Money moves to make before the end of the year 🏃‍♀️

With less than 4 months left before we head into the new year, it’s a good time to review and reflect on any financial goals.

Did you have any big savings goals - house deposit, new car or a dream holiday 🏖️ ? Perhaps you wanted to pay off some debt to allow for more freedom? Now is the perfect opportunity to reflect on the progress and check if you’re on track.

Equally, it’s not too early to start planning a little further ahead and think about what you want to achieve with your finances next year.

Here are 4 money moves to make before we step into 2025!

Optimise your pension 🍯

· Do you still have multiple pension pots and not merged these? Can you locate them all?

· Is your workplace pension in a default fund that’s too cautious? How is your pension portfolio performing? Do you need to change anything?

· Are you being charged high fees and could partially transfer your pension into a SIPP (self invested personal pension) with lower fees and better investment choice?

· How much are you currently contributing to your pension? Will it be enough for a comfortable retirement? The minimum, which is 8% is usually not enough.

More on pensions and retirement here:

👉 ‘Sorting your pension pots’

👉 ‘How much do you need for retirement?’

👉 ‘How to maximise your pension’

Tackle high interest debt 🏦

· If you have high interest debt (usually anything above 7%), are you making more than minimum payments?

· Do you know when you will have it paid off?

· Can you put more money towards the debt to pay it off faster?

Plan your savings 💸

· Is your emergency fund sorted? Do you have 3-6 months worth of basic expenses in a high interest account?

· If you have certain savings goals, have you set up automatic monthly transfers for these? Do you know how much you will need to save and for how long?

More on savings here:

👉 ‘Why everyone should have an emergency fund’

👉 ‘How automating your finances can help supercharge your savings’

Start investing/review your portfolio 📈

· If you don’t invest yet, the second best time to start is today. It’s never been easier or more accessible to invest in the stock market and take advantage of its growth.

· If you already invest (👊), are you happy with your strategy and portfolio or the funds you’ve invested in? What about the platform and the fees?

· Are your investments automated? Do you know how much you are likely to have in your portfolio in 10/20/30 years?

More on investing here:

👉 ‘How to start investing’

👉 ‘When is the best time to start investing?’

👉 ‘How to invest confidently without a financial adviser’

My weekly recommendation

A short form video from Ramit Sethi on why budgets don’t work and what a better alternative is. I especially like this approach because it’s very simple, yet effective.