It’s nice to try and claim that money doesn’t really matter in life, and you can enjoy everything even with a few pennies in your pocket. Unfortunately, if you say this, then you’re pretty much just lying to yourself. The world revolves around money; we need it for almost everything in life. This is why it’s so important to manage your personal finances, as improper management leads to money issues. Have you ever hear of someone with massive money issues that’s really loving life? No, it never happens!
The formula for looking after your money is fairly simple; spend less, save more, and make investments. However, these things are easier said than done – particularly the first point. We’d love to spend less, but most of us have plenty of personal finance expenses that keep eating away at our budget.
In today’s article, we’re going to outline all of the biggest personal finance costs in your life right now. By doing this, it can help you see where most of your money goes. As a result, you may pick up on little hints and tips to lower these costs.
Property Costs
Unless you still live with your parents and contribute no money whatsoever, then you’ll end up with various property costs. The most obvious is rental money. If you rent a place to live, then you’ll be charged a monthly fee. This is one of the most important personal finance expenses as you need to ensure you can pay it every month. Fail to do so, and you could be kicked out of your home. What if you buy a property? In the majority of cases, buying a home goes hand in hand with mortgage loans. If you use a mortgage to buy your property, then you’ll end up paying it back over the course of a few years. This is another constant expense, and it’s also one you can’t afford to miss. The best thing to do is find a mortgage that offers flexible payment plans so you can decide how much you pay and at what intervals you need to pay it.
To go alongside these two costs, you also have the utility costs that come with your property. This refers to the electricity, heating, and water. In some rental places, you get the water bill paid for you, which is always a bonus for anyone looking to save money. Regardless, whenever you look for a heating/electric/water supplier, make sure you shop around and compare deals to find the lowest price there is.
Monthly Bills
Naturally, the utility bills for your property aren’t the only bills you pay every month. Everyone is going to accumulate a pretty long list of bills that attempt to topple their personal finances. One of the most obvious that springs to mind is your phone/internet bill. These days, you can get bundles that include your phone line rental and broadband all rolled into one. In fact, if you’re paying for satellite or cable TV, you can get that thrown in the mix too. Generally speaking, bundles are more affordable than paying for each one separately, not to mention the fact you only have one bill to keep track of instead of three. Then, you’ll probably have a mobile phone bill to pay, maybe a credit card bill, and so on. It’s so important you stay on top of all your bills and pay them on time. Otherwise, you end up with additional charges that make you spend more money. On top of that, failure to pay bills on time will mess up your credit score, which is never a good thing.
Health Costs
Our health is ironically one of the most expensive things to look after in life. There are so many costs relating to your health. For one, you have insurance costs. It’s advisable to get medical insurance so you can be treated by a doctor without ripping a massive hole through your pocket. Even though this saves on health costs, the cost of insurance is still less than ideal. Then, factor in additional things like a dental plan and family cover, and the costs go even higher. What’s more, as it notes on Casey Shomo Law Offices website, you have possible medical malpractice issues as well, which can set you back a fair bit of money. All in all, paying for your health is one of the biggest costs to your personal finances. It’s not a one-off cost either; this is something you have to pay for year after year.
Food Costs
Another one of your big financial costs is the food you buy every week. Think about it, have you ever sat down and calculated how much money you spend on food per day? For the next week, keep hold of your receipts and add up all the money you spent on food. It will shock you to see the figure you get at the end. In fact, doing this could be enough to help you wise up and start buying food smarter. By this I mean; not buying overly expensive brands just for the sake of it, not eating out multiple times every week, and just generally looking to save money on every food shop. Of course, food costs are unavoidable as we need to eat to live! That’s why they end up being one of the biggest personal finance costs in your life.
There are plenty of additional things that could be on this list; the cost of buying clothes, money spent going out, money spent on subscriptions, and so on. However, I feel the things mentioned on this list are the main personal finance costs in everyone’s life right now. Any parents out there will notice on major thing missing; children. Yes, if you have kids, they will undoubtedly be a massive cost! But, for the general public, we’re mainly looking at food, health, property, and monthly bills. Those are your biggest costs. Work on keeping them down, and you can start saving a lot of money.
