ISA allowance will increase to £10,200 for those aged over 50 on 6th October 2009 and for the rest of the population on 6th April 2010.

4. Cashflow Forecasting – Planning Income and Expenditure

A budget and cashflow planning article with a useful Excel spreadsheet to download and share with friends and family.

5. Investment Bonds – An Introduction

The various ways in which this life assurance based investment vehicle can help with your financial planning.

6. Non-taxpayers – earn interest without income tax deducted

How completing a simple form can stop non-taxpayers paying unnecessary tax on their bank and building society interest to the taxman!

7. Critical illness cover v income protection

How these two different types of protection product can be used to compliment each other.

8. Will writing – an introduction

What is a will and why are they important?

9. 10 Great Reasons for Writing a Will

A must-read article for all those serious about financial planning and protecting their families and loved ones.

And, finally…………..

10. The Rule of 72 – The Time Value of Money

A great little rule for making quick calculations

The following is a list of the Top 10 articles visited in April 2009: –

1. New Tax Year – New ISA Allowance

The start of the new tax year on 6th April 2009 marked the opportunity for another tranche of money to be invested in a tax-efficient manner in an ISA.

2. Change in ISA Allowance – Budget 2009

In his recent Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer increased the ISA allowance to £10,200 per tax year – read the above article – the devil is in the detail!

3. Budget 2009 – Key Changes

A summary of the main changes and issues covered in Budget 2009 which may affect you and your wealth.

4. Tax Allowances and Rates – 2009

The start of the new tax year on 6th April heralded a number of changes in rates of taxation and allowances – read the article above to see just how much more money you will pay in tax this year.

5. It’s not how much you save, it’s how long

A great article introducing the time value of money as well as the principle of compoun growth and interest.

6. 10 Great Reasons to Write a Will

What I feel is one of the most powerful and beneficial articles of the last month – if you do nothing else this year, please read this article and make a Will.

7. An Introduction to Inheritance Tax

Inheritance Tax is a tax paid by those who distrust their children more than they distrust the Government. Plan early to avoid the simplest of taxes to avoid.

8. Cashflow Forecasting – plan your cashflow for the next 12 months

Short article on the principle of cashflows – how controlling your cash is an excellent habit to form – handy Excel cashflow spreadsheet available to download as well!

9. “Parking Cash” in an ISA

Great facility allowing you to place full amount into an ISA without the need to commit to investing the full amount from day one if you are concerned about stock markets and other asset classes falling further.

10. State Pension – how much will you get?

An introduction to the State pension with valuable information on changes in state pension age as well as how to obtain your own State pension forecast free of charge!

The above list details the Top 10 articles published on shrewdcookie.com in the last month based on visitor data.

Please subscribe to the Shrewdcookie.com RSS feed to receive all our articles as soon as they are published – click here.

Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer presented his Budget for 2009 last week and below are the main points and changes contained in the Budget:

The Economy

Whilst the economy is expected to shrink by 2.5% during 2009, the Chancellor indicated that there was the expectation that the economy would grow next year, 2010, by 1.25%. I our opinion this is an optimistic forecast and we believe that growth in the economy is unlikely. He then said that the economy would grow by 3.5% annually from 2011. Whilst we would expect the economy to be heading out of recession by 2011, again we would comment that growth at these levels is again unlikely.

Borrowing by the Government is estimated to amount to £703 billion over the next 5 years which, in our opinion, is a large burden for the UK economy to endure.

Income Tax

In order to boost funds to meet this borrowing expectation, the Chancellor announced that income tax for those people earning more than £150,000 would rise to 50% from April 2010. The one comment we would make on this is that this would be fairly ineffective as people falling into this tax bracket will no doubt come up with methods and techniques to get around this additional tax burden.

In addition to this, he also reduced tax relief on pension contributions for people falling into this tax bracket, again from April 2010.  The level of tax relief for people earning over £150,000 will fall from 40% to 20% following introduction of a taper. To this end, many high-earners will consider making pension contributions following a “salary sacrifice” exercise – by effectively reducing their income levels, it is then possible for their employers to contribute directly to their pension plans, and this can be topped up by the employer also contributing some or all of the National Insurance saving enjoyed following the reduction in salary.

Employment, Jobs and Training

The Government announced support for the economy to protect 500,000 jobs and also indicated that redundancy payments would increase from £350 to £380 per week for those made redundant. From January, everyone under the age of 25 will be offered a job or training place, with additional funds paid on top of the benefits they are already receiving – in addition to this there will also be additional support for those people who have been out of work for more than 12 months.

It was also announced that funds would be made available to create an additional 54,000 places in sixth form education.

Housing and Accommodation

The government is concerned about housing and announced plans to provide £500 million to kickstart the housing market, with £100 million being made available to local councils to build energy-efficient homes. Many commentators have said that this is inadequate and will not provide for the true number of new homes needed each year. £80 million will be made available for a shared equity mortgage scheme to promote home ownership as well as £50 million to upgrade military housing.

The current stamp duty holiday for house purchases below £175,000 has been extended until the end of the year in an attempt to help first-time buyers.

The Environment

The government is committed to cutting carbon emissions by 34% by the year 2020. An extra £1 billion will be made available to attack climate change by supporting low-carbon industries. £525 million will be made available for offshore wind farms as an alternative energy source over the next 2 years with £435 million to help with energy efficiency schemes for homes, companies and public buildings.

Business

Help was announced for loss-making businesses – they will be able to reclaim more taxes paid for the last 3 years until November 2010 with the main capital allowance rate doubled to 40% in an attempt to help companies bring forwards capital investment decisions. Also announced was a £750 million strategic investment fund to help emerging industries and those industries which has an important regional position.

Savings and Investments

The annual ISA allowance was raised from £7,200 per annum to £10,200 per annum. This will be introduced from 6th October 2009 for over 50’s and from 6th April 2010 for the rest of the population.

Grandparents

Those grandparents of working age who care for their grandchildren will see their basic state pension increased to take account of this. The winter fuel allowance will be maintained at the higher level of £250 for those over the age of 60 and £400 for those aged over 80 for another tax year.

The Chancellor also announced that there would be a minimum increase of 2.5% on the basic state pension, regardless of what RPI, the index to which inflation is linked, does.

Child Benefits

The child tax credit will rise by £20 by 2010 and child trust funds for disabled children will rise by £100 per year with those for severely disabled children rising by £200.

Cars – Scrappage Scheme

A new scheme will be introduced in an attempt to remove older, more polluting cars from our roads. From March 2010, £2,000 discount will apply for those people who trade in their existing cards over 20 years old in exchange for a new car. In order to qualify they will have to be shown as the registered keeper of the vehicle for the 12 months prior to the purchase and it is expected that the Government will provide £1,000 towards this scheme with the motor industry providing the remainder.

And finally (!) – Cigarettes, Alcohol and Fuel

Tax and duties on alcohol and cigarettes is to rise by 2% – putting a penny on a pint and 7 pence on a packet of 20 cigarettes on average.

Fuel duty is to rise by 2 pence per litre and then by 1 pence above inflation each April for the next four years.

 

So there you have it – how as the Budget affected you? Who do you feel are the winners and losers of this Budget? Please make your comments below.