Five Ways To Prepare For Your Financial Future
With another year down and me being another year older, I’m starting to think more of the future. And more specifically, our financial future. Time is moving so quickly, and the future might seem ages away, but it will be here quickly enough.
We’re all feeling the impact of the cost of living crisis, but it’s still important to try and think ahead. There are no guarantees on how the future will pan out but being prepared is always helpful.
Here are some ways you can prepare for your financial future.
Save for big life events
Life events, from weddings to birthdays, can cost a lot of money, so the earlier you save, the better.
Set up sinking funds for anything you know will come up in the next few years. Starting to save towards them, even if it’s a small amount each month, will spread out the cost. And you should feel less stressed when the event gets closer.
Me and Luke save towards birthdays, Christmas and weddings we’re invited to, among other things.
Help your financial future by being insured for the unexpected
There are some insurance you have to have, such as car insurance or buildings insurance (if you own a house), but other insurance policies can help your financial future.
In an ideal world, you will pay for an insurance policy and never have to claim on it. But think about whether you could afford to be without it.
Alongside our vehicle and home insurance, we pay out business and tool insurance for Luke. His business insurance is necessary for his trade, and if his tools were stolen, we’d struggle to afford to replace them. We also have life insurance, again, just in case. And as Luke is self-employed, we have income protection insurance to cover us if anything happens.
Calculate maternity leave pay
If we go back to my parent’s generation, they could survive on one wage, meaning my mum going on maternity leave and bringing up kids wasn’t a financial worry. But nowadays, for most, this isn’t a reality.
Having a baby is a huge life event, but maternity leave can be stressful. If you’re employed, work out what pay you’re entitled to and how much less than what you’re earning now. And if you’re self-employed, work out what statuary pay you’d be entitled to.
If you want to have kids in the future, it’s worth thinking about your financial future and start putting away money now. That way, you can plan and calculate what you may need to survive financially.
Look into your retirement plan to help your financial future
Retirement may feel like a million years away, but it will come around quickly enough.
The first thing you should look into is how much pension you will get at the moment. This includes both the current state pension alongside any workplace or private pension you may have.
Thanks to compound interest, the earlier you start to save for your financial future, the better. And your future self with thank you.
I have my workplace auto-enrollment pension, and I combined all of my previous employment pensions together. But I know I’ll need to increase my contribution soon for it to make a difference when I’m older.
Consider your career path
If you’re starting a new job or unsure about what’s next, it’s worth having a path or industry in mind.
The traditional career ladder doesn’t exist in the same way for all industries as it once did. And a lot of future jobs probably don’t even exist yet. But having some direction and progression ideas will help you look ahead.
What are you doing to plan for your financial future?
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18 responses to “Five Ways To Prepare For Your Financial Future”
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All About Me
Rhian Westbury
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Great advice, it is always good to prepare for the future, no matter what age you are. Also to have an emergency fun for those things you do not plan for
Retirement plan is a must for me! I don’t have one yet! It is on my to do list for this year for sure.
This is something that we all need to think about sooner rather than later. We only have so many years before we have to retire whether our finances are in order or not.
And time is going so quickly isn’t it!? x
We are just trying to overpay our mortgage as much as we can and continue paying into our pension plans.
Once we have paid for our weedding and honeymoon overpaying on our mortgage is one of my top goals x
I am starting to put a little away each month for the future or emergencies. And it has really taken the stress off my shoulders knowing I have this
It’s so nice to know you have a little back up x
These are some great tips on how to prepare for your financial future. I really need to look more at my pension.
Having insurances is often something people forget about, but can really save you in a pinch! Thank you for these tips.
Great points here. It’s important to think ahead and always plan and budget. It’ll pay off in the long term.
I’m very much a believer in planning ahead for your financial future. Not everything is predictable, but if you plan for the expected, you will be better placed to deal with the unexpected too.
I am totally with you there. You can’t plan for everything, but the things you know are coming plan for x
I really need to sort myself out financially, but I don’t know where to start! This post has been a great help though. I’ll have to look at my pensions properly, maybe consolidate them into one.
We have extra savings pots for things we know are coming up, like buying laptops for the kids to use at school.
These are some really useful tips, especially about wanting to start a family. Currently it’s just me and partner and we would like a family in the future. I don’t even know what my company pays on MAT leave so it’s a good time to start planning and saving.
It’s so important to find out even if you’re not sure if you’ll use the maternity cover. I’m going to be moving jobs soon and finding out the policy will be one of the first things I do x
This is something I really wish we started when we was younger , but tough wood , we have been found over the past 2 years and doing really well 🙂