How to Fix Your Cash Flow

How to Fix Your Cash Flow in this High Cost of Living Environment – vLog

Hi, I’m Raffy from Manly Financial Services. People come to us for financial advice to achieve their financial goals and aspirations. These include buying or upgrading their home, investing for the future, managing their tax, or planning for their upcoming retirement. But the path is rarely smooth.

The Current Environment

We’ve got changes in regulations. We’ve got market volatility, which seems that it’s a constant these days. Without a well-thought-out and robust plan, these events and feelings of uncertainty can derail our financial progress. The last thing we need is insecurity and anxiety that we won’t achieve the life we want and deserve.

So what’s happened? Well, the current environment’s a really good case study in these events and uncertainties. We had record low interest rates over two years ago after the global pandemic stimulus measures, and lockdowns meant that supply of goods and services was halted while demand stayed strong, leading to an increase in inflation.

Then Russia invaded Ukraine and energy prices soared. Kerosene was effectively poured onto the inflation issue and inflation significantly jumped. To combat this, the Reserve Bank and other global central banks started raising interest rates and loan interest rates also rose. Individual family’s started feeling the pinch and have done so for over two years as we’ve had high debt levels, high interest rates on those debt levels, and the cost of living has continued to increase. Interest rates are expected to fall in 2025 and the cash flow clean up can begin for many households.

We hope that share markets and property markets continue to rise with lower interest rates, so our growth plans can remain on track, but the cleanup won’t be that straightforward as it’ll take time for household budgets and investment cash flows to get back in the black.

Step 1 – Stop Wasting Money Right Now!

The next series of vlogs will outline what we need to focus on to work through this and step one is cash flow. We need to stop wasting money right now. What are you spending your income on and how much? To do this, we need to look at our bank statements over the last six to 12 months to categorize our spending as non-negotiable, priority one, priority two, and priority three.

Non-negotiable expenditure includes rent, mortgage repayments, utility bills, education, healthcare costs, food and groceries. Things that we need to stay safe and well. All other expenditure should be ranked priority one, two, and three based on how important these are for your day-to-day life.

At this point, we can determine which of these expenditures can be reduced, paused, or completely eliminated so that we can start the cash flow clean up. Can gym memberships be substituted for home workouts, daily walks, or jogs? Can the wine subscription be reduced or completely eliminated? Can a holiday be delayed?

These are all important considerations that you’ll need to make if you’re feeling the cash flow pinch.

How can Manly Financial Services help? Well, we’ve developed a free e-book that covers all of these areas in detail and we’ll be talking about in our upcoming vlogs. I urge you to click on the link in the description to visit our website and download this free resource to help you get back on track and growing in the future.

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And while you’re at it, if you like what you’ve heard today, please give us a like and click the notifications bell. You can also visit our website at manlyfs.com.au for more information about how we can help you, whether this is growing your financial situation, obtaining a loan for a business or a home, planning for your growing family or retirement.

At Manly Financial Services, we are committed to partnering with clients to achieve their financial success, security, and independence. If this sounds good to you, please visit our website to book your cost and commitment free discovery meeting. Thank you.