Check those subscriptions as you might be paying for a
service you don’t use.
4 in 10 people forget to cancel subscriptions costing British
people £338 million per month.
We’ve all done it, we sign up with the best intentions and
then forget about it. Gym memberships, courses on trial or streaming films.
Like me, you may be tempted by a free trial but find out later that you are
still paying because you forgot to cancel after the free trial ended!
42% of people continue to pay for service they don’t use
A lot of these payments come out by bank direct debit but,
which are easier to check by printing off a list of your bank direct debits or
going into your bank and asking for a list of your bank direct debits (and
standing orders). Direct debit’s and standing orders are easy to cancel at the
bank or on your online apps.
However, a lot of online and American companies take
recurring payments by credit card which are trickier to cancel and more
difficult track unless you religiously check your credit card statement every
month.
In my book, you can
read about the ‘3 R’s of Money Management’, outlined in Part 3 on ‘How to Grow
and Manage Your Money’.
To cancel these, you have to contact the company, which can
be difficult if you’ve lost contact details, all the credit card company.
Calling your credit card company, which is a mission in
itself, frequently results in them telling you to contact the company and
asking them to cancel the subscription. Not very helpful.
They are also reluctant to refund money or reverse the
payment when you inform them that it has been taken in error.
That’s why I like using my Monzo Bank card because it alerts me
on my iphone app every time a payment is deducted from my account. Saved me
money recently when click funnels were taking too much money from my account as
they had upgraded me without my permission.
This
simple, 4 step process will help you stay on top of things and feel better
about yourself what ever the outcome.
Do
you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by endless to do lists and a tray full of
things to sort out? If the answer to this question is, yes, join the club! Most
of us have been there!
I
want to give you a quick 4-step process to help you get more organised and, more
importantly, feel better about yourself whatever the outcome.
The
process has evolved from the combination of things I’ve learned over the years and the many
books. For instance, Life Leverage by Rob Moore and Getting Things Done by renowned expert and bestselling author David Allen.
David
Allen’s book is great, well I say great, but I haven’t actually read it!
I’ve read bits and pieces and I think it will be a dipper rather than a page
turner. It will, however, look great on my bookshelf and people will think that I must be super organised!
My advice to David is, if you write in the book aimed at people who are
overwhelmed and can’t get things done,there is no point in writing a 300 page,
small print book, with no photos because no one will ever finish let alone
someone who is disorganised! How will they ever get round to it? Your book will
end up in that pile of unread books and things to do and cause them more
stress!
Before
I start, over the years I have observed hundreds of people, many of whom I have
employed in my businesses, and I have come to the conclusion that there are two
types:
Organised tidy desk person (OTDP)
Disorganised messy desk person (DMDP)
Sorry
to disappoint you, but that’s the way it is.
Incidentally,
I have a messy desk. I really do envy those OTDPs who can breeze into work on time and looking fresh and just eat admin, get everything done and then leave the office with a completely tidy
desk, other than a photo of their loved one and their favourite personally washed clean mug! Bang on leaving time, they smile and wave goodbye to everyone, pick up their gym bag and walk out of the office knowing they have finished the jobs they set out to finish and some more.
Invariably,
I have found that if you want to employ someone in an admin or an office based
role you better make sure they are an OTDP.
When it comes to getting things done, how
do you feel about things matters more than you imagine.
If
you are already stressed about a task or hate doing that task, the chances of you
getting on with it are slim. Invariably, you will leave until the eleventh hour and do it
badly or miss the deadline altogether.
There
must be a better way of going through life than being stressed all the time - becasue there will ALWAYS be things to do, problems, grass growing under your feet and so on.
Have you read the book, 1000 places to see before you die? How on earth can
you say 1000 places all over the world? It might well be called 1000 places you
probably won’t see before you die, so get over it! I started reading that book
a few years ago and at first it was great. There I was, highlighting the places I
had already seen and would be visiting in the near future. But then it started
to become a little overwhelming. How was I going to get to all of these countries
in the time I had available? Even if 5 years off and went backpacking around the world I
never get to all the places. Most people only have one or two main holidays a year where they travel abroad, so that's about 80 places you might get to in a forty year working life!
Back to getting things done and feeling good regardless. Here are my 4 Ds:
Do
it
Delegate
it
Defer
it
Ditch
it
1. Do
it
Sometimes
you’ve just got to knuckle down, lock yourself away, turn off the TV and get it done! Sorry, but nothing moves without action, so you may need disciplin or a kick up the arse from someone or yourself.
Things stop us getting things
done are fear and not knowing how to do them.
Fear is easy to overcome - just get started.
Not knowing how it's done is easy to overcome. There is a very simple way to learn
how to do almost anything nowadays - Google it. You can now google almost any
task on earth and quickly find out how to perform even the most technical
things in minutes. When a friend of mine was locked out of her Porsche Boxster
because the battery had gone flat. We got the door open and then realised that the boot lever was electronic
and needed battery power! The battery was in the boot and the boot lever needed a full battery.
After
searching the manual in vain, I googled it and within minutes I was watching a
video of how to get the boot open with a flat battery. It worked!
If
you really can’t get things done you might need some help or you might need to
go to step two
2. Delegate
it
Delegation sounds obvious, but so many people fail to master it or think they are the only ones who can do the job right.
You have to learn to let go, recognise your strengths and weaknesses and delegate tasks you don't like doing or don't do very well.
I
don’t like admin and things like tax returns and forms. This is why I delegate
it to a PA, accountant or bookkeeper.
I
also get no fun out of cleaning and mowing the lawn, so I hire people at £10 an
hour so I can either do things I enjoy doing or tasks that will earn me more
than £10 per hour.
You
can also delegate thousands of tasks using the millions of freelancers listed sites such as
Upwork.
If
it’s a job you cannot delegate you may need to go to step three.
3. Defer
it
Deferring
something will not cause the stress by not doing it and worrying about
why you have not done it.
In other words, you’re making a deal with yourself to
say, I can’t do this right now, but I will do it at a future date. Pop it in your calendar. Stress over.
It’s
ok to have a “someday Isle” list of things you may or may not do.
If
you can’t do it, delegate it or defer it you know what comes next.
4. Ditch
it!
This
can be the most liberating step at all, but I would suggest you go through the
first three steps before you start throwing everything away!
Ditching
it can mean that you just tell yourself that you’re not going to do a certain
task and you’re not bothered about it. You could still go back to in the
future, but in the meantime it’s not weighing on your mind.
At the end of the day you can lower the high standards of efficiency you mentally set for yourself in many areas of your life. It's fine to have a messy garage or unpacked boxes from the last move. Don’t worry about it.
When I ran a business, I would have a good clear out of old papers every once in a while. It was amazing to find that many of the things that hadn't been done or responded to months back had not made any difference to my life. So many seemingly important things to do, which I thought were problems and caused me stress and worry at the time over time actually 'went away' by themsleves. I could have ditched those things at the time and never had to worry bout them.
I'm not suggesting that you ignore problems, but do apply the 4 D process to them.
Mark
Twain once said something like, I’ve had many problems in my life, but most of
them never happened.
As we hear that Sainsbury’s is planning to merge with Asda, we
know that shopping trends are changing.
Two thirds of shoppers now visit the supermarket more than
once a day. People are buying smaller amounts from discount stores rather than
doing major shops at out of town superstores.
At one time it looked like the huge out-of-town superstores
would take over the world. Now they have been hit by smaller supermarkets like
Lidl and Aldi, as well as online providers like Amazon Prime with free deliveries
of fresh food.
More mini supermarket are being opened by the large chains,
which is squeezing the little guys with the corner shop that used to be the
only shop open late at night – now many supermarkets open 24 hours a day.
Online shopping is obviously accounting for much of what we
do nowadays, which is why Sainsburies bought Argos.
Asda’s owner Walmart, still the largest retailer in the
world, seems to have lost interest in the UK and has bigger fish to fry to
protect its market from online retailers such as Amazon and Alibaba. Amazon’s
owner Jeff Bezos and Alibaba’s Jack Ma are two of the richest men on earth, so shopping
habits are definitely changing.
In other financial news, the UK economy’s growth rate has
slowed in the last quarter to, however, your economy is run by you, not the
government. Growth, GDP, inflation.
Focus on your own business and on your self development and career, not the world economy, which will always be fluctuating!
You can get in on the online revolution quicker and cheaper than ever before. You don't need a fancy website, you don't need your own product or a garage full of stock and you don't need a huge budget. What you DO need is some training and knowhow, focus and persistence!
One of my mentors Russell Branson has written a fantastic book about building a following and tribe called Expert Secrets. Russell has a special promo running for a limited time where he will give you the Expert Secrets book for free as long as you pay for the postage. Grab a copy while stock lasts, it could change your life.
The subject of house prices and getting on the ‘property
ladder’ is never far from the conversation in London. The news that prices fell
for the first time in six months in February, might offer a glimmer of hope for
first time buyers and potential buy-to-let investors looking for a better
return on their money than the measly rates the banks are offering.
The Nationwide index revealed a 0.3% month-on-month
fall taking the average UK house price to £210,402, down from £211,756 in
January. This marks the first time since August 2017 that house
prices have fallen month on month.
The Telegraph reports the unexpected dip came
after house prices grew faster than expected in January, due to a lack of supply in the property market which
kept competition between buyers high.
Annual house price growth has fallen to 2.2%, Nationwide
said. The building society's chief economist said that while month-to-month
changes can be volatile, the slowdown is "consistent with signs of
softening in the household sector in recent months".
Mr Gardner said Brexit and the economy will be key to
the housing market's performance in the year ahead – doesn’t take an economist
to work that one out! "We continue to expect the UK economy to grow at
modest pace, with annual growth of 1% to 1.5% in 2018 and 2019.
Subdued economic activity and the ongoing squeeze on household budgets is
likely to exert a modest drag on housing market activity and house price
growth," he said.
In layman’s language, the economy and market will be slow,
although “experts” and economists have been predicting economic doom and gloom
since the EU referendum.
Bear in mind that most of the commentators are lenders (like
the Nationwide) and estate agents who have a vested interest in maintaining a
healthy property market and obviously don’t want to scare the horses.
Estate agent and former RICS Chairman Jeremy Leaf
said that, as one of the most closely-watched indicators of property
market strength due to its longevity and accuracy, Nationwide’s figures
may "cause concern" – an estate agent’s term for “worried”.
He added that at this time of the year there should
have been an increase, not a fall, in house price growth.
Sam Mitchell, CEO of online estate agents HouseSimple.com
added that while the housing market isn't about to suffer a "full
blown crash", we have some "tough months ahead and a lot of
hard negotiating between buyers and sellers if the market is to get
back on track".
Nationwide’s index covers the whole country, which is
showing a modest slow down. However, new figures from Acadata this week report much steeper price falls in the capital, where the market is a world apart from some parts of the country where prices have been stagnant since 2008.
The data firm said London
prices dropped 4.3% in the year to January, the biggest fall since August
2009.
London prices have been slowing for quite a while, partly
brought on by a sharp increase in stamp duty on more expensive properties and
less foreign buyers, but also because the affordability gap for young
first-time buyers had widened beyond ordinary people’s reach.
The price-to-earnings ratio is now around 10 times average
salaries, making London one of the most expensive and difficult places for
people to get on the property ladder.
The rental market remains strong, but thousands of landlords
have been deterred by recent tax changes which will dramatically reduce their
net earnings from but-to-let properties. Tough new
rules on HMO lettings coming in this autumn will be another blow to
landlords.
What does this all mean for buyers and investors and where
are property prices going? The answer is, nobody really knows for sure. The
more experts you listen to, the more confused you will become!
There is still a massive shortage of homes in the UK and the Prime
Minster Theresa May announced measures to force builders to build more homes
faster and not sit on land. But with interest rates on the rise and mortgage
lending rules tightening, the market is hardly set to boom for the foreseeable
future.
For investors, this could be a time to look for deals.
For first-time buyers, this is good news and a more room for negotiation.
Welcome to Money Tips Daily this is Money Kelly bringing you
money tips to help you save and make more money!
Sir Roger Bannister, one of the all-time greats athletes died
today aged 88 at his home in Oxford.
Sir Roger was a great British hero and the first break the four-minute mile barrier
that many said was impossible. They said the human body could not survive such
a feat. Yet in the year that followed, several other athletes also ran a sub
4 minute mile, and the Australian runner, John Landy, beat Bannister's record by
2 seconds the following month with a time of 3:57.9.
This goes to show that
when we have the belief that something is possible we go after it with a
different attitude and more often than not achieve it.
The medical student, who only took up running at the age of
17, used his knowledge to devise his own training routine in order to help him
achieve his goal of being the first man to break the 4 minute barrier with a
time of 3:59.4.
When Sir Roger went out and ran the first sub-four minute
mile in Oxford on 6 May 1954, after working a shift that morning, the previous
world record had stood for nine years. The record has been held by various British
runners since then, including Lord Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram. Today,
it is held by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj, who ran a time of 3:43.13 in 1999.
But we will always the man who did it first, like we know
that Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon. Do you know who
was the second man to walk on the moon? Buzz Aldrin. If you want to know the
third, you’ll have to Google it!
Despite his remarkable achievement, Bannister didn’t even
win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, which went to his running
mate and pacesetter Sir Christopher Chataway. Chris Brasher, who acted as
pacesetters and who went on to co-found the London Marathon.
He was not awarded a Knighthood until 1975 and was a
part-time amateur athlete who went on to become a distinguished neurologist.
There are two things to remember about Bannister’s
achievement.
Firstly, it was no accident or stroke of luck. He set a goal
to break the record, planned and worked his training regime and record breaking
race down to the smallest detail.
Secondly, it was his ironclad belief that help push him through
that tape at under 4 minutes.
In my forthcoming book, Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness, I
go through my MONEY B.E.L.I.E.F SYSTEM in detail to help you build positive
money beliefs. Here are the main points:
B - Build your belief or portfolio
E - Earn more than you spend (not spend less than you earn)
L - Learn - money education
I - Identify money mind blocks
E - Eliminate limiting beliefs
F - Find your passion and profit will find you – do something
you love doing
We all have talents and knowledge, and something we enjoy
doing. The trick is to turn your knowledge into something that can make you
financially free and bring happiness. I will be covering some techniques to
help you achieve this in my next episode of Money Tips Daily.
