INITIAL TRAINING

“Are we nearly finished this session? I’m cooked!”

 “Me too, this is hard.”

 “Well at least we’re not paying for the gym, they’re paying us to exercise!”

In the ADF, you not only have interesting work and job security, you get a heap of other benefits like fitness facilities, medical and dental and affordable housing. So while you’re here, why not use some of those savings on stuff you really want …… like a car, or a holiday……. or even save for a deposit on a house or unit.

 Hmmm car

 What savings? Did splurge on that facial. Did I really need 2 handbags?

 What if you split your pay between three accounts; one for bills, one for spending and the rest to a savings account?

You’ll still have some money to have fun with ….. after you’ve put some aside for bills, but you’ll also be putting some money away for more expensive things you’d like to have down the track.

You choose how much to spend and how much to save, but once you’ve made the decision, make a deal with yourself, that when you’re spending money runs out, you stop spending until you get paid again.

It’s about balance. Keep some money for enjoying life now, but put some aside to make dreams a reality later.

Hmmm huge tv.

I’d love to own my own home one day.

I’ve set up separate accounts and all my bills get paid automatically, I don’t even have to think about it.

How do you know how much to put into each account?

Well, start with your bills. How much do you spend on essentials, like food, rent, petrol, transport, etc?

Work out how much that comes to every fortnight.

Then think about whether you have any annual bills, like car rego and insurance.

Divide the annual amount by 26 to work out how much you need to put aside every pay so that the money’s there when the bill comes in.

When you add up all of these amounts, that’s how much you need to put in you ‘bills’ account every pay.

You might round it up to the nearest $10 or $50 to build a buffer, so there’s always enough money in your bills account to pay your bills when they are due. When you know how much to put in your ‘bills’ account, you can work out how much you have left over from your pay. The amount left over is what you divide up between saving and spending.

I could use some new gear

A holiday would be awesome when this is over

I wonder how long I’d have to save for?

Let’s talk about some of the things that can get you into financial trouble.

If you borrow money to buy things you can’t afford, you end up paying interest, which makes your purchases much more expensive, you might also be charged admin fees and/or missed payment fees.

If you do miss a payment it can affect your credit rating, which may make it harder to get credit in the future, for example if you want a post-paid mobile phone plan or want to borrow money for a house.

What about buy-now-pay-later schemes like Afterpay, Zip Pay and Klarna?

What makes them popular?

You can buy things now and pay them off, without paying any interest.

So if you can have something now, pay it off over time, and not pay any interest, what’s in it for the buy-now-pay-later provider?

Firstly, you’re likely to spend more than if you were paying cash for something, retailers love that, even if they’re paying fees to the buy-now-pay-later provider.

Then, if you miss a payment, you get charged a missed payment fee.

According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, one in three buy-now-pay-later users have paid at least one ‘missed payment’ fee. This is how they make their money.

Remember, if you’re not paying for the product, then you are the product!

If you have more than one going at a time, it can be hard to keep track of all the money flying out of your bank account, and there’s a good chance you might not have enough money left for other bills, or to go out and enjoy yourself.

If you use these services, use them wisely, and make sure you have factored it into your spending money.

Another thing to be on the look-out for is scams. Who thinks they are too smart to get scammed?

Scammers target people of all ages, all backgrounds, and all income levels. Scammers target people via phone, email, text, social media, and any other creative way they can think of.

The best way to avoid being scammed is to learn how they work. Go to the Scamwatch website and discover some of the interesting ways scammers have come up with to get their hands on your cash.

Be very sceptical of anyone who asks for money or personal information, especially if you didn’t make the first contact.

You should all have an Initial Training Workbook in front of you.

We encourage you to work through this workbook so that, like your ADF career, you get your finances off to a great start and take advantage of the opportunity an ADF career offers you to achieve financial independence and piece of mind.

Managing money doesn’t have to be hard.

If you set up a good system now, while your finances are pretty simple, as your life gets more complicated, you can just add new pieces to the plan.

And remember, the ADF Consumer Centre is here to help you along the way. So if you have questions or you get stuck, contact us through our website.