Improving your financial health BY NAZIRAH ASHARI OF COMPAREHERO

by **Cals** Sun 17 Aug 2014, 22:42

Published: Sunday August 17, 2014 MYT 6:21:00 PM
Updated: Sunday August 17, 2014 MYT 6:27:17 PM
[size=40]Improving your financial health[/size]
BY NAZIRAH ASHARI OF COMPAREHERO

In all aspects of our life, our personal finances perhaps should be near the top of our list of priorities, second only to our health.
Managing our personal finances properly ensures that we not only get to fulfill our basic needs, but it also helps us maintain a specific quality of life that allows us to live with relative comfort, as well as gives us opportunities to improve our station and tap into our potential.
Being smart with our money leads to a lot of good things, and taking an active stand to improve your personal financial health is crucial.
Whether you are doing well right now, or perhaps even struggling financially, there is no reason not to put an added focus on improving your financial health.

With that in mind, here are a few things you need to truly give a level of attention to when making strides toward a truly stable state of personal finance:
Budget by the numbers:
Creating a budget is something that many people neglect to do, or at the very least, seemingly do half-heartedly.
When creating a budget, it is very important to be thorough.
Take every single amount of money you make and spend into consideration and budget your funds within a specific timeframe.
Your habits will improve in time as the budget you created becomes less of a responsibility and more of a way of life.
For example, let us say you are an average Malaysian employee that makes enough from your regular job to cover all needs.
On top of that, you also have side projects or part-time jobs that give you a few extra funds on a semi-regular basis.
Do not neglect to include that extra income in your budget.
Again, every single ringgit that comes in needs to be taken into consideration, making it easy for you to see where every single ringgit goes to when they come out of your pocket.
By creating a budget with all in the numbers broken down and properly allocated, staying within your budget will be far easier.
Keep track of your money, all of it, and your financial health will greatly improve.
Always set some money aside:
When you create a budget, it is not enough for you to just know where you spend your money on—it is also a necessity for you to make sure that a certain amount of your money consistently goes into your savings, retirement, and emergency funds.
A clear sign of a healthy financial life is that you rarely (or never) find yourself in a situation wherein you are broke.
By consistently setting money aside, you are investing in a future wherein you are financially secure, and, through your emergency fund, always have money for occasions wherein unexpected expenses arise, and rest assured that they will arise.
So always make sure you have the funds to back you up when they do.
Spend wisely:
Of all the advice out there that will help you improve the quality of your financial life, this will have to be the most important.
Creating a budget and aiming to save is not going to be worth anything when you, on a personal level, are not able to control your spending.
Everything starts with having the proper discipline, and by being frugal or wise with your spending, you not only manage to save money by avoiding unnecessary expenses, you also get to avoid common factors that can eat away at your financial health, like debt.
While it is okay to splurge on things you want from time to time, the general rule is: if you do not need it, do not buy it.
The same way living healthy and exercising are preventive measures against threats to our physical health, spending wisely is a preventive measure against dangers to our financial health.
Change your spending habits and you can potentially change your entire life (given time, at the very least).
Look out for added income:
Generating multiple streams of revenue is not just necessary, but has also become relatively easy, now that the world has become a lot more connected through the Internet.
Always be on the watch for job opportunities, business opportunities, and any and all means wherein you can make money.
You can even go for that promotion that seems to be long overdue, or finally work up the courage to ask for that raise you know you deserve.
As long as you have the time and ability for it, never turn down any chance to make extra cash.
After all, nothing improves one’s financial health better than having more money.
The beauty of improving our financial health is that every single one of us is well-equipped in doing just that.
With the right attitude, discipline, and appropriate amount of work as well as the proper mindset, taking control of our financial health is very much attainable.
This content is created by Nazirah Ashari for the readers of The Star. Nazirah is Head of Content at CompareHero, the leading Malaysian financial comparison platform, aimed at helping Malaysians save time and money. Visit CompareHero here.