Financial Health : The Money Principle

Category: Financial Health

True cost of a mortgage

Published May 20, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Financial Health, Property | 9 Comments

So you've found the house you've been looking for. Enough bedrooms, right location, decent neighbourhood - and a price tag you believe you can afford. What you need now is a mortgage. So how much is it likely to cost you? You'll need to [...] Continue Reading...

Are you broke? Check out your waste!

Published May 17, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Budgeting, Financial Health | 11 Comments

Have you read a book called 'Wolf Brother' by Michelle Paver? Ok, I know that it passes as a book for pre-teens but it was the one I couldn't put down; I also eagerly awaited each next volume. On the surface, it is one of the 'magic' stories about a [...] Continue Reading...

Income protection is important

Published May 11, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Financial Health | 6 Comments

This may protect against the 'evil eye' but won't protect your income If you were suddenly unable to earn a living due to long term illness or accident, for how long would you be able to cover your monthly bills? For most of us it is as [...] Continue Reading...

5 Ways to Make Money before you Start University

Published Apr 24, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Financial Health, Make money | 19 Comments

Your years at university can be among the most fun, educational, exciting and liberating of your life. However, before starting, you need to make sure you are prepared for it mentally, emotionally and financially. For many people, going to university can be a big change in their lives, particularly if [...] Continue Reading...

Would Batman need Life Insurance?

Published Apr 22, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Financial Health, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

When it comes to fictional characters, they obviously don’t have much need for life insurance. However, looking at their lives, it’s interesting to see which ones would benefit from life insurance should they suddenly pop into existence. One American survey looked into this very thing back in [...] Continue Reading...

Let’s talk about pensions, baby: ‘lump sum’ vs. ‘annuity’

Published Apr 11, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Balances, Financial Health | 7 Comments

Now that my foray into the property selling/nationality mess up domain is over, I opened my work e-mail for the first time in about a week. And there it was - a reminder that I should be preparing my retirement (not even an early one, guys) and thinking [...] Continue Reading...

Top Tips on Buying Cars

Published Apr 10, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Budgeting, Financial Health | 4 Comments

Now more than perhaps ever before, household budgets are under extreme pressure. Buying and running a car is one area where hard decisions are being made. For some people, the question is whether they really need a car at all or whether they can afford one. The costs can soon [...] Continue Reading...

What is a credit rating and why does it matter?

Published Apr 6, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Budgeting, Financial Health | 6 Comments

A credit rating is something banks and credit card companies use to decide whether they want you as a customer for loans and credit cards. Your credit score is based on lots of factors, and it can vary from one creditor to the next. Contrary to popular myth, you do [...] Continue Reading...

Barter economies: do you have what it takes?

Published Apr 2, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Business, Financial Health | 7 Comments

Do you remember when John Lennon sang ‘Imagine’? Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people sharing all the world Neither do I but this won’t [...] Continue Reading...

Easy to forget rule of personal finance: have fun and budget for it

Published Mar 19, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Financial Health, Mentality | 6 Comments

T-Shirt design by Adam Piplica Ha, ha! See this picture? Thanks to Adam from the Magical Penny, the UK personal finance bloggers who 'stayed the distance' last weekend were immortalised. Guess which one is me? (Of course, I am so much better looking in person!) [...] Continue Reading...

About net worth, value and structure

Published Mar 11, 2013 | By Maria | Posted in Financial Health, Investments | 13 Comments

Remember I was telling you last October that even when we had a glimpse of the so much longed for debt finish line we still spent about £5,000 (about $7,500) on doing up the last bathroom in the house that had not been renovated in the last three years and [...] Continue Reading...

Tax Avoidance for the masses (well some of them anyway)

Published Feb 28, 2013 | By John | Posted in Budgeting, Financial Health, Pensions | 5 Comments

One Saturday a few months ago we were out shopping in the village and bumped into a good friend of ours who has four children - we know quite a few such families. The brief conversation got round to the (then) imminent withdrawl of Child Benefit from the ‘better off’ [...] Continue Reading...

The Money Principle

... Stuff hedonism, take charge!