It’s getting tougher out there folks. Interest rates are on the rise and inflation is hitting us pretty hard.
In most cases, our wages aren’t increasing to compensate, and the government doesn’t appear to have any realistic ideas about how to help everyday Kiwis, so we’re going to have to help ourselves. Rather than trying to predict where the market will take us and when interest rates will start reducing, we should instead think about how we can minimise the impact on us.
Pay off your mortgage faster
The best protection against rising interest rates is to pay off your mortgage faster, which you could do by making lump sum payments or increasing your regular loan repayments. But for some people this may not always be possible, especially if you have extended yourself financially to buy your first home. So, what else can you do?
Look at how your existing lending is structured
Do you have a fixed mortgage that’s due to expire off its fixed term within the next 60 days? If so, now’s the time to speak to the team at Wayne Henry Mortgages. We can look to lock a rate in BEFORE your loan expires OR look to restructure your lending to spread your risk against further interest rate rises.
Alternatively, if your mortgage is not due to expire anytime soon, it may still be worthwhile speaking to the team to see what options are available.
The team have been doing this for a while and we really know our stuff – every Kiwi has a different situation so sitting down and having a chat, will help us understand your goals and needs so we can suggest a solution for you – whether that be restructuring at your existing lender or exploring your options with other lenders.
Tips on how to better manage your funds
- Plan your family meals ahead of your grocery shop to help avoid impulse buying or over-shopping
- Buy your food in bulk
- Make your own lunch and do weekly baking for kids lunches
- Limit your coffee purchases to one a day OR even better stop buying that daily coffee and make your own
- Reduce the amount of times you eat out or buy takeaways
- Grow a veggie garden
- Check out the specials area of the supermarket – from late afternoon, most supermarkets will have a few items reduced to clear; they are still perfectly fine but are nearing their “best before” date
- Put a budget in place and STICK to it – the team at Wayne Henry Mortgages are more then happy to help you with this
- Every budget needs a bit of “me money” – something to spend on yourself. However, the danger here is that you can easily over-spend, so keeping a good track of your spending money is crucial. Try and take out your spending money in cash each week and put the EFTPOS card away. Seeing how much you physically have in your wallet makes it much harder to spend more than you’ve budgeted for
- Keep a money tin or piggy bank – any change you get in cash that is $5 or under can go in there and then once a month you can treat yourself or deposit it back in to your bank account
- Go through all of your outgoing subscriptions and see if there are any that you can go without
- Avoid any “Buy Now and Pay Later” schemes (eg. Laybuy, Afterpay etc)
- Avoid using your credit card and look to repay any outstanding amount on your credit card
- Sell any of your unwanted items on TradeMe
Budget Planner
For help with your budgeting why not try our super easy to use budget planner.
We’re here to help everyday Kiwis get ahead financially so don’t be shy to pick up the phone or flick us an email – we’d love to hear from you.
