Isn’t it time you spring-clean your finances?

Published on 29th August, 2023 at 04:53 pm

Why should you revisit your finances regularly? According to Farzana Botha, business development manager at Sanlam Private Wealth, for two important reasons: to ensure you’re on track to achieving your goals and to make provisions for any changes to your external environment.

Reading time: 3 minutes 

In this article you will learn:

• Why you should review your budget regularly.
• When you should update your Will.
• How a financial planner can help you spring-clean your finances.

Just like spring-cleaning your home, it’s time to give attention to your finances by reviewing your budget, expenses, debts, and investments.

Check in on your goals

Like any goal, your finances need regular check-ins. Botha explains that it’s similar to being on a fitness journey. “If you decide on a fitness goal – such as adding on five kilogrammes of muscle in two years – you’d want to check that you’re doing the right exercises, and measuring your weight against the food you’re eating,” she explains. “These regular checks will help serve as a roadmap to see if you’re on the right path or need to change course.”

The same applies to your finances. “Reviewing regularly and having a yardstick to measure with will help you know if your actions are aligning to your goals or if you need to adjust to get back on track,” she says.

Review your budget

“Every other month since 2021, we’ve experienced a change in interest rates,” says Botha. “This means the money we were budgeting for repaying loans or any interest-bearing debt may not be sufficient, and we have to make provision for increased monthly instalments.”

Want to budget like a pro? Read this article.

Relook investments

The changing financial landscape isn’t all doom and gloom, though. In some instances, you may need to make sacrifices, while in other cases, it could lead to new and exciting opportunities for savings and investments. To take advantage of this, you could relook your investments, Botha points out.

“If you were saving during interest cycles such as these, you might want to invest more in interest-bearing accounts like the money market, where favourable interest rates result in increased rates of return,” she says.

Revise your Will

Needless to say, if your financial situation changes in any of these ways, so should your Will. For instance, if you’ve added (or let go) of an investment, bought a house, or had any life-changing event, you will want to make sure your Will reflects that.

Once you’ve got your Will in place, keep it in a safe place and let someone you trust know where it is. With Sanlam, you can store your Will securely online. Find out more here.

Speak to a financial planner

According to Botha, you should meet with a financial planner regularly – or at the very least when major life events happen, like getting a new job, a salary increase, getting married or having children. “A financial planner is also the right person to help you set or change your goals, or even bounce ideas off of,” she says.

Partnering with a financial planner to spring-clean your financials can help you stay on track to reach your goals. Book a meeting with one today.