Personal Finance & Budgeting Articles

How to calculate your personal NET WORTH

Happy New Year!! The time when we celebrate the passing of another year and make a resolution that we're going to take control of our finances.  What does that mean exactly? 
The answer to that question differs from person to person.  Some people may have significant debts and need to drastically reduce their credit card debts, some people may have multiple investments that they need to reassess and some people feel like they're pretty much in control of their finances but would like to save a little extra.
A good way to start the process of taking control of your finances is to undertake a process of calculating your "net worth".  This process requires you to list all your assets (cash, super, shares, property, investments etc.) and you liabilities (credit card debt, mortgage, investment loan etc.).  Effectively, this is your own personal Balance Sheet comparing what you own (your assets) and what you owe (your liabilities) and this is what you are worth, your NET WORTH.

Wait until Boxing Day or buy online and save!
Latest reports suggest retailers are doing it tough with a report today stating that 75% of retailers surveyed report flat or worse trading than this time last year.  There’s immense competition from online retails (which offer the same product at a significant saving to the high street) and people aren’t spending as much as they usually do because of interest rates rises in the second half of 2010. 

Review Personal Finances
Signs are starting to emerge that the Global economy is on the verge of a recovery. In Australia, the stock market has recorded stock gains since the lows of March 2009, the housing market has bounced back, unemployment is increasing at a decreasing rate and it looks like interest rates are going to rise by the end of this calendar year, if not sooner.

Budgeting: not much fun but definitely worthwhile
I don’t think there are many people who enjoy budgeting. As a matter of fact, for some people, budgeting is probably as much fun as doing your taxes. The good news is that budgeting, whilst not much fun is definitely worthwhile, leading to more savings, less debt and best of all less stress about your finances.