4 Steps To Stress Free Financing Of Your New Car

10 Jan 2017 | Personal Finance

Are you thinking about financing your new car purchase? Found the car that you want to buy, but don’t know where to start with arranging finance?

Choosing how to finance your car isn’t easy.

Why? Because you’re bombarded with numerous options, confusing claims and simply bad advice. From 0% loans and high-pressure sales – to unsuitable loans and near-worthless advice – how do you ever find someone who is qualified, competent and professional to provide you with unbiased advice and quality service?

Follow these four steps to have stress free financing of your new car:

STEP #1: Make a commitment to yourself to get quality advice around your car financing. Find a broker, bank lender or dealership finance manager who will invest the time to ensure that they understand your financial situation, needs and requirements. This way you will ensure that you have all the relevant information to make an informed decision.

STEP #2: List your objectives. What do you want to achieve with your car financing?

Do you want a car loan, with a low headline interest rate and not too many questions?
Do you want a car loan which meets your needs, that is suitable for you and that will not cause you hardship?
Do you want to work with a fair, ethical and professional Finance Broker?
Are you willing to risk working with a car dealership that offers 0% dealer finance – knowing that you are most likely paying an inflated price for your car?

STEP #3: Ask questions. The best way you learn about the finance business you are working with is to ask specific questions and listen carefully to the answers. Here are ten tough questions to ask your financer before he begins developing the advice for you:

How much does the service cost and when do I have to pay?
Do you belong to an industry association such as the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA)?
How do you identify the best solution?
How many lenders (and which lenders) do you represent?
How do you get paid?
Can you provide comparisons of any loans recommended, including upfront and ongoing fees?
Can you clarify the actual cost of the loan, including and excluding interest, fees and ongoing costs?
Do you comply with the Privacy Act?
Do you have professional indemnity insurance?
How long have you been in the industry and can I read your testimonials from previous clients?

STEP #4: Once you’re satisfied that you’re working with a fair, ethical and professional finance professional, engage them to provide you with a written recommendation for your car financing. A written recommendation gives you the assurance that you know exactly what your car finance will cost – no surprises.

By following these four steps, you’ll gain all the information you need to make an informed, intelligent decision. If all you want is car loan, with a low headline interest rate and not too many questions, any finance manager at the car dealership can help you. Or you can walk into your local bank and get sold their car loan product.

But if you want good advice – if you’re looking for someone who will invest the time to understand your financial situation, needs and requirements – to find a great deal on your car finance, then follow the 4 steps outlined above.

If you are interested in learning how to avoid four car financing rip-offs, six common car financing misconceptions, and 8 costly mistakes with car financing the get a copy of my Consumers Guide to Car Financing.

Have you entered our latest competition? Click here to find out the details and to enter.

Brendan Barker – How to Live the life of your dreams

17 Dec 2016 | News

I was going on my regular morning walk, pushing my 6-month-old son along in the pram, his mum was getting a well-earned sleep in. Johnathon was sleeping again, as he usually did on our morning walks.

As I walked I was reflecting on how much had changed. It was only two years ago that I had got married. It was 12 months since I left my job in the mining industry, to spend time with my wife during her pregnancy.

6 months before Johnathon had arrived.

Now here I was walking the streets, pushing Johnathon along, thinking about the future. I had spent 20 years in the mining industry, and if I am honest with myself left my last job burnout.

Heading back out to the mines. Working 12 hour days. Spending time away from my family.

My passion for mining industry had disappeared.

Time to Live My Dream

It was time to find a new future, a new direction. All I knew at that time, as I walked down the street, was I wanted a job which allowed me to spend time with my family.

It took time but the pieces started to come together, two of my passions in life were my family and finances. I had always had an interest in finances, probably got it from my dad who had worked in the banking industry for 40 years.

All I knew was that I wanted to help people like myself, people with young families. People who would like help with their finances.

Have you ever been in the situation where you have committed to too much?
Having a bill to pay and not sure where the funds are going to come from to pay it?
Can’t remember the last time you had a holiday and don’t know when you will have your next one?

Having that feeling overwhelm when it comes to your home finances or your mind just goes blank when the local bank manager starts talking about LVR, fixed and variable, split loans…….

Have you found your dream home, the perfect place you want to raise your family? Close to the schools, shops, all the amenities you want? But you don’t know how you are ever going to afford it?

I spend the time to get to know you, your needs, and all the other things that don’t fit neatly into a form. I invest the time with you so that I get to understand your financial situation, your needs and requirements. So that I can help structure your finances so that you can achieve your goals and dreams.

My clients learn how to save money and own their homes sooner.

Call me on 07 3911 1190 for a 15-minute chat to see how I can help you live the life of your dreams.

Do you suffer from one of these budgeting misconceptions?

19 Oct 2016 | Personal Finance

A 2007 government study found that only 52% of Australians budget regularly for their day to day finances. There are a number of common misconceptions around budgeting which lead people to not have a budget. Some of the common misconceptions around budgeting:

I’m not good at math so I can’t manage my money
I don’t want anything big so I don’t need to save
I hold a secure job and see no reason to save
I pay my bills promptly and don’t need budget
Getting my personal finances under control can wait

We have previously discussed the first misconception on how through the use of the tools available today it does not matter if you are good at math or not to manage your money. Lets have a look at the other misconceptions.

The common theme for the other 4 misconceptions is that nothing is wrong, I have enough money to live off, why do I need a budget now. There is no sense of urgency. Why is because you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow.

Why these misconceptions are wrong and you do need a budget

My own personal experience was a couple of months ago. I was involved in a minor traffic accident (my fault, and yes I am still kicking myself over it). We have insurance on the car and the damage didn’t look too bad…. oh how I was wrong.

The car ended up being off the road for 4 weeks, between the insurance excess and paying for a hire car (so I could continue to earn a living) we ended up being out of pocket $2,000.

How would your finances look if you had an unexpected $2,000 bill? Were made redundant tomorrow? Your landlord puts your rent up by $50 a week? The banks put the interest rate up by 1% on your home loan?

This is why you should have a budget, to understand what your current expense are and to know if you can afford your next purchase. If your rent is put up by $50 a week, can you cut back somewhere else to balance it all out?

The main reason to have a budget is so that you can make informed decisions about your spending and to plan for the unknown events in our lives. When we know and understand our spending (expenses) we can then plan for the future.

Whether that is putting some money aside for a rainy day, saving for our kids university education (yeah that is not getting any cheaper), putting the deposit together for your dream home or planning a family vacation at Christmas. Having a budget lets you make these decisions.

Next time we will have a look at the 4 elements which make up the budget; Income, Expenses, Debts (or Liabilities) and Savings.

If you are suffering from one of these budgeting misconceptions here is a link to a budget template so that you can start thinking about the elements which will make up your budget.

Math and Money

5 Oct 2016 | Personal Finance

You don’t have to be good at math to budget

I remember in the early ’80s my family was living in Blackall, every 3 months mum and dad would pack up our family for the 8 hour trek across to Rockhampton to do the grocery shopping. We would visit Jack the Slashers discount grocery store, my parents would walk up and down the isles collecting the groceries we needed, calculator in hand keeping track of the cost of the purchases. You don’t need to be good a math to manage your money, you just need to use the tools available.

Last week I mentioned some of the misconceptions or beliefs that people have which stops them from putting a personal budget in place. A common one I hear is

I’m not good at math so I can’t manage my money

As my story above shows, it is not about being good at math. It is about understanding what you want to achieve and using the correct tools to help you get there. The tools don’t have to be anything fancy, pen and paper will work, a spreadsheet or there are a range of apps for your computer or smartphone.

There are 4 main components to the budget

Income
Expenses
Debts or Liabilities
Savings

The primary aim of your budget is to control you expenses so that your debts can be repaid and you can start saving for the future. In the next post we will finish discussing the misconceptions around budgeting and continue looking at the components of the budget.

In the meantime if you would like to get a headstart, here is a link to a budget template you can have a look at.

Budgeting and your finances

26 Sep 2016 | Personal Finance

Are you mentally prepared to manage your finances?

Recently I had the opportunity to attand a session by Ron Lee the Corporate Ninja. His inspirational presentation was around how our thoughts and feelings can have a big impact on assisting us in achieving our goals.

Ron had everyone attending to do an exercise. Partnering up with the person beside us, he got one of us to hold our arm out straight and for our partner to push our arm towards the floor. The first time we did this he asked us to think about a happy time in our life (for me it was when my son was born). My partner barely got my arm to move. Ron then got us to repeat the exercise, but this time to think about a sad time in our life (when my grandparents passed away). This time my partner could push my arm down without much effort.

It was a very easy and clear message about how are thoughts, feelings and beliefs impact on what we can achieve.

Why is this important?

Let me digress for a second, I recently ran a survey asking you what you would like me to write about in these posts. Overwhelming the biggest response was around budgeting. When I talk to family, friends or clients about budgeting and their personal finances I often get responses like this:

I don’t want anything big so I don’t need to save
I hold a secure job and see no reason to save
I pay my bills promptly and don’t need budget
Getting my personal finances under control can wait
I’m not good at math so I can’t manage my money

These are some of the misconceptions or beliefs that people have which stops them from putting a personal budget in place.

But what is a budget?

A budget is a plan to spend your money. This plan allows you to determine in advance whether you will have enough money to do the thinks that you need to do or you want to do.

Over the next few posts we will look further into these misconceptions, why you should have a budget and how to go about putting a budget together. But I hear you saying, what does this have to do with Ron Lee and our beliefs?

As Henry Ford said

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.”

Budgeting and managing your personal finances is all about believing that you can do it. Don’t worry I will be here to provide guidance and support along the way, but the first step is thinking a happy thought and believing that you can do it. In the next post we will debunk some misconceptions and start the process of putting your personal budget together.

In the meantime if you would like some positive messages and finance tips, check out my Facebook Page.

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