Make your money work harder in the new financial year
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has now announced the UKs annual budget. For some people there will be great benefits, and for others, it may mean that they have to give up a few of life’s luxuries, or at least cut down.
For those that are big savers, it means you will now be able to put away more money in your ISA as the annual tax-free limit on individual savings accounts is being dramatically increased to £15,000 a year. This comes in to place on July 1st this year. Good news for anyone saving for a house deposit, as well as the help to buy scheme continuing to help those that want to get on to the property ladder.
To make the most out of these new changes, make sure that you book in to see a bank adviser before April 6th, as this date marks the new financial year. It is recommended that you have a review of your bank account annually to ensure that you do not have any direct debits to services you are no longer using. You can also then check to see which ISA and savings account is best for you.
There are also a few other ways you can make your money go a little further and websites such as daily-proof.com are there to help and advise you on such matters. Here’s two easy steps you can take today to make your money work harder…
Get cash back on your purchases
There are a lot of websites that now offer cashback when you buy through them online. You may be wondering how it all works. These company’s use affiliate links to track the traffic they send to the website you want to buy from. This way they get paid for the lead and you can get your cashback.
Whatever you do, do not rely on this to get you money, think of it as a bonus, as it is not guaranteed money. 40% of people do not get paid their cashback and a lot of the time the cashback site doesn’t get paid either. Top tips for this are:
1. Make sure you contact the cashback site if you don’t receive your money after a period of time. It’s not yours until it’s in your bank, and always make sure you transfer all of you cashback in to your bank as soon as you can, do not store in the cashback bank. Not only will you miss out on the interest that you could be getting, but for any reason if the company goes under, you’ll lose your money.
2. Don’t be swayed by high amounts of cashback. Go for the deal that suits you and the cheapest one, again, cashback is a bonus.
One of the very best sites for this is topcashback.co.uk as recommended by Money Saving Expert.
Money saving apps
The best way to start saving is to start recording everything you’re spending. The mobile app iXpenseIt helps you track your expenses and budgeting, and all it takes is a few minutes of your time. You may find it’s also a bit of an eye opener if you are an impulsive buyer!
If you have ever wondered if the item you are about to buy is cheaper elsewhere, then the RedLaser/ app is for you. This app allows you to scan barcodes and search online for lower prices. It tends to work best on big items such as fridge-freezers as you’re are more likely to get some seriously good savings, but even a small saving can help.