How to manage your money?

At mytalu, we want to help our customers take control of their money, so we’ve put together some tips to help you do just that.

1. First, it’s important to spend some time assessing the current situation of your finances. This also involves deep diving into your mindset and relationship with money. It’s important to ask yourself some hard questions but it is worth it in the long run. Questions like; Do you think about your financial future? Are you making sensible spending decisions? What are you spending your money on?
   
   With this assessment, you can clearly understand where you are and, more importantly, where you want to be. 
   
   
2. With a goal in mind, it is time to set out a clear budgeting strategy and with budgeting comes a clear plan. A common way to do this is to break down your spending into several broad categories such as “needs, wants and savings.” With these labels, “needs” are basic necessities such as food, housing and utilities, “wants” are nice to have things like eating out and cinema trips, and “savings” are exactly what they say on the tin, keeping money aside for a rainy day.
    
3. Managing your money is an ongoing exercise, setting out a plan, in the beginning, helps a lot but it is important to routinely keep an eye on what is going on. Doing this means you can identify certain payments that you might be able to tweak. Looking at your categories of expenditure and delving into individual transactions means you can identify spending areas that are too high or unnecessary. 
   
   
4. Reinforce good habits. Like any new habit, it is important to positively reinforce good decisions and eradicate bad ones. Setting out a new budgeting plan is an important first step, but it is easy to lose track or even become disillusioned. Each day is a chance to make good decisions and keep in control of your money. Always keep the future in mind and think about the positive outcomes of managing your finances effectively. Discipline and a positive mindset will serve you well.
   
   
5. The 30-day rule. One idea that has gained a lot of traction of late is the idea of the 30-day rule. If you want something that represents a sizeable amount of your budget and you are thinking of purchasing it, wait 30 days to make sure that it is something you really need/want. Taking some time to assess before a purchase ensures that you do not make impulse buys that you will regret later.  
   
   

At mytalu, we have packed our multi-currency account full of tools, tips, and features to help you better manage your finances and help you budget effectively. Transactional data and analytics help you stay on top of the situation and keep you on track for your financial goals and ambitions.